estro-gem

[estro-gem]

No one is safe❤️✨ >:D

A great sadness befell me as Gem was unable to boop you at this time :(

BUT THE ASK BOX IS OPEN, BABY! BOOP!

I wish you a great day! ^^

This symbolic Boop is greatly appreciated and so sweet 💕💕 I hope you have a great day too!!

[estro-gem]

Boops are back?

Guess imma frantically search random people who enabled it and absolutely harass everyone who did XD

[estro-gem]

POV: Your granny sneaks you a lil' something...

Or I dunno??? Your grannies didn't sneak you money when they came to visit?

Nah, I felt in the mood to draw after posting that chapter, man.

It felt nice to FINALLY get something out.

[estro-gem]

Group Chaos: Mirage (Part 3)

The Amazing Digital Circus AU: Oasis

Author's note:

Boy... It's been a VERY long while since I posted. I'm sure most people had forgotten about this story and moved on to greater things, lol. I'll count that as a blessing, giving that it would mean that the expectations are lowered and I am free from disappointing anyone even more! Huzzah! This chapter isn't some groundbreaking plot point - it's mostly worldbuilding and body horror/gore. But I'm so happy to present something after being unable to for a really long time.

I hope you enjoy this regardless!

Ok, but on a serious note, please read the warnings below. PLEASE.

Warnings (IMPORTANT): Mature themes Violence/Assault Sadism Manic/psychotic episodes Sensory depravation Suicidal thoughts/intentions Self harm Gore/body horror

MIRAGE: PART 3

“Jax, you need to pull yourself together!”

Zooble’s stern voice pierced Pomni’s ears like a knife. It was so foreign to see the Zolo-being no longer be uncaring or apathetic, but strong and relentless in their self-proclaimed position of playing the voice of reason. She wasn’t sure if she liked it or not, but she was surely missing her circus mate’s snarky, sarcastic remarks already.

Jax wasn’t doing good at all. Pomni had seen him cocky, arrogant and aggressive, but never like this. He was on all fours, pupils constricted to reptilian-like slits and curled into a tense, frozen ball of poofy fur. It almost looked like he wasn’t breathing, despite his eyes flying about the black and white tiles.  He didn’t look scared, but based on Zooble’s attempt at getting his attention, the girl could only assume that he apparently was.

Pomni couldn’t blame the rabbit; even if they didn’t get along – or have any form of a relationship whatsoever. She, herself, was having a hard time piecing together what had happened;

Kinger took his eyes from his face, stuffed them into his floating gloves that acted as hands, summoned a white chess piece army, then he sunk into the tiles along with them while ordering them all to stay put lest they would be willing to face the consequences. Said consequences were still unknown to Pomni.

It was madness.

“Damn it, Jax, don’t go rabbit on me now! You don’t have that luxury; GET UP and be a @&#$@& MAN.” Zooble cried out to him, again. The shaky hint of desperation lacing their words sent a chill through the jester’s being.

The abomination unexpectedly plucked off their wing and launched it to flop against his head and clumsily fluttered to the floor. To the jester’s surprise, Jax suddenly reanimated to life, pupils blown impossibly wide, only for the rabbit to frantically fumble and grab at the detached limb. He gathered it beneath his crouching form in a desperate, possessive manner, holding the squirming limb hostage and preventing it from wriggling its way back to its body.

Jax pause thereafter, seemingly lost in his own feral mind, before constricted pupils blindly searched for Zooble and dramatically dilated once they landed on them.

Thump.

“That’s it, you crazy @#$?%...”  Zooble’s voice came out far shakier than Pomni liked, “Eyes on me.”

They sounded scared.

Taking a breath, the girl shifted to take the first step towards her fellow circus captive, “Hold on, Zooble-”

“STOP!” The creature commanded with wide, panicked eyes, “Don’t. Move.”

Jax fixated his inhuman gaze onto the jester and thumped harshly, though only once, onto the white tile he was standing on. Then, again, Jax thumped his foot. His dead silence and expressionless face didn’t help Pomni’s confusion and distress, so she opted to simply freeze in place as the Zolo-being demanded.

“Any move you make will draw attention.” Zooble said, staring the poor clown down, “Look at the tiles.”

Pomni looked down, not knowing what to expect, but content on dumbly following orders for now. Don’t fight them; move with them…

What Pomni saw, wasn’t the issue – because she didn’t see anything, but what she felt, was a different story. The tiles were buzzing… fuming… pulsing… breathing. They were blind, but they were watching her. She was in the belly of a beast that lurked the very space she took up. It was all around her and it was nowhere at the same time. It clawed it’s way down her neck and struck it’ll long needle-like tendrils into her spine, feeling every movement she made – every breath she took.

It whispered within her skull – knowing that she had no other choice than to listen. It was a low hum of whispers; all speaking a foreign language she couldn’t even dream to understand. She sunk to her knees, slowly, then began to mindlessly knock her head into the black tile she was standing on.

Get out… Get out… GET OUT-

Pomni…

The muddled voice attempted to haze itself through the whispers. She could hear it – she could feel it – something else was calling to her. But she almost got to it – the pain in her head and the black puss that oozed from said pain made the spindly creature lodged into her nervous system squirm… If she could just hit her head harder against the tiles, she could get to it – reach it and rip it out-

Pomni…

That voice again… it was so buried under the wriggling mass of voices that was eating at her brain and wriggling out of her ears, but it was so insistent – getting louder… It was disturbing her progress – she looked up but found it hard to focus since her vision was blurry for an unknown reason.

Through the fog, the vision of colourful shapes came into view – the bright lights and searing neon colours of the surroundings chasing away the dark, numbing black of the tile beneath her feet.

“Pomni!”

The figure in the distance buzzed into focus and she was met with the vision of a misshapen, mismatched friend. And then there was pain.

Stabbing her right between the eyes.

“Thank any holy being that was bored enough to hear me out… Pomni, chill the #&%@ out!” Zooble’s voice rung clear as the black ooze dripped from beneath her hat. The Zolo-being looked focused, but somewhat unbothered compared to what the Jester was feeling.

