When Ester's voice whispered into his mind, Mark ducked his head slightly, as if her words were so secret that he couldn't even stand straight to hear them. He liked the voice in his mind, it wasn't offsetting at all to him. Perhaps it was because he was a psychic too, but it felt a natural way to communicate, and he wished he could speak back that way. He smiled gratefully at her. Tagging with her would be less stressful than struggling to remember his own act, especially in his current rather delicate state.
As they moved over to the performance tent, the wooden boards in his arms became more of a shield. He hated moving through groups of people. It was times like these when he wished he was more like Ezekiel or Happy with a visual warning to keep people away from him. He was just a normal looking human on the outside, even though there was a bit of a mad look to his unkempt visage. His scruffiness did little to keep people away in this place.
He had to detour more than once, his lanky form moving swiftly to try and keep up with Ester. His eyes were wide, as they always were when he had to navigate crowds, and quite honestly he looked about ready to cry with nervousness. His fingers were completely white as he clutched the board, and they grew whiter every time someone unwittingly stepped inside his comfort zone. He wanted to run screaming and catch up to Ester, pass her and then hide in the tent in a dark corner and just close his eyes and calm down. He could feel the seams of his self-control unthreading, not an unusual happenstance to feel his tolerance rip at the seams.
He could see Ester disappear into the tent, and he ran the last couple meters to the safety of the shelter. His jaw was trembling in an almost constant convulsion by the time he made it. Merely walking through crowds was one of the most trying parts of his day. He was thoughtless enough to make it through many of the other aspects. Each breath was shaky and heavy as he made pace to Ester, his mouth still wobbling. He snuffled quietly as he looked at her. Then past her at Ezikiel. A lass was staring at him. Ohh, he wouldn't be happy with that. Sure enough, a few seconds later Mark watched the mutant leap backwards within the confines of his cage before recomposing himself. Mark stared for another second, wondering how things would turn out before realizing that he needed to catch up with Ester again.
Feeling much lighter, Mark bounced through the tent flap to the performance tent, almost completely forgetting the terrible ordeal he'd just been through yet again. He spotted Happy doing her act with the snakes and all that, then his eyes flicked back and found Ester. relived, he hurried to stand near her, as close as he could comfortably approach.
"What's the plan, Doll?" He asked, his eyes still looking a bit tear filled, but a grin on his trembling face.