Performances

"And making her way to the center of the ring next! You may know her for her world-famous campfire kit, sold in a store near you! Or perhaps you've heard of the deadly "Westfall Fires", of which it was said she burnt down an entire farm with a single match! All we know is, the woman has a way with flames! Penny the Pyro!"

Her eye twitched. It did that a lot lately, she had noticed. Bringing her hand forward, she let loose the dagger she had readied, watching it fly through the air and bury itself into a knot in a far off tree. Her lips tugged back into a sick smirk. Twitching eyes apparently didn't mess with her aim. Pulling another dagger from her belt she repeated the feat, again and again, until there were no more daggers to toss.

Skulking off deeper into the thicket of trees she felt the constant motion of her eye lessen. At this point she swore it was proximity to the big top that caused it. Which made it unavoidable. Letting out a gravely sigh, she pried the knives out of the tree, one by one slotting them back into their appropriate spot. There was at least twenty minutes. No. Thirty minutes. Penny would get an encore, because Penny always got an encore, especially at this late night shows.

Unsurprisingly, people loved seeing things catch fire. Lighting up the night was Penny's talent, made all the better by the good showmanship that the director had come up with for her. Most of it was just natural ideas. Cut all of the lights for the arena when she was performing to emphasize her little tricks. Add in some sparklers, some flare. Some actual flares helped too. It was nothing that a skilled fire mage couldn't do, but it was still a good watch.

Fewer people were craving for more of her little show. Tossing knives into a wooden target, no matter the distance, and no matter how much flair she gave it, never seemed to keep the audiences' attention. There had been a time when she had gotten a few calls back to the stage, but when her assistant started getting concerned about how close she was tossing her blades that all went out the window. No one else signed up after that.

With the final blade tucked away, her gaze began straying back to the tent. A small flicker caught it before it could fully return to the brightly covered tarp though. Leaning to her left she peered beyond the tree, eyes narrowing as she found the source of the flickering. Off and away from her target practice tree was a small fire, and beyond that, a log with two individuals housed on it. Her lips curled into a cruel grin as she started making her way through the trees, pressing herself close to keep in their shadows.

Pausing behind a thicker tree, she forced herself to wait a few moments before craning her head out to stare. She couldn't help but assume that her beady yellow eyes stood out in stark contrast to the dark forest, but even if that were the case the pair on the log didn't take note of her. That was due in no small part to the fact that they were far more concerned with each other, with their lips locked. Elves. Of the blood variety, with their pale skin and thin features. If they had their eyes open, she was sure that they would hold the usual green glow too. They looked young, as much as an elf could look young. Maybe it was their movements, the sense of inexperience that they had. Even still, they were probably a good few decades older than her. Her eyes rolled at the idea, kids who were old enough to be her grandparents.

A terrible thought crossed through her mind. One she couldn't pass up following. She gave them a moment to cease with their little escapade, before crawling out ever so slightly from behind the tree. Not enough to be seen, but enough to have a proper shot. She palmed one of her blades, slowly turned it until her fingers were resting on the blade instead of the hilt. With a small flick of the wrist, she tossed the thing, and watched it dig its way into the log with a satisfying 'thud'.

It took a few seconds for the noise to fully register. Once it had she had to fight off laughing, to keep her position a secret. The girl's eyes were wide as they could be, little green spots looking everywhere for the source of the noise. His eyes were narrower, searching for an attacker. He brought her closer to him, and she certainly didn't seem to oppose having a defender. Maybe she was being helpful after all.

Switching to the other side of the tree she repeated the process, slinging another dagger into the log, this time on his side. He seemed to catch on much quicker than she had, eyes shooting down to the new found addition to their seat. Her eyes soon followed his, and soon enough she was in a complete and utter panic. Increased breathing, small shrieks of terror, inconsistent gibberish. The whole deal. When she found the first dagger, still sticking out of her side of the log, she went positively ballistic. Her arms flailed about, she scratched at him in a panic, and not long after she ran off, blue dress flying in the breeze as she made her way back to the main fairgrounds.

The remaining kid stood his ground, dropping into a fighting stance and circling the campfire. Despite looking tough, she could tell he was anything but. His stance said he was ready to fight, but his hands claimed that he was in the middle of an earthquake with how much they were shaking. Even his voice couldn't keep steady with all of his shivering.

"W-Wh-Who's out there!?"

