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marabow · 3 months ago

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A ROSE AMONG THORNS (circus ocs x fem reader series)

Chapter II: The Circus (25/03/2025)

CW: slight misogyny, just creepiness overall by a certain SOMEONE

MASTERLIST

<<Chapter I, Chapter III>>

Curiosity- was what (NAME) felt at that moment, as the handbell rang from the well trained polar bear cub’s paws. The girl slowed her pace as the cub gave an adorable growl, probably signifying that they were getting closer to the place the tickets came from. It was deep in the woods, yet the gloomy dark atmosphere from earlier died down, instead being replaced by rays of sunlight shining from behind the leaves of trees, as little daisies were growing from each one of her steps, creating a trail of flowers behind her.

She was in awe, almost giggly, as the atmosphere turned from grey and plain, to colourful and quirky. There were Colourful balloons, with ribbons attached to them, like butlers greeting guests at ball events, and even flakes of colour sprawled around the ground, sticking to her black shoes, decorating her mary janes’ soles with confetti.

The polar bear went out of the forest, out of her sight, and (NAME) couldn’t hear the bell anymore. In front of her, where the polar bear went through, was a bush of flowers with a very powerful pink colour, most likely begonias from what (NAME) thought. She used her hands to push the flowers further from her face, opening to an entrance of light.

In front of the light was colorful sign, creating a shadow to loom over the girl’s features, with the words “Strangemageddon” written in big bold letters. Looking to her right, there was another sign with the words “Willkommen, Benvenuti, Bienvenue, Bienvenido, Welcome!”, reminding her of those signs you’d see at toy stores, with those colourful symbols and beautiful pastels.

But behind the signs was something only fairytales could describe. On the evergreen grass of the clearing were amusement park rides, from ferris wheels to rollercoasters, complimented by tents and buildings of various colours, giving a cozy magical small-town charm to it. But, the gem of this place was the giant red and white striped tent in the middle of everything.

Rubbing her eyes in skepticism that her brain was inventing everything, she took one more peek, only to discover that this place was indeed a dreamland come true.

“Woah...” She whispered under her breath, unable to speak from the grandiosity before her.

“There... you are!” Behind her, (NAME) heard Clément’s voice breathing heavily from how much he ran, looking at the ground while propping his whole body on an oak tree to catch his breath. Once his chartreuse eyes looked up, past her, he saw the mysterious land that was in front of them. “Where...are we?”

“I’m not sure...” (NAME) was hypnotized, under the spell of various children’s voices all singing in a choir deep within the far distance of this place, almost calling to her.

“I don’t believe this is what it seems...” Clément said in skepticism.

“Why not?” (NAME) asked “I mean... what could hurt for a little exploring?”

Clément was still very skeptical, but (NAME) was right. It wasn’t like it was a trap, and even if it was, what could they want from two youngsters they didn’t even know.

Before they could take another step, the feeling of wind blowing their backs very powerfully pushed them inside the small world that was created behind the fences.

There was no turning back now. They weren’t stuck per se, but their eyes were glued on the magical elements of this land. From the vibrant terraced houses, each coming in different sizes, with different shops inside, from bakeries, toy stores to even barber shops, this looked more like a small town rather than a magical circus as the girl with the maroon mark on her face mentioned. ‘She might be here.’ (NAME) thought, looking around for the sign of a girl with a unique stain around her eye.

“...Let’s get back... I’m sure Elijah will make an earful if I’m missing for much more-” Clément almost lost his balance as something collided with his body...or someone actually. “Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

He looked down to see a young girl looking at him apologetically, with her hazel eyes. She couldn’t have been older than thirteen, even if her sui generis white coils was a huge contrast to her rich and youthful umber skin.

She blurted a quick “sorry, sir” before running off to the giant tent in the distance, the gem of this whole place. Speaking about gem, something fell out of her satchel, a necklace with some sort of flower shape. (NAME) picked it up, looking closely at it, as the petals kept moving the same way a clock would around the middle part of the flower shaped necklace.

“What a strange girl. Have you ever seen someone so young yet so old at the same time?” Clément asked, before looking at the necklace. “Huh, what a peculiar pendant... Should we go after her to give it back?”

“Of course we should! We’re civilised people after all!” (NAME) said, taking the boy’s hand and walking towards the tent. What (NAME) noticed was that there were a lot of children around... much more than adults... all dressed normally or very strangely. Like kids in chitons and jewellery, which (NAME) knew only the ancient civilisations wore. Was there some sort of carnival? Where were their parents?

There were some older people, but they looked more youthful than the adults that surround (NAME) every day, with bright grins on their faces, complimenting their wrinkles and making them look so friendly.

