New Age Tomfoolery

The festival was a lively, curious, cheerful atmosphere with fascinating displays that had been in place long before the archipelago residents came to show off their skills or set up games for the islanders to play. It was loud, with laughter and joy filling the air as dinosaurs conversed amongst themselves, cheered for victors of the various games that were littered throughout one wing of the museum, and gasped in awe at some of the more daring displays of talent that some islanders put on. Mouthwatering scents of cooked meat and vegetables drifted through the air, as well as interesting herbs, fresh nuts and dried fruit.

And Shred walked along the outer edge of it all, wearing the same flat scowl that she usually did. If that wasn’t enough to make others give her a wide berth, the ragged scars and her dead eye was.

This whole event was a sham, a salve on the wound that the Atlanteans had dealt to the islanders. The pack of utahs she had found herself with were still hungry after the plants that the Atlanteans brought with them to the surface had all but choked the life out of the environment, making it harder to have a successful hunt than it already was with the thieving carnotaurus roaming nearer and into pack territory. Whatever had happened on the “island beneath the water” had at least lead the Atlanteans to reign themselves in somewhat and stop their maddening spread of dangerous plant life, but part of Kela had been relinquished to the Atlanteans - meaning that there were now even more pressures on pack boundaries.

Shred snorted to herself and shook her head as she looked out upon the crowd. Thieves, intruders, aggressors. They were all just pretending to be nice while the full moon hung in the night sky. When it fell, they would all go back to fighting amongst one another to survive.

“If you keep frowning like that, I’m afraid - “ A familiar voice came from her left. Always on her seeing side, just to make sure he did not sneak up on her. It was almost sweet, if Rook was not persistently annoying in other ways.

Shred interrupted him before he had a chance to continue to speak. “If you value your tail feathers, you won’t finish that sentence.”

Rook, obligingly, closed his mouth, but there was still amusement in his eyes and even in the sound of his snort as he exhaled. So serious, as she ever was.

The older male glanced around, coal-black eyes glinting in the low light as he looked for something that might raise Shred’s spirits, as impossible a challenge as that may have been.

“Join me for a game at one of these setts?” he asked, shooting a look of amusement towards Shred. “I believe they’re offering food as a reward.”

Shred gave him a look of utter disinterest in return. She was not here for games, and was not in much of a mood for them anyway after encountering that strange cryo pair who only told her what she already knew. What they should not have known. The male… spoke with an unsettling voice. Old beyond his years, and uncomfortably familiar. She did not like that he spoke to her with such amity.

She was hungry though, which was the driving force behind her presence here. “Will it get you to leave me in peace?” Shred replied, dryly. Not that she minded his company terribly much. It was better that it be him annoying her than… any of these other merry fools exploring the museum.

Rook hummed, the feathers on his neck and shoulders fluffing up slightly. As usual he was completely unable to hide his pleasure at her compromise, slight as it was. “Of course, if that’s what you prefer.”

Shred rolled her eyes as Rook turned towards one of the setts - a proper alcove with diagrams and photographs on the walls, as well as benches, long-dead potted plants, and small exhibits that explained pieces of humanity’s history and their time amongst the stars.

Not… that that really mattered to anyone present, and least of all to Shred. There was another food “stand” here as well, and she only had to turn her head to follow the tantalising scent of a hare. It had been killed and brought here to be prepared and cooked by the Atlantean running the food stand as a reward for game participants. That was what she wanted.

“I can win you something,” Rook offered, that ever--present note of amusement still in his voice. “You don’t even have to play.”

Shred snorted. As though she needed him to provide for her. She was plenty capable of winning this game on her own, whatever this game actually was.

A pachy perked up as the pair approached - a volunteer to run this “game,” apparently. “Hello!” they greeted the utahs brightly.

Shred tried to not think too much about the pachys that she had hunted for food in the past. There was a perfectly good hare not far away, after all, and they had all apparently gathered under the promise that they would not immediately turn on one another.

There must have been something unsettling in her eye, though, because the pachy looked notably less bright as Shred gave them a level, and perhaps somewhat hungry, look.

“What’s the goal of this one?” Rook prompted, which seemed to help the pachy remember what lines they were supposed to deliver to potential players.

“Oh, yes! Of course. Toss any of these things - “ they gestured with a hand towards an assortment of rounded objects, namely small and incredibly colourful, polished rocks - “towards the upwalker stuff here. If you hit the long fabric, you get a point! If you hit the hard-head, you get two points, and if you land it inside the hard-head, you get five! You have five throws, and the more points you earn, the bigger the prize you can get at the end.” They indicated towards a space suit (which was on a stand a bit further away) and a costume astronaut’s helmet (a bit closer, on a pedestal) in turn, which had the visor lifted.

“How much for the hare?” Shred asked.

The pachy shifted their feet, obviously uncomfortable dealing with carnivores. Perhaps they had been hunted in the past. “A whole ‘cooked’ one would be a five point prize.”

“Seems easy enough,” Rook mused. Shred merely snorted again.

Rook, still insistent on winning something for Shred, opted to go first and Shred, still not keen on actually participating in this “game,” let him. Rook’s aim turned out to be abysmal as he picked up the small, polished precious stones in his teeth and tossed them towards the suit and helmet. Since the hare was what Shred had asked about, the helmet was his ultimate goal. A couple of the stones he tossed made it so far as to bounce off of the helmet. Before he managed to pick up another stone, though, the pachy hesitantly stopped him.

“That - um… that was your last throw. You earned four points! So you can grab whatever you want from these rewards over here - “ The pachy indicated towards a collection of odd upwalker items and a few smaller foods, including pieces of cooked meat. Not ideal, but it was something. Rook collected his smoke-scented prize and offered it to Shred, who ignored him and stepped up to take her turn.

If he had won the hare she might have considered accepting it from him, but since he hadn’t… she would just get it herself.

The pachy collected the thrown stones and returned them to the scattered pile for Shred to take her turn with the game of makeshift cornhole. Shred’s aim was even worse than Rook’s. She had navigated the world half-blind for a long time now, but depth perception, particularly at greater distances, was something that she continued to struggle with.

On her last throw, the stone bounced off of the pedestal the helmet was sat on - and landed just on the rim of the chin bar. Not quite outside the helmet, but not quite inside it either.

“How many points would that be?” Rook asked, turning his snout towards the pachy. They unfortunately did not seem to be sure - no one had told them what to do if that ever happened.

“I’m not - uh, I don’t… “

Shred ignored the pachy and stepped up to the food stand, where an oviraptor had returned to carefully clean and cook the root vegetables and meat that he had been provided with. He protested when Shred seized the hare by its legs, only for his protest to die in his throat when she jerked her head back and swallowed it whole.

She didn’t manage to throw a stone through the visor and into the helmet - but it was only a “cooked” hare that was specified to be worth five points, and this one was still raw. The pachy did not seem like they were willing to argue, either, and only gave Shred and Rook an attempt at an uncomfortable, but pleasant, dip of their head as the utahs left the stand to rejoin the roaming masses.