Chapter Text
Things couldn’t be better for Noelle right now. Her ultra-final high school exams had long since been completed, and she had a couple of months to burn before starting college.
But right now, she didn't even have to think about that. Because she was currently at the Lotus Hotel and Casino, the best vacation spot and only habitable location in the Evil Dimension.
Despite Catti and Jockington being frequent visitors of the place, Noelle hadn’t seen them at all. But she was currently there with one other monster- Berdly. They were currently at Noelle’s room at the hotel, preparing for an EPIC GAMING SESSION.
And for what, exactly? None other than the Evil Dimension-exclusive Dragon Blazers spinoffs. A few had been released to coincide with the release of Dragon Blazers III the year before, and in the next few months for good measure.
And because of how the passage of time worked here, they had all the time in the world to break the game wide open! But it seemed like Berdly was plotting something…
“Happy International Hug-A-Deer Day, Noelle!” chirped Berdly.
“Wait, that’s a thing?” asked Noelle.
“That is indeed correct, my highly intelligent compatriot! As you can see here…”
As Berdly raised his Lotus Android smartphone with the Lotus Google app open, it showed that there was indeed such a holiday. Noelle knew she had to step up her game, since holidays were her thing after all.
“So, I have a genius plan. We take this special day, and turn it into a brilliant ploy to earn LotusCash upgrade points!” said Berdly.
“I don’t know, I’d say that we’re already at a decent level already. Is it really something we’d need?” asked Noelle.
After a brief moment of introspection, Berdly’s smug grin resumed. “Nonsense, my dearest Noelle! With these impending transactions, we’re not just gonna be able to afford the Berdmobile, but this will look great on our report cards!”
It was certainly true. Hometown High School had a separate Evildustrial Attachment program that mandated all students partake in the Lotus Corporation’s affairs, or risk flunking out.
Noelle sighed. “Well, I guess Mirage Crew’s Dragon Blazers can wait a few hours….”
“Sure, let’s go then!” In a few seconds, he’d already gotten his Lotus Casino Souvenir Backpack and approached Noelle’s door.
“Ladies first, after you, as they say…” Ignoring Berdly’s attempt at being suave, she headed over to the door and yanked out her LotusCash Key Card. After a short delay, the lights went out.
Stepping into her specially-crafted hoof sneakers, Noelle followed Berdly down the hallway to where the elevators were. While waiting, she decided to take note of what she was wearing.
Because of the bizarre impossibility of taking any regular reality objects alongside them to the Evil Dimension, Noelle and her classmates had to make do with stuff that was produced within said realm.
Prior to their first visit to the Hotel, they’d received sets of school uniforms tied to very rigid gender norms. Thankfully, a quick visit to a Hotel Gift Shop and they’d never had to deal with them again.
It wasn’t too bad, except Noelle had received the male uniform for some reason. If her mom had known about it, the person responsible would never hear the end of it.
Currently, Noelle’s outfit was her best attempt at replicating what she usually wore back at Hometown but with what the Hotel’s clothing stores had to offer. Still not quite the same, though…
She’d also included shoes, because policies generally dictated that shoes were a necessary part of a full outfit. Because switching between two pairs of contacts would be a hassle, she’d opted for a pair of yellowish-golden horn-rimmed glasses.
After a bunch of stuff that happened involving said elevator, Noelle and Berdly finally made it to the ground floor of the Hotel. Instinctively, Noelle stopped in front of a Taser Vending Machine. Making her selection and tapping her LotusCash card to the receiver, her purchase tumbled to the slot.
“Hm, I think I’m running low. I’ll probably have to refill my card at a Recharge Station,” said Noelle.
“Great idea.” Marked by the unmistakable neon sign, the duo traipsed over to the Station. At a self-operated Cash Card Kiosk, Noelle stuck her card into the slot. The screen flashed to life, displaying a set of credentials she wasn’t fond of. Trying to ignore it, she entered the credit value she’d wanted to add.
