Chapter Text
Pomni found herself resting her head on her palm, leaning against the arm rest of the sofa in a still newly designed computer lounge. The computer mumbo-jumbo Caine, Scratch, and Kinger were talking about now that a full body scan of Scratch’s code had been done was starting to lull her to sleep, but she couldn’t go to sleep. If there was some way of getting Jax back, getting everyone back, she wanted to be one of the first to know.
You don’t need to sleep, the voice rang in her ear again as a reminder.
Pomni raised her head and gave it a shake, trying to wake herself up and focus on what the three were saying.
Kinger sat at the old Amiga, typing away as he said, “The best guess I’ve got is that when Caine messed with your abstracted mind files, he managed to find a recovery file of your initial copy.”
“So the tumor’s back?” Scratch asked, disappointment in his voice.
“I don’t think we should try and get rid of it again,” Caine pointed out.
“Fair. Okay. So how do we copy what you did to me?” Scratch asked, repositioning the borrowed blanket around himself. A moment passed, making Pomni think she had blacked out, before Scratch said, “Kinger, let me. I think I’ve got an idea.”
Pomni closed her eyes, her lids heavy, as she struggled to hear what they might have to say.
Instead she found herself in a girl’s bedroom. She couldn’t recognize it from any room she had actually been in, but it was becoming a common dream room. Rainbows coming out of clouds and stars decorated the pink walls and a child’s table with three chairs sat in front of a small two shelve bookcase.
Stepping over to the bookcase, she looked down and read the spines. The Little Princess, The Secret Garden, an assortment of American Girl books, and a mouse called Thea Stilton’s series lined the top shelf. She pulled the first in the mouse series, it being the one she knew the least about, and looked over the cover to see cheese heading the cover and three mice pulling a sheet off of a gold dragon’s head. These books all sounded like real ones and not like the versions Caine provided in the circus library, but that was as far as that question got as the door to the room opened.
“Hey, you coming? Caine’s wanting us all at the stage,” a female voice said.
“Yeah, just give me a moment!” Pomni called out, a strange panic forming inside her from being found in this room. She put the book back and quickly left the room, closing the door behind herself. Instead of the hallway, Pomni found herself on a tropical beach.
“There’s no way this is the adventure,” the same female voice from earlier said. “This is too much like a vacation.”
Pomni turned to the voice, but like with a lot of her dreams, the owner wasn’t something she could clearly make out.
“This is like Gilligan’s Island,” a deep male voice said with a laugh. “Just a three hour trip, huh?”
“Little too real,” Pomni said, rolling her eyes at her friend.
“Hey, I think there’s someone on this island,” Ragatha’s voice said, getting Pomni to turn away from the ocean. Just inland from the beach were some crudely constructed huts as a person made of bubbles broke free from the jungle.
The man of orbs slowed to a stop in front of someone who Pomni could only make out as a pink blob of a person, letting out sounds as it mimed with what counted as its hands.
“Can anyone make out what he’s saying?” the pink blob asked.
“I think I heard something about grapefruit?” the deep voiced friend said.
“No, you remember the candy accident?”
The voice not part of the dream got Pomni to open her eyes and find herself back in the computer lounge, her blanket draped over her as she realized the three were still working away.
“Wormo always did love his snacks,” Scratch said with a fond laugh.
“But I’m thinking that’s what happened,” Kinger pointed out.
“I didn’t drop candy on the keyboard,” Caine grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
“No, but it’s the same idea,” Kinger pointed out.
“So what do we do now?” Scratch asked, leaning his hip against the desk.
A sinking feeling filled Pomni as she straightened her back in the seat. It was starting to sound like there really wasn’t a way to repeat what had happened to Scratch.
“There might be another way,” Caine said, raising a hand to place at his chin in thought.
Silence filled the computer lounge a moment before Scratch pushed himself away from the desk. “Well?”
“It’s also a bit dangerous,” Caine admitted, dropping his hand to his side. “I’ve been going back over what I did and comparing it to the data recorded when Pomni went into Jax’s abstracted form and there’s a lot that happens to the files that are similar.”
“You mean I was close to bringing him back?” Pomni asked, not intently reminding the three she was still in the room.
“Maybe,” Caine tried.
“If we run the diagnostic from here and someone goes inside their mind files, it could work,” Scratch said, following the AI’s train of thought.
“But what about the person who goes in?” Kinger asked. “They come out with glitches in their model, and that’s skipping over how hard it is to pull someone out if something goes wrong.”
“I can fix models,” Caine reminded. “And you all are learning how to create things.”
“Though it is extremely personal inside an abstraction,” Pomni pointed out, rising to her feet and leaving her Christmas present on the sofa. “And, at least with Jax, his mind was segmented. It was a bit of a challenge to find his full self.”
“Okay, so you and I’ll go into Bizco while they’ll monitor everything on this end,” Scratch said, looking down at Pomni.
“Hang on, Scratch,” Kinger said, holding up his hands palm towards his old coworker. “For one, I’d like to have both of your files open so we can keep some sort of visuals on your vitals.”
“Bizco’s file also,” Caine interjected.
