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Post by nascent on May 22, 2009 17:41:27 GMT -5
Traverse Town was unusually busy that day, with the shops bustling and street vendors filling the air with the smell of fragrant snack foods. It was a rare and joyful day indeed... for a circus had come to town!
Even with a name like 'The Ransecq Brothers Dramatic Stage Show and Carnival', there was no mistaking that THIS was a big-top circus. Special tents had been set up in the town's colorful Third District, tents enchanted with some form of masterful magic that made them bigger on the inside than they were on the outside. There were whispers that Merlin himself had helped this performing troupe fashion such a convenient enchantment, but that was not the ONLY magic astonishing the townsfolk that day! In fact, magic seemed to fill the very air with a sense of wonder. Whether it was the daring acrobats, the hilarious clowns, the mystifying magic shows, or the death-defying feats, everything in the circus tent seemed astonishing and breath-taking.
Outside was hardly less exciting, for games and shops had filled the second district's central square with all manner of amusement. Even a few small rides had been set up, including a zipline from the Gizmo Shop down to the fountain (with several large safety nets, of course).
It was a joyous occasion for Traverse Town... and a wonderful day to be a pickpocket. Kassom prowled the busy streets, looking for targets while avoiding any unnecessary attention. There was a big score to be had today... he could just feel it!
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Post by Beaver Dude on May 22, 2009 19:27:48 GMT -5
"No, no, no," Dee hissed appalled.
The children looked at him (well, fine, if you want to be all technical about it, quite a few looked down at him. Not because they were snotty little brats but because they were mostly taller than his ginormous four foot height) appalled at his lack of adventurous spirit.
"Come on, Mr. Dee!" One of the younger ones said crossly. "It's the circus! Mr. Gandalr-"
"Merlin," someone interjected smoothly. Probably Timmy- that child just spent far too much time buried in his books. Healthy little thing.
"Mr. Gandalfr," the original speaker continued crossly, emphasizing her mistake as if it'd make it a factual statement, "was supposed to make this beeeeeeg magic trick and-"
Dee's heart skipped a bit at that. Magic? Real magic? That would be-
But no, he had to bring them back to reality. They were just the orphans he was in charge of now that-
(don't think about it)
-now that their caretaker was no longer among them.
"We don't have the money, children."
There was a mischevious glint in their eyes. "Actually, Mr. Dee. About that..."
And this was how, just fourty minutes later, Dee was surrounded by gawkers and performing small feats of magic. Most of which involved hitting himself in the face with a fireball as they chuckled appreciatively and gave him scraps of loose change.
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Post by nascent on May 22, 2009 20:54:29 GMT -5
'Heh, poor guy...' Kassom thought to himself upon catching a glimpse of Dee's little side-show. Now that was a laugh, albeit not one the furry rogue let out loud.
Then he noticed that people were regularly tossing small Munny orbs and spare change at the little guy, and Kassom found himself with a devious idea. 'Ilaelis... you thinking what I'm thinking?'
<<I think you're thinking of ripping the self-igniting little magic user off... and I think you want my help to do it.>>
'Just... think of it as a magic trick.'
<<Kid, I'm a Kinzoku, not some two-bit parlor show. I don't mind helping you out every now and again, but this is just a little bit below me.>>
'Just think of the face he'll make when he figures out what happened!'
<< . . . Alright, fine. Should be good for a laugh, at least.>>
Five minutes later Kassom had donned some festive apparel (compliments of a local clothing shop, unbeknownst to them) and joined the small crowd that was moving in to watch the small black mage's theatrics. Taking care not to be noticed right away, the young lynx flicked a pair of coins into the growing pile and then cycled around to the other side of the crowd before walking up to Dee.
"Quite a show -- though it looks a bit painful, m'friend. Allow me to introduce myself: Chas Damon, performance magic enthusiast." He put on a friendly grin while lying through his teeth. "Tell me, are you part of the circus or just an independent act?"
