Fantasy Freak S h o w

[ghostlynarcissus]

Monroe, Louisanna. 11:45 PM
​

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Thank you once more for your undivided attention this evening.- I hope tonight you go home to your warm beds and dream of Madame Lenora. Dream of what you've seen here today. We thank you and wish the good folks of your fair city adieu." And the crowd roared, giving it's approval to the white-haired woman surrounded by family. The eccentric group she had collected in her travels and come to love dearly. The bright lights of the stage bounced off her tight, sequin white and gold corset. "Fret not though, my darlings! For we will be back once more tomorrow evening....to give you a grand finale you'd kill to see." The white haired woman boomed into the microphone, lifting her thin, branch-like arms in the air as the crowd roared once more. Wild and ravenous the spectators became, taking in the sight of the lithe creature that beamed back at them from her place on stage.

Slowly but surely guests began to clamor out towards their cars, heading back to the mundane lives they managed to escape from for an evening. The ring mistress disliked this part of the night. The bolder customers would often attempt to convince her why she should hire them. "I'm flexible" a girl would assure her, lifting a leg into the air. Kindly she would nod and tell them all the same thing.

"I only hire freaks."​

The elegant young woman breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the last patron disappear into their car, not taking her narrowed eyes off the vehicle until it disappeared perfectly from view. She lived for these nights and thrived at being on center stage. However, there was always something calming and peaceful with feeling as if she could be her true self once the more "normal" folk had left for the evening. "Gather one and all" Lenora called , clapping her slender hands above her head to get each members attention. Her features held little traces of emotion except when she ruled the show. "I'm glad to inform you all, that we're staying one night longer than planned, thanks to a truly successful show," the woman's voice carried even without having to yell or shout. With a deep bow, she dismissed them and moved to retreat back to her tent, though she imagined someone might catch her as they always did on her way there.

 

[ArchAngelLexi]

Veronica
ghostlynarcissus

As the show came to a close Veronica blew kisses to the crowd. Watching Lenora and the crowd brought a bright, toothy smile to her face... and her abdomen. Her stomach was revealed between the straps of her chest harness. Black bra, leather shorts, and strangle sensible black sneakers. Can't easily do acrobatics in boots. But she loved this life, it was all she ever knew.
With the show coming to a close she hurried back stage to throw a cute sweater dress over her attire. With the warmth of physical activity wearing off the chill of the night air began to nip at her. Peaking out from the back once covered she saw people trying to impress Lenora. Brows furrowed and a low growl coming from the back of her throat. She disliked seeing people try to force their way into her family. Luckily the left, as everyone did.
Being called back with a clap from Lenora, Veronica hurried back over to hear her. She beamed up at Lenora and gave a short few claps at the news. Success was good so why not celebrate, right? Just at Lenora began to walk away she hurried after her, grabbing onto the back of her clothes to just give a small tug for attention. She pointed toward the city and made her gesture for "food". She was hungry and didn't want to go alone. Even if Lenora didn't go with her she just wanted someone to accompany her to find food somewhere.

 

[elie]

During Lenora's closing remarks to the crowd, Harrison was busy looking out to the crowd. Normally, when he performs on stage, the lights shone on him are so bright that he cannot see past the first three or so rows of people, and thus he is unable to take into account the amount of people that typically attend these shows. He would be frozen in fear of the people, if it weren't for the lit cigarette in his hand which he would occasionally bring to his lips. The cigarette which he was currently working on, apart from being out of the ordinary for him in particular, was quite a rookie mistake for the man. He was trained against these sorts of things, and taught to take precautions around highly flammable objects both when on and off duty.

He was being especially careless when considering his current work attire-- which really only consists of his black, flame-retardant baggy pants, and a lack of any other proper clothing or shoes. His pants allow him to safely set them on fire while he performs. It's about as crazy as it sounds. It's no surprise that, as visitors and members of the circus alike know, he has a sizable burn scar along the right side of his body.

He seemed as though he was easily bored of the cigarette, tossing it into the sand below his feet and kicking around it to cover and bury it. Doing this made him stare down at the sand as his mind wandered into space. To what, exactly, very few may know the answer. Harry stood there for quite a long time, a neutral, almost bored expression resting on his face.

 

[Mitheral]

Duncan
Unlike some of the oldtimers like Harry and Jicu, Duncan rarely hovered around Lenora. He thought of her as sort of a surrogate mother. At first he had thought it was just how she had treated him when first found. Unlike most of the crew he was about as close to normal as it got. But she had allowed him to stay and heal. He started working as soon as he was strong enough, never asking for a penny. All he needed was food. Unlike most normals he treated the freaks in those days like ordinary people. Perhaps the most shocking event was when he called the guy born with fused legs a bad word. Then he walked over to say it in the guy’s face and got punched in the face for it. Then he had punched right back. Most people tiptoed around the guy, treating him as an invalid - not all, but most. When the guy was clearly getting tired, Duncan asked the guy if he’d rather keep going, or spend with energy he had left on a game of pool. The guy started to say he had never played because he had trouble standing at the table. Duncan called in a minor inconvenience and asked for a couple volunteers to help - this time. Next time he’d have some way to stand on his own. Duncan was as good as his word - though it took a dozen attempts to get the braces right. After that Duncan bet the guy he could probably do gymnastics - like a floor tumbling routing.

