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The rabbit just stares at the broken mirror, his breath fast and messy, his thoughts muffled by the music and sound of the water flowing, he just stares blankly into his own eyes, gripping the sink as he lowers his head, letting out a defeated sigh.
“Jeez, you sure are funny!...pff, you are such a fool.”
He tried looking back at the mirror, but he couldn’t bring himself to look at himself, look at his cracking mask.
Gripping the sink in anger and regret, he looks around, the music is getting louder– “Annoying.” he notes to himself, trying to slow down his breath and calm down, trying his best to put up the mask again, but his breath quickens again as he starts to hear the sounds of thousands of steps outside.
Slightly startled he almost falls, his knees are weak, his gut feels…off, his eyelids heavy, he makes his best effort to walk out the bathroom.
The music gets louder, far louder than it was before, deafeningly loud, the rabbit letting out a sigh of anger, covering his ears before jogging out.
The jester frantically looks around, quite a bit startled herself over the amount of ‘people’ walking around, the music getting louder isn’t helping at all.
She takes a second to think about the situation, things are happening too quickly, first the argument from before, now an award event and party?, it’s a bit much to take in.
The jester first spots the rest of her friends trying their best to make their way around going through the huge crowd of ‘people’, spotting the doll trying to get over to her, a bit overwhelmed, the Jester just shouts over the loud music– “Go with the others! I got something to do!”,the doll couldn’t understand anything of what she had said, just giving a slightly relieved thumbs up, communication is a start!
the music was starting to muffle her own thoughts, slightly pulling on her hat bells in frustration as she walked through the crowded room, having to squeeze her way through a few times.
They needed to talk, badly, she wouldn’t let his stubbornness sabotage himself, she had to take that step and stand on business, even if she was very nervous about it, she was willing to try over and over.
she finally spotted him trying his best to walk away, he wasn’t doing good at all, he wasn’t fooling anybody.
Tonight the music seems so loud~
Just for a second she thought about their team up earlier, the fun she had, the fact that she was able to connect properly for once!, they were on the same page, it was…calm, comfortable, she wasn’t gonna let that dance end there.
the music getting louder and louder, she reaches out, calling out to him.
“Jax!”
I Wish that we could lose this crowd~
“Pom-”
Even if just for a second, he reached out, but he couldn’t look her in the eyes, he froze, his vision unfocused, he couldn’t do it.
Maybe, It’s better this way~
Their hands seemed so close yet so far, Jax pulled back, his breath quickly turning into a mess of guilt and anger, anger at himself, before she would see him break down right then and there, he ran, like he always does.
We’d hurt each other with the things we want to say~
We could have been so good together~
She reached out just one more time, just trying anything to get closer.
We could have lived this dance forever~
But now who's gonna dance with me?~
Please Stay.
“Pomni!”- The doll managed to make her way over to her, not that the jester managed to understand it over the deafening music, but she was relieved of having her there.
She gave the doll a bit of a defeated smile– “I tried Ragatha…I think I did.” She wasn’t very confident in her attempt but she couldn’t let his mask push her away, Ragatha just awkwardly placed her hand on Pomni’s head, trying to reassure her– “You said it’s all about making him take the first step, right?...”
The Jester was too focused on getting herself together to give much of a reply, just nodding as if she understood anything over the annoying party, she made her way over to a slightly more spacious corner along with the others, Gangle was carrying Zooble who was…rather not in condition, and Kinger was there, doing his best, as always, Ragatha just noted to the others that she was “A Tad bit over determined at the moment” as she put it, it was good being able to hear something for once, but that didn’t matter much to the jester.
Pomni closed her eyes for a solid minute, just thinking to herself ways to “make that stupid cute rabbit take that step!” as she put it, opening her eyes, with a very determined look, a bit scary to Gangle who was gonna check up on her, but she still took a step towards her, still carrying Zooble.
“So you got a plan?”
She asked, rather organized considering how much she fumbles on her words usually, a bit weirded out by Pomni’s lack of quick reply, she gave her a soft smile, leaning back on the wall along with her, Zooble starting to doze away on Gangle’s ribbon arms.
“I’m gonna break his shell, and make him grow the f—k up.”
