Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Her fingers drummed against her thigh nervously. Sweat was beginning to build up on her face, tempting her to take off the headset so she could breathe.

She glanced at the avatar next to her, who was sitting against the wall next to her. Before he turned his head, she stared straight ahead. 

He didn’t let this slide.

“What?”

Her eyebrows furrowed. She turned back to him, staring at him in silence.

His character obnoxiously smiled at her, but he sounded unlike himself.

He sounded tired.

“What? Whaddya want? Something on my avatar?”

She shook her head, and they fell back into silence.

This is just so… extremely strange. Her brain supplied in the quiet. The lobby they were in was nearly full, and the game was just waiting on a couple more players to join. She wasn’t sure if it was because it was one in the morning, but everyone was chatting and chilling instead of the usual hectic, toxic trashtalk. She looked around and noted how cutely cozy the waiting lobby was, which was also jarring with how different it was from the rest of the circus. It resembled the dining area of a fast food stop, with booths, tables, a counter, an inaccessible kitchen, and a TV in the corner. The developers had a bizarre sense of humor when it came to designing some of the rooms.

“You find the TV interesting?”

At his low voice, she snapped her gaze at him, catching his lazy eyes and wide smile. His words tumbled around in her head until she realized that he was talking to her… and then realized that he had asked her a question.

She shook her head, which visibly confused him as he scratched his head.

“Why were you staring at the TV then?”

She wasn’t staring at the TV; she was just spacing out, but she could see why it was weird. However, the question she wanted to ask him was “why are you staring at me staring at nothing?”

Instead, she shrugged, and then they fell into silence once more. It was unusual for him to start so much small talk, and even more unusual that she didn’t mind this serenity that they were sitting in. Not trying to beat each other at the game, not fuming at him for being an obnoxious asshole—just them sitting here and waiting together. They had even decided to be on the same team this time. 

I guess I only have myself to blame for this awkwardness. Pomni sighed to herself. I invited him, after all.

Or maybe she could blame him for looking so lonely and sad and not hopping off early or at the same time as everyone else like he usually does.

They were still waiting on one player to join the lobby before they could start the game. Pomni checked the time, noting that they had only been waiting for five minutes since joining the lobby. It was insane that it took no time at all for his behavior to drive her crazy, and he wasn’t even trying.

“So, are you a real person?” he asked suddenly, “Or am I talking to a bot right now?”

She stared at him again.

“I mean, I ask because you play like a bot.” She felt the vein in her forehead twitch at his avatar’s creepy, smug grin. “Like, just real bad sometimes.”

She put in the effort of selecting an angry scowl for her character’s face. To her surprise, he laughed. It wasn’t as grating as it was earlier, but breathy and quiet, like her decision of emoting at him was genuinely funny.

“I wonder what you sound like. Why don’t you talk, huh, Pomni?” he poked her avatar’s forehead. “It would make this game a whole lot easier.”

She shrugged, then picked an emote where she stuck out her tongue. He asked in a light-hearted tone, much lighter than earlier, “And was that supposed to answer my question?”

She shrugged again, then looked away. Some players were roleplaying as employees and customers of the diner. Pomni giggled to herself as one “customer” was getting very heated over the fact that they “asked for no pickles” to an “employee,” who appropriately donned a Squidward model. 

[64/64 PLAYERS JOINED]

“Oh, nice!” He cheered next to her. When she blinked, guns appeared all around the diner.

[WARM-UP: 1:00]

And suddenly, it was chaos.

[WARM-UP: 0:59]

Normally, she’d be guns blazing by now, but the coziness of the quiet permeated within her mind, so she stayed where she was as the players entered a vicious cycle of shooting each other, dying, respawning, and redoing the process all over again.

“What’s this? Old Pompom is back?” To her surprise—the hundredth surprise of the night, probably—Jax stayed next to her. He was wielding a pistol, but he didn’t make any moves to join the fray. The warm-up countdown continued, but they paid it no mind as their characters looked at each other.

She shrugged.

“You know, you really piss me off with that.” Jax told her, sounding more like his joyful, distasteful self. “The fact that it’s one of the only things you can do to communicate is stupid. Just buy a mic. Do you need me to send you money?”

Pomni didn’t need Jax—the guy with the trashiest mic of their group—to buy her a mic. She shook her head.

