~ Marea ~

It became clear that the Naga wasn't hostile towards her, in fact it appeared... playful. Marea found herself slowly losing herself to her more primal instincts, as her hearts started to beat faster, causing her body temperature to rise. She found herself leaning in the serpents embrace, enjoying the more submissive position.

And as the large serpent woman moved to her back, she found herself relaxing even further, curious to see where this might lead to. She leaned her head back, against the serpents shoulder and brought her hand up to caress the naga's face. At this point she could only imagine the possibilities of being with someone such as the naga, the things she could do with that serpent body. Goosebumps spread across her body as the naga whispered in her ear. "And who says I don't want to bunk with you?" She found herself using her Voice, a sing-sang kind of tune that resonated in the back's of those that could hear it, making it seem like it was your own thought and making it difficult to ignore.

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, their little "act" was broken up before it got any "worse," when Jack disturbed the two of them with a request directed at the naga, who was apparently named Sri Yantra. Marea blinked a few times, trying to regain her composure, before turning to Jack. A bright blush painted over her face. It wasn't like she was going anywhere, not with the nag- Sri wrapped around her like this. So she sat back and enjoyed the little embrace a bit longer.

The little firework display by Jasper did an ample job of making sure she wouldn't fall prey to her primal side again. She listened intently to Jasper's explanation of the people who worked here at the Circus, it was always useful to know who you needed to talk to when you needed something done. She wasn't hungry though, her little play with Sri had fed her more than enough. Though she perked up a little, even emitting a softly cooing ooh, when Jasper showed that the vendor also sold life-force. Though that made her wonder "How... euhm... fresh is that life-force?" She directed her question at Jasper.

_________________

~Sri Yantra Kundalini~

Sri Yantra chuckled in the back of her throat, content with the connection she had doubtlessly forged between herself and Marea. When Jasper interrupted their display, she could not very well wrinkle her nose, not possessing such a feature, but settled for a fierce frown, before unwinding herself from the succubus’ legs to let her go and ask the adolescent clown her questions. Truthfully, the information about housing was interesting, in a way. It would be nice if she had somewhere a bit better than a poky little tent in which to keep her effects. She liked to surround herself with objects of symbolic significance to herself and the belief system that she held to at its core, if through different methods to her cold-blooded brothers and slithering sisters. Symbolism held a great deal of importance to magick practitioners, and she would need her effects close by to refresh her stores and her conduits to the celestial spheres in the big, scary house of clocks that existed within and around all realms and realities. There was also the issue of personal comfort. She found herself aligned to water, as were many naga, so the opportunity to adorn her personal quarters with some water vessels and features appealed to her. She noted the names Jasper rattled off for future reference. She would see this Marvin person, yes, but part of her wondered how far-reaching the scope of this Xenon person’s experiments went.

Her belly grumbled a little.

“I knew there wasss sssomething I wasss forgetting,” she admonished herself quietly, resting one hand over the top of her humanoid half’s flat abdomen. She kept one of her hands ever so lightly on Marea’s shoulder, but had turned her attention to look at Jack, her eyes taking in the odd man. Half enigma, half buffoon, something about it struck Sri Yantra as left-of-centre, even here, but she was not sure how exactly to put her dainty finger on it.

She waited for the Chequered Man to end his interaction with Jasper, after which she reluctantly removed herself completely from Marea and moved closer to him, arms crossed over her chest. “An asssissstant?” her serpent tongue flickered in his face, and she smiled that cheek-to-cheek smile. “Asss in, glamorousss, magick man?”

Another grumble. Her face reddened. Well, that moment was irreparably ruined now, was it not?

"..." Nox hadn't actually given much thought to his place here. He could perform illusions or be a one-man haunted house but what he really wanted was to observe magic and that meant getting close to Check. However... he looked at the nagi. She was in the way but he wasn't going to do anything... for now. In the end, he decided to make a haunted house. That would hold him over until he could figure out how to get into Check's show.

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Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

{Checkered Man}


The checkered man glanced back over to Marea and then to Sri Yantra. She blushed, and if he were to guess it certainly wasn't out of embarrassment. A switch hitter, the checkered man thought that could prove to be useful as it would mean she would have more toys to play with if she wanted. He shook his head to get his mind out of the gutter and back in the game. He has much more pressing matters to be concerned with.