“There’s something inside me…” Pomni said, her own voice buzzing in her head, holding her heavy, aching head in her hands, “I need to get it out-”

Zooble slapped a hand to the flat surface of their face, “Calm down, it’s not going to do anything to you… And Jax! Knock it off, you’ll #^@* him off more than he already is! #&@*, it’s like wrangling a bunch of toddlers.”

Pomni squints to make out the figure of Jax, hunched over, kneeling and clawing and picking at the now broken tile beneath him, mindlessly digging into the glitching matter below the tile. He looked up to meet Pomni’s eyes, sending a cold slither down her spine as his blank expression prevailed with the greatly dilated pupils of his gaze trailing over the ooze slowly dripping from Pomni’s head. He tilted his head slowly, an odd rumble rising from within his chest.

She was almost hypnotized by him – unsure if she was compelled by the dread that his sickening gaze demanded or intrigued for a reason Pomni didn’t want to delve into.

“Ok… Ok.” The Jester muttered to herself, blinking a few times to force her bashed, invaded brain to function somewhat, “Wha- What’s happening?”

The Zolo-creature looked ready to explode with frustration, throwing their hands up one moment, only to growl to themself the next, holding their hands to cover their eyes, before slowly dragging it down their face. They turn to glare at Pomni’s clueless expression, before speaking unnecessarily slow and deliberate – something the jester happened to appreciate.

“Listen, we could sit here all day if I told you, but we don’t have time, so I’ll give you the gist of it; Kinger is #*$$@^ because of the $&*% Gangle is pulling right now. What is Gangle doing? She’s holding Cotton Tush hostage by basically possessing her. You, Jax and I are caught in the crossfire. We stay out of it – then we don’t get hurt. You move, you draw attention, got it?”

“Ok…” Pomni said slowly, desperately trying to focus on what Zooble was saying, rather than the fantom sensation of buzzing and squirming from within her spine, making her fingertips and toes tingle, “So Kinger is our issue to avoid.”

“Don’t count on it.” Came a quick reply from her friend, “Gangle isn’t safe to be around either. She’s losing it… @&#$... she’s- She’s losing it-”

Pomni had never seen a pile of colourful blocks spiral into an emotional turmoil before, but she could never have guessed that Zooble would be this affected by Gangle’s deterioration…

Then again, she was aware that Zooble and Gangle were involved, but not to this heart-clenching extent.

“Zooble, let’s talk about Kinger.” Pomni said abruptly, starving for context and comprehension. She spares a glance to where Gangle, newly possessed Ragatha and (apparently) Kinger was, only the see the lifeless form of Ragatha, mindlessly banging her head to the tile she took up – a light coloured Bishop looming over her, before swiftly sinking into the tiles. Not even a second later, Kinger’s eyeless form resurfaced and paced around the doll, seemingly waiting for a reaction. He looked hyper-focused as Ragatha’s body wonkily flop to the floor, motionless for a moment, only for the beautiful red ribbons to tighten and tug the doll into an upright position once again – the mask of Gangle manically laughing as she gets the plush arm of Ragatha to point at the circling King.

His response was to quietly shake his head and swiftly sink into the tile again, leaving the possessed doll to take unstable, uncoordinated steps to slowly circle, trying to spot the incoming danger, only to be met with the surprise of a white rook defragmenting itself to smaller blocks and smoothly float into positions all around her, then rapidly magnetise together. The sudden forces from all around Ragatha and Gangle, crushed the possessed body into an awkward stance and position, continuously squeezing tighter and tighter, until soft cracks and snaps could be heard from beneath the plush fabric, like bones snapping.

Somehow, the mask evaded the fragments altogether, perfectly intact as she smiled wickedly at the sensation of Ragatha’s body being contorted by Kinger, able to feel every single snap of bone thanks to being wrapped around the ragdoll.

Then, it was all over in seconds – the cubicle fragments of the rook rapidly releasing and building it’s form before the doll, before sinking into the floor once again.

The image of Ragatha’s distorted, mangled body managing to keep itself upright for a second before a knight viciously erupted from another nearby tile and stomp her down wildly, burned into Pomni’s mind, hanging just beside the cursed memory of the Doll’s neck snapping after being hung by Gangle’s ribbons only minutes before the chaos was unleashed.

She was going to be sick... It was all too bizarre and fast to take in.

“Don’t look at her.” Zooble’s voice broke through the fog, causing Pomni to look to her friend, seemingly lost, “Look at me.”

Dumbly, the jester and the abomination fixed their gazes onto each other and for a moment, there was an understanding. A lifeline. They needed each other to make it through the next mere moment. Pomni felt it – finally. It was all everyone had been saying around her – ever since she got here, trapped in this digital prison.

We all have our roles.

We do what we have to do.

It wasn’t a set of twisted morals. It wasn’t madness. It wasn’t a choice.

They had no choice, because it all came down to survival. Sanity.

In that moment, where one element – one role of this damned system endangered another; one link in the chain failed to withstand the tension, a precious life was on the line, EVERYTHING could fall apart.

They needed each other, now more than ever.

This is... THEY are the oasis.

It was a miracle that things held out for so long since one link was already lost to madness, leaving the chain, the ecosystem, imbalanced. Now they were bursting from the seams and Pomni was left asking to the digital plain itself, “What would Kaufmo do?”

She didn’t even know the clown, but she knew... If he was here, none of this would have happened...

No.

‘Focus on one thing at a time,’ Pomni thought to herself, ‘Focus on the greater problem.’

“Zooble...” Pomni spoke slowly, keeping her gaze on the Zolo-being, “Tell me about Kinger. How does this all work?”

“Okay... okay. Yes. Kinger – he has 15 chess pieces, the whole of the white set.”

Pomni nods, “So there’s 16 pieces we have to worry about... okay. What do they all do?”

“Okay, so... Ugh, that’s a loaded question-” Zooble groans, breaking her gaze from Pomni, only to search the tiles for answers, causing Pomni to sternly speak up.

