Gi was off to talk with Baldur -- which meant Warwick could breathe and slump a little. Nothing wrong with the chip, but he was definitely not looking for a girlfriend. Hopefully that wasn't going to be a problem, there wouldn't be broken hearts or...

He wasn't thinking about it. Now, he was supposed to be finding Calli to help him lengthen the act and, perhaps, show him around. The only problem was that he didn't have a clue where Calli might be, and he didn't want to go asking more questions and interrupting Winslow and Baldur.

Oh, right, because it was so much better to go investigating around random kints. He did it quietly, at least, poking and listening and knocking instead of just barging in. Eventually he'd have to stumble upon someone, and hopefully it wouldn't be Clarabelle.

Eriyenna was totally going to go adventure through some of the market stalls today. There was so much she'd been considering purchasing that she knew it would be a busy day. Opening her kint and stumbling out into the morning a little not-so-awake as usual, the purple-haired witch managed to notice an unfamiliar kov wandering aimlessly around the other kints. Was the poor boy lost? He looked a little curious. Or thoughtful. Or interesting.

"Hesta! Are you ... um ... lookin' for someone, kov?" She smiled, pausing to lean against the door of her kint as her large black bander wolf began to crawl out from the shade underneath it.

"Oh, uh --" Warwick whirled, a hand against his bag to keep it from spilling out its contents, and flashed her an awkward sort of smile. "Er. Sorry. I ent a pervert or a creep or anything."

That out of the way, he could clear his throat a little and gesture back in the direction he'd come, vague and uncomfortable. No, he obviously wasn't a creep or a pervert. "Just hired me on fer some juggling, and, uh, I'm supposed te find Calli an', uh. Extend th'act...plot...stuff..."

He gave up, shut his mouth, and just stared at her. Hopefully.

Eriyenna chuckled at the slightly aloof, slightly awkward, rather humorous younger wick. Her giggle was like a windchime in summer, and she would have brought a hand to her mouth for emphasis had she not been petting Bright-eyes. The bander wolf was wagging its tail, very interested in sniffling the stranger.

"Oh! You just got hired! Bomeo!" The purple-haired witched grinned, "I'm Eriyenna. I'm the troupe's musician, acrobat, and occasional trapeze artist. Junta!"

She paused, realizing there might have been the hint of a question in Warwick's statement, "Calli's stayin' with her tribe, the Red Crow. I can take you if you'd like."

"Oh! With her family, oh." He brought a hand up to his forehead with a sharp smack, like he should have though of that, known better, and the contact made him wince just a little. "Ne, dze, I wouldn't want te intrude on her time, ye know."

Her impression was an astute one: aloof, awkward, goofy. It was like catching an actor out of costume, between scenes, with his makeup still on, except that Warwick was like this whenever he was offstage. "But, hesta, if ye're an acrobat...maybe we could chat some?"

Eriyenna couldn't really help but giggle at the strange wick, dark eyes revealing her amusement. Shaking her head, she smiled, "I'm pretty sure she'd be happy to meet you, joinin' the Circus as you have."

The purple-haired witch grinned with a bit of curious mischief, hooking her thumb in the general direction of the Red Crow camp, "How'bout we talk on the way? But only if you tell me your name." She winked, holding back more laughter, tattooed hand reaching up to brush away some stray strands from her face, "Sound fair?"

"...ah, epaemo..." He meant it, too, genuine and wincing. Warwick swiped a palm against the side of his pants and then held it out for her to shake. It was accompanied by a bright smile, charming and still touched with a generous amount of awkward teenager. "Leslie Warwick, but I prefer Warwick, if ye don't mind. We can walk wherever ye like...dze, but I'm not sure I want te interrupt Calli an' her family?"

Eriyenna kept her grin and shook the wick's hand firmly, her own hands small and a little calloused in odd places from the various instruments she'd spent so much of her life learning to play, "Trust me, Warwick, it ent a bother." Her voice was amused but inviting, as if the younger man was an animal that needed to be coaxed to play, "Calli's a cheerful chip, anyways."

Her black bander took the opportunity to sniff the tattooed wick's pants while everyone was conveniently stuck in a handshake, wet nose and clear, blue eyes making sure everything was well enough for now. With a snort and a few ear twitches, Brighteyes was off, satisfied, bounding in his own direction again.

Tugging slightly on Warwick's hand for emphasis before she let go, she laughed and waved her free hand, starting to walk.

"So, you wanna lengthen your act? I'm sorry I missed your audition. What do you ... um ... do?"

Not much choice at this point. Warwick stayed frozen for just a moment, hesitant, before he started after her. Her read of him was accurate -- skitterish, energetic, and wary, very much like a beast who needed to be coaxed along. He licked his lips, digging for words, trailing just a half a step behind her.

