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theboywithburninghands · 2 days

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So I pushed through my writer's block. Here's the newest Funnybunny thing. Uh, well, sorta. It's got shipping stuff in it, but most of it is just Jax and getting into his thoughts, and a really nasty encounter with something horrible. The... fun kind of horrible though. Yeah, word of warning, this is a pretty violent little ditty, so if you're squeamish, I'd say either sit this one out or don't eat while reading? I'm damn proud of it either way LOL T/W: Violence, gore, vomit, horror

Reap What You Sow

Jax slid down the tube slide with his hands behind his head. You fall through enough trapdoors and they start to lose their shock value. The slide dropped into a pit full of something cottony and plush. Jax crinkled up his face upon recognizing what he just landed in. Corn silk. The cloyingly sweet smell of corn made him queasy, and he’d be picking strings of silk off of his clothes for hours.

Jax: Not scary. Just annoying.

Jax climbed out of the pit, doing his best to dust himself off. Silk drifted off of him like hair off a shedding St. Bernard. After he was reasonably clean, he approached the door in front of him and nudged it open with his food.

Inside was what appeared to be a disused barn, or at least an imitation of one. It was divided into a ground floor and a hayloft. The ground floor had only two things of note, a door, which appeared to be locked, and a tractor. One of those old fashioned ones that curved in the middle and had big wheels that looked more like those on a kid’s wagon than farm equipment. It was caked with rust and would probably crumble into scrap metal if someone managed to start the engine. A rickety wooden ladder led up into the hayloft above. Jax hummed and gripped one leg of the ladder, shaking it. Seemed climbable enough.

Jax went over to the locked door, finding some words scratched into it with what looked like a knife.

Jax: “In your eye, a promise kept

Through my eye, a line is swept

I trace the day, a circle spun

A hole in skin, a scarf begun.

But beware, do not guess wrong

Or they will find you before long.”

Jax sniffed at the poem. Riddles, huh? Cute. Caine must’ve spent a while finding rhymes. Jax examined the lock, pausing to pick another piece of corn silk off his glove. He tried a few of the keys he had in his pocket, but they were all too thick. It was a pretty heavy padlock too, no real way to pick it.

So what was the riddle for? In your eye, a promise kept… waaaait a minute. He was surrounded by hay. What did you go looking for in a stack of hay?

Jax: “Stick a needle in my eye.” Alright, fair point, Caine.

He smiled a bit at his deduction, but now came the actual needle in a haystack part. He sighed, cracked his knuckles and began to climb up the ladder. It squeaked in protest a bit at Jax’s weight, and the third rung from the top made an ominous crunch when he stepped on it. He’d have to skip that one on the way down.

The hayloft was full of… well, hay. It might’ve been in bales once, but now it was a big, messy pile strewn over the baseboards. The hay on top was the usual healthy yellow color, but the hay on the bottom was damp and brown. Jax caught a whiff of rotten hay, the smell almost indistinguishable from horse manure. He looked around for a pitchfork or a shovel to make his life easier, but no such luck.

He sighed again, then began to toss hay off the loft, two handfuls at a time. It would have been easier with the others around. Heck, he could have just made the excuse that he wanted to watch for monsters down below while the others dug around in the hay.

…Nah, it probably wouldn’t go that way anymore, actually. Pomni would scold him for it, or worse, give him those sad, wet puppy dog eyes. And then he’d do it so she’d want to cuddle with him later.

…That, and it did feel nice to make her happy. Weird how that worked.

Jax: *sudden coughing fit* Ugh… *hocks and spits*

Damn haydust… it was like inhaling sand. He was gonna be feeling the grit in his throat for the rest of the day too. Man, he would have pulled out one of his teeth for a bottle of water and a hot shower right about now… Caine probably would have just thrown boiling hot soapy water on him if he asked, then told him to drink said boiling hot soapy water. Idiot.

Whatever. Maybe after the adventure he could go swim in the lake. If he did, Pomni might tag along. Or maybe she wouldn’t, since Ragatha was a thing in their relationship now. …Nah, she could come too. He could play nice with her for a little while. Come to think of it, he couldn’t remember a time when he and Ol’ Rags had ever actually hung out together. He wasn’t opposed to the idea. Other than Pomni she was probably the least annoying person in the circus. Sure, the overly smiley persona got annoying, but… it was… refreshing now and then. So sure. She could come with. Actually, thinking about it, could she even swim…? He’d never seen her in swimwear.

