Krystle Harrison (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
omggirlonthenet) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bakerstreet2026-04-20 09:54 pm
omggirlonthenet) wrote in bakerstreet2026-04-20 09:54 pm
Cirque de la Lune
Cirque de la Lune is famous across the multiverse for its spectacular cast, each exquisite to behold as they perform feats of daring and wonder before enthralled audiences. Any privileged to attend a performance will never forget, for each show is filled with magic and splendor.
Literally.
For the secret of the Cirque de la Lune 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 brief want/do not want for other commenters. Please note that this meme is open to both sexual and non-sexual content, and may contain potential triggers.
♦ 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 Tightrope Walkers 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) Menials
Someone has to do the work of running the circus, after all. This group is unique in that not all of them were brought here involuntarily: some became lost and elected to remain, some sought employment, and some came seeking their missing friends and loved ones and chose to linger nearby in the vain hope that their memories might return. Most, however, are simply those too ordinary or unskilled to fit anywhere else, and they can be found just about anywhere in the circus, doing chores or maintenance, tending the animals, or selling concessions to the guests. They go everywhere, they see everything, but they do little of consequence, even if they aren't kept under as much control as the rest of the circus folk.
10) 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 laborers in whatever manner The Ringmaster or the members of the First Circle might desire. (Rumors say the former prima Tightrope Walker 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?
11) 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...
(originally by
enthymeme)
The Tardis (AU) | Doctor Who | OTA
He's a slight figure in a deep blue suit, one that sparkles like the cosmos under the spotlights in the center ring, as does the nearly-black jewel in his ear. The beasts he tames are the strangest, the most other-worldly, things from dying or dead worlds, things like no one has seen before or since.
And sometimes, just sometimes, people say that it's almost as if time has stopped while he works with them.
Sideshow Exhibit
In one of the small tents off of the main big top of the sideshow sat The Cosmos. He was a compact figure, and while he didn't look deformed on first glance, on second -and third- it was clear that something wasn't right. Sometimes he almost seemed to glow, or didn't quite seem to fit in his skin, and his eyes were either the black void of the space between stars, or something liquid and glowing gold like the heart of a dying star.
Sideshow Exhibit
Besides. There are those odd readings coming from one of the sideshow tents. Odd readings that are also strangely familiar, but he can't quite pin down why.
He enters the side tent with his wrist strap open, scanning as unobtrusively as he can. There. A young man - a rather pretty young man, if he's honest - but with something about him, as if he's not quite there, or as if he keeps shifting whenever Jack blinks or glances down to his wrist.
"The Cosmos", the sign announces. Jack frowns, hanging back for a moment, letting other circus goers gawk up close while he waits for his readings to settle down.
no subject
His hands were folded neatly in his lap, unmoving, not even seeming to breathe, though his eyes -glowing beneath his lids- were roving like someone in deep sleep. It was only a few moments before his gaze landed squarely on Jack, even with his eyes still closed, though he blinked slowly a moment later, more like a contented cat than someone just waking.
'You shouldn't be here.' It was a quiet, warm murmur that bypassed the ear to brush directly against the back of the mind, thrumming faintly like an idling engine or a heartbeat of some creature at rest, and probably didn't quell that familiarity at all.
no subject
The thought that ran through his mind was so precisely what he'd already been thinking that it was a moment before he realised it wasn't his thought. His eyes widened sharply, staring at the 'exhibit', his heart quickening. Had the thought come from him. And why did it feel so familiar, like welcome and accceptance and coming home, from someone he was fairly certain he'd never met before.
Though, to be fair, he'd lived a long time and there were people he'd forgotten, or people he'd had wiped from his memory, or people he'd met in the wrong order. A telepath he hadn't met yet, the sense of familiarity echoing back from the future?
