[Trade] [PA] Urban Explorers

Large, dark silhouettes rise into the sky in the distance as Sage and Appy flap towards the urban jungle. The two tapejaras are following a dark green cryolophosaurus as he treks through the long grass. They almost lost him a couple times due to him being nearly the same color as the grass around him, but luckily they are equipped with good eyesight, as they need it to spot prey or dangers from far away. This time, they’re following the promise of food. The dark green cryolophosaurus has glanced up a few times, surely being able to determine that he’s being followed, but he doesn’t seem to care much, if at all. Sage looks over to the spotted tapejara next to him before raising his voice over the increasing wind.

“Are you sure about this, Appy? He might attack us if we try to steal his food..” He raises an eyebrow before once again looking down at the cryo they’re following.

“Yes! I can almost make out what he’s smelling. It looks to be a shuno carcass. We’ll be eating well tonight, and can even bring back some of it for Costel! That is, if we aren’t eaten ourselves.”

Sage sighs, falling back into his usual resolved quietness. They may be fliers but if this carcass is busy with carnivores, it’ll be hard to get a morsel without risking their lives in the process. 

The buildings loom closer as the trio approaches the urban area. Cracked pavement litters what’s left of the road, trees sprout from impossible areas, and moss covers almost everything from top to bottom. Clearly nature has taken over as time has went on. The buildings are now leaning, windows broken open and cracks sprouting from every corner. The dark green cryo now sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the grey and black of the urban areas, but he doesn’t seem to mind enough to bother to hide where there is greenery. It takes some effort to dodge between buildings while keeping an eye on the cryo, but the two tapejaras continue to follow him to the corpse that’s slowly getting closer. It looks promising from where they’re at, as there are no large predators in sight. The carcass must be relatively new, because it doesn’t look rotten or completely eaten by scavengers. The dark green cryo looks up to the tapejaras as he approaches the carcass and smiles before calling up to them. 

“I know you two have been following me and I assume you hope to get some of this carcass. Well, I don’t mind if you both come and take some, there’s plenty to go around. The name’s Newt by the way.” Newt chuckles as the tapejaras hesitate and look at each other warily. Appy is the first to descend, landing on the side of the corpse and nodding to Newt before introducing herself.

“Hello, I’m Appy and this is Sage. We’ve been following you for some time in hopes of getting some food, and you seem friendly enough. Thank you for offering some of it to us!” She looks back up to Sage who is still cautious, but after watching Appy take a nibble on the corpse, he decides it’s worth the risk. His stomach rumbles loudly and he begins to dig in alongside his companion, keeping an eye on Newt as they all eat their fill. Appy is the first to finish eating due to her small size not requiring as much food, and she waits patiently beside Sage while he eats. She keeps watch, glancing around periodically so that no predators can sneak up on them while they eat. As soon as Sage is full, he hops up into the air, flapping hard to gain height. Appy is close behind, and the two tapejaras circle the cryo while they wait for him to finish eating. It takes a while for him to be done, but once he is he wipes his mouth on the grass beside the corpse. Newt watches the two tapejaras for a while before walking further into the city. His feet are sore from walking on the harsh surfaces but he ignores the pain and continues on. While his main goal was to reach the city and eat his fill of the shuno corpse, he also wanted to find some materials for his nest in the city. The cloth materials that weren’t degraded over time from the humans were soft and perfect for sleeping on, and he wanted to gather some. Appy lowers to the eye-level of Newt, Sage keeping close in case the younger tapejara were to be attacked. 

“So now that you’re full, what are you going to do now?” The spotted tapejara inquires, holding a large chunk of meat in her claws as she flies. The cryo looks over lazily, tail swishing behind him as he walks. 

“I’m looking for sleeping materials for my nest,” He answers calmly. “What are you going to do with that chunk of meat?” 

“I’m bringing this back for our friend Costel,” Appy says enthusiastically. “He’s a carno that we hang around sometimes.” Newt blinks in surprise, suddenly glad that he never decided to hurt the two tapejaras. 

