Has anyone else noticed that when coming off of a panic-induced spiral, the last thing you want to do is listen to the mad scientist that masquerades as your boss?
Just me?
Unfortunately, he is my superior. So I let out a sigh and yelled out to the bugs I knew were in my room. “Give me a minute.” Which in turn led to some kind of a tirade playing over my TV’s speakers… that I didn’t listen to as I got dressed for my day.
I grabbed a set of light gray sweatpants and a blue-green tank top, the pocket is stuffed in my pants pocket for irony sake. Add on some simple black socks and a nice set of white waterproof running shoes and I’m almost set.
The most important part is a mask.
I continued to ignore the still ongoing rant as I entered my bathroom where I left the mask last night. It takes me a moment to put it on as I can’t help but inspect every detail. Nothing has changed, with it or with me.
I carefully put it up to my face and spin a ball of mana in the back of my mind. Then with a quick pulse, I made it wrap around my entire head and into the mask.
The space between my face and the tiger disappeared. To an onlooker, they would see the malicious smile suddenly widen and open. I let out a quiet growl as the rest of my body followed suit.
I then yelped as my leg gave out from under me… I guess the super kid got in a better hit than I thought last night. My hand traced a tender spot along the ankle of my left leg. So much for a nice run with the tiger today.
I let the transformation go, returning to human for a moment. The mask went back onto the peg, for now, I was in a rush anyways…
Am I really?
After taking a moment to contemplate not even going to the lab, I let out my next sigh for the day and went to my workshop to grab a different mask.
Specifically the mask of the rabbit.
It runs along the same theme as the tiger mask, its ornate brown fur is lined with complex runes… of which I can’t take my eyes off of.
I snapped myself out of the stupor and transformed, leaving a tall brown-beige furred rabbit-man.
A few stretches later I was out the door. Leaving the Doc to continue his rant.
Man I’m glad I got rid of his cameras a while ago.
The next few minutes were spent in bliss. The cool late spring air filled my senses as bird song echoed over the forest road.
You know, that’s what I like about living in the middle of nowhere. Getting to do whatever you want without prying eyes, the feeling of your paws against dirt and grass.
No stupid mortals to pry into your magical secrets.
After what I would guess was about twenty or so minutes, I finally happened upon another architectural oddity. It looked like a normal suburban house was planted in the middle of the north woods. Then, a crazed wizard masquerading as an architect added a Tim Burton-escue tower to the back without considering the ramifications of such an atrocity.
So naturally when I entered the house I went into the basement.
I did my best to remain as quiet as I could while descending the stairs, really relying on my paw pads to remain quiet. It helped that the entire place was cast in darkness. The only light sources coming from various screens and tubes filled with… things.
I steadied my breathing a bit more than necessary and started to stalk about the place, eventually finding the Doc in the center of everything.
He’s an older man, late fifties and all the worse for it. He wears a lab coat and nothing else of note. Leaving his prevalent chest hair, and what he says passes for muscles for all to see. And things don’t get any better once you see the wild shock of hair that has probably never been groomed in his life.
Thankfully for my nose, it seemed like he had at least taken a shower within the last few days.
There’s another person here as well, Reed, of all people. He’s sort of a normal person all things considered. Like, Take the average anime protagonist and make them a real person.
Then add a few pounds of C4 into their DNA and that’s Reed Mccoy for ya.
I remained in the shadows for a few more moments to see if the Doc would cool off or not. Well, probably not knowing the Doc. Add Reed to the equation and he will be mad at multiple people in a few moments…
And Reed is laughing at something.
“Would you shut it for a moment?” The Doc snapped.
“You're just mad that The Conductor will probably just ignore the whole thing. Aren't ya?” Reed teased back.
“No.” I could hear the scowl, “He’s not. That’s the issue!”
I smirked, oops.
“It can’t be that bad,” Reed said from his seat on the desk the Doc was trying to work at. Who in turn stood up and slammed the desk.
“It can’t be that bad. ALL THE CONDUCTOR SAID WAS THAT HE WAS TO TALK TO THE BEASTMAN! THAT COULD MEAN ANYTHING!”
I took my chance and pushed out some mana from my fingers, pulling the chair the Doc just vacated. I just had to hope the squeak from last time was actually gone this time around…
Success! I quickly took the seat and leaned back with as much speed as I could muster, then spoke up. “That sounds like fun.”
