A Hot Day at the Carnival

[Peyton]

All she could her was the chattering of people and the screaming of children. She wished everyone would shut up for a moment so she could think straight. Counting money was hard to do when you lost your focus every five seconds. The young red haired and fair skinned woman was flipping through bills and coins, to see if she had the correct amount of money to buy a ticket. She was taking one of her young cousins to the carnival in South City. She didn't really want to go, but her enjoyment didn't matter. She had promised the child to take him in the summer. Month after month her cousin had pestered her about it and reminded her of her damned promise. And now, it was time to fulfill that promise.

Meanwhile her cousin was hopping up and down excitedly. He was eager to get in, and had tried many times to run on in without getting a ticket. But, he had easily been stopped by the firm grip of his cousin.

"Darn it, these lines always take far too long. This heat sucks," The young woman muttered under her breath as she blew some hair out of her face.

Their turn wasn't for quite some time still. The woman was trying to peer over to check the prices again, but her view was being blocked by a taller gentleman. She huffed and gave up, promptly shoving her money back inside her pocket.

[Aaron H]

Oh good lord, everybody is here today. Aaron groaned silently as he crossed 'stand in line for an hour or two off his mental checklist. Next on there was 'feel ignored by best friend' followed promptly by 'roam single through an amusement park and look like a complete and utter loser'. Yup, today Aaron was going to be that asshat. The man who people had to wait in because he had no riding partner. Sure he was 27, sure he was old enough to have kids to bring, but like hell he DID. There was no significant other, no adopted children and HELL, Aaron wondered if he even had distant cousins he might be able to bring. They had planned for WEEKS to go to the amusement park and then his friend just- didn't show up. UGH! Jack would never hear the end of it. Of course, Jack would also never hear ANY of it, since Aaron was likely to just ignore the whole situation again. He tended to avoid confrontation. So there he stood, with money in his wallet and his brown eyes rolling back and forth to watch the crowd.

The man behind him pushed and the wimpy Aaron Hartmen was pushed forward into a young woman and her .. son? Little brother? Like he knew. Aaron stammered quickly. "I I uhh.. sorry." Nothing looked worse than being a complete creepy pedophile and now he looked just like that. Wonderful. His incoherent words were mingled with the strong Cretan accent he held. Now he felt simply ridiculous and shifted back kind of awkwardly. Social events: His worst enemy.

[Peyton]

She felt her backside being bumped into suddenly, causing her to jump a bit in surprise. She turned her head and saw that it was a tall man, probably older then her, who had bumped into her.

"Oh it's okay, don't worry about it," She replied as he stammered out his apology.

She noted his thick accent, so obviously he was a foreigner. He probably had come to see the sights and have fun at that carnival as any foreigner would usually do. She felt a slight tug on her shirt sleeve and looked down.

"Peyton my shoe is untied, can you help me?" her cousin asked in his whiny voice.

She sighed and bent down to tie his shoe. "I thought your mom and dad said you already knew how," She pointed out as she tied the laces tightly together.

[Aaron H]

"Oh it's okay, don't worry about it," Well, for once Karma was being nice to him. He wasn't smacked or scolded or ANYTHING. Although, a nasty eye was given to him by the old man in the next line. Aaron gave a look back, like 'What?'. He hadn't done anything wrong, it was unintentional, but now he was being labeled as a sex offender? The honest irritating people now-a-days. Fixing his hair with one hand, he watched the woman tie her small boy companion tie his shoe then zoned out. The rides were stirring to life. The people were getting giddy and shove-y. Jerks. He remembered being young and anxious. That all died away years ago. Now he sought only ways to preoccupy his vivid mind. Maybe the amusement park could black out what he so desperately had been trying to forget for years and yet. He could still see so clearly the twirl of her dress and the way her shoes shone. Those vivid blue eyes that just stole his breath. Ugh.. he was hopeless.

Whether it was against protocol or not, Aaron puled out a cigarette and lit it. He needed to breathe and sometimes the smoke was all that let his lungs function. Though that wasn't entirely true, sometimes he sure as hell believed it. The nicotine flooded him upon the first breath and continued treating him well until the cloud had escaped him. He coughed in reaction, feeling the seering pain that helped burn the pain away. He could handle this, he didn't need help and he never did need help. Aaron was a solitary man that no one really got to know and those who did often abandoned him. Well, all except Jack. That fucker.

