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 Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 7:13 pm
You see, Maxem has always been a very curious thing, but by this time, her curiosity had melted into sheer annoyance as she wandered around aimlessly. It had been…. Forty five minutes. Forty five minutes in which she had wandered aimlessly through tents and stands and all sorts of interesting things. This was, of course, only interesting the first time she had gone around. The second time it was a bit less fun, and the third time it was just downright wrong. “Why…” She wondered to herself in what she hoped was an impassive tone, “have I not found any sort of ‘new recruits’ sign… Or much of anything that looks helpful at all?”
This could have been fine and well, but Maxem was feeling particularly aimless at the moment, and could rather use someone to show her the way so she did not feel like a complete and utter moron. That, and her feet hurt.
Meekly, she finally called out for help, an act normally barred from her actions on account of pride, but had broken loose in this time of confusion.
“Pardon… But if anyone is around who works here… or at least knows the area fairly well…. Could I get a point towards the newcomer’s area? Because, you see, I find myself a bit lost and well… Well I’m not even entirely sure I’m talking to anyone!” Her voice squeaked a bit in exasperation, but she continued on anyway, “So I do think I’ll just stop talking now, thank you very much!”
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Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 7:52 pm
Sarava had gotten loose from the trailer, and though normally, Ankita wouldn't be bothered, but it was time for her to be fed, and she'd prefer it if it were from her, and not some poor victim who's meal would be stolen. She took her walking stick that she only really used for such occasions. She tapped it down each step until finally she reached the ground, and paused for a moment.
She turned her head to one side, then the other, until she decided to just go to her left. Her stick tapped obnoxiously against the ground in hopes of getting Sarava's attention.
"Sarava!" She yelled obnoxiously, over and over again, only taking breaks to make loud clicking and kissing sounds to the air. To anyone passing by, she surely looked crazy, but unfortunatly, such behaviour is the only thing to get her attention.
Ankita continued to walk in what she was desperatly hoping, wouldn't turn out to be a circle until she felt her stick hit something hard. She kept hitting it a few times to try to get some sort of an echo to come from it, and kept guiding it up further and further to get a better idea of what it could be. She didn't really stop until she felt something soft and immediatly pulled her stick away.
"Oh. Oh. Wow. I'm ...really sorry." she said, holding her stick close to her, and very much in a guarding position.
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Outrun The Halfling Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 8:11 pm
There… was a woman coming; a pretty woman at that, if not a bit on the unsound side. She turned towards this said woman, tilting her head awkwardly and squinting in such a way as to decipher just what the tapping and kissing was about…
And then her foot was smacked with the cane; her mind reeled in trying to understand why the strange kissing woman had just smacked her foot, but it had no time to come to a conclusion before her knee was assailed next. This sent her in a whole different train of thought, perhaps she ha—Ooomph! Upon collision with her stomach, Maxem was sure she had done something to aggravate the strange lass, but had little time to ponder over why before her brain finally registered that it hurt fairly badly to be hit in the stomach with a cane.
“Mmm… Yea... No worries. This is surely a daily event that I just… …haven’t been informed about.” Her hands clutched at her stomach—clearly her corset slowly breaking and reshaping her ribs must not be painful enough, no, clearly insane women wielding walking sticks was some kind of new addition to her torture sessions.
A few moments of recomposing herself, and the girl was some-what more orientated, and certainly more coherent.
“So… Uhm..”
“It would not be a bad idea to mind your toungue, Marien, m’dear, unless you want to get beaten again.” She thought to herself, making sure to carefully think of what to say.
“You wouldn’t happen to know just what is going on around here, would you? I’m a might bit lost, and I’d rather like to find just where I am supposed to be by now.”
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Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:03 pm
Ankita took a deep breath, shaking her head in an attempt at recomposing herself. "Uhm. Uh." Her fingers at this point were wringing the cane. "Oh! I think Auditions happened today?" She said with a look of uncertainty. "I'm pretty sure. Have you signed your papers yet? Really wouldn't recommend skipping on that..." she said, her nose twitching.
She began walking again and stopped, "Have you seen a critter running around here?" she said, head cocked. "I'm missing my extra pair of eyes..." A nervous laugh overwhelmed her question. She'd gotten in trouble before from such things and was really hoping to avoid anyone yelling at her for the day.
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Outrun The Halfling Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:14 pm
“Ah… I see.”
Her boot scraped in the dirt anxiously, and she pondered just how she was going to phrase what she was going to say next. She opted for the blunt 'and simple route.
“And where might I sign these papers?”
The girl’s hands were clasped together behind her back, going for the innocent and confused young girl' look, and still being completely oblivious to the fact that her conversation partner might have any sort of seeing problem that would render her immune to these techniques.
And, just for good measure, she looked around her in search of the animal. It was unlikely that she was honestly trying too hard. It was more for show, as if she was saying “Oh, look at me, I am a good girl and I help those who have lost their puppies!”.
Naturally, though, if the assumed puppy had scampered around, she would have mentioned it. But seeing no cats, dogs, rabbits, or any other animal that constituted a ‘critter’ (For she had seen a small lizard basking in the sun suddenly dart under a trailer), she simply shrugged and resumed her gaze to Ankita, who surely must be the source of information in this troupe, or was just quite helpful anyway.