“Oh, my God. Finally, a different movement!” He threw his head back and guffawed. She wasn't entirely sure why he was so surprised when she did that earlier. Maybe her shrugging really was driving him crazy. Pomni watched him laugh like no tomorrow, feeling a peculiar sense of smugness at how he was beginning to wheeze. Abruptly, he stopped, leaning in very close to her. Unfortunately, his unexpected movement actually made her flinch.

“This’ll be fun.” Jax snickered, “We’re gonna die so fast because you can’t even talk. No wonder you lose alllll the time to me.”

He shrugged, his toothy grin mocking her. “Well, besides the fact that you play like an NPC.”

Pomni stared at him as he cackled again, his avatar jittering around absurdly.

And then, hearing enough, she shot him.

[WARM-UP ENDED]

In a blip, they were in the grassy hills of a battlefield, the sounds of chaos like a reverberation in the air as players began their march toward the capture points. Vehicles drove past them in a frenzy with a helicopter flying overhead.

Jax was staring at her.

“You shot me!”

She shrugged, which made him emit sounds of indignant rage. To herself, she was giggling like a maniac under her headset. 

“Pompom, how are we gonna win this game if you’re over here shooting at me?”

She stared at him, as though pointing out the fact that he was the one who claimed that they were going to lose. Jax put his hands up in surrender. “Alright, I see your point. But maybe we can beat these suckers. We’re on the same team! Put a little effort into it, will ya?”

I already was! She could practically shout at him, maybe even strangle him if he wasn’t already running toward the chaos. “Keep up, Pompom! We gotta get B while they’re distracted on A!”

Her eyes nearly rolled out of its sockets. He was a good distance away but still shouting things like “don’t be the NPC everyone says you are!”

You’re the one saying that! Pomni seethed. With a flick of a switch, she bit out, “Jax, you asshole.”

He stopped where he was, far from her. She flicked the switch again in a panic.

Oops, did he actually hear that?

Then, he was sprinting toward her. Before long, he had made his way back to her, his tall avatar a bit intimidating now for some reason.

“Did you just say something?” Jax asked, genuine curiosity in his voice. “I thought I saw the mouth on your character move.”

Realizing she was still safe and that befuddling Jax was immensely satisfying, Pomni grinned. Then, she shrugged with an extra dose of blasé before sprinting away, enjoying the frustrated noises in her wake.

She didn’t think they’d ever have a moment like this, considering their rivalry, and the fact he was a major asshole. Pomni didn’t want to think about how she even ended up enjoying this game more than she thought she would, nor the random people who made that possible. 

Jax chased after her, shouting a bet, “Top of the scoreboard gets fifty-dollars worth of Cainebux!”

Oh, he’s so on. She’s been meaning to get a new pair of digital shoes. With a grin on her face, she raced past him, intent on coming out on top. Pomni couldn’t help the giggles escaping her, wondering when Jax became one of those people that made this game so fun.

That reflection can wait another time. Pomni charged onto the point, scoring kills left, right, and center. Right now, I have to win against that jerk! 

Chapter Text

[...]

[...]

[LOADING…]

“Seriously—was awesome—”

“—think if you—”

“Ohh—I didn’t—okay!”

“Where’s—”

[LOADING…]

“Wanna—to my room?”

“How did—get that?!”

“What? Don’t—change avatars!”

[LOADING…]

When the words disappeared from her vision, and the static plains dissolved into checkered tiles, she realized that she could finally hear other people’s conversations more clearly.

Well, as clearly as their internet connection would permit.

She moved her head around, her gaze landing onto everything in front of her. Characters of different shapes, sizes, and appearances, hanging around and chatting like everything was normal. A wacky, colorful background, which she quickly realized was painted all over this absolutely massive… 

…weird building? Playground…? Oh, wait, right… this is a circus.

…and with many doors, stairs, and hallways, leading to who knows where. 

“WELCOME TO THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS, POMNI!”

She jumped back at the floating NPC who suddenly appeared in front of her face. He was an odd-looking character, being a set of teeth with eyeballs inside, but they all looked odd here. His animation was smooth and fluid as he bounced around her view, which she could appreciate.

“I’M CAINE, THE OWNER OF THIS CIRCUS AND ALL OTHER ONES IN EXISTENCE! I AM YOUR DESIGNATED TOUR-GUIDE, GAME MASTER, LANDLORD, JUDGE, JURY, EXECUTIONER —”

Her eye twitched at the loudness of his voice, and as he went on with his monologue, speaking so fast that it made her head spin, she messed with the audio settings to lower his volume.

