Cassian

Cassian was born to a Russian acrobat father and a Chinese contortionist mother. The two had met while performing in the same circus troupe, and later started their own little family troupe, together with a number of other cousins on both sides of the family.

His mother began training him in contortion at the age of 3, when she noticed his hypermobility. He trained 5 hours a day, and began performing with the troupe when he was 6 years old. Together with the troupe, he traveled across Europe and Asia. His life revolved around training in the morning with his mother, doing some basic schoolwork in the afternoon (crammed together in a caravan with a motley of second and third cousins to read tattered paperbacks and do basic sums), and nightly performances.

As he grew into his teens, he began to chafe under the strict, disciplined lifestyle and the (ironically) constant changes and disruptions that traveling brought about. He yearned to see the world on his own terms and live his life his own way. He had never been particularly close to his parents - they were not culturally accustomed to large displays of affection, and his interactions with them were limited mainly to training. In addition, he had begun to feel the toll that his contortion training had exacted on his body, and was starting to get aches and pains in his back and hip. At 15 years old, he made up his mind and gathered up his savings, sneaking out of the motel they were staying in one night.

He stayed at youth hostels for a while, earning a pittance by running errands and doing little jobs that nobody wanted to do, like cleaning floors and washing dishes. After a few months of this lifestyle, just as he was about to head home with regret, he met Mr Gathorn.

Mr Gathorn was a gems dealer who operated Gathorn's Gemstones. He traveled often to South America and Asia to obtain rare gems for his customers, which were often boutique jewellery shops and wealthy collectors. Gathorn noticed the young Cassian one day, standing outside a deli and counting out his meagre coins to see what meal he could afford, and offered him both a job and a place to sleep. Cassian - young, naive, and desperate - accepted immediately.

He moved into Mr Gathorn's studio apartment, sleeping on a waterbed on the floor. He first began as a dogsbody for Mr Gathorn, delivering mail or collecting payment or running various odd errands. Over time, he began to pick up the tools of the trade from Gathorn. He learned to recognise different cuts of different stones, to ascertain the quality of the gem, to network with other dealers, to convince buyers to part with their hard-earned money. He also learned to assimilate into the upper echelons of society - a class he had never had cause to even meet in his vagrant childhood. Gathorn let him try sips of vintage wine, Gathorn showed him how to recognise artworks by legendary painters, Gathorn introduced him to Italian leather and Swiss watches and German cars. To Cassian, Gathorn was everything he had ever dreamed of becoming - rich, respected, confident, self-possessed, charming. He worked hard and strove to please his mentor.

It wasn't easy work for Gathorn was a hard taskmaster and demanded perfection. If Cassian was unable to recognise a gem at the first instance, or failed to close a deal, Gathorn flew into furious rages - he would shout at the boy, hurl insults and vulgarities at him, threaten to turn him out on the street, and exact punishments like withholding his wages or depriving him of meals or forcing him out into the cold for the night. Afterwards, Gathorn would justify his actions by telling Cassian that it was all for his own good, that it was because he believed Cassian had potential, that Cassian was like the son he had never had. Cassian believed all of it - even his own mother had never praised him quite so effusively throughout his years of contortion training. And so he never recognised Gathorn's acts as abuse, and indeed saw it all as what he rightly deserved, even as he found himself suffering keen anxiety attacks whenever he saw Gathorn's face transform into its terrifying scowl.

Gathorn's Gems was successful, not just because Gathorn was a talented and perfectionistic dealer, but because he was also an unscrupulous one. He sold counterfeit gems here and there - enough to turn a tidy profit, not enough to lose the trust and reputation of his regular customers. When he faced rival dealers, he resorted to threats, blackmail and other underhanded means to ensure he would always come out on top. Cassian was, unfortunately, implicated in one of these. When he was 18, Gathorn put a knife into his hand and told him to "deal with Noah Somersby". Noah Somersby was the owner of Midas Gems & Gold, and was competing with Gathorn for a lucrative million-dollar deal to supply rubies for a promiment brand's latest jewellery line. Cassian was hesitant, but his three years of working for Gathorn had by then ingrained in him a habitual compulsion to obey the man out of a fearful respect. And so he waited in the street corner as Noah Somersby returned home late one night, slashed the man in the back 10 times, and ran off to dispose of the knife as Gathorn had instructed him. He was unable to sleep that night, and for the next month he had repeated nightmares of Somersby convulsing on the floor in a pool of blood. He never dared to speak of this to Gathorn, for Gathorn had praised him extensively for a job well done, treated him to a swanky dinner at a Michelin restaurant, and given him a fine pair of black kid leather gloves.

Three weeks before Cassian's 21st birthday, Gathorn was arrested. His counterfeit crimes had caught up to him; he was imprisoned, his studio apartment and dealership liquidated to pay for all the damages and legal fees. Cassian was suddenly left alone, bereft, and impoverished once again. With a career in the gem trade now closed to him - he would never salvage his reputation as Gathorn's apprentice - he returned to his old trade of contortion, busking on the street for coins to eke a living.

He became acquianted with the other street performers over time, and - remembering his childhood days - decided to put together his own troupe. With a juggler and a fire-breather (both of whom turned to the streets as they were running from the law), he started Cirque de Voyage - a traveling circus show. They put up shows in abandoned parking lots, street corners and cul-de-sacs. They travelled across states and countries, using fake passports to prevent arrest of his co-performers. Cassian initially performed a contortion act in the show - but contortion only worsened the chronic pains he had begun experiencing at 15 years old. The pain got bad enough that he had to use a cane to walk, and occasionally suffered debilitating spasms that prevented him from getting up. He had to give up his contortion act - but, at this point, when his circus had been running for close to a year and had expanded to 6 members, he stepped naturally into the role of the circus ringmaster.

As the 22-year-old ringmaster, he was constantly on the hunt for new recruits and new acts. On one of his talent-scouting visits to a burlesque lounge in a new city, he came across Saorise. Noticing her under-utilised grace and elegance, he invited her to join the circus as an aerial performer.