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Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Ivory was honestly taken aback by everything she was hearing. For a moment she had even closed the curtain in the tent and opened it again, just in case her eyes, or her ears, were playing tricks on her, but no, it was certainly not the case. Everything she was seeing and hearing from the Magician at the moment was completely different than what she was used to. His body language was completely relaxed, that much she could tell even if she couldn't clearly see his face since he was facing the girl, but she could tell he was doing his very best to reassure her.. and for a moment.. he even reminded her of Lucien. Now that was the last thought the dhampir had been expecting to have tonight.

Her eyebrows rose slightly as she overheard that the little girl had actually been looking for her. That had been unexpected, considering children certainly did not make a large portion of her fan base, that was reserved for someone like Akane, and even Aurel on occasion, and well.. Geralt.

Quickly she had closed the curtain, knowing that the two of them would be coming this way. She had heard Geralt's little compliment but had tried her best to disregard it as she made her way toward the back of the performance tent. She didn't want Geralt to know she had been listening to that conversation. She was.. a bit curious to see if his demeanor would change a little once he was in the presence of someone else.

She glanced toward the entrance as Geralt drew the curtain, gaze turning to the little girl as the two of them stepped inside. She hadn't really.. had much time to think of how she's really interact with her. Ivory was not really good at talking with children. The best she could think of at the moment was to at least pretend she hadn't just listened to that entire exchange.

"Me?" She asked, at least attempting to ease the usual sharpness in her tone. She didn't want to scare her off. She approached the pair, though was still unsure of how to go about this. What would Lucien do in a situation like this? She glanced at Geralt before looking down at the little girl next to him. She was clearly looking up at her in awe. It was.. a little strange.. mostly because it felt different than the looks she was used to getting.

"Are.. you the one who wants to meet me?" She asked.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Her eagerness to get going was evident, as the girl even offered to help them put stuff away, but Lucien told her there was no need. They hadn't taken too much out, since they knew they would be heading out soon. They had been quick to put away their chairs into storage, and Aurel went to get the large python to put her back in his trailer for the road, before placing the viper around his neck. If they were going to be travelling he figured he'd keep him on his person. Considering how curious Illyana was about the snakes, he figured it would give them a start to possible conversation. They had a five hour drive ahead of them after all.

All of them piled into the bus once they were done, and Aurel and Illyana had ended up taking a seat on the bench, with the girl sitting as far from the front as she could. He gave her her space and sat on the opposing side. After a moment of silence, he had decided to speak up, since he had told Faolan and Lucien he'd try to talk to the girl.

"Um.. do you mind if I ask how old you are?" He asked her a little awkwardly, since they still didn't know how young the girl was. "I'm fourteen." He offered, just in case she was curious.

Meanwhile, Lucien and Faolan were up at the front, with Faolan at the wheel. Lucien had the map on his lap, so he could direct Faolan if needed. On the dash sat a small radio, which Lucien had turned on to play some music. This was mostly so the ride there wouldn't be silent, but also so Illyana might feel comfortable enough to talk to Aurel without worrying about them overhearing, though.. that was pretty hard with Faolan around.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Ivory had began heading out toward the entrance of her tent, but had paused for a moment as heard the sound of a crying child. Curious, she opened the slit in the curtain of the tent to look through it. Her blue eyes were quick to spot the source of the sound, a little girl who.. appeared lost? Immediately Ivory hesitated. She wasn't good with kids, and had never directly interacted with them, for good reason. Her gaze was sharp, and the dhampir was simply too awkward, she figured going out there would only scare her.. but she also knew she couldn't just leave her be. Having almost made up her mind, she was about to step out, but then seeing someone else approach her made her stop.

It was Geralt, of all people.

This had surprised her, as he had been the last person she would have expected to provide assistance. Ivory peeked out a little more, eyes scanning the surroundings. There was really no one else around to see this, except her. For a moment she was tempted to step out just so he wouldn't get a chance to interact with a girl, but taking note of his body language stopped her. She tilted her head slightly, sharpening her hearing so she could pick up his words, an easy feat thanks to her vampiric half. She raised her eyebrows slightly as she watched the man kneel down to the child. His voice taking a tone she had never heard him voice.

