"No, it's fine. It's just a bunk of stuff." Dravius poked a foot out to push around some papers, other knee holding his chin on top of it. He sighed quietly, grinning at Maya's reddened face. "It was really quite nice..." He remarked, eyes half-closed. "And it really is, if you compare it to anyone else's," He grinned again, this time sheepishly, and stretched his back, arching it until the top of his head brushed the wall behind him.

"Yeah, I am tired. Ten minutes in a tree doesn't count as much sleep, and I'm still kind of sick," Dravius answered, setting his heel against the side of his bed, toes still flat on the floor. He grinned as Maya chucked a towel at him, rubbing his head quickly, before tossing the cloth back to her.

Dravius cocked his head to the side as Maya began speaking, yawning halfway through her question, but otherwise paying rapt attention. "You don't have to seem so nervous, May. Fine with me, and I'm sure Raphael won't ob
ject. Calm down." He tugged gently on a strand of Maya's long, golden hair, pinning it up again, this time with the help of many bobby pins. He smiled vaguely as she burrowed under his arm, rubbing his own cheek gently on her pinned-up hair.

"I'm gonna fall asleep..." Dravius muttered, rendering the statement almost true as he closed his eyes and yawning heavily, teetering on the edge of snoozing while leaning against the wall. Suddenly he poened his good eye and grinned a sharpish smile, pressing his forehead agianst Maya's, then he said quietly- "We should go outside once it stops raining." He kissed Maya genlty on the lips, before resuming his previous position.

"I hope your ankle gets better," Violet said with a kind smile. Leaning back in her chair she nodded. "Yeah, I know the feeling of belonging. I was there for six months, a bigger stretch than you, and I swear, getting back into the real world was hard. It feels nice to be back somewhere familiar and homely...uh, well, as homely as the camp can get, considering it moves all the time." 

Picking at the nails on one hand Violet frowned. "I never knew Dravius's nice side. But then again, I didn't really talk to him. He would've creeped me out but, you know, I'm kind of used to odd things, being a necro and all." Sticking out her tongue as she tried to scrape the last bit of pale nailpolish off her thumb Violet glanced up when Kioko mentioned burning. "Pyrokinetic?" she asked curiously, having never met an elemental user before. "I'd say it sounds like fun, but it's obviously a hellish power to deal with." 

"Pff. Yeah," Dravius grinned sheepishly, watching Maya tug on the long sleeves of his sweatshirt. "I just...sleeping gets boring." He shrugged, wrapping a hank of Maya's hair around his index finger, looking at the golden strands glint in the dim, flickering light.

"We've got plenty of people who can play instruments, and I wouldn't mind at all playing. As long as I knew the songs beforehand, or had sometime to work them out." Dravius nodded, noticing her pained ex
pression, and rooted around in his pockets, pulling out a flat, silver box, and placed in Maya's lap. "Take two if your head hurts," He said quietly, sighing as she pressed her face into him.

Dravius looked rather stunned at Maya's proclimation, one eye going wide for a split second, then he grinned widely and kissed her hard, saying, "I love you too." He hugged her, simply breathing in the wonderful maple-paper smell that surrounded her, mixed with his own mint and gra.ss scent from the clothing she was wearing. Just having her in here seemed to brighten the room any more than sunlight or electricity could.

Dravius drew back slightly, putting the devil-horn hood over Maya's head and grinning slightly. "You're wearing the wrong sweatshirt." He laughed slightly, pressing the side of his torso to hers. He could feel her body heat, and he was acutely aware that his skin probably felt similar to touching a snake, or something like that. He sighed, settling his chin on Maya's shoulder.

((You can all post again nao. I'll time-skip once you do, in my next post. :3))

Listening in silence to Kioko's response to her question, Karene's lips twitched slightly. "Theres' no need to refer to me as miss," She laughed, smiling warmly at the pyro. "And that wouldn't surprise me. Maya's a naturally caring sort of person, and Dravius... Well. He might look scary, but he's just as soft as the rest of them. I'm happy to hear your liking it here though, despite what I've heard."

