Yawning, Ash leaned back against the pole of one of the little game shacks, cracking his neck. He looked over at the church tower clock across the street. It was close to opening night, and as soon as it rang... "Bong bong bong." "Well, the carnival is in town ladies and gentleman..." Ash whispered, going over and leaning forward on the counter.

Ciela swung back and forth lightly on her bar suspended high up into the air. She gazed down at the empty stands below her and imaged them full with crowds of people. Hopefully that would be what it looked like tonight after opening. She smiled slightly and swung harder, long hair flying through the air behind her.

Faeya stepped back as her parlor sat in a perfect set-up. She grinned and said to herself "now to see the whole place!" Faeya turned and started walking around the booths. She waved at a few people and walked to the big tent. She went in and saw Ciela. She watched her and giggled. "You're so cute!" She grinned teasingly.

Diana stood around the entrance of the big tent. her usual act had been canceled due to the dagger thrower breaking his throwing wrist. So she had been sent to go lure in people. She glanced back in and saw Ciela performing and sighed with a pout on her lips. She kind of wondered what would happen if Ciela fell and hit the ground, would she make a splat or a crunching sound. Diana kind of wanted to find out but she decided not to, for obvious reason. So she just grinned. "Go Cielaaa~"

"Alright...just gotta tighten this here. Adjust the belt here a bit and- Aw, what the, who the hell was eating taffy while operating the ferris wheel!" A young and irritable voice cried out from a space just below the carnival ferris wheel. This voice came from a young -and currently very unhappy- man named John Cruz, who was currently staring down at the source of his displeasure: a ferris wheel motor with ropes of taffy jammed in multiple places. John tugged a bit on his pony tail as it hung over his shoulder, a habit he'd formed that happened whenever he was stressed. The mechanic let out a heavy sigh and reached in to tug out the gunk, grateful that the machine's power was off, and that a 'temporarily out of service' sign had been hung up prior to his maintenance.

Nadia had finished fixing up all the outfits, so she decided to go to her room. She glanced out the window and saw all the people practicing their acts, out of the corner of her eye she saw Ash, instantly she pulled a blind down over the window, Ash had always made her feel, uneasy. Maybe it was the tribal tattoos, maybe it was the attidute, maybe it was her upbringing, but whenever she saw him, that's what she felt: Scared. She clutched her knees close to her chest and picked up a book to read.

Ash had been leaning against the counter lazily when he glanced over at the living quarters. Out of one of the windows he could just make out Nadia, before he saw her get a scared look on her face and abruptly pulled a blind down. "What's with that girl...?" He whispered to himself. Never did anything to her, so much as talked to her to make her hate him or something. Well she was shy... Just really shy around him. Oh well, maybe it was the leather jacket and the tattoo, who knows. Just then, a steady stream of people started pouring in as Ash tried his best announcer persona. "Step right up! Play one of these easy games and win a fabulous prize!" Ash spoke into a little worn-down intercom speaker, setting it back down on the counter.

Nadia got up from her bed and began to clean the rooms, at then final room she walked into Ash's room, she placed all of his clothes into a neat pile, she then grabbed a small piece of paper and wrote "Sorry - Nadia" and placed it onto his bed and then quickly left and sat back in her room. She peeked out of her window a little bit and saw ash doing his best announcer voice, it sounded so convincing, so real, so perfect.

Kason stood, high above most everyone in the carnival. But that was because she stood on her eldest brother Kyler's shoulders. She laughed, throwing her hands around as she wobbled when he walked. Pulling something green from her pocket, she pushed a kazoo up to her lips, and tried to play anything that reminded her of a circus. "Everybody wants to come to the carnival!" She shouted.
The middle brother, Kendel, rolled his eyes as he watched from his food truck. "Kason!" He called.
Kyler looked over and spun them around, Kason squealing as she grabbed onto his head not to fall
"Shit, Kyler! Trying to kill me!"
Kyler just chuckled.
"Kason, how many shots did you have today?" Kendel asked, pushing his little hair net from his face.
"Just a few." The youngest laughed. "I think Kyler drank half the bottle!" She went back to her kazoo, Kyler still holding her legs as he paced back in forth in front of the rides they were running that day.
But hearing the word taffy, Kason's head turned. "Oh! Is that where that went?" She laughed. "Sorry! It fell out when a kid hit me with his football!" Pushing copper hair from her freckled face, she straightened her shorts.
Kendel sighed as he watched them. They were going to get themselves killed one day. He shook his head and just stared at the fryer, waiting for customers.

As she saw people enter, Faeya grinned and headed for her parlor. She saw the triplets as she walked passed and she called out to Kason "how's the weather up there?" A teasing grin slowly appeared on her face. She walked over to them and she could smell the acohol on Kason and Kyler. Faeya bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing when she saw Kendal's expression toward the scent and his siblings. Her laughter broke out, though. She stopped herself from letting her 'giggle-fest' from going too far, but it was harder than trying not to laugh. Finally, she hadn't needed to laugh anymore and she put her hands on her hips.

Ciela smiled down at Faeya and Diana and then watched as Faeya exited the tent. The girl kept swinging for a few more moments, picking up in speed before launching herself from the bar. She reached out and caught a hold of another bar and swung back and forth on that one before she slipped her legs over the bar and hung upside down, gently rocking back and forth.

