Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gangle woke up in her bed to a typical morning, already dreading the day’s impending adventure. She knew that Caine had been acting… odd lately to say the least and the AI’s plans for the day were likely to be unpredictable and strange he as always was.

She dragged herself out of her bed and wandered over to her desk, picking up the freshly unbroken comedy mask on the top of it.

*I wonder how long will this one last?* Gangle thought mournfully to herself before slipping it on her face.

The comedy mask helped her feel better, but when she wasn’t actually happy, the porcelain mask felt more fragile somehow.
Gangle opened the door that lead from her room to the main hallway, walking out and shutting her door. At the end of the hall way, she spotted Jax walking towards the main area. As much as Gangle did not want to interact interact with him right now, she knew Caine would be wanting to introduce today’s adventure and would likely just summon her there anyway if she didn’t go.

“Good morning Gangle!” Ragatha called out to her as Gangle walked into the main area.

“Good morning” Gangle said back with a gentle smile and the others muttered similar greetings to her when she approached.

She spotted Zooble standing near the couches by the main stage and went to join them.

As she moved to stand near Zooble, Caine suddenly appeared on the stage, with Bubble floating to his right.

“Hello my (insert endearing phrase here)s!” Caine shouted loudly startling Gangle and the other members.

“What did you just say?” Jax asked in a confused tone.

“I was talking about the adventure!” Caine shouted with almost rushed sounding words “And how some of you unappreciative characters” he glared at Zooble “Are getting exactly what you want! Today I am going to be very busy working on… Important things that are none of your business! So we will be doing a different adventure today!”

*He seems stressed* Gangle thought, almost concerned about the strange ringmaster.

“What now” muttered Zooble next to Gangle

“Today’s adventure is!” Caine paused for a second before continuing in a less excited tone “relaxing free time or something whatever you people do when I’m not here to entertain you.” Caine said.

“Wait so that’s it?” Pomni said incredulously “we can just relax”

“Yes!” Caine shouted in response to Pomni “Even though I am not sure what relaxing entails exactly, I know you people seem to enjoy it! Also I am going to be very busy so if you call for me during my wonderful adventure I will not respond! Goodbye!”

Just like that Caine vanished but bubble still lingered, staring at the cast.

“Whoops forgot this thing!” Caine appeared, grabbed Bubble and disappeared again.

“Wow I can’t believe we can finally just chill” said Pomni

“Well do you want to do something together?” asked Ragatha.

As the two discussed their potential plans for the day, Jax wandered over to Gangle and Zooble.

“The F$@& do you want Jax” asked Zooble grumpily.

Jax ignored them and approached Gangle instead.

“Hi Jax” she muttered shyly.

*God please just leave me alone for today* she thought as he loomed over her.

“What are you gonna do today? I was thinking we could play some fun games together” Jax said mischievously while staring at Gangle.

“What if we play… Keep away!” He suddenly lunged for Gangles mask but Gangle ducked out of his way causing him to stumble slightly.

*Today I am not going to let him break it, I just want one day where it doesn’t break!* Gangle thought desperately.

Gangle was about to speak up and tell Jax she didn’t want to play his ‘game’ but then Zooble shoved the rabbit away.

“Back off.” They snapped

“Whaaat” Jax said in a tone that made Gangles ribbons crawl with fear and irritation.

“You know exactly what jacka@% now go bother someone else because Gangle doesn’t want to play your messed up excuses for games.” Zooble said, putting themselves between Jax and Gangle.

“Yeah Jax” Gangle said, feeling more confident now that Zooble was helping her out “I’m not doing anything with you today… I’m going to hang out with Zooble instead!”

*Oh no* Gangle thought.

Zooble gave her a look out of the corner of their eye.

*Oh nooo I really messed up didn’t I, they don’t want to hang out with me why would I even say that* Gangle was snapped out of her internal spiral by Jax huffing.

“Fine” he grumbled “I’m going to go sleep.”

As he walked away Zooble looked down at Gangle.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to say we were going to hang out if you don’t want to I don’t want to force you too” Gangle apologized, mumbling nervously.

“You’re fine” Zooble replied, surprising Gangle “I wanted to get a chance to hang out and draw with you, like I said I would at the bar adventure.”

“Okay let’s go do that then!” Gangle said excitedly.

As the two walked through the main area towards the rooms, Gangle kept thinking about what had just happened.

