Liama
She was, she thought as she watched the juggler with her chin in her hands, the only one in this entire world with no job skills whatsoever.
The juggler was practicing as he did every day, bouncing around as he kept what looked like seventeen balls in the air at once and occasionally sticking out a hand for her to throw him another, which she did. He was the bounciest person she had ever seen, and that was including the trampoline acrobats. He bounced all the time, as if he was doing a dance or as if it imparted extra springiness into the balls and hoops and clubs he kept all up in the air as if by magic, and she had to admit that she thought he was rather cute. But he wasn't going to ever notice her, because she was the clumsiest, most uncoordinated person under the sun. She was more one of the Nuts' speed, she thought ruefully, or even, jeesh, the Titan's. Even that monster was more talented than she was. Even the silly Walker was admired by the dancer and showed himself to be an acrobat, but her? Nope.
The juggler stuck out his hand toward her again, but she, off in her head as she was, didn't notice until it was too late. He didn't drop the balls - that would be impossible - but instead switched to juggling them in one hand, and turned his attention on her. "Sorry," she said, flushing.
He caught the balls in both hands and tossed them into his desk. "It's okay. I'm done for now." She stared after him as he left the room, and bit her lip thoughtfully.
And thus began the Green Bird's search for a talent.
She started with the Trick Biker, because he was at least as crazy as she was. She marched up to him, her hands on her hips, and said "Teach me how to do the tricks you do!"
He looked her up and down, and said "Bird, do you even know how to ride a bike?"
So that was the end of her career as a cyclist.
The next thing she tried was the highwire. She climbed up to the tightrope woman on her perch high above the stage, and demanded "Teach me how to walk on a tightrope."
But when she put one foot on the wire and accidentally looked down, her head spun and the tightrope woman had to help her down. So that was the end of that.
Aerial silk, diabolo, skipping rope, and trampoline followed in quick succession. She just couldn't figure out how to get off the ground in silk. The diabolo string almost strangled her as the four little girls stood laughing and trying to untangle her, and the skipping ropes were even worse. The trampoline looked for a bit as if it was going to be better, until she bounced right off and only a passing Nut saved her from diving headfirst into the stage. "Go find something to practice which you can't hurt yourself on," the red Pierrot told her, looking concerned, and she had to agree with him.
So she went back to the juggler. He was juggling clubs behind his back, but he stopped when he saw her and waved. "Hey, Green."
"Can you teach me to juggle?" she asked.
He put down his clubs and handed her one little ball. "Toss that from one hand to the other," he told her. She did.
"Now again. She did.
"And again. Again." And again. And again.
Half an hour later, after being hit in the head by the ball for the twentieth time, she was getting fed up with the whole thing. She threw her ball to the ground. "I'm not getting anywhere!"
"You will," he assured her. "Pick that up and keep tossing."
But after three hours, when the two balls she had progressed to flew out of her hands and into his face yet again, he caught them and sighed. "I'm sorry, Green, but this may not be your thing."
She plopped down on the ground, stomping her foot from a sitting position. "I can't do anything!"
He squatted down next to her. "How about trying Fast Track?"
"I did! And I fell off and almost killed myself! And the diabolo string almost strangled me, and I tied myself up in the skipping rope, and I can't even ride a bike, and the aerial silk's too slipper, and I'm wobbly when I put even one foot on a tightrope, and I can't even dance!"
The juggler looked at her. "Out of curiosity, why do you want to learn those things?"
"Because then I'd have a skill. Because I want you... and everyone else... to notice me."
He frowned. "We notice you, Green."
"Yeah, and you think. 'What a crazy, clumsy girl, even the Nuts have more talent than she does.'"
"Do I detect sulking here, Green? No, I'll tell you what we think. We think 'Man, Green Bird's so playful, she gets along with everyone and she always looks like she's having so much fun, what would we do without her?' I need an assistant to my act or I'm lost, you know that."
"Hmph."
"Look, do you want to learn juggling because you want to impress people or because you want to learn it? I can teach you, but if you just want to learn it to impress people, you're not going to get anywhere. You have to love what you do or you'll never really get good."
She looked at the ground by her foot. "So I'll never get good at anything?"
"Not necessarily. But you're already good at something, Green. You're good at making people laugh, and you're good at making people laugh. And what do you mean you can't dance?"
"Well, not like the Dancers."
The juggler rolled his eyes. "You don't actually have to dance like the Dancers to be good at dancing, Green. Hey, I can't dance."
"Yes, you can! You're the bounciest person I've ever seen!"
"Bouncy?"
"Yes!"
He looked at her, the corners of his mouth trying unsuccessfully not to turn up. Her eyes sparkled. He grinned. She laughed. They leaned against each other, back-to-back, cracking up.
"You know what?" she said eventually, when they had calmed down a bit. "I do want to learn to juggle."
"Okay," he said. "And I want you to teach me how to bounce better."
"Better? You bounce fine already!"
And they were off again.
Maybe she had some skills after all, she thought. And even if she didn't, right now she didn't really care that much.
A/N: I like this concept quite a bit, but I'm not so sure about how it turned out in writing. It's supposed to feel like a fairy tale, but I'm not so sure how it actually came out. I'd love critique on how I could improve this fic.