Tiny Ring Toss for Tiny Birds

Word count: 2320

Kas

Felix laughed raucously as he swooped through the air, a skewered fish held fast in his beak. A worthy prize for only the best and… definitely one of the most arrogant tapejaras on the island, particularly given his size. The cryo that he’d swiped it from wasn’t entirely pleased with him - he’d heard the shouts as he flew away - but it wasn’t anything more than a minor inconvenience for them, anyway. Everything at the festival was free of charge anyway, whatever “charge” was.

He perched on one of the wings of a small, bright yellow airplane emblazoned with a black lightning stripe on either side and got to work picking the meat off the fish. From up high, he had a remarkable view of much of this side of the festival. Everything was games, with different hosts set up and scattered between the planes which made perfect dividers to keep crowds and games separate.

He might even try his claw at one of them. There were all sorts of prizes that he could swipe just as easily as he had his fish skewer (it was a little odd, they had done something to it, cooked it over a flame which altered the flavour and structure of the flesh), but where was the fun in that? No challenge, no danger. Not with everyone on their best behaviour during the festival, anyway.

Felix clacked his beak, satisfied with his small meal and deciding he would participate in one of these festival games. The only question was - which one? There were so many options.

He tossed the skewered carcass over the side of the plane’s wing, not realising that its trajectory put it exactly on the path to land on top of another tape.

Slugg

Aquamarine peered at the festivities around them, brown eyes scanning over the flames from fires and dazzling lights that both lit and decorated the festival below.  The venue felt a bit strange, but Aqua was happy it left them with plenty of places to perch and watch from afar, being that they were a bit shy of big gatherings and events.  Herbivores and carnivores alike gathered in droves, huddling around the activities offered to all residents of the island.  It seemed there was a bit of an unspoken rule here not to eat fellow festival-goers and Aquamarine did let out a small sigh, a bit of relief washing over them.  

While caught up in observation, thoughts swirling around Aquamarine’s head, something fell and wetly hit Aqua’s back.  Aqua flinched, letting out a high-pitched squeak and taking off immediately, scraping at the cold metal below them with their feet and claws in a panicked sort of way before finally dipping off of the edge of the display and becoming airborne.  Aqua looked behind them; a partially eaten carcass lay where they’d been standing.  Their eyes scanned the display, easily spotting the bright splotch of pink that drenched the underside of an unfamiliar Tapejara perched on the wing of the plane that inhabited the display.  Aqua flew up into the rafters, landing on a thin metal beam and peering at the stranger, and the carcass they dropped.  

The carcass did look yummy, Aquamarine assumed some bits of flesh and meat might still be present and their stomach lurched a bit with hunger.  Times hadn’t been particularly tough for Aquamarine, but they had taken a bit of a trip to attend this event, leaving behind the oceans and rivers where Aqua supplied themselves with food.  The strange Tapejara seemed distracted by the going-ons below, seemingly having discarded the carcass entirely.  The dazzling lights below threw beautiful golden light over the flashy coloration of the stranger, illuminating their showy feathers.  

Hoping the stranger hadn’t spotted them, Aquamarine silently dove down from the rafters, swooping in on the carcass and picking scraps off of it gently, even gulping down some of the smaller bones.

Kas

Unfortunately for Aqua - Felix had spotted them. More, he had heard the result of his careless actions and stepped up to the edge of the plane to see who he had dropped the remains of the fish on to decide whether or not he should apologise.

Looking at them scarfing down the mere scraps that remained on the fish carcass, bones included… yeah, he would apologise.

“Sorry about that! I didn’t realise there was anyone below me,” he chirped, peering over the edge of the plane’s wing.

He swooped down and landed beside them. It was much easier to see that he was comparably smaller to the… admittedly very stunning tapejara.

Felix puffed his chest. Now was his time to shine. “If you’re hungry, I know for a fact that some of these places have food they’re offering as prizes for their games - we could play a bit, I could win you something.”

Not that there weren’t also a few food stands scattered around that were offering meals of all sorts to festival-goers, but this would be more impressive.

Slugg

Aqua spooked a bit as the stranger landed beside them, dropping a bone from their mouth and hearing it clang against the display and fall to the ground below them.  Aqua turned and listened to the tapejara, heart still pounding from the fright.  They weren’t used to all of the commotion and certainly not conversation as they’d grown up deep in the underwater Morpheus labs with very limited social interaction.  

Aquamarine was listening to the words the mysterious Tapejara was rattling off, but their brain was still a bit rattled.  “Forgive me this is all very overwhelming for me, what’s your name?”  Aqua tilted their head curiously, their eyes smiling at the stranger as they giggled a bit at their own overwhelm, “I’m Aquamarine, you can call me Aqua - I’m from the Labs.”  They weren’t sure if they’d made a good introduction or not, but they were hoping the stranger wasn’t too off-put by them.

