Thank You So Much for This Chance

She laughed freely at his response, amused by his instant witty response to her proposition. Watching him work made it clear to her this is where he belonged. She was meant for the ring with a bunch of feisty cats and he was meant to work with all of these wires, making sense out of all of the mess.

His question caused her to purse her lips before she could even stop herself. It was an innocent question of course, but one she didn’t want to think about. “Short answer? No. Most performers don’t enjoy having the spotlight taken over by some girl. Especially not a girl of my….background,” Color was what she truly meant to say but allowed the inference to hang heavy in the air between them. “The people who aren’t violently jealous are obviously attracted to me and spend all of their time ogling at me. It’s bad enough to have people stare at me on stage with such dirty thoughts in their minds..but to get it as I walk around the camp night after night.. It’s exhausting. You’d think I’d learn to cover up better. But I’ve come to find it doesn’t help much. Unfortunately I don’t find I have much in common with either of these groups. So I guess I’m stuck talking to lions, hmm?”

She smiled, forcing the negative emotions off her expression as she looked down at him. As he told her his own name as well as his sisters name, Nala couldn’t help but chuckle softly and bite her lip. He sure was charming and she found herself feeling thankful she had run into him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Flik the mechanic, brother of Dot.” She responded, her amusement clear on her voice.

When he broke their eye contact and turned his attention back to the wires in front of him, Nala slid off the table where she was seated and strolled closer to where he worked. Reaching down with elegant fingers and mischief shining in her eyes, she picked up assorted doodads and trinkets, taking a quick glance at each of them before tossing them aside. She knew she was probably getting in his way, but that was the big idea after all. Anything to delay the train’s journey.

Background? Oh. She probably meant color. Some people were bothered by that, although it rarely phased him. Not that he’d seen many people of her skin tone, but considering he couldn’t get along with people normally, there was no sense limiting the pool. They all confused him about the same. But he could see what she meant about that sort of thing being exhausting. Again, not through personal experience exactly. But through the way that sort of thing probably would be exhausting. “I guess I get that. Lions don’t really seem to be bothered by that kind of thing, or at least not in a way that we’re used to I’m guessing. Still, if you stay here long enough that should get better right? People can get used to almost anything given enough time.”

“Pleasure to meet you too.” He didn’t bother mentioning his parents in his introduction. When he did talk about them it was just ‘mom’ and ‘dad’, so that didn’t require too much explanation. And considering the fight he’d had with them before running away to work for the circus, he didn’t think he would have too many reasons to mention them soon. As they made it clear, he wasn’t exactly living up to the family name. Oh well. They’d get over it eventually or they wouldn’t. 

“Yeah I know. I’ve heard over and over again how me and these long legs were made for the spotlight.” She responded with a roll of her eyes before smirking. “Wanna switch? I’ll work in the background and wear those cute suspenders while you get to tie up this corset and deal with some moody cats. Whatya say? Even just for one show?”

She couldn’t help but smirk to himself as he didn’t even flinch at her cursing. It was nice to meet a guy who didn’t scold her and her ‘poor behavior.’ She was sick of being told to act more proper. If they wanted her to act like a perfect lady, they shouldn’t put her in the ring with wild cats night after night.

“Yeah so I’ve heard.” She responded with a shrug. “They do call me Wild Nala after all. But I guess theres a part of me that understands them. I dunno. They’re trapped in this circus just like me. Out of everyone here I have the most in common with them. On a daily basis…working with them isn’t too hard. The males are practically kittens for me, completely submissive. It’s the females that give me some trouble. But I’d expect nothing less from them. It’s much more fun to raise a bit of a ruckus than submit to everything in life.” She grinned wide as she talked about her cats. She truly loved working with them, except for the rare nights when they completely wore her out like tonight.

“That sounds pretty luxurious. I might just do that. Maybe I’ll light some incense and only wear my prettiest silk robe to sleep. I’ve never been a very good early riser though. Unless someone wakes me up..”

She grinned as he pushed some hair out of his face. She could tell she had left him a little flustered, but she almost always had that effect on men so it was nothing new to her. She just decided to ignore it. “Of course. Now you know my name….but I have no idea what yours is. Care to tell me? Or am I destined to call you Mr. Mechanic for the rest of this conversation?”

