[IC] The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

[Rexcalibur]

Morris: Outskirts

"Kinda? So, so is she missing or not missing?" Trixie spoke up for everyone. She pushed herself to the front of the Pride and reached for Eric's free hand. He didn't have much of a chance to reach back for her hand as she just snatched it into her own two and shook it wildly. "My name's Trixie! And if she is missing, we're totally gonna find her! You can count on us! We're really good at finding missing stuff and stopping kidnappers and stealers. You're a guilder too, right, right? Are you gonna fight along with us?"

Still gripping onto his hand, Trixie tugged the suited man along with her back towards to the Pride, much to their dismay. "Cuz it gon' be dangerous - real dangerous." She snickered, flicking a thumbs up towards Lucien and Lute. "There's gonna be lots 'a butt-kickin' and ear blood~"

She soon let go of his wrist as she looked back over her shoulder to the Pride members behind her. "Come on guysss, the circus isn't gonna wait for us to attack it all day! We need to keep moving!" Trixie continued marching forward regardless of their responses or pleas to wait for them. Or to even deliberate over whether this joke was joining them or not. Was she really forcefully dragging this guy along with them just like that...?

Trixie had her reasons.

Suddenly she whipped out the two uzis from her butt pockets, twirled them around her fingers, before reloading them and aiming their barrels skyward. Drat, all she was missing was a steamy lollipop stick and she'd look hella cool. She even had that whole sidewards beret thing going on - though her braided pigtails killed any sense of badassery her image could've had. It wasn't enough to deter her from having a cocky, confident grin though. "Time to play detective. Inspector Pixie on the case."

The prankster whirled around and jammed the barrel of one gun into Eric's face - well, she tried to at least. On her tip-toes she couldn't even reach his chin with her gun's barrel, so she just pointed it at his shoulder. "All right, Mister! Start talkin'! What's yo niece look like? When was she kidnapped? Why was she kidnapped? Did you see her kidnappers take her? Is she one of those guys over there?" She jerked her second gun in Aria's direction, towards the posters that she held. "Was she... kidnapped by the circus? Did the circus kidnap her? The circus kidnapped her, didn't they!? Oh my omelets, I knew they were bad guys this whole time, I called it!!"

Trixie jumped away from the man and continued marching forward, motioning wildly with her guns. Thankfully no bullets were blazing. "We're gonna charge in there - and be like 'bang bang bang!' And be like, yooo this is a holdup! Release all your kidnapped peoples now or else-- oh hey wait a second." She brought a finger to her pouted lips. "Wait, wait, guys, what are we gonna do. I mean if the circus guys really are really bad guys - what... do we do? Do we like... just walk in through the front?"

Trixie looked over her shoulder to the others behind her as she continued walking. Moira's sword jutted out from over her shoulder, Estelle's scabbard was visible on her waist... "I mean one time me and Amy went to the store to buy some socks, they kicked me out cuz I had these baes." She twirled around her guns again before pocketing them. "I was like 'but but but' and they were all 'DENIED!' Anyway - what I'm trying to say is - uh... I mean..." she scratched her head, looking forward again as they continued walking on. She decided not to clarify herself in the end, instead just coughing randomly and clearing her throat until someone else spoke.

[Orpheus]

Morris Outskirts

Delilah watched the whole affair in amusement. Maybe she found the situation humorous because the man’s curt introduction irritated Lute, but whatever the reason was, nothing stopped the familiar from chortling at the white-haired swordsman who was trying to calm himself down bit by bit. “Hey Aria, I’m fine now,” Lute finally sighed and waited for the illusionist to let go of his arm. If all communication attempts with Eric ended up like this, he might just cry in anguish. He didn’t need the frustration; his hair was white enough as it is.

“His niece is ‘kinda’ missing?” Lute inquired to nobody in particular, although his voice was loud enough for anybody nearby to hear. Ugh. “Well, come on, everyone,” He sighed, tilted his head towards the duo who had rushed off, and began to follow.

Trixie fired off a volley of questions that were basically what Lute and maybe some of the other members of the Pride were about to ask. “We’re not sure if the circus has anything to do with it, of course,” Lute quickly amended the statements that the prankster said in an attempt to at least conceal that they were sleuthing, “And we’re definitely not going to use violence. As much as possible, everything must be solved via non-aggressive verbal trade.” The virtuoso sighed as he watched the girl wave her guns in the air. She really was enthusiastic. “If they’re really bad guys…” Lute glanced over his shoulder at the others, then redirected his gaze back to the front of the line, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, maybe?” He wasn’t good with procedure, and he knew that things don’t exactly go according to plan…

"I was like 'but but but' and they were all 'DENIED!' Anyway - what I'm trying to say is - uh... I mean..."

“I think what Trixie is trying to say that our weapons make us look suspicious,” Lute said before smiling weakly. He still didn’t feel comfortable discussing details of the mission proper around a civilian, even if he had declared himself to be a family member of one of the missings. “So, what do we do?”

[Bunanigans]

Morris Outskirts
"You ain't seriously... urgh!" Moira exclaimed as Trixie accepted Eric's request with little thought. This guy seemed dodgy as hell! He pissed the shit outta her already!

Syed said nothing, although as usual he had difficulty hiding the clearly dubious expression on his face. He was bothered by how hard Eric was to read, in terms of body-language. His words didn't match it at all. Even a liar will try and match them up, but this guy just... didn't. It confused the hell out of him and he had no real idea what to do. Other than introduce himself. Although the man seemed to have no real interest in that either, since he talked over Lute.

