[Trade] Luck of the Sea

The weather hadn’t been too great over the past few days, and the cryolophosaurus pair was delighted for the break in the clouds. The ocean breeze was warmer on their side of the island, providing for a more comfortable stroll along the beaches than one through the fields. Crashing waves and the sound of gulls numbed their minds, distracting Bulrush and Mocker from more pressing matters, such as the impending storm that loomed on the distant horizon. Mocker slowed to a stop, raising his head to sniff the air as he thought about finding dinner to drag back with them to a sea cavern they’d found not far from their scavenging range. Bulrush moved ahead, nose to the ground to turn over various little shells and pieces of driftwood. He had little luck–a small dart of movement caught his eye and Bulrush quickly stomped his foot down onto the spot. Unfortunately, with his heavy step, Bulrush practically obliterated the small crab that found itself under his attention. He sighed in annoyance and looked back to Mocker.

“You got anything yet? Are you even trying?” Bulrush called, to which Mocker rolled his eyes and promptly ignored his snark. Mocker’s feathers fluttered under the touch of the seabreeze. He scanned the beach and came up with nothing. Bulrush kicked away the splatter of crab shell and went on, cracking open a tiny shell here and there to lick a salty, poor excuse for a snack out of it before looking on to the next. Without a warning, Mocker darted past Bulrush and slid to a stop in the sand–the urgent motion caught Bulrush’s attention and he startled forward, quick to shoulder-shove Mocker and attempt to bully him out of the way. Unfortunately for Bulrush, Mocker had already locked his jaws around the stray bone he’d found. Unfortunately for Mocker, he hadn’t braced himself quite enough and the other male managed to barrel into him so hard that Mocker not only lost his footing, but rolled across the ground with limbs flailing. He snarled around the bone in his mouth and stumbled to his feet while Bulrush snapped near his face in a measly attempt to steal the bone. 

“Why are you so greedy? Just share a bite! C’mon, I’m hungry too!” Bulrush griped, finally giving up in his thieving attempts. Mocker gave him a dirty side-eye before carefully holding the bone with his claws and crunching viciously to break it into manageable pieces. He kicked a small shard over to Bulrush before scarfing down what he’d held onto. 

“Consider it the only gift you’re getting from me for that foul move,” Mocker grumbled and shook out his feathers. “I’ve got sand in every crevice now, thanks to you.” He twisted around and itched the feathers he could reach on his back. Bulrush laughed at the other’s misery and helped knock a bit of sand off as well, shuffling Mocker’s feathers where he couldn’t seem to reach along his back leading up to his head. 

“You’ll live. Unlike me, if I starve, due to your hoarding and finding everything before me,” Bulrush whined, ruffling Mocker’s head feathers to irritate him before he hopped away to look for his next snack. He dropped his snout to the sand and began combing the beach once more, finding a little bone to scarf down that must’ve belonged to the same animal. Mocker nipped the tip of Bulrush’s tail and walked closer to the water’s edge. 

Little did the two cryolophosaurs know, they were being watched from a distance, beady little eyes peering from just above the waves. The kelp forest that covered most of the seafloor off the beach was home to a particularly small and curious atopodentatus, who had strayed closer to the beach than usual due to the noise he’d heard from Bulrush’s fussing. Vanuatu had overheard their scuffle and the hunger complaints, carefully eyeing the sharp teeth both of the beachgoers had. Definitely not a plant eater, he mused, then dipped below the waves and into the kelp. 

The two land dwellers were starving, apparently–based on their conversation, at least, one of them seemed particularly desperate. Vanuatu was no hunter, and certainly didn’t have the teeth for chomping down on the hard shells of crabs or to fight back against a wriggly fish. Instead, he dove towards a rock outcropping and began to look for a particular target: oysters, latched onto the rocks by the dozen. They’d grown uninhibited for quite some time, so the atopodentatus had to scrabble at the reef with his fins, finding it slightly difficult without the claws to grip onto the shells. He managed to break off a few particularly large oysters and gathered them up in his jaws, floating to the surface to take a large breath and continue closer to the beach. At the sound of his snort, Mocker’s gaze locked onto the waves and tracked the small herbivore as he approached. Vanuatu slowed as Mocker assessed him, hoping that his kindness wouldn’t lead to himself becoming dinner instead. Bulrush was off in his own little world, still flipping tiny tidbits from the sand to scrounge up any morsel that could be easily found. 

Mocker stepped into the waves, flexing his claws into the sand as he observed the atopodentatus. He took in the sight of the aquatic, noting how smoothly he moved and determined that it’d be much too difficult to chase down such a small swimmer with the waves slowing his steps, especially since the waves would only aid his potential target. The cryolophosaurus then saw that Vanuatu's mouth appeared to be full, and Mocker stepped back slightly to allow him to approach without feeling overly threatened. Vanuatu shuffled onto the sand, managing to get just out of the waves in order to drop the oysters on the beach and scoot back into the water for safety. 

“Heard you were hungry. I’ve seen others eat quite a few of these!” Vanuatu warbled, then turned and dipped under the surface once more. Mocker quickly collected the oysters and moved further away from the water before calling Bulrush over.

“Come on, bonehead, I got something here,” Mocker hollered, setting to work on cracking open the shells. Bulrush was at his side in an instant, eager to see what he’d found.

“Where’d you get those? Man, I already looked over here, and I didn’t see ‘em! How do you keep getting so lucky?”

Mocker shrugged, a small smile working its way across his snout. “The ocean gives many gifts. You should be nicer! Maybe then it’d be sympathetic. For now, you just have to deal with my scraps.”

“Oh, whatever,” Bulrush grumbled. The two worked on opening their little sea presents, scuffling over who would get the last bit before they had to move on. Maybe they wouldn’t starve after all.