Living The Dream

by Kickass222urmom

Fun Palace

“The service sucks here,” I complained as I sat in the booth with my arms crossed, looking around the restaurant through the eyes of my mask.

“It may be better if you didn’t call the waitress a retard,” Domitor offered as he sat looking through the menu.

“She literally talks in a voice that screams retard,” I said in my defense. 

“You are very rude, Shane,” Vanilla stated calmly, marking this as the first time she’d voiced a real opinion since last night.

I grumbled as I watched the same waitress come back into the room and walk to another table, ignoring ours completely.

“Shayla don’t,” Domitor warned without even looking up at me. “I know you’re wanting to yell at her, so do not.”

I scowled at him, because he was right, I was about to yell some insults at the waitress. “Killjoy,” I mumbled as I sat back and kept my mouth shut.

Floria looked between us, a look of mild shock on her face, “oh shit, you’ve tamed the beast.”

“He ain’t tamed shit!” I exclaimed as I looked at the waitress as she approached our table. “Back again goofy sounding ass?”

And with that she just walked right by our table.

“See? I ain’t tamed,” I declared proudly, getting groans out of the two of them.

“We were so close,” Domitor said as he rubbed his face in frustration. 

I just shrugged as I pulled out the Watcher and placed him on the table. 

“What are you doing with that?” Domitor asked, not liking the fact she was just carrying the Watcher around so freely.

“I’ve decided to stop being an asshole to him and I’m just gonna treat him like one of the group,” I declared, getting strange looks from everyone present, except Vanilla who’s expression remained the same as always.

“Why?” Domitor asked with a frown.

“Because,” I began, shrugging my shoulders, “I kinda get what he’s going through, being trapped in a jar and unable to talk about his thoughts.”

Plus if I’m nice to him he may finally talk with me.

“Shayla, he is evil, he puts people in jars for his collection. Not to mention he almost killed everyone,” Domitor said with a touch of frustration. 

“Maybe he’s changed,” I replied as I put a menu before the Watcher so he could look at the pictures.

“He’s not going to change, no one like him could change,” he countered.

“Well Majin Buu changed, and he was pretty evil,” I double countered, smirking in victory.

“Who?” He asked, his question mirrored on the others' faces.

“Wow,” I exclaimed, shaking my head at them. “You all need to get off your asses and watch Dragon Ball Z.”

“I’ll pass,” he replied, not able to stop himself from smiling.

“Don’t even know what that is,” Floria shrugged as she looked at Vanilla. “Do you, Vango?”

“I do not,” she replied simply.

“I’ll break you out of this shit,” Floria said as she leaned towards the smiling Halwen. “Even if it’s the last thing I do. Got that cuz?”

“I am fine as I am,” was the only response she got.

“Ready to order?” The waitress asked in a tone that suggested she wasn’t happy to be serving us, or I guess more accurately, me.

“You betcha,” I laughed as I raised the menu to point at the pictures of what I wanted.

“Okay so what’s the plan?” Domitor asked as we all finished eating at about the same time. “Are we going to try and get into the tree first?”

Everyone looked at me as I picked at my teeth. I blinked a few times then shrugged, “I dunno.”

“Why are we asking her?” Floria snickered, followed by Domitor’s own snickers.

I growled a bit before crossing my arms, “alright fine, here’s the plan. I’m going back to Floria’s apartment to get some real rest, because I’m still exhausted after all the work I put into that tournament.”

“That you lost,” Floria pointed out.

“… yes, but even still I’m going to go sleep it off. You three are free to do whatever,” I said as I stood up and put the Watcher on around my neck so he could see the world.

Domitor stood up as well, “I’m going to come with you. Because you’re dumb enough to get into trouble if we leave you alone. Probably get yourself killed.”

“Aw you care,” I jokingly mocked him as I gave him a shove. “Yeah, you can come along, Domiturd.”

“Sweet,” Floria exclaimed as she smirked at Vanilla, “that means you’re coming with me, Vanity.”

Vanilla looked a bit worried, but kept up that stupid smile.

I looked between them, wondering for a moment if I should leave this poor preppy girl alone with this crazy Kejtdra. But then I saw her creepy straight smile and knew the right choice to make.

