Dawn Murphy's Story

The Owner

A sigh escaped Jack's lips as he stared at the mingling freaks. The zoo opened in about 2 hours. Which meant they got one more hour to mingle, and then an hour to practice what they would be performing today. That was, if they decided not to just sit there and make him look bad. He ran a hand through his short hair, giving all the freaks that looked at him a glare before walking off to the Staff Building. It wasn't really a building, more an oversized trailer. There was a sign on the door that announced this area was open only to Staff Members. He pushed open the door and the burst of cool air conditioner hit him. There was only one man in here. The new one, Tony. He looked over at him.

"Zoo opens soon. Your the one meeting the visitors today. Try to be... cheerful. We're only here for another day and then we're off to Vancouver." He spoke firmly, as if to say he didn't want any complaints back. He then gave somewhat of a nod and opened the door to his cluttered office. Nobody was ever to enter but him, so he didn't bother cleaning it. He looked at all the walls, years worth of pamphlets inviting people to the zoo tacked on the walls. He gave them all a quick glance, before looking at his watch.

20 more minutes until he had to round those freaks into their cages.
---
Dawn

Dawn sat on a bench outside of her cage, sighing. The small time they allowed them to be out and about wasn't that fun. At least they were allowed to stretch their legs out. Which reminded her... She stood, her wings sticking straight out on both side. She looked around at everybody else. Most were collected in small groups, talking. They hadn't been here long enough. They still had some kind of spirit in them. Sighing, she beat her wings. Back and forth, back and forth. Until her feet lifted off the ground. And then, she was way above the others, flying the perimeter of the zoo and then back again. She couldn't go farther then the fence, or they would go get her. And then they would punish her. She only made that mistake once.

She did this for at least 20 minutes, fly around. She liked the feeling of wind through her hair, the feeling of being free for just a small period of time. That was, until somebody shouted at her to stop going too high, and she was brought back to Earth. Literally.

Ridley watched Dawn fly around the camp. She did that every time they were released from their cages. Which was understandable. Being trapped in there, Ridley couldn't help but climb up every wall and surface imaginable. She climbed to the top of her cage and made a web between hers and the ones next to hers. She continually jumped and fell into the web, happy to fill the wind in her hair, and the exhilaration of falling and being caught.

She felt free.

Although she wished she could climb higher and fall from a greater distance, she knew she would be punished. Again. She looked around the camp from the top of her cage, spotting each and every one of the freaks. Almost all of them had been punished at least once. The newer ones were lucky enough to the veterans to explain to them what would happen.

It was one thing to be trapped in a cage all day, but it beat getting punished by the owner. He was a ruthless man.

Sighing, Ridley began shot a string to the highest point and continued to swing from it endlessly. It was all she could do. She didn't enjoy being around too many people. Being high up, helped her remain calm. She'd managed to kill two people with her new found genes, she wasn't going to add any freaks to her list.

Maybe one day she'd add the owner. But until then, it was better for her to be trapped in the circus then to risk killing more people. She hung upside down for a while, letting the blood rush to her head, before finally releasing herself from the web.

She landed on the ground easily, and began her walk back to her cage. Saying hi to anyone she knew as she went.

Dawn

Dawn looked down, and couldn't help but notice the few people that looked at her. Ridley. She liked her, and she was a friend. Sort of. And then there was Lilith and Ara. They were alright, but she had to say that Lilith was a bit more her style. Sighing as she saw nearly everybody returning to their cage, she tucked her wings in and plummeted to the ground, managing to land on the balls of her feet. It wasn't too hard, she did it everyday. She walked over to her cage, sliding in and allowing the door to close behind her.

Her cage was actually a bit bigger then most. After all, they had to give her room to show off her flying skills. A small frown set on her face, she flew up so she could sit in a fake branch on a fake tree. It was actually quite annoying how this was built exactly like a normal cage at a zoo, with a painting of a landscape and a few trees here and there. From here, the audience wouldn't be able to see her too well. The only problem was she knew the Owner would come around at some point and make her come down.

Dawn looked out the glass and could see Salem. His cage was right across from her own. Giving a small wave and an even smaller smile, she lay down in the fork of the tree. It was going to be one long day at the zoo.
---
The Owner

"Come on, you freaks! Get back in your cages!" Jack yelled out, looking around at the array of cages. Most of them had already climbed in, but there were a few stragglers hanging around. He saw that tiger girl talking to Tony. Rolling his eyes, he caught the girl's eye and she gave Tony one last growl before returning to her cage. Better. Walking over to Tony, he handed the boy a folder.