He took a step forward, his curiosity thoroughly piqued, and as disregarding of the soft warning as he always was.
no subject
Or rather, he can remember, but that small scrap of information is so overwhelmed by every other scrap of information crammed inside his head that he cannot differentiate any of them. Time, if it can ever have been said to move in a linear fashion, decidedly does not do so for him anymore.
Now⸻ as the evening starts and the crowds start to fill in, there is still yet a few hours to go until the main event begins. The Doctor is tucked away in a tiny fringed tent among the games and the sideshow acts, a brightly painted sign promising visitors that their fortunes can be told. And the man inside never makes much sense: he goes from alarmingly accurate details about their childhood to impossible-sounding declarations about their future, and yet, he's always right.
He constantly worries at his temple, where a small mark cuts into the skin, the magic dug deep into his bones and amplifying his time-sense so enormously that it's almost driven him mad, like the Time Lords of old.
Sometimes, if he's very lucky, he gets to wander the grounds when nobody comes to his tent. And that's what he does now, finding himself sneaking into the biggest tent, where the beast tamer does his work. He seems to be preparing for the upcoming show; in front of him is a many-limbed creature, alien and lost. The man with the blue suit and the blue eyes, however, is the far more enticing creature to the Doctor. He knows this man: has known him, still knows him, will know him. In every cycle of time, he knows him. ]
Funny. Didn't think anybody could have dragged a Silurian cave-thumper all the way to the surface, but then, you always did do the most extraordinary things.
[ The Doctor beams from where he's leaning against a tent pole. ]
Has it hibernated for the year yet? Or am I getting the month wrong?
no subject
The creature hadn't jumped through the hoop as one would expect, but instead had taken it, passing it end over end from one limb to the next just in a full circle around itself before handing it back with a croak, something that caused him to smile more broadly at the creature, nodding once, "Very good."
He shifted the hoop to his other hand, doing the same as he'd done the first time, setting it steady against the ground before clicking his fingers, just once this time, which had the creature tucking limbs together so it could roll forward through the hoop, "Doing quite well for only having been training a week. Might have a new star on our hands."
Shay + The Uglies series + OTA
Shay wasn't the main attraction as far as the tightrope walkers went, but she was still popular, light on her feet as all of them were, and known for flexibility and her daring, always performing as if she actually did weigh nothing and a fall wouldn't hurt her. Some said she almost seemed to hover at times.
She generally wore a punched-metal wolf mask when performing, a bright red jewel in its ear to match the one in her own.
Beast
Shay was something like a wolf, with the bracelet marking her as owned by the circus high up on a foreleg. She'd been too wild to do anything with, already half-feral even before the Ringmaster had gotten ahold of her.
She was something like a wolf, certainly, but also something like a big cat, depending on the angle and the lighting. She had a tendency towards biting, and only a few of the beast tamers had had any sort of luck with her.
Steve Rogers - MCU - OTA
Steve had slightly more bulk than most tightrope walkers did, but it didn't slow him down any, and in fact the spread of his shoulders seemed to help him keep his balance, often moving like someone smaller, light on his feet and unconcerned by heights, no matter how high they strung his tightrope.
Strong Man
Steve always seemed slightly uncomfortable in his act, whether he was lifting girls in sequined dresses or motorcycles, or both at once, he always gave the impression -despite his dazzling smile- that he'd really rather be somewhere else.
Even so he was popular as far as the strongman acts went, though he never seemed to fully enjoy the attention that brought, either.
Iggy | Maximum Ride (Canon divergence & AU) | OTA
Iggy worked with the raptors, not just the birds, but the pair of velociraptors as well, and he was good at it even despite the fact that he was usually blindfolded. He was calm and steady, wings sitting low on his own shoulders, flicking open now and again to remind them who was in charge. He did, however, care for his charges, making sure they were clean and well fed, known to stay up with any of them who were ailing until they were well again.
Sideshow Exhibit
Iggy was clearly one of the failures, oh he could have been in the inner circle, he was certainly pretty enough for it, but the wings were too big and too awkward and more than that too flexible which made him unsettling on many levels.
