"Come one, come all! We have for you a very lovely comedy at hand for you tonight that could very easily turn into a tragedy! Don't be shy, children of all ages are welcome but leave the adults at home!" This was the call of Clarimonde as he stood in front of the small circus that had rolled into town. He had been hired by the owner to act as both a part of the show and as a greeting person as people came about. He personally didn't like the position he was standing it at the moment. He would much rather have been in the tent getting ready for his act, or taking a juggling club and bashing a few brains in, or just setting fire to the circus all together.... or maybe all of them at once? It was a lovely thought but sadly it could only remain a fantasy. The fact of the matter, sad as it was, was that he had taken the job because he needed the money. He was running low and circuses were always a good way to get some spare change, especially for someone in his position. For Clarimonde was a mutant, and, fortunately for him, he was a mutant of such fantastic physical proportions that it was exceedingly easy to play it off as though he was just wearing some damn good make up. Most mutants had rather subtle mutations and so when they used them they were an extreme surprise. Clarimonde couldn't hide his mutations, he was just born with the short straw.

Standing at six feet two inches tall on top of his podium, Clarimonde was a sight to see. He was currently wearing a uniform that the circus manager had given him for his position, a pair of soft skin tight white pants with two black stripes down the side, a white under shirt and a red marching band jacket with two black stripes down the right breast and adorned with a few pins here and there. A top his head was a marching band hat and on his hands were a set of black gloves. He liked it fine really, though he personally preferred his usual attire of his occasional Nazi Death Marshal uniform... god bless the Nazi's, such an indigenous people!* His skin was skeletal white and his hair was blue. For his position as greeter, he had combed it back to keep it out of his eyes which were as stunning a blue as his hair. He had no nose to speak of in a sense, just a couple of slits in his head that acted the part. Every time he moved his head a small tingle rang out that could scarcely be heard over the crowd of the people. His tail poked out from the tail of the red jacket he was wearing, swinging merrily back and forth. Occasionally, a small child or even and adult would ask about his tail to which he replied, "It's all for the show! Step inside and see you little impatient pests!" Most regarded such remarks with a confused expression. A few laughed, such jolly laughs! He dreamed of replacing it with the gurgling of blood... never mind. His feet were bare save for the black boots he had switched his gaiters for in order to hide his feet and to stay in uniform. After having stood there for as long as he had though (about an hour and a half) he wasn't sure how smart that was. If he began to sweat, it would be bad... very bad, considering that he owned none of what he was wearing. He just needed to last a little bit longer though, the show was about to begin and the crowd was dwindling.

A young couple he could see in the crowd, just a few meters back form his current position in front of the circus tent. The female of the two (or he should say naturally female. These sorts of situations always have a way of stealing a mans' testiculars and placing them into a womans' pocket) was leaning her head against the male's shoulder and the male had his arm wrapped around her. Clarimonde smiled a wide toothy grin, it was too much, too easy! He had to do it and do it he shall. He waited for the two to get close to him. He waited until just before they were next to him before jumping into the air and turning towards the pair. He landed on the podium and bent his knees so that he was nearly eye level with the two. "Hey!" he shouted out. "If you're going to go into the show together, make sure to A, leave together, B, enjoy the show, and C actually watch the show instead of sucking each others' faces all night! It's a waste of money if you don't!" Standing up tall and laughing, his head tilted back and his gloved hands on his stomach, Clarimonde rejoiced at the image of their faces in his mind when he had shouted at them. Someone in the crowd called out a slanderous remark, something about him not being a very good greeter. He stopped laughing abruptly and looked into the crowd in general. "If you think you can do this job better, by all means take a step and give a shout! But keep in mind that the money is still mine!" He laughed again, wiping a tear away from his eye. "It's all a part of the show ladies and gentlemen! The comments, the make up and all! Go into the big top now while you still have a chance, we'll be starting in less than fifteen minutes!"

