Chapter Text
One moment, you were putting on the headset —
— the next, you were blinded by light.
Cheerful circus music rang through your ears as you instinctively covered your eyes with what must’ve been your game avatar’s hands. They were large, and felt fuzzy.
That made you pause. You had played virtual reality games before — but never one with the feedback of touch! Did such a thing even exist yet?
Apparently so, You thought as you felt over your face, eyes still closed. The contours of your head felt downright fluffy — like fur was coming out of your skin. Your fingers came across a curiously twitching ear, only for something to sting against them.
“Ouch!” You couldn’t help but exclaim at the unexpected sensation. Your voice had an odd quality to your own ears, despite seeming to be the same as usual.
You carefully peeled your eyes open, and was greeted by the sight of your avatar’s hand-like paws. Or was it paw-like hands? Regardless, they had silky grey fur, purplish-pink paw pads, and sharp claws.
I must’ve pricked myself with them. But… why would all this be built into a video game? And how?
Carefully, you felt over your head once more.
Two ears, two eyes, a nose, cheek fluff, and whiskers. You felt the minute, instinctive motions of your various new features, beginning to feel unnerved.
You peered down at your body, seeing grey fur disappear into a — what you thought was actually rather snazzy — pastel purple and white tuxedo and dress pants combo. There was a darker purple bowtie — with a handkerchief nestled in your pocket, and a pair of nice looking shoes, all in the same shade.
You felt something behind you twitch, and contorted your body — with surprising ease — to look at your backside. There, a fluffy yet stubby tail poked out from a hole in your pants, quivering with surprise.
You blinked, suddenly utterly aware of its movements.
“This… is strange. ” You muttered to yourself, as you turned back around, this time looking at your surroundings.
A frown curled your lips as you took in the odd, playset-like vibes of the… circus tent? Or whatever it was that you were inside.
There were blocks and balls of many different sizes — from larger than a bus, to just the size of your fist — strewn about, alongside many other toys. Pipes snaked across the ceiling, turning in almost dizzying ways until they disappeared into walls or around corners.
Stairs led upwards to strangely-designed outcroppings and hallways, which twisted out of sight. Occasionally, you spotted piles of what seemed to be mostly random items. Flower pots with plasticky plants were rather common — as were teapots, for some reason.
Everything was brightly colored — to the point where even after adjusting, your eyes felt somewhat tired. And the circus music kept playing, looping after a minute or two, but never stopping.
Whoever made this game must really like old computer graphics, or just things that are uncanny in general. Creepy…
You’d never done well with things you considered creepy, but you had a feeling that it was something more than that that was telling you this game was bad news.
Cautious of your avatar’s claws, you reached up, searching for the clasp to the headset.
Your hands only found fur, and more fur.
W-where is it? I don’t feel it!
You nervously chuckled, before having a lightbulb moment.
Oh, do I have to open a menu first…? That makes sense, I suppose.
“Uh… open menu! ” You stiltedly announced.
The circus music still playing as a series of bubbles gently floated by was your only indication that you had in fact not paused the game.
“ Menu? Open. Menu.” You enunciated as clearly as you could. “Quit. Game.”
The game continued, heedless of your words.
“Quit. Game!”
Ice began trickling through your veins. Your hands shook as you made various motions to attempt bringing up a menu.
“ Exit!”
Suddenly, something appeared right next to you with an audible POP!
“ AAAAAAAA—“ You screeched, fur standing on end.
“Now, Pomni —“ The figure — a strange man in a suit with a floating set of teeth and eyeballs for a head — said sternly, totally ignoring your scream, which was now fading into a whimper. “— I’ve told you before that the Exit door isn’t finished yet! You shouldn’t —“
You flinched away from him as he gestured towards you with his cane, only for the man to briefly pause.
“— Wait, you’re not Pomni!” He said, jaw widening in a facsimile of a surprised expression. “And you’re certainly not an NPC, are you?”
