There's no line up to the vendor. The small food truck stood to the side in a quieter part of the carnival, the shouts and laughs were a little quieter here and the music that always played seemed to be in the background. As the trio approaches Loui’s eyes scan the menu looking over the pictures of caramel apples, corndogs, cotton candy, and funnel cake, trying to decide what she wanted.

“Well hello there!” A cheery voice calls as they draw near.

When Loui looks to the person calling to them, she sees a young woman with deer ears and brown skin waving from the window of the food truck. There’s a bright smile on her face and Loui can see small fangs where her canines should be.

“Feeling hungry for some carnival foods?” Her voice is friendly and inviting.

All three of them nod.

“Well then, what can I get for you guys?”

Lou, James, and Francisca look at each other for a moment before James steps up first, “Can I get a caramel apple?”

The vendor nods, reaching to grab an apple, “Any sprinkles, chocolate chips, nuts?”

“Um, nuts please.”

The vendor nods again before dipping the apple into the caramel. She pulls it out after a moment then rolls it in nuts. Once its suitably coated she hands it over with a smile, “That’ll be $8.”

James nods as he takes it, handing the money over. Once he paid, he steps to the side allowing Francisca to step up, “I’ll take a pink cotton candy.”

The vendor hands over the cotton candy and Francisca hands over some cash. Then Loui stepped up, “I’ll take a corndog please.” In the same fashion the vendor hands over the food and Loui pays and thanks her.

“Come again!” The vendor smiles and waves as the trio turn to head out.

Loui waves back.

“So where should we sit?” Francisca holds her cotton candy in one hand as they walk.

“Somewhere a bit quieter.” James decides, “The lights are starting to hurt my eyes a bit.”

Both Francisca and Loui nod in agreement as they start heading towards a dimmer section of the carnival. They found themselves in a more secluded spot after a minute or two, with only a few tents around them they were able to relax. Together they sit down on the ground in a semi-circle to enjoy their food.

“Man, I haven’t eaten carnival food in ages.” James comments as he looks at his caramel apple. Loui could picture his mouth watering under his costume.

Loui can’t help smiling, a little teasing, “You act like you haven’t had a caramel apple in years.”

“Not one from a Carnival.” James retorts.

Francisca rolls her eyes, smiling fondly, “Eat your food you two.” She lightly reprimands.

“Yeah, yeah.” Loui takes off her pumpkin head, placing it beside her as she brings the corndog up to her lips. She takes a bite and chews a bit before pausing, looking down at the corndog in confusion. She chews a bit more, slowly this time before swallowing.

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“Something the matter?” James asks as he takes off his sheet.

“It tastes a little funny...” Loui takes another bite, eating slowly trying to place the taste.

“Funny how?” Francisca asks as she eats her cotton candy.

“It tastes kinda like pork almost.”

“Pork?”

“Yeah, but a tad more... bitter almost.” She takes another bite, “It's pretty good.”

“Maybe they use a different kind of meat for the corndogs here.” James shrugs as he bites into the caramel apple, “Oh--” The caramel on the apple cracks some falling off a bit. “Oh dang.” He catches a few caramel pieces in his hand, the hard shards shimmering a brown-red color in the light.

“Good apple?” Loui asks with a quirk of her brow as she munches on her food.

James nods, “A little sour, a little coppery kind of, but its good.” he takes another bite. “Not what I expected.”

Loui and Francisca nod as they eat their own food.

“Maybe that just because we haven't had carnival food in so long?” Loui suggests/

“Or maybe they use road kill in their food.” Francisca jokes.

“’Cisca, no, ew.” Loui scrunches up her nose in disgust.

“Yeah, we’re trying to eat here.” James adds on, amusement in his eyes.

Francisca laughs and together they all relax away from the crowds. Though as Loui was about to take another bite of her food she pauses, feeling something like eyes on her back. She looks up. Her eyes meet a small figure’s. It was peeking out from behind a nearby tent. She couldn’t see much detail, but what she could make out was that one, that it was small, maybe a foot tall. Two, it had small little horns atop its head and three, it had a thin spiked tail that stood on end behind it.

She pauses the last of her corndog a few inches aways from her mouth as she watches the small figure. And the figure watches her back in turn. They hold eye contact for a long moment.

“Loui?” James calls, snapping her attention away from what she was staring at as she glances his way.

“Yeah?”

“You doing good?”

Loui looked back to the tent where she saw the figure peeking out of, only to find it gone. She blinks, once, twice, and then shakes her head, “Yeah, yeah I’m good thought I saw someone looking at us.” She finishes off her corndog.

James and Francisca look to where she had been looking.

“Where?” Francisca squints, eyes scanning the tents before them.

“It was over there.” Loui points to where she had seen it.

Both James and Francisca lean forwards to get a better look. They shake their heads after a moment, “Yeah, I don’t see anything.”

Loui nods, “I'm guessing its already gone.”

James shrugs as he continues eating his apple. “Probably nothing to worry about, maybe it was just a curious kid or something.”

Francisca nods, “Anyways, what do you guys wanna do after this?” She leans back, placing her hands on the ground behind her.

“We could play some games?” James suggests through bites of his apple.

“Yeah,” Loui’s eyes light up, “I haven’t played carnival games since I was a little kid.”

“Oh yeah?” Francisca raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah, my family used to go to the fair every year in our town. It wasn’t anything like this, but it did have a bunch of silly games for us to play.” Loui explains, “My favorite used to be the balloon game, you know when you’d throw a dart to pop a balloon and there'd be a little tag behind it telling you what you won?”

“Oooh!” Francisca sits up snapping her fingers, “Yeah I know the one, mine was always the little water gun ones where you’d shoot a stream of water at the target ya know?”

“Yeah, I know what you're talking about.” James nods, “I was always a sucker for the ring games. Can’t say I ever won anything, but they were my favorite.” He finishes off his caramel apple and leans back.

“I never liked that one.” Francisca shakes her head, “I never had good coordination so that might have been the reason.”

“I also sucked at that game.” Loui raises her hand a little as she pipes up.

“I don't think anyone was actually good at that game.” James reasons, “It was rigged, let's be honest.”

Both girls nod in assent.

“Welp, do you guys wanna go blow the rest of our cash on rigged carnival games?” Loui asks as she rolls her pumpkin head over and places it atop her head.

“Yeah!” Both James and Francisca grin as they get up, James placing his costume over his head again once he was on his feet.

They all get to their feet and start heading back into the main area of the carnival towards the games and tents before the rides. They reenter the crowd, the ever-present music growing a bit louder.