Get Ready For the Show

[pipers_son]

Who: All the performers, plus any visitors
What: Time to get back into the swing of things! Nothing says "I've recovered from trauma" like learning how to plaster a smile onto your face for the crowds.
When: D1 - D5
Where: The Main Tent
Warnings: None.... Probably

As the saying goes, "All play and no work makes Jack forget how to do his job". On the bright side...

Over the radio, Joker makes a cheerful announcement for all performers to start getting back into the practice schedule with new arrivals to show up on the first day back from the moon. On the first day, he'll be lenient. No one has to be on time, but he does want them to at least make an appearance and token attempt at practice. After that, well... Show up, or you'll have an aggravatingly cheerful stage manager paying a personal visit. He bothers because he cares.

To those who have become familiar with it, the tent is outfitted with all off the usual practice equipment, and new faces will be in for a treat. There are the usual acrobatics equipment: silk ropes, the high wire, trapeze swings. Daredevils will find all sorts of things to threaten their lives with, although they'll soon find that there are magical safety precautions in place which stop the Big Tent from, say, getting set on fire. And the magician stuff? Well.... Don't hurt yourself there.

Out of the love of his heart, Joker will make sure there are bottles of water nearby, so don't be afraid to work up a sweat.

Comments

[soft_focus]

"Mnh...there were some things that made sense, but I don't think I 'liked' things..."

She frowns, though. "...I definitely don't want to make a name that says what they have to be. That part's their choice." She might be training the one, and all, but a bird can presumably still refuse that request right??? Yeah. "Yuuya said his pets were in pairs, and a lot of the others said 'just use what you want', but..."

The girl pauses, trying to find the words for a moment. It's hard-more than hard, after all, and...

"...I don't know what I want most of the time. ...that's not just a name thing," she notes, a touch frustrated about the entire matter.

The eagle Squeaks, nudging her somewhat. There there, not-chick.

[pipers_son]

Very attentively and very quietly, Joker listens to her problem as if she were describing the most important thing in the world. Honestly, he thinks she has the right idea. After all....

Crouching down a bit more to her level, Joker gives her a soft smile and reaches over to pat her head as gently as he can. "Yer a good girl," he tells her, all honesty. "Givin' a name ta someone is really hard and important, isn't it? It's good ta yer puttin' so much thought inta it." Rocking back on his heels, he smiles down at Feathers before looking back to Reira. This is starting to remind him a little bit of when he was young.

"Ya know, back when I was younger, I had ta come up with names for everyone in my family, because no one had ever bothered ta give any of us names before. Want ta know how I did that?"

[soft_focus]

A good girl? She blinks from under the headpat, considering Joker's words. Did just that little thing make her that great, really? Well, it's nice to hear that putting thought into it is a good idea at least. ...She doesn't want to do it poorly. She already knows that when her mom did it, for her, it wasn't done right.

She seems a bit surprised as Joker goes on, however. "Umnh....you didn't even have a name from someone else?" she questions, blinking in astonishment. "...How did you make names, then..?"

[pipers_son]

"Well..." He taps his fingers against his knee. "It was easier for me, because I could name myself whatever I wanted, so I didn't have ta think about lettin' anyone down." So he won't go into that.

"But for the rest of my family.... I focused on things they liked. Or things I hoped they got, or their best qualities." His smile softens a little bit. "So I named one of my brothers Dagger, because he was clever, and had a good throwin' hand."

[soft_focus]

"Really? It was easy..?" She....doesn't even know what she'd name herself, honestly!! That seems even harder!

"Hmn, things they like...." She looks over the Eagle for a moment, frowning. "....I'm not really sure yet...I know she likes food and things, but the little things I don't know yet..."

[pipers_son]

"Well, for me it was." He shrugs. It's something he could go further into... but naming one's self isn't the topic of this whole meeting, is it?

For now, he hums thoughtfully. "Then... What kind of personality has she shown ya, so far? It doesn't have ta be indepth, even simple stuff is fine."

[soft_focus]

"She keeps trying to clean me and make me eat meat, like Tyrannosaurus does."

Both of them Demand to be Mothers.

Sparrow is sadly too small to try.

