Chaos is known as the being that never became a star. It is everywhere and yet nowhere at the same time.
Neither good nor evil, the ultimate expression of nothingness. The antithesis of the cosmos, creation itself.
Although Chaos claims to be the very state of existence from which the first entities appeared, it cannot form into the entity it wants most.
So it has been cursed to stay in the form of a dark and shapeless void. Floating between existence and nonexistence.
Longingly watching as stars are constantly born and lives are lived. The seeds of malice had been planted, flourished and transformed Chaos into the purest form of evil.
It wasn't the usual sort of thing Dita would go to see herself. She accidentally overheard a conversation that mentioned that the acrobatics and performances in this particular circus were pretty darn amazing. And that piqued her curiosity. She watched one of the shows they had over the weekend, and true enough the physical feats performed by the people there were kind of cool. Well, it was more in the sense that she wanted to try it out herself. on her way home, she picked up flyer that read that they were in fact giving some demonstrations to interested youngsters. That was perfect. Looks like she knew where she'd be spending her next day off.
Even when it wasn't time for any shows, the circus was really busy. She got a few curious looks her way as she wandered in and it only made her a bit nervous, causing her to pull her hood down front to hide her face. Up ahead she saw a group of kids around her age gathered around a man who seemed to be in charge and so she hurried over to join them. It turns out she just barely made it to the safety lecture before they got started.
There weren't many kids around today so they each got to be assigned to a troupe member who would show them what they did in the circus. Dita blinked and stared at the slip of paper that was handed to her. Apparently the guy she was assigned to could be found somewhere in the magician's tent? She was hoping to see some high flying acrobatics but the group had dispersed before she could even try to ask anything. Sighing, she headed over to the magician's tent as indicated, a little less enthusiastic than when she first arrived.
As she approached the tent, she smelled something rather appetizing. Were they having lunch? It reminded her that she forgot to bring a snack in case she got hungry. She peered inside and called out in a soft voice.
A dozen or so playing cards hovered in mid-air around the white-faced magician, slowly turning and rotating one by one, drifting around his figure in a controlled motion as he levitated above a cushioned platform inside of his tent. With his eyes gently shut, his arms sat crossed in a somewhat nonchalant manner, although the cause was mainly for them to not get in the way of his floating cards. Their pace quickened as they spun around his frame, fluttering around in elegant spins and swapping positions with one another in majestic manner, like that of a dance - the meditative practice of keeping his magical ability sharp and proficient. Through the sounds settling around in the distance outside of his tent to the aroma of food that breezed around the area of his tent courtesy of the circus cook around the corner, nothing made his closed eyelids open until the sudden and unexpected steps that could be heard approaching the outside of his abode. A visitor? [break][break]
Cassian's golden eyes appeared into view as his eyelids lifted up, the playing cards neatly slipping back into the deck attached to the side of his hip, blue-haired head raising in slight curiosity as to who would impose themselves in his space. A neutral expression remained upon his face, a unsettling look of unrivaled calmness in his eyes as they were trained upon the entrance into his tent. It was rather spacious inside for a one-man tent and harbored many magical props inside - real or fake you would not know - and the magician remained atop his podium at the very end of the tent, legs crossed in his white attire.[break][break]
Surprisingly, a young girl of what he suspected to be teenage years popped her head in rather meekly with a soft voice signalling a greeting toward the mysterious mage, his head cocking to the right slightly with his hues locking onto her. Unfortunately, someone had not done their part and Cassian was uninformed to the fact that he would be having a visitor today - and that he would be in charge of their stay. Needless to say, he still remained unaware. [break][break]
"And hello to you, young miss; what is it?" The magician responded, still levitating several inches above the podium at which he resided. "I must say, I was not expecting a visit." Cassian rhymed, wondering what may be the reason for her arrival since he had not been gifted with the knowledge of his own duty right now.[break][break]
Dita didn't know what the man she was looking for looked like. She didn't even know if it was a man. All she was told was that they could find them in the magician's tent. And there sitting on a podium with his legs crossed was the only person present inside. She assumed it was him.
