Circus (Open Riley)

[Durriken Petulengro]

SPOILER: Click to show

Name:Circus Now Hiring
Rank:C
Post Limit: 3 Posts
Objective:The circus has come to the South Foire and they after a wave of food poisoning need some people to fill in holes in their show. They need the listed positions filled but each person can only fill one role because of time restrains and costume alterations.
Strong Man: Lift weights, bend metal girdles, or do your own thing to wow the crowd
Beast Tamer: Show those ‘tamed’ animals whose boss
Fire Eater/Walker:Eat, breath and walk across hot coals
Acrobat:Tight rope walk, trapeze, and other things to wow the crowd
Clown:Make a general fool of yourself with the other clowns
Feel free to go above and beyond the listed just gave a general idea of what each job entailed.
Reward: 250Jewels, 30XP

Durriken sat at a table within Griffin Wing doing some paper work when the post man handed him a letter. He lifted an eyebrow at it since he didn’t know many people who could write other than those in the guild. Literacy was never a big issue in the circus, people could learn if they really wanted but most had a ‘who cares’ attitude about it. His face shifted to a wide grin though when he saw it was from his mother.

He pulled a knife from across the table and slit the letter open. First three cards dropped out of the envelope that made his eyes widen. He looked at them and found them to indeed be three of the ancient tarot cards that his magic relied on.

“Oh mother you always come through.” He said mostly to himself but out loud.

Dearest Durriken,

I hope everything is going well and that you didn’t hurt yourself too much since your last letter. You were correct in the idea that there was a card that could help you heal others and in my search for that card I found a few others you may enjoy. I am not completely sure dear but I believe the Five will let you fire some sort of fire and the Two should be daggers while you can guess since its cups, the six will heal your allies.

I looked at our travel schedule and we should be coming back around to Onibas so you should stop by and see your poor aging mother. Maybe bring that nice lady you told me so much about that helped destroy a…giant demonic chicken? You have to tell me that story in person since I still don’t completely believe.

I hope to see you soon,

Your loving mother,
Elandil

Durriken couldn’t stop smiling and letting out a small laugh when his mother mentioned her age. Even for a woman in her sixties she still looked to be 40 at the oldest. She aged incredibly well even with all the stress of raising a child alone. She did have a comfy position though in the circus being its fortune teller, she even conned some of the younger guys to get her tent up for each time the place moved and to take it down again whenever they had to leave.

[Merc]

Riley stretched absently as she slipped out of her office, holding her jacket in her hands, she began to slip into it, though it was rather warm, she left the heavy coat open in the front to keep herself from overheating. Her green eyes dancing absently as she yawned a bit, apparently bored, at the very least. Though she would not have believed it months ago, she actually preferred to be out and about doing missions. It was much more entertaining and more fitting her skill set than simple, boring paperwork. Thankfully, Durriken had been relieving some of that burden, and she was all too thankful for him for doing that.

Speaking of her Co-guild master, she easily spotted him sitting at one of the tables, with said paperwork. As she was about to make her way over, she noticed a courier approach, handing him off a letter before disappearing once more. Riley observed him for a few long moments, noting how happy he looked as he read the letter. It made her feel a little more upbeat as well, as she was one that often felt what those around her felt, shared in their happiness, their sadness, anything that she could, really.

"Oh, what do we have here? Some fan mail, perhaps?" She asked as she made her way over to him, standing before him as she did not like eavesdropping or reading over people's shoulders, and though she was smiling she was not entirely joking. She wouldn't be surprised if people suddenly took interest in him, being in a position of power did tend to draw attention, after all, be it wanted or unwanted.

The guild master watched him idly, observing his expression and occasionally glancing at the paperwork as she waited for a response from him.

[Durriken Petulengro]

“Not exactly,” he said with a chuckle, “though the writer always had the highest confidence in me. My mom sent me a letter back after I asked her if she could find me a card to let me heal people after our discussion on the last mission. She found a card that should let me do that as well as two others.”

He purposely chose not to mention the fact that they were coming to Onibas since he wanted it to be more of a surprise. It looked like Riley needed to get out again and this could be a nice day trip for her since the only thing more fun than a circus is being lead through a circus by a person who used to work there, he could show her so much more than the public normally saw.

“Also…it just happens that…well…the circus is coming here and to be exact, they should be setting up on the outskirts about now.” He said checking the time on his watch. “If you trust me we should be able to see the big top going up from the roof of the guild.”

