"BAH!" The gruff sound echoed in the open campsite of the circus grounds. A sound not unlike grumbling came from a familiar tent in front of the campfire, before a short, stocky balding man stormed from it, cigar in his teeth and trusty pencil and notebook in hand. He wore only the black pants of his outfit and suspenders, hairy shirtless barrel chest exposed in the muggy morning air. From the other side of the fire, another noise sounded. One solitairy morning cough. Amid a plume of bluish smoke, a grey haired middle aged man emerged, squinting at the first as he paced in front of the fire.

"What?" He asked in a raspy voice. Startled, the first man looked at him, then shook the notebook.

"Calli and Dorian! Thats what! I can't think without them here! What if they don't get back in time?! What if things fall on their face!?" Balder's face was turning slightly red as he panicked over the small hiccup. Winslow puffed on his cigarette, continuing to squint emotionlessly.

"How can I have a magical bleeding circus without fire! And...and..." He wiggled his hips and hopped.

"Without Calli!" Taking his cigarette from his mouth, the clown scratched his chin and looked thoughtful.

"Sausages?" He asked in a flat monotone. Balder looked at him incredulously, blinked, then rubbed his head.

"Yeah, that'd be good. Just dont burn them."

Gi was back in her hometown, and loving it. Sure, she had to stay out here in her kint on a campsite instead of a nice cozy house, but it was Dorhaven. She couldn't go near the part of town where that tenement had been, and she didn't want to know who had died that day in Intas, but she was home. Some of her tribe had drifted back in the months between, and she had seen a few.

"Hesta, Balder, Winslow. How're you enjoying the homeland? Ooooh, I want out in that wood right now." Disregarding the fact that she and Kaia had gone for a before-dawn walk in Wraithwine. Her old treehouse was still there, she'd discovered. It was a little makeshift wooden thing, many years old; her da had constructed it on a whim when she was nine. The ladder had been half-rotted from years of disuse and damp rainy seasons, but Gi was still young enough to scramble up into the little box nestled in the divide of a few big branches by actually climbing the tree. Kaia hopped up just as easily. It smelled rather mildewy and was rather green inside, but it brought back memories. She took out a small sketchbook and drew the forest, trying to capture it, keep it. Who knew when she'd be back? She had left the treehouse after gods knew how long, and had walked back to camp, taking in the sights as she went. She'd never seen a mythic beast in her part of the forest, but oh, if she had...did mythic beasts pose for portraits? Camp involved sitting up in her kint a bit more until some sort of reasonable hour, and then had walked out to where she was now.

"Is there anything on for brekkie? Hungry as...well, there's nothing as hungry as me. If not, I'll start some eggs on if you'd like."

Eriyenna had reluctantly crawled out of bed, wrapping herself in her travel blanket and snatching up a mug to drag to the fire in hopes of someone thoughtful making coffee. She was really still half-asleep, hair a little disheveled, eyelids heavy, but at least she was smiling. She stumbled from her kint into the light rain, tugging the blanket that was just short enough to not drag across the muddy ground.

Ambling purposefully toward where she could see familiar people near the fire through her morning haze, the purple-haired witch came to a stop just within the warm glow.

"Mornin'. Ent anyone made some coffee yet? If I'm gonna hang posters, I gotta be awake." She grinned, sheepishly, "Although, at least the sausages look pretty nice."

Winslow looked up from his task of skewering sausages at the two women with a squint, blowing smoke out of the free corner of his mouth.

"Mornin'. Sausages then?" He said, holding up the impaled meat products, before holding them over the fire. Balder sat down, almost dejected, and nodded at Giana.

"Y'know love, eggs sound like a good idea. All the cooking gear is in the crate beside Winslows tent. Eggs are in the food kint." He gestured to a faded cream kint off to the left. His voice was lack lustre and flat. The note book sat closed beside him on the makeshift log seat.

"...an' along th' way I saw a pretty lass, she said her name was...Gi!" Taegan sang as he walked through the camp, hands in his pockets, Charlie by his side. The spinewolf stood almost hip height, tounge hanging from puppyish face, adoring eyes on the circus folk. With a grin, the blonde tamer winked at Giana, before standing between Eriyenna and herself, arms crossed, Charlie sitting by his side.

"Good morning! Isn't it a brilliant day! I love the smell of burning sausages in the morning." He said with a laugh. Winslow chuckled quietly, turning the reddish meat.

