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[b][u]Phillis Circus: Big Top - Long Corridor[/b][/u]

Estelle had fallen down. Estelle had hit Max freakin' Powers of all people and then [i]fell. down.[/i] But... Max wasn't doing anything? Huh? And the girls didn't look like clowns anymore? Huh? And there were... two more of them hiding in the shelves? [i]Huh?[/i]

Oh man, maybe this was a rescue squad. Pretty neat! He had absolutely no clue whatsoever about what was going on or how Max couldn't see them, but leaving the hot redhead (and the other two whoevers) on the ground like that wouldn't do them any good. With Aria's help, Crispin pulled the three up without bumping into Max a second time and, once they snuck passed the human cannonball, Crispin yanked on Aria's and Estelle's wrists as he charged to the end. Trixie held onto Estelle's other hand, while Lucien the prankster's.

As they charged towards the exit Crispin had directed the two formerly clowned girls, they were met with an incoming blond girl. Luckily she was super spaced out for whatever reason as she walked towards them - or at least that's how Crispin knew she was like - so the firebreather slammed the curtain and took the guilders into the next room over.

It hit him then. Wait, didn't that robed guy wave at him earlier? Did he recognize him or something...?

Oh. [i]Oh![/i] That lovely black fringe, the runt's pigtails, a sharp grin - and sexy red hair that could only belong to a heart which burns with a passion as fiery as his...!

If Crispin stared any longer as wordlessly as he had been, he was sure to receive another slap to the face in an instant. And possibly fall that much more in love with her. The firebreather shook his head to snap out of it.

"You guys were the ones at Los Paraisos, weren'tcha? You must have a knack for finding kidnapped people... seriously." He clasped his hands together and lowered his head. "I cannot thank you enough for coming all this way to help me out. Help us out. Unfortunately," his hands dropped, "the main show starts soon, ya see. If someone's already missing and I go poofin after you guys, that'll stir up more drama than it needs to right now. I may actually be castrated this time and"--he shivered--"that's not really something that's on my bucket list."

But Aria had dragged him along with them, slowing down their progress, before Estelle made the mistake of waltzing right into Max and risking their detection even further. So now with more people coming to the Big Top, they probably had to hide. Hide long enough to avoid everyone else searching for their missing star... and hopefully not thinking Crispin is behind anything.

"But you guys... you're guilders too. You deal with this stuff. Help me help you help me while we're still safe!"

Lucien stepped in. "So let's talk plans then, yeah?"

Crispin nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. How many of you are there?"

Trixie began counting fingers but gave up once she ran out. "A lot."

"Not all here, then. Uhhh. Okay. How about this: while the others are busied up searching for--"

Voices arose from just outside their curtain a second time - likely more performers entering the Big Top. Crispin grunted before taking off into the next partioned room behind him, motioning for the others to follow them. But as they pressed further down, there were more and more voices behind other curtains. Crispin continued to lead the room away from occupied room to the best of his ability. By the time it sounded relatively safe, they had traveled far from the exit the firebreather initially directed them.

He took a deep breath, tugging at his pink collar to allow some air to brush against his sweaty throat. "It's getting stuffy here. Hang on a sec, another exit should be around this corner somewhere. Might be better for us to catch a solid breath. If we're lucky, no one's comin in that way, so..." Crispin scratched the top of his cap. "If only I could remember where it was. There's one by here, I swear."

The firebreather peered through the curtain directly behind him, which had a large albeit unnoticed "KEEP OUT!" sign that kept the curtained door pinned to the fabric wall. But that didn't stop him from checking it out anyway.

[hider=click]And he was met with... a voice. A soft voice.

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"Ah, yes, Mister Hedgehog. Would you like another cup of tea to go with your biscuit?"

The voice grew slightly gruff. [i]"Yes, please, Guin! Oh, I'm so parched."[/i]

Then back to normal. "And you, Madam Tuttleneck?"

Then higher pitched and much sassier. [i]"No Guinevere, how many times must I tell you! I dislike tea with a passion warmer than your kettlepot. Now please pass me the water instead."[/i]

"Oh, silly me." The soft voice chuckled. "I always seem to forget. And you, Sir Theodore?"

It was all one woman, dressed in as fine regal clothing as Vance, but sitting somewhere as uncultivated as... the circle rug on the ground, with her legs criss-crossed beneath her dress' long ruffles. An older woman in an old-fashioned victorian dress with her beautiful hair groomed and pinned up to perfection, speaking to herself in a feigned voice as soft as a child's.

Before her was a stubby wooden table with five stubby stools to match, each seated with a stuffed animal.

A hedgehog with a mustache.

A turtle with a plaid skirt.

A bunny rabbit with a monocle.

A teddy bear with a bow tie.

And a poodle plush with ribbons adorning her fur.

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Whether it was luck or the woman's delusion, she had not heard them enter her domain. Instead, Guinevere continued playing with her stuffed toys, passing around miniature silverware back and forth, having prolonged arguments over Sir Theodore's mannerisms, and nibbling off bite-sized children's snacks.[/hider]

Crispin huffed. "...well, this ain't the exit." Upon realizing this, Crispin promptly stepped back out of the room and poked into the next curtain.

---

Meanwhile, outside the circus' "shrine"... with Lute having fallen over and Moira tumbling down in succession, the duo began to stir up more noise than was at all necessary. A circus worker - a magician stepped away from his workplace by the shooting range, to be replaced by a clowned-up coworker.

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As Cammie weaved his way through the building crowd, he of course overheard some unfamiliar voices from beyond the fenced off region. Lo and behold, there were four strangers hanging around an employees-only area - and especially that one tent that absolutely [i]no one[/i] but the ringmasters themselves were allowed into. To make matters worse, this group wasn't even dressed in any proper attire! They looked like common guests, snooping around for gods know what.

[hider=ruh roh]So Cammie just stood there, staring blankly at the quad.

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"I'll let that be someone else's problem tonight." Then he fluffed down his not-dress, turned around, and began sulking back to the Big Top.[/hider]