forum Cirque D’étoiles // private

Started November 03, 2019 by @croccin-champagne

tune

Aurata’s expression split into a smile, and she nodded, standing quickly. Though, of course, careful not to dislodge Bedri. “Thanks. Like, a million times. You have no clue how important this is.” She paused, tilting her head for a moment and thinking.

“Any tips on getting on his good side?” She asked, eyes moving to the wolves relaxing. Now that she had made it this long, they were starting to look more and more like normal dogs, and the urge to pet them was getting weirdly strong. Even if she was well aware that they were dangerous animals. To be fair, spiders aren’t exactly common household pets either. Yet here you are.

Cari nodded slightly, as a response to her thanks. He wasn't a people's type of person, so whenever he interacted with one, he was just his usual reserved self.

"On his good side? My best advice would be to be persistent. If you push hard enough he could offer you a care taker job. Just stay strong okay?" he responded, as he was picking up the brush again and resuming the grooming of the large tiger. The Headmaster had the reputation of being a pretty strict man, with several interests of his own, however, he was anything but mean. Sure, he would usually reject normal people who wanted to tag along with the circus, given the type of business he was running, therefore most of the cast was formed by people with an unusual ability - if the power was weird enough, they could even get the privilege to be part of the show.

“Got it. Again, thank you.” She turned the smile on him, gratefulness obvious in her relieved features. You can do this. You have to. Staying there any longer isn’t an option.

“One-one more thing. It’s kind of stupid, but do you think they’d let me pet them at some point?” Aurata asked, stopping halfway out of the clearing to motion to the wolves. “Like, if I earned their trust, or something? Because they look soft as hell. And like they could rip my throat out, but you know.”

The boy had busied himself with the grooming of the feline, so when her voice rung out, he lifted his gaze again.

"Hm? Oh, them? I dont know, what do you guys say?" he spoke, directing the last part towards the animals. The wolves looked at him and one of them let out a short bark before scratching behind its ear.
"Nico here says he's down for it, if you know where to scratch. i dont know about the others though."

Aurata brightened like a little kid at that, carefully approaching the wolves and dropping into a crouch, letting them decide to come to her. Arms out, to show she didn’t mean any harm. When she spoke, her voice was a murmur, soft and low. “Nico, he said? I knew a boy with that name. He spoke of the stars like they were the only thing he could love. His hair was just as dark as your friend’s, though his eyes were even darker.” An old friend of hers, one she hadn’t seen in forever. After he moved.

The wolf named Nico approached the girl, sniffing her hand before gently bumping it with its moist nose. He allowed to be patted, licking its snout as the nimble fingers moved around on its head.

Cari did not say anything regarding Aurata's comment, steadily combing the tiger's fur while in his mind he was thinking about the words. Stars, huh?

Aurata let out a soft laugh, gently scratching behind Nico’s ears occasionally as she pet the wolf. “You know, he would have fit in here. He didn’t just love the stars, I swear, he was part one. God, your fur really is soft.” She commented softly, bringing up her other hand to get the other ear at the same time. “Whatever your routine is, my hair could use it.”

After a few more moments, she reluctantly stood, once again heading in the direction she’d been given, after a farewell to both Nico and the boy.

By that point, Nico had nearly laid on his back, panting happily as he was being scratched behing the ears, he just loved that. He seemed a little sad to see her go, especially after the wonderful head scratches he'd received, so he just barked at her a few times as a goodbye, wagging his tail.
Cari also waved back when she left, before standing up to carry his stuff to the trailer and to guide the animals back to their compartiments.

Having parted with the beast tamer, the girl found herself walking among various peoplw busy with packing up everything in order to depart to their next location

((gotcha!))

Aurata made her way among the people packing up, occasionally giving someone a friendly wave or a smile. She was, briefly, drawn into conversation with a little girl with the most adorable horns she'd ever seen—real, no doubt—who had split from her parents to see the 'pretty spider!'. When her parents finally pulled her away, Aurata promised to see her again as soon as she could, and bring Bedri along. Then it was back on her search for the trailer Adayu had mentioned.