“Nothing is impossible,” Duncan explained, gesturing all around. “This circus, your family. It IS the stuff people call impossible. And yet here, we all know differently.”

/

“Boudin,” Duncan muttered. Lord only knew he had eaten far too much of it since arriving in Louisiana, so much he had nearly thrown up half the time because no more would fit. He usually ate healthy, having been raised on Southern cooking by a mother who served three square meals every day. And he had always worked the meals off doing chores. True, he got a pretty good workout during the setup process. EVERYone did. Well, everyone who could without getting in the way. For example, Duncan never worked with horses. He and they had an agreement. He wouldn’t try to ride them; they wouldn’t try to throw him. Well, all but Patches, a rescue horse he had found and had a rather interesting standoff with a Sheriff and Animal Control to keep them from killing the horse. He had nursed it back to health. Patches would bite anyone but him. (Daniel Charles will probably be an exception as well.)

They had found a large unused field behind a Hilton Hotel in the middle of Monroe. In a year, it would probably be gone. That was the hard part about setting up a circus, finding a place to set up. These days, most large agricultural tracts outside of town were in use. Inside town, leasing the land was often not worth it. But somehow, Lenore kept them in business.

In the old days, large circuses like Barnum would travel by rail, sending someone ahead to scout where to set up the 18+ tents. These days one had to consider parking, shuttles, local businesses, and more. Of course, in the old days, the circus also arrived as a parade. The town of maybe 5-10,000 would declare a holiday and everyone would show up. Circuses were THE entertainment. These days one had to be creative, using various forms of multimedia to announce the impending arrival so people could plan time off.

Then there was the real downside of circus life…

“You people should be ashamed of yourself parading people who don’t fit your perfect mold like … You know what I mean!” It was some social justice warrior chewing out Duncan for the fact that the circus used freaks as exhibits.

Duncan just sighed. “Really? Why don’t you offer some of them jobs? Noone is forcing them to stay. Me? I’m just a driver.”

“Well your treatment of animals is deplorable too!” the idiot continued.

Duncan smiled. “What … like the tigers in cages?”

“Yeah!”

“Oh, maybe I should go and find the keys and open up the cages and let them wander and search for prey. You know, hunt like they do in the wild! Think you can outrun one. Maybe you’d like to find out?” He sighed. “Look, all the animals in these exhibits are either domesticated or were raised in captivity. And most of the latter came from rather poor treatment. Have a nice day.” He tried to give the guy a way to bow out of the debate.

But the guy would let it go. His rambling started to go in one ear, out the other as Duncan tuned him out and decided to do the one thing he hated. He let his eyes relax and he looked into the darkness around the man. Then he looked concerned. His voice changed and he handed the man a voucher. It was for a palm reading. “Tell her Duncan sent you. That will cover the cost. But she is going to tell you to see a doctor - the medical kind. The doctor is going to tell you to change your diet - low calorie, low carb, and most definitely low sodium.”

“You think you can scare me, you freak?” The man sounded angry but unsure.

“I was just observant. You were limping. Look at the backs of your hands. Those black areas of your knuckles. That’s a circulation problem. Common with things like blood sugar disorders and heart trouble. You are holding a thing of cotton candy. I see salt stains from the buttered popcorn you had. And if I am not mistaken, that is a spot of mustard. Hot dog?”

“Three,” the man responded soberly.

“You don’t look poor. I hope that means you have good medical insurance. But have yourself checked. Just a check. Ask about an A1C test. My guess is that you will find you are a type 2 diabetic. I’m not psychic, just observant.”

Once the guy wandered off, Duncan decided to head over to the shooting gallery where he could improve his mood.

/

Janice
Janice watched as the acrobats did their thing - without her. She was new to the show. And no matter how natural her talent was, NO acrobat in their right mind conducted an act with a newcomer until they had practiced relentlessly. For now Janice’s parts were small, with noone life depending on her - or hers depending on them. That, and she got to help with setting things up - her work always double checked. Accidents in circuses were rare for a good reason.

She noticed that, as usual, her favorite source of books was absent. Duncan rarely made a show of himself under the Big Top. She had seen him do some stunts on the trapeze in off hours. But then he had explained that he was simply too heavy with a huge moment of inertia - whatever that was - to be an acrobat. All she knew was that he showed no fear. She couldn’t smell any fear from him. What she had noticed was that he landed soft - like a ballet dancer. Well, in his clumsy fashion. He wasn’t pleased with his landing and practiced again and again.

As Lenora closed the show - with the promise of one more night - Janice found herself wondering if she hadn’t made a mistake. She still didn’t feel as though she had a place here - as if she fit in. In truth she felt she would be better put to use working with the customers. Of course, Janice didn’t realize that her rather pungent odor was enough to bring tears to most people’s eyes. She had grown up feral. Some social necessities escaped her. And she hated water.