Kas

Ah, yes they do sound a little like a lab dinosaur. One that hasn’t had a lot of social experience - Felix was happy to take them under his wing and show them the ropes. But food first.

“You can call me Felix,” he chirped, looking out for what was both an easy game and had food as a reward. “I’m from… here.” He clacked his beak in amusement at his own joke.

“How do you feel about ring toss?” he asked, golden eyes glittering with mischief and amusement. Or maybe it was just the decorative lights.

Slugg

Aquamarine looked down at the amusements and games alongside Felix, catching themselves leaning away from Felix, still in a bit of a nervous posture.  Aqua stood up straight, shaking their feathers a bit as if it might loosen them up a bit - it wasn’t like this stranger was unwelcoming and seemed interested in having a bit of fun.  

“I’m sure I could toss a ring.”  Aqua chittered, peering down below and looking for the ring toss Felix was talking about.  He scanned the crowds below, running their eyes over lots of different species all seemingly having a great time together.

Kas

“Perfect!” Felix chirped. “We can fly over this crowd and get there in no time.”

He shook his head and feathers as well, entirely comfortable as they lay flat again. “Just this way, I saw it earlier.” He hopped forwards a short distance and took off through the air. Vibrantly coloured as he was, he would not be too hard to follow, and it was not much of a flight - but he hovered in the air, looking over his shoulder to make sure that Aqua was following him.

“Quick, before everyone else gets all the good stuff!” he teased.

Slugg

Aqua dove down after the colorful Tapejara, catching the still air under their wings and gliding next to Felix before gently landing on the base of a display of a helicopter nearby the ring toss.  (There were far too many large dinosaurs here that could so easily trample the small Tapejaras, landing on the ground seemed extremely ill-advised.)  A small group of Dacentrus were playing, picking up the rings gently with their tail spikes and flicking them skillfully over the stall owners' repurposed stanchions.  The rings seemed to be some kind of tire without the rim, leaving it to bend and give freely as it was tossed and, in turn, caught the stanchion if the player was skilled.  

Aqua leaned in towards Felix, their eyes still glued to the Dacentrus’ game, “I don’t suppose they prepared for us tiny folk to play, huh?”  Aqua gestured at the huge rings and tall stanchions being used for the game, “Maybe they have something smaller for us?  We should ask!”

Kas

Felix opened his beak to proudly proclaim that was nonsense, he could completely and totally heft and toss the large “rings” with no problem at all - but his bravado was cut off by the utahraptor helping to run the stand, who offered them considerably smaller, thinner “rings” made of malleable gold or silvery metal.

“You get five tosses each,” the pale utahraptor explained as Felix took his small bunch of rings in his beak. “Your goal is to get as many rings around the necks of those bottles” - she nodded towards a bunch of dirty glass bottles, which had been neatly arranged in a dense cluster - “as you can. One ring gets you one small prize, three rings gets you one big prize.”

“And what if we get them all?” Felix asked, smug at the thought of winning something even larger than a “big prize.”

The utahraptor sighed and glanced towards the sky. She opted to ignore Felix’s question. “You’re welcome to start at any time.”

Felix glanced towards Aqua, eyes bright. “You want first toss?”

Slugg

Aqua felt a jolt of anxiety hit their stomach, immediately followed by excitement.  They didn’t want to make a fool of themselves in front of their new friend, but they were eager to try their beak at this game.  “Oh, of course!”  They half-spread their wings with joy, bouncing up and down slightly on their back legs.  Aqua leaned forward, resting their hands back on the ground and extending their neck toward Felix, gently taking the small metallic rings from his beak and into their own.  “Let's see how I do.”  Aqua spoke through a mouthful of rings, stepping up to a small mark on the floor made with charcoal or ash (or so Aqua assumed).  

Aqua looked down at the old greenish bottles, some still had their labels - though, they were extremely faded - and some were missing them altogether.  Aqua put the stack of rings down, picking one from the top of the pile and stared at the bottles in an attempt to gauge the distance.  They leaned their head to the side, as if throwing a frisbee, and whipped the metal ring forward.  It clinked into the neck of the foremost bottle, hitting the floor.

“Okay, okay let’s see if I can get the feel for it!”  Aqua shook his head feathers as if that would improve his aim and continued to throw the rings.  Each one ricocheted off of the bottles.  Aqua turned to Felix, a bit embarrassed but the overall festive atmosphere relieved him quite a lot, “Guess I’ll have to practice, huh?”  Aqua smiled at Felix with his eyes, shrugging.

