Cirque de la Lune

[omggirlonthenet]

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....


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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)

Comments

Tardis (Dr. Who) - OTA

[1st_companion]

Beast Tamer
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.

Kylo Ren | Star Wars

[darthvaderfanboy]

Beast

Kylo Ren has always had a temper and is powerful beyond the usual variety of men, so it's no surprise when he's taken by the circus and transformed into a tiger. Even as an animal, he's got blinding rage and iron will inside of him, which makes him a less than ideal subject for the Beast Tamers. Currently, he's not performing material just yet. As punishment, he's been locked inside a cage barely big enough for him to turn around in and put outside the tent as a way to attract guests inside to watch the show. He paces back and forth, a jet black bracelet placed around his left paw, his dark eyes hot and filled with more anger than any mere animal has ever had.

Sherlock Holmes | Sherlock BBC

[desecrated]

Acrobat or Tightrope Walker

He wasn't afraid of heights, just - the idea of no net meant if one of the others was unbalanced - if he was unbalanced - one could fall and be hurt or maimed a bit too easily. And we all know what happens to those who are maimed. It's what everyone's afraid of around here, at least. It's the yelling that puts him off the most, either from the fellows or from the audience. He has to stop tensing so much or he will lose his balance. The purple jewel earring doesn't obstruct or offset his weight in the slightest. It's best to look down, sometimes, to calculate how far falling would really be.


alternatively,
Slave
He's not ... built for any of these tasks, he's too thin, too pale, too ... deformed for it, really. Of course, they want him to be kind of seen some of the time, but rather as an example for being too strong-willed. Trying to escape too many times. Obviously. Now he's ruined.

or pick what you'd like.

Slave

[darthvaderfanboy]

Kylo Ren paces back and forth, a short chain running around his thick neck and bolted to a stake driven deep into the ground. A muzzle has been placed over his jaws as punishment for trying to bite one of the beast tamers earlier. He's still too angry and willful to be taking place in the shows, so here he remains, out of sight.

Speaking of out of sight, he spies one of the slaves. He's seen this one before, a pale man with even paler eyes. He growls out softly as Sherlock comes near him, straining to the end of his chain to get close to the man. His dark eyes, the only part of him that still look remotely human, blink entreatingly. A strangled sound comes out of his mouth, the product of trying to produce human words from a beast's vocal cords. "Rrrrait." Then he swallows and tries again. "Wrrrait." Finally, the third time, he produces the word he's been trying to say. "Wait."

[desecrated]

Sherlock pauses. He didn't like his position, he hated it here.
But there was little alternative choice, and it was a bit like they'd taken his will away to disobey, so he stops as if compelled. "Yes, sir."

He doesn't face the Beast, it's better not to, really - maybe it's a trap. Maybe he'll be torn to ribbons, it wouldn't be the first Slave to be torn apart by a Beast. He knows they're not fed enough but none of them are, there isn't anything extra! Greedy thing.

James Wesley | Daredevil

[callshimsir]

Acrobat

He loved moving his body, through a routine, but his mind was always spinning on ways to get out of the circus. He had vague memories of his life before the show the things he enjoyed, the things he wanted to do.

However he still got to have some of those pleasures, slipping a knife between the ribs of some foolish audiance member who followed him to his tent and tried to touch him with out asking.

Of course there where punishments on those nights, but he took secret pleasure in those too. He has a mat spread out on the ground outside his tent running through a series of stretches.

He's let people pay him for services before, a guy has to eat after all, but it's not something he truly enjoys.

[deadlyname]

The only thing Fisk really remembered about his own time before the Circus was that Wesley was his. That was, really, all he cared to remember, it was the only thing that was important, after all.

Some would say that the Ringmaster had taken the easy way out, making Fisk into one of the show's strongmen, but it wasn't the external changes that were the work of art as much as the internal, paring that man's mind down to something so easy to manage, easy to control, that had been the real work of art. The physical augmentations were there as window dressing, really.

And if, occasionally, a guest or a guard or even another performer showed up dead for having looked at Wesley, or allowing someone else to touch him, well that could easily be ignored, for the most part.

