Felix had been leaning forward in dutiful attention to every word that she said -- but when she finished, he gently clapped his hands together to fill the silence; his face was lax and bewildered. "So ... you're not from ... here?" He pointed at the ground, his eyebrows raised. "You have a tail but you're [i]not[/i] one of the new girls, is that what you're telling me?" He laughed quietly -- he could take a joke -- and he pointed behind her. "Is that a [i]real[/i] tail, by the way? Of course you're at least [i]trying out[/i] for the dance line, right?" He watched her patiently, and slowly shook his head; his eyes never left her. She was a peculiar one. "No, huh? Well!"

He straightened his spine, pulled his hat down suavely, and offered her his arm, as a true gentleman should. "You might as well come with me back to the circus anyway. There'll be someone there who knows how to get back to -- where is it you come from? And why are you out here alone in the woods? Girls don't usually wander this far out unless they're looking for something." He grinned and gave her a wink.