The reason why she had to trust him was because there was no direct link to the roof so he would have to jump them up. He could easily get her up there but she would have to be okay with him lifting her over thirty feet into the air through two jumps while on his back.

[Merc]

"Oh, your mother?" Riley asked, seeming a little more intrigued. the teen cracked a smile after a moment, "I'd consider that something like fan mail," she laughed, lightly pushing her hands into the pockets of her jacket, where they pushed the contents of her pockets aside to rest.

"Ah, have you told her that you're now Co-guild master of Griffin Wing?" She asked, thinking that it was likely something that most people would be proud of. Once more, she perked up as she was told that the circus was in town, her green eyes a little wide, almost in a childish manner. "I've never been to a circus before..." She mumbled. Having grown up in a guild whose single purpose was to train effective assassin's, she didn't exactly get time to play or to experience many of the different things that other people had gotten to.

"Eh? Of course I trust you, that's why I promoted you," she pointed out, tilting her head a little at Durriken, clearly finding it a little odd for him to say such a thing. Once more, she brought her hands out of her pockets, clapping them together once and just sort of eagerly rubbing her palms together, "alrighty, let's go see this... 'Big Top' you spoke of... I assume that's a tent...? A big tent. I hear circuses operate out of tents, but I don't really know... I've never even seen one from afar, but it sounds pretty exciting... She rambled, clearly very excited all of a sudden.

"Honestly, the only things I really know for certain about the circus, are the things that you have told me...

[Durriken Petulengro]

His eyes widened when he realized that she had never been to a circus. That was a big part of most childhoods, he saw so many kids come and experience their first circus and it was almost always magical in its own way.

“We have to go then, it’s a really fun place. And trusting me with the guild when you aren’t here is slightly different then what I have planned, but come outside and let’s see if we can see it.”

Once they were outside he threw up his Seven of Swords and activated it, his feet glowing with the faint golden light. It felt good to have his magic back to the way it was. He then put his arms behind his back in a way that would let Riley climb on.

“All a’board” he said with a grin.

Once Riley was firmly in place he told her to hold on tight. When he felt her tighten her grip on his vest he crouched slightly and then jumped. The card propelled the pair into the air. He landed on an outside support beam with a small grunt since he wasn’t used to the new strain but he was okay and then jumped again landing them on the roof. It wasn’t that Riley was heavy but he was used to moving his own weight around and the different center of mass made his legs not absorb the shock like they usually did.

After letting her down he pointed off in the distance to a large brass ball on a pole. Attached to the pole was a large amount of white and red fabric in the shape of a tent.

“There it is, and you are right, it is a tent, we tended to work in the tents and then live in small wagons since those tents are impractical to put up every night when traveling.

[Merc]

Riley seemed pleased when he affirmed that they would have to go visit the circus, which was quite obviously what she had been hoping for. As he made the point to tell her that this trust was somewhat different from trusting him with the guild, she was initially curious about it, but it faded in all of the wondering about what a circus would be like. She quietly followed him as he led her outside, practically bounding eagerly behind him.

When he made a motion like he wished to carry her on her back, she smiled a bit, amused that he seemed to want to give her a piggy back ride. She neglected to mention to him that she could easily get to the roof on her own, because hey, this would be a lot more fun. The dark haired girl climbed into place, seeming to be enjoying things far too much as he crouched down and then leaped upwards, landing on the roof in two leaps.

Back on her own feet, she easily wandered along the roof, raising herself on the tips of her toes here and there in order to get a better look at the large tent, though it was already quite visible due to it's large size and the fact that the colors made it stand out against the outskirts of the city.

"Ah, it looks so big even from here," she murmured, more so to herself than to Durriken as she continued to lightly step along the roof. While she was not watching her footing, she was quite obviously perfectly balanced, not alarmed nor put off by the height. "Live in cart, hm?" She soon asked, finding it rather hard to imagine. Her parents had been assassin's of the highest caliber, so in spite of everything, they had lived a rather lavish lifestyle, particularly when away from the guild.

For a few long moments, she silently admired the tent, before abruptly turning towards Durri, a brow arched slightly, "so when can we go?"

[Durriken Petulengro]

“That big tent is where most of the shows will take place, within will be the bleachers that people can sit at, the trapeze, the tight rope and most of the animals will be brought in. There are lots of smaller tents as well that hold the smaller acts that are around all the time, like the freak show, my mother’s fortune telling, and the beer tent.”

“And the wagons are not as bad as they sound, quite cozy actually and if you want we can head over now, doubt they are finished but we should be able to get in. Between our magic and my connections it should be no problem.” He said with a chuckle.