"Your the lucky fellow giving out ticket's today. The tickets are in here, and so is the list of prices. Adults are five dollars, kids are three. Not a dime less, okay?" He didn't bother waiting for an answer. He walked around, giving a look into every cage. Most of them gave him a snarl or a hiss, but he just glared back and continued on his way. After making sure all the cage doors were locked from the outside, he stalked back to his office, taking a seat in the chair and staring out the tiny window. Let the day begin.

Dawn sighed, looking around at the huge but empty enclosure. She was sitting up on an air conditioner, which was at the very top of her cage. She should probably be changing into her costume, or practicing, but she wasn't really fond of either. Her costume was simply a white dress with gold colored rhinestones placed here and there, and a pair of golden ballet flats. But her routine she did wasn't much more interesting. She would fly around, did tricks in the air and such. And then proceed to sit and talk to younger children, answering questions of older people. Then finally, towards the end of the day (when her enclosure was mostly populated) she would show off a couple of her mind reading tricks. It never disappointed.

“Besides, next she’s gonna be talking to Herrick you don’t want to miss that do you. Likewise she’ll come here soon and we need to figure out how we are gonna treat her.” It was Arabella and Lilith, who had an eclosure right next to her own. They happened to talk, a lot. And she heard every word of it. Apparently, now some lady was going to talk to Herrick. Dawn was quite fond of Herrick. After all, he was one of the few originals that persisted, besides herself. Well, actually, he had been here a bit longer.

"If you two don't mind me interupting your talkshow, you should probably be practicing," Dawn called, her voice echoing around her own enclosure. She could hear them, they could hear her. It was both a gift and a curse.
---
"Hello, Miss Avarella. It's required for you to get to all of the freaks, so you have to get to at least half of the freaks now, the other half can be done around 11:00. By then, almost everybody will be having lunch." Jack said, staring at the new doctor. He refused to call her by her silly nickname, it made her sound like a freak herself. Looking into the cage, he could see the spider girl practicing her routine. The same one she did every single day. "Change it up a little, Widow. Your boring both me and and the guests." And with that, he was off again.

"Welcome to the zoo! You are in store for quite a surprise. So if you haven't already, come up and buy a ticket. Those of you who have a ticket, come on in!" A 'friendly' smile lit up The Owner's face as he opened a gate. He took the tickets of a family, a couple, and a girl with pigtails. And yet, even more were coming. They were all waiting in the growing line. More were approaching too, coming from the fenced off area of grass he had called a parking lot.

"Don't forget your tickets!"

Dawn stared at the crowd gathering, waiting. Sitting still in the shadows, she was listening to the complaints of people waiting. With a sigh, she stood up and balanced on the tree branch before taking a step into the air and falling. Landing on the balls of her feet, a loud burst of applause met her and she put on her regular fake smile. Couldn't disappoint. She unfolded her wings and let them extend to the sides, giving a few seconds for people to look at them before starting to fly. She did flips through the air, followed by an array of twists and turns. It was almost always the same thing, but she tended to switch it up every once in a while.

A couple minutes of this passed, before she stopped and sat in the middle of the cage. That was pretty much her sign that she was done for now. Nearly everybody moved on, but somebody caught her eye. It was clearly a guy, but they were dressed up like a girl. Oh well. She would play along. She didn't bother moving or anything, but she stared at them. They weren't leaving, that was for sure, so she just sat there and stared. She didn't make any means to talk to them. Just watch.

Once he had found the cage that had held Angel, much more alive than the picture of her in the brochure. He just stood there in awe at the girl's beauty and her grace as she did her performance. Watching closer, he didn't wish to play on her paranoia that perhaps that she was watching him too as the crowd began to leave as she finished up, but he merely decided to just watch and just.. stare. It was sort of creepy, to his mind as he noticed just what he was doing but unable to help himself, to just be watching, and not observe like he often did. But Freye just stood there silently, and then took out the sketchpad in his bag, placing his leathery bag on the floor as he pulled strands of hair away from his face and a sketching pencil in his other hand. Quickly, he got the general shape that he kept trying to replay in his mind, staring intensely at only the white sketchpad in his hands, before looking back up to the girl with wings in the cage some good long minutes later. Perhaps I should come closer, though I would probably have to ask if she'd mind.