"Well, I showed Baldur a bit of juggling an' he liked it, but I always did tumbling an' acrobatics b'fore." A little roll of his shoulders dragged the bag up higher, and he smiled distractedly in her direction. "Not really something ye do alone, though, eh?"

Eriyenna meandered slowly from the Circus camp, deciding to take the route away from the vending stalls and the crowds, more through a quiet woody path where you could hear the river but not see it. She let Brighteyes take off after a few squirrels, unconcerned about the bander so much as she was interested in the conversation.

With a nod, she looked at Warwick, "Oes. A bit of acrobatics is always a bit more ... impressive with some friends to give a hand. There's some things you can do alone, like a bit of wire work ... but then, the trapeze requires a partner or two. There'd be a bit more Calli or I could do with a kov around." The purple-haired witch smiled warmly, totally non-suggestive. She meant it. There were limits to her strength, "What'cha thinkin'?"

"Ah, dze, I have a lot of ideas." But her asking brightened him up immediately, enough that he drew in beside her, no longer tailing behind. Both of his hands were wrapped around the strap of his bag, shoulders slouched just a bit...

"I mean, I'm used te being up top, with a good solid base but. Uh. I could do support, with a little work..." Warwick's smile was a little brighter now, easier. "I had this idea of makin' it look like we're juggling people."

Eriyenna giggled musically again and her dark eyes lit up with obvious, thoughtful excitement. She was quiet for a few moments, considering the idea from both a performer and a planner point of view, "Jugglin', eh? Oes, I could see it. With the trapeze, you could really work somethin' that way. Then again, if you work on your strength—" The purple-haired witch by no means was attempting to reply the wick appeared weak so much as to offer the suggestion of further training.

With a grin that revealed the musician was more than willing to play along, she arched an eyebrow, moving the moon tattoo under her eye up a little on her face in the process, "—It'd be quite easy to toss Calli about. She's a wiry thing, after all."

"There's some potential there, Warwick." Eriyenna smiled, continuing to pick their way through some brush, enjoying the trees and the sun filtering through new leaves and clouds, "And it ent bad at all."

"Oes, an' I had this thought..." He was uninjured by the suggestion. There were times, of course, when Warwick would succumb to a young man's bubble pride, but his strength wasn't an issue that would drive him there; she was right, he didn't have the brawny arms usually required for tossing agile young women into the air.

"With a little fancy lighting, could make it look more impressive, even if there was less tossin' and more leapin'." A picture in his head, clearly, and he tried to show it off with circling hand motions. "Ye leap in the dark, an' then th' light catches ye, an' everyone just forgets that it too some push te get ye there...misdirection."

"Oh! Bomeo!" Eriyenna blurted excitedly, picturing the scene as Warwick described it. The appearance of flying without the need for a trapeze was an interesting concept, and one that would perhaps allow for an even more varied routine, "Hal's really great with lightin', too. I could see that bein' somethin' doable for a night showin'."

She paused to turn them through a less-traveled path. The edge of the tree line could be seen and in the clearing was a camp of kints and tents and smoldering fires.

"Misdirection in acrobatics. That's an interestin' idea, there." She giggled.

Warwick practically blossomed under her excitement, his smile going bright and genuine and some tension sliding away, out of his shoulders. It was very much the reaction one might get from an eager puppy. Genuine delight.

"Misdirection in everything!" His voice came out bright and bubbly, eyes on her now, instead of the tents ahead of them. "The less people understand what ye're doing, the more amazing it seems."

Eriyenna thought about that for a moment, picking her way through the brush that seemed to grow thicker at the thinning edges of the trees, "Oes, I can see that as bein' a big part of what we do in the Circus. Creatin' an atmosphere and all that. We'll have to set up a practice at night and get Hal to run the lights. See what you can come up with."

She chuckled, pointing, "If I remember right, Calli's kint is o'er there somewhere." The purple-haired witch had honestly only been to the Red Crow camp once or twice since arriving on Surwood.

"I have a feelin' she'll be a little excited with the idea of gettin' thrown about."

Warwick tipped his head to consider the place through a latticework of branches, feet planted now that they were here, done. It looked...well, homey. He chewed on his other lip, quietly considering his options, anxious fingers creeping up and down the strap of his bag. "Ye goin' te leave me here, get back?"

When he shot her a look, it was with a smile, but also came with a note of for the love of everything, do not send me into the mess alone. He could manage, sure, could probably even project a comfortable ease if they jumped on him but...always good to travel with back up.

Eriyenna smiled at Warwick, "I was goin' to go knock on Calli's door, if that's what you're askin'?" She might have been a little confused by his question or his hesitance, "You don't want to come?"

She giggled, almost invitingly, and reached a hand up to his shoulder, "Calli won't bite, an' so far, all these Crows are benny people."

