That night, you dream about your family coming back to the park, and them turning into mascots too. They were so happy to be together. While your copies went off to live your old lives so you wouldn't have to worry about a thing. You all gave each other the most wonderful hugs and you made the guests so happy.
You woke up from the dream, and... you didn't feel horrified or disturbed as you were pretty sure you SHOULD HAVE felt... instead, you felt a lingering sense of disappointment it had been just a dream.
You and Zoey woke up at the same time.
"Good morning!" You said cheerfully.
"Good morning to you too!" Zoey smiled back.
"So you wanna think of another name?"
"You mean operation 'Get the Hell out of here?'"
You nodded. "Yeah, you did say you wanted a nicer name for it. 'Get the Hell out of here' sounds way too naughty.
Zoey thought for a second. "Yeah, okay, it is kinda naughty sounding. What about 'Get the Heck out of here'? Or 'Get the H E Double Hokey Sticks out of here'?"
"What about Operation 'Going to go see your family'?" You suggestion.
"That sounds nice," Zoey nodded. "But maybe we can make it shorter?"
"Hmmm, then what about 'Operation: Family together?'"
Zoey the clown nodded. "Yeah, that sounds great!"
A cheerful voice boomed out of the loud speakers above:
"BREAKFAST TIME EVERYBODY!"
Zoey looked in alarm. "Uh-oh! We don't wanna miss breakfast! I'm due at the tent today! I don't wanna disappoint the others or the audience!"
You totally agreed with Zoey on that, and you both climbed out of the grate and Zoey's lair. The other mascot causally waving to you as you as you did so, and you waved back.
Today's breakfast was a super tasty muffin, that was as delicious and filling as the cake had been, making you feel charged and ready to take on the day!
One thing you noticed was that the vast majority of the animal themed mascot mascot either went around naked or just wore one piece of clothing (like the dog and his straw hat, and Albert and his overalls).
You stopped into the bar, where the cow hostess waved at you. "Hey Zoey, hey Lucy."
"Hey Matilda," Zoey waved.
"Good to see you about instead of hiding away again..." Matilda said causally. "I'll get ya the usual." She provided the clown with a rainbow colored milkshake and yourself with another strawberry milkshake.
They were just as wonderful as last night, making your head spin at their deliciousness.
"If you're for Albert, he's already headed for the jungle themed section," Matilda said. "How his stand-up routine is so popular is a mystery."
"Maybe it's CAUSE he's jokes are so dumb they go all the way around and become funny again!" You offer helpfully.
As it turned out, you actually had time to spare before it was time to go out. So the pair of you sat down and watched a cartoon in the lobby, you had to admit the characters and plot were a lot deeper than you thought they'd be, and made you invested to see the next episode.
"TIME TO START ANOTHER HAPPY DAY AT WHIMSY PARK!" Called the happy loud speaker. You and Zoey parted ways without even giving each other another look, and instinctively knew which way to go. Going up the stairs until you exited the secret entrance and into the park proper.
You were being a park walker again today, and began 'wandering' the park, getting closer and closer to the edge of the park... but a sense of dread and wrongness filled you as you tried to get up close and instead orbited nearby.
You did another string of photoshoots, when you felt a tap on your shoulder.
You turned around to see a bright red cat mascot wearing a jester hat. She gestured for you to follow her, and you felt compelled to follow. You ended up on a roof top, where you got an incredible view. You felt guilt being up here, you should have been with the guests, but maybe this could count as your break for the day.
"So who are you?" The cat mascot asked lazying about.
"I'm Lucy! Lucy the living doll!" You bowed.
"And I'm Jingles the cat," she said looking at you with mismatched green and blue eyes. "You're new, I can tell. The way you keep looking at the gate, the way you keep looking around to see if anyone is watching... you're not very subtle kiddo."
You blush a bit. "Oh, sorry... but ... wait... does that mean you're not one of them?"
"Don't you mean 'not one of us'? HA! Naw! I can't remember a thing from before I was created! I wouldn't leave Whimsy World if they fired a cruise missile at it! And I'd be first in line to protect it if someone tried to tear it down!"
"Then... are you going to...uh, report me or something?"
"NOPE!"
"... Uh, why?"
"I'm a CAT! I'm SUPPOSED TO ignore the rules and play my own game! I'd be BREAKING CHARACTER if I didn't!" Jingles said defiantly. "And to break character, would be to lessen the experience for our guests."
You nodded, nothing should less a guest's experience.
"Also, I'm dating Darrel The Fire Dog," she pointed down at a Dalmatian mascot dressed as a fire fighter, wearing cartoonish equipment you had no doubt actually worked.
You said, "Uh you do realize that you've been brainwashed right?"
Jingled laugh. "Like DUH! OF COURSE we're brainwashed! We were created with left over memories and personalities of guests. It'd be the NATURAL THING for us to try and escape, slaves rebel. But! Can you IMAGINE how much that would upset the kids?!"
You and Jingles both shudder. The image of children crying as their favorite mascot ran amok was unbearable! The idea of doing anything that would make these kids upset revolted you.
"So since you're Zoey's latest 'fight the power!' recruit," She said the last line a gangsta-rap tone. "Tell me... What do you think this theme park is?"
"Uh... I haven't really thought about it."
"What? OH COME ON! That's the best part! You've got to have some idea girl! Do you think it's an alien invasion? That this park is run some by some self-aware AI? It's black ops military testing? Extra reality parasite aiming to turn the WHOLE WORLD into a theme park (even if a theme park with no guests is meaningless)? Or are ALL theme parks are branches of an extra PERCEPTIONAL parasite?"
