Post by Aiden Hughes on Aug 12, 2012 18:23:44 GMT -5
The crisp, autumn air fell unto the crowd wandering the London streets. People of all ages walked back and forth to watch the street performers and professionals celebrate the grand festival. Aiden quickly glanced around the diverse gathering and calmly exhaled. “This has to be the largest event I participated in as a performer,” he thought. “But as expected from this city.” He adjusted his dark tie as he questioned the time from his announcer. He thanked the burly man and inspected his cast iron and “fuel.” He made certain his items were safe. His announcer nodded at him and they began the act.
“Hello and welcome everyone!” the stout man exclaimed to the mass. “Come closer and witness a fine fire eater! This young lad is not from around here so give him a warm welcome!” He then backed away from the center and smiled towards Aiden.
The man with black and white face paint resembling a skull stepped forward. He took off his bowl hat and bowed. The crowd packed together as more people moved closer to watch this crazed man attempt the bizarre. Aiden’s grey eyes lit under the darkening sky. He smiled to the interested faces and welcomed everyone. "It’s true this is my first time visiting your beautiful city so folks, please go easy on me. I have been fire eating for years with practice and advise you not to try this yourselves. Fire is a fickle mistress that will burn you if she is allowed the opportunity.” The cheerful crowd let out amusement as they waited.
The young entertainer clutched his lit torches and tilted his head back to slowly place one into his mouth. A few public watchers gasped at the sight of the act. Once the lit cast iron was down his throat, he quickly cut off the fire’s oxygen and pulled out the iron. The amazed people didn’t understand the logic, or rather the man’s unnatural talent; they continued to cheer as they observed his fire eating and fire breathing act. As the final performance, Aiden gathered the natural fire that burned in his lungs and blew out the flames against the cast iron. The flames glowed as it ascended into the dark sky. The crowd clapped and yelled out as they slowly faded away while the performer waved to the people. Aiden thanked and shook the hand of his announcer. He was thankful the act went according to plan. The folks seemed pleased and not a single one was harmed. Aiden sat down on the curb to examine the passerby’s expressions. The audience was amazed by the variety of the street performers. It seemed everyone was enjoying themselves. The evening was still fairly young so he decided to join the streets and meet other folk.
Post by Victoria Belmis on Aug 15, 2012 14:02:05 GMT -5
The evening had just began when Victoria found herself between the agitated crowd of a grand festival. She loved that carnival mood, where humans would do amazing things that would amaze even the most knowledgeable supernatural being. She was looking around amused when she noticed a show that was about to begin, she stood behind the crowd on her tip toes trying to see, soon giving up and piercing through the bodies, dodging elbows, shoulders and feet, until she finally got to the front. A man introduced a fire eating boy, who seemed to be Victoria's age. She examined the lad as he spoke in front of the audience, and decided to stay and watch. Not because of the trick itself, for it was a vulgar trick that many humans could pull off, but because she felt a different energy coming from this artist. He wasn't human. “ Sweet.”
When he proceed with his act Victoria's suspicions were confirmed, he played with fire with an agility that would be impossible for a human, and his effects were far more incredible than some cheap magic trick. She couldn't help but grin as the light of the fire ignited her face.
Later on that night, Victoria was ready to go onto to some pub to try to win some extra quid on bets and gambling. She looked through the window of the smoky building and saw the fire eating boy going down the street, she figured this was her chance to kill her curiosity. The demoness ran out of the pub jumping right in front of the male. She gave up a huge grin. “ Hi! What are you really?” She decided to be direct, that would probably confuse but that didn't matter. “ I mean, you're clearly not human, so what are you?”
Post by Ophelia Lynch on Aug 15, 2012 23:53:28 GMT -5
Ophelia paced around the fairgrounds, taking a few shots here and there with her Cannon Digital SLR. There were times where she tried to remember what the world looked like outside of the lens of her camera. She saw so much more now that she had missed before. If she was going to travel the world, this was the best way to understand it. An elderly man sitting on a bench in the midst of a festival, dutifully feeding the birds that came and went. When she looked at the same person through a lens, she could see he fingered a woman’s brooch with a hand that had a tarnished silver wedding ring on it. Amidst an excited crowd, this one subject looked rather desolate and forlorn but a deep look into this photo would tell you why.
She heard a clamor from one of the many performance stages nearby and was drawn toward it. A young man prepared to wow a crowd by way of fire-eating. She’d seen a few acts like this. The one she remembered the most clearly was when her father, being the physicist he was, felt compelled to explain the feat down to equations so that it somewhat took the mysticism out of it for her. It was replaced by knowledge of the intricate details involved in the art, however. She chuckled at the memory.
