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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr9JVhr4R5Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwzvC5nJn4

 

 

 

Date: [uNSPECIFIED]

Title: REPORT ON OPERATION OF "DARK WOODS CIRCUS"

The circus has arrived at the town of Storyville, and have begun to set up tent in the plaza right in the middle of the town. The prospects of new members becoming part of the operation looks promising...

 

 

The carriages surrounded the plaza, creating somewhat of a barrier as the tents were set up. There were many, small and medium, along with the biggest of them all, the grand tent that stood right in the middle in order to host the show. The other tents held different types of things, such as sleeping halls, doctor's office, food stands, and individual stands for other stuff, including Tabita's small round tent to offer her clairvoyant activities to the guests and the public. Happy was helping out set up the camp...being happy as he always was. "Alright! Remember, everyone, everything needs to be perfect for when the guests start to arrive! I also suggest you all keep an eye out for any prospects. Any volunteers that wish to help gain the prospects do need to ask first, I don't want you guys fighting over it like the last time." Happy said with a chime, petting his cat which rested on his shoulder casually. Tabita set up her tent, table and cards along with incense and setting up her sign. "There we go." Tabita smiled, clapping her hands in satisfaction at seeing her complete work. The twins, Nate and Kate were having their own things to deal with. They dressed up in clown clothing, wearing clown make up and so on, one helping the other with such. The two of them had gotten used to working as a team, they didn't exactly have much of a choice in the matter. They walked around the camp, looking for anything they could help until they were assigned to greet the visitors, to which they usually took pictures with, since seeing a person with two heads wasn't exactly usual. Just a normal day as the sun began to set...

 

 

 

Tabitha greeted her teeth at Nine. He was annoying, a smart@$$, and many other things that wouldn't be proper for a lady to say out loud. "You...!!!" Tabitha hissed...and soon the guards stepped in. Tabitha sighed, looking back at Gamora. "...Yes. Sorry." Tabitha said, glaring at Nine once more before walking out of the red carriage. She stepped away, walking back to her tent as the voices in her head began to whisper once again, bringing comforting words, and damming ones. She was a mortal inside a world that was made to contain the most dangerous beasts in the world. Just like that, all of the trust she had in the place she called home had come crumbling down like shattered glass. She no longer felt safe, yet at the same time, she knew that it was her own fault for believing that such a place could be as innocent as her little mind wanted it to be. No more. She couldn't possibly keep it up anymore. Trust was something that she would keep....along with wryness. "Damn myself." Tabitha murmured, looking up at the cheerful looking main tent, as the final show was being performed, soon for it all to end. "How could I have been such a fool to ignore such visions?"The crowd waited for the next performance. People ate popcorn and cotton candy, children squealed as they held either toys or souvenirs in their arms. The lights began to dim as a spotlight appeared in the middle of the stage. "For our final performance tonight! We present to you the united twins, Nate and Kate!" The voice echoed as the twins walked through the curtains, the spotlight shining on them as they whore a clown like outfit that showed off their two heads sharing a body, making them to receive gasps from the audience. "Do not be fooled! Everything you see is real! Twins conjoined since birth, now here to perform!" The voice echoed. The twins smiled as they waved. "I'm Kate!" "I'm Nate!" "And this is the Dark Woods Circus!" The two were brought in a table filled with large, sharpened swords of all kinds and sizes. Soon the twins took the swords in their hands, and as the music began to play, the twins began to juggle the swords, taking one at a time as the blades began to fly up into the air. The crowd awed as they watched the twins juggle around ten swords at the time, the blades flying by their cheeks as they threw them up high and were caught by the handles by the struck of luck. Soon the backstage hands walked out, taking out even more swords with them, and soon, one by one, the stage hands began to throw the swords at the twins, causing gasps from the crowd as some covered their eyes, worried that a sword would go array and cause an accident. Yet the twins never wavered, catching every sword thrown at them while juggling now up to twenty different swords, all of them flying and clashing with one another before falling down and being thrown up all again. As their performance came to an end, the twins began to throw the swords up and out of the juggling ring, having the swords spin in the air before falling down and landing on their holsters on the table. One, two, and so on, every sword fell onto place until the very last two fell on their holsters that resided on the twin's hips. The twins gave a small bow, and the crowd cheered, clapping happily at the awe. Whether it was because of the twin's appearance, or their performance, or both, was unknown. As the twins stepped off the stage, Happy stepped up, waving at the crowd. "We thank you everyone for coming to our beloved, Dark Woods Circus! We hope that you have enjoyed our performances, and that we have filled your night with wonder and mystery and excitement! We hope that you all have a grand night, and remember, not everything is what it seems." Happy said, bowing to the crowed before waving his cape and disappearing within it, the cape simply falling onto the floor with nothing underneath. Happy walked backstage, walking with the twins as he walked back to the tent area. "We have someone you two should meet...actually, everyone should be meeting this one." Happy explained. "A new member?!" Nate asked. "Who?!" Kate asked. "You'll see." Happy chimed. He walked over to the tent area, all the way back to the bulletin board where he went ahead and took out a bell...and began to ring it loudly, having it echo all across the camp. Now, there was only one reason for the bell; Happy had an announcement to make, and everyone had to come by...everyone. Most likely, this announcement was the introduction of Nine. Hopefully it wouldn't end up a bloody mess, however. 

