Chapter Text
Suddenly, there are almost nauseatingly bright colors around you, far different from the dilapidated, molding building you had just explored. You felt you had just entered the set of an overstimulating children’s show, multicolored blocks everywhere, and you were now standing on a large stage with a bright red curtain behind you. You pull at the headset, hard. Well, you try. You pull, and pull, and pull.
“What the fuck is happening?”
You look around and see a colorful set of characters all staring at you with their creepy, cartoon eyes. They were sitting at a table, dining on some rather unappetizing looking digital food while making idle chit-chat. Well, until you popped up and interrupted. A floating set of dentures in a well-fitted black and red suit zooms right up to you. Next to him was a bubble with an unsettling wide grin.
“Gasp! Another human?!” He was a bit too close for comfort, his eyes slightly widening as he got a better look at you, staring at you in anticipation.
“What the %$!# is happening?” You said out loud this time. Well, once again, you try.
“Oh no, no, no, this is a family friendly establishment, there’s no swearing here!”
Your eye twitches. ‘Family friendly’? Not exactly your forte.
“What is going on? Where the %$!# am I?” Force of habit. You cringe at the repeated censorship.
“Welcome to the Amazing Digital Circus! A place of the most jaw-dropping, mind-boggling, heart-stopping sights that you could-“
“Ugh, another one?”
You look over at the direction of the voice to see a lanky purple rabbit. Next to him you see a panicked jester, a jumbled multi-colored character with a triangle head, a mask with a ribbon body, a giant chess piece, and a ragdoll with empathic eyes. You tried pulling at your headset one more time. The ragdoll speaks.
“Hi! Wow. What an eventful day, Pomni just got here earlier.” She gestures at the jester, with an awkward but friendly smile.
Everyone seemed a bit out of it, looking down while poking and prodding at their food, so you don’t doubt you arrived at a bad time. You felt particularly bad for this Pomni character, considering you were currently in her shoes. Her demeanor did not give you much faith that this would get any better.
“Great, nice to meet you…people.” You give a rather dismissive hand gesture, partially because you weren’t even sure if you could call these characters people or not. “Now how do I get out of here?”
Heavy silence filled the room. Your stomach dropped. You were pretty sure you knew the answer at this point, but your eyes shifted across the room, clinging onto any bit of hope.
“Well…” the ragdoll tries to find the right words.
“We have to do all this again?” The rabbit once again butts in. “You can’t.” He had a smug grin on his face.
“Jax, don’t be rude.” The ragdoll shoots at him. At least you have a name to this asshole’s face. She walks over to you and puts a hand on your shoulder. “I’m Ragatha, this is Zooble, Gangle, Kinger and Pomni.” They all wave as she goes through their names, besides Pomni who just gives you a glance. “I know this is a lot to process when you first get here, but we’re here to support you.”
You were stunned, trying to take in everything you just heard. You look down to see your hands. Still humanoid, but now much less detailed, nails painted with polish that couldn’t possibly chip. Your breath grew heavier and heavier.
You were snapped out of your trance when the triangle-headed character, apparently named Zooble, spoke to the excitable set of teeth.
“Does this mean we have to go on another adventure? We just barely survived your stupid gloink hunt.”
‘Adventure’? ‘Gloink’? This place has a lot of weird lore you were gonna have to learn. You looked towards him as well.
“Okay, I have about a million questions-“
“And I have a million answers! But first, how about we formally introduce ourselves? My name is Caine, and I’ll be your Ringmaster! What shall we call you, my dear?”
You straightened up at an unsettling realization.
“I-I don’t remember.“
“Not to fret, no one remembers their name here! How about I help you choose one?”
“Uh-“
Before you had a chance to respond, he pulled out a machine that apparently shuffled through names. However, no matter how many times he ran through it, it would only land on a random jumble of letters. “Qcgdi”, “Vgzyi”, “Axybs”. Caine pulled at his collar out of embarrassment. All this at least gave you a moment to think.
“…I’ll just go with Dollie.”
You do enjoy getting dolled up, and that seemed to have carried over considering your nails are still adorned with your favorite polish. Plus, you love Dolly Parton. I mean, who doesn’t?
“Dollie, huh? Good choice!” He shoved the machine out of the way, followed by a crash and several chaotic sound effects. “Now, what do you say we start a tour?” He extends out his hand.
