Kanec noticed Disera's irritation as much as she noticed his. He flicked his ears irrately, He did glance once back at where they'd come from, a bit guilty for leaving them with that weirdo, but he got over it quicky, returning his attention to Disera. "Yeah. He just. Ruffles my feathers, ya know? I'm sure hoping he's only here temporarily, or straightens up his act. Both would be fine by me." When she wrapped her arms around his neck, he hugged her briefly, and nodded, sighing. "Might as well dance before someone decides they do want to come around and bug us, huh?" He flicked his ears, catching the tune of the music.

((Omgfail. But I'm distracted by the holes in my gum))

((Eh.))

Zyano had been paying most of his attention on the fire and the members around it when Nylat stalked off, and he watched her leave without saying, or doing, anything. Easily riled, perhaps?... He snorted quietly, then yawned again. Whatever. If it made her happy, he'd stay out of her way. Naturally, of course, that would mean he wouldn't have to put up with her unless he needed to.

And just as he thought he had a bit of quiet, Erik showed up. "I didn't say anything." He responded, closing his eyes for a moment when he felt the human males fingers behind an ear. "And it wasn;t much of a meeting. I came across this place and watched it, she just happened to notice me watching it."

Zyano opened his eyes and lifted his head, flicking an ear at the roaring fire. "There seemed to be something going on here last time, though. Something that was causing everyone a lot of stress, though I never stayed long enough to find out what it was."

He snorted at Eriks' last words, choosing to ignore them. He would jump to that conclusion, that's just who Erik was.

~~~

"That's good." Raphael responded with a slight sigh, and then a shrug. "Well. I'm sure Kisa would be happy to learn it's not a complete dud." The Ring-Master turned to look over his shoulder, watching the members who were still burning things. "Everyone else seems to be having fun."

"They would." Karene laughed, noticing the members he was currently looking at. She watched them for a moment, before looking at Selvai. "Pff. Glad you're enjoying it. More so than me, anyway." She responded with a slight smile, turning her gaze back to the Ring-Master.

"Are you alright?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. The Ring-Master was stood with his eyes closed.

"Mhm." Was his response. "Yeah. Sure. For the next five minutes, I'll be out cold after that. I hate these headaches."

Karene blinked. "One of those ones?... Gosh. It's been a while. I'm surprised you haven't collpased yet."

 Raphael snorted at her, then shook his head, slowly. "I got lucky, I suppose."

"I'll head to my van. If you see him, let Dravius know he's in charge for... However long." The blonde man waved a hand, nodded slightly at Selvai, and then headed off, grimacing as he did so. Karene watched him leave with a slightly concerned frown. "Alright." She mumbled after he'd left.

~~~

((Ye. I know. xD Makes me laugh whenever I think about it.))

Kanec nodded, not trusting himself to talk. His shoulderblades still itched, and he shrugged his shoulders as Disera took his hand, trying to relieve it. The itches never lasted this long, usually. He smiled when she blushed. "Of course." As they danced, his ears never stayed still, always flicking to catch the music, and any othr noise he could catch. It was more a force of habit than anything. It was a slow song, and he enjoyed dancing with Disera, so it wasn't like he was distracting himself.

As the song faded to an end, he took his one arm from around Disera and kept his fingers interlaced with her's. "Come on, I want to show you something." He led her between vans, never seeming to run into any of the numerous other pairs scattered about the grounds. With a flick of his ears, he stopped at his van, and let go of Disera's hand, smiling breifly. "Wait right here."

He slipped inside his van, and took the bag from his bed that he'd discarded there before. He reached back to scratch between his shoulderblades, thinking about what laid under his clothes there. He hadn't thought about it in a long while, as he'd never had that itch show up, but now, it did. Ignoring the thought, and the itch, for the time, he removed the item from the bag, making sure it had not chipped.

