Chapter Text
An explosion wasn’t an uncommon happening, especially when it came from The Doctor’s tent.
Ticket Taker sighed, dropping the sheet he was revisioning on top of the large pile of documents he was finishing checking before calling it in for the night. He walked to the cyan tent with a desolated look behind the mask already imagining more paperwork was going to be added to the pile. He stopped in confusion, though, seeing an iridescent colored smoke coming out from the Doctor tent’s openings.
“Doctor? Is everything ok?” He called. But got no response.
Alarmed, the blue clad master of illusions used his power, creating clones of himself to check the surrounding area while he inspected the inside of the tent.
He waved away the smoke that impaired his vision, smelling strongly of something sulfuric and herbal. All the furniture and utensils are lying scattered around because of the explosion, but the alarming thing was that there was seemingly no trace of the other crew members that were supposed to be there. Even his other clones found no trace of them on the outside of the tents.
Ticket Taker’s calm demeanor began to slip, starting to look around more frantically, turning the fallen furniture back up in hope that someone was there.
GRAWRRR!
Something growled at his right, but it didn’t sound like a rat or any animal he could think of.
Carefully, he approached in the noise source direction, waving away the smoke wisps blocking his vision field. There were broken glass bottles and shards creaking and shattering under his boots, their contents soaking the soil now.
Something moved underneath the messy tablecloth that had been sent flying in the explosion.
GRRRRRR~
Something underneath it was definitely struggling, but judging from the dimensions it was probably a mouse. Or a couple of mice.
Claws out and ready to defend himself, Ticket Taker grasped an edge of the slightly burned cloth and lifted it, gasping loudly as he realized what exactly had been laying underneath it.
“Oh for all our great ancestors!”
He wasted no time, practical and pragmatic as he ever was. He looked around, searching for something clean and unbroken to use to gather them all over, but after finding none he just took off his hat and very gently he scooped each of them up and placed them inside his tophat.
The smoke made him cough a couple of times, tickling his senses uncomfortably. The sooner he got them all to a safer place, the better.
But where to go?
Somewhere where no human would pry, but also where he could get some help.
Was there anyone that could help them?
Maybe… maybe one person there was.
Ticket Taker secured his hat and its content in his arms and began to run towards the human apartment complex he remembered writing in his files.
~ 🎩 ~
It was 2AM when you heard your doorbell ring. You ignored it, thinking it was just some bored teenagers pulling pranks at night.
When the ringing became an insistent one you cursed under your breath as you forced your body to get out of bed and answer the doorbell.
“Who is it?”
“Ticket Taker from the Freak Circus of Horrors. Pardon the late night intrusion, but we are in dire need of help. May I ask for your discreet collaboration?”
It took you a couple of moments to register such big words while your brain was still sleepy. Once his request clicked, you just opened the doors and told him to climb the stairs to the second floor.
You waited for him on the doorstep, seeing him run up, jumping 3 steps at a time. His expression was hurried and you noticed immediately how his hat was not on his head but jealously clutched in his arms.
“My thanks Mx Y/N.” He thanked you as soon as you moved away to let him enter your apartment.
“Where are the others? I thought you said we?” You ask, not seeing anybody else before closing the door.
He looked at his hat for a fraction of a second, seemingly contemplating how to tell you. You begin to think for the worst, adrenaline waking you up completely now.
“P-please tell me they are not-”
GRAWWWW! HISSSSS!
Something inside the hat made itself known, focusing both your attention on it.
“Please forgive me, but this was the only solution available.” You didn’t understand if Ticket Taker spoke to you or at the something that was agitating inside his hat.
“What?” You asked, not understanding what was happening. Maybe you were dreaming. Maybe this was all a fever dream.
“Mx Y/N, I will need your most secretive cooperation, do you understand?” He asked you, his white and blue irises shining bright.
“I do, but... What happened?” You promised. Ticket Taker approached you, uncovering the inside of his hat and letting you peek at the content.
You gasped in surprise because no way this was real!
