Monster Circus Chapter 2 (Patreon)

Black Butler parody: Tier 1

 Chapter 1 https://www.patreon.com/posts/monster-circus-1-24294625 

Chapter 2 Their Circus With Monsters!

The caravan pulled into town, the lead was brought in by Bard, the others were pulled by horses. It was rather haunting, in the dark of the night it looked like the wagon had no driver. The lead wagon was Ciel’s he often slept in it with Finny at his side, partially for Ciel’s protection, mostly because Finny wanted to. Sebastian drove the second wagon, Mey-Rin drove the third, and Claude drove the fourth which housed Snake.

They were greeted by the mayor and told where to park their wagons. The mayor was surprised to see a centaur pulling the lead wagon. Once everyone was parked, Bard saw to the horses, they were under his command. “It’ll be uhh 50 to use the stables.” the mayor was clearly nervous as an assortment of monsters. Ciel stepped out and Finny got to work moving the carriages.

The mayor’s eyes bulged as the vampire lifted the carriage with ease. “Of course,” Ciel paid the man. “We’ll set up tomorrow and we’ll be advertising and handing out fliers.”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure the children will enjoy the show.” he chuckled nervously. “You will have the monsters out of sight before the show, yes?” Ciel raised a brow at him.

“There seems to be a misunderstanding, this is a monster circus, they are the performers.” The mayor gasped. He looked at the gang of monsters coming out.

“You can’t be serious Sir Phantomhive.”

“What, did you think they were just laborers?” Ciel crossed his arms. “Just you wait, we’ll put on a show for everyone to love!”

“I...I...I...can’t allow this!” he tried to look strong but he was shaking in his boots. “Y-y-you need to pack up and go!”

Ciel was quiet, and the monster troop stopped what they were doing. The quiet was defining, and the mayor began to sweat bullets. Suddenly the monster boys started to laugh and the mayor fell back in shock. “Excuse them, but we have a royal order from the queen herself. It states we cannot be denied work, and any harassment towards us will be punished.” The mayor looked at the official document and grew pale. It was real, while it sounded perfect the document was just a piece of paper, and there were possible loopholes.

The mayor glared at the paper. “Fine do what you want, but no one is gonna come to a monster circus!!!” The mayor shouted.

“What’s his problem?” Snake asked. Ciel sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

“Let’s just set up, we’ll advertise tomorrow and be ready for the show, with or without the Mayor’s support. We’ll get butts in those seats!” The monster boys were certainly motivated, Claude got the tent set up, while Sebastian and Finny got the boxes in place, the box seats had places to sit.

Snake got his friends ready while Bard made sure the carriages were parked and secured. “Master, should I set up the VIP section?” Mey-Rin asked.

“I doubt the mayor will attend, so leave it alone for now.” she bowed.

“Yes sir!” she moved around and made sure everything was on schedule.

In the course of a night the circus appeared, the children of the village would gaze in awe believing it came like magic. Not knowing how much work was put into getting everything set up.

After their hard work, Ciel and Mey-Rin went to town to hand out fliers. Ciel was in his circus outfit, blue and black, fit to him perfectly. Mey-Rin was wearing a similar outfit only more feminine and red and black, and her hat was smaller. “Come see the world’s first monster circus!”

“Come see amazing feats you’ve got to see to believe!” the two called out trying to catch some attention. To Mey-Rin’s shock, a lot of people ignored her and just walked by. Those she gave the fliers to, she saw at a distance they were thrown away or discarded.

Some kids had taken some fliers only to come back. “We have to give these back?”

“Why?” Mey-Rin asked. They got the same response that their parents told them they had to. “What’s going on my Lord?”

“Not sure, but I’m sure the mayor has something to do with this.” They walked around and people were avoiding them. Ciel noticed people whispering about them.

Upon reaching the town’s message board did he realize what was happening. Message boards were set up in most towns, it's here you’d find royal decrees, notices from the government officials, and one can even pay to post jobs. You could also find news, wanted posters, and the like here.

The mayor had put up a notice about their circus, talking about his performers, and in a highly negative light. His nonsense was all based on rumors, old fables, and just racist ideology. Even if Ciel wished to protest these lies and slander, they came from a respected authority in this town, he was a stranger. Even if he knew the truth, people believed their mayor.

He was clever, he worded his notice in a way that didn’t tell people not to go, but stroked the fear and ignorance of people and driving them to that conclusion. “What are we gonna do master? Shall we report him to the queen?”

“We can’t go running to the queen for every bump in the road.”

“But...” she looked around and some people were shooting them dirty looks.

“No buts, we will handle this ourselves,” he smirked.

-x-

The Mayor was pleased with himself. ‘To think that upstart challenged my authority. Now those fools can give up and move on.’ he laughed.

“What’s so funny Hunny?” his wife asked.

