The sun was filtering between the skyscrapers, painting beams and shadows on the pavement. But it went unnoticed by the city folk; they saw it every day. Cars and busses drove over the shifting patterns on the streets, and many feet trampled the sun's artwork on the sidewalks. The light, however, was noticed by a lone individual, who relied on the warmth of the rays to awaken her from slumber.
In an alleyway, just two blocks away from the market, a young troll sleeps; curled up inside a box that had once held a refrigerator. The box was wrapped in layers of packing tape; a clever idea for water protection. The walls of the alley were covered in graffiti of jumbled words and letters. It is almost impossible to decipher what they say.
She awakens from her sleep as the sunshine spreads across her face. A small smile touches her dark lips as the warmth of it caressed her skin. The troll sits up in her box, sharply bending her neck from side to side. She winces at the loud pops that are heard, but then does the same procedure to her knuckles. Wiggling her fingers, she scoots to one end of the box, so she can stretch her legs out. Her dark jeans are ripped in various places, and are very dirty. The troll girl has no shoes. She leans forward and grabs her toes with her hands, and she rocks back and forth, stretching. In the middle of her stretching, she yawns, and becomes rather limp, like a rag doll.
"Fuck."
She sniffs, as if upset, and reaches to her left side, where she finds a candy bar wrapper. Curling her fingers around it, she peels it open, checking for any missed contents. Underneath the sound of wrapper noises, a low rumble is heard. The troll places a hand on her stomach, and her sharp teeth bite into her lip.
"Be quiet," she tells her stomach, but it won't listen. Sniffing again, she deftly hops out of the box and just stand there, staring at who knows what. A slight flick of her pointed ear is made involuntarily, and her head looks to the left. She can hear something. Her nose scrunches up, and she takes in several whiffs of the city air. The air had a.. a new smell to it. And it wasn't there yesterday. A mission in mind, she sets out to where the smells are coming from. The sidewalk she takes is a popular one; crowded with people of all classes. Most people move out of her way because they can see that she is obviously a small girl, but a good number of the wealthy citizens ignore her and she is knocked around by their feet. They feel that she is unimportant because she is homeless. The girl ignores the rude pedestrians; she is used to their behavior.
She comes to a four-way stop, and she is disappointed to see the cars driving in front of her. Her head turns slightly to the right, and she smiles.
"Good morning Sam!"
The homeless boy on the corner looks up at her and smiles, "Oh, hey Terezi. Where are you going today?"
"I smelled something weird earlier, and I wanna check it out."
"Yeah, the state fair just opened this morning. That's probably what you smell. I can smell the food from all the way over here."
Terezi smiled, her sharp teeth glinting, "It sounds like it will be fun, and I'm not going to miss it."
She noticed that the cars had stopped, and she began walking across the street, "Bye Sam!" she called, not looking back. She could feel him waving at her, and she was satisfied. After she reached the opposite side of the street, she inhaled again, detecting smells of sugar and other food. She patted her screaming stomach and continued her leisurely gait. The people around her seemed irritated at her slow pace, and some purposefully stepped on her bare toes or pushed her aside. One fancy-looking man pushed her to the edge of the sidewalk with a briefcase that reeked of Xerox. She stumbled into a lady, who lost her balance and fell against a car.
"You stupid girl!" the woman howled at Terezi, "Couldn't you see me standing here?"
"Sorry, I was pushed, bitch," Terezi replied, irritated.
The woman's mouth opened again to scold Terezi for her language, but then she saw bare toes peeping out from ragged jeans. Terezi could tell the woman was beginning to feel badly.
Perfect.
The woman came over to Terezi and knelt in front of her. She took Terezi's hand and placed some paper in it. "I know it's not much," she said ruefully, "but I'm sorry for yelling at you. I didn't know you were homeless." She smoothed Terezi's hair and walked away.
Smiling like a troll, Terezi uncrumpled the paper. It was a 20-dollar bill.
Holy shit! I'm going to eat like a king today!
She folded the money into a small square and put it deep inside her pocket. After patting the pocket a few times, she continued her walk towards the fair smell. It wasn't very far from where she was then. She reached it in a matter of minutes. The ground changed from cement to dirt and sparse grass. Her hot feet felt cooled by the smooth dirt, and she wiggled her toes in the earth. She sniffed twice, and could smell food, sweat, and animals. Her stomach nagged ather again, and she rubbed it, smiling. "Let's get something good to eat," she said aloud.
She could easily found where the food trucks were. She walked back and forth between them all at least ten times, which took about half an hour. She wanted to make sure she could make the best choice. In addition to seeing the food offered, she could noted the prices, and she didn't want to waste her precious money. It had been days since she last had any. It was hard to make up her mind. Fried mushrooms sounded good, but so did cotton candy. She stood there debating, when someone bumped into her. Before she could react, she could feel something cold and sticky in her hair, oozing down her face. She could smell vanilla ice cream.
"Oh my gosh little girl!" said the man in a very apologetic voice, "I didn't see you there!" He then plucked something off her head, which she could see to be a waffle cone.
She sighed, "It's okay; no one ever does."
The man seemed flustered, "Hold on, I'll get some napkins!"
As she waited there, with the ice cream getting warm and even more sticky, she felt more annoyed than ever. As she began thinking murderous thoughts, someone came running up to her. She assumed it was the man coming back with napkins, but as she took notice of the person, she realized it was a female. The lady grabbed Terezi's hand and began dragging her along behind her.
"There you are!" she hissed, "I'm tired of you running off like that! We pay you to be here. You don't need to be going anywhere!"
Terezi's short legs pumped furiously to keep up with the flighty madwoman, "Hey! Lemme go! I don't know what the fuck you're talking about!"
The woman continued dragging Terezi along, "Oh no you don't; I'm not going to fall for your amnesia trick!" She quickened her pace and poor Terezi could only run in response. The strange lady brought her to a tent that was coloured with delicious red and white stripes. Sitting Terezi firmly in a chair, she smacked her across the cheek. Terezi's hand flew instantly to the stinging place, rubbing it gently. She was too shocked to cry out.
"Now see here, you freak!" the woman bellowed, "Finish your face paint and change your clothes. I'm tired of seeing your stupid ripped pants! And if I come back in here and find you gone..." she gripped Terezi's left horn and pressed hard on it, like she was trying to snap it off. Terezi's breath caught in her throat, and she found her body paralyzed by unimaginable pain.
She saw a wicked smile play on the woman's lips, "Exactly, you brainless idiot. I'll have your horns on a necklace if you try to pull anything else." She gave a final sharp twist to Terezi's horn and then let go. She exited the tent, and Terezi could hear her tying the flaps shut.
Her horn throbbed with an almost unbearable pain, and she felt tears form in her eyes. A garbled sob caught in her throat as she gently rubbed her horn. She wanted to go home.
She heard the tent rustling, and she swiveled her head to see what it was. A young troll covered in white and dark grey face paint was army-crawling underneath the tent; his long horns proving to be a bother to get his head all the way under. She heard him mumbling to himself, and he managed to get all the way in. She stared at the troll, in complete shock.
He scratched behind his right horn, his fingers lost in his extremely messy hair. His free hand scratched his little troll butt, which was covered in a pair of extremely mutilated pants. Turning around, he took a delayed notice of Terezi sitting there. He lazily lifted an arm halfway up in a rather non-enthusiastic gesture.
"Hey."
Terezi blinked. She had never seen another troll in her life, and all he says is hey? She let go of her horn and hopped out of the chair, "Hi, um, I'm Terezi.."
His half-closed eyes blinked lazily, "I'm Gamzee."