When she came upon it, she took a deep breath, stepping up and knocking three times, loud enough to be heard, but not too loud.

From inside the trailer a male voice rung out "In a minute!" followed by what could only be described as rustling of pots and pans. A short period of silence ensued after that, interrupted by footsteps - soon, the door swung open and a tall well built man stepped out, looking down at the girl. He wore a less flashy outfit than the one he had in the ring, with a simple brown vest on top of a white shirt, tucked in black trousers. Without the tall red hat, his hair was slightly wavy, short, combed backwards.

"Ah, good day! Can i help you?" he spoke, quickly arranging his hair and vest.

“Sorry to bother you as you’re getting ready to leave, sir.” Aurata said, having to tilt her head back to look up at the taller man. Her shoulders were squared and confident, once again channeling the posture that had been drilled into her from a young age. Those dark eyes of hers betrayed an intelligence and determination far beyond what one would expect from her age. “But I was wondering if I could leave with you. I am looking to join the circus.”

The man sized her up for a few moments, looking slightly taken aback, before frowning confusedly.

"Join the circus? Miss, with all due respect, this is not a place for everyone - all the people here have a special talent, something that makes them stand out, and they work a lot to achieve the abilities they have. I'm very sorry, but i can't just hire everyone who comes knocking at my door (you're not the first one you know?) We already have plenty of performers here."

He wasn't mad nor intimidating, he was in fact trying to lay it to her as politely as possible. Indeed, there were enough performers at the circus to have different acts for a whole week straight. And besides, this girl looked so young. What could she possibly do to catch the public's attention?

“I’m well aware it’s not for everyone, sir.” Aurata said, the steadiness in her face and tone not wavering at all. Even if she found herself questioning her choice. You can’t question it. You want this more than anything, and you need this. Fight for it. “But I’m not everyone. I’m not useless, and am perfectly capable of working however I can to keep a place here. Besides,” She reached up, scooping Bedri off her shoulder and fiddling idly with his legs, something he seemed perfectly content with. “I’m not lacking in abilities, either. Give me a chance to prove myself, and I won’t let you down.”

"Listen miss, i really wish i could help you, but i really don't know what you could possibly contribute with to the circus. What kind of ability do you have exactly?"
Honestly, he wasnt used to having anyone walk up to him asking to join - usually it was him who discovered the gifted ones and offered them a chance to start anew. But having a person come up to him claiming they had a gift worthy of a circus act made him doubtful

Too-intelligent eyes studied the man, debating the best way to go about this. Finally, she lifted Bedri to her lips, whispering something to him. “You know about snake charmers, right? I’m that, but with them.” She motioned to the ground beneath her feet, where a crowd of spiders in varying spiders now skittered about her feet. The numbers were growing steadily as more joined the sea of arachnids. Her hand twisted around, arm moving with it, her eyes on Bedri as he kept to her skin. Everything about it was so weirdly casual, but the tense state of her shoulders belied how important this was to her. “They listen to anything I say. Something that’s caused problems before, in a..normal life. I don’t belong in the life I tried to live, but this…the circus, this circus, has always been there. This is the only place I could ever see myself, because I’m not normal, by my father’s standards. Please. Anything, I’ll do it, just to leave with you.”

When the spiders began emerging from outta nowhere, gathering at the girl's feet, the Headmaster unwillingly climbed a step up the trailer stairs, as if he feared the small black creatures would climb up his pant leg. It would have been pretty ironic if he was afraid of spiders, given he ran a circus filled with all sorts of freaks.

"That's impressive i must say, but we already have an animal whisperer, and i'm pretty darn sure that many of the people visiting the circus have fear spiders." His argument made some sense as arachnophobia was pretty common. Yet he didn't find it in his heart to turn the girl away not after her pleads. Besides, he was a creative man, he could find other uses for her.

"Alright look, here's a deal: you may join the circus, but until we find a good use for your ability you have to help the other performers, understood?"

_(b0i-)