The Majikus Circus. 8D Five Years Ahead~

Nylat nodded at the introductions, then laid her ears back in pity as Angel started to cry. She then followed Maya to her van, trying to think of what her exact words would be. As Maya laid Angel down, the hybrid sat outside, flicking her tail back and forth like a cat. When her friend finally asked why she wanted to find her, Nylat looked at the ground, carving a drawing into the ground with a claw. Her tail now lay still, and her ears didn't stop moving. First laid back, then flicked forward--it was obvious she was nervous. Finally, she muttered something under her breath, then inhaled deeply, exhaling slowly. She shuffled her feet, still not looking up at her friend. Then, finally: "Maya...I'm pregnant."

Waiting patiently for Nylat's explanation, Maya coulsn't help but notice how nervous the hybrid looked, and tilted her head slightly, her expression curious. She hadn't exactly expected anything all that earth-shaking. Nylat, being who she was and being one of Maya's closest friend, was usually always looking for her for something. Watching in silence as the hybrid continued to flick her ears around, probably with nerves, Maya's gaze wandered to the Circus grounds.

Darkness had fallen completely, and now, the glowing windows of the vans and the lanterns outside them cast a sort of starry look about the place. It was really rather beautiful, probably more so for anyone who didn't actually live in the Circus. Smiling slightly to herself, she turned her gaze back to Nylat just in time to hear the hybrid murmer something under her breath. The blonde had been about to ask about it when the hybrid repeated her words, this time a little louder; And it took a good minute for Maya to catch what she'd said.

"You... Really?" She asked, looking slightly stunned. She then made a rather sudden, excited sort of noise, and threw her arms around Nylat's neck. "That's amazing!... Congratulations!" She laughed, snuggling Nylat's head. She couldn't help but imagine what could only be described as a mini-Ny, and she was probably just a little too excited about the idea.

"Oh, hey." She said, pulling away and looking her friend in the eye. "When's it due, do you know?" She paused, then stood herself up, smiling massively. "I'm so happy for you, Ny. I think you'll be a great mother." She paused again, then raised her eyebrows. "... Do you think you'll have a litter?... Or just the one?... And,, you know. It'd probably be a good idea to get some sleep. At least, especially with tomorrow coming up. I don't know about you, but being pregnant with Angel took all my energy out of me." She stated, looking hugely excited by Nylat's news.

Nylat nodded. "Yeah, me. Thanks. As for when it's due, I don't know. There are so many genes in me it could be as early as any day now, or even a few months from now. Who knows?" She swished her tail and licked the side of Maya's face. "And thank you again. I hope I'll be a good mother." She smiled a bit at her friend's excitement. "I don't know how many, and I'm fine, I've been sleeping in lately, if you haven't noticed. Not up at the crack of dawn as much anymore." She flicked an ear, her stomach growling again. "Ugh. Never finished that steak. The kitchen staff's probably already done away with it though." She laid back her ears, then flicked one forward. "Which reminds me. How did meeting Dravius's parents go, hm? And where is he?"

"Wow. That might be a little awkward." Maya laughed, glancing off to one side. "You wouldn't want to go into labour in th middle of something. And you will." Smiling, then laughed again. "I had noticed... But I hadn't really considered any reason why you'd start sleeping in late."

Pausing, the blonde rolled her eyes slightly, before shaking her head. "Okay first. Dravius'... Parents. Uhm." It took a few seconds for Maya to respond. "I don't know. They seem nice enough, I guess. A little peculiar, but nice. They didn't ask nearly as many questions as I thought they would, though. As for Dravius. No idea. I haven't seen him for... A few hours?" She shrugged, then smiled. "He's probably hiding from his parents. Goodness knows he ran off fast enough." Sitting herself on the van stairs, she continued.

"You should go back and probably go get something else to eat, Nylat. Seeing as I dragged you away from your steak. I'll probably be going to bed soon, anyway." She mused, stroking Nylat behind the ear. "All right?"

Dravius had been smiling boozily at Lucia, then suddenly his dark eyebrows furrowed, and the huffed, "I have not had too much to drink. I am no more drunk than the performers. I mean. What man in his right mind would wear Erik as a necklace. He's so tacky." Dravius snorted to himself and drank the rest of Selvai's water. Alcohol made him thirsty. Sort of like ice cream. Except ice cream was a lot less fun. Anyway.

Dravius had gone back to enjoying himself, and was in the process of heading up to the stage himself, when Xavier's arm looped around his neck. His brother was a TOTAL drag. Not even five minutes after he was promised another hour here, and the older male was dragging him bodily out. "No what. I wanna staaaaaay." Dravius whined, batting weakly at Xavier's face and arms, but ultimately stumbling along with him, a heavy pout on his face.

Dravius had followed along all the way back to the circus, every so often whining his displeasure, and sighing heavily. "I no longer like you, dear brother. You have ruined my fun. You pair of lead boots." He complained, extending his index finger to jab his brother in the face. "Lead. Boots." He punctuated each word with a jab, then turned on his heel and stalked off. If only he knew where alcohol was kept in this circus. He really was thirsty.

The Co-Master wandered a few minutes more, murmering to himself, before making a meandering trail towards his wn van. Even drunk out of his mind, he had the sense that Maya wouldn't take to kindly to him stumbling into the housing, probably waking Angel up. Ah well. He'd had some fun, before SOMEONE had to go and RUIN IT.



PROMPT STAIR PASS OUT. HAPPY? GAH.

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Kylie and Liam Wolfe had only taken a few seconds to look up at the creature who rolled up to the table, not batting an eye at Ny, as she took nibbles out of her meal. Both parents had been chewing on their respective dinner, when suddenly the two girls up a.nd left, Kylie's icy gaze and a finger wave from Liam following them out.

The dinner between the two happened quickly and without words, Kylie sliding her book back across the table for Liam to stash in his briefcase, and the two walked out after clearing their dishes, Kylie ducking as she went through the door.

The guest van they eventually found their way to was quite nice, even to the critical Kylie. The tall woman had retrieved her bags from the field near the front of the circus, and hung up a long, slinky dress in a deep black, and a formal tuxedo was hung neatly next to it, a bright green tie wrapped around the hanger. Both parents went to bed relatively early, around nine o clock at night, leaving a dim lamp on the bedside table.

((Okay. Doing a skip. Selvai can post his skip in his next post, too. xD))

After suggesting to Nylat that she should probably continue where she left off on the food front, Maya then decided that her next course of action was to look for Dravius. Well, he had dissappeared for a few hours. Giving Nylat a final scratch behind the ear, the blonde then pulled herself up from the stairs, and stepped off in the general direction of the main tent.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Nylat." She said, waving over her shoulder. She had been more than prepared to just scan the grounds, although it almost instantly turned out she needn't do that at all. The Co-Master, it seemed, had somehow ended up face down on the stairs of his old van, and Maya had to spend a minute or so looking at him to try and convince herself she was actually seeing it. Needless to say she was just a little worried about him.

Padding over, she leant over just enough to prod the Co-Master in the back. "... Dravius?" She asked, looking highly confused as to how he'd ended up here of all places. She prodded him again just as Xavier appeared some distance to her left.

"Pff. Figures." He snorted, causing Maya to jump and glance up at him.

"... Do you know what's wrong with him?" She asked, turning her gaze back to Dravius and nudging him with a foot.

"Sure. Alcohol."

"Alco-" Maya paused. Then straightened herself up and looked back over at the Co-Master's older brother. "But... Dravius doesn't drink?.. At least... Not often." She pouted. Seriously? Dravius had run off and left her with HIS parents to go and get drunk?

"You're right." Xavier laughed. "But it seems tonight he wanted to change that. Apparently he thought Selvai needed a night out on his last night of freedom." The dark haired male shrugged, then walked over to where Dravius was, leaning over slightly." He'll be all right, once he's slept it off. He might feel sick tomorrow mind, but he'll bypass the painful part." Chuckling, the older Wolfe brother straightened himself up, then grinned at Maya; Who was currently looking at the passed out Dravius like she wasn't quite sure who he was.

"He'll be fine." He repeated, before turning on his heel. "He might not remember why he wakes up out here, though."

"Woah, hold on." Maya said suddenly, looking at Xavier with an accusing face. She remained silent for a second, then pouted. "... You'd actually leave him out here, wouldn't you?... And why exactly is he shirtless?" She added, pointing.

Xavier snorted, and had been about to explain that yes, yes he would (In a joking manner, of course.), when he caught sight of the butterfly's face. Sighing, he chuckled quietly as he made his way back over, then quite promptly hoisted Dravius halfway over his shoulder. He gently pushed open the Co-Master's door, stepped inside, and dropped his younger brother unceremoniously onto the bed. "There we go. And to answer your earlier question. He gave it to some guy who apparently was cold." He laughed. "Oh, by the way, your mother showed up, I think she went to see Raphael."

