Your Honor

Gimlet hadn’t really wanted to come down into Atlantis at first, the idea of a world under the water that didn’t involve swimming didn’t really appeal to him. He was convinced though when his friend Nightingale had asked him down there. The dark cryo always had a way of talking him into things. He had ended up helping the Atlanteans, his large size a benefit for the manual labour tasks they had been assigned over and over again. He had clearly impressed their leader as he found himself being ‘knighted’ beside Nightingale. He wasn’t too sure of the connotations of such an honour but he soon found out.

As the queen approached them not long after their ceremony she spoke with such authority it was hard to refuse. “You two.” She said sternly as she drew Nightingale and Gimlet to attention. “We require more scouts, to ensure our new borders are secure. It would be of benefit to have locals, such as yourselves, do the patrol. As not to draw further attention to our expansion.” Gimlet was hesitant at first, he wasn’t so convinced this queen meant well for the islanders. She certainly meant well for her people but the fate of the topsiders was still unclear. The large iggy seemed to sense this doubt in the sucho and turned her head to address him directly. “We mean no harm of course, but this is the best way to avoid confrontation.” She paused seemingly for effect. “This would not be in the best interest of either side.” 

There was no room left for debate or argument and so Gimlet simply nodded before looking down to his side to try and gauge his friends feelings toward this task. Nightingale was often the more eager and helpful of the two and this enthusiasm often spurred Gimlet on even when he felt doubtful of the outcome or task. The queen hovered as though needing them to agree to the task before she went back to her business, Gimlet was only on board with the request if his cryo companion agreed.

“...”

Nightingale was by her companion, a sucho, as they had been knighted and dubbed the honorary task of assisting the queen. Observing Gimlet with the queen, her red eyes blinked slowly.

The queen’s intentions were always something Nightingale never questioned. Hearing the words come from her, to her friend Gimlet, made her a bit more eager to take on the task at hand. There was just something fulfilling to be able to assist in such a way. Granted, it was rather odd to see a sucho and cryo teaming up and completing a task. The plus side was they were both carnivores so there would be no reason to truly gain an appetite to attempt anything toward one another.

“This sounds as if it’s a fairly important task. The queen’s right too, if we do the patrolling others won’t question anything or gain suspicion,” Nightingale finally spoke. Her tone was calm and soft, with some reassurance as it appeared Gimlet needed it before the pair would go onto patrol the areas.

The Atlanteans were causing a bit of chaos up top; there had been reports of dinosaurs tearing up the plants while others had been doing the planting. How saddening it was to hear about but Nightingale knew better than to question the whys of others actions. It was none of her business. Her business now, was to honor the queen and do the task in a timingly manner.

“...”

Seeing the confirmation from Nightingale was enough to encourage the larger dino. Gimlet looked up to the queen and gave a nod, confirming he would assist. With that they were pointed in the right direction, up and out of Atlantis and to the east. This would be their area to monitor and scout.There wasn’t anything of particular interest at this location, that was until they came across some boar that were chewing up the plants. “Get out of here you damn pigs!” Gimlet shouted drawing the attention of the swine. Instead of running or backing away they stood their ground, a particularly gnarled and scarred individual stepping forward. The one that had taken a stand let out a squeal, a declaration of war in pig language.

The sucho tilted his head, a confused smirk on his maw. “This can’t be real?” He said as he looked down at the cryo. As he looked back to the boar he felt something collide with his leg, a boar had charged into him shaking its head it tried to gore him. As he pulled his leg away he swung down, snapping his jaws around the animal. It shrieked in his grasp. Nightingale didn’t get much of a chance to see what just happened as she too felt a thud against her leg. 

“...”

Once the pair reached the area above, hearing the pig sounds made Nightingale question things. She glanced at Gimlet with her eyes narrowing in the process but ended up being shoved. Her body lost balance slightly as she made a small ‘oomph’ sound from her mouth.

“What the hell…” Nightingale could not help but say, in a confused yet authoritarian tone, “you should have more respect for someone else’s property!” She added with a snarl.

The boars snorted in disgust at the two larger ones then spoke in their language.

Nightingale was not sure what they were doing or why they were doing it. Maybe they were a part of the rebellion? Rumor has it there were rebels roaming about, tearing up the seeds that were newly planted by others like her and Gimlet. She looked to Gimlet, and felt another thud against her leg.

“Hey! Stop!” Nightingale snarled, louder this time in an almost snappy-tone.

“...”

Gimlet tossed the boar he was tussling with aside, mostly unharmed and covered in drool. He turned to look down at the scruffy creature ramming into Nightingale. With a heavy exhale through his snout he pitched down and snatched the boar up. It shrieked just like the last one and as Gimlet tossed it to the side it screamed the whole way to the ground. The other boars hesitate seemingly beginning to rethink their stand against the two dinosaurs.

As they talked amongst themselves they began to back away, moving further and further into the brush. Not turning their backs as they retreated, the duo waited for the sound of their shrill chittering to cease. Gimlet sighed frustrated as he looked out over the destruction. “I suppose we need to fix this.” He said half hoping Nightingale would shake her head and tell him it wasn’t their problem. It was their problem though and with no protest from the cryo it meant he would in fact have to fix the mess before him.