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While Tapeworm was known to be a notoriously heavy sleeper, Parasite was not. So with the sounds of footsteps nearing the twin's current sleeping spot, she began stirring. Once something had been thrown onto the bed above her head, however, Parasite's eyes snapped open. She slightly twisted around on top of Tapeworm, pressed her back against the wall, and managed to spot a swinging yellow tail before it disappeared out the tent. With eyes narrowed in confusion, it didn't take long for Parasite to slip out from under the bed and stretch lightly as she looked around.

With a frown, Parasite laid down on the ground, looked under the bed, and then stretched out a hand to grasp one of the many knives Tapeworm had hidden on his person. After removing a small switchblade from his pocket, she climbed onto the bunk and pulled her dress up and her jeans down just enough to expose her hip and a thick knotted scar that covered it. It had used to be a pentagram but Tapeworm had decided he didn't like Daddy's gift to Parasite and had cut it out of her several years ago. Now it was simply a convenient way to awake her brother. She pressed the switchblade down beside the scar and jerked her arm away, easily leaving a long deep cut on her hip.

Instantly, Tapeworm could be heard cursing as slammed his fist up against the bed. They both hissed in pain together, Parasite cradling an invisibly bruised fist while Tapeworm forced himself out of the bed, a hand grasping his own hip. Parasite simply smiled at him happily, though a hint of anger could easily be seen behind the sparkling excitement in her eyes.

"You brought Parasite to Amelio's room." Parasite stated while Tapeworm took back his knife, cut a piece of Parasite's dress off, and then used to wrap it around her cut.

"So Tapeworm did."

She frowned and smacked his leg. "It smells like elephant s**t." Tapeworm only scowled as he tightened the makeshift bandage until his sister yelped in pain. She slapped Tapeworm's hands away and finished tying everything up herself.

"Of course it does. Tapeworm has just established who lives here." . Tapeworm slid off the bed, knocking Amelio's bundle of stuff over in the process. He toed it in disgust for several moments before he headed towards the exit of the tent. Parasite hurried after him after she made sure to scatter Amelio's stuff all over the floor. Smoothing her damaged dress down as she followed close behind her brother, she couldn't help but notice how close by Amelio was once they made it outside into the fresh air. Countless cruel and mean things began filtering Tapeworm's mind, the darker ones being discarded before offering the fluffier to his sister. With an excited smile, Parasite bounded forward before tackling Amelio into a strong hug.

"Amelio!" Parasite cooed as she released Amelio from the hug, though she did keep a tight grasp onto one arm. Tapeworm simply slung is own arm across the unicorn's shoulders. "Parasite was wondering, what are you? You know, because you look like a disturbing cross between a narwhal, a lion, and a baby pony. Oh, and a deformed human, too." Parasite asked this with such wide eyed innocence, Tapeworm almost wondered if she was actually stupid enough to think Amelio was related to narwhals. However, the strong waves of malicious amusement were quick to prove him other wise. Sometimes Tapeworm felt oddly proud of her unconventional ways. They were always so amusing.



Avery was odd. He had accepted this at a young age when he realized that he could fold himself into a box if he tried hard enough. He also often ended up in the company of odd people. Though, that shouldn't surprise him considering he worked in circuses for a living. So, two weeks earlier, Avery hadn't really been surprised when he had felt an odd, almost unrestrained joy when the big top had been burned down two weeks earlier. Did anyone realize how many spiders lurked in circus tents? A whole hell of lot, that's how many!

Sure, he felt sorry for all the dead people, who wouldn't? But considering he really didn't feel like breaking down and crying for people he didn't even know, he would console himself that their death wasn't in vain.

Which would explain why we was walking around the grounds with a pair of ratty duck slippers that had once belonged to his mother on his hands, critically looking at every bit of the circus in case a spider was near. Sometimes he wished he had super smelling just so he could locate them easier. Oh, how he wished he could sniff them out! Then no spider would ever be free from the horror of Avery!

It was then he spotted movement from the corner of his eye. He twisted his head quickly, a smile curling over his lips as he realized it was a black widow. As if the creature could sense malevolent thoughts, it began scurrying away with the bright red hourglass on its back glowing as if it were a beacon for Avery's eyes only. With a battle cry, he launched himself at the spider. It was with a large squelch did Avery manage to crush the sider beneath his slippered hands.

"Die, spider!" he crowed as he kept smashing the already dead beyond dead spider. "DIE!" It wasn't until the spider had been entirely ground into the floor did Avery look up and realize he was at the feet of a person. He recognized the boy from around the circus, though he had never talked to him. Avery offered up a shy, awkward smile.

