Athena Leena's Story

Annie Marne

Annie jumped off the train cart as soon as it came to a stop, happy to be on still ground finally. Her body was a sore and tight, unuse to being unused for more than a day or a so. The first thing she noticed was this area was small, about half the size of their usual area, and there were a third of as many tents. Immediately, that unnerved her. The circus performers, although have been working together for quite some time, had not grown as close as you would expect, and she guess that sharing a room with them would be weird.

She reached back into her train cart, grabbing her suit case and duffle bag. She stared at the tents around, trying to guess which was hers, then she saw a telephone pole with a new, fresh white piece of paper on it. She read the words printed on quickly, realizing she was in tent 3 along with the other two acrobats. She sighed, unsure what to expect, and turned towards the tent with a large 3 over it.

Annie would'n really consider it a tent, although the top was a tent like material, hoisted up on wooden beams, it was on a prebuilt wooden padeo of sorts. She prodded over to it, going up the three stairs in front and pushing the flaps apart to open it. Inside, there was a queen bed on each side, and a couch on the way to the back. She couldn't decide where she wanted to sleep, and she didn't want to claim a spot before the other acrobats arrived, she couldn't stand them being mad at her. So, instead, Annie plopped down onto the floor, waiting for the other acrobats to come.

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Athena stared out the window in the train cart as the train came to a slow stop. Far back, there had been a city, but as the slowing increased, so did the open and bare land. By the time they had reached the claimed land, it was as humanless as the desert, but that didn't bother her. She knew people would come to see the show, they always did, and she couldn't socialize with anyone out of the circus either, so it seriously didn't matter.

She jumped out of the train cart, her backpack on her back and saw a girl, Annie, running off to a tent with the number three. Athena went to where she saw Annie stop and check something, reading the sign on the telephone pole and finding her tent number to be 5, seeming to be with all the other circus children. She made her way to the tent, and as she entered it, she was surprised at the sight.

There was one bunk bed, a queen bed, and a couch. But there's four children, she thought, realizing that two of them were going to have to sleep together. She sighed, turning to the flap as other children entered.

Alec was in a bad mood. Of course, Alec was always in a bad mood, so this wasn't particularly unusual. What was unusual was that this time his bad mood was caused by what most people would consider a legitimate reason. He was going to have to share his room. Well, not his room, his tent. He was in the circus, so they didn't have rooms per say, they had tents. Tents that were normally individual tents where he could mope in peace after the show. Now, however, he was sharing a tent.

Alec looked up as the train he was on ground to a halt. Groaning he picked up his trunk and lugged it outside. If one good thing came out of this it would be that he was off the train. He hated trains. leaving he trunk where it was he walked over to a sheet on a near bye telephone pole declaring whose room was whose. Alec groaned, great. He was sharing with the other apprentices. Of course, he wouldn't have been happy sharing with anyone so he supposed it didn't make too much of a difference.

Walking back to where the train stood still Alec picked up his trunk and carried it over to his new home, tent number five. As he walked in he saw another girl had beat him to the tent. He also saw that there was three spots for the four children to sleep. Great. Either two people would share, or someone was sleeping on the floor. Alec sighed, if it came to that he'd volunteer, he wasn't going to be happy anyways, so why make someone else unhappy?

Alec tapped the girl on the shoulder and held out a hand, "Hey, I'm Alec. I don't think we've had a chance to introduce ourselves before...You are?" Alec tried to force a grin, but failed miserably and went back to frowning.

Nazo looked at the paper. Telt 5, huh? It seemed like that was going to be the most crowded tent...hopefully it was bigger to make up for that.

Nazo was about to walk into the telt when she heard voices. Had people arrived already? Guess that'd mean she would get whatever leftover bed there was...
she quietly walked into the tent, seeing a girl and a boy talking to each other. She'd seen them around before, but she'd never really talked to them. They seemed nice enough - they didn't bother her unnecessarily, and did their fair share whenever they were setting up tents.

Nazo looked around in the tent. There were only 3 beds, and she knew for sure that there were five kids...
"Um, sorry for interrupting" Nazo said hestitantly to the boy and girl. "If you're wondering where to sleep, I'm willing to sleep on the floor. I just don't want to get too comfertable sleeping anywhere, so that I can wake up on time" she muttered, avoiding eye contact.

