FINTAIL

𝘛𝘞𝘌𝘕𝘛𝘠 𝘛𝘏𝘙𝘌𝘌

"HELP!"

SPECK GROWLED to himself. Ripple wasn't listening to him. Even laying here on the ground proved to be a useless hint to her mind, more or less it bothered her. Not to say that she was gullible, Ripple's stubbornness and lack of awareness seemed to shut off the commonsense side of her mind. Such as knowing when to stop trying. Or maybe shutting up-

"HELP US!"

His growl turned into a sigh. They'd been stuck in here for over an hour. At the start, Speck suspected his family would have some idea of their disappearance by now. The faintness of their scent would be a clear reason to worry. But from what he could hear, even now, there wasn't a response coming from the other side. That meant either two things: they didn't care (which he doubted because she was here) or the latter half, they were still asleep.

And the walls, he noted, eyes scanning the metal frames binding them in. They had to be made so the outside couldn't hear us. So yes, roaring was pointless-

"You!"

His head perked up; the purple spinosaurus was now growling at him. "Idiot on the ground! Why aren't you doing anything?"

Speck's nostrils flared. He wanted to say something. But that wouldn't go well; he'd just instigate her emotions, so he just kept quiet.

"Rrr..." Ripple's tail lashed from behind, drawing closer. "Can't you at least do something?!"

Speck snorted. With what? Your mood problems? Even if his words didn't reach her, standing up and walking away from her seemed to do the trick. It stunned her more than it angered her, and the puff of sudden steam drifting out her snout was proof of that. Truth be told, Speck didn't do it out of hate. It was more along the lines of deserved aggravation, a silent, wordless dismissal that no creature could ignore.

Ripple's throat quaked, struggling to withstand the boiling pressure of her coming roar. She snarled, whipping her tail into the wall, trying to startle the spinosaurus. But Speck didn't stir. He didn't care much to begin with, he just walked away.

"Enough with the silent treatment," she hissed, storming over to him. "I don't know why you're a-always so sad about everything, but you can only do the hatchling act for so long."

Speck kept walking.

"And I know you can talk," she hurried in front of him and slammed her feet on the ground. "So talk!"

He turned around.

She muffled her curse, still tailing him at his pace. "You don't care, do you?"

Just shut up.

"I get that you have problems, but so do I -- I want to go home! I want to touch the grass, and sleep on my side of the cave, and eat fish! At least I tell everyone about how I feel, but you just keep wanting to shut everyone out! And it's annoying."

Stop.

"You don't even stand up for yourself, you just let things happen because you want it, and if Riptide-!"

He suddenly lashed out, snapping his jaws in Ripple's direction and startling her to the wall. Her heart started to quicken, eyes widening as he looked into Speck's narrowed slits, the cracks of each iris fuming with a flame she could not understand. She struck a nerve. That was clear, but what? All she mentioned was Riptide's name. Did... something happen between them? Is that why?

No matter the reason, the hatred had freed itself from Speck, something she hadn't seen in a long time. It petrified her, keeping her fused to the ground even after Speck spun another 180 degrees, bumped past her, and wandered down the hall. She puffed out a breath of steam and scolded him further.