Dravius smiled slightly, his lips twitching as Maya murmered further. "I didn't. I should probably learn to use the eye I have left, huh?" He sighed, feeling her tense against him. Poor Maya. She really did go through a lot, and she seemed to retain it so much longer than she did. He bent his head down, to line his one eye up with one of hers, looking at her out of the corner of it. "Maya, he's gone. To be honest, you shouldn't be afraid, because you pretty much saved me. I..." Dravius hesitated here, looking off as if searching for words. "I wanted to protect you,"

Dravius shivered slightly as Maya put her hand on the gash on his face. It felt quite nice. Including the heat of the day, her hand felt incredibly warm against his always-cool skin. "Don't be," He muttered, tightening his arms slightly around her waist and pressing his cheek against hers, feeling the warmth from her skin sink into his. She smelt of the sea, of course, but running under that salty scent, was a deep-rooted, warm smell. The first thing Dravius noticed was cinnamon, and the scent of maple and the smell of old books. It was almost as intoxicating as the suragy-sick of Breaks, but in a way that made you comfortable, and want to fall asleep one the spot. "You smell nice," Dravius said innocently, yawning. "Kind of like a library," He added, straightning his neck, blinking drowsily.

((I don't know what you want Maya to smell like, but if you don't like it, I'll change it. -Waves hand- I just picked fall scents and my second favorite smell...))

((Ugh. Of two things I am sure: 1) This week is obviously the most miserable week I've had. And 2) I'm not getting any healthier. *sniffles*

And Nylat either smells of wet dog, or, more often than not, blood from some sort of small animal. ;D))

Nylat, having moved off a little while ago, grinning to herself, now plodded through the trees, determined to find something to hunt. She'd go and check on Maya later--she wasn't about to leave her without protection, even if Dravius was around...especially if Dravius was around. It was nothing personal against the Co-Master, but over the past week, her trust in him might have waned a bit. She flicked her tail, raising her snout to sniff the air, quickly catching smell of rabbit. Padding toward it, she decided better, and instead adjusted her path back toward the cliff she'd slept on the previous night. It gave a good vantage point of the surrounding area, while providing her with a relaxing breeze. But she'd stop off for a quick swim first.

~~

Kanec nodded, bobbing his head up an down on the water, hitting it with a loud smack.
"Of course. What true croc would be in the ocean?"
As if to further prove his point, he shifted into a giraffe--which he'd shifted into only a few times before, and walked calmly toward the group that Raphael was a part of, before jerkily lowering himself to the ground. He could count on one hand how many times he'd shifted into a giraffe since he'd met up with the illusionist. Less than a full hand, actually. And it was easy to tell he was just shifting out of boredom. He was very edgy, and more clumsy than he was with most shifts. He glanced down as Tara walked over, now a bit more woken up. Drowsiness had left her eyes, leaving just the normal, hard, brown eyes that seemed to hold a hurt, somewhere, deep in them. She pulled a jacket around herself, despite the somewhat warm sun above them. Suprisingly, she had left her laptop in her van, rather than bring it out.

The girl glanced up at Kanec, and took a slight step back.
"Would you mind being something a little less...how should I say it...towering? It unnerves me, you being so tall."
Kanec had not noticed any hint of nervousness of edginess in her, but he shrugged, and shifted smoothly into a form he rarely shifted into nowadays--a unicorn. This was the only form where his eyes took on a different color--once bright green, they were now a soft grey. His hide was a silverish color, seeming to shine on the sunlight, and his mane was midnight black, his tail fading from the same to white. The horn that spiraled from his forehead, from a white diamond, was a golden spire. Prancing slightly, he tossed his head.
"Now here's something that I haven't shifted to in a while. I can't even remember when."

((I guess he did learn, then, hm? ;D))

EDIT: Thar. Fixed with minimal effort. I'm really not in the mood to deal much with Kanec today. D<

((Ima Rmail Ny. I won't post for Raffy until she alters that post. And is fine, Dravvy. <3))

Maya had, again, been looking at the sand with an unreadable face when Dravius spoke, and she looked up at him, smiling slightly at the comment regarding his vision, before frowning slightly. "I know, but it''s not that easy," She replied quietly, looking back at the sand. "I find it harder to forget, you were hardly aware..." She shuddered slightly at the thought of Dravius's lack of anything when under the influence of Break. "Besides, I told you... I was more concerned with what might happen to you, regardless of little else,"

She blinked, then shook her head, which proved to be somewhat difficult while being in such close range to Dravius. She did, however, smile slightly at his last comment. "I still think you did most of that yourself, you know... I was just the bystander," She sighed again, then smushed her face into his shoulder while trying to shake her mind free of last nights nightmare.