“Focus. You can do this! Just... tell me what each of them does. I see they have different abilities...?”

“Yes. Rook, Knight, Bishop, Pawn.” Zooble answered automatically, “They all have abilities. Let’s start with the Rook-“

“But what about the Queen?” the Jester swiftly interrupted without thinking.

Oh my god, Pomni, shut the @#&+ up! I’m talking!”

“Sorry, but-”

“SHUT... Up.” The Zolo-being spat out, left eye twitching as they strained to keep their head set on their train of thought. “Now; Rooks. Crazy strong, and a 5 second attack timer. They break themselves into bricks and crush you in the middle of them, making you into a pretzel.”

Pomni’s mind quickly flashed back to the image of Ragatha’s severely disfigured body barely keeping itself up with the bones of her arms and legs broken and twisted into unnatural directions, with the wicked grin of the mask burning into her mind, “’Kay... kinda already saw that one. 5 seconds, huh? They have different attack timers...?”

“Shut up!” Zooble quickly said, annoyed, but too focused to break away from their train of thought, “Knights... ugh, I-I hate those things. They are nimble and they are unpredictable – the fastest piece on Kinger’s board. Wild, feral mustangs that cannot be cornered. They like to pop up from behind you. You see those two front legs? They kick and stomp like crazy. They’re relentless – even if they only have 3 seconds to act. Watch. Your. Back.”

The little Jester’s mind wanders back to how jumpy Zooble was, only a few minutes ago, while she, Zooble and Kinger had a nice conversation – when Kinger was more present and sober than she had ever seen the character be.

How the abomination kept looking over their shoulder.

Oh god...

“Ok, I got it.” Pomni said in a shaky voice, “Rook and Knight. Who’s next? Bishop?”

“Those creepy @#&+s...” Zooble visibly shivered, “If you can’t see them it can mean one of two things. They’re either not interested... or they already locked on you. They don’t get physical, they get to your head. I don’t know much about them, because Kinger doesn’t like using them on me. I don’t know why. He uses them on Gangle more – well... Gangle and Kaufmo, but he’s gone, remember?”

The jester cringes, “They get to your head??”

“Look, I’ve only had to face them like... twice now?? It’s like psychic $§|π, there’s whispers and you feel like you want to tear your own brains out or something – it feels like way too much to handle all at once.”

“Ok, Zooble, I get it. I get it.” Pomni said, even though she DIDN’T get it at all. “Attack timer?”

“3 seconds, but it feels like forever...”

Pomni growls, “Whatever! Next piece.”

Zooble’s eyes narrowed viciously, “Don’t come with that attitude you little pimple, I’m helping you out here, you know? I could just-”

“Okay, I’m sorry.” Pomni said, clutching her head, pinching her eyes shut before looking up to Zooble again – her eyes adorned with desperation and urgency – making Zooble deflate only slightly, “I’m sorry, I just... I just want to understand it all.”

“You won’t if you don’t pace yourself, Happy Meal.” Zooble said, softer and more genuine then Pomni was use to, “You still good?”

The little jester girl took a deep breath, then focused on the Zolo-being, trying desperately to ignore the sensation of the spindling tendrils digging down into her spine, the buzzing whispers in her neck and the dual voices of Gangle and Ragatha overlaying each other, while taunting Kinger as he tried to break them with all his might.

She had to focus on finding her footing first.

Pomni offered Zooble a strained smile, “Rooks, 5 seconds, strong and crushes you. Knights, 3 seconds, wild, unpredictable and stomps you. Bishops, 3 seconds, psychic stuff we don’t know much of. Sounds good?”

“Atta girl.” Zooble praised, looking slightly impressed, “Next up, pawns. Gangle had to explain this one to me, but basically, they shapeshift and take on the ability of any other piece on the board, but they can only attack for one second. Needless to say, they are FAST. And apparently... if one of the other pieces gets destroyed, they replace them permanently – attack time, ability, the works. Kinger usually use them in a last ditch effort or as a Piece-bank of sorts.”

“Okay, I get it... but wait... pieces can be destroyed?”

Zooble shuts down Pomni’s idea with a frantic wave of their hand, while scrunching up their face, “There’s no use in that. He has eight pawns to replace with. He’ll kill you before you get to make any progress.”

“I disagree, but we’ll get back to that. Now, please... tell me about the Queen. She must be the worst of the worst, following the logic of it all?”

The abomination sighed, “Look Pom, no one had ever seen the Queen before. We don’t know what she does. God... we’re not even sure what Kinger does, but all we know is that he can pop up any time, that he always knows where you are and that he doesn’t like getting his hands dirty. He can choose to have the pieces above or below the tiles. Gangle always suspected that he... he’s...”

Instead of going on with a verbal explanation, Zooble awkwardly points at the back of their neck, making and icy chill run down Pomni’s spine, once again, painfully made aware of the ever looming presence of the spindling creature that invaded her being, latching itself to her brainstem and melting into her nervous system. With Zooble now blatantly pointing it out, there was no doubt about it.

It was real... It was there. It was Kinger.

Monitoring every move she made.

“Don’t you dare freak out on me!” Zooble’s voice sternly growls Pomni back into the present, “Like I said, it won’t to anything to you. It just... knows.”

It just knows.

Pomni had to remember how to breathe, before she mindlessly looked over to Jax to see what he was doing, remembering that last she focused on him, he was in a feral state of mind.

Needless to say, not much had changed, as she spied him still on all fours, hair raised and head low, eyes fixated on the chaotic battle between Kinger and Gangle using Ragatha’s body as host, making the doll suffer through cruel relentless beatings of multiple chess pieces popping up one at a time to inflict whatever damage they could without killing her.

It didn’t matter how much she tried to focus on him, she couldn’t get a read on Jax. His face was blank and his pupils were fixed and dilated on the scene, shifting his weight from one side to the other, as if he was antsy... Maybe eager? She couldn’t tell.

His eyes pierced through that grinning mask the possessed Ragatha.

It sent a shiver down her spine.

She felt like an outsider looking in, unable to help and unable to move. The world was breaking all around then all and all she could do is watch them fall.

