A Talent Show

     Bolide stuck her nose into the warm museum. The bodies of hundreds of dinosaurs of every age filled the space, keeping them all warm against the cold outside. The room she was looking into was a massive hangar like space filled with planes, engines, and rockets. Many were in ruins after the years of neglect and harsh handling from the dinosaurs that now called the area home. Looking around, she was in awe at the number of booths and games set up. There were hand-painted signs above some- “Ring Toss,” “Pin-The-Tail,” “Strength Test.” Not that she could read any of it. There were muddy footprints covering the floor, which in some areas had claw marks gouged out of it. The lights, sounds, and colors were almost overwhelming.

     A dark cryo came up from behind and nudged her hip, “Don’t get cold feet now, the suns going down and I guarantee it’ll snow so get inside you little whelp.” He bumped his chest against her hindquarters, trying to shove her into the room. She stared at him in confusion, half the words he just said were nothing more than strange noises to her. Grackle sighed and muttered to himself, “This is what I get for agreeing to watch a baby I guess.”

     It was a huge baby, and he was only an adolescent. He had decided he would treat this as a learning opportunity, in case he ever had kids of his own. Hopefully his kids would be a little more manageable in size. The baby acro before him was up to his chest and dense as hell. Her muscles were more tightly packed and resilient than his would ever be. Just as a baby! He was kind of jealous, but no matter.

     “I have someone to introduce you to. Come ON-” He shoved with his chest again and went tumbling to the floor as Bolide took a step forward. At least she was moving now. Grackle lept to his feet to follow her. “We aren’t staying in here, we need to get to the other side of the museum. Follow me.” He pressed his tail against her mouth and she very gently took it, allowing herself to be led through the crowd to the exit, and then across the main atrium into the natural history wing.

     This new room was much quieter, most dinosaurs there were quietly meandering through the wing and taking in the exhibits. Bolide studied the area as they walked into a room that smelled strongly of dust. The tail in her mouth shook gently and she popped her mouth open, allowing it to snake out between her teeth. She shuffled quietly to one side and peered around Grackle, only to make eye contact with a dinosaur carrying a massive horn on his face. Alarmed, she took a step back.

     “Oh, no no you’re ok.” The styra crouched down and turned his head to the side. His massive frill and nose horn were still incredibly intimidating despite his attempts to soften their directness. “I’m Shank.” She nodded but stayed back behind Grackle. The brown sty sighed and turned to Grackle, “So, this is the dinosaur you want to round out our talent performance? A baby?” The cryo glowered at him, “It’s a very big baby.” Shank turned to Bolide who had loosened up and begun wandering around the room. “She is a big baby, but how does that help?”

     “Hold this,” Grackle dropped a rope at Shank’s feet. “Bolide, c’mere.” The baby turned her head. Grackle gestured to the rope with his nose. She understood instantly. They had meat playing tug-of-war with a rope just like that out in the yard. After that he had herded her into the museum and over here. Bolide walked up and took the one end of the rope in her mouth, Shank shot Grackle an unamused stare and grabbed the other end. Immediately Bolide threw her weight back with all her might and Shank lurched forward, stumbling. Bolide dropped the rope and grinned. Shank turned to Grackle and spit the rope out. “Okay, you win, what the hell.”

     They were standing on the remnants of an exhibit, there was a large taxidermy bull elk toppled over on one end and taxidermy wolves strewn about the makeshift stage. A small crowd had gathered in front of them, waiting for the show to start. Not many dinosaurs had shown off their talents yet during the carnival, and Grackle at the very least was determined to make an impression. Shank seemed slightly less enthused, but was still ready to enjoy himself. Bolide stared blankly out at the crowd, not really sure what to do. The other two were calm, so she remained calm as well. She hadn’t smelt any blood since coming to the museum so maybe this was some sort of safe area where she wouldn’t be eaten. Whispers trailed through the small gathering, many of them looking inquisitively at the baby acro. They seemed to be trying to guess which talent each member of the group would display.

