Maccus paused at Nylat's words and seemed at a loss for words. Finally, he spoke, incredulous. "You mean.... there are others that are different? They l-live.. here without being forced?" He whispered, almost forgetting his puppets and voice skills. Pausing for a second, eyes glazing over, Maccus sat and thought for a while. "No slave labor... No whips... No carving knives.." He whispered detachedly, fingers running over old scars across his wrists and arms. "Freedom..." He continued murmuring, as if someone had just told him Santa Claus was actually real. "Is this really true?" He asked softly, shaking his head in bewilderment. "Actually, I'd like to speak to this Master of yours... I'm sorry. It's not as if I don't trust you... but I've been through too much to trust the words of anyone other than the guy in charge. Do you know where he is Miss Nylat, Maya?" He addressed Nylat and Maya, apparently ignoring Dravius and Nylat's claws. Running his fingers through his hair, Maccus continued to speak dazedly, eyes still glazed over creepily. 

(( :P Sorry, I couldn't get on earlier with school and all.)) 

((MACCUS.

How DARE you ignore Dravvy.

 -Raygefaise-))

Nylat flicked her tail, and lifted an ear. After hearing what Maccus said, she smiled smugly, and paused for a second. "Well, I'd be happy to take you to him. If you wanna go in this downpour. I'd have to find him, but it shouldn't be too hard..." After a moment, she turned and opened the door, dashing out into the rain and making sure the door was shut before she ran off. She trotted through the curtain of rain and wandered around for a while, before very nearly running into Raphael. She backed up a few steps, looking up at him. "Why, hello there." She flicked her tail, spraying water to add to the rain.

(( >:U They're not on the best of terms right now. SADFAIS))

Stumbling out of the bed, Maccus stared oddly at the door, which was oddly shut. "Does she... always run off like that? Um... Or is this normal for most females? Even if she is of the.. .canine sort." He asked Maya quizzically, evidently confused. Nodding to Dravius silently, Maccus strode towards the door, and looked back, a sad smile on his face. "You bear your burden by helping others. I bear mine by being queer. We are like two sides of a coin no? You have your power, I have my curse. The difference between us is that you have people whom you can trust and communicate you emotions with. I have only my demented puppets and the wind to talk to." He said softly, and nodded once more at Maya and Dravius in thanks. Then he strode out the door, trying to figure out where Nylat went off to. "Now. Where is that ridiculously tempered girl?" He muttered, squinting through his utterly drenched hair. 

Dravius pulled his knees to his chest and sighed heavily, flicking his eyes to the cloth covering his knees. He drew his gaze momentarily to Maya as she said something he wasn't quite listening to, and "Hummph"ed quietly, nodding curtly.

The sight of Maya struggling towards him in his over-large clothes elicited a slight twitch of the corners of his mouth, which grew into a small smile as she flopped next to him. He blinked at Maccus' change in demeanor, pulling his legs closer to him. He noticed Maya's wavvy hair was once again framing her face, and he looked confused for a moment as Maya held her arms out to him.

It was still another second or two until it registered with Dravius that Maya was holding her arms out for a hug, and blinked several times before relaxing his legs and leaning over to wrap his arms around the girl, breathing in her sugary, old-book scent. "You smell nice." He muttered, closing his eyes for a second, drawing back up to his full height, settling his feet on the floor.

"Bye, Man-Who-Never-Bothered-To-Tell-Us-Your-Name." Dravius waved sleepily, adding, "Yeah you've just got to learn to catch up." Dravius turned to Maya and said thoughtfully, "Demented puppets and the wind? Whuh?" He shrugged and rubbed his head against the wall behind him, hopping to his feet and opening the skylight to his van, clambering onto the roof. He did it so quickly that a minimal amount of water entered the van.

Dravius simply sat in the driving rain, a smile resting on his face as water dripped off of his nose, matting his hair into thick, black and white ropes. He flopped on his back, feeling the water his his face and neck with a contented sigh.

"Ouch," Violet murmured at the sight of the girl's ankle, but switched her eyes away immediately, flushing with embarr.*censored*ment. "Yeah," she said slowly, answering Kioko's first question. "Two years ago or so? I was only a member for a bit though. Six months or around that. My memories are fuzzy." Shrugging Violet finished off her piece of pineapple and moved her plate away, decidedly full. "When did you arrive here?" she asked curiously, "and no, you don't sound creepy. It's actually rather nice to talk to some new members. Then I don't feel so out of place myself." Now it was Violet's turn to fidget uncomfortably. "Uh...a.ssuming you are a new member and all that."

