bakerstreet | The Circus arrives without warning...

The Circus arrives without warning...

The Night Circus

"The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night." - Erin Morgenstern

As you wander the grounds of Le Cirque des Rêves, black and white striped tents on all sides try to catch your attention. Which tent will you choose? Who will you meet in the tent? Or maybe you're a performer, ready to dazzle your audience as they walk in.

How does this meme work?
1 - Post a comment with your character's name and canon in subject.
2a - If you want to be a performer, add a tent number.
or
2b - If not, leave it blank.
3 - Tag others. Do NOT roll if they already have a number in their subject line. Roll (or choose) if they do not.

The Choices

1 - Isobel - The fortune teller. The tent is dark and silent. As you walk in, the noise and laughter of the rest of the circus falls away. As you feel blindly along the velvet tent walls, you encounter a beaded curtain. On the other side is either a fortune teller to tell you your future. Or maybe the fortune teller has left for a few moments, leaving behind nothing on the table but a set of black and white Tarot cards.

2 - Tsukiko - The contortionist. The contortionist does not have a tent. Round a corner, follow the path that circles the tents and you are likely to find the contortionist performing, feats of extraordinary dexterity and flexibility, slowly stuffing herself (or himself!) into a small glass box on the ground.

3 - Widget and Poppet - The animal trainers. The trainers perform outside of the tents, coaxing a multitude of black and white kittens to dance, to leap through hoops and run up and down curious and delighted audience members. Or maybe slip into the tent behind them, where two other animal trainers do similar tricks with leopards and panthers.

4 - The Illusionist - The illusionist performs in a small, black and white striped tent that holds no more than twenty. With theatrical gestures, the illusionist transforms a gentleman's scarf into a half-dozen white doves, produces flames that dance but do not burn, and even causes a tree to grow from an empty seat, pure white and silver blossoms blooming before the audience's eyes. Is it magic?

5 - Celia and Marco - The lovers. The fantastic circus and all its wonders are nothing but a backdrop for the forbidden love that has blossomed between the two of you. How will you keep your love a secret? Kisses stolen between striped tents? Bittersweet goodbyes as the sun rises and the wrought iron gates of the Night Circus closes for another day?

6 - Cloud Maze - This tent is one of the tallest in the circus, and once you slip between the black and white striped flaps, you see a tower of fluffy white mist. As you touch the mist, it is soft and warm against your hand. The more you explore, the more you see hanging platforms, ropes, and ribbons hidden among the white clouds. Through them you can climb to the top of the tower of white cloud. Do not be afraid of falling or jumping off the tower or the platforms, for the white misty clouds will support your weight, catch and envelop you in white.

7 - Bedtime Stories - This tent is small, almost hidden among the rest of the circus. Within is a room filled with shelves and tables, and bottles and jars litter every flat surface. Open a bottle, and a scent escapes. Breathe deep, and a story unfurls for you, so real that you can feel every touch. Will you share the stories with your companion? Or dare each other to try ever stranger experiences?

8 - The Wishing Tree - There is nothing in this tent except a sprawling tree that bears candles instead of leaves. Many of the candles are lit, their flames flickering in the slight breeze that permeates the tent. A card on the tree instructs you to take a candle from the tree and make a wish on it, lighting it with the flame from another wish. What will you wish for? It's said that wishes lit on the Wishing Tree come true...

9 - The Ice Garden - Everything inside this tent is white, and it takes only a moment to notice that the sprawling garden within the tent is created entirely of ice. Every posy petal, every delicate branch of a tree. The 'grass' beneath your feet is pure white snow, and brushing by a tree will send another sprinkle of white onto your head. How will you and your companion explore this place?

10 - The Labyrinth - This tent is just like any other from the outside, but as you walk in, it changes. Perhaps you'll find yourself in a library that smells of leather and is lit by flickering candles. Or a valley full of fine white sand flanked by rolling hills. Or maybe you find yourself in a giant silver birdcage. The possibilities within the Labyrinth are endless, but there are always two constants:
1 - the way into each new part of the labyrinth is not the way out.
2 - there is always a way out.

11 - Wild Card - There are more wonders at the Night Circus than the list above. Watching the acrobats or trapeze artists? Run through a Hall of Mirrors that shows uncannny insights? Eat delicious circus treats until dawn? All are possible!

How much of Le Cirque des Rêves can you explore before dawn?

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"Oh, well... that seems perfectly justified." Horvath rolls his eyes, but he certainly would have done the same thing, at that age.

He flinches when Balthazar drops the bottle. "Careful! Bel? You all... right...?" The scent has caught him, as well, filling his lungs and his head with a pleasantly fuzzy sensation.

