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 Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 7:31 am
A huge rickety wooden fence 10 feet tall plastered in orange warning signs prevents anyone from seeing what is going on inside of the red and white-striped tent on the outskirts of New Salem.
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 9:02 am
Large trucks start delivering building materials and equipment into the largest of the tents. What could be going on?
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Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:42 am
The sounds of sawing, hammering and construction ring out from the tall fence around the circus tent.
Inside, a familiar, insidious face...enjoys a cool glass of lemonade while his cohort, a lumpy witch, throws down a hammer in disgust.
"You could at LEAST help me!" She snarled. "At this rate, we'll never be ready before the start of the school year."
"Madame, I told you, I am an idea man, not a laborer. All of that physical work would get in the way of my genius!"
"I'll get in the way of your genius," The witch snarled threateningly, one of her hands starting to glow.
"Wait!" The sneering man backed up a step, but kept his composure. "Let's not be so, uh, hasty, remember? We're partners in this endeavor. 50/50 split, remember? I get my circus, and you get-"
"My revenge." The witch's lips curled into a snarling smile. "Yes, you're right. But still, I am done with all of these menial tasks!"
A large, gold-capped grin slowly crept across Bartleby Farnum's face.
"My dear, hammer just a little bit more. By the end of the week, our plan will be fully in motion, and neither of us will ever have to lift a finger again!"
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Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 9:50 am
"Look at them..." Farnum grumbled, watching all of the student bodies gathering at Monster High for the first day of school through a pair of binoculars as he sat on top of a cherry picker next to the Big Top. "Like flies to compost, they're buzzing around."
"Let me see!" Hagetha reached over and grabbed the binoculars, ignoring the fact that the strap for them was still around Farnum's neck. "Ugh, nasty ickle things. I remember how much I hated the first day of school when I taught there."
"Hurrggghhhh-give me those!" Farnum snatched the binoculars back before Hagetha could strangle him to death. "If you hate children so much, why did you teach there in the first place?"
"School would have been fangtastic if it weren't for all the children everywhere." She replied, picking at her teeth. "My students had THE highest grades of any creature at that school. Every single one, getting an A+ in Home Ick! So I had to use a spell to enslave their minds to do it, so what?! It's not like they were going to learn any other way. The witch they replaced me with, Kindergruber, and her technique of 'lecturing and hands-on experience'....yech!"
Farnum sneered at her.
"According to this autodieography we 'borrowed,' you stole a spell from Mezmer the Magician to ensorcle the student bodies at Monster High, Hagetha. And not just so they would get A pluses..."
"Well, of course not! If you have an entire army of mind-controlled monster children, who WOULDN'T use them to try to conquer the world?! That's just uncommon sense! Wish the Witch Council had seen it my way, instead of banishing me into that swamp!"
Farnum raised the binoculars up again, and focused on a particular tiny blob of student on the school grounds.
"Indeed..." He nodded wickedly. "Well, sit tight, my moribund mistress...we shall both have our revenge soon....and we'll be rolling in money to boot! Grab our supplies, Hagetha! Let's get going!"
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Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 1:33 pm
"Well now, here comes our newest 'employee'."
Lin walked up to the pair of Farnum and Hagetha who waited for him amidst the center of the big tent and piles and piles of building materials. Lin had changed from his school clothes and was now clad in a colorful clown outfit, complete with big shoes, rainbow wig and the appropriate makeup and big nose.
His eyes had a distant, not quite there expression as he looked to the two adults.
"He looks utterly ridiculous."
"Presentation is very important Madam. Plus should anyone get curious now..."
"I already explained to you once, Bartleby. Nobody will get into these grounds that we don't wish to! I've given it my best wards against any nosey little brats."
"Good. Good. Now my proper young gremlin..."
Farnum picked up several rolled up plans and set them down on a table beside the vacant gremlin. He picked up one and unrolled it and showed the blueprints to Lin who turned his eyes slowly from the two adults to the paper held before him.
"...I thought perhaps it best that you start as soon as possible, with these. What do you say?"
Lin reached with a free claw and grasped a wrench from the nearby table.
"Whatever you say boss."
"Boss..." Farnum smirked with a sinister manner. "I like that! Now get to work!"
"Yessir!"
