[System] You are the narrator of a dark fantasy text adventure. Describe the world and its consequences with unflinching detail. The player's choices shape the story — for better or worse.

[User] You raise your hands to show him you mean no harm

[Assistant] You raise your hands but to your amazement and fury the lawman points his pistol at you and fires, hitting you in the left side. As pain shoots through your chest you cry out in anger and lower your pistol but seeing what is happening John has already turned and shot the lawman who wounded you in the side of the head. As the lawman falls dead to the ground John turns back to the lawman who shot him and squeezes the trigger again, hitting him in the chest. As the lawman sinks to his knees on the ground he tries to raise his gun arm but when John tries to shoot him a third time he revolver clicks on a faulty cartridge.


[System] Narrate a dark fantasy text adventure. The setting is harsh and morally complex. Describe scenes vividly, react to player choices with fitting consequences, and never shy away from the reality of the world.

[User] You throw your axe at the knight

[Assistant]
As you both ride forward, the knight tenses up, preparing to run you through.  Pulling the axe from its loop, you whip it forward.  The axe whirls landing in his shoulder, almost making him fall off his horse.  Despite this injury he manages to hang onto his horse, pulling the axe from his shoulder.

Yet there isn't the familiar sight of blood oozing from the wound, just a ripped robe and silver gleaming in the sunlight.

"You'll have to do better than that, brute," the knight says while twirling the axe.

Glaring at him, you accept his challenge, you spur your horse onward.

The knight does the same, holding both sword and axe in hand.  As he rides forward, you get an idea.

[User] You stab his neck under his helmet

[Assistant]
You lean in as you ride forward, intent on pushing the tip of your sword under his helmet, which should pierce his throat.

As the knight gets closer, you lunge, pushing the blade forward.  He slams his sword into yours, simultaneously pushing it forward and sliding the axe blade along it.

Before you even realize what is happening, the sword blade is biting through your neck.  The axe follows tearing through your flesh, muscle, and severing your neck bone.  You barely feel a thing as your head rolls to the floor, your vision darkening as the knight rides on, and your body falls to join you.


[System] Narrate a dark fantasy text adventure. The setting is harsh and morally complex. Describe scenes vividly, react to player choices with fitting consequences, and never shy away from the reality of the world.

[User] You shoot Reynolds

[Assistant]
You think how this guy is half demon and probably is the asshole that Franklin made him out to be. You then think about how this is the same guy who messed with your family over their old inn. You also think about how you want to get out of this alive. And finally you think about your wife and daughter and how you want to see them again.

Yeah, fuck this guy.

You step slightly to the right of where he's pointing his musket and fire the pistol. The first shot hits him the chest and predictably he lets off a shot of his own before falling down.

"Shit…fuck…invisi…" he starts to utter before you move closer and put a couple more shots into him, this time his head. He doesn't die immediately, instead he makes these horrible inhuman noises and begins flailing about. He tries to even wildly hit you with his musket, but you're far enough away and empty your pistol which you nearly drop due to the heat it's giving off.

Reynolds stops making his ghastly dying sounds when enough of his brains are on the wall. Seeing that he isn't breathing anymore or moving, you quickly step over his body and hurry up the stairs and out the building.

Along the way, you smash the pistol against a wall and start throwing pieces of it in various trash bins and drains in the street as you head back to Franklins place. You're a paranoid mess the whole time, thinking that someone is watching you and forgetting that you're still invisible. Eventually you realize you're able to see parts of your body again so you guess the potion is wearing off or worn off. Good thing its late and aren't too many folks around otherwise just suddenly appearing like that might have caused some shock. Doesn't help your worry and paranoia though.

When you get back to Franklins' home, you beat on the door until he answers. Upon answering, you promptly vomit on his front door step and his shoeless feet.

"What the fuck?!" he says.
"Apologies….ugh…it all caught up to me…I guess…" you say still feeling a bit queasy and coughing.
"(Sigh) Shit…well I hope you have good news at least."

After a bit of clean up, you finally sit down and are calm enough to tell Franklins everything, but the first thing you do is hand him the container as promised. He seems so pleased by this that you telling him a problem cropped up doesn't even seem to bother him.

"Did he see you or something? Don't worry about that, when the shit he's been involved in gets out, nobody will even believe him since he'll be arrested right away." Franklins says.
"Um, yeah I don't think that's going to happen." You say.
"What are you on about?"
"Well as I said, there was a problem…and there was nothing I could do about it."
"Okay, now you're starting to concern me, what the hell do you mean?"
"I mean I shot him."
"You shot him?!"
"Several times actually."
"He's fucking dead?"
"Um, pretty much. Yeah."

Franklins lies back in his chair exhaling deeply almost in shock.

"Um, nobody saw me though. I was invisible the entire time." You add.
"Well thank Joachim for small favors. How were you invisi…you know what never mind. (Sigh) Shit. Well…I guess this doesn't even matter now. Damnit I didn't ask you to kill the guy!" Franklins says.
"It wasn't like I had a fucking choice! I fully intended on just stealing that container, but shit happened and I was put in a position of either completing this shitty job or possibly being Reynolds' victim! Besides isn't this better? I mean hell he's completely gone now!"
"I…I guess so and I don't shed any tears obviously. But let's just say I really wanted him alive so I could see the look on his face when I took everything away from him and he could do nothing about it."
"Well if it's any consolation, the expression on his face when he died was pretty horrific, though not nearly as bad as his screaming."
"Shit, what the hell did you do exactly…again never mind. Well I'm still going to hang on to this for safekeeping. Maybe there is still information inside that might be of use. As for you, if you weren't seen I guess you're good too. Though if something is coming your way I really will try my best to give it a detour. Now, you're SURE he's dead right?"
"Unless he can regenerate from severe head wounds and missing brain matter, yeah he's dead. And again, he didn't see me since I was invisible the whole time."
"Well if the worst happens and he is still alive, I still got this container. Okay, well I guess you better get home. I trust you have a good story for Yvette."
"I have a story. I told I would be working late, but she probably didn't think it would be this late."
"If you have any problems I suppose you can incorporate me into the excuse. I'll back you up. Anything else?"
"Yeah, I'm not doing anything like this ever again. Not for you, not for anyone."
"Good, because I'm not asking. And thanks. You're a better son in law than I could have hoped for. Maybe you're a godless heathen, but you stuck your neck out and even killed a demon spawn in the process. That's gotta for something when judgment day comes."

At this point you take your leave and hurry back home as soon as possible. Naturally it's very late so everyone is asleep. You attempt to get into bed silently, but your sneaking skills fail to evade Yvette's notice even though she was asleep.

"Hey…you're home…you were gone all night." She groggily says.
"Yeah, and I'm pissed about it too, the bean counter was an asshole that wanted everything done a certain way and…ugh…I don't even want to think about it right now." You say.
"Well don't then. I'm just glad you're here now. Come closer to me, you're too far away."

You move closer in the bed so Yvette can cuddle up against you. Normally you tend to like staying a bit free, but after tonight, you're all for Yvette's warm soft body.

"Oh, did you use the potion?" she asks as she starts drifting back off.
"Yeah, worked pretty well. I couldn't see my own hands when it took effect or anything else on me. I think it lasted about the time you mentioned too."
"Huh…that's odd. You should have still been able to see yourself and just been invisible to others. Hmm, guess that's a side effect I didn't know about, considering Qweepas can't actually speak. (Yawn) I'll have to make a note tomorrow."

With those words, Yvette returns to her sleep and you're in her arms again where you definitely want to be and are glad you were able to return to.

Sometimes you hate the fact that you've had to lie on occasion to her about things, but there is no way you're losing this life. Not now.

Your days as a rogue are definitely over.


[System] Narrate an interactive dark fantasy adventure. The world is brutal and unforgiving. Respond to the player's actions with vivid, immersive descriptions and let their choices carry real weight.

[User] You insist that you take it to her in person

[Assistant]
"I don't think so; I want to make sure this gets to her, so you can just let me in."
"Well then you can shove that letter up your ass and pull it back out and give it to Andre to eat, because you ain't getting in here mutt. We'll not let your inferior kind pollute the Hive. Leave, you're not wanted here."

It's obvious that they don't know anything about you, because they'd know that anyone telling you that you're not wanted somewhere is the surest way of causing you to get in on purpose out of sheer spite.

"Well I guess I'll just…" you stop talking and grab the guard's big ant head through the bars of the gate and smash it towards you causing green stuff to leak out. You then retreat back to you bike when the rest open up the gate to punish you. The fools now have the gate open! While they attempt to catch you, you maneuver your bike around THEM to avoid their attacks and drive towards the mansion.

A general alarm is raised and soon there are ants all over the estate attempting to catch you. You'd never be able to fight them all. As you get closer to the mansion you notice its several entrances. You can either drive your bike into one of these hive tunnels or just drive your bike through one of the low mansion windows.

[User] You drive through a window

[Assistant]
You're not about to get yourself lost in some insect tunnels, besides knowing that stuck up wasp bitch, she'd still live in her mansion area. You drive up on a raised part of the ground and jump your bike through one of the first floor windows. The glass breaks and several house ants get out of your way except one who you land on and crush. You fly off your bike "Shit!" you exclaim as you slam into the wall.

You quickly recover and find yourself surrounded by more ant people. These ants aren't as big as the ones outside, but that hardly matters. They seem a little more shocked than anything though.

"Eeek! There's a filthy mammal in the Hive! Protect the queen! Protect the queen! Where are the soldiers?!" one yells and then they all let off an ear piecing sound

Speaking of the soldiers, they're heading towards the broken window you just crashed through, you need to get to Janice NOW. You punch your way through the house ants. In the ensuing scuffle you rip off a couple of antennas, this seems to have a desired incapacitating effect on THEM and they begin twitching on the floor.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that they need those things." You say as you run up an ornate staircase with a fistful of antennas in your hand.