It was a ceramic raven statue, on a slanted branch with ouspread wings, the colors perfect, never blending, and no white where there shouldn't be any. He smiled at the statue. Earlier, he had known he'd wanted to get Disera something, but he hadn't been sure what. When he'd seen this, he'd known, and argued with the clerk until it was affordable.

With another smile at it, he carefully left his van, sure to not accidentally chip the ceramic piece. He rolled his shoulders again, flaring his wings irrately. This itch was going to bother him a while. Shrugging it off, he held out the raven to Disera, his ears pricked. "I, uh, bought this while I was out earlier. Here, for you." He smiled warmly at her as he held it out, his wings still twitching due to the itch just above them.

"You should get out more. Though I have no room to talk in the slightest." Karene said in response to Selvai's words about not attending many of these orts of parties. Well, it wasn't like she did, either. The caramel haired woman had returned her gaze to the fire, eventually focusing back on Selvai.

"What?... Oh." She paused, blinked, then shrugged, all in a very short sapce of time. "I don't know as much about as the older members, but it's normal. Completely. Or so Raphael likes to tell us when anyone starts panicking" She sighed quietly. "I don't how much you've seen of his ability, or just how far up the grand scale he can go with it. That skill of his is just... Out of this world, literally, sometimes. But an ability like that puts severe strain on his mind. The headaches are just his body's way of coping, I guess. I'm not sure. Being able to mess with people's every single sense takes a lot of concentration, I'd think."

She shrugged again, biting her bottom lip a little. "You'd probably have to ask Dravius to get in depth on the whole thing, though even then I'm not sure how much he knows. I hear he had quite the issue trying to figure out what was wrong with Raphael when they first met, the first time he had one of his signature headaches. Considering our Ring-Master didn't seem to have mentioned it to anyone. As for severity, it can vary. Anywhere vfrom being an avarage headache to falling unconscious for a few days. I understand that's one of the reasons he bestowed upon Dravius the ti
tle Co-Master. He needed someone who knew the Circus as well as he did for when... You know. He's out of it." She waved a hand.

"It IS normal though. So there's little need to worry." Karene threw a smile at the Magician, then focused her gaze some distance ovr his shoulder. "Looks like Kioko's on her own. Shall we go say hello?" She asked, brushing past him and heading for the table that had once been full.