"I ain't stashing my shit behind some tree where any old fucker could find it," Moira said suddenly in response to Lute, folding her arms. "No fucking way. You guys know what happened last time. I ain't waking up all drugged up in some basement again."

She turned, and began to carry on walking. It seemed this was something she was really unwilling to budge on.

"If they're dodgy," Syed reminded her. "It's too late anyway," he shrugged. "It's not just our weapons, it's our outfits too. Some of us have got armor on, some of us are pretty obviously dressed as magic users. They'll see through it even if we hide the weapons."

It was a shame they had left the Guild already, they could have actually changed and stored their stuff there.

"We can just tell them we're travelling Guilders, right? I mean, it's true. They needn't know we've got any other reason to be there other than having seen the flyer and come to have a break," he shrugged towards Xan, who by now was the one with the sheet of paper.

He then looked back to Eric. Ohhhh, this was really bothering him now the man had pointed it out. He fidgeted. "Sy," he said quickly, before he turned back again to catch up with Moira.

[Crescendo]

Morris Outskirts

Aria let go of Lute's arm slowly, patting the frustrated virtuoso on the head. She was very much amused by this strange man- he was frustrating yes, but very funny. In her opinion at least; she doubted Moira nor Lute would share her view.

Trixie started to wave her guns around rather dangerously, swinging them here and there before pointing them at Eric's shoulder. Was that safe? It would be a rather horrid start to the mission if she ended up shooting a random guilder. Or was he a civilian? She couldn't really tell. She peered at him more closely but he didn't seem to be carrying any weapons nor he did he look like a magic user either. Maybe he was just in there to put up a job? At Trixie's signal she took out the posters to show Eric.

Luckily the girl stepped away from the man before anyone was hurt, but continued her wild motioning with the firearms. She did have a point, however. Their weapons, even if the circus did let them in, might attract attention that would make investigating much harder. Her own were hidden on her body and not visible, but the swords hung at the waists of her companions and the armor might be rather hard to hide.

"I could try to hide them," she tapped her chin in thought, Lute's sword seemingly dissolving into thin air before wisping back into view again. "But I don't think I can keep it up for very long if I had to cloak everyone's, not to mention we'll have to stick in a tight group all the time." She supposed they could say they were guilders, but wouldn't that cause the circus to keep a tight eye on them anyways if they were behind the missing people?

"I don't suppose there's any way we could sneak in, perhaps? A back door or anything like that?"

[Pachamac]

Morris: Outskirts

“I’m not a Guilder, I’m just a simple uncle, that’s all, and… I… wow, she’s pretty energetic and loud, huh? Nothing like my niece…” Eric said, scratching his chin and slurping up the rest of his milk float as he was dragged forwards towards the circus by Trixie’s iron grip, before being released and assaulted with a battery of questions that made Eric’s head spin. He wish he had another milk float. They were tasty.

But he decided to finally play along and answer the little girl’s questions. Even if her mannerisms were nothing like his niece’s, he had a soft spot for young children like this, and could easily imagine Trixie playing with her. Meeting up with Guilders like this and getting their help was also what he had been after in the first place, so if he could help them help him get his little niece back, then superb!

“Ah, my niece is so precious! She’s so small, super small! About your height, maybe a little smaller. She has the silkiest black hair and the cutest button nose and buck teeth you’ll ever see! She’s wearing a black and white dress, and in her hair she has this cute red ribbon I bought her for her birthday last year and has an even bigger one tied to the back of her waist too! She’s so adorable!” Eric smiled as he reminisced about his missing niece, before his thoughts went sour and his face contorted into a terrible straining grimace, as if he was about to repeat what he had done earlier in the Guild. But the strain wasn’t caught by irritable bowels, more so the painful memories of her disappearance.

“Now, I, er… didn’t say she was kidnapped. I don’t know if she was or wasn’t… gosh I hope she wasn’t… my brother’s going to kill me…” Eric sighed and looked incredibly depressed. “I took her to the circus last night, and we were having a whale of a time and lots of fun and lots of laughter! The circus was really, really amazing, and their shows were incredible, with the magicians and the acrobats and the beast tamers and human cannonballs and all… and the food was super delicious and all the attractions were super amazing! You should definitely try their tasty octopus fritters, I bought so many I could have died and gone to octopus fritter heaven! And their merry go rounds and ferris wheel were cool too, and the animals were also really lively and the ringmaster was something else and-”

“Mr. Coil, sir, please…” Estelle sighed as she soothed her temples, walking beside the rest of her friends. “Can we focus on how your niece became missing?”

“Oh. Well. Yes. It was closing time at the circus, and we were going home. I was talking and laughing so much and so hard because it was just so much fun and… well… I kind of got carried away and distracted. And then, ten minutes after I’d left the circus I noticed my niece had… disappeared. And I couldn’t find her anyway… I’M SO DEPRESSED!”

Eric suddenly span and collapsed to his knees, clutching Estelle’s legs and sobbing as he looked up at the redhead. “Please, miss! Please! You have to help me! She’s so small and young and… and… she has some difficulties, too, so… so she’s going to be so alone and so scared and we have to find her! We just… we have to!!”

