The Circus Has Many Secrets

~O~

"God hath given you one face, and you make yourself another."

-William Shakespeare, Hamlet-

~O~

"There are some strange people joining this circus," Beast grumbled aloud. She shoved the sponge into soapy water she'd been using to wash Betty, and it sloshed over the edges of the bucket.

Muffet nodded sympathetically. Though she had heard the conversation the night before, she hadn't known what the manservant had actually done to anger Beast. The woman was very much like an older sister to Muffet, though her style of dress was rather far removed from her own, and as hot-headed as she was, she usually had good reasons to get angry.

Now she had a more concrete reason to dislike the black-coated man. A general air of distaste and mistrust was one thing, but one needed evidence before one could cast judgement, and now she had hers.

Joker had left with the new arrivals to show them around the camp, and she'd left Snake to tend to the rest of his snakes, or sleep, whichever one he preferred. Betty the tiger lazed quietly outside her cage while Beast soaped the dirt and grime from her coat. Every so often the large cat would snap idly at Muffet's fingers, never with any dangerous intent. Muffet wouldn't be able to feel if she did, but it would be awful if Betty had to be sold, or worse, put down. She already had to be caged because of the stupid stunt that manservant had played.

There was strike two apparently. "Are you performing with Snake tonight?" Beast asked, gently urging the large cat to roll over so she could reach her side.

Muffet nodded, scratching Betty behind the ears so that the large cat began to purr loudly. Combining her contortionism with Snake's act was something they did occasionally, and it usually involved bending herself into all manner of shapes and angles while the snakes crawled and slithered all over her as though she was a particularly strange tree.

One more splash of water, and then Beast waved Betty into her cage where the large cat yawned widely, curled up with her head between her paws, and settled down to nap. "Do you have anything to do?" Beast asked her. "I need to ask Joker something."

"I think he took the newcomers to the main tent," Muffet stood and dusted off the dirt from her tights. She considered the merits of following Beast into the main tent, which was where all the other non-first-tier circus performers were. "Can I ride on your back?" It wasn't as though she couldn't walk about by herself, but something made her want to hide that particular tidbit from the man in the black coat. They believed she was a doll, and the longer they did, the longer she could spy on them.

She wasn't quite sure what to make of the boy, other than that he was lying about being a servant. Muffet had been near nobility prior to the accident, and you didn't speak, walk, and act like that unless it had been ingrained in you from birth, and no one would do that for just any servant, ergo he was either a) a really favoured servant – in that case, why had he run away to the circus? Or b) actual nobility.

Ah, it was quite the mystery, she sighed into Beast's neck. "I don't know why you don't want to walk on your own," Beast was speaking to her. "Do the newcomers really freak you out that much?"

"They're suspicious," Muffet replied as they reached the open tent.

"Suspicious or not, I'm going to have to leave you here." There was a pink flush rising on the back of her neck. "I need to talk to Joker privately."

"Oh, it's gonna be one of those talks," Muffet snickered. "Fine, dump me anywhere in the tent. Snake should be coming along at some point."

Joker was indeed in the tent, and with the new performers as well. "Joker!" Beast called out, walking in. She spared the black-dressed manservant a quick grimace, and missed the interested look he directed at the doll on her back. "Got a minute? I need to talk to you."

Sebastian watched as the doll was placed on the ground, leaning against the wooden edge of the circus seats. It's head lolled to the side, eyes wide and unseeing. As soon as the two first-tier circus members left the tent, Joker with a parting "Work hard!", he walked over to it and crouched down in front of it.

Up close, it was lovely, truly a masterpiece of a creation. A Japanese ball-jointed doll, it was incredibly lifelike; with wide blue eyes, and silky pale blonde hair tied up in a bun atop its head. It was made of bone china, with smooth joints capable of 360 degree rotations in almost any direction. The fingers were delicate, smooth, and the creator had carved lovely little nails into each of them, which had been painted pale blue. The lips were painted pink, and she gazed up as though a kiss would turn her from her lifeless doll, into a human lady.

Therein lay the problem – it was a doll. Beautifully made, and incredibly lifelike, but a doll all the same. He'd asked Joker about the contortionist act from the night before, and the man had looked surprised, and then laughed. "You haven't met our Muffet, have you? Don't worry, she'll meet you when she'd ready to."

Sebastian cocked his head slightly, and noted that the doll hummed with energy, but no life. Maybe it was mechanical? The doll was likely something similar to a very large clockwork toy. He reached to pick her up, and was stopped by the voice of his young master.

