Chapter Text
The crisp, cold wind of an early wind tousled the buttoned-top of your uniform, the white fabric chilling your arms as you hastily made your way down the stairs of your apartment building, and towards the local coffee shop. It had been a rough morning, with sharp breezes slapping loose papers into your face, as if you weren’t tired enough. The streets had been littered with them recently. A circus had come into town, but nothing usual. Instead of bright colors dragging in eager children and tired parents, this was a horror-focused circus. The Freak Circus of Horrors, it was called, the title flapping back and forth in the wind as you took a moment to stare at the advertisement, a white paper with a printed design of a circus tent on front, the title just below it, along with a brief description of what it was.
It was basically just a haunted house… but a circus. In a town such as your own, people were easily intrigued by this, of course, be it either positive, or negative reactions. Well, it seemed that the negative easily outweighed the positive, in this scenario. On a few occasions had you seen a couple performers out advertising the circus and receiving… very audible reviews.
Even today, as you walked by the streets just beside the field where the circus lay, you witnessed one of the actors receiving… less than pleasant treatment. He was oddly dressed as a jester, rather than a clown as one would expect. Red and black clothes with golden bells and lining. His face, a pristine white mask with almost blank features, imperfected by the indent of a scrape on his cheek, where his palm lay, gingerly holding it. Above him, a man, holding one end of a shattered beer bottle, clearly drunk and reeking of alcohol.
Your eyes widened.
Jesus, was that necessary? Humane, even?
Rushing forward, without really thinking, you stepped in front of the jester, frowning tightly at the man.
“What’s wrong with you, dude? Are you crazy?” you exclaimed thoughtlessly, pointing an accusatory finger at his chest, where a gray shirt stained with various substances clung two sizes too small. “He’s just doing his job!”
The drunken man grunted in irritation, but, much to your gratitude, backed away.
“He’s a fuckin’ freak is what he is, that ain’t no human.” he slurred, waving the bottle around vaguely, to which you glared.
“Just lay off and leave him alone!”
The man, looking disgruntled at your defensiveness over a masked stranger, seemed too wasted to care to continue arguing, and trudged away, bottle still in hand as the stench of alcohol followed him elsewhere. Only once he was surely gone did you turn around and greet the figure.
“Hey, sorry about that, folks are just…” you trailed off in shock as the figure moved and then stood, towering tall beside you, jeez, you didn’t see people this tall too often. “...wary. Anyways, he didn’t cut you up too bad, did he?”
The jester-dressed figure blinked, an amber-yellow gaze staring back at you with eyes that really did seem almost inhuman. Must be wearing some crazy contact or something, probably a part of the act. It actually looked kinda cool, despite the uncanny perfection of his mask.
The jester didn’t reply, only tilting his head to the side, the three ends of his hat jingling softly. Maybe he was… mute?
“Well, best to clean up that cut, okay?” you chimed, gesturing quietly as you slowly walked away.
He simply… looked after you as you began to hurry back towards the cafe. You were going to be a little late, shoot. At least your boss wasn’t here to scold you, maybe your coworker wouldn’t tell.
The familiar ding of the cafe’s door bell knocked you from your deep thought, warmth from the heated building easing the former bite of the chilly outside. Tossing the flyer, you moved into the room labeled: ‘Employees only’, instinctively towards your locker to stuff away your phone and keys and wallet, before pulling out your apron, a warm brown garment fitting the theme of the coffee shop, sharing similar shades of tawny colors, smelling faintly of coffee.
“You’re here a little late,” a familiar voice chimed, making you turn to greet a familiar face.
Carol, you recalled, the newest hire at the shop. Though she’d only been here for a couple weeks, you’d grown close quickly, considering you both shared a closing shift together. Smiling, you waved.
“Morning, Carol,” you greeted, tying the apron around your waist before shutting your locker and fully facing her. “I got caught up with helping someone, one of those clowns from that circus in town. Some guy was trying to attack him, I think.”
She shrugged with a hum, then nodded. Her fawn skin and eyes glinted in the warm lighting, a faint aroma of peonies coming from her. She was quite beautiful, almost enviously so, with fair features and a sculpted figure.
“Makes sense,” she replied, walking out of the back, to which you followed, the door lazily swinging closed behind you both. “I was nearly late, actually, got distracted by some guy too”
You hummed, pausing by the espresso machine with a tilted head.
“That so? What did he want?”
Carol paused, almost looking hesitant for a moment. Then, slowly, from her apron’s pocket, pulled out a small, loose piece of paper… no, a ticket. A classic ticket with a circus-tent print and pink outlinings. Huh, she got a ticket for that circus?
“He… really wanted me to have this ticket. I kept saying no but he wouldn’t leave me alone so I- I just took it,” she sighed, a light frown creasing the space between her brow.
You silently observed her expression, the strange sort of dread that clouded her usually softened eyes. Was she… scared of clowns or something? Concern painted your own features, and you hesitantly reached out, pausing just a touch away from her arm.
“Do you… not wanna go? I can take it for you if you want-”
“No.”
