Truffle Hunters

Scavar's face was covered in dirt, roots dangling loosely from his nasal horn before a swift shake discarded them, his head tipping to survey the absolute destruction that had come over this little patch of woodland. Today, he and two others had come out to truffle-hunt. It was a little treat, hard to find around here but not impossible. The issue was.. Scavar was a bit dim and had no clue just what he was looking for. When it came to his previous endeavors in the sport — that's what he considered it, a sport, a competition between himself and his friends, of sorts, albeit the fact that it was very one-sided — he'd gotten by with nothing but pure luck.

The two he'd brought along with him, a soft-spoken Euplocephalus who'd introduced himself as 'Lark,' and an ornery Iguanodon female who'd told him he was to call her 'Adur' and nothing else, seemed to know a little bit more about it than he did, at the very least. To his left, the nodosaur was snuffling about by some tree roots, his low-profile frame allowing him to stay low to the ground with little effort from himself. He was already so close to the forest floor.. Scavar had had to plant himself wide just to get low enough to tear through the soil in that destructive fashion he'd been using. To his right, Adur's horrific thumbspike was tentatively scraping at the earth, her brows furrowed. She didn't seem so sure of that spot, considering the fact that she was merely picking at the soil rather than actually tearing it up. Scavar's own work was quite the sight, holes littered the spaces he'd been like a minefield, although they were ultimately empty once he'd finished with them. Small roots were torn, and there were displaced insects that were probably very confused about what had happened to their underground tunnel systems. All of that destruction, and not a single truffle to show for it! He was starting to believe the efforts were futile.

"You could stand to be a little more careful." A voice, rough and undoubtedly belonging to Adur, called to Scavar as he lowered his head to tear through another patch of once-pristine floor. Her expression was scrutinizing, crest flared and eyes narrowed, amber gaze disapproving in its unyielding stare. She was none too pleased with the bull's frankly childish behavior. He was a mature ceratopsian, he should've known how to forage for himself without someone guiding his every motion. How he managed to make it this far amazed her. The jungle would've eaten this stubborn Styracosaurus alive if he'd grown up in the same place she had.

"Hey, easy on the fella. Nothin's been broken." A much more mellow disposition, Lark lifted his head from his own displaced soil. A mediator at heart, he couldn't rightly hold any animosity for the mess, or the snappish behavior from the brutish Iguanodon. There were strengths in both approaches, he believed. Adur's more careful approach could very easily find what Scavar's rampage had missed, and that was more beneficial than trying to one up each other, in his own humble opinion. Although, that wasn't something he voiced out loud. The slight smile curling at the edges of his features told everything that he was thinking, and he didn't need to say much more before the others turned from their tense stare-down to focus back on the task at hand.

"Say, are truffles even good?" Lark mused halfheartedly, bringing his attention upwards to focus on something completely unrelated, perhaps to appear more thoughtful. He hadn't tried one before — the only reason he'd even volunteered to come out here to look for them was simply because he wanted the company. The poor guy was quite social, and would gladly take the opportunities to spend some time with another without a second thought, sharp teeth or not. When your hide was made to rival even the strongest stone, there really wasn't that much to worry about when it came to danger like that, was there? That thought process was what had shaped him into the dinosaur he was today, even if it made him appear strange or absent to others.

"They're.. alright, I suppose." Adur responded, her head tipping away and a shoulder sagging to accentuate the half-shrug she used to display her indifference. They weren't the most spectacular thing to her, there were more desirable foods out there. Too earthy for her own tastes, her palate was much more accustomed to the more tropical flavors of her home.

"I think they're great." Scavar countered, shaking his head once more to rid his face of the dirt and roots that had once more wrapped themselves around his horn and beak. He was quite the sight! His feathers were ruffled and speckled brown thanks to the earth he'd displaced, immeasurably more mussed than his companions in their endeavors. He plopped down, deflating slightly with the exertion he'd been putting on himself in his overzealous search. Lark's head rose and tipped towards the sound of the bull hitting the floor, and a light laugh broke from him.

