The Majikus Circus. 8D Five Years Ahead~

Dravius' smirk had remained while Neva futzed around a little, although that word wasn't nearly as elegant. He couldn't think of anything better sounding, so he abandoned the very idea of her doing anything that wasn't beautiful in every way. He shrugged to himself, eyes following the woman as she sat down, a small strangled noise excaping his throat. He wanted to just wrap his arms around her and bury his face in her gorgeous hair. It was extremely shiny, and when the sun hit it, it turned a sort of blue. The kind of hair that made him want to wrap it around his fingers. It was kind of like Maya's, but better.

Neva kind of took everything beautiful about Maya and amplified it times six million. And then added two. Dravius shuffled up until he was standing next to Neva, eyes glued to the young woman. The amount of leg she was showing was almost scandolous, but Neva still managed to make it absurdly classy. He wondered how anyone could find flaw in this perfect creature. She probably attracted a lot of negative attention from women, though. The very thought of the delicate Neva being critisized made him scowl, his face darkening.

At the woman's request, Dravius opened his mouth and said, "Of course. Nothing would make me happier..." He smiled crookedly, tilting his head to the side. His hair had managed to make it's way into his face, partially obscuring his damaged eye. He blinked once or twice at Neva, flicking his head to the side to get rid of the extra hair. The rest of it was still slightly mussed from rolling around in the field, a shred of grass still matted into a bit of hair, a reminder of Maya, who was farthest from his mind at this moment.

"No, and with the way Dravius was carrying Kioko around, that has me worried," Adriel answered. She slowed down as they approached the main tent, allowing Maya to enter ahead of her. "Me too. You'd think we'd get used to weird happenings by now." Slipping in behind her, Adriel lowered her voice, not knowing who or what would be inside. "I'm starting to think we should have told someone before we came in here. Too late now, though."

Following the butterfly as she headed deeper into the tent, Adriel caught sight of the gathering just a moment after she did. The dark haired woman tensed at the bound and gagged Kioko. She began pulling iron from her blood, forming a pair of metal knuckles on each hand in case they were needed.

"Only a few reasons I can think of, Maya. Either something happened and it became necessary to restrain her- which I doubt, because why would they come to the main tent if that were the case- or, Kioko's tied up because they want her out of the way while something happens. I'm going with the latter." She looked over the unknown woman warily. "And since I haven't seen her before, my guess is she's somehow responsible for whatever weirdness is going on."

Adriel turned back to Maya, lowering her voice even more as she continued speaking. "No offense, but I don't think the two of us can handle whatever's happening by ourselves. If I stayed here to keep an eye on this, do you think you could find help? See if Raphael's still in the circus grounds, maybe? We might need his ability if she's controling them."


------

At the edge of the tent, Selvai slowly walked the border, placing the barrier as he went. It was odd that she needed a barrier around the entire tent, but perhaps it was necessary for her to get any sort of peace. Neva was a very lovely lady. Of course people must be constantly bothering her. It was simply too bad Kioko happened to be one of those people.

------

Having been ignored so far, Erik had stood in the ring with a severe pout on his face as he watched Neva fawn over Dravius and Selvai. Just because they managed to tie up one person. He almost bit through his tongue when she stroked Dravius' arm, glaring at the co-master's happy expression. Once Selvai left to do whatever it was that he needed to do for his barrier, Erik strode over to the bleacher where Neva had sat, smiling as he took a seat next to her.

Leaning up against the scantily clad woman, Erik bent his head as he whispered in her ear. "You know, Selvai may be useful when it comes to magic, and Dravius good in a fight, but they're both fairly boring. And while Garath's abilities are interesting, I've always thought of him as rather naive about certain things. Myself, on the other hand... I can be rather entertaining, you know," he told her. Scooting closer, Erik placed one hand on her knee. "And since you wanted a barrier around here, I suppose we're going to be in the tent for awhile. Surely those three can babysit Kioko while you and I go amuse ourselves."

"Just a little..." Maya murmured, still peering through into the main ring as she responded to Adriel's comment about coming in here alone. She was most likely right. Coming in here without telling anyone, considering the cirumstances and how little they knew of what was going on, was incredibly dangerous.

Not that this was the first time Maya had run into something without thinking about it. Sighing through her nose, she watched as the peculiar woman sat herself on the bleachers, shortly followed by Dravius; Whose mere expression was making the butterfly irritable. He really should stop looking at that woman like that. Or else Maya was likely to hit him later.

Grumbling, the blonde looked over her shoulder as Adriel spoke again, catching sight of the glittering metal now forming over the darker-haired womans knuckles. She simply blinked at them, before looking back to the group in the main ring, still keeping herself way out of sight. "Kioko wouldn't need to be restrained for anything," She murmured. "It's Kioko... And I think so too but... What the hell does she want?" She asked, her tone idignant and miffed as she half-glared at the dark haired woman.

"I'm not offended," She said, flickering her gaze to Adriel before returning it to the ring. "I know... And, I guess... But Raphael was in town earlier... I don't... Know if he's back yet though." She was just a little concerned about taking her eyes away from the ring... Just in case Dravius got a little too friendly with that woman over there.

Sighing again, she shook her head quickly, then nodded at the dark haired woman. "I can... Go see if I can find him?" She suggested, padding quickly off towards the Circus entrance. It was on her way there she caught sight of a movement, and glanced quickly to her side. Selvai, skirting the inside of the tent, was slowly proceeding to erect a barrier. Maya knew full well that's what he was doing, she'd seen him do it enough times to recognise his movements.

She idly wondered whether or not he was under the same influence as the others, before she remembered that he obviously would be. He was in the tent, after all. Holding her breath, she almost thought about running. Though she knew that'd be pointless, she could already feel the barrier closing around the tent, not to mention the only way to run was into the main ring. Instead, she threw a slightly alarmed look at Adriel, before looking back in Selvai's general direction.

~~~

Zyano snorted quietly as Nylat put him in his place, stating blatantly that he wasn't allowed to be cheerful unless she accepted it. He lifted his paws in exaggerated steps as he walked along, returning his mate's lick of the snout with his own, before making another little snorting noise.

"Maybe... It's rather exciting. I suppose it's pulling me a little out of character," He laughed, ending with a quick yawn, and pausing to look at the other hybrid as something seemed to catch her eye. Following her gaze, the sand-furred hybrid tilting his head slightly at the sight of Maya and Adriel, noting like Nylat that they seemed to have been sneaking around. Which, he supposed, was unusual. Whatever would they need to do that for?

He shook his head at Nylat's question, eyes focused on the tent. "Nothing that I know of... Not besides preparations for tonight's show, anyway... But I'd have thought that was finished by now," He responded, sitting down for a moment as Nylat bounded off. He eventually followed a couple of seconds later, loping rather than outright running.

He caught sight of Nylat's expression before he reached the tent, and paused long enough to sniff around. He noted the people inside, minus one, and padded up and down just outside the tent, his cheetah-esque form bending easily everytime he turned around. "This is peculiar," He murmered, gently easing his nose closer to the canvas, before it hit something solid. The only issue was there was nothing there. At least not that he could see, but it was something he recognised..

He pulled away, staring into space before looking at Nylat. "I think we're late... Looks like Selvai's set up something to keep people from getting in... Or out."

~~~

((Gigglesnort))

Having spent the last minute or so simply staring into the sand that resided in the ring, Neva had seemed to completely lose interest in the men she had surrounding her. It wasn't so much that she'd forgotten, simply that she was trying to deduce how long it would take her to gain control of every other male in this place. Probably a while,,, considering how many there were...

Sighing, she glanced up, watching the sunlight shift of the tent of the canvas far above, glancing fleetingly at Dravius as he moved a little closer. She threw him a falsely thankkful smile as he responded to her request. Well... May as well keep them happy. Before she turned her gaze back to the ring in general, her attention faltering as Erik sidled up.

She didn't even so much as flinch as he sat himself next to her, and simply listened to his words with a slightly raised brow. She responded with a tinkling laugh. "Entertaining?... Perhaps you should entertain me now, in that case... We'll be waiting here a while, after all, and it may get a little stale..." She paused, before moving her face just a little closer to Erik's. "Nothing to revealing, mind... We're not the only ones in here,"

Laughing again, she patted the shifter on the cheek, before standing and stretching, the motion similar to that of a cat. She stopped herself suddenly as she caught sight of something just beyond the Circus entrance, the one that lead into the back tent. Eyes narrowing, she gestured towards Garath, who had been stood watching her. His expression was downright glaring in Erik's direction, though he quickyl switched it as she waved a hand at him to something much more pleasant.