. 

Edited June 28, 20196 yr by Yukiteru Amano

Raven smiled softly at Snake.

"I am okay, thank you very much though." Raven said softly to him, rubbing her friends head.

Suddenly, the bell rang. Raven's wings seemed to tighten, her slipping on some shoes before opening her door.

"It's Happy, we have to go." She informed her friend.

Raven stepped out of her tent, a raven following her out.

She strictly walked to the bulletin board area, keeping her eyes on Happy.

"Do we have a new addition tonight, Happy? Perhaps someone to play around with? I've been dying to have me a little winged friend to play with...perhaps we could maybe arrange that depending on the person?" Raven suggested to their ringmaster, unsure on who had to join tonight.

Orali's head snapped up in the backstage as a bell rang through the air. "Announcement time!" She grinned as she jumped to her feet. "Come on Flaire, something exciting is going on!" The spirit was out the exit in less than half a second, quickly sprinting towards the bulletin board, flipping once halfway there just for fun, before reaching her destination and plopping down cross legged on the floor. She bounced back and forth slightly, but other than that remained quiet. Did this have something to do with what had happened to Vincent earlier? It was likely, that seemed to be the most important thing that had happened today, but if something had gone wrong with the assassination mission, that could be bad enough to warrant an announcement. She kept a perfectly practiced innocent smile in place as she observed the ring master and the twins, looking for any hints as to what was going on.

~Z~

 

      Z had no luck trying to gt the attention of someone.

     "Hmm... Maybe I should try again later when nobody's around?...", he murmured to himself. Further thinking the idea, he thought that might be a little bit creepy for the vampire. Eh. It's not like the demon really cared. Scaring the living daylights out of people was one of of those side-hobbies he occupationally dabbled in.

 

     Suddenly, he heard the sound of the bell and immediately froze in place. Not in fear, but in excitement. There was always something refreshing to encounter when the bell rang. With a sickening giggle, he quickly made his way over to the bulletin board without a word while obnoxiously clapping his hands. He was as excited as a dog getting some kind of treat. In this case, it was an announcement from their dearest Happy!. Oh, goody! Everyone else is here too! The demon was ecstatic, all while still rapidly clapping his hands with a great big grin!

.

Edited June 28, 20196 yr by Yukiteru Amano

(I dunno what to do with Sam now OTL)

Happy watched as everyone, or at least mostly everyone, came around the middle of the camp. Well enough was enough. Regardless the news would spread like wildfire if anyone didn't hear it now. "Thank you everyone for your efforts tonight! We had a flawless performance, and all missions got done. So lets give ourselves a round of applause!" Happy said cheerfully as he began to clap for a minute. Afterwards he cleared his throat and continued. "On the other hand you all might have noticed of someone who has...gotten into quite the fight with our resident vampire, Victor. If you didn't notice the holes on the floor and all. Well that someone's name is Nine, and with a pain in my own heart...I must announce that Nine will be our new brother in joining us in our circus!" Happy said as he showed off a letter. "Our bosses decided that for whatever reason he needed to be on our Circus specifically to help us out. Now you will notice that he is a bit...quirky but he is family. Unless he does something that endangers your life please don't try to pick a fight with the new guy, ok?" Happy asked as he got the letter away. "Other than that, we will be leaving by morning onto Blackwall City. There we have not just a place to perform, but a new set of missions to complete. Any questions?" Happy asked with a cheerful smile.

Watching Tabitha leave, flustered and annoyed, Nine basked in his own laughter at the girl's own self-torment.

"Well, things are going more or less as planned."

Nine yawned a little, going back to a led down position with his hands behind his head. He was aware that the guards were with him in the carriage, watching over him, but that didn't stop him from talking to himself out loud.

"Well, I thought things might be a bit more exciting this time around, but I'm still stuck doing the same things. Beating people up, hurting people's feelings, running my mouth as usual. I'm so... Boooored~! ... Well, at least my arms aren't shackled anymore. It might be a bit dangerous to take this thing off my neck, so I guess I'll have to leave it on."

With a sigh, Nine turned towards Jake's "henchmen" with a very playful-yet-sinister grin.

"Hey guys. Any chance you wanna play a game?"

