As William fed the heater, the dinosaur etched closer to watch how this strange fire-thing worked. It saw one twig go in, it crackled a bit and then it turned into black stones? Then another twig got sacrificed, facing the same fate. The little dinosaur also observed that these orange tongues grew bigger with each added twig.
Both creatures were strictly occupied by the fire, not realizing that they were only 20 centimeters apart. Sitting side by side…
Then suddenly, a light caw came from the smallest creature as it had finally grasped what this strange thingy was! William got startled by the sound and observed the dino. It repaid his gaze and purred happily, only to wander off from the camp. William watched the white silhouette blend in with the gloomy forest. Thinking: What’s it doing now?... Well… Since its heading out, I should get rid of those timebombs it seems so fond of!
When he was done burying the carcasses in the sand, it was just in time for the white cub’s return. It did notice that the animals were gone, but it innocently thought that the human finally accepted them. It even began to ponder whether this being was too shy to eat in front of others. Since it only decided to eat them when it was left to its own devices?...
William smiled when he saw the dino come back. For it had come with some fine offerings: Lots of twigs… You know, normally it would be William who should try to appease this little fellow, but since he was so sure that it was already bonded, he didn’t give it a second thought. And frankly, he wasn’t jealous of those who owned it…
For even though this white cub was very adorable and quite clever, it’s small, has minuscule wings that probably will remain as decoration forever, it didn’t have any features of deadliness, other than its little claws and teeth. This kind of dinosaur, William would cross off his list of potential partners, for how was he supposed to protect himself with this kind of little fluff-ball? And although it might grow a little bigger in the future, its current size didn’t seem that promising… The only one who would approve of this thing would have been Vanessa, at least, if she allowed such a thing like bonding...
The cub dropped the twigs on William’s foot and made a little roar. William was pleasantly surprised at how resourceful this fellow was. So he told it, “You sure are a clever little one...”. After that sentence, their eyes made contact but neither of them knew what to do. The dinosaur was unsure whether it wanted to be licked or otherwise praised by this foreign creature. For some reason, it found it gross when it imagined it. And William was unsure whether this dinosaur wanted a pat on the head or perhaps another game of ‘twig’?
A stalemate was created, but then they both thought: Whatever! as no one made the first move...
The night before, William didn’t sleep but this night he felt that he had to… Not only because of his exhausting trip back and forth but also because of his grave dehydration. It gave him a throbbing headache that he could only thank Joss and the ocean for…
Before he went to bed, he gave the little cub an accusing stare, saying, “You better not try to kill me in my sleep…”.
The dinosaur attentively inspected him as it thought he wanted to teach it something new, but he never did? Instead, the human folded its long body into a curled up ball. The cub had seen this before. It thought anxiously: This two-legged being wants to sleep! But I’m not tired at all! Ahhh! Don’t ignore me and leave me alone!...
The cub had seen signs of the human warming up to its presence, thus it had enough courage to weep openly in front of it. At first, its cry was soft and tugged at one’s heartstrings. But then it gained volume and started to sound more like an annoying siren!
After a round of nonstop crying, the human finally twitched its eyelids. And then it even began to open them! The dinosaur happily whipped its tail around... William glared at the dinosaur that had the guts to immediately stop its hollering when it saw that he was awake… From his mouth, he cried a similar sound to make the cub have a reaction. Because all of that howling must mean something, right? But sadly, it didn’t… It just blankly stared at him, unsure of why and what he was doing...
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Seeing that it was now disinterested in torturing him, William tried to tap into his sleep chambers once again. But of course! That attention-seeking dinosaur had to make a scene for a second time! William grumbled, “What is it?... Are you hungry?... Want your meat back now?”. While he talked the dinosaur wattled over to him. It didn’t know what it wanted either but it wanted something...
The moment he squinted his eyes open, he saw how longingly the dinosaur stared at him. All of its emotions exuded from its reddish-brown eyes. William didn’t have to look into them for long before he felt compelled to try and pet it. It was after all quite tame, so petting it should be okay, right?
As William’s palm got closer to its forehead, the dinosaur’s pupils went from big and round to small slits. It was scared of his hand’s approach and it wasn’t just a light fright. It’s dread summoned forth its basic instincts that began to flare up. Seeing its before sentient emotional eyes, turn cold and murderous, made William regret his former assumptions. He could only soothe himself, thinking: This is a ‘wild’ animal! What did he expect? That it just closed its eyes and allowed him to ‘molest’ it?
He slowly redrew his hand and this did make the cub’s sharp eyes turn softer. “... I don’t know what it is you want… So… Let me sleep!”, William declared, then he turned his back to the small drama-queen. “Aruuu…”, the dino called out. Then it waddled over to his back and slowly it sunk its head.
“Sniff, sniff…”, it smelled to his shoulder. This felt very uncomfortable to William as he was still unsure as to how tame this being really was… Then he felt teeth! But they didn’t go into his skin. Instead they went into his clothes that the dinosaur began to tug at.
William groaned, not sure if he should just nudge its head off of him or turn more stern than that. Would it even be safe to use his hand to remove its head?... Thankfully, with just a bit of resistance the dinosaur immediately let go. It still feared his hand. William turned over to face it again. Seeing it dance around a good meter away from him, he felt compelled to snicker at its actions. “What is it?... You want attention and then again you don’t? Little coward...”.
The dinosaur cawed with its head hanging low. “Here…”, William called to it as he lazily put his hand out for interaction. The little creature stared at his outstretched hand for a while. William’s eyes were getting drowsy and closed before it finally decided to come over for a closer sniff.
It was allowed this inspection for a long time before William decided to try his luck again. However, this time, instead of going from up above, he let his hand gently approach it from beneath, where it could constantly keep it in sight. The moment his hand moved the dinosaur jumped as if it saw a snake but it remained on the spot.
William let out a soft call as the dinosaur had done before. This somehow calmed the white cub. It stared spellbound at his hand as it lightly brushed against its feathers. The little dinosaur wanted to take a step back but at the same time, it felt compelled to keep letting him touch it. The longer this continued, the more his hand got to feel around its sturdy chest and neck area. Slowly he lulled the dinosaur into a drowsy state. Its eyes grew heavy and more frequently it would let out small yawns.
The dinosaur wasn’t the only one enjoying this activity. William was about to die from its cuteness. As it had actually fallen asleep standing up, with his hand as its wall to lean on. William thought: Great! Now the cub is finally asleep!... But… Oh no… What about me!?
Was he now forced to let it lend his hand as the cub’s sleeping post!? Certainly not!... Thus William tried to skillfully remove his hand. But this act awoke the creature.
The little dino half-opened its eyes as it stared at William’s torso. It was especially in that area that the energy exuded strongly. So without much thought, it nestled itself against the living wall. As soon as its back felt the warm contact, it relaxed completely. It never thought it would feel this comfortable and safe to lie up against another animal.
Surely it had seen other dinosaurs do this at night, as it followed the other two-legged creature. But it could never have imagined that it felt so cozy and secure!
But if William thought he could cuddle with it, he would be wrong! There’s only so much one creature can take of new experiences before it gets overwhelmed! So, what he got was a night filled with growling and hisses from the cub who couldn’t figure out what was allowed and what wasn’t. A constant mumbling could be heard from William, who found it very hard to sleep with this thing that wanted to keep using him as its heater, “What happens if I move away?... Okay… You don’t like that… Then… Can I put my arm here for comfort? No!?... Okay, okay, haaah… You sure have a temper…”.