She eventually pulled her face free, yawning once, before smiling when she felt Dravius's cheek on her own. She still felt apologetic, despite his words... It wasn't nearly so easy, not for her, anyway. If only he knew how much she'd hurt the last week.

Blinking quickly at his last comment, Maya pulled herself away slightly to look up at him incredulously. A... What?... Library?... After a moment, she snorted with quiet laughter, a momentary burst of thoughtlessness causing her to lift herself up slightly, moving her cheek away from his and kissing it softly. It took her a split second to realize what she'd done, before she flopped back onto the sand and re-adjusted herself quickly so that she was leaning against Dravius' shoulder again, her eyes firmly fixed on the ocean, murmering under her breath while chewing on her gauze, becoming increasingly sleepy as she did so.

~~~

Oh god. 

 Sighing, Julian continued on his way, trying without much success to block out the voice of that irritating closet dweller, frowning deeply as he went. "It's not so much the names as your inability to keep it in your skull that I do in fact have a name that;s used,"

He huffed under his breath, his hands in his pockets and his pace not slowing. When he heard Zinc mention about dragging this on longer, he sighed dramatically, his face taking ona pained ex
pression. No. Figures the whole thing would blow up in his face. Great.

Sighing again, he placed a hand over his eyes. "Why don't you just buy what you were going to so we can get back, hm?" He knew without really needing to think about it that it probably would not be that easy... He could try, though, right?

((I fixate on smells too much. I love the smell of old books and toothpaste. Why? No idea.))

Dravius exhaled through his nose at Maya's reply, looking concerned as she shuddered against him. "I guess I forget because it all seems like a story someone told me, or something I saw in a play, and not something in real life," Dravius looked at Maya from the corner of his eye and said, "Well, you did more than any bystander I know. And don't forget that aside from getting out from under Break, I also snapped like a twenty year old tent rope." Dravius felt Maya breathing into his shoulder, a spot of warmth flaring up from her exhales.

Dravius' cheeks turned red at Maya's laughter, putting his head on her shoulder while his ears burned. The flush grew even deeper when he felt Maya's soft lips on his cheek, taking a deep breath while his face returned to it's normal colour. "Well, you do," He muttered, watching Maya chew on her gauze. "May, if you pick at it, it won't get better," He said, pulling her wrapping away from her and pressing his lips against her cheek as well. While Maya's lips were soft and smooth, Dravius's were covered with minute scars, from teeth, and a large one from the recent lip-ring loss. Pulling away, Dravius leant back, careful not to move Maya much, until he was on his back in the damp sand, looking at the bright, periwinkle sky, his arms still around Maya. "Hmm, I could fall alseep right here," He yawned, closing his eyes and sighing, dozing slightly on the yellow-white sand. His face was unusually relaxed, without the harsh lines that were drawn into it whenever he was worrying or talking about something serious.

((I read posts, I just seem to be missing alot lately. I blame my parents...T.T I'll go edit here in a second.))

EDIT: Poor Julian. And Aww. Maya and Dravius. <33

I might post later, but for now, I won't.

((LOL. Nylat. <3))

"Oh, I see," Raphael chuckled in response to Disera, glancing over his shoulder and towards the fields that lay opposite to the beach. There were a large number of Circus members out on the field, basking lazily in the afternoon sun, voices babbling.

He eventually looked back at the gathering group, smiling at Spider and Disera before being distracted by Kanec. Raphael watched the approach of the shifter in silence, raising an eyebrow slightly when he paused to speak to Tara; Said eyebrow raising further when Kanec took a form he had learnt over 7 years ago.

Blinking, Raphael laughed lightly. "My my... I'm surprised you even remember that form," He grinned openly at the Shifter. "It's nice to see your not nearly as rusty as you could have been," Slipping his hands into his pockets, he admired the form of Kanec's unique version of the mythical horse, before running a hand smoothly through his hair. "You know, Kanec. I think you should practice those mythical forms more often, they are, afterall, afwully pretty to look at,"

Raphael smiled at Kioko, Disera and Spider. "What do you think?" He asked them, gesturing at the majestic silver horse.

