Come one, Come all!

“Grooves is nae my ‘buddy’,” the owl huffed. “I may not hate him as much as he thinks I do, but we are no where near friends.” The Conductor crossed his arms and began tapping his foot as he thought. Grumbling a bit more to himself, the adds, “Half the bloody studio is in the Peck Neck’s name. I’m nae going to get stuck with half the studio and all the bills to to pay.”

The Conductor didn’t put much stock into the answers Charlie was giving him. But with out harder evidence There wasn’t much the Conductor could do. Well, one option would be to actually go in and get a look around. But that didn’t seem like it would go over well. He’d already kicked up some fuss with Charlie and there was a good possibility that the little cockatiels would talk to one another.

There was also the possibility of speaking with the plush bird’s boss. Though there wasn’t a guarantee that the peck neck would be any clearer with answers.

Not wanting to just leave things alone, the owl spoke up again. “That boss of yers. He open to a conversation?”

Conductor was right on one thing, word spreads fast, and it was likely that all the cockatiel workers were aware of his presence by now, opting not to enter was a wise choice on his part. Not that they’d do anything, but still. Charlie hummed softly, not really a tune, moreso just a thoughtful sound, they were about to answer with a yes- but seems an answer wouldn’t be necessary…

From behind the little carnie, the shadows seem to lift off of the ground in a massive, yet quiet pillar of dark-colored flame. After a moment or two, the fire seems to take on a vaguely humanoid shape, and a pair of eyes seem to open from within, followed by a wide, illuminated smile. Out of this fire walks The Ringmaster in all his glory: a towering nighthawk, his form becoming more defined as he walks forward to carefully scoop up the cockatiel and regard his visitor.

The Conductor huffed a slight laugh, and leaned back to stand straight himself. “Got some fight in ye, laddie,” the owl stated with the corner of his beak ever so slightly twitching upward. “What a’m doing, is asking questions. There’s a wee bit of a mystery involving the co-owner of the studio, and I’d like some answers.”

He folded his wings behind his back. And while his eyes were still locked on the smaller bird, the owl’s body language had relaxed the slightest bit. “Yer really telling me that yer boss is a dramatic peck neck, has the name of the circus have some relation to stars, and has a bunch of… staff? That are not only birds – albeit plush looking birds – but birds with black and white feathers. Like, oh I don’t know, A Pecking Penguin?”

“I’ve got more than enough fight to not be some pushover. Don’t know what’s up with the co-owner buddy of yours though. Not sure you’ll find answers here but whatever, I’ll humor you“

The cockatiel worker made a soft huffing sound, hard to tell how, but honestly the fact that it’s basically a giant living, talking plushie should explain enough on its own.

“Either way Boss chose our colors. The black and white makes our colorful outfits stand out and pop. Contrast or something like that. It’s likely just a weird coincidence or something. Not sure his reasoning behind the circus name though, but eh doesn’t matter too much on our end so we don’t find much reason to ask.“

Charlie gave a sort of indifferent shrug. Just... Give this guy vague answers and maybe he’ll leave... Though if all else fails maybe they’ll just... Have to get Ringmaster himself. Surely 15 feet of ghost bird would get the Conductor to back off. Grooves alone wasn’t that tall, nor was he a ghost.

 - starter for @spectral-spectacle - 

The small purple creature with messy and matted fur stirred from its spot on the ground. It was weak and shaking, and judging from the dried trails coming from its eyes, had been crying. The imp hadn’t a clue where it had ended up, nothing looked remotely familiar. Then again, that’s the point of running away, wasn’t it? Abandon the known and risk the new. That’s how it always had been, right?

The widespread crisis had only compounded the imp’s need to run. How could anywhere be safe when an innocent little In-Training could warp digivolve to a rampaging Machinedramon with no warning? Its anxiety of crowds had grown to paranoia in the short time this problem has been about in the Digital World. So scared even that the imp had taken to tying two odd little symbols to its ears, one orange the other yellow. And both seemed to be depicting a sun.

Despite a foggy mind and drained body, the creature got up to wander. Staying in one place for too long unnerved it and there was no guarantee it’s luck would persist if it chose to stay there for longer. No. It was better to keep moving. Stick to the shadows. Stay away from any and all other digimon.