“Have fun you two!” I exclaimed as I began walking for the door, hands clasped behind my head as I walked. Domitor followed in my lead, leaving the two women to their own devices.

Floria walked behind Vanilla as she continued to guide her down the street, having to give her little shoves to keep her walking forward. She’d tried walking in front, but the Halwen kept falling behind as she walked all proper like.

“Come on, you’re gonna LOVE this place!” Floria exclaimed, pushing her friend to keep moving.

They turned a corner, causing Vanilla to finally have a real reaction as her smile fell into a straight line. 

“No, absolutely not,” she stated firmly, coming to a grinding halt.

“What? It’s not that bad!” Floria promised, trying to get her to keep walking.

“I will not go into such a place!” Vanilla began to fight against her.

“It’s just a fun place for fun people! We’re fun people!” Floria yelled as she grabbed the other woman by the waist and lifted her up as she began to walk forward slowly, struggling to keep a hold of her as she fought to be free.

“Strip clubs are gross and horrible places! Please!” Vanilla screamed, causing Floria to start laughing.

“Not the club, dummy Vanny. We’re going to the place across the street!”

Vanilla looked in that direction and deflated in relief, “Ah. I see.”

Floria looked up and saw she was reverting back to her usual smiling self.

“Oh come on, Vans! You can’t just switch back like that! You were showing real emotions again!” 

But Vanilla didn’t respond anymore, much to Floria’s annoyance.

She carried her friend all the way to the doors of the Fun Palace and placed her down, brushing her off. 

“Alright! So all you need to know there are a lot of rules here, but none of them matter but one; just have fun! Can you follow that rule?” she asked, eyeing her friend hard as she smiled nervously in return. “You’re not a rule breaker, are you, Van Go?”

“A Cakehurst never breaks the rules,” Vanilla stated simply.

“Perfect!” Floria laughed as she pulled her friend into the building and towards the receptionist, ignoring all the kids that swarmed around the place.

“So? Pretty cool, huh?” Floria asked as the two of them stood on the edge of a room that was nothing but trampolines. “Wall to wall bouncing fun, right?”

Vanilla just smiled as she scanned the room, looking indifferent to everything.

Rolling her eyes she shoved her friend out into the room, watching as she stumbled and bounced forward awkwardly, clearly having no idea how to conduct herself.

“Jump!” Floria called out to her, watching the proper Halwen trying her best to regain her footing.

After seeing she wasn’t trying to jump, just get back to standing, she let out a groan. “Fine, I’ll help!”

With a bit too much aggression she ran out onto the trampolines and jumped into the air, landing right next to Vanilla as she finally regained her footing. This caused her to get launched straight up, where she crashed into the roof.

“Yikes,” Floria winced, looking up at her friend as she dangled from the ceiling where only her legs were visible. “Eh, you good?”

When she didn't get a response she began jumping around, trying to grab the dangling legs of her friend. It took a few too many attempts, but she eventually got a hold of her foot, causing her to break out of the ceiling and fall towards the trampolines below.

Vanilla bounced a few times before she suddenly landed upright, looking a bit shocked as her goggles sat crooked on her face. 

“You good, Van Diesel?” Floria asked as she dusted her off and fixed her goggles.

“... yes,” she finally said after a few moments, her smile returning to her face.

“Bro what?! Really? I just launched you into the ceiling and you still act like a damn Cakehurst robot?!” Floria groaned, shaking her friend who just smiled back at her. “I know you’re forcing this on yourself! So stop!”

When she didn’t stop smiling, Floria narrowed her eyes, a smirk forming on her face. “Fine then, next activity!”

“This is a cube pit, it is actually impossible to NOT have fun in a cube pit,” Floria declared as they stood on the edge of a pit that overlooked a pool of foam cubes.

Vanilla peered down, but had no visible reaction. 

“Alright, in you go,” Floria said as she waved for her to jump, but all she did was stand there. “Vanham, I’m trying to fix you, so jump and have fun!”

After a full minute of inaction, Floria growled and grabbed her. “I SAID!” she yelled as she raised the Halwen above her head, “HAVE FUN!” She threw Vanilla into the pit, giving her a spin so she spun like a top right into the pit, sending foam cubes everywhere.

“Fuck yeah!” Floria cheered, throwing her hands up.

“No cursing!” a random employee yelled up to her as kids all stood around staring up at her.