"Yes?" He replied immediately, putting on what he hoped was a loyal sort of look.

"I want you to check that back tent," Neva murmered, "As much as I love places like this... There always seems to be a number of pests about..." Her tone of voice sounded neutral, but there was a slight, hissing edge to it. Nodding, the silver-haired pyschic immediately headed for the entrance that led to the back ring, barely noticing Adriel before he almost walked into her. He was pretty certain Neva had wanted people like Kioko treated like Kioko. Anything for her, naturally.

The male's lips twitched slightly as he enfolded Adriel in what could only be described as an invisible vice. A sort of invisible restraint that would essentially prevent the woman from moving unless he wanted her to; One that was rather tight, needless to say. Being so focused on this one woman, he completely missed the sight of Maya as he pulled open the tent flap that led back into the main ring.

"Looks like you were right," He stated to Neva, who by this point could see Adriel, her expression fuming. He looked rather blatantly at Adriel, before quite literally using his ability to have the woman float a couple of inches from the ground, placing her within the ring and within sight of Neva, keeping his ability wrapped around her like a tightly bound blanket..

The raven haired woman smiled at Garath. "You're ability certainly is useful," She praised slightly as she walked up to the new captive, smiling an evil sort of smile. "Nice of you to join us... Although... I believe it's rude to sneak around like that. You really should have told us you wre there earlier, you know. Tut tut." She murmered, grinning.

Dravius' eyes had been drawn to Erik as soon as he opened his freckly, idiot mouth, sliding next to Neva. His expression went from stormy to murderous in six-point-two seconds as Erik began suggesting something TOTALLY inappropriate for the situation. It's not like he'd even done anything to earn Neva's favour, the git. He was a few seconds away from wrapping his hands aorund the scrawny little moron's neck when Neva made the extremely wise descision to move away from Erik, but to Dravius' annoyance, chose to move on to the la-di-da silver-haired child. Made him want to make sure all of the men here had a terrible encounter with a high-voltage fence. Or rabid dogs.

Or both.

Dravius shook his head with a sigh, noting that Garath was prancing off to do something. It put an expression of muted surprise on his face when he came back with a furious-looking Adriel. It didn't strike him as odd, really. He speculated that Adriel had come in a fit of jealous rage, and wanted to harm poor Neva. He looked mildly horrified. None of his expressions were coming through that clear, because, to be honest, Neva was really, really...really distracting. Extremely so. She was....really pretty.

It was....it was....she was really pretty. It was best to be left at that. Dravius coughed to himself, shoving his hands in his pockets. He stared at the ground, wishing the lovely lady would give him something to do. It was not all that great to be left to his own devices, especially considering that the woman in question was bearing quite a lot of really smooth-looking skin. He bet it was soft, too. Dravius noticed out of the corner of his eye the spurned Erik, who didn't seem to be paying too much attention to the Co-Master, which to him seemed an opportunity ripe for the picking. Taking a quick step towards the much shorter man, he punched him quickly in the jaw, smirking slightly. He then grinned fully at the shifter and mocked, "Oopsy-daisy!"

"True. She's just too mild for anything like that to be necessary, no matter what happened," Adriel agreed quietly. Noticing Maya's less than pleased tone as Dravius eyed up the strange woman, she patted the butterfly's shoulder lightly. "We can figure that out later. After that woman's dealt with and the guys are acting like themselves again."

Adriel frowned when Maya mentioned Raphael having gone into the town. The Circus Master being gone, and the co-master appearantly under the influence of a strange woman meant that, for the time being, the Majikus was without a leader. Right in the midst of a weird situation, too. "Maybe he's back by now?" she suggested, although privately she didn't have much hope for that. Their luck just wasn't that good.

Nodding, the dark haired woman returned her attention back to the group in the middle of the ring, and missing the look Maya threw her way from the circus enterance. Her attention was focused on the woman in the ring, so much so that she didn't realize Garath had headed towards her until it was too late to hide. When she felt the grip of the psychic's power surround her, Adriel grimaced, partly because of the overly tight squeezing, and partly because she'd been captured so easily.

She didn't bother with struggling, knowing that there would be no point to it. "It's even ruder to restrain someone against their will," Adriel shot back. "And to invade their home and manipulate their friends into turning against them." She looked over at Kioko, taking the opportunity now that she was closer to make sure the pyro hadn't been harmed beyond being tied up. "What is your name? And what do you plan to do here?"

-----

Finishing up with the barrier, Selvai hardly expected to see Maya inside of the main tent. Not that it was unusual for her to be there, but since the circus had no shows scheduled yet, it was curious. Striding towards the young woman, Selvai grasped her upper arm before she could attempt to flee. For a second, he felt almost apologetic for handling the smaller woman in such a rough manner, but Neva would know what to do with her. He pulled her along as he went back to the others, dragging her into the ring with him.

"Neva, I believe we have an eavesdropper." Spotting Adriel being held in the air by Garath's powers, the magician pushed Maya in front of him, holding both of her arms securely. "Would you like me to bind these two as well?"

------

Erik's eager grin quickly changed to a sort of sulky, disappointed look as Neva walked away to speak with Garath. Not that he was upset with her, of course. It was everyone else's fault, obviously, for being there. They all just needed to go away somewhere and give the two of them some private time.

He was still brooding over the intrusiveness of the other circus members when that dimwit Dravius approached. Really, what did he want now? The shifter began to say something suitably clever, but still simple enough that Dravius would be able to understand, when the freakishly tall deviant assaulted him, knocking him off of the bench. Although he was momentarily stunned, the shifter recovered from the shock quickly, cradling his sore jaw as he glared up at Dravius.

"You incredibly idiotic ASS," he hissed. Pushing himself upwards with the edge of the bench, Erik swept one of his legs forward, hooking his foot behind the co-master's knee and pulling it forward, knocking the other man off balance. Standing up, he smirked nastily down at Dravius. "Oopsy-daisy," Erik said nastily, in a sing-song voice.

"Oh, deary me... You're probably right," Neva murmered with a mock, overly exaggerated pout. "But, you see... As rude as it may be, I can't risk having you run off anywhere. Although," Here she paused, replacing her pout with a sinister grin. "I don't suppose you really can, all things considered." Well, with Selvai setting up his barrier, the chances of anyone getting out of here without permission were slim.

"Invade?... Goodness me you make it sound so... Barbaric... No. I merely walked in here out of interest, and you're... Friends, just happened to be very, very helpful with assisting me." She responded, her expression flickering slightly as Adriel glanced off towards Kioko. Neva's expression further darkened. "You have no need of my name," She replied, almost hissing as she brought her face to within an inch of Adriel's. "Nor do you need to know why I'm here."

Growling slightly, the dark haired woman pulled away and walked around Adriel, eyes surveying the woman. She was pretty sure she had not come across this persons profile when raiding the Co-Masters van. Not that it mattered. She was restrained, that was all. "Well done," She purred in Garath's direction, earning a triumphant sort of grin from him before turning her attention back to Adriel, her own expression amused.

It was Garath's sudden change in the direction of his gaze that caused Neva to frown slightly, glancing over her shoulder to see both Erik and Dravius trying to get at one another. Luckily, it hadn't got to the point of them trying to do some serious damage to eachother.

