|Noah's Ark Circus|
"Come on George, we haven't got all day." She said, holding the little boy by the hand. The soon to be eight – year old couldn't conceal his excitement, and stood baffled at all the action that was taking place.
"Sis, they've got a tiger over there, did you see it?" George asked, pointing towards it. She sighed. "If we're late for the show, we might miss out on some really good parts. Why don't we continue looking when it's time for the intermission?"
She turned away from the boy, but bumped into someone. "Ouch…" she rubbed her nose, before looking up at the person she had bumped into. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you, I was…" her voice trailed away when she looked at the person in front of her. He had white hair, and parts of his skin were covered in scales.
George looked up too. "Woah, this is so amazing. You're the snake man, right?"
The girl scoffed. "George, it's not nice to call people something like that!" she said, frowning at the boy.
George pouted. "But it's true, isn't it, mister?"
She turned towards the man. "Please forgive him Sir. He means no offense."
"That's alright… Says Emily." The man answered in a soft voice.
The girl blinked. "Emily?" she asked, not seeing a girl around. The man gestured to his shoulder. Only now did she see the snake coiled up there.
"Emily." He explained in short.
"Is that a real snake?" she asked, moving closer to see it. The snake hissed at her, flicking it's tongue through the air.
She backed away. "Fine, point taken. No looking at the snake."
"Big sis, we've got to get moving. They're calling everybody inside. The show's going to start." George said, tugging at her sleeve. Looking around, she did notice everybody moving towards the big tent. She nodded, but when she turned around to say goodbye to the stranger, he was already gone.
She scratched her head in confusement. "Guess he had to run…"
"Sis…"
"Yes George?"
"You have to use full sentences."
She rolled her eyes at that comment. "Well fine, young master of etiquette. Let's go inside and enjoy the show, okay?"
|Inside the tent|
"Ladies and gentlemeeeeeen, boys and girrrrls. I ask of ye to take a gander over here, since this circus is packed with acts and people bound to amaze ye." The ringleader called out, clearly audible above all of the ruckus in the tent. He had his arms stretched out wide, showing off a skeletal right arm. She frowned when she saw him.
"Why does he look so familiar?" she wondered to herself. In the past half hour, she had started to feel a little bit fuzzy in her head. When she had gotten up that morning, her head had felt warm to the touch. Not wanting to alarm George, she had said nothing of it, and carried on like usual.
The ringleader juggled a bit, but ended up letting the balls fall on his head. She couldn't help but laughing, even though she knew it was probably on purpose.
"May I introduce to ye… Wendy and Peeeteeeeer!"
Just as amazed as anyone else, she looked up at the trapeze act, clapping just as loudly as the other people in the public. George grabbed her sleeve in fear when the girl called Wendy just barely managed to grab the hand of the boy called Peter.
When the dagger throwing act began, a rather good natured man showed up, together with a young girl, who didn't seem too sure of herself when entering. When the man started throwing daggers, the public collectively held its breath, waiting for the girl to scream. When the act was over, he received a very generous applause. George clapped until his hands were numb, as did his sister.
When the ringleader announced the next performer – "Snaaaaake, ladies and gentlemeeeeen!" – George grabbed his big sister's arm in excitement. "Sis, it's that guy from before, I told you he was a snake man!"
Her head started to hurt from being shaken back and forth, so she gently peeled the boy's hands loose from her arm. "I see that too, little brother. Keep your eyes on the show." She whispered the last part, turning his head towards the stage.
The snakes didn't seem like they would hurt the man, but she couldn't stop thinking about the hiss that the other snake had let out previously. She wasn't sure if it was really that safe.
When the dance was over, the ringleader stepped in again, his cane raised above his head as he walked in the stage again. His bright yellowish bow tie clashed in a stupendous way with his mostly purple attire.
He bowed from the waist down, bringing down his hat with a generous sweep. "And now, my dear audience, it's time for a rest. Stretch ye legs, and we'll start with the next part of the show soon."
The people in the audience started murmuring amongst themselves, as they got up and walked around a bit. George was just about to get up himself when a foot suddenly kicked his sister in the back. "Hey, watch it!" she yelled, turning around.
Behind her were two men, dressed in grey suits. They turned their heads away in order to ignore her, until the taller one suddenly rested his eyes on her face. He nudged his partner with an elbow. "Say, Alfred, isn't that the girl that robbed us yesterday?" he asked his companion.
The man called Alfred turned around, and started grinning when he saw her. "Well well, it is! What luck we have today. C'mere girl, let us have a – Hey, get back here!"