As the man began, she watched, rather listlessly. She quickly became intrigued with his confidence and fluidity, though. There was something to his facial expression that she found unusual as well, and it had nothing to do with his face paint. She brought her camera up to a bit above her eye level and brought it into focus on him. Yes, there was something of interest there; she just couldn’t quite make it out yet. She brought the camera back down and quickly changed a few settings such as shutter speed to accommodate the fire.
The show she photographed was….strange. The performer began to move rapidly; almost not giving himself enough time to keep from getting burned. On the final performance, Ophelia could swear he didn’t take even a quick swig of fuel. She would normally have thought she’d missed it….but her lens was up. There was no way. The rods were most definitely not lit, but then he “blew” on said rods and ta-da, instant fire. A lot of instant fire. From where?
“What the hell?” Ophelia muttered to herself as she lowered her camera for a moment, perplexed.
The performer took his exist as the crowd dissipated, and took a seat on a curb nearby. Ophelia adjusted her camera once more for the darkness around him, pointed, and shot. She watched him watch the passersby. He was searching…for a reaction? It was likely. He just put on quite a performance, after all. After she was satisfied, she slowly lowered her camera and turned away to head toward her hotel. As she walked, she checked the memory on the card in her camera. She saw there was a bit of space to spare, which was nice. No matter how many Gigs she purchased it never seemed to be enough. She would be able to get a better look at these photographs on her computer in her room, and possibly try to prep one for print so she could somehow fit it, last minute, into her gallery opening tomorrow. The festival was a nice, easy way, to get a nearly free spot to showcase an artist’s work. If she could find a place along the way to pick up a pack of cigarettes, she’d be completely content.
Post by Aiden Hughes on Aug 16, 2012 2:08:48 GMT -5
The young man sat on the curb to take in the scene. He could still smell the smoke from the fire on his clothes. Aiden caught a quick glimpse of a young woman taking a photo with her digital camera. She certainly gave the impression on being experienced with her device and she handled it with care. He wasn’t much for the new gadgets and technology in society. Since he hung around carnivals in his childhood, he became fairly old-fashioned. The activities he accomplished in his spare time were ones most people wouldn’t consider to attempt in their lifetime. Aiden was enticed with this unknown individual. He stood up and inhaled deeply to yell towards her.
“Hey!” he exclaimed loudly in an attempt to get her attention.
Despite his effort, his voice was lost in the crowd. He grumbled under his breath and hastily decided to follow the woman as she was leaving the festival. Aiden maneuvered between the crowd of people wandering to and fro but one peculiar lass stepped in front of his path.
She greeted him in a calm, yet intrigued tone. His eyes made a swift gaze over her appearance; she was stunningly beautiful. She had a playful grin as he tried to analyze her facial expression. However, he caught a quick thought that ran through her mind; she knew he wasn’t human. Aiden immediately felt an odd sensation traveling through his body. She flatly pointed out he didn’t blend into the human population as well as he would like to convince himself. He began to grow tense as he realized the thought he caught from her was correct. He stumbled over his first words before he could speak clearly, “I’m human and a performer. Nothing special.” He choked. Aiden was never confronted with this before by another being. His mind filled with questions if he made a mistake on stage and if others are wondering about his ability. Distressed he added, “I don’t want any trouble, miss.” He stood in silence. He was concerned for himself towards this mysterious woman.
Ba'alzamon was traveling with the carnival for a few days. He had agreed to hire on with them, traveling with them and doing menial labor such as carrying things and helping pack up when they moved on towards a new toward and such. He also did a small part in the shows as well, performing some minor tricks with his powers of calling chains and manipulating fire. However, his real job, his true job was protecting the carnival from people who would seek to harm the performers, occupants, and animals. With his unique skills, it was easy. There had in fact actually been four people who had attempted to sneak in already with small weapons to attempt to kill or injure, perhaps to sabotage the show. He had firmly repelled them with out injury.
Alright, he had more like thrown them bodily from the carnival causing them to skid six feet along concrete. That would warrant at least a little bit of time in a hospital ensuring that they remained away from the carnival for the next two days they where going to be here. He was currently following one of his 'charges' that had decided to go upon a night time stroll. He paused, watching as a female approached him. He recognized the female, from a while ago during a hunt performed upon the Jormungard. He walked right up behind her, placing a large hand upon her shoulder firmly. He spoke to Aiden, in his deep, rumbling voice. "Easy fireman. She is a friend, one of us. It is alright to tell her." He glanced at the other girl, with the camera that the man was attempting to yell out. He was not so sure about that female though.
