Timothy Cross's Story

Timothy slumped out of his trailer with a grimace on his face, as usual. It was time to take care of the freaks. Every day he had to check the status of their health as best he could, what with some having cold blood and constant fleas. He half dragged his heavy medical supply kit as he dragged himself to the cages to find the cage he was supposed to unlock had a visitor: Avarella.

"God dammit, Nixon," he grumbled and fumbled for his keys to the cage. "I'm the doctor here, girly. Well, the nurse. But regardless, my job is to keep these freaks healthy, not yours. Move aside." He unlocked the cage door and closed it behind him.

Tim sat next to Ebony and smirked. "What's the matter Lizzy Godzilla, cat got your ribs?" He cackled at his own bad joke as he pulled out a rib brace and pain soothing gel from his kit. He rubbed the gel on her rib cage. "This oughta sting quite a bit Lizzy, but try not to move, okay?" After applying the gel, he fastened the fabric part of the brace around her ribs before fastening the metal clasps at the back.

"You're gonna be okay as long as you don't move excessively, lizard brains. But since you managed to injure yourself, that means I gotta tell the boss. And boy, he'll be miiiighty pissed off that you can't do major work in shows. He might even make you clean up after the dog brains! Hah, won't that be fun?" He laughed again and closed up his kit.

Avarella's eyes turned over to the older man, Timothy was it? Her eyes narrowed, despite the obvious naivety and concern she possessed that every respectable (human-specialized) doctor should not have. "It is my job. I should be in there!" Technically, it was to oversee the general health and diets of all of the.. mutants, and to keep records on that. Paperwork and check-ups that eventually would be processed over to the nurse, apparently. Real hospital-like. Avarella wasn't going to look forward to that, but she had a small decent pay and the job seemed interesting anyhow so she couldn't really complain. Her worry towards Ebony's condition was still crossing her mind, creasing her forehead with a frown. She supposed that being there as someone to rely on wasn't part of her job description nor in her payroll, but she was willing to do that since she first laid eyes on the depressing and dark nature that seemed to surround this traveling zoo. Nevertheless, she had stepped aside, and allowed the older, more experienced man to do his job, listening carefully and refusing to leave at all. The man knew what he was doing, unlike her. She didn't want to admit it, but he had much more experience in dealing with medical situations of human beings. She was only lucky those times during her travels, mostly dealing with animals. Avarella cursed under her breath out of frustration.

She liked Timothy, at least he called her Nixon like she had politely asked, unlike the Owner who found her strange and kept distance. He seemed to have no complaints about calling her by the name, though Ridley's comment on the nickname came up a again, and it made her smile, but had to force her mind to be brought back properly to the current situation at hand here. Despite the fact that she had only met the male nurse once or twice throughout the entire paperwork and job processing progress, so they had at least been on acquainted terms. She didn't care much for his bad attitude, with a stick that seemed permanently up his ass. There were other staff members, she was aware, though she had yet to meet all of them. She should probably do so when she finds time to after visiting everyone else. Crap, I still gotta do that. What time is it? She glanced at her watch, it was about a little halfway there to noon. Shit.

Catching snippets on the conversation inside, she hoped that at least when the guy was done, that he'd allow her in and at least let her see Ebony up close and over see anything that she could be useful for. Though, by the looks of it, he seemed to be trying to provoke Ebony. She sighed. "Hey, Mr. Cross." She knocked on the door. "Allow me in when you're done. I should see over it so I could.. record it. That's definitely in my job description, just so you know." Avarella huffed. She should make a request for her own copy of the keys, just so this wouldn't be so inconvenient. The blond ran her fingers through her hand again, ruffling it up, fluffing the short locks and making it seem even more untidy and messy than before.

"All right, you can come in, hold your horses. I'm just finishing up." After packing his things back into the kit, Timothy opened the cage door and gestured her to come inside. Once she was in, he unlooped the key to the lizard girl's cage off of his keyring and handed it to Avarella. "Here you go Nix. Be sure to lock up when you leave. And don't forget to give that key back! You'll get your own from the Boss man if you ask." Tim pointed to his key ring before putting it back on his belt. "Speaking of the Boss, I'm off to talk to him now. I'll see you around." He turned on his heel and left the cage.

