I Wanna Join the Circus! ...Not. (Jeralt)

[Elloria]

Josk opened his eyes and groggily looked up. The kindly old lady who ran the inn he was staying in was hovering over him and shaking him gently. He almost snapped at her to get out when he remembered why she was there. He'd asked for a wake-up call in about two hours. She had naturally delivered. He thanked her and shooed her out before washing and brushing his hair out. Once done with that, he moved to his travel trunk and rummaged through it to find a clean pair of trousers and shirts. He decided on an all-black ensemble and changed into it. Looking himself over in the mirror, he swung on his cloak once more and made certain he was perfectly presentable before pulling up the hood and leaving.

It wasn't long before he arrived back at the circus grounds. And there to greet him at the gate was Jeralt. The freak was still in gaudy attire - that was apparently normal for him - but he was now also on stilts. Josk's eyes narrowed as he glared up at Jeralt. He hated being made to feel short. He was, of course, not short by elven standards. But there were enough elves who towered over him to make him feel short and inferior. He shoved the feeling aside and paid the five silver coins for admission. Entering the grounds, he looked around - and still felt unimpressed. For all the firebreathers, jugglers, and sword swallowers - amongst other attractions - there was just nothing here quite as amazing as seeing true magic worked. He did, however, learn an interesting tidbit about Jeralt. “Identical twins freak me out.” Josk grinned. Perhaps he should find a way to have Jeralt meet Niko. It would be interesting to see the freak's reaction to his identical brother. Though when he'd left Ilirea, he and Niko hadn't looked quite so identical. Thinking about it, he almost missed his little brother. But, as always, he reminded himself that he and Niko were very different for all their similarities and were destined for different lives.

When they reached the main tent, Josk noted that there was absolutely no sign that any of last night's events had transpired. It had probably been business as usual for the circus. What a disgusting thought. He sat at the front again and settled in for what he was sure would be an utterly boring display of human illusions and false magic. He wasn't disappointed. Or rather, he was, but not about his prediction of the ridiculous affair. There was not a single shred of magic in the entire show. He yawned occasionally throughout the whole thing, wondering why he had bothered returning when he knew it was a sham. At some point, Jeralt returned to his side but he didn’t acknowledge him. He just stared vacantly at the center of the ring, hoping it would end soon. And then the ring leader returned. “Many of you heard that the hope of a human rider died with Eragon, but that is not so.” The man lowered his booming voice to a barely audible whisper. “The Great Nyx delivered to us a dragon egg of our own! All of the performers you saw tonight touched the egg but it would not hatch to any of them, but me.”

A cloud of smoke appeared, followed swiftly by a green ‘dragon’ roughly the size of a horse. It unfurled its wings and roared at the crowd, which naturally shrieked in terror. Except for Josk, who could clearly see that the ‘dragon’ actually was a horse that had been first dressed in green and was probably being masked by mirrors or something equally ridiculous. The ‘roar’ had been a whinny through what looked to be some sort of magnifying device attached to the horse's head. “Amazing isn’t it?” Jeralt asked.

“Oh yes, spectacular.” Josk's voice was quiet, hardly audible over the crowd. But the sarcastic tone couldn't be missed, not even by someone as thick as Jeralt. “Who would ever have guessed that a human would actually become a Dragon Rider? Certainly not I.”

“Fear not!” the ring leader shouted. “The beast is my tame pet, and won’t breathe fire unless I will it! I am its rider, I command it through my thoughts.” Josk laughed derisively as the ring leader held up his hand, palm out, so that the audience could see the silver on the inside. Even from a distance, Josk could see that it was simply caked-on make-up of some sort. “Leona, raise your right leg.” The crowd continued to ooh and ah over the display while he watched from the corner of his eye as Jeralt controlled the ‘dragon.’ This was ridiculous. He couldn't believe he'd wasted five silver coins on this. He yawned widely again and rose. “When you’re done with this idiocy, you’ll find me in your tent. Don’t make me wait too long, lest I lose interest in whatever offer you had for me.”

