Chapter Text
She spotted him across the street from the 50-foot geyser.
As expected, he was messing up yet another fire hydrant. He had a stick of dynamite– somehow– in his hand, and was crouched down, carefully wedging the dynamite in place, tongue sticking out of his mouth in concentration.
She walked over.
“Hi, Jax.” Pomni spoke normally.
With a yelp, Jax jumped like a cat.
“Pomni! What did I say about sneaking up on people?!” He rubbed the back of his neck, half-frustrated, mostly startled.
She raised an eyebrow. “Uhh… nothing? You’ve literally never said anything about that before.”
“Well, I am now! Don’t do that!” His hands flew around like one of those… inflatable car wash things. Pomni giggled at the mental image. “You’re clearly working to terrorize everything and everyone around you. And honestly, I’m calling you out on it.”
A smirk crept up on her face. “I mean, I just said hi. Sorry for startling you.”
Dusting himself off, he muttered, “Ugh, ‘S’fine.”
Pomni cleared her throat and gestured to the fire hydrant. “Sooo… what’cha up to?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Genuinely, what does it look like I’m doing? I’m blowin’ up fire hydrants. What are YOU–“ he poked her forehead– “up to? You gonna report me to the Scotland Yard, or are you tryna be an accomplice?” His face curled into a grin. “Because if so, I may have a crowbar I can lend you…”
Pomni giggled again, face falling serious when she remembered why she was here. “Heh, well, thanks, but maybe a bit later. Actually…” She shuffled her feet, fingers tapping together. She wasn’t sure how he would take this. “I wanted to ask you about something.”
Jax’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Ask about what?”
“Well, it’s–“ She paused. Deep breath. “What do you know about that NPC?”
His pupils shrunk so fast it was almost funny. “What NPC?” he said casually.
“You know… the red one. The one that looks like you?”
Jax snorted, pupils still pinpricks. “What, that evil Big Top? The dumb one? I know he was a total loser and I enjoyed mauling him. Geez, Pomni, you were there for that too, is your memory that bad? Are we gonna have to start calling you Kinger 2.0?” His yellow grin was a little wrinkled, and it seemed like he was trying (and failing) to regain some air of indifference. He kept at it anyway.
Pomni sighed. “No, you know that’s not who I’m talking about. I’m talking about Thomas.”
Jax flinched. “Never heard of the guy.”
He had notably turned his face away from her.
Okay, so he's going to be difficult. She had expected this, of course. But one can always hope.
“Listen–“ She rubbed the bridge of her nose (or where it would be, if she had a nose). “It’s fine. You don’t have to tell me anything about the adventure he was on. I’m just trying to confirm something he told me, and you hold the other side of–“
“You talked to him?!” Jax yelped.
Oh. Was she supposed to let that slip? Hmm... She supposed it was fine, it would’ve been hard to make her point without him knowing that fact. Might as well own up to it. “Well, yeah, I did. He seemed like he remembered stuff and I was… curious….?” She faltered Jax was looking at her like she had just popped his balloon animal. “Uhh… you good?” His hand twitched. He looked… a little freaked out, to be honest. She took a tentative step back.
After a moment realization sparked in his eyes of how he looked, after which he smoothed his posture and expression back down into a more casual, laid-back vibe. “Peachy. Welllll, Pomni, I’m kinda busy over here, so I dunno, go see if Ragatha knows anything about this Jimmy or whatever his name is. Scratch that, actually, why don’cha stand right here on this fire hydrant for a moment? I have a GREAT idea, I promise it’ll be fun.”
“Wh-“
Suddenly, he grabbed her, arms extended, and lifted her above the fire hydrant, grinning the whole time like a cheshire cat.
“Ha-ha. Jax, put me down,” she said flatly, crossing her arms.
“Aww, c’mon, Poms, don’t you trust me?”
“Your fluttering eyelashes aren't convincing me. Put me down.”
He sighed. “You’re no fun.” After a moment, though, her feet reunited with the floor.
She brushed herself off. “Thank you.”
Jax glanced away. “Ugh, whatever. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna blow this thing up.”
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a match– Again, where does he get these things?!– and swiped it against Pomni’s forehead to light it. He smirked at her stunned expression. “What? Cartoon logic.”
Her forehead tingled. She rubbed it off. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”
A few moments later, Jax and Pomni were walking away from two broken fire hydrants. Pomni could feel the spray of it on her back, so she walked a little quicker. Wet clothing simulations in the circus were pretty unpleasant.
“JAX!!” shouted Ragatha in the distance. She turned to say something to Kinger, but they were too far away to make it out. Probably something to do with the wrench Kinger yielded like a sword.
A voice to her left brought her attention back to the purple rabbit. “So, anyway, Poms, how ya liking London? Had lunch with the Queen yet?” Jax spoke nonchalantly, completely ignoring the distant distress of the other circus members, arms resting casually behind his head as they walked.
“Nah, just with– I mean, at the off-brand Greggs. I think it was called ‘Creggs’ or something.” Jax was looking at her weird, so she decided to shut herself up. Right. He knew Thomas worked there. She focused on the piece of gravel she’d been kicking along the road instead. “Um… yeah. It was good.”
“Once again, Pomni, I have no idea what Greggs is. I’m not British.”
“Well, it’s–“
“Jax?”
A third voice spoke. Jax froze immediately. Pomni almost crashed into him, then froze too once she recognized the voice. Their heads whipped around to the right, where a certain spiky-haired individual was standing.
Oh, %$!#.
Thomas was there.
