Soup made of Carno

One could almost feel in the crisp, winter air, that the season was nearing its end. While there was still snow and ice around most of the days, the ground would still have cool, glittery frost on those days that it didn't. The almost constant darkness was slowly getting shorter day by day, sun setting later and later each night. Only brighter times ahead for the dinosaurs and other de-extinct reptiles living among the Kaima Archipelago. The coastal winds made the cold linger for longer than felt necessary, but that was just how life was, no matter the season, the harsh, coastal winds would persist.

Talia, a brown, roan, rosette Carno adorned with a red midline, dark back and light, soft belly, took a deep breath, the cold air sharply entering her nostrils, and she huffed out all the air at once, watching as her warm breath evaporated in the cool wind. Her orange eyes wandered from the glittery horizon to one of her friends, Shaaba, who was a dark blue ish gray Carno with an even darker back and dun stripes, as well as a light patch on her forehead. Beside her was another Carno, that Talia still did not know well, a male named Ghast. He was light gray with dark clouded mostly towards the front of his body and his dimorph was very vibrant, red stripes over his ribs. His eyes were almost as dark as his clouded, which was making it slightly tricky to keep eye contact with him at times. It made Talia feel slightly uneasy, but if Shaaba said she could trust him, she would do just that until proven otherwise. He looked friendly enough, she thought to herself with a slight smile on her face.
It had been Shaaba’s idea to meet today, she had heard in passing that it was a very good time to relax in the hot springs in the cold mornings and she was for sure not wanting to go alone, so bringing friends along was of course the best course of action, she had told herself. To her joy, Ghast had accepted her suggestion immediately, which she had expected. They had known each other for a long time and very often did leisurely activities together. Talia had been more sceptical, considering she did not know Ghast very well, but she had eventually agreed. Shaaba saw it as a good opportunity to see if the two of them could get along as well, because if so she had so many fun plans for things they could do together in the future.
Ghast himself was very indifferent to meeting new faces. His experiences were very mixed so far, especially with him being a little on the mischievous side at times, though he picked those moments carefully, for the most part. He knew that Shaaba would not approve of him pranking her friend, so he was decent enough to accept that. He wouldn't want to leave a bad impression, after all. 

Shaaba was taking the lead as the three carnivores headed towards the sought after hot springs, not because the others didn't know the way, but simply because she was excited, and if she was in front of them it was more likely that they would perhaps talk, she thought.
Talia looked over at Ghast, as they were walking next to each other, though with a body length’s worth of space between them. She was curious about him, he seemed to have a mysterious aura of sorts. She looked away in panic when Ghast’s dark gaze met hers, which caused Ghast to chuckle.
“I promise you I will not bite unprompted.” he assured her with a smile.
“Unprompted? So would you if I asked for it?” she replied instinctively, though she immediately regretted opening her mouth. What an embarrassing thing to ask a stranger.
Ghast let out a heartfelt laughter which caused Shaaba to look back at them to see what was going on. She tried her best not to eavesdrop, but she was incredibly curious.
“I suppose I could do that.” Ghast replied, which made Talia’s whole face hot. She was so happy that her face couldn’t give away her being flustered, besides possibly her expression, of course.

Before Talia could think of something clever to say back to Ghast, Shaaba let out an excited sound and stopped, so the two of them trotted up the small hill to get to her, which welcomed them with the view of multiple steaming hot pools of water. They had finally arrived at the hot springs.
A lot of the pools were already occupied by a bunch of different dinosaurs, both large and small, herbivores and carnivores alike, peacefully coexisting if only just for a moment. It was quite a wonderful sight to behold, Talia thought to herself with a smile. She started to walk down to the closest, empty pool and climbed down, letting out a sigh of relief as the warm water made contact with her cold, scaly skin. Not far behind her, Shaaba and Ghast also walked down, with Shaaba entering first of the two and Ghast following soon after.
“Oh what a relaxing feeling.” Shaaba calmly sighed, sinking down deeper in the water. “I could stay here forever.”
“It is quite nice, I have to agree.” Ghast chimed in, closing his eyes and relaxing in the warmth. “This was a very good idea, Shaaba.”
“Definitely a good idea, I appreciate that you talked me into coming along today.” Talia agreed, letting out yet another deep sigh as all tension left her body.
“We should make this a habit to come here, my muscles have never felt so good before.” Ghast mumbled as he was starting to doze off.
“Yeah I agree. Do either of you have plans next week?” Talia asked while sliding down further on her back, splashing around a bit when her tail, now just her head and legs above the water.
“I sure do now, I would love to come back here with the two of you.” Shaaba replied, also closing her eyes to relax and just take in the environment. A mix of the cold air mixed with the hot steam from the hot springs filling her lungs. It was both a pleasant and unpleasant mix, but it was all worth the cozy, hot water anyway.

The three carnos enjoyed the rest of the evening there mostly in silence, and even when most of the other dinosaurs had started to vacate the area, they still remained in their little pool of pure bliss and relaxation.
After many hours, Shaaba reluctantly started to mentally prepare herself to get out of the warmth back to the cold. She was not thrilled about having to do so, but she had to get home eventually whether she liked it or not.
“Well, this has been a lovely day. Thank you both for keeping me company.” she said as she stood up, immediately shivering as a cold gust of wind hit her wet body.
“It has been very nice. I really do not want to leave but things have to be done.” Ghast sighed, also getting up.
“I will stay here for a little bit longer. Thank you two for the company, it has been nice.” Talia said as her company was getting out of the pool. “See you two next week!”
“See you around.” the both of them happily chimed as they walked off.