Knowing that there was nothing further that he could do for April, Henri checked outside to see if there was any movement before going back out and bringing in Naomi's body and that of the former clown, checking on April after each trip.

When Henri finally laid the last body down inside of the wagon, he glanced over at April. Her chest no longer seemed to be rising and falling. Yet, there was a strange smile on her face. Henri wondered if it might be the result of whatever pills she had eaten.

Then, suddenly, in the distance he heard a loud beeping sound. It sounded like a bicycle horn.

Henri covered over the two bodies so that April wouldn't have to look at them when she woke up.  If she woke up.  He made her as comfortable as possible under the circumstances and then, shielding the light of the candle, peeked outside to see if he could spot the noise he had heard.

A great confusion of magnificent tents and vending shops piled one upon the other, broken up by small, narrow passageways, circled by towering Big Top, studded with a hundred lofty, tattered flags. The rain sliced straight down, battering the tents and structures. Henri had to squint. He thought he could hear the sound coming from the other side of the Big Top, but getting there might require going through that maze of winding passageways. It looked like some kind of Souk from the Orient.

Henri checked on Naomi before heading out.  Once out, he stashed the unicycle up under one of the other trailers, picked up the bowling pin, and collected all the juggling balls that he could find.  He closely examined the first ball he picked up in case there was something odd about them.  The one that had hit April had seemed to do more than he thought it should have.

There was no doubt about it. Naomi, was dead. Her mouth was open, eyes staring distantly at nothing. As Henri headed out to the rain to pick up the juggling balls, he noticed that they were hardened. He was able to collect 4 balls in all. Red, yellow, green and blue. They were metallic and had been thrown with deadly intent at high speed. High enough speed to lodge themselves into their targets.

Henri was now clutching an arm full of objects. As he descended down the hill into the rain, the beeping sound stopped. There was a distant sound of putting engine and a car driving off. But not off...

Closer. The sound was coming closer.

OOC - my brain is not working at all tonight.  I did not mean Naomi, I meant April.  Sorry there.

Henri stuffed three of the balls in various pockets, keeping one in this throwing hand and the bowling pin in his other hand.  He looked for some kind of cover or concealment and hid, waiting for the car to come closer or leave.

OOC - if it's a VW Bug, then he would probably recognize it.  There are a lot of them over in Europe and the sound is very distinctive.

Henri could hear the distinctive sound of the VW bug as it came closer. April's yes we're closed and the pallor of her skin was pale, gray. It didn't look good.

Henri looked around for a place to hide.

OOC: Henri Rolls Wits + Stealth

OOC - 22:18, Today: Henri Aiton rolled 2 successes using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((8,7,2,10(+1))).

Henri hid behind one of the wagons. The rain was pouring down and he immediately felt the chill of the rain as water poured down his back. He could see the headlights of the car approaching. It was a small, Volkswagon but it hard to tell anything else but it's vague shape in the darkness and rain.

Thunder boomed across the gray sky, vibrating the ground. The car pulled up about 30 feet way and idled. The engine emitted a weak, sputter with an occasional pop. Then it just sat there as rain drummed down on the roof sounding like pebbles falling on metal.

Henri found himself peering out behind the wooden wagon at the car, headlights flooding the earth around him.

Henri waited and watched.  He was pretty sure that any vehicle had something to do with the clowns.

Henri watched as the Volskwagon car door opened. A short, stunty silhouette emerged from the driver's side. Rain drops fell in small puddles around the car.  A running stream of water was now flowing down hill, passing under the car, and flowing down towards where Henri was hidden.

The silhouette closed the door.  Henri watched as the silhouette took several steps forward. It was to see anything Through the blinding light, he saw that the figure was standing there.

Henri didn't move and just waited where he was without a sound until he knew more.

"Zampolio? You out here?" A smarmy voice said. The silhouette stepped into the harsh light of the car, which still ran idly in the background.

