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Faith could jump for joy but that would require effort and she didn't want to do so in front of Bart. "Thanks Bart. All right, game plan. I say we make a beeline right for it. Perhaps investigate it and figure out if there's something weird. If that doesn't pan out we can ask around, though I am sure the others are already trying. And then we can look into those girls because, honestly, they creeped me out." Faith walked over to the kitchen door and opened it and glanced outside, the others seemed to have walked towards the carnival or elsewhere. So they had to get moving.

Faith knew Bart meant well and he was right, to a degree. It said so in her evaluation. Or at least, partly. She knew she would be better off aline and tackling issues by herself. She had survived a fricken' apocalypse. "Look squirt, you're right. I need to work well with others, but it's not as easy as just saying it. For so long I had to rely on me, myself, and I and that was that. Now, with this whole Paradox thing and time travel and saving the universe or whatever, it is kind of spiraling my entire worldview. And practice sessions and lessons aren't going to fix it right away. Give me time."

With that, she walked out, waiting for Bart to follow her.

---

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"Have at it man, can always use a hand," one of the Rousties said towards James as he offered to help. The Ferris Wheel collapsing had created a lot more work to do than normal and taken away one of their biggest draws in an area like this. Sure it wasn't the biggest money maker but sometimes that wasn't why things were around. Several of them glanced towards Sophia and then looked at each other. "Manages?" one of them quipped and the men started chuckling. "Bring us to shit holes like this where there's no money to put in the nut," another snarked, obviously not happy about being there. "Hard to add to a nut when ya ain't got them," a third said. "Who the fuck cares, we get fed," someone else in the group added.

Over in the Cooch tent Rita Sue smiled a bit but Libby rolled her eyes. "Rita, come help me with this," a male voice called out from the back of the tent behind a wall of canvas. Rita huffed but turned and walked off. Libby watched the woman go behind the curtain before slipping off the stage and walking over to Alexandra.

"Girl, this ain't no circus," she said and then she looked the girl up and down. "Oh shit, you don't know do you?" It dawned on her that this girl might not know what she was putting out there. Sure, people out west knew what the Cooch was, but some girl with an accent that thick probably wouldn't. Of course Alexandra wouldn't know what the Cooch was. It was a term that was American and came into play long after the time Alexandra had actually lived. There would be no way in hell she could even guess what the cooch was, hell few in the camp would actually know. The Emendators sure, James and Faith might just because they had been in the south and it was a term still used. The rest, they wouldn't. (So yeah, don't play you know if it you were just listed.) It was time to educate the girl. "Um, this is a whore tent. We strip for show and then if a John as the cash, he gets the snatch," she said before taking a long pull from her hand rolled cigarette. "Get it?" she asked with a slight over thrust of her hips for emphasis.

While Alexandra was getting schooled Ruthie stood there and looked around. Gilbert seemed to be coming around and Andromeda was kind enough to introduce herself. While the two were talking she didn't seem to be trying to listen in, in fact her attention seemed to be elsewhere. Looking at something or someone and nodded her head as if she was listening to someone talk to her. "Would you all just take turns? Really hard to listen to all of you at the same time," she finally said and then had a look of relief go over her face. "Thank you. Okay, now you were saying?" she asked as she adjusted her shawl and tightened it around her. "Then tell him yourself when it's night." It seemed she was getting a little frustrated with whomever or whatever she was speaking with. "Oh fer gods sake Pete, shut it."

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The woman, conversing seemingly to herself, was secondary in Gilbert's thoughts as Andromeda spoke. The mention of The Dice drew him fully into the here and now with his student Paradox. He cocked an eyebrow as she poured out her theory about the three Laundry Sirens' song, then nodded in consideration of her words. He remembered what they were singing, though he didn't give it another thought while they were in front of him. He was admittedly more concerned with the fact that they were there, rather than possible ulterior motive for their presence. There were liberties taken by the carnival that bothered him, and that irritation prevented him from viewing certain things objectively. Even if Andromeda was totally wrong with her assessment of the situation, it was a harsh reminder that he was losing precisely that objectivity. Such a mistake has led to the loss of life before; he should have known better. And he was glad that someone was doing what he should have been - thinking and observing.