It was.. fairly gentle, almost kind. It had honestly threw her off, but what had surprised her even more was the fact that he had knelt down in front of the child. If there was anything she had observed from the Magician is that he hated getting dirty. This much was obvious from the stops they have made at previous lakes to refill Cora's tank. He always did his best to remain clean, but right now it appeared to be the least of his concerns. Seeing that Geralt's intent was to actually help the girl, Ivory stayed where she was, and simply decided to watch the exchange.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Aurel simply let out a small chuckle at Faolan's action, and the three of them headed inside the bus. Aurel had been quick to make himself comfortable on the cot, turned away from Lucien and Faolan to at least give them a bit more privacy. The viper had come with him, but the large python had remained outside for her own comfort. Considering how big she was, Aurel did not have to be particularly concerned for her safety.

Lucien enjoyed the most he could of Faolan's embrace throughout this night, knowing that they'd have to keep apart the next morning. He honestly hoped everything would work out for the girl they had with them.

--

As the next morning came, it seemed Illyana had not awakened, even after all of them had gotten up and had breakfast. Lucien checked on her every now and then, wanting to make sure she was actually alright, but he had done his best not to wake her, considering she needed all the rest she could get. After he had done some minor healing on her once more, he had left her food and water before he quietly left Aurel's trailer and went back to sit with Aurel and Faolan.

"How is she?" Aurel asked.

"She's doing well, I think she's just simply exhausted, so I'm going to let her sleep some more." Lucien responded.

The three of them killed sometime with some minor conversation, until they had all heard the door to Aurel's small trailer open, and Illyana came out. Lucien was glad to see her walking around okay.

"Good afternoon, you seemed pretty tired, so we didn't want to wake you." Lucien spoke up.

"Were you able to eat okay?" He added after a moment's pause, making sure she had appropriately eaten.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Lucien had done his best to act like nothing had happened, mostly for his own sake. He was sure bringing it up to Geralt would sour the man's mood nonetheless, considering he had clearly made himself a hard man to find. It certainly wasn't the way he had wanted things to go.. but what could he do? Instead of letting those thoughts bother him, he threw himself into his work. Their first day of arrival in Vegas, Lucien had made a visit to town himself on the first day.

It had been many, many years since he had last been to this area, so his connections here were slim. If he wanted to get any healing done, he'd have to forge a new one. Hospitals usually weren't good targets for this, so he had settled with looking into small churches. He was careful about the ones he had potentially decided on. He knew there were corrupt churches out there, so he was not brazen in his choices. It had taken him two days to find one he believed to be trustworthy enough for this, and had been able to find a way to.. prove his skills. He of course had only shared this with the head priest, after deciding on what would be the best place to do this, Lucien had agreed to come back on the last night of shows, before he returned to the Circus to prepare for that night's performances.

The first two nights had been incredibly successful with the current flow of income this city was having because of the dam's construction. Expectations were quite high as they headed into the third day, which had ended up with the highest turnout. As the circus' performance night came to a close, the patrons slowly began to exit the grounds, and a lot of the troupe were getting ready to head to their own trailers, Ivory was one of them.

The dhampir was waiting for the right time to head out. She wasn't particularly fond of heading back while there was still a lot of people around, mostly because she stood out quite a bit and she didn't want anyone trying to engage her in conversation, especially her 'male fans.' It was really the last thing she wanted to deal with after having just finished her last performance for the night.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

"Hey!" Aurel protested as Faolan got him in a headlock and made a mess of his hair. He didn't struggle, knowing that there was no point considering how strong Faolan was. Instead, he waited for the perfect opportunity, until Faolan had loosened his grip to look at Lucien. Taking advantage of his distraction, he swiftly reached up and aggressively ruffled the Irishman's hair, before quickly slipping out of his grasp and moving away from him. He went toward Lucien, where he knew it was safe.

"You know what it means!" He replied, sticking his tongue out at him.

The entire exchange had made Lucien laugh, amusement clearly reflected in his eyes as he watched the two interact. He had caught the look Faolan had given him, and gave him a small reassuring smile, hoping it would ease whatever doubt was slipping it's way into his heart. He knew that having the girl around would mean they would have to be careful around each other again, even more so knowing that Illyana was a very intelligent child. It would be hard for him too, considering how long they had been together, but hopefully they would get this entire situation properly figured out.

