What a scam

Another long winter night had set in only an hour or so ago as the shadows stretched long and eerie across the landscape. Every day was getting colder and for the last day or so there hadn't been a break in the slow but steady snowfall that was seemingly set on wrapping the earth up tight in its embrace. Moving at a bouncy slow trot, a small procession of Dacentrurus were making their way into the urban area in search of better shelter. At the front of the line Dassi was leading the charge, her bright, white and minty color standing out from the darker tones of her companions. She was the only one of the three who enjoyed the nip in the air that made her snout cold and left little clouds in the air with her breath.

As if to reaffirm her general distaste for the winter weather, Posca, a quiet and surly sort of Dacen, grumbled, "Do you know where you're going? I don't want to keep running around in the snow for nothing." Tirzah, the brick red hothead of the group, grunted her agreement. She didn't like hanging around human places anyway, so unless they found shelter she'd rather go back to the forest somewhere. Somehow cracked pavement, broken bottles, scraps of metal and barely regrowing greenery just didn’t carry the same homey feeling.

Smiling, Dassi assured her friends, "Oh, don't worry, we're bound to find something!" This didn't really answer the question but they sighed and continued following their more bubbly friend. 

A few minutes later Tirzah skidded to a halt and let out a solid "oof" as Posca ran into her. "Now what, Dassi?" No reply came for a few moments and Tirzah eyed her friend, seeing she was staring idly up at the sky with a look of pure wonder. "It's so pretty," Dassi breathed. Posca and Tirzah lifted their heads as well to see the shimmering meteors tracing their way across the sky. It was, in fact, a very pretty sight. Standing beside a heap of long forgotten rusted out vehicles, they watched the meteors race their way across the dark sky between the lazily falling snowflakes until a voice cut through the silence, distant but clear so the words were easily discerned. "Come one, come all, to our amaaazing Carnival!" Came the call.

"Carni-what?" Tirzah huffed in confusion. The words had barely left her mouth when Posca nudged her and she turned to see Dassi already off like a shot. Oh boy. The pair quickly turned and tromped through the snowy street after their friend. The snow was beginning to get deeper, crunching beneath their heavy steps but offering a bit of resistance now to each stride. Tirzah wondered if it was going to become a full on blizzard. That would suck.

Dassi was standing in front of the doorway to a very large human structure. In the windows she could see what looked like the skeletons of large carnivores looming in the half-lit rooms to one side of the building. Thank goodness they were just bones. A large flag flapped in the snowy wind out front, a long forgotten sentry left to watch all alone. Emerging from the front doorway was an eccentric looking Oviraptor when her friends caught up to her. "What's a carnival?" Dassi asked cheerily before the Oviraptor had even fully perceived her presence. "Who are you?" Tirzah interjected, eyeing the Ovi with suspicion. 

"Oh, why Im Cheron!” He replied with a start, “and this is my amaazing carnival! It's full of wonders and oddities, fun and festivities! Absoluutely worth a gander I'd say," he chirped with a cheeky grin. Posca and Tirzah remained unenthused while Dassi was beaming with wide-eyed enthusiasm, "wow, that sounds like so much fun!" 

"Yes, yes it is, come see, come see!" Cheron beckoned, leading the way into the museum at a bouncy jog. "Dassi-" hissed Tirzah, only to be ignored by her minty colored friend. Ugh. She and Posca exchanged exasperated looks. Dassi was always just running off doing things meanwhile they were left to wonder if she was about to go racing into danger. As they stood there a large gust of icy wind blew through carrying a huge load of snowflakes and left them shivering - the cold reached all the way to their bones. "Maybe it's warm in there," Posca mumbled. That was all the convincing they needed and the pair went to catch up with Dassi and this strange Cheron character.

