The stampede hadn't died down yet.
Previous years had taught Mitzi just how to get out of a situation like this– but amidst the chaos of it all she was struggling to even find an open area to seek refuge in. Everyone was pushing to get to the main stage in time for the performance, shoving her around like a ragdoll. All she could do was keep herself at bay– holding onto her hat, clutching the bear still in her hands and bracing for any sort of impact. Jeez, just how many people decided to go today?? Seriously, you'd think living in the same place for over a decade and a half would get you used to this sort of stuff, but the Lunaris crowds were just unattested to.
Thankfully, she'd managed to finally spot a safe space in the distance– it was an alley formed from the backs of different stalls, but it was just big enough to wait out the storm of people. She squeezed herself through enough bodies cutting through lines of people and slipping past sticky carnival bodies just to get to a dark and dingy alley that'd hopefully let her breathe like a human being again– maybe it was a mistake to wear a dress so ruffly, for as much as it made her look cute ]it dragged her silhouette down and almost made it impossible to break free from the crowd without getting caught up in someone else or losing an accessory.
But sooner or later, she'd done it, pressing through the last of the moving figures and spilling out onto the free space of the alley, about to slip if not for her bracing herself in time. Mitzi caught her breath, reaching up to make sure her hat was still in place and whipping out her compact mirror to make sure her makeup hadn't been completely ruined by the wave of people and buckets of clingy sweat. That was another thing to consider- her poor dress might have looked fine, but there was no way grimy, nasty sweat hadn't gotten wiped by it in the crowd. She fluffed it up, making sure no ruffle or pleat was out of place as her attention turned back to her teddy bear.
She narrowed her eyes at it. She never liked putting her dolls through torture like that, these things were meant to look good and be treated well– like how old people treated china ceramics and flashy watches! She sighed, walking deeper into the alley to hopefully find some place to sit down and rest up while keeping her eyes trained on the poor guy as she flipped it around to check for any damage.
But unfortunately, this did mean she had no way of seeing what was right in front of her. All of a sudden, Mitzi found herself bumping face first into someone who had their back turned to her. The shock only settled after the initial pain had dulled, getting replaced by the surge of panic and embarrassment that shot through her system like a firework.
Ugh… that was so stupid! Eyes on the road– wasn't that just obvious?? Her lips started moving before she had the time to think up of something proper to say, the panic having blinded her with stress.
"Oh- God. I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was–" she looked up, looking at the stranger as all proper conversation demanded, but she paused. "going…"
She narrowed her eyes, straining her vision to adjust to the dark as quickly as possible. Even if she couldn't see their face, this person just seemed awfully familiar. She studied the figure in front of her, trying to make out colours and shapes in the dim lighting, watching as they fully came to register what had just happened too, turning around to face her and confirming her lingering suspicions…ugh- Drat…
Dark black eyes, eccentric bright pink hair– that was Dawn who was looking back at her.
Of course. Oh of course this guy was standing out here loitering around alleys like a complete loser! A lighter was clutched in their hand as they brought a lit cigarette to their lips. Oh God- and they were smoking too? She watched their eyes widen, then narrow in a mix of contempt and mocking amusement just at the sight of her.
"An apology…? Didn't think I'd ever live to see the day"
Their gaze was trained on her, looking her up and down like a judgemental freak. God– this was the last thing that needed to happen to her today. They spoke with slurred speech, a slight drop in tone and pitch and she realised that the whites of their eyes were clearly bloodshot. Mitzi looked to the floor around them, multiple street food containers strewn across the ground, empty soda bottles knocked over onto the bricks, and right there laid the corpses of countless cigarette butts. Ugh… she wanted to punch that smirk off their face.
"You're high…"
Her tone was dead serious, more of an observation to her own sober mind rather than a comment against the messed up state they were in. Dawn couldn't pick up on that though, only feigning a look of dreadful shock and reeling a gasp of dramatic surprise that got on her nerves.
"Oh! Am I? Gosh golly gee! I didn't even know that!" They held that look of comical confusion for a few seconds afterwards, before absolutely cracking up at either their own joke, or at the expense of Mitzi's underwhelming reaction. "No shit I'm high! what's it to you fuckface."
She felt her fists clench up, her knuckles probably burning white with how much this lowlife was getting on her nerves. She looked behind them towards the street, still somehow full of people fighting to get to the main stage– she couldn't even leave if she wanted to. She'd had enough at that point. Mitzi never thought of herself as a vile person, but after today she'd simply had enough. Enough of her new friends, enough of her old friends, and certainly enough of them. She narrowed her eyes, looking around them and the dilapidated place they must have been camping out at. Disgusting.
"What are you even here for? What loser goes out to Lunaris totally alone. Don't tell me you've been rotting here like a pig."
She watched Dawn flinch the moment that left her lips, the corner of their eye twitched as they probably held back throwing a punch right at her. It served them right. It was a wonder why WIA still wanted to keep someone like them in their school
"You're one to talk. Where'd Kristy and the others go? Dumped you out again like the piece of shit you are?"
The frustration that'd built up in her stomach bubbled dangerously close to the surface, coming out in a hasty growl as she really did start to contemplate killing them right then and there.
