Talent Show

Costel lazily chewed the remains of meat lying on the ground in front of him, without the slightest hurry. This morning, he had managed to hunt a small wild boar, perfect for a quick, nutritious meal. He needed a good meal to regain his strength – around noon, the young carnotaurus intended to go to the museum building again to participate in the carnival.

The thought of once again joining in the fun among others like himself sent a thrill of excitement down his spine. Costel, although deprived of a herd of his own species on a daily basis, enjoyed company and was known for eagerly gravitating towards other dinosaurs. The carnival was therefore a dream come true for him.

The event had been going on for several days, so the male had had the opportunity to figure out what it was all about. The event was divided into two main parts – a talent contest was held at the natural history museum, while the aerospace museum was completely taken over by various carnival games and activities. Costel was already well acquainted with the latter – he had participated in two competitions so far. The first was a game of musical chairs, where he initially went neck and neck with other carnotaurs, but proved too slow and clumsy to win the final rounds – he was defeated by two females much older than him, a cryolophosaurus and a suchomimus. The second game was a series of races. Costel enjoyed the early stages, but it soon became clear that the young carnotaurus was not a sprinter. So he decided to take the role of the judge.

This is how he met the two tapejaras – a young, spotted Appy and a slightly older and much more stoic male, 7204. Thanks to their unrivalled flying skills, the pair easily reached the final. Appy won the last race, although it was difficult to say whether the competition was entirely fair – 7204 may have given her a bit of a head start.

Both the carnotaurus and Appy (and, at her urging, 7204, who was fascinated by the female) wanted to immerse themselves in the second part of the carnival - the talent contest. So it was natural for them to join forces.

Initially, they thought about something that would showcase their agility or strength, but they quickly realised that their skill sets differed too much among them to be able to prepare a show of this type. In addition, such skills were very often presented by the contestants, so it was difficult to amaze the audience with something like that. The improvisational artists therefore decided on something completely different - dance combined with an aerial acrobatics show.

The date of their big performance was today and was fast approaching, so Costel had to hurry. Judging by how high the sun was already in the sky, he knew that the tapejaras had already set off – they lived further away from the agreed meeting place than he did. The morning of the flying reptiles probably looked similar to that of the young carnotaurus – an early wake-up call (the slight stress before the performance did not allow for long sleep), followed by a light breakfast to gain strength.

Costel set off.


~*~

Costel stepped onto the stage somewhat unsteadily, feeling the boards bend under his weight. The male glanced around briefly – there was a much larger crowd in the room than he had initially expected. Apparently, the talent contest was extremely popular among the carnival participants. The most prominent figure in the audience was the judge, an eccentric oviraptor standing in the front row. Cheron, with a kind, joyful expression on his face, waved his wing at the carnotaurus, as if encouraging him to perform.

This gesture emboldened not only him, but also the two tapejaras, who had been waiting on the giraffe skeleton standing nearby. The two flying reptiles clung tightly to the massive vertebrae, watching everything that was happening in the hall from above. When Costel gave them a timid signal (a subtle wave of his pitifully small arm), they both took flight. 7204 and Appy circled widely above the audience, forcing the dinosaurs standing below to raise their heads and follow their short performance. Then they directed their flight towards the stage, landing next to Costel.

The three of them made eye contact, trying to cheer each other up. Their moods were definitely different – Costel, although excited, did not cope well with this type of situation, it stressed him out. Appy was also enjoying the carnival, but unlike the young carnotaur, she did not know what stage fright was – for her, being the centre of attention was a dream come true. 7204 was the complete opposite of the other two members of the group. The older tapejara was only participating in the talent contest because Appy had a surprising gift of persuasion. If it weren't for that, he definitely wouldn't have set foot in the museum building for even a moment.

Cheron gave another signal - a short, shrill squeak that signalled the start of the performance. Costel swallowed his saliva nervously, feeling the stress spread through his body. The tapejaras took to the air again, launching themselves from opposite sides of their larger companion. They quickly rose to the ceiling, circling synchronously, occasionally lowering their flight and performing various aerial acrobatics. The two flyers were a well-matched duo.

At that time, Costel focused all his energy on his dance performance. The male swayed rhythmically from side to side (accompanied by sporadic squeals of the tapejaras at regular intervals), shifting almost his entire body weight from one leg to the other. Every now and then, he would also spin around or bend his torso downwards, waving his short arms. His tail, bristling with blunt spines, also swayed, and its movement imitated the flight path of the tapejaras above him.

The performance was coming to an end, so it had to intensify to elicit the greatest possible admiration from the audience. The three performers waited for the right moment to perform their signature move. They had to execute it perfectly to leave everyone speechless.

A quick glance at The Ringmaster allowed them to identify that moment - Cheron was looking at them with a twinkle in his eye and the corners of his beak turned up in a gentle smile. This was the moment!

The carnotaurus took a short run-up and then leapt into the air, waving his arms like a young bird learning to fly. At the same moment, both tapejaras abruptly lowered their flight and then spun around each other in a corkscrew in the air. Then they landed with a thud, Appy on the young carnotaurus's back and 7204 on the stage floorboards. All three bowed proudly (though their hearts were still beating chaotically with nervousness and excitement). The hall resounded with murmurs of approval and amazement.

For a moment, none of them were able to move, so they stood still, gasping for breath after their performance. It took them a good minute to recover, or rather, it was 7204 who did so, as he was the first to move towards the stage exit. He was too tired to fly, so he walked. Costel immediately followed in his footsteps (with somewhat clumsy steps). Appy didn't have to do anything – she continued to cling tightly to the theropod's back.

The Ringmaster approached them before they could do so. The eccentric male swayed his long, decorative feathers with every step, making him look more like a ghost than a real being. The oviraptor was clearly pleased with the performance – he flitted around the tired performers, appearing here and there, approvingly mentioning all the elements of the show that he liked. When he was done, he patted Costel on the shoulder with his wing in recognition.

Then it was time for the formalities – they learned that there were several more performances planned for today, and the results would not be announced until the very end (here Cheron quietly mentioned that they should definitely stay until the end, as they had a good chance of a place on the podium). So they had to find something to do for the next two, maybe even three hours.

7204, who had been standing on the floor until then, finally took to the air. Encouraged by this manoeuvre, Appy also took flight, leaving the back of the carnotaurus, which she had begun to treat as her personal carriage. Costel followed the tapejaras with his eyes, wondering where they would lead him now. As he had guessed, they were to remain in the museum grounds - the carnival had completely engrossed them all (even 7204, although he didn't want to admit it, was beginning to find some pleasure in this unusual event). They still had a few hours left - enough time to take part in at least one carnival game.

They had no intention of wasting this opportunity.