You can teach a dog not to bite

ᐡ ᐧ ﻌ ᐧ ᐡ I'm living in a [%&$#]ing cartoon

"Kinda looks like 'Harper'." Zooble tilted her head at the slot machine and I followed along. She was right. It was missing a letter but it was no doubt Harper.

Harper.

I liked it.

"Can I... Can I make my name Harper?" For some reason I felt like my question was going to be immediately shot down. Ignored. I'm not... Really sure why I felt this way, they haven't exactly denied me anything thus far.

"ABSOLUTELY MY DEAR!" Caine does another snap of his fingers and makes the slot machine dissipate, a sense of dread lifting off my shoulders if only slightly, "AND NOW! A TOUR!!"

Caine proceeded to excitedly introduce me to this Digital Circus of his, dragging me around each area like an excited child who's in a museum on a topic they like. I couldn't process much, as I was still so distracted by the devastating knot in my stomach. I looked down at my hands as his voice continued, with me barely listening. I just... Couldn't stop looking at the spiked wrist straps, feeling at the spiked collar around my neck.

What the fuck was I??

We finally arrived back at the circus tent where I had first appeared. It had only been maybe 5 minutes but it was surely enough to drain every bit of remaining energy from my poor, overwhelmed body. Being held and jerked around by an unknown force so nauseating, randomly teleporting screwing with my head.

"Now how about that ADVENTURE??" Caine dropped me onto the ground gently, my legs finding each muscle that was sore and making them painfully aware of me.

"Wait! Caine, do you think we can just... skip this adventure? After... Uhm... last time do you think we can... Not?" Ragatha gave me a friendly smile, giving me her shoulder to lean on.

"But..." Caine looked at me, "Are you sure you want to skip out on your first adventure?" He frowns, hands clasped together.

"I... I'm not-" The words couldn't come out, "I don't want to do anything..." I finally mumble, "I don't... I just want to go home, I don't.. I don't-" Like a child who was homesick, I started to cry. My chest heaving as he attempted to force it down. My fists were tight, avoiding looking at Caine or anyone for that matter.

"Caine, c'mon, we can do the adventure tomorrow!" Ragatha's pleading face bore into Caine, grabbing my shoulders as gently as she could.

"Well... Alright I suppose. We can skip this adventure!" "For whatever reason!!!" "So our new friend here can settle in! I'm so glad you're all being so kind to each other!!!" Caine gushed with hands locked together before just... vanishing. Disappearing in thin air without another word.

"That... Was a lot easier than I thought..." Ragatha laughed awkwardly, attention shifting between everyone then me as she started towards a hallway.

For how big this place looked and felt, we really weren't walking for that long. From being in the center of the circus and now in a long, long hallway with dozens of doors going all the way down. Many were crossed out with a red x, the thought of those implications made me shiver.

"So... Uhm... I know you're probably still confused and stuff but, hey! I got you covered!" Her smile got wider when I looked up, "Oh look! There's my door! And hey! It's just across from yours!!"

Following her door was... Mine. I recognized the pink and the white polka dotted tank top. My chest burned, swelling as I stared up at a dog, its excited expression due to the bone it was showing off.

"Awww, you look adorable in yours!" Ragatha beamed smiling like a child at the dog in the picture, "You're lucky you turned out so cute! Not all of us are that lucky, you know!" Her expression changed when she looked at me, reeling back the enthusiasm, "Oh, I'm... I'm so sorry, Harper, I forgot you haven't seen yourself yet."