 

~Meanwhile~

 

Looking up as Jake walked into his carriage, Victor could only sigh despairingly as he was invited out for a drink. He knew that Jake was somehow taking pity on him and probably had the intention of letting Victor know that what happened wasn't his fault. But none of that mattered because hurting Tabitha was something Victor could never forgive himself for.

"... Are you sure that I am the guy you wanna get a drink with? I am just another monster in this Circus and I bet everyone is suddenly realising that I am like a wild dog with not much of a leash. It will probably be better if everyone else kept away from me from now on."

Still, Victor continued to stand up, grabbing a coat and a scarf to follow Jake.

"I guess I can rely on you to put me down if I lose control. After all, you are one of the stronger members of this Circus. You better be buying the drinks though."

Before Victor stepped out into the night with Jake, he heard the sound of Happy's Bell which meant that there was an announcement to be made. Victor was half deluded at the time, almost intoxicated due to the fresh blood in his system, but he was sure that he heard Nine say that he would join the Circus after their fight had ended. Gritting his teeth, Victor's gaze fell to the ground.

"... If it is an announcement from Happy, then we can not ignore it. We will stick around for that then go for that drink."

Victor left his trailer with Jake, making sure to close everything up behind him. Heading to where Happy was making the announcement, Victor kept himself near the back in order to avoid the other members of the Circus, especially Tabitha. He was too ashamed of himself to even make himself known to them. Hearing that the announcement was about welcoming Nine to their group, Victor sighed and turned away.

"Just as I suspected... Well, I do not need to stay here any longer. After all, I would just frighten everyone if I stuck around any longer."

Orali blinked once, unsure of what to do. They had a new member. That was great! The new member had hurt one of her family. That was not great. She supposed she couldn't judge this 'Nine' before meeting him, and decided to do just that. And she didn't care what Happy said, if he was a threat to the people she had come to care for, then she would be keeping a watchful eye on him. Who would know where he was? Glancing around, her eyes landed on Mr. Z. He would probably know. With carefully schooled excited enthusiasm, Orali bounced up to the demon, giving him a hug. "Hey Z," she whispered conspiratorially, "do you know where mister Nine is? I want to meet him!" The spirit stayed, hanging from her arms around his neck and feet dangling, smiling as she waited for an answer.

When Orali shot off to make her way to the meeting Happy ringed for, Flaire fell behind because she couldn't match Orali's speed. "HEY, WAIT UP!" Flaire yelled at the top of her lungs, hoping to get Orali to stop. Orali must have been moving too fast to hear, so Flaire was left in her dust. Flaire stopped running and slowed her pace to a fast walk. "Damnit, Orali. Why didn't you wait?" Flaire said to herself. As she was walking, she came across a long line of people in front of a tent. "What are all of these people doing here?" Flaire asks a man on line.

"Oh, all of us are just waiting for Crackerjacks." The man responds.

"Daddy, why is it taking soooo long!?!" The man's son whines.

"I honestly don't know, Oscar" the man says to his son. The man then goes on his tip toes to look ahead of the crowd. "I can't see a thing"

Flaire turns a little pale when she realizes that she is the reason for the hold up. She facepalms and says under her breathe "Today just isn't my day". Flaire then begins to walk to the tent. "Don't worry. guys. I'll fix this" she says. Flaire gets behind the tent counter and starts up the stove. She then turns to everybody and says "Sorry everybody for the wait! I assure all of you that these will be the BEST Crackerjack's you have ever tasted in your life!" Flaire then snaps her fingers and a purple fireball ignites itself "magically" in the palm of her hand. "You haven't tasted caramel made with my maaagical flames" Flaire says playfully and extra sarcastically throwing off the line of people to the fact she actually produced the fire. The crowd ohhh's and ahhh's and all Flaire can do is smile and think to herself "I hope Happy understands. Plus, I can get the run down from Sam, Orali, Nate, Kate, or somebody else anyway." Flaire then tosses the Purple Fireball into the stove flame and the caramel begins to cook at a faster rate.

 

~At the Red Carriage~

 

Makarov and Gamora become more suspicious of what Nine is planning, so they crank up their Mental Handshake connection by 4%.

If he tries something, don't hesitant to press that button and possibly blow his ugly mug sky high Makarov telepathically says to Gamora.

Understood. And I assume I can trust that you won't be afraid to pull that trigger Gamora says jokingly to Makarov.

Live by the gun, die by the gun. You know me, I live to shoot Makarov responds to Gamora. "I like game. What do you have in mind?" 

 

~Back with Jake~

 

When Victor started getting ready, Jake mustered up a slight smirk. "I'm just glad to see that I won't be drinking alone" He says in a joking manner "And don't worry, I'm definitely paying." When they make it outside, they hear the bell that indicates the calling for a circus meeting. They make pretty much immediately make there way over to the meeting. The meeting was nothing new to Jake of course, so he pulled out his phone and began confirming his leaving.

Karen, you there?

after about a little less than a minute Yea, are you off yet?