Athena gave a bright smile to Alec, putting out her hand to shake his.. "I'm Athena." She shook his hand, keeping her smile on, even though the boy had a large frown on his face. "You're the apprentice for animal tamer, right?" She had see him around before working with the animals, something she didn't particularly like, but he seemed to be good with them. Athena had never been too fond with animals; when she had first got here that was she was watching, and the circus master had thrown her in a cage with the lion. Even though he was trained, it was still likely that he would eat her, and ever since, she had been extremely uncomfortable around them.

When the other girl walked it, Athena's smile got even bigger. "You're not interrupting. And I don't think anyone should have to sleep on the floor, I mean a queen bed is big enough for two people, and a lot of the kids are tiny." She paused for a second to think. "Although we also shouldn't make really young kids have to share a bed." Her eyes shifted to Nazo, not meaning to. "But I'm sure it will all work out." She fixed her smile, dimples forming on her cheeks.

As the train slowly rolled to a stop, Nona's blue eyes slowly opened. The world outside was grassy, green and almost bare save the tents where they would be staying whenever they weren't performing. She rubbed the exhaustion from her eyes and moved to stand. It was difficult due to the tiny blonde head which rested on her lap. She shook her little sister's shoulder and said softly, "Lillia, it's time to wake up." When her sister didn't move she sighed and picked her up princess style. She managed to make it to the door before her sister's eyes slowly slid open. "Nona?" she said, squirming in her sister's arms to be placed back on the floor, "Are we there?" Nona grabbed her and Lillia's bags before she jumped from the car, turning to catch her sister who followed behind her. "Yes, Lilly, we're there."

Nona held on to her little sister's hand as they moved from the door of the train to the list that was attached to a nearby post. "You're in tent 5 with the others, Lillia. I'm in..." She skimmed the list looking for her name. When she found it she stopped. "...tent four with.. James, Coraline, and... Liam." She smiled to herself a little at the last name. Liam was really the only person she got along with besides her sister. The others were fine, but didn't talk to her much. He was really good with animals too. She heard her name being called behind her over the loud, panicked cries of one of their elephants. "Speak of the devil," she said and turned to the source of the call. "I'll be right there, Liam! I just need to walk Lillia to her tent!" She looked down at her sister and smiled reassuringly. "Ready, Lillia?"

She took a hold of her sister's hand and walked her to the door of her tent. Once they had arrived, she crouched down so she was face to face with Lillia. "Now, Lilly. I'm only a few tents down from you if you need anything okay?" She kissed her sister on her forehead and muttered an "I love you" before turning and headed towards Liam.

She hopped up into the train cart with the animals, grabbing a few of Duchess's favorite treats as she went. "Shhh. Duchess. It's alright. Everything's okay." She held a treat up to Duchess's nose and waited for her to take it before stroking i her trunk. "See? It's alright. You can get off this scary contraption now, but you have to follow me, ok?" She grabbed another treat from her pocket and guided the elephant down the special ramp. Once she was on the ground, Nona gave Duchess the treat. Then she placed the rest of the treats by a nearby post where she tied Duchess to make sure she didn't try to run away. The thing about elephants was, when they're as big as Duchess, once they run, there's not way you're going to be able to stop them. Then again, they weren't as skilled with animals as Liam and Nona. Once Duchess was tied up, she turned and smiled at Liam. "There. Done. We should head to the tent though before all the good beds are taken." She placed her "mask" back on her face and headed to tent four. She looked around the room and noticed that the other two girls, Nala and Cora, had already arrived. Confused, she looked back for Liam before turning back to the two. "Hi, Cora... Nala... Wait, Nala are you in this tent?" She moved over to one of the beds and placed her bag on it before looking around. It seemed Cora had claimed the cot in the back, but the bed was still open. Odd, but she decided to claim it for herself.

Meanwhile, Lillia stared at the door, thumb in her mouth. She wasn't sucking on it. She was just biting her nail. She knew better than to be sucking her thumb at the age of 7. She took a deep breath, picked up her bags that Nona had placed beside her and climbed the stairs into the tent. There were already four others inside, discussing the living arrangements. She looked around the room and noticed that there was only 3 places for five people to sleep. She placed her bags by the front door and walked over towards them. She was afraid to speak up, mainly because Alec scared her when he was in a bad mood. She looked at the others and wondered if they were going to let her share the bed or if they were going to take seniority and make her sleep on the floor. She really hoped she could sleep on the bed. She had a hard enough time sleeping on the train. Sleeping on the ground wasn't going to be any better for her.

