Meeting Someone New

It was summertime, and Oceania was not doing well in this heat. It doesn’t help that she’s covered in fur so the heat is even more unbearable for her. Luckily she does live on the ocean, so the ocean breeze saves her on days like this. But right now… gosh, it’s bad. It’s so bad that she just wants to lay in the water all day and not do anything. But she’s got to eat and find some other water to drink as this ocean water won’t do any good. 

Grumbling to herself, she stood up from the water and started heading into the forest above her home. Might as well get this over with… But gosh, how is the heat even worse in this forest?! The trees must be providing some sort of shade, so how come it feels worse underneath the shade?! 

Oceania was starting to figure that she may just head back home and go throughout the day without eating when she heard a flap of wings. She blinked and looked up, and that’s when she saw a Tapejara standing on a tree branch high above her. 

Oceania could tell that this Tapejara was on the older side, judging by the scars along her wings. Either she’s older, or she’s been through the wringer, maybe both. But she was doing…something to the tree? What was she doing? 

She was sticking her beak into a hole in the tree, and it sounded like she was slurping something up. What in the blazes… 

“What are you doing, ma'am?” 

The Tapejara paused and looked down at Oceania, her pale red eyes glaring down at her. “And why do you care? Aren’t you more concerned with eating me?” 

Oceania blinked once again, well, that was rude. Why is it always Oceania’s luck to come across such rude dinos?

“I…I don’t eat dinos… And uh… I care cause…I’m curious?” 

Suddenly the Tapejara burst up laughing at that, “An Albertosaurus that doesn’t eat dinos?! That’s a joke and a half! Well, whenever you decide that you want to eat me, I won’t if I were you, the rest of my flock is nearby. If you dare to attack me…” The pale Tapejara chuckled, “Let’s just say that a few have tried…and didn’t succeed, obviously, but they made great dinner for my flock!” 

Oceania swallowed nervously at that. It’s a good thing he really doesn’t eat dinos, cause she has a feeling that this dino is serious… 

“As for what I was doing…” The Tapejara leaned down from her tree branch and stuck out her tongue, “That’s for me to know and you to find out.” 

Okay, this dino is definitely not nice in the slightest. 

Oceania gave a huff, but she decided to change the subject. She’s clearly not getting anywhere at this rate. “Well, I’m Oceania. Who are you?” 

“Now you wanna talk about something else? Hmph, alright. I’ll humor you for a bit. Name’s Magnolia.” She lifted her wing to move a branch closer to her, this branch had an apple on it, which she ate in one crunch of her beak. “And don’t you dare forget it.” 

“Magnolia… That’s a pretty name… Um… What is it like… I mean… What does flying feel like?” Oceania has always been curious about it, but she hasn’t met another dino before that could fly. But while she was at home watching the waves, she would observe the seagulls and the way they were able to glide gracefully through the breeze. She wondered what it would feel like to have wings and be able to fly like that. 

“What does flying feel like?” Magnolia repeated, then she tilted her head, “An Albertosaurus that is curious about that… Either you are picking up straws or you really are curious about it. Though why you would even do that I don’t know…” 

Oceania shuffled awkwardly as Magnolia seemed to be talking to herself. Should she wait for her to finish? Or interrupt her? Or… 

“Alright, I don’t have anything else to do today while the rest of my flock gathers food. So, I’ll tell you.” Oceania beamed, but before she could give a moment of thanks Magnolia cut her off. “It’s like…freedom. Sure, you can run and some dinos would call that freedom, but things will be in your way when you run. Like for instance, ocean, trees, cliffs…stuff like that. But when you fly there’s nothing that can stop you. You can fly for days, months, even years, and there’s not a thing that will block your path. It’s the pinnacle of freedom. Nothing can stop you, nothing can stop you. And when you’re high in the sky, it's just you, birds, and the wind blowing through your fur and wings. It feels like a dream sometimes.” 

