Chapter Text
It was a relatively peaceful day in the Digital Circus. Zooble and Gangle were sitting on the couch next to each other, working in separate sketch books with their backs pressed together.
Their fun was unfortunately interrupted when Jax snuck behind the two and snatched Gangle’s book. “What hentai are you making today, Crybaby?” he asked the mask and ribbons.
Zooble quickly reached up to grab the sketchbook, but Jax held it high in the air. “Jax, give that back! We were doing just fine without you.”
“Oh, I just want to join in the fun. Let’s see here,” Jax opened up to the last page that Gangle was drawing on. A redheaded girl in a flowy blue dress was walking in a forest with wide-eyed curiosity. A purple cloaked figure with glimmering wings was in a nearby tree, watching her. “Oh fae, huh? That’s new for you, Gangle. Are their wings like, you know…sensitive…?” He leaned in close to Gangle, elbowing her almost off the couch.
“I-it’s nothing like that! Zooble and I were brainstorming a fantasy comic.” Gangle finally piped up, lunging to grab at the book. Jax yanked the book out of the way, causing Gangle to fall on the floor, and held it up to look at the picture again.
“Why would you guys make something no one’s gonna read?”
Zooble finally grabbed the notebook from Jax’s grasp and handed it back to Gangle after helping her up. “At least we’re doing something useful with our time. Better than going on another stupid adventure.”
At this point in the conversation, Pomni and Ragatha walked into the sitting area to see what was going on. Kinger trailed behind, just happy to be a part of the group. Ragatha, always trying to see the bright side of things, chimed in, “Oh Zooble, the adventures aren’t so bad all the time. I thought the softball game was actually pretty fun.”
“Speak for yourself.” Zooble sneered and went back to drawing.
“What were you guys talking about?” Pomni interjected to soften the mood.
Jax flashed a crooked grin. “Gangle wants to *&^% the fae.”
“Do not!” Gangle squeaked. “Zooble and I just thought it would be fun if we all got to live out a fairy tale, so we decided to draw a comic about it. See, Ragatha’s the princess and Kinger is the Fae King.” She showed the picture to the rest of the group.
“That looks really nice, Gangle,” Ragatha clasped her hands in delight. “I really like the butterfly wings you gave Kinger.”
“Well actually, those are more accurate to beetle wings, although I can see how you thought that with the iridescent quality of them.” Kinger added, pointing to the drawing with a floating hand.
“You know, I kinda like the idea of exploring a forest like this,” Pomni mused. “As long as there weren’t any crazy monsters inside it and all.”
“We have enough monsters here already.” Zooble said, staring up at Jax.
“You mean prankster-of-the-century.” the rabbit tugged on one of his overall straps with pride.
Without warning, Caine appeared in a flurry of confetti. “What are my marvelous magpies doing on this glorious day?”
“Just drawing,” Gangle clutched her notebook to her chest. “Or trying to.”
“We were actually talking about how cool a fairy tale adventure would be.” Pomni offered sheepishly.
“Gangle and Zooble here were hoping to play around in a forest of debauchery.” Jax gestured to the two on the couch.
“A fantastical fairy tale? Well why didn’t you say so!” With a snap of Caine’s fingers, a large full bookshelf fell from the sky and landed next to the crowd, shaking the whole tent slightly.
“There goes my relaxation.” Zooble muttered as they snapped their sketchbook closed.
“Oh Zooble, you irritating ragamuffin, you’re the one who said I should be taking your suggestions more seriously. Here is my chance to use your idea as inspiration for a wondrous adventure for all. Huh,” A single finger went up to Caine’s lower jaw and, with the sound of stone grinding on stone, his eyes laterally shifted outside the bounds of his teeth towards the bookcase. “Wonder…hold on.” The rest of him flew to the bookcase and began to frantically chuck book after book, scattering them across the floor.
Jax picked up the ornate, green volume that landed by his feet. “Beauty and the Beast.” he read aloud.
Ragatha eagerly walked over to look at the book. “Oh that one is so romantic. I wonder who would play who.”
Jax let out a sharp laugh, “Zooble would definitely be the beast. Hey Gangle, why not use this for your silly, little comic no one’s gonna read?” Jax hurled the tome over to Gangle. It hit her square in the face, the sounds of broken porcelain resonating around the circus. The poor thing knelt down to salvage the pieces of her mask, and her whimpers were drowned out by Caine’s outburst.
“How about this one?” He held up a light blue book with gilded edges.
Pomni cocked her head warily, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?”
Ragatha beamed brightly as she clasped her hands together, “Oh I loved that story as a kid! I would read myself chapters when mom-when I couldn’t go to sleep at night. It was comforting in its own way.”
Zooble crossed their arms and looked up at Caine as he paraded the book around, “So you’re just going to throw us into the story and see what happens? Kinda lazy for you.”
Caine threw the book directly at Zooble then quickly looked back to the crowd, pointer finger high in the air. “It’ll be like a play. Each of you will have a role within the story and we’ll go through it together.” He smiled at them like a father ready to go on a vacation no one asked for.
“Count me out,” Zooble waved dismissively as they started to walk away. They were immediately picked up by one of Caine’s hands and plopped unceremoniously back on the couch.
“You know, I’m with Geometry on this one,” Jax said, pointing a thumb in their direction. “I don’t feel like playing along to some children’s story.”
“No, no, no,” Caine declared. “We’ll need all hands on deck for this one. The less of you who go on this adventure, the more NPCs I would have to create, and” The room suddenly glowed eerily red as he pulled the cast close to his face, his expression suddenly serious. “You know what happens when I have so many intelligent NPCs lying around.” The room brightened once more as Caine stretched out his arms to send the characters spinning and falling on all sides. “Now to decide on roles!”
An odd gameshow wheel appeared out of a puff of smoke. Bubble, who must’ve popped in with the wheel, flew out from behind it with his signature toothy smile. The wheel had two nesting circles, each with its own sections. The inner circle had pictures of the cast members. The outer, a number of silhouetted images: a bow, a pocket watch, a top hat, a mushroom, a crown, and a crescent moon.
Caine swung his arms towards the wheel. “Bubble, would you kindly spin the wheel?”
“Of course, boss!” Bubble floated lackadaisically towards the wheel and, with all the energy his round body could muster, bobbed up and down. Nothing happened. “I wish I had hands.” he whispered mournfully. Instead, he used his tongue to spin the wheels. The two wheels spun opposite of each other, creating a whirlwind of colors.
“I would really like to play Alice,” Ragatha sighed wistfully. “Oh Pomni, I think you would make a lovely White Rabbit. Then we would have scenes together. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“I think I would prefer a less important role.” Pomni edged away from Ragatha.
“Like the flowers?” Gangle offered. “They’re really pretty and get to sing.”
“I would like to be the scarecrow.” Kinger remarked.
Gangle wrung her ribbon hands together, “That’s the Wizard of Oz, Kinger.”
Kinger turned to stare at Gangle blankly, “The Wizard of what?”
When the wheels eventually stopped, the silhouetted pictures flew off the board and settled above their assigned character, but before anyone could get a good look the silhouettes rose up to the ceiling and began chasing each other in a wide circle. The pictures went faster and faster until they were a blurred ring, sucking the air into its center like a black hole. The characters tried running away or ducking for cover, but soon all were swept into the vortex, which promptly collapsed with a shing.
Caine simply waved them off. “They always seem so excited when they go through my portals.” He picked up the discarded copy of Alice’s Adventures and opened to the first page, “Now, how do we begin?”