#cdf!grandshow

[cirquedufreak-rp]

Cirque Du Freak Grand Re-Opening!

The smell of popcorn. The buzz of excitement among the normies lined up outside the middle of the three main tents, waiting for the beginning acts. Circus members walking through the crowds, but nothing yet started. Ringmaster Althaea smiled to herself, pulling her top hat down slightly over her face as she walked back into the tent, waiting to make her entrance. Everything was ready – the fun was about to begin

The lights darkened in the main room and a hush fell over the crowd. Althaea took that moment to make her way to the center of the tent, a mischievous smile on her face. The darkness hid her entrance.

“Magic. Witchcraft.” Her voice came from the loudspeakers, but she was still not revealed. “These are words used to describe things which are not fully understood, things that are not seen and some things-“ the spotlights flashed to Althaea and she looked around at the entranced crowd “- that will make your worst nightmares seem like dreams.”

She removed her hat and theatrically threw her arms to the side, eyes sweeping the audience once more. “Keep your eyes open, because if you blink..” a cloud of smoke billowed from nowhere and then was gone as quickly as it came – along with Althaea herself. A gasp echoed through the crowd, but was quickly silenced by her voice. “You will miss everything.” Fingers pointed up towards the ropes, where Althaea was balanced perfectly in the middle, staring down at them. “Tonight you will witness the wonders of the world in ways you could never imagine. Please welcome our first performer, all the way from South Korea – Alexia, Daughter of Storms. Welcome.. to the Midnight Circus!”

Althaea fell backwards from the rope, exciting a loud gasp as there was no net to catch her. Just before she hit the ground, the lights went black. Althaea smiled to herself from the back of the tent when she saw the lights come back on under the flaps that separated the waiting area from the performance site. Where she had fallen, Alexia would be standing – waiting. A loud roar of applause filled the night. Gasps of excitement from normies not yet viewing the performances filled the air from outside as the rest of the members revealed themselves.

Finally, the Circus was alive.

With enough members to run a show, the Grand Opening of Cirque Du Freak has come at last. The first canon performance, as introduced here by Ringmaster Althaea, will continue on into the early hours of the morning. This event will fully open Cirque Du Freak to future events and will move the story forward – after a long 4 year hiatus. After the performance, a large party will be enjoyed by members of the circus.

The Grand Opening event consists of 2 parts:

Feel free to write a drabble / self-para of the performance that your character does on opening night. Please tag these as cdf!grandshow.

Join us now in our Discord Channel for a live, IC chat between characters during the after party. This chat will stay open until the end of the night on 03/03. After such, it will be closed out and posted for future reference. Feel free to also write paras for this, however the majority of the event will be seen in the IC. Paras here should be tagged cdf!grandparty.

[freakxalexia-blog]

Daughter of Storms

“Tonight you will witness the wonders of the world in ways you could never imagine. Please welcome our first performer, all the way from South Korea – Alexia, Daughter of Storms. Welcome.. to the Midnight Circus!”

The lights went dark, signalling it was almost her time to begin. Somi had fallen off the ropes and caught by Emrys, leaving Alexia standing where Somi would have landed. After a heartbeat, the spot light came back on, focusing on her and the crowd gasped. It seemed like magic to the uninitiated but to them, it was a routine they had practiced over and over until it was executed flawlessly. When Somi had asked her if she would be the first act in their first performance, she was shocked at the trust. The opening act was the one to draw everyone in and keep them drawn in.

Alexia had drilled herself almost relentlessly for days leading up to the first performance. She wanted to make sure it was perfect and would not accept anything less. Her sais were extensions of her arms and her lightning was crackling along her arms. It had gotten to the stage she wasn’t fit for company and had snapped at anyone who even looked at her sideways. Part of it was nerves and the other part was exhaustion.

Her first impression had to be awe inspiring, on point and dramatic. The crowd was silent, watching her every move before she all but exploded into action when the music started. This routine was a mixture of martial arts, parkour and the strategic use of her lightning. She flipped, kicked, spun and tumbled across the floor. It was exhilarating to be able to perform like this without being stared at from behind glass windows and the cold, blank gaze of her mother consenting to allowing it. Instead, people cheered, gasped and clapped at her feats.

Coming to an end, she ended her performance with one hand straight above her head and a large crack of lightning crashed around the large tent. Panting slightly, she smiled widely at the crowd, waving as she sauntered off towards the back as the next act tore onto the floor seamlessly. Her vision had dimmed slightly but she knew it was to be expected with the large use at the end. She waved off the concerned glance of Somi, knowing her eyes were white around the edges.

Alexia was truly happy for the first time in a very long time.

[ostormmonroe]

Garden of Eden

Paige was standing on the scaffolding double checking all her vines and silks one more time before she had to go on. The claps finally died down from the act before and the goosebumps began to rise on her skin.  This was her moment.  All her hard work and determination was finally going to come together in this opening performance. She wrapped herself up in her vines and silks and waited her cue, the crescendo of her music to build.  As the music continued to hit it’s grand peak, she jumped from the rafters and went spinning down among a rainfall of flowers.  She finally struck a pose in the middle of the air, when the music signal her grand entrance.  The audience clapped and gasp as she posed in a beautiful backbend grabbing one of her feet, as the other one was just wrapped around in her silks, hanging on for dear life.  