~~~

"Mm." Maya replied to Dravius's explanation of his moments without will, looking solemnly at the sand and yawning. She snorted slightly, looking at the white haired Co-Master with a frown when he mentioned her doing more than an ordinary bystander.

"I did little, most of it was you, and... I know," She murmered, still frowning, not bothering to emphasise onthe last part of his comment. Of course she knew, she had been there, and that had probably been worse than Breaks hold over Dravius. It had to be a difficult thing, to fight your own will. She sighed sadly, her gauze still providing some slight distraction as she thought of how much help she had been there. None at all, not really.

It didn't take long for even that distraction to be removed, however, when the Co-Master took it on himself to move her arm away so she could no longer vandalise the orange material. She frowned again, glancing at him disconsolently. "But-" She paused when she felt Dravius kiss her cheek, and blushed furiously at the motion before the Co-Master altered his position.

Sighing again, Maya tried to force her thinking elsewhere, it would do little good but to worry her more. Instead, she focused on resettling herself, now laying over Dravius with a strangely thoughtful ex
pression on her face. She smiled slightly when the tall male mentioned he could sleep here. "I'm not really all that surprised," She murmered, moving her injured arm so that it rested lightly over Dravius's chest as she pulled herself up a little; Settling her head lightly near his neck, her face resting a mere inch or so from the Co-Masters jawline as she watched the ocean drowsily, her blazing wings splayed on the warm sand, her long hair freely running down her back an over Dravius's torso.

Spider blinked widely at the form Kanec was currently sporting, managing to look quite impressed. Though it was magnificent, he preferred Disera's current form. He looked up at Raphael, suddenly nervous about his question. He couldn't quite come up with anything to say about it.

"It's... it's um... it's pretty. Nice." He managed, starting to fidget with his sweater as he looked over at Kanec again. Spider had seen only pictures... well, he'd only seen pictures of most things. It was very nice though, and he couldn't come up with any nice words to say about it. Still fidgeting, Spider finally pulled the neck of his sweater up to his nose and then put his hands back in his lap.

"It's not an inability, it is a conscious decison, Mr. TDH."  Zinc's footsteps seemed to be unnecessarily loud as he matched pace with Julian, and he seemed to relish the pain he was causing. What was the sigh count up to? He forgot to keep track.

"Well, because I know you want to go back and causing you pain is hil-ar-i-us. Maybe if you say "pretty please" I'll consider going back. Just consider it, though. Or not. I am getting a little bored. Kinda wanna get Yama into this dress before she wakes up. Do you wanna help with that?"

[[there's an excuse for the shortness of this post. *insert excuse here* ]]

Kanec nodded, prancing a bit.
"I'm suprised myself. But, then again, it's like learning to ride a bike, as the saying goes. I don't normally forget how to shift into something."
He trotted in a small circle, tossing his head as a normal horse--as well as unicorn, were they real--would. It wasn't uncommon for the behaviours of his shift to affect him some bit. But he didn't really mind.
"I don't get much time to practice. And even when I do, I've limited gryphon to performances. And unicorn...I've had enough practice for a lifetime."
He stopped his trotting at Spider's comment, noticing his nervousness. A curious light seemed to fall in his eyes for a second before he shifted again, this time into his more-common white tiger form.

((Unfortunantly, I have not the time to post for Nylat. </3))

Kioko's eyes brightened at Kanec's latest form.  "It's great," she commented as she pushed herself up from where she sat on the ground.  She shyly edged closer to the unicorn, trying to get a better look.  "I didn't know you could shift into things like this as well."

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

'Show off!  I can do that too, you know!'  Disera silently yelled when Kanec began prancing around in his unicorn form.  "Yes, it's very nice," Disera said absently as she crawled down Spider's leg to where he had folded his hands in his lap.  She patted his hand with one little spider leg in an attempt to comfort the nervous boy.  "Come on now, no need to be so nervous.  It's just a horse with a pointy forehead, Spider."

