#and is inspired by drag kings and cabaret and stuff

[namarikonda]

more sultry firbolg for ya! (he/she)

[me4ttzar]

From the 1995 press release of Shag Tobacco

Gavin Friday begins 1995 with one of the most startling and inspired albums you will hear all year, Shag Tobacco. Friday has created, with partner Maurice Seezer and producer Tim Simenon, a 21st century neon cabaret, where spirits of Leonard Cohen, Marc Bolan, Jacques Brel and Scott Walker collide in a vision of thirties Berlin decadence transposed to a Las Vegas of the future.

The unusual characters that inhabit this album are both real and imaginary: Mr. Pussy, the glamorous drag queen hostess, the living “Dolls” of New York’s nightlife, and glittering, androgynous “The Slider” (resurrected from the T-Rex back catalogue), meet the housewives from suburban hell and the star-crossed lovers of the title track.

“As we come to the end of the century, everything’s going ballistic,” notes Mr. Friday, “and a lot of stuff is being cleared out from under the carpet. When I went to work on this album, I had this thing of being obsessed with the Twenties, Thirties, and Forties, the fascinating, between-the-Wars era when decadence was tempered with darkness, and transporting that into the Nineties.

Mr Pussy who appears in person on the track written in his honor, is a major celebrity in Dublin A former friend of Judy Garland and Johnny Ray, Mr. Pussy was the hostess of Gavin’s own now-defunct cabaret cafe, the celebrated Mr. Pussy’s Cafe Deluxe a place where passing glitterati ate egg and chips and played bingo at three in the morning. “The cafe was very much a wedding banquet on acid vibe,” enthuses Friday, “It’s like a cross between a brothel and your granny’s bedroom. Really mad trannies went there, ones who looked like your da in drag; farmers in stilettos, mingling with your clubbers, your nighthawks and your down and out drunks.” But it’s not just the glamorous to whom Gavin turns his attentions on Shag Tobacco – real people also fill his music with their passions and their pain.

“Kitchen Sink Drama” documents the decline of a suburban housewife, who is “anaesthetized by mundanity, has given everything up for her husband and family and whose only companion is the ‘Angel’ Valium,” the author explains. “In the end she can’t cope, and the last line has her going out to “the sweet smell of butane.” And “The Last Song I’ll Ever Sing” is a tender but defiant paen to a friend who died of AIDS; “The biggest way you can get fucked over in love is to die of AIDS,” Friday points out. “The song is a tribute to the divas and crooners who have nothing to give except for the everything that they put into the last song they ever sing, and about the light that burns twice as brightly, burning half as long.” The album’s closing track, “Le Roi D’Amour,” meaning “The King Of Love,” is for Gavin, “like the grand finale, the curtain going up and the credits rolling.”

Not surprisingly, the singular Mr. Friday is dismissive of the moribund musical climate into which Shag Tobacco is being released. “Music is not a business,” he states, “it’s a way of life. The Virgin Prunes were me growing up in public, they were fueled by a lot of anger and frustration and I suppose I’m still an angry man – happily angry. Real music is when you don’t really know what you’re doing – it’s just your instincts at work. I love that. I love going in at the deep end and struggling and fighting and hopefully coming out… into the light.”

[salingley]

Inspired by my friend @rumpelree:

Meet the Artist: Sal Edition

The Stuff on Tax forms:

Birthday: May 4th

I’m from the US

Hellenist Pagan

Disabled through Mild Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy

Soon to be college student (I am afraid of that day-)

British English user

Horror fan

Eccentric sideshow act reincarnated as a drag king. The gods gave up on making me a Satyr and didn’t bother to fix my hairless goat leg.

My Favourite Bands/Artists:

Tally Hall

Will Wood

Jack Stauber

Squirrel Nut Zippers

Daniel Johnston

Oingo Boingo

Layton and Johnstone

The (Petrojvic) Blasting Company

Tom Lehrer

The Good Stuff:

Showbiz Pizza animatronics

Naps

1920s-1940s Men’s Fashion

Australian Rugby

Pizza, salami sandwiches, french toast, and chicken tacos

Lukewarm morning/afternoon tea

Good books (like The Road and House of Leaves)

Creature Features/Horror monster designs

FNAF lore

Autism headcanons

The Worst Toxic Sludge Ever:

Peppers (texture)