"I'm fine. It just slipped out of...oh..." His eyes fall half-closed at once, and he takes a deep breath.

They're on a beach, all three of them, and the sand is the color of vanilla ice cream, but warm and soft on bare feet. The water is blue, the waves waist-high when they curl and crash on the shore. There are birds in the shallows, picking at the sand. Sandpipers, maybe, or bitterlings, except they're a rainbow of colors: greens and pinks and oranges. Behind them is a grove of trees heavy with purple fruits in various odd shapes. Some look like pears, some like large grapes, and some are lavender spheres the size of basketballs.

Roi doesn't like the ocean, he doesn't like the sand, but why do his senses say that he does? He knows that, no matter how soft the sand is, it will hurt his feet if he dares to remove his shoes. He knows that no matter how soothing the smell of the sea is, it'll cling to him like gunk until he can bathe.

"Wha.. what is this?" he asks, trying to regain control of his senses.

Still aware of the vial in his hand, he holds it tighter.

Horvath sways just a little, trying to shift his weight without leaning on the cane because he's afraid it will sink into the sand. The scents, though! He's distracted by the scenery, turning his head to look at first the idyllic ocean, then the surreal fruit trees, looking more like they're bearing candy than any kind of fruit he's ever seen.

"...Where are we?" He breathes the words quietly, as if afraid to break the spell.

"It's like dream-sharing," Balthazar says. And because it's somehow his dream, since he opened the bottle, he's the first to move, turning to take a couple steps into the grove of trees and pluck one of the smaller fruits.

He gives his companions only a brief glance before taking a taste. His eyes go wide at the flavor.

Someone please tell him that he's not on an acid trip or something. Because fuck, all of this feels real and he doesn't know what to do with it. He's not trying to spoil the fun, but excuse him for his wide-eyed gaze.

"Is that even safe?" Roi manages to ask, seeing his reaction.

"But whose dream?" Horvath murmurs. Certainly not one of his. His dreams are never so...

fluffy.

He watches Balthazar venture to the trees, and bravely bite into the fruit. "Well?"

Balthazar blinks dazedly, then shrugs sheepishly at them. "It...it's wonderful. I mean, it's safe. It tastes like mulled wine, only better."

He licks juice off his fingers, then looks up at the sky as a faint shadow drifts over the sun. It's a cloud.

It's...a cloud shaped like a llama.

There are several more, similarly shaped, floating in its wake.

Balthazar giggles, an unusual sound for him. "This is absurd. Completely absurd."

Ohhh, okay. He can get on board with that, though really? Sand? Beaches? Augh. He'll just keep complaining in his head for the moment. He walks over, mindful of his senses and trying to see if he's actually IN the dream or... if they're wandering around still in the tent.

He reaches for a fruit and peers up at the llama clouds. He's never had wine before, but, hopefully even this... thing, tastes good. He takes a bite of it, tapping his foot at the flavor so he doesn't make any embarrassing noises of his own.

"This is... definitely not one of my dreams." And hopefully there wouldn't be any alcohol in the fruit. If they were really even eating anything. He holds back a certain thought that starts with "what could possibly go" lest he jinx it.

Horvath turns to look up, eyebrows rising at the silly shapes in the sky, then looks back to see Roi moving to taste the fruits as well. Now that doesn't look like something he wants to be left out of.

He takes a limping step toward them, but his cane sinks in the sand, making it awkward. It's only a few tantalizing steps to reach the fruit, but he's slightly stuck, and the scents are fading. The whole scene is darkening gradually, a little less real...

Balthazar sees Horvath's difficulty and plucks a fruit to bring to him, sympathetic. The air feels heavier, though, as he places it in his friend's hand. "It's fading," he says, disappointed, and takes one last wistful glance at the water.

"So it's like lucid dreaming." Roi sighs a bit, glancing down at the fruit. Whelp, he's just introduced himself to a potentially deadly thing. Now he knows somewhat what he's missing when he can't go out drinking like humans can.

"Maybe we'll find another similar one." Hopefully that's a comforting thought to the two men who seem to have enjoyed this one more than Roi has.

He's quick to take a bite, now, and closes his eyes a moment to savor the rapidly fading flavor. It's thin on his tongue, dissipating within seconds, and he sighs and opens his eyes again as the fruit itself grows transparent in his hand.

"It must've come from the bottle- not that I'm suggesting we break any more, but perhaps if we simply... opened another one?"

Balthazar looks around at the room as the dream fades. It's the same as before, bottles and vials, shelves and tables. "That was...interesting."

