[Trade] Searching For A New Home

“This…is where you live?”

Oceania gave a nervous grin, but she nodded anyway. “Y-Yeah! Is there…something wrong with it?”

“Well…it’s just…so small… This is no place for an Albertosaurus to live…”

Oceania blinked at that, her head tilting to the side questionably, “Where am I supposed to live?”

“Someplace much much bigger. If you insist on living on the beach then you could at least pick out a cave that’s arguably much bigger than this. You shouldn’t be scrunching down just to enter your nest…just like you’re doing now!”

Oceania blinked once again when Magnolia turned and pointed her wing at the large adult Albertosaurus. Oh, she wasn’t expecting that information. Honestly, she’s gotten so used to bending down whenever she entered her nest that it never occurred to her that this cave probably didn’t suit her in the slightest. But now that Magnolia is mentioning it…

“Where do you think would be a better fit for me then? I haven’t explored much of this beach if I’m being honest… I just sorta stayed here and never ventured very far?”

“Why is that?!”

“Cause uh…this is where my mother died… So I didn’t want to venture out too far from her spirit-”

“Yes, but she would want you to explore and not be tied down to one spot for the rest of your life, don’t you think?”

“I-I suppose… But I promised her-”

“So, let’s go looking for a bigger cave for you. Come on, let’s go.”

Oceania didn’t even have time to say anything before the Tapejara already left the small cave and was gone. Hm… she’s not sure how she felt about this, but she figured she might as well humor this pale Tapejara the best she could. She has a feeling that if she doesn’t then she may regret it later.

“Alright, first, let’s go exploring! You said you didn’t venture too far from this spot, right? So, where did you stop exploring?”

Oceania pointed with her tiny paws to a cluster of boulders not too far away from them. And then she turned around and pointed to a line that was drawn in the sand in the other direction.

“That’s…it? Oh, honey, you need to walk more than that daily! That’s not even good for a normal walk considering your massive size! No wonder why you’re small for your breed! You must’ve forced your body to shrink!”

“That…can happen? I’m small?”

“Yes!” Magnolia shook her head with a deep irritated sigh, “You really don’t know anything, don’t you?” She sucked in a deep breath and pointed to the line in the sand, “Let’s walk that way for now and see where it leads us, shall we?”

And once again, before Oceania could reply to that question, Magnolia was already gone. Wow, for being older and smaller she is quite fast.

“What about this cave, Oceania?”

“It’s too small… And too wet… I’ll get sick if I try to sleep in this.” Oceania grimaced at the water that she had to step in just to stand in this cave. Or well, not even stand, she was crouching down and had to squeeze herself in here just to fit inside of this cave. Yeah, this is even worse than the cave she currently has now.

“Hm…This is harder than I thought it was going to be. We’ve been looking for what, hours now? And we haven’t found a single cave that could fit your large size!” Magnolia sighed deeply, her wings folding over in a huff, “This is why taking care of Tapejara’s are easy… We just find mountains or high cliffs to find the highest point and make a nest there. It’s simple and easy to find a place to nest in…but this is hard…”

“I’m sorry… Why don’t we just go back to my nest for now? We can always come up with something else tomorrow? And besides, it’s getting a bit late, isn’t it?”

“No, I’m not going back until we find a proper nesting place for you…” Magnolia hopped out of the cave, her pale eyes scanning the oceanside for any other caves. But she couldn’t spot any, or at least not right off the bat. She huffed as a gust of ocean breeze ruffled through her thin fur. And the breeze made her gold jewelry jingle in the late afternoon air.

Oceania grunted as she managed to pop herself out of the small cave, and when she did she nearly tumbled over herself. But she managed not to fall flat on her face, and instead, she walked over to Magnolia’s side.

“It’s alright, you know. You don’t have to stress this much about me. I’m alright where I am. It’s perfectly fine-”

“No, it’s not.”