You shrunk back from his piercing gaze as he eyed you up and down — literally! His eyeball zipped towards you — out of what could loosely be described as his head — and gave you a close inspection.
“W-what?!” You stuttered.
“Nope! Not an NPC!” He announced loudly as his eyes withdrew, returning to their place behind his jaws. “You can only be —“
With a quickness your reeling mind couldn’t quite handle, he snapped his fingers, causing another POP!
“— A new human!”
Suddenly, you were surrounded by various strange characters — all looking some combination of startled, tired, or irritated. You yelped at their sudden presence, and their eyes all turned towards you.
“Wait, another one?” A tall purple anthropomorphic rabbit in overalls said, raising an eyebrow towards you. “Let me guess — they’re a whimpering mess too.”
You didn’t even fully register the insult, but a young woman who was clearly a living ragdoll of some kind took offense for you. “Jax! They haven’t even introduced themselves yet, and you’re already ragging on them?”
“No, that’s your job — Rag atha.” Jax said with a toothy grin towards the doll. “It’s in your name, after all.”
“Ugh! I cannot believe you!” Ragatha said angrily, before jolting and turning back to your still-stunned self. “I’m so sorry about that, new stuff! I know this is a lot to handle, and… he’s probably not making it any better, but don’t worry! I’ll help show you the ropes!” She smiled nervously, single eye crinkling — the other a shiny button.
You stared blankly, somehow dissociating and simultaneously experiencing total clarity. “This… isn’t just a game, is it. Or a dream.” You knew the feeling of dreams, but this felt different — fake — but not in the same way as a dream.
“Oh wow!” Jax exclaimed, giving a slow, sarcastic round of applause. “Quicker than the next newest , eh? Bravo.” He glanced at the colorful jester girl next to Ragatha as he said this, causing them both to look upset.
Before either could interject, the tooth man came back to life, spinning and twirling through the air in front of you.
“Now, now, everyone! You should leave the introductions to ME — your beloved ringmaster (and all-seeing AI) — Caine!” He said with aplomb.
Your ears pinned back as far as they could go as Caine wiggled his cane at you.
“Beloved?” A mishmash character made of what looked like spare parts from a toy store scoffed audibly.
Caine stopped midair, a grating dial-up tone ringing through your ears as he was suspended, frozen like the computer he was. Several seconds passed before he resumed his movements.
“— And you, my dear, are a human! A rarity in this world, for certain!” He continued, apparently ignoring whatever that was. “Now, tell me — what do you want your new name to be?”
You jolted once more, realizing he was expecting an answer. “New name? But my name…” You trailed off as you realized —
— You didn’t remember your name!
“Uhhhhh what the [SPLOINK!] — Wh- HUH? ” You stammered, rendered unintelligible by more than just your shock.
“Now, now! A swear word — or any other prohibited content — is NOT allowed to be your new name! Pick another! Or would you rather I bring out the RANDOM NAME GENERATOR!!!” Caine said, suddenly screaming as thunder and lightning briefly made an appearance — before disappearing without a trace.
You glanced around — befuddled — yet none of the other characters seemed particularly shocked by the event, to the point where you weren’t even sure if it had actually happened.
“…I’ll pick it myself.” You finally said, quite weakly.
“Great!” The toothy ringmaster said with glee.
Everyone fell into a silence, watching you expectantly. Immediately, you began to sweat.
Fuuuuuuck, I hate coming up with things on the spot!
“Ummmmm… ermm…… hooowwww abooouuut…” You stalled as you tried to come up with something good.
For some reason, as you were rooting through your thoughts, a distant memory came to mind.
“Hey, #@)%/#!?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you hear Steve Jobs died?”
“Heh, of what?”
“Ligma!” “Ligma — jinx! Haha, you owe me a soda now!”
“Aww, dammit!”
“Ligma balls!”
“Hahaha!” “Ehehehe!”
