[Trade] Reluctant Performers

"Are you nearly finished?" Ambrose asked, keeping his voice even and hopefully patient. Pants was barely a noticeable weight on his shoulders but he worried about them falling from such a height.

"Nearly," the Oviraptor answered around the paintbrush in their mouth. With a final upward stroke they covered the last of Ambrose's crest feathers with the teal paint they had mixed using a seashell as a palette. They scooted back along the Iggy's back to admire their work and let out a satisfied hum. "Perfect, you're all done!" Before Ambrose could crouch down to let them down gently, they slid sideways off of his shoulders and landed on unsteady feet. 

"Be careful!" he said, raising his voice louder than he ever liked to. With a flush of embarrassment he noticed the crowd milling around them turning their eyes to the pair at his outburst.

"I'm fine," Pants drawled, "Now check yourself out and we can get moving." Ambrose did as he was told, staring into the shiny glass walls of the hall. Behind the glass, small samples of creatures and plants sat preserved from the time of humans, or even beyond that. With the harsh lighting overhead, it was easier to see oneself instead of the curiosities behind. Ambrose leaned in to observe the Ovi's work, his typical teal crest feathers matched by swirls and dots under his eyes. It was appropriate for the event, they had insisted, covering themself in similar swirls along their arms feathers but he was unsure if it was too showy.

"It looks really nice," he settled on saying, making Pant's beak quirk up in a smile.

"Good, now we can get going to the main hall, that's where they're holding all the talent show stuff," they said decisively. Despite their small size their large personality and Ambrose's own quiet nature led to him being steered through the busy crowd by them. He wasn't sure how they knew where they were going, even following the crowd would have them moving back and forth all night, getting nowhere fast. Once they encountered a door, Ambrose hurried to dive into it, keen to get out of the suffocating crowd. To his relief, the room was darker and quieter, and Pants followed him inside with ease instead of getting swept away by the mob. 

“Ah, new blood for the troupe then?" A dusty pink Para asked, keeping a small clipboard close to her chest, "About bloody time you showed yourselves."

"New blood?" Ambrose asked delicately, not wanting to infuriate this already haranged looking Parasaur. 

"Yes, performers, you're next in line for the show, correct? You're doing backup dancing for the Shuno? Get in the dressing room, you're late." Without further argument, the Para pushed them both backstage and behind a curtain that did little to hide a large teal Shunosaurus standing behind it.

"Oh, are you here to dance? You look different, your make-up is very good," the Shuno complimented them in a sing-song voice.

"We're not, the Para out front just kinda... assumed we were," Pants shrugged.

"Oh Raspberry," the Shuno sighed, somehow keeping that melodic tone, "I'm so sorry, I can find new dancers."

"Nah, c'mon, how hard could it be," Pants said quickly, eager to see the room from the stage's perspective 

"Oh yes, how hard could making up an entire synchronised dance on the spot be?" Ambrose snapped, his voice growing mildly hysterical towards the end.

"You don't have to do much," the Shuno reassured them both, "If you just want to kind of... pose around while I sing that's fine, you'd be doing me such a favour." Ambrose was ready to refuse point blank but as he looked up he saw the Shuno's lip quivering, following her long neck down to see her knees doing something similar. She was terrified. With a loud groan he faced away, looking through the racks of costumes.

"Alright then, let's get some kind of theme going," he tutted.

---

The Shuno finally introduced herself as Poppy, announcing the name like either of them knew the significance of it. Ambrose nodded politely and covered Pants' mouth before they said something offensive in response. Instead, he busied them by pulling wefts of cloth from the rack until he had enough to cover all three of them in the same colour, a bright silver. He had a long piece tied like a belt around his stomach, Pants had one draped over their shoulders and was eagerly swinging it around in circles. Poppy had the longest strip they could find wrapped scarf-like around her neck, held in place by the long, teal-coloured wig that she placed on top. Like it was battle armour, something hardened about the Shuno's countenance when her costume was fully assembled. 

"On in five, guys," Raspberry called from behind the dividing curtain, sounding more stressed than ever.

"Hell yeah, let's dance!" Pants cheered, hurrying to wait in the stage wings. 

---

Poppy's singing voice was just as strange as her speaking voice, but Ambrose forced himself to concentrate on his own movements on stage. The crowd were clapping and cheering along like they knew the song, but neither Pants nor Ambrose could decipher the words. It's human language, Pants thought to themself with a thrill of excitement, the Shunosaurus was singing in human language somehow. They had no reason to think so, but the words sounded so alien it was the only thing they could come up with. The melody of the backing track playing over the squealing museum speakers was simple enough and they began to swish their wings back and forth to the rhythm, moving the long silvery fabric with them. They spared a glance to Ambrose and stifled a giggle as they saw him trying to mimic them, off-beat and stiff as a board.

"Relax!" They mouthed across the stage at him, but he was either unable to hear over the music or physically incapable of doing so. Pants sighed and left him to it, knowing there was little they could do to remove the look of pseudo constipation on their dear friend's face. 

Poppy sang her heart out, like she always did at shows like this. The thought of others coming out to hear her sing, not only to listen politely but to cheer and sing along, it filled her with such joy she felt like her heart wasn't big enough to contain it. Her memories of how she had begun to sing was hazy, lost to the passage of time but it had always been within her, this desire to let loose and sing. She knew it was strange, that the words she sung made no sense, but none of that mattered in front of a smiling crowd. Once she hit her stride, she had a moment to look back at her last-minute dancers and saw Pants shaking the silver fabric back and forth through the air like a ribbon dancer. Ambrose seemed to have lost the warrior's grace he moved with backstage and was awkwardly stepping side to side, looking frequently to her and Pants for guidance. The Shuno beamed at him, delighted that he was trying his best at such short notice. She could just about see Raspberry backstage too, her manager taking the only time she really had to relax by enjoying the show. She was cheering on the dancers too, using her horn to blow loud honks of encouragement at the end of every song. As the concert proceeded, the queasy sensation in Ambrose's stomach began to fade and he began to almost... enjoy himself. The music was loud enough to block out his worried thoughts if he let it, and moving to the beat gave him some feeling of joy. If he pretended he was merely a member of the crowd he found that made it even more fun. By the end of the performance, he was shaking his head with wild abandon and leaving a handful of fluffy feathers on the ground to mix with Poppy and Pants' as they shed theirs with similar fervour. A final address of appreciation to the crowd and the trio could head backstage and take a moment to breathe.

"That was amazing," Poppy gushed, still singing her words somehow, "You both did so incredible!" 

"Eh, nothin' to it," Pants sniffed, squawking when Ambrose jostled them in annoyance. 

"It was... a pleasure," the Iguanodon said diplomatically, "But let's not repeat this again, shall we?"