Sighing loudly, Neva allowed an irritated look to rest on her face, before she replaced it with a slightly sweeter version. "Oh goodness me, boys... You really don't need to fight over me," She purred, leaving Adriel behind to put a stop to the impeding violence before it got deadly. "You were both doing so incredibly well, too... It's a pity, really." She sighed again, gently touching Erik's shoulder, though her gaze was on Dravius. "Why don't we start again, hm?... You don't want to dissapoint me, do you?"

~~~

Maya had been able to do very little, having been stuck by the tent's back entrance, almost frozen in place by Selvai's mere presence. She wasn't really scared of him, just highly concerned, though that particular feeling seemed to increase tenfold as Garath appeared, shortly taking Adriel prisoner. It was almost a blur, really, although Maya immediately forced herself to not say anything, just in case she should alert Garath to her presence. Of course, that hardly mattered seeing as Selvai was already there.

Before she had so much as a chance to make a run for it, (Not that it would have mattered. Nothing was getting through that barrier), the magician roughly grasped her by the arm, causing her to half-glare at him. Despite knowing that struggling wouldn't get her anywhere, she did it anyway.

"Selvai... What-" She started, cutting off as the striped haired male pulled her along into the main ring.

Neva had still been stood between both Dravius and Erik when Selvai approached, and she glanced quickly over at him as she heard his voice. The anger on her face was unmissable by anyone but the males under her power, and she hissed like an angry cat. This was getting ridiculous. She had to stem this, and fast... Losing control of the men was bad enough, having the damn woman intrude was just making things more difficut.

"No." She stated flatly to Selvai, eyes focused on the two women. "Goodness me you just can't keep your noses out of the door." She stated, still very much glaring at Adriel and Maya, Maya particularly. If there was one thing Neva hated more than women, it was another, pretty woman. It really did annoy her greatly.

"Who are you." Maya stated darkly, a few insults following suit, trying to dislodge her arms from Selvai's grip. It took about a second for her to lose interest in Neva and half-glare at Dravius, managing to somehow look concerned at the same time.

"That. Sweetheart, is none of your damn business." Neva growled, just about reaching the end of her tether by this point. It was supposed to have gone much smoother than this. Following Maya's gaze, Neva snorted as her own landed on the Circus Co-Master. "That one must be important to you." She stated, feeling reckless. A slow, evil smile on her face. "It's a pity, really... None of the men here, including that one, have no real interest in any of you anymore. None of you are really all that important, you see." Perhaps she should prove this. "They only want me. The rest of you are nothing but discarded memories."

Not to mention it would only strengthen her power over the men. "Don't worry," She said, suddenly turning her gaze to the other men, her wicked grin still in place. "You'll all get yours, eventually." Throwing a last disgruntled look at the present females, she turned on her heel and stormed over to where Dravius stood. The woman stood herself on the bleachers, having been unable to really speak to Dravius at her current height.

Leaning forward, she rested her lips just beside the Co-Masters ear, a cruel, amused smile playing on her expression. "Kiss me," She whispered, pulling away long enough to just grin darkly at him. Well. This was always one way to make herself feel better. Not to mention, strengthen her influence. Oh, how wonderful.

Dravius had a very self-satisfied look on his face, up until the moment he was on the ground. Then the expression on his face turned to one that said he was going to separate Erik's head from his shoulders. He got to his feet, snarling slightly, when Neva decided to intervene. But....he wanted to kill Erik. If Neva wanted the ratty little specimen alive, so be it, he guessed. Dravius shrugged to himself, raising his eyebrows when Maya got dragged into the main ring. He didn't think Mayanna would be the jealous type, really. Oh well.

Oh, gosh. It occured to him that Maya might be mad with him for not wanting to be with her anymore, but really, she should understand, since she was seeing Neva, too. Oh no. Ohhhh no. What happened if Maya decided she loved Neva too, and the Co-Master had to fight her for the lovely lady's affection? The thought made his eyebrows arch upwards, and a flicker of worry showed in his eyes as he looked at Maya and Adriel, both of which looked fit to attack poor Neva. And she hadn't done anything to deserve it at all.

All that had happened since she arrived was that she had been bothered. The poor woman must be feeling like no one wanted her here. Well, except for him. And....Erik. The rat. He was trying to set Erik's ginger mop on fire with his glare when Neva came his way, climbing up onto the bleachers in front of him. Dravius let out a quiet "hnnn?" when she brought her face close to his. His mind completely blanked when she issued a command to kiss her.

Without another second of hesitation, Dravius wrapped his arms around Neva, pressed his lips to hers, and proceeded to snog the ever living hell out of her. It really wasn't classy. At all.

((You didn't need to post if you weren't well, you know. xD!!

Also that last sentence made me lol for like five minutes straight. Way to go, Classy-man.))

Ah... Darn that magician. And here Garath had thought he'd be the one getting all the praise for getting ahold of Adriel... Argh, why had he not seen the blonde one, too?... Damnit. Glaring at the back of Selvai's head, he almost seem to ignore everything else that was going on... Well. Everything else but Neva. She he noticed constantly, and because of that, the silver-haired psychic had idly noted her angry expression.

Despite how dark and downright evil it was, all Garath really saw was a pissed young woman, because the poor thing couldn't so much as breathe without people butting in. He almost blamed Selvai again, for bringing Maya in here. Pulling his amber eyes away, he went back to watching Neva as she conversed with Maya. He only shifted a little when the raven-haired beauty decided to address him... And the other men, of course. But he didn't need to care much about them.

Looking slightly confused at Neva's words, the pyschic watched in silence as she approached Dravius, looking only slightly alarmed as she stood herself on the bleachers. Oh god what was this.

Neva had been stood rather sedately next to Dravius, and then, quite suddenly, he was all over her. Garath had a sudden, sharp edged urge to charge over there, but no. He knew Neva wouldn't want that. After all, she had planned this, right?... She probably would never forgive him if he threw Dravius sky high. If he had to choose between letting the Co-Mastr have his moment, or having Neva despise him for intervening, he'd have to put up with the former.

Didn't stop him growling, though.

Maya, who had simply watched Neva in silence, barely registered what was going to happen until it did. Strangely enough, there wasn't a single change in her expression as Dravius quite bluntly helped himself, nothing besides a narrowing of the eyes. She knew full well there was something wrong here, she and Adriel had discussed it earlier, but that hardly lessened the blow of actually seeing this happen. Actually seeing Dravius willingly do this to her.

She wasn't so much angry as increasingly irritated at the moment, though that was changing, most of this emotion directed at Neva rather than the Co-Master, but that didn't stop her almost hating him there and then. It wasn't even so much the actual kissing as... Well. Maybe it was the kissing but it was more the fact that he was clearly enjoying it that stung deeply. There hadn;t been a single, solitary moment where Dravius seemed to have thought this through first. Despite knowing what she did, that Neva was clearly controlling the situation, it still hurt greatly.

Making an almost silent, strangled sort of noise in the back of her throat, she eventually looked away. Ugh. She couldn't stand watching that anymore than she needed to, besides. She was having trouble keeping her emotions in check, and chose to glare at the sand of the ring floor.

Neva caught sight of Maya's diverted attention and smiled, allowing Dravius to just, carry on as he was for a minute or two. She hadn't really needed to return the kiss, seeing as the Co-Master seemed to be managing well enough for the both of them, although she had wrapped her arms firmly around his neck, just because she could. Once she'd been sure she'd achieved the desired effect, Neva disentangled herself from Dravius' arms, before patting him on the cheek.

"Very well done. You're not bad at all," She chuckled, hopping from the bleacher and strolling back towards the two captives. She barely glanced at Maya, who still had her attention diverted, beforel looking at Adriel. Grinning, she reached out a hand and grasped Adriel firmly by the chin. "Tell me... Do you have a lover?... Perhaps he's already under my spell," She murmered, glancing around. "If not... He soon will be. You can be almost certain..."

Aftr a quick pause, Neva grinned again, opening her mouth to continue before there was a strange, cracking sort of sound. It cut her off, and she immediately glanced around for the source of the quite noise, looking upward with a slight concern. Maya had also noted the sound, and was currently looking at the far off tent wall. What in the...