For this reason, he spoke a quiet but heartfelt, "Thank you, Andromeda." While she might not understand the full reason why, he projected sincerity. Even if these carnival people did have motives that ran to the sinister, Gilbert was being stupid. And impatient. He was better than this. But to the topic at hand, "You believe that the Powers That Be here are trying to send some sort of pre-meeting message? Or that others are attempting to communicate, if I am understanding you." He sighed. For all he knew, she was entirely correct. Gilbert was not about to dismiss any ideas at this time. In a way, it was hopeful. "This could be a good thing. Their people came here hoping to meet with Evelina, or so they have said. They may believe a possibility exists that she will return here. For this reason I hope that you are correct, though something very compelling would have made her think that going after The Glasses was a wise decision. There are lines that even Emendators are loathe to cross. We have good reasons." He reached out and lay a hand on her shoulder, "Keep listening. Come to me if you learn or need anything."

With Giosue gone, they were stuck exactly where and when they were, so searching for Evelina in the timelines was not possible even if they knew exactly when and where she was. All they could do for the present was sit tight, gathering what information they could by the means at their disposal, and wait until nightfall for anything resembling a straight discussion. But in the meantime, a nagging question assailed him, birthed of unaddressed details from just previous. Turning to Ruthie, Gilbert inquired, "Madame? If it isn't improper of me, does this 'Pete' have a last name?"

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James gave Sophia a wide grin and a tip of his stetson before grabbing something heavy and getting to work. Let the grown-ups talk among themselves. In James's experience, one could gather a wealth of information (and from a different perspective) speaking with the grunt workers. It was his within personal history anyway, back in his native timeline and span of his natural life, to work hard for a living. Even when the world turned to a zombie infested wasteland, he was a man who worked the land, hunted, and made sure everyone was fed. Whether these roustabouts knew it or not, he was one of their kind of people. Well, ethnic and cultural differences notwithstanding. There seemed to be perilously few persons of color that he had seen so far, and the lady in charge was easily the whitest person he'd seen up close. Ever.

That mental observation down, he thought to Andromeda. She was having some difficulties with the presence of the carney troupe, and for understandable reasons as fr as it was explained to him. The following thought almost made him slap himself: He had promised to spill the circumstances around his death in an attempt at levity, designed to make her feel a little more at ease. James hadn't quite gotten around to it. He promised himself that he'd do just that the next time they had a quiet moment, whenever that might be.

As James put himself to labor, he was surprised to note that he was able to move heavy objects with greater ease relative to his memory of previous ability. It seemed like the past year training with the Emendators was paying off. His work in his previous life was rigorous as well but he had to admit that his nutritional needs were better met and a lot more regular in Ville au Camp than they were in Newnan, Georgia. Additionally, he was rather taken aback at the ungracious way that the Plantation grounds were being described by at least one of the rousties. As he worked, he offered words of encouragement. "Hey, this here's our home y'all're on about. Never you worry though, this place'll surprise ya. Why, I bet they workin' it out 'tween Bossman and Management, or gonna later on." James made a mental note to talk to Gilbert about throwing something their way. Favorable view from the working class was is always a good thing. "So what kinda spots y'all usually hit? When you ain't cruisin' shitholes like this, anyhow?" He had a good-natured smile as he spoke. Working folks had a way of ragging on one another, he was just fitting in as best he could.

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Sophia looked at James and returned his smile for a moment as she listened to the group of men, and shook her head slightly as they started to tell her information about Management, which was pretty much useless in her opinion anyway. She gave James a slight smile when he spoke up as she set the box down once she had gotten to the truck that they had pointed out. Sophia leaned herself up against it for a moment rubbing the back of her neck. Still the ferris wheel breaking down was a bad thing, and luckily no one was hurt at all by it thanks to the really pale woman. Sophia then started to think more about what else she could try and ask these men if there was any other information that she could get out of them.

