Chapter Text
Jax’s pov
Several days after Jax’s recovery, after everyone realized he was cured.
“How’d you do it?” Pomni asked as she and Jax walked along the outside of the main tent. They were doing an in-house teams adventure today, and the pair had been assigned to work together. The adventure involved searching the Grounds for clues within a scavenger’s hunt.
Jax was walking with his hands behind his head leisurely, cocking an eyebrow at Pomni. “Do what?” He asked back.
“How’d you convince Gangle to give you guys a shot? After everything? And after all that time of you being… well, you?” She clarified, speaking as though this had been weighing on her mind for some time.
Jax gave her an amused smile. “First off, rude. Second off, you just got here! Whaddaya mean ‘after all that time’? You don’t know what I was like before.” He said in a mock offended tone.
Pomni rolled her eyes. “I’ve heard stories.” She muttered as she crouched down to look in some brushes. “Even besides all that, I just… I dunno. I guess I’m just trying to wrap my head around how dating even works here.” She puzzled out loud.
Suspicion crept into Jax’s features. “Wait, are you… are you seriously asking me for relationship advice? Ha!” He stuttered out with a laugh.
Pomni pushed herself up to standing and shot Jax a look. “Yeah, well, by some weird twist of fate, you’re in the only romantic relationship in here and it seems to be surprisingly decent!” She shot back while brushing dirt off her knees.
Jax chose to ignore the ‘surprisingly decent’ part and asked. “Why ask me? Why not ask Gangle?”
“Because by some other twist of fate, I’m closer to you.” Pomni answered honestly. Jax thought about that for a moment and realized it was true. The two of them had naturally drifted closer together and when Jax wasn’t with Gangle, he was often with Pomni. Did she consider them friends? Jax… maybe didn’t hate that idea. Not that he'd say that out loud.
“Hrm… so this is about Ragatha, right?” Jax started, looking over at Pomni with a bit more interest. Pomni looked away and mumbled something about just making conversation. Jax decided there was no way he wasn’t letting her off that easily. “I mean, I guess I shouldn’t assume. It could be about Zooble.” He teased.
Pomni gave an awkward smile. “Zooble seems great and all, but… not really my type.” She admitted as they continued on. They’d both forgotten what they we’re supposed to be looking for and we’re too engrossed in their conversation to care.
“Caine then?” Jax suggested next, much to Pomni’s surprise.
“He’s a computer program.” She countered.
“Oh, so he can’t feel love? How presumptuous!” Jax responded in a mockingly scolding tone.
Pomni chuckled a little at that. “Fair enough. Honestly though, if Caine were to go for anyone, I kinda assumed it’d be Zooble.” She mused. Now it was Jax’s turn to look surprised. “I mean, he just seems to focus on them so much! And the way they bicker kinda… I don’t know.” Pomni rambled, then gave up on trying to defend her stance.
Jax could kind of see where she was coming from now that he was thinking about it. Would Caine actually be masochistic enough to fall for the person most fed up with him? Something to think on later perhaps. He wasn’t done teasing Pomni about her potential love life.
“Hrmmm, Kinger is a little old for you, not gonna lie.” He stated, and Pomni smiled and shook her head. “And Gangle is very much spoken for. Don’t go getting any ideas, jester.” He warned in a mostly joking manner.
Pomni chuckled, openly and relaxed. People did that around him now. He was still getting used to it.
“No, you… you were right the first time.” Pomni confessed, looking sheepish as they approached the digital lake.
“Well, good luck with that! Ragatha isn't great at being emotionally genuine.” Jax snarked while lazily kicking some rocks over.
“You’re one to talk.” Pomni snarked back.
“Exactly. If I’m the one saying her walls are high, you can take that to the bank.” Jax said definitively.
“Okay, but… you got better! If things can change for you, they can change for her, right?” Pomni insisted. Her voice was more desperate than Jax was expecting. When he looked at her, she was sitting on the ground with her knees close to her chest, tossing stones into the lake.
Jax frowned, he didn’t like people bringing up how he'd changed. He had changed, there was no denying it. If they’d had this conversation a few weeks earlier, Jax would have laughed at Pomni and cheerfully told her about Ragatha’s pattern of being enamored by every feminine newcomer for a time. But now, he was holding his tongue. Jax wasn’t sure if he fully believed this time was different for Ragatha, but he decided that he didn’t want to be the reason it didn’t happen.
With an annoyed sigh, Jax plopped on the ground next to Pomni. He had no idea what to say. Just because he wasn’t making things worse didn't mean he knew how to make it better. After a while though, Pomni spoke. “How… do I get through to her?” Her voice was soft and downcast. “How did Gangle get through to you?” She asked, turning to look at Jax.
Jax grimaced and said. “Do you want the nice answer or the true answer?”
Pomni squinted at him for a moment. “Nice?” She tried.
“Go ask Gangle.” Jax responded bluntly.
“Okay, true.” Pomni conceded.
Jax trained his gaze on the lake and answered before he could convince himself not to. “Gangle didn’t break me out of my walls. She just… gave me an out and I took it.” He left off the part about him almost doubling back to the status quo. He'd come so close to pushing her away again, like he had countless times before. Gangle hadn’t backed down easily when giving him this chance, but it’d still been his choice to take it. And he was still choosing everyday by trying not to fall back into his old, comfortable, distant archetype. Ragatha had been in the circus much longer than Jax had been, and she’d had her people-pleaser shield up the entire time he'd known her.
“You’re not going to be able to force Ragatha’s walls down. If she's not willing to drop the fake-happy act, then you can’t make her. Trust me.” Jax hated how sincere he sounded. He was fighting the urge to make a joke and said something dumb to break the tension.
Pomni thought on this for a moment before asking. “Why did you finally drop your walls?”
Jax rubbed his neck and shrugged. “I dunno. The potion helped, I think. Gave me an excuse to be different for a bit. …We could try that on Ragatha.” Jax suggested, half joking. “Honestly it might actually work!”
“No.” Pomni quipped.
“Just a placebo then!” Jax offered, grin returning.
“No. We’re not tricking-” Pomni got cut off as Jax stood up.
“Hang on, I’m formulating a plan!” He said rubbing his hands together. “All we need is a bottle and some food coloring…”
“Jax!” Pomni shouted exasperatedly, but she was smiling now.
It took the rest of the adventure for Pomni to convince Jax not to fake-roofie Ragatha into opening up emotionally. Jax still thought it was a good plan.