Erik was very happily smirking at the sight of Dravius sprawled on the tent floor, when Adriel and Maya were dragged into the main ring, both looking rather unhappy. The shifter would have felt rather badly for the restrained women, except that they were obviously making Neva unhappy by being there. Honestly, the poor, fragile beauty couldn't get a moment of peace from all the jealous females around here.

He was about to comfort Neva over the obviously stressful enviroment she was being forced to deal with, when the dark haired woman muttered something into Dravius' ear. The redhead nearly choked on his tongue when the taller male began making out quite shamelessly with Neva. He nearly tackled Dravius off of her, the only thing stopping him the obvious fact that Neva wanted him to kiss her, for some ungodly reason. Erik exhaled through clenched teeth, his breath making a hissing noise as it escaped.

---------

Well, damn. There went any chance of being rescued soon. Adriel slumped as Selvai dragged Maya to the main ring with him. They'd have to hope someone missed them and tried to come looking for the lot of them. Not that she was putting much hope on it.

"You're disgusting," Adriel muttered, as Neva proceeded to force Dravius to swap spit with her. Not that it looked like he needed to be forced. She wasn't going to point that out, though, not when Maya was right beside her and having to watch the whole disgraceful scene. At least it was over quickly, even though the seductress was now moving back toward them.

"That's none of your damned business," Adriel growled, twisting her head to dislodge Neva's grip on her chin. She began hoping that perhaps Raphael wouldn't make it back from town soon, even if his abilities would be of some use right now. The thought of the circus master falling under her power, and being used like Dravius, made her wish Garath's ability wasn't so powerful. Being able to punch this tramp in the face would have greatly improved Adriel's mood right then.

---------

Selvai tensed as he watched Dravius kiss Neva, his fingers digging into Maya's arms. It was quite disgusting really, having to see the delicate Neva being pawed at by the co-master. But, as much as it turned his stomach to see, the magician thought that Neva probably wouldn't appreciate him rescuing her from the scarred ape. Since she was allowing him to kiss her, she must have her reasons for it. Didn't stop him from fantasizing about Dravius magically having an accident, though.

He was thinking of the many spellbooks he possessed when a loud cracking noise echoed throughout the tent. Selvai felt the barrier surrounding the tent being tested, as though someone were trying to break through, and he forgot about murdering Dravius for the moment. "Someone is examining the barrier," he announced. "I believe they are trying to determine how strong it is," Selvai said with a frown. Only one other person in the circus was able to create magical barriers like himself. If she were here, the barrier may not hold for much longer.

Immediately pulling her attention away from the peculiar sound, Neva actually sneered in Adriel's direction, the expression marring her features. "Disgusting?... Only to you, sweetheart," She hissed with venom. "The men clearly wouldn't agree." Growling slightly, having been alarmed by the previous sounds and irritated by the interruptions, Neva turned flatly away from Adriel to glare openly at Selvai.

His barrier... Breached?... No. No, no. How dare he allow this to happen. He was supposed to keep people out. Growing increasingly angry by the minute, she actually snarled. "Listen, magician. You will lose favour with me unless you do something about keeping whoever is out there OUT. If they so much as set foot in here, I'm afraid I'll have to dismiss you." She stated, her ability still keeping a firm hold on him.

Maya, who had still been watching the tent wall, turned back to the raven-haired woman to watch as she spoke to Adriel and Selvai, being on par with the former with thinking about the problem of Raphael falling undr the woman's spell. The last thing they needed was to face Raphael. A guy who could mess with every sense. They'd probably never get out of this if that happened.

Neva had resorted this point by pacing angrily. It was too soon. If another male appeared, it would take time to influence him to her will, probably too much time to do it safely. He'd most likely get out of there before it took hold... If it was anymore than one man, she wouldn't be able to get both of them. Not for a long time. And if it was a woman, well... That just bloody figured. Neva could probably have that one restrained like the others, though.

Growling, the raven haired woman immediately made her way to stand by Dravius and Erik again, gesturing for Garath to walk a little closer.Just in case. Just as he approached, however, there was a second cracking sound, louder than the first, and very quickly followed by what sounded like shattering glass. Shortly following this, there was a faint murmer beyond the entrance leading into the back tent, before a woman with caramel hair and hard green eyes stepped into the ring.

She didn't even glance around, merely focusing her gaze straight on the one face she didn't know. Following her came Raphael, looking irate and slightly moody, and after him, Xavier, who let loose a low whistle when he caught sight of Neva.

"Sexy much?" He asked, blowing strands of black out of his eyes as another member followed into the ring. His comment was swiftly responded with an elbow to the ribs. "OW. What the he-"

"Shut up. I'm trying to figure out what to do." Karene, whose gaze was still firmly on Neva, (Though she hadn't missed the others), tested checking for any extra spells that may well have been placed around the strange woman by simply holding out her hand. Clearly there wasn't, except for the fact of the men. But if they acted quick enough, that shouldn't be a problem.

Having bumped into Raphael on her return to the Circus in the nearby town, they had shortly been informed by a member that some peculiar woman had somehow managed to work her way into the place, and seemed to be controlling the male half of the population. Well. Nothing these days went unnoticed by the Circus. Raphael had been far too tight with the security measures for anything to be missed for long, really.

Neva was fuming. With the arrival of these idiots her plans had gone straight out of the window, unless she could keep them talking for a long, long time so that her ability could get a grip on the new males. Which just wouldn't work. Not to mention the woman stood there. Brow twitching slightly, she let out another hiss. "I wouldn't rush into doing anything stupid," She growled in the new arrivals direction, earning a few raised eyebrows. Grinning, Neva continued, her voice dark. . "I can have your friends kill you, if need be. They'd do it without thinking... Or maybe... Just maybe, they'd much prefer tearing eachother apart?... Quite literally." She said with relish. "God only knows how much they realllllly want to."

Dravius had been greatly enjoying kissing Neva, and would have been even happier to continue doing it, when Neva pulled away. The Co-Master made a small noise that sounded rather disappointed, then crossed his arms and put all of his weight on one leg. Oh my. Maya seemed rather angry. And said anger seemed to be directed at him. He managed to look at least a little worried, but the expression only lasted a few seconds before he went back to staring at Neva. She had tasted almost exactly like she had smelled, and Dravius had a slightly dreamy look on his face, a smirk tugging up the corners of his lips.

Neva's rather peeved tone of voice caught his attention, and Dravius managed to focus on what was being said. Really. Maya and Addie needed to calm themselves. Voices were being raised. Not nice. Not nice at ALL. A cracking sound made the tall male jump slightly, and he blinked slowly as three people filed in. My god. Why wouldn't men stop flocking to Neva's presence. Only he was allowed to flock.

Pouting slightly, the Co-Master was taken by surprise by a few of Neva's words. Kill? But... Well, he didn't mind ripping some of Selvai's weave tracks out, but Maya really wasn't that dangerous. I mean. She had dainty butterfly wings and threw what amounted to glitter. But. Neva was the most important thing to consider, and really, when it came down to it, Dravius would do anything to make her happy. Also she smelled nice. That was important. Dravius now had to insane urge to smush his face into her hair and take a nice, deeeeeeep inhale. He did know that most girls weren't fans of that, though.

Like Maya, Adriel had looked in the direction of the tent once the cracking sound had started. Hearing Selvai's warning to Neva the dark haired woman relaxed slightly. Maybe things weren't as bad as she thought. Once the cracking sound returned, she couldn't help but smirk nastily in Neva's direction. "I think your plan is falling apart, sweetie," Adriel sad mockingly.

At the sound of the barrier breaking apart, she glanced upward, nearly expecting shards of falling glass to be accompanying the sound.

The voices from the tent entrance caught her attention next, and Adriel could have laughed in relief as three figures stepped into the tent. Not wanting to have to deal with Raphael under Neva's control, she shouted out to Karene before they could get much farther inside. "Hey, Karene! Don't let those two get too close to her. She's controlling the guys. I don't know how far her influence reaches, but we can't have her get her claws into anyone else," Adriel called out, her gaze sliding over to the circus master as she spoke.

------

Damnit. More people who would bother the lovely Neva. That useless magician and his useless stage tricks. He should have just given Neva his van to hide out in. No one ever went in there.