Timothy headed to the performance area through the back entrance and froze when he got there; he could see that creepy spider chick there. His boss looked impatient as she stood face to face with him. Looked like Spidey was about to get squashed. Heh. He smiled at his cruel thoughts.

"Boss!" He waved as he walked into the performance area. "Before you smack Spidey around, there's a bit of a problem. Little Lizzy Godzilla bruised a few ribs. She won't be able to perform for a while." He scratched the back of his head. "She can still move a little though. What do you plan on doing with her until she heals?"

Boos!

Ridley recognized the sound of Timothy Cross's voice. That man was as cruel as Jack and had a medical degree! She did find great happiness in the fact that he was deathly afraid of spiders and strongly disliked being anywhere near Ridley. Which was wonderful, since she didn't want to be anywhere near him.

"Before you smack Spidey around, there's a bit of a problem." Ridley winced at his words, but scooted closer to her web covered bars to hear better. "Little Lizzy Godzilla bruised a few ribs. She won't be able to perform for a while. She can still move a little thought. What do you plan on doing with her until she heals?"

Ridley hated the stupid names he gave to the others here. Each one had their own special name, meant to demean and ridicule them. She couldn't help but feel extreme concern for Ebony though. If she was out of commission for a while...well Jack definitely wouldn't be happy about that.

"Commotion, commotion! Do these people ever calm down? I suppose not, we are in a freak show..." Katerina thinks as she, once again, heads to the bars of her cage, trying to see what was going on. Again, she didn't dare speak. But she could still listen. No harm in that.

This time, she stretched her arm out of the bars, flicking it around to see if she could grab anything. No? Nothing? She sighs. Katerina studies the bars and sees that she can slip her feet out and sit on the edge, still inside the cage, but able to take part in the outside world. She pushes her feet out so they dangle on the edge and grasps the bars in front of her as if it were a swing. She sits, listening to the yelling. She could hear Timothy's voice.
"Well he sounds like fun..." this she says aloud, but quiet enough so only she could hear.

Ebony moved over to the door at a speed that didn't hurt, stretching herself to the side a bit so her ribs didn't hurt as much. However, as the door opened she stumbled back in shock as Timothy walked in, hoisting along the medical kit he carried everywhere. Ebony's mouth dropped a bit at the surprise, then she scowled.
She didn't like Tim. True to his name, he was Cross all the time, and belittled the 'acts'. At least he knew what he was doing though, but he helped injuries in painful ways and found it amusing.
"What's the matter Lizzy Godzilla, cat got your ribs?" He burst out laughing and Ebony resisted the urge to hit him in several vital pressure points, and see who was laughing then. "This oughta sting quite a bit Lizzy, but try not to move, okay?"
"That's not my name, hijo de puta ignorante." She growled, but broke out into a little squeak.
He slathered some gel on her bruise and she stifled another squeak as a horrid stinging ran up her entire side, not to mention the pain of his not-so-gentle handling of her bruise. He clasped a brace around her ribs and she stared at it in surprise, immediately not liking the way it restricted some of her movement.

"You're gonna be okay as long as you don't move excessively, lizard brains. But since you managed to injure yourself, that means I gotta tell the boss. And boy, he'll be miiiighty pissed off that you can't do major work in shows. He might even make you clean up after the dog brains! Hah, won't that be fun?"

She glowered and spat at the ground in front of him, breaking into rapid fire spanish. "Usted no será la risa cuando me escapo una noche y los frenos se cortan misteriosamente. O tal vez debería poner en un aparato ortopédico. Un cemento de uno, y luego te meten en un estanque."
(You wont be the one laughing when I escape one night and your brakes are mysteriously cut. Or maybe I should put you in a brace. A cement one, then throw you in a pond.)

