Chapter Text
Two spotlights illuminated a red curtain as others brightened the scene, teeth invisibly tethered to a red, white, and black showman uniform slipped into frame, before they opened to speak- and revealed two differently colored eyeballs, one blue, one green.
“Welcome to The Amazing Digital Circus!” He flung his white, gloved hands out, twirling his cane as he started with the introductions, some fitting circus music playing in the background.
“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! Isn’t that right, Bubble!?” He excitedly asks in full showman mode, flipping his black top hat and letting a bubble with sharp teeth and beady black eyes pop out of it.
“That’s right Caine! And I can’t wait to see what you’ve got cooking up for today!” Bubble replied. It’s voice is more nasally, high pitched compared to Caine’s, but the enthusiasm is matched.
“Well let’s not waste any time! Let’s get rrrrrrright into the show!” Caine exclaimed. And into the show they get, introducing the rest of the cast.
“Gangle, and Zooble, and Kinger too!” The chorus sung, showcasing off someone made of red string and a white comedy mask, someone assembled out of toybox parts, and a king chess piece wearing a royal robe, with a pair of eyes.
“Ragatha, Jax and there’s Kaufmo too!” The chorus continued, introducing a ragdoll with red hair in a purple dress, a rabbit with similarly shaded fur wearing pinkish overalls, and a clown dressed in yellow, white, and blue.
“Day after— day after— day after day we fly,” Eyeballs similar to Cane’s flew around in a circle, alongside a potted yellow flower, a red cylinder, a record player, and a green tea kettle. Caine and Bubble ascended up to the sky after the word “fly”.
“Past the moon and the sun and we don’t know why!” Caine practically swung his body to introduce the aforementioned moon and sun, both with smiles on their faces, before he and Bubble flew up higher.
Back at the ground level of the circus, something popped into existence below the spinning eyes, flower, cylinder, record player, and tea kettle. Or, more accurately, someone. Crumpled into a sort of ball on the floor they lift their head up, stretching out brown, long, fuzzy legs, and arms. They found it hard to stretch the latter out to their sides, their bisque colored hands stuck together.
“............!” They attempted to speak, but nothing came out. Their brown and black eyes slightly widened in surprise, stuck looking at their clasped together hands. It takes some effort, but they managed to pry them apart, feeling the sensation of trying to make velcro un-stick. The tea kettle fell to the ground and they darted back, while they noted the reflective surface of the object.
They moved forward to take in their full appearance, and if their black line of a mouth was functioning, they’d be screaming. They had the appearance of one of those hanging monkey stuffed animals, complete with a brown tail, bisque ears, and two black dots to represent nostrils. Stumbling up to their feet, their brand new long legs suddenly making it much harder, they attempted to run— but only succeeded in bumping into the rest of the cast.
A chorus of groans, starting with Jax, the purple rabbit, filled the room as a domino chain of falling people started. The monkey-plush paused for a moment, and shakily stepped back, their tail pushing against the ground to support them. The others got back up to their feet, and Jax pointed at the new arrival.
“Caine, is this another stupid NPC, or a new sucker? Because if it’s a new character, we’re gonna have to redo this whole theme song,” He spoke, sounding exasperated while the new guy bobbed their head forward, seemingly trying to force words out.
“I’m not doing that again.” The toybox character, Zooble stated, arms crossed.
“Well look at that! It appears a new human has entered this realm!” Caine exclaimed, pointing at the monkey-plush with his cane. Meanwhile, their hands moved to their head, trying to pull something off.
“Oh yeah man just keep grabbing at it, that worked for all of us… Caine what’s wrong with their voice, usually they say something by now” Jax teased them, before turning to Caine to question him. At this point, they’d stopped trying to take the headset off, and were instead looking between each of the members, pointing a hand at them. Their posture was slightly crouched, legs shaking as the end of their tail pressed against the ground.
“Hey Jax, vhy don’t you quit... monkeying around?” the clown, Kaufmo, spoke up in a german accent, and held up his hands expecting applause. A round of forced, barely-heard chuckles came from the characters while monkey-plush was briefly taken out of his confused stupor to stare at him.
“Hey, there’s nothing to be afraid of new stuff, just calm down a little,” the red-haired ragdoll, Ragatha, held up her hands in a placating gesture, and took a few steps closer.
“We’ve all been through this, you just need to—” She spoke, walking closer and held out a hand. Caine interrupts her speech, and before Monkey-plush can do anything.
“Ah-Ha! Well my new friend, it looks like your model comes with a handy talk-string on your back! Just give it a pull and you’ll be speaking in no time!” Caine cheerfully explained, before he zipped behind them, and pulled the string, floating away to watch.
“Don’t just feed me bananas, I like people food!” Monkey-plush cheerfully said, even when their anxious eyes did not reflect the tone of his voice. They reached behind their back, pulling the string again. And again. And again.
”Sorry, I’m just monkeying around!”
”Let’s go look for peanuts!”