Kill them? Well. That was a bit drastic, really. Sure, he'd enjoy shoving Dravius' head into a meat grinder. Immensely. But Maya and Adriel weren't all that dangerous in his experience, as long as you kept your hands to yourself. And Kioko was practically a kitten. Except for the setting things on fire, but he'd never seen her do that to a person.

Neva was just stressed, he decided. Who wouldn't be, with so many jealous women constantly trying to jump you. And people barging in when you wanted to be left alone. Plus, having to kiss Dravius would ruin anyone's day, Erik bet.

------

Selvai snarled uncharacteristically. Losing favor? No, this was unacceptable. The magician let go of Maya, preparing another spell to strengthen the barrier, when it collapsed completely, the sound harsh and loud inside the mostly empty tent. Startled, Selvai allowed the spell to unwind as he glared at the group entering the tent. He wasn't surprised Raphael and Xavier would want to see Neva's beauty for themselves. She was rather lovely. Unfortunately for them, she didn't appear to appreciate the visit. And judging by her words, she wouldn't mind if he got rid of them for her.

Dealing with Karene would be a bit more awkward, however. She would obviously be upset that he was now interested in Neva instead of her. Maybe even angry enough to try and attack the dark haired woman. Not that he would allow that, of course. Karene would just have to deal with him and Neva being together now. And if she couldn't, well. He had plenty of spells that she had no way of countering.

At Neva's somewhat blunt and threatening words, Karene simply raised an eyebrow, Raphael stood to one side still looking miffed, Xavier on her other; Also with raised brows. She didn't even bother to respond to the dark-haired womans words, not even seeming to be all that surprised by her revalation. Karene, like Raphael, had been pretty much briefed on what had happened prior to them showing up, and she drew up her own conclusions about the womans ability.

Still, the caramel haired woman allowed her gaze to stray to Adriel when she spoke, flickering her gaze to both Raphael and Xavier. "Either of you feel like you want to worship the ground she walks on, yet?" Karene asked, quite seriously, a brow raised. Raphael just responded with a hesitant shake of the head. He felt peculiar. But not quite strongly enough to go that far. Xavier just shrugged. "I don't think so... But I wouldn't mind at all getting a bit of that as it is-" He started, only to be cut off when Karene promptly punched him in the side.

"OW. What- Stop hitting me, you mad woman." He grimaced, rubbing his rib and wincing as the green eyed magician glared at him. She didn't bother to respond besides a slight roll of the eyes, and simply turned her gaze back to Neva, who was actually looking rather concerned by this point.

Well. She had no way out. And she wasn't going to get control of those two men quick enough to get out either. Although, if she acted quick enough, the hostages might proof useful... She still had the pyro bound, and the winged woman and that other one.

Hissing, Neva growled loudly, about to open her mouth and issue a command when a quick succession of things seemed to happen. Before she even had so much time as to draw a breath, Karene had quite clearly seen what she was going to do. Or atleast assumed what she was going to do. And going by what Adriel had said, the boys would have done absoloutely anything Neva asked of them which could have been a very bad thing.

Without a single change in her expression, the female magician thrust one hand forward, froming a spell that took less than a second to fire, shooting with lightening speed. It wasn't visible, and hit Neva squarely without her so much as even knowing it had been heading towards her. The dark haired woman was flung a good few feet backwards, landing flatly on her back, black haired ribboned in the sand of the ring.

Garath, who had still had his ability tied firmly around Adriel, actually let her go in a fit of rage. He stepped forward, firmly preparing to do something painful to Karene for harming Neva as she had, until he stopped himself mid stride. His expression went from angered to horrified in the space of a second, looking wid-eyed at Neva. Oh god. Oh god. What he done. Oh god. No, no no no.

Karene immediately strolled forward then, walking straight to the other side of the ring without pausing to look around and crouching down to look at the now unmoving Neva. She hadn''t missed Garath;s expression. "Welcome back to reality." She said wryly, nudging the unconscious woman with a foot, probably harder than was necassary.

"I don't... I don't..." Was all he could say before he collapsed onto the nearby bleachers, holding his head in his hands with a groan. He rather disturbed by the thoughts that still lingered in his head, although this time it didn't seem nearly as attractive as it had done before. Somehow it seemed dirty. Dirty and downright wrong.

While Karene continued to look over the stranger, Xavier strolled to a stop beside her, raising his eyebrows. "What did you do?" He asked, earning a shrug from the magician.

"Just something to knock her out. I assumed her ability was similar to Raphael's, and probably wouldn't work if she wasn't here to actually work it."

"Smart."

Raphael, once Karene and Xavier had dissappeared to go look at the strange person now lying on the floor, had sprinted over to Kioko and unbound the young woman, ensuring she was okay before stepping over to where the butterfly and Adriel stood.

Maya, who had ben rubbing her arms firmly since Selvai had finally let her go, jumped slightly when Raphael appeared between her and Adriel, and looked up at him with wide eyes. At his question asking whether or not they were both all right, the blonde merely nodded, not really trusting herself to speak. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt at the moment. She wasn't harmed physically, anyway. Her current issue was more an emotional burden she wasn't quite willing to bear yet. "I... Have to go get Angel." She said quietly, excusing herself from the tent without even so much as a glance in Dravius' direction.

The Ring-Master sighed, then looked over when Karene shouted at him. "Hey. What do you want us to do with this?" She asked, standing and pointing a finger at Neva. The Ring-Master thought a moment.

"Xavier. Take her to Clarice's van, and be sure the shadow twins are there to watch her too. When she wakes up, I'll have someone ask her what she's doing here. Preferable a female." He snorted, then turning his attention to other men in the tent, going by Garath's reaction and assuming they'd all broken free of that spell. "Are you all quite out of your own worlds?" He asked, stepping to the side as Dravius' brother carried Neva out of the tent.

Karene, meanwhile, had walked back over to where Selvai stood. "You." She stated, grabbing a hold of his sleeve and dragging him towards the tent entrance. "Have some explaining to do."

Dravius had been studying the three people who had come into the tent with a slightly unfocused gaze. This was getting boring. The Co-Master's hands seemed to be operating independently, one set of fingers drumming against the side of his leg near his pocket, the other hand twirling a large coin in between his first two digits. He was also humming a jerky little tune under his breath, not really audible to anyone other than himself.

Dravius did, however snap to attention when he noticed Neva seemed to be getting increasingly more insensced. The Co-Master straightened up a little, ready to defend yonder fair maiden from any horrors that might befall her, when said fair maiden was suddenly thrown back, and seemed to be out cold. There was a brief expression of utter fury on his face, and the tall male opened his mouth to begin a string of what most likely be expletives, when he got the urge to look back at the sprawled out Neva. As soon as he did, he felt extremely sick. Especially because she didn't look like a godess any more.


Oh god. Holy shit. Dravius' eyes became as round and dinner plates, and he looked positively panicked when Maya slipped away, making small "Nnn! Nnn! Nnn!" noises, and shifting from foot to foot. He then just began a long string of "No. Nonononononono,"s under his breath, stopping only to draw air into his lungs, then turned in a quick circle, panting slightly. The Co-Master seemed to be teetering on the verge of complete hyperventilation. He brought the side of his thumb to his mouth and began gnawing at the cuticle, drawing blood in a matter of seconds. He continued heedless, and stood stock still expect for the biting, and a slight trembling. The chorus of "no"s had turned into 'Ohgodohgodohgods'.

Having watched as Karene pretty much just dragged her fiancee out of the Ring, Raphael snorted with quit amusement, despite the recent events. Well. Nothing serious had happened, not really. It could have, needless to say, but this time they'd got out of it lightly. The worst that seemed to have happened was the sudden realisation of the men involved.

At least it was going by Garath's reaction, the pyschic still sat on the bleachers, eyes on the floor. Shaking his head, Raphael couldn't help but smile slightly. Poor guys. He eventually let loose a quiet sigh, before glancing over towards a rather turmoiled looking Dravius. As soon as he started chewing on his fingers, Raphael promptly strolled over, gently hitting the Co-Master in the head. "Stop chewing on yourself." He said, gray eyes focusing on where Neva had landed.

He tutted. "It's over. Can't imagine it was all that unpleasant, though." He snorted slightly, his tone lightly sarcastic, crossing his arms and focusing his gaze back on his oldest friend. "You're certainly taking it hard." He stated.