Dravius had been staring blankly into the rain for a minute or so when faint notes began drifting up through the wood underneath him, and he tilted his head. It was a nice song, even if the wood muffled it enough the he couldn't make out the words. When the notes ended, he frowned slightly, getting to his feet and stretching his arms over his head, his clothes once again sodden.

Dravius took a deep breath of the damp air and clambered back inside, shaking his head to free it of some rain, he shivered, and immediately switched out his black shirt for a thick, brown and green sweater, soft and knit. "Much better..." He said to himself, looking at Maya shuffling through his papers.

"What are doing?" Dravius asked slowly, tilting his still-dripping head to the side. He spotted to curly words below the two handprints, and a sharp grin spread across his face. "Is that what you were singing?" He asked, rubbing the dried ink on the wall. "Was nice. I couldn't hear the words, just the tune from on the roof," He added, taking his hand away from the wall.

Dravius sat with his legs crossed tightly next to Maya, watching her studying the drawings all over the floor of his dwelling. "Sorry, I really need to clean this place up. I just don't usually feel like picking anything up." He shrugged, scootching himself and lying down next to Maya, his knees pressed up against the black walls. He sighed gently and settled his chin against the matress, suddenly hopping up and settling on the floor, tugging a pair of scissors from a pocket and switfly beginning to trim his hair, tugging on the ends every so often to make sure they were even.

 It didn't take long, and soon Dravius' hair was much shorter, his hair coming down to about the middle of his chin in the front, tapering to the back of hs neck on the opposite side. "That was bugging me," He murmered, getting back onto the bed and closing his eyes with a huge yawn.

Nylat shook, her fur spraying water around her. She grinned at Raphael before pausing to contemplate her words. She slipped in Raphael's van after him and flicked her ears back, still thinking. "Well, there's actually something.... There's this guy. He's different...like us. But...I dunno. Hard to explain him. Anyways, he wants to see you. I said I'd come find you. So... Here I am." After another moment's thought, she flicked her tail and fled the van, dashing across the Circus grounds as fast as she could with three legs.

Upon finding Maccus, she flicked her tail, her ears pricked again. "Well, Mister Maccus, I managed to find Raphael. If you wish, I will take you too him now." Without waiting for an answer, she turned and walked away, this time only rising to a trot. She made her way to Raphael's van, and stopped outside for a moment, then disappeared inside.

((Fail. But I'm so distracted right now. Maybe I'll edit with Kanec's later.))

After being drenched to the bone by walking around in search of Nylat, Maccus finally find her, meeting whom Maccus could only guess was Raphael. "You are the Master of this... area?" He asked through an equally drenched puppet of Kermit the Frog. Blinking for a moment to rid of droplets of rain, Maccus grimaced and offered Raphael Kermit's puppet hand. "They say you are the Master of these people. They also say they stay here of their own free will. I want to know if this is true. No other... normal person have achieved this. They say they have, but I was merely a slave."

Throughout this exchange, Maccus opted to not open his lips, just to let Kermit do the talking. Switching voices to Maya's, he continued on. "...I was offered a chance to speak to you about these things. So tell me, what is this place?"

(( BRAINDEAAAD. ))

At Nylat's explanation of why she had decided to hunt him down in this weather, Raphael raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms. Another newbie?... There certainly were a lot of them around these days, huh?... And the luck the Circus seemed to have with bumping into all of them was almost uncanny.

"Alright," He responded, seating himself at his desk just as Nylat fled. He rolled his eyes, then started moving the papers that resided on the polished wood surface in front of him. The documents were mostly concerning Kioko, Selvai and the others who had joined them not so long ago. Dravius had finally managed to get pictures and the like, and all the needed infromation on those members were included. Names, Ages, Abilities, that sort of thing.

Spending a few minutes seperating each person, Raphael had finally got his workspace under some semblance of order, before standing and pushing the chair under the table. Taking each document, he locked them into a safe that contained all members information, in a cabinet thatcould only be opened by his touch. Dravius had one also, and the Ring-Master mentally reminded himself that he needed to get the extra copies of the new members documents to Dravius.

