Freak of Nature (Semi-Lit)

[Falls]

William did not wake up again that day. Instead, Ringmaster rose a little after the sun and greeted the day with a grumble. He was not pleased to find himself alone in bed, nor was he pleased to find his shoes had gone missing when he tried to dress. He ended up "borrowing" Daniel's sandals after he'd slipped into a very loose grey shirt and a pair of jeans. With an air of purpose, he then burst out of the wagon and marched towards the big top tent, determined to prepare for tonight's show as early as possible.

Jem was in there practicing when Ringmaster entered the tent. The dragon hybrid's wings flapped absently as he swung throughout the trapeze equipment. Contrary to how he operated during the show, he had put the net up under himself. His close call with Nakusha a few months ago had taught him a hard lesson. He didn't go without that net anymore if he was in a quiet tent where he could get surprised by noise and lose his grip. As a matter of fact, that's nearly what happened this time as well.

"Where's the girl?"

Jem heard that hated voice and cringed mid-air, clenching his jaw and focusing on sticking his landing on the platform before he looked down at Ringmaster.

"Were I you, I'd chain her to the bed so that she couldn't fly away again. Wait... is that what you did?"

Jem was silent for a moment as he crouched down, seemingly preparing his reply. His green fingers rested curled over the edge of the platform as he parted his lips... and let out a cat-like hiss.

Ringmaster lifted his hands to wave away his own question with a defensive shrug. "Geez, sorry," he mumbled as he tucked his hands into his pockets and slunk further into the tent. Jem climbed down off of the trapeze equipment and crawled out of the tent on all fours, directing a low continuous growl at Ringmaster as he went. These days Jem acted like an abused animal more often than he behaved like a human. So much crap from Ringmaster over these two years had changed him. Ringmaster ignored Jem's cranky exit and focused on checking the ropes of the tent instead. He flinched when he heard a sudden voice, but tried to play it off with a growl.

"...You haven't changed a bit, have you?"

Ringmaster turned and faced the source of the voice. It was a man. Ringmaster recognized his red skin and devil-like tail at once. "Azazel," he murmured with an air of surprise. "I thought you'd be dead by now."

Azazel crossed his arms and leaned against a wooden support pillar for the trapeze setup. "I age slowly," he replied as he idly studied his sharp, claw-like nails. "...And I am even slower to forgive."

Ringmaster visibly deflated at Azazel's words. "Come now, is that really why you're here? Revenge? For what? For taking you in? For letting you live when you tried to steal from me?"

Azazel's anger flared. "FOR TEARING ME APART!" Ringmaster fell silent and so the red-skinned freak took the opportunity to vent. "You didn't even have to touch me, did you? You dissected me with your words and laughed at everything you found! You struck me down at every turn and then made me feel guilty for it! As though it were my fault!" Ringmaster stood from his crouching position, fully aware of the malice in Azazel's voice and all the more wary for it. "By the time I had found the sense to leave, I was changed. I wasn't human anymore. Like that boy you spoke to just now."

Ringmaster cut into the man's rant and jumped straight to the point. "Have you come to kill me?"

Azazel blinked as though emerging from a haze. His anger faded into the background, replaced by a determined calm. "No,' he muttered as he shook his head. "I've come to break you. I want you to know what it's like to be rendered asunder from the inside out. I want you to know what it feels like to be separated from yourself. And I know just the person to do it."

...

...Ringmaster did not return to his wagon that night. In the tent rested a single sandle in the place where he had disappeared.

[deletethisaccount145]

Lilith got a little closer and one of the peacocks looked at her. She slowly moved back to the distance she had been before, not wanting to irritate the large birds since she didn't want them to run away or try to peck her. They wouldn't be able to peck her since she could fly better than they could, but being chased wasn't something she felt like doing in the morning...or really any time of the day. Lili tried to chirp to them, seeing if they would respond, but obviously they felt like they were too good to talk to her. She heard yelling, but was already used to that. There seemed to be a lot of yelling among certain people at the caravan.

[dmlp]

When Blake got up, the sun was already beating down at ten and Sheila had flown off, probably to hunt. Pushing up into a sitting position, Blake held himself up with one hand while he rubbed his face with the other to try to clean away sleep. He then stood and stretched, his back popping and cracking with painful relief as he did so. He grabbed his wallet and signed at what little he had pick pocketed yesterday, he'd have to barrow from the twins he supposed with a cringe. Having designated himself the honorary go to food getter for the caravan, he needed money if he was to get breakfast. Of course only some was bought while the rest was stolen. He dresses into shorts and a tank, stuffed the wallet into his pocket then headed outside.