Maya, who had followed Xavier into the van and was looking at Dravius with a concerned face, flitted her gaze to Xavier when he spoke. "I don't- He gave his shirt away?... And thansk for telling me." Maya smiled slightly, glancing at Xavier before looking back at his younger brother. "I should... Go say hello." She pondered, eyes still on her unconcious boyfriend. Xavier rolled his eyes, then gently pulled Maya out of the van when he made his own way out. "B-but..." She protested lightly.

"He'll be fine." Xavier repeated with a laugh, closing Dravius' van door behind them. "Honest. You should go see your mom." He laughed. "Anyway. I'd better get going. I'll see you later."

With that said, the dark haired male took off, leaving the blonde to wave at his back uncertainly. She threw a quick glance at Dravius' van door, then sighed quietly and made her way towards Raphael's van. Greeting her mother took a short while, before Maya finally headed back to her own van in order to sleep.

~~~

The next morning rose bright and airy, the same sort of morning that usually gave way to a clear, warm day. And, peculiarly enough, Maya was up before her daughter. Both her dress for the day, and Angel's, were laid out on the bed; The early morning sunlight catching the dark forest green of the floaty material.

Maya had already been out once in order to check on Dravius, who had still been sleeping when she entered his van; And had eventually just left him to wake up in his own time. Which preferably should be within the next hour. Otherwise she would have to go wake him up. He was, afterall, the best man.

Once she'd got back to the van, the butterfly tackled the issue of waking up her daughter, which, considering Angel had been more than happy to carry on sleeping, was somewhat difficult. Once the little girl had been dressed, however, and placed in front of her blocks, she had finally stopped complaining. Smiling slightly, Maya then got herself dressed.

The dress she wore was similar to the other bridesmaid dresses, although each one seemed to have a sense of uniqueness about it depending on who was wearing it. Maya's was a knee length chiffon style dress, with two simple straps over each shoulder, gathered just under the bust at the front, so that the material was ruffled down the center. It really was a rather stunning thing, despite being so simple. Angel's was similar, without the ruffled front, and instead with a little white flower on one shoulder. Once dressed, Maya decided that she could leave her hair as it was, although she did plait a small section starting below her right ear. The plait itself was thin, and naturally, ran the entire length of the blonde's hair.

Padding over to the bed, the butterfly sat herself on it and slipped on a pair of silver, strappy sandals, two thin straps of which crossed over eachother just above the toes, a single one around the heel, and another, single strap wrapped around the ankle. Smiling slightly at Angel as she almost buried her face in her box of blocks, her mother was almost tempted to lock it up. Hopefully she wouldn't get herself TOO messed up before the ceremony started. But there was a bit of time before that. Standing, Maya very swiflty picked Angel up headed back to the bed, and methodically began to brush out her daughters black hair. Angel, meanwhile, was pouting hugely at the disruption, clinging firmly to a bright orange block of wood.

~~~

Raphael, as per usual for the Ring-Master, had woken at the crack of dawn to oversee the preparations for the day ahead. Members who had been assigned the role of doing so had woken around the same time, and had already more or less set everything up despite the fact the ceremony was a little later. Still. Best to get it up and sorted.

The set up had been prepared on a field adjecent to the one the Circus was currently staying in, set out in the center so that the area was surrounded by lush grass and open space, plus the odd tree here and there. Pale green chairs were set up in a semi-circle, the few rows of them facing towards a similar coloured coloured arch. The arch itself was covered with deep green, white and lavander orchids almost glowing in the early morning sun against their backdrop. Seperating the chairs into two halves was an improvised aisle, leading up to the wedding arch, and covered in a white carpet. The whole thing actually looked rather spectacular, especially with the sun shining as it was doing. Of course, once the ceremony had finished, the chairs and things would be removed, to be replaced with small, round tables and a an improvised dancefloor for the reception.

Smiling to himself, Raphael thanked the members who had been taking part in the setting up, before speaking with the priest who had been hired to conduct the ceremony. Once sorted, Raphael then headed back to his van in order to get himself changed. There was still a couple of hours to go, but still. Little point waiting around.

Nylat blinked awake, muttering under her breath. She had planned to sleep in a bit more, but her sixth sense caught onto the general hum of excitement that seemed to emanate from the Circus today and pulled her into awareness. It took her a few minutes to remember why that was so. Her stomach growled, yet another reason she'd woken up so early. The previous night she'd opted not to finish her meal, but rather just return to her van and sleep. And now she was paying. She rolled onto her back, shoving her head into a particularly large pile of blankets, compared to the rest of her nest-like bed. But still the Circus's upbeat key tugged at her, wanting her to get up. Groaning, she complied, sitting up with ears back and a flat-eyed glare at the wall. She flicked her tail around her feet, then set about cleaning herself in the thorough manner of all cats.

Dravius had not moved an inch when he was poked, prodded, and finally moved, thouroughly passed out, blissfully unaware. However, the morning came, and the Co-Master's stomach woke him up, a lurching sensation in his gut tugging him towards the bathroom, where Dravius discovered that alcohol tasted significantly worse coming up than going down.

Coughing heavily, the Co-Master got back to his feet, wiping the sleep from the corners of his eyes. Yawning, and still feeling ridiculously naseous, Dravius ran a comb through his hair, managing to bring a semblance of order to his messy shock. A quick shower helped wake him up, althoguh he still looked a little woozy.

The Co-Master donned a formal black suit with a light blue tie, and matching cufflinks. Dravius remebered very little of last night, other than he had met Lucia in town....somewhere. Whatever. God. He figured if he could feel it, he would not even be out of bed at this point, and suddenly he wondered if Erik would make it to the wedding, since the two of them had been equally inebriated.

Tightening the Windsor knot on his tie, Dravius stepped into shoes and outside, striding to the van that Maya and he shared. Opening the door, he yawned and called softly, "Hiiii." With his hair combed, and the formal wear, he looked oddly put together, even though his face was drawn. He smiled weakly, looking more than a little bit sheepish.

"Hey! Wake up idiot!"

Oh god. Erik whimpered pitifully and tried to bury his head in the carpet as Adriel pounded on the door to his van. "Go away, evil woman. Leave me alone to die," the shifter moaned quietly.

"Sorry, can't do that," Adriel announced quite loudly as she swung open the door and stomped over to where Erik was curled up on the floor, the sheet from his bed half pulled off and wrapped around him. "I need to make sure one of the groomsman hasn't passed out in his own vomit and died. Can't have the wedding ruined by your death, you know."

"You're so kind," he croaked, rolling over onto his back and throwing an arm over his face to block out the early morning light coming in through the van windows. "I'm sure seeing me hungover and in misery has nothing to do with your visit."

"Actually, it's the only reason I agreed to step inside your van." Adriel fished a small bottle of pills from her pocket and dropped them onto Erik's chest. "Here, take some aspirin and get a cup of coffee from the food van, then get your suit on. I have to get ready myself, I can't stay here and watch over you."

"Fine," Erik muttered, not making any effort to move except to grab the bottle and hold it to his chest.

Adriel nudged his ribs with her foot. "I'm serious, get up." When Erik failed to respond, she did it again, much harder this time. "Get. Up."

"Stop kicking me," the red head complained. Pushing himself up, he glared at her blearily. "I'm up, see?"

"Good. I'll see you at the wedding." Adriel left the van, making sure to shut the door harder than was necessary as she left.

Grumping at his headache, and the unpleasent feeling in his stomach, Erik managed to struggle into a shirt and pair of slacks before stumbling outside and heading for the food van. Shuffling inside, he passed the food that had been set out and simply grabbed a cup of coffee before heading for a table.

Slumping over one of the empty tables near the back, Erik shook out a pair of tablets from the bottle of medicine and swallowed them with a drink of coffee. "Stupid Dravius and his stupid sexy cowboys," he groaned, rubbing at his temples.

"Wow. Is there something I should warn Maya about?" Disera asked as she passed by his table, Lionel on one hip and a plate of food in her free hand. The shapeshifter stopped and leveled a strange look at the hungover red head.

"Why can't you devil women leave me alone in my misery," Erik moaned, hiding his aching head under his arms. "I just want to be able to die in peace, and one of you keeps popping up to make my headache worse."

"I'm so sorry," Disera said dryly. "I'll make you a deal. Tell me about Dravius and his cowboys and I'll leave you alone."

"Oh. It was from last night," Erik explained with a wave of his hand. "Dravius decided Selvai needed a bachelor party, so we went out to this nice little karaoke bar I know. And then there was alcohol and cowboys and Dravius may have taken his shirt off, I don't know I was drinking."

"Ah. Well, as long as you guys didn't get Selvai into trouble, I guess that's okay. You didn't, right?" She narrowed her glowing eyes at Erik suspiciously. "Because if you guys took him out and got him boozed up the night before his wedding I'm going to take Lionel to Kioko over there and then come back and make the rest of your morning incredibly horrible."

"No, your puritan father figure stopped drinking before the rest of us," Erik scowled. "the jerk. He could at least suffer through a hangover too, like a decent friend."

