Tattle's Show for Freedom

TSFF - Ten

"The second challenge is to, simply, face your fears!" The booming voice of the host came from seemingly nowhere, and the competing objects gathered into their teams. There was a bit of confusion - how would Tattle even know their fears? But that confusion was immediately answered when they had gathered. "I have a little machine here, which has the ability to scan your minds and find your deepest fear. You'll be in the machine until five minutes are up, and you will be instructed to come out and the next contestant will come in. The team with the most fear by the end will be eliminated, while the team with the least will get a prize. Make your way to the challenge area, everybody!" The voice cut off and Mousey sighed, beckoning for their team to follow her. In her eyes, this was a bit of an odd challenge, but she didn't want to judge Tattle for his choices. After all, a show wouldn't be a good show without interesting challenges, right? Around her the others gathered, and they all had a similar worried expression. Even objects like Scratchy or Goldfish seemed to have trouble with fears, it seemed. Silently she wondered if it would be able to see the others.

"This will not be going in 'team' order - instead, it will be my personal choice of what order it's in." Tattle said, suddenly dropping in a machine from nowhere. Several people jumped back, or just straight up fell from the weight of it. "Mousey, you'll be up first." He said, clicking his fingers to open the machine. Mousey felt her heart drop at this, but didn't want to keep the others waiting, and made her way over. "Nobody will be able to see what you see, as the door will be entirely closed for you to fully embrace what you're afraid of." He said in a strangely joyful voice, as if it was normal to... embrace your fears? However, she decided that this was better than the others seeing it. The door of the machine closed behind her, and the screens scattered around slowly faded into black.

Laser peeked at the members Team Rodent, who lay bored a few dozen steps from his team. He then glanced at Bag and Tin, and the two stared the same way as him, likely itching to talk to Collar... and 'talk' to Paper Ball. Eventually they seemed to get tired of waiting, and they both got up and walked over to them. Laser glanced at Food Bowl, who was sleeping beside an awkward Water Bowl. "Anything wrong?" It asked paw, who flinched and glanced at him. "Oh, I'm okay. Just a little worried about the challenge, that's all." She murmured, looking down awkwardly. He smiled reassuringly, "don't worry. No matter what you see in there, it isn't real," Laser smiled, "just the machine playing tricks on you." As he turned, an alarm beeped and the machine opened. Mousey quickly stumbled out, holding her head and looking fairly distressed. "Next up is Feathery." Tattle's voice sounded from nowhere, and Feathery waved at their team anxiously before making its way there. He sighed quietly, looking away. This would take some time...

"Next is Collar!" The voice rang out loudly. Cat Cave stepped out of the machine, looking horribly paranoid and afraid. Quickly Milk ran over and comforted void, despite looking pretty shaken himself. Paper Ball watched the two with upmost curiosity as Milk guided Cat Cave back to where Team Bird was. After a moment, his curiosity got the better of him - he got up and tapped Feathery on the back, and as they turned he signed, 'can we check Team Bird? I want to ask two of them something.' Feathery looked a little worried, as of course, Bell Ball and Bird Ball were on that team, but it complied. He ran over to the two and Feathery sat. He signed, 'hi there! I have a question.' After a few confused looks and Feathery's translation, Milk eventually nodded, "alright, what is it?" Paper Ball signed out quickly, 'i've noticed you two hanging around each other a bit. Not to barge in, but why'd you both seem so.. worried?' Feathery translated again, and Milk laughed nervously. "Well, how do I put this.. me and Cat Cave are engaged, and we've said before our biggest fears are losing eachother, so... that's why we were a little worried during the challenge. I'm mostly surprised it didn't take anything out on us.." Milk sighed. Paper Ball nodded quickly - it made a lot more sense now that he knew. However, as he was there he noticed Cat Cave slowly getting more paranoid and shaky. He stepped back a little. Milk noticed this too. "..oh, right. Dear, are you okay?" He turned to Cat Cave, who was wiping his eyes softly. "Yeah, I'm fine, just.. need my medication.." He murmured. "Since..." He glanced at Feathery and Paper Ball, "..you kn-" He was cut off.

"Next, and finally, is Catnip!" Tattle called out. Paper Ball turned - Collar had stepped out, breathing softly and walking back over to Bag and Tin. Milk huffed in annoyance at the loud call, and turned back to Cat Cave. "Do you want me to ask Tattle if he has it? He might be able to bring it here, so that you won't have to deal with that." Void nodded and they got up, calling loudly, "hey Tattle! Can you come here for a second? I want to ask somethi—" He didn't even finish his sentence before the host appeared before him. He blinked. "..anyway. Could you get Cat Cave's medication?" Milk asked Tattle, seeming uncomfortable with the presence of the cat-like object. However, meow nodded and seemed to space out for a moment, before 'coming back' and looking up at Milk. "Is it possible he ran out before coming here? I can't locate it." There was a quiet gasp from Cat Cave. "...oh, no. I forgot to get another prescription." He groaned, placing voids hands on his face. Milk sighed. "..it's alright, thanks anyways." He murmured. Tattle had a look of genuine guilt and worry on his face before disappearing. "God.." Cat Cave wiped his eyes again. Milk glanced at the two members of Team Rodent, silently asking them to leave. They got the hint and walked off. Feathery went back to Mousey and Rat, while Paper Ball went to his 'friend group'. As he sat down, Tattle called out, "the challenge is over! After tallying the fear factor scores... I conclude that Team Bird is up for elimination." He said, much to the dismay of those particular members. "Make your way back to the main area and we will start the elimination!"