((Aw. Disera makes me smile. I won't be able to post till later, though. D:))

Kanec smiled a bit. "It's a good thing you never tried it, in my opinion. Alcohol is a deadlier poison that a viper's." He laid back his ears in disgust at the thought, before glancing up as Maya left for punch. When she returned, he flicked an ear, though both stayed back as he ruffled his wings. "Thank you, Maya, I would gladly have helped if you'd asked, though."

When she left, though, he sighed, glancing after her. "Always so independent though. Even if we had offered to help, it's unlikely she would have accepted it." When Disera handed him the cup of clean punch, he smiled and sipped at it, watchig Disera with a raised eyebow and she handled the cup nervously. When she finally got her question out, he smiled, setting his cup down. "Of course I would."

~~

Nylat wrapped her tail around her feet as Maya ran off, closing her eyes contentedly. Tonight wa the most peaceful night she'd had in a while. Her side didn't hurt, and she didn't have to worry about anyone, and best of all, everyone was happy. "Ah I could. But, I won't. Not yet." When Kioko coughed, she glanced up at her, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry. I'll go roll around, then." Just as she was about to leave, Maya returned, and Nylat glanced at her curiously. When she looped the bracelet around her paw, she nosed it, knowing what it was. "Maya, are you sure, I mean. You had this so long..." She watched as she gifted Kioko with a butterfly, and sneezed, the action cauing her to send more dust in the air. With a sigh, she stood, careful to not move too much. "I'm going to go roll in that gras.s now." he turned and padded off, wanting to find someplace where she would have a good patch of gras.s and wouldn't choke anyone with the impending dust cloud when she started rolling around.

She finally found one and, after a short roll in the gra.ss, had gotten most of the dust out of her fur. A good bath would get the rest later. As she was heading back, she caught sight of Dravius, and padded over, shaking her pelt out again as she did so. She flicked her tail, and closed her eyes as she shook out her head and neck. When she opened them, she had reached them, and caught sight of Zyano. She growled a bit, glaring. "You again?"

Dravius looked mildly surprised when Erik spoke huffily, though loosing none of the snarl that was still on his lips. "Rude?" He asked quietly, his body regaining some of the ease he had a few minutes before. He had to keep narrowing his eyes to keep the odd, red haired man in sight. His brows furrowed at Erik's statements about bad temper, and put his weight on one leg, bending the other. Erik was not particularly tall, so Dravius had to bend to address him directly. "I do not care what you find appealling, and I'm not all that pleased to meet you."

Regardless, Dravius shook Erik's hand, then strightened up, looking down at the sandy coloured animal, turning his head to the side at the frank observations of the wolf. "Joining?" He asked softly, seeming to think a bit. "Well, then. Why didn't you just march up? I'd probably've reacted better if I hadn't found you both lurking out here like half of an undercover police unit." He waved a hand in the air, then beckoned back towards the fire. "Coming?" He headed back towards the bright light of the fire.

Dravius remembered about halfway back he never got anything to try and fix his eye. He shrugged and continued on, his long strides moving him quickly across the ground. He quickly poked his head through the rows of vans in the bonfire area. "Hey, guys. Found a couple drifters." He walked back in, bending to scratch the hbrid behind the ears. He looked greatly surprised at her reaction to Zyano, asking, "You've seen him before? Where?" He got up, not waiting for an answer, looking over at the rather large bowl of punch. "How'd that get there?" Shrugging, he sat down. His vision had started to clear up a bit, so he stretched his arms above his head and leaned on the edge of the table, watching the people clustered around the bonfire, chatting and just generally having a grand old time.

((Puck:It's about nine over here on the west coast of the U.S.))

Dravius nodded once at Maya's preliminary question, then put his hat back on his head, looking suspicsiously at the punch. "Yeah, he can talk, I have no idea who he is, and yeah, he's quite large." He shrugged, looking at Zyano more closely. He was...of an abnormal size, but it really wasn't noticable when the animal had been lying down. He turned his head quickly when Erik plopped down next to him, subconciously sliding farther away from the rather creepy man. "..." He sat silent for a moment, having run out of space to slide away from.