"It's your own fault for being a drunken creeper," Disera informed him. "Now, I do believe Lionel and I would like to eat before we get ready for the wedding. Later, Erik." Disera walked over to the table where Kioko was eating by herself, placing her plate on the table and joining the pyro.

"Yes, yes, go." Erik flapped a hand in Disera's general direction before returning to cradling his head in his hands. "Oh, god. My head."

Maya had managed pretty well with sorting Angel's hair, considering the little dark-haired baby was currently trying to fit a whole orange block in her mouth and was therefor keeping herself well entertained and somewhat distracted. It took only a few minutes for her mother to tie her hair back into a loose, wavy ponytail, the bangs left free to frame the little girl's face.

Once done, Maya placed Angel back on the floor of the van, before padding over to the other end of the room and crouching down slightly in order to open a mini-fridge that was well hidden in the corner. It had been placed there purely for the little girl's benefit, seeing as it proved much easier for her mother to be able to obtain bottles for her when she was younger. It saved her needing to walk out to the food van every time Angel had wanted feeding. It didn't particularly have much in it, besides a small supply of fruit and milk.

Maya promptly removed an orange, peeling it as she headed back to Angel, before handing her daughter a couple of segments of the fruit. It'd keep the little girl going for a bit, seeing as she had eaten quite late last night and wouldn't need so much this morning.

Angel seemed perfectly happy with the choice, and promptly threw the block she was holding across the room so that she could chew on her orange pieces. She had been more or less finished when she heard her father''s voice, and glanced quickly over her shoulder before getting to all fours and scrambling over to him, squealing as she went.

Maya shook her head, before focusing her gaze on Dravius. She idly wondered just whether or not he would offer an explanation, despite having Xavier explain; Afterall. If she hadn't gone looking for him last night, she'd have woken up to an empty bed this morning. She probably would have been highly worried at that point. Catching sight of the Co-Master's expression, though, caused her to sigh quietly through her nose. She wasn't quite sure whether she should be amused or concerned at his current state.

"Are you all right?" She asked, still trying to decide whether or not her boyfriend deserved the sympathy, or whether she should just laugh at him. "You don't look all that well." Shaking her head with a slight smile, the blonde paused to look at her boyfriend's tie, then walked over to a nearby drawer and pulled out another, this one a similar green to the dress she was wearing. "Here," She said, holding out the item to Dravius. "Raphael gave me this last night when I went to go see my mom. Looks like he remembered you asking him if you could borrow a tie." She laughed, as Angel sat herself by her fathers feet and looked up at him, "Buh"-ing her greeting. Maya watched her daughter for a moment, then smile back up at Dravius.

"You don't need to look too worried." She said, deciding she'd spare him from explaining, her expression amused. "Honestly. Whatever convinced you drinking yourself stupid was a good idea?" She asked, laughing. "And really... Next time, tell me what you're doing first. I was starting to think you'd got yourself lost last night. Not to mention you kind of looked like you'd been mugged, passed out on your stairs half naked." Snorting, the blonde paused, then laughed again; Stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Dravius; waist "... I really hope you're not going to be throwing your guts up all day. You look rather spectacular in a suit. It'd be a real shame to ruin it."

She gave him a somewhat encouraging smile. "Think you'll manage all right for the rest of the day?" She asked, as Angel decided she wanted in on the hug and firmly attached herself to Dravius' leg, smushing her face into the material of his trousers with a giggle.

~~~

Raphael, once reaching his van, immediately changed himself into his formal wear for the day. A dark suit, green tie, the usual sort of thing. Quickly sorting his desk and all it's contents into some semblence of order, the Ring-Master then stepped lightly out of his van, before heading towards the food one.

It took him only a couple of minutes, and he entered with a greeting to the staff behind the counter. Glancing around, he noted a good number of members, like himself, had already got themselves prepared for the days events. Others, such as Disera and Erik, had chosen to do so a little later. Naturally, the shifter's somewhat pained state did not go unnoticed, and the blonde strolled over to his table, smiling slightly as he placed a palm on the back of a chair.

"You look like someone who spent the night trawling the streets. Tell me. Who were the men who so kindly dropped you off on my doorstep this morning?" He asked, speaking as though this was the most normal thing in the world. Of course, said men had introduced themselves. Raphael was simply enjoying torturing Erik; Which, in truth, would probably be a passtime of most everyone today. Grinning slightly, he patted the red-head lightly on the shoulder, before padding over to Disera and sitting at the table with her.

"Looking forward to today?" He asked, throwing a smile at Lionel and leaning over to ruffle the little boys hair. He had been about to speak again when another voice spoke, causing the blonde to throw his gaze sharply over one shoulder.

"It looks like Docherty has already had his share of the party. Pity he's paying for it now."

The man who spoke was dressed, like Raphael, in formal clothes. Although there was an air of casual about his appearance. His jacket was unbuttoned, leaving the white, untucked shirt underneath visible. The tie, unlike Raphael's, was black instead of green, and wasn't tied; Instead falling around the males neck. Julian had spent enough time concerning over the lack of his leather jacket, but dressed as he was he wouldn't stick out TOO much, at least. The man himself had not changed at all, the only real difference being his current set of clothes, which had only been donned due to the occasion.

"Julian!" Raphael exclaimed, looking highly taken aback by the male's appearance. "I don't... When... Why didn't you mention you were coming?" He asked, putting on a somewhat exaggerated frown. Julian snorted quietly. Clearly the people were still the same.

"Peculiarly... I just arrive in town yesterday. I found enough out to deduce what was going on today. I figured it'd be a good chance to come and see the place again." With that, the tall, black haired male glanced around. "Very little seems to have changed, however..."

"You might be surprised." Raphael laughed, pulling himself to his feet and patting Julian on the shoulder. "It's awfully nice to see you again. Oh. Speaking of those changes," The Ring-Master grinned, then looked over at Disera, gesturing with a hand. "I don't believe you knew of Kanec and Disera's two year old son, Lionel?"

The Ex-Sword Master, whose dark blue gaze had still been elsewhere, turned to look at the little boy; The only change in his expression being the most subtle of smiles. Well. Perhaps things had changed, after all.

~~~

Dresses. Dresses.

One of Karene's most annoying peeves, and yet here she was, focusing so much of her energy on this particular one. Sure, her liking for the things had not changed at all. But the dress at a wedding was always a much anticipated talking point, and she didn't particularly want to dissappoint her husband-to-be.

The caramel haired woman currently stood in front of a tall mirror, situated inside Shahn;s van, taking in the sight of her in this dress. It was, admittedly, an amazing thing to look at. Snow white, the bottom flaring slightly to surround her in a small circle. A rose like structure was situated on the dress just over her right hip, the material seeming to just flow straight out of it, flaring slightly before cascading to the floor. Across the top of the dress, a length of floaty material wrapped itself over each of Karene's shoulders, long sleeves emanating from under them to travel the entire length of her arms, cutting off at the wrist save the extension along the back of the hand.

Karene exhaled quietly through her nose, looking over her shoulder. "...Well?"

"It's amazing." Shahn replied, sat on her bed with her legs crossed, smiling serenely. "It looks perfect. And so it should, you certainly spent enough time adjusting it."

"Woah, hey. These things aren't exactly ordinary though, are they. They have like a thousand layers to get straight... And they're not exactly comfortable if you don't get it right." Karene pouted, turning her back to the mirror so that she could inspect the rest of the dress; The back of which ended halfway down her spine. Exhaling again, she then plonked herself on a nearby chair. Laughing, Shahn padded over, carrying an assortment of hair brushes.

"The little pangs of marriage." She smiled. "Right then. Let's get the rest of you tidied up, hm?"

Dravius had been standing stock still with the sheepish expression still upon his face, when Maya pulled a differently coloured tie from somewhere, then raised both eyebrows and looked down at his own, loosening the knot and slipping the tie over his head, exchanging it for the one Maya offered. Tying another Windsor knot, the Co-Master coughed again, the van swimming slightly in his vision.

"I'm...fine." Dravius gulped, rubbing his good eye with the heel of his hand. "I don't...know why I thought it was a good idea. 'Cause it wasn't. At all." He made a "nnnuh" noise, shaking his head slightly.

When Maya came closer to him, Dravius sighed through his nose and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hugging her briefly and smiling thinly. "Yeah, as long as I don't eat anything. I wonder how everybody else is faring. I remember Erik was as blackout drunk as me, but he can feel all of the hangover..."

The circus' Co-Master pulled gently away from Maya, only to discover a much smaller lady clinging to the leg of his dress pants. Smirking, and bending down, Dravius scooped his daughter up and assesed her. "Well, you look almost as pretty as your mom, Angel!" He exclaimed, then set the infant down again, smiling crookedly at his daughter.

