Whispers only (Fiend!)

[Anonymous]

They had been traveling for quite some time now, several days at least. But Bella was fairly used to it by now. She found herself moving from 'home' to 'home' every few weeks, looking for new people to entertain in new towns they hadn't visited before. She had seen many different sides of Serendipity, performing for the extremely poor to the filthy rich. Though her act stayed the same, people always seemed enthralled by the various bends and twists she did with her body. Most were shocked such a tiny girl could do flips and splits like she could. But she had been trained at a young age to contort her body in several different ways. She often got bored with her routine, but the crowd's reactions were almost as entertaining as her act. Some things never got old.

Bella found herself starting to fall asleep. It was early morning and she had barely slept the night before. But she kept moving forward, using her dad as support as she walked. She knew they were nearing the new city; they generally only traveled a few days before arriving at their new location. Her dad nudged her lightly, waking her up from the half-sleep she was in. She blinked and looked up at him. He pointed ahead, smiling back down at her. Cerenis was only a little further. She grinned widely at him. Finally she'd be able to sleep a little. She ran to the caravan that her mom was driving. She grinned widely at her as well. New towns excited her.

An hour or two later, the dirt roads turned to cobblestone. They were finally here. She and her dad looked around the city for a little bit while her mom found a place to put the caravan. Bella ran far ahead of her dad, searching for a crowd that seemed like they would enjoy a show. But none seemed to be any sort of interested. So instead of running around for hours upon hours, she just leaned back, bending herself into a bridge. Nothing super impressive, but once people saw a girl walking like that, they were bound to get more interested. It's not everyday you see a small child bend themselves like that in public. And sure enough, a crowd started to form.

[Anonymous]

People were avoiding him.  It was kind of discouraging.  He'd spent another uncomfortable night in a back alley, freezing his scales off every time the wind shifted to just the right angle to send the night breezes down the alley at him.  But at least he'd been able to find a nice spot to curl up and sunbathe once the sky started brightening up.

Theinen still wanted to go back to the jungle.  It was interesting, sort of, watching the people go about their business, but it didn't make up for freezing at night.  He missed home.  He missed his parents, he missed his kind, he...  The naga boy paused, watching a small girl bend herself over backwards, and walk on her hands and feet.

That could not be normal.  Her face looked odd too.

At least the crowd forming was paying more attention to the girl than to him, as he carefully slithered to the front of the group, trying not to attract attention to himself.  Although the boy did stand out quite a bit, the girl with her antics was obviously more interesting than the naga boy that'd been hanging around town for the past two days.

[Anonymous]

The crowd was really starting to form around her. She was truly surprised how many people were out and about this early in the morning. But it was no worry. The more people, the more money she would be able to make for her family. Her dad was smiling at her as he watched her perform. She swung her legs up over her so she was now in a hand stand. She lifted one of her hands off the ground, balancing a few seconds before somersaulting down. She pulled a few more tricks, making the crowd 'Oooo' as she walked with herself bent backwards so her head was by her knees, and 'Aaaa' as she went from a backhand spring into a double back flip. She couldn't help but smile, making the painted black mouth look nearly eerie.

She did stunt upon stunt until her little body shook with exhaustion. At the end of her act, five minutes later, she fell into the side splits, laying herself as flat against the ground as she could go. The audience applauded, but Bella couldn't move. Her body refused to allow her to sit back up. She hadn't slept well, and now she was paying for it. So she just laid there, her head placed gently on her hands. She watched as people threw coins in the basket her dad had set down. She breathed heavily, looking at each face individually. That was another thing she loved; the wide variety of people she saw. It was always interesting to see elves, faes, vampires, and much more all come together to watch her act. Everyone here seemed to be elf, her eyes glancing at all the pointed ears. But then she saw something she had never seen before.

He was something completely out of the ordinary. She stared at him, studying him. His upper body seemed normal, a few yellow tattoos across his chest and arms. And his blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. He even had the pointed ears she was so used to. But his lower body is what caught her attention. Instead of legs, he had a large serpent tail, though she couldn't see the end of it from where she was. But either way, he was different, and he caught her attention. She couldn't help but smile in his direction, still unable to get enough energy to even lift her head. She shut her eyes, sleep closing in, the image of the snake boy filling her memory. Her smile faded and she was completely asleep, laying on the cobblestone road.

[Anonymous]

He'd gotten a few glances, less and less as the girl's performance went on.  For Theinen, who'd seen very little of the humanoid races before being kidnapped, her stunts were extraordinary.  So he'd coiled himself up, resting his upper body against his coils, and watched the little performance carry on.  

As the girl went into a split and stayed there, it seemed the show was over, and a few of the crowd drifted away, doubtless to daily chores and duties, Thei uncurled a bit, then hesitated.  That couldn't be comfortable, laying against the ground like that.  It was cold, for one thing.  At least to the young naga, who was accustomed to much higher, damper weather.  Here, the sea spray was just cold, hence why he avoided the docks.

Uncurling a bit further, he slowly approached, leaning over to get a better look at the girl.  "Uh.  Are you okay?"  That she wasn't getting up was a little worrying.

[Anonymous]

She hadn't been lying there very long, but her body began to shake from the strange position she was in. She awoke seconds later after falling asleep, groaning quietly when she realized she had been unable to catch up in any sleep. She pulled her legs closer to her body, making the shaking cease. As she did that, she sat up so she wasn't lying against the cold ground anymore. She sighed, her eyes still closed. She just hoped she'd get some sleep before she had to perform again.

When she opened her eyes, she almost screamed in surprise, completely forgetting the silence she was supposed to keep. But she stopped herself before she made a sound. But her eyes were wide as she noticed the boy who was slowly approaching her. He had said something to her, but she couldn't hear what it was because she had been asleep. So she just stared at him, wondering what he was still doing here. If he wanted her to perform again, he would have to wait; she had no energy left for anything.

