Unfortunate Souls

[Gauche]

Gauche snapped to attention as Neyla spoke, backing away from Len's cage and meeting the other woman's gaze. Her own gaze hardened in turn to make her little ruse appear convincing. "Not at all. I was just making sure they weren't causing problems. That's all." Gauche replied. Briefly she flashed Droite a look to try and keep her quiet. Her talking probably wouldn't be appreciated, after all. Gauche silently hoped that Neyla wouldn't realize she was still playing nice with the performers.

[Neyla]

The hard look was met, rather with her bright emerald orbs rather than her lips. In fact, the grin only widened as she kept Gauche's gaze. "I think you're lying, Miss Gauche," she murmured.
Her gaze snapped to Len, "Was she talking to you, darling? Was she?"
Len said nothing, pretending he was more interested in the layer of dirt in his cage.
The longer the silence dragged out, the more Neyla's grin lessened. "For your sake, I hope you're telling the truth," she said to Gauhce, her smile lost and now replaced with a tight frown. "I wouldn't breathe a word of this to anyone, of course," she continued, dismissively flipping her hand, "...but, you know, you don't want to influence them negatively."

[Gauche]

It's for Droite, Gauche. It's for Droite. Don't forget that.

"Of course not, ma'am. I wouldn't dream of it." Gauche said, though she wondered if her act had really been so obvious. For a long time she had thought that only Yeager had been able to tell if she had been lying. Of course, he wasn't around to confirm if it was true. It was only the redhead and the tigress before her, along with the caged performers. If it really was that obvious, and if Neyla passed along the information to the others... Gauche didn't want to know what would happen if that actually occurred.

"But I must ask what brought you down here. Did you think I couldn't handle them on my own?" Gauche asked, raising an eyebrow as she spoke. It wasn't that often that she saw the purple tigress. What had prompted her arrival?

[Collette]

She strode through the dark passageways as if she owned the place - and in a sense, Collette supposed, she did. She was the circus mascot, the ringmaster's pet - and it was certainly a fine life she led now. Beasts in cages lined the way to either side of her. The monstrous deformities had given her nightmares when she'd first seen them, but now the creatures - hideous as they were - seemed hardly out of the ordinary. She barely spared a glance to any of the snarling lunatics within the enclosures, simply enjoying the feeling of power that walking untouchable amongst the lesser beings gave her.

Pristine fur practically glimmered in the dim light, the diamond-shaped tag on her red collar thumped gently against her chest - and her nails clicked on the stone floor. A constant irritant, spoiling her otherwise perfect world, and Collette glared down at her paws. The claws should belong on one of the brutes here, not on a perfect cocker like herself.

Seeing a pair of her "owner"'s employees up ahead, the red-collared canine made for them. There was no question of the other females not recognising her - ALL the circus staff knew her as the ringleader's pet and confidant, as well as the circus mascot. She would be respected - any who so much as thought about treating her like one of the dumb beasts in these cages would answer to the ringmaster personally. And none would like the consequences of that.

[Mina Murray]

Mina's attention was drawn to the small dog that had entered the tent. She watched it's every move carefully. She could feel her stomache rumble quietly, and her mouth opened slightly her fangs extending.
How long had it been since she had last eaten? Ever since that rat had wandered to close and she had been able to grab it and suck ever single drop of blood out of it.
And even that small meal hadn't been enough.

[Gauche]

Inwardly, Gauche cringed when she took notice of Colette walking in to the general area. She was lucky. Lucky she hadn't ended up like the unfortunate beings that happened to be in the cages. Gauche hated that she had apparently become the Ringmaster's pet. How did she get off so lucky while the others had to suffer? Even if she thought those things, though, Gauche had to swallow her annoyance. Disrespecting the Ringmaster's pet wouldn't end well for her, and it would no doubt result in things being worse for her and Droite.

Suck it up, Gauche. Just say hello. It won't kill you. Gauche thought. "Hello, Colette. What brings you down here today?" Gauche asked, admittedly relieved to have the attention drawn away from Neyla for the moment.

[Sheik]

"Don't ruffle her feathers too much, Neyla." Somehow Sheik had been saddled with bringing Sunao back from his sideshow cage- she nodded to her fellow workers, a sense of a cruel smirk in her ruby eyes. No key was procured to open the latch on Sunao's cage, but all the same it clicked with an expected finality as he was prodded in.
"It's quite difficult to procure new workers, after all."

Sunao, muzzled once again, rose his pink eyes to Len for a moment, giving him a simple once-over before turning to watch their keepers.

The Sheikah crouched beside her master's pet, reaching out to run a few fingers through the fur on Colette's back. It was humorous to consider - this dog and herself were at equal levels in the cast's eyes. Both were her known eyes and ears. Sheik had often seen Colette in the Ringmaster's chambers, and while they were hardly friends, Sheik knew better than to take advantage of her position compared to the canine's. Who knew what the Ringmaster might do? "Good evening, pet."

[Gauche]

Gauche's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at Shiek, letting her appearance sink in for just a moment. She didn't trust the mysterious woman. Not one bit. Then again, that was probably obvious. The redhead wasn't overly trusting of anyone that happened to be a co-worker of hers. Trust was too easy to shatter, in Gauche's humble opinion. "It's turning into a regular party down here, isn't it?" she asked bluntly. Why should she be nice to Shiek or Neyla? She had no reason to trust either of them. Put up with them, yes, but Gauche didn't trust them as far as she could throw them.

