A humanoid sat on a narrow beach in front of a hearth, seated on a log. They fiddled with a small chain, only seven small links. They wore a small pin on their shirt pocket that said: “Hello, my name is Glee.”

They were brightly colored in yellow, blue, and pink. It looked as though their skin had been tattooed to be colored so; the tips of their fingers were jet-black with white fingernails, slowly fading to the bright hues on their upper arm and the rest of their body. They were only sixteen, but very tall, leading some to believe they were a young adult at times. Glee had large horns—one set that appeared like a deer’s, another like a moose’s pronged antlers, and the last thin and curved. Their hair was blue and yellow and they wore a pink hood. Their face, however, appeared ominous. It was pale and cream-colored, almost white. Markings at first glance black, on further inspection being a very dark red, decorated their eyes and across their nose. Their eyes were also this shade of black.

Glee’s gaze turned to the hearth in front of them. They considered it for a long moment, eventually concentrating on it and waving a hand. It reared up like a startled horse, its hues flickering to blue and green at the base of the fire before falling back down, its normal reds, oranges, and yellows now decorating the firewood.

“Wow,” came a soft whisper from across from Glee.

Glee looked over, finding a small elf-like humanoid sitting across from them. The creature’s skin was pale, tinted slightly blue. He was tall and thin, but obviously young, and marked with a few scars. The young creature also had a backpack clutched to his chest.

“Oh, hi. Didn’t see you there.” Glee said.

“I’m Rags. Are you that performer? The one with the knives? The circus is… I’ve always wanted to see it.” Rags’ eyes glinted, giving him a curious and childlike look. He had a strange accent; the vowels were drawn out slightly, with more emphasis on T’s and K’s.

They chuckled quietly. “Yeah, I’m Glee. We have a show tomorrow, I can get you a seat if you want.” Glee gave a mischievous smile. “The Showmaster will be pissed, so it’ll be worth it.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Rags gasped. “Are you sure? The whole circus, it sounds amazing…”

“Sure. I need to rest for the night, you need a place to sleep…?” The circus performer looked concerned, wondering about the kid’s scars.

“I don’t. Thank you, though! Should I meet you here at dawn?”

Glee agreed to the proposal and gave a wave goodbye as they walked off. They quickly arrived at the circus and met up with Zephyr.

“Glee! How are you doing?” Zephyr, too, was humanoid, though he had many moth-like aspects to his form. His skin was a light brown with grayish spots and he had four large, dark eyes with a glossy shine to them; his hair was a brown that seemed to have the dusty softness to it that a moth’s “fur” does. The same quality applied to the antenna peeking from his hair. Though perhaps the most mothy aspect to him was his light brown wings with gray spots.

“Hey, Zephyr. I’m doing great, just met some kid. Bit worried about him, though, he had a bunch of scars. Said his name was Rags. How’re you?”

Zephyr ignored the question and slowly turned towards Glee. “You said you met Rags?”

“Uh, yeah. What about it?” Glee seemed completely oblivious to Zephyr’s… Terror? Excitement? Interest? Panic, even?

“Please tell me you didn’t invite him to the circus!”

“I mean, I could tell you that, but that is called ‘lying’ and is generally not seen as a good aspect in a person.” Glee checked their nails, hiding a glance to Zephyr and suppressing the smile that threatened to show when they saw his expression.

“And this is how we all die. That kid is a contestant in the Arena, Glee, think things through!” he whined. “Rags could kill us all without breaking a sweat! See how he had so few scars? It’s because no one in that arena can touch him!”

“Just because he could doesn’t mean he will.”

Zephyr sighed and sank into a chair. “Too late, I suppose. Get some sleep, Glee, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. And the Showmaster won’t be pleased. She’d hardly be happy, nonetheless, with you inviting people for free, but Rags… Rags…”

Glee bade Zephyr good luck in the next day’s show and complied with the suggestion to sleep.