Yea, I'm going to head out pretty much right now

Awesome, I'll be waiting to hear all about your day )

Ha, you don't understand how wonderful you are.

Oh, I've probably been told one too many times. But, for some reason, your's will always remain special!

 Why do you always have to make me feel important? 

It's just mind games Jake, just mind games.

HAHAHA, Funny!

I try! ^_^

Jake smiles and puts his phone away. When the meeting ends, Jake motions to Victor suggesting that they should hit the road. On the way to the gate, Jake looks at Victor and wonders. "Victor, what do you drink?"

Orali blinked once, unsure of what to do. They had a new member. That was great! The new member had hurt one of her family. That was not great. She supposed she couldn't judge this 'Nine' before meeting him, and decided to do just that. And she didn't care what Happy said, if he was a threat to the people she had come to care for, then she would be keeping a watchful eye on him. Who would know where he was? Glancing around, her eyes landed on Mr. Z. He would probably know. With carefully schooled excited enthusiasm, Orali bounced up to the demon, giving him a hug. "Hey Z," she whispered conspiratorially, "do you know where mister Nine is? I want to meet him!" The spirit stayed, hanging from her arms around his neck and feet dangling, smiling as she waited for an answer.

 

     ~Z~

 

      "Whoa ho ho!", Z exclaimed as he stumbled at Orali's sudden embrace and greeting. "Oh! Dearest spirit Orali! It's sooo good to see you!", the demon greeted back with his grin, patting her on the head. She asked him if he knew where the circus' newest member was. The demon perked up a bit, and closed his eyes in thought. 

     "Hmm... Well, dearest spirit, I have a hunch of where he might be... Heh heh...", he admitted with a slight chuckle. "I'm sure our most delightful ringmaster won't mind if we...pay our newest family member a visit! Wouldn't you agree?" 

 

     The demon then began to scooch away from the separating crowd. 

     "Let us go see our newest member!", Z stated as he started to walk towards the direction of the Red Carriage. "That man is an ugly story, and personally, I wanna read more into it..." He said to the girl.

"No," Orali said as she dropped to the ground and walked after Mr. Z, "I don't think he will mind a bit." She got bored of walking on her feet, switching to her hands as they moved.

An ugly story? That didn't sound promising. "Have you met him then?" The spirit asked. "Mr. Nine was fighting Victor. I wonder why?" There had to be a good reason, right? Sure Victor was a Vampire, but Z was a Demon, Tabitha could see the future, Raven had wings, Flaire and Sam were Kitsune, she was a spirit, and that was really only scratching the surface. So not that, then? A personal grudge? But Victor had great eyesight, he would have recognized him earlier. Why join the circus? The more she thought about this mess, the less sense it made. So she decided to stop thinking. She would figure it out when she had the right information.

"No," Orali said as she dropped to the ground and walked after Mr. Z, "I don't think he will mind a bit." She got bored of walking on her feet, switching to her hands as they moved.An ugly story? That didn't sound promising. "Have you met him then?" The spirit asked. "Mr. Nine was fighting Victor. I wonder why?" There had to be a good reason, right? Sure Victor was a Vampire, but Z was a Demon, Tabitha could see the future, Raven had wings, Flaire and Sam were Kitsune, she was a spirit, and that was really only scratching the surface. So not that, then? A personal grudge? But Victor had great eyesight, he would have recognized him earlier. Why join the circus? The more she thought about this mess, the less sense it made. So she decided to stop thinking. She would figure it out when she had the right information.

~Z~

     

 

     "Hmmm... Well, I guess you could say that.", the demon responded. "A little formal exchange. Maybe some magic mixed in.", he admitted as they approached the Red Carriage. "Ah! Here we are, sweetheart!~", he stated, clasping his hands together. "Let's just give this wonderful place a knock, and see what beast could pop out of here! Isn't that a fun thought?", he asked, quickly thinking afterwards about what he had just said. "Oh, wait. Sorry. I forgot.", he turned to the girl. "Ooh hoo hoo! I always forget. Spirits like you probably don't think the same as I do. My apologies. It's been a while... Anyways, I'm not quite sure why he's joining this place. Sure, it has been a bit boring around here, so maybe they wanted to spice things up? I am not sure..."

 

     Z then began to knock on the Carriages entrance.

     "Yoo hoo! Anybody in there?? There are a couple of people out here who want to say 'Hello!'", he called out enthusiastically, before turning Orali yet again. "Would you like the honor of saying 'hello' first?", he offered with a smile.

Victor followed behind Jake as they left the grounds where the majority of the circus meeting up for Happy's announcement. Just then, as they were walking, Victor was asked a seemingly pointless question by Jake. The vampire was so dumbfounded by the question that he couldn't help but laugh at the way it was worded. He was aware of what Jake was trying to ask him, but the way it came out only made Victor choke up in laughter.

