The Cirque

Casper simply sighed and gave Ian a thumbs up as he left, feeling the weight of tiredness on himself and now not being able to squeeze out a word. His eyes lost their sparkle as he sat back down on he floor, his cheeks still slightly pink from being congratulated, but he almost slapped himself for allowing his face to even slightly blush.

Maybe it was just contact which made him this way. As far as he was concerned, contact wasn't needed and could easily be avoided. The boy stared at the ceiling above him, sitting back against whatever was behind him. Casper wondered a few things. First of all, was the circus picking up sticks and leaving the next day? If so, he could probably spend the whole journey sleeping wherever he could, as always. When the circus had multiple nights, he never wanted to wake up in the mornings, but it seemed that moving vehicles made him fall into a deep sleep almost instantly.

As he sighed, getting sleepier and sleepier by the minute, he watched Ian speaking to Jane and some sort of new person or something. He'd have to greet her when he was, well, more than half-awake at least. Casper took one of his sleeping dolls, Clara, and began plaiting her hair perfectly, no strands escaping the French plait, before letting it loose and doing it all over again. It took a few minutes, but the boy was soon into a light, sweet slumber, his hand resting on his beloved doll's head.

"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."

Quiller

Quill smiled bashfully at the crowd as Dezi introduced him and then went to sit down next to Taj as Dezi rode Lucian around the ring. Taj seemed to be bored with the proceedings as usual, as if he was far too majestic to be here and had better things to do.

"Oh yes, I'm so sorry to inconvinience you, your highness," he whispered to the tiger, scratching it behind the ears, "How could I interupt you hen you were in the middle of such an important nap."

He had to supress a giggle as Dezi invited members of the crowd to come pet Lucian, he'd caught sight of Isis, the elephant appeared to be getting antsy because she wasn't getting enough of the spotlight, sure enough, as he'd expected she let out a large trumpeting noise, demanding attention.

"Calm down Isis," he said walking over to the elephant and stroking her trunk, "You'll have your moment soon enough."

As he turned to go back to Taj he squeaked as he was lifted into the air, it appeared Isis hadn't finished with him, trumpeting triumphantly she shook him around gently before placing on her back again.

"How very mature of you," he muttered, settling down on her back.

When she was like this there was no point in trying to get away because she'd just pick him up again and again untill he stayed put.


Cadenza

Cadenza was annoyed with himself. He had spent the better part of Kurtis's performance wondering how on earth he had never noticed that the magician was really a warlock, you could see it all in the way he used his magic.

"At least now would be the perfect time to go talk to him," muttered Cadenza to himself, heading for the warlock's trailer, "All that magic would have tired him out so I know he won't do anything, even if he isn't already asleep."

Soon enough he was at Kurtis's trailer, knocking on the door to no avail, there was no answer.

"Fine then, I'll just go in and wait for him," thought Cadenza.

Moodily he opened the door and stepped into the trailer determinedly only to fall over the slumbering warlock, landing pretty much on top of the man. The shock of the fall made him loose control over the illusion he projected leaving him in his natural form.

"Well at least I look more human than some types of demons." he mumbled.

He didn't bother replacing the illusion yet, Kurtis already knew he wasn't human so there was no point in hiding it from him. Hastilly he picked himself up and sat on a chair facing Kurtis. If having Cadenza fall onto him hadn't woken him up then he'd just have to wait, there was alway the possibility that he was just pretending.

"Wake up," he said loudly, folding his arms.

Kurtis was in a comatose state of sleep, and it made him perfectly happy. If he could feel anything while braindead, anyway. The point was, Kurtis was asleep on the floor of his trailer, and nothing was going to change that: Until he felt something hit him.