“Nope. Not having. As much as I like animals, I like my hands more and I have no plans on losing them.” Normally Flik wasn’t this eloquent or god at joking, but with his hands busy it was easier to work around his normal discomfort at, well, speaking to people. Maybe that was something he should remember for the future. If he had another opportunity that was. 

He listened to her describe the lions she worked with, nodding slowly. He supposed that made a lot of sense. He still felt like anyone who worked closely with animals had to have some kind of connection, and this only proved it. Still, there was something she’d said that stuck out at him. The idea that the animals could better understand her than the people. He’d always felt that way about machines, but he had also been told that he was weird. So it made him curious. “Don’t you connect with your fellow performers at all? Or even the other animal trainers? I mean, it seems like they’d be in some of the same circumstances as you and they’re probably better conversationalists than the lions.” 

“Right. Yeah, sorry. You can call me Flik. Or if you forget, ‘the mechanic’ is fine, but I wouldn’t worry about the ‘mister’. That makes me sound way fancier than I actually am. And my sister’s name is Dot, so if you hear me talk about her, that’s who it is. Might as well get the two important names in while I’m thinking about it.” Damn, couldn’t he ever shut up once he started going? She probably didn’t care about any of that, and here he was rambling on because now he’d gotten distracted and flustered. And sounded like an idiot. 

“The best around?” Nala repeated, the amusement clear on her voice. “Then you joined the right circus. We’re full of the ‘best around’ here. We bring crowds for miles and show you wonder and amazements you can’t see anywhere else!” Her voice fell effortlessly into a perfect impression of their barker trying his hardest to draw people into the tent.

She loved his focus and how, despite her presence, he continued to work on the task at hand like he was chasing on the tails of a solution and wasn’t going to stop until he caught it. Nala let him remain focused, knowing he would look up once he had the chance. She was disturbing him while he worked after all, but if her conversation with this cute new mechanic helped delay the train, then she was willing to make any sacrifice necessary to make that happen.

“Not at all..” Nala responded with an exasperated sigh, leaning back on her arms with a shake of her wild curls. “Kiara was impossible today. She wouldn’t do a damn thing I told her.” She never had been much of a lady and the cursing only proved that point. “I’m the lion tamer. Wild Nala and her ferocious felines. Watch her command the cats and seduce her way right into your heart.” She hated the tag lines they used for her, but she wasn’t given much of a choice about anything anymore. “The next city only means the next performance and the next Mr. Moneybags Wild Nala needs to perform for.”

Finally, the young man in front of her looked up and Nala automatically smiled. She couldn’t help but notice how his eyes raked up her body, likely to be noticing her scandalous outfit and just how little she was wearing. But she was focused on his eyes herself and just how dark and warm they were. Not even the messy hair falling in his face could keep her from noticing them. Her gaze then slipped down to his lips and the perfect curve of them and she found herself thankful this new mechanic joined the crew. “Welcome to Barnum & Bailey’s,” She added with a warm smile now that they finally locked eyes.

Flik snorted. It wasn’t hard to realize she was copying the barker’s style of speaking and advertising. “I think that’s more your speed. The beauty of my job is that if I do it right, no one should ever see me or realize I’ve done it.” It was only when something went wrong you called a mechanic or blamed him. No one thought of them as actually part of the show. 

The cursing didn’t actually bother Flik as much as it would some people. He wasn’t huge into swearing himself, but mechanics were a bit infamous for their awful language. Sailors just had the bigger reputation. Maybe if he wasn’t working that would have shocked him more, but right now he was so used to curses filling the air it seemed only right that she do the same. In a weird way it relaxed him in the new environment. Which maybe said more about him than anything else. 

Mr. Moneybags....there was something Flik was missing with that comment. A story. But they had just met, it wasn’t really his place to ask. “Lion tamer, wow. That sounds like a rough job. I mean, I know you do it a lot but you’d have to be wild to have some kind of connection with those animals. But I guess I can see why you’d want a break then. Still, my job description is getting us moving, so I can’t help you out too much. Take a long nap tonight, but wake up early enough you get to lay in bed for awhile. That way it feels more luxurious than it is. That’s what my sister did every time she was expected to do something she didn’t want to do.”

