[Trade] Bachelor Pad

Adolescence, the burgeoning emergence of hormones and increased appetites and the sudden change in how others perceive you. Roseate had been a ghost for most of his youth, slipping between different territories and not making waves wherever he decided to hunt. He had noticed now that when he encountered the owners of these territories now they were less likely to just let him walk by unchallenged. As he grew close to his full size and his dimorphic markings had begun to bloom across his face, staining him as a solo roving male. Now he was a threat, a successful hunt for him could take food from the mouths of a hungry pack of his own kind. He wasn't afforded the benefit of the doubt anymore and now needed to find territory to mark out as his own.

Tony hadn't expected his expulsion from the village, but his uncle had informed him the moment his dimorph began to come in that he needed to clear out. The herd had no room for grown dinosaurs and he was old enough to find his own way. It had blindsided him, still recovering from an injury when he was informed that his home was no longer his own. He didn't argue, he felt too heartbroken to bother putting up a fight. He limped from the village that very day, stumbling into the forest and collapsing into the shell of an old tree stump when he could no longer walk. This was still herd territory and he needed to move further afield but he couldn't drag himself any further. The sound of water lulled him to sleep, despite his best judgement, and he imagined the cold, crisp taste of the fresh water once he managed to get to his feet.

The woods were as good a place as any to begin looking for somewhere to call his own, plenty of hiding spaces even if he had outgrown them. Roseate still had the lingering fear at the back of his mind about how that dark striped raptor could be watching him from anywhere but he puffed out his chest and reassured himself that he had outgrown that strange creature. He would beat it in a fight easily now, he'd had more practice since the older raptors decided to drive him out of their lands. He didn't stray far from the pathways, not trusting himself to find his way without any markers. He already missed the wide open savannah, even with the tall grass his sharp eyes could peek through and see for miles. He missed the river even more, having come to love the thrill of fishing and still nursing a gouge to the leg from a particularly feisty boar. The river had given him so much as he grew up, in fact he might not have grown up at all without it, and it hurt to leave it behind. When he heard the sound of running water, he perked up immediately, locking onto the sound and fighting through the dark undergrowth to find it.

Roseate burst through the leaves and found the stream, far smaller than his previous hunting grounds. Still, he dipped his snout in for a drink and revelled in the fresh taste, colder than he was used to but quenching his thirst in a way he had never experienced before. He decided to stay a while, watching the water flow past as he reminisced on his youth when a sudden movement caught his eye. There were fish in this river too. He had to watch carefully but the sleek form of a large brown carp darted under the surface and his heart fluttered at the sight. Perhaps the woods would be kind to him after all, shielding him and feeding him at the same time. Perhaps with a pack of his own he wouldn't even have to fear the striped raptor?

The thought made him giddy and he began to look around the clearing, spotted a large tree stump and clambering up onto it for a better point of view.

Tony woke to a heavy, feathery lump landing on him and he let out a honk of fear. He kicked out, feeling his leg muscle pull in agony as he tried to fight off whatever had ambushed him. The white and salmon blur that filled his vision was fighting back, screeching and identifying itself as a Utahraptor from its sharp cries. Tony rolled his neck and felt his head collide with the raptor's wing, catching it between it and the wall of the hollow tree stump. The raptor started to peddle its legs against him, scrambling in a way that seemed almost panicked. Tony used the raptor's disorientation to roll away out of the stump, forcing himself to his feet even as his leg seized and refused to cooperate.

Roseate cradled his bruised arm close to his chest, using the stump wall behind him to slide upwards and find his feet again. He looked at his foe for the first time, seeing he had accidentally landed on a crested Pachycephalosaurus, around his size, if even a little smaller. It had its head lowered, ready to take another shot at him. His instinct was to hold out his arms and try to reason with the other dinosaur but he remembered the striped raptor and bristled again, steeling himself for a fight.

The two stayed in those positions for a while, Roseate waiting for his foe to make the first move and Tony gritting his teeth as his leg stayed spasmed and stuck to the spot. His breathing was already ragged and there was no chance of escaping, was this a taste of the fights to come now that he was on his own? He decided to swallow his pride.

"If you want this spot, I'll leave, there's no need to start something," he gasped. He watched as the raptor seemed to deflate, its feathers lying flatter and the tension gone from the air.

"N-no that's okay, you were sleeping there first, I just fell through because I didn't know it was hollow," Roseate admitted.

"Don't you live here?" Tony asked in confusion, tilting his head.

"I don't really live anywhere right now," the raptor replied softly, avoiding eye contact.

"Me too," Tony said encouragingly, "I only left my herd yesterday, I'm too old to live with them anymore."

"Ever since my dimorph came in I can't pass through the savannah without a fight anymore," Roseate added eagerly, seizing onto the first chance of civilised conversation in weeks, "I have to find territory now." Tony was quiet for a minute.

"How do you feel about sharing this place?" he proposed, almost too quiet for Roseate to hear him. The raptor pondered it for a minute, as far as he had seen Pachys didn't eat the same things he did, he certainly hadn't seen one fishing. This one wouldn't be any strain on resources and he would be another set of eyes to watch out for the striped raptor. Even without being able to hunt in a pack with him, this would be a useful ally.

"I'm Roseate," he introduced himself.

"I'm Tony," the Pachy replied, a slight smile on his face.

"Good to meet you Tony, how do you feel about agreeing to never bother each other again?"