First For Everything

When Tarantula had told her that they were going to a carnival, she had no clue what to expect. She had never heard of such a thing, but her adoptive father had assured her it was somewhere dinosaurs had often gone for fun. The young Iguanodon skipped up the hill, tossing her head over her shoulder to look back at Tarantula for reassurance. “It’s so far away. . .” She whined out in one long exasperated breath. They were about to reach the very top of the hill, and with three quick, long strides she reached it. Her eyes widened with wonder at the view in front of them.

The old.. museum?… She had heard it called that at least by the Windflutter Colony. Once desolate, eerie and cold - it was now decorated with all sorts of colours. Fabrics in cerulean blues, lemon-y yellows, vermilion reds, and even more colours with names she couldn’t think of. bright colourful lights flickered on and off, dancing on the crumbling, worn walls.

Others could be seen walking in and out of the building. She made out the shapes of a few - but she didn’t know the names. She hadn’t even seen them before, causing her to slip between the larger theropods legs, twisting herself underneath and crouching below her.

“Is this it? It’s so bright now… I haven’t seen this many others gathered in one place - so peacefully too!” Echeveria exclaimed, pushing her head upwards and into his now, craning her head to meet his gaze.Tarantula chuckled and looked down at her, “This is it! No need to be afraid, silly!” She stepped over the little iguanodon and beckoned her to follow him. Taking a few steps forward, she turned his head to make sure Echeveria was following him, before continuing on. There were more dinosaurs than Tarantula had ever seen in one place, and admittedly it did make her a little bit nervous. He wouldn’t show that in front of Veria, though, he wanted her to be brave and confident. The cryo was taking a good look at everything, seeing if anything was interesting or if Echeveria saw something she liked. He always made sure that she was close behind him, worried about losing her among the other dinos. “See anything you want to try, little one?” He nudged her snout.

The young iguanodon would canter up besides Tarantula’s hip, daring not once to leave her side. She was very overwhelmed by all the other dinosaurs around, matching her steps with the Cryo’s as an enormous theropod walked by. What even was that? She puffed out her chest, shook her head and glanced around some more.

There were all sorts of games, and she didn’t want to have the adventure with Tarantula ruined because of her own worries.

“Hm. . . I don’t know just yet, there’s so many! Let’s look around a little more.” Veria said. She took one more deep breath before bounding forward towards the center of the museum now. Tarantula shook his head in amusement watching her go. In the center of this room stood an unknown skeleton of some sauropod, decorated with a little ruffled party hat on top. To the left she peaked in to see even more skeleton models. In this wing stood several displays of unknown creatures. She squinted her eyes to try to identify what the strange writing on a plaque was. To no avail, squinting did not make it easier. A dinosaur that looked a bit like her stood in the center, dressed up in strange, draped human garbs. It was creating music with it’s crest, deep bellows echoing throughout the room. Maybe that would be fun. But, she wanted to see what was in the other wing next. Making sure Tarantula was still following her, she walked closer to the archway - or what used to be of one. It was crumbling apart now. Veria felt even smaller in this exhibit. Large flying machines hung from above, casting deep shadows below them. She could see birds of some sort sitting on the pointed wings, chittering amongst themselves. On the main floor, little tents were set up with games she didn’t even know existed.

One quick sweep with her eyes, and she darted over to a booth. “Over here papa!” She cooed excitedly, raising a hoof and thumb to point. The game she had chosen to play first had weird colourful latex ovals on them. They moved with even the slightest bit of wind against them. This game was ran by an oviraptor. “What are you?” She spoke aloud, completely unaware of how rudely that could’ve come off. She glanced to Tarantula for guidance.

The oviraptor was varying shades of brown with a lighter front, with darker patches running down his body. The most notable feature was what looked like moth wings on his face. He cocked his head at the pair. Tarantula gave the oviraptor a sheepish look, “My apologies… she’s never been around other dinosaurs before. What’s your name?” The avian rose with a grand gesture, bowing and spreading his wings. “It is no issue, my friend! My name is Cheron, an oviraptor, and I’m the host of this carnival! What are your names?” Cheron beckoned with his wings.“My name is Tarantula, and this is my daughter, Echeveria. She’s never been to a carnival before.” Cheron turned his attention to the little iguanodon, “Interested in this game, little Echeveria? I can show you how to play!” When she looked to Tarantula for permission, he gave a quick nod to allow her to go wild with this little game.

Veria excitedly leaned up on the counter, looking at Cheron. “Yes please! I’d love to learn!” Cheron would smile at the eager hatchling, grabbing a handful of wooden sticks.

“Your goal is to pop three balloons. I will give you 5 of these little sticks to start. You just have to throw it like this!” He giggled, taking the pointed twig and preparing to aim.

With a quick, calculated sweep he threw it at the board. The twig flew forward, spinning and hitting one of the bright blue balloons head on. A loud pshhhhhhh rung out, and Veria jumped in fright. She had not expected the noise, and it spooked the iguanodon. She straightened herself out, nodding excitedly. “Ok! I can do that!” She chirped. Echeveria would take the twig in her beak, staring at the board through focused eyes. She would angle her neck crooked, before flinging the twig.

It looked like it would have hit the balloon - in fact, it did! But it bounced right off the balloon. That didn’t make sense at all. Her eyes widened with confuse. “Hey! It was supposed to pop!” She whined and looked at Tarantula. “I thought I threw it good. . .”

Tarantula nuzzled Echeveria’s forehead in reassurance. “Maybe it wasn’t thrown hard enough,” he suggested, “Let me try.” Taking one of the twigs in her claws she aimed, tongue stuck out for good measure, and threw.