"Hey. How come you're out here by yourself?" The young woman asked, coming to a stop at Kioko's table and eyeing the lilac butterfly with interest, before looking at the steaming glas.s with a raised eyebrow. "Are you alright?"

~~~

 Zyano pretty much just huffed at Erik the entire time he was talking. He really did talk too much. "I honestly do notknow what her reasons are for doing anything. And to be honest, I don't particularly care." The giant wolf responded, sniffing.

"And not particularly. We came in at a busy time, it seems... Hence the reason I wanted to wait until morning. Besides, the... Owner, didn't seem too fussed to have us here, which I find to be a miracle considering how far into his personal space you were getting." The wolf threw a look at Erik, then slipped out from under him. He came to sit just a foot or so away, ears pricked.

It was easy enough to pick up the not-so-common srious tone in the red-heads voice. "I don't think you neede to be concerned. Many of the humans smell dangerous. Perhaps not to us, but definately enough to protect themselves."

"Yes... Like the Circus' rivals will stop just to gawk at you and ask for a cuddle." Zyano murmered, ducking the red-heads arm and flicking his tail in his face before laying down and looking over at the table. Looks like there was another one over there.

Dravius twined his long fingers even more around Maya's, smiling crookedly, and said, "Well, I promise I'll hug you, then."  He turned back slightly, one eye glittering, reflecting back the dim firelight, as they moved farther and father away from the others, and the light and sound faded into the natural sounds of the night, chirping crickets, and the occasional hoot of an owl. The rustling of the gra.ss underfoot was rythmic, and Dravius stopped where the noise and brightness of the party were only a dull murmer. He let go of Maya's hand and fell backwards gently into the tall gra.ss with a thump, staring up at the sky. "Come on, lie down." He sighed quietly, looking up at the stars hanging bright in the sky.

Dravius looked utterly content lying there on his back in the plants, arms and legs spread eagled, and looked up at Maya, smiling. "It's really nice out, huh?" he got to his feet and stretched his arms over his head for a second, before taking a step forewards and enfolding Maya in an embrace, flopping back into the gra.ss, snuggling his face into Maya's long hair. "I love you," He purred, gently running his fingers up and down the side of Maya's neck. "And I mean, almost a ridiculous amount." He sighed and looked at Maya for a moment, kissing her gently, just barely pressing his lips against hers.

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

The town was plunged in darkness, but that seemed to make no difference to the three figures walking slowly through the corner-lit streets, a loud snuffling the only sounds coming from the trio, other than footsteps. They reached a corner, and the two boys bound together at the neck yipped in unison, poking their noses over the edge of a large trash bin. The girl snorted and shoved both down, saying angrily, "Wha're you doing roo'in' around in tha' trash?" She opened the trash lid without looking inside, and waved the lid huffily. She glanced at the contents and gave a wordless shriek of rage, the lid clattering on the ground as she clapped her hands over her mouth. Inside the bin resided a body crawling with insects, long white-blonde hair tangled and matted with weeks old blood.

The two boys immediatly began howling, sitting as far apart as their rope would allow, then sniffing around the bin, and began taking off, until the girl snatched the rope and yanked, saying, "Go slowly, idjits." The boys cringed and slunk off slowly, still sniffing and conversing under their breath with each other. The girl slammed the lid back on the bin, gagging slightly. She followed after her two companions, face set in anger as she went. The boys had obviously smelt something important, and hopefully the two idiots were going in the direction of it. Overeager little...she shook her head and walked faster to keep up with the two males, still advancing slowly.

((LOL. You think they'd have found that body by now. xD!!))

"Oh. Alright." Maya smiled, pff-ing a little as the Co-Masters promise of a hug. "I'm pretty sure you just gave me one, but I'm not complaining about the extra's." She laughed, walking so that her arm was pressed lightly against his and returning his smile with her own.

 "Where exactly are we going?" She asked suddenly, twisting her head to look over her shoulder at the quickly dissapearing Circus. The sounds of night, she had to admit, we're pleasant to listen to. So much so she could no longer hear the chatter of Circus members. Of course, at that moment, Dravius finally chose to stop, and the blonde turned to watch him flop onto the gras's. She blinked at him, then snorted quietly. She didn't have much chance to reply to his suggestion before he changed the subject.

