Julian threw a somewhat uncurious glance in Tara's direction as he walked towards the ruddy light of the blazing bonfire, his body seeming to almost form from the shadows as he approached.

He hadn't bothered to question Tara's hacking hobby, seeing as he didn't really see it as being all that important, which was usually his way. He rarely found reasons to get himself involved in other peoples business unless it concerned him directly or one of the older members, and so long as they stayed out of his, they'd get on. Most of the time, anyway. Inhaling slowly through his nose, he paused by the fire and glanced around, his gaze not really seeming to be all that interested.

By now, most of the Circus members had moved closer to the heat source, and sat in groups around the flickering orange flames; The chattering and laughing creating a cheerful sort of buzz that flowed continuously over the camp ground. It seemed more than likely most of them would remain up until quite late... Well, considering they hadn't exactly been here a whole day, it stood to reason that none of them had really wasted all that much energy to begin with. He sighed quietly at the thought. He didn't particularly mind crowds, unless he knew he was going to be stuck in the midst of one for a while, which, all things considered, seemed very likely tonight.

He then turned his gaze to the beach, and his dark eyes narrowed when he spotted the gargoyle and the new girl, noting with pas.sing interest that both Raphael and Selvai were also down there. Glancing at the following hacker, he slid both hands into his pant pockets then turned back to the merrily crackling fire, catching sight of Kioko as she so carefully manipulated the scalding flames in her palms. He watched her for a moment, his ex
pression unreadable, before his focus eventually fell onto Diresa as the summoned creature approached.

"Practice," He murmered, pulling his hands away from his pockets and crossing them, looking back at Kioko with a small smile. "You seem somewhat adept already, you can only improve from here,"

 ~~~

"Ah, I see," Raphael replied to the Magician with a warm smile, his gaze falling on the shape-shifting Diresa as she emerged from the ocean, watching in an amused silence as she eventually made her way back towards the blazing bonfire. "In that case, it seems I won't have to,"

He chuckled, looking back towards the group and allowing his curious grey eyes to fall on Jesca and Felix. "It's a pleasure to meet you both," He added with a smile, rolling a shoulder and glancing off down the coast, watching the winking lights of the town in the distance. He remained silent when Selvai addressed Felix with a question, raising an eyebrow in the gargoyles direction before asking his own. "I take it you've stumbled upon us by chance?... Seeing as no-one should currently know of our present location," He asked and stated, placing a hand on the back of his neck, his ex
pression nothing if not welcoming. "So tell me, Jesca, Felix... What can we do for you?"

Jesca shrugged but Felix spoke for both of them at any rate. 'A place to stay for a little, if you could? I am tired of flying about willy-nilly sleeping in forests and in abandoned huts. Civilization would be nice.' Shaking his head with a loud sigh he gave Jesca a sideways look. A her non-repentant ex
pression he just grinned and turned back to Raphael.

'If we are troubling you it would be no difficulty for us to leave.'

Jesca nodded slowly, but not before giving Felix one last glare. 'I miss comforts like beds and warm meals,' she murmured, turning her gaze onto the sky. The sun was setting and brilliant red streaks spread across the sky on a violet-and-blue background.

Dravius took an almost unconscious step back as a wave of fear curled through him, almost tugged away by a thick rope of anger wrapping around his waist, tugging him towards totally flying at Kane, and he took another attempt at takeing a step back, blinking rapidly, his face creasing one moment with anger and the next smoothing with worry and indifference. Growling, Dravius took one step the the side, snarled, and launched into a flat out run, moving quickly over the sand, and vaulting over a low natural wall made of piled rocks. Breathing hard, Dravius skidded to a stop next to a huge oake tree, his chest heaving as he drew his hand back and slammed it hard into the trunk of the tree, growling at the resounding crack, shaking his hand and feeling a dark tingling rushing through his hand. Pulling his broken hand close to him, he began running again, his face stormy and his bright eyes dark.

Panting slightly, Dravius skidded into the near-by town, ignoring the building tingling in four of his fingers and all of his knuckles. It sort of tickled, actually, but the fact that the tingling was becoming more distracting definitely meant that those bones were broken.  Shaking his hand out again, he tested the fingers, nodding at the fact that he could still move them. He tugged a roll of thick gauze from one of his pockets, binding together his fingers in groups of two, extending the bandaging up to his elbow, pulling his hair back with one arm. Sighing, he looked into the dark town, watching the streetlights bl
ink up high, illuminating the streets every so often. Dravius shivered and stiffened as he heard soft breathing behind him, accompanied by a cold finger trailing down the back of his neck, sending gooseflesh  spiraling around his arms and  uo his neck. The soft touch of the cold finger turned into a sharp fingernail digging into a spot just behind his ear, sending a tingling down his spine as the finger pressed into the pressure point. "Careful Wolfe. Wouldn't want to die, would we?" A voice hissed, accompanied by a sound of clinking, like coin against coin. A rustling, scraping noise curled around Dravius's ears, with an exhale filled with the smell of sugar and expired fruit, wihich was strangely intoxicating as the one finger was joined by the other four, resting on the boy's shoulder.

((Oh look. Long post, and nothing happened. Don't yell at me, I'm sick. -Crawls away-))

((*Hugclings Dravvy*... whoo. We have permission to kill, yes? >3))

Raphael raised his eyebrows at Felix, then shrugged. "I don't see why not, if that's all you want," He replied with a slight smile. "There's plenty of room, and it's no trouble." He added, stifling a yawn and glancing back towards the bonfire.

There were a small number of loud, yelling Circus members who still remained in the now freezing sea water, and their splashing around mixed with the idle chatter that came from everyone else. The Ring Master rolled his eyes at them, crossing his arms and shrugging his shoulders to loosen the shirt he wore, before laughing quietly at Jesca's words. "As I said, your welcome to stay, we'll need to find you vans, however,"

He ran a hand through his hair, then shuddered. He had no idea what that was, but it didn't feel too good. Shaking his head, he bowed to Jesca and Felix. "I suppose that's the first thing we should do then," He said, smiling at them both.

