#v: circus

[leatherfangs]

@beautiful-mischief ;

Liddy swept in with a theatrical flourish and an alley-oop, lifting Loki's prop case without issue. Now that full dark had descended on the circus, the strongwoman had come out in full force, pale skin gleaming in the gas lamps' warm glow. And then, just for good measure, she swept Loki up as well, placing the box on one broad shoulder and the magician on the other.

"You're late," she said, adjusting her hold on Loki one last time to ensure he wouldn't lose his balance, and began making her way across the fairgrounds. "The boss wants to deliver a rousing speech or something before we start rehearsing, and everyone's got to be there. Have you found a beautiful new assistant to saw in half yet?" Liddy was too large for the box, or she'd be all too eager to volunteer herself.

[miss-polly]

@beautiful-mischief ;

The captured fairy Apollonia was a glittering waif of a woman, with shining lacewings and living wood antlers blooming with flowers. According to the advertisements, magic dripped from her fingertips, and that she could grant wishes to the pure of heart. And now she was here, tragically cast aside from her people and stranded in the real world. But it wasn't in a fairy's nature to stay still for long. So she joined the circus, traveling the world and seeing people of all walks of life, observing the world from her gnarled wooden chair, throwing fairy dust into the air and leaving onlookers awestruck.

The glitter, of course, was mica powder mixed with yellow pigment. And her six-point antlers had not bloomed since she'd joined the side show, half-starved and lost, unable to find the way home. In here, at least, she was safe from all the iron and industry of the human world. Though Polly's nose never quite stopped itching, she had so far only been burnt accidentally. She was not the favorite attraction among the circus's sideshow, but that wasn't such a terrible fate, really. She simply sat about, waiting for people to come by and try to find where her wings had been sewn on, or point out the glue and twine keeping the flowers in place.

As the afternoon turned to evening, the crowds thinned. Patrons made their way to the big top, a striped tent overshadowing all other displays, which allowed Polly to sneak away, her hooves crunching on the gravel and tail swishing beneath her skirts. Nobody saw her slip backstage, and she popped up in the crowd of performers. "Can I help with anything?" she asked. God, give her anything. She'd been sitting still all day, and her hands itched for work. "Shine your shoes, shuffle your cards, pet your rabbits?" The cages were, of course, iron, or she'd have gotten the rabbit on her own.

[heroprogeny]

Verse Aesthetics ⤷ Francis - DC, 616/MCU verse: Circus

After Francis mum dies, when he’s just two years old, social services manage to find his dad, who is still working at the circus as an acrobat and archer. It might not be the best place for a kid to grow up, but social services are more than happy to leave him there since he then won’t be their problem anymore. Unfortunately, the circus has some rather unpleasant extracurricular activities: heists. At the age of six, Francis gets dragged into their criminal activities. The boy doesn’t want to, but if he goes against the Ringmaster’s wishes, he’ll hurt his dad. As time goes by, Francis gets more and more advanced tasks until he is their main man after Clint gets severely injured in an ‘accident’ and slips into a coma. Francis still doesn’t want to do the heists, but as long as he uses his skills for whatever the Ringmaster wants him to, he pays for the care of Clint. Francis is 14 in this verse. (Vers. 1): Clint isn’t actually in a coma, he woke up after a couple of weeks, but is kept imprisoned so that the Ringmaster can keep using him as leverage to Francis. (Vers. 2): After three months in a comatose state, Clint dies, but the Ringmaster doesn’t tell Francis that, knowing that without the leverage, Francis might rebel. (Vers. 3): Clint dies during the fall and since Francis sees it, he knows his dad is dead and the Ringleader can’t lie to him about it. Unfortunately, this means Francis has to enter the foster care system and he doesn’t have the best of luck and runs away at the age of twelve, surviving by using the skills he has to steal and do other dirty work for money.

Timeline: Age 2 - Mother dies. Age 4 - Clint starts teaching him some basic acrobatics. Age 5 - Gets his first bow. Age 6 - He’s a part of Clint’s circus number for the first time and this is also when the Ringmaster starts asking Francis to be part of ‘the team’. Age 10 - Clint’s accident. (Age 12 - Runs away from his latest foster home.) Age 14 - Francis’ current age.

[cuiowrites]

She has never heard Reese scream like that before, and if it wasn't so terrifying she might have actually been impressed. The sound of it, shrill and desperate and drowning, reverberates down to her bones, makes her grit her teeth together-

I swear on my laptop I won't tell a soul, Pieces.

It had almost been a joke, then. Now, it's suddenly not.

(Flynn swears, silently, on her songs and her soul and whatever shreds of them they have left; whatever noises he makes, she'll avenge. Somehow.)

