CONTENT WARNING: Depictions of emotional/physical/verbal abuse, intrusive thoughts, murder mentions

Marmoset kept their eye on the ball, moving fluidly to the rhythm of their heartbeat as they practiced their latest juggling trick. They’d been working on perfecting it for weeks now, taking fruits of various sizes from the kitchen and juggling as many as possible at once. Day by day, they amped up the pace until they could confidently juggle the fruits in a way that blurred the colors together in a ring right before their eyes. It was getting there, but it wasn’t quite how they wanted it, and it was starting to stress them out. They’d been doing this for how many hours now? Too many to recall, apparently.

A gentle but rhythmic rap at their door caused the fruits to all hit the ground at once with several resounding thuds. Narrowly avoiding falling over onto the floor, Marmoset scrambled like a terrified rodent over to the door to their chambers, which they threw open to reveal Jackalope standing there in the hall. The SandWing’s dark eyes were filled with exhaustion and flickers of concern, but he forced a tiny smile once he saw them.

“Hey dude, hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time,” he began in a tone like shifting sand, glancing over Marmoset’s shoulder at the admittedly rather suspicious pile of fruit on the floor. Marmoset put up one of their peachy wings across the doorway in reply.

“Hey, no, don’t worry! What’s up?” came the reply, bubbly as ever. The bells on their hat jingled as they tilted their head to one side. “Are you alright? You look pretty run-down.”

Jackalope shook his head. “Man, I wish I could say yes,” he chuckled, though the sound was weak and a little forced. “You know the melody I was talking about working on the other day?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, turns out I overworked myself on it. Stayed up all night and everything, and now I’m so exhausted I can barely stand. Since my routine with the Queen is on in half an hour, I figured I’d drop by and ask you to fill in for me instead of canceling and having the Queen have another one of her… outbursts. Think you can do that for me?”

But my routine’s not ready yet! Marmoset wanted to protest, then slam the door in the other dragon’s face. Unfortunately, their mouth completely betrayed the rest of them. “Yeah, sure! Have a good rest.”

Jackalope perked up noticeably and happily skipped off down the hallway. “Thank you! I owe you big time!” he said, though he didn’t even bother to look over his shoulder at Marmoset when he spoke. He wasn’t exactly great at keeping his word, so they knew to quit while they were ahead. Marmoset pretty sure Saturn was still waiting for that book back from somewhere in the musical mess Jackalope called his home. He didn’t even play half the instruments on his wall!

This is fine. This will be fine.

Marmoset was doing something good. This was a good deed for their friend. A favor, a gift, something out of the kindness of their heart. They were being a good person. They ran it ruthlessly through their mind again and again until it was carved into their thoughts. This was the kind thing to do, and they loved being a kind dragon.

… So why did they feel so sick at the thought of following through on this favor?

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Words Marmoset really didn’t want to repeat blew into their ears time after time again. It was just them and the Queen in the throne room, and they were terribly regretting having agreed to what Jackalope had asked of them. Queen Zero was a terrifying dragon with no good in her heart, that was for sure.

“Useless jester, you can barely even juggle.”

Marmoset dropped the ball for the fifth time that day as she swung her tail towards them, forcing them to duck. She was doing this on purpose, messing them up and hurting them just so she could feel entertained. Most days this kind of thing happened once or twice, but she must’ve been in a particularly nasty mood this time around. Probably because of Jackalope canceling. She’d never swung her tail at Jackalope or anyone else that Marmoset knew of. Just them, all because they were the jester.

They wanted to quit their job and rip their hat to shreds, and then maybe her face.

A rough mix of sizzling frost and black venom landed a few feet in front of Marmoset’s talons, the Queen’s uniquely frightening breath weapon. Burning ice mixed with corrosive venom made for a nasty, long-lasting, flesh-eating mixture that could wear someone down to the bones in large quantities, freezing to them for hours before it finally melted. Nobody Marmoset knew was ever actually hit by it, but they’d heard stories from servants about how their brother’s friend’s cousin or an old coworker had gotten disfigured or even killed by it. Suffice to say, it was a power often abused to scare dragons into the position Queen Zero wanted them in, whatever that might be. This time, it was to make Marmoset juggle again.

Mean words, tail swing, duck, drop ball, resume, repeat.

You should use your own venom to take out her pretty face. Blind her, kill her, and take her crown. Get close, put the acid in her bloodstream.

Marmoset jolted slightly at the unexpected voice inside of them, another horrible intrusive thought. They happened at least thrice per day, once or twice if they were lucky, often more, but they never failed to make Marmoset’s scales shiver and their claws twitch. No, they pushed back, picking up the ball again. I am not a murderer. I will never be a murderer.

But you know nobody would care if it were her. They don’t say it, but they’re all thinking the same thing. What a lovely world it would be if she were gone.

Queen Zero impatiently tapped a talon on the floor, snapping Marmoset back to reality. “Well, are you going to continue, or should I kick you out and get on with my day? To do, you know, something more useful?”

On some impulse Marmoset really wished they didn’t have, they opened their mouth to stammer out something about doing better and how sorry they were for wasting her time, how they’d make it up to her, but they never got the chance to. The throne room doors banged open, the quiet face of Sturgeon peeking inside.

“Your Majesty, Tomten wishes to speak with you. It’s about the bill.”

Oh, thank the moons…

“Oh, splendid!” Queen Zero exclaimed, antennae flicking with excitement at the news. Her appearance was hard to describe, white scales with color-changing frills and wings, stars dotting the membranes, two pairs of horns that didn’t quite match, spikes and stingers, but it was enough to take your breath away every time. Almost everyone in court tried their absolute best to never look at it. It also usually made your head hurt.

Finally, Marmoset was allowed to leave, tears spilling from their eyes the instant they were permitted to turn away from the Queen. On trembling talons, they busted out into the hallway, blowing past Tomten in a flurry of pink scales like hibiscus petals in the wind.

Never again, they told themself, though they knew that was yet another blatant lie. Never again am I ever interacting with that woman on a “favor” for someone. Never ever EVER again.