This was still the Digital World, right? That little fall was just in a delirious dream. Well now it was in the waking world, and the virus was hungry. At the first whiff of food, the digimon followed. It could chance a quick run in so long as there was food. Just really quick. Grab the food and run. Simple. Right?

That’s what it thought anyway. And then it saw the tents. This likely wasn’t going to be as easy a task as the imp had hoped.

It certainly doesn’t look like an easy task. While the general crowds and bustle around the food stalls seem to provide enough cover to sneak over and get away, getting to the stalls is another story entirely.

A gate that almost looks to be made of thorns surrounds all but the front entrance, and around the ticket booths at the entrance are five plush cockatiels, each sporting accents of a different, bright color. Two of them call out to the public, waving flyers and advertising the events within the tents to passerby. One seems to be handling ticket sales, and a small ways behind them are the other two, checking the lines of people approaching for tickets and stamping the backs of hands (or whatever else constitutes) of the people that have them in a faintly glowing ink before letting them in the gate. 

Sharp brown eyes stayed locked on the poor small plush. It didn’t look like he bought the act, but the Conductor said nothing on the subject and chose to stay quiet. The normally screeching owl being so calm and visibly leering would have likely sent an Express Owl into a full panic attack pretty quickly.

The Conductor knew there was something going on with this bizarre circus from nowhere. Something that was being covered up. And somehow the penguins’ vanishing act was tied into it.

The barn owl leaned in some and finally spoke up again, “Oh yeah? That’s funny. Because Charlie, ye seem tae have ‘bout the same level of acting skills as them. Which is peck all.”

Oh peck oh no- Why did the Conductor have to be legitimately terrifying? He was far less terrifying when yelling. The cockatiel took a step back, clearly intimidated and extremely unsettled. Honestly if it wasn’t for half of them trying to remain some semblance of calm, Charlie would have probably bolted and only made things even MORE suspicious than their failed attempts to play things off. If only boss were here... Maybe he’d know what to say...

“Hey! I can act... You’re just being weird and unnerving. Finally meet you in person and you’re doing.... Whatever this is. Besides! I don’t work here for my acting skills!“

The cockatiel, although much smaller tried to stand up straighter and hide their fear, terrified? Yes. But you know what, part of them had seen FAR scarier than this mass of  feathers! Honestly this probably seemed like an odd slight shift in demeanor. The nerves appeared to melt away, far better hidden than before. You ain’t getting shit outta them featherbrain!

The Conductor watched the plush cockatiel start to bounce. In the raptor’s experience whenever someone started to fidget like that around him they wanted to leave. The Express Owls certainly got like that. He should probably continue on home at this point. The plushie bird likely had to get back to work as well.

“Sounds like yer boss is a dramatic peck nec-” The Conductor cut himself off and thought. This whole situation was just bizarre. So many little things that just don’t quiet add up. It couldn’t hurt to ask could it? Truth be told, the Conductor was a bit worried about the other director. “Aw rite. Just got one more question before I’m heading home.”

The Conductor narrowed his eyes on the cockatiel and surprisingly calm and quiet he continued “Since ye travel around so frequently, ye haven’t seen any moon penguins have ye?”

“Boss can be a bit dramatic yeah“

Wait oh peck oh no- Why did he have to ask about Moon Penguins. He’s picking up on things, isn’t he? This was just a horrible time all around. 'Charlie’ honestly just wants to fizzle out of existence. Don’t hesitate, don’t sound like an idiot... Just play it cool, play it smooth. 

“Moon penguins? Nah, can’t say I have“

“Right. I was getting more at, that’s a lot to set up and take down for a single night,” the owl clarified looking over the plushie bird with pink details. “Different medium than films, but wouldn’t ye benefit a bit more staying in one place for a bit longer? Either getting repeat business or business from would be patrons that otherwise couldn’t make one show? Not that I’m wanting this pecking thing to stick around me tracks for longer. But for in the future.”

The Conductor once more looked back to the circus behind the other. This time reading the sign bearing the circus’ name. ‘AstralThorn’? That sounded a bit like something Grooves would have in his nonsense sci-fi films. Then again, the owl could be looking too much into things since he and all the other moon penguins from the studio disappeared.

