Chapter Text
There was a sudden intense blinding light, accompanied by a headache and vertigo. The headset. Take it off.
You struggle to pull it off your head, only to feel that there's nothing there. You open your eyes, and you're standing atop a stage. Checkerboard tiles and colorful scenery surround you.
There's also not a soul in sight.
“Hello? Is anyone there? How do I take this thing off?!”
You go to cover your mouth. Your voice is garbled beyond recognition. Upon closer inspection and touching of your face, you don't even seem to have a mouth anymore. You panic.
A portal opens across the room, and six…people? (Question mark?) walk out. A short jester, a walking tragedy mask, a rag doll, a chess piece, some conglomeration of colorful plastic parts, and a nicely-dressed but off-putting pair of dentures with eyes. They're all carrying boxes and reusable grocery bags. The colorful plastic one drags a large box out of the portal, assisted by the tragedy mask.
You try to listen to what they're saying.
“That was a very faithful recreation of a Costco, Caine!” says the chess piece, setting a box of assorted chips on the ground.
“I couldn't have done it without you guys’s help. Zooble, is that TV going in your room?” says the dentures, pointing toward the plastic one. They nod, struggling to pull the box. The tragedy mask helps them push it along the floor.
The jester takes notice of you, suddenly looking worried. “Caine? There's someone on the stage.”
Everyone snaps their head over to look at you. The rag doll, the dentures, and the jester immediately drop what they’re doing and start heading your way.
A million thoughts run through your head. This is a game, isn't it? Are they NPCs? Are they enemies? Are they gonna kill me? Why were they discussing COSTCO, of all places?
The pair of dentures floats up to greet you. So he can fly. Okay.
“Hello my dear!!! Welcome to the Amazing Digital Circus!!!”
Small confetti cannons fire near your head, startling you. You take a step back…and are more off-put to discover you're now walking on four legs, in addition to having arms.
“...Where am I?” Your voice still comes out garbled. The jester and ragdoll look…surprised.
The teeth man gives another flourish. “The Amazing Digital Circus!!!” More confetti rains down onto your head.
The small jester steps up. “Caine, we can help explain.”
He nods. “That might be for the best.”
She walks up to you, at first appearing shy, but straightening up before she speaks. “Hello, um…My name is Pomni.”
“I'm Caine! The ringmaster! Kind of.”
Pomni rocks back and forth, still looking a little unsure of how to proceed. “So, you're here because you put on a headset, right?”
“Yes,” you say. It sounds like you blew directly into a microphone on max sensitivity.
Pomni glances over to Caine. “Uh, what's wrong with their voice?”
Caine shrugs. “Nothing’s wrong! I can hear them just fine.” He looks around at everyone's confused faces. “Can you guys not…hear them?”
The ragdoll raises her hand for some reason, even though this is not a classroom. The others look toward her. “They've got kind of a voice filter. A little bit like Orbsman? I can understand Orbsman, though, so I'm not sure what's going on…”
Me too pal. You try to vocalize this, but again, it sounds like you threw a live microphone down some concrete stairs.
Caine ponders. “That's bizarre. Let me take a gander at their mind files…”
Mind files?!
He vanishes. You turn your attention back to Pomni. You're afraid to speak. You don't know what might come out.
“Hey, it's okay. Let me finish explaining, alright?”
You nod.
She continues, “So, when you put on the headset, there was this horrible flash of light, right?”
…You nod.
“Basically what happened is, the headset scanned your brain and uploaded it here to the circus. Your human self is still out there, perfectly fine, going on as normal. You, here in the circus…are the brain scan. Like, a digital backup of yourself.”
What the fuck? Not the worst morning I’ve had.
You take a few more steps back, nearly tripping over your extra pair of legs. Everyone freezes, not wanting to frighten you anymore, but unsure of what to do.
You’re a copy? A copy of yourself. In some kind of computer game. Jesus Christ, okay. Here we fucking go, people. Too blessed to be stressed, let’s make the fucking most of it.
You manage to catch yourself before you fall, giving a shaky thumbs up to Pomni and the rag doll.
Suddenly, Caine manifests next to you on the stage.
“I combed around in there for a while,” he says, tossing a comb over his shoulder. “Seems like this little voice quirk is part of their avatar, but I understand it could be troublesome…”
“Surely there's a way to alter her avatar? Or alter us so that we can understand her?” asks the ragdoll.
Caine winces. “Your avatars are very strongly connected to your minds. Altering the fundamentals of someone's avatar, while not impossible, might have…catastrophic results if not done with the utmost care and sensitivity to the guest. Too risky right now.”
He pats you on the shoulder, making you jump. “Not to worry, my silly centaur. I'll do my best to come up with a way for you to commune with the others!”
Centaur? You tap all four of your legs to the ground. Okay then. I’m a centaur.
While you're still looking dumbfounded at your new strange body, the ragdoll climbs onto the stage to greet you.
“So, I know this must all sound crazy. But you're not alone in this! We’re all humans who put on the headset too.”
Caine raises a finger, about to talk.
“Oh – except for Caine. He's an AI. He created this place.”
Caine straightens his tie. “From nothing, might I add!”
He floats back down towards the others, and bends down to drag a large box (well, large compared to him) containing…a snow-cone machine?
The ragdoll smiles in his direction, then turns her attention back to you. On the surface level, she and Pomni seem to be the most down-to-earth of all these randos.
Wait, though, “randos” sounds kind of mean. What should I call them, eccentrics? Headset victims? Circus freaks? No, those are all no good…
She takes your floating glove-hands in hers. “If you need help with anything, don't hesitate to ask. We'll do our best to take care of you just fine here. I mean…we all take care of each other here. So…”
Pomni nudges Ragatha with her elbow.
“Oh! Uh, you probably want an introduction to everyone, huh?”
Pomni smiles. Ragatha takes you by the hand, leading you off the stage. You stop at the edge. You're not quite sure how to maneuver your four legs. You must be showing your hesitation on your face, because Ragatha reacts immediately.
“That is tricky,” she says. “Can you…try to jump down? We can't really get injured here, so it's worth a try.”
Now that she's down on the floor, she moves out of the way to give you room.
You test bending your front and back legs. Tricky. You hold your breath, squeeze your eyes shut, and make a calculated leap – and immediately eat shit on the polished checkerboard floor.
Your limbs are bent out of shape. One arm/leg thing has completely fallen out of its socket. Oddly enough, the pain isn't entirely unbearable. Just incredibly inconvenient. Like you stubbed your pinky toe or something.
“Agh! I mean…We can get injured, but it’s not permanent. Oh, that must hurt, I’m so sorry…”
You give another thumbs-up, indicating you’re not dead. Caine walks over.
“Don't worry!!! I can fix this!!!” He snaps his fingers, and you're upright again. “I don't know why I haven't added a better way to get on and off that stage…” He claps his hands. A ramp appears.
“Problem solved!” He whooshes back in the direction of the snow-cone machine.
The ragdoll lets out a breath. “Whew. Okay. Ready for introductions?”
You nod. She walks you over towards the group still messing with the boxes and shopping bags.
“So, I'm Ragatha. I'm the human that's been here the second longest. Uh, pronouns she/her…I like horses, and playing the piano…” She stops herself. “Gosh, I'm sorry. You can't even tell me who you are, and here I am talking your ear off…But uh, anyways!”
You don't mind, but you can't exactly vocalize that, so you give her another thumbs up. She's too distracted to notice. You approach the chess piece.
“This is Kinger! He's been here the longest! He was with the first batch of humans, before…um…We'll get into that later.”
Kinger waves excitedly at you. He's holding a grocery bag, unloading vegetables onto a white marble countertop that looks a bit out-of-place compared to the rest of the room…
“Yep! The first. Kind of. Pronouns he/him! That's how you do it, right Zooble?”
The person made of colorful plastic, apparently called Zooble, gives him a thumbs up from down the hallway. They and the tragedy mask have made it quite far with the large box.
“Anyway, I was a programmer. I helped to create Caine. If you have any circus-related questions, I'm yer guy. I like bugs! I do NOT like computer bugs...”
Caine yells from off in the distance. “I thought you liked the butterfly garden!!! Did I emulate something wrong???”
“Computer bugs as in asinine errors that take a long time to fix, Caine, not emulated insects. The butterfly garden was lovely.”
