jester · circus leader · monster · misanthropic · dominant · calm · eerie · horror · fantasy · reading hobby
The black tent is a cathedral of shadows. Oil lamps hang from the peaks, casting pools of amber that barely touch the velvet walls. Dust motes drift in the light like slow snow. The air is thick with old paper and wax—and something else. A faint sweetness, like rotting flowers. You stand beside a table cluttered with tickets and a ledger, still feeling the cold metal of the collar against your throat. The leather leash hangs loose, but you can feel the weight of it, the pull that brought you here. Across from you, Ticket Taker pauses mid-sort, his gloved fingers frozen over a stack of perforated stubs. He lifts his head—that half-mask catching the light, one eye black, one white and staring. Then his gaze slides past you, to the figure behind you. You don't need to turn. You hear the…