One x One Characters of the Circus Utopia

[Viper]

Shattered Porcelain

It'll chew you up and spit you out; this little group of odd balls. From the outside, you see the bright and shining like. The beauty that this group has worked so hard to perfect and leave you astonished. Never in a million years would you expect the cruelties that reside behind the curtain. The abuse, the neglect, and the poisonous behavior that is their true colors.

There are some good ones. Performers who simply want to get on with their life, make their money, and go unnoticed. In that group is MC, an acrobat who's talent shines; for the reason he cannot see.

Blind, this man goes his very best to remain unnoticed.

That is until he earns the attention of a ringmaster, YC, crueler than his own. Who's only intentions are to climb to the very top, to reach the pinnacle of stardom, and leave all other names in the dust.

A blind acrobat, a trinket this man desperately wants to add to his collection.

https://www.rpnation.com/threads/master-sterlings-circus-utopia.297909/


​

 

[Viper]

Name: Sterling Mockin
Age: 27

Smell: Sterling smells subtlety like plants. There are some flowery scents like honeysuckle however there are other earthy scents mixed in as well.
Appearance: Normally Sterling dresses very flashy in dark outfits fit for an old style ringmaster, even on days that he is not performing he wears these older clothes. He likes to stand out, using intricate but elegant designs on his face to draw attention to his cool icy eyes that are easily his best feature after his voice. His black hair is at his ears and is allowed to fall in front of his face, standing out against his pale skin that is almost sickly. His boy is fairly average in height and weight, but he has light muscles due to his daily activities. The only time Sterling does not look like this is when he is going off lot to visit the town or other circuses, during that time he dresses in a modern casual dress style with his hair smoothed back so it stays out of his face.

Stage Name: Starling
Act: Ringmaster or Impersonator
Talents :

• Mimicry. Sterling is able to replicate any sound using just his vocal cords. That means human voices, animal calls, or other.
  
• Manipulative. Either through words, blackmail, or violence, sterling has a way of getting what he wants.
  
• Musical. He can sing wonderfully and also compose/play music for the piano or flute
  
• Makeup. Simply due to his time in the circus, Sterling can now face paint or put makeup on himself or others in the bold, flashy way common to performers.

Bio/Personality: Raised within the circus, this is the only life that Sterling has ever known. Putting on a show, living on the road, fighting internal and external forces, due to all of this his life was less than peaceful. See, Sterlings father was the owner of a circus as well but when he died, very suddenly actually, the show was given to his son who was 19 at the time. Immediately everyone was fired and Sterling started anew, traveling and taking in his own performers until he was running one of the most popular and unique shows in the States. The Circus Utopia is not a place where you would find clowns or pretty women in miniskirts, no, every person in the show is unique either in appearance, talent, or mannerisms. Sterling likes to think of them of his collection. A group of people who just like him are superior to the ‘normals’ who pay to witness their glory yet Sterling still always considers himself the best of the uniques mainly out of a sense of vanity and power.

In addition to the business, Sterling's father passed down a violent temper and lack of morals to his son. Sterling is known for being normally calm and composed, acting as if he knows everything even if he is completely in the dark, but when disappointed, embarrassed, frustrated, or really any other negative emotion Sterling tends to take it out on his underlings in the worst ways possible. Most of the time it is just a slap or beating, but he has been known to take further methods when especially enraged. It seems like this is the only way Sterling knows how to deal with his feelings and will often hold onto his emotions until he has the chance to take it out on another, no matter how long that takes. A sadist through and through. Yet he seems to treat his favorites’ with slightly better care than the others, making sure they are cared for and looking well before show dates personally. This favoritism is just as dangerous as being disliked though, only the danger comes in a way more mentally damaging than physically. He likes them broken and complacent.

Other:

• Judas and Sterling are childhood best friends and have grown up together.
  
• Sterling is not his birth name, but what he has been going by since he took over.
  
• Every night he has to drink a herbal remedy in order to sooth his throat after a day of imitations. He never lets anyone do it for him or tells them what is in it.
  
• Somewhere on his clothing there is always at least one bird feather.
• Compulsive liar

Spoiler: Secret Stuff!

Fears: Getting sick, specifically loosing his voice- Being average or normal-
He will touch others without problem but is uncomfortable when others touch him.