"Uh, I'm pretty sure it's not that last one."
"Well, since Zoey stopped you from letting the music let go of 'your' old life, that means I get to lay some fun existential questions for you! For instance, did a Lucy exist in the park before you were created? If so, how can we tell you're a new one? And if not, how did the park's guests recognize you? If another Lucy had existed and had taken your life, we wouldn't have been able to recognize you as new, wouldn't it be easier for us to just treat you as having always been Lucy to speed up your assimilation? Heck, if all it takes is a good night's sleep with the music to let go of your old life, WHY send you out BEFORE then when something could go wrong?
"If you could have tackled your copy and shouted out to your family it was you in the costume and the other guy was an imposter... do you think this place would have let you?"
"If we're prisoners, why do to all the trouble of keeping us happy and comfortable AFTER we're already brainwashed? They could brainwash us to be happy being stuffed in the same closet and fed sludge and we wouldn't care."
You admitted, you HADN'T thought of that even when Zoey had caught you. WHY WOULD the mascot be treated so well? After being kidnapped and brainwashed and changed?
Jingles packed back and forth waving a finger.
"Let me ask you this one, have you seen a single human working here?"
Lucy thought about it... "No, even people manning the gates were mascots."
"Exactly, if this is all some scheme of some super evil corporation... who are they? Where are they? Whimsy World looks to have its own power generator, its own sewage treatment center, another layer has factories with robots right out of the 1950s making all the merchandise. Bakeries, kitchens, candy makers. You name it."
"So there are no offices? Where does the money go?"
"Pretty sure land tax and property taxes are still a thing girlie. As for who manages it, look through there."
She pointed across the street into one of the colorful and cheery buildings.
Inside was a white and pink poodle mascot, she wore a dog collar with a money-symbol shaped emerald tag. She also carried a briefcase with a money symbol on it. She happily skipped along as she went over numbers like a master mathematician.
And next to her was a blue wolf mascot wearing oversized shades with sharp edges and an over the top red business tie carrying a briefcase with a bar association symbol on it.
"That would be Payments Patty and Legal Ludwig. I've checked. They never leave the park either. They're not the only admin mascots but they're the ones you see the most.
"See a super bright and super colorful tropical bird with colored sunglasses with a tie-dye business tie, that's PR Petey! He's as smooth as a used car salesman. He's the mascot that talks with outsiders about the party when need be. None of the humans really question talking with a mascot from what I can see.
"You see a giant swamp lizard with a cheery fangy smile with plumber tools, that's Ally Croc. Don't ask me how she pulls off that long long hair and green scales, but she does, and those mammies of hers on a lizard, but she still makes it work. Plumping, handi-lizard, that sort of thing, she's in charge. And her sons, cutest little lizard mascots you'll ever see helping her around the park keeping it in tip top shape, not sure how big her clutch is... but you do NOT want to hurt ANY of them... one stupid teenager did... He found out the hard way you don't mess with an angry mother!
"Basically, if there's an admin position a self-contained amusement part would need, there's a mascot for it here. There's also Mascot Resources Milly. Cheerful. Friendly. Blond husky. Pretty sure it's her job to decide when we need to add to the family, and who is assigned where. Not that she ever gives orders directly, the music carries things out for her. She doesn't seem to be in charge though, the admin mascots decide everything by majority vote from what I can tell.
"And There's Security Sally, if you see a golden beefy lioness mascot wearing a Whimsy World logo cap, that's her, she's in charge of, well, security. She and her squad of cheetah girls,, leopard girls, and tigress' deal with rowdy teenagers, gate jumping, pick pockets, and the like."
"They get made into one of us?"
"Actually no, most of them get thrown out or turned over the police. I never saw some people, the kind you think you'd WANT to replace if this was an alien invasion, just leave without trouble. But I did once see this one girl in a wheel chair get recruited, she's now Melody Mermaid and one of our star performers. Or at least, the mermaid created from here is. Naturally she still left the park with her family."
"Why do you feel saying it like you didn't exist before you were changed?" You ask.
Jingles narrowed her eyes at him. "Little girl, which is simpler? That a park kidnapped you, transformed you, and created a full grown clone with all of your memories to live out your life ... or 'you' was paid to have a copy of 'their' consciousness give to one of their creations to give it sapience?"
"You don't know that!"
"You're right I don't. We're not let in on company secrets like that. But let me ask you this: if this theme park is aliens, invaders, whatever... why a theme park? Why not a men's club? Or a military training base? Or some place super naughty? To what? Replace random people? Where you anyone important before? Was your dad a general? A government official? Do you think they're aliens from the far future seeking to replace people who WILL become important? Where you planning to go into politics or activism? Technology? Business? The army? No? Didn't think so. If they wanted to target nobodies, why not go after homeless people being offered hot soup and a clean bed? For me, us being just brain-map copies of the people we remember being is the only thing that makes any sense."
You realized your break time was up and you had to get back to walking the park, everyone had to do their part to make the park the best it could be after all. But you still had something to say to Jingle.
"Well I refuse to believe that! There has to be another answer! My memories have to be real! Why not just use one copy mind if they're just going to brainwash us anyway?!"
"If you say so, little girl." Jingle turned her back on you and waved. "All us mascots being the same would be boring. So that's my theory why they'd need to copy the minds of different guests. But I've seen this enough times to know this is the ONLY WAY you're going to learn."
Jingles leapt from the roof of the building, and landed without a mark on her as she began to flirt with Darrel, much to amusement of the guests. You walked down to the street level.