“YOU MAY BE WONDERING WHERE YOU ARE! YOU’RE IN CIRCUS 101323, BUT I’M EVERYWHERE. AS YOU GO AROUND, I WILL EXPLAIN STUFF! MAKE SURE YOU HAVE FUN ADVENTURES! AND ENJOY YOUR STAY, POMNI!”

101323… She looked around, noticing that this circus was nearly packed to the brim with people, they have that many circuses? Is this game that popular?

Before she could think too much about how they even have the capacity to host that many servers, she started exploring the circus with Caine explaining things along the way. The area was just so expansive that she felt like she had been walking around forever. Her journey around the circus was starting to feel like one of her urban explorations, but with way too many people, noises, and colors. There must have been thousands of different avatars she had already seen, and while she was amazed by how well this game held up with so many players, her mind was starting to spin with the sensory overload.

She must have lasted maybe thirty minutes before she logged out, already exhausted from the game.

Pomni parked her car, but before she went inside, she laid her forehead on her wheel and sighed. After a few minutes, she rolled her shoulders back and opened the door. 

Dragging herself out of her vehicle, she entered her apartment and was welcomed home by no one. Once or twice, she considered owning a pet, but dashed that notion before it took root. Her shoes were kicked across the entrance, her keys hit the table with a clang, and her bag fell to the floor next to the coffee table. Another exhale, and she was sitting on the couch, digging her palms into her burning eyes.

She checked her phone next. Marketing emails were cleared, reminder texts were cleared, untouched mobile games begging her to hop back on were ignored. With several swipes, all of her notifications were then dismissed, and she had nothing else to do. Her eyes drifted to the remote on the table, and she wondered if there was anything on TV that was worth watching.

Pressing the power button, she scrolled through a few channels, then a few streaming services. 

Nope, nothing interesting. Pomni exhaled, her brain utterly drained from work and bored with nothing to do. Some movie was quietly playing on the TV, but she didn’t bother to pay attention.

Pomni’s gaze caught onto the VR headset on the other side of the couch. She let the consideration roll around in her head, until she shrugged and muttered, “Fuck it, why not?”

It had been a week since she touched the game since her interest in it was so minimal. When she put on the headset and turned on the videogame, she had gotten only marginally more used to the vibrant colors and circus soundtrack. This game was such a strange form of silliness—nothing she really saw the appeal of, but she literally had jackshit to do, so she may as well not waste the money she spent on this game.

When Pomni arrived back in the hub of the circus, surrounded by hundreds of other avatars chatting away, she checked her to-do list that Caine gave her on the first day. She still hadn’t explored even half of the circus, nor the outside of it, but there was one quest really glaring at her. 

Go on one adventure? Pomni checked out the quest, but there were no details that helped her in figuring out what that meant. She gave up on figuring it out and decided she would just keep exploring the inside of the circus.

“Excuse me, but you’re wearing the same skin as me.”

“Nuh-uh, I have a fancy hat.”

“It’s still my skin.”

“The difference is that I’m richer.”

“Shut the [%$!#] up!”

Pomni couldn’t help but eavesdrop on their conversation. Not because of the stupidity of spending money for in-game purchases, but because the person who just cursed was censored. She found this interesting, so un-muting herself, she went ahead and said—

“[%$!#].”

What the hell? She put her hands to her face. Was that a censor bar?

Caine appeared in front of her suddenly, declaring automatically, “POMNI, AS A REMINDER, WE LIKE TO KEEP THIS GAME SAFE FOR ALL AGES! PROFANITY IS NOT ALLOWED!” 

Pomni stared at him, checking to see if anyone else noticed Caine hovering above her and scolding her. Guessing that everyone had their own version of Caine to annoy them, she started trying every curse word she knew. He just kept repeating the beginning of the warning message until she ran out of curse words to try, where he was then allowed to finish the reminder. There was nothing else Pomni wanted to say, so he disappeared completely. 

…Well, that’s lame. Didn’t realize this game was for kids. I thought there were some scary parts to this game, did they upload the wrong trailer? Pomni mused, then tried to flick off the air. There was a censor bar covering her character’s middle finger. She inspected it thoroughly, snickering to herself. That’s kinda funny, actually.

Pomni continued her exploration, soon noticing throughout the hub that there were a ton of doors lined along the walls with fractions above them. Her curiosity taking over, she walked up to a door that had “[91/100]” hovering over it. The door itself said “T4: Battlegrounds” in neon yellow text, but she had no idea what that meant. 