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

"Well, there have been known instances of salt water crocodiles using ocean currents to cross large distances in the Pacific..."  Selvai launched into "lecture mode", only to trail off in mid sentence when he realized Kanec had been speaking hypothetically.  "Ah.  Well."  He cleared his throat self consciously before following Kanec up to the vans.   

"Mmmph," Dravius grunted, smiling at Maya's bright red face. He coughed slightly, saying, "I've always liked the ground more than a bed," Dravius sighed and closed his eyes, brushing some golden hair away from his mouth and nose. Maya's hair was soft and sun-warmed, the consistency of unraveled silk. Dravius slipped closer to sleep, until the sun he could sense behind his closed eyelids was blocked. Opening his good eye slowly, Dravius opened his other quickly at the shadowy figure clad in blue and gold standing above him. It was a policewoman with a rather stern ex
pression on her face. Dravius sat up slowly with a deep ex
pression of paranoia.

"Excuse me, young man, but what do you know about that...show over there?" The woman asked, her arms crossed as she glared at Maya and Dravius. "I know that I'm a partial owner of it. Is there a problem?" The woman pulled a folded peice of paper out of her coat pocket and handed it to the boy, who had propped himself up on his elbows by now. "There's been reports of not only this runaway in your show, but several other minors that you have no gaurdianship over. We have a search warrant for all your wagons, and we wish to investigate," She added, a deep frown on her face. "By the way, young man, how old are you?" Dravius slid himself out from under Maya and stood, hovering over the police woman by almost eight inches. "Eighteen," He said to her, crossing his arms defensively. "And if we have any minors in the circus, it will be because they came of their own free will, or their parents left them here themselves," Dravius growled.

The police woman seemed unsatisfied with Dravius's words, and she surveyed the scarred figure in front of her with an ex
pression like disgust. "And how did you get...those?" She asked, pointing at his many wounds. "Myself," Dravius seemed fond of one word answers at this point, spitting each response with a healthy dose of venom.

Having been watching the ocean, Maya had far more chance of spotting the arrival of the blue clad police woman. However, her current thoughtful state and position didn't give her too much room to notice much, and it was only when the light of the sun dimmed that she realised they were being overshadowed.

On an immediate impulse, once she'd visually deduced this person was not one of them, moved herself swiftly into a sitting position, ensuring her wings remained flat and obscured by most of her hair behind her, facing the stranger directly. It was far too late to hide them, she knew, it was more of an instinct than anything that prompted her to remain silent and move her wings out of direct view. On top of this, she was still paranoid, and the sudden appearance of this woman had her feeling edgy again.

The teen merely listened as Dravius dealt with the officer, remaining sat just behind the tall Co-Master with a concerned and worried ex
pression on her face. The Circus didn't need this on top of everything so far, and if there were more of them, it could prove to be somewhat complicated. Raphael usually had ways of dealing with the officers, as did Dravius, they'd had to deal with any number of them so far, but there were those who seemed to have an undying hatred of the show and it's unusualities.

Maya glanced fleetingly at the agitated Co-Master, crossing her legs and and placing both arms over them, her ex
pression wary. Things really did not seem to be improving by much, clearly this vacation was not quite what anyone expected.

~~~

 Noting Spider's obvious nervous stature when spoken to directly or asked a question, Raphael smoothly diverted his attention back to Kanec, watching the unicorn with a curious gaze. It had indeed been a long while since the blonde illusionist had seen Kanec in any mythical form, and his current choice was a welcome change to his usual, existing creatures.The forms ofmyth took quite a bit more imagination, he was sure.

He glanced back over his shoulder to listen to Disera comfort Spider, before turning to watch Selvai's approach. "Ah. Hello there," He said in greeting, lifting a hand and smiling slightly. "I was wondering where you'd got to,"

The Ring Master blinked, his eyes falling again on the Silver unicorn. "Speaking of which. You don't know where Nylat is, do you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. He wasn't really "concerned", but Raphael had a tendancy to want to know where many of the older members were at any given moment. It probably had to do with the fact he's been looking after a few of them for almost 8 years now. "Oh. While were at it, what do you guys think about throwing a bit of a beach party tonight, hm?"

He figured it would be a good idea for them all to let loose. Yes, they were on vacation, no, it hadn't gone quite as planned. Things had happened that really shouldn't have, and it had thrown the whole thing off balance. Raphael was halfway determined to give the Circus Members a break, without having to worry about certain issues. A thoughtful ex
pression crossed his face as he glanced around. "Mm. I wonder just how long Julian and Zinc will be. No doubt the bogeyman is driving our Sword Master up the wall," He murmered with a slight smile, knowing full well of the dark males irritated manner around the pink haired Zinc. He shrugged. Ah well. They'd come back eventually.

Raphael had been in the process of looking around the grounds when he spotted the blue clad copper, walking along the beach. "mm?" He murmered quietly, walking forward and leaning against a van that looked over the sandy terrain, getting the woman in view just in time to see Dravius speak to her. Great. Now what?

