There's probably more where that came from

Rat lounged lazily in his preferred tree, limbs draping over the smooth bark of the coconut tree with the gentle sea breeze passing just faintly over his hide and between the spikes that lay scattered along the back of his neck down to his tail, which hung limply towards the ground and pulled slightly in the direction of the breeze. It was cool, but the ambient warmth of the spring air and the sun reflecting off of the pale sand made it altogether quite the ideal day for dozing and doing absolutely nothing.

He had the perfect view of the water up here, the crystalline blues making pretty reflections on the bottom of the tree’s trunk and rippling along his hide. It made for a mesmerising display when the light reflecting off of the water was so strong that it caught on the palm leaves. Today it was just… Rat sighed, completely at ease. It was just perfect.

A flicker of movement from beneath the surface of the water caught his attention, and he shifted his snout along the tree to watch as it darted this way and that beneath the waves. It was peaceful, watching fish dart around like this when they came into the shallow water, but this was a little larger than the usual fish. Not really a school either, the shape of it was too uniform and did not sometimes break up into little chunks. Not a shark, it moved too quickly and did not have the sort of side-to-side motion that all sharks had.

Rat jerked up, so drawn into watching the dark shape moving underneath the water that he almost fell off his perch. Again.

There was such a thing as being too comfortable.

He was also not sure that he hadn’t gotten a little too baked by the sun, because the fish had now climbed out of the water and was standing on the shore. Logic would dictate that it was a member of the beach bask, since it was Queen Bee’s island, but it was unlike anything that Rat had ever seen.

It was smaller than him, but it was very obviously not a utahraptor. Or at least, not a normal one, since it did seem to have the claws and everything. He was pretty sure, anyway. Its toes were a bit short compared to the rest of it, and its killclaws looked… much smaller than usual. Were its toes fused together? There seemed to be some kind of webbing between its tiny “killclaw” and the rest of its toes, which was odd enough. He had never seen another dino with that kind of oddity that wasn’t on its head or neck, not to mention whatever was going on with its face. The whole creature looked as though it had been gripped at both ends and stretched until it had a rat-like tail and a muzzle that could rival a sucho’s in terms of length, if it didn’t stand shorter than him. A long, skinny head on long, skinny neck with long, skinny limbs and the longest, skinny tail.

Whatever this thing was, it was vibrantly coloured, mismatched yet cohesive all at once. It sported no feathers, quills, or spikes, but was smooth and streamlined. Its body was primarily a reddish-orange colour, which from its legs and tail faded into a warm yellow tone which continued to lighten until it turned white at the very tips of its feet and tail. Its underbelly was a soft sort of deep pinkish tone, barely lighter than its body and strangely its forelimbs were… shockingly purple.

A rich gradient at the shoulder faded the red-orange of the body into the deep, dark purple tones, which again, strangely, faded into the same exceptionally pale white tone on the fingers as was present on the toes and tail. And like its fingertips and toe tips, its claws were a pale colour as well.

Perhaps the most shocking of all, amidst all these gradients of warm colours pouring into one another, was the solid coat of black which blanketed it from the tip of its snout to approximately the middle of its tail, where it rounded off neatly rather than coming to a point. The black seemed to shift and change colour depending on how the shadows and light were cast upon it, but it almost certainly had a similar warm undertone to the rest of its colours.

Its eyes were just as dark, but on its face - its peculiarly long, narrow face - but just behind its eyes was an oblong, rounded patch of yellow-orange, similar to that which was on its legs. There was a strip of the same colour resting just above its top lip at the tip of its muzzle, which Rat could not help but to snicker at just a little. It made it look as though the creature had a tiny little surprised expression, with its mouth opening only at the very top of its long head.

The neuq, suddenly made aware of Rat’s presence, jerked to turn its head directly towards where Rat lay lounging in the tree. The speed and precision of its movements was almost alarming, even coming from something that was only about half as tall as he was.

Rat spoke first, his tone light, yet as lazy as the rest of him. “Hey! Name’s Rat.”

This was, of course, assuming that the creature could understand him at all. It seemed for a moment that it couldn’t since it seemed to just be staring at him. But the neuq spoke, bobbing its head pleasantly as it did so.

“Well hello there! I am Crab.” The neuq spread its arms in a sort of small flourish, almost like a bow. It was kind of funny, honestly, and Rat’s pale eyes were bright with amusement. If Crab noticed, he didn’t say anything.

“Don’t mind me, I’m just getting the lay of the land.” Crab gestured out across the beach. “This is quite an extensive enclosure you have here.”

Rat did not have the slightest idea what an “enclosure” was. He rubbed his chin back and forth on the bark of the tree, scratching an itch with as little effort as possible. The warmth of the sun was still making him incredibly sleepy.

“This is Queen Bee’s island,” he said, his jaws parting in a large yawn. ”She could prolly help you figure things out. She’s good at that. Just don’t pick fights or anything.”

Crab tilted his head almost imperceptibly, an incredibly inquisitive, and even perhaps entrepreneurial nature hidden in the depths of those dark eyes. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to speak with her!” Crab dipped his head again.

Rat hummed and rested his eyes for a moment. Maybe a longer moment than he meant it to be. When he opened his eyes, realising that he had forgotten to tell the stranger where Queen Bee was or what she even looked like… he was gone.

Odd.

Rat sighed and got comfortable again. Maybe sometime soon he would drop out of the tree and find his royal mother himself soon. After he found a snack, he was getting kind of hungry. He was going to… maybe make sure that the next coconut he drank from wasn’t fermented.