Her hand reached out to the knob, and held down the button to complete the interaction—

THUD

The door swung open with a gust of wind. Her eyes widened in surprise—

FWOOSH

And suddenly, she was falling into a black screen.

When her black screen faded into color, she tried to steady herself. Her brain was foggy and disoriented, forcing her to shut her eyes to regain her senses. When she opened them, she began to register her surroundings.

Where am I??

Pomni froze, her eyes darting every which way when she realized she was no longer in the circus. Even the colors of the game were much less saturated and obnoxious. If she had to guess, it looked like some sort of island, and there was half a plane that people were jumping and climbing on. There was noise coming from everywhere—screaming, yelling, chatter, and the worst kinds of toxic trash-talk.

[92/100 PLAYERS JOINED]

…Joined? Joined what?! Pomni only had a moment to read the notification that popped up—something about her completing one of the main quests—before a voice startled her.

“Pomni?” 

She jumped in place, her gaze snapping to the side, before drifting upward.

“Who are you?” a tall, purple rabbit asked her, then immediately turned around before she could react. “Who is Pomni? I thought Ribbons was joining.”

Pomni could feel her ears ache at the sound of his horrible microphone. Her eyes caught onto the username above his head, and her eyebrows furrowed.

…“idon’tcare03”? What sort of username is that?

The answer was obvious: the type that was made with no effort whatsoever, but she couldn’t wrap her mind around it.

“Leave her alone, she’s streaming her latest piece,” another person replied, their voice calm but tinged with annoyance, “so she doesn’t want to play right now.”

At the sound of a normal microphone, Pomni sighed with relief. She looked over to read their username, “MismatchedCash-Piano,” and wondered what the hell were these usernames so far.

“I let Caine choose for me. I didn’t care much about my username, but not as much as that guy over there, though,” said the goofy-looking avatar, their shoulders going up and down in one nonchalant motion. The toybox character used their… chin(?) to jerk toward the tall purple rabbit, indicating that they were referring to him, before telling her, “I go by Zooble.”

Zooble… is a name? It’s their name? In real life? Pomni wondered, then realized, Wait, how did they know I was questioning the usernames—

“Drawing her lame anime fanart over Battlegrounds?” the tall purple rabbit sounded incredulous—offended, even. His loud, obnoxious voice coming from his God-awful microphone spooked the hell out of her, though. He shook his head in disappointment and drawled, “Laaame.”

Zooble put their hands on their hips, simply uttering, “Shut up.”

“It’s okay, Jax.” A third person joined, her voice sounding much kinder and clearer than the other two, “We’ll just play with Pomni.”

…She must be rich. Pomni noted instantly,  Her set-up is probably crazy since her voice sounds so high-def. Even her movements are super fluid.

The three of them looked at her, making Pomni feel like there was a spotlight shining down on her from somewhere. They were silent, as though waiting for something.

“...So, Pomni.” The nice one started, “Are you new? Since you don’t have—”

[100/100 PLAYERS JOINED]

[WARM-UP: 1:00]

Guns. Pomni noticed. Guns are everywhere.

The tall purple rabbit was suddenly sprinting around, dual-wielding and unleashing rainfire on every nearby player. His maniacal laughter could somehow be heard over the chaos. The funky avatar made out of various pieces had lazily picked up a sniper and started heading toward the bushes. 

Pomni stared ahead, her eyes fixated on the chaos in front of her.

“Anyway,” the ragdoll woman cleared her throat, still standing next to her, “as I was saying earlier, I noticed you didn’t have a mic.”

Pomni looked at the other avatar’s name.

Her username is a bit hard to read, but I think that says… Ragatha? That’s… fun, I guess. Is that a play on Agatha? The ragdoll seemed to take her silence as a confirmation and explained, “Well, you see, this whole game always has proximity chat. The only time we can actually hear each other constantly is through Discord, but we always decide to mute ourselves in the voice chat just to fully immerse ourselves in ADC—I mean, ah, that stands for Amazing Digital Circus. Some people just call it ADC or Digital Circus.”

She talks a lot. Pomni mentally notated. Ragatha continued, “It’s pretty fun! So, I definitely recommend that you get one. A mic, that is. It’s also tough for non-speakers since there’s no chat function.”

Pomni waited for her to finish, before flicking a switch on her headset for a moment. “No, I have one. Just don’t want to use it.”

“O-Oh!” That seemed to shock her. “Well… great to know! I mean, comms are pretty important in this game, but if you don’t want to, that’s totally understandable too.”

