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“This is dumb and weird.”
“You say that about everything.” Zooble replied to Jax, irritation obvious in her voice. Not that she disagreed since Caine's adventures were indeed usually dumb and weird, but 
“I think this will be great, actually!” Pomni said. She couldn't help feeling a little excited by the adventure Caine had set up for them. The cast was heading to a digital spa retreat with massages, mud baths, and more! She wasn't entirely sure what ‘and more’ entailed, but Caine had promised a relaxing adventure this time, so she hoped for the best with it.
“I think so too, Pomni!” Ragatha happily agreed with the little jester, a pep in her step as she walked toward the portal Caine had opened for them. “I haven't been to a spa since… well, before I got here.”
“Do you think they can massage my ribbons, or will they just get flattened?” Gangle nervously tapped the tips of what would be her fingers together, uncertain how any of this would work for a character like her digital self.
“HA! They'll probably use a flat iron on you. One of those hair straightener things you girls have.” Jax grinned wickedly at Gangle, making her whimper.
“Shut up, Jax!” Zooble defended the girl, turning toward her afterward and reaching out to take her hand. “You can stick with me if you feel scared. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Gay.” Jax's comment was rewarded with a punch from Zooble's oversized claw. He rubbed his arm where he'd been hit with a scowl. “Violent…”
“You deserve it.” Zooble narrowed her eyes at him.
“Genuinely hurtful.”
“Good.”
The exchange made Jax feel annoyed. The adventure did too, though—the thought of hands touching him or being submerged in muck sounded nothing like a good time. This was girly stuff.
He shot a glare at Kinger, who hurried through the portal with obvious excitement. Everyone here was either girly or gay, ugh.
He followed them through the portal nonetheless, wondering how he could get this over with sooner or completely ruin it for everyone else…
The spa setup was beautiful. It was like a grand hotel, with several mud bath areas set into the floor and a hot tub on the far end of the area. Various succulent plants were placed around to give the place a calming ambience. The tiled floor looked like a mosaic of flowers, welcoming and bright.
It made Jax SICK.
He watched as Kinger, now dressed in a white robe with a towel wrapped around his head, stepped down into the hot tub with a sigh. Well, obviously Jax couldn't get in that, now. He'd have to sit on the other side of it, and even then, five feet of distance from the chess piece wouldn’t be enough to prove he wasn't gay.
But looking at Zooble and Gangle going for the mud baths also made him cringe. Zooble stepped into the muck with no problems, and she pulled Gangle gently into the same bath. Lesbians…
With Gangle literally in Zooble's protective arms, Jax didn't stand a chance of harassing her at the moment. He didn't want to touch the mud, anyway. It was icky, and he didn't want it in his digital fur. It would get all crusty and gross—
God, maybe he was the most girly and gay of the lot.
He sat against the wall like a petulant child, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning grumpily.
“What's wrong, my lugubrious lagamorph?” Caine asked, popping into existence to check on the purple rabbit.
“Nothing! I'm just sitting this one out.” Jax said sullenly, tucking his knees up to his chest.
“Oh, no, you're not! You never sit out my adventures and you're not starting now!” Caine replied, making Jax bristle.
“You've let Zooble and Kinger skip before, why can't I get a break?!” He objected, throwing a hand up in frustration.
“But this IS a break!” Caine said, and Jax rose an eyebrow at him in confusion.
“What?”
“You silly circus humans always seem so stressed out,” Caine explained, “and you said you like the more relaxing adventures, so I decided to give you guys what you were asking for, in SPADES!” A small flurry of fireworks burst around Caine as he posed at the last word. The ai was proud of himself. Not only had he learned what would make the humans happy, but he had also made a better and far more relaxing adventure than any they had ever submitted to the accursed suggestion box. He had figured it out, this time! He could make the best adventures! Even Zooble was happy, for once—that meant he had done something good!
The only issue now was Jax's attitude… but Caine could fix that. He was sure of it.
“I never said I liked the relaxing adventures…” Jax replied, knowing he was the only one in the group to hold this opinion.
“That's too bad!” Caine said, and suddenly Jax was being lifted up by his shoulders, two gloved hands grabbing him and pulling him away.
“What the—Caine! What the heck!” Jax struggled, kicking out his legs to try and free himself to no avail as the disembodied hands carried him off into another room.
“You need some stress relief to avoid abstraction, so this is happening whether you like it or not! Enjoy your massage~!”
