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Ziazan looked at its owner. "Say something."

Faolan licked his lips, a nervous sort of habit, then smiled a bit. "You don't have to, Ellandra. I'm not anything special, you know."

The Essentic made a groaning noise and flew over to Faolan, hitting him with a wing. "Try that again and this time don't say something stupid."

"Ow!" The young man caught hold of the small proto and held it to his chest, then looked at Ellandra. "I want you to come back, too. Hell, I don't want you to leave, but I don't expect you to want to stay here when you'd probably rather get home and perhaps into some fresh clothes you're more used to. I mean . . . I know you probably ain't minding the visit, but I haven't known many people--or any one, really--that wants to stay at the carnival who wasn't born to it." Never mind that he, himself, wasn't born in the carnival, but close enough. He just didn't want the girl feeling obligated, but a small part of him was feeling relief and joy. She liked him, too. Maybe.

He made a sort of lame gesture with his hand, as if he might find the words he wanted to say in the air and not locating them too well. Finally, he just shrugged and let his hand drop. "You want me to wait outside so you can get dressed? Kinda sure you might want to wear more now than one of my shirts and that blanket, right?"

Faolan nodded, walking to her. He gently tilted her chin up so she was looking up at him. "Don't know who told you that you weren't special, but you're anything but plain. I happen to think you're very good company and the stutter's kind of cute. I never asked you to give up your life and run away to join the circus, just didn't think you'd really want to spend all your time here getting to know me when there's other places in this city to see."

Stepping back from her, he smiled a bit. "I'll let you get changed, though. I'm curious to see your world now that you've seen mine." He headed for the tent flap, then stopped and scooped Ziazan up, ignoring the creature's fussing. "No free show for you, little one. You come outside with me." With that, he ducked outside to give Ellandra privacy.

Faolan was outside, not too far from the tent, leaning against a post casually and talking with some of the roustabouts while they all watched the horse trainers practice their act. The young man seemed fairly relaxed around the older men, sharing a joke with them before they went about their daily routine. He looked back when Ellandre approached, smiling at her. The other men noticed her as well.

"Fao, you devil. When did you manage to sneak a pretty lass like that in your tent?" one of the men asked, looking Ellandre over. "She's a bit better than the usual ladies you have visiting you."

Fao waved a hand at the man indicating he should shut the hell up. "She ain't that sort, Barnaby. Leave off on it, eh? I think the elephants need their stalls mucked out, anyhow."

"I hear ya, boy," the man chuckled, getting up and gesturing for the rest of the roustabouts to follow. "See your da before you go, boy."

The boy waited till they were out of site before motioning for Zia to come out of hiding, letting the Essentic light on his shoulder like a strange parrot. He walked toward Ellandre, hoping she hadn't heard the men. "Those clothes suit you. Should see yourself, you know. You ain't plain at all."

"Thanks, love," Faolan said, smiling. He took the deck from her and moved to put it in his jacket pocket . . . that wasn't there. He looked down and then scoffed a bit, shaking his head. Getting Zia from his shoulder, he handed the Essentic and deck over to Ellandra. "Wait here, darlin'. I'll be back in a slick jiff."

The young man bounded back off to his tent, disappeared within, and then came back in a few moments shrugging on an old well-worn hooded jacket. He got the deck back and put them in the front waist pocket, then tucked Zia within the folds of the hood at his shoulder. "Much better, don't you think?" He gave a brief pose, showing off the jacket, then held a hand out to her. "Ready to go? We have to stop by my dad's before we go and see what he wants, but shouldn't take long."

"Nothing serious," Fao said, interlacing his fingers with hers as they walked through the carnival. He nodded a bit to people they came across, friendly but definitely making it clear not to make remarks in Ellandra's presence. "He owns the carnival and probably just wants to go over the daily schedule with me as usual." The boy smiled at her, giving a soft chuckle. "And he's not my father. He's just my dad."

They stopped outside a brightly painted vardo and Faolan hopped nimbly up the stairs and began rhythmically knocking a staccato beat on the door till an older man with dark hair and complexion poked his head out, squinting green eyes at Fao. He decidedly did not have horns. "You're late, boy. Told the roustabouts to have you here an hour ago."

Faolan shrugged, giving a good-natured grin. "I'm here now, Da. I wanna make this quick, though. Not that I don't love the fun bonding moments we have, but I promised to see my friend home and I want to be back before you need me conning people out of their good fortunes tonight."

The man leaned out more and looked Ellandra over then gave Faolan a look and gestured with a nod of his head for them to both come in. "Come, lad, and bring your bonny girl in. I'll get you a copy of the schedule and you can be on your way." He went back in the wagon, leaving the door open.

"You can wait out here if you want, Ellandra," Faolan told the girl, giving a slightly shy smile. "I won't be but a moment."

"Sit there, lass," Fao's dad said, gesturing to a heavily quilted bed to the side of the one-room wagon. He shuffled around to a desk and started going through papers on it.

Faolan smiled at Ellandra and sat down on the bed, patting it to let her know it was alright to sit there. He looked over at his dad. "Hey, old man, you gonna be rude and not even bother with an intro? Your showman skills are getting rusty."

The man turned around and gave him a wry smile. "Remind me why I didn't sell you to a pet shop when you were an infant again." He glanced at Ellandra. "Since the boy's too much of a smart a** to remember how to introduce someone to his new girlfriend, I'm Keagan Grady. It's nice to meet you. Hope it works out." He went back to looking through the papers on the desk.

"He's just kidding. Really," Faolan said quickly, eyes wide. He fisted a hand in the quilted, biting his lower lip. He was sure now that Ellandra would think the worst of him. "Da?" The man didn't look up, so Faolan tried again, louder this time. "Da! The schedule is right there." He pointed to a booklet on the other side of the desk.

"So it is. I guess I'll be keeping you a bit longer then," Keagan chuckled, picking up the booklet and tearing a sheet out of it. He passed it over to Faolan. "Here you are. Try to be here on time or I'll let the clowns have a party in your booth again." He smiled at Ellandra, reaching over to pat her affectionately on the head. "And don't fall for any of his stories. The boy's a rogue sure as I raised him myself. Try to remind him to have his scrawny a** back here before evening. For all his smarts, he's often weak in the head when needing to actually remember important stuff." He stepped back and waved towards the door. "Be off with both of you. Some of us actually have work to do and can't be gallivanting about the city with pretty girls."

"Always a pleasure, Da. See you tonight if your black heart hasn't dried up by then and left you keeled over in the elephants' stall," Faolan grumbled, though there was no real malice in it. He looked back at Ellandra, giving an apologetic smile for his rather eccentric adopted father.

Nudging Ellandra a bit to the door, he tucked the schedule away in his pocket and stepped out onto the little stoop attached to the wagon. "I'll be home before the evening crowd, Da. No worries." He gave an affectionate smile to the old man and waved. "Love ya."

"Don't make me put you in the lion taming act, son. Be off with you before I tell the roustabouts to store what they muck out of the stalls in your tent," Keagan called back, waving Fao and Ellandra away, though he was smiling, too. "Leave the door open."

Faolan nodded and led Ellandra down the steps. "Sorry about that. You know how parents can be, eh? I'm guessing your father never threatened to let the drunk clowns raise you, though, hm?"