[PRP]I'll make you a star (Thunder & The Greatest Show)

[LOLLI qAq]

"There's a buck that does stunts..." she'd been told. "But his dancing, Thunder. He dances like nothing I've ever seen before."

That had been enough to pique her interest, and so here she was- Watching a shockingly bright and pretty boy dance in ways she'd only witnessed a small number of times from other kin.

Thunder waited until after his routine was over and he was alone, before she introduced herself.

"Hey," short and simple, but her voice was low and soft.

(She's a problem xD I hope this is okay. I swear she's not really this creepy. )

[doomsayer]

Scatting and humming to a song that only he seems to be hearing, his sweat glistening on his hide as he shuffled, jived, and gyrated in between these two boulders where kin typically would pass by, The Greatest Show was pleasantly short of breath as he finished his routine. A few kin that passed by early on stopped to watch him for a bit, but decided to move on before he could finish. He wasn't sad about it; they must have had places to be, things to do. Most kin do. He just took pleasure in knowing that they enjoyed some part of his performance.

He smiled widely, however, as this yellow doe with ruffled hair who caught the tail end of his dance and stayed until the end approached him and tried to strike up conversation.

Though her voice was low and soft, he could barely disguise the enthusiasm in his voice as he answered her, "Hey to you too! Thanks for watching until the end! I have a bunch of new moves that I'm looking to break out tomorrow when I dance by the river. Feel free to come and watch then as well if you have the time!"

(A straightforward approach isn't creepy at all. It works out perfectly since my boy likes being watched. )

[LOLLI qAq]

Oh, but Thunder loved seeing that level of enthusiasm in an artist. Which he undeniably was. She couldn't help but smile a little wider as though his was infectious.

Peering around him at the space between the boulders she nodded in their direction and then ran her eyes over his form in an undisguised critical way. He absolutely needed a bigger stage, Thunder decided. And she was the one to do it.

"Oh, I'll be there," she chuckled. "But how would you feel about a larger audience?"

(Thunder can help with that! )

[doomsayer]

His ears perked up at the offer. All this time he had been happy to do his dances for anyone passing by willing to give him a moment of their time and attention. Even during the big gatherings when he would execute elaborate, high flying stunts for the crowd, he rarely got more than a dozen onlookers to appreciate his art. He never really managed to pull in crowds to watch him.

He looked back at the doe with curiosity at her offer, "Sorry, who are you and what do you have in mind?"

[LOLLI qAq]

Keen eyes watched his face closely for even a spark of interest- And there it was. She puffed herself up, just a bit, in pride. While their larger than life leader and Thunder hadn't always gotten along what she did with his troupe was her life. She'd dedicated and sacrificed almost everything for it.

"My name is Thunder, " she answered in that same low voice, "and I plan events and help coordinate performances for the swamp's largest collection of traveling performers."

Okay, so maybe she was over exaggerating. Wasn't that part of the show of recruiting, though?

[doomsayer]

He wondered how, after all this time performing and moving around to show people his routines, he had managed to not hear about this collection of travelling performers?

Maybe the doe was exaggerating and there weren't actually that many of them--but then a collection of 2 or more in an environment where no one else would bother to come together for the same purpose could definitely be considered "the largest collection"... Or maybe they're not really that good and there's just not enough kin talking about them for them to get well known.

He was certainly curious about the offer. If joining this group could do something positive for his passion, it certainly won't do to miss the opportunity.

"Well, I am The Greatest Show and I'm intrigued by the offer. Exactly how many performers are in this group and how do you go about getting large audiences to watch?"

[LOLLI qAq]

Thunder shrugged nonchalantly.

"Somewhere in the 50s?" She mused. It looked like she was counting, maybe, in her head. "More, probably, at this point. Everyone leaves and returns according to their own whims so it's hard to be sure."

A flick of her tail was the only sign that she wasn't as cool about this as she was trying to be.

"As for the aspect of how we get others to come watch us- You'll just have to come watch us perform yourself."

Thunder paused at that and frowned for a beat, "though ... we haven't really had any public performances since last winter."

[doomsayer]

He cocked one eyebrow at her, "Last winter is a loooong time ago for a last performance. I dance at least twice a week and do stunts every time there's a gathering that I'm invited to. If I were to add together the number of kin that would see me during those performances, they'd probably number in the hundreds! Can your group keep up with my pace?"

His mother was very friendly and had a lot of partners, leading to him having a lot of siblings. Altogether, his family had a lot of pull when it came to audiences for family gatherings. But the turnout for his solo performances were lackluster, so he couldn't just say no to a possible way to bolster his viewership. He just needed to know if this group of performers had as much passion as he had.

[LOLLI qAq]

Thunder nodded thoughtfully as he spoke. Hundreds of kin was a large number, but she felt confident that even during their unadvertised and rather quiet affairs the troupe could easily pull those numbers ... but maybe she was being overly cocky(again) and should pull it back.

With a gentle sigh and a shrug she answered-

"I can't promise we get those numbers every time, but we definitely get consistent audiences. We also tend to always be working, practicing, and having our own private little shows. For much of the troupe we work as hard as we play."

This was turning more into a plea for membership than she'd anticipated, and desperation wasn't Thunder's style.

"Of course," she said less earnestly, "there's no way to convince you other than showing you."

[doomsayer]

He's always been a one buck show, so practice and doing small private shows for other like-minded kin was never really something he needed to do. He figures it makes sense that it would eat into a lot of time for multiple performers to coordinate moves and stunts if they aim to do them all in one show.

The numbers didn't matter too much to him. All he really wanted was to be able to share his passion with others, and if joining this troupe that Thunder was describing to him would put him with more kin that enjoyed the performance like he did, then maybe he'd be willing to trade the quantity of his viewers with the quality of his time spent.

He wasn't much for thinking things through anyway.

"Okay then." he flashed her with one of his best debonair smiles. "I'd like to see what this group of yours has in store. Show me!"

[LOLLI qAq]

Thunder watched him critically as he made his choice and let her lips land on an approving half-smile when he settled on his answer.

She moved past him and gently ran the tip of her tail across his shoulder as she stepped beyond him. Making it two, maybe three, body lengths away she looked back over her shoulder. Maybe if she could convince him to join there would be opportunity for them to ... get to know each other better.

"Let's go then." She gestured in the direction she was about to head in, "I'll show you mine if you show me more first."

Ten thousand years later- A reply. We can probably call it here as a solid introductory meeting, maybe?