Pink lemonade petals float from the boughs of tangled trees amidst the sweet spring air. Along the swooping branches are smoothed down spots of rough bark fashioned into seats. There have never been true train stations in Portar, but through the power of teamwork and natural erosion, there are plenty of covered seats where one could wait outside the rain’s line of fire and the sun’s inescapable grasp.
A tall dragon beast leans into the corner of a well-grown branch. The warm breeze brushes against the brazen orange scales on their chest, blowing the bottom of their coat and the hem of their skirt to and fro. They lay their tail down on the cobblestone ground, hoping to keep the tree from a fiery fate. They scratch their talons against the deep, rough bark, tracing every pattern of wear. Their wings are open, catching the light of the sun and the warmth of the air. They could fall asleep here if they aren’t careful. But with their open wings, they’re more worried about protecting whomever may come by.
Hopefully, they won’t have to guard anyone today. The midnight train won’t be long, and hopefully their friends will be arriving soon. Oh, how they’ve missed them. It’s been so long since they’ve had a proper hang-out or escapade. Summer seems eons ago, but from the hues of the flowers adorning the shelter, summer is probably closer now than ever.
But something haunts their mind, and it isn’t the thought of their friends or the wind against their scales. They feel something painful, like a wire stained with blood, tugging at their brain. They can’t shake the feeling of doom around the corner. They know this time will be different, and they know it will be better. It has to be better. They won’t let themselves so much as entertain the thought that it will somehow be worse. And yet, the wire loops on like a broken record, slowly nudging its way into the wrinkles of their brain.
They rub their callused hand against the bark. A little inchworm crawls onto their claw, jagged from a fight long ago. The creature creeps its way onto their palm, and they hold it up to their eyes to get a better look at it.
“Wee beastie,” they growl, a forlorn look creeping its way into their eyes.
A happier voice rings through the clearing.
“Hey, DJ!”
DJ turns their gaze up from the insect, suddenly overcome with warmth. They toss the inchworm into the foliage beside them.
“Peony! Seb!”
They jump up from the tree and throw open their arms, and Sebastian runs in for a hug. DJ ruffles his fluffy white hair as a brother might do, and tries their hardest to not break his wings as they throw their other arm around him for a hug. When the two let go, he turns to Peony and offers their hand out to shake. Peony takes it, and at once their clawed hand engulfs hers. She offers up her other hand, and the mass of starry ink engulfs DJ’s claws in return. When the two let go, they take a respectful step back.
They grin with opal-stone teeth. “It’s so good to see you two again.”
“It’s nice to see you, too,” Sebastian says.
“Glad to see you haven’t gotten hurt or anything since our last escapade,” Peony adds.
DJ reaches up to rub their neck, “Oh, funny you mention that,”
Peony sighs in benign disappointment. “You didn’t-”
“Don’t worry, nothing more than a couple cuts and bruises, everyday kinda stuff,” They reassure. “Might’ve fallen out of a tree trying to pick starfruit, but you can’t prove anything.”
“DJ…”
“What did I say? You can’t prove anything.”
Peony grumbles and crosses her arms, but the trio know it's all in good fun.
They chat for a bit, catching up on whatever needs catching up on. They’ve all been well in their absence. Sebastian has been studying magic a bit more, trying to find where science might fit in to it all. Peony’s still been keeping at her role of reaping souls and minds from the sky-sea, but it seems as though nobody’s fit to enter Portar anymore. And DJ, just as usual, is trying to keep themselves out of trouble. They go on, much ado about nothing, until the conversation finally turns around to the others in their party.
“When do you suppose the Suit of Hearts will be here?” Sebastian asks, “Juniper, too?”
“Well, you know how King Frog is with them,” DJ replies, looking in the general direction of the castle. “I figure he’ll rattle off a list of a million rules for their behavior and then let them go with a threat in their back pockets. I’m half expecting Juniper won’t show up at all.”
“What makes you say that?” Peony asks, “It’s just the circus,” Peony mutters.
“Well, you know how hard we had to bug King Frog to let her come with us the last time we went out.”
“That was different,” she protests, “The last time we invited her out for something like that was to kill a god. And we’re not doing that now, are we?”
