Charger slowly got up and tapped off his clothes. He whiped away the little bit of blood still near his nose and licked it off his paw.

"Fine... Screw Drakko."

Kaira had a small grin, tho trying not to show it.

"I can't realy blame him for hitting you tho..."

Charger looked down on her, looking at her with disbelief.

"Hey, on who's side are you anyway?!"

She stood closer and rubber herself past his leg.

'Yours ofcourse, you know that.'

Charger sighed and looked at Blaze.

'Alright, you said we had to find our sister. Lets get to it?'

Blaze faltered.
"Yeah, about that ... well, I as I told you before, I haven't much idea where to start searching. As for what I do know, she's living in this city somewhere. I don't know much about what she does for a living - if anything - but I'm sure if we ask around, someone could tell us. I mean, if there was a tiger-human hybrid working in town somewhere, don't you think someone would know it?"
And suddenly, from behind them: "Hey! You! Get back to the train before the boss finds out you've left!"
Blaze wasn't sure this was directed at him, but turned towards the voice anyway. It belonged to a small, bald man with a comically large moustache and large eyes. He wore a circus-leader's type uniform, and held a cane with a diamond tip.
But Blaze saw the man was rushing over to Charger. "Yes, you! I don't know how you got away, but Fisher isn't going to be happy when he hears about this. So let's go, Streak."
Blaze snarled - a behavior very uncommon for him. "You're mistaken, Tiny. Take a ...." Then Blaze realized that the man had mistaken Charger for their sister.
"Charger, I think this guy knows where to find Streak."

---

Roland nodded and continued on. The signs were becoming more and more apparent. He nearly stepped in a fresh pile of scat that could only belong to a horse. More branches were twisted out of the way as the forest grew denser. All these trees suggested to Roland that there was a water source nearby.
And sure enough, within a few minutes, he heard the telltale sounds of a running river.
"With any luck, we'll see your horse has stopped at the river for a drink."

Silvia followed Roland until they got to the river, then walked past and looked up and down it.

Silvia:"Well, I'd say you're right, however, it looks like he's already finished."

She looked around for a few moments, then held up her hand.

Silvia:"Wait, I think I see something over there... yes, I'm sure of it."

She turned back to face Roland.

Silvia:"You had better stay here; I think my horse will trust me more than you, as a stranger."

With that, she turned and started walking in the direction she had seen, or thought she had seen, the horse, untying the rope from around her waist as she walked. As she got closer, she could make out the shape of the horse's head in the shadow, then she stepped on a branch making a loud crack.
The horse's head shot up, but Silvia quickly started talking softly to it and looking in her direction it apparently recognized her and let out a nicker and started trotting her way.
She stopped walking and passed the rope into her right hand, grabbing out the carrot she had found earlier in her left. As the horse drew nearer she started walking slowly towards it, still talking softly, until she was right in front of it's head. Then, holding out the hand with the carrot for the horse to take, she swiftly put the rope from her right hand around it's neck and tied a knot.
She shot a relieved look in Roland's direction.

Silvia:"Okay, I've got him now."

ooc: At last! Huzzah!

Pseok continued flying over the forest. Vaguely he could here the noise of running water. As he came closer he heard a quiet shout, "Okay, I've got him now." He wasn't sure but it sounded like the girl from last night. He flew towards the soun and found Roland standing at the edge of a river.

Pseok: "Hey, having fun Roland? In case you haven't noticed you've wasted most of the morning. Ready to move on? I was hoping to get there today and I would certainly like to try."

As Pseok landed, the horse started pulling backwards and trying to get away (even though Pseok would have been a good 50 or so meters away), but Silvia stood fast and held the rope, and managed to calm it with her voice.
When it finally stood still she turned back to Roland and Pseok.

Silvia:"Hold on a minute, while I'm grateful for your assistance in finding my horse, I still want to know why you suddenly changed your mind back there. People don't suddenly snap from being hostile to friendly without a good reason."

Roland simply looked at her.
"At first I thought you were a threat. Then, I didn't. But don't think me a fool. I never dropped my guard around you. If I had felt threatened again, you would have known."

