enthymeme (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
enthymeme) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bakerstreet2012-07-20 08:35 pm
enthymeme) wrote in bakerstreet2012-07-20 08:35 pm
welcome to the greatest show unearthed
Cirque de la Nuit
Literally.
For the secret of the Cirque de la Nuit is that each performer is kidnapped, modified, and enslaved by the one who runs it, a mysterious figure known only as The Ringmaster. He draws the most promising, the most beautiful, and the most talented from any dimension to which he has access, then with a combination of magic and medicine transforms each into their fullest potential, a shining jewel to play their parts like marionettes on strings of his manufacture.
Will you be a part of the circus? Or are you one of the lucky few who's managed to procure a ticket? Step right up, then, and see what it has to offer....
HOW IT WORKS:
♦ Leave a comment with your character's name and fandom in the subject. You can either select an option and set the scene, or fill out this form for other commenters. Please note that this meme is open to both sexual and non-sexual content. You may wish to list non-sexual RP as one of your prefs.
♦ Tag another character. If they haven't already selected an option, you can RNG it, or just pick your poison.
♦ Play out the results and respect others' preferences.
♦ Have fun!
The kidnappings come without warning or a chance at escape: those summoned by The Ringmaster suddenly find themselves in the circus, so wound about by bindings both physical and magical they can hardly move, much less think of escape. Most are unconscious for the process of alterations, which could be considered a mercy considering how long and painful it is. The Ringmaster works with the careful precision of a master sculptor, and each of his creations bears a symbol of his craftsmanship that also serves to keep them under his unfaltering control.
As the symbol can only be removed by another person at the cost of their life, almost no one has ever even tried to escape the circus, and even if they did there would be the small issue of getting away from where it exists, suspended between dimensions. Most don't even realize they're being controlled, however, for the compulsions holding their imposed personae in place are subtle in their strength.
The best of The Ringmaster's creations, those who perhaps already possessed innate talent or beauty, or who simply adapted to the changes better than most, are fortunate enough to take their places in the First Circle. These are the most privileged and pampered, and each wears a tiny jewel in their ear to mark their rank.
1) Beast Tamer
Merciless and deadly, the Beast Tamer can subdue the most unruly animal with will and whip. They seek to dominate and control, no matter how meek or cowardly they might have once been.
2) Tightrope Walker
The Tightrope Walkers are the most exquisite jewels of the circus, delicate and graceful of form and movement and often breathtakingly lovely of face, able to dance butterfly-light on the finest of wires. They are also, however, often the most passive, the most controlled, like puppets crafted of fragile china.
3) Acrobats
Whether they are skilled as trapeze artists, hoop dancers, or tumblers, the Acrobats are all agile and quick of body-- and mind. Something about the changes made to allow their feats of skill also tends to make them more sly and cunning, more apt to lie or cheat to get ahead of the rest.
4) Strong (Wo)Man
These performers were enhanced for strength-- some were given added bulk and others simple toning, but all are significantly stronger than any unaltered human. Alas, they often lose some of their mental acuity in exchange for the physical enhancements, but none will ask a performer balancing an anvil to perform calculus.
Those without special skills or who did not adapt quite so well are still given places in the circus ranks, however, being placed in the Second Circle. Members of this group bear an unobtrusive bracelet around one wrist as a sign of their rank.
5) Clowns
Many a flaw can be hidden with makeup, and those who did not quite meet The Ringmaster's exacting standards of beauty must hide behind makeup and costume. Many are failed Acrobats, and as they are quite aware that only a small mischance prevented their admission to the First Circle, they spent much of their time plotting the downfall of those more privileged.
6) Sideshow Performers
These can include jugglers, fire-breathers, or knife-throwers, daredevils or magicians, those with clever hands and nimble tongues who can amuse the guests before the main show. Some failed Trapeze Artists are veiled and costumed and put to work in a side tent as exotic dancers, while former Strong Men discourage the guests from getting too close (though rumor says they can be bribed, at times).
7) Beasts
The Beast Tamers must have creatures with which to perform, after all. Those who already wore the forms of beasts are enhanced, whether to look more beautiful or more deadly (or perhaps both), while some others are transformed entirely into lions or tigers or other fierce beasts to share in the main performance. Some of these unfortunates manage to retain their intelligence after the change, but others find themselves slipping away and becoming as mindless as the creatures whose forms they wear.
8) Sideshow Exhibit
The displays in the sideshow tent include those whose alterations fail, those who become trapped halfway between humanoid and beast form, or those who began in such an inhuman shape that they could never fit into the First Circle even with all The Ringmaster can do. Their existence is barely better than those of the animals, for they almost always remain caged, subject to the stares and giggles of the crowd. These again are guarded by former Strong Men, but they cannot be everywhere, and occasionally the mocking and stares of the guests devolve into worse.
The worst off of the circus denizens are those who inhabit the Third Circle. These unfortunates wear a plain leather collar as a sign of their rank, though none are likely to mistake them for a member of one of the other Circles.