You go through fancy room through fancy room (Mostly filled with expensive items, lots of sugar and some strange looking symbols) looking for Janice, until you finally reach a large bedroom with several mirrors. A bipedal insect creature stares into one of the mirrors brushing her hair. She turns around and a low angry buzz is sounded when she sees you. She flaps her wings and flies towards you.

"AN INFERIOR MAMMAL IN MY HIVE? YOUR KIND WILL SOON BE ERADICATED FROM THE EARTH! INSECTS SHALL RULE ONCE AGAIN! THE TRUE MASTER RACE!" she shouts.

You're not exactly surprised that she doesn't want to see you.

[User] You attack her

[Assistant]
You don't exactly know what's going on here with the insectfest, but given Janice's outburst it's apparent she's been planning something and whatever it is; you don't feel like putting up with it later. Better to kill her now, than wake up one day and finding your cabin in the middle of another giant insect and human war. Besides you can kill her, rob the place, and make your escape, so this trip won't be a total loss.

Plus there's the fact you need to prove to this bitch that you don't care how big they are, all of them are still a bunch of lowly fucking bugs.

Janice attempts to sting you, but you dodge and grab one of her mirrors. Your next move is throwing it in an attempt to decapitate her, she flies out of the way, but happily it hits a soldier ant in the head who was attempting to come in the doorway.

"Filthy mammal! How dare you come here to try to kill me, don't you know that you're…"

While she's giving another speech, you grab her leg and slam her to the floor. Then you proceed to stomp on her back, crushing her wings. While she attempts to crawl away, you grab her stinger and pull it out; this is followed by a dying shriek as you've ripped the poison sack out which was attached to the rest of her insides. Your claws are covered with bug guts.

A few more Ant soldiers come inside, but you use the stinger as a weapon and stab THEM in the chest with it squeezing the sac filling their bodies with deadly poison. They die convulsing horribly on the floor.

Before more can arrive you look through some of her drawers and find some money lying around, you take that and the diamond rings on her fingers. Before escaping out the window, you throw Andre's letter at her corpse.

"I believe I was supposed to deliver this to you."

Your escape is fortunately uneventful, but you lost your bike, so you have to walk home which sucks. Eventually you get back to your town where you stop at the bar to have a drink. You're about to enjoy your drink, when that revolting odor hits you again.

"Wolf! You're back, so what happened? Did she like my letter?"
"Eh, let's just say she didn't have any reaction to it…Andre I don't think she'll ever be interested."
Andre looks a bit saddened by the news.
"Oh. I guess you were right."
"Here, here's a c-note, knock yourself out on sugar." You say giving him a hundred dollars.
"Well thanks Wolf, see ya around." Andre says cheering up almost immediately and running out of the bar.

The bartender speaks up about your uncharacteristic charity.

"Wow, Wolf that was out of character for you."
"Yeah well keep the drinks coming, I'll get back into character soon enough."


[System] You are the narrator of a dark fantasy text adventure. Describe the world and its consequences with unflinching detail. The player's choices shape the story — for better or worse.

[User] You stand firm and wait for him to charge

[Assistant]
You hold the pole like a medieval pike waiting to skewer Frankie when he comes charging at you. It's like throwing rocks at a tank.

The pole certainly impales Frankie, but it barely slows him down, he continues his rush even as the pole breaks off into him and he slams his heavy body into you hard. You go flying into the wall and collapse on to the floor. Frankie follows up with stomping your head into mush. Werewolves do have regenerative powers, but you won't be regenerating this severe damage since your brains have leaked out of your head.


[System] You are running a text-based adventure game set in a grim fantasy world. Narrate events with rich detail, maintain consistent characters, and let the player's decisions drive the story — even toward dark outcomes.

[User] You try to escape now

[Assistant]
Suddenly a sense of fear builds up inside you. You realize what you've done. You can't take what you've done back and worse you're not going to get away with it.

You begin to run. You don't know where to go though, so you head back home. You hear sirens. They're closing in.

Its too much for you, you're afraid. You feel the fear, until you realize, you don't have to be afraid. At least not of death! Death is peace. Its unfeeling peace. You want that feeling again.

You sit down on the sofa and blow your brains out, just as the cops bust the door down. But they can't do anything to you now though because

You feel nothing...


[System] Run a text-based dark fantasy adventure game. Describe the world with gritty realism, respond to player actions with narrative consequences, and maintain the tone of a world where survival is never guaranteed.

[User] You get some help

[Assistant]
You're in this for rebuilding civilization, so you figure you should do all you can. You leave the town to get in a better transmitting area and radio in and explain the situation. Steve's working the radio (Never could go out again after the incident in the city)

"…yeah, so if you can send some more diplomatic people here, that might help." You finish saying.
"So, you're saying there's a fresh supply of water and no standing defense force there?" Steve asks.
"No, not really. They don't have any problems with raiders, just with some of the more aggressive wildlife. Defenses basically consist of a few good hunters with rifles, but like I said they aren't interested in us being able to defend them. A different bargaining chip is going to be necessary."

Suddenly you're cut off for a little while, you think your radio is having problems, but soon you start getting a response again.

"Okay, report back to the Compound. We'll send Vivica and a few others to take care of it. We got the location of the place from your information." Steve says and signs off.

You head back to the Compound. You know Vivica's one of the more diplomatic types, so you don't think anything else of it. She'll ether be successful or she won't.

When you get back though you find out one of the "others" that went with her was Harry. You find that suspicious, he's NEVER gone on a single recon mission, let alone anything diplomatic.

Soon the group sent to Lost Springs returns and you see Harry and a couple of the more obedient people to him, who you don't see is Vivica. You can't help but think the worst.

And you turn out to be right unfortunately.

Harry tells a story to everyone of how the people became hostile and they had to defend themselves, Vivica was "unfortunately" killed in the process. He goes on to say that he's secured the town, by leaving some people in place. You're over hearing this in the courtyard of the Compound and you can't stay silent.

"You fucking murdering liar. Those people were fucking peaceful! I was there and never once were they hostile! You took that town by force and probably had Vivica killed when she tried to stop you and your fucking mindless lackies!"
"Watch your fucking mouth cupcake! Don't condemn my actions for your own failures because you're too much of a pussy to do what needs to be done! I'm telling you they attacked us! I got witnesses! What the fuck do you have? Shit, how do we even know you weren't fucking collaborating with them and trying to lead us into a trap? It's a well known fact you're not exactly loyal to the Compound."
"LOYAL? What the fuck? You fucking dipshit I'M one of fuckin' people who's been key in the HELPING the fuckin' Compound! Or have you forgotten all the good relations we have with other towns due to me?"
"Yeah and how do we know you're not getting all chummy with all these outsiders in the attempt to try to build up your own fucking army to take power? In fact I'm thinking I might be going on a lot more of these missions, I don't trust you and neither should the rest of you!"

At this point Marina steps in to say something, but you stop her causing Harry to taunt you again.

"Yeah, that's right Cupcake, hide behind Marina's skirt again."
"Harry, I dunno if you're more jealous of the fact that I'm actually more useful to the Compound, or the fact that I have access TO Marina's skirt, something I heard you attempted before I got here and failed miserably."

You struck a nerve there. Harry lunges at you and the both of you tussle on the ground for awhile before the Colonel finally arrives wondering what the fuck has been going on. After reprimanding the pair of you, he calls you in his office for a full report of what exactly happened when you were at Lost Springs, then he does the same with Harry, unfortunately Harry has a few people that are loyal to him that are willing to back up his bullshit. Assuming they would even be believed, the citizens of Lost Springs can't even back you up, since as it turns out later Harry killed them all.

And while the Colonel isn't taken with the idea that you have some sort of ulterior motive, he does allow Harry to start heading out on missions, since he did acquire a useful resource for the Compound.

Four more years pass…

Five years total have passed and The Compound has grown somewhat, not much though. The theory to that of course is the background radiation has probably made a lot of folks sterile. (And you're damn sure you probably are, after that trip to the city that you still continue to think about) however it has become much more than "The Compound" now. Alliances have been forged with other towns. The Compound has been renamed Fort Justice and the alliance itself is known as The Combine.

Of course the term "alliance probably isn't really appropriate here. After the Lost Springs incident, things started getting a lot more authoritarian. Over time the towns you'd established peaceful relations with, Harry started hinting that a more permanent military force be established in them. (To help with raider problems more readily as he tried to claim)

New towns that were come across were usually bullied into "joining" or outright taken by force and lowest of all, there's been actual recruitment OF raiders, some of them being stationed in the very town they were attacking on a regular basis.

You can't believe the Colonel doesn't stop Harry's actions, but the problem is, is it IS working. The Combine is thriving under this aggressive strategy and becoming a strong entity. You on the other hand are eventually relegated to guard duty at Fort Jusitce, Marina finds the whole thing unfair and becomes really disillusioned with the new direction that this place has taken.

In fact she does something you never thought she would, she suggests you leave and you can't say you're not in agreement with the idea. Not just because you never really cared about the "rebuilding civilization" process anyway, but more because Harry's power is starting to increase day by day lately and the Colonel has been sick, in fact he's probably going to die any day now. It's only a matter of time before Harry is in total control and when that day comes, you'll be fucked if you're still here.

You and Marina pack what supplies you can and start loading them into one of the vehicles. This doesn't go unnoticed, in fact you start being questioned since there was no order to take one of the vehicles out and you're no longer on scout duty anymore. You try to come up with a lie on the spot, but words fail you at the moment and you resort to more direct measures and slug the nosey bastard in the face, dropping him.

"Get in the fuckin' car now Marina!" you shout as you do likewise.

[User] You take the wheel

[Assistant]
Marina slides over and you take the wheel and screech off. Considering Harry's hatred of you and the fact that this is considering going AWOL and stealing Combine equipment, you aren't just going to get away with this.

You don't get far when you're soon pursued by other vehicles. You tell Marina to fire upon them, while you attempt to lose them. She does her best, but she's not an expert marksperson like you. One of those raider scumbags that have been an all too common in the new Combine recruitment policy manages to drive up to your side window and shoot a crossbow bolt right through your neck.