His feet moved quickly, snatching his bag back up and a quick pat over to be rid of any overly excess dirt, he slowly moved up, not wishing to run due to the fact that he was still being mindful of his manner of walking. Staring some more, and quiet as he looked at her, it took a minute or two to finally speak up and say something. "Hello." At the very least, he wasn't stammering, and smiled. "I'm Freya." By habit, he inserted an 'a' to make it more feminine. "I wish to be very blunt, may I ask to draw your portrait." It's a bad habit, but he tried to be straight to the point as possible. He hoped that she'd allow him to draw her, but he wouldn't put it against her if he refused. It would seem that most people don't like to have their portraits taken.. Freye remembered the first he had drawn someone without their permission, and had decided to just.. show it to them. That earned him a sharp glare. He supposed that it was because that he was in a female's outfit, that he didn't a straight slap to the face. Though, he did get an earful out of that, some screaming and some harassment here and there. It wasn't unpleasant, overall.

"I wish to be very blunt, may I ask to draw your portrait." Okay, that was a new one. Usually, people asked Dawn more normal things, like how she got her wings and such. Or, they just laughed at her. She wasn't sure what to say, so she just sat there for a couple of seconds, looking at the ground of her enclosure.

"Sure. You can draw me, I guess. Just don't laugh at me." That last part was an accident. She meant to think it to herself, but it had slipped out. Thankfully, she talked so quiet they probably wouldn't hear her anyway. She looked up for a second, brushing a few wisps of hair out of her face. She was usually populated, yes, but nobody ever asked to draw her. Speaking of crowd, a small family was approaching. She gave an apologetic smile to Freya, and stood, letting her wings unfold and spread out. The two children laughed and wrapped their hands around the bars, pushing their faces closer. It was probably a little bit dangerous, she could easily hurt one of them if she was a more aggressive exhibit, but for the current moment they weren't hurting her at all. Except for the current streams of thoughts she was getting from them.

Look at the wings! So pretty... A voice that she guessed belonged to the little girl filled her mind, along with some other things how she looked like a doll. She did a flip for them, trying to block out their thoughts. She honestly loved children, but you try listening to them nonstop, even when they weren't talking.

Wow, she's cool. Wait, look at that one. He looks like a dog. I want to see him. He's cool. That sounded like the boy. He was already turning towards his parents, who currently Dawn couldn't tell what they were thinking. She had to be closer. She sighed as they left. No matter how much she wanted to be free, she loved it when she was visited. Even if she knew none of these people wanted to be her friend. They were just here to laugh at her, call her a freak...

Stop thinking like that. Most of them are nice people.

Pushing a fake smile onto her face, she turned back to the woman man in front of her and thought about how boring she must look.

"Would you like me to do more tricks? I must be boring you. Oh, by the way, I'm.. Angel." Dawn didn't want to give away her real name... Yet.
---
Jack stared at the empty exhibit in front of him, a sneer already in place. Where was the spider girl. She was supposed to be entertaining. Not like anybody was here... But that was probably because there was nothing to see.

"Widow! Get out here, now. You don't want to go into isolation, do you?" Isolation was something he had dreamt up. They shoved the freak into a dark room, no doors (as far as they could tell), no windows, no food, no 'enchantments'. One of his fellow scientist friends had figured out how to prevent them from using anything in that room. Actually, they were just a normal person during isolation. They didn't look nor act different. The Owner didn't know how it worked, it just did.

"I suggest you hurry up. Don't want me to come in there, do you?" He wouldn't do it unless he had to, of course. He hated being in there with them. But still, he could still ask one of his guards to come and 'escort' her out. More like drag. But it worked. He wrapped his hands around the cool metal bars, a small evil grin in place. "Come on, Black Widow. We just want to see your act..." He cooed into the darkness, a few people gathering behind him but he shooed them off.

Still, nothing. Jack took a step back and regarded the situation. He didn't really care what had happened. What he did know, however, is if this girl didn't come out in one minute, she was getting one hell of a beating, followed by a rather long isolation period.

Freye honestly didn't really know what to think as soon as she had replied back and seemed to be okay with his sudden question. Though the 'just don't laugh at me' caught his attention immediately, and he frowned, questions popping up to ask as to what she meant by that, but was unable to voice of them as she turned to entertain a family who came up to her cage and admired her as she did some sort of performance. Her voice is so quiet.. He noted, studying her features further, thinking of endless ways as how to portray her correctly, his sketchpad calmly placed in front of him, held by two arms. He observed carefully, wishing to truly capture her essence onto paper, patiently.