That said, she does try to think of...at least a little more. "Umnh...she likes to try and do what I'm doing sometimes though? Or follow me a lot, to see where I am..."

[pipers_son]

"Well then~." Tapping two fingers together with his thumb, Joker grins. "That's sure enough ta find somethin' for a name! So let's think of things that are like that- carin' for ya, and eatin', followin' and copyin'..."

Fortunately, Joker does keep some paper and pencils nearby for his own use. It's usually to make any notes on the performers, or any changes to the lineup, things like that. Holding up his hand in a gesture to wait, he flaps off to the stands to get them. Coming back means he's going to have to cross his legs to write on the ground, but that's fine too.

"Let's make a list, then... Like, a thing that follows is yer shadow, right? And a mirror copies what ya do."

[soft_focus]

"Ummmm...Cameras also copy..." Actually, she even pulls out her deck of cards for that bit. Since. Well. "....I use those cards in my deck to copy other monsters... ...but I don't think names for copying are a good idea. ....Copying is what I used to have to do, so..." So it's not the best association at all. As it is. "I think she just does that because she's trying to know what I'm doing though."

A shadow, however, hmm. She ponders this, and as if on 'cue', a little female sparrow pokes out of her hair. "Maybe...the Sparrow should be the shadow then, though..? She's always with me..." Yes, this...zombie sparrow from Foster...

Shadowy names would be perfect then.

[pipers_son]

Ah. Right. He nods understandingly. "Best ta pick a name that has good memories for ya. That's the most important thing." That just means he'll have to think a little harder on that end, but that's fine. Joker knew from the start that this might be a little tricky.

Still, that said, he has to pause at the sight of the undead sparrow popping up. Feathers gives a soft hoot, perking up to get a better look. "Well, that's an option," he muses, considering the little bird. "Shadow the Sparrow, what do ya think?"

It half seems like he's asking kid and bird alike.

[soft_focus]

"Mnh..!" Well, getting the bigger one named is definitely the trickiest then. But Shadow the Sparrow, Shadow the Sparrow....

She ponders it, and the sparrow in turn tilts its head before she shakes it. "Mnh...! I think the better word is..."

"...Kage." Now that one gets a peep. "...Mn! Her name is...'Kage', then!"

So basically just Shadow, in a Language. She looks to the eagle now. "Mnh...now her though..."

[pipers_son]

Patiently waiting through her thoughts doesn't take much time at all in Joker's opinion, and he whistles when he hears the spine on the suggestion. It's in another language, sure, but there's nothing wrong with that. If anything, that only makes it all the more meaningful.

"Very nice! Kage the sparrow it is~." Even as she's fussing over the eagle, however, Joker beams in a way that nearly seems to glow, and he reaches over to pat Reira's head again.

"See! You've managed ta come up with one name, so that means you can definitely come up with another~. Think of it that way, alright?"

[soft_focus]

It's a great name, and perfect, and she only smiles a little wider when she feels Joker's hand on her head again. She's doing pretty great, she's pretty sure! So...

"M-Mnn! Right... ...and..." Well, after all. "...It's okay to not know before today is done, right?"

[pipers_son]

"Perfectly fine." Joker says it with the kind of confidence that makes even bullshit seem like simple fact- but fortunately, in this case, it's true.

"Do ya want ta keep figurin' it out, or does that mean we'll save it for the next time?" Because he has no doubt there will be more times than now. Training an animal, even very smart ones, takes a lot of work.

[soft_focus]

"Mnhh..." Well. Given she's...entirely lost on a name for now, she simply shakes her head. "Umnh... I still have to check on all of the other animals...so I guess later, then..."

[pipers_son]

"That's fine, then. Another day." As long as they stay away from another horrible disaster for at least a couple of stops, they have time. In the now, Joker inclines his head towards Feathers.

"Would ya like ta stay a while and just pay attention while I go through some trainin' with Feathers? That way, you'll see how I do things and what ta expect."

annnnnd fade out-

[soft_focus]

"Yeah." Another day then. For now, she glances over to Feathers in question. "...'Feathers'..?" Really, their name is f-

Alright she won't judge. She'll just nod. "Um!! Yeah!"

Time to learn some animal training.