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This is me, trying to get my thoughts together by writing up random scenes, characters and the like. Sort of like a sketch dump, but I'm not good enough at drawing for that. I decided to do this, because I don't think I'm being very original anymore, and I need to reassure myself...
Don't. Try. To. Understand. Just don't try. You'll hurt yourself.
Amy stared up at the gigantic window in awe, trying to take everything in at once. The glass took up one entire wall, and overlooked a huge, sweeping landscape. Apparently, the palace was located on top of one of the many mountains she had gotten a glimpse of when they were down in the forest. From where they were, the ground angled downward sharply, and ended abruptly at a large lake about a hundred meters away. The surface was completely and utterly still, reflecting the blue sky and several white, puffy clouds. Only... there weren't any clouds in the sky; and it wasn't exactly blue. From what she had seen, the sun was setting behind the castle at the moment. When she directed her gaze to the actual sky, it was a dark shade of purple, even speckled slightly with stars.
Amy stopped in her tracks, looking between the water and the sky, trying to figure out what she was looking at. "Keep going..." John muttered quietly, giving her a little shove.
"Don't touch her!" The Wolf growled, advancing on John.
"No! No, it's fine..." Amy interjected quickly, defending her brother. The Wolf shot him a warning look, before retreating. John grinned nervously, mouthing the words 'thank you'.
The Wolf padded forward, his dull claws clicking on the polished floor with each step. Now that Amy looked down, she stopped again. She could actually see herself in the floor! It looked to be made of marble, checkered black and white to look somewhat like a checkerboard. "Come along, Miss." The Wolf said, sounding much kinder than he had a moment ago. Amy started and hurried forward.
"Majesty?" The Wolf called, sitting down in the center of the enormous room. His bushy tail swished back and forth several times, betraying an obviously anxious mood. "Majesty!"
"What is it Varrg?" An annoyed male voice called. Amy looked up, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice. It seemed to be coming from the very walls of the room, and sounded like it came from every side.
"I've got something I think you should see, Sir!"
A intricately carved wooden door, just off to Amy's left, swung open. It revealed a glimpse of many tubes, wires and glass containers filled with several different colored liquids, before a man stepped out. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, tall, with blond hair that was combed to near-perfection. A small, untrimmed beard sat on the lower half of his face, and his eyes were light and happy, their color reminiscent of chocolate. He might have looked much older if they were any different.
"What is it?" The man asked, gesturing back towards the door. He held a large beaker in his hand, which was half-full of a bluish-purple substance. "I'm working with something that's rather-"
Before he could finish, an loud bang issued from the room, sending the door around and banging against the wall. Amy was pretty sure she saw a few shards of glass fly out as well.
"-dangerous at the moment. Really, Varrg, could this wait for another hour or so?" The man turned and began to walk back into the room.
"Joseph!" The Wolf barked in a commanding voice, leaping to it's feet. "Forgive my forward attitude, but put down your chemistry set and LOOK at these children!
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"Ow! Josh, you're stepping on my knee!"
"Sorry! I don't have any room..."
"I really hope that isn't someone's foot in my face..."
"Who's sitting on me?"
"I'm standing. I think."
"Shut UP!"
Every little whisper instantly quieted, even the flapping of the tent's entrance stopped. Every head that could turned towards the Ringmaster, who was striding towards the haphazard group. Two of his arms were crossed in front of his body, a third was on his forehead, and a fourth held a small stack of papers, which fluttered but made no sound.
"What is wrong with you imbeciles? The best group I could throw together, and you can't even get into a simple tower?" The stack of papers was brandished at them, still silent.
One of the group, Josh, moved his mouth, but failed to make a sound.
"Whoops! Sorry, my friend!" The Ringmaster took his hand off his forehead, and snapped his fingers. "Go ahead."
"We're very sorry Sir." Josh said, speaking for the collective assembly. They were closer to being one entity than they had ever been before, so it seemed appropriate. "But most of your new recruits aren't used to dealing with Dahlia. It confused them."
The Ringmaster's free hand now moved to the side of his face. "Of course! I didn't think that would be a problem for anyone. I seem to be forgetting myself. Where is Dahlia?"
"Up here, Sir!" Once again, the free heads turned to find the source of the voice. A tiny, stick-like figure sat high above the group, seated on the trapeze. She grinned down at all of them, swinging herself back and forth, and causing her costume dress to flow out behind her.
"Ah! Do you think you could see your way to helping the others to their feet?" The Ringmaster inquired, flipping through a few of the papers in his hand. "I cannot even see if everyone is here."
"Sir." Dahlia, held up both her hands, carefully gesturing at the group. They seemed to lift into the air all at once, and one by one, each person was untangled from the knot. Once they were pulled out, Dahlia made a flicking motion and they would drop to the ground. She was by no means being gentle, but all managed to land on their feet and without further incident.
As soon as the last member touched the ground, the Ringmaster stepped forward, still looking at his sheaf of papers. "Joshua? I know you're here. Ah... Madelyne?"