"So, who else has these strange powers? Management managed to save one of our own, and two of your guys before the ferris wheel came crashing down, bringing them down safely" Sophia asked, being a Paradox now for a long while now as well as her former life being infested with the walking dead. She was more curious if there were more people in this carnival group had powers similar to their own or even the Emendators as well.

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Andromeda couldn't help but curious as Ruthie was talking to herself. She had to assume that whoever was in the trailer had some sort of power of invisibility - either that or they were able to select who could hear their voice? Her mind was buzzing with a thousand questions and she forced herself to not bombard Ruthie with all of them. It wasn't her place to ask, as much as she was filled with a burning desire to ask how the carnival had been founded, how many of them had powers, how many people with powers they had met before, how they knew Evelina, how they liked working in a carnival, if Management was new or had been there for a while, if they had ever been in a time loop before...

She had to take a slight breath. As much as she respected Gilbert and wanted to make him proud and do a good job... She couldn't help but be thrown off slightly by his approach. Maybe it was some sort of strategy that she just didn't understand? He was the Emendator and she was the Paradox... but he didn't even seem to care that Eve might have gone off to look for Drem and that these people somehow knew about that. Peter's grave was concerning as well, there was so much they knew and... She just didn't feel like the Emendator was asking the right questions.

Maybe it was arrogant of her to think that, but she couldn't quite shake that off. "It was nice to meet you, Ruthie - and the others there as well, I hope you all have a good rest of your day," Andromeda said, glancing at Ruthie and then the trailer. Her gut was telling her to go back and check out the grave... That or maybe Evelina's room. Gilbert had told her to watch and listen - so she'd do just that.

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Alexandra's gaze followed after Rita Sue as the woman was called to the back, before looking back at Libby. This woman was certainly the less welcoming of the two. Alexandra arched a brow at her in question. Both brows then promptly shot up as Libby explained to her that this was in fact a whore tent. Two seconds later the realization dawned on her that she had just asked a whore if she needed a hand with anything. She let out a snort and looked down at the ground as she tried to conceal the beginnings of a smile.

"Wow, that one really vent over my head. Talk about embarrassing," she remarked, looking back up at her. However, the twinkle in her eye suggested that she was anything but embarrassed. In actuality, she seemed to take her blunder in stride. Alexandra eyed the woman as she gave a thrust of her hips as if to emphasize her point. The corner of her lips quirked up more. She looked around the tent, seeing it in a new light now. Her gaze eventually settled back on Libby, and she nodded her head in understanding before giving a shrug of her shoulders.

"You do vhat you have to to get by in life," she mused, before restating her earlier question. "So, is there something of the none sexual variety I can help you lovely ladies with then?"

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Bart smirked at her calling him Squirt. For all the time they spent together, it almost felt like a term of endearment. He nodded along with her. "I get you." He said, "Rome wasn't built in a day, so they say.". He'd never had to live through a zombie apocalypse, so he could only imagine the personal demands it could impost on a person. Even though he knew others here were from that timeline, and didn't seem to have Faith's personal method of dealing with it, he supposed it would affect all people differently. He stepped away from the house, and started down the main road towards the grave. He took the occasional look behind them as went, wanting to not be caught unawares if somebody from the circus happened to be following after them.

Since they had a few moments, he decided to take a second to get Faith's insight, "It's no secret your intuition for these things are far better than my own." He started, turning his head towards her to address her. "What's your take on these people?" He himself felt a gut distrust of them, given the circumstances of their arrival. The collapse of the Ferris Wheel was the biggest factor for him. There was something they didn't know, and that itched in the back of Bart's mind in a way that upset him greatly. Knowledge was power, and it seemed like there were enough unknowns to fill the swamp. It was a kind of powerlessness he didn't take kindly to, so he was glad that they were going to hopefully gain some kind of deeper insight to the situation.

