Chapter Text
Vibrant, too bright colours, loud music, overlapping voices, tiny sounds of droning ticking, and air that feels a bit too thick in your lungs. That's what you notice. Where were you?
Around you were patterns and colours and a menagerie of cartoonish characters that would make you smile if not for how insanely overwhelming it all was for you right now.
Last you remembered, you'd ran away from home. Your dad was mad again, and it scared you. But it was wet out, and you ducked into a gross old building for cover….
Then you found the headset. You always wanted to play vr games, but dad said no.
There was a groan from… someone, somewhere. Were you breathing too fast?
“Caine, this better not be another #&%@ing character,” One of the voices stated irritatedly. You giggled at the censoring in your spiral.
A clown walked over to you. About your height, red and blue and white and concerned?
“Hey, hey breathe. You're okay- ish. But you gotta breathe.” She said. Were you still breathing badly? Dad got mad when you were too loud with that. You tried to calm down.
You went to bite your cheeks, but it seems you no longer have a mouth.
It's really hard to not start crying.
Luckily, you get distracted.
“Wowee!! Seems another human has stepped into our wonderful wacky world of whimsical wanderings!!” A loud, boisterous voice states, and you look up at its source.
The voice’s owner was up, up in the air, and his head was nothing but teeth and eyes. It was both creepy and silly. You liked it.
You did the most you could to smile at the silly mouth.
“And they seem to have the right kind of spirit!” They lowered somewhat closer to you. “Welcome to The Amazing Digital Circus! Your residence from here on out! My name is Caine, your oh so humble ringmaster.” He waves his cane about to gesture. You live here now?...
Oh.
At least you won't see dad anymore.
“And first order of business is to find a name for you, our meek little friend!” The mouth states cheerfully. You guess you are meek, it's not like you can talk….
Well, maybe you can. One of the others here doesn't have a mouth and spoke just fine.
It just doesn't feel good to talk.
Wait, what IS your name??
“Just call them meek then. It's not like the conversation is gonna go anywhere else!” The purple one shouts, rolling his eyes. He looks like he's made of rubber.
“What a great suggestion, Jax! Another member of our ever growing family named by you, it would seem!” Caine sticks out his tongue at the rabbit, seemingly named Jax.
So your name is Meek now. Right.
“Well, Meek! Let's give you the grand tour!” Caine says grandly, swooping down and interlocking arms with you.
Why do you have fur?
He pulls you, and you feel like you've been stretched like taffy and squished back into place a split second later as they hold you over a big circus tent.
“These are The Grounds! Featuring the Big Top Tent, The Digital Lake, and The Digital Carnival! Feel free to enjoy them within legal and copyright free limits!” He says, then immediately he pulls you to another, blindingly bright location. “This is The Void! Not much goes on around here! Maybe don't be here? Ever?”
And with another stretching tug, you're back in the tent.
You fight the urge to retch.
Instead, that droning ticking that you'd been hearing since you got here slows. And stops.
And you fall down, unable to move.
“Wuh oh! Seems they've really… wound down?” You hear Caine. It sounds like he made a pun.
“They $%#ing died!” A cheery, nasally voice added on.
“Bubble. We talked about this.” Caine scolds.
“Wh- Caine! Aren't you going to help them?” A worried feminine voice pipes up. The clown from earlier, you think.
You feel movement, and hear a ratcheting sound from your back. And in a moment you can move again. You push yourself up slowly, and see your ‘saviour’ was the angular one who swears.
“Another gimmick? Damn, this one's just cruel.” They comment, eyebrows creased.
“Alright my frollicking falafels! Make sure to make our new friend feel nice and welcome! I'm off to plan your next adventure… as I sadly do not have one prepared for their arrival!” And with a swirl into nothingness, Caine is gone.
You feel a bit disappointed at the loss of such a funny character, but it does make things a bit easier to handle.
The clown from earlier, along with a doll walk over to you.
“Okay, so this is probably a lot, right?” The clown laughs nervously, rubbing a hand on her neck. You nod.
“Well, let's make things a bit easier.,” The doll starts. “I'm Ragatha, this is Pomni, the one who wound you up was Zooble. The one with the masks is Gangle, the mean rabbit is Jax, and… Kinger is here somewhere.” She looks around for the aforementioned person.
“Probably his fort.” Pomni fills in.
“Oh right! Yeah, probably. But- anyways! Sorry for the name you got… stuck with. Gangle got named by Jax too, and he bullies her all of the time.” The doll worries at some of her noodle hair. You shrug. You don't exactly care either way. Better some stupid name than none at all. “We haven't gotten a combination before, though! An animal and a toy? Usually it's just one or the other!” She states.
What?
Clearly your face shows your confusion.
“You're a wind up toy, but also a mouse… oh! Like those old wind up mice! Kind of cute, actually!” Ragatha says happily, but you're still confused. For some reason you hadn't registered that in this colourful cast, you'd be part of it.
You look on the ground by your feet, and sure enough, there's a tail. Rainbow, yes, but a mouse tail.
Pomni puts a hand on your shoulder.
“Hey, I know it's a lot. Want to get out of the open?” She asks. You nod, brow still creased. She gestures for you to follow her, and you follow after her.
You quickly learn to pick up your tail if you don't want to trip.
Pomni brings you to a pillow fort in the middle of the checkerboard floor, and she leans in.
“Hey, Kinger?” She calls in.
“Oh! Pomni! I wasn't expecting to see you!” A voice responded. He sounded nice.
“Just wanted to let you know that we have a new member.” She says with a kind of sad tone. There's so much you didn't know here.
“Oh, well, can you bring them in? I'd like to greet them, but I'm not exactly at my best out there.” He asks, sounding genuine.
Pomni peeks back out to you, and gestures to come inside the fort. You do.
It's bigger than it looks. Much bigger.
And the guy inside is exactly what you'd expect from a name like Kinger. Though his funny eyes make you want to giggle.
He also doesn't have a mouth. Just like you.
“It's nice to meet a new face.” He smiles with his eyes. “I'm Kinger. What did you get saddled with?” He asks, light heartedly.
You want to respond, but it doesn't feel good. You feel the ticking slowing.
“I uh. I don't think they can talk? But Jax named them Meek.” Pomni answers him.
“That's very in character of him, I think.” Kinger chuckles.
You see his eyes go wide as you slump forward.
You're wound up immediately this time.
“What was…?” Kinger begins to ask, but Pomni answers quickly.
“They're a wind up. I don't think they can move without help.”
Kinger looks at you sadly. “Caine, that's…” he quietly mumbles. Then he shakes his head. “I'm.. . I'm sorry your life has been so hard, Meek.”
You look up at him. How did he…?
“Alright, I should uh. Probably show them to their room.” Pomni cuts in, clearly meaning well. Kinger nods.
“Alright. But feel free to come in here any time. I'm not uh. Not exactly the sharpest in the light.” He tells you, before Pomni leads you back out.
You think you like Kinger.
He's much better than your dad.
Pomni brings you to your room pretty quickly. Down that hallway of crossed out cartoon faces. Yours is eerily close to the end.
Inside is very soft. Sickeningly soft. Too warm, too soft. But it's yours, you guess.
It's your home now.