the world turned on me, as if I cared for it
Memories passed in Charlotte's mind as she set up for her first performance on the streets of the settlement in the Hollowed Ground.
Her mother. A small speck twirling in the sky. Even from high up above, you could catch her mother's beautiful figure move amongst flashes of eye-catching silks. Then a memory of her father. His bellowing voice that carried in any space that he spoke in. Calling in droves of people around her family's small performance. Lottie's parents were interesting and successful performers, travelling when the people began to lose interest.
Lottie was never skilled with any of her family's talents. She had just been a small and weak girl tasked with rounding up the coin tips. The one to fetch her parent's drinks at the end of the night and then hide in the shadows. How was a girl who was taught to be talentless and invisible supposed to pick up the tricks of her parents?
She felt like a fraud standing there in her juxtaposition of a vibrant violet cloak over her plain brown dress. Along with her she had lugged a small birdcage that held Magnus, a little mouse that she found scrounging around for food. It was a relatively light object but Charlotte was so weak that carrying even this across the street had forced her to take a few moments to catch her breath.
After a moment to catcher her breath, she placed the cage that held Magnus on a nearby large pile of wooden debris so that Magnus was more eye level with people who may want to view her trick. She forced her mind in that of a performer as she scanned the streets for anyone, someone, that might be intrigued enough to stop over.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Umm... gorgeous people of this beautiful town", She let out, internally kicking herself for sounding ridiculous. For one; the town was not known for it's current state of beauty. And second; she sounded incredibly silly. If only she had been given her father's charm. But she had something that her father did not have, magic.
"Would any of you like to hear a hilarious joke spoken right from the mouth of the funniest mouse in all of Caido?" She tried again but was met by silence. Lottie would not be disheartened, her eyes met another's and she clung to them. She would not let go. "You there! Have you ever heard a mouse comedian? Surely not, come close!"
my soul burns just as bright
LOTTIE