They stood together in silence, observing the insanity and listening to the obscene trash-talking, until—

“Dollface, how’s the newbie?” The tall purple rabbit—Jox? Jackson?—strolled up to them, apparently finished with his warm-up rampage. Ragatha put her hands together. “She’s new and quiet, but I’m sure she’ll get the hang of everything!”

I’m right here. Pomni thought with a disgruntled inner voice. Even though she knew she was the one keeping to herself, she could still communicate on her own. Lifting one hand, she did a thumbs-up.

“Right, right, right.” Jax put a hand to his chin; his wide, black eyes seemed to gaze into her soul, as his toothy grin appeared to stretch further across his face. 

Ragatha cringed, “Jax—”

Oh, that’s what his name was. Pomni looked between the two of them.

“—I don’t like that look on your face.”

He put his hands on his hips. “Whaddya mean? I always have this look on my face!”

“Jax is a… bit of a troublemaker, Pomni.” Ragatha spoke to her directly, ignoring the tall purple rabbit’s indignant shout, “So just don’t take anything he does too seriously.”

“I’m right here, you know.” Jax told the ragdoll, and Pomni felt strange that her sentiment from earlier was being echoed out loud. Abruptly, he turned to face her, his hands and shoulders jerking upward in a carefree fashion. “Anyway, what’s a bit of trouble? She saaaays I’m a troublemaker, but I just like to have fuuun. What’s wrong with that? Having fun is what counts!”

…Right. Okay, then. Pomni was unsettled. Deeply. 

[WARM-UP ENDED]

Her screen was fading to black. The noise slowly died out.

Uhhh, what’s going—

Her screen faded back into color, and revealed that she was in an airplane.

One that was on fire.

And slowly descending toward the ground.

—on?? Oh, God, it’s so loud—

Everyone was talking trash or screaming, and it was really starting to make her ears bleed. Jax sounded so loud sitting next to her, yelling at some wrinkly alien avatar across the aisle about how his elbows probably looked weird and how he had no prospects in life. Pomni stared at the tall purple rabbit, wondering how his insults had such… range.

He guffawed after the alien disappeared, elbowing her character. “This is the best. You won’t find it anywhere else, newbie.”

Pomni stared at him. He put his head in his hand and leaned over his legs to stare back.

“Cat got your tongue? Too stupid to speak? Not enough money for a mic?” Jax asked in rapid-fire, but she deigned to answer him with a firm shake of her head to each guess. He hummed, then said, “You know, if you’re actually just someone who doesn’t have the ability to talk, completely my bad. Buuut, on the other hand, if you don’t have that issue, you should feel bad.”

She stuck her hand out, signaling her confusion.

“Why? Well, obviously, you don’t want to come off as a liar, right? Pretending to be non-verbal is super uncool. God, Pomni, think a little harder next time.”

Pomni, surprisingly, felt like strangling him. This guy is an insufferable asshole. How does he have friends?

Ragatha abruptly asked, her voice somewhere down the aisle. “Guys, where are we dropping?”

Zooble was apparently behind Pomni’s seat, and they started to speak, “Let’s—”

“Hold on, Zoobie.” Jax’s grin made her swallow, “Let’s let the newbie decide.”

Ragatha faltered. “Pomni? But she doesn’t—”

“Have a mic? Know the game?” Jax waved his hand dismissively as pieces of the plane fell apart all around them. “No need for any of that. She just needs some instructions.”

He leaned in close, the proximity making his voice even louder, “So, newbie, you see that interaction on your right?”

His garbage microphone combined with his deafening volume was grating on her ears, making her scowl. Nonetheless, she turned her head, finding the interaction. She questioned inwardly at the word, “Drop”?

Jax nudged her. “Hold on it.”

“Jax—wait! We’re—”

“Calm down, Rags, it’ll be fine.” Jax shot her a look, before turning back to Pomni. She eyed him skeptically, but went ahead and followed his instructions.

Suddenly, she was falling.

And she was falling fast.

Pomni couldn’t stop the shriek that escaped her as her surroundings smeared and blur. Her neighbors might start complaining soon, but she was too distracted to care. With the sound of air rushing past her, she felt like she was actually plummeting to her death. She hadn’t eaten dinner, so it was going to suck if she threw up right now.

“Hey, newbie! Having fun?”

The tall purple rabbit was descending next to her, somehow in a very relaxed pose despite the speed at which they were plunging. His hands were crossed behind his head as one leg folded atop the other. He was still grinning at her, like he could hear her screams despite her being muted.