Inside the navy blue hat laid four colorful dragon-like creatures, as big as hamsters except for the wings. There were two, a red and black one and a green/yellow/black one that were currently wriggling and kicking each other, much like when puppies tussle. There was a dark red one covered in feathers that was seemingly sleeping unbothered. Lastly, the purple and golden one was staring up at you, all puffed up and with his four wings as open as the crowded space would allow to make itself bigger and threatening. It was the one hissing so fiercely, looking at you with its pinprick violet eyes filled with fear.
You looked back up at Ticket Taker, then back at the four dragons in his hat.
“Are they...”
“Yes.”
“It can’t be though...”
“It does appear so.”
“What the… HOW?”
“I’m afraid I don’t have an explanation for this.”
The red one -that you registered being Pierrot- finally managed to bite the long slender tail of the green one, who was Harlequin, freeing himself from his coils and jumping up towards you with a happy screech.
He was stopped abruptly by the violet one, Jester, who grabbed him by the tufts of white hair on the tail with a bite and yanked him back down on the sleeping Doctor, who just tucked his head under a wing and resumed sleeping.
Jester growled and Pierrot whined.
Amidst all of this, Harlequin silently snaked his way to the top of the hat, stretching his wide wings as he finally reached the rim. You admired his long sleek body, scales shining almost iridescent in the moonlight filtering from the window in your living room. He looked up at you, flaring the crested hood at the base of his triangular head, but he was also suddenly dragged back down inside the hat by the tail with a comical screech.
“Yes, it's still definitely them in there. Don’t know what to do to help though.” You spoke to Ticket Taker as he laid the hat on the coffee table in front of your sofa.
“I don’t know either, but I think it’s best if they stay here where there aren’t many strangers that could find them as they are.” Ticket Taker looked at them, a little less worried knowing he managed to hide them somewhere safer now.
“Ok, but for how much time will they stay like this?”
“I am sure this is a temporary thing. I am just unsure of how much time exactly it will take to reverse. Maybe a month.”
“A month?!” You whisper-shouted.
“I am sure this will be manageable by you.”
“What do you mean by me? You are not staying??”
“I cannot stay here. I have to go back to the circus to close everything up until they are back to normal and make sure that nobody will be going in or out unchecked.”
“Oh…right.” His logic was undeniable.
“I’ll come back here once or twice a day, I’ll bring something more fitting to eat than what could be provided here.” He said that as he dipped his hand in his hat, once again confusing you if he was really talking to you or if there was someone else his words were intended for.
You noticed how Jester’s demeanor changed drastically from hissing and on alert to pliant and purring. The violet dragon folded his wings as the gloved hand reached at him, growling softly as he let himself be scratched under the chin. You chuckle.
“They are so pretty tough.” You commented genuinely with a soft smile on your face.
Ticket Taker didn’t reply, just hummed as he retreated his hand.
“I need my hat back.” He stated with his hands on his hips.
“Ah, sure. Can I touch them?”
“It’s not me you should ask that.”
You looked at the colorful bunch and surely enough Pierrot and Harlequin where already shoving each other away, looking up at you with wide eyes and enthusiastic growling noises. Jester was once again growling while Doctor just blinked awake, tilting his feathered head curiously at you.
“I will get you out one at the time. I’ll be gentle. Please don’t bite me.” You talked to them and they chirped in response. Jester growled instead, but that was accounted for.
You dipped your hand in the hat, palm up and open and sure enough Pierrot was the first to jump on. His tiny claws grappled on your skin, making you wince slightly. It felt like you were holding a handful of sewing pins, but the way he happily circled in your palm made you immediately forget about the pain altogether.
You took a moment to look at him: his back was striped and the large wings had the same coloration as his hat, with even a pattern resembling the stars on it. His tail was wagging, tickling your fingers with the soft white fuzz that covered its underside.
“Figured you’d come first Pierrot.” You chuckled as he flared his wings and jumped happily in your hand. You lowered him on the table and he hopped off reluctantly, looking back at you as if saying “do I really have to?”
“Stay, please.” You instructed him and he obediently sat, tail curling around himself and wings folded neatly at his sides.