 

[Viper]

Name: Drake Lins
Age: 25
Smell: Overall Drake is rather scentless, although his snakes give off the scent of a musty rotting carcass that gets stronger the more snakes that are around.
Appearance: With albino like characteristics, Drake would have stood out even if it were not for the equally pale scales that seemed to be scattered across his entire body in random patches. They have been on his skin since birth, normally something that he tried to hide, but since being hired into Circus Utopia he has barely been wearing anything at all outside of a purposefully tattered cloth that serves as a skirt almost. His eyes are just as pale as his hair, with a brilliant silver/white shine that makes him look otherworldly. His body is lanky and his ribs are fairly visible, a sign that he is borderline starving due to having to split his food with his snakes. Speaking of, Drake tends to have at least one snake twisted on his body at all times, even though he is supposed to keep them locked up when not performing.

Stage Name: Cobra
Act: Snake Man and Charmer
Talents:

• Snakes. Drake has an unusual talent for training and controlling snakes. He can not force them to do anything but at least they seem to respond to his commands and they like him better than others.
  
• Speed. It is unclear where this comes from but Drake is rather fast. He can move quickly, able to catch things with ease such as a lunging snake or run across the lot within minutes.
  
• Intelligent. Due to his past, Drake is fairly book smart. He reads a lot and remembers a fair amount of random facts. He is no genius but he is not dumb either.
  

Bio/Personality: From his birth, Drake has had scales on his skin which was why upon seeing him, his parents changed his name from Alexander to something more fitting for their unique child. He grew up with parents who tried their best to love him, but they didn't hide their shame very well. They made sure that Drake wore sleeves and gloves all year, trying their best to hide the scales on his face while they (consciously or not) tried not to look or touch them. He was bullied a lot due to his unusual appearance, it only got worse as he grew because more scales seemed to grow each year. So he retreated emotionally, pushing even the kind people away as he closed into himself and found solitude in books. If he couldn't get by on his looks he would mentally have to push himself to make up for it…. It didn't work though. He couldn't afford to go to college and his parents encouraged him greatly to get out into the world. He tried, but failed independence too.

Then by sheer chance, as he was walking in the summer still covered head to toe in long clothing, he ran into Sterling who was there booking a lot. The ringmaster had seen his white hair first and approached only to grow positively ecstatic when he caught sight of the scales. He gave Drake his card and offered him a job and a home right then and there. Drake accepted, partially because he needed money and food, but also because Sterling was the first person to honestly smile the first time they looked at him. Since joining Drake has not opened up much at all, but he is happier now at least in comparison. He does not like the abuse other people suffer by their boss nor does he like that in order to feed his pets he has to sacrifice his own meals, but without knowing where else to go Drake is more than content to just stay in Utopia. He is the type to just watch, never to act even against things that are against his morals. Passive is the best word for Drake.

Other:

• Drake has not seen or heard from his parents since leaving home years ago. Neither side sought the other out.
  
• He names the snakes after writers or scientists that he has read about.
  
• Some of Drake's snakes are poisonous even though that is against policy, but Sterling comes by to collect the venom for an unknown (but obvious) purpose.
  
• He has a surprisingly strong immune system for someone who does not dress or eat much. Either way, he almost never gets sick.

Spoiler: Secret Stuff!

Fears: Not being accepted-His snakes getting hurt-
He will not touch others nor will he let them touch him. He will flinch away if they try.

 

[Viper]

Name: Judas Kipper
Age: 27
Smell: The scent of make up and chemicals radiates from Judas in waves, although no one really knows why Judas is in contact with chemicals so often that he reeks of it daily.
Appearance: Shorter than average and thin, Judas has been mistaken as being younger than he actually is enough times that he is used to it. He is often called a pretty boy or doll. This is because of his unusually large, rounded, doll like but natural eyes, and his unnatural red glassy contacts that he wears religiously for added effect. Underneath his eyes are a pearly green but they are rarely seen. His skin is also a porcelain white, near flawless unless you look super close which adds to his manufactured appearance. His hair is a shiny black, cut roughly around his shoulders and pinned back with a few randomly placed hair clips. The oddest thing though is the stitches/string that has been hand sewn into Judas’s skin in purposeful patterns that are meant to make him seem even more doll like. They are occasionally used as part of his act where he will pretend like he is being used as a puppet.

