"Up you go Seina." The voice was a gentle one, as it coaxed the white tigeress up into her holding cage. After giving him an intense dark look, she released the smallest of growls, which said a thousand words to the animal tamer. He allowed a small smile to tug at his lips as he shook his head softly. "I know, you'd much rather roam. But you know Cedric's rules Seina. So c'mon." Baring her fierce white teeth slightly, she growled again, but with a profound grace and ease, she leapt onto the rough wooden floor and padded around in a circle, so she was facing the entrance again. It was strewn with straw and bleach white bones, many of which had large teeth marks in. There were also many items for amusement littered about the place, such as knotted rope and a tire. The cage had been made fairly large, at his insistence, and easily accommodated a huge tiger. He'd even seen fit to install a large kiddie pool at the back, so Seina could have a paddle if she so wished. As it was, she'd only regarded it with the utmost contempt and refused to go near it.
With a grunt, Leonard pulled himself up after her, whilst her piercing yellow eyes watched his progress. A flicker of amusement crossed them and a noise reverberated in the back of her throat which almost passed for a laugh. Leo shot her a glare, before he wandered around the cage, checking that everything was in order for her night's stay. Making his way back to Seina, who was now sitting and licking at her paw, he frowned. That night they hadn't performed. After she had trodden on a discarded can in the field, she had been declared too injured to do the act. They had however roamed the audience as usual, allowing children to pat and stroke her, have their picture taken with her in the intervals between acts, as well as hold the venomous snake Leo had wrapped around his neck the whole night. Jerald the King Cobra was completely harmless, as Leo had rendered him in a trance-like state. However, the audience were never to know that.
"Seina, let me see that wound. I might have to bandage it." She looked up at his words, as though challenging him to make an attempt. Weighing up his options, he cast a glance over his shoulder. The rest were packing up for the night and Cedric was yet to appear and order them all to bed. He had time to wrestle with her. Crouching, he stared her down for a few seconds before lunging. The tiger pounced upwards on her hind legs and grabbed him in her front paws as he came towards her. Together they fell to the ground, rolling across the floor like two fighting infants, rather than behaving like a grown man and tiger.
“Leave the things. You all have done well. Go to your wagons and rest, we will be leaving for our next destination with the rise of the sun.”
Cedric's voice cut across their tumbling game. Leo released the fur on Seina's scruff that he had been holding and straightened up, so that he was standing again. She did the same, but settled him with another daring look. Her jaw was open slightly, as her chest heaved and she panted. Similarly Leo was out of breath, as he regarded her silently.
"We'll play again tomorrow. I promise." Reaching over, he rubbed the space between her ears and a deep, rumbling purr escaped her mouth. With a smile, Leo exited the cage, bolting the door as he left and pocketing the key in his trousers. Giving her one last pat through the bars, he set off towards bed. He would be glad for the rest, as they had all been up since the crack of dawn. He had been tending to his animals all day, attempting to train a particularly stubborn horse to do dressage steps without stopping. And then Seina had been injured and he had that to worry about. Out of all of his animals it was her that he cared the most for. She could bring a smile to his face when no-one else could. At least they hadn't performed that night, or else he would have been exhausted. Seina watched his progress across the field towards his wagon before settling down in the far corner on a bed of straw and blankets.
Leo nodded to a few of the other performers as he made his way. If anything he was polite to the fellow acts. With one exception. Syrena. He saw her now, wandering in the shadows as she attempted not to draw attention to herself. Every attempt at politeness had fallen on deaf ears with that one. No-one could get close to the mermaid-girl. There were a few who still made an effort with her, but largely they just kept out of her way. The only person she responded to was Cedric, even Leo had noticed that. But he had saved her from a life that she no longer spoke of, not to anyone. At first Leo believed they were similar. Both had faced tragic events in their past, but she had shot down every attempt he had made to get close to her. With a sigh, he gave the girl one last look before retreating into his wagon. The moment his head touched the pillow, he drifted off into a deep sleep.
