Oppression {A Bug's Life AU}

Chapter VII: The Town of Cathrach

(A/N: so I want to clarify that they're not necessarily a circus, since the first circus didn't happen until the 1780s and this story is long before that time period..anyway, just to clear up any confusion or whatever)

Flik had been on the waters for at least 24 hours, and was surprisingly not to least bit sleepy or exhausted. He just kept rowing his boat across the waves, always looking ahead and never glancing back. He knew he wasn't lost, since he was using the compass he was given as a child, and it had never once failed him in his life. He knew that Cathrach would take a while to find. His island was meant to be closed-off and isolated from other countries and such like Cathrach.

By the next sunset, he finally spotted the body of land in view, and thankfully it wasn't too far. He smiled victoriously, regaining any energy he may have lost to row forward, determined to find the warriors that would save him and his home. The waves made his boat uneven a few times, but he simply ignored it, since it seemed nothing could bring him down from his good mood.

Eventually he reached the shore, where there were a few other boats placed as well, and quite an amount of ships docked not too far off. They weren't as large as the Grasshoppers' ship, but still an overwhelming sight for someone like Flik to see. He carefully stepped out of his boat and onto the sand, staring ahead at the land of Cathrach.

He grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder before walking forward. He occasionally glanced down at his feet, seeing his boots being attacked by the grains of sand on the shore. But he didn't really mind it, since his boots were already dirty to begin with. All of his shoes were, anyway. He was just a villager, so washing any article of clothing or footwear was an aggravating process. But that was something he'd taken notice to once reaching the streets of the town—almost everyone had clean and proper clothes. He almost felt underdressed around them.

Flik also noticed that he was the only ant person in the town. There were many variations of hybrids, such as flies, mosquitos, arachnids, bees, butterflies, cockroaches, etcetera. He was definitely one of the shortest that couldn't fly. But he wasn't at all intimidated or anxious about it. In fact, he didn't seem to care less. He was just excited to be there at all.

It was quite a busy street to be on, much busier than the village back on the island. There were people everywhere coming in and out of shops and bars, riding carriages, running from officers, or just walking normally to where they needed to go. There were so many people and so many places, Flik didn't even know where to start looking. But with the amount of options, he was sure to find warriors that would be willing to help.

But standing in the middle of a road too long surely wouldn't help. He was too busy admiring the scenery to notice he was in the way, which caused a large group and a carriage to pass by him before he realized. He immediately made a run for a sidewalk before he could get trampled or worse. But even on the sidewalk, he was still being pushed by random bypassers, some even telling him to get out of the way. Especially a snail hybrid he'd been shoved into. "Mind where you're going!"

Flik gave him an apologetic look as he stepped away awkwardly. "D-do forgive me, I didn't-" He spoke, but then stopped when he felt he was about to trip.
He gasped and looked down, seeing a ragged cricket hybrid sitting slumped against a wall. "Oh, I-I'm terribly sorry, I- it was an a-an accident.." He said, then trailed off when he felt a presence behind him. At first, he'd thought it was the snail hybrid again. But when he turned around, he saw it was just another person who'd been mocking his every move, but then stopped and acted innocent when being caught.

Flik gave him a look before his attention was elsewhere. He looked over across the street after hearing a large shout from a groggily voice. He gasped when seeing a bartender throwing a person out. "And stay out, tough one!"