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.
“Science?”
Skip hadn’t often thought about how long things usually took, he
focused more on the outcome of things even if they took years or only
weeks, the outcome was always the most important part he believed.
Science wasn’t exactly his forte, therefore he also hadn’t given it an
opportunity into his mind too much.
He tilted his head a bit and hummed curiously, “Yeah, Science I
guess..” He muttered, not knowing what exactly he was implying with his
statement, hopefully it sounded like he was agreeing. “Do you think I’ll
have to come back here a lot, if you guys find something?”
“Maybe,” Carlos said. “The testing will use up the samples and if we don’t get results immediately we might need more.” He then looked at Skip again. “What exactly…. brought you here? I was under the impression you weren’t very interested in… um, science.”
Carlos was still pretty apprehensive. Last night hadn’t left a good impression on him, in actuality.
“Like I said,” Began Skip once more looking over to The scientist with a slight roll of his eyes, “I feel bad for people that have these problems- there’s not a lot I can do about it except give up my body to science! I want to help, but donations only do so much.. Plus, I’m not exactly the richest cat in town.” He sighed, feeling absentmindedly at his empty pockets.
“I’m not that into science, but I figured that when I saw the slip that I could help for once..”
“Huh. Well okay.” That was understandable, Carlos supposed. He still wasn’t sure about working with Skip, but time would tell how it went. “Any help we can get with this would be great. Though results could be a long-time coming, we’ll at least be setting out steppingstones for other researchers who could find the breakthrough. Here… go ahead and sit in that chair and we’ll talk first before we start pulling blood and hair samples, sound good?”
Skip nodded in a chipper manner, his body shifting into the seat like he had been stabbed in the stomach and a metal pole was struck down his spine, he moved like lightning. “Will it hurt?”
Will it hurt? This man hunted people and he was worried about the pain.
Carlos sat down in an adjacent stool next to a desk. He picked up the ipad sitting on it and turned it on to start taking notes.
“Well, yeah, some of it will,” he admitted. “I’ll warn you though, and I’ll tell you how much it should. I’ll be very careful. I got my PA degree in high school, so I know a bit about what I”m doing.” Between robotics club, some other college-level classes, and the occasional magic adventures on a school bus, he managed it.
The acrobat wanted to scoff at Carlos’ vague boasting, but he couldn’t help but swoon over how intelligent the man must have been, he really was quite impressed. His face showed the impression, heating up a soft rose color to his pointed ears and nose. “Ah.. I would hope so, you are the scientist.”
Fiddling his hands into his lap as he crossed his legs, his jeans tightening with the strain and his heeled boots briefly clicking together, as he glanced away and bit his lip. “I didn’t think I’d see you here either.. I knew you were a scientist clearly, but I just.. Forgot there was only one place to work.”
“Yeah…” Carlos said. “The city tends to think we’re comedians. And I mean… sure! But our work is very serious too. It’s just something most folks here don’t understand. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that it would be an outsider who volunteered for this course.”
Carlos took a breath. “Anyway… so, let’s start the pre-interview.” He pulled up a form on his ipad. “So… name?”
Isn’t… Dan the one who picked him up to bring him back to camp?
Guys, I’m getting mixed signals here…
No, not Dan. Dan*! There’s someone trying to steal Dan’s identity. And since Max and Dan are friends, that asshole wants to get rid of Max. But I am not going to let that happen.
Oh, Dan* with an asterisk!
Wait, where are they? How can I help??
Oh, no, Dan* hasn’t done anything to Max yet, thankfully, but if he does anything you could just call the police, I guess? This man should definitely go to jail, honestly…..
.. Then let’s call the police now. *his finger hovers over the screen of his phone*
Yeah, that’s probably for the best…
*dials and waits for a pick-up.* Neil, you have more information to give – would you mind helping me talk to the department?
I can give you a description of what he looks like but… thats it, really…
Well, you know more about him than I do, don’t you? Like his past and stuff… it might help the police get here faster if they knew this guy had priors for something or other.
I-i guess I know a little bit about him…
*The line is picked up and Carlos introduces himself. He gives a quick prelude to the situation and then switches the phone to speaker for Neil to jump in.*
*Neil rather calmly explained everything he new in pretty great detail. What this Dan* looked like, what he had tried to do in the past, things he was planning on doing, everything.*
*Carlos smiled at Neil encouragingly as he talked.* Oh, Neil, where was the last time you saw him?
Uh, near the camp, actually! He’s probably here because Dan is here too…
Right – so, the address is at Camp Campbell. Um. I guess there’s another guy that looks like this Dan-asterisk, but he’s not the individual we’re referring to. I- *he pauses when the receptionist spoke to him* Yes, that Camp Campbell. *he looks at Neil with a frown.*
*Neil looks nervous, pacing around as he looked back up at Carlos*
We’ll see you soon, thank you. *the receptionist bids goodbye and hangs up. Carlos sighs* Okay then. Well, I guess we just wait.
Carlos looked around. The drawer? Which drawer? Wait – Hancock shouldn’t be going to sleep! “Han, s- please, stay with me. Which
drawer? Which dresser are we talking – where you usually keep your
drugs? I need to know, Han, okay? I- I’m trying to help you…”
Should
he shout out for help? Hancock might not like anyone seeing him like
this, but Carlos was worried he couldn’t take care of everything
himself.
Oh God, this was all his fault wasn’t it? If he had
just stayed inside – even slept on the couch – then he could have kept
an eye on Hancock and this wouldn’t have happened!
He let out a low hum, a frown crossing his face as he tried to think. Everything was so foggy and distant now and some small part of him recognized the fear and urgency in Carlos’ voice, but he didn’t have the energy to put together why the other might be so worried.