Post by Ophelia Lynch on Aug 16, 2012 13:27:18 GMT -5
Once Ophelia made it back to her hotel room, she grabbed up her laptop, and took it, her camera, a usb connector, and her pack of cigarettes out onto the balcony. She turned on the laptop and lit up a cig, and then got to work. She’d taken a decent number of photos at the festival. There was the Man Who Fed Birds for His Lost Love. Another one of a child spinning around with a grip of cotton candy in her hand. An acrobat, a few musicians, horse handlers, fine artists explaining their works or simply sitting back to watch others admire it. And there at the end, was the fire-eater.
It’s difficult to get real deep pictures of fire-eaters. First of all, there’s usually fire in their face…and their heads tend to be tilted back quite a bit when there isn’t. Because their art is generally performed in the evening, getting good light in the picture is difficult unless you come fully prepared, which Ophelia had not been. The flames looked great. The pictures looked great. But they were missing the elements common in her photographs that allowed them to be called art. The last few pictures of the young man were of him sitting, still in face-paint, on the curb. Though most of his body was shrouded in darkness, that white paint glowed from the festival lights. It gave him an eerie quality, but it allowed the camera enough light to catch a facial expression.
Ophelia took the picture into photoshop and added a few layers to it, mostly messing with exposure and gamma. Now, there was perfect lighting. She had to be careful not to get too crazy with it; even a hair more gamma than necessary and the color would look contrived. Speaking of color, she decided to take down the saturation a few notches so that the colors looked faded around him. The festival lights still looked pretty bright. She brightened them more.
“Well that was a rather quick edit…” she said aloud to herself. “Now….to find a printer last-minute that doesn’t look like shit. Ugh.”
Ophelia smoked one more cigarette, “because apparently I’ve become a chain smoker since this afternoon” she thought to herself, and then went to bed. It took her a few hours to find a good printer that would work with her last minute the next day. She was beginning to panic when she finally got the good news from them. Luckily, her gallery opening wasn’t until around 2pm. She got it printed, and surprised at the quality, had it framed and fit it into her showcase.
Photographing people and then putting them in a showcase was always iffy business. Every once in awhile she got someone who felt rather offended by it; she’d tried to explain how Intellectual Property laws worked, and that they were not photographed on their property or in compromising positions but they still freaked out sometimes. Usually, though, the subjects never even saw the photos. Seeing as how the fire-eater would likely still be at the festival, it was fairly likely he would pass by this showcase and see his photo up with the others. Hopefully, he didn’t get ticked off that she didn’t just put up the pictures of him breathing the fire like most photographers may have done. Either way, if he had a problem with it, she’d be there so he could hash it out with her rather than the poor receptionists who had no idea how to defend the material in the first place. She chuckled a bit at the thought.
Post by Victoria Belmis on Aug 16, 2012 13:44:30 GMT -5
Victoria chuckled to herself at the confusion of the boy. Even though he claimed to be only human, it was easy to see through his lie, you didn't have to be a genius to figure that out. “I don’t want any trouble, miss” Victoria felt surprised for a bit. She knew she was going to surprise him, she wasn't thinking about intimidating him. “ Oh no, don't worry. I don't want to hurt you any way. “ She chuckled and smiled ear to ear again. “ I'm just curious” Victoria examined the boy once again, now being face to face with him, she notice he was incredibly attractive distracting Victoria for a bit, before shaking her head and concentrating again on gaining the information she wanted. “ Now, you don't fool me. Humans may not notice, but the rest of us.... “ She stared at him. “ A human wouldn't be able to control that fire the way you did... And don't tell me that's practice, you don't do that with practice. “ She grinned once again, lowering her tone of voice avoiding to attract unwanted attention “ So, what are you?”
She felt a large hand placing on her shoulder, she nearly jumped and looked behind her. A small grin appeared when she found a familiar face. A minotaur she once met in a quest. She grinned to him in recognition and looked back again to the young man.
Post by Aiden Hughes on Aug 17, 2012 2:17:42 GMT -5
Aiden was still a bit startled as she eyed him. She knew that he wasn’t human, yet she hasn’t freaked. On the contrary, she seemed quite amused by him. Aiden thought over her words carefully as he bit his lip and fiddled with the lip piercing. He knew he wasn’t going to talk himself out of this mess. The miss wanted answers…now. It wasn’t long before she demanded them either. “I…umm,” he began but couldn’t form the words. Then a minotaur walked up from behind the young woman; Ba'alzamon eased the fire-eaters mood.