"Um, hi. Ioykuo, right?"

Avery removed his duck slippers from his hands before tucking them into the back pockets of his pants. After he had brushed off the dirt on his pants, he smiled again at Iyokou.

"I'm Avery, the new contortionist." he paused for a moment before he nodded to himself. He liked this Iyokou kid. He seemed decent enough and had yet to question him about the duck slippers. He didn't like it when people asked about them. They were his and he wasn't going to share exactly why he loved him! just because they were the last present his mother had given to him before his death meant nothing. Which meant this kid was good enough to have a nickname. That, and he really was too lazy to try and remember the pronunciation of his name. "I'm going to call you Iyo, then."

Then, when Avery glanced down to check on his duck slippers, he noticed another spider slowly sneaking past, as if it were trying to escape its fate. Which it couldn't. At least, it couldn't while Avery was around. With a wild scream, Avery began stomping on the poor spider until he was positive it couldn't even twitch.

Avery gave Iyokou a pleasant look. "You could say I don't like them." he trailed off for a moment before he frowned at the kid. "Why? Do you like spiders?"

Avery shrugged. "I suppose the webs are nice enough. I don't tend to destroy them unless there's a spider on it right at that very moment." For a moment, his smile grew dark as he hissed "Spiders and cows are the root of all evil." Then his pleasantly normal expression returned. He liked this Iyo kid! He didn't like spiders, and that was a good sign to Avery. He never understood people who liked spiders. They're disgusting creatures with paws! Every last one needed to die slowly and painfully. Or fast and quick. Avery really wasn't all the picky when it came to the death of spiders.

"So what's this circus normally like? Is the Ringmaster this broody all the time?" Avery wondered. Every time he had seen her wandering around, there had been sad and strained look to her face. He hoped she was okay. It wasn't that he cared as much as he wanted to get paid. The sooner he got money, the sooner he could decide where he would disappear off to next.

It was truly the first time in a long time that Iyokou found himself relaxing in the presence of another circus member. Not only that, but being able to hold a somewhat normal conversation that didn't include screaming at the other in anger and/or contact of any kind, like what usually occurred when he spoke to his "oh so wonderful" ex-tentmate. Sure, what they were talking about probably wasn't the most normal thing in the world (I mean, who just talks about spiders as an ice breaker?), but nothing in the teen's life was exactly normal. He quite liked this feeling, and wanted to be able to get used to it.

Is this what it's like to have a friend?

Iyokou finally relaxed a little, even after Avery's creepy hiss about spiders and cows. Despite his interesting fears, he seemed to be probably one of the most normal people he's met so far. He inhaled softly looked straight at the other man quietly. "How come you hate spiders and cows, if you don't mind me asking?" he replied softly, hoping the question wouldn't offend the contortionist.

The next question of Avery's, however, made him blink in surprise. "The circus? Well... I don't really know, yet. I'm still kind of new, and there's just been a lot of chaos as of late, what with the burning tents and stuff... As for Ringmaster Silencieux... I honestly don't know much about her..." he trailed off for a moment, looking down at his feet, a little embarrassed at what he was about to say.

"She... kind of scares me." He laughed a little, nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "It's a little silly, I know, to be scared of your own Boss..." And then he shut up, biting his lip. That entire sentence sounded a lot better in his head... Why was he so God awful at talking to people?

"Well... I suppose it's just... I always found her a bit intimidating... I don't know, I probably sound ridiculous." Iyokou laughed nervously and sighed softly. He didn't know how to explain it. It was just whenever the Ringmaster was near, he felt like running away and hiding in a corner or something. Maybe it was the makeup. But then again, he didn't exactly do much better in the appearance department...

The acrobat blinked at Avery's response. His mother was killed by a cow? How was that possible? He supposed it could have... kicked her in the chest or something, but still. He sighed again, knowing he may have hit a bit of a touchy subject. He was always so magically talented at saying the wrong things at the wrong time, so he dropped the subject of cows and returned to the subject of spiders.

However, before he could agree with Avery's spider statement, the man asked a question that nearly made Iyokou choke on his tongue. Instead, his eyes widened and he let out some sort of strange guttural choking noise. No one had ever asked him if he was gay. Actually, he had never even been in a relationship, due to his fear of human contact, homeschooling, and all around strange attitude and clothing style. Because of this, he never really thought about which gender he'd be more inclined to date. Although, he didn't know how to say that, or say anything, at that moment.

So, Iyokou just spluttered for a few minutes before attempting to say something coherent, his face as red as mother ******** Rudolph's nose. That's right, I went there. "Well... you see... I never really... uh... Pass...?" he replied awkwardly. It was an awkward penguin moment.