Chapter Text
The entire circus crew met in the main room of the tent, waiting for Caine to give them today’s adventure. Looking around, Ragatha could see Gangle showing everyone her new comedy mask, Zooble standing around looking bored, Kinger trying his best not to scream, and Jax looking smug as always.
However, one person was missing from this odd group. “Has anyone seen Pomni?” Ragatha asked. Ever since the fiasco with Kaufmo yesterday, she had worried about their newest member. It’s bad enough to realize that your consciousness is trapped in a digital circus, but it’s another to almost get killed by a fellow performer who abstracted.
“Nope, haven’t seen her,” Jax answered. “Maybe she wandered off into the void again,”
Ragatha asked the others where Pomni was but, like with Jax, they did not know where she was. She was about to head to Pomni’s room when she felt something staring at her. When she turned around, Ragatha saw Pomni staring at her with her multicolored pupils.
“Boo!” She shouted, which startled Ragatha, “Did I scare you!? Sorry, I know it might be too soon for that because of yesterday. But what do I know!? I’m just Pomni, the silly jester!”
Pomni began doing cartwheels around the room while laughing like a Looney Tunes character, absolutely baffling Ragatha. Even Jax was confused. “What the heck is going on here?” He said as Pomni pulled out a banana peel.
“Oh boy, I do love my banana peels!” She said before dropping it on the ground. “Whoops! Clumsy me! I should pick it up!” But that’s not what she did. Instead, she stepped on it and slipped off the floor, falling on her back in a comedic fashion.
“I don’t know if I should be amused or terrified,” Jax said. “... definitely amused.”
“I don’t believe it!” Kinger said, standing behind Jax and Ragatha. “She’s reached the perfect amount of insanity!”
“What are you talking about?” Ragatha asked.
“It’s just enough insanity to dissociate yourself from reality, but not too much as to mentally break and, you know… abstract.” He turned his attention to Pomni. “It took me years to reach that point, yet it only took you a day!? You must have been a very mentally unstable person when you were human!”
“You’re probably right, Kinger!” Pomni said. “My brain’s all messed up!” She then ran towards Gangle and swiped her comedy mask from her string hands. “Let’s see if we can give it a kick!” Pomni slammed the mask on her forehead, breaking it into little pieces much to Gangle’s dismay.
“Nope!” said Pomni. “Still crazy!”
The commotion made Zooble approach Jax. “What’s happening?” She asked.
“Pomni lost it,” Jax replied.
“Really, that quick?”
“I know!” Kinger said. “Isn’t it remarkable!?”
“Hey, Kinger!” Pomni said as she jumped toward him. “Wanna hear a joke!?”
“Oh, yes, please!”
“Knock knock!”
“Who’s there!”
“Cheese!”
Kinger burst into laughter, “Cheese can’t talk, let alone knock on doors! I must say you’re much more entertaining than Kaufmo was!”
As Kinger and Pomni talked, the rest were watching them with different emotions going through them. Zooble was annoyed that there were now two Kingers, Jax was just enjoying the entertainment in front of him, Gangle was upset that her comedy mask broke yet again, and Ragatha was worried about what little mental health Pomni had left.
“Hey, wanna see something cool!” Pomni said before pulling her left arm off her body. “Detachable back scratcher!” She then used her detached arm to scratch her back.
“Oh, I can do that too!” Kinger said before grabbing his floating right hand like a baseball and throwing it across the room. “.... I should probably go get that.”
After Kinger left Pomni’s company to retrieve his hand, Caine appeared above the performers, floating in midair. “Hello, everyone!” He shouted. “Sorry I’m late. I was getting my facial, or as other people call it… brushing my teeth!”
No one except Pomni laughed at Caine. “Ah, I get it. Cause your head is just teeth. This guy, amirite!?”
“My my, Pomni, you seem to be in high spirits today! Quite surprising considering what happened yesterday!”
“Ah, water under the bridge! Or in this case, weird monster glitch thing under the… watcha call it?”
“The Cellar?”
“Yeah, the Cellar!”
“Well, I’m glad you're making yourself at home here, both physically and mentally! Just make sure you don’t go too crazy or else you’ll be going into The Cellar yourself!”
Pomni’s right eye twitched upon hearing that. “Y-yeah… don’t worry about me.”
Kinger returned to the group with his other hand as Caine flew higher up in the room. “Now, I’ve thought long and hard about what today’s adventure would be during my facial-”
Caine was interrupted by the laughter of Kinger, “Your facial! Oh, I love that joke, it always gets me!”
Caine cleared his throat, “As I was saying, after some thinking I’ve come up with a perfect adventure. One that’ll help our newest jester get familiar with the outside of the tent! Today’s adventure will be…… Annual Outdoor Scavenger Hunt!”
The cheer of Kinger and the groan of Zooble could be heard in the crowd. Jax simply chuckled, as he was the champion at this game. Caine continued, “For those who haven’t played, Pomni, the goal of the adventure is simple! I’ve hidden 10 blocks of various shapes throughout the outdoors. Your goal is to find them all before the day is over! If you do, you will all receive a fantastic prize!”
“No theme song today?” Jax said.
“Sorry, Jax, but I’m very busy today. In a couple of minutes, I have a massage that will take as much time as needed for you to complete the adventure! Bye bye!” Caine immediately disappeared.
Jax shrugged, “Wasn’t complainin’, saves us time. Anyway, time to get that prize.”
“You guys do that,” Zooble said as she headed out for the exit. “I’m gonna relax on the Ferris Wheel.”
As everyone left to find the blocks, Ragatha approached Pomni. “Hey, Pomni, we should work together on this. I know the outside pretty well, and two heads are better than one.”
“Two heads?” Pomni said before casually taking off her head as if it were a helmet. “What if I have no head?” She then laughed, which made Ragatha feel like she had to laugh too, so she gave out a nervous one.
Pomni put her head back on before jumping onto Ragatha’s back. “But you’re right, you know this land like the back of your hand! You can be my noble steed for this adventure! Hi ho, Ragatha, away!”
The doll sighed as she carried Pomni out of the tent. It was a good thing she wasn’t that heavy. The main reason why she wanted to pair up with Pomni was purely out of concern for her mental health. In some ways it was understandable, but to Ragatha it looked like she was close to suffering the same fate as Kaufmo.
Today’s adventure might be a scavenger hunt for the rest of the performers, but for her, it was making sure Pomni didn’t completely lose it.