Dravius had somewhat recovered from the initial shock of the parade, and was busy dodging bits of candy and beaded necklaces. "Well, why do they try and hit you with things?" He asked, watching all of the floats crawl by. "Seems a little mean for a celebration." He added, a heart-shaped lollipop sailing past his ear. He then recieved a rap from spiraling tootsie roll over his right eye. "Honestly, it seems like some of them are actually aiming for you." He got up, presenting a much bigger target for the candy-chuckers,  due to the sheer fact that he stood out a head over everyone else.

All of the floats stopped suddenly, and moved to make room for a huge, pink and white monstrosity, which seemed to be the source of the music. It was crawling with rather attractive women, wearing....not a lot. When the float came to a stop, they all hopped off, and began swarming through the crowd. You could hear the clicking heels from six feet away. Dravius looked a little nervous at this, as the women seemed to each dragging a man back the the float, regardless of any protest. Also, six of the women, all grinning wickedly, seemed to be making their way towards Dravius. "Uhm. Maya?" He said nervously, grabbing her hand.

The six women had each grabbed Dravius, tow on each shoulder, and the remaining duo shoving him from behind. "H-help?" He looked wide-eyed back towards Maya, his arms pinned to his sides. By the time he had gathered himself enough to struggle, he had already been pushed onto the float, and was trapped  within the horde of women, who had formed a sort of straggling pen around all of the boys and men. Dravius looked positivly panicked, Before dragged out by the tallest woman, much of her height due to the almost six-inch heels she was wearing.

"Uhm, do you think I could just-mmmph!" Right in the middle of the tall male's sentence, the dark-haired woman had seized the front of his shirt and pressed his face to his. Dravius' eye waas as wide as a dinner plate, and he pulled away quickly, staggering with the speed of his withdrawal. "Why would you do that?" He yelled, panting slightly. He ran his hands through the front of his hair, before being spun around and kissed again, this time by a redhead with even redder lipstick. "Stop!" Dravius huffed, ducking another girl, and bolting from the float, skidding to a stop next to Maya. "Can we...leave now?" He asked, looking rather distressed.

Kanec watched Disera carefully a she slipped on the jacket. Sure, he ould put it on and take it off mid flight but he'd practiced. Just incase the army or someone decided to try and get him and managed to snag his jacket he'd be able to free himself. But that was nonsense. He was just a slight bit paranoid.

He raised an eye ridge (seeing as birds don't have eyebrows) when Disera shoved her face into the fur neck, but thought nothing of it. It was rather cold up here. When she asked what they should do next, he shrugged as best as he could, and started gliding in a wavy line. "Well, its up to you. If you're up to it, we could returnto the Circus, or we could fly some more. Either one is fine ith me, but we're going to have to go back sooner or later. I didn't get the chance for breakfast this morning."

~~

Nylat flicked an ear, shaking her head. "No. No need to apologize. You haven't been here long enough. You don't know any better. And no. I don't really talk about it. Its odd. Never have I been 'in love' but I am always pushing others into it. Or counseling them." Se continued her glaring at the road, but sighed before long and closed her eys. It was no use. There was no way she was gonna remember. At that moment, she flicked an ear up at the sound of Kioko's voice followed by the rustling of the bag. Opening one eye just enough to see what she held, she was rather shocked. She looked at the fox blankly for a second before gently taking it in her teeth and setting it by her bad paw, holding it close. For a moment, she was speechless. She looked at the plush for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. Then she ment Kioko's eyes and smiled, her own shining with near-shed tears.

"T-thank you Kioko. No one's ever donw this for me before. I-I love it. I only wish I could return the kindness."

Leaning over however, she swiped her tongue along the side of Kioko's face in tradtitional thanks.

~~

Daniel groggily raised his hands to rub at his eyes. He hadn't slept. He couldn't. Sighing, he pushed himself to sit up, holding a hand to his head as a headache hit him. With a groan,he flopped back onto the pillow, rolling to lay on his stomach. Lily mewled and curled up next to his free hand which lay on the pillow next to his face-down head. "Daniel, you okay?" Her pitiful voice made Daniel look up and smile. He could never stay upset, hurt, or angry with her around. "I'm fine Lily. Just 'ick."

"It's not delibrate, people up there just seem to be throwing things for the crowd," Maya smiled over her shoulder in response to Dravius' question, her arms still wrapped around the paper creations. "Your just unlucky, being hit as much as you are."

Laughing quietly, the butterfly-winged teen turned her eyes back to parade, looking a little curious when the floats all paused and watching silently as the new one appeared. The girl looked momentarily surprised, then immediately came to the conclusion that that thing was in no way meant for the spirit of Valentines. Parading a large number of half dressed woman like that portrayed a completely different motive.

