Those Unfortunate Misfits

__TOC__
Ｐｒｅｆａｃｅ 
How unfortunate, they whispered, If only their parents had wanted them.
Those people didn't see the magic. They saw a circus of misfits, a group of people that would never be anything more than that. But if they had looked a little closer...they would've seen the magic.
How unfortunate that their hearts forgot to tell their brain what was happening. 
Surly then they wouldn't whisper as they watched the teenager bow to finish the performance, a twinkle in his eye. Surely then they would notice that the girl stayed in the air for a minute too long. Surely then they would notice everyone else, as well. 
How unfortunate. 
==０１－　Ｔｉｆｆａｎｉ　Ｌｅ　Ｆｌｏｉ==
=== Ｍａｇｉｃ ===
Ｍｙ circus is magic.
==０２－　Ｔｉｆｆａｎｉ　Ｌｅ　Ｆｌｏｉ==
=== Ｍａｓｔｅｒ　Ｔｉｆ　（Ｆａｎｉ） ===
Ｍａｇｉｃ is wonderful, wild, and brilliant. Not to mention surprising. You could go to sleep one day and wake up filled to the brim with magic. And vice versa. 
It tricks you, hides from you, and occasionally breaks you. (Oh, Florin. I'm sorry.)
But here? At the Le Floi Circus, magic is tamed, as much as one can tame it. And nobody knows the difference. They smile and laugh but never guess it's anything other than an elaborate performance.
That is, until someone does notice. However, that doesn't happen quite yet, so, welcome, welcome...
The lights turn off as the performance ends. Aurelia bows next to me, grinning.
"Hey Tiffani-"
I give her a stern glance, "Fani."
She knows that if someone overhears, this show is over. They'd never let a teenage girl keep a circus.
She doesn't seem to care as she shrugs, "See you tomorrow, Master Fani." Then flounces away. I watch her go over to the crowd that's exiting the show. A tall boy with dark hair whispers something in her ear and she giggles.
Idiot. 
I wait until everyone is gone to pull her aside. 
"Aurelia!" I say sternly to the younger girl. "This is the fifth time I've caught you with him." 
She blushes, "It's not my fault."
"That doesn't matter. What matters is, he's...not like us. You know that,"
Aurelia frowns, brushing a lock of her pale blonde hair off her face. "I don't care. He's funny. And he is a wonderful kisser."
I wrinkle my nose in disgust. 
"You should see your face right now." Aurelia laughs. 
I never get a chance to respond, because Petal comes over, her dark eyes meeting my gaze.
"Aure, I need to speak with Master Fani." she tells her sister. Aurelia sighs dramatically and leaves.
Petal isn't much taller than me, but I still feel slightly intimidated by her. She's gorgeous, with pale blue hair (she dyed it that colour the first day she joined us and it hasn't changed since), dark skin, and eyes the colour of midnight.
"Yes, Petal? Is Triumphant giving you any trouble?" I ask, referring to our resident lion- we always figured he'd been abandoned by his mother as a baby. We never knew why, until Petal arrived. She took one look at the lion and said, 'His mother tried to kill him.'
She's never said any more on the topic, but since then she has been the resident animal-trainer.
Petal rolled her eyes, "Of course he hasn't. No, this is about Aure. And that boy."
I guess I should have expected that, "I talked to her, she just refuses-"
"To listen? Well, then , just stop selling him tickets."
"She'd still find a way." I take a deep breath, "And we need the money."
"Why not glamour some paper to look like money?"
Because it will fade away, just like all magic does. 
"Because." I say simply.
Petal probably knows that that's the end of the argument, because she sighs and says, "I don't want her to get hurt."
"I know."
"See you tomorrow, Fani."
I don't answer, because how should one answer to a name that's not their own?
＊＊＊
Practice starts early the next morning- I barely have time to wake up and get ready for the day. Binding my chest with some old bandages, as I always do, I reach for my blue velvet coat, it's shiny silver buttons winking at me. My top hat has a ribbon the same shade of blue as my coat.