"It is," She grinned, crossing her arms behind her back and glancing skyward. It was indeed a beautiful sight, one Maya hadn't seen much of before meeting Raphael the others. Living in towns had that effect The blaze of nearby lights outshone that of the stars, and the butterfly idly realised she much preferred being out here, travelling with the Circus.

Smiling to herself, her gaze flickered back to Dravius when he emerged from the gras.s, holding her arms out when he hugged her, and umph-ing at him when he decided to sit back down. She was pretty much just clinging to him and looking skyward, up until the point he spoke.

"I love you, too." She responded after a moment of silence, slightly taken aback by the Co-Masters seemingly random proclamation, smiling hugely. The butterflies in her stomach had increased tenfold by this point, and the young woman couldn't help but blush a little. The brushing of his fingers on her neck made her shiver a little, though she made no effort to move away from it. Maya pff'd into Dravius' kiss, the noise being a somewhat flimsy response to his ridiculous statement. She knew how he felt. Idly wondering whether or not it was possible to love someone as much as she loved him. Pulling away just enough so that she was able to talk to him, the butterfly turned her gaze skyward. "I never had much chance to watch the stars before I started travelling with you lot. It's a shame," She murmered, lifting one hand skyward as though she might be able to just pick one out of the sky. "They're awfully pretty, huh?"

Pausing, the girl looked at her forearm a moment, then dropped it, her gaze focused on the orange guaze that tightly bound her splint. Huh. She'd almost forgotten about how much she'd actually gone through to get to this point. Specifically with Dravius. She'd constantly asked herself previously whether anything had been worth it. Looking back towards him, she placed the tips of her own fingers against his jawline, studying his face, lips upturned. Yes. Yes it had been.

"You're amazing sometimes, do you know that?" She asked, slipping into a quiet laugh and dropping her hand. She watched him for a moment, smiling, then gently grasped the front of his formal shirt, pulling herself up and closer so that she could kiss him again, the motion a tad more lingering than Dravius' previous one had been.

Daniel crept around the vans, trying his best to avoid anyone and everyone. He was just wanting to find the other animal Kanec had told him about. He was sure she was nicer than alot of the people he'd met. He'd alrady sent Lilly and Snap back to the van, as reluctant as they were. He rounded another van, and backpedaled a litte, peering around the corner, his eyes lighting up. Around the corner sat  huge wolf-like animal, though it wasn't like any wolf he'd seen. Unfortunantly, beside the wolf was a redhaired man, and Daniel didn't like people. Still...

Daniel carefully approached the wolf, more wary of the guy beside him. With a grin, he wrapped his arms around the wolf's neck, laying his head in the soft fur around his neck. "He'o there doggie. Wha' your name?"

~~

Kanec held his breath a little as Disera inspected the raven. When she thanked him for it, he breathed a sigh of relief. At her comment about a lack of gifts, he frowned. "It is understandable, as saddening as it may be. I mean, Selvai never allowed you near normal humans, so its only natural that you've never gotten gifts from anyone but Selvai before." When she kissed him, he blushed a little. "I'm glad you like it. And it was nothing, really."

He returned her kiss and wrappe an arm around her shoulders, leading her along with him as he meandered through the grounds, no true destination in mind. He flicked his ears, though for no reason at all, just the habit of always listening and always making sure there was no one around. It was just what he'd gotten used to doing. With a force of will, he forced his ears to lie still against the top of his head

((Fail.))

((D'aww, Kioko. You're so CUTE. Also, I think I'm gonna try and include my time skip in here. o_o That way you guys can post before and after it in one post. xD))

Dravius had been staring at the stars throughout Maya's internal monologue, picking out the different constellations. The young woman said something halfway through finding Cancer, and he blinked, looking down at Maya, smiling slightly. "You're right," He murmered in response,  then yawned just after she did, finding it rather contagious. The chirping of crickets and hooting of owls combined into a rather intoxicating combination, and he grinned when he noticed Maya had fallen asleep rather promptly on his chest. He lay back down and let himself slip into absolute nothing, feeling as if he was floating a bit, eyelids drooping slowly, as the stars seemed to dim, and he fell into a deep sleep.

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

Dravius had slept all the way through the night, for once, arms still wrapped around Maya. He stirred just a bit at a loud sigh, borws furrowing for a second. He stretched as Maya stood, a moment of wakefulness fading quickly as he fell back asleep, breathing slow and even. The nudging of someone's foot made him wave a hand at it weakly, muttering something about breakfast and polishing silver. He was smiling slightly in his sleep, corners of his lips turned up crookedly.

