I look to the blade stabbed into the wooden block sat beside the sofa, the glowing-eyed skull peering blankly at the television. "I'm going out into another dimension. Want to come with?"
"Yes." Agni replies. "Sounds fun."
He's been kind of pouty. The series he was watching ended like I thought it would. Cliffhanger.
Did the main character shoot the mirror or himself ooooooh spooky. Gotta have that cliff hanger in an attempt to threaten the producers into greenlighting another season.
"Let's... see about going to a place I've already been before. If I can... I've never tried it."
"Don't you repeatedly leave and return here?" The demon points out.
"The Yamato was made here. It belongs here... in this world. So coming back is actually easier than leaving."
"Now... let's see how accurate I can be with this" I swing my arm in front of me, creating a swirling vortex.
I take a step forwards only to blink as... well... it kind of looks like I just stepped into a cartoon.
"This is... odd..."
"What in the willy wonka fuck is this?" I mutter under my breath as I gaze towards walls painted like the sky, plastic trees, a rail system with a car that-
Is that- that one blue freak?! Huggy tuggy or whatever his name was.
I walk forwards, peering around the world that looks like a doll house that has been grown to massive scale.
A large pink house seems to loom in the distance as train tracks curve through a closed double door the size of a car.
I stare off into the distance before hopping up, over a wall separating the place I was standing from the house in the distance.
"I've never seen anything like this." Rudra mutters as we follow the winding rails on the other side, passing by some sort of jungle gym.
There's a lot of massive plastic ice cream cones... in fact that one car with the face was an ice cream truck as well.
Man. I could go for some ice cream. I wonder if there's an ice cream parlor back in Limbo City.
I continue walking, hopping up over another wall before coming towards a large gate.
The path splits, continuing forwards along the rails is a tunnel, but to the side is a long winding path leading up towards that plastic manor I saw.
"I mean, as a kid I kind of always wanted to see what a doll house would look like from the perspective of a doll... let's take a quick pit-stop." I turn, hopping the little barrier that covers the plastic driveway, looking like turnstiles in a subway.
I make my way up the plastic stone brick road, a small frown on my lips.
There's just something odd about walking on plastic. It doesn't feel... right... like I'm about to fall through it at any moment.
I pause in front of the door of the pink mansion, looking over it for a brief moment.
My hand comes out, seeing no doorbell, so I simply knock on the door. "Knock Knock. Anyone home?"
There's silence for a few moments...
Then...
Creeeeak
"Oh... my... goodness!" A feminine voice gasps out.
The door swings open revealing a... puppet?
It's a girl with purple hair of different shades tied into a massive bun on the back of her head. Her hands come up, shaking with poorly contained excitement as she hops back and forth. She only has three fingers on each hand it seems, plus a thumb.
In her hands she holds a little cat doll head.
It looks like ink seeps from its dead eye sockets as its tongue sticks out which...
Seems to hint to it being alive at some point.
She speaks from the corner of her mouth raising the hand holding the cat doll with every word. "I don't think he's here for the party, Lily!"
"Well." The puppet girl eventually, replies, eyes locking onto me, a bright grin on her lips. "Of course he is, Candy! Why ELSE would he be here?!"
I notice a slight twitch in her eye at the word 'else'.
"I was just in the neighborhood; honestly, I wasn't even aware there was a party." I shake my head. "But I'd be honored to join. Maybe my invitation got lost in the mail?"
"Oh deary me!" The girl gasps, fingertips coming up to cover her mouth. "It must have! I keep saying that the outimals would mess things up. But they just never listen to me!"
"Come in! Come in!" She steps aside, gesturing into the plastic manor, the hair bun on her head unravels revealing a three-strand ponytail, two smaller braids ending in three-tipped fingers, kind of looking like the hands of an assaultron from Fallout Four.
Wow. That's a strange pull.
The larger braid looks like it's tipped with a stinger of some sort?
"We are going to have SO. MUCH. FUN." Her pupils dilate, eyes slightly bloodshot, her grin widens.