9) Slaves
These are the fallen, the failed, the grotesque, those who are too deformed to exhibit, too ugly or ungainly to be allowed to perform, or those who tried to escape and are now in disgrace. They remain hidden from the view of guests, serving as menial laborers in whatever manner The Ringmaster or the members of the First Circle might desire. (Rumors say the former prima Trapeze Artist attempted to run away from the circus, and now bent and disfigured from her punishment, cleans the quarters of the current prima.)
And what would a circus be without an audience?
10) Guests
It is difficult indeed to obtain a ticket to the circus, for most do not even known of its existence. Only the rich, the powerful, those who are well versed in dimensional travel, or somehow privileged to be given a ticket by The Ringmaster himself in return for some service are ever allowed into the circus grounds. Some say that anyone who can provide The Ringmaster with a particularly good candidate will earn a lifetime's pass in return....
Beast Option | Beast-Tamer | Non-sexual, sorry
The goggles hide his eyes, his face is its usual expressionless mask, and he's already opening the cage door, his bulk blocking the way for any quick escape attempts. While he has a whip coiled at one hip, since it's standard equipment for this job, he doesn't use it if he can get away with it. He'd much rather use his fists; they don't leave marks on the beasts, after all. And it's more fun.
"Up and at 'em."
XD It'd be pretty awesome if it was sexual for these two though. :|a
Eliot growled, lifting his head off his paws to glare at the man who kept him in his wolf form the whole night. He hated it, but recognized it as the new guy showing his power against the most troublesome creature, so he tolerated it for now.
But that comment about 'puppy'? That he hated. He snapped warningly at the man.
I'd be cool with it being background, but if it goes that way IC I'll wind up stalling out on you ^^
He stepped back from the doorway just once, motioning with a hand that the way was clear-- at least far enough for him to leave the cage. "You comin' out of there, or I gotta drag you out?"
Nah, not with the current set up. They can be pals though if Riddick treats him nicely.
He could attack the tamer now, but the man was on his guard and, aside from being an arrogant SOB, he really wasn't doing much. So resigned, Eliot breathed out in what would probably be a sigh if he was still human and settled down by the doorway to wait and see what did the man want.
It would be nice if he could stop being stuck in the form of this beast though. That was the main reason he was glaring up at the other man.
we'll see X3 I never CAN quite play Riddick as mean as I should
He's nice with animals anyway, so it wouldn't be out of character for him to be nice.
Giving Riddick a glance quickly towards several stacked crates, Eliot then dashed behind them. He had no qualms about his nudity, but the change was a private thing. Even though the tamers had all seen him do it in the past, it was nonetheless a painful and private experience that he would rather do it away from seeing eyes.
In the span of five minutes, his bones had grown, shrunk, formed and reshaped. His skin melted and changed, his organs rearranged themselves. He stayed there for several minutes more after the change just to catch his breath and wait for the pain to subside again. Then nude as he was while an animal, he walked back out and grabbed the offered pants to put them on.
"Is there breakfast waiting?" He didn't bother asking for a shirt. If there was one, Riddick would have handed it to him already.
truuuuuue. he probably is best-loved of the Beast trainers just for that "animal thing" heh
"Sure is," he answered as Eliot got dressed. Or as dressed as he was getting this morning. "If you keep behavin', anyway. C'mon." He jerked his head in the direction of the mess tent for the Beast section of the circus.
Man, I miss Riddick.
"Why's it you eat here with the beasts?" He followed behind the man, wishing for a nice pair of shoes or perhaps a shirt, but was glad that at least he got the decency of pants. There were times with the old tamer that he was never allowed out of the cage and if he changed back, it was only to stay naked. There was also a reason why his old tamer was dead.
I was surprised that this meme woke him up, honestly :B
He gestured for Eliot to duck inside. There was a steak waiting for him-- lightly cooked, rather than raw. The few human-form-allowed Beasts occasionally got treats.
Can't say I'm sorry. XD
Unseasoned, but at least it was cooked a good medium rare. That was something he fought for tooth and claw, literally considering they would rather face his animal form than his human one. They changed him into a beast, made him do tricks, but at making him eat raw meat when he was in a human form? That was the last straw.
figured you'd be pleased, yep <3
Once he saw his charge seated, though, he did actually answer the question, at least tangentially. "Guess you could say I like beasts." Certainly better than he did men. Women, he could go either way with, depending on the woman in question.
Oh, I very much am.
"Well," he said, chewing around a mouthful of meat, "I do notice the animals, the real ones, mind you, do kinda like you."
no subject
The fact that they tended to like him, regardless, was just a pleasant side-effect of being whoever he was. It had gotten him out of Strongman status and into Beastmaster status. He much preferred this one: this one didn't turn his brain to mush.
Speaking of brains not being mush. "You notice a lot, huh?"
no subject
"I notice some things," Eliot answered cryptically, lowering his head back to his steak. He didn't want too much attention drawn to him, though that was probably a moot point. "Most don't bother to ask the animals things."
no subject
He paused a moment to chew, then once one of the other Beastmasters had passed and all there was to overhear was a chained-up bear at the other end of the tent, asked, "What if somebody did?"