[Performance]Cerus & Nel

[Cerus]

The bizaar had remarkably few people in the way of entertainers. True, there were those that could hock their wears in ways that commanded the peoples attention but Cerus liked to think that no one could draw a crowd like he could.

Earlier in the day he had been telling, or retelling as it were, the latest news with a few colorful additions of his own. Not lies, never lies with the news, just a more vibrant retelling. It had earned him enough coins to have a nice lunch, and half of dinner. He would work on the other half later in the day.

Now was no time to try and retell the latest fashion. The ratio of children to parents were greatly in favor of the former. Whenever this time rolled around he was free to retell the stories of his own childhood.

He had chosen the story of the great wind, and how she escaped from the hordes of windslayers bent on stealing her power. With a crescendo building, and then reaching it's peak he came to the end of the story. It was really the best part.

A burst of fire accompanied the flapping of wings as a dove burst forth from the flames. It was only paper and a trained bird to some people, but the children clapped and grinned, glad to be entertained so completely.

He bowed, after leaning down to the crowd to look them over slowly. “Thank you. Who wants to pick next?”

[Nel Sayo]

"Tell the story about the man who fell in love with Laviku and how he turned her into a sea monster by accident," a voice suggested.

Not a child's voice, though just barely.

The woman who spoke stood behind the gathered children; she was small, perhaps only just sixteen, with pristine white skin and hair the color of moonshine, tressed and knotted with braids and seashells. Dressed all in black with a rapier slung low on her hips, she looked more like a walking bolt of lightning than anything else.

But she smiled hugely. Encouragingly.

"That's my favorite one."

[Cerus]

“Ah. Well, that is a very good choice.” Already he was pulling out paper flowers from his sleeves, letting them down on the ground in front of him. Soon he had a paper sea of blue in front of him, and he knelt down on the edge.

“Once there was a bard...” He began the story in the common tongue before he slipped into Vani. One didn't have to understand it to feel what it was being said.

It started light and sweet, with a few flirtatious winks to the older girls in the crowd, Nel being no exception as the 'bard' walked through the crowd telling the great story of his love. He ended up back in front of the paper sea. Fire was used in great abundance when the lands burned, and the world fell apart. It seemed to be a reward for the boys who'd sat through the sweet.

When all was said and done he was left standing in a pile of ash at the edge of untouched sea, bowing to signal the tales end.

[Nel Sayo]

The lady pirate joined added to the abundance of applause that erupted once the storyteller was finished. A broad, amiable grin curved her mouth and she continued clapping even as the crowd began to disperse.

"That was terrific," she decided, as the last of the stragglers turned away from Cerus' abruptly-transformed stage. She rocked back to her heels, and then forward again. "Do another one."

This particular audience member, it would seem, was not easily sated.

[Cerus]

"Another of my choosing or of your choosing?" He began sweeping what was left of the sea back towards himself in attempt to clean up. While she was deciding he pulled a few balls from his sleeves to juggle. He was up to five before he looked back at her.

"Should you like to hear another story about the sea? I know quite a few." The balls went up and went back down as he switched to one hand to keep them all in t air. "Knife, please." He said with his hand out, clearly intending to mix it in.

[Nel Sayo]

She bent down and sifted a short blade from inside her boot. Pinwheeled it so the flat of the blade smacked her palm, and pressed it hilt-first into his waiting hand.

"Why don't you pick one? I like sea stories."

[Cerus]

He took the knife with a small nod of thanks as he tested it's weight in his off hand. The hard part was never keeping the balls up, but adding to them. One had to do it seamlessly or else a hand or an eye could be lost. The knife was flipped and finally up into the myraid of balls spinning like it was part of them.

"Royet and Eypha has always been one of my favorites. Would you mind terribly if I retold that story?" He didn't think she would, considering he hadn't seen any money be tossed into the small box in front of the stage.

[Nel Sayo]

"Can you teach me how to juggle?" she asked, watching him flip the knife up amongst the lob and wheel of the balls.

Nel was particularly clumsy on dry land; nobody should ever have given her anything sharp to throw up into the air, especially not if they expected her to catch it on its way down instead of run quickly away from it. Though she had enough self-awareness to know that things like juggling knives were a bad idea, juggling simple balls seemed like it might be easy enough. Or at least benign enough that she could try it.

No consideration to how she'd dismissed his offer of an old, oft-told tale. No, her attention had moved away from the stories; but then, her attention was ever fleeting.

"I've always wanted to learn. The crowd's gone. We can stop if they come back so you can make more money, if you like." And she liked negotiating.

[Cerus]

"The crowds always come and go. There's a fire handler down the street that comes out about now. He's actually very good. We can walk and I'll teach." Camaraderie among the entertainers was common enough in Syliras, or so he'd found.

"Give me a moment." The knife was transfered into his off hand and flipped casually into the ground so he could catch all the balls. "You start out with one ball." He tossed one over as he bent to retrieve her knife.