But his expression seemed worried. He didn't seem like he wanted her to do anything; he seemed like he wanted to make sure she was ok. She smiled and nodded at him, as if saying she was fine. She stretched and yawned. It was still early, and this boy looked young to her. What was he doing up at this hour? She couldn't ask him, of course, so instead she decided to ask him something else. She made the motion of a book opening with her hands, and then looked at her hands from left to right, as if to ask him if he could read. She looked back up at him, hoping he would be able to understand her.

[Anonymous]

He felt a little relieved as she sat up, though obviously she hadn't heard him.  He was about to ask again when she nodded and smiled at him.  He smiled back at her out of reflex, bunching his coils together around him.  It was still early enough to be cold, though the sun bathing he'd done earlier had warmed him up enough to be out and about.

And then she started making strange hand motions, and for a moment the naga boy just watched, feeling utterly confused.  What the heck was she doing that for, couldn't she talk...oh.  Maybe not.  "Uh...don't you talk?  I don't understand..."  He trailed off, then blinked.  "Oh wait.  Ah."  He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a little sheepish.  "I can't read the stuff here."  He muttered quietly.  Princes were supposed to be smart.  He could read the writing style his tribe used, though those were more pictures and signs left engraved on various surfaces, rather than an actual written language.  

But until just recently, he'd never seen Common in a written form, though he could obviously speak it.  The tribe did have a little contact with outsiders, at least.

[Anonymous]

She watched as the coils bunched up, oddly amused. What was he? Why did he have a tail when his upper body looked so elven? Then again, she wasn't too ordinary herself. She directed her eyes to the tattoos on his arms and body. They matched his tail, same diamond pattern and yellow color. He was a very pretty boy, though, being only thirteen, she didn't much see anything more than a friendship. But that didn't mean she couldn't tell a pretty boy from a regular one. And when he smiled, it only added to the picture.

But she sighed slightly when he said he couldn't read. She looked at the ground, thinking of something to 'say' to him. How to tell him she wasn't allowed to talk. She couldn't just speak, breaking the code. What if people heard her? It would ruin the...effect of her act. What if her parents found out? Her eyes widened. She shook the thought from her mind. That wouldn't happen. She wouldn't let it.

But she had to give this boy something to go off of. He was unique, something she didn't want to have walk away...err, slither? He was different than anything she had ever seen. She wanted to learn about him, what he was, where he came from, anything. It was all out of curiosity, as most small girls find when seeing something new. But without reading, any sort of communication would be difficult. She sighed slightly, racking her brain for anything. She came up with only one solution, one she didn't exactly like.

She stood up, her legs shaking slightly as she did so. She didn't know how long she'd be able to stand, or how far she'd be able to walk, but she moved herself forward, motioning for the boy to follow. If he didn't want to, no big deal. It would save her the trouble of trying to let him know her name. Though she did very much want to know who he was. Though now that she thought about it, following a young, strange looking girl to a place you didn't know of was not something one would normally do. But she hoped he wouldn't mind following her, if only just for this once.

[Anonymous]

The naga boy flushed a little as she sighed, obviously disappointed in his lack of reading ability.  "Sorry, I.."  He paused as she stood up, looking a little concerned at the way her legs shook.  She motioned for him to follow, and Theinen just nodded, uncoiling and following along beside her.

At this point, he was perfectly willing to follow the girl, the first person in weeks that hadn't treated him like a freak, or worse, tried to chase him off.

[Anonymous]

She wasn't sure quite how to go about her plan, but she would figure out some way to communicate with the snake...boy thing. Her legs felt much like the consistency of jello, but she barely took note of it. The feeling would wear off in a little bit, especially if she kept herself moving. Besides, staying in the same place often resulted in stiff muscles later on. Not something she really wanted.

They cut through the crowd, both getting about the same amount of strange looks. It wasn't everyday you saw a clown girl and a snake boy walking together. Bella no longer really cared what people thought about her as long as they continued to pay her for her acts. That's all she really cared about. Her parents were uneducated and they were getting to the point where they could no longer perform as much as she could. Whatever Bella made, money-wise, was what they lived off of.

They turned several corners, only to be greeted by more people. Everyone seemed to tower over the two of them, but it didn't stop the rate at which she moved between everyone. She wasn't exactly sure where she was going, but she knew as long as she found the right person, she would be able to get her words across to the young boy. She rounded one more turn and was where she wanted to be.

A small grin crossed her mouth as she ran to the tavern. She was pretty positive the small monkey would be in there somewhere. He didn't do well with traveling around so much, but he really didn't have any other options. He didn't have the skills to hunt on his own and as a monkey, he couldn't really get a job (he refused to wear little costumes and dance in front of people) so instead he just hitched a ride with Bella's family. So instead of complaining, he just drank until all his worries seemed to melt away.

The small monkey groaned when he saw Bella approaching. He never did like her, but she didn't really care. One of the terms he had agreed to when hitching a ride with her family was to help in any way possible. Bella ran up to him, waving her hand and smiling. She took a writing utensil and piece of paper out of her back pocket and scrawled something down before handing the paper over to the monkey. Dridge (the monkey's name) read her writing putting on a fake smile before turning to the boy. He gasped slightly in surprise before continuing on. "Bella would just like to say hello to you. She comes from a family of silent clowns...yadda yadda yadda." Dridge had gotten sick of telling this story to people. He used to explain everything in greater detail, but now he liked to keep the story as short as possible.

Dridge turned back to Bella. "You sure did pick a strange one to want to talk to." He shook his head and continued to sip the drink he had ordered. Bella blushed slightly, though it couldn't be seen under the makeup. Thank goodness.