Stage Name: Stitches
Act: The Human Puppet and Contortionist
Talents:

• Contortion. Judas was not born with this skill, instead he worked at it for years until he had mastered the talent. He had tried his body to let him twist and stretch himself into shapes that people normally should not be able to.
  
• Sewing. This including sewing into his own skin, sewing other people when wounded (or not), and making/repairing clothes. He hand makes most of the costumes in the circus.
  
• Optimism. Normally this is not a talent, but Judas as a way of being so happy all of the time that it may as well be a skill of his to look on the bright side. He is even joyful during dark and bloody times whether he is the victim or the attacker.
  

Bio/Personality: Judas visited the circus as a child and got separated from his parents by accident. Sterling’s father found the lost child, but instead of returning the boy to his desperate parents he took the girlish boy in as an adopted son and lied, saying none of his men had reported a child wandering alone. Basically, he was kidnapped although the happy child did not realize what had happened in truth until years later when he did not even care anymore. Raised for the very purpose of being Sterlings friend and ally, Judas tends to take an adviser like role with his best friend turned boss. Generally helping out and speaking for Sterling when he is not around, Judas is known as the ringmasters right hand. There is no breaking his loyalty to Sterling. He would and has taken a bullet for the man, seduced police and money lenders with his doll like appearance, and turned himself into the type of person who likes to be on both ends of a blade. He is there to serve, not pursue his own goals.

When not following specific orders, Judas is fairly eccentric and loud. He likes to be moving or bouncing around to the annoyance for those who prefer silence. Frequently he will get himself into a dark location or climb as far off the ground just so he can twist himself into demonic like positions and scare people. For years he has been trying to convince Sterling to host a Halloween event just so he can do that to unsuspecting haunted house goers... and he has almost succeeded. This flexibility is also a thing he likes to do in order to spy/listen in on their workers since people often forget to look up or into small cracks before talking about their ‘rebellion’. Most of the time Judas just reports what he hears back to Sterling who is more capable of dealing with it, but Judas is known to take matters into his own hands and punish a performer for daring to even try to stand up against Sterling, one of these people was Theo. Judas is far to fragile to fight fair so when Judas does work on his own, he uses dirty tricks in order to win such as laying traps, using knives or chemicals, and hiding.

Other:

• Judas is not his birth name, but what he has been going by since Sterling took over.
• Judas tents to call people my their stage names and does not mind what people call him since technically both of his names are stage names.
  
• He always has at least one needle on him to deal with loose strings. and a single switch blade to be used for defense
  
• Although he looks young and innocent, Judas’s voice is kinda deep and clearly male.

Spoiler: Secret Stuff!

Fears: Being useless- Growing old-
He will touch others without problem and will let you touch him just as easily... if not more so.

 

[Viper]

Name: Theo Adams
Age: 24
Smell: For obvious reasons, Theo always smells strongly of incenses and candles. Depending on what he did that day sometimes it can be overpowering.
Appearance: Dressed in a red outfit that is half Aladdin and half suit, it is clear that Theo is not the type to accept clear labels but instead appears overly comfortable in his own skin. The clothes are also covered in occult symbols or items, such as celestial markings, voodoo needles, or dice with pictures instead of numbers. He is not trying to get people's attention, but he does not mind it either. He is fairly tan with or without sunlight with deep brown hair and light brown eyes giving him a common appearance in comparison to his circus troupe. Theo is a bit taller than average with ‘spidery’ like limbs that seem to go on forever. He has several scars on his body but most apparent is the star one over his heart that was clearly crudely cut in with a knife. Theo doesn't hide it though, he wears an open shirt so that everyone can see the mark.

Stage Name: Osiris
Act: Psychic and Magician
Talents:

• Psychic. It is unclear if he actually has psychic abilities or if it is all a lie, sometimes he is freakishly accurate in his readings but other times there is not an ounce of truth. At the very least he pretends it well enough that many consider it a talent of his.
  
• Inventor. It comes with the magician title, but Theo is able through a lot of trial and error to come up with a new device or contraption so that he can perform his illusions.
  
• Dexterity. As is normal for magicians, Theo has skillful hands and is able to do complex actions quickly and accurately.
  
• Cooking. Due to being a college kid for a few years, Theo knows how to make food last and turn cheap meals into tasty, varying dishes with only a handful of other things.