Lin saluted Farnum -- with the hand holding the wrench, knocking himself silly. His eyes rolled around in circles and he slowly tilted back and crashed onto his back. Farnum frowned and slowly turned his head to look at Hagetha.
"Don't look at me. The gremlin was your idea!"
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Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 11:22 am
Plans! There were plans to be brought to fruition! Bartleby sat at his desk in his tent office and began composing a formal letter.Quote: To WMON, the local monster news station,
For weeks now, you have no doubt speculated about the appearance on the outskirts of town of a great red and white tent. Now, BF & HM Industries are proud to announce that, in 2 weeks time, the Cirque Sinistaire will open wide its tents!
A true monster 3-ring circus awaits one and all! We have some of the most amazing performers your eyes (or eye, for the cycloptic among you) will ever behold! Fire Tamers! Sword Swallowers! The Ghoul on the Flying Trapeze! As well as an incredible assortment of freaks and entertainers in our sideshow!
Come one! Come all! This special invitation is for you to broadcast our Grand Opening. Send all of your cameras! Your finest reporters! We will dazzle them and your viewing audience in ways they could never imagine!
In fact, we dare to say, the world will never be the same!
Excitedly yours,
BF & HM
"We've already got bad luck. That little gremlin is working on the next slew of trap lures, and he's already caused two explosions and one minor nuclear meltdown."
"Nuclear....what kind of trap is he building?!" Farnum exclaimed."Never mind that! I'm just saying, we need more nasty little childrens, and we need them fast!""Well, then have him work double time. I'm sure we can capture one of the...weaker-willed monsters once they exit the school and things are a bit less....adult-monitored..." Bartleby grinned wide and rubbed his hands together. "We'll be sure to grab some with strong backs as well.""Fine, whate-" The sound of another explosion rung out. Hagetha gave an annoyed sigh and scuttled out of Farnum's office tent. "I told you not to start with the gremlin!"
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Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2013 7:34 pm
The sun was just beginning to set over Salem, casting a golden light through the trees and dancing across the rickety wooden fence surrounding the tent. Vinnie slithered up with just enough light to read the bright orange signs slapped all over the fence.
"DO NOT ENTER" they warned. And to Vinnie, that was an invitation. She flexed her fingers briefly before jamming her sharp claws into the wood, establishing a foothold and scaling the fence with about as much grace as a gargoyle ballerina. She barely landed on her feet on the other side, her Doc Scartens absorbing most of the shock of the landing. She stood, but then quickly ducked back down again as she heard approaching footsteps...
Crawling on her hands and knees, she set up camp behind a shrub close to the tent's entrance flap. That sphinx boo from Monster High was approaching the entrance, the gold chain around his neck dimly glowing and his eyes glazed over. He gently pushed aside the flap and walked inside, and Vinnie could see the tiny gremlin boo toddling around inside wearing full clown gear.
Vinnie's brow furrowed in complete confusion. From what she was seeing, these monsters were, quite literally, running away to join the circus! All these monsters ever babbled on about was how much they LOVED Monster High, so why would they leave it? But, from here, she couldn't discern much more; and frankly, she was intrigued. She quickly rose to her feet and stormed into the tent...
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Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 7:38 am
"Excellent. EXCELLENT!" Bartleby Farnum stood in front of the Cirque Sinistaire's recruits so far and measured them up. "The traps are working perfectly so far."
Outside, the circus was starting to come together. The sideshow tent was raised up, sawdust was copiously sprinkled all over the ground and the animals would start arriving tomorrow. Many was the favor Farnum had called in to get ahold of those animals...if the Cirque was not a success, he was going to be in trouble with a few unpleasant people.
Farnum shook that off, though. How could this plan fail? He held up a hand and snapped his fingers in front of Nero du Sphinx's face.
"The spell is fail-proof. These brats are completely under its control."
"Hm, for now." Hagetha Mistie, enjoying dinner late because she'd been rather busy recruiting nasty children, ate another spear of asparagus. "The spell has to be renewed every 24 hours. Old Mezmer never perfected it. Imagine, he didn't WANT to enslave everymonster permanently!"
"Yes, inconceivable." Farnum muttered, inspecting the boys. "What in the world is THIS one supposed to be?!" He pointed at Kai Merha.
"As far as I can tell? Some sort of were-cat/naga/gargoyle thing." Hagetha shrugged and started eating an onion. "That's what happens when you let a bunch of monster types intermingle!"
