Chapter Text
Had Lilac not told her to bundle up, poor Pixie would’ve been caught in the cold. The unpredictable weather was, as usual, unpredictable and the two girls were one of many victims. A large yellow bow danced in the chill, attached to a sour, pale face.
“We should’ve skipped work, why would we work in this weather?” And the girl wondered why she could never land a job…
“Because rent isn’t paid for with dreams, sunshine and rainbows.” Especially in the damn rain.
The shorter of the two frowned, patronize her all you’d like but dreams, sunshine and rainbows made the day far more interesting, to which, a paper responded by riding the fierce wind - slapping Lilac’s face with a wet sound - obscuring her vision.
The paper’s target let out a small gruff, face scrunching up beneath the flyer; with a hand reaching up and ripping it from her face. Irritated, the sudden attack was just the small cherry on top of the morning sundae she had just been dealt. And Lilac had no sugar tooth. Metaphorically.
“Oh hey! It is one of those circus flyers, they’ve been everywhere.” Pixie noted, glancing around at the town around her with slight contempt at the messiness. The grime on the road, cracks in the building and paper litter was far from the stable, gated neighborhood she had grown up in. She missed the suburbs dearly at moments like these. “But they have been talking about that circus for a while now, a horror one, right?”
The pair peered down at the slightly wet paper; the contrast between them more apparent to the public eye than ever. To shades, shapes and style - they were parallels to a point it was practically laughable. No more laughable than the coloured clowns handing out flyers, performing street stunts and forcing their advertisement down the throats of anyone who was unfortunate enough to pass by their masks.
“It’s supposed to be horror?” mused the Mexican; raising an eyebrow slightly to the younger one; red contacts stared at her friend in doubt and slight disbelief. She handed the advertisement over to Pixie, a faint frown starting to creep onto her face. “I would have taken it for a normal circus.”
“Nah, they’re not wearing the cute clown clothes! With the red nose and whatnot.” Besides, Pixie’s sense of scary was rearing its ugly head every time one of the cotton candy clad helpers came close - urging her to run like a coward… She often obliged.
“Those are a bit tacky..” Lilac mumbled, side eyeing the performers with pink, puffy skirts.
“The freak circus of horrors…” Announced the brown eyed wonder, a smile upon her cheeks - a joke was stolen from her by a drunkard’s shouting.
“Hey! Get out of here, freak!” A thud resounding in the street, a body hitting the concrete with an unreadable face. A man adorned in red wore an equally red mark as more abuse was shouted in his direction - more flyers had scattered. The pair exchanged expressions as the scene played out.
“Ever since you guys showed up, more people have been disappearing. Go back to whatever hellhole you crawled out of!” Each insult was aimed, and fired directly at the stranger. Each angry emphasis was the fire of a gun.
Lilac’s face shifted from a regular frown into something more cringed-filled, annoyed even. All over the news, there had been an upsurge of disappearances as of late. One of the more recent reports had been of a woman supposedly running off with a lover around the time the circus appeared. However, it could really just be a coincidence.
“I’m talking to you, you creep! Get out of our town!”
The shouting was growing and the tension in the air was ripe to snap. If anyone breathed a wrong breath, a fight or worse could break out. Anyone with social awareness could figure that - avoiding the scene would be safest.
But Lilac could always spot that expression on Pixie’s face. A nose scrunched up, eyebrows furrowed and lips tightened at the sight of an injustice or as Lilac loved to label it - white people bullshit. Pixie turned on her heel, shoving the paper back against Lilac’s chest.. Her daring expression met Lilac’s tired silent plea.
‘Don’t make a scene, life isn’t a Disney movie.’
“This isn’t right! I’ll be right back!” And with a swivel, that yellow bow went bouncing to cause more trouble. She had to follow, but held a slight distance. Unlike Pixie, Lilac was not blind to how this could go south.
Pixie, as if unaware of her height, threw herself between the man and the jester (?). She held that same challenging face as she spoke with a chest full of what could only be described as a squeaky ‘umph’.
“That is enough from you! There is no need to shout like that so early, on such a miserable day! He’s just doing his job! No need to get angry at that!”
And like that, the spotlight had dawned on her. She always did something to attract the eyes of others, it was both a charm and curse. Hey, at least it helped her online.
