Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Today was not a good day for Pomni. 

Caine’s adventure for the day had been some ridiculous quest where everyone had to find a giant egg to cook Bubble an omelet. Everything had been going well, until the mother hen for the egg had shown up. What followed was the entire circus getting chased around by a giant chicken until they managed to shove it through one of the doors to nothingness that could be found all over the Tent.

After cooking the omelet, Bubble proceeded to eat it in one bite, telling them “It needed more salt.” Before just flying off.

Once mealtime had wrapped up, the performers all went their separate ways, excited to get some alone time after the teamwork-oriented adventure.

Pomni didn’t know how to feel about it all. Sure, Jax was infuriating, Zooble was snarky, Kinger was loud and Gangle wasn’t much for conversation… but Ragatha was nice! And the others weren’t all bad! Zooble had a hard exterior, but every now and again, they had shown that they really did care. Kinger was a sweetheart when he could remember your name, and Gangle’s quiet demeanor had made her a nice change of pace from the rest of the group. Jax… was Jax, but on the worst days, when Caine had run everyone ragged with an especially torturous day of questing, Pomni thought that she could see a more 'real' side of him...

But despite all of that, she still didn’t want to be here. Pomni cared about this strange found family she had found herself in, she cared a lot. But that led her to the question that worried her the most: Would she choose them over leaving? If Pomni found a real way to escape, but it would mean that all of the friends she had made in the Digital Circus would remain trapped, would she take the chance? 

The arduous task of making the adventure omelet was tedious, but Pomni had almost enjoyed herself. It had been a fun bonding experience, and it left the jester more conflicted than ever before. She didn’t want to stay here, but was the outside world any better? She could barely remember her old life, would she get her memories back when she left? Or would she still be Pomni when she got out, who would have to relearn a whole new cast of people again? 

Static seemed to fill her vision, and small inky tears trailed down Pomni’s cheeks. If she could leave, and take the other inhabitants of the Digital Circus with her, she’d do it in a heartbeat, but there were no guarantees that it would happen.

Pomni’s breathing grew erratic, and she could feel her chest tighten. She was on the verge of a panic attack. 

Should she call for someone? Open her door and hope to find a comforting presence to lend her a hand? No, they all had a long day too, no one should be burdened by her nonsensical thoughts of freedom anyways.

After all, it’s not like there was a way to escape…

There was no escape… No escape. No escape. No. Escape. NO. ESCAPE. NO ESCAPE NO ESCAPE NO ESCAPE NOESCAPENOESCAPENOESCAPENOESCAPENOESCAPENOESCAPENOESCAPENOESCAPENOESCAPENOESCAPENOESCAPENOESCAPEṄ̴͕̆̃̄̿̎̂O̸̢̢͓̻̮̭͓̗̥̠͎̬͑̃͐͊͊͋͐̇ ̴̛̥̞̲̘̹̯̫̒̌̅̊̓̏̈̑͗͘͝Ę̸̜̻̣̠̭̲̣̟̦̗̣̒S̷̙̗͉̤͙͕̹̈́͑̀̈́͛̿͠Ç̸̢̫̜͎͚̞̭͚̙͎̫̲͒̑͐̊̽Ȧ̷̲̹̟̆̀̋̀̾̿̌͜— Juggling!

Pomni’s eyes opened with confusion at that thought. Juggling? Why would she juggle? 

An instinct in her brain seemed to whisper to her, “Just do it! You’ll feel better!”

With her eyes still full of scribbles and tears, Pomni dragged herself forwards, ending up at a cartoonish toy chest in the corner of her room. Opening it up, she looked inside to find a void-like space of sorts, filled with an endless supply of anything and everything jester or clown related, even just generic circus supplies.

Reaching in, Pomni pulled out a set of juggling pins, and she shrugged before tossing them into the air and juggling. The act came naturally to her, and as each pin came down, a different one would come up.

Pomni didn’t notice—too busy juggling—but a smile had found itself on her face. The action was simple and repetitive, but it grounded her. 

Back and forth, up and down. Red pin, blue pin, yellow pin, green pin, and start over…

She continued like that for some time. How much, she didn’t know. All she knew was that this action had come to her on instinct, and it was working. A giggle bubbled out of her throat, though it was nothing like that of her insane laughter from when she was on the verge of a mental breakdown, but instead was a genuine noise of joy. 

When she had calmed down and finished her impromptu juggling act, Pomni dropped the pins into the toy chest, pulling out various other items and just… having fun with them. She swallowed swords, did magic acts, even tight-rope walked across her room! It was strange, but Pomni found that being a jester had come with some upsides. 

Pomni hadn’t smiled this much in months, and she was glad to have finally found some kind of entertainment that didn’t leave her at Caine’s mercy!

She was doing her final stunt in this one-woman act for an invisible audience, a high dive into a basin of water, when her door opened. Pomni hadn’t actually noticed yet, too busy with her ‘act’.

Jax walked through the door right as she landed in the basin, and he quickly ducked into a corner, avoiding a splash of water. He prepared to speak, give the little jester a piece of his mind, but stopped when he saw her.

Pomni climbed out of the basin, facing away from Jax. She tossed the high-diving supplies into the toy chest and faced a crowd of nonexistent fans, taking a bow. “Thank you all for coming to Pomni’s solo showing! Next time, I’ll be doing a knife toss, firing myself from a cannon, and even sawing myself in half! Be prepared folks!”

Jax's expression became something unreadable, though it seemed to be something positive...

Clapping came from behind her, and Pomni froze. Turning, she saw Jax, who had his signature smug grin plastered on his face. “Heh, bravo, eh Pomni?”

“J-J-Jax! What are you doing here?” Pomni stuttered out, suddenly losing all of her confidence. 

“Well, I did come her to tell you that it’s time for our next little adventure, but then I walked in to see you jump offa that tower for no reason at all. Mind letting me in on whatever was going on just now?”

Pomni blushed in embarrassment. “It was n-nothing. I-I was just following my instincts. How the heck can it be time for another adventure? The last one just finished a few minutes ago!”

“Hate to break it to ya, new stuff, but it’s been hours. The whole night’s done passed.” Jax put his hands behind his head lazily. “But whaddya mean ‘following your instincts’?”

