Chapter 10: Hand and Claw
Hello again, dear readers!
As stated in the previous chapter, this one is a bit longer and more complex. That, combined with college and job interviews, made this chapter take much longer to write down. Still, I hope you can all be happy to know I'm not dealing with any sort of writer's block or lack of enthusiasm. I'm happy with both the story and the kind comments all of you provided.
While it took so long to finish writing, I think this chapter provides quite a lot of progress to the weird duo's relationship and communication. It's a bit slow, but hopefully still entertaining. Next one will be much shorter, but since the end of the semester is coming up I can't say how long it will take to write.
As always, thank you all for reading and please leave a comment/review. I love reading them.
-x-
How many people could say they had gone from a hopeful career in a decent field to a hunter-gatherer in a dinosaur-infested island? Probably not that many, and Samantha was not thrilled at all by this privilege. Nevertheless, she supposed it might at least make it a good book, or a bar conversation. God knows she really missed the last one.
The corners of her mouth twitched as she imagined herself trying to have such a conversation with Chaser. She could see him awkwardly sitting in a stool, killing claws scraping against the wooden counter, while she told him some funny story about an ex-boyfriend or something. "Can raptors get drunk?" She wondered out loud. Of course they could, you just needed the right amount of poison.
But as much as she enjoyed wondering about alcoholic raptors, this was not her current task. No, right now Samantha found herself carrying several dead comps on one hand and some dead fish on the other. As it was expected on this island, Compsognathus was the most plentiful and easy source of meat to come by. Because of the dead raptors left from last night, there were plenty of comps running around to scavenge the bodies. It hadn't taken that long to snatch a few of them who made the mistake of getting too close to her. The fish were a bit trickier. There was a small stream not far from the lab, and it was clear enough to see the small fish swimming around. Samantha already had some experience with improvised fishing, so it was only a matter of using some sticks, her knife and a lot of patience, of which she had plenty.
Sam made her way through the open area near the lab, back to her shelter. The sound of leaves being crushed by her boots and the usual singing of birds reminded her just how peaceful and pleasant the jungle could be… when you weren't fighting for survival.
A single glance down to the dead comps she was carrying made her chuckle at the absurdity of the situation. "What's this, a fucking date?" She jokingly wondered. It seemed no matter how much time passed, the situation continued to be surreal. Here she was bringing food to an adult male raptor, because she thought it would be a nice gesture to thank him for saving her life several times and not killing her when he had the chance.
Just thinking about it made it even more weird. "God, what have I gotten myself into?" She asked while shaking her head in disbelief.
Nevertheless, it was still far better than the expected alternative, where she would probably be nothing but raptor or dilophosaurus food.
As the residential block came into view, her eyes briefly gazed back at the research center, thinking about the documents she had found inside. They weren't much, and certainly not the most valuable piece of information that might be stored there, but she could bet that even the brief mentions to the incubation process used by Ingen could probably fetch a decent price on the black market. Wast it unethical? Absolutely, but right now she had a much bigger concern, something that trumped moral questions about a decades old experiment gone wrong.
What Sam had seen in Chaser, a being of intelligence, self-awareness and capable of complex communication, even if only a few words she was able to teach him, was something that demanded her entire attention, even more than her original goal of escaping the island. A few old papers weren't much, but they might give her the money and cooperation from her friends to listen and maybe not immediately throw her into an insane asylum.
Whatever the case, she couldn't go much further without proper means to document her findings. Hell, even a cellphone with a decent camera and some memory cards would be enough to have some evidence. It wouldn't be credible by any means, but it was a start. But as much as the young researcher inside her head loved to think about these endless possibilities, that was all in the future, maybe.
She could hammer out the finer details of her master plan after her little "date" with Chaser.
As for the raptor in question, he found himself slowly waking up after a blissful sleep. Were he a human, he would have sported a big smile. Instead, he just laid sprawled on the bed, enjoying the soft material underneath him and the warm sunrays coming from the window opposite to him.
Normally, he wouldn't stay that long sleeping. His clan usually slept in two turns of 4 hours each, usually from sundown to 10pm or 11pm, and then from 2am or 3am until sunrise. This time, however, he was too comfortable with the bed and too exhausted from all his previous activities to keep his sleep in the normal schedule. On the plus side, there was no clan around to scold him for sleeping too much.