“I… ah… calm down, Eric,” Estelle patted the man’s shoulder, smiling down in the way she knew Marcus would to help calm and alleviate her fears. “We’ll find her, no matter what. On behalf of everyone here, I promise.”

“OH THANK YOU!” Eric leapt to his feet and wrapped his arms around Estelle, crushing her in a massive, beary embrace, before smiling and walking even faster towards the circus, his hand holding Estelle’s and swishing it back and forth with great enthusiasm.

As they carried on, the conversation soon turned to one of weapons, and what to do considering their predicament of being Guilders. Aria suggested her ability to cast illusions as something that might help them, as Moira stroppily refused to budge in her decision not to part from her weapons. Syed pondered whether mentioning they were simply travelling Guilders might help, but Eric had to cut in and intercede on the conversation with a stern shake of his head.

“Um, weapons are a bad idea. No weapons, whatsoever. You won’t be admitted into the Circus at all if they even catch a whiff of you being a Guilder. I saw it happen yesterday to one passing Guilder. The girl at the gate entrance refused to allow him to enter, and even when he tried to walk through, it was like… poof! Into a portal and straight back out. Doesn’t matter what you try to say or do to convince otherwise… you can’t be ‘Guilders’.”

[Fox of Spades]

Eh, this guy sure was a weirdo.

Lucien narrowed his eyes at the man with the milkshake. He was just starring? Well, two could play at that game! He prepared his meanest stare, but Moira made him flinch when she bellowed angrily. Ah, the boss to the rescue. If anyone could shake the answers out of Mr. Farts a lot then it had to be her.

Unlike Lucien, Xan's expression went blank the moment he mentioned someone dying, but then he said it would be him? Well, he was certainly a confusing fellow, but at least he wasn't acting hostile and that was something, but he was still suspicious.

“Can I come with you? My niece kinda went missing, and I’m looking for her...”

Oh. Xan lowered her guard a little then arched an eyebrow at the others. However, instead of a simple answer Trixie let out a burst of enthusiasm before pointing her weapons at the man. She also threw around a bunch of useful questions.

"Kidnapped, huh? Things just keep getting worse and worse, Lute's right though." Lucien's eyes landed on Moira. "Boss, I love your sword, I really do, but the guards aren't going to like it one bit--oh gods, I mean they'll love it." As soon as she started yelling angrily, he changed his words and scurried behind Lute.

"The traveling guilder idea doesn't sound bad," Xan nodded in Syed's direction, but the idea was killed the moment Eric gave them even more information.

"Heh, what if we sneak up on a bunch of clowns and steal their costumes!" Lucien slammed a fist into his empty palm.

"We can't do that. They're innocent until proven guilty and that would only get us into trouble." She turned to the begging Eric who was practically kneeling in front of Estelle. "We'll definitely do our best." Them not having their weapons didn't sound too good. "What if the weapons are tiny? Lucien's cards don't look too suspicious and Syed doesn't carry around a visible weapon." Xan's own weapon was her arm, so it wouldn't be too suspicious. "Maybe Aria can focus her illusions on those of us who are more suspicious?"

Lucien popped up behind her. "Or, do you have any ideas? You know more about the circus than we do."

[Rexcalibur]

Morris: Outskirts

After Trixie assaulted Eric with a barrage of questions regarding his niece's whereabouts, instead of answering her directly he went on and talked about what she looked like. Black, white, red, ugly teeth - got it. Trixie crossed her arms and nodded sternly after every other sentence, taking in all the information that she was bound to forget about two minutes later. But at least she felt smart this way. As Eric got more and more carried away, Trixie went right along with his descriptions, her stern nod becoming more and more bubbly to match the man's excitement. Thankfully Estelle knocked him back on track, even if he turned to sudden begging and grabbing onto the swordswoman's hand. Trixie puffed her cheeks and turned forward again.

Then came more talk about weaponry. Lute, Lucien, and Xandra advocated against immediate violence, though Moira refused to leave behind her sword, considering what happened in Vandrell. To make things worse, Eric threw in a wildcard: that guilders were completely barred from circus entry. Like Syed pointed out, it wasn't only their weapons but their outfits could give their status away just as easily. Trixie twitched her nose at this; if that didn't smell like a suspicious recipe, she didn't know what did. By now she was definitely settled on the idea of the circus being bad bad bad bad. Fun, but bad.

Xandra brought up an excellent suggestion: to use Aria's magic to conceal the most obvious details, such as visible swords and armor. Aria wouldn't be able to help everyone, but that perhaps wasn't necessary. Trixie nodded in enthusiastic agreement. "Ooh, ooh, I like Xanny's idea. It's really good. Besides," she turned around, now walking backwards in front of everyone. Her eyes met with Lucien and Syed's in particular. "Our clothes are funny enough anyway! We'll be fiiiiine... I hope."

She turned back around and brought a finger to her chin, cocking her head side to side in deep contemplation. What were their options by this point? Sneaking in? Entering in like normal people? Or totally gung-hoing it and ambushing these baddies with surprise?

Her contemplation was knocked off as she bumped into something - someone. A random person walking in a different direction? At this time of day!? Trixie nearly whipped out her guns in surprise, but the average-looking man muttered an apology as he continued walking on with his two small brats beside him. Trixie froze still, watching as they walked on to her left... and towards the circus, now in direct sight.