She near-retches when she realizes she's still holding his nails and she sends them flying with a quick, panicked flick of her hands. The idea of it lingers so she grabs Reese's hands instead, slippery-slick with blood and trembling and clinging to her with the kind of desperation she does not want to see in him.

He's not screaming any more.

Flynn's not convinced the almost animal-like whimpers that are escaping him now are any better.

[katherinekris]

Head Canon: Sonokinesis

Katherine uses her ability through her hands, not her voice. With time, practice, and patience, she could totally use her voice as the channel for her ability, but mostly she uses her hands to change, redirect, or manipulate sound.

It works as the visual equivalent of aerokinesis- most people, aside from synesthetics can't see it unless the sound barrier is broken. Katherine has an innate sense of how sound is traveling, and uses that to control the waves around her.

She can't create sound from her hands, unless she's clapping or snapping, but she can redirect and compress sound into the areas in or between her hands. She can create sound via instruments, and channel sound energy that way.

[katherinekris]

That Which Was Impossible || tthedreamcarrier: Cheshire

tthedreamcarrier

Katherine figured she could be one of them, one of these days. Though she was grateful to just be apart of the circus- having shown up with little to no prior warning, begging for a job, any job- she still wanted to advance in ranks. She was grateful, don’t get her wrong, for a place to sleep, a sense of freedom and adventure- the ability to wander at will, so long as her responsibilities were squared away. It happened in books, she supposed, and in life. People who started at the bottom, with nearly nothing, advancing to riches or notoriety or praise that had bypassed their wildest dreams. Dreams, they’re just dreams, she thought as she pulled another linen from the wash to hang up.

For right now, she supposed, this could be her dream. Travelling like she always promised herself she would, across the nation and beyond, seeing the little nooks and crannies that tourist life avoided. That unusual family environment, a sense of brotherhood, that came with being close to other people of about the same ranks. Those who didn’t know much of your past if you didn’t wish to tell them, and who wouldn’t ask much more than “so where ya from, kid?”

Chicago, Katherine mused. They’d actually come to pick her up outside of St. Louis, but who needed to know that? Chicago, St. Louis, both were Illinois, and if she just answered Illinois, it wasn’t a lie. Either way, she was here now, and here to stay.

Hanging the last linen, Katherine stepped back, into the general populous. She figured she had a good thirty minutes or so before she had to come back and fold. 

Settling at the edge of a small fire-breather show, Katherine watched in awe. Then, after a few minutes, she watched the other viewers watch in awe. I wish people could see what I can do, she thought idly, sound is unfortunately, invisible, and not good for show.

Across the impromptu stage, she glanced at an unnerving woman. Something about her seemed familiar, but her smile... sent chills up Katherine’s spine, and a blush to her cheeks. Forcing her eyes back on the show, away from all the people, she hoped the chill would fade soon.

[theagentandbiochemist-archive]

Step Right Up || Skye & Darcy

"Darce?" Skye called out, realising she'd forgotten that last show had caused a few issues with her costume. And as the ever 'glamorous knife thrower extraordinaire', she really should have figured this out after the last show, but it had totally slipped her mind. And there was only one person she trusted with a needle. "Darce, I have a massive favour to ask and I am really sorry in advance."

[mxisxforxmischa]

Big Top||rxyalewithcheese

There was a new comer joining the circus. Everyone was all atwitter with the news, gossiping and wondering what this stranger could do, what they could add to the act. All except for Mischa and her brother.

The Lecter siblings had long been considered odd, even by the circus's standards. They were rarely out of each other's company, even when they weren't rehearsing their act, and they were both fiercely protective of each other. Not much was known about them, aside from the fact that they had shown up one day and asked the ringmaster, Mr Top, if they could join his circus. After watching their act, which consisted of Mischa's older brother Hannibal throwing knives at her while she used her acrobatic skills to dodge them, Mr Top was sufficiently impressed to let them join, although he didn't like having them out of his sight. There was something about them that made him wary; something about their poised and reserved demeanors, the way they dressed oh so nicely (far more nicely than everyone else), and the subtle whiff of that thing known as 'proper breeding' clung to them in a way that made Mr Top unsure of just who these two were and why they decided to join his circus. But he asked no questions. That was one of the biggest rules of the circus; ask no questions, especially ones you don't want answers to.

While everyone else was relaxing and gabbing away, Mischa was practicing her techniques. It was a lot harder to dodge incredibly sharp knives than she made it seem, and Mischa had to be in top physical condition, which meant a lot of exercise and practice. Back flips, cartwheels, spins in mid-air, they were all things she had learned how to do for the act, she practiced daily for hours. And as such, her practice required her full attention and complete silence.

That silence was broken by a twig snapping. Mischa moved from her handstand back onto her feet. "Go away!" She snapped. "Unless you're Hannibal I don't want to see you!" Although she doubted that it was Hannibal, he was much quieter.