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Post by Jubilee on Nov 24, 2010 9:05:11 GMT -4
Jubilee had scouted the fairground extensively. And yes, it was a nice fair but it lacked a little pop. A little pizazz. Maybe if she was less upfront about how awesome she was, she would have contacted the fair owners before opening up her own show in the middle of their stuff. Too late now to think about that, since her line was up and she'd just kicked Aunt Hope had probably said something about being circumspect before she'd left the house to start her independent career. She said a lot of things so it wasn't really Jubilee's fault if she'd forgotten one. Besides now was Jubilee's time to shine. Her day to step forward in one exquisitely heeled, canary yellow pump and put her stiletto point right on the throbbing artery of the audience. She needed some way to travel around that didn't excite too much attention of the taking-note and legal kind, and they obviously needed her for some shine in their grimy little funfair. Shine she could add, in spades, Jubilee thought to herself as she tied the ribbons of the mask closed behind her head and fixed it in place with some heavy duty bobbypins. Humming a little under her breath, she nudged her boombox a little closer to the pole with her foot, undoing the belt of her trenchcoat. Yellow cloth fell to her feet as she kicked off her sandals and pressed the play button on the boombox with her toe. Since Jubilee sometimes did think ahead, there was about 30 seconds of nothing before the song started. Walking out to the centre of the wire she'd fixed a few metres parallel to the ground, Jubilee bounced a little before sending fireworks up into the sky. Yellow, to match the leotard she was wearing. Lots of shinies on it, and shinies down her tights as well. Nothing on her hands though, better grip. Same reason she was wearing no shoes. The bright and cheery swing music poured out of her brave little boombox and Jubilee started to move. Acting like she was on the ground, on a wide and open ledge. Not on a piece of highwire. Backflips, handstands, walkovers, cartwheels, all kinds of gymnast tricks on a piece of thin wire. And all the time the fireworks floated and burst around her in a multitude of neon, sending spangles of light dancing to the ground off her sequins. Hopefully, people'd like her enough that they wouldn't kick her out until after the song was done. (Mask - www.venetianmasks.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=Prince-Gold-Black)
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Post by Logan on Nov 24, 2010 14:38:09 GMT -4
Carnivals.
Filled with sights and smells that Logan could honestly have done without. But it apparently was something Xavier and Lensherr thought the kids could use, so here they were. Course, Logan didn’t recall seeing either of them here. So here he was instead. On babysitter duty.
Figures.
There were three cigars lined in his pocket, and he was hoping that was enough to get him through the night. He fished one out and stuck it in his mouth for the preliminaries while he walked through the carnival.
Something wasn’t right about all this. Probably just the fact that people actually felt the need to pay someone for all this nonsense. That was at least part of it anyway.
A clown stepped in front of him, wearing a big grin and a large bulbous red nose. Chomping down on his cigar, Logan stared up at him sullenly while he pantomimed. The clown pointed at Logan and then put his hands up to his own face while miming sleep. Laughing a silent clown laugh, he finally shuffled away, leaving Logan to just shake his head and roll his eyes upward.
That’s when he saw the lights. Red and green, blue, yellow and orange, all exploding skyward from around the corner. Striking a wooden match, Logan lit the cigar, took one last look back to see the clown had already disappeared into the crowd and headed around the corner to see what was going on.
It was just one girl, balancing on a wire and jumping around on it with an almost bored expression on her face. She was good.
And he’d seen this act before.
Hadn’t he?
