Chapter Text
"To you, the Fool who is too much yet will never be enough. We, The Masked Fools, hereby formally invite you to The Tavern. May you be the great punchline you were meant to be."
Life is a joke.
One told too many times.
Despite the many wonders of Ahatopia, it felt dull. A vanity fair for the IPC and all their employees, concerts of famous singers held nearly every night, entertainment was everywhere as far as you could see.
In a world of such joy, Sampo had seen it all. He found life more of drag if anything else. The flashy lights, the easy puzzles and the entertainment left and right.
Nowadays he worked as a business man for an unknown company. Mostly taking calls or calling people to offer them deals. After some rather unfortunate events it was his only option, but it was enough to get by in his small apartment. Besides he was always considered a sweet talker, at least he was doing something he was good at.
What kept him from completely giving up, were his cards. It was a special gift from one of his late friends.
The outside of the cardboard box was long torn, being held together by a lot of tape and memories.
The tricks themselves were nothing fancy, shuffling them in a fascinating ways was his favorite. Then again he was always good at slight of hand.
But life became boring to him. His job was repetitive with no real purpose. He thought of going off planet, maybe find somewhere else to start anew. Perhaps starting over was for the best after everything.
However now he faced another dilemma, as a blank mask was sitting in the inside of his jacket pocket.
The streets of Planarcadia were always busy, Sampo heard people compare it to The Golden Hour on a planet named Penacony.
Penacony sounded like a fun idea on paper, a dream where anything goes! Heh, like he hadn't heard of that one before.
He settled down on a bench at a park away from most of the noise. The park itself wasn't as busy as the main streets, but it was still very lively. Most people here come to see street, or well park, magicians preform. Basically it was free entertainment, even he couldn't deny he sometimes went by to see shows here for himself.
Sampo also couldn't deny that he got an audience as well during his practice with cards when he was in the park. Mostly kids with parents, they found what he did absolutely fascinating. Sometimes he hoped he could get that childlike wonder back.
So as long as it made the kids and their parents happy, who was he to take that away from them.
A sigh escaped his mouth. The mask felt heavy as he pulled it from the inside of his jacket pocket.
Never in a million years was he expecting an invitation to the Tavern when he first saw it. Sure he knew a few tricks, but masked fools material? Him?
He read the invitation attached to the mask over and over again.
An invitation because his life is a joke, ironic.
Years before this he did dirty jobs for the Synwish Syndicate. A ragtag group of teens with nothing left to lose risking their life's for others work. Maybe a bit cliche but it's not like he asked for it.
In the end it cost everyone in that group their lives, not counting Sampo. The people at the Syndicate didn't care, the people of Planarcadia didn't care. That's just the way the world works, he made peace with that fact a long time ago.
That incident happened 5 years ago.
The mask has only shown up on his bed this morning. Why now? He had no clue. He had heard bits and pieces of how the Fools operate, anything could have been fabricated so he never took it for facts.
It conflicted him. The Fools vision did not align with his own views on Elation. Granted he did not follow a path per se but opinions he had.
Everyone had a right to be happy, they should be happy. Fools inflict misery on others for their own entertainment, that's something Sampo just didn't get.
He took a good look at the blank mask. It almost seemed that the hollow eye sockets of the mask were staring into his very soul.
This could be his ticket out. A new life, a fresh start. Free traveling across the universe did not sound so bad at all, what faction doesn't have it? Perhaps along the way he could find a place where he could be him, whoever that would turn out to be. Although perhaps such a place simply doesn't exist.
He frowned at the mask, like he was inspecting the details. Either he could abandon his morals and be a Fool, or continue his now boring life.
He got pulled out of his thoughts by a shift next to him. Turning his head to the side, he saw a woman with white hair and glasses had decided to sit next to him. She carried a strange energy around her that Sampo simply couldn't describe in any other way but odd.
Considering there were a few empty benches he could spot from where he was sitting, it struck him as odd she decided to sit next to him.
On any given day he would've greeted her, if he felt bold he would've asked her why she had decided to sit next to him when there were more open spaces to sit at. He did neither.
"Are you the card preformer? Joker?" She spoke with a hint of curiosity.
Sampo let out a small amusing huff. It's true the kids who watched his card shuffels did call him mister Joker, he never corrected them. Not that he was expecting to actually gain a bit of a name around here.
He turned his gaze back to his hands, his eyes still fixated on the mask. "That would be me." His smile did not reach his eyes. "Although it is not a name I picked myself."
The lady hummed in response.
Okay Sampo was not liking the silence that was building up between them.
He turned his head to face her, slight confusion was visible on his face. "Can I help you with anything or...?"
"Actually yes!" She enthusiastically replied, it caught him off guard. "I want to go see the preformers preform here," She dramatically signed, closing her eyes. "but going alone is so awkward. Would you like to go with me?"