Dogs’ tea kettle whine

Pop country music

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

People asking about my limp

Overstimulation

Modern Disney Movies (the bad/lazy ones)

My Favourite Artists:

Keith Haring

Daniel Johnston

H.R Giger

Zdzislaw Beksinski

Ethel Hays

Louis Wain

J.C Leyendecker

Conrad Felixmüller

Greta Wagner

My Favourite Movies:

Napoleon Dynamite

Lake Michigan Monster

Mack the Knife (1989)

Chicago

Cabaret

Little Shop of Horrors

The Shining

UHF

Spaceballs

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark

Inspirations:

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

”Storm Drain” from VHS 94

Circus Sideshows

1920s Queer History

Fallout New Vegas

So-Bad-It’s-Good media (My Immortal, The Room, Sonichu with friends).

Cryptozoology

Art for fake games

Murder Mysteries from the perspective of the killer

Fire Emblem-type fantasy/epics

1920s Newspaper Comics/Illustrations

[sparkles-rainbows-severed-heads]

Nazi-Hating, Bisexual King, and German actor, Conrad Veidt (1893-1943) whose performances inspired the creation of Edward Scissorhands, Jafar from Aladdin, and The Joker, was a gem in real life. Be like Connie. Do it for him.

Here’s some information on how great he was:

https://aikainkauna.tumblr.com/post/41163268378/ten-reasons-why-you-should-love-conrad-veidt

“In honour of Conrad Veidt’s 120th birthday, let us present you with a list of reasons why you should love him. Because, let’s face it, he kicked more arse than you ever will. While wearing your great-grandmother’s dress.

1. He was an awesome actor who could hypnotise the screen in both the silents and the sounds. He could do amazing things with his body language, his eyes and his voice and move like an actual cat. Oh, and he was Method before it became popular. To the point where his friends and colleagues would get worried because his entire body language and way of speaking would change. He genuinely believed he was possessed by some greater spirit when he was acting. And it shows. 2. He was an amazing human being—everybody loved working with him because he was incredibly polite and jovial and charming, but he was even more amazing off the screen. Let us tell you why.

3. This guy starred in the first gay rights movie ever and played the first explicitly-referred-to-as-gay character on screen, and the first sympathetic gay character on screen. In a movie that said it was okay to be gay and that some people were just born that way. In 1919. The makers of the film and Connie himself were flooded with death threats from the far right. They would arrange riots in theatres and release gas and rabid rodents into the aisles. But the makers of the film stood their ground. Later, the Nazis tried to burn all copies of the film but over half of it still survives and a reconstruction can be seen here.

 4. Oh yeah, and this guy also starred in an early pro-choice film, had a high opinion on women (with some progressive views for his time, when the right to vote and to wear trousers were still seen as new and scandalous things) and was a fierce campaigner for human rights and a vehement anti-Nazi for his entire life. Speaking of which… 

 5. In the Thirties, he starred in two British movies sympathetic to the plight of the Jews. While still a German citizen. Hitler sent him personal hate mail, Goebbels tried to persuade him into doing propaganda films for the Nazis instead and he told them to go stuff themselves. This was after some of his Jewish and gay friends had already been killed by the Nazis, too, so he knew exactly the sort of danger he was in. Oh, and they imprisoned him and tortured him with sleep deprivation and put him on the Gestapo hitlist. Guess what? He didn’t budge. He never raised his hand in the Heil Hitler salute, once. And when, finally, the British authorities helped him escape to England, he never went back to Germany again. Also? Despite being Protestant, he identified himself as Jewish on official forms as a form of protest. In. Nazi. Germany. I’m sorry, but Conrad Veidt’s balls»»»>yours. 

 6. He spent a huge amount of money supporting the British war effort and personally smuggled people out of the hands of the Nazis. Including driving his third wife’s Jewish parents out to Switzerland in his car under the cover of night after much bribery and passport shenanigans. In the Forties, he participated in a fund helping fellow Europeans escape Nazis and settle in the UK and the US. One of the people he helped was his Casablanca co-star, Paul Henreid. By the time Henreid had reached the UK, the war was in full swing and he was treated as an enemy alien. Connie (who had managed to acquire British citizenship just before war broke out) personally rang the British authorities and vouched for him until Henreid could finally cross the Atlantic to safety (with some monetary assistance from Connie himself). So, kids, when you watch Major Strasser menacing Laszlo in Casablanca, remember this guy actually helped him escape the Nazis in real life. 

