forum "Would you rather have wings, or an extra set of arms?" (Closed)

Started October 04, 2022 by @DancingWithMyDemons business

tune

The Carnival was staged every year in the same place. It was always on this field, on this set up. The people in the community around it could tell you when they first came, and how little had changed. Faces came and went, times changed, and the Carnival changed with them, but it's location had been the same for years.

Only a few people knew exactly why, and they weren't telling.

This had been the location for far longer than any of the Carnival goers realized, in fact. For hundreds of years, this spot had been chosen.

Six could remember the first time they set up the gaudy tents.

He watched some of the teens, kids really, walking through the Carnical, blissfully unaware of where they were. Even now, as he sat in his small booth, selling cotton candy to passersby, he could feel the sense of age about the place. It made him feel young, which was why he returned every year. Not much made him feel young anymore.

Not much made him feel anything anymore.

(To clarify, Ōn’nyosh is not at the current carnival… yet)
(Grins at Davadio)

Ōn’nyosh whistled casually as he wandered through the carnival. It was a typical thing, supposedly to venerate the idiot gods or whatever, but nonetheless, Ōn’nyosh could never resist a little fun. What was more interesting was how the clergy were using their divine magic to change the colors of the lantern fires to match their respective deity.

He eyed all the woman he passed, flashing each a charming smile. He then proceeded to insult everyone else he saw. The mixture of glares and smiles aimed his way made him laugh.

Six sat in his booth, the tanned leather hides of the tent flapping gently in the wind. He watched the Jester move through the crowd, insulting the people and flirting shamelessly. He had seen many of the same type over the years, and would continue to see them for a long time.

He felt a swell of magic as the clergy and mages around him workd to make their booth biggest, and brightest. He had a better idea though.

"Jester! Might I ask your help with a trick?" He stood and called from his booth. The man had on what looked like a perfect mimic of a wolf's head mask, marking him as a magician. He held out a strange sweetmeat, it's coloring different than normal food, its flavor unknown.
"My good people, would you like to see the Jester disappear??" There was much cheering, from insulted people and unreceptive ladies. Six looked the Jester in the eyes, smiling at him through the mask.

Ōn’nyosh turned when someone called to him. He saw a magician wearing a wolf’s head mask and rose an eyebrow at him. He wondered why a magician would need his help, but it was whatever.

As he approached, he deftly snatched a coin purse from someone paying attention to the magician. No one noticed. No one usually did. However, Ōn’nyosh nearly fumbled with his prize when he heard the magician’s call.

Disappear? I can do that on my own, with or without magic!

“An intriguing trick, Sir Fur-Face, but I’m not doing this for free. Nor, without an idea on how I’m going to disappear,”Ōn’nyosh said quietly to the magician once he was next to him.

Just because Ōn’nyosh was a jester didn’t mean he was stupid. He knew plenty of people that would rather see him dead, and most of them were full-blown criminals.

Six smiled, the wolf's head mask alarmingly smiling right along with him.
"Why, my friend, a magician never reveals his secrets ahead of time! But trust me, no harm shall come to you today!" He held out the purplish sweetmeat. "I am a humble cook, a culinary magician! I offer you a sample of my work, which will work its magic on you as you eat it. And please, believe me when I tell you that I am absolutely using you to advertise, so I am not about to poison you. How else would I make my money?"
He held eye contact with the Jester. "We can discuss the terms of your reward after, if you'd like."

Nothing Six said was false, adding the ring of truth to his words. Carefully worded, but not false.

Ōn’nyosh’s eyes narrowed at the strange smile combination. He hated working tricks with magicians, unless he knew the magician well enough. He didn’t know this guy at all. Still, he took the sweetmeat, just holding it in his hand for now. Better to act amicably than not.

“Poison isn’t my concern. Where I am disappearing to is my concern. And, I don’t play the ‘payment after’ game either. Too many times have people tried to fuck me like that, and not in the good way either,”Ōn’nyosh replied with a firm voice, still being quiet to keep their negotiation private.

Ōn’nyosh recognized what this magician was. A manipulator that used a careful tongue and subtle magic to get what he wanted. It was these magicians that had given the entire class of magic practitioners a bad name.

Six had pulled the same garbage with people for hundreds of years already. And every time, curiosity killed the cat.
"Believe me, your payment will be worth the trust. And as to where? Well, right here. Just a trick to fool the uninitiated. Nothing that will kill you. You won't go anywhere else."

He offered no other explanation, his expression through the mask daring the Jester to be brave.

Ōn’nyosh blinked, a bit confused. This magician was still definitely a manipulator, but now it was hard to tell what was truth and what wasn’t. A bad feeling came over Ōn’nyosh, even though the whole trick seemed to be such a simple thing now.

“Invisibility? Is that what this is? And how can I trust that you won’t fuck me out of good money?”he questioned.

Technically, Ōn’nyosh didn’t really need the pay. With his career as it was, and with his criminal network on the side, he was currently one of the richest jesters in the world. But, no one needed to know that, particularly this guy.

Six continued smiling.
"You'll just have to trust me. Come now, you wouldn't keep the good people waiting?"
At this point, the crowd were cheering on the moment, taking the Jester's consternation as part of the trick. A few were chanting "Eat it! Eat it!" and others were calling "We'll make sure he pays!"
Six just kept eye contact, waiting for the Jester to bite. Literally.