"Children, please don't fight." Lucien said as Aurel had made his way toward him.

"We don't mind the company, Aurel, but if you aren't careful, you might find your hair getting messed up on numerous occasions." He said amusingly, before motioning them all toward the bus.

"We're don't cleaning up, so let's head inside. We've got a long road ahead of us tomorrow."

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

And just like that, the man's demeanor completely changed. Geralt was clearly displeased by the rejection Lucien had given him. He had been witness to Geralt's look of displeasure a few times by now, and was able to recognize it quite clearly, even when his mind was clouded by all that he had drank.

He hadn't expected Geralt to want to leave so abruptly, but he made no attempt to keep him here, only looking at him apologetically as the Magician made his way toward the edge of the roof.

"Goodnight.." He said, though his voice lacked his usual spirit. He had no intentions of asking the man to stay with him, not after having rejected him in that manner. Geralt was a prideful man after all. He knew that more than anyone.

A heavy sigh had escaped Lucien after the man had gone from sight. He leaned back against his chair once more, his hands moving to rub his eyes as if trying to clear a haze.

What am I doing? He thought to himself. For a moment he was tempted to clear his own mind.. but he had then decided against it. Maybe he was better off this way than sober. He had allowed himself to get carried away.. and in turn had gotten too comfortable. Lucien couldn’t deny that he had not felt this way in a long time… The nephilim had not had any traces of intimate contact since Faolan had disappeared. For a moment he had lost himself to the small comfort he had been given in a very long time.. but he knew it wasn’t right, nor was it fair of him to do. He was growing reckless again, back to how he was when he’d accidentally end up giving people the wrong idea with his overt politeness, something he had made sure to grow more careful of once he had started seeing Faolan… The way Geralt was also didn’t help his situation, but he couldn't blame him for that. It was also his responsibility.

He shook his head, trying to clear away those thoughts. They would not help him here, not when he had been left to his own solitude once more. Perhaps.. this was simply how things were meant to be.

With another dejected sigh, Lucien finished off the rest of his drink, before setting the glass down at the table and turning his gaze back on his sketchbook. His eyebrows furrowed, before he turned to the next blank page. He didn’t want to draw the wolf anymore…

--

Meanwhile, Ivory sat at her desk, her window open as she stared up into the darkened night sky, lit up with stars. It wasn't a sight they got to see often... considering you got to see the most amount of stars in the desert. It was.. nice, aside from how bright and annoying the sun was during the day.. but it was at times like these where things felt.. peaceful, with the bright light of the full moon illuminating the sky. She let out a small sigh as she looked down at her sketchbook, and a few bunched up pieces of paper scattered around her desk. They were scrapped ideas she had found unsatisfying. None of the designs were satisfactory for something she'd want to go out of her way to make a mosaic out of on the roof of her trailer.

The dhampir had never been the flashy type in her everyday life, and her clothing and outer trailer appearance reflected that... but she had been yearning for a larger project to work on to fill her free time.. and with the collection of rocks she had began to gather.. she thought.. why not make some art out of it? The best place for it, in her opinion, was the roof of her trailer, where not many could see it. Not unless they were up above anyway. Having decided to commit to it, she was attempting to preemptively draw a design, so she could know what other kind of rocks to look for. Perhaps she'd ask Aurel for some opinions, he had always been pretty good at abstract stuff.

Setting her pencil down, her blue eyes drifted back up to look out her window, hoping to draw a bit of inspiration from the sky. It ended up reminding her of the vision Illyana had told her about. It had been a while so she had almost forgotten about it.. or at least.. threw it into the back. She still didn't understand what the stars could possibly mean, and Illyana hadn't mentioned anything either.

Ivory shook her head, and closed her curtains, not wanting to begin thinking too much about that again. She rose from her desk and headed over to her bed. Perhaps she'd just hit this again at another time.

--

Aurel sat on his bed, a few snakes curled about as he gave his window a worried glance. It was the full moon.. The man had almost gone to go see Lucien.. that was until he had noticed that Geralt up there with him. He was hesitant to go after that, mostly because he didn’t want his presence there to make Geralt wonder if there really was something going on. Then again if he was already up there… he wasn't sure what Lucien would tell him.

