Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The tension between Jax and Pomni was so thick, you could probably cut through it with a kitchen knife heated over an open flame.

Nobody knew what happened during that gun adventure that would’ve caused them to start acting like this towards each other. One minute they were singing Daisy Bell while spinning around holding hands, and the next they were giving each other a shoulder so cold, it could probably cause frost bite.

Breakfast—a time where the cast could just eat, laugh, and enjoy each other’s company had turned into the most awkward part of the day. Jax and Pomni would sit on opposite sides of the table, absolutely refusing to look in the direction of one another. Ragatha, being the peacekeeper she is, would try to distract everyone. And today was no different.

“So, did everyone sleep well last night? I think it would be fun if we got Caine to give us pajamas! That way we can be nice and comfy!”

“That might be nice..” Gangle sighed, her mouth curving up into a sweet smile before drooping down as she lightly bounced her fork on her stack of pancakes.

The silence was deafening, Ragatha’s eyebrows scrunched up ever so slightly before she shook her head and smiled warmly.

“Hey Kinger! Got any fun bug facts for us?”

In truth, Ragatha really didn’t want to hear about bugs right now, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

“Oh! Did you know that centipedes get their name from the latin word ‘centum pedes’, meaning 100 legs? Which is very strange considering that centipedes never have exactly 100 legs!” Kinger beamed proudly.

Ragatha tensed up from the mention of centipedes.

“So are we just not going to address the huge elephant in the room?” Zooble deadpanned.

Everyone simultaneously turned to face Jax, then turned to face Pomni. Kinger however, seemed to be looking around for an actual elephant.
Without looking up, Jax grinned, his fake bravado making it’s usual appearance, “Remember Zoobie, you don’t want to assume, it might hurt Ming’s feelings.”

Pomni’s head stayed down, her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she stirred her cereal.

“Are you guys going to actually tell us what happened during that adventure? Or are we just going to continue this awkward routine of you two ignoring each other while everyone else is left wondering what the [BONK] is wrong with you two?” Zooble sighed, standing up from their chair and pinching where the bridge of their nose would be.

“There’s nothing to talk about Zooble.” Jax stated loud enough for everyone to jump a little. His grin was huge, but his pupils were small squares, indicating that he was annoyed.

There was a brief moment of silence where no one knew what to say in response, not even Ragatha.

Pomni stood up and walked out without saying a word to anyone. Her face was neutral but Ragatha could tell that something was bothering her.

She needed to find out what was going on between them.

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Pomni sprawled out on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She could still hear Jax’s harsh words echoing through her mind.

‘We were never friends’

‘I’d move on, and probably forget about you.’

The words stung. No matter how much she tried to think about something else her thoughts would always circle back to that fateful day. For a fleeting moment, she thought that she and Jax really could be friends, that maybe this place wouldn’t be so bad if she had someone who finally understood her.

Part of her always knew that it was too good to be true. Being friends with Jax is impossible. He obviously has issues, and Pomni knows that. Pomni knows that Jax’s jerk persona was just a cover-up for how he really feels. It still doesn’t really make her feel better about the situation though..

She felt a knot form in her chest, she wasn’t sure why she cared so much. After all, she had only known him for a couple weeks.

Weeks? Months? Years?

Time was weird here, she didn’t know how long the digital days lasted. But she didn’t want to think about it too hard or else she might abstract. All she knew was that she hadn’t really known Jax for that long, yet she still trusted him.

She had trusted him enough to hug him, and she really couldn’t remember the last time she had actually hugged someone. She wasn’t particularly fond of physical touch due to memories that she would rather not think about. Something about him was comforting and reassuring. He never babied her or treated her like she was invisible, or worse, gave her so much attention to the point it was suffocating.

He treated her like a..human. And somehow that made their fight hurt more. Because even though he treated her like a human, he didn’t see her as one. He saw her as a character, “The one who hasn’t figured that out yet”, the newbie, the cartoon clown, take your pick. And somehow that hurt more than anything he had said to her during that argument.

The knot in her chest tightened and she could feel a lump starting to form in her throat. She sat up and took a deep breath, it helped to relieve the tension in her chest but it definitely didn’t get rid of it.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a couple soft knocks on the door performing the “Shave and a haircut, two bits” rhythm. Pomni took a quick breath and hopped off of her bed, her legs buckled a little. She still wasn’t entirely used to being this short. She remembered being much taller when she was a real person.

She opened the door and she smiled when she saw Ragatha. Though she was a tiny bit overbearing, Pomni knew deep down that she meant well.
“Hey Pomni! Sorry if I was interrupting you or anything. I totally understand if-”

Pomni chuckled and smiled “It’s alright Ragatha. Do you want to come in?”

Ragatha’s worried expression shifted into something warmer and she nodded politely. She stepped into Pomni’s room and looked around with fascination. Pomni had never really had visitors in her room before, except for Caine, who on random occasions would pop in on her and start rambling about the quality of his adventures. Something about having someone else in her room made her a tiny bit uncomfortable, but she didn’t want to make Ragatha think that she was doing something wrong.

“Wow your room is very nice Pomni!” Ragatha gasped in the overly exaggerated awe she always used to make everyone feel special. “I wish my room was as fancy as yours! It even matches your color scheme too!”

“Eh, it’s alright I guess, the lighting gives me a headache sometimes though. But I guess it’s better than nothing.”

“Oooh, maybe we should have a sleepover sometime! We could convince Bubble to bake us some cookies, watch a cheesy rom-com, and get nice and cozy with bundles of blankets!”

“That sounds nice. Though maybe getting Bubble to make food for us isn’t the greatest idea”, Pomni leaned in to whisper into Ragatha’s nonexistent ear “I’m pretty sure that anything he touches is automatically contaminated and needs to be put into a biohazard disposal bag.”

They both cracked up and started giggling the way middle school girls do when they’re talking about their crushes. It was nice to finally be back on good terms with Ragatha. It was only after her and Jax’s fight that she realized how much she’d missed Ragatha and her slightly smothering behavior.

They both came down from their stupid giggle fit and sighed. “So Ragatha, what’s up?” Pomni asked.

“O-oh..well uhm..I just wanted to see how you were doing after that whole breakfast ordeal.”

“Oh, you mean when I almost started crying in front of everyone because Jax wouldn’t address some stupid argument where I was told that if I abstracted I would be forgotten about? Well i’m doing pretty okay all things considered!” Is what Pomni really wanted to say, but she didn’t want to be mean to Ragatha or make a big deal out of the situation.

