#verse: circus

[grizzledyoungimpact]

Pairing: Malakai Black/Bonnie Galloway Quote: I wonder if its brains are still in there. Verse: Sideshow/Circus For @cogarsatticus Based partially on this poem here

Everyone knew of the House of Black.

 Some believed it was a front for a cult dedicated to the Devil himself, warning their children not to frequent the traveling show when it came to visit their small town. While it was true that the members of the House were more attuned to the dark side of life, they did not worship the devil. In truth, the show was just that, a traveling circus that relied on their talents for all things dark and macabre to lure in customers.

 The newest member of the group was a young woman named Julia Hart. Julia’s attention had been pulled to the circus away from the boring life of a bride to be. She had given up a life of extravagant luxury as a member of high society New York to live the life of adventure she had always wanted. Before shows she would read tarot and tea leaves, speaking of the futures of others. While the circus was running she had an act of an aerialist, lifted high above the crowd with the daintiest of silks.

 Then there was Buddy Matthews. Buddy had sailed from an island far away to the new world to find a better life for himself. That life had started with a cult claiming to work for the greater good. Buddy had met the House’s leader, who spoke to his sense of justice and convinced the young Australian man to join their ranks. Buddy worked with a bullwhip act before the actual show, showcasing the skills he had picked up during his years back home. During the show, Buddy threw knives, perfecting dangerous tricks to mystify the audience.

 The largest member of the House was a man named Brody King. Brody had seen how the world treated those who didn’t fit their molds first hand and had long decided to leave society to its own devices. When he had made the acquaintance of the House’s leader, Brody knew that he had finally found the place he belonged. Brody was one of the Houses roustabouts before the show, helping to set up the Houses booths and acts. During the show, Brody was a strongman, using his strength to impress crowds.

 The final member of the House was the leader, Malakai Black. It was Malakai who most assumed worshipped the devil. It was untrue, of course. The Dutchman simply had an appreciation for the old gods, for the darker things in the world. During the show, Malakai acted as the ringleader, introducing the acts of his talents. But before the show?

 Before the show Malakai held a private showing of curiosities and oddities.

 Some circuses had human oddities and, while Malakai believed that they gave those who worked them opportunities the world outside did not, that was not what Malakai had to show. His oddities ranged from human remains, which he always claimed to have gotten in the most mysterious of ways, to a grotesque collection of bizarre bugs to dolls and other bits that he claimed were haunted by ghosts of former owners. Malakai could spin a yarn well enough to make others interested in his possessions.

 His piece-de-resistance was a deformed calf skull, born with two heads connected to one another. It was that piece that had attracted the attention of one of the women in the town they rested in.

 Bonnie Galloway had been warned to stay away from the traveling circuses that popped up from time to time more often than she liked to admit. After all, it wasn’t uncommon for women of her condition to end up in sideshows as a performer. However, that didn’t stop the woman from being drawn to the limelight. So, as usual, she had begged her brother Andrew to take her to the circus, to push her chair around the fairgrounds.

 The duo had entered the tent where the curiosities were housed and Malakai had caught Bonnie’s eyes right away. Bonnie couldn’t deny that, even in the all black suit he wore, Malakai looked tone. Tattoo’s covered strong hands, peeking out from under his suit jacket. The most intriguing feature, however, was the eye on the left side of his face. The eye itself was stark white while the skin around it seemed grayed, blackened even.

 “You should not stare at strangers, mijn liefste,” Malakai let out a soft chuckle, noticing the way the woman pinkened. Her companion seemed less than enthused at Malakai’s comment, “You are a brave one to come seeking the darker pleasures of life.”

 “That’s what life can be, isn’t it? Dark and yet…” Bonnie smiled softly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, “and yet wonderful.”

 Malakai gave a polite smile and moved in tandem as Bonnie and Andrew moved, finally stopping with them in front of the calf skull. “I wonder if it’s brains are still in there…” Andrew mused.

 “Distasteful, young man, but if you must know then no. We always remove brains of our oddities. We use the same method as the ancient Egyptians, those who valued death as much as they valued life,” Malakai answered, still watching Bonnie’s actions. Most women found these things to be disgusting, grotesque, but she stared in wide-eyed wonder.

 “May I touch it?”

 The woman’s words caught Malakai off guard, but Malakai let out a bemused chuckle, “Go on, mijn liefste.”

 Bonnie’s small hand reached to cup the jawbone of the left side of the cow’s face, cocking her head to the side as she studied the skull, “It’s sad, isn’t it?”

 “Sad, dear one?” Malakai moved to stand next to her, “How so?”

 “It lived such a short life. It never got to see the beauty of a spring storm or a winter snow,” Bonnie began, her soft untraveled eyes meeting Malakai’s world weary ones. Though she seemed sheltered, Malakai could see the performer’s spirit in her. A woman as well-spoken was fetching and he himself couldn’t help but feel drawn to her spirit. “All of the life she deserved to live, and she never got to see anything past her pasture.”

 “That may be true,” Malakai gave a small nod, “it is true that she saw her pasture for a single, solitary night. But above that warm spring pasture in the inky blackness of night was a skyful of stars. What is truly sad, that the last moments of her life came so soon or that most of us will never truly live to see as wonderful sights as she did?”

 A smile took Bonnie’s lips and she turned to look at Malakai, “And you, good sir? Does your group offer such sights for a weary world?”

 “I could never offer a sight more splendid than the one I see before me,” Malakai denied, a charming smile on his lips as he extended his hand, “Come with me and I can attempt to try.”

[sinisterduc]

what a year this been, we may all haves ours up and downs but we finally made it, looking forward for next year, see you in 2024.

note: I couldn't fit all animation media in this so sorry if favorite wasn't in here.