DJ slowly turns their head away. It takes everything in them to hold their tongue. Just tell them, just tell them!
“Is something wrong?” Sebastian asks.
DJ stands in silence for a second or two.
“I thought I saw them coming over there,” they reply.
A shout echoes from behind them. “Wrong way!”
The three spin around on their heels to find Adderall bounding up to the group, dragging Fuego close behind. Adderalls’ shoes light up with every step, her beaded bracelets jingling as she runs.
“There you are,” Sebastian smiles, “Was King Frog holding you hostage?”
Fuego brushes vens green hair away from vens lazy eye. “Not exactly. He just wanted to know where we were going and if we had our work done.”
Adderall’s response is more exasperated. “And he went off on us about asking for vacation earlier than the day of!”
“To be fair, we didn’t ask until this morning if we could go.”
“It’s not our fault he wouldn’t let us ask him before then.”
“Will you two pause your bickering for a second?” Sebastian asks, putting up his hands to motion them to stop, “We want to know if Juniper’s going to be here.”
The two reply in unison. “Absolutely!”
“She asked Creo about it just the other night,” Fuego begins.
“And he said she could go.” Adderall finishes.
“Thank god,” Peony smiles.
Fuego looks over his shoulder. “Matter of fact, I think she was headed out just behind us when we left.”
“You bet I was!”
Juniper walks up to join the group, taking her place next to Peony. Her ears perk up in happiness as she leans over to hug her.
“Say, where’s Creo?” DJ asks, “You said he was coming with us, right?”
Juniper leaves her hug, her ears and tail falling in frustration. “Last minute decision by Dad. He’s not coming with us.”
The group erupts in displeasure. DJ mutters something under their breath, Sebastian lets out an Oh, come on!, and Peony shakes her head in silence. Fuego rolls vens eyes and sighs, and Adderall just asks why.
“Dad says he can’t have more than three advisors out at a time,” Juniper says with a shrug.
“Since when were you an advisor?” Peony asks.
“Hell if I know!” She replies, “Guess ‘cause I’m seventeen now, but you’d think he’d at least have the nerve to tell me before then.”
“Bet it’s just for when it’s convenient for him,” Sebastian adds, “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, don’t be sorry,” she replies, batting a paw in his direction, “Creo told me not to be, at least. I think that extends to all of you.”
Fuego looks over his shoulder to find DJ looking out to nowhere, again. Ve shrugs. It's not the first time they've done that, and it probably won't be the last time either.
“DJ, are you alright?” Ve asks.
DJ jumps a little. “Oh, sorry, Fuego. I’m good, yeah. Just thinking, that’s all.”
“You, thinking?” Adderall laughs, “That can’t be good.”
“No, you’re right,” DJ grins, letting out a snicker of their own, “I have a terrible idea.”
“Oh?” Sebastian gasps, “Tell us!”
“No, no, it’s a-” they pause in consideration, “-terrible idea.”
Juniper smugly crosses her arms. “All the more reason to say it.”
“No, no, I promise it’s better unsaid.”
Fuego smirks. “Oh, come on, DJ.”
“Alright, if you all insist. I was just thinking about how we could make this another adventure, that’s all.”
The group starts to open up into mischievous smiles. DJ looks on in dismay.
“How do you propose we do that?” Peony asks.
“Well," DJ grimaces, "You know how I get when I get bored, how I start reading every book ever published. I found an old Dungeons and Dragons manual in a thrift store downtown, and I buried myself in that thing for a week or so.”
“You didn’t forget to eat again, did you?” Peony asks.
“Peony, if I forgot to eat, how else could I have fallen out of a starfruit tree? Anyhow, I found a campaign idea that involved a circus run by the fae. You know, the magical mafia. One option for the quest was having the players join the circus, and I got to thinking about that. I thought about it a lot. Still thinking about it now, actually. What I’m saying is do you all wanna go join the circus?”
They all start to giggle and silently scheme. Everyone, save for DJ. They all had the simmering feeling another adventure was bound to pop up somewhere along the way. Now, it has.
“I like it,” Sebastian says, “I like it a lot actually.”
“Maybe King Frog had some foresight after all,” Fuego grins, vens orange teeth glimmering in the moonlight. “Maybe it was good he didn’t send Creo.”
