Once there was a wingless fairy who's greatest pleasure came from her gift to dance. Her form was perfectly balanced, her steps were perfectly light, and her movement was perfectly graceful. She would rise up on the tips of her toes, and skim over the floor. No one had ever danced so well. Her dancing was the only way she could express her true emotions therefore she loved to do it so very often.
But then a wretched goblin thought to use the fairy's gifts for his own personal gain. So he locked her away in a gilded cage, kept underground and away from the sun. He would only let her out to entertain his spectators and she no longer had any say in when she danced or what she danced for. Her goblin captor now made those choices.
She continued to charm countless viewers with her dancing but now instead of feeling great joy, she felt as if she were treading on sharp-edged steel. Her passion for life had been turned into a shackle that chained her to misery. Many times she thought of destroying her gift. Of cutting off her feet, thereby removing her talent and thus freeing her of the goblin's grasp on her but alas she could not bring herself to do it. For despite her dancing being the very reason she was enslaved, it was also her greatest pride and joy. To eliminate it would be like killing apart of herself. So she had no other option but to dance for the goblin. Dance for the goblin until she died.
Or until he died.
Rehearsal was the equivalent of slave labor to Vaggie. For hours, she had been forced to dance and dance until her poor feet were painted red with blisters and blood. Each rhythmic step filled her with agony and her mind would become so dizzy and foggy from the lack of rest. To make matters worse a terrible storm arose that afternoon. Thunder, lighting, and buckets of rain getting poured down. It was almost like a hurricane. But still she and Husk had to rehearse despite the possible danger the storm presented.
By the time they were finally allowed to rest, Vaggie went back to her tent ready to collapse. Her feet were sore and her body was dripping wet, thank Heaven above that her tent was on high ground.
"Damn Valentino, making me dance nonstop in these conditions." She cursed while ringing out her hair. "Maybe we'll get lucky and this storm will sweep him out to sea."
When her hair was no longer dripping, she changed into some dry clothes and tried to think of a way she could free herself and her fellow performers from Val's grip. It wouldn't be easy and it would be full of risks, but she couldn't keep living like this. Neither she or Husk or Mr. Pentious. There had to be some escape from him, but what?
She planned to continue her thought process in bed but when she sat down something from inside the covers began to wiggle and crawl about. She jumped from the bed.
"What in the world?"
She pulled back the covers, expecting to find a rat or maybe even a snake that had slipped into her tent, it was either one she'd fix em good. She wasn't afraid of rats or snakes but she didn't like them in her bed or trying to steal her food. But instead of discovering a rat or a snake, she found a small pig.
"Well hello there." She giggled, not at all repulsed by the creature. "How did you get in here?"
The pig only gave a small snort.
"You're awfully tiny for a pig." She observed. "What are you doing in here? Shouldn't you be in a pen or something?"
Suddenly a clap of thunder was heard. The pig squealed and hid himself deeper into the covers of her bed. Vaggie peeked out the crack of her tent and saw that the animal pens had been completely flooded. Now the larger animals like horses would be fine but the smaller ones like this little piggy, would most likely be washed away. Luckily for him though, the strong wind had blown away the gate to his pen and he ran to safest place he could find.
"Dios Mio. No wonder you came up here. You probably would have drowned out there."
She reached over to pet him but he flinched from her, then he got down from her bed and huddled himself into a corner.
"Oh you poor little thing, you're just scared to death aren't you? Can't say I blame you."
She grabbed a blanket and laid it down on the ground.
"I won't touch you but here's a little something to keep you warm tonight and in case you're hungry."
She opened satchel on her desk and pulled out some fruit she had been saving for later. A Handful of blueberries and two persimmons, which she placed carefully on the ground.
"There you go." She said.
For a moment she just watched the pig to see how he would respond. At first he just continued to stay in the corner, unsure of what to do. However his hunger soon overcame his fear and he proceeded to partake of the fruit left for him. Once he had eaten his fill, he curled up on the blanket and fell asleep. Vaggie followed suit on her own bed. The storm raged on all through the night and didn't hush until morning.
"Fat Nuggets!"
Vaggie was awakened from her slumber by a voice shouting frantically.
"Fat Nuggets where are you?!"
