[Watch yourself] Rogue X Liz [Fire or Lightning?]

In the early morning dew, Silence had wandered into Tarz for the sheer curiosity of what the city was like. They'd been there a week and she still hadn't seen anything of the actual city besides the people to came to performances! "Rather quiet this morning it seems." The fact that she'd come out just after sunrise didn't hinder the experience in the least, but there was someone on the road ahead of her, and they were acting a bit strange. "Hey you over there! What's wrong?" she called as she started walking over. Her brightly colored clothes likely didn't help her look normal, and in this case it was probable that they'd also get her mocked.

She walked over and smiled, simply trying to be friendly, and gave a half-concerned glance to the girl in question. "You don't look so good, is there any way I can help you?" Up close she now realized that this wasn't the smartest of ideas, but she was here and she'd offered her help, she couldn't recant it now. At least the girl didn't seem so inclined to be violent, but. . .then again she'd been wrong before. "What's your name, lovely?"

"Are you sure. . .?" she asked a bit more quietly. "Your body language isn't selling the story if you don't mind me saying so." Truth be told it looked like the girl minded her even standing there, much less anything she said. She tried to act a little less. . .like herself for lack of better phrasing. . .and smiled. "I'm Silence I work with the circus outside of town. You never told me your name, what was it?" She at least wanted a name from her so she could relax a bit more. This girl was a barrel of nerves and a strange kettle of fish if she ever saw one.

"As I said before you don't look like you're fine, nor do you look like you don't need help of some kind. Be honest now, come on." Silence did NOT like liars. Period. In this situation though she would make an exception for one reason alone: the girl in question was terrified beyond reason. "I don't bite I promise. Heck I can hardly punch my way out of a wet paper sack, I'm nothing to fear." she assured her. Mentioning that she was a fire-breather would come later if this girl ever calmed down. "Why don't you come out for a visit and see the show?"

"We're set up outside the easternmost entrance to the city, and we're a growing project so to speak. Our circus is a bunch of misfits and outcasts and people who generally aren't accepted by the rest of society. Some of us were disowned by family, a few of us have lost loved ones, and some have never had family prior to joining. As a group we're our own kind of family, and we all have talents that we showcase for the sake of making others happy. We never stay in one city for too long, but we make the most of the time we spend staying around one or two cities." Darn it this girl didn't tell her her name yet again! "Do you not have a name that I can call you or something? You still haven't told me y'know." she chimed after all her talk about her home.

Looking at her Silence could tell that this girl didn't like being around her, but she didn't really understand why. "I know based on the simple questions I've already asked that hearing anything personal out of you is unlikely, but are you just an antisocial person naturally?" She knew a handful of people like that already, and it was just a matter of getting them to see that it was usually worth the effort.

She couldn't resist a laugh at this girl, she was just too much! "Judging by your reaction to me and then to yourself I'd say your little un-truth tells the story clear as day!" A short while back Silence recalled having the same kind of reaction to a comment in Kaionar and seeing someone else do the same, much less this woman who had at least a few years on her, was almost a delight. "How can a woman your age still act so much like a shy child?" She was estimating the girl's age to be brutally honest, but the wear on her face meant she was either older than her by a considerable amount or she'd been through hellish amounts of stress.

It was after a short pause that she wondered why she was bothering with this girl at all. Antisocial people were just that, and there was really not a whole lot that could be done without the willingness of the person in question. This particular person didn't seem to want anything to do with her, and she still didn't have any idea why. "Now seriously why are you so antisocial?" she asked setting her hands on her hips. 'Not much to be accomplished beating around the bush, better to just come out and ask with this one.' she thought to herself. 'Even then I don't think I'll get an answer unless I really bug her.'

Silence could only smirk. "You must be very lonely, what with being on your own and all." It was a half-truth, or so she thought, and was only meant to prod at her to keep talking. Not that you'd know it was working, as the girl seemed to just keep walking. "Your actions don't exactly make you believable either. The way you keep avoiding everyone makes you look childish and immature." When the girl KEPT walking she finally moved forward and grabbed her arm. "You know for a girl who's supposedly older than me you act like a stubborn brat! Having friends would do you a world of good, because otherwise I don't see many people ever being nice to you."

