Snippet #1440126

Terra shook his hand, examining the newcomer with cool blue eyes. "Terra Evans. I'm a performer here-- an aerialist." His carefully chosen (and remarkably vague) statement was largely unhelpful, and she blew out a breath, deciding whether it was worth the trouble to learn more of him than his name. She supposed it would be, especially if he planned on sticking around. "So, Mr. Blake Willows, what, exactly, can I do for you?" she prodded, brushing her bangs from her face. Terra was a get-it-done kind of girl; small talk had never been her strong suit. Either she'd get him to answer her question or she'd send him away, whichever proved easiest.

It wasn't that she was trying to be rude. Not really, anyway. She'd simply never made social pleasantries a priority. Her parents hadn't been around enough to enforce any real manners, and she'd taken her entrance into the circus as an opportunity to shirk any pleasant, lady-like ways entirely. Part of her terse nature came from resentment, a desire to rebel against all her parents stood for. Though she could come off as snarky and even bitter at times, at the heart of it all she was just...hurt. She'd never quite gotten past her parents complete disregard for her, and she'd found it easier to shut herself off rather than open up to people who might treat her with the same scorn as her mother and father. Her real pleasure came from performing, not from conversing. When she was high above the crowds, she didn't hear their applause or see their faces. She heard only the rush of wind past her ears and saw only the trapeze she reached for. When you were fifty feet above the ground, nothing else mattered. There wasn't time to care about what people thought. In fact, paying attention to what anyone else was saying or doing was actually dangerous. You had to be completely self reliant. You had to know where to place your hands and how far you'd have to reach for the next bar. The only time another person might matter is if you were working with a partner, but in her short time in Le Cirque d'Ames, Terra had made it perfectly clear that she preferred to work alone.