The pig was already awake and he seemed to recognize the voice. He bolted out from the tent and ran down toward the wrecked animal pen. There was Angel desperately searching the area like a mad man. When he heard about the storm he became terrified that Fat Nuggets had been drowned or washed away. He meant to come for the little piggy last night but the rain and wind kept him trapped in his apartment. As soon as the storm hushed, he headed straight for the circus. His heart practically stopped when he didn't see the pig anywhere.
"Fat Nuggets! Fat Nuggets! Fat Nuggets!"
If anything had happened to that pig, Angel didn't know what he'd do. Fat Nuggets was among the very few things that brought him any happiness. Without him, he would most likely cave into depression.
But once he heard that wonderfully sweet snort and turned around to see Fat Nuggets running straight for him. He jumped right into Angel's arms, knocking him into a huge mud puddle but the man could have cared less about being filthy.
"Oh Fat Nuggets thank God you're alright!" He cried hugging and nuzzling his precious pig. "I thought I'd lost you forever!"
Vaggie watched the whole touching scene and she found it to be very sweet. Adorable even. It had been long time since she had seen a sincere display of love and affection.
"How the Hell did you actually get through that storm in one piece?" Angel asked his animal companion.
"By hiding in my tent." Vaggie spoke. "My tent is on high ground so he took refuge there."
When Angel saw Vaggie he was suddenly struck silent by her smiling face. Of all the people he expected to run into, she was definitely not one of them.
"I hope he's okay." She continued. "He was very skittish around me but I gave him a blanket to keep him warm and some fruit to eat."
Five minutes passed and he still didn't say anything. He just kept staring at her.
"Is something wrong?" She asked. "You're starting creep me out."
"Oh sorry!" Angel apologized once he got a hold of himself. "I guess I'm still a little in shock about almost losing my buddy. Did you really shelter him from the storm?"
"Well technically he came into my tent uninvited but I couldn't bring myself to throw him out. That would be just heartless."
"You know I'm kind of surprised, most girls don't really like pigs."
"Probably because they're mostly mean-spirited gluttons. But this one here is surprisingly sweet, if a little timid."
"Fat Nuggets doesn't warm up to strangers at first."
"You call him Fat Nuggets?"
"Yeah. Is that name already taken or something?"
"No but it's just an unusual name that's all." She commented. "Do you work here? I don't think we've ever met."
"I work with the animals. You know, feeding them and cleaning up their shit. I'm Anthony but my friends call me Angel."
"My name is Vagatha, call me Vaggie. I work-"
"I know what you do. You're one of Val's performers." He blushed a little. "You dance very beautifully."
She blushed a little too.
"Thank you."
"But you get that a lot I'm sure."
"Not really. Most of the time I get 'do better' or 'not good enough'."
"Not surprised. You work for Valentino and he never has anything good to say. At least not to his employees."
"Speaking of which, I better get ready to go rehearse for him again." She sighed. "It was nice meeting you."
"Wait! You know you saved my pig's life."
"Yeah, so?"
"So I happen to descend from the Italian mafia and if there's one family tradition I kept from them it's that you always reward someone if they do a good deed for you. Let me take you out."
"No thank you, I'm not looking to date."
"Then we won't make it a date. We'll just go out as two friends."
"But we're not friends. We just met."
"Then this is an opportunity for us to become friends. Get to know each other. Say around the boardwalk at five tonight?"
"Kind of last minute don't you think?"
"I can do tomorrow or the next day. Hell I'll wait til next year if I have to."
"Look I appreciate the offer but I'm gonna have to say no."
"Alright then but just so you know I have a code honor that I have to uphold. If you won't let me return the favor, I'll be disgracing my ancestors and I'll just follow you around until you accept." He teased.
Vaggie huffed in frustration.
"Just one night out?" She said.
"Just one and you'll never hear from me again, unless you want to."
"I seriously doubt that." She turned around and started to walk back to her tent. Before going inside, she called. "You know I hope you'lol be a lot cleaner when we go out."
Angel was instantly humiliated and flustered when he realized that he had been covered in mud the whole time they were talking.
"Aww shit! No wonder she was trying to tell me to screw off!"
Fat Nuggets gave a snort that sounded like a laugh.
"Oh ha-ha. Like you're any more sanitary." He picked him up. "Come on Nugsy, let's go take a bath."
Angel sniffed himself and squinted at the stench.
"Whoa! I hope this is just mud."