Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » 🌕 Blue Moon Circus (Private with Booknight)

"Over there, they have the best kabobs you can ever imagine! And that way, they have this grilled salad thing. It is shockingly good for street food. Of course, we cannot forget to pick something out for Granny," Felix said, striding ahead through the crowd confidently. "Something not too expensive, not too cheap, and absolutely not tacky! Perhaps something in orange. She loves orange even if it does not match her complexion whatsoever."

Jude followed his cousin slowly, each step taken with care as he stepped out with his left leg and then shifted slightly to bring his right leg forward, the unbending wooden foot in its shoe clumping down solidly. Felix drew farther and farther ahead, not even realizing he was leaving his cousin behind. Jude couldn't say he minded all that much. In a crowd this bustling and busy, it was almost easier to fend for himself than to try to follow someone. He paused for a moment next to a stall selling necklaces to catch his breath and adjust his leather bag that hung over one shoulder and settled at his left hip. The glimmer of bright stones drew his gaze, and he looked up to see jewels gleaming far brighter than his own blue-grey eyes ever could. Watching them sparkle in the light felt almost like a poem, but he had no words for it.

"There you are! Why did you stop?"

Jude dropped his gaze to see Felix glaring at him. "Granny might like one of these," he said the first thing to come to mind.

Felix glanced up at the necklaces and scoffed. "They may be pretty, but with that shoddy craftsmanship, it'll be apart in a week. Come on. There are some bangles up ahead she'd like."

Jude gave the scowling woman behind the stall an apologetic nod and followed his cousin. "Maybe we should split up. It'll be easier to cover more ground that way," he suggested.

Felix laughed and put his arm around Jude's shoulders. They were about the same height and width, but Felix was slightly thinner with bony arms that clenched like steel. "Come on, cousin! We only see each other once a year for this festival! We should be making the most of it! I know you're a dower fellow, but surely even you cannot take the glitter and gleam out of this event. We're young and currently free! Let's enjoy ourselves."

"I suppose so," Jude agreed grudgingly, mostly because he had no choice.

"That's a good lad!" Felix said cheerfully. "Why don't we go look at some of those stands where they make those marvelous little creations out of the red wood?"

Jude frowned, finally pushing back against his cousin a little. "I remember them from last year. If they are the same people, they have no regard for the forest they chop down."

"Says the man who literally lives in a logging camp for a railway," Felix said dryly.

"There is a difference between harvesting what is needed in a way that respects the forest and using every splinter given and whacking away haphazardly to gain a few trees to make cute trinkets," Jude argued. "What happens when there are no more trees of that red wood? What will they do then? Move on to another type to whack into oblivion?"

Felix shrugged. "A tree is a tree, and I see no difference in it, but if you are truly so passionate about it, very well!" he said airily. "We shall go to see the animals instead!"

He was not so certain that was any better, but how was he supposed to argue against his lighthearted city cousin? Jude let him lead the way, and thankfully, Felix finally let go of his shoulders and walked more slowly. The pair wandered slowly through the crowded aisles, steering well clear of the odd little girl spouting nonsense she said the animals said and eying the others through their bars and cages and chains.

"They really are quite pretty. I should ask Father if perhaps we could get one of those colorful birds for Granny," Felix remarked.

"I doubt she'd like cleaning up the feathers, and the bird would not appreciate the cage for long," Jude pointed out.

Felix waved a hand. "Then she can let it fly throughout the house! How much trouble could one bird be?"

Spoken like a man who had never spent five minutes near a bird, Jude thought. He turned away and stood looking at the animals. One caught his eye, and he frowned. Moving cautiously, he made his way through the crowd and found a clear spot where he could see through to the deer-like creature standing in shackles. How strange. How ethereal. What was this thing doing here? What was it, and why did it gleam with magic? How did it hold that magic between its horns like that?

Jude pitied the creature. He was not entirely convinced this whole animal menagerie was not some sort of charade to cheat people from their money or just a silly show at best, but the animal as an animal was real enough, and it was being cruelly treated. No creature should be kept in these kinds of conditions.

Then came the voices. Chaos. Chaos and fear. Voices in his head! Jude jerked, nearly losing his balance. What did they want with him? Was he hallucinating? What was going on? He stared at the stag, eyes wide as he tried to comprehend something that his mind refused to acknowledge was happening. Deer could not use mental voices in other people's heads! (He did not realize that was not what was happening.) They could not feel like a human could. They could not connect on a human level! None of this should be happening!

And then the creature was loose.