“You know he’d just try to stop us,” Juniper says, her tail flipping in excitement.
“Wait just a second,” Peony interrupts, “If we’re gonna join this circus, we’ve got to have acts. You can’t just ask to join the circus and be some talentless bum plucked fresh from the vine.”
“Not true,” Fuego says, “Elm Log Musk.”
“Are you implying he’s talentless?” Sebastian asks, “Because you and I both know he’s the biggest clown alive.”
“Oh, knock it off!” DJ says, playfully nudging the two with their elbow.
“Come on, DJ, you settle this,” Fuego teases.
“The only thing I’ll be settling,” they begin, “is you guys on the train that’s pulling up behind us.”
Indeed, the train is slowly grinding to a halt behind them. The old, gray engine isn’t something quiet enough for the normal person to ignore. Even if a deaf man couldn’t hear the grinding and gritting of the gears and tires, he’d find himself blinded by the smoke pouring from the engine and overwhelmed by the smell of embers.
The group stands up from the trees and walks up to the tracks as the engine car slows to a stop before them. DJ takes their place at the head of the group and begins their march to the head of the engine. The others fall behind them as though they were fish following a swan to food. The door swings open, and the two-headed conductor leans down to address them.
“Where you off to?” The first head huffs, the smell of coal rising from his breath.
“The circus,” DJ replies, “In the Ganglion Forest, I believe?”
“Fah!'' The first head scoffs, nudging its glasses up to its ashy eyes, “First time I’ve heard’a group of kids yer age goin’ to a circus since the summer’a ‘44! Get yerselves in a car, and be quick! When she starts movin’, she won’t stop ‘till there’s a destination!”
“Thank you, sir!” Sebastian calls.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The group rushes down to the second passenger car. DJ hops in the door first, helping to make sure the others all make it inside in time. The train starts moving right before Sebastian can make it in, and DJ grabs hold of his arm and pulls him in the car. When DJ closes the door, they all scramble to their seats, their shoes thumping along on the carpeted floor.
As DJ staggers back to the booth where their friends are sitting, the dark oak of the train car feels ever more suffocatingly dark with each step. The red of the carpet and cushiony seats feels like spilled blood, the worn floor below like the shadows of a massacre. The popcorn ceiling above them is a moonless sky vacant of pitying stars.
DJ moves slowly to their seat. No, they took the bait. I shouldn't have said a thing about this.
They hear Fuego's voice. "DJ? You're spacing out again."
Was it me who said it, though? Or was it my imagination?
"Oh, sorry," they reply, walking to their seat.
Whatever god may tell this story, make it me, not them.
Their dread leaves them as they sit down, draping their arm over the back of the velvet booth. Adderall and Fuego sit beside them, and Juniper, Peony, and Sebastian sit opposite. DJ crosses their legs and leans ever so slightly forward into the group.
“So,” they begin, “I figure it’ll take us a good two hours to get there. But we should probably start brainstorming now.”
“Alright,” Sebastian says, “First order of business would probably be getting what everyone’s good at out in the air.”
“Anyone got a pen and a cocktail napkin we can write on?” Fuego asks, resting vens arms on the gray clothed table.
“I don’t think I do,” Peony mutters, looking into her obi.
Juniper rustles through the pockets of her green jacket. “I might have a pencil or something.”
“Can we fog up a window and write on it that way?” Sebastian asks, “Like-”
Sebastian breathes on the window and draws a smiley face on it with a much-too-long finger.
“Impressive,” Adderall says, nodding in approval.
"Hang on," Juniper interrupts, presenting a green crayon from her jacket pocket. “Found one!”
“That’s all good, but does anyone have paper?” Fuego asks.
DJ stands up from their booth and walks over to the door. An old, worn clipboard dangles from a rusted nail, and a piece of paper hangs from its clip. The scribblings on the front look to be some sort of schedule, but the handwriting is almost too messy for DJ to tell. They remove it, flip it over, and find the other side to be blank. They nod and walk back over to the table.
“Who wants to be secretary?” they ask.
“I can,” Peony replies, raising her void arm.