“Oh, I… I was having a panic attack earlier, and a little voice in my head told me to start juggling. I did it, and it actually really helped me. Turns out that this body is more than just a body. I’m actually a little talented at all this generic circus, clown, jester stuff. Minus jokes, I sucked at that… Anyways, I was having so much fun that I guess I spent the entire night just doing that stuff! Thank goodness we don’t need to sleep.”

Jax shrugged, walking up to the toy chest and peering inside. “Well, we ought to get back to Caine and his adventure, but first, I want to teach you a little something about this world. One that’ll really come in handy for you…”

Chapter Text

“Jax, what are you doing?” Pomni watched in confusion as Jax took each and every item out of her toy chest, laying them out on the ground. Despite the ridiculous amounts of objects that came out, the treasure chest refused to empty. 

“Gah! How is there still more [BLEEP!] in this [BLEEP!]ing treasure chest!? I’ve been taking stuff out for the past ten minutes!” Jax seemed to get more irritated as time went on.

“Er- well, clowns have that whole gimmick about fitting way too many things into too small spaces. Though, I’m not a clown…”

“Don’t put too much thought into it, toots.” Jax shrugged. “This world operates on the logic of a kids show. When I first showed up here, my room was filled with carrots. Carrots aren’t even good for rabbits! It’s only ‘cause of Bugs Bunny that everyone thinks they love ‘em!” An awkward silence followed that outburst “...Anyways, You wear bright colors and have permanent face paint, that’s enough for this place to call you a jester, clown, magician, and all the other similar [BLEEP!].”

Pomni blanked at that. “That… explains a lot.”

“Yeah, you actually got pretty lucky with your gimmick. A rabbit like me gets some bonuses from the jumping stuff, but it mostly just becomes way too many carrots way too fast. Zooble’s room is full of paint and abstract art, while Ragatha gets sewing supplies. Gangle’s room is full of acting and theater junk, while I assume Kinger’s used to be a chessboard.”

“Used to be?”

Jax rolled his eyes, a chuckle escaping his mouth as he did so. “He covered it in so many pillows, knick-knacks and bugs that you can’t even see the floor anymore. It’s almost sad.”

The conversation screeched to a halt, and Jax facepalmed, dragging his hand down his face. “Uuuuughhh… how is this stupid chest still not empty!? Alright- fine, I give up!” He threw his hands in the air and slammed the lid of the toy chest shut.

Pomni cringed at the pile of stuff that now covered the floor. That would be awful to clean up. “So… what were you trying to teach me, anyways?”

Jax sighed. “Well, this endless box here has hammerspace, which is where you can nearly infinitely pull items out of a space they should not be able to fit. Since we all have the bodies of cartoon characters, we all have our own hammer spaces, but we call them inventories.” Jax reached into the pocket on the front of his overalls and pulled out a massive tarantula as an example, waving it in Pomni’s face before he stuffed it back inside. “I was going to teach you how to put all of that clown-[BLEEP!] into your inventory, but there seems to be an infinite supply of stuff in there.”

“And why would you teach me all this?” Pomni asked.

“I have my reasons,” Jax replied noncommittally. “For the record, I ain’t helping you clean this up.”

An idea came to Pomni, and a lightbulb literally appeared over her head, which immediately fell and crashed onto her head. “Jax, I have an idea—Ow!”

—

Leaving Pomni’s room, Jax and the jester exchanged knowing smiles. 

They had successfully filled Pomni’s inventory with the contents of the toy chest by filling the box with everything Jax had taken out (The rabbit was true to his word in that he did not help), before they simply turned the chest over and let everything pour out into Pomni’s pockets, which never filled up, no matter how much fell inside.

Pomni was happy because she now had access to the only things that had ever calmed her down from a panic attack, and Jax was happy for reasons he had yet to explain.

“You still haven’t told me why you were so enthusiastic to help me,” Pomni crossed her arms warily. “What’s your game, Jax?”

“Hey, can’t I just try to help the newbie out? Not everything I do has to have an ulterior motive does it?”

“Well yeah, but-”

Ragatha jogged up to the duo, clearly out of breath. “Where—hah—where have you two been!? Jax, Caine sent you to get Pomni half an hour ago!”

Pomni cringed. “Sorry Ragatha! Jax was teaching me about inventories, and I guess we got a little side-tracked. It’s my-”

“It’s MY fault,” Jax steamrolled past Pomni, diverting Ragatha’s attention from the jester. “I saw a chance to mess with new stuff, and it got out of hand. You shoulda seen her face when I dropped that spider in her room!”

Ragatha glared at Jax, not noticing Pomni’s denial that that had happened. “That isn’t very nice, Jax! But no time for arguing, Caine’s going to have an aneurism if we don’t start this adventure soon.” Ragatha turned and began to speed back to the main hall of the tent, and the other two followed.

As they went, Pomni harshly whispered at Jax, even more disturbed by his taking of the blame for being late. “Why did you take credit for that? Everyone’s going to be extra mad at you for wasting more of their time!”

Jax winked at her, a sly grin on his face. “‘Cause now you owe me two. One for teaching you how to work your inventory, and one for this.”

Pomni made a face and almost made a reply, only to decide it wasn’t worth it. What reason did Jax have to try and build up favors from her of all people? Pomni wasn’t exactly known for being the brave type, what did he possibly think she would actually do for him?

—

“Hello, Superstars!” Caine twirled his cane in the air, pointing it at Jax and Pomni. “Glad you finally decided to show up.” 

Pomni flinched at his impatient tone, but Jax stepped in front of her. “Don't blame Pom-Pom over here, she wanted to get going, but I took too long messing with her. It is entirely my fault.”

All the other members of the circus gave Jax skeptic looks, familiar with the rabbit's schemes. On the other hand, Caine seemed to take this in stride. “What a surprising display of honesty, Jax my boy! You know what, I'll let you off the hook this time! You don't have to clean out the Digital Outhouse this month!”

When Caine turned around to look at the others, Jax flashed Pomni a grin, holding up three fingers, a sign that he had just gotten himself a third favor.

Pomni only half listened as Caine explained the day's adventure. It didn't really make a difference if she knew what was going to happen or not, it would all turn out the same anyways.

When she heard something about “Tag, but with more knives!” and decided now would be a good time to tune in.

“-today's challenge is to avoid the Mixers!” Caine snapped his fingers and three NPC dolls appeared inside of a see-through dome, though they looked a little different. Each wooden figure was a dark purple, and they held large butcher's cleavers, twitching and glitching constantly.

