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Post by Zenobia Grace Schaeffer on Feb 22, 2013 19:27:56 GMT -5
The news was too good to believe. She heard and understood what the words meant, what the exact definitions were. But there was a large cloud of amazement that was settling over her at the moment. She’d been hoping for something like this to happen, if only to get the smell back in her lungs and see what it had been so long since she’d seen. Never since she’d been in the capital had she heard those words.
The circus was in town.
To anyone else, it probably was just another curiosity, something to go see and watch the acrobats do their thing. To Zenobia, it was something else. She took a deep breath and dropped in her silks, remembering what it felt like to be in front of crowd, the smell of the tents, and the sound of the animals outside the tent, waiting for their turn. She hauled her slight frame up the fabric, wrapping herself in the strong fabric as she let her body drape in a loop. She’d never forgotten where she came from, never forgotten the skills that she’d learned as a child. She gracefully looped herself in the silk, preparing for the last drop of the routine she currently had. As the music played, she grabbed the free end of the silk and let herself fall, the fabric unwinding from around her. She halted just before the ground, friction and all the strength she could summon in her hand holding her a few feet off the ground. She hung there for the last few bars before releasing the loop and landing gracefully on the floor.
There was only one thing to do. She looked at the clock over her shoulder. She had plenty of free time. She could go take in one show, smell the smells and watch the performers. From there, well, who knew. She knew she had to get home eventually, Orchid probably wouldn’t appreciate it if she was terribly late for dinner (given that Zen was dinner). But until that point, her time was currently her own. Orchid wasn’t the harshest mistress, Zen could have been much more unlucky in that, but there were things that she didn’t understand and Zen’s love of all things strange was one of them.
The girl showered off quickly, letting the gym’s hot water remove the soreness from her muscles and the sweat from her skin. She then scampered to her locker, dried and slipped into the leggings, Minnie-Mouse dress, flats, and pea-coat that she’d worn that day. She rather unceremoniously shoved the shorts and shirt that she’d worked out in into her bag along with her rosin and wallet.
She scampered out of the gym, heading towards the edge of town where the circus was. Before she could hear anything, she could smell it. The smell of people and animals with overtones of fried food and alcohol. It smelled like home. It had been so long since she’d been near the noise and spectacle. Everything came back in a rush. She could see lights and hear the calls of the ring master long before she even bought her tickets. She paid at the counter, her hands nearly shaking with anticipation as she took it from the ticket master and ran inside the tent.
The show started and she was transfixed. It had been so long that she’d forgotten the spectacle of it, the wonder of watching the acrobats work. As she watched, her heart leapt into her throat as a pair of silks dropped from the roof and a young woman slid down them. The girl was brilliant, she had the poise of years of practice. What Zenny wouldn’t trade to be in her position right now. Her hands gripped tightly around the strap of her purse, there was very little else in the world that she wanted than to be out there in the other girl’s place.
The show ended and the crowd left, the silks were still hanging from the roof. As the crowd left, Zenny tucked herself under the stands, waiting for the crowd to disperse before stepping out and lightly hopping over the barrier between where the crowd was expected to stay. She walked across the wood shavings and wrapped her hands in the silks. They felt so right in her hands. So right, in fact, that she kicked off her shoes and scaled them and hung, body wrapped in the silks. She never wanted to leave.
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notes: i lurve her <3
words: 747
outfit: link
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Post by captainasshat on Mar 17, 2013 20:39:06 GMT -5
In all honesty there were few other places that Matias would rather be. One such place was at the helm of a great ship, the other the coast of Spain. But when he wasn't yearning for the smell of saltwater and the calls of harsh men on wooden ships or the brilliant, beautiful coast of Spain, it was here, under the harsh lights, directing the audience in that deep, booming voice of his. He drew them in, wove them a tale of grandeur, his performers backed his words, bringing truth to them. It was here that he was the most comfortable, when he was portraying something other than what he himself was. His life was surrounded by lies, so why shouldn't he be at home here where he spun webs of fantasy and lies, only to prove them truths at the hands of the performers as they entertained with their own set of special talents.
