Thread: The Traveling Shock Circus

Lox waited patiently in his cage as he listened to the roar of the crowds drowning out any other sound in the area save the blood thumping through his sensitive ears. There were only a few moments before the show began and right now the ringleader Marole was finishing up the last acrobatic act with an expert flick of her whip followed by a harsh crack to send off the panting actors. Out of a tiny slit in the curtain he could see the smooth curve of her round hips and a flick of her thick tail there was no doubt why he could hear a lot more male voices than female cheering. The thing was Marole was to his imagination something between a human and an otter with the short smooth fur and thick tail she sported, but then again everyone in The Traveling Shock Circus was a creature besides human. This circus was a haven for creatures that shouldn't exist in the minds of humans, and while some actually only stood by to be looked at none of them were humans. Most thought everyone in the circus were simply dressed up in costumes that could only be produced by masters, and Marole herself had the curvaceous body and sexy attitude that she drew the crowds attention perfectly even if she wasn't human. It also helped that she was just a few inches shorter than his own six foot four inch height and had an air of authority that made simple circus goers eating out of the palms of her hands. Perfect for a ringleader, not so much the open kind hearted woman most of them believed her to be when they joined. The whip cracked again, and the curtains opened to blind Lox with glaring lights and deafening screams from the crowd as two hefty stage hands pulled his cage out into the ring where Marole waited with a coy smile on her face and her whip rolled up neatly in her left hand. He was no different than the other all the other performers in being inhuman, but two things made him especially popular with the crowds and unfortunately with the ring leader herself. Lox was a canine of sorts but with a strange coloration in having jet black fur with a lighter red coating his muzzle, down his throat, and farther down beneath the metal breast plate he currently wore with a solid stripe coloring the bottom of his tail. This drew a lot of eyes alone considering his height and even crouched in the cage it was easy to tell he was well muscled but his show was the second reason he went last in the line up. Across from him was a similarly built male named Macen that was something like a leopard who ever so slightly nodded before weapons were brought out to the side of both cages. Instantly the crowd hushed a few more attractive stage hands demonstrated that all the weapons were edged and real, and calmly both Lox and his Opponent selected which they would fight with for today's show before bunching their muscles in preparation. Marole had a thing for beauty but she was also a sadist in more ways than Lox cared to think about, and the smile he noticed out of the corner of her eyes suggested one of them wouldn't be sleeping tonight hoping it would be the other guy considering their act. The stage hands had positioned the cages at the edges of the ring, and stood by as Marole walked the full circle with a sway to her hips as she winked at them both before moving to the edge of the ring between the cages. With a flourish she unraveled the whip and with a single crack both cage doors flew open to admit two hurtling bodies closing in on each other. Their show was very simple, fight until the whip cracked and both had been given a short sword, shield, and breast plate but other than that it was up to them to make it real. Usually these kinds of shows failed or booed as fake, but both Lox and Macen knew their very lives depended on how viciously they fought. Both smashed into each other with so much force that their shields were dented inward and dazed the two of them for a moment before Macen moved into the offensive. The clangs, growls, and hisses from the two of them made a few children in the crowd cry in fear, and more than a few people had their adolescent kids look away as they fought, but when Lox smashed his sword on Macen's shield and inversely broke his opponents using his own ruined shield things went from vicious combat to down right brutality. Hurling their ruined weapons and defenses aside both when at each other tooth and nail as they punched, kicked, bit, and tore the other with the fight ending up in the dusty floor with blood spattering here and there. When the two of them went at it they fought for the death of the other, but Marole was a master ringleader and the moment Lox's jaws closed around Macen's neck they heard the crack and separated both weaving and bleeding from numerous wounds. With a coy smile Marole held up Lox's tired left arm to the roar of approval from the crowd but at that moment he didn't give a damn about them or anyone else except Macen walking back behind the curtains. They weren't close friends exactly, but they shared concern for each other given the brutality of their show, running through both minds was the single thought as to how many times they'd have to do this before one of them ended up dead. They weren't actors or happy workers, the collars everyone wore around their necks were a silent open mockery to all who thought them free. Everyone in The Traveling Shock Circus were slaves, and none had any real hope of escaping their sadistic mistress.