However, as much as he was enjoying it, he was beginning to grow bored of laying around. Plus, he also wanted to know what the soft skin was doing (his sense of smell had already told him she had left). His yellow eyes slowly opened and scanned the room. First thing he took notice was Sam's backpack and tools still sitting next to the bed, meaning that she hadn't ran away while he slept. He sat up a bit and stretched his long neck while also yawning. He felt great. A quick look on the wounds he got last night showed they were healing nicely.
Chaser wondered where Samantha had gone. Most likely to eat, drink water or relief herself. Whatever the case, she wouldn't be that far off.
By instinct, he smelled the covers a bit, feeling her scent. It was very unique and much different from other creatures. He briefly wondered if all soft skins had such a unique scent. Another thing he noticed was that his feathers, his chest specifically, also smelled very strongly of her. "Strange…" Had she come closer to him during the night?
Whatever the case, his thoughts were interrupted by the faint smell of blood accompanied by the rhythmic thuds of Sam's boots approaching. It seemed she was coming back to their little nest.
He froze at that last thought. Damn, that sounded very wrong.
Soon, the door swung open, and Chaser saw her standing there. As he expected, she halted at the sight of him, but recovered much quicker than expected. "Good," he thought to himself, "she's making progress".
The next thing that caught his attention were the Compsognathus she held on one hand. He had to do a double take. Even though he was aware she was capable of hunting (considering her thunderer), it was still strange to see her with those kills. Soft skins were so harmless when compared to his kind.
He stood up from the bed and watched as she approached. He casually wondered if she planned on eating all of those herself. He wasn't sure how much food was good enough for a soft skin. Yesterday, her meal had been very small for raptor standards, even considering her smaller size. A sudden smell hit his nose, and his eyes were drawn to a fabric she carried on her other hand. A quick look was enough to figure out she was carrying fish inside them. That was strange. His clan didn't usually eat fish – as there weren't many around Fallen Rock – But he was aware some clans along the river did. Now that he thought about it, Sam's diet was much more varied than his. He had seen her eat meat, bananas and a few other strange things he couldn't name. Were all soft skins this… diverse with their eating?
The two of them stood awkwardly for a moment, before Sam took the initiative. She carefully showed him the dead comps and then placed them on the floor between them. Struggling a bit to remember the right sounds, she called him.
"Chaser" He cooked his head to the side. Was she going to share the food with him?
He remembered the first time she had woken up. His botched attempt at offering food as a peace sign hadn't gone as smoothly as he expected – Which was actually quite obvious, in a hindsight – But it seemed she had somewhat understood the gesture behind it. Maybe this was her way to thank him for helping her? Or maybe it was normal for soft skins to share food? Who knows? For raptors, it could mean anything from a simple gift to a courtship proposal, and he doubted Samantha meant the last one.
Meanwhile, the woman was trying to figure out how to convey her offering. She didn't know the word for "Yours" or something that implied possession, and even if she did it wasn't just to tell him it was his, but to show her appreciation for everything he's done for her, a gift. Did raptors even have the concept of a gift?
Thinking back to when he offered her the dead comps, it seemed likely they did, even though his offering was more like a peace sign than a gift per says.
Instead of trying to use her extremely limited vocabulary, Samantha settled to just push the comps towards him, just as he had done previously, and hope he got the meaning. Unbeknownst to her, Chaser had already sort of understood what she was trying to do. The very moment he had seem the dead critters his mind had gone to that very memory. Still, having the intention made clear by her gesture was still very meaningful to him.
It made him realize just how incredible this whole situation was. Here he was, making friends with a completely different species, one he had been taught to be strange and almost incomprehensible creatures that once ruled his home with magical items. Yet in just a couple of days Samantha had gone from that mysterious strange being to someone he could somewhat understand on both an intellectual and emotional level.
Were he a human, he would have smiled. His sudden realization combined with Samantha's gesture had lit a fire of excitement in his belly, a surge of happiness from understanding the importance of what he was doing and how successful he had been so far (despite the obvious hiccups, that is).
Instinct almost made him shout in excitement, but he held himself, knowing it might scare Sam. Still, he wanted to demonstrate his happiness to her, and also show how he appreciated her gift. Problem was, he wasn't sure how. It was normal for raptors to voice their happiness in ways similar to birdcalls, sometimes even going as far to sing and dance. But he once again wasn't too sure how Sam would react. His mind went back to last night, to how she had wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face against him. It had been an unusual, but very sweet gesture from her. Maybe he could try it?
