Some witches and creatures possessed something that Gray likened to Peter Parker's 'spider-sense', wherein they could innately feel the presence of other magics as surely as Gray himself could feel, say, the sun on a very warm day, or the slosh of water in his shoe form when the resident kelpie had gotten fresh with him earlier that afternoon. Before his connection to the Void, however, Gray had never really possessed such a sense. His father had named it as yet another detriment resulting from the late development of his powers, but it had never really bothered Gray so much as it seemed to bother him.
There were times where he figured it might come in handy, though. Like tonight, for example, where half the menagerie had erupted into a harried uproar for apparently no good reason that he could tell, leaving him to discern for himself, amongst the screaming, squawking, roaring cacophony, that there was a wrongness, a Wild Darkness, that had intruded upon the cirque. Most of the animals responded with instinct, erecting hackles and retreating to their dens. In the case of Coro, the resident Thunderbird and star of their aviary, however, the Dark Thing had so offended her sensibilities that she had completely and literally flown the coop, taking to the air with a (dramatic) vow of retribution and a great, thunderous clap of her expansive wings.
Left in gaping and disheveled bewilderment, Gray had watched her retreat with a face tilted skyward, declaring his exasperation to no one in particular: "Crap."
It was a mantra that carried him in the magnificent creature's wake at a sprint through the cirque, chasing forks of silver lightning that punctuated and skipped from tent pole to tent pole like it was as much a living thing as the creature summoning it. For as often as he found her amicable, Coro was a prideful thing almost to the point of absurdity. He could recall her preening indignation over the smallest perceived slights... it'd nearly cost him a finger or two on those occasions when her wounded ego was left to fester for too long.
Whatever it was that had upset her now was in a league of its own per its effectiveness; the chiming song of busted bulbs rained glass into his hair, and he only barely managed to get a forearm up to block any of the shards from finding their way into his face. Agitation curled his brow; fist clenched tight around a stick of chalk in one hand, the other fumbled at his belt for the flashlight holstered there.
One thing traveling with Jaime had taught him was to never leave home without one, and some extra C batteries just incase.
Heaving breath and rounding the corner of the midway in the direction of a distressing calamity of sound, he supposed he shouldn't have been too surprised to find the escaped fugitive posturing atop the shooting gallery's archway, wings gathering violet charge. The beam of his flashlight zig-zagged over the wreckage: rended earth. Frightened brownies. The Pool of Tears tent had seen better days. Still huffing breath - life on the road had done his physical health absolutely no favors - he spread his arms in the universal sign for 'what the fuck' as Coro screeched murderous agitation. "Yea, these guys really had it coming," he snapped, upturned palm sweeping to indicate the cowering, small creatures half buried in an avalanche of stuffy prizes.
This did nothing to assuage the bird's temperament, and he backpedaled quickly as the midway strobed in the light cast by her outstretched plumage. He might not have been able to sense magic, but the electric charge in the air was enough to elevate his curls out and away like a child's Plasma Globe. "Alright, alright!" he conceded with a patience he didn't quite feel, "I believe you, okay? But you're gonna hurt someone! You gotta--"
A loud, familiar screeching pierced the air from the off-kilter entrance of the Pool tent. Gray's flashlight swung immediately towards it, brows felled. "Roger?" he called, incredulity lilting the two syllables of his familiar's name. He took a step closer, gesturing to Coro with an impatient flag of his arm. "You stay there. You're on backup." He rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Yea, well that's what happens when you go all Riggs on me. Something to think about."