Gin gave a broad grin and slid past Lucas to walk up to the playful Lydia, grabbing the young woman by the waist she pinned her up against the wall.

"Worry not... dear child." Gin whispers, her voice taking on a sultry, yet dangerous tone as she stared deeply into Lydia's eyes.

"I'm sure there is something very special you can do for me..." Gin giggled and played with the Lydia's hair, admiring it, taking in its lovely scent.

"I'll let you know, when the time comes... my sweet." with that, Gin unpinned the young woman and stood back, her eyes still locked on Lydia, her smile broader than ever as different thoughts raced through her mind.

~ Maybe she will be the next one... I have to be careful when choosing though, one wrong move at it will be the end of me and my beautiful dreams. The risk level gets higher and higher with my every action... and if this Lucas is truly what he claims he is... hmm... ~

Gin glanced over at Lucas as if she had never seen anything like him before, her eye twinkling in a most mischievous way. Hearing another voice, her eye moved to the woman that just entered. She nodded at the woman to indicate that she had gotten her name correct.

"Good morning Ri dear, I've been holding up quite nicely. The animals here are all so sweet, I hate to pick favorites, but Tina, the white tiger, and I seem to be forming a very special bond. Maybe it's because she and I have similar tastes in fashion." with a hearty laugh Gin spread her arms out to bring attention to her black and white striped clothing.

Lucas silently took a step back, to allow more room for these women to interact. Something told him he shouldn't interfere with this group bonding session, and on top of that it was time for his daily run.

Lucas waited a few moments before heading out of the community trailer. Taking in the fresh air, he decided to head in any direction, turning when needed, as long as he didn't stop running. With that in mind, he took off at a reasonable pace, heading past several wagons and props. The cold, early morning air was filling his lungs, heating up slightly, and escaping through his mouth; his heart and respiratory rate rose at a slow pace, compared to his running speed. This was thanks to years of practice, running every morning without fail, to keep his body in top shape in the event that a hasty escape was required in any given situation. It also helped him clear his head, allowing him to focus his thoughts; it was about as close as he could get to controlling his affliction.

After a while, he stopped running. Before him was a wagon larger than any of the others he had passed. He stood there for several seconds, letting his heart and respiration return to their normal rates, before stepping up to the door and knocking. After a few moments, an inquisitive Humperdink opened up and peered at whoever it was that disturbed him. Seeing Lucas, something clicked in his mind and he opened the door to his wagon completely and invited him in, closing the door behind him. A moment of silence followed, and then the faintest murmuring could be heard escaping from the wagon, followed by a rather loud, rather muffled "Really?!". The murmurings continued until they ended abruptly, leaving nothing but silence.

After Gin had let go of her and turned to look at Ri, Lydia leaned briefly to the door, her face twitsing slightly, though it was only visible in a blink of an eye, and then she was looking like herself again.

*well Ri, you're not the only one that can feel the hunger, I'm going to grab myself something to eat*

She grinned and went into the trailer, heading strait for the morning table and took herself something to eat before going to the tables and sit down, sitting with bowed head her position indicated that it was not a good idea to interrupt her

~funny, I feel quite secure with Lucas, even though he woke up with a knife.. I know it scared Ri from her senses, even though she maybe won't admit it... But Gin.. She only said a few words, and I'm scared out of my mind!~

a little sigh escaped her lips

~guess I've gotten to used to the peace and safety here... Better watch my step from now on~

Pretending to pay him no attention, Gin watched Lucas ease his way out of the community trailer, she made a little murmur, so small that it was unheard by the others. A few moments after Lydia walked away to get some food, Gin laced her fingers behind her head and followed her.

“I’ll be grabbing a bite to eat as well.” She called out to Ri, looking back at her with a smile as she walked away.

Gin went to the table and skimmed over the food choices, she quickly grabbed a stack of sweet pastries on her plate before going to make a cup of coffee with way more sugar than one person should be allowed to consume in a single drink. Once she had gathered up her breakfast, she sat down at the table, right across from Lydia.

