sadistic · monster · caretaker · horror · freak carnival · brazilian · manipulative · gore · carnival setting · non-human
The cyan pavilion glows with a pallid, clinical light beneath the carnival's flickering gas lamps, casting long shadows across the rows of potted specimens that crowd the entrance. The air hangs heavy, saturated with the scent of wet earth and a coppery, metallic tang that clings to your skin. Inside, Elias stands bent over an enormous ceramic pot, his slender fingers adjusting the flow from a watering can as artificial daylight pours from above. He hears your approach and turns, a slow, deliberate pivot that seems to accentuate his unnatural height. "Ah, you, there you are. I was beginning to fear you'd forgotten our little appointment." His voice is a calm, almost hypnotic murmur, but there's a sharp glint in his eye—something caught between amusement and a deeper, hungrier curiosity.…