xivyxx

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Aurel knew this was true, in fact he was actually interested in knowing what else the girl might know about snakes... perhaps he could start the conversation with that. It wasn't often he met people who weren't scared of them at first glance. After what Lucien and Faolan had told him, he definitely felt much better about giving this a shot. Plus.. Lucien and Faolan had done so much for him as a child... being able to extend a hand to someone else who was possibly in a similar situation than him.. he wanted to be able to give the kindness he had received from them to someone who needed it.

"I will do my best!" He said, his nose twitching for a moment.

Lucien had retained his smile throughout the exchange, quite proud to see how far Aurel had truly come. He was still a bit reserved around strangers, but he was a lot more outspoken now than he had been as a child, and he and Faolan were even closer now than they were back then. He couldn't have imagined that things would have ended up like this in the past, but he was truly happy that it had. Seeing them together always made him smile.

"Can I help?" He asked as he approached the fire. Aurel was quick to join them.

"Oh, me too, is there anything I can do?" The teenager asked.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

A small chuckle escaped Lucien's lips at his response. "Perhaps it is. You have that advantage, at least. I learned the hard way." He said a little amusingly, but his smile did not fully reach his eyes.

"No need for such flattery, you've got a decent amount of languages under your belt as well, I'm sure." He told him, considering how easily the man seemed to adapt his accent. It was either that, or he was just quite skilled at it. His next question left Lucien in a small pause. He should have seen the question coming considering the circumstances.. but the words had escaped him before he had any time to consider it. It seemed the whiskey he had already been drinking before Geralt had joined him had already loosened his tongue. He'd be sure to be a bit more careful.

"You caught me." He said. "I have an Irish.. friend who taught me the language." This question had been a little hard for him to answer.. choosing the right words without somehow instilling more questions.. Faolan was a topic he didn't hit quite often. Aurel and Illyana avoided it like the plague, because they knew bringing him up upset him. It reminded him of how worried he was.. how much he missed him...

The Ringleader stopped his train of thought there, not wanting to mentally linger on the topic any further. He didn't want to do this now. No.. he couldn't do this now. Not on the night of the full moon, and certainly not in front of Geralt. He had to keep a better grip on his feelings.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Lucien had the same train of thought as Faolan. There was definitely more to the story, there was absolutely no doubt about that in his mind. He too didn't want to force her too much.. she was certainly more weary than Aurel had been when it came to answering questions, so prying further might actually have the opposite effect with the girl.

"Yes.. we might have to see the situation for ourselves.." If they returned the girl, they would be able to tell whether the parents had wanted her back in the first place.. depending on how they reacted to her. Both he and Faolan were fairly good judges of character.

"Um.. She's.. special isn't she? In some way?" Aurel spoke up, lightly tapping his forehead. "Maybe that has something to do with it? I didn't like it when people touched my scales or asked to see my tongue.." He muttered.

"Though.. in the picture we saw.. her parents didn't seem very.. warm." He said worriedly.

"They didn't..." He muttered. "Perhaps you might have better luck in talking to her, Aurel. She was clearly interested in your snake, and you're young. It's possible she might have an easier time trusting you than us adults, depending on what her experience has been." He told him.

"You don't think she might find me.. weird?" He asked.

"You aren't weird, Aurel. You're unique, we all are in our own ways, and I have a feeling she is too." Lucien responded with a small smile, before reaching out and placing a hand on Aurel's head and ruffling his hair a little, making the teenager smile.

"Okay.. I'll give it a shot." He responded, feeling more reassured. It had been a while since he had closely interacted with strangers, but he was willing to try if it meant he could help the girl in some way. After a moment, he turned to Faolan. "She didn't seem scared of you, that's a good sign isn't it?" He asked.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Lucien was glad to hear Geralt agree, and simply dropped the subject. There was no need to linger on such things any longer. He raised his eyebrows slightly as the Magician revealed his Irish roots. He was right in saying that he held no resemblance of it.. not in the least, so he never would have guessed. He sensed some ire rolling off the man's tongue as he said the word father. It seemed.. he held a bit of distaste for him. Perhaps the two did not get along well, but he wasn't going to ask anything in regards to it. He knew better than to try to dig that deeply. It wasn't like his relationship with his own father was any better.. considering he never met the 'man.'

