Fortuna of The Freak Circus

For those who follow me and my videos on YouTube and on TikTok, please remember that The Freak Circus is not a game or media meant to be played by anyone under the age of 18.

It features dark, sensitive and graphic content that is meant for an adult audience.

Myself, Neko and the entirety of the TFC team are incredibly uncomfortable that there are people under the age of 18 interacting with the game and fandom, especially when we’ve taken a great amount of care to properly tag and label things across the board— its labeled as such on itchio, the official blog is clearly labeled as well with no room for misinterpretation:

The Freak Circus is not meant for anyone under the age of 18.

We are also not the parents of other people’s children, and are not responsible nor obligated to witch hunt every single minor that posts in the TFC tag or comments somewhere. I have become incredibly wary to interact with people who do not have a posted age (though people can and do lie on the internet, I’m quite aware of that) largely because there are many people who just don’t respect that boundary.

(There are a lot of fans who don’t respect many boundaries, but that’s a separate issue and one that I can ignore a lot easier.)

There’s very little an adult creator can do to restrict access to their adult-but-not-explicit media without also risking their media to be blacklisted, banned, restricted to those who show government IDs, ect. Even if someone is an adult, they should never be forced to show their photo ID to a company or to a government in order to access the internet or to interact with a piece of media, and it’s the biggest reason I use tags instead of labels to try and find a responsible but aware balance with who can see and access my content.

For context, the whole TFC team grew up and were fundamentally part of an internet where governments and companies did not have access to people’s personal information in the same way they do now— the idea of them even asking for more than your name was strange. I know I’m not the only adult who would agree that the internet is a very different place then where it started, and very much worse in some regards (I hate the state of modern day social media and the commodification of art) but there is only so much one person can do without going completely insane.

Me and Neko have agreed on many occasions how important it is to keep the game accessible for people, because there are plenty of adults who cannot access the game otherwise if there was a price tag on it or if the game itself was restricted behind Patreon or a similar process.

We just… fundamentally disagree on restricting it in that way, and its exhausting to take every reasonable measure to communicate this boundary and still have people disregard it or get angry that we aren’t ’doing more’.

In a headcanon where we manage to convince the troupe to play DBD, this is how I imagine it would go. 

This is part one of the post, I will post part two with Ticket Taker and Jester later.

For any typos or grammar mistakes please let me know! (English isn't my first language, Brazilian Portuguese is).

Little dbd explanation to those who never played the game:

Dead by Daylight is a multiplayer horror game where four survivors try to escape while one player takes on the role of the killer hunting them. The survivors must repair five generators scattered around the map to power the exit gates, while the killer tries to catch them, hook them (3 times to kill), and eliminate them before they can escape. Survivors can hide in lockers, run, use pallets to stun and windows to evade the killer, and work together to stay alive. I tried to explain perk behaviors to the best of my abilities. 

Pierrot:

As a survivor: If you’re also playing as a survivor, his life mission is to make sure you escape. Pierrot is following you close the whole match and would use perks that let him take protection hits, heal you faster, and trade hook states. Pookie must save your neck by all means.

His four main perks:

Share the Burden: Trade 1 Hook State with another Survivor to their benefit.

He’d save this perk to use in your favor and take one of your hook stages for himself.

For the People: While healthy and healing another Survivor without a Med-Kit, use Active Ability Button 1 to heal them instantly. You take damage and become the obsession. 

Again, he’d use this to pick you up from the dying state.

We’ll Make It: Whenever you unhook a Survivor, you heal other Survivors 100% faster. 

Gotta save and patch you up before the killer comes back.

Background Player: Whenever the Killer picks up another Survivor, for the next 10 seconds, when you start running: Gain 50% Haste for 5 seconds.

MUST RUN 3237692 MILES, BONK KILLER WITH A PALLET AND SAVE HIS LADY/LORD!!

Will bring a medkit to help him heal you even faster.

If you’re not in the match, he’ll use his perks to help the rest of the troupe (except Harlequin). He’ll still be sad about not playing with you, though.

If you play as the killer, Pierrot will play without perks. He doesn’t want to sandbag the rest of the troupe, but he also doesn’t want to see you sad if you lose. He thinks this is a good compromise, and even if you try to explain you wouldn’t be mad about losing and ask him to play properly, he’ll refuse and say he’s having fun anyways.

As killer: Plays as The Huntress, or as The Trickster, has insane aim, throws hatchets across the map and still gets a hit. If you didn't download the game for him you would think he downloaded an aimbot.