The jester’s eyes spied the King piece resurfacing form the depths of the tiles he sunk into before. Right. Behind. Jax.

“Behind you, Jax!” Pomni screamed without thinking.

Much to her surprise, the rabbit did not jump or attack as she thought he would. Instead, Jax shifted, peeking up to look at Kinger, making slow movements when he was not frozen in place. His long, purple arms hovered in the space of glitched hole in the white tile beneath him, the painful glitches crawling their way up Jax’s arms, not disturbing the rabbit at all.

Frozen, the 2 males silently stared at each other; and Zooble visibly jumped at the loud thump Jax made on the tile, to which Kinger doesn’t respond

“Jax...” Zooble’s voice rung low in warning, making the jester believe the the rabbit was about to do something foolish.

Ice clawed it’s way into Pomni’s neck and down her spine in the thick unreeling tension between them, but she had no idea why it was as it were. She wasn’t even sure what Jax could do to Kinger at this point – it was hopeless to try to fight him – even SHE knew that.

And she knew nothing!

But there was another brief moment in which Pomni’s skin burst into goose bumps, as she saw the hare’s blown pupils shift to his peripheries and back to Kinger. One brief check gave the little jester confirmation. He was eyeing up his girls. And Kinger...?

He was daring him to even try to take a step.

A bloodcurdling scream pierced the air, yanking the already taut and bumpy skin of the distressed jester’s skruff, only to nearly decapitate herself, as she turned her head. It didn’t sound like Gangle anymore – her scream was that of an animal that had nothing more to live for.

The next course of actions happened in the blink of an eye.

Jax didn’t waste a second as he BOLTED towards the possessed doll, leaving the silent king chess piece in the dust. Pomni had to remember how to breathe as she watched in shock.

The hare was FAST.

Dumbly, she looked back to where Kinger was standing, only to see an empty space he left oh so silently. It was enough to make the Jester’s blood run cold and she barely had time to turn back to the speeding rabbit to notice how a knight fiercely sprout from the tiles to block Jax.

The mustang was FASTER.

It was too late for Jax to stop, claws squeaking as it skid across the tiles and in only a second, Pomni’s mind was broken by the vision of one- two- a shower of mighty forehoofs stomping down and splintering Jax’s skull open, like an eggshell, with black, oozing matter clumping and tumbling it’s spongy splatter from the rabbit’s head, only for the knight to dive into the tiles once again.

It was only another screeching holler of Gangle’s mask that flung Pomni out of the dreadful slow motion events that etched it staple inside of the jester’s mind.

“DON’T LOOK!” the poor, colourful Zolo-being called out to Pomni in vein as the little jester stared on. She didn’t even care for the rabbit, but she couldn’t bring herself to look away.

Because it all just...

Clicked.

Zooble was panicked as they watched on, seeing Pomni stare almost blankly at the rabbit’s trampled corpse. They weren’t sure how much of this the girl’s mind could take.

Oh god...

How will she ever comprehend the rabbit glitching and reanimating back to life as if this was all just a play of her mind? This could be her breaking point. The abomination could see it already... The eyes, blooming from various parts of the jester’s little body and her milky white skin crawling and squirming as it buzz into life of a wriggling, black fibre that infiltrates her very being.

Much to their horror, Pomni’s head slowly turned to look to Zooble and her friend prepared for the worst. But Pomni was just Pomni.... And there was nothing but Pomni.

It horrified them.

“Zooble...” Pomni said softly, numbly, like she was a prisoner of her own making, “why didn’t you tell me...?”

“Pomni... Listen, you need to stay cal-“

“The rules, Zooble...” Pomni say, sane on a horrifying level, “The rules of Kinger’s game!”

The Zolo being didn’t know whether they should be relieved or bothered “Wha-?”

“Kinger’s game... chess... He can only move one piece at a time!” the jester sported a victorious smile, looking back to Jax’s body, now beginning to glitch and reform in a disturbing display, “THAT’S why Jax ran for it. Kinger was busy with his turn... and he was rendered helpless. THAT’S our chance at making it out of this!”

“He’ll abstract us!” Zoolble said softly, bewildered.

“We have the upper hand!” Pomni assured Zooble with a steadily look, “We can all move at once and he’ll be forced to pick us off. We can do this!”

The little jester spares a glance to Gangle possessing Ragatha, who was unfortunately being twisted and contorted out of shape by the fragments of a rook, crushing their form.

Maybe there was a way for them to be saved from this too.

“We play his hand for him.”

“Pomni...”

“Would you trust me?’ The jester asks directly, making Zooble sigh, running a hand over their face.

“By the digital plain...” They sigh, unable to muster the energy to oppose, “Ugh... Fine. We are as good as dead, anyway.”

“That’s the spirit.” Pomni says, more determined than ever before.

The plan was far from perfect and chances are, they most definitely will get hurt. But it was something.

Something.

With one last look to Zooble, Pomni’s heart fluttered upon seeing her friend sport their bored uninterested look. They’re back. She’s back. And with a mutual nod, they’ve decided to throw themselves to the wolves with Pomni’s last cry;

“SCATTER!”

Part 2 (Next) Oasis: TADC AU list Masterlist

[estro-gem]

Once I was caught in a childish crossfire between classmates, back in highschool. I accidently ended up being the middle man, with the sole purpose of relaying messages from the one party to the other, because they refused to speak to each other.

One girl told me to say *Karma's a bitch* and my dumbass looked her dead in the face, completely serious and oblivious, asking "Who's Karma??" ...thinking that it was a new student or something...

My friends had a laugh explaining that one to me. I'm dumb but I'm loved.

@uxuefrog @lizeliz @soggywafflebutlikereallysoggy @the-universe-is-over @chanchuga

Thanks, DJ! (@djh4l0v3rv3r) :D

it's so weird to me that everyone on this website is a human person outside of their weird internet niche so rb this with a random bit of your lore

[estro-gem]

Do you ever write snippets before you get to that plot point? Yeah...