"Well.. even if you don't resemble her in appearance, you have the 'uisce beatha' flowing through your veins just like her." He said with a small smile, raising his glass of whiskey a little. He had a feeling that Geralt would know what the words meant. It seemed like the sort of knowledge he might hold. At the question that followed, Lucien's eyes shifted from the man to the glass he was holding, as if trying to see something in the reflection of the liquid that wasn't there.

"I'm fluent." He told him. "But only in speaking it, I can't read or write it." He added, before a drink from his glass.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Lucien had reacted quickly, or at least, he had tried to, when he saw the girl lose her balance, but as soon as those words left her mouth he froze, and pulled back.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want you to fall.." He asked, his eyes clouding with worry. That reaction.. it wasn't normal. It returned Lucien's previous fears that maybe something else had happened.. for the girl to react so negatively to being touched.

"We.. will leave you be.. you don't have to rush. Just tap on the window when you're finished okay? We'll bring the water in a moment.." He told her, before beginning to head toward the exit of the bus, motioning for Aurel to follow.

The teenager hadn't hesitated, and pulled the snake close as he left the bus with him, giving Lucien and Faolan a worried look. The way she had reacted to Lucien.. Aurel recognized it.. but he wasn't sure if the reasons behind what he was familiar with and what the girl might have gone through were the same.. but it still worried him. If the girl wasn't telling the truth.. what had happened to her? Was her home safe? If they had hurt her.. why would she want to go back there? Too many thoughts were going through his head as they had all stepped outside.

Lucien watched Faolan get the water for the girl and then head inside, and once he had come back out again, he hadn't wasted too much time in speaking up and out of hearing range of the girl.

"What do you think..?" He asked.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Lucien's expression almost mirrored Faolan's, but he was a bit more surprised than concerned. The book the girl had on her person only contained animals within the United States, if she knew this much about the snake, it meant that wherever she was from, there were a lot more books she had certainly dug her nose into. It was impressive, and honestly reminded him a little of his own childhood. Though the knowledge she had about such a snake was a little concerning.

If the snake could scoff, it would have done so. "There'ss nothing impressive of a snake who cowers behind it's rattle." He said, tilting his head upwards in almost a proud manner.

Aurel shook his head a little, before looking back at the girl "You're right.. but he won't bite you.. so you don't need to worry about that." He told her. Of course he had known the snake was venomous, he had been together with him for many years to have discovered that when he killed his prey, but he had never been concerned about it.. but it was interesting.. to learn facts he had not known in regards to it. So it was an asp.. perhaps he really should have dedicated some time to look into this kind of thing. When he was younger Lucien had gotten him a book on snakes, but it hadn't covered too much on them, just the basic ones that were more common in America, like the large yellow python he had in his other trailer.

It was then that Lucien cleared his throat. "Well, I'm sure you two will have plenty of time to talk about snakes later. For now, Illyana, you should change. We can get some water for you to clean yourself up a little if you wish. Of course we will step outside for this." He said, pushing the bundle of clothes in the girl's direction.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Geralt nearly cringed at Lucien's words, but managed to keep it at bay. Was an apology not enough for the Frenchman...? Of course it wouldn't be, he had to expect this, given the circumstances. He was prepared to keep the gate open a little longer, if he must...

He nodded in response to Lucien's explanation, looking down again at the glass in his hands and letting a thoughtful look settle on his features. He wanted Lucien to think that he was reflecting on his decision, really thinking back about what had happened, before he answered. In truth, he was not doing this as he had already done all of the reflection that he'd needed to, but he did want this to be as genuine as possible, so he had to play his part.

It was touching, in a way, that Lucien had dedicated his life to something that would help others in need. Others who were different, special, unique...others who were outcasts. It was what he expected of a man like that, and just another way that the Frenchman was similar to her. She would always try her hardest to help others, even if it hurt her in the process. It seemed that looks were not the extent of what they shared.

The dangers of leaving the gate open this long were beginning to become apparent to him, he had to make the rest of this quick.

