Chapter Text
Serene was not the typical word to describe the circus, but sitting on a boat in the middle of the digital lake had given Pomni her first taste of calm since she arrived in this digital nightmare. Today Caine had set up a fishing adventure for the group. No score, no creatures, no competition, just spend some time catching fish. To try to force some social interaction, Caine only spawned in three boats and teleported all of them in random pairs to the boats. Ragatha was with Gangle, Jax got stuck with Kinger, and Pomni was with Zooble.
Pomni was admittedly a bit intimidated by Zooble. The two of them hardly ever talked, and despite Ragatha’s reassurances that Zooble was like that with everybody, Pomni couldn’t help but think that she might’ve done something to upset them at some point. Despite this, Zooble was probably the best person to share a boat with, since Pomni knew they wouldn’t want to try to talk to her. She was free to enjoy the blue, pixelated water of the lake. Of course, nothing nice could last very long, as Pomni was broken out of her thoughts by the sound of someone shouting.
“Hey Pomni!” The jester turned to see Jax and Kinger’s boat had floated close to them. “You ever see someone play bowling with a fish?” Pomni shook her head in confusion, but a feeling of dread bubbled up in her stomach. That tended to happen when Jax was close. He wound his arm back, and just as Pomni realized what he was doing he launched the fish towards her. She managed to duck, the fish flying right over her head and right into Zooble. It hit them square in the back and the sound of bowling pins being knocked down played as their body parts scattered into the water. Zooble yelled as their head flew through the air, but Pomni managed to catch them just before they hit the water.
“Well, now you have!” Jax shouted, snickering as his boat floated away from theirs. “Ugh, what the #&!$ Pomni?” Zooble groaned, shooting daggers with their eyes at the jester. “W-What? I didn’t do anything! Jax threw a fish so I ducked and-” “And let it hit me?”
Pomni’s face flushed bright red in embarrassment and she turned away, mumbling a quiet “sorry”. She carefully placed Zooble’s head down on the floor of the boat. “S-Should we go find Caine? He could teleport your body back to you, right?” Pomni asked, to which Zooble replied with a grumble.
“For some bull$#!^ reason Caine can only teleport me if I’m whole. Which means I have to wait until the adventure is over for my body to teleport itself back to my room.” They explained. “And since this is a ‘chill’ adventure, chances are Caine will let it go until dinner. AKA the rest of the god %#$! day.” Welp, if Zooble didn’t hate her before they surely did now.
“Um...I’m guessing you don’t want to be out on the water anymore?” Pomni asked timidly. “Oh god no. Get me back to my room, will you?” The jester nodded, rowing them back to shore and carefully picking up Zooble’s head. The walk back to their room was agonizingly awkward. Pomni was begging that she wasn’t somehow holding their head the wrong way. Now at Zooble’s room, Pomni tucked Zooble under her arm so she could open the door.
Zooble’s room looked pretty much exactly how Pomni would’ve guessed. Different shapes, patterns and colors were practically thrown against the walls and ceiling. In one corner of the room lay a couple of chests labeled “Zooble parts”. Pomni gently placed their head down onto their bed.
“I’m um...I’m sorry about what happened. I-I promise it wasn’t on purpose. I’ll leave you be now...” Pomni made her way to the door.
“Wait.”
Pomni froze just before she stepped out of the room, turning back around to face Zooble.
“I can’t believe I’m asking this.” They muttered, looking away from the jester. “But would you mind staying until my body gets back?” Pomni was taken aback, surprised that they would want her around after what happened, but she nodded and returned to the bed, sitting down on a chair next to it. “I would’ve thought you’d want to be left alone.”
“Normally, yeah. Being alone is great when you’re able to move around. Just a head, not so much.”
Pomni nodded, and for a while the two sat together in silence. Pomni wasn’t the most comfortable, but she wasn’t about to just leave Zooble after being asked to stay, especially when this was probably the only opportunity she would have to talk with them one on one for a while.
“Hey Zooble...you don’t hate me, do you?” Pomni quietly asked, which earned a confused look from Zooble. “What makes you think I hate you?” They asked.
“Well, everyone else has made an effort to kinda get to know me better except you. I don’t know if it was because of how bad my first day was, or if I did something else to upset you somehow.”
Zooble let out a low chuckle and rolled their eyes. “You didn’t do anything, Pomni. I’m bad with people. It’s nothing personal.” They explained. Pomni was relieved.
“I mean, if you want, we can try to get to know each other if I’m going to be here for a while.” She suggested. Zooble thought for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh. “Sure, why not.”
The two chatted for a while, talking about their time at the circus, what they could remember from the real world, and whatever else came to mind. After what seemed like a few hours, Pomni heard a multitude of thuds and bumps next to her, turning to see Zooble’s body had teleported onto the floor next to her.
“Ugh, finally.” Zooble grumbled, looking up at Pomni. “No offense. Talking with you was...not awful. But being able to move is better.” Pomni let out a chuckle and grabbed the various body parts. She started with placing Zooble’s head back onto their body, and went to put their arm on the left side-
“Arm goes on the right.” Zooble interjected. “My wing goes above it, and the claw goes on the other side.”
“Oh, right. Sorry.” Pomni said, placing the pieces back in the order she was told.
“Don’t be.” They replied, grabbing their legs and pendant and reattaching them themself. Zooble stood up and stretched, letting out a grunt. “You don’t know this $#!^show of a body as well as I do.” Pomni frowned at the comment. She knew a whole lot about hating your own body. Hers was made of some weird rubber, almost trying to imitate human skin. She knew that self love talk wasn’t going to help, especially with Zooble, so she did the next best thing that came to mind. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around them, pulling them into a tight hug. Zooble stumbled back, arms raised awkwardly above the jester.
“What are you doing?”
“You look like you need a hug.”
“I don’t.”
“Well you’re getting one anyway.”
Zooble scoffed and rolled their eyes, but made no attempt to push her away, eventually even laying their hand atop Pomni’s head. Once she pulled away, Pomni swore she saw a slight hint of blush across their face.
“Not a $%#!ing word about that to anyone else, you hear?” Zooble said. Pomni nodded, her own face slightly red as she hoped she didn’t go too far. As she reached for the doorknob, Pomni heard them call out for her again.
“Hey. Come back sometime.” They said. Pomni smiled and nodded at them again before stepping out the door.