Karkat hated the circus. It was filthy, smelled like the fecal matter of animals, and far too noisy. The staff was usually a corrupt lot of misfits that would as soon rob you of your last dollar than give you the time of night. Yes, the circus was a terrible place that Karkat wouldn't be caught dead at normally. Yet there he was, sitting under the warm noise filled tarp of the center tent. He growled an unheeded warning to an over excited pupa as she stepped on his foot for the third time, and tried to remember why the hell he had spent his hard earned money to come and see this horrible spectacle.
As the lights dimmed, and the crowd's hushed murmurs died down to virtually nothing, Karkat's breath caught in his chest. He could pretend all he wanted that he didn't remember why he had come, but even before the spotlights came on, his eyes fixated on the top corner of the high wire, watching and waiting. The ringmaster came out first, a tall brown blood with a chipped horn, and greeted the crowd enthusiastically. Karkat paid him no mind. He was only here for one thing: the acrobats. Watching the skilled, lithe bodies of the performers as they defied the laws of nature and laughed in the face of death always caused a sort of excitement in Karkat. He wanted to be like them. He wished more than anything to be able to move as freely through the air as they did.
The spotlight shifted up to the high wire, illuminating the lanky form of a performer. He was tall with long spiraling horns and wild hair. Karkat squinted trying to see the color of his mark, but before his eyes could focus, the circus troll unhooked the bar of the trapeze and dove from the platform. He flew in a graceful arc and released the trapeze, twisting his body smoothly and reaching out his long thin arms. A second circus troll, from the other end of the high wire, swooped down and caught him neatly. Karkat's heart beat wildly in his chest as he watched their aerial dance of perfectly timed leaps and catches.
After the acrobats finished their acts, Karkat was only half interested in the other attractions. He sat sullenly watching, his mind still reeling with the last few graceful dives of the trapeze. He only sat through the motley animal tamer act and the lewd and distasteful 'exotic dancers' because it was warm in the tent and he had already paid for the full show.
When it was over he shambled out into the cold, flinching as the harsh chill of the night sliced through his thin jacket. He stuffed his hands as deeply into his pockets as he could manage and huddled his arms close to his body, shuffling away from the crowd exiting the tent. He stared up into the clear night sky and sighed softly, his breath forming a cloud of steam. What was it like to fly through the air like that? To be perfectly comfortable with taking your life in your hands and throwing it off of a sixty foot pole? Lost in his thoughts and fantasies, Karkat didn't notice that he had wandered into a darker part of the circus grounds until it was too late.
A deep chuckle from the dark caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end and his pupils to turn to slits. "It's a bit of a chilly night for a walk," growled a mangy looking yellow blood, as he slipped an arm around Karkat's shoulder. Karkat narrowed his eyes at the other troll, getting ready to tell him to back off, but a second and third troll stepped out of the concealing blackness of the night. They leered at him and their leader gave him a mocking sympathetic smile. "I don't suppose you could spare a bit of coin to buy us a drink. Just a little something to ward off the cold?"
Karkat shook his head and tried to twist out of the larger troll's grip. "I don't have any extra money. Fuck off."
The yellow blood's smile turned nasty. "No extra? That's too bad. I guess we'll just have to settle for whatever you have on you."
Karkat's body grew tense as he coiled up getting ready to try and fight, but the yellow blood's attention was suddenly elsewhere. A fourth troll had come over, a lean, tall troll with spiraling horns and wild hair. He stopped and smiled a lazy smile at the group of assailants. "What did I tell you guys about hitting up the customers? They don't come back if you do that."
The yellow blood motioned to his companions and ducked his head low as he passed the lanky troll. "We didn't mean him any harm, Gamzee. We were just trying to chat."
Gamzee nodded and watched them go. "I'm sure you were, Taizen. But he doesn't look like he wants to motherfuckin' chat."
Karkat stared at his unlikely hero and frowned. He was apparently an indigo blood, according to the mark on his shoulder. His wild eyes and painted face, accented by a lazy smile, made Karkat uncomfortable. Gamzee turned back to Karkat, the lazy smile growing even wider. "Sorry about them…They just don't know how to fucking control themselves."
Karkat gave a grunt of acknowledgment. "Thanks I guess." He tried to walk past the indigo blood but the other troll just started to walk beside him. Karkat growled in frustration but said nothing else. If the idiot wanted to walk with him at least it would keep the thugs away, any wise troll knew not to mess with indigo bloods.
The lanky troll was quiet for a long time, his bare feet making a crunching sound in the light snow on the ground. Karkat wondered how he wasn't freezing in his stupid outfit and lack of footwear.
"So…Did you like the motherfuckin' show?" the other troll asked sounding almost dreamy.
Karkat glanced over at his companion, but looked away quickly when his eyes connected with the glowing yellow orbs of the other troll. He didn't like eye contact with trolls he didn't know. "Sure…It was alright…I like the Acrobats, I guess…" he mumbled as he tucked his chin down into the front of his coat trying to generate more warmth.
"Really? That's so fuckin' great…I love when bros dig my motherfuckin' bit." The indigo blood chuckled and stared up at the sky.
Karkat glanced back at the other troll. "You were one of the acrobats?"
"Yup. It's really fucking great up there…It's like you're motherfuckin' flying." The circus troll looked like he was pleasantly lost. His gaze seemed far away and his lazy smile suggested he might be on some sort of drug.
Karkat frowned softly and stopped walking. "Are you going to follow me all fucking night? Because I'm not taking you inside my hive."
Gamzee walked a few more steps before realizing they weren't walking any more. "Oh, you're going back to your motherfuckin' hive? My bad bro… I thought you might want to see the tents."
Karkat's lip curled into a scowl as he tried to figure out what gave the other troll such an idea when they were walking away from the tents. He finally just sighed and shook his head. "What was your name again?"
"Gamzee. Gamzee Makara," the indigo blood said, his yellow eyes dancing in the low light.