“I’m okay! I just needed some space is all.” She managed to say, the knot in her chest starting to tighten once again. She couldn’t cry in front of Ragatha, it would just worry her more and Pomni didn’t want that.

“Are you sure? You’ve seemed a bit off the past couple of days..” Ragatha frowned, neatly folding both her hands on top of each other on the front of her dress.

Pomni thought about telling Ragatha about her fight with Jax. She wanted so desperately to have someone to comfort her other than herself. But she knew that if she told Ragatha what had happened between her and Jax, Ragatha would make a huge deal out of it. Pomni didn’t want Jax to permanently stay away from her all because she decided to tattle on him to the ragdoll.

Ragatha reached out to hold Pomni’s hand reassuringly. Pomni jerked away silently. Being touched was very violating for her, and even though she trusted Ragatha, she still wasn’t completely comfortable will her touching her quite yet.

“Sorry Ragatha, I just don’t really like being touched..”

“Oh my gosh! I totally forgot..I’m sorry Pomni, I should’ve asked first.” Ragatha looked down, shame starting to take over.

“It’s okay Ragatha really,” Pomni smiled reassuringly “Maybe if Caine decides not to do an adventure, tonight we could have a sleepover! Maybe even invite Gangle, Zooble, and Kinger?”

Ragatha looked up and smiled warmly, her light purple eyeshadow coating her eyelid. “Let’s do it! I’ll bring blankets and we can do it in my room!”

Pomni chuckled and gave the ragdoll a thumbs up.

“Bye Pomni!” Ragatha waved before shutting the door with a soft click.
Pomni sighed, her smile drooping back into a deep frown.

“[BOINK].” she groaned, the noise of the censor pissing her off way more than it should’ve. She didn’t want to admit it, but she really wanted an adventure today so she could get her mind off of that stupid ass purple bunny.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zooble flipped through a magazine titled “100 Ways to Spice Up Your Digital Life.” It was genuinely the most boring piece of [BONK] that they had ever read in their entire life but they didn’t care.

Honestly, Zooble was just grateful that Caine hadn’t popped out of nowhere and-

“HELLO MY TRIANGULAR TOOTSIE ROLL!”

Zooble jumped ten feet out of their seat and hit the ground with a CRASH. For some reason this caused the sound of a cat howling to echo throughout their colourful purgatory.

Zooble looked up at Caine, a look of dismay and exhaustion forming on their face.

“Wow! You look like [BONK]!” Bubble exclaimed happily.

“LANGUAGE BUBBLE!” Caine screeched before popping the filthy creature out of existence, thank god.

Caine scanned the room for no particular reason before his eyes locked on Zooble. He adjusted his bowtie and smiled proudly down at Zooble. Or—at least Zooble thought he was smiling, it was really hard to tell because his head was literally one big set of teeth.

“Now my dear Zooblerton, I need your input on something!”

“That’s not my na-”

“Everyone seems to be so down and gloomy lately! Which is,” He paused to chuckle nervously “Really strange because i’ve been making the most WONDERFUL adventures for all of you! And since you’re the smartest cookie in the entire circus, I thought you’d be able to help with this dilemma!”

Of course he was on about his adventures yet again. He seemed to be more desperate for people to like them lately. Zooble chalked it up to him just being needy and attention seeking—nothing new there.

“If I help you, will you finally get off my [BOINKING] [BOINK]?!” Zooble groaned, praying that this stupid dental nightmare would go away and leave them alone.

“Cross my heart and hope to die!” Caine gestured a knife plunging into his heart. He didn’t quite understand figurative speech yet.

“Fine, whatever.” Zooble groaned reluctantly.

“GREAT! Now Zooble,” He snapped his fingers and his red notepad plopped into his gloved hands, he flipped through the pages quickly and Zooble could've sworn they saw a very badly drawn bee-sona Caine made “Tell me what’s it is about my adventures that’s making everyone so gloomy.”

“It’s not your adventures Caine, it’s Jax and Pomni.”

Caine paused for a moment. “Whatever do you mean Zooble?”

“They’re bumming everyone out with their uncomfortable tension. It’s so painfully obvious that they like each other but they’re being all [BOINKY] towards each other, they probably got into a fight or something.”

“Like…eachother..?”

Bubble floats up out of no where, “Look’s like we’ve got some hot and steamy romance bubbling up!”

Caine pops Bubble again.

“EUREKA! You’re absolutely right Zooble! I should create a romantic fairy tale adventure to fix Pomni and Jax’s relationship! What would I do without you Zooble?”

“What?! I never said that!”

“I can hear the wedding bells already! After this adventure, I’ll be the new Esther Perel!”

Zooble was starting to get a bit anxious. If Pomni and Jax found out that they were “responsible” for this adventure then they were screwed. And somehow, they new that this was definitly not what Pomni and Jax needed right now. If anything, it would just make everything even MORE awkward.

“Caine, I really don’t want to be a part of this nonsense so…can I please leave?”

“NONSENSE?! This is the best plan we’ve ever come up with!”

“WE?!” Zooble’s anxiety was getting worse by the second. They were screwed for sure.

“NOW! THERE’S NO TIME TO WASTE!! POMNI AND JAX WILL BE THE NEXT ROMEO AND JULIET!” Caine exclaimed, holding his hand to his heart as a tear drop plopped down from his blue eye.

“Uh…they both ended up dying in the end though..”

“Oh pish posh Zooble!” Caine snapped his fingers and teleported elsewhere to begin making his terrible adventure, leaving Zooble alone with their thoughts.

…

What the [BONK] have I gotten myself into..

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Pomni had finally decided to stop feeling sorry for herself and left her room, her eyes instantly burned from the sudden sight of the overly saturated circus.
She walked around aimlessly for a bit. Maybe she could go check out the grounds? She hadn’t been there yet but it seemed like a place that might ease her thoughts—at least for a little while.

Nah. From what she heard, that place was way too buggy, at least that’s what Jax had said-

NOPE. Not thinking about him right now.

Her cheeks flushed at the mention of his name. She shook it off and held her head low. She didn’t know where she was going, all she knew was that she needed to get her mind off of-

Suddenly she bumped into someone so hard she fell RIGHT on her butt. She looked up and saw the one person she didn’t want to run into.

Jax.

Are you actually [BLEEPING] kidding me right now? What is this, a soap opera?

She glared daggers at him. He looked at her with that stupid fake, soulless smile of his. She didn’t know much about Jax, but one thing she did know was that when he made that face, he was hiding his true feelings.