She was spinning around, showing off her beautiful nude suit that look like it was swimming in precious stones. Paige must have found a magician to create this master piece that looked like emeralds, rubies and diamonds to make this flower on her body. The way the lights would hit off the suit when she would spin and twirl in the air, it was hope in the night. After the applause subsided she moved onto her next trick of moving her legs into a split in the air, and just letting her legs be the only thing holding her to her vines. Even though these moves were impressive, they served a purpose for her to take in the energy of the room. Once her heart beat stop moving a mile a minute she was able to let her instincts take over and let it turn into a ballet in the air.  Evergreen was able to let her moves flowing together, showing her strength and grace.  

The audience would gasp at her dramatic drops and contorting her body in the middle of the air. Her show was finally coming to an end and she landed on the ground on her hands into a beautiful handstand.  There was a flower that she could touch the seed at the bottom of her vine and it started to grow. When the audience thought it was going to stop, its kept growing into this gigantic exotic flower that was swallowing her whole.  She waved to the audience as the petals hugged around her body, until she disappeared from the audience.  It was hard to believe the audience cheers couldn’t be heard from Tokyo after the lights dropped. Trying to catch her breath as the lights were turned to dark, she couldn’t help but laugh.  This is what she wanted.  The applause. The acceptance. The visibility.

“I have arrived,” she whispered to herself trying not to let the emotion overtake her.

[freakxcrunch-blog]

Crunching Bones

Dahye had never performed before. Her parents had made it their mission to hide her away instead of displaying her to the world. For that reason, the last time she had been in front of a crowd like this was probably at some sporting event, and even then, she wasn’t alone. She was the one that requested not doing a full set on the main show for the opening night. She could happily hang out in her own area of the sideshows and try to wow her smaller scale audience. That would at least give her an idea of people’s reactions, and whether she would even be good enough for the main show.

“Let’s see, let’s see,” she began as she scanned the audience for muscular individuals. “I like to figure out who I’m trying to impress before I actually do anything.” Her tone was joking, and there were a few chuckles in the audience. “Okay! I think officially see the most muscular dude in the room right back there--” She pointed with an obvious grin and the man seemed to enjoy the attention, flexing and showing off. “Awesome! So let me just start off by saying, there’s no way in hell I’m fighting that guy, so don’t get your hopes up--” A mixture of laughter and disappointed ‘aww’ sounds. “But no worries! I can still prove I’m stronger than him! I mean, guys, c’mon, my name is Crunch!” She clapped and walked over to a giant anvil. “Now I know what you’re thinking! You want me to lift it up. I’m betting Mr. Strong back there can’t do it, though. If you compare our sizes, you’ll see how badly this is gonna go... But just for the sake of proof, come on up!”

The strong man came forth and made a feeble attempt at lifting the anvil, until Crunch gave him a look with a raised eyebrow that implied questioning his manhood. Then he gave it a good go, but the object only budged on one side, and never came off the ground. “Alright, awesome. Thanks for your assistance,” she said as the audience clapped, and she put her hand on top of the anvil. “So we see how this is gonna go, right? I’m so little, there’s no possible way... Who wants me to lift it?” Loud cheers erupted from the audience. With a nod, she gripped, and started to pull. Her arms stretched, and stretched, until it looked almost like they’d dislocate, and then she let go. Pretending to be out of breath, she heard shocked gasps as her arms hung out in the air as though they were made of rubber. She pretended to laugh nervously. “Oh. Whoops! Well that’s a bit off, wouldn’t you say? Let me just fix that--” She bit onto the collar of her shirt and pretended to blow, as though her arms were inflatable, and then both arms gained structure from the shoulders down, looking normal again. 

“Now, again, I know what you’re thinking! What a trick, right? Telling you I’m super strong and stuff, and then not delivering? I forgot to mention... I’m more flexible than everyone as well.” She smiled, twisting her arms behind her back in a position that should not be possible. “Surprise! I’m actually a contortionist...” She curved her spine, bending not forward or backwards, but to the side, touching her palms to the ground as though she’d been split in half. People were stunned. She flipped over the anvil and then picked it up over her head, her muscles looking much larger now, bulging. “No worries, though. Obviously you just came for this, right? No problem!” Crunch pretended to drop it on her foot with a loud THUD, eyes suddenly growing wide, and the entire audience gasped. She quickly pushed the anvil to the side, revealing a crushed sneaker where her foot should have been. To the audience’s amazement, it then started growing, puffing back up, until she kicked the shoe off to reveal a normal foot. The tent broke out into applause. She laughed and bowed. “Thank you!”

It feels so natural, she thought with excitement. I’m meant to be here...

With that, she headed to the back of the tent, quickly plopping down when she was hidden and rubbing at her foot. No muscle or bone damage, of course, but some of the nerves were protesting such treatment as it began to bruise. “Ugh, come on, you didn’t even really get hurt!” Only the skin was sensitive, and she rolled her eyes as she put the shoe back on and stood up. “Alright, fine. No more anvil drops.”