Not only that, he was blind, eyes not just filmed over, but missing, the empty sockets usually covered by a wide band of soft leather.
Techie | Dredd | OTA
Techie had a way of unsettling people even before they actually saw his unnaturally blue eyes, but that sort of thing tended to happen when someone was as pale as he was, almost translucent, veins visible under his skin, looking just a little too angular, more like circuits than any human circulatory system.
He was also a human prediction engine, he could guess heights within fractions of an inch and weights within a quarter pound, he was also good at guessing names and ages with the same sort of eerie accuracy.
Menial
Everyone knew that if you needed something delicate or detailed repaired you tracked down Techie. Costumes, equipment, even security systems all fell under his purview at one time or another.
Of course, finding him tended to be tricky, he managed to hide himself away in the smallest of places and almost always seemed to know when someone was looking for him, especially those he didn't want to work with.
Angie | Agent Carter | OTA
Angie worked with all sorts of animals, because she was good with most all of them. Despite her narrow frame and the fact that she barely hit five foot five even in heeled boots, there was something solid about her, something that wasn't to be argued with.
Her favorites were the big cats, but she would also happily put her head in the crocodile's mouth and let the python wind itself around her, or feed the eagles tidbits from her own mouth.
Clown
No one was sure, upon looking at her, what had caused Angie's assignment as a clown. She was certainly pretty enough, or so everyone said, until they heard her talk. Her voice was at turns shrill and gravely, as if her throat had taken a massive amount of damage at some point.
Most guessed that she'd been an acrobat who'd gotten tangled, or a tightrope walker who'd fallen and broken her neck. No one ever guessed that she'd been a beast tamer who'd gotten on the wrong side of one of the animals.
Clint Barton | MCU | OTA
Clint was one of the tumblers, and not just a tumbler, but a knife-dancer at that. He could manipulate the blades just as easily as he moved his own body, fluid, constant motion, his whole act seemed to be one continuous movement. He never came to a full stop until he was finished, he did pause, now and again, but even in those brief moments he was still poised, his momentum just arrested for the span of a heartbeat, stirring again easily each time.
His routine always ended the same way, balanced on the balls of his feet, back arched at an incredible angle, one arm stretched ceilingward, the knife in that hand acting as a spire, with his other hand stretched out behind him for balance, that knife held flat against his forearm. All in all he looked rather like an art nouveau nymph of some kind before the lights went dark and he exited the stage.
Sideshow performer - Marksman
How one could be as excellent a marksman as Clint was, while blind, no one could readily fathom. The story was that he'd been demoted and blinded as punishment, though the storytellers could never agree if he'd been trying to escape himself, or if he'd been aiding one of the acrobats in her escape. Though if it was the latter, it had either worked, or she'd vanished completely when he could no longer see.
He'd been an acrobat himself before his fall from grace, his jeweled earring had been traded for a bracelet that was more of a bracer, something to keep his arm from getting too mangled by the bowstring. He was not only blind, but blindfolded with a broad strip of burgundy silk, but he could still shoot the center pip out of an ace card, and William Tell an apple on a volunteer's head every time.
Zepar + OC + OTA
Everyone always thought that the wings -pale gray and speckled like a pigeon's- were simply part of Zepar's costume. At least until he spread or flexed them during his act, arching them up over his shoulders or spreading them wide for balance, even using them to glide a few yards now and again.
Sideshow Exhibit
He was billed as Fallen Lucifer Himself, something that had amused him at first, but had started to wear on him after a while, though even he could agree that it made sense. His wings were tattered and torn, clearly scorched in places even after this long, and his back and shoulders where they attached were scarred as if he'd been burned, as if he'd fallen like a comet crashing to earth.
Charles - Dead Boy Detectives - OTA
Charles was a master at escapes, straitjackets, chains, locked boxes, even, most terrifyingly for everyone -including himself for anyone who was paying attention- a tank of icy water.
