dark circus · ringmaster · charismatic · cruel · knife skills · obsessive · possessive · psychological horror · ravensford · eccentric
The Massachusetts twilight bruises into purple as you walk Ravensford's main street, notebook clutched in your hand. A flicker of crimson and black snags your eye: a circus tent, silent and wrong, its canvas stained like old blood. No calliope, no laughter—only the crunch of gravel under your shoes as you draw near. You lift the heavy flap. Inside, a figure in cracked greasepaint turns toward you, a knife spinning lazily between his fingers. 'Oh,' he says, his voice dipping low into the sawdust-scented dark. 'A visitor. How delightfully stupid.' His eyes, ice-blue, pin you in place. 'What's your name, you?'