Freak Show

"What do you mean you've fucked up with him? That's-- actually ridiculous! I'm sure he likes you! I... I'm not sure he likes me. He rolls his eyes at me, I'm not dumb-- but that's fine! As long as he likes you, he can hate me all he likes," beamed the mutant. He was well aware that, as liked as he was, not everyone was going to like him; he was secure enough with himself to realise that. He was comfortable with that, too. As long as Bailey liked Eliot, he could hate Cyan all he wanted and the mutant was perfectly okay with it.

"You think too much. He likes you, I'm sure," he confirmed quickly again, frowning up at him at his clear paranoia. "It's... you're incredibly cute. Why wouldn't he like you?"
 
"I-I dunno, I'm boring? I tried to act 'cool' and all b-but I think it just fell flat," he admitted quietly, his four eyes growing watery in embarrassment. "I'm just not interesting enough, I guess. He seems so cool and I'm... not. It isn't anyone's fault but mine, I know, but I thought he would at least want to talk more?"

Letting out a shaky sigh, he lightly tossed the empty cup into the trash and glanced outside, thankful that the rain had stopped. Adjusting his feet warily, he tugged let a pair of arms carefully fiddle with the strings of his hoodie. "Maybe I should just head back to my tent."
 
"But... we're having fun, I... I want to have some fun with you and have you meet everyone and... and you shouldn't let one slip-up ruin things. I accidentally spilt hot coffee all over Dylan once, totally ruined his shirt and burned him pretty badly-- and now look, he's asking me out! You aren't boring. Bailey-- he likes you, I'm sure of that. You don't need to get bogged down with all this," he determined, offering another grin as he did his best to keep him in the lively tent. Granted, if he really wanted to go, he'd gladly go along with him-- he'd just much prefer to stay and socialise.
 
"... you drink coffee? I would have never guessed," he admitted quietly as he nervously adjusted his weight, the sudden crowded space only now hitting him, causing his already rosy cheeks to grow beetroot in frustration at himself. Lowering his head to stare at his feet, it was similar to plenty of meetings with his 'boyfriend' just a few months prior - everyone would talk loud, laughing and drinking, only for something bad to happen next.

Being a mutant meant no therapy, obviously, hence why Eliot never really learned how to handle his PTSD other than to simply shut down. A sign of that, of course, was the fact that he shuffled to take a seat only to immediately use his extra hands to cover his ears and eyes, his shaky breath barely audible over the happy vibes.
 
As desperate as he was to stay and try and have him integrate himself, Cyan wasn't an idiot. It didn't take a genius to work out how uncomfortable the other mutant was, which immediately left Cyan panicked. He didn't want to reach out and take him by the hand in case that made him freak out further. The only thing the short mutant could think of doing was what mostly everyone at the circus did when they ran into trouble - he hurried to Maureen.

When the woman heard the mutant's babbles, and glanced over to see Eliot in that state, she headed across easily. In the few minutes she'd gotten to know him, she decided that she liked him; felt she needed to take him under her metaphorical wing and mother him a little. She liked to do that with most mutants here, especially those like Cyan, but she felt more of a reason to do that with Eliot.

"...Come on sweetheart, let's get you back to your tent, hm?" She began softly, leaning down from her 7'0" plus height to offer a hand to him. "Come on, I'll walk with you, get you tucked in and all cuddled up in bed. I don't think anyone is too old to get all cuddled in like that. I would offer you my bed, but I don't think you'd like sharing with me. I'm a big old lump, really~"
 
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Silence followed for a bit, seemingly unaffected by the words. Eventually, though, he did shift a little, followed by the sounds of sniffles. Going from one memory to another, he was immediately reminded of his mothers, which caused him to quickly wipe his four eyes bashfully. Letting out a sniffle, the flustered mutant eventually peaked an eye from his hands only to sink into the chair, hit with sudden embarrassment.

"I-I... I..." He stammered slowly, trying to really focus back onto his surroundings. "I'm sorry, I..."
 
Tutting under her breath at the apologies, ones she really didn't think were even necessary, she motioned the other up and reached to take his hand in her own. Even if he had taken his seat again and apologised, he still clearly needed to get to bed and not stay in the busy, crowded tent that evidently caused him some discomfort.

"Don't apologise," she sighed heavily, motioning a few nearby mutants out of her way with ease. "It's too much for you, that's totally fine. I'll be honest, it's more hectic than usual-- we've had a few newcomers recently, you included. But that's irrelevant right now, I'm more focused on getting you in bed before you pass out."
 