Now, normally, he thought it was an animal that had escaped, so he was half asleep now that the thing had hit him. He wasn't good in the mornings, or waking up, so he was going to yell at the thing that dared to disturb his sleep. Yet, he remembered that he was in his trailer, so now he was in a sleepy confused state, for animals couldn't open doors, and most people knocked while trying to get into his trailer. It wasn't until he heard somebody speak in a loud voice that made him curious: Wake up. Kurtis lazily opened his eyes, now looking a little better than before. Instead of looking like a walking corpse, he now just look a little tired. All he needed was a few more hours of sleep and he would be fine. But that voice sounded like it wasn't going to let the Scarlet Caster go to bed anytime soon.

His eyes opening to the floor of his trailer. so he craned his neck in a yawn to see who it was. He rubbed his left eye when he saw the perpetrator - the demon Cadenza. Not even trying to hid it, the guy was in his demonized glory, with a set of horns and demonish black eyes. In a weird sort of way, Kurtis had to admit that as far as demons went, Cadenza looked pretty cute - and not in a sexual way, more like a hug-gable way. And Kurtis guessed that the guy hated being called that.

"Why hello there Caden. Nice of you to barge into my room and wake me." He yawned once more before pushing himself off of the floor into a sitting position. He seemed liked he wanted to talk about something, so Kurtis planned on coaxing it out of him. "Alrighty dude. What do you need from the Scarlet Castor? And, if you could be so kind, could you tell me if the show is over yet?"

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."

Tearing her eyes from the boy in the ring, Kimirie smiled and shook Kat’s hand with her own slim one, not quite surprised to notice it was warm. She laughed to herself, realizing that she hadn’t even know this girl’s name until it was offered.

“Katerina, Kat. How pretty!” She ignored the swig, instead watching Kat’s eyes dart about the tent. Was she looking for someone? She seemed awful nervous...

“I don’t think the show is bad at all! It’s spectacular, so far! Ooh, did you see the acrobats?” Mirie let her voice slip into a higher tone, remembering the past acts. So what if this one was a little slow? She bet it was in preparation for something grand!

She got that right, because just then she was distracted with movement from the stage; a girl. Falling, falling, plummeting to the ground! Mirie gasped, hands flying to cover a gaping mouth. But what...? Wings! Yes, it must be Dezi! Mirie clapped excitedly - possibly an annoying habit - and watched eagerly as Dezi and the boy, Quiller, went around and introduced the animals. How beautiful they were, strong. Mirie had never seen any of these creatures except for pictures.

She tossed Katerina a happy smile. How could she not like the act now?

Cadenza

Cadenza looked at Kurtis and began to feel a little bad about waking the warlock up, he still looked incredibly tired.

"Umm...sorry, perhaps I should have waited till later, I didn't realise your act would drain you so much," said Cadenza, "No, the show isn't over yet, Dezi and Quiller are doing their animal thing."

Now was the time to sort out the problem, he wasn't sure what would happen if Kurtis decided not to cooperate.

"I guess that if you didn't know before you can now see that I'm demonic in nature," he said, gently touching the tips of his horns, "Care to guess what kind of demon I am?"

If it had been his sister in his place then the Warlock would be able to pick it up instantly but Cadenza wondered if Kurtis would actually be able to tell that he was an incubus, the sad fact was that no matter how hard he tried to deny it, he didn't exactly posses the heightened sexualy aura that most of his kind had.

"I'm just going to cut to the chase." he said, his tail flicking from side to side nervously, "I need your word that you'll keep this secret and help me hide it and I don't mean in the short term. You know what will happen to me if the wrong people find out."

He was desperate for Kurtis to help him but he was trying his hardest to play it cool. Was the warlock even paying attention? He seemed to be so tired. Cadenza thought for a moment and then smiled, surely this would work, after all, the whole principal of being a succubus or inccubus revolved around energy.

"If you do this for me then I'll help you in whatever way I can," said Cadenza, "For example..."

