Vienda had bad blood for Tavian. Not the city, just the memories.
He had wondered briefly if he'd run into his parents. For a moment he agonized at the idea of having to entertain them for a few moments with a fruitless result, that being their distaste for him and his doing. He'd have to wistfully sigh and tell them he didn't care. Really, it took effort to be this haughty sometimes.
Then he remembered it had been five years since he had see them. They wouldn't even recognize him, he was sure. The thought disappeared and he happily traveled in.

The next day Tavian wandered onto the streets, both of his black holsters on.
He found a good spot and sat down, taking out three knives and juggling them idly, as if this was as casual as twiddling his thumbs. Whenever people would stare he would grin coyly with a wink.

He eventually stood up and threw the blades higher, watching them fall and picking them up with his fingers by the blunt of the blade or twirling the handle up again. He threw up all three blades into the air, caught two in his hands and with the downward turn of his head, shink! one in between his teeth. In a quick gesture he threw his head up, showing that he'd caught the blade in his teeth to those watching, a smug grin on his mouth.

Yes, yes he knew it was impressive. He stood up straight, shoulders slightly back and feet together. He put two blades in one hand before taking a bow to those watching him. As he stood up he took the last blade out of his mouth and bowed again.

Someone asked if he was one of the circus performers giving a preview.
No, he said, a dulled tone of surprise in his smooth voice, but that was now certainly a point of interest.

He'd have to buy some apples.

One of the women in the crowd, quite near to Tavian, turned to her friend, who was watching the man with some interest.

"He's a galdor, Millie," she whispered in disbelief.

"Rubbish, he's not," whispered Millie. She giggled, clearly quite taken with the young man. He did look like a galdor...a rather handsome one, actually...but surely no one of any social stature would be caught dead performing for humans in Crosstown Court.

"I can feel his field from here!" insisted the other woman. "What's he doing performing in the street, I wonder?"

Millie stepped forward, smiling a little as she sensed Tavian's field - not well exercised, certainly, but still strong...

"You're quite good," she remarked to him, blushing. She lifted a fan to her face and batted her eyelids. "I say, where on Vita did you learn to toss a knife like that?"

Tavian looked up from placing his three knives into each of their individual pouches and gave her a chilly, attractive smile.

"Thank you lovely miss, misses," He added with a keen nod, seeing the friend behind her. He snapped the closures on his harness shut and adjusted his weight so he was standing tall, long fingers on his hips.

"I learned in my spare time at Brunnhold, but it's a class they don't teach there," He said, with a silky rumble of a chuckle. "Many hours of personal time spent and many bandages used. Just like a magical art, it's mostly learning what works and what doesn't. In short my lady, I'm self taught."

"How impressive," said Millie, breathlessly, while her friend made stern faces behind her.

The starstruck sorceress seemed to be on the verge of asking for private lessons, but her friend stuck out her hand, grabbed her by the back of her corset and dragged her back into the crowd. "Come on, Millie, we're late..."

"Farewell lovely," Tavian said with a striking grin, giving her a slight wave with those long fingers before he turned to go about his day.

Calli watched Tavian from across the square for quite some time. She was a little confused, he had the field of a galdor yet he was performing like a wick. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it. She wondered if he'd mind her asking him about his performance or whether she should wait for him to take a break.

Her curiosity quickly got the better of her. She'd been told more than once that she was too simple to mistrust anyone and too dense to give people their space. She thought this was a fairly true analysis of her character.

She was in front of the knife throwing galdor before she realised she had moved.

"Hey, that's really neat. You should join the circus in town." She blurted, watching the paths of the flickering blades and wondering if she could mimic the movement without hurting herself.


((Gah! Original post got eaten... That's the third this week!))

A moment after his conversation he began up his act again, twirling the knives and juggling them. He wasn't bothered when people approached to look. He would be enticed if someone else other than himself was juggling knives across the way.
His green eyes flickered to the girl. He gave her a smile before looking back to the blades he continued to toss into the air.



He glanced at her again and a look of thought crossed his mind.
"You know that's the second time I've heard that today my dear," He said simply. "And really, I think I'm going to have to look into it."

"You should." Calli said, nodding earnestly. "Hey, how do you do that without causing yourself a mischief? I can do pins but I always end up catching them by the wrong ends."

Calli bounced on the pads of her feet, interest blatant.

"Pins you say? Well that sounds like good practice material. You're much smarter than I was in the beginning." He said, stopping and catching his three blades. He put two away and held one in front of her, holding near the tip. He started bobbing it up and down slowly to show her, and then flipped it once, grabbing the handle.

"The thing with pins, is that they are very small and don't have much weight to them. Knives do, so you can find balance with your body," He looked around and mumbled so she could hear with a grin. "Or you know...cheat a little with spells...but I rarely do that unless I'm throwing them." Bringing his voice back up he elegantly offered her the knife, handle toward her, point toward himself.

"See for yourself. Much heavier."

Calli balanced the knife on a few finger tips, swaying her hand back and forth to keep it up.

"I've only ever used the heavy pins, you know, the big white ones?" Calli frowned slightly as she tried to find a stable balance. "I'm not too good with spells but I would like to learn how to throw a knife. I mostly do dancing and acrobatics, I'm... less aware of extensions, unless I'm using something solid and attached to the ground."

Calli handed the knife back.

"That's really cool, I got a sword a while back but I can't use it properly. I can only do sword dances, you know?" She smiled, watching Tavian with quiet interest. "I'm Calli, by the way."

"Swords....hm." He thought about them. "I suppose that would just be a longer knife in the end. Use it like a pointy club, wouldn't you say?" He said with a smile.
"A pleasure to meet you Calli, I'm Tavian." He said, looking her over.

"An acrobat. It would explain why you're so thin. Your work is in your muscles and with your body. That's your art." He said with a nod. "With the circus I take it?"

Calli grinned. "Nice to meet you too, Tavian."

Calli thought about the sword.

"I'm not sure how to make the best of it, it's a very fine blade. Has a curve in it that makes it interesting to use." Calli had been practicing, she was getting somewhere but she wasn't sure exactly where.



Calli smiled and nodded.

"Yup, it's really nice. I like it there. I bet you would too. We have a chrove." Calli hummed under breath. "I wouldn't call it an art, I guess. It is very entertaining though, at least it seems to be."

"Nonsense," He said with a smile. "It's all an art, and a chrove you say? Well...I'm sold."
Tavian said with a laugh.

"Yay!" Calli said, raising her arms a little in subconscious abandon. "Well, I hope I'll see you there, you should come by and audition."

Calli waved merrily.

"See you around, I'll stop taking up your show time now." Calli grinned and sauntered away.

"Thanks for the advice, love," Tavian said with a smile, before going back to flipping knives.