Chapter 7 #2
“We would like to introduce all the acts to Lila one at a time. Please start your dinner, and we’ll bring you up in order of appearance.
” He sits back down, and beings start to make their way over to the ATM machines.
Ahhh, they must be the food replicators.
William turns to John and mutters across me.
“I found her fast asleep when I went and got her. She hasn’t had a chance to read anything. ”
“Oh,” says John, becoming a bit pale. “Well, this should be interesting.” He looks at me. “A typical circus would start off by easing people in with acts that build up to a grand finale, but we’re a bit different. Every one of our acts is a grand finale,” he proudly states.
“The ringmaster will start by welcoming everyone, and then he will introduce each act before they come out. Maybe a little banter in between if a set needs to be changed, and we have other strategies to draw the audience’s eye somewhere else.
The first act in our show is a juggling act made up of a troupe of jugglers who use all sorts of things, including balls, batons, and swords.
What makes this so interesting and puts a spin on the act are the creatures who are doing it.
” He speaks across me to Phillip. “Can you get Caspian and Dylan?” Phillip frowns but does as he is asked.
As he walks away, John says to me, “Caspian and Dylan are shifters from the planet Fluxx. Somewhere along the evolutionary chain, they changed, developing two forms, and most can do a half shift. Dylan is a dragon shifter, and he uses his ability to breathe fire, lighting things up mid-juggle. Guests believe he is just using fluid and a light. Caspian...” He pauses and frowns at the two people heading toward us.
“Well, you’ll see. It looks like he’s going for full shock factor tonight. ”
I turn to where he’s looking, and I can’t stop it this time.
My mouth drops open. Heading toward me are two men.
Well, one looks like a man. He is stockily built with dark ebony skin and close-cropped black hair.
It’s his eyes that draw my attention though.
Those reptilian eyes are yellow and green, and I can see shiny black scales shimmering back and forth across his exposed arms and neck.
The other being is all man… from the waist up.
If men came in a mottled blue and purple, that is.
He isn’t wearing a shirt, so his washboard stomach and rounded pecs are on display, both nipples adorned with rings.
His arms are covered with what looks like nautical-themed tattoos.
I look up into a face that’s just as eye-catching as the rest of him, particularly those piercing stormy blue eyes and challenging smirk.
His hair is shaved on both sides, with a tousled vivid purple mid-section that drapes down over one eye.
From the waist down, he is a writhing mass of shimmering blue and purple tentacles.
Holy fuck! An octoman. He could be related to Ursula from The Little Mermaid.
I close my mouth just as they get to me, but I’m more than sure they saw my reaction. Lila, 0. Aliens, 1.
William stands up, a proud smile on his face.
“Dylan, Caspian, this is our granddaughter Lila. We’re hoping she’ll allow us to retire from performing in a year’s time when she takes over as ringmaster.
Lila,” he turns to me, “this is Dylan and Caspian, the leaders of the first act. They have a few people who work with them, but they’re the ones you need to meet.
Caspian starts the act in his human form and will shift to half-form midway through the act.
The viewers’ minds are blown when he starts juggling with all eight tentacles! ”
My mind immediately shifts to the gutter, wondering what else he could do with his eight tentacles.
Phew, is it getting hot in here? I start to fan my face before I catch myself and stand up, reaching out my hand to Dylan.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I say. He smiles at me—is that a glimpse of fang I see?
—and grasps my hand, shaking it in return.
His palm shimmers with scales before it returns to normal.
He’s warmer than the average human, and the scales are a lot smoother than I thought they would be.
Switching to Caspian, I tentatively reach out a hand to him, wondering how he’ll react.
Instead of returning the handshake, he gets a wicked gleam in his eye and reaches out a tentacle.
I bet he thinks I’ll freak out, but I’ll show him.
I grasp the tentacle in my hand, marveling at how thick it is.
The thing’s gotta be pure muscle. It wraps around my arm, some of the suckers attaching themselves to me, and I can’t help the giggle that escapes with the tickling sensation they’re causing.
He frowns, his suckers detach, and he removes his tentacle.
“Welcome to the freak show. It’s nice to meet you,” he says to me in a growly rumble. Goosebumps erupt across my flesh, imagining what that voice would sound like when he’s balls… er, tentacles deep inside me. I’m such a dirty bitch.
“Oh,” I say, winking at him, “the pleasure’s all mine.
” He stumbles backwards on his tentacles in what could only be described as shock.
His eyes switch from human to cephalopod, the pupil elongating horizontally and the stormy blue bleeding out to cover the entire white part of his iris.
He shakes his head, and they switch back before he turns and undulates off in the direction he had come from.
Did I just commit some massive alien faux pas?
Is it some kind of workplace harassment to flirt with the performers?
That’s really something the grandpas should have warned me about.
Dylan bursts out laughing. “Wow!” he says.
“I’ve never seen anyone get the best of Caspian.
You really knocked the chip from his shoulder, sister.
” Ping! There goes my gaydar. “I think you and I are going to be fabulous friends.”
“Actually, Dylan, that would be lovely. Would you like to join us?” I turn to ask William if he can, but he’s already moved down a spot and is making Phillip and Fiona move too.
I can hear them grumbling, proving that prejudiced assholes aren’t exclusive to Earth. “Freaking fag,” mutters Phillip. I’m really starting to dislike those two. Didn’t the grandpas say Skarrians were open to all sorts of relationships? Wonder what their problem is...
“I could really use help getting to know everything about the circus,” I say to him as he takes a seat.
“Well, I’m the dragon for you,” he chirps.
“We’ve been with the circus for a while now.
We just change the act every time we do a new go around.
You should see the different things we juggle and set fire to.
After we have warmed the audience up, it's time to cool them down, literally. The set changes, and it starts to snow in the dome.”
“Yes,” says William, taking over, “now as ringmaster, you also take a role in this act and become the ‘lion tamer.’”
Dylan laughs. “Lion tamer? Really? That’s what you’re going to compare them to? Yes, if a lion looked like a saber-toothed tiger and could shoot lightning from its mouth and tail.”
William shoots Dylan a dirty look. “We call them ice tigers, and yes, they are similar to saber-toothed tigers. The audience thinks they’re animatronics, an assumption we wholeheartedly endorse, since so many countries don’t allow the use of animals in circuses any more.
If PETA or one of those associations come looking, we’ve got some animatronics in the equipment area to stop them from snooping too much.
In reality, they are a species of aliens that shifts, similar to the shifters from Fluxx, but they are from the planet Iceeen.
They have a humanoid-ish form and their animal form.
They live in matriarchal family groups, and there are a lot more males born than females, so a female will often mate with more than one.
The males are very protective, not sure why, as their females are vicious beasts.
The group we have performing with us is not a family group.
They are young adults doing some traveling, seeing the galaxy before they go back to Iceeen, form family groups, and settle down.
Once they mate, they don’t tend to leave the planet.
You need their respect, or they will not perform for you.
Here come two of them now.” He raises an eyebrow then growls at me under his breath, “Be nice.”
I scowl at him, not sure why he would think I would be anything other than nice, responsible, and totally capable of taking over the circus.
Sure, my mouth dropped open a little bit when I saw the other guys.
And, okay, I might have hit someone in the ass with a lightning bolt.
And if aliens believed in sexual harassment—do they believe in sexual harassment?
—I might have already harassed their doctor.
Plus, there is the matter of falling asleep instead of actually doing the research they asked me to do.
Okay, you know what, maybe this does make a tiny bit more sense.