~~~

God. That was a... Bizarre experience. And now that Neva;s hold had broken, Garath found it increasingly difficult to even imagine WHY he acted as he had. He just... Didn't understand. It was like... He had to do it. Yet, it had felt as though he still had his own free will and could have done anything he wanted. It was very peculiar... Shaking his head quickly, he felt his heart sink as he thought rather abruptly about Kioko.

If she had been in real danger, he wouldn't have helped her, and that thought actually terrified him. He would have just stood by and watched her get hurt, willingly, annd probably with only a fleeting guilt, before he went back to fawning over... Ugh. That woman. That was probably the worst thing. The male wasn't even capable of meeting the pyro's eyes as he stalked over, before seating himself a couple of feet away from her current location. There was little point hiding from it.

"... I'm... Sorry." Was all he managed, amber eyes fixed on the sand of the Circus Ring, silver strands hanging over his eyes. He still felt strongly that he had done her a great injustice... It didn't even feel like he could blame Neva... Because it stil felt like he'd done what he had willingly, and that of course, was his own fault. Even if the suductress had caused it.

Dravius had made a small "Nnnhuh?" noise when Raphael's hand made contact with his head. His eyes were still wide, and his eyebrows arched upwards almost comically. He had rounded his shoulders over, which made him quite a bit shorter, still absently chewing on the side of his thumb. He almost looked like he was about to burst into tears, and said, "N-no. I d-don't want to." He shook the hand that was bleeding and put the index finger of other between his teeth.

Dravius straightened up a bit at Raphael's rather flippant remark, brows furrowing. He turned around, hunching over once again, tugging on the skin of his currently-undamaged thumb. "Of course I am. My m-mouth still tastes of l-l-leather." He looked at the ground, hair shadowing his face. "And I have the feeling that Maya won't be v-very happy." He took his fingers out of his mouth, seven of his fingers oozing red.

Dravius sighed heavily and edged over to the spot where you could still faintly see where Neva had landed, looking rather nervous. The tall male still looked upset, twisting his bleeding fingers in his sleeves. He was wearing a dark shirt, so the blood didn't show very much, but the tips of his fingers were always a rather inflamed, bright red from all the picking at them he did. "Oh god, M-Maya's going to k-kill me." Dravius wailed, still looking fit to begin a fit of waterworks.

Selvai had began to move toward Karene, intent on revenge for daring to harm Neva, when a look of confusion crossed his face. He glanced at the now unconcious Neva, then at Karene, and covered his face with a quiet groan. This was so, so bad.

Remembering the incapacitated Kioko, the magician turned back to the bleachers where she had been sat. He released the binding spells, looking at the pyro with what he hoped was a sufficiently apologetic look. "I am very, very sorry for that," he told her.
"'Sokay," Kioko said, although the look on her face was less than forgiving as she pushed herself upright. At Raphael's question, Selvai simply nodded, more concerned with Karene walking towards him.

"Hello, dear," he said weakly, following along with a wince when she grabbed his sleeve and headed outside.

-------

Finally able to move again, Kioko glared over at Neva before Xavier carried the passed out woman from the tent. The pyro sat up, stretching her arms and legs and rubbing her wrists where they had been bound with the rope. She watched Garath stagger over to the bench, sitting a few feet away from her.

"You couldn't help it," Kioko told him, although with a slightly flat tone of voice. She could understand that none of them had been in their right frame of mind during the whole ordeal. But the whole thing had still left her upset and angry, even if it wasn't directed toward any of the men involved. The pyro slid closer to Garath, bumping his shoulder to get his attention when she noticed him staring at the tent floor. "I'm not mad at you. Really."

-------

"Did you really have to be so violent with her?" Erik asked, kneeling down beside Neva after Karene had cast her spell. "I understand she's a bit wicked, but that's no reason to be so rough." He brushed a few strands of dark hair out of her face as he continued. "Wasn't having to kiss Dravius enough punishment for trying take over?"

He scrambled to his feet as Xavier picked her up, taking the dark haired woman out of the tent and toward Clarice's van. "I could carry her," the shifter protested, walking close to them as they went. "Seriously, it would be no trouble. You could let me deal with getting her to the van and go find the shadow twins if you want," he insisted.

Raphael couldn't quite get over Dravius' surprised expression; Seeming almost glazed over as he was. It would, in the Ring-Master's opinion, have been incredibly amusing if not for how upset the taller male looked. He raised an eyebrow at the Co-Master's reulctance to listen to his advice on the chewing front. Although that was probably nothing new, he never listened much anyway.

Watching carefully, Raphael's expression flickered to a slight confusion as Dravius spoke, and he responded a quiet "Huh,". Pausing, he glanced fleetingly around the tent before returning his gaze back to the younger male. What in the heck did leather have to do with anything? He wondered, shaking his head quickly.

"Maya?... What exactly are you talking about?... What have you done?" The Ring-Master asked, actually looking slightly concerned by this point. He risked a glance over to where both Garath and Kioko sat, before shaking his head quickly. His thoughts immediately directed towards what he thought Neva may have forced Dravius to do that would have warranted this reaction. Had he hurt someone on the way in here?... On that womans orders?... Somehow he doubted it... There had been no reports of any casualties. Not besides Kioko, but she was absoloutely fine physically. But maybe any notice of this had gone... Well. Unnoticed?

Raphael continued to watch in silence as Dravius sidled off, frowning in thought, only moving over ever so slightly when the Co-Master spoke again. Surely it wasn't that bad?... Unless he had murdered a member, in which case it would be. Very much so.

Shaking his head again, he hit Dravius lightly on the shoulder. "I'm sure it's not that bad," He said uncertainly, glancing towards the entrance that led into the backstage tent. "You probably know Maya better than I do. She's not angry material... It won't last that long. Look," He stated, fiddling around with the strands of blonde over his eyes. "I need to go speak with Clarice... Just. Talk to her, or something. Hm?" He suggested, whacking Dravius on the shoulder again before heading off, out towards the back of the tent; Throwing a wave in Garath and Kioko's direction.

~~~

Maya had headed straight for her van, paying little to no heed to anything else, really. She did notice the sky though, which had become the funny shade of blue just before sunset. Glancing fleetingly up at it, she brought her gaze back to earth just as soon as she reached her destination. She thanked the member who she had quite blatantly thrown Angel at, before slipping into the van to find her daughter in the cot, face smushed against the bars. "Hello, love," Maya smiled slightly, reaching over and pulling her daughter up into her arms.

At the sight of her mother, Angel had pretty much gone mad, giggling and "Buh"-ing all over the place. She clung to her mother's face as the blonde lifted her, wiggling around as the butterfly sat herself on the bed, pulling her legs up and crossing them, and placing Angel in the gap between. The little dark haired baby paused for a minute to try and get her bearings, and trying to decide what to do, when she seemed to choose that bugging her mother was best at this moment in time. Well. She was right there in front of her, and her blocks were just too far away at the moment.

Reaching up, the little girl pulled herself unsteadily to her feet, using Maya's dress to hold onto as she wobbled about, holidng her mouth open.

Smiling again, her mother leaned forward to give her daughter a quick kiss before snuggling her cheek on her daughters head of dark hair. "I love you, sweetheart," She murmered, pulling away at Angel's sudden giggling and holding her daughters little hands as the baby tried to keep her balance, stood on the uneven surface of the duvet and sticking her little wings in the air.

~~~

Garath had still had his gaze firmly planted on the floor of the Ring, even as she spoke. No, he couldn't help it, really. It still made him feel awful, though. Afterall, it still almost felt as though he had done exactly what he wanted to, rather than what he had been forced to do.

Mumbling a little, he raised a hand and rubbed it over his eyes, only looking up when he felt the pyro's contact with his shoulder. "Hm?" He inquired weakly, smiling a little before looking back at the sand. "Well... That's good, at least." He responded. "Doesn't stop me hating myself for it, though. It kind of feels like I had the strength to refuse that woman, but didn't... Know what I mean?... It's like... I felt like I could have done what I wished but... I know for a fact I wouldn't have... Just stood by and watch you get taken like that... So maybe I didn't have control. It's rather frightening."

He sighed, leaning his head on a hand that was placed firmly on his knee. He looked up over to where Raphael and Dravius were speaking. "Huh. Could have ended far worse, I guess." Shaking his head, he leant back, plastered on another smile, and looked back at Kioko. "I'm still sorry, though."

~~~

Xavier had been heading straight for where Raphael had suggested, Clarice's van, when a voice made him roll his eyes. He flickered a glance over his shoulder, before snorting quietly and turning back, smiling slightly. As annoying as Erik was to most members, Xavier just found him somewhat amusing... Well. Most of the time. But that was probably because he spent very little time in the Circus like the others did.

"You know what?" He said, shifting the unconscious Neva slightly on his shoulder. "I think I can manage." He shook his head slightly, before pausing just outside Clarice's van. Knocking quickly, the woman answered the door almost immediately, confronting the two male's and the out cold female with a raised eyebrow. Inviting them in, Xavier took the time to explain what he knew of the situation, which wasn't really a lot, but it got the message across.

"Huh. Well. If Raphael asked... All right." She grumbled, looking slightly miffed at the dark haired stranger now placed on the spare bed in the van. "Just hurry up and go find those twins... I can't stay in here all day,"

Lifting his hands, Xavier hopped out of the van, being sure to drag Erik with him just in case he decided to stay behind, probably earning a sore ear from Clarice in the process. The male paused outside the van to glance skyward, noting the intrusion of orange and red into the blue. He exhaled, then strolled away from Clarice's van. "See you later," He said in farewell to Erik, pausing only to look over his shoulder. "And... Stay out of Clarice's van. Just because you can't see those twins doesn't mean they're not there," He offered as a friendly, sarcastic reminder, before chuckling quietly and continuing on his way.