"But don't think me a fool"
Pseok's thoughts: Too late.
Pseok: "Great, now if it's ok with you I'd like to drag you love birds apart and get on with my dr- life."

It was going to be a looong trip.

Silvia gave Pseok a dirty look then said, "Very well, I'll take my leave."
She turned and started leading the horse back the way she had come.
There was something familiar about this part of the woods, but she couldn't quite place it... No matter, first priority was getting back to the camp.

Charger looked down on the man. The guy just reached his waist, Charger could use him as a chair if he wanted to. Amused by this thought he grinned down on the little man.

'Your mistaking me for someone els, pal,' he said a bit amused. 'But you can help us out. We are looking for Streak, actualy. Could you show us to her?'

Meanwhile Kaira had snuck up on the little guy, her nose had cought onto a scent she liked a lit. The scent of meat. Nozy as any tiger is, she was sniffing the backpocket of the tiny man. He probably had a sandwhich there or something... but what moron would put a sandwhich in their backpocket.
She took another sniff. Yup, deffinatly meat. She licked her whiskers...

Drakko looked around nervously then back to Art.

Drakko:"Ok Art you do your part of the plan and i'll stay here with Kix and Krisha until your ready and then i'll do my part of the plain"

Art's face was blank.
"Didn't you say you would call the receptionist out and distract him so I could go in? What happened to your plan?"
---
The short man blinked hard, then swallowed.
Egads! he thought. More tiger people! This show is going to be phenomenal!
He realized something sniffing at his backside, and spun upon it. But, it would be unwise for him to show any anger just then. This tiger (or tigress, the Circus Man new little about tigers) was likely being guarded by the two large tiger people.
He appeared to warm up, and was much friendlier. "Yes, of course, I'm sorry for the confusion. If you folks would kindly follow me...."
Blaze, now placated, shrugged. He looked to Charger. "What do you think?"
---
Roland watched them go. It was a shame ... he would have liked to have her along. Another gunslinger might be nice.
But it had to be her decision.
He turned back upon the Eagle. "I caught that. If you are still under the impression that you are dreaming, then I will not require your assistance. I will not have any person or eagle who might take careless risks because he thinks he's dreaming."
Roland gave the eagle no time to consider. He turned and walked off.

Drakko looked at Art.

Drakko:"JUST GO GODDAMMIT! i'll call him out when your in there and then you'll have more time."

Charger waited till the man was walking a bit infront of them and chuckled.

'I think he thinks we are stupid,' he reacted with a grin. 'But lets play along, shall we? We can always shred people up later.'

He followed to short man, with Kaira walking next to him.

Art shrugged. "Sure."
He abruptly turned and marched into the hotel.
The lobby was big and looked quite high-class. Obscenely large potted plants lined the walls, standing at regular intervals. Reproductions of famous artworks were displayed on many available wall spaces. False colums appeared to be "supporting" the ceiling.
But Art's attention was on the reception desk. A young, slender man stood behind the desk, dressed in a lavish purple suit. He was talking on the phone, and by the sounds of it, he was arguing with someone.
Art pretended to take much interest in the artwork ... when a thought occurred to him. If there were security cameras in here, wouldn't they be suspicious of a guy who came in, stood around, and then began posing as a clerk? (ooc: possible foreshadowing?)
Whatever. Art decided it would be easier to trust Drakko than to go back out and question him.

Pseok flies after Roland: "Oi, I never said I was gonna be careless. None of what happened yesterday made any sense, and as far as I'm concerned you could be as much part of my imagination as anything else, but I said I'd take you and I will. Right now I have nothing better to do."

Pseok might not have been the most intelligent bird in the sky, but he wasn't going to break his word. He could feel a prickle of anger in the back of his neck and changed his tune rather quickly.
Pseok: "Look Roland, I don't gnereally trust humans anyway, all others I've met have generally been on the bad side, but so far you have made no attempt to kill me or capture me and I'm greatful. I just don't trust a person who starts following me for no reason. I thought she might be after you. So do you wanna go to Los Santos or not, cus it's a pretty long way by foot. I've seen a lot of these mountains, they're not the nicest part of the world."