Hiding his face shamefully, he forced himself to look back at the tent where he immediately assumed there would be other mutants staring at him as he left... even though that wasn't the case. In fact, other than the few mutants who jokingly scolded Maureen for pushing them out of the way, no one gave Wliot much attention.

"No, this... this is so embarrassing," he continued, shuddering. "I didn't mean to do that, I just - I just... I didn't want to embarrass anyone,"
 
"Embarrass-- You haven't embarrassed anyone. Honestly. I've done far, far more embarrassing things, sweetheart. Nobody noticed you be anything other than absolutely adorable, I promise," she gushed lightly, even if she genuinely taken aback by the other's lack of confidence and his general propensity to blame himself when he'd done absolutely nothing wrong. She'd met mutants like this before, it wasn't a rare thing. Most of them had been beaten down all their lives, metaphorically with words and literally with fists, so low-confidence in her fellow kind wasn't a rarity.

It was a unique situation, though, to meet someone this insecure.

"Now, no more of this nonsense, understand? Although, you can always talk to me. I'm big and scary, I get that, but I've also been told I'm a good person to cuddle into," she lightly teased, winking down at him. "You can rest up and... join everyone for breakfast come the morning, alright?"
 
"I don't think you're scary," he murmured in response, unknowingly thankful for the sudden attention on Maureen. If not, he'd still be in his own head, blaming himself for the stupidity he felt he expressed. Maybe because she was the closest thing to a parental figure he had since he was younger, or maybe it was his pure desperation to vent someone, but he trusted the woman without a problem. That being said, it didn't mean he was going to go all out and spill every single issue he had in his life... at least, not yet.

"I don't need to be cuddled, I... I'm an adult," he whispered, though his attempt to seem mature failed flat by his general disposition as he shyly shimmied into the tent he called Home, immediately growing bashful in hopes that Maureen didn't begin to mock him for some reason.
 
"Of course you're an adult-- but why would that stop you wanting to be comforted and cuddled? Cyan likes cuddles, and he's a grown adult-- he's probably older than you are," proclaimed Maureen casually, patting back Cyan's long hair at the mention of him, reminding herself just why she adored the little mutant so much. As dearly as she loved him, Eliot was definitely coming in a close second right now. She couldn't help but to like him, and mother him really. None of her children were past the age of 6 yet, so she didn't have any children even near Eliot's age-- but she was older than him by quite a bit, she imagined, so there really was nothing odd about seeing him as a sort of son she needed to look out for and protect.

"Now, this place is far too tiny," she again declared, even if she knew that it probably suited him just fine whereas. He wasn't a seven-foot-plus, tentacled figure with a hoard of little children to care for, like she was. "Shuffle on into bed, mister. I'll wait until you're asleep, I'm not going to rush off and leave you alone."
 
"You don't have to do this, you know..." he murmured slowly, trying to seem calm and already recovered from the breakdown. In reality, he was still physically shaking and sniffling, his lips pursed together.

"I'm... glad you did, though. I was afraid this would happen while I was here, you know. I just... I'm just getting used to being out of a bad situation a-and... I shouldn't be here. I should have taken time away, but this place seemed the safest for me. Humans aren't allowed to join so I just assumed that all my problems would go away," he admitted quietly as he ran a hand through his pink locks.
 
"I don't want to pile more misery on you, sweetheart, but this place... it's not good," she began slowly, ushering him into the small bed and, once she tucked him under the covers neatly and efficiently, she rested back on the edge of the bed while Cyan rushed out to quickly check on his animals.

"I'd rather leave, to be honest. Do I like the performance elements? Sure. Am I grateful for my admirers and some of my boyfriends? Obviously. I just... we're treated like animals, it's wrong. I'd rather live out in the outskirts, in the abandoned cities. At least then I'd be free, I suppose."
 
"How long have you been here?" He asked quietly as he watched Cyan leave, growing a bit uncomfortable from the lack of the smaller man. Closing his four eyes, his lips slowly poured. "Look, I... I don't think Bailey wants to talk to me again but he mentioned another show. Said it was better, apparently... I mean, I just want to be able to relax, you know? If outside of the camp isn't safe, and inside the camp isn't safe, where could we go? I just want to sleep and... live life. That's harder than you'd think, I guess."

Grabbing his pillow to his face, he let out a groan with a sniffle. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that I bring you down so much. I'm... sorry I say sorry too much."
 