"Are you asking me out?" Sampo leaned back with a smirk. "Sorry to disappoint, but I don't swing that way miss."
"Oh no, no you misunderstand!" The woman shook her head. "I just don't want to go alone. Besides you seem way too miserable to say no." Ouch. Did she have to say that? Rude.
"You got me there, I will take you, free of charge." He said with a smile. The womans eyes lit up with joy as she thanked him.
Sampo put his mask back in the inside of his jacket before realizing he forgot to ask her something. "Ah wait, miss! What is your na-"
However the woman was already ahead of him. She couldn't hear him. Oh well, he would just ask her later.
Their first stop was a man doing coin tricks who was close by the bench they just sat on. He was making the coin 'dissappear' in his hand, making it reappear behind the ear of someone in the crowd, that kind of thing.
Most kids were very entertainment by the same trick again and again, however you could see a few that were just practically begging their parents to leave. This guy obviously never learned any more tricks to show besides this one. Repeating the same thing over and over again was bound to bore everyone eventually.
After 10 minutes or so, the woman rapidly tapped on his shoulder.
"So what do you think?" She whispered. Sampo shrugged nonchalantly. "I just think he could do with more tricks up his sleeve. Sometimes you need to have suprises in store." He whispered back.
The woman just nodded along. "This is so boring!" She said just a little too loud. People turned around in suprise, some of the kids even started laughing. The magician turned red in the face of anger.
Sampo felt his hand being grabbed abruptly, he was already being dragged along before he knew it. "Let's go! To the next one!" The woman cheered.
She sprinted across the park, still holding Sampo's hand and rather firmly if he had to say so himself. She was definitely hiding some muscles under those sleeves cause Aeons above did his hand start to hurt.
They stopped at a small stage with two giant boxes on it. A more larger crowd had gathered here to see whatever was going to happen.
Sampo waved his hand a little to relief the pain. "Give me a heads up next time will you?" He hissed a little, nothing harsh but he was in pain.
"Oh I didn't? Hahaha, sorry! Will do next time." She laughed back.
People around them started clapping. With a little suprise they looked towards the stage, a woman had just made her entrance.
Sampo honestly couldn't care less. He had seen these performances before so many times. So much so, he could even tell you how they worked. They had a mechanism to make it seem like they teleported. Or in a very rare occasion, Elation was being used.
Although not many used Elation for magic tricks, it wasn't frowned upon if that's what you're thinking, it was just not in the typical Elation starter pack for pathstriders. Even experienced pathstriders never used their Elation power for entertainment of others, by that point Elation had basically already made them selfish.
If he could preform magic tricks like the one just now, without the mechanism he knew was there, he might have joined the Masked Fools or Mourning Actors a lot earlier in life. Alas he had his card tricks and no path powers.
The crowd started clapping again and he saw the show had ended. How lost in thought was he? That was fast.
The crowd was dispersing. Some left the park as it was getting late, others went to see the other shows.
The woman was looking at him with a soft but curious expression. "What are you thinking about?"
Sampo turned to look back, a smile plastered on his face once more. "Ah nothing at all miss! Just thinking about how wonderful the show was." He lied.
"And yet you only feel disappointment. I wonder," She took a step closer, her expression was one he couldn't read as she did not look at him. "What is your dream? Your answer to Elation?" It seemed she was just talking to herself despite the question being aimed at him.
That confused Sampo even more. "My answer to Elation?"
"Look it's mister Joker!" The voice of a child interrupted their conversation. As he turned around he noticed a group of kids with their parents walking up to him.
"Mister Joker can you preform another cool shuffle for us? Please!" One of the girls in the group pleaded.
"Please mister, your tricks are much cooler than everything here!" Another yelled.
Sampo was already getting his card deck from his pocket before he even verbally agreed. How could he say no his fans.
He crouched down to meet the kids at their eye level. "Alright one shuffle." The kids cheered. "after that I have to go. This lady," he pointed behind him with his thumb. "and I weren't done talking yet."
One of the kids stepped forward with confusion written all over their face. "What Lady? There is no one there."
Sampo laughed but stopped once he turned his head.
The lady was gone. He hadn't even asked for her name, nor what she meant before she left.
His answer to Elation?
If others were happy, than it made him happy.
Doesn't everyone deserve a little happiness in their life?
The next morning, his mask looked different.
After he returned from the park, he had put it back on his desk, still undecided what he was going to do. Until the invitation was accepted, the mask would stay blank.
Now, it wasn't a simple blank mask anymore. It looked like one of Aha's masks. The shape, the color, it all nearly matched outside of a few details.
Sampo held the mask in his hands in awe, a feeling of realization settling in his gut as the masked stared back at him. His finger traced the outside of his mask, an unknown yet familiar energy radiated from it.
That's when he heard it.
Multiple voices whispered to him as it echoed in his head.
"Welcome to the path of Elation."