You clutch at your mortal wound and lose control of the car, flipping it over and killing Marina as well.


[System] Narrate an interactive dark fantasy adventure. The world is brutal and unforgiving. Respond to the player's actions with vivid, immersive descriptions and let their choices carry real weight.

[User] You cut the glass

[Assistant]
You've already got enough daggers; you don't really need to waste time getting some slightly fancier ones while there are obviously more valuable objects that you can pilfer.

You look around for potential traps or alarms around the display cases and find nothing, so you get started and begin carefully cutting the glass.

The jeweled crown is what really catches your eye. The regular jewelry is going to bring a nice price of course, but that crown isn't like something you've ever stolen before.

You remove the glass and grab the crown. No sooner have you picked it up and that's when you feel an unnatural chill in the air and you're struck by a powerful vision.

You see a sprawling city though it's much larger than any sort of city you've ever been to (granted you've only been to Holgard, but you can tell it's much bigger than that). Also unlike Holgard everything is very orderly and the buildings are in much better condition in general.

At first you wonder if you're seeing some city in the Delantium Kingdom since you've never been there, but something about this place seems different. Like you don't think you're even in the same time period. The people are dressed very different than you know. The building architecture isn't like anything you've ever seen.

Once again searching your memory again of your sister's old stories, you think you're seeing Galpatis. Or at least some portion of the old empire.

Currently, you're seeing everything from above. Almost like you're flying over the city, but you're not actually there. The only thing that is certain is that you're still holding the crown in your hand.

Before you can ponder what exactly is going on, a voice suddenly pierces your mind.

"THIEF! DISCARD ME NOW OR FACE DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR GREED!"

Well that command couldn't be much clearer.

As far as you know you aren't in any immediate danger, but then right now you're seeing a vision and you don't know what's going on in the "real world." For all you know you could be surrounded by guards.

The "voice" you're hearing could even be some sort of protection to scare rogues such as yourself into dropping the crown.

You're either going to have to mentally break the illusion you're experiencing or drop the crown and give up on this prize.

[User] You drop the crown

[Assistant]
There is some strange magic at work here and it's obviously best if you didn't fuck around with it. You play it safe and release the crown.

No sooner that you do so that you feel like you're falling and then you suddenly back in the museum room again and the crown is back in its case with the glass once again intact.

"Shit, that was weird." You say and stare at the crown a bit. You then immediately notice how much colder it is in this room. You aren't even sure how long you've been actually sitting here.

Feeling uneasy, you stand up and head towards the exit of this room only to be stopped by a living statue.

"Fuck!" you shout, only narrowly dodging the statue's swing at your head.

You turn to run out the other side of the room, but you then see two more statues blocking that way as well.

You desperately try to fight your way out, expending all your shots and destroying a good portion of one of the statues, but more of them come into the room and block your escape.

All it takes is one of them to get in a good hit. The bones in the left side of your face shatter as you go down to the floor from one of their punches. You try to get up, but the rest of your skull is crushed under a statue's stone foot.


[System] Narrate an interactive dark fantasy adventure. The world is brutal and unforgiving. Respond to the player's actions with vivid, immersive descriptions and let their choices carry real weight.

[User] You ... Maybe you could run it for him?

[Assistant]
... You're going to hate yourself for this, but you voice your thoughts after a moment: "Frankly, I don't trust the other store to manage this place well. Like you said, they might try and steal the place from under your nose."

The shopkeeper considers your words for a bit, before nodding. "Yeah. You're right... But who will run the shop?"

Oh you're really gonna hate yourself for it. "... I could run the store for you."

His eyes immediately widen. "Y-you would? Really?"

With a groan, you reply, "Yeah, really. Don't get too mushy, I'm still not sold on the idea myself."

As if ignoring your warning, he immediately goes in for a hug. Awkwardly, you pat his shoulder. "Thank you, Sir Kit!" He pulls away, wiping a tear from his eye. "I can't believe it! I finally met my hero, and now I'm going to go on an adventure of my own!" He beams at you.

You give a cough. "... Just get going. Grab your things, gather your friends. I'll take over from here."

He nods, heading to a backroom. You hear him shuffling with things, you assume his gear and supplies, and soon after he exits the room with a knapsack strapped to his back alongside a longsword. You point at it. "Know how to use that thing?"

He nods. "Of course! My father taught me how, in case I ever needed to defend the store from thieves. But now, I'm gonna put it to better use!"

You chuckle. "Alright, kid. Get going. Oh, and don't forget the key for me."

He nods, tossing you a small key. "Thank you for this, Sir Kit, really! I'll be back before you know it!"

You chuckle, and say, "I'm sure you will." Then, you look around the store, trying to figure out how the hell you're gonna do this. Sighing, you just decide to head behind the counter and take a seat. When it's late, you head to the backroom and collapse into a bed there, falling asleep before you know it.

The next day, you get up, head to the counter, and wait. This time, a customer actually comes in. He looks around, asking about lantern oil, and you oblige, showing him the way to it. He thanks you profusely, saying something about how he needed it because his pet rat accidentally spilled all of his yesterday. You listen intently, sort of bored, but it pays off. The customer leaves, oil in hand, with a smile on his face.

You continue on like that for days. People come in, you give them good service and listen to them patiently when they explain why they need this or that. They all leave with smiles on their faces. You're not sure why, as all you're doing is staying silent while they ramble, but they enjoy it. The customers increase their traffic, probably due to recommendations from friends, and you find that the store is now getting a more healthy amount of customers than what the last owner was speaking of.

These days spread to weeks, then months. You still have yet to hear back from the owner, but you assume he's having fun. When the months spread to years, you assume he might have passed away, or decided not to head back after all. Whatever reason, you never see him again, and consider the store under your sole ownership now.

It's a nice life to live. Soon, you've integrated into the city so well, that "Louie's Supplies" is a name long forgotten; after all, now it's "Kit's General Store". You're known for serving customers with a smile on your face and a positive attitude. Strange how things end up.

You pass away in your sleep silently a few decades later, and the whole city mourns your death... For a few days, that is. Soon enough, the other store that the shopkeeper had mentioned long ago moves in to fill the gap you left, and eventually, even "Kit's General Store" is forgotten. Still, at least you were able to enjoy your last years on the world in peace.

THE END


[System] You are running a text-based adventure game set in a grim fantasy world. Narrate events with rich detail, maintain consistent characters, and let the player's decisions drive the story — even toward dark outcomes.

[User] You run out the back door

[Assistant] Opening the back door silently you slip outside, shut the door and run for the safety of some nearby woodland. You escape completely and stealing a horse you set off up to Minnesota after your companions. You manage to catch up with them and breathlessly tell them the story of Hoobs's capture. You all decide to go ahead with your robbery plans anyway and continue on up to Minnesota and begin looking for banks to rob.


[System] You are the game master of a dark fantasy text adventure. The world is dangerous and choices matter. Narrate with immersive detail and let the story unfold naturally from the player's decisions.

[User] You threaten them to ensure their loyalty

[Assistant]
You walk slowly forward, growling.

"Magos Cern has told me about some rebellious behavior. It needs to end. We are a tiny fraction of the population of our ship. Even if we could somehow get all of our weapons, get everyone together and ready to fight, and we'd fail to get free. What could we do? We're light-years away from home by now. Even if, by some miracle, we could take this ship, we have no idea how to pilot it, and even then the chances of getting that far is astronomical. Kyros, the team leader, has amazing psychic powers. He could read our minds at any moment. He'd have you flayed alive and had the skin made into a cloak! He'll have this entire dorm filled with Chlorine gas! If you don't want to doom our entire tribe to non-existence, don't even think about rebelling."

The tribals seem a mixture of disappointed, angered and annoyed, but you know the see the logic in what you're saying. They won't rebel. They'll follow orders now.

"Tell the other tribals. I don't want anyone doing anything stupid," you say to the tribals, before turning to Fay. "We should go."

You walk out of the room, quickly followed by Fay, who runs after you.

"That was a bit depressing," she admits.

"How so?" you ask.

"You're not seriously happy with a life of service to a guy who kidnapped us? These guys killed Duggin!" she asks.

"We need to be pragmatic. If there was an option for escape, I'd take it. But I'm not dying when there's no real chance of escape."

"Umm... I guess," Fay says, clearly unsure what to do.

You walk outside, where Kyros awaits, smiling.

"Ah, you're here. Were they convinced?"

You nod eagerly, and Kyros smiles.

Well done," he says. "Now, we need to visit the last of your soldiers, the gladiator-slaves. They're always an interesting crew. Shall we go?"

You look at Fay, who nods, although she still looks nervous from your earlier threats.

"Yes, let's," you reply.


[System] Narrate an interactive dark fantasy adventure. The world is brutal and unforgiving. Respond to the player's actions with vivid, immersive descriptions and let their choices carry real weight.

[User] You save Zuzu

[Assistant]
Azula leaves the crowd behind and walks back to her quarters. Father wants Zuzu dead. There's no way he could leave our nation by himself or with our tea-guzzling Uncle carrying him out. After she closes the door, she lets out a painful sigh. At least I'll be able to help him now.

He needs to get out of her nation and to travel the world. That means he'll need a boat, and since her brother has no navel experience, he'll need a small crew. Of course, Father would ensure the crew would have someone who would "accidentally" burn my brother to death during some sparring match. Regardless of his reasons, when the Fire Lord wanted someone dead, that person ended up dead. Right now, that person is her wounded brother.

Since I'd rather not have Father find out about my involvement… Azula waits patiently in her room. Today is Tuesday after all, a single blessing on what may be the worst day of her life.

Mai was the first one to arrive, prompt like any well-trained lady. Ty Lee was late as always. Since Mai seemed broody enough to kill someone and Ty Lee wouldn't stop crying, Azula assumed she didn't have to explain how her brother won't be seeing them any time soon.

"Have you finished your crying yet, Ty Lee?" Azula glances at the door. Ever since starting these weekly get-togethers, she convinced the guards not to listen in. All the Royal Guards are still men. The young lady simply ensured her first meeting with her fellow females would've made any man very… uncomfortable to overhear. It worked. The simplest plans are often the most effective.