~~~

A few silent moments had pas.sed before Maya realised there was another voice in the throng along the beach where Kane resided. Standing, she glanced over her shoulder at the group and spotted Zinc, being his usual self and degrading everything humanly possible regarding the fear creating being.

She listened to him in silence, then turned back to the ocean to watch Nylat, the gauze on her arm still somewhat loose. Another moment or two pas.sed, then Maya' attention was pulled back to the beach at a pas.sing blur. Her vision just caught sight of Dravius fleeing the scene, which in all honesty, she could not really blame. She glanced back at the group, then looked at Nylat with a thoughtful ex
pression. It wasn't really all that much of a debate, and the girl, once she was sure Nylat was paying no attention to her, sprinted after Dravius. There was no need for it, probably... Unfortunately, Maya seemed to have little choice in the matter. She had to be sure he was alright,the Co-Masters lack of feeling pain could sometimes be a problem and he tended, often, to forget he was in fact, breakable.

The butterfly-winged teen lost track of Dravius just as he hit town, and she grumbled under her breath,crossing her arms and roaming the lighted streets. She hated towns... If she was alone, that is, and right now, this really wasn't helping. Sighing quietly,she figured she could hardly blame anyone... She'd got herself into this.

She followed the streets for a short while, shivering with cold and foreboding when she eventually found him, stopping dead in her tracks at what else she saw. Break. Oh god, no. With a stunning and unhindered agility, Maya threw herself against the closest wall, hands pressing against the cold brick as she struggled to get her breathing under control. She sincerely hoped neither of them had seen her, though that could have been hoping for an impossibility... She wasn't really all that hard to miss.

God damnit... This wasn't good.

((Yussss. I just read through my previous post, and I'm utterly confused, because I don't remember writing it....And why am I so creepy?!))

Dravius's breathing increased, breathing in the sweet, rotten smell that pervaded his breathing space, as a loud cacophany of jingling sounded, and the hand was removed as Break turned his head, his angled face turning from side to side in search of a sound, or a glimpse of someone. Moving Back towards the still petified Dravius, the tall man tangled his long fingers in the boy's white hair, breathing in the smell of blood from him, a smile curling his lips and revealing bright white teeth. His clothes rustled as he gently Drew Dravius over near Maya's hiding space, turning the other boy around so he could walk behind him, resting his sharp chin on the dark roots of the other's hair.

