Summer Camp

CHAPTER II

By Quickstride

Cornelius led them to a clearing among the giant trees of the settlement where all manner of humans and saurians were gathered, talking and playing games together. Cornelius moved aside to settle some sort of dispute between a pair of dryosaurs, seeming to forget his four charges. Scribble wagged his tail happily at the sight of so many young children and hatchlings, and looked to Quickstride for approval.

"Go ahead," said Quickstride, "Just stay within sight, and don't ambush complete strangers."

"Thanks, Quickstride," the younger saurian said before dashing off to join the others.

"Well, do you think we should go meet some of the other campers, too?" asked Francis.

"Why not? We'll end up meeting them sooner or later, why not now?" Quickstride replied. She didn't care too much for such large groups of people, but as she'd be living and working with these people for the next few weeks she decided it would be best to make at least a reasonable first impression now.

"Where do we start?" asked Francis, but before Quickstride could reply a new voice broke in.

"Well now, who are we?" asked an unhuman voice in a human language. It belonged to a complete stranger, yet it had an eerily familiar quality to it. When the stranger presented himself, approaching from behind and coming in between Francis and Quickstride, it was immediately apparent why. He was another Gallimimus, but even more specifically he was of the same sub- species as Quickstride and Scribble, the one that had long ago moved to the mountains and grown feathers to cope with the harsher climate. While most small Dinotopian therapods were completely covered in scales, occasionally with some feathering limited to a head crest, coelurosaurs of the mountainous regions were covered almost completely in downy feathers, usually being scaled only on the arms, legs, and about the face if they didn't have a beak. Although many families, such as Quickstride's, had since moved out of the mountains and were spread across the island, there were so few individuals in general that it was quite a surprise to see anyone like that, much less another Gallimimus. Quickstride, Francis and Jonathan were so surprised that at first they couldn't reply.

The newcomer gave them an odd look, the repeated his question. "And who are we?"

"We're us," Quickstride recovered and answered backed.

The other Gallimimus gave the saurian version of a smile, which is really just more of an impression given off, since most saurians can't actually smile like a human. He peered at Quickstride with his orange eyes, seemingly impressed somehow by her response. He was a light shade of blue with darker blue stripes. Then extending his right forepaw, he introduced himself.

"Caerulus Stonetalon. Cae for short."

Quickstride extended her right forepaw, and grasping his executed the human gesture called the handshake. She wasn't sure if this was what Caerulus had intended, but whether it was or not he knew and understood the gesture.

"I'm Quickstride Celeriter."

"Quickstride, eh?" he said, repeating the name. He then turned his head in Francis' direction, and offered his right forepaw to him. "And what's your name?"

"Francis," said the boy, accepting the handshake. Cae then turned his attention to Jonathan, who squeaked out his name before the Gallimimus could even ask for it.

"Okay then," he said. "So now, where y'all from?"

"From Outer Island," replied Quickstride. "And you?"

"Prosperine. All you can eat seafood."

"Sounds good to me. Hey, what's going on now?"

In the center of the clearing, a young man with blonde hair stood atop a rock, waving his hands for attention and occasionally placing a finger to his lips for silence. Slowly but surely, the group of youngsters fell silent, as first those nearest to him stopped what they were doing, and then others who saw them followed their example, until the silence had rippled outward to the very edges of the clearing.

"Excuse me, may I have your attention please. I would like to welcome you all to Treetown Summer Encampment. I am Morrison, the Head Human Counselor here. I sincerely hope you enjoy camp here and have lots of fun and make lots of friends. In a moment, you will be divided up into teams, with whom you will be working with together daily. Together you will also compete against the other teams during the various sporting competitions. To find out which team you are assigned to and where you should go to meet your teammates, please see me and my saurian counterpart Cornelius at the base of that tree." He pointed to a large tree at the edge of the clearing. Cornelius was standing next to it, a lengthy scroll dangling from his mouth. "Once again, I hope you have a good time here. That's all I have for right now." With that, Morrison hopped off of his rock and ambled on over to where the Dicraeosaurus was.

Instantly the crowd erupted into both noise and movement as the campers flowed steadily over to them. Quickstride, Cae, Francis and Jonathan moved to join them, bringing up the rear of the larger group. Suddenly, without warning, something shot out from the undergrowth and struck Quickstride, knocking her to the ground. Everyone gave a cry of surprise at the sudden attack. Quickstride looked up to see what had hit her, while everyone else looked down.

"What in the name of Trilobite Tea- Scribble! What did I tell you about ambushing people?"

"I remember your exact words, Quickstride," said the younger Gallimimus matter-of-factly, getting to his feet. "You said not to ambush complete strangers. But since I know you, it's all right because you didn't say anything about people I know."

Cae laughed. "I think he's got you there, then." Francis and Jonathan exchanged amused glances as Quickstride got to her feet. Quickstride sighed. "It's going to be a long summer."

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