The circus was as bright as usual, a soft and barely audible music played somewhere in the distance. Gangle, Twinkle and Zooble were sitting at a booth in the Bunny Burrow. Each drawing on a sketchbook.
"You know something casual I miss?" Zooble broke the silence.
"Hm?" Twinkle didn't look up from her book.
"Movies."
"Movies?" Gangle echoed.
"Yea movies. I used to have movie nights with friends every other week."
"I bet if we asked for a movie, Caine would have it be him. Maybe some badly written hero comedy." Twinkle smiled wide as she spoke, the other two giggling at her description.
With a poof of confetti, the trio appeared on the stage- along with everyone else. Lining the back of stage was racks of clothes. They looked like musical costumes.
"Hello my whimsical, wonderful lovelys! Today you will get to choose your own costumes for our multi-day adventure!" Caine spun around the rack of clothes.
"Wait, what do you mean muiltple days?" Zooble glared up at the ringmaster.
"I mean what i say Zooble!" Caine smiled. "This adventure is going to be Clue at Caine Manor~!"
"Whoa, no way!" Twinkle's tail wagged, her eyes wondering over all the clothes.
"Oh yes way my dear Twinkle~! You all will receive a suitcase, full of everything you'll need for your characters! So, pick out your outfits from these racks, then go back to your rooms! Once you have everything, a portal will open for you to enter~! See you soon!" Everyone watched at Caine spun into nothing, a cloud of glitter where he once stood slowly fell down.
"Huh, well- you did say you missed movies." Twinkle grinned up at Zooble. The toy scoffed, suppressing a laugh as they playfully pushed away Twinkle.
"Did Caine even say what the adventure was gonna be?" Pomni asked, looking over the rack of clothes. They were all fancy clothes, ball gowns and suits. When the jester pulled a dress of the rack, it shrunk and reshaped to fit her body.
"This sounds stupid." Jax commented, eyes racking over the suits.
"How can it sound stupid, if ya dont know what's going on? Huh?" Twinkle nudged the rabbit, a smirk on her face. Jax chuckled.
"Cause we're playing dress up. That's how. Plus anything you like must he boring." He returned the smirk. Twinkle dramatically grabbed her chest.
"Oh Jax how you wound me! And here I thought we were friends." She dramatically let out very fake crying sounds before punching the rabbit in the arm with her tail.
Everyone took a hanger outfit, and returned to their rooms. As Caine said, a suitcase was on each of their beds. Inside was a piece of paper. Listing their roles and backstory...as well as consequences.
When each person entered the portal, they were teleported to a car. Each car drove up a dark, winding road. Trees blocked any light the full digital moon could give. A strike of lighting signaled for rain to start. It was like a loop of a thunderstorm audio. Every other three minutes, a crack of thunder would ring out with a flash of lighting. The cars all pulled up to a large manor, a fountain sat in the middle of the circle driveway. One by one they exited the car, though Gangle and Zooble shared a car. In file line, the group entered the manor.
"Good evening everybody~!" The group stared at the NPC greeting them, or more like two NPCs. A pair of siamese cat NPCs in maid outfits stared at the group. Their pure blue eyes a suspiciously borderline racist angle back.
"The master requests you mingle in the main area while dinner is finishing." The cat's voices had a soft purr sound whenever they spoke, that stopped the moment they stopped talking.
The group followed the maids to a lavish living room. A fire place crackled and popped with digital fire. Dark toned carpets and wall paper screamed 'old money'. There was a bookshelf as tall as the room, but when Ragatha tried to pull out a book- nothing happened. The twin maids returned with champagne glasses full of bubbling liquid. Taking their glasses, everyone took the silent moment to size eachother up.
Ragatha stood in an ankle long, form fitting, black silk dress. The top had thick, sleeveless straps that were made of a more see through fabric, adorned with pearls and flowers. Her hair had changed from yarn to silk ribbon. Allowing her to have a curly half up and half down hairstyle, true to mid 1950's fashion. Even though she didnt have ears, two pearl earrings peeked from her hair; matching the big pearls around her neck. Her doll shoes hadn't changed from her usual Grey, but they did click when on wood floors.
Pomni wore a poodle skirt styled dress. Her top being a form fitting, short sleeve shirt that fell off her shoulders. Her skirt puffed out, an embroidered jester hat on the bottom. Her hair was still short, but her jester hat was replaced with a beret styled hat. Of course her whole outfit was red and blue. Her top half was red, with her skirt being blue. Though her hat and embroidery were dandelion yellow. A half red and blue ascot tied around her neck instead of pearls. Finally, her jester shoes were replaced with yellow flats.
