Nylat yawned, sneezing a bit. With what horrid luck she had, she'd caught a cold just two nights before, and was still getting over it. Thus was her reason for sleeping so late. Shaking her fur out, she yawned again, beofre padding up to her door, pushing it open before jumping out, shutting it with a light push. She padded up, almost silently, behind Maya, before butting her head against the back of the girl's knees. Snickering, the hybrid sneezed again, away from her friend, shaking her head to clear it.
"Man. I'd never imagine a cold would stay this long. Anyways, how've you fared so long?"
She glanced around to the water, grinning at the water fight Raphael'd been dragged into. She'd probably join later. But for now, she wanted to talk with Maya. And anyways, she didn't want to make her cold worse. Getting wet and getting out would be of no help to her.

~~

Kanec, on the edge of the area that the Circus members spanned, sat against a rather large rock, donning just a white t-shirt and jeans that had torn off just below the knee. Above him, sitting on the rock, was Tara, typing away on the laptop, glancing back at the water every now and then, with a rather nervous look on her face. Occasionally, Kanec would glance up and ask the same question.
"What are you doing? No one can type that much without reason."
But, as usual, the question went unanswered as Tara continued typing. Kanec sighed, glancing back at the water, shuffling his wings. In the bright light, a scar was plain against his left wing, and a similar scar adorned his left arm. This had occured while he'd been away from the Circus, and he'd never given anyone a chance to see the one on his wing, and the one of his arm, which was more noticable, was always shielded by his jacket. He debated on going out in the water, but he would rather not. In order to get a good shift out there, he'd have to get quite a ways in, which was only possible as his current form. He wasn't a strong swimmer as a tiger. And he hadn't swam much in any of his others. As well, he was rather against the idea of wet wings. With a sudden idea, he stood, flaring his wings, before beating them, lifting from the ground before shifting into a red-tailed hawk. He flew a ways out over the water, only about ten feet above, before shifting, quite smoothly, into a porpiose(probably spelled that wrong) and entering the water with barely a sound.

((Sorry about yesterday. Wasn't allowed on.))

[[Close, Ny. It's porpoise. More like you made a typo. so yeah you spelled it right.]
 
Sh'Yama swished around under the water, her eyes wide open despite the fact the water was salty and yuck. But her eyes were made of sterner stuff! Or at least, that's what she was telling herself.  Exhaling a stream of bubbles out of her nose Sh'Yama popped back up, took an explosive breathe of air, bobbed for a moment as she inspected her surroundings and then sank again. 
She noticed Gemini with his goggles and his investigating, and swam over. Well, under. She proceeded to make funny fish faces up at him before getting bored and having to get up and get some more air. Swimming alone was nice, but she couldn't help but feel like she was abandoning Spider... but he'd find something to do, surely.
 

 "What is the deal with carnies? I mean really. At least on Heroes they had that... group pancake breakfast thing that wasn't completely awkward. Oh--- oh my, I know what the problem is." Zinc was of course saying all of this while still drooling and mumbling over his tongue. He snapped his fingers and nodded to himself. He didn't voice the problem out loud, however, as he just then bit his tongue. Though not a surprising out come, due to the circumstances, he still whined and moaned about it before reverting back to his somewhat pleasant self. The pink one, anyway.

And then, because life was meaningless unless he was bothering someone, he plodded down to Spider's van and plopped down on the ground next to him. "Sup, Bubblegum? Manage to escape hara.ssment today?"

Spider blinked at him, looking up from his growing web monstrosity. "I'm "bubblegum"?" He asked, eyebrows knitting. "Shouldn't that be you? Or... carnation or something..."

Zinc snorted and leaned back. "Carnations aren't pink, stupid." He rolled his eyes and scoffed, shaking his head out how dumb Spider could be sometimes. There was a moment of silence. "Yes they are." Spider said with finality, looking back at his web. It looked like he was decorating an "S" at the moment. "No." Zinc answered.

Spider sighed in irritation, "They come in many colors, like white and orange and red."
"Pink? Seriously? More of a fuchsia."
"Fuchsia is pink!"
"Nah."
"What is it then?"
"More of a purple."