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This was the bad thing about having people from different era's in the south during the 1940's. Sophia was probably more used to men not being as sexists as they were back then and while James most likely had had his fair share of bigots being raised in south Georgia when he did, it was still nothing like back then. In Louisiana in the 1940's lynchings were still rather common, tar and feathering happened, the klan was on the move and women were having a hard time dealing with the fact most men were over seas fighting a war and what was left behind was the worst of the worse. This became evident when the Rousties started talking now.

"Oh would you look at this. And here I thought this plantation was your masters home. Ain't that some shit. This nigger gonna be acting like he one of the gang. Shit piss buckets, at least I think that's what he's getting at. Not sure, ain't fluent in ape. Hey girly, how about your translate for us. You speak ape don't ya?"

"Some are born for the life," Libby said as she stood there and took another drag from her cigarette. Looking towards the back of the tent she heard Rita Sue yelling. She was mad about something and while she couldn't make out what the woman was going on about, it was clear she wasn't too terrible concerned. "Hey, how about we get out of here? Momma comes back and she gonna do anything she can to get you in the show. We been needing a third for a while and you gotta look she could get bucks for," she said before heading for the tent flap. Looking back at Alexandra. "You gotta creek I could take a dip in? Ain't had a proper wash in ages," she asked. Hey the girl had offered if there was anything she could do to help. To Libby, a bath would help.

Ruthie looked over at Andromeda and nodded slightly. "You too darlin'," she said before Gilbert finally asked the right question. Glancing over her shoulder she sighed. "Yes, I'm gonna answer him, just hold yet johns before they hop away." Rolling her eyes she looked back at Gilbert and nodded. "Yeah, Keystone. Says he's sorry for the shit..." she stopped half way through and rolled her eyes even harder this time before speaking from between gritted teeth. "He says and I quote, I am terribly apologetic for the troubles in which I have caused and while there is no reason for you to grant a single favor in my direction I beseech on you to move my body off of these hallowed grounds for I do not wish to spend eternity existing within this loop to never move on nor be heard by those I see," she said before shaking her head slightly. "Boy that was a mouth full."

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Faith kept in step with Bart as the two of them bypassed the circus set up to get to Peter's grave. She was thankful, for once, not to be alone during this. Everything about the situation they were in felt off to her. She liked to think she had good intuition as Bart suggested. The disappearance of all but one Paradox? The arrival of the circus? The display of powers? It was all a bit too convenient. Was it a test maybe? Were they supposed to get along and work with them? Or were they enemies that infiltrated their home disguised as a circus?

"I don't trust them. Everything I've seen so far has concerned me. You saw Management and her power. If that's not worrisome, I don't know what is. The issue is, I don't know if they are here for good or ill and we only have Gil here to back us up." Once at the grave, Faith looked around, but all she saw was a grave. Nothing of note, nothing that screamed out to her that it was important for the circus to see. "Anything you notice here because I am getting nothing. What's so important about this fricken' grave?"

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Gio stepped foot onto the grounds for the first time in days. In his head there was the knowledge that there shouldn't have been anything that could have happened in that time that could have gone irreparably wrong, but with group of Paradoxes, who knew. Not to mention how many things wrong transpired over the course of a single day. But at least from where he stood now, everything was calm and clear, the same as it ever was. At the very least, being out on his own for once was enough to help restructure his thoughts and come back with something approaching an optimistic mindset.

Now to find Gilbert. Gio made his way down the road towards the kitchen house. With his absence, nobody should have been able to leave the Camp, so chances were that everyone would either be hanging around the kitchen or the main house. It was around lunch time, after all. Or perhaps that carnival had been going well, they could be mingling with that ragtag bunch. Regardless, now that it occurred to him, he factored that into his plans and put that to the top of things to do. It would be the closest to him, and a quick check up on the carnies wouldn't hurt in the slightest. At worst he could kick them off if they were doing anything too untoward.