“If a Mixer gets you, well, let's just say I'm glad blood doesn't exist in this world!” Caine gave a hearty laugh, before summoning a regular NPC inside of the dome. As soon as the Mixers saw it, they tackled the doll, mauling it brutally.

After a minute or two, the non-Mixer NPC vanished, before reappearing in a large floating cage. Hanging from the cage was a sign that read “LOSERS!” in a messy script, probably written by Bubble.

“Last one standing gets a VERY special prize!” 

The circus members looked at the Mixers with growing apprehension. 

“Oh yeah, I forgot, but there's also this.” Caine stomped his foot and the floor vanished, dropping everyone into a large maze. “You get a ten second head start before the Mixers get released! Hahaha—” His eyes turned pitch black. “Start running.”

Chapter Text

As Caine counted down, everyone began to split up and run down the various halls and corridors of the maze they now found themselves in. Ragatha went South, Gangle and Kinger went West, Zooble went East, while Pomni and Jax went North. 

Once the countdown reached zero, Pomni could hear the dome around the Mixers shatter, and the violent screeches coming from the now free killer dolls.

When they reached a crossroads, Pomni made to go left, but Jax grabbed her hand and went to the right. “Whu- Jax? What are you doing?” Pomni tried to wrench her arm from his grip, but he held on tight.

“Sorry, toots. I’m almost ready to call in one o’ those favors. I won’t be able to do that if you get caught.” 

Eventually, they reached a spot where they couldn’t hear the sounds of mixers all around them. Jax finally stopped his running, skidding to a halt. “Alright, here’s the deal. I’m gonna call in a favor, and you’re going ta’ give me some of your clown [BLEEP!].”

“Wait a second… that’s what all this was about!? You’ve been acting all buddy-buddy just because you want me to give you my props!?”

“Guilty as charged.” Jax shrugged, not looking guilty in the slightest. “Now, I’m gonna need a tightrope wire, one of your magician’s hats, and a sword. I know you have all of those, so hand ‘em over.”

Pomni just stood flabbergasted for a moment, before she sighed and reached into her pockets, pulling out his requested items. “Don’t know why I ever thought you might actually have good intentions…”

“Hey, I can have both! Whaddya say we work together, no need to be so grumpy! I’ll make sure you don’t get stabbed, no favors necessary!” Jax held his hand up in a scout’s honor pose.

Pomni looked him up and down, watching for any body language that may suggest he was lying. Finding none, and deciding that she had nothing to lose, she groaned and reached out to shake his hand. “Deal.”

“Perfect! Now, if you’ll help me with my little idea, we won’t have to worry about the Mixers getting us at all!”

—

Jax and Pomni hid in a shadowy corner of the maze, waiting for a Mixer to come along. So far, they could see that Kinger and Gangle had been caught, and now sat in the loser cage. 

As they waited, Zooble appeared in the cage screaming expletives.

Jax laughed a bit at that, but quieted when he heard the sound of encroaching footsteps. “Get ready, Pomni.”

Pomni held her sword over the string that Jax had set up. Once it was cut, the magician’s hat would drop onto the Mixer, trapping it inside. If all three Mixers got locked inside the hat, then Caine would be forced to end the activity early, and neither Pomni nor Jax would have to be stabbed by the cleavers. 

The footsteps came closer, and Pomni tensed. 

“Just a bit closer…” Jax muttered, squinting to get a better view.

Ragatha turned around the corner, running into the same nook that the other two were hiding in. “Jax, Pomni? Why are you two here?”

“Uh, because Caine put us in the maze too?” Jax snarked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“No, I mean-” Ragatha turned and looked over her shoulder, making sure she hadn’t been followed. “Why are both of you just sitting here together? And why do you have a sword, Pomni, is Jax forcing you to help his schemes?” 

Pomni made to respond, but Jax silenced her. “Don’t say anything Pom-Pom. I wanna see Rag’s face when she sees our genius idea. From the look on your face, I assume one o’ Caine’s monsters is chasing you?”

“It isn’t just one of them…”

On cue, all three Mixers turned down the hallway, twitching and brandishing their blades. The monsters ran down the hall, vicious snarling noises coming from their nonexistent mouths.

“Jax!” Pomni shouted. “When the [BLEEP!] do I cut the rope!?”

“Wait for it… wait for it…” Jax held his hand up in warning.

Once it seemed like the Mixers were seconds away from the trio, Jax brought his hand down. “Cut it, now!” 

Pomni brought the sword down on the tightrope, cutting it and dropping the hat. As it fell through the air, the Mixers looked up, only to vanish as the magic hat fell onto them, stretching to extreme proportions before returning to normal size, the Mixers being lost to the pocket dimension inside of it.

Jax looked over at Ragatha’s dumbfounded expression and cracked up.

Pomni just rolled her eyes as she put the sword back in her pocket and walked up to the hat, tossing it into her inventory as well. “Well Jax, your idea worked. But are you sure this means that Caine will call off the adventure?”

“S’pose we’ll find out now.” Jax cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hey Caine! We beat your stupid pets!”

Caine appeared out of thin air, looking around with confusion evident in his expression. “How did you beat the Mixers? I made sure that they were way stronger than all of you!” 

Jax winked at Pomni. “A magician never reveals their secrets, you really should have been paying better attention. But as you can see, the Mixers aren’t anywhere in the maze, and all three of us are still here, so I guess the adventure has a three way tie, I think that’s a first.” 

Caine leered at the survivors, seeming almost angry that they hadn’t been stabbed. “Fine. You three all win. Not as fun, but I guess you can have it this time. Just know, the next time you try to cheat, I’ll have a backup adventure prepared!” Caine snapped his fingers and the maze disappeared, all of the circus members reappearing on the repaired floor. 

"And what about the prize?" Jax questioned, holding out his hand expectantly.

"Ah yes!" Caine laughed heartily, summoning Bubble to vomit a gift wrapped box onto the ground which only Jax had the confidence to touch without gagging. "Here you are, one certified Pandora's Box of possibilities! You'll never know what's inside until you open it!" 

Jax quickly tucked the box into his inventory, shooting Pomni a surprisingly polite nod of respect before walking off to go torment Gangle again.

