[color=purple][b][u]The Royal Circus[/u][/b][/color] ---------- His Majesty, King Leo V of Kriegland speaking; you also know me as the superhero Captain Kriegland. In response to the success of the big circus-themed convention that Wildcat City hosted, the musical payroll system (which I am enrolled in) came up with the idea of having the day of my birthday, April 3 (also known around the world as Kriegland Appreciation Day), employ a circus theme for the day. It was already a patriotic celebration with the big parades we had in Wildcat City to celebrate the big day, and it helped that the musicians of COTS (Circus of the Superstars) continue to perform for the public long after the circus itself had closed its doors in 2020 due to multiple factors. That circus, however, always did patriotic tributes to its country of origin, the United States of America, and its heroes in the form of its military, first responders, essential workers, etc. Rolf always gave special discounts to these people when they came to see his circus, and many military veterans appreciated the music that the band played during the circus. The legacy of that circus lives on forever, and I was more than happy to congratulate Rolf the Wolf on being named the greatest furry ringmaster of all time. Sure; he's had times when he lost his temper with somebody, but that was rare. "I don't like to talk about it," he said when explaining to me the story of Louis Loserberg's twisted cousin, who wanted to be a circus performer so bad. When Rolf kicked him out for his bad behavior, he then decided the best way to see his favorite act, the high diving act, was to force Cripto to do it. "Cripto just received his superpowers for the first time, and so he made it safer to dive. In the end, the kid never saw it; the cops had already arrested him." "Serves him right," I said. "Nobody should force anybody to do anything, especially if Cripto is involved." ---------- The parade itself marking the special day was like any parade paying tribute to the Krieglandonians, for it featured the lions in my Royal Ensemble marching at the front, and as always, I rode on a grand, majestic float. Other marching bands and/or drum corps you would expect to see, such as Leo the Tiger and his three bands, were also in the parade. But because of the circus theme, the convention goers who went to that convention I mentioned were also in the parade. Some who had not been to the convention arrived for this event, because in order to make it a full circus experience as a special treat for me, it would include the high dive act, the cannonball act, and many other acts that would have been way too dangerous to do inside the convention building. Note that because the COTS band had employed the SWAT Kats, Chance Furlong and Jake Clawson (T-Bone and Razor) as escort drummers (meaning they'd march in the front of the parade, and play special drum cadences to announce the arrival of the parade), we went ahead and invited the full group, Konway's Korps, to perform in our parade. Also, for the first time, the nine golden retriever siblings that make up the Golden Fife and Drum Corps marched in the parade. (All nine dogs have a name beginning with a D.) ---------- The circus acts themselves took place in my backyard; the difference was that we didn't have an actual big top to employ, so we just put the giant glass dome over the palace I live in and used that instead. The tiger that had won the ringmaster contest the convention center held acted as ringmaster for this event, and while his primary audience was really just one individual (me), he pretended as if he had a full house. Well, I suppose he had more people in the audience, but the applause was polite and soft instead of loud and thunderous; it was just the other performers, plus a church choir (more on that below). After each act, the performers came and shook my hands, and I'd say something along the lines of "Bravo; well done!" The ringmaster contest was one that Rolf judged based on presentation of announcements, controlling the tone and pitch of the voice, and the choice of words to use in the announcements. Each ringmaster had a matching bandleader commanding their drummers to play their drums, so that was also an influence in the judging. "It was a hard choice," he said to me, "because they were all so good." The circus used the same order acts that the performers of COTS used, so it began with the high dive act and ended with the cannonball act. "If you're going to go out with a bang, that's the way to do it," I said after the show ended. "I hope you were not freaked out by the clowns, Your Majesty," the ringmaster tiger said to me. "I always did find them creepy," I admitted, "but they didn't scare me on this occasion. Besides, I tip my crown to them for their juggling skills; not just anybody can do that. I just never understood the humour that comes from getting food in the face." (The clown acts did include the traditional pies in the face and dousing with water, but it wasn't really getting me to laugh. Also, I use British spellings because I speak with a British accent, depsite living in the United States now.) "But I enjoyed what I saw." --------- Some notes about the acts are as follows: the high dive act didn't show the diver jumping into just a glass of water or some small tank like in those old cartoons. It used a standard pool. The purpose of the dive, therefore, was for the diver to do specific flips, twists, and turns, which he successfully did. I just don't remember the order of the moves, but it was enough to impress