|In The Ring, Practice Time|
Star was stretching a little bit, feeling sore after the previous day's exploits. Sure, Joker had caught her, but he hadn't been able to prevent her from bruising up on her ass. She could feel the pain every time she moved, shooting through her body. She almost jumped up when someone tapped her back.
"Peter, Wendy, what's up?" she asked, surprised to see the tiresome duo trying to talk to her. Usually they were trying to cause some kind of mischief, to great annoyance of Joker who wasn't too happy about it as he had to keep them in check.
"Hey there Star." Peter said, looking her up and down in her outfit. She reminded herself that the boy, no matter how juvenile he looked, was her senior by a couple of years. The same went for Wendy, who despite her looks was probably in her mid – twenties, just like Joker and the others.
"Hello Peter." She replied with what she hoped was a smile. She was still trying to smile like Joker wanted her too, but she wasn't quite able to pull it off. "What are you guys doing?" she asked, hoping for a reply this time.
Wendy was rocking up and down on the balls of her feet as she looked up at the taller woman. "We were wonderin'… since ye were so good at walkin' the tightrope, an' ye did a show with Joker, would ye like to try yer hand at the trapeze?" The small woman twirled a lock of hair around her finger, looking like an innocent child who was asking a favor from an adult.
Star frowned, not liking where this was going. "I don't think that's such a good idea, I'm supposed to be practicing with Joker today…"
"Ah, didn't he tell ye?" Peter interrupted her, waving a hand in no particular direction. "He thought ye might like a nice warming up first, so how about we get to it, eh?" he grabbed her hand and started to pull her towards the poles where she was supposed to climb up.
"Ah, but I really don't want to –" Star started to object as the children pulled her with them. Dagger's voice rang out behind them before they had taken more than a few steps.
"'Ey, 'ey, ey!" he said, walking up to them with long strides, not looking happy at having spotted the duo pulling Star towards the trapeze.
"What do ye two thing ye're doing?" he asked, a surprising strict tone in his voice as he looked down on the two troublemakers. Peter kicked a non – existing stone, holding his hands behind his head.
"Nothin' much… We were just…" he tried to think of a convincing lie to tell the younger man, but couldn't think one up quite fast enough.
Dagger seemed to be more annoyed than he ought to be. "The two of ye know well enough that Star's trainin' with Joker today. An' trying to get 'er to do somethin' so dangerous, ye ought to be ashamed."
Wendy rolled her eyes when he said that. "She would've been fine. There's a safety net, isn't there? Even if she fell, she wouldn've got 'urt. After all, we wouldn't dream of messin' with the best source of entertainment there is."
Star frowned when she heard that. "'What are you talking about, Wendy?" she asked.
Wendy turned to Star, seemingly happy that the ex-thief had asked her. "Well, if ye really want to know, I 'appen to know that Joker l-"
Her stream of words was cut off by Peter, who clasped a hand over her mouth and shook his head. "If ye go 'round spillin' the beans now, 'ow are we s'posed to enjoy the show?" he asked her, annoyed at her shortsightedness.
Wendy scratched the back of her head, laughing nervously. "Right, sorry Peter. Star, forget everything I said, okay?" she said, waving a finger at the younger woman.
Star blinked, not getting at all what everyone was up to. "Uh… sure, I guess…" she mumbled, not sure if that was the right answer.
"Good girl." Wendy said, patting her on the knee, as that was the highest decent place she could reach.
The two ran off. Star guessed that those two would spend the rest of their day trying to get people in trouble, and she let out a deep sigh. "Thanks for saving me back there, Dagger." She said, relieved at not having to swing on the trapeze. Dagger put an arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze. Star let it pass, for just this once. The people in the circus all liked to touch the others in order to derive some comfort from the presence of living people. She on the other hand preferred to derive comfort from not having to touch people. At times her jaw still hurt from the time that…
"Father, don't!" Valentine cried out, grabbing her father's hand as he moved to strike his son. "It's George, you can't hit him!" she yelled at him. Her father's hand lashed out towards her instead, throwing her back a few paces. It hurt something fierce, the insignia of her father's ring a rapidly rising blue mark on her cheek. He was drunk again, for no reason at all. How often had he not been drinking and threatening his house members these past few weeks?
He walked towards her, his hands outstretched to embrace her in a hug. "Valentine, my daughter…" he sobbed, pulling her up so he could place his arms around her. "Forgive me, my child. This is all Claudine's fault… it's all her fault…"
She did not return his embrace, letting her arms hang limply as she gazed towards the crying George, who was shocked at all the yelling and seeing his older sister getting beaten. It was not her father's wife's fault, she knew.
It was all her father's fault.