“JAX!” Ragatha was above them, her voice panicked as she flailed around. “Why did we drop above here?!”

He shrugged. “This is the best spot!”

“Yeah… no, we’re dead.” Zooble said next to Ragatha, their voice more tired than before. “Sorry, Pomni.”

Sorry for what??

Pomni felt like she physically choked as a parachute shot out of her back. She looked down when her surroundings were no longer a collection of smudges, and gasped in horror.

There were tons of parachutes below them, all of them slowly falling toward a somewhat large building.

“That’s our landing spot, Pomni!” The tall purple rabbit said, pointing excitedly. “We just need to go there, get guns, and win!”

He whooped, as if that extremely simple plan was foolproof. Pomni gulped as her feet were getting closer and closer to the roof of the building.

Oh, shiiit, I have no choice.

When her feet finally hit cement, she stumbled a bit, then started frantically searching for a weapon. Her heart was pounding, her hands were starting to sweat on the controllers. Players all around her were beginning to pick up items, and she did her best to weave as shots were fired in her direction. 

Shit, shit, shit!

Her health was dwindling down with each shot she took while she kept scrambling for a weapon. Her eyes landed on a pistol on the ground next to flimsy-looking armor and a tiny backpack. Pomni ran as fast as she could, her hand outreached—

—and someone else picked it all up, equipping the pistol in their hand.

It was some kind of mannequin.

Pomni stumbled backward, then turned to run, before her character abruptly dropped to the ground. 

She nearly keeled over in real life.

What was that?! Did I just… die?? To that player?! Pomni noticed the rim of her vision was gray, slowly spreading over. Her avatar wouldn’t get up from its knees, and the mannequin sprinted past her, hitting the wall with a weird running motion before getting shot in the head and falling to their knees. She was utterly flabberghasted that she died to that person.

Pomni was down for only a few moments until she heard Ragatha yelp, followed by Zooble’s groan, and then Jax’s angry shout. There was still trash-talk here and there, and Jax was quarreling with other players even though Pomni was pretty sure he had just been knocked down too.

Finally, her screen went completely monochrome as it zoomed out, showing her avatar’s corpse sprawled on the roof.

[BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME! #23/25]

What... just happened?

“Aw, darn, we lost.” Ragatha remarked, her voice somewhat far away. “Oh, well. I hope you had fun, P—”

“Man, are you kidding me?! How did you die, newbie?!” Jax yelled in exaggerated disappointment, sounding somewhat nearby, and she could practically see him throwing his hands up. Zooble grumbled, their voice coming from another direction, “Shut up, Jax. You’re the one that made us drop here.”

While he was arguing uselessly, Zooble then explained to Pomni from wherever they were, “Hey, it’s fine. You didn’t know that this is the most popular spot to drop, which makes it the worst spot to drop. Jax is just a troll.”

…What the hell is going on?? Pomni questioned, her head hurting from all the things they were saying that made no sense to her. She could still feel the adrenaline shooting through her, but it was starting to diminish. Her eyes were glossed over, her vision focused on her dead character. Jax clicked his tongue, “No, no, we definitely could have had it! I bet Pomni died to an NPC or something.”

“It was a full lobby, how could there be NPCs?” Ragatha questioned in defense of her, before saying, “Besides, I didn’t see any mannequins.”

…Whuh? Pomni was spiraling. NPCs are... mannequins? All that panic… just to lose… to an NPC?

She could cry.

“Whatever. You win some, you lose some. Let’s just join the next lobby already.” Zooble sounded like they couldn’t care less. Before they left, they said, “See you around, Pomni.”

“Alright, sounds good.” Ragatha agreed, before adding, “Bye, Pomni! Hope you enjoy your next game.”

The two of them exited the lobby, evident by the squad number in the corner of her screen decreasing. For some reason, Jax remained. Pomni wondered if she should make a hasty escape before he made more fun of her.

“...I was tryyying to save you, you know.” He murmured, his voice surprisingly steady, “I saw you fall over. Thought I could get to you, but then I got shot from the side. Ugh, sometimes the drop rate sucks at this spot.”

Pomni hesitated to leave.

…Why is he telling me this?

“Anyway, maybe you should play more solo games and practice in warm-up before joining a random squad.” His tone was starting to pick up, sounding more joyful and obnoxious—his usual attitude, she presumed. He chuckled, “You don’t wanna drag down the next squad, do you?”

Ah, right, he’s an asshole. He just wants to rub in my face that I don't know what I'm doing. Pomni wished she wasn’t just staring at her character’s dead body so she could glare at him. She could practically hear his simper. 

