Synopsis: Ticking Clockwork

Kuso Marques’ passion for his job as a fire acrobat in the infamous Cirque de Criminal has kept him alive and out of the chain gangs for years until a slip on the high ropes ends his career. His back broken in the fall, the only use Kuso has now is being turned into ground dog meat. The circus has no room for those who can’t perform.

Aided by his acrobat partner, the sentient gearwork jaguar Bastille, Kuso hides from the headmaster in the alchemist’s workshop. Like a lot of things in his life, it proves to be the absolute worse choice. Kuso is half fire-spirit and his nature is to burn—he sets fire to the workshop when his control slips, and the resulting explosions of alchemy and sorcery engulf Kuso and Bastille. They are fused together, flesh and gears, beast and man.

The uncontrolled fusion has left Kuso and Bastille unstable and psychotic, a contraption able to change from machine to flesh and back, but without control over when it occurs. With each change they become more unstable and dangerous. Although they have regained their place and act in the Cirque de Criminal, Kuso and Bastille seek a way to control their combined form before they destroy themselves and everyone around them.