With this he leaned forward and grabbed Kurtis's hand. Closing his eyes he began to focus on sending energy into Kurtis. He was sure that this would eliminate the warlock's exhaustion. He could feel the energy flowing in a swift stream. Letting go of the warlock's hand he leaned back in his chair, a little dizzy. That had taken more out of him than he'd expected, had Kurtis recieved the energy? Had it helped?

"So what do you say?" he said, rubbing his eyes.

Kaylee looked at the pen and paper, then back to the Ticketmaster. Her mind was racing to determine whether he was really trying to help her, if he even could, or if this was some sort of trick. She had to admit, the man was strange and mysterious, but he also might hold the answers she needed. Also, the way the pen and paper seemed to appear out of thin air fascinated her, and further strengthened her belief that he was truly offering her a chance to control her abilities.
She hesitated a moment, going over the debate in her mind again, before taking the pen and signed her name at the bottom of the sheet. "There. Now what?"

Umm...sorry, perhaps I should have waited till later, I didn't realize your act would drain you so much. No, the show isn't over yet, Dezi and Quiller are doing their animal thing. Kurtis nodded, not really caring about Caden's excuse. The thing wanted to talk to him, and now was probably a better time than when he was fully awake: Kurtis was much more into the 'blackmail' and 'shady' business when he was fully aware of what was going on, but at the moment he was just nodding his head, hoping this meeting would end quickly so he could go back to sleep. "It isn't just my act, I've haven't slept for the past... oh, say 2 or more days? Something like that." Kurtis dragged himself up and walked over to his mini fridge, pulling out a bottle and a jar of super spicy salsa. In the bottle held a concoction that he had been taught to make ever since he could walk, an 'elixir' or sorts that really boosted up the immune systems (magic had a bad habit of lowering them) and revitalizing the mind and body. Even better, it didn't taste like crap either, though the after taste could be a killer if something spicy wasn't eaten right after, and it had to be SPICY or else the after taste would linger. He drank the stuff down while he continued talking.

I guess that if you didn't know before you can now see that I'm demonic in nature," he said, gently touching the tips of his horns, "Care to guess what kind of demon I am? Kurtis mulled over it for a while, mutter an 'Eff it..' before saying "I'm guessing the lower level sneakier kind. You could be Incubus, but your not as appealing... I donno..." He muttered in his tiredness, remembering his last encounter with an incubus. Let's just say that Kurt had a wild night, one that ended up in lustful murder. It's complicated.

I'm just going to cut to the chase. I need your word that you'll keep this secret and help me hide it and I don't mean in the short term. You know what will happen to me if the wrong people find out." He looked nervous, that Morte could pick up on easily. The guy was squirming, and even half asleep Kurt was smiling that little grin of his. He didn't want to say anything, since this was getting quite interesting - how many warlocks could say that a demon wanted them to keep a secret? - and would have talked until Caden spoke. If you do this for me then I'll help you in whatever way I can, For example... Caden reached forward, something Kurt was questioning as he leaned against the wall nearest the fridge until Caden's hand touched his. Instantly he felt the surge of energy flow into his body. At first he thought it was the drink starting to kick in and Caden was being weird, until he could tell that the energy was foreign: Caden was giving him energy.

After a bit, Caden released Morte's hand and his hair fell over his face as it slumped down, with him chewing on his lip. He really wanted to use it as blackmail, but if the guy was using his energy to bargain, he may comply just for the fact that it was convenient. A smirk came to Kurtis' face as he opened his eyes. The tiredness was still there, but the drink would get rid of that over time. He could tell that the circles were lifting a little, and his face only looked mildly tired now. He lifted his head, feeling a whole lot better and smiling as Cadenza asked 'So what do you say? "What do I say, hm?" He gave a mock puzzled look. "Mr. Cadenza, you drive a hard bargain. I guess I shall accept, however..." He gave a little smirk before continuing. "I would like to point out that regardless of what race you are, the Ticketmaster likes to keep his pets in the circus, and never likes those who break a contract. As his 'underling' " Kurtis put in quotation marks "If he asks, I comply. Besides, that means your safe as well: Anybody that tries breaking it for you usually gets killed." Kurtis gave a mischievous smirk before opening the jar of salsa, and, grabbing a spoon, began to shove mouthfuls into his mouth.