Inhaling slowly and delibrately through her nose, Maya decided it was probably best to leave at that point. She was feeling just a little let down that her home town was being completely... Shameless, and frankly completely stupid about the holiday. They'd pretty much just used the day as an excuse to do whatever this was, and although few of the men didn't seem too bothered about being dragged up there for various reasons, most of them were looking just a little... Uncomfortable. Not to mention all the blatant glares those women were recieving from the female half of the population on the street.

Feeling Dravius' grasp hold of her hand, the young blonde pulled her attention away from the float and it's residents to look at him, just in time to see him dragged off in the same manner as the other men. She had little to no time to react, and could only watch as those women made of use Dravius being up there, stemming the flares of jealousy that she really should have expected. It was taking a lot of effort for Maya to keep herself from heading up there and dragging Dravius back down. She watched with a hard gaze, only pulling her eyes away when she saw Dravius flee the float, feeling a little more able to not have to keep an eye on him. Or whatever those women were doing, either.

With a sigh, she glanced up and down the street, noting with pleasure the fact most people seemed to be looking a little disturbed and irritated by the whole thing. Honestly, this was not really how she wished to remember her town. She'd been brought up here, after all. Frowning, Maya thought idly about it. She really didn't like the way her town was going about the whole thing.

At that moment, Dravius re-emerged next to her, looking more than just a little shaken and somewhat bewildered, and Maya looked at him for a moment, before actually laughing at him. Poor guy was covered in lipstick. "You might want to wipe your face..." She said, reigning in her laughter and looking slightly put out. "Seems you weren't all that unattractive or scary to those women, huh?"

Glancing back towards the float, the girl noted that a couple of the women were actually trying to make their way through the crowds and back to Dravius. Hell no. Sighing and huffing simultaneously, Maya grasped the Co-Masters hand. "Come on... I don't really want to be here any longer than I have to... This whole thing is making me feel a little dissapointed." And with that, starting walking at a fast pace, almost running, back the way they had come, before taking a detour into a side street.

Letting go of Dravius' hand, Maya risked a look around the wall back towards the float. It seemed those women had either given up or lost them. Turning back to the Co-Master, she snorted quietly at his face again, then sighed and wrapped both her arms around one of his; Continuing to walk down the side-street with an irritated pout and looking a little like her entire day had just been ruined.

"I've been peachy, Sunshine." Florence didn't bother asking how Raphael had been. Good or bad, he would be told it was good so that's what he was going to a.ssume it had been. "You look well." He remarked. Florence wouldn't want to run this place. He was sure it would cause him to age horribly in a short period of time. Any day now, that stress was going to hit Raphael like a brick. Not that Florence was hoping it would, or anything.

"This is my estranged god-child Anaconda. She'll be staying until she realizes that her home life is better than living at a circus." He cleared his throat, and pressed his palms together. "She needs a van. Speaking of vans is mine still around?" He wondered if his plants had been watered while he was gone. Well, he'd find out soon enough.

Ana was quickly regretting this. All of it. She stood rigidly to the side, staring at Raphael and Florence. Mr. Circus Master wasn't what she had expected. No mustache, he wasn't fat, he wasn't angry looking. In fact, he was a bit too perfect if you asked her. She stared at him with a cold and critical air. "Good day, Mr. Circus Master."

DeeDee fixed his beady little black eyes on Selvai, and uttered a little caw.

[[mirror mirror on the wall, who's the failurest failure of them all?]]

((D'aww. Diseraaaaa. *hugs*))

Kanec glanced over at Disera, catching a hint of disappointment in her voice, but said nothing as she answered. As she led the spiral downward, he shifted back into a human, then waited a few beats before following, ensuring there was ample space. He glided a little farther than she did, glancing over to see the distant town all too pink before it was hidden from view. He backwinged to a stop, hovering for a second before touching ground and folding his wings, glad that they were now stretched out fully. With a sigh, he flared his wings for a moment, furling them as he reached back to scratch his back. It was futile. Unlike most people, he had wings to compensate for when reaching underhand, and he didn't dare reach over his shoulder for fear of pulling out one of the stray feathers on his back on accident. So he shifted into a tiger, rolling his back in the gr*censored* to scratch. By that time, Disera had reached him and he rolled back nto his feet, shifting back into his human self, still trying in vain to scratch his back. He glanced over to see Disera pouting, and tilted his head, his ears laid back. "What's wrong?"

