June limped through the Devil's Carnival. She'd been here almost a week, but this was the first time she'd felt ready to explore her new home. Limping out of her recovery tent for the first time since her arrival here, the ex-angel of Heaven fought hard to keep her cool. Being cast from Heaven had been far from easy, especially when the send-off was so brutal, but she couldn't stay hidden forever. Instead, June finally chose to explore her new home, no matter how scary it was.
Half an hour later, June found herself passing rows and rows of animal cages. Silently, she prayed that she wouldn't be locked up in one of those. She still wasn't sure if the other carnies of Hell saw her as a friend, or as prey. The unsettling looks they gave her revealed a mix of genuine curiosity and a sadistic excitement. Even that old man who tried to help her seemed a little… shady.
"Don't worry, Dollface. They won't hurt you," a voice called out to June. The fallen angel whipped her head around wildly, trying to find the source of the sound. But mixed with her surprise was a genuine terror. The last person to call her "Dollface" had been responsible for sending her here. Did this unseen voice know? Was her torment about to begin?
"I'm up here!" the voice sighed after June continued to look around in confusion. June tipped her head back to see a shadowy figure sitting atop one of these cages. He jumped from his perch, landing gracefully in front of the fallen angel. June's one green eye widened as she took in the sight of him. He was a man who looked just a few years younger than she was. His hair and eyes were black, contrasting sharply with his impossibly white face and complimenting his black leather jacket. Upon closer inspection, June realized his hair was plastic, molded into a permanent pompadour. Behind the collar of his leather jacket, June could see a tattoo of a scorpion peeking out.
"So you're the newcomer everyone's been talking about?" he asked, taking a step towards June. June nodded nervously. "Cool," he nodded back, looking at her with a laidback smile. "Sorry I couldn't make it to your homecoming party," he added. Homecoming? Even if it was true, that wasn't exactly what June would've called it. "I was busy with something else," he said, but he didn't elaborate. Part of June wanted to ask him what exactly that meat but she just didn't feel like taking the effort to speak. Instead, she only continued to study him closely. He didn't seem like the others. Oh, it was clear he was a carnie, but he didn't seem as bitter as the others. On the contrary, although she could feel the same sadism in him that the other carnies had, it was also laced with a relaxed and almost happy-go-lucky attitude. This was such a tonal shift from anyone else June knew, even back in Heaven, that she couldn't help but feel at ease around him even though it was clear he was no more honest or trustworthy than anybody else in this carnival
"Well, welcome home anyways, little newcomer!" the man said finally. Just for a moment, June smiled. As scared and lonely as she was, she couldn't help but be touched by this calm and friendly greeting and she was repaying him with one of the last real smiles anyone would ever see from her. "Now, do you think you'd want to get a drink with me?" he offered. June took a step back, wariness returning to her face. As kind as this guy seemed, she was still very on guard. She wasn't going to trust anyone that easily anymore. But if anything, the man found her sudden defensiveness to be amusing because he laughed. "Come on, I'm not gonna bite!" he promised, offering June a hand. "Trust me!" he pleaded. He even gave her a pretty decent set of puppy eyes. But behind those puppy eyes was a hint of sarcasm. It was like he was admitting to June that she was totally correct in her theory about him being a pathological liar. It was like he was saying, "Yeah, I'm untrustworthy and yet I'm still playing the puppy-eyes card. What can I say?" and there was actually something amusing within such a level of cheekiness. It was enough to win June over, sort of. She still didn't trust this guy by any stretch of the imagination, but she did finally agree to his offer and she took his arm. He smiled wolfishly, triumphant, and then he led her back to Hell's bar. This newcomer wasn't half bad, was she?
AN: This is basically June/Doll's first meeting with Scorpion.