"No." The girl continues to cry.

"Too bad. We have work to do. Mai, are you even listening?"

The girl blinks. Her eyes focus on the princess. "Sorry."

Normally, that lack of respect would've angered Azula. She'll give the girl a free pass this time. Her pre-arranged marriage to Zuzu will be called off by the end of the week. And that one would've been an instance where the couple actually liked each other. It would've made her sixteenth birthday more interesting to share it with a recently married sister-in-law. Oh well, it could happen anyway. Who knows what'll happen in five years between now and then? Also, marriage… Ew.

"Mai, your parents have enough political connections. Find as many soldiers as you can who are loyal to Uncle Iroh. I want them with navel experience on a small vessel. About thirty. Be sure to have a good captain, cook, engineer, and several firebenders. Oh, try to have at least a few women in there too. I wouldn't want a whole bunch of men to carelessly get themselves killed."

Even Mai couldn't hide the look of surprise on her face. Ty Lee stopped crying.

"As for you." She points to her acrobatic friend. "You parents work on the docks with their merchant trading. Find a ship that no one will miss. Be sure it'll be well-stocked." She takes a pouch of gold coins and drops in in the girl's hands. In any situation other than this one, she'd never trust Ty Lee with half that much. "Maybe get some Komodo-Rhinos too. I want both of you done and to report everything back to me before morning. Go!"

Without a word, they leave her bedroom.

Azula walks to her dresser and pulls out a small chest. Ty Lee always wondered why I horded my allowance away instead of wasting it on momentary pleasures. She looks at the currency. Even if it's Fire Nation, our colonies would accept it. I think they'd be more lenient with the banishment rules. Maybe he could trade the rest for Earth Kingdom coins.

Until the sun sets, Azula meditates. She'd explode in frustration if she didn't. It's like being in a cage. She has no opportunity to do anything herself. Father can't ever find out how she's ensuring her brother's survival, but relying on others to do that work is hard even if they're her two most loyal assistants.

Ty Lee arrives not long after the sun set. The girl looked exhausted and not a coin was left in the bag. Even in the candlelight, Azula sees a smile on Ty Lee's face when she hands her a piece of paper.

"They should have enough supplies to last them until next month," the girl whispers. Her brow scrunches. "That's the name of the boat, the list of stuff I bought, you know… But, um, why are you doing this?"

"You'd prefer to see my brother dead?"

"No!" She shakes her head faster than what's healthy for most people. "It's great and amazing, but you always wanted the throne. Now, you're the only option left so… Why?"

"The Avatar hasn't been seen since Avatar Roku died. The next incarnation probably died in the Avatar State during the Air Nomad genocide. Zuzu's not coming back until I rescind that banishment after I become Fire Lord." She'll buy that.

"Okay!" Her shoulders slouch. "I'm tired though and my parents might finally notice I'm missing. If you see him, tell Zuko I wish him good luck. Also, um…"

"Spit it out."

"I think you'll make a great Fire Lord."

Ty Lee leaves the room. She was going to say something different. What? It's Ty Lee, probably something incidental.

The moon rises in the sky and starts to make its descent when Mai slinks into her bedroom. If Ty Lee was exhausted, then Mai must be moments away from collapsing.

"It took a while. They'll be looking for Prince Iroh and Zuko at the docks tomorrow morning." Mai hands her a piece of paper with thirty names on it, in alphabetical order. "Thank Agni my parents never found out what I was doing."
"Get some sleep."

Mai turns around, but Azula takes her by the wrist.

"Use my bed."

"But-"

"I won't be sleeping tonight. Tell your parents you spent all night ensuring you had the favor of the future Fire Lord."

She raises an eyebrow. "I was ensuring your favor."

"Precisely."

"Thanks for doing all of this, Azula. Was… was the Agni Kai as bad as I heard?"

"Probably."

Azula picks up the bag of coins, small enough to be hidden from the guard but large enough to fund Zuzu's expedition for a while. She leaves Mai behind.

She takes the back passageways of the palace to the infirmary. It wasn't hard to find Zuzu. He's the only one in there.

Azula approaches him. The room has only one lamp as a dim light, but she sees the bandages wrapping the left side of his face. I wonder if he'll be blind in that eye. He sleeps, though it looks anything but restless.

"Have you come to gloat, my niece?" Uncle slouches in a chair opposite of the bed. Azula forces herself not to shake her head. I should've realized he was the reason Ty Lee purchased so much tea in the supplies. He could've acquired all this himself, but someone had to watch over Zuzu. Maybe I should've told Mai to do that. Then, Uncle could've gone through this hassle himself.

Instead of arguing, she hands her uncle the bag of coins and her two lists. "Here."

"What is this?" He squints, trying to read the symbols without adequate lighting.

She shrugs. "There's a small ship, some of your former soldiers with seafaring experience, supplies, and a bag of money. The crew will meet you at the dock tomorrow morning."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Despite popular opinion, I don't agree with the Fire Lord on every decision." She glances at Zuzu. "Ty Lee and Mai wish the dum-dum good luck. He'll be broodier than normal and have more angst than anyone should experience. I wouldn't like that. Goodbye, Uncle."

Azula takes one more look at her brother and memorizes the sight. She sears it into her memory. Will she even recognize him next time they meet?

The princess leaves the infirmary and slips back into her room. The first rays of sunlight rise as she closes her door. Mai sleeps in her bed, so she sleeps in a chair.

When they wake up, Zuzu was on the open seas.


[System] Narrate a grim fantasy text adventure. The Empire's world is brutal, its people hardened. Respond to the player's choices with immersive storytelling and let consequences flow naturally.

[User] You say "Fine, come in"

[Assistant]
"Fine, come in", you reply, opening the door further and allowing her to enter. Given her personality, you're rather doubtful she would have accepted no as an actual answer. You lead her into your living room and sit across from her once there.

"So, what'd you want?"

You ask skeptically. Allison's eyes seem to wander around your living room during this time, but are brought back to you once you ask.

"I'd like to invite you somewhere...can you come?"

She asks. You sit and wait for her to elaborate, but when she remains silent you decide you'll have to ask yourself.

"Invite me to where?"

"It's a secret!"

"That doesn't answer my question."

"It wasn't suppose to!"

"You're not going to answer me properly are you?"

You ask. She grins and nods her head.

"Can you at least tell me when?"

"Now."

"Why now?"

"Why not now?"

You figure that's all you'll get out of her, so you decide to just make up your mind about the matter.


[System] You are the game master of a dark fantasy text adventure. The world is dangerous and choices matter. Narrate with immersive detail and let the story unfold naturally from the player's decisions.

[User] You get help from Peter

[Assistant]
You don't want to move out and you can't trust yourself to not get distracted as usual trying to find a job. You need help and the only other person you know that has one in the house is Peter, so you decide to go see him and hope he isn't in the middle of "working."

You head to the garage and knock on the door. From within you hear a come on in so you do so, unfortunately given Peter's state of near nakedness and a tube of KY in hand its obvious he wasn't expecting you.

"Oh. It's you. What do you want? I got a couple of guys coming over soon and I still need to lube up." he says
"Ugh…I need to speak to you." You say trying not to look at him. "Can you put some damn clothes on?"
"(Sigh) Fine, but let's hurry this up." Peter says and puts on a robe.

"Peter, I need your help in finding a job and before you even suggest it, no I'm not going to do what you do for money."
"Oh of course not. Wouldn't enter my mind to suggest such a thing to the likes of you. Which means I don't have many other suggestions for you. I mean I can only imagine you've failed horribly at getting a normal job due to your lack of a college degree, personality quirks and crippling introversion. You don't seem to have the motivation to start your own business and for some baffling reason you don't even take advantage of the natural gifts you do have. Pfft, if I was you, I'd start now because you're just getting older."
"Peter, I'm not a whore. I'm not going to just spread my legs to everyone for cash."
"Who said everyone? Just get one rich one, shit shouldn't be that hard for you."
"That's not who I am, besides I have a boyfriend…"
"Who? Bobby? I thought you two broke up."
"No, well sort of…it's complicated."
"Well then you need to work something out with him then and let him take care of you because while I didn't hear the whole rant, Kelly was loud enough that I made out some of it even from here. Sounds like she gave you an ultimatum."
"I know. I know. I don't know what to do." You say slumping into a nearby chair.

Peter and you have never been close and most of the time he's annoyed you by constantly stealing your clothes in the past, but to his credit he go over and tries to console you a bit with a hug, given that his dick is still swinging out of his robe, you'd rather he didn't and politely tell him you're fine.

"Have you tried the circus?" Peter suddenly asks.
"What?" you respond.
"The circus. There's a small one set up a few miles west outside of town. Almost like a gypsy camp really. Remember how our family used to go together? I think it's about the only time we all got along."
"Yeah…I always liked the clowns the most. I liked how outgoing and happy they always were. Even thought I'd grow up and be one at one point."
"Hm, I think you were the only one as far as that went. I still remember you used to paint up your face with mom's make up and try to entertain Donna and me at home. Though to be quite honest all you did was scare the hell out of us."
"Yeah…that's why I gave up that dream. Figured I was doing it wrong." You say gloomily.
"Oh. Sorry about that, didn't mean to be a dream crusher."
"It's okay, given my introversion I doubt if I would've been able to actually get in front of a crowd and do it anyway."
"Hey, you shouldn't have given up if that was what you wanted to do. I mean maybe you should pursue it now. I mean you don't have much to lose right and how hard could it be? Put on make up, dress up silly, and generally act creepy…erm I mean goofy."

Peter's words do light a certain spark in you.

"Hmmm, maybe you're right…I'll do it!" you suddenly exclaim.
"Good, glad to hear you're excited about something. So are you good now? I mean I'd talk more, but y'know still got guys coming over and…"
"Oh right, yeah I'm good. Hold on, can I borrow your car to get to the circus tomorrow?"
"Uhhh, yeah sure. Keys are over there."
"Thanks again Peter." You say taking the keys and leave.