"Seriously?! You do not know what Vampire's drink?! That is like asking if butter should be placed on bread! You can be seriously funny at times Jake, you know that?!"

It was slowly becoming apparent that Victor was laughing much more than he should have been considering the situation he was in earlier that night. The immortal teen was laughing and laughing, keeping his face looking upwards so that none could see his expression.

"Hey... I know it was an accident... But I really lost her trust... Didn't I? ... This is the second time I have lost her now... I will not get lucky a third time... The world is not that fair, even if you can live long enough."

Victor's laughing died down and he seemed to rub his eyes as he stared at the night sky.

"... I have been having this dream lately from when I first became a Vampire. I was drowning in the Venice River... I do not know how I got out of the water because I lost consciousness. That moment where I fell unconscious... that was when I, Victor Graham the human, died. It is kinda scary to think of it like that. The term "dead-man walking" now fits me perfectly."

Victor looked back at Jake, realising that he was yammering on as usual, speaking out loud instead of in his head.

"Sorry, I must be boring you. After 400 years, I stopped caring about who or what over hears the thoughts in my head and started to speak out loud. Of course, that does not mean that I will talk about everything casually. Even I have secrets that need to be kept, for my own well being as well as Tabitha's. Man, if you heard half of what I have been through, even you would call me crazy. Oh, and assuming that you were asking me what I would like to drink from where we are headed, then I have no personal taste in anything. I do not mean that blood is the only thing that will satisfy me, but more like I do not have any preferences when it comes to food or drink. To compare, humans require water and food to survive, but you can eat things to which you desire if you would like. The same is with myself. I require blood to survive, but I am free to eat and drink pretty much anything I like... That makes me question what would happen to me if I ever ate something poisonous. My digestive system still works, but my heart does not beat... So... Ummm... It is very strange indeed."

Victor carried on to mumble to himself about seemingly pointless things that he still had not figured out about his own body, casually following after Jake as he led the way.

 

~Meanwhile~

 

Excited that his new "friends" had agreed to play a game with him, Nine jumped up onto his feet and pulled out a deck of cards, shuffling through them repeatedly until he was satisfied.

"Okay you guys, this'll be one for the record books. I call this magic trick "Nine's daring escape from the stupidly-obedient-guards-who-are-keeping-him-prisoner!". Now, watch carefully, do NOT take your eyes off me for even a millisecond. You don't even have the opportunity to blink, otherwise you'll miss the trick!"

Nine suddenly ceased his shuffling, clapping both of his hands together with the cards in between before quickly releasing the cards out into the open, almost as if they were flying out like butterflies. During this brief second, Nine had been obscured from view by the cards and the guards were unable to react to Nine's movements as he seemingly disappeared from view. As the cards fell to the floor, Nine could be seen kneeling down on the ground and holding his neck tightly. The boy was coughing loudly even though nothing seemed to have happened. However, there were two things that were majorly different from before that both of the guards took notice of. The first was that Nine had a red ring of blood streaming around his neck and the second was that the EMP collar was now in his hands.

"Ta-dah~!"

The boy coughed loudly again, choking up some blood as well as he seemed to be in a great deal of pain. His voice was very quiet and raspy, but it was just loud enough for him to speak. Between every couple of words, Nine was forced to stop for breath or cough some more as the ring of blood around his neck still seemed to bleeding and didn't look like it would be healing any time soon.

"Since you are my... fellow circus friends, I will inform you how I... got out of this collar. You see, as soon as this collar... was put on me, I was already working... on a way to get out of it. This is the same way... I got out of the handcuffs."

Taking one large breath before coughing very loudly, Nine was able to completely clear his throat and sit up properly with the bleeding slowly stopping around his neck.

"I assume you two are aware that within my body are little robots called Nanites, correct? Well, for the handcuffs, I had the Nanites exit through my wrists and eat through the metal itself in order to make the hole big enough to squeeze my hands out. That was simple enough, but that collar was much more constricting and frightening. If you guys had detonated that, I'm sure that all of the Nanites in my body would have been fried and the wounds I'd gotten from Victor would have reopened, causing me to bleed out and die. Thankfully, I only made you anxious when I was ready to escape. By having the Nanites leave through my neck, I allowed the collar to become looser, but it wasn't that easy. Because I now had holes in my neck, it meant that I would be unable to breathe once I removed the collar. So, when I distracted you all with my cards, I simply took it off of my head and began suffocating. In order to make sure I could breathe, I would have to redirect the Nanites that are healing my ribs and other broken bones straight to my neck and that's why I began coughing blood as you just saw."

Slowly climbing onto his feet. Nine stumbled towards the door, tossing the EMP collar towards one of the two who's names he didn't care for.

"Now, if you don't mind me... I believe I should go and introduce myself to the Circus. I'm sure it will help if I can get along with everyone before you all torture me to death for "attacking your friend"."

