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[Zachary Calloway - Juggler]

"SSHHHHHH KHALEEL." he spat, hiding behind one of the thicker tent poles and empty animal cages. The noogie from the lad and headbutt from the tiger were expected - Khaleel was like a brother to him, with tigers in tow at almost all times. Khaleel was a beam of sunlight in the raucous, colorful circus life, always easy to be around. Khaleel did not judge, and neither did Zeus and Thor. However, Khaleel, Ray of Eternal Sunshine, was blowing his cover!! "She might see if you keep this up! I brought one of those sweet pastries for Lace. You know how she is..."

The Calloway siblings had come to the circus at tender ages of fourteen and ten, shortly after the messy divorce of their parents. Their mother, despite her selfish behavior, won custody of both children due to gender bias in the court system. Both siblings decided, after weeks of hushed discussion while their mother was out entertaining strange men, that this was not the life for them. Packing up what little they had, they scurried off into the night to join the circus. Strange as it was, the two were welcomed with open arms, and Zach was fortunate enough to assist Lilith and Melody in their acts, and Khaleel with the care of Zeus and Thor. He found his calling a year or so after, taking up the art of juggling, and practicing until he could have his own short display.

During that time, the boy grew to have eyes for a certain handwalker, and took to sneaking into her acts to watch whenever he could. Ever since his twelfth birthday, Zach had a terrible crush on her. Most of the circus, including Lace, knew about it.

Out on a small plot of wood, Melody had long since moved from the shared tent to working on her routine. Or trying to anyway. It was hard when the object of one's romantic intentions was watching her and trying to make sure she hadn't seen.

And she always knew, whether she showed it or not, because she could always feel his eyes on her. Not that it was bad, not in the least! Few within her trusted confidants knew that she loved the younger juggler, thus his attention was always welcome.

Which was what made it all the amusing that Lace had come to join her, no doubt Zeus had taken to trying to sway some attention from one of her tent mates. A soft chuckle left the tanned woman as she lowered herself down onto the wood, making sure to give the snooping boys something to be looking at.

"Thank you for the warning Lace~ Remind me to give you a treat when we return to the tent." A sweet smile for the black kitten as she made her way closer. Then, dropping the volume of her words so as to not alarm their audience. "They aren't doing a good job of making themselves unknown today, are they?"

A playfully smile before she let her upper body bend backwards, a leg pointed and outstretched to work as a counter balance as her palms hit the wood again. "Care to join me, little kitten?" she cooed softly. If she wished to, Lace could use the outstretched leg to make her way to the blonde's stomach.

She often loved having Lace join her in her work, the small cat easily able to traverse her moving body as Melody bent and twisted in ways that spoke of years of work. In a small way it was like having a partner to work with again.

It wasn't the same as the show she and her family had once put on for the circus, but it worked well enough to alleviate some of the loneliness. And it was times like this she found she missed having her parents with her though she didn't begrudge their willingness to settle down out of the circus life.

Unknowing exactly how long they'd been in the circus, though she had the feeling her dad had been a boy when he first joined, the Kleins had been doing acrobatics for as long as anyone could remember. So long in fact her parents had gotten married and given birth to her. They'd been getting up in age and the work was hardest on her mother the older she got.

After saving as much money as they could her parents simply left the life they'd known behind. Of course they'd given their daughter a chance to join them but this life was all she'd known, the circus was her life blood and she'd never be able to leave.

It didn't help that Lilith was pretty much her adopted sister (and with her came sweet little Lace) and the Calloway siblings had become so near and dear to her heart. Khaleel joining a couple years back pretty much made up her small circle of family (in a way) and she was loathe to leave them behind. Even Orah, who had joined more recently then Khaleel and shared a tent with her and Lilith, was almost becoming like family.

"Or," she began after a moment. "You can hop up and I can move us back to the tent if you'd like~" Whichever the tiny kitten chose was fine with her.

"Oh, our tigers wouldn't hurt a fly, my dear. Would you my big handsome boy?" Ollie assured her, turning over to chuff and make low-toned 'whuffing' noises at the tiger to calm him down with a sense of affection and comradarie, rubbing the great beasts jowels. Ollie had been here with the circus for so long he hardly remembered anything else, and despite his specialization with humans, had picked up a few things over time about the animals of the circus as well.

Turning, he rolled his eyes at the two loud devilbirds Rhonda kept, and glared at Alois, batting the damned crow away from his hair with annoyance. Churchill he was ambivalent about, and the only bird in the entire circus he actually liked was Claw. Looking around conspiratorialy, he took a small bone out of his coat pocket, one specifically meant for treats for the animals, and slipped it to his favorite vulture.

"Did you know, Rhonda, that beautiful speciments like our Clawfoot here do better with a mate? They're monogamous, well except in some places like Spain and France where they sometimes have two males to one female, but I'm sure we could try and find a handsome fellow for our darling girl here," he fawned, skritching underneath the birds chin happily. Turning his head slightly to look over his shoulder, he called out to Nadia.

"Just be sure to use the flame retardant on your clothes, dear! I'll be on standby tonight if you'd like to try the flame batons. All the best, you'll be fine I know, you know I just worry," he called, like an anxious big brother. Which to be fair, was his usual M.O. with the members of the circus. Glancing over to Melody, Zach, and Khaleel's antics in love, he smiled softly. He hoped for the best for them, and everyone else that called their tents home.

