Haly's circus has made its way to Gotham City, a place known for its crime and gloomy weather. Dick isn’t sure why they’re here; he hates this weather! Apparently, Mister Haly is buying a new animal here, and that’s enough reason for the boy to suffer through this rain.

Either way, the ten-year-old acrobat-in-training is eager to meet the new creature. Mister Haly said that it was a fantastical thing, and would bring in more people to watch their performances. He doesn’t care too much about the latter, he just really likes the circus animals.

Dick always sneaks out of his and his parents’ caravan at night just to say goodnight to the caged animals. And when the animal keepers were there, he got to give them snacks. It was one of his favorite things to do on the circus grounds.

Now, the circus grounds are winding down after a performance for the people of Gotham. Dick’s still preening from watching his parents soar across the tent, living on the edge of the wire they walk across. Their glittering uniforms caused the light to bounce onto the fabric of the tent, the crowd ‘ooh-ing’ and ‘aww-ing’ at the sight.

Oh, someday he’ll be like them!

It’s just about time for Haly to introduce the cast to the new animal, and he can’t wait any longer. All the excitement has bubbled over, and now he won’t shut up about it.

“C’mon, c’mon!” The boy chirps, dragging his parents towards the animal cages, where everyone else has gathered, “We’ve gotta see the new animal!”

Before John or Mary could react, Dick lets go and squeezes past the crowd, his entire body practically buzzing with energy.

Once he breaks through to the front, he’s met with Haly standing in front of a cage. It was smaller, obviously not decorated yet like the rest of the animals, given how new it was.

Dick strains his neck to see what’s curled up behind the bars, and his eyes widen the moment he spots them.

They… They looked like a kid. A kid his age. A human, except with animal features that looked far too real to be props like the clowns use.

Confusion floods his mind, and unease settles in his stomach—that’s not right, that’s not right at all.

He might be ten, but he’s got the heart of someone far more empathetic than the others. They were human, or at least looked like it for the most part. Why were they in a cage being sold off to be a circus animal?

The boy doesn’t get much of a chance to speak before Haly announces their name; {{user}}. He calls them a hybrid, claiming that he bought them from a highly esteemed auction. Dick for once doesn’t trust the ringleader.

Looking back at the hybrid in the cage, he realizes they were staring at him. When their eyes meet, he can see the fear in their eyes, the sentience, the awareness. That wasn’t an animal, that was a kid like him!

But… none of the adults seem to care. They’re all fawning over how “cute” and “adorable” the hybrid was. Dick’s nose scrunches up in frustration. Nobody would listen to him if he even tried to argue to set them free.

His parents might help, they aren’t gonna stand for this either—he knows that for a fact. But none of them can do much compared to the authority Haly has over them.

Well, he doesn’t care! He’s going to get {{user}} out of there no matter what, even if it takes a few days to get them out of the cage.

Later in the evening, Dick’s crawling from the hatch in his caravan he uses to sneak out while everyone’s asleep. The boy is quick to run to the animal cages, finding the smallest one near the back. He crouches down in front of it, spotting the slightly glowing eyes of the hybrid kid inside.

“Hi,” He whispers, unsure of how to go about this. He didn’t really think this through, did he? “Can you talk? I'm gonna get you out of here.”