It took a good few hours, with Rigormortis in an increasingly desperate condition, to manage his way to the forest edge, before he stumbled and collapsed groggily to his side, panting hard and foam coming from his mouth due to the severe dehydration and hallucinogenic properties of the cacti he had consumed. His pupils were dilated so wide that his purple irises could only be seen as a sliver around the edges. After everything he had been through, was this where he died? Collapsed in a heap under some pathetic trees, killed by…by a cactus? As hard as he tried not to, a heartbreaking sound of distress left him, his strong legs seeming to have no more energy to move his bulk.

His whole body shook with effort as he heaved himself up, his knees weak and legs shaking like a newborn foal, trying desperately to step further into the shade, and only managing two steps before collapsing forwards again, his chin clattering against a rock and making him let out a wounded noise of pain as his teeth clacked together uncomfortably. He didn’t want to die here, he was- he was scared. He lashed his tail pathetically, thinking back on what his mother had told him when he was young, small and clumsy. “You’re too weak.” She says to him, as younger him falls over a branch. ”You’re going to die because of your weakness.” And he can’t help but think that she was right.

In his desperation to rest but also his determination to remain alive, Fawnstep had done the impossible--he had climbed a tree. He hadn't done so since he was much younger, and he still recalled how embarrassing the fall had been, but it was a necessity now. And thankfully, his mad scramble up the waterfalls had helped teach him a few lessons about climbing.

The young cryo had found himself a split in a branch that would hold his weight and allowed himself to rest. He closed his eyes but did not fall into a deep enough sleep that he would be caught off guard by anything happening around him. His logic was that yes he may be more visible, but anything that wanted to try to get him would have to climb the tree as well, and that would certainly shake him awake and give him time to escape. If the giant cryo could even climb, that is.

He rested for a while, though he had no idea how much time passed. It was the first time in at least a couple of days he'd been able to actually sleep, but it wasn't as restful as he had hoped. Especially not when the pained sounds started.

Fawnstep jerked awake at the sound of swooshing grass and the dull *thud* of something heavy falling to the earth. He moved his head to look past the branch he laid on and squinted with bleary, tired eyes. Oh fuck it was him--

The smaller cryo stood shakily, his limbs flooding with fear-energy that made them feel more like legs than rocks at the ends of his bones. He looked down silently as the huntwer stood and flopped onto the ground again, legs shaking and tail thrashing. Had he drank from the cactus, or was he in the throes of dehydration? Whatever the case...this was horrible to see.

Fawnstep clenched his teeth, his heart beating faster as he made a decision that could very well claim his life. He picked his way down the tree and hopped down from the top of the trunk. His legs tried to collapse in his exhaustion but he caught himself and trotted quickly away, his heart leaping into his throat as he continued away.

Every step that took him farther from the struggling cryo made Fawnstep feel more retched, until he finally made up his mind. He raked his clawed fingers through the dry brittle grass as he walked, gathering up the bits of broken and sun-scorched blades that he formed into a dense ball. By the time he arrived at the watering hole, he had a ball the size of his head. He dunked it in the water and held it loosely in his hands as he lifted it. Much of the water would drip out, but the dry grass would hold some of it at least, hopefully enough.

The smaller cryo ran back to where the hunter had collapsed and slowed only once the larger cryo was in reach. He crouched as if hunting himself, but used that silent approach to set the wad of soaked grasses as close to the other as he dared. Then he darted away to watch from beneath another tree a good distance away.

In the throes of his distress, Rigormortis didn’t notice Fawnstep approaching until his shadow fell over the larger Cryolophosaurus’ head. He let out a low, pained warning sound, pathetically hoping if he was to die here, that it would be fast. Turning his head, he startled when his nose bumped against something small and wet, and his brain made his body move before he even registered what it could be, desperately grabbing the wet grassy ball and lapping up the water that trickled from it, a rumble of…contentment? Happiness? Gratitude? Whatever- leaving him. He cracked open his eyes, squinting blearily at the blurred form of the other Cryolophosaurus.

Why was he helping Rigormortis? He had tried to kill Fawnstep. Damn near succeeded, too. He’d pursued him through miles and miles of biomes in an attempt to get a chance to kill him again. He didn’t understand. He’d never had someone try to help him before- he’d grown up alone, having to defend himself alone and hunt for whatever meal he could get his teeth into, regardless of species or relation to him. So to be helped now by a stranger- hell, a stranger he’d once considered food, was absolutely baffling to him.

Opening his mouth to speak, his voice a dry rasp, Rigormortis huffed out a breath and looked in the other’s direction. “Why… are you helping…me?” He asked softly, voice much quieter than it had been the last time they had encountered one another. “I….tried to kill…you…” he rumbled, closing his eyes in exhaustion. At least if he died here, he would have died with someone else, not alone.

Fawnstep watched with bated breath as the larger cryo lapped at the wad of wet grass with desperation. He breathed out a relieved sigh, grateful that it had worked and he’d been able to help in some small way at least.

He stiffened, his eyes widening as the other cryo asked that question, and then his eyes narrowed in thought. Why…was he helping? He’d wondered the same thing, but hadn’t been able to come up with an answer for himself. Now that someone else had asked him, that uncertainty seemed to come back in full force.

He dared to take a step toward Rigormortis, stretching to peer over the tops of the overgrown, dry grasses. If something came for them, would Rigormortis be able to pick himself up and flee? Would he even think to run, or stand his ground and fight?

“I guess…I didn’t want you to die,” he said with an uncertain shrug, looking down at the ground with occasional glances at the cryo that had hunted him for so long. “Yeah you tried to kill me, but you didn’t succeed…just because you did something bad to me doesn’t mean you deserve to have bad things happen to you.”

Ten minutes passed, and rigormortis found himself with enough energy to shakily stand, struggling for a moment before he carefully made his way to the pool of water nearby, flopping into it carelessly and taking in great mouthfuls of water until he had to gasp for air. Settling in the murky water -his body had stirred up a lot of sediment in the bottom which had turned the water somewhat brown, though his body wouldn’t discriminate the soil he’d ingested from the complete lack of other food.

Finally able to settle and breathe properly again, he groggily turned to watch Fawnstep, his beady purple eyes fixing on the other Cryo now that he wasn’t so blurred and wavy. “We need to find food.” He spoke, his voice coming back smoother and louder now that his throat wasn’t as dry as the savannah they had just traversed across. “Something that is not the poison cactus.” He added , scrunching his face up in distaste. “I passed by a group of those….four legged things with the pointy bits on their heads a little while back.” He added, tsil swishing lazily in the water.

Rigormortis wasn’t quite sure when “I” and “Me” became “We” and “Us”, but it felt…oddly right, in his chest, to have the prospect of hunting with another dinosaur, especially one of his kind. Granted he doubted the other dinosaur would cater to his preferred diet, but it was a good think Rigormortis wasn’t exclusively cannibalistic. “I have no interest in eating you, anymore.”