"So what kind of talents do you usually see at the tryouts?" Cameron asked. It was a week from the last time she'd been in the theatre, and she was carrying a stack of posters for Jackie as they headed there.
"Oh, the children always come up with crazy acts for the show," Jackie replied dismissively.
"C-Crazy?" Cameron stammered. "Crazy like... how?"
"Crazy like creative!" Carrie exclaimed, jumping up behind Cameron.
"Bingo, Carrie!" Jackie confirmed.
"Eh-heh." Carrie leaned toward Cameron and asked, "So how're y'all adjustin', Ginger?"
Cameron let out a nervous squeak, backing away from the reptilian woman.
"Y'all still seem purty jumpy," Carrie observed. Then she watched the stack of posters fall out of Cameron's hands. "Mmmyep," she muttered. "Purty jumpy."
"Well, anyways... me and J-Jackie have to get ready for the tryouts soon," Cameron stuttered, hurrying over to Jackie's side.
"Yeah! The students are prob'ly getting ready," Jackie agreed.
"Yeah. Ah can take a hint, Ginger," Carrie sneered, shooting Cameron a look. As she walked away in a hunched pose, she added, "But let me know if ya ever feel like really gettin' to know yer new home. There's more to this place than you've seen." She paused as she almost ran into Fabian, then snarled at him, "Don't get any ideas, Fuzz Bucket."
Fabian frowned as the reptilian humanoid lumbered off. "And what exactly do you mean by that, Car—" he began to snap.
"Oooooh, Fabian!" Jackie interrupted quickly. "Would you have any desire to help me and Cam judge the tryouts? After all, you and I both know you have quite a background in hidden talents in performance!"
"Well, I..." Fabian paused, glancing at Cameron. Then he continued, "Why, yes I do! But I am afraid I cannot," he added apologetically. "I have some papers to grade." He advanced toward Cameron, purring, "I had hoped to invite Miss Cameron to tea with me, though..."
"Whoa! Down, boy!" Jackie said with a laugh, pushing Fabian's head down. "She's new. Don't go tryin' no fancy stuff this soon."
Cameron grimaced as Fabian raised an eyebrow at her. Oh, god. He can't be... not really... he's an animal... oh, god...
"You wound me, Jackie," Fabian told Jackie with false hurt in his voice. Then, turning back to Cameron, he added, "But in all seriousness, I wanted to speak to you about the human world... what it is like now."
"W—Well—" Cameron began to reply.
"Whup! No time! We are late for the tryouts!" Jackie broke in, shoving Cameron down the hall.
"Farewell, ladies!" Fabian called as they headed away. "I hope to see you for tea soon, Cameron!"
"Bye, Fabian!" Jackie trilled over her shoulder.
"Was that fox... just... h-hitting on me?" Camerno asked, seeking confirmation from the Avian.
"Yes. Yes he was," Jackie replied with a sly smile. Then she frowned as they entered the theatre to the sound of arguing voices. "Oh, dear!" she fretted. "What is going on here?"
"Girl, I say again!" a tall, lavender-skinned man was snapping at the student on stage in a refined-but-light German accent. "Please get off the stage!"
"C'mon!" the girl on stage—the same one who'd sniffed Cameron a month earlier (MacKenzie Payoray)—protested. "You didn't even see my act! That's not fair!"
Cameron gaped at the girl, who was dressed in a beige cat costume with a ridiculously large head. What the...
"I didn't need to see any act to know you have nothing to offer," the tall man sniffed. Then he narrowed his eyes and gestured slightly with his notepad. "Why are you wearing that?"
Before MacKenzie could respond, the green-skinned man next to the taller man said, "Actually, I would love to... see..." He trailed off as the taller man shot him a look.
"Next," the tall man said in a clipped tone.
MacKenzie scowled and began heading off stage, but somehow ended up tripping on her outrageously long hair. She slipped and fell backward off the stage, landing on top of the tall man with a grunt.
"Ach! What kind of clumsy move was that?" the tall man spat, sitting up with MacKenzie sprawled across his lap.
"MacKenzie?" Jackie gasped as she hurried over to the man. "Gustav!" she cried. "What's happening here?"
"It tripped," the man—Gustav—replied scathingly, getting up and dusting himself off.
Ouch. "It"? Cameron thought, wincing at the insult.
"Oh, Kenzie... again?" Jackie said to the girl sympathetically as she curled up on the floor.
Jackie frowned and crouched down next to MacKenzie. "Sweetheart... you can't keep—"
MacKenzie hissed at her angrily before leaping up and storming away, arms wrapped around herself.
Jackie sighed, shaking her head.