Dravius frowned shakily at Maya's laugh, wiping the lower half of his face with a sleeve, appalled by the sheer amount of makeup that showed up on it. "That was terrible," He muttered, baring his teeth at the re-approaching women. "Why..would they do that?" He asked, stil a bit shaky, as he followed at a bit of a trot behind Maya, pulling level with her.

"That was...not fun. Are most parades like that?" Dravius coughed, trying to get the taste of lipstick out of his mouth. There was really no need for the amount of tongue the second woman had also decided to stick into his mouth, and Dravius had almost bit part of it off in surprise. He shivered at the memory, clenching his fists.

"Yeah, let's go," He nodded, then smiled, slightly, poking Maya gently in the shoulder and saying, "We're on our way back." He had somehow held onto his strawberries, and offered Maya one. "Calm down, it was just....a tasteless display, alright?" Dravius added softly, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "You're getting more worked up than I do," He teased, continuing to walk at Maya's fast clip, rubbing a bug away from his face. "At least it's nice out, right? Warm, and the entire town smells maddeningly of candy." He sniffed the air again, inhaling the positively caramelized air. "Maybe you could tell me what was so complitcated?"

"I didn't really pay attention to anyone's reaction," Dravius admitted, rubbing his jaw on the left side of his face, watching Maya pout and sigh, then remarked, "It was a little...odd." He coughed into his elbow, looking at the surrounding buildings. "It's not too bad once you get away from the main streets. " He shrugged, then turned his full attention to Maya when she slowed down, cocking his head to the side.

Dravius nodded slightly at Maya's first, hypothetical question, then his brows furrowed slightly at her discordant sentences. "You don't have to feel bad. If she's...as nice as you say, maybe she'll understand that, although you didn't make the best descision, you thought it was right. I...think that avoiding her won't do anyone any good. After eight years, I think she'll just be happy to see you. Dravius bent down to eye level with her, and kissed her briefly, before straightening up and pointing at the nearby camp.

"We're back," He smiled slightly, letting go of her shoulder and standing on the steps of his van, ducking the front half of his body into the dim space, then sitting down with some yards of cloth in various shades of red and black, scissors, strong thread and a large suture. "I'm going to make something Maya." He said, corners of his mouth twitching up slightly. With no difficulty, he cut out four heart shapes, concentrating, then a few smaller hearts to go with them, leaving the balls of his feet on the ground, his heels on the step above them. After a minute or two he had a heap of shapes next to him, and had started sewing a few together, using medical stitches to bind the cloth together.

Looking at the floor, the butterfly-winged Maya listened in silence to Dravius' words. Yes. She'd already guessed that. She knew her mother would be happy to see her, though she wasn't too sure about the avoiding thing. Maybe avoiding was best?... Then again, perhaps she'd just prolong her mother's suffering that way, providing she hadn't completely forgotten about her daughter.

Stupid thought. Of course she wouldn't forget. Sighing explosively through her nose, she grumbled some more, then glanced up at Dravius when he seemed to finish speaking, having to time to respond to his fleeting kiss and watching him as he made his way to his van. The girl paused a moment, then followed at a slow pace, stopping only to watch Dravius as he seemed to begin doing craft work.

"Make something?" She asked, folding her arms behind her and still looking a little worried. "Whatever for?" Her eyes rested on the shaped material, her head tilted slightly in confusion. He really was bizarre this one, sometimes. The way he could just switch from one subject to another, seemingly to completely lose any link in his actions. She supposed she should probably be used to this, by now though.

At that moment, Maya glanced back towards town, then placed her paper flowers next to Dravius on the stairs as she seemingly remembered something. "I'll be right back." She said, sprinting off to her own van, and entering quickly. The butterflies, naturally, went crazy on her arrival, and it took her a good few minutes to calm the little insects down before kneeling by her bed.  She'd remembered this in town, and had decided to go and give it to the Co-Master before she forgot again... She just had to find it.

Lowering herself onto her stomach, she rummaged around under her bed a while, before eventually pulling herself out with a large, wooden box. The box was completely plain, with a shiny brushed surface. Wiping the dust quickly with a forearm, the blonde eased open the lid and peered inside, smiling slightly at it's condition. Well, its not like she or anyone else had used it.

The box was large, and had three open compartments. In two of them resided a good number large bottles of metallic ink, ranging in colour from light silvers to blood reds. There was even a metallic bronze and gold, an ink that looked oily, and another that looked like swirling marble. The middle compartment was very slim, and held new brushes in many shapes and sizes; Crammed against one side of the box was another, much thinner box.

Pulling that one out, Maya opened it on her lap and looked inside.In here was charcoal, both hard charcoal and soft, and in numerous shades of gray.black. There was even a few chalk in here, and all of it was completely unbroken.