Felix let out a yell and dove out of the way while Jude stood transfixed. The snapping of chains rooted him in place as fear surged through him. He saw the white belly of the beast soaring over his head almost as if the creature had known not to knock him over. The loosed chains flung away, nearly striking him as they clattered to the ground. Felix suddenly reappeared at his side and grabbed him, half lifting Jude as he dragged him out of the path of the stampeding people. Jude gasped for breath and gripped tightly to Felix as they tried to maneuver out of the crush. He lost sight of the stag but heard the shouts of the men who chased it. He hoped it would get away.

It did not get away. He could hear their shouts of victory even as Felix - winded, disheveled, and wide-eyed - half guided and half dragged him toward a corner of the festival where there were no screaming people. Felix got him sitting down, and Jude could breathe again.

"What happened?" demanded a voice.

Ah. His father had arrived.

"One of the c-creatures got loose," Felix stammered. "It nearly slaughtered us! We were right there in its path! It broke its chains and everything!"

"Every year those dollards insist on bringing those beasts into the city," Felix's father huffed. "Every year I petition to have them banned, but they are an established tradition, and no one except me sees the danger!"

Jude's father ignored him and focused on Jude. "Are you alright?" he asked, his grey eyes piercing right through Jude.

"I am fine," Jude assured him quietly, avoiding his gaze. "I am only shaken. Felix was able to steer us clear of any true danger."

Felix's chest swelled. "I was rather heroic, wasn't I?" he preened.

"Well done, my boy!" Felix's father praised him. "I am going to take this to the council. Surely now that one of their wretched beasts has gotten loose, they shall see how lax they are. Such a danger. They should all be put down!"

"The creatures of the forest should be respected for what they are and not punished for acting as they are designed," Jude's father said, his voice rumbling from his barreled chest.

Felix's father waved a hand. "Yes, yes, yes, respect the animals and all of that. I will respect them outside of my town and when they are not attacking our children. Come, Felix! We have people to talk to!"

Jude watched as they walked away, still trembling slightly. Those voices... what were they? And why had the stag looked at him like that?

Jude's father watched his wife's brother strut away with his son in tow and heaved a sigh. Turning, he looked down at Jude with a deep, incomprehensible look and then offered him a hand. "Come. Let's get you back to your aunt's. There's no point in staying here longer."

Jude guiltily accepted the hand up and leaned on his father heavily while he found his footing with his wooden foot. He was only too glad to end this day as his leg ached and his ears burned and his shoulders felt the weight of every single person around him, but he hadn't wanted it to end like this. The pathetic defective one dragging everything down once again. He said nothing, head lowered as he followed his father toward where they were staying for the yearly festival.

Jude's aunt, his mother's sister, fussed over Jude and his father both, feeding them far more than was necessary considering they'd both had festival food, but that was just how she showed love. Jude endured it for as long as he could before excusing himself to lay down in his cousin's room where they were sharing the bed for the night. Felix was still nowhere to be seen, and if he arrived home before the sun rose, everyone would be surprised. He sat on the bed and carefully undid the straps that harnassed his wooden leg to his fleshy thigh. The six inches of stump below his knee wiggled slowly, stretching out in relief at finally being freed of the leather cage. The lambskin padding the cup of the wooden leg where his stump sat did a lot to help ease the discomfort, but nothing was ever truly comfortable, especially not after multiple sweaty hours. He set his leg aside where Felix wouldn't stumble over it and laid down.

As he stared at the dark ceiling occasionally lit up by the lights of the festival despite the distance, he could not help but think of the stag. It had to all be a show, right? There was no way that stag or any of those other creatures could possibly be in any way magical. Other people talked and whispered of magic and the horrors it could bring, but he was a strong skeptic that such a thing had ever truly existed, let alone existed here and now in those cages controlled by random carnie folk. What would be the point? Why would they want to keep something like that caged up for one show a year? Why not let it run wild and free? Especially that stag. Surely, it could not live long in those confines whether or not it was a magical beast. And why had it looked at him like that? WHy had it looked at him like it recognized him? Or like it expected something of him? He was not certain what it was doing or wanted, but it had felt like it had connected with him. It was such a silly idea: a so-called magic deer connecting with a human! And those voices... no, they hadn't echoed in his head. It was just some random yelling from the crowd. That had to be it. He closed eyes and turned his face to the wall. It was nothing. Just the adrenalin from nearly getting trampled by a deer. That was all.

It took him a while to drift off. Then the dreams began. Whispers in his mind. Something urgent. Something pressing. Something pleading and demanding at the same time. Something that refused to be ignored.

A strange, demonic man appeared, standing over him, glaring down at him. What could it want from him? He was no one! Nobody! What did it want? To eat his heart? To steal his soul?