"I didn't really-" Dravius stopped short when Erik began leaning quite heavily into his side, one eye wide as he stared down at him. He stood up quickly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I'd rather not, Erik." He shook his head, moving closer to Maya. Dravius was no longer sure just letting Erik walk into the circus was such a great idea. He shivered slightly, shooting a sharp look at the red-haired male. And why did he have such a giantic suitcase? Dravius didn't even know they CAME that large. It seemed like you could fit at least three person's clothing in there.

Draivus sighed and sat down on the other side of Maya, scootching his chair closer to hers. He leaned back far enough to have only two chair legs on the gras.s and dirt. He put his arm around Maya's shoulders, brushing his hair away from his face and sighing heavily. He leaned over her and picked up his glas.s of punch, sipping tenatively, then setting it down gently on the table in front of him. It left part of a dark ring when lifted, and Dravius traced one finger around the ring absentmindedly, humming along with the upbeat music, nodding in time. He had a large cut  wrapping around his temple, running back into his hair line, that had split in the few minutes since he had left, a thin stream of blood was making it's way past the outer corner of his eye, flanked on either side by two more. He turned his head suddenly, making the streams drag to the side, towards his ear. Dravius noticed and tsked, using the corner of his sleeve to scrub at the red liquid.

Blinking, Dravius looked at Maya again and wrapped a strand of her hair around his finger, tugging gently. It was not nearly enough to hurt, and he asked quietly, "Are you having a nice time?" He tilted his head the same time he questioned, letting go of Maya's hair and waved a bug away from his face.

"Uhm. No, Kioko. I don't think she'd mind." Maya responded to the Pyro's question, sounding just a little distracted and keeping her violet eyes firmly on this Erik guy. "They don't really use names," She continued, risking a quick glance over her shoulder and throwing a gentle smile at the younger girl. "But call her whatever you wish. It's very likely she'll learn to respond to it, eventually."

She smiled at the lavander winged creature just as it perched itself sedately on Kioko's head, seeming to follow Maya's lead and turn it's gaze to the two males now sat at the table. The young blonde had turned back to the two just in time to see Dravius rise, causing Erik to lose his balance and almost faceplant the chair. Shifting, the young woman twisted herself in her own seat so that she was sat normally, rather than kneeling and looking over the backrest.

She continued to watch the red-head with a wary gaze, only pulling her eyes away from him when Dravius put an arm over her shoulders. "The punch is safe." She reas.sured, smiling as the Co-Master retrieved one of the nearby glas.ses. She chose to watch him instead for a moment, despite the fact it was taking a bit of effort not to keep an eye on the new guy. For some reason she didn't trust him. It wasn't a sinister thing, really... It was more... Well... He was just a little too touchy feely for her liking, particularly for someone they'd known all of five minutes. So naturally, she would have much preferred to keep him in her vision than turn her back to him.

It became a little easier to focus on Dravius, though, when he started tugging on a strand of her hair. He seemed awfully fond of doing that, and Maya watched his motion with slight curiousity. "Hm?" She murmered, looking up when she heard his voice, and giggling a little when he had to swat some little critter away from his face. "Oh. Sure." She answered, throwing him a stunning sort of smile and going back to watching his hand. "It's nice so far. Though it hasn't really been going on that long yet."

She smiled at him again, then looked over her shoulder at Erik when she heard him speak, noting he'd actually taken residence of the space left by the Co-Master. That, of course, now placed him directly next to her. She watched his hand for a moment as he extended it, entirely unsure of just whether or not she was brave enough to actually touch him. Unfortunately for her, she would have seen it as being rude had she not done so, though she was spared actually having to do anything just yet when she noticed his subtle shortening of the distance between them. Her body responded automatically by leaning a little closer to Dravius, though not nearly enough to really be insulting to Erik. She didn't really wish to make him feel bad, even if he was proving to be just a little too friendly.

"Nice to meet you?" She greeted uncertainly, keeping an eye on his outstretched hand as she took it hesitantly in her own. She was positive he was up to something, or was going to be if he wasn't at the moment.

"Uhm..." Was her only response to his compliments as she gently let go of his hand. Sighing quietly in relief as Erik seemingly turned his attention elsewhere, Maya delibrately scooted as close to Dravius as she was able, before reaching over and taking her own glas.s of punch from the table. "He's awfully forward, isn't he?" She asked quietly, looking up at the male next to her, before glancing quickly over the back of her chair to look at the sand coloured hybrid some distance away. "Where exactly did you find those two, anyway?"

