*A missing flyer appears on Julia's station. It seems that two turtles have gone missing!*
NF= No Fun in Fungus
UY: Until I found You
“I think we should go with the guys we got some kind of connection to first! That way we don’t sound like total weirdos until we know more.” Velli answers.
“It is really going to be a tough sell to ask about these sort of things…..but if anyone knows weird, it’s also them. Right! Let’s get going. We don’t have much time to waste.” Julia says as she scoops the children into her arms.
She’s leaving the other children in the daycare with one of her well trusted attendants.
As Julia approaches the turtle that had been left some privacy to eat and acclimate, she can’t help but stare for a moment. She knows practically all the ways children act and the many reasons why they may do so.
Peony, as far as Julia is aware, did not grow up with any kind of parental figure. She has no home besides a relatively unstable space that hosts multiverses and keeps those without anywhere to return to.
Hardly a healthy environment for good development of any kind.
If she were to compare Peony to the current topic….she’s similar to a character with no backstory. No motivation. No drive. No specific thing to strive for.
Having no purpose can lead kids down a dark path.
“Peony?” Julia calls out.
She can feel the eyes on her. Wide, big, as searching for a way to fit into the established story.
But which story?
“Yes?” Peony answers.
“If you’ve finished your food, we’ve thought of a way to get some answers about your situation. There’s a group here that you’ve mentioned before. I’ve met them some time ago, we feel they’re the best first attempt. Do you want to come with us?”
Peony stares at her long enough to make anyone uncomfortable.
“Yes.”
“Excellent. Do you also want to be carried?”
“No. Thank you.” Peony seems to add that last part a little slowly.
“Alright, just keep close so you don’t get lost.” Julia concedes.
Peony nods at her, taking her empty plate and used utensils to the sink nearby. After a quick rinse, the dishes are left and Peony moves to Julia’s side.
The group makes their way out of the daycare.
Julia notices the alarming amount of children wandering around. She knows that this place is mostly safe now, any trouble would most likely be swiftly handled by any of the competitors or other visitors. Still, Julia can’t help but worry.
Something always tends to go wrong, doesn’t it?
After more walking around, her eyes finally land on a familiar group of turtles.
“Boys?” Julia calls out, waving her arm but unsure.
The UIFY siblings are sat together in a rest area. Blankets and pillows line parts of the floor, housing many different people chatting away with curtains sectioning them off for privacy. Craft tables and free vending machines could be seen around.
The NFIF group lays around them nearby, eyes drifting to the bear.
“Hey!! Julia! Come on over! Is Leaths with you this time?” NF Leo waves back with a smile.
“You know her?” UY Leo turns his head to his counterpart.
NF Leo’s hand drops, turning to face him back.
“Yeah? Don’t….don’t you? Weren’t you guys there back at the summer camp?”
“What summer camp?”
NF Leo’s eyes narrow in confusion.
Julia sets the VelCro boys down so they can walk with her. Peony hides herself behind Julia’s legs as to not draw attention right away.
DM Mikey hops down from where he was perched on top of his oldest brother’s shoulders and immediately crawls up onto Julia’s instead.
“Mikey! It’s so good to see you! Oh, look at you!” Julia purrs, nuzzling him.
DM Mikey chitters, mimicking the purrs in a more broken way. Julia doesn’t mine.
“M-Mama Bear.” He stutters out.
“Baby bear.” She coos in return, like he’s really a baby and not the double mutated teenager with a list of kills he is.
UY Mikey watches in awe, and something else.
A pang of envy.
He slowly makes his way to her as well.
“Hi! Leo said your name is Julia? I’m Mikey! Another Mikey! You probably already know that’s a thing since you’re here, but……hi!” His big eyes look up at her as he tugs on her apron.
“Of course I know you! Er….well, I knew you when you were….younger.” Julia says with some hesitation.
“Younger? I don’t remember meeting a bear….”
“Hey! Don’t try to trick my brother!” UY Leo shouts, standing up.
“I’m not trying to trick him, I assure you! I think you all might have forgotten! You’ve….gotten big.” Julia says with a frown.
“Hey hey hey, calm down! Remember what I said about the summer camp? You guys were like magically turned younger or something. Julia met you guys there. Took good care of you until, uh….stuff happened.” NF Leo glances at the mushroom in the glass container in his brother’s arms.
“We….we knew each other? And I don’t remember?” UY Mikey asks quietly, holding onto her more.
“Yes, but….I love you boys all the same.”
UY Mikey tears up, grip tightening.
“N-No, it’s not fair. I don’t want to forget the people I meet! I-I don’t want to lose everything just because there’s different competitions o-or different universes! E-Especially since there might not be a next time!! I-I….I want to remember….!”
