Taylen & Misc.~ Paht tha Thurd
In the Valley below a young Egg Stealer, snoring his heart out, had shot awake at the sound of a branch snapping nearby. With one movement, Taylen had flipped himself around and landed in a crouching position on his hind feet, quick as an overexcited Hopper. Bleary, pale yellow eyes still trying to register what was going on, he sighed in relief when he saw it was only his brother Strut, coming through the thicket.
The dark Stealer stumbled through rather clumsily, orange eyes half-lidded. Taylen tilted his head to the side. Strut always looked just a bit sleepy and slow, but this time his brother looked like he had spent half the night awake.
As Strut returned to his sleeping spot, Taylen piped up. “Morning Strut, everything all right, there?”
Strut groaned in reply. Taylen raised an eyebrow. “I said, everything all –”
“I heard you,” Strut moaned, not impatiently. He curled up. “Meeting; it just ended. That bloody Hadley again,”
Taylen giggled softly. “What’d he do this time?”
“Woke everyone up,” Strut mumbled. Before Taylen could ask how, his other brother Ozzy, came through. He too looked tired, but also extremely annoyed. His sharp yellow eyes were narrowed gloomily.
Taylen waited until Ozzy had caught sight of him and managed a small smile. “Morning, Oz. How’d the meeting go?”
The paler Stealer grumbled something as he moved past, but he answered. “I doubt you could even call it that,” he spat. “No one was fully awake, and those that were, namely that blasted Topps, dragged the flipping thing out!” He lay down in his sleeping spot.
“What’d Hadley do?” Taylen queried, cautiously. Hadley was a questionable friend of his, and though neither of his brothers really approved of the pairing, Taylen knew Hadley was just a prankster, and not really malicious.
“Woke up a Bigmouth herd and started a stampede,” Ozzy grumbled. “I swear, if I ever get my claws around him, I’ll –”
“Will you please just go to
sleep?” Strut begged in a muffled whine.
Ozzy stopped and then cleared his throat. “Oh, right then. Good Morning,” he curled up to go back to sleep as well.
Taylen tried to go back to sleep, but found he couldn’t. The prospect of everyone awakened at this hour meant the Gang must be awake, too. He sighed as he clambered to his feet. No longer the scrawny, wide-eyed youngster he had been when he and the Gang first crossed paths, Taylen had matured since then – the brown dapples had been traded in for the smooth, darker scales of a teenager, and his body was more streamlined.
“Oz? Strut?” He whispered. “I’m gonna go and see if the Gang’s awake, ëkay? If they’re not, I’ll be right back.” He slipped out of the thicket after earning a grunt of approval from Ozzy. Sprinting across the field, Taylen made straight for the Tall Trees – the Gang’s official meeting spot. Sure enough, Taylen wasn’t disappointed. Littlefoot and Cera were sitting in the midst of the trees. Both of them had grown quite a lot as well. Littlefoot was about a third the size of his grandparents, and Cera was gaining on both of her parents in terms of display horns and build.
The two dinosaurs turned when they caught sight of Taylen. Littlefoot smiled. “Hi, Taylen. You hear about the meeting with Hadley?”
Taylen bobbed his head as he caught up with them. “Yeah. Oz and Strut made a racket coming through the thicket this morning,” he giggled.
Cera snorted. At least her attitude hadn’t changed. “I still think he did it on purpose. That sneaky Halftooth would do just about anything for attention.”
“Especially if it’s the wrong kind,” Littlefoot mused. His past coloration of earthy pinks had darkened about three shades to a soft brown.
Taylen shrugged. “He’s probably used to chaos after living in the Beyond for so long, by himself.”
“But I don’t see
Keirra doing any of that, do I?” Cera shot back. Taylen jumped a little, still wary of the threehorn’s temperament.
“Well, no… but, Hadley and Keirra are two different dinosaurs, Cera,” he started. “And yeah, both of them had similar backgrounds, but… well…” he shrugged.
Littlefoot changed the subject, noting Taylen’s growing discomfort at disagreeing with Cera. “Let’s just forget Hadley and--”
“’And’ what, may I ask?” The Different-Claw had literally jumped into the conversation as he stepped out of the brush. Cera wasn’t hesitating to bet he’d been listening the entire time. She scowled at him.
“What are you doing here?”
Hadley sneered back. “Listening and talking, little miss. Unless I not allowed to do that in the Valley,” he feigned hurt as his head-feathers drooped, making him appear extra forlorn. Littlefoot just sighed. Taylen seemed to be the only one who was happy to see the mimic.
“Hi, Hadley,”
“Hey yourself, squirt,” Hadley winked. “And of course,” he gave a gracious nod towards Littlefoot. “Littlefoot, and,” he merely snorted. “Miss Threehorn.”
