Contract

The crowd gasped at this turn of events, and the music playing only added to the tension!

Smiling a malicious villain smile, Dean reached out his palm, as a scepter flew from beneath Heyoka's robes into his waiting grasp.

Then, he formed a gigantic purple hand, flicking the entity away like swatting a fly right through the flaps of the tent, into the open air!

The crowd roared with laughter.

Dean felt their attention in the form of power, all-encompassing. He could change his shape, increase his size, maneuver however he liked.

He played to the crowd, even to the extent of forgetting his original purpose, but for the sole sake of enjoying their attention.

They responded in kind, with adulation that bordered on worship, as they danced feverishly into the night.

At times, some of the others would attempt to wrest away the attention he had fought for with difficulty, and he would swat them away in the same manner.

The difference in position was too gigantic to bridge.

~

As the music reached a natural crescendo, Dean appeared center-stage and gave a bow to finish, exhaling heavily as the crowd exploded into applause.

He had done it. Although it had been difficult, he had understood that the crux of the issue was Heyoka's control of the performers - he who controls the terrain will win the war. As long as he was in charge of the music and the lighting, he would be able to pace the entirety of the performance and it would be impossible to stop him in any meaningful way.

Cole had agreed to masquerade as the entity, despite the potential danger, because he had offered up his realm.

As for the lighting, he was able to handle that himself.

Before he could even properly bask in his victory though, a change occurred.

The mass of little men began to fade to black, the edges of the tent fraying. Dean didn't even have time to blink before the wave of darkness collided with him heavily.

…

"Funny."

"Real funny."

Dean looked up, awakening from blackness to see a man in a tailored suit, sitting across from him with his legs crossed. He had sharp features, almost exaggerated, having extremely bushy eyebrows that froze his face in a permanent expression of arrogance.

For a moment, he was entirely stunned, unaware as to what had occurred, before he looked at the figure carefully.

Then, something inexplicable about the man caused him to arrive at a particular conclusion.

"Heyoka?"

Spreading his hands out, the man responded with a wide smile.

"Bingo! This one's sharp as a tack. It's no wonder, really. That last performance was perfectly crafted."

Dean stared at him wordlessly. He was anticipating some sort of anger, or at least slight annoyance after his upstaging, but the man - the entity seemed to take it perfectly on the chin.

"Aren't you…mad?"

Heyoka burst into laughter at the query.

"Why would I be mad?"

"Since I took over the performance, and swayed the little men."

"Oh… that?"

He leaned back as if he was deep in thought.

"I am pretty mad about that….

NOT!"

He began laughing as if he had told the funniest joke in the world. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he spoke again.

"There are no little men… it's just me."

Puzzled, Dean again looked at the entity.

Heyoka continued.

"The realm is just an extension of the entity. Except in the cases where a multitude of entities exist within a realm, typically the terrain is just an extension of an entities' being. I'm the entirety of Rag-a-thon, which includes everyone inside the carnival who didn't come from outside. That also means, by the way, that I'm able to hear everything that occurs within its bounds."

Sitting back on the couch, Dean began to think of the implications of this statement. That meant that he was aware of his plan the entire time… and let it happen? Not to mention all the casual jabs he had made with the performers at his expense.

Interrupting his train of thought, Heyoka slammed his palm on the table.

"So… where do I sign?"

He leaned forward as his expression morphed into one of mock seriousness.

Dean, lost at first, was quickly reminded of his conversation with Lyle relating to dealing with entities. Before an agreement was made, a document with the terms listed must first be crafted to ensure that nothing unsavory took place, something that Dean very largely agreed with.

Thinking to this point, he thought of the agreement he had made with Alor.

Fuck.

"Well- I don't exactly have a pen or paper."

"Then how about I list out the terms and you tell me how they sound?"

Dean nodded at that.

Waving his hand, a page materialized on the desk between them, complete with quill and ink.

[Contracted will]

-Continue the performance

[Contractor will]

-Grant boon

Dean glanced at it for a moment, before looking up at him confused.

"Continue the performance? What does that mean?"

Heyoka shrugged.

"You know, keep having fun and stuff like that. Once you get my boon things will be more clear to you."

Dean looked back down at the page, his brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of the words.

"Keep having fun?"

He repeated with skepticism.

"You make it sound like I'm just signing up for a good time."

He raised an eyebrow at Heyoka, his gaze wary.

"This seems like a pretty shallow ask for your gift. You should know I heard from the others that entities play tricks with contracts."

Heyoka leaned back and placed his hands behind his head.

"Most of them, sure. I do too much of that during the day. I'll be content if you spread joy to the other realms, make things a little more interesting.

"And what, when I get the ability things will be more clear?"

"Definitely."

Taking a deep breath, Dean lowered his gaze to the table. After a moment, he reached for the quill, shifting his gaze again to Heyoka.

In a moment of finality, he took the pen and dragged it across the page without hesitation.