*They’re so cool the way they stood up to Jax like that!* Gangle thought happily. However, another voice in her head said *They only stood up to Jax and defended you because they felt bad for you, because you can’t defend yourself against him.* This thought took the excitement of being able to spend time relaxing with Zooble right out of Gangle.

“Hey do you want to draw in your room? Mine is kind of a mess right now.” Zooble asked, snapping Gangle out of her thoughts.

“Umm my room is pretty bad too” Gangle said slightly panicked.

*My room is so embarrassing, I don’t want them to think I’m weird or something* Gangle thought frantically.

“Sorry I don’t really want us to draw in there” Gangle said.

“Oh, I understand” Zooble replied “We could just draw in my room instead. How about while you grab your supplies from your room I can pick up a bit and then you can just meet me back at mine”

“Okay I’m gonna go do that now” Gangle said quickly and walked away.

Chapter Text

“Do you want to do something together?” Ragatha asked Pomni.

*Am I being annoying by asking that?* Asked the irritating voice in her head, the one that always told her she was wrong. Sometimes too much, sometimes not enough, but never perfect, never like she should be.

“Yeah sure” said Pomni “What would you want to do?”

*Does she actually want to hang out with me? Does she just feel obligated somehow? What would she want to do?* The barrage of frantic thoughts in Ragathas head was interrupted by Kinger suddenly shouting,

“Oh hello you two, I almost didn’t see you there! I have something to ask of you guys.”

“Okay Kinger, what’s up?” Asked Pomni.

“I was wondering if you two would like to join me for today’s adventure?” Kinger asked.

“Of course I would Kinger! Pomni do you want to come with?” Ragatha replied.

*I hope she goes with us, I don’t want Jax messing with her again. But isn’t that selfish of you, to want to keep her to yourself?*

“Yeah I can go with you and Kinger, as long as we don’t do anything crazy, I just want to relax today.” Pomni replied.

“Sounds wonderful!… Say, would you two like to spend some time with me today?” Kinger said already forgetting his own question.

“Kinger we already said yes.” Said Pomni laughing slightly at Kingers strange forgetfulness.

“Oh” Kinger said “Then what are we waiting for! To the fortress!”

Ragatha and Pomni followed Kinger to his pillow fort, walking alongside each other in an awkward silence.

“Pomni…” Ragatha said cautiously “I wanted to apologize for how I acted during the last adventure and-“

“We’re here!” Shouted Kinger, unintentionally interrupting Ragathas apology.

*Just apologize later* Ragatha thought.

The three stepped into the cozy pile of pillows that was Kingers fort.

“Um it’s a little dark in here” said Pomni, trying to make out the inside of the dark fort.

“Oh I can help with that!” Kinger shuffled through the darkness and grabbed a jar. “These are firefly’s I collected from yesterday’s adventure.” As he shook the jar gently, the firefly’s inside woke up and began to emit a bright glow.

Ragatha thought she remembered helping Kinger catch firefly’s on that adventure, but she didn’t remember seeing him keep them.

With the light from the firefly jar, Ragatha could make out the inside of the fort. It was incredibly cozy, seemingly much larger than it looked from the outside and having piles of pillows all over the floor. There were also multiple jars on the far wall that were full of-

“Bugs?” Ragatha said shakily

“Yes bugs” Kinger said excitedly “That is my bug collection! It is full of all my favorite bugs that I collect when we are on adventures.”

“Please tell me there are no centipedes” Ragatha said fearfully.

“Of course not, I remember that you don’t like centipedes, and even if they are quite interesting in my opinion, I wouldn’t want to make you upset.” Kinger said kindly.

“Thank you” Ragatha said surprised.

*He is usually so bad with memory I wonder why he remembered that so well?* Ragatha just took it as one of Kinger’s traits to randomly remember things, but she was still appreciative the chess piece would remember that.

“Kinger this place is really beautiful” said Pomni in awe “How did you make something like this all on your own?”

“Thank you Pomni!” Kinger said excitedly “Here come look at this jar of butterflies it’s my favorite in the entire collection!”

“But you didn’t answer-“ Pomni was suddenly cut off by Jax yelling from outside the fort.

“Hey losers!”

*God why can’t he just leave me and Pomni alone.* Ragatha looked at Pomni’s face *Does she secretly want to hang out with him and not me?* No that couldn’t be true, Pomni looked surprised and annoyed, not happy. *But what if she’s faking it?*

“Hello Jax” said Kinger politely.