"No…" He thought to himself. It was one thing for a soft skin with their dexterous but harmless hands to touch him, but another for a raptor with sharp claws to do it. Trapping her with his claws, even if he did it gently, might have the opposite effect he was looking for. Instead, he realized he might need to try something a bit more unorthodox, at least when considering the level of their relationship.
Ever careful not to scare Sam, he walked up to her and gently nuzzled her, wrapping his long neck around her own. At first, the woman froze, not out of fear, but because she was confused. Quickly, though, she connected the dots to what Chaser was doing and leaned into the gesture.
The raptor felt a shiver as Sam's hands pressed on his neck, carefully petting the smaller feathers which covered that area.
After he broke away from her, Sam was sporting a large smile and was having a hard time not showing her teeth (being conscious of how most creatures saw it). While there was a bit of embarrassment, her entire body beamed with happiness, something Chaser easily noticed – He was becoming quite proud at his ability to understand her body language. To be honest, he himself was also partially embarrassed, as nuzzling someone's neck was considered a fairly intimate gesture among his clan, usually reserved for family members or lovers. That last one might also include some playful nibs at the back of the neck, though he would obviously never do such a thing, as her skin looked too fragile to handle such things… and also because they aren't lovers.
With their little exchange over, the two proceeded to eat. For Chaser, the food itself wasn't anything special, as Compsognathus was a very common prey that was fairly easy to catch. Still, the gesture behind it made it all better. However, he was very much interested on what Sam was eating.
The woman in front of him had settled for a mix of leftover meats she had cocked yesterday and a few fruits (mostly bananas) she had scavenged this morning. It was enough to make it a decent meal, even if it was cold.
From Chaser's perspective, it was a weird combination. His raptor diet was almost exclusively carnivorous, with a few exceptions his kind had learned to use to enhance the flavor of the meat. He knew some animals had a more mixed diet, but at first glance soft skins didn't seem like meat eaters. Their mouths and especially their jaws, looked more fitting to an herbivore than something like himself. To his credit, he was partially right, as humans generally don't eat raw meat like most predators do. He was also very much puzzled as to why she would bother to eat those fruits when she had all that juicy meat from yesterday. More so, he really wanted to understand why she had burned the meat in a fire. Was it some sort of soft skin ritual?
Obviously, it would take a lot more understanding to have such a conversation.
Luckily for Chaser, both of them were very much eager to continue learning, and so they proceeded to try asking questions and learning more words as they ate their respective meals.
Learning individual words was far easier for both parties. They quickly exchanged simple things like "food", "meat" and "fruit", although Samantha wasn't sure if he meant that or something more specific like "bananas" and "Compsognathus meat". She would need to try this again when she had a bigger variety of food to use as examples. Another problem was their mutual limitations when it came to repeating the correct sounds on each language. This was mostly one sided to Sam, as it seemed raptors shared the ability of birds to figure out how to reproduce a wide variety of sounds, even if they were completely alien to their usual phonology. Hearing also played a role on both parts, as some sounds were more difficult to catch due to different frequencies and speed of pronunciation.
Still, they were both happy with their progress and eager to keep learning. As a result, what should've been a quick meal, stretched for over an hour.
The last thing they had gone over were verbs like "eating" and "grabbing". This change in subject had gotten Samantha to think. While linguistics was not her field (with the exception of a single course she had taken on anthropology back at the university), she was very much aware of the studies carried out about communication made with apes and parrots.
Deciding to perform a little test, she put down her food and got Chaser's attention. With his yellow eyes on her, she carefully worded out her question "Chaser eearting meat," she spoke, first pointing at him, and then at the comp he was eating, "Yyess?".
This was the first time she attempted to form a sentence in his language. What she wanted was to find any indication of a possible sentence structure, some sort of grammar.
The raptor, for his part, briefly opened his mouth, as if about to give her a quick answer, but he instead he held himself for a moment, clearly thinking through what she said, before opening his mouth again.
"Chaser is eating this meat" He worded out carefully, doing his best to say it in a tone and speed she could understand.
A wave of excitement began to surge through Sam's body. The woman had definitely heard some extra sounds there which, if she was correct, were probably connectives of some sort, something that could transform random words into a fully structured sentence.
"Chaser iz eating ziz mmeat?" Her first attempt was so bad she cringed at herself.
On the other hand, despite some clear mistakes, Chaser was quite happy to see her trying. "NoO," he said. "Chaser is eating this meat".
She tried again. "C-chaser is eating Thiis meat" still not perfect, but an improvement, nonetheless.
