The Most Spectacular Show On Earth (Ch. 2)

The whiskey burns at the back of your throat as you drink it down, leaning back in the small, cushioned chair across from them. Outside you can hear the performers celebrating a great show, cheering and laughing together. You suppose they do this every show. But you can’t be sure. You stare at the two men for awhile, green eyes pouring into theirs in turn. You wait for one of them to speak up.

And eventually, one does. The tall one, “She can train the cats.” Your eyes go wide, unsure.

“Really now? We do need another trainer for them. Poor, poor Nepeta. She liked them alright, but they just didn’t quite agree with her.” He chuckles, leaning back into his chair and puffing the smoke from his lips.

It falls silent in the train car once more, the only sound comes from outside, pouring through the door and windows. Music starts to play from the band quickly and you watch the dips and spins of performing couples and a few workmen and ladies in the background. You smile to yourself as you watch through a window before the clearing of a throat comes from one of them.

The bottle is grabbed up from the table only to be poured into another glass that the shorter one is holding, he takes a large swig of it before slamming it back down on the table. He gets real close to you, his breath on your face.

“Well I tell you what, you got the job. But we haven’t had a great opening act in years, so you better not fuck this up for us. You train those cats, and if there are any accidents.” He glares at you before smirking, “You’re out princess.” He clicks his tongue and jerks his thumb back to the outside of the train before stalking off to join everyone outside. You watch silently, shaking. A few people cheer as he joins. You’re now alone with his brother, unsure of what to say to break the silence.

“I’m sorry about him.” He smiles at you, and you cock your head to the side, shrugging as to say that it’s fine. You’re not sure you know how to train big cats. It’s scary to think of, actually. But soon enough he’s in front of you, hand out to shake yours. “Kurloz, Kurloz Makara. That was Gamzee. Welcome to the show.” He smiles again and pulls you off to join in outside.

There’s music and the swinging of bodies and the smell of strong alcohol and cigarettes floats around in the air. It’s all so fun and you’re so caught up with the expensive liquor seemingly appearing in your glass and the smokes being lit you don’t even realize you’re dancing with Kurloz until the band speeds up and you two swing across the grass. He pulls you tight and you wrap your arms around him accordingly, smiling and giggling as he dips and spins you. You don’t remember the last time you’ve had this much fun in your life. And you don’t know if it’s the booze’s fault or how close you are to Kurloz or just how you feel so much more safe and wanted here.



You wake up with a slight pounding in your head and on an uncomfortable bed close to everyone else. You slip out of your bunk. More workmen slip out of theirs, heading out, and to be honest, you don’t know what to do. You stretch, and slowly head out. The cookhouse is up, smoke coming from it and the smell of food in the air. You head over, eager to have food. Sausage, eggs, bread, loaded up on your plate and your mouth waters and you can’t remember how long it has been since you’ve ate real food but you waste no more time thinking about it. You spot Kurloz and Gamzee with a few others on one side and try to go over before someone stops you, pointing over to where the workmen are eating at their tables. You pout lightly. As you head over Gamzee slips behind him, quietly explaining that you are to eat at their table with them. Saying that you’re going to be the new cat training and are going to completely lift their show out of the dumps, of course. Why should you eat with all the work men who are all dirty and grimy? Exactly, you shouldn’t. You follow him over.

The bench for the table is hard and slightly uncomfortable, but you quickly sit down, setting your tray of food in front of you and laying a napkin across your lap after smoothing out your skirt. Gamzee slips in beside you and plops himself down, Kurloz doing the same across from you. Other performers and bosses sit around on this side. The work men are on the other side, but you look over. Your eyes flicked from man to man, going to even dirtier tables without the nice table cloth and flowers like on yours. You feel sort of bad. You’re not special, you’re just the new cat trainer that has literally no experience with big cats! After awhile you end up spotting the man that was attacked by the cat yesterday. He’s still in one piece, but there’s bandages around his middle and some on his arm. But at least he’s okay. You’re sort of scared to hang out with the cats after what happened, but you don’t want to get redlighted. Nobody does.



When you’re finished, satisfied with a full stomach, you slowly make your way back to the train car that holds the cats. Another man comes from them, luckily with no punctures but with a few empty buckets that flies follow around, hoping that there’s still meat in it. Before you can make it up the ramp, a cold hand on your shoulder stops you and you twist around quickly to see who it is. It’s the man. With the bandages. That you saved. He gives you a toothy grin, shifting from foot to foot.

“Thanks for saving me, yesterday. I would have been dead meat there if it weren’t for you. I’m Mituna, Mituna Captor.” Shakily, he holds his hand out for you to shake, which you do.

“Meulin, Meulin Leijon.”

“Be careful with those cats.” He has a lisp. You smile and nod, heading up.

Your small hand presses against the bars of the cage. Not a finger dipping inside, or something that the tiger could latch onto. Just your hand against the cold bars of the cage. Quietly, he saunters up to you and sniffs loudly. You can hear him growl and your breath catches in your throat, afraid. But he stops, sniffing at your hand before wandering back off and plopping down. He doesn’t think you’re a threat. That’s a good start. You do the same with the other cages, watching as the cats approach, sniff, growl, sniff more before deciding you won’t hurt them. You’re just there to be nice and train them and give them love! You want to make them big, rake in the money for the circus, not get thrown off. In fact, it would be amazing if you could even perform! But Gamzee said it wasn’t as easy as that, so you’ll take this job any day.

You decide not to start training yet, but you walk from cage to cage, sitting beside it and pressing your hand up against the cool bars of it.