((Okay, now you can all post more, so I'm taking back what I said about not posting more than once))

Annie smiled at the girl, nodding her head. "And I'-" she cut herself off as she sensed another presence, and turned to see a boy in the room Rodney, she thought. She had made a point to memorize everyone's names, even if they didn't have the slightest clue as to what hers was. She smile as he told them they could call him Ronnie. She listened to his question, already knowing the answer from a discussion on the train.

"Here's what I know. So I was talking to the ring master's apprentice, Athena, and she said that Hector was talking to-" Her voice cut off as she almost said Neil, but couldn't make herself say it. "The circus master had a budget cut, and this was also the biggest place they could get. And they didn't want somewhere too big because they didn't want huge crowds to find us when we are not preforming." She smiled when she finished, realizing she still hadn't introduced herself. "Oh. And I'm Annie by the way."

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Athena smiled at all the people entering, slightly getting overwhelmed. She spotted a small girl, about 7 years old, and recognizing her, smiled at her and walked slightly away from the group to her. "Uh Hi i'm Athena" She said, putting her hand out to her to shake. She was one of the kids she was talking about, one of the kids that would certainly get a bed to themselves if Athena had anything to say.

Just as she approached the group, one of the girls stopped talking and approached her. Her body tensed her thumb flying to her mouth, but her face remained indifferent. Blank as the "mask" she wore. The girl in front of her, Athena, held out her hand to shake Lillia's. She hesitated but finally reached out to shake it. She had to stop biting her thumb nail just to shake answer her. "Hi... Athena," she said shyly, "I'm... My name is Lillia.. Lillia James. No-... My sister's the animal tamer.. Nona. Nona James.. she's a few tents over.." Her eyes darted to a nearby bed as if she was asking if she could have it, but then her eyes went to Alec and she looked away, withdrawing her inaudible question.

Athena smiled at the girl, able to tell that she was nervous or scared. She saw her eyes dart to a bed, the bunk bed and she smiled. "You want it? Top or bottom?" She said, making sure to use a happy voice and keep a genuine smile on her face as she spoke. Hopefully, since this girl wouldn't be with her sister, Athena could be someone that Lillia would at least trust, maybe even like. Had the situation been different, Athena might even have been friends with Nona, but she wasn't and it was not good to dwell on what could be.

Nona awoke in a coughing fit and sat up, startled. She looked around the room, half expecting there to be a fire burning somewhere in the tent. Once she lost the grogginess of waking up, she sniffed the air. She coughed again, but knew it was no fire. It was god damned cigarette smoke. Discussing things... they smell horrible.. they're bad for you... why do people smoke? She waved the smoke away from her face and was able to speak. "James, do you really have to smoke that? It smells horrible." She didn't have a big place to have a say in the matter due to the fact that she's done something just as stupid as smoking. However, that didn't turn out too well so smoking definitely wasn't going to end up well either. He asked them all a question. One she thought to herself many times. What would they do if they could start over? She listened to the others opinions, her eyes lingered on Liam when he answered. His eyes seemed to darken slightly and so did his mood. She was new and didn't really know what had happened. There was a rumor that his parents had given Claudius the circus, but she wasn't sure it was true. She never really had a chance to ask him and was actually almost afraid to. It wasn't really any of her business and whenever it was mentioned, Liam's mood would darken like this. It was obviously something he didn't want to talk about. She laid down on her stomach, her hands resting under her pillow, grazing the photo. "There's a lot I would change..." she said in a low voice. She closed her eyes before continuing. "but there's no way one can change the past.... I like working with the animals too."

I hate heights so acrobat is out. I have two left feet so dancer is out. I definitely can't be a clown. I'd laugh at myself. I'm not freaky in any way so I cant be a freak and there's no way in hell I'm being a gypsy. Nala pisses me off all on her own. I don't think I need more of that... she thought. She wasn't exactly about to say those types of things in front of people she knew would probably use them against her eventually. Or simply just make fun of her for them. Either way, her thoughts were staying inside her head.


Athena smiled at her and asked her which bunk she wanted. Lillia looked up and down at both beds but eventually decided on down. She didn't like being up heigh. She was afraid she would have a night terror and fall off. She pointed to the bed and then, deciding she was probably being rude and childish for just pointing, said, "the bottom." She looked around the room to see if any one objected. There was a look on Alec's face that puzzled her. It seemed almost bewildered. Why? because she was frightened by him? She only found him scary because he was always frowning or pissed off at something. She actually didn't mind him much when he was in a good mood. Plus, he apprenticed with her sister and Liam so she knew that she would be seeing much more of him eventually since she was training under them herself. She had to get along with him at some point. She was about to say something to him when he walked over to a girl with purple hair who seemed to be standing off on her own. Deciding that she didn't want to interrupt, Lillia walked towards the bed after picking up her bags and placed them on the sheets before sitting on the side and listening to the others.