Oceania blinked, and she gazed down at the smaller dino. But then her entire body stopped when she swore she saw…were those tears in Magnolia’s eyes?! What in the…

But before she could get a closer look, Magnolia wiped them away using her wings.

“It’s not right, it’s not fine, it’s not perfect, okay? You may not be my species, but I still care about you and your nest. What you are living in now is not a good nest for you. There must be a cave nearby that we just haven’t found yet. Let’s try up the cliff. I know you want to be on the ocean, but we may have better luck on the cliff instead.”

Oceania stared as Magnolia unfurled her wings and took off into the ocean breeze. She blinked several times until it hit her as to what was going on. Has Magnolia…unwillingly adopted Oceania?! That would explain why she’s so stubborn about finding her a nest. If she’s a matriarch of her flock then it does make sense that she would adopt Oceania as her own, and she won’t stop until she’s comfortable.

Oceania smiled softly to herself. She already has Fern, but Fern has been really busy lately trying to find her mother. So… having another dino to take care of her doesn’t sound too bad. Hopefully, Fern won’t mind it.

Once she made her way up the cliff, which for Oceania was no small task, she looked around for the pale dino. Huh? Where did she go? She flew up here, didn’t she? Oceania knew she was a slow climber but there’s no way Magnolia would’ve gone too far, right-

“Oceania! Over here!”

Oceania jumped in her paws, her eyes whipped around to find Magnolia peeking out behind some rocks.

“I think I found the best nest for you!”

Oceania blinked, but she walked over to where Magnolia was. She wasn’t too certain about this though, she likes waking up to feeling the soft sand underneath her paws. Since they’re up on a cliff, she’ll have to wake up to grass and dirt under her paws. And it…doesn’t feel the same.

But, when she poked her head into the massive cave entrance that Magnolia was leading her into, she couldn’t help but let out a massive gasp of awe.

It wasn’t a typical cave that Oceania has seen most of her life where it’s carved into a cliff, or even into some boulders. This cave went downwards, but luckily there were some boulders around the walls to mimic some stairs for her to climb up and down every day. But, far below the cave was a large section of caverns. It was so big that Oceania was certain that she could run around in these caverns with no problem. But, that’s not what really took Oceania’s breath away.

It was the fact that there was a small lake alongside one side of this cavern. And the water led towards where the ocean was. Wait… Was this water part of the ocean’s water?! No way… But there were a bunch of boulders blocking the view of the ocean, so she couldn’t quite tell. But where else would this water be coming from, she questioned.

Magnolia opened her wings once again and flew down to the boulders. Skillfully, she landed her paws on one of the boulders so she could start trying to pull out the boulders. But…she was too small to make much of an impact.

“Yo! Oceania! Come down here and help me!”

“O-Oh, yes! Coming!”

Oceania stepped on the cavern's boulder side and was surprised that the boulder held her weight. The boulder seemed into the walls that it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. And so was this boulder, and this boulder.

She eventually made her way down to the caverns, and her large eyes looked around her in awe. This really was a pretty place, she thought to herself. Much much prettier than her current nesting place.

She stepped into the water, only to blink once she felt how warm it was through her paws. This is definitely ocean water. No other water would be this warm, she realized. Then she walked over to Magnolia’s side to help her push the boulders away. She grabbed the boulder that Magnolia was attempting to push aside, and without too much of a strain, she was able to move the boulder out of the way. One by one she was getting rid of the boulders.

And once she did, her pale eyes looked forward to see…the ocean. The ocean was right there. This cave was hidden by the boulders blocking the way, but even so, the water still made its way to this cavern anyways.

Sure, she won’t be feeling the sand underneath her paws every day when she wakes up, but she just has to step through a bit of ocean water to get the sand she needs. This cavern is definitely an improvement to her current cave and her nesting place.

She gave a small smile, then her eyes went down to Magnolia who was also admiring the view.

“Thanks, Magnolia.”

“No problem, Oceania. Now, let’s move your stuff over here and get you settled, yeah?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”