Glancing over to Tzuyu, he cocked his head and quickly signed "Would you like to come over?" in ASL, not wanting to leave the ever silent mime out of the hustle and bustle of the tents activities. He wouldn't push her, but he hated seeing the poor dear standing off alone.

And start Gisela did, wraith-thin body jerking at the sudden sound all too loud in her ears. The scent of her grandmother's perfume vanished and Gisela felt suddenly cold where the spirit had been standing just and instant before. But just as quickly she settled back into her skin, bone-thin limbs resting on the table for just a moment while she grounded herself.

"I'm not... sure..." Gisela sighed finally, gathering her curios back into the bag one by one, feeling each curio and thanking it for what it had told her. Even if it was precious little. After a momentary pause to begin her packing ceremony (if it could be called that) Gisela continued, "The usual cautionary omens. We deal with so many strangers in a day and we open ourselves up to so many different spirits. But this was... strange... The mirror showed me fire and the curios produced a dice and rolled a four. Four trials by fire... a crow's feather from Alois... Rhona's black demon..." Gisela had been bitten more times than she liked, and Alois had taken quite a few of her shinier curios. "But the feather was covering... a ticket stub. To this circus." She finally turned to the other diviner, brows knit over her eyes in a tight, dark line. "What do you think that means?"

It took a moment, but the offering of the stones finally registered in her sleep-deprived brain. Her expression softened into a smile and she finally crossed the way between them and accepted the gift of the violet stones gratefully. She pressed the stones to her forehead for a moment one by one before she lines them up on her altar.

"Many thanks Christabella. I'll consecrate them after work and add them to the bag. It'll be interesting to find out what stories they have to tell -- " And she would have said more had a rather bright ball of energy not burst into her tent and begun talking almost instantly. Gisela could already feel herself withdrawing at the sudden force of it, and quickly rolled up her goat skin and drew perhaps too close to Christabella to hide from the glare of it all. She quietly cleared her throat, clutching her tools to her chest, and said quietly, "the bones speak of the usual omens. Warnings to tread the space between very carefully..." she made no mention of the strange crystal. Best to tell Christobella of that later. In private. So instead she changed the subject quickly, redirecting the conversation towards Luca again.

"The bones are very light, Luca, perhaps not the best for juggling. you might be able to thematically mimic my curios, however, by juggling seeming random vintage objects bound by a single encompassing theme? Or perhaps items related to the themes of Christabella's cards... juggle cups and toy carriages..."

Tzuyu approached the three individuals and listen to their talk. They were talking about getting a late for one of the birds that they had. She looked at the bird in question. It was a big Bird. She was not scared of it not was she scared of the Tigers or other animals. Sometimes when their handlers wasn't looking, or around she would slip treats to them.

She envyed some of the animals. The birds had wings that they can use to Just fly away. If they came to an situation that they didn't like it didn't want to be bothered with they could just flap their wings and take off. The tigers, cause well most people fear them. To her they are just a bigger version of cute cats. She went over to one of the cats and scratched under his neck.

Tzuyu sighed. She would have to get ready for work soon. She laugh to herself when she thought of that. Some of the other acts had to practice and think about what they had to do in their routine. Tzuyu just went along with the flow. It came natural to her. The silent art of communicating with no words just using her body.

She loved telling stories without saying a word. Hopping that the audience would catch on and know what she is trying to say without actually saying anything.

((233))

Ollie smiled as Tzuyu approached, he hadn't expected a response as it had taken him ages to figure out she was most likely selectively mute, and was glad he'd taken the extra few language courses at school so he could speak to a variety of patients. It was good to see her hovering around, socializing in her own way.

Mocking offense, Ollivander gasped loudly and held a hand to his chest in horror.

"And incur our lady diviners wrath? Never. What if she put a dastardly curse on me!?" he gasped in fake dismay, rolling his eyes with a laugh. To be fair he'd nicked the bone and cleaned it from some leftover chicken wings specifically for Claw. As a doctor and a man of science, he specifically didn't believe in the mystic arts, or fantastical visions of the future. He'd seen enough documentaries to debunk mediums and psychics alike and didn't hold much stock in them.

"Perhaps. I'll research to see if we can't get a tax break for the circus to participate in such a breeding program. Conservational costs, and whatnot. If nothing else, eggs and hatchlings would make a good attraction and excuse to house the aviary outside where patrons can view them better and interact with the happy family, even you you wretched winged demon," Ollie admitted, giving Alois another glare for good measure and smoothing his hair, pulling his glasses from his pocket and putting them on, writing down the idea and possible avenues to seek help for it and ask the Ringleader. He was drifting off into his own mind, his brain working a mile a minute to try and make life more comfortable for the circus's animals and performers. Perhaps hed try and reason that with a tax break, they could afford new beds and blankets and other creature comforts as well? The most common thing he treated among the performers was actually exhaustion and dehydration, having comfotable spaces to retreat to after each show would help immensely.

Livia Novak Jack of all trades

Livia took in everything around her she was a jack of all trades and had been helping everyone in the circus for as long as she could remember. She had no life outside the circus they were her life and family. She looked at the group around the tigers, beautiful creatures. She saw her friend Tzuyu there and was happy to see she seemed to be doing fine. Liv felt protective of the younger girl. There was always work to be done around the circus so Livia likely wouldn't linger long. Things to do and she wasn't a slacker.