Circus (Open Riley)

[Durriken Petulengro]

“I like that idea. How much can you lift or slow with your gravity magic Riley? I am thinking something classic set to music or we could do a rehearsed ‘mock’ battle since we both fight in an acrobatic way. I could see it being funny if your tracker orbs followed me around the tent as I did lots of stuff to try and get away.”

He went over to a box and cracked it open with the crowbar sitting next to it. Inside were lots of magical devices, none really that powerful though all useful to a degree. What had his eye were the magical fabric that could extend and contract at will. He also found an odd smoke machine that could turn fire magic into smoke.

((OOC Sorry this took so long was trying to come up with something definite we could do but I am still drawing near a blank, I have bits and pieces but not enough for a full act)

[Merc]

"Well, as much as I want, I guess, depending on how much magical energy I'm willing to put into it," Riley pointed out, bringing both hands to rest on her hips as she walked, still just sort of observing all of the various pieces that were laying about inside the large tent. She nodded a little to his ideas, willing to try anything that was put forth.

As he opened a crate, she meandered over to him, peering in curiously, her green eyes dancing a little as she wondered what was inside. The contents did not seem terribly interesting to her, or she merely did not know what they were, and so she turned her gaze elsewhere, humming a little to herself as she did so.

Quietly, she slid both hands into the pockets of her jacket as she continued to look around and observe the things that had been lain out for them, while mentally hoping that she did not choke in front of all of Onibas, or something equally embarrassing.

"Well, we can do whatever you like, I'm afraid I can't think of much more that we can do, having never seen a circus before it's hard for me to imagine what we could do," she pointed out, giving a bit of a nervous laugh as she did so.

(, it's fine. Maybe we could pretend we have a full act, do what we know we have, and then have something interrupt them? Maybe a fight or something breaks out? Or maybe we could have some rogue government agents trying to shut down the circus, I bet the gypsies would love that. xD)

[Durriken Petulengro]

((OOC: Will admit this is a bit of a filler post. I am hoping that typing this out which I have wanted to for a while will leave room for something new with my muse))

Crammed to one side of the box lay an acoustic guitar. At first Durriken didn’t notice it but as his hand brushed against it, it felt as if a shock went through his skin. With a look of admiration he lifted it out gently. He sat on the corner of the box and ran his hand over it plucking a few cords to see if it was still in tune. He was amazed to find that it was.

Instinctively his hands began to strum out the beginning of a song. It was one very close to him in his face though a conflicting storm of emotions showed. They flew across his face but showed most strongly in his eyes. It consisted of pain, comfort, respect, and oddly love. When he noticed that he was getting lost in the guitar he stopped and looked at Riley.

Before she could even ask he let out a heavy sigh interrupting her.

“It will make sense just listen, maybe this will help spark something.” He said his voice not really sad. It was close though.

He began the song though and this time his voice joined the guitar. His singing voice was a low tenor. The song spoke of his early life before he accepted his gypsy culture and the need to travel constantly. That is the one thing that the government truly took from them. Before the gypsies moved because they enjoyed it and by nature they did odd jobs so one town could only sustain them for so long. Now they moved to avoid detection from the government or they did not move and tried to blend in with normal people.

It also spoke of the time when he truly hated this circus. It was part of the reason why he left but when he left he realized how much the place meant to him and how much it remained in him even after he left. There were clear things like is style of fighting but there were more subtle things that remained within his heart that showed when he came back, all the connections he made stayed and will stay for his entire life.

Song

It was clear though as he sang he sang from his heart and as he sang a few small tears ran down his face as he remembered past memories of the good, the bad, and the hilarious. After he was finished he sat it down on his lap and apologized.

“Sorry, here I am boring you with old folk songs and we still have no idea what we are doing. I am starting to think that unless we find a good song to work to we will have to do a mock fight.”

[Merc]

While wandering around once more, Riley paused as she suddenly heard the sound of a guitar somewhere behind her. She blinked a bit, slowly turning to face the music, as it were. She looked on in silence as Durriken played away on the instrument, remaining quiet and still, as though he would stop playing if she made any sudden movement. In truth, she did not know that he could play a guitar, and he actually seemed quite good at it.

