Snippet #2192717

Jack was strung along by the two girls, following wherever they went. He didn't mind it at all. There was just as much fun in watching their reactions and excitement as it was to see with his own two eyes. If not more so. Anything that they suggested he would simply smile and nod in approval. And if they stopped at an area that lasted a bit longer than he had liked he would find himself sizing up purses and the sized of the wallet-shaped bulges in unguarded pockets. It wasn't like he could turn off the part of him that always looked for money earning opportunities. The only saving grace was that he would be pulled away to another area before he could slink two fingers into an open pocket or purse.

He would wait until they were near a food stand so that once they realized that he had slipped away he was already back holding up candied apples. One of the few things that could possibly make him forget about bad habits. It was so rare for him to be able to find them that he would end up spending more than anyone should if they only remembered how bad of a stomach ache they would get if they ate that many. The first two that he had in one hand he offered to Evie and Ava leaving the third one all to himself. His mouth watered when he smelled the caramel and candy coated apple.

Before long they found themselves in a tent full of mutants put on display for people. What interested him more was how differently people reacted to them. He himself found it to be somewhat of a challenge for his own eyes to digest. It would have been a lie if he said that he didn't show interest in how odd or almost completely normal they looked. But there must have been a part of himself that was projected into them that really made it difficult to keep his gaze on them. Despite thinking to himself that maybe most if all of it was fake until he saw a pair of wings move and stretch without the use of wires or a bunch of chicken feathers glued together to make it look like the person was part bird. They moved too naturally, eerily real, and that unnerved him. He only briefly made eye contact Ezekiel. His eyes were just as emotionless as a birds. Jack turned his eyes away and at that point he wanted to leave the tent. It was strange that Ava wanted to stay behind to look at the bird boy but he wasn't going to object. There was no danger with separating from the group and she also knew where he and Evie were headed to next anyways.

He again let himself get pulled away to the next event where they found seats and waited for the show to start. Another mutant that he didn't notice before began to perform on stage. What was different from this one was not just how she looked but how she moved. It was rhythmic and entrancing. Her form almost just as serpentine as the snakes. Not only did she perform well, she did it blind-folded which added another level of tension. However something pulled him away from the act. It wasn't her lack of skill that pulled him out of the feeling of being entertained. The corners of her mouth hinted at something far withdrawn from the show. Enough that he didn't have to look at her eyes to see that she was just as unhappy about what she was doing as the others back in the tent were. 'How bad could it possibly be?' He somewhat answered his own question by immediately thinking back to the people and kids gawking at the ones behind the bars. To perform in front of large crowds blind folded with no real way of telling what those snakes would do next. It would be a recipe for disaster if someone did or threw something to startle those snakes.