"Taegan! Tae, dear. I'm gonna cook. Come talk to me." She gave him a quick squeeze, then scampered off to the food kint. She grabbed up several eggs, some bread, butter, cheese, and mushrooms. "Gonna make something good." The food was deposited by the fire, and a skillet was procured, along with some plates to put done food on, and a bowl and fork for the eggs. Gi put a pat of butter in the skillet to melt. When it was done, in went the bread, which fried up nicely. When enough pieces of bread were toasted in this fashion, she cracked the eggs in the bowl, broke and mixed in the yolks, and started scrambling them. The cheese would go in in a second, and mushrooms. Mmm. "Benny, benny. Cook up nice and don't burn this time, dears." Gi had a habit of talking to things that couldn't talk back.

Hal couldn't seem to get used to mornings outside of Old Rose. In the harbor the sun rose and filled the city with light almost instantly, bouncing off the ocean and into every nook and cranny of the place. Inland, though, it was apparently customary for mornings to start dark grey and get lighter grey throughout the morning, settling on a white haze by mid afternoon. Unless it rained, that is. Which it does all th'tickin' time, Hal thought, blatantly ignoring the fact that it was Loshis, and it would be just as rainy in the Rose.

He huddled into a jacket he had found in the costume cart. The thing was several sizes too large for him, but the canvas-colored jacket was the only thing he could find that wasn't brightly colored or in some material that couldn't seem to keep cold out and heat in.

He ambled over to the general campfire area, plunking down in the dirt on his back and propping his legs on a log so that his feet were pointed toward the warmth.

"Mmmkkkhaafeeeee..." he mumbled, making known his breakfast request. A guttural, phlegmy request, but a request nonetheless. The boy needed coffee and wouldn't move till he had it.

(( EEE! First Halpost in forevar!! ))

Jaq yawned and stretched her arms as she approached the growing crowd around the fire. The smell of food made her stomach gurgle, reminding her that it had been early the evening before when it was last filled. Her blanket was wrapped around her shoulders, providing just enough warmth to get her from tent to fire.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaawmm,,.goodmornin' e'reybody! I smell sausages!" Jaq's hair was slightly tossed from sleeping, pulled back into a stubby ponytail. It would need to be washed before the day was over. The girl sat down next to Hal's feet just in time to hear his mumbled request. She giggled, and looked about for a mug. "Hal says he needs coffee. Got inny ready yet? I could stand fer a cuppa myself!"

The rainy season was hard on Warwick, the long wet months difficult to deal with. Not because he was cold, because he could deal with that, just wrapping himself up in layers and layers of patchwork clothing, bright and cheerful. Not because of the dark, because he had no problem with the dark, rather enjoyed the sensation of huddling near a warm fire to keep off the cold. Not because of the mud they all had to stomp through setting up camp and cleaning up, finding dry wood, dealing with all the little problems that happened when water got everywhere...

No, Warwick's problem with the rainy season was his clocking hair. In the heat and the sun of the festival, he had been a peacock, a rooster, hair shoved up into its crest on the top of his head. When it was raining this hard, though, it tumbled down into his eyes and his face, clung wetly against one side of his head and left him looking more drowned rat.

Depressing. And the blue was fading, too, his roots coming in much too red...

He still managed to smile as he wiggled his way up to the fire, though, even if it was a quieter smile, thoughtful. He had to do something else with his hair, until they saw the sun again.

"I got it, I got it." Eriyenna mumbled, noting with the hint of a groggy smile that she wasn't the only one in need of something warm and energizing to start their day with. Meandering toward the fire, she fussed with the kettle that sat ignored to one side, shaking to make sure it was plenty full before setting it near the flames to boil.

Gathering mugs and the tin that contained the precious grounds, she hunkered down near the kettle to wait it out, watching the sausages thoughtfully,

"Just a few minutes an' we should be a little bit more prepared for the mornin'."

Hal nodded when Jaqueline made known his need for coffee-- especially because it meant he didn't have to try any harder to wake up and communicate.

When he heard Eriyenna's proclamation, he uttered a pleased-sounding, "Mmmm..." though he didn't bother to sit up.

Just another side-effect of being fourteen.

Taegan watched with mild interest as the young wick cooked up breakfast, floating between her movements to snatch pieces of diced mushroom and sliced cheese. Chewing thoughtfully, he stroked the ear of the large red animal beside him.

"Y'kno th'y 'nt talk back." He said between mouthfuls, gesturing to the sizzling food stuffs, grabbing a still hot mushroom as he did. Swearing, he blew on it before shoving it in his mouth.

As Hal and Jaq came over, Winslow looked up, shooting the girl an adoring smile. It would be sweet if he wasn't old enough to be her father, or more. With a nod, he gestured to the sausages.