At that moment, the young woman looked over her shoulder, and waved over a member working behind the counter, requesting cups of hot chocolate. When the member returned, Karene took the tray of steaming beverages from her, smiling in thanks before turning back to Kioko and placing the tray on the table, taking a cup as she leant back against the counter. "It probably wasn't one of the best introductions ot the Circus," She added, staring into her cup before taking a sip, shuddering as the hot liquid burnt her throat slightly. It was actually rather pleasant, considering the terrible weather outside. The thunder hadn't ceased in the slightest, and the rain could still be heard pounding on the van roof.

At the girls last words, Karene actually laughed. "I think your okay with that. Most people here have probably had more to fear then being set on fire during their lives, and many of them are more than capable of protecting themselves."

Still smiling slightly, Karene turned her gaze back on Selvai when he spoke, shrugging. "It would have been heartless of me to leave her. Besides, no offence to your brother, but his attitude was grating on me." She paused as he continued, then snorted quietly, waving a hand in dismissal. No offence?... That wasn't right. That moron didn't deserve such words. Still, she didn't want to upset Selvai. She was unsure of how he felt about his brother.He was probably in a somewhat difficulat situation, being family and all.

When Disera spoke, Karene looked at her, about to answer her question when she, seemingly like Selvai, noticed the shifters sudden nervous bout. Raising an eyebrow, the caramel-haired woman decided to keep quite for a moment, watching the interaction between the Shifter and her Summoner.

