Happy Noko
Torture Circus-Staff Tent
Happy sighed ever so slightly as she sat on the bench, bare toes resting gently on the dusty ground. Earlier, she had located a sliver of a ray of sun, just barely large enough to shine on her face and parts of her long, slender neck, and she had sat quite still for the past fifteen or so minutes, basking in its warmth, adjusting herself accordingly with the passage of time. Her eyes were closed, one of her two scars quite prominently displayed across her eyelid, and she had the outward appearance of sleep. This was quite untrue, however, as Happy was very much awake, alert, and attentive to everything around her.
Even if she had wanted to sleep, the activity around her would have made that impossible. There were far too many people, all talking loudly. Humans. Small ones, large ones, thin ones, fat ones. Men and women. Children. Old folk. Someone promised his son a balloon and cotton candy and cracker jacks and all sorts of goodies if he would only stop crying! He was lying, of course, but the child didn't know that, and he immediately shushed after such bribes. Another man, younger, teasingly asked what Happy assumed was his female companion if she was frightened already. No was the young woman's reply, but that too was a lie. Another woman demanded to know if a certain someone had touched her. Predictably, no was the reply. Predictably, he was lying.
The ray suddenly vanished, and Happy frowned. Must have been a cloud. She remembered the first time she had felt the sun suddenly disappear. It was too early to be night, and she had cried that someone had stolen it. The monks called her stupid and explained that it was only a cloud before hitting her on the head with a broomstick, yelling at her to not make a fuss about something so trivial.
As she waited for the cloud to pass by, she adjusted her costume, a thread of worry running through her. It was the skintight one-piece, a turtlenecked leotard-like outfit without sleeves or hose and a liberal dip in the back to display her scales. Nearly indecent, so she had heard from the other circus folk and audience members alike. In the winter times it was a miracle she didn't catch her death because of it. She wasn't a fan of the tightness of the outfit, but what she was most anxious about was the possibility of her snake-charming, as this was the costume she tended to do it in. Not that the costume was only for snake-charming--she had done plenty of other acts in it--but it was the only outfit for that particular act. Whenever she was told to wear it, she would always be on edge until she heard what act she would be performing. Today was no different.
She shuddered invisibly at the thought of snakes. Despite her mutation, she absolutely hated the reptiles. Cold, scaly, slithering things. It was difficult to tell where they were, especially during the winter, since they had so little body heat. They were unpredictable, and uncontrollable, despite her act. They didn't care what she looked like, how she treated them, or anything like that. They did what they wanted, whenever they wanted, and could turn on you in an instant. You couldn't trust them, and that was why she feared them so. They were far too similar to herself.
She felt familiar footsteps grow near her. A flick of the tongue confirmed that it was none other than Mr. Torture himself.
"Afternoon, beautiful," The man greeted patronizingly. No surprise that he was lying. Happy smiled in response, though internally she was anything but flattered. She knew that because of her after-hours business, he couldn't lay a hand on her without jeopardizing one of his biggest money-makers. She had more free reign than most of the other acts because of this. But this was both a blessing and a curse. She always had to stay on her tip-toes, and knowing when not to push your limits was difficult, as they changed every day. The best bet was to just suck up. That had been her strategy from day one, and it had worked so far. She didn't plan on deviating from it anytime soon.
"What a crowd! Lots of people to impress! Got a big show today!" Happy didn't like the way his voice was sounding. Too upbeat. Too suspicious. She kept her smile plastered on though, and nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! As usual, I'm happy to do my best!" she stated, laying on the accent thick. She had noticed that people didn't like it when those different from them sounded intelligent. It put them on edge. Sounding stupid and helpless gave them a sense of power. It was sickening at times, but Happy knew how to use it to her advantage.
"That's what I like to hear," Mr. Torture said, "So I'm sure the snake act will be no problem. Folks love that one."
Damn. Happy forced the smile to stay on as Mr. Torture left. Bastard. He knew she hated the snakes. Everyone knew. It was one of the few facts about her that she had revealed, unintentional as it was. She was only eleven after all when they tried to force the act on her. The mask she wore now hadn't fit perfectly those many years ago.
Reluctantly, she moved from her spot and walked towards the performance tent, a knot building in her stomach. The sun was comforting and hot, but it did little to qualm her growing nervousness. Inside, she could hear the snakes--two of them!--hissing in displeasure to everyone around them. Happy hissed back at one, and smirked a bit when the snake recoiled.