A dirt road led directly to a wide set of gates, where a blonde girl donned in flashy black clothing stood by the entrance. Behind her were various tents and multiple other attractions, such as games, small rides, food stands, a ferris wheel. Though it wasn't visible from where the Pride stood now, the circus' main attraction - its hugeass tent for collaborative performances - was smack in the center of the fairgrounds.

The man Trixie had bumped into soon arrived at the front of the gates, speaking with the girl there and paying her before entering in with the kids at his side. Once he was in, the girl lost her bubbly posture, and leaned over what looked like a cash box. Boredly she tended to her nails as she waited for more visitors. Her attention was not on the Pride at this time, as they were too far for her to notice.



Trixie quivered for a moment before turning back to the others. "Okaaaay... here we are... so what now? Guys? Guys? Guys?"

[Bunanigans]

Morris Outskirts
Talk about a niece obsession. It was bordering on creepy if anything, although this bloke seemed a bit... odd. In general. He was probably harmless. Probably.

Moira had continued to walk ahead grumpily, but both her and Syed were still listening in to the conversation. It was difficult not to really, they were all a loud bunch. And at this point they wouldn't have it any other way. Syed in particular was deep in thought. So they wouldn't let a Guilder in at all. Weapons were one thing, and quite understandable at that, but Guilders?

Suspicious! That was actually more suspicious than anything Lady had said at the Guild. If they weren't letting Guilders in, then they had to be hiding something. Doubled up with whatever happened between this place's owners and Amy... they definately had to investigate now.

"Okaaaay... here we are... so what now? Guys? Guys? Guys?"

Moira had stopped at this point. She didn't say a word, but her eyes were fixed on the girl at the gates. Shit, so this place was fenced off? She didn't know, the only events she went to tended to charge at the stalls rather than the gates. She looked back to Syed.

Was letting Aria try and disguise them all really a good idea?

Syed cringed. He watched the girl for a moment warily, trying to judge if she was looking in their direction, before reaching down and unbuckling his belt. He proceeded to remove his robes, leaving him in his usual black undershirt, trousers and boots. "How about you guys go ahead and Moira and I find somewhere to stash any bigger things that might get us in trouble?" He suggested as he fiddled with his pendant nervously. His eyes flicked from Estelle to Lute, the two other sword wielders who might possibly object to the idea much like Moira initially did. "We'll go in after you guys. That way we'll be able to explore in there freely, hopefully."

Moira folded her arms with a scowl. She hated the idea - in fact she despised it. But it wasn't like they could sneak in - and even if they did, they'd get rumbled pretty much immediately. "Fuck this... if we have to then I'll do it..." she caved.

[Fox of Spades]

Lucien narrowed his eyes at the gate and the flamboyantly dressed girl.

"If they really are evil, some of us will be at a disadvantage without weapons, yeah?" Some of them weren't magic users, so that was bad. "What if Aria uses an illusion to hide the weapons then when we get inside she can lift it or something." He followed Syed and pulled off his own robe, leaving him in his panda themed shirt and a dark pair of pants. Well, he definitely looked like a civilian now. The man crumpled his robe into a ball and stuffed it into his messenger bag.

"Well, it might work for a little while but if they have security inside, we'll just get kicked out."

"Ah, good point." The summoner puffed up his cheeks like an upset child.

Xan turned to Trixie, "maybe we can get in without sparking any suspicions." She was all for taking the subtle route, but if the others thought more force was necessary then she wouldn't complain either. "Leader, it might be best if we kept things subtle..." her eyes widened when she noticed Lucien casually strolling towards the girl by the cash box.

He had a dopey looking grin on his face and no doubt looked beyond excited. "Hey, hey, can my friends and I get some tickets?"

So much for planning and listening to everyone's opinions first. Xandra resisted the urge to facepalm.

[Pachamac]

Morris: Circus Grounds

Xandra’s eyes surveyed the scene of the circus fairgrounds before her, taking in all the fanciful and colourful attractions before them, and the metal fence surrounding it and the gatekeeper dressed in black a short distance away. Her body tense, Xan’s mind was completely focused upon the mission of trying to find the missing people, and considering the possibility the circus may be involved, the best way of investigating. Aria’s suggestion of using her illusion magic was a good one, but not one that could be readily prolonged throughout the fairgrounds. Even if they were to get past the gatekeeper this way, there was no telling what might happen if they were discovered with their weapons intact by any of the troupe members on the inside, short of absolute chaos. Moira begrudgingly resigned herself to this fact, removing her sword and armour, as Xandra tried to reassure Trixie, before then turning to address Estelle.

Unfortunately, however…

"Leader, it might be best if we kept things subtle..." She remarked, turning briefly to look to where Estelle was standing, only for her eyes to catch Lucien already speaking to the gatekeeper, leaving no time for the opinions of any of the others. Her brow twitched, before she was suddenly shocked by something moving very quickly behind her, their feet creating a noticeable din as they touched the ground.

Xandra spun on the ground to find Estelle having jumped out of the nearby large tree, devoid of her sword and chest armour, which, after trailing her eyes upwards, Xandra found them having been neatly hidden in the branches above. And then… then Estelle began charging towards the gate right behind Lucien, yelling and shouting cries of excitement behind him.

“Oh my gods look at that ferris wheel!!” Estelle pumped her fist high in the air, rushing as quickly as she could. “And look at those magi-dodgems! And… OH MY GODS! Trixie! Look! They’ve got cotton candy!”