He turned away from the crowd then. That had been close. He had really wanted to rip into whoever had said that both verbally and physically; to hell with the job! Anyone without a sense of humor didn't deserve to exist in his opinion. Regardless, his opinion didn't matter much in the world. He was a circus performer, had been brought up to be a circus performer and would probably die one despite his having no real upbringing at all. He lived by the sword and he would adore to die by it as well. He never wanted to grow up, so jobs such as these suited him very well. He didn't have to pretend very much because people thought he was pretending already. As a bonus, he could imagine as many of them dead as he could stand and the many horrid ways in which he could cause it.... What a happy thought really. The show would begin in fifteen minutes though, he should be going to get ready. Stepping down from his pedestal, Clarimonde picked it up and carried it with him around to the back of the big top where he stepped inside and awaited for his cue to being, stripping the boots, gloves, shirt and jacket. When it was his time to come on he would strip the pants as well, but not until then. Folks thought it was "indecent" to see him walking around naked. He couldn't see why. Everything was born naked, the clothing is a mark of shame really. Such matters didn't concern him though, he need only focus on the act that was to come, one he had reasoned with the manager and he had preformed for quite a while in Europe. As he recalled, the crowds loved it.

* I almost forgot. I do not condone the Nazi party in any way shape or form. Clarimonde does, however, and so I made that comment to help illustrate that. Don't want anyone thinking I'm a racist because of that...

In the weeks since Skydancer had come to New York, she had time to do a lot of thinking about her life and about the pros and cons of it. She had a safe place to stay at The Mansion, even if she still wasn't entirely sure she could trust her situation there. She had the opportunity to meet a couple of mutants who had helped to show her that her situation wasn't so bad as she originally thought it was and she had gotten herself a wig, which made her feel much better about actually blending in with the people around her. Of course she still had that purple skin problem, but that was something she was working on.

Life, as it turned out, didn't end when one became a visible mutant. While her dreams of becoming an Olympic athlete might have ended, that didn't mean everything else had to end with it. Between Koga and Dahlia, her two lizard mutant friends, she had a new appreciation for the life she now found herself in. It wasn't necessarily the life she would have chosen for herself, but having come to accept that it was the life she now had, she wanted to make the best of it. After all, for all the disadvantages of being purple (disadvantages she was working on mitigating) there were all sorts of fantastic advantages as well. She could do things that mere humans could only dream of doing.

Having come out of her depression, Skydancer began seriously considering where to go with her life next. There weren't a lot of options for a purple mutant in the human world but, just as she was beginning to let her frustration get the best of her, she had it. The circus. If there was any place she could excel, surely that would be it? There her bizarre appearance might just work to her advantage and surely her years of training as a gymnast would also help if she were to become a professional acrobat? Not only that, but she loved nothing more than to perform in front of a crowd and to see the awe in people's faces as she performed amazing feats of athleticism. That decided, it was a simple matter of tracking down the circus and figuring out how to get there.

Knowing that, for once, she wanted her mutant appearance visible for all to see, Skydancer opted out of wearing the wig that had become part of her usual attire when leaving the safety of The Mansion. The taxi ride to the circus was as unpleasant as she knew it would be, but once there the looks she received were surprisingly easy to ignore given her level of excitement and optimism, both of which had been rare feelings in the last few years.

As Skydancer made her way slowly up the line, it soon became clear that the greeter was a fellow mutant, and one who looked a little on the disturbing side, at that. Still, looks could be deceiving and she hated to be judged by her own appearance, so she didn't her slight discomfort show. "For one please," she spoke once it was her turn in line. "And I'm interested in, uh, applying to join the circus if possible. As an acrobat maybe." She wasn't entirely certain how one applied to join the circus, but that seemed as good a way as any.

Clarimonde was getting ready for his act. He was in the back of the tent with all of the other acts that were to come on and please the crowd soon. Unlike them, however, his act was a solo one and so he prepared for it by himself. All he needed to do was get a little bit worked up, just enough to sweat but not before he wen on. That was key, but he had set up a system long ago to remedy this. As he prepared, he stretched and did as little as possible until the last five minutes, during which he would do as much as physically possible and work up a sweat just as he was coming out. Today, while he worked to prepare, he thought of the mutant he had seen in the crowd today. Unlike he, she did not appear to be trying to hide her mutation in any way... and he wasn't sure if she had discovered him for a mutant or not. Regardless, he thought about what she asked him and how he had responded.

