Work Text:
So, turns out relaxing during a beautiful day outdoors during a picnic wasn’t the smartest idea Pomni and Ragatha ever had, as they both fell asleep and eventually both got sick.
WHAT A KOOKY COINCIDENCE!!!
What the- Caine!? Will you get out of here! I’m narrating this story not you!
*Ahem*
Anyways where was I oh yeah!
While out looking for Jax they stumbled upon both Ragatha and Pomni sick as can be and shivering. They were then teleported back to their rooms in more comfortable clothing.
Pomni begins to wake up, her throat hurting and feeling nothing but pain all over her body. She gets up and goes over to Ragatha’s room even though she’s probably on an adventure. Pomni weakly begins knocking not expecting an answer she’s surprised by an equally miserable looking Ragatha. “Wait, you’re sick too?” Pomni says in a scratchy voice.
“Yeah…” Ragatha replies rubbing her head. “Got a major headache and feeling a bit under the weather. Wanna hide out in my room until we get better?”
“Yeah… good idea. I don’t feel like staying in my room all day doing nothing.” Pomni smiles and follows Ragatha into her room. “My voice hurts…” the jester says as she rubs her throat. “What happened?”
“Interesting question my joyous little jester!” Caine says appearing out of nowhere and catching both of the two off guard. “You see, you two unknowingly spent all night outside! Thus, causing you two to be exposed to all sorts of gross stuff infecting you with all sorts of viruses! Heck, we didn’t even notice you two were gone! We were out looking for Jax who also is sitting out due to needing to recover from his bee and ant stings.” Both of them look at Caine in confusion. What exactly did they miss?
“Luckily,” Caine continues, “with enough rest you two will be in perfect adventuring conditions in no time! Now then I must be going to work on the next adventure! Don’t worry everything you need is here!”
Caine proceeds to snap his fingers summoning some water, snacks, and two blankets before disappearing. Ragatha gets up and grabs the two blankets and water. She hands them to Pomni who wraps them around herself while Ragatha does the same. “So, what do you want to talk about?” She asks.
“I don’t know,” Pomni responds before taking a sip of water. “Have anything interesting to talk about?”
“Hmm…” Ragatha begins to think. “I don’t really know.”
Another sip is taken. “Actually I have a question. This may seem morbid… but have you ever been close to Abstracting?” Ragatha is taken aback a bit.
“Well I’ve never been close to it but I have heard of people being close to Abstraction before it gets prevented.” She responds. “I’ve only seen it happen once…”
Pomni listens intently, “They were just standing there. It was after one of the most stressful adventures. Luckily nothing about their physical appearance changed. No black static or multiple eyes appearing, all they had was a sad 1000 yard stare looking tired and done with everything. I managed to snap them out of it by offering to help them. Why do you ask?” Pomni looks down a bit unsure of what to do. She takes a deep breath, “Promise me you won’t bring it up to anyone. I don’t want to start a panic or anything like that.” Ragatha looks at her girlfriend in concern. “What happened Pomni?”
“I might’ve prevented Gangle from Abstracting,” Ragatha gasps. “Back at Spudsy’s I was preparing to leave. Everyone was gone I looked back and saw Gangle standing there looking tired before beginning to walk off balance. I thought she just overexerted herself, so I offered to close up for her. I had no idea she was probably close to Abstracting. I probably just saved a life.”
“Oh my gosh I had no idea she was hurting that bad.” Ragatha begins to feel a little guilty before feeling a hand placed against her shoulder.
“Why do you blame yourself. You had no idea, heck you under the effects of the Stupid Sauce so you literally had no idea.” Pomni and Ragatha lightly chuckle.
“Funny you should mention that. I didn’t say anything embarrassing right while under the effects did I?”
“Well all you did was just say some random things, half %$!# your way through tasks, and be brutally honest with some of us.”
“Oh god… I probably should apologize then.”
“I was honestly surprised you felt that way about some us. What was it like being under those effects?” Pomni asks.
“It’s really weird. It’s basically just like being drunk although the weirdest thing is you first start hallucinating. Like at first everything was dark and when I turned to look at Gangle, all I saw was her with white beady eyes and a the most realistic looking grin ever. It was incredibly strange but the strangest thing had to have been this. When I turned to look at you. All I saw was a shadow version of you, and your usual red and blue spiral eyes were replaced with gray monochromatic eyes. However that’s when everything went back to normal. Before… you know.” She then chuckles lightly. “Ridiculous, right Pomni? Pomni?”
She then turns to look at Pomni. She can’t help but smile at the sight of her beloved girlfriend sleeping on her shoulder. Feeling a bit drowsy herself, Ragatha falls asleep herself.
A couple minutes later Ragatha wakes up to the sound of grumbling she turns and see Pomni stirring in her sleep. Ragatha was ready to go back to sleep before those grumbles began to turn into whimpers, then those whimpers turned into nervous breathing.
Growing concerned, she was about to shake Pomni in an attempt to wake her. However she remembered Pomni was highly against touch and it might make things worse. Instead she tries a different approach, “P-Pomni? Pomni! Wake up, you’re having a nightmare!” Pomni’s eyes open in fear as she sits up, breathing heavily. She looks around frantically as if looking for something. She began steadying her breathing. “Pomni? Is it okay if I touch you?” Pomni turns to look at her concerned girlfriend. The small jester nods. Ragatha wraps Pomni in her arms as she begins to cry a bit. “Are you alright with telling me about your nightmare.”
“Y-yeah… it’s been a bit of a recurring nightmare.” Pomni begins as she disengages from Ragatha’s hug. “I’m in the circus but nobody is around. I look down and see my hand begin to Abstract. I panic and fall down into the cellar I then see you guys begin to belittle me… but that was the old nightmare after the adventure in the Candy Canyon. Whenever I’d have that dream but instead you and everyone manages to catch me and pull me up. However recently I’ve been having dreams where something from the cellar wraps around my leg and pulls me back in…”
She wipes a few tears away, “It’s always like that and I don’t know what it means… is something bad going to happen? Is the Circus in danger? I don’t know but I’m scared! I don’t wanna be scared.” She feels her hair being stroked and the remaining tears being wiped away by Ragatha, “That was an awful lot… I’m sorry you have to deal with these sorts of nightmares. Whatever it is, I promise I’ll help you through them. No matter what.” The two smile at each other, while unsure of what the future holds they know they’ll make it through because they have each other.