All his questions seemed to be rhetorical because once again, before you had a chance to say anything, or even take his hand, he grabs you and drags you out of the circus tent you resided and into a wide landscape. He begins to explain to you the sights, but you could hardly pay attention as you were trying to process everything going on, only becoming aware for a second each time he popped you in and out of somewhere. You think he said something about a lake? And oh, now there’s a big scary void? Weird.
You began exploring these abandoned places as a hope of escape. After walking away from a relationship that left you shaken and back at square one, you wanted to become more comfortable being within yourself again, exploring the unknown with only your own curiosity to keep you company. And then you ended up here. Figures. None of your attempts at escape have worked out before, why would it now?
He snapped you both back into the tent. You felt sick to your stomach, but tried your best to resist the urge to vomit. That would not be an attractive look. You both look over to find that the dining table was now cleared.
“Oh, they must have gone back to their rooms…” Disappointment was in his tone as he slightly slouched, only to quickly perk up again. “No matter, I’ll just lead you to your room!”
What you could take away from this so far is that he at least seemed like a relatively pleasant host. Certainly enthusiastic, to say the least, maybe excessively. You follow him down the technicolored corridors, decorated with strange, abstract framed pictures. The eye-bleeding bright colors did not help with your nausea. You suppose this would at least be a good time for those million questions you had.
“So what exactly do we do here? Somebody said something about an adventure…?”
Caine turned towards you in a dramatic twirl. This guy seemed to have a thing for theatrics.
“I’m glad you asked, my perfect plucky pumpernickel! Here at the Amazing Digital Circus, I aim to make the best, most exciting adventures for you all to enjoy!”
You couldn’t help a slight smile forming on your lips. You admittedly found his flamboyant attitude in the midst of this nightmare-ish purgatory a bit endearing.
“Sounds like you take a lot of pride in your work.”
“Of course, I strive to keep you humans happy, stimulated and eager for more!”
You snorted at how suggestive that sounded, which he seemed oblivious to.
“Well, I’m sure you’re good at it.”
You noticed a small twinkle in his eyes as you said that, him once again missing the implications and simply taking it as wholesome validation. As you both inched closer to your destination, you stopped in your tracks when you noticed a mirror.
There you were. Your eyes scanned your new form. Oddly not too different from before, you think. Same hair color, eye color, but now your skin was smoothed out and your facial features rounded to fit the cartoon style of this universe. Your usual makeup routine now was permanently plastered onto your face, you always struggled to deviate too far from your typical look. You donned high heels and a revealing skin tight dress, similar to one of your “safe” outfits back at home, now etched to your body. Your design was a bit sexed up for a place that was supposed to be “family friendly”. You poke and prod at the places you usually do, only to be interrupted by that creepy bubble from earlier jumpscaring you. You let out a small, startled squeak.
“Wow, talk about sssex appeal!”
Caine floats over and pops him out of annoyance.
“Your room should be just around the corner.”
You take one last glance at yourself before you continue to follow him, now walking down a hallway of doors with different faces on them, some you recognize from earlier, others with red X’s on them. Ominous. Eventually you land in front of a door with your face. You open the door, only to see what looked like the inside of a Polly Pocket compact or a Barbie Dream House. A vanity with a large mirror and none functional makeup stood next to your bed. To the side there was a closet full of colorful clothing, a frustrating sight as it didn’t seem like you could actually change into them.
“And there you are, my dear! When you wake up, get ready for an adventure that’ll blow your mind and knock your socks off!”
You let out a small chuckle. His tone made you feel a little bit at ease, which you suppose is part of his job.
“You’re cute, Caine.”
“Oh! Uh…” Blush marks formed on his gums as his shoulders tensed up. Perhaps you pushed a little far there. You dialed it back.
“I look forward to your adventure tomorrow, Caine.”
You walk into your new room, shutting the door behind you. You just barely resist the urge to stare at yourself once again into the vanity mirror and lay down. As you look up at the ceiling you replay the events of today in your head. What is this? Some sort of dream? Hallucination? Divine punishment? You sought healing only to be thrown into some overstimulating hellhole you can’t escape where you get censored anytime you try to express how you truly feel.
Wait.
“Family friendly...”
You look under your dress, only to notice something pretty crucial missing.
“%$!#.”