"Oh my, look at what we have, Wolfe," Break purred, managing to sound sinister under his soft tone, his fingers tracing Dravius's sharp jawline, a crop of goosebumps appearing in the wake of those cold, smooth digits. Dravius opened his mouth, but as he did, more of the rotton fruit smell flooded in, his one eyes going strangely flat as he stuttered, "S-stop, please," Break looked mildly surprised as he cooed, "Why, how rude. This foolish girl has come all this way from the beach to come and see you, and you want us to ignore her? I think not, my dear," Untangling his fingers from Dravius's thick hair, his sweet smell wrapping itself around Mayanna, thick enough to make the air seem heavy, and the smell was like an entire orchard decaying, filling the air with the rancid-sweet smeet.

"Hello, dear, you seem worrried, but do not despair. I have no need for insects, and I never was one for plucking wings. Oh, poor Gem. I'm sorry for overloading him, but it needed to be done. Stirs up a bit of trouble... you see, he'll try and kill anyone with new information until he cools down," Break murmered, turning a gentle stroke of Maya's ahir to a sharp yank, pulling her head towards the light and shoving his angulat one in, his blonde hair falling into his face as his scent increased further, reaching a choking thickness. Pulling back just as suddenly as he had swooped in, he draped himself over the helpless Dravius's shoulders, placing a hand on the boy's chin and guiding his face towards Mayanna, so the girl could see his blank eye in the dim light. "Poor Wolfe has always hated bugs, ever since those ants set up camp in one of his arms. He did so enjoy his collection of wings, didn't you?" Break growled, using his hand to make Dravius nod.

((God, Break, just die already...))

((Pfft. That'll be a bit. The towns quite far away, and we don't want everyone flooding there straight away, it makes it complicated otherwise. xD And then theres Gem. o_O

And because you are creepy, Dravvy.))

Maya had been in the process of thinking of a way out of this, her ex
pression concerned and her face lost in thought. It wasn't so much her, as it was getting Dravius out of this situation. The scent that pervaded the air was sickly, and it was the increase in said scent that provided the first warning.

With a jolt of fearful recognition, the butterfly-winged girl's eyes fell on Break, who, clearly, had known of her presence. She suppressed a shudder, her violet eyes narrowing at him, her breathing struggling somewhat under the oppresive weight of that smell. She could only glare under her initial fear before Break yanked her by the hair, causing her to bite her lip. She refused to give him the pleasure of hearing any note of pain, nor would she retort to his snide comments. She did however, look Dravius in the eye with an unreadable ex
pression.

Shecould only look helplessly at the failing Dravius, she'd been sure Raphael had dealt with this. Fighting the drowning coldness that surrounded the tall street performer, she fleetingly thought about running, though the idea was not preferable. Running would mean leaving Dravius behind, and doing that would give Break time to get away. She couldn't afford to do it, Dravius was the only thing keeping her here. "Dravius..." She murmered, her voice quavering slightly in the presence of the tall blonde street performer, before she turned to glare. "Why can't you get it through your skull that he doesn't wish to leave with you, creep?" She added, her voice, while fearful, harboured a lingering venom. "He has more strength than you seem to give him credit for. I didn't see you looking so full of it when he stuffed your face full of metal," In any other situation, she probably would have kept her mouth shut, and not gone quite so far with her stinging retorts. Unfortunately, she was, due to previous circumstances, feeling incredibly reckless and, despite her fear, agitated.

She inhaled slowly through her nose, trying without much success to prevent the flow of heavy air, her mind becoming somewhat sluggish as she glared openly at Break. Glancing from the performer to the Circus Co-Master, she clenched her fists. How could she possibly get through to Dravius?... He had to get control of his will, and soon, she stood little chance of getting away from Break alone, and with the Circus being none the wiser... It wasn't good.

It was a split second decision, as Maya figured the best, and probably only chance she had of helping the Co-Master was to get him out of physical contact with Break. Her eyes narrowed sharply, and then she did something quite unexpected and probably very stupid. Using strength from a lifetime of dance, she rammed one shoulder into Dravius's side with, hopefully, enough force to knock him to the ground and out of Breaks contact, if only for a second. Whether or not Dravius could get a hold of himself she didn't know... But if he didn't, they we're in serious trouble.

