Snippet #2172045

The circus schedule and even the less than pleasant performances had become routine. Sickeningly routine - carried out with the enthusiasm of an automaton. Hell, that was probably something they could add to his reputation: emotionless. Samael wasn't, but he could easily be mistaken for such. He went through his acts like a trained dog going through the same tricks all its life. Obedient and passive as ever... but with no effort to hide the utter boredom coating his pale features. Or perhaps it could only be described as boredom for lack of any other visible emotion there.

Floating underwater in a tank was pretty easy, in itself. Sometimes Samael even found he almost enjoyed it, since it was a half an hour of peace and relative solitude - at least, it felt like solitude when water and glass kept him from everyone else. The water made the noise of the watching crowds just a murmur as if in the back of his mind, and whenever he opened his eyes, their faces were blurred, which was fine by him. He didn't like meeting people's eyes. They gave him all manner of funny looks when he did. He didn't like funny looks... or being looked at at all. But submerged in the tank, he could float effortlessly, shut his eyes, and just about fall asleep if it was quieter. It was being pulled out of the tank, when his legs were reunited with solid ground and his skin met the open air, that was the unpleasant part.

Outside the tank, circus patrons stepped close to the glass to peer in at him occasionally, but mostly milled around the rest of the tent. Samael's was not the only tank here - a couple of others, somewhat larger ones, displayed an aquatic mutant and a bizarre fish, neither of which looked much happier than him. With scales and fins and bright colors, they drew the eyes of the crowd for longer, though many patrons would turn to check on Samael periodically. After all, he appeared perfectly human compared to the other two on display - and most significantly, he was tethered to the bottom of his tank, unable to swim up for air as the other mutant did from time to time, and was even displayed shirtless so patrons could see his torso and throat were bare of gills. The fishier mutant didn't have gills, but considering the rest of her it certainly seemed a possibility.

The youth's bare top exposed a distinctly underweight frame - though not yet a skeleton, many bones could be made out beneath the pale flesh. A few faded scars crossed his back, and yet more lay concealed by bandages that floated about his arms. The cloth was dirtied and bloodied... but by the time his breath-holding act had rolled around, Samael's wounds from the morning coffin act had mostly healed, or at the least scabbed over.

Dark eyes flickered open to stare emptily out one side of the tank, causing some onlookers to jump slightly. While his eyes were shut, Samael could have been unconscious or already drowned for all anyone knew.... except for those brief signs of life that continued throughout the half an hour he was submerged. He was an eerie sight floating so serenely underwater. His fair skin and white hair almost gave off a glow in the dim lighting of his tank, giving him a ghostly, ethereal appearance, and his unnervingly hollow gaze only added to the look.