Fun n games

Winter was fun, but also kind of lame cause it felt like every day was the same lately and that bored Cala half to death. Her paranoid mother didn’t let her go off on her own very much, but when they happened upon the Carnival, in a rare moment of… something, lapse in judgement maybe, or just increase in coolness?? Either way, Melon was letting Calamira explore as long as she stayed in the same wing of the Museum and Cala was seizing the opportunity. Wandering through the bustling space, she marveled at the new sights and smells all around her, vibrant decorations brightened the space with saturated colors. It was crazy to see so many kinds of dinosaurs walking around, some with feathers, others covered in spikes or quills, and all different sizes too. Half of them were unfamiliar to Cala, but she did recognize some as carnivores and felt a bit weary of those ones. The flyers that sailed overhead and perched on the various metal human contraptions were her favorites, they looked so cool.

While she was inspecting one of the metal flying machines(was that even possible to make something that apparently helped you fly?) and wondering how the creatures that made them came up with such an idea, Cala noticed a shadow over her shoulder and turned to see a slightly older Styraco male hovering just behind her. “Hello?” She asked more than said, one brow raised curiously.

“Oh, hi, sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you or anything, sorry,” he rambled with an apologetic smile, “I was just looking too, I heard those things were called planes and the humans made them. They don’t work now, obviously, I don’t think a dino could fly one… But they’re neat to look at right? Weird to think something without any wings could see what it’s like to fly, sounds kind of out there to me but…” He trailed off with a shrug. His rambling was somehow endearing in a way. Cala decided she sort of liked him then and there. Plus, he was an interesting looking guy with a mostly dark body and striking red and white markings on his face and the tips of his horns were a bit rosy, maybe when he got older they’d turn bright red too? He had a funny looking bit of extra skin around his nose, too. 

“Yeah, this stuff is all pretty crazy, but it’s fun to look at. Uh, by the way, what’s your name? I’m Calamira.” She’d almost forgotten her manners. 

“Sorry, I should have said before, my name’s Vulture. Nice to meet you, Calamira” She was about to ask him more questions when a Grey and white Styraco with different colored eyes came over hesitantly and stumbled over herself trying to get out a greeting to which Vulture simply grinned and replied, “Woah, hey Athon, fancy seeing you here!” and gave her a friendly bump on the shoulder. Obviously they knew each other. Cala smiled politely, and after some playful ribbing from Vulture, Athon managed to squeak out a shy greeting that Cala could hardly make out. Hopefully these two would be fun to hang out with on her rare day of freedom, it would be nice to have friends of the same species and similar in age! 

“Cala - can I call you that? - uh, this is Athon, we met a while ago here at the Carnival the first time I came here! It was pretty fun, we went and showed off our talents for the ringmaster, Cheron.” Vulture explained, and Athon nodded her confirmation. “Athon, this is Calamira, I just met here before you walked up.”

With a dismissive wave Cala replied, “Yeah, that’s what I like to be called anyway, no worries. Nice to meet you, Athon, your eyes are really pretty,” Athon ducked her head sheepishly but gave a quiet, “Thank you.” Cala looked at her new acquaintances and then surveyed the Carnival, silver eyes gleaming with excitement. There was so much going on, and she wanted to participate! Spinning to look back at the others, Cala asked, “Do you guys wanna try one of these games? They look really fun and maybe we can get a cool prize!” 

“For sure, I’d love to, what about starting with that one?” Vulture gestured to one of the nearest colorful booths with a board set up covered in yellow, blue, red and white balloons that gently wobbled in the slight breeze created by so many passing dinos going by. They looked like big, colorful bubbles, but what kind of game was being played with them Cala had no idea. She glanced over to Athon to check if she was interested and got an uncertain nod. Good enough! “Let’s go!” she cried. Cala gave Athon a friendly nudge on the rump as she bounded over towards the game, leading the charge with her acquaintances following close behind. 

Skidding to a stop in front of the booth, Cala scanned the area and saw a couple of costumed dinos chattering nearby, laughing and planning their next activity together. The booth itself was yellow and red striped fabric draped over a wooden frame. On the shelf at the back several boards with the brightly colored balloons sat waiting for the next contestant to try their luck at earning a prize. Cala wondered what exactly they would get if they did manage to win the game, but she didn’t see anything at the booth that gave her any kind of hint as to what was on offer. Oh well, she was still gonna try to win. 

Vulture stood beside her, also looking over the game curiously. Cala took a moment to admire his neat white face markings, his toes were white too, and she wondered if there were many other cool looking Styracos out there like him. Maybe someday she’d meet lots of them! As she was pondering future adventures, a brightly colored Pachy came from seemingly nowhere and bounced up onto the counter of the booth where she could look down at them with stunning golden eyes. “Hey hey, here to play my game? It’s fun! And you can get lots of tickets! Whaddya say?”  Her scruffy feathered body was a deep reddish brown with all kinds of golden markings and they made her look stunning. 

Athon looked a little startled at the sudden appearance of this eccentric dino, but Cala was practically vibrating with enthusiasm as she chirped, “Yes, please! How do we play? My friends and I wanna win some prizes for sure.” 

“Oh, its easy! So, all you do is take one of these,” the pachy grabbed a couple of heavy little fabric bags that felt slightly squishy like they were full of pebbles of something and tossed them in their direction, landing at Cala and Vulture’s feet. She then scooped up one herself and jumped down beside them. “And basically, you just throw ‘em at the balloons up there, and if you pop some, you get tickets!” to demonstrate, she grabbed up one of the little bags in her mouth and tossed it upward before spinning and swatting it hard towards the balloons with her tail. It hit one balloon at the upper left corner and gave a loud POP, the bag thumped down on the counter below and the Pachy smiled. “Go on, give it a try!” She prompted.

Wasting no time, Cala grabbed up a beanbag and contemplated the best way to launch it given that she didn't think she had the Pachy's same dexterity. After some consideration, she pawed the ground like a bull about to charge, tossed the beanbag in the air with her mouth and tilted her head so she could jump forward and whack it with her frill just so. It worked, and the bag went sailing forward and smacked into the lower left of the board managing to take out two balloons! Yes, victory! “Nice! I'll take a turn next!” Vulture said. His try yielded similar results, he managed to take out three balloons in the center right in one toss. 

After watching the other two Athon managed to come out of her shell a bit and take her turn with little fanfare, her aim wasn't as good though and she only managed to take out one balloon along the bottom which seemed to discourage her a bit. Cala gave her a supportive bump on the shoulder which startled Athon for a moment but she accepted the supportive touch. “Nicely done, Athon” cala added with a smile.

Athon smiled sheepishly back. After a moment's hesitation she asked, “Do you guys wanna play another game after this?” To which Cala enthusiastically replied, “for sure! I wanna try lots of them!” She turned to Vulture and added, “How about you?”

“Oh, heck yeah, I'm happy to play however many you guys want,” he answered with a nod. 

Once they were in agreement, they collected their tickets from the Pachy and set about looking for what to try next.