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

Kylie yawned as she sat up, her severe bob disheveled, and looking more than a little drowsy. Reaching into the small case next to her bed, the woman began methodically cleaning the polish off of her nails, revealing wickedly long, perfectly shaped nails, which she only let stay clean for a minute or so, to brush her teeth and fish out bottle of spring green nail poslish and a case full of nail art tools. Carefully, the woman put down two base coats of solid green, and let that dry while brushing out her hair and putting some mascara on.

With a few minutes of concentration and more colours of polish, Kylie created vines going up all of her nails, small flowers budding fromt he branch. A topcoat and the older woman looked pleased with the result, extending one finger to poke her husband in the side of the face and urge him to get dressed. Kylie donned a flattering black dress, and another pair of sky-high heels, a pair of peep-toes that heightened her by at least four inches.

Liam got dressed as well, trying to calm his hair with a copious running through of fingers, and adjusted his glasses on his face. Both parents left their temporary van stifling yawns, Kylie's icy look softened wth drowsiness.

"Better." Maya laughed quietly, patting Dravius on the chest once he'd switched his ties, now donning Raphael's green hued one in line with the wedding's theme. She looked up at him as he mentioned feeling fine, throwing him a slightly disbelieving sort of snort. "You don't particularly look it." She pointed out, a small, twitchy smile on her face. "And good. Hopefully you learnt a lesson."

Smiling outright, she patted him again, the motion followed by another laugh. "Huh... Well. As far as I know, he'll be facing the full extent of his hangover. I can't imagine he's doing all that well this morning if he drank as much as you did." The blonde looked highly amused, and took a small step away from Dravius when he let go of her. "Poor guy." She added idly, as Dravius retrieved Angel from where she sat on the floor. Maya smiled slightly, as the little girl wriggled in har father's grasp, trying to touch his face from where she was being held.

Unfortunately, she wasn't quite able to reach, and in the instant Dravius started lowering her back to the floor she pouted at him. No what! She didn't want to go back down here. Buh-ing in complaint, Angel went back to tugging on her dad's trouser leg, managing to hoist herself up so that she was half-standing, half clinging.

"Buh." She said as loudly as she could, smushing her face into Dravius' leg before Maya finally decided to pull her back into the air. Giggling, the little girl clung firmly to her mother's neck, glancing only fleetingly at her father before focusing her bright blue gaze on her box of blocks.

"B'ox." She stated. "B'ox!"

Placing a hand gently on Angel's back, the butterfly held her daughter close to her shoulder as she leant over slightly to pick up the little orange block the baby had flung about earlier, dropping it quickly into the box where the rest of them were, then padding back over to the door. "I think the bridesmaids are going to Shahn's van in about an hour... You should probably head to Selvai's about then, right?" She asked, smiling as she rubbed between Angel's little wings with a few fingers. "... Might be a good idea to go find Raphael and Erik... Especially Erik, if he's as ill as I think he might be this morning."

Giggling, Maya freed one of her hands so she could hold on to one of Dravius'. "Come on... Why don't you take a short walk with me?... I need to drop Angel off with my mom. And it might help you feel a little better." She said, gently pulling on the Co-Master's hand. Angel, meanwhile, was playing with her mother's hair, her hands lost in waves of gold, and her little wings fluttering slightly.

~~~

Zyano had woken far too early that morning. But of course, as soon as he had woken, so had others. And the bustle of what was going on in the next field over had pretty much prevented him from going back to sleep. He had laid on his side on top of his van, amber eyes following the movements of the members as they prepared for Selvai and Karene's wedding. Once all had been done however, the hybrid finally pulled together enough will to move, and pushed himself up on all fours.

Stretching, Zyano then bounded from the top of the van, and nudged open the door with his nose. He hadn't known whether or not Nylat had woken, but open seeing her inside the van he sat himself in the doorway. "Good morning." He greeted.

((Bluh no motivation for him.))

~~~

Oh. Great. So he'd promised to go to a wedding. A wedding, he might add, of two people he had never even met. Still. It's not like he was doing anything else today. And a promise was a promise. Besides. A few extra visitors wouldn't make much of a difference if it was going to be a big enough gathering. And going by what dear Mr.Docherty constantly said about this "Majikus" whenever he was speaking coherently, it sounded like a pretty darn fun place.

Full of weird people, he'd heard. Not that Dimitri hadn't come across THOSE before. They were a pretty common sight in the clubs he worked; So he was pretty sure nothing in this Circus would surprise him. Hell. Erik had even given him and the guys a number of demonstrations of his ability, which, the strawberry blonde had to admit, was impressive and interesting on a number of levels. Regardless or not of whether he'd been drunk at the time.

Sighing loudly, the man stretched his arms above his head as he walked through town, following alongside a couple of his friends. He pushed up his black framed glasses into his hair, holding the lot of it back from his face, the back of it spiked out in random directions. Usually, half of it hung over one side. Well. He wasn't one to brag but... He certainly got enough attention.

"Woah. Hey. Dude. Antonio." He said, resting both hands behind his head and looking at the back of the other mans head. This motion revealed a red target tattoo on the male's left forearm. "Hey. Do you even REMEMBER where Erik said this place was. 'Cause quite frankly I can't remember jack. I'm not even sure he TOLD us. He probably just... You know. Invited us and left us to find our own way there." He paused, then blew at a lone strand of blonde over his forehead. "And who exactly stole my last drink last night. One of you lot owe me for that."

Nylat had just finished cleaning herself up when Zyano spoke. She blinked at him once, still a bit groggy, then swished her tail and padded over, licking him across the snout. "Mornin. I hope you slept well?" She slid past him, striding out to a small grassy area outside their van before stretching, one leg at a time, often trotting a few steps after each. She had the jitters and, though the stretching helped, she just couldn't clear them. Despite her view on weddings, it was still a nice thing in the Circus. It meant someone was comfortable enough to settle in and actually marry. It wasn't an everyday thing. Unsheathing her claws, she picked out a piece of leftover meat from her teeth--a remnant of last night's literal 'bite to eat'--and remembered she was hungry. "I'm starved. Wanna go to the food van?"

Blaine had been walking along with the rest of the cowboys, blinking sleepily in the bright sunlight. His short, curly hair, while being unbrushed and quite tangled, managed to look in order because of it's length and colour, a dark brown. The man's skin was an olive tone, and his eyes a chocolate brown.

The cowboy was quite tired, and only vaguely remembered last night. It had been almost TOO much fun. Dimitri suddenly started up talking, and Blaine looked to his right to listen to his buddy. "Where? I have....little to no idea. Sorry." Blaine reached over and stole the glasses out of Dimitri's hair, inserting them into his own curly locks. The glasses, with their dark frames, were almost invisible in his deep brown mop.

"I may or may not have stolen your cocktail. I'll buy you one at our next show, or somethin'." Blaine yawned loudly, rubbing his eyes. "And I don't get why you knew we were going to a wedding, and you're not even halfway dressed up enough." The cowboy sighed through his nose, and tugged on the cuffs of his smart-looking blazer, then poked Dimitri in the stomach. "You're such a REBEL." Blaine put as much sarcasm as possible into the last word, rolling his eyes.

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

Dravius blinked once as Maya bent over to retrieve Angel's block, nodded in confirmation to Maya's suggestion, and added with a thin smile, "It'll be a wonder to me if he's even out of bed. He's always enjoyed a party, though, so that raises the chances, hm?" The Co-Master stepped foreward a few times at Maya's gentle pulling, but at mention of her mother, pulled his hand away.

"Uh. I don't really think I want to see your mom. She may or may not have had a chat with me liast night while I was....out." Dravius looked a little sheepish, and began fiddling with his tie. "I think I'll just go grab breakfast, yeah? Tell her...well, don't mention me. Please?" The Co-Master sighed once again, and looked to the side, avoiding eye contact with his girlfriend.

"It was not all night," Erik said, with as much diginity as he could muster. Which was not much, considering his hungover state. He attempted to sit up straighter as he looked at the Circus Master. "It was a few hours, at most. And those lovely men who escorted me home were the entertainers at a bar we frequented last night. Quite nice fellows, too. They dressed up as cowboys and sang. And I would like to take this opportunity to point out that they would not have had to bring me home last night if Selvai and Xavier hadn't abandoned me last night." Erik stopped to rub at his eyes, and groaned as a memory from the previous night re-surfaced. "Also, I may or may not have invited those gentlemen to the wedding today. Don't worry though, I'm sure they will be wearing shirts." Finishing up his coffee, he glanced up when he heard someone speak his last name.

"Julian! It's so good to see you again," he exclaimed once he spotted the dark haired man. Standing up, he walked from behind the table to cling to Julian. "I knew you'd come back to me someday, love." Erik took the opportunity to quickly grope the former circus member before letting him go. "But we should probably postpone our heartfelt reunion for after the wedding, since I am one of the groomsman. And while we're on that note, I need to go get myself presentable. Good-bye for now, beautiful." So saying, Erik patted Julian on the cheek before hurrying out of the food van and back to his own van to put on his suit.