“It’s becoming queerer, and queerer here...” Clément muttered, just enough for the girl to hear, as they finally got to the tent, at the main entrance. As they peeked inside, there were a lot of children, young ladies and gentlemen alike to them and even those older smiling people they’ve seen earlier... yet no sign of the white hair girl, and neither of the girl with the mark on her face.

Before they could play detective more, somebody began pushing them gently from behind towards the benches "Please, madam and sir, take a seat. You're stealing the attention from the stars of the show." the deep gloomy feminine voice of the person from behind them said. They were both very embarrassed, (NAME) was embarrassed for getting scolded, meanwhile Clément was embarrassed for being obedient like a mutt instead of being stubborn, as he didn’t want (NAME) to think of him lowly, so they sat down on the benches, next to three small mousy brown haired triplet boys, around 7 years old most likely, in navy blue sailor suits, talking to each other, before looking at the two in awe.

“Woah, you’re so pretty miss, like a fairy godmother!”

“You look like a Prince Charming, sir!”

“You remind me of our mamman and papa!”

“Really? Why, we thank you, boys!” (NAME) smiled at their sweetness, but Clément just smirked for a bit before looking back at the show.

“I’m Jack!” The boy who complimented Clément said confidently, before his much shyer brother who complimented (NAME) introduced himself “I’m Pierre...” “But we call him Pilou, m’lady!”, “And I’m Vittorio.” The third boy said, his voice very calm and soothing, unlike his energetic brother or his other more coy brother.

(NAME) couldn’t help but laugh at the little boy’s confidence, finding the kids adorable.

“Where are your parents, little ones?” She asked, noticing has there was nobody near them other than people around her and Clem’s ages.

“Parents? They’re on the other side, the one thats opposite of Strangemaggedon!” Little Vittorio said, which left (NAME) confused. This kid must’ve been so wise beyond his years that she couldn’t understand a thing from him... either that or he was babbling childish nonsense. Yet, she decided to try to ask. Key word: tried.

“Where-” “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and gals and gender nonconforming pals! Step right up, step right up, see amazing human oddities, freaks of nature. Be warned, people with heart conditions, children, women - we will accept no responsibility for fainting, reoccurring nightmares, or death!" The place became dark, the spotlight coming to a well dressed ringmaster, fully red, from his tailcoat to even his hair being an unnatural red, a hair colour (NAME) has never seen. Yes, she did know redheads like Olga for example, but her hair was a ginger colour, meanwhile this man had completely red hair. “With that in mind, welcome to The Circus Of Strangemaggedon! The greatest show ever heard of in entire overworld and underworld!”

The children began clapping, not caring too much for what (NAME) was going to say, but (NAME) wasn’t too disappointed, knowing anything could steal the attention of children. She began clapping too, as well as the rest of the crowd. Only Clément remained sat on his seat, playing with his fingers.

“This moment will live forever, tonight!” As the ringmaster said that, a bunch of spectacular colours began appearing in the vision of everybody: acrobats jumping high in the air, plenty of wild animals that haven’t been seen before in (NAME)’s life, and people in multicoloured clothing. There were even people juggling objects on fire ‘How do their hands not burn? They aren't even wearing gloves or anything to protect their skin!’. It truly was magical to (NAME), as if she was seeing dragons and mermaids from fairytales, except that these were real people.

The opening act finally finished, the carnies gathered inside the ring, around the ringmaster, who still had the light reflecting on him, showing his dominion over everyone. (NAME) noticed something strange about the carnies. Not only did they have unique appearances, but they looked... very young... around her age mostly, but there were some who looked slightly older, and some looked younger, which was very odd in the girl’s eyes.

“Thank you, thank you!" The ringmaster tipped his top hat at the audience. "Now, as I can observe you hungry pooches are waiting for the fun part, but we're trying to spice things up a bit today. I mean, seeing the same carnies do the same things every single time, must be getting quite boring for the viewer, wouldn't you agree?" The crowd responded with either yes or no, but the people mostly responded with "yes". "Well then, tonight we'll be having a star! But not just anybody, somebody who happens to be very lucky!"

The assemblage went silent as the man closed his eyes and began pointing his cane randomly.

"Ene mene miste,

Es rappelt in der Kiste

Ene Mene Mu

und dran bist Du!"

At each word, the man pointed randomly and inconsistently at the audience, and at the fifteenth word, the word "Du", was pointed towards (NAME), Clem, and a few people who were sitting near them like the triplets, yet the spotlight lit between the girl and the boy before it started slowly moving above (NAME). "Oh wow, what luck I truly have..." She mentally cursed myself for sitting here, meanwhile, Clem was laughing his socks off at her luck. “Fantastic job, miss lucky charm!” He laughed. The ringmaster opened his eyes and said "You, the mademoiselle with the black hat! Step right up, don't be shy!"

(NAME) gave the boy her hat, as to not ruin it in some way while there, as god knows what act she’ll have to do. “I’m holding my fingers crossed for you!” He smiled at her mischievously “Oh, please, don’t act like I’ll get killed!” She giggled.

