Cirque du Haven (UrbanDecay x Niseht)

[UrbanDecay]

Madrigal's eyes narrowed slightly at Natasha in a way that said "You should know better, but you're forgiven" as her charm tickled around the edges of his senses. Still, he was a showman. He heaved a theatrical sigh, "Oh aye, if you say so." Madrigal slid one of his hands free and slid it behind her head to pull her close so he could plant a quick, paternal kiss on her forehead. "Ye're like a daughter to me and gods know I can't refuse you anything woman."

Letting go of her he looked at Sam. "Now now, be nice to Milly Sammy boy, or I'll tell Gabriel you've changed your mind and are available," he quipped with an evil grin and wink. Turning to Alice he continued with a smile and playful grin, "And you! Showing off your wondrous artwork without me around! You know what that means!" Madrigal crouched and dashed over to the little girl, pinning her and tickling her sides until she was screeching with laughter.

'Poor girl', Michael thought as he was laughing at the display of family bantering. Michael moved closer to where Natasha was now, having stood when Madrigal entered out of respect. He looked down at her gorgeous brown eyes. "Sorry if I caused any kind of trouble that will happen outside of what I see here," he offered to her quietly so it wouldn't be heard over the laughter of the others.

[Niseht]

"It's fine." Nat quietly replied back, watching Madrigal and Alice with a smile on her face. "He's just protective of us is all, he's the reason why we can all be here."
She paused and laughed again as Sam joined in on the tickling fight, except while he was focused on Alice just as Madrigal was, he also attempted to get back at the ringleader with a few tickles to his side.
She quirked a smile at Michael. "That's what any good ringleader is, right? the heart and center of the circus?"
Milly cast a calm serene expression over the tickle fight, almost as if relaxed at the sight. It was amazing how much more heartwarming a scene could be when the most frozen person in it looked a little less like a clothing display dummy.
She leaned in slightly closer for an even more quiet whisper. "Though if he starts pestering you again, turn the conversation towards compliments to him or to him, the performer in him loves it."

[UrbanDecay]

Michael smiled warmly at the site of the three in the middle of the room. It was such a natural...cozy sight. He turned back to Natasha and nodded thankfully at her advice, "I will, and thank you."

Meanwhile, in the middle, Madrigal let up on the poor kid and swatted at Sam before ruffling the little girl's hair and standing, straightening out his close and running a hand through his own mussed hair, scowling slightly at the tangles that had appeared there in the midst of teasing Alice. Sighing slightly in a put out manner, Madrigal let his hands fall, abandoning his hair for the time being and turning back to Michael. "Well...now that that is taken care of for the evening, Natasha said you were discussing music?" Madrigal walked over and grabbed Michael's hands, much to the man's surprise. Slowly but deliberately, Madrigal ran his own hands over Michael's one at a time, feeling the callouses on the tips of his fingers and, frankly, admiring the man's hands in general. They were musicians hands. Long, deft fingers and what felt like a huge range of motion.

"Hmmmm," he hummed thoughtfully. "A guitarist if I know my musicians. Would I be correct?" Madrigal had to look up at the man at this close of a distance and he didn't have to do that to too many people. Michael nodded down at Madrigal who returned the nod. "Thought so. Your hands are beautifully suited to that instrument."

Madrigal thought to himself for a moment. 'The man is obviously attracted to Natasha. What man wouldn't? Even if it weren't for her lovely talents, she's a jaw dropper. A play thing might be just the thing for her too. To give him an audition or no?' The fact that he was a human wasn't a huge problem. They had others working for them but they were mostly familiars or dear friends to some of the members Madrigal himself had saved from dire fates. This would be the first time he hired a human based on their merit. It wasn't a decision to be made lightly. Madrigal looked up at Michael again. "How good are you dear boy? It's been some time since we've had a skilled guitarist in our midst."

Michael looked down at the ringleader, slightly stunned at the fact that he hadn't had to broach the subject himself. "I...well...I've been told I'm pretty good at it. I don't really get to play a lot of my own work to tell the truth. Working at a dive doesn't really bring in the kind of folk who'd appreciate intricate guitar work. They mostly concern themselves with whatever country song is popular."

Madrigal scowled and spat to the side. "You poor man. My heart cries it's sadness for your situation. That...noise...is better consigned to a dung heap." Thinking for a moment longer, he looked at Natasha and cocked an eyebrow. "You found him. I'll leave this call to you my dear. Do we give him a chance to play for us?"