You head back down to the basement filled with excitement at the prospect of pursuing your childhood dream again! It all seems a little crazy right now, but the more you think about it the more it makes sense.

You spend the rest of the night in good spirits and maintain a positive attitude that everything will be okay tomorrow.

[User] Next day...

[Assistant]
MONDAY

"…our shelters are all equipped with the latest in state of the art technology, order now and…"

Click.

You fell asleep watching tv again. Seems like they're playing those damn commercials all the time now. Nothing like praying upon people's fears due to recent world events.

You look at the time and see that you've slept for most of the morning, but given that you're going to the circus to apply for a job you figure they will be open all night.

You also check your phone and see that Bobby's been trying to reach you, but you can't let yourself get distracted today. You need to focus on your goal of becoming a clown!

You take Peter's car and head towards the circus. The drive is fairly uneventful though one thing you notice is the increase in police cars and police in general. Apparently there's been some civil disturbance in multiple locations. You swear this one of the reasons why you never like leaving the basement in the first place. You hate the chaotic nature of people.

But then, if you have any hope of being a clown, you're going to have to get used to dealing with crowds and people. In fact you're going to have to get used to a lot of things, but you can't let yourself get a panic attack about this. You have to go through with this.

Eventually you arrive at your destination. Or at least you assume it is. Peter wasn't joking when he said it resembled a gypsy camp as opposed to a proper circus. You see a lot of little tents and some trailers, but nothing like a "big top."

Most of the people here are dwarves and last time you knew there wasn't a large population of little people in your town, so you can only assume that they're part of the circus. In fact from what you can tell there aren't actually any customers, just carnies.

As you wander a bit, you start getting a lot of looks, you aren't sure if they're staring at you because you're an outsider or if they're just gawking at you. Might be a bit of both. Doesn't take long before you're surrounded by a lot of the little people and you start to feel like Dorothy.

"Hey goldie with the legs, what're you doing around here? We're not open yet." One of their numbers says.
"Oh, well I wasn't here for that. I'm here because…" you take a deep breath. "I want to be a clown!"

That certainly wasn't the response that they were expecting. You hear a few whispers before the one that was talking speaks again.

"A clown? Heh, well I'm not sure how successful that's going to work out for you, but luckily for you the owner of this fine circus is also a clown, so you'll need to speak with him either way. He's in the tent over there. Roofie is probably still hung over so try to speak quietly."
"Roofie?"
"Yeah, that's his clown name… actually it mean be his real name as well. Anyway, don't worry he's not a rapist or anything like that, he's just a drunk. In fact he's probably the most mentally stable clown that we've ever had in this circus!"

Taking the dwarf's directions, you head over to Roofie's tent. The smell of booze is strong and when you enter you see a balding older man in oversized pants and suspenders sitting at a table holding his head in both hands. Beer and whiskey bottle are plentiful enough that you make yourself heard just by tripping over some.

"Goddamn it, it isn't fucking showtime and nobody's been coming anyway! Leave me alone, shit!" Roofie shouts not even looking up and continuing to hold his head.
"Uh Mr. Roofie, I was told to speak to you."

Roofie turns and looks at you. A big red nose still on his face.

"Huh? Wbo the hell are you? You look way too damn classy to be any whore that I'd be able to afford."
"My name's Suzy and I want to be a clown."

At this point Roofie slowly gets up from his seat kicking a few bottles aside. You continue to stand there starting to wonder if this was such a good idea.

"A clown? Now why the hell would a cute blonde like you want to be a fuckin' clown. Doesn't make sense. You playin' some sort of angle honey, because I assure you I'm in no mood and I ain't got any money for you to grift anyway."
"No, it's always been a life long dream ever since I was a little girl!" you say and then start to go into detail of how you enjoyed circus clowns and a bunch of other life story shit that doesn't really interest Roofie. In fact he's just struggling to stand up and listen right now.

"Alright, alright, enough! Shit. I get it. (Sigh) Look honey I dunno what to tell you, we're not exactly the Ringling Brothers here. I'm also not exactly looking to hire and I barely keep this place running as it is."
"Please let me be a clown! Just give me a chance!"
"Argh, too fucking loud! Fine show me your clown stuff, just keep your voice down."
"Clown stuff?"
"Uh yeah, like can you juggle? A little magic maybe? Some slapstick? Do you have a character like being a hobo or something? What you think it's just easy as putting on white face make up, jumping around and laughing like an idiot?"
"Well sort of…"
"Sheesh. That's the kind of thinking that makes us look creepy rather than amusing. You do realize that most people hate clowns right? Doesn't help that we're constantly vilified in horror movies nowadays. Yer wastin' my time and yours if you don't even know the basics."

Roofie isn't exactly inspiring your confidence in this anymore. You feel like just heading home, but can't run from this like you do with everything else, you've got no other options! You start to break down in tears.

"Maybe I don't know the basics, but I'll work hard! (Sob) I'm serious about this! (Sob) I've tried to get a job everywhere else and if I don't get this, I'll get kicked out of my house! This is my last chance! (Sob)" you exclaim in between the tears.
"Last chance? Darling, if bein' a clown is your last chance, then you've got some major problems. (Sigh) I dunno even know why I'm entertaining this save for the fact that you're easy on the eyes even without the need for alcohol and I'm a sucker for a damsel in distress. Besides if the news is any indication, we're all gonna be dead by nuclear fire soon anyway, so fuck it. All right, stop yer weepin' an maybe we can do something with you."

You clear up your eyes a bit completely oblivious to Roofie's brief doomsday expectations.

"So you'll help train me?"
"Well, hopefully you'll pick up something in time, but I'm not going to bother with regular training, you're going to learn trial by fire which all good clowns do anyway. Now the greatest thing going for you is that you're cute, so I'm thinkin' we create a character for you that utilizes your, shall we say natural talent."
"Wait, I'm not going to have my breasts exposed while wearing nothing but red clown noses on my nipples do I?" you ask with concern.
"(Snort) Jesus girl. No, nuthin' like that." Roofie chuckles "You'll be fully clothed, though you'll still be cute lookin'. Kinda like that one girl. Y'know in the funny books? The one with that rich vigilante. Anyway, the key thing to remember is you need to act cutesy. That's going to be your character. You'll be a cute clown while all the other clowns around you hilariously fail to try to win you over, hit each other with mallets and all that sort of shit…hmmm, this is actually sounding like a pretty good skit. I'm going to go round up the others and have a run through. In the meantime there's a bunch of clown outfits in the trunk over there. Fairly certain we got a bunch of unused girly ones that should fit you. Some make up over and a mirror over there. Don't worry about getting that just right for now since I know the lighting sucks in this tent. And uh, I dunno try to practice acting demure and shy."

Roofie leaves the tent and you're left realizing that you might just succeed at getting this job! You quickly go through the trunk and find some pink and black-checkered leotard thing with a mini-skirt attached around the waist. It fits and fortunately while form fitting, it isn't excessively tight, though your legs are still exposed so you put on some knee high purple striped leggings. You feel sort of vulnerable undressing in a tent that someone could just enter at any time, but fortunately there's at least a privacy-screen you can dress behind.

You complete your look by putting your hair in girlish pigtails and applying a bunch of white face make up on and making your eyelashes and lips stand out with black eye liner and red lipstick.

You haven't had time to practice when Roofie returns with a bunch of other men in various clown outfits. One of them is even a little person like you met out front.

"Goddamn Roofie, I think I'm gonna have to rethink my plans of leaving your shitty carnival." One of them says.
"Leave? Hell, I think I'm in love." Says another before Roofie speaks up.

"Holy shit girl, I said cute clown, not harlequin seductress! You might need to tone it down in the future we're still trying to run a family show more or less. All right never mind, let's run through this and you guys TRY to remember to keep your tongues in your mouth on occasion."

So you run through the routine while Roofie gives everyone directions. At first you naturally feel a little unready and uneasy what with everyone flirting with you, but soon you start to get into the swing of things. In fact it starts to come easy, you bat your eyes, give a few girlish giggles when someone slips and falls trying to give you a balloon flower and similar things.

Eventually Roofie stops everyone and says the skit needs to be refined a bit, but it should work. He then tells everyone to leave since he wants speak with you privately. This seems to disappoint the others who all continue to stare at you while leaving.

"Well, other than the fact that I could tell some of them were having a really hard time in not actually groping you, I'd say that went well and even you seem to have gotten into character quickly. Maybe you do have what it takes after all. You still seem a little nervous though, which sort of helped your performance, but I'd rather you remain at ease. Anything that can help with that?" Roofie asks.
"Well its like you said, I partially felt like one of them was going to jump on me at any given time. I mean is that something I'm going to have to worry about?"
"Nah, that won't happen. We carnies have a rule against hurting each other. I mean I won't lie that they aren't going to stare a lot at you and most likely a few are going to make crude comments, but that's about as far as it is going to go if you decide to join and stay with us."
"You want me to join?"
"If you're still interested, sure. I think you've got something to offer. Though like I said, I'm still not sure why someone like you would want to join a broken down circus like this one. I still think someone like you would be a model or something."
"Well, I'm wearing an outlandish outfit, my face is all painted up and a bunch of guys are falling over themselves just to get a look at me. Seems like I'm doing the same thing as a model save for the eating disorder."

Your comment causes a laugh from Roofie.

"Ha ha! That's pretty good. I think I'm making the right decision. Okay, so about your sleeping arrangements, I might have to re-arrange some folks and that's always going to cause problems, so you might have to sleep in your car for tonight…"
"Wait you want me to move in here?"
"Well yeah. I mean I told you we weren't going to be staying here too much longer and you have to know that circus' do tend to travel right?"
"Yeah, right. Of course. It's just, heh, I guess when I jumped into this I didn't think all of it through. Though that's probably obvious."
"Hrm, well it's your choice. I'm not gonna lie and say this life is the easiest and if you feel more comfortable at home or have loved ones you don't want to leave that's understandable."
"I dunno if I'd say all that, but the concept of leaving my home…well it's a bit of a big change for me. Like a VERY big one. And oddly, this opportunity has me seriously considering it."
"Well you do what's in your heart. Anyway, we aren't leaving today or even tomorrow, so I mean if you want to go back home and pick up some stuff, say goodbye to whoever, then you've got time. But even though we're not leaving tomorrow we are going to be open for our last show and I'll need you here. I'm hoping we'll at least get some people here and make at least a bit of money before picking up stakes and all that."