"If you're quite done panting over that doll," Ciel snapped. "Can we focus on the task at hand?"

"It's the contortionist doll I spoke to you about," Sebastian replied, continuing to reach for her. He picked her up. "I was simply trying to see how it worked. It might be important."

Ciel arched an eyebrow, still mostly unimpressed. "So? What have you found?"

Though Muffet could maintain her dead-eyed, ordinary-doll façade for an indefinite amount of time (as long as she was permitted to blink), internally she was screaming. She hadn't expected the manservant to actually try to pick her up. The urge to squirm out of his hold was only tempered by the fact that she didn't want to give the game away. Up close he was scary. Not as scary as he had been last night, when she'd spotted him skulking around the tents, but she was attributing that to the late hour.

He looked interested by her. She'd seen that before. There had been newcomers before who'd seen her and tried to kiss her lips, because she was a doll, and while she couldn't exactly fault them for their assumptions, it did make her uncomfortable every time she was confronted with that.

He turned her this way and that, and apparently spotted the key sticking out from the back of her thigh, just above her socks. "It appears to be nothing more than a large Japanese ball-jointed doll, likely with some clockwork mechanics."

Close, she thought to herself. While all the circus members knew she could move and speak on her own, they too thought she was mechanical, that she needed to be wound up and let go. Only Snake and the doctor knew the truth.

"Clockwork, huh?" Now the younger boy looked interested. He probably thought she was some kind of massive toy. "If there's nothing to her than clockworks then put her down. She has nothing to do with the case." The manservant put her down with more care than she'd expected, even taking time to arrange the ruffles of her skirt. If she were she capable of it, Muffet was certain she would have blushed at the weirdly intimate treatment.

Neither of them did anything interesting for the better part of an hour. Not until the rest of the performers left, and then they began to talk quietly to each other, and that's when things got interesting.

"I can't believe the entrance to the first-tier tents is guarded by poisonous snakes," the boy muttered. "Not guard dogs, but guard vipers eh?" Muffet's mind raced. The private area? The first-tier tents? Were they thieves? In that case, this was the wrong place to rob, especially since they were nobility. Unless…they had come for something specific? This seemed likely considering their planning.

The manservant – the boy's manservant, she was sure of that – agreed. "I must say, young master – or, rather, Smile – your muscles are very tight."

"Keep your opinions to yourself!" Smile hissed back. "I suppose we'll have to rise to the first string to access the private area. A few poisonous snakes should be no challenge for you. We need to know whether the children are-"

"They're not here."

Muffet almost flinched in shock. The children? She knew what they were talking about, of course she did. The trail of missing children that seemed to occur in every town, county and village that the circus visited. As much as she didn't want to believe it, Muffet knew that it had something to do with the other first-tier members.

These two, were they Yard? Since when did the Yard employ children? Vigilantes then? Rescuers? They didn't seem to be interested in attacking the circus, only in finding the children. In that case, they could be allies in a way.

She debated exposing herself to them, when the servant – Black – continued on, "I didn't sense them in the any of the tents or crates the night before or during today's tour."

Sense them? What was he, psychic? Was he one of those clairvoyant, fortune-telling weirdoes who claimed they could channel human energy and spirits? She grimaced internally. Handsome and crazy, she thought. It's probably best to stay put and here the end of their conversation.

The two moved into a different exercise. "Still, there's no proof that they aren't involved in the disappearances either," Smile said. "We can't leave until we've thoroughly investigated them."

"Indeed," Black agreed. "After all, it possible that they aren't in a fit state for me to sense them."

Smile grunted. "Don't say such unlucky things. She wishes for their safe return."

"Very good my lord, and while I don't sense the children, however…" Muffet almost jerked when he turned and stared right at her.

Before he could say what he had sensed though, Dagger appeared, distracting them. While their eyes were off her, Muffet's eyelids fluttered, which was her main way of expressing distress. "Hey, you two! Quit stretching and start practicing! It's your first day right? I'll coach you through practice then!" His eyes fell on her. "Ah, Muffet, who left you here? Guess your mechanics ran out again, huh?" Oh thank goodness, cavalry.

"Mechanics?" Smile asked. Dagger nodded cheerily.

"Yep! I don't know how she works, but you'll have to ask the doc about that. Or Snake, since he's always with her. Anyway, first we need to decide what your acts will be! Any requests?"