He started to walk away, his stupid yellow smile still plastered across his face. Pomni didn’t stop to think about what she would say until she actually said it.

“So are you just going to ignore me forever?”

He stopped walking and looked back at her. His eyebrows were slightly creased and he looked very annoyed. Yet, he still had that fake grin.

“Why do you care so much..?” he finally responded after a moment of silence. Pomni sat up, studying his face carefully.

“Because I care about you. And you can keep lying to yourself all you want, but I know that you care about me too.”

Jax flinched when she said that. “Wow, really coming on strong aren’t you Pom? Take me out to dinner first!”

Pomni felt frustration start to bubble up inside her but she shoved it back down. “Look, you can try to act like a cartoon character all you want but deep down you’re human. We all are,” she stepped towards him, “It isn’t healthy for you to dehumanize yourself like this.”

“You know nothing about me.” He snapped back. That seemed to really bother him.

“I don’t. But i’d like to understand you better so I can help you.” She took another step towards him, this time he stepped back and turned sharply to walk away.

Before Pomni could say anything, she was whisked away in a nauseating blur. She blinked and she was facing the stage.

Great, perfect timing Caine.

“HELLO MY BEAUTIFUL BELUGA WALES!” Caine exclaimed. Pomni flinched, her eyes were still adjusting to the painful amount of overly-saturated colors surrounding her and Caine’s booming voice was making her ears start to hurt as well. “WHAT TIME IS IT?”

“Adventure ti-” Bubble beamed but was popped by Caine before he could finish his sentence.

“CAREFUL BUBBLE! We can’t get into any more legal trouble than we already are..”

“Wait there’s a law system-” Ragatha started.

“ENOUGH QUESTIONS!” Caine screeched.

She was the only one asking a question.

Caine cleared his throat and started, “It has come to my attention that there has been some interpersonal drama between some of you, and you already know that I don’t like ANY of that happening!”

Everyone turned to face Jax and Pomni. Jax scoffed and rolled his eyes. Pomni’s face turned a deep shade of crimson.

“SO! I decided that the most important way to fix that was to come up with a very SPECIAL adventure!”

“Wait, what do you mean by that Caine..?” Pomni asked hesitantly.

Caine looked at her with an innocent smile, but Pomni could tell that he was plotting something. She felt her anxiety start to rise.

“Caine. What do you mean by that?!”

“ANYWAYS, ENOUGH WASTING TIME! EVERYBODY GET IN THE PORTAL”

Pomni Barely had time to think before she was pushed into the colorful portal alongside everyone else.

The portal closed and Caine floated above where everyone else was standing. Bubble floated up to him with his usual wide, sharp-toothed grin.

“This definitely won’t end badly!” Bubble exclaimed.

Caine popped Bubble.

Chapter Text

Pomni opened her eyes and saw…a kitchen? It definitely wasn’t a modern one though, it was cramped and had a black and white checkered floor. There were 2 gas stoves with pots and pans scattered across and a frigidaire that was taller than she was. Though, that wasn’t exactly saying much, she was like 4 feet tall.

She looked around for a bit but was startled by the sound of a voice muffled by robotic beeps-and-boops. Pomni already knew who it was before she even turned around.

“Beep bop boop beep boop bop beep boop bop.” Which Pomni knew meant, “What are you doing just standing there? There are customers waiting!”

Pomni looked down at herself, she was no longer wearing her usual blue and red jumpsuit. Instead, she was wearing a long baby blue dress with puffy sleeves and a white apron tied around the skirt. Her jester hat was gone, revealing a dark brown bob and her gloves were gone as well. She looked at her feet. There were black Mary Janes In place of her red and blue jester shoes.

She felt silly wearing all this.

“What time period is this supposed to be again?” She remembered asking Jax during the candy adventure.

NOPE! STOP THINKING ABOUT HIM POMNI.

“BEEP BOP BOOP BEEP! (GET OUT THERE POMNI!)”

Pomni gasped in surprise. Her faced flushed red with embarrassment, she scurried hurriedly out of the kitchen and into the main seating area.

The seating area was much bigger than the actual kitchen. There were sleek hardwood floors with simple wooden chairs with red cushions. The walls were hardwood like the floor, but a slightly lighter brown color.

She figured that she might as well do her job, she didn’t want orbsman to yell at her again.

She took the lined-paper notepad off of the bar counter top and headed out to take everyone’s orders.
She recognized a few NPCs here and there. There were a few gloinks that stuck to a table and chair and left the restaurant with it, a couple citizens from the Canyon Candy Kingdom who only ordered maple syrup, and even Disappearing Guy who couldn’t even get one word out before disappearing. Pomni felt a little bad for him. Sure he was an NPC, but it still must have been frustrating to be unable to say a full sentence before popping out of existence.

One NPC she didn’t see however, was Gummigoo. Pomni was a little disappointed, even if he still didn’t remember her, she had hoped to see him again.

She heard the familiar sound of the shop bell ringing once again. She had vaguely remembered being a server for a short period of time as a part-time job, she didn’t particularly enjoy it that much though. However this adventure felt pretty natural and somewhat peaceful.

“I’ll be with you in a moment!” Pomni shouted without looking up from the plates she was holding. She turned around and gasped, it was Kinger! He was wearing a cream-colored suit with a radiant red tie. He was also sporting brown and black formal shoes. Pomni had to admit, the look suited him well.

“Oh! Hi Kinger!” Pomni smiled, setting the plates on a table full of wooden mannequin NPC’s who were doing the same 5 emotes and saying the same lines of dialogue over and over again, definitely not Caine’s best work. She rushed over to Kinger and he smiled warmly at her.

“Hello Pomni! My, what a beautiful house you have!”

Pomni didn’t even bother correcting him. She led him over to a small table near the window and pulled out a chair across from him.

“Have you seen any of the others yet Kinger?” Pomni asked.

Kinger examined the bottle of ketchup on his table like it held all the secrets to the universe before setting it down and looked at Pomni incredulously. “Other what?”

“You know, Ragatha, Gangle, Zooble….Jax?”

Pomni’s cheeks flushed a tiny bit when she mentioned Jax, she felt so stupid.

“Oh, no I haven’t seen any of them yet. Wait…where are we right now?”

Pomni sighed and smiled warmly at Kinger, she got up and handed him a menu and his eyes lit up. She was about to say something else before Orbsman started barking orders at her again, she was starting to see why Jax didn’t like this guy.

Then she realized that she was doing it…again.

