A Dance with Danger

J

Jester

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Original poster
He kicked a rock and watched it fall into the water. He'd been around for a long time, but didn't know the grounds the way he should have. Which was a shame, at least that's what he heard the folks around the courtyard saying.

The king had been busy that morning either listening to other peasants problems, or being his normal jolly self around his nobles. Aside from that, nothing much had been going on, which bored him. Tapping his chin, he thought about what he could do in his spare time without getting into trouble. Trouble being the trigger word.

With a grin, and a jingle of his gold bells, he stood up and walked into town looking for a few people he could possible grab and throw into some horrible dungeon. Nothing more entertaining than a good morning torture session, so long as the king didn't find out about it.
 
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Music from a crudely whittled flute echoed off the shabby walls of the houses in the town square.

There was a small group of gypsies in town, hoping to make a few gold coins by dancing, singing and maybe a few 'odd jobs' on the side. Many of the town's children clapped with the music and danced with the gypsies. Their clothes were tattered, but bright and colorful. Most of the gypsies were women, aside from the few men who pushed carts of souvenirs from the places they've been for sale.

But there was one male gypsy, and he could dance just as well as the women. He wasn't a tall boy, no. But with this thin build and pale skin he often became a favorite. They (being the gypsies) often made him go topless and put him in a long flowing skirt that rested a little below his hips.

This didn't bother him one bit. It was scorching hot today and with as much dancing as he was doing, the less clothes the better.
 
He drifted between the houses, peeking through windows and ducking again before alerting the residence. With a small giggle, he emerged into town square, listening to the rattling of tambourines. They always came around this time of year. He smiled with glee. One missing performer wouldn't be noticed, right? Not among all that flashing color and garish clothing. He looked down at his bright red and white and smiled. He'd fit right in too.

Without drawing too much attention, he slipped in the crowd through the back, and parked himself close to the front of the festivities, watching the dancers. Picking one was hard. They moved too fast, which would definitely make an interesting hunt, but he wasn't in the mood to chase anyone. The trick was to find someone who he knew he could outrun. He was thankful for having long legs then, especially when he spotted the shorter boy up front.
 
The boy was spinning faster and faster, everything around him was starting to blur. The crowd's clapping was getting faster and he could hear the tinkling of the coins in the donation cup. He smiled to himself, maybe he was going to be able to eat tonight. He stopped spinning and stood still with his arms spread wide and his head tilted back. The applause was loud and he could hear the children cheering. When he felt his dizziness cease, he straightened himself up and looked at the audience.

The cup was full of coins and his 'owner' was passing his hat around. His eyes swept over the hands that dropped coins. Some were gnarled, dirty and broken. But one set of hands made him look to the owner.
 
The red fool smiled, his white teeth gleaming, and his red eyes stark against the white paint that surrounded them. "You dance pretty fast for one as short as yourself," he jabbed quickly with a wink. "Who taught you?"

As the crowd began to dwindle, he took note silently. The less people were around, the better. The hardest part would be slipping him into the castle under the king's nose without any suspicion. He'd already known his jester was tightly wound, and he also knew that he always managed to get himself into trouble. So walking in with a random stranger wasn't an easy task without some sort of story to back it up.

As he waited for an answer, he continued to scheme. So many details.
 
"I taught myself." His voice was soft, sexless. "You learn things quickly when you need to eat." When he spoke, you could see a slight overbite that often had him catching his lower lip with his teeth. Ice green eyes studied the face before him. "And with as one as tall as you, anyone would seem short."




((oh dear god i'm loving this))
 
He bowed, and then as he pulled his hand away from his little hat, he grabbed his hand and kissed the top of it as he would a lady, and flashed him his fangy smile. "I'm quite impressed you taught yourself," he chuckled with a raised, white, painted brow, and rose to his feet again, his full 6'9" height, and walked over to a bench to sit and talk properly.
 
He felt his face redden at the gesture at the much taller man. A small twinge of envy screamed at the back of his head because of his height. He was lucky to be five foot six. Shaking the envy out of his head he sat next to him on the bench. "You are not from around here are you? Your dress is odd and your diction is different from everyone around here." He looked up. "I can't seem to place your accent."
 
He shrugged. "I've lived here a long time, I just don't go out very much. I'm one of the fools at the king's castle, and I tend to keep within the stone walls. However, I got pretty bored today and overheard some of the ladies on the ground talk about how much a shame it is I don't know much about where I've lived at for about 60 some years, so I decided to scramble around a while." He smiled again, and stared up at the sky a little. "My brother lives there too. You'd know him if you saw him."
 
