Marguerite flashed a smile at the man, and patted him on the shoulder. "As tempting as your offer sounds, I do believe I will decline for now." She stepped back to stand closer to her companions.
Marie followed Colette over to the acrobats, spotted Marguerite, and opened her mouth to tell her that the people from the other circus were there - but of course Marguerite already knew. Marie shut her mouth quickly, unprepared to suddenly be in such close proximity to the gentlemen in question, her face turning a most remarkable shade of red.
Colette held out a hand, warningly to the young acrobat, holding her a few paces off. These men struck her as unsavory, and from what she knew about the Hirondelle, there was no need to put her in the sightlines of the competition.
Marie stopped trying to peer around her taller friends at Colette's gesture, and instead bounced fretfully on her heels, then spun to run back to the bar. "Alexandra!" she cried, darting back over to the fortuneteller. "I found Marguerite, but she already knew 'bout the other circus. She and Colette are over there talking to them." Having finished conveying her news, she picked up her teacup again and finished her opium tea in one gulp - her heart was beating rather quickly, what with all the excitement.
Alexandra turned to Marie, her face blushing slightly from her conversation with Asmodeus. The magician also looked up in interest from his glass at the news of the other circus. "Do you think we should join them, Alexandra?"
The fortuneteller looked across the room to where her friends stood with the acrobats. "I don't think so," she replied, "at least not yet. If there's trouble we'll go over. But because we're all the emblems of la Vapeur it might not be a good idea to outnumber then and antagonize them."
Marie set her teacup down with a clatter and made a face. "Well, I'm going back to see," she said. "They're quite pretty, aren't they?" She grinned sheepishly and darted back through the small crowd to resume her place behind Colette and Marguerite, standing on tip-toe to better admire, er, watch the competition.
Marguerite retrieved her abandoned alcohol and finished the glass. In the process, she loosened one of her pocket flaps.
Colette smiled politely. "Your troop has made an error, I'm sure. A circus is already established here; la Vapeur has already begun performing as of today." The drunken acrobat only chuckled. "An error? No." He reached out to pat Colette on the arm. "I don't know why, but Jacque insisted that we set up here when he saw the airships of that other circus. The... Vapeur." His lips curled in a sneer around the last word. "Steam? We will blow them away--puff!"
Colette stiffened, shifting her body so the other man couldn't reach her arm. Her anger flared, but she contained it. "I doubt it." The man just laughed again, picking up a glass and draining its contents.
Here, Marie found herself conflicted. On the other hand, she was currently, shall we say, smitten with the gentleman insulting her circus. On the other hand, he was insulting her circus. "As if you could, birdbrains," she muttered, mostly to herself, as usual, and a bit more louder than she'd entirely attended, also as usual. Marie had many talents; subtlety was never one of them, nor were clever insults.
Marguerite quickly followed Marie's words. "Monsieur, I hope you do not seriously plan to ruin this lovely evening with this attitude. Come, this establishment has some fine opium if you would care to sample it." Marguerite gestured toward the bar. Something in her hand glinted in the light.
"Alexandra, there may be trouble," Asmodeus turned and spoke softly in her ear, "Colette doesn't look happy and neither do the acrobats." Alexandra drained her glass and nodded in agreement. "Let's get over there and see what we can do to help." Before they could make their way over, the second twin approached them at the bar, and began chattering with them enthusiastically about the colour of the absinthe in Alexandra’s glass, before demanding of the barkeep a round for not only himself, but his entourage of flimsily clad women.
The twin who had insulted the Vapeur turned to Marie, reaching clumsily into a pocket and fishing out a rumpled flyer. "Here--you should come to the show. A treat--my treat. For a fine young thing." The admittance flyer was garishly decorated, on both sides, with a banner describing a pair of "miraculous acrobat twins" taking up most of the space. Colette's eyes caught on the names that decorated the paper, and her eyes widened in rage. "Which one of you calls himself Hyacinth? Tell me!"
Marie, whose verbal slips rarely yielded free admission to a show, accepted the flyer as clumsily as the acrobat offered it, blush deepening as she looked from the flyer to the acrobat and back. And then Colette, right next to her, spoke loudly - rather in her ear - and Marie jumped, nearly dropping the crumpled page. The acrobat was not quite so ruffled, but his eyes widened at the sudden outburst. "The other one," he said, jerking his head at his brother, who was still somewhat, erm, occupied with his crowd of admirers.
"So that would make you Alphonse?” When the man nodded carelessly, Colette only grew angrier. “You’ve no right to that name. How can you dare?” What little control she had over her usually icy calm faded. Without thinking she reached out, tipping what was left of her wine over his gaudy clothes. Without another word, she turned on her heel and stalked away.
Marguerite withheld a sigh, nodded curtly to the supposed Alphonse and followed Colette.
Marie jumped and dropped the flyer in earnest at the sudden heated exchange, barely able to follow what was happening as Colette and Marguerite stormed out. She watched them leave, twisting the hem of her skirt nervously, then bent to pick up the flyer. "Ah..." she straightened, turning to the now wine-soaked acrobat. "Am I still invited, then?" He was wiping his face with a handkerchief, face red with anger or embarrassment. "S'long as you don't bring her with you," he said. "Or, hell, bring her along. Let the mad woman see that I have more right to that name than Alphonse ever did." And he turned his attentions back to his brother and their admirers, leaving Marie quite alone in the den.
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