A Pleasant River

Blood Splatter carefully navigated the rock face, keeping one eye on his feet and another at Latte above him. They had been travelling towards Melt town for about two days now. The acro was still admittedly a little nervous about going to such an urban area, but the number of large predators in the area was increasing. Mating season had just wrapped up and the pair of females that had moved in about a year ago were much more aggressive now that they had chicks. It was more than time to move on. Not to mention, Latte had never fully settled in with life in the heights. He had gotten much better, sure, but the constant moisture clearly still irritated him and he had grown somewhat patchy from overgrooming to get the moisture out of his feathers. He was in a sorry state for sure, but never pressed Blood Splatter to leave.

But now, they were leaving. The cryo slid a little ways down the slope above him before regaining his footing. Blood Splatter kept on moving, ignoring the small rocks that came tumbling down. This is why he was at the bottom of their little arrangement. If Latte slid, Blood Splatter could easily catch him. Sure, they would both be off-balance but they had a much better chance at getting back on their feet. If Latte were leading and Blood Splatter slipped… Well. Even the rock slide alone would be enough to knock the cryo down.

Finally, after a couple hours of carefully shimmy-ing down the slope they reached the bottom. There was a wide, shallow river at the lowest part. Blood Splatter heaved his aching body into the current and lied down on his belly with his muzzle in the refreshing current. Latte came up alongside him, bracing himself against the acro and settling down-current from him. The water made lazy swirls as it passed on either side of Blood Splatter’s body, but the current remained weak where Latte lay.

               “This is a pretty spot.” Latte began preening habitually, small clumps of feathers floated off down river as he did so. Latte’s preening was such an uncomfortable noise. It didn’t used to be quite so bad but with how aggressive it had gotten even in the past few months the gesture was beginning to irritate Blood Splatter. He didn’t want his friend to pluck his own feathers out, and watching it happen was like hearing glass on glass. When the acro didn’t respond, the cryo looked up. Blood Splatter stared at him, doing his best to make his eyes soft and his expression firm. Labs below it was so hard to convey the right emotion sometimes- but Latte had a knack for picking out the important details of his expressions.

The cryo sighed and shifted closer. “Right, right.” He moved to scratch his belly uncomfortably but stopped himself. Instead he began working his claws and teeth through Blood Splatter’s feathers. They had agreed to it a while ago. Blood Splatter had much healthier feathers now, and they were less prone to falling out. Especially from just a cryo messing with them. Sometimes he would tug a little too hard or run his teeth just a little too close to skin but Latte was always much more mindful of his forceful grooming habits when it came to Blood Splatter.

“It is really pretty, it’s a shame we can’t stay too long.” The acro sighed and lowered his nostrils into the water, blowing bubbles. The trees around them were a mix of the trees from the heights and the trees from the lowlands. It made for a truly interesting area. The sunlight filtering through the leaves dappled the ground in a soft yellowish-green. The underbrush wasn’t quite as thick as the jungle either, with more bare space for roots to poke through and mulch to accumulate. The river itself was quite clear, with a smooth rocky bottom and silt on either side caught up in the roots.

Latte stopped preening and looked into the trees ahead of Blood Splatter. Carefully he pushed himself to his feet and began slowly making his way across the river. Blood Splatter remained still. Usually when this happened, it meant Latte had seen a mammal or some other smaller prey item to hunt. He was fully capable of taking down those quarries, and if anything Blood Splatter stood a higher risk of scaring whatever it was off than actually helping.

Latte pushed through the underbrush, leaving the river behind. He was certain he had seen a nice-sized deer. He didn’t see many deer up in the jungle, most of the medium wildlife in that area besides dinosaurs were hogs. Now that he was away from the rush of the river, he began to breathe as shallow as he could manage. This new area was much more to his hunting taste. It wasn’t so crowded and wet as the jungle always was, and he didn’t have to be concerned about tripping on a root and loosing his prey. A few feet ahead he saw the deer. It had joined a small herd that was making their way through the trees in to particular direction. Every once and a while, a deer would pop their head up and Latte would freeze. He was painfully aware of how poorly his ruined feathers camouflaged him- His bright white spots had ruined a hunt more than once. It was especially painful when whatever he was trying to stalk turned back to taunt him for it. The deer were so close now. He lunged at the closest one, a large male. He was weak from the rut, but still a good meal. The other deer fled through the trees as the male stopped thrashing in Latte’s jaws. Easy. Much easier than another dinosaur.

Latte dragged the deer out to the edge of the river where Blood Splatter was still frozen in the water. Upon seeing Latte return, he relaxed and stood up.

“Nice catch, that one’s pretty big.” The acro settled up against a tree. Latte nodded and began digging in.

“There was a whole herd of them! Not just one or two that got horribly lost. I didn’t realize they lived so close!”

The acro frowned a little and looked up the steep cliff faces on either side of the river.  “Yeah.. close.” But Latte had his entire head in the deer now and was no longer paying attention.

It had been a long time since he had a good deer. Even the mating-thinned male was an incredible boon. He already felt so much better than he had in… what might have been years. Latte hadn’t realized how much he missed areas like these. Even with the odd mixture of jungle and other plants it was still a welcome change. He was excited to keep going. New areas meant new prey animals. New prey meant more challenge. He felt a small pang in his stomach, and looked up at Blood Splatter who was now dozing. His large frame curled around a few trees, he looked so painfully big here compared to the jungle.

Blood Splatter had been the one to insist it was best for them to leave, but it still rubbed Latte wrong that he would suggest Melt Town so readily. If he stood out here, how would he fare in a city? Latte chewed on a portion of the ribs while thinking about it, scratching his now bare belly. In his mind’s eye he saw Blood Splatter lumbering through the streets, picking his way over metal scrap and dodging potholes. Hundreds of bright eyes watched him from the roofs, garages, and buildings around them as the acro stumbled through the streets. Maybe Latte wasn’t giving him enough credit, he HAD lived in the forest most of his life after all.

Regardless- If they weren’t careful, the raptors and other medium predators would have a field day tearing him apart piece by piece and diving into buildings. Maybe they should stop at Ghost Ranch instead and give him a chance to get a feel for the more open ranch land instead of shoving him into a city he couldn’t fit in. He’d offer the idea up when Blood Splatter woke up. The acro’s chest rose and fell steadily and slowly, and for a moment Latte imagined the sound of his heart beating. What if this choice would end that sound forever. He shook the thought off and returned to his meal.

1422 words