A thinly plucked eyebrow rose high on the boy's face. "Sixty years? If you're sixty years old then I'm the King's son." He crossed his thin legs and fixed his dancing skirt. "My own-" he cleared his throat. "Our leader is fifty four and he looks a million years older than you."
 
The fool chuckled and leaned in close to the boys ear. "I'm much older than that," he winked. "I'm about 500 roughly. I lost count a while ago, give or take a few years in between. A mere 60 years here isn't that long of a chunk of my life, honestly." For a moment he tapped his chin and then smiled. "I'm Denye. My brother in the castle is Denji," he said slowly, and then squinted. It was brilliant. How had he forgotten? "We're having a dinner at the castle tonight. You should come. It's normally only for the nobles, but I'll make sure my king knows there will be an exception for you and that you'll be on my arm as a companion."

The smile he flashed now had a hint of something behind it that he tried desperately to hide lest he give himself away. To throw him off in case he'd seen it, he dashed in quick and kissed the boy on either side of his cheeks before rising to his feet and bowing again for his dismissal.
 
The kisses on his cheek stunned him. "Dinner?" He rubbed his one cheek and watched the man start to leave. Wait? What was he doing standing there like an idiot. "Wait!" He ran after him. "James! My name is James! I'll go to the dinner!" He waved and stood in the middle of the street. His owner wasn't going to be happy with him leaving the caravan at night. But something about this 'Denye' was interesting. In his twenty years of dancing, he was one of the most interesting people he's seen.

"Who was that?" A gruff voice came from behind him, knocking James out of his reverie.

"Someone who liked my dancing." The boy said simply.

There was a growl. "Better make sure he pays."

"There isn't money involved." James turned quickly to face his owner and frowned. The man had kidnapped him when he was just five years old from his bed. From what the other gypsies said, it was from a very rich home. But from five on up; he was taught to dance, seduce, and bring in money for his owner.

As he walked to his wagon he shared with two other women he smiled to himself. Maybe after tonight, this would change.
 
As he sauntered back to the castle, he moped. Fun as the day was, he'd have to wait until the dinner began before anything truly fun started. When he stepped into the giant court room, King Albin looked him up and down, then shook his head. "There are parts on your uniform that are dirty now, Denye. Where did you go?"

"Off into town," he said slyly, and flashed him a wry grin. "The gypsies are back, and I was a little tired of throwing stones into the nearby pond. The fish don't like it and neither do I."

There was a hush among the nobles, and a second, blue fool slipped out from behind the throne, and took his perch on the large arm of it, crossing his legs, and watching the goings-on quietly. The king glanced up at him and smiled warmly. "You've been missing for a few days too. You two are off dawdling around leaving me be bored all by myself listening to the peasants woe's. At least tell me a joke."

"I'm awful at those," they replied at the same time, then grinned at each other. The king rolled his eyes.

"Some help you are. Some fools! Maybe I should just fire you and find someone else with a little talent," he joked, and waved in the next peasant.
 
James sat in his wagon after dancing a few more times. He could feel the hunger he had pushed back since yesterday come back in full swing. He knew he made enough money to eat this time. He saw his owner in his own wagon counting out piles of coins from the donation cup. Jumping onto the ground he made his way to the other wagon and stood on the step.

"Sir?"

"What is it now?"

"I was wondering if I made enough."

There was a grumble and no matter how many more times he asked, there was no answer.

With his stomach complaining and it not being quite night yet he walked slowly on the road to the castle. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to look around.
 
He stayed to himself, aloof among the crowd as he wandered through the gigantic room. It had slowly begun to fill with people, and thankfully his brother had remained unaware enough to stay away. His stomach growled, and he realized that this torture session would include him as well, yet he smiled. He checked his long teeth in a mirror, and clicked them together twice, a killer smile playing the corners of his mouth as he mouthed a few words of a song in his head.

"What are you doing?" He whipped around to see his brother hovering, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Playing," he retorted simply, and tipped his head side to side sarcastically. "My own best friend is my reflection." He returned to his mirror and then stuck out his purple snake tongue to lick the glass. "I also taste delicious," he said, stomach growling again. This time, Denji heard it.

"You're joking... you have to be. You just licked a sheet of glass. How is that 'delicious' in any sense of the word? You're plotting something. I know that gleam in that white pupil of yours. You nabbed some poor kid off the street, I know it. You're going to get caught," he snapped, and then grinned again. "You better share this time," he said carefully. "Last time you took all of her and I didn't even get a sniff."