"So... that's happened before?" Cameron asked, confused.
"It happens every year, it seems," Jackie replied sadly.
Cameron glanced at the man Jackie had called "Gustav". "So who's this?"
"Oh! Oops. I never told you," Jackie apologized. "This is Gustav! He's a former student of mine, and he usually comes to help me judge the tryouts!"
"Guten tag!" Gustav greeted Cameron, a warm smile replacing his condescending expression.
"Are you human?!" Cameron asked pleadingly, grabbing Gustav by the lapels and pulling him close.
Gustav gently removed his hand and let his forked tongue flick out of his mouth with a smirk. "Snake."
"That's worse than the birds!" Cameron wailed, shrinking back.
"So who's next?" Jackie asked, ignoring Cameron's reaction.
"The freshman girl," Gustav answered. "Sahara."
Cameron watched warily as a young girl with a chocolate complexion and pink-and-black hair—Sahara, as Gustav had called her—came on stage, wearing a pink-and-black dress and a matching witch's hat. "For my act, I'm gonna demonstrate some traditional magic!" she declared. She cleared her throat and rolled up her sleeve. "Nothing up my sleeve," she announced, gesturing to her arm.
Cameron frowned.
Sahara hunched over the cauldron she'd dragged on stage and yelled, "Boil, boil, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble—"
She paused.
Then she quickly checked the book she'd brought with her before turning back to the pot, hiding the book, and finishing, "Ego voco apon copias magnus et supernaturalis! Veni foras et ostende nobis fulgentiorem, COLOR!"
Cameron clung to Jackie as she anticipated a huge explosion.
However, only silence filled the theatre.
Sahara scowled and leaned over the cauldron. "Aw, come on... seriousl—"
BOOM
Sahara blinked, her face black with soot.
The judges stared, unimpressed.
Then Gustav barked, "NEXT!"
-
P.O.V. – Zill
"Where is she?" Zill muttered worriedly, checking his phone. He turned as Sahara came backstage, carrying her cauldron with a sour look on her face. "Hey, Sahara! Have you seen Kayla around today?" he asked. "I told her to meet at 8... and she's never late..."
"Dude, meet where?" Sahara replied, giving Zill a strange look. "She's not here. She told me earlier that she was missing the tryout this year 'cuz today's your anniversary."
Zill blinked. CRAP.
Sahara's face fell. "Aw, h---, no!" she exclaimed. "You did not forget your own anniversary!"
Zill put both hands on his face. CRAP!
Then he dashed out the backstage exit as fast as he could.
"How'd you pull that off?" Sahara shouted after him, incredulous.
-
P.O.V. – Kayla
Kayla rested her face on a hand inside her house as the clock struck ten next to her. Where could he be? she thought inwardly, a stab of hurt entering her heart.
Knock-knock-knock.
"Kaylaaaaaaaaa!" a familiar voice sang from outside.
Kayla's ears perked up, and she quickly composed herself as she walked up to the door and opened it to find Zill standing there, a sheepish smile on his face. "Zill," she greeted him halfheartedly, barely able to force a smile onto her own face. "What, um... what kept you?"
"Well, uh... y'see," Zill tried to explain, "uh... I kinda..."
Kayla glanced down at Zill's tail, which bore on its face an expression of shame. "You forgot, didn't you," she whispered.
Zill hesitated. Then he quickly handed Kayla a bouquet of blue wildflowers. "Happy Anniversary, Angel!" he told her with a grin that was equal parts apologetic and hopeful.
Kayla glanced down at the flowers and then up at Zill. "Zill," she murmured, her voice cracking, "you know how h-hard it is to upset me. I could forgive lateness. B-But... 3 years... and you forgot...?" She sniffled and whimpered, "This... this upsets me..."
-
P.O.V. – Zill
Zill's face fell as Kayla broke down. "Kayla! K-Kay!" he cried. "I'm so sorry!"
Kayla turned away. "I need some t-time to recover from this!" she said, hurrying back into her house and slamming the door.
Zill remained where he was, staring at the door.
Then Kayla threw the door back open and shoved the flowers back into Zill's arms before slamming the door again.
Zill's antennae drooped, and the flowers dropped the ground. "Kayla...?"
-
Small-time "criminal" (and one of Zill's archrivals) Horris watched with a grin as Zill trudged away from Kayla's house. "And now he's vulnerable," he chuckled. "He'll be easy pickings tomorrow..."
-
A shadowy figure floated outside the barrier overhead, using her enhanced vision to watch Zill head home. "Ah. Their strongest protector is defenseless," she breathed. "When this barrier goes down tomorrow, taking him down will be all too easy..."