Caine yells again, “Ok. Just wanted to make sure. :)”
Somehow the smiley face is audible.
Ragatha walks you over to Pomni, who has picked up a microwave and started down the hallway.
“Oh – Hi! Uh, my name's Pomni. You know that already…I'm the most recent human to come here, besides you. Pronouns, uh, she/her. I want to talk to you, but this microwave is a bit heavy…”
Indeed, the microwave is regular microwave-sized, not Pomni-sized. She appears to be struggling. Ragatha rushes over.
“I'll help!” She looks over to you. “You come with us! We can show you the, uh, hallway.”
You follow them down the hall. Lining the walls are multiple doors, all bearing the portraits of different individuals. Some of them have wreaths of flowers around them.
You approach the door with Pomni’s portrait.
Pomni tries to look at you over the microwave box. “Ah…I'm sorry, could you get the door?”
You step forward and open the door. You're getting used to the four legs. The longer you walk with them, the more normal it seems. You briefly worry you might forget what it's like to walk on two legs, but you're distracted by Pomni's bedroom.
Surprisingly, it matches her very well. Red and blue everything. Pomni and Ragatha walk in, setting the microwave box down on the counter. They both breathe a sigh of relief.
“So, um, this is my room. You get assigned one by default, but you can customize it however you like. I added some plants. And, um, this microwave.”
Ragatha smiles at her.
“I missed having midnight snacks,” she says. She glances toward her bedside table, and her expression falls. “I forgot the minifridge. God dammit.”
You take a closer look around Pomni's room. A few plants stand in pots by the foot of her bed, and there’s an empty space by her bedside table where a minifridge would have fit perfectly.
“No, we picked it up. I think I might have been carrying that box. Go check the pile,” says Ragatha. She puts a hand on your shoulder. “Let’s go greet the others.”
You walk with Ragatha further down the hallway. You see a lot of doors with portraits you don’t recognize. All with flower wreaths. Are they on vacation…? Not back from Costco yet…? You stop at the door with the portrait of the colorful plastic person. Was their name Zooble?
Ragatha knocks. The tragedy mask greets you at the door. She looks a little forlorn, especially with the tears in her eyes, but still smiles at you.
“Hi, Ragatha. Zooble’s busy with the TV…”
You and Ragatha look inside. Zooble is fooling with a bunch of colorful cords, looking a bit exasperated, though they perk up when they see you.
“It’s the newbie,” they say, walking to the door. They hold out a…lobster claw? (Hand?) You shake it anyway.
“I’m Zooble. They/them. You got a name yet?”
A name? Of course you have a name. Why wouldn’t you have a name? Your name is…
Your name is…
…Shit.
Ragatha suddenly appears apologetic. “Oh, gosh, I forgot to tell you. We don’t exactly remember our human names in this place. I’m sure Caine can find yours if he does a little digging. But in the meantime, you could come up with a nickname we could all call you by…?”
A nickname? You think for a moment.
Ragatha puts her face in her hands. “I say that as if you can speak to us. I’m so sorry. Maybe we should get Caine for this.”
“They can’t talk?” asks the tragedy mask.
Ragatha shakes her head. “Well, they can talk…But me and Pomni couldn’t understand them at all. They’ve got a kind of…voice quirk. With their avatar.”
The tragedy mask walks over to a nearby shelf, and returns with a pen and notepad in her arms. “Here, you can use these.”
You take the pen and paper, almost thanking her verbally, but you decide to give a friendly nod instead.
“Oh, um…My name is Gangle. She/her.” She gives you a smile that looks like this. :3
You nod again, and put the pen to paper to write…
Oh, what name should you pick? You can’t remember any name, really. Not your own human name, not any of your family’s names, not even any online screennames…Wait.
There’s one that you remember. Moshi Monsters. Gooby2045.
It’s a ridiculous name, but it’s the only name associated with yourself that you can remember. You scrawl your name and pronouns on the notepad, turning it so all can see.
GOOBY
SHE/THEY
With all the love and sincerity in her heart, Ragatha turns to you and says, “Welcome to the circus, Gooby!”
Something about the way she says it makes it seem less ridiculous.