“It’s the circus, the circus!” Eric chippily shouted as he too ran behind after the pair, skidding to a halt behind them and in front of the fingernail tending Sammie, who looked up at the dopey looking trio above her as she blew a large bubblegum from her lips.

[Rexcalibur]

Fun Musics

Phillis Circus: Entrance

Trixie puffed her cheeks for a moment when Xandra spoke to her, but begrudgingly handed over both her guns and her belt to Syed. She trusted on Xandra a lot when it came to logical reasoning - that's what sidekicks were good for, weren't they? Even if she hated going anywhere without them. "You be good with hidin' that stuff," she said to the electromage after lumping her stuff atop his own.

Before Trixie even had a chance to notice Lucien wandering off, she found herself snatched by Estelle's grip as the swordswoman charged off after Lucien with all due enthusiasm. All suspicion in Trixie's mindset was lost the moment the cotton candy was pointed out. The duo plus Eric managed to catch right up to the summoner before any real discussion took place.

"Hey, hey, can my friends and I get some tickets?"



The girl's eyes lit up immediately, and she jumped to an enthusiastic pose, with an enthusiastic smile to match. "Helloooo, random citizen! Thank you for coming by to the circus, thank you, thank you!" She nearly toppled over from surprise but caught herself in time, countering her clumsiness with a cutesy twirl and bounce. Her pink eyes twinkled. "Tickets, tickets you say? Well, say no more~ Entry fee's 100 a pop! A meager price for everything we offer, no?"

Trixie looked up to Estelle with a blank expression. She left all her dough with Amy back at Morris. "Hey, hey Supersis. That's not... that's not expensive, is it?"

Sammie shrugged. "Hey, gotta do what you gotta do for money, you know? But it's so worth it. Think about it; you can ride the ferris wheel and take dumb photos as many times as you want!" The group standing before her could see the man from earlier paying for cotton candy for his children - amidst heaps and heaps of other guests spilling their drinks and flocking about the circus grounds excitedly with hats and dolls in arms. From outside, it was obvious the only other things requiring payment were food, souvenirs, and prize-winning games.

"Plus," the magician spread her arms out wide, matching her huge smile, "that price includes entry to tonight's show! It'll be kickass, truuuussst me. And I'm not sayin' that just because I'm in it." She winked. "We have two new faces starring tonight, haven't you heard? It'll be a blast! The bigger the audience, the better they'll feel about themselves!"

The prankster pursed her lips. Wait - two - now that was a number she could count to. And the amount of posters Aria had gathered at the guild was definitely more than two.

"Oh, before I forget again - my sis nearly killed me for this last time - I gotta check your bags. You know. For explosives and sharp shit." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "Wouldn't wanna scare the kids. Their foam swords stand nothing against a terrorist's." Without waiting for Lucien's approval, Sammie used the same thumb to prop open the summoner's bag, but did nothing more than eye the surface of the contents inside. Then she closed it and backed off from their personal space. "You're clear, Mister! Now, about those fees..."

"Oh. My. Omelets." Trixie suddenly gaped. She flicked a finger at some space beside Sammie - a colorful purple tent, and some kids running around in fake wings, tiaras, and dresses too big for them. "Supersis LOOK THEY HAVE PROPS!"



It was Aliquam all over again - the fun part, anyway. The prankster charged right on passed Sammie and straight into the tent, where she proceeded to wrangle the wings and tiaras off the kids inside so she herself could don them. From inside, Estelle, Lucien, and Eric could all hear her cry out in a deep voice, "The Pixie has reboooorn! Wait, staff, staff, I need a staaaaff! WAIT NO, I'M NOT READY FOR A PICTURE YET, STOP."

Sammie meanwhile kept her eyes on the remaining three. She blinked a few times in light of what just happened, before extending a friendly open palm to everyone that remained. "Right, so that's 100 for the kid that popped inside. C'mon now~"

[Bunanigans]

Circus Grounds
He didn't! Lucien!!!

Moira rolled her eyes, while Syed looked borderline betrayed. Of course, Lucien had always been a much more spontanious sort - the sort who would deliberately do things at times just to get a reaction. But still! He could have waited another minute!

Soon several of the others had left too, Estelle even stashing her own equipment. Others had indeed handed their equipment over, and Syed soon had to pass most of it over to Moira before it got too much for him.

Well... they sure were going ahead.

Moira looked up to the tree where Estelle had stashed her stuff. Well, it was pretty well hidden. She doubted the tree would be big enough to hide her stuff though - her greatsword was around five foot long, and unlike their leader her armor was much more expansive.

Syed meanwhile was glancing around, his mind working ten to the dozen as thoughts of tactics and plausability flashed through his brain. Tactically, it would be best to spread everyone's stuff out, to vary the way they are hidden so that if one set is found then they still wouldn't find the others. And to keep it in his range, so he could pull it over the fence should they need it.

But that wasn't really plausable in their timeframe. There was however a particularly dense patch of undergrowth, shrubbery and a few trees a little way around the perimiter, a short distance from the fence. That was probably their best bet. It looked too dense for someone to even walk through, let alone search for anything.

"Aria?" Syed asked. "Mind helping us a minute? Just to help us keep out of sight, while we stash everything?"

"Yeah, shouldn't be long," Moira nodded. "Better not be long. Fuck if I'm missing out."

And with that they set off.