“Nothing my sweetie, just enjoying the day.” he chuckled.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!” everyone turned towards the large shout. There, they found a devilishly handsome man with cat ears and a black tail. He stood on top of a lamp post. “I am Sebastian of the Monster Circus, a Nekomata, there have been some misgivings about us, so we decided to give you a taste of what we have in store for you all.” The reaction was quiet, people were nervous.

“Oh dear,” Sebastian feigned innocence and hurt, resting the back of his hand against his forehead, and made some of the ladies and gentleman's hearts skip a beat. “You truly don’t wish me to perform, then there is nothing left for me in this world.”

Sebastian jumped and dove headfirst towards the ground. Some people screamed, but before he hit his tail caught something in the air. The people gasped as Sebastian hung from an invisible wire. It was actually Claude’s thread, the Arachne's webbing made the perfect tight rope.

The nekomata spun and soon stood on the thread, seemingly floating on air. Sebastian began to walk on the thread, doing backflips and tricks showing the grace of the Nekomata. It was something these people had never seen before.

Claude pulled a few strings and targets sprang up and dropped in random places. Bard came riding in with Mey-Rin standing on his back. People gasped as she was wielding guns and standing on a charging centaur. There was no way she could hit a standing target while moving, it was impossible!

Bang bang bang bang bang bang

Mey-Rin didn’t just hit the targets she got a bullseye each time. Excitement overtook fear, amazement and wonder swung the crowd, culminating in Bard doing his fire breathing trick. Young boys oohed and aahed, impressed by the firepower and control. “All this and more can be experienced at the Phantomhive Monster Circus!” Sebastian tossed fliers into the air, as he jumped from thread to thread.

For a brief moment, they got the people to stop thinking about fear and doubt, and just live in the moment. To experience something new and never seen before! The mayor was not pleased, just as he was about to say something to try and twist the crowd. “Ohh a circus, a circus, I just love a good circus.” His wife had picked up one of the fliers. “With monster performers? Oh, this will be so exciting!”

“Uhh yes dear...very exciting...” he chuckled nervously. He couldn’t stop this now. Ciel seized this chance to personally invite the mayor and his wife to the circus. His wife agreed, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and with them secured more will follow.

The mayor may have been an asshole, but he didn’t dare upset his wife. He was lucky to get someone so beautiful, kind, and smart to marry him. If he ruined this for her...he’d be dead meat...

His plan backfired spectacularly.

-x-

Tickets were sold, Ciel even made a deal with some local vendors and snacks were provided. Phantomhive Sweets were delicious and a crowd-pleaser, least he hoped so.

Everyone was a bit nervous, you can practice every day but when you have a crowd of people staring at you it can change things. “You guys are gonna be great, I believe in all of you.” Ciel gave each of his monster boys a kiss, that fueled some confidence.

The show started, with Ciel as the ringmaster. Seeing some of the other monster boys did shock and scare some people, but they didn’t lose the crowd. Sebastian started a juggling act on top of the high wire, a great opener, and just when it looked like he missed one, he spun around the whole wire and caught it. Cheers and applause filled the tent.

That got the ball rolling, and everyone began to work hard. Snake and his friends performed, first doing a snake dance which fascinated the crowd, and then doing something for the kids. He had his friends link together and make pictures.

Finny did a clown act, with the help of Bard and Mey-Rin where they tried to chase a wound up mouse around the ring. The crowd couldn’t help but laugh, even the mayor started laughing before he realized it.

From comedy to serious as Sebastian and Cloud did a knife-throwing act. Claude had such a large body, such a big target. Sebastian noticed he’d hate to “accidentally” not miss. His knife throws were so fast some couldn’t even see the knife till it embedded in the wall behind the Arachne. He did slow throws, and fast throws, even curved throws and Claude didn’t even flinch.

On his last knife, Sebastian had the whole crowd gasping as he looked away, and did an over the shoulder throw, that sent the knife hurtling towards Claude’s face. People gasped and screamed, and then…

Claude caught the knife with his teeth. People were on their feet, applause echoed, they really got their hearts pounding. During a brief intermission, you could get snacks, stretch your legs, but you also could meet the performers. Ciel invited the kids into the ring.

Some were a bit nervous around Claude, but the Arachne won their hearts with his expert skills at cats cradle. All the shapes he could make with his thread, the kids loved it. Bard also gave rides to the kids, doing laps around the ring, with the kids cheering, laughing, and having a good time. Mey-Rin handed out samples of their newest product cotton candy.

The Mayor’s wife was positively giddy.

When the kids returned to their parents everyone couldn’t wait to see what happened next. A strong opening, a duet between Snake and Sebastian, while Snake played the flute while Sebastian played the violin, and had the audience swooning.

The show was a big success, they jumped through fire, showed amazing feats of strength, even Ciel did a tight rope act without a net. They had a little something for everyone, comedy, action, suspense, danger Sebastian even took off most of his clothes during a clown skit.

The circus ended with a parade of the performers. They felt special, they did it, they were able to bring joy and entertainment to people like Ciel said they could. It was hard work but it really paid off. “This is just the beginning...you all did great!” Ciel was so proud of them.

To be continued