Gangle looked at Pomni a bit shocked to see her this determined, but respected it.
The lights are finally starting to dim, and the music is getting quieter.
It has gotten dark in the circus.
Jax is found in his room, physically he is just sitting there, on the floor, leaning against his door, hugging his knees, his breath quick and messy, it’s just another restless night for him, nothing new.
but mentally he is anywhere but here with us, his thoughts spiraling to conclusions faster than he can even really process, his words in his mind don’t even make sense, he is scared.
“What would you do if I abstracted tomorrow?.”
Those damn words rang around his head again, he could have replied with anything, yet none of them would have been true, he doesn’t understand it, it doesn’t make any sense.
“I’d move on, and probably forget about you.”
The rabbit pulled on his ears, standing up, sitting back down, frantically walking in circles, just doing all sorts of dumb stuff to try and ignore his own thoughts, but the more he does, the more he starts to hyperventilate, pacing back and forth, he can’t help but think about her.
think about everyone.
“It’ll all just end the f—king same!”
He shouted as he punched the wall of his room, slightly giggling to himself– “And I’ll be next.”
before sitting back down at his door, hugging his knees and burying his face in them, trying his best to just ignore those thoughts.
His thoughts are interrupted by some steps outside.
Those steps turn into humming.
That humming turns into singing.
Daisy, Daisy~
Give me your answer do~
His ears and shoulders tense up, as if thinking of her wasn’t enough!
I’m half crazy, all for the love of you~
It won’t be a stylish marriage~
He can’t help but hum along as her voice gets closer.
But you’ll look sweet upon the seat~
Of a bicycle built for two~
Ah, F—k it.
He opened the door slightly, it sure is dark!.
Pomni stood there, leaning slightly over, giving him a bit of a smug smile before fake coughing and standing very firmly before him, for once she had to talk down on the rabbit!
“We’ll talk, right?.”--She went right to the point, Jax was still avoiding eye contact, shuffling around, anything but talking, after a solid second, he nodded.
She entered the room fully, closing the door carefully behind her, and sitting down next to him.
The rabbit’s attention was pretty forcefully grabbed by Pomni snapping her fingers twice, his eyes finally looking at hers, even if just for a second, the room seemed brighter, even if it was just a feeling, the night lights shined brighter, as did she.
“But not now, what you need is a good night’s sleep, okay?”--She wasn’t expecting much of a reply, but was taken aback by Jax hugging her, tightly at that, he was just repeating “I’m sorry” to himself over and over again, sobbing.
She wasn’t expecting it at all, but accepted it, gently petting him and holding him tightly, humming Daisy Daisy again, she sighed in relief as they both drifted off, for once having a good night of sleep, finally comfortable.
The circus is bright again after a long night.
Pomni isn’t exactly the earliest to wake up, much less get up, but it’s a bit late, even for her, Ragatha is checking on Pomni's room like she does most mornings, knocking on the door once very lightly, then a quick– “Pomni! everything fine?”, and finally, 2 slightly stronger knocks on her door, finding the door open, slightly confused, she steps in, looking around, and then taking a look outside in the halls, just to catch a glimpse of her walking along with Jax, talking about…something? She can’t exactly make out what they are talking about but she very quickly hides, trying to connect the dots as best as she can, before doing as Kinger taught her.
Counting from 3 to 16 three times, and then 1 to 3, deep breaths only, it oddly enough works!.
Very awkwardly walking out of Pomni’s room, she takes a deep breath– “Hey guys!, good to know she was just with you Jax!..hehe?...” it wasn’t a laugh, she just made the ‘hehe’ noise, she tried her best to keep herself calm, expecting the worst from Jax, she was cut off in her thoughts.
“Oh yeah right, she slept with me, she is your problem now~” He teasingly said, patting Pomni on the back before walking past them, just doing a very vague ‘see ya later’ by waving his hand, Pomni just followed his vibe.
Ragatha sighed in relief, a silly smile appearing on her face– “So uh- it went well?” she asked, Pomni first looked up at her, a huge bright smile cracking through her mostly pre-coffee look, doing a little hop– “Yep! we still gotta talk properly but I got him to open up! he’s a cracked open case!!” she shouted happily, her eyes fiery with hope, her sharp teeth clenching slightly, Ragatha can’t help but giggle a little.
With the others, Zooble is having the worst hang over of their life, the effects of the sauce still slightly hitting, Gangle is helping them eat properly their…digital breakfast?, Kinger is mostly acting like a dad before their morning coffee, usually Jax would be making a whole mess of breakfast, it’s calm today, too calm.
“Hey, mornin’.”
He casually said before grabbing his cup of low poly coffee and a few cookies and walking off to eat alone in his own little corner.
The shock of this is enough to snap Zooble out of their morning high, for a second the idea of doing a victory dance to the tune of Let’s Groove seemed very tempting, but looking back, Jax still has his shit-eating grin, so the idea goes back into the vault.
Zooble grumpily leans on Gangle, who is doing her best to feed her, Zooble might not see the sense in this…lovey dovey act but from the outside, even Kinger seems more sane.
Ragatha and Pomni finally arrive with everybody else, although Gangle wanted to say good morning, Pomni pretty quickly ran past her, waving back at her at least, Ragatha just looks from her seat, having sat down next to Kinger, a bit worried about Jax’s…not so positive outlook on her, but mostly happy about Pomni.
“Hey what are y-”
Jax didn’t get even a bit of time to complain, Pomni tugging on his arm– “Come on! Join us!” she cheered him on before running off back to the others, even if just for a second, he reached out.
“Her hands feel good.”
He thought to himself before sighing, letting out a tiny bit of a smile and walking towards them, even if Zooble absolutely wanted things to stay the way they were.
“Hi Kinger…Ragatha, Zooble…Gangle.”--He mostly said Hi to Kinger in a mildly normal way, for the other 3 he leaned on his chair as he sat away from them, the way he said their names, it was bound to end terribly, but after giving Ragatha a stinging side eye, he sighs and looks at Pomni, sitting properly and downing his coffee in a single gulp
“Did ya get your good night’s beauty sleep? cuz ya’ll sure as ugly as ever!”--He laughed at his own stupid comment, while Gangle saw through the insult and was actually ready to reply with a smile, Zooble was ready to throw hands, one foot already on the table, being stopped by Gangle– “Do you mean if we slept well?...”
She asked, fumbling over her words a bit, Zooble sat back down, still giving Jax a death stare, Ragatha sighed in relief, she did not want a fight this early, Jax meanwhile was just- frozen up, not really knowing how to act at this moment, his hands shaking, Pomni moved over a few seats quickly to sit next to him, holding his hand, just nodding at him.
“Take it as you will, now answer dummy~”
He got comfortable, his shit-eating grin appearing again, although there was a slight shine on his eyes, the gang just looked at each other for a second.
“Oh yeah totally! slept like a…King!”--Kinger replied first, doing a bad sting sound like the good dad he is.
with another quick look, the rest of the gang replied, fairly comfortably so.
“Well I’d say yes but truthfully I stayed up late drawing…” admitted Gangle, giggling to herself—”Well at least you were being productive, I was just finding new ways to sleep” said Zooble, still giving Jax a bit of a death stare, but more comfortable now.
“I should have used my time at night! I just went to sleep early…” –Ragatha kinda cursed at herself, but very quickly turned into a giggle.
Jax just looked at this, perplexed, looking over at Pomni for some guidance, she just gave him the softest smile she could do.
“Right right, we slept tight as a baby!, right Pom-Pom?” –He tried being a tiny bit more truthful, slowly opening up more and more.
“Yeah! best sleep in a while to be honest…” –She admitted, it was a bit weird for Jax to be so…actively there and not be an ass, but it was nice, he still said some not so nice things but it was going to be a slow process!.
It went mostly smooth even if Jax needed help every 2 words, but after their pretty positive breakfast, Pomni couldn’t find even a trace of him, slightly sighing, she made her way over to him, or she tried moreso, as she spent like 20 minutes looking for him, finding him leaning on a wall on a pretty high part of the circus, visibly worried.
“You still owe me a talk, y’know?” –Pomni went pretty much directly to the point, although a bit of worry cracked into her comment, Jax slightly tensed up.
