[Trade] Unexpected Meeting

Snip blinked lazily, feeling the morning light force its way between his half-closed eyelids. The disgruntled hatchling, with a comical grimace of irritation on his face, turned his head away, trying to shield himself from the sun climbing across the sky. To no avail – time was passing, and the young, irritated cryolophosaurus could do nothing about it. The blissful, restorative night’s rest was already over. Still somewhat sleepy, the male lifted his head with some effort, then looked around the small cave. As he had expected, he saw nothing to catch his eye. Beside him lay his brother, still asleep, appearing in the dim light as a mysterious white blur. Snip had no intention of disturbing his rest. He would have preferred to find someone who, like him, had already woken up and was keen to play. But there was no such luck. Apart from Snip and his brother, there were no hatchlings in the cave – their clutch was depressingly small. They had come into the world at an inopportune time.

At the entrance to the cave lay a massive, dark figure, covered in black-grey scales and numerous scars. His sides rose and fell rhythmically, in time with the adult male’s breathing. The half-blind, world-weary male was Snip’s father. Although he himself had endured many unpleasant moments during his long life, he was a good guardian – he looked after his two delicate young with great care. One might even say he did so with too much dedication. Slash, terrified of what might await his sons in this vast, dangerous world, did not allow them too much independence. At first, this didn’t seem to be much of a problem for the newly hatched cryolophosaurus, but as they grew, things changed somewhat. Snip was incredibly curious about the outside world and had had more than enough of spending most of his time in that monotonous, claustrophobic cave. He wanted to finally explore the surroundings!

The excited hatchling stood up on his hind legs, concentrating hard to avoid any obstacles in his path – he had to be extremely careful not to wake his family, and the twigs and dried leaves scattered throughout the cave posed a real risk of doing just that. Even one reckless step could  ruin his plan. Fortunately, it soon became clear that he needn’t worry about his brother – the piebald cryo was fast asleep, snoring softly.

Snip began to slowly creep towards the cave’s exit. He watched his father’s every move. The adult male was also fast asleep, but Slash could never truly let his guard down. His muscles, not quite fully relaxed, showed that he would be able to spring into action at a moment’s notice, if he needed to.

Fortunately for the young soon-to-be escapee, Slash—though he was blocking the cave entrance with his massive body—must have shifted slightly in his sleep, for a sizeable gap was visible between the rock formations; it was the light streaming through this crack that woke Snip. The male deftly slipped through the gap, quietly sidestepping his parent.

The morning light, incomparably brighter outside than in the cave, blinded the hatchling so severely that he hissed reflexively in surprise. Snip tensed, frightened by the sound – he hoped he hadn’t ruined his chances of escape. He turned his head cautiously, glancing towards his nest. Fortunately, Slash still had his eyes tightly shut.

He’d made it!

~*~

Shilo had never been so lucky in her life. She couldn’t even boast of such a small family – in fact, she had not the faintest idea who her parents were. She had no siblings either, or at least she was unaware of their existence. When she hatched from her small, greenish egg, she found no comforting sight of other eggshells around her to suggest she wouldn’t be alone in this world. For she, in fact, was.

Life as a solitary little herbivore was no easy feat. The female had to learn everything she needed to survive on her own. She began by identifying vegetation that could serve as a source of food. Due to her absurdly small size (at least for now), she had to limit herself to what grew close to the ground. Although she had only been in this world for a few weeks, she already knew that green grass, fallen leaves and colourful flowers, which she could find practically everywhere at this time of year, were ideal for a meal. A rather unpleasant experience after eating a small amount of forest mushrooms meant, however, that she intended to steer well clear of them.

She also had to keep her distance from predators. She didn’t yet know much about them, but a deeply ingrained instinct told her that the islands were teeming with carnivores lying in wait to take her life – a shiver of unease ran down her armoured back at the very thought of it. One problem, however, was that Shilo wasn’t really aware of what the species that might pose a potential threat to her looked like.

She was soon to find out, though.

Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes on the hill in front of the young female. Before Shilo had a chance to get a proper look at the vegetation, a mysterious, greyish shape emerged from among the thousands of low-hanging twigs and rolled downwards uncontrollably at considerable speed. The female instinctively took a few steps back. Thanks to this, she avoided the incident – the strange shape rolled down the hill with the force of a cannonball, straight to her feet. Both surprised and intrigued, the female swiftly picked up her still-underdeveloped club from the ground – one can never be too careful, especially as a prey-animal.

The shape at her feet quickly began to change its outline. As soon as the initial shock caused by this spectacular fall had passed, the unfortunate creature began to slowly stretch his aching limbs, until finally, with undisguised effort, he stood up. This even stranger sight made Shilo tilt her head to one side, like a bewildered puppy. Standing before her was a creature so unusual that she had absolutely no idea what she was actually looking at. She had never seen anyone like this before.

Snip felt much the same. He too (despite being slightly older) had never before come across an euoplocephalus. He knew he was dealing with a dinosaur, but he had to admit that absolutely none of the herbivores he had encountered so far bore even the slightest resemblance to the female he had stumbled upon. All in all, no animal he had ever seen could compare to her extravagance – everything about her, from her shape to the colours and patterns on her body, was unusual. Snip must have spent a little too long staring at the green patches on her flanks, because Shilo actually grumbled, displeased.

The male jumped back, startled by the unexpected sound. Yet there wasn’t a hint of aggression in that slightly shrill, uncertain cry. Though they belonged to completely different species, each of them was, in fact, delighted by this chance encounter. At last, they had a chance to find a playmate!

Neither of them was aware that, were it not for their inexperience and young age, they would surely have regarded each other as enemies...

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