“Good luck, miss!” The triplets smiled at her, saying in unison their simple yet encouraging words. She smiled sweetly at them, and then walked down to the ring, holding the end of her skirt between her fingers as to not make it dirty. Once she got past the fence, the ringmaster smiled at her, showing his golden tooth while at it. (NAME) did a small curtsy, feeling rather shy before the man. "Everybody give a warm welcome to our star of the show for tonight... what's your name?" The man asked, to which (NAME) gulped. She never really liked her actual name, always making people call her nicknames, literally anything that wasn’t her name. But... she wasn’t going to stay here forever, right? Might as well use a fake name.

“My name is Fanny, sir!” She smiled, before he laughed “Don’t think you can fool me, little lady! I specifically sent you an invitation and your little boy toy pal right there. You remember the tickets, right, (NAME)?”

She was surprised, but decided to play along “Aw, you caught me!” She laughed. “Yes, my name is...(NAME)...” She felt like she had something bitter in her mouth when she used the name in this context, but whatever, moving on.

"Ah, you almost caught me there, (NAME)! How are you feeling being the star for tonight?" The man shook her hand energetically, which made the girl feel a little dizzy from how fast he was shaking her much smaller hand. "Good, well, bring them there!" (NAME) finally regained her thoughts as she heard the last part being enunciated towards somebody who was behind her apparently. ‘Take me where?!’ She wondered. Before she could utter anything, (NAME) felt two gloved hands on my shoulders as she was guided towards a round wall.

The girl felt the adrenaline coursing through her veins for the confusion of what could happen to her, as the person who held her was preparing her for the act, putting her hands above her head. (NAME) couldn’t see their features too well, as the light from behind the person was hitting her eyes to the point she couldn’t even squint her eyes from how much it hurt, and the silhouette was dark, the only thing the girl managed to see was that the person had the physique of a tall woman with s lot of beautiful curves, and long curly hair to compliment it, making (NAME) imagine her to an image similar to Venus in Botticelli’s paintings from how blessed this person looked just by their silhouette.

“Good luck” the silhouette spoke to (NAME) as they finally left the girl at the hands of the person she shares an act with. Yet another silhouette, this time looking like a man, a young man by the looks of it, with much medium straight hair, that ended a bit more spikier than she’d seen on other people.

"Now, everybody get prepared for the first act of tonight, the art of impalement." The girl’s eyes widened even more. She thought she was going to die at that moment.

(NAME) kept trying to stay as still as a boulder while the silhouette kept making false throwing gestures towards her as if they were calculating the correct direction to throw the daggers. She almost flinched as the first dagger was thrown near her waist, and then another near her hair, and then a few more, until the daggers created an outline of her. The whole crowd applauded, herself included, even if she felt like her soul was leaving her body from the fear she felt. Before she could ask the showman if she could just walk back to her seat, the same silhouette from earlier took her backstage, leaving Clément alone.

“You did amazing, girly!” A bubbly deep feminine voice, as (NAME) finally saw her facial features. She had soft expressive cattle like light blueish eyes, almost violet if you looked at them in more detail, very pale albino skin which was painted with a bit of faceprint to make her features pop out, complimented by her white curls, and most importantly, a very friendly and warm smile.

(NAME) couldn’t help but blush bashfully, as she found this girl very beautiful, so beautiful in fact that she felt like a total dolt in comparison. “Why...grazie, miss!”

As they got backstage, a much taller and slightly muscular man approached her, which (NAME) noticed had this flamboyant air to him, with his soft features, like his rounder amber eyes and soft smile painted with a red heart over his lips, which were in perfect harmony with his aquiline nose and slightly elongated face, complimented as well by a side slicked hairdo of the same colour as regular toffee. He looked curiously at the strange girl that came backstage, but nonetheless smiled at her, showing that he had a slight tooth gap between his teeth. “Myrtle, is this the girl that took Cici’s place at Perry’s act?”

“Why, of course! Wasn’t she amazing on the stage, Dorian? Not flinching even the slightest bit at the knives that were being thrown at her?” The albino girl giggled. (NAME) knew she was trying to seem encouraging, but the whole act scared the devil out of her, as the saying would go. Even so, she smiled sheepishly.

“She took it like a professional, standing as still as a flower! Thank your brother that he didn’t pluck her petals! Even Sisi would’ve flinched by his speed of throwing!” The toff in a yellow leotard laughed, patting the girl’s back in slow rhythms, as if he was either encouraging her, or as if she was amusing him somehow.

Myrtle giggled too at the joke, just not as energetic at the brunette, even awkwardly if (NAME) caught it correctly. The voice of a little girl’s panting from panic caught their attention, cutting their laughter down: “Dorian, Myrtle, have you seen my pendant?!”

