*OUF!*, William had the air in his lungs punched out, the moment little Lucifer jumped down on his chest. It haughtily waved its tail around while it held its head up high. “Rauf!”, it cawed happily. Exceedingly proud of itself. William curled one corner of his lip and said, “Yeah… Thanks for killing it...”. Then he gently pushed it off of him as it was beginning to weigh too much.

He got up and then looked down on the little creature again, saying, “It’s a shame that you probably already have a master… But anyways… We should hurry up and leave this area before anything else gets attracted to it…”. Lucifer expectantly looked at William. Then it spun around itself and went over to rip off a chunk of flesh for him to eat.

It joyfully had the piece dangling from its mouth as it tried to give it to him. When William saw this he said, “Ah… I don-”, but he didn’t get to finish his sentence before the slab of muscles landed smack dab on his face. Lucifer had thrown it to perfectly land on top of his nose and mouth. It sure was full of talents... William blinked with his eyes wide open as the meat slowly slid down onto his chin…

He instantly tore the bloody chunk off as he shouted out a clear, “NO!”.

Seeing the dinosaur’s confused expression, he helplessly laughed out loud before trudging his way over to the stream. A spot for rinsing was further ahead, so he went over there. Lucifer followed but was rather confused by William’s mixed signals. What did it mean when the human laughed? And why did it not accept its food? Did it or did it not want meat?...

William washed off the mess with his eyes closed. Although he couldn’t see, he could hear the familiar waddling of Lucifer, approaching him from behind his back. When he finally gave it his attention, he noticed that Lucifer had missed a spot of blood right at the tippy-top of its cute head. Of course, he had no intention of letting it stay like that, so he signaled for the dino to come closer. Lucifer curiously went over beneath his palm, only to be met with a cupped hand brimming with cold water.

It whined and meekly fought back at first as if it didn’t have a choice. Until it realized that the human was just trying to help it stay clean. Realizing this, the cub slowly calmed down and welcomed William’s gentle care. As it was getting cleansed, it dawned on Lucifer, that staying with another creature had its benefits.

Compared to back when it was alone. The unreachable spots that would often get clotted with blood, had the tendency to attract annoying flies. A nuisance that it just had to live with until the mess wore off by itself. But now, it didn’t have to suffer this inconvenience anymore! Being cared for by someone truly was a blessing in itself.

****

The morning after was like any other for William. He would wake up well-rested. This was due to Lucifer’s alertness. If anything dangerous should approach the camp, it would holler and let him know. The perfect little alarm. Then once he woke up, the fresh morning air would often be accompanied by an iron scent…

William looked down to discover that he had been gifted yet another dead rabbit. He rolled his eyes at the sight. Lucifer was really persistent with this ritual… Although, this time Lucifer had made it peacefully rest on his leg. The one that the dinosaur had bitten the day before. Seeing this, made William feel slightly touched...

But alas, he didn’t want to eat this rabbit, since he didn’t have the time nor patience to cook it. So like always, he lifted the rabbit up by its ears with the intention of throwing it away. “RAW!”, a little bandit cawed as it happily chomped down on the rabbit’s leg. This was to be expected. Lucifer would never let him throw these pests away without turning his mission into a tug of war.

The little white cub happily chewed and growled on the pelted legs. Sometimes shaking its head to win over the meat. William tended to only play this game for a few seconds before he let it go. This act would always make Lucifer lose its interest in the carcass, but this didn’t mean the game was over. If he was to take it again it would simply continue…

William lamented to himself. He usually counted it as a lucky day, if he could throw the animal far away before Lucifer interfered. But now that it had, it would be impossible to dispose of it...

He glared at the dinosaur who had made this into a daily routine and thought: Lucifer is fairly clever, so why hasn’t it learned yet that I don’t need these morning offerings?...

On the other end, Lucifer had a similar thought: This creature is fairly skinny and weak, so why won’t it just accept my offerings and eat them politely?...

After a stretched out jawn, William was ready to stand up and continue his journey. He just never got to lift up his butt, because what he saw before him was truly unlike the usual. William could barely believe his own eyes when he witnessed Lucifer willingly dispose of the cadaver. All by itself!... While the cub went dutifully toward the nearest stream, he waited patiently for it to casually drop the body into the waters. William was overjoyed by surprise when he saw his wish come true. Besides experiencing joy he wanted to make the dinosaur understand how good it was, thus he went over to it with words of praise and a few claps. “Good Lucifer!... You’re indeed very perceptive aren’t you?”.

At first, the dinosaur was sad to see its catch go uneaten, but when it heard and saw how happy the human was, its sadness turned into a complacent purr. Its plan had worked like expected. Since it had pleased the human by disposing of its offering, the being was now in a good enough mood to be persuaded. Into becoming its new ‘parent’.

While it still had William’s attention, it tried to mimic to the creature how to make a bond. So it pretended to bite itself on the shoulder area, right before its wing. It continued to make this motion of sinking its head to take a nibble. Then afterward it would expectantly look up at William, who didn’t seem to get its intentions at all…

With every failed attempt at communicating, Its patience soon ran thin. Seeing that the human didn’t get it, Lucifer angrily cawed at him to take notice!

William stared at it for a while. Then he said, “So you don’t want me to eat rabbits anymore… But, you, instead?... Ehhh”. Having deduced such a silly meaning from the dinosaur’s gestures, William felt that there was nothing more to gather. So he sighed and went ahead, leaving a feathered up Lucifer behind…

Later that day, William sat down to take a break. While he did the dinosaur was out of sight, playing around somewhere as it schemed ahead. This was just fine. Since they both needed some free time from the constant bother of walking through heavy terrain. As he rested, William took a gander at his wounded leg. Fortunately, it wasn’t infected or anything. If it was, William would surely be screwed…

While he further studied any scrapes and scabs he had gathered thus far, something rustled in the bushes nearby. He thought that it was probably Lucifer that had returned, but nonetheless he checked to make sure…

William’s body became rigid like a plank. For what he saw wasn’t the little white dinosaur coming back, but another human being like himself!?

“Oh?... What are you doing out here in the wilderness, young lady?”, the old man asked. As he observed the other human, it only took him seconds before he noticed the provoking mini skirt she wore. Once the old man saw it, he quickly took off his summer cloak to cover the girl, expressing his concern while he was at it, “My dear, how did this happen? Are you okay?... Did you perhaps… Meet some bad people?”.

With a blank face, William was about to reassure this stranger, that he hadn’t been that unfortunate when Lucifer came sprinting back through the bushes. It had caught the scent of this stranger and his hidden dinosaur some time ago. So, of course, it came running back to protect William.

When its eyes and the old man’s met it growled viciously at him. Telling him to scram or die!

William didn’t restrain Lucifer. He knew that trusting strangers could be a dangerous game as well, and yet, he had unknowingly become desperate for some human company. Not remembering this important rule of survival!

The old man smiled apologetically and retreated a step or two, asking him, “Oh, oh… So you weren’t alone?... But where is the man who-”. The geezer stopped himself midway, as he sensed something was off.

Then he contemplated for a bit, before reassuring his doubts, “This dinosaur… It’s not bonded with anyone... Is it…?”.