Carlos hadn’t been to a circus in years – not since he was little. But there had been a raffle at work and Carlos had won a coupon for a free ticket. He kinda hoped that his brother and/or his dad were in town so he could invite them to go with him.
Carlos made his way to the ticket office that was set up, standing in the line with his coupon as he looked at everything around him. Some things were different than what he remembered or imagined a circus to be like, but not everything could be a dated cliche trope he supposed.
Once at the ticket office he smiled and offered the coupon. “Hey… this any good?” he asked in a joking manner.
The
acrobat thought hard on this for a moment, which would be more secure
and inconspicuous? He was too far in to pull out at this rate, it would
be even worse if he didn’t finish the job.“Can you walk me up to my room in the hotel? I’m just nervous of the
town.. I’ve heard pretty awful things happen around here.” He happened
to be one of them, his mind teased as he buckled his seat in.Really? He was hardly invested in what Carlos had to say about his work, even though he asked after it, and then he practically rushed them out the door and now he wanted Carlos to walk him up to the room? Carlos was not very much inclined to do that.
“I can walk you to the lobby door,” Carlos said. “Honestly, I have some work to get to since I took some time off today.” Not strictly incorrect – he did need to check in with the Literal Rock Band and see how their new ‘crib’ was shaping out for them. Besides, just going to the lobby would be safe enough, even in Night Vale. Just so long as Skip didn’t wander into any storage closets or accidentally get stuck on a set of never-ending stairs.
Skip figured the lobby would have to do, the tense atmosphere between the two was obviously beginning to show through Carlos’ tone of voice, it was certainly irritating to know that his prey was going to continue to be this difficult.
Pity, friendly chat and seduction had all failed him. Geez, he needed to work on his game or go back to rats.
Lies. His mind hissed. “That’s fine!” He chirped instead, concealing any doubt in Carlos that may have slipped through the cracks of his lips. “I understand work, believe me! Thanks for joining me for dinner anyway,”
Carlos glanced at the other man and offered him a smile. “I’m glad I was able to help keep you out of trouble,” he said, which was the truth. No one wanted to cross Big Rico’s Pizza. No one.
But still, Carlos couldn’t wait to get back to the lab and back to work.
Skip didn’t get dinner that night. Even with the extremely delicious pizza, his body needed to have blood from a human and that was what he had failed at preforming. His skills were rough to say the least, he couldn’t even seduce someone anymore. Sigh.
The morning was a different story though, with a burning sun over the horizon and the looming sky of inevitable death waking the town as it did every morning. Though today the birds screamed extra loudly,
With his night off at the circus behind him, Carlos was back in his routine. He was in his lab downstairs from his apartment this morning and was currently working with the Literal Rock Band, sitting in on their practice session while he used his computer to scout out venues they could possibly play at in the coming months. He was their band manager after all and it was his job to get them gigs.
The Perfect Scientist 