As she turned back to him while the other family that had came up went to see the other attractions, he noted how dull the light in her eyes seemed, like there was a lack of .. well, something. That he couldn't exactly put a finger on, though it was something important. He frowned nevertheless, "No, thank you. It's not much of a good thing to use the term 'tricks', it seems to belittle you. But in any case, it's nice to meet you Angel." Freye doesn't point that he knew of this already, but polite manners were something that had been ingrained into his mind since long ago. He wasn't planning on breaking that habit any time soon. "But you're not boring me at all, in fact, you're quite beautiful. That alone makes me satisfied." He softly spoke, the slight roughness that he had never managed to be rid of was distinctly hard to hear, lest one were to hear quite carefully. It always stuck out to his own ears. "But I'd enjoy some small talk, if you'd like. I enjoy that sort of thing if I were to draw someone's portrait. Thank you for allowing me so, to draw it." He understood that his tone was always a bit stiff, but it wasn't really his fault. It just came naturally.

Adjusting his sketchpad to be held like so, as he held his pencil lightly as he already began some more lines, freshly starting on a new sheet. "If you wouldn't mind me asking, Angel," he looked back up to memorize the shape of her hair and how it falls over her shoulders, before looking back down, light lines. "What do you think is the meaning of life?" Questions like these always did start off the general feel of the piece, to include personality. He quickly sketched out the typical starter geometrical shapes, so he wouldn't lag behind. He looked back up with a smile. "Honest answers are greatly appreciated."

Ara hadn’t been waiting long when she discovered the conversation going in front of Herrick’s cage. It amused her until she heard yells coming from Ebony’s cage. “Lilith, do you hear that?” Ara asked her sister while jumping up to bars of their cage dragging Lilith along behind her.

Lilith would have yelled out in protest at being dragged behind her sister but she also wanted to know what was happening with Ebony. Of course though she knew they couldn’t see what was happening from their cage. Though she did catch a glimpse of Nixon running off towards the commotion. “Ara would you calm down, you know we aren’t going to be able to see anything anyway.”

Ara listened to her sister before giving her an irritated look, that was not something she cared to hear right now. “Dawn, can you see what is going on?” Ara asked to their neighbor choosing to ignore Lilith’s comment. She waited barely a moment before deciding to find another source. “Zero! Can you see what is going on with Ebony?” Ara yelled hoping he would hear her from across the wide path separating their cages. Ara started tapping her foot impatiently, she hated being in the cage for the simple reason of never knowing what was going on outside. Not that there was ever much to really know anyway, until now of course.

Lilith, while she was worried about Ebony, deep down somewhere - the girl was a little bit to bright and outgoing her tastes - was already resigned to the fact that her and Ara couldn’t do anything about it anyway. She let her eyes wander around while her sister yelled out, no doubt annoying people with her need for more information. Her eyes landed on The Owner standing outside Ridley’s cage. She took a glance at her sister and decided not to let Ara know what she planned to do. No point she already knew Ara would agree with her completely, it was one of the only thing they actually agreed on. “Oi, Jack!” Lilith hissed out a the man. Unlike most of the others she actually hated calling The Owner by his first name, she hated the familiarity of it. She would never in her life wish to be familiar with a man like that. Lilith opened her mouth and felt her fangs protrude threateningly, sure they weren’t all that impressive but they were better than none. Lilith didn’t say anything else, she wasn’t much for words and well, she knew Ara would jump in at any moment now.

Ara heard her sister and immediately looked to see what Lilith had seen and found The Owner yelling at Ridley who was hiding in the darkness of her cage. Of course Ara had seen the men who attacked Ridley, and it wasn’t the first time, she glared with pure hatred towards The Owner. “Piss off. Leave Ridley the hell alone, she doesn’t deserve your shit!” Ara yelled putting emphasis on calling Ridley by her correct name. She continued from Lilith’s original comment knowing that was where she was meant to jump in. They semiconsciously finished each other’s sentences around The Owner, like it made them closer and feeling closer to each other made them mentally stronger and feel safer. They didn’t mind the threat of isolation either since they weren’t actually isolated, luckily enough for them.