     An oviraptor appeared at the edge of the hall, and picked his way to the front. The whispers died down as he approached. He cocked his head and grinned, “A baby acro? What are you going to do with her? Throw her into the rafters?” Cheron chuckled lightheartedly. He clearly meant no offense by it, he was just as curious as everyone else at the strange group standing before him.

     “Oh, just you wait sir, that one will surprise you.” Grackle grinned, then nosed Shank forward. He raised his voice to gather the crowd’s attention. “This styracosaurus can smell fire from miles away! To demonstrate this, could a member of the audience please step forward and take this-” he produced a smoldering stick from behind the elk “and hide it somewhere to prove this feat?” A young utahraptor jumped up and squeezed its way to the front. Grackle handed the fire off then motioned to Shank, who lowered his head and closed his eyes. To many giggles, Grackle then draped himself across the styra’s nose to block any scents other than his own. Shank grumbled quietly but allowed the gesture. The young utah ran out of the hall and then returned a few moments later, having placed the fire somewhere in the building. A brilliant idea, and one that could never go wrong. Grackle scooted off Shank who then lifted his nose, eyes still closed, and began meandering in the direction the utah had come from. The crowd murmured and followed. It was expected that a carnivore would be able to track such a scent, but herbivores weren’t expected to have any skills in tracking very far based on smell for anything other than water. Shank led the small crowd through several rooms before opening his eyes and scooping up the flaming stick, which he held high for the crowd to see. The gesture was met with oo’s and ah’s, then Shank dropped the stick and stamped it out before quietly heading back towards the stage. The rest followed and gathered in front of the small troupe once again.

     Shank stepped forward, Grackle stood to his side. “This cryolophosaurus can mimic just about any noise you can imagine.” He motioned to Bolide who stepped forward and pressed a small button on the side of the exhibit. A crackly speaker belted out the whistle of an elk. After a few seconds, Grackle lifted his head and extended his neck, then let out a matching whistle without the static. He then took another deep breath and mimicked the noise the speaker had produced, crackles and all, with careful precision. It wasn’t perfect, but it was damn impressive especially for an adolescent. Someone in the crowd honked loudly, as if daring Grackle to reproduce the noise. Sure enough, he pulled his neck back, took a deep breath, and made the noise back. It was a higher octave, and it was more scratchy, but it was still recognizable as the sound. A few of the herbivores and smaller carnivores in the crowd looked slightly alarmed.

     Finally, it was Bolide’s turn. “For believability, we would like to ask another member of the audience to come aid us in this demonstration as well. A test of strength.” Shank scanned the crowd, looking for any interested parties. There was quiet snickering, and after a few moments an adolescent sucho, about Grackle’s age, stepped forward from a small group of giggling friends. Grackle handed one end of the rope off to Bolide, who steadied herself and looked up at her opponent. The sucho was quite a bit larger than Grackle or Shank, with much heavier musculature and a long, curved neck. Bolide knew at this point that her larges advantage was surprise, though this sucho might be challenging. The sucho grabbed the other end and stood facing the baby, quizzical.

     “Three.” Bolide dug her claws in. “Two.” The sucho snorted in amusement, ready to throw her into the rafters as Cheron had joked. “One.” Bolide tensed, the sucho remained mostly relaxed. “GO!” Bolide threw her weight back and yanked as hard as she could with her neck. The sucho’s neck shot forward and the whole animal came crashing to the floor, letting out a hiss of alarm. The audience erupted in laughter, and the sucho pushed itself up and sheepishly returned to its friends muttering about not really trying and ‘giving her the win.’ Bolide chuffed in amusement and moved back to stand next to her two supervisors, who both gave her amused head tosses. Cheron gave them a warm smile, then slid out of the mulling crowd to go watch another performance.

     “I think we impressed him.” Grackle watched the oviraptor leave.

     “At the very least we made him laugh.” Shank lifted his head. “I’m going to go make sure I got that fire put out.”