Jax was styled in a dull, dark purple suite. Thin white stripes ran vertical down his coat. A salmon pink tie hung from his collar. He ended up taking off his dress shoes; the pitching restriction passing him off. Though, he took delight in Ragatha's horrified expression when he threw the shoes into the fire place. The rabbit felt his pockets, freezing for a moment. Then, a smile spread across his face.
"What's got you smiling?" Zooble asked, their eyes narrowing suspiciously at the rabbit.
"Oh, nothing at all." The rabbit waved off the take apart toy.
Zooble in question had on a simple black suit. Nothing to crazy, although their tie matched Gangle's clothes.
The still happy masked Gangle has on a floor length dress. Putting on the dress, Gangle's body changed to have more ribbon; giving her a more feminine silhouette. A small line of pearls also circled her neck, as well as her wrist- though it kept falling off. Her masks eyes had been given two wings, giving her the look of lashes.
Kinger stood in a general's beige uniform. A few basic, non detailed medals sparkled on his chest. The long sleeves gave the illusion he had arms. Though he didnt have pants, just a darker beige cloth that hugged his lower body.
Twinkle was also in a floor length gown, though hers was a bit more sensual. Her top overlapped together, making a cross fabric design. It was also sleeveless, pushing up her chest fluff. A diamond necklace sat around her neck, almost high enough to be a collar. Matching, dangling diamond earrings gently swung from her ears. Her dress was a soft lilac, with a small white flower patter. Hanging off her shoulders and reaching her waist, was a pure white fur shawl.
"We all look fantastic~!" Twinkle giggled, petting her shawl.
"Yea, not to bad." Zooble agreed.
Everyone quietly sipped their digital champion. The only sound was the crackle and pop of the fireplace.
"So- what do you think this will be?" Ragatha asked, all eyes turning to her.
"You don't know this reference?" Twinkle blinked in surprised.
"Huh? Is this a nod to something?" Ragatha looked around for an answer.
"It's kinda like a murder mystery thing." Zooble explained.
"Mhm! We were all given a backstory, which means our characters were blackmailed to be here." Twinkle giggled, a little to excited.
"Yea, pretty much." Zooble nodded. "I guess Caine wants us to keep our secrets. And whoever was given the murder role, has to take out the manors staff to keep that secret."
"We have to KILL people?!" Ragatha freaked out.
"Oh chill out, this isn't real. Besides we're just killing NPCs." Twinkle shrugged off Ragatha, earing Jax to smile. He threw an arm around the fox.
"See? THATS what I'm talkin about! This place isn't real, so lets have some fun with it." Jax and Twinkle both chuckled, a cartoony evil grin spreading on both their faces.
Just as the group calmed down, a scream rang out from across the manor.
"The (boop) was that?!" Pomni jumped.
"Oooh, the first murder has occurred! Let's check it out." Twinkle quickly started toward the dinning room, Jax happily behind her.
"Well, she isn't wrong." Zooble shrugged, and the rest of the group followed.
They all found one of the cat maids crying, pointing at a body on the floor.
"Is- is that Caine?!" Ragatha leaned back, staring at the mouth headed body.
"Whoa, wait no. Look closer guys." Twinkle stepped forward, kneeling down.
"He has a golden tooth- this..this is AM." Twinkle was taken aback for a moment. She didn't expect to see the NPC again so soon. Her character sheet now made much more sense to her.
"Whoa, cool. Guess Caine is gonna be using some old NPCs as well as new ones." Ragatha perked up, relieved.
"And if he's true to the inspiration-" Zooble stepped forward, poking AM's body with their box like foot. "Then AM should actually be alive right now."
Everyone stared down at the still body. But after a few moments, a lower growl escaped from the still being.
"Ah, damn. Guess ya caught me." AM slowly stood, brushing himself off with a chuckle. Turning to everyone, his denture head smiled as he held out his arms.
"Aw dad, you prankster." Twinkle laughed before taking the hug.
"Your what now?" Jax stared confused, but Pomni nodded in understanding.
"In this story, Twinkle is AM's daughter I guess. Remember our sheets Caine gave us?" Pomni explained, and everyone was finally on the same page.
"I guess we should all say what we got then." Zooble shrugged, stepping forward. "I'm a school teacher, I taught Twinkle back in the day- I guess."
"I'm an actress." Gangle smiled, holding up a ribbon hand. "Apparently a movie i star in is coming out in a few days."
"I'm a police officer." Jax grinned a- very in character, evil grin.
"I'm Twinkle's grandpa." Kinger said, placing a hand ontop of the fox's head.
"I'm cousin of AM, just basically a rich woman." Ragatha shrugged.
"I actually got the role of mayor- for some reason." Pomni looked around, everyone wasn't to annoyed at the adventure yet. But it was still early.
"Alright, with introductions out of the way." AM put an arm around Twinkle.
"It's time, to eat."