((DX And Maya's sneakiness means it'll take Nylat an extra two seconds to start chasing after her. Maya should've known better. She broke the major rule: Never go anywhere without Nylat. ;D Let's just hope she gets there soon enough to get her chance to kill Break. Don't want Maya havin all the fun.))

Nylat, shaking the fur from her eyes finally, scrambled up on the beach, shaking her fur out. Salty and still damp, it fluffed out a bit, and as a soft wind blew, it felt as if daggers of chill were sent into her skin. SHivering, she glanced at where Maya was--had been. Whining a bit and feeling partially guilty, the hybrid paced for a second on the beach. Her ears were flicking back and forth, trying to catch any sound at all, and her nose was raised to the wind. But, she wasn't the best tracker, and the few footprints in the sand (;D) were smudged, and lead toward the city. Nylat whined in even more worry, torn between her edginess in the stone forest, and her worry for Maya. She seemed to shrink in slight fear, thinking. Even if she did go to the city, how was she supposed to even find Maya?

Glancing around, out of habit, the fur along her spine seemed to rise a bit, prickling. She growled a bit, realizing, with a sudden shock, that Dravius wasn't around. Of course, that could be quite insignificant--he could just be out of her sight. But for some reason, she doubted that. Flopping on the ground with a sigh, she glanced in the direction Maya had gone, her tail flicking nervously. Either way, something was going to go wrong. She had that gut feeling. And the hybrid knew that there was no chance of relaxation until she at least found Maya. With a determined, low bark, she scrambled to her feet, dashing off in the direction that the footprints led.

((I'll leave it there for now. ;D))

"Oh, no, no, no, little lady, that just won't do. It's not a question of what he wants, it's the matter of what I tell him. You see, none of you people understand the concept of of 'loan'," Break purred, taking his hands off of Dravius long enough to make air quotes, and frowining and straightening when Maya mention the earlier incident. "That did hurt a bit, and my face healed over some of them, but a trivial matter. For, even though I left Dravius, he was always the best of any boys I've found. The other ones just fail too fast," He murmered, entangling his white fingers in the boy's matching hair again.

Break's eyes widened as Maya rushed Dravius, knocking the boy away, with a small noise of surprise, and taking a step or two away, a few strands of bright hair dangling around his long fingers, a growling sound starting deep in his throat. "You foolish, foolish girl. Can't you just let go? I was going to leave, put poor Wolfe seems to have some ties here, which need to be cut, hmm?" Break tilted his head, which bore an ex
pression of malice. Dravius was shaking his head, the air thick with a slightly different scent, less sugary and now just thick and rancid. The shorter boy seemed unable to clear his head, wrapped in the rancid, smothering smell. "Wh-what?" Dravius gulped, looking in between Maya and the rapidly loosing control Break.

"Oh, Wolfe, come here, will you?" Break beckoned with two fingers, and Dravius managed to take a step back, his one eye wide. Break chose instead to tug Dravius over by the sleeve of his shirt, his scent once again wrapping it's vile cords around his already fuzzy head, and Dravius struggled weakly, trying frantically to rid his head of Break. "Would you do me a favor and kill this insect?" He purred, pointing to Mayanna, and Dravius said flatly, "What in..sect...?" He seemed to pause inbetween each sylable, his words thick in the air.

"Honestly, Wolfe, you have one eye left, dear," Break said, tsking quietly. "The one with the nice wings. Maybe you can keep them, they are quite nice," He added, stepping back from Dravius. "And you will find, Maya, that we are both very hard to kill, dear."

Maya watched in silence the result of her intervention, not really paying all that much heed to Breaks words, though she couldn't precisely ignore them. She snorted quietly at Breaks admittance of Dravius pain inflicted act, narrowing her eyes and taking a small step away from the perfomer.

Foolish. He was awfully fond of that word. Too bad Maya wasn't really all that willing to bother explaining anything to him. What the hell did it matter?... 