~~~

Having got a firm hold of her fiancee's sleeve, Karene led Selvai straight out of the main tent and towards the van she shared with him. She relinquished her hold on his arm just as she reached the door, before slipping inside and pulling the door to, without actually closing it. She swiftly made her way to a nearby chair, then pulled off her shirt, revealing the white tank top underneath.

Blowing her hair out of her face, the green-eyed woman walked back to the door and opened it, leaning against the doorframe and crossing one leg over the other. She eyed Selvai without a change in her expression, then sighed. "So what was that?" She asked again, hopping the steps and sitting on them. "You guys certainly got taken in easy. Didn't put up much of a fight, I hear," Smiling slightly, she snorted quietly, actually looking somewhat amused by this point. "Pfff. I come home after three weeks and lo' and behold my lover's off consorting with a..." She paused, looking off into space for a minute. "Well. Whatever that was."

"Still. Can't blame you, I suppose. And uh, you really need to work on those barriers." She actually laughed, leaning to rest her arms on her dark jeaned knees "So go on. What happened?"

Dravius had immediately clammed up when Raphael asked him exactly what he had done, covering the lower haf of his face with his large sleeves, still staring wide-eyed at his friend. Oh god. He really wanted to spit repeatedly. The inside of his mouth tasted like he had put an entire peice of leather into his gaping noise void, and it was making him fidget, as outside of influence, it really wasn't a pleasant taste. Vaguely fishy.

Dravius jumped at the two smacks he recieved on the shoulder, offering weak noises of protest as Raphael left, managing to tug on his sleeve once or twice before the Ringmaster mad ehi cunning escape. "But...but...alright." He muttered, shifting from foot to foot, then shuffling out of the main tent, still looking ridiculously worried.

The tall Co-Master had assumed Maya would be in their van, with Angel, and hey, he was right. Dravius stood outside with only half his face poking into the doorway, watching Maya play with Angel, who seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. "H-hi?" He called softly, still with the only part of himself showing the bit of his head above his eyes, and his fingers wrapped around the edge of the door frame.

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


Actually, the aformentioned shadow twins had been tailing Xavier around for a while now. He was just...really hot. He was like Dravius, except somehow much better. Much better. Both girls had been skulking about in the shadows of the main tent, and that weird woman certainy did need watching. Huh. Talk about stalking coming in handy! See, once Erik came near to Xavier, the twins decided to just....hop to Erik's shadow so it wouldn't look as if they had been tagging along with Xavier.

As Xavier began to walk away, both girls spiraled out of Erik's shadow, that was just lying on the ground like a complete lazy lump, white smiles splitting the pitch black of their faces. Blinking yellow eyes, the twins twined their arms togather and asked in unison, "We heard we were needed?" They were still grinning hugely, pig-tailed hair trailing down their backs.

((OH GOD WHAT DID I NAME THEM HOLY SHIT I DON'T REMEMBER.))

((Tapp and Spyne?... Something. Why do I remember this. o-o ALSO SOMEONE POST ASAP. ANYONE. I'M GOING TO DIE of sheer boredom. *Cries*))

Xavier had still been heading away from Clarice's van when other voices seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and he stopped mid-stride to look over his shoulder. Oh. Well that was coincidental. Just a bit. Sort of. Well. He hadn't missed them emerging from Erik's shadow, and he hadn't seen them move across the earth meaning they'd probably been there a while. He idly wondered just how long he and Erik had been followed, an eyebrow raised.

Shaking his head, he slid his hands into his pockets. At least he wouldn't have to trail around the Circus in order to find those two now, although that meant he was out of a job.

Now he'd have to find something else to do, and preferably not anywhere near Clarice's van. He didn't quite fancy going through what Selvai, Dravius and the others had should that Neva gain consciousness. Although he supposed if he was under the influence it wouldn't really matter all that much. Shrugging to himself, Xavier blew a strand of black out of his face, then grinned at the shadow twins.