“Interesting,” he replies. Sage gives Appy a look of warning, hoping that she doesn’t reveal too much about them or their relationships. The last thing they need is to have some stranger cryo be a potential danger. The blue and brown tapejara spots something bright in a nearby building’s open window, quickly changing direction in the air to hover near the window’s opening. 

“Here’s something that might work,” he says to Newt. The cryo turns and climbs through the open window, quickly spotting what the tapejara was talking about. It was a large red blanket, ripped in some areas with holes in other areas, but mostly intact. Newt nods in satisfaction as he pulls it over him, tail poking through a hole towards the bottom. 

“Yes, this will work well. It’s still soft and not entirely worn out,” the cryo remarks happily. Appy squeals in delight as she finds a smaller blanket and dives underneath it with a giggle, tossing the meat chunk she was carrying to Sage. He catches it, smiling at the younger tapejara’s energy. Newt chuckles and exits the building through the window, careful not to snag his newfound nesting material on any pieces of glass or jagged parts of the building. He waits for the two tapejaras to follow before continuing through the city. While his nest is in the opposite direction, he still wanted to explore some more to see if he could find anything better. The trio continues to dip in between buildings, through alleyways and over broken roads but the city seems to have already been ransacked thoroughly. Everything’s empty and void of anything except barely recognizable materials, and some even featured nests that the group quickly avoided.

“Who in their right mind would want to nest in such a dangerous and desolate place?” Appy asks as they continue down one of the many alleyways, scanning continuously for anything other than the blanket she grabbed. 

“I don’t know, but it does hold some appeal. Last place I’d think about searching for nests would be here, and some find that fact an advantage if they really want to hide their nests,” Newt replies, his voice slightly muffled as he carries the blanket. Sage nods, finding that statement to make sense. Appy snorts, raising an eyebrow as she considers his words. 

“True, but there’s hardly any prey, or nesting materials. Plus the buildings are all unstable and cracked, filled with sharp things or dangerous crevasses. A hatchling could fall right through the floor!” The spotted tapejara retorts. Newt shrugs, glancing over at something he thought might be useful nesting material but snorts after finding out it was just a scrap of fabric that had been torn from something else. 

“There’s pros and cons to any nesting location, though I have to agree that the city seems to outweigh the pros with the cons,” Newt concedes.

“Anyways, it’s looking like this blanket will be the only thing I will be able to add to my nest so far,” He sighs, slightly disappointed. He stops to stretch his feet as they have become increasingly sore as the group has trekked on. Sage lands on a rubble pile next to Newt, transferring the meat chunk from his claws to his mouth while resting. Appy also lands nearby, carrying her own small blanket in her mouth as well. The group catches their breaths and Newt lets his feet stop throbbing before they continue on, this time heading back in the direction of the way they came. The buildings start to blur together as the group heads back, the sky darkening. They’ve spent most of the day in the city looking for nesting materials after eating, and now they’re heading back. Newt and the two tapejaras continue on quietly, all of them preoccupied with carrying something. 

The two tapejaras stick close to each other as the shadows lengthen and the sun dips below the horizon. Their primary way of detecting danger is becoming increasingly harder and harder to accurately depict what is a shadow and what is movement. Newt, picking up on their nervousness, also becomes slightly skittish and picks up the pace. Nobody wants to be in the city after dark, as the danger only increases with every hour. Finally, the trio reaches the edge of the city, having avoided the shuno corpse this time as by now more and more predators and scavengers have most likely picked up the scent and started to fight over it. By this time the trio have picked up the pace considerably, desperate to reach their homes before it becomes impossible to see anymore. Without much of a goodbye other than a couple head nods, the trio splits into two groups. The two tapejaras ascend into the sky, heading back home to their nests, and Newt continues on towards his own. Once he reaches his home he sets the blanket down on his nest and curls up, relieved to be back home without having encountered any dangers. He hopes that the two tapejaras made it back safely and smiles while imagining them sharing their meat chunk and blanket with their carno friend.