Inside they indeed found relief from the cold and the wind, but more interestingly after they made their way through a few rooms with different lifelike but definitely not alive animals, they came to a room filled with colorful booths and many different dinos, some in costume performing various tricks for fascinated crowds. A particularly dexterous oviraptor was juggling brightly colored balls that matched his equally colorful frilly collar. At the booths which were set up between a number of large airplanes, dinos called and enticed every passerby with the promise of fun and prizes for the lucky winners of their games. Dassi immediately lit up and found her way to the nearest game, run by a tall black Theri twirling a colorful ring around one of his wickedly long claws. Cheron was nowhere to be seen. Sliding up behind their friend, Tirzah and Posca looked on wearily. It was nice to be warming up, but this place was odd. More of the defunct human aircrafts were suspended from the ceiling, frozen in flight forever. 

With feathers black as the winter night and a mischievous look in his eye, the Theri wasn't exactly inspiring trust in the more skeptical among the group of Dacentrurus. Dassi on the other hand was still overflowing with curiosity and raised her voice a bit to be heard above the din of other voices, "What kinda game do you have? Looks fun!" Her tail wagged slightly as she spoke.

"Ah, a very easy one for a group of talented young ones like yourselves! Its simple, easy easy, look all you have to do is get one of these rings..." he drew back with a dramatic wave of his clawed wing, moving off to the side to reveal a Styraco who was trying to look excited while dressed with brightly colored fabric tied around its neck that looked like a more silly and colorful frill, "onto the horn of my friend there! No trouble at all, yes? You could win great prizes and all of you can try!"

Tirzah cocked her head skeptically to the side, unimpressed with all the flair and talk. "Soo, what's the catch?" She asked.

"Catch? None at all, I swear" he assured with a dismissive wave of a hand. With the other he extended the ring to Dassi and added, "Cmon, give it a try, yeah?" 

Despite the skepticism of her friends she was more than happy to accept the offer, but paused to ask, "what are the prizes though?" After all, she might prefer a different game with different prizes if these were going to disappoint, she was excitable but not totally empty headed, yknow?

"Well, you can get tickets, which lead to more exclusive and exciting prices you'll just have to trust me are well worth it, orrr," the theri pulled open a panel attached to the side of his booth that revealed a heap of brightly colored fake dinos that were tied by strings to hooks they swayed from enticingly, "you could get one of these snuggly little guys, sure to brighten your day!" And with that Tirzah and Posca already knew they would end up playing as well until a prize was won. 

Without hesitation Dassi took the ring in her mouth and attempted to toss it with a flick of her head, letting go too late and sending it flying off to the side of the booth, rolling between the feet of the milling crowd of seemingly every kind of Dino and disappearing from sight. She grimaced, looking defeated. Posca went to retrieve it while the theri produced another ring from somewhere and offered it to Dassi with a smile, "Do over?" She nodded and this time took the ring by carefully spearing it with one of her tail spikes. Maybe a different technique this time would yield better results! Stepping back a bit she positioned herself and began to aim, pausing to take a steadying breath when she felt ready before a flick of her spiked tail sent the ring sailing in an arc towards the Styracosaurus' nose horn! She did i-

Before she could celebrate the ring came down and just bounced off the nose of the Styraco. So close! How did she miss it? Posca grumbled and as Tirzah returned at that moment they began to confer with one another quietly while Dassi wound up to take a third shot. Aaand then a fourth. And a fifth. All to no avail. Dassi was about to give up and leave in defeat when she saw suddenly Posca was looming in front of the booth with an expression somehow more stern than normal. 

"Hey what's the issu-" the theri began only to be cut off by Posca who was having none of this. "You're cheating," She stated simply. He stuttered and tried to deny it but Posca ignored it and swatted him away with her tail lightly. Next thing Dassi knew Tirzah was also there eyeing the Styraco menacingly and daring him to 'try moving again'. Oh. So she wasn't just bad at this? The thought was confirmed when, at her friend's behest, she tried again and this time successfully landed the ring in the first attempt. Apparently the Sty was tipping his head ever so slightly each time so that the ring would miss - what a jerk! 

"Get your prize Dassi," Tirzah called, after which she proceeded to give the two carnival dinos a stern talking to and possibly a few quiet threats for good measure. Dassi excitedly collected a stuffed animal that was probably a stegosaurus but it was hard to discern. Together the group began walking through the rest of the carnival, and Posca and Tirzah tried not to huff when Dassi went to investigate another game. Hopefully this time there wouldn’t be any cheating.