Disera rolled her eyes at Erik's behavior toward Julian, snorting once the other shifter left the van. "Back for three seconds, and he's already getting handsy with you. Even for Erik, that's crude." When Raphael introduced her son to Julian, her features softened somewhat, and Disera smiled happily. "Yes, this is my and Kanec's son." Standing up, Disera shifted Lionel around closer to Julian. "Leo, say hi to Julian."

-----

Kioko had been nearly finished with her breakfast when Disera joined her at the table, and had been chatting with the shifter as she fed her son breakfast. She looked up in surprise once she heard Julian's voice, smiling brightly. "Julian!"

Waiting till Erik let go of him, Kioko left the table and hugged Julian herself, smiling shyly at him when she let go. "I'm glad to see you again. How have you been since you left the circus? Are you planning to stay long, or is this just a short visit?"

-----

As he finished adjusting his tie, Selvai stepped out of his van to go in search of his groomsmen. He decided to search the food van first, since it was likely one or more of them would be going for breakfast. Stepping inside, he was pleasently surprised by an unexpected face. "Julian?" He asked, stepping closer. "I did not expect to see you today. Are you here for the wedding?"

-----

The dark blonde looked over his shoulder at Dimitri when he asked about the location of the circus. "I'm pretty sure I do. Shouldn't be too hard to find anyway, since we brought Erik back there last night. And besides, it's a circus in the middle of a field, we'd have to be blind to miss it." He ignored the disagreement between Blaine and Dimitri over the drink, since he was busy trying to remember how to get to the Majikus.

Reaching the edge of town, he gestured off vaguely in what he thought was the correct direction. "It's that way," he announced confidently, the sun catching the highlights in his shoulder length hair when he turned back to look at the others. "Come on, let's not be late."

It took several minutes of walking for the Majikus to come into view, although not exactly in the direction Antonio had pointed out. "See? There it is," he announced, conviently ignoring that they had been traveling sideways to it instead of directly at the circus. "I did tell you I knew where it was."

Maya had been somewhat insistant with tugging on Dravius' arm, and looked disgruntedly over her shoulder when the Co-Master promptly removed his hand away from hers. She could only blink in response to his words, feeling slightly let down by his refusal. Oh sure. He was being just a little contradicting by saying he wanted breakfast. It was about five minutes ago he was saying he should probably avoid food... And why was seeing her mother such a bad thing?...

"I wasn't going to see my mom straightaway..." She replied, pouting slightly, and moving her gaze to Angel; Who was now trying to touch her face and doing a very good job of it. "I just wanted to walk with you and Angel for a while... But all right. I'll take Angel straight to my mother and then I'll go to Shahn's. I'll see you at the wedding." Maya was looking slightly perceptive at her boyfriend's lack of eye-contact - Which naturally began to make her think he was hiding something.

Shifting Angel so that the little girl could no longer put her little fingers all over her mothers face, Maya gave her daughter a quick kiss on the cheek, before padding off in the direction of where the guest vans were; Angel giving an open-mouthed smile at what she could see of her dad over her mother's shoulder.

It took a couple of minutes for the blonde to reach Lucia's van, and the older woman absoloutely lost herself at the sight of her granddaughter, seeing as she hadn't had any time to see her last night. Angel was almost immediately caught in her grandmother's possession, as she was cuddled and cooed at over in the corner. Maya had sat herself on the edge of her mother's bed, smiling slightly at the two of them.

"So... Where's Dravius?" Lucia asked, nuzzling her face against a giggling Angel's. "It's a shame he didn't come to say hello."

Pff. Figured she'd ask. Rolling her eyes slightly, Maya snorted. "He's... Shall we say... reluctant to see you this morning." Well. There was little point lying for him now. Afterall, her mother had brought him up.

"Really?... Why?... Is there a problem with you two?"

"... Okay first. I don't really see how that relates at all, and second, no. There isn't." Maya paused, then shrugged, a sigh slipping past her lips. "He seems to think you seeing him last night was a bad thing. He's... I don't know. Funny about talking to you, I guess." She said, as Lucia started to laugh.

"Deary me. Is that all?" She asked, giving Angel a quick squeeze. "I really don't see why. He wasn;t doing anything wrong."

"Huh... For some reason I feel like I'm missing something."

"I doubt it." Lucia stopped herself long enough to nuzzle Angel some more, then laughed again. "I mean... He wasn't exactly acting like himself, all things considered. But it was rather amusing... I mean... He wanted to sing karaoke. Poor guy's probably just a little embarrased."

Maya stared at her mother confusedly for a minute, before Lucia broke the silence again. "Hey. I was wondering. Would you mind at all if I took this one for a couple of days?" She asked, holding Angel up so that the little girl was stood with her feet on each of her grandma's legs. "I mean... I'm not going anywhere from the Circus, obviously. I'd just like to spend some time with her. And it'll give you and Dravius a little bit of break, too."

There was another short pause, then Maya laughed quietly. "Sure. In fact, you can keep her, if you want." She joked, smiling at her daughter who was being given free reign of her grandma's facial features. Lucia threw her daughter a smile, just as the younger blonde lifted hrself from the bed.

"Anyway. I better get going. I'll see you in a little while."

"You're heading to Shahn's already?" Her mother asked, looking up from where Angel was pulling on her nose.

Maya nodded, a smile pulling at her lips. "Sure. I don't have anything else to do .Besides, I kind of want to see Karene's wedding dress. Not to mention actually seeing her wearing it." She laughed. "And anyway. The ceremony isn't long off. The other bridesmaids will be showing up soon." With that said, Maya gave her daughter another quick kiss. "You behave for grandma, little miss." She said, before waving at her mother and heading out of the door, and making her way towards Shahn's van.

~~~

"Very well." Zyano replied to Nylat's inquiry, shifting so that he faced out of the doorframe rather than in. He watched in silence as his mate stretched herself out for the morning, flicking an ear in her direction as she spoke. "Sure. I could do with something to eat, myself." With that said, the sand furred hybrid bounded down the van stairs, then padded up to Nylat before trotting off towards the food van.

~~~

Julian had been pretty much on the verge of saying something when Erik's sudden too-close-proximity immediately pulled his attention elsewhere. And not necassarily for the better. Staring the red-headed shifter down with a half-hearted glare, the Ex-Sword-Master had been highly tempted to just ignore him; Up until the point Erik started TOUCHING him. It took about a second for the man's dark eyes to narrow and his expression to cloud over. That... Was one thing he could certainly do without.

Raphael had been watching the whole thing with a silent amusement. It really was amazing just how little people seemed to change in a few years absence, and clearly Julian was no exception. The dark haired male of which, was now glaring obviously at Erik. It probably had something to do with the words "Love", "Heartfelt", and "Beautiful". All words of which Julian would probably have much preferred had NOT been used to address him. Especially when it was ERIK using them.

His stormy gaze followed the Shifter out of the van, a brow twitching slightly at all that much uneeded physical contact; Before he promptly glared at the Ring-Master as though it was entirely his fault.

"Woah, hey." Raphael muttered, holding up both hands. "You know... I was about to mention just how little you'd changed. But I think it would be more appropriate to mention that the people here really haven't changed all that much either." He said with a grin; Julian' response being a few seconds silence, shortly followed by a quietly spoken "Clearly."

Exhaling through his nose, the dark haired male switched his gaze to Kioko as she hugged him; Seeing as he'd completely missed her approach by focusing on Raphael. The Ring-Master sat himself back down, as Julian had to make a somewhat quick adjustment to his expression, which wasnt all that hard. The surprise at having Kioko hug him in greeting was enough to have him raise an eyebrow slightly; His expression losing it's sharp edge.

He snorted quietly, a fleeting twitch of the lips betraying his amusement. "It's nice to be back." He responded, his voice its usual quiet tone. "I... Have been fine. I'm unable to answer your other questions though, I'm afraid." At that, Raphael leant back far enough in his chair to stare at the Sword-Master upside down.

"... Your inability to answer those questions kind of makes it sound like you're planning to stay. Or at least considering it." He straightened himself up, leant an elbow on the chair, and raised his eyebrows. Julian, however, shook his head.

"I don't know." Was all he said. Sighing through his nose, Julian turned his gaze back to Disera, actually smiling a little as she proudly introduced her little boy. "He certainly does take after you." The male murmered, pulling up a chair and sitting himself next to Raphael, eyes focused on a nearby window. Kanec's son, hm. To think one of his oldest friends had a family of his own. He certainly had missed a lot in the last few years. Inhaling quietly, Julian, as well as Raphael, both looked over their shoulders as another voice joined the room.

Julian smiled slightly. "I hope you don't mind the intrusion. But yes, that is why I came."

