A boy that looked no older than fifteen opened his eyes, they seemed to be filled with joy as he hopped out of bed and looked around his 'room' it was run down wooden shack with the corners of the walls being rotted away allowing for the sunlight to light up the room. The roof which would normally also block out light was missing. Really this was not a room the bed was actually just a mattress that was covered in multiple layers of cloth because the original upper layer had ripped off and all the springs had hurt the boy's back when he tried sleeping on it.
The boy even in the abysmal state of his room couldn't stop the smile from getting even bigger as he rushed out the wooden remains of the former shack the rags that he wore barely kept him warm even when the sun was out but as it seemed nothing would stop the his joy as rushed through the slums and toward the large tent in the distance.
The residents of the street watched the boy run with sad smiles while they themselves where poor and most being poorer than the kid they didn't know how a child so young could enjoy working at the 'circus' that had recently opened up. From what most could tell it was a normal circus but the fact they only hired children brought up a couple red flags to the residents.
The boy finally stopped running as he reached the tent and walked up to a lady dressed in what looked like a nut cracker with her even having a classical musket strapped to her back.
"Hello Miss Velvet am I late?" The boy looked up at the lady, his ebony hair shining in the sun due to being unwashed. The lady now revealed to be Miss Velvet looked at the boy his dark unkempt hair reaching his middle black while his purple eyes stared at her.
"No, you are just on time Tal." She said in a bright tone as she smiled at the child while she was not much older than the boy being nineteen she had helped him settle into the circus being his first friend. The boy however seemed to finally stop smiling as he puffed up his cheeks and said in a huff "It's Talon not Tal. Tal doesn't even sound cool." The girl however let out a laugh as she looked down at the boy who was a head shorter than her "Well I think it sounds cute." She said as she pat his head.
Talon looked down slightly "Well only if it's you." He sputtered out with a blush on his face. The girl stopped patting his head as she motioned him into the circus "Well Tal you need to meet the Ringmaster." As Talon walked into the circus Velvet's eyes seemed to stare into his back a couple moments too long before she straightened out and looked forward.
Talon smiled again as he walked into the circus tent the bleachers which had been set up during the night as he marvelled at all of the attractions he bumped into what looked to be a man in a clown costume, the clown looked down at the kid that had bumped into him his white porcelain mask it had an exaggerated smile and was covered in large splotches of yellow, red and blue. The man behind the mask seemed to have dark red eyes as he looked down at the boy before hopping up and letting out whelp.
"Whoa there Talon don't scare me like that. You should be careful wouldn't want you to bump into anyone important like the ringmaster or any of the fragmentum beasts." The clown chastised in an overly joyful tone before suddenly he leaned and whispered "Some people here are not exactly fond of kids and would use any reason to get them out of the circus while others seem…overly fond of them" The clown warned before jumping up and exclaiming "But what would I know I am just a clown." Before the walking off his shoes letting out squeaks and squawks as he walked humming a jingle to himself.
Talon shook himself out of his stupor before glancing back behind him before shaking his head and running forward to the back of the tent where he saw the Ringmaster with a group of children infront of him.
The ringmaster lifted his head up and saw Talon walking up "Ah Talon good to see you today." The ringmaster tipped his top hat forward as he saw Talon walk up revealing his grey eyes as he calmly motioned Talon to join the group. "This will be show three out of the five we will be doing in this area there will be fifteen shows on this planet which will be done in total so for now please help set up the cabling and the smoke machines for the first act." The Ringmaster explained calmly as he motioned toward the pile of five to six smoke machine boxes sitting behind him.
"Yes sir" Talon said with a smile as walked off toward the smoke machines and went round toward the smoke machines and help the others setup. The Ringmaster watched Talon walk away from him and let a small smile grace his lips at Talon's enthusiasm. He then turned around and told the other kids about their roles before walking off to his own smaller tent behind the main one.
Talon happily helped out with him mainly carrying cables over from the sockets to power the smoke machines and then helping with other odd jobs that the troupe members needed help with.