As expected of a magician's abode, various props could be found around the spacious venue. Being acknowledged by the blue haired guy, Dita carefully stepped inside and nodded her head slightly, pulling back her hood to reveal her long black hair. He asked what she was doing there as if he had no clue himself. She found that a little strange. This entire time she got the impression that it wasn't weird at all for the circus to have kids like her visiting and having a look around. Maybe he wasn't actually the guy she was looking for? She reached into her hoodie pocket for the slip of paper handed to her earlier as she spoke to explain her reason for coming.
"Um, I'm here for the tour and demo? They said I could find the magician here who would be showing me around."
Though at first she wasn't too enthusiastic about being assigned to the magician, she had to admit the overall feel and atmosphere of the tent and the mystery blue haired guy was really "mystifying?" Her instincts would tell her that he wasn't an ordinary man. Whether he was simply good at playing the part of a mysterious circus member or there was really something else special about him, she wasn't sure. But as of now, dull and uninteresting were far from the words she would use to describe the impression she got.
The mysterious magician was at a loss for words for all but a moment, her claim of a tour and demo being news to him and the slip of paper she retrieved from her clothing seemed to reinforce the truth to her words. Although he could not read it from the distance he was at, one could assume the accompanying sheet of paper would most likely confirm the girl's statement; she didn't appear to be someone of deceptive nature so far and he could hardly imagine a girl lying about such a thing. So, for that matter, the only real possibility left was...that she happened to be truthful with him and it was he in fact who owed her a showing around. A moment or two of silence passed by before the golden eyes of Cassian blinked slowly, only for his body to sit straight in his cross-legged position. [break][break]
"Oh, is that so? How interesting." Cassian responded calmly, his arms unfolding and moving out to his sides. "Then it is my duty to provide what you are requesting."[break][break]
Levitating, the sorcerer's body lifted higher from the podium, empty air between him and the cushion while a small, ever-present smile remained across his mouth; his figure floated forward in mid-air, motioning away from the podium before his legs extended out. Descending in the air, one foot pressed down into the ground first before the other joined it, the magician's arms folding behind his lower back as he stood upright, those cold eyes of his fixated upon the dark-haired girl in an emotionless yet acknowledging way.[break][break]
Dipping his blue-haired head with a bend of his back, he bowed partially before the girl with one arm behind his back, the other graced along his midsection. "A pleasure to meet you, young dame." He started, hollow gaze glancing up. "Cassian is my name." Straightening up, his hands folded along his lower back, returning there as he stood politely. [break][break]
"And what is it you wish to see?" The magician continued with an inquiry, tilting his snowy-faced head with slitted eyes staring at her patiently. "Performing tricks, throwing knives and doing acrobatics are no hard task for me." The mage finished with a subtle tone of confidence and assurance, now giving the girl the time to introduce herself and state her desires if she so wished to.[break][break]
Dita stared speechlessly in awe as the mystery man actually levitated from where he sat, floating and then landing right in front of her. This was the magician alright. For a moment she forgot that "magic" doesn't officially exist and that he was really floating with magic. It was actually a trick though right? Was it wires or something else? She didn't know, but it looked really convincing. She couldn't help but silently clap a bit as the man bowed and introduced himself.
"I'm Dita. It's nice to meet you sir."
She tried to bow too but it was really more just a nod. The man known as Cassian had quite the presence. She couldn't find the words to describe it. But whatever it was it invoked her curiosity.
When he asked her what she wanted to see, she was a bit stumped. She was expecting them to have maybe a program prepared that she could just follow along. Any more specific requests would be saved for later. But instead they were starting off with that. She was a little glad he mentioned acrobatics as one of the options, but at the same time she felt it might be rude to ask a magician to do anything other than magic. This was her indecisiveness kicking in and she didn't even notice she had paused for almost a minute without saying anything as she mulled over her response.
"I... um..."
Magic? Acrobatics? She couldn't decide. She wondered if he could read her mind.
