I’m procrastinating on streets and skylines so enjoy this detour:
FROUSE CIRCUS
Ringmaster: Smitty, Puffer
Strongman: Grizzy
Acrobat: Eli, Pezzy
Aerial performer: Yumi, Sovi, Daukey
Magician: Rectrixx
Fire spinner: Droid
Fortune teller: John
Animal tamer: Matt
They’re a traveling circus who show up unannounced and leave suddenly. They’re mysterious and a little intimidating, but damn do they put on a good show.
SOME OF THESE I HAVE WORKED OUT BETTER THAN OTHERS!!! But here’s some yapping about them-
Smitty: Smitty is albino, and in this time (~mid 1700s?) it immediately made him a social outcast. His parents were ashamed of him, and hid him away, so he took to sneaking out. He learned to perform in order to make money, saving up so he could leave for good. He met Matt, who already owned an animal circus. Matt offered him the circus, if only he could find some way to get all the exotic animals back to their homes. He did, and that was how he became the ringmaster.
Puffer: Puffer originally joined intending to take the circus over, wanting a quick bag. He rose in the “ranks” quickly, and proved himself a capable ringmaster, so Smitty shared the crown. However, Puffer could never get a leg up on him. He definitely tried to kill Smitty a few times, but the man has incredible luck. Puffer’s bloodlust has since died, but his rivalry with Smitty has not.
Grizzy: Grizzy was constantly bullied growing up, and attending a boarding school only made it worse. He found he liked to work out because it helped him feel proud of himself, and tune out the world. He joined the circus to escape bullying, and saw the opportunity to become a strongman. It was an easy spot for him to fill, and he loves it.
Eli: Eli comes from the highest social class of anyone in the circus. (Don’t ask me what it is I don’t know. It’s not royalty but like. He’s fancy idk) He had a million expectations, and among them an arranged marriage. He met Smitty in the early days of the circus, and Smitty listened to his laments about his upcoming marriage and offered him to join. He took the escape. Eli was nimble, and had been taught things like dancing and fencing. Acrobatics weren’t the hardest thing to adapt to.
Pezzy: All I have in my notes is “Pezzy was poor” lol. But I think that speaks for itself. He didn’t grow up with money, and didn’t grow into it either. I’m thinking he leapt on the circus train like a stowaway rat and they just kept him. He probably wasn’t even intending to join, he just wanted to hitchhike and they were like nope you’re ours now. Pezzy was also nimble, and very fast, so he got voluntold into the acrobat position
Yumi: Yumi’s here for shit’s and giggles and also he’s wanted for murder. I’m not elaborating cuz I can’t. Smitty offered him a deal: He’d do everything in his power to hide Yumi from the law if, in return, Yumi would learn aerial acrobatics and join the circus. It was the circus or jail, and Yumi chose the circus.
Daukey: Daukey co-owned a company with his older brother. Technically his brother was the owner but they worked together, right? Except his brother kept dumping work on him, and Daukey thought he might be stuck an office worker his whole life. A friend off handedly mentioned that he had better get used to it. It wasn’t like he could just run away and join the circus! Well, he actually could, and he did. He became an aerial acrobat because he thought it was mesmerizing and fun.
Sovi: Sovi is the newest member. He was a bartender at a bar Daukey went to when the circus was in town. Someone started harassing Daukey for being a performer, and Sovi eloquently kicks them out. From then on, Daukey makes it his mission to make Sovi join. He gives him a VIP ticket, frequents to bar, talks to him after shows. And it works! Sovi joins and becomes and aerial acrobat with him
Rectrixx: Rec is unfortunately among the more underdeveloped. His father was a gambler and a drunkard, and Rec pulled himself up by his bootstraps to get away from him, and was doing alright for a while. But his father dies, leaves a bunch of debt, and Rec is crushed. Unable to pay, he runs away and finds himself at the traveling circus. They take him in, thankfully. He never knew magic before, but he picked it up quickly, and has become an amazing magician.
