Look And See Her

[Amalthea]

((June 11th. Closed to Pavi and Amalthea the first page. Then open to some cast, workers, and customers))

The unicorn was imprisoned in the middle of a tent, the tent was lighter than all the other tents around it. A light lavender with silver moons and stars and matching silver tassles on the entrance opening. The unicorn stood on a raised dias her bridle a white gold decorated with purple stones and gems. The same as the wide cage she stood in.

It was a beautiful cage, it's floor a plush lavender velvet. But even a beautiful prison is still a prison. The unicorn looked around sadly, this was worse than Mama Fortuna's Night Carnival. At least there she could see where she was, see some type of wilderness beyond her cage.
But here, nothing but cloth and the ocassional flash of the outside, and more tents, when someone came in. Usually they'd come in and look at her.
A few, like the teenage boys who came in, would reach through the bars and try and take her horn. She knew what humans said about unicorns and their horns. That they could heal any wound or sickness.

Which was true...but only when they were alive. They could even bring back the newly dead back to life. But most humans didn't understand that.
The unicorn closed her eyes and laid her head inbetween her legs.
"What is to become of me now? Now that I am truly alone in this world?" She thought sadly to herself. Her heart and stomache hurt, it was a feeling she came to loath. It was regret.

[Pavi Largo]

As usual, curiosity had gotten the best of Pavi. Upon seeing a new, interesting looking tent on the fairgrounds of the circus, he'd become sidetracked from his original task of visiting Mina(which was pretty much all he did nowadays at the circus). And, unable to resist sneaking a peek into the delightfully colored tent, was very intrigued by what he saw there.

The tent itself looked a bit like a tapestry in a fairy tale, and immediately interested Pavi. What was hiding in the cage inside the tent, however, did far more than simply interest him. It took his breath away.

A unicorn. An actual, living and breathing, unicorn, was here.Pavi stared, wide-eyed and spellbound, by the beautiful creature. Pavi adored unicorns. Absolutely loved them. His mother had even given him a stuffed unicorn as a child, after seeing how much he loved the various stories she'd told him when he was growing up. He'd been obsessed with them for a time, yes, but he'd never imagined that they could be real.

Well, he wouldn't admit imagining it, anyway.

Pavi didn't even care to control his glee in the presence of others, or stop to think that it was probably just another one of the circus' mutations, and not a real unicorn. He didn't care. "Oh, così bella," he said to himself, shaking a little with excitement as he walked quickly up to the bars of the cage. The creature truly was beautiful, and looked exactly as he'd pictured a unicorn would. "Sei davvero reale?" He whispered, more to himself than the unicorn. A small hint of doubt rested in his mind, despite all the other strange things that had occurred in this circus, though Pavi wanted desperately to believe what he saw before him was true.

[Amalthea]

The unicorn watched the man closely eyes narrowing slightly as he approached. Who ever he was he was unlike any other human she had ever seen in her long, long life. He had two faces, one on top of his. But that look in his eyes was what intrigued her the most, it was the same look she got from most children who came into see her.

Pure wonder and amazement, almost bordering on rapture. He stood close to the bars and spoke in a language she hadn't heard in a long, long time. Italian...it sounded a little bit like Latin but not quite.Schmendrick taught it to her on her visits as well as French.
She looked into his eyes studying him deeply.He wasn't an innocent, far far from it in fact, but deep, deep down he still held onto a child like hope.

"I am real." She said at last having stared at him, and he at her, for a full five minutes. Unicorn stood up slowly, trying to regain her balance on the plush velevet cushions underneath her.
"As real as the stars, and the moon, and the earth As real as you. Though, if I weren't under this spell you wouldn't know it, otherwise I'd look like just another white horse to you."

[Pavi Largo]

Pavi drew in a sharp breath as the unicorn spoke. In all honesty, he'd expected the creature to simply be a horse with a horn sewn on its head, but the fact that it could talk as proof enough for him. Her voice was soft, like silk, and Pavi wished to hear more of it. It reminded him of his mother, and the stories she used to tell him as a child.

"Amazing," he breathed, shaking his head in wonder. "You are...so beautiful," he said, and he meant it. She was truly one of the most lovely creatures he'd ever laid eyes on. His eyes fell onto the horn, and he briefly wondered if the stories about them were true as well; if they really could heal the sick, and all that.

"What is a creature like-a you doing in a place like-a this?" Pavi questioned, frowning a little. "How did-a they find you?"

