Do Bun Clowns Dream of Moon Mochi?

With the lights of his dressing room dim and the scent of recently eaten mochis permeating the air, Topsy cuddled up on his room’s plush couch. He had kicked off his high heels and wrapped himself up in a fluffy blanket.

Everything felt so warm and true to his vice of sloth, Topsy was fighting to keep his eyes open. He had a big performance today for the holidays and he had been gifted so many moon mochis from his fans. Mochis that he couldn’t help eating until there was not a single one left. Which might hurt his stomach later, but for now, he was full and warm.

But! He was meant to enjoy Mochi Moon wasn’t he? And that often meant enjoying the delicious moon mochis, especially the matcha and strawberry ones. It was too bad he was so sleepy and full, if given the chance, he would eat dozens more. Maybe even surpassing the amount of mochis he was sure the demon Allocer consumed every Mochi Moon.

But that was neither here nor there, instead being full and sleep meant he had the perfect recipe for sleep as his eyes grew heavier and heavier.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to nap, he was done for the day and he could just go home after a few hours of sleep. Besides he’s sure no one would bother a sleepy clown that needed to rest after his performance.

He yawned, shutting his eyes as his breathing leveled out. Just for a little while, it was the holidays after all. He should be able to relax while the rest of the burrows partied on into the late hours of the night.

It didn’t take much longer for him to fall sleep.

In the throes of his dreamscape, Topsy found himself balancing on top of a large mochi just like he would with the plastic balls of his routines.

Instead of being concerned, Topsy laughed loudly and twirled around on the mochi. Around him seemed to be a circus made entirely of treats, with little cut out cookies of jesties playing around him and buns made of marshmallows and chocolate in the stands. Everything seemed to be sugary sweet and bursting at the seams of wanting Topsy to have fun.

He jumped up, the mochi acting as a springboard beneath him, as he grabbed an acrobat swing made of licorice. He cheered loudly as he swung fast, here in his dreams, he could yell and scream, speaking despite not being able to when he was awake.

Suddenly he let go of the swing, spinning in graceful circles until he caught the hands of a demon made out of candy, and swung around the circus. Topsy could hear the audience as if they were really there, praising him for his performance and in sheer awe of his skills.

Topsy knew, when he was awake, that he had plenty of buns impressed by his ability, but he was always too shy to approach many of his fans. Yet here, when his body knew he was asleep, he could act like the confident clown he wanted to be. A clown that just wanted to make people laugh, but also to impress them, clowns were more than something silly to laugh at. They could do all sorts of performances and they could be the very backbone of a circus.

Suddenly the scene changed around Topsy and now he was on center stage, about to do one of his famous contortionist arts. He stood up straight, his eyes sparkling as the crowd screamed and shouted his name. And while his audience was just buns made out of sugary treats, he wanted to do his best for them. He wanted to show them the best circus performance they had ever seen.

He started off with a simple move, raising his leg and putting it behind his shoulders before slowly dropping it back down beside his other leg.

He looked out at the crowd and suddenly bent backwards, his head going all the way down to touch the back of his ankles. He smiled when he heard cheering, standing up quickly to bow before he tried to decided what other tricks he should do next.

He raised his arms, about to do another trick, before a blaring alarm echoed throughout the circus. What was that? He turned his head around, before he realized the sound was familiar.

“Oh not yet! The performance isn’t done yet!” He turned towards the audience stands, about to call out his next performance, when the alarm got louder and Topsy felt his dreamscape shatter.

His eyes opened to his dressing room, the familiar sound of the circus’ last call as it urged any lingering buns to leave as the tent would be closing him.

Topsy groaned, cuddling deeper into his blankets. Why did he have to be woken up at the good part? He could even still feel the soft moon mochi beneath his heels and remember the smell of his sweet audience.

Still, this did mean he could go home now to his soft bed that was definitely a lot more comfortable than a couch and sleep as long as he wanted without being interrupted. He smiled, his tail wagging from the thought. The circus was closed tomorrow too, which meant he could sleep the next day too.

What a perfect end to the holidays.