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 Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:00 pm
Lucrezia stared at the ribbons and after a moment's hesitation began to climb, pulling her arms up and straightening her legs behind her, red silk spinning out behind her like a spider's web. These were new ribbons, found in town and purchased with a few month's salary, but they were much nicer than the old orange ones.
After reaching a fairly good height, she paused in her climbing and wrapped first her arms and then her legs so she hung spider-like and suspended by tension over the ring. Grinning wickedly, she envisioned the next few moves and surveyed the empty stands.
It would be a good act once she was done with it. If only she had a test audience.
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Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:16 pm
As far as Charlot knew, most of the arenas were clear for the night. Only the front rings were being used to bring in a few nights cash during the main festivities of the Halloween Town. He'd finished his evenings work and began to wind down, walking the camp as he smoked. One of the practice arenas was lit up and caught his attention, slit in the front canvas door flat giving him a peek at what was inside.
He stepped over and reached out, fingertips pulling the material a little to the left so he could get a better look. It really wouldn't do to be putting his foot out on some private session he wasn't welcome to, now would it?
Green eyes scanned the ground, not seeing a damn soul. Making a soft, 'Hnnn' sound, he stepped in and spotted the flicker of red above the floor. Ah, that explained it. Someone was working in the air. Now, there weren't many that did that right now, so it was a few guesses to victory that it was Lu.
Ah, no time like the present to catch a demonstration. He told himself, making his way down the aisle toward the front row of seats. The 'good ones' as he considered them. With a silent plop, he kicked his feet up onto the ring edge and peered up at the aerialist as she worked.
The silks looked new, weren't the old ones orange or something rusted looking? He cocked an eyebrow, tilting his head as he tried to figure out where and how she was hanging up there.
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Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:27 pm
Lucrezia saw a solitary figure come in and sit down, but from her height above the stands couldn't tell who it was. Whatever. At least now she had an audience. Grinning to herself, she slipped her arms out of the loops of fabric she had strung them through.
Her breath caught in her throat as she tumbled downwards a dozen feet or so before the wraps on her legs caught her and she bobbed merrily. These silks were good. Nibbling on her lip, she pulled herself up and began climbing again with practiced grace. It looked almost easy.
It wasn't, she thought, pulling her legs out of the loops and spreading her arms. She turned a flip and continued climbing. Even if she'd done it before, the heat was on now that she had an audience.
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Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:45 pm
Charlot's eyebrows rose as she dove downwards, as if she were committing some sort of suicide. He leaned forward, wondering if she was insane as the ribbons suddenly went taut and jerked her back upwards by the feet.
"Tch... bloody insane," He murmured, shaking his head- impressed despite the look of shock on his face. It did look easy. Damn flawless and fluid... but he knew how much strength was required to haul yourself up on a pair of ribbons dangling from the skies. He'd had enough trouble hauling his own a** up and over a wall escaping the constables...
He settled back into his chair, tugging his cap off to set it aside to enjoy the rest of the demonstration.
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Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:29 pm
Lucrezia braced her arms and pushed herself through a series of weaves and spins to maneuver the ribbon into a harness-looking set up. With a deft turn, she tumbled downwards again, flipping four times before coming to a stop.
At this point, even she was amazed with how it was going. In training, she had practiced moves like these, but until now she had never put them into a performance piece. She'd just kept working on them, and since she wasn't using the trapeze in the act she had to make more of the silks. Bracing her feet, she gradually slid into a mid-air split, and then stood and braced her arms to dangle again like a spider on a web.
Her legs scissored, dropping the fabric from around them, and she flipped again, forwards and backwards before continuing an upward climb.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:23 am
Attention locked onto the aerialist, Charlot continued to enjoy his leisurely smoke as Lu flipped and climbed the crimson colored ribbon. It was an impressive performance, he wasn't sure if this was practice for a new one or if this was the regular show. He'd thought she did a lot of trapeze work as well.
She was pretty high up, and from he say the view wasn't PERFECT... but it was decent enough. He could see her doing the tricks, her costume- but no real details. He exhales a plume of smoke, eyes glancing around the arena seats- still empty. Most of the other crew or wanders must be at the festival.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:38 am
Lucrezia paused at the top of the ribbon where it nearly vanished into the rigging and began methodically wrapping the lengths of crimson silk around herself. It was a lengthy process, and she spent most of her effort in keeping the movements graceful and interesting - a sensual brush here, a leg raise there. After a long time, she appeared to be enclosed in a cocoon of red.