As everyone went about their business, eventually moving on to mealtime, Pomni found herself actually smiling and laughing as everyone bantered and joked. Today had been… nice. She learned about her newfound passion for ‘clown-[BLEEP!]’ as Jax had called it. And speaking of Jax, he was nicer than she used to think. Maybe he had a heart in there after all. He could have just left her to get caught, but instead he threw her a bone and helped make sure that neither Pomni nor Ragatha were in the receiving end of a knife.

Maybe they could even end up being friends? Jax had gone out of his way to get more favors from her, it was clear he had ambitions for her talents.

And if he ended up going too far, Pomni had three Mixers living in her pockets, so she wasn’t too scared. She’d put on a show for everyone with those if she ever needed to teach Jax a lesson. A show… 

‘Hmmm,’ Pomni thought to herself. ‘I wonder what it would be like to put on a performance for the others?’ 

The idea wormed itself into her brain, and Pomni found herself increasingly intrigued by the prospect of putting on a show for more people than just her invisible fans…

'Wouldn't that be something?'

Chapter Text

As the days went by, Pomni found herself entering a routine. Unlike the endless boredom and pain of her previous weeks, Pomni had found a purpose in her instincts. No matter how much she did it all, the simple act of performance seemed to lighten her mood. After each adventure, she would spend the whole night performing to no one in particular, but she could hear their cheers in her mind. 

Some people might think that the repetitive tasks would get boring, but her only other option was spending the same amount of time trying to sleep while her thoughts bounced around her mind relentlessly. The act of juggling, dancing about and balancing on beach balls had become so natural and calming that she found it having similar, if not superior effects to that of sleeping.

Once morning came, Pomni would go participate in Caine’s adventure, and stick close to Jax. The rabbit and jester had found themselves in a strange friendship. Jax would be rude as always, but she was never the target of any of his pranks. 

Jax would always find a way to make sure that both he and Pomni came out on top if Caine’s activity was competitive, and during the cooperative ‘games’, he made sure to help her out. 

In exchange, he kept a list of favors of all the stuff he wanted from Pomni’s inventory, whether they were used to cheat on an adventure, or to prank someone else. Pomni ended up having to have a talk with Jax about not using her belongings for mean pranks, or else she’d cut off his supply.

After the adventure was over, everyone ate their meal before Pomni returned to her room to start it all over again.

But as she enjoyed the familiar sound of the cannon she sat inside of preparing to fire her at a target, Pomni’s mind began to wander. Sure, doing all this is nice enough, but Jax was the only person who ever got to see what she was capable of. With each passing day, she got more intrigued by the idea of putting on a show for everyone to see. She was finally comfortable in her new skin, and she wanted everyone to know it!

But how would she get everyone together in one place for long enough? Caine didn’t give everyone much free time. The only time they had to themselves was during the night, which wasn’t especially helpful, since the others used that to recharge their social batteries. Pomni knew from experience that the worst aspects of every cast member would get even more difficult if their nights were interrupted.

So that meant that she would have to find a way to preform during the day… During an adventure…

The cannon fired, and Pomni flew across the room, smashing through the target and splatting into a massive banana cream pie that rested behind it. 

Walking out of the absurd dessert with a straight face, Pomni brushed some of the whipped cream off of her shoulder, deciding to take a walk. She wasn’t going to be able to focus until she got some fresh air, or whatever counted as air in this world at least.

—

Pomni walked from hall to hall, occasionally doing a cartwheel or a small little flip to occupy herself. The circus tent was far less hectic during the night, taking on an almost serene aura.

Pomni rested against a balcony, watching the carnival rides spin and glow across the horizon. She hadn’t gotten to go there yet, apparently Caine only lets everyone visit the carnival on special days. 

Closing her eyes, Pomni began to hum a tune to herself. It was the same cliche clown music that everyone had heard at least once in their lives. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B0CyOAO8y0 ) 

The song made Pomni feel a little strange. Sure, she hadn’t thrown a fuss over her new talents yet, but the fact that her new identity had permeated so deep into her soul so as to make her know the music of ‘clown-ism’, should she be so accepting of it? Pomni was a jester, a clown, a performer. But that wasn’t who she was on Earth, was it? If she became free, would she still be Pomni, or would this artificial side of her vanish without a trace?

As the song changed from the iconic upbeat sounds and into something more combative. Pomni recalled the name of the song, ‘Entry of the Gladiators’. The song wasn’t about clowns, or dancing. It was about warriors, fighting to survive in a colosseum.

With that in mind, the identity of Pomni shifted in her mind. This wasn’t some false personality, forced upon herself for the sake of entertainment. No, this was her survival. Pomni—along with each of the other members of the circus—were gladiators. Forced to battle and strategize, stuck in an arena of insanity. 

The flips, juggling and everything else in between, they were her weapons. The tools given to her to survival. Pomni pulled one of those tools out, a small green plastic ball, perfect to use in all manor of activities. As she held it in her hands, sliding her finger along its smooth, cold texture, it began to ground her again.

It wasn’t wrong to be Pomni, for that was who she had to become, and she liked Pomni. If she could be Pomni in the real world, she may choose it there as well. This was who she became, and it was her safety net. Without it, she would likely have abstracted a long time ago…

“I dunno why you’re up so late, but at least the music is nice,” Jax strutted up from behind Pomni, startling her out of her reverie.

“Wah! J-Jax! What are you doing up so late!?” A blush fell across her face after getting caught in such a personal moment.

“I could say the same about you, pinwheels. Normally, you’re playing pretend in your room ‘till Caine sends me to grab ya.”

Pomni huffed, but eventually calmed, looking back out the window. “I was just feeling a little… strange is all.”

“Eh?” Jax raised an eyebrow. “You wanna talk about it?”

Pomni shook her head. “Nah, I think I figured myself out already. But there is something I do want to ask you about.”

“Shoot.” Jax pointed a finger gun at her playfully.

Pomni absentmindedly made the same gesture, a soft smile on her lips. “I want to preform. For a real audience, not just the people in my head.”

Jax didn’t say anything, but Pomni could see the intrigued look he was giving her out of the corner of her eye.

“I’ll give you ten favors to add to your list, but only if you help me convince Caine to make an upcoming adventure a talent show of sorts, don’t want to make everyone else feel left out.”

“An’ why exactly do you want to put on a show like this? What reason do you have to make everyone watch you bounce around and play your little games?” There was a gleam in the rabbit’s eyes, one that Pomni had never seen before.

