It's late afternoon. The first show is at 6:00 -- 1800, Trowa still thinks of it really, but the translation is easy -- and most of the circus is making early dinners or otherwise enjoying the downtime before they have to get ready.

Trowa opens the door from Milliways into the trailer he shares with Cathy, and lets X follow him through.

It's a narrow room, combining kitchen and common room in a compact and tidy package, with doors to Trowa's room, Cathy's, and the bathroom. (And, behind them, to the outside.) It's all lived-in, in an impeccably tidy way.

When you do the same routine for every show, barring emergency rearrangements, you don't need much practice for it outside of that. Anything ready to be put in a show should have been practiced until everyone can nail the timing to the split second, every single time. But any ideas for variations on a routine, or for new ones . . . Well, those need practice, and before that they need testing out.

Accordingly, this afternoon Trowa is standing next to the (relatively) low practice wire some yards from the big top, watching Cathy frown in thought.

Her BRILLIANT IDEA for a new trick needs some of the details rearranged in practice, it seems.