The Jester Prince of Portals
He’d barely made it into an aisle before stepping on something hard. Bryce lifted up his foot seeing, a ring?
“Hey Xander, did someone drop this or is this one of the things on sale?”
Xander looked up from a book he had just cracked open, perking up visibly as he saw what Bryce was holding up. “Well how about that. I can tell you it’s not one of the shop’s, and I do know who’s it is,” said Xander, with his chin propped up in his hand. “You’d have to try it on to find out more about it. Just know it might not be your cuppa tea bud,” he continued, making a gesture of his index finger going through his other hand in a ring.
“Uh huh...” simply replied Bryce, not quite entertained by the response, but admittedly curious nonetheless. “Well it’s not gonna kill me or anything right?” He asked, mostly joking.
“Shouldn’t anyway,” replied Xander, grinning knowingly.
“Alright I guess.” And with that, Bryce brought the ring up to the tip of his finger. He shot a quick look at Xander, who was half watching as he got back to his book, and a passing thought about Lord of the Rings crossed his mind. In one swift motion he slipped it on and let out a quick jolt of a shout, illicit it a chuckle from Xander. His index finger was gone! Well, was it though? He still felt it, but it was a little warm. And... moist? His first instinct was to quickly pull it off, but his curiosity was absolutely piqued and he held his hand out and wiggled his fingers.
*ting*
Bryce looked down and saw that another ring that had fallen from somewhere was now slowly floating up in front of him, spinning quickly. He just stood there watching as it rose to about eye level where it suddenly stopped all motion. After a moment, it suddenly expanded just until it hit the shelves in either side. “Eee hahaha!” echoed a giggle from the floating ring. A figure suddenly came springing out from nothing in the middle of the ring, latching onto Bryce, and he found himself in a surprise kiss falling to the floor.
He quickly came to his senses and pushed the man off of him scrambling away. “What the fuck!? Wha-?” He was about to go off but too many questions pushed forward too quickly and he was instead silently eyeing up the surprise visitor.
He was a pale man standing a good head taller than Bryce with a slim, but toned build. He didn’t look too much older, at most possibly mid twenties. He appeared to be in something like a skintight latex suit decorated with a myriad of colors and concentric circles that seemed to be ever shifting. It was kind or hard to look at. Around his wrists and ankles were a number of gold bracelets that jangled with every move. His shoes were very typical jester shoes, minus the little bells at the points. On hands were several gold rings on each finger up to the first knuckle, all slim enough not to impede dexterity. The skintight suit came up to the man’s chin, and past that his head was in covered. His long hard was bound up in a bun with two gold rings. His pale face looked down at Bryce with a wide smile, occasionally stifling a chuckle. He was honestly pretty handsome, aside from the unsettling smile. Finally, there floating above his head, was what appeared to be a golden crown with curved points resembling a jesters hat. All in all, it was a strange sight.
“Cheeky aren’t you lad?” the man spoke in a shrill voice as he offered a hand down to the baffled teenager. “You just gonna sit there with a finger up my bum or are we gonna get to some proper introductions? Bwahaha!” The man started laughing, holding his sides.
The comment immediately registered in Bryce’s mind. He held up his hand with a missing finger to the man and the stranger busted out laughing anew, pointing at what wasn’t there.
“Apologies boy, I suppose I’ll kick meeting off by introducing myself then. Here before you may I announce-,” began the strange man. He pulled off a ring from one of his fingers and dropped it on the ground. It expanded like the one Bryce witnessed before and the man hopped down through, immediately flying out of the previous ring with limbs out as if presenting himself. “ -the Jester Prince of Portals, Penrick! And you boy have the esteemed honor of having the opportunity to be my most recent play thing!” Xander was lightly clapping in the background.
“What...?” was all Bryce could come up with in response to the stranger and stranger day he was having.
“Oh for bloody heavens sake,” sighed Penrick in a much lower tone, palm on his forehead. He then falls backward into the ring behind him and suddenly appears behind Bryce, slinging an arm over his shoulder. “Alright kid, basic rundown. I’m magic, the rings are magic. Things go into rings, comes out somewhere else. I get bored often and pick a random lucky individual to spend some time with. We’ll have fun, maybe fool around a bit, get into some trouble, it’ll be great!” he explained bluntly, Xander nodding along in confirmation at his desk. “Oh, and your finger’s in my butt. Bwahaha!”
“What!?” And just like that Bryce quickly pulled off the ring on his finger and hucked it down the aisle into the floating ring. It immediately bounced off the back of his head with a sting. “Ow!”
“Oh, pulling out already? I was just starting to have a good time,” moaned the jester before giggling madly. “Alrighty dear, what’ll it be? Shall we get down to some mischief? Or does your young, hormone addled mind, have more carnal desires to guide us?” asked Penrick, holding out a ring in front of them.
“Xander, what’s the deal here!?” Bryce finally spoke out looking to the shop keep for help.
“It’s just like the guy says. Whatever you wanna do, he’s down for a good time. Don’t worry he won’t hurt you. You’re kinda stuck with him til he feels like moving on though,” he replied shrugging.