Young Writers Society

Devi~

Noah and Vincent began to walk briskly towards us watching the man closely. I clenched my fists together and bit my lip.

"I run a respectable business and with you freaks fogging up my window I cannot sell a single dress to a decent customer" His voice sharp and spiteful.

"I would like to buy something" Coraline said in a soft voice.
Noah and Vincent stopped behind us staring under the lashs at the man.

The shop keeper chuckled "I wouldn't accept money from you freaks if you were the last people on Earth!"

I felt my heart freeze and my eyes widened in shock.

Lovie

Glaring at the man I felt my eyes tearing up. He was not nice! To judge us like that....I closed my eyes briefly then turned around and stalked off. We didn't have to put up with this guy.

"And get that harlot of yours off the street!" He screamed. I turned back around, my eyes wide. Did he just-? I tried to hold the tears back but they came anyway, and I started running back towards the wagons.

*Coraline*

That shop owner was was out of line. Devi and Lovie stalked off, leaving me there by myself. This man needed to pay.

I called out to Noah. When he sauntered up, I gave him the look that said, "Read."

He nodded and turned his gaze to the owner.

The owner was not happy about the attention that he was getting. "I told you, get your whore away from my shop!"

Noah looked at me. "Ice."

"What did you say?" screamed the owner. "Answer me, freak!"

I snapped my head towards him. I thought of frost, glazing over the street. There was no one else around. It got colder. You could see the clouds of our air.

"I am Ghiaccio." I hissed. Ghiaccio meant ice. "And you will listen, mortal."

The owner stood, rooted to the spot. His skin was pale and he was shivering. "P-please, just l-leave."

"Why should I? I wanted new clothes, and you were insolent. Now, you will pay."

He saw ice to creep up his legs, freezing him. He started struggling, but his mind wouldn't let him move. "No! Please! Do not do this!"

"Then give me what I want." I replied. "Give me and my companions clothes to wear."

The ice was up to his stomach. "Yes, of course! Anything! Please let me live!"

The ice stopped at his neck. "You will let us have anything from your store, including fans and hats and fabrics."

He nodded, looking like he wished to faint. "You will also be kind to strangers from here on out. Anyone who is looking for shelter, you will give it to them."

He nodded spastically. "Yes, please, take whatever you wish. Just do not kill me!"

I released the illusion and he fell to the ground. "May we go in?"

He didn't look at me, but he nodded once more. I smiled and looked behind me. Vincent, Lovie, Noah, and Devi were looking at me with eyebrows raised. I jerked my head towards the store with a grin. Lovie jumped with glee and the others smiled.

We went in and we shopped.

Noah

The girls ran inside gladly, immedeatly sifting through racks of dresses and displays of masks. Noah sauntered through racks of gentleman's clothes, unsure of what he should actually be buying for this affair. To his memory, he did not recall ever having to attend an event like this.

"Need help?" Devi asked, appearing beside Noah.

Noah smiled slightly. "Perhaps, it seems I don't know what to buy."

Devi~

Biting the insides of my cheek I stared at the close rack.
"Just to let you know" I said whilst flickering through the suits "My clothes choice...is different!"

I dug my way through the clothes towards the back. I pulled out a brown suit and fingered the collar.
He shook his head dramatically. I laughed pulling out a lime green suit. Again he shook his head "No way, I don't want to look like a gaint lime!"

I laughed, flicking through the rest of the clothes.
"Well, what type of mask do you want?" I asked

Lovie

My arms full of dresses to try one, I walked past Devi and Noah and heard her ask him about what type of mask he wanted.

"Get him a red and gold one!" I called over my shoulder. "It'd be mmm-fine!" I laughed, walking towards the dressing rooms. I tried on a pink taffeta one, but it wasn't my type. Too fluffy. Next I tried on a sexy red number, but I was painfully reminded of what I had been called today, so I threw it into the "definitely not" pile. I tried on a short purple one, a soft yellow one, and a gorgeous gold one, but the dress that really caught my eye was a lovely blue one. it made me feel simply beautiful. Not too frilly, or too sexy, or too decadent. it didn't make me feel like anything I wasn't. And I loved it. I walked out in front of the big mirror in the middle of the shop, inspecting myself from different angles. This was definitely the dress.

"Oh," someone whispered behind me, and I turned around to see...

