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 Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:20 am
The Cirque was relatively quiet this late on this particular evening, most eating in their tents or lounging to play cards with comrades. As of yet, Aemilia had not had the opportunity to make many acquaintances and even now, rather than pursue companionship, she had chosen instead to exercise her abilities in the safety of an empty cage. Her practicing was quiet, though distracting to any passerby as she alternatively filled the cage with various shades of light or attempted to render the entire cage invisible so that she stood on naked air. Those rare occasions that she did manage to shield the entire cage, it was only for brief flashes and she felt her legs begin to quiver with the effort. Gritting her teeth, the petite figure swung her curls out of her face before lifting an exasperated hand to push the damper tendrils from her cheeks with a soft growl of frustration.
She felt as if she were going no where, and felt the wear on her physical form as her head grew stuffy and her limbs quaked with exhaustion. She'd spent most of the day cleaning, that certainly didn't help, but there still should be some sort of improvement over the evening she was sure of it. There was a bright flash in the cage as she bent all local light into the center from the various points it reflected from. It was as if the cage were lit by a thousand candles that were abruptly put out. Sighing, Amee cast a glance around the bars as if at a loss before drumming her fingers on her thigh. She'd been so used to hiding her powers, that this public use was something to grow accustomed to. Perhaps some inner switch had not been flipped and she was still hindered by that fear of someone seeing, but with a shake of her head she dismissed it.
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:19 pm
Well, golly would this be entertaining. Not so much as entertaining as a pain in the arse, Aiden reminded himself, sighed as he wandered around the Cirque grounds. There were just so many new people. Granted, fresh meat was always good. Cirque needed it, and without new people, they might not have an audience. And no audience means no cash. That certainly wasn't an option. Or, at least it wasn't to Aiden. He figured that the people he needed to pay wouldn't be too pleased with that option, either.
Flipping back through the many pages on his now trademark clipboard, he glanced through his pages on everyone in Cirque's cast-and-crew, pausing on the names of those that he did not recognize. Damn, would it be time consuming to meet them all. He would greet them all with a smile on his face, however. If he acted as though it were a chore, the new people wouldn't like it, and then they might leave. Then what would happen to poor old Cirque? Well, he could find NEW new people, but that would be a hassle, and Aiden certainly didn't want to go through the paperwork of having several fires and hires all at the same time.
Pausing as he made his was towards the animal cages, he smiled. Huh. Those light effects were nice. They would certainly draw a crowd, at least. He vaguely remembered seeing the paper work for a girl who worked with light. But, damn it all to hell, what was her name? Aiden cursed himself for being so bad with names. Being as close to the cage as he was now, he certainly couldn't just start searching through his clipboard, trying to find her name! That would look suspicious.
Being the shrewd business man he was, however, he came up with a plan. Aiden waved at the girl and gave her a charming smile.
"Hello, there," he said, "Nice trick. You all right, though? You seem a bit tuckered out. I should introduce myself - I'm Aiden. The ringmaster of this here Cirque."
Hopefully, his plan would work. If he introduced himself, then surely she would do the same! Or, at the very, very least, it would buy time for him to, hopefully, remember her name.
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:35 pm
Aemilia remembered names and faces only because she was still quite childish in her observations of the world. She took in everything and committed it to memory to the best of her abilities, just incase such information was needed later. She had to learn much in this strange world outside of the bustling city, away from the sterile halls of the military fortress of her own world. Tigers, popcorn, tents, candy and a variety of other things common here were foreign to her. It was as if you had dropped her on another planet and expected her to give you directions.
Despite her uncommon naivety toward the atmosphere as a whole as well as civil human interaction, the girl let her heart and instinct lead her. Thus far it had served her well and she got along well with her coworkers, though solitude still served her best for small lengths of time. Her bright mix-matched eyes darted toward the source of the voice, muscles tensing involuntarily in a flight-or-fight response ingrained in her like an animal. She was, after all, in a cage; the image seemed fitting. The door was open, however, and she stepped through it to sit and let her feet dangle over the edge next to one large, painted wheel.
"Thanks. Aye, right enough. No pain, no gain; if I gave up just for being tired, don't believe I'd be here, really." Her lips turned out in a smile, charming in her own right as she reached to tuck a strand of curls behind her ear. "Pleasure, Aiden. The name's Aemilia." She didn't mind giving him her name, knowing that even if they had indeed met instead of she only viewing him from a distance, that he was a busy man and it was likely any meeting had been very brief and crowded.