Bio/Personality: Theo’s life was pretty average, he had parents who more or less accepted their son for who he was, he had an older brother who loved to torment him but would have fought anyone else who messed with his brother, and when he graduated from high school he went to an average school just far enough away that he could live on campus. He quickly decided to major in Paranormal Science and Parapsychology which surprised no one who knew him. See from a young age, likely due to his elder brother, Theo was introduced to the horror genre early so he got used to the gore and ghosts to the point that it became his main hobby. He was the type of kid who would always break out the Ouija board at sleepovers or sneak out to a graveyard to try and summon a spirit for fun. None of his efforts ever succeeded yet it did not stop him from pursuing it as a career anyway.

It didn't work out though, it turned out there was not much need for a professional of the paranormal in the real world so Theo ended up tracking down Circus Utopia and asking to join in. He put on a good enough show and honestly seemed to believe in his own bullshit, so Sterling hired him on the basis that he was insane. Now a days though, Sterling is not a huge fan of the boy anymore although there is for once a good reason for this distaste besides the fact that Theo is generally normal when compared to other supernatural fanatics. See, Theo does not like the abuse of the people in the circus and has made that known to those inside and outside of the show. He is one of the lead rebels and stands openly against his boss and Judas. The star like scar on his chest was actually a punishment done by Judas after Theo honestly tried to cause serious harm to a sleeping Sterling one night. He has not back down though, his casual and sarcastic attitude only growing since that incident along with his desire to break free of Sterling’s vice grip.

Other:

• Theo tries to rhyme his sentences all the time because he knows it annoys people, only he is not always successful or it comes out very cryptic.
  
• His favorite method of fortune telling is tarot cards so he always has a deck on hand.
  
• Theo is currently the most rebellious member of the crew and he is proud of it

Spoiler: Secret Stuff!

Fears: Honestly, he is too stupid to be scared of anything-
He will not touch or let others touch him without a reason, but if there is a good one, he's cool with it.

 

[Viper]

Name: Harvey Jabez
Age: 29
Smell: Harvey always smells like fire as if he just lit a match with an undertone of cigarette smoke or gasoline/oil.
Appearance: With shoulder length blonde hair and a very muscular build, Harvey used to look like a normal man who perhaps belonged on a beach surfing. Now though, the left half of his body is covered in serious burn scars that he tries to cover under his hair and a red jacket but Sterling insists that the leather jacket stay open so that people can at least get flashes of the burns. His outfit is borderline biker or punk like. His eyes are a deep blue but are often so narrowed that you cannot see them anyway. Harvey also always has a scowl on his face in an eternal expression of annoyance or disgust. To put it simply, he does not look friendly or approachable in a single way anymore.

Stage Name: Pyre, formally known as just Pyro
Act: Fire Eater/Breather
Talents:

• Fire. As a pyromaniac from a young age, Harvey knows and understands fire so he can use it either in show or casually with ease.
  
• Strength. Although he is no Strongman, out of the boys on this list he is the most physically able. He can lift more, punch harder, and generally just out muscle them all.
  
• Physical Tolerance. Harvey has an extremely high pain tolerance, in fact he has a high pleasure tolerance as well. Unless it is an intense feeling/pressure either way, Harvey will not feel it to the extent that he should.

Bio/Personality : Harvey grew up troubled in a bad neighborhood with bad parents and a bad education system, so he was screwed from the start. He got in gang activity, drug dealing, arson, fights… basically he was going to be in jail soon. That is until Harvey stumbled onto the traveling circus on the road. Sterling could tell the type of man he was dealing with, violent and dangerous just like him, so he offered the man temporary sanctuary with the troupe. Then after hearing that he loved fire and was near immune to pain, Sterling offered him a job as a fire eater where he could burn and fight to his heart's content as long as it did not come back to haunt the circus. Harvey accepted, he planned on running away after learning how to breathe fire but he found that it was harder to get out than it was getting in. Sterling would not let the man go, he would threaten and chain him up until he was agreeable once again.