Kinger nodded his head before continuing. “Second, it is past one and it’d be better if we were working with clear heads.”
“I’d also like if everyone knew what was going on,” Pomni pointed out. She quickly noticed the look of disappointment on Scratch’s face, getting her to give him a soft smile.
“But you’re willing to help?” Scratch checked.
Anything to bring Jax back. “Yes.”
“I’ll get started setting the room up,” Caine said, already turning towards the second PC in the room. He started picking up the monitor and tower, turning with them still in hand. “You three should get some sleep.”
“Thanks, Caine,” Kinger said, slowly rising up as a yawn escaped him. He snapped his fingers and his robe instantly turned into a stripped nightgown with a night cap covering the cross on his head.
“Looks like I’ve got somethings to catch up on,” Scratch said, looking over Kinger’s outfit change with surprise.
Pomni snickered at Kinger’s showing off as she turned around and picked up her blanket from the sofa. Not bothering to fold it up, she held it in a ball close to her chest and made her way back to the hall of bedrooms. She registered Kinger and Scratch still planning out ideas for what all to do tomorrow, but she was feeling how long the day had been. She slightly made a note that Kinger was going to his room, something he had only recently started to do.
“Night Pomni.”
Pomni looked up, not sure if that had been the first time the greeting had been given. She gave a smile to Kinger as he opened his room’s door and said, “Night, Kinger.”
The father-like figure closed his door behind himself, leaving Scratch and Pomni as they continued onto their rooms. Pomni stopped at her door and turned to Scratch. “Hey, if you need anything, let me know,” Pomni offered, trying to think of what Ragatha might do.
Scratch opened his mouth like he was about to say something only to stop himself and smile. “Thanks,” he said instead. “And thanks for wanting to help.”
“Of course,” Pomni said, not sure how to respond to that. Remembering how quickly he had found Bizco’s abstracted form, she asked, “You and Bizco were close, huh?”
“Uh, you could say that,” Scratch said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Smiling, Pomni reminded, “Guess I’ll find out from him tomorrow.”
Scratch dropped his hand, the small blush leaving his face. “Right.”
“If… if there’s things you know he wouldn’t like me knowing,” Pomni said, the smile dropping as she noticed she had touched on a sore spot. “I don’t have to join you. I just know, when I was in Jax’s mind, it would’ve been nice to have some sort of guide.”
“No, it’s alright,” Scratch offered, looking down at Pomni. “I’d rather have somebody with me, there’s always the risk I could relapse.” He looked down at his hands, playing with the wrist end of his glove, as he added, “Bizco was my – is my husband.”
“Kinda figured that,” Pomni said, smiling as the dog looked back at her with surprise. “It’s not ’99 anymore, remember. Though back then you two couldn’t get married, right?”
“Not officially, but we did have a ceremony,” Scratch offered, a smile coming back on his face. “It’s nice to know things get better.”
“Everyone here’s pretty inclusive,” Pomni tried only for a yawn to cut her off.
“Good night,” Scratch offered, turning to walk down the hallway.
“Night.” Pomni returned, watching him enter his room. She was about to turn to her room when Jax’s door caught her eye again. Remembering how easy it was to make Scratch’s key, Pomni held out a free hand and focused on the door until a metal weight dropped into her palm. She looked down at the key, knowing Jax had always been reserved about his own room but wanted to be closer to him again. Stepping across the hallway, she slid the key in and unlocked the door. She grabbed hold of the door knob and pushed the door in, surprised to find his room was the little girl’s bedroom she had been dreaming about for months now. The book shelf behind the short table and chairs held books that were more in line with being books she could find in the circus library, seeing titles along the bindings that read The Littlest Carny, Secret Tent, and a collection of books from a series called Circus Girls.
Turning around she noticed a few Polaroids tacked up on the wall beside the bed that were never in her dream. Taking a step closer, she realized they were all turned to face the wall. She reached for the closest one to her and turned it around, seeing Jax and Ribbit taking a selfie in the common area.
“You idiot,” Pomni mumbled only to realize she had been crying. Using the hand still wrapped around her blanket, she wiped her cheek and added to his picture self, “She liked you back.”
Putting the picture back on the wall, she quickly flipped over the rest. Fun times stared back at her of Jax with either Ribbit or Kaufmo. One held the three and Ragatha, reminding her the two had been close before Ribbit abstracted.
She froze as she flipped the last one over, finding herself kneeling on his bed by his pillow. It was a candid picture of herself resting her arms on the balcony and looked out at the circus. She went up there sometimes to think, but she couldn’t figure out how he took this picture without her realizing he was there. Looking closer, she noticed the circus’ colors were messed up in the background, putting a cold stone in her chest as she realized when this had been taken. It was one of the few breaks she had allowed herself to have when they were trying to fill in the holes.
When he had needed her the most.
“In this world, the worst thing you can do is make someone think they’re not wanted or loved,” Pomni echoed Kinger’s words, putting the picture back on the wall. “I will fix this.”
Pulling back the covers, Pomni curled up in Jax’s bed, exhaustion making sleep quick to come by.