"A ticket for one? Why certainly by dear purple mutant," Clarimonde had said, waving his hands before him in an exaggerated fashion before flipping his wrist and appearing to have drawn a ticket from thin air. The truth was that it had been in his sleeve the whole time, but it was all for the show. He handed her the ticket rather daintily and said, "As for joining the show, I personally can't help you. Boss man might be able to, but you'll have to see him after the show. Anyways, I'm off to go get ready." Then he had left, taking his stool with him. He thought about her now because of the tone in her voice... the sort of doubt in her eyes. It made him sick to think about it. She was a mutant! She should be proud of the fact, just as he was. His mutation had made him strong, had allowed him to think wondrous things. What was something like family when compared to such things as these, one of the few things in life he hadn't had? He thought it was a perfectly even trade and so never questioned it himself. If she did join the circus, however, as an acrobat like she wanted to be, she could not stand up to him... and tonight he would show her why.

The circus went on, the instruments played, the tigers and lions and elephants and their trainers and the clowns and the magicians all did their acts, saving the best of all for last. He had insisted when applying for the job that he go on last. He promised to show the owner why and knew that he would be watching from the side lines. As the show went on, Clarimonde's personal set of drummers set themselves up in the back of the tent, just barely visible to the audience and thus invisible. They weren't his personal set of drummers in the sense that he owned them, they were his because they were scarcely needed anywhere but his act. This too he explained to the owner, who had grumbled and said something about it better be a fantastic performance. At long last, the acrobats went out which were the last act before his own. Which meant he needed to start getting ready. His stretches had been taken care of long ago, now all he needed to do was to get physically active enough to where he began to sweat, but time it right so that he didn't burst before he went out. He took off his pants and he began.

First he did some simple flips and cartwheels, nothing fancy just enough to get him started. Once warmed up with these, he began to do more rigorous exercises such as push ups. By this time, the acrobats were finishing and getting ready for him to perform while the boss man was making his announcements. "Ladies and gentleman!" Clarimonde could hear him boom from the back as he did his exercises. "Tonight we have a very special treat for you. A man came to me recently and promised me the most spectacular performance I would ever see in my circus. I was skeptical, just as I'm sure you all are now. But I gave him a chance out of the goodness of my heart. What is special is that tonight shall be the first night he performs. We have gone through a great deal of preparation for him as the show has progressed. He has informed me that he is to be acting alone! This is something very few performers can do, but he promised me that he would shine... and he said it with such enthusiasm!" Of course he said it with enthusiasm. The ringmaster could have no idea what was about to come but Clarimonde knew it would draw in people by the hundreds and the thousands. People from as far as Europe may come to see him once they heard that Will-O'-The-Wisp had reappeared. His body was beginning to get hot now and he was feeling the breath becoming more and more labored. Why wouldn't that man finish his speech already so that Will-O'-The-Wisp could destroy any and all doubts from his mind? At long last, he could hear his introduction and headed to the center of the tent. Just in time to, he was beginning to sweat.

"Ladies and gentlemen, without further a due, let me introduce for the first time under our very own Circus tent, Will-O'-The-Wisp!" The ringleader began to clap his hands along with everyone else and he turned to see Clarimonde coming out... naked. His jaw dropping, the ring leader ran towards him and said under the roar of applause, "What in the hell are you doing!?"

"Relax boss man," Clarimonde said, still hidden in the darkness though he wouldn't be for long. The fumes from his sweat were beginning to ignite with the oxygen in the air, creating a faint green glow around him. "It's all part of the performance." Giving the ringleader a wink. Clarimonde turned to the crowd and sprinted out towards it, his sweat ignited creating toxic green flames, the lights were all put out at once and his drum ensemble began to play. The flames that surrounded his entire being took care of his being naked and his light painted over all other faces there. He stood in silence for a moment, his hands raised as the crowd let out their ooohs and their ahhhhs.... disgusting. "Ladies and gentlemen!" he called. "Do not let yourselves be fooled! These are actual flames. My name is Will-O-the-Wisp, and tonight shall be one you never forget!"