She fully expected a rather attention-grabbing response at that jab, and was fairly sure that if this girl had a blade she could run Silence through in an instant. "Ah but you won't listen to me, nor do I think you'll listen to anyone else. Have fun hiding from the world for the rest of your life." She gave a sigh and slowly started back off to the eastern gate, waiting for the girl to make her move so she could retaliate and maybe talk a little sense into her. 'Come on don't just keep walking!' she pleaded mentally. She paused for a few moments and pretended to look around to make sure she knew where she was going.

"The way you keep acting you'll be on your own till the day you die!" she snapped. It was moments after she'd spoken that she realized what Kassandra had done: arced electricity through her fingers and into the ground. She paused for a moment and somewhat relaxed. "So that's what you were hiding!" she remarked smartly. "Honey I've seen much worse than that, there's no reason to hide it." Finally there was reason to relax completely, and slowly a smile made its way to her face. "I do something quite similar to you y'know. Except in my case it's fire not lightning." How she did it was also probably rather unique, but that was another story for another day.

"I suppose your version is much more dangerous, but that's not really the point. Don't fear your talents, Kassandra." She handed her a small red piece of paper, or rather it was a ticket to the circus. "Feel free to come see us, we're not quite what you think of when you think of the circus." She hoped that Kassie would eventually give in and come see the show in all its wonder. "You shouldn't feel self-conscious about what you can do, there "are" accepting people out there if you take the time to look and find them."

At the way this girl kept talking about her home, she felt her hands begin to heat up. "You can tell me, yourself, and the rest of the world that you like yourself the way you are, but honey the way you're doing the telling it's sounding like a bold-faced lie. No you might not think I'm like you, and to a point I'm not; I learned to LIKE what I can do despite how I came to learn it." It was taking quite a bit of willpower not to send a wave of fire into the ground to vent a bit of steam, but she made it work and did her best to calm down. "It's not coming to terms with the way you are that matters, it's learning to accept the power you're given. You probably wish you didn't have it, right?"

Despite being younger than the skittish woman, she saw the same behavior that she'd exhibited until she met Lusorio and joined the circus. "Guess now that I give it serious thought, we're opposites. I'm not constantly avoiding people because I can do something that they can't, I don't hide from the world because I'm scared they won't accept me. Hard truth is that no not everyone will accept you, but the people who do are the ones that matter. If you'd loosen up a little and perhaps try to be a bit more friendly things might be going better for ya." Kassie was probably going to hate her for saying all that, and she might be risking electrocution, but it was something she had a reason for saying. "Get angry if you want, heck you can even hit me, but most of what I said is from experience, and it might help to think it over."

"No, but you are missing the point. Perhaps you're simply looking in the wrong direction for the answers you seem to want. Maybe, just maybe, it's everyone else who should change rather than you." This was odd, she was avoiding confrontation. Better than the opposite at least! "Kassie, running from everything and hiding how you feel isn't going to help, and I'd like to be able to call you my friend." Best to just be completely honest now rather than later, if there was a later to speak of with this one. "Even if you don't decide to become a member of the family, it'd be nice to have another girl to talk to, since the only other girl I know is flighty and doesn't especially like me."

The girl in question was an avian with her wings clipped and, in Silence's personal opinion, seemed perpetually depressed about pretty much everything. "Besides you look like you could use a day of relaxing, and generally someone to take your mind off the rest of the world." Maybe she'd quit being so jumpy if she could spend time with someone who didn't care what she could do. She moved back toward the flow of foot traffic and shrugged. "If you change your mind you know where to look for me." she replied moving to leave. She wouldn't leave all at once, she'd give the girl time to think. Instead of walking away, she stopped at the merchant's stall next to where they'd been standing and glanced around.

The man in the booth gave a wicked grin and gestured to his right. "She'll be over there more than likely. If not you'll have to wander to look for her, she's not always so easy to find." He let her on through and simply shook his head, what had Silence done now? It wasn't his place to ask, so he went back to greeting the new visitors. It wasn't too long until Silence seemed to amble over on her own and greet Kassie. "Well now, Kassandra, this really is a surprise! I thought after the spat a couple of days ago that you'd avoid us like the Plague. Dare I ask your reason for visiting?" She hoped that perhaps the woman had rethought her answer about joining, but the way she was now, that didn't appear to be the case.