Aaron tapped his ashes onto the ground, then stomped them out, making sure to direct his smoke away from the kid. "You're up next." He mumbled, not long after, to the woman in front of him. A kind smile sat on his face, the 5'o'clock shadow showing. It had been an argument he lost in the morning. The razor was unused or the day, so he looked even more like a bum than usual. To think a few more years and he'd probably hit his midlife crisis. The thought made him cringe, and then he threw his cigarette to the ground and stomped it out.

[Peyton]

"You're up next," She heard in that familiar thick accent. Her ice cold blue eyes darted back to see it was the same foreigner who had bumped into her.

"Oh thanks," She replied with a nod as she stepped forward and presented her money.

She was handed two tickets by the elderly gentleman running the booth and thanked him. Peyton then proceeded to take her excited cousin into the park. The boy was jumping all over the place. Peyton examined the map in her hand, trying to figure out where all the rides were.

"Uh hey which one do you want to go on first?" She asked as she looked down. Her heart stopped as she saw that he was no longer at her side.

She looked around frantically, still not sighting him. How could this have happened so quickly!?

"E-Emil!? Emil!?" She called out, hoping he would come running back to her. But to no avail. She needed help, she couldn't see over the crowds and she didn't know her way around the park.

[Aaron H]

Aaron was up after the woman. The man at the booth gave him an odd one over, before handing his ticket over and grumbling something about adults didn't belong in amusement parks without their kids. Yeah, because Aaron totally looked like the stereo-typical husband that left his kids. A sigh again and he groaned. This was going to be a long day. His eyes closed, his shoulders slumped and once again, his passive stance showed that he had no real need to socialize with the people around him. Unfortunately, his ears picked up the voice of a desperate woman calling for a child. Barely two minutes in the amusement park and she'd already lost her little friend. That was a good sign. Sarcasm at its best in his own mind.

Her voice called a name and Aaron debated for a moment. Should he go out of his way and help the woman or pretend he didn't hear her? Well, too bad his body reacted before he could officially decide on an answer. He hustled to her side and looked left then right. His eyes browsed amongst the people, looking for one in a group of thirty or more. It was frustrating, but without a word, he managed to catch the boy's hand. "WHOA THERE!" Aaron spoke softly in alarm. "It's no good to wander off." Of course he expected another odd look, but slowly he guided him back to his.. sister? Mom? Whoever she was to him. "You should be more careful." Words from the wise.

[Peyton]

Peyton was in such a panic that she did not notice the man come to her aid. She was looking around, calling out his name. She shoved people who blocked her view, but did so lightly as to not cause more upset then was needed. As she began to feel like all hope of finding him was lost, she felt a small chubby hand touch her delicate and feminine one. She looked down and there was her cousin, Emil.

"You should be more careful."

The foreign man from earlier was there once more. She dropped down to Emil's height and hugged him tightly in relief.

"You scared me half to death you trouble maker, Aunty and Uncle told you to stay with me," She scolded softly as she stood once more.

She turned to the foreign man, keeping a tight grip on Emil's hand this time, and looked him up and down. She took in all his strange features, and soon noticed that she had been staring for a bit. Her face flushed with heat from embarrassment and she quickly distracted herself with the other surroundings.

"Uh! Thank you, thank you so much for finding my cousin. Emil here likes to run off quite a bit,"She said quickly as she stuck out her hand.

"My name's Peyton by the way. Ah, although that probably doesn't matter to you. But yeah anyways, thanks.." She slowly started to bring down her hand, feeling like an idiot for holding it out in the first place.

[Aaron H]

"You scared me half to death you trouble maker, Aunty and Uncle told you to stay with me." Oh God, Aaron felt a pang in his stomach. It was cute. He could remember times he was like that around his brother, but.. things happened. It had been a while since Aaron even spoke to him, weeks even. Not that it was entirely his brother's fault, Aaron COULD go and start a conversation, but he just wasn't the type of person to go out of his way. Was it bad? He couldn't be sure. The zoning 'brown' eyes fell back to the woman as she spoke once more. "Uh! Thank you, thank you so much for finding my cousin. Emil here likes to run off quite a bit." AND There it was, a blush. Aaron laughed lightly and shook his head. What the Hell was she thanking him for? Most decent people would do the same thing. Thanking him for being human? That was kind of dumb.

"It's no problem," he replied, quickly. Enough of that topic. He was ready to move onto something more interesting. Unfortunately, Aaron was terrible with that sort of aspect in life. "My name's Peyton by the way. Ah, although that probably doesn't matter to you. But yeah anyways, thanks.."