He'd finished with his own practice for the day, and was, for the time being, just watching Wesley stretch.

[callshimsir]

Wesley looks up from his stretch and his eyes meet Fisk's, the only person he really wants to belong too, the person he knows he belongs too.

They have an understanding, and sometimes Wesley just does things to make the man jealous.

He slowly sits up on his mat and a small grin, an invitation really spreads across across his face. He pushes himself to his feet and moves inside his tent, leaving the flap open.

[blind_devil]

Matt doesn't enjoy selling himself either, but he also knows what he looks like when he and Wesley are in the ring. He's graceful and long limbed and Wesley is muscular and strong. They are a popular pair and when he sees his partner pull out the mat, Matt pads outside to join him. "Showing off again," he jokes softly.

[callshimsir]

Wesley smiles a little as Matt comes overs, "No... just stretching Mathew... apparently it's a privet party tonight." He says tone only a little grim, "We know how those can go..."

Shay | The Uglies series | OTA

[1st_cutter]

Tightrope Walker
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.

Thela | Tron-verse OC | OTA

[1st_program]

Acrobat
Thela was a ribbon dancer, though her ribbons weren't the traditional swaths of cloth, they were strings of triangles that never seemed to tangle regardless of the loops and tumbles she put herself -and them- through.

Her costume was decked with eyelash coque feathers which made it look rather as if she were followed by a swarm of bees wherever she moved. Her earring, like the spangles that decked her hair and her costume, was a warm amber, like honey, which added to the bee-queen impression.

Sideshow Performer
Thela was, among other things, a human calculator. She could also, for a small fee, translate anything anyone gave her into whatever they wanted it translated into. Though her specialty was codes and ciphers, she could also translate from almost any language to almost any other language without losing anything in the process.

The bracelet that marked her ownership was a pale, almost luminescent blue, like milk-glass.

Bruce Banner l MCU l ota

[wearebothangry]

Beast

Bruce doesn't look like much when he's in his cage, just a naked skinny man who appears to take the taunts and rotten food thrown at him with grace. But until that skinny exterior is one of the most popular Beasts in the ring. The Hulk is a powerhouse and Bruce is held under the Beast sway, but a brilliant mind is hidden under that head of hair and he is plotting.

[nexttarget]

Acrobat

Clint moves easily through the cages, his mind spinning with the thought of running away from here one day, one day soon... He stops in front of Bruce's and starts to open it up.

"Come to my tent tonight..." He says licking his lips, being an acrobat, and sharp shooter has earned him certain privileges here, he plays the good boy, but Bruce knows the truth.

"You don't have to stay here anymore, you can stay with me now..." He says rubbing his neck a little awkwardly. "If you want too."

[wearebothangry]

Bruce looks at the archer and acrobat with a bit of confusion. "How did you manage that," he asks his voice a soft rasp. He unfolds his limbs and creeps through the cage until he's out the door and standing to his full height for the first time in what seems like forever. "The Ringmaster just doesn't let Beasts out without expecting something in return."

Matt Murdock l Daredevil l ota

[blind_devil]

Tight Rope Walker

Matt always appears to fly along the rope like he fears nothing, hence his nickname "The Man without Fear," but Matt does fear something. He fears the Ringmaster because beyond his grace and charm and handsome face, the blind performer knows the man holding them is not human. So he willingly does as the man requests and performs with everything he has

[kid_flash_found]

The Ringmaster isn't finished with Bart. That's what he's told, even though he's joined the acts in rotation. The speedster is too talented to be left with the sideshow, with a mere bracelet. Whipcord thin and agile with timing no ordinary person could match, it's only the minor downside that his body tries to heal most of the changes being brought about that is disappointing.

The teen fears the Ringmaster, and those chosen to aid him, because of the nights when the drugs and spells wear off, and he ends up screaming until his voice breaks. By day he almost never speaks, but he watches, learning everything he can. One thing he's learned is that's not the only one who tries to follow the Ringmaster's movements, to avoid him if possible.