"What do you think is the meaning of life?" Dawn looked up, a small frown set on her face. Meaning of life? "Honest answers are greatly appreciated." She tried to think of what to say. Nobody has bothered to ask her a question like that since... Well, since ever. She ran a hand through her hair before deciding the suitable answer that Jack always used. And, the one all of the older freaks used to describe themselves.

"To entertain. It doesn't matter if we want to, or don't want to, but we have to entertain." Her eyes never strayed from a spot on the ground, and she could hear Freya's voice fill her head with thoughts at what she had just said. She flapped her wings, enough to have her hover a bit over the ground but not enough to be out of sight. She looked down at her current audience member. Only audience member, at that. Where was everybody? She looked around, finding them crowded around Ridley's cage. And Jack... Wait, Jack? That must mean that she had done something wrong. And sure enough, there was soon a web covering the bars of her cage. Oh, no. She wouldn't be leaving without bruises.

"I don't mean to cut our conversation short, but the zoo is closing soon, Freya. I thought you might like to know." Still quiet. But this time, Dawn look up. Over Freya's head and to watch the sunset. It was beautiful, she watched it every time. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair again. Habit.
---
Jack looked at Jetta, saw the rib sticking out. Saw Widow shoot the web. He had had just about enough. He shot a look to everybody that was dangerously evil. He was losing his patience. And you didn't want him to lose his patience. He looked at Timothy one last time, nodded, before heading off to his office. It was still as clustered as ever, maybe even more messy because he had left a window open and the breeze had blown papers everywhere. As soon as he locked the door behind himself, the phone rang, but he didn't recognize the caller. Instead, he walked over to it and listened to the message.

"Hello,this is Jennifer Cross. I was just wandering if it would be possible to interview you when you arrive at Vancouver,possibly other staff member and maybe a few of your 'exhibits'. This would be a really interesting story and I would love to work on it. Thank you. Bye." Jack looked down at the answering machine as the girl (Jennifer Cross. Name sounded familiar) hung up and a series of beeps told him that. He looked around. The newspaper, that's where she was from. And she wanted a story on them. Which would populate them. And then cause him to earn more money.

"This is The Owner of Freaks Galore. We will be arriving at Vancouver in two days, you won't miss us. There will be flyers all over town. But, if you'd like to interview us, that would be wonderful. The freaks you should probably interview are our most populated ones, which are stated on the front of the map when you get here. If you'd like to know their names ahead of time, here they are; Angel, Black Widow, Jetta, Romulus, and Zero. Staff, I'll introduce you to when you arrive. We'll cease to entertain you." With that, he hung up. Somebody had answered, but that was all he had said. And that would be enough to catch their attention.
~
"Attention! The zoo is now closed. We will be here tomorrow also, so if you wish to come back, please do so. After that, we will be heading to Vancouver. Please clear out, or my guards will have to help you." Jack called out, the last part dead serious, but he smiled as if it were a joke. He ushered a lot of the onlookers that were talking to the freaks with his hands. Amoung them was a redhead, a girl in pigtails, a french guy, and some dude dressed like a girl. He nearly pushed them out, but did it with the same joking smile.

After all, he had to get to his freaks. They hadn't exactly done a good job today.

Dawn looked up as everybody was ushered out, before looking straight ahead. She saw Herrick, since his cage was right across from her own, but he wasn't looking at her. After the show, his hat was back on, and he didn't speak. Well, usually Dawn didn't either. But for some reason, she wanted to talk today. She wanted to ask him about the girl he had spoken to. They were close enough together he could hear her when she spoke normally, so she looked for Jack. Still near the gates. She crawled a bit closer to the bars, before sitting cross legged again.

"Herrick? Who was that? Is she coming back?" She spoke only as loud as she needed to, looking at him with a curious expression. She usually didn't talk to people, why was she starting now? After all, nobody here wanted to be her friend... Freaks didn't have friends... She tried to shake the thought out of her head (literally) but it continued to echo in her mind. A small frown crossed her lips, but she tried to act neutral again as she looked back at Herrick, where his eyes would've been if that hat wasn't tipped so low.

As she waited for an answer, Dawn took time to kick off the flats that were part of her costume. She looked him over one last time. She had watched him the entire time, and to be honest, this girl seemed to make him act like a different person. Which took a lot, for anybody here. Well, not like it was a shocker. The Owner tended to suck the life out of them, at a very young age.
---
Jack locked up the gate with one last smile, before turning around and facing the cages. It was quiet now, besides the sounds of cars staring to life and freaks that dared to talk to each other before The Owner came along. His foot steps seemed to echo on the cobblestones as he approached the cages, not bothering to look at the freaks. He was ticked off. Very ticked off. He finally stopped, in the center of the zoo where everybody could both hear and see him. He circled around, before finally opening his mouth to talk.

