~
Reverence Notation ~
The world burns. A boy lays, curled beneath a tree black with ash, bedecked in the stench of smouldering wood. Despite the raging fires around him, beneath a patchwork sleeping bag he still wears the clothes from the previous day - casual, blackened in places and scarred in others where repairs were haphazard and little could be done to save them.
Beside him sleeps another boy, in a similar, if not worse off bag. Blonde hair pokes from the hood of the vessel, in stark contrast to the ash coating them. It's been hours. Crackling and snapping twigs keep them up though they try and sleep, but nothing seems to work. Every inch around them is grey with the mark of the inferno. A sign, he thought. They found each other in devastation and survived, despite everything surrounding them.
He was visiting a Carnival that had come to town. He met a fascinating boy - the one sleeping beside him - who could make him see all kinds of wondrous things without so much as a snap of his fingers, and his adolescent mind fell in love with the act. Whatever the trick was, he couldn't even bring himself to wonder lest he ruin the majesty. That boy was skilful, and that was all that mattered.
But things went wrong, somehow, somewhere. His parents vanished, leaving him stranded, off to the side in the heart of the Carnival as the tents and attraction
burnt. Smoke rose high into the night sky around him, screams and cries echoing in his ears. He couldn't do anything. Every muscle in his body tensed, rendering him paralysed in fear, licked by the heat of the raging inferno obscuring his view of an exit.
And then he came - that blonde haired boy, dressed exactly the same as he was the last time they met; in his tent, watching a miraculous and new world. In the flaming landscape, he felt like the only thing that hadn't changed.
"Come with me, 'kay?" and so he did. They ran to the edge of the Carnival, where the flames were yet to reach. They gathered two sleeping bags from a storage space, and a number of supplies for their journey. Despite the fire he felt at peace, at ease, and at rest, despite the coursing adrenaline that wracked his body in nervous fear and excitement.
And then they were there, under the tree, beneath sleeping bags still fully dressed not for lack of heat but for want to escape quickly should the fires encroach. Maybe they knew that they wouldn't be able to sleep, or maybe the universe fated it to be as such. But amidst the snapping of branches and the crackling of burning trees an earsplitting sound rocked the forest, forcing them both upright in renewed fear.
~ And then everything died. ~
Jay sat behind his table, staring listlessly at the roof of his little corner of the Circus. People seldom visited him, even on the best and busiest of days. Who's idea was it to give him such an isolated tent!? Nobody was going to find him there! He was bored, and sulking. There was so little to do, he'd barely kept up with even the passage of time. He couldn't even tell if there were still guests about the place.
So he was passing the time as any meddler of the mind would. He was causing himself to hallucinate. It was a fun way to kill time, especially in severe boredom. It took discipline to not move in the midst of the dreams, but once one had mastered the art it was easy to lose yourself in an entirely fictional world, even better than the Virtual Reality Headsets that had become so common place in the modern era. He could go anywhere, and practically do anything.
But the time for dreaming was over. He was bored even of that now. Come tomorrow, he'd be enthused once again with a passion for the Silver Dreams, but that would be another day, and not today; he needed something to renew his vigour, his drive, and most importantly, his mood. And there was little better than a visit to his favourite place.
He was dressed, but the outfit wasn't complete. A mirror was hung behind him, slightly to the right, but he didn't even need it to determine what was wrong with his countenance. His hands ruffled quickly through the piles of pure
stuff discarded within his tent until he came across his prize - the final coat of icing atop his attire.
With that spark of excitement glittering in his chest. Jay took off from his tent and into the Carnival. If there were people around him, he barely took notice, for he had a quest, and a destination! None could stop him from obtaining the experience that would lie at the end of the quest-line - those that attempted would receive swift punishment. Death would seldom suffice for those sinne-
"Hello Master!" he exclaimed, a pair of bright black and pink cat ears bobbing atop his head as he ran towards a certain someone,
"I saw some birdies on the way, are you calling everyone to a meeting?!" each word he said was punctuated with an ever spreading pout,
"No faiiiiiiirrrrrrr, I wanted you to myself tonight..."The next second he spun on an axis, instantly rotating to face towards the rest of the Carnival, and more importantly, the general direction of the other members, his arms outstretched like a small child mimicking an aeroplane.
"Do you think they're all gonna come?! I hope they do! I'm still jealous buuuuuuuut, team meetings are fun, so I forgive you, Master! I wanna see Light, and Toby... and everyone, really! Ehehehe~!"
