Phillis Circus: Big TopAfter defeating both Lily and Stevie, the quartet of Guilders had proceeded in the direction of the Big Top, the giant tent in the centre of the circus which was creating the most calamitous sounds imaginable from within. As Syed drew open the curtains to one of the tent’s many entrances, even the electro mage was shocked into stillness upon witnessing all of the various confrontations occurring within. In small pockets all around the circus, their friends were locked in battle with those performers whom worked for the circus, some who they had seen before, others that they hadn’t, all of whom were a distinct threat to their friends and all looked worse for the wear. As their eyes darted from side to side, trying to take it all in, they found themselves completely overwhelmed by it all… and wondering just what on Ddaear they should do.
Marcus was the first to speak, giving the group reason and purpose.
“Everyone, look,” Marcus pointed his staff in the direction of the pinned down Aria. The illusionist and her opponent, the dangerously alluring Guinevere, was closest to them. Aria looked to be in intense pain, with blood pooling down on the ground from where Isabella’s knife sunk deep, and she was struggling badly against the assortment of dolls that attacked her. “Aria’s in trouble. We should help her first.”
“Split up or together?” Moira asked, readying her sword. The berserker’s eyes looked over the rest of the circus – in the audience seating to her right, Trixie was engaged in battle against Tammie, and was being at by the elephant Elena and gorilla, Olga. In the centre of the circus’ performance ring was Lute, being charged at by Lidya and facing the lioness Lidya, with Sammie and Cammie quickly charging towards him. And further away from them was Estelle, Xandra and Crispin, close to Vance and Abram. She squinted her eyes, wondering if perhaps her vision was going funny with her age when it almost looked as if Xandra and Estelle were fighting.
“Together, if we can,” Marcus replied with a nod. “We’d be more easily able to soundly defeat opponents who are split apart if we work together… otherwise this could turn into a really prolonged fight and grow more complicated…”
“Easier said then done,” Syed’s body began to crackle and spark with electricity, his eyes darting between Trixie and the girl surrounded by a wall of plushes, also in the performance ring. He hadn’t seen her before, but to think there was a small child running about in all of this…! “There are civilians here, Marcus! And Trixie needs help!”
“Which is why we need to be quick,” A fresh emerald light passed from body to body, warming Moira, Syed and Amy with a fresh boost of agility. “And not waste time. Come on!”
Marcus’ body sprang forwards, leading his friends towards Guinevere and Aria.
The ringmaster turned to look at the new arrivals, a finely plucked eyebrow raised up in quizzical curiosity upon seeing yet even more strangers dare to barge into and escalate the disaster surrounding her, but her body displayed no hint of fear, unease or displeasure.
That was, however, until she saw
her.
“Hey, it’s you guys!” Moira and Syed were sent flying away from Marcus and Amy, once again gripped into the air as the rocketing Max punched Moira into the side and blasted her up in front of him, Syed being dragged with them due to their magical tether. Unlike before when he shot them through the tent’s ceiling and into the sky above, Max this time kept them inside the tent so he could keep an eye on his companions inside, this time spinning around over and over, both fighters grunting in pain. “Gosh, didya think I forgot all about ya? I was just going easy on you fellas! I thought y’all might have gotten the hint to back off and go home, but it looks like you guys are too dumb for that, huh? Looks like ol’Maxie will have ta teach ya a more permanent lesson!”
Phillis Circus: Performance Ring“Xan?!” Estelle exclaimed, jumping back and raising her sword in the air to block one of her friend’s attempted attacks. Xan’s metal hammer struck against Estelle’s fireblade with a ringing clang, and was sent reeling backwards as well for but a fraction of a second until she charged forwards again. Behind clenched teeth Estelle jumped again, narrowly avoiding each of Xandra’s attacks as the metallurgist surged on, her body moving beyond her control just as Estelle’s had done moments before.
“Damnit, Xan, you can beat this!”
“Help me, leader!” Xandra replied, her hammer nearly cracking against Estelle’s skull. “I… I can’t stop myself! Estelle!”
With a deft change of grip, Estelle lifted her sword in front of her, blocking Xandra’s downward swing as Xandra tried to push it further down. In the middle of their standoff, Estelle’s vision changed focus from the girl immediately in front of her, to the man a short distance away, staring at them with his hand outstretched towards them, his fingers dancing up and down. Vance Phillis… it wasn’t enough that the man had the nerve to dare to control Estelle, to warp and twist her body into doing actions she had no wish to do… but to do that to her friend as well…!