Luckily, Ebony heard Nixy from the hallway.
Hey, Mr. Cross. Allow me in when you're done. I should see over it so I could.. record it. That's definitely in my job description, just so you know."

She smirked at him as he assured Nixon she could come in and left. However, her smirk dropped as he said he was off to tell the Owner of her injury.
Seeing as she was already injured, he probably wouldn't beat her. And depending on how bad the others had pissed him off, she might get isolation.
Ebony shivered. She wasn't one of the ones who could deal well with isolation. It was the worst, and always had her in a panicked frenzy when she was let out.
Hopefully, Jack was feeling forgiving.

The tall figure paused, leaning against a post as he winced. He hated walking through the city. It was such a mental strain. Every sight sent a mash of badly matched music in his ears, every honk and yell a splosh of ugly color to frame his vision. Synesthesia was so annoying sometimes.
He moved his shoulder bag and unzipped a compartment, pulling out soundproof headphones. They were meant for music, but Sebastian usually just tucked the plug into his pocket, preferring the silence so his vision was clear. The music from his sight still played, but at least now he could concentrate where he was going.
He checked the address on a pamphlet he held. Memorizing it, the french boy shoved the pamphlet back into his back, tugged his headphones cord into his pocket and set of again.

Around lunch, Sebastian finally managed to get to Freaks Galore. He had missed the early opening crowds, but still had to wait in line for a few minutes to get a ticket.
His black hair stuck up everywhere, except some of his bangs that fell over his forehead. He was wearing his usual black v-neck, blue hoody,and skinny jeans. Leaving his headphones on, he took up his camera from where it hung around his neck and took pictures of a few plants before wondering over too the cages.
Sebastian ran his eyes over a few of the 'freaks', taking in the sounds each person stimulated. There was music he had never heard, ringing in his ears, sounds of faraway country's you would never hear in a city. Everything was so foreign, but in a good way, and for some reason, if he shut out the uglier sounds from the crowds, all the 'freaks' music mingled together pleasantly, like they were all linked in a huge tribal, electronic, classical arrangement. He began walking to each of the cages, camera at the ready, snapping regular pictures of some acts that he thought would inspire some paintings. Then he passed a cage containing a guy about Sebastian's own age.
Adjusting his camera so it could take a clear shot in the low light of the water the guy was in, Sebastian zoomed and took a rather artistic shot of the frog-boys facce looking peaceful with bubbles rising from his mouth. Sebastian reviewed the shot with a smile, nodding his head slightly to the low bass beat from the boy.
He then moved on, snapping photos from add angles and capturing beauty of most of the acts. He only lingered briefly at the cages of Freaks who seemed to be occupied speaking to other audience members.
It's good they're allowed to talk to us if they want to. I still feel bad for them though, I hope they want to be here.

Sebastian then came across a cage that particularly caught his eye. The bars were coated in webbing that sang out like a crystal bell. Entranced he wandered over, only realizing there were two males talking in front of it. Interested, he slipped of his head phones, colors from the crowd immediately swirling to life on the outsides of his vision.

"Before you smack Spidey around, there's a bit of a problem.Little Lizzy Godzilla bruised a few ribs. She won't be able to perform for a while. She can still move a little thought. What do you plan on doing with her until she heals?"

Sebastian couldn't help but curl his lip at the two in disgust. They spurred eye displeasing vomit color and sounded like several un-tuned instrument breaking, not to mention the mention of beating.
"You two sound absolutely distasteful." He scolded them without thinking, French accent flitting through. "Not to mention your colors. très laid."
He noticed one man was in a medical jacket, and thought sheepishly they were probably employees. Oh well.

He approached the cage with the web, reaching in a finger and trailing it down the slightly sticky silk. The musical bell sang temptingly to him, almost bragging about how much prettier it was then the other sounds he saw.
"Bonjour," He said lightly, leaning in a bit. "I'm going to take pictures of your web, if that's already with whoever's in there."
Raising his digital camera to his eye, he cast a final look at the two men, hoping he wouldn't be scolded if they were employees.

