The Show Must Go On

A small crowd, composed of both Landers and Adventurers, has gathered on the sidewalk, in a street corner of Dun Loireag: the are all focusing on a man with a goatee, a top hat, a tuxedo with an unbuttoned jacket, and a carefully rumpled white shirt, unbuttoned at the collar. No ties, no cuffs, no mantle or gloves.

"Now, now, good sir...", he says, turning towards a portly farmer, "Please pick a card, any card," he says, and quickly fans the card out in front of him, downward. The man reaches out, and plucks one. "Don't show it to me, but remember it!", he says, offering the deck to put it back.

    Train, train, train, break. Arashi was sure they were almost done. They were -close- to a break through, and trying to force the result she wanted was a bad idea. SO. Off to town. She was used to making long treks, and it was a nice time to rummage the land for shards as she went. Now, here in Dun Loireag, food, drink, and some R&R was in order. The dire-shire wasn't far off with some sort of wrapped item, water, and a bench close enough to watch the 'magic' going on. "Sleight of hand in a world with actual magic seems a little strange.." Not loud enough for anyone to really hear, just an idle thought said aloud.

The arcitechture of Dun Loireag, with it's being built into levels around several towering plateaus, would make it a difficult location to take even if one could accomplish something similar to what was done in Mac Anu. But on the other side of the coin it made it easy for exploration and survelliance. Landers didn't Inspect, and many Adventurers didn't bother to look up if not given reason to. So one could use the higher pathways to remain elusive while watching the streets below. Keeping an eye on how the rest of Yamato was reacting to the taking over of one of their Root Town capitals.

But it's something else on the strees below that catchs the eye of one wily vixen. Street performances were nothing unusual, many Adventurers, bardic and otherwise, did so to make some coin and reputation on the side of questing. But, even from up here, she could see there was something... similar about what's going on down below.

Use to the peculiar actions Adventurers often take none of the Landers on the bridge between two levels bat an eye when the fox vaulted over the rope railing, down onto an inclined path built into the side of a plateau, and made her way stealthy down to the more active streets below.

Shenmi shuffles the deck multiple times after the Lander puts the card back into the deck, places the tips of the fingers of one hand on top of the wrist of the other, gives the cards a flcik in the middle of the deck, flipping half of it over to the other hand, and, spreading his arms, fans the cards out into neat little circles. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, prepare to be amazed, astonished, astounded, as-"

He spins in place, throws the cards in the air, and WOOOOOOSH! A tornado whirls aroudn him, tiled with cards, all of which held vertical, with the back towards Shenmi and the face pointed outside, towards the audience. Shenmi's body does a single 360 degree spin during this, and when he stops, he tosses his arms up, declares, "Now observe as all the cards, except the correct one, disappear!" He splays his fingers, and *WOOSH*, all the cards, with some delay between each other, burst into flame, and are consumed in an instant, until...

...-none- are left.

Shenmi blinks for a moment, among the murmuring of the crowd. "Oh, uh, this wasn't supposed to happen. Hmmm..." He scratches his chin, and then snaps his fingers. "A-ha! I know what happened. I need to have a word with my assistant!"

    ... Heh. Someone got a bad roll, or similar. Arashi shrugs it off, taking a drink, settling back, before just observing the city at large. Seeing as this was her original root town, it's nice to be back for the first time in absolute ages. A lander or two offer a wave, but for the most part she's left to her own devices. She was that loner player at the start, and some remember it. "I wonder if Fremy is around.."

'I need to have a word with my assistant'

The vixen almost stumbles in her descent as those words reach her angular ears, and the voice saying them is unmistakeble now. Apparently she was wrong in presuming he'd be... well, whatever, he's here now. Putting on shows like always.

As she reached the end of the incline wrapping back around the plateau she jumped off again, this time to land on the street below behind the magician, tails fanning out to keep her balance on the landing and making more of a display of her entrance than she typically would. Then stood, brushing off one arm like the drop was little more than an inconvenience.

"Not much of an assistant if they can't even get a simple card trick right for you." Daiyu's usual tone of indifference has a bit of a bitter bite under it.

Shenmi barely had the time to remove his hat, knock a few times on its top with a knuckle, and turn it upside down, when a familiar voice reaches him from behind.

He freezes in place. He mantains a sort of dignified composture, the shock mainly visible in his widening eyes and his eyebrows shooting upwards. "...Daiyu? Fancy seeing you here."

The reaction is twofold. Landers are notoriously wary of Were Fangs, but, well, this one is an Adventurer, is classy, and is attractive, so Daiyu fetches quite a few looks. She also seems to be wearing a Crown, which is kind of another hot topic... all in all, it's definitely enough to send the crowd abuzz with interest.

