Gwynplaine
- Ingenious Pilot -
A king made me a clown! A queen made me a Peer! But first, God made me a man!
Posts: 238
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Post by Gwynplaine on Oct 31, 2008 11:06:03 GMT -5
Gwynplaine laughed gently, and somewhat gratefully at the change in subject.
"Your potential for earning is higher, certainly, if you're doing something. It does not have to be anything very grand--audiences tend to think that walking is an accomplishment for anyone afflicted with some abnormality. You're choice, really, is between making people impressed or making them laugh."
He had no choice, really, but that was beside the point.
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Post by Pina on Oct 31, 2008 11:11:34 GMT -5
*She considered this with a frown of consentration.*
"What do you do?"
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Gwynplaine
- Ingenious Pilot -
A king made me a clown! A queen made me a Peer! But first, God made me a man!
Posts: 238
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Post by Gwynplaine on Oct 31, 2008 11:47:33 GMT -5
"I juggle, some tumbling, magic tricks, anything I can reasonably perform," he said, hesitating a little before the next part. "And then I show my face, and make people laugh."
It was rather pathetic, when spoken so starkly. He was a glorified clown, but the sort who had no makeup to take off. But it worked--it put food on the table.
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Post by Pina on Nov 3, 2008 12:14:17 GMT -5
"Oh..."
*It didn't seem very fair to him, she thought. The glamour of the hastily thought out circus plan was fading a little. She didn't want to be laughed at.*
"So it doesn't really matter what you do?"
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Gwynplaine
- Ingenious Pilot -
A king made me a clown! A queen made me a Peer! But first, God made me a man!
Posts: 238
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Post by Gwynplaine on Nov 3, 2008 13:06:28 GMT -5
He shrugged.
"Not really," he said. "They enjoy the tricks, of course, and it helps to demonstrate your facility in other aspects of life if you are clearly deficient in one of them. This is more true in the more burdened; the armless wonders who demonstrate their ability to eat and drink without aid, as if their mere survival was a trick. I suppose I could merely uncover my face, but the effect would be slightly less entertaining, and for myself, even less rewarding."
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Post by Pina on Nov 4, 2008 14:04:59 GMT -5
"That makes sense," *she said.*
"I'll figure something out then. Thanks."
*She paused a moment in thought.* "Or Sha- Shaheen can just throw knives at me."
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Gwynplaine
- Ingenious Pilot -
A king made me a clown! A queen made me a Peer! But first, God made me a man!
Posts: 238
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Post by Gwynplaine on Nov 4, 2008 14:35:52 GMT -5
Gwynplaine hesitated, knowing this was not his place. He would not ask what her situation was, or why she had ended up here.
"Forgive me," he said at last, his voice hesitant and gentle. "I know I am a stranger to you, but I feel I must speak. You seem like a remarkable young lady. I am certain you are resilient enough for this sort of life. But I urge you to ask if you truly desire to pursue it. If there is another way. I know I should not demean my own profession so, but it was not my choosing. Perhaps, if it were... I might feel differently. Perhaps I might choose it. I cannot tell, and I would not presume to tell you what to do. But only to ask that you think about it."
He stepped back, embarrassed by this display, and looked down.
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Post by Pina on Nov 4, 2008 14:46:48 GMT -5
*She'd never thought it through, really, her coming here. Shadi and suggested it and she was happy with the chance to get away from everything. The possibility that it was demeaning or that running off and joining the circus wasn't as fun and wild an adventure as everyone said hadn't even entered her mind.*
"I don't know, I never thought that I'd make a career out of it or anything- this was just going to be a place to go until I went somewhere else. Unless I like it enough to stay."
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Gwynplaine
- Ingenious Pilot -
A king made me a clown! A queen made me a Peer! But first, God made me a man!
Posts: 238
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Post by Gwynplaine on Nov 4, 2008 15:26:33 GMT -5
Gwynplaine nodded and looked up again.
"Fair enough," he said. "I did not mean to question your intent."
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Post by Pina on Nov 6, 2008 12:24:20 GMT -5
"It's fine. I guess it was an easy mistake to make."
*She shrugged.*
"I'm mostly just here to get away from my family. They're..." *she tried to think of a word that could possibly describe them.* "As far from normal as you can possibly get."
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Gwynplaine
- Ingenious Pilot -
A king made me a clown! A queen made me a Peer! But first, God made me a man!
Posts: 238
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Post by Gwynplaine on Nov 7, 2008 14:32:58 GMT -5
"Oh?" he asked. He'd heard about people running away from horrible situations. He did not know what it would be like, having a family. He'd had Ursus, for awhile. He supposed that counted. But it was far from "normal."
"I'm not sure what normal is, to be honest," he said. "But I'm sorry you were forced to leave them."
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Post by Pina on Nov 10, 2008 12:28:37 GMT -5
"I don't either," *she admitted,* "but my family certainly isn't."
"I inherited this-" *she waved her hand in the vague direction of her face.* "from my father, for one. And he didn't... adjust well."
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Gwynplaine
- Ingenious Pilot -
A king made me a clown! A queen made me a Peer! But first, God made me a man!
Posts: 238
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Post by Gwynplaine on Nov 10, 2008 13:07:05 GMT -5
"Oh," Gwynplaine said softly, various sentiments layering that single syllable. Sadness and recognition among them. "He looks like you?" He was evidently one of the angry ones, or the miserable ones, who felt cheated by the world and therefore cut off from it. "He doesn't know you're here, I imagine."
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Post by Pina on Nov 11, 2008 21:15:28 GMT -5
*She nodded.* "He's worse off, though. Skinnier than me, if you can believe it. And all balding. He could have passed off as an actual dead person- it's bizarre. So it's not really his fault that he's so... him." *That was before the fire at Manderley, of course. And not counting the time when he was somehow pretty. But she didn't mention that.* "But really, he lives in the basement of an opera house and pretends to be a ghost or- or something. Who does that?"
*She snorted at his second question.*
"Are you joking? He'd kill me."
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Gwynplaine
- Ingenious Pilot -
A king made me a clown! A queen made me a Peer! But first, God made me a man!
Posts: 238
|
Post by Gwynplaine on Nov 12, 2008 0:48:53 GMT -5
Gwynplaine's eyes seemed dark and sad. He felt sorry for the man. For misfortunes so much greater than his own. He was not really a morose type, Gwynplaine--but he was so recently left alone, and felt others' pain somewhat acutely.
"I... don't know who does that," he agreed. "It seems rather extreme. I assume... he was not always so."
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