Wow. She's CRAZY crazy. Not just the regular kind.
I casually step through the door, looking around. "Nice place you've got here."
You know... I kind of feel... odd... looking over her.
"Very fancy." Rudra speaks up.
"OH MY GOODNESS!" The doll girl gasps, one of her tiny strands snaking behind us and closing the door. "TWO GUESTS?!"
"It is a PLEASURE to meet you." Her smile seems... kind of forced, actually.
Not in a 'she doesn't mean what she says' sort of way, but more of a 'Her face appears to be... plastic shaped into a smile?' Kind of way? Enforced smile. Not forced smile. Like the joker from that one batman movie and his face scars.
But her skin seems to be kind of moving like flesh. Silicone maybe? Like that satanist pedo animatronic?
"My name is Phainon, this is Rudra. May I know your name?" I smile kindly, offering a hand to the doll which is maybe about four-foot-eleven or so. I have to look down to meet her face.
"I'm Lily! Lily lovebraids!" The definitely crazy doll woman grins, vigorously shaking my hand before lifting the cat head. "And this is Candy Catthran! Or just Candy for short!"
"They smell like dead bodies!" The girl smiles brightly, speaking once more out of the side of her mouth, doll head shaking slightly.
She lets out a horrified gasp, eyes snapping over to the cat. "No No No Candy! That's not a nice thing to say!"
"What's a nicer way to tell someone that they smell like... gore?" The puppet taps her chin.
"Should... we ask them if they'd like to take a bubble bath?" The girl speaks for the severed cat toy head.
"Hey now, I took a shower shortly before showing up. But I'd be open to it if you join me." I shrug.
Phainon says what now?
My lips thin as I fully realize the words that leave my mouth.
Oh.
I'm attracted to her.
Huh...
That's...
Yeah. Okay.
Considering what I've fought so far, being attracted to the genuinely off her rocker puppet girl isn't that farfetched. She's human enough, I guess.
Once more the question I asked robo-pedo has returned. Nipples and pussy or flat featureless silicone?
"Hnnn..." The puppet girl pouts slightly. "We just don't have time for that! I need to get ready for the party! WE need to get ready for the party! We can't spend our time taking a bubble bath!"
"Awww that's a shame." I sigh.
"But between you and I, I doubt our honored guest will notice it! Not many of us toys were built with noses and I don't think he was one of them!"
And... now I notice that she herself doesn't have a nose... huh... it's just flat there.
"The dead body smell is probably me." Rudra finally speaks. "I have been used to kill quite a lot of demons."
She grabs my hand with both of her own. "Come come! Let's go!"
This girl may utterly insane... but she's kind of cute... in a weird... bubbly monster puppet sort of way.
I allow myself to be pulled forwards, her footsteps thud on the floor of this plastic house. She seems deceptively heavy. Probably close to a quarter of a ton despite her tiny stature.
She's also really strong.
Oh. Not as strong as me. Not by a long shot. But perhaps closer to one of those berserker things from the alien world?
Not the one that had cybernetics and shit, but a normal one.
I wonder what would happen if I unlocked her aura?
Does she have a soul?
I mean. She should still be mostly made of meat.
"This is the dining room!" The puppet smiles brightly. "This is where we're going to have our tea party!"
She begins to give me a tour of the entire mansion.
The kitchen, the garage, and even the bathroom, before eventually leading me back to the kitchen.
"So? What did you think? What did you think, huh?"
"It's a lot bigger than my place." I admit. "Honestly even the dining room is larger than my entire house."
"Of COURSE it is! We have such big guests and big personalities! How else would I host a tea party if not in such a room?"
"The outside's pretty nice. You could go there? The park maybe?"
She seems to ponder for a moment before shaking her head. "No no no! The bees will get in the teas!"
"But come on! We should get ready!"
[Split]
The next thirty minutes was... interesting... watching a mentally deranged puppet woman act cutesy and prepare tea. That leads to where I am now. Sat in a chair across from the hair-manipulating puppet as she forcibly ties two new figures into chairs. The first... a pink version of the bastard that tried to eat me when I first arrived here.