She rolled her eyes, ignoring them as she looked over the ledge to see Vanilla just laying in the cubes, that same smile plastered on her face.

“You’re getting on my nerves, Van Boot!” Floria yelled, pointing a claw at her smiling friend.

“Skeeball, mini bowling, no way to not at least enjoy yourself a bit,” Floria said as she took a ball and rolled it up the lane and missed all the holes. “It’s not as easy as you’d think, so give it a try, Vanil.”

Vanilla stood there holding a ball, but not moving to throw it.

“Come on, give it a roll, preppy girl,” Floria said as she gave her a nudge.

Finally, Vanilla moved her hand and let the ball roll slowly across the lane, only for it to fall in a gutter.

“No, you need to THROW it! Yeet it like you hate it!” Floria said as she put another in her hand. “Try again.”

But the Halwen did the same exact thing as before, not even trying.

“Come on! This is simple, do it like this!” she said as she picked up a ball and rolled it with all her force. The ball skipped right before it reached the end and hit the railing, bouncing right back at them and hitting Vanilla directly on the forehead. She fell straight back like a plank.

“Oh fuck!” Floria yelped as she knelt down next to her friend, eyes wide. But her worry turned to annoyance as she saw Vanilla was still smiling, looking to be perfectly okay. “This shit makes no sense, Vantastic.”

“Okay, I didn’t want to resort to this, but we’re meeting the Fun Palace Mascot. Donald McChuck! This guy is a riot!” Floria said as she pulled Vanilla through a crowd of kids towards a large stage where a Halwen in a weird mascot outfit stood playing a guitar for the kids.

Vanilla looked a bit put off by the sight of the large costumed mascot, the massive rodent clown face not doing it for her.

“Yo, McChucklenuts!” Floria yelled as they reached the stage, slapping her palms against it as she tried to get his attention. “Look over here, clown rat guy!”

The mascot ended his guitar solo and looked at them, the large fake eyes and massive smiling staring right at them. “Aren’t you two a little old for this place?” he asked, clearly not enjoying her stopping the show.

“Nah, we’re kids at heart,” Floria said as she jumped up on stage, pulling Vanilla up after her, who actually put up a bit of a fight. “My friend here is very sick, can you cheer her up?”

“What’s wrong with her?” the mascot asked in an annoyed voice. 

Floria pushed Vanilla towards him, “she’s got butt rust, she’s only got a week to live and she wants to dance with you!”

Vanilla turned her head and glared at Floria, showing some real emotion for once.

“Get off the stage,” the man said, pointing to the crowd as all the kids began to boo and yell at them to get off.

“Not till you dance with her,” Floria stated firmly as she stepped up and got nose to face with the larger mascot.

“I’m not dancing with your mentally handicapped friend,” he growled at her, giving her a bump with his large costumed belly.

“She’s not slow, asshole!” Floria yelled as she shoved him hard, causing him to stumble a bit.

“Oh fuck this job,” the man snapped as he swung the guitar for Floria. She simply ducked, causing him to instead hit Vanilla, sending her into the crowd of kids.

“Oh you’re fucked now!” Floria roared as she tackled the man and began to give him a good old beat down. She ripped the head off so she could get at his real face, going to town on him as he tried and failed to fight back. The large costume doing nothing but hindering him from moving.

Once he was unconscious she got off and jumped into the ground, grabbing Vanilla as she sprinted away, before security showed up.

“I think they’ve stopped looking for us,” Floria said as she and Vanilla crawled through the massive tube maze.

“He got you good though, but you took it like a champ,” she praised as she continued forward. “Are you feeling more alive now?”

When no response came, she looked back, seeing no one was there. Just a long empty tube tunnel.

“Shit,” she muttered, realizing she must have lost her somewhere in the maze.

As quickly as she could, she back tracked down the tunnel, not really sure where she could’ve lost her at. After a few turns she reached one of the plexiglass windows. Looking out she saw the massive assortment of games and attractions that lined the floors of the Fun Palace. 

But no Vanilla.

Groaning in frustration, she continued down the tube till she hit a slide. Having nowhere else to go she slid down, coming out into a different tube. This time when she reached a window she looked out, scanning the room carefully.

