The Clown Prince of Crime! (Cheska)

by **Essik** on November 21st, 2010, 10:47 pm

63 Fall 510

OOC :

Essik walked through along through the mass of people, heading down the street. He kept tabs of everyone inside his head, watching who was going where, listening to who was walking behind him, noting all the different escape routes from the area should he need one of them. It was his nature now. The best thing about doing something naturally is that you didn’t even realize that you were doing it. It didn’t take your mind off your other thoughts. He was able to enjoy the sun shining in the sky and the scents of all the food that floated along through the air. He smiled to some of the women who walked past as he adjusted the full loaded backpack on his back. He was able to enjoy the pleasant wind that pushed stray strands of his hair across his face. Even while he was planning out the area, he was able to enjoy himself. That was the best part about it all.

The street he was on lead towards where the circus had set while it was here in Sunberth. Essik had never heard of the circus coming to the city before, but from what he had seen on the posters that were littered around the city, it seemed interesting enough. But they had also sparked the thoughts that had brought him here once more. The circus apparently traveled around from city to city for short periods of time, working its way across the continent. So if here were part of the circus, it would give him a new area to operate in after each journey, but only long enough to pull a few contracts and make some extra money. Then it was off to the next city before anyone started recognizing him. That would be perfect. Plus, doing an act at the circus would only help him hone his skills further.

He had told Alinar of his plan and gained his blessing, letting his teacher know that he would only be around once in a great while for further lessons from him. Alinar had voiced some concerns about it but, in all, had seen it as a good system. So after that, essik packed his belongings and headed out. He had his backpack and rucksack strapped onto his back with all of his belongings attached to them. He knew he probably looked a little odd as he walked down the streets. His hood was pulled back in the bright sun, even though it was a cooler day then most had been. The people walked around hurriedly, dressed in their warm clothes, trying to get where they needed to go as quickly as possible. And at the end of the street, Essik could see the tops of the tents sticking up over the rest of the buildings in the area.

It took several minutes for him to reach the area that the circus occupied. There were several tents littered around the place. The biggest one was where they had the circus and several others were there for housing the performers. Essik headed back around to where some of the performers were milling about, ”Hey, Sorry to interrupt, but can anyone tell me who I can talk to about joining this performance?”

by **Cheska Mallina** on November 22nd, 2010, 8:49 am

OOCThanks for setting up the thread Essik, LOVE the title!

Just to let you know, the circus hasn't actually performed yet, since we're still gathering performers, so it would be impossible for you to have seen a show

Cheska looked up from her account books as she heard an unfamiliar voice outside. She hurriedly pushed her hair out of her face, tucked the book under her arm, and stepped out of her tent. Her eyebrows rose as she spotted a newcomer directly ahead of her, and she pushed her way through the people, coming to stand directly in front of the strange man.

"Good day, sir," she said timidly, looking up at the stranger. "You're interested in joining? What sort of skills do you have that you could use in an act?" Cheska asked, curious.

by **Essik** on November 22nd, 2010, 5:06 pm

OOCSorry. I thought there would be NPC performers or something to flesh out what the PCs weren’t doing. I edited my post to reflect the new info. I assume your character is wearing the same clothes as in the profile picture, correct?

Essik stodd there, looking at the people who didn’t answer him. It was slightly frustrating. It was a simple question, wasn’t it? He figured that it couldn’t be too hard for someone to tell him who to talk to about joining their group. But after a second he spotted the form of someone pushing through the rest that stood there silently. After a second a woman stepped from the path she had made through the people, walking up to him. Most people would find her rather innocuous. She was only a little bit shorter then Essik, but the top hat she wore gave an illusion of greater height. Thin, and almost delicate looking from the slight pale hue of her skin. But her eyes betrayed the intelligence that she held, a hard sparkle that told she was mentally as sharp as any of the knives he had lettered across his frame.