Syrena
The bright spotlights had been shining upon her tank for well over an hour now, causing the water to sparkle and glimmer. However the allotted time for the singing performance had long since past. The tank appeared to be empty, even though it wasn't. Syrena Astrid was shrouded within its darkened depths, out of sight and mostly out of mind, though a few members of the audience (especially the young males) cast longing looks towards it. After her outstanding performance, she had given only one bow, fixing her eyes upon a particularly handsome man in the third row and flashed the audience her beautiful smile. Then she had ducked from view and seemingly exited her tank. However, it was not the case. The tank took too much effort to be removed from the show circle and her leaving the tank by the only exit (the open top) ruined the illusion of her being a mermaid. So Cedric had insisted that she linger there, keeping out of view of the audience. And so she had to endure the rest of the performances. As a human she would have marveled at the brilliance of Jasper's act, although she would have never told him. However, as a mermaid she believed herself to be better than everyone else, especially this cheap conjurer of tricks.
Silently she watched as Jasper's performance came to an end and the show with it. Gathering a section of her wavy blonde hair she began to plait to, allowing a tutting noise to escape her mouth, except all that was expelled was a stream of bubbles.The audience had been entirely enthralled by his performance, by his "magic". Syrena on the other hand had witnessed the tricks for centuries and had grown bored of them. As a mermaid at least. Her human brain still wondered about the magic and how he used it.
It could take another half an hour for the audience to dispel as many of them hung around to pet the animals or talk with the acts. She noticed Leo and Seina were among the audience, even though they had not performed and felt a deep contempt rise in her chest. The man had tried to push his company on her many moons ago and she had not appreciated it. Now he did little more than acknowledge her presence. Syrena could not blame him. She had positively awful to the young man when he had first joined the Circus. She did feel a little regret for her actions, or in human form she did, but she had to accept that her mermaid nature was brutal. As the humans slowly began to leave, chattering and leaving endless amounts of rubbish, she saw fit to reveal herself. Effortlessly she swam to the top of the tank and pulled herself out. A member of the crew rushed towards her and lifted her down onto the floor behind the tank, his fingers gripping the seamless join between her mermaid tail and human waist. She cut the contact with him the moment she was sat on the dusty floor and he had handed her a towel. Disappointment practically seeped from his pores as he retreated to help someone else, his eyes flickering back to her. Men got like that around her, especially after seeing her perform.
Rubbing down her tail, she removed every drop of water that she could from her body. Slowly her scales began to disappear, changing to the colour of her torso. Her tail split into two legs. Snatching up her clothing which had been discarded in a small pile, she pulled the smooth silk dress on over her head. It took her a few moments to stand, as always, but once she was standing, she strode across the arena with every intention of packing up, ignoring everyone and then heading to bed. Except a hand grabbed her wrist, causing her to turn abruptly and stare down her assailant. It was the handsome man from earlier, staring at her now human legs.
"I knew it! I told them you must be human as well." His pale blue eyes found hers and twinkled with excitement. Before she could stop herself, Syrena smiled her delicate, innocent smile, stepping closer towards him. "Well you were right," She whispered in a husky tone, moving her hand so it was gripping his. "Now aren't you clever...I love intelligent men such as yourself. You always taste so much better." Now her tone was seductive, as her eyes roamed his body hungrily. The man looked surprised, but relatively pleased as she pressed her body closer to his. In human form she didn't have access to all of her mermaid powers, but her ability to seduce was next to none, especially when she was still in her mermaid state of mind. Pressing her lips to his ear, she felt the shudder course through his body.
"I think you should-" She started to say. "NO!" Syrena began to revert back to her human mind, which spoke up suddenly in her thoughts. "I won't harm this man. I won't do it. Leave him alone." Freezing where she stood, her face took on a look of agony as she battled with herself. "But he looks so tasty. Imagine what he would...No. I'm not that person. I am not like that when I'm out of the water. I'm human. I'm human.....You will never be human....But I can pretend. I'm not going to kill him. I won't do it!"
"Go...I think you should go." Jerking away from the man, she refused to look up and meet his eye. Her tone turned cold and dangerous, as she glared furiously at the floor. "Get out of here before I get someone to kick you out." She heard him scurry across the arena, kicking up dust as he went, no doubt frightened by her sudden change in demeanor. Sighing, she cursed her mental weakness for not stepping in sooner than she had. Syrena knew she was dangerous when she had just left the water. She should have been prepared for someone to approach her, though it had not happened for many weeks. Her human mind had been too slow this time, next time she might end up actually harming someone.
Cedric's voice floated suddenly towards her and she lifted her head. She should tell him what had just happened. No, it could wait till morning. She wouldn't bother him with it now. Keeping to the shadows, she slipped towards her wagon intending not to be seen. However, she felt eyes upon her, so ducking her head she hurried across the patch of grass and up into her wagon. But she already knew that sleep would not come easily for her tonight.
RPG