The minotaur was his own form of awe just from the sight; he was something from a fable. He was a strong, towering beast. However, Ba’alzamon seemed civil enough as he hasn’t mindlessly attack others. Aiden recalled it was just a few nights ago when he met the astonishing beast. Never has the man witnessed a creature like him. When the fire-eater was a child, his mother told him of his talent along with stories of other non-human creatures. But to the boy at the time, these stories were simply tall tales. He convinced himself those beings weren’t real. Although, just in this fine festival he met a grand minotaur and a strange, attractive woman. What else from those stories is real? “London is a strange place,” he thought as he let out a heavy sigh. Any more surprises and the poor guy will be a nervous wreck.
Ba’alzamon’s words comforted him. He glanced back at the woman and decided to be truthful. He relaxed his muscles from the earlier tension and finally replied, “I’m an elemental. I’m sure you can guess which element.” A small chuckle escaped his mouth. He smiled a bit; at least he didn’t have to lie anymore. It’s not something he enjoyed, even if he was really bad at deceiving others. As he waited, his mind wandered to the other woman he saw earlier. She took photographs and left rather promptly. If she lives around here, does she have a show of her own? He pondered what her story consisted of in this vast world.
Post by Victoria Belmis on Aug 17, 2012 7:12:10 GMT -5
“I’m an elemental. " Victoria eyes widen at this words, but she scold herself for not guessing that earlier. This wasn't the first time she met an elemental, she should of have recognize the energy. Victoria grinned receptive, but wasn't going to give up her identity unless she was asked, so she remained in silent about herself. " I didn't got your name. What was it again? "While waiting for the answer she moved out of the way of the young man, indicating that she didn't want to held him any longer. " Well, I'm not going to bother you anymore, you're free to go " She smiled.
Victoria wondered what did a elemental do in a human show. Victoria considered almost every human as inferior to any supernatural species, and could not see how someone could decide to work for them, or even with them. Victoria tended to take advantage of humans, in situations like gambling and positions were she could win quick and easy money. She shrugged her shoulders coming to the conclusion that the boy might not share her point of view.
[OOC: God, I'm so sorry, I'm blocking... -______-]
Post by Aiden Hughes on Aug 20, 2012 22:22:35 GMT -5
Aiden’s smile spread to both sides of his face. He was pleased how things turned out with this woman. She didn’t have an intention to harm anyone; instead she was simply curious about him. It was just recently Aiden met another supernatural being and was quite enthralled with them. He wasn’t the only non-human; there are others like him! This world was full of surprises and he didn’t have to travel very far to find a couple either. The fire-eater bowed his head towards the girl and answered, “I’m Aiden Hughes and it’s my pleasure to meet you.” His previous worries transformed into childish excitement.
The mysterious woman stepped aside as if to give him way. Hmm? She’s waiting for me to leave? She spoken a goodbye to him and she smiled. Aiden was at ease but puzzled. He didn’t wish to leave her side yet. The night sky was still hanging above them. The moon illuminated his face paint as he studied her. The conversation was revolved around him, but what about her? He never figured out how she knew about him so quickly. He felt something distinctive about her than other humans. After his questioning thoughts he added, “I’m sorry miss, I’m not being a decent gentleman. Please, tell me your name.”
Ba'alzamon watched between the two, smiling as they appeared to be getting along. He slowly removed his hand from Victoria's shoulder and let it hand at his own side. He carefully watched the exchange between the two, leaving himself out of the conversation pointedly. His eyes slowly moved along the streets, watching each and every individual person intently in case they meant either his friend or his charge any kind of harm. His fingers slowly slid up and down the haft of the axe upon his right side, his mind else where as he watched over the two beings beneath him.
He frowned, catching that Victoria was about to leave and looked down, wondering what the male had done wrong that would drive her away so quickly. He wasn't overly protective of the female for any particular reason, but was curious as to why she suddenly decided this. He looked between the two, head moving from side to side causing his massive horns to swing about from each side. He was confused now, wondering what he should do to keep her there. He could tell the two had a lot in common.
Post by Victoria Belmis on Aug 21, 2012 7:06:46 GMT -5
As the elemental introduced himself Victoria took conscience of her rushed departure. She had seen the worry in Aiden's face and thought he would want to be left alone as soon as possible, so she made this conversation quickly over. But as she saw the smile across his face Victoria realized she was not holding him back against his will, making her feel better.
The male apologized for lack of manners, making Victoria widen her eyes. The elemental was being truly polite and delicate, something the demoness wasn't used to, sure, Victoria had met men that had shown to be gentlemen but it was usually on false pretensions. He then proceed to ask her name in the same courteous way. “I'm Victoria, pleasure to meet you” She smiled, but didn't pronounce her last name, her parents taught her to hide it in the time that they were fugitives, and that was something that stuck with her until that very day. She still had to be careful, she never knew when a member of the cult that assassinated her parents could be around, and try to impose her the same fate. She shrugged , keeping away this thoughts.
