Thread: Step Right Up! (Misanthropiclove & PadanFain)

The night air was filled with the cacophony of voices and music warring for dominance in the ears of those who populated the carnival grounds. Laughter, the calls of the mike-men and the gasps and sighs of wonder from the crowds competed with the music from the rides and the crash and clang of the games on the Midway. Bodies pressed close together as patrons wandered from sight to sight, the bright lights of the attractions making it seem as day among the tents and stands. Everything demanded attention, from those at the concessions to the show masters calling in audiences, the people's eyes bright and shifting from one thing to the next in a daze of awed delight. Unnoticed, a woman stood off to the sides in the alley between two tents, smoking a cigarette and watching the river of people flow by, seemingly unmoved by the jubilation that overwhelmed them all. Blond feathered, shoulder length hair moved in the warm summer breeze that swept by, the stream of smoke curling around her head like a crown as she took a drag, her eyes leaving the crowd briefly as the glorious tainted mist filled her lungs. Tossing the bud down to the flattened grass, she stepped on it and moved out from the shadows, blending into the stream of people and yet completely set apart from them. Wearing a patterned silk shirt, flowy and with buttoned cuffs, and a dark skirt seemingly wrinkled yet purposefully so, she moved with a fluid grace, wading in the tide of flesh like a majestic swan floating on a pond. A dozen bracelets hung around both wrists, heavy and gaudy, jangling as she walked, the rings on her fingers catching the lights as her arms swayed with her leisurely saunter. Overall, she looked like a walking thrift store and although not terribly aged, there was an ancient air about her, a depth to her features that went beyond the mere numbers her body and face portrayed. As she passed by a vendor for a stacked bottle target game, she nodded at a man in the crowd who was approaching with children in tow. The vendor who was a thin, bleach blond, dark eyed man, nodded discreetly back and called out to the Mark she'd indicated. The man with the family was instantly hooked and reeled in by the vendor's spiel and the pestering of the two children with him for one of the cheap plushes on the back wall of the booth got the man to bring out his fat, overstuffed wallet. The woman smiled and moved on, her gaze sweeping over the other booths she passed and over those in the crowd, her dark, bright eyes not missing a thing. Then she walked into the area of tents with shows and attractions, the mike-men calling out to the gathered crowds, drawing them in for the performances inside. Unhindered, she walked into one side of the long tent, bowing her head as the burly man in the doorway lifted the flap for her. Weaving through the crowd of on-lookers she went from tent to tent, stopping briefly to watch the performances. For one such performance she stopped and stood in the back of the crowd, her eyes fixated on the man standing on the small platform. Reese held the fan of knives with blades pinched between the fingers of both hands, eyes blindfolded with a red scarf. Several feet in front of him within view of the audience, a scantily clad woman stood in front of a large wall with a ringed target on it. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her cleavage supple and inviting in the tight bodice she wore and sweat glistened on her face, neck, arms and belly. A look of nervous fear was on her face as she eyed the sightless man with the knives and the crowd stirred with the palpable tension. His chest bare except for a worn leather vest and dark pants, Reese sweated as well under the heat of the bright lights shining all around him. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he raised the knives deliberately and drew his hands back. The crowd held it's breath as the woman tensed, her eyes wide. And at the last moment, just as planned, an anonymous voice yelled from the crowd, Hey, Reese! at the split second the knives were leaving his hands. The man on stage turned towards the voice, even as the blades whizzed into the air and the crowd gasped as the woman squealed a startled yelp. The hollow sound of metal striking into wood went unheard as applause rose up from those who were watching, the blades wedged into the wall in an outline around the young woman's body. Removing the blindfold, Reese drank in the applause, feeding on it, smiling as the woman stepped from the wall unharmed and smiling for the crowd, without a trace of her earlier nervousness. Give a nice round of applause for Reese, The Knife Thrower, and his lovely assistant, Miss Rajita! the announcer standing off to the side said in his loud voice. That having been the last part of the act for this performance, the two held hands and bowed for the crowd. Then they were walking off stage and the crowd was making it's way out of the tent, back out into the night to view more sights and wonders, murmuring amongst each other about the act they'd just witnessed. As he followed the young woman off stage, Reese felt the eyes on him and glanced to the back of the tent where the older woman had been standing, but when his gaze came to rest there, she was already gone.