“See you later, Pomni.”

And when he left, so did she.

She barely arrived back at the circus when a notification appeared in the upper right corner of her vision.

A friend request? Pomni opened it, and felt her eye twitch. From fucking Jax?

She rolled her eyes, then logged out of the game without hesitation. Tugging off her headset, she grimaced at her bangs matted with sweat. A sigh fled her lips as she collapsed onto the couch. Her foot tapped on the carpet repeatedly.

“This game is crazy.” Pomni stated. The words lingered in the air and in her thoughts. She shook her head. “Way too much going on. I need a shower.”

She ignored the nibbling at the back of her mind, urging her to hop back on.

Pomni was surprised that she only lasted a couple days this time before hopping back on the game. She had played maybe two or three games of solo Battlegrounds until she was tired of dying five minutes after dropping. She considered trying out other adventures that this game offered, since it apparently offered a lot, but decided to do something more chill. 

She was exploring the inside of the circus again, roaming a hall of rooms with faces on them. Her pace matched that of a stroll through a gallery as she eyed the portraits hanging along the walls. There were other players roaming up and down the hall, entering and exiting the rooms.

What even are these rooms? Pomni wondered while her gaze traced the portrait of a random avatar on the door. She halted in place. Wait, do I have one?

She was scrolling through her inventory—trying to figure out whether or not she had a room and how she was supposed to find it—when she noticed someone approaching her.

Is that a… ragdoll? After a moment, Pomni knew exactly who this character was.

“Hi!” the woman’s voice came out, clear as day. “I feel like I’ve seen you before. I’m Ragatha. And your name is…”

The doll tilted her head, eyes squinting. Pomni guessed that she was reading her very simple username. 

“Huh, wait… ‘pomni_00’?”

Pomni looked up, glancing at the doll’s username floating above her character.

Oh yeah, it’s “xXRagatha95Xx.” Pomni snickered. Ragatha stared at her for a few seconds, before realizing, “Oh! You’re from the Battlegrounds game a couple days ago.”

Pomni nodded. Ragatha sounded happy, clapping her hands and declaring, “This is great! This game is so huge that you don’t often run into the same person twice. How have you been?”

…Should I…? Pomni then decided against flicking the switch and instead shrugged, moving her hand in a “so-so” motion.

Ragatha looked her up and down. “Well, your avatar is looking great and… the same as before, I think. Haven’t gotten a lot of items?”

Pomni arched an eyebrow. Doesn’t that require money?

“Here, take this.” Ragatha suddenly had a costume folded in her hands. “I got it after my friends and I completed an adventure where we had to save a lonely king from boredom. Nobody wanted it, so I took it. But, honestly, I don’t need it either, so you can have it!”

Oh, I didn’t realize you could get items that way. That’s cool. Pomni showed her open palms, allowing Ragatha to pass the costume to her. The ragdoll smiled down at her, before gesturing for her to follow. “There’s an adventure that just needs one more person. I was looking for someone when I saw you. No offense, but you didn’t look too busy, so I thought ‘hey, why not’? Come on!”

She started walking ahead of Pomni, assuming she would follow. Pomni wasn’t quite sure why she would be expected to start following this random woman, but since it was technically a social game and she was still new, it wouldn’t hurt to see what the adventure was. Putting the costume on real quick, she trailed after the ragdoll. 

At least she’s nice. Pomni thought to herself.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Pomni! And with new digs!"

God damn it…

Pomni tried not to look at the tall purple rabbit grinning at her, and instead found herself staring at an avatar of… ribbons. And a theater-inspired mask.

“KawaiiMasuku♡UwU” is… a username. Pomni waved hello at the other person, ignoring Jax at her side. The avatar of ribbons waved back, her voice shy and soft, “Hi, I’m Gangle.”

“Nobody cares.” Jax asserted, before leaning over, “So, Pomni, nice to see you again. I noticed that Dollface gifted you our reward from a few adventures back. You're very welcome, by the way. Also, just so you know, my friend request is still sitting in your inbox, waiting to be accepted.”

He blinked innocently at her, and it reminded Pomni that she meant to delete it when she hopped back on.

So in front of him, she declined. To her immense satisfaction, Jax stuttered in disbelief, and a familiar voice from the other side praised her with a “Nice!” before snickering.

Jax grouched, “Shut up, Zoobie, it’s not that funny.” 

“It absolutely is.” Zooble nodded, “Pomni’s a riot.”