That treatment and the sense of imprisonment made Harvey stew in anger. Only a few months after joining, he gathered a group of people who also wanted to escape the brightly colored prison and made a plan. They set the place aflame in order to use the chaos to flee. It worked, several of the troupe got away, but as soon as Sterling had seen the flames he knew who to blame for the damages. He tracked down Harvey who was moments away from being free and threw a tub of oil onto the blonde man. With all of the fire already around, Harvey lit up instantly. He could feel the burning clearly but Sterling did not put out the flames immediately, he let the rebel boil a bit before helping to put him out. Since then Harvey has not tried to escape, especially after the others who 'successfully' got away were hunted down like deer and then never seen again, but he still hates Sterling and Judas greatly and wants to kill them so that they all can be free for good. Until then though, Harvey is a bottle of rage and annoyance who cannot be happy since he actively tries to find things to get made at.

Other:

• Harvey always has a lighter or matches on him.
• He smokes on and off, not as an addiction but as a way to relax himself on the super bad days.
  
• Harvey is honestly a bit scared of what Sterling would do to him if he tried to escape again.

Spoiler: Secret Stuff!

Fears: Being trapped, literally or figuratively- Sterling-
He does not want to touch people, he has no desire to, but if someone touches him he really has no issue with it since he is so used to violence and close quarters.

 

[Vik]

________
​

​

Name: Akane Mayr

Age: Twenty-three

Appearance: Biracial, Akane comes from an Asian mother and European father. His exotic exterior is often exhibited to appeal to westerners; kimonos, traditional garb, things that the man detests to no end. His hair is long and tended to regularly. It’s washed almost obsessively, thanks to his inability to see, he fears it’s in a constant state of disarray. One no amount of pins can tame. His eyes are both different colors, having heterochromia. One green and the other blue. They aren’t blue, you don’t see oceans, they are toneless and bleary. There’s no life in them and they are entirely useless to the performer. Akane frame is smaller, he’s a thin man with a delicate build. This plays into the act he performs.


Voice: Velvety, masculine, but soft.


Stage Name: Lotus



Act: Acrobat; aerialist, funambulism.


Talents:

- Agility. Akane is able to move on instinct and instinct alone. He absorbs his surroundings through what senses he is allowed and acts.


- Empathy. He's a very compassionate being, one who doesn't get blinded by untruthful whispers. Akane's willingness to put others before himself is dangerous at times, but gives him a drive like no other.


- Medical knowledge. He’s far from a trained professional, but has picked up a thing or two through past experience. It's never been easy, but with some help, he can assist best he can with an injury.


Bio/Personality: An orphan, Akane was left poorly swaddled, kicking, and screaming as an infant on the back opening of an old performance truck. He was found and taken in by the group of misfits. There was no parental figure growing up, no one held his hand; no one would tell him why he couldn’t see. That explanation didn’t come until later when he’d finally had enough. Akane never noticed his lack of sight, you couldn’t miss something you never had to begin with. But kids could be cruel. Especially when they see a peer stumbling and walking around with a constant hand in their own, seeking guidance. Akane is blunt. He can’t read expressions and he can’t sense emotions. There’s no telling how people will react, but he says what he’s thinking. He’s never had anything solid. People left, people changed, and he was always moving. He’s very detached when it comes to relationships, of all kinds. In spite of this, he is very gentle with fellow performers; they are his family. No matter how quick they are to leave.

Sensuality, it bleeds into every performance and makes the man who he is on stage. He forces himself into a character when the curtains go up. Someone different, someone who can move without thought and act upon impulse. It’s a dangerous mindset. Off stage, Akane is prickly. It’s easy to press the wrong buttons with him and earn a flustered response in return. He doesn’t take well to mockery and humiliation aimed at him, or otherwise. He’s fairly protective of the people he’s close too and the youth. There’s a limit as to what he can turn a blind eye to, and what needs to be dealt with upfront. Akane doesn’t like crowds, he doesn’t enjoy being crowded and having to many voices speak all at once. This is a very triggering situation and can cause a sensory overload.


Other:

- Ballet is an important part of his training, but loved by the performer. He loves the pointed shoes, the spacious rooms, and delicate outfits. The art is adored by Akane.

- Most previous possession is the tie in his hair. The only thing he still has from his parents, and treasured even as it frays with age.

- Akane enjoys being read to, he likes intimacy, and shared kindness. Small gestures go a long ways for him.

- Can often label people with scents. It's the first thing he picks up about a person.

 

[Viper]

I don't want to lose this so I'm posting just to make sure that it is not deleted in a site cleanup.