"Bonjour, I'm going to take pictures of your web, if that's alright with whoever's in there."

Ridley sat up straight at the sound of the French accent. She recalled, back when she was in the hospital, before she had been transformed, she had started teaching herself different languages. She was fluent in many because of this, and she quite enjoyed speaking with people in their native tongue. This man, he wanted to take pictures of her web? But why?

It wasn't that exciting. It looked like regular spider web in her opinion. Crawling forward, Ridley peeked through a small gap in the webbing to get a clear look at her visitor. She spotted Jack and Timothy first, their faces contorted in rage. She rolled her eyes at them and finally spotted the one taking pictures of her web. He was definitely attractive for someone visiting a freak show.

Though she didn't doubt there were a lot of attractive audience members, but their looks were contorted by how horribly they treated the poor exhibits. Ridley watched him with a curious gaze. He stared at her web as if it were made by a world renowned painter. Someone who took the time to make sure each strand was in its proper place, while Ridley just wanted some privacy.

He looked to be done, as he flipped through the pictures on his camera. Ridley couldn't help her curiosity however, and couldn't help but want to see what he saw. Without thinking, Ridley stretched her hand out of her bars, not caring what he may think seeing the black tough exterior of her exoskeleton.

"May I see?"

"Vous parlez francais? Qu'est-ce une charmante jeune femme vouse."

Ridley smiled, glad someone appreciated her knowledge of different languages. "Oui. Je me suis appris quand j'étais plus jeune. J'ai passé beaucoup de temps à l'hôpital, avant que je transforme en cela, bien sûr." She gestured to herself, referring to her mutation.

A young kid can put their mind to anything when they're bored, and have no friends. Including, learning an entirely different language. "Il a été un moment depuis que je parlais français dernière. Désolé si c'est mauvais."

I'm used to explaining what's wrong with me, once I realize I'm staring too long, or doing something else strange. Je suis désolé. Mon nom est Sébastien. Et vous?"

She nodded her head in understanding. She'd been locked up in the zoo for some time now, so she never really had to explain her condition to anyone. She could only imagine what it was life for those who grew up having to explain to people why they were different.

"My name is Ridley. It's wonderful to meet you Sebastian." She said with a smile. Glancing past the boy to where Jack and Timothy were standing, she noticed them yelling about something. Ridley knew there was noway she was going to save herself from a beating, or maybe isolation, but she could see a crowd gathering over where Ebony's cage was. Waiting for a show.

She had heard from Timothy that Ebony's injury would put her out of commission for a while, and with several people looking to see a wall crawling, acrobatic, freak. She figured she could help Ebony out.

Sighing, she stood from her spot and began removing her web. "I hope you got all the pictures you wanted." She said to Sebastian. Letting the sunshine hit her black exoskeleton, Ridley sighed into the warmth. She gave Jack a wave with her hand. "Since Ebony's out of commission, do some crowd control. Send them over here, I'll entertain them as best as I can."

She hated speaking to Jack in a civilized tone, especially since he never seemed to have a civilized tone to anyone else, but she did her best. It was hard to not say harsh words to the man who was going to beat her later in the evening.

"Sorry to cut our conversation short, Sebastian." She said to the photographer. "But, duty calls."

She did a back flip and then shot a web pulling herself up towards the ceiling. She waited for more crowd to gather to start her routine, hoping this would reduce her isolation setting.

(1. Yes. I learned when I was younger. I spent a lot of time in hospital, before I turned into this, of course. 2. It's been a while since I last spoke French. Sorry if it's bad.)

Timothy already had two reasons to dislike Sebastion: he liked Ridley, and he was an asshole. Tim was annoyed with the spider-loving French man enough, but then Ridley began to perform to make up for Ebony's lack of performance. Ugh, seeing that creepy girl move is even worse than listening to her talk. It was time to skedaddle. Timothy looked away from Ridley and looked back at his boss.