You went back to the hat and not even a moment after you began to lower your hand, Harlequin was already slithering in your hand. His long tail coiled around your wrist and his heart shaped tip rested on your pulse. He puffed his neck frills again, like a cobra, but not intimidatingly. He was showing off, putting up a display to impress you, much like you have seen animals do in documentaries.
“Oh Harlequin, you don’t change, do you?” You chuckled. He tried to climb on your arm, but you stopped him. “No. Stay put. Here…” you lowered him on the table next to Pierrot. A hiss escaped the two dragons as soon as they saw each other, squaring up.
“Hey you two. No fighting in my house. This is a rule I will not compromise for. You will be on your best behaviour for the time you’ll stay here, am I clear?” You scolded them sternly.
Ticket Taker chuckled beside you.
“Good luck with that.” He just said. You sighed, believing his reaction was justified. You don’t know for how many years he had to endure this happening at the circus. Now it was your turn for just a month. Maybe.
The two dragons just rested on the table, apart from each other and sniffing around the surface.
The next one you got out of the hat was Doctor and picking him up felt like picking a chick up like you did years and years ago, when you were a child and your grandma kept chickens. You helped her tending them sometime. You smiled at the fond memory.
His bright cyan eyes looked up at you curiously just as you looked at his beaked muzzle showing sharp teeth. He didn’t emit a sound, just politely sat in your palm and hopped on the table in the middle of the other two.
Ok, 3 out of 4 were out. Now about the last one…
As you figured out already, Jester was less than eager to be picked up by you. His hisses echoed in the cylinder cage he was in, the dark fabric only enhancing the bright violet of his eyes staring up at you in absolute distaste.
“Uh… this will be difficult.” You thought out loud. “S-sorry Jester, but I-”
You just barely approached the hat and he swatted at you, hissing and spitting like a very very angry kitten. His wings all outstretched and taking up space, his tail slapping and thumping around and the arched posture clearly told you this was a no no. A damn big no no.
“Uhh… Ticket Taker… can you take him out? He won’t let me near him. I’d very much keep having hands after tonight if I can help it.” You asked him for help remembering how well he behaved towards the blue circus member before.
“Very well.” He approached and Jester soon climbed in his hand. The violet creature just rested comfortably in his gloves, well behaved and poised like nothing about his previous behaviour ever happened. He looked at you with distrust, but in Ticker Taker’s hands he was just as at ease as Pierrot was in yours.
You sighed, remembering you will have to deal with this for maybe a month. Uuuugh…
Ticket Taker let dragon Jester climb and perch on his shoulders and retrieved his hat.
“I’m afraid you won’t be able to come with me.” He spoke to the ringmaster.
Gnaurrrrr…
“I know, Jester, but I assure you it's better this way. Place your trust in me.”
Mrrrrrr…
“I’ll be back tomorrow.” He said, looking at you as well. He offered his palm at Jester and the dragon snorted before climbing it and being placed on the coffee table with the rest of the crew.
“I don’t have work or plans for tomorrow, so I’ll stay at home all day. You can come any time you find more fitting.” You replied, a yawn escaping you and remembering you that it was almost 3 in the morning after all.
“I'll probably stop by during lunch time. I must go back now. Thank you, red ticket guest.” He bowed his head before heading out.
Now you were alone with four tiny dragon versions of the circus crew in your living room.
“So… I’m going back to bed and… uh… don’t break anything, I guess? You can go wherever you want, just don’t set things on fire or make loud noises that might alert my neighbors. They are old and don’t hear well, but that doesn’t mean you can just roar like lions.”
You nodded, seeing as they were all calm and seemingly collaborating. You deemed it as they understood the message and made your way back to bed.
They all stood there, some sniffing, some using their tongues to taste the air.
Pierrot jumped down, heading to your bedroom, all too familiar with the layout of your apartment even if now it was as big as a cathedral.
Harlequin followed suit, but he spread his big wings and flew over Pierrot’s head, taunting him as he surpassed him.
Doctor made a tired sound before following them too, his feathered wings softening his sounds.
Jester just looked around, searching for the best hiding spots. The top of the fridge looked appealing, but that high shelf with some books caught his eyes. He was curious to see if you have good taste in reading material.