“OH MY GOD!” Pomni accidentally shouted, tugging at the front parts of her hair. Her cheeks flushed even more. She didn’t know why everything around her reminded her of Jax but it was starting to [BONK] her off.

Orbsman stomped out of the kitchen and put his hands on his hips, glaring daggers at Pomni.

Pomni smiled at him, she chuckled nervously. She could smell something, it was…smoke?

“Uh, I-I think your eggs are burning..”

Orbsman glanced over at the kitchen and made a sound that was a mix between a squeak and a gasp. He raced into the kitchen, each step making a bouncing robotic-like sound as he ran.

Pomni let out a sigh of relief and pushed the thought of Jax away for now, took out her notepad, and turned to the chess piece. “So Kinger, are you ready to order?”

“Hmm…I’ll have the carrot skillet platter.”

Pomni, hadn’t memorized the menu, but she was about 90% sure that that was DEFINITELY not a thing.

“Uhh, how about some bacon and eggs with some coffee to go with it?” Pomni smiled, her brows furrowing slightly.

“What? Oh! Hello Pomni!”

Pomni sighed and smiled sweetly. “Hi Kinger.”

She turned and gave Kinger’s order to orbsman, she leaned against the counter and sighed. She could actually get used to this adventure! It was slow-paced, relaxing, and she wasn’t being chased or jumpscared by anything.

Though it did make her wonder…if this adventure was Caine's way of “fixing the interpersonal drama” between them, then why was it so slow-paced? Why was nothing happening?

She stopped herself “Slow down Pomni,” she said to herself, “Just enjoy the peace and quiet..”

*DING* *DING* “Beep boop bop! (Order up!)”

Pomni pushed herself off the counter and grabbed the plate, thanking Orbsman and walking over to Kinger, careful not to drop anything.

She placed the plate down on his table and grabbed the coffee pot, filling his mug up with the steaming hot brown liquid.

“Would you like any cream or sugar?”

“No thanks! I’ve already got this!” Kinger proceeded to proudly show off the bottle of ketchup to Pomni before squeezing a pound of it into his coffee. Pomni’s jaw dropped in shock as he stirred his coffee for a bit before taking a large gulp of it.

“Ah, tangy.” he sighed in contentment. Pomni wanted to puke, she had a weak stomach and seeing Kinger drink ketchup coffee was NOT something she wanted nor needed to see.

Luckily the shop bell chimed once again, startling Pomni out of her disgusted state. She looked up and smiled warmly, it was Ragatha!

Ragatha was wearing a punch-shade pink dress, its sleeves were short and slightly flared. The skirt of the dress reached just above the middle of her calves and had a sash around her waist with a bow on the end which was a slightly darker shade of pink. In place of her periwinkle bow was a belle-shaped cloche hat, the same color as her sash. And finally, her black shoes were replaced with dark pink kitten heels.

“Hi Ragatha! Wow, you and Kinger look so fancy and i’m just..” Pomni looked down at her diner uniform again, it was much greasier now that she’d actually done her job.

“You still look nice Pomni! The baby blue really compliments your skin tone!” Ragatha beamed. Honestly, Pomni much preferred wearing darker colors.

Ragatha took a seat across from Kinger and took a sip from the glass of water, Pomni walked over and handed her a menu then pulled up a chair and sat down. “So…I guess this adventure is basically Spudsy’s but instead of everyone working, i’m the only one serving YOU guys.”

Ragatha paused mid-sip and gave Pomni a slightly concerned look. “That’s not what’s happening for me! I had to plan a costume party for tonight for the prince’s arrival.”

Wait…what?

“Wait…so what exactly is the objective here?” Pomni asked, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. “And who’s the prince..?”

Ragatha shrugged and glanced outside the window. 1920s style cars drove past the restaurant in a blur, from here, you could see the docks on the crystal clear water. Pomni had to admit, Caine really knew how to make good scenery.

“I’m not too sure honestly, probably just an NPC or something. I wasn’t given any details.”

Pomni glanced over at Kinger who was currently drawing on a napkin with a fork. Pomni got up and handed him a box of crayons. His eyes instantly lit up as he started to draw a ladybug.

“Have you seen Gangle, Zooble, or…”

 

There was a long pause as she rubbed her arm uncomfortably.
“Jax?” Ragatha asked hesitantly, “No I haven’t. He’s probably off torturing NPCs or something.” she rolled her eyes. Then, as if remembering who she was talking to, switched her demeanor. “I mean! No offense or anything! Luckily you never started acting like that! You would never. I-I mean-”

“It’s okay Ragatha.” Pomni sighed, it coming out a lot heavier than she intended for it to. “It’s not like we were friends or anything..” She mumbled

“Hm, what was that Pomni?” Ragatha asked, her head snapping up.

Pomni’s face flushed with embarrassment. She looked down at the floor and slid out of her chair. “Um…nothing. Are you ready to order?”

Ragatha gave Pomni a sympathetic look but quickly plastered a fake smile on her face. She looked back down at her menu and quickly scanned it. “I think i’ll have…” she paused for a second before closing her menu and handing it to Pomni “The apple pie with tea please!”

Pomni smiled and nodded, sliding Ragatha’s menu underneath her arm and quickly jotting down her order and rushing off to give it to Orbsman.

Ragatha sighed and looked out the window as a giant white boat was being docked, hundreds of NPC’s swarming it to get a better look.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jax's obnoxious laugh echoed through the streets of…whatever city they were in… His mouth opened whilst cackling at the NPC he shoved in a tuba.

He had to admit, this adventure was pretty entertaining so far! He always loved torturing the NPCs, it was fun. He turned around and smiled big, “Hey Pomni! Get a load of this gu-”.

He stopped himself. Oh, right…

His grin faltered for a moment before he scoffed and slapped his smirk back on. He looked over at the wooden mannequin NPC that he forgot the name of. He was struggling to carry all of Jax’s bags. Jax could get used to being a prince, having people do everything for you, being able to do whatever you want to people without consequence, it was pretty sick.

Though, his outfit wasn’t very comfortable. He wore a cream-colored shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a tan vest, and pants that were a slightly darker color than his shirt. His yellow gloves were replaced with cream-colored ones and underneath his shirt was a red tie. His outfit came with a brown paperboy hat but he threw that thing off ages ago.

Despite that, he was still having a blast bossing everyone around.

He let out a contented sigh and turned around to face the mannequin carrying his bags. “Come along whatever-your-name-was.” He turned on his heel and started walking away.

