Renko steps into the room. He is not tall enough to loom per se, but he takes a posture, leaning against the door jamb which -- given the breadth of him and his continued scowl -- establishes his presence as Jade's support.

Stepping in aside the two of them, Orlan stood by the door-frame as Jade spoke, nodding his head to the councilman. He added in gently: "Yes, we're here to see about a water permit."

"We have a lot of animals that need water!" Aria pipes in helpfully. She let the others do most of the talking.

Renko reaches out to place a comradely hand on Aria's shoulder in silent support of her statement. His raised chin and eyebrows seem to say to the man: What are you going to do about this?

Anders nods along as each of you explain why you are here in his office.

Once he can tell you have all expressed yourselves and spoken up, he makes an uncomfortable cough. "Yes, well, I can understand why you are in my office. We wouldn't want the animals to die of thirst, would we?" He says, looking right at Aria.

Pushing his chair back, he gets up and begins looking through various draws. "I know it is in here somewhere." He says aloud, not directed at anyone, as he pulls out sheets of paper, checks to see what it is, and puts it back.

"Aha! Here we go, one water permit." he holds up the piece of paper, as if he needs to prove he actually found it. Perhaps before Renko gets impatient and needs to do something to help 'motivate him'.

"I can complete this for you, all I need is a name to reference this against. I imagine that would be the owner of your circus, rather than one of you? Oh, and the fifty dollar surcharge." He looks at each of you. "You did know there is a fee for this permit, right?"

"50 dollars? That's a lot of money!" Aria said. My real dad got shot for a lot less than that. she thinks to herself.

"Do we... do we need to pay right now, or, or, or do we head back and get Corncob to sign off on it?" she asked, referring to Cornelius' nickname.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 14:31, Mon 10 May 2021.

Jade checked herself, her colorful costume lacking any pockets.  "I don't exactly carry money in this thing.  If anyone can cover it and make this simple, I'm pretty sure Corncob will reimburse you.  If not, I'll have a talk with him."

Casually, almost, Orlan started thumbing out fifty dollars for the permit, handing the bills over with a shrewd look. He added: "Now, you meant to say fifty dollar surcharge, right? Be a funny thing to get mixed up. But if you were mistaken, that wouldn't be a problem, right?" He didn't speak with an aggressive tone, but merely wanted to give the impression that if this fellow were pulling something on them because they were with a carnival, they would discover it and expect matters to be set right.

Renko puts out a hand to stop Orlan from giving up the money. His scowl deepens.

"Wait. We pay fifty dollar for what? Kind permission to haul water from river for animals and peoples? We talk to mayor about this."

His voice turns to a growl: "Where we find this mayor?"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:24, Wed 12 May 2021.

"No no noooo no, let's not bother the mayor Renko.  In fact let's never see the mayor at all.  Unless he buys a ticket."  Jade did her best to head that disaster waiting to happen off at the pass.

Renko holds Jade in a sharp look for a long moment. Why doesn't she want him to deal with the head rat around here? At length, he blows out a long breath and gives her a curt nod, turning his scowl back to this lackey, Anders.

"Well, what we buy for our money?"

Anders opened up his palm as Orlan was about to hand over the money, only to look frustrated at Renko stopping him. However, before he could speak, Jade spoke first and managed to calm the situation down before it got heated.

"What this permit will give you, is access to the pumping station we have, connected to the Rio Grande. Some of those new science fellas made something that was better than drawing water out of wells, which would dry up, or get tainted and risk spreading cholera. That station wasn't cheap to build, and it isn't cheap to run. The locals pay taxes to the city, which gives them water. But as y'all ain't from round here, this is why we have the permit."

He then looks down at his hand, then to Orlan, and finishing at Renko.

"Now, have I answered your question satisfactorily? If so, then the money, and a name, and I can complete this permit for you."

Renko doesn't look totally satisfied at this.

"Pah!" he exclaims and gestures to indicate that Orlan can complete the transaction, but the consequences are on his head and Jade's; Renko takes no responsibility.

His scowl relaxes somewhat into a generalized glower, as he steps back a bit but remains in the doorway.

Aria gives a little curtsy. "Thanks mister! The animals will be very happy to drink your town's clean water." She then moved over to Renko so all the embedded animal stink is further away from the man.

Without further discussion, Orlan passed over the fifty dollars and nodded to the politician. "Well, I believe that's all we had to discuss. Thank you."

Jade just smiled.  She just wanted to get out of here before something went horribly wrong.

It is now evening, and a low sun is over El Paso.

All the tents and wagons are setup, so people can go to the main tent for the big attractions, and the smaller tent or wagons for performances that don't manage to get into the main tent, or just simply wouldn't work.