Essik smiled for a second, bowing his head to her,” Please, Essik will do. I’ve never liked being called ‘Sir’.” He chuckled a little bit, hoping she hadn’t noticed his eyes wandering over her as she had approached,” But yes, I am quite interested in joining your performance if you’d have me. I figured I could do many things. I’m not too shabby at knife throwing. I have enough balance that I can walk a tight rope fairly easily. And with a little make-up or a clown mask, there is little limit to what I can do to entertain people. Hell, with a little teaching or a book to learn it from, I could be a fire breathing clown. I can show you if you would like. Just give me a place to set down my bags.”

by **Cheska Mallina** on November 23rd, 2010, 9:06 am

OOCThanks! And yes, that's correct, she's wearing those clothes

She had certainly not noticed his eyes wandering over her, as she had been doing the same to him. Muscled, and very handsome, she was looking forwards to working with this man. That is, if he was interested in auditioning.

"Well met then, Essik," she smiled, grateful for his friendliness. Sunberth gave her the shivers, and it was quite refreshing to meet a friendly face. "My name's Cheska. I'm the cook, costume maker, manager of the circus' accounts. Right now, I'm also in charge of overseeing auditions." She ticked the jobs off on her fingers.

The woman nodded as Essik spoke, glad that he had so many talents! "That's wonderful!" Cheska nodded when he told her he could show her now. "Do you have a tent?" she asked, an expression of worry crossing her face. Money was hard to come by nowadays, especially since she had to pay for many of the expenses out of her own pocket. They hadn't started performing yet, so there was no flow of money coming it. The last thing she wanted to to was go and buy tents for all the new performers. She had no objections to sharing her tent, as long as no one touched the account books.

"If you do, there's a spot right over there," she pointed to an empty patch of grass. "If not, you're free to put your bedroll in my tent," she blushed at this, "For now, why not set your things in my tent while you audition, no one goes in there. People seem to think that I have nothing worth stealing, since it's mostly books."

by **Essik** on November 23rd, 2010, 8:46 pm

Essik smiled,” Cheska…” His eyes shifted for a second, acting as if he was in deep though. After a second he snapped out of it with a playful wink, ” I like it. I have to say, though, with that many jobs, you must always be busy. It sounds like a handful anyway.” He nodded once again when she asked about the tent,” Yeah, I’ve got a tent. It’s nothing too special, just a little one person pup tent that I have. Enough room for me and my gear, anyway. I can get t set up after the auditions. So long as I’m good enough to keep around, that is. But who knows if things keep getting colder like they are.” He noted the flush of color through her cheeks and smiled mischievously for a moment before wiping the look from his face.,” And anyway. I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable, having a complete stranger staying in your tent or anything.”He took a second to un-sling his pack and placed it into her tent. He hoped the inordinate amount of arrow quivers that where attached to it didn’t raise any alarms. He knew he carried a few too many most of the time, but he always liked to be careful. Plus, he never knew when he would be traveling and the fishing arrows would always come in handy for that. He had made sure to keep his bracers packed away for now. No reason carrying the concealed weapons to a circus audition. He even went so far as to remove his sword and scabbard, placing them with his gear. Weapons would just get in the way. But he always kept his dagger with him. Alinar had picked out the dagger for him, but made him buy it with some of the income from their first contract together.

Once everything was situated, he stood once more, ”Well if no one thinks to look inside there, makes it easier for you to hide things, if needed. Heck, get yourself a few ‘false books’ with the centers cut out of the pages and have a nice little safe. I’ve done it a few times at the old place I was staying at. No one will ever take the time to look through a library of books for one that might have a hollow center. Takes too much time. Keep a small portion of the money in a locked box. People will run off with that thinking they got the whole stash. It’s a lot easier to make up a few dozen Mizas then a few hundred.”” He chuckled a little, following next to her as he gestured for her to lead the way to where the auditions would be taking place at. He walked next to her, but about a pace away, only falling behind to fit through any tight gaps when passing through a group or between tents, “So what should we start with first? Tightrope? Knives? Clowning around?” The last idea laced with more than a little suggestion as he looked over her face once more. Most of the walk he’d spent looking at other things, including her, instead of where they were headed. He never really seemed to pay attention to where they were walking, but he also easily avoided anything that would have tripped him up.

by **Cheska Mallina** on November 30th, 2010, 10:47 am

Cheska's face grew even redder as he gave her a mischievous smile. She'd never had any experience with men, since they rarely looked twice at her. She was usually buried under books, or cooking meals, they were usually interested in more exotic women than she.