Aurelia is already practicing with her silks, occasionally using her magic to make time pause for a few minutes as she twirls upside down and reaches for the next ribbon. Today she is wearing a particularly scandalous outfit. It reveals most of her back and far too much of her chest.
Not to mention the fact it's neon pink.
I snort, "Trying to impress someone, Aurelia?"
"I'm pretty sure that's obvious." she retorts, giving me the dazzling smile she's known for.
"You can't keep talking to him."
"I know."
"Then why do you keep doing it?"
"I don't. After all, you don't consider kissing talking, do you?"
Aurelia hops down and raises an eyebrow at me.
"You know what I mean." I say exasperatedly, "If he finds out-"
"He won't."
"But if he does-"
"He won't." Aurelia says again, more firmly. "If he does, we can just...erase his memory."
I pause, "If that happens, he won't remember you."
"That will only make it more fun. How many people get to fall in love more than once?" Aurelia flashes me another smile, but she does look a bit less certain.
"You're in love with him?" I ask.
"Of course I am." She says, blowing me a kiss as she goes back to practicing.
Nearby, Fredrick and Frances practice cartwheels and flips.
"You two doing okay?" I ask, watching at Fredrick does a remarkably steady handstand.
Frances nods, "Yep, Master."
The twins might just be the most sophisticated clowns I've ever met. On stage, they're all smiles and silly faces, but behind the scenes they're calm and level-headed.
Petal and Triumphant sit together to the side. She's muttering something to him as he eats food straight from her palm. Triumphant is a beautiful creature, huge and golden.
A parrot sits just out of reach of Triumphant, staring at the lion warily.
Everything is going perfect as usual. But out of the corner of my eye, I see a flash of black. It's gone in an instant.
Great. On top of Aurelia being uncooperative, I'm losing my mind.
Unfortunately for me...I wasn't losing my mind.
But I might just have been losing something far more important.
＊＊＊
“Show in 15 minutes!” I remind everyone. “Petal, you should go get changed.”
Petal is still wearing her favourite dress- a black frock that clings tightly to her curves.
She nods, “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Make sure Triumphant doesn’t eat Zee.”
She grabs her costume and leaves me alone with a parrot that looks scarier than the lion. Zee is mean, and the only words she knows are ‘The’ and ‘End’.
Which does make for a pretty good ending act.
When Petal returns, she’s wearing one of my favourite costumes in the show- a pale blue dress the exact shade of her hair that’s sewn to look like it’s made of flower petals. Her shoulders are bare, and the dress seems to make her dark skin glow. She’s brushed some pale blue lipstick on her lips as well.
“You’re gorgeous.” I say before I can think. “I mean, everyone is going to love that dress.”
Without another word, I leave, heading towards the ring. Aurelia is standing to the side, scanning the crowd for someone. That boy, I assume.
“You’re in love with him?” 
“Of course I am.”
As the spotlight hovers over the center, I step onto the stage. Showtime.
“Welcome, welcome.” I say, shifting my voice to make me sound less like me. “To the Le Floi Circus, which I started 6 years ago, at the age of 13…”
I go over the opening speech. I’ve mesmerized it by heart.
“Your dreams might just become reality tonight..” I finish as the spotlight turns away from me and towards Petal. There are oohs-and-ahhs from the audience at her dress, and then a collective gasp as the lion walks to her side.
I take this opportunity to step aside and go check on Aurelia.
She’s right where I left her- thank goodness- but she looks a bit nervous. Aurelia is never nervous.
“You alright?” I ask.
“Um, yeah.”
We hear the audience’s applause and I say, “That’s your cue.”
Aurelia glances around the room before she leaves, as if she thinks something is going to jump out of the shadows.
It really was a shame I hadn’t noticed the white envelope with the red lipstick mark on it. Instead, I follow Aurelia out of the side room and stand to the side as she performs.
The way she moves through the air is almost dizzying. She twists and turns until she lets go and-
“Beautiful, isn’t she?”
