Chapter Text
Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière simply wasn’t having a good day at all, to say the least. Sweat trickled down her head as she stepped forth to the summoning circle, with each whisper from her expectant peers serving as an extra stab to her pride.
She’d failed at magic countless times before, but this was different. The Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual may, no, IS her last chance to prove she is not a failure, to silence the snickers of her peers and the disappointed sighs of her family.
“Looking forward to the amazing familiar you’re going to summon!” Louise’s blood boiled upon hearing that voice she (unfortunately) recognized. She snapped back with a glare to stare down Kirche von Zerbst. The Rule Of Steel warred within her; the noble poise she put on wrestled with her urge to scream profanities that would cause her elder sisters to faint in shock and cause her mother to wash her mouth off with soap at the sight of that dark-skinned cow.
“Go to hell, Zerbst…” Louise glowered as she turned back from her rival, with Kirche garnering a satisfied smirk from Louise’s helpless anger. Her hands subtly shook, from both desperation and defiance. “I’ll show them… I’ll show them all I’m not a zero…”
Louise took deep breaths as she stepped forth to the podium. “Miss Vallière, whenever you’re ready.” Professor Colbert said, his voice gentle and kind, but laced with that same pity she hated so much. Her cheeks flushed bright red as she fumed.
She did not need pity. She needed power. The type of power that would bring her naysayers to their knees and prove them wrong. Louise straightened, her determined face hiding her fear. “I AM ready.”
With that, Louise began her incantation as she raised her wand high into the sky. “My familiar that exists somewhere in this universe!” Her voice was sharp and echoed across the silent crowd as they listened.
Montmorency von Montmorency tilted her head in slight confusion as she listened, her blonde curls bouncing as she did so. “What kind of spell is that?” Her voice piped in, dripping with haughty skepticism.
“Whatever it is, it’s original, that’s for sure.” That foppish Guiche de Gramont snorted, his own curly blond locks falling over his forehead. He flashed a charming grin, though his eyes flitted to Louise with a mixture of amusement and pity. “Let’s see if the Zero can pull this off.”
Louise gritted her teeth, her temper flaring upon hearing that damned nickname, but she pressed on, her wand trembling slightly. "My divine, beautiful, wise, and powerful servant, by the power of the pentagon of five elements, heed my call!" Her voice grew more frantic and louder as she poured every last ounce of will into the spell. The air around the summoning circle began to hum and cause a small vibration, causing unease in the crowd.
"I wish and assert from the very bottom of my heart, appear!" Louise's final words erupted with a force that surprised even her, her voice cracking with raw emotion. The ground shook violently, and a blinding green portal tore open above the circle, its edges crackling with chaotic energy, though if one could see carefully, red and blue shapes constantly spewed out of it before disappearing as quickly as they appeared. Gasps rippled through the crowd with surprise as the air smelled of ozone.
Louise’s heart swelled as she took in the sight. This was it! She was going to finally prove herself worthy of the Vallière name! All of the jeers! The mockery! The pitying sighs! They would all be laid to rest! Her all-powerful familiar was finally here!
Then, the explosion happened.
POP!
BOOM!
A sudden deafening blast engulfed ______, though nobody heard it apparently because there was a notable lack of gasps. ______ coughed violently as she looked around frantically for her new familiar, though she became confused as she noticed the sudden change of scenery; it looked like something out of a child’s book as ______ noticed a new bizarre-looking cast looking at her; and all of them seemed startled, save for a purple rabbit that only quipped, “Well, that happened.”
“…Wait, wha-?”
That was when this freakish-looking…THING suddenly showed up in front of her; it looked human, except instead of a head, it just had a pair of disembodied eyes and an enlarged pair of gums with teeth. “OH WOW! A NEW HUMAN! I KNEW SOMETHING WAS GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN I HEARD THAT VOICE!” It got up in her face as she shrieked in shock.
“W-wait, so…you’re my familiar…?” ______ asked. Wh-why can’t she remember her name? Did, did this thing have something to do with it!? "FAMILIAR? I DON'T EVEN KNOW THE MEANING OF THAT WORD! I BETTER PUT IT IN MY DICTIONARY!" With that, the freakish thing disappeared as quickly as it appeared. "WAIT, COME BACK!" ______ extended her, ...paw...?
"Hehe, can't wait to see what Caine's cooking up for today's adventure, especially since we've got a new sucker now..." The bizarre-looking purple rabbit said, a wide grin on his face, showing yellow teeth. Something told her this rabbit reminded her all too much of a certain cow, which was enough for her to dislike him already.
"...I don't know if we're ready for another adventure, we just had that last one..." ______ heard a female voice remark, though she for the most part ignored it as she continued examining her paw(!?) and put it to her face which felt...furry...!? At this point, panic overtook ______ as she frantically looked around and there she saw what had become of her in a mirror's reflection.
A pink cat with blue eyes adorned in a purple and pink polka-dotted cloak with a pink cape and a witch's hat was staring right back at her, with a look of growing horror creeping onto its face the more she looked at it. ______ would've gushed and squeed over how adorable it was if it wasn't for the fact that it was HER.
“H-hey, it’s going to be okay…” She heard another female voice call out but she did not care because NO, IT’S NOT OKAY! WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!? WHY DID SHE LOOK LIKE THIS!?
The interior of the tent was engulfed by a horrified shriek.
A peculiar-looking circus tent laid upon a series of grassy hills and a blue sky. Inside...
"WELCOME TO THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS!" A booming voice shouted out, this belonging to a peculiar entity. It looked like a man except it had a pair of teeth surrounding a pair of disembodied eyes.
"MY NAME IS CAINE! I'M YOUR RINGMASTER, AND I'M HERE TO SHOW YOU THE MOST JAW-DROPPING, HEART-STOPPING, MIND-BENDING PARAPHERNALIA YOU'VE EVER LAID YOUR EYES UPON!" Said entity, Caine, made a series of poses; respectively his lower jaw dropping, him putting a stop to a heart that was flying toward him, and him looking up at a brain that twisted. He then looked to the side at a widely grinning bubble with sharp teeth. "ISN'T THAT RIGHT, BUBBLE?"
Bubble only grinned in response. "That's right, Caine! I can't wait to see what you've got cooking up for today!" Caine then looked towards a central stage with closed curtains. "WELL, LET'S NOT WASTE ANY TIME! LET'S GET RIGHT INTO THE SHOW!"
At that, the red curtains opened up revealing...
A white comedy mask held up by red ribbons happily waving. "Gangle..."
What appeared to be a mishmash of toy parts discontently looking, arms(?) folded. "...and Zooble..."
A king chess piece with enlarged eyes peeking out of a pile of pillows and then hiding in it. "...and Kinger too!"
A cheerful-looking ragdoll with red hair and one of the eyes being a blue button waving. "Ragatha..."
A purple rabbit wearing yellow overalls lying on the floor and winking, showing yellow teeth as he smiled coyly. "Jax..."
And finally, a pale-skinned jester adorned in red and blue looking around uneasily. "...and there's Pomni, woo-hoo~"
After the roll cast, a bizarre circle of miscellaneous items began floating around each other above the stage, and abruptly looping for a good moment. “Day after day, after day, after day, after…”
Caine and Bubble floated above the tent to be greeted by a moon and a sun with faces for both of them. “…we fly! Past the moon and the sun, and we don’t know why!”
Looking from below was the colorful cast of characters introduced in this bizarre song, with Zooble being quick to voice their displeasure. “I hate this song...” They glowered, eyes narrowed, with one much larger than the other. “…why do we even have to put up with it every morning in this [BOINK!]-ing place?” Whatever they said was quickly censored with a cartoon noise. Oh, how they HATED this censor.
Ragatha only chuckled as she looked at Zooble. “Hey, I’m certain you’ll get used to it eventually.” A smile that seemed a bit too forced was etched onto the doll’s face as she said this. Pomni took her time to look back at Kinger, who was content to hide inside his pile of pillows.
She couldn’t keep her mind off what the chess piece had told her back at Mildenhall while he was still lucid. “In this world, the worst thing you can do is make someone think they’re not wanted or loved.” Sighing, Pomni nodded to herself as she remained content to hold this advice to heart.
"Well, whatever adventure we're having this time better be good. That last one was a complete drag..." Jax drawled, still disappointed over how...non-violent that Mildenhall adventure turned out to be, well, at least for him and his group. Having garnered a cruel smirk, Jax took his sweet time to sweep a foot underneath Gangle, causing her comedy mask to break, with her now donning a tragedy mask as she looked back with tearful eyes. "Whoops. Sorry, Gangle! Didn't see you there~" Jax mockingly apologized with a singsongingly-sweet tone. Zooble glared at the [BANG!]hole of a rabbit that did that. "You did that on purpose, Jax, and you know it." Even Ragatha looked with disapproval as she shook her head.
Before Jax could snidely respond- “GOOD MORNING, MY PRECIOUS PUPPETS!” Caine suddenly appeared before the group with a booming voice. “ARE YOU ALL READY FOR THE EXCITING NEW ADVENTURE I-“ Whatever Caine was going to say was interrupted by a foreign female-sounding voice nobody in the Circus ever heard before.
“My familiar that exists somewhere in this universe!”
Caine started glitching out in reds and blues as a vortex of green came into existence above the circus grounds, startling everyone in the proximity. “THE [SCREECH!]!?” Zooble cursed as they stepped protectively in front of Gangle. The female voice continued on, with none of the circus being able to tell where it was coming from. "My divine, beautiful, wise, and powerful servant, by the power of the pentagon of five elements, heed my call!"
“Heh, that certainly sounds a lot like me…” Jax arrogantly gestured towards himself as he quipped, with Zooble giving the rabbit a deadpan expression. “I highly doubt that.” They muttered under their breath. “Is it me!? Am I the divine, beautiful, wise, and powerful servant!?” The senile Kinger piped up, eyes sparkling.
"I wish and assert from the very bottom of my heart, appear!" Caine began shifting between red and blue faster. Then, with a snap, it suddenly stopped. The glitching, the green vortex, everything.
And then…
POP!
BOOM!
An explosion engulfed the center stage, though none of the players seemed none worse and Caine just looked on blankly as if nothing happened, before his eyes widened in excitement as they all saw what looked like a bipedal cat in a witch’s outfit looking around frantically as if searching for something.
“Well, that happened.” Jax flatly quipped. Pomni had a very bad feeling about this, as did every other member save for Jax and Kinger. Another new human?
“…Wait, wha-?”
The next thing Pomni knew, the cat let out a horrified shriek as she frantically looked over herself before looking back at the cast with a degree of both anger and fear. "H-hey, it's alright..." Pomni bore a small smile as she and Ragatha tried approaching the cat to comfort her. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" The cat screamed in half-hysteria/half-anger with tears threatening to spill from her eyes, causing Pomni and Ragatha to step back out of fear they might accidentally make the situation worse. The cat then took out a wand and pointed it at the cast. "WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!? WHAT IS THIS [BOING!] PLACE!? WHO ARE YOU!?" The cat demanded with desperation in her voice. "WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER MY NAME!?"
Jax snickered to himself before elbowing Pomni. "Wow, she's even worse than you were when you came here." Pomni gave an unamused look as she looked back before she stepped forward to try again to comfort the new player over their new situation. "I-I know it's a lot to take in but hear us out..." That was before Caine showed up yet again to greet the newcomer. "WELCOME, NEW FRIEND, TO MY FANTASTIC ABODE, THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS!” Caine then pointed to the cat as he then explained. “YOU HAVE STUMBLED INTO AN INCREDIBLE WORLD OF WONDERS, WHERE ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!”
As he said this, the cat’s fearful and anguished face turned up towards the ringmaster, a look of hatred creeping onto her face, complete with black scribbles for pupils. “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO INTERRUPTED MY SUMMONING SPELL!? SEND ME BACK! HEY, YOU [BOI-OI-OING!] DEMON! I’M TALKING TO YOU!” Her wand pointed at Caine who only seemed to acknowledge her singular swear as he waved a finger. “AH-AH-AH! WE CAN’T HAVE ANY OF THAT FOUL LANGUAGE HERE! NO SWEARING IS ALLOWED IN MY CIRCUS!”
The cat shook her head as she screamed even louder. “I DON’T [SPLAT!]ING CARE ABOUT THE SWEARING! I JUST WANT TO GO HOME!” As the cat ranted, Pomni shifted awkwardly, being reminded all too much about her first day here. “HOW DO I GET OUT OF HERE!?” The cat demanded with desperation.
That was Pomni's cue to gently put a hand on the cat's shoulder as the latter looked at her with panic. Pomni cringed, being painfully reminded of how desperate she was as well when she first arrived in this [SPROING!]hole of a circus. "Don't freak out too much but..." And of course, Jax had to butt his head in as tactlessly as possible. "You can't."
“JAX!” Ragatha glared at Jax and shouted at him before turning towards the cat with a sheepish and apologetic look. She sighed as she then gestured towards her. “…Yeah, you really can’t…” The cat’s ears drooped as her face had a look of confusion and desperation as if pleading them to tell her otherwise. “Wh-what…?”
The cat shook her head as Pomni continued to explain with a gentle expression. “…Believe me. We’ve all tried.” Pomni sadly looked down to the side as she sighed. “Plenty of us went through what you’re going through right now. Myself included.” She painfully closed her eyes. “…As much as I hate to say it, you’re better off not thinking too hard about it…”
At this, the cat went silent, with the sound of her wand being dropped and a blank stare at nothing and nobody in particular was etched on her face. At that, Caine then took his cue to grab the newcomer. “HOW ABOUT WE GIVE OUR NEWEST GUEST A TOUR OF THE CIRCUS GROUNDS!?” With that, he took off with the still-blankly staring cat.
The other players could only watch as their eccentric ringmaster continued on with his tour before they turned into each other. “…Poor thing…” Ragatha spoke up, a sympathetic tone in her voice. “…She must be really scared…” Zooble looked up with a forlorn look. “Better hope she gets used to her new home…” Then, Zooble took a gander at themselves, before sighing and shaking their head. “…and her new body…” Jax had a dismissive look as he stretched his arms behind his head. "Eh, she'll get over it. Hopefully she'll be as fun to push around as Gangle is." He gave said tragedy mask a knowing look, who shuddered.
Pomni looked as the pair came back with Caine pulling the still blankly staring cat witch along to a slot machine of letters. "I think..." She took a long, steady gaze at the cat who still blankly stared as Caine pulled the slot machine which was where he got the players' names, with a mish-mash of letters coming up. "...we should make her feel at home here.
Back with the cat, she couldn't take her mind off what those...dolls...said, even as that [HONK!]ed demon continued to taunt her with this bizarre construct. "HOW ABOUT YTGTG!?" The cat simply blinked. "YOU'RE RIGHT, TOO SIMPLE! LET'S SPIN AGAIN!" With that, Caine pulled the lever again which landed on...
H.
A.
Z.
E.
and L.
"HAZEL! HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT NAME, HAZEL?" As Caine said this, the cat blinked twice before muttering under her breath. "...Hazel..." "THAT SETTLES IT! WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS, HAZEL!" Caine then violently shook Hazel(?)'s paws. "I DO HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR STAY HERE! WE'VE GOT ALL KINDS OF WACKY WONDERS FOR YOU TO ENJOY!"
Hazel then turned to Pomni and the gang, slowly blinking.
Then, she finally spoke up, with a broken and despairing voice.
"...What do you mean, ''you can't leave''?"