With that, he walked out of the big top and made his way to Jeralt's tent. It didn’t take long, now that he knew for sure where it was. He didn't touch anything upon entering, save to move a chair away from the table and sit in it. He then propped his feet up on the table and leaned back to wait for Jeralt to get there.

[ladymoth]

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▲▼▲▼► Jeralt took a while getting back to the tent, it wasn't just waiting till the show was over, evidently the performers stayed after to entertain people outside the tent. It was about an hour and an half before he made it back to his tent and pulled his hood down. He looked at the feet on his table, then at Josk, he seemed horror struck, then furious. He stomped up to Josk, pulled his feet off the table then grabbed Josk's ebony sleeve and used to to scrub the stuff marks off of it.

"Hit me, kick me, insult me, but never put your feet up on the table!" Jeralt warned looking still more shaken than playfully violent as he usually was. He walked backwards and sat down on the cot pulling Josk's chair toward him and then pulling Josk off the chair and onto his lap. He wasn't mentioning the show, he seemed to have realized that that was one argument he couldn't win. "Alright Rubies, this is my business proposition; you be my boyfriend- wait, listen, I have a list of reasons" Jeralt pushed Josk off of his lap unceremoniously and stood up.

"Reason one, I'm never in town" Jeralt said holding one index finger up. He let the reason linger as if to wait for Josk to consider everything that that could mean, evidently he also still thought that Josk lived in Ceunon. He lifted another finger "reason two, I can do this" he leaned backwards, and more backwards, and more backwards until the back of his head was touching his ankles "and all that that implies" he added as he straightened back up again.

"Lastly" Jeralt said lifting a third finger then grabbing a sword from off of his table "How many boyfriends have you had that can do this?" he tilted his head all the way back and slid the sword down his throat then pulled it back again "Come on, you're a total D**k and I'm and A**hole, it just makes sense that these two things should be together" he concluded as he wiped the sword off on his pants, trust Jeralt to end in a pun.

[Elloria]

Josk had dozed off by the time Jeralt finally returned. And in fact, the only reason he woke up was because Jeralt jerked his legs off the table. He was still a little out of it when the freak started using his fine silk shirt to scrub the table clean. Honestly, this thing would be slobbery and disgusting while feeding on some poor sap but had the wherewithal to keep his lair spotless? As he'd thought before, it made absolutely no sense. He wondered if it had been dropped on its head as an infant, before becoming the inhuman thing that it was. That was up for speculation, of course.

“I’ll rip your head off if you ever use my clothes as a cleaning rag again,” he grumbled, not caring if Jeralt heard. A moment later, he found himself uncomfortably close as Jeralt pulled him into his lap. He almost missed Jeralt's suggestion, he was so bothered by the proximity. Of course, he was almost immediately on the floor. What good was it for Josk if Jeralt was never in town? He didn't live in Ceunon either. Was this thing really so stupid? And although that flexibility was nice - if last night was any indication, anyway - it wasn't everything. The sword swallowing gimmick was more enticing than his flexibility, to be honest. This really couldn’t work. Too much work for too little satisfaction. Josk could already see that, since neither of them was ever going to be somewhere they could both be to have raucous good times.

Still, the idea was intriguing. If they could make it work, Josk would have something of a plaything to have fun with. But something would have to be done about these horrendous puns. It would rapidly drive him mad having to listen to them every time they met. “Hmm...Can’t say I’m impressed with your offer, cretin. I may be a d**k and you an a**hole, but that’s hardly a reason to be sticking mine in yours. Or vice versa. First of all, I don’t even live in Ceunon. I’m here on business and will be returning to Ellesméra once it’s concluded. Secondly, you’re not the most flexible individual I’ve ever met. Though you’re only the second who could shove a sword down their throat.” He pulled himself up off the floor and dusted himself off. When he'd finished, he slapped Jeralt hard enough to dislocate the freak’s jaw. “But let’s make one thing perfectly clear, you thick-headed neanderthalithic imbecile. I have a name. It is Josk. If you expect us to have anything at all, you will call me by my proper name. No more of this ridiculous Rubies business. I’m not a jewel or anything idiotic like that. Understood? Otherwise, there’s no deal.”