"Yess" Chaser said while pointing his muzzle slightly upwards. It seemed to be a gesture similar to a human nod.
"Alright," Sam thought to herself, "Time for the final test".
This time, she did the opposite order. Instead of pointing to Chaser and then the dead comp, she began by the meat. "Meat is eating thhis Chaser" one of the things that differentiated human language from animals was a set structure for sentences, meaning that the order of words could change the meaning of a sentence.
The raptor paused for a moment and cocked his head to the side, as if confused. "No," He answered her, pointing his muzzle slightly downwards this time. Maybe that was the equivalent to a head shake?
"Chaser is eating this meat" he said slowly, placing a lot of emphasis on his name.
Samantha repeated his words, and he once again pointed his muzzle slightly upwards while confirming she was correct. The woman then pointed to herself and spoke "Sam is eating thiz meat", finishing it by pointing at the food on her lap.
He quickly confirmed her success, looking agitated. The woman couldn't help but to be pleased with herself. This a big step for Sam, as it further proved she wasn't just humanizing him or seeing meaning where there wasn't any. This little experiment had shown, or at least indicated, that the intelligence she saw was indeed real.
This little success lifted her spirits and made her even more engaged on their language exchange even after they had finished their meal. As Sam proceed with her usual daily tasks, she used every opportunity to learn more vocabulary. Occasionally, though, the raptor would leave her alone and wonder around the area, in pattern that made her conclude he was patrolling for possible threats.
His action made her realize just how… comfortable she had become.
Sam realized she herself had forgotten to patrol and secure the area around her shelter. Her previous paranoia was gone. She no longer felt the constant fear that sooner or later a bloodthirsty monster would jump on her and tear her apart. No, she was actually feeling quite safe, all because of him.
Sam stopped what she was doing and watched him in the distance, as his eyes scanned the horizon. He really had done a lot for her in a very short amount of time, all because of that first interaction. "Guess I really became friends with a raptor" she wondered out loud. Was that what he saw on her? She honestly didn't know if she wanted an answer, as both would pose a lot of issues.
The rest of the day went by with the two of them expanding their communication quite significantly. By sunset, Samantha was already figuring in out how to build sentences on her own, while Chaser had also become quite proficient. There were still hard limitations to both of them due to physiology, but they managed to find ways around it. All in all, the woman and raptor were both quite happy with their results and were now doing much more than just repeating simple words.
However, by now Samantha had realized her previous plans on how to proceed were obsolete. Not only was she forced to deal with dwindling supplies and ammunition due to the deadly encounters that forced her to remain in the research compound longer than originally intended, but now she had to rethink everything to take Chaser into consideration. This more or less ended any hopes of a quick and easy way out.
She was very certain Chaser would continue to follow her when she decided it was time to leave. How far, she didn't know, but it was best to assume it would be all the way to the docks. This presented two possible problems: If she called for help, how would she explain his presence in a way he wouldn't be killed on sight? And if by some miracle the rest of the team had decided to seek shelter there (as it might be difficult to get past costal guard patrols) than how the fuck would she even enter the docks in the first place with a raptor following her?
Even with all the progress the human and dinosaur had made, Sam knew she couldn't really explain the situation to Chaser. Even if she could, she didn't know how much he would understand without knowing the proper context. He obviously wouldn't know much about how humans reacted to dinosaurs – as he probably only had her own reactions as examples – or the implications of what she was doing on the island and where she was supposed to go. All of this posed a huge problem, and Sam wasn't sure if she was even capable of coming up with an acceptable solution.
As ironic as it might sound, she needed to make sure he would be safe, not just out of personal necessity, but because she genuinely cared for him now. "I suppose the big bird does deserve some sympathy after saving my ass twice in a row…" He was like a knight in shining feathers.
The woman had used the last hours of sunlight to look over her food supplies, ammunition and map. The first two were low, especially her ammunition – not including the old shells she had found, as they weren't reliable – But with Chaser around it wouldn't be as much as an issue. Food and water could be acquired fairly easily, but now there was another mouth to eat. Plus, as Chaser is a raptor, not only is his diet hypercarnivore, but he likely has a calory intake much bigger than a human. Samantha knew an adult lion ate as much as 16 pounds, or seven kilos, of food per day. She didn't know how much Chaser weighted, but she guessed it wasn't much less than a male lion, considering he was larger than her. That meant his daily meals wouldn't be too far from that (obviously there were other factors that would influence his possible daily calorie intake, such as his personal metabolism, but there was no way to figure that out). The comps they had eaten were big, but she knew he was probably eating less than usual. This means she would need to hunt larger prey to keep her companion well fed.