Saying no more, Clarimonde began to do a series of back hand springs in a tight circle, the sounds of his flame dancing through the air complementing his drum ensemble. He landed on his feet to end his circling and bounced for a moment before dashing forward and leaping through the air in a front areal, rolling onto the ground and sitting on his knees, his arms spread. The crowd burst into applause but he wasn't done yet. His acrobats needed to be attended to. Getting up onto his feet, Calrimonde dashed over to one of the circus tent poles that held the posts for climbing up to the high wire. He climbed up the posts as fast as he could, fueling his flames. The other acrobats, while they had still been out there, had replaced the wire with a Russian jumping beam instead, his specialty. He got up to the small platform and took a bow. All eyes were on him and there were many cheers of excitement from down below. Not wanting to disappoint them, Clarimonde turned to the beam and got a dashing start out onto it, staying on the balls of his feet as he ran. The further he went out, the more the balancing board became more and more unstable until it was bouncing with each step he took. Smiling and laughing, his laughter echoing through the tent and surely sending a chill or two down some peoples' spines, Clarimonde bent his knees and jumped high up into the air, using the waves of the beam to give him launch. There were many gasps from the crowd below, there always was, and many more as Claimonde executed another front areal. His feet made contact with the beam as he came down and both slipped to the side.

There was an instant where Clarimonde just looked straight a head, his body falling to the right. From below a woman screamed, he loved the sound, wondered if it was the mutant girl, didn't waste time to find out. Tucking his knees in, he caught the bar with his knees and threw all of his weight into his head and shoulders, rotating his body around the bouncing beam a few times. There came cheers from below, then more as Clarimonde let go of the beam with his knees and took a took a hold of it with his hands. He lifted himself up onto the beam slowly and steadily, being careful not to disturb it, and stood up on his arms, then one arm, then both arms again. He flipped back onto his feet, tucking his head in towards his stomach, keeping his legs straight, and his hands on his thighs, and then did a back flip off of the beam itself. He would have broken every bone in his body... were it not for the safety net that broke his fall. He knew that it couldn't keep him safe for long though. His flames would burn through it soon. He rolled out from the net and onto the circus floor ten feet below on his hands and knees and stood up just as the drum ensemble stopped. The applause was tremendous, as he knew it would be. He took a bow, several, and then turned and left the circus ring to the back where his astonished new boss stood, paralyzed in surprise. Clarimonde smirked at him, still on fire and said, "Still think I won't earn you money? And by the way, there's someone in the crowd interested in joining the circus. You can't miss her, she's purple. You should see her when you get the chance." Now past his still stunned boss, Clarimonde shouted to the support in the back, "Yo! I need a bucket of water here! My chicken nuggets have been in the oven too long!"

Skydancer wasn't really sure what to expect of the circus. Despite her years of gymnastics training, something of a sister skill to acrobatics, she never really paid much attention to that side of things. Every waking moment, it seemed, had been spent either at school, sleeping or training. When one trained for the Olympics, it really didn't leave much time for anything else. Driven was the one word that virtually everyone had used to describe her, either that or obsessed and she coudln't exactly disagree with them. What little she did know of the circus was gained through watching TV.

The longer the show went on, the more Skydancer was certain that she had made the right choice in coming there. As a teenager, she never could have predicted that her life might go in that direction; but then, she never could have predicted that she'd one day wake up purple. It was different than her gymnastics had been, with more of an emphasis on theatrics and less on actual competition. There were similarities too, however, and the roar of the crowd was one of them. It was something that she sorely missed hearing; the adulation of fans as she engaged in amazing feats of physical fitness.

