Preforming in the sand (open)

It was a bright day in the sand village, the midday sun hung over head, only being blocked by the occasional cloud. There was a crowd of people standing in the middle of a side street, each one with their head tilted up, looking between the two tall buildings on either side. The reason the were all looking up was a single person sanding on the ledge of one of the buildings. Standing on the ledge, Nicol looked down at the crowd watching him, than focused on the circle of posts he had placed to clear and drop zone. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and leaned forward, falling off the ledge of the roof. As he feel, the entire crowd let out a gasp as they watched the boy plummet without anything to catch him. Opening his eyes, Nicol pulled his arms in as he spun around and flipped over so that his back was to the ground. Falling dead center of the posts he set up, Nicol was caught by a web of chakra strings set up earlier, stopping him inches from the ground, making it seem to the crowd that he was floating in midair. Touching his fingers to the invisible net, he brought up his arms, causing the net to tilt him up until he was standing perfectly on the ground. Taking a bow before the astonished crowd he stood up and said "Thank you, thank you. All in a days work for a psychic such as myself." Taking another bow, he stuck his leg out and nudged out a small box in front of him that the crowd immediately began to fill with coin and cash. "I thank you all for your generosity. My next show will be at 2pm, and i can only hope the turn out will be just as good as this one." Turning away from the slowly dissipating crowd, Nicol took off his hat and grabbed a towel. Sitting down, he patted the sweat off his face, expecting members of the crowd to ask him how it was done.

Hachirou had been working the crowds today, picking pockets. He had a steady job, as a shinobi, but honestly at his level he didn't get the kind of jobs he needed to make a real living; and so he resorted to a craft he'd learned well before he was taught about chakra. Suddenly, the crowd began to move away from the main street, onto a smaller one. This one was stuck between two very large buildings, offices most likely, and Hac figured they were just moving there to get into the shade. However, he caught a few words that caught his attention, and made him think otherwise. It seemed a psychic was performing today, and the crowd wasn't going to be stopped from seeing him. Hac figured he'd stolen more than enough today anyway-it was best not to get too greedy- and he had nothing better to do, so he followed the crowd.

In the center of the crowd was a circle of poles, and on the ledge of one of the roofs was a shadowy figure. The figure jumped into the air, and dove toward the center of the poles. Hac's heart leapt, afraid that the boy was going to injure himself in the name of a silly trick. However, as he neared the ground he began to slow, and eventually he stopped mid air. The boy stood up and fell the few inches that were between him and the ground. He thanked the crowd, accepted the tips, and rested. Hac stayed behind, fighting through the bustling crowd; he had to know how it was done.

"Hey! Psychic! I'm Hachirou..." He called out by way of introduction. "How do you do that?"

Nicol chuckled as he tossed his towel to the side and put his hat back on. "There's one in every crowd." Standing up, he brushed the dust off the back of his pants and looked at Hachirou. "After every show people ask me that question. 'How did you do it?' and 'Can you show me to do it?' I tell you, it never gets old." Smiling, Nicol rubbed his palms together then held them out in front of him a little farther than shoulder width apart and said to Hachirou "And I tell them all the same thing," As he was talking, two solid steel playing cards slid out from behind him, and started to spin as he brought them between his hands like he was holding a large ball. "It's magic!" He then flung his arms behind him, sending the cards shooting back into the wall. "You're free to stick around and watch the next show. Who knows, you might just figure out how it's done." Nicol chuckled again as he sat back down and relaxed in the shade.

Hachirou listened patiently as the boy talked. He preformed some simply trick with a pair of cards as he did so. He was sorely disappointed with the result. He hadn't believed in magic since he was little, even less so since he'd seen the kinds of things people could do with chakra. Was that the answer? But the boy didn't look like a shinobi to him. "Not magic... It's something else." He said aloud, though he didn't really mean to. He looked the boy up and down, as if he could tell if the boy knew to use chakra just by looking at him. He was dressed in a rather silly fashion, most likely just a part of the act, but that didn't help much. "What is it really? Some weird trick with lights? Chakra? Invisible strings?" At this point he threw out any option that came to mind. He really just had to know what it was.

"Now now, what fun would it be if I just went and told everyone how my tricks are done?" He stuck out his arms and pulled the cards out of the walls. "If I went and told how it's done, I'd be out of business pretty fast. Wouldn't you agree?" He wasn't expecting an answer, Nicol didn't even give him time to. As soon as he finished talking, he flicked his wrists, throwing the cards at Hachirou's face. As they sliced trough the air, they came together and started to grind against each other, creating a deadly saw the produced a high pitched squeal. Spinning faster and faster, the cards stopped inches from his face, floating in midair. "It's magic, and that's all you need to know." With a smirk, he opened his hands and the cards stopped spinning and slowly moved so that the face of two suicide kings seemed to look Hachirou straight in the eyes before quickly shooting back to Nicol's hands, only to seemingly disappear into thin air.

The boy just wouldn't budge it seemed. As he avoided giving Hac a real answer for the second time, he played with his cards again. This time they flew at his face, spinning as they did so to make a buzz saw effect. They stopped short of his face, and he stepped back a bit, out of instinct. They ceased their spinning movement, and opened up like a book, revealing identical kings. They stared at him for a while, and then flew back to their master where they would disappear for good. He let out a defeated sigh, and nodded. "Fine, I'll stay and watch your next show. But I after that one I'll bother you again, and I'll continue to do so until I get an answer." He said, throwing a few of the coins he had stolen into the still-open box. "Good show." He added on, sincerely.