[findoesstuf]

More stuff of TADC! I made a dancing Jax gif, and found that he dances to the beat closely to ALWAYS by Forrest Frank, and Promised Land by Josiah Queen. Great songs, I encourage you to give them a listen! Also I want Jax, Pom, and Rags to all be besties, but we all know that won’t be canon…

[secret-sageent]

[rabid-mercenary16]

GUYS SOMEONE WANTS TO DUB MY JAX VERSE COMIC IM LITERALLY CRYING AND JUMPING UP AND DOWN

[radioiaci]

@circus-frog ⧐ Without a single word, Fizzarolli is scuttling over to where Alastor is sitting, nudges open the red coat, and wiggles his way inside. Arms and legs wrap around Alastor as he tucks himself in, head peaking out from the front of the coat. UNPROMPTED ASKS.

He has been taking far too much downtime for his liking - which means that on this particular day, he is in the midst of managing some of his paperwork necessary to keep the hotel running efficiently. And now here is Fizzarolli, again, intruding on his space.

He does not cause much of a fuss about it, but he does give a small snuff.

"Bored, are you?"

Alastor does not glance up from his paperwork. Scribbling a few more notes here and there.

[linkedin-offficial]

MORE RIBBUN PLEAAAAAASE

lucky for you i missed drawing them!

happy valentines kiss 💘

[sandruchasketches]

Spider-Gwen fanart for the soul!

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[teliathetv]

dude i swear if i don’t talk to someone about my interests i think I’ll explode….

so if any of you guys have any of these interests can we aren’t about them pretty please

ride the cyclone

falsettos

the Magnus archives

murder drones

Hazbin hotel

helluva boss

the amazing digital circus

the darly Box man show

Billie bust up

little runmo

the world of Mr plant (or anything made by Ashur Gharavi)

any spiderverse movie

holy shit i just realized how much i wrote… ANYWAY please message me if u wanna talk about any of this!!!!!

[putting-gummigoo-in-places]

could you put him into Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse?

[k1tty-st4rz]

GUYS SEND ASKS, I WANNA MAKE HEADCANONS!! ESP SCOTT PILGRIM, THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS, N SPIDERVERSE!! :3

[sangled]

How would the human tadc au work? Like, the same in the pilot, they just look more human? Or is it like a whole different divergence?

pretty much the same, except instead of an entirely new digital form when you enter the circus, they're like costumes that stick to your human body! that's the design philosophy i went into it with, anyway.

[tadc-ask-blogs-achievements]

[ ACHIEVEMENT "JAX,JAX, AND OH GOD THEY'RE MULTIPLYING" UNLOCKED FOR, @jaxfromthatcircus , @cottontailed-darling and @dh-jax ! ]

THIS ACHIEVEMENT IS UNLOCKED WHEN THERE IS TOOOOO MANY JAXSSS!!

[annimatour]

drew this for fun ok

[neonnoir-ao3]

Okay so I absolutely adore both high fantasy levels of storytelling as well as extremely mundane AUs. But when it comes to making my own AUs? I’m the ultimate slut for hilariously mundane slice-of-life stuff. (I literally made a domestic/family AU for what is considered one of the scariest analog horror series to date)

So as soon as I saw the words “carnival AU” in a post from @sm-baby about their carnival AU (I am begging you to check it out, it’s absolutely phenomenal), I had the stupidest fucking thought: a shitty little Showtime carnival AU

No, literally. A literal carnival.

Like a traveling circus with a midway of games and shit. County fair style rides that are literal death traps. The whole nine yards.

Pomni is a disgruntled wage slave (nothing new) who starts her new second (perhaps even third?) job: a temporary one at a local carnival. It’s like a month long event at most, but extra cash is extra cash.

Alongside her, Gangle and Zooble are also temporary workers for the event. Jax, Ragatha, and Kinger are circus members— Ragatha is one of those human pincushions in the sense that she has an insanely high pain tolerance (she also does sword swallowing). Kinger is a magician, and Jax does acrobatics or something idk. Caine, as always, is the ringmaster.

So Pomni & crew are working the carnival games and stuff while the circus does their performances, but they all share a break area so they know each other and shoot the shit, but she never sees the ringmaster. The circus members allude to him being… off. Ragatha says he’s just eccentric, but Jax basically paints them a picture of a genuinely unhinged man. Pomni is now extremely afraid of the guy that’s in charge of her paycheck.

She manages to get her check as an auto-deposit, but a few weeks in the system is down for their bank and she has to actually find Caine to get paid. She pussies out and is like “I’ll just hope the system is working by Monday, I can eat ramen and tap water for two days”.

It’s been a shit day overall— it’s pouring rain and there’s been like no customers, so she’s ready to get the hell home. She gets to her car, only to find her keys locked inside.

She’s cold, she’s wet, and she’s stuck out there. She’s trying extremely hard not to cry about it. She pulls out her phone, and googles lock-picking videos.

After like 25 minutes she gives up, just crying on the ground next to her car in the rain. She’s having the mentally ill equivalent of a Feel The Rain On Your Skin moment when suddenly the rain stops. She looks up to see a guy with an umbrella. She’s never seen him around before. He takes her into the backstage area of the circus show and gets her warm and dry. She learns that this guy is indeed the infamous Caine she’s heard about and tries not to panic.

*yadda-yadda-yadda slowly falling in love/aspects I haven’t fleshed out yet*

They’re interested in one another and want to stay together but the show leaves for the next town at the end of the week so they need to decide if one of them has to leave their current life or that they just can’t be together.

[jr-verse]

Yesterday night, I had a thought of Pomni - but with Marx's personality and stuff. Pretty cool huh?