((Any guy wanna step in? Wolf or actor! We need drama, whether it be bloody or beautiful))

Hey, here's the "lovely blue dress" hope ya like it!

**Sorry I haven't posted yet, been a little busy the last couple of days.**

Vincent

As we entered the shop, I gave the owner a slightly apologetic smile. He flinched away from me, and I sighed to myself, walking over to stand beside Coraline. The scrape of moving clothes hangers and swish of dresses was the only noise for a few moments. She didn't need to be a reader to know what I was thinking.

After a few moments she hit the rack lightly in frustration, making it jolt. "Look, I know you don't like doing anything like that, but what choice did I have?"

I shrugged, "Could've walked away."

"We get treated like that by everyone in town, Vincent, whether or not they like us in the ring. I'm not going to walk away from everything."

I was trying to keep my voice low, I didn't want the others to hear me arguing with her. It wasn't right for things to be this way in the Troupe, especially so soon after James' death. "Just admit it, alright Coraline? You abused your power back there. It's stuff like that that makes the townspeople afraid of us. That's why they think we're freaks. That's-" I cut myself short, but too late. What I'd been about to say would be obvious to her - that's why the Wolves hunt us.

Coraline gripped the rack a little tighter, her knuckles starting to go white. I reached out to lay a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "You know I didn't mean to say that." But would that really cut it? Sure, everyone had been feeling a little more tense lately, but that wasn't an excuse for me to start pushing my thoughts on using powers outside the show. Not like this, anyway.

Lucian

It was easy to tell that our assassin was feeling a little on edge. It was fair enough, she was out for blood because of even more personal reasons than my own, and now her vengeance, or whatever it was to her, was apparently being delayed.

My own vengeance had been carried out a long while ago. This business with the Troupe was just cleaning up, really. Witches and sorcerers were on the decline, and the circus freaks were the last coven of any real size that we'd identified. Once they were gone, what would be left? No more hunts of this size, I'd think. Probably no more than two Wolves and a crowd of townsfolk. That, in my opinion, would be more than enough to deal with those few lone heretics.

"So until next week, what?" Carmen growled, throwing her hands up. "Do we just sit on our hands and do nothing?"

"We try and pick up Meso's trail." Simon replied. "That way, we can at least make some progress, so when Jeannie reports in, we won't take as long to catch up to the Troupe."

I nodded distantly, just wishing Jeannie would hurry up and pick up the trail. Though I didn't show it, I was almost as eager to begin hunting again as Carmen was. We'd come so close last time...we'd tasted victory, only to have it snatched by that hero of theirs. Well, he'd paid for that. And they'd all pay this time, for more Wolves were starting to close from the surrounding regions.

All the heroes and powers in the world wouldn't be enough to stop that many.

Noah

"Get him a red and gold one!" Lovie called back over her shoulder. "It'd be mmmm-fine!"

Noah thought over this. He supposed he didn't mind those colors in a mask. "That sounds fine," he told Devi.

"Alright, then what color suit can I get you into?" she asked, holding out a dark purple one and a sparkly, light blue suit that Noah didn't believe was meant for any respectable man.

"Could we just try black?" he asked, hopefully.

Three Days Later

Carmen

Jeannie calls, "I found where there performing. Near a little coast in venice. In italy."

Venice, that was only a 2 days boat trip away.

"That was quick, remind me to give you a bonus." I told her. I could almost hear her smileing. I disconnect, and go to Lucian.

"Venice, lets go." We hop in the black car, my black car, and speed of towars the boat dock.

Before long we get close to the dock, the bustle of it all disturbs me.

"Lets wait until tomorow to go." Lucian said.

"We can't. We need to act now." He doesn't argue.

"We should cut out the thiatrics this time."

"A quick, clean job." I agree. I chech the staps of my stealth suit. Then I have an idea. I take of my suit to reveal the normal cloths under them.

"They wont suspect a thing." I say, quickly telling him my plan. I would go into camp as a friend, visiting there show. Maybe even see some old friends. I would pretend I was just coming back for a little visit. Until I got close enough to kill any of them.

Vincent went first.

Kaywiia, the troupe is performing in Venice and...they aren't performing yet.

I fixed it, sorry about the confusion. Better?

Erm....have people forgotten that it's 1875?....lol

I thought we were going to a ball And is this old-timey or am I confused?

I fixed it, again.