Dravius vaugely felt something crawling on his face, and wrinkled his nose, a terrible tickling sensation crawling of one of his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. He rolled over slightly, but even that didn't dislodge whatever it was that was trying to wake him up. "Stop..." He muttered, frowning heavily. Eventually, the tickling caused him to open his working eye, greeted with the sight of tiny legs very near his eye. He sat up quickly, shaking his head back and forth. Dravius was absolutely coated in loose gras,s, mostly sticking out of his hair at odd angles, and he rubbed both eyes with the heel of his hand, panting slightly. He also felt exceedingly silly when he saw a small butterfly fluttering away, grinning sheepishly. "What was that for?" The tall male asked, picking bits of plant out of his hair. He moved over to Maya and hugged her, pulling her back down and rolling around in the flattened section of the gras.s where they had slept, tickling her and saying, "This is for waking me up!"

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

In the course of a few days and nights, the small group had worked their way through three towns, leaving a swath of robbery and destruction in their wake. The newpapers were covering them for miles around, and they still hadn't found the detestable creatuere who had killed their master and had so carelessly dumped him into a garbage can, of all things. The two younger boys didn't really understand what was going on, but just mimicked the feelings and ex
pression of the older girl, who was in a permanent state of fury. It was disgusting the way this man could just so casually do that to poor Master Break, the girl thought, as she kicked the slightly smaller boy, Noh, hard in the side to make him move on. This most recent town had reported a large group of unidentified persons staying outside the town'd limits, and that they seemd to be having a roaring good time last night.

As if they deserved it. The girl, May, snarled silently, and the larger boy, Yehs, cringed, thinking it was directed at him and his brother. Those two truely were morons. The both got another well-deserved boot in the ribs, causing them to cough slightly. Maybe they'd learn to stop being such hopeless idiots. She smirked cruelly,  and gestured for the two to move on. They never talked to her, and it made her frustrated that no matter what she did, they only said a word to each other, and only responded to her with grunts, or some kind of bark. It made her angry, and almost immediately a flush rose to her cheeks, making them look bruised and unhealthy. So frustrating. Her sharp teeth were bared, thin lips peeled back from them. She decided to rest on a bench, jerking the twins' rope to make them stop and sit at attention, squinting at pas.sersby. How dare thye give her such stupid, vacant looks. It made her want to see them all lying dead, puddles of blood washing through the streets like a beautiful, fragrant river. May grinned wickedly, kicking Noh quite hard in the head because he was slouching.

Watching Dravius carefully as the little butterfly crawled delibrately over his face, Maya idly noted a strand of hair that had fallen over her shoulder. It was one of the braids the Co-Master had managed to create yesterday, and the girl flopped into a sitting position, gently undoing them. After managing to loosen each one, she spent a minute or two simply running her fingers through it, then using both hands to push the mas.s of gold over her shoulder.

It was at this point she went back to watching Dravius, now very close to being awakened, the butterfly doing all in it's power by simply walking in circles. Maya had to laugh a little at Dravius' quiet grumping, jumping a bit when he bolted upright. The little butterfly had fluttered around his head in panic, before taking off across the field, the teenage girl watching it leave.

"What was what for?" She asked, smiling as she brought her eyes back to Dravius. "I didn't do anything. And good morning, sleepy head." It took a good effort to refrain from laughing at him further, what with all the gras.s he was wearing and the way he looked dazed, as most people do when being rudely awoken. She reached over and removed a few blades of green.

Taking somewhat by surprise at his hug, she returned it, too late to notice before he'd pulled her back to the ground. Landing with a light flump, Maya had little time to do anything else before Dravius started relentlessly tickling her. "Pff!" She snorted, positioning herself under him and trying desperately to avoid his hands by curling around one of his arms, using one of her own hands to grab his other wrist. She was laughing the entire time it took her to try and restrain Dravius somewhat, or at least keep his hands still long enough, and she was more than just a little breathless when she replied to his previous words.