…Not a terrible image to conjure up…

Jax stopped to cough again. If Caine’s idea of an adventure had gotten to the point of just doing manual labor, the future looked bleak. He cringed backwards upon touching the rotten hay on the bottom, wiping his hand on his overalls. He wasn’t digging through that with his hands, Caine could sit and spin. He hocked and spat one more time to futilely try and get some of the grit out of his throat, then began to climb back down the ladder. Maybe the needle was in the hay he’d already thrown onto the floor. Even if it wasn’t, there had to be something down there to help him shovel the-

The pile of rotten hay shifted. Jax froze mid step down the ladder, watching the pile of rancid mush churn about, before a small patch of it slid off the greater mass with an unceremonious plop, revealing-

Revealing a-

Jax: What…?

A single red eye, the size of a beach ball, swiveled around from under the hay. Hateful, malevolent, and all too familiar. It was here.

Jax automatically put his foot onto the next rung on the ladder, determined to leave Its line of sight and wait until It fell back asleep. His stomach squeezed into a knot when the third rung on the ladder messily snapped in two like a stale loaf of bread. His chin thwacked against the floor of the hayloft and he fell a good ten feet to the barn floor. The hay softened his landing a bit, but not much, and he felt a dull, ringing pain in his chin and lower back. He scrabbled to his feet, slipping a bit on the hay, and risked a glance up at the loft.

Its eyes, burning red like irons left in the hearth, leered down at him. Well, hello, little rabbit. How nice of you to come visit. And just in time, I’m famished…

Jax: I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming! Wake up, wake up! *slaps himself in the face# You got too hot in bed, that’s all, wake UP-

Jax yelled in frustrated terror as It lazily flopped over the edge of the hayloft, sending a shower of rotten straw clumps everywhere. Jax’s eyes darted around the area for anything that might help, something to use as a weapon or that needle where was the needle WHERE WAS THE GODDAMN NEEDLE-

Rowstalker: Gnnnnnnnnn…..

It snarled, peeling back Its lips to reveal Its irregular, shattered glass teeth and blight-blackened gums. Those teeth which hurt so badly in mere dreams were now real, and they could finally shred his skin off as easily as peeling an overripe orange. Jax scurried onto the back of the old tractor, desperate for any sort of high ground, not that it would help. It could do anything to catch him…

Jax: Caine, this isn’t FUNNY! GET RID OF IT RIGHT NOW, DO YOU HEAR ME?!

It bellowed at him, and Jax felt nausea lurch in his stomach. The stench of Its breath was like 100-year-old corn cobs and pulverized animal carcasses rotting on a freeway. He felt his breakfast snake back up his gullet and leaned over the side of the tractor to vomit, a stream of black sludge with a rainbow sheen, like an oil slick. He could have sworn he heard It snort in amusement. “Poor thing, whatever will you do when you’re inside my mouth? Well, don’t worry, you won’t have to put up with it for long after I gnaw your head off and slurp your spine through your neck.”

Rowstalker: Gnnnnnn… CHRRR!

It lunged for him, missing his leg by centimeters and plunging Its teeth into the left tire of the tractor. Air rushed out of it in an alarmed hiss and Jax fell backwards over the driver’s seat, his head colliding with the steering wheel. Through the smeary lights now dancing in his vision, he saw It pull Its teeth from the tire, air spouting out of it with an almost relieved sigh as the tractor sagged to the left. Jax dimly groped around for the steering wheel so he could hoist himself up before It lunged for him again. His hand slid across the dashboard, accidentally clicking a few powerless switches, and his glove nearly slipped when it ran over the slick, circular face of the odometer.

Odometer. Something was important about the odome-

This hesitation, coupled with the haze of hitting his head, led to him being unprepared for Its next attack. He jerked upwards a moment too late as It pounced for him, successfully plunging Its front teeth several inches into his right foot. Jax screamed, his voice raspy from the dusty air. In his dreams, this was where it ended. Once It had him, there was no escape. It would eat him now, immediately chewing him into a wet and mushy wad or worse, take Its time, snapping off his arms and legs first and saving his head for last so the pain lasted as long as possible-

But… this wasn’t a dream. He wasn’t paralyzed in his bed by sleep. He could move. He could survive. If he didn’t survive, they would never go swimming. He couldn’t remember the last time he had wanted something. He wanted to go swimming. He was going to go swimming.