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Sophia turned to look at the group of men, she started to clench her right hand a little bit as she glared at them for a moment, she had dealt some a little bit of racism during her previous life as well as a small bit of sexism to during her work before the outbreak. But she was in the forties right now, and in the south as well which was really prevalent during the time to she really hated how they talked to James. He was her friend after all, and James certainly did not deserve that at all as she took a few steps forward towards them they should be thankful that they even offered to help out as well. Sophia really wanted to just punch them and knock them down a few pegs as well, as she laid a hand on James' shoulder.

They were from a completely different time as well, even though this was their home now as well they were guests here and she felt like they should have to blend in. "No and even I did, I sure as hell certainly wouldn't translate for any of you." Sophia said as she started to think that they should leave now. "We should go somewhere else James." Sophia said towards him, she wasn't sure what he wanted to do but she didn't want any kind of confrontation.

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Gilbert would be a liar if he said that the mention of the name Keystone did not immediately pique his attention. He tried not to let it show on his face, but it very well may have if the person watching was even moderately adept at reading people. Figuring that it was too late to hide his momentary surprise, he addressed the situation directly. "That is extraordinary." And indeed it was. Add to this the fact that the surname Keystone wasn't exactly a highly common one, so Good Guess wasn't appropriate. As far as he could tell, there were three likely explanations.

One: this Ruthie was being fed information. Management seemed appropriate, considering she had already sent someone to locate Peter's grave. A ploy to further that agenda.

Two: she had received information from another source, be it on the ground espionage or simply listening to the conversations of others. A substantial bluff or cold read, in and of itself a thing of art if handled correctly.

Three, Ruthie was actually speaking to the disembodied spirit of one of their fallen Paradoxes. A test, quick and dirty, might be in order. "It is forgiven. He might consider it recompense for the three teeth I knocked from his mouth during our initial training day." The truth of it was that he did not. Like every other Paradox, Gilbert started his training by handing him a knife, giving him a speech, and taking him to a militant point in human history where a lesson appropriate to his disposition could be learned. If this was a legitimate power she was demonstrating, then by all means Peter deserved peace. He certainly paid enough for it.

It was at this moment that Gilbert felt a familiar pulling in the direction of the last activated portal in Ville au Camp. It diverted a hair of his attention, if only for a second. He knew that feeling. The Hat was no longer the only Emendator on premises. He looked to Andromeda, "The Watch has returned. With him anchoring, perhaps we can take a more active role in your theory about Miss Lucas."

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James should have been expecting something along those lines to come from the grunt workers of the time period. He should have expected it from the people in charge, considering the general opinions of the era and the fact that they had very little to keep them in check. Full civil rights were decades away and people had to die for them to be applied. Even then... Well, it was disheartening. He had a flash of primal anger at the man; an understandable reaction that he quickly brought under control. He then heard the words of his friend, Sophia, and felt her hand upon his shoulder. Not everyone in the world was a jackass. There was still hope for mankind yet.

He sighed anyway, feeling dejection at the whole scenario. He just wanted to help these men, maybe learn something about their carnival while he was at it. Far be it for him to let one bigot ruin his day, James put on a more or less positive voice and made the most of the occasion. "Naw, s'aight. Gots us a educated man, here. That there's the dying utterance of the great Chinese philosopher, Ig-nit Foo!" He nodded his head, "Yes'm, sure is. Y'all wanna know how he passed?" A quick glance around found a scurry of brown squirrels clustered around a dropped bag of peanuts at a nearby tent. "I bet they know. Imma ask 'em."

The odd antics of the boisterous blackneck seemed to become more confusing as he stepped in the direction of the treebound rodents and began speaking to them. "Well, how-do there, General Fuzzy! Y'all guys hear what that Racist Asshat been sayin? Ain't pretty, lemme tell ya. Thought y'all oughta know."

One of the squirrel's dropped his nut and took a few steps over towards James, coming up onto his hind legs. "Squeak squeak, squeaker squeakery squeakers," he said towards James.