"What?... I didn't... Do anything." She giggled, keeping herself firmly clinging to one of Dravius' arms, being sure to keep his other at arms length. Her hair was splayed rather haphazardly all over the place, stringing strands of gold through all the green. "She only wanted to give you a good morning kiss... What's wrong with that?... I don't think... She meant to wake you up." That wasn't true, naturally. She laughed, trying to get her breath back enough to blow a strand of gold out of her face and smile teasingly at the Co-Master. She eventually managed, seizing the momantary oppurtunity to very swiftly prop herself up on her hands, letting go of Dravius' in the process, and kiss him fleetingly on the lips before immediately making a bid for freedom by trying to wriggle out of his grasp.

 ((LOL. This was fun to type. O_O))

Nylat had been awake before the sun had risen, having gone to sleep not long after leaving. She was far from the Circus, tracking a herd of deer. She hadn't had deer meat in so long. She'd had to live off of rabbits and squirrels. Deer never got close enough to towns for her to hunt them in good time and still not be missed at the Circus. So, she was hunting them now. They were not only bigger and more filling than rodents and pests, but they were more fun to hunt. Some actually put up a fight, and she got some running in. Win-win situation on her end.

She flicked her tail, brushing her nose against the ground for a moment, to check her course. She wasn't the best tracker, and what she couldn't see or hear, she had a hard time finding. So it took her a moment, sniffing around in a circle, to catch the scent. After she did, she dashed off in that direction, her tail streaming behind her. She was silent, yet swift, moving into more forested areas. She would stop every now and then, sniffing to check her course, and as she got more used to the scent, she would move on faster.

Finally, she came upon the herd she'd been tracking, and panted, trying to find one to go for. With her strength, she could go after any of them, no problem. But it was just instinct to go for a weak one. After a moment, she spotted a young buck, limping. He'd probably been wounded by wolves. It was rare for a deer to get away from a pack, but it happened. With silent steps, she moved to a better location. She crouched, just about to spring. She flicked her tail--and hit a bush.

The whole herd froze, heads shooting up faster than fireworks. With a hiss and a curse, Nylat dashed toward the buck, giving herself a boost with her speed. The deer had barely enough time to react before she pounced, snapping his neck. Being strong made things way too easy. She turned and chased after the now-fleeing herd, careful to not put any strength into her running. She had her meal, she was just going for bonus.

She managed to catch up and she lined up with a doe near the back, matching her pace smoothly. She ran with them for a moment, before suddenly veering sidewys, and knocking the doe out of place. She bit down hard on the deer's neck and killed it instantly. She liked instant death. Less pain on the prey's part. She hated pain, as animalistic as she was, she still hated it.

She returned to her other kill, scaring off a few vultures, the huge black birds struggling to get airborne. She laid herself down and started away at her doe, finishing it, and ate half of the buck before she stood up, licking the blood and gore from her muzzle. She flicked her tail and padded off, leaving the carc*censored*es to the birds, which were already descending on their interrupted meal.

~~

Kanec rolled over, nearly rolling off his bed in the process. He yawned, stretching, and glanced over at Daniel's bed, suprised to find it empty. The boy had gotten back after he had, and he expected him to still be asleep. He shrugged. Well, the kid did have more energy than him. It was only natural he'd need less sleep. With another yawn, Kanec got changed, ruffling his wings. He half-reached for his jacket before he realized Disera still had it. Well, he didn't really need it. It was just extra means to cover both scar and tattoo on his back. He just had to be careful. If he was somehow soaked today, his white shirt wouldn't be much of a cover for it.

With a shake, he flared his wings as best as he could in his van before leaving it, careful to furl his wings tightly against his back. Black had a tendency to show well through white. He yawned again, rubbing fiercely at his eyes, and leaned against his van.

~~

Daniel, in fact, had never gone back to the van. In reality, he'd found himself a nice, quiet place to sleep outside. He was, however, up long before Kanec, and set out to find the 'doggie' again. No matter what he said, he was still a doggie. A big, big, BIG doggie. When he did find him, he made his way through the small crowd, and sat down beside the hybrid, wrapping his arms around his neck as he had last night. He'd never really learned when animals didn't want him around, nor when they didn't like something. He'd grown up being raised by animals that didn't mind him. He'd never come across an animal that didn't find him. Nor had he ever found one that disliked wat he called them, but, again, they'd come to him, and introduced themselves. So, he just sat there, arms wrapped around Zyano's neck, not really minding what had happened last time he had.

((Failllll.))