Second Life | Joker x Anomaly! Reader

Chapter 4: Morning Incidents

The morning sun broke though the small slits of the tent. The female who still hid under her covers was never able to fall back to sleep, so when she noticed the light in her vision whilst peeking from under her safety blanket, she felt safe again. She slowly removed the covers from her head and torso, then proceeded to sit up. Surprisingly, she had no discomfort in doing so. She yawned and arched her back to stretch her stiff joints. Her wings extended to their full potential, but in the process she knocked over a jar and she jumped at the sudden shattering of glass. "Sorry..." she softly apologized to no one in particular.

A loud vibration erupted from her stomach, redirecting her attention to her obvious hunger. She blinked and looked around. It was still rather dim, but she could see her way through the infirmary tent. Once she stood, she wobbled a bit. She was laughably weak from years of just laying in a cage in restraints. Her flexibility wasn't something worth noting either. It was quite uncanny, though, that she's recovered this much in so little time. Perhaps her body is different from everyone else's.

A drive to eat led her out of the tent and to a pathway outside. She never initially got to explore the place either. This is prime time to explore her new home. With curiosity, she turned to walk towards a row of large tents. She couldn't make out the color because the morning sun only allowed their silhouettes to breach the horizon. It was eerily silent, save for Betty's, Beast's tiger, snoring. She quietly tread the path to the row of tents with bare feet.

As she approached the row, she eventually heard faint snoring. She assumed in was Jumbo because he just seemed like the guy to snore like that to her. She suspected that these were the 'first stringer' tents Joker mentioned yesterday. He told her that their tents were cut off from the rest of the circus's quarters with a yellow rope so that no one would bother them. She didn't think at that moment that she should be following that rule. When she came across the aforementioned yellow rope, she ducked right under it. I know, how rude of her.

She started to shiver from the morning coldness that she just became aware of. Her feathers rustled at the action and she stopped in realization that everyone else is probably asleep. Just then, stirring could be heard from one of the tents. Her blood ran cold as it startled her in her place. She felt as if she was trespassing at that moment. Out of instinct, she fled as fast as she could and extended her wings, not thinking clearly. She attempted to leap and flap, but dove face first into the ground with a pained whimper. Her feathers were incomplete and certainly not long enough for flight yet.

"What in the bloody hell was that?" a tired, yet irritated voice cut through the air before a tent flap could be heard opening. She tried to continue her flee, but she exerted too much energy during her sprint and her frail body could no longer take such an endeavor. "Hey! It's you- what happened?" a pair of rushed footsteps approached the now twitching bird woman. Her wings stuck out like a sore thumb, still 'ready' for flight. She looked through tear-blurred vision and recognized the approaching figure as Dagger, running all dressed in his night clothes. "Your face- it's bleeding! Who attacked you!? I swear I oughta-!" "What's with all the screaming out here?" another female voice joined in. Beast came out with an irritated scowl, but soon gasped in concern at the sight just 60 feet away from her. "What on earth?!"

Soon, every first stringer emerged from their tent in alarm. Dagger was already rushing her to the infirmary and hollering for the doctor, much to her seething distaste. She was rushed through the tent flap of the infirmary and place onto her bed quickly. Everyone else soon entered after Dagger. Joker was the first to push through to the front of the group. "Dear, what happened to ye'?! Did someone fight ye' out there?!" he questioned with great concern. The fact that she made her entire family, especially Joker, get up and worry like this at such an unreasonable hour dampened her heart. The truth would disappoint them so much, and she was trying to be polite to them. And what does she do? Outright breaks their rules on her second day there.