Bixlow wasn't one to question orders, specially if they came directly form the Master himself, but he couldn't help but feel a little wary of the whole situation he had been put on.
"Ol' geezer's already cuttin' out paper dolls. I'm sure of it." He grumbled to no one in particular, kicking an empty can as he walked down some alley in the outskirts of a small town. "He's finally gonna get me six feet under with all this jive one of these days."
He looked up at the sky, the monochromatic atmosphere clashing against what he was used to as a (sort of) circus crew member. It was sad, cold, and over everything else, untrustworthy.
He sighed. Last night, Lisanna Strauss had asked him what his job consisted on this time and he had found himself unable to provide a completely truthful answer without sounding like a fool.
"Just pickin' up a lil' somethin' the old man asked me to." He had replied, chugging down his beer and stealing glances at her exposed pale shoulders.
It was ridiculous, really. A new beast? Why the hell did they even need one? Redfox seemed to have enough on his plate already, specially taking into account those bratty horses the girls loved so much and that white tiger, who seemed to be giving him more trouble than making any actual progress on her attitude. Bixlow wasn't even sure if the beast tamer was actually aware of the new member his disfunctionally mismatched family was about to receive.
"Been waitin' 'ere since sunrise, kid." He heard a voice call, and he turned towards the door he hadn't noticed being opened. A man whose clothes were even gloomier than his surroundings stood there, a cigarette hanging lazily from his lips and a frown fixed on his forehead. "Yer the one ol' man Makarov sent, ain't ya?"
"Aye." Bixlow answered, walking towards him with his hands on his pockets. "I'm assuming you're Cobra Erikson?"
"That's Mr. Erikson for you, cookie." The man answered as the shadow of a smirk teased the corner of his lips, even though Bixlow believed this man couldn't possibly be older or bigger than himself.
"Where's the pet?" He addressed, deciding to get his mission over with as soon as possible. Erikson didn't seem to have the same idea, whatsoever.
"'Pet'? Is that how you freakshows will treat the deadly Apophis?" The man snarled.
"Apo- what now?"
Erikson looked at him with venom in his eyes, but didn't dignify him with an answer.
"Yet not very bright, are ya? But you seem strong enough. Let's get this over with so that I can get you out of my sight already." He tapped the ash off his cigarette and took another drag, before walking in through the door and disappearing inside the smokey darkness inside, Bixlow following suit without waiting for the invitation he knew wouldn't come.
When Bixlow's truck finally pulled over at the camp, people were lounging by a bonfire, waiting for the night to come around, along with the evening's upcoming show.
He noticed Lisanna walk towards him, already changed into her 'work clothes', which had him biting his cheek to stop a grin when he noticed the glitter decorating her body.
"Evenin', doll. What's cookin'?" He flirted, hopping off the truck and leaning onto its side as the young woman approached him.
"How did it go?" She asked, ignoring his attempt at any sort of advance. "Did you get what you needed? You took your fine time to come back."
"Really now? Did you miss me?" He retorted grinning wolfishly, but walked towards the back of the truck without expecting an answer. "Would you be such a darling and go fetch Redfox for me, love? I think he's gonna like what I've got for him."
Lisanna complied and he worked around with the lock of the door to the back of the truck.
"Hope the geezer knows what he's getting into." He mustered to himself.
"The hell ya need, ya freakshow." He heard Gajeel Redfox's demanding voice, little Levy McGarden trailing close behind him along with Lisanna. Bixlow turned around and found nearly half of the circus crew slowly making their way towards the unlikely group, probably intrigued by Lisanna's odd approach and request at the beast tamer. He noticed the Dragneel boy holding one of his still flaming torches, the fire licking dangerously close to Lucy Heartfilia's clothes.
Bixlow had to grin and remind Gajeel that 'at least he wasn't the one out there in the ring, was he?'
"Got somethin' for ya, Master's treat." He answered, pulling open the heavy metal doors. Everyone leaned in, and even though most pulled back immediately in surprise and repulsion, Gajeel couldn't keep the stars from his eyes the moment they landed on the creature within.
"Holy mackerel-"
Levy leaned over to see inside of the truck from where she was positioned behind Elfman and Wakaba.
"Where on Earthland did you get this from?" She couldn't help but exclaim.
It was big.
Actually, it was more than big. It was the biggest, longest and thickest reptile Levy had seen in her entire life. And she lived in a circus.
She recognized the species from one of the books she loved to indulge her time in, and she believed the pattern of greenish brown, yellow and black to be impossible to mistake, as well as the length, girth and head shape.
Even though she believed to know everything there was to know about the infamously large reticulated python, seeing one face to face made her silently decide Gajeel had officially lost his mind for being so excited about the newest addition to his team.