 7. While living in London in the late Thirties, he and his wife would regularly shelter war children at their house. When the air raid sirens came on, he’d rather run back home to be with the kids rather than stay safe at the studio’s bomb shelter. No, really. And even when he’d left for Hollywood in the 40s, he would do stuff like this for the poor kids of London huddled in bomb shelters. You might need tissues. 

 8. He was made of actual sex on and off the screen. He possessed an amazing, androgynous sexual aura that would take no prisoners. He could be feminine without being effeminate, seductive and possessing and powerful without being gruff or macho, incredibly catlike and soft without being weak. Despite being skinny as hell and 6’3” tall, he was as graceful as a dancer, gliding around so smoothly it was uncanny, slightly unnatural (when Disney were making Aladdin, they deliberately based the cartoon Jafar on his performance in The Thief of Bagdad and told the animators to make him glide like Connie did. Yeah, that’s right, Disney villains were based on him. No wonder. No, really, look at that). From the Thirties onwards, he was repeatedly described as pantherlike. He had a sensuous, cruel mouth (always a little more red and open and wet than it should have been in order to be decent), large, pale blue piercing eyes (oh yeah, he was well-read in hypnotism and occultism, so he is actually hypnotising and possessing you for real), finely manicured fingernails (sometimes filed into sharp points) and a voice to melt knickers off anyone within a five-mile radius. When he smoked, it looked like he was giving oral sex to a woman and a man at the same time. Watch A Woman’s Face, The Thief of Bagdad and Dark Journey for good examples of this amazing man’s slinking, slithering, purring charm. 

 9. Oh yeah, speaking of the off-screen sex… Merle Oberon said “he would have sex with a butterfly”, Anita Loos quipped “the prettiest girl on the [Berlin] street was Conrad Veidt” and he was a major gay icon in 1920s Germany thanks to the aforementioned gay rights movie and his androgynous looks and style. Let us remember this guy spent his youth in Weimar Berlin and its cabarets, a modern Babylon where “anything goes” was an understatement. Drugs, wild parties and sexual diversions of every sort imaginable were the done thing in those days. You were considered unfashionable if you didn’t dress in drag and experiment with bisexuality. In that, he was hardly different from his peers (like, for example, his good friend Marlene Dietrich). But then again… there were people who experimented and there were people for whom it was all a phase, but according to numerous sources, he was a natural, voracious bisexual and so in love with everything feminine he genuinely loved to dress as a lady. And apparently he would fall in love all the time, so the Twenties were… busy years for him, especially when his second marriage had started to fall apart. Just don’t ask what he did to Olivier. And according to a couple of sources, Gary Cooper. Oh, and his first wife left him after she found him wearing her dress (her loss). Most of the time, his friends would describe him as a ladies’ man during the day, and going after the men as well after he’d had a few drinks in the evening. He seems to have calmed down a lot in the Thirties after he found genuine happiness with his third wife and escaped the Nazis to the UK, but apparently he was still an incorrigible flirt with both sexes until the end of his life. If you think he looks seductive and deliciously perverse on screen, that’s all real and then some. So, yep, this was a guy who was a genuine saint and an amazing human being and a naughty, naughty man at the same time. How often do you hear of both sides coexisting in the same person? 

 10. He was, basically, the last lingering sigh of Romanticism as a genuine cultural movement. On screen, he played the Gothic, Byronic hero to the hilt (The Student of Prague being one of the greatest examples of the type). In the silents, he played degenerate dandies, tortured painters and pianists and violinists, cruel yet seductive tyrants, men haunted by their doppelgängers, possessed creatures wanting to crawl out of their own bodies, sleepwalking and twitching and writhing on the screen, turning everything into a dark, exquisite ballet. In the sound films, he turned that demonic energy outwards and would pin people down with his gaze as he cursed them, would undress women with a flick of his pitch-black lashes, would curl his long fingers around their arms in a sadomasochistic, erotic stranglehold. He never completely lost his accent, but he compensated for it with pitch-perfect softness and tone, speaking very slowly and quietly when everybody else would speak loud and fast. His voice in The Thief of Bagdad was compared to poisoned honey. The MGM bosses were surprised at the mountains of fanmail he received from women in the Forties, even if they had never given him a starring role, only supporting, villainous ones. And the ladies wanted this villain, oh yes. A woman moviegoer (presumably after seeing his performance in A Woman’s Face) described him thus: “Conrad Veidt has wicked eyes, a sinister mouth, strange hands and a half-man/half- woman quality about him. His walk is frightening. There is something not quite normal about him. And yet, he was totally fascinating, charming and appealing to me at the same time!”

