Lone Gold, Daring Purple ✓ | Sorcerers, framed, runaway

4: "Say goodbye to me."

Warning: Depiction of wrist-cutting.

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After a week of being a puppet, Cypur was released from Venée. He spent all day in his room sleeping or drawing in his sketchbook to rewind and gather his energy back. Wegginfaezerie City Carnival began at midnight. Strings of sparkling lights appeared on the sides of buildings. Sorcerers in charge went around to infuse the lights with magick to make it last the whole week of Carnival. No one knew anymore what they were celebrating though. The meaning had long been lost.

Posters of the carnival dance during the opening ceremony had started to appear on the trees around his house last night. This year, Arius had been planning to participate and Cypur had watched a few of his dance steps and helped him get the tempo right. It would be rude not to go and watch the performance.

This would be the first time for Cypur and Arius to be at Carnival on the same day. Often, they would miss each other and laugh about it later. Cypur didn't know if he could keep his emotions to himself even with the police patrolling the area.

He also dreaded Carnival this year because Gallen and Rachelle wanted to take him to his first torture performance. It was something he had been avoiding seeing.

Torture, if done right and with little injuries, was considered beautiful in the eyes of aesthetic ethics that Sorcerers so religiously followed. Gallen and Rachelle loved the stuff especially since Rachelle's mother was a top performer in the art. Gallen had given him a poster of a show to initiate Cypur into the art and now it sat on his desk, glowing because Carnival was upon them.

'Professor Malgorithum's Greatest Slice of Life' it said with a picture of the red-haired, red-mustached, green-eyed lizard-like Professor Malgorithum holding a knife against the throat of a real lion dressed up in clothes. Cypur wasn't sure if someone like Mrs. Kelplind would particularly appreciate someone borderline making fun of her sub-species Leovra. There was no killing involved, no blood, and it was considered a 'kiddy show'.

"We'll initiate you with this. And then you'll come to Rachelle's mother's show. Next time we have debate, we can have a live torture session. You know the professor Missus loves that." Gallen had seemed confident he could get Cypur into the art, but Cypur was not sure at all. He had said yes to the plan, but come the first day of Carnival, now he wasn't sure.

As the sun began to set beyond his curtains, yellow deepening to orange, Cypur lay in his bed still not over being with handsy Venée and her opening ceremony runway show. She had been especially handsy this time getting her hands too close to places he didn't want touched. More than once did she give him a 'thank you' kiss on the cheek that he had to pull away from because it lasted a tad too long to be normal.

Still, her designs were impressive, and he saw how much she had grown under his mother's mentorship. No more clashing colors with crazy designs of squares and circles inside star shapes. No more bright reds with neon greens claiming it represented a flower bouquet. Venée had turned her fashion colors from crazy to subdued. Dark oranges mixed with floral yellow stitching throughout a cape meant for a Missus. Cypur refused, at first, to wear a female's cape, but he was reminded of commission and aesthetic ethics.

"Besides, you're androgynous. It works, sweetie." Venée's cooing voice had sent a shiver up his spine. Cypur knew he was more feminine than the average male Sorcerer, but he didn't like to wear female clothes. He was still a male, last he checked down there.

No wonder all those designers were mad. He recalled the moment he had to be out in the reception party in female attire of a long-sleeved flowing dress made of red silk with little golden flowers embroidered on the waist like a belt. He had to wear white leggings and a thin silver tiara because the dress' name had been 'Lady Red of Goldenrod'.