Midnight Adventures

Something about that frosty air in early winter put an extra bounce in Mistletoe’s step. Every day of fall brought her closer to her most favorite season and it was finally here! Her pale blue eyes were alight with joy, a shiver of pure delight running down the young Para’s spine as she wandered her way across the island, taking in the sights and enjoying every moment. With no particular destination in mind, she eventually found her way into the outskirts of the strange land that once housed the long-gone humans who had a penchant for leaving behind all manner of strange artifacts to be discovered. Mistletoe always found investigating this stuff to be a neat way to satisfy that adventurous itch she got for exploration and discovery. 

Some dinos might resent the shortening days, by the time she was making her way down an empty overgrown road, the shadows were long and daylight was losing the battle to stay above the horizon just a little longer, but that didn’t bother her in the slightest. The stars were coming out after all. She let out a foggy breath as she watched the twinkling points of light begin to make themselves visible against the cold blue sky, beginning their slow dance through the night. “So lovely,” she breathed softly to herself, contentedly gazing heavenward a while longer.

When at last she continued her journey into unfamiliar territory, she felt her heart leap at the appearance of a few large, lazy flakes of snow that were making their way toward the ground in arching movements carried gently by quiet puffs of wind. Yes! Snow would certainly complete what was starting out to be a lovely night, how exciting! Letting out a soft whoop of excitement, Mistletoe was positively beaming. She almost didn’t notice the little grey creature curled up between some bushes because it looked very much like a boulder of some kind. It was only when it moved that her eye was caught and she paused to investigate. 

A pair of wide, mismatched eyes appeared, the bright white blaze breaking up the sea of grey enough for Mist to realize she was looking at a cute little Styracosaurus huddled up alone. Naturally, her heart melted in an instant, who wouldn’t adore that sweet face?! Lowering herself to the frosty ground, she cooed, “Hello there! Are you alone?”

A long pause hung in the air between them before the tentative reply came, “Y-yes.”

“Is your family here?” She asked with concern, “I could help you look for them.”

Next thing she knew the little ball of pointy horns was flying out from the brush at her. “Oh, yes plees! I don’t know where they are, but you seem nice, I like your tree thingies, what’s your name?” the little dino could hardly hold back a further barrage of words and Mistletoe could only laugh with a kind smile.

“Thank you, and my name’s Mistletoe, what’s yours?” She asked as she rose again to her feet and began to gently lead the little Styraco down the road again as the snow picked up, the flakes getting smaller as the falling night dropped the temperature more and more.

“I’m Athon, what’re you doing out at night? I didn’t think nobody would be here, it’s cold and dark now, and snowing!! I think the snow is too COLD, ick!” 

Smiling at the little one who couldn’t be much more than a hatchling, she patiently responded, “Really? I love the snow! I think it’s fun.” Athon rewarded her with a quizzical look. “I’ll show you while we look for your family, okay?” 

Together the pair made slow progress as the snow began to stick and was quickly building up a thin layer over the ground, making creaky crunchy sounds with every step they took, which Athon did admit were great fun to listen to as she took a break to begin stomping all around. Creak crunch crunch crunch! The little styraco was having the time of her life and it warmed Mistletoe’s heart to see her not looking afraid or worried like she did before. All the while she kept an eye and an ear out for any distraught parents who might be missing a little one. They had to be somewhere, right? It would be terrible to leave such a young dino on her own, they had to be worried.

The moon was glowing overhead and the stars twinkled brightly, lighting their path as the snow went from a dusting to a thick layer that Athon had to work harder and harder to march through. Everything was quiet except for the sound of them walking, the few birds that remained were bedded down for the night presumably, their evening songs long since having ended. They passed the rusted shells of discarded human vehicles as they walked what would hardly be recognized as a road except for the patches of pavement that still peaked out above the encroaching grass and foliage. Mistletoe pointed out the ice that was blooming beautiful icy patterns over the windows that were still intact, explaining sometimes iced over lakes and ponds got these cool patterns too. 

“Wat else cool happens when it’s snowy?” Athon asked with a tilt of her little head. She was a little sponge soaking up whatever new things she was taught and it was the cutest thing.

“Hmm, well, you can play games in the snow, that’s pretty fun”

“Like what??”

Grinning at the enthusiastic response of her new companion, Mistletoe paused thoughtfully before rolling a bit of snow with her nose into a ball and sending it sailing toward Athon with a swat of her tail. Athon squealed, partly miffed and partly delighted, and tried batting piles of snow back with little success. The snowball fight was short lived but left them breathless with laughter. Collapsing into the snow they both huffed and tried to catch their breath, watching each gasp send little clouds rising away from their snouts into the frozen night. 

Mistletoe went on to demonstrate making snow dinos, both ways, by leaving imprints in the snow, and rolling big piles of snow together and roughly shaping them into sort of dinosaur like mounds. It wasn’t pretty but it was fun. Just then the merriment was broken up by the sound of a large herbivore bellowing loudly in the distance, some ways down a steep hill below them. Both heads shot up at once. “Is that your family maybe?” Mistletoe enquired hopefully.

“Uhm, I don’t know, it could be,” Athon tentatively replied. She looked worried.

“Hey, it sounded like a Styraco so that’s a good sign, come on, we’ll go find them, and I’ll show you one more fun thing.” Leading her charge to the edge of the big slope, Mistletoe instructed her to hold onto her tail and flopped down into the growing snow bank. “Hold on tight” she instructed, edging further along the hill till she reached the tipping point and suddenly they were both sliding down at rapid speeds, flying over bumps and reaching the bottom in no time flat. When Mistletoe finally slid to a stop at the bottom Athon went tumbling over her and flopped into the snow with a delighted cry.

Heavy footsteps made them both look up to see a moderately sized herd of Styraco’s moseying along and looking not all that impressed with their shenanigans but not stopping to investigate further as they foraged for some kind of food in the barren winter landscape. Athon scampered over towards the group, glancing back at Mistletoe who ushered her on. Once they were out of sight she would rise again and shake the snow from her hide before continuing her late night walk. Maybe she should have said goodbye, but it just seemed easier to let the little one go. Darker clouds were rolling overhead, heavy with snow, and Mistletoe didn’t want to delay the herd from getting to better shelter. As for her, well, she’d continue on her way enjoying some of her favorite things. It had been a fun night overall.