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:49 pm
"Well, I already knew your name, Aemilia!" Aiden lied. He most certainly did not, however he had an image to keep! After all, how would it look if the ringmaster didn't know everyone's name? Shabby, that's how. In all honesty, Aiden would much rather pretend to learn everyone's name than actually do so. After all, he was quite busy most of the time. It was always easy for him to remember the names of those that he liked quite a bit, or disliked quite a bit. Hopefully, this Aemilia would be the former.
"I just figured that I'd better make the rounds. I would hate for you to feel lost around here. It is an awful big place," Shrugging, he made sure to seem friendly and charming enough. Once again, it was all about image.
"So, have you found your way around yet? I don't exactly know how it must feel for a new member of the Cirque family, but it must be at least a little scary, not really knowing anything about where things are. Or, even worse, not knowing where to go to sleep," he said cheerily. Granted, he internally cringed at the bit about 'the Cirque family', but it sounded inviting, right? Well, maybe he should make himself seem a little more down-to-earth and suave.
"So, do you have any questions? Need any information, need a tour? Or should I just keep walking?," He teased, and gave her a wink.
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:04 pm
A brow arched silently at his lie, though she didn't call him on it. He was friendly enough, and she knew calling him out on something so frivolous would merely be faulty to any friendship with the man. As stated, he was a busy man and busy men should be allowed some shortcomings now and then; they were not all superbeings no matter how often they tried to appear to be. Aemilia shook her head with a soft laugh before her eyes roamed over the surrounding trailers and various quarters, "Oh, aye, tis big enough. I've been given tours by a handful, but doesn't help too much in the end. Most of the buildings look the same." She shrugged somewhat helplessly before giving him a cheerful smile. No point in being downtrodden about it; afterall, the man seemed to be more inclined to friendly conversation than a girl whimpering about her confusion.
She couldn't help the raise of her brows when he referred to the ragtag troupe as a 'family', though her smile didn't fade and her eyes gave a bit of a mirthful twinkle at the idea. At his suggestion that he keep walking, however, she was quick to reassure him lightheartedly, "Ah, no, monsieur," the word sounded strange but comical on her english tongue, but she continued, "I appreciate the opportunity to pester you." With that, she matched his wink before settling back on her palms.
"Actually, I was wondering how often the Cirque revisited worlds?" She carefully shielded her reasoning behind the question, keeping her words light as if she were merely curious rather than deeply fearful that her past might get a chance to reclaim her should the chance arise.
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:39 pm
Ahhh, yes. The inevitable question. Having been asked this many times before, Aiden nearly had his response memorized. It seemed as though, for quite a few new-comers to Cirque, the world-hopping is the only thing that they wish to speak of. No, but Ameilia seemed different. Revisiting worlds? Perhaps she had just worded her question funny, or perhaps there was something she was trying to avoid in a past world they had visited...
Or, maybe she just really liked a past world they had visited. Aiden really had no clue, so he figured he shouldn't ask. It wasn't really his business anyway.
"Well, when we change worlds is fairly random," he began the memorized portion of his answer, "I mean, we try to keep it uniform, but that depends on when everyone is ready, and when... well, it's all a little complicated. But revisiting? That's a bit of a different story. Really, it depends on the world. What we try to do is go to every world once, and then start the cycle over again. But, if we didn't have a very large crowd in one world, then we might put off visiting it."
He paused, took a breath, and then continued.
"But, on the other hand, if in one world we were particularly popular, than it might go up further in our roster of worlds-to-visit. Either that, or we visit it multiple times in one cycle-of-the-roster. Did that sort of make sense?"
Well, gosh. Aiden certainly hadn't meant to talk quite so much. Really, if he had to listen to such a long speech, he probably would've tuned it out and not taken in a single word.
"I hope that helped. Do you remember the size of the crowd at the world you have in mind, if you do have one that is. If you tell me the size of the crowd, I might could help you out with figuring out how much longer until we visit it," He paused. He thought about asking Aemilia if she was alright, or if she wanted to talk about anything, but he decided not to. She didn't know him that well, and, as previously stated, Aiden might tune out.
"Or, if you don't really care, I might could help you with something else. Got any other questions for me? I try to answer as many questions as I can for new people. I figure I might as well try my hardest to help 'em out, you know?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:51 pm
She listened intently to his speech. Perhaps one day Aemilia would tune out as quickly at Aiden did, but as of now she was still new enough to the world that words were of interest to her. Besides, the question held some weight in her mind and the fear of capture and needles did plenty to aide her attention span. A bit of relief crossed her features until he mentioned the variety of facts that increased the chances of revisiting a world, her mind working rapidly to try to answer those questions of her own world. Truth be told, she had been so keen on escaping her pursuer that she hadn't really noticed those around her.