"Why do they matter in any of this?"
"Why does me smoking matter in any of this? God, what a snowflake."
That comeback came quicker than she expected it to. It was all just so infuriating- if she wasn't careful hot tears of pure anger would start forming in her eyes. The fact that they'd closed the gap between them in their argument didn't help her situation at all. She could smell it off of him, the smell of weed clinging onto their shirt, their hair, in the air around them.
Mitzi took a step back, standing her ground but trying her best to find a way out of there. "Ugh– you reek of that"
"Oh… I'm sorry…" Dawn's tone shifted to one that sounded sickeningly sweet and sugary, they brought the joint up to their lips again, breathing in deep and holding the air in their lungs for a few seconds before leaning in forward and blowing the rancid smoke all out onto her. Into her eyes, her hair, her nose and mouth. "Does that make it any better, Princess?"
Their eyes shone in the way you'd expect from a toddler begging for candy, the way they spoke turning childish and mocking. Rage. pure rage flared up in her body, hot anger coursed through her veins as she tried to block the smoke and stop from inhaling it herself. That was it. That was seriously it. Every single time she tried to have a civil conversation with them, it always ended up like this. Why did she bother?
Mitzi felt her blood boil at the grating sound of his manic laughter. So this was funny to him? Her eyes teared up from the smoke, her throat dry and raspy as she coughed out whatever she just breathed in. she couldn't stand it anymore. While they were busy celebrating their own successes in making an absolute fool out of her, Mitzi snatched the joint out of their hands, clutching it between her fingers as their look of self satisfaction turned into confused irritation, only growing the more she held it back from them.
"What are you- hey! Fuckin' whore why are you-"
She ignored their comments, dropping the cigarette to the ground and stamping it out in front of their eyes, now she could see anger boiling and spilling out of him too. Dawn was seriously pissed off at this point and the fact that it was at something so small made a piece of her wither away– nobody could truly could never get any more pitiful than Dawn. She'd learned from previous experiences that egging them on while high got them angrier than they ever got sober. So be it. If they were both at their breaking points now maybe that'd-
Dawn reached out. Snatching the bear from her grasp and throwing it to the ground– stomping on it with a heavy foot and holding it there, full of dirt and grime. She felt herself grimace and cringe at the sight- ugh… Dawn knew about this hobby of hers, they'd known about how meticulous she was with treating her dolls ever since they were 10. She could tell from the way he looked at her that this was his way of breaking even- It was pissing her off just seeing them handle the thing the way they did.
The tension in the air was getting overwhelming, silence stretched between them liek an empty vacuum. It really felt like this was the fight that'd tip them over the edge and into a physical brawl, Mitzi wasn't strong- Dawn was. It must've been so stupid to get pushed so far off the edge just because of a silly argument, but in her eyes this was just the culmination of years of a friendship gone sour and totally to waste, it was only a matter of time until something like this happened.
She braced for it, for the moment something happened and the moment that either of them tipped over the ledge– but the deafening sounds of upbeat music blasting through the speakers had cut their deadlock short.
…The show was starting. The Lunaris Festival's annual opening show had begun and the dangerously large crowd had settled down just to watch it go down. Dawn seemed to stop too, turning to their right at a view of the stage from a gap in the alley that looked out onto the main plaza. It was a miracle the show started when it did, she didn't realise how sweaty her palms had gotten or how shallow her breaths were until after a spotlight had been shone onto the main performer on stage.
• • •
"Welcome one and welcome all, to Willowfield's 139th annual Lunaris Festival!"
Cheers ripped through the audience, the man on stage gestured tipping his imaginary hat to the crowd. Tall and slim, charismatic to a fault, dressed head to toe in a jester's outfit, fully complete with a happy, smiling mask stuck onto his face. Jumpy the Jester had been a staple character for the festival for years.
"But, I know what you're thinking! 139? That's a biiiggg big number, isn't it?" The way he spoke felt like the way a caring teacher would speak to kindergarteners. The children in the crowd roared in excitement "yup yup! A big number indeed! Soo, I wonder… how many of you in the audience know just how we got here?"
Kids and adults alike played along with Jumpy's request. It was something they did every year. He'd start the show, list off the number for this year's Lunaris and ask if anyone in the crowd had an inkling of how this all came to be. But every year it'd turn out the same, he'd gasp at how many hands shot up to explain the story of Willowfield, feign a bout of shock regardless of how many hands were up, before dramatically sighing– hiding his face in the crook of his elbow, and crying:
"Oh! No, this is too much- too much!"
Sobs and wails echoed off the stage and into the ears of the audience, before Jumpy shot up straight a second later as if nothing had happened, clearing his throat as civil and as polite as possible before skipping right into the next segment.
"Hmm… I have an idea! What if instead of you telling me, or me telling you, how about we just- see it for ourselves!" As soon as Jumpy had said that, the stage filled with lavender tinted smoke, dowsing both the performance and the audience in a foggy daze before it finally cleared up to reveal a new setting. Three men in heavy coats and work trousers were trudging through an early winter in the woods. Fighting back against the abrasive frost as a sign reeled down from the top of the stage...