[Orpheus]

Morris: Circus Grounds

Using illusions to mask them? He approved more of Syed’s idea, but what with that tip Eric tossed in… “I guess it’s reasonable for them to withhold entry from armed people. A few stores back home got wrecked by hostiles, so maybe they’re applying the same ‘it’s better to be safe than sorry’ ideology here,” Lute said as he unbuckled his sword belt. The “No Weapons Allowed” rule wasn’t immediately a cause for suspicion, so he wasn’t all that concerned about it.

They were still a ways off from the circus entrance where he can see a girl guarding over a large box. Most everyone in the group took off their armor, while Estelle stashed her things up in the nearby tree. Lute took off his gloves and his jacket, and neatly folded the clothes around his weapon before obediently handing it over to Syed who, like Moira, seemed unsure of this idea … “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll be fine,” The virtuoso smiled at the duo before turning to the others.

“All right, so how do we…? Uh, what’s wrong?” Xandra was glaring at something in the distance and when he followed her gaze he saw Lucien talking to the girl by the entrance, with Estelle and that weird uncle hurtling after him. “Ah well, I guess we have to follow them,” Lute sighed and walked after them. As he neared the entrance he saw Sammie flipping open Lucien’s bag, though she did nothing more than eye it before stepping away from their group.

Okay, so how do they go from here?

He didn’t have to wonder for long because Trixie ran straight past the girl and into a tent, which left them to be accosted by Sammie. “A hundred? O-oh yeah, I got that, gimme a sec,” Lute dug around in his pockets and painstakingly counted out the handful of money he brought for emergencies. “Eighty-seven, eighty-eight… Oh, that’s a ten… Okay, here!” He poured the money onto Sammie’s open palm and smiled. The content expression on his face lasted only only as long as until he realized that he left zilch to buy a ticket for himself.

[Fox of Spades]

Estelle, Trixie, Lucien, all three of them looked absolutely ecstatic. For a moment Xan couldn't help but stare, but seeing all three of them so happy, it made her laugh a little. Oh well, this actually made them less suspicious. If anything, they looked more like an eager group of friends who were ready to hit the circus and enjoy a stress free day of carnival games and colorful shows. Even the strange man who had been trailing after them raced towards the entrance with fervor. To think he had just lost his niece at this circus, he looked very excited to be returning to the possible scene of the crime.

The metallurgist made her way to the entrance just in time to hear the girl speak. The place looked very colorful and lively. 100 gald, didn't sound too bad. The girl rummaged around her bag and pulled out a coin purse, but before any of them could pay, Trixie rushed through the entrance and Lute ended up paying for the girl. Judging by the look on his face, it looked like he had used up all his money, and Lucien confirmed her suspicion when he leaned in and peered at the virtuoso's hands.

"No worries, I've got you covered!" Lucien swung an arm around Lute's shoulder and pulled the man close. If he had learned anything from Don, it was that bros looked after bros. He grinned from ear to ear, fumbled with his bag and pulled out a frog wallet. The summoner fished around for gald then handed the girl 200. "Okay, okay, now let's catch up to the kid!" He spun around to grin at Estelle. "Leader! We can't let Trixie have all the fun, so let's go, let's go!" With that said he barreled past the gates with the poor Lute in tow.

Xan handed in her own money then strolled past the gates with a smile. "Don't trip you two, be careful."

Ha, he wasn't even listening, he was to excited to. "Now where did the kid go?" Lucien peered left and right before loud yells filled the circus grounds. "Yep, there she is!"

[Pachamac]

Phillis Circus: Grounds

One by one the Pride began to meet Sammie, paying the entry fee to access the circus’ fairgrounds and then follow after Trixie to explore the site. With Moira, Syed and Aria still dealing with the matter of discreetly hiding their weapons and equipment, and everyone else already marching off to the prop room after Trixie, it left Estelle and Eric moments after entering the gate.

“Mhng… my poor, aching wallet…” Estelle quietly sobbed, as she tilted her purse upside down and jingled it back and forth, hoping to find some coins left in the darkest recesses of its shadows, only for a puff of dust to fall instead. Her face instantly turned to one of anger and glare, and she shot off to the side, gripping Eric by his collar and shaking him back and forth violently. “Why did I have to pay for you?!”

“Ah! C-c-c-c-cus I don’t have any moneeeey!” Eric wailed. “I spent the last of it on that yummy milk floaaaat!”

“Grrr!” Estelle threw him down to the ground, putting her hands on her hips as she looked down at him. “Priorities, man! You don’t spend the last of your money on a milk float when your niece is missing!!”

“I’m… I’m sorry…” Eric scratched the back of his head. “I actually bought it for her… to cheer her up when I found her… but I tried it, just to make sure it was okay… and it was so delicious I drank it alugnghg!”

Eric was silenced with a steaming boot to the face, followed by Estelle stomping off to join Xandra in exploring the fairground.

The place was rife with all manners of attractions, from the various vibrant coloured stalls selling sweets, candy and other delicious savouries, to those of more exciting attractions, such as the Magitech powered Dodgems and Teacups. There were plenty of other small stands too with fun games to try, such as the shooting gallery played with weak rifles aiming at targets, or goldfish catching with tiny net minigames, all in the hopes of winning various prizes – be it stuffed toys or other miscellaneous knick knacks. In the middle of two tents, one a tent dedicated to fortune telling, the other a magician who specialised in card tricks, was a Highstriker attraction, just waiting to test passerbys’ strength.