When he posed the question to her directly, she caught her lower lip in her teeth as she tried harder to remember just how large the crowd had been. Had they filled the tent? Or overflowed? Was there standing ovations and cries for more? Was each night in full attendance? Her eyes widened briefly before she looked toward him once again, "It makes perfect sense. Go for good business, of course." Raising a hand, she tapped on her thumbnail with her teeth a few times before sighing and shaking her head, "For the life of me, I don't remember exactly. It was well trafficked, but I don't remember anything extraordinary. I was a wee bit distracted, y'see."
She knew it was likely that he didn't see, but he would ask if need be. Any more questions? She considered it before something caught her eye. A large gray creature with an elongated nose was trudging past an aisle between two trailers. Somewhat shamefaced, she pointed before voicing her inquiry, "Actually, aye. What's that beast called?" It was one of the few animals she'd yet to assist in cleaning, and one of many she hadn't learned the name for just yet.
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:10 pm
Raising an eyebrow at Aemilia, Aiden found himself at a loss. He didn't know why, but he had just assumed that the girl would've known the names for all of the animals around, just because she had been hanging around the cages. Then realizing what a stupid idea that had been, Aiden laughed at himself, then shook his head, noticing that Aemilia could think that he had been laughing at her.
"Sorry, I just thought of something silly," he said quickly, as he waved his hands, trying to explain before she got upset, "Anyway, that's an elephant. I forget what his actual name is. Terrible, I know, but I have enough of a problem remembering the names of everyone who works here," with a smiled on his face, Aiden shook his head. Then, he stopped. Hell. He hadn't meant to admit that. Oh, well. Maybe she wouldn't think anything of it.
"Hope it hasn't been too much of a bother cleaning up around here," he grinned, and then shook his head again, "What am I saying? Of course it's been a bother. Sorry, but the tidy-work and such...well, it's almost as though it's a tradition around these parts. A rite of passage, you know? Everybody had to do this sort of thing at one time or another. It's kinda funny when you find out what everyone did before they got their acts."
He walked towards Aemilia, and turned so that he was standing next to her, and facing the same direction. Then, he pointed to a man, who had been practicing his juggling for his next show.
"Okay, like that man over there. I remember him. When he came to sign up for the job he would do, the only thing left was to help with lighting the big top. And he was just horrified of heights. Poor b*****d."
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:20 pm
The creeping pink that spread over her cheeks was unbidden as the ringmaster laughed, and though his apology was taken in stride, she still couldn't help the bit of colour. Swinging her feet idly, she resisted the urge to disappear (which wouldn't have ended well afterall as she was exhausted and would likely give herself a bloody nose or a dreadful migraine if she pushed herself much harder) as she looked out over the Cirque. Nodding slowly as she watched the large creature amble by after his trainer, she shrugged, "I needn't know his actual name. Just..." She looked at him with a bit of a shy smile, "Where I come from, wasn't given much of an opportunity to learn the names of things, really." Shrugging nonchalantly, she mentally noted the name of the gray beast - elephant - before turning her mind with the conversation.
It was her turn to laugh as he corrected himself on the bother of cleaning cages, but she shook her head, causing the dark curls to bounce over her shoulders as she spoke, "Hardly, sir. Keeps me busy, and gives me an opportunity to practice with the light." Nodding, she gave a knowing smile as he explained that everyone went through it. She understood. It was merely phase one of her new existance, certain things had to be passed before phase two could begin. What that entailed, she wasn't entirely sure, but she knew it hadn't arrived just yet. Following Aiden's gaze and pointing figure to the man, she listened to him speak before turning her gaze to look at the ringmaster.
"Afraid of heights? Are people really afraid of such things?" She hadn't any idea that she might be afraid of something like that as well. New creatures were understandable, you never knew what a beastie might do given the opportunity, but afraid of heights? On further thought, however, her fear of needles might seem just as odd if one were not given her history.
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 10:05 am
"Well, really, it's not that uncommon for people not to know the names of things," Aiden replied, still feeling guilty for laughing. Curse his own stupidity! "But, look on the bright side. At least you hadn't already learned a different name from them than what everyone calls them here. I figure that would probably be a little more difficult to get adjusted to. Though, I suppose I wouldn't really know."