It was midget. A midget Clown. It was bare chested, sporting bright orange suspenders which held up yellow pants that were too big for its small body. It's back, chest and the top of its feet were covered with coarse, black hair. It spoke with what sounded like a Brooklyn or some kind of New York accent, very similar to that of Bugs Bunny.

"You out there Zampolio, you fuck!?" it shouted into the rain, scanning the ground for any sight anything that might give an answer to its question.

Henri kept quiet, observing the new clown.

The Clown took several hesitant steps forward, peeking his hear around and standing on the tippy-toes of those hair-covered feet. Then it turned around and headed back to the car. Henri could hear the car door close. The flood of light from the headlights went away, as the car backed up and turned, the sputtering engine popping and fading in the rain.

Henri looked around. To the right there was a labyrinth of winding vending booths with the sign 'Side-show Alley' hanging crooked above a main path.

Straight ahead, through the rain, he could see the Big Top. Its large structure standing tall above the pouring rain, tattered red flag beaten about by wind.

Henri waited a bit longer, just in case.  All the while thinking about his next move.  Should he look around the Side-show, head up to the Big Top, go back and check on April, or head out completely away from the Circus.  He wondered about what had happened to Ron and his sister and Bradford.  Where were they?  Had they fallen victim to one or more of the clowns?  Had they become clowns?  Were they hiding somewhere around here or had they gotten away?  So many questions.  He finally made a decision and headed carefully into the Side-show area.

As Henri stepped out, his foot sank unavoidably into a thick puddle of mud. A sheet of rain passed over him and the sound of thunder intensified. The noise on the vending booths was 'phut-phut-phut' that ripened nuts make when they hit the ground. It wasn’t the soft, sodden, swollen drops of spring Henri was hearing. It was like ball-bearings were hitting the canvas roofs of the Side-show area with force.

Henri could also hear an occasional ker-plunking sound. It was caused by the rainwater gathering on the tents falling to the ground in a great swash of release.
The temperature had plunged as Henri ran towards Side-show alley. Heading into the labyrinth of vending booths, Henri felt somewhat sheltered from the the curtain of rain. It was like being a forest populated with popcorn machines, funnel cake stands, and gaming booths. But they were all empty.

"psssst." a voice said from somewhere being one of the counters.

This weather was just miserable.  Henri would have strongly preferred to get in somewhere and stay out of the mess, but it didn't feel safe to stay put.  When the sound came he stepped back a few feet, putting some more room between him and whatever it was.  He half raised one arm, ready to throw if it was needed.  "What," he quietly replied back.

"You're...out in the rain." The voice said in between the thunder booming. It was a soft voice.

"You can truly grieve for being out there being hunted by the clowns, and still be happy that they haven't found you yet, those two ideas are not mutually exclusive. You can have great regard for their power and still want them not to find you."

"I can let you in to one of the booths, if you promise not to hurt me."

Henri took a couple more steps back.  "I promise nothing.  Why do you not step out to be seen."

Henri noticed that his heart was still pounding with adrenaline. Whether it was from seeing Naomi die or the conflict with the clown, he couldn't say.

"Because if I step out, my tail will get wet, and then it will take hours and hours to dry. I don't like the feeling of a wet tail. It reminds me of when I used to get my socks wet. It's not a good feeling. Like your toes are all squishy. Probably like you feel right now."

"Why should I trust you?" Henri said.  "All that I have seen has not been friendly to me."

"Because its raining. And having wet socks doesn't feel good." The voice said simply. It was a simple answer. And it struck Henri suddenly that where ever the voice was speaking from and whoever it was, the answer came across child like. On the one hand, it seemed somehow less threatening with simple logic like that. But on the other hand, Henri thought about how he had ended up here and the possibility of whatever that one kid had written in the Book maybe had something to do with Henri being placed here.

Henri thought about this as he weighed the voice's answer

OOC: Henri Rolls Wits + Empathy

10:36, Today: Henri Aiton rolled 1 success using 3d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((9,3,7)).