It was the mutant doorman that Skydancer was most interested in and she gasped in awe, just like everyone else in the crowd, when he burst into flames. Even knowing that it was most likely something to do with his power didn't stop the feeling of awe and admiration that welled up inside of her. The way he leaped into the air and the feats he performed with the beam were simply amazing to behold. For a while Skydancer forgot why she was even there, so absorbed was she in the pure spectacle of the show. In a way it was even better than being a legitimate athlete; as an athlete one really couldn't afford the attention to play to the crowd. As an athlete it was all about the competition, excelling at what you did in order to defeat your opponents. The circus, it seemed, was different. The performers were no less athletic than the men and woman she used to train with, and yet there was something extra there too, something mesmerizing. It was a world that, in that moment, she was determined to become a part of.

As the show wound to a close and Skydancer stood up and applauded with the rest of the crowd, her nervousness returned. What if she didn't' have what it took? Or, even worse, what if they weren't even willing to give her a chance to prove herself? She wasn't used to the feeling of being out of her element, of being a complete novice and yet that's exactly what she was when it came to the circus. Her whole life she had dedicated to the pursuit of one single activity and that activity was not what she meant to pursue now. Still, there was only one way to rectify that fact and she did her best to force down her discomfort.

In what she hoped was a confident walk, Skydancer approached Will-O-the-Wisp and the man he was talking too. "I really enjoyed your performance out there. It was positively amazing." The words were heartfelt and enthusiastic.

A couple of assistants came along and doused Clarimonde with a bucket of water, effectively ending his flames. He let out a cry of shock as the cold water suddenly made contact with his flesh but shook his hair and smiled a hearty smile as he shook his entire body, throwing excess water everywhere. "Gotta love that cold water!!" he called out, laughing. One of his fellow acrobats came over and congratulated him on his first performance and handed him a towel, not looking at his extremities. That was fine, he rarely did himself. In fact, he wasn't sure if he had any... he honestly wasn't sure when compared to a normal person. That was another subject for another day though. He dried himself off and went over to the small table where his clothes were folded up neatly. He picked them up first by his underwear and then his pants, putting them on respectively. He put his belt on as Skydancer, the mutant he had seen from earlier, approached him. He turned to her with a sarcastic smile that he met the world with.

"I'm glad you found enjoyment in it, and I'll find m y enjoyment from the small bit of money that I earn out of you," Clarimonde said, tightening his belt and tucking it into a belt loop. He picked up his black jacket and threw it on over his shoulders, not buttoning it. He kept it open and sat down on the table, putting his hands in his head and tussling his hair to get any excess water out from it. He let out a light groan of pleasure and his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. "That itch! Finally satisfied! Oh, me gusta!" Pulling his hands from his hair, he stuck his left hand ring finger inside of his ear and scratched. He was always amazed at how much it sounded like Pac-Man. He pulled his finger out of his ear, examined it for a moment, then put his top hat upon his head. Taking in a breath and spitting down on the ground, Clarimonde looked over Skydancer's shoulder and saw his boss heading over to him, a smile on his face.

"That was truly sensational!" the ringmaster said, gafaughing merrily and patting Clarimonde on the shoulder. Clarimonde pulled his lip up in a silent snarl at his touch, revealing his sharp teeth and black gums. He wanted nothing more at that moment then to jump on the man and bit into his jugular for having the gull to touch him without permission, but he knew he wouldn't. The fact was that doing so would not only put him out of a job but also on the map in this country as a bad mutant. Neither of which were good things. So he didn't do anything about the touch and instead let him ramble on about how good he was and how glad he was that he hired him blah blah blah blah. At length, he got tired of hearing him speak and said, "Hey boss, this fine young purple lady here wants to speak with you. She wants a job I believe. I'm gonna go outside to freshen up a bit. You two get to know each other better." Saying no more and ignoring all that was said to him from then on, Clarimonde put on his gaiters and walked out of the tent, where circus hands were putting things away here and there. He twisted his neck from side to side, popping it and bringing about a merry jingle in his ears. He always loved to hear that jingle. That mutant would probably come out to try and talk to him again, so instead of wandering off he stayed where he was and watched the workmen go... like ants, waiting to be burnt with a magnifying glass. He pulled the left hand side of his coat apart and admired his authentic Nazi pin while he waited.