'I'm sure you'll be great," she smiled, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw all the weapons he put down on the floor of the tent. Traveling in the wilderness was not safe, at all, and having an experienced fighter in the group was a great relief to the shy girl.

"That's a really good idea, I should do that!" Cheska exclaimed, impressed. It seemed that there was more to this man than he seemed. Charming, a fighter, and smart? If there was going to be a battle in the wilds, she'd make sure to be standing behind him.

Cheska led him to an open area just outside the tents, she'd set up the rope she had found in her pack into a makeshift tightrope a few bells ago, only a few inches off the ground, and securely tied to two tent pegs. It had been the best she could do, and she'd rather hoped that they'd find a tightrope walker. She blushed again at the suggestion in his words, and ducked her head down. Cheska knew that men weren't always what the seemed, he might just be doing this to get a guaranteed acceptance after the audition. If he was still interested after the audition then perhaps...

Cheska pushed the thought away, trying to turn her mind back towards the audition. "You can try tightrope walking here, but I'm not too sure what you'll need for throwing knives, do you need a target?" she asked.

by **Essik** on December 1st, 2010, 5:06 pm

Essik couldn’t help but smile sheepishly as she blushed again. He liked the way the color rose to her cheeks. He hoped that he wasn’t making her uncomfortable or anything. That was the last thing he wanted to do. So he decided to lay off and concentrate on the audition. If he became part of the circus, he’d have more than enough time to flirt with Cheska.

As they approached, he looked over the short tightrope, nodding a little bit, ”Excellent. This will work perfectly. But once we get a higher set, I can work on a bit more of an acrobatic set, as well. You know, flipping and spinning on the rope and all that. Heck, I could work on knife throwing or archery FROM the tight rope. Who knows?” His mind was running over all the ideas that were coming to him, thinking of different ways that he could use the performances at the circus to, not only entertain, but to improve his skills as well.

Essik walked over to the closest peg, kicking it once gently to make sure it was rooted firmly into the ground. He placed his heel on it to give him a steady place to start before hopping up onto the line with both feet. He balanced the weight og his body on the fat top of the peg, standing with one foot out in front acting as a pendulum to help keep him balanced on the line as he got ready. Usually, he was used to making his way across a tight rope with a running start. It was a little different when you started on the very edge of it. But he knew that he could do it, so he wasn’t too worried. He kept his eyes in front of him for the moment, orienting himself. His arms pushed out to each side, helping to keep himself stabile as he started forward, step by step. He smiled slightly, speaking to Cheska but keeping his eyes forward for the moment, “Now, it will take me a little while before I’m able to do any cartwheels on the rope or anything, you understand? But I’ll get there before too long. I tend to practice quite a bit whenever I get the chance. I’ve just never had a reason to perform acrobatics on a tight rope before now. Usually it’s just a good way to get across rooftops and such.”

He continued forward slowly, taking a second to look over toward a post that was a short distance away from him. As he took his next step forward, his right hand quickly reached inside his outer coat, drawing one of his throwing knives and launching it toward the post in the blink of an eye. With a quick follow through after throwing the knife, his hand was back out to his side working to stabilize himself for a second as his frame teetered atop the rope he stood on. The knife, on the other hand, flashed through the air, end over end to imbed into the post, off center, but still on the post. Not quite where he had wanted it, but it would do for now. He could always get better at it later. He was used to aiming at human sized targets, after all, where 6 inches left to right was only the difference between hitting one of two lungs, or the heart. Either way, it was a kill shot. And after a second, Essik stabilized himself with another quick step forward, continuing on along the rest of the length of the rope.

At the other end, he hopped down from the tent peg and turned to Cheska, gauging to see her reaction. It wasn’t the BEST ever, but he’d tried to fancy it up a bit with the knife and everything. He took a moment to walk over to the post, wiggling the knife from the wood before sheathing the blade back under his coat, disappearing it from sight. He smiled faintly as he walked back over to her, his eyebrow perked in curiosity, “I know it wasn’t the greatest tight rope performance ever, but I am a fast learner as well. So I can develop the act before we get to the next city and have a good performance for everyone.” He flashed her a quick, charming smirk once more, “So? What’s next?”

by **Cheska Mallina** on December 11th, 2010, 10:39 am

Cheska nodded, smiling. "That would be brilliant! I'd never thought of someone throwing knives or doing archery from the tightrope. Acrobatics would be great as well, but after all, it's your act."