Spider decided to drop it and stuck his web to his van. It said "Smiles" and he looked quite pleased about that. "Why smiles?" Zinc asked, rubbing his cheek absently. "It's the longest word in English." Spider said, an impish smile peeking out of his attempt at a poker face.

Okay, now that was really stupid. S-M-I-L-E-S... that was what, six letters? Zinc was about to correct him, but before he could Spider busted up laughing, "It's the... it's the longest... heeeeee... because there's a mile between the two "s"'s!"  And he proceeded to double over and giggle uncontrollably.

Well, that was pretty funny. Maybe he could giggle a bit too. That giggle turned to loud, obnoxious laughter, and so they probably looked like two crazy people rolling around on the ground laughing.

[[haah hah my characters only socialize with themselves.]]

"Oh, really?" Dravius laughed, rubbing his head. " He's occupied, so he won't be much trouble," Laughing again as Raphael trotted away, raising an eyebrow. "He'e such a cheater," The co-master smiled, watching Raphael smack the other members with false water, getting to his feet and pulling his shirt over his head, revealing a surprisingly well-defined body, one akin to that of a swimmer, although he couldn't swim. There were many scars and marrings criss-crossing his body, a prominent one below the bullet holes, twisting across his stomach, and up to his armpit. Trotting down to the water, he was immediatly tripped by a short cirucs member, going down in the shallow surf. The boy popped up laughing, his white hair hanging wet in front of his eyes as he spat out a mouthful of salt-water, poitning a finger at Raphael and saying, "You cheater! No illusions, Raph!" Dravius got to his feet and shoved Raphael teasingly, laughing as he was pulled down by the other members, splashed repatedly, sputtering good naturedly as he got to his feet.

"Rahh!" Dravius yelled, picking up a huge wave and launcing it at the tripper, laughing uproarously. Wobbling in the sand, he nearly went down again, his white hair flying around his face. Spitting out more water, he wiped his eyes and splashed Raphael, grinning.

Splashing Selvai playfully, Diresa swam further out before she spotted Kanec dive into the water and shift forms.  She hurried toward him, swimming underneath him before he saw her coming.  Inwardly smirking, the blue creature doubled back in under to leap over top of the fellow shifter, laughing playfully at his reaction.

----------------------

Once Diresa had swum away, Selvai waded closer to the group of circus members splashing in the surf.  Caught off balance by one of Raphael's false waves, he lost his balance and toppled over, his long hair becoming wet and sticking to his face when he finally managed to stand up.  Clearing the hair from his eyes, the magician smirked devilishly before muttering a few words under his breath.  He scooped up a handful of ocean water, forming it into the shape of a ball, which he promptly tossed at Raphael's head.

----------------------

Letting the flames in her hand sputter out, Kioko stretched out her arms and legs, then rubbed the back of her neck tiredly.  Using her power was still taxing, but since she'd been practicing regularly she'd built up her stamina a slight bit.  From her perch she could see the others playing and splashing in the water, but Kioko preferred to merely sit and dangle her feet in it.  She always felt out of her element when it came to swimming.

((Behold the nothingness of my post *o*))

"Isn't that why your here?" Julian asked, his eyes on the flute playing Wolf. "Did you not wish to join the Circus in order to escape that treatment?" He sighed through his nose, then slipped both hands into the pockets of his black combats, closing his eyes; His ex
pression was unreadable, though there was a hint of what seemed to be something along the lines of impatience... He didn't do too well around people like this. Wolf, like everyone else, needed to make some sort of attempt here to get involved, her life would be no better if all she did was avoid everyone in the Circus.

He opened his eyes and glanced back up at girl. "As for your powers. Should you not learn to gain some control over them?... Your life here at the Circus will be no different to your previous one unless you can learn to adapt," He scratched a temple, closing his eyes again momentarily as he did so and paying no heed to the bluntness of his words. With another, somewhat agitated sigh, he turned and began to walk back the way he had come, towards the beach and rowdiness of the members over there.