Eying her as she asked whether or not people could be afraid of heights, Aiden raised an eyebrow. Damnit. If him saying that suddenly causes Aemilia to have a fear of heights, he might as well... Actually, he didn't know what he might as well do. Something dramatic, no doubt. Praying that she didn't become afraid of heights (or gain any new phobias that would danger her work, actually) Aiden decided that he should probably respond to the girl, for fear of there being an uncomfortable lull in the conversation.
"I suppose people can be afraid of anything, really. Fear of heights is pretty common, anyhow. Plus, for every object, place or animal there is, I'm fairly certain there's someone here with a phobia for it. There is a surprising amount of people afraid of their families here. See, we get all of this information on paperwork, so, I pretty much know everything about everyone," He paused. That was a lie. A bad one. Well, he might as well fess up.
"Okay, well, we really don't know everything. Just what we find out, you know? And if peoples phobias might effect their work, or their families or what-have-you, then usually, the person-in-question lets us know, so that they hopefully won't get any work around that," Though, the 'lucky' ones wound up getting work with those things anyway, either on accident or...not. Very few people because of the latter, however. Aiden figured he wouldn't let Aemilia know that, though. Might scare her off.
"I'm fairly certain there was a girl around these parts who was afraid of rabbits," Pausing, realizing that Aemilia might not know what a rabbit was, he explained, "Those small, hoppy fluffy things. With really big ears."
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 10:24 am
"That would be awkward, most definitely. If I had come in calling... elephants something like a tiger. Things would've been confusing." He probably meant calling an elephant an elephant in another language, but she figured her response meant just as well. Glancing to where the elephant had disappeared, she wondered for a moment if she could make an elephant really disappear but she kept the thought to herself. No point in making promises she wasn't sure she could keep. Would be a funny thing to bet on once she'd worked her powers up a little more, for sure.
She listened attentatively as he spoke of phobias, though her eyes wandered around their darkened surroundings before settling on him once again. He was handsome, for what she could see of him with so little light, and about her age, she guessed. Strange that she felt a need to speak to him as though he were twenty years her senior, but then again he was the Ringmaster and she merely mucked stalls. Her lips curled in a smile at that and she looked back toward the other trailers as she leaned forward with her elbows on her knees.
"S'common?" Her brow furrowed, "What about other random bits? Like cages? Or needles?"
Chuckling when he admitted the lie, her mix-matched eyes swung toward him, "Ha, I was goin' t'call yeh out on it. Make you note my fear." She grinned, listening to him speak of means to work around phobias with some aire of unconcern. If there was some strange situation that involved her working with needles, she wasn't sure what would be done about it on her part, but she knew she hadn't seen a single stray needle since she joined Cirque such a short time ago. "Big-eared hoppy things?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 10:52 am
"Hmm. Well, I'm not quite sure a fear of cages is common. I mean, I've heard of it, but I don't believe it's that common," He paused, tapping a finger to his chin for a moment, "A fear of needles is shared with many people. That and spiders. People don't like spiders," He grinned as he was reminded of an anecdote, but that would be saved for a later time.
"At least you're honest," he laughed, mildly embarrassed that Aemilia had caught his lies, "Ahh, I figure you won't bump me off for it, so I assume you're okay." Laughing again, he suddenly thought that, if she didn't know what the names of animals were, she might not understand his slang. Where did she come from again? Probably not from where he came from. If only he could take a peak at his clipboard. Oh, well.
"Yeah. I guess you haven't seen a rabbit yet? Their noses sorta twitch. And there ears are floppy. And tall," At a complete loss for how else to describe a rabbit, Aiden furrowed his brow and stared at Aemilia for a moment in confusion.
"Sorry, I'm not too good with describing animals it seems," He paused for a moment, and then returned to his questions that he found he needed to ask to every new 'recruit', "So, there anything else you have questions about? Met anyone else around here? I know, it's boring, but I've got to ask absolutely everyone the same questions. But, hey, tell me a little about yourself! I feel like I've been the only one talking this whole time," He added in a friendly manner.
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 11:11 am
Nodding, she was mildly reassured that her fear of needles was not uncommon. That would make it easier to explain if she didn't feel the need to tell someone her past. She wasn't exactly sure what spiders were, and her brow furrowed though she resisted inquiring further. They were still on the subject of rabbits, after all, she needn't add yet another animal to the list to be described. She would simply have to wait to see one. When he spoke of her 'bumping him off', she couldn't help the confused glance she afforded him before arching a brow, "Bump you off? The cage?"