Pomni sighed contentedly. “I don’t like being trapped in the Digital Circus-”

“I think that’s a sentiment we can all agree on,” Jax snorted.

The jester punched his arm playfully. “Shut up and let me finish, dumb[BLEEP!].” She continued, fishing a single juggling ball from her pocket, staring at it. “I don’t like being trapped in the Digital Circus, but I do like being Pomni. The talents I’ve gained, the peace of mind that I have, it’s all so… fulfilling. I’m not some sad little wet cat anymore, Jax. I finally know who I am, and I’m proud to be Pomni. I want to show everyone else what I've realized. That while being a part of this Digital Circus is terrible, they can at least be comfortable in their own skin while they're trapped here.” 

All of a sudden, Pomni dropped the ball from her hands, letting it fall out of the tent and onto the ground below. “When I first came here, I was a sad, scared person who didn't know what she was doing. I was cowardly, quick to break down, and one wrong move away from abstraction... But now, I know what I’m capable of, I know that Pomni isn’t someone to hate, but an identity to enjoy. Even when—and I do mean when—we escape, I hope to still be able to live my life like Pomni, regardless of if my old life returns to me or not.”

Jax, who had been silent the whole time, looked at Pomni with an expression she had never seen from him before: Respect.

“Well, newbie. I wasn’t expecting all of… that, coming from you of all folks, but I don’t hate it, that’s for sure!” Jax made a show out of fishing a pencil and pad of paper from his overall’s pocket, reading it over. “Bu-uuut, it appears my list of favors is at max capacity. That’s a shame, it looks like I’ll just have to help ya for free.”

Jax put his hands behind his head and walked off. “See ya tomorrow, Pomni. Let’s just hope that your performance is worth the wait.”

Watching the rabbit go, Pomni pressed her hand to her heart. He tried to act all aloof, but he really was a sweetheart, deep down. Her eyes widened as she felt the permanent blush on her cheeks expand even further. “Oh no.” Pomni realized. “I’ve fallen in love, haven’t I?”

—

Jax walked into his room, chuckling madly to himself. "Gosh, what a [BLEEP!]ing dork!"

He leapt onto his baby blue bedsheets, adorned with tacky carrot patterns as he pulled out the pen and paper pad once again, staring at a brand new page. Slowly, with careful and neat artistry, he drew a picture of Pomni's face. 

When he finished, Jax was left with a near perfect replica of the picture on Pomni's door, and as he looked at it, Jax slowly let his laughter slow, letting it become a dark smirk. "Nah, dork is the wrong word."

He drew a quick, messy scribble over her eyes before making a heart around her face with his pencil. "I think the word that fits best is..."

"Idiot."

Chapter Text

Pomni’s realization of her feelings for Jax impacted her a lot more than she was happy with. She was doing pretty good at keeping calm so far, not wanting to mess things up, but subtlety had never been her strong suit, well… ever. She thought that so far she was doing a good job at it, though.

That being said, Pomni was still Pomni, so she was far from ‘slick and cool’. She was never either of things regardless, but this revelation of hers was no help in the matter, that’s for sure. 

Currently, Pomni found herself goofing off with her favorite rabbit. Today’s adventure was a Water Balloon War. Caine split the members of the circus into groups of three, and gave them a massive pile of water balloons, before dropping them into an arena. The groups each had ten minutes to strategize and plan, before they’d be allowed to enter each other’s sides of the arena and try splashing the other people. The teams were Ragatha, Zooble and Kinger on Red; and Pomni, Jax and Gangle on Blue. 

Jax had the idea that since Gangle would be no help (ribbons aren’t good at holding water balloons), and Ragatha’s throwing arm was so good she probably did Shot Put when she was in the real world, what if they booby trapped their side instead?

So here they were, setting up tripwires similar to what they did with the Mixers, but these ones would activate automatically, and dropped a dozen water balloons right on the perpetrator’s head. 

There were numerous other traps that only the Blue team knew about that turned the balloon war from a battle to a stakeout. In theory, the Blue team wouldn’t have to lift a finger to win, giving them ample time to try convincing Caine to commit to Pomni’s talent show idea.

Jax flicked the tripwire, making sure that the dropping mechanism functioned, before he directed Pomni to fill the bucket with balloons. “And there we have it, enough traps to win against Sun Tzu, and we still have two minutes to relax before our prep-time is up!”

Pomni laughed as well. It wasn’t some big guffaw, but it still felt good to actually be enjoying herself. “Hey, Gangle? How’re you doing on your end?”

Gangle, who had been directed to find the best hiding spots for their planning, curled her ribbon to imitate a thumbs up. Her Comedy mask hadn’t broken yet, so she was actually pretty capable, at least mentally. “I-I marked each spot with an unfilled balloon. Those places are trap free and out of sight from the Red’s main path."

“Good job, soldier!” Jax said, giving a mock salute. “Now, how’s about you mozey on over to home base and relax, me and Pom-Pom need to have a talk.”

Gangle gave Pomni a worried look, as if asking permission to leave the jester. 

“Er, you can go, Gangle. Just try not to spring any traps.”

After the living ribbon had left, Jax opened his mouth to say something, only to be cut off as Caine’s voice boomed across the entire arena: “LET THE HUNT BEGIN!!!”

“...” Jax rubbed his arm awkwardly, waiting to see if they were safe, but his large ears quickly picked up on the sounds of approaching footsteps. Jax groaned, before he grabbed Pomni and leapt over to a hiding place. “I’ll tell ya later, Poms.”

Pomni nodded, watching as Kinger, Ragatha and Zooble all came into view. Kinger and Zooble didn’t seem to have their heads in the game, but Ragatha seemed out for blood.

“Why does Ragatha seem so…?” Pomni trailed off.

“Bloodlusted?” At Pomni’s nod, Jax smirked. “Someone woke up to her entire wardrobe covered in glitter.”

Upon further inspection, Pomni found that the doll’s dress did indeed have a golden sheen to it, leaving a trail of shining powder every step she took.

“Alright you two, I know you don’t really care about winning, but I do.” Ragatha told her companions, keeping a wary eye for enemies. “Please take this seriously.”

Kinger didn’t seem to even notice Ragatha, but Zooble gave the redhead a curt not. “Sure thing, Rags. Jax needs a good kick in the [BLEEP!] anyways.”