Skydancer couldn't imagine what it would be like to be on fire, but she was guessing that Will O' Wisp didn't feel any real discomfort from it. Or at least, it looked like it didn't feel any discomfort from it but she wasn't about to ask stupid questions like it. It was probably just the sort of question that he got all the time and she wasn't going to be one of those annoying fan girls; especially not if she wanted to actually get into the business of circus performing. Stupid questions, she was guessing, was something she'd probably have to get used to if she actually managed to follow through with her plans.

"I'm glad you found enjoyment in it, and I'll find m y enjoyment from the small bit of money that I earn out of you,"

"I'm happy to help," Skydancer answered. The fact that it wasn't really her money but rather Mansion money was something she failed to mention as it didn't really seem all that important. For that matter, she wasn't sure that this was the sort of thing she was supposed to use funds for, but that was besides the point. The money was going towards a good cause and, if all went well, in the very near future she'd be able to make her own money and not have to rely upon the generosity of others any longer. It would be a good feeling to finally become independent.

Once Will O' Wisp left, Skydancer was left alone with the man who ran the circus. The conversation started out with something of a lack of confidence on her part, but the more she talked, the more her confidence returned. Yes, she could perform tricks due to her years of gymnastics training. No, she had never been an acrobat before. Yes, she was willing to work for cheap. Yes, she was more than willing to learn and put in hours of work doing so, if need be. Yes, she was willing to illustrate what her mutant power was. In the end, a trial period was what she got and that was all she really could have asked for. Now that she had her in, she was certainly she could cement her place there. Dedication had always been a strong suite.

Once the arrangements had been made to meet the people who would help her adapt and learn a few new skills, Skydancer went outside, rather more pleased with herself than was properly modest. Modesty was overrated anyway. Once outside, Will O' Wisp wasn't difficult to spot, although his appearance was no less unnerving than it had been when she first arrived. "Thank you for introducing me," Skydancer spoke once she got into hearing range. "I'm Skydancer and, once again, your performance was amazing. I can only hope that one day I will be able to do something half so impressive." She extended a hand for shaking.

Clarimonde spent the better part of ten minutes doing nothing but looking at his Nazi pin, waiting for that purple person to come out. He was getting sick of waiting though. Twice had a filthy worker come up to him and asked what he was doing, to which he replied, both times, "Minding my own damn business like you should be doing," giving them a look of his blue eyes and then staring back at the pin. What the hell was taking her so long anyways? It was a simple question, can I join the circus? A few questions from the boss man, a few obedient yeses, no more no less. He decided while he was standing there to take his frustration out on the circus itself and set fire to something... maybe the boss man's personal tent. He'd figure it out while he was doing it.

While he was fantasizing about this, the purple person finally came to meet him where he stood. "About time," he mumbled under his breath, letting go of his jacket and turning on his heels to face the woman. "Congratulations! You have just become a part of the greatest show on earth! You should feel proud!" Clarimonde said, laughing and tilting his head back. He gasped when he saw her hand extend forward and jumped back a few inches, his legs bowed out and his arms drawn up as though he were ready to strike out, his mouth pulled up in a dismal sneer. When she did nothing threatening with her hand, he let his mouth and arms go limp and he looked at her, his eyes narrowed, "Draw!" he shouted, curling his tail between his legs and smacking her hand twice, once on the palm and once on the back of her hand, with it. He laughed again and stood up straight, his tail dragging across the ground as he returned it back to its place. He stuck his hands in his pockets and began to walk away to the left.

"Call me by my stage name for now," he said as he left. "If you get to know me a little better I might let you know my real name... if I don't kill you first I mean. You know, poison your food or all that." He let his verbal thoughts drift off into silence as he walked further away from her. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and began to rub them together, thinking to himself as he did, Now, I just need to make my way over to the boss man's tent and give him a little 'house warming' present. The purpose for rubbing his hands together was so that he could get them to sweat and thus start a fire. The best part about this was that things he caught on fire didn't stay the same color as his flames but instead burnt red as regular fire did once it no longer could feed off of his flammable sweat.