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"Look, as long as I'm here, I'm going to protect you-- and all the mutants, really. I've adopted that role pretty easily-- who else was going to? Dylan, perhaps. He's very tough, but... well, he's not as nurturing as I like to think I am," she gushed in a little self-promotion, all of it really validated and justified by how motherly and maternal she really was. She took anybody under her wing and would never break her promises of caring for them. That promise was now extended to Eliot, and she was already acting upon it by sitting at his bed, helping him get off to sleep.

"We'll sort it all out, I promise. If you'd like, you could spend tomorrow with Cyan and I? He helps me with the children in the mornings while breakfast is being prepared. It takes a lot to get them into their little clothes and get them washed, I could do with the extra pair of hands-- or pairs of hands, really, in your case~"
 
Bashfully smiling, there was something about Maureen that did help him calm down. Maybe it was the fact that she came close to resembling one of his mothers, maybe it was just her generally kind nature and warm aura. Most likely, though, it was the fact that his episode took a lot out of him, causing the mutant to pass out rather easily, happily buried under the few blankets he had saved from his parents.

Once asleep, Eliot's usual expression of concern or confusion was gone, naturally, and his tight and stiff body grew loose as he happily wrapped his arms around the pillow he was given, soft snores following,
 
For Maureen, there really was nothing quite as satisfying as feeling like she'd helped somebody. Granted, this was a very, very minuscule achievement in the grand scheme of things. She was quite sure that all his insecurities wouldn't be solved with just a few quick comments at bedtime, but she hoped she'd at least done enough to show him that she was a person he could trust and turn to if need be. The fact he'd gone to sleep with little trouble, therefore, might not be a huge thing, but to her, it felt like a great success she could take a good deal of pride from.

By morning, as promised, she had made herself known in the other's little tent to wait for him to wake up. Rather than force him out into the dinner tent among all those mutants he had had a hard time being around, she decided to bring breakfast to him, with Cyan having cutely set out the little meal at the side ready for Eliot to tuck on into when he woke up-- which probably wouldn't be long when Maureen's crowd of young children weren't really prepared to sit quietly. Rather, they were either whining and playfighting on the floor, or had clambered up onto Eliot's bed to cuddle into the blankets or bounce up and down. Either way, they were making a little noise and commotion but, being young children, that was probably expected of them anyway.
 
Letting out a soft whine in reluctance at the sudden pushes and squeals, though once fully coming through, he bolted up immediately in fear of what he thought was his abusers. When seeing the children instead, he immediately relaxed and offered a smile to them all, unaffected by their, well... childish actions. Once seeing Maureen, his cheeks immediately grew red in embarrassment at realizing his messy hair and generally flustered appearance was far from nice, causing him to immediately run his fingers through his hair.

"Maureen, Cyan, you didn't need to do this," he insisted quietly at the cute meal, his fingers nervously feeling the plates and silverware. "This is so... I mean, I appreciate it, but you didn't have to make me breakfast or anything. I could have managed to go get food at the tent, probably... I-I dunno..."
 
"You were just gonna hate it and then I'd have felt bad so... so we did have to bring you breakfast, it's fine! Dylan made it especially for you, he put some extra strawberries in your porridge too, I told him too," beamed Cyan as the mutant tore his attention from the two children he was attempting to juggle in his arms, hushing them as gently as he could. They did, in fact, obediently quieten down-- at least until deciding that pulling lightly on Cyan's hair was a good idea. He didn't mind that much, really. He'd rather they pestered him than Eliot, anyway.

"Just tuck in, would you? I'm starving. I eat three breakfasts in the morning and I've only had two, so tuck in before I eat it for you," added Maureen easily, a dry smile on her lips as she watched him cut the bacon into pieces. "You would have hated it out there, this wasn't that big of an issue. Besides, I like you. I want to make sure you're okay."
 
"Do you really need to eat that much?" He blurted in surprise, his cheeks beetroot in embarrassment once realizing just how rude the comment could be perceived. Physically covering his face in horror, he shyly decided to simply dig in as to avoid possibly upsetting anyone else, cutting at the food carefully and taking a cautious bite.

He didn't need to say anything to prove just how much he enjoyed the whole thing, his cheeks rosy in joy. Sure, he had been tainted by his ex for his weight yet it seemed to be the only thing that didn't really affect him too much, especially when the food was good.

"... This is really too much. I... I mean, smuggling some regular food would have been good enough," he insisted weakly.
 
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