Nadia peered out of her window some more, all the cheer that was outside, it all seemed so real, she wished she could go out and join them, but alas, she didn't have the confidence. She simply watched from her window, seeing all the people laughing, cheering and having fun, but as she looked closer she could see things, cracks in the perfection.

John sat back with a contented sigh as the last of the taffy was removed from the ferris wheel motor's gears, "Well...that could've been worse I guess." he said as he reached up to wipe a bit of sweat from his brow only to stop and grimace, "Aw man, my gloves! They're covered in the gunk now!" he groaned as he examined his taffy covered gloves. The young mechanic peeled off the gloves, got up from the ground, and began to walk away, stopping briefly to tell the ride operator for the day to let the ferris wheel run for about an hour before actually letting anyone on it to ensure it ran as it should before he continued on. As he walked towards the small trailer that served as his home, John watched everything that when on in the park with a small smile, "Business as usual, everything looks to be workin' as it should. Looks like I get to go on break for a while." he said before passing by a small fenced off area that read 'employees only' and into a stretch of land with multiple trailers and trucks sitting idly.
John ducked into a medium sized trailer and examined his living space; a bit cluttered, but not exactly messy, it was cluttered in a way that allowed him to find everything he needed with minimal effort. John tossed the gunk covered gloves into a small laundry basket in the corner of his apartment and walked over to a large terrarium that sat by his bed, "Alright, how's my Cap'n today?" he cooed lovingly as he unlocked the latch and opened the lid. Within seconds, a bright orange head popped out, flickering a black tongue every so often, "Theres my boy, c'mon out bitey, I figure we've got a bit of time for a walk before something else needs fixing." John said as he lifted five feet of woma python from its dwelling and draped it around his shoulders. The snake looked around for a few moments, then rested its head atop John's, flickering its tongue as he stepped back out of the trailer and walked back into the park.

"This game's rigged! Nobody can win!" A small boy around the age of 10 or 12 screamed as he had just blown 10 dollars on a game. Ash sighed and shook his head, crossing his arms. "Look kid, you throw the ball, you knock over all the pins. Not that hard." The boy pouted, looking up at him. "Liar! If it's so easy, why don't you do it?" Ash laughed a little, before grabbing a ball from the bin. "Suit yourself." He reached under the table and flicked a switch, turning off the magnets that held some of the pins. Ash hopped over the counter, before positioning himself in front of the pyramid of pins. "Watch and learn..." He threw it, easily knocking over the pins and scattering them. "Nothing to it. Just need a little more effort. And a little more money if you wanna try again."

Ciela hummed lightly to herself as she flipped over the bar and let go. She gracefully tumbled through the air and landed in the next. She bounced a few times before she rolled off and stood up. She glanced around, the tent being empty and sighed. She straightened her clothes and exited the tent. She wandered around and paused, watching a little boy trying to win Ash's game. The girl smiled slightly, poor kid was going to loose all his money if he tried.

Nadia peered out of her window, seeing Ash trick a boy into thinking the game was winnable. She suddenly looked at his eyes and thought he had spotted her, she picked up her knees, today was the day she was going to be brave, today would be the day she tried to talk to Ash, it might fail miserably, but today was the day she was going to do it. She stepped down the stairs and out into the carnival yard, she slowly advanced t Ash, but felt something pulling her back, an invisible force holding her back, fear.

After the child had officially been stripped of all his cash and sulked away, Ash sighed and sat up on the counter. Seemed as though everybody went to get something to eat, it was around the lunch rush. Reaching over, he picked up his acoustic guitar and held it on his lap. One of the only personal things he had left on him, he had a certain passion of music beside him. Besides racing, he would of loved to become a musician, but it never really turned out that way. Ash started picking at the strings gently, looking up to see Ciela standing outside the tent. And, not too far away, Nadia was kind of just standing there. "Hey, you two lovely ladies care to join me? The ten year olds are great and all, but it gets a little lonely here sometimes."

Nadia just stood there, frozen by this strange man, the one who she had been so scared of , she felt her feet take her closer to Ash . " H-h-hi A-Ash" danm, this was her first interaction with him, and she was stammering like a highschool girl, she came and sat down onto the table next to him, but just far away enough so he couldn't grab her. "Y-y-you're p-p-pretty g-good at that. " she stammered, she avoided eye contact with him, because she didn't want to be embarresed.

Ash looked over as Nadia proceeded to walk over and sit next to him. Well, not really next to him. Several feet away but on the same counter. "Hey." He replied cooly, playing the guitar softly before looking over at her. She seemed sort of nervous, and stuttered a lot. Well, at least she was trying to make conversation. "Thanks. When I'm not running the carnival I play this thing, so, you get good at it." He starts playing a different song, a little bit faster pace and more up-beat. "So, how've you been? Don't get to talk to you all that much."

"I-I-I-I've been fine" She stuttered, "I-I don't go out much" She added, she watched his hands work the gituar, out of the corner of her eye she spied something shiny, something metal, a weapon, she would have asked him about it, but she was scared of being embarresed. Slowly, trying to overcome her fear she started shuffling towards him, she felt like she was going to pull back, but no, today is the day. She was going to overcome her fear and nothing was going to stop her "I-I ccleaned your room" She said timidly.