"Oh.  Sorry if I act strange about it, then,"  Kioko told Julian.  "I've never really met anyone who was as different as me.  She took a bite of syrup soaked pancake, chewing carefully before continuing.  "I've always been around normal people before now.  They usually don't accept me."  

She nodded at the large animal that had joined them at the table.  "it's been okay so far," Kioko told it.  "And, no, it wouldn't bother me," she said in reference to the raw steaks it now held in its' mouth.

((Sorry for the delay, things got busy here.)) 

[[Momo: It's hard to keep track of everyone. Especially when lots of people have been posting. You gotta make more effort into interacting with people, I guess. xD I mean, I can keep approaching people who ask... but you need to be brave sometimes!

AND YEAH. TOO MANY GIRLS. I'll never be able to play Spider's sister. wah.]]

 "Hm." Zinc took a moment to ponder, wondering what to say to her. A lycanthrope, maybe? He'd heard stories of those of their kind who couldn't control their shifting.  "How hard do you try to control it?" He asked, curious. Zinc had never had such a problem. He willed himself into whatever form he saw fit and that was that. "The first thing to do is not give up, young one. And only from wolf to human? Maybe you're just supposed to live with both. What form were you born in, do you remember that?"

He stood and looked around the circus. It could be an enchantment, maybe, but her current answers weren't helping much. Perhaps when she felt less sorry for herself he'd be able to make sense of her predicament.

- - - 

Spider shook his head slowly at Kanec. "As long as you're... you know... not... messy." He mumbled, quietly. Embarra.ssed of even asking such a thing, he hovered over his plate and started nibbling on his pancakes. He glanced up at the girl who was constantly being ignored. Odd. He hadn't noticed her before. But Spider hadn't noticed the wolf that barreled through the door and stole pancakes, either, so this wasn't saying much. Sitting up a bit straighter he looked at Kanec and Jazz. "I haven't met you all, I don't think." He said. "I'm Spider. Or, if you like, you can call me Boris Blodwen." 

"I was born human. But my mother cast me out since I shifted on the day I was born. I got raised by an orphanage. I don't know why I'm like this...perhaps something to do with my mother or father..." She sighed and picked up a palmfull of dirt, rubbing it between her fingers.

"Never knew who my father was though," she said doubtfully. 

--

Aicra sighed impatiently and walked up to Spider. "Hey, Spider...that's your name right? Who made the pancakes?" Her tone was slightly commanding, but nor was she really expecting an answer. 

She placed her paws on the scant room at the end of the chair and looked at his face, a curious ex
pression on hers. For all that she sounded grouchy and angry, Aicra had long since decided that she liked Spider. He was peculiar, and Aicra liked queer people.

((ALRIGHT. FIRST. Det, Momo. Shhh. All this OoC got me lost. xD And we have another hybrid. o_O Interesting~ Pfft. Dravvy. xD So many characters nao~ So much drama~))

Again, Raphael could only watch as the white haired Co-Master let loose. He figured talking to him while in the process of stripping trees was not a good idea, and simply watched, his ex
pression never faltering. He glanced up only once, watching as a number of blackening clouds scudded across the horizon. Great, a storm was coming.

"Alright," He said once Dravius had finished his tirade, frowning slightly. "It's all piled up a little quick, I guess. Had it not been for Break however, you probably wouldn't have had to deal with those first two," He sighed, glancing over his shoulder and back towards the tents. "Break will need to be dealt with, eventually... That's one we can't ignore anyway," his face darkened considerably at the thought, before he glanced back towards Dravius.

"We need to address the rest of it though. We can't have this turmoil taking place under our noses if he shows up." He frowned again, looking skyward as the first raindrops began to fall.

"She can't full well help it, you know. And had she had her way, you would never have known. After these last 8 months, she refused to give you anything else to think about... She always put you first." He sighed through his nose, his face becoming sad. "Nylat's just being protective. You know how close she is to Maya, and you didn't see that girls face yesterday."