[Mina Murray]

Mina glanced at Sheik looking at the covered woman suspiciously. Obviously she was another circus worker and that alone was enough to make Mina mistrust her.
But there was also something else, the womans smell seemed...off some how. It was hard to explain but she smelled wrong to Mina. Like rotted food.

[Neyla]

"True enough," Neyla nodded to Sheik. She then turned to Gauche and said, "Apologies if I sounded a bit antagonizing, dear. I just wanted to be sure is all."
She offered a bit of a laugh at her comment about it becoming a party of sorts. "Quite, it seems. Oh well. More to watch over the cast, then. They need all the watching they can get-- for all we know they could eat eachother and ruin the whole show," she added with a light and rather morbid chuckle.
Len's stomach clenched at her tone of voice, and instantly he felt hatred rise in his throat at the tigress. He gave her a hard glare through crimson orbs, and almost hoped she would see it.
And so she did. "Oh, I was just kidding, dear," she assured him with as much conviction as she could, leaning toward his cage and telling him so in a harsh whisper. "I know you're not mindless monsters. Just don't tell anyone I told you that, all right? It'll be our little secret."
Len did not trust her, and was almost certain she was lying, but nodded anyways, so as not to get on her bad side.
"Good boy."
She stood upright. "So, then. How goes the day, my canine friend?" she asked to Colette, with the slightest bit of mocking in her voice. She didn't particularly like the cocker, despite her being so close to the boss. But she knew that there were repercussions for getting on the Ringmaster's bad side. So she played along as best she could.

[Gauche]

Gauche's expression barely altered. She wasn't about to be won over by the tigress, even if she had apologized. Trust was a hard thing to be earned in Gauche's case. It was all too easy to lose it in her mind, especially with everything that she had lost. Even in spite of that, Gauche nodded just a little in response to Neyla's comment. "It's fine. I've been a little on edge recently. It's not easy doing this, you know." Gauce said at last. Not easy keeping an eye on her sister-turned-dragon? Definitely. There was always the risk that she would have to deal with Droite trying to tear herself apart.

Droite listened silently to the conversation, her bright green eyes narrowing as she listened to Neyla spoke. Even if she was friendly by nature, Droite didn't like Neyla. There was just something off about her. The feathered dragon-girl turned her back on the conversation, letting a soft 'hmph' escape her, and turned her attention to some of the other performers. She could see Crona over in his cage, but it appeared that the boy and demon sword were asleep. It explained why they hadn't added anything to the conversation. Droite desperately wanted to say something as she slid down to the ground and rested her arm against her chest, but knew she would likely get in trouble for it. Come on, just go away. We don't want you here. Droite thought, of course referring to Shiek and Neyla in her thoughts.

[Collette]

Collette thrived under the attention directed at her by the other workers. Even if one or two of them seemed incincere at best, they all knew better than to disrespect her outright. Her tail wagged minutely as Shiek's fingers caressed her back, before addressing the two who had asked questions of her.

"Everything's fine." she replied nonchallently, red eyes flickering between the nearby cages, her gaze analysing the monsters within. "I was just taking a strole... making sure that everything is as it should be." Her gaze fell on Gauche as she said the words, no doubt causing the girl to wonder just how much she'd heard, before it moved on.

Disgust was evident as she looked at the bat creature that seemed to be eyeing her hungrily. "And someone stop that thing from drooling all over the floor." she added distainfully, blood-red orbs meeting the monster's own gaze unflinchingly.

[Gauche]

Pink eyes narrowed as Colette spoke. She didn't have to wonder what she meant, as she had a fairly good idea of what the cocker was talking about. Her manner was not unlike those who had been loyal to the empire. Stuck up, thinking she was better than them... just like some people had thought they were better than those who had been a part of a guild. It made Gauche sick thinking about it, but she held her tongue. "It is not ladylike to let your temper flare so, Gauche." Yeager had once said. "I'm sure you were." Gauche said flatly. Her gaze went to Mina as she spoke. Gauche was about to speak again, but she stopped herself when she thought she heard someone else speaking. She wasn't that far off, as Droite had decided she'd had enough.

"Oh, for Pete's sake. She's probably just hungry like the rest of us." Droite hissed. She couldn't hold her tongue forever. Droite felt the need to voice her thoughts for once, and thus give away that she was no longer muzzled. She hadn't missed Colette's words. What made her think that she was so above the rest of them that she could speak like that? From the corner of her eye, the girl-turned-dragon could see that Colette appeared fairly normal. That had to be it. She thought she was better because she still looked normal. What a stuck up little brat!

[Mina Murray]

"That's true enough." Mina said not taking her eyes off the dogs throat. "I'm dreadfully hungry. Haven't eaten a thing in days."
She looked at Collette again.
"I could go for a bite."

[Len Kagamine]

Len, though not exactly craving the blood of a spaniel, realized that he felt hungry as well-- he hadn't eaten since two nights ago when Lin gave him her little gift of bread. "I think--"
"Well, that's just it," Neyla interrupted, smiling morbidly, "you're not supposed to think. You leave that to us."
Len kept quiet, but shifted around uncomfortably as he eyed the rest of the caged victims. If only he were braver, he would have given her a what-for... but it probably wouldn't be worth the punishment.
His stomach grumbled, and he sighed quietly to himself, "At least feed us a little more decently... if you don't want us to die and ruin the precious show, don't drive us to the brink of starvation..."