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.
“Skip
Mariah Danby,” He sighed, embarrassment twisting the tone of his tongue
as his eyes followed the walls and his foot tapped into the air. “Why
do you need to interview me if you’re just taking stuff from my body?
Can’t you just- I don’t know.. Knock me out and take what you want?”Carlos made a slight face at that question, but he quickly wiped it away. “Well, no… I’d really rather not do that,” he told Skip. “I need to be able to label the samples correctly and I need to know some of your physical conditions so I can keep it in mind while testing.”
He quickly typed in Skip’s name. “I’m a scientist, but definitely not the ‘mad’ variety.”
“Then maybe you’re the cute variety, I think it’s a rare species.” In the moment he believed it to be one of the cheesiest pick up lines he had come up with, it was a severe blow to his ego and he instantly regretted it. He flinched at his own words, opening his mouth to say something but finding it empty.
Fingers ran through his hair nervously as he finally stuttered out, “S-sorry..”
Carlos lifted an eyebrow at him. “Uh… are you okay?” he asked. He tried to be gentle about it, but it probably came out as sounding like he was weirded out by Skip. Which he probably was, just… not for the flirting.
“Do… do you want some water or something to eat? Just to help you feel more comfortable?”
Skip wanted to flinch back and make a sassy remark about how Carlos couldn’t even take a compliment, they weren’t in the Middle Ages. Instead he simply blushed harder now even more embarrassed, “No,” The acrobat sighed through locked teeth, “Anymore questions?” Now he just wanted to get this done and over with, what an absolute mistake getting out of bed this morning.
“Yeah, actually,” Carlos said. “Just blood type and stuff…”
He thought about it. “Would you rather do this later?” If Skip said yes, Carlos had a feeling that they’d never get to the experiment and Carlos would be out of a volunteer. But he had to ask.
“No, I’m fine. It’s B positive,” He snapped back quickly, leaning back into the chair and flickering his gaze towards the nearest window, staring at the birds who screamed and the clouds that dragged in greens and greys.
A breath left his lips, “There aren’t any other volunteers? What’s this town gonna come to? People need to learn to share,” Rolling his eyes was a kick to the wounded, “God.”
Carlos typed in the blood type. “Night Vale is full of suspicious people. They probably think I’m doing something nefarious with the samples. Or at least something gross, even though I’ve never gave them either impression ever.” He shrugged slightly. “But yeah, with how bloodstone magic is a thing, you’d think they’d be more willing to throw their blood around. Do you have any medical conditions, pre-existing or not?”
“Uhm,” Did being a bloodsucker count? “N-no, I guess not.. But yeah, people are so conservative when it comes to their blood. It’s so annoying sometimes,” Skip ranted momentarily, crossing his arms stiffly. “They get so awkward, and I’m like ‘listen dude I’m not forcing your hand, relax!’” He found himself laughing warmly, thinking back to many altercations between humans.
“Ah, I don’t know.. People can just be so uptight.”
Carlos just nodded in silent agreement. “But still… ‘volunteer’ implies agency, and I want to uphold that,” Carlos said. “Any history of medical conditions? Heart disease, diabetes, and the like?”
