Chapter Text
Ohhh my God. I hate work. I'm gonna kill myself, actually.
Is what goes through my head as I walk down the side of the street, stepping over cracks and chips in the pavement. Well, I mean, I probably won't. Would I? Not right now. I have so much to live for!
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse.
Like I said, so much to live for. I steps over a couple of stray fliers from the new circus in town; they're everywhere. Admittedly, it does look pretty interesting; I think the atmosphere of it would be nie, if I wasn't the most easily scared person ever. The only trouble that seems to have come with this circus is the missing people. Am I a little suspicious? Yeah, maybe. Have I read too many fictional novels with murder mysteries? Totally. But whatever. Something could totally be up with these guys. And my gut never lies. Mostly. Unless I'm hungry, which is usually always, and when I'm hungry, I get annoyed. But I'm not annoyed. I'm suspicious! Rightfully so.
I continue on my way to the cafe I work at, a little place tucked into the side of a street, beside a much nicer looking florist, and an abandoned shop (probably not abandoned, just needing to be bought). Well, I think our place is pretty nice, still—sure, it's a little bland on the inside, but at least staff is okay. And it's never too busy.
Except for today, apparently. As I turn the corner onto the street of the cafe, I notice a little commotion outside of it. One of the clowns, the red one (which I think has the coolest looking suit), is on the ground and being shouted at by some other guy, who looks middle aged and balding. I stand in my place for a few seconds, watching, before I continue to walk past. Obviously, I don't like seeing people being yelled at. I just don't like being yelled at more, and I think I take priority. Thankfully, as I'm a few metres in front of all of this (and almost at the cafe), I hear the loud shouting of my coworker, Veronica, saving the poor red clown. Ugh, thank goodness. I've always admired her ability to just... be loud. Mostly. Actually, it's pretty annoying sometimes. But it's still cool, and who am I to judge, really?
I get into work and the bell chimes as I walk inside. Already dressed in my work clothes (long, brown pants and a white, collared shirt), I go to the backroom to get my apron and hairnet. I quickly check myself in the mirror before walking back out to the counter to wait for customers to come in.
The day goes by fast; nothing really worthy of noting. When closing time begins to near, I see the red clown come in through the door. It's only us and one other person (a young looking person who seems to be looking at their laptop with a great amount of dismay) in the room right now, because Veronica is off in the bathroom on her break. I'm too busy staring to notice that he's staring back just as intensely, before I quickly snap myself out of it and put on my customer service voice. "Uhh. Welcome, to, uh. Sorry. Uhh. Welcome. What can I get for you?" I mentally choke myself to death for stumbling over my words. Good God.
The red clown continues to look at me through a... mask? Is it a mask? Well. I think so? Whatever. I already have my suspicions, so I watch carefully. He shakes his head and stays standing by the counter, in all his... tall glory. I can't judge how tall he is. At least an inch taller than me or something (probably seven). I tap my fingers on the counter, not really sure to do now. Luckily, my favourite saviour, Veronica, comes out of the bathroom, and both the red clown and I look over in synch. She blinks and walks over. "Oh, hey, Pierrot."
So Pierrot is his name... that's a clown thing, right?
Well, duh, you idiot, of course it's a clown thing. He's in a CIRCUS.
...Riiight.
The red clown, Pierrot, waves at her with a little smile on his face, and I stand there like a dumb idiot and very inconspicuously eavesdrop on them (I'm just watching them).
"Oh, you've got a cut on your head," Veronica says, leaning a little over the counter, a small frown pinching at her face. "Where'd you get that?"
Pierrot glances at me, then the (presumable) student in the corner, before shaking his head and mimes zipping his mouth shut.
"Ohh... you can't talk? Is that part of your act?"
Pierrot nods in confirmation, and Veronica nods bad. Man, why can't I have a cute mute clown? Ugh. So much for romance.
I'm a little disinterested, and Veronica will probably just tell me all about him later, so I take the broom and start to sweep the floors of the cafe.
After maybe ten minutes, with Veronica cleaning up the little wound on Pierrot's forehead, and him giving her a little paper flower (ADORABLE!) and a red ticket, he sets a pink one down on the tablet and points over at me. I stare between them, and Veronica nods and looks over and then back at Pierrot, where he waves his goodbyes to her and then leaves the cafe. I walk over, still holding the broom.
"What was that about?" I ask Veronica.
"Oh, I dunno. I just helped him out on the street and I guess he wanted to repay me," she chirps back, happy as always. "I think he wanted me to give you this."
She slides across the pink ticket, which I pick up, and look between hers and mine. "Different colours? Neat."
She nods in agreement. "I got handed a pink one by this customer before. But he was kinda weird, and I wasn't gonna use it anyway. Do you want it? I know you like collecting stuff for you junk journal or whatever it is. Or maybe you can go twice?"
"Oh, uh, yeah. Sure," I smile and take the ticket as she holds it out for me. Sweet! Two pink tickets. "Thanks."
"No problem," she shrugs her shoulders. "You need any help closing tonight? It looks like you've done most of it already."
"Oh, yeah, it's okay. I got it handled," I look around the cafe, before back at her. She looks tired, I muse to myself. Could definitely use a long sleep. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"
"No, sorry, I've cancelled my shift!" She grins sheepishly, and I make sure to sigh really loudly and dramatically. "I cannot be fucked."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll just die here alone," I grumble, but I'm not really annoyed. "Bye bye, now."
"Bye! Good night." She smiles and waves and leaves the store, taking the apron with her (which I could also have done, but I don't like walking around in it).
I sigh and get back to work with cleaning the cafe, mostly just finishing the sweeping and wiping down tables as Veronica already cleaned up most of the dishes. In around ten minutes, I finish cleaning up, and clock out for the night.
The walk back home is mostly uneventful; not many people are out this late, especially on a weekday. Within half an hour, I make it back to my sad little flat and kick off my shoes, leaving them in the doorway with the five other pairs I own. I take my shirt off on the way to the kitchen, tossing it somewhere onto the floor, and then open the fridge to look for some leftovers of my dinner from the previous night (refried beans and mince, my favourite). I pop the container into the little microwave and strip off the rest of my clothes as I make it into the little bathroom, where I shower quickly and dry off before heading back out into the kitchen to eat.
I get tired after a little standing and collapse into my bed, which is in what I call the living room (my whole apartment is just an open room, maybe 7x8 metres, with the kitchen in one corner and a little bathroom connected to the main space). I stare at the wall across from me and avoid looking in the tall mirror watching over my bed, which for some reason I haven't moved to a better spot yet. I don't really like looking at mirrors in the dark because I can't really see myself properly to begin with and doing it in the dark makes it ten times worse. I fall asleep after maybe an hour or so of closing my eyes and willing my brain to shut off, though before I fall asleep, I think I catch two little yellow lights glinting in the mirror.