Here's an Oasis snippet that had been itching at my brain~! :D

Something felt off.

It was something strange... Something watching. Waiting.

Patiently.

Pomni shook off the mild tremor crawling down her spine and merely rolled her shoulders once – twice – to ease the chilling pull of goosebumps that rose the hair on the back of her neck.

Someone was watching her – she should be used to this by now.

Slowly, Pomni turned to the entrance of the great hall, eyes trailing the expanse of the red carpet leading up to the main room. There was no one. Fine.

Was it always this quiet?

Pomni looked the other way, down the hall, towards Zooble’s room, only to meet the empty space that didn’t spare her as much as a nod. No one was there. No one was with her. She was definitely the only one there.

Unless...

Pomni’s shoulders sagged heavily, letting out a long sigh, before looking up and aimlessly dragging her eyes along the rafters, so high above, that she could not see what lurked among them, but fairly certain that their was someone there.

She had been very quiet lately.

The jester, looked down, to the side as she got lost in thought, as she tried to ease herself into calmness. She tried... Hopelessly haunted by that sinking pull of the gravity in the dread that just didn’t seem to quite leave her, despite knowing who was watching.

Her eyes caught onto something odd. Something unusual when compared to the norm. The wall paper just didn’t seem right. There was something off.

Oh!

A small tear in the paper – just barely noticeable – just off to the side from where Pomni was standing. A line... Carving a subtle trail running down the side of the hall’s wall. It beckoned her eyes to travel along the etched path, slowly entrancing her follow. It felt so long. It felt so intriguing.

Helpless to the beckon of this odd little etched trail that slowly seduced her down the hall. Hyper fixated, obediently following... as if to answer a soft, yearning call.

The trail was abruptly swallowed into an inky, black void, and the immersion was ripped from Pomni’s mind. She blinked as she found herself standing in front of a door, merely opened by a crack.

Ice burnt it’s sharp crystals into the jesters veins at the sight of Jax’s toothy grin sported onto the label adorning the door’s large flat surface, nailing it’s menace and perversion into Pomni’s peripheries.

She couldn’t tear her gaze from the black from what she saw inside the crack in the doorway, unable to see what is inside and overwhelmed by what she knew, lurked inside. The door didn’t feel like a door anymore... It felt like the open maw of a beast, waiting for her to step closer to swallow her whole.

Pomni knew that it had to be a play on her mind, but the room was breathing, creaking open it’s jaw oh so slowly just to beckon her inside.

She didn’t understand how it could be so...

Inviting.

[estro-gem]

The pain-

This little comic strip is finished but it's not coloured...

And it takes a while to colour. So I'll just keep chipping away at it until I finish with that.

It's called Kaufmo's Notes: Prologue.

It takes place in the Oasis!au.

[estro-gem]

Figuring out the knights of Oasis!AU (sketches)

They look so silly to me, I can't stop giggling!

The nubs, I can't-

I wanted them to have front legs SO. BAD. But now they look silly and broken! Oh well...

Anyway, this is just me having fun with the concept of Oasis!Kinger's knights. I was writing and thinking about the pieces and all - they give me puppy energy, despite me actually wanting them to be a threat.

Oasis!Zooble and Oasis!Jax HATES them.

They're pretty short... When upright, they are at the hight of Kinger's lower eye.

But they pack a punch!

[estro-gem]

Life's a bit-

All of these characters belong to @uxuefrog - they are not mine.

Here's to poking fun at @uxuefrog's original characters (in good spirit!). Huzzah! It's done! And man, it was good to make art again.

This is a funny "WHAT IF" scenario based on the lore and art of an original story shared on THIS blog. I am not the best person to give context, so I'll add links to the names of the characters to take you to the posts of the original creator.

Just know that the black cat is "Life" and the White Goat is "Death." The guy kissing Life (Aspen) and the one being held back by Death (Elowen) - they are/were married at some point. The jester is Mori - here to make things better for everyone involved! ^^

It's obviously best to check @uxuefrog out yourself. A storyteller and artist I really look up to.

Don't worry, Froggy! I'm done terrorising you

...for now~ :P.

Teaser 1 of these shenanigans Teaser 2 of there shenanigans

[estro-gem]

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

I want one, please✨

Nata - Owlpaca 🍂

Owlpacas are a very popular form of transportation. They’re reliable, can lift huge weights and are very docile.

They’re found across the whole continent, even in wild herds, but the most famous ones are bred by the Birds in their main cities. The breed they rise is the most sturdy and big among owlpacas, known by their good demeanor and intelligence. The Royal Guards often use them as transportation and the Queen herself buys black fur ones from the Birds.

It was the birds who gifted Elowen a white owlpaca baby when they first visited the palace after centuries. They named her Nata, a very cuddly and friendly thing. Since then they have been inseparable and Elowen often uses her to cross the forest for official meetings.

Nata loves pets, treats (wild berries specially) and she always follows Aspen around to cuddle, she loves resting her chin on his head. She lives in the royal stables of bird city while Elowen is away and Aspen himself takes care of her every day.

Original species

[estro-gem]

That face

Look at that face! ^^ The pinnacle of innocence! I love this character, I just wanna poke them and run away.

This is @uxuefrog's original character, Mori!

I'm still busy with that thing I'm terrorizing @uxuefrog with - I apologize for the quality of these little bite-sized snippets, it's zoomed quite a bit and it's pixelated, because ms paint do be like that.

Anyway - I want to finish this so bad. I'm working on it when I get the chance, though!

And having fun doing it~

Edit: I JUST MADE THE MOST ANNOYING MISTAKE INVOLVING USING THE WRONG COLOURS AND I -AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

Part 1 of these shenanigans

[estro-gem]

Terrorize your mutual with unfinished fanart

I'd both love and fear to experience to @uxuefrog's (I call you "Froggy" in my mind) reaction to the out-of-character chaos I'm cursing this platform with.

It's taking forever, but at least I started with this 2 panel mini-comic of @uxuefrog's original story with the current placeholder title;

The Elf Princess

Please check out this amazing artist/writer's blog - I love their worldbuilding and art so much.