I'm taking a guess that we are waiting for Dave, but is there absolutely no-one who can reply in the meantime? O.o

Not me... I guess we'll have to wait for TBM too

Oh Davey, you came and we needed you to post, but then you went away...

on closer inspection to Dante's oddysee, I have realised you hate the name Davey, sorry. But I've started reading it, now you have to post!

Yeah, yeah, okay. I didn't realize we were waiting for me here. My bad.
And yes! I've drawn Splatty to the Dark Side... mua ha haa.
---
Roland considered the Eagle's statement briefly.
After what seemed to be a while, he nodded. "Okay. If you don't mind, I'd like to get back on our way."
---
The short Circus Man led the two tiger men and the tiger down the sidewalk. Luckily, in such a big city as this, no one was particularly fazed at this sight as Charger, Blaze, and Kaira moved along.
The Circus Man cleared his throat and spoke. "So, how long do you folks plan to be in town? If you're looking for work, I might be able to help you find something."

OOC: Would also be helpfull if you posted something with Blaze and the bald guy :S

ooc: Huzzah! Actually I'm usually called Splatty by the fans of my fics (it's only happened twice, but still) so I register it as a compliment! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHSHAEDGASDH!!!


Pseok crouched down to let the gunslinger climb on his back.
Pseok: "Ok, put your arms round my neck this time and you might stay on a little better without ripping my feathers out. Alright, hold on to your bits."
Without giving Roland much time to get comfortable, Pseok took off and flew northwest (or whatever direction it is, i can't remember any more).

Silvia arrived back at her camp and went to one of the packs still there. That was a bad idea, she thought, leaving the packs here in plain sight. She reached in one of them and picked out a spare halter, which she then proceeded to put on the horse. She led the horse to a nearby tree and tied it there, making sure she kept it within sight this time. Then she started making preparations for food; she had missed out on her meal the night before what with the eagle spooking her horse and everything.

Charger eye'd Blaze in an anoyed way, then spoke to the small man.

'We plan on staying as short as possible,' he said with a grudge. 'And the only thing you can help us find is Streak.'

Pseok found the wind had moved behind him and was stronger the higher he went, so going as high as he could without getting in the clouds (above there would be less wind, and if he went inside he'd get soaked) he flew owards towards his destination.
Pseok: "Hey, we're making good time. If we keep up we might get there earlier than I thought." He paused and added, "Get some sleep if you want, I won't let you fall off."

ooc: Sorry for the short post, I just really wanna get on with this now.

Roland nodded. It had been a long and sleepless night. Perhaps he would catch a few winks.
---
The Bald Man looked terrified, but in reality, he was a little amused. When they reached the circus, what these freaks wanted wouldn't much matter.
What he said aloud was, "Yes, well, fine. No need to get nasty, old chap."
Blaze glanced at him, not quite sure what to think of him.
---
Art still stood in the lobby, trying not to attract attention. He was waiting for Drakko to do his part and draw out the current receptionist.

Drakko walks over to the side of the hotel where theres a large metal box on the wall that says "Warning: Do not Remove".

Drakko:"Too late for that."

Drakko rips the box off the wall and throws it away then walks over to the phone booth and dials the hotel.

Ring ring

Receptionist:"Hello?"

Drakko:"Hi..this is Charles...Magee i was sent by Mario Vincenzo..do you mind if we have a chat outside in the alley?"

Receptionist:"Theres no problem is there?"

Drakko:"Of course not."

Receptionist:"Oh good i'll be right out"

Drakko hangs up and sees a man in a white suit with black dress pants come round the corner.

Drakko:"Sorry bout this."

Drakko knocks the man out and drags him behind a couple of bins further in the alley Drakko walks back to the metal box and rips of all the cords leading to a black out in the hotel giving Art a 10 minute window before back up power is on.