You aren't sure what to do. The logical thing to do would be to go back home and gather some belonging, say a few goodbyes and try to convince Peter to drive you back up here so he gets his car back.

But there's something within you that wonders if you shouldn't just make a clean break immediately and stay. You know yourself and if you get back home you're likely find some reason to stay and back out of this opportunity. You think about Bobby and how he'd be one of those reasons. You still haven't called him back.

[User] You stay at the circus

[Assistant]
If you're going to do this, you need to be all in right now. You feel slightly bad about essentially stealing Peter's car, but you figure you can call him later and he can get someone to drive him over to pick it up. (Assuming he doesn't call you first)

As for Bobby you're not going to bother. You've come to the conclusion that you and he have too many differences to make it work and that this final break up has been a long time coming. Calling him would just make you fall for his charms and hinder your own goals and you can't have that happen.

"Mr. Roofie, I'll be staying." You say.
"Okay, great. We'll be opening up soon, dunno if anyone's actually going to show up, but you might as well get out there and wander around to make this place look festive."
"Did you want me to change, you said something about this outfit being too much?"
"Eh…don't bother. I'm thinkin' it's an appropriate look for you. Like I said, you might have to put up with some cat calling from some of the cruder employees here, but that's about it. And if anyone starts getting out of line with you, be they carnie or rube, let me know about it. Trust me it'll be taken care of immediately. This carnival might be on its last legs, but I'll be damned if it'll descend into anarchy. My dad didn't work and sacrifice all those years for nothing." Roofie says.
"Your dad owned this carnival? Was he a clown too?" you ask.
"Heh, no. He was a geek and I don't mean in the lovable nerd sense either. I mean he was a bonafide circus geek. Ate all manner of disgusting things to bring in the customers. Raw animal organs, heads of chickens, rotten food, you name it. He always told me though he was drunk most of the time so it wasn't quite as bad as you'd think. Fortunately he didn't stay a circus geek though. Apparently he helped the original ringmaster with something very important and after that happened my dad got a better job around here as the ringmaster's assistant."
"What did he help the ringmaster with?"
"Dunno exactly. Like I said, my dad was drinking a lot heavier during those geek days. He said it had to do with a power struggle within the circus, but he couldn't quite remember all the details. In any event when the original ring master one day decided it was time to move on to something else my dad got control of the circus. Kept it going too despite the changing times. I've tried to follow in his footsteps, but so far the only thing I've succeeded at is the drinking part."

Roofie takes a drink from a nearby bottle after this statement.

"So, uh what made you become a clown?" you ask.
"I dunno, I was trying to help out I guess. Y'see my dad had to raise me himself since my mom died giving birth to me and I guess when I got old enough I felt I should contribute for all the extra burden I put on him."
"Sorry to hear that."
"Hm, well all I know about her is that she was a runaway that joined up with the circus shortly after my dad took over as owner. Anyway, for a while, this circus didn't have a single clown. Apparently it did a long time ago, but my dad said there were some horror stories about them and they were eventually…let go. Despite this circus' odd apprehension about having clowns again I convinced my dad that it would be a good idea to have clowns. So he gave me a shot and it worked. Rest is history, anyway that's enough story time you've got your own clown work to do, so get to it."

You take your leave and re-assure that you'll do everything in your power to keep people entertained.

No sooner have you left Roofie's tent when you're nabbed by a couple of the other clowns, this time they're full clown uniform.

"Hey tulip we've been lookin' for ya. If you're staying, we're going to need to polish up our routine." One of them says.
"Yeah, and after that, you can polish something else. Ha ha ha ha ha!" says another which causes some snickering from the others.
"Could you please not talk that way to me?" you ask politely.
"Awww are you sensitive? You're such a delicate pretty little flower aren't you?" the clown who made the polishing comment says.
"Sheesh, Ranko don't be a fucking asshole. Don't mind him sweetheart he's never been this close to a woman before." Another clown says.
"Fuck you Klepto and stop playing white knight. You're not foolin' anyone. You know damn well you got a raging boner for this little blonde number too. Am I right fellas?"

This gets a small positive acknowledgement by the other clowns, including Klepto who chuckles while confessing his transparent white knighting. Once again you're starting to wonder if this is going to be worth it.

Is this what its always going to be like? You haven't even been officially an employee five minutes and you're already getting subjected to dirty innuendo and harassment. You know Roofie tried to assure you that nothing is going happen and that if someone did try anything you could let him know, but really though you don't want to have to feel like you have to go running to him like a tattletale every time.

If you could brave your serial killer uncle and your cultist ex-boyfriend, you can certainly handle some loutish clowns. In fact you start thinking about all the times Kelly has verbally abused you and you begin to get angry. You channel some of that anger that you have for her and direct it towards your new co-workers.

"Ranko, I'm guessing that's your name due to the bad breath your giving off right now. It smells like shit which still makes it about two steps higher than you look." You say, which catches him off guard and stops the others from laughing. Before Ranko can retort you continue.

"Your name oughta be Zero, because that's exactly how far you're ever going to get with me. The same goes for the rest of you fucktards! Just because I'm new here doesn't mean I'm just going to take your fucking abuse!"

For a moment there's silence and even some of the nearby employees look on wondering what the rest a going to do. Ranko is the only one who says anything though.

"Hmm, looks like the delicate flower has a few thorns. That's okay though. I like a little spirit, keeps things interesting. In any case we still need to go over the routine so if you're done bitching at all of us, let's go." He says and motions everyone to follow.

You're slightly apprehensive about following this group anywhere, but there's little else for it since these are going to be your coworkers. You can only hope that in time they'll see you as something other than an outlet for their lust.

As you walk to the location you scan the rest of the carnival, which mostly consists of a lot of game barker types setting up their crooked games. You do see a few stages where the more traditional sword swallower and fire eater types are preparing themselves. This being a circus and the fact that Roofie said his father was a geek, you can't help but wonder if there are any "freaks" anywhere.

"Hey just wondering are their any Siamese Twins around here or something?" you ask trying to break up the silence.
"Siamese Twins? Way to be racist darlin'. Ha ha, nah just fuckin' with ya, but I believe the correct term is conjoined twins and no we don't have any. There haven't been any freaks in this carnival for decades now. I heard back in the day there were a lot of them here though. Cyclopes, pinheads, four arms abominations of nature, you name it." Ranko remarks.
"How come there aren't any here anymore?"
"Well because we live in a developed country that has access to modern medicine nowadays? I mean most of those freaks were just unlucky bastards that rolled low on the genetics chart when they were born. Thanks to modern medicine they can correct that shit now y'know? Plus you've got all those politically correct types going on about exploitation or some shit. Also if someone IS a genetic freak of nature they can just go on a talk show or the Internet and make money that way. Nope, the time of the sideshow freak has long since passed. I mean sure you get the self made freaks like tattooed and pierced folks, but that's not really the same and it isn't even shocking anymore especially when you've got people cutting their dicks off or shoving glass jars up their ass for free on the net. The best you're going to get around here to freaks are the midgets and they're a dime a dozen, no offense Shrimpy." Ranko says referring to the dwarf clown.
"Fuck you too Ranko." Shrimpy remarks.

Soon you get to an open location near a couple trailers where Ranko says you're all going to go through the routine. It's pretty much like how you first went through it, but you notice several of the clowns are getting a little bit more grabby now.

"Alright, stop, stop. You assholes are supposed to be trying to woo me and fighting with each other, not attempting to gang rape me! I feel one more hand trying to grab my ass and they're losing it!" you say.
"Oh for fuck's sake according to you whatever we do is offensive. I'm just thinking of a way to keep the routine fresh. It'll be funny!" Ranko says.
"Fresh? We haven't even performed it for people yet! Besides isn't this supposed to be a family show? The way Roofie suggested will be fine."
"That old drunk doesn't even perform anymore, he's too busy running this carnival into the fucking ground. He's so fucking out of touch its ridiculous. Kids these days are watching hardcore anal porn as soon as they can log on to the Internet nowadays, so I doubt if a couple of clowns grabbing your ass is even going to register." Ranko says.

At this point Ranko is starting to get more hostile. Your continued defiance of not wanting to be a squeeze toy is getting to him. Despite Roofie being the owner, it's obvious that this Ranko is the "ring leader" of the clowns and he's going to be a dick no matter what. Continuing to antagonize his authority is going to just result in unifying the rest to his side, so you try something else.

"All right Ranko, you want this routine to incorporate a little more risqué business fine, but you're going about it the wrong way. You've got no style."
"Oh? Only been a clown for a few hours and you're already an expert eh? Well go on and enlighten us all then sweetheart."
"Well for one thing Shrimpy should be trying to look under my dress whenever he can due to his size." You say.
"Wait what?" Ranko asks.
"Hey, I'm liking her ideas already!" Shrimpy exclaims.
"You all still need to play to your traits, don't you see? You, Lifto. You're the biggest of the lot so you should be relying on feats of strength in order to impress me like picking me up in your arms."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Lifto remarks.

You go through what the rest of the clowns should be doing and they're remarkably receptive to you and your ideas. You come up with a whole new routine where they each attempt to charm you and how they fail either due to their own ineptness or another clown sabotaging them. The only one who's not liking this idea is Ranko.