“Can I go in there with you guys?” Jax asked.

“Well since you asked so nicely-“ Kinger began to reply but was interrupted by Jax breaking right through the side of the fort.

“JAX!” Ragatha yelled as the fort began to collapse on top of them.

“My insects!!” Kinger yelped as the jar containing his favorite insects, a dozen or so multicolored butterflies, fell and cracked open, causing butterflies to flee every where.

Ragatha and Pomni backed off from the collapsing pile of pillows but Kinger just sat in the middle, hands on his head and stared at his broken jar and ruined fort.

“Oopsie” Jax said with an obnoxious smile on his face.

“Jax! Why would you do that!” Ragatha began to yell at Jax but was interrupted, surprisingly, by Pomni.

“You made Kinger really upset Jax, what was even the point of that!”

Jax and Ragatha looked at Pomni confusedly before Jax said.

“Well jeez Pomni, it really was an accident, and I don’t appreciate all of these unfounded accusations you’re making against me.” He said it with a sad enough tone to be believable, except for the cruel smile on his face.

“Just go away Jax” Pomni said sounding almost sad.

“Jeez everyone is in a mood today hm? Well if you’re going to be so huffy about it than I guess I can leave.” He stomped off to the hallway without another look.

*Gahh he is the absolute worst!* Ragatha was positively seething on the inside but she knew it was her job to comfort the others before dealing with it.

She decided to check on Kinger first because she genuinely had zero clue what to say to Pomni, who was now sitting outside the wreckage of Kingers fort, staring helplessly at it.

“I’m sorry your fort was broken Kinger, at least now you can show us how to make a new one!” Ragatha said, placing a hand on the back of the chess piece who was sitting and staring at the remains of the jar that had held his butterflies.

“AH!” Kinger shouted causing Ragatha to jump back and yelp and Pomni to fall onto her back. “Sorry Ragatha I didn’t see you there, I’m just quite sad about my insect collection, I don’t quite know where they went?”

*Poor Kinger* thought Ragatha, but then she had an idea.

“Well me and Pomni could go look for your insects while you fix up your fort!” Ragatha tried her best to put on a positive tone despite Pomnis depressed groan.

“Only if you want to of course!” Ragatha corrected herself feeling guilty for possibly making Pomni feel pressured to go with her.

“No I think that’s a good idea too I’m just… ugh come on let’s go I want to talk to you” Pomni sounded full of anxiety and
Ragathas first instinct was to comfort her somehow, but she figured that that wasn’t what Pomni needed right now.

“We’re going to get started looking now Kinger” Ragatha called out while walking quickly to catch up with Pomni who had already started walking away while Ragatha was lost in thought. She cast one last glance at Kinger who was beginning to gather the broken glass from the shattered jar before her and Pomni went around a corner out of sight of him.

Chapter Text

*I feel bad for pushing them away like that, its not that I don’t trust them I just don’t want them to think I’m weird, and if they see the stuff in my room they definitely will.* Gangle groaned internally.

*Why are they so cool and mysterious and I’m so weird and awkward.*

She opened her room then shut herself inside, sitting down on her bed dejectedly.
*Ugh, how can they be so perfect! It’s not fair!*

Gangles thoughts seemed to shatter abruptly. *oh no*

“Oh no” she was so shocked she had to say it out loud. “I definitely have a crush on them.”

Gangle shot up from her bed and started pacing, her comedy mask feeling fragile at the sudden wave of emotions flowing through her due to this realization.

*Sure they’re awesome and they seem to care about me but I don’t like them like that right?*

Gangle almost scoffed at herself thinking of all the drawings and sketches of Zooble she had made over her time there.

*Oh god I definitely like them. But they can’t like me back they’re so cool around me. It’s impossible.*

She realized she had been lost in her thoughts and pacing for far too long. She needed to grab her supplies and get back to Zooble before they realized something was up.

Ribbons still shaking, she quickly grabbed her sketchbook and went out of her room and into the hall. She attempted to slow her thoughts as she wandered down the hallway but she still felt like she was holding her breath and her mask was spinning.

*God this is kind of a bad time to have a realization like this.*

However she had already arrived at Zoobles door and she couldn’t help but stare at their picture on their door, feeling terrified that if she saw them in person she would accidentally let something slip and she would lose the only real friend she had been making here.