Raphael, upon seeing Selvai, had grinned and stood himself up. "Well hello, Mr. Mayoso." He said in a teasing voice. "I hope you're ready for this commitment." He laughed. "Oh,, by the way. Erik was just here, I believe he's gone to get himself ready. We should probably find Dravius too... Your wedding will be going ahead very, very soon." Patting Selvai on the shoulder, Raphael threw a grin at Julian and the others. "I should get off. It's about time I started getting the people together." And with that, the Ring-Master immediately stepped away from the group, and headed outside into the brilliant morning sunlight.

~~~

Dimitri had been looking around for some sort of sign of this Circus, a random way of coping with the fact no-one seemed to know the EXACT location. They probably weren;t that far off, though. Can't have been, they were certainly confident enough to be heading in this direction, anyway.

Sighing loudly, Dimi had to cut himself off suddenly to throw a disgruntled look at Blaine as rather boldly stole his glasses right from his head.

"... I bet you did. Look. You just stole my glasses. Thats a good a reason as any to blame you for me crawling around on the floor last night looking for my drink." He sighed again. Dramatically "... I don't remember anything after that. No wait, I do. THAT was about the point we carried Erik ba-" Dimitri stopped talking for a minute, then frowned heavily. "... I feel like we should know where this Circus is."

Still frowning slightly, Dimi punched Blaine in the arm as the darker haired man poked him in the torso. "Hey. Not EVEYONE at a wedding wears suits, you know. That's more funeral style. I am fine as I am, thank you very much. Smart casual, that's what this is. And I am wearing smart trousers, at least." He said, kicking a leg forward to prove his point, huffing at Blaine's rebel comment, looking over at Antonio as he spoke, wording the exact thoughts he had in his head about a minute ago.

Dimitri followed after Antonio with a funny look on his face, snorting once they caught sight of the place. "I don't remember it being this impressive. And way to go, 'tonio. Sure you did. Sort of, maybe." He paused, using a few fingers to rub at the strands of blonde that hung over his forehead. "We should probably find Erik. I don't quite fancy being caught out as gatecrashers by these people. Especially if Erik is anything to go by."

Kanec woke up late, as was usual, and muttered to himself. He sat up, scratching an ear, sighing as he realized that Disera and Lionel must've already had a very good head start on their day. "Could've at least tried waking me up." He changed before slipping out of his van, shifting into his usual white tiger form as he padded to the food van. Even if they weren't there, there HAD to be someone there who HAD seen them. Upon reaching it, he ran into Zyano and Nylat, for whom he held open the door with a large paw before shifting and heading inside himself. He shuffled his wings at the sight of Disera and Lionel, smiling to himself. "Good, you two are here." At the sight of the former Sword-Master, he shifted into a bluebird, flitting over to his shoulder. "Oh, so someone's come back, hm? How long, do you know?"

Nylat, meanwhile, had been about to grab a steak to eat when she caught a familiar scent. She scanned the crowded food van until she found the source, and padded over, nosing her old friend's hand. "Good to see you, Julian." She flicked an ear, swishing her tail across the floor as she sat down, her hunger momentarily forgotten. Again.



Not again.

As the jail door closed in front of me with a loud crash, I huffed. Okay, so someone thought I'd stolen their precious family heirlooms. So what if I had? They had more.

I glanced back at my fellow criminal. I had no idea what he was in for, but it was probably fighting, judging by the cuts and scrapes and bruises. Or maybe he'd been resisting arrest. Who knew. I surely wouldn't find out.

I turned my attention back to the bars of the door, reaching up with my human hand to grasp one, rattling the barricade like I was a caged animal. And the whole experience brough back horrid memories. I fought to keep my lunch down.

The clatter claimed the attention of my cellmate, whom I was keeping an eye on, and he looked at me, assessing me with a sweep of his eyes. He made as if to get up--probably to beat me up for being a splice--but a display of my sharp claws sat him back down. I tugged my sleeve back over my right 'hand,' turning my gaze back to the door. I glanced around. The cop who'd arrested me was nowhere to be seen. I rattled the bars again, this time adding a clang of my claws on the steel. There was no response. He was gone.
I grinned. Then I closed my yellow eyes, concentrating heavily on getting through. When I opened them, I was indeed on the other side of the cell door. I laughed in triumph, then started for the outside world. But a policeman, likely aroused by my ruckus, blocked my way. I backed up a pace, baring my claws. I pushed up my sleeve a few inches, so as to prevent them from bloodying.

The policeman aimed a gun at me, and I panicked. Few were ever brave enough to actually stand up to me. I ducked, just barely not getting shot in the head, but the bullet grazed my right shoulder, sending pain shooting down my arm. I moved swiftly then. This guy had guts. Best to get rid of them. I was first at his left, then his right, my claws at his throat, my hand on my shoulder. He met my gaze, my wild yellow gaze, and glared at me. Okay, so I had to be literal. With a swift movement, I swung my claws to his stomach, forcing the sharp points through his abdomen. He fell to the ground, bleeding heavily. Gore clung to my claws as I strode from the jail, into the dark night air. My hand was sticky with my shoulder's blood, but I could not stop. No doubt he had a partner that would soon be discovering him laying there, dying, if not dead.

I started off at a trot, aiming northward, but the pace jostled my shoulder, and I had to slow to a fast walk. Behind me, sirens rang through the air as the police set out to find me. Gritting my teeth, I set out at a dead run. It was incredibly painful, but I had to bear it. Otherwise, I'd have my neck in a noose by midnight. I'd heard this town still did that.

I reached the edge of the town and slowed to a trot, tears in my eyes because of my shoulder. My sight flickered occasionally, due to the loss of my blood, but I kept going.

I couldn't stop.

Couldn't...stop.

Couldn't......

Cou...



I woke up in rather soft grass, a tight feeling in my shoulder. I sat up, wincing as I put weight on my arm. I grimaced, holding it close, and leaned on my left arm. I glanced around, seeing no one, only grass and a few trees in the light of the full moon. A fire sat roaring to my right, and I debated. Could I be dead? No, my injury wouldn't hurt. Well, it could. Especially if I had been found and hanged.

Suddenly, behind me a voice spoke.

"Mornin' sleeping beauty."

I turned, throwing myself into a crouch, only to be caught up by my shoulder's sudden jolt of fire down my arm. I winced, looking at my assumed attacker.

He had bright pink hair that almost hurt to look at, and irises to match. He sported the backwards knees and lower leg of a Kioka, as shown by the cargo pants that were zipped off into shorts. His hooves made no noise as he padded around to the other side of the fire. A trail of fur led from his hair down into his light blue hoodie, and a ribbon drifted out from the bottom of said jacket. On his head rested two Kioka antlers, one wrapped in a ribbon. As he sat on a log opposite me, his gaze was bordered with the tattooed images of the markings around a Kioka's eye.

I stared at him for a moment, open mouthed, then regained my composure, standing tall. I took notice of my tightly-bandaged shoulder and the fact no one was nearby, and assumed he'd helped me. Him. Someone who'd suffered the same pain and cruelty as me. Finally. Someone I could relate to. And so, my first question:

"How'd you escape?"

He blinked at me a few times. "Escape. Escape what?"

"The lab that made you go through your splicing. The lab that put you through weeks of pain and torture. The lab that killed your Creatu partner because it was no longer any use. Don't tell me you could have forgotten."

"...I was not tested on. I am a natural splice. I changed peacefully and painlessly."

An overwhelming rage came from nowhere and overtook me. I sliced the air with my claws, ignoring my shoulder. "What! How could you not have gone through the suffering I went through? For weeks, I sat in a cage, wondering when I'd die, only to be thrust into life. A life that doesn't even care for me!" As I talked, I'd advanced around the fire upon him. Now, my sharp claws, still covered in the policeman's guts, rested under his chin. With just one upward thrust, I could kill him as easily as I had the cop.

"I...I'm sorry you went through that. But I honestly couldn't help it. It wasn't my fau--"

I swung my claws away in frustration, but a spasm of pain sent my arm in a jagged course. He tried moving, probably to escape my wrath, but my claws hit his arm full-force. The impact of my rock-hard claws hitting his limb with the combined effort of us both--for different reasons--broke his arm with a sickening crack. I whirled away, the crazy light that I knew had been in my eyes now gone. I cradled my arm, not turning to look at him. I had killed someone, and then injured the only one that had ever tried helping me.

I glanced at him over my shoulder, to see him in a similar pose to mine, his left arm tucked against his chest, bent at an odd angle. I dug through his bags with my bloodied, but not gory hand, finding the bandages. I strode over to him, and he flinched away, but I took his arm with my claws, holding it carefully as I wrapped the injury, breaking off a piece of the log as a splint. I had experience wrapping wounds. I sure got plenty.

After I was done, I held my arm close, and turned away, preparing to walk away, but the splice, who had remained silent throughout the process, spoke.

"Don't go. We're alone, the two of us. There are no other splices. We need to stick together, or we'll die."

I narrowed my eyes, staring at the fire, and he must've gotten up, for his good hand was soon on my left shoulder.

"My name's Sutar De'lan."

A growl sprang up in my throat. The De'lans. A wealthy family that had a snooty air about them. Of course I'd be stuck traveling with one of them. But I shot a glance at him, and glared.

"...I'm Enxuk. My last name's none of your business, rich boy."