Unfortunately, she had horrible aim! The twig went right past the balloon Tarantula was aiming for. He sighed, “Looks like I’ve got bad aim, don’t I Veria?” His tail wrapped around the little iguanodon, comforting her more.

Cheron chirped, “No one’s good at something immediately! Give it another go, little sapling!” The oviraptor’s cheery attitude was very infectious, and his exaggerated gestures certainly made him an interesting character. “Practice makes perfect!” He winked at Echeveria, encouraging her to try again. Tarantula agreed with him, encouraging her with a nudge. “I’m sure you’ll pop one this time.”

Veria nuzzled her head back into hers, nodding slowly. “It’s ok Tarantula! WE can do this together.” She gave a bit of her own reassurance to her guardian. With a new determined expression, she nodded eagerly at the strange oviraptor. “Okay! I’ll try again.”

She grabbed the third twig, leaning forward even more. She thought of the best way to approach this. It was hitting the balloon, but the angle seemed to fall short and wouldn’t connect and pop. Maybe if she threw it with a little more force… a bit of a better angle…

Craning her neck once more, taking the slightest step back over the cryo’s tail, she tossed her head once more. The twig flew forward with a whoooosh and hit the balloon. Vibrant red latex broke, another loud pppshhhhh as it popped. She did it!

The little Iguanodon jumped up and down in a circle, leaning in quickly to hug Tarantula. “I did it! It popped! It popped mama!” She looked at the Oviraptor. The cryo clapped his hands together with a very proud expression. “How talented you are, my little beetle!” He nuzzled Echeveria’s forehead, making her giggle.

“You were right, sir! I just had to try again. Thank you so much!” She squealed.

Cheron would laugh at the young one’s excitement, looking at her twigs. “You have two more now, you’ve gotta make these count!” He told her encouragingly. Veria looked back to Tarantula. “You try again! I want you to play with me too!” She begged.

The gray cryo couldn’t say no to his excited daughter. “Alright, alright, I’ll do it again.” He grinned at Echeveria before grabbing another twig. She lifted the twig, tilting her head slightly to see if that would help him aim better. Tarantula let the twig fly, but he missed the balloon again.

“Shucks.” She reached to grab the last twig, turning to Echeveria to say, “Last one’s always a lucky one!” He held the twig up once again, trying the same head tilt tactic, and threw. A balloon finally popped! Maybe Tarantula’s aim wasn’t that bad after all. “Like I said, always a lucky one. Don’t forget that.” She leaned down to lick the little iguanodon’s forehead.Echeveria seemed to vibrate with excitement. Cheron cheered for the two of them excitedly, “You two could be professionals at this game one day!” The oviraptor turned to rummage in a bin behind him. “Hmm.. what prize do you seek?”

Veria’s eyes widened. A prize? She kinda forgot she’d get one. She thought for a moment. What type of prizes even exist? She wasn’t sure what she could possibly want. She already had everything she could have desired. A loving guardian, not to mention the other cryos who took her in too. They cared for her and continue to teach her many things. “What do you have?” She asked, stumped.

Cheron would start pulling at random objects, most were old human wares. The first one was a teddy bear, with a little red bowtie. It’s ear was torn off, and stuffing was falling out. There was still a warming charm to it though. The second option was a little wooden music box. He opened it up, and Veria could see her own reflection.

“It’s supposed to play music usually… It does sometimes. All you have to do is wind up the lever. The little figure inside will dance too.” He smiled, winding the lever for her.

An unrecognizable tune to their own ears, but a fuzzy and nostalgia filled music started to play. The little ballerina inside would twirl in place. The music cut off, but she still danced. “I want the box!” Veria exclaimed. She just could feel the tiniest of draw towards the mysterious box. Cheron pushed the music box towards her. “Alright, you’re the proud new owner of it then! I hope you enjoy.” The brown Oviraptor said, offering a little baggy for it, too.Veria grabbed it quickly. She would show it to Tarantula happily. “Isn’t it so cool?!” She giggled. She would push herself up against him, nuzzling the Cryo happily.

Tarantula made a purring noise, as much as a dinosaur could make at least, proud of Echeveria. “What a lovely prize!” He was glad that she had fun with this game, and glad that she got to interact with someone outside of the colony. Seeing and experiencing new things is always good for a growing dinosaur.

She looked up at Cheron, “Thank you for this, it was fun!” The oviraptor puffed his chest out proudly. “Of course! Everyone should be having fun! There’s more games to try if you’re interested?”, making a cooing sound as he spoke.

The cryo turned back to Echeveria, “Do you want to go check out some more games?” She reached out to hold onto the box for the little iguanodon, lest she forget she’s holding something and start galloping away.

Veria would happily let Tarantula take the music box for her. She would surely forget it if she were to put it down at any point.

Her beady eyes scanned the clearing, darting between different booths and all the other types of dinosaurs around her. She watched as some crested birds carried rings to be tossed over the long neck of a tall dinosaur, who would sway back and forth to up the difficulty. She watched others toss balls into pins, aiming to knock them all down at once. There were so many games… She couldn’t even believe her own eyes. She clamored atop a fallen jet, peering out to see all the games around them. If she wanted to learn to play them all, she’d need to be here all day… Surely Tarantula wouldn’t mind! They had nothing better to do in her head, anyway.

She bound back over to Tarantula, leaving her forelegs off the ground and placing them atop her fathers shoulders, staring him in the eye.

“Yes! Yes please! We need to play ALL the games.” She squeaked, before pressing her forehead to his own. “Quick, we don’t have time to waste!” Veria urged her.