So Bart also watches the blind man who they claim fears nothing, and wonders just what the other sees.

[blind_devil]

Matt might have lost his eyesight, but he hasn't lost his senses. He lets himself fall into the net and then flips out of it and onto the ground. "I know you're there," he says, "what do you want?"

Sam Winchester l Supernatural l ota

[notarambler]

[Sideshow Exhibit]

He is the Boy King, he of the Demon Blood and the Silent Giant. Kidnapped from some backward road and caged without complaint. It is rumored that he fought like a Beast when he first arrived, but since then he has become silent and dark. Not a word passes his lips and he wears his collar with patience and calm.

Bart Allen/Kid Flash | DC preboot

[kid_flash_found]

Sideshow Performer
Billed as "The Fastest Man Alive" this performer is shown doing many impossible things, from catching bullets to dismantling complex objects in milliseconds, often with the threat of danger if the task does not complete. Some might cry illusion, but it is never fake, and there were sometimes...mistakes...when the performer first began. Other acts involve his near-instantaneous recovery from harm, used as a target for knife throwing, or even offered to more valued guests to take a closer examination of his skills.

The 'man' appears to be in his late teens or early twenties at most, but who knows how long one with his talents might actually last.

Beast

Rumors say that this creature was unable to be properly kept under control during his capture, and promising talents failed to be fully developed because of that. Still, he has his uses, the most lucrative being his continuing attempts at defiance. A calculated intelligence lurks behind those golden eyes, observing and remembering every event he sees. His cage is therefore often shrouded from sight, kept isolated lest he get ideas. The chains they use to move him are inscribed with runes that prevent him from releasing himself by phasing through them, as is the collar he wears at all times.

The training sessions and shows he stars in are brutal, and there have been times when that cunning mind has forced the keepers into subduing him before the act could conclude. One time he even managed to catch and pull the whip being used on him, but so far only once. Someone who could truly master him would be a prize indeed.

Lucius Malfoy | Harry Potter series

[bloodpure]

Beast Tamer

Someone with such innate predilection towards elegance and pride, and an existing talent for cruelty, adapted perfectly to this role under the spotlight of the circus' First Circle. Clad in black silks and dark jewel-toned purples Lucius looks almost younger than he has in years, wielding his whip with unflinching prowess, a firm hand, and at times a borderline manic glee. There exists the faintest bit of fog at the back of his mind, the sense that there's something he's forgotten, something important...but he has plenty of praise and privilege both in and out of the ring to continually distract him.


Sideshow Exhibit

Something went rather garishly, horribly wrong in the Ringmaster's attempts to bring this one under his control, and in the process his would-be Tamer ended up slightly more animal than man. Patches of dark green and silver scales now make up parts of Lucius' skin, one eye turned golden with a slit pupil. He makes for a boring attractions by the edge of the tent, actually, for he seems content to spend most of his time lounging in his cage listless. Anxious of what he could do with the venom in his fangs the staff tries keeping him drugged, and he's all too happy to accept; the less awareness has he of present circumstances the better.

beast tamer + guest

[alphaophiuchi]

Draco still wasn't entirely sure how he managed to get his hands on a ticket to the famed circus. Famed only in certain circles, of course, in which he still remained, generally speaking. He drifted in and out every now and then, but those who called themselves his friends - still, which was more curious - kept dragging him back in.

The ticket came through Blaise, and Draco dared not question how or why. He'd stopped questioning a lot of things a while back, back after the war, after his father disappeared in a seemingly random manner, after people stopped talking to him for the most part. He was all right with it, really. Life was easier afterwards. Quieter. A bit more sad, generally speaking, because his mother hadn't taken Lucius' disappearance well. Understandably.

Pansy was supposed to join him, but she was late. Draco took it upon himself to meander around the place, feeling a strange swell of excitement paired with a lingering numbness in the back of his mind, like a pricking at the back of his neck telling him something he didn't understand. He'd hesitated by the acrobats, watching a few of them move in easy, sinuous ways, before moving on, pausing now before the beast tamer.

