Chapter Text
With a small sigh, Carol walked into the cafe, tired as ever and still a bit annoyed at the arguments in her family home that always involved her and never seemed to end. The most recent addition to these was a complaint from her father about her lack of a love life, of all things. Something about settling down and finally moving out of the house. The exact details were hard to remember as this was the third or fourth time one of her parents had brought up something like this among their many gripes over their adult daughter living her life under their roof.
Why take college part-time when you can finish your degree quicker doing another few classes?
Why are you still working at that damn cafe when all you do is come home with burns all over your hands and a sore back you won't stop complaining about?
Why can't you just find a nice young man to settle down with so we can finally have some grandchildren running around? We aren't getting any younger.
Ugh. And they wondered why she barely spoke to them about her daily life.
Carol came in 20 minutes before opening, like always, which was plenty of time to tie her apron on and continue to mope about before her boss arrived. She'd just finished with the knot and started wiping tables when she noticed a piece of paper stuck to her shoe, creased and slightly dirty like it had been there for a while. Wrinkling her nose in mild disgust, she pulled the page off of her shoe, stifled a gag when she realized it was stuck there because it was also damp, and barely glanced at the words written on it before depositing it in the trash and rushing to wash her hands.
The Freak Circus of Horrors.
Those tents being pitched just the day before were meant for a circus, huh? She hadn't heard anything about them before today, though she had noticed a young man in a pink clown outfit handing out the flyers on her walk. It had been a rather unusual costume, too, with an almost eerie mask to boot, but she supposed that was meant to get along with the horror theme.
She didn't spare the circus any more thought after she'd dried her hands. Opening time was fast approaching, and college and the small rent her parents charged her for her room wouldn't pay itself. Her customer service face would need to be on point to secure a sufficient number of tips, and the last thing she needed was thoughts of a smiling circus mask and the slow, almost lazy movements and speech of the one wearing it as it offered flyers to passersby to distract her.
—
The Ticket Taker has had a very long week.
Complications at the circus’s last location were seemingly never-ending, and despite Jester’s help in managing them, most of the work ended up falling to Bil. Rain pouring over nearly half the week ruined ticket sales, practically no one showed up when it settled, and they amassed a grand total of one Fool at the end of all their hassle. Besides, moving cities always became an ordeal for one reason or another. Never mind the fact that everyone had to eat somehow, and even that one fool drew enough suspicion to make them avoid their most nutrient food source for the entirety of that stop. His only consolation is that he doesn’t need to learn the local language in this new city. At least he can walk around town and secure a coffee without much effort.
As he wanders the town in search of a coffee shop, he notices a young woman walking down the street not too far in front of him. From where he stood behind her, she seemed rather unremarkable: deep brown skin, similarly dark hair, and relatively casual clothes. What makes her stand out to Ticket Taker is the finer details of her demeanor. She wove through the early morning crowd with ease, never quite brushing against the shoulders of those she passed by. Her gait was light, and the brief glimpses of her face in the reflections of store windows and as she turned to slip between the gaps of the crowd revealed an expression of politeness that seemed to be frozen to her face. He’d been around people, and worn the same expression himself for long enough to know that it wasn’t genuine.
It didn’t hurt that she wasn’t hard to look at either.
Ticket Taker resolved to follow her to her destination. From what he could tell while the circus members were just driving into the town, this street wouldn’t go on for much longer, and she seemed to be slowing her pace down anyway, as if she’d almost arrived. Sure enough, barely a minute passed before she took out a set of keys and quickly sorted through them before pushing one into a door and stepping inside a building. He looked up at the sign hanging above the door and couldn’t help the huff of amusement that escaped him.
A cafe. How perfect.
Scanning the front door, he noticed the cafe was still nearly half an hour from opening for the day. However, since he’d already arrived at his destination, Ticket Taker decided it wouldn’t hurt to watch the young woman work. He watched her tie an apron to her waist and move to grab a wash cloth to wipe down the countertop before grimacing and peeling a piece of paper from the bottom of her shoe. How had she managed such swift movements while walking in a crowd with it? She’d moved so fluently that he hadn’t even noticed.
Interesting. Very interesting. Perhaps his fortune was already improving. Perhaps his morning coffee could wait an hour or two more.
—
Several hours had passed at this point, and thankfully, it was nearing time for Carol's break. Less than half an hour before she could hand off drink-making and order-taking to her boss and fairly new coworker. She almost felt bad for the two of them considering the apparent influx of customers. A cafe being busy wasn't unusual, of course, but she could feel her smile start to twitch whenever she turned away from its patrons to begin brewing, mixing, and pouring their drinks.
The bell over the cafe's door rang out just as she wiped up a small spill near the espresso machine, and she allowed herself one quiet curse before she turned to face the customer. Her practiced smile appeared once more as she took in the customer -- short, black hair, a sharp blue suit, an almost unsettling pair of eyes, and his own slightly unnerving smile -- before speaking her generic cashier line.
"Good afternoon, Sir. What can I get you today?"