As if his wish was being granted in the strangest way possible, UY Mikey starts glitching.
DM Mikey gets spooked by the glitching and yelling, jumping down to look closer.
“MIKEY!!” The rest of the UY brothers join in on the shouting, rushing over to try to get their little brother back to being stable.
The NFIF group also hop up to help.
NF Donnie had set down the glass mushroom container as carefully as he could when he did so.
Peony could see the container as clear as day.
There it is.
One of the major reasons the hand exists as it does now.
The catalyst to a story.
In the chaos, no one notices her leave Julia’s side.
When the two groups are assembled together, UY Mikey stands in the middle of all of them.
He’s a kid again.
“How!? His mystics!? Is he cracking!?” UY Leo panics as he searches his brother.
“No! It doesn’t make any sense!” UY Donnie puts a hand to his head in frustration.
“Anybody see The Hand!? Did it do this!?” NF Raph nearly spins around in an attempt to catch the thing in the act.
He doesn’t find it, but he does find that something else is missing.
“Oh no…..not again. We’ve done this enough!”
“What!? What is it!?” UY Raph turns his attention to where his counterpart is looking.
His stomach drops.
“The mushroom is missing!”
Julia instinctively reaches behind her to keep Peony safe.
When her hand doesn’t reach anything, she gasps loudly and looks to see that she’s nowhere in sight.
“Peony! Velli, Cronan, did you see where she went!?”
“No! Everybody was yelling too much!” Velli answers, clinging to Julia.
“Mama Julia….?” A little voice pipes up, tears still in his eyes.
Julia looks back down at the little Mikey. Every part about him makes her heart hurt. He’s so thin, more thin than any child should ever be. His eyes are huge, almost pleading to be comforted and held in such a scary situation.
Julia takes a deep breath and picks him up, cradling him in her arms. UY Mikey seems to get comforted by the warm, soft fur and buries himself in it. Julia rubs his shell.
“Okay, okay, I know this situation is bad, but we need to start looking at it critically. We have to fund the mushroom, and….to do that, we’ll probably need to find Peony. I don’t want to think she did this, but…..considering that they vanished at the same time….” She trails off with a sigh.
“Uh…..who’s Peony?” NF Leo asks with a raised hand.
“That’s what I came to tell and ask the Until I Found You group about. She’s someone who doesn’t have a home universe, she was born here. I’d like to talk about it more, but unfortunately it seems we no longer have the time.”
“Born here!? What a time to have chaos when I can’t study this in its entirety!” UY Donnie complains with a grumble.
His Leo nudges him.
“Like you and her have been saying, not the time!”
“Okay, how we gonna split up? Julia can’t go by herself with the kids. I can go with her and take my Mikey with me. Do you guys want your Mikey back?” NF Raph gestures.
UY Mikey clings to Julia again.
“No! I want to stay with her! J-Just come with us!”
“Alright alright, how about this? The Until I Found You guys go with Julia, our Mikey stays with her too, and we’ll take Velli and Cronan so we can spot Peony better.” NF Raph rationalizes.
Everybody agrees on that plan.
Julia watches with a frown as Velli and Cronan leave, though she’s knows they’re in good hands. DM Mikey climbs onto Julia’s shoulder again as they make their own way to search for Peony. He waves his tail in front of UY Mikey who smiles just a little, reaching out to play with it.
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Peony held the jar close to herself. She had seen the advertisement going around somewhere. No one had really taken The Hand’s offer of its game. It’s probably very clear why.
Nobody knew that the game was harmless, besides what harm a routine horror game could do. They all, fairly, assumed it would be the same thing as before.
Peony decides that it’s her turn.
It’s her turn to make a plot twist.
It’s her turn to be relevant.
It’s her turn to have a story arc.
It’s her turn to have a story.
Peony takes off the backing of the video game cabinet and opens the mushroom jar lid, putting the whole container inside and quickly securing the backing back in place. She can’t get caught up in her own plan. Not yet.
She notices a figure coming her way, so she rushes off somewhere to hide and watch her handy work unfold.
Her sibling isn’t the only one that can be a villain.
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Julia and her group eventually made their way to Julia’s stand in their search. She figured there was a chance Peony made her way here if she had gotten lost instead of the much worse conclusion she’s been thinking of.
“Peony!? Are you here!?”
With no response to be heard, her attention lands on her stand.
For all those who have wished to experience the spores but have not been able to! Supporter AUs and competitors alike may gain entry to the no fun in fungus virtual funhouse of horrors! Comment under this post with your preferred horror level, easy, medium, or nightmare mode, and you will receive an ask with a coin to insert! Give yourself a reason to subject your AU with horrors to the levels you prefer today!