The mannequin carrying all of his bags let out a frustrated groan. “My name is Lawrence, Sire."

“Yeah yeah whatever, come on Larry!”

Jax stopped and looked around, there was still no sign of the others. Not like he cared or anything! He totally wasn’t lonely, he had Lewis! Or was his name Lucas…

The mannequin speed-walked towards Jax, still panting from having to carry all of Jax’s bags while also matching his pace. “Y-your highness,” he stopped to lean against a brick wall and catch his breath, “We still need to make it all the way across town in time for the costume ball and-”

Jax groaned and began to walk away again. He wasn’t really looking where he was going and was letting his legs guide him. He bumped heads with someone so hard, he thought his skull might crack open. He fell to the floor with a loud THUD and rubbed his forehead.

“Sire! Are you alright?” The mannequin dropped all of the bags he was carrying and rushed over to help him. Jax winced in pain as the mannequin helped him up, his head starting to throb a little.

He finally opened his eyes, pushing the mannequin off of him, he turned angrily to face the person he bumped into.

Oh brother, not this guy..
It was that stupid candy NPC that Pomni was obsessed with. Though, instead of wearing nothing but a hat, he was wearing low-rise black pants with red accents, a red cropped shirt underneath a black tailcoat. He had a necklace with shark teeth attached to it, and in place of his brown cowboy hat was a black top hat with a skull picture on it. He was leaning on an 8-ball cane, and on his feet were white and red dress shoes.

Jax didn’t understand what Pomni saw in this loser, he’s ugly AND he probably tastes like green apple, the worst candy flavour…

Not like he was jealous of him or anything. Why would he be? He was MUCH more attractive than this Australian loser. Why did he care so much? Why was his face so hot?

He shook his head and crossed his arms.

“Sorry mate, didn’t see ya there!”

 

Oh god, his accent was like nails on a chalkboard.

“Are you alright?” he asked, offering a hand to Jax. Jax smacked it away and rubbed his hands on his pants.

“I’m fine.” He gestured for the mannequin to follow him and started forward once again.

“Oh! Hang on there mate! didn’t catch your name!” He ran forward, cutting Jax off.

Jax sighed and pinched the bridge of where his nose would be if he had one. He sighed in annoyance. “Never threw it.” Jax mocked the alligator.

“Oh, well ya see, i’m a fortune teller of sorts. The name’s Dr. Goo.” He reached out his hand to Jax to give him a friendly handshake. Jax looked at it and sighed, shaking his hand whilst hoping that it would make him leave him alone.

Jax started to walk away, his annoying mannequin buddy following close behind.

“You’ve lost someone very important to you…haven’t you?”
Jax stopped abruptly, the mannequin bumping into him and crashing down with all of Jax’s bags. Jax’s breathing was getting heavier. He turned his head slightly.

“Come again?”

The gummy gator started walking away, humming a tune that Jax had never heard before. Jax ran towards the gator, placing a hand on his shoulder and turning him around. The gator smirked, but it felt less smug, more… sinister..

After a moment of silence, he gestured for Jax to follow him into the nearby alleyway.

Against Jax’s better judgement, he followed the gator. The mannequin gasped and followed Jax hurriedly. “Your highness!” He grabbed Jax’s arm, “We have a strict schedule to maintain, and this man is just a mere…” He looked Dr. Goo up and down with dismay “Charlatan..”

Jax pulled his arm away from Lawrence. Lawrence sighed and reluctantly followed Jax.

Dr. Goo pulled back the red beaded curtains and gestured for Jax to come inside, Lawrence hurriedly followed Jax, getting smacked in the face with a line of beads while doing so.

Dr. Goo’s parlor was dimly lit, and looked very sketchy. Jax wasn’t concerned about that though, what really got to him was how he knew about…Ribbit. The name still made Jax’s stomach drop, and even though the gator hadn’t said his name, Jax definitely knew who he was referring to.

Why would Caine even give an NPC knowledge of an abstracted circus member?! God, why was Caine always messing with his head like this?

Dr. Goo led them to a round table in the back of the parlor. It looked tackier than the gator himself. Jax sat down at the ground table, still glaring at Dr. Goo. Lawrence took a seat as well.

Dr. Goo took a seat at the largest chair at the table and pulled out a stack of cards. The cards were purple and black and had different symbols.

“Alright mates, let’s see what we’re working with here.” he shuffled the cards and fanned the whole deck, holding it out to Jax and Lawrence with both hands.

“Take 3 each.”

They each took 3 cards each. Jax looked at them. They were…tarot cards..? Jax knew absolutely nothing about tarot cards, they always seemed like a stupid concept to him.

“Show ‘em”

Jax’s head jerked up, he reluctantly placed all 3 card in front of him.

“The past, present and future…” He flipped the first card slowly. Jax leaned in, his foot tapping nervously underneath the table.

“Your past…The Hermit reversed. loneliness, isolation, you have lost your way, forgotten who you really are..”

Jax scoffed, he was never lost, he’s always known who he was, he’s the funny one! Dr. Goo gave him a knowing look, as if he was reading his mind. Jax pushed that thought away, it made him very uncomfortable.

“Next, the present…” he flipped the second card. “The Knight of Wands reversed. Anger, impulsiveness, recklessness. You often don’t think before you act and everyone around you pays the price.

Jax froze. He thought of Pomni—how he pushed her away without thinking. He had let her get too close, but it was better this way. If anything happened to her then it wouldn’t be his problem and he wouldn’t get hurt. His chest tightened at the thought of her getting hurt, he shook his head and dismissed that thought.

“And finally…” he paused, looking up at Jax with a sinister smirk, “Your future…” The lights flickered ominously. Jax’s smirk was now gone, his pupils were small black squares and his foot wouldn’t stop thumping.

“Jesus Caine…” Jax muttered to himself.

Dr. Goo flipped the card over slowly.

“Death.”

This card’s pattern was different, instead of it being purple and black it was pitch black. But the thing that really made Jax’s skin crawl was how the symbols were now replaced with eyes—glowing eyes reminiscent of the ones that appeared on someone when they abstracted.

Jax’s chest tightened and he could barely get any words out, his foot thumped even harder now.

“Uh…w-what does that mean..? Lawrence finally spoke up.

Dr. Goo looked up and smiled—that horrible smile that made Jax’s skin crawl. “End of cycle, beginnings, metamorphosis. You will change in ways you can never imagine, and the people around you will benefit from it.”

Oh god…

Jax kept telling himself “It’s just an adventure, it’s not real, none of this is.” but it still didn’t ease his thoughts.