He is respectful about pallets, he doesn’t need to run through it in order to get a down.

He’d kill everyone except you, no hard feelings. Would 100% tunnel Harlequin and get him out of the match as quickly as possible. If he isn’t careful about it and Harlequin manages to evade him long enough, Ticket Taker WILL finish all the generators very fast. Either way by the end of it, he’d give you the hatch or carry you to one of the exit gates.

You have no choice. He’s never hurting his lady/lord, not even in a game. 

Harlequin:

As a survivor: This little shit would 100% sandbag you and Pierrot. Expect him to drop your precious pallets while you’re trying to loop the killer, stand planted in doorways or right in your path to body block you, and of course miss every skill check just to blow up your generator and make it regress.

His four main perks:

Diversion: After hiding within the Killer’s Terror Radius while crouched and idle, use Active Ability Button 1 to throw a pebble 20m away: - The Killer is alerted. - The pebble leaves Scratch Marks. I don’t even have to say it. He’d keep throwing pebbles at you to snitch your position to the killer.

Red Herring: After repairing a Generator for at least 1 second: - When you hide in a Locker, the Killer is alerted to the Generator. He’d tap your generator for one second, run to the opposite side of the map, and activate the perk, blowing up your gen.

Mirrored Illusion: Press the Active Ability button next to a Chest, Exit Gate, Generator, or Totem to spawn a static illusion of your character. Even though he loves annoying you, he also enjoys messing with the killer. He’d leave clones near a gen while hiding behind a rock, nearly losing it laughing when the killer tries to grab him. Of course, he’d also use it at an exit gate to trick you into going to the wrong (still closed) one. Honestly, why would you trust him?

Flashbang: When you use the Flashbang: - Everyone nearby looking at the detonation is blinded. - The Killer is alerted. He’d craft one just to blind you mid-chase. Absolute menace.

If Pierrot is the killer, though: it’s like a switch flips. He is not letting him win, even if it means stopping the trolling and actually locking in to escape a VERY pissed Pierrot. Switches his whole troll build for a sweaty one.

In this case, he’d run:

Dead Hard: After being unhooked, while injured and running, use Active Ability Button 1: - If the killer hits you, you don’t go down and instead enter the Mending state. Pierrot is a good killer, so Harlequin must bring all the chase perks he can in order to survive.

Decisive Strike: After being unhooked, when the Killer picks you up, once per trial, hit a Special Skill Check: - Stun the Killer for 4 seconds, and makes it drop you. Pierrot is a good killer, so Harlequin must bring all the chase perks he can in order to survive²

Sprint Burst: Whenever you start running: - Gain 50% Haste for 3 seconds. Oh you better believe Harlequin gotta be running non stop… 

Mirrored Illusion: He’d still run this one because rage-baiting Pierrot is just too good to pass up.

He’d also bring the highest-tier flashlight just to blind Pierrot, and probably rummage for another one once it runs out so he can keep doing it. Professional hater activities.

As a killer: Would play as The Legion or Wesker, he likes the aesthetic, speed and easy mechanics of both killers. Tried to play Kaneki because of the tentacles, rage quit cuz he didn't understand the mechanics and killed no one in the match. You better hope he doesn’t learn how to, though, bro would be a force of nature.

His killer matches unfold in one of two ways: He either leaves you alone to go after Pierrot, or ignores everyone else and comes only after you, upsetting Pierrot in the process. Does not care about losing as long as he has at least one of you dead at the hook. Will face camp your hook to force Pierrot to trade hooks with you and eventually kill him this way.

Doctor:

As a survivor: Well… Doctor plays exactly like a doctor. All his perks revolve around keeping his teammates alive as efficiently as possible. The moment one of you gets hooked, he’s already on his way to patch you up.

His four main perks:

Do No Harm: While healing another Survivor: - For each Hook State they have, you heal 30/40/50% faster. - Landing Great Skill Checks grants an additional 3% progress. You have no idea how fast this bird can get you from bleeding out on the floor to back on your feet.

Empathic Connection: You heal other Survivors 25/30/35% faster. - Injured Survivors can see your Aura. He runs this perk so that whenever any of you are hurt, you can spot him from anywhere on the map and run straight to him for proper care.

Adrenaline: When all Generators are completed: - Instantly heal if you are injured or downed, and gain 50% Haste for 3 seconds. In the endgame, he doesn’t have time to heal himself, he needs to be wherever his teammates are, taking protection hits and making sure everyone gets out.