She decided to occupy herself with her cup again in order to avoid laughing. She watched Disera, an amused smile on her face. "Oh deary me. You certainly don't seem comfortable with that idea... Whatever's the matter?" Smiling from behind her cup, the young woman eventually cracked out laughing. "Pff. Your a terrible liar. And really. You shouldn't get so worked up. The kid is his younger brother as far as I know, besides..." She paused, then raised an eyebrow, one corner of her lip twitching. "Kanec's still very much single."

~~~

Well, that wasn't nearly as hard as she thought it would be. She'd as.sumed for some strange reason it would require a lot of effort, considering the time-scale between Dravius saying it and her coming out with it. Still, Maya was actually rather proud of herself for telling him. As far as she knew, she hadn't said it before, despite him already knowing.

Admittedly, she was a little concerned at the Co-Masters initial reaction, what the the obvious surprise. She'd almost thought she'd completely blown it by that point. Said something she probably should have kept to herself. The blonde haired teen didn't really have much time to worry or react though, Dravius had pretty much moved on before she got that far.

That second kiss took Maya completely by surprise, though it wasn't so much the act as the sudden change in tempo. It felt, to her, entirely different from such previous contact with Dravius. It was just a tad more intense, deeper, though she had absoloutely no problem returning said kiss. The sudden jolt of butterflies in her stomach had the young woman suddenly feeling very warm and just a little lightheaded, and when the Co-Master pulled away, she felt rather dazed and simply looked at him in a dumbfounded, wide-eyed sort of way. She was feeling just a little slow all of a sudden. Her oncoming illness was not helping her either... At all.

Despite being off in her own little world, feeling ridiculously happy by this point, she managed a very bright smile at the tall males verbal response; Sliding her arms around his waist when he hugged her. She was pretty certain here that she could probably stay there all week.

With her head pressed lightly against the front of the Co-Masters shoulder, she "hm'd?" at him when he shifted slightly, blinking when he pulled up the hood of the sweater she wore. Being a little behind in her head, it took her a second to realise what Dravius meant by "wrong sweater,", and promptly snuffled a laugh into his shoulder as he shifted closer to her again. Sighing quietly, Maya reset herself against him, arms still around his middle, waiting until she felt a little more... Stable and up to date...  To speak.

With another little sneeze, she sighed, then started picking at the material of his shirt again with one hand. "I wouldn't mind... You doing the music. Your very good at that sort of thing... The instruments..." She paused, then glanced up at him. "But is it okay when you have your own performances to do?"

Smiling slightly, Maya winced when the general rush faded slightly to reveal her still aching head, and started fumbling around for the flat metal case Dravius had handed her earlier. Finding it, she quickly took two of the pills, then placed the case to one side and started snuggling into the Co-Master's torso again, yawning once and looking back up at him with that never-ending smile. Well, it certainly felt that way, despite being physically impossible. She could certainly give it a try though.

Dravius titled his head at Maya's wide-eyes, the corners of his mouth turning up. "Are you alright?" He teased, rubbing his forehead into Maya's blonde hair. Her arms around his waist were a comforting weight, resting on the thin bones of his hips. He grinned wildely when Maya pressed her face into his shoulder to laugh, plaiting a short section of Maya's hair that had broken free of the pins and tucking it behind her ear.

"It'll be fine. My act doesn't actually take that much effort, it's just the cleaning up afterwards," Dravius nodded, flashing a sharp grin. The temperature in his van was slowly rising from the many lit candles, and it was almost the same temperature as the outside world. The shutters on the window blocked out all light, so the pas.sing of time was difficult to teel inside the dwelling, especially when all was mostly quiet outside.

Dravius twitched his head to the side at the sight of Maya's huge smile, returning with one of his own. She really was beautiful. He sighed and pressed his face against hers, staying motionless, until it seemed he was dozing sitting up, breathing even and eyes closed gently. In fact, he was sleeping, pressing his weight half agianst Maya and the other against the wall. It was odd, the way he could stay awake for days, then fall asleep at the drop of a hat. His body just eventually shut down, demanding rest, or sustenence.

(( :U I'm alive. Just in time for the grand skip. ))

Shrugging, Maccus grinned lopsidedly. "Sure, you've answered all my spoken questions but I've got a hundred thousand questions for every answer you give me. But humor me one last time. You call this a Circus... What exactly do you do to earn enough cash to feed, clothe, shelter, or even just care for the.. the.. residents of this here place? I'd call it a town, but that wouldn't make enough sense. Is this place like a gypsy camp, where the foolish wanderers come and become amused for a short time while everyone steals what they can from the hapless traveler's pockets, or more like a legit circus, where one can buy popcorn and sit down to watch a show?"

Catching the word "senses," Maccus looked surprised. "You manipulate other people's senses? How do you do that? Is it more of a physical manipulation, where you use your power to control the brain and it's nerve functioning doohickeys, or is it more like a hypnotist's power, where the power of suggestion and belief plays a part in the 'spell'? And you say you're the Illusionist of the Circus? So does that mean your powers are not limited to other people's feelings, can you say, make others believe there is a purple giraffe about 6 feet in height and 22 feet in width charging at the with the strength of a rhino and the speed of a cheetah?"

(( :P Purple giraffe. Purple midgety giraffe. Purple midgety obese giraffe. Purple midgety, obese, steroid taking giraffe. ))

It was only a couple of short days later that the Circus prepared itself to move again. Turns out the authorities of that particular town were really not all that accomodating to a Circus of freak performers. Usually, with any other town, those who really did not like the Circus' presence merely stayed away from the place, and it was rare enough anyway to have people who really felt that strongly with them being there. In a town this small, however, word tended to spread, and naturally, the authorities would always take action should enough of the population feel uncomfortable in the presence of the Circus and it's inhabitants.