DJ slides the paper over to Peony, and Juniper hands her the crayon.
“So, let’s get down to business: things we’re good at,” Sebastian begins. “Who wants to go first?”
“We can!” Adderall exclaims, raising her hand high.
“Alrighty then,” Sebastian says, “Adderall, you’ve got the floor.”
“Well,” she begins, “We’re pretty funny, so I figured we’d make good clowns.”
Fuego turns to Adderall. “Adderall," Ve sighs, "Adderall, Adderall, Adderall. We’re funny, sure, but clowns?”
“What?” she rebukes, “Why? You’re already a clown, you listen to 100 Gecs!”
“100 Gecs makes me a clown?” Fuego laughs, “Alright then, what does Machine Girl make you?”
“Hey now, don’t lump me into this mess,” DJ playfully growls, “At least you’re not like Sebastian,” they put the back of their hand by their mouth and pretend to whisper. “I heard he listens to Weezer.”
“Hey!” Sebastian rebukes.
“I think we’re getting off track,” Peony says. “So, clowns, Adderall?”
“Yep!” She nods.
Fuego shoots her a disapproving glare.
Adderall throws her head back in feigned exasperation. “Come on, do you guys think ve could be a clown?”
“I think ve’s more a mime kinda guy,” Sebastian replies. “Fuego, what did you have in mind?”
“I was gonna say knife throwing or juggling,” ve says, “Because those are two-person acts easily.”
“Are you gonna make me the target?”
“Theoretically either one of us could be the target. I mean, it’s not like I can’t make you throw the knife. And imagine how much of a bait-and-switch that would be. You, absolutely bleeding neon, and me, looking like the murderous forest nymph, and you’re the one holding the knife.”
“And that’s funny,” Juniper adds.
They all nod in agreement.
“Any objections?” Sebastian asks.
Adderall sits back in her chair and thinks for a minute. “You know what? Maybe it would be. And hey, nothing’s saying I can’t bait-and-switch you with pie instead of a knife.”
“You do that and you’re gonna get it,” Fuego snickers.
“So you’ve decided?” Sebastian asks.
“Sure have,” Fuego replies.
Peony scribbles down on the paper: “Fuego and Adderall- knife experts (hopefully)”
“Who’s next?” Sebastian asks.
“I’ll go,” Juniper says.
He nods. “The floor’s yours.”
“So you know how I can dance silks, right?”
The others nod and mutter in glee.
“That’s gonna be so cool,” Peony replies.
“I know, right?” Juniper beams, “I’ll actually have space to do tricks without worrying about knocking over anything. And if they don’t have silks, I can take rings if need be. What could possibly go wrong?”
“And they haven’t seen you dance since last time, right?” Adderall asks.
She gasps. “Oh, you guys haven’t seen me since the last time we were all together. I’ve gotten so much better since then!”
“I can vouch,” Fuego nods. “She’s really getting the hang of those things.”
Juniper grins. “I’m starting to learn some of the dances from the kingdoms by the horizon. Creo says I’m getting good at them.”
Peony’s eyes widen. “The Horizon Islands? Juniper, you know how hard their dances are, right?”
“Yeah, they’re really hard. You know the one where it's– can't remember the actual name of it in Twilight Tongue –like, that Dance of the Colors of Dawn?”
“That one? You mean the dance?”
“Yep, I mean the dance.”
“I-” Peony struggles for words, “I- Juniper, how?”
“Just practice, I guess. Put me down for silks, Peony,”
“You got it! I’m putting you down for silks.”
Peony makes another note: “Peony- swag silk/hoop dancing (A Must See!)”
“DJ? Peony?” Sebastian asks.
“I’ll go next,” DJ says.
Sebastian nods for them to begin.
“I need a little practice on it, probably, but I could probably do the fire knife or some other fire dancing for my show.”
“You’re doing another knife act?” Adderall asks.
“No, you guys remember that dance I did last time we were out, where I lit my sword on fire and started doing tricks with it?”
“Of course we do,” Juniper replies, “And I thought we agreed to never mention the Cracker Barrel Incident ever again.”
“First of all, those deaths had nothing to do with me. Second of all, I’ve gotten better at it. I won't burn anything down this time.”