Blaine snorted to himself at Dimitri's griping, then said, "Well, I'll just buy you a new one, you baby." He rolled his eyes, then suddenly put a thoughtful look on his face."Y'know, we probably should know where it is, but none of us have very good senses of directions, hmm?" Batting pathetically at the strawberry-blonde cowboy's hand as he was gently punched, he snorted once again and griped, "More like smart-stupid. I am embarassed to know you, you slob." Blaine stuck his nose in the air jokingly.

"Oh look. A lovely circus." The cowboy assesed the sprawling layout of vans in front of him. "In darkness, many things seem unremarkable. Also, there are a shit ton of people here." Blaine nodded sagely, then turned back to Dimitri.

"Erik? Judging from his state last night, I would be surprised if he's up and walking. Let's go find someone else. Like that guy getting married. Or the dark haired guy without a shirt. Mr. Marriage's face tattoo was awfully garish. I wouldn't ever get one, myself." Blaine nodded to himself, sighing through his nose and yawning simultaniously.

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

"What? Oh...see...ya." Dravius waved weakly as Maya disappeared out of the van, stretching his arms over his head, but then putting a hand against the wall as the van began moving in ways that no van should. Gagging softly, the Co-Master decided it would be a superb idea to sit himself down, which he promptly did, squeezing his eyes closed.

After a few minutes, Dravius got to his feet, blinking quickly a few times. Alcohol was not worth the trouble. And he was only really feeling half of the effects. God. He was never, ever, ever, ever drinking again. Ever.

Stepping outside of the van, the Co-Master looked around, deciding eventually to just head to the food van. He really didn't want to eat, despite his insitence for breakfast. The food van was a bit crowded, and Dravius raised his eyebrows when he saw who had arrived. He opted, for the moment at least, to just shut his trap and sit down at a nearby table. Sitting down seemed to be a relatively safe activity at the moment. "Hey, Selvai." He said softly.

"Pff. Okay good. You buy me a new one." Dimitri snorted, grinning at the back of Blaine's head as they stopped some distance away from the Circus. The strawberry blonde turned his brown gaze back to the Circus, before snorting again quietly at Blaine. Oohhh. So he was playing it like that.

"Pff. There is NOTHING wrong with my attire. Just be grateful I didn't come in last night's suit. Now THAT would have been a talking point." Dimitri laughed. "You total snob." He added, grabbing the darker haired cowboy around the neck with an arm, and proceeding to dig his knuckles into Blaine's head. He eventually pulled his arms away from the other males head to focus back on the Circus, snorting loudly.

"Sheesh. Yeah. Erik can certainly drink." He replied, glancing around. He raised an eyebrow at Blaine as his fellow performer went on suggest other possibilities. "Uh-huh. I'm not sure how "Mr.Marriage", as you put it, will take to us being here, to be honest. He didn't really invite us. And Dude. You WOULD want shirtless boy to show you around. I was pretty damn sure you were trying to memorise every mark on that guys body last night. Hey! 'tonio. Tell me I'm not the only one who noticed that."

He laughed, reaching over to pull his glasses back out of Blaine's dark locks, and replacing them in his own; Once again the dark frames holding back his messy cut hairstyle, leaving a single strand to hang over an eye. "Yeahh... Peculiar face tattoo. Interesting, though. Not often you see someone get that sort of thing done." Shrugging, Dimitri stepped forward. "Come on then. Let's go find Mr.Docherty. Or one of the others. Either which way, really." He shrugged again, then started for the Circus, walking at a leisurely sort of pace, hands behind his head.

"Yeah, we probably should," Antonio agreed as they walked toward the establishment. "Except we were pretty lit up ourselves when we dragged him home, so the fact that any of us managed to get here, drop Erik off, then find our way back into town is kind of a miracle, you know."

"Listen to you girls, arguing over who'se got the prettier outfit," Antonio turned around, walking backwards as he mocked the pair. The blonde gestured to his own clothing, a blue silk shirt, black dress slacks, and a black leather belt, adorned with a silver belt buckle in the design of an elaborate knot. "I know neither of you are as good looking as I am, but really, you're both cute. No need to fight about it."

"Hey, I didn't see you leading the way," Antonio retorted in response to Dimitri's sarcasm. "And we found the place, I don't see what you have to bitch about." He turned back around so that he was looking at the circus once again. "Yeah, sounds good. I don't think I wanna know what these people would do to gatecrashers. Let's go find Mr. Erik." So saying, Antonio followed Dimitri toward the circus, humming the weddding march under his breath.

-----

The shifter beamed with pride. "Thank you. Although he gets his mischievous streak from his father. Keeps me on my toes most of the time," she said, with clear affection in her voice. Disera smirked once she heard the afore mentioned Kanec's voice, looking at him with amusement where he was perched on Julian's shoulder. "Well, there aren't many other places we would be. Since the wedding is today, and I'm in the wedding party, it would either be here, at Karene's van, or our own to get ready."

She smiled at Selvai as he joined. "Morning, old man. How was the bachelor party last night?" she asked, teasingly. "Judging by Erik's state, I'm surprised you can even stand today."

"Not all of us make drunken fools out of ourselves at the first opportunity, Disera," the magician informed her. "I stopped drinking much earlier than Erik or Dravius last night." Selvai took a seat at the table with Julian and Raphael. The magician smiled at Raphael's good natured teasing. "More than ready, my friend." He listened to the illusionist's report about Erik, snorting a bit. "After his behavior at the bar, I am surprised he can even walk today. I will go find him in a short while." He nodded in greeting when Dravius appeared. "Hello, Dravius. I see you managed to survive the after effects of last night."

"Raffy has a point, the rest of us should go get ourselves presentable," Disera said as the blond left the van. She nudged Kioko gently with an elbow. "Come on, firebug. You and I need to go meet up with Karene after we get sorted." Shifting Lionel on her hip, she turned her attention back to the men at the table. "I'll see you guys at the wedding in a bit."

"Oh, right." Kioko leaned over to ruffle Lionel's hair before stepping away from the table. "Auntie Kioko will see you in a little bit Lionel, kay?" She smiled at the three still at the table. "And I guess I'll see you guys at the wedding. Later!" she called out, leaving the van and heading to her own.

"I need to get ready too," Disera announced, following Kioko to the door. "Later!"

-----

Surprisingly, it took less of a battle then Disera had thought to get Lionel into his suit for the wedding, and she smoothed down the front of her dress while he was distracted with a toy train on the floor. The dress was a simple, backless style, with a sash gathering the material at her waist and tying at her hip, the ends left to trail downward. After pinning her hair back from her face with a pair of combs, the shifter retrieved the flat soled shoes she had gotten to match the dress and slipped them on before picking up Lionel. "You are going to be the most handsome guy there, little man," she said, smoothing out his hair. "Now, let's go find Kioko and get to the bride, shall we?"

Stepping out of her van, Disera was a bit surprised to see Kioko already there, dressed and waiting. "Well. I thought I'd have to come get you. I suppose you're ready to go meet up with Karene, then?"

"Pffft. It never takes me that long to get ready. Let's go, Maya's probably beaten us there. And I wanna get a good look at Karene in her dress," the pyro replied.

"We need to swing by the food van first so I can drop Lionel off on Kanec. Don't worry, there's still time before the wedding. No need to get all high-strung on us." Disera patted the albino on the head as she passed by, causing Kioko to swat gently at her hand. "Don't mess up my hair."

Disera strode quickly into the food van, relieved to see that Kanec hadn't decided to leave in the time she had been gone. "Hey there," she greeted. "Here, I have to go meet up with the bride. Just make sure he doesn't mess up his suit before the ceremony," the shifter said, holding their son out so Kanec could take him.

-----

Disera climbed up the steps to Shahn's van and knocked briskly on the door. "Oy, Karene! Two of your bridesmaids are here. Come on and open the door, I promise we won't make fun of you in your dress." She looked over her shoulder at Kioko. "You brought a camera, right? I know alot of people are going to want pictures of this."

The pyro brandished a small disposable camera, smiling wickedly. "You know it."

Julian had been quiet content to sit quietly for a while, gazing thoughtfully out of a narby window; However, the constant stream of people entering the food van was just a little hard to ignore, especially considering a good few of them were older members and kept greeting him. Not that he minded, of course.

Exhaling slowly through parted lips, the Ex-member glanced at his shoulder when he heard Kanec's voice. The voice of which was far easier to take notice of than the actual weight of the little bird on his shoulder. The dark haired male made a small, slightly amused noise in the back of his throat. It was always one after the other with these lot.

"Yes. I'm back. How long for, I don't know." He responded, deciding there and then that it was probably best to follow Raphael and get himself seated for this upcoming ceremony. Pushing back his chair, Julian pushed himself up, looking over his shoulder at Dravius'' arrival. He was, despite being away for a couple of years, able to tell that the Co-Master wasn't quite feeling all there this morning. His expression a little amused, the Sword-Master gently removed Kanec from his shoulder, placing the shifter onto the table.

He didn't have much time to do much else before Nylat arrived. He should have expected it, really. Chuckling quietly under his breath, the male turned his gaze to the hybrid. "And you." He responded, before turning his gaze back to the remaining members there. "I'll join Raphael outside. Later." He said, heading for the door, being sure to throw a "Very nice to see you again" sort of gaze at Dravius as he passed, before stepping outside, and heading to the field where the ceremony was to take place.