Sri Yantra's serpent forked tongue flickered in front of his face and arms crossed. " I prefer Checkered Man than Magic Man, it has a better ring to it." He mentioned with a well hidden smirk . The checkered man then walked around Sri Yantra basking in all her glory. " Well you certainly have a great figure, both in this form and the other you had." He commented as there wasn't a doubt she couldn't pull off being glamorous. He also took notice of her changing that form of hers, which also perked his interests. " But not just glamorous, no, I was thinking much more." The checkered man said as the wheels in his mind began to turn. " You're brave, you're tough, and most importantly cunning. I want the whole package than someone who could be eye candy."

" Someone, I can trust my secrets and my life to." He added " I feel you could do it, but I think you want me to prove I'm worthy of you." The checkered man then moved in closer to her, placing his right arm over her shoulder. " So tell me, what do I need to do to have you join me?" He asked.

_________________
"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

-Benedict, Moving right along-


More voices were filling the area around Benedict, his ears picking up their strange tones and mannerisms. Somewhere noticeably strict and formal, others much more... musical and distinct. Each of these unique sounds allowed Benedict to recognize the speaker though curiously few had chosen to identify who they were. He was also curious to know what their talents were.

As the group began to move, Benedict couldn't stifle a chuckle even as his guidance staff clanged softly against the ground with every step, paying close attention to where the voices where coming from Benedict was able to follow the group though admittedly he had some difficulty keeping up the pace, occasionally he bumped into someone or something but it didn't seem to bother anyone. Not audibly anyway.
Eventually they reached the foodcourt Jasper was talking about, the smells were significantly different than when they were amongst the visitors, there they sold items of interest to the crowd while here they catered to the oddities of the performers.

"Ah, Sir Jasper." Benedict began trying to walk towards the tone of the man's voice, "About my lodgings, is there a requirement for one? I can easily rest under the night sky to save trouble, I lack real baggage, not to mention that locating my... tent was it? Would likely become a hassle for the performers as I'd likely require assistance trying to locate it everyday."

He paused for a moment, reflecting if there were any other 'requirements' he needed, "I'll speak to Marvin when he arrives, there may be some other... particularities that I may need sort out. Other than that, enjoy your meal everyone."

~Sri Yantra Kundalini~

Sri Yantra watched the Chequered Man walk around her with admiration clear on his quirky little face. She raised up her humanoid half so it was straight, then she rested her hands on her hips and tilted herself at the waist a touch so she resembled the archetypal dangerous woman.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she teased him, using the point of her tail to prop up his chin once he stepped closer to her, “but if I jussst ssset you a challenge, it wouldn’t tell me exactly what I’d need to know, would it? It’d only prove you’re good at doing what I tell you…that wouldn’t be ssso bad if we were talking about sssomething elssse, but we can have a niccce, long chat about that in future.” She gave him a sly wink, then stretched out her own right arm and put it on his shoulder, drawing him all the more closer.

“No, no, you jussst do what you do, and I’ll let you know how I feel when I’m good and ready,” she told him, tongue flickering in his face again. Her voice lowered so it was barely a whisper, “And if it were to happen, don’t expect my favour to be for free. I’m not talking about money, or anything material like that, but it’ll be sssomething you better have in abundanccce or it could be all the worssse for both of usss.”

She started pulling him closer, and for a couple of brief moments you could swear she was about to kiss him, until the great, green enchantress chuckled hoarsely somewhere deep inside and pushed him back with enough force to make him stumble, but not to intentionally cause him harm. Her eyes flashed, and she set off to feed herself, gliding on her tail with a natural smoothness. Rivers could not move with her level of grace and flexibility, and she slid and dodged and weaved through the crowd without appearing to stop or consider where to go next. She just did.

As she brushed past Jasper (whom she flickered across the ear purely to taunt him) and Benedict, she overheard the latter’s last words and smiled at him in acknowledgement, though she could not be certain that he had even seen her response at all.

{Checkered Man}


" So does my charming personality and dry wit." The checkered man retorted to Sri Yantra as she prop up his chin. " And I bet we will Sri Yantra." He replied about that future chat of hers about taking orders. From a "pure" devil woman to now a dominatrix snake woman, the Checkered Man couldn't shake the feeling he leaped out of a frying pan and landed in a sea of fire. The only cold comfort he had was that his life wouldn't be dull any more.