Oceania looked up at Magnolia with massive wide eyes as she was taking all of this in. She was in such awe over what she was hearing that she swore she wasn’t breathing. That definitely sounds like a dream, a wonderful dream that she would never want to wake up from. Imagine that… Imagine not having anything to stop you from seeing the world, the different lands, the different oceans out there. 

Now she definitely regrets not being born with wings. 

Magnolia paused in her rambling to glance down, and she grimaced when she saw Oceania’s massive red eyes staring at her. 

“Well, that was fun, I think I can hear my flock calling for me, I better go-” 

“Wait! Wait, please?” 

Magnolia huffed loudly, she pouted but she actually stayed on her tree branch. 

“It’s very warm out today… Would you mind coming to the beach with me? It’s a bit cooler there… And I can help you catch some fish-” 

“I don’t need help catching fish. I can do it on my own just fine.” 

“O-Oh, okay, um… then we can enjoy the ocean breeze together? And maybe you can show me what you were doing to the branch? If you wanna?” 

“And what’s in it for me, kid?” 

“Uh… Um… You get to cool down a bit from the heat?” 

“That’s it?” 

Oceania nodded. 

Magnolia raised an eyebrow, she glared down at Oceania with this hard gaze that Oceania couldn’t make out. Instead, she just looked very skeptical and at first, Oceania was thinking that she was going to say no. But she didn’t want her to leave just yet! She wanted to learn more from this Tapejara, and she wanted to hang out with her. Yeah, she’s moody and grumpy, but…

Oceania didn’t want to come out and say it, but she was lonely. The last time Fern came out here to visit her was weeks ago. And that’s the only dino that has even been around here as of late. Oceania hates being by herself, as when she does her thoughts start to overtake her mind. But it’s not just normal thoughts, but dark thoughts that she doesn’t want in her mind. 

But when she’s around other dinos, those thoughts leave her mind. 

Call her selfish, but she wants a break from these dark thoughts if even for a moment of time-

“Alright, fine.” 

Oceania beamed in delight, she began jumping around in excitement as Magnolia hopped down from the tree branches. She couldn’t believe that actually worked! Who knows, she may even make another friend out of today. 

“But if you try to eat me or pull any funny business you’ll be mine and my flock's dinner tonight, got it?” 

Oceania stood up straight and beamed, “Yes, ma'am!!” 

“And stop with that ma'am stuff, it’s making me feel old! I may be older than you, but I’m not that old!” Magnolia huffed as she landed on the grassy ground. And when she landed, the jewelry on Magnolia’s neck jingled together faintly. 

Wow, now that they are face to face, Oceania finally realized just how small Magnolia really is. Are all Tapejara’s this tiny? She’s only half of her body size! There’s no way she can be this tiny, right?! 

“Now, as for what I was doing with that tree up there, I was eating some of the sap from the tree. It’s not the most tastiest thing around, but I’m not really in the mood to hunt and I wanted a snack. So, there you go.” 

“The sap? What’s that?” 

Magnolia’s eyes stared at Oceania, she didn’t know what to feel as the harsh gaze of the Tapejara observed her. 

“You must be joking, right?” 

“Uh…” Oceania glanced around nervously, “…No…?” 

Magnolia sighed deeply, “Either all Albertosaurus are stupid or you are just stupid. How does someone not know what tree sap is? What has your mother taught you this entire time? I swear when I meet her-” 

“Uh, my mother is dead… And uh…she didn’t really have a lot of time to teach me things before she died so…” 

“Well, that explains a lot! So you’re not just stupid, you’re inexperienced and don’t know anything! Who leaves their child alone in this world without first teaching them how to survive?! I swear, some dinos are so stupid when they raise children. If I found out any of my flock was that stupid with parenting I would teach them a lesson or two about how to raise children. And it won’t be a pretty lesson that’s for sure…” 

As they walked to the ocean, Oceania noticed that her dark thoughts were slowly fading away from her mind. Even though this dino is not the nicest one around, she doesn’t mind, cause she gets to smile for the first time since Fern left her alone those several weeks ago.