❝ 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸, 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘪𝘵? 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭. ❞
~
Fate is odd; I know from experience.
I find myself retracing back to the journey I underwent. So finally, I decided to put it into word...
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✿
Seeing Hisoka perform again gave me chills I never anticipated.
The crowd roared as he stepped onstage. Wreathed in white smoke and flashing stage lights, the Joker was a mythical being. He spread his hands and the very air around us seemed to surge toward him, pulsing with heat and sound.
My heart was pounding.
Surrounded by thousands of strangers yet taking their breath away all at once, he was unstoppable.
The circus yard under the night sky was packed with people.
The costumed performers went around taking pictures with whoever managed to snag their attention, sometimes making twisted faces or scaring squealing children back into their parents' arms. I looked around, pushing my way through the crowds.
It took me a good while to spot the clown with the jagged teeth.
After a few futile attempts at pulling him away from the chattering circus-goers, I finally managed to get him to look at me.
His grotesquely made-up face went slack.
Ignoring the group of people who had amassed again to take pictures, he steered me off to the side of the yard behind one of the popcorn carts.
"I'm looking for Hisoka," I said.
He shook his head, then gestured towards the blinking gateway leading out of the yard.
"I need to talk to him."
He shook his head again, flailing his arms at the exit.
"Why won't you let me meet him?"
He wiggled his grey spikes of fingers and drew little shapes with his hands, and then pointed at the gate again.
I huffed in frustration. "I don't understand."
With ridiculously exaggerated strides, he began walking toward the gate. He waved his hands at me, and then at himself.
"Just speak," I snapped. "I didn't come all the way to China to get mimed away."
The clown's shoulders slumped. He walked back to me, this time without the theatrics. His slit lips were pulled taut.
His throat above his frilled collar bobbed as he swallowed. Then he drew half a step closer to me and opened his mouth.
Between his jagged plastic teeth, he had no tongue.
I gasped.
The clown closed his mouth again and pointed toward the exit.
"What... what happened to you?"
He shook his head.
Slowly, I looked around the circus yard at the other performers, jumping out at the small children and posing for pictures.