“So, Noelle, have you ever thought about how the Lotus Corporation’s economy is supposed to work? You basically create new monetary value out of nothing if you do a recharge. Sure, you can get money from transactions with people, but…”
“Yeah, it’s really weird. It makes sense why Lotus Dollars aren’t considered a legitimate currency back in our reality. And also why we can’t sell Evil Dimension objects for our currency, or vice versa.”
Berdly looked lost in thought. “Perhaps that could also be because they’re made with some kind of eldritch dark essence and can be created from nothing using a Lotus Corporation Fabricator.”
After what felt like ages of Exposition Dumping, the two of them headed over to the community area. Still separate from the actual gambling zones, since neither of them were big fans of gacha mechanics or lootboxes, and applied that line of logic to them.
Berdly grabbed a megaphone (which he’d bought earlier) and stood up on a coffee table next to the lounge chairs. “ATTENTION EVERYONE, I HAVE SOMETHING TO OFFER TO YOU ALL!”
As if on cue, the lights in the surrounding area shut off. “So, as you may know, today is International Hug-A-Deer Day! And lo and behold, here we have one right here!”
Suddenly, a spotlight shone brightly upon Noelle. Cowering, she noticed the eyes of the random hotel guests (mostly humans) were now on her. “Berdly, what is all this?” she hissed.
“So, for just a small fee, you too will get to hug this deer right here!”
What the fuck.
Oh no, she swore in her head. Does that mean she was being written by Vivziepop? She sighed internally.
Anyway, what was a Vivziepop? No wait, she couldn’t get away with pretending to not know for all too long, despite her content not really existing in her home reality.
The crowd murmured and grumbled. But soon, a noticeable line would form. “Hey Noelle, grab your Lotus Smartphone! We’re gonna be rich and famous!” Oh, so it seems like he wasn’t going to be the one hogging all the payments.
The other guests tapped their cards and/or phones on the duo’s payment receivers, and filed one by one towards Noelle. She set down her backpack and stood as calmly as she could. The first guest in line walked up to her, arms outstretched. Then, their arms wrapped around her, clutching her back.
It... didn’t feel too bad? But it was a complete stranger, so Noelle ended up feeling a bit conflicted about it. The second one embraced her a bit more warmly and tugged on her tail, causing Noelle to blush at the contact. She shouldn’t be enjoying this, should she?
The next slew of hugs she’d received had been very middle-of-the-road. She didn’t even consider whether or not it was misleading, since she was a reindeer monster specifically. Though, her and her family did have elements of regular deer mixed in…
But someone else came (no, not like that) over that would change everything. Judging by the shirt, which stated “I am a manly man and I will kill you if you ask for my pronouns”, he was certainly one of those “alpha male” types.
“Okay, so this is the deer for hugging I’ve been hearing about?”
“Well, s-sir, about-” Berdly stammered before being interrupted.
“Hold on, those features…” The conspicuously unnamed man stared at Noelle for a good long second.
“You, speak. Are you a buck or a doe?” asked the man.
Noelle gulped. “A d-doe, sir.” It was the term she’d identified the most with, anyway. No way would she call herself a cow.
“What’s wrong with your voice? No, no, I see… you’re not really a doe, are you? That strained voice and those shoulders don’t lie.”
Her… shoulders? Noelle’s heart sank. So they could really always tell, couldn’t they? It didn’t matter that she was already on E, having gone through the other puberty at all…
The man gave a dangerous smirk. “Oh, I see. Just because you’re a buck dressed in doe’s clothing doesn’t make you one yourself. You’re just a pathetic drag show.”
Then, he did the unthinkable. He hugged her.
But it wasn’t the pleasant kind of hug. No, his was tight enough that she could barely move, yet his hands certainly did. They trailed up and down her back, as if he was meant to be comforting her.
It felt so wrong. She didn’t even like guys (romantically or sexually), but it would still be wrong either way.
“Say it, say that you’re a buck,” he whispered in her ear.