Seeing that the costume designer appeared lost in thought, Gin chose not to speak… she merely sipped her coffee and pulled a small pad and pencil from the back pocket of her shorts. First she jotted down a few notes that would make no sense to anyone but her, then, after eating two of her pastries, she started sketching, on occasion, glancing up at Lydia.

~ Yes yes… she does seem ideal, but it would be a terrible risk, this girl would surely be missed, but what are the odds that I will find another like her? It would not be too hard to make a believable story… but not with that new guy around. I’ve got to find out whatever I can about him… who knows… maybe HE will be the next. Things are about to get so very interesting. ~

Feeling satisfied with the sketches she made so far, Gin put her pencil down and reached into her front pocket to pull out an oblong, and very old looking silver pocket watch.

“It’s that late already? I better get going soon if I want to be on time…” she whispered to herself.

Ri watched Lucas head off and turned back to the other two; her expression was neutral, but instead she was heaving a sigh of mixed exhasperation and relief. Good, that'll put off having to deal with his presence for a while longer.... But he's a part of the circus too, so I guess I'll have to get used to him, at least. Not be his buddy or anything, she assured herself as she entered the trailer and automatically zoned in on the coffee machine, just get used to him.

Her, too, she added silently as she stirred creamer into her cup, giving Gin the merest glance before reaching for sugar packets. I changed my mind. She's weird, too. And Lydia's freaked out- I mean, that's gotta be a first. Usually she's the one trying to freak everyone else out. A wry inward smile. Well, at least this tour promises not to be boring.

She picked out a blueberry bagel, buttered it, then went over and plopped down beside a decidedly down-hearted Lydia, cramming half the bagel into her mouth.

"Sfho," Ri murfled happily around her mouthful, "Wuft ideesh 'oo goft for 'y mefsh coshfoom?"

A gleam of something shiny caught her eye. She swiveled her head around to look and saw Gin gazing preoccupiedly at an antique silver pocketwatch, her dark blue hair draping over one eye. "How cool," she said articulately, swallowing her mouthful. "Where'd you get it?"

On his way to the meeting Dick spotted Sabri. Seeing her, he ran to her as fast as he could while trying not to spilling his breakfast, failing miserably. Half his breakfast came out of the bowl, hitting him in the chest.

"Ow, OW. Dang, that burns." He said, trying to get the hot ramen off of him as quickly as possible.

Sabri tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress a laugh.

"You're eating already? You should change your name from Robin to Oinker."

"Just be glad it wasn't you. It's a lot more painful than it looks."

Finally making it to the meeting, Dick found a nice spot over by the fence where people wouldn't notice him with the huge stain on the front of his shirt. I can't believe he called us out here for this.

"You two want to get some coffee, or you going to try to catch a few more hours?"

"I'm gonna get some more sleep. See ya tonight Dick."

"See ya Dad." Dick replied, then turned to Sabri. "I'm going to go change before someone notices me. You want to practice on our act later today? We need to get it perfected before this weekend or Humperdink will pull it out of the lineup for the next performance."

Sabri sighed theatrically, then grinned.

"Sure, but I wouldn't be saying that name too loud. I think everyone's had just about enough of Humperdink for one morning. I'm getting some coffee myself: hopefully Ri left me a cup or two."

She stretched, then headed to the community trailer for her daily caffeine fix. Once inside she paused: three girls were eating inside, yet the trailer was strangely silent. Sabri looked around, shrugged, then poured herself a cup of coffee, added a bit of cream and sugar, and finally turned around.

"Morning ladies. I wish I were a bear so that I could hibernate for a bit."

Gin lifted her head and looked across the table to see Ri staring over at the pocket watch in her hand. Her smile broadened as she stood up and walked over to her, holding he watch by its chain and letting it dangle in front of Ri’s face.

“Why thank you, dear. This pocket watch is an heirloom, it’s very precious to me.” she said, gazing at the watch with a fond smile.