[Amalthea]

The unicorn felt a little uncomfortable at the way he was looking at her horn, true that was what most humans tended to look at when they saw her, but there was an intensity in his eyes.

"I was on the road, walking and exploring." The unicorn said quietly her eyes down cast. "Humans...when they look at us, not many of them know us for what we are, they just see horses. But this person, they knew what I was. They shot me with something in my right flank, it hurt a lot and I tried to run. But then I got weak and very, very tired. When I woke up, I was here in this cage. And a woman, a witch, placed a spell on me so that all humans can see me as who I truly am."

The unicorn paused, tilting her head at the man.
"Have you seen others like me here? I've not seen one of my kind for a long time, but...even so I don't think I'd want to see another here. If one unicorn behind bars is sad..two's a tradgery."

She paused for a moment.
"Do you know of any other unicorns out there, are we still safe and hidden from the world?"

[Pavi Largo]

Pavi shook his head regretfully, sad to have to deliver such news to the unicorn. "No...I...I honestly thought unicorns didn't-a really exist," Pavi admitted. Of course, he would never tell anyone of the thousands of times he'd searched for unicorns as a child, convinced that one day he'd find one. He'd read stories of unicorns that could grant wishes...and he had one wish that he wanted to request should he have ever found one; to bring back the one who had first told him of unicorns.

But that wish seemed selfish now, after hearing the creature's story of how she'd come to be here. "When I first-a saw you, I thought that-a you were fake, like all-a the others. You are-a the first real unicorn, or-a myth, I have ever-a seen," Pavi said, still holding a tone of breathless astonishment. Try as he might, he still couldn't completely believe that what he was seeing before him was truly real.

[Amalthea]

"I don't doubt that.." The Unicorn said quietly. "True immortal beasts are rarely, if ever, caught. We're good at keeping ourselves hidden, usually in plain sight as animals you humans see every day. You might have seen a unicorn and not even realized it. To most humans we look like ordinary white horses."
She felt a shiver run up her spine at the memory of the harpy devouring Mama Fortuna alive. And wondered if that immortal beast was here as well.

"But it appears that some of us are less careful than others." She said looking at him with a self depricating tone in her voice. "This is the second time it's happened to me. I suppose that's what I get for straying so far from the others."

She looked down at the floor of her cage sadly, even if this cage was grander and more comfortable than the one she was kept in before it was still a cage. And she was still a prisoner. The Unicorn looked up at him again her violet eyes looking into his own blue ones, the forest that she had lived in for centuries could be seen in them.
"And what of you...where do you come from, and what do other humans call you?"

[Pavi Largo]

Pavi wondered for a moment if there were any other real creatures in the circus aside from the unicorn. He honestly wasn't able to tell in most cases, unless he'd been told or the surgeries the circus had performed were far too obvious. Such as with Frankie or Miku, who one could tell had been operated on in some gruesome fashion. But the others, such as Mina or some of the animals, were harder to point as a fake.

If there were others, he was sure she'd know sooner or later. Though he doubted she'd be happy for the company; more likely sad that others of her kind were stuck here with her.

"My name?" Pavi blinked, drawn out of his thoughts at the question. He'd been far too absorbed with the creature before him to even think of himself(a rare occurrence indeed), so much that it took him a moment to respond. "Paviche Largo. But please, call-a me Pavi. As-a for where I'm-a from..." he bit his lip. "Italy. Or at-a least, my family is. We own a large company that does-a business with-a the circus."

What kind of business was another question entirely. Pavi wasn't sure whether to describe that he'd have to tell the actual "business" side of the story, where GeneCo was providing organs and spare parts to the circus in exchange for profit, or his personal business with the circus(i.e. Mina), so he left it at that, hoping that she wouldn't ask.

[Amalthea]

The unicorn looked at him when he told her that, scowling a little. She stuck her horn through the cage right underneath Pavi's jugular.
"So why should I trust you anymore than the other humans around this place?" She practically hissed. "You're not better than the monsters who run this place, no you're worse. They at least get to see the pain they cause, even if they turn a blind eye to the majority of what's going on."

[Pavi Largo]

Pavi was a bit shocked at the unicorn's reaction, and his eyes widened in surprise. He held up his hands defensively, taking a step back with the same surprised expression. Of course, he'd put his foot in his mouth by saying that...how had he expected her to react? That was like telling the pig you were married to the butcher, or the prisoner you worked for the warden.