She shuddered, her fear of the guy still very much in evidence, and she was almost afraid to look away from him. As though that one lapse would provide his chance to do whatever he wished, she did, however, glance at Dravius as the Co-Master seemed to get himself under control. The small amount of hope that flared diminished just as quickly as Break got himself immediately in a position of power, and the butterfly winged member of the Circus was beginning to feel the first onset of hopelessness.

A flicker of serious concern crossed her features at Breaks sudden demand, if Dravius slipped up here, she'd be in trouble. Unable to leave and get help, the Circus was too far. Break would be out of here by then... She shook her head, her eyes on the Co-Master. "Dravius," She repeated, her voice stronger, despite the fact she felt less sure.

"But not impossible," She replied in a bleak voice to Breaks last comment, a slight anger flaring in her eyes as she looked at Dravius. "Dont do this" She murmered, her voice increasing in both volume and inner anguish as she spoke. "Dravius. Don't, your better than that!... Did the last seven years of your life with the Circus teach you nothing?! Don't listen to him!" She yelled, her voice harbouring an emotion it had lacked the last 5 days, one hand firmly pressed against a brick wall. Short of trying to drag Dravius physically out of there, the best she could do now was simply speak. It was his battle, not hers.

Her face was no longer scared, just unbearably sad, and torn between hopelessness and concern, silent tears making their way down the girls flawless and anguished face. There was nothing she could do, not really... This gamble wasn't hers.

Jesca flushed again at the Ring-Master's laugh, but returned to her usual pale self by using her chameleon power, cursing inwardly at her inability to keep herself from flushing whenever a man or boy spoke to her, not including Felix, who definitely did not count.

Tucking one strand of hair behind her ear nervously, she nodded at Raphael's words. 'I guess that would be it...' she murmured uncertainly, plucking at the hem of her shirt now, where a thread had come loose.

Feeling embaras.sed at her appearance -ragged tank-top, grimy jeans, dirt-encrusted sweater and to top it off, her jeans were both gross and wet- she sighed and fixed her gaze on the bonfire, which looked warm and inviting.

--

Felix inclined his head gravely and coiled his tail around his hindpaws, while lifting his hands in surrender. 'I guess we're staying here then,' he said with a small laugh, fixing his crimson gaze on Raphael with an ex
pression of mirth shining in them.

'Should I return to my usual form? I believe it might be more...prudent for our situation. My gargouille body seems too intimidatin for meeting the other members.'

[[D: please, call me Batman or Zombie. not "gravys".

sorry Mychelle; probably me that nom'd your brains. Dx

man i hate the brain dead. Also shut up Break. "hard to kill". yeah. that's what they all say. and then they're headless and filled with stuffing. Thanksgiving dinner is awkward at Sh'Yama's house.]]

"One dunder head pops up, gets wrecked, and ANOTHER pops up. "Oh, oh look at me, I'm so evil and GAY"." Zinc hopped off of the tree branch he had been straddling to skip around throwing flowers—where the flowers came from is a mystery. "'Oh please don't think you can stop me, look, look how many are on my side. TWO. And your side? What, fifty? Seventy? Two is such a bigger number, durrr, durrrr, duuurrrrrr. Look at my undertones, aren't they CHILLY?'" Zinc was practically pulling his hair out as he hiss and spit in rage about Break and his utterly irritating existence, of course, if anybody saw him they would have no idea what he was going on about.

"That's it. I'll kill that stupid boy MYSELF. In front of him. And then drag his dead body around going "neener neener" and— well Maya would probably be upset about that..." Everyone probably would. Except maybe Sh'Yama— Sh'Yama... The rusty cogs and pink bunnies that operated Zinc's brain started to turn. She could do it. No harm there. He'd warned them... and she was really walking a narrow line already. Maybe a little murder would get her out of the way. What she was in the way of Zinc wasn't sure, but that was a good enough excuse as any.

And he was standing behind them. Really, he let these people get off too easy. He could abuse his powers so much it wasn't even funny. They were so lucky most of the people around here had nightmares about clowns. Zinc hated clowns. "Wendy," Zinc started, in a pleasant purr "I require a teeny, tiny favor." He emphasized "teeny and tiny" with hand gestures.  Sh'Yama stared up at him, coldly, and for a moment Zinc was a bit nervous of the stick she was holding in her hands. "What kind?"