There were rumors, of course, how someone who looked like he did, like he should have been in the first circle, had ended up on the fringes, but he never confirmed any of them, though the rumors of his temper -not that anyone in recent memory had seen it- were the closest to the truth.
Menial
Like many menials, Charles had come to the Circus looking for someone, or even just an escape from his former life. He hadn't managed the first, and had only managed the second on a technicality by way of falling into set and prop maintenance, set-up and tear-down and repairs between shows.
He was known among the other menials, and even some of the performers, for rescuing odds and ends from the trash sweeps, anything that could be repaired, or used to repair something else, and his quarters were full of his projects.
Alexis | X-Verse OC | OTA
Alexis' costume made her look like a storybook fairy, which was the point, really. A skirt that looked like a bell flower a bodice that looked as if it were made of woven leaves and grass stems, even a pair of gossamer wings that sparkled and fluttered with every movement.
Even when she was out of costume she had a way of flitting everywhere, and an affinity for plants, no one quite knew if it was an act or part of her design.
Acrobat
As a rhythmic and aerial gymnast Alexis always appeared to be coiled up in jungle vines and flowers, whether she was bending herself through incredible shapes on the mat or swinging like some kind of jungle bird from the ceiling, she always seemed perfectly at home with the greenery.
Gabreel King + OC + OTA
Gabreel was as flexible as they came, even more flexible than that, really, as if like a shark he had soft cartilage instead of solid bone. No one was quite sure why he wasn't one of the inner circle as he was certainly pretty enough for it, though the rumors flew thick and fast, that the flexibility hadn't been intentional, that it was because he never spoke, that it was because he couldn't speak, that it was because he had been, once, but had fallen from the ringmaster's good graces.
But, of course since he didn't, or couldn't, talk, he never confirmed nor denied any of the rumors, he just did his part to entertain the guests, whether it was emerging from a suitcase, or folding himself into highly improbable shapes, or, sometimes, after the show, entertaining them in the way that most dreamed about when they heard someone was flexible.
Tightrope walker
Gabreel was one of the stars of the show, his tightropes a veritable web high above the stage, and always without a net. His costume was little more than red and orange gossamer and gold glitter, making him look like a living flame with his porcelain-pale skin and rich red hair.
He moved easily, lightly, seeming to flicker now and again, all but dancing from one wire to the next and back again, a candle flickering in a dying breeze. His music was always the same, the Firebird, and he was like a phoenix, rising from his own ashes.
Of course, when he wasn't performing he seemed dimmer, not a guttering flame, but a banked one, keeping to himself when he could, a silent observer of others.
Henry Stillman | X-Verse OC | OTA
What would a circus be without a hypnotist? He was dressed simply, black on black, his voice a warm murmur, and with a few gentle words could convince anyone that they were a duck, or a chicken, or that the number 7 didn't exist, or any number of other things.
There were also rumors, as there always were, that after hours, and for a price, he could even convince someone to forget a painful memory, making it as if the event had never happened.
Sideshow - music box
The musician was only ever seen from the waist up, looking like an old fashioned automaton fortune telling booth, but anyone with a token could drop it in the slot and request a song to watch him come to life.
He could play any song, he hadn't gotten one wrong yet, either an encyclopedic knowledge or just good programming was hard to say, because while he was playing he genuinely looked alive, but only then.
Eames + Inception + OTA
Eames was the quintessential strongman, with a handlebar mustache and tattoos that he could make dance with little more than a flex.
He had a loud, brassy laugh and would flirt with anyone who crossed his path as long as he was in a good mood. Outside of the ring and out from under the spotlight, he was surprisingly gentle, though those who mistook that for a weakness soon learned the error of that line of thinking.
Menial
Eames had definitely arrived at the Circus looking for someone else, but somewhere along the way he'd fallen into working there. Mostly he carried heavy things from one place to another, but he was a quiet sort and mostly stayed out of the way where he could.
