Donning the Mask (part 5) - Joe

Joining the circus had not been the life of fun and games that Anthony had been expecting. Whilst the performers readily welcomed him into their family, they were very firm with him when it came to his training; Cesar especially seemed to relish the role of harsh taskmaster. During his first year in the circus, Anthony was drilled in every aspect of the circus; how to take a fall, how to juggle, how to take care of the animals, how to load and unload prop crates, how to set up the tent and take it down, etc. It had been Cesar's opinion that Anthony needed to know what he was getting into and how to help out in every area possible because that's how the circus operated - everyone pitched in, there was no duty too demeaning. Once Anthony had begun to pay his dues, Cesar then went on to assign Wally to teach him the finer points of clowning around. Wally taught Anthony that being a clown wasn't just playing a fool, there was a lot of intelligence and acting that went into the act and it all relied on split second timing. Anthony observed the information readily and took to it like a fish to water. Anthony also took to learning a few of the performers' "other tricks" including lockpicking. Cesar was pleased to see Anthony's progress and enthusiasm for the art of humour; not so much for the fine art of the heist however. Nevertheless, Cesar was quite happy with how Anthony fit in but he still wasn't quite ready to let Anthony perform. Cesar knew that once Anthony was stated as one of the acts, his life would be in as much danger as everyone else's in this circus of thieves. No, Anthony needed to learn how to defend himself first. Oddly enough, it wasn't Marko or Jacques that was assigned to teach Anthony this, it was the twins Katherine and Natayla. The duo explained to Joe that just as everyone in the circus had their own unique talent and acts, they also each had their unique way of defending themselves. Marko had his strength but he was also a black belt in a couple of martial arts, Jacques was a weapons' expert and the twins themselves were experts at bo-staffs. Most importantly, everyone of them knew how to read a crowd and spot threats and/or marks. Anthony not only needed to know how to read a crowd to perform, but also how to spot danger. He also needed to figure out his own way of defending himself. Anthony wasn't much of a fighter and preferred to avoid violence if possible; he was however particularly adept at the pranks that Wally passed on to him and would use these to facilitate an escape. Anthony, however, soon realized that commercial grade whoopee cushions, stink gas and itching powder could only get you so far. He was going to need something a little more potent. It was with this mindset that Anthony would persuade Wally to help him procure a small chemistry set to mess around with. The clown would comply (on the condition that Anthony was in no way to use him as either guinea pig or scapegoat). It was thus that over the next few months, Anthony would continue to not only train on his act and pitch in on ‘house chores' but also train in reading a crowd. The twins would also teach him the protocols that each circus member had to know in case of an emergency. There was a strict list of people to contact and people to never contact and where to go and what to do. Anthony was made to know this list backwards and forwards before they would pencil him in as an act. In his spare time, he would also dabble with the chemistry set in order to create a slightly more potent form of sleeping gas, itching powder and maybe even stink gas. Anthony did achieve a measure of success in his efforts; he also accidentally whipped up a small batch of TNT which resulted in him finding out that Cesar hated explosives - it was why the circus didn't have pyro. Anthony was also sneak along on some of the heists and act as a lookout. He would observe carefully as the crew executed their heists with the same grace and finesse they did their circus routines. Cesar wasn't very happy about Anthony sneaking along but let it slide as long as the others didn't get him into danger. He wasn't fully inducted yet so there was no sense in him getting his hands dirty. Overall, life in the circus would prove to be full of surprises and unexpected little incidents that made every day a little more interesting.. One such incident occurred when Wally, in clown mode, tried to prank a patron with itching powder. What no one had expected was for the patron to go into anaphylactic shock because of said powder. Fortunately, Anthony had known about the Epinephrine syringe in the circus first aid kit and managed to retrieve it in time. The incident not only prompted Cesar to ban Wally from using these gag powders on customers, but it also made Anthony realize that his gag powders needed to be hypoallergenic, lest he accidentally take a life. Finally, after all the prep and training, Anthony was about ready to finally be inducted as a part of the circus's repertoire and a full-fledged member of the crew. Unfortunately, life had one more monkey wrench to throw into those plans...