Jax: What big teeth you have…! *hoists himself up so he can reach Its mouth and punches one of Its misshapen teeth with all his strength*

It let out a garbled roar of pain and surprise, Its tooth snapping inwards at an odd angle, rotten fluid dribbling out of the partially exposed socket. It let go of Jax’s foot to recoil, shaking Its head around violently. Had It ever actually felt pain before..? No, It couldn’t have. It was against the rules!

Jax looked at the bloodless hole It had left in the middle of his foot. Light shone right through it, and it sparked and stuttered with a glitchy shimmer. Caine’s creations weren’t supposed to hurt them this badly, anything beyond typical “stars and birdies” cartoon nonsense. That could wait, though, he had an opening.

Jax risked a quick glance at the odometer. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt that it was somehow important. The faceplate was marred and scratchy, so he could barely see the numbers or needle-

Needle. Of course.

Jax elbowed the faceplate, shattering it like sugar glass. He glanced back at It, which was still reeling from Its sudden dental luxation, and he stuck his hand into the odometer. Sure enough, he retrieved a long, thin silver key from inside, a fragile little thing no thicker than a sewing needle.

Rowstalker: GNNNNCCHHHHH!

It made a full bodied lunge for Jax, the rabbit diving off the tractor and belly flopping onto the straw covered floor. The needle-key skittered across the floor and vanished into the hay.

Jax: Nononono-NO!

Jax attempted to stand but cried out. The massive hole in his foot flared with pain as he tried to put weight on it, jolting with glitchy after-effects as he fell back onto the floor. He glanced over his shoulder and saw It climbing around on the now upturned tractor, no doubt priming Itself to pounce. He frantically climbed forward and sifted through the hay, rotten and fresh, to find the key. A faint glint in a small pile up ahead, there it was! Jax lurched forward and gripped the key, just in time for It to leap off Its perch and land right on top of him.

Its body was crushingly heavy and Its skin was clammy and squamous, like a reptile or worm, but nauseatingly hot at the same time. It reared back and opened Its vile maw, infected drool, rancid corn juice and a few fat cutworms raining down on Jax’s face. It lunged forward, intent on closing Its jaws around Jax’s upper half, pulling it right off of his hips with one vicious tug. Jax, yelling right back at the creature, swung his left hand, clenched around the needle key, right at one of It’s bloated, scarlet eyes.

There was a noise like a straw being jabbed through a plastic lid, and It stopped moving. Its maw hung agape in shock. Jax clutched the key, the blade wedged into Its right eye all the way up to the bow. Without a second thought, he cranked his wrist, cutting through the vitreous humor with a fetid, wet squelch.

It yowled in agony as crimson jelly gushed out of its eye. It wasn’t supposed to feel pain! That’s not allowed! That’s-

Jax, using his uninjured left foot, pushed The Rowstalker off of him with all of his adrenal strength. It tumbled off of him with remarkable ease, still trying in vain to process the amount of pain It was experiencing. It thrashed about on the floor, red phlegm-like goo pouring from Its eye. Jax limped to the exit door, sliding in the needle key with a rather nauseating squishy noise, not bothering to look behind him as he slammed the door shut behind him, leaving him in utter darkness. There was the click of an automatic lock. It couldn’t reach him now.

He… beat It.

He slumped against the door. He panted hard and fast for a good five minutes. His foot bloomed with horrible pain, and he grasped it weakly. He probably couldn’t walk on it until Caine fixed him. Caine.

Oh, he was gonna KILL Caine… Later.

Another door opened across the way, beaming a shaft of light across the dark area. Jax tried to scramble to his feet, but found himself unable to on account of the enormous gaping hole in his foot and how achingly tired he was. Pomni: …Jax? Is that you..? Oh my God, what happened?!

Jax relaxed and fell back onto his butt. Pomni. Pomni and someone else. But Pomni most importantly. His eyes hurt.

Ragatha: Jax, your foot..! Wh-How did th- a- *coughs, covers her mouth and nose* Oh, you reek! Did you roll around in compost?!

Jax: Speak for yourself, Rags. The response came automatically, along with his usual cheeky grin, but it was shaky with exhaustion. Pomni approached him and gave him a hug, although she held her breath as she did so. Jax savored the hug. Sure, they probably weren’t safe yet. But… he had fought off his worst nightmare. And it was thanks to her. He was… really tired.