Regardless, the owl was curious about this strange circus that would apparently be gone by morning. “So who is yer boss?”

“Well uh, boss is the one that makes the calls for where we stay and set up at the end of the day, but who knows, maybe if we find a decent place with a lot of business we’ll set up longer!“

The cockatiel bounced around a bit, were they excited? Were they nervous? hard to tell. Maybe they just couldn’t hold still. They definitely wanted this conversation over though. Gotta be friendly and polite... Maybe this will be over soon. Hopefully.

“Which peck neck thought setting up here was a good idea? Yer circus may not be a problem for the tracks, but whatever foot traffic ye get could.” The owl huffed and rubbed at his temple. “For pecks sake… whatever. If this really is just one night here, and there isn’t a bunch of rubbish left around the tracks from yer patrons then a’ll leave it be.”

The Conductor let out an exhausted sigh before glancing from Charlie the cockatiel to the circus behind them. He spotted the another cockatiel beyond the fence, but a moment later looked back to Charlie. “Quite a bit to set up for just one night.”

“Well uh, that was our boss, he decides where and when we set up. As I said, we travel a lot so  we come and go, y’know? Gotta have a big set up for people to have the best time! We’re out here keeping an eye on things anyways so don’t worry about people getting hurt sir! We don’t want bad things happening to our guests!”

“I’m going to stop ye right there, laddie.” the owl said holding up a wing to emphasize his point, “I don’t care what all this is. What I am curious about is where this all cam from and why it is set up so close to me tracks.”

Since the sun had gone down at this point, the Conductor had brushed some of the feathers normally covering his out of the way. Sharp brown eyes looked over the plush bird. There was something, vaguely familiar to the circus plush. But the owl was certain that he’d never spoke to anyone with pink button eyes, costume or otherwise.

Narrowing his gaze on the other the Conductor added, “And who, and or what are ye?”

“Well we tend to set things up for one night only, so you don’t need to worry about us being in the way sir! I promise that we’ll be out of your feathers by morning. We’re a traveling circus so we come and go, this location seemed pretty decent to set things up.“

If they weren’t basically an oversized animated plushie, the cockatiel would likely look visibly nervous about now. Thank goodness that button eyes make for the perfect poker face. But... Oh no, they didn’t have a proper name. Uh... uh... Name, they need a name... CHARLIE! Perfect, a perfectly normal name, better than just saying they don’t have one.... That would be suspicious.

“And well, I’m Charlie! A cockatiel! A bunch of us work here.“

‘AstralThorn Circus’… Indeed, this circus is absolutely new. From passerby, the girl could easily gather that these tents popped up almost instantaneously once twilight hit with little warning. Posters scattered around the mainland advertise it as ‘the best show you’ll ever see’…

If appearances meant anything, it certainly looked the part! The tents set up surrounding the main tent host countless games, and the smell of food wafts enticingly from the entrance. Already, people of all sorts are walking about inside, and more still form a line at the ticket booths.

Manning said booths are what appear to be several animate dolls of sorts, each sewn in the shape of a cockatiel with bright, softly glowing patches for cheeks. Several more of these dolls stand to the side, advertising in loud voices and handing out flyers. One such doll approaches the hooded child, holding out a wrinkle-free pamphlet and looking up at her with colorful button eyes.

“Why, hello there friend! We’re so glad you asked~”

The large, spectral bird grins down at you, placing a clawed hand on your shoulder and gesturing around with his cane at the carnival, stopping on the large tent in the center.

“Ladies and gentlemen                       Boys and ghouls!                                                 Step right up. Behind this curtain lies a ghastly concoction of              Delight, Horror, Fantasy and terror. Your every wish is our command!             Your every whimsical desire brought to life. But I'm warning you,                               There's always a price. Welcome to the greatest show unearthed!”

Joint run RP/Ask blog for an exciting new AHiT AU! The Greatest Show AU, where Snatcher and DJ Grooves have fused into one being, creating an all new show of their own with the goal to be better than The Conductor ever could be. An eerie circus seemingly showed up overnight, and all trace of Grooves and his moon penguins are seemingly gone.

Welcome to the circus, the show is truly to die for.