Blinking once, she turned her attention back to the red-head's interaction with Disera, watching them carefully. Not so much because of Erik himself, but because of the way the female Shifter was acting. It merely added to the suspicion Maya had had earlier. "Hey, Dravius?..." She murmered as she leaned lightly against him, holding her glas.s with both hands and lifting her feet up onto her chair. "Is it just me, or do you think there's something weird going on with those two?" She asked, watching as Disera quickly fled to dance with Kanec before Erik could suggest anything else to them. Needless to say, Maya went straight back to keeping an eye on him at that point.

Dravius sighed in the direction of Erik, curling one side of his lip. "Foreward is a huge understatement..." Then Dravius blinked twice and then coughed sheepishly, rubbing his arm and saying, "Uh. I found them both sitting in a field outside the circus. Uhm, watching us." He winced slightly, and then looked over towards Disera and Kanec, shaking his head at her question. "No, nothing weird. It's really cute. I think Disera's quite awestruck, actually. I know she's always reading those terrible romance novels, but know she thinks she's found herself in one." He teased, grinning widely.

"I have honestly only met one other person that annoyingly foreward, and the resemblance is not comforting." Dravius flicked a hand towards Erik, furrowing his eyebrows, then shaking his head. "Zyano seems surprisingly level-headed, actually. Although Ny already seems to hate him." The male shrugged, rubbing his jawline thoughtfully. He quickly drank the rest of his punch, pressing his cheek to Maya's golden hair. He then rose to his feet and stretched, looking down at the curled up girl, then taking one hand and tugging gently. "We should dance, or something. You look fit to doze off, darlin'." He smiled crookedly again, feeling the heavy taste of sugar settle onto his tongue. It actually wasn't a very pleasant taste, and it kind of made Dravius want to spit, but he made a brief face and then resumed his previous ex
pression.

The fire was larger than ever, due to almost constant feeding from various circus members. It sent sparks almost seventy five into the air in a column, and those selfsame sparks were raining down in a harmless, albiet pretty, display. The music had slowed down considerably, but was interruppted by a pair of young men in the corner setting off a large quantity of fireworks, making Dravius jump, turn around, and proceed to haul both boys off to the side and send them to thier respective vans with more than a few un-repeatable four letter words.

Nylat flicked her tail, blatantly ignoring everyone but Zyano. She laid her ears back, nearly snorting at his comment that she had no need to be hostile to him. Ha. "No need to be hostile? Ha! I've come cross only one other hybbrid before you, and he tried killing me. Not a good impression. So you think I should just trust you? And, you're here on my territory. I have every reason to be as hostile as I want. And, last I saw you, bad events came. Why should I as.sume the same will not happen here? I have every right to be inhospitable if I so please." She narrowed her eyes, flicking her tail and growling deeply. It was obvious she wasn't all that pleased, but she wasn't getting violent, still leaving the decision up to those that actually decided.

~~

Kanec had been somewhat silent, smiling at Disera's comment about Maya, when Dravius arrived with two drifters. He made a note of what they looked like, and paid good attention to the hybrid, but made no move to introduce himself. He turned back to Disera, about to respond, when the one new guy--Erik, was it?--made a few smart comments that really ruffled his feathers. He was grateful whn Disera dragged him away. The red-head was likely to get hit if the shifter had stayed around too much longer. When they were a safe distance away, he flared his wings, furling them just after, and laid his ears back. The guy had barely been here five minutes and already he was hitting on everyone in sight. It just got under his skin. The skin across his shoulders tingled, and he squirmed, not really wanting to reach back and scratch it. He normally ignored it, but it seemed to just want to get on his nerves right now. That itch always showed up when he got agitated. Seemed even more so now.