So, there you have it. There are many more reasons to love him, but it would take forever to try and list all of them. I suggest you watch his movies and read up on him yourself, because he deserves to live forever.”

[shakespearesglobeblog]

Voices in the Dark: Pride, Then and Now. 

How relevant are Shakespeare and his contemporaries today? That is the question we ask in Voices in the Dark, an ongoing festival of events and performances that run alongside our main-stage productions.

Voices in the Dark examines the nature of Shakespeare’s transformative impact on the world through an ongoing dialogue, a call and response, between today’s artists and Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

This spring in our latest iteration of the Voices in the Dark festival, Pride, Then and Now we respond to After Edward, in itself a response to Marlowe’s Edward II - a play that is rare in its depiction of a gay relationship on the early modern stage.

Moll and the Future Kings Kicking off proceedings in spectacular style on 30 March is Moll and the Future Kings -  an hour of late-night drag king cabaret and improv, by candlelight.

Moll Frith, also known as Mal Cutpurse, fascinated her 17th-century audiences when, in 1611, she appeared on stage during a production of The Roaring Girl, Middleton and Dekker’s play about her life. An improvised moment involving rude jokes, songs and smoking, this is the only known professional playhouse performance by an English woman.

Performed by members of the Through the Door course, this work-in-progress, this experiment, this conversation with our queer early modern past celebrates Moll the cross-dressing performer, criminal and trickster and all those like her.

Curated by Sarah Grange with Clerkinworks, and supported by Shakespeare’s Globe and Improbable. 

Hear more about Moll and the Future Kings from event curator Sarah Grange and drag king Wesley Dykes in the latest episode of our podcast. Transcript available.

Buy tickets for After Edward in the same transaction and save £2 on tickets for Love is Love and Moll and the Future Kings.

Wanton poets and pleasant wits: Edward II now On 4 April, following the 7.30pm performance of After Edward, join us for a free post-show discussion chaired by our Research Fellow Dr Will Tosh.

Bringing together some of today’s most exciting queer thinkers and writers, we will reflect on the legacy of Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II.

This event is free to ticket-holders for that evening’s performance of After Edward and also, subject to space in the auditorium, everyone else who is interested in attending without seeing the preceding performance.

Love is Love On 6 April London’s a cappella LGBT+ choir, The Fourth Choir, returns to the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in June 1969.

In a celebration in words and music of LGBT+ lives and loves, Love is Love roams through nine centuries taking influence from Hildegarde of Bingen in the 12th century to jazz legend Billy Strayhorn in the 20th.

Coupled with music by composers such as Poulenc, Tchaikovsky and Rufus Wainwright, Love is Love brings to life hidden histories: the woman put on trial in 18th-century Germany for marrying another woman; history’s most extraordinary bisexual love triangle; the famous composer who liked to wear drag; and the Stonewall Warriors themselves.

Buy tickets for After Edward in the same transaction and save £2 on tickets for Love is Love and Moll and the Future Kings. 

Image credit: Ellan Parry

Sarah Grange, curator of Moll and the Future Kings and drag king Wesley Dykes discussed the inspiration behind the show on our podcast, Such Stuff . 

[artificialqueens]

Le Cirque des Reines (group fic) - Ch. 1 - Debbie

A/N: I was just writing this for myself to begin with, but then I started putting a lot of effort into it so I thought some other people might enjoy it too! It’s pretty inspired by this fic written by The Wolf which I read a while ago, but with enough differences that they aren’t too similar… Plus I’m just also very interested in circuses right now! Everyone are still drag queens in this, but I use she/her pronouns in and out of drag for all of them (except for Major Scales, who by the way is an amazing drag king/performer who works with Jinkx very often, if you don’t know). Excuse me being a bit vague about certain things (like when this is taking place… I’ll just say it isn’t present day at least) and for any mistakes (English isn’t my first language). I don’t know how many chapters I’ll write, but I’m already working on chapter three so if people are interested there’ll be more! There’s a few pairings in this, but they aren’t the main focus of the story (Major and Jinkx aren’t together in this for starters, just best friends). Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

Jinkx couldn’t help but excitedly grab Major’s hand and squeeze it when they finally saw the tents appear in the distance. He squeezed back before speeding up a bit, pulling her along through the crowd of people heading the same directions.