That night, Clarimonde giggled to himself as his boss cried out in shock when his tent caught fire in his sleep. By the time it was out, Calrimonde was on the other side of the circus grounds and was dying of laughter. The next few days went about as they had always gone for him during his days in the circus, fast paced and without notice. Each night he performed last and each night he got a huge burst of applause. The same thing day in and day out. But it was good money on his part, in the better part of three days he became the star attraction of the show. It was an exceedingly surprising to everyone, including the owner of the circus (especially the owner of the circus) when on the fourth night his flames were not green but instead purple. He had been eating a lot of sugar lately, which he had discovered a while back would make his flames this color. So for that night, the audience got an extra surprise. After the show, he was doused off as he usually was (tonight his response was to shout merrily, "I like it rough!") and got dressed. The towel he had been using was beginning to get dingy... he would have to wash it soon. It was good for another night though, and so he dried off his hair and body promptly as he got dressed.

"Congratulations! You have just become a part of the greatest show on earth! You should feel proud!"

Skydancer wasn't willing to go that far yet but she nodded her head anyway. Anything she did she wanted to be the best at and anything she was a part of, ultimately, she wanted to be the best. She was a novice now, however, and understood that being the best took a great deal of time and effort. It was effort she was willing to put in, of course, but she couldn't expect such things to happen instantly. This circus was a start and, thus far, the only circus she had seen; thus it was the best she had been to thus far. That didn't actually mean it was the best but time and experience would tell that story.

When Will O' Wisp jumped back at her extended hand, Skydancer looked at him quizickally. Did he really have cause to be so paranoid? Then again, she knew how difficult it was to be a visible mutant and her visible mutation wasn't even a particularly intimidating one. She was just purple and hairless, he was some kind of disturbing monster. When is spiked taile came up to meet her hand, this time it was her that jumped back. In her startlement, several tubes burst from her skin and raced towards him, though she was able to hold them back before they did anything regretable. "Sorry, they have a mind of their own sometimes." She let out a nervous laugh and let the tubes remain hovering around her head, piercing sharp tips clearly visible.

"If you get to know me a little better I might let you know my real name... if I don't kill you first I mean. You know, poison your food or all that."

"Stage name works," Skydancer agreed. It was kind of a mutant thing anyway, from what she had been able to glean, going by a different name. It occured to her to wonder if Will O' Wisp actually thought Skydancer was her real name, which would have been a rather odd one to have. It was the one she most often went by, the one that most represented who she was since her mutant transformation, but it obviously wasn't her real name. Or at least she thought it was obvious. Maybe circus performers just weren't very bright, or maybe they were so used to such an unusual life that they looked at things a little differently than the outside world might have.

"If you get to know me a little better I might let you know my real name... if I don't kill you first I mean. You know, poison your food or all that."

That was a comment Skydancer was less inclined towards simply accepting. She gave her fellow mutant a long look, not entirely certain if he was being serious or not and deciding maybe it was best that she just avoid him when eating, if possible. Amazing performer he might be, but she was beginning to get the impression that he was not what she would consider to be a nice person. It was entirely possible that he might be something far worse than a nice person and she was suddenly thankful for the fact that she had her tubes out to protect her, if need be. Spiked and able to ignite on fire he might be, but she had a few tricks of her own if it should ever come to that.

After the fourth performance and the clean up that came after it, Clarimonde exited the tent carrying his jacket on his shoulder, his pants undone at the button. They were still zipped up though and his belt was tightly fastened, so he didn't worry about them falling off. They were skinny jeans after all. He headed over to his own place of residence within the circus, a large tent that held four people, him, two acrobats, and a fire eater who didn't do much in the show except for adding flare. There were two people inside when he entered the tent who ignored him as much as he ignored them. One of them was playing around on a bass guitar, the other Clarimonde couldn't see. His back was turned to him. Calrimonde headed over to his own private corner of the tent, a bare place on the ground with a single suit case. He slept on the ground at all times, had adapted to sleeping on the ground (of course, when he slept that was) because of his mutations. If he had a nightmare, he tended to sweat out of fear which created quite devastating results to any bed he was sleeping in. He didn't mind sleeping on the ground (when he slept), he felt that it was good for his back anyways.