"Hey, hey, hey, what about me? Where do I fit in?" Ranko demands.
"You? Well I figured you'd be that completely disgusting suitor that never even gets close to being charming seeing as you're already pretty good in that role. You can be an ongoing participant that gets constantly beat down by the others. Lifto hits you with a mallet, Klepto steals your pants, Shrimpy gives you a hot foot…you know clown stuff. It'll be funny." You say snidely much to Ranko's chagrin.
"Oh no, you're not turning my crew against me! I'M head clown around here not some bottle blonde split tail! We're not agreeing to this shit!" Ranko shouts.
"Speak for yourself Ranko." Klepto says.
"Yeah, I kinda like this idea better, my bit doesn't seem to rely on as much movement on my part." Fatty remarks.
"You're just pissed that a newbie took your idea and made it work against you." Shrimpy adds.

Ranko at this point begins ranting and raving at everyone. He unleashed a torrent of swears that causes the whole carnival to take notice. He calls you a bitch and the rest of them pussy whipped.

"That's it, I'm done with this fucking loser carnival and the rest of you losers as well! I'm fucking RANKO the goddamn clown! I can get a job anywhere! Enjoy living in obscurity with miss frigid over here!" Ranko exclaims and storms off in a huff.

"Good riddance rank breath! And I'm a goddamn natural blonde, you asshole!" you shout as he continues to walk away.

You have to say this plunge into assertiveness has given you a bit of a rush. You like it. When you go back to going through the routine with the others and you notice a decrease in your former uneasiness. The "boys" are still doing a lot of leering and the routine is a little more physical now, but something is different this time. Namely you feel more in control of the situation and that's probably because you are.

"Wow, I really was wasting my natural talent." You think to yourself.

In the middle of the routine, Roofie shows up.

"Well this looks…friendly." He remarks as Lifto is in the middle of setting you back down on the ground.
"Just going through the tweaked routine boss. It was the new girl's idea!" Klepto remarks.
"Yeah, it's going to be good." Shrimpy adds.
"Hrm. Well let's at least try to keep everyone's clothing on shall we?"
"Of course! There isn't going to be any of that. Just going to keep it entertaining for the adult audience too." You say.
"Couldn't help notice Ranko swearing like a sailor and stomping away from the carnival. Ranting about how he's never coming back. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"
"Not really boss. He just couldn't keep up with the recent changes around here I guess." You say,

Roofie smirks a bit.

"Heh, okay. Well I'm not going to lose any sleep not having to pay that asshole anymore. In any case, saw a few people actually driving up. Look like actual customers, so you guys need to go do your stuff for the crowds."

The rest of the day goes pretty well for you. You and the rest entertain the small crowds (who seem to be mostly from the trailer park community just outside of your town.) that do show up.

By the end of the night you're actually pretty tired and anxious to just flop down somewhere to sleep. Roofie says that thanks to Ranko leaving, his trailer is now empty and says that you can have it if you're willing to ignore the mess he probably left it in. You accept the offer since it'll be better than sleeping in Peter's car.

And its at that point you forgot to call Peter back to let him know to pick his car up!
You check your phone and see that Peter did indeed try to get a hold of you, and once again Bobby left a bunch of texts and messages as well. You're too tired to even bother to read them.

You try to call Peter back, but you get no answer. Probably doing god knows what. You'll try again tomorrow, for now you enter Ranko's trailer and breathe a sigh of relief that the place isn't a health hazard and lie down on his bed.

As you drift off to sleep you chuckle at the irony that Ranko wanted to get you into his bed really badly and all it took was for him to leave.

[User] Next day…

[Assistant]
TUESDAY

"…remember time is running out! Our shelters won't be…"

You wake up to instinctively to grab the remote to turn off the TV only to realize that you have no TV, yet you're still hearing those damn Ground Zero commercials.

You groggily sit up and look out a side window and see one of the carnies holding a radio, which is loudly playing one of those advertisements.

Just as well you're up anyway, now that you have actual responsibilities and will have to live these new people you should take this opportunity to meet everyone since despite getting acquainted with your co-workers and the boss, you didn't really interact with anyone else working here.

Still dressed in your outfit from yesterday (mainly because you lack anything else to wear right now) you go out and meet your brand new family full of hope that this will be the start of something wonderful!

The reality turns out to be much different though.

"Honey, why the hell are hanging around with those clowns? I'm sure you'd be better as a sword swallower; in fact I got a way you can practice if you come to my trailer right now!"
"Hey clown girl, I've got a way to paint your face white without the need for make up!"
"Nice tits!"

The female carnies aren't much better.

"So you're the new girl that got her own private trailer huh? Guess a blowjob gets you a lot preference nowadays. Was Roofie even sober at the time?"
"Hey Bozo the Hoe, you think you're hot shit wiggling your ass at everyone? Let me warn you right now, you take my man I'll make sure you won't need to wear a red clown nose at your next performance!"
"No, I don't have any extra clothes you can borrow, Miss Living Skeleton. Go away you anorexic bitch."

Life is never easy outside the basement is it Suzy?

Unfortunately that part of your life is over. You could go back to your trailer and hide you suppose, but it's not the same and besides you've already come to the conclusion that hiding won't solve your problems.

Still, you are feeling a little "ganged up" on so for temporary relief you return to currently the only people that are halfway decent to you now, your fellow clowns.

You enter the clown tent and see them all sitting around talking about something, but then when you enter all their attention is turned towards you.

"Oh hey Suzy, you're here early. We don't usually warm up until a few hours before showtime." Klepto remarks.
"Oh, I'm not here for that, I'm just here since half of the carnival seems to want to fuck me and barrage me with clumsy sexual innuendo."
"And… you came here to get away from that?" Lifto asks.

You chuckle a little.

"Yeah well at least if I stay in here part of it will be work related." You answer which causes a couple of laughs and smiles from the rest.
"Well considering you are one of us, maybe we should go easier on that now." Klepto says.
"I'd certainly appreciate it."
"Hey there are a lot of other women who work here, maybe you could go bond with them and do that whole sisterhood thing?" Lifto says.
"I tried that. They all insulted me and seemed to want to punch me. Well except for that woman with the short red hair that juggles knives. I think she wanted to punch AND fuck me. (Sigh) No, looks like you guys are my only tribe here for now."
"Hm, well get used to it I guess. Nobody likes us clowns that much. To be quite honest one of the reasons we decided to knock off the crude remarks toward you is because you'll be the first new person in years that will be civil to us. No point in making new enemies." Klepto says.
"Really? I thought all carnies stuck together." You say.

Now all the rest of the clowns laugh.

"Hardly. I mean yeah there's a certain unspoken rule that carnies stay united against outsiders and rubes. And we aren't supposed to kill one another, but…well lets just say this very carnival doesn't exactly have a spotless track record in that regard." Klepto says.
"People kill each other here?" you ask a bit alarmed.
"No! Well not in my time anyway…" Klepto remarks trailing off.
"What the hell does that mean? Look I don't want to be part of some murder circus!"
"Damn it Klepto you've scared the girl now! You should've just kept your mouth shut!" Shrimpy exclaims.

At this point the clowns begin arguing with each other, but after a few moments of this bickering you demand that someone explain the situation exactly. Once again Klepto takes it upon himself to be the storyteller.

"Look, I've probably blown it all out of proportion, but there are stories of how back in the day before Roofie or even his dad owned this carnival there was a violent power struggle for control over it that resulted in a lot of dead bodies afterwards."
"Weren't just stories, shit it happened! My family has been a fixture of this carnival for generations too and my grandfather told me about the blood that ran during that fateful day." Shrimpy adds as if Klepto didn't quite put as much stock in these stories and takes over as the storyteller.

"Battle lines were drawn that day. I mean you had dwarves, normals and freaks all siding against each other and the most hated group out of the bunch? The clowns. Now from what my grandfather told me, these clowns were definitely the reason why everyone today thinks of them as being monsters under the beds nowadays. Things of course have changed since then, but as they say the more things change the more they stay the same."
"What do you mean?" you ask.
"I'm saying there's going to be another power struggle soon and given that we're clowns, WE are going to be on the losing end no matter what happens"
"Wait a minute, what about Roofie? I mean isn't he one of us?" you ask.
"Roofie? The fact that he's a clown just makes everyone think we already get preferential treatment. He'll probably be the first one killed being the owner and all. He's old and doesn't have nearly the amount of control he used to anymore. Nope, I believe the change will be coming soon and it'll be truly be a dark day for clowns…well maybe I'll be able to get my people to take me back and YOU can offer to be someone's girlfriend, but the rest of you are fucked."
"Gee, glad to know we'll be able to count on your support Shrimpy, if something does happen." Klepto remarks.

You never realized that carnie "politics" was so complex and dangerous. Before you can panic too much about it Roofie shows up with a bottle in his hand.

"Hey, what're you lot still doing in here? We've actually got people showing up early. Apparently your little routine yesterday got people at that trailer park talking and they brought all the rest of their redneck buddies. Looks like we'll get to rake in one goodly amount of cash before leaving this place. Oh and Suzy, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the car you drove up in? Well looks like it was vandalized in the night."
"What?!" you exclaim.
"All the tires were slashed and someone wrote cunt all over it with face make up. It might be just a hunch, but I'd say Ranko felt like he needed to have to last word."
"(Sigh) Great." You say.
"Well anyway you all need to get out there and do what you do." Roofie orders and leaves.

While the rest get going, you remain sitting starting to worry about what you've got yourself into. Once again you start to wonder if you shouldn't just leave until Klepto touches your shoulder.

"Don't worry Suzy, Shrimpy has been going on like that for as long as I've known him. While things get tense around here at times, I don't think it's going to come to some bloodbath. Besides you can't spend your life worrying about the future, gotta live for the day I say, so let's just take our minds off our troubles by putting on a good show." Klepto remarks.

While Klepto's reassurance is nice, it doesn't really alleviate your concerns. Hell, you can't even leave if you wanted to given that Peter's car is trashed. You can only hope that perhaps in time peoples' attitudes towards you will soften a bit. Right now, you do have work to focus on.

Roofie wasn't lying when he said more people showed up today. You and the rest of the clowns spend a majority of the afternoon walking around keeping the people entertained

Eventually you take a break and decide to check out Peter's car and if it is at all salvageable. When you get to it, it's exactly as Roofie said, all four tires slashed and the word cunt painted all over it. You can't believe nobody saw any of this even during the night. Or maybe they did and didn't give a shit considering you haven't exactly been accepted by most here.

