Race Ya

The night is chilly and dark- pitch black with no stars in sight- with biting cold wind. A perfect night to stay indoors and a pair of dinosaurs are doing just that- running from the cold into a nearby building, windows emitting a faint orange glow. The Lunar Light Festival has taken over the local museum in the two legged ruins nearby, and Cove and Frost were thrilled to visit it as the ringmaster kept the place warm for guests. 

Cove, a bald blue skinned oviraptor with black and yellow markings rushed into the museum. Frost, a bald pachycephalosaurus with blue and white colouring followed close behind, rubbing her hands together, trying to get feeling back in her fingers.

“It's freezing out there!”

Cove nods in agreement. “Not too bad in here though, even if this place is a bit strange!”

The large circular room was filled with dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes, eager to get out of the cold. Candles line the windowsills and any holes in the walls have been boarded up so the wind can't get inside. The middle of the room holds a massive dinosaur skeleton- ancient and respected by all. Hallways branch off at the back of the room and Frost nudges Cove towards one.

“Lets try to find a less crowded spot!”

The pair head down a hall to a different wing of the museum and find themselves in an area filled with large metal beasts- the aerospace wing. 

Planes, helicopters and all sorts of flying contraptions are scattered around the room. Some are suspended from the roof but most are on the ground. A lot of the metal beasts are in pieces having already been directed by curious dinosaurs. 

The ring master appears to have made this section into a game area. Cove darts ahead of Frost, eager to see what games are available to play. 

Already in the room was a large, red parasaur, observing one of the strange games with a tilted head. Mary rarely left her forest, but even then she knew that what was going on here was… strange. Unusual. Normally, during the winter, things became even more silent; even her ghastly forest withered and shivered under the winds. But this year, things had been strangely… festive. It was the sound of cheering and laughter that had drawn her from the trees, and helped her brave the cold in order to follow its trail.

And she did not regret it- Mary had stumbled across perhaps the strangest sight she had seen yet, a human building somehow partly rebuilt with primeval claws. Carnivores, herbivores, flyers, terrestrials, all walked in and out in a good mood with prizes in their claws. Curious, the parasaur followed- and soon found herself in the largest room of the building, full of mechanical machines and game booths run by eager helpers- it was hard to decide where to go first! Eventually, Mary made her way over to what seemed like one of the largest games in the room- a small racetrack had been set up, with bits of metal and machine littering the ground as obstacles. There was currently no line- but she needed other creatures to race against!

Cove runs around the room looking over all the games and booths set up. There's a variety of games, from tossing rocks at targets to rope pulling to ring toss, and each game seems to have a prize of some sort for the winner. A lot of games are already in progress though with long wait times to participate. As he looks around he spots a lone parasaur with vivid red colouring at an obstacle course. 

Frost catches up to the blue Oviraptor and tilts her head at him. “Did you find a game yet? The ring toss looked fun but there's a huge line up for it already.”

“Over there, look-” Cove starts, pointing to the parasaur, trying not to jump up and down with excitement. “- the obstacle course is still waiting on more players!”

Frost glances at the course with scattered bits of machinery and rubble around it. “Is it like a race of some sort? That could be fun, but how do you know that it isn't full yet? The parasaur could have a group ready to play already.”

Cove frowns. “I hope not… I guess we won't know until we ask!”

“Im not asking.” Frost huffs at him.

Cove rolls his eyes. “Fine, fine, I'll do it! Let's go!” Cove pushes at Frost to get her moving and the pair approach the obstacle course.

“Is this game still looking for more players?” Cove asks the parasaur. 

Mary blinked from where she was nervously shifting from foot to foot, looking at the two beaked creatures who had approached her- an oviraptor and a pachycephalosaurus. “Oh? This?” When the two nodded she smiled. “Yes, indeed! I was waiting for others to join.” She confessed. “Do you have any interest?”

“Yes!” Cove answers excitedly. “We’d love to play!”

Frost just hums and nods in agreement, moving to stand beside the parasaur. The obstacle race path isn't horribly long, just reaching to the other side of the room, but there's more obstacles in the way than she thought there was.

Cove moves to stand beside Frost before looking to the parasaur. “My name is Cove, and this is Frost!” 

“Im Mary!” The parasaur bowed her head, before looking to the side. The bored looking oviraptor waved their claws absentmindedly, pointing them to the race track. Mary quickly picked the furthest back lane- she was large enough she ended up taking up two just by herself, but thankfully there was plenty to spare. Frost settled next to her, and Cove on the other side. 

The staff oviraptor finally good, letting out a low whistle. “Get ready!” The three tensed down- Mary dropped down into a quadruped stance, pawing at the ground with her hooves. Frost let out an excited bleat, and Cove chirped in reply. “Get set… go!” And the three were off!

Mary was large enough to simply step over most obstacles, easily clearing the smaller ones- but the larger ones gave her much more difficulty. She was either forced to jump over them or to go around, which slowed her down a bit. Mary didn't mind, however; she knew she had no chance of winning against the much more nimble duo, but she wasn’t here to win; just to have fun.

Frost charges forward, easily dodging around the smaller bits of metal along the track. She knows that she won't win against the oviraptor, but she does think it'll be fun to slow him down a bit. She headbutts some of the larger pieces aside, hearing Cove grumble at her as a piece of metal soars past Mary and lands in Cove's side of the course. The pieces are too small to be a hindrance to Mary but will definitely annoy Cove. As Frost runs down the track she continues to toss scrap metal towards Cove. 

Cove pushes himself forward, easily out running the other two dinosaurs. He leaps over small obstacles and dodges around the larger piles around the track. Bits and pieces of metal keep getting tossed in his direction and he grumbles as he moves away from them.

Within minutes he reaches the end of the tracks and turns to watch the other pair of dinosaurs finish. 

Frost arrives soon after, taking second place, while Mary arrives a minute later taking last place. 

“Good race.” Frost says to the pair, nodding to both of them. Mary agrees. She knew she wouldn't win against these two but the race was still fun. 

“Yeah, that was pretty good!” Cove says, excitedly looking around the room. “I wonder if there's another game like this around.”

Mary shakes her head. “No, this is the only race course. This room isn't large enough for another track.” 

“That makes sense.” Frost says, wondering what other game they should try out next. 

The game attendant appears, handing each of them a few slips of paper. “Thanks for playing, here are some tickets for the game stalls.” 

Cove squints at the tiny written words on the pieces of paper, unsure of what it says as Mary and Frost thank the attendant before he wanders off, heading back to the beginning of the track to welcome the next set of racers. 

Being the winner, Cove received more tickets than the other two dinosaurs. He turns the papers over in his hands before turning to look at the ticket booth.

“Should we go see what prizes are available?” 

Frost shakes her head. “We might as well go play a few more games and then go turn our tickets in.” 

“OK!” Cove turns to Mary. “See ya Mary! We're gonna go play some more games!”

“Have fun!” Mary nods, watching the pair make their way towards a massive container filled with brightly coloured balls. Mary watched them go, before making her own way into the crowd.