Nen and Katz: (title under maintenance)

Subject: Re: Nen and Katz: (title under maintenance) Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:38 pm

Apollo ticked a brow. "I'll have you know that I am not an easy man to fool, and magic tricks are all about sleight of hand, distraction and the ability to make your audience believe." He'd been more whimsical in his youth, but all that whimsy had been drained and replaced with bile. He'd given the man the chance to practice his trade, but that didn't mean he'd make the show easy for the fellow. He was going to be, as usual, himself. That is to say, he was going to be bitter, blunt and irritatingly uninterested in foolery.

Breakfast was brought out, and it was a fine spread. There were dates, eggs, bacon, biscuits, fruit, tarts, ham and fresh loaves of bread. Apollo, of course, could not eat it all, and one by one the servants took their seats around him.

Apollo said nothing about that. He'd demanded that if they were all going to hover, then they should all eat, a long long time ago, when he was still filled with fury and fire.

"Take as you please, Rhys. Breakfast lasts as long as there is someone eating."

He let a servant fill up his plate, but batted away their hand and shot them a dirty look before he started to feed himself. He wasn't too slow about it, but in time, he wouldn't be able to do even that.

Subject: Re: Nen and Katz: (title under maintenance) Sat Jul 06, 2013 7:57 pm

“Tha’s about it on the surface, yeah, but I pride myself in gettin’ people to question how I did somethin’.” Rhys explained. Audience participation was a huge part actually, and he knew he wouldn’t be getting the wide-eyed wonder he hoped for from Apollo, but he was convinced that he could get something together.

He picked few things to fill his plate, settling on a small piece of bread, a slice of bacon and an egg. He wasn't a big eater, and that was already more than he usually chose for a meal, but hot food was tiresome on the roads with the circus, and he had missed bacon. It was too expensive for the Circus’ budget, so the closest they got was salt pork.

Although he washed his first mouthful down with whiskey, he curbed his drinking for the rest of the meal, only taking the first mouthful to stop his old wound hurting. He was convinced that the injury only woke up at breakfast time, but it liked to kick him in the gut when it did. He liked to pretend, even to himself, that he didn’t care what people thought about him, but it wasn't true, which was why he was making the effort at all.

In his head, he was running through the act. He didn’t know how to balance the serious, quiet jokes with the all-out showmanship. He wanted to be entertaining; not boring, but not a fool either. It was a difficult balance to keep.

Subject: Re: Nen and Katz: (title under maintenance) Sat Jul 06, 2013 9:06 pm

Apollo went through his meal quietly, suffering a cramp only when he wanted to lift his cup. He grit his teeth hard and curled his left hand into a fist. A few of his servants looked up from their breakfast and watched him intently. The first one to reach over was snarled at and they drew back. It passed and the man lifted his cup, taking a deep draught of its contents. Everything he drank was laced with poppy, to keep him from feeling the pain of stiff joints, aching muscles and weary bones. When he was finished, he pulled his hand away from the cup and held it out for a servant to massage back into working order. He had a long suffering look on his face and leaned back in his chair.

"How is your breakfast, Rhys? Surely better than anything a band of rogues and misfits can come up with on the road. I imagine you eat a lot of cold food and salted everything."

Subject: Re: Nen and Katz: (title under maintenance) Sat Jul 06, 2013 9:26 pm

“Tha’s true, we don’t get food like this. But it’s not so bad – each new city means a hot meal.” He continued eating, chewing slowly since the left side of his mouth was useless. The huge wound had cut right through his cheek, and the stitches still sometimes caught on especially chewy food. That was why he didn’t annunciate correctly any longer too – the muscles had been cut in two, and there was nothing he could do about it without contorting his face stupidly to one side. “This really is very good though, thanks” he finished, devouring the last mouthful of bacon and moving onto his egg.

Rhys quickly realised that the task of eating must be unbearable difficult for Apollo. He could understand the grumpiness now and felt a little cheap for acting like he had it hard sometimes. They had very different issues, but Apollo could do much less about it by the looks of it.

“I know you don’t think too highly of the circus, but we do have the occasional use. I hope you have better luck with the next person you meet with recruiting for the academy.” He was curious about the academy, but it wasn't for him. He was an old man now – almost forty – and he was a firm believer that old dogs didn’t learn new tricks. Variations of old tricks sure, but Rhys wasn't going back into education.