( (Sorry it took so long, but I wanted to add a little bit more... This is supposed to occur in the morning, but due to the time difference I'll most likely be asleep or at work, so my time line may be a bit confused.  Thanks ferretflitz for the advice.  Oh, and I'm sorry for the awful grammar and spelling in Aya's letter, but she's really bad at English, so it was just keeping in character.  Being the grammar nazi I am I usually would not post something so atrocious. ))

 ~Estimated Time: 6:30 AM~

Aya shyly peaked out her camper door, taking in the bustle of colors and sounds as preparations for the day ahead were already in motion. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she stepped outside with one final look at the comforting familiarity of her home before forcing the broken door shut. Aya could feel the eyes of p*censored*ersby follow her as she cringed and gracelessly made her way through the crowd, dodging workers with props and performers with their animals. At six feet and seven inches, she easily towered over most anyone, and her lithe form accentuated that height until she was comparable to giraffe's long neck. At one point, Aya had bitterly thrived on the attention she received from onlookers, but now she was desensitized to their stares, feeling only a mild twinge of isolation. Aya continued through the stream of people, and silently prayed to whichever god was listening for acceptance and luck for her debut performance.

Reaching her destination, Aya stepped into the overgrown field adjacent to the circus grounds and scouted for any negative omens that might signal failure or embarr*censored*ment in her future. She froze as a feral black cat sauntered towards its den, Aya held her breath until the threat of crossing paths with it had faded. Legs spread shoulder-width apart, she relaxed her muscles and began to stretch, starting with her neck and working her way down. Several bones made small crackling sounds as they were forced back into alignment. As a contortionist, Aya had to go to extremes to get a full stretch, especially with her back, bending over backwards until she was looking at the dirt between her feet. Next came advanced Yoga to increase her balance and strengthen her core muscles, followed by a long jog around the field, carefully avoiding the black cat's den.

Aya returned to the center of the field as she replayed the routine she had chosen for her first performance in her head, preparing to physically rehearse the scene. It was a fairly simple act, starting with general shows of flexibility and coordination before outright flaunting her arm strength by carrying her stretched body solely on her hands as she walked around the ring. This was followed by choreographed gymnastics before she began the main event as she contorted her body to spell out “Majikus Circus” and “Having fun?” complete with question mark before moving to a single hand hand-stand followed by a back-flip to land her right-side up in the center of the ring to take her bow. As Aya confidently went through the motions, a set of curious eyes caught her attention from the opposite end of the field as she was turning around to face her imaginary audience. When she returned to face the strange spy, there was nothing to see except the rustling of tall gr*censored* as the pair of staring eyes escaped.

Finishing her rehearsal, Aya straightened to her full height, brushing dust off her red and gold uniform and smoothing the creases in the long, flared sleeves. A patch of large dandelions near the edge of the field caught her attention, and she smiled, moving closer to pick a hand full of yellow weeds and gently hiding them in the secret pocket of her left sleeve.

Aya returned to her dirty, faded camper without incident and kicked off her running shoes before placing then neatly by the door. The tickle of long whiskers against her calf alerted Aya to the presence of Mischa, her three-leg Russian Blue cat. She leaned down and picked the spoiled cat up, stroking the soft fur on his head and the stump of his right front paw. Having greeted her, Mischa decided he had more important things to do, like sun bathe, and quickly jumped out of her arms. After bathing, Aya sat down heavily in front of her small, mirror-less vanity, and began relaxing into her morning ritual of brushing out her long, jet black hair. She matched her breathing with her brush strokes easily slipping into her zen, that is, until a grotesque ball of fur landed in her lap, making her yelp in surprise as the thing burrowed into her sleeve. Chuckling to herself, Aya removed the forgotten dandelions from her sleeve and dangled them in front of the mal-formed rabbit.

With both lop-ears missing and his grossly obese size, not much could be said for poor Khanja in terms of beauty, but his appetite was unmatched. With a silent huff of satisfaction, Khanja inhaled the flowers with his always present enthusiasm. Aya smiled as the fuzzy creature enjoyed his morning snack and returned to her brushing. After all tangles had been gently removed, she began braiding her thick locks, weaving numerous charms into the strands for luck, balance, and protection.

Aya glanced up to where the vanity's mirror should have hung and smiled at the portrait of her father and late mother. Kissing her fingers, she gently laid them on the intelligent mask of Kahn Dae-Jung before caressing the European face next to him. She gave the photo one final, sad smile before placing the content Khanja on the floor.