"Giving up so easy? You'll never find what you're looking for if you're gonna be discouraged, just like that." The armored herbivore abandoned his own search to come sit beside the other, hunched over slightly with his clubbed tail curled in a wide semi-circle around his form. His eyes were partially lidded, impressively calm about the whole ordeal, considering the fact that they'd been out here looking for these little fungi all day. Scavar couldn't be blamed! It was hard to keep up the motivation he'd come out here with when it didn't seem like they were getting anywhere. His nose wrinkled slightly, and a huff escaped his partially parted beak.

"Enough. I'm not going to sit around and entertain your pouting." Adur wasn't the most empathetic dinosaur. She was irritable on a good day, but this really took the cake. She'd been out here for so long, and she really did see the endeavor as nothing more than a babysitting job. She was so precise in her work that the carefree attitudes from the other two had set her on edge. They were acting like they didn't want to work towards this goal. She knew Lark was willing to leave this half-done, and that was enough to draw her nerves thin.

"Oh, don't be like that. You can't blame him." Lark mused from his space beside the young bull, tipping his broad head to get a better look at the iguanodon a little further away. "Does it really matter if we don't find exactly what we're looking for? There's plenty of other things that are just as good.. and easier to get a hold of."

"You're giving up because you're lazy, not because you believe that," she rebutted. Her crest had fanned upwards by now, her impatience plastered on her form like a second skin. The day had worn both herself and her patience thin. Perhaps another time, Lark's unaffected attitude wouldn't have caused such a stir in the larger being, but today? After being dragged out into the woods with nothing to show for it? His demeanor was irritating.

Whilst the older pair bickered — more aptly, while Adur bickered and Lark listened — Scavar had turned from them to try again, one more time. He'd trudged only a few meters away, perhaps the length of one Adur, roughly, when a smell hit him. It was unlike what he'd been sniffing at all day, and curiosity urged him to follow it. The base of a tree beckoned, the small shoots that had begun to take root there unknowing of the sudden destruction that Scavar felt the need to wreak upon that little patch of dirt. His nasal horn dug in with confidence, something he'd had since he came out here. The mindset he carried ensured that he'd be willing to continue on, but.. it made it hard to know when to call it quits, too. It didn't seem like that would be a problem, however, since the more soil he upturned, the stronger that smell got.

Eventually, he hit a mass. A little bump that was more solid than the soft dirt he'd been shoveling through. Scavar picked his head up and shook himself out, before leaning forward to peer into the trench he'd dug. Why, if he was dreaming! There, upturned and a little crooked thanks to his invasive digging, was a truffle! He would've missed it if it weren't for the smell that it was emitting, something earthy and almost like garlic. Blue eyes narrowed as he leaned forwards, if only to confirm his find, before his head snapped up in an excited little hop. His front feet left the ground only briefly before hitting the dirt once more, aiding in the rapid turn to face the still-charged exchange between the other two individuals.

"Hey. Hey! Come over here, an' take a look!" Scavar belted over the green iguanodont's chiding, catching the attention of both of his companions. Adur was the first to disengage, despite being the first to engage, and trotted over to the ceratopsian's find. She bent at the neck, lowering her head to sniff at the dirt, sending loose soil and leaflitter scattering beneath powerful airflow. Her brows lifted, feathers puffing outwards before being soothed with a swift shake.

"Look at that. You're not entirely hopeless." Adur's compliment was backhanded, but.. it was the thought that mattered, perhaps. There wasn't a way to get something out of her that wasn't a little mean, unfortunately. Not that Scavar had noticed, at least. It didn't bother him all that much, however, because his accomplishment was his success. Lark was the second to wander over, his shorter body rocking from side to side as little legs carried his bulk as quickly as he could possibly move. His reaction was a bit brighter, his beak parting in an excited little gasp as he rose from the sizeable little fungus.

"Oh, and it's big enough to split! Great job, Scavar," he chuckled, turning in a circle to dispose of some of that energy that had hit him with the achievement — though perhaps not of the group, and achievement nonetheless. Adur had stepped between both of them, her delicate approach allowing her to properly dig the mushroom out without damaging it, ensuring they could at least enjoy the fruit of their labor before it was time for them all to head home.