𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚑𝚊𝚔𝚒 | 𝚓𝚊𝚡 𝚡 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

trauma over a slice of cake

"Rise and shine, newbie~"

I yelped as I felt my tail being tugged. Turning around, I saw Jax, my tail in his hand, a mischievous smirk plastered on his face. I groaned. 

"Isn't there any nicer way you could have gone about waking me up?" I grumbled, reluctantly sliding the blanket off and doing a nice long stretch.

Jax shrugged. "Not that I could think of." He plopped himself down on one of the beanbags, making himself comfy. "Anyways, you're late to breakfast." I rolled my eyes and walked over to my wardrobe, then stopped, narrowing my eyes at Jax. "Are you just going to stay there or...? Because I need to change." Jax groaned and got up, flashing me a huge, yellow-toothed grin on his way out the door.

I sighed as I locked the door, throwing a cropped hoodie and some baggy ripped jeans onto my bed. I got changed, giving my hair a quick brush before applying a bit of makeup. I opened the door, noticing Jax leaning on a wall nearby as if he was waiting for me.

Jax smirked as he saw me in my new outfit. "Seems like the newbie's got some taste in clothing." He waved vaguely to the left. "Come on, everybody's waiting for you." 

I walked nervously behind Jax as he led me to the main room of the tent, where Ragatha, Pomni, Gangle, Zooble, and Kinger were already seated at a long table filled with platters of all different kinds of foods. Bubble was hovering a short distance away, wearing a chef's hat.

"Made with all the love I'm legally allowed to give." He noted as I sat down, shyly dumping some pancakes and omelettes into my plate. 

The pancakes tasted strangely digital, lacking any flavor despite the monstrous amount of syrup I had poured on top of them. Puzzled, I took a bite of my omelette only to get a mouthful of tasteless dough. 

"This doesn't taste like anything!" I exclaimed, staring in wonder at my heap of food. "Of course not, this is all digital, food doesn't have any flavor." Jax said from two seats away, digging into his blueberry pie.

I rolled my eyes as I stood up, taking a gulp of orange juice despite it tasting like water before heading back toward my room. I had just gotten to the door when a voice next to my ear whispered, "Boo!"

I screamed and stumbled backwards, falling roughly on the carpeted floor. Jax was laughing his head off, looming above with tears coming out of his eyes. I got up and dusted myself off, glaring at him. "Not funny, Jax!"

He only grinned at me in response. "Come on, you can't leave yet, Caine's about to announce the adventure for the day." My ears perked up in interest as I bounded to the stage, Jax trailing behind me.

 Caine popped into existence, his two mismatched eyes practically springing out of his head. "Good morning my little superstars, who's ready for another thrilling adventure?" Zooble grumbled and muttered, "Not me."

Either Caine didn't hear them or simply decided to ignore them, because he went on regardless. "Today's adventure is...MUSICAL CHAIRS!" A series of groans followed, mostly from Zooble and Jax. 

I put a hand on my hip and stared at Caine. "Seriously? We're not kindergarteners! %$!# this!" I shouted, trying to walk away before Caine teleported in front of me, blocking my path. "W-wait! (y/n)! You must participate!" He pushed me back to the stage. "Everyone must participate!"

Zooble groaned. "Can we get this over with?" Caine ignored the rudeness of their comment and replied enthusiastically, "Of course, Zooble!" He snapped his fingers and six chairs appeared, forming a tight circle. "Let the game begin!"

Cheerful, upbeat music began playing, the same one I had heard when I first entered the circus, as we marched around the chairs. The air was thick with tension; although this might have been a children's game, you would never know it by how determined we were as to not bear the shame of losing.