While she may have been young - or at least appeared it - Cassian certainly did appreciate her manners, his face barely changing in the slightest with that composed, almost discomforting look of unbreakable calmness. It had been a while since anyone outside of the circus had referred to the magician as "sir" yet he did not oppose it; people of the carnival generally knew of his talent and gave him respect however customers and civilians in the city referred to him in all manner of terms. Truly, it did not bother the mage too much; being called magician, sorcerer and so on was completely fine with him. He didn't like "clown", though.[break][break]
"Well then, let us go and see what is free." He stated as she seemed to have trouble thinking of where to begin, the indecisive look on her face and the unsure tone mixed in with her voice more than a give-away to the fact that she were not completely sure of what their next move would be. Deciding to help her out, Cassian began to step forwards, going past her while using a hand near her back to motion her to follow along, though he did not actually touch her. "We can decide where to start from there; shall we?" He finished rhetorically for the time being, glancing over his shoulder with a golden eye trained on her, before his head turned forward, an arm coming out to casually brush the tent entrance open so he could step out. On the other side, he held the tent curtain open for Dita in courteous manner so she could step through.[break][break]
A brief glance around informed the magician that the acrobatics set was currently being used in the distance by another circus member, so that was off the table for now. Perceptive hues shifted around a little more until he caught sight of the vacant targets and knife-set; throwing knives? Perhaps she would have some interest in that?[break][break]
"Throwing knives will be the first order of the day. Acrobatics are currently occupied, so for now we'll keep out of their way." The magician rhymed as he still held the tent curtain open, his vacant hand extending to gesture over to an area about two dozen or so meters away with several round target stands so that she may make her way over after exiting the magician's tent.[break][break]
She was glad that in the end Cassian was taking the lead. She was wondering if her indecisiveness was annoying him but as far as she could tell that didn't seem to be the case from his expression. He was just... really calm and accommodating. Surprisingly he started with going outside. Was he saving magic for last? That was probably it. You would normally want to top things off with your personal best act.
As she stepped outside of the tent after him, he gestured to what looked like a target range and mentioned that they would start with knife throwing as it was free. Apparently the acrobatics set was currently occupied. She couldn't help but glance in the direction of the acrobatics set anyway. A couple of other circus members were prepping to execute a routine. Of course she wanted to see it, but it would be rude to Cassian. And so she quickly shifted her gaze back at the knife throwing area, nodding in agreement to the magician's suggestion.
While walking over to the area that Cassian indicated, Dita pondered about her own background in throwing, her face showing an expression that she was deep in thought. There was javelin throw, discus throw, and shot put among the decathlon events. Hammer throw was another common event in track and field competitions. None of them were particularly concerned with pinpoint accuracy. Control was of course still important as throwing the projectile to go where it ought to go improved one's distance.
As for other sports, she had briefly tried baseball before. But accuracy there was a team effort by the pitcher and catcher. It was hard to find a good reference in terms of things she had personal experience with. Unfortunately while she was watching the show over the weekend, she was seated rather far away from the stage and couldn't fully appreciate the knife throwing act that night. Today would be her first time seeing it up close.