"Well, he been talkin' some powerful unfriendly stuff in my direction, that's f'sho. But then there was somethin' about us keepin' (and I'm quotin' here) 'them muthafuckin' tree rats' away from his business, mmm hmm."

The squirrel craned his neck a bit to look passed James before looking back up at him. "Squeak? Squeakers squeak squeaken."

James bent down a little to better speak with the furry woodland creature. With a lowered voice, he confessed, "I don't like the way he been talkin', and I really wanna give him a scare. You in?"

Tilting his head to the side, the squirrel considered what was being asked of him. "Squeak," he said before turning and running back to his group that was still munching down on some peanuts. Seemed they had a bit of a quiet conversation before he came back over to James. "Squeakers squeak squeaky squeakery."

It could be said that there have been less productive conversations between a man and a scurry of squirrels. When the one that he had affectionately referred to as "General Fuzzy" returned, James held out his hand. A quaint human custom, accompanied by the utterance of the word, "Deal." He nodded, adding, "Meet me out back of the Kitchen House after, 'k? Gotcha covered."

"Squeak, squeakers."

"Yeah, aight..." A thoughtful look passed over James. As much fun as it would be to engage this person in preternatural one-up-man-ship, it wasn't really going to solve anything. It would be funny, but it wouldn't solve a thing. Speaking again to the squirrels, he decided, "Know what, changed my mind. Imma make good on them Oreos, though. Say y'all owe me a favor, 'k? Follow me." He began to stroll back the way he came. To Sophia, he gave a quick, "If'n they don't want my help, they can lug them parts they damn selves. Me an' the gang got some shit to do anyhow."

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Alexandra glanced past Libby as she heard yelling coming from the back of the tent, before she returned her attention to the woman. She quirked a brow at her. She then let out a snort. "And vhat look vould that be, exotic and neurotic?" she remarked sarcastically, giving a playful roll of her eyes as she followed after her. She figured she should take Libby's word for it and get out of here while she still could. While she would treat the women with respect, this still wasn't her cup of tea as far as occupations went.

Stepping back out of the tent and out into the open, she glanced around before looking back over at Libby. "I mean, we have a swamp. Not sure that it's the ideal place take a bath, but we do-- she began before trailing off. She wasn't sure that she should be offering the use of their indoor facilities. Their house seemed like a place that would be potentially off limits to strangers, at least that was her best guess. "The swamp. We do use it sometimes."

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Andromeda had been about to leave, but then she stopped. She had assumed that Peter was just a common name and that it was a coincidence. There had been loads of people named Peter - it wasn't a weird or uncommon one. However, the surname and the fact that the message sounded like a stiff Brit from about the 1920's seemed to match up with what she had been told about Peter. She recalled asking Evelina some of her questions about the body remaining on the grounds... Had Peter's spirit remained behind, then? It sounded horrible, yet she was not too surprised that it was possible. Things like that had happened all the time back in her home timeline.

There was then the notice from Gilbert that the Watch was back - that they could begin to pursue Eve. "... Alright," she said with hesitation. Evelina hadn't wanted to be found, clearly. She had gone to get Drem back herself and Andromeda didn't know if going after Eve was a good idea. At least, perhaps not just the two of them. The Watch had only just gotten back and the Carnival was here... However, Gilbert was the Emendator and she was the Paradox. He called the shots.

"Could we attend to Peter first?" Andromeda asked, before hesitantly adding. "And since they're our guests... Maybe we wait to go find Eve until tomorrow." They still had so many questions to ask these people - and if they had information on Evelina, it would help them find her. "Maybe we can get more help..."

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Bart followed after Faith, and as they reached the grave, he knelt down and took a look around. Making a "Tut" noise as he inspected the site, he turned at Faith and shook his head. "No clue." He said bitterly, and stood up straight. "Nothing's changed, I don't get what would be special about it." He said, and bit in inside of his lip. "Okay, okay..." He said, working through his thoughts on the matter. "Way I see it, there are two possibilities." He started, and placed his hands together. "One, they're looking to do something with the body, but that seems unlikely. If they had some weird kind of powers that could raise the dead, I don't see why they wouldn't lead with that." Short of that, he couldn't think of any other use for a dead body, even with the powers he knew could very well exist.