As he suddenly stopped, she blinked, staring back at him somewhat blankly. He suddenly sighed heavily, and she was a little confused as to why he sounded so burdened all of a sudden. When he spoke, and then proceeded to play once more, she arched a brow, but remained in silence, choosing to listen attentively to the song, that he was now singing along to.

When he had finished, she nodded her head a bit, "don't worry too much about it, I enjoyed it," she assured, bringing her hands into the pockets of her jacket as she wandered closer to him once more.

"Sorry I'm not much help, I may be rather acrobatic but it seems I'm not so creative..." She quietly apologized, still trying to maul things over in her head as she leaned slightly against the box that he was sitting on.

[Durriken Petulengro]

“Neither was I really, I always had set act to put on since magic wasn’t a big thing and the only cards we could find were not too useful. I think the best thing would be to do a mock battle, we fight but don’t really aim for each other or put a lot of power into it. Can put a lot of flash to make it look good but we shouldn’t really get hurt. Since I got my Knight of Wands you can even use your magma magic as long as you keep it below my feet, maybe something like a geyser.”

As he spoke his muse started to catch flame. His eyes light up and he began to talk a bit faster.

“We can only light half of the stage that way we can have our magics look good no matter what, we have the dark half it that would make the magic look better like my fireball and some of your Heavenly Body and we have the light side if we actually want to the audience to see what is going on. To make things more interesting we can attach small lights to our cloths so it doesn’t really illuminate us but will show where we are on the dark side.”

[Merc]

"Alright, then lets do a mock battle," Riley responded, though she had to say she had never really done anything like that before. She had fought and trained a great deal to get where she was, but she was not certain if that was like a mock battle or not. Slowly, her arms crossed over her chest, and she tapped her foot lightly where she stood, lightly chewing on her bottom lip as she thought.

"Hmm, attach little lights to ourselves?" She mused, her whole body moving slightly with each tap of her foot. "Sure, I'm up to do whatever, like you said, though I suppose we should just get to practicing soon, rehearsing or whatever... Unless you just want to wing it?" She asked, tilting her head a little as she wondered if that would be a good idea. Although, it might have made everything a little more 'real' looking, one of them might also choke in front of the audience.

Riley sighed a bit, at this point, slowly unfolding her arms and resting her hands behind her, against the large crate.

(sorry it's so short. x.x)

[Durriken Petulengro]

“I think it would be okay to wing it to a point, maybe come up with a basic outline of what we plan to do. What would probably be smart would be to get you used to what is all here that way you can use it as much as possible to your advantage. I plan to borrow one of these magical cloths so I can fly around here and get to the different things easier.”

He pulled out the magical cloth once more and swung it out watching it extend and wrap around a bar supporting the tent. He then jumped on it giving it his full weight to make sure it wouldn’t snap or come loose. He swung lightly on it as he thought it through.

“I imagine it would be interesting to start out with a simple non-magical fighting, a bit of hand to hand nothing major since you could probably kick my butt hand to hand. Then launch me up into the air with a geyser of magma since doesn’t that not work too well at long range? Then you can stick to your Heavenly Body magic to try and hit me as I bounce around the tent. We just need to find ways to get you up and moving unless you want to do a chase scene, just start chasing after me as we zig and zag through all the stuff in this tent.”

[Merc]

Riley nodded a to Durri's words, sort of pondering to herself as listened to him talking about familiarizing herself with the objects that they had at their disposal. This made her turn her attention to all of the equipment once more, pondering her own limitations. Her ability to freely manipulate gravity meant that her possibilities were numerous, so figured that she would be able to do a number of things, with or without the props. If she wanted to, she could surf along a wave of lava, riding a plate of hardened magma.

She stroked her chin a little at the thought, finding it at least a little amusing, though she slowly drug herself from her own mind to glance towards Durri once more.

"Hm, hand to hand could be interesting. I'm not too bad at it, although, to be honest most of what I know ends up knocking the opponent unconscious... Or maiming them..." She added the last bit, as something of an after thought while she brought herself up rather easily onto some sort of balancing beam. Walking across this posed no problems for her, even without her magic, and she soon did a cartwheel across it, almost boredly.