The man let out a sigh, and decided to just stay in his trailer. Hopefully everything would be okay… this was the third full moon since Geralt had joined them, surely he had noticed some sort of pattern.. but he only hoped that Lucien wouldn't end up revealing too much to the man. He didn't want him end up thinking he could take advantage of his sadness to get to Lucien's heart. That was the last thing he wanted...

"Should we go lissten?" Bengal asked, clearly noting how worried he was.

"No.. I'm sure Lucien and Geralt would notice.. it's okay.. I'll just see how Lucien is doing tomorrow.." He muttered, before laying down on his bed. Hopefully everything would be alright.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Lucien returned Faolan's smile with his own, appreciating his love's attempt to reassure him. He was sure that would be the case, but he would be sure to check her condition the next day, just in case. They all helped Faolan clean up, and Lucien's smile widened a little at what Aurel had said.

"It really does.. To think we ended up taking that road because of a small coin flip.. honestly I'm glad things turned out that way." He said, before looking at Aurel.

"I do hope you don't mind accompanying us for a while. It's been quite a long time since you haven't had your own space." He said.

Aurel let out a small chuckle and shook his head. "I'll be okay. I do hope you two don't mind me accompanying you.. considering." He couldn't help but tease them, knowing the two did like having time to themselves. Aurel of course had matured over the years, and was now very capable of teasing his two caretakers when it came to these things. He knew that with the girl's presence here they would have to begin hiding themselves again, but he at least was willing to make sure that he do whatever he could to at least help them get some time together. Lucien and Faolan had provided the teenager with much happiness in his life, something he never really thought possible. This was the least that he could do for them. He wanted them to be as happy as they had made him.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Lucien felt almost drawn in by Geralt's gaze, this time finding it a little harder to look away, even if he wanted to. Perhaps he.. really did have too much to drink. At his following words he had immediately become apologetic.

"Ah.. I'm sorry.. That was certainly not my intention.. I was just worried.." He muttered, for a moment worried that he had offended him, but it seemed that was not the case. It was hard for him to discern whether he was being truthful or not, but it was mostly because he really couldn't pinpoint the man's age. He of all people was well aware that looks could be deceiving in that manner, considering his own circumstances.

He was about to tell him not to be ridiculous, after all Geralt didn't really look to be that old. In circumstances like these.. he actually appeared to be fairly young. It was.. certainly odd.

His thoughts were broken as he felt Geralt's warm hand on top of his own. It startled him a little, but not visibly, as he hadn't really been expecting it. The warmth was.. welcoming, in a way, in the cold night, almost appreciated in the solitude that haunted him, especially on nights like these.. but it was his following words that broke him out of that, which caused him to slowly pull his hand away, and set it back on top of his sketchbook. This time he did avert his gaze, feeling a little guilty that he had allowed things to get this far. How unlike him.

"Ah.. it seem's I've had too much to drink.. I did end up going through a quarter of my bottle before you got here.." He said, attempting to maintain a light tone, but his eyes appeared apologetic. It had been a long time since he had gotten caught up in old habits.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

At this, Lucien could not help but let out a small chuckle. "I'm sure they were." There was no way that Geralt had anything even resembling his childhood, considering where and how he had grown up. He simply could not place him in that kind of setting.

"Guilty as charged." He said simply, knowing very well that this was the kind of person he was. There was no hiding that.

Lucien was well aware that his inability to hold eye contact had been noticed.. but he couldn't really help it. He found looking away completely to be a bit rude, so he had began shifting his gaze elsewhere. Considering the topic at hand, he had found himself looking at the man's hands. They seemed like they would be intricate to draw.. since he was always constantly doing something with them.

"I'll certainly keep that in mind.." He said, lifting his gaze to Geralt's face. For a moment, he observed his features, considering he now had the permission to draw him, so he would be able to do so even when he wasn't around. There was one thing he had always noticed about the man.. even before this..

"Forgive my staring, I am simply committing to memory, so I can draw you in the future." He said, pausing for a moment. "I couldn't help but notice.. Geralt, you always look quite weary. Obviously it doesn't take away from your alertness but.. it does worry me. Do you not sleep well?" He asked. This time it was he who leaned forward, though only slightly. Despite his currently flushed expression and clouded mind, his worry seeped through his expression.