“I lowered my guard, forget about this.” –He sat down, not really avoiding her anymore, Pomni sat down next to him.
“You’re an idiot, y’know that?”
“Tell me something I don’t know” –He shuffled slightly
“That I won’t let you isolate yourself.” –She stood on business, slightly tensing up.
“It was all a mistake, stop trying to be a hero.” –He couldn’t bring himself to look down on her again, avoiding her eyes.
“Then stop trying to play the villain, not if you can’t believe even yourself.” –She fought fire with fire, standing up and standing in front of him, this time looking down on him.
“You know nothing, I won’t commit the same mistake again, you already saw too much.”
“Are you seriously gonna let that mistake define you? you clearly can’t keep the mask up for much longer.” –She got on one knee, forcefully grabbing his face, making him look her dead in the eyes.
“I can’t lose what I don’t have…” –His look seemed completely dead, barely a husk.
or so it seemed before he was forcefully hugged extremely tightly.
“You are terrible…but you’re human, like us, we are all human, we all make mistakes.” –She tried her best to come up with something to get him to make that step, even if she didn’t understand the whole story, she was gonna do everything in the book.
Pomni got no response for a short bit, Jax bursted out sobbing, grabbing onto her roughly, desperately even, shouting over and over that “It’s my fault”, his sobbing turning into full on bawling his eyes out, but Pomni didn’t let go.
“I’ll lose you, like I lost e-everybody else” –He shouted, still sobbing, hyperventilating.
“I’m here.”
“It was all my fault wasn’t it?...” –He didn’t even make sense to himself anymore, he was just snapping his mask, over and over.
“You are fine.” –She held him tighter.
“I hate everybody, I have to hate everybody-” –He couldn’t even finish, he was coughing, barely any more words came out, just silence.
After a short while of holding each other, Jax awkwardly pushed her away– “Please just leave me here, I don’t deserve you.”
He whined to himself, trying to compose himself and go back to his mask.
But Pomni was not gonna let him manipulate himself again.
Stomping his chest against the wall, keeping her foot planted there, leaving him with no escape…and very out of his vibe for multiple reasons.
“Let’s do this together…one step at a time, yeah?”
She reassured him, getting off him and pretty forcefully pulling him up, grabbing his hand and starting to run, Jax just kinda followed her, running, her holding his hand– “I’m too lucky.” he thought to himself.
“Do you have any idea how much s—t I gotta fix?” –He shouted at her slightly laughing, tears still running down his cheeks.
“We’ll do it together! all you gotta do is take the first step!” –She encouraged him, letting his hand go, it was now or never.
He reached out, and held onto her hand like his life depended on it.
“Don’t you ever leave me! got it Pom-Pom?” –He teasingly shouted as he pulled her closer, Pomni giving him a very smug and bright smile before speeding up–”Pff as if! I won’t ever let you isolate yourself, never again!”
they both just ran around, barely looking where they were going just- letting the energy out, looking at each other, reassuring that this would be the first real step.
“This is f—-king amazing!!” –Jax shouted at the top of his lungs, feeling a freedom he hasn’t felt in ages.
Pomni couldn’t help but giggle at this side of him– “I Lov-”
She was ready to say something probably life changing, but you should probably look where you are going!
Both fell from the bridge they were running on, a bit too tall to properly survive.
“Whoops! there you are!” –Caine popped into the freeze frame of them falling to their deaths, teleporting them to the rest of the gang with a quick snap of his fingers.
They both just stare at nothing, just standing there.
“Eh it was too early for that anyways” –Said Jax playfully, striking a bit of a pose.
“Yeah too early to get your hopes up~” –She teased, walking past him and reaching out her hand to him.
“This is way faster! Think smarter Pom-Pom!” –He teased as he picked her up on his shoulders, her screeching catching the attention of the gang as Jax runs towards his…future friends, with Pomni on his shoulders.
It’s gonna be a very long journey to make up for everything, and getting used to the no-mask is gonna be tough, but Jax isn’t alone anymore, he won’t isolate himself, he won’t isolate anybody, he’ll…try.
The door to Jax’s room is open for Pomni, always, because this dance will last forever.
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THE END? THE ADVENTURE HASN’T EVEN STARTED YET!!