I twirl around quickly.
He has dark hair and amber eyes. His smile is darkly alluring.
I see why Aurelia likes him.
“Who are you?” I say quietly. “And what are you doing here?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know, Tiffani?”
The whole world seems to stop. He knows my name.
“Who told you that name?” my voice comes out far too light, but I don’t care at this point. He knows my name. 
The boy tosses an envelope at me. It’s sealed with a perfect red kiss. I scramble to open it, and a piece of paper along with a photograph falls out. The note must’ve been wrote on a typewriter. And the photograph. My heart seems to tighten in my chest. Because it’s me, my hair loose around my shoulders, my top hat carelessly placed on my head.𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙵𝚊𝚗𝚒 𝚒𝚜 𝚃𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚒 𝙻𝚎 𝙵𝚕𝚘𝚒. 𝙳𝚘 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗.
There is no signature, nothing.
As I look around, I realize the boy has also faded away to nothing.
== ０３－　Ａｕｒｅｌｉａ　Ｊｒｅｎ ==
=== Ｒｏｓｅ－Ｒｅｄ　Ｌｉｐｓ ===
Nothing can touch me when I’m in the air. The feeling of silks against my skin or my grip against the cool metal bar are the only things I know.
Especially when I’m using my magic to make that moment last longer.
As the performance ends, I curtsy delicately and wave.
Despite that, I still can’t get the memory out of my head- just a glimpse of darkness as I waited for my performance to start. At first I waved it off. But during the performance, I saw it more than once.
Something is wrong.
I smile brightly as I see Maur. Checking to see that Tiffani isn’t here, I walk over to him.
“Hey, Aure.” He murmurs, “Is Master Fani around?” I raise an eyebrow at him, “You’re not planning on getting me into trouble, are you?”
“I would never dream of getting you into trouble.” Maur replies. His tone says otherwise as he pulls me close to him and plants a kiss on the corner of my mouth. A tease of a kiss, really.
“Master Fani is otherwise occupied at the moment.” I tell him, glancing back to the ring. “He’s performing.” “Magic, if I remember correctly.”
“Uh, yeah. Magic.” I say, “Illusions and just a bunch of fake ****, of course.”
Maur laughs, “You’re an interesting person, Aurelia Jren.”
“Good interesting?” “Definitely.”
And soon he’s kissing me again, this time on the lips. I’m fairly certain he’s smudging my makeup, but I don’t care.
“Aurelia. What on earth do you think you’re doing?”
That voice is recognizable anywhere.
“Petal-” I start.
She glares, “Shut up. I need to have a talk with the boy who thinks he can mess up my sister’s makeup.”
‘Mess up their makeup’ was our circus’ slang for- well, I guess given the events I’ve already shown what it means.
“Maur didn’t do anything wrong.” I protest.
“Of course he did something wrong.” Petal says harshly.
Maur looks unnervingly calm. “It’s okay Aure. I’ve gone through this a million times with various overprotective siblings.” I do not like the thought of this happening before. Because that means he’s likely kissed plenty of people and-
Yeah. I shouldn’t be thinking about this.
I give his hand a gentle squeeze before leaving Maur to my sisters wrath.
＊＊＊
Tiffani won’t talk to me. In fact, she won’t talk to anyone. Something happened before she went on stage last night.
I just don’t know what.
She’d canceled our show for tonight, said it was time to move to the next town. Before that she’d claimed that Dominic, our flamethrower, was sick. But we found Dom and Frances (his current boyfriend) kissing and looking perfectly fine.
She didn’t answer any of our questions after that.
Part of me wonders if this is about Maur- maybe Petal told her- but Petal promised me she didn’t.
I guess I just have to believe her.
Packing up always feels a little like saying goodbye. It would hurt a lot more if I didn’t know that Maur was coming with us.
“We’re leaving.” I had said quietly.
Maur stands still for a moment, “Then I’m coming with you.”