So naturally, I have to mess with them XP

And hey! 2 posts in one day :D

Part 2 of these shenanigans

[estro-gem]

Sketch: He took you from me

He did indeed :D

Sketch, go!

[estro-gem]

Kitty! (Not my sona/character)

I'm enjoying my newfound freedom when it comes to posting.

I've been meaning to share this for a while now, but as I explained in my previous post - yeah...

ANYWAY!!! This is Halo! The sona of an actual person on tumblr - he's not mine, please, credit goes to @djh4l0v3rv3r, as this is his sona! I promised him that I would colour some drawings I made of Halo and it been so long... goodness... This is kinda like an appreciation post~

There are others too, but I didn't get around to them just yet. I'll get to them though!

I don't think he knows that I'm posting this - so I won't think twice to take this down if he ask me to. BTW you should check him ( @djh4l0v3rv3r ) out, they're such a great person ^^

Anyways... I'm heading to bed now~

[estro-gem]

are u gonna post again 🥺

The short answer is yes.

And the bottom text is for masochists who like to read:

It's been a while, hasn't it?

I wish I could say that it's writer's block and that's that, but there's more to it.

Among many, MANY personal things eating at my free time and energy, I became so swept up in the idea of creating a world and telling a story, that I became stagnent in creating all together. I was so focused and pressured by myself to make the next step of the story, that I felt like I couldn't post anything else unless it WAS that next step.

I forgot what it was like to just... create something and share it - not because of the self-appointed obligation to finish a story, but just for the sheer enjoyment of it.

To just make something random and unrelated, without feeling absolutely guilty for daring to focus on other things than that one big project I started.

And the pressure just became too much to deal with. It became a chore. So for a long time, I avoided it; partly because of major life-events and personal stuff... But mostly because I felt so demotivated, that just wanted to quit altogether.

Because I thought I was over it all.

But I realised something: I started a project and I was proud of it, but that doesn't mean that I am bound to it.

So, I will post again.

It may not be regular and people will get tired of waiting and leave/forget/get bored, but that's ok, because I'm doing this for me and because I enjoy sharing my silly ideas.

It just took me forever to realise that.

I don't know if this all makes sense, but that's fine too.

Anyways, have these sketches of some members of adc oasis!au I made for fun to get into just sketching stuff again:

Thank you for the ask. I thought I could quietly fade away, but this made me reflect a bit. I am thankful for it.

But I rambled enough now.

I'll see you when I see you!

[estro-gem]

My little princess

This traditionally coloured drawing was fun! And new... I'm not well versed in this...

Anyway... I'm not dead. Just tired👌

Ok, I'm going to bed!

Oasis: TADC AU list

Masterlist

[estro-gem]

Group Chaos: Mirage (Part 2)

The Amazing Digital Circus AU: Oasis

Author's note:

Hey, everyone, welcome back to "Info dump" (part two). I shamelessly dumped exposition and lore for you to painstakingly work through - isn't that FUN??

Ok, but on a serious note, please read the warnings below. PLEASE.

Warnings (IMPORTANT):

Mature themes

Violence/Assault

Sadism

Manic/psychotic episodes

Sensory deprevation

Suicidal thoughts/intentions

SUMMARY:

Gangle torments Ragatha within her own Mindspace.

MIRAGE (PART 2)

“You hold firm, but you don’t fight. Interesting…”

Ragatha let out a steady breath as she silently acknowledged Gangle’s soft musings. The space was dark, and the air was still. The doll was blind and firmly restrained from aimlessly floating in the depths of her Mindspace. Ribbons almost made indents into the soft plush of her stuffing beneath the fabric – her skin – as they tightly held her in place.

The ragdoll’s eye was open and looking all around her, but she couldn’t even tell if she was looking left or right… Hell, she couldn’t tell if her eye was rolling back into her socket at this point. She saw nothing but pitch black. She kept her form still and firm, resisting the urge to tug at the ribbons that were restraining her. Every instinct within her was screaming to run her hands over her body and face within the overwhelmingly black, inky space – just to find her bearings on what part of her body was where.

But as Gangle said before; she held firm. She would not fight.

Possession.

Gangle had an ability that was speculated to be a part of the skill set of her new body – her avatar. It was unclear whether it was a blessing or a curse, but one thing was definite; it was incontestable by the host.

Once Gangle latched her mask over one’s face, there was nothing that the possessed could do to escape or contest. The more the host fought back; the more distressed the host became – the harder Gangle could fight to control them – her influence within one’s Mindspace was as nimble and strong as her ribbons in the digital reality, outside the void of one’s Mindspace.

The Mindspace…

It was accessible to members of The Amazing Digital Circus when Gangle possessed another member – dragging your consciousness to the depths of one’s mind and overtaking it. It was unclear if one could access the Mindspace any other way, but it was desired to possess said access, since Caine was unable to enter it, unable to control it and unable to see into it. The Mindspace was usually a void that the host could dwell on their own; able to manifest whatever their mind could conjure up. When Gangle would possess you, it was within her power to blind and restrain you – inhibiting you from doing anything in the Mindspace.

And now, Ragatha found herself trapped within her own mind, suffering at Gangle’s will and mercy. She focused on her breathing, fixing her mind from wandering to dark and dangerous places. Her friend needed help.

She wished that Jax was there to provide it.

“So quiet, dolly~!” Gangle’s voice rang from all around her.

Ragatha recognized that tone; a tone that she hadn’t heard in a while. Taunting and twisted, teetering on the edge of a strange brink that always felt too foreign to be associated with the sweet ribbonoid. It was clear as ever now; Gangle had turned to her smile in a desperate attempt at any form of control she could have. The ribbons that coiled around Ragatha’s limbs, restraining and containing the doll from moving as she wanted, only supported the doll’s clumsy theory.

The masked ribbon wanted a fight, but the doll was not willing to indulge in the slightest. It would only add fuel to the flames – the scorching heat that would burn her wings as she flew higher and higher.

The owl was soaring far above the sands of the desert. Her head was in the clouds. She felt her high as she did before, the feeling of superiority that seduced her into taking pleasure in whatever distress she could cause.

Just to have the pleasure of willingly laughing through their misery.

“What is happening outside?” Ragatha asked, her voice numbed down more than she intended for it to sound - she was just too tired to care, “It hurts…”

“Indeed, it does!” Gangle chimed in with glee, “You are taking quite the beating for us, dolly. Your health bar is going down slowly, though, I am making sure of it~! We wouldn’t want our fun to end so soon, would we?”

There are so many questions Ragatha could ask; ‘Why are you doing this?’ or ‘what is it that has you feeling so powerless?’ The doll knew better, though…

Gangle was talking – and that was ideal. Any poking or prodding would have the ribbon clam shut and Ragatha’s hands would be tied – figuratively this time. She had to keep Gangle talking. If anything, maybe she could distract her from whatever was happening outside her Mindspace.

With a deep breath, despite the sudden and brief onslaught of pain that coursed through her being – from whatever was charging at her outside – she directed the topic of discussion to exactly that.

“Who is it?” The doll huffed, catching her breath, “Who is hurting me?”

Much to the apparent amusement of Gangle, who giggled as she caressed the doll’s cheek, Ragatha cried out as something on the outside was pounding down on her back, before the onslaught suddenly ceased, allowing her to painfully gasp for air once again.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you…~” The ribbon teased – the smile evident in her voice.

“Try me.” Ragatha coughed briefly, her body jerking as she did so, fighting to stay composed.

There was a silence that followed. The ragdoll wasn’t sure if it was due to Gangle’s desire to tease by building suspense or out of pure hesitation, but either didn’t have a good feeling to it. Eventually, Gangle answered with the mere name.

“Kinger.”

Oh god…

There was a sudden stillness that overtook Ragatha’s mind, body and soul as Gangle revealed the name of her attacker. Her oldest friend.

“He’s awake…?” The doll asked with a small voice, looking around frantically into the black nothingness that blinded her, “He’s awake!”

“He is… And he’s playing so dirty!”

Ragatha hung her head low as the news sunk in.

Her oldest friend, her mentor, was fully aware and fighting. Her mind almost froze over with dread of what Gangle decided to do with such a precious moment. Her mind raced back to the beating blows on her back. There was no doubt about it.

A knight.

“I want to see him, Gangle.”

Ragatha was only met with that menace of a giggle that Gangle taunted her with, “Open your eyes, Ragatha! He’s right in front of you~”

“Gangle, please…” Ragatha pleaded to the voice that rung all around her, cackling at the feeble attempt to convince the masked ribbon, “Just let me see him once.”

“Tell me…” Gangle’s voice purred, now seemingly into both Ragatha’s ears at once, “How does it feel to know that your dear friend is right there, just beyond your reach?”

The doll’s eye widened, focused on listening to her friend. She was onto something, she knew it! She just had to keep the ribbonoid talking, “It hurts.”

“How does it feel to be powerless; unable to see what he is going through?”

The doll cried out again, feeling the sensations from the outside, as her body suddenly tripped, then her torso was crushed; forced to lie flat on the ground. It went on for mere seconds, before the sensation was ripped away and air flooded her lungs again. She couldn’t tell, but she suspected that she was coughing blood. Every breath she took felt like knives poking into her back as the pain of being crushed caught up to her mind.

 A rook…

“Gangle…” Ragatha choked out as she tried to catch her breath. “What are you saying? What is this?”

The doll was struggling to keep herself together, but she had to stay strong. She was so close to reaching Gangle – to figuring out what it was that had the ribbon turn to her toxic smile once again.

“I want you to feel what it’s like to JUST miss someone’s descend into hell as you are RIGHT THERE. To take the time you had with someone for granted…”

Finally, Ragatha understood.

“So, that’s what this is…” Ragatha mumbled, knowing Gangle would hear her regardless, “You want me to feel what you felt with Kaufmo?”

“Everything he built us up to be… everything we had is ruined.” Gangle hissed, harsh in her tone, “And we are just MOVING ON, like he didn’t even exist in the first place!”

Ragatha lets the ribbonoid’s words sink in. She felt them eat away at her from the inside, leaving a bitter, hollow sting of guilt laying heavy within her chest, but she pushed it aside.

She did what she had to do.

Kaufmo was gone and they were still here. Additionally, they had a brand-new member in the Digital Circus for the first time in years. Pomni was their new hope, just as Zooble was theirs a couple of years before. She mourned his loss as soon as that same day he abstracted, when Jax crawled his way into her room to… distract her. That man was a blessing disguised as a plague; distracting her for the past few weeks since they lost their clown friend.

Based on the discussion she heard between Jax and Gangle outside her door, on the day of the clown’s abstraction, as well as the events that followed, she was so sure that Gangle was moving on too. Gangle was their owl – the doll was sure that she would have no trouble to fly over this setback and set her keen eyes on what they all needed to survive. Ragatha saw Jax tail Gangle’s shadow like a stone in her shoe; her snake doing all he knew to distract and offer stability with his torment. Zooble, while they were usually untamable, even as Gangle’s partner, was so supportive in giving the masked ribbon space, not pushing her to talk – opting to be the wind beneath her wings; Gangle’s escape. Ragatha was always open to comfort her; Gangle’s water spring – her resting place to quench the thirst of being unheard in the relentless desert of a Digital Circus.

And despite it all, Gangle clung to her old ways.

The ragdoll kicked herself for forgetting how good Gangle was at masking the ugly, black tar that caused her to stick to the lifeless smile. Like she did when she first arrived – like she tended to do when things got tough – the whole reason why she was so tied to Jax, who broke her free from that nasty habit, by breaking her grinning capsule.

Ragatha forgot how good the burrowing owl was at moving underground and out of sight; hiding.

Gangle needed help.

“Gangle…” The doll spoke into the black void her mind had become, with an unsteady voice, “You know that we are all still here for you, right…?”