She hadn't waited for the man to finish his talking. Grabbing George by the hand, she started to run, using the benches for stairs. The fragile young boy had trouble keeping up, forcing her to half lift him with one had. "George!" she said, while she kept running. "When we're down, I'm go to let go off you! Run away, and then return to our seats, Sis will come get you later."
Before the boy could protest, they were already down. The men were coming after them, but they weren't nearly as agile as the girl. She let go of her brother, and shot off, over the wide circle that was filled with sand.
"Okay, improvise, improvise…" she thought to herself, running over the center stage. From the corner of her eye, she happened to catch a glimpse of movement. Looking closer, she saw it was the place where the artists entered from when they had to perform. 'Well, it's worth a shot!' she thought, taking a sharp turn towards there.
The men who were chasing after here had the luck that they now had a chance to intercept her. She ran faster, towards her presumed exit.
The young man called Dagger saw her coming, and put out a hand to stop her. "Pardon me, miss, but ye can't go in there. Miss! Ye can't – !"
He was in the way, and she didn't have the time to dodge him. Wishing that it would work, she let herself drop in a slide below him. She slid underneath his open legs, dust trailing after her. When she was past him, she scrambled back on her feet. The men were almost near her.
Dagger, seeing the other intruders coming, started to flail his arms around to try to catch their attention. "'Ey, I can't let ye pass beyond this point!"
The men ignored him, running past Dagger, their eyes fixated on their fleeing prey. When the girl looked back in front of her, she almost tripped in surprise. While she had been focusing on sliding beneath that dagger throwing guy, the circus attendees were coaxing an elephant inside. The animal was blocking her way out.
Biting her lip, she scanned for another way out. Seeing none, she started to panic, until she spotted a collection of trampolines standing there.
'Well, here goes nothing!' she thought, taking a jump on the smallest one. It propelled her up in the air, up and towards a slightly bigger one. Waving her arms around to try and stay in balance, she landed on the second trampoline. Immediately she was launched up again, and she stifled a scream. 'Okay, now I'm just going to jump on the big one…'
She jumped on the big trampoline, gaining slight confidence. She flew through the air, towards the elephant. 'Oh please, please, let me make this jump!' she prayed. Seconds later her feet touched the back of the elephants head. The animal didn't even acknowledge her presence there. His handlers weren't so oblivious however.
"Get offa there, you idiot!" someone yelled at her.
She grimaced. Calling her an idiot now wasn't a nice thing to do, she felt. However, she didn't have time to yell at the insulter, seeing as how she had to hurry before they removed the elephant from this exit. She ran over the animal's back , her soft leather shoes clapping on the dry skin.
Arriving at its backside, she again had to pause to look for an exit. When she noticed a pile of sand sacks, she guessed it was her best bet. She jumped, and spurted off again.
|Joker's Tent|
He looked in the mirror, adjusting his bow tie. The thing somehow always managed to get loose, which resulted in it hanging limp. Hearing ruckus outside, he opened his tent flap to see what was going on. To his surprise, he saw a girl running through the first string's tent encampment. He frowned. Just what was going on?
Then he noticed two well – dressed gentlemen running a long ways behind her. His frown turned into a scowl. Those two he recognized immediately. When the girl passed his tent, he stuck out his left arm, wrapping it around her waist. She let out an 'oomph' sound when the air was driven out of her. Without wasting time he pulled her inside. He moved his left hand to her mouth, to keep her from screaming, while he used his skeletal hand to keep her in place by placing it around her.
The girl started to squirm immediately. Being caught so suddenly was something she hadn't expected, and she struggled to escape the man holding her. He was strong however, and she was already feeling exhausted from running in combination with her oncoming fever. "WET GWO!" she yelled against his hand. He made 'ssshh' sounds, trying to calm her down. She shook her head. She wasn't planning on just idly letting him hurt her.
Then her nose started tickling. She stopped moving, instead twitching her nose, trying not to sneeze. Joker let out a relieved sigh. Finally she got that he wasn't trying to hurt her. That's when he noticed her nose twitching. "Girl, ye need to sneeze?" he asked.
She nodded the best she could. Just when she sneezed, the man closed his fingers around her nose. She kept in her sneeze the best she could, trying to be quiet. She didn't want to face three opponents, instead of just the one. Joker's fingers shut off most of the air, and she gulped for air afterwards.