Patrick | Companion (post-canon AU) | OTA
Patrick didn't have the build most thought of when they heard the phrase 'strong man', he certainly didn't look like a follower of Charles Atlas, if anything he was barely a step or two above 'wiry', but that didn't stop him from being able to haul an incredible amount of weight. He even broke cinder blocks or bent segments of steel rebar with his bare hands as a warm-up.
Sideshow security
Nobody was quite sure how he'd ended up as security for the sideshow instead of working a strong man act in the first circle, though the general consensus was that between the hairline scar on his lip and the sort of emptiness behind his eyes, it wasn't anything he'd actually done, it was just that he wasn't up to the Ringmaster's exacting standards.
Petit | X-verse OC | OTA
Petit's act incorporated weapons as often as not, wickedly curved blades mostly, though the occasional actual sword and now and then a whip, the lash of which was studded at irregular intervals with hooked spines of metal.
She moved easily, smoothly, never so much as snagging herself on any of them even despite how often her hair was a wild pouf of curls and her costume was something airy and billowing and seemingly made wholly of shifting glitter.
Sideshow Performer - Shadow dancer
Petit was one of the veiled dancers, but every scarf she removed just wisped away like smoke, or vanished like shadow, and she never really seemed to get any more bare, but trying to figure out how it was done, or actually catch a glimpse of her was all part of the appeal.
Sami | Urban fantasy OC | OTA
Samira didn't need a whip, or a chair, or even a top hat, though she did wear one, miniature and perched coquettishly atop her head. She didn't need these things because the beasts that she tamed were snakes. Cobras, mostly, but some other vipers as well, and rattlesnakes. Though the star of her act was the 15 foot python that she occasionally wore as a dress, or at least a wrap over the leather corset and belted skirt she usually wore. The jewel in her ear was an acrid yellow, almost chartreuse, she liked it because it was a mark of her rank and an indication of poison.
Some people said that her tongue was forked, like that of her charges, but no one knew for sure, the same people also said that she had fangs and was just as deadly as any of her vipers. She actively encouraged these rumors, though she never spoke of them herself, but she played into them easily, as cold and as calculating as any snake, and just as silent more often than not.
Sideshow exhibit - A Snakelady
Samira was one of the failures, she was still a woman from the waist up, but from the waist down she was nothing but snake, the smooth, shiny scales of a python, but with the dusty coloring and pattern of a rattlesnake, she even had a rattle, and like her serpentine kin, it did rattle when she was upset, or scared, or just giving a warning.
Even the upper half of her still had snakelike features, slitted eyes, retractable fangs, a dark forked tongue that she used to scent the air outside of her enclosure, smooth glass, too tall for her to pull herself up over, and too thick for her to break. The only thing she wore was a stack of bangles up each arm, one of them in the collection was the sign of her ownership.
Bucky Barnes | MCU | OTA
Bucky trained and performed with the beasts bare-handed (and bare-chested) as often as not. Some thought that he shouldn't be in the First Circle due to the fact that his left arm was metal, not flesh and bone, but that arm was a work of art on its own, and the fact that he was fearless regardless of the beast he was working with were proof enough that he was right where he should be.
Beast
No one was sure if the one they called The Soldier was a failure or one of the ones who'd fallen from grace, but whatever had happened, he'd clearly been through hell. His left foreleg was crudely articulated, made of tarnished metal and badly grafted onto his shoulder. His whole left side was a mass of scarring, and he had a habit of lashing out at anyone who got close, snarling and throwing himself against the bars of his cage, sometimes to the point of rolling the whole works over.
Edwin Payne - Dead Boy Detectives - OTA (M/M for romantic/smut but anything goes for platonic)
Edwin's act was never the same twice, and that was because his platforms and his trapezes changed every night, sometimes in the middle of his act. But he always seemed to know right beforehand what was going to move and where it was going to move, sometimes jackknifing himself mid-movement to catch where the new landing was going to be.