The next? Some little porcelain doll thing with red hair.
I'm... kind of surprised that Lily actually made tea.
It's not just hot water. It's legitimate- if slightly stale- tea. I had honestly thought she was too far gone mentally to manage that. Or like... she drank blood... or something like that. Cannibalism is pretty common in the whole 'mascot horror' genre, and with the blue guy almost eating me, I would have thought these crumpets would have fingers in them.
To be honest, I really didn't even know what a crumpet was. My experience with crumpets is that I'm fairly certain there was like... this small pre-teen girl in some gun game that I played in my last life that was obsessed with them.
The words 'Crumpets are Crunk' keeps echoing in my mind for some reason.
Anyways, I kind of always thought they'd be more... pastry-y... but I'd more describe it as a really porous tiny pancake.
A thin bandaged figure sits across from the tiny red haired doll, hand shakily reaching out towards a teacup.
Rudra is adapting to his new body.
As in, I used the nine hells to summon one of those ash guys, ripped his head off along with his spine and before he could turn to ash I shoved Rudra in the hole.
Truly some futuristic surgical technique was performed this day. Lily seemed Overjoyed that Rudra could have his own seat now.
"Oh my... this is lovely." He carefully brings the teacup to his tiny hilt head and takes a miniature sip. "It has been far too long since I have partaken in food such as this."
"I am glad you think so, Mr. Rudra!" The hostess beams as I turn to the demon.
"Have... you ever partaken in mortal food like this? Weren't you summoned to earth like three thousand years ago only to instantly get sealed in a massive tower."
"Your father accidentally dropped a Peperoni on my face once." He supplies before taking another sip. "So. Who are these two. I don't believe we have been introduced."
"Oh my!" Lily gasps. "You are correct! I had wanted to wait for our guest of honor to introduce anyone, but it must be dreadfully awkward to not know each others names!"
"This, my friends, are the bad toys, Poppy Playtime and Kissy Missy!"
The doll struggles against the hair. "You're crazy! Let- Let me go!"
"Missy Kissy, Miss Poppy, THIS is Mr. Phainon and Mr. Rudra!"
"A pleasure." Rudra hums.
"Good to meet you." I wave lazily.
"SCREEE!" The large pink lanky toy thing shrieks.
"So. Lily. You spoke of some guest of honor?" I turn to the purple haired puppet.
"Oh! He's the greatest and most wise and incredible toy out there!"
The ground seems to rumble.
Gasp! "He's here!"
The entire mansion seems to rumble yet again as the purple haired girl lets out a bunch of demented giggles.
CRACK
The wall splits, a hand with needle-like fingers cutting through a line in the plastic. The entire wall seems to shudder as a second hand is shoved through. The fingers curl as the entire wall is shoved open, a hunched figure leaning through the gap.
It's... a jester?
Its head turns revealing a jagged smile with one glowing eye.
He steps forwards on six large insect-like legs, almost gliding with how smooth the movement is. Red smoke billows behind him like a bad smell.
"Ah... Poppy..." It speaks, voice mechanical and kind of haunting.
It stops at the table, looming over it as it gazes down at the porcelain doll.
"What did you do with them?" The doll growls. "What did you do with the Orphans?"
'Are you fucking kidding me? What's it with mascot horror and murdering children?!'
I bring my hand to face and begin rubbing my forehead silently.
"She's such an Asking Annie!" Lily growls. "Ooooh take me out of my case! Ooooh do my work for me! Oooooh blow up the factory and burn us all ALIVE-guh-"
My eye snaps open as the large robotic figure backhands the puppet, causing her to collapse to the floor.
I inhale deeply then exhale as the red smoke continues to billow from the robot's lower half. He looks kind of like a dungeons and dragons drider now that I think about it.
"I did what I had to."
Now that it has spoken more than a single word, I can tell that his voice is the combination of dozens of voices. He seems to switch out the words of people he has recorded at random.
"They're in a better place now."