Dr. Goo turned to Lawrence and read his cards. Jax wasn’t paying attention though, his anxiety was growing. Seriously, what was going on in Caine’s twisted mind?!

Dr. Goo’s thick accent snapped Jax out of his thoughts. “Seems like both of you are up the creek without a paddle!”

What did that even mean?

“You know…I’m not just a fortune teller, i’m a fortune giver.” He took each of their future cards and flipped them over twice. Jax wasn’t looking at Lawrence’s card, he was too focused on what was on his.

There was a silhouette of a rabbit and…a frog.

Jax looked up at Dr. Goo who wasn’t there anymore, he turned around and there he was, standing above them with his hands behind his back. “I could give you everything your heart desires, whaddya say…mates?” He asked, holding out both of his hands.
Jax held out his hand but hesitated, this wasn’t real, the circus wasn’t real, he wasn’t real. But even so, if this guy could bring back Ribbit—even just for a little while, even if it was all pretend…maybe it was worth it.

Lawrence immediately shook Dr. Goo’s hand. He didn’t have a face, but Jax could tell that he was shaking with excitement.

Screw it.

Jax quickly shook Dr. Goo’s hand, worried that if he didn’t, the gator might change his mind.

Dr. Goo started cackling maniacally, the room twisted into an ominous purple and red landscape. The antiques on the shelves of the parlor morphed into black shadows that spun around the room in a blur. Jax tried to get up from his chair but was held down by two black licorice snakes, wrapping around him so tight he could barely breathe.

He looked over at Lawrence who was free in his chair, frozen in fear. Dr. Goo slammed a glass vial on the ground, releasing a green gas that exploded, revealing a large black dragon head with razor sharp teeth and deep, glowing crimson eyes. The head opened its mouth and Dr. Goo put his arm inside, pulling out a necklace with a distorted purple bunny charm on it.

Jax struggled to release himself as Dr. Goo approached him, grabbing his hand and biting the bunny charm’s razor sharp teeth down on Jax’s finger. Jax cried out in pain, he looked down at his finger, which was now dripping black liquid. Caine had never put blood in any adventures before, and it didn’t feel like blood, it felt sticky and slimy like tar.

Jax felt the pain in his finger start to get worse, it felt too real. His finger started to glow a bright magenta, the pain started coursing through his body. It was some of the worst pain he’d ever felt in his entire life.

He felt everything around him start to shrink and distort, until everything went black.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pomni felt so out of place.
Ragatha hired Pomni to work as server for the costume party she was hosting. She had been worried that the event would be understaffed and Pomni had offered to help. She didn’t particularly understand why Ragatha was so worried, it was just an adventure after all. But she didn’t mind, if it would help to ease Ragatha’s mind, then she was fine with doing it.

Though nothing could have prepared her for just how big the party really was. The courtyard of the estate was big enough to hold at least 1,000 NPCs, and it did.

All of them were dressed in generic-looking costumes that looked like the ones you would find at a cheap halloween store. However, Pomni did need to give props to Caine for adding variety, all the costumes were different.

She walked in wearing a black long-sleeve dress with a white apron on the front, her hair was tied up in a very short ponytail, and she still wore her black Mary Janes. She wasn’t really impressed with the amount of dresses she had to wear for this adventure, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

Ragatha ran up wearing the poofiest pink dress Pomni had ever seen. It had puffy sleeves that looked like they were about to suffocate the ragdoll. And on top of her yarn hair was a silver tiara.

“Hello Pomni! Oh my gosh, you look adorable!” Ragatha looked like she was about to hug Pomni but stopped, remembering that Pomni didn’t like physical touch.

Pomni’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment, “Uh…thanks..” She laughed awkwardly.

Ragatha held her arm, looking a tiny bit uncomfortable. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Pomni finally spoke up. “So um…where do you want me to go?”

Ragatha looked up and put on that bright smile of hers, “Oh yeah! Follow me.” she beckoned for Pomni to follow her and started walking.

Pomni sped up to catch up to Ragatha and walk alongside her. They walked into the crowd and Pomni was instantly crushed by the amount of people around her.
She squeezed her way through the crowd and finally caught up with Ragatha again.

“Wow, this place is packed with people, huh?”

Ragatha looked down at Pomni and smiled, “Yeah, but don’t worry, i’ve made sure that you won’t be in a crowded area. I figured you wouldn’t like it that much.”

Pomni smiled warmly at the ragdoll who blushed a tiny bit. Ragatha led Pomni to a food table with a white cloth. There were all sorts of food on there that honestly, didn’t look too bad! Sliders, ham, mac and cheese, cake. Ragatha adjusted the floral arrangements around the table a little before turning and smiling at Pomni.

“So this is where you’ve been stationed! Your job is pretty simple, if someone asks for food then well, make a plate for them!”

Pomni smiled and gave Ragatha a thumbs up before walking behind the table, she could barely see a thing because of how short she was. Ragatha started to walk away but Pomni yelled after her. “Ragatha!”

The ragdoll turned around and raised an eyebrow. Pomni gave her an awkward smile. “Can I uh…get a stool please..?”

Ragatha’s eyes widened and she apologized for forgetting before dashing into the HUGE mansion. Pomni smiled and looked around. She hadn’t noticed how pretty the decorations were before. Fairy lights were hung along the hedges, casting a faint yellow glow over the courtyard. The fountain in the middle of the courtyard was made of polished marble just like the ground was. The floral arrangements were also a beautiful mix of lilies and orange and pink roses with green accents.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

Pomni whipped her head around and breathed a sigh of relief, it was just Kinger. He was standing in a dark corner near the food table wearing a Julius Caesar costume, sipping fruit punch out of a plastic cup. She walked over to him and smiled warmly. “Yeah, it really is.”

“Still no sign of the others huh?” Pomni asked him, looking towards the crowd of people.

“Nope, haven’t seen any sign of Zooble, Gangle, or Jax.”

Pomni sighed and sat cross-legged on the ground. It was always so strange to talk to Kinger while he was lucid, but also comforting. Kinger gave Pomni a curious look before placing his cup down and sitting down next to her.

“Are you feeling okay?”

Pomni looked at Kinger and gave him a weak smile before turning towards the crowd. “Yeah it’s just…” She trailed off, “Everything has been so confusing lately. I guess the past few weeks have been a bit… chaotic.”

Kinger stayed silent for a moment before looking up at the sky. “I know how you feel, my first few weeks here were pretty chaotic too. I didn’t really know who I was anymore, but having people around who cared about me helped a lot.”

