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Ragatha woke up feeling great. Her blanket was wrapped tightly around her and the artificial sunlight warmed her face. But there was something missing. She reached out to the opposite side of the bed and placed her arm down, expecting it to land on her girlfriend's body and pull her closer. But there was nobody there, her arm simply hitting the bed with a gentle thud.
Confused, Ragatha opened her eye to see Pomni missing from their bed. Pomni was never out of bed before her. Ragatha sat up, beginning to worry that something might’ve happened to the jester. Just before she could call out Pomni’s name, the scent of bacon hit her nose like a train. She smiled and let out a sigh of relief, reasoning that her girlfriend must be making breakfast.
Still in her pajamas, Ragatha made her way out of the bedroom and downstairs to the kitchen. Pomni heard her approaching and smiled at the doll as she tended to the sizzling pan of bacon. Ragatha draped her arms over Pomni’s shoulders and gave her a kiss on the top of the head.
“You’re up early.” The doll said.
“I wanted to do something special for you today.” She replied, pointing towards their kitchen table. On it sat plates of pancakes, eggs, sausages, and assorted fruits. Ragatha was shocked. “You did all of this? I didn’t know you could cook.” Pomni replied with a gentle shrug.
“I don’t think I could’ve ruined it if I wanted to.” She said, thinking back to every night’s dinner that Bubble prepared. If something with no limbs could cook that well, then Pomni knew she would be fine
“Hey, don’t sell yourself short. This looks great hun.” Ragatha said. She leaned forward to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek before making her way to the table. Now finished cooking the bacon, Pomni placed it onto the last plate on the table, and Ragatha started to load up her plate. She took her first bite of pancakes and almost melted. Everything in the circus always tasted good, but because Pomni had made it herself it tasted magnificent. The two ate in silence for a few minutes before Pomni spoke up.
“When do you think we should tell Caine we’re together?” She asked. Ragatha was taken aback by the sudden question but thought about it for a moment. “I always assumed we were just going to wait until he found out.” She replied. Pomni nodded.
“I thought so too, but I think we should tell him ourselves. I feel like we should have control over telling someone something so important, y’know?”
Ragatha thought as she finished off her pancakes. “Why don’t we go and tell everyone else? That’ll give us practice on what we’re going to say, and we could ask them if they think we should tell Caine.” She suggested. Pomni smiled and nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” There wasn’t any adventure planned for today, so the two made their way out of the house and into the main hall.
“So, who do you want to go to first? Not Jax, obviously.” Ragatha said.
“How about Gangle? I think she’d be the most open to us dating.” The jester replied. Ragatha liked that idea, so the two made their way to Gangle’s door. The doll looked down at Pomni and grabbed her hand, and the jester looked back up and smiled, giving her girlfriend a nod.
Ragatha knocked on the door, and a few seconds later it opened to reveal Gangle with her comedy mask. Pomni liked seeing Gangle smile. It was an uncommon sight to see her without its shattered remains in her hands. Jax must not have had the opportunity to break it today.
“Hi guys! Come in come in!” She said. The two stepped into the room and were surprised to see Zooble sitting on a beanbag. The two girls sat down on the couch in the middle of the room, and Gangle sat down on the floor next to Zooble, wrapping a ribbon around their hand.
“So, what brings you guys here?” She asked.
“Well, we wanted to ask you guys something.” She said, turning to her girlfriend. She could tell the jester was already nervous, so she gently squeezed her hand.
“So me and Pomni are...dating, and we-”
“Oh I know.” Gangle interrupted. “You guys make a great couple.”
Ragatha and Pomni’s eyes widened as they both looked at each other. “What do you mean you know?” Pomni asked.
“Well, it was kind of obvious once Zooble pointed it out to me.” She replied. Their eyes moved to Zooble, and they just shrugged. “You two make a cute couple.” They said nonchalantly. Ragatha blinked and shook her head. Was it really that obvious that the two were in love?
“Ok, uh...well that leads to our question then, I guess. Do you think we should tell Caine?” Ragatha asked, to which Gangle replied with a shrug. “I’m not sure. I haven’t told him about me and Zooble and he doesn’t seem to know yet.”
“We haven’t told anyone about us yet, Gangle.” Zooble said with mild annoyance. Gangle frowned slightly and shrunk into herself, letting out a quiet “oops.” Zooble sighed and gave her a gentle pat on the head. “It’s alright. I wanted you two to be the first to know anyway.” They said, turning back to face the two on the couch. “I say tell him. I mean, he’s gonna find out eventually, right? Just rip it off, like a bandaid.”
Pomni nodded and smiled. “Right. Thanks for the help, Zooble. You too Gangle.” She said as the two rose from the couch, making their way towards the door.
“Good luck!” Gangle called out. Ragatha turned back around to face her. “We’ll let you guys know how it goes.” She said, stepping out and shutting the door behind them.
“Are we really that obvious?” Pomni asked, looking up at her girlfriend, who shrugged. “Maybe. But Caine is also oblivious. Why don’t we go see what Kinger thinks?”
