Between Stripes

T H I R T Y S E V E N

Two days after meeting with Penguin I was supposed to met with the Freaks. I'd be standing next to him in his office as they would enter, he'd explain what would happen and then we'd go off and be pals forever, ending with us dancing in the sunset to a cliché teen movie song... Like that'd happen. But I let Penguin have his high hopes. He always looked on the positive side, it was slightly sickening.

But I stuck to Penguins plan. I waited by his side for my new companions to arrive. And when they did it was surprisingly average.

Frederick was the first to enter, he burst through the door with a smirk in place. Following behind was that fairy bitch. Then the Machine. And in the back were the twins.

"Oh Penguin, it's been a long time." Frederick smiled a somewhat similar grin to Penguin's infamous one.

"Indeed it has Mr Keane, have a seat all."

The fairy bitch and Frederick sat down in the two chairs which had been prepared while the twins and the Machine stood.

I got a good look at them all for the first time.

The twins weren't joined at the shoulders, like I'd previously thought, their heads sprouted out of a single, rather wide,  neck. Blood wasn't on Sidney's face; Sally's hair was neatly plaited.

The fairy bitch (who's name I'd forgotten) wings weren't sprouting out her back. Dark tattoos were etched into her skin, they peaked over and into her chest. They were identical to the wings which were present on her photo in the file.

With the Machine, he's shaved the majority of his beard off; it was neatly kept and wasn't the wild mess it was before.

And Frederick wasn't any different. At all. 

"This is Georgia Fishwick, she'll be your," Penguin paused to giggle,"ring-leader."

The fairy bitch sighed harshly, the twins did nothing, Jackson folded his four arms over his chest and Frederick smirked.

"Pleasure to meet you Miss Fishwick," Frederick smiled, rising from his chair and extending a hand. I took it.

"Same goes." I replied and the fairy bitch rolled her eyes.

Scare her.

I smirked at the suggestion before abruptly leaning over the table, slamming a palm down and grabbing the collar of her top. Dragging her towards me I smirked.

"Honey you may've been it all before, flashing your pretty little body to perverts and scumbags alike but that's not the plan now. Your plan is to follow my orders and if you don't do so then you may wake up one day to find you're without a hand." I snarled before letting go of her and going back to my previous stance. Everyone but myself and the fairy bitch began laughing.

"Oh I think we'll like you." Sally said before letting out a stream of giggles.

"Yes indeed." Sidney joined his sister.

To which I grinned from ear to ear. Acceptance. It was like a breath of fresh air.

***

I lead my newfound buddies to an old bar downtown. Penguin suggested bonding time, especially with the fairy bitch. In all fairness I thought we could do without her, she was just a pretty trinket who devoured defenceless men. Yet, the rest of them and Penguin liked her somehow so I had to put up with the bitch.

"What're we doing then Miss Fishwick?" Sally asked as she and Sidney hopped up onto a bar stool in between Jackson and Jasmine. 

"We can just wing it for now." I state, sliding onto the end stool, sitting next to Frederick. Everyone nodded, or grunted in response and began to do their own thing. The twins spoke to each other, Jackson ordered a drink and so did Jasmine. Frederick, on the other hand, turned to me with a sly smile on his face.

"It's delightful to meet you Georgia dear." He said, charisma practically radiated off him. "Could I get you a drink?"

"Considering we're getting free drinks all night it doesn't really matter." I said, smirking at the quick flash of nervousness on his face.

"It's the gesture that matters." He smiled, dazzling me with those pearly whites. "What'll it be then?"

"The barman knows my order, we're old friends." I say and look up at Frank who smiles and hands me an entire bottle of brandy and a small glass.

"Drink with me?" I ask, pushing the glass towards him. Frank only provided one as he knows I end up discarding them anyway. 

"Sure." Frederick smiled again and picked up the glass, waiting for me to fill it.

"Talk to me then, tell me a few tales of your endless life." I prompted, unscrewing the bottle and beginning to pour the alcohol into the glass.

"Well, there's so many tales to tell." he purred.

"Tell me of your first love." I smirk, looking up at him from the glass. He was surprised for a mere second before his usual smirk glazed his lips again.

"And once I have, will you tell me yours?" He asked and I nodded, bringing the bottle to my lips.

"It's certainly a tale, a very old tale. I'll have you know I believe I've only been in love 4 times. Countless lovers but only 4 times it wasn't one sided. The first time was when I was young, I can't remember my precise age to be perfectly honest, but I was young and I fell in love with a farmer's girl. Those were the days when I lived in England, my home. Back in those days, I was poor. I worked on her father's farm - lovely man, paid well, treat me like I was practically his son-in-law already. He knew I had it hard and let me live in his house, a rather large privilege in those days, and I'd always seen her around the house but we'd really gotten to know one another in the second summer I lived there. I turned out to be one of the few people who really listened to her. She told me everything. She had hopes and dreams bigger than life itself. She had beauty too, the loveliest honey coloured hair, the brightest blue eyes, freckles decorated her skin like pixies had carefully placed each one with care. But her smile was the best. It was one of those smiles where you'd have thought it could solve anything at all. Everyone knew it too, all the men loved her and all the women envied her. But she chose me. She could've had anyone she wanted but she chose the poor man who had lived in the basement - I suppose that was the mistake. Her father let us do our thing for the summer but he put a stop to it once fall came along. He insisted that she had to finally settle down, baring in mine she'd only just turned twenty but that was like back then. He apologised to me, he knew I was a good man but he wanted his daughter to have a good lifestyle, one better than I could ever wish to give. She didn't understand though. That broke me a little. All those times I found her sobbing about it, that broke me. It hurt her father too. He knew my being around hurt her so he asked me to move along, to stop hurting her like this. I hesitated. I wanted to say goodbye but he refused. It was now or never, he said. I understood and packed me few things and moved along." 

Frederick had stopped smiling long ago. After talking her took a long sip of his glass and stared at the ground hard.

"Now your turn." He murmured, as if in a trance. 

Now my turn to drink more like.