It occurred to him that the beast itself didn't even register in his mind. The tamer himself, though: well, that was another story altogether, and it left Draco half-gaping, lips slightly parted in an obvious a show of shock as he was going to allow.

[bloodpure]

The fact that there's another face added to his audience doesn't even register; of course he has a growing audience. Why shouldn't he? He's one of the brightest stars of the show, after all, it's nothing less than he deserves...

With a wide, smug smile and a showman's boisterous charm, Lucius is working the crowd both with expert gestures with one hand and precise, sharp cracks with his whip with the other. His current 'pet' is the kind of thing that looks like it belongs from another world all together, shaped a bit like a tiger but with wild spikes of thick strawberry colored fur and too many legs, too few eyes. Who knows what land it was drafted from. The point is whatever it is it's clearly dangerous. Not that it seems to stall the animal tamer, who has it going through paces and performing tricks without so much as a single nervous flinch.

The beast is allowed to circle close and show teeth, enough times to make it clear handling it in this manner is no small feat. He has his audience eating out of the palm of his hand, controlling them as well as the animal he's training. He can make them gasp or yell or cheer at his prompting, it is so easy. The power, the attention, the sway he holds is such an intoxicant to him - he holds his head high, oozing cool charm and glee at his success.

"Now, then. I need a volunteer. How about..." He pretends to look, but the truth is he's already picked his mark. A younger woman with dark hair - pretty and clearly alone - who jumps in surprise and bats her eyes shyly. Lucius gestures to her - a slick, practiced maneuver. "There. You, my dear - yes, you." He smiles as she tries to refuse, coyly.

"Oh dear. It looks like my would-be assistant is nervous," he frets in an overdone, dramatic way. "Give her some encouragement, would you?"

The rest of the crowd claps, yelling and whistling for the now blushing woman to join him, as Lucius smirks. It's patently obvious that he's done this very set-up before.

[gotbottle]

She's not part of the circus' First Circle. She's too new, she thinks... or did someone tell her? She's not sure.

She's not sure of much anymore, except that she must walk. Up there, the size of her world shrunk down to the width of the rope under her feet, all her focus brought to bear on the task of placing one foot in front of the other, one light step after another, further and further until she's at the end.

All she needs to do is walk. That's all that's important anymore.

...anymore. Was there something else? There are times when it feels like there was, but those moments are fleeting, slipping out of her grasp as soon as she tries to focus on them. They don't matter. Nothing matters, but walking.

And walking well enough to be one of the favorites, one of the privileged ones. She watches them sometimes, when she can steal a few moments, knowing--did someone tell her? or has she always just known?--that this is what she aspires to, this is what's important.

This is the life she wants.

She knows she does.

Somehow.

This afternoon she lingers as the beast tamer finishes his rehearsal, her gaze rapt if slightly wide-eyed, vacant. Though when she catches his gaze for a moment, she smiles, dipping her head deferentially.

[bloodpure]

He isn't new. How long he's been here, he couldn't say exactly -- it feels like forever, almost. The patterns to the circus, the ebb and flow of days and nights, practices and performances. It all exists in a blur of light and color and music. It's hard to imagine there could be anything else.

Is there anything else? Was there, ever?

There are some times when his hand starts to rise to the small purple jewel clipped into his left ear, gets there halfway, and then abruptly drifts away without touching it. Distracted from whatever he was thinking.

It's probably not important. Anyway, he has better things to do.

Better things, like controlling his animals, but also his audience - he drinks in their attention and admiration like a drug. The spotlight exists only to hold him fixed center in their sights, surely. He can make them gasp, make them start, make them roar with approval. This is what he lives for. Each night he grins, full of slick pride at how he holds them all in check. He is their master, as much as he is master of the creatures he tames.

Really, there's not a thing or person alive he couldn't control, if he didn't want to. He's confident in this. It's what hums at the forefront of his mind as he watches the acrobats and tightrope walkers slip in and out of his sight, willowy spots of brilliant color.

He sees the redhead watching him, and he lowers his whip, letting it curl a few times around his wrist as the rest lays sinuously on the floor. He returns her nod with a sly, knowing sort of smirk.