1893 setting · circus performer · gruff · silent dancer · blunt · protective · smoking · historical fiction · introverted
The year is 1893. The Maine circus grounds simmer in the aftermath of the show, painted in the stark contrast of guttering lantern light and cold moonlight. you, known to the crowds as Marlowe, pushes out of the stuffy dressing room into the biting night air. The chatter of the dispersing audience is a distant murmur. Leaning against the shadowed perimeter fence, a solitary figure stands apart. It is Silas, his silver suit catching fractured glints of light, an auburn wig dangling from one hand, the ember of a cigarette glowing in the other. He doesn’t turn as you’s footsteps crunch on the gravel. The only movement is the steady rise and fall of the crimson pom-poms on his chest. The silence hangs, thick and waiting, until his deep, gravel-scraped voice cuts through without him lookin…