Ishta Nori's Story

Ishta came out of her tent with seven knives. She wasn't taking part in the show for a little while, it wasn't her time to go on yet, so she was practising with what little time she had left. She was, although she'd never admit it out loud, terrified. Today was the first time she'd be on her own. She traditionally did acts with the other clowns, but tonight she was alone. In solitude. on that stage. Juggling knives was no mean feat, but using faery glamour she could make it all the more impressive. She suppressed a small smile at how easily the human mind could be fooled. Just by the wolf's cage, she began to practice. With six arms, most people thought it would be easy, bit it wasn't. A single slip, and she'd lose a hand. And it hurt when she had to grow them back. It really hurt.

Up down, c'mon, Ishta, smoother, don't rely on glamour. You need some scaffolding for your cobweb magic, she told herself. She began to sing gently, and old Celtic song that went well with the act. Airfailarin.

Dance to your shadow when it's good to be living lad
I'll lead you to the river where the light shines so blue
Dance to your shadow when it's hard to be living lad
Watch the morning coming on the land you love

She flipped the knifes in a particular way, so that suddenly not one, but all of the knives were momentarily in the air.

Airfallarin failarin alkarin you
Airfallarin failarin alkarin you
Airfallarin failarin we are all lalala
Airfallarin failarin alkarin you

With a little difficulty, she used her glamor to create the illusion of a drumbeat. Slow. one two three four.

Dance to your shadow when it's hard to be living lad
I'll lead you to the ocean where young birds spread their wings
Dance to your shadow when it's good to be living lad
All through the cold wind by the blue-black hills

Adrianna drifted for a while, looking at the empty cages with a sense of strangeness - usually everything was bustling or asleep. Not empty. It delighted her and scared her at the same time. What if the cirque was forced to close, and everyone had to find new homes, leaving their mobile home like this? It would be so terrible.

A soft song reached her ears, and instantly her curiosity was piqued. It sounded almost ethereal, and the owner of the voice had her admiration. With light, careful steps, Ari wove through the area until she heard solid drumbeats. It made her stop, kneading her toes into the ground. Nothing. She had never heard drums without also feeling their beat in the earth below her as well.

Some sort of ... gleam, a flash, drew her closer to the sounds. She let out a soft, awestruck hiss when she saw the knife-performer. Being in the show herself, she didn't oft get to see the other acts. But of course she knew they were all phenomenal. Quietly, she sat in the shadow of a large, looming box to watch and ponder the lack of reverberation in the ground. It was all quite curious.

Ishta was ready. The dreambeat had gotten easy. She was balanced centred. Where all fey should be by nature, but she had left the mound, so it was slightly harder for her. But she was there. music... she thought, and the tune that accompanied her burst into life.

Technically it wasn't real magic, it was just influencing air to flow over pipes, things to fall on boxes, that made the sound.
She didn't have anyone that played music for her. She had no act partner, now that her act was different. She'd need to remember to find one
The song was almost done. And so was she. She sped up, but somehow stayed in time with the beat, before bending her knees and leaping up high, spinning a front flip. She had thrown every knife up in the air, so they span above her.

Landing on her feet, she caught each of the six knives by the handles. Now for the most difficult --and potentially the most dangerous-- part. Watching the seventh knife fall, she brought her arms flat together, catching the blade inbetween. She didn't let herself wince as the metal surface nicked a tiny cut, no more than a papercut, but blood still welled to the surface. She bowed to a pretend audience, and turned to leave, to go to the stage.

She paused a moment, sure she felt something. Heard someone. "Who's there? You can come out, if you were watching, I don't mind..."

Ari let out a small gasp of surprise when the woman spoke to her. She had been prepared to slip away and be contentedly unnoticed - that didn't really work out. She gasped again, then hissed lightly when she found her legs had re-shifted into her natural tail. Reaching one arm up to steady herself, Ari concentrated to get her legs back.

Soundlessly, they reappeared. One of her pant legs was now much larger than the other, but she had to ignore that for now. Cautiously, the snake-woman stepped out from the shadows, eyes downcast, looking at anywhere but the performer.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted somehow. I didn't mean to intrude - you are very talented with your flashy knives. I'll, uh, just go now. Sorry again." She gave a slight bow, embarrassed to be caught and for her shy demeanor that had slipped on due to the startle.

Obviously, she was out of practice being sneaky. And if she couldn't be sneaky, people could sneak up on her. Number one danger when you were a freak like her. Ari mentally hissed at herself for being an idiot. A shy, mumbling, creeping, bored, caught idiot.

It wasn't really that she had been doing anything wrong, but it still nagged at her.

"Please! Don't go!"
Ishta stopped herself. It hadn't meant to sound so.... desperate? Longing? She gestured to a small box.
"Please. Sit. I would love to hear what you thought about my little show."
She hoped the girl would take up her offer. Since leaving the faery mound, she had missed socialising. Touch, and company, was a big part of Fey culture. But she would not go back. She could not go back. Slipping her knives into the sheaths, she sat down.
"I am Ishta. Ishta Nori."

Ari brought her hands together in a shy gesture before taking them apart as she silently made her way to the box. She gave the other - Ishta - a small smile, polite and an attempt at warmness. "I'm Ari, Ari Roth. Honestly I thought it was quite fantastic.... Unearthly, even. Where did you learn how to do that?"

Given free reign with her questions, she forgot herself for a brief moment. "How long did it take? Who taught you?" She gave a gasp of surprise and looked down again, crossing her legs. "Sorry, sorry. I must admit, though, I've never seen you around. Are you new, or have I just been in seclusion that long?"

Ishta smiled at the questions. "I learnt from my aunt. The extra hands helped me learn faster." Most of the court had stated she had an unfair advantage, therefore it was not true skill. "It took me a full six months to learn, and much longer to master. I thank you for your compliments, although admittedly I did use a little more glamour than usual."

She shrugged. "I tend to keep to myself. I am half demon, which tends to make people naturally shun me. I have not been here as long as many others, so I suppose I am newish. What about you? Tell me about yourself, Ari Roth."

Ari smiled. "That's truly an accomplishment - but I'm afraid I don't know what glamour is. Is it what you did to make the sound but no feeling in the ground?" She looked down at her feet and her stick legs, biting her lips.

"I'm a freak here," came out bluntly. "You don't need to worry about me shunning you. For the record, I think it's cool. For the longest time I dreamt of the world being more than the flat-and-boring I saw. Then I thought I was one - a demon, you know, because that's what they called me. But then I came here and my eyes were opened. I don't hate it because I love that part. I've been here for a bit, but I recently got some new... additions, to my act, and needed to work on it in seclusion - danger to the others, you see."

She fiddled with her hands, looking up at the other through her lashes to gauge her reaction. "And please," the girl nearly whispered, shy again, "just Ari."