Illyana gave the dhampir a reassuring smile before turning towards the door. "I won't, promise," she said, then exited as quickly as possible. While she did not intend her statement as a lie, she knew that she would not be able to coax her brain into unconsciousness for a while. She would try her best, however, but knew that she would have to at least consult the Tarot to see if the cards had anything to offer her. This wouldn't take long though, and then she would be off to sleep. Hopefully by the time they reached the next town, she would have a little more information about their mysterious new addition.
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Unfortunately for her, even the impostor-gypsy's visions could not have prepared her for how long it would take to get the answers she sought. Cirque D'étoiles traveled their circuit for the next month, stopping in three more towns along the way. Geralt's addition to their troupe continued to rack up vast amounts of money and patrons, and his stunts and free admission were the perfect incentive for folk who had been suffering long from the Great Depression.
The troupe members themselves had learned to adapt to their new member rather quickly, but their attitudes did not seem to change towards him despite his obvious efforts. Despite their contact and pleasantries the night of his party, Ivory did not go out of her way to avoid or to initiate any exchange between herself and the magician and he did not either. Because they no longer needed to practice their transition, the only times they ever saw each other were during the big top show and occasionally at meals, when Ivory would attend them. Their relationship became null and void, and so the Magician even found himself uninterested in trying to present himself to her. It was clear that his efforts were in vain, the vampiress was not going to change her mind.
Illyana was able to glean a vision from Cora's Queen of Hearts card, but it was much less telling and energized than the other two. All she saw was the mermaid and Geralt dancing together under the light of the full moon. She was smiling with elation, her legs and feet moving on their own as if she had been magically transformed into a human woman. The Magician was not smiling, but looking over the girl's shoulder at a figure cast in shadow as if he were trying to catch their attention. Illy assumed this represented Lucien. The only other significant thing she noticed was that Cora was wearing what looked to be a fox fur wrap...which was concerning, but left out of her description when she explained what she had seen to the girl.
Cora herself was not concerned with this in any way, and in fact forgot it had even happened only several days later. She kept the card, however, and placed it against the glass of her trailer on the outside so she could look at it when she wanted. She and Akane still spent a great amount of time together, and though she knew that something had changed between them, neither of the women pursued any other intentions than friendship. Back underwater, Cora had seen relationships blossom between two mermaids before and sometimes they even became romantic, but this was usually to help raise the children that either of the partners would produce and was more of a deep friendship than anything sexual. Cora had never experienced the feelings that she had for Akane, and so did not know how to approach them and was unsure whether these types of feelings would be reciprocated or even appropriate. Her fear and confusion about their interactions kept her from saying or doing anything out of the ordinary with the kistune, though she was more frequently embarrassed or flustered around the woman. No one seemed to notice this or comment on it, though she did catch Geralt watching her when she and Akane would interact on occasion, but she thought nothing of this.
Illyana continued her research to try and determine what was going on with their newest member as well, though she had not gotten far. She would not be willing to say any theory aloud until she was at least ninety-nine percent sure that it was correct, so she kept this to herself. On occasion, Ivory would help her research, which had lead both woman to eliminating several possibilities. Early on, Illyana had thought it was possible that Geralt could be an avatar or Leprechaun. At this point, she was almost sure that the Magician was entirely human and that his powers came to him after birth from some source, but was unsure exactly when or by what means. There were many possibilities, and the Magician had not shown her any other abilities that she had not seen already and very closely guarded talking about his past or anything to do with himself before he had joined them. It was clear that he was well-versed on special or supernatural people and creatures, but she had no idea how many of his anecdotes were actually true or were just things he had made up to impress someone or another. At this point, she was just waiting for another piece of information to point her in the right direction, and had come to a standstill in her reading.
The Magician himself had attempted for the next two weeks to maintain a cordial and open attitude to each member of the troupe, aside from the gypsy and vampiress. They were not worth his time and made that clear in each interaction. Aurel had become slightly more comfortable around him, but remained guarded and kept his snakes away from him. Akane and Cora now considered themselves Geralt's friends and would speak with him openly, but they were beginning to bore him by the time they reached their second destination. This was also true of his shows, which were droll and repetitive for him. It had been a long time since he had been expected to do the same show over and over again with no large stunts, noting death-defying or dramatic, and no assistant to increase mystique. By their third stop, he had begun taking shortcuts with his shows when Lucien was not present. Though he had seemingly lost interest in the rest of the members of Cirque D'étoiles, he was hell-bent on pursuing the Nephilim's body and mind. Though his attitude was becoming soured by the repetition of his life and place among the troupe members, he maintained his carefully constructed facade around the man. He wasted no time in cashing in the rain check for a drink one night after the show, and though he did put on all of the charm he could muster, it was clear that Lucien was not going to give up the ghost that easily. Geralt had been incredibly disappointed by this, and his parasitic companion's frustration was beginning to outline the cracks in the mask that the Magician was forcing himself to wear. He begun to lash out, at first just toward the rubes and carnies, and occasionally the guests of the show, but eventually his negative attitude even showed itself to the other troupe members. Though he was careful not to act this way in front of Lucien, he was not as concerned with the other's opinions of him and so began to act more himself, which could occasionally be mean and uncalled-for. Illyana, Ivory, and Aurel were sensitive to this and had begun to react to his comments and jokes, but Akane and Cora either didn't notice or would act hurt when he would say something even slightly crass. It was no matter, they were not of consequence unless it reflected poorly on him with his prize.
Cirque D'étoiles headed south and was on its way from Salt Lake City, Utah to St. George. They had planned to stop their for a circuit, but an oil well had exploded and so they moved on, despite Lucien's concern and want to help. No matter how unlikely, Illyana and Geralt both had agreed that it would only be a waste of time, even the Nephilim could not bring back the dead. So, the troupe had moved on and changed their destination to a town called Mesquite, just inside the boarder of Nevada. They were a day's travel away but decided to stop at a nearby water reservoir to bathe. Ivory had ingeniously constructed a shower system and the entire troupe, carnies included, had taken advantage of this so that they were fresh for the next batch of patrons.
