[IC] The Dark Carnival

[Mortimer]

"Step up young boys! Step up young girls! For this one and mystical Carnvial is opening its gates to greet you! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, don't be afraid for we won't bite...YET!!!" Hag spoke to whole audience who stood in front of him. He was standing in a stage with the whole staff of the circus behind him, with the exception of Mortimer who was next to him, observing everyone. "Now now now little humans....let me introduce you to our magnificent staff who will greet you with outstanding performances! They won't bore you at all! You'll be left breathless!!! And last, but not least, we have our excellent guardian, the keeper of these grounds, Mortimer Scharff." Mortimer bowed forward while Shadow, his crow, watched and stared into the crow with an infuriating look in his eyes. He hated most humans, but not his friend Mortimer. "Well, I guess the last thing I have to inform you is that the shows will start in two hours, so you can first have a run around the Carnival, buy some food to eat, play some games wiht our gips-errr friendly workers and probably win a prize or two. So...I declare this carnival open for this city!" With those last words, the curtains closed and Hag and Mortimer faced everyone who was behind them, which was practically the whole staff.

"So...people...as you know, people here in Denmark haven't seen a carnival in ages...so you'll have some fun...I CAN GUARANTEE IT! But first of all, I don't want to see...I don't want to HEAR screams coming out of the tents, you hear that? I don't want the other people to be startled and run away. No soul shall be wasted...and all who enters this places...will enjoy the shows. Now, better go back to get ready. I have some errands to take care of." With those last words, Hag disappeared in an cloud of smoke. Mortimer loooked at them and Shadow spoke. "You heard Hag! Get ready for the shows. They start in two hours!" the crow spoke. Both disappeared into the Shadows, leaving the staff alone. That had been merely the beginning of a journey.

[Minarawr]

Minata eyed the visitors of the carnival curiously, a blade twirling in her palm and a somewhat bored expression on her face. The carnival workers, the ones that set up the tents and brought about the luggage, were all busy setting up the benches and stages in the many tents.
The happy faces of the guests made her eyes gleam somewhat, the amount of pure souls drove her senses a bit mad, but she knew better than to assault one of the guests.
Over the time Minata had spend here, more time than she could keep track of, she had learned to control the craving for souls she had gotten after receiving her wish, or better said curse.

She looked at Hag after his speech and was glad when he vanished. The man, thougg she had known him for many years now, still brought chills to her spine.
Hagger on the contrary was a more comfortable to be around, though she could get annoyed about the attitude of his crow, Shadow.
Behind her she saw Nychta, practically hidden behind a bench. It was strange to have such a confident girl in the ring be so skittish and scared outside of it. Nychta tamed even the fiercest creatures, mythological ones, even though the crowd didn't know that, but outside of the ring she wouldn't even speak up to guests.
Minata sighed slightly and played with her knives a bit, the boney weapons floating around her.

[Zag]

Oddy grinned mischeivously while watching the guests. So many 'toys' to play with. So many minds to warp with her tricks. All of the guests would think that she was your usual mime, holding up her hands pretending a wall was there, when really there was a wall there. Or she could act like she's getting a rope out, make movements like she's tieing it to something, stand back and pull, which would in turn make whatever she tied her rope to move since the rope was indeed there. No one could see her objects, she couldn't even physically see them, but Oddy's mind was practically trained to see imaginary things. When she was young she'd imagine imaginary friends, daydream constantly, and do whatever else her mind could come up with. To be honest, Oddy was happier than ever. She never did like normal things. She was always attracted to the dark and creepy side. What she found the funniest about her abilities now, is that she could make a bear trap if she wanted to, and watch as a completely oblivious guest stepped into it, snapping his or her femur. To them it looked like the leg just gave out in the most horrible way, to her she knew that it was one of her best 'pranks'. Luckily she never spoke or laughed out loud, infact she was mute, but she could use sign language to communicate with the other performers. Oddy's attention snapped to Hag as he told everyone about what was to be done and such. Upon hearing that the guests couldn't be scared at all, she puffed her cheeks out in frustration. People already feared her! How the heck was she supposed to NOT scare them?! Once Hag, Mortimer, and Shadow disappeared she looked over at Minata and waved her hand infront of her to get her attention. Then she signed to her,
"How am I supposed to all up and NOT scare them when people ALREADY fear me???? This mime is confffuuuuuuussseeedd!"

[Uru]

Behind the others Ambrose, with Yorick, The Scepter tucked under his armpit, perched strangely against a wooden pillar which was helping to hold up the tent. He wasn't graceful enough to double as an acrobat. But with the odd positions he often ended up in, the clown could have been a contortionist. And so he leaned there, listening, straightening his facial hair and occassionally licking the dirt out from beneath his fingernails.

The demented one listened to Hagger's speeches and observed the reactions of his companions. The other's seemed to have things and ideas to deal with. While still others had to get ready. And Nychta had to keep herself hidden. Like Mortimer. Everyone seemed rather at ease now that the boss was gone.