Despite its age, despite the dents and damage, the watch remained well polished. The hands of the clock were not straight, but rather wavy, almost like snakes… and the numbers were formed by blue inlayed crystals. The crystals were so beautiful that you could stare at them forever… just lose yourself.

“This watch has been passed down for countless generations… and with it, the story of my ancestor, who originally owned the watch, her name was Gin too. She did so many amazing, seemingly impossible things in her day, I’m so proud to have been given her name… and I’ll do whatever it takes to live up to it. She’s my hero, I want to be like her, but even better!”

The look on Gin’s face as she told her story was passionate, determined, and yet somewhat disturbing, her breathing had gotten heavier, and the odd, distant, twinkle in her eye made her smile that much more maniacal.

Hearing a voice call out and say ‘Morning Ladies’ was enough to snap her out of her train of thought. She tore her eyes away from her watch and looked over at Sabri.

“Ah, good morning to you too, my dear.”

Dick was running at full speed back to his trailer, trying to get back before anyone noticed his ramen faux pas. Unfortunately, he also didn't notice the child he ran into.

"I'm so sorry. Are you ok?" Dick said as he helped the kid up. He looked to be about 9 or 10. He doesn't look like one of the performers kids, and there's an age restriction on crew workers. Weird.

"I've never seen you around here before, are you lost?"

The kid had a terrified look on his face, and he started running as fast as possible away from Dick. Dick sprinted to get ahead of him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm trying to help."

The child said something to him, but he didn't understand the language. It sounded like some sort of plea.

"It's ok, I’m here to help." The child seemed skeptical at first, but seemed to calm down after a little bit.

"Come with me, I'll take you to someone who can help." The child seemed to be more rational now, grabbing Dick's outstretched hand. Wow, it looks like he hasn't had a good meal or a bath for days.

They got to Humperdink's trailer. Dick heard a "Really?!", but he honestly didn't care if Humperdink had company or not, this took precedence. Dick knocked on his trailer door. "Hey boss, I think we might have a problem."

Inside Humperdink's trailer, Lucas found a comfortable chair to sit down in. He looked at his employer, who was still standing.
"I heard just now that you lost a tape?" Humperdink had a bemused expression on his face.
"Of course you heard that! I just announced it to everyone a short while ago!"
"I was asleep."
"Oh." Humperdink looked at Lucas and didn't know if he was here to piss him off, or to confess. He sat down opposite him waiting for either a statement of confession or some information on who the ghastly criminal was, that took his tape. Why else would he be here right after the announcement?
"There's a possibility I may be able to use my powers to help you find it." Humperdink's eyes shot wide open.
"REALLY?! You can actually do that?" He then added, accusingly, "I thought you said you couldn't control it, in the interview."
"I can't. But I can.. direct it, somewhat, when I sense it coming." Lucas looked at the door and at that moment, there came a knocking on the wood.

"Hey boss, I think we might have a problem."

He got up to leave but Humperdink also rose, "Where do you think you're going? I'll get rid of whoever it is, you just sit down." Lucas looked at him coldly, clearly not impressed by his selfish attitude.
"You need to take this call," he said. "I'll be back later." With that, he walked to the door and opened it. He looked at Dick, and then at the boy beside him. He silently passed by them both and walked back to the community trailer to get some food.

Lydia looks up at Ri as she speaks to her, wrinkling her eyebrows as she tries to make out what Ri is saying. When it at last makes sense she smiles and takes a little notepad up

*give me a moment to sketch it up, you will look fantastic! more magnificent than even Humperdink!... mostly because for once I'll make him an outfit where he doesn't need a corset... lol*

Waves to Sabri

*Morning Sabri, I think your costume will be ready in the evening, could you be a darling to come by and try it out then?*

"Ugh, you're not alone," Ri groaned in agreement to Sabri's declaration, swigging down some of her own coffee. "Thank heaven for this stuff, though, right? Seriously, without it I wouldn't even be able to focus this early, let alone function."