Reassurance: Once per Hook State, while within 6 meters of a hooked Survivor, use Active Ability Button 2 to pause the sacrifice progress. He mostly uses this against Harlequin, since he’s the only one who tends to camp hooked teammates.

When Harlequin isn't the killer, switches Reassurance for We'll make it.

Always brings the highest-tier medkit he has available, along with the best addons for it.

Bonus: Spends money and buys the Iron Maiden skins… Says he plays better with it.

As a killer: He plays as The Doctor (no pun intended) or The Clown (no pun intended²) , he enjoys using area control to slow everyone down, making it harder for you to gain distance or safely drop pallets.

He pays close attention to disturbed crows, so you’d better move carefully around them if you don’t want him tracking your location.

He never respects pallets, he will keep pressing W and walking through it like an absolute unit.

Hey all! First off, we want to thank everyone for sending in asks when the ask box is open! It's so encouraging to see how many of you have deeply connected to The Freak Circus and want to express that in a positive way for both the fandom as well as Neko. It's a shame that all asks cannot be answered (as we regularly get around five to six hundred at a time) but we appreciate the love all the same!

That being said, there are some asks that will simply not be answered, and are often deleted instead of being answered for a few reasons.

Below is a list of the types of questions we see many times that will not typically be answered by Neko or the team, so please avoid asking them at risk of your question being deleted immediately:

How would [character] react to an MC who has [specific trait, sexuality, style, gender presentation or specific sex]?

How would they react if MC did [action, habit, mistake, ect]?

What if MC is suicidal or as a specific mental illness?

All the circus members are capable of loving MC no matter what they look like, who they are, or what they do. These types of questions have been answered many times in the past, and it can be extremely difficult to answer each specific variation.

MC is a stand-in for you as fans to explore how they interact with the world and other characters. You do not need us to validate your idea of what you want to consume as a fan, but if you want to see it, we do encourage you to write it! Fiction is a wonderful way to express yourself and can even be cathartic.

This is also because there are many life experiences that we on the team don’t share, and we don’t want to misrepresent a culture, religion, sexuality, gender or mental health illness because of our lack of familiarity or connection.

Some of our mods may be able to connect with certain things, but please be aware that if we cannot offer a better answer than ‘yes, you would be accepted and appreciated’ then we will not answer the question due to the sheer volume of asks that we receive!

What if MC was [specific sexual orientation or gender]?

Again, the clowns will love you no matter what. This could be another opportunity to write or support your fellow fans by commissioning writing of the specific things you want to see!

Sexuality and gender presentation can be an incredibly intimate and personal thing, and exploring that is healthy! We appreciate the full spectrum of the human experience and think it is wonderful when fans explore that with the characters— you don’t need our permission to do that!

What if MC were aromantic/ace/lesbian/etc?

There is a protagonist route, so you don't have to romance the clowns if you don't wish to. Some people love the idea of exploring a platonic connection with these characters, and there is a lot of room to do so!

When will Day 3 come out?

You (as well as us mods!) must wait for Neko to make posts about Day 3 and any other updates. Please remember he is writing, coding, creating, and working on the game all by himself. All we mods help with is this blogs management.

"Hey Pierrot, how would you react if--?" -or- "Hey Harlequin what do you think---?"

All asks directed to the characters themselves will be deleted immediately. This is a perk of Neko's Patreon AMA style questions only!

For better clarity:

“To Pierrot: What foods do you like?” <- This is a character question and will not be answered.

“What kinds of foods does Pierrot like?” <- This is a question that may be answered.

How do I romance Jester/Ticket Taker/Doctor/Boss?

At the moment, you don't. The only options as of now are Pierrot, Harlequin, both of them, or neither of them. If any more options for routes will be added in the future then they would be as add-ons or DLC, but this isn't decided yet. Neko's gotta make the game first!

We love that you are so deeply invested in the characters and want to know how they would react to your specific situations, but that isn't feasible to add or answer every possible option available. MC is only following the story of The Freak Circus visual novel, it is up to you to fill in who MC is to you!

PTSD flashbacks????? Pierrot locked in this time with MC. He ain't taking his eyes off of her like he did with Columbina.

I've been in some full on monsterfucker fandoms, and for the life of me, I need to see more of that actual monsterfucker art.