Could a raptor hunt larger prey by himself? Probably, but she could at least try to help him.
As for Sam herself, she could survive with a mix of fruits and meat she scavenged. Hell, she could even eat some insects if it came to it.
However, this still left one big question open: Should she continue heading to the docks?
She analyzed her map carefully. The path from this compound to the coast was pretty straight forward, and there wasn't a lot of infrastructure between the two. Worst of all, over 20 years of neglect had probably eliminated or severely damaged any small buildings along the path. Still, as her eyes scanned the old thing, she saw a few branching paths going away from the main road. One of them in particular led to an observation post of what used to be a fenced area for large dinosaurs. If her memory served her right, those structures were made of concrete and steel – more like bunkers, really – and should be mostly intact. If the tower was still standing, she would have a clear view of the docks. From there, her binoculars could reveal if there were people there or not, and she would be able to figure out her next steps more carefully.
Her best course of action would be to stay there for a day to figure out her next move. This meant coming up with a solution to both parts of the problem, how to deal with the other humans and how to explain the situation or at least make Chaser trust her and follow her advice when the inevitable encounter came.
Still, the more the woman thought about it, the more complicated it looked. Was there any chance to make it work? She didn't know, but she had to try.
As the sun crossed the horizon and the blue sky turned into a warm sunset, Samantha finished her preparations. Time had gone by quickly. It had been a productive day, and by now she was more or less sure the two of them could leave this place tomorrow. Her next objective was set, and while she didn't have all the answers to her problems, Sam was willing to try and figure them out.
She found herself once again on the bed, gathering her possessions and reorganizing them in a more efficient manner. This was something she gained the habit of doing during her travels into parks and nature reserves. It helped to stave off boredom.
The incoming cold (for a tropical place) made her shiver a bit. Her clothes had been in a sorry state for some time now. They smelled terrible and she was afraid they might become problematic, both due to the aforementioned smell – which would make her an even easier target for predators – and due to hygiene. So, she had decided to wash them in a clear stream near the main lab and let them dry during the night and early morning of tomorrow, leaving her in her sports bra and panties.
It wasn't that much of an issue. The temperatures never dropped enough to pose a risk and the high levels of humidity made it more comfortable to wear less anyway. Besides, she was in the safety of her shelter with her shotgun close to the bed.
The only thing she had to lookout for is to not mistake Chaser for an intruder. The raptor should be coming in soon enough.
She looked down upon her body noticing some old scratches on her arms and legs. All this time in the jungle had left marks on her body. Not only that, but she probably lost some weight too, given her very limited food and extensive physical effort.
Sam frowned at that, feeling her body with her hands. "God, what I would give for a good mirror…" She thought bitterly. While she was no model, Samantha had always been proud of keeping a decent figure. She could only wonder what her face looked like now. Her hair was a mess, and her skin was a far cry from before.
Not that it mattered, though, as the only thing that might judge her was the raptor. He had already seen her change clothes before. It had been a bit embarrassing, but it's not like he was attracted to her form in any way. "Oh boy, he sure doesn't know what he's missing" Sam joked.
That little joke made her freeze for a second. "Nope, it's much better if he doesn't know!" Last thing Sam needed was an adult velociraptor finding her sexy. It was bad enough when the occasional asshole harassed her, she didn't want to know if the raptor equivalent of flirting was any better.
Not that she minded the occasional fling. Sam was quite open about enjoying herself and was more than happy to give attention to someone who was nice enough. There had been a few serious romances here and there, but for the most part she would go around with the flow. Still, she would prefer if her partners were humans and not deadly dinosaurs.
Sam could almost laugh at the absurdity of it. Would he take her to a date on a hunting trip? Maybe he would do a little dance to court her, like some birds do. "Jesus, what would he even look like dancing?" She just couldn't imagine the big raptor busting a move like that. Not that she wanted to know, as she had plenty of future plans that didn't combine with possibly having to make a nest and watch over eggs and shit. "Plus, that big bird doesn't exactly match my expectations for a partner" She wanted someone with sexy abs and a sharp jawline, not with feathers and killing claws.
Sam bit her lip, feeling a bit bad for thinking that. It wasn't like Chaser was ugly, not for a raptor as far as she knew. He looked very healthy and powerful for his species, and his feathers were also mesmerizing. While it was impossible to know what exactly raptors looked for in partners, she was sure he would fare quite well amongst his own kind. Even a human like herself could appreciate the beauty on many aspects of him.