Then she heard a pecking, so she looked up, a frown on her face. Above her, in the tube she’d just come from, was a smiling Vanilla.

Of course, the smile was the same one as always, so she wasn’t that relieved to see her. On the contrary, she was annoyed that she’d have to back track, again.

“Stay!” she yelled, pointing at the Halwen as she just smiled back at her. “I mean it! Stay!”

Floria ran her hand down the side of the Air Hockey table, smiling brightly, “okay, Van Van, this is right up your alley! It’s safe and all you have to do is move your hand around to hit the puck.”

Vanilla just stood there smiling, her hand lazily grasping the paddle.

“Good, you’re already halfway there to playing the game!” Floria said excitedly as she placed down the puck. “Alright, here it comes!”

She hit it gently, sending it right for Vanilla’s goal.

“It’s coming! You got this!” she encouraged her friend, watching with wide eyes as the puck slowly glided towards her friend. And then right into her goal post.

The machine blew a bell, congratulating Floria on the goal.

“No, you have to MOVE your hand, Vanilla Crunch! Like this!” she said as she moved her hand around. “Again, you got this!”

She hit another one at her, watching as Vanilla moved her hand ever so slightly, more than likely involuntarily, causing her paddle to bump the puck away from her goal post. 

“YES! Oh FUCK YES! That’s how you do it!” she cheered, getting very worked up from the simple movement. The little puck was moving back towards her slowly.

“Alright, Vanny, this is it! Let’s ramp this shit up to the max!” she yelled as she threw her paddle forward with as much force as she could muster. It hit the puck, sending it rocketing right back at Vanilla’s goal. Her hand was in the way back accident, causing the puck to hit her paddle and ricochet straight up into her face.

Her head snapped back from the sudden hit, causing her to sway a bit and then fall to the ground.

Floria blinked a few times as she looked at her hand holding the paddle, “I… may have put a bit too much into that one.”

“Okay, let’s try pinball,” she said, sounding a bit frustrated. “This thing is the safest machine in the building. The ball is safely behind glass, so there’s no way it’d come out and hit you in the face.”

Vanilla stood there, looking mildly worried as she looked at the machine.

“Trust me, it’s good safe fun. Now step up and pull the plunger back.”

Reluctantly, and being forced by Floria’s hands, she stepped up and put a hand on the plunger.

“Now give it a hard tug! Send that ball FLYING!” Floria said excitedly as she put her face over the glass, ready to see her friend start having fun.

With a small sigh Vanilla pulled back on the plunger as hard as she could. But it broke right out of the machine, causing her to go stumbling backwards, and right into a waitress that was carrying a massive tray of milkshakes.

They all fell towards the Halwen as she stared up at the tower of milkshakes as they collapsed right towards her.

Floria winced as they crashed down all around her, covering Vanilla in ice cream.

Vanilla turned to face the short Kejtdra, her smile wavering on her face as she stood there completely covered.

A small laugh escaped Floria’s mouth as she stepped up and wiped a claw through the ice cream, sticking it in her mouth. “Hehe, you’re covered in Vanilla ice cream Vanilla Bean.”

Vanilla’s smile twitched as she put all of the ice cream away in her Vacuole, completely cleaning herself off.

“Sit,” Floria said sternly as she made Vanilla sit on a bench, far from any kinds of danger or evil arcade machines. “We’re going to sit here and just enjoy the view. No way to get hurt while just sitting.”

Vanilla just sat there, her face a bit bruised from all the hits she’d taken. 

With a sigh Floria sat down next to her, watching the kids around them rushing around, playing some kind of stupid game.

“Why can’t you just go back to normal?” Floria asked, shoulders slumped.

“I am being normal,” Vanilla replied, hands folded in her lap.

“Nah, you’re putting on a front,” Floria said as she looked right at Vanilla. “Look, I don’t know what happened, but-”

A kickball came out of nowhere and nailed Vanilla right in the face, knocking her off of the bench and onto the floor.

Floria blinked a few times in confusion and then looked to where the ball had come from, seeing a bunch of older kids staring at her in shock.

“Are you kidding me!” she roared as her massive gun appeared in her hands.

They all began to scream and run off, leaving them alone. She sighed as she put it away and then leaned over the bench to see a dashed Vanilla.

“You good, Van Mon Doe?” she asked, getting that same smile in response. 