"Haaah… haaah…" she breathed in and out loudly. The man let go of her face, placing his hand on her shoulder instead. She didn't struggle again, instead taking it easy for a few seconds. "Okay… who are you?" she asked. She relied on the heavy fabric the tent was made out of to seal of any sounds. As long as she didn't scream, nobody would hear her.
"Well, I'm Joker. And ye would be?" he replied, seemingly happy that she had calmed down a bit.
"Joker huh?" she asked, finally noticing the mirror that was standing in front of them. She could see the man's reflection in there. It was the ringleader, but yet again, there was something familiar about him. "Wait a minute…" she said. "Ginger hair with white tips, those metal studs in your ears… you're that guy from yesterday!"
She almost started laughing in relief. And here she had been thinking it was some kind of creepy guy that was trying to kidnap her! "Boy, I never thought I'd run into you again!"
Joker's face was a mixture of confusement and surprise. 'Yesterday?' he asked, looking at the girl that had now completely relaxed in the grip of his arms. "The only girl I ran into yesterday was…"
He let go of her, and turned her around, making the girl face him. He pulled of his hat, and placed it so on her head that it covered her eyes and part of her face. Then he started laughing, and clapped her on the shoulder. "Well waddaya know! Ain't this a nice surprise?" he took his hat back, placing it on his head.
He offered her his right hand. "Nice to see ye again, miss."
She looked at the strangely shaped prosthetic doubtingly, but then she shrugged and grabbed it, shaking hands with the man. "Nice to see you again too, I guess." She answered, not being sure how to react to all of this. When he released her hand, she gasped. "George! I need to go check on my brother, please excuse me!"
Joker grabbed her hand. "Shouldn't ye stay here for a spell? Those men are probably still looking for ye. I'll ask someone to go and look for yer brother, so just stay here for a while."
"Ah, but, George is only seven. He'll be worried about me. I really need to –"
She stopped talking when he raised her hand to his lips. Brushing slightly over her skin, his voice was hardly audible. "Please, leave it to me." He said, trusting that his charm would keep her in place for a few minutes.
Her face flushed. It wasn't the first time a man had kissed her hand, but for it to happen in such an unexpected place… How embarrassing…
"Joker, are ye in 'ere?" Dagger asked, opening the tent flap. Next to him was George, who immediately started fuming when he saw the ringleader kiss his big sis's hand. He ran up to the man, and kicked him against his shins. Joker cursed, letting go of her hand.
"You can't just kiss my sis like that!" the boy said, giving the tall man a stern look. "She's a lady, you know."
The girl sighed, and tapped her little brother on the shoulder. "Even if you say that, George, it wasn't really a kiss." She said, trying to cool down the younger boy's feelings.
Joker looked at Dagger, wanting an explanation. Dagger rubbed the back of his head, smiling. "Well, this kid 'ere came running to me sayin' 'is sister was in trouble, so I came to ye. Seems ye already found 'er though."
Joker nodded, grasping the situation. "I see. And those guys chasing 'er?" he asked, not liking people running wildly around the circus grounds.
"Ah, it seems like Jumbo took care of 'em. Wasn't too 'appy about them runnin' round like that either."
Dagger turned towards her, holding out a hand for her to shake. When she did, he started smiled even broader. "Now that's all passed, I've gotta admit, that was a pretty sensational act ye put on there. Do ye always do those kinds of things?"
The young thief held her hands out in front of her, shaking her head. "Ah, that's just… The slide to dodge you was just a lucky thing, and the trampolines were just part of the improvisation."
"Trampolines? Slide?" Joker asked, putting a hand to his chin and looking at her, examining.
Dagger clapped him on the back. "That's not all there's to it. Then she ran over Lola – the elephant – an' jumped off on the other side, before she ran all the way 'ere."
Joker started nodded, a smile spreading on his face. "Well, that's just great then. I was lookin' for another performer. Congratulations girl, ye're now officially ready for a try – out to join the circus."
Her eyes widened when he said that. "Eeeh?"
Dagger patted her head. "Ain't that great, lil' girl? If ye do yer best, ye can come and work 'ere." She frowned, and rubbed his hands away from her head.
"Where do you guys come off, enlisting me to work in the circus?" she asked.
Joker winked at her, adjusting his hat. "Ye're not enlisted just yet." He said. "Ye've still gotta try to pass our tests. Well, I've got to go. Show ain't gonna start without me. Dagger, take care of 'er 'till after the show, okay?"
Dagger grinned. "Will do." He placed a hand on her shoulder, and a hand on George's. "Well then, I'll give ye the grand tour, 'kay?"