"The choice is yours, however," He said, still walking, not bothering to look over his shoulder as he addressed the girl. Well... It was her life, he supposed.

~~~

With a yawn, Maya stretched her slender form, wings and all. She had been watching the water fight below with a strange sort of amused detachment, and almost lost her balance because of it when Nylat gently butted her legs. She glanced quickly over her shoulder, then exhaled slowly.

"Oh, hello Nylat, and fine," She replied with a slight smile, looking back towards the ocean. She thought she'd done a pretty good job with her answer, atleast she didn't sound depressed. Though whether or not that would have been enough to fool the hybrid she wasn't too sure. She watched in silence when Dravius headed off shortly after Raphael, and got exactly the same greeting from the excitable members who had dragged the Ring Master into the water earlier. She smiled genuinely at the scene, crossing her arms behind her back and allowing her wings to simply fall to her sides.

Despite the lateness of the afternoon, the sun was still very warm, though not nearly as hot as it had been when they'd first arrived, and Maya found herself simply basking in it. She had been stood sedately with her eyes closed before she realised what she was hearing, and glanced around with a questioning ex
pression. Looking quickly at Nylat, the girl stepped away from Raphael's van, following the sound of that insane laughter.

It didn't take her long to find the source, and she blinked in the general direction of Zinc and Spider before smiling at them in a confused sort of way. Well... There was laughter, and then there was the laughter of these two. "Afternoon," She said in warm greeting, folding her arms across her torso and looking at Spiders web creation with curiousity.

~~~

Raphael, who had been so engrossed in trying to unsuccessfully drown the members who had ambushed him, barely noticed Dravius' appearance until the teen spoke the word "illusions". With a great show of feigned innocence, the Ring Master raised his hands in surrender as he stood in waist high salt water. "I would never think of doing such a thing," He replied, smiling, his voice dripping with fake sincerity as Dravius shoved him; Causing him to lose his balance and flail around for a moment.

When he got himself corrected, he sniffed disdaintfully, and crossed his arms, still smiling in a completely innocent manner. The ex
pression didn't last however, when the blonde caught sight of the other members faces. Oh, great, he was probably going to get it now. Dravius had just completely blown his cover. He had very little time to react to this when a large amount of water hit him square in the head, and, spitting said water, Raphael glanced over in Selvai's direction.

Snorting with laughter, the Ring Master proceeded to methodically used his own leg to bring Dravius' out from under him, then cast yet another illusioned 6 foot wave that was directed primarily at Selvai. Unfortunately, Raphael had completely forgotten about the other members, and now that they knew he hadn't been playing entirely fair, they all seemed to band together with a common aim. Him. "Oh dear," He said with a smile, as he waded quickly to shallow water before proceeding to run flat out across the beach. He was, naturally, shortly followed by the mob of Circus members intent on getting him back for his outragous cheating.

Nylat smiled, but still didn't believe her friend. As such, she followed her, humming the whole time. She flicked her tail, her humming cut off by the insane laughter that had led them to Zinc and Spider. The hybrid leapt nimbly up to the top of the van, sniffling, before flopping down on the roof, laying on her back.
"So, what are you two maniacs laughing about, if I may ask?"

~~

Kanec swam rather smoothly, and was paying a small amount of attention when suddenly, he was shadowed. Glancing up, he saw Diresa re-entering the water, and grinned. This trip could prove more interesting than he planned. He turned sharply, swimming swiftly until he propelled himself out of the water, entering it again with smooth ease, before turning to look at Diresa.
"How about a race, hm?"

~~

Tara managed to get distracted from her hacking when she say Raphael being chased by a rather large mob of Circus members. She herself would join in the water fun, but her bandages prevented that, and she'd rather not remove them. Even still, she glanced back at the screen and, with a sigh, closed out her windows. She was about to turn off her computer, when another of the same messages popped up, but from someone else. She closed it out and turned off the laptop, resolving to hack that site next, if only to find out who it was. It seemed like a challenge. One she'd accept with enthusiasm.

