Cliffside observing

Near the shore, an odd young trio had been spotted recently. While two of them weren’t necessarily that weird to see near each other, being an atopo and sucho, the third one was for sure the odd one out, being a pachy.

The three of them all looked very similar in terms of colours and pattern, and had funnily enough, been taken in by the same parents. They all knew they were different species and didn’t necessarily belong together, but that didn’t stop them from accepting each other as siblings without questioning it.

Dashing across the sand, running much like the style of a comodo dragon, little Amadeus, the masked, anteater atopo, did his best to catch up with his much more land adapted siblings. Lucille, the saddled, anteater sucho and biggest of the tree, looked back at him and cackled at the sight of his wide steps.
“You can do it Amadeus, come get me!” she hollered and ran towards Hermes.
Hermes, a teared anteater pachy, was the fastest and was way ahead of his two siblings. He was the only one meant for actually sprinting on land, though the sand did make it a little more difficult, he still had an easier time than the other two. He laughed at the sight of them competing, as if Amadeus had a chance at all to catch up.
“You’re being unfair.” Hermes called out to Lucille, who just rolled her eyes at him.
Amadeus was huffing and snorting as he ran, because while he found it fun to race, it did exhaust him significantly. So not too long after, he flopped down in the sand and sighed.
“I’m done, you win..” he groaned and laid flat on the ground, digging his webbed toes into the sand. “I will just die here, don’t mind me.”
“You’re so dramatic Amadeus.” Lucille giggled as she stopped and walked back to her much smaller brother. “Need a lift?”

Amadeus held up his front legs towards Lucille, who proceeded to lay down flat next to him so he could climb up on her feathered back.
Hermes looked back at the two as Lucille stood up again, and he shook his crested head.
“Do you just keep exhausting him so you can carry him around like an accessory?” Hermes asked with a smirk.
“He makes a nice scarf.” Lucille replied, grinning with her teeth.
“I make the best scarf.” Amadeus chimed in, as he was hanging across her neck, head and tail dangling on each side.
“Well since you’re carrying him, we might as well go on a little hike.” Hermes suggested, and his siblings happily nodded as a response.

Despite knowing better, Hermes was leading the three of them up the cliffside. He was making sure that the path he took was safe, but climbing along the cliffs was always a risk. Falling could mean their death, after all, since many of the rocks below were sharp. But he tried not to think about the horrors that could happen.
Lucille was not too bothered about the sharp cliffs either, she had been living near them for a short period of time before their parents had found her, so she felt an odd sense of safety by them despite their risk.Amadeus was mostly fascinated, since the cliffs looked to different from above compared to under the water. They looked a lot more dangerous from up here, he thought, but he liked them.

Eventually, they reached the top of the cliffside, which loomed almost as an arch over the ocean. It almost looked as if the tip of the cliffside could snap if something too heavy were to be there, so Hermes and Lucille stopped at a safe distance. Amadeus started wiggling around to signal that he wanted down, and Lucille happily obliged, laying down so he could climb off safely.
“What a view!” Hermes exclaimed and walked closer to the edge, seeing as he was much smaller than the other two, and much lighter. “The ocean looks a lot more dangerous and violent from up here..”
“It does, yeah.” Lucille agreed. “The waves mostly feel nice and peaceful under the surface but they look so devastating from above.”
“I wish I could compare, it just looks scary to me.” Hermes chimed in, seeing as he had never been submerged under the waves.
They sat quietly for a moment, observing the waves and occasional ocean life that breached the surface. Hermes also chased off some seagulls that had the audacity to land too close to him, breaching his personal bubble. Lucille mostly smiled as she looked at the clouds moving in the distance, and the waves making the horizon uneven. She looked out at the mountains way in the distance, across the ocean. They were barely visible but she knew they were there. She was curious about them, but the swim was too far to be safe.
Amadeus wanted to hang over the edge to look down, but he knew it was unsafe to do so, so he opted to not do it. Instead he looked out over the open waters and happily gasped anytime he saw something big like a whale or shark.

After observing the view for some time, the three siblings cuddled up together, away from the edge, and took a nap under a tree. The sun wasn’t necessarily warm, especially considering the coastal, autumn breezes, but it was nice to hide from it regardless, to avoid light in the eyes. Everything felt so nice and peaceful.