Ch 3 Courtship

Red opened his eyes as the lights slowly began to brighten. He looked over to see Blue sleeping against a tree, his arms still wrapped tightly around his knees pulling them against his chest. Red shifted lightly and instantly Blue awoken and sat up quickly. Their eyes locked and stared intently at each other. Both warily watching, observing what the other did. Mistrust was obvious in their gaze.

Blue watched as Red got up and walked over to the stream that ran through the structure, his shoulder bruised and swollen from the bite Blue had given him the night before. A small smile of satisfaction worked it's way onto his mouth. Red massaged his shoulder and slipped into the stream, allowing the cool waters to soothe his aching muscles.

Blue licked his lips, his throat was dry and he too was rather achy from the night's awkward sleeping position and the bruises left on him from last night's brawl. He decided he too wanted to partake in the cool waters healing abilities. He was getting up and was just about to move toward the far end of the stream when a strange noise at the other end of the structure, where the little door was, caught his attention. He turned to see the door open and a box was slid in.

Upon seeing the door sliding up, Blue began to run toward the opening, he quickly grabbed at the door and attempted to push it further up but the door was heavy and was able to slide back down into place. Blue pounded anxiously on the door and began to throw himself against it. For several long moments Blue cried out in protest and continued to smash his fist upon the little door, but it was no good, the door would not budge.

Finally, Blue hung his head in defeat and whimpered pitifully while leaning hard against the door. He refused to acknowledge the presence coming toward him hesitantly. He didn't care, he only wanted to go home. Red picked up the box that had been slid into the structure and opened it. He sniffed deeply and smiled. Pizza, just the way he like it, extra cheese with jalapenos and pepperoni. He felt his mouth drool as he picked up the first piece. He was just about to take his fist bite when a sniffling whimper came again from the turtle at the door.

"I can't believe a turtle would like pizza so much." Bill muttered as he watched the two turtles interact.

"Well they are a strange species of turtle. Almost human when you look at them." Mark replied. He took a bite of his pizza and passed the box to Bill.

"Why would you want that for breakfast?" Bill asked, pushing the box away. He picked up a bowl full of oatmeal.

"I got through many a college days on this stuff." Mark said with his mouth full of the cheesy treat.

"Well I can't begin to underst….hey, check this out!" Bill suddenly leaned forward in interest at the two turtles.

Red looked at Blue in curiosity. The other turtle was hunkered down and shaking again, tears flowed steadily down his face. Red went to place his hand on the other turtle's shell but was quickly and violently brushed off. Clearly miffed at Blue's reaction to him, Red picked up another slice of pizza and was just about to eat it when he looked back at Blue with what looked to be a sympathetic gaze. He brought his hand with the slice toward Blue, slowly and carefully so as not to make the smaller turtle jump.

Blue turned his head and sniffed. Seeing the slice of pizza being held out to him, he turned slightly around and looked up at Red. He slowly took the piece from Red and took a bite. Red smiled at him and held up the box, he motioned for Blue to follow him. Red made his way back toward the stream where he sat. It took a few seconds but Blue soon followed slowly and cautiously and more out of hunger then curiosity. He sat next to Red and the two turtles shared the food.

"Well I'll be." Mark sounded amazed. "Looks like things are finally starting to look up for Red." He again began to scribble in his notebook.

"We'll see." Bill told him rubbing his hands. "Just because they're now starting to get along doesn't mean anything is going to happen but we can only hope."

"I have to admit, these turtles are nothing like anything I've ever studied before." Mark stated. "I wish I could find their nesting grounds and watch them in their natural groups outside then in here."

"Good luck with that." Bill sneered. "The only reason we were able to find the ones we did is because they were curious enough to come check us out." Bill gave a light chuckle. "I almost didn't believe in these things when I heard about them." This time he laughed loudly. "Can you imagine hearing someone talk about five foot turtles living in the jungle rain forest of Japan? Sounds way too bizarre."

"True." Mark mused. "But all kinds of strange species are found almost everyday. When you think about it, five foot turtles is not much different then Bigfoot."

"Yeah but Bigfoot hasn't been found yet." Bill muttered back and continued observing the turtles while eating his oatmeal.

They settled back, taking notes, fiddling with the cameras and pressing various buttons to change the lighting and atmosphere within the structure. But as the day went on, it became obvious to the humans the turtle they named Blue was still being rather stubborn.

Red laid down on his shell, his feet in the water and his eyes gazing lazily up at the floral covered roof of the structure. Every now and then he would slip into the stream and swim lazily around. He ate the leaves and fruit of the trees and walked around the structure. Blue continued to sit by his tree, his eyes every now and then darting over to the door hoping to see it open, but with every passing moment, it was becoming clear to Red that Blue was losing hope of gaining his freedom.

Finally, after several long hours of watching Blue lean against his tree, Red got up and made his way over to him. Blue watched him with a mixture of fear and curiosity as he came up to him. Red knelt down beside him and held his hand out. But Blue merely shook his head at him and pressed himself closer to the tree.

Red sighed in exasperation. He got back up and walked over to his stream while watching, out of the corner of his eye, Blue following his every movement. Blue watched as Red got back in the water, lazily settling himself into the cool stream. Red looked up at Blue expectantly. The turtles stared at each other for several moments. Red making motions for Blue to join him. But Blue only watched, warily and still uncertain of the Red turtle.

This went on for several minutes before Red, finally out of annoyance, threw water at the Blue. Caught off guard, Blue stood up and advanced on Red who was still playing in the water. He stood at the water's edge and, with an annoyed look, splashed water back at him, more out of anger then play. But Red only smiled and splashed more water at him, drenching him. Miffed at the larger turtle, the smaller one walked into the water and took both hands and slammed a large wave of water towards him managing to not only drench him with water but also knock him off his feet.

Blue watched as Red got back up and started to walk over to him, a look of determination on his face, but as he did, Blue again threw water at him and managed again to knock him back down, This went on for a few more times before Blue walked over to Red and crossed his arms. He stood over him with a hard look and an air of authority about him.

"Well that was different." Mark commented at the display. "Do you think Blue was trying to play with him or assert some sort of authority over Red."

"Not sure but it looks like Red is actually complying with….uh oh." Bill watched as Red hunkered down in the water and kept his head low. Blue, looking satisfied slowly and cautiously began to turn away, but as soon as his back was fully turned to him, Red jumped up and landed on Blue, knocking him down into the water.

The two turtles began to wrestle and at first it seemed like Blue would triumph over Red, but Red got the better of him and got behind Blue and held him down and eventually dragging him over to the land and forcing him on his plastron. After a short time he sat on his shell, refusing to let him up. Struggle as he may, the smaller turtle could not get the larger one off his shell.

The scientist laughed at the turtles' play. "This is better then a wrestling match, I wonder whose gonna win." Bill said, laughing some more when they saw Red lean forward and actually lick Blue's cheek. Blue, clearly disgusted by what Red had done, struggled harder to get the large turtle off him and after several seconds finally managed to turn over and push Red away from him.

The two stared at each other before Blue finally sighed in defeat and made his way over to the stream. With a sly look at Red, he made his way back into the water at the far end where the deep pool was and slowly swam around enjoying the cool feel of the liquid over his still aching body. With what seemed as almost a satisfied smile, Red walked over and joined him.