Dravius's laughing at his older friend was cut short as Raphael swept his limbs out from under him, flailing his arms before getting to his feet with his hair hanging past his eyes. Laughing more at Raphael's dripping ex
pression, looking at the sand between his feet, before the Co-master was nearly pushed over again by the herd of Circus members in pursuit of the cheating Ringmaster, a grin spreading over his face as he whirled and sprinted after his old friend, pas.sing the main pack of the yelling members, his sopping wet white hair whipping across his face in salty tendrils, narrowly avoiding head on collisions with rocks and other natural debris littering the beach, panting until he was only a few arm's lengths away from Raphael, breathing evenly with a huge grin on his face, his legs moving quickly as he drew even with the Ringmaster. "You...cheater!" He panted, grinning at Raphael as he said, "Although I'm pretty sure I have an unfair advantage too, ah, well." He grunted, stopping to pant in the sand, flopping down on his back, waiting for Raphael to stop, his thin chest heaving.

Getting to his feet, still breathing a bit heavily, he waded into the ocean, shreaiking as his head went underwater, his feet searching for the ground only a few feet back, and as he found the ledge, he clawed his way out of the ocean, coughing and spluttering. "Note to self, never, ever walk into ocean by yourself," Dravius panted, leaning back on his haunches, his hair freshly wet and threaded through with sand, coloring his hair blonde with flecks of grey, and getting to his feet, the boy headed back up to the wagons, his chest streaked with fresh sand. Dravius's skin felt stiff with salt, and he had sand in his mouth. Spitting to the side, Dravius flopped down near the front of his wagon, breathing hard. "Swimming. Really...hard." He murmered, flipping over onto his stomach.

((Oooh, braindead.))

Diresa popped out of the water herself after Kanec spoke, blue-white eyes sparkling with amusement.  "Gladly!" she cheered, standing straight up and dancing backwards from him.  The smile on her face seemed large, even for a dolphin.  "Where's our starting point, and where's the destination?"

----------------

Swamped by the false wave, Selvai managed to emerge from the saltwater in time to see Raphael fleeing across the beach, being pursued by a mob of Circus members.  Laughing at the sight, Selvai ducked his head underwater again so he could sweep his hair out of his face, then waded to shore, pas.sing Dravius as he headed back in.  He turned to face the vans as he squeezed the ocean water out of his hair and missed seeing the white haired boy plunge under the waves.  He only turned to look at him when Dravius re-emerged coughing up sea water.

"Yes, I've heard the ocean can be quite unpredictable," he remarked with a smile in response to Dravius' comment.  With his hair as dry as he could get it, Selvai followed him back to the vans.  Instead of sitting down, he scanned the ocean, seeing where Diresa had swam to.  Spotting her jumping in the waves with another dolphin, Selvai chuckled to himself.  "It seems Diresa is enjoying herself," he commented.

((Uhkay... o_O))

Slowly but surely, a few members of the Circus in persuit of Raphael dropped away, probably figuring they could get him back later. They didn't particularly seem to want to waste too much of their vacation time chasing him, despite the fact they still had pretty much the entire week left to go. There were, however, those who weren't so willing to give up, which turned out to be most of the group, and they still followed relentlessly with loud yells and laughter.

When Dravius drew even with the fleeing Ring Master, Raphael glanced sideways, then promptly started laughing at the younger male when he flopped onto the sand. The blonde looked over his shoulder with a grin, then slowed to a jog, before backtracking and coming to stop next to the Co-Master. 

At the rapid approach of the following mob, Raphael raised an arm in surrender, and the group groaned and complained at his somewhat unfulfilling end to the game. It didn't take them long however, before they all ran back to the ocean, intent on finishing their own water fight with or without Raphael.

"They'll get me back for that later," He said with some conviction, shaking his head and causing a small shower of salt water to drip into the sand around him. Oh well, he had it coming, he supposed... It was worth it, though. He laughed quietly to himself, watching as Dravius headed back into the ocean. When the Co-Masters white hair went under, Raphael had, naturally, moved back into the shallow surf with some haste, pausing when he spotted the kid re-emerge. With a sigh, he raised his eyebrows at the younger males statement. "That, my friend, would be a very good idea," He said, rolling his eyes as Selvai addressed the Co-Master. Honestly... This kid...