Near the entrance is a ticket booth, with a sign:
TICKETS
10c each
6 for 50c

The smell of freshly popped corn wafts through the air, enticing anyone who came close to get some, and lure them to the acts.

Jugglers stood outside throwing their clubs to entertain people as they waited to go in, whilst Fido continued to show his skill as a barker, so that anyone in earshot could not help but be tempted by the tales he pitched.

Aria's first performance was an acceptable level for her. She would bring out the different animals and have them perform and do silly things while rewarding them for their efforts. She did things like have birds riding dogs riding horses, have the falcon catch prey in midair, had the animals do flips and tricks and generally had them energized.

17:29, Today: Aria Fox rolled 4,2 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max, unique dice with rolls of 4,2.  Performance.

Leading up to the first performance, Orlan suggested that since she was familiar to the townspeople, Jade Archer should play a significant role in the performance, perhaps even overshadowing his own contribution. He even gently suggested that he could play the heel, get the crowd riled up and ready to see him bested.

OOC: Should I roll Athletics (Throwing) or Performance for this performance?

OOC: Go with Athletics for how well you do the knife throwing, and if you want any bravado before/after to excite the audience, go for Performance as well.

Jade waved and smiled, waved and smiled.  Got knives thrown at her, had the head of a rose chopped off while she held it in her mouth, and still smiled.

Okay I am going to roll Performance (Lovely Assistant) to Support.

17:55, Today: Jade Archer rolled 3,5 using 1d6+1,1d6+1, rerolling max, unique dice with rolls of 2,4.  Support Orlan.

That should give Orlan a +1 to his roll I do believe.  Unless I have forgotten something.

Orlan wasn't at his absolute best...but damn, he was close, wasn't he? He ended up going with the villain routine, ending the routine by motioning for a swift kick to the jaw from Jade, which he sold fairly well.

OOC: "00:47, Today: Orlan Haig rolled 5,7 using d6,d6, rerolling max, unique dice with rolls of 5,(6+1)7.  Performance (Heeling it up).

00:45, Today: Orlan Haig rolled 8,10 using d8+1,d6+1, rerolling max, unique dice with rolls of 7,(6+3)9.  Athletics (Throwing)."

Nice!

In reply to Orlan Haig (msg # 61):

Harold sighed as the wagon rolled to a stop.  He'd been delayed at Fort Wapner, but at least had managed to catch up with the rest of the troupe.  Climbing down wearily from the board, he stretched, and then rubbed his temples.  He could feel a headache coming on.  Better to set up shop now, rather than later.

He unhitched the mule from the front of the wagon, and leading her around, tied her off at the back with a feedbag.  Walking over to the side, he loosened the catch on the drop-board, and his sign opened:

"Harold Autrey, seer and prognosticator.  Come!  And let the unknown, be known."

The Flying Mancinis (none of whom were named Mancini, and their name changed regularly, a foreign nationality that would not offend the locals always being chosen) delivered a competent trapeze exhibition.

Jade managed a few angel returns, a pirhouette, a corkscrew, a planche, a double layout, a double somersault, but not a triple.  Their act tended to rotate through the flyers and catchers, both to give the acrobats a moment to recover and to keep the crowd from being bored by technical considerations.  Fido's calls, accentuating the danger and adding stories about how many people had been killed in some country or another in the past year attempting each maneuver, or claims that only six people in the world could do it, amped the crowd.

It was a good show but nothing revolutionary.  At least nobody got dropped and none of the equipment failed.

Okay, time to learn new mechanics.

So rerolls never make results worse.  That's neat.  That means every time I roll an Athletics test that make sense for the Acrobat Edge I get to test twice and take the best of the four dice.  That's handy.

20:19, Today: Jade Archer rolled 4,1 using d8,d6, rerolling max, unique dice with rolls of 4,1.  Acrobat Edge Reroll.

20:18, Today: Jade Archer rolled 6,3 using d8,d6, rerolling max, unique dice with rolls of 6,3.  Athletics.

So a 6, success, but no Raise, so well done but not a barnburner.

The audience in the tent applauded Aria and her trained animals. Children pointed at the various animals, making sure their parents could see the animals doing more than the local animals they had seen.

The applause continued as Orlan and Jade performed together, with some of a more mild-mannered nature having to cover their eyes at times, though would then peek between their fingers to make sure everything was ok, and that Jade wasn't hurt.

When Harold opened up his wagon, a couple of people looked at it from afar, but initial interest was low.

When Jade returned for her acrobatics routine, again the crowd applauded the assorted techniques demonstrated, but as she knew, it wasn't a bad night, but nor was it an outstanding one either.