Then the door opened.

“Oh hey Gangle!” Zooble said, opening the door all the way “I was just about to check on you.”

*S@}& she definitely liked them.*

“Oh h-hey Zooble” Gangle replied “I was just looking for my sketchbook, sorry.”

“That’s alright, you can come in you know.” Said Zooble, moving to the side to let her walk in.

They both went inside and Zooble shut the door and locked it behind them.

“To keep out Jax” Zooble explained after turning the lock.

Zooble sat down on a couch and patted the spot next to them, inviting Gangle to sit.

“Doesn’t he have a key to everyone’s room though?” Gangle asked, moving over to sit next to Zooble.

“Yeah but he doesn’t use them as much anymore” Said Zooble “I think it’s because he’s scared Caine might find out about them.”

“Heh” Gangle chuckled slightly.“Well what did you want to draw?” She asked.

“I’m wasn’t really planning on drawing anything specific, just doodles probably.” Zooble said “I wouldn’t mind seeing what you’ve been drawing though, you know I always love to see you draw and I’ve only gotten to see a few pages of your art despite that pretty big looking sketchbook.”

Gangle hoped she wasn’t blushing, she was so happy to hear them say they liked her drawings.

“Um sure,” Gangle said handing the sketchbook to them “You can start anywhere in there you want but the back is mostly empty so I guess you can start at the beginning.”

“Okay” Zooble said, opening the cover to the first page. Gangle leaned over slightly to see what they were looking at and realized something quite horrifying.

Gangle had two sketchbooks, one with her typical art and doodles, and the other that consisted of more embarrassing things, ships and fan fiction paired with drawings of various characters. But worst of all, the second sketchbook had lots of drawings of the main cast members, especially Zooble.

It was the second sketchbook that Zooble was holding now, Gangle realized she must have grabbed the wrong one in her panicked state earlier.

The first page wasn’t bad, some embarrassing drawings of anime characters being flirty with each other, but she knew the next few had a lot of drawings of Zooble.

“On second thought maybe we could do something else you know my drawings aren’t that good and I-“ Gangle tripped over her words, desperately panicking as she tried to stop them.

“It’s okay, I think your art’s great, and it certainly can’t be worse than mi-“ Zooble said but cut off suddenly after Gangle tried to reach for the sketchbook, but it was too late.

They had already flipped to a different page. The page was full of sketches of Zooble, in different poses, and wearing different parts.

*Oh god their going to hate me now, why shouldn’t they after all, drawing someone a ton of times is super weird and stalker-ish* Gangle felt her comedy mask slip off of her face and fall to the ground. She closed her eyes, anticipating a shattering noise, but none came.

She slowly opened her eyes to see that Zooble had somehow caught the mask. She looked at them in pure awe, utterly confused at how they managed to do that without breaking it.

“I’m sorry” the two both blurted out at the same time, tears dripping from Gangles tragedy mask.

“Why are you sorry?” Gangle sniffled pitifully “You saved my comedy mask and I’m the one who drew weird stalker drawings of you.”

“I’m sorry for flipping through your sketchbook even though you asked me not too, and I…” Zooble inhaled slightly. “I’ve done the same thing before.”

Gangle was absolutely shocked. If her comedy mask was still on her face instead of being held gently in Zoobles geometric hand, it would have broken from pure surprise.

Zooble handed the comedy mask to her gently and walked over to their desk, pulling a sketchbook out of the drawer. They flipped to a certain page, and Gangle saw it was full of drawings of her, some of her with her tragedy mask, some with her comedy mask. Zooble flipped the page and there were even more drawings, a lot of which included her with the strange plastic mask from Zoobles toy box snd wearing her Spudsys uniform.

“I draw you a lot too, and the other main cast members but… mostly you.” Zooble said with what Gangle thought, likely entirely due to her own wishful thinking, almost cartoonish looking blush lines on their face, in a dark pink that stood out from their neon pink face.

Gangle felt like she was probably blushing too.

“Do you- do you want to see the rest?” Gangle stammered gesturing to her own sketchbook.

“Only if you want me too.” Said Zooble hesitantly, holding out their own sketchbook so that Gangle could look for herself. Gangle, feeling relieved, slipped the comedy mask back on her face.