"Yeah, again, don't mention it. I'm Aaron." He paused a moment, trying to think of what to say next. "Uh.. it might be better if I join you. I mean, if not that's cool. I can see how awkward it would be if some stranger just offered to stalk you all day." AND THERE HE WENT. Aaron had the innate ability of making things incredibly awkward, incredibly quickly. It wasn't meant to be on purpose, he was just THAT socially awkward. His hand moved absentmindedly to ruffle the hair on the back of his neck.

[Peyton]

Peyton chuckled at his stalker remark. He must have been as bored and lonely as she was. The company of a five year old didn't do much, since most of the time he was focused on finding the next ride, hugging the mascot, and playing games. Not much intelligent conversation going on there. The company of an adult couldn't hurt.

Plus she had to admit, he was good looking upon her standards. His accent helped with that too. Foreign guys usually seemed more appealing then local ones for some reason. But, she shouldn't get her hopes up. Not many people wanted to hang around her after they figured out she was missing a leg. Apparently it unnerved them or made them feel awkward. But still, maybe she'd find somebody willing to stick around.

She inwardly sighed. These stupid mental rants always put a bit of a damper on her mood. She had to be upbeat today if she was going to enjoy herself a bit. "Yes attractive man you may hang out with me today," She said to herself inside her head. Of course she'd never say that out loud.

"If you want to, then sure. I could use the company," She answered with a smile, blushing a bit since she had been able to get the nerve to reply. Whenever this happened, although it was very rare, she would make up some excuse and run away. Her social anxiety usually got the best of her.

[Aaron H]

"If you want to, then sure. I could use the company." OH GOOD LORD. She was blushing again. This girl was pretty easily flustered if of ALL people, Aaron was making her blush. He didn't understand it. Somewhere Jack was probably laughing his ass off. Well, though Aaron could understand the laughing reasons, it didn't stop him from getting annoyed. Of course he wasn't mad at her. Passing the thought aside, he debated on what to say to that. The pure concept that someone wanted to spend time with him, was simply news to him. It had been years, since Brielle in fact, that Aaron had 'hung out' with anyone. He felt so old wondering about it, but then again, he didn't bother with the thought. No need to make the situation dire or depressing. If he was going to follow some woman and her strange child-friend around, he might as well do it in a chipper mood.

"Guess that makes the both of us." A flash of his teeth was followed soon after by a soft laughter. He felt rusted, as if he didn't even know HOW to smile anymore. Even fake ones were difficult to muster. Nevertheless he managed SOMEthing and it morphed into a grin for her. "Lead the way." His eyes looked down to the child, before back at his babysitter. Obviously these two weren't siblings or parent and child from the dialogue passed. Aaron was pretty quick to deduct that, which was what he was naturally good at, anyways. Otherwise, being the Blind Man would be something simply laughable (even if the irony was hilarious, though a bit dark).

All around him, he could hear voices. People moved about and gave him shady looks. Judgement, it was everywhere, but screw them. He'd be damned if he let the people ruin his vacation.

[Peyton]

"Haha, alright then. Let's go," She flashed a smile back and started walking to a ride that was suitable for a child Emil's age. She gave the person running the ride a ticket so Emil had admittance to the ride.

"Emil, behave," She gave Emil a warning look as he was strapped into the ride.

"Okaaay!" He called back. Emil was bouncing around in anticipation, excitedly awaiting for the ride to start.

Peyton folded her arms and watched as the kiddy roller coaster started going around the circular track. This is the majority of what Peyton would be doing today, just standing and watching him ride. He wasn't big enough to go on rides that she could go on. They could probably go on the Ferris Wheel together though, so she planned to do that. While her cousin was on the roller coaster, she decided to have a little conversation with the man who had decided to join her.

"So, where you from?" She asked after a few moments of silence.

She idly played with some of her bright red hair that had gotten in her face, waiting for a reply. Hopefully she wouldn't make him uncomfortable and cause him to leave. Then again, she had that effect on people. She had a knack for making people leave...

