30 Day Trial

I

It wasn't long before everyone gathered at the tables. The stage was still empty, but there was a unanimous feeling amongst the crowd that that wouldn't last long.

And they were right.

Soon after the last person sat down, the lights dimmed in the main area and a spotlight flickered on, pointing at the stage. The entire crowd came to a hush. Nobody could tell if they were doing it out of respect, or out of fear.

The curtains rose, and out of them came... her.

She was a paper popcorn bag coated with a thick layer of wax. Out of the top, a comically over-sized straw poked out. Her face was also not exactly normal-- her eyelash extensions seemed longer than what had to be practical, and she had a tiny sharp tooth sticking out of the side of her mouth. She had a calm and subtle smile. Her posture was impeccable. Everything about her demeanor seemed almost... unnatural. It was almost like she was a wax figure. But she was, indeed, alive and breathing. Her hands were held behind her back, and she walked downstage, making direct eye contact with nobody.

"Welcome everyone, to the Underground. I'm Popcorn Bag of Milk, PBOM for short. My associate will be here shortly. He's working out the last few kinks before we can begin our assembly."

She waited patiently, still not staring at anyone directly. It was only a few seconds later when Paint Bomb came running clumsily on stage. As he ran up to join her, he tripped over his own foot. Without even looking, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him upright. He quickly caught himself and straightened out, copying her pose to a T.

"Now, as I was saying, welcome to the Underground. My associate and I will explain everything in this assembly, so listen up. If you have any questions, please save them until the end. Are we ready to begin, Paint Bomb?"

She looked over to him. He nodded. That was when they all first got a good look at him.

He was small, significantly smaller than his companion. His body was supposed to be a light grey, but all around him was paint splattered, in shades of all different colours. His eyes always seemed to be closed, but it appeared as though he could see just fine. There wasn't anything too remarkable about his facial features besides that, though.

He quickly pulled out a clipboard and a pen and started speaking. His voice was nasally and slightly irritating.

"Now, before we say anything, we need to do role call. I'm going to take count of how many people are here. There should be twenty."

He counted everyone very quickly.

"I do believe there are twenty people here, yes. Now then, if there's anyone who wishes to be called something other than the full name I have on this sheet," he lowered the clipboard so everyone could see the name he had written down for them, "either an abbreviation or something else, please stand."

Six people stood. Green Baoding Ball, Blue Baoding Ball, Tambourine, Piranha Tank, Honey Dipper, and Aloe Vera.

"Tammy is fine for me, thanks love!" Tambourine said. Her voice had a charming Southern twang to it.

"Green for me, and Blue for my brother." Green Baoding Ball shouted from across the room. Those two were far in the back.

"Honey is also okay for me!" Honey Dipper added.

"Tank's a'ight, mate." Piranha Tank spoke. He had the appearance of a pirate, but his voice had a very thick Australian accent, something a lot of people in the crowd were surprised by.

"And Aloe is okay for me, darling." Aloe Vera said. Her voice was smooth, with an obviously fake British accent.

"And that's all? Alright then! We can get started." Paint Bomb wrote some things in his clipboard, motioned for everyone to sit back down, and handed both items over to PBOM, who held onto them for the remainder of the assembly.