Meme: Hypothetical AU

[lilyayl]

Please, people, give me prompts for this.

The Hypothetical AU Meme: Take any one of the fandoms you know I write in, and give me a type of AU (space opera AU, pirate AU, superhero AU, Ancient Rome, Regency England, circus AU, Lovecraft, etc). I will then explain what story from your chosen fandom I would write for your chosen type of AU.

Comments

[lilyayl]

Circuses seduce people. They project an aura of zeal and forbidden fun. Circuses lie. They pretend that danger isn't real, that hungry lions and high ropes are fun, safe. They are cartoons, dreams, unreal. Monsters wearing monster masks.

At least, that is how they are supposed to be. In recent years, however, circuses have become the domain of sticky, screaming children and tired parents. They no longer excite or entice.

Gregory House is not the sort of clown you would hire for birthday parties. He is bitter, cruel, and imparts upon children truths they'd rather not hear, but still ought to know. Despite this, however, he has yet to be fired from the Plainsboro circus. The reason is that House still believes in the dream of a circus.

He came to Plainsboro with few expectations and ambitions. He is goaded by the gap between what the circus is and what it ought to be. He steals three young circus members from other acts to become his new clowns and fires all the rest, claiming he can do more with three (four total) than a multitude. Lisa Cuddy, the circus owner, takes the gamble to see what House will do.

In each episode of House, House teaches in the most sarcastic fashion what it means to be a clown really and, also, what a circus should be doing in the new millennium. Barely kept in check by Wilson, the chief lion tamer, House slowly and stubbornly changes the circus from a caricature and back into a forbidden dream.