"That's right," He responded, gesturing at the nearby van. "Guarding duty. I'm sure Clarice will fill you in on the details." He waved a hand, then turned on his heel and headed off, not entirely sure where exactly he was going.

~~~

Angel had thought she was doing incredibly well. Considering how squishy the floor was, she hadn't yet fallen over. Saying that she wasn't really holding herself up. Her mother was doing that bit for her. Gurgling, the little glanced about her, seemingly looking for something before trying to lean towards Maya.

The blonde resisted the little girls advances with a slight smile, only for a short time, before she eventually gave in and just hugged the dark-haired baby. Angel lasted a few seconds before she went back to standing, and wobbling, when Dravius' tentative voice floated through the doorway. The little girl's immediate reaction was to look over her shoulder with a "Da,", and probably would have faceplanted the bed had Maya not been keeping a hold of her.

Maya, however, just looked at the door. Well. He certainly seemed nervous. He should have probably known by now that it was her. And therefor usually very much incapable of being angry at him. Sure. She was angry, to but it was doubtful that emotion was directed at the Co-Master. It was more Neva, she was pissed with. The furthest it got with Dravius was irritation. No. She was more upset and dissapointed than anything when it came to him, really. Still... Her anger would probably be taken out on him, despite it's cause being elsewhere.

Sighing, she frowned at what she could see of his face through the door. Honestly, he could have passed for a naughty schoolboy hovering around like that. "Welcome back," She said, her voice a tad tighter that it would usually have been as she watched Angel sit herself back down on the bed, giggling, innocent and oblivious. Shifting herself, the butterfly-winged young woman lifted her daughter off the bed and leaned over, depositing her on the floor. Angel, naturally, made a beeline for the now-in-range blocks and started amusiing herself with them as Maya's gaze returned to Dravius. "Well, what are you stood out there for?"

Dravius had wiggled a few fingers at his daughter at her quiet exclamation, smiling behind the door frame. he had actually assumed a rather odd position to make sure the rest of his body was hidden except for the top of his face. He winced slightly at the tightened-up tone in Maya's voice, and he muttered something into the doorframe, staring at the ground, then stepped into the van, still lookng sheepish, shoulders rounded.

"Well, I thought you might be.....angry. A little." Dravius held his first finger and thumb together to show just how little she might be angry, then stuffed his hands in his pockets, staring at his feet, which were slightly turned in at the moment. "Or...a lot, really. And, I deserve it." He was still looking at his toes as he said it, and was mumbling quite a bit. "And, um. You didn't deserve to have that happen to you, and...." Dravius trailed off, then stared at Maya, eyebrows arched upwards.

Suddenly, the Co-Master strode forewards a few steps and picked Maya up, wrapping his arms around her and nearly wailing, "I'm so sorryyyyyyy. Please forgive meeeeee." Then proceeding with his snuffling and continued to hold Maya at least six inches above the ground.

"I wasn't going to break into it," the red head told him. "Maybe just... stand guard outside. You know, so that no one will come sniffing around trying to disturb her. Before anyone can question her, I mean. Don't want her getting away now that she's been caught, right?"

Erik managed not to scream when the shadow twins suddenly appeared in front of him, instead letting out a high pitched sound resembling a startled guinea pig. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, huffing indignantly. "Must you two sneak around like that? You could have frightened me to death, and then how would you have explained to Raphael that you killed one of his performers?" he complained. "Now, if you're done, I believe the two of you are needed inside."

-------

"I.." Selvai paused, then moved over to the stairs with Karene, taking the bottom step as his seat. He exhaled heavily, taking a moment to think before answering her questions. "As far as I know, that woman has the ability to enchant men into doing her bidding. She took control of Erik, Dravius, Garath, and myself, and took Kioko hostage. She then had us all move to the main tent and ordered me to place a barrier around it to keep everyone out. My guess is that she needed time to recover after using her ability on the men. Maya and Adriel had the misfortune of being inside the tent when I raised the barrier," the magician explained.

"I must admit, I am glad you are not that upset with what happened," Selvai said. "I would have thought you'd be just a bit angry, even if I was being influenced by an outside force." He reached up, touching one of the strands of caramel hair that hung over her shoulders, smiling fondly. "I missed you. It is lucky my barriers do need a bit of work, don't they?" he said jokingly.

At Dravius' muttered reply, at least. That's what Maya assume it was, she simply continued to look at him. There ws very little in the way of a shift in her expression, and as the tall, dark-haired Co-Master stepped into the van, she exhaled quietly through her nose.

As he started speaking, Maya's gaze drifted to his fingers as he illustrated what it was he was saying, before looking back at his face. He certainly did seem rather upset. Although admittedly it was probably caused more from his concern that she was angered with him than anything else. Like hurting her feelings, perhaps. The butterfly continued to watch him, blinking once or twice, and looking slightly alarmed as Dravius suddenly surged forward.

As she was, pretty much just pulled from the bed, the blonde made an irritated noise in the back of her throat. Honestly. It wasn't that much of a problem, but Dravius always seemed to want to solve his issues while she was airborne. She just looked at him as he wailed, a short silence following his snuffling.

Angel, meanwhile, had been sat quietly with her blocks, up until the point her father shot into the room and lifted her mother off the ground. She blinked, then with a squeal of delight, threw the block she'd been holding before crawling madly over to where Daddy stood. She wanted in. Right now. Reaching over, the little girl tugged on Dravius' pant leg, then pulled herself up with a wobble, reaching one little arm up towards her parents. "Da,"

Maya had still been looking slightly concerned at Dravius' sudden reaction, before glancing down at her daughter. "I'm.. Not really angry." She said, pulling her eyes back to Dravius and having to lean away from him so that she could look at him. "More annoyed. And not... Really at you, either." She frowned slightly, looking torn. She almost wanted to be angry at him... But she couldn't... And not just because she loved him, but because It hadn't really been his fault, so the feeling was sort of unfounded, really.

"I can't... Blame you if it wasn't really your doing..." She muttered, looking at the van wall. "It was more... Upsetting, than anything, I guess..." Here she paused, then looked back at the Co-Master with furrowed brows and another, deep frown. "There was really no need to suck her face off like that, though." She said suddenly, voice cold, actually looking slightly miffed and pouty by this point. "Sheesh... Didn't hold back on my account, did you?"

And just like that, she was irritated again, wriggling out of Dravius' arms and walking back to the bed. On top of this, the whole thing in general, she didn't feel she could handle him carrying her around like that and feeling sorry for himself. Sighing loudly, she fell forward, face first onto the bed, literally. There was a good amount of muffled talk, which eventually died off into silence.

The irritation had fled again, leaving way to a strange sort of sadness. Lucky for Maya, her face was currently pressed into the duvet, and as such, it prevented any tears from emerging. Probably just as well, 'cause right then and there, she felt like she could have sobbed.

Angel had watched the whole thing in silence, eyes wide, before she let go of her fathers leg to crawl after her mother, changing tack at the last minute and crawling back towards her blocks once she spotted all the pretty colours. Just sat there... On the floor... Waiting. She retrieved the block she'd thrown previouly, before quite promptly plopping herself on the floor and beginning to chew on it, eventually going back to piling them with very little success.

~~~

Raising an eyebrow at his single said letter, Karene shifted her legs so that Selvai could seat himself comfortably slightly below where she sat. Her other brow joined the first as he explained. "Well... I think that much we figured... The member who'd found us in town told us as much... Or at least that was what she thought, seeing as only the male half of the population seemed to be listening to her." She paused, then frowned slightly, eyes focused off in a random direction.

"Time to recover, huh?... I suppose that makes sense. I dont think anyone's ability is quite that powerful... If that woman had had the ability to control every male she came across at once, the Circus would have been an easy target."

Shrugging slightly, she rested her chin on a hand, she looked back at Selvai as he spoke again, her slight frown turning the opposite way. "Hmm. I'm more tolerant than that. It's not like you did anything... Really dangerous. That would have been a different ball game."

As the magicians hand strayed towards her hair, the caramel-haired woman leaned back slightly, looking amused. "Maybe it wasn't that bad," She pondered, lips twitching. "You need to remember, sweetheart, who used to run the security here before you took over. I'd have got through it eventually" She laughed, elbowing him gently. "Maybe a little training is in order for you, huh." She grinned, patting his cheek. "And I've only been gone three week. But okay, I missed you too."

Laughing again, Karene leant in fleetingly to kiss him, then promptly stood and brushed herself down. "It's a pity it's so late." She stated, glancing skyward. "You and I could have done with spending a little time together, hm?" She asked, placing her hand on Selvai's head and gently leaning on it, smiling down at him. "Speaking of which. Now that I'm here... I think there's a wedding that needs to go ahead one of these days."

Dravius stopped smushing his face into Maya's hair at a tug on his pant leg, and he pulled his head away long enough to realise it was just Angel, and she was being cute, like always and NOWHAT. He had been listening to Maya, really he had, but...

Maya had somehow just....wriggled out of his hug and left, and Dravius still had his arms lifted slightly, then stuffed them in his pockets and hunched over a little bit more. "I...I..." Well. He really didn't have an explanation for the kissing thing. At all. Which was a shame. Poor Maya, having to watch what was an undoubtably lewd act. The Co-Master shifted from foot to foot, looking crestfallen, as Angel went back to her blocks. Knowing Maya, she was either struggling not to cry, or she was doing it, but smushing her face on the duvet because she didn't want him to see.

Dravius perched himself on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath, pondering what he was going to say for once. "Uhm." Was all he came up with at first, then he felt like an idiot about that, then continued, "Uhm. Neva was....uhm. Purely physical love..." He paused and fidgeted for a second. "But with you, it's not just that, it's...more..." He looked supremely uncomfortable, and decided to just shut his trap before he made a giant fool of himself.

Not that he hadn't already.

((Poor Dravvy. x3))

Maya had, in truth, been quite content to just lay where she landed, face down on the bed. She almost felt she could blot everything out. Althouth she had to admit she was probably worrying just a little too much about this. She did, of course, already know full well none of it was entirely Dravius' fault, so yes. Maybe just a bit much. Just thinking that made her feel slightly better. Sort of.

The butterfly still refused to move from the bed, though, only shifting her face slightly so she could breathe. She listened in silence to Dravius' stuttered words, before she eventually felt him seat himself on the bed. Aaand then he started talking, which was all well and good, but as he finished his first sentence Maya's body had tensed considerably.

Oh well. That was just dandy. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, she simply looked at him. Long and hard. "Oh, so... Let me get this straight," She said, her tone flat. "You weren't in love with her. It was her body you were after?" He was seriously digging himself into a hole. And here Maya had been thinking about dropping the subject. Not to mention the fact he'd used the word "love". Now that hurt quite a bit. She had spent the last five minutes reminding herself it wasn't his fault... But the way he'd just said that made it sound like it was his choice. That probably affected her more than anything.

After glaring at him further, the blonde gave up and facesmushed the bed again, now slightly more angry and very close to tears. She only barely registered what he said next. She shifted then to look at him again, expression flat. "You'd think after five years that would be the case." She responded, her voice harbouring a sad sort of tone, before eventually just pressing her face back into the duvet. After a minute or so, Maya eventually forced herself back up, settling herself so that she was sitting cross legged, eyes on the bed. Her anger, somehow, had abated as soon as it had come, only to be replaced with what was remaining. The hurt.

"... I suppose. No-one can really blame you." She said, eyes flickering to the quietly giggling Angel. "She was very beautiful. How could any man possibly resist." She added darkly, flopping onto her side and grumbling, still managing to look increasingly upset by the whole thing. She considered going for a walk, just to air out her own mind before she did burst into tears. Or something. And considering there was a good few minutes of sunset left, that idea was proving very attractive.