As the girl progressed forward toward the area of targets and throwing knives, Cassian's extended arm swept back slowly behind his lower back to join the other, the white figure starting to follow from behind, his steps veering off to the left instead though as he approached a selection of knives at the side. They almost represented kunai in a way, more so than a regular knife would, showing their specialty for being thrown. Swiping a few, he turned around only have one visible in his hand as he wandered back over to Dita.[break][break]
The targets were roughly around twenty yards or so away from where they stood, a row of the round targets propped up on two wooden legs - similar to that of archery targets. While these served their purpose, the wooden board that a person may have been strapped to in a show was somewhere else, not that it mattered; Cassian didn't have anyone present to strap to the board anyway. Besides, it might have ended up scaring the young lady should he begin launching knives at a person even if he had the intention of hitting an apple on their head or whatever it may be.[break][break]
Gathering her attention by raising his arm near his chest - knife in hand - he twirled it around once until it hung downward in his digits, spinning it upward and flattening his palm to allow the blade to swivel over the top of his hand and over the other side of his palm where he then caught it, other arm behind his lower back still. In a quick snap, his left hand whipped out a white handkerchief, the ever-present, half-smile across his lips as he held the knife upward, point facing the sky. The cloth was placed over the blade, lingering over it for a moment...before he whipped the handkerchief up and spread it open to reveal nothing but a flat, wavering piece of white material, no blade in sight. Twirling it, his vacant hand now showed its empty palm, the handkerchief guided back down as he held the tip of the center. Reaching underneath it, his wrist motioned about as if he were searching up into the cloth which draped over his his hand. After a few moments, the cloth was raised to expose his searching hand that hid beneath the cloth, only to reveal three knives in his hand now, gripping the three handles together.[break][break]
Cassian didn't speak throughout, only glancing back to her every few moments with his golden hues, expression not gifting any emotion away except subtle expectations of reaction, the handkerchief now tucked into the side of his waist since the passing trick was complete. Taking one knife and settling it in his right hand as the other two were relegated to his left, he stood side-on to the targets from the duo's ample distance away from them. A steady pivot and his figure thrust in a rotating manner, arm motioning overhead in a precise, clean swing which saw the knife bullet through the air to stab straight in the small, red circle at the center of the target. A large thud accompanied the impact; bullseye.[break][break]
Taking three steps ahead, he turned to face the second target that was untouched by projectiles as of this moment. Staring at the circular shape, Cassian flicked the blade up into the air and caught it on the way down by the blade. His white digits gripped just below the blade's point, the handle facing above. Raising his arm, he judged the distance for a second before whipping his shoulder and arm forward, the blade spinning through the air like a tomahawk before it finally impaled itself into the bullseye of the second target. Not reacting much to his own aim, a slight grunt formed beneath his breath without his face changing in the slightest.[break][break]
Glancing down at the final knife, he held it by the grip before turning it around to hold it by the blade itself. Using it as a pointer, he pointed the knife at a pair of gloves near Dita, eyes settling upon the safety wear, then he gestured the blade's safe grip towards her hand, flicking his suggesting eyes to her own now. Without speaking, he had offered her the chance to throw the knife at the third target herself. Only as long as she wore gloves to protect herself, of course.[break][break]
Dita stopped some distance away from Cassian to give him some room while he walked over to the selection of knives. When he turned back around he had a single throwing knife in hand. It seemed he wanted to start off with a small performance and the girl looked on with interest as he performed his trick with the handkerchief.
She truly felt she was watching a professional at work, as in most other cases her eyes were quite quick on the uptake and following movements. However the magician's sleight of hand was not something she could see through despite her focus. The performance was executed like magic from start to finish, causing the curious girl to break in silent applause in appreciation of the small show. But that was just an intermission after all. The real thing was coming next.
The targets were about twenty yards away from where the thrower would stand. If Dita had a ball or rock, she could probably hit them from that distance, give or take a few tries. Although a bullseye would probably be a matter of luck. Once more she watched Cassian's movements carefully. As he swung his arm for the throw, the girl found herself unconsciously mimicking his movements. She just barely missed seeing the knife strike the bullseye flawlessly. She was sure that if she walked over to the target to take a closer look, it was probably dead center of the small red dot.
For the second throw, Dita almost thought that the magician was going to perform another trick first. But when she saw him catch the blade by the tip with his fingers and whip his arm forward for the throw, she realized that he was merely using a different style of throwing. Rather than flying straight, the knife spun around through the air before hitting the center of the target once more. Once again Dita was moving her arm as though imitating Cassian's movements but partway through she decided that between the two different motions of throws, she had preferred the style of the first. A spinning knife was kind of scary in a way.
For the final knife, Dita was a bit surprised to see Cassian gesturing that she could give it a try herself. There was a pair of safety gloves close by that she could use and so she put them on before walking over to the magician to receive the last knife. She then took position in front of the third target, assuming a stance similar to Cassian's on the first target.