Pomni nodded, and the two were soon knocking on the chess piece’s door. The door swung up almost immediately, which made the girls jump, which in turn made Kinger scream.
“Oh! Pomni and Ragatha. You startled me.” He exclaimed. “What can I do for you?”
“Oh, we actually just had a quick-”
“Is it obvious that we’re dating?” Pomni interrupted.
“Oh yes, very obvious.” He replied, which led to Pomni face palming and letting out a quiet groan.
“You two remind me of me and Queenie. I’ll have to introduce her to you sometime, Pomni.” Kinger said. Pomni and Ragatha both cringed. Pomni had been told the story about Queenie and how Kinger often thought she was still around.
“I uh...I’d love to meet her sometime Kinger. S-Some other time though...” She stuttered out with an awkward smile.
“Wonderful! Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s some insect collecting I need to take care of.” Kinger said, before abruptly slamming the door in the girls' faces. Pomni looked up at Ragatha, who simply replied with an awkward chuckle.
“One last person...” Pomni said quietly, turning her attention towards Jax’s door.
“I don’t know, should we ask him?” Ragatha asked, thinking about how Jax could react to the information. Best case scenario, he just doesn’t care. Worst case scenario, he used it as blackmail over the two for the rest of time.
“Well, we never got to ask Kinger what he thought, and I want at least one more opinion. We can just be quick and blunt about it, ok?” Pomni said, giving her girlfriend’s hand a squeeze. Ragatha let out a small sigh and smiled. “Ok.”
The two reached the rabbit’s door and took a deep breath before knocking. Jax opened the door, his signature $#!^ eating grin on his face. “Hello Dollface. Shortstack. What can I do for you this fine morning?” He asked. Ragtha took a deep breath, already seeming to get annoyed by Jax, which prompted another gentle squeeze from Pomni’s hand.
“Is it obvious that we’re dating?” The doll asked. The rabbit let out a chuckle. “Extremely obvious. It’s sickening seeing the way you two look at each other sometimes.”
Ragatha brushed off the thinly veiled insult from Jax. “Do you think we should tell Caine?” She asked. Jax rolled his eyes. “Sheesh, what am I, your therapist?” He remarked. “Look, we’ve got forever to work with here, and you two won't be able to keep it a secret for that long.”
Jax was right. There was no way the two would be able to keep their relationship from Caine forever. The two thanked Jax before making their way back down the main hall. Pomni looked up at Ragatha and smiled. “Here we go.” She said sheepishly. Ragatha smiled back and gave Pomni a quick kiss. “It’s gonna be fine. We’ll be fine.” She replied, before yelling out for Caine. The pair of dentures appeared before them in a cloud of smoke.
“HELLO SUPERSTARS! WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU? ARE YOU LOOKING TO GO ON ANOTHER EXCITING ADVENTURE?” Caine asked in his always too excited tone.
“Uh, no, not right now. We actually have something we need to tell you.” Ragatha said. Caine seemed to sense the importance of the conversation and toned himself down a little. “OF COURSE.” He raised his hand and snapped, and a couch and chair appeared in front of them. Ragatha and Pomni once again took the couch, and Caine sat down in the chair. This is the first time Pomni had seen him touch the floor.
“WHAT IS IT YOU TWO NEED TO TELL ME?” He asked. Ragatha looked over to Pomni, who was now visibly shaking, although Caine didn’t seem to notice. Ragatha smiled and took Pomni’s hand, and Pomni looked up and smiled back. The doll turned back to face Caine.
“Me and Pomni are dating.”
Caine stared back at them blankly, the silence between them almost deafening. Pomni would’ve started hyperventilating if Ragatha hadn't spoken up again.
“Is that...ok?” She timidly asked.
“WELL...ARE YOU TWO HAPPY?” The girls both rapidly nodded their heads. “ARE YOU KEEPING IT FAMILY FRIENDLY IN FRONT OF OUR AUDIENCE?” He asked, turning around to face...well, nothing. Nothing that Ragatha or Pomni could see anyway. “Uh...yes?” The doll replied.
“WELL THEN WHY WOULD I CARE? IF IT KEEPS YOU HAPPY AND UN-ABSTRACTED, THEN BY GOLLY DATE WHOEVER YOU WANT!” He said, snapping his fingers and dissolving the chairs. The girls fell down to the ground with a thud and a groan.
“WELL, THIS WAS A FUN CONVERSATION. FAREWELL MY SUPERSTARS!” And with that, Caine was gone. The two looked at each other for a moment in silence. Ragatha noticed tears were brimming in Pomni’s eyes, but then realized there were tears in her eye as well. They both started laughing and wiping their tears away. Ragatha grabbed Pomni and pulled her close, and Pomni closed the gap by placing her lips against Ragatha’s.
Finally, they could live as they wanted to (as long as it was appropriate for the “Audience”) and no longer fear what Caine would think if he found out. They could be themselves, out and happy in front of every-
“You see, this is what I mean by sickening! Get a room!” Jax yelled from the end of the hall. The girls looked at each other, shrugged, and kept kissing, ignoring the rants of the rabbit behind them.