Bells (burneverybreath) wrote in cirque_rp, @ 2019-04-10 12:54:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, c: grayson brisk, player: circe |
WHO Aniko & Grayson
WHEN Wednesday night
WHERE The Menagerie
WHAT Criminals on the run = old loves meeting up
WARNINGS Talk of murder
At 5.10am Aniko Varga dropped into her seat on the Greyhound, hood pulled up over her head and arms across tight over her body. But it was only when the bus started pulling out of the station that she let herself breath normally again, and it was only on the outer limits of Miami that she felt some of the tension leaving her shoulders.
Just a few hours ago she had been crouched in front of the safe in her boss' office, tossing handfuls of cash into the duffel bag at her feet. Mikkel was lying splayed not far from the bag and Aniko didn't look at him. He'd never done her any harm in all the years they'd worked together, but Aniko had been planning this robbery and escape for almost six months. Mikkel had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He wasn't even supposed to be in the city, let alone in this building. That was why she'd chosen today. No one was supposed to die, and when her boss returned from Fort Lauderdale after his job, Aniko and the money would be gone without a trace.
At least she hoped she'd left no trace. Aniko scrunched down in her bus seat, eyes half closed as it rumbled past broken down houses and patches of arid scrub.
She slept then, the uncomfortable stuffy warmth of the bus lulling her nerves and quieting her thoughts, and although her dreams were troubled they weren't enough to wake her. It was a shout that woke her and had her reaching into her hoodie for the knife she didn't actually have there anymore, but the assumed enemy was just some kid, restless and shrieking about his game until a parent managed to silence him by shoving a bag of skittles into his hand.
Beyond that, the very long trip was thankfully uneventful. She most of the time dozing in the heat, listening to the other passengers complain about the busted air conditioning as though the bitching would fix it. Aniko wished she hadn't gotten rid of her phone before buying a new one. Some things could have been planned better, but it was almost fate that the bus had an issue early on and had to stop for short time at a gas station. It meant Aniko could buy a cheap phone and at least use the wifi.
She scrolled mindlessly through the internet but couldn't concentrate on anything. She knew that all she had to do was get to New Orleans. Grayson was there, at that circus he talked about on their phonecalls. She just had to get to Grayson and then... Aniko didn't know what happened then, but she knew she would be out of this life, living free and as a rich woman. So long as she didn't get killed first.
Just get to Grayson.
Just don't get caught.
New Orleans felt far enough away that no one would be looking for her there.
It was 5.45am, a whole day gone on a bus, when Aniko climbed out of her seat and into the New Orleans sunrise, her body feeling stiff and tender from sitting so long. She wanted to change, because being a tiger would be so much more comfortable, but that wasn't an option here in the middle of town. So she yawned and stretched and collected her bag while she drank a cheap and terrible coffee. She asked about the closest hotels, not caring about their cost. As long as it had a bed and a lock. She only needed it as a place to hide out. From now on, everything was about hiding out.
She'd thought when she got to the hotel - cheap but not nasty - she do something sensible: formulate a plan, start learning more about the city, keep cautious. But instead she finished half the bottle of vodka she'd bought and crashed hard into bed, all the adrenaline of her actions and the long trapped bus ride catching up with her.
When she woke again the light reaching through the gap in the curtains was the orange of street lights instead of sun, and Aniko frowned at it, confused about where she was and what time it was. Then with a grown she pulled herself out of bed and into clean clothes, trying to get rid of the funk of the bus ride but not finding the will to shower. It was dark. The circus opened at dark. Showering would just be more time before she found Grayson. Heading out the door, Aniko stopped and turned back into the room. Not wanting to leave the duffel bag of money in the hotel room, she grabbed it and slung it over her shoulder.
-
Even before she had stepped on the circus grounds, Aniko knew it felt funny. The girl at the ticket booth gave her a knowing look, and she didn't smell normal either. Once inside the walls there was something about the whole place that just felt off in a way she couldn't place, but nor did she want to place it. She was here for one thing and the rest could wait. Of course it was going to be a weird circus - Grayson worked here, probably with weird ass animals. The girl at the ticket booth had been the first true idea of it: Aniko wasn't the only special one here.
Not knowing where Grayson even was, Aniko ended up asking a few of the workers - the girl in one of the food shops was no help and didn't even know who he was, but when she asked the man on stilts breathing fire he had been able to point her in the right direction: The Menagerie.
So she shifted the heavy bag on her shoulder and followed the paths until she finally found it, a tent that looked like all of the others until she went inside. She paused then, lingering near the door so that she could look back out into the open circus. This was... not what she had expected from the outside. It was... it was definitely bigger in here, right?
"What the fuck?" Aniko muttered under her breath, brow creased. Something about the air seemed to flicker and crackle around her and Aniko wasn't sure if she liked it. But she walked further into the strange garden, following the sound of a voice speaking loudly. She didn't recognise the words nor the voice itself, but she recognised the familiar inflection of it. Something tightened in her chest and she went with the others along the path until it opened up into an area.
That was when she saw Grayson and a very large and very weird bird. What the fuck was that bird?
Aniko looked around at the people in the crowd with her but none of them looked alarmed or confused, only delighted. They didn't know what they were seeing or how they were seeing it, but every one of them seemed ready to believe in the magic of it. But Aniko knew it was a whole different magic than any of them could understand. So she watched Grayson play with his big weird magic bird and when it seemed like the display was over, Aniko pushed her way through people and towards Grayson before he could disappear somewhere.
He was going to turn a corner so she shouted out, "Hey, dickhead!" She was already smiling, waiting for him to turn around and see her, waiting for him to recognise her voice.