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Post by Jubilee on Nov 24, 2010 23:39:13 GMT -4
The wire bent and shimmied under her feet as Jubilee finished her cartwheel. She smiled and waved to the few people who had stopped to watch her. The song was winding up and that routine was finished, and none of the carnies had noticed or didn't show that they minded. She twirled her finger in the air, whipping her pafs into a whirlwind around herself. Not that she needed the gesture, they did what she wanted anyway but sometimes people were a little slow on the uptake unless things were obvious. Walking back to the pole she lifted down what looked like two long square sticks hanging off a broken nail. A flick, two flicks and the black and gold silk fans opened out into half-circles. Doing tricks with the fans was even easier than normal because they helped her balance but they made for a much more impressive looking show. What sounded like traditional Chinese music came from the boombox and she fluttered her fans, one sweeping high, the other low before the music got a lot more bass and a definite rock sound. A woman's voice started to croon in Mandarin Chinese and Jubilee started to dance on the highwire with the fans flicking around her body and yellow and red paf globules dancing around her to the beat of the music. Bouncing and pogoing on the almost invisible wire as the fans and globes of light drifted in circles around her slender, muscled body, Jubilee noticed one guy in particular staring at her. Short, hairy, cigar. He looked tough and mean, and she wondered why he was watching. This didn't seem like it would appeal - oh, wait. This was kind of a skintight outfit and really, her body was pretty red-hot and smoking. Gyeh. Oh well. This, she had to expect and she had better get used to it. Glancing over her shoulder at him, blue eyes focusing, she fluttered her fan directly at him in a sort of howdy-do. Would he acknowledge it or not? ((Song - www.youtube.com/watch?v=srGToRDxhgI)
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Post by Logan on Nov 29, 2010 12:13:52 GMT -4
The show was really hard to miss and as a result the performer was drawing quite a crowd.
As explosions filled the night sky with color, Logan was transported to another time by the music. Lost in thought that had no mooring, he stood off to the side by himself, staring up at the performer intently. Though he was an admirer of the female form by and large, he really didn’t give it much thought in that regard. There was something about the music that tried to pull him down the dark alleys of his memory. It wasn’t quite right, but he felt a strange affinity to the music nonetheless.
He came to and realized she was giving him a flirtatious little wave with her fan. Looking around him to make sure of what he already knew, he realized it had to be for him. Something about the presence of Logan pretty much kept everyone else at bay.
Or maybe it was the cigar smoke. Either way, he liked it just fine.
In response he just raised his eyebrows at her, blowing a thin stream of smoke out of the corner of his mouth. There was something definitely off about the whole fireworks display thing. Such as…nobody was lighting them and they appeared to just be popping out of nowhere.
It didn’t really surprise him that he was the only one to notice this.
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Post by Jubilee on Nov 30, 2010 7:21:02 GMT -4
Jubilee smirked behind her fan as the rough and gruffster raised an eyebrow at her in response to the fluffy little wave. Cute. In the way a junkyard dog was cute when it wagged its tail. And yet, still better viewed through a chainlink fence than face-to-face. If he decided to get fresh later, she didn't doubt but she could send him off yelping just the same as that mean old dog.
Fluttering the fans, Jubilee danced along the wire and played around with some jultagi tricks. Walking, figure-eighting the fans as she turned on the wire, walking backwards along the thin wire high above the ground. Just a little back and forth that probably didn't even look as hard as it really was. What was the next song she'd queued up again?
Swinging the fans, she grinned as 'Beat it' came on. Oh yeah, that was right, a little classic Jackson.
Jubilee was willing to lay money on the fact that she was the only person in the world who could moonwalk on a tightrope.
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Post by Logan on Dec 2, 2010 11:59:17 GMT -4
By the time the Michael Jackson started up, Logan started to think he might need to move along. The ranks had swelled to a fairly large number by now. Kids stared mesmerized up at the sky at the pretty fireworks and people of all ages watched as the performer continued to pull off amazing acrobatic feats high above the ground.
Something was definitely off, and it looked like Logan wasn’t the only one to notice it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the clown he had encountered a few minutes ago. He was watching Jubilee and looking fairly unhappy as far as clowns go. He looked over and saw Logan and the two of them locked eyes. But a loud explosion turned Logan’s attention back to the sky as the song ended in a blast of color and smoke and when he turned back the clown was gone.
The crowd was going crazy, cheering and shouting and applauding as the song faded into silence. Logan looked back over his shoulder with the cigar clamped firmly in his teeth. Then he melted into the shadows and picked his way over to where the little performer’s music was set up.
He didn’t make it a point to keep hidden, but he didn’t exactly step out into view. Stoking the cigar to life, he leaned against a tree and waited until she made her way close enough to be within earshot.
“Funny,” he commented as if to himself. “Never saw fireworks without a fuse.”