As she stood, Aya took a shuddering breath and whispered, “Wish me luck, Dad,” before grabbing her thank you gift and leaving to meet with the odd ringmaster.

 ~~~~~~~

 ~Estimated Time: 11:30 AM~

Aya grimaced anxiously as she traipsed through the crowds, heading for the ring master's van with her small parcel in hand. She was very proud of her choice of gift for Mr. Raphael, the ring master. Feeling a little less than confident, Aya closed her eyes for a moment and hummed to herself, tying to forgett the crowds. That is, until she stumbled and nearly lost her balance as somebody bolted past her unexpectedly, jostling her present. Careful not to traumatize her precious gift anymore, Aya made her way to the side of traffic and slowly peaked inside the cardboard shoebox to check on the nervous creature inside. Satisfied that the small animal had not been injured, Aya glared in the direction the person had run, cursing in her native tongue. She slowly reached inside the shoebox and stroked the bald head of her latest rehabilitated animal, the cutest -well, only- toothless naked rat she'd ever seen, named Harry.

She had found him hiding under her camper one evening with blood drooling out of his mouth. From what she could tell, Harry had tried to gnaw his way through one of her rear hubcaps and tore his teeth out. Over the next month or so, Aya cared for the poor creature, flushed his mouth out, ground his food and mixed it with water, and kept him warm. She had even knitted him a few small sweaters in different colors for him to wear when he became cold. She wasn't sure if his teeth would ever grow back, but that did not stop Harry from attempting to gum his way through the shoebox or her finger. As sad as she was at giving up Harry, Aya had little money to buy a present for the ring master, and still wanted to thank him for giving her this new opportunity, so Harry it was.

Stopping in front of Mr. Raphael's van, Aya set Harry's box in a shady patch in plain sight of the door, made sure he had enough water just in case nobody answered, and taped her thank you note and care instructions to the shoebox lid before timidly knocking on the car door and bolting away.

Dear Mr. Raphael,

Im no good at Englesh but I want to tell you thankyou for letting me joyn your circuss. I hope you like your gift. His name is Harry. Pleese take care of him. You dont have to worry about biting. He has no teeth. Thankyou again for having me here. PS. Dont forget to feed Harry food that is moyst because he cant chew.  And make shure he wears a sweater when its cold.

Sinsearly,

AYA KAHN

((Hahaha!!! Beware Harry, the toothless, naked rat! P.S. You'll be seeing more of Khanja, I love him so much!  He's my favorite of all Aya's animals.))

((Just so you know, Puck. It's not likely anyone will be able to respond to your post there. xD

As far as introductions go, it's pretty epic. The only issue is that the Circus is in another situation at the moment, and at a completely different time. o_o Your post just seems isolated from what's currently taking place.))

((It's just a valentines party, Puck. xD At night, with a bonfire and little tables and the like.))

Nylat huffed, flicking her tail back and forth as she sat down, like an agitated cat about to pounce. How could he be so calm and easygoing? And he'd basically knocked down all her arguments too. She didn't know much about him, but she knew one thing: He was already getting under her skin. Just, being as calm as he was, while in dangerous territory. When he stood, she almost breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he was going. But upon his flopping on the ground, Nylat groaned and stalked off, growling harshly under her breath.

She decided to walk a few laps around the camp, to blow off her steam. She had no idea what it was, but he just got on her nerves. Probably her more animalistic reasoning coming out. She was 'alpha' here, as far as animals were concerned. After all, she was the only animal really. That could really think about being alpha. And then he saunters in and expects her to be all fine and dandy with it? Obviously, she'd been around the Circus too long, if she hadn't already tried chasing him out. Her human bit was small, but being around humas so much. Seemed to really bring it out to her.

She glanced back at the Circus, flicking her tail once as she thought. If everything went right, they'd be here a least another day, maybe two. Depended on how soon Raphael wanted to leave. She flicked her ears back, thinking again about how she'd been so feral, ready to kill anyone, or anything. Sure, it wasn't a bad thing the Circus had dulled it--and it wasn't JUST the Circus, old age, too--but she kind of missed the days where she could count on herself to not back out of anything, and chase out whoever she needed to.

With a sigh, she stopped, glancing between the field and the Circus. She took a sidestep away from the latter, whining. She wouldn't be gone long, just a day or two. Here she was, a hybrid of 99% animal, and she was more civilized than most people! She needed to get back in touch with her animal being. She flicked her tail, and turned toward the field, whining a bit at every step she took from her home. She'd be back in a few days. Just. A few days. She'd be back before they left. No matter.