~~~

"Forget it," Julian said shortly, yawning as he walked, both hands in his pant pockets and his eyes on the street in front of him. Like hell he'd ask politely if he could go back to the Circus. He didn't need to be babysat.

Lifting a hand from his shield his eyes as he looked down the street, he glanced sideways at the bloset dwelling being, frowning slightly. "No, I'm sure you'll manage, hopefully gaining a few of those cracked ribs in the process," He answered in reply to Zinc's second question, before dropping his hand and looking skyward. "Tell me. How exactly do you know those Blodwen twins?" He paused, looking at Zinc with a penetrating gaze. "Just why is it your following them around like some as.signed guardian?... Unless, of course, that's what you are,"

He shrugged, then took another dagger from his belt, twisting the blade swiftly between his fingers, a small aura of impatience surrounding his black form. "Either way," He murmered, yawning again. "I think you should hurry and finish getting whatever your after," 

Dravius flicked his white hair away from the corner of his good eye, looking over to Raphael. "It's about the minors in the Circus again," Dravius asnwered. Police offivers often bothered the circus about this, but it was usually resolved after a few days of investigation...and persuasiveness. The short, stout woman was actually rather intimidating as she glared stormily at the blonde man. "Excuse me, young man, but who is in charge of these...ruffians?" She asked, gesturing to the circus members who had stopped running about and had moved most of their attention to the police woman and now, a few more officers coming out of the town. The circus members seemed highly uneasy with the appearance of law inforcers, more than a few taking the younger members by the hand and into vans.

"They say...Sammy's a runaway," Dravius murmered, handing over the paper the woamn had given him, printed with a "Missing" poster, and the frowning face of one of the children in the circus. "And yes, she's a runaway. But only because when we stopped in her town, she and her parents came to see the show. Next day, she showed up with a black eye and a lotta bruises, from her 'Gaurdians'" Dravius placed air qoutes around the last word, watching the woman raise an eyebrow incredulously. "And do you have any proof?"

Ohhhh. Dravius loved it when they asked this question. Grinning wolfishly, Dravius pulled a huge sheaf of photos out of one of his pockets, rifiling through them until he got to a picture of a young gril with reddish-blonde hair, bearing a swollen eye and a split lip. The picture matched the one on the poster, so the police officer looked stunned and took the picture. "That's one down," She smirked, looking towards Mayanna. "To be frank, that girl with the stage wings and you look like they should still be in school. Birthdate?" Dravius spat out his, along with a few four-letter words, and the officer grinned, a smile matching Dravius's.

"Yup. You're just about a starting senior in high school, kid," The woman sneered, putting a hnd up to pinch Dravius's cheek, causing the boy to jerk back with a slight snarl. "When's your, sweetheart?" The cop bent at the waist, addressing Maya. Dravius lifted one lip in a growl, his shoulder muscles twitching, tightening and relaxing as Dravius narrowed his eyes at the police officer. This stupid woman was grating on his already thin nerves.

After only a moment of silently watching the Officer and Dravius, Raphael turned his gaze toward town, noting the others that existed around the Circus grounds perimeter. Oh good, one of those again. With a sigh, he looked over his shoulder at the group he was currently in. "Excuse me for a moment," He said, before walking away from the vans, leaving Kanec and the others behind as he approached Dravius, Maya and the stern faced woman on the beach.

The Co-Masters immediate explanation once again had Raphael thinking the kid could probably read minds. He couldn't, of course, but he was usually very accurate when it came to guessing peoples thoughts. It could be somewhat unnerving at times.