Releasing his shoulder, she gave a wave and started to wander out of the trees and into the camp, humming randomly. She smiled at some bochi playing nearby and nodded happily to some couple by their fire, preparing lunch. Unconcerned as to whether or not Warwick was following, she ended up in front of Calli's kint and knocked,

"Hesta, Calli. You've got some friendly morning visitors!"

((I'm moding Calli's dad for a mo just because he needs to get out more.))



A burly bear of a man appeared from behind the kint, fixing Warwick with a rabid stare that implied all kinds of violence. His eyes swivelled in their sockets, the rest of his body immobile, before settling on Eri.

"That kov's not about is'e?" He mumbled at Eriyenna, giving Warwick a warning glare. "Benny t'see Calli's little circus friends though, far'ye Eri?"

Calli opened the door to her kint with a long suffering sigh and looked at her dad dryly. It was strange to see teenage embarassment on her face. She usually seemed to have no concerns at all.

"Daaaa!" She whined. "Stop scaring off my frieeennnnddddssss! Dorian's busy today, he's not even coming around, gods. If you keep this up he'll ditch me!"

Ouranos looked as though this was something he would quite like to happen.

"Hesta." Calli said with a wave and a roll of her eyes.

Eriyenna grinned at Ouranos and nodded a friendly, polite greeting, "Hesta. I'm well. Just talkin' some new ideas 'bout the Circus with a new performer here, Warwick." She waved her hand in the tattooed wick's direction as a way of introduction to both Calli and her father, "Ouranos, Warwick. Warwick, Ouranos. An' Calli, same."

She gave the younger witch a look that she hoped implied that it would take more than just the blonde's father to scare Dorian away, "Warwick has some interestin' performance ideas for our acts."

The purple-haired witch beamed excitedly.

If Ouranos's stare was meant to terrify young boys intent on tumbling his daughter, he'd picked the wrong target -- or, perhaps, the wrong kind of tumbling. Warwick had nothing to fear, and as such, he just blinked up an the man and smiled, vaguely puzzled and somewhat vacant. He hadn't done anything except trail a little too close to Eri, hands shoved into his pockets.

At the introduction, though, he almost leaped to attention. Well trained, he immediately tugged a hand free to shake with the bear, both of his eyebrows raised. "Nice te meet ye."

And then onto Calli. He almost offered his hand to her, too, then remembered their previous meeting and offered a somewhat rueful smile. "Dunno if ye remember me, halfway yer doin' that I ended up at the circus. Gi talked me inte it..."

Ouranos shook Warwick's hand with a careful amount of force. It might have seemed a bit stiff to Warwick but that was merely because he was trying hard not to forget himself and crush the younger man's hand. Gea was unlikely to forgive him if he got excited again and put someone in a cast.



"Hey Warwick, oes, I remember you. From the big party right? How is Gi?" Calli grabbed a pair of slippers off her step and put them on. "Da, I'm going out for a while, I'll come home and have dinner with everyone."

Calli's dad gave her a big bear hug, which she returned. Despite their difference in size, and his dyed hair, the resemblance was obvious.

"Alrigh' Callidally..." Ouranos said, glancing about again for Dorian before wandering off.

"So, what we wanna do?" Calli said, shifting backwards and forwards on her heels. "It's benny you joined the circus, Warwick, more the merrier."

Warwick lit up even more, exactly as he had before, and shot a look to Eri. She'd already heard, but he explained again for Calli; the way flashing lights fooled the eyes, the way it could make them look like they were floating, the idea of juggling people, if they could find someone else who was strong enough to help out. He bounced a little on the balls of his own feet as he spoke, gesturing widely and easily, obviously excited.

"...costumes. They're all I don't know 'bout, ye chen? An' all that; we never did costumes more'n, uh, this." A grin as he tugged at the patchwork shirt he wore, fingers shifting onto the dark tattoo around one wrist...

Calli listened to Warwick with great interest. She loved the idea of human juggling almost as much as she loved the idea of being juggled. The lighting was a particularly clever addition in her mind, one she never would have thought of.



"That's benny!" Calli said enthusiastically. "We make our own costumes, most of the time. I'm sure we could make something for you or alter old clothes."

Calli believed in thrift.

"We should practice this! Let's go practice this!" She said, getting louder and more attached to the idea, now quite determined to give it a shot Now.

The purple-haired musician laughed, enthused by Calli's excitement, "Well, let's walk back then and see what we can do ... though, we'll have to practice at night if we want to give any lightin' a try."

Eriyenna grinned and gave Warwick a look that wordlessly read 'I told you so.' She looked to the younger witch and then to Ouranos, "You don't have anythin' important to do right now, do you? I know I've got the time to experiment a bit."