The Forgotten Zodiac

"Yes. I won't have to roll around in soot for the next one," Verdi giggled, diving into his bucket and smearing the soot all over his fur until it was as black as the night sky. "This is great, though. Ela likes us, we have beds, a super fun job..."

"...I miss Verolen, though," Israel said quietly, looking aside as a shall shadow crossed his face. He frowned slightly, then sighed. "And Arachne, too. And all the others."

Verdi looked down. "Yes...I miss them too. I wonder what they're doing..." He peered out the window for a moment. "Do you think they even know we were captured? They don't exactly pay us much mind...we're just...background characters in their grand play." He snorted a bit at his own reference.

Israel smiled. "I don't think they forgot. They just don't know where to find us," he said.

Verdi flopped down into his soot bucket, sighing a bit. "Well, either way...I don't know if I want to leave. Ela is nice...we're never really in any danger here, and...us being here is helping her, isn't it?"

Israel nodded. "I'm... feeling torn about it, too," the siren admitted. He leaned back and sighed. "This feels more like home than any other place I've been. The Darklands, the Forest... anywhere."

"We have fun here," Verdi sighed. "And...Ela needs us. We can't just abandon her..."

Israel nodded. "That's true, that's true," he agreed. "But..." he sighed, realizing the conversation was going to come full circle. "I miss Verolen."

Verdi looked down, then up at Israel. "What if we asked her to come with us? She wouldn't have to work for the ringmaster anymore, and...we can take care of her," He said, but he knew in the back of his mind that it was worlds safer here. "Or maybe...we can convince the others to stay here with us?" Again, he was well aware of the fact that the group had a tendency to attract trouble. Dangerous, deadly trouble. Bringing the trouble to a safe place would...well, remove the safety of said place.

Verdi started to cry. "We can't just leave...but we can't stay, either. What do we do, Israel?"

"For now, we stay," Israel said, nodding slightly, as if to himself. "Because there's a show in a couple hours, and we're in it. And then, we study the new script. And if... er, when... the others show up, we can entertain them! And then... well, we can figure out the rest later. So don't cry, okay? You're messing up your costume..."

"Okay...right." Verdi shook his head and wiped his tears away, then covered up the cleaned spots with more soot. "Let's go and let Ela know we're ready, I guess. We've gotta give out signatures before the show, don't we?" He smiled a bit.

Israel nodded. "Yeah, like always. Maybe there will be more people. It's the last show, you know. We have to make it a good one."

"Yes." Verdi nodded happily. "We must do our very bestest." He nodded happily as they walked to the table where the signatures were given out. Of course, Verdi didn't hand out as many; no one really cared to have the signature of the fuzzy creature behind the mystic sword. But Israel was quite popular, clearly. Especially with girls.

Israel offered each of the fans a small smile as he handed over his signature. He had been nervous the first few times he'd done this; he really didn't like people too much, as crowds used to scare him, especially crowds of strangers, but he had grown used to it.

Verdi handed over a signed paper (smudged with soot) over to a little boy who was collecting them from all the members. Ela was quite the star, as usual, smiling and laughing as the crowds spoke to her and whatnot. Lilac was just a little gem, playing out her character as she sat there signing paper after paper.

But with the arrival of the witches, things went downhill. Ela instantly eyed the group of women curiously, spotting someone oddly...familiar...in their midst. But he was wearing a hood, so she couldn't see the rest of his face. But she knew exactly who those girls were. She could tell from the ugly magic that flowed off of them.

One of the younger ones (a really small girl holding the hand of a very large and bulky man) got into line after excitedly talking with one of the older ones. She was short (only reaching the larger man's waist) and wore a very obvious hat; the usual pointed one with the wide brim. It was navy blue, as was her vest and pants. Her shirt was plain white. The bulky man wore a plain brown longcoat and a very calm expression. His eyes, though...he wasn't human, though he might look like it. It was some form of puppet, probably, but the girl seemed extremely attached to him.

Ela wasn't too sure why she was mentally describing these people to herself, but she shook her head and returned to signing pieces of paper and photographs, smiling and waving to the fans.

Israel, as if sensing something was wrong, looked up. He tried to make eye contact with Ela, wanting to know if she was all right, because he had the feeling that she wasn't, or something was upsetting her. However, his attention was pulled away as a gong sounded. The sound meant that it was time for the actors to go backstage; the show would begin in half a mark.

"C'mon, Spy," Israel said, scooping up Verdi in his arms. "We gotta go."

"Wait, wait," The little girl-witch piped up. She had already gotten signatures from Ela and Lilac, which left Israel and Verdi. She was the last in line anyway. "Please sign?" She peeked over the table's edge adorably, tilting her head to the side.

"Okay!" Verdi grinned, wiggling out of Israel's arms and hopping onto the table, grabbing up his pen and writing out his signature again. "One more, Israel. Your turn," He giggled, then squawked loudly as he was grabbed by the scruff of his neck and lifted up.

"Moot. Verdi. I found one," He called back to the group of witches standing there. Mikke hurried over, inspecting Verdi.

"Heeey! Is this one of your friends?" She turned to the hooded boy, smiling.

"H-hey!" Israel lunged after the Moot, trying to get him back from the rather large man that had grabbed him. "Leave him alone! We have to--" he broke off, his eyes wandering to the boy to whom the girl spoke. The hooded boy nodded and drew a bit more into himself, as if not wanting to be seen. Though finding this behavior odd, Israel was still more concerned with getting Verdi back. "...have to go for the play!"

"This must be the other one, then." Makke smiled. "Grab him, Horace, and let's get out of here."

"Right." The large man reached out to grab Israel, but the girl interrupted him.

"But Makke!" She wailed. "I wanna see the plaaaaaay! Please?" She begged, then looked up at the hodded boy. "Please? Do we have to take them NOW?"

Israel looked up to the hooded boy pleadingly. In truth, he only wanted him to agree with the girl so that he and Verdi might escape backstage, but he wasn't about to volunteer that information.

Carefully, the boy nodded, and Israel lunged for Verdi again.