"You... You're a monster!" The porcelain doll growls as my finger taps on the table.
"Yeah... I'm done sitting around." I suddenly speak, eyes cracking open.
There's a creak as the smiling face turns towards me, eye glowing. "I came here because I was bored. Then this doll lady let me into her house for a tea party and that was fun and all, but-"
I lean to the side, avoiding a stab from claws which spear through the back of my chair with a spray of plastic. "You strike our host, then you had to casually admit to murdering a bunch of children... I think... I'm going to kill you now."
"Rudra." I blandly call, eyes burning a deep orange.
"Yes."
With a single kick, the table crashes into the robot's upper torso, red smoke flows absolutely everywhere.
A blue blade's handle flips into my waiting hand as I slash downwards.
GYAAAAAAAGHHHH!
A hellish shriek echoes out, red smoke completely fills the room.
There's a distant boom of wind as the far wall of the plastic house is blown outwards.
I stumble through the red mist and find... the top half of the robot...
I had cut him in half.
"..."
"Oops." I mutter, gazing down at the bisected jester. "This is normally the part where I'd make some sort of 'you're not just the clown, but the entire circus' joke, but... I thought you'd be stronger."
The six-legged spider-like body stumbles around but I simply cut THAT in half with another swing then stomp down on the chest of the jester with a creak and snap of metal that causes the thin figure to jerk slightly.
There's a glow as the entire jester thing seems to transform, flowing upwards into... a bandolier of grenades?
Each the grenades are dressed like little red and blue jesters. That's cute.
I let out a few coughs, hand swiping through the red smoke. "Ugh- I can't see shit!"
It does actually smell kind of good, though. Less smoke and smog, more floral flowers and air freshener.
Still kind of overpowering, I guess.
I eventually stumble across the thing I was looking for, the prone doll whom had just been backhanded by the Jester I cut in half.
She lays there on the floor, three fingered hand cupping her cheek, black drips down from her eyes like smudging mascara as she quietly sniffles.
"He hit me." She eventually sputters out.
"Yeah." I note.
"Was... Was I a bad toy?" The girl ponders.
"Nah." I simply shake my head as I crouch down beside her. "Misguided, maybe, emotionally broken, sure, but I wouldn't call you 'bad'."
I pat her head. "I did enjoy the tea party, for what it's worth."
"Yes." Rudra agrees. "It was a pleasant experience. You were a decent host."
I stand back up as the puppet girl slowly sits up, looking around slowly.
"What's the deal with the red gas?" I question, swiping my hand through the air, trying to clear it away from my face.
"That's poppy gas." The puppet slowly mutters, still sounding absolutely dejected.
"Poppy gas?" I echo.
"Yes. Made from red poppy flowers." She explains. "It has more uses before, but now the prototype just uses it to make some of the naughty toys sleep through his experiments."
"Poppy flowers... as in... opium poppies?" I murmur. "Ah... and... I may have lost my temper just a bit with the prototype after he hit you. I hit him back and, well... he kind of died."
"What?! But- but- the prototype is the strongest! He's- he's supposed to be the god down here!"
"Well, he was an awfully weak god, then." Rudra hums.
"Anyways, Lily... I'm probably going to go, then. My fingers are actually starting to get a little tingly sooo uhh... might be getting drugged by all this gas." I rotate my wrist. "I may come back. See you around~"
"Uhm... bye... bye... Mr. Phainon..." The puppet whispers as I turn and begin to walk away. She appears to be growing sleepy.
Actually, she may die if left in the smoke.
I swing Rudra behind me, a gale of wind clearing up most of the room from the gas and sending it flowing out the massive hole I cut in the wall and the seam where the Jester Bot entered.
"Ah. That's better." I hum, now able to see the purple haired puppet swaying back and forth.
The pink fuzzy thing and the porcelain doll are gone, though.
With that, I turn and begin to carve a portal into a new world.
[Split]
Weiss Schnee is not having a good day... a good two days, that is.