The grin on her face only widened as Essik walked cautiously out on the rope. Well, it seemed that the circus had themselves a tightrope walker! Of course, she couldn't say so yet, that would have to wait until the end of the audition. "Of course, you'll have plenty of time to practice on the way to Zeltiva." she nodded, then realized her mistake. She blushed. No sooner had she reminded herself not to say anything about him getting the spot, then she had practically told him so. "Err... that is, if you get the spot." Who was she kidding, it was pretty obvious even without her terrible effort to correct her mistake. Cheska sighed. Essik's earlier flirtations were not helping her already weak speaking skills. She might have been wondering why he'd be walking across rooftops, but Cheska was distracted by her own speaking blunders.

The young woman's eyes widened and she took a step backwards in surprise as Essik threw the knife. It happened in a split second, barely enough for her eyes to register it, but there it was! The knife was firmly implanted in the wooden post! With on hand delicately on her chest in a feminine gesture of surprise, she concentrated on calming herself down. By the time Essik hopped down from the tent peg, Cheska had regained enough composure to clap.

"I think it was great," she smiled, still a bit shaken. At his charming smirk, she wondered if he just wanted to see her blush once more. "I don't know, is there anything else? For that tightrope act alone, I'd say you're in!"

by **Essik** on December 12th, 2010, 5:40 am

He laughed out loud for a second from her last comment. He hadn’t figured he had done that well. But it was a good thing, then. He knew he had at least one performance at the circus. That meant that he’d have more time to perfect other acts as well. But he had seen her reaction to the throwing knife so, after his short burst of laughter ended, he had to ask, “I hope that I didn’t scare you with that. I guess it was a little sudden, after all. I’m fairly practiced with throwing knives. Living in Sunberth, if you’re not good at anything else, you’re good at fighting. You know? Unfortunately, growing up as an orphan doesn’t get you the best education. So I found other ways to make myself gainfully employed.” He shrugged slightly, opening the right side of his coat to reveal the line of throwing knives that were sheathed in their pockets that were stitched along the outside of his hardened vest, “I’ll try not to surprise you with them, next time. But it’s easy to say that I can help to protect the circus as well as perform for it.” He pulled the coat close to him once more, hiding the knives from sight once again, as he smiled to her and motioned back toward the way they had came, “But, I suppose, if that ensures at least once spot in the circus, I will wait to try doing any others until I have had time to practice them more. But as I said, I am more than willing to act as a clown and do other, non tightrope related, knife throwing and archery tricks as well. Heck, get some dangerous animals around here, and I could work to be an animal handler. I’m particular to lions myself.” He winked to her once more. He did enjoy seeing the color flush to her cheeks with his little flirting. But he knew that he shouldn’t push his luck too much in the beginning. After a second, he looked around to all the tents of the other personnel of the circus, “So, is there anything that the circus will need before we head out of town? I have some coin left and I’d like to be able to help out if there is anything that is needed.”

by **Cheska Mallina** on December 21st, 2010, 2:49 pm

"I-It's alright," she smiled. Her eyes widened when Essik revealed the hidden knives in his coat, but she managed not to squeak in surprise. There was definitely more to this man than met the eye. Charming, dangerous, and quite handsome. She'd have to watch herself around this one. Of course, all those logical thoughts were thrown out the window when he mentioned "protecting the circus", coupled with another of those dashing smiles.

"I'm not lying when I say that's a great relief to me, Essik. The roads only grow more dangerous as time passes," she said, walking with him back to the rest of the tents.

Her cheeks did indeed redden once more, but this time Cheska managed a shy smile along with the blush. "We'd have to figure out a way to get some lions first, but I certainly don't doubt your ability," she replied demurely, feeling a bit more secure as they drew closer to the tents.

"We're getting the giant tent in Zeltiva, but mostly the equipment will have to be purchased when we have someone who'll be using it. For the time being, I think we'll be alright. Of course, that may change once everyone's together."