Chapter Text
Their lives had always been different from the rest. Two playful, childish souls, each relying on the other for company, for they had no one else. Everyone had always laughed and cheered at their performances (aside from a few certain times), but to the audience, the two were just entertainers and members of the royal court, nothing more. When one half of a pair is broken, it becomes unusable, and soon, the other is discarded too, forgotten by the world.
“Seam, Seam! It's almost time for us to go on!”, a cheerful voice called excitedly, just barely quiet enough to avoid echoing throughout the little theater.
Another voice, a nervous one, replied.
“Already..? I-I'm not sure if I'm prepared yet….”
The figure with the cheerful voice stepped out of the shadows of the stage curtains. He was small, with gray skin and pointy ears, and was clothed in a silly-looking jester outfit, though Seam thought it looked cute on him.
“C'mon, you're gonna do great! I'm so excited! We worked so hard on this!”
The nervous voice, Seam, belonged to a purple, plush cat-like monster with orange button eyes, wearing an orange wizard hat and robes, wielding a wooden staff.
“Yes, but… what if I mess up? The Kings surely would take offense to our act if something bad were to happen….”
“So what if we mess up? It'd be fun if it went against even our expectations as well as the Kings’! Besides, we can just pretend it's all part of our performance!”
“Optimistic as usual, Jevil…. so wha-”
Before Seam could ask his question, the curtains began to rise, and the announcer, a young blue-skinned man, ushered them on.
“O great and excellent majesties, and thine otherst ladies and gentlemen, prepareth thouselves for another excitinge performance! The two who shallst beith auditioning this time art two young newcomers, by the names of Jevil and… er…. Seem?”
His grandeur and “fancy” speech faltered for a bit, unsure of the pronounciation of Seam's name. Of course, like everyone else except for Jevil, he got it wrong.
Seam was offended, but knew it wasn't worth it to correct him right now.
“The show shall now begineth, enjoy thyselves!”
“And that's our cue!”
Jevil grabbed Seam by the hand and led him on stage. It was always surprising how fast the little guy could go when he was excited, scared, or nervous. This time, Seam could tell that, despite how Jevil was acting, there was a bit of nervousness mixed in with the excitement.
“Uh, Seam… the microphone is too high up!”
Ah, there it is, the first mistake. Of many.
Seam, struggling to hold in a groan of annoyance, lifted up his small friend to the microphone.
Still being held in the air, Jevil addressed the audience with surprising confidence.
“Heehee, hello everyone! My name is Jevil, and this is my friend Seam! Sorry about the, uh, technical difficulties! I guess you could say our performance is a bit…. short-handed!”
That got a couple of laughs from the audience, somehow. Seam was smiling now too, when that dumb, toothy grin looked back at him.
“Anyways, now for our performance! We've got a few tricks up our sleeve!”
Setting Jevil down, Seam got his staff ready and adjusted his hat.
The audience went silent.
Jevil stood in the center, focusing his magical powers, and summoned shapes from every card suit.
Three...
Two...
The countdown to one never happened. The nervousness Jevil had been keeping in finally showed itself, and suddenly, there was an explosion of clubs and spades and hearts and diamonds, all unable to be controlled. Bouncing everywhere, it sent everyone in the audience into a panic. A spade almost hit the King of Clubs in one of his faces, just barely missing. Multiple audience members were being chased by diamonds. The announcer was screaming in the corner like a little girl.
It was chaos.
Seam just knew something like this would happen, so he had already prepared his spells.
With the grace of a master magician, he swiftly speared the dangerous projectiles out of the air with magical strings. They were engulfed in an orange flame-like light, and seemed to burn into ashes. Within about three minutes, the theater had not only been cleared of danger, but of an audience as well. The only three that remained were an exhausted and frustrated Seam, Jevil, who had collapsed unconscious on the stage, and the announcer, still cowering in the corner.
Dropping his staff, Seam rushed over to Jevil. “Jevil, are you okay?! Wake up! Before they come back!” He picked him up and shook him like a child would a doll.
Tongue still hanging out of his mouth, Jevil lifted his head up and looked around.
“Oh no, not again!”
Seam managed to laugh a little, despite his intense anxiety. “Yep, we messed up big this time…. Now, we've gotta get out of here. There's no telling what they'll do to us for endangering the kings. We could end up in jail, or worse!”
Suddenly no longer afraid, his panic replaced with anger, the strange announcer walked over to them, hands balled into fists at his sides. “STOP RIGHT THEREST! Neither of you… delinquents shall be goingst anywhere until you tasteth justice!” Wow, he was really mad for somebody who was hiding in a corner and never got hurt the entire time.
Jevil, never knowing the right and wrong time to say such things, felt the need to make a joke. “Ooh, I bet justice tastes great! I've never had it before! I-”
The announcer, having been fed up with him already, completely lost his patience.
“SILENCE, WORM! YOUR ACTIONS ENDANGERED THEIR ROYAL MAJESTIES AND THUS YOU DESERVE PUNISHMENT !”
Jevil sunk back into Seam's robe, realizing he made a mistake. He was still smiling, though. Seam held up a paw, still quivering, but he tried to make himself sound at least somewhat competent.
“Hey, wait… um, can't we at least try asking the kings for forgiveness? I mean, we are very young and inexperienced, so we could never have guaranteed something like that wouldn't happen. And besides, the kings knew the risks of magic-related injuries and destruction when they decided to hold auditions for court magician and jester. ...What is your name anyhow?”
The announcer paused for a moment, hand on chin, processing what Seam had just said.
“Hmm…. perhapst. But be aware, that doth not mean I must be kind to you. And my name…”
He paused yet again, pondering whether or not he should even tell the two.
“My name is Rouxls Kaard.”
Seam extended a paw out as an invitation for a handshake, and surprisingly, Rouxls accepted.
“My name's Seam, and yeah, it's pronounced 'Shawm’. You… said it wrong, earlier….”
“Heehee, he doesn't like it when people say his name wrong!”
“Jevil, now's not the time.”
“Aww….”