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Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:27 pm
Ankita took a bit of a deep breath and winced a little at the question.
"Well...," she began biting her lip in slight anxiety, "I'm not very good with directions..." a nervous chuckle slipped out, "But, I do believe Scarlett's trailer is the destination you're seeking..." She attempted to make it seem as though she was searching for the direction in which it laid, but, more than likely failed.
"But. Are you sure you haven't seen anything? She's kind of hard to miss. Probably a bit bigger than a young pup, and her fingers are deffinatly something destinguishable." She thought for a second. "Never really met another critter like her actually..." She shook her head to shake off the wandering thought.
Little did she know however, that Sarava had heard her call a long time ago, and was standing directly behind the stranger. She sniffed at her boots, and began circling around her slowly, eyeing her. She wasn't quite sure if she liked this one - deffinatly one to keep her eye on.
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Outrun The Halfling Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:38 pm
Maxem stared at the woman. “You mean to tell me… That your dog has fingers?”
‘That was not normal; Definitely not normal. But… On a second thought,’ she reminded herself, ‘You are in a circus, Marien, and you are bound to be seeing a good number of strange things like dogs with fingers. Keep in mind that you did, of course, discover the exploding dog.’
Lost in these thoughts, it never really occurred to her that she had a small critter that was most certainly not a dog wandering around her in circles. This, to Maxem, naturally meant that the creature was preparing to... Alleviate itself on her. That was bad.
It took a good deal of maneuvering and side stepping to try to not step on the critter and scuttle away to the safety of a few feet away.
“I don’t suppose…“ And she wouldn’t have supposed, should it not be right there in front of her, “That this here…” She paused, what one earth was she going to call this beast? “Monkey-rat-thing… would in fact be that ‘critter’ you were talking about?”
She continued her stepping in what could be called an awkward “Please do not pee on me, money-rat-thing, because my boots are leather and do not much agree with monkey-rat-thing urine on them” dance. By this point, her excursions with the strange aye-aye and it’s owner were completely and utterly distracting her from those Oh-So-Important papers that she was supposed to be signing.
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Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:50 pm
"Dog?" Ankita had a completely confused look on her face. "What? Oh no, god no. She's an Aye-aye." She said, beginning making the kissing sounds, which finally distracted Sarava from her studies of the new commer. She bent down into a pouncing position, and leaped up into her arms.
"Aw baby, I missed you too." Ankita said, rubbing her face against the soft fur, in probably would be considered to be the most obnoxious baby-talk voice heard. "You're just my little precious, huh? Aren'tcha? My little baby girl." Sarava began making slight purring sounds like mad as her familiar pet her in just the right spots.
"I guess all I needed to do was keep looking. Thanks for helping me find her." She said giving a gentle smile. "Maybe I could help you find Scarlett's trailer? Not really sure how much help I'll be... But Sarava here's really good with directions." Kind of. At least she was good enough to help Ankita get her where she needed to be.
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Outrun The Halfling Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 10:11 pm
Her suspicious, curious, and scared faces all tried to rush to Maxem’s face at once, which resulted in a jumbled and confused expression that Ankita would have been glad to not see, had she known it was there.
“Uhm… Yes. Sure. Anytime. “She looked over the aye-aye again, pulling back slightly and trying to get a good view of just what it was. “I didn’t really do much, really.” Her speech was slow and drawled as her mind raced through any books she may have read on monkeys… Or any sort of animals that might resemble the furry thing perched on Ankita’s shoulders. As expected, there was nothing.
“And wait… Wait.” Things were slowly coming into perspective. “You’re monkey helps you get arou-- ……… Waiiiiiit…. I got it… Give me a moment.” The light of Maxem’s brain turned on, flickered for a moment, turned off, and desperately flickered back into existence before she had finally realized just what was going on.
“Oh. OH! I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize. “ Her hands were covering her mouth, going to touch Ankita’s shoulders, pulling back in fear of Sarava, and trying to fix a misplaced piece of hair all at once, which would have made her look even more insane. No time for sanity, she wagered, because now she was a mean person who was inconsiderate and going to be hated by everyone in the circus because she was mean to the disabled girl and she would get kicked out and never get a job and die alone with lots of cats-- Or aye-ayes, if irony wanted to be particularly bitter to her.
A moment of realizing her manifest fate caused Maxem to spring to attention, trying to avoid her life of aye-ayes and solitude.
“I’m really, truly sorry for not noticing. “ This was awkward—Very awkward. How could she make it sound that she was sorry for her ignorance without making it seem like she felt bad for Ankita? She didn’t pity her; Maxem knew enough about this girl to know she would not like pity…. She didn’t exactly even know why. Body language? Speech patterns? It didn’t click together… She just… was too respectable to be pitied, and by gosh if she was going to come off that way!
“So, if I can make it up to you in any way… Please just let me know.”
A small, sheepish smile crept across her face.
“I’m sure if I look hard enough, I can find someone to escort me, so… I won’t be a burden anymore. Aum…. Thank you though, you have been a big help. I feel a lot more confident now that I have a general idea of where I should be, at least.”