"Well, I had been thinking about riding a plate of hardened lava, maybe shaped like a surfboard, on a wave of lava...?" She slowly suggested, still standing on the balance beam.

[Durriken Petulengro]

Rhyme swallowed hard at the mention of her maiming him. It was easy to forget that such a sweet person was actually trained to kill people as easily as if they were animals. He watched as she did a cartwheel across the balance beam and gave her a small clap when she finished. She always mentioned how he had more physical strength which wasn’t really true but she was defiantly more flexible then he was.

“Hmm….that puts hand to hand out then. How about I summon my sword and you …” he turned and dug into the box making an ah hah sound when he discovered what he was looking for. “A flash bomb, I’ll have my eyes closed for it but it creates a nice distraction for the audience. It would also give you time while I stand there ‘blinded’ for you to send me upward on a pillar of lava which can launch me onto the upper parts of the tent we can then go from there. I will also make sure to land to give you a chance to ride a wave of lava after me.

[Merc]

Riley continued to play around on the balance beam as he spoke, continuing to plot out their little play fight that would be observed by the people of Onibas. She was at least pleased to admit that she had managed to maintain her sense of balance and gracefulness that the assassin's guild had drilled into her head. She lowered to a crouching position, gripped the bar, and just sort of clung there for a few moments, her mind wandering and over all giving off vibes that suggested she was getting idle.

"Sure, I'll do whatever you want to do, really I'm up for anything, but shouldn't we be practicing or something while we wait, instead of just standing around and talking?" She wondered, and with this, swung around on the beam, so that she was hanging upside down, her black hair just managing to graze the floor. Her feet came down from the beam in a backwards arch, and she righted herself on the floor with ease.

Riley stood out from the balance beam at this point, wandering back over to Durriken, her green eyes dancing as she did so, "it can't be that long until the show starts, can it?" She wondered, recalling that the people had already been flooding in not long after they were granted permission to enter.

[Durriken Petulengro]

Durriken poked his head out of the tent to look at the position of the sun. From where it was he guessed they had about an hour before they had to vacate to let the people start filling in. He figured they should practice a bit but they had to be careful so they didn’t leave any real traces for people to see.

“I guess we can though I doubt you can use your magma magic since we don’t want to leave any traces before our act. I just don’t want it to get it too down pact since it will look more realistic.”

It also meant they might get hurt a bit but he doubted they would get hurt too bad they wouldn’t be using their full strength and hopefully wouldn’t be aiming at anything vital.

“I guess the best practice would be for you to try and shoot at me and end the spell before it hits me or making it miss.”

He then grabbed the extendable cloth once more and twirled it around his wrist a few times before pulling it tight so it latched on good. He then threw it up and it pulled him into the higher reaches of the tent.

[Merc]

(Sorry for the wait. I've be museless and working on things around the site. x.x)

"Mm, yeah, using magma magic right now would cause too much noise anyways," she pointed out, looking around a bit as she did so, "though I do hope that the tent and everything in it will be able to withstand the heat," she murmured, more so to herself than to Durri.

She watched him as he played with the cloth once more, using it to bring himself higher into the air. She contemplated following after him, but ultimately decided that she'd stay on the ground as she began to summon forth dark and light orbs of magic. They hovered around her, about the size of baseballs, quivering and glowing, seeming to pulsate.

"Alright, if you're ready..." She called up, and would wait for confirmations before unleashing the homing missiles, her green eyes following them carefully as she brought her hands to her hips, watching intently.

(also sorry for the shortness. >>)

[Durriken Petulengro]

When the orbs emerged Durriken had to smile. She was starting him off easy, this was a spell he saw in person before instead of just being told about, and he would have a decent idea of their speed and maneuvering power. He would have to be careful around the edges so that they don’t punch through the tent.

“Let them rip!” he called down as he let the cloth come loose and dropped like a stone. He threw the fabric below and in front of him on a beam and as he fell he felt it get taught and clenched his teeth as he felt his shoulder take most of the momentum as the cloth snapped taunt. He would be fine for right now but he would need to wrap the cloth around his mid section and then have it go up his arm which would take the strain from his wrist elbow and shoulder and put it into his core which would be much better for him in the long run.