Ōn’nyosh’s eyes narrowed further. That wasn’t an answer. So, it likely wasn’t invisibility. What the fuck was it then? Why did he always get stuck with these magicians?

The cheering made Ōn’nyosh tense a bit. He was caught, trapped. There was no out for him now, and that was likely exactly what this damned magician had wanted. Fuck…

“I better get something fucking good, and expensive, out of this. Otherwise, I may have to fucking hunt you down,”Ōn’nyosh hissed.

Against all of his instincts to not do it, Ōn’nyosh took a bite out the sweetmeat. He then watched his surroundings very carefully, wary of anything strange about to happen.

"Oh, it'll be good and expensive, believe me." Six said quietly. His smile widened as The Jester took a bite. "And you won't have to hunt me down. I'll find you."

At first, nothing happene to On'nyosh. The sweetmeat was a different flavor than he'd ever tasted, more rich, more tangy and with many more layers. It was like multiple fruits cooked into one taste, like all the fine deserts rolled into one mouthful.
It compelled him to eat more, the rest of the sweetmeat waiting tantalizingly in his hand.

Ōn’nyosh didn’t know what to make of the magician’s words, but he definitely didn’t like them. Magicians only said that when they had a victim. And now, Ōn’nyosh was a victim.

Fuck!

The taste of the sweetmeat intrigued him, but Ōn’nyosh was already aware that he was in a bad spot. Still, with barely a thought to it, he ate another piece of the sweetmeat.

“There better be a fucking palace full of women waiting for me after this. And, I mean literally, not a fucking metaphorical palace that’s nothing more than a brothel,”Ōn’nyosh muttered, flashing the magician a glare.

He then finished the sweetmeat.

The crowd laughed at the Jester's indignation, and cheered him on raucously as he finished the sweetmeat.
There was a sudden explosion of bright colors as confetti went off, engulfing the Jester, at the same time that his vision faded to the inky black of unconsciousness.

The last thing he heard was Six joining the crowd, laughing.

~~~~
From the crowd's perspective, the Jester finished the dessert, and confetti went off, bright bits of paper blowing everywhere, totally obscuring the booth. When it cleared after a few seconds, he was gone. Some cheered, but many jeered.
"A cheap trick! He's in the booth!"
Six merely smiled at them, a bit more, his wolf's mask beginning to have an alarming number of teeth.
"What booth?"
There was a flash of light, and the booth was gone, leaving only the Jester standing in its place. He took a bow and waved to the crowd, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
The crowd cheered, and in a second flash, the booth was back, with Six inside it again.

If the Jester they'd just seen had the same eyes as Six, nobody noticed. They were too busy buying sweetmeats.

On'nyosh would wake up centuries in the future, in that same spot, just below ground by hundreds of feet. He would find himself stripped of garments and items, locked in a cage with bars that hurt him if he touched them.

Six smiled in his cotton candy booth above, A sudden memory of tricking the Jester had just popped into his head, at the same moment the Jester had appeared in the cage.

Time is such fun. At times.

Ezra jumps when Joy yells. "Hey Joy!" He yelled back. "Do you know where Jenna is?" He shuffled the cards one more time before sliding them into his jacket. "I want cotton candy, but we can't leave to get some until we're all here!" He waved her over so that he would not have to yell anymore.

As Ōn’nyosh finished the sweetmeat, he tuned out the crowd. Their noise had become something he was used to. It was a natural part of being a jester, particularly one that insulted folk by habit.

He flinched at the flash of bright colors, just before suddenly passing out. When he heard a new laugh among the crowd, what little of Ōn’nyosh’s mind was conscious knew he’d messed up.

When Ōn’nyosh woke, he immediately realized that his body was bare. He sighed in irritation, then groggily sat up, looking around.

“That fucking asshole. No sense of fucking dignity. And, he took my fucking hat and sword,”he grumbled.

After a moment to realize that he was underground, Ōn’nyosh huffed.

“Oh, Fur-Fuck! You piece of shit! I’ve known worse fucking people than you! I’ve met a fucking god! And, that motherfucker is a hundred times worse than you! So, fucking face me, you goddamned piss-blood!”he called.

Ōn’nyosh then started shouting curses and insults in his native tongue, coming up with some very colorful names for Six.

Jenna eventually made her way to the main gate of the fairgrounds to meet up with her friends, even though all she wanted to do was go home.

"Hey!" Ezra said once Jenna made it over to them. "Do y'all want to go get cotton candy now?" He stood up. "We've been here almost all day and I have yet to eat anything that'll turn my tongue a different color." He looked down at the two girls standing in front of him and smiled. "I love being taller than you."

Jenna rolled her eyes at the height comment, and said "I'm good without cotton candy. I don't feel like vomiting today."

"No you're not." He rested his arm on her head. "You need cotton candy. Whether it's red or blue, you need cotton candy…. Now i don't know what color to get."

"Fine." Jenna muttered. "But don't say I didn't warn you when you throw up later tonight."

Joy smiles. "No, but she'll find us."

As if to prove her point, Jenna shows up.

"Anyways, yeah, I'd like cotton candy. I've had plenty of candy today, though."