Leonard nodded, taking back his pen and stuffing it away into his pocket. The manilla folder disappeared into his suit and the man smiled pleasantly enough. Taking a long look at Hisoka, he eventually sighed.
"For whatever reason, I don't feel I need to worry about this one signing anything. Go on in... if you dare." Finally moving aside, the suited man gestured toward the open tent flap, his ears drooping slightly.
The first apparent thing about the tent was the pungent smell, a strong lingering presence of patchouli, with an undeniable hint of some kind of musty odor, like a long-neglected basement of an old decrepit house. Immediately above the entrance were banners advertising the sights found within, similar to the ones displaying on the outside of the tent.
In this area was what seemed to be a waiting area, with another tent flap beyond separating the group from the actual attractions. From this second entrance came a man the group would recognise as the one who had taken away the apparent rule-breaker at the carnival gate, his disdainful expression locked on Leonard.
"Interfering once again, Leonard?" he asked, his dry and emotionless voice feeling too perfect considering the environment.
"I can procure my own experiments without such meddling. I do hope you've heard about that raise I was promised? If you think offering stringy little children for me is in any way a compensation for that, I may have to get a bit more serious with my work."
Leonard scoffed at this and waved the other man off.
"Cordis, anything I offer you is only extra on top of what you are dutifully owed. You can shake my paw on that one. Besides, these guests are not here to participate, but to observe. You run an attraction after all, and dangerous as it may be, it may as well be put to some use."
Cordis seemed to bristle slightly at this, but eventually only turned around and moved back through the tent flap. Leonard ushered the group ahead, moving through the tent flap and into what appeared to be a dark stone corridor. Certainly an odd sight inside a tent. Cages lined one wall of the corridor. Most of them were empty, but one held a young boy who perked up upon spotting Leonard.
"Hey, you! It's that guy!"
The kid registered that others were with him after a moment and quickly moved to press himself against the bars. He held one arm outside his cage and yelled,
"Whatever you do, don't sign anything this guy gives you!"
"Oh, how silly." Leonard gestured with his hands out, shrugging as if he had nothing to hide.
"They've already signed a contract, kid. But there's different kinds, you see? You were just so desperate to get inside the carnival, I had to think of some way to get you in. And, as they say, curiosity killed the cat."
"Mm, yes, I like that one."
"Really? Come on, man..." The kid let out a disgruntled noise, once again turning his attention to the group accompanying Leonard.
"Listen, you need to get me out of here. Something's really wrong with this place."
"It really is quite abnormal... nowhere else will you receive such a level of fun at such a great value."