The red fool was jolted with a touch of surprise. Rarely did his brother display such malice. He continued to stare into the mirror, but now he was looking at his brother, face more serious than joking. "You better not tell," he warned, "I'm on close watch of the king since the last time I nabbed that girl. That wasn't all fun and games that day, I got whipped pretty hard in the dungeon for doing it. You kind of lucked out that day, what with your 'not getting a sniff.' The short-stop should be coming in shortly, as soon as the hall fills up." He walked to where the king was still resting on his throne. "Actually, I still have to bring that up with him so he knows there will be non-noble blood in his hall."

Denji smiled wickedly. "Is that figuratively, or literally?"
 
James didn't know the first thing about how to enter the castle. He hadn't actually thought past the part of accepting the invite. He wrinkled his nose as his stomach growled once again, this time louder. He tugged at the long sleeved white tunic he changed into and absentmindedly tugged at the laces of his leather corset. Maybe if he wasn't so hungry he'd be nervous about going into a castle filled with nobles.

"Damn it James, you've never been nervous for anything." He bit his bottom lip and took a few more steps to the ornate ironwork double doors.

A guard had spotted him and stood in front of the doors. "The King isn't accepting any villagers' suggestions right now. I suggest you go home before it gets dark."

"Are you scared of the dark?" James asked.

"Everyone should be scared of the dark and what it could hold. There are things around this village that happen at night. People go missing, children develop overnight, animals become rabid and the king doesn't seem to notice. Now if I were a pretty thing like you, i'd get out of here before dark fall."





((((wooo early morning posties))))
 
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((inorite? i literally just posted that less than a half hour ago. XD))

The crowd was now a full-blown party. The king had allowed access to the boy, and Denye forced himself through the crowd, dodging nobles here and there to get to the front before one of the guards turned him away. The last time it'd happened, he missed a meal, and he took the guard in compensation. When he managed to get to the door, he saw that he had record timing, and grinned widely. "It's alright Tain, he's with me." Tain glanced at the fool, and a wave of unease and nausea shook him a little bit as he shifted to the side. He flashed the boy a look as carefully as he could, and then shifted to the side to let them through.

"You better have permission from the king," he said slowly.

"Oh, oh I do," he smiled broad, all 12 fangs bare, and then held his arm out to the boy, standing with his back straight and his legs together at his full height. "I believe you and I have a date, my dear. I already reserved one of the tables for two seats. Lucky you, I'm royal enough I sit close to the king, so you get to see how he eats and how his beard fills with mead because he can't hold his goblet properly," he teased.
 
Something in James' mind screamed at the look the guard gave him. But he grabbed onto Denye and let him lead him into the castle. The sound of food was enticing and when you're that hungry, your conscience shuts up.

"The King sounds like he eats like a slob." He smiled. "I won't be drinking the mead, I can't hold very much." He chuckled as they were brought through the entrance.
 
"He's a nice enough guy, but he can't eat a chicken leg without giving some to his cheek meat too," he rolled his eyes. The crowd shifted apart as he wandered between them now. A few stopped to stare at the boy as he passed, some turning to whisper to a friend close by, and some pointing at Denye, eyes wide. A younger girl, probably around the age of 15 wandered up to him, eyes bright.

"Can you do tricks?" The red fool wheeled around, surprised, and gasped in feigned surprise, placing the palms of his hands on his cheeks and gasping.

"Tricks? Of course!" He squatted down, and looked up slightly at her, elbows resting on his knees, and he tipped his head waiting. The girl's eyes brightened, and she glanced around before leaning down to his ear and quietly whispering something. Denye couldn't help but laugh, and held his hand to his mouth to hide it for a second while he straightened back up, and reached up his sleeve for a colored cloth, yanking it out and wrapping it around her shoulders like a boa as he did so. He continually gaped at it as it didn't seem to have and end and he kept pulling, feigning annoyance, and tapping his foot. He yawned, growled at it.

When he finally gave up, he had such a long train of knotted cloth, the girl was almost buried. She giggled, then peeked into his sleeve, where she found the end of the cloth. She yanked it out and gaped at it. "How did you do that?"

He flashed her a smile. "Magic. Come on, James. The dinner's about to begin in about fifteen minutes, I want to make sure you've met at least my brother before then," he smiled, then rubbed the baffled girl on the head before walking away.
 
'There's another mention of his brother.' James thought to himself. He allowed himself to be led around the room, the smell of the food was enticing and it almost made him feel nauseous with as close to starving as he was.

Wide wide child-like eyes he looked at the nobility he and Denye passed. Stiff ruffled collars, taffeta gowns, and intricate lace designs made him feel inadequatly dressed for the occasion in his ripped cloth pants, worn leather corset, and stained white bell sleeved shirt.

"Uhh, Denye? What is the King going to think of me being here?" He looked up at the one who was leading him. "I'm not exactly dressed the part."
 
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