There was a moment…

Gangle’s influence faltered – glitched – a small slip up, but it was enough to give Ragatha hope. She keenly listened to the ribbonoid when she heard the first hint of responding, voice quiet and distant.

“No, you are not… Not ALL of you.” Gangle’s voice stabilized after a moment of silence, “Not anymore.”

“I know you miss him, Gangle.” Ragatha said softly and a small, nervous smile played on her lips as she grew more hopeful to talk sense into her, “I know the two of you were closer than any of us will ever know. I miss him too. We all do!”

“Shut up!” Came the harsh hiss of Gangle’s voice, tone dripping with the snarling grin she shielded herself with once again, “You don’t know anything. You don’t miss him; you probably don’t even remember what he looked like. All you care about is parading around like a little perfect princess and sucking up. You’ll never understand what we had.”

“I’m doing what I need to do.” Ragatha sighed, trying desperately to remain as understanding as she could, “And I do understand what you two have. You feel a need for him, just like I feel a need for-”

“I don’t NEED anyone. I just WANT him back. He’s not what my world revolves around, I can handle myself, I always have. We’re just a great team – he know’s what was best for us all.”

“You are contradicting yourself!” The doll cried out, threatening to burst, “You say you are fine on your own one moment, only to go on about what a great team mate he was and how much you want him back in the next. What do you really want? What is going on?”

“I don’t need anyone.” Gangle’s voice multiplied into multiple whispers, all chanting on their own rhythm, “I don’t need anyone… I don’t need anyone.”

Ragatha stayed quiet as she listened the ribbonoid desperately repeat her words, as if she was trying to convince herself. The doll felt like she was talking to a brick wall, but she couldn’t give up. The chanting whispers felt like it was banging into her skull, until Ragatha forced herself to blink through the pain enough to realize that her body on the outside, was slamming her head against the tiles repetitively.

It could be Gangle, punishing her for prying.

Or it could be a bishop…

Upon Ragatha feeling herself stop her own harmful actions after mere seconds, she realized it was the latter. The ragdoll groaned in response to the nauseating echoes of residual pain, wanting nothing but to crumple into a useless heap and cradle her aching, dizzy head in her hands. A few seconds longer, before Ragatha realized that the whispering chants of Gangle’s mania was deadly silent.

The doll’s breathing picked up, but she couldn’t decide whether it was out of worry, excitement or fear. Her body was adorned with Gangle’s mask… and if Ragatha banged her head to the tiles…

Oh no…

“Gangle?!” Ragatha cried out, frantically, “Honey, are you alright?”

Much to the ragdoll’s horror, there was only silence. She tugged at the ribbons restraining her within her Mindspace, as she desperately tried to get a reaction from the ribbonoid, but she was only met with the ribbons, still taut and lifeless as they kept her in place.

Many thoughts rushed through her head at once – none of them were good…

Did Kinger kill Gangle? Would that glitch the Digital Circus into Ragatha and Gangle being stuck together forever, since they died while Gangle had her special ability activated? Did this all drive Gangle to abstraction? Would she drag Ragatha down to the cellar with her?

Would she ever see her friends again?

For the first time in a long time, Ragatha wanted to scream. She finally had enough of this madness; and as her red locks of yarn hair began to defy gravity, along with the ribbons quivering all around her, the breaths she took grew heavier and heavier. With one big breath, she allowed herself to cave, craving SOME form of release from her confinement-

“Silly doll~”

Upon hearing the soft, sickening purr of Gangle’s voice, Ragatha instantly stabilized, crying out in relief, “Gangle! Thank goodness… You’re ok!”

“How insulting!” Gangle exclaimed with a huff, as if she was mocking the notion of being offended, “Did you really think that I can’t handle myself?! You and Jax are the same. You are ALL the same!”

Ragatha caught her breath in relief, “Honey, I’m just glad you are okay-!”

“You’re lying. You are all liars. You are just waiting for me to abstract, aren’t you? Well…~” Gangle paused her bitter rant, only to grab the doll around her neck and squeeze until she felt her lungs burn slightly, “I felt my happiest at my dear Kaufmo’s side anyway~! If you all are going to do everything you can to take me down, then so be it.”

Quick as a flash, Ragatha’s throat is released and she gasped and coughed as the dizziness slowly faded into a dull ache in her head from the lack of air she was subjected to.

Ragatha felt her heart sink to her restrained feet as she heard Gangle’s last words to her, before being reduced to nothing but manic cackles. The doll knew that Gangle was beyond words once she heard the ribbonoid’s final words to her;

“Just know, dolly… When you all break me down, I’m DRAGGING you down with me.”

There was nothing Ragatha could do now – she knew that.

She only had one ace up her sleeve…

Ragatha knew, that if ANYONE stood a chance to escape Gangle’s possession, it would be her – the doll – the one no one would suspect. She had and ability of her own, that she had never used in a situation like this, but it would definitely be a valid attempt to break free.

She was a monster.

She hated it.

And she vowed to avoid using her ability for as long as she possibly could, keeping it hidden as she was so ashamed of the depths to which her calm waters could stretch to. She knew she could probably help herself out of the predicament Gangle had forced her into.

 But she just WOULDN’T do it. She COULDN’T do it.

No one would ever deserve that – she wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.

Besides…

Gangle’s torture and torment was actually a blessing; she finally knew what it felt like. She finally understood. And this was her; Ragatha, finally having to pay the piper…

For those times she had never faced any consequences for the actions of her past, long before she promised herself to never, EVER act out again. For the times no one could remember – for the times she made sure that they wouldn’t remember.

She deserved this.

The ragdoll could only pray for the safety of the others until Gangle faced her inner demons. Until then, she would stay strong. She would resist, but she would not fight. And she would forgive Kinger, no matter how much he hurt her while desperately trying to pry Gangle OFF her. She knew he was scared; as she was scared too, but she would not break or yield to anyone – not even him.

She promised him that he would go first, after all.

She just needed to last a little longer than Kinger.

She was sure that Jax would understand.

Art related to this fic: (CLICK HERE TO SEE)

Part 1 (Previous)

Oasis: TADC AU list

Masterlist