"Ah," He murmered in reply, glancing once at Maya before turning to the officer. "I am," He said, ignoring the "ruffian" comment. Well. They were on vacation, he was pretty sure any human being would act like that when faced with an opportunity to do so. "Well, half of the responsibility is mine," He added, taking the missing poster from Dravius and looking at it, pointing towards the white haired Co-Master. "He has the other half," He murmered, not taking his eyes from the page in front of him.

He looked up only to listen to Dravius explain, eventually resorting to providing visual proof. Ah. The Ring Master smiled slightly. Keeping such records was a common sense thing to do, really, when in charge of a Circus of freaks. Hell. Raphael's van was pretty much stacked with forms and papers should the officers choose to look into it further. In fact, they usually only ever had to search his van to find their answers. Then they usually left. There were no laws broken, afterall. Of course, half the time they only had to speak to Dravius. That kid was usually well prepared for any eventuality, and he had an uncanny skill to have everything he ever needed at any time on him, no matter what the situation.

He watched in silence when she asked for Dravius's age, allowing his gaze to fall on the 18 year old male. "Calm down, Dravius," He murmered, after Maya recited her birthdate from where she sat on the beach. Maya was only around 3 month younger than the Co-Master, and Raphael turned immediately back to the officer once she had her answers.

"Before you start about any lack of education, I would like to as.sure you that there is, in fact, a legit tutor of high standard who teaches these, ah... Runaway's," He said, smiling. "True, we cut the teaching off at 16, merely because our livelihood depends on these people following the line of work that joining a show like this usually requires. Do you need further proof for those others, by the way?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Surely, Sammy was not the only person they were investigating, and there was proof for most of the younger members in the Circus.

Maya had watched the entire thing in silence, showing little to no change in ex
pression as the Owners of the Circus dealt with this problem. Between them, she knew Raphael and Dravius could probably get them out of it. Truth was, there was nothing really to hide. Inhaling slowly, Maya moved her gauzed arm from her knee and placed it to her side, inconspiciously hiding it under her leg. They didn't need more questions.

The police woman pressed her lips tightly together, marking something down on a clipboard she had been carrying. Murmering to herself, she wrote, "Partial owner shows signs of self abuse, and others are injured." Dravius snorted and uncrossed his arms, looking towards Raphael. "I hate police officers," Dravius coughed, sticking his hands into his pockets. The police woman seemed angry that, so far, she couldn't find any broken laws. "Legit...tutor," She said dryly. "Indeed I do, young man. I refuse to leave until I've found what I'm looking for," Waving a hand behind her, two policemen appeared, bearing rather large stacks of paper.

The woman officer's smile was back as she held out her hand to recieve a yellowed sheet, and asked Dravius's name. Dravius seemed quite confused, but answered correctly, which encited a "HA!" From the woman, and she held out the paper to Dravius, which bore his name, and a list of charcges, along with a rewards for capture. "Really? A wanted poster? Aren't they a little old fashioned?"

"Try eight years old fashioned," The woman smirked, crossing her arms. "You're wanted, Mis-ter Wolfe." She enunciated his name clearly, and Dravius growled deeply, his arms crossed again. "I renewed your case, Wolfe." The woman snarled, staring at Raphael and adding, "I can have you charged for refuge, Mr. Raphael." The policemen behind her snickered, mean expressions on their rather fat faces. "What do think of that, sirs?"

[["My sister didn't mean to bite the officers head off, honest! All the other police officers torn to pieces were also accidents!"

and then they all have to move to another country.]]

"I...I know it's just... I..." Spider trailed off and looked at Yama as she slowly started to fall over. And he didn't know what the reason was, and that upset him even more. He lifted a hand—careful not to nudge Disera, and rubbed his eyes.  He made a small noise of dismay when Kanec changed form to a tiger. Was that his fault? He didn't mean anything bad. He just didn't know what to say. And now everyone hates him for it! Frustrated more than sad, he glanced around at Yama for some support.

Comatose or not, she managed to make him feel better about these things. But to his surprise— she was gone. He hadn't felt her move...well, except just a few seconds ago... and he had heard her cloak move, and there it was sitting in a crumpled pile. Had she disintegrated? Could she do that? Spider actually wasn't sure if Sh'Yama had any other abilities other than being a superhuman monster of pain.