"Well, I'll leave you to your work, Boss man. As for myself, I've got freaks to check-up on!"

He waved as he lifted his heavy medical kid off the ground and moved towards his favorite cage: Katerina's. He didn't actually like the freak herself; he just enjoyed any opportunity to make stupid puns involving cats. A list of jokes scrolled through his head as he dragged himself and the medical kit to her cage, cackling with each step closer. Once he reached her cage, he pulled out his keyring and joked.

"Hey kitty cat! Miss me? It's time for me to check for any hair balls."

He roared with laughter and entered the cage, closing it up behind him. He plopped down the kit and pulled out a small pen-light.

"Time to check on those cat eyes of yours. Follow the light, kitty."

"Hey kitty cat! Miss me? It's time for me to check for any hair balls."
Katerina's tail twitches when she hears his far from original joke. As he enters her cage, she looks down at him, still sitting on her swing. She doesn't move until he closes the cage door. When he does she moves so she is sitting on the swing with both feet dangling off the front. She leans back to hang upside down, then does a flip, landing perfectly on all fours. She then slinks over to him, not looking directly at him. She sits down in front of him with her legs off to the side, tail laying on top of them. Her hands were in front of her.

"Time to check on those cat eyes of yours. Follow the light, kitty." He only gets a slight tail twitch from this comment, but her piercing aquamarine eyes open and look at him as her ears flick slightly.
"What others have you got for me today?" she asks with slight intrigue in her voice. She didn't quite care for his cat jokes, but it's not like she hadn't been hearing them for a majority of her life. It was better than being called what her father had called her. She was, however, interested to hear if he could in fact, come up with some she had never heard before.

"It'd be better if a cat got your tongue, Kitty. I'm trying to focus."

He really just wanted to make his dumb cat jokes in peace, but he did have a job to do. After checking her eyes, he checked the usual things; throat, nose, ears, whisker sensitivity, blood pressure, reflexes; all the while continuing down his list of jokes.

"No hairballs, kitty. But you know what they say- Hair today, ball tomorrow!"
"Hearing's good. D'aw, were you expecting a scratch behind the ears?"
"Your reflexes are fine; you could almost say they're cat-like!"

It was exasperating, to say the least. But he was having a ball. Eventually, he pulled out an empty syringe.

"You're due for blood work, Kitty. Don't pussy out on the sight of the syringe!:

He laughed extra hard at that joke. He'd been thinking of that one all day.

[[The puns... They buuuuuuuurn... X_X]]

As he fires off the puns Katerina just lets him go. She figures if she says something against him it will be bad for her not only in the future, but now. Best just to take it. There would be no point in fighting back.

"No hairballs, kitty. But you know wha they say- Hair today, ball tomorrow."
Not surprising. She never did get hairballs. Well, maybe she used to when she was younger, but only small ones from her tail since that was the only place with fur.

"Hearings good. D'aw, were you expecting a scratch behind the ears?"
Katerina's tail lashes at this, considering she absolutely despised that action.

"Your reflexes are fine; you could almost say they're cat-like!"
Well duh...she was part cat. If they weren't cat-like she would be worried.

"You're due for blood work, kitty."
When she sees the needle, her pupils go from slits to huge circles. Her ears go flat and she begins to lash her tail. Katerina begins to back up at the sight of the sharp object, despite his pun of not being afraid.

((*twitch, twitch* O.o))

Timothy watched her back away at the sight of the syringe and sighed. He knew this would happen. The joke lightened his spirits, but it didn't change the fact that taking Katerina's blood was always a pain in the ass. Still, it was his job, so he had to do it.

"Come on now, don't be a scaredy cat! We need to check your blood to make sure you don't have cat scratch fever!"

He slowly stepped towards her, inch by inch, and then suddenly grabbed her arm. Trying to avoid being scratched, he reached over to his medical kit and grabbed a disinfecting wipe to sterilize the injection area.

"Now stand still, Kitty. It'll only hurt for a second."

