-Ch.5
By noon the next day everyone was awake and working hard. In the big tent the acrobats were practicing their routine.
"You ready Betsy?"
Jean called out to a girl with purple hair as she hung upside down from a trapeze.
"You bet."
Betsy called out before she started to swing from a second trapeze. On her third swing out she did a back flip and grabbed hold of Jean's outreached hands. The two then swung back to the platform.
Kurt was high in the air walking the tightrope with ease. He did a cartwheel without difficulty and practiced disappearing then reappearing on the wire.
"Kurt, Storm's coming."
Jean called out as she climbed down from the platform with Betsy following. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke and reappeared on the ground, sitting on the side of the middle ring, Storm entered the tent and a few minuets later Toad hopped in.
"Sorry I'm late yo."
Strom motioned for him to join the others and waited for them to settle down.
"Alright lets start working. I want to see you two working on your flips," she pointed towards Jean and Toad. " and I want Kurt spotting. Todd, work on your tight rope walking. If you need any help I'll be right here."
The four teenagers did what she said and an hour later they changed areas. Jean went to the tightrope, Betsy practiced her gymnastics in the middle of the ring and as the girls did that the boys jumped through hoops attached to the center pole, racing to the top.
Outside the tent others were training as well. In the shade of the Big Tent Remy and Kitty worked on their act. Remy had just pulled a rabbit out of his hat and was now putting Kitty in a box.
"Da swords are goin in petite."
"Like I'm ready."
He pushed the swords into the box and then pulled them out, he helped Kitty out of the box and they worked on their next trick involving cards.
John twirled the baton with one hand, spinning it around and around. Across the road from Wanda's. He lit the ends then began spinning the baton faster and faster. He extinguished the flame and started to juggle three balls of fire. Next he lit a stick on fire and held it in front of his face.
"Down the hatch with out a scratch."
He then swallowed it then pulled it out, the flame still burning.
"Is that what you say every time you eat fire?"
Wanda was standing on the front steps of her trailer, she didn't have to train as much as the performers.
"Yep."
He smirked and started to juggle the fire balls again.
"Where you going?"
"To see if Rogue wants any company."
She shut her door then walked towards Rogue's. On her way she passed Bobby setting up his slushy machine, Lance testing his Farris wheel to make sure it was balanced and Logan showing X-23 how to throw someone over her shoulder.
When she entered Rogue's trailer she found her friend at her sowing machine working.
"Do you need any help?"
"No, just doin some last minuet repairs on a certain redhead's costume."
She had Jeans acrobat uniform and was mending a hole in the knee. Wanda sat on Rogue's bed and reached over to turn the radio on.
"How was your date with Remy?"
Wanda questioned while messing with the radio stations.
"It was fine."
Rogue replied, smiling as she remembered the night before.
"How late were you two up?"
Wanda had seen the smile and her curiosity got the better of her.
"Ah don't know, midnight or later."
She finished Jeans costume then turned around in her seat to face Wanda.
"How about you? How was the night with our resident Pyro?"
Wanda finally found a station she liked and answered Rouge as she reached over and picked up Rogue's black nail polish from her dresser.
"I had a wonderful time with John."
They talked about their dates for a while then Rogue looked at her clock hanging above her dresser. She quickly walked over to a closet and started to pull out fabric swatches and costume designs. She loaded them into her black bag and pulled her boots on.
"Sorry ta leave like this but Ah have to go find Jamie. The kids growin like a weed and he's gona need a new clown outfit soon. Ah'll see ya later."
"Ok, I need to get back and finish setting up my trailer for tonight any way."
They left and went their separate ways. Wanda towards her trailer and Rogue towards the Big Tent where the Jamie's were working on their routine.
"Jamie, Ah need ta see one of ya."
The original Jamie went over to her as the other continued clowning around. Rogue spent the next half hour measuring and having Jamie pick out what fabrics he liked.
Meanwhile Piotr was setting the ticket booth down and adjusted it for X-23.
"Thanks Piotr."
He fixed the both so it faced outward before nailing it down.
"No problem."
He left her to set up her chair, going to find Logan so he would know what was going on that night.
"Do you need me on security tonight Logan?"
Logan was checking the gate for holes.
"No. Me, Speedy and X can handle it tonight, but if we need ya I'll come get you."
He found a broken link and motioned for Piotr to bend it back into place.
"If that is all then I will go and make sure all the stands are set up."
Piotr left and made his way towards the Big Tent, checking with the booths making sure they were set up right. As he passed Wanda's trailer she came out and stopped him.
"Here, rub it in on where your muscles are sour and they'll feel better. If you run out tell me and I'll get you more."
She handed him the ointment bottle and he thanked her. Wanda went back inside and he resumed his journey towards the Big Tent. As his eyes adjusted he looked around to see if he would be needed. Above him in the air the acrobats were working on their routine, he could see the clowns doing a tumbling act and saw Rogue writing down something in her notebook, measuring tape draped around her neck. Others were spread out around the three rings putting the stands up and some of the animals were working with their trainers, mostly the mutants that could talk to animals. Nearby several mutants were holding up the stands as others were screwing the pieces together. The stand started shaking suddenly.
"We're losing it!"
"I can't get a grip!"
"It's going to collapse!"
They called out in panic as the stand shook and started going down. Piotr charged at them, the metal sliding out of his skin and increasing his strength. He caught the falling structure and held it up as the others finished assembling it.
"Thanks man."
Sam slapped Piotr on the back.
"You really saved us back there."
The metal returned inside his body and he helped them get the rest of the stands set up with out incident.
Near the end of the day, just two hours before the sun would go down, the mutants were making final preparations for the night. Most were in their costumes already and going over their routines again, some were eating and the rest were just hanging out. Outside Wanda's trailer were Rogue, Piotr, Remy, Kitty, John and Wanda.
John had his orange jumpsuit on and the goggles were around his neck, he was sitting on the steps with Wanda on his lap. Her dark red skirt reached her ankles and the black vest over her white long sleeved blouse was undone.
Leaning against the trailer was Remy and Rogue, Remy had on his duster and under that he wore black pants, boots, and a black shirt with maroon lining around the collar and he had fingerless gloves on his hands (think his evolution uniform without the head gear).
Rogue was next to him, his arm around her, she had black pants on and a black long sleeved shirt. Her bag was at her side and it had everything she would need if a costume ripped.
Piotr sat on the ground leaning against a nearby tree, he had on blue jeans and a white beater with a few pain stains on it (he was going to be painting tonight). Kitty had her new costume on and was sitting next to him on the ground.
They were talking about what to do the next day when they heard the professor in their minds.
IN MINDS-
"We start in an hour, I want everyone performing in the Big Tent to meet there in fifteen
minuets, everyone else needs to be at there booths. That is all."
OUT OF MINDS
"Ah guess it's time ta get ta work, Ah'll see yall later."
"Like same here."
The couples said their goodbyes and left, each heading their own ways. An hour later the sun was gone and the Circus lights were lit, bringing the people of Bayville out of their homes and into the world of Xavier's Circus for Gifted Youngsters.
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