"Star, ye okay?" Dagger asked, releasing her from his grip and looking at the woman in a worry. "Ye're a bit pale. Ye're not sick, are ye?" Star brushed his hand away, coming back to reality. It was all the past now, and no longer her concern. Her father had died in the fire consuming his ancestral mansion and she and George were free from his grasp.
"I'm fine, thanks Dagger. I was just… thinking about something." She said, trying to smile again. She saw Joker approaching, dressed up again in that stand-out manner and turning his hat a little bit. Their eyes met for a second, but Joker broke the eye-contact just as fast. He too seemed to be concerned about something. He shared a smile with Dagger, before turning to Star.
"Star… nice to see ye." He mumbled, still not looking her in the eye. Star frowned, not used at seeing Joker so timid. Usually he'd salute her with a big smile, a cunning wink and perhaps even a quick rub on her head.
"Joker… hi." She replied, not sure what she was supposed to say when he was so timid.
"Well, I'll leave the two of ye to yer practice run. See ya later." Dagger said, giving Joker a jab in the sides with his elbow. "Ol'timer, if ye're going to be actin' all weird about it, Star's going to worry about ye. Try to act natural." Dagger give him a heartfelt advice, one he only to frequently followed in his pursuit of Beast.
Joker blinked at his friend, before letting out a smile. "Okay…" he mumbled, still not sure how he was supposed to look Star in the eyes without blurting out something stupid. In his short flings with town-girls things were simple : they'd talk, they'd dance, and eventually they'd end up in bed together, no strings attached.
Star wasn't the kind of girl who would tolerate that. Furthermore, he didn't want her to tolerate that. But being actually committed to her, that was… strange, and a first for the ginger. He blinked when Star waved a hand in front of his face, forcing him to focus on her. "Sheesh, Joker, you're acting stranger than usual. Where's that smile you're always talking about? Did you forget how to do it? Here, I'll show you!" she smiled at him, slightly less forced than usual. Although it wasn't a real 'smile' smile, it did end up making his heart skip a beat again.
He smiled back, but it was a second too late to be convincing. Star grabbed the yellow bow around his neck, pulling his face closer to hers. "What's wrong with you Joker? Usually you'd have me running all over the place by now, commenting that I'm not smiling enough."
She placed a hand against his forehead, wiping away his red bangs as she felt his temperature. His face flushed as she did so, making Star frown even more. "You'd better not be getting sick you know. I'll not be acting as a nursemaid for you, so you'd better keep standing on your own two legs. And you do seem to have a small increase in temperature…"
Her voice trailed off as she bit her lip, thinking about what she should do. She didn't notice Joker's eyes locked on her lips, and had no idea what his thoughts were. Removing her hand, she instead starting fixing the yellow bow around his neck. "And you haven't even dressed yourself properly! And that after scolding me last time because my stockings weren't perfectly straight the last time."
Joker put his hands on top of hers as she was redoing the silken bow. His heart was beating a steady drum now, and he hoped that she couldn't feel the pounding from where she was standing. "I'm fine, Star. Ye shouldn't be worryin' about me." Looking down he noticed how small and delicate her hands were. His prosthetic, which he had always been so proud of now seemed to be some kind of abomination just for being near her. He pulled away his hands, and coughed once. "Anyhow, yesterday yer work on walkin' on the balls was a bit sloppy. It'd be nice if ye could juggle while ye're walking on them too." He added, trying to change the subject. Her eyes kept scanning his face and he wished she would stop looking at him like that.
"Well, what do you suggest then?" she asked him, turning around to view the big balls that were used in the circus. Joker let out a big sigh as he noticed Dagger giving him the thumbs-up from afar. The man was getting too excited about this, at least that was the ringleader's opinion. When he spotted Peter and Wendy watching the two of them with similar interest, he couldn't help but wish that he were alone now, far from spying eyes.
"… and maybe then I could do the jump so that you'll be able to catch me properly. It would look a lot neater, wouldn't you agree?" Star finished her talking, only to see Joker stare intently at a point on the other side of the tent. Dagger was standing there, doing a thumbs-up to Joker. When he noticed her looking, the blond man quickly hid his hands behind his back and started to walk away with a whistle. Star sweatdropped. "You know, somebody has to teach Dagger the finer points of subtlety…" she muttered towards Joker, who froze up when he realized she had seen Dagger.
He scratched the back of his head, letting out a nervous laugh. "Ah, yes, it would seem like that…. Star, what are ye doing with my staff?" he asked her, seeing the girl inspecting it from up close.
She handed it back to Joker, with an apologetic look on her face. "Just inspecting it from up close, that's all. I thought there was something special with –" she stopped talking when Joker accidentally hit the one concealed button on the staff, letting a bunch of flowers spring out.