As he recovers his ability to do anything... well, he doesn't do much. Just reach into his hat. Show must go on. "So, what brings you around these shores?"

    Drink. Eat. Nom. Pause. ... Who is -that-? Arashi has heard some names, but she hasn't seen any faces of the folk from the Palace Lands. Daiyu's arrival is noticed, and the interaction between the two has her interested, but there's no thought about violence. Besides, they ARE in a town. (That didn't help the other town much but...)

"I could ask you the same thing." Unphased by the various looks she's getting Daiyu gives one of Shenmi's lapels a tug between two clawed fingertips. "Not even in your finest, either." She snorts softly, tails flicking back and forth behind her. The hand is withdrawn, and from seemingly nowhere her parasol is drawn, but only rested upon one shoulder as would be expected of such an accessory though. "Most thought you'd stayed caged by your own vices. But apparently they were wrong."

Including herself, but Daiyu is not about to admit that.

For a moment her gaze does pass over the crowd, but no one is reacting to her presence by jumping up wanting to fight just because of the visible headgear (it is a Root Town after all) so it's paid little mind at the moment. "Well, go on. They're waiting for you to finish your trick, magician."

"Well, I wanted to see what Yamato had to offer, you know. A whole new continent offering fun and games, beverages, and ladies, lights and shows..." He says, his voice projected to sound louder without shouting. It isn't said explicitly, but him and Daiyu being both from Kallamore, they will, at this point, both be aware that nothing in Yamato matches the glitz and glamour of Lumina Cloth.

He looks down at his attire, "Not my finest, no... but you know, needed some pocket money for such a long trip." So he must have sold a few things, like ties, handcuffs, and such to fund his escapade.

He Turns to the audience, "Ladies and gentlemen, today we have a special guest with us, Daiyu, my Lovely Assistant Emerita, who is about to meet my new assistant!"

He finishes pulling up his hand, and, well, what he pulls out is a bun-bun. Who is twitching its nose and chewing on a five of diamonds. "Is this your card?"

The crowd breaks into applause and laughter, as the Lander confirms that this was, indeed, his card (those standing around him would have seen it). "Thank you, thank you! Bao is still new at this, he needed a little coaxing..." He says, removing the card from the bun-bun's mouth and tossing it towards the audience... which happens to be in Arashi's direction.

            !!

    Name. That's a name. That's a recognized name. The follow up Inspect confirms things, but within the town there? There's nothing that can really be done except let other folks know that, hey, there's a Crowned in Dun Loireag. And someone that knows them that isn't one.

    Before that the card that Shenmi throws is caught by the dire-shire, just glancing it over before looking back at the other two again, and the crowd. Nice trick, but that isn't the focus of Arashi's attention, not anymore. "Hrm.."

Daiyu was about to point out he probably shouldn't make a point of having been associated with her if he wants to not stir too many supicions, but Shenmi dives back into his display with more gusto than she could ever hope to dissaude. It was nice to see him still pursuing his art even in the state of affairs their worlds have turned into.

Some of that comfortable feeling fades when the new assistance makes their appearance. Okay, sure, he had used animals and sometimes even monsters in his tricks before.... but one of them being elevated to her former position as assistant? ... and the bunny, no less... eyes narrow slightly behind the spectacles perched upon the bridge of her muzzle... As honestly Daiyu wasn't quite sure what to make or how to feel about this...

Of all the times for it to not be the sort of thing the Crown would actually suppress.

"Cute," the fox finally remarks in a flat tone. "But I suppose if one can't afford to pay a proper assistant anymore, it's to be expected one would turn to... other measures." She can't bring herself to call it 'desperate', even if she's giving Bao a bit of a stink eye.

It all culminates in a soft sigh and a shake of her head. As long as nothing undermines the efforts of her masters, no ill will come of it. "I probably shouldn't admit it -is- good to see you again, Shenmi. Despite our... estranged situations."

"I do road shows now, I need a more portable assistant," he jokes, "and one which doesn't mind being yanked anywhere without advance notice. Granted, he's not as experienced, but he'll eventually get the hang of it." This is delivered with the kind of histrionics that elicits a few chuckles from the onlooking Landers. "Plus, hey, he seems to be pretty popular. I've heard that people find him adorable," he says, scratching Bao under the chin.