Normally, she wouldn't have done this, turning her back on her home and family and the only nice place she'd ever known. But. Running into Zyano again put eveything into perspective. A creature was not allowed to be weak, not allowed to be defeated. Sure, maybe leaving was defeat, but she'd be back. And she'd show him. He couldn't just walk in and expect everything to be all sugar and rainbows. Even if Raphael and Dravius let him join the Circus, she'd make sure he knew how much she hated it. Just how much he bugged her. And just how strong she could be.

With a bound and a leap, she scrambled up into one of the few trees in the field, laying on a branch and looking at the array of lights tha was the Majikus. She'd walked faster than she'd intended, about twice as far away as she'd planned. But it was better. She was far outside Karene's barriers, and far from a search party. Flicking her tail, she laid her head on her crossed paws, and let out a soft sigh. She probably hadn't thought this through, but she had to do something.

((Awww. Footprints in the Sand just came on my YouTube. D:))

Three figures traced slowly through the open ground, two on all fours, the last upright, though slouching terribly. The two hunched seemed bound tegether in some way, pulling apart every so often, only to reach a certain length, then weave back together. The upright figure was tall, standing around six feet, with matted hair that brushed the figure's hips. The female, for she was a girl, looked around, then nudged at one of the smaller figures with her bare foot. The two on the ground were indeed tied together by a long, rough rope, tied in hangman's nooses around each of their thin necks. They sniffed at the ground constantly, both head moving back and forth. Both small boys looked exactly the same, with long, blackened fingernails and pale skin. The skin was covered in bruises, welts and cuts, and they moved in a way that was never seen in another human being. They walked on stilted hands, palms off the ground, and the balls of their feet digging into the dirt and gra.ss as the moved along. They were panting like dogs, along with their constant snuffling. Long strings of drool hung heavily from the one on the right, who was slightly larger than the one he was bound to. Every so often one would shove the other, and a short scuffle would ensue, with snapping of teeth and much pushing. When they eventually settled down, one looked up at the female, head tilting to the side.

The girl growled slightly and then kicked the younger boy hard in the side, huffing, "Sto' figh'in." The boy yelped and skittered towards his counterpart, colliding with a soft thud, after which occured yet another short battle, in which the boy kicked came out for the worse, whining and bleeding from four nail tracks on the side of his face. Both resumed sniffling along the ground, grunting quietly under their breaths to each other, and glaring up through their tangled black hair at the girl, who snarled and flipped her hair, a lighter shade over her shoulder. All were clad in ragged clothing, skin that showed through rips and tears was bruised of cut, especially on the two younger males. The girl seemed relatively unharmed, and bent down and yanked the rope once, causing both boys to choke momentarily, lifting their feet off the ground. The young boys' breath was raspy now, and tongues hung out of their mouths, a dark blue-purple, and long and pointed. They moved forewards in unison, making progress through the fields at speed now, growing more excited as they went, until both began barking loudly, stopping in between each noise to sniff more, and began running quickly across the feilds to the light of a distant town, followed closely by the tall girl.

``````````````````

Dravius walked back to Maya, thinking about her previous questions. He looked down at Maya and shrugged once, saying, "I just heard them, so I went to see what was going on." He then grinned and nodded, ruffling Maya's hair gently. "Yeah, I know. It's still cute." He smiled even wider when she laughed, putting his hands in his pockets, and shifting his weight from foot to foot.

Dravius tilted his head to the side, smile slightly smaller. "What something is?" He actually hadn't given it any thought to it, and raised an eyebrow as she stretched, laughing quietly at her ex
pression. He looked just as amused, if not at all expectant, and he stepped forewards, hugged her tightly, then put his face near her ear, saying quietly, "Well, mysterious and interesting?" He grinned, pressing his cheek against hers. "What was with the grabby hands, though?" He laughed, rubbing Maya's back.

"How about a walk to start?" Dravius asked, taking Maya's hand in his and moving away slowly, shortening his strides slightly, and grinning widely at the girl, other hand in his pocket again.