"Gah, sorry!" he muttered, trying to jam the flowers back in with a flustered face. He stopped trying to hide them when he heard Star laughing behind him. When she caught his look she laughed even harder, not being able to stop herself. She stopped her laughing after a while, looking at the man while she still had the tears in her eyes.
"Getting so embarrassed over some flowers…" she managed to get out, suppressing a new laughing fit.
Joker frowned, realizing that getting laughed at by the girl he liked wasn't the best course of action. "Just an accident, 's all…" he mumbled, not daring to look her way. He caught her look towards the flowers, and decided to make the best of the situation. "Star, ye like flowers?" he asked her, pointing his staff towards her.
She stopped her laughing, and looked at Joker in surprise. "For me?" she asked him, pointing at herself.
Joker nodded, looking away. "Yeah… I won't be able to get these back in, and if ye like 'em… ye can have them, but ye don't have to take them." He said, hoping it didn't sound as silly as he pictured it did.
Star took out the flowers, bringing them to her nose so she could inhale the aroma. When Joker looked back at her, she sent him a genuine smile. "I love them Joker. Thanks for the flowers."
"It's nothin'…" he muttered, forcing himself to keep looking at her face.
She kept the smile on her face, and threw him a wink. "Getting flowers from my boss, this must be a sign that I'm doing a good job, right?"
"Yeah… it's a good sign." Joker said, pressing the button on his staff so it would close up. Then he straightened his back, and took a deep breath. "Enough with the lazin' around now! Let's get to work!"
Star nodded, and saluted him with a grin. "Yes sir!" she replied, getting ready for a work-out. She was happy that Joker was acting a bit more like himself. And she did like the flowers.
|That Evening|
Star let her shoulders roll a bit, tired from all the running around and. The bruise on her ass felt like it was planning on killing her. As she entered her tent, she got tackled by Freckles and George, who threw her to the ground.
"Yeouch…" she mumbled, trying to get up as the two boys held her by the waist. Though Freckles was taller than she was, now lying on the ground like that, it was as if he were still but a child. "What's wrong with you two?" she asked, the bouquet of flowers in her right hand, which was still sprawled behind her.
"Big sister, it's been storming! With lightning and thunder and… we're scared…" George whined.
Freckles nodded, not in the least ashamed at admitting fear. "Can we sleep with ye tonight?" he asked. Star sweatdropped.
"Good god, and you two are boys? Come on, let's get you both inside first." She said, getting up and checking the flowers. It had been years since she last had gotten flowers… and these were beautiful, especially if you kept in mind they had been stuck in such a narrow space as Joker's staff.
Freckles noticed the flowers, looking at them in surprise. "Ye got flowers? Who gave 'em?"
"They were a gift from Joker." Star explained, hanging the flowers upside down to dry in the tent.
Freckles and George both inspected the flowers with an investigating eye. "Joker gave ye flowers?" Freckles asked, not believing it. "Talk about once in a blue moon. He usually doesn't use them, unless it's to strike down some woman's complaints. Were ye complaining to 'im?"
Star thought it over. "Well, I did think he was ill, so maybe he wanted me to shut up about that?" she suggested.
Freckles shook his head. "Nah… that ain't complaining, but being concerned. Who knows why he gave 'em to ye."
George put his arms over one another, glaring at the flowers. "If he tries to marry my big sister, I'm going to ask him a lot of questions." The small boy said in a decisive voice. "Like how he earns a living, and what his future plans are, and…"
Star rolled her eyes at her brother. "Please, George. You already know what he does for a living, and he's not planning on marrying me. Those flowers were just a token of appreciation." She pointed it out with a certainty that swayed the younger boy immediately.
"Fine then… but he'll still have to answer to me!" George said, not being happy about it.
George climbed next to Freckles in the lower bed, soon followed by Star, who wasn't too sure about sharing a bed with a boy. Then she suddenly noted… "Freckles… are you a girl?"
It was quiet for a few seconds, before Freckles replied. "yes…" Silence continued, before Freckles continued. "Are ye… mad that I didn't tell ye?"
Star paused for a few seconds, thinking about her answer. "I'm not mad… I'm sure you had your reasons… although a heads-up would've been nice." She admitted. "Why are you pretending to be a boy?" she asked the girl.
"Actually, I'm Doll. But the first-string members all have their own tents… and I don't like sleeping alone… if ye're mad, I can go and sleep in my own tent…" Doll said, with a voice that suggested she'd do it, even though she dreaded the idea of being alone. Star hesitated for a moment, before putting an arm around the girl and her brother at the same time.
"I accepted you as a brother… so why would I say no to a cute sister, right?" she said, putting her head on the pillow, feeling her eyes fall closed as the thunder outside kept going on. Doll wanted to say something, but Star put a hand on the girl's head, making her shut up. "I said it's fine. Go to sleep now, lil' sis."
"… Thanks, Star."