The man sneered his face at the naivety of the skirt wearing, bow bearing girl - how clueless to defend the very thing she should be scared of. Lilac, observing the scene, could not help but literally recoil at the Disney knees. Was she 21 or 14?
“Working for the devil maybe, Miss!” Retorted the stranger. The figure behind Pixie remained perfectly still - silent.
And, as if true to the nickname - Pixie pulled the whitest white woman move known. It almost made Lilac want to kill herself.
“I’m gonna call the police if you don’t calm down sir!” A finger pointed; daring the man to shoot more words. The sight of a slightly intoxicated figure barreling down a 5’3 girl? What a way to make a bigger deal of what should’ve been an easy bully. The scene stirred, onlookers now stopping.
The man’s face reddened from the drinks he had, or from the embarrassment of publicity. He shouted a final threat in the face of the girl, who winced at his breath.
“Screw that! Open your eyes, I hope they take you too!” He spat at the shoes of Pixie and stormed off. Her stance weakened, her fear now settling in now the danger had passed. Hah, has confronting people always been so scary?
Watching the scene unfold would have been amusing to Lilac.. If the situation hadn’t made her rethink the entirety of her friendship with today’s mini hero. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the time to roll her eyes at one of many Pixie’s y/n moments, at least not yet. Letting out an irritated, unamused sigh as she slowly made her way over, already having certain thoughts, phrases and prayers that accumulated in her head to throw at her friend.
“Pixie, you can not keep doing this, what the hell was that?”
“There was no way I was going to let that happen in front of me! Someone had to do something.”
And by miracle, everyone had avoided getting harmed. Pixie’s shakiness did not sway her from turning to the masked man, whose golden eyes were wide - darting between the rounded and the scrawny girl who extended a hand.
“Are you okay? Let me.”
The rewarding sound of a jingle rung as Pixie helped him up… or was meant to help him up. He practically rose past her instantly. He was fucking huge.
Not only was he tall, but lanky with a mask that shielded his face. Snowy hair stuck up between the space of his mask and his red and black hat adorned with three stars and three bells. Two, now slightly messed hair pieces hung low. His clothes, as clowny as they could get, weren’t torn and thankfully neither was his neck ruffle. The only real damage was a bright mark which lay by his mask markings.
Pixie snuck a quick glance at Lilac as he stood in front of the duo. One that finally realized just how out of her element she was. Lilac offered no support - this was all Pixie.
She laughed timidly, running through her mind files to think of what to say. “Aha, are you okay? Some people can get.. Kinda hot-headed.” A sharp turn to her friend; revenge for the lack of assistance. “But, he may have been having a bad day. Try not to take it too personally… And also, from experience? Avoid drunk men.”
Lilac had to look away. What the hell.
But, the stranger nodded, which reminded the bowed girl.
“Oh shit! Your face! Lilac!!” Pixie gasped, spinning instantly. Brown hair flew up like their own ribbon tails. “Your band aids! Could I borrow one super quick?”
The other was already digging into the small backpack that had been slung around her shoulders, shoving other little items before pulling out a sparkly, slightly shiny, pink-cat bandage and handing it to Pixie. Red eyes gave a glance at the unnaturally tall jester (?) then to her friend.
“I don’t understand how you borrow a band aid but here.”
“Thank yew!” Tuned the girl in yellow, spinning once more. The stranger didn’t flinch. “Here! Sorry it's a cat, I prefer dogs but it should help! If that bruise doesn’t let up, go to a doctor please…”
He walked slowly, taking the band aid with a clawed hand. He applied the bandage with a tilt of his head. Those piercing yellow eyes met her brown ones with an intentful stare. Another jingle of gratitude.
“Hehe! You’re kinda quiet, but that's okay. Lilac is too!” She gestured to her roommate with a large smile.
And at the exact moment, Lilac decided it was time to start talking. “I am not. And if you wanna be mean to me, then I’m leaving you here. We’re already late as it is.” Huffing as she slung the backpack back over her shoulder, quickly flipping off her friend before walking past the silent stature of a jester to her destination and their original goal - work before it started raining again. Short purple hair rushing to leave the crowding street.
“Ahh!! You wouldn’t!” She totally would, and Pixie knew it too. She stomped her foot in frustration before turning to the tall man. “I’ve gotta go! But, it was nice meeting you! Be kind to yourself!” She shouted, skipping backwards before catching up to the other, complaints returning as loud as they had been before.
And she was gone. All he could do was stare.