[ladymoth]

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▲▼▲▼► “Why would you prefur Josk?” Jeralt asked as he rubbed his chin, he seemed completely unfazed by the slap, Josk was lucky Jeralt was a vampire or he would have killed him ten times before now. As it was the pain in Jeralt’s cheek was subsiding quickly. “That’s the most abrasive sound I’ve ever heard in my life; not like Jeralt… Jeralt” he repeated his name again in a dreamy way, then raised an eyebrow and focused on Josk “So If I call you Josk we have a deal? Fine, Josk- I’ll call you Josk, whatever Rubi- Josk” Jeralt shrugged.

So Josk lived in Ellesmera, that would make seeing him a little more difficult, not that Jeralt really cared, he girls he could mess with all around Alagaesia so Josk was really nothing more than a new acquisition, something that he could take down off the shelf and play with when it suited him. “We’ve been standing here talking for like five minutes, and you’re really dull to talk to” Jeralt added “just say yes so that we can get down to it already!”

[Elloria]

“Why would you prefer Jeralt? There’s no musicality to it at all. And no meaning either. It’s dissonant and annoying - rather like its owner. Tch.” He turned his eyes from Jeralt and started walking around the tent. What he noticed in everything - from Jeralt's show tools to his clothes - was that everything was absolutely spotless. Clean and pristine. It was almost as if nobody lived there, that's how put together it looked. Josk hated it. He was organized, but the family home certainly wasn't pristine or anything like that. It was neat, but clearly lived in. On the other hand, his home was permanent. Jeralt's wasn't. So why should it look lived in? He turned around upon reaching the table again and faced Jeralt. He grinned as he leaned against the table and crossed his arms. “You really are insatiable, aren’t you?”

[ladymoth]

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▲▼▲▼► “Yah and Josk is really lyrical, it’s hardly even a word, it’s done before it even starts. Jeralt you can sink your teeth into.” He watched Josk walk around the room boredly, what was he doing? Josk was like a dog that had to walk in circles before it lay down perhaps. “You watch your mouth” what Jeralt replied to Josk’s last comment, he really hadn’t a clue what “insatiable” meant, but it didn’t sound complementary. Jeralt got sick of waiting and decided to take matters into his own hands.

He leaned forward and hugged Josk’s legs pulling him bodily onto the cot. “What is it with you and talking, is that really what you’re getting out of this relationship, this isn’t a forum and I’m no scholar.” They continued on in this manner for a long time until the air got colder and the light filtering into the tent cast a golden color on the objects and persons inside. "I'm kind of getting hungry" Jeralt said looking up at the ceiling of his tent "you might need to bugger off."

[Elloria]

Josk didn't immediately reply when Jeralt mentioned he was hungry. He was still coming down from the little high he'd just experienced. Plus, he was more than a little sore at the moment. Moving was incredibly unpleasant. So he lay for a moment, thinking over Jeralt’s proposition. Even if he didn't see the freak regularly, an occasional tryst when they happened to be in the same city sounded quite appealing. He'd been ranging out of Ellesméra more frequently of late, so it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Yes, he could work with it quite nicely. Sitting up slowly, he crawled over Jeralt and out of the bed. He stretched, wincing slightly as pain shot up his spine from his posterior. But perhaps the next time, he'd make sure the freak wasn't so damn rough with him. He gathered up his clothes and slowly put them on. Fully clothed, he dusted himself off and ran a hand through his hair again. Why did Jeralt always have to pull on it so damn much? He muttered a few quiet obscenities before addressing Jeralt. “I’ll see you around, I suppose.” Since there was really nothing else to say, he quickly left the tent and made his way back to Ceunon. This would certainly be an interesting relationship. The thought of it made Josk grin. Very interesting, indeed.

END.