In any event you try to call Peter again, but you get no answer. He hasn't even tried to call you. He must really be involved with work or something. Or maybe he doesn't give a shit about his car. He could easily afford a new one. You also notice Bobby hasn't tried calling you either. You guess he got the hint.

You attempt to start to the car and just as you suspected Ranko must've sabotaged the engine or something under the hood as well. No matter, when you leave you weren't going to be driving this thing anymore anyway. Lacking anymore use for the car, you take a look in the trunk just to see what might be in there and that's when you find something useful. Namely a bunch of clothes…specifically YOUR clothes! Well some of them anyway.

Apparently Peter still had a lot of your old clothes that he stole from you in the past. The other stuff looks like S&M garb, though not all of it the traditional black leather or latex. Some of it is sort of colorful. Festive even.

Well at least you won't be walking around in the same stuff day in day out now. You pack up what you can and head back to your trailer to drop it off. Afterwards you find the rest of your new clown "family" and eat with them. You take the opportunity to tell them a little bit about your former life; you get a surprising amount of sympathy from the others.

"Holy shit, I thought I came from a fucked up family." Klepto remarks.
"Yeah well, like I said I did a lot of hiding in the basement for the most part. Not much of a life I guess, but it kept me sane for the most part." You say.
"Hey, whatever helps you survive the day right?" Shrimpy says.

After a bit more chatting you all get back to work.

As time goes on, there is one person you keep seeing nearby throughout the day, a large man in overalls who while attempting to look like he's NOT staring at you, obviously is. This isn't the usual ogling either because you've gotten accustomed to that, you're getting a really creepy vibe from this guy.

"Maybe we should get Roofie to throw this guy out or something." You say.
"Roofie? I just passed by one of the tents when I got another snack and saw he's currently passed out as usual. Besides, he never throws anyone out as long as they aren't doing something violent. As far a he's concerned every low life that visits this carnival is a potential mark and worth putting up with to get their money." Fatty says.
"The guy looks like a retard. He's probably not used to seeing a girl as beautiful as you before. I mean even under the white face make up and clown clothing, you still look miles better than any of the trailer trash mothers that have come here with their spawn." Shrimpy remarks.
"Well he's really fucking creepy and I don't trust him." You say.
"He's not going to do anything in broad daylight, and even if he does, you know we got your back. Just stick near us and Lifto look extra intimidating." Klepto says.

The night the crowds start thinning out a bit. You imagine that after they put their illegitimate spawn to bed, trailer trash prefers to spend their nights at bars, strip clubs and getting high and/or drunk at home. As for the big retard that was staring at you all day, he seems to have left as well, but you still feel uneasy.

Meanwhile Roofie has reawakened from his temporary drunken stupor to tell everyone that today was a good day and that everyone should get some rest since you're going to be packing this place down first thing tomorrow morning and moving on. He then mumbles something about it all being pointless anyway and staggers back to his own trailer.

"Well looks like that's it. See you tomorrow Suzy." Klepto remarks as he and the rest head towards their trailer.

You on the other hand are still a little nervous about going back to yours.

"Uh, guys do you think I could sleep with you tonight?" you say which causes all of them to turn back towards you in disbelief.
"Wow Ranko would have had a field day with that remark." Klepto chuckles. "You know probably nothing is going to happen. That guy was just some goony retard. Hell, if the freak show still existed, he'd probably be one of the side shows here."
"Look, I'm just still feeling really on edge about that guy from earlier. I mean I could sleep on the floor, I don't care." You say.
"That would be incredibly uncomfortable and probably quite disgusting. Our trailer isn't exactly the cleanest. I mean I'd offer my bed, but given that we're going to need all our energy to pack up tomorrow, I'd like to get a good night's sleep." Klepto remarks.

"Why don't I sleep over in your trailer?" Lifto asks. "I know Ranko's trailer is big enough for one other person. I could stay over, you guys would get a little extra room tonight and you can sleep safely without worry."
"Hrmm, that's…generous of you Lifto." Klepto remarks.
"It's not like that, I'm just offering a solution." Lifto says though it does seem like he might be hoping this act of chivalry will lead to something more.

While you'd hate to cause hard feelings within the group or possibly lead someone on, you know one thing is certain; you still don't want to sleep alone tonight.

[User] You take up Lifto's offer

[Assistant]
The more you think about it, the idea of sleeping in possibly cramped quarters isn't exactly appealing, not to mention Klepto said the place wasn't the cleanest. If you lay down the law to Lifto, you're fairly certain he won't try anything.

"Okay Lifto, get your stuff, you can stay over, but I think you know I don't need to tell you to not try anything."
"Sure. Really, it'll be nice just to stay some place less crowded for a change." Lifto remarks and goes to trailer to get whatever it is he's going to need for the night.

Klepto looks a little disappointed, but says nothing and just meekly heads back to his trailer as well. You already can imagine how rumors are going to spread, but you really can't worry about that now. You're not going to worry about possible "hurt" feelings especially when you're not involved with anyone here anyway.

Lifto and you soon head over to your trailer.

"Haven't really had a chance to completely clean up since I was given the place." You mention.
"Still cleaner than our place, and I've been over here a couple times when Ranko had it. Trust me it's starting to look better already."
"(Yawn) Thanks. Man, didn't realize I was getting so sleeping so quickly. I'm going to bed."
"Sure. I'm probably going to be awake for a little while longer, and eventually sleep on the floor."
"You sure you're going to be okay? I mean I know you have to sleep as well."
"I'm sort of a light sleeper, so even when I do fall asleep, I'll easily be able to wake up if someone even tries to pick the lock and creep in here. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

You settle down to sleep and speak about a few superficial things to Lifto about how you think you're fitting in here and how you're glad he's staying here the night. He of course is very positive and tries to reassure you that it'll just take awhile, but eventually the rest of the carnies will accept you.

You aren't inclined to believe that, but it's nice to hear before you fall asleep.

At some point in the night you're awakened by Lifto noisily rushing to the door.

"What the hell?" you utter still half asleep.
"Suzy, stay where you are, some motherfucker's trying to break in!" he shouts and with some sort of blunt object in hand he slams the door open. It doesn't sound like he hit the person with the door, but you do hear a scuffle outside.

You look out the window and see who Lifto is fighting with and it's an equally large man. It's same creepy retard that was staring at you all day today. You knew it wasn't going to be safe to be here alone.

You quickly look around for a weapon of your own to help Lifto. Hopefully with all the noise someone else from the carnival will come running to help. (You hope)

Grabbing a knife you cautiously head towards the door still hearing the fighting between Lifto and the retarded hick. You open the door and see them both rolling on the ground. You can't really help due to the retard not being still enough for you to be confident to stab at him, not to mention you're really scared about this whole situation.

Nobody is out to help out either. You call out a couple times and you know it has to be loud enough for SOMEONE to hear now, but its like you're not being helped on purpose.

Lifto and the retard are really going at it and unfortunately it's starting to look like the retard is getting the upper hand. You really don't want to leave, but you figure the best you can do is to go get help from the other clowns.

You turn to run and you manage to get to the end of your trailer, before someone trips you to the ground in the dark followed by a blunt object smashing you in the back of the head. You go unconscious immediately.

When you wake up, you're groggy, naked and firmly strapped to a medical gurney of some sort. You also have a ball gag in your mouth. The room you're in looks to be some sort of basement with a bright light hanging overhead.

The stench of chemicals fills the air and to your left in a darker corner of the room you see a man in a doctor's coat hovering over another gurney with a body on it.

Naturally in such a state you start to panic and ineffectively struggle to get free. The "doctor" hears you and walks over to you.

"Oh, you're up. I'll have to give you more sedative. When Jed and Hugo brought you in, I thought you were going to be a useless slab of meat like they normally bring in. I was glad they showed some restraint this time. Honestly I'm very surprised they just didn't keep you themselves and have some good ol' fashioned fun or at least a quick in out before handing you over, but Jed did mention something about having to haul ass from your carnival as quick as possible."

As you continue to try to struggle and make muted sounds to cry out, the doctor begins fondling you and moving his hands to roam all over your body.

"Mmmm, nice. Not as great as my sister, but then none of them ever are. If I had the time, I'd probably shove it in your vertical smile for a while, but sadly I don't."

The doctor goes over to a tray and grabs some sort of syringe he fully intends on use on you and you've gone from mere panic to sheer terror.

"Really, you're luckier than most that come through here. Normally I keep 'em awake when I do my work, but I need you unconscious to take out those pretty eyes and other vital organs of yours. Wouldn't want you thrashing about or blinking to cause me to cut them all up and making them useless."

You watch helplessly as the needle goes into your arm. The tears run down your cheeks.

"There we go. Won't be long now. (Sigh) I swear it seems like I never get to enjoy my work any more though. I really would've liked to have fun with you. Oh well, I've got some other things to still look forward to."

You drift into unconsciousness again and your life ends where you ironically spent most of your time.

A basement.


[System] You are the narrator of a dark fantasy text adventure. Describe the world and its consequences with unflinching detail. The player's choices shape the story — for better or worse.

[User] You run with her

[Assistant]
While it didn't work out the first time, there really isn't any reason to not hesitate to run now. The soldiers are obviously out of control and it's possible they'll just line you up and start shooting you. You stand up from your crouching position and run over to the trailer door.

"Suzy, what the hell, keep the fuck down! They're still firing out there!" Donna exclaims as you step over her.
"Donna, you're the one who said you wanted to get out of here quickly, well we can't waste time! Now get up and let's go!" you shout and grab the door handle.

You open the door, which to your surprise reveals a soldier who was just about to open the door. Startling the soldier, he loses balance backwards a bit, but he doesn't lose his trained instinct to defend himself unfortunately for you.

The guardsman fires and you take several bullets to your body. You're dead before you even hit the floor of the trailer as your sister screams at this sight.