LOCKED TO viliorate

[sadisticwarfare]

[Profits have been way down in the last three months, and if things keep going this way, they won't last another three. Archer has the papers out in front of him, scouring everything to see where he can make cuts, yet again. He knows no one's going to be pleased, but they're going to have to remove another act. He's been told that cutting people from the circus is like throwing out a family member, but the fact of the matter is that the money he's making won't support everyone. It's not as though Archer is hoarding all the money for himself - though he's not exactly as generous to the others as he could be - but he's never really felt like part of the circus "family". They're the family members, he's the landlord.

Archer twirls his pen between his fingers as he examines the numbers again, finally selecting a couple of sheets with acts that he could possibly cut. He'll have to get Kimbley to look over them before he makes a final decision. Kimbley isn't his partner or his adviser, but Kimbley is his friend, and he'd rather have a second opinion on all this.]

Comments

[viliorate]

[Kimbley hasn't horribly maimed himself yet so there's that.]

Still a lot of work to do, huh?

[He hates have to clean up, but he always does it without really complaining.]

You know where to find me when I'm done.

[sadisticwarfare]

You know me, I'm always busy. I'll see you in a little while.

[Sure enough, he shows up to meet Kimbley after he's finished with all his work. Everything else seems mostly cleaned up, so it looks like they're doing pretty well tonight.]

[viliorate]

[This is a good thing because Kimbley is ready to go home now.]

All set here?

[At least he's calmed down by now by the looks of things. He's back to acting fairly calm at any rate.]

[sadisticwarfare]

Yes. Are you ready as well?

[That's certainly good!]

[viliorate]

Naturally.

[He'll happily follow Archer back to the car.]

[sadisticwarfare]

[Thankfully it doesn't take them long to get home, and Archer immediately sets about his nightly routine before collapsing into bed. Shows are always exhausting, but he's not asleep yet. He always waits for Kimbley to join him before falling asleep.]

[viliorate]

[Kimbley always takes a bit longer to come to bed, but he does eventually, sliding up next to Archer, smirking.]

You always worry too much about my act.

[sadisticwarfare]

Well, your act is dangerous. What if something happens while you're performing?

[viliorate]

Nothing's happened yet, has it? Besides, you used to love it.

[sadisticwarfare]

Ah, that's not to say that I don't any more. You know how much I worry, Kimbley.

[viliorate]

[He does have a few nasty looking scars from mishaps, but they're all old. Still, it's a good reason to worry.]

Tonight was another successful show, so there's no reason to worry.

[sadisticwarfare]

I know... But I have to wonder if you're practicing as hard as usual. Just because you feel you know the routine doesn't mean there won't be any mistakes.

[viliorate]

[He groans.]

If they ever replaced you with a body double, I'd know because he wouldn't worry half as much as you do.

[sadisticwarfare]

It's a completely legitimate worry, Kimbley.

[Besides, where would they even get a guy who looks like Archer?]

[viliorate]

Do you want me to do something else?

I'll do it if it'll get you to stop worrying. I doubt anyone will mind if I switch acts for a while.

[sadisticwarfare]

...I know how disappointed you would be if you had to switch acts.

[He would prefer it, but...]

Besides, you've done a good job of looking out for yourself so far. As long as you're careful with it, that shouldn't change, right?

[viliorate]

I'm always careful.

[He didn't use to be, but he's calmed down quite a bit over the years.]

If something did happen and you wanted me to stop, that's something we'd deal with then, wouldn't we?

[sadisticwarfare]

Right. But nothing's going to happen, so we don't need to worry about it.

[...He'll be furious if something does happen now that he's said that.]

[viliorate]

Exactly.

[....their luck isn't good enough for something not to happen...]

[sadisticwarfare]

[Hopefully it won't be anything too serious though?]

[viliorate]

[when it inevitably happens, Kimbley is going to be out of commission for a while but... hopefully it's okay?

Don't shout at him when it happens, it wasn't his fault!]

[sadisticwarfare]

[He'll try not to. No guarantees since he tends to get angry to cover how badly he's panicking.]

[viliorate]

[.....unfortunately, Kimbley does screw up once in a while. This is one of those times when screwing up is something that he does badly.

The staffs he normally practices with broke without warning and the result was that he ended up a bit on fire. Not horribly; he doesn't need to go to the hospital as it's something that medical staff can treat even though he's swearing as the doctor is examining the burn on his arm. It very narrowly avoided being a third degree burn, but the doctor i telling him he's going to need to avoid aggravating the injury further and Kimbley is being combative just to have something to do.

At least it was just his forearm, and part of his side, though the bandages make it look worse than it actually is.

Someone on staff is bound to go get Archer because he needs to know and Kimbley can't exactly hide the bandages either.]

[sadisticwarfare]

[It's a damn good thing someone decided to inform him, because there would have been hell to pay if no one thought to notify him and Kimbley tried to keep it a secret.

Archer rushes to the tent, not running but obviously moving faster than usual, and immediately barges in despite the doctor's protests. He's quick to get the information from the doctor, who tells Archer what he wants to know (that Kimbley is fine, everything will heal on its own and Kimbley doesn't need to go to the emergency room), then Archer turns on Kimbley.]

What happened.

[It isn't a question. Anyone watching them would probably assume that Archer's angry, but Kimbley should know him well enough to know that it isn't anger that's causing him to slam down so hard on those words.]

[viliorate]

[Wearing long sleeves to bed would have been a giveaway, so it's probably for the best that he found out now and not when they were home for the night...]

The staffs I use, you know, they're pretty old. They both snapped in half when I was practicing. The one fell to the ground but the other...

[Well, it explains the burns.]

Look, the burns aren't bad. It's not like I'm going to need to go to the hospital and have a skin graft or anything.

[His nerves are too shot to sound calm, but it's obvious that he's trying to calm Archer down anyway.

He knows Archer isn't angry, but that doesn't mean he likes hearing him sound afraid.]