"Hey, hey! Easy!" Pavi said, a pleading tone to his voice. "I...I'm trying to help-a some of you now!" He tried to defend himself, though he knew it probably wasn't working. "My...lover is-a one of you. A circus act, I mean. I'm trying to get-a her out of-a here, and I can help-a you too! If you...get that away from-a my throat, that is," Pavi explained, swallowing a bit nervously at the sight of the other's horn, which was still dangerously close to his throat.

[Amalthea]

Amalthea lowered her horn somewhat and took a step back, although she still glared at him.
"And what is your plan to get them..us out of here?" She snorted irritably not beliving him for a second. "I don't suppose you know any wizards or magic that could get me out of this cage or us off the grounds un-harmed?"
She turned her head away from him and gave a harsh snort.
"How can you stand to come here, just knowing that they keep your lover a prisoner?"

[Pavi Largo]

Pavi was at a loss there. He might not know any magic users(save for Facilier, but he was no help there)...but he had money. However, he was finding that this circus didn't seem to fall for his cash like everywhere, and everyone, else. He was determined, however, that for the right price, he could win anyone over.

At the remark about his lover, however, Pavi was quick to jump to his own defense, having argued this case over and over again both in his own mind and with his siblings. "Because coming here is-a the only way I can-a see her!" He retorted, then catching his own tone, calmed himself. "Scusi...I'm, I'm working on it, alright? Look, I don't know anything about-a magic, but I do know about-a money. And if-a money can get Mina - my lover - out of-a here, then I don't see why it couldn't get you out."

Or simply get the entire circus out of the Ringleader's possession...unless his brother beat him to it.
'

[Amalthea]

"Money...." The unicorn sighed. "You humans do the strangest things for bits of stone and piecies of paper tha mean absolutely nothing save for what value you yourselves put on them." She shook her head her white mane shining and glimmering as the hair went back and forth.
"I wish you and your lover the best of luck...you will need it."

The unicorn walked around her cage stretching her legs for a moment her thin tail swishin and what little light that was inside the cage made her coat and mane shine and sparkle like diamonds each time she moved. Finally she stopped and faced Pavi once more, her muzzle pressed firmly through the cage bars. Her violet eyes shone like cut amethyst in the torchlight when she looked up at him, making her seem even more un-wordly and mystical than before.

"What is she like, your lover? I've yet to meet of the other acts...it would be nice to know what I'm expecting. And the other acts? Have you met them as well, what are they like, are they like me prisoners or are some of them here of their own free will?"

[Pavi Largo]

Pavi found himself staring at her once again, mesmerized despite the fact that he'd practically feared her just moments before. He wasn't sure just what made her so stunning; maybe it was magic, or she was just simply that enchanting, but no one appreciated beauty more than Pavi.

At her question, however, he snapped out of his staring, and tried to piece together a good answer. He knew a few acts other than Mina; Frankie, namely, but he wasn't so sure if the unicorn would like him very much. "Mina is-a very kind, and she has-a been here long enough to fill-a you in. Another...friend, of-a hers, is a worker," he explained, referring to Hyde. He didn't feel like explaining the complicatedness of their relationship, so he figured friend would be as good a word as any to describe him. "I don't-a know many of-a the other acts, other than a satyr named-a Frankie. But...I know of-a none here of-a their own will," he admitted more quietly.

[Droite]

(ooc: Hope it's okay for me to post here now.)

As it turned out, the unicorn wasn't the only one stuck in a cage right then. Droite, or 'dragon girl' as some circus goers had been aptly calling her because of her appearance, was to be a part of the viewing attraction that day. That was mainly because she had clawed an unknown assistant while they were trying to prep her for a performance. For once, she wasn't forced to wear a muzzle. They hadn't viewed her as enough of a threat to put it on right then. Admittedly, Droite was pleased by this fact. It meant she wouldn't be forced to stay quiet while people came in to look at her and the others. She sat in silence and allowed her gaze to wander about to where the others were being housed. There was a unicorn that she didn't recognize and a man standing before her. Droite didn't think too much of that fact, though. The viewers all seemed to be the same by then.

"At this point, I'd rather be performing than just sitting here." Droite grumbled. What made it worse was that she was on her own. Crona was still in the catacombs along with the new dragon boy, and Gauche hadn't been permitted to come and keep an eye on things. A soft sigh penetrated her defenses as she shifted her position. It was going to be a long time before they were brought back to their regular places to sulk in the catacombs.