Ch2 | The Burrow [IRONMAN]

The air was starting to get chilly as the sun was slowly disappearing behind the tall treeline. The nocturnal bugs and other critters were starting to wake, moving around and making noise. The young ovi chick recognised some of the noises from the morning when she was hatched, as there was some overlap with whatever was awake now. She huffed as she looked up at the large driftwood one last time before leaving it behind completely, perhaps when she had grown, she could conquer it, but she would likely not even remember it then. 

Treading through the thick mud and reeds, Arche moved on, once again towards some more stable ground. She was determined to find some food and a safe place to rest for the night, she was not yet accosted enough to life to thrive in a nocturnal setting. She was sniffing very eagerly as she was walking, trying to locate something that smelled enticing. If it smelled good it had to be edible, right? She shook her head. No.. The flowers she had tried eating had been disgusting, after all. The young chick let out a sigh before her pale yellow eyes drifted towards something familiar. A berry bush. She almost felt nauseous just thinking about them, still remembering how awful she felt just a few hours ago after gluttonously devouring the very same kind. But she did not have the luxury of time on her side, darkness was rapidly taking over, just a tiny bit of sunlight could be spotted between some trees. She had to eat to then find shelter, and so she did. Though this time she was of course planning on stopping in time to avoid another stomachache. 

After finishing her food Arche felt pretty energised, unlike the last time, and she was excited to find somewhere safe to sleep the night. But she was not sure where to look, though.. A large mound of dirt looked like it could be a suitable place to burrow. She hesitated for a second, wondering if the soil was even solid enough not to collapse on top of her, but only one way to find out. The young chick started digging, occasionally tapping and jumping at the top of the mound to see if anything collapsed before continuing to dig even deeper. She was digging mostly downwards rather than into the mound of dirt, as the ground below felt more stable and solid. Her whole, dark gray body was now full of dirt and mud all over, she would surely freeze to death if she failed to find something to warm her up down there. She looked around for a bit as she grabbed some sticks to put into her hole as support. There must be something around that could help keep her warm, right? 

Luckily for her, there was just the thing nearby. A bunch of bird feathers and some tufts of shredded fur from unknown origin, and not only was it warm, but also surprisingly soft. She had not yet seen any furred or feathered creature up close, only some birds way in the distance, but the origin of her materials surely did not matter. 

Arche returned to her temporary burrow, placing her feathers and fur outside below a pebble so it wouldn't blow away and she kept digging so she could fit her support sticks in there. This would surely suffice for her small self, even if just for one night. She looked down at her little burrow with pride, and then snorted out some dirt from her nostril. She really had gotten her whole face up in there, even shoving around dirt with her little dark beak. She was unsure if this was even deep enough, since she had no idea what kind of predators might lurk in these parts, especially at night. Taking a second, more scrutinous look at her little hole, she decided that it was nowhere near deep enough to be safe, and she proceeded to dig even further. She was now covered from head to toe in marsh dirt and murky mud, her dark colours barely visible through it all anymore. Perhaps that was also good, some camouflage, both visually and scent wise. 

Arche kept digging, throwing away any little rocks she found as she got deeper, and kept any roots for potential bedding or snacks if they tasted okay. It had now become quite an impressive pile of dirt opposite of the mound, and the young ovi chick was surprisingly good at making sure the dirt she was digging out was somewhat covering her entrance. Whether it was intentional or not was hard to say, but regardless, it was effective.

She stopped digging yet again, crawling out of her hole that was now double her body length in depth. This should be enough, she thought, and started throwing in all the feathers and fur she had found earlier along with some leaves, flowers and other various plant fibers to keep the bedding somewhat soft. The hatchling crawled back into her hole, brushing away some dirt that she had accidentally dragged down with her from her bedding, and started stacking things the way she felt was most comfortable, the fur and feathers she left at the top to have closest to herself, as they felt like they would be the most warm. 

This burrow was nice, a safe haven, if even just for one night. Or perhaps it could be made into a more permanent home until she was ready to explore more of the world. She had not decided just yet what to do. She had plenty of time to decide, and a good night's sleep was a good start. Her young, fragile body was aching from having dug so much, but it was necessary. 

The exhausted ovi chick looked up at the dark, starry sky for a moment, before throwing some of the laces she had down there on top of herself. The ground was slightly damp, but not too wet, and she hoped it would stay that way. She laid down her head, slowly feeling her eyelids feel heavier by each blink as she was about to fall asleep. Tomorrow was going to be a good day, she hoped. Perhaps less frightening, if she was lucky. She sighed heavily as she started tossing and turning on her makeshift home, it was not as comfortable as she had liked, but by now the sun had set, it was not safe for such a young chick to wander around alone in the dark, so she had to endure and just wait until she was tired enough to fall asleep, regardless of her comfort levels, which thankfully did not take too long as just a few minutes later, the tired little dinosaur hatchling was falling into slumber.

At first she was all crawled up like a ball, but she ended up laying flat on her side for most of the night. Some curious little lizards and frogs explored her burrow throughout the night, but she was too knocked out from exhaustion to wake up, even when a lizard crawled across her muddy belly. She for sure needed this rest, after such an eventful first day of her life, and it seemed nothing was going to disturb that. 

To be continued..