He inhaled deeply at this point, then watched as Dravius made to leave. "Not yet. I want you to calm down, the Circus is running us ragged at this point, and I can't deal with the whole thing alone," He said shortly, flopping onto the ground and leaning against the tree, closing his eyes. "You can try to leave though, if you wish,"

~~~

With a yawn, Julian glanced at Jazz. "Calm down," He chuckled. "You saw what happened yesterday, the whole Circus is in an uproar, and without Dravius' help Raphael is left to deal with it," He stretched. "Our Co-Masters stuck in a rut, Maya's feeling incredibly fragile, and Nylat would most likely bite anyone who tries to talk to her today,"

He leaned back in his chair, his own emotions running riot. He couldn't help but feel sorry for everyone involved, partly because of the situation, and partly becuase he was close to all of them. Life in the Circus was a difficult thing, sometimes... He really hoped it would be resolved... They stood no chance against Break when torn apart like this.

"Hm. Most of us where never accepted." He said in reply to Kioko. "It's the reason this place exists. The dream of an eccentric kid who wanted to help those like him," A small smile made its way onto his lips as he shrugged at Kanec's question and replied to Aicra's. "The cooks, naturally." His eyes then fell on Spider again. "So what can you do?"

((My goodness. That was difficult, trying to remember who I needed to reply to... xD))

((Rawr. Nylat's really gonna bite anyone who talks to her. 'specially with the animals overruning the Circus! DX *spazzes* I thought Nylat was special. *pout-face*))

Kanec nodded to Spider, smiling a bit.
"I'm not a complete animal. I'm not too much of a mess about it. And I can't remember if I met you. Too many new members. I'm Kanec, original shifter of the Circus."
With that, he took one of the steaks in his jaws and set it between his paws, holding it with both as he tore off a piece, eating it quickly. It was in this fashion that he quickly ate the remaining part of the steak, as well as the others. When he was done, he licked his paws clean, as well as around his mouth, satisfied.
"Haven't had raw meat in a while. Pretty nice after a bit."

"I...am...calm." Dravius said, with a bit of difficulty. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second. "I'm..fine." He said, and true, his face was much less stromy than they had been minutes before. "And I'm not stupid enough to walk into an illusion, Raphael." Dravius frowned deeply, stil slightly out of breath, and with his hands full of splinters.

"Although I'll be alright, I feel sorry for the tree." Dravius muttered, looking at the pine tree with long breaks in the bark oozing sap, and completely free of branches until you got about seven feet up.

"I just have to keep away from Break," Dravius turned to Raphael and unhooked the broken string on his guitar, slipping the low e string into his pocket. "Which might be hard, considering who he is. He always pops up when he's not wanted."

Dravius sat down next to Raphael, staring into the ground. "And as for Maya. It's not my fault that I don't love her, but I don't think she'll be talking to me ever again." The teenager sighed sadly, looking like he was on the verge of crying. His blue eyes were wet as he picked up a twig, biting his split lip.

"The only way I can think of to really get to Break is his looks. He's always been a freak about his clothes and hair, but thats all that really would get to him, since you can't really hurt him. Or you could just chop him to peices faster than he could regenerate."

Aicra made as much of a pout that was possible, considering she was a cat, but she didn't say anything. She was just as interested as Julian in Spider's answer. "Too bad it wasn't waffles," she mewed ungraciously as she hopped back onto the floor of the van. A slight breeze brought voices to her sensitive ears, which picked up Dravius's voice, who seemed definitely distressed. 

Weaving her way across the floor of the van, Aicra jumped out and went to investigate, anything to get away from the crowds. Though she knew that they might not want to be interupted, she felt concern.

"What's going on?" she meowed, pawing Raphael's knee. "Is it the whole Break episode?"

Opening an eye, Raphael watched Dravius, smiling slightly before replying to the Co-Masters comment regarding the illusion. "Eh... Coulda' fooled me," He crossed his arms and snorted quietly, pausing long enough to continue listening to Dravius.

He raised his eyebrows when the Co-Master sat beside him, looking just about ready to break down. Raphael's face bacame clearly pained. "Mm. No-ones blaming you, but no-one can blame Maya, either. Regardless of whether you can love her or not, I highly doubt her feelings for you will change. She's been harbouring them too long,"