The last show ended and Matias left the ring with a grand bow, sweeping his hat from his head, the silks still hanging from the ceiling to his right. The woman had been impeccable tonight, he hadn't noticed the mistakes from the last show in her routine and was pleased that she had listened to him, applied what he said so quickly. Sometimes it was difficult to get his performers to listen. Not a lot of them knew exactly how old he was, or the fact that he could easily do any of the jobs they chose to do, mostly because he'd been around for so damn long it felt like he could do anything. Regardless, he didn't like it when they wouldn't listen, and he tended to get a bit snappy when they didn't listen. It only took a few times for newcomers to learn that when Matias told you to do something, you did it.
Pleased that the show had gone well and that he wouldn't have to yell at anyone that particular night he wandered through the 'backstage' of the big tent, side stepping workers who were cleaning up from the show. He was intent on heading back to what he considered his home intent on going over the bills for the circus, and the proposal for staying here permanently. He had to talk to the monarch about it, but he wasn't concerned with receiving a negative answer. There were many benefits of keeping the circus within this sector and Noctilunos was a very popular circus, famous even. It was then that he remembered he needed to talk with one of the repair men about fixing up a truck, whether it would be beneficial just to junk it and buy a new one or if they could fix it.
He moved back to the big tent, his irritation growing as he had to ask several times before anyone would give him an answer as to where one of the repair men were. He figured it'd be easier to cut through the big tent instead of walking around it so he headed that way, at first noticing that the silks were still hanging down. And then that there was a figure wrapped up in them. He might have passed it off as Maria hanging in the silks if it hadn't been for the fact that he had just passed Maria in the back, or that Maria had a head of blonde hair, not black. Curiosity filled him as he moved closer, silently, it took someone with experience to wrap themselves up like that, though it was no circus performer of his. He shoved his hands in his pockets, still wearing the traditional ringmaster outfit that was a popular icon for the circus.
"Are you expecting to stay up there all night?" He'd debated simply telling her to get down and get out, but he was curious he supposed. His tone had that warmth and welcome that it held when he spoke to the entire crowd, still that ringmaster tone. Still a disguise from his real self. He figured she had probably been in the audience and had decided it okay to go play with the circus' property. Matias was just glad she hadn't decided to pretend to be a lion tamer and try to sneak in with them. He'd had people do that before, it hadn't been a pretty picture when the lion was done with the boy. "It might get a bit chilly if you do" An easy smile came to his face, though it was more of a smirk then a welcoming smile, giving him just a bit of an edge, a bit of a 'not what I seem' persona. Tag: Zenobia Words: 785 Notes: whoo matias muse? xD |
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Post by Zenobia Grace Schaeffer on Mar 18, 2013 21:40:56 GMT -5
For the first time in years, Zen felt at home. It was some combination of the smell and the lights and the feeling of being wrapped in silk somewhere other than in the gym, where she was often called down to do gymnastics workouts as well. If there were any way that she could stay, any way that she could avoid the inevitable moment where someone would tell her to get down or her phone would ring, summoning her home to a rather unhappy vampire, well, that would be ideal. There was nothing more that she wanted, with possibly the exception of being a vampire, than to be home again.
As she hung there, images of her childhood flashed before her eyes, the kind of things that she normally forgot about. Arguing with her brothers, watching her parents practice their own tricks, actually performing. She missed it sorely, the pain not really dimmed by the years that she had spent away and as a Schaeffer rather than a Motyka. She didn’t regret going by the new last name, her caretakers had been nothing but kind to her, although her propensity for climbing the blinds quite often had them somewhere on the edge of frustration and anger. But it hadn’t been a bad life. She still had lunch with them sometimes, given that they were in essence her second set of parents following the destruction of the circus that had for so long been her home. She wasn’t even sure that she would recognize her own blood family at this stage, it had been so long since she had seen them. She wasn’t sure she wanted to, all told.
