Squash it like a Bug

Minnow hurried across the leaf-covered ground, scampering as fast as her squat little legs could carry her. The rustling leaf litter betrayed her path to anyone that might be listening and it made her only want to go faster, her heart pounding her chest. Everything was too big, too terrifying. She had known since very soon after hatching that atopos were food for whatever decided they were peckish, and now - every shadow around was hiding frightening shapes, every tree and shrub hid teeth and claws and things that exploded into the air and screeched loudly at her and she was very small - abysmally so. But the overflow stream that she had been travelling in had run dry once the late spring snows had melted with the mild weather and now she had no wonderful murky water to hide in, no soft mud to curl up in, and the tiny water plants she had been nibbling on had dried up with the water. She had had no choice but to try to find somewhere else.

She panted, squeaking in fear when something several times her size appeared on the path ahead of her. She turned as sharply as she could, skidding and slipping over the leaves and running in place until she managed to get a grip again and propel herself forwards.

It seemed she was in luck! There was a shallow, murky pond just ahead that had some water in it - though it was more of a large puddle, really. She raced towards it, only to despair when she got stuck in the deep, sticky mud. She squeaked and squealed, terrified as she tried to pull her limbs free, but the mud clung to her feet and feathers, legs and tail.

Worse still, she could hear something coming. She looked over her shoulder and fought even harder when she saw the same tall, frightening shape from before approaching her, lumbering through the undergrowth that was so many times larger than she was.

But for Skele, the shrubs weren’t too tall. About twice his size, but he didn’t mind. They had nice things to eat sometimes, his parents had shown him. Nicer than some of the other things that they ate sometimes. This little screaming thing… Was it food? He wasn’t sure. It was writhing and wriggling and crying to get away, and the sounds it made only became more shrill when he paused in the mud, craning his neck down to get a better look at it. Where the little creature had been sucked into the muck, only his feet sank in, and he could easily free them again.

Minnow’s struggling only made her situation worse, becoming so firmly entrenched in the mud that it was hard to tell where the ground stopped and she began. She had only been scared of the other creatures roaming around, would the ground eat her too?! What a terrifying thought! The water was truly the only safe place but she wasn’t going to make it there, she was - 

She squealed, feeling hard, keratinous claws push under the mud, under her stomach. Skele scooped her up slowly, the wet and sticky ground reluctantly releasing her. He brought her closer to his face, his pale yellow gaze unblinking as he stared at her. He was only a hatchling, barely the height of his parents’ ankles, but this little thing was miniscule. So tiny, so petite. She looked like a tadpole, he thought. Tadpoles were soft and squishy. Easy to accidentally crush. It made him sad.

Minnow was not going to be crushed, though. With a short burst of bravery, she jumped from Skele’s claws across the mud and landed in the water with a teeny tiny splash. The pattern on her feather coat was perfect for camouflage - she all but disappeared as soon as she swam deeper.

She dove deeper into the murky water. She was swimming as fast as she could, but the mud that clung to her trapped air bubbles in her feathers, making her more buoyant than usual. She was tired when she settled on the puddle bottom, her small size making it so that she barely disturbed the soft silt when she came to a stop.

Minnow gazed up through water, holding her breath and waiting, watching the miniature ripples distort the light that shone through the surface. That was such a strange experience.

Skele watched as well, staring at the water where the tiny creature had disappeared to. He had decided that she was not a tadpole. Even tadpoles weren’t that wriggly, and she was much louder. But what was the little creature?

He took a few steps closer to the edge of the large puddle, slowly crouching by the water’s edge and paying no mind to the mud that clung to his feet and tail feathers. He stretched his neck out over the water, looking down in search of the little thing. He could see more clearly into the water through his shadow, he realised. He could see the flash of white on her face, paws, and tail, and he could see her looking straight up at him just like he was looking down at her.

Minnow watched with quiet apprehension as the sunlight was replaced by shadow, and instead of distorted light, she saw a distorted… that looking down at her. What did he want? He’d brought her right up to his mouth, she had been certain that he was going to try to eat her - but then he let her jump into the puddle, and he hadn’t even chased her. Did he want something else? Different food, maybe? Was he like her, did he like to eat green things?

Minnow looked around her, searching for something that she would like to eat. Maybe he would like the same. There weren't many plants growing in the puddle, but the water had been here long enough that there was something. A few plants sprouted from the bottom, some rooted and some more stringy and mossy. She propelled herself through the water with tiny hands and a swish of her tail, and dug at the soft silt at the base of one of the smaller rooted plants. The algae was nice for her, but his mouth was… big. This was probably nicer for him.

Skele watched with silent curiosity, then sadness. The little thing was disappearing in an opaque cloud as she dug at the puddle bottom. There she went. Just like every other little thing that he encountered. He should probably get back to his parents, anyway. They might not be wondering where he was, but he didn’t want to be left behind. He was hungry and they always showed him where to eat, even if sometimes what they wanted him to eat didn’t taste very good or was tough and chewy.

Before he could get up, though, something green disturbed the surface of the water. He watched a little longer, perplexed, as the thing that was not a tadpole appeared as well, a plant stem clamped in her tiny bill. She dragged it through the water towards him at the shore, determinedly paddling forwards despite the plant’s desire to stay put. It was almost as large as she was.

Skele stared as she let it go and started to push it towards the shore instead. Towards him. This was for him?

Minnow squeaked at him, then retreated back slightly, just enough to be out of reach. Where she thought was out of reach - his neck was longer than she had realised, and he could stretch it out very far to pick the plant from the water. He did pick up the plant, though he just as easily could have snapped her up. She was very glad that he chose not to.

She squeaked again when he pulled back, holding the plant in his beak and giving her a blank look. She dove back underneath the water, only to come back up again just a brief moment later with a mouthful of stringy algae. They could eat together!

Skele chewed. Then chewed some more. This was nice. Eating with a little thing. He had decided that she was a bug.