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Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 10:36 pm
Ankita tried her best to cover up whatever laughter she could feel building up inside of her. She's one of 'those', she thought to her self, and gave a large smile to help ease her discomfort.
"Its... okay." Her hand waving in an attempt to get rid of the atmosphere.
"Really, I don't mind helping you around, and I'm sure Sarava would just be glad to." Her smile at this point was sickeningly sweet. Sarava's expression, on the other hand, could hardly be considered so kind. She was tired from her morning walk, and hungry, and unless this newcomer had something on her, everyone was going to be instore for a bit of a mood swing.
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Outrun The Halfling Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:03 pm
‘Well… On the plus side, she can’t even tell that I look like dirt. This could end up a very relaxing relationship.’
It was not particularly so that Maxem hated to get dressed up; rather, it was quite the opposite. But even the vain Maxem liked to take a break and not have to worry about if all her bright locks made it under her wig cap, or if her concealer was covering her freckles well enough.
“Alright, thank you." She nodded, eyeing Sarava with a glare that just screamed “You pee on me and I will teach you the same trick I taught the exploding dog” at her. “But first, aum… I don’t think we have properly introduced ourselves. My name is Marien… Marien Mulligen."
Should she have given her pet name? She wasn’t sure. As nice as this woman was, they had only just met, and it was still unclear whether or not they were going to bond into some friendly duo of women. ‘Play it on the safe side,’ she chided herself, ‘she may not be okay with your crude nature.’
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Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:52 pm
Ankita smiled, and held out her hand in what was presumably the direction she was standing in.
"I'm Ankita, and this here-" she said, petting Sarava's head, "is Sarava."
Sarava turned her head to look at Maxem, and gave an almost scoffing expression. Don't give me that look.
Ankita tapped her shoulder for Sarava to climb up on, which, she obediantly did. She wrapped her long squirrel like tale around her familiar's arm, and began making small clicking sounds into her ear.
The two had a language, that to outsiders appeared to be nothing but a bunch of deranged sounds. But since Sarava couldn't be placed on a leash, they had to have some method of communicating to guide her.
"Sarava says this way." she said, nodding her head to the right and turning in that direction. During all her daily walks, Sarava had figured out where almost everything was. But since she was particular about who she'd give directions to, it'd be pointless sending her off alone with someone, especially a stranger. Because knowing Sarava's ways, she'd purposely lead them to some place far away and in the opposite direction, only to run off and let them find their own way back.
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Outrun The Halfling Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:14 pm
Maxem’s hand swung out and gently clasped onto Ankita’s, giving it a firm shake before letting it go back to it’s own devices.
Scuttling behind Ankita, Maxem had to have resembled a lost chick more than anything. In fact, the only way she could look even more like a little baby bird would be to sprout wings, cover herself in feathers, and start peeping. But feathers were not safe around fire, and rather than be allowed to play with explosives, she might have been placed into the freak show instead.
But, conveniently enough, Maxem did not have feathers or wings, and did not peep, so she was freak show free.
“So… Uhm, this may sound like a weird question to as on account of the circumstances…” She paused a lot in her speech, and it was bugging her. Was her mental script that hard to read, or was she just aiming to impress? “But are there any distinguishing traits I should be looking out for?”
Oh, was she fidgety. Fidgety and nervous. It would be quite a feat to heal her conscious of her grief over her comments earlier, and it seemed like that feat was gaining in size with each moment she spent with this girl. Not in so much that she felt uncomfortable with her, or wanted to get away, but rather, with each step of guidance, she felt like she felt Ankita even more for helping her out despite the conditions.
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Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:31 pm
Ankita paused for a moment. Distinguishing traits for what?
"Well, if you're asking about the trailer, then, I can't really help you there." she said laughing. "Sarava's the only one between the two of us who's seen it, and she's not really good at giving descriptions." She said giving a smile and continuing to walk again.
"You can try and weasle an answer out of her, but I have a feeling that might not end up so pretty."
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Outrun The Halfling Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:41 pm
There was a bit of a grimace at the idea of Maxem interrogating a monkey. The money was in the chair, sitting back nonchalantly with a cigarette in its mouth, tapping the table with its long, skeleton-like finger and occasionally checking its watch as if it had somewhere to be other than downtown. A suit-clad Maxem looked over, holding a table light at a sharp angle towards the monkey as she threateningly asked just where the trailer was, and what relationship this said money had with—
‘No, Marien, no. Do not go on a tangent. The monkey is not important.’
“So you can actually talk to it?” She was curious now, and stepped up the pace a bit. If she was going to have a conversation with someone, she wanted to see their face. “That’s pretty amazing. Is that what you do for an act?”
Really, she had no idea about anyone’s act, and had signed up on a whim that was slowly starting to grow into a commitment. It would be okay, though. Maxem had found someone to tell her what to do, and to lead her by the figurative hand. This couldn’t be too bad, honestly! Even a monkey could do it!
Giggling at her own train of thought, Maxem looked over to the critter, giving it a smug look of “My opposable thumbs are better than yours.”
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