He sighed, before continuing. "And you should know her better than that. She's not angry at you, just... very upset, and probably will be for a while... I'm more than just a little concerned, what with-," He stopped, realising Dravius hadn't actually been present at Alto's lapse. "Nevermind," He said shortly, exhaling and placing his chin on the palm of his hand, closing his eyes. Looks like this particular issue was going nowhere fast.

He only came out of his thoughtfulness when Dravius mentioned Break, Raphael's ex
pression once again darkening. "I'm sure a blow to the brain or heart would finish him. I'm also just as sure he knows it, and probably has his plans for protecting against it... If I had my way, I'd lock him in his own god forsaken mind. Too bad I don't have the patience to keep an eye on him for the rest of my life," He looked directly at Dravius then, his ex
pression serious. "You probably already know you are your only hope if Break gets ahold of you again. Your willpower has to be stronger than his, or so I can as.sume."

At that moment, Aicra showed up, and the Ring Master merely nodded in her direction. "Pretty much." He stood up, glancing around, before smiling sadly at Aicra. Nothing had been resolved here, not really, and the Ring Master was feeling a little hopeless about it all. "I'm going to need to talk to Julian..." He said, keeping his eyes away from Dravius before heading back to the camp site. "We need someone to fill in for Maya's performances over the next week."

"Oooh...that's going to be hard," Aicra meowed, scratching behind her ear as she tried to think of a solution. "Maya sung during her performances, did she not?"

Aicra sighed then shrugged, "I honestly have no idea on who could fill her space in the show, but I'll bring it up with Julian for you." She glanced up at Raphael with a worried look. "Things at the circus have been hectic. How's Julian coping?" For all her brusque attitude, Aicra had a healthy respect for Dravius, Julian and Raphael.

[What happened to Maya?]

[[BACON. oh hey, hey guys, Spider's sister likes to eat people. And like. Break can regenerate... UNLIMITED BUFFET.]]

Zinc stared at the girl, wanting to feel pity but for some reason, not able to get himself too. "Well, you've found the right place, I guess. All sorts of freaks here.  A big, huge, freak family. I'm sure they'll be able to help you." Zinc could not. He already had a charge and he couldn't go helping strangers. Besides, she didn't really have a problem.

If she were just human, she would probably have a problem. It was just one of those things. Humans always had something to mope about. If only her wolf counterpart had more influence on her. Wolves were strong, smart creatures. He'd met very few that felt sorry for themselves. 

- - -

Spider smiled nervously at Kanec, "Ooooh. The original, huh? You sure have a lot of newbies like you-- probably have your work cut out instructing them on what's what." Naturally, Kanec being the first made him an instructor in Spider's mind. Someone who was very smart and deserved his respect. Spider turned to Julian. "Hmm, it's a bit hard to say." He started, but was cut off as a creature shoved her nose at him, questioning him as if he had done something wrong.

He had little time to react, as the creature, disappointed over something-- waffles?-- left the van. "I-I uh... Who was?" He hadn't met her. Had she just overheard his name? He thought about mind-readers, and the thought made him uncomfortable. His brow furrowed and he shook his head, his attention back on Julian.  "Uh. Well, I can move things. If I concentrate real hard. And gravity... I can sometimes ignore it? I don't know if that's the spider or the poltergeist that lets me sit on the ceiling. Maybe both?"

Dravius shook his head again and got to his feet, slipping the strap of his guitar over his shoulder, resting the body of the instrument on his back. "I'll see you later, Raphael." He raised a hand briefly in a wave, before trotting off.

After repairing the E string on his guitar, he picked up a bright red violin, sliding his fingers over the glossy wood body. Dravius sighed, pulling a bow from a slot in the wall, beginning to play a slow, sad song.

Stepping out of his van, he continued to play, his white hair shading his face. Dravius slid the bow over the strings slowly, his fingers changing the notes from sad to even sadder. Sighing again, the teenager dropped the instument to his side, tears sliding out of one eye, while the other stayed impas.sive, staring straight ahead without a trace of emotion.

((I'm so mean to Dravvy.))