B. The Games We Play

B.10. Insane Troll Logic

"Someone to watch me die.

I bet on losing dogs..."

Melody finished somberly. The patrons of the tent cheered as they took a bow.

They climbed off the stage then walked to the bar to get their paycheck for the night. They retreated to the smaller tent next door, fetching their bag and guitar from among the crates of alcoholic drinks.

Spontaneously, they grabbed one of the bottles from the crate and took a swig. The alcohol warmed their throat and stomach.

They briefly considered if they should work an extra shift. A yawn told them it was better not to.

They left the tent and walked among the stalls, trying to pick a place to buy dinner. Someplace organic maybe, or something more exotic. They were bit sick of Scatterstar food. Despite only having been there a week.

A roar came from the distance, followed by screams.

Maybe dinner can wait. Melody was unfortunately going to have to work an extra shift after all.

They ducked inside an empty supplies tent.

Their quaver note anklet glew. The glow spread across their body and faded.

Cacophony was left wearing their Powerine clothes, a black, sleeveless turtleneck shirt with jade buttons down the front and a purple ballet skirt. A jade belt with stripes resembling sheet music hugged their waist.

They wore black tights with green ballet shoes. On their hands were black fingerless gloves and a black bass clef marking next to their eye. The tatoos om their form arms changed from varies cartoonish drawings to a crowd of music notes and scribbly song lyrics.

They stepped out of the tent and ran through the crowd toward the direction of the noise.

A flash of light appeared, followed by thunder. Odd. It was clear skies a minute ago.

They found the source of the noise. A large, gold and yellow bird of prey circled the area. Stormclouds formed around their flight path.

There was an open cage by a nearby stall. Cacophony ran and investigated the cage. The lock had fallen off, it looked like it was fried.

A golom man stood nearby. He shouted at the other creatures that sat in cages. They jumped around, whimpering at the storm.

"Shut the hell up!"

"What happened, Knucklehead? Can't control your own creatures?" Cacophony asked.

"That blasted bird escaped." He spat out a small cloud of sand, then shook the cage of a gemstone cat that was jumping around.

"Maybe you shouldn't have put a thunderbird in a metallic cage?"

"It was asleep until just now. Why is that your business anyway? Just get my damn bird back."

Cacophony shrugged. "Guess I gotta do your job for you."

They looked up at the thunderbird. Most of the civilians left already. The creature just screeched and flew in circles. Cacophony couldn't tell if they were looking for prey or was trying to get their bearings.

Cacophony walked forward, taking out their baton. It extended into a tall flute. They held one end up to their mouth and played a tune.

A soothing melody traveled through the air, only the rumbles from the stormclouds disturbing it.

The thunderbird saw them and flapped their wings faster, opening it in a way to show the innerparts of the wing towards them and flaring out their tail feathers. They squacked in a high pitch.