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Post by Beaver Dude on May 22, 2009 21:29:27 GMT -5
Dee was sweating. Feeling nauseous. Trying not to hork up his breakfast. And etc. So this was stage fright. It would be interesting if it wasn't so darn hocrapnoesImgoingtodie sort of feeling. Then again, it probably wouldn't be stage fright if it wasn't. Dee resisted horking up his breakfast again. The fact that he had been reduced to using his powerful arcane magic to slap himself in the face with a fireball didn't exactly help things. ...and now that he smelled it, his hat was on fire. Great. Just piddling great. And it was his luck too that despite the horribly different way magic was channeled in this part of the multiverse he still hadn't access to a good ice spell. He was probably going to have to start stamping on his hat in- Three... Two... "Quite a show--" So concentrated was Dee upon his burning hat and so nervous was he about his performance that he almost threw up all over the speaker. He resisted, barely. "We're just an... independent act." He nodded off towards the children who had infiltrated as part of the crowd. He hadn't quite understood what they had done, but they had called it 'priming the audience'. He didn't ask for explanations. "They wanted to go to the circus and we didn't have enough money so..." There was a muttered <awwwww> and for some inexplicable reason, more munny started coming and much faster than before too. |
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Post by nascent on May 22, 2009 21:51:16 GMT -5
"Heh, yeah, I hear ya. Those tickets are kinda pricey..." Kassom grinned. "Hey, maybe I can help you out? I'm rather skilled at sleight-of-hand and a few crowd-pleasing tricks."
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Post by Beaver Dude on May 22, 2009 21:54:05 GMT -5
Everyone wants to be so helpful... Dee thought to himself. How very odd.
"Sure, um," he fought his memories for a colloquial phrase, "knock yourself out."
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Post by nascent on May 22, 2009 22:17:50 GMT -5
Kassom grinned. The feral rogue seldom had a chance to perform in front of an audience... this was going to be great!
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for your patronage to my flame-fisted friend here." He gestured dramatically towards Dee Dee, then bowed to the observers. "While he recovers himself, it will be my esteemed privilege to entertain you. For my first trick..."
The sly lynx proceeded to run the crowd through a session of street magic, varying from the most mundane sleight-of-hand moves to a few special tricks that were only possible with Ilaelis' power over metal. Everything from card tricks (he'd picked up a deck with his new outfit) to metal puzzle rings, juggling daggers, pulling coins out of people's ears (which he "generously" donated to Dee's pile), and even a Houdini-esque escape from handcuffs. All the metal objects, of course, were cheats -- the crowds were amazed that he was able to pull so much equipment out of his sleeve. Never in a million years would they have suspected each piece was made of the exact same metal, recycled and reshaped by an invisible hand.
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Post by Beaver Dude on May 22, 2009 22:30:53 GMT -5
Dee picked his jaw up off the floor before anyone could see it lying there like some sorta drunk that hadn't seen any sunlight in the past seven years and decided that if every single time something good happened to him something bad was quick to follow he would either have to put an end to this or discover that the street magician was actually going to stab him in the back.
Hopefully he wouldn't have to do either.
Taking the chance to breathe, Dee sat down and snapped his fingers - letting the magic gautlets take a well-deserved break. The showy fellow (some sort of lupine race, no doubt) was unusually talented. In fact, if Dee wasn't so certain that there hadn't been any incantations at all he'd swear that there was some sort of magic going on.
Dee sighed. It was a pity that the majority of his energies seemed tied to his ability to destroy. He could probably demolish a small building without effort now but a minor spell of pyrotechnics? No- not really. It was why he had been forced to stoop to batting fireballs at his head.
Speaking of which his hat was still on fire.
With a yelp, Dee simultaneously tossed it to the ground and upped his shirt and clothes over his head and started stomping on his hat.
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Post by nascent on May 22, 2009 22:43:57 GMT -5
Dee's sudden, frantic interruption was just too good a cue to pass up. Kassom grinned madly for a moment, then bowed once more to the crowd.
"And now ladies and gentlemen, for my final act of the night... I will make myself disappear!"
Eschewing theatrics for shock-and-awe, he threw himself into a backflip-dive... and vanished into the pavement's embrace like it was water. Between Dee's hat-on-fire bit and his own jaw-dropping exit, nobody was likely to notice that several of the coins in the pile were beginning to melt...
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Post by Beaver Dude on May 22, 2009 22:53:17 GMT -5
Now that was certainly magic.
It was only after Tonberry told everyone else that there was munny missing from the pot that Dee realized that they had been had. Luckily there was just enough munny for the children which meant that Dee could have a nice, charming afternoon searching for a sneak-thief.
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Post by nascent on May 22, 2009 23:22:24 GMT -5
Now that, THAT was fun!