They had spent hours getting ready in the back room of the small cabaret they worked in (well Jinkx had spent longer obviously and so Major had been stuck pacing around and making sure his tie was straight at least a hundred times or so while she was finishing up).

It had been months since they first heard about Le Cirque de Reines… The rumour going around was that the circus was made up entirely of drag queens and queer performers, so as soon as they heard that the circus was coming to town, they had started preparing.

The pair was, as they so often were at this point of their lives, disguised as man and wife. Jinkx was in the only drag outfit she owned herself, but that she loved very dearly: A ginger wig (slightly lighter than her natural hair colour), a long white lacy dress that had belonged to her grandmother once, her corset, stockings and the jewellery she had stolen from her mother before she ran away from her home in Portland and traveled with Major to Seattle while they were in their teens.

Major was wearing his trusty old suit that he had spent almost all of his savings on several years ago and have treasured ever since, along with an old white shirt, hat, tie, plus some old black shoes he had attempted to shine up as much as possible.

They had heard that one of the old performers at the cabaret (also a drag queen) had left to join the exact same circus, long before Jinkx and Major got the job, but it was quite possibly only a rumour. Most of their returning audience there were queer (all the performers certainly were) and they had been happy working there for a while, even for the rather small amount of money they made from it. They could be themselves backstage and were allowed to stay there for most of the day (which they often did), but they were both big dreamers and dedicated performers so they had decided to take a chance and (if all went to plan) join the circus.

As they bought their tickets, Jinkx felt the ticket lady’s eyes on her and suddenly got worried about how much she was passing. She rarely had any problems fooling people when she had to, but this lady was looking her up and down like she could see her dick clear as day right through her dress. Jinkx forced herself to uphold her confident persona and told the lady “Thank you” in her most feminine voice when they were handed their tickets. She only got a knowing, but not unkind smile in return.

“She was giving me a weird look… do you think she could tell?” Jinkx whispered worriedly as they entered the slightly crowded carnival space surrounded by colourful tents in various heights and sizes.

“Maybe she could tell because she’s a queen herself? If the rumours are true that is…” he whispered back and gave her a comforting pat on the back.

“Perhaps… I couldn’t see her very well… but we’re here now! Where should we go first?” Jinkx asked excitedly, grabbing her best friend’s arm so they wouldn’t get separated.

“How about that one?” he said pointing to a small silvery tent near them.

They cautiously stepped into the small dark room which was only lit by various candles.

“Well… It’s about time! Hello darlings…” greeted the figure sitting in the middle.

“Uhh h-hello… What do you mean?” Jinkx asked, taken aback by the forwardness of the mysterious woman.

“Sorry dear I didn’t mean to startle you! Don’t worry, I’ll explain, I promise. Come sit down! have a biscuit!” she told them and smiled brightly, putting Jinkx and Major more at ease.

They both did sit down and took a biscuit each from a tray on the table (neither of them were ever known to say no to free food).

The pair then took a moment to look around and take everything in. The woman was pale and slim, presumably rather tall, but since she was currently sat down at her low table you couldn’t tell for sure. Her hair was grey despite her young appearance. Jinkx couldn’t help, but notice her rather flat chest under her black dress and started wondering for a second before her thoughts were interrupted by the woman speaking again.

“My name is Max, what’s yours darlings?”

“My name is Jinkx and this is Major” Jinkx told, Major adding a cheesy “Pleased to meet you” and a brief handshake that made Max’ smile widen.

“Such good manners…! It’s very lovely to meet you too sweethearts! You see, I’ve been expecting that some new faces would join our little family soon… and I think I’ve found our pair” she explained, gesturing vaguely at them and nodding particularly in Jinkx’ direction, giving her that knowing look again.

Jinkx felt herself blush a bit under her many layers of makeup. Was she really that obvious?