~~~

Maya,, who had reached Karene's van in plenty of time, had spent the last half hour or so smiling at the bride in her rather beautiful gown. It was pretty clear that even this had the magician looking all pouty. Sure, the dress was nice, but she should have expected everyone acting this way. Not that she could blame them... She never wore dresses unless she absoloutely needed to. Which was never full stop.

Sighing through her nose, the caramel haired young woman attempted to ignore the butterfly's amused expression. This, however, was proving somewhat hard to do as, as of now, Maya was currently sorting Karene's hair. Shahn had originally started it, but had needed to be called off elsewhere, leaving a willing butterfly to continue it. In truth, the whole thing didn't take that long to complete, as Karene had been adamant about sticking with a very simple style; And her hair was simply sculpted over one shoulder, the caramel curls twisted with small lilac flowers. She had refused a veil or any other such thing. She really didn't need it.

Once compeleted, Maya had sat herself on the bed, while Karene paced the room. She didn't look nervous, just thoughtful, although she had to quickly pull herself out of that when a knock on the door shattered her and the butterfly's idle conversation.

The blonde threw a look at the bride, then promptly stood herself up. "Probably the others." She said as she headed over to the door, glancing out of the window just to be certain. Smiling, she then pulled the door open, standing to the side to allow Disera and Kioko room enough to enter. "Hey. You certainly took your time." She laughed, just as Karene appeared in the doorway. The magician however, didn't say anything, but rather grabbed both Disera and Kioko, and pulled them into the van before closing the door behind them.

"You know." Maya laughed. "People are going to see you today anyway."

Karene snorted quietly. "I do know... But not yet they're not." The caramel haired woman paused, looking idly at the camera Kioko carried. She would have on any other day, taken it away. But quite frankly, it would probably be pointless. Everyone outside was likely to have camera's, after all. Sighing dramtically, Karene sat herself on the bed, then smiled at the two who had entered. "It's nice to see you both. We thought you might have shown up a little earlier though." She chuckled.

Blaine coughed to himself as his face turned pink, running his hands through his dark curls. "I did....nothing of the sort. Don't be stupid." The cowboy cleared his throat, sticking his hands into his suit pockets. The man yelped quietly at his recieved noogie from his friend, laughing loudly. "Stoooop!" He whined, then brushed off his suit coat. "Yeah, you don't see it done at all, except on people like Mike Tyson, and he's awrestler who also raises carrier pigeons. It's a stupid idea." He snorted to himself, and crossed his arms.

The cowboy made a small noise of protest was the glasses were lifted from his hair, sighing through his nose at Dimitri, and followed behind Dimitri, his arms crossed once again. He looked a little bit petulant, a small pout forming on his lips.

"This place is HUGE." Blaine sighed, looking around, perring down the spaces between vans. "Stupid big, even." The cowboy griped, then stood on his tiptoes and turned in a small circle. There seemed to be a steady stream of people straggling towards one van in particular, and Blaine flicked a hand towards it. "How bout we try there, hmm? Seems like a lot of people should be in there for SOMETHING."

"Oh, please. You were SO checking that guy out." Dimitri sniffed, trying to hide the amused smile that was playing on his face. He took a few seconds to quickly tuck a strand of strawberry blonde behind an ear, grinning outright when he caught sight of Blaine's face. "Oho! Look!... You're even blushing!... Isn't that just, the sweetest thing." He teased, manipulating his tone so that it was sugar coated and way too sweet to be genune. "Hey. Maybe you'll even get a chance to talk to the guy while we're here."

Laughing, Dimitri hit Antonio gently on the shoulder. "Dude. I think our friend over there has a crush." He said, entirely serious, before breaking out into laughter again. He nodded quickly at Blaine's words, then watched as the darker haired cowboy seemingly surveyed the area, before pointing out a van in the Circus set up.

"It is pretty huge... And uh, I think you're right." Dimitri lifted a hand, holding it above his eyes slightly so that he could focus his gaze more easily on the van where members seemed to be constantly going in and out. "All right!" He said resolutely, wrapping one arm around Blaine's neck and another around Antonio's. "Lets go see if we can find someone from last night."

With that said, the vblonde then stepped off towards the van. He appraoched without really worrying about what anyone would do... After all. They weren't really here for anything other than a day out. It's not like they were planning to steal anything. Stepping up to the door, Dimitri boldly stepped into the van, dragging his two friends with him, and taking a moment to glance around. Wow. It really was rather impressive, the sheer... Unusual nature of these people... Some, of course, looked perfectly normal... But others... Well. It certainly piqued his interest.

"Oh. Hey! Blaine. Look who it is." The blonde grinned, pointing off towards a table. "Unless Im mistaken. That would be Mr. Shirtless from last night. Let's go see.." With that said, Dimitri then pulled both men over to the male sat by himself, smiling slightlyas he approached. Yep. It was him. "Hey there. You wouldnt happen to be the young man accompanying Erik last night by any chance, would you?... We were performing at the club last night, and thought we'd come say hello."The blonde held out a hand, letting go of Blaine and Antonio. "The name's Dimitri. Pleasure to meet you."

Kanec hopped around on the table for a second as Julian got up and left, then fluttered down, shifting as his feet touched the ground. He spoke with a few other members for a second before Disera returned. He took their son, nodding at his only instrustions. "I'll try, but no promises. He always finds a way."

~~

Nylat nodded a farewell to Julian as he left, perfectly content to then just go get her food. But as she got her steak and made her way to a corner, she noticed a small group of guys that didn't seem at all familiar. Slinking past them, she sat, hooking the raw meat piece in a claw, baring her teeth in a deep growl as they passed her. She ended it with a hiss, still glaring at them, but now laying down, eating silently as they made their way to Dravius' table. She bit at the steak without care, not really paying much attention. Finally, she finished it, and she padded back to get another, taking care to pass right by the strangers on her way. She'd keep an eye on them, that was for sure.

Dravius had had his head on the table, and only raised it when Selvai began speaking to him, eyes half closed. "Huh? Yeah. Although, the smells of so many different foods right now are making my stomach feel like it's in a vise." He smiled weakly, still looking a bit tired, although, amazingly, hi hair had managed to stay in some sort of organized manner so far, which had to be some sort of record for him.

The Co-Master waved to Julian as he left, also adding a slightly singsong "Alright byyyyye." Leaning back in his chair, Dravius adjusted his tie a little bit and yawned hugely. The young man felt ridiculously tired, and he could only hope he didn't fall asleep at some point during the ceremony.

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

Blaine's face hedn't even returned all the way to normal when Dimitri had to be a DOUCHE and POINT IT OUT. The comments caused the cowboy's face to turn an even mroe embaressing shade of red, and he cleared his throat repeatedly until it resumed it's normal colour.

"I have nothing of the sort." Blaine muttered to himself, not loud enough to really be audible to anyone but himself, and scuffed a toe of a fancy shoe in the grass, before looking up at his friend with a slightly surprised expression. "What...really? Oh...kay." Blaine seemed a little unsure of what he was saying, but followed behind DImitri anyway, looking uncertain.

The slightly shorter performer peeked over Dimitri's shoulder as they entered the van, eyebrows raised. "No, no no stoooop." Blaine whined quietly as his friend marched up to the ridiculously tall circus man leaning back in a chair "No stoooop." He whined even more quietly, running his hands through his hair.

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

Dravius blinked as he heard his name, turning his head towards the soure of the noise. His eyebrows shot up into the shadow of his hair, and he froze in place. Oh god. What was this devilry. And why did he feel like it was Erik's fault. That man-bitch.

The Co-master got to his feet, towering over the three men in front of him. His face had composed itself into an expression quite similar to that of his his others, icy and skeptical. Draviu ignored Dimitri's hand, studying him intently. "Sorry, can't help you with that. Anything else you need, like finding MISTER Erik?"

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

Blaine had been very surprised at the previously shirtless man's change in demeanour from last night, and the kind-of threatening dog...cat....thing that had been staring at them. The icy man was no less attractive than he was last night, although he didn't seem very friendly. "Uhm. We're here for the wedding. We were invited. I even brought a top hat." Blaine stuck his hand into his large suit coat pocket, and pulled out a flat fabric disk. With a shake, it popped out into a full sized top hat, which the cowboy then placed in his head. "I would appreciate being your guest here for the day."