“Don’t worry, Xan,” Estelle forced a reassuring smile. “I’ll get you out of this!”
"You're dead to me, Vance! Dead!" Crispin shouted, a fist raised high, charged and enraptured in as bright a flame as Estelle’s sword. As the Pride’s leader fought off Xandra’s attacks, Crispin charged towards Vance, hoping to put an end to the circus’ co leader here and now. But as close as he got to Vance, his swinging fist sheer inches away from hitting the unfazed puppetmaster, his body was suddenly halted, and his attack rendered for naught.
Enclosing his burning fist was a mighty, powerful hand that covered and crushed all of Crispin’s fist. Despite the fire searing his skin and burning away at it, Abram didn’t seem hurt or bothered by it. Instead he simply had his sight cast out over the tent and the chaos that was unfolding, a great sadness welling up within his heart.
What was going on? How had this come to happen? Why was everything going so wrong? What had they done to deserve this?
He had tried to stop this… tried so hard and yet he had failed. Instead it had gotten worse. He had tried to be diplomatic, to hopefully avoid any more fighting by simply talking to their attackers, but that had been for naught as well. No matter what he had done or said to try and stop Crispin, still the young man had opposed him. Still he had continued to fan the flames of chaos throughout the circus, setting the simple peace and happiness that was Abram’s life aflame and into a burning inferno.
Well, enough was enough.
Abram increased the strength of his grip around Crispin’s hand a hundredfold. At first Crispin had done his best to resist, but then his eyes bulged wide and his mouth uttered a loud, sharp howl as Abram broke his hand, and then casually threw him down to the ground, skidding away from Vance, Estelle and Xandra.
“Little man, Abram has tried to be nice. To be kind. You won’t let him.” Abram said, shaking his head as he approached the man. “Well, Abram be kind no more, da?”
Elisa’s prophecy had come true. If there had been any doubt as to what the ominous fortune teller had spoken to her earlier in the day about was true or not, now there could be no question. One simple look at everything that was unfolding around them, at the chaos and anarchy quickly overthrowing the circus and sending everything and everyone she cared about into danger was proof of that.
Isabella narrowed her eyes and shook her head, her hands reaching for her knives held in the satchels around her thighs. These villains would cause no more harm. Not if she had anything to say about it.
She dashed forwards, her sights set on two of the Big Top’s newest entrants: Marcus and Amy.
Phillis Circus: Audience Seating“Oh man,” Lucien said. “Oh man, this is bad,”
Struggling to sit his bound body up onto his knees, the traditionally dopey looking summoner looked up over the edge of the seats in front of him to witness the desperate battles erupting all throughout the Big Top. It looked like everyone was now here, and everybody was in danger! Even those big scary animals he had been fighting before were back in, and they were charging towards Lute and Trixie! Marcus and Amy appearing was a great relief, but no sooner had they arrived then they were already being targeted by the scary acrobat who attacked and hurt Aria… this day couldn’t have gotten any worse, he was sure.
He squirmed his arms to and fro some more, trying to break himself free from his bonds, but darnit Tammie had tied him up pretty well. Did she work as an escape artist’s assistant sometime or something?
“I can’t just sit here and be useless,” Lucien frowned. “Everyone else is fighting and working hard… what have I done other then run away, lose control and get beaten like this?”
The summoner breathed a heavy sigh and closed his eyes. He stabbed his teeth down on his lips to draw blood as he shifted his body about so he could flick one of his summoning cards out from his robe. As the blood dripped from his lip and onto his card, he concentrated as hard as he could, harder then ever to will the summon into existence, and to make absolute sure that he retained control of it this time. He would never lose control again, that he vowed.
The card he had managed to use was perhaps not the best card he could have gotten… or was it?
A big, wet, floppy tuna materialised in the air above Tammie, and fell down with a slap upon the magician girl’s face.
Phillis Circus Current matchups:
• Isabella charging at Marcus and Amy – with Guinevere close by having noticed them. Aria and Baltimore are both stilled pinned down by Guinevere’s plushies.
• Max circling through the air, blastpunching Moira and dragging Syed through the air with him (lol).
• In the centre of the performance ring, Lute uses a soundblast against Poppy and Lidya with the intention to distract them long enough to rush to Aria's aid. Sammie and Cammie are close by and approaching.
• Olga, Elena and Tammie all aim to attack Trixie, with Lucien’s tuna summon slapping Tammie in the face.
• Estelle versus a body puppeted Xandra, with Vance close by.
• Crispin versus Abram.