"The better question is, how long can YOU hide it before you screw up?"

Cadenza

The Warlock would keep his secret, that was a relief. Although he could have done without the jibe at the end, Kurtis was right. Now that Kurtis had agreed to keep the secret it all rested on Cadenza's shoulders to keep it going and chances were that he'd slip up sooner or later. He'd already come close this afternoon.

"Thank you Kurtis," said Cadenza, "I know it's probably not easy to make a deal with a demon but then again, deals with demons usually work the other way around."

As Kurtis began to eat his jar of salsa Cadenza prepared to leave, only to sway about when a wave of dizziness hit him when he was adjusting the skirt of his costume. Staggering to the door he leaned against the wall and fixed the Warlock in his gaze.

"How on earth and any of its related dimensions did you go without two days of sleep?" he asked, stifling a yawn, "By the way, you might like to know that you were right. I am an Incubus but as you noticed, I don't exactly have the build or aura for it. You'd probably have a better chance of seducing someone than me. If only I was more like my sister. You'd like her, she's probably your type."

He was about to walk out the door when he realised that he hadn't reset the illusion. Swearing under his breath he focused on it and then walked off to go and join the other clowns.

Kurtis nodded before eating the salsa at Cadenza's thanks. As he ate it happily - he had done so many times before, and nowadays it barely burned. He may have to upgrade to spicier stuff soon to keep salsa as a deterrent from that crappy after taste. Just as Caden was about to leave, the dude started swaying a little, much to Kurt's amusement. The guy obviously was used to being well rested, and apparently the transfer of energy drained him a lot. It was then that he asked such a silly question, Kurtis nearly laughed.

How on earth and any of its related dimensions did you go without two days of sleep? Kurtis started chuckling, and could only say "Instinct and practice kid," before Caden continued after yawning. By the way, you might like to know that you were right. I am an Incubus but as you noticed, I don't exactly have the build or aura for it. You'd probably have a better chance of seducing someone than me. If only I was more like my sister. You'd like her, she's probably your type. Kurtis nodded, his originally guess being right. Caden was too.. cute to be much of anything else. Yet Kurtis seemed to recall meeting a number of Incubus in his time, and the only one that stood out to him was that one he thought of earlier. She probably wasn't related to this kid, but you never knew.

As Caden left his trailer, Kurtis finally felt at peace. Sure, he loved being around people - okay, extorting and blackmailing were only 2 reasons he liked people - but at times like these he liked to be alone. He went to a secret compartment of his trailer, and pulled out a dusty old journal of his. For some reason, even if he wrote in it everyday, it always appeared dusty. He pulled out an older style pen and flipped open the journal, getting to the correct page. He was hoping to finish the short story he was writing, which was completely bat-shit insane with conspiracy, anarchy, lust, and best of all: Blackmail and outer-worldly settings and characters. It made Kurtis shiver with excitement as he wrote, for he loved doing so.

While the show progressed, he continued to weave his storyline, filling it with plot twists, unexpected outcomes and the best part of all? No happy endings.

Ishta stood up. "I will answer all of your questions, in time." she said to the snake-girl and she stowed the final blade away in a spine sheath hidden by her hair. "But for now, I have a show to do." she smiled gently before making her exit.

She walked smoothly backstage, smiling gently at the few people who made way for her, and said nothing to those who didn't, simply making her way around. Within a few minutes she was in her place, ready to go on directly after the current act. A clown grinned and gave her a thumbs up, and she smiled back at him, copying the gesture with the tiniest degree of uncertainty. The clown chuckled. Most of the clowns considered her awkwardness around humans, or just un-fey people, amusing. She shivered gently, adrenaline making it's starting trickle into her bloodstream. Unlike humans, Fey could control adrenaline rushes. They could suppress them for a period of time, then release them into a smooth, sense-heightening frenzy of speed and movement. She hadn't allowed herself adrenaline for three days.