Jax: …I love you guys.

Jax closed his eyes.

#the amazing digital circus #tadc #tadc jax #funnybunny #horror #jax x pomni #oh no cringe #bunnydoll #jax x ragatha

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theboywithburninghands · 3 days

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Hey guys. Probably not going to finish the latest chapter this weekend. Busy weekend plus mental health struggles equals no write good. I’ll do what I can to get it out in a timelier fashion but we’ll see

#funnybunny #the amazing digital circus #stuff about me #personal stuff

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theboywithburninghands · 7 days

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Please reblog this if fanfiction has been beneficial to your mental health.

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theboywithburninghands · 7 days

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happy 420 and day i reserve a spot in hell

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theboywithburninghands · 7 days

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In the book The Animated Raggedy Ann and Andy there are loads of production and preproduction materials showing how much love and care went into making the movie

I’ve got a few storyboards, key frames, and a piece of concept art for the deep deep woods here!

Much of the work was done in very little time and all of the animators were given a very heavy workload to complete the project in only two years with an extremely small budget of four million dollars.

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theboywithburninghands · 8 days

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At least 3 people and 1 animal told him not to drink the Grimace Shake.

Right before his shift in Oolacile :(

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theboywithburninghands · 8 days

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weeping sobbing thinking of them

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theboywithburninghands · 8 days

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So. I guess I kind of got into a flow, haven't I? Anyway, here's my first entirely Buttonblossom story, but it's... unconventional, I guess you might call it? It's another horror piece, but less hopeless than the last one. Although I'll still include trigger warnings for anyone that's squeamish. I... admit I mostly wrote this because of @red-balloon12 rightfully pointing out that I haven't had enough Ragatha in my Bunnyjesterdoll stories. But also because I wanted to have something specific happen. Anyway, enough preamble. Here story

The Dollhouse

T/W: Horror, chilopodophobia, gore against a giant bug

Another day, another adventure. Caine told the performers that he had worked hard on this one, which was usually a sign things were going to be unpleasant. Everyone hoped for shorter adventures so they could spend the rest of the day relaxing or… well, doing anything but adventuring, really. If Caine had put extra effort into an adventure, that was usually code for “it was going to take all day.” Sure enough, this one was a doozy.

Caine created a sprawling funhouse for the group to explore. The kind of funhouse that was usually maintained by a traveling carnival, full of rubber bats, cheap animatronic monsters that lurched from dark corners, a few rudimentary puzzles to solve, and an overuse of fog machines. Of course, this was The Amazing Digital Circus, so things like “budget” or “OSHA compliance” weren’t an issue. The first thing that happened upon the six performers stepping into Crazy Caine’s House of Tricks (the ringmaster insisted they call it by its full name) was the door slamming shut behind them, leaving them in complete darkness.

Ragatha: Everyone okay? The others gave short affirmations. A loudspeaker steadily crackled to life.

Ominous Voice: *in a thick Hungarian accent* Welcome… Welcome to Crazy Caine’s House of Tricks. I am your host for this little excursion.

Zooble: Our “ghost host?”

Gangle: *giggles*

Host: Ahh, you are a clever one, my asymmetrical friend. Keep that wit about you as you venture inside. If you would all be so kind, please, stand upon the illuminated circle with the first letter of your name.

Six circles of light, in even lines of three, lit up on the floor. Red, blue, pink, yellow, purple and white, each with a black letter in the center.

Jax: Yeah, I don’t think I’m gonna do that.

Host: Oh, but you shall. Or else, Crazy Caine’s House of Tricks will keep your spirit trapped within its walls for eternity…

Jax: We’re already here for eternity, bub. Also, that is a terrible Lugosi voice. It’s not even a dime store imitation, it’s like the hobo outside the dime store.

Pomni covered her mouth to keep from laughing out loud, trying to pass her outburst off as a stifled sneeze.

Host: If you will not acquiesce, let me show you a little trick I can do. Ka-ZAM.

The purple circle of light blinked from its position amongst the others and appeared directly under Jax’s feet. The rabbit looked down at the light and applauded blandly.

Jax: Wooow, I’m straight up mystified. You can make a light move- I’m sure nobody has ever-

The circle of light under Jax slid open vertically, revealing a hole beneath it. True to cartoon logic, Jax stood on thin air for a moment, his grin fading as he looked down at what he was about to fall into.

Jax: …Okay.