The first thoughts to hit him when he stepped out of his wagon were those of Lacota; wondering if she was up yet and if so could he run iinto her. He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he jumped off the small porch and headed towards the water pump. There he splashed water on his face, already the day was blistering hot, however he hardly noticed himself as the water sizzled and steamed off his very skin. He sighed and reduced his body heat to a more human level before heading towards the twins' wagon. Blake froze at the wagon door and listened, hearing a crash in the next wagon he turned towards it and watched a boy climb put with long angel blonde hair pulled into a tail at the nape of his neck and a long black tail streaming from over the waistband what looked like swim trunks. As the boy tried to shove past, Blake snatched him by the scruff of the boy's wife beater and hoisted him up while Hunter struggled and kicked. "Ah, just the twirp I was looking for." Blake said.
"Let me go!" Hunter yelled, about to change into someone heavier but suddenly Blake let go and Hunter dropped, hit the ground with a thud and grunt. "What do you want?" Hunter snapped.
"If you want pancakes I need to borrow money kid." Blake answered simply as he crossed his arms over his chest. Hunter hesitated as if weighing everything in his head, finally Blake's stare spooked him and his stomach growled so he stood and gave Blake one of the three wallets in his pocket and extra cash. "Here." The boy grumbled, "Make em chocolate Chip." He said before climbing up the wagon and ran off down the line of wagons. Blake stood counting the money.

((Awaiting DL's reply to Roslynn but if anyone needs free cherries I got Hunter, Lyra, Lila, and now Gwen as in just gonna have it as if he never ran off and still is about seven))

[deletethisaccount145]

Lilith heard more yelling and sighed. Growing up in a quiet place had made her unused to all the loud noises going on around the caravan. As she glanced around one of the peacocks noticed Lili wasn't paying attention to them and hopped up to peck her leg. "Hey!" the hummingbird hybrid kind of yelped out and gave the peacock a glare, in which the bird just stared at her then left. "Jerk..."

[dmlp]

Hunter jumped off a wagon and glanced back as he kept running, suddenly he felt himself collide with someone else and the force caused them both to fall. With a groan, Hunter quickly pushed off the person he fell upon, tail lashing in irritation that he'd been so absent minded. "Sorry." He muttered as he stood and looked down at a girl that he'd never seen before, immediately feeling even worse. He held out his hand to hell her up, "I'm so sorry." He repeated, as his tail drooped guiltily.

[deletethisaccount145]

Lilith yelped again as she got pushed to the ground by somebody. "Ow..." she mumbled and looked at the young boy that had ran into her. Lili got up without the help of the boy. "It's okay," she sighed. Lili was silent for a minute before speaking again. "Who are you?"

[dmlp]

Hunter smirked at the question and changed shape into a boy more her age, "Anyone you want me to be." He chuckled, changing into an exact duplicate of her only without the wings as only Lyra had perfected the extra limb copying yet. He changed back into himself and held put a hand. "Name's Hunter. You?"

[deletethisaccount145]

Lilith jumped back as he shifted, eyes widening. She backed away another step as he shifted to look like her, then back to himself. "Ummm...Lilith," she said, not shaking his hand. The girl hugged herself pretty tightly, not exactly knowing how to react to somebody able to change how they look.

[bugiscool]

Locota

Locota woke up with a small moan. She sat up from her bed then stood up slowly. She then made her bed. She pulled the blankets up and tucked them nicely. Then she placed her pillows nicely in place. First the two purple pillows, then the darker blue one, lastly she placed the small cream pillow on. The main blanket was purple with a darker blue on the underside. Under the main blanket was a cream thin blanket. She smiled then got dressed. She wore a darker blue-jeaned top that the sleeves came down to her elbows. Around her waist she had a belt. One the edges of it, it was cut slightly so it was like it had ruffles on the belt. It was more like an elastic belt, so it stretched when it had too. In the front of the belt it had little fake shimmering stones on it and two pieces of the same fabric that the belt was made of was hanging slightly from the belt. She wore a cream colored skirt that went well with both the color of the belt and of the blue jean shirt. All basically matched even her white hair went with the outfit a bit. Once she was dressed she grabbed her purse and walked out of her room wagon thing.

When she stepped outside the heat surprised her and she was glad she had put on something what could ventilate air a bit. She looked around and the first thing that came to mind was Blake; 'Will I see him again today?' She asked in her head. Then she started walking to get breakfast when her stomach growled. She went to go get her breakfast. She hoped that maybe Blake was doing the same.

[Veins Of Opal]

Daniel's day was uneventful. And, truthfully, he walked himself a good mile away from the caravan, before he felt something... off. Wrong. Something felt very wrong. He turned, and began walking back to the Caravan. It took him about 15 minutes for him to briskly walk back to the caravan, the sky fading to a bloody red hue with dark clouds along the horizon. Upon getting back to the wagon, he found something that made him feel cold, and sick to his stomach. Ringmaster wasn't there. He saw one of his sandals that he had seen Ringmaster wearing, but the other was missing. Just one. He felt sick, sick sick sick. He began searching the cabin fervently, his heart pounding away in his chest with the dark, cold feeling of fear rising within his heart.