Not just "Here they are as humans with white skin, with maybe a little bump or scale here or there, a little tail and horns." There's just too much human.

I mean full on monster through and through.

After looking at the recent Q&A. I think that Pierrot’s voice has the ability to heighten emotions, whether it be through its cadence or pitch. I believe we see an example of it here with Harlequin.

I’m basing this off of the dramatic heartbeat line, use of red, and Harlequin’s stance. Look at his eyes too. He’s affected. I’m not sure what kind of effect to consider this as, since he’s still aware (‘Damn, that voice…’). Perhaps it’s some form of enchantment? Regardless, there is an influence.

Pierrot saying that he can ‘control it’ gives me the impression that he knows that he has these abilities and is able to manipulate its effects.

When Jester says that Pierrot is ‘safe in his hands,’ it’s implying that Pierrot is Jester’s responsibility. So if Pierrot breaks his rule of not speaking, he’s jeopardizing Jester’s ability to protect him while also risking the well-being of the other members.

This makes me wonder about the events of Columbina’s death. We see that Harlequin was the one to take the bite in TT’s recollection of the events, but in Jester’s, we see Pierrot’s mouth taking a bite. Did Pierrot’s voice in that moment (whether it be the sounds of his weeps or something else) cause Harlequin’s emotions to intensify? Which influenced his actions to initiate the strike?

These are two different perspectives. Jester is most definitely aware of Pierrot’s abilities, but I’m unsure if the others know. That’s why I’m wondering why it isn’t in TT’s recollection.

But it could also be grudges against Harlequin since I don’t think TT and Harlequin see each other well. After all, Harlequin depicted TT and Jester as the ones holding Columbina back for Pierrot to strike in his show.

It also makes me look at this scene a little differently. They’re likely talking about the moonless night events where Pierrot was subdued by the ringmaster [Him being “tamed” by the man after he used his sharp claws] OR we could see it as metaphorical in how Jester was the one to “tame” Pierrot by making the rule for him not to speak. “His claws” could just be a play on words because Harlequin said the word claws.

So in essence, Pierrot not only has brute strength but his voice also has an effect on at least Harlequin (which, based on what we see, his voice can easily overpower Harlequin’s poison IF matters become serious). It would depend on if Harlequin can trick Pierrot in a way where that wouldn’t be the case.

But then again, during the comic, it didn’t seem like it was nighttime so either the events are combined or they’re just simply talking about moonless night.

Either way Pierrot is OP.

Also, does Pierrot’s abilities only work on monsters? Because I don’t see why he couldn’t use them on humans while they were imprisoned.

Or maybe his abilities only work on Harlequin and when Jester says ‘it’s for OUR safety’ it suggests that they’d not only need to be safe from Pierrot but also Harlequin.

Which, in terms of strength, he is on equal footing with Jester. It just depends on WHO HAS THE ADVANTAGE.

So, Pierrot abiding by Jester’s rule and not speaking, gives him the upper hand.

I LOVE THISSSS OMGGGGGGGG---but since there are only five of them, two of the sins won't be used.

Pierrot: Lust --Love at first sight? Well...it's combined with more than just that. Hell, Pierrot even lusts for acceptance, let alone your body. Everything about The Pierrot is physical: from his strength, to his hatred for Harlequin, to his love for you, and then finally his wish to never be alone again. Pierrot has no sense of self-control; he is a puppet to his feelings and those feelings are guided by his darkest desires.

Harlequin: Envy --It's obvious why this is his sin, but the lack of satisfaction he gets from those around him (those he craves) mimics Jester's vice as well. Everyone around him seems happy. They're just being themselves, being kind and open---why can't he be that way? Why is he like this? Why does everyone and everything around him fall apart? Harlequin lives behind the peeling panes of a window, watching others live the life he desperately wants. No one can hear him banging on the glass, crying for attention.

Jester: Gluttony --Jester is never satisfied, always wanting to do more, help his kind or expand his claim--more and more! Though the leader of the circus would never put his own ambitions ahead of his clan, his stomach will never be filled. Once he achieves one goal, he makes another.

Doctor: Sloth---Why rush a good experiment when you can take your time? The answers of the universe will come to YOU--no need to explore on your own and go to it. All in due time--this world's secrets and all it has to offer will be revealed. As such, Doctor will continue doing things as he's always does---it's easier that way.

Just thought everyone should know Baidao’s stance...

Original Twitter thread where these images came from:

This is her first ever post on the topic she made a few weeks ago: