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Where were you?
It seemed to be yet again another sketchy place… there were no shortage of those kinds of places after you had left Marcella’s playroom. You had heard tales from Raggedy Ann and her younger rag sibling Andy about how they rescued Babette from pirates - that’s how they met the newest resident of the playroom, The Camel with the Wrinkled Knees.
You held no disdain toward the dolls back in the playroom, but you had began to feel rather excluded recently. The only thing the dolls had been chattering about for the past week had been the adventure they’d gone on, and since you weren’t particularly close with anyone in the playroom, it got lonely quite a lot. Raggedy Ann was friendly with you, but it was only the same surface-level friendliness she showed most other dolls, and Andy hardly showed softness toward anyone that wasn’t Ann.
You knew from the stories you had been told to avoid the taffy pit, which was The Greedy’s domain, and you managed to find a way to circle around it, but now you were in a place you couldn’t recall. The dolls back home probably mentioned it at some point, but your memory of the conversation was fragmented. This place at least came with a tree you could stop by - you needed it, especially with how long you’d been walking.
You sat down at the foot of the tree, gazing up at the sky. This place was relatively quiet. When Ann and Andy told stories about the journey they’d been on, they would always talk about how many strange people they’d ran into, but you hadn’t seen a single soul outside of the playroom. Still, you appreciated the time you had to contemplate, though.
Suddenly, you heard a subtle sound, akin to a branch quivering in the wind. A snapping sound then ensued, and you hardly even had time to glance up before you realized an entire bucket of ice-cold water was coming down on you, along with the branch itself.
You quickly moved out of the way and dodged the branch about to land on your head, but you still were splattered in freezing water. It being freezing was no joke - it was already slightly cold without an entire bucket of cold water soaking you, but now you were even colder.
Or perhaps this was a joke on you?
You curled up as much as you could to warm yourself up as your body started to tremble. Too much had happened all at once - so much, in fact, that you didn’t notice the obvious eye-catching purple knight jumping out of the bush and fixing his eyes on you.
“Surprise!”
Immediately, you jolted in the direction of the knight, who was beaming at seeing you. It was odd how happy he seemed just to have jumped out at you and made his presence known.
“Ohh… I bet I gotcha there, didn’t I?” The knight paused just to cackle loudly. “Now come here and let me lend you a *hand,* you must be so cold, you poor, dear thing.”
He actually did give you a hand in a literal sense as he took one of your hands in both of his gloves. Strangely enough, despite the unfamiliarity of this knight, you liked him holding your hand, it gave you a warm and cozy feeling.
This took you back to when Ann would tell the dolls that even if a stranger was friendly on the outside, it didn’t always mean they had a candy heart inside. Could this knight really be trusted? It was odd that he was the only person you’d seen on your entire journey outside the playroom - you had left behind the other dolls’ backs, when they weren’t looking.
You heard another giggle come from the tin knight as you felt a zap go through your entire hand, causing you to immediately recoil. Were his intentions really just to play tricks on you the entire time?
As much as it made you anxious to do so, you were able to speak to the knight.
“…Who are you?” You shuffled your legs awkwardly as you asked him this.
“Sir Leonard Looney. The *looniest knight* and newly appointed king of the year!” Leonard laughed again, albeit more quietly. “Oho, I get them every time.”
Sir Leonard Looney beckoned you closer, but you hesitated, worrying you were just falling for another one of his tricks.
He laughed yet again, almost as if he was enjoying your wariness toward him. “Come closer, I’m not gonna bite ya. Hmm… or am I? Hahaha…”
Eventually you had to come near him, but what you didn’t expect was for him to rest his hand on your back and rub it comfortingly. “Talk to me, pal, how did ya end up here?”
You decided to explain it to him. “Well… I was just wandering around and ended up here. I don’t know what this place is; I haven’t seen anyone around except for you. I don’t really know where I am…”
“Well then, welcome to Looney Land! It’s where all the practical jokes in the world come from. Guess I should say we don’t really have our other king anymore, heh, he got popped open like a balloon.” Leonard told you nonchalantly. “That’s why I decided to take over! Really now, we aren’t that strict here anymore ever since old Koo Koo exploded, which is why I gather folks to help with my inventions and stay with me in Looney Land.”
That sent a rush of panic through you, what was going to happen to you? Sir Leonard seemed so carefree about what he was saying, too, which only worried you even more. However, he seemed to notice your anxious gestures.
“Don’t worry yourself over it! You’re just gonna be stuck here with all the other loonies and I. I’ve been wanting new people to come to Looney Land anyway, we’re all going to have so much fun together!”
Rather than just rubbing your back, Leonard embraced you in a tight hug this time. You had to admit you liked it a bit, despite your slight distrust of him, he gave great hugs. He eventually let go, but not before running his fingers through your hair and sliding one finger up and down the side of your face. He gently brushed against your fabric, which you also enjoyed - getting so much affection from him was quite nice after being lonely in the playroom.