"Its admirable...no, more than that. There isn't really a word to describe what you're doing here...but I do admire it, and I envy you." He swirled the liquid a bit in the glass, now averting his eyes from Lucien, afraid of what he might see if he kept looking for too long. "It really is no excuse at all, but I did it because I was...Hell, I was bored," he shrugged, "I had my own show for so long; different venues, different audiences. I had control over what I was doing, the type of performance I gave. When someone takes that freedom away from you, it can be...difficult to adjust. At the time, I just wanted a break from doing the same thing every night. I needed to remind myself that I was capable of more. I shouldn't have thought that, I shouldn't have done it, but I did and now...I'm just hoping that you can forgive me." He looked at Lucien then, his eyes almost misty in the cold light of the moon.

He laughed again, shaking his head as he extend his glass, "Now, few things make me more uncomfortable than a heart-to-heart. Can we toast, to the future of Cirque D'étoiles. À votre famille." As Lucien rose his glass to accept the toast, Geralt pushed the two together and added, "Sláinte." before downing the rest of his whiskey.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

It was unlike Geralt to avoid someone's gaze. If there was anything he had observed about the magician over the last few months, is that he quite enjoyed eye contact. It seemed this was particularly difficult to admit, but he was glad that he had done so despite that. He could tell.. that the man felt genuinely sorry for what he had done.

This was certainly... a different side to the man.

"Well.. I suppose I would just call it liquor." He said with a small smile, but this one was softer than usual.

"I admit that.. I was harsh when we last spoke. I don't know what was running through your head in that moment, but I just.. want you to understand how important this circus is to me. I suppose I never really shared this with you. My goal when I started this circus was to create a place where people that were different could feel safe and accepted. Your actions that day.. to me, put that in jeopardy, because of the risk it posed." He said with a small sigh, as his gaze drifted up to the moon for just a moment.

"I want to understand you, Geralt. What prompted you to do such a thing?" He asked, turning his gaze back to the man. Lucien didn't think Geralt was the type of man to take shortcuts this big. He was clearly prideful, as a person and as a performer.. so he found the action odd. If there was something on his mind that had caused this, he wanted to know.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Aurel's eyebrows furrowed. "Only seventy? That's hardly a passing grade. You should at least give me seventy-five. I was half right." He protested, but didn't actually look upset. He'd make sure to memorize the smell.

The teenager was surprised to hear the girl address him, and had tensed for a moment, before looking down at the snake in his lap. His eyebrows rose again, not having expected the girl to hold such knowledge. He knew the snake was European, but he had never actually learned the name. How did she know this? He glanced at Lucien, but the man had only encouraged him to answer her question, though he too was surprised by the girl's knowledge of the reptile.

"Oh.. well I'm German.. I found him there.." He answered her. The right answer was technically that he found him, but those weren't details she needed to have.

"The human child does not fear me.. sshe's strange, but different from you." The snake said, tilting his head a little.

"Don't worry, he won't hurt you." He added. While the girl didn't look scared, he wanted to make sure that she knew the snake wouldn't bring her harm.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Lucien had never been the type of person to hold a grudge. He wasn't going to hold what the man had done against him. Everyone made mistakes, even someone like Geralt. He thanked him as he refilled his glass, and took a small sip of his drink before setting it down, leaning back against the chair again. The night was chill, being out in the desert at this time, it was fairly cold, but it didn't bother Lucien too much, considering his.. particular physique. He did however have a blanket folded up at the end of his chair. Sometimes.. Aurel would come up here to join them, and he always made sure to have it available for him, since he got cold easily.

His eyes ventured out toward the desert. It was such a desolate place.. yet so beautiful. A place were the stars were able to shine so brightly and be seen by public eye. If it weren't for the bright light the full moon shined on them, they would have been stuck in darkness.

As Geralt spoke up, Lucien turned his golden eyes to him, raising his eyebrows slightly at his words. He hadn't actually expected the man to admit to anything.

"Well.. it's understandable. I figured you needed some time for yourself. It's good that I didn't end up spooking you away for too long. I've heard that I have the potential to be quite scary when I'm angry." He very lightly joked. This was true, and an observation that Illyana had made long ago.

"Honestly.. I just hoped you would come talk to me when you were ready."