(NAME) knew who the girl was, the same white haired one who bumped into Clem earlier.

“Sadly no, Norrie...” ; “I’m so sorry Elisnora, but we haven’t seen a pendant anywhere.” Both Myrtle and Dorian shook their heads, giving the girl no sense of hope that she’ll see her pendant again. But in every story there’ll be at least one saviour. (NAME) had the pendant, but it was in her satchel that was currently in Clément’s care.

“Was it in the shape of a flower and made of bronze?” The girl with the blue bolero asked.

The much younger girl looked shocked, but nodded, desperate to get her pendant back.

“I know where it is-” “MYRTLE!” An agitating voice yelled from behind the young girl (NAME) was talking to before she could finish her sentence. Elisnora and Dorian were pushed aside as the owner of the voice tried to argue with the albino haired girl. “One of you idiots had hidden my hat somewhere-” but, before the voice could become higher, like the sound of nails on a chalkboard, it caught attention of the new girl, the guest of tonight.

(NAME) noticed the new figure to look a lot alike to the showman, both with the unnaturally red hair that most would think is a wig and bright green eyes, but this figure looked much younger than the showman, around the same age as Myrtle and Dorian, or probably a bit younger, but (NAME) guessed it was because he was a bit shorter than Myrtle.

His face somehow became whiter, even with white facepaint on. “Wait, who’s she?” If (NAME) wasn’t that attentive to details, she wouldn’t have noticed his ears becoming a flushed red colour, almost as red as his hair.

“This is (NAME), the star of tonight’s show!” Dorian smiled at the girl, before looking at, what (NAME) guessed, was the clown.

“Star of tonight’s show? But I knew the first act was my act with Perry-” but then he realised what had happened. “Good morning sunshine. Mr Ringling had replaced you with a girl for tonight.” Dorian and Myrtle began laughing like two turkeys, as (NAME) realised that this was supposed to be this boy’s act. This must be the Cici Dorian was talking about earlier. She looked at him, a bit saddened in fear that he would feel offended, as for one moment he was flabbergasterd, but the clown just laughed a bit before, pulling the girl’s arms to hold her shoulders. “My, and such a pretty girl took my place? I feel ashamed!” He laughed, inspecting her face, and disrespecting her personal space to a high degree, as he kept putting his gloved hand on her face, as if he was trying to memorise every aspect of her with tactile senses, including her eye, where he put his thumb on her bottom lid, and his index on her top lid, streching the eye, as if he was an ophthalmologist. “Your eyes are so pretty. They are like mirrors from how I can see my reflection in them!”

“Uhh, pardon?” (NAME) slapped his hand lightly, very much weirded out by his action, yet she still tried to be polite, as she thought that maybe this was normal for them? Cici’s exaggerated expression turned into one of shame as he realised he made the ‘pretty girl’ uncomfortable “Sorry for that, doll! But am I excited that you are joining us for at least tonight!”

“Yeah... um... I need to help her find her pendant... I’ll skedaddle for a bit! Toodles!” (NAME) laughed awkwardly, as she signalled for the younger girl with white curls to follow her, which obeyed her, as the much younger girl showed her a way to get back towards the seats without getting inside the ring.

While they were walking farther, they heard the conversation of the two male carnies. “You scared her, you donkey!” “Oh please, I’m just excited. I’m tired of only seeing the same faces all the time! And wasn’t she adorable? She looked like a small doe!” “Cici-” “Stop calling me that.” “Ugh, Cecil, she just appeared today-” “so what? She deserves all the admiration she could get, you...” But their voices became from coherent to straight up gibberish as everything became quieter and more quieter.

“Just ignore them... they think they own this place for being in the stage of being older than most children.” The young girl, Elisnora as (NAME) caught from the carnies’ conversation as her name being, whispered quietly, as if anyone could hear them

“Oh...” Was all (NAME) could muster up, as she walked back towards where Clément was together with those triplets, engrossed by the show, as he didn’t even notice her. She put her hands on his shoulder, causing him to yelp. “Not funny... wait, you’re back?” His anger became to curiosity quite quickly, as (NAME) giggled. “In flesh and bones!”

“...You know?” “Well, sorry mr knows-it-all-cause-my-uncle-owns-this-place!” Both Dorian and Cecil kept arguing, as a darker aura appeared in the backstage. “Oh Perry... hello...” Myrtle muttered, talking to the new figure, without even looking at it. Perry seemed angered as he threw a dagger towards one of the vanities. He seemed frustrated, as he put his hands over his long styled mauve tinted white hair. “What’s wrong this time, brother-” “Shut up!” He was angered. He hated the fact he almost miscalculated his act, almost causing one child to cry from how close his dagger was towards their neck. He was never distracted, but it was all caused by that stupid act, by HER!

He will get revenge soon enough, he was sure of it.

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