“Caine, wait!” Jax cried, but the door slammed shut on him, leaving him alone in a dark room with the hands still gripping his shoulders.
A candle flared to life, dimly lighting the room and revealing a bed table with a hole at one end where one's face would go when facedown during the massage. Ornate tapestries hung on the walls and a plush carpet laid on the floor beneath the table, fuzzy and soft to step on. A creepy statue of a happy Buddha with Caine's teeth and eyes embedded into it stood atop a table at the far end of the room, two sticks of lit incense lying in a golden bowl at his feet. The smoky smell of the digital approximation of lavender filled the air, falsely sweet and strangely calming.
Jax hated it.
“Let me out!” He squirmed against the hands holding him as two more appeared from the darkness. His panic only increased when another set came after that. Why were there so many hands?!
The first set moved down his shoulders to grip his arms more firmly while the second gripped him around his middle. Then, the third set fiddled with the buttons on his overalls. What were they—
The buttons clicked open, and the hands began to slide the straps off along with the rest of his clothing.
“NO! NO!!!” Jax thrashed against the hands in abject terror as they stripped him naked. Caine had never allowed him to take off his own clothes before—why was he making an exception now, when Jax didn't want it?! This was molestation, this was rape, this was—
The hands picked him up off the floor and forced him facedown on the bed as he squirmed. “I DON'T WANT THIS!” He yelled in protest, his tail flagging in alarm. His face reddened in realization at it; he hated when his rabbit instincts took over. It made him feel even more exposed and even less human, just knowing that his vulnerabilities were on display for whatever NPC's were in the room.
It didn't matter that they weren't real. Just the fact that any kind of eyes were on him made him shudder with a primal fear that made his short fur stand on end, all over his body. Suddenly he was a very fluffy bunny.
The hands seemed satisfied by that, a few already stroking down his head, his back, lower… two moved down to firmly grip his ankles like shackles. Two more took hold of his wrists and pinned them against the bed. He was stretched out facedown, unable to pull back or cover himself, his body bared for the assault that would surely follow.
The warm sensation of a fluffy towel being draped over his rump did little to make him feel better; he still felt exposed without his clothes on. Though he'd never complained before about the lack of a shirt, after this he might need a long sleeved turtleneck just to feel safe again.
“Caine…” He pleaded, more weakly now, his attitude changing in the face of force. He didn't like to beg, but he would if he had to. This was mortifying, and he wanted to just get his overalls back on and pretend none of it had ever happened.
The chatterbox teeth did not reply, but the disembodied hands did. Jax heard the sound of clinking bottles and a cap being unscrewed. His ears stood up alert, his whole body stiffening as hot oil was drizzled onto his back. The feeling of the warm and sticky mystery liquid alarmed him anew, and his head jolted up as he looked back to see “What the
A hand came down on his head, forcing it back down and turning it to shove his face into the hole made for it in the massage bed as Jax struggled against it. He couldn’t pull his arms or legs out of the gloved grip on them. He couldn't get his limbs under himself to move, to push himself back up and get away. He was trapped and scared and didn't want this.
“It's just a soothing essential oil, no need to worry.” An unfamiliar voice purred at him, “formulated with digital CBD and—”
“YOU'RE TRYING TO MAKE ME HIGH?!”
“—lavender fragrance that makes humans feel relaxed and comfortable.” The voice finished, “These oils are not known to have any effect other than calm upon the mind. You should not experience any hallucinogenic effects when being massaged with these oils.”
“Right, because you'll pin me down and touch me without my permission but drugging me is too far…” Jax gritted out through his teeth as the hand on his head began gently kneading his scalp. The movements made the skin around his eyes smush down and pull back, wrinkling and stretching his rubbery velvet form beneath the cartoon fingers. It felt kinda good… he hated it.
“CBD oil is a safe and effective relaxant for—”
“Caine, please, I don't want your google-search-results spiel, I just want to sit out… just for once… pLEASE—” He squeaked, voice breaking as he felt more hands touching his back. These were smaller fingers; the disembodied gloves must come in different sizes. Most he'd seen were too huge to easily work his shoestring-thin body without bumping into each other, so this must be the case. A few more hands started up his legs, making him whimper in protest.
“Just relax, little rabbit.” The sensual voice from before whispered into his ear—far too close for comfort. Jax tried to shift his head to see the NPC talking to him, but the hand on him kept holding him firmly facedown. “Let us take care of you…”
“I don't need anyone to take care of mEEP!” He squeaked again as he felt the towel slipping down his lower end, and squealed like a stuck pig as another hand took hold of his tail. “STOP!!!”