Pomni silently laughed as she felt Jax tremble just the slightest bit. 

Kinger continued to slide forward, loosely holding a single balloon in his floating hand. Eventually, he reached Jax’s tripwire, scooting right into it. As the wire was drawn taut, a water basin tipped over, dropping Pomni’s balloons all over Kinger’s head.

Instantly, the poor chess piece was soaked, and he stood eerily still for a few seconds before letting out a high pitched wail and falling over, clutching at his chest. “I’ve been hit! Get a medic! Call a healer! I’m dying!”

“Oh put a sock in it, old timer.” Zooble rolled their eyes, before they too stepped on a trap. Zooble’s foot landed on a fake floor that went out from under them. Zooble just barely caught themselves on the ledge, hardly managing to avoid the menagerie of water balloons that waited to splash anyone at the bottom of the pit trap. “[BLEEP!]ing [BLEEP!]! What the [BLEEP!] was that!?” 

Ragatha helped Zooble out of the pit, scouring the arena for anyone. “It seems like the others are trying to get us without ever putting themselves on the line.” Both Ragatha and Zooble continued their advancing, this time being far more careful about where they walked. 

Pomni herself had a grin on her face as she watched Zooble step up to one of her favorite traps. 

The mismatched person walked up to a corner, only for a fake wooden jax to pop out from behind the corner. Zooble let out a yelp, instinctively backing up, only to end up bumping into a new false Jax to pop up. After that, two more appeared, boxing Zooble in and effectively neutralizing them. Pomni found it hilarious, though she refused to ask Jax why he had life sized wooden cutouts of himself.

At this point, Ragatha’s paranoia had reached a new height, and she held her balloon at the ready, prepared to chuck it at just about anything that moved.

Unfortunately for the ribbon, Gangle walked into the fray of the battle at just the wrong moment. “Hey Jax, Pomni? How’s the game—” Gangle did not get to finish her sentence as a water balloon flew across the room at ridiculous speeds, busting right into Gangle’s face, knocking her across the room and shattering her Comedy mask into a million pieces.

That proved to be too much for Jax, and be busted out laughing. 

In a single second, Ragatha’s head snapped to the side, and she threw a balloon with deadly precision, hitting the wall next to Jax’s head. “That—” She said, “—was a warning shot.”

“Run?” Pomni asked.

“Run.” Jax replied.

The both of them dashed off, leaving behind dust clouds in the shape of their own bodies. The dust clouds didn’t last long however, as they were quickly obliterated by two more water balloons.

Pomni and Jax sprinted at their highest speed, and while Pomni wasn’t slow, her legs were far smaller than Jax’s. Ragatha was quickly gaining on the jester, avoiding any balloons that came her way. 

“Jax, why did you have to prank Ragatha today of all days!?” Pomni shrieked, pulling at the tassels of her hat while she jumped to avoid a watery cannonball.

“She doesn’t usually get like this!” Jax responded, picking Pomni up and putting her on his shoulders to get a speed boost. “I don’t know why she’s such a bad[BLEEP!] all of a sudden!”

He turned a sharp corner, coming face to face with his wooden counterparts. As it turns out, they had ended up going in a circle, and now found themselves where Zooble was. 

“Er, sorry!” Pomni shouted, tossing a balloon into the air, where it promptly fell and splashed onto Zooble’s head, knocking them out of the game. 

Now while the Blue team had the numbers advantage in theory, Ragatha was a one woman army, and she still continued to advance, not a single drop of water on her.

Turning yet another corner, Pomni and Jax found themselves at a dead end. “Uh-oh.”

—

Ragatha grinned as she saw her adversaries enter the dead end. They had been so busy setting up traps that they didn’t bother memorizing the layout of their own base! 

Ragatha felt bad for Gangle and Pomni, she didn’t want to destroy them, but Jax had this coming. The doll approached where she knew the rest of the Blue team was hiding, lightly tossing her balloon in the air. “Nowhere to run now…”

Chapter Text

“Nowhere to run?” Jax smirked, as a bead of sweat fell down his brow. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah, how are you getting out of here? I’ve got you cornered!” Ragatha aimed to throw the balloon at Jax, only for him to duck at the last minute and grab Pomni, reaching into her pocket and pulling out an object much larger than anything Ragatha’d ever seen before from Pomni’s inventory: a car.

The clown car from Pomni’s pocket grew to supersize, still comically small, but in one fluid movement, Jax and Pomni entered the car, driving straight at Ragatha, forcing her to dive out of the way. As the two drove further and further away, Ragatha tried to pelt them with balloons, but they just splashed off, doing no harm to the inhabitants.

“JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAX!!!!!” 

—

“Hahaha! Pomni, did you see Ragatha’s face! Priceless!” Jax laughed with pride, slapping his knee as he continued to slam the gas pedal. 

“Um, Jax,” Pomni wrung her hands nervously, looking away. “Since we’re safe right now, do you think you could tell me what it was you had wanted to say?”

“What?” Jax shot Pomni a confused look. “What are you talking about?”

Pomni blushed, looking away. “Y-you had said you wanted to say something to me! An-And you had looked so serious about it!”

“Ohhhhh… that. It’s nothing, pal, just forget about it!” Jax chuckled a bit, giving Pomni a noogie as he took a sharp turn. “Now, we’re so close to winning this game, just help me lure Rags to one of those traps of ours and we can keep our winning streak!” 

“I-” Pomni looked away. “Okay, Jax…” 

Jax sighed and tossed Pomni a water balloon.  “Don't worry, Pom-Pom, I'll tell you later. Now, until then, let's win this game!”

Pomni smiled at him, heartened, and she grabbed the balloon. “Tell me the plan!”

—

Ragatha charged at the car, clad in her dress of glitter and furious expression as she attempted to get revenge on Jax.

As she ran, the car in front of her halted suddenly, forcing her to skid to a halt to avoid crashing into the vehicle. The door of the car opened and Pomni was shoved out of it, thudding to the gound and looking miserable as the car drove off.

Pomni laid, curled up on the ground and trembling, only looking away from Ragatha with a deep sigh. “You can balloon me, Ragatha. I don’t care anymore…”

Ragatha rushed up to Pomni, helping her sit up. “Pomni! What happened to you!? Are you alright?”

“I-I made Jax mad and he… he kicked me out, said he didn’t care if you got me or not…” Black tears fell from her face as she slid on her knees towards Ragatha. “P-Please, be gentle when you splash me.” 

Ragatha grabbed Pomni into a hug, holding her tightly. “No, Pomni. I’m not going to hit you with a water balloon. Shh, it’s okay, I’m here. Jax has tricked all of us at least once.”

“Thank you…” Pomni gripped Ragatha’s dress as she rubbed her face on the doll-woman’s shoulder, sniffling. “Thank you… for making this so easy.”

"Huh!?" Ragatha felt something smack against her back and soak into her dress, and she turned her head to see Pomni had hit Ragatha with a balloon while she was distracted. 

Instantly, Caine appeared, teleporting all the contestants up to where the girls were kneeling. “Congratulations, Superstars! I am happy to say that the Blue team wins! You were so close, Ragatha, but Jax and Pomni have bested everyone yet again! Looks like this is the tenth time in a row!” 

“Eugh.” Zooble huffed, walking off. “Even the adventures are getting repetitive at this point.”

“Don’t be like that, Zoobs, it was a valiant—if futile—effort!” Jax marched over to the amalgam of shapes and tried to pat them on the head condescendingly only to have to dodge a brutal left hook.

“[BLEEP!] off, Jax.”

Ragatha let all of the banter and common bickering fly past her, only focused on Pomni. Pomni had… tricked her. There was no doubt about it, no who’s it or what’s it or how’s it. Pomni had used Ragatha’s very nature against her for the sake of winning a water balloon fight. That didn’t sound very… Pomni.

But the cause of those actions became quite clear to her instantly. Instead of apologizing, or talking to the others, or asking Caine about their reward, the jester just stared at Jax, smiling as if she were in a dream. She hung off of every word he spoke, and quite literally floated off the ground when he gave her a thumbs up. Maybe Pomni thought she had been being subtle, but to everyone else, it was clear as day. 

‘Oh no.’ Ragatha felt the world crumbling around her. ‘No, not Pomni. Not poor, sweet Pomni.’

Of course, out of everyone for Pomni to fall for, it was Jax.

—

“S-so, uh—” 

Jax tilted his head backwards to see Pomni standing behind him. “Yeah? What is it, toots?”

“Well, now that the game is over, I was wondering if you could finally tell me what it was you were going to say.”

“Oh.” In actuality, Jax was never going to say anything. He just wanted to mess with Pomni, and if her constant blushing, flustered attitude, and desperation for an answer was anything to go off of, he had gotten exactly the effect he wanted. Of course he couldn’t let her know that.

He flung his hands behind his head and strutted away, not looking at Pomni. “I forgot.”

Jax ignored the irritating (and somewhat adorable) splutters of confusion from the jester, perfectly content in letting her agonize over it. 

He ditched Caine’s latest feast, not feeling like dealing with any of the losers who were sure to be there, instead choosing to make for his door.

“What are you doing with Pomni?” Ragatha’s voice was sudden and harsh, causing Jax to jump several feet into the air.

“Eh? What are you talking about, mop-head?” Jax tried to look nonchalant, but he was really tired of being asked questions today.

“I’ve seen the way she looks at you, and I know you know it, too. Why are you manipulating Pomni? What do you have to gain from breaking her heart?”

“Oh, that? I’m just teaching her how to have some fun, let loose, you know, live like a proper bringer of Chaos.”

“And part of that includes corrupting her into being obsessed with you!?” Ragatha stepped up to Jax and shoved her finger into his chest. “She’s betraying her very self just to make you proud, she’s becoming… becoming… becoming you! And you’re just going to keep using her, aren’t you?”

“I dunno what you’re talking about! Not my fault that I’m irresistible~” 

Ragatha made a gagging sound, before pulling a sewing needle from her dress and holding it at his neck. “If you hurt one hair on her head, I swear-”

Jax broke out laughing, slapping Ragatha’s hand out of the way. “Wait a second! You like Pomni, don’t you!? Aww, are you jelly that the precious innocent little jester ditched you when Kaufmo abstracted, and is too busy trying to make me like her to give you the time of day? Do you wish that you got to be the one Pomni got attached to?”

“I-I-I’m not jealous of you!”

“Oh God, that’s totally what it is! Ragatha, you’re too [BLEEP!]ing funny!” Jax turned on his heel and opened his door, waving a casual goodbye to Ragatha. “Anyways, great talk, but I’m going to sleep now. And don’t worry, I’ll let you get all smoochy-smoochy with whatever’s left of Pomni after I get bored of her.”

As Jax slammed his door, he could hear Ragatha shouting at him and banging on the door. Really, it was perfect to listen to, the best ASMR he could ever ask for.

Chapter Text

~~Some time later…~~

Pomni laid in her bed, bundled up in blankets and staring at the treasure trunk that she had found so much meaning in. While she was still happy to have found out about her new talents, she was feeling… conflicted.

It had been a few weeks since the water balloon fight, and since that day, everyone was acting a bit off. 

Kinger was always off, so he didn’t seem that different from usual, but the others were definitely treating her differently. 

Gangle avoided Pomni now, going out of her way to try avoiding conversation with the jester, and Pomni really couldn’t tell what she had done to mess things up. Zooble seemed to hold a newfound distaste for Pomni as well, glaring at her and making threatening comments when Pomni would try to joke or banter. Ragatha seemed to be around every corner, always trying to make conversation, or asking questions Pomni didn’t feel comfortable with answering. Even Jax seemed to be acting strange. He was being more secretive than usual, and with the way he had talked to her lately, it started to feel like he didn’t really care about her at all…

All of Pomni’s insecurities were starting to come back in full force, and she hadn’t even been able to bring herself to toy with all the goodies she had collected. Plush toys and games were scattered across the floor, forgotten, and her trunk had been turned into a storage unit for all the garbage she had from used up materials and broken props, loose fabric and cracked plastic limply dangling from the lid.

She felt awful, she should be happy! Jax had fulfilled his promise and convinced Caine to make one of the upcoming adventures into a Talent Show, and it was only one week away now! She had waited for so long, been practicing so hard, but now that the moment was finally at hand... she was starting to worry that she wouldn't be able to handle it...

When a knock on the door sounded, Pomni flinched a bit at the sudden sound, before slowly standing up and walking over to open the door, already able to predict who would be on the other side.