"Sausage Jaq?" He rasped, squinting behind blue smoke. Balder rubbed his head, then scratched his chin, sighing a bit. As Leslie and Eriyenna approached.

"Morning, morning. Ready to set up today? Got a lot to do. Tent needs to go up, seating needs to be set, and I think someone might need to have a look at the netting for the highwire. Think I saw some holes in Vienda."

Jaq nodded eagerly. "Aye, yes please! Thankee," she said with a grin. Taking the sausage from Winslow, she blew on it a bit before biting off a piece. Leaning over Hal, she held it out to him, speaking around the food in her mouth. "Shoowan bigh? 'sgoo!"

Jaq swallowed. "I kin take a looka the netting if'n ye want. I've always been a might good with m'fingers an' thread."

"Stop stealin' me food, sweetie. You'll leave none for the rest of us." When he burned his fingers on the mushroom, she laughed a bit. "Serves ye right. You're not allowed one now." But he was the cutest thing ever, still. Boys never stole her food back in town.
They were eventually done, and cut up, and put on toast. "Food! Come get some if ye want some." She took one toast herself and started nibbling it in a rather cute squirrel-like fashion, holding the sandwich with two hands. Between bites, she said, "Just kidding, Tae. Help yourself."

"I'll be ready for anythin' shortly." Hummed the purple-haired musician distractedly above the whistle of the kettle next to her. She set to work preparing coffee, struggling to ignore the temptation of breakfast while it was being cooked nearby. Once she'd decided she'd brewed enough, Eriyenna began to fill mugs and set them out, snatching up her own,

"Now, 'bout those flyers." She offered from over the rim of her mug, "I ent done paintin' 'em all, but I've got enough to hang if anyone wants to come into town with me."

Food was distracting; Warwick was absorbed into the act of devouring something for breakfast, quietly sucking on his fingers and peering off into the words, more subdued with sleep still clinging around the edges and sapping the almost nervous energy that usually left him bouncing. He looked back just as Eri asked for help, and he made a little noise around his thumb.

"...c'n help..." But it was his off-stage voice, instead of his stage voice, and if she wasn't listening out for him it'd be easy to miss. Warwick cleared his throat, raised it a notch. "I ent doin' anything else, an' could use some things from town, maybe..."

Hal could smell the sausage hovering mere inches over his nose. Was it worth the effort of sitting up to take a bite? He took a nice long sniff and decided it was. He did enough of a crunch to take a bite out of it and immediately went into breathy "Hoo! Haa!" and that odd "Nyanyanya" noise that emanates from your mouth as you attempt to chew something very hot without allowing it to touch the fleshy bits of your mouth.

He swallowed and sighed. Jaq was right, and he aggreed, "Ya, 's'good."



Hal shook his head, though it was anyone's guess as to whether Eriyenna could see him, "Nope. Lights."

The sausage had given him minimal motivation, and he rolled around sluggishly to invert his position, laying his chest across the log and letting his head droop.

Jaq giggled a bit as Hal noisily chewed the sausage. She took another bite and handed him the rest, then reached for two of the mugs Eriyenna had filled with steaming coffee. "Tol' ye t'were. 'Ere, have a mug, Hal. Should wake ye up a bit more, aye?"

She alternated between blowing on the hot liquid and taking a sip. Turning to Balder, she asked "So, when's the show er 'ave we decided that yet? We're gonna be needin' time t'rehearse an' come up with routines, aye? I bet there are a coupla good places in town t'find stuff fer costumes. A few tossed dresses here an' there'd do the trick, they would."

Hal took the mug and set it on the ground in front of him where the steam would rise to his cold face. The smell alone was invigorating, but he'd already tested his mouth with heat that morning, and was content to wait until it cooled down.

"Mmmkaaahfeeeee..."

"Eri, if you'll let me finish up breakfast, I'll help you finish up the posters and put 'em up around town. Bet I know some good places to put 'em where people'll see 'em. You can handle yourself alright here, oes, Tae? Someone else had to help you back in the day. I'll be right along in any case, Er." She munched her egg sandwich. Mmmmmfffff.

((sorry dears for this very slow and very short post))

"Bomeo." Replied Eri simply, content with breakfast, coffee, and volunteers. She flashed Warwick a nodding grin, "Better'n'bein' cooped up in a kint, despite the rain."

Looking to Giana, she chuckled, "I got the posters all finished, mostly. The more hands to hang 'em up, the better. I won't complain 'bout that." She wasn't so sure of her way around Dorhaven and wasn't too much of a fan of getting lost when there were things to do. If she had time to herself, a bit of diversion wasn't such a bad thing ... but with a whole Circus to set up, she was excited to have assistance navigating the town and advertising.