Set to an area to the side of the tents and stalls, a little distance away from the big top and ferris wheel, was a section filled with large, heavy metal cages. Inside of those cages were the circus’ animals – elephants, lions, gorillas and more, all decorated in their own flamboyant way. A large, muscular and bare chested man with a smooth, slicked moustache worked inside the cages, cleaning and mopping them as well as feeding each of them. He smiled and worked with a hearty laugh as he talked to and petted each of the intimidating animals.

Atop one of the slow moving ferris’ wheels main support beams, high overlooking the rest of the circus’ grounds (and drawing many a point, stare and murmur from patrons riding inside of the ferris wheel’s compartments) was a man sitting cross-legged, his head relaxed on his hands behind him, as he lazily stared down at the ground below through his red tinted goggles, with a straw of wheat casually being chewed within his mouth. One of the circus’ workers, the blonde youth had retreated to his preferred resting spot to avoid doing some of his daily chores for the time being.

[Bunanigans]

Phillis Circus Grounds
With the equipment safely stashed, Syed stepped back with one head cocked to one side to observe their handywork. Yep. He couldn't see anything. Fantastic, job done.

He looked back to the other two, that daft grin on his face. "Thanks for the help. Come on, let's join the others before they get into too much trouble."

"Can't have been in anything more than we have," Moira huffed, stepping over to Aria and picking a leaf from her signature scarf. After all, stashing the equipment here was a lot harder than it looked. As was staying upright - which Syed had promptly demonstrated by falling over almost immediately after going in there.

Still they were done, and they quickly tidied themselves up again as best as they could before heading back towards the gate. To which Moira nearly choked at the price. How much?! Fucking hell she couldn't believe she was paying just to snoop around some people's shit. The best thing about being a Guilder was being able to snoop around and get paid for it! There had better be something interesting in there. Nonetheless she reluctantly handed over the money for her own ticket. Syed somewhat awkwardly paid too - but only after waiting to see if Aria was okay with hers.

He craned his neck to see what they had inside. He had to focus, they had to keep in mind that they were here for a reason... wait was that magitech rides?! That was way fancier than any of the fairs he had ever been to! He began visibly fidgeting in excitement dispite himself. Nope nope nope they had a job but oh word just look at all the technology.

"So," Moira put her hands on her hips, oblivious to her partner's obvious enthusiasm in one direction in particular. "I have no fuckin' idea where to even start..." She put her finger to her lips. "Somethin' where I could win a prize, I reckon..." her eyes scoured the scene for something she could do - she was terrible at recognising people after all. And just this once, she didn't fancy the Highstriker.

She turned to the others, still in earshot of the girl at the gate if she was still listening in. "What do you think?"

[Rexcalibur]

Phillis Circus

"I thiiiiink," Trixie called out in reply to Moira's question, "we should check out everything - everything - cuz there's way too much stuff to do here. I mean cuz they could be holed up in any of these tents. There's so many." She had busted back out of the tent she was in, still dressed in her strange fairy-esque getup, and ran a circle around Moira and Syed before stopping with her staff held up. A bunch of glitter had dropped from her wings as she did this. "Miss Lady Woman said somefin about prizes. So I think Boss is on the right track! But--"

Oh dear. She was still in her Inspector Pixie mode.

"BUT! What if - what if maybe they're hungry and went to get some food." The prankster's stomach began to gurgle on cue. Trixie laughed nervously, and quite loudly, before waving her staff over her stomach to cure the Bad Rumbles. "Supersis. SUPERSIS. Duty hehe duty - ahem - duty calls and we must get some food for ourselves. How can we investigate on hungry tummies!? Let's get some cotton - wait what do you mean your wallet is empty?? That means we can't... Grrr!"

Trixie stamped her foot before suddenly linking arms with Lucien and Lute. "Hey! Let's get some nummy cotton candy together, come on! We might be able to find who we're lookin' for~"

Unfortunately for the detective, she had no idea what any of the missing persons looked like, considering she barely glossed over the photos on the guild's mission board. Her own teammates were smart enough to bring them along, but at that point, she was more focused on getting some food first and then she would--

"Oh my omelets, is that a... a...!?" She gawked, dropping the duo's arms right as they reached the sweets stall. Just a distance away was a shooting range, with silhouetted targets a set distance from a line of faux rifles. Trixie's mouth began to water. "Noooo way! Ames showed me one of these thingies before but never let me d- do- do- oh my buttermilk biscuits, I'm gonna cry! I mean, I mean - what if the kidnapped persons are being forced to shoot targets all day long. What horrible punishment! I'm gonna check it out."

Trixie dashed towards the range, drawing closer and closer to the ferris wheel. With each step she split herself further from the rest of her team and lost her short self within a sea of average-looking people, but that was of no concern to her.

In the midst of this, the relaxing man seated on one of the ferris wheel's beams was approached by a pink-eyed girl in flashy black clothes. Once she climbed to his level, she sat beside him defiantly, pointing a finger at him with an indignant pout. "Booboo, come on! You gotta get your chores done sometimes! It can't always be me! You...!" Suddenly she broke into a laughter, clearly unable to hold a serious expression. Then she wrapped her arms around him, tugging the unmoved man close to herself. "Mehh, I'm just kiddin. Love you!"