"Okay." Athena said smiling, turning to her remaining two room mates. "I'll take whatever's left," she said, glancing at the top bunk with a sense of disgust. She hated heights, she was terrified of them. She would even be fine with taking the floor. Or sleeping outside. They could do that right, force her out? As long as she didn't get the top bunk, she was fine. Well, also as long as she wasn't forced with the circus or ring master. They were both... uncomfortable to be around.

After leaving the tent, she headed for the animals' tent. The whole time Nona wondered just why she had left in such a hurry. And why she left in the first place. She checked up on the elephants. Duchess seemed to be doing much better now that she was on solid ground and not on the train. She gave her a treat just in case though. Then she moved onto the lions. Kyara and Simba seemed to be doing fine. She liked how they were named after the Disney movie characters. They seemed to be pretty okay too. She gave each of them a special treat for being so good on the train ride and sat down to brush Simba's mane. It didn't take too long for his mane to be just the way they both liked it. She smiled and kissed the lion's head. It was weird that the animals were so tame around her, but she wouldn't have it any other way. She, then, moved onto the tigers. Shenzi was one of her favorite animals there. "Hi there, Shenz," she said as she opened the cage door. "I hope you don't mind but I came in here to check up on you." She hid the tiger's treat behind her back. When she approached the big cat, she seemed to know what Nona was hiding. She smiled at the tiger and said, "You're too smart for me, huh, Shenzi?" She took the piece of meat from behind her back and tossed it at her. "That's a good girl." She said as she stroked the lion's fur. "Nona. Where are you?" She heard come from the front of the tent. It was Liam. "Back here," she said in a low voice, unsure if he could hear her or not.


She played with the hem of her dress absently until she felt an uneasy aura in the air. She looked up at the girl, Athena, who offered her the chance to choose what bed she wanted to sleep on. By the look on her face, Lillia knew Athena was not comfortable with the top bunk. She just looked so uneasy. She didn't really mind the top. She just didn't want to have to stumble down the latter in the dark if she had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. She picked up her bag and tossed it onto top bunk. Then she climbed up the latter and sat on the top bunk. "I change my mind," she said quietly, "I want the top. You can have the bottom."

"Really?" Athena said in an uneasy tone. "Seems like everyone loves bunkbeds, wouldn't want to take that away from someone." As she siad this, she eyed the bottom bunk. She also didn't like small spaces, claustrophobia she thought it was called. Claustrophobia: The fear of being confined in a small space, enclosure, or somewhere where you lose the ability to breath properly. She had gotten that word on a spelling bee, back when she was young, and was forced to define it as well.

Lillia smiled softly at the girl to reassure her that it was okay if she took the top. She really didn't mind it. The girl still seemed upset though. Lilly's smile faded and she sighed. She didn't know what to do now. She the bottom because it was convenient. Now she was on top to be nice to someone who was nice to her. It still wasn't good enough. The girl, Athena, was still uneasy. Lilly didn't know what she could do to help the girl. "What if I move the mattress up here to the floor?" she asked. "You can sleep on that. It's still a mattress, you're not up high, and you're not confined which seemed to be the problem."


"Hey, you seemed a little upset. What's up?" He asked her. At first, she didn't answer, she simply stroked the tiger's head. She didn't know "What was up" to be honest. It was out of character for her to do something like that. After a moment she shrugged. She was usually pretty comfortable with Liam, especially since they were partners. What was bothering her? Was it his past involvement with the gypsy? Surely that couldn't be it. The girl bothered Nona in ways she couldn't begin to describe, but other than that, she seemed harmless enough. "I'm just not tired," she said with a shrug. She knew it wasn't the full truth, but it was better than looking suspicious because she didn't know the answer.

Athena smiled to Lillia, blushing slightly from embarrassment. "I'll just let everyone else choose their beds, and take what's left over." She said, turning to Alec as to ask him which bed he wanted. Or would the other girl want the bottom bunk? Or maybe she would claim the bed for herself, and Alec would want the bunk bed, and then she would be left for the floor. But that really wouldn't be that bad. She'd be in a room with others, and that in it's self was enough protection.