He dropped out of sight with a whoosh.

Pomni: Jax! The other circles of light blinked from their original positions and reappeared underneath its corresponding performer, each one opening up and dropping them into a trapdoor.

Gangle: Eep-! Zooble: S#?%-!

Kinger: *makes a noise not dissimilar to the Wilhelm scream*

Pomni: ACK-!

Ragatha: Oh nOOO-!

The trapdoors slid shut. Host: Do tread carefully, my esteemed guests. You never know what might be behind the next corner… in Crazy Caine’s House of Tricks.

The host gives an ominous cackle before the intercom abruptly cuts off.

—

Ragatha rocketed down a tube slide, her boneless legs flopping over her shoulders.

Ragatha: -OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- OOF!

She crash landed into a pit full of multi-colored plastic balls, about a dozen of them flying through the air and bouncing away with rapid, hollow tapping sounds. Ragatha, practically upside down, pushed her legs off her shoulders and her dress off her face. It had flopped over her head when she landed in the ballpit.

Ragatha: Graceful, Ragatha, truly graceful…

The doll woman waded through the waist-deep pit of plastic balls, trying to keep her mind off all the horror stories she remembered about the nasty things found in ball pits… dirty diapers, used needles…

She grunted with effort, pulling herself up and out of the ballpit, straightening out her dress and sighing.

Ragatha: Hello? Guys? …Marco! She got no reply and decided to check herself out, making sure she didn’t rip anything. She did feel an unpleasant itch on her left leg, so she might have popped a stitch… The itch… moved. Something was on her leg. Something-

with too many legs centipedeCENTIPEDECENTIPEDEOHGODCENTIPEDE-

Ragatha shrieked and frantically slapped at her leg, smacking the wretched little arthropod off of her. It flew onto the floor on its back, all of its horrible, spiky little legs flailing about to try and right itself. Before it could, Ragatha brought her foot down on the creature with a wet and juicy crunch. She hopped from foot to foot and flailed her arms about, patting down her entire body and shaking her dress just in case any more of the horrid things had gotten onto her. Her search came up empty, and she put her hands on her knees and panted. She then shot up and shook her fist at the ceiling.

Ragatha: F#$% YOU CAINE!

She normally didn’t like cursing, but no one was around and the situation warranted a little profanity. She was going to be slapping at every itch she felt for the rest of the day… how could Caine stoop so low?!

She looked at the crushed centipede on the floor. She felt a pang of guilt for killing it, but… it shouldn’t have been on her leg.

She shuddered once again and double checked her dress and hair before walking to the nearby door.

Ragatha: Onward and upward… She opened the door hesitantly, and was admittedly a bit relieved by what she saw. It was a parlor, it looked like it could have fit right in at a castle or old fashioned mansion. Yellowish bricks made up the walls, and a roaring fireplace sat in front of a pair of some plush red armchairs. A small table sat between the chairs, a few statues made of different kinds of stone arranged neatly on top of it. The Persian carpet was a slightly different shade of red with gold trim, and a large coat of arms sat above the fireplace. It was a shield emblazoned in front of a gold fleur de lis, one side red and one side blue, the red side reading C and the blue side reading A, both letters silver.

Ragatha: Oh wow. This is so… bougie.

She smiled and went over to the fire, warming her hands on it. The architecture and atmosphere reminded her of a safe room from Resident Evil. She wanted to sit and rest a moment, but she knew better than to dawdle in a funhouse.

On the opposite wall, she saw an old fashioned, heavy wooden door painted, what else, red. It lacked a doorknob, only having a single indentation in the center of the door, with a few words inscribed over it. On either side of the door stood two suits of armor, each about seven feet tall and clutching a pretty crude weapon. Nothing but a heavy, spiked metal ball on a stick. Some sort of mace. What were they called? It was something oddly elegant… She had no idea what time period the suits of armor came from, but they looked ponderous to wear.

Ragatha approached the door and read the words written above the indentation.

Ragatha: “My marble walls as white as milk,

My insides just as soft as silk,

No doors inside, but within here,

A golden treasure will appear.

But beware, for if you’re wrong,

They will catch you before long.”

Ragatha put a hand on her chin. A riddle. She wasn’t the best with these. She was better with questions that had multiple right answers, philosophy and the like. The past was blurry, but she did remember struggling a lot with math and word problems.