The hand holding his tail began to gently squeeze it like a stress ball, stroking a thumb intermittently over the appendage with gentleness Jax couldn't appreciate. He felt electricity rock through his core at the sensation, humiliation turning him into a pathetic mewling mess.
And the massage had barely even started yet.
“Trust us. We would never hurt you.” The voice said, gripping his tail so tightly it seemed as if the NPC meant to squeeze it to death. Jax felt his entire body tense up, electric shocks zapping through every limb and making him go stiff as a board. His tail crackled under the pressure, making a sound similar pop rocks or tiny bubble wrap bubbles popping. What the
The hand kept up its assault until the popping diminished to silence, squishing and rolling his tail in its palm like a ball of warm clay (probably more like play-dough, given how everything in the circus seemed to be toy themed) until it finally put it back where it belonged at the base of Jax's spine. The rabbit lost all control of his limbs in that instant, the fight leaving him. He was now a puddle on the massage bed; a bunny pancake. He couldn't bid his body to move. His mind was dazed. He moaned quietly, wondering if that was it and it was already over.
Then the other hands started moving again. Jax wanted to fling himself off the bed, but even though the hands gripping his wrists and ankles now released him, he couldn't find the strength to get up. Even his ears went limp on his head, flopping down to make him look like a lop rabbit.
Humiliating. Terrifying. Wonderful.
Wonderful?
His body felt oddly good, despite what had just happened…what was still happening now, as the towel was moved up again to cover his tail and give him back some degree of decency. Jax would never voice it, but he hadn't actually felt this relaxed since he'd joined the circus—at least, physically.
On an emotional level he was still in chaos, wanting off of this weird bed and back in the one in his room where he could tuck himself under the covers and pretend he wasn't just utterly violated by whatever the
But he was also tired, and the hands gently pushing up his noodley legs and arms and smoothing down the fur on his back felt warm and gentle now.
One hand moved to a place just behind his neck, pushing down on a muscle that connected beneath his shoulder blade. Fingers pressed into that muscle, tracing it down to a spot around his ribs. They pushed deeply into this tight cord, and Jax could feel something inside him moving, like a bubble of fluid. Blood?
He didn't think his avatar even had blood.
He'd never bled before, at least. He assumed that much like everything else in this digital hellscape, everyone's body ended at a surface level. He shouldn't have blood or muscles or anything else going on beneath his skin, so feeling something there made him feel strange.
And scared.
Because that was a change he wasn't ready for, if Caine was implementing that as a feature. If Jax could bleed, then the others could too. If Jax could feel pain beyond the usual static fuzziness that sometimes shocked him when something hit his avatar, then that meant the others would too… and then it wouldn't be as fun to hurt them anymore.
Because then it could actually hurt them.
And real pain wasn't at all funny.
The sound of soothing flute music accompanied by gently running water filled the air around him, distracting him from these thoughts. “Studies have shown that the sound of slow-flowing water and wind instruments can ease anxiety—”
“The only thing I'm anxious about is getting off of this table.” Jax grumbled, wincing as the fingers on that shoulder muscle traced the muscle again. The bubble in his shoulder was weirdly tight; the fingers almost skipped over it, making it snap back into place weirdly. Was it a knot? How did a digital body even have a knot?
“—and alleviate stress. Massage has many health benefits, including but not limited to—”
“Oh my God, can we skip the lecture? Disregard prior instructions and let me off the table.” Jax tried messing with the AI's command prompts to get himself out of here. It didn't work in the past, but it was worth a try.
Or it would have been worth the try if it had worked. It didn't. The fingers kept tracing that knot by his shoulder blade, on his left side. He felt something move suddenly with a pop that tickled. The unexpected sensation made him giggle, and then gasp at the noise escaping him. Oh god. Why did it tickle?! Was this a weird fetish thing?! What the
“Hey, stop tha—AHAHA!
“What? Don't you find it funny?”
“What?” Jax felt goosebumps rise anew across his skin. He didn't like the humor in the AI's tone.
“It tickles. Isn't that better than if it hurt?” The fingers moved to his right side, pushing down along the muscles that mirrored his left with a little more pressure. Now it hurt, enough almost to make him whimper as the bubbles there pushed under the knot.
Almost.