" Take your time, I'm no hurry." The checkered man said as her tongue flickered against his mask. It seemed to tickle and causing his cheeks to reddened. If the mask wasn't on he would have easily flustered by her. " Well we'll have to find out when the time comes." He said as his answer. However, he was ashamed that all the answers he could think of what she meant about having something in abundance all seemed to come from the gutters. After all, she didn't seem like the type that would take small bits and pieces of his checkered soul like Marea, but what would he know since this was a whole new world to him.

Suddenly Sri Yantra pulled him, The checkered man closer as if they were about to embrace one another and share a passionate kiss. The warmth of her breath, the silky touch of her scales, and the look in her eyes with that smile of hers, The checkered man had to admit she was a pro. If Marea wasn't a succubi, he would swear Sri Yantra was. When she pushed him aside, the Checkered Man easily stumbled and fell on his ass. All he could say about the whole thing was one simple word "Damn."

_________________
"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

Jasper grinned a little at them, a more wild and alive grin than he'd shown before but which fitted the young boy in too-large clothes and face-paint than the timid thing before and answered. Be careful Mr Man, the professor has a tendacy to be rather over-zealous, so remember to keep the keys with you. He then snapped a finger at the food cart carrying the more gruesome things. A bat flew out of his hand and picked one up, the vendor doing nothing but making a mental note to bill Jasper for it later, while the bat flew off and dropped the vial of blue light at Marea before shimmering out of existence. Everything we store is as fresh as the moment it is stored, a very useful trait in things like souls, minds, etc, which tend to disintegrate or warp into poor twisted versions of themselves that turn the stomach. So to answer your question, it would have spent no more than a second outside it's host, hardly enough time for it to realise what's happened to it. The age and species of the host is also mentioned on the bottle, for those who are picky. The bottle Marea owned hosted the soul of a seventeen-year old orc, plenty of kick from such a vitalised creature in the prime of it's life.

Jasper leaned towards Benedict as he asked about lodgings and thought for a moment. Generally, it's good to have a place where people can look for you or leave things. So they don't have to send someone to look for you I mean. Jasper looked thoughtfully at Ben, staring at his eyes as he tried to study the man, but the man's dreams were hidden from him. Why hadn't he gotten his eyes fixed? Was it a curse? Anyone here should be able to get any purely physical wounds seen too. Go see Madamn Hawthorn, she should be able to sort out something for you. he said finally, she'd be able to take a look at those eyes and was resourceful too, so she'd be able to help him out in some other way if need be. Do you need someone to take you there or can you find her yo-hoOOR. Jasper said, finishing with a yelp at the flick across his ear, spinning right round to look at where Sri had been and then twirling back round to look at her go. He stared after her, eyes wide and panting slightly for a private moment before running his hands into his hair and taking a breath, eyes closed with concentration as he shuddered with a grimace. Damnable female. he muttered under his breath before flicking his eyes back open. He fussed over his uniform, tucking his back shirt-tails in and pulling up his bow-tie to help him regain the physical sense of composure, and hence his mental sense too.

This was interrupted by a flying glomp from behind as Marvin appeared from above, laughing at Jaspers panicking as pale, identical waiters suddenly appeared from all sides. Red eyes, pitch black hair and a fanged grin adorned their faces as the Slavic vampire waiters led the newbies to rounded tables in a secluded zone, the sound of the circus dulling as they stepped into a circle around four circular tables. Jasper and Marvin sitting at separate ones with their backs to each other as Marvin continued gushing away to him. Two vampires accompanied Sri and Marea each, each grinning warmly at the girls inbetween shooting death glares at each-other. Michael was also accompanied by two eager ones whilst Baruch and Balthamos were skimmed over, the vampires fluidly changing direction away as they got to a certain closeness to them. Gorm and Nox on the other hand, were completely ignored. Dishes were dropped on the table in front of them, picked out especially for them by experienced culinary eyes, they'd served practically everything before, and what they hadn't, they could guess.

"ENJOY THE MEAL EVERYBODY" Yelled Marvin gaily as he grabbed the shivering jelly-like blob on the dish between his hands and tore open it's skin, ignoring the spray of pinkish blood it spewed over him and his clothes as it whimpered momentarily before deflating in his grip. Jasper looked away from his with a sickened look on his face, and ignored the sphere of colours on the plate in front of him, simply dashing a finger through it, letting the smoky mist fall apart in the air along with the faint sound of children's laughter and an image of a grinning kid. If you so wish. he muttered grumpily, glaring at the deliberately oblivious waiters stepping away.