Caine didn’t believe in privacy, Jax was too tall to knock like that, Kinger had long since forgotten what knocking was, and neither Gangle nor Zooble hadn’t approached her for a conversation in weeks. Which meant the only person that could be on the other side of the door was…

“Hiya Pomni! How are you feeling today?” Ragatha.

Pomni looked away awkwardly, feeling Ragatha’s eyes burning into her as the woman stared intently down at her. “I-I’m doing just fine, R-Ragatha. What brings you here?”

“Oh, I just wanted to talk, may I come in?” The doll gave a polite smile, like she always did, but her hands trembled, and her eyes seemed a bit too wide, a bit too dilated. Like she was ready to pounce at any moment.

Pomni didn’t feel comfortable around Ragatha. She hadn’t felt comfortable around her since even before she had started acting like this. She didn’t understand how anyone could be as forgiving and cheerful as Ragatha was. Pomni had left Ragatha for dead, and in exchange, the doll had done nothing but try to help her. But now it seemed like something else was going on, because there was no way that this was normal.

However, she couldn’t say anything like that to Ragatha, so instead she just opened her door a little wider, and let her home be invaded once more.

Ragatha went over and sat right on Pomni’s bed, scanning the messy room, glancing around with worried looks. Pomni could have sworn she even heard the ragdoll mutter “You poor thing.” at some point.

“So, uh, Ragatha… what did you want to talk about?”

Ragatha’s eyes refocused, and she patted the bed next to her to try getting Pomni to sit to her side. “Oh yes, come on over here, I’ll tell you everything!”

Pomni made a point of sitting on the floor in front of Ragatha, rather than to her side. She didn’t speak, not giving her acquaintance the chance to stall any longer.

“W-Well, Pomni,” Ragatha herself grew nervous now at the clear rejection of her offer, but she did her best to stay calm. “I think you’re being manipulated…”

“By who?” Pomni knew who Ragatha was going to blame. There was only one person in the whole circus she even talked to regularly, but that didn’t mean that she was just going to let Ragatha insult her best friend!

𑁋

“By Jax.” Ragatha looked down, not able to make eye contact this time. “He told me some things after the water balloon fight, and I’ve been doing some research, to make sure he wasn’t just trying to trick me, and I can tell, he’s trying to control you. Manipulating your feelings for him in order to steal your belongings for himself and get a cheap laugh from messing with you. I understand if you don’t want to believe me, but I promise you, Pomni, that you can’t trust Jax. I kept waiting for the right moment to tell you, but with that show you wanted to put on coming up, I'm worried he's going to sabotage you, so I decided tonight would be the night I warned you.”

Looking at the person she was trying to protect, Ragatha saw that Pomni’s face had gone red with either anger or embarrassment, it was hard to tell at first. But Ragatha figured out the answer pretty quickly with Pomni’s next actions.

“You…” Steam rose from Pomni’s head in a cartoonish smoke cloud. “You have no idea what you’re talking about!”

“But I do know, Pomni! He told me himself that he planned to hurt you!”

“O-oh yeah?” Pomni’s anger wasn’t violent, like most of the others, but instead it was a quiet, piercing fury, mixed with some degree of hysteria. “And what’s your proof? Me and Jax have been working together for over a month now, and he hasn’t done anything to me yet! All of you just hate him for no good reason!”

“We do have a reason, Pomni!” Ragatha pleaded, thoughts filling her mind of all the times she had been tricked, and of how desperate she was to protect Pomni from befalling the same fate. “We’ve all been manipulated by him as well. He says he changed, he says he wants to be better, he says that he cares, but he doesn’t. It’s been like that for as long as I can remember.”

“No! No, no, NO!” Pomni shook her head, breathing heavily, and stomping her feet. Her teeth were as sharp as knives. “Stop it! Don’t act like you care about me! Jax is my best friend, I trust him! I trust him a lot more than I trust you, at the very least…”

Ragatha felt a dagger through her heart at that comment, and she heard her thoughts growing angrier at Jax. ‘Protect Pomni, show her the truth! Stop Jax, put him in his place! Hold Pomni, show her what real love feels like! Knock in Jax’s teeth for even daring to hold her back!’

Instead of doing any of that, Ragatha just sat there on Pomni’s bed, pathetic and silent. Eventually, when it became clear that Pomni wasn’t going to apologize, Ragatha just stood up and walked out of the room, only muttering a simple “Goodnight…” before she closed the door behind her. 

“God, you’re pathetic, Ragatha!” She said to herself, once back in her room. “Pomni’s in danger, and you just let her be!? She needs to be comforted, to be coddled… to be protected!”

A dangerous glint appeared in her eyes as she pulled out her latest sewing project: two dolls, one of her and the other of Pomni. The dolls’ hands were sewn together, eternal companions. As she worked on them some more, she continued talking to herself.

“You just have to get a little closer, push a little harder, be a bit more convincing… Pomni will get burned if she sticks close to Jax. It’s my job to liberate her!” 

Ragatha knew, deep down, that her motives weren’t so selfless as she made them out to be, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was making sure that Jax didn’t get to keep Pomni for himself.

She would free her Jester, at any cost.

𑁋

Pomni scurried down the hallway herself, after she had made sure that Ragatha was in her room. Hurrying to Jax’s door, she knocked twice, before waiting for him to open it, quickly squeezing in as soon as it all opened. “J-Jax, you’re not going to believe this!”

Pomni looked up at Jax’s teasing grin, and  felt a similarly wide smile on her face. ‘How could the others ever think that Jax was a bad guy when his smile was so nice?’

“Oh yeah? What happened, Pom-Pom?” Jax said, voice carrying an air of genuine care she hadn’t felt from any of the others. 

“Ragatha came over to my room and let herself in, kept trying to tell me that I couldn’t trust you, and that you’re tricking me, or something! What a silly idea, right?”

Jax snorted, giving a playful roll of his eyes. “Haha, yeah! Like she’s one to talk, anyways. Always looking at you all shifty-like. I bet she’s just trying to scare you.”

“But why would she do that?” Pomni looked up at Jax, unknowingly giving him her best puppy dog eyes. "Why does she want to scare me?"

“Well…” Jax’s grin grew even wider. “What if I told’ja that I have reason to believe that Raggy’s sweet on ya?~”