Even though the workers changed pretty fast there were a good number of workers who have been there for ages and will continue to be there until they died or something important drove them away.

“Everyone will be pretty busy but I know at least my mother will be free, she hasn’t put up her own fortune telling tent since I was old enough to do it and I bet now she has some of the other guys doing it for her, playing the frail old women.” He said grinning.

He noticed her having no issues and remembered he saying how she was trained as an assassin, stuff like this must have been part of her training. He walked over to the edge and looked down figuring the easiest way.

“Well, unless you need help getting down meet cha at the bottom.” With that he waved and gave a small hop using the outside structure to get himself down to the ground in a safe manner.

[Merc]

"Freak show?" She echoed, wondering what sort of things one would encounter at such a place. When she was younger, she had once been told that she belonged in a freak show, due to the fact that she was such a pathetic excuse for an assassin, and because she would smile, even when she had no reason to, but these unpleasant thoughts slipped easily from her preoccupied mind.

"Ah!" She suddenly exclaimed, apparently only then realizing that Durriken's mother would be at the circus (in all of the excitement, it was easy to over look, really). He had also revealed that they could head over whenever they were ready, and she was all to pleased with the thought that she might get a peek of it sooner than anyone else did.

Riley could not help but chuckle as he made a remark about his mother. She had often heard him speak of the woman, and was rather interested to meet her, obviously she was a pretty interesting person, or at least she sounded like she was.

"I honestly could have gotten up on my own, but I thought a piggy back ride would be more fun~" She chimed, and leaped off of the roof without a second thought. However, she did not fall to the earth as quickly as a normal person would, rather it seemed like she lessened the effect of gravity on her body, landing as gently as a fallen feather upon the ground below.

Once on the ground, she wasted no time at all. Both Riley and Durriken headed off towards the large tent that had been set up at the edge of town. There were already a few curious onlookers lurking about, watching from a distance as things were set up and readied for what was to come. Some children ran about, excited, but it was hard to tell whether they were more excited than Riley, whom moved with a skip in her step.

When they had reached their destination, she stopped bouncing around long enough to look to Durrkien, clearly waiting for direction - though her attention was unfocused, drifting around as random things caught her attention.

[Durriken Petulengro]

Durriken motioned for her to follow him as he weaved his way through the crowd of onlookers and happy children. There was large ropes charged with magic to keep the people out and to make sure that they paid for a ticket to get in once the time had come. He followed the rope around until he got to the main gate. Luckily he picked the right direction first or they probably would have had to walk the entire way around the circus. From the rope though many of the smaller tents could already be seen as well as many of the carts parked near the sides.

The people working all looked very different somewhere very tale, some short, some pale some dark skinned. The circus picked up all types of people and even though they had varying backgrounds while you were in the circus you were family.

They could soon see a large wooden gate appearing in the distance it was elegantly carved and brightly painted in reds, golds and blues. There were stars painted on as well as a simple wooden board listing the price per age group.

Once they got to the gate a person of about age 20 held out his hand stopping them from entered.

”Sorry, nobody allowed for another few hours.”

“But I work here,” Durriken lied since he was indeed dressed like a circus performer.

”Yeah right, likely story, you got yourself some flashy cloths and think you are a performer, not get out of her before I send you out.”

Durriken clenched his fist and teeth in irritation and the man took a step back getting ready for a fight but instead nearly jumped out of his skin when Durriken yelled.

“YO ZIPEPPI THIS PUNK WON’T LET ME IN!”

Durriken’s voice boomed out above the crowd and some turned to look at him. The 20 year old’s face paled as the slamming open of a wooden door could be heard and the sound of a large man treading down wooden steps.

Durriken couldn’t wipe the grin off his face at the guys reaction, Zipeppi was one of the older members at the circus who used to work the gate. Since Durriken didn’t recognize the new guy it meant he hasn’t been around long and Zipeppi was close by.

”Oh my boy I didn’t know we would be bumping into you here though that would explain old Elandil’s excitement when we arrived.” The man spoke with a thick Italian accent if such a country as Italy existed.

The man then turned to the twenty year old and slapped him upside the head.

”Stupeedo let them in this minute.”

The twenty year old kept his eyes down and opened the gate letting Durriken and Riley in.

[Merc]

Riley raked her fingers through her hair, trying to tone down her excitement a little to act her age, or at least act closer to her own age, not like an excited child. She meandered after Durriken as he led her around the perimeter, eventually bringing them to the front gate, where they were stopped.