Post by Aiden Hughes on Aug 22, 2012 4:23:01 GMT -5
The young man thought over her name. She didn’t reveal her last name but she seemed fairly trustworthy. Aiden wasn’t one to pry into others business either. He respected her privacy and nodded. Over the short time he met this woman, it seemed to fit her. She was firm with her questioning earlier, yet modest like a lady. “Victoria. Hmm, that’s a beautiful and strong name,” he admitted and soon afterward laughed. “You’re lucky to have such a name. Mine is rather ironic.” Aiden kept his mouth closed long enough to notice that Ba’alzamon was feet away. When did the minotaur sneak out from the conversation without him noticing instantly? The beast certainly isn’t one to take dainty steps.
Abruptly, a man’s voice rang across the street overlooking the city park. Aiden turned to his side to see a great number of folks were still viewing the final performers in the festival. He glanced at the night sky. The moon hovered over the city as if it was a chandelier. “It must be getting near the end,” he figured. The man spoke of a magnificent finale that will be showing above the park. He announced fireworks will be the spectacle tonight. The fire-eater beamed of happiness. He enjoyed watching the lights shower and glow in the darkness. The fire reanimates the delightful colors in the gloomy sky and brings joy to people. He turned to face Victoria and asked, “shall we go obverse this for ourselves? Sounds like fun.” He outstretched his hand towards the young woman. He quickly peeked back at the minotaur to picture what his idea of fun could mean. Aiden shrugged not knowing what the beings normally do in their spare time and shouted to Ba’alzamon. “Want to join? You could use a break from working all night!”
Post by Victoria Belmis on Aug 22, 2012 6:43:36 GMT -5
She heard as the male complimented her name and then proceed to refer to his as ironic. Victoria didn't understand what he meant by that, but when she was about to question him a male voice echoed through street announcing the finale of the festival. Victoria wondered what kind of show the humans were waiting to pull off that was so great. “ What is it exactly? The finale?” She asked Aiden, he should know since worked among the festival.
Her eyes draw once again to minotaur behind her who seemed to be caught in his thoughts looking around to the people, she turned her head again at the voice of the elemental, suggesting that they should go and see the final. To her surprise she turned to see Aiden's hand stretched to her. The female smiled slightly again to the boy's manners, and took it “ Yeah, absolutely ”. As the elemental spoke to the minotaur, inviting him to join as well and speaking of him working all night Victoria deduced he worked in the festival also. Another question raised in her mind, if so, what was a minotaur doing in a human festival? She kept it in silence, for later questioning.
Post by Aiden Hughes on Aug 29, 2012 14:00:40 GMT -5
Aiden smiled widely at her acceptance to join him to watch the fireworks. He was used to traveling alone and keeping distance between humans. His mother made it very clear to becareful around humans as they don’t always accept or understand the supernatural. But Victoria is different. She does understand and was quite curious in fact with him. The fire-eater was finally able to let loose and be honest with another soul; it felt wondrous. “She’s unique,” he thought. “She can understand what I go through everyday.” He was enthused with her and wished to ask her questions about her. Although, he didn’t want to pry so he kept quiet. He only just met her. It’s best to keep things slow. Before he took her hand, he tried to shut off his racing mind to answer her. He wanted to be careful; he strangely had the ability to read bits and pieces of someone’s mind. The person had to be near him of course, and have their guard down. He realized his mind reading years ago when he was a young teen and it seemed to be more efficient when he touched the other person. He always disliked it. It never seemed to help, only to meddle into their business. It made him feel guilty. Once he calmed his thoughts, he gently held her hand and led them towards the park.
They walked through the heavy numbered crowd as he guided her to a patch of unoccupied grass. He let go of her hand as sat down and then he spoke, “Tonight’s finale will have fireworks. I guess they’re not for everyone here but I rather enjoy them.” He smiled and then leaned into her ear and whispered, “I saw the fireworks in one of the tents before my show. They’re huge so they should be great.” He leaned back and sat upright, beaming like he told a juicy secret. He glanced around the park eager for the fireworks to get started. As he went to take care of an itch the top of his head, he realized he still had his performance clothes on, even the black and white make-up on his face. He frowned and figured he should have probably taken them off a while ago. A quick thought ran through his mind about the beautiful woman sitting next to him. What was her opinion of these clothes? No what about the make-up. He shrugged and let it pass. He’ll be able to change after the finale since these clothes already smell of smoke.
