His first real day spent at the canyon valley was behind an open window. From up there, he could observe the villagers’ schedule, and how they created a stream from one cave opening to the next, transporting goods at all hours of the day. He even saw two youngsters come carrying a bear-like-monster akin the one Lucifer felled. Seeing how it was handled, William pondered whether some of them were bonded? It was hard to say as none came escorted by a dinosaur.

“How’s the view, dear guest? And your leg?”, Roa asked as she announced her presence to the room’s inhabitant. William nodded to acknowledge her, “The view is splendid but my leg needs more rest to be of any use…”.

Roa smiled with her teeth, happy that William’s stay was postponed, “And where’s the little dinosaur?”. William rustled his unkempt hair and sighed, “He’s out hunting critters again… I sometimes wonder if he just does it because it’s fun or if he’s actually hungry for the game, haha”.

Roa let her smile smoothen out. Then from her well-built arm, an object was swung at William. Its speed and direct approach made his body flinch. He grabbed it with a startled heart but awkwardly found out that it was just an apple… Roa didn’t find his reaction amusing. With a quick glance, she took in the room a final time before leaving with the words, “Eat well and you’ll heal well”.

The appel’s red shine was very enticing. Its sweetness spread through his mouth while his eyes looked longingly after Roa. Because even if he did find them weird, he missed the company of humans.

On the second day, Lucifer had been out stalking the entire morning...

Crawling all its way from the bottom of the cliff, it decided to come popping in through the window. Not that it couldn’t open most doors now, old habits just die hard. Its eyes spotted William who was dozing off on the bed. His stay here was like a well-earned vacation to him. Rest that he had been without for too long…

The clacking of Lucifer’s claws on the floor woke him up. When he saw it he immediately opened his mouth in a scowl, “Lucifer! Take that thing out of here!... You’ll get the place all dirty and bloody!”.

Lucifer purred at his reaction and with an agile jump, it landed on his chest. Then it dutifully spat out the slack bird, giving up the prey. “!?... Lucifer!”, William scolded the killer. But such a title was not fulfilled by Lucifer that morning. For the once unconscious bird suddenly opened its teal eyes with a *SHING*, and then it went after the first enemy it saw: William’s face.

“Argh!? Fri-fricking, get away you-... Winged pestilence!”, he churned out in a yell as its flimsy legs got caught in his billions strands of hair.

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Lucifer’s eyes sprung up in surprise. It had been fooled by its prey and now that its human was getting attacked it could do nothing but dejectedly moan. For just how could it intervene when William’s arms were all over the place?...

Once the bird was finally held secure in William’s hand, he was met with further suffering as it bit the soft skin surrounding it. William let out a few yelps before he lost balance and fell off the bed with a *thump*. Lucifer jumped in shock and shivered when it peeked over the fluffy frame, afraid to meet its parent’s angry eyes.

“AwawaWAH!... I just had to land on my-... Urrrhh!... Lucifer!”, William cried. Said dinosaur licked its mouth, taking in a lost feather that came from the lively sparrow. Then it carefully jumped down to take it back. William didn’t know what to feel the moment the bird flinched in his hand and truly lost all of its vigor.

The moment the bird had been rendered completely lifeless, Roa came in to inspect the noise. She was taken aback to find William curled up on the floor. She came with hurried steps and helped the patient up on a chair next to the windowsill. “Is something wrong?”, she inquired slightly detached from William’s tears of pain.

“... No, nothing’s wrong. Everything’s fine!”, William huffed beneath locks resembling a bird’s nest. It looked very believable as it had been a literal bird who had been his stylist. Roa checked if his leg was getting any better, “It isn’t”, William lied, and then he was left with yet another apple thrown in his bosom. A snack compared to the other meals he was served throughout the day.

Lucifer who had been a master of destruction that early noon, came over with a lowered head and wings. “Ruu”, it sang while it apologetically slid its head along William’s thigh and calf. It was hard to stay mad at Lucifer for such an innocent mistake. Alas, William was starting to get short-tempered for being the cursed gods’ object of affection… That, added with him having to room next to dubious people, made his sanity slightly wobble. Thus he decided to ignore Lucifer with a rapid heart...

Being flatly ignored like this, Lucifer cautiously put up a paw on William’s leg. It was asking him for permission to come up on his lap. Since it wasn’t shushed away, it bravely jumped up and placed a front paw on each side of William’s collarbone.

William still ignored it and kept his wet sight on the people below. Only one of his cheeks was exposed to Lucifer’s pleads. Then without warning, William was given a warm lick and a solid nudge by the cub’s soft head. “Raw?”, it cawed for William’s attention. He clenched his fists and drew back his head to look the dinosaur in its big amber eyes.

“*Sigh*... I forgive you… It’s just… I feel like I’m wasting precious time here...”, William explained half-heartedly. For in truth he relished in his freedom to explore the lands. A few detours here and then were perhaps not so bad after all. And yet, he had a duty to let his friends know not to grieve for him and also… What about Harvick?...

With a hand, he tried to comb through his rustled up hair, “Haaaah… Don’t mind me, Lucifer. I’m just having a little pity-party for myself over here...”. Not caring for his moaning, Lucifer nudged William hard again, this time making him almost fall over backward together with the chair.

After it had nursed its parent’s mood back to a pleasing state, it took the sparrow and went outside to consume it whole.