me. The coyote doing the cannonball act simply made a rainbow shape safely onto a safety net, although he flew over a wall to do so. The clowns doing their act began with the pies and the water, and transitioned into the juggling later on. The tiger performing as the tightrope walker used a bar to balance, but also did flips and turns usually just seen on a balance beam, and later rode a unicycle across the rope. The trapeze artist lion did both singles and doubles acts; by singles, I mean the fact he was by himself. By doubles, I mean the fact there was a lioness on another trapeze, riding it upside down, catching him as he came by. (The pair are a brother and sister duo if you were wondering.) The final flip was a triple frontflip, which he successfully did, before the lioness grabbed him, and when she let go of him to thrust him in the other direction, he grabbed the trapeze, brought himself upwards (similar to a gymnast doing the high bar), and then did a dangerous manuever of standing on one foot on top of the trapeze. The lion then made it back to the starting platform and gave the military salute, referencing his career in the U.S. Army. "Whew!" said the lioness when she made it back to the ground. "Enough blood rushing to the head!" "She's not used to it; sorry about that," the lion told me, "but we did it." "I congratulate you on a job well done," I said. "I was a bit worried about the triple frontflip, though." "I don't remember any of my trapeze performers ever doing a triple frontflip like that," Rolf added. "I can only conclude that since all of you attending the convention were humans once upon a time before CNG unfortunately turned you into the animals you are now, it gave you all the amazing abilities you have displayed here today." A female vixen who didn't get to perform at the convention did so here, since she rode a horse and did trick riding. She would periodically stand on the horse, do a handstand, or look like she was dismounting, only to fool us at the end. Her true dismount was a double backflip off the horse, but she landed safely on her paws. --------- When all was said and done, I spoke to all the performers and said, "Thank you to you all; this was a wonderful gift, both in terms of the quality of the music and the performances of the acts, and the quantity of those able to do these things." We then officially concluded the circus portion with the national anthem, and to my surprise, the performers could sing really well. It made me feel even more delighted. --------- Note that the Drumbums that were experienced in doing film and television production filmed this for the official G-52 YouTube channel. -------- The concluding act to the long day was actually me conducting a chorus and orchestra; the performers gladly sang in the chorus (alongside anybody else that had already been assigned to sing, since we had the aforementioned church choir that had been practicing this for this occasion; the choir is part of the same church that Cripto's late grandmother, Chloe Clements, once attended, and is entirely human), while the musicians played as the orchestra, and the masterwork we performed was Franz Joseph Haydn's "Missa in angustiis," which can be translated as "Mass in Time of Difficulty or Anxiety." It later gained the nickname "Lord Nelson Mass" upon the discovery of British Admiral Lord Nelson triumphing over Napoleon's forces in the Battle of the Nile. CNG had given some of the circus performers who performed for me operatic voices, and so the lion and lioness who did the trapeze act voluntarily sang the soloist parts for bass and soprano, respectively. The coyote who did the cannonball act sang as the tenor soloist, while the alto soloist was the vixen who rode for the horse. Quite the contrast, I know, but Kriegland's biggest passion was music, after all, and music was a big part of the circus done as a gift for me (as well as being a big part of my life overall, and of life itself, really). ----------- We had dinner at the G-52 Diner that evening, and Gourmet Gopher had his chefs and bakers make a wonderful special cake for me. It employed just one sparkler so that I didn't have to worry about blowing the candles out; since the pandemic in 2020 that launched COVID-19, it was becoming standard to use an alternate method of blowing the candles out, or just use something else like we did here. Or, you could just ignore all the candles altogether; that's what Cripto usually does. --------- At a later date, we sang this same masterwork again, but at WU's main concert hall, and again, I was conducting. This time, the soloists were wearing formal fancy dress; they had previously sang this in their circus outfits. However, that was just a rehearsal for this performance, which wasn't filmed. That would have looked weird. (Likewise, I had been wearing my royal garb when conducting; at the concert, I wore a purple and gold tuxedo with purple bowtie to match, even though I was padding, or going barefoot.) Anyways, the church choir's director gave me his opinions on the music, but had told them to follow me. I took his advice, however, about subdividing the slow parts to make it easier for the chorus to follow me. It was a delightful performance, and the crowds naturally gave a standing ovation when all was said and done. Note that this wasn't the only part of this concert, but it was the main feature of it that came in the second half. ---------- I had a wonderful birthday, and I hope you're all doing well yourselves. Have a wonderful evening. ----------- [color=gold][b]THE END[/b][/color]