A light entered your eyes as you suddenly exclaimed — “Jinx! Call me Jinx, please.”
“Hey, what? That’s too close to my name!” The rabbit complained loudly.
“JINX IT IS!” Caine blatantly ignored him. “Now then, time for the tour!”
And very suddenly you were being grabbed, whipped through space, and jerkingly deposited somewhere entirely new — all before you had the chance to so much as blink.
“AAAUGH!” You yelped, swaying in place with nausea as the AI orientated you far above what took a moment to register as a floating island(?) surrounded by an expanse of… something that was hard to directly look at, but kind of reminded you of chromatic static.
“This is the Grounds! Upon it we have; the Digital Lake! The Carnival! Aannnnd the Tent — which is your new home!” Caine said as he presented it to you like you were a helpless lion cub taking in everything the light touched. “All surrounded by THE VOID!!!”
Thunder and lightning made a brief return, before the ringmaster returned to a normal — if not sheepish — tone. “Just — don’t go there , okay?”
“Uh—“ You started, but were whisked away before you could do much more.
“OH GOD — “ You moaned dizzily as you were unceremoniously dropped on the floor of the circus tent. As you kneeled, you tried to hold back from vomiting in front of everyone — and thankfully managed it, if just barely.
“Welp!” Caine chirped, apparently oblivious to your distress. “I hate to cut and run — but my next adventure is going to need a MAJOR rehaul if you’re here! So… toodles!”
And with that, he vanished — yet another POP! announcing it to all present.
There was a beat of silence as you staggered upright, queasiness gradually fading to a manageable level.
“Geeze, his tours get shorter and shorter, don’t they?” The toy-like person mumbled, eyeing you with concern.
“Well… he did say he has to change some stuff.” A girlish voice — coming from a spiral of ribbons, topped with a tragedy mask — weakly excused.
“Yeah!” Ragatha said, optimism coming off as slightly less flimsy. “I’m sure it’s going to be an impressive one, right guys?”
Dead silence as you stared at her in tired confusion.
“Um.” The jester girl piped up. “Maybe we should explain a bit more of this to Jinx?”
“Oh! Of course, thank you Pomni!” Ragatha said graciously. “Hmm, where should I start?”
“Maybe at the part where we’re trapped here until we all go crazy? ” Jax said, a blank smile upon his face.
“Jax!” Ragatha grumbled once more. “That’s. Not. Helpful! ”
“ Whaaat — I’m just giving pussycat here some fundamentals!” The rabbit snickered.
Ragatha and Jax then proceeded to loudly bicker as the others watched with discomfort — Pomni looked especially upset — but otherwise, not much of a reaction.
You were getting the idea that this was a pattern.
While the ragdoll argued at the bunny, the toy-like person waddled over to you.
“Sorry about Jax, he’s always an [BEEP].” They said with a sigh. “But to summarize it; we’re all humans who got trapped in a video game, and now we just go on fake adventures and do stuff to stave off boredom and insanity. Just so you know, we can’t die, but if you don’t hold on to something to help you stay sane in this place, you…”
“Abstract…” the last figure to speak — a chess piece wearing a robe — said in a distant tone as he stared at a butterfly on his finger.
“Yeah. That.” The toy-like former human said in a voice that betrayed an unseen grimace.
The chess piece looked up at you both, only to shriek, causing you to jump. “Oh, Zooble! You startled me!” He said cheerfully, before turning towards you. “Oh, I don’t think we’ve met! …Or have we? Y’know, I just can’t recall…”
You looked at him in befuddlement before turning towards Zooble, who shrugged.
“That’s just Kinger.” They said with another sigh. “He’s… forgetful, y’know?”
Ragatha and Jax continued their argument in the background — until Pomni tried to speak up, only for Jax to walk away. You watched as the ragdoll gently comforted the jester.
It struck you how odd the scene looked — almost comical in its absurdity. But for once, you weren’t laughing.
“…I think I need to lay down.”