Nine's facial expression suddenly took a radical change, his eyes narrowing in hatred at the Vampire that he'd mentioned.

"I won't tolerate people getting in my way if I have a grudge against the monster Vampire who calls himself Victor Graham. So, next time I fight him, it will be a duel between two members of the Circus, so don't interfere again."

And with that last sentence, Nine simply walked past the two guards and exited the Red Carriage. Stumbling through the grounds, Nine made his way towards where he could hear some loud voices, only to find the majority of the Circus gathered after Happy's announcement. Unexpectedly taking centre stage, Nine made his way up to Happy's side and stood up straight next to the oh-so-great leader of the Circus.

"Hellooooooo everybody~!! My name is Nine! It's nice to meet all of you and I hope that we'll all be able to get along nicely! But please, don't include Victor in our happy little family! I like playing with cards, doing magic tricks and playing mind games with others! I can manipulate fire, but I'm one hundred percent human! Currently, I am under constant torture in the red carriage and currently have no place to stay! If I could sleep in the same bed as one of you fine young ladies, then I think we can really make things work here at this Circus! As a performer, I am a magician, but I am also a genius when it comes to technology! So feel free to rely on me when it comes to missions! Thanks for having me everyone!"

Nine smiled and waved widely before some blood slowly ran out of his mouth and he collapsed onto the ground immediately, mumbling as he was already unconscious.

"One more thing... No more...Collars..."

Raven spread her wings in a stance that a bird of prey would make before attacking. She hated this man already. 

"You sleep in my bed, your body will be mauled by vultures and all the birds of prey I can find!" she spat. 

How dare this boy say that Victor was not apart of their circus family. Victor has been here for a long time, and he was here when Raven first joined. She saw Victor as a close friend, vampire or not. Victor was apart of their family. 

She was personally rather happy that he passed out, her folding her wings up tight and storming off. 

Tabitha glared distastefully at Nine, while the twins simply looked at each other equally as confused as most of the circus staff. This guy seemed nuts. Insane. Even for the Circus' standards. As Nine collapsed from the pain and bloodloss, Nate scowled. "This guy is going to be our new member?" Nate groaned. "He seemes the type of guy ho will end up scaring the guests away!" Kate added. "It wasn't my idea. It was our superiors. Regardless this is our new member. However considering he has already started breaking some rules he will be under strict watch that he doesn't break anymore." Happy said with a sigh, before clapping his hands to get their attention again. "Everyone I suggest you get ready. Pack your stuff and head to your carriages, we're moving onto our next destination. We will be crossing the forests, so we will be on high alert for any enemies that we might encounter. Usually creatures stay away from people when traveling through...but once they sense us it's going to be a different story." Happy explained. He knelt down to Nine and flung him over his shoulder. "I'll get him to your carriage, Z. You can bandage him up while we pack." Happy said as he walked over to deliver the unconcious member to the carriage. Nate and Kate shrugged as they began to walk off. Tabitha took a small glance at Victor as he walked by, only to shake her head and hurry away to pack. It would be a long night.

Orali watched, slightly confused, as the red haired man, quickly assumed to be Nine, walked past her and Z and gave a slightly disjointed, confusing speech. He had blood on his neck. No collars? How did that happen? And was the pyromancer another person of questionable sanity, or was he going out of his way to annoy everyone? Or did he just not understand people? Nah, she had been almost completely isolated for a century and still had better manners.

"It doesn't look like either of us will get to say hello for a while," The spirit said to Z. Time to get moving? Alright then. She had nothing to pack up, though.

"Hey Z, is it ok if I ride with you this time?" Orali hadn't gotten a chance to talk to the strange councillor much recently, and she didn't like being in the small carriages alone.

Orali watched, slightly confused, as the red haired man, quickly assumed to be Nine, walked past her and Z and gave a slightly disjointed, confusing speech. He had blood on his neck. No collars? How did that happen? And was the pyromancer another person of questionable sanity, or was he going out of his way to annoy everyone? Or did he just not understand people? Nah, she had been almost completely isolated for a century and still had better manners.

"It doesn't look like either of us will get to say hello for a while," The spirit said to Z. Time to get moving? Alright then. She had nothing to pack up, though.

"Hey Z, is it ok if I ride with you this time?" Orali hadn't gotten a chance to talk to the strange councillor much recently, and she didn't like being in the small carriages alone.

~Z~

 

     Mr. Z stumbled about as the carriage's door swung open, and he fell flat on his butt as a result.

     "Well! How unexpected, eh, Orali? Hee hee...", he chuckled, rubbing his head as he got up and stayed with the spirit. However, Happy's orders were firm and dignified. "Oh? Again? Oh my! Of course!", the demon responded excitedly. "The more the merrier, as I always say, especially after dark! Ooh hoo hoo hoo!", he joked. Well, sort of.