Kas

Felix watched approvingly as Aqua made their first couple attempts, then a bit more disgruntled as Aqua continued to miss. This game was not meant for fliers such as them, clearly, but clearly they would succeed. What was the point of the game if they were just going to lose? He bet it was rigged somehow.

Aqua missing each shot just meant that he had a chance to show off, though. Felix puffed his chest and stepped up to the line drawn on the tile as the utah collected and brought the small metal rings back for them. “No need to practice,” Felix clacked his beak in amusement, “I bet I can get something for both of us!”

He shook out his feathers and readied himself, picked one of the rings up delicately in his beak, and tossed it with a neat flick of his head.

Each one of the rings he tossed bounced uselessly off, except for the fourth. It almost landed around one of the bottle necks, but the momentum of the ring brought it back up and over the bottle and it fell to the floor.

“Hey, that should’ve stayed on!” he chirped, trying to call attention to it. He had obviously won!

But the utahraptor running the stand shot a glance over her shoulder and shook her head slightly as she went to collect the rubbery rings for the next dinosaurs to step up to play the larger version of the game.

Felix’s feathers fluffed up as he glared at the bottles, determined. If the game was going to cheat him out of a prize, then he would just… make sure that he won.

He scooped up the fifth and last ring in his beak, took off into the air, and hovered over the bottles so he could properly aim and drop it down around one of the bottlenecks. It landed perfectly, and he swooped back to the line where he had left Aqua. “There!” he crowed his victory.

Slugg

Aqua cheered alongside him, hoping the utah was too distracted to notice.  “You totally got it!”  They chirped in feigned excitement, gently bouncing around with a graceful and floaty movement.  The utahraptor turned around after passing out the rings to a set of Suchomimus’ to the Tapejara’s right, looking a little overworked but not unhappy that Felix had ‘scored’.  “Well, well!”  The utahraptor inspected the ring hooked around the neck of the bottle.  “Let me get you that prize.”  The utahraptor leaned behind what was left of a broken and toppled over aircraft model.  Aqua nudged Felix happily, knowing their ruse had worked.

Kas

Felix looked quite pleased with himself, even despite the squints of suspicion and disgruntlement that he got from a few of the other festival-goers. They were just jealous that they didn’t have wings. And really, he didn’t cheat, technically. He didn’t set the ring around the bottle, he had let it fall. From directly above it.

“Something edible please,” he chirped as he proudly preened some of his feathers.

Whether the utahraptor heard him or not was a mystery, but she did return with something edible - but not quite as filling as Felix would have hoped for Aqua. Just some dried berries on a twig that had been harvested from one of the island’s scattered shrubs or trees.

It was just a one-ring prize, he supposed, and it was better than not winning anything at all.

“Thank you very much!” he called as the utahraptor turned to tend to the ever ebbing and flowing tide of festival-goers.

Felix offered the berries to Aqua. He was still quite full from the small skewered fish he had snatched earlier, these were for them if they so desired.

Slugg

Aqua’s eyes lit up when they saw the berries, they’d never tried them before but were excited to expand their culinary horizons.  Felix gave Aqua a look, berries still clamped in his beak as he shot up into the air, flying back to the wing of the plane on display where they’d met.  Aqua followed with a bouncy and excited flight pattern, landing next to Felix with a light ‘tap’ as their feet met the cold metal.  

Felix had set the bunch of berries down toward Aqua, nudging them toward them.  Aqua pulled them over with their beak and held down the branch with their delicate hands.  One by one they plucked the berries off the stem, swallowing them whole until Aqua had their fill, leaving only a few shriveled, unappetizing berries left on the flexible stem.  

“Thank you Felix,”  Aqua rubbed their beak on the metal plane wing instinctively to scrape off any extra scraps that may have stuck to their beak, “I’ve never had berries before - thanks for winning them for me!”  Aqua wished they knew how to properly thank the stranger for the fruity meal, but hoped their sentiment came through.

Kas

Felix fluffed and shook out his feathers, laying them flat again after their brief flight. “I’d recommend them,” he teased. “But maybe only what you’re familiar with. Some berries can make you feel… quite bad.”

Deadly, in fact. These fortunately seemed to be sourced from someone who knew their fruits.

He glanced around the museum hall, flooded with dinosaurs and aviation exhibits as it was. There were plenty of other games to try and things to pick from. “If you’re still hungry, I’m sure we could ‘win’ another,” he chirped as he turned back towards Aqua, eyes light with mischief. Surely there was another game around here fit for such small creatures as them?

If all else failed… Felix could simply teach Aqua the art of the aerial heist.