“Does that mean you’re looking for new performers?” Major asked eagerly, seemingly not having noticed Max’ gesture.

“Well… We’re usually always open to people joining us, but we rarely seek them out ourselves these days. When I was reading my tea leaves the other night however, they told me that some new, but kindred-spirits would arrive soon and my cards said the very same thing… And judging from your energy and attire, I assume it’s you who I’ve been waiting for… You’re hoping to get a job here, correct?” she finished, grinning confidently.

“Y-yes we are” Major confirmed, looking surprised.

“So what do you do then?”

“Oh a lot of stuff really! We both sing, Major plays piano and writes music… Some burlesque, commedia dell'arte and comedy! A-and we’d like to learn more stuff too!” Jinkx rambled, trying her best to sell their abilities as effectively as possible.

“We’ve worked at a cabaret for a couple of years now and have studied commedia dell'arte in our free times” Major explained, sensing Jinkx’ nervousness and taking over before she started rambling too much. They were always fooling around trying to learn new tricks backstage so they had a fairly lengthy repertoire at this point.

“That all sounds very interesting! I’m sadly not the one who gets to make the call, but I’ll take you to Bianca after we’ve closed off and put in a good word for you! I’ve got a very good feeling about this” she promised cheerily.

“Really? You’d do that for us?” Jinkx asked incredulously. Max just nodded.

“That would be incredible of you…! We’ll see you later then I suppose” said Major.

They both thanked her gratefully before heading out of the tent again, baffled over what had just happened.

“Well that was unexpected…” mumbled Jinkx.

“It sure was…! Do you think they’ll actually let us in?” he asked, leaning in to hear her better.

“I don’t know… I sure hope so, but I’m scared of getting my hopes up too early… she said that she wasn’t the one we had to convince” she answered.

Major squeezed her hand comfortingly and grinned at her before speaking.

“This is already going better than expected though! You know what? I think this calls for a celebratory treat!” Major said, already dragging her towards a colourful food stand.

“But we already spend a great deal of our money on the tickets!” Jinkx argued worriedly, but couldn’t help staring wide eyed at the beautiful cakes and sweets as they got closer.

“Don’t worry about it! We’ll share… and we have to eat something today anyway! I promise it’ll be okay” he begged.

“Oh alright…” she said, her face lighting up instantly.

The lady in the food stand smiled widely at them. She was rather tall and was wearing a gorgeous lavender costume on her fuller figure, despite of it being hidden somewhat behind the counter. Her makeup was unlike anything Jinkx had seen before and she was completely mesmerised for a moment until the woman asked them what they wanted, her voice lisping slightly in what Jinkx thought was a quite endearing way.

They ended up buying a bag of caramel popcorn which they both agreed was the most delicious thing either of them had tasted in their lives.

The next tent they entered was bigger and already had some other spectators gathered inside. In the middle of the tent, on a slightly raised platform stage, were three clowns in very contrasting clothes and makeup.

One of them were tall, with big painted lips and a gap between her front teeth. She had big frizzy hair and wore a colourful bodysuit with a bizarre and complicated design.

Another was mainly in pink, with huge blond curls and face paint that looked reminiscent of a porcelain doll. She was wearing a big poofy dress with loads of tool sticking out from underneath and a big poofy collar to match.

The last one was bald, but had a big felt crown resting on her head. Her big purple coat was almost comically too large for her, swallowing up most of her body. She had painted her eyebrows dramatically geometric and added some painted hairs in between them.

They seemed to be wordlessly acting out a dramatic comedic scene, only ever gasping animatedly as a reaction. They used multiple props and had several interventions of tap dance, unicycling and other strange acts in between the fake arguing and visual comedy, all to the rhythm of instrumental tracks playing from an old gramophone.

Jinkx and Major watched the performance for a while, both impressed at how involved and convoluted it was, but eventually dragged themselves out and into another tent.

This one was in the classic red and white colour scheme and of a fairly average height and size. Inside was a beautiful blonde woman on a smaller raised platform, juggling several knives like it was the easiest thing in the world. The small crowd of audience in the room kept their distance from the spinning weapons, but all had their eyes glued to the performer throwing them. She was clad in a sparkling silver costume, crystals seemingly dripping off of her.

The number finished and the juggler let the knives hit the wooden scene floor one by one, just barely missing her feet before bowing elegantly.