Ragatha and Gangle were both giggling into their hands as Jax glared at the shorter avatar. 

Out of nowhere, he claimed, “Pomni’s an NPC.”

Zooble questioned in a deadpan manner, “That doesn't make any—What the [%$!#] makes you say that?”

I'm not a mannequin. Pomni thought pointedly, muttering to herself. I'm new, and even I know what NPCs look like... now. Stupid ragebaiter.

“I just need to prove it. You’ll see.” Jax tapped at his chin, his eyes lighting up when the game announced it was about to begin. “Oh, I know!”

He grinned at Pomni. His voice went low and quiet as he leaned down to whisper into her ear, “Hope you’ve been practicing.”

His awful mic didn’t sound so bad when he wasn’t being aggravatingly loud. She shivered against her will, but then glowered. Oh, he’s going down.

What the hell was that? Pomni growled to herself, Completely different game mechanics from Battlegrounds! That’s not fair!

The adventure was some strange board game filled with minigames, all of which she never played before. In every single one, she landed in last place. And at the end of it all, she was dead last with no coins and no stars, which was what she needed to scale the ranks. When the winner was announced, she was forced onto her knees, looking up at the tall purple rabbit with a golden crown floating above his head.

Jax was cackling, the crown on his head making him look like even more of an eyesore. He tapped the crown above him, smirking, “Come on, Pomni, why’d you even bother? I thought you knew jesters serve kings.”

Pomni had half a mind to take off her clown costume, but it was a gift, so she decided against it. He plucked the crown and twirled it around his finger. “You’re free to try again anytime, but just so you know, you’ll lose again.”

She felt like she would start breathing fire.

I hate this fucking guy, she seethed. Jax was the most irritating person she had ever met, and she worked in a dead-end job as an accountant for a dying supermarket chain with people who didn’t know what they were doing. Every minigame they finished, he would gibe at her, making fun of the fact that she didn’t know what she was doing or that she was last place again and again. Once more, she had no clue how he even had friends, since the rest of them actually seemed nice and chill.

A hand was put on her shoulder, and Ragatha’s kind voice cut through her rage. “Don’t worry, Pomni. Jax spends a lot—and I mean a lot—of time on this game. So, it’s hard to beat him most times.”

“Yeah, he’s just a no-lifer.” Zooble shrugged, “Don’t sweat it.”

“It was still fun!” Gangle interjected, her shy voice full of cheer. Pomni took a breath and nodded, trying not to let Jax get to her.

“You know, you should join our Discord!” Ragatha offered, her smile evident in her voice. “It would be fun to play together again.”

“Yeah, Pomni, so you can lose some more.” Jax teased. Zooble sounded like they were rolling their eyes. “Shut up already. You win all the time, what’s so different now that's making you act extra annoying?”

“What can I say? I’m an enigma, Zoobie.” Jax told them slyly, his grin mocking. Pomni sighed, then shook her head at Ragatha. There was no reason for her to join their Discord. One, she didn’t have an account. Two, she didn’t need one since she had no friends to talk to nor servers to join. Third, what were the chances she would run into them again? It’s not like they were friends—they were just strangers from a videogame.

The doll nodded in understanding, and Pomni bade them all farewell with a wave of her hand.

Her notifications were suddenly pinging her, showing her friend requests from Ragatha, Gangle, and Zooble. She tried to not scream when Jax re-sent another friend request.

What is wrong with these people? Pomni declined them all, her vexation rising. It’s just a game, and I don’t know you.

She tore off her headset soon after, feeling fatigued from the game once again.

Pomni sat on the edge of a roof. Her latest venture was through an abandoned office building on the side of a highway. She had a few spooks with spiderwebs, a bit of adrenaline coursing through her with the dark hallways and stillness of life, but nothing terribly exciting. To her displeasure, there was an awful craving for the VR game, and lingering regret after she swiftly and, frankly irrationally, rejected all those friend requests.

I blame Jax. He's just.. too difficult to deal with.

It had only been a day since she last logged on.

She swung her feet, watching the cars drive by. Her fingers twitched for a smoke, but she quit a while back after the thousandth lecture from her parents, and couldn’t bring herself to sink into that again. She’d never hear the end of it.

Pomni looked up at the night sky, then closed her eyes. She listened to the sound of rushing wind and singing crickets. She listened to her own heart beat in her chest from the small amounts of adrenaline in her veins. Her feet swung a bit more, and she ignored the ache of loneliness threatening to swallow her whole.