From memory, Silence immediately pushed away any ideas of a changed answer. "Guess you just got washed in with the tide, hm?" she inquired seeming un-enthused all of a sudden. She pulled her wild mane of pitch away from her face and tied it back against her neck. "While you're here would you like a tour, at least?" No sense being inhospitable and acting like her guest, despite her guest making if awfully easy to get sour.

"Sure thing, you can stay in my tent!" she replied. Thankfully that was halfway across the field where they'd set up so the tour idea was still likely. "Shocked you even came this way since I told you which gate we were at. Ah, but good fortune is good fortune! Maybe you'll even stick around and have a bite to eat, yeah?" she asked as she "pulled" a sweet from behind a kid's ear and watched them run off laughing to show their parents. "You said you were leaving the city right? Which way are you heading?" If she was heading the same way, it'd make more sense for the woman to travel with them rather than risk traveling by herself. Personally that was what Silence was hoping, that Kassie would choose to travel with them and have some decent company.

Having reached her home, she was greeted by incessant meowing coming from her bed: Felix. "Felix say hello to Kassandra, she's our guest so be nice." It truly did sound strange to speak to her cat, but having spent enough time with Rimegon to pick up a note or two she realized that the cat understood more than he could speak. Let's hope Kassie wasn't scared of or allergic to cats, or this wouldn't end well for anyone. Silence couldn't resist rolling her eyes when the cat put on his best face and purred at the visitor. "He's such a ladies' man." she remarked dryly. "He'll snuggle with you all afternoon if you let him, and he'll cover your clothes in white fur. Care for a drink?"

"Water, milk, tea, coffee?" she questioned with a shrug. "If you want anything just ask." Perhaps her expectations of her guest were a bit high, seeing as Kassandra was hesitant to even stick around at all. At the mention of the city she looked a little off-put. "We don't get to Racksom for quite some time I'm sorry to say. But. . ." Here she paused to find a map with red lines on it. "This is our general route with occasional stops, y'know supplies and all that, and the time we spend in each city. From here if you stuck with us the whole way you'd be with us nearly half a year. If you're dead set on Racksom, I'd recommend staying with us 'til we get to Harglen, then taking the Everbridge route past Jiluria and north to Racksom."

Whether her advice had fallen on deaf ears was a bit of a conundrum as the hostess wasn't quite sure how to read her guest's body language. "Take a seat if you like, this is the busiest part of the day so I doubt you'll be able to leave for an hour or two." Meanwhile her cat decided that sparks aside, this new visitor was worth paying attention to and rubbed against her leg with a soft 'meow'. "Heard there's been quite a territory scuffle out near Racksom, what's got you set on going in that direction?"

Usually she asked a price for information like that, but this was a guest, not a client. So with a solemn nod she gave her answer. "We haven't been to Racksom in over a year, we only just restarted our route, but there was talk in the capital of strange invaders in that area. Surahnians was what everyone said. A refugee from Racksom said it was more like a siege in that particular city, but trauma and stress warp the memory quite a bit." It seemed as though she struck a nerve mentioning it and held out her tea. "I didn't mean to cause you discomfort, it was just a word of caution. Like I said before we haven't been there in nearly two years. Is there someone you're looking for out that way?"

Most of the people of those areas had fled to places like Harglen and Didienne and Tarz, perhaps instead of going all that way she might inquire about her loved one/friend/whoever it was, she hadn't a clue. "If you're looking for someone who lives or lived out there, I'd suggest checking around the next city or two we visit to see if maybe they left the area. Should the rumors be true, I doubt anyone stayed in the area so long as the fighting ensued. Surely anyone who has the pleasure of your company is smart enough not to stick around for a scrap." Kassie didn't seem like she really wanted to stay, but she'd agreed to nonetheless. Therefore guest accommodations would need to be set up posthaste! "I know you don't like me all that well but I keep a spare mattress you're welcome to use. Until you decide to part ways with us my home is yours." The statement was accompanied by a small but genuine smile, Kassie definitely didn't look too pleased to be there at all.