Shoving the spares on one end of his desk, he walked over to the bed and flopped heavily onto it, heaving a sigh. When Nylat returned, bringing the new person with her, Raphael nodded at his first question, only raising an eyebrow at the fact Maccus was speaking through a puppet.

"That I am. My name's Raphael, and yes. People stay here of their own free will." It didn't seem too much of an unusual question. At Maccus' next words however, the Ring-Masters face became suddenly very curious as the stranger spoke in, quite obviously, Maya's tone of voice. How peculiar... What an unusual thing to be able to do.

"I see..." He paused, then gestured at the chair that lay by his now (more or less) empty desk. "Take a seat. This "place" as you referred to it, is the Majikus Circus, a home, if you will, for people who are... Different, essentially. People stay of their own free will, and leave of their own free will, and can I just say that your ability to mimick another's voice is rather good. Better than good, even... Not natural." He raised his eyebrows, his ex
pression genuinely interested. "I take it your not "normal", for lack of a better word?... And can I ask your name, while I'm at it?"

~~~

Still looking through a number of Dravius' drawings, Maya eventually came to conclude that she had no idea what most of them were. They all seemed to portray some sort of conflict though, the scratchy quality actually rather pleasing to look at.

Picking up another piece of paper, not even really hearing Dravius re-appear until he spoke. She glanced up quickly at him, then turned the image around so he could see it. "Looking," She replied with a smile before placing the piece back where she'd got it and looking through the others. When the Co-Master spoke again, Maya glanced over her shoulder at him, then blushed. "I'm sorry. I probably should have asked you before I did that..." She turned her face back to the drawings on the floor in an attempt to hide her blush. "But yes... I'm surprised you heard it being up there,"

The young blonde made absoloutely sure she had time to allow the flush to fade before she placed her elbows on the bed and pulled herself back slightly so she wasn't hanging over the end; Focusing her gaze on Dravius, her face amused. "It's not so bad. Im kinda used to this," She gestured at the papers on the floor, then looked at Dravius when he laid next to her, before shortly jumping back to his feet.

She watched him deal with his hair, smiling when got back onto the bed with a yawn. Pushing herself up so that she was sat with her legs crossed and shifting herself so that she was facing Dravius.

"Tired?" She asked, the question shortly followed by another sneeze, one that actually made her head hurt. Huffing through her nose, she looked back at the handprints and the writing under them, humming the song as she scooted closer to Dravius. She got close enough to notice just how wet his hair still was, and with another huff, scootched to the end of the bed and slipped off. She walked, carefully, over to the chair, picking up one of the red fluffy towels and making her way back to the bed.

Before she clambered back up, she threw the towel at Dravius face with a grin, and then settled herself next to him again, glancing once at the lyrics she'd written. The words reminded her of a question she needed to ask Raphael, until she realised she didn't need to. The Circus was owned by two people, and one of them was already there. She couldn't help but snort quietly. It was hard, in her case, to think of Dravius as one of the higher ups. She was way too used to him for that. She did however, tug lightly on his sleeve. Either way, he was still one of the bosses.

"Dravius?" She murmered, sitting with her back to the wall and leaning so that she was pressed slightly against Dravius's body. "I wanted to talk to Raphael about my performances... 'cause. You know," She held out the arm that had the splint. "I forgot to ask him though. Properly." She paused, looking at the black comforter, before smiling at Dravius. "I don't know if I'll be well enough to get into tomorrow's show but... In general, my performances, I probably could still... Dance, to some extent, but... What if... What if I sing, too?" She started nervously picking at the sleeve of the sweater she wore. "... It's just a thought." She added quickly, leaning her chin lightly on his shoulder and smiling.

Maya lifted herself away from him slightly, glancing at the lyrics once more, then went and burrowed herself under Dravius's arm; Kissing his jawline softly and resorting to placing her chin back on his shoulder as she slid her arms around his waist, smiling at him expectantly.

Nylat, satisfied with her success in fufilling the request, found herself a corner and flopped down onto her side and sighed. She'd wait. If Raphael decided he wanted him to stay, there'd need to be someone guilding him to an empty van. She listened to the conversation, her ears pricked and her body tense. She was still none too trusting. She'd learned in her life to never trust people right away, no matter how calm they seemed. It was usually a ruse.

((...FAIL. And I distracted. D:))