She collapsed on the bench, completely defeated. “I surrender.”

As they walked for the exit, she pulled Vanilla towards the prize booth, “we might as well turn in our tickets, at least this trip won’t be a complete loss.”

She pulled all the tickets she’d won that day out of her Vacuole and dropped them on the table.

The tired employee sighed as he reached out and took her tickets into his own Vacuole, writing the total down on a piece of paper. 

“Anything in the first two cabinets,” he grumbled, clearly used to this kind of interaction.

“Let’s see what we got…” Floria mumbled as she looked it all over, seeing literally nothing of value in those two cabinets. “Bruh, come on, I had more tickets than this!”

“You did not,” he sighed, shaking his head.

“Grrr, fine, uh…” she looked at Vanilla, seeing she was looking at a stupid little paper clip with a spider on it. “That shit then,” she said, pointing at the paper clip.

The man grabbed it and tossed it onto the counter. “Enjoy.”

Floria snatched it up and flipped the man off, who just stared back at her with dead eyes.

She then lead Vanilla outside, letting out a frustrated groan once they were through the doors.

“That was a waste of time!” she groaned, looking at her smiling friend. “Here, this is yours,” she said, placing the spider paperclip into Vanilla’s hand.

She seemed to brighten up a bit as she put it away in her Vacuole.

Floria was too spent to notice the improved mood, as she just stood there, rubbing her face.

She didn’t know what else to do, the Fun Palace was her go too for fixing moods and all emotional problems. And all it seemed to do for Vanilla was get her hurt. Repeatedly.

Looks like they’ll just give up and go-

“Oh my gosh! Look at you, you little cutie!” Vanilla suddenly exclaimed, rushing past a confused Floria and sliding up next to a Reng. 

“My little baby, where’d you come from?” she asked as she began to pet the little spider cat on the head as it purred up at her. “Oh you’re just simply amazing, beyond words! This little angel!”

Floria just looked on dumbfounded, as this was way more emotions than she’d shown since they’d met.

Vanilla picked up the little Reng, petting its head, a look of pure happiness on her face. “This little cutie! I just don't have words to describe how I’m feeling right now!” she just nuzzled the little Reng as it purred up at her, returning the affection.

“You found Mrs. Buffet!” a little girl yelled as she rushed over, holding her hands out for the Reng.

Reluctantly Vanilla returned the Reng to the little girl, who just turned and ran off without another word, leaving Vanilla looking completely forlorn.

Slowly Floria approached her friend, “Erm, you like Reng’s, Vanana?”

“I love them,” she said, still staring after the one she’d just been holding. “I’ve always wanted one… but my sister won’t let me have one.”

“That’s some bullshit, just get one, what she gonna do?” Floria asked with a frown.

“She’s had the last few I tried to keep put down…” she said in a small voice.

This caught Floria off guard as she stared at the woman before her.

“It’s my fault to be honest,” she muttered, grabbing her shoulder and squeezing it tightly. “Like Cocoa said, if I’d just listened and not tried to defy her rules, then those sweet little babies would still be alive.”

“Yo, none of that is your fault,” Floria said firmly as she took a step towards Vanilla, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault you apparently got a batshit crazy sister.”

Vanilla looked at her, a look of desperation and fear flashing over her face. “I shouldn’t talk ill of my sister, that’s what caused Domitor and Shane to get together.”

“...” Floria just stared at her, mouth agape, “wut?”

The Halwen took a deep breath and her fake smile returned to her face.

“... Wait, NO!” Floria yelled, shaking her hard, “keep talking! Because what you just said is some straight up delusional crap! There’s no way you talking bad about your sister caused those two to get together, they were already going to anyway! Domitor himself said he already had feelings for her, so that had nothing to do with you!”

“I have a wonderful sister who treats me very well,” she said plainly, a hint of fear in her voice.

Floria growled, but then an idea hit her. “Okay, time to take drastic measures.” 

She grabbed her friend and began to pull her down the street. “Come on, basket case, we’re fixing this shit right now.”

“There is nothing to fix, friend Floria,” she said in a bland voice.

“Yeah not fooling me,” she growled, eye twitching at the thought that Vanilla’s sister may be the one responsible for this state she was in.

She’d need to get to the bottom of this shit, and soon.