The Doc literally jumped out of his skin, and Reed broke out into laughter. I’m pretty sure Reed knew I was here the entire time, thanks to his specialty. But, the Doc lost all awareness if he was distracted at all.
“What the heck were you thinking?” The Doc said between breaths, “The media circus alone… Do you know what you did?”
“Yup, it was a lot of fun.”
Reed was having a hard time keeping his balance as he doubled over from laughter. (Can you tell neither of us really respect the guy who doesn’t wear any real clothes?)
“That’s it. I’m done.” The Doc threw his hands in the air and walked to a point deeper in the lab, checking seemingly random stuff along the way.
I got up myself and pushed the chair back to the desk. A look at the monitors above showed an overview of all of Doc’s projects. Nothing too exciting at the moment.
“So what did you steal anyway?” Reed said once he managed to gather himself. “Every source I’ve found about the mask gives nothing away.”
“Nothing really.” I said, “It was just something mentioned in my father’s journals. Thought it would lead to something but… Nada.”
“Hmm.” Reed brought his hand to scratch his head, his black hair seeming to shimmer in the low light. “You know, you talk about his journals a lot, but not about your dad.”
“He’s a dead dude that I never really met, don’t really care about him.”
“But he’s the source of your magic. Gotta have some kind of respect.”
I gave a look to Reed, “And your’s disowned you. That’s why you're in The Theater aren't ya’?”
Reed couldn’t look me in the eyes, he got the hint that I didn’t care for the subject or at least I thought he did.
“So any luck on becoming human again?” He smiled, trying to cheer the situation up.
“Nope.” I replied a bit too quickly, “Honestly starting to like the almost beastman thing.”
“At least you're being positive.” His smile was beaming. He then jumped a bit when his phone buzzed him. He spent the next few minutes texting someone, a range of emotions crossed his face from confusion to deviousness to a bouncy kind of happiness.
“Hey, Archer.” He leaned in a bit “Sable and I are set to run a guardian job tomorrow…” He quickly shot a glance in the direction that the Doc was in. “Wanna come?”
I was taken aback, why the heck would he offer that?
“After the stunt I just pulled? Can I even be associated with The Theater? Am I allowed to?”
An even bigger brighter smile crossed Reed’s face. “To be honest with you, The Conductor won’t even care and can’t stop you, ey? I’ll text you the details once I hash them out with Sable.”
My mind was now racing. There were some very important things I would have to figure out first… “Wait… what about the heroes?”
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“What about them?”
“I was just seen fighting and fleeing from a newbie.”
“That’s why I’m there.” Reed brought up his arms and flexed, “I take on any big guns and you and Sable keep the others out of the way.”
“Okay.”
“The only really big worry is how you will fit into our show.”
“True.” I sighed, Show magic was not something I had any real practice in. The most I’ve used it for was when I transformed in front of other people so as to not weird them out.
Archer Bowen…
Now it was my turn to jump, as a voice emanated from everywhere and nowhere at once…
Actually, where am I?
The Doc’s basement was gone, instead, I was standing on what looked to be an infinite sea. Standing a few yards in front of me was a figure.
They were, and they were not. An old/young man/woman with a cane but no face. A nice hat and a bit too tall.
The sensation of my bare feet against the water forced me to take in myself. Nothing, save a long tail wrapped around my waist, two masks clipped to it, The Rabbit and The Bull. The Tiger was tightly fastened to my face. I wasn’t indecent, but I wasn’t allowed to be here.
“You are a fun one.” He/She said/spoke, “Quite the story to tell.”
“You are The Conductor?” I asked quietly.
“That is one of my names. It is the easiest for you to understand.” They/It gestured/showed to the world/to the sea.
“Why did you ask for me?”
“I wish to ask for a favor” The Conductor/The Orcistator/The —
“Okay…” My mind was beginning to buzz a bit.
“I wish for you to join the grand stage, strange one, wild one. You wish to play the grandmaster in the center ring of your own carnival, yet you play every other part from the vendors to the caged animals. Your masks can only hide everything forever, but the story around them is something I can no longer avoid. So fight, fiery one! So run, deceitful one! Let the names of comedy and tragedy set their eyes on you today!”