You flinched at the sudden sharpness in her voice, hand recoiling from her arm. Why the insistence? She looked frightened of even coming close to the circus just a second before, were you reading it wrong? You nearly questioned it, but the chiming of the door bell and the happy chatter of a customer drew your attention away.
You lingered for a moment, before hesitantly, slowly going to go serve the customer. This oozed by for the entire shift, time a slow and agonizing thing of Carol now pointedly avoiding you with a haunted expression, like that ticket was weighing her down for the entire shift. You could only watch as you walked out coffees and pastries for the next set of hours. The sun lazily sank over the town’s horizon, bleeding out a citrus-colored sky, briefly shadowed by the towering tents of the horror circus. As your shift came to an end, your tasks eased. Customers slowed, and you focused on cleaning dishes, water wetting your skin idly as you stared out the window, gaze trained on the vague shape of colored tents in the distance.
“I think I’m gonna go there tonight.”
Carol’s sudden words after hours of silence startled you, causing you to slip and drop a plate, the dish clattering in the metal sink, painfully loud in the quiet atmosphere. Quickly picking it up, you rinsed off the soap and turned to face her.
“Tonight? Alone?” you questioned, blinking owlishly at her.
But she didn’t look at you, instead staring where you once were, right at the circus. Something was… off, about her, still. You frowned tensely, setting aside the plate to dry, approaching her more boldly and placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Look, maybe I’m just being paranoid but… maybe you shouldn’t? I’ll buy a ticket and we can… I dunno, go tomorrow together?” you offered, gesturing lightly with your free hand, looking off towards the circus as well.
“I- I guess I’m just nervous about… you.”
You turned, staring slowly at her. Her expression had changed, even more blank than before. Her features were limp, no effort in a face of emotion, it was like a plain canvas, but a lot more chilling, like a dead mind in a barely moving body. And her eyes, brown… wait, no, not brown. Were they.. Pur-
“I’m going to go now,” she stiffly announced, voice just as dead as her features as she suddenly walked forward, carelessly shrugging your hand off and stepping out, reaching for the door.
“Wh-” you faltered, voice raising and startling customers as you walked out from the counter, chasing for a moment. “What do you mean? Carol, you’re still on shift!”
But your protests met deafened ears as Carol silently left, the only sound indicating she was there at all being the ding of the bell, a once warm sound now ghastly in such a situation. A few customers stared, and you stood stilled for a moment, watching as she trudged like a zombie down the street, head down.
You had only known Carol for a couple days, but you’d worked full shifts with her and she… never acted like this. You were frozen where you stood, the sound of the espresso machine a mere buzz in the back of your mind as you watched her vanish into the evening. What was even going on?
You weren’t really open to go chase after her, still stuck with a shift till closing which was in two hours. All you could do was stand there, wondering what the hell just happened.
…
“Was there any struggle?”
The dull smell of rotten citrus filled the dark tent as soft footsteps followed the violet presence that appeared behind Bil. Both of them were looking down at the human woman, a dull, glazed look to her features. Her eyes, once a light umber now a vibrant purple that belonged to none but Jester. He knew it wasn’t actually him in that human body, but it was still odd to be looked at by the same person from opposite angles at times.
“Not much,” Bil answered, rubbing his gloved hands together, the fabric warm against his clawed hands from where they were neatly folded behind his back. “Though… I do believe there was a witness.”
Jester slowly padded into the light, the bells on the tips of his boots jingling softly, purposefully. He looked slowly down at the hypnotized human, Carol was her name, Bil recalled.
Black gloved hands reached forward, Jester delicately cupping the human’s face, lifting it for him to inspect her eyes, the other hand reaching forward to gently press his index claw and thumb to pry her eye apart. Her pupil’s color strengthened as Jester stared into it, his own eyes growing with that swirling, mind twisting violet, the human limp under his touch, like a slumped over puppet.
Bil watched silently, letting Jester read her for a long moment.
“Well?” he prompted after a minute, head tilting imperceptively.
Jester dropped his hands, letting Carol slump forward, now unconscious and breathing slowly, shallow, but alive. That was all that mattered. It wouldn’t be long till she’d be alongside the other Fools.
“There was a witness, unfortunately,” Jester hummed slowly, his head tilting as well, the four bells on the end of his liripipes jingling gently. “Though it’s no cause for concern, focus on getting her with the rest of the Fools before someone sees her face.”
Bil faltered at that, turning to fully look at Jester now, a frown etching his half-masked features, blue eye pinned onto his expression as though searching for something amongst the unreadable features of his mask.
“You want to let them go?” he questioned, puzzled. “My friend, with so many negative reviews already, surely we don’t-”
“I said to leave it.”
Silence cut through the tent, only barely disturbed by the hoarse, and frankly pathetic breathing of their newest Fool at their feet. Bil stared quietly at Jester, who looked back with a strange intensity he hadn’t seen in… well, years. Jester seemed to catch onto his skepticism, crossing his arms slowly over his chest.
“I don’t want to draw too much attention.” he finally announced, turning to leave the tent, brushing past Bil silently.
“That human won’t be an issue.”