Hell, his personality – as far as she had gotten to know – was more than good enough for her. His curiosity surrounding her and the way he would try to understand what she was doing was very cute, really. He had been very patient when she woke up and had done his best not to scare her, which was very nice and thoughtful of him. Plus, there was the big elephant in the room: He had saved her life twice now, even putting himself in harm's way to protect her. He had done all of that despite the fact she could've killed him. Now he was sticking around and trying to learn how to communicate with her, doing his best to teach her.
Thinking over all these facts made her cheeks warm. "He really is something else, isn't he?" it was almost funny how after days of looniness the universe had decided to give her a nice companion… who wasn't human.
God, this whole situation sucked. All this fight for survival had left Samantha starved for comfort. She wanted to touch someone, not like a friend or pet, but as a lover. She wanted someone to hold her and make her feel safe and calm. But the only possible candidate was a freaking raptor.
Dammit, had Chaser been a human she wouldn't have minded getting frisky with him. It would've been almost like a movie cliché. "For fuck's sake, why couldn't he be some sexy explorer or something?" Instead, he was a fucking raptor. "Well, at least he's pretty comfy…" She muttered. Not that she planned on cuddling again with him again, obviously, but it was something of a plus.
Nevertheless, as frustrating as this was, she was glad for having met him. Chaser had turned a living nightmare into something almost hopeful. Her previous paranoia was more and more replaced by wonder and her future was now filled with hopes instead of fear and doubt. Not having to deal with loneliness anymore, even if it didn't fulfill her desire for touch, was still a massive improvement for her mental state. For that alone, she was very thankful for having him.
The raptor in question was making his way back to Sam's current shelter. He had taken some time to circle around the perimeter and make sure there were no potential predators or rival clans nearby. Of course, that didn't stop him from occasionally checking on Sam, mostly out of pure curiosity as to what she was doing. It seemed she was always busy with something, usually related to her many objects. Were all soft skins this busy? If all these things they carried took so long maintain, why bother at all?
He could see why she used some of them, like her weapon and body coverings. They were practical things that compensated for her physical limitations, but others were a bit of a mystery. There was this strange tube with a glass front that she would take a look every so often – to make sure it was intact, he assumed – And there was this big square fabric thing filled with shades of green and blue that she would lay down in front of her and stare for long periods of time, as if thinking about something. He was completely puzzled as to what those weird colorful drawings meant, or why Sam was so interested on them.
Were he a human, he would have laughed at those strange things. He couldn't help but to wonder if this was all normal for her kind or if he happened to be stuck with a peculiar individual.
However, that small moment of amusement was overshadowed by the worry that was gaining size inside Chaser's mind. Indeed, as the day had progressed the raptor had become more and more anxious about the future, specifically about what was supposed to happen tomorrow. He knew that, if Tree-climber had kept his word, his clanmates were supposed to look for him next sunrise. Just thinking about what might happen and the many possible outcomes filled him with dread.
The day had been very productive, but Chaser knew it wasn't nearly enough. Samantha was barely able to utter a complete sentence in his language and had even more trouble understanding his speech. It was far from enough to actually talk with the others of his kind. More and more, he was worried that this whole plan might have been a huge mistake. All that was needed was one wrong move for everything to descend into bloodshed, and the lack of proper communication made it all more likely.
Surprisingly, he feared for both his clanmates and Samantha herself. The soft skin had grown into him, and he was starting to appreciate her company and mannerism. Beyond the weird quirks and strange body, he could see she was comfortable and even trusting with him. He himself enjoyed watching her, and as weird as some of her things were, he would be lying if he said he wasn't partially amused by them. Therefore, it was no surprise he wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to either side, but he feared there was little he could do about it.
The only thing he could hope for is that Sam would trust him when the time came.
Knowing there was no point to waste more time worrying about the future, he shut those thoughts away and continued to make his way to her shelter. The darkness of the night quickly obscured the world around him, and slowly the world was overtaken by the shining stars, glowing moon and animal sounds throughout the jungle.
He felt safe, despite the darkness. His little patrol ensured there were no threats nearby, so could sleep with one less thing to worry about.
"Is she going to cuddle with me again?" He thought to himself. It had been unexpected, but nothing he wasn't used to, as it was normal for his kind to sleep very close to one another. Still, he never imagined he would be doing that with a soft skin. Not that he minded, really. He actually kind of enjoyed it.