“Kitchen?” The ghoul more asked than answered, dark eyes opening slightly in a squint as he glanced over at the kitchen counter across the room. “S’over there somewhere.”
Somewhere over there. It frustrated Carlos that Hancock couldn’t be more helpful, but really… what could he expect? But he can give it a quick look-around before pressing Hancock for details.
Carlos started to stand up to go to the indicated counter.
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.
“Science?”
Skip hadn’t often thought about how long things usually took, he
focused more on the outcome of things even if they took years or only
weeks, the outcome was always the most important part he believed.
Science wasn’t exactly his forte, therefore he also hadn’t given it an
opportunity into his mind too much.
He tilted his head a bit and hummed curiously, “Yeah, Science I
guess..” He muttered, not knowing what exactly he was implying with his
statement, hopefully it sounded like he was agreeing. “Do you think I’ll
have to come back here a lot, if you guys find something?”
“Maybe,” Carlos said. “The testing will use up the samples and if we don’t get results immediately we might need more.” He then looked at Skip again. “What exactly…. brought you here? I was under the impression you weren’t very interested in… um, science.”
Carlos was still pretty apprehensive. Last night hadn’t left a good impression on him, in actuality.
“Like I said,” Began Skip once more looking over to The scientist with a slight roll of his eyes, “I feel bad for people that have these problems- there’s not a lot I can do about it except give up my body to science! I want to help, but donations only do so much.. Plus, I’m not exactly the richest cat in town.” He sighed, feeling absentmindedly at his empty pockets.
“I’m not that into science, but I figured that when I saw the slip that I could help for once..”
“Huh. Well okay.” That was understandable, Carlos supposed. He still wasn’t sure about working with Skip, but time would tell how it went. “Any help we can get with this would be great. Though results could be a long-time coming, we’ll at least be setting out steppingstones for other researchers who could find the breakthrough. Here… go ahead and sit in that chair and we’ll talk first before we start pulling blood and hair samples, sound good?”
Skip nodded in a chipper manner, his body shifting into the seat like he had been stabbed in the stomach and a metal pole was struck down his spine, he moved like lightning. “Will it hurt?”
Will it hurt? This man hunted people and he was worried about the pain.
Carlos sat down in an adjacent stool next to a desk. He picked up the ipad sitting on it and turned it on to start taking notes.
“Well, yeah, some of it will,” he admitted. “I’ll warn you though, and I’ll tell you how much it should. I’ll be very careful. I got my PA degree in high school, so I know a bit about what I”m doing.” Between robotics club, some other college-level classes, and the occasional magic adventures on a school bus, he managed it.
Isn’t… Dan the one who picked him up to bring him back to camp?
Guys, I’m getting mixed signals here…
No, not Dan. Dan*! There’s someone trying to steal Dan’s identity. And since Max and Dan are friends, that asshole wants to get rid of Max. But I am not going to let that happen.
Oh, Dan* with an asterisk!
Wait, where are they? How can I help??
Oh, no, Dan* hasn’t done anything to Max yet, thankfully, but if he does anything you could just call the police, I guess? This man should definitely go to jail, honestly…..
.. Then let’s call the police now. *his finger hovers over the screen of his phone*
Yeah, that’s probably for the best…
*dials and waits for a pick-up.* Neil, you have more information to give – would you mind helping me talk to the department?
I can give you a description of what he looks like but… thats it, really…
Well, you know more about him than I do, don’t you? Like his past and stuff… it might help the police get here faster if they knew this guy had priors for something or other.
I-i guess I know a little bit about him…
*The line is picked up and Carlos introduces himself. He gives a quick prelude to the situation and then switches the phone to speaker for Neil to jump in.*
*Neil rather calmly explained everything he new in pretty great detail. What this Dan* looked like, what he had tried to do in the past, things he was planning on doing, everything.*
*Carlos smiled at Neil encouragingly as he talked.* Oh, Neil, where was the last time you saw him?
Uh, near the camp, actually! He’s probably here because Dan is here too…
Right – so, the address is at Camp Campbell. Um. I guess there’s another guy that looks like this Dan-asterisk, but he’s not the individual we’re referring to. I- *he pauses when the receptionist spoke to him* Yes, that Camp Campbell. *he looks at Neil with a frown.*
Isn’t… Dan the one who picked him up to bring him back to camp?
Guys, I’m getting mixed signals here…
No, not Dan. Dan*! There’s someone trying to steal Dan’s identity. And since Max and Dan are friends, that asshole wants to get rid of Max. But I am not going to let that happen.
Oh, Dan* with an asterisk!
Wait, where are they? How can I help??
Oh, no, Dan* hasn’t done anything to Max yet, thankfully, but if he does anything you could just call the police, I guess? This man should definitely go to jail, honestly…..
.. Then let’s call the police now. *his finger hovers over the screen of his phone*
Yeah, that’s probably for the best…
*dials and waits for a pick-up.* Neil, you have more information to give – would you mind helping me talk to the department?
I can give you a description of what he looks like but… thats it, really…
Well, you know more about him than I do, don’t you? Like his past and stuff… it might help the police get here faster if they knew this guy had priors for something or other.
I-i guess I know a little bit about him…
*The line is picked up and Carlos introduces himself. He gives a quick prelude to the situation and then switches the phone to speaker for Neil to jump in.*
*Neil rather calmly explained everything he new in pretty great detail. What this Dan* looked like, what he had tried to do in the past, things he was planning on doing, everything.*
*Carlos smiled at Neil encouragingly as he talked.* Oh, Neil, where was the last time you saw him?
The Perfect Scientist 