The disappoint was clear on her face, when she truly believed that she would not get to have a peek inside before anyone else was allowed in, but she also felt terribly restless, because this would also mean that she would have to wait, perhaps multiple hours to be allowed in. The man guarding the gate soon confirmed this, after Durriken had tried to lie his way into the circus.

The two exchanged words, and she was a little startled when Durriken suddenly yelled out to someone. Her bright green eyes danced wildly, as she stared onwards, watching as a large man emerged, apparently having recognized Durri. She perked up once more as the gates opened before them, treading lightly along with her co-guild master as they slipped inside of the gates.

"Ahh, I filled with so much energy and excitement that it's kind of scary.." She mumbled to herself, once more stuffing her hands into her pockets, as she was idly moving them about to try to find a 'natural' position for them, which seemed truly impossible at the moment.

[Durriken Petulengro]

Durriken had to smile at Riley’s enthusiasm this was the one thing he did truly miss about the circus. The sheer joy it could create in people. It never got old seeing a child, or in this case Riley’s face just light up at all the sights, sounds, and smells that only a circus could create.

“Let’s keep you away from the cotton candy then.” He said with a chuckle.

He probably could have asked and found his mother so much easier but he preferred letting Riley explore. They passed a fenced in area that had lots of animals mundane and magical. There were lambs, a few rabbits, as well as the prize of the small zoo, a baby unicorn whose horn was barely as big as his pinky finger.

As they walked on though he heard a few people yell out his name which he waved his hand to. None of them were people he knew overly well just saw out and about while they worked. And even if he did know them well he couldn’t really talk to them since they had a lot of work to do to get everything ready for the evening.

He did get some teasing though, mostly from the older members who watched him grow up and were basically uncles to him. He couldn’t hear it exactly but from the bits and pieces it was something about “hot girlfriend” or “whose that dame you brought with you”, he thought he even heard one of the older guys he actually would have talked to if the man currently wasn’t also holding a large beam mention something about Elandil and grandchildren.

[Merc]

"... Cotton candy? I've always wanted cotton candy." she said, her eyes practically sparkling as she day dreamed about it, "I've heard people talk about how fluffy and soft it was... And I do have something of a sweet tooth," she said, giving a bit of a chuckle, knowing full well that she was being childish, but also not being able to resist letting loose for a change.

They came along a petting zoo, and she slowed to view the animal, making soft 'aw' sounds whenever she spotted something that made her heart melt a little bit.

They kept moving, her eyes dancing about still, taking in as much as she could possibly take in. There were a lot of people running about, and they were certainly busy working to get things set up. She could only imagine how tiring it must have been to constantly be doing such hard labor. She probably could have wandered around all day, but she soon began to pick up words here and there. Fragments of what people were either whispering amongst themselves or apparently calling out to Durriken.

She could not help but blush deeply at their words, a hand raising to rub bashfully at the side of her neck, her feet robotically moving to follow and keep up with Durriken.

This sort of reminds me of the guild... The atmosphere... The playful poking and taunting... She mused, to distract herself from her own embarrassment as they continued to make their way through the circus, they're certainly very spirited," she softly commented, most likely to break the awkward silence that their words had caused her to fall into.

[Durriken Petulengro]

“Yes, spirited is one word for it, though most need to know…when to BUTT out” he said the last part directed both at her and the people around them. He earned a few chuckled but they did quiet significantly.

As they walked he started to notice the sound getting louder and that everything was looking done. From the sounds of it the gates were open so people would be milling around soon. He glanced at Riley and noticed the nice rings on her fingers.

“I hate to bring this up” he said under his breath “You may want to shift your rings to an inner pocket while we are here, nobody employed would dare try since I am with you but the carnival tends to attract some…unsavory people. Simpler to not tempt then to have to make a scene beating them up.”

As the people began to file in he pointed her over to a simple game. It involved throwing metal darts at balloons fixed to the wall. The game was simple enough if it wasn’t for the darts being incredibly dull and the balloons being under inflated. You could hit some of them dead on and still not break it.

He flipped the man a small silver coin which the man bit and then dropping into a box with a clunk and then handed Riley three darts.

”Break 1 Balloon get a gift from the bottom shelf, 2 balloons the middle shelf, and three gets you the prize hanging from top shelf.” He said in a flat monotonous voice.

This was one of the more boring jobs since you just had to sit there and take people’s money. Every once in a while restock the prizes and the game. They normally shoved the unskilled people here since it was something anyone could do. Some of the bigger games near the center got barkers to draw people in for the other things around but something this small didn’t.