"Oh, stuff it!" He exclaimed to Yorick and then went back to cleaning his nails. At least he'd started to. His tounge lingered there as he notice the mime signing to Mina.

"Oh, Oddy!" He called out to her. "Recall that our Top Man only declared that making them scream, making them run away and presumably making them want to leave at all were off limits. He never outright forbade us from scaring them. We just have to keep ourselves from causing so much fear that they panic. Besides, you know as well as I do that any of our patrons would gladly sit through something horrifying, so long as we presented it as a spectacle and charged them money for it."

[Uru]

-Double Post: Deleted-

[jman221]

Jeroliu was still a little nervous, he was te newest and youngest of the current staff, being born at thr end of the year. He listened to hags speech, hanging onto every word like a newbie always does. But at the same timr he was slightly excited.
He wanted to prove to himself that even though thins have taken a slightly wrong turn, he could still make a nice living, even if it ment no retirement until he dies or for other reasons.
After hags disappeared he had no idea what to do next, when the mime started talking he jumped a little and again when the clown spoke from the rafters, he looked over at Nychta and thought to himself. At least im not the only person nervous...

"Hey uh," he started askin the group in general, "Where do i go to begin?" He said shuffling the floating cards, while looking at them with the most dumbfounded look ever.

[Minarawr]

Minata almost pierced the mime girl when she suddenly waved her hand in front of her, her long bony tail slipping out from under her coat. 'Ufh.. Oddy, don't do that when I'm busy. You almost got a blade in you.' she huffed. The blades flowed to her skin and slipped back into her body, a somewhat vile looking action to most.
'Ambrose is right. We just don't want to scare them away, so don't go placing bear traps around again, you know how that ended up last time.' she stated.
'They can be creeped out, but don't do too much yet.' she said.

She glanced at Nychta again as the girl seemingly slipped away to the animal tent, before looking at their new arrival, Jeroliu.
'You're the new kid, huh?' she smiled faintly.
'What's your task here? What do you do?'

[jman221]

Jeroliu looked at Minata as she repsonded to his question and replied with a small smile.
"Ringmasters assistant, but Hag hasn't told me where i'm supposed to be going."
He made the floating cards return to his hand, he felt more nervous now then before. Surely they don't believe me at all. he thought to himself.
"For what I can do well..." He trailed off and disappeared with a cloud of smoke, and reappeared a couple of metres away, and then bounced back to his original spot. "You've seen my card tricks, obviously and also try throwing one of those knives at me. Don't worry it won't touch me." He reassured her.

[Zag]

Oddy looked over at Ambrose when he called her name. Her confused expression changed to a mischeivous and excited expression once he explained that she could still creep people out like she did. She clapped her hands happily, but stopped when Minata said that she couldn't place bear traps around again. Oddy crossed her arms and pouted a bit, but then smiled again and signed,
"Oh well, I guess I'll have to save the best for last again!"
She silently snickered at the thought and then walked over to Ambrose and signed to him,
"So what's Yorick been bothering you about this time? I heard you tell him to 'stuff it' before you got my attention."
Oddy said smiling. Ambrose was an interesting clown. She didn't mind how he could sometimes go into pointless ramblings of madness, she kinda found it funny and if she was lucky she could understand a little bit. Since she didn't like normal things, madness was very interesting and sometimes she'd think that 'madness' seemed more 'sane' than what others thought to be the opposite. But maybe she was just a little crazy herself.

[Mike the Bloodwolf]

Standing in the Animal tent already was a young girl with long black hair who was feeding a poor fox that had been greatly wounded a few days ago, it was not one of the animal of the carnival but she had brought it here so that it could be taken care of. Sashia had double checked the fox over and she knew it was not ready to be released back in the wild. She looked up at Nychta when she came in and said with a blush "Hello Nychta"

[Mortimer]

Hag and Mortimer walked together across the stands of the carnival, witnessing the many different people who looked at them, the huge and pale-looking guy with a top hat and a crow and the other man with a mask and an eerie feeling surrounding him. "Now, Mortimer...these people in Denmark, as I have remarked earlier today, haven't seen a carnival in a long, long time. As it is expected, it is a very peaceful place with near zero crime-rate and of course no demons or supernatural activity. That means those pure and delicious souls will surely be pure enough for our workers to consume, and maybe give us two a feast we won't forget, right ol' buddy?" Hag asked him with a grin and elbowed his side. Mortimer rolled his eyes and sighed. "S-Sure...b-but you know...We can't risk them suspecting of us, so we'll better keep low p-profile on the shows and when the time to c-c-close arrives...We will surely enjoy all th-those pure souls." Mortimer usually talked with his own voice when the only person around them was Hag himself, but he had never talked to any other of the staff members on his own, Shadow was the one talking for him.
"Excellent Mortimer! As always, we seem to be in synergy when it comes to hunting down souls..." Both men kept walking and checking on everything while Shadow inspectioned everything like a camera.