"I'm not happy. You didn't do a good job today, freaks. To start, Miss Widow didn't perform at all today. Oh, and Jetta. Broken rib? But let's not forget my fruits. Talking back isn't allowed here, thought you would've have learned that by now." He took his time to stare at everybody he was talking about, before looking around again at some other faces. Jaws. Zero. Angel. Romulus. Kat. They hadn't done anything wrong, for the most part. He gave a look of disapproval at all of them before continuing.

"There wasn't a lot of performing going on today, either. Quite a lot of chatting, don't you agree, Zero?" Jack approached the scorpion, whom he didn't have a problem with most of the time. He tended to follow the rules. But there were still times. He gave the freak a warning glare before returning to the center again.

"Widow. Jetta. Blueberry and Strawberry. Expect to see me later. I'm not happy. Not at all." With that, he was off again. You had to leave them scared.

Katerina heard every word The Owner said. She shivered slightly at the sound of his voice. It always gave her goosebumps when he was angry. Thank God it had nothing to do with her. Just keep him happy, and nothing would go awry for her.

After The Owner left, there was silence. An eerie silence. Katerina crawled to the bars of her cage, looking to Taylor's tank. She rested her head on the bars and got in her usual sitting position on the edge of the cage. She made sure The Owner was long gone before she dare speak to the others.
"So what now?" she says loud enough for all the other freaks to hear her.

Freye would have to admit that he was a bit put off by the short comment that came from the girl, Angel, but nodded as he continued to sketch, long lines and light marks. Quietly, he wrote down her words, and mumbling them under his breath so to help remember, "To entertain. It doesn't matter if we want to, or don't want to, but we have to entertain."

To entertain. Does not matter? But to entertain. What did that mean, really? A forced submission into life? Or rather, an acceptance for what one must do under the heavy influence to what is.. what? What would it be? His hands twitched, unable sure as to how to approach the portrait any further, and a frown crossed his features at his lack of action. His inability to be able to draw out what he wishes to be able to see, but this answer that she has given, leaves him at a blank at nothing. The portrait cannot come to him, and his mind tries to wander around this answer that the beautiful girl in the cage has given, but his attention is taken away when she announces that the zoo will be closing, and that they'll end it here. With so many unanswered questions?

Freye nods nevertheless, and smiles if only a little bit, but does not put his things away, before waving goodbye silently, and whispers, "until next time then, hopefully."

The sound of the man's voice from earlier beckons him out of his thoughts, and several other people come to help escort him out. Why is that? Freye doesn't really ponder too much on that subject, reverting back to the sentence that Angel replied that put him so off, repeating endlessly in his mind. It's probably going to haunt throughout the night. As he's leaving, he takes a last glance back, and with the sketch in his hands, unable to rip it or crumble it or tear it up, he simply smooths out his dress. With the sketchbook in his hand, he calmly places it back in his bag, and then silently walks back home. To entertain. It doesn't matter if we want to, or don't want to, but we have to entertain.. Freye plans to go back. Tomorrow. Most certainly that he will.

Dawn sat there, staring at Herrick as everybody else began to talk. She then frowned when he didn't answer and tried to tune into what the others were saying, but all she could hear was them talk about people that had visited them. With a sigh, she began to talk to the others.

"Seems like you guys were the ones that drew attention today." She said, craning her neck so she could see Ridley. "After all, it seems you and Ebony got to see the Doc. Oh, and you, Arabella, and Lilith got to see some French guy. Vielleicht bin ich immer weniger beliebt." The last part was in German, (a language she was almost positive nobody but herself spoke) and she said it so the only people that could hear her were the ones in the cages closest to her own. It was a joke, but no matter how much she hated her routines and costume, there was still a pang of disappointment that the audience was apparently growing bored with her.

She stood and walked to the back of her cage, allowing herself to be engulfed in shadows once again. When she was positive nobody could see her, she flew up and sat in the crook of her tree again. It was the same position as before. It was then (when she looked at the door) that she realized something.

"It seems that Jack is keeping us in our cages instead of letting us walk around. He must be really mad, freunde." Dawn still never left the shadows nor her tree, just yelled it out so it echoed around her cage and out into the square.