"I'd prefer something much less physically demanding than the tightrope," Smile replied, looking harried and like he was remembering something very unpleasant. "Greatly prefer."

Dagger laughingly told him that, yeah he did look pretty frail, so he would teach him about knife throwing instead. Then he turned to Black, who smiled beatifically and said that he had no particular preferences. "Yeah, you're a regular athlete!" It seemed that Black had been forgiven his transgressions from the night before. "Try whatever you think you can manage, and I'll watch!"

"Of course."

Muffet gazed up in wonder as the man performed all manner of flips, juggling, contortions – although she was jealously pleased that she could do far more since she was limited by things like joints and ligaments and dislocating the bones in your back – before Dagger stopped him just as he was about to swallow a sword.

Handsome, and crazy, and apparently a five-star performer, she thought to herself. Now why does that description sound oh so familiar? She turned her attention to another man balanced on the tightrope. He too was new, and was one of the weirdoes Beast had been talking about earlier. He'd arrived a few days ago, and claimed to be a civil servant or something, but he was incredibly serious and obsessed with the occult. What is it with all these newcomers and that stuff?

He also liked to carry around what looked like a modified scythe that could extend longer than she thought should be possible, and was also someone she'd done her best to avoid, which was made easier by the fact that he seemed to dislike being around her as well. Beast liked to joke that girls made him uncomfortable, even fake girls.

Dagger shouted to get the man's attention. "Come down here, Suit!"

Suit looked down, and then sighed. "Ah yes, I thought I'd sensed something foul. For goodness' sake…"

A second later, the sharp point of his scythe was embedded in the ground, just a foot away from the two. Clearly there was some bad blood there. Suit jumped down from the rope, using the extended staff as a means of descent, and then pointed the sharp part right at Black. "What prey are you hunting this time, you vile demon?"

Demon? Well that's a bit harsh… "Muffet!" She blinked and turned to see Snake beside her. With all eyes on the spectacle, she was free to move a little. "What's going on? Are you alright? Says Wilde."

"I'm fine," she replied, and sighed with relief when she climbed on his back and settled there. "I think those two know each other. Suit just called Black a demon, and I think he meant it in a literal manner." Now he were bandying about terms like reaper and death, as though there wasn't a crowd of people watching them.

"Suit smells strange to me. Says Wilde. Black is also strange. Says Goethe." Muffet nodded. If the snakes were wary of him, then there had to be something off about him.

Nobody else seemed to share this sentiment, as Dagger walked right up to Suit and gently smacked him on the side of the head while laughing. "Cut it out, you plonker! You say your gags with such a straight face, people can't tell they're gags!" Everyone else joined in laughing, and Dagger jerked his thumb at Suit. "This guy's been cracking jokes since the first day he got here! Going on about souls and stuff! He's an incurable occult freak!"

Suit muttered something quietly, and stalked away after a parting retort that he refused to work with vermin. Slowly, everyone returned to what they were doing. Muffet lifted her head slightly, and watched Black and Suit antagonise each other. "Looks like the show's over. Let's go, I need to get my costume for the performance."

oOo

That night, Muffet crouched behind a crate and watched the other first-tier members run out into the night, as she had every time they moved. It didn't happen in every place, especially when the community in the area was small and intimate, but in a large town like this, little kids went missing all the time.

She'd never followed them, although sometimes the urge had grown so strong that she'd tail them for half a mile before giving up, and she knew why: she was scared.

Muffet didn't want it to be true. Though she hadn't been involved in the circus for long, she had come to care for the members like a weird extended family. At least Snake was never among them, she wasn't sure she'd be able to take it if the snake charmer was somehow involved and it would break his heart far more than it had cracked her nonexistent one.

What were they doing to those children anyway? She often wondered. Where were they being taken? Not here, that was for sure. She knew the ins and outs of the circus and she'd never seen hair of any child.

I should tell someone. Muffet stood up and looked down at her hands. She rotated the joints and flexed them. Who could she tell? Suit was nuts and even if all that talk of souls hadn't been a lie, he was cranky and scary. Black and Smile were less cranky, but Black unnerved her, and if Suit was right, he was literally a demon. Well to be fair, considering who and what her Papa was, a demon wasn't exactly out of the ordinary.

Plus they sounded like they were here to look for the children, she argued with herself. If there was anyone she could talk to, then it had to be them. This couldn't go on, she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she did and she'd already died with too many regrets in the past.