C, then an E.. No, no. Mary looked down at the complicated sheet music, scribbing out a note and changing it to another, then humming out the new melody to see if it fit. She was sat in the dirt by the trailers, red skirts dusted with orange dirt and ink from her fountain pen as she ran over the melodies she had to learn for her inbetween acts. Mainly choir songs, latin and french, but some were old english nursery rhymes... Her favorite was London Bridge and the one about the circus elephants. She was only a child after all, in her early teens, and had never really had a chance to listen to good nursery rhymes before.

A creak! A door to one of the caravans began to open and she blushed, hurrying to try and pack up her things before someone saw her. She grabbed her sheets, but one slipped from her grasp, catching in the breeze and drifting off.
"No!" She exclaimed, covering her mouth as she said it, and watched the paper drift towards the open trailer door, a boy with brownish hair stepping out. Realising who it was, her eyes widened and she ran, hidding around the side of a trailer. She bit her lip and gripped onto her music and skirts tightly, looking down. The ringmaster was going to be so grumpy with her...

Katerina watched the show only half interested, unable to match Mirie’s enthusiasm. She’s seen the show before, and knowing now that she was supposed to play a part in the freak show made it no more enticing. The Ticketmaster, was still a no-show, to her great relief, but the inactivity had made her impatient. She sloshed the whisky around in her idle hands, with a slight buzz in her head and an itch on her skin.

She turned to Mirie. “Let’s get out of here,” she whispered, with a sly grin. “This is a big circus. There’s plenty to explore.” Honestly, she doubted that the girl would agree; she seemed like the type to play it safe, to laugh at the clowns and marvel at the acts and go home with a smile, but never veering away from the crowd.

If only she’d accepted the whisky. People always made bad decisions when they had too much to drink. I probably belong to that group of people right now, Kat thought, feeling the cool kiss of the glass bottle against her warm hands, but what else is there I can do?

“Come on,” she coaxed Mirie, trying to lull her into trusting her. “It’ll be fun.”

Dezi glanced towards the commotion behind her and watched the elephant place her assistant on her back. She smirked and thought for a moment, directing Ian towards them. She hoped her wasn't off doing something irresponsible because she needed his help to win the audience over. It had been an okay introduction but he always finished things off with a bang.
After she had introduced all of the animals and shown off a couple of tricks, it was time for his entrance. It was supposed to look as though they were finishing up and they seemed to be. Except for the lion and elephant, the other animals had headed back off to their appropriate places they stayed.
"Well, it seems as though everyone else is about ready to head on in." She grinned at the sound of tearing clothing that she was sure the audience was unknowing of unless they had impeccable hearing. She turned towards the noise, as did Lucian but the wolf was behind the curtains so there was a long drawn out pause as everyone's eyes focused on the same spot all together.
A horrifying roar of anger bellowed and bounced around the tent and the massive white wolf exploded from the folds of the curtain. A sight of gnashing teeth, hungry violet eyes and horrendous claws was probably all too much for the young ones and the easily spooked. Dezerra saw a few people rising out of their seats to hurry away.
Ian went straight for Isis whom had acted as though she were fleeing as well and had set Quiller back on the ground with Ian charging towards him.
Someone from the audience saw this and was shouting for someone to help him but Dezi could only smile. The second the two met Ian dropped into a submissive pose, his head lowered to the ground while he still stood on his hind legs, wagging his tail like a typical house pet. He barked loudly, almost playfully before licking all over Quiller's face.
He trotted back to Dezi's side and sat right next to her, his form much larger then her own and she was forced to look up at him.
"This is my brother. Ian. He's a werewolf."