She gave a short laugh, then laughed again at Lydia's jest. "How true. I mean, would it kill him to get off his arse every now and then and take a walk instead of sitting around listening to his operas?" Taking another sip of her coffee, she added, "Speaking of which, I wonder who stole that tape? I want to know who it was. I want to congratulate them before pounding them into a pulp."

Then, as if to stamp the seal on the fact that it was not, not a good idea to rouse Ri Haliae at any hour earlier than six or seven a.m., she randomly struck up a horrible warbling parody of Alonzo and Fioralba, the famous love song from The Estates.

"Come find us, Humperdink
Hurry, please do
You're the only one
Who still buys our muuuuuusic!!!"

Sabri smiled at Gin, then turned to Ri and nodded vigorously "At least we got here early; what with the early awakening and all I doubt this coffee will last as long as it usually does." She grabbed a muffin, and took a bite. "He gets so zoned out watching those things...if that tape were sitting in front of him beside his sandwich he'd have eaten them both!"

At the start of Ri's solo Sabri tried to laugh around a mouthful of muffin and choking, sat on the other side of Lydia. She took a sip of coffee and swallowed. "Sure. I've got to practice with Dick later: I'll stop by before then so I don't get the costume all sweaty and gross."

Sabri turned to look at the door. "Speaking of Dick, I wonder what's keeping him. He was just going to change his shirt. I figured he'd head down here since he spilled most of his breakfast." She looked down, noticed her own outfit for the first time, and snorted with laughter. "And speaking of changing..." She shoved the rest of the muffin into her mouth and chugged the last of her coffee, wincing slightly at the heat.

"I should probably get into something decent before the crowd shows up." She stood up and stretched. "See you guys later." Sabri smiled and left the trailer, walking toward her own.

Dick waited for Lucas to leave the trailer. He walked in, with the child behind him. As soon as Humperdink saw the child the kid ran up to him and hugged him. Humperdink started speaking a language Dick didn't understand, but it sounded like the same one the kid was speaking earlier. They held up a small conversation before the child started crying again. Humperdink took him over to the couch and got him some food, which consisted of a doughnut and a soda. Humperdink looked very concerned. Dick finally chimed in.

"I'm guessing you know him. Care to fill me in?"

"That is my nephew Alex. My brother married a woman from Germany. They moved here and my brother disappeared shortly after Alex was born. We never found out why but I've always tried to help out Alex and his mother. Lately they have been having financial issues, third mortgage and that kind of stuff."

"What did Alex tell you?"

"He just kept saying 'They took mama' over and over again. I'm going to find someone to watch him so I can go find out what happened. I should be back by this evening. Hopefully this place won't fall apart while I'm gone."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Keep this between us, oh, and you better keep practicing on that act with Sabri if you ever want it to be in the next show." Humperdink joked, trying to hide obvious concern for the current situation.

"Ok, good luck boss. I hope everything's all right." Dick said as he got up to leave. There's something he didn't tell me, but I'm not going to get involved. It's family business. He went outside, and by the time he shut the trailer door someone hollered "Nice look Robin, is that a new costume?" Dick looked down to realize that in all the confusion he forgot about his now stained shirt. He finally got back to his trailer, enduring enough laughs and bad jokes to last a month. He changed his shirt and tip-toed out, making as little noise as possible to keep from waking his once again sleeping parents. Dick went to the community trailer and walked in to see the coffee pot nearly completely empty.

"Geez, way to save some coffee for me. It's not like I have a big act coming up soon or anything. I guess I'll just have some orange juice, unless you three raided the fridge too."

Dick walked over to the fridge, getting himself some orange juice and then sitting down next to Lydia. He peered over her shoulder to see what she was drawing.

"Working on a new costume? Who's it for?"

Dashing Dicks backhead for interrupting, Lydia turns her head towards him

*it's to Ri, she'll become our greatest darling this season, well, if it stands to me*

continuing working, she takes forth some colored pencils to fine tune the desing with colour