Watching Dravius head back towards the vans, the blonde glanced once at the ocean and the members in it, before following after his friend and heading to his own van. He grabbed a couple of rather large, fluffy towels, then made his way back to Dravius. Throwing one of said towels over the kids head, he snorted. "Of course it is. I told you, did I not?... You'd be better off learning in a pool first, idiot," He laughed, throwing his own towel over his shoulders, the single lock of long, flowing blonde hair falling over his right shoulder.

~~~

Distracted by the continuing yells and laughing, Maya glanced over her shoulder just in time to see Raphael run across the beach, shortly followed by Dravius and a very misled looking group of Circus Members. She watched in silence as the two of them returned to the vans, then turned her gaze back to the glistening ocean.

The sun, by now, was starting it's descent, and the sky was slowly becoming a hazy orange, the heat becoming more of a comfortable warmth. Many of the members who resided on the fields had put their shirts back on, and a number down in the sea had returned to the beach itself, now either splayed out on towels or heading back to the campsite. The sound of relaxed and happy conversation permeated the air, the whole aura surrounding the Circus being one of lazy contentment.

Smiling slightly, the butterfly-winged teen looked up towards the roof of Spiders van, where Nylat had currently situated herself. "Hey, Nylat?... I'm going to walk on the beach for a while," She said, looking back towards the sandy coast. Now that it was slowly emptying, she felt somewhat more comfortable around the idea of heading down there. She never really had a problem with huge crowds, but lately, had preferred to keep away from the bustle that usually surrounded them.

Without waiting for an answer, Maya waved at Spider and Zinc, then headed back towards the sandy terrain. She paused only when she spotted the Ring Master and the Co-Master, blinking at Dravius who seemed to be covered in half the beach, looking like he'd run a mile or more. The whole image proved to be too much. Raphael barely had a chance to greet the teen before she doubled over in a fit of unexpected and unwanted giggling, turning away from the two of them and continuing to walk towards the beach, failing spectacularly as she tried to get herself under control.

When Wolf's eyes opened, the pupils were narrowed. She yawned, revealing canine like teeth and licked her lips. She nuzzled the sleeping wolf and it awoke, gazing at her with concern. it whimpered adn nudged her, but she stretched, showing that she was relaxed and okay. She padded on all fours towards the circus, squeezing through the forcefield with a small grunt. Her bones bent strangely, accepting the four legged form. The pad's of her hand were thick and calloused, like pads. She stopped a few fet from the water and watched the other's with wary blind eyes. She let out a low growl at the water then turned away and padded towardss the vans, weaving through teh shadows like a wolf. The other wolf followed her, uneased for some reason.

(( Lol Don't worry. She won't cause TOO much trouble...... Much. *evil grin* ))

(( Lol No. Not at all. Eh... CHanged her to a he. 'Cause I never liked playing girls..... Can't wait to introduce Kane.))

Dravius sat up when the towel hit his face, still panting slightly, and rubbing his face with the cloth, taking a deep breath, and tilting his head as Maya burst into laughter, watching as she giggled loudly as she walked away, himself smiling. "Hey, I hate the taste and smell of cholorine. I hate pools," Dravius grimaced, crossing his legs. "I guess Maya's enjoying herself," He grinned, brushing sand off the palms of his hands. "And if I were you, I'd be worried about just how everyone else is going to get back at you for cheating," Dravius laughed, getting to his feet and trying vainly to rub all the sand out of his hair, saying, "I really have the most unfortunate hair color. I'll be looking like my hair's a sandcastle for a while."

Stretching, Dravius began methodically rubbing sand off of his legs and arms, turning the fluffy towel light yellow and grey, filling the fibers of the cloth with beach. The towel actually didn't help much, just spread the sand farther out. Shrugging, Dravius looked up at the sky and took a deep breath of cooling air, shaking his head and sending sand flying all over Raphael and the nearby vans. "There's that new girl. What was her name, Raph?" Dravius asked, twisting his back to look towards Tara, and back to raise an eyebrow at Raphael. "Who brings a computer to the beach?"

Raphael watched Maya leave with a somewhat perplexed ex
pression. The girl, afterall, had been the furthest thing from herself the last 5 or so days, and that little outburst was considered unusual to the Ring Master.

He glanced at Dravius as the white haired kid spoke, sniffing slightly and crossing his arms. "Eh... Alright. Go learn in the ocean, let's see where that gets you~" He replied with a fleeting smile, before rolling his eyes at the Co-Masters comment regarding Maya. Somehow, the Ring Master highly doubted it, that little lapse of laughter was probably a spur of the moment thing, considering she had barely smiled the last few days, and his doubt was plainly obvious on his face as he looked at Dravius; The Co-Master would not have missed that ex
pression. He was pretty sure, as dense as Dravius was, that the younger male would have noticed the girls change around him, or even the change in general; Although she did speak to them, there was a severe lack of anything remotely Maya-like in it, as though she really would rather have not been there. Not bothering to speak at all if Dravius was present, unless someone addressed her first. Anyone who knew her would have noticed this lack of cheeryness that usually followed her around, it was almost impossible to miss, and it showed no sign of lifting.

"Pfft," He muttered. "They'll have to find the real me first, won't they?" He snorted in response to Dravius' comment about the other members, uncrossing his arms and pulling the towel over his head. "And you might need to wash the sand out, rubbing it in more won't do much," He added, re-emerging from the towel, flinching from the flying sand that came off Dravius.

"Her name?... Tara, and apparantly, she does," He replied, glancing in that general direction before flopping on the ground and looking skyward, watching the slowly forming colours of sunset.