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Post by Jubilee on Dec 3, 2010 4:09:12 GMT -4
Jubilee had noticed the clown looking at her and wondered about packing it in. She'd hate to lose the line if they kicked her out. Also, her coat and shoes. The boombox was easily replaceable. Waving and blowing kisses, she ran lightly across the tightrope to the pole and stepped off, wrapping a leg around the pole and detaching the line. It zipped into its container and she shinnied down to the ground.
Picking up her coat and slipping her feet into her sandals, she gave Junkyard Guy an amused glance from underneath her eyelashes. Maybe he was smarter than he looked.
"Special trick, those fireworks," she said, half wondering if she needed to be more ready for trouble from the audience than the carnival owners.
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Post by Fred Dukes on Dec 3, 2010 15:03:40 GMT -4
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Post by Logan on Dec 3, 2010 15:20:07 GMT -4
“Special trick.” Logan snorted. “Well, you oughta watch those special tricks a little bit,” he offered by way of a suggestion. “No tellin’ what kinda clowns you got watchin’ yer show. They might be lible ta-“
He never finished that thought. The sound of something crashing through the branches overhead turned Logan’s attention skyward just in time to see a large hook attached to a rusty chain come falling out of the night air and hit square on the forehead. The impact knocked him clean off his feet, sending him rolling backwards and causing him to bite his cigar in half. He rolled backwards and came up in a crouch, whipping his arms out to the side and popping out two sets of razor sharp claws.
The look on his face was pure feral rage.
He sniffed the air and looked down at the chain on the ground by the little Chinese girl before he slowly stood up. The claws eased back into his flesh which knitted up as quickly as the gash on his forehead did. Logan spit out a large chunk of cigar.
“Dammit, that one was only half smoked,” he growled. Then he looked closer at her. "You okay?"
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Post by Jubilee on Dec 4, 2010 8:36:56 GMT -4
"I can take care of myself!" Jubilee interupted indignantly, pride boiling over into sharp words. She didn't need some guy being all paternal and patronizing at her, some guy she'd never even seen before now. Just how did he think she'd handled tough stuff in the past without him to offer his sage words of advice? Seriously, he could shove that bit of condescending advice right up his -
Incoming!
Jubilee dropped flat as her ears caught the sound of something ripping through the tree and caught the edge of the UFO with the corner of her eyes. Annoying guy didn't do so well - he caught it right in the face. Rolling over and sitting up, she started to smirk at him before her eyebrows went way up.
Generally speaking, people didn't have knives protruding from inside their skin.
"You said something about watching it about special tricks?" she said, patting herself down. Shit, one of the fans had definitely bought it when she hit dirt. Snapped, right in half. But the more important thing was that she had bubblegum to hand. Unwrapping two pieces, Jubilee tossed her head back, mouth open and threw them up in the air to catch them neatly in her mouth.
"Well, I'm dandy. Looks like it can get exciting around here, huh?"
She grinned at him, and blew a bright pink bubble in an insolent manner. Something about him totoally reminded her of a gym teacher she'd had when Aunt Hope was still insisting on her taking part in the public school system. It really got right up her nose, and she'd pay him back for that by getting right up his.
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Post by Panthera on Dec 7, 2010 8:25:47 GMT -4
Samantha had never been to a carnival. In fact, she hardly even knew they existed accept for what she saw on the television. When she was invited to attend the festivities, the feline shape shifter figured it might be a good way to get out of the mansion and explore something new. According to one show (Supernatural), her absolute favorite, there were these things there called clowns. They lure small children to bring them back home with them and whwhile the parents are asleep. Then once inside the house, the clown slaughters them all! WOW! But it has to also be the makeup, the wild hair, and those faces; cReeeeepy, but still somehow intoxicating to watch them. Her senses were going to b on ultra high for those creatures.
What else was there to remember? Games, rides, cotton candy, prizes, and strolls with those that wanted more than friendships. Let’s start with the games. Samantha loved board games, especially one called Monopol..something. She knew someone that taught her once, but memories were still hard to come by. The only person who was triggering any memories was gone, off doing something. They would have another talk and possibly rekindle more memories.
