Chapter Text
Pomni was still rubbing sleep out of her eyes as she and the rest of the circus cast waited for Caine to loudly announce the adventure for today. The jester almost considered taking a short nap on the floor; she was pretty tired and sore from yesterday's adventure. Turns out running for your life from some weird bounty hunter while carrying Ragatha because she passed out was about as un-fun as Pomni thought it would be.
The jester yawned and stretched, trying to shake the soreness. The rag doll walked up to her and blushed a bit. "Hey, uh... Pomni?"
"Yeah?" Pomni felt her back crack. She turned around quickly to make sure she didn't break it; you never knew here in the circus if a normal human function was actually a one way ticket to being snapped in half.
"I just wanted to say thank you for helping me out on the adventure yesterday while I was... y'know..."
"Oh, yeah! Of course. It's the least I could do." It at least felt that way. The jester had been thinking more and more about her first day here. She had been feeling guilty about promising Ragatha she would return with help... then abandoning her for the exit. She still regretted it; even after almost a month and a half.
"Yeah, shorty over here had to princess carry dollface because she decided to take a power nap." Pomni rolled her eyes as she heard Jax's smart-ass mouth.
Ragatha looked away embarrassed as she fidgeted with her hands. "I-it wasn't by choice! That bounty hunter shot me with a tranquilizer!"
Jax clapped his hands together and tucked it under his head as if he was sleeping. "Like I said, power nap."
The jester crossed her arms and shot him an annoyed look. "Look, Jax, I don't have the energy to deal with your smug attitude."
Her comment made the rabbit's pissed-stained grin grow wider. "Ooh! The jester has some bite to her. Nice to see that backbone growing." He smacked her back as she flinched away. A small bead of sweat ran down her neck as she walked a few steps away. She was getting worried that Jax was picking up on her touch aversion.
Pomni felt herself bump into something light. She stopped and turned around to see Gangle and Zooble. Well... Gangle had her arm wrapped around Zooble's leg as they laid on the floor. The jester wasn't sure if they were awake or not.
"Morning, Pomni..." Gangle whispered; her comedy mask was already broken.
"Uh... morning? Why is Zooble dead?" Pomni poked at the disorganized shapes and they let out a small groan.
"They didn't really wanna get out of bed. I broke my comedy mask dragging them down here." The bundle of ribbons wiped away one of her blue tears.
"Rrrrrriiiigggghhttttt." Pomni replied. Ragatha went up by her side with a cheerful look on her face.
"Maybe we can wake them up by singing a happy song!" The rag doll almost seemed to be bouncing up and down like she had been waiting for this her whole life. The jester sighed as she face palmed. Gangle seemed to already be cringing; and Ragatha hadn't even started.
"Oh. My. God. If you start singing, I will kill myself." Jax yelled out as Ragatha sucked in a breath.
"Oh, well then please continue Ragatha." Pomni replied happily.
"Wanna say that to my face, teeny?" Jax squinted his eyes while keeping his grin on his face.
"Wanna come up with some more creative nicknames, Jack@$$?" Pomni also kept a smile on her face; her teeth growing sharp.
The doll got between them. "Okay! Okay! I won't sing. Just cut the tension." A sad look showered on her face.
Pomni sighed as she turned away. She shouldn't be picking fights with Jax at 8:00am. Guess the rabbit was right about one thing though: she was growing a backbone.
It was just then when Kinger came out of his pillow fort- erm... impenetrable fortress. "Oh! Nali! Good morning."
Pomni looked on in confusion. Who the hell was Nali? Ragatha looked on in sorrow while Jax rolled his eyes. "Still dead, hoohaa."
"Oh." He then looked to Pomni. "Oh! I meant Pomni. Good morning, Pomni!"
"Uh... hey, Kinger." This wasn't the time to overthink things.
She turned her head and saw Caine right up in her face. She stumbled a little as the ringmaster started screaming in her face. "GOOD MORNING, MY WET LITTLE CATS!"
"Awe, Pomni. He made a reference to you." Jax pinched her cheek as she slapped his hand out of her face.
"I'VE OBSERVED RECENTLY THAT YOU LOT HAVE BEEN GETTING ALONG LESS AND LESS! MORE FIGHTING, LESS LAUGHTER! I CAN SEE WHY THIS COULD HAPPEN THOUGH WITH THE ARRIVAL OF POMNI AND THE ABSTRACTION OF KAUFMO!"
The entire cast cringed at that; it was true though. Everyone was still heavily grieving Kaufmo; well except maybe Jax and Pomni. The jester didn't even meet the clown, and if Jax was grieving, he wasn't showing it. Pomni couldn't replace Kaufmo; even if she sort of looked like him.
"THIS IS AN ADJUSTMENT PERIOD! SO, TO SPEED THINGS UP, I'M SENDING YOU ALL ON A FAMILY BONDING ADVENTURE FOR TODAY!"
Zooble seemed to kind of wake up from their weird trace of sleeping. "A family wha-?"
"FAMILY BONDING! NOTHING LIKE ADRENALINE RUNNING THROUGH YOUR VIENS TO BRING EVERYONE CLOSER TOGETHER! AREN'T I RIGHT, MY DEAR JESTER?"
"Caine, last time you did this, a lion attacked me and I passed out from blood loss." Pomni knew what he was referring to. She still felt her back sting at the mention.
"BUT NOW YOUR BOND WITH ZOOBLE IS CLOSE AS EVER? ISN'T IT?" Caine was way too close to Pomni's face.
"Caine, that's not the point-"
"WONDERFUL!" The ringmaster definitely had selective hearing. He looked down at his non-existent watch and his eyes popped out of his... mouth... ew. "GADZOOKS! IT'S TIME FOR THE ADVENTURE!"
He snapped his fingers as a portal popped up right next to Gangle. She jumped up a bit as she nearly fell in. Ragatha looked to the ringmaster in confusion. "Wait! What's the adventure about?"
"THAT'S FOR YOU TO FIGURE OUT, MY DARLING!" Caine yelled.
The jester shook her head. "W-wait! Hold on-"
Before she could finish her sentence, Caine grabbed the entire circus cast and shoved them into the portal.