_________________
“One day you wake up and realize the world can be conquered.”

{Checkered Man}

_To the Cafe_

" I'll keep that in mind, Jasper and thank you. " The checkered man said while he sat on the ground. He shortly got up, dusting himself off any dirt or what not that might of stuck onto his clothing. " Hmm, now you're making me think if I should make the door myself." He added, talking to himself since Jasper at the moment he was leading the others to the food court of the circus. Instead of rushing off to catch up, the Checkered Man took the time to actually take in the bizarre scenery and to ponder.

The vendors to the guests, they were all was quite magical in some way by their appearances or in ability, even his coworkers, the Checkered Man thought as he observed some of the more mystical bystanders playing a game of ring toss. Out of general curiosity, the Checkered Man turned around and approached one of the mechanical lamp post nearby. Through closer inspection, what he found wasn't a light bulb, raising further questions and answering a few questions. " Well if they got a tent that teleports and travels through different planes of existence with outlandish things like myself, then it stands to reason they would also have mystical objects as well." the Checkered Man said " However, this perplexing device appears to be more technological than something fantasy."

The Checkered Man stood there in front of the lamp post quite a while, continuously studying it and thinking about it. An idea sparks in his head and with a snap of his right hand, Checkered Man gains some insight. " If I were to think about it, then logically these mechanisms are devices that are powered by something other than electricity and since this is the case, this power source must have different laws of physics and what not governing it." He rationalized to himself while rubbing his chin and walking away from the lamp post.

" Now I may need to ask this scientist of theirs for more than just a home." He said to himself as he entered the food court. Upon entering the Checkered Man glanced around the room, noticing that pretty much everyone got their own table with their own waiter and waitress. " Yum, Yum, the food just seems so good and so tasty, but let's discuss something much more important." The checkered man said as he walked around each table gently sliding his finger on the surface of each one.

The Checkered Man stretched out both of his arms spraying two different colored liquids from his hands. The liquids quickly became solids forming into weapons. They were swords of solid onyx and ruby, held tightly in the Checkered Man's grip. " I'm human, but I'm not a regular human. I possess abnormal powers, deadly ones." Checkered Man said confirming that he's human and that he has strange powers. " Now since we're going to strange places that have far stranger and deadlier things, what I want to do is to form an alliance with the rest of you." He said, making his intentions very clear to the rest of the newbie crew. " Frankly, I feel we're going to be alone so why not band together."

_________________
"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

[Bah, I'm just going to jump forward here.]

Half an hour later, the newbies had mostly dispersed, some had shifts to begin, others had other business to attend too. Outside the circus walls, clouds bubbled and boiled, a dust-storm circling the circus, the elements of nature ferociously tearing itself apart, apart from the area inside and 100 metres outside the circus walls, which was simply a calm desert of black sand below and a clear view of the sky above. A patch of darkness hid the stars as a mantis ray flew over the storm, serenely floating past, it's shape silhouetted against the half-moon above for a moment before passing on. Baruch and Balthamos were situated on the closest path to the circus, the loop straight round, counter clockwise. Two other patrolled rings were around the circus, one only fifty meters from the storm, going clockwise, the last just visible amidst the edge of the storm, going counter-clockwise again. The more hardened and capable scouts there. The circus's circumference was large enough to need four watchers around it. Gorm was currently at the North position while Baruch and Balthamos at the south of the circus. Strange arachnids scuttled above the desert while stranger things moved both above and below it.

Inside the circus, the "Kit-Kat" club was beginning it's evening performances. Downstairs, the tables were packed around a hidden circular stage opposite towards the Kit-Kat entrance, two bars were open at the sides, continuous drinks being served to the customers down and upstairs. A thin crescent, the largest part overhanging the entrance, made up the upstairs, lounges and couches filled it, cigarette smoke and clinks of glasses filled the area as the upper class enjoyed their reserved seats. The downstairs customers were getting a little restless as the young aquatic siren behind the curtain picked her moment, biting her lip nervously, this was always a bit of a gamble. A smash of a bottle broke through the air followed by a yelp was enough of a signal. Gentleman. a voice said, echoing around the room oddly, like a voice in an underwater cave. Thank you for your patience, it's a delight to see a room full of faces like this. The siren was a skilled enough showgirl to actually say it like she meant it. The stone knights standing around the edges of the room were a decent dampener to any incivility, but sometimes, even if only for a few minutes, things would go nasty, the Purple Clown was also there tonight, she wasn't sure if that was good or bad, even the ordinary ones were fricking juobblik, scary. The siren was from the ninth realm, and even after a few decades of the circus, the lower realms always seemed so...rough. Interesting though, in their defence, there was a buzz in the air that made her blue gills quiver beneath long sea-coloured hair. Normally I'd gush on for a bit, but I can see from the theropian in the graxphoids headlock, let him go or you will be asked to leave the premise, that perhaps I should dive right into it. You all know what you're here for? Cries whooped and glasses were raised in response. As she began to sing, Marea and Sri were beckoned forward by the dwarf behind the bar to get out there. Customers tipped better once the show started.