Art watched as the receptionist answered a ringing telephone.
Hello? ... There's no problem, is there? ... Oh, well, good. I'll be right out.
And without a word, the man hangs up the phone, straigtens his tie, and steps out from behind the desk. He strolls out the front doors without a glance back. Not a very responsible receptionist.
Art moved quickly. He had to find a closet where they would keep uniforms.
Eventually, he stumbled into a room marked, naturally, Employees Only. Art noticed a neatly pressed suit similar to the one the receptionist wore hanging on the wall.
"Bingo."
Art reached for it when suddenly - thanks to Drakko, likely - the power cut.
No matter.
Art quickly stripped off his own coat and tie, and slipped on the uniform jacket and bow tie. After a moments consideration, he stepped out of his shoes and changed his pants with the uniform. Best to complete the illusion.
Now dressed, he figured he had maybe five minutes until the power came back on. If he was lucky.
Time to sneak back to the desk and find that room key.
At the station, there was a little light pouring in from the front of the hotel, but the electricity wasn't back on.
So he started looking for the keys. They weren't, as he expected, on a wall behind him. So he checked drawers.
Most of them were locked ... but from sheer dumb luck, he found the room keys in an unlocked drawer.
There were envelopes lined up, as if it was a small filing cabinet. Art figured that the mafia guy would be on the top floor, likely in a penthouse suite. And that key would likely be in the back of the drawer.
He checked ... and there it was. Room 1219. Top floor, last envelope.
Art would have to hope that was it.
About then the lights kicked back on.

Charger and co followed the bald man to whereever they were going. Charger grumbled at being called old, not to mention chap, but kept himself from pounding the guy into the ground. They needed his help afterall.

'Charger...' Kaira whisperd. 'Are you sure about this? I don't trust this guy.'

Charger grinned.

'Neither do I,' he noticed.

Come on... a circus guy? Everyone knew you couldn't trust people like that. He even doubted if Streak worked there by her own free will. Surely they would try to enslave Charger, Blaze and Kaira as well. He let out a loud laugh at the thought of jumping hoops and being worked with a whip. He corrected himself quikely tho and cleared his throat. He bend over to Blaze.

'Let's stay on our toes...' he whisperd. 'I have no intention of having a job as a circus act...'

Blaze snorted. "Neither do I. Never liked the Circus, myself."
The Circus man led the troop to a modestly sized convertible.
"Folks, I think we can move along a bit faster if we ride. Everybody in."
And without another word he hopped over the driver's side door and into the driver's seat.
Blaze glanced at Charger, then opened the front passenger door and sat down. Let Charger sit with his lady-friend.

Drakko quickly placed the metal box over the torn wires and walked around the corner and then into the hotel...he then walked over to the receptionist desk where Art was now standing.

Drakko:"Hello...receptionist,i'd like the penthouse suite and make sure there are two keys as i have a freind coming by later tonight.Oh and these fools here don't really care whos a hotel employe here and even if they do ask just tell them your a transfer form the Treasurey Casino...the place closed down not too long ago so they can't ring up them up and ask about you.Anyway i've got a date with 6 inches of piano wire and a ugly bold guy"

with that said Drakko took the keys and entered the elevator,in there was a man in a black suit,most likely one of Vladimirs.

Black suit guy:"Do i know you from somewhere?"
Drakko:"No..that must of been my brother...Charles..Magee."

Drakko pushed the top level button and waited for the elevator doors to close.

Charger and Kaira took the backseat, Kaira resting her head on Chargers lap, awaiting where they were going and what was going to happen.

'What a shit ride you got shorty...' Charger reacted as he was sitting with his knees up his nose. 'I can barely sit straight back here...'

The Circus man glanced at Charger in the rear-view mirror. "This car wasn't designed for people as ... big as you. If you'd rather walk, you can get out."
---
Art stood around at the desk, keeping up his act.

PSeok was feeling rather pleased ith himself as he flew down over the last row of mountains before Los Santos, 8 hours sooner than he'd originally predicted. The gunslinger had fallen asleep and had apparently taken of the form of a sack of meat. Fortunately though, he didn't snore.
Pseok swooped down on Los Santos and was rather surprised to see a circus just on the edge of the city. "A circus? I thought this was meant to be a big gangland, gambling pit." If he had arms he would have shruged as he flew high over the circus and peered down into it, spotting a similar looking shape below. He flew over ad considered what he'd just seen. Then he jerked his back to wake Roland.
Pseok: "Hey, Roland! We're here and its not midday yet! I guess you're distances weren't as long as you thought! And I've already seen one of your tiger people if you were hoping to meet up with them again." If he had had lips, he would have grinned with pride.

ooc: If you have any complaints Dave, feel free to tell me and I'll edit.