Pomni smiled and moved herself a little closer to Kinger, a sign to show that she trusted him. He reciprocated with a knowing smile and a wink. They sat in silence for a bit until Ragatha returned with a stool for Pomni, and Kinger walked off into the crowd, muttering something about dancing rats.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time Pomni had made her 600th plate, she was exhausted and just wanted to go home. She handed the plate to the mannequin dressed as a mermaid and slumped onto the table, her cheek smushed against the fabric.

She still had no clue what this adventure was about. Was it Caine’s version of The Sims? She shuddered uncomfortably at the thought of Caine controlling her every move and pushed the thought away. And where in the world was Gangle, Zooble, and Jax?

She hoped that they were all okay. Hopefully Caine didn’t put them down a terrifying horror path. Pomni wished that Jax was here so she could finally try to talk to him, maybe she could-

CRASH!

An NPC came flying straight into the food table, sending Pomni and all of the food flying. She sat up, dazed from the tumble she just took, she looked at herself, she was covered head to toe in mashed potatoes, jell-o, cake, pudding, and an assortment of other foods.

She glared at the mannequin who flew into the table, he was now holding a football. “I caught it! WHOOO” He slammed it onto the ground “TOUCHDOWN.” He laughed and ran off into the crowd.

“[BLEEP]bag.” Pomni whispered to herself. She felt embarrassed, humiliated, and gross. Ragatha came running towards Pomni with a worried expression. “Pomni! Oh my gosh, I saw what happened! Are you okay?” She held out a hand, Pomni hesitantly took it and Ragatha pulled her up.

“I’m so sorry that happened Pomni! Here, follow me, I can get you a change of clothes.” She started forward and turned around “Oh! And don’t worry about serving anymore! I’ll get the mess cleaned up and taken care of.”

Pomni sighed, “Thanks Ragatha.” They both walked into the mansion together.

-

Ragatha led Pomni into her room and shut the door, hurrying into her walk-in closet. Pomni looked around the huge room. The wallpaper was light pink with a gold trim, there was a huge window, and in the middle of the bedroom was a huge pink canopy bed. Paintings of Caine covered the walls…creepy..

Pomni stood in the doorway awkwardly, not wanting to make a mess by dripping jell-o and mashed potatoes all over the hardwood floor. Ragatha rushed back and handed Pomni a navy blue sparkly strapped dress. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but Pomni didn’t care, she just needed to get all this food off of her.

She took a quick shower and changed into the dress, Ragatha curled her hair and placed a silver tiara on her head, giving Pomni matching navy blue ballroom gloves. She also gave Pomni black slip-ons, whispering to Pomni about how putting her in heels would probably be physical torture.

“Ta-da!” She smiled, turning Pomni around to face the mirror. Pomni didn’t recognize herself. The dress was surprisingly comfortable and fit her well. Though she did feel a tiny bit insecure, she had never really dressed like this before.

“So, what do you think?” Ragatha asked, smiling at Pomni proudly. Pomni turned to face the mirror once again, smiling softly at her reflection. “I feel…nice..” She trailed off.

“I think you look beautiful..” Ragatha said, her face turning a little pink. Pomni looked up at her and smiled. “Thank you.”

Ragatha took her eyes off Pomni and looked at the clock. “Wow, it’s getting late isn’t it? I wonder where the prince is..” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. Suddenly, the muffled sound of trumpets filled the air. Ragatha smiled and beckoned for Pomni to follow her. They made it outside but froze when they saw who the prince was.

It was Jax, waving to the crowd as if this wasn’t his first day being prince. Pomni looked over at Ragatha, who was just as confused as she was. Pomni lifted her dress and jogged over, pushing through the crowd to get to Jax. When she finally made it through, he was talking to a random NPC, chatting and laughing.

Since when was he nice to NPCs?

He looked a bit different too. In place of his pink overalls was a cream-colored tunic with slightly darker pants. He wore a navy blue sash with gold accents around his shirt and a gold crown. He looked really good.

Pomni shook her head and realized that she was staring for too long and her face was definitely some shade of red. She walked over to him and tugged his arm. He turned to face her, though something about him was off, she could tell.

“Uh, hey Jax! Where have you been? I think we uh…need to talk about what happened before Caine sent us here.” She frowned, rubbing her arm.

He looked at her with creased eyebrows, a small, awkward, toothy smile was plastered on his face. “Uh…hey…you..” He dragged out the y sound and did a weird finger-gun gesture at her. “Uh…remind me again what we were talking about in the um…circus?”
Pomni’s mouth hanged open slightly and her eye twitched a little. “Jax! You know me. It’s Pomni! ‘Pompom?’.” She took his hand. he looked down at her blankly. “Ohhh yeahh.. Now I remember! You’re Penny from the uh..circus?”

Pomni let go of his hand and looked around. Everyone was looking at them now. She took a deep breath and sighed. “Nevermind.” She walked off towards the house.

She was halfway up the marble stairs when Ragatha shouted after her, “Pomni!”. She turned around to face the ragdoll who was rushing up the stairs. “Are you okay? I can go talk to him, he’s probably doing this to [BONK] you off-”

“It’s okay Ragatha.” Pomni reassured her, “this is probably his way of getting me to leave him alone, and if that’s what he wants, that’s fine with me.” she trailed off, looking at him from the top of the staircase. “I think I just need to get away from the crowd.”

Ragatha gave her a sympathetic look and sighed. “Alright…But if you need me to lecture him I will.”

Pomni smiled, "I'll be down later.” she continued up the staircase. Ragatha watched as Pomni disappeared into the mansion.

-

Pomni walked into Ragatha’s room and opened the door leading to the stone balcony. She slumped onto the railing and let out a long muffled groan. Did Jax really not want to talk to her THIS bad that he was willing to fake amnesia? She lifted her head up and crossed her arms on the railing, looking up at the sky full of stars above her.

Maybe she should just quit while she’s at it. There’s no getting through to him. She looked to the left, seeing a big, bright star in the middle of the sky. She looked behind her to make sure that nobody was there and sighed.

“I can’t believe that i’m about to do this.” she muttered, rubbing her temples in a circular motion before closing her eyes and holding her hands to her heart.

“I wish he would talk to me.”

She opened her eyes and sighed, slumping onto the railing once again. She turned her head to the right and jumped. There was a tiny, fat, and fluffy purple bunny. Great…Caine was [BONKING] with her yet again. She rolled her eyes.