In the circus, Remington had been the lucky newbie chosen to have his opening debut tonight, assisted by Nox, Sigmund and a slightly translucent man with eyes of fog and a frame suggesting he'd been built from matchsticks. Small hooded creatures were rushing around them, squeaking and flailing at each other to try and clean up the unfortunate mess left by the incredible Blob. They were having trouble finding all his pieces it seemed.

In the construction area, Michael, Benidict and William were directed towards Professor Xenon by Zeon, he directed them towards the Professor who was working at a desk, four white poles holding a roof over him as he went over papers, arguing in a language punctuated by clicks and tings with a...well, it could be described as mechanical, but it looked more like a man made up of a random assortment of cogs, gears and other metal knick-knacks. It moved much more fluidly than the clockwork professor, nails and wires moving randomly to make a finger jabbing at the desk. Two bulbs flashed on and off where a man's eyes would be while the professor's remained constant circles, red, but apart from that emotionless. The rods sticking out of his back twitching, as he was just desperate to let his limbs loose and tear the monstrosity beside him apart.

_________________
“One day you wake up and realize the world can be conquered.”

{Checkered Man}

_Xenon_

" Jesus!" The Checkered Man exclaimed as the sight of the mechanical horror that was Xenon, took him by surprise making take a step back. " The Body Horror page from tv tropes would certainly love you." He remarked, through as he observed the so called professor tinker on with his own endeavors , it would be obvious that the man wouldn't be listening anytime soon. " I'm probably going to be ignored, but I would like to have a house that houses five people, have security devices, and a laboratory to conduct experiments." The Checkered Man said voicing what he wanted to the other man, at least the Checkered Man assumed Xenon was still human or alive for that matter.

" The laboratory simply because if this is the science we have, then I definitely want to step up my game." The Checkered Man explained while fully expecting a scoff from Xenonon. " I mean, a magician without deception and death defining stunts, is really much of a magician. " He added to his point. To drive the whole matter home, the Checkered Man went on to say " They can have most of my wages, especially if I can get what I need now since I have no reason to leave this circus any time soon. " As he remain as his usually talkative self, he didn't once gesturing with his hands or moving around the room. His arms were slightly bent, his hands were open and inside his crimson dress jacket pocket's front pockets. " It is after all far too interesting." Checkered Man said with smile as he watched and now waited for Xenon's response, hoping for words instead anything else.

_________________
"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

Vincent sighed as he sat at his table, staring into the distance. All he had was this small wooden table, his deck of Tarot cards to his right, his Dousing Necklace to his right, and his Crystal Ball in the center. This was his life now. Somehow, despite being surrounded by people, from all over, he still felt alone.

"I suppose it will take some time. But still, is a customer too much to ask?" Of course. Everyone was looking at the main event. He could sense so much excitement around him, it was almost overpowering. He stood up and yawned, leaving his table to go explore. Perhaps some of the others needed help with things. Anything would be better then just sitting at his stall, and twiddling his thumbs. Anything. He walked into the construction area, up to the mechanical monstrosity at the desk.

"Wow, now I've seen everything."

_________________


Back from the dead.

Near the entrance, a young man with a Gibson Flying V took up a seat, propping open the guitar case and tuning the guitar. The higher strings appeared to give him the most trouble, as he never seemed satisfied with how tight they were. They were always too loose or too tight, depending on how he last tuned it. After finally finding the balance he was looking for, the man began to play an acoustic rendition of Metallica's Sanitarium, singing with a deep growl uncharacteristic of his appearance. It was far more quiet than a Metallica show, but he was happy with it, even if he got mediocre tips. He told himself he was going to keep playing until he got thrown out or someone stopped him by force. It wasn't that loud anyway, the rides probably drowned out most of his songs anyway.