No big deal, Splat.
---
Roland awoke to the eagle's chattering. And it seemed true: they had already reached Los Santos.
And as Roland scanned the ground below to see what the great bird was speaking of ...
Yes, there was a circus. And there was a familiar shape below.
But Roland didn't think it was one of the tiger people he had seen before. It was smaller, for one, but not by much. From this distance, it was all he could determine.

As Silvia prepared and ate the food she pondered the situation. There wasn't much chance, or point, now of following the eagle any furthur. She decided in the end that the first thing to do now was to explore her immediate surroundings and try to find out why that place back there had seemed so familiar.
She started packing everything up to get on the move again, then saddled up the horse. Leaping neatly into the saddle, she moved off in the direction she and Roland had just been on foot before. She came up to the river and started following it upstream, the opposite direction she had gone to catch the horse before.
She carried on in this manner for some time, then the trees suddenly started to thin out until she came upon a clearing with an old dirt road running through it east and west. Across the other side the forestry thickened up again, but here it had all been cleared to make a path for the road. She hesitated for a moment, then started trotting down the road heading east.

Charger remained silent as they got nearer to a big circus just outside of the city. For a moment, Charger noticed the sunlight was blocked. When he looked out the window to see what was blocking the sunlight, and causing a big shadow like that, he saw a large bird flying over the city. He could hardly see, but it had something on it's back, and it didn't take a long time of thinking to figure out what bird that was.

'Great...' he sighed. 'It would seem everyone is here now.'

He glanced to Blaze.

'I think your flying friend is here,' he said, a bit teasing. He didn't have a lot of friends, so he didn't realy respect something as simple as a friendship.

Blaze glanced at Charger, overlooking the joke. Then he looked up and, sure enough, there it was. That gunslinger-man was quite stubborn.
---
Roland spoke to the Eagle. "Look over yonder. At that circus. Is that one of the tiger people from before? And what is it doing in a cage?"
For this was what he saw, as the Eagle had begun his descent (w/Splat's consent?). His sharp eyes noted that it looked quite like the larger of the tiger-people, but it was smaller. Almost feminine.
Curiouser and curiouser.

ooc: That's fine, going to Los santos was the whole point, so its understandable that they start landing. But if the circus guy sees em he'll be getting rather excited.


Sharp as Roland's eyes may have been, Pseok was still a bird of prey and his eyes were understandably better.
Pseok: "Uh... now you mention it... thats definately a female, either that or the smaller one dressed up or something; I only saw em for about 20 minutes before. How many tiger people are there in this world? I'd never seen anything like it before yesterday. Can you imagine someone locking those two in a cage? I wouldn't envy his job."
Pseok thought for a while, trying to remember more about their meeting yesterday as he flew thoughtlessly down towards the circus. Then he thought of something.
Pseok: "So, what is it you were wanting to do here anyway?"

OOC: Oops. Didn't realize it was my turn. I'm a baaaad boy.

Roland silently agreed that whomever tried to lock the tiger men in cages would have a job of it, indeed.
So, what is it you were wanting to do here, anyway?
Roland briefly considered telling his plans to the Eagle. He likely wouldn't understand. How could he fully explain that multiple worlds were hanging in the balance? How could he explain that he, the one unfortunate enough to be cursed with the knowledge of other worlds and cursed with the burden of finding a solution, must find the centrifuge of time and space to right some unimaginable wrong?
And how could he explain that the first man he had to find to point him towards this Nexus was a squat man who ran a circus?
Never mind. He would not lie to the Eagle ... but he would not tell him everything, either.
"I'm looking for a man named Fisher. Robert Fisher. He owns yonder circus, and it is with him I would palaver."

Pseok: "Wow... That sounds... interesting... What can some idiot who runs a circus know? I'd stay home next time if I were you."
He sighed. Human's were wierd. how they'd come to be masters of the planet he had no idea. He looked down, spotted a field of grass about a kilometre away from the edge of the ciry and the circus, and flew down towards it.
He landed slightly heavier tha he would of if he hadn't had a human sitting on his back and let Roland off.
Pseok: "Great, we're here, want some help finding your circus guy?"