10. Figuring things out

Summary: The Lion Tamer, Clown, and Acrobat Mizu realize that there are three things to figure out. One of them is how to differentiate the Doll from Miss Fortune. The second is why the Ringmaster messes with potions and things, and the third...what sort of family can the members of the Carnival Mortiferious be seen like, if they can be seen as a family?

Characters: Acrobat Mizu (yes, I have finally given the acrobats actual names...), Lion Tamer, Clown, Ringmaster (mentioned), Doll (mentioned), Miss Fortune (mentioned), Ticket Keeper (mentioned)

Pairings: DollxMiss Fortune (mentioned)

"How in the world do you figure out which one is the Doll and which one is Miss Fortune!?" Mizu groaned as she opened a bottle of root beer with one hand. "I mean, seriously-ever since the Doll joined us, I've had no freaking idea of which one is which!"

She nearly threw the bottle out of her hand in frustration, but the Lion Tamer snatched it from her and drank from the bottle instead. The red-haired Acrobat let out a groan, shaking her head.

"Tamer, that was MY beer!"

"Too bad." The Lion Tamer muttered quietly, taking a sip of the beer before speaking up again. "You are able to identify one from the other, Mizu-you just need to observe carefully. The Doll usually wears more rag doll-like clothing than Miss Fortune, and Miss Fortune always acts so giddy around the Doll, too. I thought that was pretty obvious."

"Me too!" The two turned to see the Clown, miraculously hanging from the ceiling somehow. "Maybe you need to get your eyesight checked, Mizu, because if you're blind to details, you're blind to the world..." He drawled, before leaping onto the floor and landing on his hands perfectly. He flipped backwards, before turning to face them. "Seriously, I'm not kidding."

"I have twenty-twenty vision, thank you!" Mizu muttered as she grabbed another root beer and opened it up, but the Clown snatched it from her. "Hey!"

"Thank you!" The Clown beamed at her, grinning ear-to-ear. Mizu scowled again, before grabbing a third beer and opening it up. Chugging half the contents of the can down her throat, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand afterwards and let out a sigh.

"Finally..." She muttered quietly.

The Clown seemed to frown slightly after taking a sip of his beer. "I wonder if the Ringmaster ever tampers with anybody's food." He murmured. "Why does she even messes with potions and things like that, hm? What good would it do for a Ringmaster like herself?"

The Lion Tamer leaned back in a chair, and put his empty can of beer down before speaking up. "I honestly think it's for the fun of it-add a little spice into her life, you know? It can be tedious to do all that paperwork and trying to keep us in line, after all."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Mizu paused, before speaking up again. "I honestly think she does all that stuff because she likes messing with us. Remember the one time she got the Doll, Fortuneteller and Magician intoxicated with some sort of weird potion? That was scary..."

The other two cringed a bit at the memory. "I really don't want to remember it." The afro-tamer muttered quietly. The Clown and Mizu just nodded in agreement.

There was an awkward silence that rested with the three carnies for a moment, before the Lion Tamer sent it flying away when he spoke up again.

"What sort of people are we in this carnival?"

"What?" Mizu asked, having just finished her beer. "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." He paused for a moment before speaking up again. "I've heard a lot of visitors say that the members of the Carnival Mortiferious are like family, but what sort of family are we?"

"Obviously, none of us are biologically related to each other unless you count my sisters and I, as well as the Ticket Keeper and Miss Fortune." The red-haired acrobat let out a sigh. "Honestly, I think we're a really twisted family. I mean, what sort of family goes around creeping people out in the guise of carnies, and sometimes kills people-"

"Shush. We rarely kill people." The Clown corrected her, putting a hand over her mouth. "The last time we killed someone was, well-"

Mizu pushed his hand off her mouth before blurting out, "A couple weeks ago, because of the Knife Thrower! He's killed a lot of people, you know!"

"Don't forget Miss Fortune decapitating and dismembering those few police officers." The Clown retorted, letting out a sigh. "I think all of us have killed people at least once each. Mostly police officers-we are all insane, after all. You, Doll and Tsuki are the only ones who haven't killed anyone yet."

"Well, I really don't want to get my hands dirty with someone else's blood, so there." Mizu muttered, crossing her arms. "I get why with the police officers, but what about the others?"

"They probably would have told them about where we were headed. We can't let that happen, kiddo." The Lion Tamer told her. "If they get their hands on us, it's the end for us."

Mizu let a smile form on her face, despite the fact that it was a sad one. "Yeah...I know."