Katerina lets him grab her arm. She turns away when Timothy plunges the needle into her flesh. He can hear her yelp slightly when he sticks her, but she keeps quiet otherwise. When he finishes taking her blood, she turns to him and opens her eyes to look at him.

"Sorry." she says, her ears going flat slightly, "I'd tell you why I'm so afraid of needles, but I doubt you care."

Some blood trickles from the hole where the needle was. Her tail twitches slightly as she sees it.

"Ow." she mutters quietly.

"You're right; I don't care. But still, it'd make my job easier, so start talking, Putty Tat."

He disinfected the injection area again and put a small floral bandage over it. Then he took the needle off of the syringe and put the blood into a chilled bag to keep it fresh. It would take about a week for the results to be processed once he sends the blood to a lab. He was surprised at first that the labs didn't show more interest in the blood abnormalities that he now saw as normal results, but he guessed the lab didn't care much for the result: just the payment they received for getting it. That's how the world works, he figured. He looked at Katerina.

"On second thought, you don't gotta tell me why needles freak you out. You don't wanna talk about it, and neither do I. Oh, and on that note, thanks for not scratching me this time. I've got enough infected wounds to worry about these days."

"It's not really important." Katerina says, hopping back up to her swing and taking her original position, "Sorry for scratching you before. Kind of a reflex."

Katerina smiles, trying to show kindness, hoping he would show her some as well. She had no reason to really hate him. He was only doing his job.
"If you tell me something about yourself I'll return the favor." she says watching him, "unless you'll get in trouble. That would suck." She kicks her foot, making the swing go back and forth a bit. Her tail twitches, considering she's comfortable on her roost and she scratches her ear quickly.

Glancing at her arm, she sees the bandage and smiles a bit.
"And thanks for the bandage." she says smiling again, "I like flowers."

Timothy was surprised by her question. Something about himself? What could the freak possibly want to know about him? It's not like he had any outstanding qualities. She was the freak here. But the question caused memories to flow back to him like a torrent. He remembered how hard he worked to get into medical school, how he was excited to do God's work by helping the elderly. And he remembered how it all backfired when that evil old woman died. He really had nothing to do with her death, he was just doing honest work, but he was the one who paid the price for it. Timothy grimaced at the memory.

"I cant tell you much, but I'll give you a piece of advice that I've learned from my life."

His face looked bitter and sad.

"Never expect good treatment from nobody. No matter how kind you are, what good work you're doing, or how talented you are, there's always gonna be someone who'll take it for granted and ruin your life. So don't expect a goddamned thing. Okay?"

He picked up his medical kit and keys and left the cage, locking it behind him.

Katerina looks at him, her eyes quivering a bit with pity. After what she had been through, she understood that feeling. She flipped down from her swing and crawled to the bars, looking at Timothy who was now outside of her cage. She grips the bars.

"It's not my fault I'm like this." she says quietly after a few moments of silence, "it's my mom's."

Katerina slides her feet outside the bars so she's sitting on the edge of the cage, but still inside, as she had been sitting before. When she mentions her mother, she glances up at the sky and rests her temple on the bars of her cage.

Ridley leaned her head against the bars of her cage, her legs dangling outside. She was bored. The crowd that Jack had pushed over to her had slowly dispersed, to find different exhibits or to leave all together. She watched as people gathered around Salem's cage, excited to see a wolf like creature. She liked Salem; he was really nice. He didn't seem himself as a freak, which she thought was interesting.

Almost everyone who was apart of this zoo thought of themselves as a strange being, something that shouldn't exist. But not Salem. He was happy to be who he was. He was happy to be alive.

Ridley kicked the back of her foot against her cage, trying to come up with something to do. She didn't feel like do anymore tricks, her body tired and ready for a nap. She felt her stomach grumble with hunger, but she ignored it.

She watched as Timothy scurried between cages, checking on the animals. He eyed her and she smiled, brandishing her fangs, and he scurried past quickly keeping his eyes downcast. She couldn't help but laugh. Tormenting Timothy was her favorite part of the day.