[Niseht]

Natasha was surprised to say the least at Madrigals' change in attitude to Michael, and then quickly escalated to a poor deer caught in headlights at his question. She would be lying if she said that she always understand Madrigal, but she could barely even begin to try to comprehend what was going on here. Michael was a norm, not just as an outsider of the circus, but also in the way that he was completely out of their freakish paranormal lifestyles, being a human and all.
She quickly flashed a small smile at Madrigal, even though her thoughts were spinning. Perhaps he was just playing, this obviously wasn't a real audition, maybe he really did just want to hear Michael play and nothing else.

"You make it sound like I found a young puppy Madrigal. But yes, he seems to understand a lot about music from what we talked about, I would love to hear him play."
Alice was quietly catching her breath still by Milly's feet, but even she seemed to perk up at the idea and she nodded her head in agreement, blond hair bouncing around her face.
At this motion, even Milly tilted her head slightly in order to get a slighter clearer view of what was about to happen, expression still passive but eyes slightly more focused.

[UrbanDecay]

Madrigal had to suppress a smile at Natasha's reaction to the situation. He'd be lying if he said he didn't like to keep his employees on their toes. They were all family to him, they were a circus after all, and he liked to have a little fun at their expense as much as they liked to do it to him and everyone else. In all reality, Madrigal hadn't been too worried about this Michael fellow. Milly hadn't been throwing a fit which meant that there was very little to no danger at all to their little Alice. If there had been, he'd have walked in on bloody chunks rather than the scene he did. Though he was mildly surprised at himself for warming up so quick to this relative stranger. Maybe it was his aura, or his attitude or just the way he was with Alice but something felt right about the man. It's true his earlier thought was true as well, Natasha could use a plaything even if said plaything was human. And if the boy could play, well so much the better for all involved.

Madrigal eyed the incredibly large man at Natasha's words. "Yeeesss, I suppose he does resemble a large puppy doesn't he?" Mischievous twinkle in his eyes, Madrigal reached up and messed up Michael's long hair. "Good boy, Michael. Good boy."

Michael gaped at the man, stunned into inaction. He was unable to form a single coherent thought. The man just pet him. Madrigal roared with laughter. He just couldn't help himself. He was a demon after all and humans were such fun and amusing animals and the look the poor boy gave him was just too good. Madrigal doubled over, hands on his knees laughing until his stomach hurt and he could barely breathe.

[Niseht]

Natasha went up and started gently smacking Madrigal's around.
"Madrigal, behave, you're supposed to look like the responsible one here!"
Alice smiled at the sight of Madrigal getting what he deserved. To escape from any further torture though she escaped to Milly's lap, where Milly calmly wrapped her arms around Alice's waist for support. She rested her chin on top of Alice's head.

"Oi now, stop your goofing and hollering and let the poor man show a show for us now" Sam said kindly from his new place by the couch where Alice could reach over and play with his hair if she wanted.

((OOC- ohmurgurd, not happy with this post at all. *flails pathetically.*))

[UrbanDecay]

Madrigal swatted lightly at Natasha, still trying to catch his breath. "Oh aye, aye. Responsible and all that." Madrigal cleared his throat lightly as he straightened, gently and unconsciously smoothing out the wrinkles in the clothe was currently wearing. He turned slightly and made a shushing motion at Sam before turning back to and looking up at Michael. "Well, what'll it be son? Would you like to play something for us? Preferably something of your own creation if you don't mind."

Michael recovered slowly, rubbing at his neck. He hadn't exactly expected to be playing for an audience tonight and as such did not have ready access to his own personal baritone guitar. "I'd love to, but my instrument is at home. Unless you happen to have a spare guitar lying around that is. I play on a baritone but I expect the songs will work well enough on a normal guitar."

Madrigal turned and eyed the others in the room. "Anyone? I left the inventory of the instruments to all of you when our last guitarist left so I have absolutely no idea if we have an extra laying around anymore. And no responsibility quips from you little missy," he directed at Natasha with a wink.