Resigned to not speak again for awhile, Spider waved slightly at Selvai as he approached, but then stared blankly into space as he listened to Raphael. A party? He didn't know what to think about that. Whatever they wanted to do... not like they needed his opinion anyway. Silently, Spider watched Raphael leave. Trouble? Again? He could only sigh.

"Hope I get broken ribs, actually. Maybe even some that stick out. Hehehe, that'd give Spider a start." Zinc's stride slowed a bit at Julian's question, "You know what curiosity does to cats." He said, his usual airy voice replaced with something a bit less fruity. "But that isn't too bad of a question!" He continued, voice as airy and annoying as ever. "Nobody ever asks that. But oh, it's a long story. I sorta know their cousins, them being meddlers and all. And guardian... hmmm..."

He pressed a hand to his lips, which was a feat considering his hands were full. "I don't know if I should tell you. You're usually supposed to tell your charges first, right? But I'm sure it'd be our little secret." Again, he seemed to be jumping from serious to not-serious, and dropped his hand, smiling thinly.

"No, we can go back. I'll get something for Spider an other day. Maybe take him instead of you. Probably be much more fun." He didn't say anything else for a time, watching Julian fidget with his dumb knife. "The truth is... hmm, well, Spider used to be someone else. The real reason I'm here... I guess I wanted to see if he was still there." Zinc huffed and shook his hair out of his face, ex
pression getting grimmer by the second.

"When you're someone like me... someone who goes "boo!" and tries to scare kids or whatever... you eventually realize there are much worse things out there, and scaring kids isn't all that fun anymore. And you want to somehow protect them from the bad things." He stuck his bottom lip out in a pout that was somewhat mocking, since Zinc found it hard to be serious. He wasn't going to admit he was actually upset.

"And it hurts when you realize you failed. I mean, the stuff I was worried about wasn't him getting spliced with a spider and a fright, but the usual stuff that humans do to each other. Because there isn't really anything I can do. There are rules. I can't be like Yama and tear someones face off when they try to hurt people I care about."

Zinc hissed through his teeth and made a face. "Now that she's here there isn't really a reason I should be here."

What's your jurisdiction? Sh'Yama liked to think of herself as a vigilante figure, on occasion. Sure, craving the flesh of humans wasn't a staple for being a good guy, but she loved some people just as much as she hated and wanted to eat others.

Law enforcers were not on her nice list. The comment about school made Yama make a face. This woman was obviously after something else, not the well-being of the younglings of the circus. Sh'Yama had never gone to any schools. Sure, her appearance was one reason, and the fact she'd most likely have been eating fellow students fingers instead of taking their lunch money was another, but really, she was just too smart for school.

Being an only child with a father who valued knowledge and power over all things resulted in an extensive curriculum. And that was a.ssault. Was this woman really an officer? Had they seen her badge yet? Sh'Yama brushed the wrinkles out of her sweater and slipped her shades on, and stepped out from behind the vans she'd been lurking behind. Yama was glad she remembered to swipe her shoes before coming down here.

They hadn't asked for a badge and she hadn't asked for permits. She didn't know who was the stupidest. The officer, she finally decided. "Excuse me, "officer", but do you have a proof of identity? A badge? And what grounds do you have? What's your jurisdiction? Can I have a look at that warrant?" Sh'Yama was no lawyer, but she did know that warrants were for search and seizure of items, and were not given out willy-nilly.

She also knew that giving consent to a search because the officer was being pushy or threatening could make the search invalid, since the officer was using trickery. She doubted that warrant had a list of every van on the premises including items they wanted to grab and bag.

"Because, though our Master and Co-Master here run the circus, they do not own the members' dwelling spaces. You'd have to write up a warrant for every single van here. And if all of this was a ruse to get Wolfe, well, Ma'am, your methods are questionable. Do you have an arrest warrant? If you do not, well, I may have to take this up with my attorney. I doubt the judge who issued a search warrant would be very happy to hear you abused it to make an arrest." If this didn't work, Sh'Yama would just have follow them, slaughter everyone in the station, break Dravius out, and take him to Iceland. Or just hire a lawyer or something.

[[long post with Zinc drama makes up for absence. ]]

Keeping his eyes on the female officer, Raphael raised his eyebrows as she scribbled, muttering under her breath as she went. The blonde was beginning to feel like this wasn't quite to be expected, and at the officers sudden divertion to the younger members of the Circus.