”I speak english hehehe, can’t you talk monkey?”
“I speak clown!” Kaufmo piped up, and Zooble proceeded to jab him in the gut. He grunted, and glared at them for a brief moment.
Meanwhile, Monkey-plush continued to tug on their back string, seeming to get more and more desperate with each jerk of their long arm, Jax chuckling as he watched.
“Imagine how mad they’re gonna be when they find out they can’t leave” He mock-whispered into Kaufmo’s ear, the new arrival’s head almost making a snapping sound as they turned to Jax.
“Jax!” Ragatha chastised him.
“What? They’re gonna find out anyway, why sugarcoat it?”
“Shut up Jax… but yeah, he’s right. Welcome to your new home, and new body.” Zooble confirmed. Monkey-Plush tilted their head to the side, and maintained the most confused look they could on a plush face.
“Guys, don’t be mean…” Ragatha admonished, crossing her arms.
“Oh yeah, We’ve been stuck here for years—”
“Well, now the circus finally has a monkey!” Kaufmo exclaimed. The group didn’t bother faking a laugh, and Jax shot him a “dude-shut-up” look.
“As I was saying, Old Kinger over there’s supposedly been stuck here the longest.” Jax gestured to a pillow fort, the chess piece poking his head out.
“Did somebody ask about cabbage white butterflies?” Kinger asked, looking around.
“That’s why he’s crazyyyy” Jax suddenly got right up next to Monkey-plush, poking them in the gut with his elbow, twirling a finger around his temple. Monkey-plush weakly attempted to shove him off, and toppled over instead.
“Somebody get them some bananas, stat!” Kaufmo exclaimed. A few half-hearted, totally not fake laughs came from Ragatha, while Jax chuckled. Monkey-plush got up on their feet with the help of Ragatha, who they nearly pulled down with them.
“...So Caine, you got an adventure for the new fella?” Jax asked.
“I’d like to give our brand new member a tour of the circus grounds first! Off we go!” Caine exclaimed, raising up the cane before darting over to Monkey-plush. The new member had no time to object as Caine grabbed their arm, and whisked them out of the circus.
One disorienting tour later, the two are back in the circus with everyone else. Monkey-plush crumbled to the floor, before pulling back their head, and vomiting yellow-ish sludge on the ground. They dragged themselves off the ground and to their feet, Caine took the chance to yap more.
“Woah! Clean-up on aisle you!” he exclaimed.
“I’m on it boss!” Bubble exclaimed, darting to the pile, sticking out a pink tongue, and starting to lick it up.
“...You don’t need to do that.” Caine spoke, any enthusiasm drained from his voice, a bit of horror at the sight sprinkled in.
“Hm, I wonder if newbie would even be able to say their name… if they remembered it.” Jax taunted, smiling. Monkey-plush looked back at them, and started rubbing a hand against their head, unable to remember. They grabbed the string on their back, and pulled it a couple more times.
“My cousin is a macaque, he eats lots of crabs!”
”Hello, I’m Osgood, a friendly monkey!”
Two phrases played, and they paused on the second one.
“Osgood? What a fitting name! And what are your pronouns… stick out your right hand if he/him, left if she/her, or wiggle your tail if any other!” Caine, now broken out of his stupor, instructed. Osgood processed his words for a moment, before sticking out his right hand.
“$5*@” Zooble stated, disappointed. A censor bar appeared over where a mouth would be on them. Osgood’s expression, which was starting to dampen in confusion, twisted back into that state.
“Oh. Yeah, no swearing. Although I doubt you had any of those in your lines” Jax chuckled at the thought.
“Yup! Foul language is not allowed in the The Amazing Digital Circus, a place made to be enjoyed by all the ages! A wonderful word of wonder where anything can happen! …As long as it’s not swearing” Caine confirmed. The corners of Osgood’s mouth turned down, and he looked down at his hand. He gave his hand a dead stare before he could move the four digits, tucking in his thumb, and pulling his first and third finger down… only for that same censor bar to appear over his hand.
Defeated, he reached for the cord on his back, pulling it again.
”Im just a lil primate, badaleedadodum” He said, making the strangest string of noises at the end.
“Well I can’t just send you on an adventure like this!” Caine exclaimed, closing his jaw, pressing a finger to his lower gums, thinking.
“What about voice alterification-fantastication! I’m mostly licensed” Bubble suggested.
“What? I don’t remember giving you a license for that” Caine replied, raising an eye in confusion.
“Don’t worry, just let Daddy Bubble handle this!”
“...Don’t call yourself that. Fine.” Caine gave in, snapping his fingers— popping Bubble and Osgood away.
“Well, I have a new adventure for the rest of you in the meantime! Who’s ready to evade a group of giant, monstrous rabbits while rolling around in hamster balls?” Caine eagerly questioned. Zooble attempted to silently sneak away, but just like the others, Caine snapped his fingers, and they were all sent onto the next adventure.