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 began to search for the door then, moving over to the exit and
awkwardly standing by it to make his point that he was ready for bed..
or freedom to hunt.“Anyway- I better.. head off.. it’s late and I’m sure there are some
young people out there, looking for a nice time..” He didn’t appreciate
going on, fearing to expose another secret.Carlos went to see him out. “Alright,” he said. “Try to stay out of trouble. I hope you have fun. Be safe – at least, as safe as you can be in Night Vale.”
He left with a nod and headed out of the labs, tucking his hands into his pockets and casting his gaze out towards the sunset before smirking. It would be a fine night for another hunt, all he had to do was hope that it would work this time.
Carlos went back to looking over the samples he had from Skip. He was sure Skip was going to have an easier time getting blood than he had for science. Night Valiens didn’t trust science – but they might value the fact that another being would need blood to live.
So Skip was probably going to be okay. If not, he knew where he could get blood. Carlos would gladly provide him some from the fridge.
Carlos worked well into the night, as he habitually did. Only after what was supposed to be midnight did he go upstairs to his apartment for the night.
Though the morning was dreary and was greeted by the cowering of multiple citizens while others cut off their dog’s ear for good luck, Skip was helping himself to the morning ritual of coffee and a cigarette. He knew these things wouldn’t hurt him, at least not the cigarette. So it was that day that he had a dozen refills of both, Skip didn’t quite like the smell of the cigarette but he just thought the smoke looked neat.
It was after these things that he made Earl a priority, calling him back to apologize for how distant he had been and setting up another date to hopefully give the father another chance.
Though his hopes were low.
Then he took a shower and got dressed in some jeans and an old circus show shirt, popping open an umbrella and putting in star hoop earrings, he made off to the labs.
That morning Carlos had the scientists gathered and he discussed with them his study and experiments. Most were pretty excited when he proposed the hypnotism show and almost all of them agreed to participate or watch it, with only one scientist declining to attend though they encouraged everyone else to have fun.
Things were looking pretty good.
The vampire was chipper and on time as the sun rose just above the lowest trees, pushing open the doors of the lab and smiling with his fanged grin.
“Hello..? Jake?” He paused, “Carlos- I didn’t know what you wanted me to wear- so I didn’t over dress..” He mumbled as he stepped further inside, glancing into the back hallways for the scientists.
The scientists were still sat down in their meeting, and Carlos spotted Skip poking his head out. He smiled. “Oh, hey! Skip! Welcome, welcome – how are you?”
The other scientists turned to look at the newcomer, some with curiosity and some with a bit of excitement.
The Perfect Scientist 