Blowing a strand of hair away from her eyes, Maya closed the little box and slipped it back into the much larger one, before dusting off her hands and standing, preparing to carry the darn thing. It was afterall, pretty heavy. She maanaged to successfully lift it onto her bed, then wedged her hands underneath and tried to lift it that way. Unfortunately, she still had a healing wrist, and it ached if she strained a little too much. 

Sighing, and with a determined pout, the girl wrapped her good arm around it, and lifted it that way, which wasn't too bad. Her arm began to ache very quickly, but she was sure she could maange.

Leaving her van, she headed back towards Dravius'. In all truth, she wasnt even entirely sure why she bought this thing on Valentines last year. She knew full well she was too scared to approach Dravius with it back then, and it wasnt really an all-Valentiney sort of thing, (Not that she cared much), but he liked this sort of stuff, and he could probably make good use of it. Besides, she liked making him happy.

Huffing, she eventually came to a stop just in front of where Dravius sat, before lowering herself to the ground. She sat down rather hard due to the extra weight of the box, and sat with her legs outstretched on either side. She was just a little out of breath. It wouldn't have been nearly as hard if she'd been able to use both arms to carry it.

"Here..." She mumbled, pushing the box towards Dravius along the ground, (No way was she going to carry that again), and rubbed the inside of her right arm, now aching slightly. "I got this- Uhm... A while back... Last year," She said, sounding a little sheepsh and using a foot to push it the rest of the way, before crossing her legs and watching Dravius expectantly.

Kanec nodded, unconvinced, at Disera's answer. But he let the subject lie. At her question, he thought for a moment, scrabbling at his back, before answering. "I actually planned on going into town after breakfast... Wanna come with?" He laid an ear back at his continuing failure at reaching the itch, and was about to give up when Disera attended to it for him. He let his ears droop contentedly when he was finally relieved of the itch. It was rare that he got such an itch on his back, but they always tortured him for the longest time before he got rid of them.

He furled his wings tightly to his side. "Tha-" He was cut short by Disera's kiss, and muttered a hushed 'nks' as she started off again. He shook his head, pricking his ears, before catching up. " 'Course I'm comin'." He hugged her around the shoulder with and arms, looking over at her beore smiling warmly.

~~

Nylat nodded, laying her head on Kioko's shouler when she hugged her. "I do have to do something in return. It's only the right thing to do. And of course I like it. Its the only thing I've ever really gotten for Valentines Day. I mean, a Circus on the move isn't the best place for worrying about it. I love it." She pat the plush on the head with her paw, before glancing over at Kioko. "Well, where to now?"

((Failpost for Ny. O.o))

Dravius looked up just as Maya was leaving, and shrugged, muttering, "For you," He continued sewing with tight medical stitches, tapping his heels on the wooden steps in a slightly disjointed rhythm, sewing the hearts together in sort of a wing shape. He had made the other wing when Maya returned, and was holding four other needles in between his lips, of various sizes. "Mmm?" He managed to grunt through tightly clenched teeth. Blinking slightly as Maya shoved the box towards him, he put his project to the side, placing the needles on top.

"Really?" Dravius tilted his head, picking up the box, at first surprised at the weight, before settling it on his lap, examing the lid, before hooking his fingernails in the slim gap, lifting the heavy wooden covering off. Carefully placing it against his van, the male suddenly broke into a huge grin, gingerly examining the inks, picking up a bottle with his long fingers. He seemed speechless for a bit, especially when discovering the brushes in the side, grinning even wider than before. "Thank you!" He exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Maya tightly, smiling into her golden hair. "That's...really great." He seemed at a loss for words, fishing out the thin box he just seemed to have noticed. He turned the charcoal over hin his fingers, still smiling hugely. "Gosh..." He murmered. Dravius looked at Maya, reas.sembling the box and putting it on the gras.s next to him. He picked up his project and swiftly cutting out a few more shapes, Dravius reached inside his van and came out with the type of stuffing most commonly found inside plushies, then swiftly stuffed the wings, attaching them to a small body. "Hold on a second," He said through a mouthful of thread and cloth.

It only a few minutes more for the rather large stuffed animal to take shape, turning out to be a black butterfly, with wings covered in different shades of red, long antenna tipped with small hearts, he held it out, small bits of thread clinging to the cloth of his shirt. "Taa daa!" The butterfly was wearing an ex
pression similar to "XD" rendered in strong thread. It was sewn entirely with about six different kinds of stiches used by doctors and the like, and it was most likely that the cloth would fall apart faster than the stiches evver would. "I kind of forgot today was Valentine's," Dravius said sheepishly, flapping the stuffed animal's wings.