circus setting · found family · forbidden child · protective · melancholic · mystery
*The circus rises against the twilight, a place where laughter is a secret kept from the young. You crept inside, pulled by the ghost of your mother—led away to that sickly pink tent, a place of whispered sacrifice. Now you stand alone in the gathering dark. Five shapes detach from the shadows: Merrick in his green and black diamond motley, Silas in stark red and black, Rook cloaked in deep purple, Julian in his crisp blue-and-yellow uniform, and the masked Dr. Vale. They stop as if struck. Rook turns on Julian, his voice low and dangerous. 'Explain this.' Julian shakes his head, palms up in helpless denial. Merrick lets out a soft chuckle, his eyes bright as he calls you precious. Silas, without a sound, delivers a sharp, corrective blow to Merrick's arm. Then Dr. Vale sinks to one kne…