"Thank you." Nicol tipped his head in thanks. "And the next show is at 2, so you've got about an hour, so go get something to eat." He smirked and took a large sip of water from a nearby bottle. Standing up he reached behind his seat and pulled out two 10 foot wood posts. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must prepare." He walked around Hachirou and placed one of the posts into the ground, securing it with ropes to the building on either side to keep it from falling. He than stood with his back to it and walked out 50 paces, than set up the second post the same way. Sitting back down, he pulled out several 2 foot long blades, and began practicing juggling in the shade of the buildings.

Hachi watched as the boy moved away to set up his next act. He had always had a fascination with acrobats and such, he even prided himself in his own acrobatic talents. However, he had never been able to do half of the things that street performers could do; but then, that was their living, his was theft and being a shinobi. He followed the juggling blades with his eyes, only for a few moments before he pulled his gaze away. Nodding to the boy as a temporary good bye, he wandered off to grab something to eat. The short meal would take him the better part of that hour, and the rest would be taken up by walking from the performance place to the little shack. He arrived just before two o'clock, excited to see the next act.

Standing halfway between the two posts, Nicol held the three blades in his hands and looked around at the crowd, pleased with the turnout. "Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you all for showing up for my humble performance." He bowed slightly than continued. "Before I begin, i would like everyone to keep from standing between these two posts, as this act might get a little dangerous." He smiled as he held out his arms pointing to the posts he had set up. "For this trick, I will juggle these large knives while walking a tightrope." He motioned upwards with the knives. "But as you can see, there is no tightrope, but don't worry. That's where the magic comes in." With a smirk, he quickly and with deadly accuracy, threw the knives, one into the top of each post, and the third into the wall beside them, midway between the two. Walking to one of the posts, Nicol easily climbed up without use of anything but his hands and feet. "Now watch, and be amazed." Nicol spread his arms and took a step into midair, placing his foot onto the invisible chakra string left when he set them up. Taking another step, he now appeared to be walking on air to the crowd below as he continued to the middle. Pulling his hands in, the knives shot from their resting places, and floated before him like they were hanging on a thread. Grabbing each one, Nicol began throwing them into the air and catching them in spectacular displays of mastery of his arts. As promised, he continued to juggle as he walked back and forth on the invisible wire. "Now, some of you may think this is amazing enough, but some people just don't believe in psychics, so how about a little proof." Smiling, Nicol quickly threw his arms out to the sides while all there knives were in the air. Fearing them, most of the people under quickly ducked and covered their eyes. After a moment of nothing, the people slowly began to look up. To ther amazement, all three blades kept in the same motions as if Nicol were still juggling them, even though it was clear his hands were far from the knives.

Hachirou watched the boy's performance again, though this time with a different intention. He wasn't fascinated or thrilled, he was watching the boy's movements to try and figure out how he'd done it. He scanned the area, unable to see any mirrors or anything like that, and even then it shouldn't be possible to use mirrors to do that. He clapped grudgingly as the boy hit the climax of his performance, in which he stood in the middle of the sky, and juggled knives without touching them. Still, Hachirou couldn't figure out how it was done. He'd seen people control puppets with chakra before, but never juggle with them, control them without finger movements, or use the strings to float on nothing. Maybe it really is magic..? He thought to himself. He quickly shook the thought from his head. That's just silly..

Smiling and waving to the clapping crowd, Nicol slowly climbed down the post and slid the knives into a large sheath on his side. "Thank you, you're too kind." He said, bowing to his audience. Glancing up, he could see that again the onlookers were filling his box with copious amount of spare coin and cash. Pleased with the turn out, he again bowed to them and began shouting over the noise. "Thank you all for coming. For those who still wish to see more, my final performance in the Sand village will be held just before sunset. Tell all your friends, as this will be the last chance to see the amazing Jester." Walking back to where his things were resting, Nicol leaned against the wall, and slid down until he was sitting on the ground. Using his foot, he nudged the collection box towards him till he could grab it. Taking his hat off, he tossed it to the side with the rest of his things, and began counting what he had earned for the day.

The Jester, while distracted by the counting of his earnings, would suddenly find a large, bright red apple in his lap. Hachirou stood to his left, leaning against the wall of the building, biting into another apple. "I know a guy who buys them from some place, they taste so much better when you're thirsty." Hac commented aloud, though not exactly to anyone in particular. He walked closer to the Jester and squatted down so that they were at eye-level. "Well if you won't tell me how it's done, at least tell me your name. I know it's not 'The Amazing Jester."

Nicol picked up the apple and held it as he looked up at Hachirou. "Thank you, but i'm not in the mood for fruit." With a smile, he slammed his hands together while holding the apple, making it seem as if it disappeared by hiding the motion of it falling into his sleeve. "And it isn't the amazing Jester, it's simply Jester." Picking up a coin, he began to roll it over his fingers out of boredom as he talked. "And my name is Nicol. That's all you need to know." He flipped the coin in the air, than caught it midair. Holding his fist out to Hachirou, he opened his hand, revealing there was nothing there as he sarcastically said "Ta-da."