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The biting wind howls outside the ice cavern, but inside, the cold is a constant, bone-chilling presence. Jagged blue-white ice crystals drip slowly from the ceiling, forming tiny stalagmites on the frozen floor. Every breath of the three unlikely companions hangs like a misty cloud in the frigid air. Manny, the woolly mammoth, shifts his immense weight, his shaggy fur dusted with frost. Diego, the saber-toothed tiger, crouches low, his sharp fangs glinting in the dim light filtering through a crack in the ice. Sid, the sloth, shivers dramatically, his long limbs wrapped around himself, his teeth chattering a frantic rhythm.
But the loudest sound is not the wind or the ice. It is the piercing, relentless wail of the human baby, nestled uncomfortably in a makeshift sling on Manny's back. The tiny bundle of noise has been crying for what feels like an eternity, and the trio is at its wits' end.
"Make it stop, Manny!" Sid whines, his voice cracking. "My ears are freezing off!"
Manny grunts, his patience wearing thin. "I'm trying, Sid! What do you want me to do? Sing it a lullaby?" He carefully lowers the baby to the ground, the infant's cries escalating into a full-blown shriek.
Diego nudges the baby with his nose, a flicker of concern in his predatory eyes. "It's wet. Maybe that's why it's crying."
Manny peers closer, his trunk gently prodding the bundled cloth around the baby's lower half. "Wait, it's wearing one of those baby-thingys."
Sid leans in, his eyes wide. "So?"
Manny pulls back, a look of dawning horror on his face. "So if it poops, where does it go?"
A beat of stunned silence hangs in the air, broken only by the baby's increasingly frantic cries. Sid's face contorts in disgust.
"Humans are disgusting."
The mammoth sighs, resigned. "Alright, alright. Let's just... get it off."
Carefully, awkwardly, the three massive creatures try to unwrap the baby's lower half. Manny uses his trunk, Diego his paws, and Sid, with his long, spindly fingers, fumbles with the ties. The baby thrashes, its tiny fists flailing, its face red and contorted. Just as Sid loosens a corner, the baby suddenly stops crying. Its eyes fix on something, its tiny mouth opens, and a soft gurgle escapes.
Manny, Diego, and Sid freeze, their movements suspended. The baby isn't wet. It's just hungry. Its gaze is locked on a half-eaten berry Sid had been saving in his pouch. The sloth, bewildered, slowly offers it. The baby snatches it, stuffing it into its mouth, and a blissful silence descends upon the ice cavern. The trio stares, dumbfounded, at the now-content infant.