[Niseht]

"Oi, wait, wait wait wait here a second..." Sam said, jumping up from his place again and walking out through the back area at a brisk pace. It only took him a few moments before he was returning, this time with Mike again carrying a large guitar in hand.
"Sorry for the pause there friends, but it popped into my head that one of Mikey's crew here got this thing as a bit of a present way back someday, silly mate never quite took to it though other then as a piece of easy-eye."
((*Easy-eye = decoration. can also be used to describe a beautiful person.))
Mike didn't appear to be the happiest giant in the room beside Sam, but he nonetheless stepped forward and presented the guitar to Michael with little outward fuss.
Sam rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"'Fraid I don't know the difference or sameness between a baritone guitar or a regular or whatever it was you said, all's I can gather is this is a guitar from the looks of it yes?"
Sam looked around at the people in the room eagerly to see if he had gotten the right item, but when his gaze fell on Natasha she quickly held up her hands .
"Violin." She said. "Don't ask me to know anything else, I'm content as is."
She looked over at Michael. "So can you play on that? It might need tuning, if so you can hand it over to Milly."

[UrbanDecay]

Michael raised an eyebrow in slight surprise as Mike handed him the guitar. It was indeed a baritone and a beautiful one at that, the body polished to a burgundy that positively shone and the neck so black it was almost obsidian. He cradled it gently, almost like one would handle a baby and drank in the sight of it. Michael's own guitar was starting to show it's age and the wear and tear it had been through over the years. Michael ran his hands over the instrument feeling every inch of it. The strings were new and there was an slight almond scent to the fret board and a slight lemon scent to the body telling him that whoever had changed the strings and oiled it knew what they were doing. "You're a beautiful thing aren't you?" he said quietly to the guitar, almost whispering. He shot a small smile at Natasha, "No offense, but I prefer to do my own tuning."

Folding his legs under him, Michael lowered himself carefully to the floor. He strummed a few notes and cringed slightly. Whoever took care of it didn't tune it and the discordance hurt his ears. Michael took a few moments to pluck the strings in tandem and adjust the tuning knobs accordingly. Satisfied he strummed a few short sections to get used to how the guitar played and felt in his hands before taking a deep breath, settling his hands in place and starting to play. Immediately he lost himself in the notes. He played at a medium pace, plucking and tapping with his right hand while tapping out harmonics and playing chords on the neck with his left, two different voices intertwined in slightly melancholic harmony. Eyes closed, he swayed with the music, completely lost in himself as the tempo quickened and the harmony resolved into a single melody, fingers almost seeming to play two separate things at once with one hand continuing to slap out ghost notes. It was a piece he had written on his own during a trying time and the anger and sadness he had felt then poured out from the guitar now, as it did every time he played this particular piece. It held a special place in his soul and always drew it's strength from there.

With a single note quavering on the air, the song ended and Michael came back to himself. He looked first at Madrigal who merely gazed back at him in a sort of mute awe, as if he couldn't quite believe he'd just heard what he'd heard. 'Good lord,' Madrigal thought to himself, not quite able to form words just yet, 'the boy plays like a damn fae. Better than most fae I've heard for that matter. And not a single trace of fae blood in him unless I've seriously let my senses slip.'

(( OOC: Stylistic reference in case you want it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQlyHbu0zz4 ))

[Niseht]

Sam was the first to break the silence, his eyes wide as he leaned forward so much it looked like he would nearly fall at any moment to hug gravity like an old friend. "That was brilliant that was!" He said enthusiastically, and Alice cheered as if she was in the middle of a large crowd and began clapping, to which Sam joined in as well. Nats wide eyes gave way to a small gentle smile as she too shook her head and began to clap as well. There was a deep clapping pulse sounding as well that came from Mike, steady and slow, not as enthusiastic as the other three especially by the bland facial expression he had, but an acknowledging one. The noise, especially Alice's and Sam's, might as well have been from a crowd at a concert rather than just a handful of people at a small showing like this.

"Richard ain't getting that beauty any time quick then, mate can't hold on to that guitar for showcase when it can do this!" Sam said, digging his elbow playfully into Mike's side. From context, it could only be assumed that Richard was the one from who the guitar had been taken from so suddenly. Mike allowed the elbowing without much protest, it didn't really seem to bother him at all really.

"That was beautiful." Natasha said simply, honestly, and Alice chimed in hurriedly "Beautiful-est!" her voice squeaked a bit which caused her to cringe for a moment, supposedly from the cramps in her side that had probably resulted from all the laughing earlier. She continued on regardless though, but in a much calmer voice. She said thoughtfully. "It's almost as good as one of my pictures, but with sound."