She stopped the shiver that run down her spine as the creature moved lazily inside its cage, with no apparent intention of doing any harm... for now. The crowd around the truck had dissipated considerably since the doors to the back of the truck had been opened, the sight of the half grotesque, half hypnotic creature being too much for some of the spectators.
"Are you sure..." Lisanna asked silently towards the man who stood next to her as he looked thoughtfully between Redfox and the python.
"I don't know, Lis." Bixlow provided unhelpfully, which left a queasy sensation in the pit of Levy's stomach. He took a drag off a recently lit cigarette and exhaled deeply. "I don't know."
This is terrible. Easily one of the worst chapters I've ever written. (Also extremely late but hey, it's still Wednesday, ain't it?) I am sorry for not updating last week, my only excuses are a small, spontaneous family vacation my mom decided we all needed, and the horrible writers block that's been haunting me for weeks. This was painfully hard to get on paper, even worse onto my computer.Thankfully, I've had time to plan out the next few chapters, and they should be easier to redact since I'm sooooo exited to let you guys know more about our very important new friend, Mr. Snakey.Anyway, to make it up to you guys, I've decided to make a little list of 'fun facts' about this story so that you won't actually hate me for such an useless update. Here it goes:
1. Every French speaking follower knows this, but 'faerie' isn't actually a French word. The literal translation for fairy in French is 'fee'. (It just sounds cooler this way tehehe.)
2. Some of you may be wondering what's up with the weird, seemingly random chapter names. Well, each of those names is actually the title of a jazz song (some from around the time this story is inspired on), and they are supposed to act as some sort of 'soundtrack' for their respective chapter! Feel free to listen to the song while reading the chapter to get more in situ.
3. The story of the Cirque du Faeries is situated around 1940-50, but some of you may wonder why WWII does not come into the picture at any time at all during the story, being that it's such an historically important fact, specially during that time. My answer to this question is that yes, this story happens during the 40s, but it takes place in Fiore, Earthland. Not in 'real life verse'. And since WWII is irrelevant to the plot of CDF, then I've decided to just... not let it happen, aye?
4. SLIGHT TRIGGER WARNING ON THIS ONE, YES? IF YOU DON'T LIKE SNAKES, SKIP TO POINT 5. I did a very exhaustive research on different species of snakes (I declare myself ignorant whatsoever, so feel free to point out my mistakes!), and I've decided to use the reticulated python for the character of 'Apophis'. This species of snake is apparently between number one and two of the largest and heaviest snakes to exist nowadays. This kind of snake, as all pythons, are non-venomus, instead being constrictors, which means they squeeze their preys until their blood pressure is so high their heart stops, and blood doesn't get to their brain, resulting in a literal 'death by an intense hugging session'. They do have a nasty bite whatsoever, which can be dangerous if infected or not treated properly. From what I've investigated, they don't generally attack humans unless they feel attacked, although there are plenty of reported cases of pythons killing and feeding off humans who wander into their territory. There are also some people who keep them as pets and have been attacked by them, which I think it's the worst form of betrayal but whatever.
5. The name 'Apophis' comes from the Egyptian god with the same name. He was the god of snakes and apparently a pretty nasty dude, but I didn't do much research on his behalf. The name just sounded pretty cool for a creepy giant snake.6. On a happier note, I will tell you that I am planning on this story to be between 20 to 30 chapters long, with an at least 10 chapter long sequel (hell yea baby), and also a series of irrelevant oneshots I will update randomly. This series will probably not focus only on Levy and Gajeel's relationship, but also on other ships and matters I want to address such as friendships, business, silly free time and whatnot.
7. It's important for whoever reads this story to remember that in this universe, the characters all live together in a traveling circus. They are nomads. Technically homeless, you could even say. So a lot of time, specially in between chapters, they spend travelling from one town to another. They usually take between two days to get from one place to another (it is slow). Then they will stay two or three nights in smaller towns, and a week and a half at most at the bigger ones. There's always at least one 'free night' at every stop, which they use to rest, practice and do some tourism (?).
8. I try my very best to check and double check and triple check every chapter before I post them, but despite all of this checking and rechecking, English is still not my first language and unfortunately, some gramatical mistakes can be found within my story. Please forgive me, I'm trying my best to learn and I feel I make an improvement with every new chapter I write, but mistakes are bound to happen all the time. Thank you for understanding, and I'm sorry in advance for any further errors. (Feel free, whatsoever, to leave reviews in Spanish, as it is my first language, or any language at all, and I will try my best to translate it and reply to you properly!)
That's all for now! If you're new to my story and somehow my terrible summary has lured you into reading this, feel free and very welcome to favorite and follow, and also if you could from a tiny, little, insignificant review on this silly invention of mine then that would be super cool.
See you next week!