(1. Maybe I'm growing less and less popular. 2. He must be really mad, friends.)

"She's nice. She doesn't know how to act around us though, so go easy on her. She's nervous."
"He has a neurological disorder."

Lilith had opened her mouth to respond to Ridley when Dawn spoke up to them all. Ara looked over in disbelief at Dawn’s cage. “Do you not remember that delightful boy/girl, not really sure, who wanted to draw you?” Ara said almost sourly, was not going to get sucked into Dawn’s pity party.

Lilith watched her sister talk; she honestly had no tack. “Chin up Dawn, your our most popular act.” She said in the kindest voice she had, which was not very kind before turning back not Ridley. “Do you think The Doc will see our side?”

Ara’s ear picked up on Ridley comments and she immediately forced her way in. “Sorry, Riddles, I don’t do easy. Though a neurological disorder eh? Well, I suppose you’d have to have one those to want to see some mutated freak in a cage.” She said.

Lilith glanced at her sister’s comments before brushing her off, her comments were stupid and unnecessary. Just because Ara was not going easy on the new Doc didn’t mean Lilith would either, she hated that general assumption. Lilith only hoped Ridley did the same; ignore Ara’s contributions to the conversation.

There wasn't a lot of performing going on today, either. Quite a lot of chatting, don't you agree, Zero?" Herrick refused to acknowledge Jack, for he knew that he was right - not much performing today, just a lot of talking, and he was one of the worst. What most people didn't know was that if the main stars didn't perform as well as they should, Jack considered it a bad day - even if the new ones tried their hardest. It was the philosophy that Zero had read before - if a few mess up, the whole group is 'punished'. With Zero being one of the main attractions, Herrick knew that he did worse than poorly today, and the rest of the group may pay for his mistakes. However, then again, Dawn, Ridley and the Twins didn't do that well either. Today was brutal, for no other better word.

And Zero wouldn't have had it any other way.

For once in a long time, a small smile grew onto his lips on its own, not induced by book, or any real form of memory. Just thinking of the day made him smile, and that was just about it. However, his smile slowly faded back into a solemn and lonely stare, and he closed his eyes to listen to the other freaks reconnect with their fellow cage-dwellers, and the conversations were interesting to say the least. Dawn had addressed the cages around him - The Twins and Ridley - about their large popularity for the day. The twins then decided to poke fun at what sounded like a sketch artist that came to draw Dawn's picture. Somebody had drawn Zero's picture 8 years ago and 305 days ago - the man decided to draw two and give Zero the other, which he still had. Dawn also spoke in a language he had read about - German, from the country of Germany - capital, Berlin. He couldn't speak it at all.

As usual, Ara was being a more positive speaker and contributer to the conversation, Ridley was just doing her own 'thing' as they called it and Lilith sounded as sour as ever - the comment to Dawn wasn't an indicator that she was being happy.

Herrick decided to push everybody's voices out of his head and began to close his eyes, deciding that the freaks wouldn't talk to him, so there was no need to further engage in the rest of the day.

Arabella and Lilith were at it again, and Ridley rolled her eyes in annoyance. She liked the twins, but sometimes she couldn't handle the constant back and forth between them. It was cute sometimes, but often answering one of their questions spurred them into their own world. You might as well have never been there.

Sighing out of boredom, Ridley slid down at sat against the wall, her head leaning against the bars. She could hear Dawn speaking in German, but she was too far away to hear her exact wording. Decided to get a little bit of sleep before being beat to death, Ridley closed her eyes.

She was actually hoping to get isolation. Maybe then she could be left alone and get some proper sleep. She loved sleeping on a web, but sometimes she got called and it was impossible to try and find a blanket. God forbid you ask Jack to show some sympathy. Especially towards the freaks.

You might as well ask him to do something without some sort financial gain.

"So, we never got to talk to the new Doc, what was she like?"

After listening to Ridley's report and the twins comments, Ebony added weakly,
"She's super nice you guys. She seems to care a lot about our well being, and after I told her about ese hijo de puta Jack, she doesn't seemt o approve to much about how he treats us. So at least try to be nice?"

Ebony then spaced out for a few moments, considering her day.

As Ridley, Ara and Lilith began a conversation while Ebony was thinking, she decided to speak to Dawn instead. She never really talked much to the winged girl, but they had had some pleasant conversations before, and Ebony felt a need to reassure her of her popular spot more convincingly than the twins had.