Her moment of reflection was interrupted by a voice from below, the ring master by the sounds of it. She was found out, imagine that. She swung to see him clearly, feeling more bold than she probably should have as a result of being so far above and in the silks. It was quite the deadly combination for her. Climbing high had been how she dealt with being as small as she was. Other women wore heels and tried to stand above others on the ground, she preferred to hang above them and look down from her comfortable perch at the world below. It was a good enough system for her.
“No, I’m expected home for dinner soon enough,” she said with a light laugh, trying to play down her age and ignore the fact that she was, in fact, the main course this evening. She didn’t mind missing the rush of getting bitten for the current rush of once again being under the big top. For all he knew, she could just be a fledgling escaping her parents for the night, especially with the tattoos on her legs and feet peeking out from under the leggings that she wore to protect her from the winter cold. She’d played that part often enough on the unsuspecting. She was small and people generally didn’t think that she was even in her twenties. And with all of the smells of human and vampire that were sure to be in the tent, it was unlikely that he would be able to pick her out specifically from the rest of the masses. She felt mildly secure in her position at the moment.
Feeling a little more gutsy that she probably should have, she released herself into the drop that she had prepped for when she wrapped herself into the silk. Drops were her favorite. If she could, all she would do was drop, but along with that came the fact that she had to do something more creative most days than simply wind herself up and let herself go. It was a short drop, however, a quick rotation of her body as she flipped downwards, nothing compared to the kamikaze drop at the end of the routine she had been working on in the gym that day. But it was enough to get her blood going a little bit.
She paused and looked down at the second statement. It seemed like a very polite suggestion that she get her ass out of the silks and on the ground, one that she fully intended to ignore. With her adrenaline pumping and her heart racing, there really was no capacity for making good decisions left in the girl. “It could,” she said, lifting her legs and catching them around the silks to hang upside down, the skirt of her damn dress falling nearly in her face as she craned her neck to look down at the vampire below her. Sense dictated that she get out of the silks and apologize, but instinct and whim bade her stay high above the ring floor.
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notes: sense is NOT her strong suit
words: 794
outfit: link
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Post by captainasshat on Mar 21, 2013 17:55:23 GMT -5
At least he wouldn't have to worry about getting her out of there then. Though he couldn't quite discern if by 'home for dinner' meant that she was dinner, or if it merely meant what she said, she needed to be home for dinner. Not that it really mattered to him. If she was human, then she'd be a pet of someone's and therefore he'd merely need to contact whomever owned her and his irritation could then be directed to a different source. If she was a fledgling, well someone is still responsible for her are they not? He watched with mild interest as she dropped, and his assumption that she had learned from somewhere was proven correct. It took skill to do what she was doing, it took skill just to get up into the silks in the first place. His first assumption was that she had training, someone taught her how to do that.
And instead of getting down as he so very politely dictated of her, she simply hung within the silks as if she were made to be there. That thought sparked some sort of interest. Maybe she was suppose to be there. He might not have appreciated the fact that she so clearly didn't want to listen to him, but he wouldn't let a chance to gather more talent slip away, no matter where this girl was suppose to be. He watched her with idle interest before he turned away from her, moving to sit down on the bleachers, leaning back against it while his sharp blue eyes watched her. "If you insist on staying up there, you might as well make the most of it" He figured she enjoyed what she was doing greatly to ignore his polite suggestion and stay wrapped up in the silks as she was.
So he'd give her the opportunity to do as she wished, get it out of her system, while at the same time seeing just exactly how talented she was. Matias was always scouting for those who could better his circus, he wasn't going to waste this chance to see if he could find another member to the circus. She was pretty too, pretty girls were always a plus to have around. Matias wouldn't deny it, most of the women in his circus were beautiful. He was that much of an ass that physical beauty was a part of his requirements. Besides, no crowd wanted to see ugly people. It was as simple as that. Part of his own act was to draw in the crowd with the whole tall, dark, and handsome gig. He blinked lazily as he let the whole 'ringmaster' persona melt away while he leaned against the bleachers, boredom ruling him now.