"Or, they're old friends." He offered, crossing his arms and exhaling. "I'm not too sure what Peter was doing right before he died, but hey, maybe he ran with these guys for awhile." That seemed like a far more likely explanation to him than any other theory he could think of or had heard floated. While he knew better that to blindly assume the best in people, Occam's Razor favored this over pretty much any other hypothesis. "How's that sound? It'd explain how they knew about us, not quite sure how they knew Peter was dead, but answers must lie somewhere." He waited for Faith to respond. He thought his reasoning was sound, but it was always good to hear a second opinion.

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Ruthie stood there, listening to Gilbert and then glanced over her shoulder. She looked to be in a bit of a huff, as if she was tired of playing messenger for the dead but she knew if she didn't go ahead and get this over with, it would just continue. She turned back around and nearly began speaking before she stopped and took a deep breath. "The Brit says and once again I am quoting, 'Never have I lost a tooth in battle, to you or anyone else. Could you be so kind as to stop playing or have you reached such an age that your memory is faulty and you have me confused with another?'" she quoted before crossing her arms over her chest. "He keep leanin' on his cane and rubbin' that scar on his face. Ain't shut up yet. Goin' on about a knife you gave him, some long speech, and askin' if some goat has butted anyone lately?" She seemed a bit confused about the last part.

The ground themselves were calm. Faith and Bart were looking over Peter's grave, which seemed the same as it always had been. The girls were still down at the water washing clothes. Libby seemed glad to hear that there was a place she could wash off. "Oh girl, that would be perfect," she said to Alexandra and took another puff from her smoke. She started walking and sighed a bit. "Either with this group. You said you were in the circus? What was that like? Had to be more glamorous than the set up we got. Ain't any more of us types around, not since the Daily Brothers got all shut down. Least not out west. Who knows, maybe there' are more Carnivales out east," she said in passing as she kept walking.

The rousties seemed not to give two hoots about Sophia and James not wanting to help them out, then again the Rousties didn't seem to be big players in the Carnivale. They just looked to be one setting up and tearing down. In fact, if they had had any special skills wouldn't they have used them to help with all this? Only ones that were really exhibiting any skills were few and far between considering the amount of people in the Carni, seemed the others were just along for the ride, or a meal, or maybe they just had no where else to go. The door to managements trailer opened and Ben stepped out. Closing the door behind him as he lit up a cigarette and taking a seat on the steps. He blew out the smoke and rubbed his chin slightly as he looked over the grounds and started watching those that were passing by.

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Faith listened to Bart's hypotheses and they were likely. Faith didn't believe they wished to raise the dead. After all, every one of them here WAS dead, in a way. Plus, it wasn't likely and surely there were better people to raise than just one man. So it seemed a far more likely thing that they knew Peter. Did he run with them before? Faith didn't know but it was another question to ask someone. Evelina most likely. She assumed Gilbert did not know.

"The latter is more possible and I can lean that way. It may explain why they are here indeed, especially considering Peter was attacked by the Destruere in Egypt and his body was picked up here. Could be they are here to pay respects, but again I do not trust them. I don't think we will find anything more about it here. So did you want to go find those girls next? I am also anxious to talk to Management. And Ben. I think Ben knows some things too."

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As Gio entered the Carnival Set-Up proper, what he was met with, he was unimpressed by. Anybody that looked at him would be able to tell at a glance that he wasn't pleased to be there. The Rousties were all grimy individuals, physically and in character, but that was common knowledge. When he agreed to let them set up, he sacrificed the relative cleanliness of the Camp. But he didn't catch anything he found unforgivable when he scanned the site as he made his way towards Gilbert. All he could hope now was that when they did finish their set-up, the final result would at least be of adequate spectacle and novelty.