There was one last grand flair then my mind couldn’t hold on any longer and I snapped back to reality. The lights of the other realm were still lingering in the back of my senses, but I was the rabbit again. Standing in the Doc’s basement, surrounded by dim lights.
Reed had a sly smile plastered all over his face. “How was it?”
“I think I’m a member of The Theater now… What?” I took the chair from under the desk and plopped myself back onto the thing. What the heck is going on?
“Thought so. Now you can’t say no to our trip to New York tomorrow!” Reed was beginning to jump around in excitement. “Hey DOC! Archer’s in!”
“NO, HE ISN’T!”
“That’s not what The Conductor said.”
“I call bul-” The Doc started to stomp over to where we were when he suddenly fell flat on his face, unconscious. Probably got pulled somewhere else.
Reed continued to laugh for a few more moments while he grabbed a pillow for the Doc, only to quiet off when he noticed that I was lost in thought. “What’s eating ya?”
“Oh, um, sorry.” I smiled nervously. “It’s just… when I was wherever The Conductor is… I was human.”
“That’s great!” Reed’s smile was back, “That means there’s still a chance to go back to normal right?”
“Um… yeah I guess… heh.” I laughed nervously. Honestly, the whole situation is extremely concerning. Some of the stuff The Conductor said was really sticking in my brain… “You said the job was tomorrow? ‘Cause if so I need to prepare some stuff…”
“Oh yeah. You’ll need a good costume… Oh! And a codename, you know the theme.”
“Right. Okay. I’m’a head home then.” I got up and started to force some mana through my bracelet, “Text me the details later.”
And with a snap, I fell through the floor and found myself standing in my sanctum.
I was human…
Why the heck was I human?
The last thing I want to be is human.
I quickly made my way to where I had the tiger mask stored, I needed to heal it up anyway…
I was Human.
Why human?
I grabbed the tiger mask and held it up to my face, forcing the mana that was holding my current transformation into the mask. And soon enough I was holding the rabbit mask, which I carefully set down in its own spot.
I then spent the next half hour as the tiger just sitting in the shower, letting the lukewarm water ease the sore muscles, but more importantly my mind…
I knew what I was getting into by trying to join The Theater. I was aware of just how powerful The Conductor was supposed to be…
I just didn’t think that it would see right through me like that. Like, I was glad that The Conductor was willing to give me a real chance with The Theater… But…
Okay, time for a cat nap.
Once my fur was dry I flopped onto my ‘couch’, turned the TV onto some kind of reruns, and stopped caring… At least until I got a ping from Sable about the details for tomorrow.
It’s… pretty standard stuff for a guardian job from what I knew. Pop on over to wherever the attack is going to be and sit back. Let whatever the real monster is waltz around with whatever the main goal is, and if some pesky heroes try to stop it, stop them.
This time around the Doc was gonna let a real kaiju out onto the streets of… New York…
I’m an idiot.
I knew for a fact that Reed said that that was where the job was going to be, and he knows that that’s where Iron Magnum is right now. As well as his son, who I just fought. Lovely… I think Reed wanted to show off. He knows he can survive a fight with Iron Magnum if he’s careful. And with both Sable and I there… I didn’t like the sounds of this.
And yet, I moved on.
After a few more moments of doing nothing, I dropped my mask and returned to being human. Unfortunately for me, none of the masks I have at the moment have the ability to do what I need to do next.
Sew a costume.
I grabbed the costume I used last night, it was gonna have to do as a base for a few reasons. One, I didn’t want to make something from scratch, that required time to plan and gather materials. Two, the bodysuit was already basically tailored to my needs for protection and ease of movement. Finally, all I had to do was add something on theme and the transformation magic would finish it off. And speaking of themes.
If the name “The Theatre'' didn't show exactly what I needed to go for, let me give out a few hints. Reed, the lightshow himself, is known to the public as the explosive villain Firework. Whereas Sable is the graceful fem-fatal Requiem. And I could go on, there’s Michael the living party Fiesta, and Rose the colorful druid Bouquet. You get the gist. Just think along the lines of some kind of performance, art, or celebration.