Jude woke with a start and set up, panting and sweating. What was that? What was that?? Had he been cursed? He didn't believe in magic, but this felt like a curse! There was a demon-deer-man-thing in his dreams telling him to release him! It had to be some kind of trick, right? How could he listen to some dream and steal a deer-thing from someone? They rather deserved to lose the deer and all of their other animals considering how they treated them, but theft was still theft! And how was he supposed to help them? How was he supposed to free this deer-man? And what if this deer-man was evil? What if he released an evil spirit?

He leaned over and gripped his head, the voices still echoing in his head and giving him a faint headache. No, the deer-thing wasn't evil. He was certain of that. If anything, it was a neutral, like any animal. A deer wasn't good or evil, nor was a hunting cat or a bear or any other creature. Morality was a human burden. Animals were just animals. If he released the creatures, it would not be releasing an evil spirit. That much he could be certain of even if he did have a headache and weird voices in his head.

"What are you doing?" Felix moaned next to him. "If you're going to be awake, be awake somewhere else."

Jude looked down at his cousin. He hadn't even realized Felix had gotten back. "Felix, if you had the choice of either following the law of the land or the law of morality, which would you do?" he found himself asking.

"Whichever one lets me get more sleep," Felix groaned.

Jude gave him a hard nudge. "In seriousness!"

"Moral, alright?" Felix grumbled. "That's what the right answer always is, isn't it?"

"Thank you. Will you please pay my bail?" Jude asked.

"Fine." Felix rolled over and stole all the covers as he pulled them around himself.

Jude carefully slid to the edge of the bed and reached into the corner to grab his crutch and his wooden leg. He still wasn't certain what he was doing of if this was the right thing, but he attached his leg, stood, and cautiously limped out of the room. No one was awake or noticed as he made his way to the front door, not even his father sleeping on a mat next to the dimmed fire. This may be a mistake, but he technically hadn't done anything yet.

Slowly and cautiously, using his crutch to ease the weight off his sore bad leg, he made his way through the mess of the festival toward where the side show had been. Maybe when he got there inspiration would strike. That, or he'd head back home and no one would know the difference.

This was ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous! Now he was hearing voices in his head constantly. Maybe he should go see a doctor. Or a priest. Where could he find a priest? Or some sort of anti-magic person. Where could he find that? He didn't even know what that sort of person would be called. What would happen if he denied the voices? Would his brain melt? He would really rather not lose his brain just yet. Reluctantly, he followed the directions appearing in his mind and ducked awkwardly through the mostly empty walkways, nearly holding his breath when he heard voices. When this was all over, if he survived, he needed to go see a doctor or something and get his mind evaluated.

The deer creature was in sight. He paused, looking at the flame creature. He glanced around and stepped closer to the flame creature's cage. She was so... he did not have a word to describe what this was. His heart squeezed seeing the creature or person inside. No one and nothing deserved this kind of life. If this could even be called a life. He reached out and brushed the bar of the cage. It was wrong.

The voices would not be denied. He pulled himself slowly away from the cage and tiptoed as best as he was able to the deer's cage. He looked around the bars and took it all in. This was massive! And intense. The voices wanted him to free this creature, but how? He found his way to the lock and ran his hands over it thoughtfully.

"I would think if someone would stop yammering in my brain!" Jude muttered as he examined the lock. Sun rise and sun set... that seemed simple, almost too simple. Did it matter which way the lock was facing? Did he need to make sure it was facing North, or was he overthinking it and the top of the lock was north? It made more sense that the top of the lock would be north, but magic seemed to like to make things complicated. That was all he knew about magic.

Staff coming!

Jude nearly dropped the lock, which would have been a noisy clang. He nearly snapped at the voices for startling him until he realized their warning. Time to hide! He glanced around. He could not move fast enough with his weak leg to get to the barrels. Instead, he dropped flat and half rolled, half scrambled under the cage. It was a tight fit, but he could make it! Just in time. He lay on his stomach trying not to breathe in the dirt and dust.

Feet walked right near him. He listened to the men talk as the feet moved. Please go away. Please go away. There was nothing to see here. Go to bed. It is so late it is early. Time to rest.

He jumped at the insistent voices in his head, his fingers digging into the cold earth below as the wagon supports dug into his back from above. "Would you be quiet?" Jude whispered in irritation to the voices. "This is stressful enough as it is without trying to figure out if the voice I am hearing is in my head or not!"

He waited, holding his breath, for the count of five. Then, not hearing anyone returning or other people around, he crawled stiffly out from under the cage and absently brushed himself off as he approached the lock once more. He lifted the lock and chose to imagine the top as being north. Spin twice one way, once the other way, and back again. It did not say how many times was "back again," so he assumed it was once. Carefully, he used only his fingertips to spin the dial to the west twice, then east, and back once more. That should do it! He hoped. He tried to remove the lock.