"Nice to see you again too," he smiles, before plopping Bao back into his hat. He flips it over, there is a bit of a POP! with some smoke, and confetti rain down from the hat. Shenmi flicks it a few times, and places it back on his head. "Gives a feeling for the old times, huh?" He crosses his forearms, gives another flick of his hands, and two fans of cards appear, just like before. "Maybe we could go to a tavern, you could point me to some place where one could have some proper fun, and I could tell you some interesting stories when you're not too busy. This Yamato place has all sorts of wonky stuff going on, it seems... have you heard that they have Adventurers who advanced their field of interest?"

It's the kind of information Shenmi is sure the Crowned must have learnt by now. But tossing supposed 'intelligence' like that, casually, might help in concealing his true intentions.

    The card is tucked away, Arashi not sure if it is important, not, or just a souviner. Doesn't matter either way. Rather than interrupt, the warhorse is just relaying this information back to her guild as she watches. They knew who both of them were, already? Ugh. Once this training is done she'll need to find Shiruba or someone to get her all caught up on this whole mess..

"... A valid adaptation." Daiyu states, doing her best to not let on how much being replaced by the rabbit is probably tweaking her. Alas, nothing that can be done about it. Not in middle of a Root Town they haven't taken control of, at least.

"As nice as the reunion is, we probably should not socially congegate for too long." Eyes shift sideways towards the crowd. That mare in the back has been too quiet, presumably on her chim or such, compared to the rest of the crowd either applauding the trick or keeping their paces from her. "Neither of our current arrangements would be fond of it." It's obvious she's being careful of what words she uses.

"They have a lot of... questionable methods in handling Adventurers," she replies cooly. "But... I feel I am the only one that has taken an effort in trying to grasp -why- they've been handled... differently." Know your enemy and all that. Or could be something more. Or maybe not. Daiyu's has always been one of those to keep seperate short and long strategies unwinding, so it's hard to tell.

"Probably, probably," Shenmi concedes. "We are in different situations, indeed. Maybe it's for the best if we limit our interaction, indeed. I just wanted to say I miss our times together, is all. Back in the day." The fans of card show all sorts of diffrent cards, but when they're fanned the other way soon after, all cards are suddenly showing the face of a six of clubs. The crowd oooooooooohs.

Daiyu's words bring a smile to Shenmi's face. "Congregating is probably not a good idea, no." he agrees. "Like trains in the night and all that."

There is some mumbling between the Landers at the mention of the word 'trains', but they probably shrug it off as another weird Adventurer thing. "Maybe one day everything will be quiet again, and we'll be able to sit down, on the same side of the arrangements, and laugh at all this."

The Adventurer... chimming? Is that what she's doing? catches Shenmi's attention. He lets it be for now.

"Always unique, always special, always steps ahead of everyone else," Shenmi comments at Daiyu. "Your arrangements should be proud of such a fine acquisition. I'm a bit jealous, I have to say. They got my best assistant-" A pause. He reaches into his jacket, and pulls out the face of his bun-bun again. "-no offense, Bao." He pushes the bun-bun in again.

The crowd laughs.

    Hrm. Well they both seem to have noticed the dire-shire. Time to hit the Ol' Dusty Trail. The rest of their wrapped meal is finished, as is their drink, before Arashi rises, disposes of the trash she had, and heads off to areas 'unknown'. To the South East, certainly, back to Vertina and their maid dress. ... Heh.

"I wanted to keep Kallamore safe. Keep the city that had become our home in order after... the foolish acted without thinking. Extreme actions required extreme actions in response." Daiyu paused a moment, in that way that accompanies her being cautious about what she's considering saying. "Going to war with another server... was not anticipated. But it was deemed the course to take in response to more... unpredictable Adventurer nature."

'This part is more than I bargained for' is what she'd really want to say, but can't, not with the Crown on her head. It might briefly be seen in her eyes, before she sharply turns her attention away to watch the shire get up to leave. Hmm. Who could she of spoken to, she doesn't recognize the equine from any of her encounters. She may have to ask around...

The hulijing eventually turns in the opposite direction as she resettles the parasol on her shoulder. "As of such, I should also be on my way." She takes a few steps then pauses, turning her head enough to glance at Shenmi over her shoulder. "It -is- nice seeing you again... even if I don't care for the company you've been forced to replace me with. Try not to die out there. We both know where that road eventually leads...."

"I had no doubt you always did what you deemed best," Shenmi replies.

It is not lost on him that those eyes let through something under the surface. Something trapped.

"Hang in there," he says as departing words, then turns towards the audience. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the one, the only, the great Daiyu! A round of applause for her!"

The crowd complies, some of them a bit confused, and after that, Shenmi puts up his showtime grin, and goes for the neverending string of tied handkerchiefs in his pocket.

Because the show must go on.