a boy like that | dandy mott |

True Colors.

Ironically enough, the clown Dandy's mother hired wasn't entirely up to par with his expectations.

Rosalie was stuck sitting next to the clown as Dandy went ahead and performed the puppet show himself. Seeing how into the roles Dandy got, she'd admit it was hilarious. His constant interrupting to talk about an actor he had seen and what he would have done differently was what got to her.  Dandy eventually put the puppets down and stood, glaring at the clown, who only watched with a straight face. Rosalie had clapped and laughed at the appropriate times but found that her approval was genuine.

"Your silence is utterly provocative," Dandy said, quickly walking to his toy chest. He opened the lid and demanded that the clown look through his toy collection and stop sitting around. The clown stood up and did what was asked of him, but Dandy sneakily searched through the clown's belongings.

"I don't think you should be doing that!" Rosalie hissed at him. Dandy only shrugged and forced two dirty, wooden pins into her arms. He smirked at her, but neither noticed that the clown had his eyes on them.

There was a loud whack, and Dandy suddenly lunged forward, heaving in pain. Rosalie dropped the pins and touched his shoulders, listening to him moan on the floor. The clown gathered his things and rushed out the doors, letting them slam against the wall.  Dandy pushed himself up, his black hair falling before his eyes. They both stared at the empty doorway, and Rosalie helped him up.

"I'm going to follow him!-" Dandy said, already stepping away from her.

"He just smacked you in the back of the head!" Rosalie stated, following Dandy as he left his room and went downstairs. "I don't think you-"

"Come with me!" Dandy said, turning to look at her. "If not, I'm going out there alone!" he threatened. 

Rosalie wanted to yell at him for being stupid, but she didn't feel right allowing him to go out with someone dangerous. She eventually agreed, and they left, hot on the clown's tail. Rosalie was scared shitless...

_

Jimmy made his way back to camp before nightfall in defeat. Nobody in town had seen her or anyone remotely similar. The sound of his motorcycle caused everybody to rush out of their tents, hoping for good news.

"You didn't find her?" someone had asked, but Jimmy wasn't focused enough to hear who it was.

"Nobody has seen her," Jimmy mumbled as he dismounted his bike.

"Why are all of you standing out here?" Elsa asked, coming out in her silk robe. Jimmy read the faces around him and realized nobody had told her.

Eve held Ma Petite and was the first to speak. "We can't find Rosalie," she said.

Elsa observed everybody silently, adjusting the silk tie around her waist. Paul slowly entered the group, holding his hands to his chest. "How long has she been gone?" Elsa asked, turning to see that Ethel had joined. Ethel looked at Jimmy's distressed face and felt shamed for how she sometimes treated Rosalie. 

"Nobody has seen her since last night," Suzi replied.

"Why has nobody said anything?" Elsa asked in disbelief before lapsing into German. 

Ethel stepped forward and attempted to comfort Elsa, but her hand was slapped away ."You all couldn'a said nothing?" Ethel snapped. "She could be out there dead!"

Pepper burst into tears while Meep started to mumble his name. Jimmy pulled at his hair while Elsa tried to get as much information as possible. They explained the events the night before and how nobody had seen Rosalie leave once the evidence of the crime was hidden.

"We can't bring the authorities into this in good conscience," Elsa whispered. "We will already have the police on us for what you all did; we can't risk anything else. I'm sorry."

Jimmy turned and glared at Elsa. Ethel grabbed his arm when she sensed trouble on the horizon. "You won't even try?" Jimmy glared at Elsa. "What happened to all of us being a family, huh?"

"Do you want to be locked up, Jimmy?" Elsa challenged. "They will find out what went on here, and everyone will pay for it! If Rosalie ran off scared, then she will make her way back if she wishes!.. But for now, this is the hand we've been dealt." 

Jimmy felt tears welling up in his eyes, ignoring his mother's comforting hand on his back. He shook her off and walked away, leaving everybody else to stand and watch him go, depressed.

_

Rosalie didn't know how long they walked. Dandy was oddly quiet as they weaved through the woods, on the lookout for the clown. It was silent until a young blonde ran from the trees, roughly rebounding off Dandy's chest as she tried running. Dandy kneeled, feigning ignorance as the girl gasped.  "Are you okay?" Dandy asked.


"Oh, thank God! Please, sir. You have to help! The clown is crazy!" she wailed, standing up and urgently touching his chest. Rosalie was afraid when Dandy smiled before roughly snatching the girl up, throwing her over his shoulder as if she were weightless.

"NO! HE'S THERE! HE'S A KILLER!" the girl screamed, looking at Rosalie with frightened eyes. "HELP ME!" she wailed, desperately reaching for Rosalie. 

Rosalie attempted to stop Dandy, only to become trapped when he got his arm around her, crushing her to his chest and forcing Rosalie to walk. His strength was unmatched as the blonde, and now Rosalie yelled for him to stop. Dandy ignored their pleas and quickly walked to where the girl ran from. Dandy and the girls broke through a clearing in the woods to reveal an ugly, beat-up trailer while the clown from earlier stared at them, expressionless. Another pair of eyes peeked out through the wooden planks nailed to the outside, and the girl quieted her distressed scream to sob.

"Clown, look what I have for you!" Dandy sang, shaking his arm to point out the blonde. Rosalie held onto him, hoping it would prevent Dandy from throwing her to the gravel. Dandy scanned the small camp proudly. "You'll have to do a better job of confinement if you want to really have fun!" he advised the clown.

The clown snatched the girl from Dandy. Dandy was prepared for it, quickly securing his hold on Rosalie before she could wiggle free. Rosalie hit Dandy's arms, unsuccessfully scratching him due to his long sleeves. Dandy scooped her up, taking Rosalie into the dirty trailer as the clown handled the other girl. A small, scared boy shook as he watched this unfold in the dark. Dandy dropped Rosalie beside the other two, kneeling before her and smiling as Rosalie glared at him.

"Let me go!" Rosalie seethed as he gripped her chin.

Dandy laughed. "I'm not going to hurt you! I need my favorite girl to be a part of the show!" he said enthusiastically. Rosalie tried looking away, but he only tightened his grip and leaned forward until their noses could touch. "I knew it from the moment I saw you. I'm so happy we've been reunited for this wonderful occasion," he whispered.

Rosalie regretted thinking of leaving the Freak Show.