Major was about to turn around and leave, but Jinkx grabbed his arm before he could, still watching the woman closely as she picked up some strange sticks from a table and then lit the end of them up with a candle.

She smirked at the audience before putting the flaming end of the stick into her mouth and holding it with her teeth for a good few seconds, then took it out to show the still burning flame.

Jinkx was mesmerised, both watching in awe and slightly in fear of the woman’s safety. She didn’t realise her hands were still tightly holding Major’s arm before she finally broke out of her trance and glanced at her counterpart who was grinning at her.

Jinkx kept talking about how incredible the previous performance had been and how much she loved this circus already until they entered the next tent. Inside this one was a row of burlesque dancers in gorgeous costumes that made the old one Jinkx borrowed at their cabaret look boring in comparison. Half of the group wore white and the other half black, their corsets and feathers contrasting beautifully as they danced.

“This is nothing like the show we usually get to see” mumbled Major, Jinkx nodding in agreement.

Tent upon tent they went it completely dazzled the pair. There was a brilliant blonde contortionist, a stunning aerialist, an eery looking snake charmer and many more. They truly wanted to visit every tent, but had trouble tearing their eyes off the performers and leave once they had entered. Jinkx noticed that many of the performers received cash tips from the audience and wished she could give some herself, but wasn’t willing to gamble anymore with their remaining bit of money.

Suddenly a bell rang somewhere nearby and a voice informed them that the circus would begin closing up in half an hour. Jinkx pouted, but suggested to Major that they visited the biggest of the tents lastly.

Above the entrance was a sign reading “Menagerie” in golden letters against the thick red and black fabric.

In the middle of the hay covered floor stood a woman in an elegant ringleader suitjacket over a short black dress. She watched the audience playfully from under her big lashes while calling for her assistant in a surprisingly deep voice.

The doors of a wagon at the edge of the stage suddenly opened and out came a younger girl with messy black hair riding on the back of a lioness. After taking a quick stroll around the edge of where the audience was standing, the girl brought the lion over next to the first woman and hopped off. The lion sat down obediently in between them and they begun their tricks.

The ringleader and lion trainer had a charming playful energy, the former ordering the other around, but the girl kept snapping back sassily as she helped the animal up on platforms and showed it where to run around.

The lion was then brought back into it’s wagon and the crowds attention was directed towards a bigger wagon at the opposite side of the tent. The doors opened and out came an elephant and a beautiful blonde woman with a baby elephant trailing behind her. The younger of the girls finished locking up the lion’s wagon and came over to take care of the baby, while the adult elephant lifted the blonde up onto it’s back. She was wearing a light blue ballet inspired costume and posed easily on the elephant’s back like it was nothing.

The tricks continued and so did the slightly teasing banter between the women, the elephant trainer joining a bit in as well in an accent Jinkx didn’t recognise.

The audience laughed along at their jokes in between the “oooo’s” and “aaaa’s”. Time flew by them quickly and Jinkx was almost shocked when the ringleader announced that ththeir last performance of the the night was over and told people to start heading towards the circus exist. The three women helped gather the two animals back into their wagon after waving goodbye to the crowd.

Jinkx and Major headed out of the tent as well, searching for Max in the crowded space outside.

Just when they were getting a bit worried they heard an “Oh there you are!” called out by a familiar voice behind them. The two turned around, relieved to see Max smiling at them and that she hasn’t forgotten about her promise earlier in the evening.

“Come on, I’ll take you to Bianca!” she said and pulled them both by the hand into one of the larger tents.

Inside sat several of the performers, some already beginning to de-corset and take their makeup off. They all watched Jinkx and Major curiously, but didn’t question Max on why she had brought two strangers with her backstage.

“Have any of you seen Bianca?” she asked them. Most of them shook their heads, but a blonde woman in a tight red bodysuit, that Jinkx recognised as the contortionist she had seen early, raised her hand.

“Da! I just saw her and Adore talking near Ivy’s tent” she told her, a russian accent touching her words.

“Thank you Katya!” Max said, Katya smiling wide back at her before the three left the tent again.

Max snickered at Jinkx and Major’s slightly bewildered expressions.

“We’re an odd bunch” she stated simply before pulling them around a corner over to a red and white tent that the pair had gone in earlier.