 

"Oh, let us hurry, sweetest spirit! Of course you can come with me!", he said to the girl, grasping both of her hands in excitement. "We must hurry and pack up my things, head over to my carriage, and then we will have a grand time together! We'll have a couple of drinks, play cards. Ooh! I'll even tell you all some stories as we ride along if you like!", he offered, excited as a dog as he ran over to his tent, practically tearing it down the high of happiness. The essence of Orali's spirit only heightened his abnormally giddy manner.

"They say not to tango with a demon after dark, but who cares? We're going to have soooo much fun together!", he said to the spirit as he finished up his own packing duties.

 

     Floating off of the ground, he picked up his bags and flew over to the girl again, grabbing her arm so she could follow as he sort of blasted away towards his carriage.

     "Make way!!", the demon warned as him and his "guest" crashed inside. "Woo! Quite the adventure!", the demon boasted as he settle her and himself down in the carriage. He took his time to observe the patient that Happy delivered. "Orali, would you like to see if black magic works on our newest friend?", he asked with his grin, initiating his magic by wiggling his fingers over the unconscious Nine, eventually wrapping his clawed fingers around the damaged neck. 

 

"Heh heh...don't worry. It's not what you think...It's called..."healing.", he reassured as the black magic surged through his hands.

 

Orali was not great at cards for lack of knowledge of the rules, but- "ooh, stories!" Ironically enough, she did not know many good ghost stories. That would be fun!"Woah!" The spirit laughed as, for the third time that day, she was knocked off her feet. No wait, it had been hands the last two times. Ah well, she bounced as she sat down in the carriage, she supposed they counted too. It was an upside down day.She started slightly as Z suddenly grabbed Nine's neck, before relaxing as he explained what he was doing. Still..."I don't get it." The girl stated. "How can black magic heal people? Isn't it dangerous?" She leaned forward, curiously examining Z's movements.

(I have permission to post as Snake)Raven silently began getting herself ready to go. She had birds coming in to help her put away things. It was going to be a very different experience at this circus with Nine here.Snakes snakes curled around his neck, smelling Nine and inspecting him.They would mutter things about how different he was compared to the rest of the circus people. He smelt new.Snake watched as Raven stormed off, feeling a little bad for her, but he was also upset about what Nine said.He then began heading back to his tent to get himself ready for the next trip.

Edited May 4, 20169 yr by Madam Ciel Nekohive

Sam sat in the pure darkness alone outside his caravan as he watched the shadows walk about. The boy usually never spent time in the shadow world, so he was suprised himself at the fact that he was in it. He watched as small river poured upwards into the sky, gracing Sam the only bit of sound around him. The grass was silver and the sky was grey as the silver winds blew around the boy. It wasn't so scary... But rather a solace. Sam let his feet dangle over the floating ground he sat on, watching his reflection dance along the gentle ripples of the water. A small smile graced the corners of his lips.

"Hmm..." A small content sigh escaped Sam's lips. As he opened his eyes however, a dark hand reached out of the water and grabbed him.

 

-

 

Sam gasped loudly as he woke up in his caravan from the dream. The boy never dreamt about the shadow realm. His skin was pale and he was sweating, shivering from such a frightening dream. Sam fought to calm himself down, taking in loud breaths. He looked towards the window. He was probably late for something.

Slowly, Sam inched out of his caravan and went in searing for Flaire, the Twins or Happy. He was still shaking slightly and some tourists looked to him worriedly. Sam looked as if he was about to faint.

The tents were taken down, stuff brought up, carriages settled and animals readied to pull them throughout the night to the next site, a large city, which meant bigger targets. The twins were walking around heading to their tent to help with the packing, until they saw Sam. If the shadow boy was pale before, he now looked like a ghost incarnate. "Is that?" Kate asked. "Sam." Nate added. The two hurried over to him, wrapping their arms around him. "Hey, Sam!" Nate said, looking down at him. "What happened? What's wrong? Did someone tried to bully you?" Kate asked. Of course they were worried. Sam was one of the youngest members of the Circus. A little brother they all cared for. Especially the twins. No one harmed Sam without hearing the twins complain about it.

 

Happy looked down at a map in his hands. Despite being of old paper, it had moving images that seemed to come alive and interact with his actions. "Well this should be fun." Happy muttered as he closed up the map and looked over at the staff. "I want you guys to keep your guard up. The only road available for us to take to the city is an old one through the forest taken by locals. However..." Happy said as he held his pocket watch tightly. "We are entering Wendigo territory." Happy explained.

 

CODEX ENTRY: Wendigo

 

First recorded within Algonquian folklore. A supernatural, malevolent being best known for its cannibalistic nature. Physically, they are described as large, humanoid creatures, with skin tight to their bones to the point of emancipation, their bodies and skin nothing but bone and rotting skin. Most if not all wear the skulls of different animals over their faces as a form of mask. The strongest sign of a Wendigo being near, is the strong scent of decomposition and decay, much like a walking, rotting body.