She wished Pomni was here. She was surprisingly great with math and logic questions. She also just… generally wished Pomni was around. Even if she was a nervous and cynical wreck most of the time, she was starting to come out of her shell. She had a really sweet little laugh and was the perfect size to pick up… plus she could ground the group whenever they started squabbling. Mostly because she had the guts to just tell somebody to shut their stupid mouth. She was a nervous wreck, but she never pretended not to be, and that honesty was super refreshing.

It was only a few nights ago that Ragatha got to share a bed with Pomni for the first time. Pomni had warned her earlier that she might need some time to get used to cuddling, and Ragatha promised she would take her time. Almost immediately after Ragatha got under the covers, she felt Pomni’s arms around her midsection, and it wasn’t long until she had the jester snuggled up against her. Poor little thing was so touch-starved…

“I’m sorry if you get uncomfortable, we can stop if you need…” Pomni murmured into Ragatha’s chest.

“Pomni, don’t worry… What good is a doll if you can’t touch it? Or cuddle it? Or love it?” Ragatha replied, petting down her hair and kissing her on the forehead.

The look of pure contentment that washed over Pomni’s face just about made Ragatha’s heart melt. It had been a loooong time since she had made someone that happy, and sister, it felt good.

She shook herself out of her lovesick haze and focused on the situation at hand. Okay, think Ragatha. Something white and soft with a treasure inside… Ragatha: Ugh, I should have paid more attention to those Haunted Tomb riddles in Spyro 3…

Well, when you got stuck behind a locked door, you looked for a key. Time to look around. She looked under the chairs and beneath the cushions, only turning up flecks of lint. She stared into the fireplace, making sure there was nothing behind the fire. Not that she would go sticking her hand into a lit fireplace, but it wouldn’t be the weirdest place she had found a key in this place. Only finding ash, she got to her feet and put a hand on her hip. This room wasn’t that big… Maybe it was back in the ball pit room?

Ragatha: *to herself# I am NOT going back there.

She wasn’t gonna waste her time digging through a ballpit and put herself at risk of running into more centipedes. So here she would stay.

Ragatha examined the statues on the table. It was some kind of abstract art, vaguely humanlike figures that all straddled different 3D shapes, one on a sphere, another wrapped about a pyramid, another clutching an egg... This looked promising.

Her eye and button fell onto one statue, a four-legged pewter creature with a smooth, featureless face, seated on top of a white cube. She picked the statue up, and the humanoid sculpture wobbled. It wasn’t attached all that well. After a little bit of jimmying, the statue came off, leaving only the cube in her hand. She set the statue back down on the table and tossed the cube from hand to hand. It was slightly soft and something rattled around inside.

Ragatha: Bingo!

She brought the cube over to the door, sliding it into the indent on the door. She took a few steps back and waited, her hands behind her back.

At first, nothing happened. Then there was a gradual creak of rusty metal. Rust sprinkled down off of one of the suits of armor as it turned its empty head towards her.

Ragatha: Uhh…

There was a loud crack as the suit of armor pulled its foot off the pedestal it stood on, a good chunk of yellow brick remained stuck to the bottom of his foot as it yanked its other foot off the pedestal. It stepped down off the pedestal, raising its weapon over its head.

Ragatha: Oh NO-!

The ragdoll woman dove out of the way as it brought down the mace where she had been standing, smashing a decent sized hole in the brickwork. It turned its empty visor to look at her, pulling its enormous mace out of the floor with the same effort that someone might pick up a bowling ball.

Ragatha: Hey, hey, easy..! I got the answer wrong! I’m sorry, will you let me try again?!-

The suit of armor wound up for another go, Ragatha ducking behind one of the chairs as it swung. The mace smashed into the chair, shattering the back of it into splinters and bits of old, moth-eaten stuffing.

Ragatha looked around for anything she could use as a weapon, and her eyes fell on the rug they were both standing on. Well, if this place worked like a cartoon, then maybe…

She hurried to one end of the rug, the suit of armor lumbering after her with its mace raised. Ragatha shoved the chair and the table with statues on it off of the rug and picked up the edge of it, gulping.

Ragatha: God I hope this works- HRNGH!

She yanked the rug with all her might, the suit of armor stumbling backwards at the sudden shift beneath its heavy feet. It swung its arms for balance before landing with a teeth-chattering crash on its back. It struggled to stand back up, but it was simply too heavy to right itself, flailing its arms impotently.