Droid: He saw a circus when he was little and never recovered. He always wanted to be a fire spinner. Of course, he was being practical and training to become a blacksmith. But like- he saw the circus was in town, and literally hunted down Puffer after a show. He begged to join, begged to be a fire spinner, and puffer was like “damn dude sure yeah come along” and that was that
John: John is the second highest class person, just behind Eli. He was extremely creative, and already a practicing witch. His parents didn’t know about the witch thing, but they hated how eclectic he was in general. They did everything in their power to “correct” him, and controlled his whole life. He snuck away one night to see the circus, and ended up meeting Matt afterwards, and then meeting Smitty. He told Smitty’s fortune (or something more witchy maybe- tarot cards or reading his aura) and Smitty offered him a job on the spot. John said he couldn’t leave, but he did come back every night and began giving fortunes outside the tent. The circus stayed in his city for over a month (for some actual reason), and when they finally left, he made the decision to go with them as their fortune teller.
Matt: Matt is actually the one who grew up in the circus. His family owned the tent and supplies, along with dozens of exotic animals. Lions, tigers, bears, ect. They were extraordinary, and abused. Matt hated it. In an unfortunate “accident” (he may have staged it. Idk yet) His parents were killed by the very animals they claimed to have tamed. His siblings didn’t want to be stuck in the circus and left, so it was left to Matt. He wanted to return the animals to their homes, but couldn’t do it alone. So he made a deal with this guy he met. Smitty was charismatic and clever, and seemed to have taken a liking to the idea of a circus. Together they returned all the exotic animals. Now, Matt works wonders with big dogs, cats, bird, and horses.
anyone who read that- wow. I’m just yapping man but I love me a circus au. Will I write for this? Maybe, idk, lmk if oneshots and stories from this world sound interesting? I couldn’t think up a linear story but I do think a bunch of shorts and moments from here would be cool. Thanks for listening to me yap
I tried to keep him bulky + square, but still round and friendly. He's got a little tail you're unable to see here. Everytime since the first time I drew him in... fuck 2022 wow... I've always given him a notch in his ear. Dunno why, he probably got it as a kid. Don't got a lot of lore on him, apart from he's probably got some natural gravitational magic, thus his strength. He's a full american brown bear anthro (obviously).
Puffer!
Fun fact, Puffer was the first frouse member I ever drew! he's changed a lot since those first few sketches (my first design resembled mattercell's mech puffer, though I don't know if that 3d model even existed at the time). I tried to keep the balance between sharp pufferfish spikes, and his irl features - which are very round. I finally gave in and drew him a proper giant tail, inspired by the lovely geezee. He's got a wetsuit under his clothes to keep moisture in. The tubes on his neck are connected to a water tank he wears as a backpack. He can live without water supplied to his gills for a while as long as they stay wet (like a real fish), but he prefers to have water circulated directly to the gills on his neck. He did learn some liquid magic for obvious reasons. The caps on his horn spikes are for other's safety, though the extra ring on his left horn is his engagement ring! (I had to get creative due to him having webbed fingers). He's a full fish anthro - a cross between a smooth puffer (for pufferfish) and a royal gramma (for coloration, but I took some liberties).
Droid!
His natural features are very round and oval shaped, while his prosthetics are very pointy and stiff (for contrast, but also to display his energetic yet friendly personality). I wanted to give him his lil antenna like the plush, but it feels so akward to draw, so I gave him a little marble belt detail as a nod to it. He's an above the knee & elbow amputee on his right side, though I'm not sure what caused it exactly - the same event injured the left side of his face too. His robotic eye can't see in much detail - just important shapes and outlines. He's learned a combination of telepathy, gravitational, and projection magic to control his prosthetics, but the movement is still limited. The red alt is for when he's mad cus I think thats fun :). He's an anthro wolf + housecat hybrid (though I tried to make it ambiguous where wolf features end and cat features begin).
Pezzy!
He's very rectangular, and I tried to leave the round features specifically for his fizz. The soda tab earrings were inspired by another Pezzy design (I forgor who's, sorry). The scarf I believe was based on his 2p one - I also just needed more balance in his design. His blood and tears are soda, and his irises are based on that too. He uses a shit ton of hair gel to keep his soda hair in order. He learned liquid and gravitational magic as a teen to do cool magic tricks with his fizz. He's also learned time magic (for speedrunning lol). He's a soda hybrid, with mostly human features.
Rectrixx!
I've only recently designed him, and I don't think I've shown him off anywhere apart from frousecord (If anyone has good references for his tattoo sleeve please send it my way 👉👈, I couldn't find much of anything). I don't watch much of Rec so I don't have a lot to say about him - I tried to keep his features similar to irl. Oh he also has a little tail like Grizzy. He's just an anthro polar bear :3c