With all of the screaming she was starting to get worried that one of the other staff members might find their way out here and put an end to her little bit of fun. But thus far no one had come, which meant that she got to keep playing.

She dropped into a crouch, and slowly re-positioned herself behind another tree. Now sitting off to his right, she raised her voice just enough for it to bounce around, but not so much that it could be placed.

"Just a few monsters creeping about the woods."

He swiveled about again, trying to pin her down to no avail. His eyes shot around for something, and soon enough he had picked up a stick from the ground, holding it like one would a sword. Someone very inexperienced with a sword. Drawing another knife, she made sure to hold her shot off until his hands were at a proper angle. Letting it loose, she watched with glee as the thing sliced right through his stick, splitting it into two much shorter pieces.

Now disarmed, there was nothing even resembling calm about his demeanor. His circling became much faster, and his gaze shot every which way in an attempt to place the 'monsters'. A perfect time for an entrance.

She waited until his back was turned towards her before tiptoeing away from her previous hiding spot. With how much he was moving, she was forced to circle right along with him. The moment he was within her reach, she brought a single finger up to tap him on the shoulder, muttering a soft, gravely "Boo."

A loud scream filled the woods as he stumbled forward, and skittered across the ground. Eventually he hit the log head first and dropped right down into the dirt. For a moment she swore that he was dead. So much so that she was already planning on how she was going to bury the body. But he did begin moving again, and flipped over onto his back to stare at her, eyes bugging out again once he recalled his situation.

Making her way around the campfire, she started pulling the knives from their resting places. She could feel his eyes burrowing into the back of her head, but he didn't move. After putting everything back in its place, she turned, looking down on him, smirk hidden behind her hood.

"What do you want?"

It was the most obvious question, she supposed. Probably the one she would be asking. Pointing from him back to the fairgrounds, she let out a short hiss, "Not allowed out here. Especially not this late at night. It's a liability, and we don't want the bad press even if ya signed the waiver."

That was probably a lie. She had never read the waiver, so it was entirely possible that somewhere in it was a section pertaining to the woods. That was assuming that people still even had to sign the waiver. Or if the waiver had ever existed. She just knew that at some point she had heard about a waiver, and that it was probably fairly hard to make sure to have copies in both Common and Orcish, on top of getting each guest to sign one.

His eyes narrowed, "Are you joking? You attempt to kill people who break the rules?"

She grinned even wider, nodding, "Well see it this way." She crouched close to him, hands resting on her knees, "Have you ever met anybody who broke the Fair's rules?"

That prompted a long thinking session. She could imagine him going through each encounter with someone that involved the fair. Either at the fair, or that mentioned the fair. Then it would be a case of recalling whether or not those he had spoken with talked about breaking rules. The conclusion he came to must not have been overly positive, "No."

Her left hand came up to point a lone finger at him, "Exactly."

He stared at her finger, probably half tempted to shove it away. But he didn't. Instead he scooted even back further. Any further looks were those of a defeated child. Soon enough he was out of sight, probably off to find wherever his date was probably crying. She took his previous seat, positively beaming at her success.

"Having fun?"

All of the laughter that she had been building up was allowed to slip for a moment. She chuckled and nodded as her head spun towards the new voice. She stopped the moment she met eyes with the assistants. His attire was more 'usual' compared to the rest of them. A tailored suit that he kept crisp, in spite of the constant dirt that was kicked up around the fairgrounds.

Despite the sudden chill she felt, she couldn't help but grin, "Shoulda seen the look on his face."

"I did see it," the human muttered, tucking his hands into his pockets, "And I was hoping that we weren't going to have this problem again."

She tossed a hand at him, "Oh please Tucker. Let a girl have her fun."

His eyes rolled back into his head. Reaching into his breast pocket he produced a sheet of paper, and offered it out to her. She stared at it, waiting to take it until she was certain that there was no other option. He waited a few moments, probably hoping that she would actually read the damned thing while he was present, but she refused to give him the benefit.

Sighing, he reached into his pocket once more to pull out a lighter and a cigar. Tucking the latter between his lips, he brought the lighter in close, flicking it a few times before he could take a pull. When she still refused to read it, he shook his head, turned on his heel, and began making his way toward the tents.

"You're on in five."

"I know," she lied.

Glancing at the paper, she frowned. When she was finished with it, she crumpled the thing up and tossed it into the fire. She knew this was coming. It was just that type of season. At the very least she wasn't getting suspended again. Not that that made getting laid off any easier.