Subject: Re: Nen and Katz: (title under maintenance) Sat Jul 06, 2013 10:23 pm

Apollo snorted. "I have no use for anything not immediately useful. I am no packrat, I do not build a collection of things that will be useful. When I need something, I find it, and most likely it is from those that stockpile things that will never be useful to them. This is what I think of the circus." He let a servant feed him a piece of fruit, but only because he was on a tangent of being awful to another person that wasn't them. He cast a dirty look at the servant anyway, but swallowed, and smirked. "I mean, it is a collection of individuals with no practical use, however, they sell their services to people who just might find their ilk useful, but only for a short while. It is a company of packrats. Or rather, the company itself is a packrat of people with no practical use."

He picked up a slice of bacon and ate it, staring at Rhys. "However, as awful as that sounded, some people have a need for packrats and the things they pack away, so you do have use, just not for people like me. That being said, you were paid to do tricks, so after your bath, tricks it shall be."

Subject: Re: Nen and Katz: (title under maintenance) Sun Jul 07, 2013 10:09 am

Oh ouch. Useless people? Well, maybe they were. The Circus’ secondary business was maybe a little more useful, but he didn’t think here was the place to bring that up. Everyone knew that if they wanted something that couldn’t be bought at your regular store, you went to the circus. “Well I guess you’re right, we’re more a fam’ly than a business anyway. And we collect useless things too. Double packrat.” He finished his meal and pushed his plate away carefully. He didn’t feel as grumpy after the good night’s sleep – stone walls made him feel so much more comfortable than canvas tents.

“Tricks indeed.” Rhys agreed, scratching his short beard carefully just to one side of his scar. It had itched to high hell when it was healing, and in a way that had been worse than the injury itself. He had a razor in one of his pockets to tidy it up, and a bar of soap (because he felt uncomfortable having to share soap) which meant he was completely sorted for this bath he had been promised. He still wasn’t sure about that, but once again, it was an offer he wasn’t likely to turn down on principle.

Subject: Re: Nen and Katz: (title under maintenance) Wed Aug 27, 2014 9:04 am

Apollo tried to rise, so consumed with the talk that he'd forgotten, once more, that he had no strength to rise from a seated position. Hunched over the table, legs sprawled wide to compensate the weight of his wings, Apollo's shame was in the grit of his teeth. When he was helped upright, what good nature he'd been building had been dashed. He wore a scowl, and was no longer delighted with the chat they'd been having.

"You misheard me. I said all things have use, just not necessarily to the one who possesses these things or, in this case, these people."

He thought the circus was useless, and only good in big cities with low crime rates. If they turned up in a small village, the money it would take to set up would not be earned in shows. Besides, some villages did not take kindly to certain individuals or certain magics. It was dangerous to be outsiders in an insular culture.

"I will lead you to the baths."

Subject: Re: Nen and Katz: (title under maintenance) Tue Dec 09, 2014 8:35 pm

Rhys had to grit his teeth to stop himself arguing with Apollo. They were never going to see eye to eye on the matter of the Circus. They made a living, if only just, and every last member as savvy enough to deal with adversity in certain cities. The route was carefully planed, and they always made enough money to keep things ticking over. It wasn't luxury, but it was living. There was a time when Rhys would have said that was overrated, and possibly still would, but his opinions were much more optimistic when the Circus was involved.

"My thanks, your hospital'ty is greatly apprec'ted." Damn, the word 'appreciated' was harder than he remembered. At least Rhys was fortunate to only be losing muscle tone in isolated parts of his body, unlike his unfortunate host.

There was a kind of mutual tension between Apollo and Rhys; neither seemed in the best mood that morning, and Rhys at least had always been a grumpy and, at times, unpleasant man by nature, regardless of his company. Rhys kept quiet, hoping that the tension would be alleviated by the time he had washed and prepared. It felt ridiculous that he was to perform his stage act after having stayed and conversed with his intended audience, and for once he wasn't too eager for the act to start, but he was beginning to think that he was better off getting it out of the way sooner rather than later.

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