Ragatha: HA! I betcha wish you were dressed a little lighter now, don’t you?!

Ragatha made her way over to the statues that had fallen on the floor and began to take the pieces that could be used on the door. But she was interrupted by a loud and decidedly wet smashing noise from the fallen suit of armor.

Ragatha screamed and scrambled backwards. From out of the suit of armor’s visor emerged an enormous centipede, as long and thick as a pool noodle. It flailed about like a live wire, eventually slowing down to turn its head to look at the terrified doll. Beady, unintelligent clusters of shoe-button eyes looked her over as its antennae writhed about, before it lunged for her.

Ragatha: GET AWAY FROM ME!

Ragatha managed a pretty strong kick, knocking the enormous arthropod off course before it could drive its pincers into her leg. It let out a nauseating bubbly hiss before thrashing about a bit more, trying to free itself from the suit of armor. It eventually succeeded in yanking itself out of the visor and scuttled towards Ragatha.

Ragatha: only manages a terrified whine, pressing herself against the wall

The giant centipede reared back like a snake about to strike, opening its pincers to drive them right into Ragatha’s face… but the blow never came.

There was instead a crunch and a squish as a small hatchet was buried into the side of the creature’s face. Greenish yellow blood oozed out of it, and the centipede appeared to be in shock that part of its head was now cleaved apart. The hand holding the hatchet yanked the blade out of the creature’s carapace, the centipede turning to look for its attacker before the hatchet smashed into its face again, this time neatly splitting its head into two parts that were barely held together by vile sinew.

Pomni: Ragatha, don’t look.

Pomni pulled out the hatchet and motioned for Ragatha to turn around before chopping at the creature’s body. Ragatha did as she was asked and looked at the wall, hearing Pomni’s grunts of effort and the nasty crunch and squelch of the hatchet meeting arthropod flesh. After about a dozen good chops, Pomni sighed and plopped on the floor. The centipede was dead, cut into pieces, although many of its legs still twitched.

Pomni: Oh God, it smells f#%&$ng awful… *she covers where her nose would be* Ragatha, are you okay..?

Ragatha refused to turn around, Pomni getting up with tremendous effort and walking over to the doll woman

Pomni: I… got that thing, Ragatha, it’s over.

Ragatha looked at Pomni, her eye filled with tears of fright. The jester managed a weak smile.

Pomni: I… I guess we’re finally even, right? I saved you- EEP!

Ragatha pulled Pomni into a huge hug, still trembling. Pomni jumped a bit at the sudden action, but she hugged her right back, dropping the hatchet so she could squeeze the ragdoll as hard as she could.

Pomni: I’m sorry that happened… I know you’re not okay, but-

Ragatha: How did you get in here..? You… We all fell through those trapdoors…

Pomni: I climbed back up the slide and pried the doors open, there was a ball pit with a snake in it and I wasn't even going to entertain the idea of going through that again… I found that hatchet stuck in a statue’s head up there, and I… well, I just started chopping at the floor before that stupid intercom opened your trapdoor for me. I heard you screaming, and- mmf!

Ragatha pressed her lips to Pomni’s. The jester seriously jumped this time, expecting the circumstances of her first kiss on the lips with Ragatha to be… well, more romantic. And not next to a giant arthropod carcass. Still, her lips were warm and soft, so she savored the feeling while it lasted.

Ragatha: *breaking the kiss* Thank you so much for saving me… I owe you so much more than a kiss for that, but-

Pomni: We-We’ll worry about it later. You're welcome though. Let’s get out of here.

Ragatha: The… door is locked by a puzzle. I was trying to solve it when that monster sprung out at me…

Pomni went over to the door and read the riddle, snapping her fingers.

Pomni: Oh, I’ve heard this one. It’s an egg.

Ragatha, doing her very best to ignore the giant dead centipede, picked up the egg that had fallen off the statue, inserting it into the indent on the door. There was a click, and the door slid open, revealing darkness beyond the threshold. Pomni walked up beside her with the hatchet in her hand.

Pomni: Well… whatever horrible thing comes next… gripping Ragatha’s hand We’ll… face it together, right?

Ragatha: *she looks down, and, despite her fear, manages her usual glowing smile* Right.

The two of them entered the door, hand in hand.

#self reblog #not a lot of people noticed this one so I figured I’d give it another shot #buttonblossom #the amazing digital circus

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theboywithburninghands · 9 days