With that, he grabbed her by the shoulders and positioned her so she was facing sideways. Then, he placed his hands on both sides of her, both front and back. Then-
OH GOD WHY WHAT IS HAPPENING WHY CAN’T I MOVE LET ME OUT DO SOMETHING PLEASE
Noelle’s heart pounded. She tried to scream, but her throat wouldn’t budge. Her cheeks flushed with shame from the unwanted contact. Her Fight or Flight instincts were kicking in, and her prey genetics were telling her to make a run for it.
But his grip was far too strong. She wouldn’t be able to struggle free, unless- wait. She grabbed her pocket-sized vending machine taser, activated it and plunged it into the conspicuously unnamed man.
That seemed to do the trick. Stunned, the man loosened his grip on Noelle. She slipped free from him, and headed off towards Berdly. “Berdly! That man is- he’s a- we need to get out of here!”
But the bird monster didn’t say anything. Instead, he simply looked at her and smiled. “Oh no, he isn’t unwelcome at all. He’s just the customer, and you’re the product. And I’m certain that he’ll be happy to keep you forever…”
Shocked at her friend’s sinister demeanor, Noelle heard the sound of loud stomping footsteps. The conspicuously unnamed man was chasing her. Finally able to make use of her Cross-Country skills, Noelle took off in a mad sprint. It didn’t matter what direction, she just ran.
Dodging between leisurely guests and mad partiers alike, Noelle dove into the crowd and hoped she’d be lost among them. But no, her pursuer simply shoved past everyone else in hot pursuit of her.
It was a while before Noelle stopped being aware of which way she was going, and crashed headfirst (or antlers-first?) into a vending machine for “delicious morsels”. Her pursuer stalked closer with each booming step, growing closer and closer.
“I’VE FOUND YOU.”
Still strewn about on the floor, Noelle shut her eyes tight and awaited her fate. But instead of a heavy blow from the man, she instead heard a dull thud.
Opening her eyes, she saw what looked like a basketball thud down next to the man. She instinctively winced, having had a phobia of sports balls being thrown near her since childhood. It came with being hit in the face one-too-many times.
But the source of the ball was no vile villain, it was… JOCKINGTON?!?! Of course, the splendid snake himself was in some kind of wheeled contraption, which catapulted his signature “sports balls.” And besides him was Catti, who was holding what seemed to be a gas grenade of sorts.
“Noelle. Hold breath.” Her voice was monotone as usual, but firmer this time.
Doing as she asked, Noelle covered her mouth and nose with her hands for good measure. Catti tossed the gas grenade thingy at the conspicuously unnamed man, and it exploded. Upon breathing it in, he slumped over in a pile at her feet.
But Noelle’s lungs were starting to run out of air, and she relented. Gasping for oxygen, her mouth and nose felt… strange. Why did she feel sleepy all of a sudden? Her vision went black as she too, slumped over.
When she awoke, she was in an unfamiliar room. But the various items strewn about seemed to paint a very specific picture about who its residents were. One side was heaped with all sorts of sportsy stuff like various balls, deodorant, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Body Spray and other kinds of stuff. The other had a makeup kit, various posters, what looked like spellbooks…
“Hey, Noelle! Looks like you were in a bit of a pickle back there, glad we managed to help you out!” said Jockington in his typical jovial tone.
“Jockington. This is serious. She needs rest and comfort.”
Then, Catti looked towards Noelle. Her gaze was… sympathetic.
“The things he did, I saw from afar. Sorry we couldn’t arrive sooner.”
Noelle turned her own gaze downwards. She tried to speak up, but her eyes welled with tears instead.
“It is okay, if you need time to process,” said Catti. “We will still be here. You can stay, as long as you please.”
“He won’t be able to get me here, right?” asked Noelle through her sobs.
“Promise. We have… protective incantations.”
Jockington frowned. “But Berdly was with her, so why didn’t he try to stop anything that man did?”
Catti’s expression turned grave, and she turned to look at Jockington solemnly.
“That was not Berdly.”