Showtyme was distressed, a novel feeling for an entity that had seen them come and go. He was always at a loss in the aftermath of a test, and it wasn’t like they needed to be there anymore. Even the most ambitious cultist was hardly likely to manage to uncover the portal before the next trial. No matter how zealous they were digging a few miles straight down, and not stopping once you got to the gooey centre was something beyond their capabilities. Even the most fervent obsession doesn’t do well against the core of the planet.

The door would survive, just like it survived everything else, but until it was time to test the mortals again Showtyme was definitely at a loose end. They found, despite how annoying the mortals could be on occasion, they missed their company. Maybe they knew of somewhere with lots of mortals that won’t mind how scary they looked, but that did seem unlikely. Mortals had some rather big hangups on appearances, especially the humans, one tentacle or misplaced maw and it was freak this, abomination that. Then would come the cultists again.

Still, this bunch were the closest to friends Showtyme had encountered in a very, very, VERY long time. Thanks to that he was reminded of his time in the circus all over again. Well, it never hurt to ask, and shy abominations get nothing.

****************************************************************************

Mibbet came in on Puppy for a landing, carefully lining up to land beside the carriage. (She had found that while landing on the roof worked in theory, a more practical solution was to land somewhere they could run a little, to bleed off speed. Otherwise, well, while any landing you could walk away from was technically a good one, she preferred the kind where people didn’t have to unbury her upper half afterwards, some people are funny about things like that. While she had been away preparations had been started to move on. By which I mean it was suggested to Errol that maybe he should get started, in jest of course. In reality, everybody was taking part. (Except for Rascal and Alba, of course, their skills were more supervisory in nature. (See also, they lazed around and glared at people, they were good at that, and eventually, people went elsewhere and did something because the alternative was to continue being glared at, and there is a limit to how long that is tolerable for).

Showtyme was watching too, in the distance, and clearly had something on their mind.

“You could just ask them you know?” Rosalind grumbled.

“From what I’ve experienced of humans so far, asking that encourages them to say nothing, and Nothing always means something but is definitely not an answer, and usually results in hours of beating around the bush where they don’t explain themselves before they eventually get annoyed at you, then you waste another couple of hours of sulks before they eventually tell you when everybody is annoyed.” Mibbet explained, “easier to just not ask, if it’s important they’ll tell you anyway, faster, and with far less drama than if you’d asked, so let’s just wait them out.”

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Elvira Meanwhile was looking around, trying to find a good souvenir, Addy had been easy, they had apparently picked up some kind of weird black rock on the other side, that took up pride of place in her collection. But for those less geologically inclined this place was definitely not exactly flush with fitting gifts, the stalls had clearly been closed when Errol‘s armour was new, so the items that were left weren’t exactly in gift-worthy condition, that and most of them felt too much like personal possessions, like something that had been kept and cherished for a very long time, this, unfortunately, included the theoretically edible stuff, though to be fair the candied corn was likely as edible today as the day it was made, not that that was saying a lot.

So failing to find anything for purchase, and in the absence of any macaroni, Elvira decided to use some time to explore the local scenery, and see if she could find anything interesting nearby that didn’t belong in the long unperformed in circus.

After much exploration she eventually stumbled upon the solution, literally, as she tripped over something poking out of the dirt, it looked like once over it had been some kind of altar, and perched in the middle, well that was the perfect gift for her dad, and even if he didn’t like it, she’d have it. Some kind of goblet, made out of a silver-covered skull, the eyes of course filled in. Because while cool is cool, goblets tend to perform better without gaping holes in the side. The eye holes seemed to be filled in with some sort of gems.

Of course, for most people, the fact she had found the goblet atop the ruins of a creepy shrine piled high with skulls would have been something of a red flag, but Elvira was not most people, so she quickly cleaned it up in the stream, and tucked it away in her bag, then reburied the rest of the altar, figuring that if it was buried to start with reburying it post looting was only polite.

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Brother Mundain, of the worshipful order of the smiling one, stirred, why he stirred probably had something to do with the glowing standing stone beside him, or maybe the screeching sound of an until now forgotten alarm spell, which was now definitely no longer forgotten.

He examined it with a sigh, why did the alarms always go off while he was on duty, and mid nap. (The fact it had not gone off in centuries, and he had napped the entire time was neither here nor there, last time it had been his turn on duty too.) He looked at the stone, then jaw-dropping in amazement dashed off to find the master, there was a time to nap, and a time when napping would mean the boss having your hide, this was the latter.

****************************************************************************

The worshipful master was fed up, being timeless servants of a creature of the void had sounded like a great deal at first. But when a tool of god considers you a bit of a tool, well it tends to make you question things a tad.

The facts were quite simple, the smiling one had wanted nothing to do with them, and told them quite politely with every offering, that they considered the heap of skulls with all the joy of a kid who just unwrapped a solstice present, to find that it was grans home knitted socks. What did you even do in that situation, you could keep making the offerings, but that was just awkward. Especially if you had taken on an aspect of their appearance.

Just as The Worshipful master was getting into the swing of his third crisis of faith for the day, his door swung open, revealing Brother Mundain. The Master was somewhat surprised by this, as last time he had checked it would have taken a miracle to get that lazy arse out of bed, and even then he would probably demand a secondary miracle, just to be sure, before he stirred and woke the others. If he was up and about, then there was definitely a rabbit away somewhere.

“Brother Mundain, to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure.” He asked, of course, it was very hard to disguise his tone, which heavily implied that emergency dental surgery without anaesthetic, performed using a millstone in the place of a toothbrush, followed by an hour eating ice cream with a shovel would be infinitely more pleasurable than the pleasure of his company.

“Master, he has stirred.”

“Are you sure?” The master asked, carefully taking a whiff of Brother Mundain’s breath to check for alcohol in the process, a decision he definitely regretted, as previously mentioned Brother Mundain had been sleeping for literally years, resulting in morning breath that could strip paint off a bulkhead.

“Positive Master, the chalice has been moved, and since the smiling one buried it, who else could possibly have done it?”

“Understood, awaken the others, if he accepted our token, then it is time for us to follow him. Up until now, his refusals must have been a trial.”

It isn’t often you meet a living, breathing, poster child for the hazards of cognitive dissonance, but apparently poor Showtyme had somehow managed it and neglected their unasked for worship for centuries.

****************************************************************************

Soon enough everything was packed away, and the Carriage loaded, puppy was stowed away in her special spot. Then Mibbet noticed that Showtyme was getting closer, and closer. It seemed she had been right to leave it be.

“Here they come, what did I tell you?” Mibbet crowed to Rosalind.

“well I guess I’m glad I didn’t bet anything,” Rosalind grumbled. “Still at least they’re speaking up while we’re still here.”

Showtyme quickly walked over, and passed Mibbet a note.”

“EyE AM SoRRi Fore ThE DeeLayye, EyE HAv A ReYqWESt.”