[Crescendo]

Phillus Circus

Aria dusted herself down, picking her way back out of the bushes. After making sure all the weapons were nicely hidden and very unlikely to be found in the dense bushes, she followed Syed towards the girl by the ticket box, lifting the illusion in the process. Luckily she had brought enough money for the rather pricey ticket, though it left her with a much lighter wallet. Looks like she wouldn't be able to eat as much as she was hoping to today.

Everyone seemed very excited despite the mission looming over their heads, looking every way to try to take in every food stall and the giant ferris wheel overhead. Numerous tents were set up, most quite small and housing one or two games that the guests could play while the main tent stood grandly in the center. It would certainly be trouble to figure out where to search first, and Trixie was already spouring out lists of things that they could do. Before anyone could react the girl had run off, disappearing quickly between the throngs of people. Aria stared in the direction the prankster had darted off, wondering whether someone should go follow to make sure she didn't get in trouble. Then again, they were going to have to split up anyways to check out the circus, and the girl could certainly take care of herself.

Instead she looked up to the ferris wheel, eyes glinting. She had never had the chance to go one one before, this was the perfect opportunity to fulfill a small wish of hers as well as scout of the basic layout of the circus from the air. The food was tempting, but she could always get that later. "I think I'll head on to the wheel," she pointed upwards, smiling brightly. "get a bird's eye view of the place, yes?''

[Orpheus]

Morris: Circus Grounds

“Oh geez, thanks! I’ll pay you back, promise!” Lute crowed as Lucien covered for his entrance fee. Well this was embarrassing, wasn’t it? “Er, nice wallet, by the way.” He just noticed it now, but the dude liked animal-themed things, didn’t he? Kinda reminded him of the kids back in Thaum. Before he could comment any further on the summoner’s choice of clothing, the two of them sped past the others in pursuit of Trixie.

"Don't trip you two, be careful."

“Yeah, slow down! I’m a walking accident zone, remember?” Lute yelp as Lucien almost choked him when he finally saw the girl. Everyone by now were splitting up to go their own ways but from what it sounded like, they were starting to think of miscellaneous activities instead of their original objective. “Keep an eye out, okay? We can’t just waste our time- Ooof!” This time, it was Trixie who pushed herself in between him and Lucien, effectively loosening the chokehold the summoner had on the poor virtuoso. She walked a ways with them before having her attention stolen by a…

Oh wow, these candies look tasty.

“Hey guys look, it’s a strawberry-” Lute glanced up from his place near the sweets stall only to find Trixie gone. He only spent like a minute staring at the candies offered and this happens? “Lucien?” Looking over to his side he saw the summoner ogling the sweets on display too and sighed, “Where’s Trixie? Don’t tell me we lost her. Hmm… Did she go to that shooting range? Or the ferris wheel?” From where they were, it was impossible to see so Lute approached the throng of people lined up outside the range, which was pretty close to the ferris wheel. Speaking of ferris wheel, Aria said she wanted to go on a ride.

“Oh, can it, Dellie,” Lute sighed and swatted at the air in front of him, “That’s silly. I don't get what you're so mad about.” Anyway, they weren’t going to find Trixie by standing around here making frustrated jokes to each other, so the virtuoso looked over his shoulder and yelled at Lucien, “You about finished with your shopping? Let’s check out this place!” He jerked his thumb towards the firing range. He swore he saw something glittery in front of that guy near the end of the line.

[Fox of Spades]

Animals! All kinds of animals, from elephants to adorable pandas!

Lute's words sailed right over Lucien's head and he stared at the cages, with a dopey grin and stars in his eyes. Did they have a petting zoo in the carnival? He began bouncing in place, his hands clasped together. Hey, maybe the missing people were being held hostage in one of the cages somewhere? Maybe the animals were being used as guards? Trixie was right, they could be anywhere. Maybe they were even buried beneath that pile of rabbits?

"They have a Panda," he sounded a thousand miles away. Oh, oh, he needed to get a picture with it, his shirt even matched!

He was only snapped out of his thoughts when Trixie hooked her arms around theirs and asked for cotton candy. Sure, sure, he was in a swell mood! If the others wanted he'd buy cotton candy for all of them. "Sure kid, just give me a moment...oh geez, she sure she is speedy, yeah?" He pointed towards the booths with prizes and rifles. "And there she goes!" The summoner spun around to face the others. "We're gonna go after the little pixie, catch ya guys later." And with that, he began weaving his way through the crowd, a ridiculously large grin was plastered to his face. "Oh don't worry, of course we're going to keep an eye out for the people. Besides," he narrowly avoided colliding with a man in a lion mask. "Trixie has a point, they could be anywhere. We'll never know unless we look."

Trixie sure was fast. "Kid, kid, wait up!" He waved a hand in hopes that she would notice him. "Lute and I challenge you to a shoot off!"



So much for search and rescue, Xan couldn't help but laugh at their enthusiasm.

To be honest, she wanted to check out a few of the games as well and the horror house and hall of mirrors in the distance looked rather tempting. She waved at both men and the disappearing Trixie. "See you both later."

"I think I'll head on to the wheel, get a bird's eye view of the place, yes?''

That sounded both productive and enjoyable at the same time. "Sounds like a good idea, Aria." The metallurgist gave her friend a grin then turned to look at their leader and both Moira and Syed. "So, what's the strategy?" despite her words, she was smiling. "Do we get a better look from above then look search the rest of the stalls and rides on foot?" She would be fine with pretty much anything her friends suggested. Unless, it involved the animals...she'd leave that bit to Lucien.