She briefly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was a small ritual to improve her focus. She then quickly glanced beyond the targets, checking that there was nothing or no one there that might accidentally get hit should she miss. Visualizing the movements she saw earlier, she motioned her arm overhead and imitated Cassian's first throw as best as she could. The knife flew straight like a bullet. It seemed for the most part she had the swing down correctly. However unlike her demonstrator, her accuracy was not yet up to par. The kunai-like knife grazed the side of the target and then veered off to the right where it eventually landed somewhere on the grass.
"Ah..."
Dita reflexively closed her hands in expression of her slight frustration at failing the task. She really wanted to at least hit the target, bullseye or not.
Glad to see that she had taken the opportunity to throw a knife at the target by first putting on the safety gloves, Cassian stood with his hands casually crossing once more behind his lower back, simply standing beside the younger individual with his golden gaze trained partially forward; able to see both the target in the distance as well as the girl next to him. The safety gloves were usually used by those wanting to practice without being too focused on their own handling of the weapon, yet also those who were not confident or simply learning from scratch altogether when it came to throwing knives. In this instance, it was practically a must for Dita to use the gloves; Cassian simply did not have the interest of having her parents bombing through the carnival in search for him if she returned home after this encounter with deep gashes along her inner palms, after all. [break][break]
Observing her technique as she prepared herself to hurl the projectile at the target in the distance, Cassian did not have much expectation for her ability in throwing; someone of her age probably didn't throw much of anything with pinpoint accuracy, let alone blades. Although, he did definitely admire her will to try - many boys and girls would step away from doing something like this for various different reasons. However, here she was, about to give it a go. [break][break]
Whoosh! The power in the girl's throw was...impressive. Most certainly not what the magician had expected to see! It lashed through the air without an ounce of regret and full of swiftness. However, it scraped along the edge of the target and settled in frustration against the green grass nearby; a light chuckle hummed underneath the mage's breath with his emotionless hues gazing at the target for a moment. [break][break]
"You have quite the strong throw; great explosiveness in the attack." Cassian admitted with an approving tone, yet his voice still being rather mellow as usual, his white-faced head turning to face her, clearly observing her frustration from her body language. "However, for now, it is accuracy you lack." The rhyme ended, before one of his arms that were concealed behind his lower back reached out ahead - nothing visibly in hand - and brushed past near her ear, only to reel back in front of her. Out of nowhere, a knife was in his hand as he held it up by its downward blade - a play on the coin around the ear trick - the grip vacant for her hand to take should she want another crack at the target. "Maintain sight on the point you wish to strike and appropriately direct your body's movements with the throw." Cassian directed, giving the girl some advice to add into her next throw. "That way you increase your chance of landing the desired blow."[break][break]
The initial frustration lasted for only a moment. Most people didn't know, but even the talented Dita Fluegel was no stranger to failure. What would solidify her status as being gifted would be what came next. There weren't many people in the world who could recover and learn from a mistake as well as she did. Even without Cassian's advice, Dita had already made adjustments to her form and aim using her first throw as a reference. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the next one should hit.
She gratefully accepted the second knife from Cassian and then returned to her original position. There were two things she was testing this round. First was her own adjustments based on her previous throw and second was the magician's advice. Admittedly she was more concerned about getting the proper form earlier that aim was just a secondary objective. Now that she had the form down pat, it was just a matter of utilizing its strengths to send the knife flying where she wanted it to go.
Once more she imitated the same style of throwing that Cassian did during his earlier demonstration, but this time with even greater precision than the last. If the both of them attempted to make a throw at simultaneously, people watching would think it was a synchronized act. But of course it was more than just copying. Dita being who she was, she almost immediately understood the pros of using this form and how it generated the kind of power and trajectory needed to make a good throw. Now it was just a matter of application.
The second knife she would throw for the day soared through the air like a bullet, much like the first. An unmistakable thud would let her know that she definitely hit the target this time, though it wasn't quite a bullseye. The knife was about a few inches to the left of the small red dot. Dita hopped a couple of times in excitement at her success.
The skin LIGHTS OFF was made by JAWN of WICKED WONDERLAND.
HALATION was created by KOJIHIME. Images belong to their respective artists. All codes and scripts belong to their respective coders. Please DO NOT take anything without the owners' permission.