"Don't worry Dawn, you had a much bigger crowd for your shows than I did for my one! And at least you had a visitor, I just putted around and injured myself." She laughed a bit, attempting light humor.
"Hey what language was that?" The lizard teen was curious. Despite the fact she was fluent in Spanish, having grown up in Mexico, she had never really heard any languages except for Spanish and English. Anything about countries outside of America interested her, seeing as she hated this country. If Ebony had her way, she'd be off in Greece, or Japan. Alas, not feeling accepted, her she was until further notice.

As she waited for Dawn to answer her, Ebony climbed carefully up her cage bars towards the chain, testing out her brace. If she shifted her weight onto onside and elongated her torso, she hardly even felt it, or her injury. Unless she bent. Well, let's just say she wouldn't be bending for awhile.
She spiraled into a sloth like position, able to relax fully, adhesive hands and feet coming in handy. As long as she didn't concentrate on stopping them from producing their gel in her pores- something akin to sweat, but integrating her first few layers of skin, like liquid glue that hardened and unhardened when she grabbed and let go of things- she could hang easily from anything without paying attention.
Ebony grimaced, thinking of her ribs. Well, usually without paying attention, though sometimes her lack of presence would put her body under the illusion she wasn't grabbing anything, and her 'glue' would unharden.

She also wasn't worried about loosing blood in her limbs. Experimentation by her had shown that despite various positions she put herself into, blood would continue to flow, with a slight heart increase. Unless she bent herself in a way that cut off circulation. Then she'd get pins and needles.

Dawn shrugged at what the others said, not like it really mattered to her at this point. She was already drifting off to sleep, slipping in and out of unconsciousness. She was too busy worrying about Ridley and all the others, and when Jack would come, but after a couple of minutes she forgot about it all and fell asleep completely. But right before, she said one thing.

"Good night, fruende."
---
Jack stood in his office, the moon outside greeting him when he peered out the window. Hopefully, many of the freaks would be asleep by now. That was exactly what he wanted. He pushed open the door to his trailer quietly, before stalking off to find his disobedient freaks. His footsteps made little to no sound as he stopped in front of the first cage. Ridley. Glad to see she was asleep. He pulled the key from his pocket and unlocked the door, slowly sliding in and standing in front of Spider Girl. Perfect.

He literally grabbed her arm and dragged her along. If that didn't wake her up, then when her head hit off the metal gate did. He ignored the faces that were still awake, peering out to watch as he dragged to another trailer. This, is what the freaks called the punishment trailer. It was an appropriate name, because that was exactly what happened. And with a smirk, he dragged little spidey in behind him.

"You won't be leaving her without a couple bruises."
-
Almost twenty minutes later, he was drawing a lock on a door, which held a now normal Ridley inside. He peered in the window, seeing her completely lose all of her spider enchantments, before continuing on. Now to find Jetta.
(Good night, friends."

Dawn could never sleep through the punishments. Never could, never will. She now sat in the middle of her cage, cross-legged. She simply stared out into the dark, flinching every time she heard a scream. But soon again, it was over. For at least another ten minutes. She saw eyes in the cage directly across from her. Salem. He's been quiet lately. She frowned and stood, walking as far to the edge her cage would let her and peering at him.

"Salem, you alright?" Of course, he was probably fine. Must have been sleeping. But she enjoyed talking to him, whenever she got the chance. Leaning against the bars of the cage, she awaited the answer. Not like she had long to do that. Because here came Jack...
---
Jack had gave himself a couple of minutes to calm down before going out to get Ebony. She was injured, and even he wasn't going to press that. She would get off easy with the beatings. But not with isolation. He stepped forward, a streetlight lighting up his face and revealing the small smudges of blood he had here and there. He took a minute to just stand there, thinking. But then that minute was over and he was off to find Jetta.

"Alright, here we are." The Owner mumbled to himself, fishing a key out of his pocket again and unlocking the door. He did the same process, grabbed her arm and dragged her out. All her screams fell on deaf ears as he dragged her to the trailer. He could hear talking. Between Widow and Timothy. He was patching her up. With a nod, he looked down at the girl he was dragging along.

"I'm going easy on you with the beatings, but you're getting extra isolation." Alright, so maybe Jack did have a heart of a sort. At least he could tell her what to expect.
~
Once again, the man found himself throwing another person in the isolation chamber, locking the door and walking off. But this time, he was looking for the twins.