Rides. Sam watched a movie once with that someone (again, couldn’t remember who) where the people were on a ride that went up and down attached to a long rail. They sat in little cars with bars barricading them down. Seemed real claustrophobic to Sam, but the fairgoers were having a good time until the track sparked and the car went flying off! No, there will be no rail riding for Samantha Carter. Not today.
Sapphire eyes just looked around at the different array of people. They were some that were just odd looking. It made being a mutant feel comfortable in an odd sort of way. But kids carrying cotton on a stick? What the hell? And eating it? Oooook.
She was in the gaming area of the carnival standing while watching a small girl throw a baseball at a target. Her long brown locks were bouncing around in a ponytail as the three, maybe four year old kept trying to hit the red and white round target. The dad was standing behind watching with pride and it made a memory flash of Sam’s childhood. The mutant found herself smiling and watching to see if the little one would hit the target and win the stuffed unicorn. When the game was over, the guy behind the counter just smirked, but the small child cried. Her daddy said no and began to walk away.
“Wait” Sam found herself saying. The girl turned and then looked at her daddy. He was very handsome and just stood there on guard just in case. Sam and Dean Winchester were always on guard, especially if they're might be a clown around. “I’d like to try for her” she continued looking at the dad and then handing the vendor another five dollars. “Please” The little girls eyes lit up and she starting clapping. “Please daddy, please?”
The striping young father gave Samantha a nod. The feline’s own heart raced a little. She wasn’t sure why she wanted to help the little girl, but it felt good. Grabbing a baseball, Sam twirled it in her fingers like she’d done this before. But memories were so far and few, she had no idea where, when, or with what had been once in her fingers like the current ball. She glanced to the little girl and back to the vendor. The voice from the vendor was scary, yet daunting. To him, it was another five bucks for beer money. “Alright, ready? Begin!”
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Post by Logan on Dec 7, 2010 11:35:53 GMT -4
If the little girl was surprised by the sight of Logan’s claws or by the fact that his wounds healed up in a matter of minutes she hid it well. Logan suspected that her flippant gum-chewing was at least in some small part a deliberate attempt to play it cool. He also suspected that she didn’t much care for him, and her bratty little antics were quickly wearing thin on him.
Whether she could take care of herself or not, Logan wasn’t sure. He supposed it depended on what it was she was defending against. He could tell by the way she carried herself in general that she was in pretty good shape. Probably knew her body and limitations pretty well. How that equated in a fight was a different matter. And why the hell was he bothering with the whole thing anyway?
Logan rubbed at his head, the pain lingering a little longer than the injury itself. He searched the ground for his cigar, spotting a smoldering mat of leaves off to the side and bending down to retrieve it.
“Looks like,” he agreed as he brushed the dirt off the cigar and inspected it. With a shrug he put it back in his mouth. “Nothin’ a little firecracker like you can’t handle though.” He puffed the cigar back to life. “Next time somethin’ comes flyin’ out of tha sky why don’cha shoot it with a bottle rocket for me.”
“I’d like to try for her.”
Logan turned his head slightly as his sensitive ears caught a familiar voice on the wind. He figured Sam was here. It wasn’t that he was avoiding her in particular. It was more a general avoiding everyone.
“Or maybe you could do that space…walk thing you were doin’? That’ll scare tha hell outta them.”
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Post by Jubilee on Dec 7, 2010 18:59:18 GMT -4
A large pink bubble emerged slowly from Jubilee's lips and then POPPED at the limits of its expansion so she drew itback into her mouth to chew on again. She kept watching the guy wth the claws though, something about him made her back itch and she wasn't about to give it tohim by turning around.
"Seemed like you handled it bouncing off your skull like that just fine," Jubilee observed. After all, he was up and walking around, didn't seem dizzy or nauseous at all. If it had hit her, she would have been in hospital. "Besides, firecrackers for a show is one thing, when they explode things out of the blue like that, even people like this are quick to pick that something's up."
A quick scornful glance to either side made her opinoin of the fairgoing crowd pretty clear. Brainless, mindless, stupid.
"You think you're something else, don't you?"
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Post by Logan on Dec 9, 2010 16:59:10 GMT -4
“You got no idea, Firecracker.” he drawled back.