He got down on the ground on his knees and opened up his suitcase. All that was inside were the essentials such as shaving cream, a razor, not the disposable kind but the ones that were designed to actually last, a comb, other such things, and his Death Marshal uniform. He lifted up the jacket and looked at it, smiling. How long had it been since he last wore this suit? He wasn't sure. Under the pair of pants were the leather boots that completed the outfit, folded over to save space. Nodding to himself, Clarimonde decided that it was time he wore this uniform again. Setting the top down atop the open suitcase, Clairmonde let out the warning, "Getting naked! Avert your eyes!" He was regarded with silence, which he expected and didn't care. It was better that they didn't say anything, it left him with no desire to tear their vocal cords out.

Stripping naked and then getting dressed again, Clarimonde meticulously folded his everyday outfit and put it into the suitcase before snapping it shut and locking it. The circus was fun to work in, but you never knew how were thieves... one must be careful. Standing up straight, Clarimonde smoothed out his uniform and turned around. There was a large mirror across the way in which he could see himself. He looked nice, as he always did in the uniform... the spitting image of a Nazi and perhaps what they had wanted to look like all along. "Heil," he said to himself quietly, nodding at his reflection and turning away. He began to hum a tune to himself as he turned on his heel to exit the tent. The uniform needed air and he intended to give it to it. Just before he left though, he stopped. He stopped humming, moving, looking forward, everything, and turned around. He looked at the acrobat with the bass guitar. He wondered briefly if he had an amplifier for it and decided that it was a gentlemanly thing to do to just ask.

He walked up behind the man and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and looked at Clarimonde, saying nothing because of his sudden change in outfit. "Pardon me," Clarimonde said in a purposely exaggerated 'gentlemanly' tone, "But might I ask to borrow your bass guitar for a while? I do wish to play it delicately." The man's eyebrows furrowed. He hadn't been asked by Clarimonde anything before now and he hadn't ever heard Clarimonde ever speak in a tone that wasn't harsh. He said yes, mostly out of a numb since of bewilderment. He handed over the bass guitar and Clarimonde held it delicately in his white hands. It was heavy, heavier than he had expected. He looked over it for a bit, the four strings descending in thickness, the polished wooden neck, the red painted body. He looked at the man and asked, "Dose it have an amplifier?" The man nodded and produced one that had a cord connected to it. He handed it to Clarimonde who plugged it into the bass and then turned on the amp. He delighted at the faint and brief crackling sounds that came from electricity passing through it. It reminded him of leaves in fall being crushed underfoot. "I appreciate," Clarimonde said with a nod, walking outside of the tent with the guitar and strumming on it. He soon found a melody that he liked which happened to be the song Clint Eastwood. He wasn't sure why it had come to him, but it had none the less. When he thought about it, he realized that he actually liked the band Gorillaz which had originally been made to make fun of modern day music and yet was so successful now... it was like a big joke! So he supposed it was only natural that it was the first thing he played really.

Afterwards he played Feel Good Inc and here he wondered about the purple skinned person he had directed to the circus owner. He hadn't seen her around much, which wasn't too surprising to him, and wondered just how she was getting along. He ignored the looks he got from others at the sight of his outfit... or perhaps it was the sight of him playing the bass guitar... or the sight of him doing both and just standing, his eyes looking blankly down at the ground as he was lost in thought. He didn't care about their looks, he only cared about the bass guitar, his uniform, and the purple skinned woman. He thought that he would go find her, if she didn't find him first. The sounds from the amp inside of the tent were echoing faintly throughout the circus, so perhaps they would draw her close?