Jax reacted immediately, folding his arms with a crinkled smirk. “Whaaat? Who’s Jax? Never– psht– never heard of the guy.” He rolled his eyes, a casual excuse to look away. “I think you need to get your vision checked or something.”
Thomas stared, stunned, with trembling hands. “Wh- w-what are you doing here? Is it really you??” He blinked hard, as if trying to reset his vision. “Am… I dreaming??”
“Uh, no, it’s not ‘me.’ I don’t even know who this ‘me’ is. And yeah, you’re clearly dreaming, so-“
“JAX!!!”
They whipped their heads around again.
It was Kinger.
Of course.
“Oh, hi, Jax! I didn’t see you there.” He gave a friendly wave. “Now there are two of you!”
…Jax looked like he wanted to bury someone alive. Maybe himself.
Changing tactics, Jax sighed and put on a smirk, turning back to face them– well, mostly Thomas. Pomni was just… standing there. Existing.
“Look, I don’t know when or where you remember me from, but I sure don’t remember you. Yeah, you’re right, my name is Jax. But you’re just…” He leaned down, squinting to make out his name tag. “…Johnathan. So if you’ll excuse me, Johnathan, I’m gonna make my leave before things get weird.”
“But– Jax–“ Thomas began. “And my name’s not–“
“La la la, I don’t caaaarrree!” Jax said loudly, already speed-walking away. “See ya, T- Johnathan!”
After a few more steps, he broke into a jog and bounded off.
“…”
Thomas’s ears sagged straight down. The stress lines around his eyes were more pronounced than Pomni had ever seen them, his whole demeanor sagging. “Oh,” he whimpered.
For a moment, the only noise came from the fire hydrants in the distance.
Zooble broke the silence. “What’s his deal? What the hell was that?”
“Uhh…” said Pomni. She looked from Zooble, to Thomas, to the circus members, to Thomas, to the direction Jax ran off in. “You know what—“ She paused, exhaled, then turned to Thomas. “I’m- sorry that had to happen to you. He’s… well, you know. He’s like that. But I’m gonna go talk to him. You just, um—“ She looked back at her friends. They all stared at her or Thomas with varying levels of confusion—except Kinger, who was looking at them both at once. “Just— just talk to them, or something. Yeah.”
She gave a double thumbs up, which was acknowledged with a forlorn stare, before wheeling around on her heel and running off.
After a rabbit.
For, what, the fourth time that day? Fifth? She was losing track. Call me Alice in Wonderland the way I’m always chasing after rabbits….
———
She found Jax on a sidewalk bench.
He was glowering. Pomni approached calmly, friendly.
“Waiting for the double-decker bus?” she joked, cracking a smirk.
“Ha-ha, very funny,” he bit back. “Don’t you have better places to be?”
“Not right now.” She smiled, sitting on the bench next to him. He scooted over to make space—or to get away from her, she couldn’t tell. Maybe both.
After a moment's silence, Jax was the first to speak. “...This adventure’s so weird.”
Pomni chuckled. “I know, right? I’m surprised Caine knows what London’s like.”
Jax raised an eyebrow, turning his head to look at her. “And you do?”
“Yeah, I went to London some years back… something work-related.”
“Work related... for your… accounting job,” he said skeptically.
“Well, um. I guess it was more of a trip with coworkers. We didn’t really do much work.” She fidgeted with her shorts.
“Oh, so you are British,” he said. His grin was returning.
“Jax, being to London once does not make me British.”
“Yeahhh, tha’s right Poms, yer no real Brit unless you eat bangers ‘n’ mash and brush your teeth once every time a new Prime Minister’s elected, innit, Poms?” Jax said in a crude caricature of a British accent.
Pomni smirked. “With how much you talk in that accent, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were the British one. I mean, when’s the last time you brushed your yellow teeth?”
“British? Me? HA! You wish,” he said, grinning. “I’m a big strong American!”
The way he said it was really funny to her for some reason. She burst out laughing, which made Jax join in with her. They both laughed for a solid 30 seconds.
“Haah… anyway.” Pomni cleared her throat, remembering why she was here. “About Thomas.”
Jax’s grin dropped like a stone. He crossed his arms, looking away in irritation.
“He’s an NPC. What does he remember?” Jax grumbled sarcastically.
“Well, actually…”
Pomni gave a brief summary of Thomas’s story.
After she finished, Jax just blinked. He just sat there, stunned.
“You know... that question was rhetorical.”
“It was. But I had an answer.” Pomni smiled.
Jax looked at her, then sighe. "Ugh. Fine. You really wanna know what happened?”
Pomni nodded, leaning in slightly in anticipation.
“Okay, here goes.” He cleared his throat. “Once upon a time, Caine made a school adventure. I met a kid who looked like me, he had a sweet treehouse with playable video games, I took advantage of his kindness so I could get in there, then things got weird and I bounced. The end. Happy now?” He glanced over at her, his expression somewhere between tired and annoyed.
Pomni considered his words, lining them up with the earlier story.
Given the details Thomas gave her, looking at them from Jax’s point of view, cutting out the parts implying emotional connection and summarizing all that up in 50 words or less, she came up with the exact string of words that Jax had just told her.
She nodded. “Yeah, actually, I am.”
Jax scowled and looked away. "Go figure."
“And that does make things weirder.”
Suddenly Jax was interested again. “What? Makes what weird?”
“The fact that he’s an NPC... who remembers.”
Jax looked at her wide-eyed.
After enough time in the circus, you thought you learned the rules. Not much was new.
This was new.