[Uru]

"Oh, it's nothin' I haven't heard, Love. He just thinks he's better lookin' than me. Always has a bone of contention over his own, er... stature... if you ask me... Why, at times it seems I can't even cast my eyes on a pretty woman before he's gone and spit out some accusation or insult. I tell you, the boy's got quite a mouth on him! Frankly, I'm a little surprised he hasn't tried to toss a few grudging remarks out since I've been speaking to you. But then I suppose he doesn't like it when I talk about him behind his back."

Ambrose, in full makeup and medieval jester regalia, wasn't hideous to behold. Some might find him 'ruggedly' attractive. While others would just find strangely imposing with his pointed beard and symbols for fire and water painted around his eyes that themselves looked entirely red and blue like his makeup. What the audiences never guessed, however, was that his eyes always looked like that. They weren't contacts.

He randomly lept to the left and then he walked closer to Oddy, the bells on his cap jingling behind their smiles and frowns. Yet he didn't walk a straight path, he kept shuffling and skipping sideways between steps. It was amost like dancing, but more like a mockery of dancing.

"I'll tell you what, dear Oddy," he looked at her intensely. "You give me a length of that rope that you make and hold on to the other end as if your hands are tied in it and we can go get these dutch souls all warmed for your creep show. What do ya say to that?"

[Zag]

Oddy couldn't help but grin and silently giggle when Ambrose lept to the left and started shuffling and skipping towards her. Things never seemed to be dull or boring when Ambrose was around due to his randomness. When he looked at her intensely she smiled mischievously again and over-exaggeratedly motioned that she was listening. She put her finger up to her face and looked up, making it look like she was thinking about his idea about the rope. To be honest she agreed immediately, but acting out was fun to do around Ambrose because he was just as odd as she was. Oddy looked back at Ambrose and signed,
"Alright then!"
She then stuck her hand slightly down one of the sleeves of her black and white striped shirt and acted like she was pulling something out. After that she acted like she tied her hands to it, but she could still make motions with her fingers so she could communicate. Oddy grinned again and signed to him,
"The end of the rope is on the ground, you'll know you have it when you feel it. But remember my objects only last for 7 minutes, Ambrose."

[Minarawr]

jman221 said
Jeroliu looked at Minata as she repsonded to his question and replied with a small smile."Ringmasters assistant, but Hag hasn't told me where i'm supposed to be going." He made the floating cards return to his hand, he felt more nervous now then before. he thought to himself. "For what I can do well..." He trailed off and disappeared with a cloud of smoke, and reappeared a couple of metres away, and then bounced back to his original spot. "You've seen my card tricks, obviously and also try throwing one of those knives at me. Don't worry it won't touch me." He reassured her.

Mina smiled faintly. 'Yes, Hagger is like that most of the time. You should get used to it quickly, or he'll annoy you quite soon.' she said. When she saw him teleport she smiled a bit. 'A magic-user, huh?' she asked. 'Nice.' she said.
She laughed at his confident suggestion to let her throw her blades at him. 'Let's save that for later, okay? I'd like to practice with you sometimes, but not right now.' she said.
'As for your task, you are going to announce our acts, basically. Make sure the show goes well, the workers set up the right items at the right time, that sort of thing.' she explained.

Mike the Bloodwolf said
Standing in the Animal tent already was a young girl with long black hair who was feeding a poor fox that had been greatly wounded a few days ago, it was not one of the animal of the carnival but she had brought it here so that it could be taken care of. Sashia had double checked the fox over and she knew it was not ready to be released back in the wild. She looked up at Nychta when she came in and said with a blush "Hello Nychta"

Nychta yelped softly when she heard Sashia's voice next to her and saw the girl crouched down next to a small fox. She had been taking care of the fox for a while now, Nychta didn't mind it much. 'H-hello...' she spoke in a tiny voice, in response to the greeting. She didn't get near the fox, as her "other side" would frighten it too much, but she looked at it from afar. 'A-are you performing tonight...?' she asked in an attempt to make conversation. She walked over to a wooden beam with hooks on it, several items on each hook, checking the items.

(Sorry for the wait. I meant to post yesterday, but my phone tripped and deleted everything)

[Mike the Bloodwolf]

Sashia nodded as she kissed the fox on the forehead which made it lick her face and it soon curled up in it little section of it cage. "You know, I really want to have that little cutie as a pet but I'm guessing our ringmaster won't like that. The little fox seems to regard me as her mother since she only a few weeks old and abandoned by her own mother" Sashia said with a sigh before she looked at Nychta and asked "What about you are you preforming today or having it off?". Her 9 tails were glowing briefly as they were detecting weather patterns for her.

[jman221]

Jero nodded at the response he received from Mina, he felt confident enough to be able to the acts for the day. He made his way towards where the workers were setting up.
"Ok guys, I've been placed in charge of monitoring you. So mess up or do something incorrect I get in trouble and I may be the newby but, mess with me and I'll make sure you didn't." The look on his face frightened most of the workers the rest just grumbled angrily. Satisfied with his little speech he made his way towards the main tent and started practising his lines.