"Bleah." Farnum made a face. "Well, at least we have an attraction for the freak show. Speaking of attractions, which little brats will we be targeting next? We need to fill out our ranks before the big premiere, after all."
"Frankly," Hagetha paused, burped, and picked up some garlic to eat. "I think we need some ghouls."
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Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 8:17 am
Hellene warmed her hands against the Scariboo to-go cup. Normally she's stop by the Coffin Bean before school if she needed a caffiend pick-me-up but this morning she had other plans. Scariboo was just closer. She sipped the Masala Die die tea carefully and watched her target.
When she'd heard about Lin joining the circus she thought nothing much of it. Oh it was a scoop alright, but who really understood that weird little gremlin except maybe Gryff and Atomica? If Gryff joined the circus, that would be something to see, but Lin was already a little nutty.
Then she'd heard about Nero. Hellene had made it a point to ignore Nero as much as possible since he'd come to Monster High. Two summers ago she'd been visiting the Family Manor in Greece to spend time with her Grimma, an ancient but commanding buzzard of a harpie. Nero had been on a dig with his parents. She'd found him exciting, handsome, talented, other adjectives she now refused to publicly acknowledge, right up until he split a month later with only a text for farewell. It still rankled.
But she got to know him in that month and knew he would never, ever join the circus. There was no singing in the circus and if Nero was faithful to anything at all, that was it.
So here she was, watching the circus tent, moving a little closer when she dared. She was wearing some of her best spy-clothing, most of it the same clean blue of the morning sky. That the sky was a little overcast this morning was a minor disappointment.
An errant breeze fluttered the tent flap open and she whipped up the camera to snap pictures, hoping to find something in all the darkness. As her camera clicked she heard a snippet of conversation.
"...has to be renewed every 24 hours."
"...is THIS one supposed to be?!"
"As far as I can tell? Some sort of weremonkey purple dishwasher thing..."
Renewed every 24 hours? What had to be renewed every 24 hours? The lease? She didn't understand. If she could just....get.....closer....
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Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 2:53 pm
Wow! Life at the circus was GREAT!
"Wow! Life at the circus is GREAT!" Kai told Nero excitedly as they started hauling 10-foot poles to raise another tent. "I can't believe I never thought about doing this before!"
It was incredible! They woke up before the sun and started working, setting up tents, building cages, assembling bleachers and constructing platforms, breaking at noon for a CLAWESOME lunch of old vegetables, and then heading back to work until it was so dark they could barely see.
Kai had really good night vision, if only he could volunfear to do more! But no, the incredibly good-looking and really nice owners of the circus, Bartleby Farnum and Hagetha Mistie, insisted on taking such great care of their crew that they each got a WHOLE SIX HOURS of sleep every night.
"Have you thought about when the circus opens? How great that's going to be?!" Kai continued talking to Nero as the sphinx picked up the pole and planted it into the ground. "You'll get to lift things - while people watch! And I'll stand there - while people watch!"
Kai let out a long, happy sigh. "This. This is truly the life."
He turned around to see Lin bringing their lunch in a large bucket. Could things get any better?!
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Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 1:24 pm
Meme stomped across the grass towards the large fence which circled the giant circus. Steam billowed from her ears as her temper tantrum continued.
"How dare she call me that..! What else have they been saying?!" She mumbled and grumbled pacing backwards and forwards, trying to find a gap or broken post so she could enter the grounds.
If the student disembody thought she was the cause of these monster-run-aways, she'd prove them wrong by bringing them back! It made perfect sense in her unusual rampage and sulking. She stomped the ground and whined as the anger turned into frustration.
"What's wrong with me?!" She whined, banging her fists against the solid wood; "Stupid fence! Stupid students! Stupid hormones! Stupid clownonsense!"
BANGBANGBANG
whinewhinewhine
BANGBANG!
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Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 2:04 pm
Suddenly the board panel that Meme had been waylaying on with her fists did a 360 flip, tossing Meme over into the circus grounds, replacing itself in the wall and looking as normal as it ever did. "Well! Well! Well!"The throaty cackle spoke up and suddenly Meme was enveloped in a magical bubble and floating five feet off the ground. She watched as a very rotund witch bopped along toward her."I thought I smelled a nasty ickle little ghoul just undying to join the Circus."