Quiller

"Gross!" cried out Quill as Ian licked his face.

Carefully he wiped the saliva off before breaking into his most charming grin and moving to stand on Ian's other side, stroking the werewolf's fur. If Ian was taller than Dezi then he towered over Quill but the fact was that most people did.

Standing on his tip toes he reached up as high as he could, trying to scratch Ian's neck the way he'd scratch a dog's. He'd never managed to do it yet so was unsure if Ian enjoyed being petted that way. One day he'd find out. He struggled to keep from laughing as an image of Ian lying on his back with his leg twitching in the air while someone scratched him burst into his mind.

Giving up on his attempt he settled fo hugging the werewolf's leg before turning to beam at the crowd. Very soon their act would be over.

Dezerra was happy to see that he had gotten the audience into disarray, but she needed to wrap all of this up.
"Go get on the stand." She motioned her brother towards it and he hopped up, sitting up straight.
She placed the ball in front of him and Ian looked down at it, almost warily. What if he didn't make it? What if he screwed up right here, in front of God and everyone else? How angry would Dezi be with him?
"You are going to be fine," she whispered. She knew what he was thinking and being negative was not going to help his situation.
"you have done this before and you can do it again. Just don't think too hard." Only he could hear her because of his hearing, and she was staying quiet.
Ian exhaled through his nose and placed his paws on the over-sized ball. In a second he was off, rolling towards the other stand that was a few yards away.
The audience was nearly dead quiet with anticipation and when he hopped off of the ball onto his hind legs they all jumped to there feet and cheered happily. Ian was out of breath, but he didn't care. He had been successful. Even Dezi was clapping along with them, a smile on her face.
"Thank you everyone!" She waved the audience goodbye as they exited the stage.
She grabbed Quiller, picking him up into her arms.
"You did great." She opened her eyes to see her brother in front of her, still in wolf form.
"You both did."
The werewolf licked both of their faces before loping off. She wondered if he was going to find Casper, but currently there was nothing on his mind so she couldn't tell.
"Do you think we did good?" She asked Quiller after she had set him down.

Quiller

Quill beamed at Dezi as Ian walked ran off somewhere.

"I think we did a brilliant show," he said, hugging Dezi tightly, "Even with Isis misbehaving the way she did."

He had been a little worried that the elephant would ruin the performance but in this case it had added to the charm of the act. Searching his gear bag for candy he handed Dezi a lollipop before struggling to unwrap his own.

"Why do they always wrap these up so tightly?" he asked, "It's not fair."

Sometimes he wondered if it was worth the effort, certainly it would be easier to go and get some popcorn which reminded him of the movie marathon he was meant to be having with Ian later on.

"Dezi?" he asked, finally managing to tear off the wrapper, "What's you're favorite kind of movie?

Mary Sighed and began to walk backstage to see if she could find a spare copy of the sheet music she had lost... The ringmaster would kill her if he found out she hadn't learnt the song yet... She brushed off her skirts as she opened the flaps in the tent to the back stage area. She didn't realise there were others in the tent. Softly, she started to sing what she had learnt so far, trying to remember the words.

"Are you going to scarborough fair?~ Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.~ Remember me to one who lives there.~ She will be a true love of mine.~"

Her voice was pure, steet, but eerily haunting, the kind of voice that gave you goosebumps if you listened to it for too long. She hummed to herself as she looked at her sheet music, not looking where she was walking, then suddenly, Bam! Mary walked straight into someone, causing her to fall back, dropping her sheet music. She gasped and looked up to see who she had run into, appologies flooding out of her mouth. A young boy, quite short, maybe around her age, with a lolly pop in his mouth. Next to him stood a girl. She didn't know their names, she was only new to the circus.

"Oh I am so sorry! Im dreadfully sorry! Please forgive me! Oh, I didn't mean to, it was entirely my fault..." She continued to appologise as she attempted to get together her sheet music, pages scattered everywhere.