Their True Name
Elizabeth (Lib, Libby, Library) Adair Memoli

Their Stage Name
The Rook

Their Appearance
“Library” is a woman of slight build, at 5’3”, and the sort of pale skin that comes from limited time in the sunlight. Her hair is a mousy brown, tousled and left to the length of her chin, and her eyes are a pale blue- as if some of the color had been leached out of them. These same eyes tend to be her most expressive feature, often lighting up with curious hunger, or distant and almost empty when she’s unoccupied. Has a penchant for giving rather...odd smiles when she’s excited about something, and is heavily scarred along her body.

For the most part, Library dresses in a sort of business casual wear- long-sleeved shirts, jeans, and maybe a scarf or two when it gets chilly. Occasionally, she’ll be seen inexplicably wearing different sorts of hats, or perhaps multiple jackets stacked upon each other, but not entirely often. When working her stand, however, she dons a shirt with long, ruffled sleeves to emulate a bird’s wings, a hood, slacks, and long, high heeled boots that stretch all the way up to her mid-thigh. She comments from time to time about how difficult they are to move in.

A staple of all her outfits, however, are a pair of black silk gloves.

The Date they Joined the Circus
December 2nd, 1844

The Act
While Library had already possessed an eidetic memory before joining the circus, it was her contract with the Ringmaster that perfected it. She can recall events that happened centuries ago, and retains all knowledge that she stumbles upon down to the last detail. This, however, has resulted in her becoming a rather...strange figure, to say the least. Years of collecting and retaining information has left her mind addled. Much like a human Wikipedia, she can offer facts about nearly anything one might wish to know about, but will often go off on unrelated tangents mid conversation- bringing up the producers of the movie Lion King in an otherwise serious discussion, for instance.

Library also possesses a sort of telepathy. With prolonged skin-to-skin contact, she can see into the minds of others, feel their feelings, and dig up old memories. Even further contact allows her to venture deeper into one’s mind, and a sort of influence over it- however, doing so causes a severe backlash, and will often render her a gibbering wreck for some time.

These two powers, when combined, allow her to...run a boardwalk esque game booth. The Rook’s abilities aren’t the most impressive spectacle when put up against fire dancers and strongmen, and given her general lack of interest in performing, she opts to run her booth in a quiet section of the circus when made to entertain guests. If you manage to ask her a trivia question she doesn’t know the answer to, you win a prize.
Or, at least. That’s how it’s supposed to go.
Her primary purpose within the circus is more of an informational database for the other circus members, as well as the ringleader. She can offer an in-depth summary of the city they’ve been made to visit and how it’s changed throughout the years, provide an encyclopedic description of the various demons she knows of, and even recount intimate details of long-dead members of the circus.

Her compulsions are that she has to learn three new things per day, and that she can never read the mind of the ringleader himself.
While her compulsions may seem easy enough to fulfill, her longevity has forced her to seek out increasingly obscure facts throughout the years, chipping steadily away at her psyche.

Why they Joined the Circus.
A few reasons. Knowledge, primarily- the pursuit of knowledge had driven her long before her contract, and still drives her to this day. Secondarily, however, both she and her brother were looking for a sanctuary- a place to live that was far, far from their family’s clutches.

Their Biography
The Memolis were a family that flourished in the city of Lucca, Italy, long before Italy had even come to exist. The household was well-off, consisting of several children, and an apparently loving set of parents that, while showing favoritism to some sons and daughters over the others, were still loving nonetheless.

However, while they were loving, they were most certainly not the most...gentle towards their children.

Neither Elizabeth nor Aristide speak much about what their home life was like. If Library is asked, she’ll either shoot the question down, or rattle off completely irrelevant facts until the questioner gets bored. If Aristide is asked, he’ll immediately become temperamental and moody (at least, more so than usual) until the subject is dropped. One thing is for certain, however- the heavy scarring on Library’s body says quite a bit. The most they’ll confess is that they weren’t the favorites of the family, that they were often left to their own devices, and that the circus offered a far better environment than what their home once was.

Their Connections
Given that Library tends to serve as the primary database for the circus, it’s not uncommon for one to visit her for the sole purpose of getting information- or for her to study. She has a strong fascination with the various abilities and compulsions that spring up in new members of the circus, and she will often go out of her way to learn as much about newcomers as possible before leaving them to their own devices. As she’s rather analytical and...incredibly eccentric, she tends to be more reclusive than anything the rest of the time, hiding away in her tent until drawn out for whatever reason.

Those who manage to work past her bluntness, as well as her...tendency to invade personal space on a regular basis (among the many, many other things) often find themselves with a surprisingly easygoing companion. Much like some sort of cat, she’ll occasionally leave her tent to simply hang about the people she’s taken a liking to, and will be more willing to help out when needed.

The person that she’s closest to by far, however, is her brother- Aristide. Admittedly, even an outsider can see that their relationship together isn’t the most...consistently pleasant. Most of the time they’re in each other’s presence is spent making biting remarks and snide comments at one another. The other half of the time is spent by Aristide pestering Library into taking care of herself, or bringing meals and the like- given the fact that Library will often eat nothing but fruit salad if given the opportunity to do so. While a bit strained, it’s clear enough that they do care for one another in their own vitriolic way.

Their Audition
“You should do it.”

“Fuck, no way, man. You see how she’s looking at us? Looks like she’d stab us in the kidneys if we got too close.”

“You’re being a wuss.”

“If you’re so tough, then why don’t you go up?”

The woman at the stand watched the two bicker for a while between themselves, hands tucked beneath her chin, looking completely and utterly bored. Compared to the brightly colored toys surrounding her, as well as the cheerful canopy hung over her head, she stood out considerably. After a good while of arguing, the boys approached- both blond, but one noticeably shorter and scrawnier than the other. It was the smaller one that spoke first.

“So, uh. We ask you three things, and if you don’t know one, we get a prize?”

The woman looked slowly up at the pair. Blinked.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Even her voice seemed absolutely unimpressed by the situation- as if she had been chained to the table she sat at. “You can ask me any trivia question, but if you try asking me what your penis size is or something like that I'm banning you from my stall."

Scrawny snorted. “That happen a lot?”

“More than you’d think.”

It was then that Tall cut in. “Hey, wait. How do we know you won’t just be, like. Checking Wikipedia under the desk or something like that? Getting info fed in your ear.”

Another lazy, almost catlike blink. Then the woman stood, took a few decisive steps away from her stand, and flipped back her hood. The hair underneath was a complete mess, but she showed no sign of being concerned over it.

“Okay, here. Hit me.”

The questions didn’t come instantly. A careful, surprising amount of thought was put into each- what is the capital of Venezuela? (Caracas) Who invented bubble gum? (Walter Diemer) What’s the population of Michigan? (Roughly 9.962 million as of 2017.) The responses came practically instantaneously, and quick Google searches proved each one to be...strangely correct. Even after realizing they had just blown their questions, the two kept asking, and asking, and the woman kept patiently responding until they eventually grew bored.

And then gave them little rubber ducks. Thanking them for coming up to the booth.

The two wandered off, sailor and chef ducks in their respective palms, now possessing some very strange, obscure information. As for the woman, she promptly returned to her seat, and began to doze as she waited for any other patrons to come stumbling by.

Business was slow, and business was good.