“How? We’re going overseas-”
“Aurelia, you’re my whole life. I will gladly pack up the small life I have here to follow you around the world, despite your sister’s wishes.”
Let’s just say he definitely messed up my makeup after that.
I open up my worn old trunk, which is covered with stickers and a few signatures. Shoving in all of my costumes without bothering to fold them, it seems determined to stay open. With a sigh I take them out again and fold them carefully. 1. Neon pink (favourite) 2. Feathers (made of pale white feathers; second favourite) 3. Stars (very sequin-y, dark velvet; third favourite)
And so on.
I pick up my journal, the few books I have, and a couple other personal knickknacks and add them into the trunk, which is now much more close able.
I’m wearing one of my only ‘real’ outfits- a empire-waisted beaded red dress that barely reaches my knees, along with some scuffed brown boots and mismatched socks.
I probably look ridiculous, but I don’t care.
Dominic and Frances are waiting outside the tent already. Petal is probably coaxing Triumphant into the ship at the harbor, and Tiffani- well, I’m pretty sure no one knows what Tiffani is doing.
I grin as I spot Maur, standing to the side and dressed inconspicuously in a black suit and fedora. He looks like any other businessman going on a trip to Paris.
I give him a slight wave before turning back to our crowd. People surround the tent as it slowly comes down. I hate watching this usually, but somehow this time is feels like someone took a weight off my chest. This month has been wonderful, yes. I met Maur, after all.
But it’s also been different. Especially because of the fleeting glimpses of darkness I’ve been seeing.
Close by, Fredrick is teasing Frances about Dominic, and Day is standing quietly, wearing a black dress that stands out against their white skin and white hair.
A few of the dancers chat with each other, and our tightrope walker clutches her handbag.
The next hour passes in a whirlwind rush, and it seems like no time has passed at all when I step onto the boat. The circus has a whole area of the boat dedicated to us. I receive my keys from a shy looking young man, probably fresh out of school. He blushes as I wink at him. I simply cannot resist.
My room is small and I share it with Day, who simply sits down on his bed primly, informing me that he would like for me to use he/him pronouns at the moment.
A lot of people who come to the circus ask questions about Day. Why are you calling that girl he? Why don’t you make up your mind and quit switching up her pronouns every few minutes?
Day is obviously hurt by all of these remarks, but he takes them exceptionally well.
I wish I could be as selfless and calm as he is.
I collapse onto the lumpy bed, not bothering to unpack. I consider it quite useless, even though we’ll be on board for quite a few days.
The last month might have been the most romantic one of my life- but I knew the next one would be even better.
Or so I thought.
＊＊＊
I see Tiffani for the first time in days a couple of days into the trip. She looks normal enough- top hat off, but she wears her coat and has her chest binded.
I consider walking over to her, but shake away that idea as Petal approaches me.
I expect a simple hello, but instead she says. “You seem awfully chipper for someone who just left behind her ‘true love’.”
That was the moment I realized my mistake. Of course I wasn’t acting heartbroken enough, because I wasn’t heartbroken.
I’m absolutely dreadful at seeing the whole picture, and even worse at acting.
As I lift my eyes to hers, I see it. She knows Maur is coming.
“I’ve gotten over him.” I lie. It doesn’t sound convincing. At all.
Petal, surprisingly, doesn’t press me for information. She just says, “Tiffani is looking better, isn’t she?”
There’s a slight catch in her voice and a hesitation before she says it.
“You like her!” I say with a self-satisfied grin.
She glares at me, though halfheartedly. “I-”
“I can’t believe I never guessed it.” I cut her off. “Um, but don’t worry, I won’t tell. I love slow burn romances just as much as I love confessions-”
“You are never going to stop bothering me about this, are you?”
“Of course I’m not. I’m your little sister. Bothering you about your crush is practically my profession.”
I grin at her, and she gives me a small smile back. It’s better than nothing. Somehow the stars have aligned in a way that my sister has finally found herself a (slow burn) romance.
Now if only those stars would align for me, and I could find a way to keep Maur in my life.