But there is something that The Conductor said that jump-started this idea. They said that I was trying to be a whole carnival. I know that they didn’t mean that as a good thing but… To heck with it, I’ma gonna be a whole gods damned carnival! It makes sense with my ‘power’ of shapeshifting and all.
So with some scraps of blood red and dark navy fabric, I got to work. I added a large section of fabric to the back and to the collar to make it seem like I was wearing a tailcoat, some of the red was used as trim and I covered the seams around the shoulders and sleeves with it as well. Then for the pants and the mask, I did the same thing with the blue, nothing too fancy I'd say.
The last few touches were a bunch of random buttons I had lying around that were blasted with some gold spray paint. I added them to the front of the shirt section and one on each boot. I have to say it looked awful and weird… Like every time I look in the mirror.
I chuckled to myself and put the thing on, grabbed the tiger mask, and transformed…
Thank The Conductor it works!
I rushed over to the mirror to get a look. The shirt was the best part in my opinion. If you didn’t look too closely, the shirt looked like a stark black tailcoat that you would see a classic ringmaster wear, except it was expertly trimmed with crimson stripes. The pants were a nice piece as well with the same black with navy trim, even the wraps that appeared where my boots once were have a gold buckle on them.
The odd part was my mask though, half crimson and half navy. On the red side my eye was blackened out and the blue was whitened out. I reached up to touch the mask, it shouldn’t have done this as far as I was aware, especially with what I did to the original… Aww, the finger loops are gone, guess I have to deal with normal sleeves.
I stepped outside for a moment to test the thing. A lot of cartwheels and flips along with some basic marshal moves. So far everything was holding up. Now just to test it with the rabbit and the bull.
Nothing really changed with the rabbit mask, as far as I could tell. It had adapted to fit the new body, but no surprises. But the bull mask...
By that point I was starting to feel a bit tired again, so when I grabbed the mask I couldn’t help but to stare at it for a bit. It’s black from top to bottom, the only real pop of color being the ivory-white horns. The runes slowly started to glow as I swapped the mask from the rabbit.
And I fell promptly on my butt. I always forget to account for the sudden difference in build that the bull has. You see, I made it to be stronger, so while it is just as tall as the tiger and the rabbit, it’s stockier and top-heavy.
As I was on the floor I just began to laugh, wondering what my life has really come to at this point… well not much to be honest.
When I got up I noticed a weird change in the costume. The shirt was hugging my frame more, emphasizing my arms. And the mask now had a few wraps that went up and onto my horns, the same colors as earlier.
A few tests later and I was all good for tomorrow, I hope.
It was getting late and I had a big day tomorrow, but of course, there had to be one more development. Someone had blown up my phone.
‘You have been added to “The Theater Nerds (No Doc)”
Requiem: - Alright
- Archer has officially been added
Firework: - WHOOO
Fiesta: - nice
Actress: - wait y?
Firework: - HE’S ONE OF US BABY!
Requiem: - You know you can turn caps lock off? Right?
Firework: - NEVER!
Bouquet: - since when?!?
- I thought his chances were nill at this point
Requiem: - Upper management has approved his application, duh
Firework: - YOU SHOULDA SEEN THE DOC EARLIER
- DUDE WAS MAD ANGRY BOUT IT
- HAD ANOTHR MAGIC FIT N EVERYTHNG
Bouquet: - is he okay?
- last time was bad enough
Firework: - hes fine
(A): - …
- hi
Fiesta: - Archer!
- how ya doing?
(A): - fine so far
Firework: - DID U CHOOS AN ALTER NAME YET?
- CANT LEAVE THAT HANGING HERE
(A): - yeah
- I’m thinking Carnival
Firework: - I LIKE IT
Actress: - makes sense
Photographer: - Whoa WHAT!
- Oh cool.
- I need a costume pic as soon as possible!
Carnival: - I’ll do that tomorrow, right now I’m exhausted
Bouquet: - sleep well then
- big first day tomorrow
Firework: - HELL YAH
Photographer: - Wait I think I’ll need a few for each form.
- Why are you so weird Archer?
Things continued on like that for a bit. I mostly lurked as the other active members of The Theater went on about stuff.
To be honest, I can’t believe that I told them the name. And they just went with it. I thought that they would at least want to workshop some stuff but nope. I am now and forever will be known as Carnival.