Sir Leonard Looney was strange, yes, there was no denying that. He was likely one of the people Ann, Andy, and the Camel had met on their journey outside of the playroom, but you didn’t pick up on it when they spoke of him inside of the playroom. He was a very eccentric looney knight, but at the same time, he felt so warm and welcoming, such an endearing person to be around. You were beginning to become more enamored with him by the second.
Leonard spent just a few more seconds looking you in the eyes - it was almost uncanny how he didn’t break eye contact. Despite this, he was the first to break the silence.
“Let’s hurry on over to Looney Land now, it’s gonna be a big day with you as our newest member! Just follow me, I know where to take ya.”
You followed Leonard on the way to Looney Land, not noticing the banana peel in front of you that was intentionally placed by him for a good practical joke until you actually slipped on it. The looney knight let out a loud laugh at this.
“HAHAHA! Marvelous! The good old classic banana peel trick.” Sir Looney let out a hand for you, and putting your hand in his once more, he lifted you up.
As you followed him once more, you noticed Leonard glance back at you. “Careful over here, it’s a bit of a bumpy ride. Luckily I’m here to make sure ya don’t get hurt!”
At first you didn’t understand what he meant, but he gestured to a huge machine with a tongue - as you stepped on it, it rolled you up and you spun into its mouth with a sign in it reading “Caution: Danger.” The last thing you noticed before descending into it was Leonard’s satisfied expression, as you were then taken into a monochrome tile floor room.
You tried to call out for Sir Leonard since he was nowhere in sight, but all that came from your mouth were odd beeping sounds.
Speakers boomed on the ceiling with a familiar voice - it could only be Leonard Looney. “Attention guys! We have our first new member since the death of the king. Everyone give a warm welcome to them, they will be arriving in Looney Land shortly.”
That answered your question - it seemed he was already watching you from a bird’s eye view.
Suddenly, the floor tiles became unpredictable as they bounced you up and down. You didn’t have time to think, as you were already being flung into a pipe, then onto a marble staircase. It all happened so quickly it was almost impossible to process.
A red pair of curtains flung you into a strange-looking court. Your vision was slightly blurry and your head was spinning; you just couldn’t make sense of it all. You figured it was called Looney Land for a reason.
Leonard was flung out the curtain a few seconds after you were, although he was well-adjusted and already used to their method of entering.
“Ohoho! Why, hello there, my fellow loonies! We have a new member.”
All of them just cackled… it seemed to be all they could do. As far as you could tell, Sir Leonard was the only one in Looney Land with some sense of rational thought.
“They’re all just overjoyed to see us!”
Sir Leonard’s smile was the brightest it had been during the whole ordeal, he seemed very giddy. “Tell ya what, dear pal! I’ve got another little thing to show you, come with me again.”
Sir Leonard Looney wrapped one arm around you and guided you to a cluttered room. Plenty of oddly-shaped machines laid here - many of his inventions - which made subtle beeping and buzzing noises as you entered the room.
Surprisingly, this knight had doctor attire, when you saw him come back from rummaging through his things, he was now wearing a white coat with something around his neck. You didn’t exactly remember what it was called; Raggedy Ann never really went into many details about the kinds of tools doctors used. You grasped at some of the memories you could find and guessed it was called a stethoscope?
Leonard’s laugh sounded more ominous than usual. “Sit right here for me, please!” He patted a spot, and as soon as you sat down, he put the ‘stethoscope’ over your ‘heart’, listening intently for… nothing, since dolls didn’t have heartbeats.
“Ha! No need to be so… *heavy-hearted.*”
Another pun… this knight-turned-doctor was clearly obsessed with them.
Sir Leonard circled around the spot you were sitting, pondering to himself. “Now… how can I help my dear patient? It’s only natural that someone without a beating heart would need some love.”
Leonard placed his hand on your shoulder and massaged it. His fingers dug into your fabric a bit, but it was still rather pleasant. He continued to chuckle softly.
He sat in the spot behind you and wrapped his arms around you, trying to pull you closer to him in a way that allowed you to lie down on him. It was more comfortable this time without the tin armor he usually wore getting in the way, and you were able to snuggle up comfortably with him.
“There we go… all nice and snug, aren’t ya?” He ran a few of his long fingers through your hair again, flipped you over to face him, and planted a relatively long-lasting kiss on your lips.
You were more than okay with this, in fact, you were just in adoration of this knight. Your heart was filling with love for him, and you could tell by how he was acting toward you that the love was reciprocated at least somewhat.
You snuggled more tightly with Sir Leonard, and he squeezed you in return. The both of you dozed off, and your tranquility was enough to make you want to remain in Looney Land.