He was definitely something else. Though he didn’t know exactly what category he fit into, he did know that he dreaded finding out the answers as much as he longed for them. If whatever was in his forgotten past was half as bad as what he actually did remember…well he really was something else. Not the kind of thing that made for polite conversation either.
For a few seconds he tried to blot out the smacking sounds of bubblegum chomping with the puffing of his cigar.
It was tough putting an age to her. Hell, everyone looked young to him. Top it off with the fact that she had that inherited ageless look and Logan had to admit that he had no idea. If he had to guess he would have said somewhere between 18-23. His leather jacket was older than that.
Glancing over his shoulder at the crowd, Logan caught the meaning of her jibe. It seemed pretty clear that she thought little of them.
“And here I thought you were doin’ all this out of love for your fans.” He shook his head, turning to spit a little bit of cigar out into the grass. “Kinda surprises me that you ain’t shootin’ bigger,” he commented with a shrug.
Carnivals were pretty small scope. About the only thing you had going for you was anonymity. Unless he was missing something, there weren’t many millionaire carnies.
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Post by Panthera on Dec 9, 2010 18:41:38 GMT -4
The small round cardboard painted with white and red circles began to slowly rock side to side. Sam could hear it creak as it moved. It was silent, but her feline attributes started kicking in. Damn hearing. Sometimes she wanted to shut if off like a switch. Sam was already a light sleeper because of recurring nightmares and having a heightened sense of audible noises didn’t help matters much.
But the distraction that kept the feline in focus was the little girl. Her small little pink dress with yellow ribbons gave Sam a warm feeling inside, almost as though she wanted her daddy too. But what did Sam know about her father? Images kept flashing through but never anything that made sense. Maybe thinking she came from a normal family would make the sense of loneliness seep away.
Hardly.
Taking a couple steps back, jeans rubbed softly against skin while the brown leather surrounding her arms and upper body kept the shape shifter warm. This autumn night didn’t seem very cool, but her warm blooded antics made it easier to handle colder weather. Yeah right, she hated the cold period.
Laughter came from the vending area. The man was mocking Sam. How dare he! Maybe a missed shot to his forehead may render him a little more appreciative of the customers he was STEALING from. The target continued to move from side to side. Its motions weren't timed in sync, but in a pattern nonetheless. Now a bit more focused, Sam looked at it, listened and forgot the world around her. The world slipped away except for the creaking of the metal the target was connected against.
Crowded conversations, smells, the ground’s grass and sandy texture, everything seemed to disappear except the ball and the target. Ok you moron, now it’s time to see how you like this. With a swift stroke, the ball flew from her hand and bound towards the target. It was directly where it should be. Sam could see how happy this little girl was going to be when this was over. For a split moment, her eyes met the father’s who seemed just as anxious. His eyes lit up as the ball came barreling through heading directly at the circle. Sam held her breath and waited for the moment.
And the ball made contact!
The vendor stood there chuckling. Sam looked at the target (still in place) and then back to the vendor. “Sorry, you lose” he announced. The target remained still. “The target stopped” she demanded. “How dare you!” Anger began to rise up in the feline. “A game is a game” he laughed counting his money. The rage inside wanted this red-headed freak to become a nighttime snack. The tiger within was pushing, shoving to come out. “It’s ok ma’am, really” said the father in disappointment. His little girl was in tears. Samantha walked up to the stranger and laid a hand on his arm gently trying to calm down. “No, it’s not. I will not allow for this man to steal especially from this precious gem you have in your hand.”
Turning to the vendor, she gave him a long stare purposely allowing the eyes to slit to feline state and then back again. “I believe you made a mistake and this young girl deserves the unicorn” she began making sure only the vendor and her could see the changes occurring within the irises of Carter. “Don’t you think so?” The man stood there as Sam leaned in and whispered, “give her the unicorn and I won’t make you my midnight snack.” A loud predominant purr arose from the throat making sure he heard it. As his eyes bugged out slightly, he reached up and grabbed the pink unicorn with the golden horn and handed it to the little girl. With great excitement, she hugged it tightly. Her small eyes met Sam.
“Thank you, oh thank you. It’s so fluffy!”
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