Durriken reached around in a what appeared to be romantic gesture to help guild her hand but instead he whispered words gently into her ear.

“These darts can’t cut jello, a bit of heat might help though.”

((OOC: If you disapprove of anything I did with Riley let me know and I can edit))

[Merc]

Riley chuckled a little at Durri, clearly in a good mood as they continued to make their way through the circus, which was still busy, but was apparently nearing completion. When he suddenly looked to her, telling her to hide her belongingd, with the implication that someone might try and rob her, she smirked a bit, partially in amusement, but also in recollection of her past. She could not recall if she had told him before, but she felt the need to make a remark about it as she slipped her rings off of her fingers, sliding them into an inside pocket of her jacket.

"I used to be a pickpocket myself," she lightly pointed out, her voice quiet and clearly just for him to hear, "wasn't that good at it, though," she chuckled a little to herself, trailing along with him as he guided her to a booth with balloons and darts. She had no idea what was going on as she received the darts, having never seen such games before, she did not know the objective until it was pointed out to her - which seemed easy enough, in her mind. She actually believed she had a bit of an advantage, due to her training as an assassin. Since she was old enough to stand and grip things, she had been taught how to throw knives - in a skillfull, useful manner of course. Riley found herself falling into old habits as she seperated one dart from the other's, feeling it's weight out for a moment, her fingers and eyes upon it as she tossed it a little in her hand.

As Durriken 'helped' her, she arched a brow slightly, not as his gesture, but his words. For a moment, her eyes flickered to the tip, and she smirked a bit, noting that it was indeed dull. Generally, should would not use her magic to give her an edge over something so trivial, but it seemed only fair, since the game was not made fairly.

She took aim, the tip of the dart glowing very, very faintly with energy. With a single toss, it impaled a balloon and stuck to the board behind it, making a loud popping sound and sending balloon particles flying. "Ah, it seems I got one~" She chimed, bringing a second between her fingers and with a flick of her wrist giving it a toss, destroying a second balloon, "oh my..." She murmured, taking the final dart into her hand, she held it a moment, feeling a bit tense - feeling the pressure not that she had a single dart left.

However, she did not let it eat at her for long, as she charge the final dart as she had done the first two, destroying the third balloon as easily as she had the first two.

"Oh, will you look at that... It seems I hit three balloons," she stated, smiling a little as she allowed her hands to fall to her sides, "not bad for my first time, hm?"

[Durriken Petulengro]

The man’s jaw dropped as he watch all three darts puncture balloons. After the first two hit he pulled one from the box and found that they were indeed as dull as they should be. A bit slow from bewilderment he pulled out a large stuffed rabbit from the top shelf and handed it to Riley.

”Enjoy the carnival miss…”

Once they were out of ear shot Durriken let out a loud laugh as he put his arm behind his head.

“That was nicely done, though most of the games aren’t so easy to beat. Now let’s try and find my mother before she gets a line out her door…flap…tent…whatever.” He said stumbling at the end.

As they wandered around the crowd got thicker and thicker full of couples, families and random children running around. Here all the social classes mingled since the carnival if you stayed away from the games and food was accessible nearly any income.

After about 10 minutes they stumbled upon a dark purple tent with a eye in gold above the open flap. To an observant eye it would be the same eye attached to the silver cross around Durriken’s neck

He paused outside the tent and as an old man left he could hear from the tent a very dramatic womanly voice.

”Enter if you dare newcomer and have me unfold secrets of the future before your very eyes!”

Durriken covered his mouth with a grin to reduce the chuckle that was emerging. Once you knew the women outside of the show nights, hearing her stage voice could be hilarious, it was so over the top and drawn out. Telling the future wasn’t a difficult art, the items did most of the work it just takes time to learn to signs and how to interpret them.

“Mother you know as well as I do the cards do most of the work.” He said with a chuckle as he pulled back the flap of the tent and held it open behind him for Riley as he entered.

”Durriken my little chav you finally made it! And is this the pretty lady you told me so much about? Sit, sit, and tell me about yourself child”

His name was nearly squealed out at a painful tone when she saw him enter. She gave her son a big hug and closed the tent tight behind them so others wouldn’t walk in. She gestured for them to sit before sitting herself behind the table while she waited for Riley to answer her question.

The tent was decorated with many items ranging from crystal balls, to strands of beads, to other odd magical items such as shrunken heads and random pendants. Not single shelf or cupboard was left bare in the room. Most of it was for show since anything of any real magical value was kept in her wagon but the items gave her credibility and made the people feel as if they got their money’s worth.