His explanation of the animal brought to mind a funny image of some fantastic looking creature, though she wasn't sure if it was the correct one. Her nose twitched as he spoke, as if considering the movement before giving it up for the animal. Wierd creature; a twitchy nose didn't seem to be something of much fun. When he apologised, she shook her head, "No worries, love. For all I know, you just described it perfectly."
Ah, the fated question. Truth be told, there wasn't much to tell about Aemilia save from where she had come from, which she wasn't keen on telling many people anyway. Turning her eyes to him, she looked over him a few moments as she considered the situation. He was, after all, her boss - as previously stated - and it was only right for him to know exactly what he had brought into his 'Cirque family'. Decision made, she started somewhat awkwardly, "I'm an ... experiment. For the military." As if worried he'd think her some test tube, non-human creature (which was moot considering some of the fellow carnies), she quickly added, "They scooped me up from an orphanage, as best as m'caretaker could recall. Don't remember much of it, save the few days before I came here." She shrugged with an easy smile, deciding she would give details if he asked for them. Aiden seemed the type to bore easily and that was the last thing she wanted to do.
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:23 pm
"Oh, no, no. To 'bump someone off' means to kill. Someone," Aiden added sheepishly. He had expected to have to explain himself as he did with many people that came to Cirque from different worlds. Not that he minded. Too much. It was just something that he figured had to be done, so he would just grin and bear it. After all, he had to remind himself to be extra-understanding since nearly everyone's culture and speech was completely different. Completely different to his own, as well.
"Well, at the very, very least I gave you an image of something that sort of resembles a rabbit. Just, try to keep in mind what I said if and when you see one. Maybe then you can remember the name."
Uttering a small, "Oh," Aiden suddenly found himself wishing that he hadn't asked about Aemilia. Not because he was already finding himself bored, but simply because it seemed like a difficult matter to speak of. Why did he always wind up asking the questions that lead to difficult subjects? He really had to work on that. Or just try to work on it.
"Sorry for asking," he added, at a loss of exactly what to say, "If you don't like talking about it, I mean. A lot of people around these parts don't. Maybe, if you felt like you needed to, you could find someone around here to talk about it with. Granted, someone probably has never gone through exactly what you did, so they wouldn't be able to relate directly, but... Well, a lot, and I mean, a LOT of people around here have issues with their families, or their home. In fact," he said, half-joking, "I could probably even give you names of people with home and family issues."
Still unsure of exactly what to say, Aiden thought that maybe a change of subject was in order. After a somewhat long pause, he decided that it was safe to change the subject back to his near-mandatory new people questions.
"So, er, have you met any of your roommates yet?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 6:48 pm
"Oh, I see. Nay, I do not see a reason to bump you off just for pullin' m'leg a bit." She seemed proud to know that phrase and fixed the ringmaster with a proud beam. Whether he expected to explain such things or not, Aemilia tried her best to make light of her confusion rather than allow herself to fall into shame and worry herself invisible. Her culture, after all, was not merely different from those around her, but found completely lacking. Many fellows had found the whole thing rather curious. "I'll remember yo'r description of the beast, most assuredly." Her smile was light, humored by the idea of what a creature might look like in person.
At his awkward acceptance of her fumbled excuse of a past, her brow furrowed before she shook her head in earnest, "Don't be sorry. S'not that I mind speaking of it, I can't help what happened, really." She offered a reassuring smile - strange to be reassuring someone who was attempting to reassure her as well as change the subject, but she did so nevertheless. "People generally..." here her smile because somewhat bashful before she continued with a gentle wave of her hand, "don't know how to respond to it. Haven't told many, really. Usually get the same response." Winking her blue eye jovially, she shook her head, "Nay, I won't be needing a therapy group. All that bothers me of it is being taken back."
Shaking her head, as if to rid herself of such an idea, she let the silence stretch until he fuddled the air with a stock question. She was amused by this man; he reminded her of those figures she had seen on the television set in her caretaker's apartment. An actor, as she believed they were called, who was put off guard by a change in the script. Improve? It was of little consequence to the current. "I've not. I was under the understanding that I'm bedding alone until they assign another new member." Looking about, she nodded slowly, "As it is, I won't have a trailer until tomorrow. Hence the empty cage." She smiled broadly, shrugging. "I was offered a crowded trailer for the time being, but fresh air does a woman well, aye?"
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