[Aaron H]

A smile was flashed. At least that gave Aaron the confidence to know he was doing something right. The walk to a nearby ride was silent, him trailing behind in his own awkward manner. Two antisocial people worked together to try and create an atmosphere safe for a small child. This was not going to end well. Aaron had a feeling the whole day would end up awkward, likely. He tried hard enough, but that didn't always work. Again, that was the reason he hibernated in his room and looked up weird stuff after hours of the games he played online with the odd friends he even had. He was addicted to his computer, so the act he had even COME to the amusement park, was a miracle. However, that didn't stop him from sneaking out his cell phone, checking his updates, putting it away, then obsessively checking it again, even though he knew he'd head anything he needed to know. Oh well.

At last, they reached the area where the boy, Emil, hurried into line. The girl stood from a distance and kept an eye out, until he was on the ride, then her eyes were on him. "So, where you from?" Aaron couldn't help but laugh. Was his accent that obvious? he hardly noticed anymore. The correct answer or the technical one? He stood and debated for a good few seconds before words were finally formed.

"Would you believe I'm actually Amestrian?" His voice came strong and proud. It wasn't something to be ashamed of. "However, I am also Cretan. I lived there most of my life. So that's where my accent is from. Though, after visiting, often my Cretan has an accent as well." He shrugged his shoulders then grinned a bit dumbly at her. Peyton, that was her name, played with her hair shyly, which he had to admit was kind of cute. She was shy? That was interesting, since she seemed a more outgoing type. Aaron wasn't at all bothered. Hell he dealt with some of the oddest of people in Creta and in fact he could very well have been one of the weirdest.

Watching the ride go about, for a moment, he checked his phone, before looking kindly back at her. "What about you, where do you hail from?" There was no point in making her stand in awkward silence while she thought of something more to contribute. If he was going to spend the day with them, he might as well make it easier on the both of them and NOT act like a hermit.

[Peyton]

"What about you, where do you hail from?" She heard him ask.

"Oh I'm from East City. Hey if you're from Creta why'd you travel this far to go to an amusement park alone? Were you supposed to meet someone?" She questioned, curious as to why a grown man would come here alone.

Peyton was pretty sure he wasn't a pedophile, or at least she hoped. If he was and tried to touch her cousin, he could say goodbye to the thing that made him a man. She continued twirling her hair while looking at him. She noticed how he was continuously checking his phone. Maybe he was waiting for a call? Or did she really bore him that much?

Peyton looked back over at Emil as he squealed and laughed in delight. He was enjoying the ride clearly. Peyton smiled a bit. Maybe someday she'd have her own children to take to the carnival. Yeah, that'd be nice. Peyton would probably have to adopt though seeing as she wasn't progressing that well on the whole finding a life partner thing. So for now, she believed she'd be a hopeless cat lady.

[Aaron H]

Yeah he felt awkward. Aaron was completely out of place. He REALLY shouldn't have come. His nose twitched and he sighed heavily. It wasn't out of boredom, but sheer awkwardness that he shifted leg to leg before crossing his arms on his chest. Maybe he should have just given up on this whole situation.

"Oh I'm from East City. Hey if you're from Creta why'd you travel this far to go to an amusement park alone? Were you supposed to meet someone?"

]Aaron nodded. "Yeah. A good friend of mine was supposed to come, but like a bitch, didn't show up. He said something about MAKING an amusement park instead. Whatever the hell that meant." His shoulders shrug, but he could feel her judgemental eyes. Paranoia, self loathing. It all snuck up upon him as a snake, slithering in his clothes. Suddenly his heart dropped into his stomach and he turned away. Aaron couldn't take it. The way her eyes peered at her like he was some sort of-of pedophile. Names he was called before. It all hurt, the fear of being alone, the way he seemed so desperate. It was all too much for him. "Look. Sorry I bothered you." His worry for the child he had saved earlier vanished and suddenly, Aaron felt nothing again.

Why did he bother? Why did he even TRY to let anyone near him? All it ever did was hurt him. People only got close or tried to know him, to get and know ways to strike him when weakest. He couldn't take the feeling that grasped at his chest and made it hard to breathe. Dammit, he wouldn't cry. Just because he was so-so unwanted.. so useless. Taking a deep breath, he shook it off and shoved his hands into his coat pockets. "I'm just going to go now. Have a wonderful day and don't lose the kid." That was all he could choke out before he killed his emotions slowly. A knife taken would slice them out of his mind and away he went. He left that amusement park. A break down? In a public place? It wasn't going to happen. He'd sacrificed too much and yet he couldn't tell a soul. It ate at him.

To have secrets to never be told, to know in a way you betrayed the world. It was a torture for anyone. He went home and thus drowned himself in the cool injection of his computer.

[exit]

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