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Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 2:50 pm
"AAAaaa~" Meme cried as she was tossed into the air by a spinning fence post. She winced instinctively, tensing her muscles and squeezing her eyes shut, bracing herself for an impact with the floor.. The expexted butt-bruising bounce never came! She opened her eyes and found she was floating in a sparkling bubble, hovering above the ground. Meme grinned and began to jog in place with the bubble spinning under her feet when a grotesque witch wobbled over.
"What?!" Meme stopped, lifted an arm and sniffed her armpit. She certainly had remembered to put on bee-dorant each morning and had been bathing, so why was everyone calling her smelly? "Let me out, or you'll have to deal with my crazy-confetti-canons and exscream-cream-pie-casplosions!" She reached for her magical fanny-pack, but it wasn't there; "It must have fallen off when I.." She thought, looking around worriedly, only to see it dangling from the dastardly fence post!
"I don't want to join the circus!" She protested, stomping her foot against the bubble which echoed a dull thud. "At least.. I don't think I want to.."
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Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 3:14 pm
Hagetha cackled and with a twirl of her wand, the aforementioned fanny-pack floated up and off of where it was hanging from the fence and into the plus-sized witch's free hand.
"How endearing. The nasty little ghoul thinks that this is a democracy!"
"And what do we have here?"
Bartleby approached with a sneer on his face, rubbing his chin as he looked at Meme with a critical eye.
"Is that what I think it is?"
"A clown, apparently. First time I ever saw one trying to break INTO a circus."
"Hmmm..." Bartleby walked up to the floating bubble and gave Meme a closer inspection, walking around in a complete circle. "Well, you suggested we get a few of the ghouls in on the act..." He turned around and with a flourish wave, motioned toward Meme. "Madam, take it as a sign of good things to come!"
"Yes, yes..." Hagetha walked up, tapping the tip of her wand in her open palm. "The question is, what to do with her exactly? It's not like we can have her perform."
"And why not?" Bartleby asked in wonder. "She is a clown, after all! It'll save time on training her for...well, anything."
"True." Hagetha frowned and she scratched the wart on the tip of her long nose. "Still, this is about my revenge and our enjoyment. It wouldn't be very enjoyable if we were to let them actually do things they might enjoy, now would it?"
"No, indeed." Bartleby smiled most fiendishly and looked from Meme and then back to his partner. "What then would you suggest?"
"What is the most boring task that a circus can offer?"
"Barker?"
"The fool who sweeps the spotlight up into the tiny circle?"
"The poor sod who cleans up behind the elephants..."
Then, the two villains turned and looked at one another. Wicked smiles grew on their faces.
Together, they said, "Ticket Taker!"
Hagetha turned back to Meme and aimed her wand at the clown ghoul...
""By Mezmer's mind and mental powers
your will is mine for 24 hours!
You will leave your friends and to them declare
'Farewell, I belong to Cirque Sinistaire!'"
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Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 3:54 pm
Meme's eyes bulged as the despicable duo reeled off the worst jobs imaginable..
"No.. NO.. NOOOO!" Meme screamed, dropping to her knees and throwing her arms into the air as the wicked witch aimed her wand and cast the spell.
Meme blinked for a moment and a puzzled look grew on her face. "Well, I don't feel any different.." She mused aloud, about to smile and cackle that the spell didn't work.. But she didn't want to smile.. She didn't want to laugh..She'd been a clown for long enough. The spotlights were too bright, the cheering crowds too loud, the colours too garish and nasty. All the running around and performing, what a chore!
"I need.. I need something.." She stood, pulling a face at the gaudy outfit she was wearing. "BROWN!" She said triumphantly. "Yes, brown.. And some sensible shoes. Oh, I'll need a clip-board to make plenty of lists, and I'll have to set up the ticket booth.. I'll need to brush up on my accounting skills.." She trailed off, too lost in 'her own' thoughts to notice the pair in front of her laughing away
"I'm so happy," She said with a look of utter boredom on her face. "Better tell Ascreama, let her know the joys of the circus!" And with that she pulled out her phone and sent a mass hext to all of her contacts:
"Dropin out ov MH cuz am joinin the circus. Pls join us n buy sum tikets from me 4 our upcomin show xoxox BYE xoxox Meme" As soon as the hext was sent she tossed her moanbile over the fence without a care.
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