"What's your name?" Even the warmth seemed to seep out of his voice, if anything he sounded distant and distracted, instead of warm and welcoming. She had shot down that approach, had refused to listen to him when he was playing mister nice guy and he had no patience to continue with that persona tonight. "Who taught you?" Fingers started to drum against the seats, his eyes were still on her, though it looked as if he just didn't give a rat's ass that she was up there, hanging in the silks. He was watching her rather closely though, he was curious to see if perhaps she was a circus child. There were several people he had met that found their roots in the circus. Those people tended to receive a bit more respect and warmth from the man than others. Though that amount was still pitifully lacking. Tag: Zen Words: 614 Notes: sorry its like..short, I had to drag this post out of him << |
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Post by Zenobia Grace Schaeffer on Apr 1, 2013 17:04:58 GMT -5
“Motyka! Get down from there, you’re going to break your skull and then where will we be, eh? Now, Zenobia!” She could still hear the ringmaster in her parent’s circus screaming at her to get down, every question punctuated by the shrill ‘eh?’ at the end. It was a long time past since anyone had told her to get out of the silks. Curtains, well, that was a different story. But it was a commonly accepted fact at the gym that despite the fact that she was a tiny human, easily broken and pushed around, the silks were hers. It wasn’t that they weren’t used by anyone else, it was just that she was more bat than human, more bird than clumsy land mammal. She’d been born the wrong species and was apparently fated to stay that way. She was honestly still a bit put out by that one. Ever since she had been stuck in the city with her caretakers, her number two dream had been to become a vampire. Number one, of course, had been to hightail it out of Dodge and find herself exactly where she had been before the war. Neither had come true, but for the moment, this was close enough to number one that she was not sensible.
If she had been expecting anything, it wasn’t tacit permission to stay in the silks and keep doing exactly what she was doing. If anything, she’d been expecting that he order her out rather than let her stay in. She grinned, a little cheekily perhaps, as she lifted herself back to vertical and set up for one of her routines. Admittedly, it was nothing without the music, just her writhing through the silks to a beat that no one else heard, dealing fairly gracefully with the trouble that the petticoat of her dress continued to give her as she made her way from one position to the next. If she had known something like this was going to happen, she definitely would not have worn a dress, or at least not this one. The puffy skirt and tights were a far cry from the shorts and tank that she normally wore at the gym, that she had sitting in her bag down below her. But there was no doing anything about that now, not when she was halfway through a routine, alternatively stretched out between both strands of material and hanging by one hand, preparing for one drop and then the next.
The end came and she fell nearly to earth, unwinding from a complex set of twists and turns in the fabric around her. She caught herself at the end, staring at the ground below her. Yes, it was good to be back under the tent and under the lights. She wished she could stay but from where she was, she could hear the phone buzzing, calling her home to be that evening’s meal. There was not good way for her to get out of that commitment, it was, after all, what the small amount of independence she had relied on. There was freedom to be found in the structure of the rules she lived by. Her mark was cold against her neck as she put her feet on the ground and released herself from the last loop holding her in her dreams.
“Zenobia Motyka,” she said in response to the first question, mildly shocked at how easily she dropped the Schaeffer in this situation. If anything, it was indication of going back to her roots or something like that. She shook her head slightly at herself as she slipped her feet into her shoes and put on her coat, slinging her purse over one shoulder. On the ground, she wasn’t much to look at. Five-foot-nothing, she was tiny and generally wasn’t seen by other people until they bowled her over in the streets. The only thing that she had going for her was talent and attitude, which probably balanced her life expectancy out to about normal. She raised an eyebrow at him as the interrogation got worse. “I learned at Circus Minimus. I was the youngest performer they’d ever had in the silks, mainly because they couldn’t get me out of them,” she said with a smirk, trying to pull herself up a little taller. She left off the ‘until the war came,’ it was probably clear from the fact that she was sneaking into silks that were not her own what had happened since.
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notes: sense is NOT her strong suit
words: 748
outfit: link
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