Cards and Keys

Chapter Two: The Jester

Lucy POV
~
Chatting to Gon, Kurapika and Leorio was really interesting! I found out that Kurapika was the remaining survivor of a group called the kurta clan. It's crazy to think that there are people out there evil enough to slaughter a whole culture of people. I truly hoped Kurapika would get his revenge.
And Gon said that he wanted to find his dad, it made me kind of sad hearing that. I've had my experience with shitty parents and Gon's dad definitely sounded like one. Then there's Leorio, he claimed he's only in it for the money, but he still seems like a good guy.

After we'd chatted for a while, a chubby little man approached us with an overly-friendly smile. Something seemed off about him, I'd have to keep my guard up.
"Hey friends! Haven't seen you guys around before!"
He's calling some kids he's never met before his friends- massive red flag. He was either a pedo or trying to mess with us. Either way, was bad news. I wanted to called out Taurus or another spirit to scare him off, but it seemed like a waste. And I didn't want to freak out Gon and the others too much.

"You can tell we're new?" Kurapika raised an eyebrow. It was reassuring to see that he was suspicious to.

"More or less," The fat man chuckled, scratching his neck," This is my thirty-fifth attempt after all!"

"Thirty-five times?!" Leorio and Gon exclamated.

"Well, you could say I'm an exam veteran." He chucked back, somehow not ashamed of his many failures.

"That doesn't seem like something you should be proud of." I retorted snarkily and Kurapika nodded. No person in their right mind would brag about failing so many times.

"Haha, right," The fat man sweat-dropped
"If you have any questions feel free to ask me!"
What a blatant attempt to change the subject. Even if he was trying to sabotage us, he wasn't too much of a threat- more pathetic than anything else.

"Thank you!" Gon smiled up at the strange man. Damn, that kid really is too nice for his own good. At least he was optimistic though.

"I'm Tonpa." The fat guy introduced himself.

"I'm Gon! And these three are Lucy, Kurapika and Leorio!" Gon announced.
Oh great. I didn't really want that Tonpa creep knowing my name.

"Hey, are there others who have taken the exam a bunch of times like you?" Kurapika asked.

"Well, I have the most experience here, but there are a few others," Tonpa explained,
"For instance, there's him..." He pointed to a large man standing in the middle of the room.
"Todo, the wrestler. He's unmatched in strength and he's smarter than he looks."
The man certainly looked strong, but he doesn't seem like to much of a threat. It's the sneaky ones that cause the most trouble.

Tonpa continued to introduce various other applicants before being interrupted by screaming coming from just down the tunnel. We all exchanged worried looks and ran over to see what was happening. There was already a commotion and the exam hadn't even started yet! I doubted there'd be a moment of peace once actually it began.

In the centre of the crowd of people there was a horrified man on his knees, his arms dissolving into blood red flower petals. Just blowing away in the wind. It was mesmerising in an disturbing way. I managed to squeeze my way to the front of the crowd, curious to see what had happened. Above the victim stood a jester-looking man with an almost sadistic look in his eyes. He was perhaps the weirdest part of the scene. His hair was red like cherry and his face was ivory white, painted with a star and tear drop. Like the scene he had created, he was mesmerising yet terrifying to behold.

"Oh, How peculiar~ His arms seem to have become flower petals." The jester scanned the tunnel with his fox-like eyes, his gaze connecting with mine for a moment.
"No smoke and mirrors here...Do take care when you bump into someone, you really should apologise~"