It was actually kind of cute, if it were any other time then she probably would’ve picked it up and squeezed it. But right now she was too [BONKED].

“Wow Caine great timing.” Pomni gave the bunny a fake smile, “So what now? Do I have to kiss you to end this stupid adventure?”

“Well that’s VERY forward dontcha think Pompom?” The bunny responded with a wide grin.

Pomni shrieked and fell back on her butt, she wasn’t expecting it to actually respond to her. She got up and backed up against the railing, the bunny hopping over to her and waved its paws at her.

“WOAH CHILL OUT! It’s me Jax!”

Pomni froze for a moment and raised her eyebrow, “Jax?”. She leaned down and touched his head, he reciprocated by slapping her hand away. “What happened to you?”

“Your gummy boyfriend is what happened! He emasculated me by turning me into a stupid little bunny!” His little furry face was beet read and he was tapping his foot with frustration. Pomni gave him an unimpressed look before looking over her shoulder. “Then who is that out there..?”

“Listen kid-”

“I’m 25 years old.”

“Whatever! All I know is that one moment I’m laughing at NPCs getting stuck in tubas, and the next I’m a dumb little bunny!” Pomni started giggling, she couldn’t take him seriously. He was literally a mad, puffed out, ball of fluff.

Jax stopped stomping around and looked at Pomni. She looked really pretty giggling in that shimmering dress under the moonlight. He shook his head and pushed that thought away, he was NOT getting close to her again.

“Stop laughing! It’s not funny!”

“I’m sorry.” She struggled to say through snorts and giggles. “You just look like a chubby little furball!” She started laughing harder, all the stress from the past few days was starting to release.

“STOP!”

She was in tears at this point. He finally got what was coming to him. Jax rolled his eyes and hopped inside of the house, Pomni stopped laughing and got up, following him inside. He hopped onto Ragatha’s bed and sat down facing the wall, crossing his arms. Pomni kneeled down and sighed. “Okay okay, i’m sorry.” he turned his head slightly. “Drama queen..” Pomni mumbled.

He scoffed and turned to face the wall again. Pomni got up and sighed, looking around the room. “I still have no clue what the objective of this adventure is.” Jax paused for a moment, turning his head and scanning the room. That’s when he saw it—a book titled “The Princess and The Frog.”

He turned around and hopped over to the bookshelf. Pomni walked over as well. “What did you find?”

“That book up there.”

Pomni looked up. The book was too far up for her to reach—even on her tippy toes. She looked around, feeling a tiny bit embarrassed. Jax must’ve caught on because he started giggling to himself, earning a glare from Pomni. “What? Too short? Awwww, does widdle Pompom need a step stool?” He teased. Her face turned bright read and she groaned.

She sighed and started climbing the bookshelf, it shook a little. She slid her fingers across the line of books on the top section of the shelf before taking the green book out. She turned around as much as she could without falling and showed it to Jax. He nodded and she went to climb down when suddenly she felt the shelf start to fall back, she had no time to react before she was sent plummeting, hitting her head HARD against the hardwood floor.

She winced in pain. “Oww…” The books were scattered around her, luckily the bookshelf wasn’t too heavy, so she was able to push it off of her. She lied there for a second, exhausted by the events of the day and in pain from the tumble she had just taken. She jolted up upon realizing that she might’ve crushed Jax.

“JAX?” she yelled out, lifting up the books as if expecting him to be squished like a pancake underneath.

“Eugh…over here.”

She turned around and rushed over to where he was lying down. A dictionary had landed right on top of him, squishing him like a bug. She lifted the book up, giggling at how cartoonish he looked. He sat up, the chub on his belly flopping with every move. He hopped over to the book and opened it, dust blowing into his face. Pomni crawled over, her body still sore from being crushed by the shelf.

He flipped through the pages quickly, clearly not reading—but instead looking at the pictures. “What was that thing you said to me on the balcony?” Pomni gave him a confused look. Jax sighed in annoyance. “The FIRST thing you said to me.”

“Oh…um… I have to kiss you to end this stupid adventure?” She froze, eyes widening slightly. Jax put his paws to his face and sighed. “Well unfortunately, that might be Caine’s messed up way of ‘resolving the conflict between us’.”

He suddenly realized that he sounded too self-aware, which was very out of character for him. “Pfft, as if there IS any conflict between us huh? Sounds to me like the audience just wants a corny love story.”

Pomni gave him an annoyed look, she took a deep breath and decided to ignore that. “So…You’re saying that I have to kiss you for you to turn into a human again?” Jax flinched when she said human and his eye twitched. “Cartoon rabbit. But yes.”

Pomni’s face flushed a bright red. She looked away from Jax. He noticed and smirked. “What? Have you never kissed anyone before Pompom?”

If he was totally honest, he hadn’t ever kissed anyone either, and the thought of Pomni kissing him made him very anxious but he would never actually tell her that.

“Well uh…I guess if it’ll end this adventure then sure I guess..” She was now cartoonishly red. Jax couldn’t help but grin widely. He grabbed a nearby perfume bottle amidst the wreckage of the bookshelves and sprayed it straight into his mouth. He started violently coughing but it came out all squeaky. “Uh..are you okay..?” Pomni asked, rubbing her hands on her dress uncomfortably.

“*Cough* f-fine.” He took a deep breath and hopped over to her, she picked him up with both hands. “This feels wrong on so many levels.” She never thought that she would have to kiss a bunny. But then again, she was trapped in a circus run by a ringmaster who has a mouth for a head. Though, she had to admit, Jax was really soft. She really wanted to snuggle him in her arms.

“Okay, let’s just get this over with.” She muttered to herself. Jax’s pupils dilated 90% and his nose twitched, it was adorable. She squeezed her eyes shut before planting a soft kiss on his little mouth. There was a burst of purple, blue, and red light before it disappeared into white sparkles. Jax plopped down to the ground, he looked at himself—nope, he was still a stupid bunny. “Pomni?” he asked, looking around. Her dress was there, but she was gone.

He hopped over, suddenly noticing how something was moving under the navy blue dress, he leaned forward, his nose twitching curiously. He jumped at the muffled “Jax?” that came from under the dress.

Pomni shimmied her way out from under the dress. He looked at her, his usually huge black pupils were now tiny squares “Why are you still a bunny? And why am I-” she looked down, seeing webbed hands. She gasped and looked over at the glass of the perfume bottle. Staring back at her was a white frog with blue and red splotches, with red and blue pinwheel eyes—HER eyes..