Raphael, being who he was, simply took it in his stride, and within a day, the Circus was packed up and ready to go. The drive to the next town was a good few hours, and they reached their new destination around mid-day; Settling on a large, open field just outside the towns boundary. This town, unlike the last, was quite a large one, so it was likely that the Circus could reside here without having to worry too much about the complaining residents.

The field itself in which the Circus had stopped was completely open and very, very large, with a few, sparse trees and open gras.s that surrounded the camp on all sides; Other fields resided beyond that one, seperated by low stone walls and broken wooden fences. It was a very pleasant sort of place, the town laying in front of them, and more open fields behind. There was even a small woodland, quite some distance away, only barely visible as a little, deep green smudge on the horizon.

Raphael, as soon as they had stopped, ordered for the performance tent to be erected, leaving the Sword-Master to his usual task of displaying and distributing the flyers in town. The actual construction of the tent took very little time, and the Ring-Master left the completed structure with a smile.

"Looks like we're going to have some decent weather for a change," Karene, having just emerged from her own van, approached Raphael with a wave, and a small yawn. "Nnn... I think I've had enough rain to last me a long while." She continued, glancing skyward and watching a lone cloud make it's slow, sluggish way across the vast expanse of warm blue. It was probably a good thing they'd been forced to move on from that previous location... The caramel-haired woman had been getting rather bored of the constant rain, though admittedly, it had started to lift a little as the Circus began it's journey onwards.

"Ah, yes, understandable," Raphael laughed, sliding his hands into the pockets of the black pants he donned. "I think I also prefer it out here. It's been a while since I've seen an audience quite so unenthuastic about one of our performances."

"Yeah well... You know how some people are. They just can't stand the thought that people exist in this world who are nothing like them. And then there's the whole "slave" thing. I honestly think if you or Dravius forced anyone to work for you, you wouldn't just have the "normies" to deal with. It should be pretty obvious that no-one stays here against their will." Karene huffed a little, blowing a strand of dark blonde out of her face.

The Ring-Master chuckled, then shrugged. "It's bound to happen. You can't stop people on the outside thinking what they do." He sighed quietly through his nose, then looked over his shoulder at the erected tent, before he turned his gaze back to Karene when she spoke again.

"Well. I'd better go get this spell casting done. I'll be back in a few." Waving a hand, the blonde turned on her heel and headed off towards the Circus bounderies, leaving the Ring-Master to head back towards the vans just as Maya approached, wearing her usual white dress and walking barefoot, holding a bowl of mixed berries in her hands.

"I see you got your appetite back," Raphael laughed, waving pas.sively at another of the Circus members who had taken part in the main tents construction. "Your feeling better I take it?" He glanced over his shoulder at the girl, an eyebrow raised slightly. The young blonde nodded, then lowered herself slowly onto the gras.s and started picking out a number of berries and eating them. "A bit." She replied after swallowing, throwing him a smile before returning her undivided attention to the bowl in front of her. The illness she'd come down with had lasted both days of the Circus being stuck in the last town, and the teen had spent most of her time in bed, her face smushed into her pillow, responding to any visitors with unintelligable mumbles. The medication Dravius had provided earlier had probably held off the worst of it. This was the first morning she'd left her van since falling ill however, and she certainly did look a little better for it.

"That's good." Raphael watched her for a moment, smiling at the girls uneeded concentration on the bowl full of berries, before jerking his head in the direction of the town. "Will you be wanting to go take a look around now that your up and about?" He asked, scratching a temple.

Maya paused, looking up at him with a cherry in her hand, before following his gesture and looking at the town. "Maybe. If I feel I can get enough energy together to walk that far." She smiled at him again, then went back to the bowl, using an arm to move her mas.s of hair over her shoulder so that it was out of the way. Looking back at the fruit, the young womans face became slightly mopey as she finished the cherry and picked up a raspberry.

The tall blonde Illusionist shook his head with a quiet chuckle, then raised an eyebrow at the girls change in ex
pression. "What's the matter?" He asked, an amused smile still tugging at his lips as he crossed his arms loosely over his chest; Crumpling the light gray material of his shirt slightly.

"I never got to go back for that crystal butterfly." Maya responded, putting the raspberry in her mouth and pushing around in the bowl for another. Raphael blinked, then laughed quietly. "Is that all?"

Maya looked up at him for a moment as though he had completely missed the point, then stuck out her lower lip and went back to her lunch. Well, she'd been ill and it had been raining. She'd had very little chance to do anything really, least of all to head back into that last town to go buy a glas.s sculpture. Raphael, still laughing slightly, turned his gaze back over his shoulder towards the erected perfomance tent; Before turning his face skyward. He was pleased to note that this week was looking like it was going to be a pleasant one. Well, weather-wise, anyway.

Violet yawned and stretched as she stepped out of her van, her eyes half-closed with weariness. "Oof," she muttered, unused to the long transfer rides of the circus. Straighting out her rumpled clothing the girl struggled to look presentable, attempting to finger comb her long, thick black hair. "Drat," she muttered when her fingers got stuck in a tangle, amounting to much swearing and tugging before her hand was free. Giving up on her hair, which was luckily naturally straight so it more or less fell in ordered waves, Violet trotted over to the main area of the camp. Realising she didn't really have any duties yet (and Raphael had yet to as.sign any to her), Violet to it to her own to find something useful to do. Namely, bothering some other member to let her help.

Looking up Violet smiled lightly at the sight of the tent, towering over her in the center of their camp. "I can't wait for the shows," she whispered to herself, crossing her arms and smiling again. Stretching her arms above her head she walked over to Maya and Raphael, the first of which who was eating her breakfast with a rather sullen ex
pression on her face. "Any way I can help out?" Violet asked quietly, sidling up to the two in what she hoped was an unobtrusive way.