Fuego rolls vens eyes. “Or hurt someone with the blade.”
DJ grimaces. “Or hurt someone with the blade.”
“Are there any, um, less violent options?” Peony asks.
“I can always try finding some poi or a hoop or some whips. Anything’s possible with the power of arson.”
“You’re not burning down anything,” Peony scolds.
DJ makes an X on their chest with a claw. “Cross my heart and hope to spit, I won’t light a spark on any of it.”
“You promise?”
“Peony, when have I ever broken a promise?”
Peony doesn’t say anything. They’ve never broken a promise, but they’ve certainly skated the line a time or two. She almost trusts them.
“Alright,” Peony asks, “Fire knife? Fire dancing?”
DJ replies, “Fire dancing.”
Peony quickly writes down on her paper: “DJ- fire dance (Extreme danger)”
“Now that that’s settled,” DJ begins, “Peony, what do you want to do?”
“Me?” she asks.
She sets down her crayon and paper, and looks around the train car. The walls are a deep brown, the seats a velvet red. Each table between the booths is cloaked with gray cloth. Outside the small windows, the trees rush by. Their leaves are hues of pink and blue, a tell-tale sign of summer’s soon arrival. She hears–
“Peony?”
She jumps a little. “Uh-”
“Do you need a minute?” DJ asks.
“Yeah, that’d be nice. Thank you.”
Peony looks down at the paper, trying to scrounge for ideas. In the meantime, DJ focuses their attention on Sebastian.
“So, Seb,” they begin, “Any ideas?”
“Oh,” Sebastian says, snapping out of a vacant stare.. “I was thinking I’d do some magic.”
“Magic?” Adderall giggles, “Sebastian, this is a talent show.”
Fuego nudges Adderall with vens elbow. Adderall stops laughing.
“Hear me out for a second, though,” Sebastian continues, “I’ve figured out that if I sing just the right way, I can create illusions with song.”
“Like what?” Juniper asks.
“I can pick stuff up and move it, I can conjure colors, I can control people’s moods and actions-”
DJ is suddenly startled. “Control people’s emotions and actions? Seb, you know that’s, oh, I don’t know, extremely morally questionable.”
“Right, but let’s focus on the illusions for a moment. Imagine card tricks reliant on music for them to work because I can physically make them disappear from view with a single note. Or that the card never vanished, the audience is just charmed so they can’t see the card. I can create entire paintings and settings to trick people into thinking they’re somewhere else with a song. That’s all I mean by that, DJ.”
“I mean, mark him down as our magic guy, Peony. Just," DJ pauses, "We’ll probably keep an eye on you with the whole controlling people thing.”
“DJ, if we’re in trouble, I can protect all of you by making the force turn on itself. You know I only do stuff like that if it’s for good.”
“I hate to be rude,” Fuego interjects, “But aren’t you a proxy or something weird like that that we ought to be worrying about?”
Sebastian grumbles. “Look, Mr. Crick is not the same as that weird forest guy in a suit you guys keep sending me memes about. Besides, do you think he’d let me hurt people?"
“And do you even think Sebastian could hurt people?” Juniper asks, “I mean, look at him, he’s built like a curtain rod!”
“I don’t appreciate the insult, but thank you. And do you think you get a halo like this by violence?”
“I think we’re getting sidetracked,” Peony mutters, “Should I put you down for magic, Sebastian?”
“Please do.”
“Alright,” DJ grumbles, “But if you start being immoral, we’re gonna have a talk, got it?”
Sebastian lifts his right hand and smiles. “You have my word as a weirdo that it’ll never have to happen.”
DJ glares at Sebastian. They shrug, then drop their caution. He wouldn’t slap a mosquito if it was making a feast of him.
Peony makes the note on her paper: “Sebastian: music magic (not dangerous, thank you very much)”
“And you, Peony?”
Peony looks up from her paper and up at DJ. She twirls the crayon in her right hand.
“Gee, I,” She begins, barely scraping by with a whisper, “I guess I haven’t really thought about it at all.”
“Hey, this is a brainstorm,” DJ smiles, “How ‘bout we help you?”
“That would be nice,” She smiles, her voice growing to a normal volume.