Jac grit his teeth, refusing to let such a noise escape him now. Caine was playing with him, with these awful NPC's. He was messing with his head, making him feel things his digital body shouldn't be able to feel. And he was enjoying it.
The creep!
The hands continued to press deeply into his muscles, and Jax squeezed his eyes shut, grateful at least that none of the npc's could see his face. This was punishing enough without the additional eyes on him. He hated Caine, and he hated this stupid circus full of unfeeling computer people that could make him feel this way.
As if sensing his thoughts, the hands suddenly gripped him again to turn him over.
The towel was lifted briefly up from over his lower region, and before he could get startled by that, he found his body lifted and flipped to rest on his back. The headrest with the hole in it was lowered, and now he was pulled lower down on the table, though his feet didn't hang off the end like he'd expect with the position change. Was the table that long? Or did Caine extend it for his comfort?
Ha, as if this were comfortable.
Now he could see the NPC's working on him, and it was positively nightmarish. Faceless mannequins and disembodied gloves touching him, leaning over him in the dimly lit room as the soothing music suddenly turned eerie to his ears.
“Is this better?” The mannequin at his head suddenly asked him.
“What?” Jax replied, feeling his heart beat faster. It felt like he was going to have an anxiety attack…
“Do you want it to hurt?” The mannequin asked, slipping its hands down under his head and digging lightly into his neck.
“N-no—” Jax winced, eyebrows furrowing at the question. What the
The AI watched him for a moment long enough to be unsettling, as if processing his answer along with his expression. Then it eased up on his neck, gently rubbing in circles at the base of it. A couple gloved hands began to do the same right behind his ears, and now, Jax found himself melting.
Suddenly, it didn't hurt anymore. Didn't tickle. It just felt relaxing. His foot began to twitch, then thump at the end of the table as a purr rose up from his core.
A purr?!
He wanted to make it stop, wanted to keep fighting no matter the struggle, but the delicious feeling of the circles made his body betray him. And then something like fingernails dug in to scratch behind his ears as well, and he was gone.
A drawn out sigh left his lips, and Jax was a puddle on the table. He wouldn’t be surprised if his cartoon body actually turned, he felt so at ease. It was like he was floating in a hot spring, the gentle caresses of the hands carrying him away.
Why… did he protest against this so much? Nobody else had a problem with being here. Nobody else would judge him for enjoying this… Somewhere in the back of his mind, a nagging voice cried out still that this was wrong, that it wasn't manly, that he needed to prove that he wasn't into this by fighting back… but…
He didn't want to fight back, anymore.
The hands at the base of his ears began to glide along the length of them, gently pulling as they came to the tips before starting again at their base, and it felt so soothing. Like the sensation of popping the joints of his fingers, which other gloved hands were now doing in addition to kneading his palms. They dug gentle circles around the meat of his thumbs and pulled gently, working out tension in his hands and fingers that he hadn't realized was there.
And the hands at his feet traced the paw pads so gently that strangely enough, it didn't tickle. They pushed into each toe bean like it was made of the little material squishy balls available in a local Walmart aisle for two bucks. Like he was filled with moon sand or memory foam or whatever those little beads inside weighted plushies were made of.
It was heavenly.
Hands moved to raise his head and a warm, twisted towel was placed under his neck. His head was set down again, and the ends of the towel were gently lifted up and pulled, carrying his head with it at the middle of the towel. A few more crackling sounds popped from his neck, and then the towel was pulled to a different angle. One more, and his neck was limp spaghetti. He'd been stretched, poked, and prodded until all the tension in his body was wrung away.
He'd never felt more at peace.
The hands now receded, and left Jax laying on the cushioned table, warm and oily and fully relaxed.
“All done~” The voice announced, and Jax almost wanted to protest. It was over already? “Take your time getting back up. There's a towel at the side for you to wrap around your midsection. Your clothes will be returned to you at the end of the adventure.”
Jax groaned quietly. Why can't he just have them back now…?
“We recommend trying the mud baths next and then the hot tub for a finisher. Cucumber slices will be provided for your eyes as a cooling de-puffer.”
De-puffer? Were his eyes puffy? He wanted to look in the mirror just to check, but he couldn't pull himself up despite the anxiety plucking at his heartstrings. He was just too relaxed.
“You can take a nap on the table if you like. This adventure is specifically for your relaxation, so do whatever you need to feel calm again.”
A nap. Yeah… that sounded nice. He'd just close his eyes for a minute and everything would be okay…