a new offer, from the other side...

things just have NOT been going my way with these dinosaur winter OH-lympics. so much so that they seem to be taking forever... have you noticed that too?

the latest episode of this whole event is now two of the most important dinosaurs in my life are not getting along. not only with each other, BUT even worse with me too! i couldn't see how much else could go worse with the whole OH-lympics.

why do i always think/wonder things like that? right on cue, in the middle of my pouting over the lillian and norman fallout, yet another unpleasant event occurred.

while angrily pacing around near the OH-lympic site, i was approached by another dinosaur OH-lympian, gloria giganotosaurus . i'd never met gloria before the OH-lympics, and knew very little about her. in fact she was one of the few non-coelurosaurs i'd ever met in person.

fortunately for me i distrust theropods as a general rule, as this was going to turn out to be a very theropod centric discussion...

"greetings young traumador," she greeted me. which to be honest was a weird start, i wasn't THAT young... "i have very much been wishing to meet you since the beginning of these games."

"is that so?" i replied cautiously, and found myself crossing my arms almost defensively.

"oh yes," she replied unphased. "i was very eager to participate in these games when i learned you were the one organizing them."

"why is that?" i asked genuinely curious, yet i suspected i wasn't going to like the answer.

"i wished to meet the only tyrannosaur smart enough to not join the pathetic ranks of the primordial feathers," she said all complementary.

great, i knew exactly where this was going... i said nothing.

with true predatory grace, gloria picked up on my sudden hostility, and started to walk around me whilst keeping her eyes locked on mine. "i speak to you on behalf of the pack of gondwana, a far superior alliance of vivus-theropods. especially when compared to that of your misguided kin."

yup, it was just like i'd guessed.

gloria being a giganotosaurus was a carcharodontosaurid. a long surviving branch of the carnosaur lineage. i'll do a proper palaeo-FACT! on them later, but the basic idea is that the carcharodontosaurs were old guard theropods whose ancestors evolved in the jurassic and survived right up to near the end of the cretaceous. us tyrannosaurs didn't really evolved into huge predators until the late cretaceous, and compared to the carnosaurs were short lived upstarts.

anyways where my coelurosaur relatives alive today formed their pack of the primordial feather, the carcharodontosaurs and a bunch of other southern theropods formed the pack of gondwana. i don't know the details but i think the gondwanan pack was specifically formed to rival the primordials. rival them for what i wasn't sure, and frankly based on what i saw in calgary i don't want to get involved at all!!!

"speak to me about what?" i coldly replied.

"well as i'm sure you know, we gondwanans are in, shall we say conflict with your kin," gloria attempted to be delicate. "for a stable future amongst us theropods, it is vital this conflict be 'resolved', and in our favour."

i waited silent, unimpressed. gloria continued. "we wish to gain your support traumador. having a coelurosaur in our ranks would be a huge asset in ending this destructive strife."

no doubt in the ongoing theropod hostilities, no one had crossed sides directly to the other pack. i wondered if they wanted me to be the first to directly betray my own kind to merely embarrass the primordials, or if the gondwanas had more sinister and direct plans for me. not that my answer was a hard one!

"like i told larry, i am no not interested!" i stated defiantly, very aware my answer was partially tempered by my recent falling out with my two best friends. gloria may not be a tyrannosaurid like i was used too, but she was every bit the killer we are!

gloria for a moment looked as though she was going to get angry, yet she seemed to see something in the distance i couldn't (though i was beginning to smell something approaching). she turned to walk away, yet her eyes never left me.

"if that is your choice," gloria stated venomously. "i just ask you to remember our offer. for i think you will find that your kin are not yet finished with you yet, and will try to bring you into our conflict regardless of your cowardice," ah a typical theropod mindset, trying to appeal to my sense of bravery and fighting blah blah. then unexpectedly she hit me with something that was actually close to home. "afterall we know, they have already struck close to your past with their crate. so remember you have potential allies who have never slighted you before." slighted me yet, i thought.

thankfully that was the end of that. gloria walked off (surprisingly gracefully, considering she'd gotten the opposite of what she'd wanted). so despite my attempts to stay out of the pack war, i was still of intense interest to both sides... boo! i just wanted them to leave me alone!

then i was aware of the reason gloria had withdrawn. another dinosaur was approaching. definitely an ornithischian, but not a type i was used to smelling.

great! today of all days everyone is trying to seek me out. i just want to sit in my misery on my own! now i was about to have another confrontation with a saurian... what could this one possibly want of me?!?

Next: A Dinosaur with a brain as small as mine!!!