In front of it stood the ringleader and lion trainer, who Jinkx and Major presumed were Bianca and Adore. Neither of them could say that they were surprised that the stern ringmistress also was the circus’ leader.

Bianca was seemingly in the midst of untying Adore’s corset and raised one eyebrow as the she noticed the three of them. She finished unlacing the garment and turned to face them fully.

“Thanks Bee” said Adore while eyeing the newcomers curiously, but walked off nonetheless.

“And who are these two?” she asked Max. Jinkx and Major glanced nervously at each other. The woman didn’t sound so inviting to say the least… Max didn’t seem faced by her unimpressed tone however.

“Remember I told you that I saw some new people joining us soon? I think I finally found them!” she explained excitedly.

“I knew it was them the instant they walked in! And they’ve got experience too!” she continued, Jinkx and Major confirming her words by nodding eargerly.

“Alright alright! I’ll consider it.” she told Max who thanked her and walked off again, Jinkx watching her leave nervously.

“So what are your names?” Bianca asked, finally turning her full attention to Major and Jinkx.

“My name is Jinkx Monsoon”

“And I’m Major Scales”

Bianca looked Jinkx up and down quickly and forwardly asked “You’re a drag queen, right?”

Jinkx nodded again, a bit flustered that she’d been seen through once again tonight.

“Y-yeah… I also go by Jerick if you want, but I usually prefer Jinkx” she explained, still not dropping her slightly higher, feminised voice.

“And my real name is Richard, if you prefer that” Major jumped in, likely trying to divert a bit of Bianca’s attention on Jinkx as he could tell it was making her more nervous. Jinkx appreciated his thoughtfulness, but was still determined not to get freaked out by the stern looking woman.

“No that’s alright, we usually all go by our drag names around here” Bianca said nonchalantly, confirming the two’s suspicion without having to ask.

“I used to do full drag too and I’m willing to do so again, but we seem to convince more people this way” Major added.

“What do you two do then?” Bianca asked.

“We do a lot of things. We’ve worked at a cabaret for a couple of years now, where we do music performances, some burlesque, comedy and a bit of commedia dell'arte when we get the chance” Jinkx explained.

“Could you show me an example?”

“…Do you have a piano by any chance?” Major asked.

Bianca led them to yet another tent which had a beautiful piano located in the middle of it. Neither of them had seen the performance that had happened here, but they were certainly curious about it.

Major sat down and started playing one of their pieces, making sure to pick one that showed off Jinkx’ opera-esque notes and their performance energy.

They were both so focused on the song and on doing their best, that neither of them noticed that Bianca was smiling until they finished, both of them breathing heavily.

They both turned and looked expectantly at Bianca, who nodded and raised both her hands in mock defeat.

“Alright, I like you. I could see you fitting in our circus family just fine, but… Are you really prepared to do this? Understand, we’re leaving this city tomorrow and then you’d be permanently on the road for a long while. I’m pretty sure the pay is higher than at a cabaret that allows drag queens to perform, but it isn’t exactly luxury living…” she told them, her face falling back into her serious expression.

“Oh trust me, leaving isn’t the problem. We’re currently staying in a dirt cheap hotel room and we usually stay in a small messy dressing room all day…” Jinkx promised her, trailing off. Major jumped in instead.

“We’re prepared. We aren’t scared of difficult living conditions and we’ve always wanted to see the rest of the country anyway! We’re already pretty much done packing in fact.”

“Alright alright… Well we do have an extra wagon at the moment… Yes okay, you’re hired! Be here tomorrow morning and I’ll get you properly officiated” she told them, a wide smile back on her face.

Jinkx made an excited noise and they both thanked Bianca endlessly.

“Yeah yeah that’s enough” she said, but still smiled and accepted a brief hug from the both of them.

“Now get home and get some sleep in your shitty hotel room for the last time, we get up early around here” she advised them.

They ran into Max on their way out, who was now out of makeup and had shorter blonde hair without her wig, and she got a hug and “thank you” from each of them too.

Once they were outside the circus, Jinkx squealed excitedly again and pulled Major into a tight hug.

“It’s finally happening…!” she said, letting an accelerated breath escape her lips.

“No turning back now… But we can do this!” he answered, sounding determined.

Jinkx turned to look at the circus one last time for the night, before they started walking the long way back to their tiny hotel room. She couldn’t wait for tomorrow…