"Well, you see, some... bum is grillin' your dudes, down in yonder city. Maybe a choice word—or stabbing? Is in order?" Zinc smiled innocently, clasping his hands together.
"Stabbing?!" Spider blurted, looking a little alarmed. Zinc nudged him face first in the sand with a well placed boot to the rear. "Just a little stabbing." Zinc rea.ssured. "Also he's the same bum who," Zinc paused and leaned forward to whisper into Sh'Yama's ear. Whatever he said threw a bucket of kill over Sh'Yama's head.

"Escort!" She commanded hotly, patting Spider on the head before stepping forward and wrapping her arm around one of Zinc's in a death grip.
Stringy, salt encrusted hair, a baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants. Truly, she was the messenger of doom. "Wish I had my cloak." She whined, as Zinc pulled her into his van and dove into the closet with her.

Sh'Yama did not like this method of transportation. It was like being in an elevator— an elevator that was broken and careening violently and quickly into the abyss. And there were... things. Little grabby hands and... she did not want to think about what else. Faces that didn't have faces. They came to a stop before she even realized what exactly she was going through. Zinc opened up the closet door, poked his head out, and motioned the clear to Sh'Yama.

They were in someones room. A gaudy room. Someone had bad taste.  "So where is this stupid Man?" Sh'Yama asked, pushing a lock of hair out of her face as she scowled around the room. "Shh, we'll just... we'll wait. Give them a chance. But you like Maya, right?"

"Of course. She is a very nice girl. Dravius is very stupid."

"Well she's the one I'm worried about. Just, come on, out the window."

[[please excuse Zinc. he's the most special little snowflake. this long post makes up for absence, yes?

v Aw, Det doesn't want my fictional zombie babies? and truly, I'm not creepy on purpose. but I guess... that is what makes me creepy. ); ]]

((-Clings to Raffy- How is the future?))

Break smirked at Maya's outburst, laughing slightly, but what he didn't see, and what would have stopped his laughter, was the widening of Dravius'sgood eye beneath him, clearing gradually as Break brushed his hair behind his ears. His eye widened further as Maya began crying, his own face sad as he looked through his thick hair at Break still resting his chin on top of his head. His face hardened as Break growled at Maya, "My goodness, girl. Must you go on about that?" Dravius glared itensely at Break, which seemed to catch his attention, as he glanced down and jumped back, straightening to his almost seven foot height. "Hmmph." Break snorted, watching Dravius growl at him, the white-haired boy's anger and own scent of blood seeming to drown out the rotting stench, clearing the air as he seethed.

"You-" Dravius growled, listing several insults involving Breaks mother and general hygiene, interspersing them with strong language, as Break looked suitably shocked, before his face darkened and his hands hooked into claws, his muscles bunching. "I suppose it can't be helped, Wolfe," Break said, his lithe form tense as he grinned maliciously. Although Dravius's back was to Maya, his own face eerily reflected Break's, a wide smile spillting his face with a mouthful of sharp white teeth, as he drew an arm length blade from a long, tube-shaped pocket, growling with that awful smile.

Dravius finally snapped, all the anger and any other negative emotion serving as a foot hold for a short dash between him and Break, both males immdeiatly entangling, with several shrieks from Break and snarls from Dravius. The two dropped to the ground, a ball of lethal blows, but each's abilities prevented either of them for being stopped for very long.

It wasn't a short fight, just an incredibly instense one, white and blonde hair flying, and the mad, disjointed jingling of coins attached to cloth, followed by short splatters of blood, in Break's case, a purple-red substance in the place of blood, but enetually a loud, prolonged, and rather high-pitched scream sounded, and the dirst and dust settled, with a gush of purple red, and a deep, almost wet sliding sound, Dravius kneeled over Break with a wicked smile still on his face. Break  had died quickly, a much quicker death than he had deserved, and although Dravius had many visible wounds, but nojnne seemed life threatening, and most on his face and neck. A dark laugh bubbled from his throat, his blue eyes almost wild as he got to his feet and turned unsteadily towards Maya, tilting his head, his sharp smile sinister.

((Taa-daaa...))