His focus wasn't explicitly on locating Gilbert. That required no effort. One knew where their hand was without having to look at it. In much the same way, he was able to locate a nearby Emendator without difficulty.

"Gilbert. Miss Andromeda. Ma'am. Glad to see the Camp still intact. Did anything of note occur during my absence?" It was surprising that they were mingling with the Rousties rather than letting them work in peace, but he guessed that there was something important going on here beyond the effect this would have on the party tonight. Or they found themselves bored out of their minds. Regardless, less walking made things convenient for him. Fewer stops streamlined his to do list.

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Sophia stood there as she watched James for a moment as he took a moment she stared as he walked over to a group of squirrels in the area, she did wonder how simple animals did deal in the little time loop that they lived in. Did they all do the same exact things as well, or did their routines always reset as well after the very end of the day?. She raised an eyebrow towards him as he started to talk to the squirrels there, which was a really odd sight to see as well. Sophia only had seen James' first ability, turning into a hog and ran around the kitchen house was also a pretty funny thing to see as well.

Then she heard the squirrel that James named General Fuzzy which was a weird name to give, but Sophia didn't really question she pretty much stopped questioning the weird things going on by this point as well. After James had his little conversation with the squirrel he started to turn around, the way that they had came. She figured that there wasn't really much else that she could get out of these racist assholes anyway either. "I'll join you." Sophia said, as she turned around and started to follow alongside James as well, she started to wonder how the others were doing right now.

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So the lady who referred to herself as Ruthie was either amazingly well informed and a good actor, or she was really mid-communication with one of their dead Paradoxes. Gilbert's little test was not infallible, obviously, but it did push the scale more in favor that the lady was on the up-and-up. Moreover, even were she not, Gilbert saw nothing wrong in moving the still fresh remains of the late Peter Keystone just off of the grounds. Even if all it took was a short span of time for his spirit to part the strings holding it to its earthly husk, it was worth the effort. Gilbert would have been happier if he could know beyond a doubt that she was on the level, all things being equal.

Gilbert nodded seriously in Ruthie's direction, though his words were for Andromeda. "That is the beautiful part of our arrangement. Within this place, tomorrow is an excellent time for most everything. I agree. We will acquiesce to Peter's wishes. "

The feeling of familiarity crept closer to Gilbert, one that he instinctively knew came from another Emendator. It was The Watch, obviously, and he had questions of his own. "Many things happened in your absence, actually. Many I may have misinterpreted as something other than courtesy. I am glad we have that cleared up. Perhaps, Giosue, fresher eyes may lend the situation the gravity it deserves. Case in point, this woman - Ruthie - appears to have the passive talent for speaking with the dead. She reports that Peter insists we move his remains from the property. I see no problem with this, but I am open to hear your opinion."

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Hopefully, the squirrel wouldn't mind a detour before he got hold of sweet, white, sugary goodness packed between two chocolatey wafers, stacked upon each other and packaged in a reusable tube. It was a good investment in the future, though he wasn't sure if the little fuzzy nutbar would know about any of this when the clock struck midnight. Were the animals on the grounds covered by the loop, or were they swept along when everything was reordered? Temporal reconstruction was a headache inducing thing sometimes, and James had zero formal education in the matter. Then again, it could be argued that he had zero formal education in anything, anymore, except to what the Emendators allowed him access. Well, before more throbbing inside of his skull made life difficult for the thinking of it, James turned his attention elsewhere.

"Why thank you, Miss Sophia. I was gonna grab somethin' for General Fuzzy here, but I'm thinkin' on comin' back to that in a minute..." He changed his direction, veering toward the steps leading up to Management's trailer. The one kid who had been interested in some of their comings and goings and was foremost up that ferris wheel when it decided to dismantle itself; James remembered that his name was Ben. "Hell of a mornin', innit? Y'all need anything, 'fore I'm out?" Far bt it for him to be accused of not demonstrating at least the very appearance of Southern Hospitality.