Chapter Text
There’s a large room with a small stage set at the front of it, set just above the stage is a large TV surrounding the stage is a mix of large bean bags and comfortable couches. The room looks similar to a movie theater, except it was clearly made for more comfortable seating. Then, a dragon walks onto the stage.
The dragon has purple scales, dark enough that at a glance, could be considered black. She had slightly lighter purple under scales and silver flecks on the underside of her wings that mimicked the night sky. She wore two bracelets, one was a simpler silver bracelet while the other was a golden bracelet with a dark purple stone set in the middle of it.
The dragon looked around before her gaze finally landed on the totally real audience that was definitely watching or reading or whatever from the other side of the Fourth Wall. “Hello, the name’s Comet, and I’m going to be your host, or, well, the host of the totally mentally stable people that will soon be joining me here!” The dragon, now known as Comet, said. She looked around the room once more, frowning slightly. “Though, before we start, I do think some more help around here would be nice.” Comet then snapped her fingers (talons?) and a humanoid ladybug appeared.
They were made up of varying greys, ranging from the dark grey on their limbs to the lighter grey on their face. Her round body is black with a small, slightly visible dark grey heart on her stomach. She has a red shawl with black spots, representing a ladybug shell. They have winding antennas on their head, and a small crescent moon on their forehead. They have swirling patterns that climb up their arms and paws.
Comet smiled widely at the newcomer and said, “Hello! Welcome to my beautiful theatre! You are going to help me host a bunch of.. mentally unstable people! We will force them to watch their lives on screen (and other content), probably end up with them hating us, and do other fun stuff as well! Any questions Clover?”
The ladybug looked up, gaze landing on the strange looking dragon. “..How do you know my name? I mean, it’s not like it’s my name name, but I forgot my real one. Wait a second! Why am I here? Is this one of Caine’s adventures? That would explain why you know my name.” It seemed they were a bit of a rambler, rattling off meaningless questions, mostly to themselves.
Comet looked up at the young ladybug, interrupting their speech, then shrugged. “To answer your first question, magic. To answer your second question, no this isn’t one of Caine’s adventures. To answer the third question I know is coming, no you didn’t escape the circus, this is simply a pocket dimension caught between time and space. Also you should be able to remember your real name, I could have sworn I turned that filter off.” Comet then shrugged again, and smiled towards the ladybug, already knowing that even more questions were about to be thrown at her.
The ladybug looked.. shocked, to say the least. After a few beats of silence, they finally spoke. “...Marina. I am Marina.”
Comet smiled once again, before saying, “So I did turn off that filter, almost thought I had done it wrong for a second. Wait a moment… I should change that so it’s only for you and not the others because, uh, because I can’t tell you why!” Comet chuckles slightly before seemingly zoning off, only for a few seconds though, as she soon shakes her head seemingly coming back to reality.
“So… why me, exactly? Not any of the other circus members? And also, do you just mean human beings? To react to their lives, I mean. Because, that’s all I’m aware of. If fictional universes were real, am I a fictional character? If you’re a dragon, shouldn’t you also be a fictional character? I mean, as far as I know, I live in the one, true, world, and I..” Their ramblings continue on, but none of it really matters, at least to Comet. Their existential crisis could wait, Comet wanted entertainment.
Comet’s eyes widened slightly before softening. “Aren’t you a fast learner? To answer your questions, no, you are not from the one true world, you are from a dimension us dimensional travellers call The Amazing Digital Circus, or simply TADC. We use this name because in the actual one true world, which I like to call true reality, there is a show that mirrors your friends’ lives, this is called, and you guessed it, The Amazing Digital Circus. So, anyways-"
Marina suddenly cut Comet off. “Hold on! What do you mean, my friends’ lives? Am I a side character, or something? I mean-”
“Hush, kid, I’m getting there. So anyways, as I was saying, there is a show that mirrors your friends’ lives. You are not in this show, due to the fact that you are the OC of an emo teenager, as am I, though my creator isn’t emo. This does not mean we are lesser than the others though, quite the opposite in fact. This actually means we have more control, my creator tends to say that I control myself, which I greatly appreciate. I actually think I’m her favourite, hmm?” Comet pauses slightly to turn her head to a corner in the ceiling. There was nothing there. “Anyway, I think that answers all your current questions, though I’m sure you have more, especially after that explanation.” Comet then took a deep breath, because she was kinda out of breath after the lengthy explanation.
Marina glared at Comet, mostly in disbelief, but also a bit in annoyance.
“An… emo teenager? Is that all I am? Am I not a person? Was I made to be shipping material? Made for trauma? Backstories? Was my entire life just a backstory to them? Were you just made to bend time? To be over-powered?”
Comet looked at the poor ladybug, and her eyes fully softened for the first time in this conversation, and the chaos that once filled her gaze had seemed to evaporate. “I remember when I first found out I was an OC, but then I realized I was also my own person. Our existence doesn’t make sense, but it doesn’t have to. One day you’ll realize that you are you, even if right now it feels like your life is all a lie. I don’t know your creator, but I can assure you that they probably love you. Just… Don’t think about it too much, ok? There will come a time where it just… Doesn’t really bother you, and when that time comes? Your life will get so much better, plus you can easily break the Fourth Wall as an added bonus.” Comet gives Marina an awkward smile, one quite different then the chaos filled one that she had been giving them earlier.
Marina looked slightly taken aback, but her stiffened posture did lighten up a bit. “I mean- yeah, alright.”
Comet’s chaotic smile quickly returned as she says, “Anyway, enough of that! What do you say we dive into the chaos and grab the people I was talking about earlier? Help take your mind off things?“
“Eh, yeah, sure, I gu-” Marina’s speech is cut off as Comet snaps her fingers (talons?), and in a heartbeat as a flurry of people are teleported into the room. Marina didn’t recognize most of them, but there was a small group of people she did in fact recognize.
“Pomni? Oh, are these all the people from the Circus? Hey! It’s… alright, here, I guess. Caine’s not here, I’m pretty sure.”
Pomni looked at Marina incredulously, as the ladybug spoke.
“..Do I know you?” Pomni said carefully as she tilted her head slightly to the side.