“Alright then, Seb, fog up the window again.”
“Can do!” He replies, fogging up the window with a breath.
DJ rubs their hands together, as if queuing the start. “So, what sorts of acts do we find at a circus?”
“Clowns,” Adderall says, “Always gotta have clowns.”
“Jugglers also,” Fuego adds.
“She deserves something cooler than that,” Juniper scoffs, “Roehnrad, at minimum.”
“What’s that again?” Peony asks
“They give you a wheel, and while the wheel spins you do different acrobatic tricks.”
“But I’m not that good at acrobatics, Juniper.”
"Oh. Right."
Adderall speaks up again. “If you want something cool, why not be a lion tamer or something like that.”
“Animal cruelty?” Peony asks, “I think there’s some ethical concerns with that.”
"You're worried about ethics, and yet your resident boytoy can literally puppeteer people if he wants to."
"My what–?"
“Just a second,” Fuego interjects, “You’re the main reaper of Portar, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, you only get there if you’re good with manipulating death or the dead. Do you think there’s an act for necromancy?”
“I’m sure I could do that,” Peony mutters, “So, like, animating a corpse?”
“Or just about any object,” Fuego adds. “I mean, I’m sure you could get something to possess an object.”
“I was gonna say,” Sebastian asks, “Where on earth are we going to find corpses in Portar?”
DJ smiles. “Probably on a train going down to the circus.”
A couple quiet giggles rise through the silence, but Peony’s voice quiets them all.
“Seriously, though, I like that,” she smiles, “But isn’t that just another magic act?”
“Good question,” DJ mutters.
“You know, we could always do our act together,” Sebastian adds, “You can take the main act, and I’ll be your assistant. You can animate the body, and I’ll sing up some colors to draw everyone’s eyes to the scene. And if something goes wrong and you can’t animate the body, I can convince everyone it is alive.”
Sebastian looks down at Peony, resting his hands on the table. Peony looks back at him, then smiles and nods.
“Yeah, we can do that! I like that idea, and the best part is we can stay together.”
“Hey, we’re all done,” DJ smiles, “Everybody’s got an act; we’re all set!”
As the others cheer, Peony writes down her act and draws an arrow connecting Sebastian to her.
“Me: Necromancy (or otherwise mocking death)”
She looks up from her paper and finds Sebastian looking out the window. She tugs at his sleeve, and he turns his gaze to her.
She whispers to him, “And I know you’re not always good with an audience.”
Sebastian looks as though he’s realized he’s answered a question wrong just after turning in a test. “Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.”
“I’ve got you, ok? We’ll be alright, I promise.”
“Thank you.”
He looks back out through the window, watching the trees pass by. The window is dirty, and from the looks of things, he wasn’t the one to dirty it. He wonders how any train window could’ve gotten this dusty.
“Are you alright?” Peony asks.
“Yeah,” Sebastian replies, fiddling with a wire dangling from his wrist. “Just worried that something might go wrong, that’s all.”
“I can’t promise you something won’t go wrong, but I promise I’ll stick with you through it, ok?”
“Pinky promise?”
“Of course.”
Peony holds out the pinky of her void arm, and Sebastian sticks a much too long pinky out from the sleeve of his jacket. They hook them together, then shake their hands. When Peony unhooks her hand, it takes Sebastian another second to unhook his. She looks up at him, and he quickly looks away. He pulls his hand back into his sleeve, then holds his hand in his other arm. Peony looks at his arm, then back at him.
DJ’s voice breaks the silence between them. “Hey, you guys?”
The two jump a little.
“Yeah?” Sebastian asks.
DJ continues. “We were just asking if either of you had a pack of cards.”
“We wanted to play A House of Crows,” Fuego adds.
“Oh, of course,” Sebastian replies, “I should have one in my coat here.”
Peony reaches into her obi and pulls out a pack of cards.
“I have one,” she smiles.
“Hey-”
Sebastian reaches into his coat pocket and finds it empty. He looks back at Peony, holding the pack of cards. She looks back at him with a smug little glare.
“Did you steal mine?” Sebastian smiles.
“A magician never reveals her secrets,” Peony teases.
“Well, hand them here,” DJ smiles, “I’ll deal us all in.”