He wonders, but doesn't want to suggest, if it may have been a hallucinogen rather than magic. But then they wouldn't have all had the same dream, would they? "If everyone feels all right, we could try another. Did you want to open the one in your hand, Roi?"

Roi almost forgot that he has one in his hand, and he slowly nods. Setting it on the table, he uncorks it carefully.

The smell of rain is quick to reach the senses, light to the touch and with the metallic tang of modernity. The scent is accompanied by a faint scent of fur - muted and unobtrusive, but still there. It's almost completely dark out, just a few street lights just starting to come on. The buildings are a bit low, in terms of height, with ladders leading up to the roofs. The water pitter-patters against the ground and the street - streets a little too narrow for cars to pass through.

"This is..." Roi trails off. He steels himself, then looks to the other men, his back straight in unease, though the dream carries no actual aura of being foreboding. Just quiet, and maybe a little lonely.

"Apparently, it's a "piece of my world in a bottle" for me. Welcome." Although the rain is matting his fur, he puts on a soft smile. "This is the lower sub-section by the campus. Judging by the smell, it's late spring, and we're in friendly territory."

On the one hand, the reassuring solidity of the ground in the tent supports his footing better, but on the other hand Horvath is sorry to see the idyllic scene fade away. He looks to Roi, at Balthazar's suggestion.

He's soon rewarded.

"Oh, this... this is peaceful. Although I wouldn't mind being indoors..." He glances around, fascinated by all the ladders and the unexpected intensity of the scents. He wouldn't do well here, either, but it's very intriguing to see where somebody who spends half their time cat-shaped would live.

"I could shield you against the rain..." it's an offer to either or both of the other two. Balthazar seems to be reveling in the patter of water on his skin. He smiles at Horvath, but draws closer to Roi, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Is there somewhere we should be going?"

Roi happens to like it, the rain. Although he knows what this dream was based on, and it's not a good one. But something tells him that it'll be nothing but pleasant this time.

"Only if you want to." He smiles and tilts his head, then leads the way. He stays on the ground, knowing where he is and where he's going by heart. "Though there's not much else to look at."

It's a special spot, and it seems that the lights overhead get dimmer and dimmer as they continue on.

"I'm all right. It... is a dream, isn't it?" Horvath closes his eyes, concentrating a moment, then reaches out to pull his bowler hat out of thin air and place it on his own head. He looks pleased, even a little smug, that the trick worked.

Limping along and keeping pace, Horvath follows their feline guide. This is much better footing than the last place.

Balthazar chuckles at Horvath. "You're as bad as I am, you know. Just different. You and your hats..."

It was a different style of hat when they were boys, of course. He does have to acknowledge that the bowler suits his old friend.

He follows Roi closely, but keeps an eye out for Horvath, as well. It wouldn't do to let him slip. Still, the more they move on and the darker it gets, the more need he feels to hold on to the youngest in their trio. His night vision isn't spectacular.

Roi can see everything as clearly as daytime, pretty much, and he slows his pace, more than aware that humans' night vision isn't very good.

"We're almost there." He briefly stops and turns to regard the two walking behind him, his eyes giving off a sort of eerie reflective glow from what light he is using to see so well.

"Do you need me to walk slower at all?"

Horvath moves closer as well, so that they're a little knot moving together. He's not so much in danger of slipping as of tripping, since his night vision is no better than Balthazar's.

"Almost where?" This dream seems to be holding out longer than the last one, maybe because they're starting to get the hang of it, now? They're a chain, Balthazar holding onto Roi, and Horvath with a light hand on him.

"Your eyes glow." Balthazar sounds amused, rather than freaked out, but he nods. "A little, please. We're depending on you not to lead us into anywhere we'd trip."

He's aware of Horvath's hand on his back, as well, and reaches to pat his arm.

"Alright." Roi smiles and waits long enough so he can hold Balthazar's hand, and then starts walking again.

"As for the question.... There's only one place in this area where you can see the stars no matter what the weather or season. It's very easy to see the constellations. It's regarded as a place of good luck by many that live here. That even though we have the life we are dealt, there is always something better that we can strive for, or hang onto.

"That no matter how we're hurt in life, there's always something bigger than us, and bigger than those that hurt us. Some even regard it as a place of Heaven on Earth.

"I have come to this place so much, I can find it in my sleep. It should start getting lighter soon. The stars are just that bright."

Horvath gives a quiet sigh, after that little speech. He spends so much time holed up in his underground lair, these days, that it's been a while since he took a really good look at the stars. The sentiment is familiar though, and he's certainly spent plenty of the centuries sleeping in the open under them. He's curious how the constellations might differ, here on Roi's world.

He gets a firmer grip on Balthazar's sleeve, and follows.

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