He swung down as the orbs followed him in an arc as he picked up speed. At the end of the arc the cloth released and he did a sumersalt in the air. After two rotations he stuck his arms out and caught the trapeze bar and began to swing out onto it.

Once the trapeze arced its full length he let go and threw out the cloth once more but behind him. Eventually it hit something since he couldn’t see where and he felt the familiar sensation of his stomach dropping as he was sent flying in a random direction as the cloth retracted. He hooked his legs on the bar where the cloth kept him and tied the cloth around his waist for good measure.

From the drastic change of direction, as he was flying backward toward said bar, he saw the orbs fly just below his feet. They went a few extra feet before changing direction again and racing toward him. This gave him enough time to act though. He pulled the Ace of Wands from his deck as he called down to Riley.

“Lessen the magic so that they shatter when I hit them!” he called down hoping that she could.

If he couldn’t what he was about to do next would give his body quite the jar. He activated his card and with a bright purple circle the wooden staff appeared. Still hanging upside he took a batter’s swing and waited for the orbs to come at him. As each one came he would give a mighty swing and try to hit them like balls.

((Apparently my muse is as lunar as I am....))

[Merc]

Riley watched in amusement as Durriken bounced and swung around with the cloth, propelling around the tent like a professional, swinging out of the way of her attacks and escaping them in a rather comical manner. Her hands rose from where they were hanging at her sides, perching on her hips as she continued to watch the other mage, her green eyes dancing as she did so.

As she heard him call, she nodded her head a bit, extending one hand and gesturing with her fingers, causing the orbs to slow and lose some of their glow. Nevertheless, they were fairly harmless at this point, as he hit them with his staff, they would explode much like fireworks - giving a loud noise, an explosion, and bright sparkles that rained towards the ground. Some of the orbs exploded more or less upon impact, but others were a tad slower, actually being smacked several feet away before exploding.

She raised a hand to her face, rubbing at it a little as she watched Durri, still hanging upside down. She want's certain if he wanted to practice evading other attacks or not, so she called up to him, "what now?"

(Sorry, still no muse. ;-

[Durriken Petulengro]

“Well, we keep practicing and in an hour we go try on our costumes, they will do some last minute tweaks and we will wait for our time, which will most likely be last. You might want to start thinking up how you want to enter; they can work around what you want to do.”

~~~Seven Years Two Hours Later~~~

Durriken stood on the platform for the trapeze in his old costume. It was gold fabric with tiny bits of metal and glass sewn into it. When the lights struck him he would flicker and shine in the light. Attached on key locations, like his back, front, neck, wrists, and ankles there were small purple lights that would track his location and would come on once they announced him. He felt a chill emerge under his vest and he swallowed his fear. He always got like this right before a show.

”Now, for the finale everyone!” the announcer began from the middle of the tent. “We have a very special treat for you all. We have two people most of you probably know and appreciate. First, coming back for one night only, born and raised in our little group. You may know him as the Guild Assistant of Griffon Wing Durriken Petulengro! Now show him some love!”

((Think of like the guy before a pro wrestling match))

Suddenly a beam of light from above turned on dazing Durriken slightly before his eyes adjusted. He waved to the crowd blow him as they cheered. He then threw his arms out wide as his cards flew from his deck and flew around him like a swarm of bees. He then grinned an evil grin that nobody could see as he fell backwards off his platform earning a gasp from the audience. He counted slowly but firmly to three in his head before he threw his arm out at a random direction. From his arm the magical cloth flew and it wrapped around a post. He felt it go taunt and jerk his torso this time instead of his arm and he was propelled into an arc. As he swung down he turned and kicked at a pole to his left which sent him spinning around the pole he was attached to as he let the cloth out bringing him down in a lazy arc down to the ground where the cloth disengaged and he had to run to now fall and then slowed to a walk to stand behind the announcer in the middle.

”Now … you know her, you love her and you may have gone to her for help on occasion. The devilish, the fiery, the heavenly, the beautiful…you know her as Guild Master but today she graces us just as Riley‼‼! Aquila‼‼‼”

While Durriken’s round of applause were loud the ones the audience gave for Riley dwarfed his easily. All the eyes watched the lights swirl around waiting for the guild master they knew and love to appear.