Something clearly wasn't right, and at her revaltion of the opening on Dravius's case, Raphael's eyes narrowed. Alright. So it wasn't just about the kids. His manner suddenly switched from being accomodating to very suspicious, and not to mention, irritated. Yep. If something else just happened to go wrong after this, he was likely to kill someone. The whole aura of this womanwas one of someone who seemed to have focused a lot of time and effort in getting the person she was after. Really now. Had Dravius done something personally insulting to her?... She certainly seemed single-minded enough to be after him for whatever reason that was, afterall, bringing back a case on an 11 year old kid from almost 8 years ago posed some questions.

He raised his eyebrows further as he listened, Maya's face switching between slight indifference to intense dislike. Standing up, she stood between the Ring Master and Co Master, her ex
pression worried as she glanced at Raphael. This was stupid. It was just one problem after another. Maya was pretty sure her nerves wouldn't handle much else at the moment, and the first tremors of what was probably going to be an intense headache were starting to make themselves present. She crossed her arms loosely over her torso, glancing between the two tall males and the officer.

Charged for refuge. Good luck with that. Clearly these officers had not yet noticed the unusuality of the settlement they'd stumbled upon. Raphael sighed, rubbing a temple harshly. He had no time to respond to the officer before Yama made her appearance, and the Ring Master watched her in silence. Maya, who had again returned her gaze to the officer with narrowed eyes, looked away when she heard Yama's voice, thankful for the intervention. Really, she was likely going to lose it if one more freaking thing threatened Dravius's existance in the Circus. She gazed at the sand, trying without much success to quell that feeling that had been haunting her the past week. She'd hoped Break's death would bring an end to this. Clearly not. As she looked back towards the tall Blodwen sister, her body shook with the mental strain that was really beginning to make it's presence known. Add that tolack of sleep and brittle nerves, and you had a nervous teenager very close to breaking point.

Yama, Raphael thought, posed a very good point, and going by her tone, she clearly thought there was something else going on here. This, woman, seriously had some sort of personal issue. Unless of course, she just had no life and enjoyed hunting down "criminals" from god knows when in the past. He chose, consciously, to remain silent. No point intervening. Not yet. Instead, he took a step towards Maya, noting the girls obvious mental struggle here. It really was no surprise. This on everything else was a little too much, even for the usually strong-willed Mayanna.

~~~

Julian showed little to no change in ex
pression at Zincs answer, his only motion being a raised eyebrow, which was not so much from his words as it was from his continuing change in tone of voice.

He was so used to the bogeymans joking and all-over-the-place tone that even the smallest change was easily noticable, and Julian found himself silently rethinking the pink male over. Alright. Perhaps of he wasn't so in your face all the time, he wouldn't be too bad. Of course, that was up for debate.

"Still there, hm?" He answered, sliding his dagger back into its original position and glancing off down the bustling street. "And have you found an answer to that yet?" He asked, not really understanding, having not known the origins of Spider or Yama. Julian tended to keep very much to his own business, and left others to theirs.  He was, truth be told however, intruiged. When Zinc went into his little explanation regarding the protection of those he cared about, the Sword Master actually found himself sympathising. Why?... Because he knew how that felt. Sure, if he needed to protect someone, he was able to do so, and the limitations placed on Zinc put that into a new light.

Perhaps, just perhaps, there was more to this pink-haired doofus than he'd previously thought. "Maybe you should be here," Julian said, sighing through his nose. "It can take more than one person to keep an eye on things," Not willing to admit he agreed with most of Zincs words, his own were very ambigious, though he was basically voicing his own mind. Why bother leaving the protection to others if you wanted to take part?... Even if there was little you could do.

"Your doing more for him than you seem to think," Julian added, sliding his now free hands back into his pockets. "Spider is nervous around the rest of us, no surprise," He grimaced at the thought of Break and the week in general. "You seem to provide a great deal of comfort for the kid, or atleast, familiarity. Maybe you should stay more for his peace of mind, rather than out of any sense, or want, to physically protect the kid. There are those in the Circus who will do that for you," He shrugged, then turned and started walking away, a small, barely visible smile on his face.

"Unless, of course. Your such a failure that you feel you truly need to hide in your closet,"