Firstly, some girl who looks too young to be here stumbles over her luggage and causes her to EXPLODE! But then she was kept up most of the night by people quietly whispering in the ballroom of beacon academy- in which she was forced to sleep on the FLOOR! like a commoner!
UGH! She can't believe that the test for the world's greatest huntsman institute is to hurl them off a cliff and partner them up with the first person they see!
That's ridiculous! Teams should be meticulously and painstakingly crafted to be a well-oiled machine!
Personalities should mesh well. Each teammate should have something to counteract the weaknesses of another, not that she, with her training and her semblance, has many.
She does not have a reliable option for ranged combat that does not drain her aura. Nor does she have a method to break thick armor- yet- so reasonably she should be placed on a team with a sniper and some form of explosives expert to deal with distant targets and to crush any potential massive grimm that have thick armor.
Even a walking wall of muscle would be appreciated- as long as they know how to listen- because she is aware that she doesn't have the strongest build.
But now she'll just be stuck with the first person she sees. UGH. What if she gets that one scrawny blonde boy. Or the girl who blew up her luggage!
She'll just need to look at the floor until she can-
*Vmmm*
What is that?
The white haired girl blinks owlishly as a rift in the world appears on the other side of the forest clearing she had been walking through, red smoke bellows from it as a figure steps through it. He lets out several coughs, placing his hand on his knees before swiping away the smoke. "Fucking hell. This isn't my house."
He lets out a slightly wheezy cough. "Damn smoke is tickling the back of my throat now."
He lets out a long yawn, wiping an eye as the portal slams shut just behind him.
"Phainon."
Whatthefuckwasthat?
"Hm?" The teen hums only for weiss to flinch back as a Beowolf sudden leaps out of the brush behind him. The white haired girl draws her blade, tensing her legs to lunge forwards only to pause as... the claws strike the teen's back... and just... stops... like it has struck pillar of metal.
"Oh. Right. This thing. Ughhh... I don't feel the best. Just die." He claps his hands together on the alpha beowolf's head as it goes down to try and bite his throat... and with a spray of shadow the headless body crumples to the floor and begins to evaporate into smoke."
The teen's eyes are half-lidded as he lets out another low hum and gives his hands a slow blink. "Huh... that was pretty weak."
p-pretty weak?! An Alpha Beowolf would need even HER to be mildly cautious. Mainly because where there's one... there's likely a few dozen normal beowolves you can't see.
"Weird... it turned into a bullet. I thought devil arms couldn't be one-time use..." The girl's eyebrows raise as- yes- she can see a black and white bullet, about the size for a pistol sits in between his finger and thumb.
That- that can't be right?!
The biggest downside of fighting grimm is that they leave nothing! If- if he can turn the grimm he kills into ANYTHING... bullet, blade, or even PEBBLE... it could change everything...
"They are awfully weak." The deep voice speaks again, and the blue-eyed girl struggles to figure out where it comes from. "It makes sense that a weak creature lacking both a sense of self and substance would be incomparable to even the weakest demons. Condensing all of its essence into a single mote to be used in a singular instance is all this beast could do in order to even slightly compare."
"..."
"Rudra. That clown robot shot anesthesia gas absolutely everywhere when I cut it in half. You know I won't remember a fucking word you said in the morning, right? The fact that I'm even standing right now after getting hit in the face with opium gas is already a miracle."
He sways on his feet for a moment as a trio of beowolves suddenly charge at him from three sides.
With a single spinning roundhouse kick he knocks the grimm into each other then slams them all on the ground with a crunch and a hiss of shadow.
He reaches down, stumbling briefly as he leans over. "Hah? No bullet?"
"These three were a lot smaller than that other one." The deep voice returns and Weiss STILL can't figure out where it's coming from.
Wait...
That blue sword on his back... is that... a skull on its pommel?
Its mouth moves.
"Besides. I would imagine that girl over there looking at you knows far more of these creatures than I." the teen glances over, and their eyes meet.
"Oh neat." He murmurs.
Ah...
That's...
They're partners now... the boy who wouldn't look out of place in her family...
And his talking sword...