Cera didn’t seem too put-out by the lack of a greeting, however. Littlefoot broke in before she had the chance to. “You didn't answer our quesiton.” The longneck was barely inclined to think of Hadley as a friend; more of a tolerant acquaintance.
Hadley shrugged. “I heard voices nearby and just now found out it was your voices, and the best part was you were talking about me.”
Taylen giggled quietly. “I bet all that ruckus this morning woke Keirra up,” he remarked.
Hadley instantly sobered. “Ah, who knows. I didn’t get to see. I hope not, though,” he continued on, softly, like he was reminiscing. “She’s been up late the past few nights…”
As if he’d been knocked in the head, Hadley’s spunky attitude returned and he gave another wink. “But enough with all the doom and gloomy; you guys hungry, 'cuz I could go for something, now.” He snapped his head to and fro, examining the fauna surrounding them, and with a pleased exclamation, he pounced on a nearby sapling and grasped hold of the dangling tree sweets hanging from the thin, unsteady branches.
Cera grumbled under her breath as she nibbled on some soft grasses. Littlefoot settled for treestars and Taylen for tree fuzz he found on a rotting log. Hadley smirked as he observed the kids eating so quietly.
“Sheesh, I could lose my hearing it’s so loud here!” He tilted his head curiously, large blue eyes fixated on the three. “What’s eating you?”
“Nothing, we’re eating it.” Taylen spoke up through a mouthful of fuzz, before dissolving into giggles. Hadley grinned slightly at the pun. He hopped away from the tree, bounding over to another one less than a yard away. He gave a powerful leap and caught fast on the bark, sickle claws acting as an anchor. He shimmied slightly upwards, snapping at the leaves overhead.
“Havin’ fun with that, are ya?” A low, heavily-accented voice drawled from behind him. Hadley squeaked in surprise, slipping partway down the tree. He turned to face the speaker, feathers quivering with frustration.
A sturdy Two-Crest Swimmer met him, chewing a bundle of leaves, face looking extremely bored. Hadley snapped. “Thanks, Byron! You almost made me fall!”
Byron shrugged. He lifted himself partway upwards, only to about-face and go back to the tree he had been previously feasting off of. Hadley climbed off the tree, sneering. “So, to what do I owe
this pleasure, pointy Head?”
“Absolutely nuthin' that I could possibly want.” Byron’s voice stayed at exactly the same level.
“Byron?” Taylen’s head snapped up. “Hi!” He bounded over. “What’s up?”
“A bunch o’ dim-witted flyers, the sky, the Bright Circle,” he replied, sarcasm so apparent Hadley could have sliced it with his sickle claw. The Halftooth stood back, arms moodily folded.
“Heard about this mornin’, mate.” The Two-Crest mentioned, offhandedly, changing the subject totally. “It’s amazin’ that they let you ge’ away with it. Then again, if I’d had ta get up at that hour, I’d sign off practically everythin’ in order to go back ta my hollow for a wink ër two.”
“Oh, so you're relieved?” Hadley stamped his foot indignantly.
Byron finally turned to face him, still chewing. “I don’ see why you’re getting’ so worked up about this; ya go’ away with it, didn’t ya?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact, he did.” Cera snootily added, just coming into the conversation. Byron merely shrugged.
“You’re never gonna peg ëim with anythin’, just lettin’ ya know that.”
Taylen shifted his feet. Byron knew just how to get on Hadley’s nerves by doing and saying practically nothing. The Two-Crest was arrogant, even more so than Hadley was at times, succinct, and so aloof. However, he stayed under the radar because of his low-key mannerisms and because he rarely associated with anyone.
“Oi, c’mon guys,” Taylen pleaded. “We’re all on the same side, let’s just eat and not quarrel, ëkay?”
Littlefoot joined the group, listening sympathetically as Taylen tried to keep the peace. “Hey, Byron,” he greeted. “And Taylen’s right. Let’s just drop it.”
“Suits me just fine,” Byron mumbled, turning away for the second time. Hadley stomped off in a stewing mood. He hated Byron’s offhand comments about him. That blasted Bigmouth was such a pain in the tail; a loudmouthed, no good, high and mightyó
“Hadley?” Taylen innocently queried, noticing his angry quivering. The Halftooth looked down at the little Egg Stealer and exhaled, letting his anger out with that one breath.
“Yeah?”
Taylen smiled sympathetically. “I know how you feel.”
=====
Byron makes an appearance! That old Pointy Head!
Also, the time this happens is about six cold times after Pterano's banishment - so, he's back and the Gang had grown up a bit
