Dancing on Strings

Defying Reality

"Well, keeping in the theme of beasts and that which should not exist..."

The stage was lit and Mai's eyes widened.

A huge tank of water had been pushed onto stage and there was a merman inside.

He had long icy blue hair, eye a pale green and dark skin with a purple sheen across it when it hit the light.

She stared as everyone else gasped in delight.

Her eyes flickered to Dalton who sat in the row in front beside Daphne.

He had his head bowed towards her as she whispered to him, both their brows furrowed as they watched the merman wave at the crowd before launching into the air and flying through hoops that hung over his tank, using huge flicks of his tail to spray water over the edge and dampen the front row.

He span and danced and splashed and turned the water various different colours and everyone clapped – or simply gaped in amazement, transfixed by the merman's handsome face and unreal appearance.

The merman was followed by two acrobats that bounced and lunged around the stage, the woman thrown to impossible heights by the man, almost like she were flying.

Then came a magician in his traditional top hat and tails.

The rabbit escaped and the doves took flight – taking him with them as he kicked and panicked the whole flight before they dumped him feet first in a bucket of water.

His flowers sprayed him with a blast of perfume and his skipping rope that span on its own tripped him up.

The crowd roared with laughter as a floating ladder span and hit him in the backside, sending him flying while the escapee rabbit ran off with his top hat and the doves came back and stole his coat.

Finding himself more and more frustrated, the magician rolled up his sleeves, waved his wand and pointed it at the rabbit.

The rabbit burst into smoke and turned into a bear that chased him around the stage and sent him up a free-standing pole.

Quickly waving his wand again, the bear turned back into a rabbit that continued to jump and nash its teeth at him.

Another wave of his wand and his hat flew to him.

Carefully holding he hat out and positioning it just right, he dropped it and it landed directly on the rabbit. He slid down the pole, took the plate one of his doves gave him and slid it under the hat before flipping the thing over, trapping the little monster.

Very carefully, he held the hat away from him and lifted the lid.

A dragons head and neck roared from the hat, bearing down on him and he slammed the lid closed again.

After a moment, he opened it again and nothing happened.

He tipped the hat upside down and nothing fell out.

He peered inside then revealed it to the audience.

It was empty.

Everyone started to clap and he flipped the hat back onto his head and waved his wand.

Ivy vines and flowers started to grow from the stage, flowering upwards, the flowers glittering as the doves swooped through the gaps, filling the tent with a beautiful scent.

He bowed as everyone applauded and the little rabbit poked its head out from under the hat.

On and on and on the acts went, each fanatically funny or awe-inspiring or reality-defying.