 

There are no scientific explanations of he source from these creatures, though folklore suggests that they were humans who have submitted to cannibalistic desire, or utter greed. These creatures will eat everything in sight that isn't their own. They are dangerous, and for all means, beyond help. The debate within today's society of whether this creature exists or not continues. If only they knew how close many of them are to large living areas...or how real they actually are.

 

 

"Mommy! This candy is soooo goood!" a child said to her mother as she ate the Crackerjacks. The mother then took one of the caramel and peanut coated popcorn kernels from the bag and put in her mouth. The mother was taken aback by how perfect the balance between salty and sweet was in just the one popcorn kernel she had eaten. "My god, Karla, your right! It is amazing!" All Flaire could do was smile. As the last 2 customers walked away from the Crackerjacks stand, with smiles on their faces as they munched on the spheres of sweet and salty goodness, Flaire shouted "Thanks and come again!". The mother turned around and became a little embarrassed because she forgot to say thank you. "Oh, sorry" she said with and awkward smile on her face, trying not to wear the embarrassment "Thanks so much for the candy! Karla, remember your manners." The mother's child was too busy enjoying the candy to speak. Flaire just nodded in understandance. When the 2 customers left, Flaire's eyes tracked them as they walk away. As the customers walked, they passed Sam, whom they looked at with bewilderment and fear. They quickened their step and Flaire's eyes focused on Sam as she wondered why the customers got scared of him. He looked... broken... and scared. Flaire hopped over the stand and quickly took it down. It was past closing time after all. When she put everything away, she ran after Sam. Kate and Nate were already talking to him so Flaire decided to join in on the conversation. "Hey! What's going on guys?" Flaire said "Sam, Are you okay? You don't look so good." Flaire stared at Sam waiting for a response. 

 

 

 

After asking his seemingly "open ended" question, Victor began to laugh and talk. After talking for a while, Victor began to vent. As Victor vented, Jake listened to every word and analyzed every single sentence. Jake stayed quiet, allowing Victor to vent and to get a better idea of what was going on in his head. They made a left after walking 3 blocks and then a right after 2 more blocks. Jake paid special attention to Victor venting about how he broke Tabitha's trust and how Jake couldn't even begin to understand the stuff the he's gone through. They walked on for a few more blocks until they finally reached their location, the Buzzed Siren Club. Jake then turns Victor and says.

"You don't have anything to worry about, Victor. Firstly, Tabitha can't really stay angry at you because you've already made to strong a mental connection with her and you know that. Secondly, sometimes I wonder if everyone forgets that I have psionic abilities. Victor, the first time I met everybody, I looked into your minds to see if I could trust you guys. I've seen pretty much all of the things that you refuse to let anybody know. Most people would be looking for a way to dance with Mistress Death in her grand ballroom of the dead, but you chose life. I truly respect you for that because our paths are similar. I would want nothing short of being possibly reunited with my sister and comrades, but I understand that I need to stay here. I may not know why, but I understand that a reason will make itself know. Also, here is a pro tip: don't beat yourself up over those who have died. It's selfish and you disrespect those who have died by not allowing their memory to remain peaceful. Now with that said, we enter and we can drink to your hearts content."

When Jake finished speaking, he opened the door to the club and was approached by a security guard. 

"Hey! Long time no speak, Jake! How have you been?" The security guard says.

"Hey, Malcolm! We just can into town and I decided to drop by. I've been a little stressed. How are the kids doing? Is Stacy's prosthetic arm doing okay? Does it need any tuning?" Jake responds

"Everything is great! It's just dandy. Oh, by the way. Karen was asking about you." Malcolm says while nudging Jake.

Jake blushes a little.

"Shut it Malcolm!" Jake says playing into Malcolm's antics.

Malcolm then looks behind Jake and sees Victor. "Who is your friend?" Inquires Malcolm.

"A good friend of mine. his name is Victor." Jake answers. "By the way, where is Karen?"

A voice is heard from around the corner that says "Right, Here."

Karen comes into full view when she turns the corner. She is wearing her normal work uniform which leaves very little to be desired by the human imagination. 

"Long time no speak, Jake!" She says with a smile.

Jake smiles back and hugs her. "Man, I missed you guys!"

They end there long embrace after about 10 seconds.

"I have your table ready for you guys. Just follow me." Karen says.

Victor and Jake are seated and Karen brings over a rather large bottle that has 'Cream Soda' written on it and a glass with a big cube of ice in it. Jake pours some of the cream soda in the glass and knocks it back.

"Man I love cream soda!" says Jake

"I know. I still don't understand why, but I respect your decision." Karen says and then turns to Victor "What would you like to drink, sir?"