"H-here." A timid-looking blond girl raised her hand.
"Good... Matthew?"
"I'm still here, Sir." A man with straight-cropped blond hair smiled at the Ringmaster.
"Alright then. I know Dahlia's here. Rosemary?"
"Here, Sir." Rose raised her hand, and quickly let it drop.
"Hello there. Hm... There's just one person I'm not sure of now. Mar... Marzyanna?"
"Just Anna, please, Sir." A tall dark haired girl next to Rose nodded.
"Yes, much easier." The Ringmaster cleared his throat, finally taking a look at his troupe. He seemed to wilt a little bit, like a flower that was exposed to extreme heat. "Oh, dear..." Collecting himself, he cleared his throat again and let one of his arms drop to his side. It retracted and disappeared behind his back. "Those of you who were confused when working with Dahlia, please say so." Over half of the troupe raised a hand in answer. "Dahlia?"
"Right away, Sir!" The twiggy woman slid off her swing, and seemed to float gracefully to the ground. She tapped each raised hand delicately, and signaled for them to follow. Each of the new people started after her uncertainly, bumping into each other and stumbling slightly on the uneven grass.
"Ohhhh, they're going to need some work." The Ringmaster said quietly, almost to himself. "Right! Joshua and Matthew, I need you two to take... Anna out. Try and stir up some interest in the show, and hand out a few posters if you can get your hands on any."
"Sir!" Both men grabbed Anna, one for each hand, and began to drag her out of the tent.
"Poor Anna. That leaves..." There was a moment of shuffling papers. "Lara! The group is going to have to eat soon, and I believe it's your turn for dish duty. Two birds with one stone?"
The last remaining person, besides Rose, frowned, but nodded and followed the rest of the troupe out of the tent. The Ringmaster looked back down at his papers and simply stared shuffling them. "Um..." Rose attempted to speak, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She was simply standing, useless, and felt a little awkward. The Ringmaster looked up and froze, staring at her for a very long time. Rose wished she hadn't said anything at all; it was even worse to be under his gaze. His eyes were so wide, and it didn't look like he was going to blink any time soon.
"Who would that be?" He asked quietly, as one sheet of paper escaped his grasp and fluttered to the ground. Without even turning his head, one arm reached down and plucked the paper from the floor. Finally, he looked away to scan the sheet. "Oh. That would be Rose. Correct?"
It took Rose several seconds of silence to realize that he was speaking to her. "Oh- Yes, Sir." She said quickly.
"I... did not anticipate this, I must admit. Why did you not go with Dahlia and the other fledglings?" The Ringmaster's head snapped up, and he stood up very straight, doing his best to look down at Rose.
"I-I... I wasn't confused, Sir. When we were trying to get into a tower. I caught on to what she was doing quite fast." She did her best to sound modest, but ended up failing to her own ears.
"Really?" Suddenly, the Ringmaster seemed very interested. The sheet of papers disappeared behind his back, and he was now left with only two arms, which were still crossed.
"Really." Rose answered, taking a unconscious step backwards. The sudden interest in her person made her even more nervous than before.
The Ringmaster raised his eyebrows, to the point that she actually lost sight of them behind the brim of his hat. "Will you walk with me?" He asked, surprising Rose for the third time in a row. It didn't look like he was going to give her much in the way of a choice either. His previously non-existent third arm reappeared and extended towards Rose. A set of long thin fingers rested on her shoulder and began to pull her towards the Ringmaster. "Come along, I won't bite unless need calls for it."
Rose stumbled forward as the arm around her seemed to decrease in length, pulling her closer to her new boss. She was still trying to get her head around the 'generation' theory that Josh had explained to her.
Joshua "Yeah..." Josh ran a hand over the top of his head, casting a funny glance to the door. "None of us have really figured that out yet. Ringmasters' sort of like... A starfish!" His face broke into a smile at Rose's uncomprehending look. "You know how when a starfish loses a leg, it'll grow a new one?" Rose nodded. "Well Ringmaster is like that, 'cept he can grow as many as he wants to. And they go away whenever he says so. And... They can grow really, really long, so watch out."
The more she thought about it, the less sense it made.
"You realize you're the only one who managed to grasp what was happening?" He asked, beginning to pull her along.
"We- Yes." She answered, stopping herself from contradicting him.
"Well then!" He suddenly released her, throwing all three of his arms into the air. The stack of papers left his hand, and fluttered to the ground in a whirl of little white squares. Rose noticed that the majority of them were blank. "Be happy! Be merry! You learn quickly, and that's a good trait to own in this trade!" Seizing both of Rose's hands, he pulled her forward and into an awkward kind of spin, that might have been interpreted as a dance move to any unwary watcher of the scene. "You're smart! Be happy for it." He said, taking Rose by the shoulders now, and staring straight into her eyes.
"But, Sir... I'm not sure if-"
((UNFINISHED))
 Anjeka · Tue Mar 17, 2009 @ 05:17am · 1 Comments |