She smirked at his start, knowing it was unfair for her to speak up without announcing her presence. But he seemed to roll with the punches and moved on without bringing any attention to it, a trait she had to admire. Most people in the circus were far more sensitive to such a thing.

“Is that so? And you’re far more qualified for the job I’m to assume?” She asked taking a few steps closer to the young man. She didn’t mean to question his authority on something he clearly knew more about than her. But she found him amusing and she wanted to know more about him, hence the teasing tone to her voice.

As he was clearly engrossed in his work, Nala walked around the large mess of wires and other assorted electrical circuits until she found a surface in front of the man that she could perch on and watch him work. His preoccupation allowed her the perfect opportunity to take him in, from the stained undershirt to the heavily worn work pants and boots that were likely an unofficial uniform for his line of work. But beyond that, she couldn’t help but notice the lean muscles of his arms that flexed as he reached around, working with all of the wires and trying to solve the complex problem in front of him. Not to mention the messy mop of hair that fell into his face and was entirely endearing despite it’s disarray.

He was fascinating and Nala soon found herself engrossed in watching him work. She almost forgot he had said something to her. “Oh I don’t mind. Hell…you should just snip that wire there and pull that entire circuit thingie out over there. I’m perfectly fine with the delay. We can stay here all night and it would be no skin off my nose.” She responded with a mischievous expression from her new vantage point in front of him.

“Absolutely. My parents used to joke I was born with a wrench in one hand, pliers in the other, and hair blown up by static. I’m the best around.” He said the whole statement in the same easy tone. He wasn’t bragging. It was just a statement of fact. He knew he was a great mechanic, and he had no problem admitting it. Time would prove him right.

Flik was aware of the girl moving around him and pausing, but he didn’t look up again, hands buried back in the mess in front of him. If he threaded one through there, he could pull out wires two and three, but wire four seemed to get more tangled by it. Or maybe that was actually wire one all over again, which was why it was getting more tangled when he tried to undo the previous mistake. Damn. And once he sorted them all out, he had to reconnect them somehow, which meant he had to figure out what they all did. As annoyed as he was, the love of the puzzle brightened his eyes. 

Funny response for a circus girl though. Wanting to be stopped in the middle of the countryside. Weren’t most circus people all about the life of the road, and the excitement of new places, and the next opportunity to earn their living? The ringmaster certainly seemed eager when he’d hired Flik on. “Not eager for your next show? What is it you do?”

Nala didn’t know much other than the fact they were delayed in heading to their next location. But she didn’t mind, being the star and having show after show grew tiring before long. So she took the opportunity to wander their train, taking in all of the familiar sights and some of the new ones.

People waved to her as she walked by and she gave each person a warm smile in return. She wasn’t interested in talking. Not tonight after she had one of the longest performances of her career earlier that night. The lions had been especially testy and it took all of her skills to get them to cooperate for the crowd.

So when she came to the quiet car near the front of the train, she was grateful. She needed to find the perfect spot for a little alone time. But then she heard the voice complaining about something and she couldn’t help but investigate. Coming up on a large unorganized mess of wires, Nala spotted a guy she had never seen before cursing up a storm about wires and disorganization.

“You shouldn’t make such threats out loud. Not unless you want me to be a witness.” She finally spoke up with a laugh, her eyes dancing with amusement. She had a feeling she found the reason for the hold up.

Flik jumped slightly as a strange voice echoed over his head, but not as much as he would normally. He hadn’t expected anyone to end up on his side of the train, and he rarely had people around while he was working. Still, if he was going to be part of this whole mess, he needed to get used to a lot of noise and a lot of people. 

“I think any court would consider me duly provoked considering your last mechanic was a complete idiot who should never be allowed anywhere near a wire or a screwdriver.”

Extricating himself carefully, he pulled on one of the wires and gave a pleased shout when one of the worst knots came untangled. “Got you you little bugger. One down.” Far too many to go. Really, how were you so much of an idiot you created this much of a mess?