And then, with a blink-and-you-miss-it spin, she began a plunge, head over heels, towards the floor. She feel the length from the ceiling to maybe only a few feet from the sawdust when the ribbons pulled taught and she came to a pause. Gracefully, she unwound herself from the remaining harnessing ribbons and dropped to the floor, sweeping into a low bow as she did so.
Standing, she studied the figure sitting in the stands.
"Bon soir, Charlot!" she called, recognizing him and waving.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:48 am
Charlot's expression was a little startled. That was an insane dive. He moved his feet from the railing, sitting forward to wave back toward Lu.
"...'allo~ Impressive show." He pushed himself to his feet, dropping the cigarette to snuff it out underfoot. Once he was finished, he hopped the rail and sat on it to face her with his feet in the ring. "That a new one? Or you're regular?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:04 am
"A new one, for the Halloween showcase," Lucrezia replied, smiling as she walked across the ring towards him "You got a sneak preview."
She brushed a bit of chalk off the shoulder of her shimmery black body suit. "You showed up right on time, too," she added, "I'd been hoping for a test audience." Shifting her hands to her hips, she jutted her chin forwards triumphantly. "What'd you think?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:37 am
Now that she was on ground level, he had a better view of her costume. Ah, so she was doing something revolved around spiders... he raised an eyebrow a tick, noting the tiny little spider pins in her hair.
"Oi think, for th'costume an th'ribbons- y'do a damn good job. Th' tricks are impressive. Nothin' oi could eva do." He gestured up toward the flimsly looking ribbons, wondering how the hell they supported a person- even if Lu was all muscle a fairly small.
"Y'll knock em dead, f'sure." wink
*
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 1:19 pm
"You think so?" asked Lucrezia, grinning. She cast a backwards glance at the ribbons and climbed up on the railing next to him.
"You'd be surprised," she laughed, forming a mental image of Charlot in a bodysuit doing flips and such. It was not entirely bad. "I knew some pretty good male aerialists back home. Some of them were about your size."
A half-crazy idea crossed her mind. She hopped off the rail.
"Want me to show you how to climb?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 3:24 pm
"Oh, luv- Oi know 'ow t'climb... y'askin' me t'climb those little bit of tissue?" He laughed, grabbing his cap and setting it on his head before hopping off the rail to walk after her.
"Oi don't think y'want me t'get your pretty ribbons dirty," He dusted his hands, offering them out to show her with a grin. "...'ow bout you show me somethin' simple that won't kill me."
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 3:38 pm
"They're stronger than they look, and they stand up to a whole lot without looking dirty," said Lucrezia seriously, leading him towards the silk hanging in the center of the ring. "You might want to take your shoes off. It's easier that way."
She approached the ribbon and gave it a few firm tugs. "See? It's stable." Or, at least, she liked to tell herself that, though experience tried to say otherwise.
"So," she said, as way of introduction, "To climb, you're gonna grab it as high up as you can and pull it as far down as it'll go. Like this." She demonstrated, looking a bit sillier than she usually did as she over-emphasized to make a point.
"And then you get your legs on, in sort of a hunched position," she continued, jumping onto the ribbon and dangling, "And then straighten your legs while you move your hands upwards, see? And Just keep moving your legs up." It was her normal climbing motion, slowed to a crawl. She continued until her feet were about even with his head, and then slid back down.
"Do you want to try?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:14 pm
Charlot watched all of his with a raised eyebrow, lips pursed slightly. Looked simple enough, really. He was strong- strong enough to haul himself up. Not one to be outdone by a simple climb, he stepped back and out of his shoes- setting the boots aside.
"Alright.. looks easy 'nuff." He walked over beside her, giving her a nudge with his elbow. "Show me 'ow t'grab it again." He grabbed the other bit of ribbon, watching her again. Once he was sure he got the idea, he waited for her to hop back and tried it himself.
The ribbon was a bit stronger than he'd have thought- but the material was slippery in his hands. It took him a little bit to get a good grip and then pull himself up. The foot thing didn't fly at all. He ended up scrapping that and hauling himself up easily hand over hand. Once he'd reached a few feet up he dangled there, grinning.
"Oi'm no butta'fly~"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:28 pm
"But it's a good first try," said Lucrezia, smiling up at him. Indeed, Charlot did look a bit out of place and was clearly meant to be a land-bound creature, but at least he was giving it a go. "You're doing better than a lot of people."
Still grinning, she waved him down.
"I told you the silk was stronger than it looked. How'd you like it up there?"
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