~~~

Finally managing to get her laughing fit under control, Maya sighed as she walked, frowning at herself, her eyes on the ground. Oh, way to go. She wasn't even sure why she laughed, it wasn't really all that funny. Grumbling under her breath, she sighed again, then paused, just before she hit the start of the beach.

Her eyes had landed on the new blind member, Wolf, and on a whim, she walked towards the girl, stopping a good few feet away to avoid startling her. "Are you alright?" She asked, her voice strangely monotone as she looked the girl over. She really didn't seem all that well... Maybe she needed to see Raphael or Dravius... They were usually the ones to approach if someone was ill or injured, unless, of course, they were busy. She frowned slightly, then glanced back over her shoulder before re-focusing on Wolf, concern on her face.

Wolf's eyes flickered towards Maya and stayed on her, blinking occasionally. "I'm..... I'm....." But she couldn't bring herself to say that she was alright. She was messed up and she knew it. She sighed and sat down on the ground, curling her arms around her legs and hugging them to her chest. "I don't know. Honestly, I'm too confused to eve remember why the hell I'm here...." She whispered. 

(( A brief short intro to get you interested about my new coming character, Kane. ))

He walked through the streets, hands in his pockets and his body slouched slightly. People avoided him, turning away and casting small glances at him. For anybody, he looked like a normal 19 year old boy. But there was a strange air about him that suggested something more.... dangerous. Sadistic. His grin was slightly lopsided, giving him a slightly amused ex
pression. But his eyes were a piercing snow blue and although his demeanor was relaxed and casual, his eyes showed that he was smarter, and more lethal than he looked. A man, a thief of a sort, bumped into the man's shoulder roughly. "Watch it!" The bandit cried out. Their eyes met. The bandit froze to a stop, utterly transfixed. He stopped as well, that grin slowly sliding into a frown. He withdrew his hand to reveal his wallet, the cash half out. He looked at it and raised an eyebrow at the bandit. The bandit began to shake, sweat beading on his brow, as he watched him. He handed the wallet over to the bandit, smirking slightly at his confused and scared ex
pression. The bandit stared at the wallet, then turned and ran. "Ichi, ni, san, shi..... go" He whispered under his breath. There was a piercing scream as soon as his voice faded and a wide, sadistic grin formed on his face. He walked ten paces from where he had handed his wallet to the bandit and watched as screams erupted from woman around and a huge circle was made in the middle of the sidewalk.  He stared down at the mess of blood that was slowly forming and picked up his wallet, tutting. "You should know better than that, wakai. Stealing from strangers, especially Kureijī." He said with that sadistic grin of his. With that, he picked up his bloodstained wallet and walked away, that grin still on his face.