Jude quickly followed the woman's instructions and flicked the dial three times to the north. What he'd done should have worked, so why hadn't it? He bit his lip. People had already been alerted, so he might as well move quickly rather than carefully. He still tried to take some care as he turned the dial again, this time going the opposite of what he'd done the first time. That had to work, right? Please let it work. He didn't think his heart could take anymore stress.

Jude shivered as the chill brushed over him, but in that moment, he thought it was nothing more than a breeze. He backed away a little more, giving the incredible deer as much space as he could for its escape and watched as it seemed to practically fly away. There. He'd done it. He'd broken laws and technically stolen from someone. And he didn't regret it. Not one bit. He took a deep breath as a weight that he'd carried with him for years lessened slightly. Yes. This was worth whatever consequences came his way.

When the fire dancer whispered to him, he glanced her way. Then he looked around. No one had been alerted yet. Any direction he chose to escape was as good as any other. Cautiously, he started inching toward her cage. His bad leg felt strange. He couldn't put his finger on why, and he did not have time to figure it out. The sharp pains had ceased, making his movements easier and quieter. For that, he was grateful, but again did not think much of it as he focused entirely on reaching the fire dancer's cage, his success at the deer's cage giving him some courage. He could not release all of the creatures, but maybe one more? He reached out to the lock hopefully.

What am I? What am I?? How was he supposed to know stones? He belonged in a lumber camp, not a mine! Who came up with these locks, anyway? What was wrong with a good, old-fashioned key! He bit his lip, running his fingers over the stone as he tried to think. Ruby? That seemed too obvious. What other stones were red? Red with black. Did rubies have black? He didn't think so. He tried to think through all the stones he knew.

"Red Jasper?" he finally whispered out loud, desperately hoping he was right.

He could not afford to raise the alarm again, but how could he leave a sentient being here? Besides, he had already freed one. In for a penny, in for a pound.

Jude swore quietly. "I'm sorry," he told the fire person.

Why couldn't he get any of these ridiculous riddles and puzzles right the first try? It really mattered! Now was not the time to berate himself. He had to hide. He was no good to anyone held prisoner. Hopefully held prisoner. He could not be certain these people would behave civilly and turn him over to the town constabulary. They might deal with him themselves and make up a story to cover it up later. He glanced around, quickly taking things into account. He couldn't hide under the empty cage or this one. They would surely check there. The barrels. He had to try for the barrels. He was a little closer now, and his leg still did not hurt. He did his best dash for the barrels, instinctively favoring his bad leg, still not yet registering why it felt different or just how different it was.

One barrel was empty save for a bit of straw likely used to pad whatever was being transported. He dove into the barrel and hastily yanked straw up and over his head, hunkering down as best as he could. It was a tight fit. He was grateful for possibly the first time in his life that he was not a larger, more muscular lad. He willed himself still and quiet, trying to listen over the sound of his pounding heart.

Jude sat squished in the barrel with his knees up at his chin, his eyes squeezed shut. When no one immediately found him, he began pondering the fire maiden again. He needed to get out of here. He needed to escape! But if he did that, she would remain stuck. Then again, he couldn't release them all, so what would make her special? As it was, he'd already broken several laws by releasing the Stag. Of course, there was that saying about being in for a penny, in for a pound. Was that really a good argument, though?

Then he thought of the stall where they sold natural stones in various jewelry forms. Necklaces, rings, and things like that. The stone in the lock was natural. He visualized the stall as he listened to the guards rustling around uncomfortably close to his hiding place and then away. What stones at the stall were red? He couldn't think of many stones off the top of his head, but maybe he could remember the lady in the stall explaining them as she showed them to his cousin. Turquoise... Agate... Garnet... Hematite... Wardite... Peridot... Wait. Garnet. Garnets had come in multiple different colors. Had they come in red? He thought so. What did it look like red? He couldn't remember what a red garnet looked like!

The guards' footsteps and voices faded. Jude brushed the straw off his head and slowly rose up, twisting awkwardly to get all the way up. He could see distant indications of the search, but nothing close to him. It was now or never. He climbed out of the barrel stiffly, for a moment noting his bad leg felt different. He hoped that was a good thing, but he couldn't pause to think about it now. He managed to get out of the barrel without knocking it over and hobbled to the fire lady's cage.

Picking up the lock, he whispered frantically, "Red Garnet," and dropped it before hurrying away as quickly as he could. He glanced around at the other cages, guilt twisting his gut. He wished he could free them all, but he wasn't certain he could get away now. He couldn't take the time to stand around trying to solve riddles on locks, though that was possibly easier than trying to steal a ring of keys. He wished he could take the time, but he couldn't.