He was able to dive through the narrowest hoops and frames without ever touching the edges, and seemed to delight in letting the audience think he was going to fall only to catch himself at the last moment, swinging and stepping lightly to safety.
Menial
Like many of those who did the work to keep the circus running and tidy, Edwin seemed a young man out of time, dressed like a turn of the century schoolboy but with a knowledge far beyond that span of time.
No one was really sure if he'd been a guest who'd gotten lost -as many were- or if he'd arrived looking for someone -as others had- or if he'd simply been pulled in from somewhere the Circus had passed through without stopping. In any case, he didn't seem to mind the work, and was a dab hand at finding things people had lost.
Alvis + Killjoys + OTA
A lot of large traveling shows like this had a chaplain, and that was Alvis. He was of no particular faith that anyone could determine, but he knew prayers and blessings in multiple languages, multiple denominations, and to most he was a calming presence.
Of course, there wasn't often much use for a man of the cloth, especially one of no particular cloth, so he often helped out wherever an extra pair of hands was needed, mucking out animal stalls, helping serve meals in the mess tent, even making deliveries or working a game stand from time to time.
Sideshow Performer - suspension act
The tidy rows of scars -almost decorative- along Alvis' shoulders, back, chest and limbs were visible proof of just how long he'd been doing this suspension act.
There were also a few other scattered scars that didn't fit the pattern, a straight line a few inches long over his heart, dozens of smaller slices and pinpricks along his fingers and hands, but most people didn't pay attention to that, too in awe -or too grossed out- by the man hanging himself from a veritable spider's web of wire filaments via hooks and rings pierced through his skin.
Menial (Hope cross-medium is okay)
Oh.
[ The stranger turns, a gentle smile at his lips...or is it the upward curve of the purple above his lip? ]
My apologies, I was just wandering around and my feet took me here.
Of course!
The tent was relatively cool, light coming from the open front flap as well as hanging lanterns with the amber-pink glow of salt lamps hanging at irregular intervals and heights throughout. There was a scattering of low firm cushions and a couple rows of wooden benches, a mix-and-match collection of seating the way there was no particular denominational bent to the tent itself.
He pressed his fingers to his chest, inclining his head in greeting, saffron-yellow hood -attached to sleeves but without the rest of a shirt to go with it which left him barechested- settled in place over his head, "Alvis. If you're in need of a blessing or a candle prayer, I'm here to help with that."
Bane + Dark Knight Rises + OTA
Bane was only rarely put on stage any more, there weren't many who could handle him, and he'd mauled the last one who'd tried to control him without getting to know him first. He was still kept on, however, because he was an excellent watchdog for the sideshow tent.
He'd been a performer once, they all knew it, but no one could quite agree what he'd been, most assumed that with his bulk, all of it muscle, he'd either been a strongman or a beast tamer, though others pointed out the horrific scarring down his spine, the muzzle that covered a mangled wreck of a face and said that maybe that muscle, that extra weight was a punishment in and of itself, that he'd been something lighter, something prettier, but no one could ever agree.
For the most part, he was just left in his cage at the back of the sideshow, at the back because he generally set to baying loudly enough to wake the dead if anyone got close.
Beast Tamer
Bane was one of the crowd-favorite tamers, mostly because he was half-beast himself, a veritable wall of muscle. He moved surprisingly easily for a man of his size, light on his feet, practically dancing around the beasts he tamed naked from the waist up, save for the mask he wore. The mask was terrifying, making him look almost like one of the beasts he tamed so easily, a maw almost, giving the impression that he was always snarling, baring a mouthful of teeth.
He did keep a whip on hand, just in case, but he rarely needed to use it, most beasts he subdued with his bare hands. There were many pet theories about his mask, that it was just a scare tactic, that it was because he'd lost control of one of the beasts, and had nearly lost his life to it, that it was because he was as good as a beast himself, even. All they knew was that he never took it off, and no one saw him at meals, he always ate alone in his quarters.