Kassom chuckled to himself, counting out the money he'd swiped in the shadowy confines of a nearby alleyway. That had been almost too easy, all things considered, and the take wasn't too bad either. Not exactly a fortune -- not by a long shot -- but enough for a start. And the best part? That shady little fellow never even saw it coming!
He hadn't been able to steal all the money, of course. A few coins worth of manipulated metal can only grab up so much.
<<Nice work, kid. Next time though, let's spend our efforts on something a bit more worthwhile.>>
'Ah, but that's where the brilliance of my plan comes in, boss. This,' Kassom pocketed the coins as he and Ilaelis exchanged thoughts. 'Is just seed money.'
<<For seeding every business in town, right?>>
'A stick of gum here, a sea-salt ice cream bar there... and come nightfall, when everyone goes to lock up their cash boxes...'
<<You are one devious kid, Kassom.>>
'I learned from the best, boss.'
<<Darn right you did.>>
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Post by Beaver Dude on May 23, 2009 8:31:30 GMT -5
The more Dee thought about it, the more Dee felt that this whole mess was horribly unfair. While the kids could take care of themselves, he felt a certain attraction to the idea of being able to witness time-space magic at work. And, while his skill and knowledge and intelligence (if not his height) pointed at a certain maturity he was still younger than the freaking lot of em'. This was child labor! Breach of hu- black mage rights! A foul of epic proportions!
(It didn't help things that his hat had a moldy-toldy hole in it now. Like a creature straight out of a hallucinogenic dream, his purple hair sprouted outwards in wild directions. He would swear it later that it waved gently upon the wind)
Thusly steamed, Dee walked around trying to feel murderous. It wasn't quite a habitual mode of thinking for the small creature so he only ever managed to get to a slightly irate frame of mind but it was the thought that counted. This lasted for maybe half an hour before Dee realized that he was both lost and that tramping around Traverse Town in search of a single person was a terribly inefficient-
Waitasec. Dee backtracked. Stared.
"YOU!" He roared (or screamed in a high-pitched little voice), catching sight of the thief. "MY- MY MUNNY!"
Then he tripped over his feet and was sent sprawling onto the ground.
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Post by nascent on May 24, 2009 17:27:02 GMT -5
Kassom looked up as the angry voice reached his ears, seeing a small figure at the other end of the alleyway. An amused grin spread across his face. "Hey, what're the odds? Quite a show we did back there, eh?"
The thief's face took on a teasing aspect suddenly. "Your Munny? As I recall, I helped to earn some of it..." He tossed a small sack up and down in his hand, the bag jingling with the clatter of coins. "Heh... this could be interesting. I'll tell you what, short stuff. I'll give it back to you... on one condition."
The grin widened.
"You gotta catch me. My boss has been saying I rely on him a bit too much lately, and I don't like the idea that I'm losing my touch... so, to keep it fair, I won't use any powers at all during our little chase."
"You catch me, the Munny's yours. Give up, and it's mine. You game, little guy?"
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Post by Beaver Dude on May 24, 2009 18:14:48 GMT -5
Dee stared at the figure that was not running away in something that approached awe. He had thought the performance had been mere performance but apparently the furry creature had such a personality
all,
the,
time.
Well. There was only one way one could reply to a statement like that.
Dee got to his feet and then stomped his foot once, softly. Nothing happened.
Apparently the artifact hadn’t caught on. Dee cussed mentally and stomped his foot again, harder.
Then there was an explosion of magic power that splintered through the paved road like dry kindling tossed into a bonfire and sent ricochets of pure power all around the small artificer.
Dee made his eyes smile.
“I am ‘game’.”
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Post by nascent on May 24, 2009 20:35:35 GMT -5
(OOC: Just realized this... but I don't see any Abilities listed in Dee's profile. I assume it isn't supposed to be like that?)
Not a bad display of magic, but the furry rogue had seen worse. His taunting grin turned to mock fear. "Oh no -- the wizard is going to use his fire magic against me! Shock and alarm! Whatever shall I do?"
Immediately following his sarcastic comment, the crimson-furred lynx leapt into motion -- literally leapt, at the wall of the alleyway. His maneuver was smooth and clearly practiced, wall-kicking his way up to the rooftops above. "I hope you're as agile as you are powerful, little guy!" He called from above while briefly holding onto a second-story window ledge, then resumed his vertical escape.
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I did post in shades of grey if anyone even remembers that lmao