“I never thought you thought of me this much.” Said Gangle, flipping through the various drawings, especially liking the few that were from the bar adventure, which she was guilty of drawing herself as well. To be fair, Caines outfit choices for them had been really amazing, especially Zoobles in her definitely not biased opinion.

“Of course” Zooble replied, sitting back down next to Gangle and looking her in the eyes, “Your my best friend in the whole circus and I appreciate that you’re here.”

*Friend* Her mind whispered quietly. Such kind words but they felt so painful at the same time. *Theres your proof that they don’t feel the same, so you need to stop being so stupid and oblivious and just try not to mess up the only good friendship you have here.*

“Thank you.” Said Gangle, it sounded and felt sincere, but there was an edge hiding behind the words that seemed to stab her in her nonexistent heart. “I’m curious though, why did you draw so many drawings of me as the manager during the fast food adventure? Wasn’t I kind of… annoying?” She flinched at the memory of how hard she had tried to be happy for once and how it had blown up in her face.

*Kind of like today* she thought mournfully. *Maybe I don’t deserve to be h-*

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Zooble saying “Well you did get a bit odd near the end, but it was nice to see you happy at first.” Zooble admitted “Also the bossy and slightly insane personality was kind of cute, and so was that uniform you were wearing.”

Gangle was pretty sure she was bright red and about to implode, but she managed to choke out “T-thanks” to them.

“No problem.” Zooble offered Gangle her sketchbook back. “Do you wanna draw now?”

Gangle nodded and traded sketchbooks with Zooble, flipping to a new page and thinking of what to draw.

Just as she had an idea, there was a knock on the door.

“Jax?” Gangle asked fearfully

*I hope it’s not him, I just want some time to draw and relax, not to mention I already almost broke my comedy mask and I don’t want any more close calls today.* Gangle thought, almost frustrated at just the idea of Jax interrupting her and Zoobles free time.

“I don’t think Jax would knock.” Zooble groaned dragging themselves off of the couch. “If it is him, I want to kick his a%£ for earlier.”

They opened the door to see… yep it was Jax. Gangle was internally screaming in fury at his presence, but an even bigger part of her was scared, knowing he would probably want revenge for earlier. His face looked a little scary, slight anger lurking under his mischievous smile.

“What are you two up too, in here alone with the door locked?” Jax said suggestively smirking at Gangle, but she had no time to register the implications of this statement because he was already stepping past Zooble and towards her.

Gangle squeaked in fear, clutching her sketchbook to her ribbon chest.

“Sharing is caring ribbons, lemme see.” Jax said snatching the sketchbook from her. Gangle began to stand up and do something, but faster than she could, Jax suddenly yelped and dropped the sketchbook on the ground, Gangle quickly scooping it up and clutching it close to her again.

“OW” Jax yelled, whipping around to glare at Zooble, who had just snuck up behind him and pulled his ear.

“Get. Out.” Zooble said in a threatening tone that sent a shiver down Gangles non-existent spine.

“What are you gonna do huh?” Jax said in an angry tone, but it wasn’t as threatening because the rabbit was still clutching his ear.

Suddenly Zooble grabbed their crab claw arm from the box near them and clamped onto Jax’s arm causing him to yelp. They dragged him out the door before pushing him back and growling some threat that Gangle couldn’t hear.

They slammed the door shut and threw their crab arm in the box with a huff.

“You okay?” They asked Gangle with care snd concern that was very different from the way they had just talked to Jax. “If he hurt you I swear I will go back out there and kick his sorry a$} again”

Gangle was once again melting purely from Zoobles care and affection towards her but she replied “Yes I’m fine, he didn’t hurt me. Thanks for sticking up for me.”

“Anytime.” Zooble replied, plopping back down next to her, the two resuming their drawings.

Chapter Text

“What did you want to talk about Pomni?” Ragatha asked nervously once they were farther away from Kinger and out of sight of him.

“It’s Jax.” Pomni said dejectedly, sitting on the floor. “After yesterday I thought we were closer, I thought I got through to him. But today he’s still acting like a jerk!” Pomni slammed her fist on the floor in frustration at the last words.

“Well, you know how Jax is, he just causes trouble for fun.” Ragatha said, sitting down near Pomni, close enough to comfort her if needed, but not so close to make her uncomfortable.

“Do you really think he just does that stuff for fun?” Pomni asked.

Ragatha sat there for a moment, even though she already knew her answer.

“No.” She said, bringing her knees to her chest. “It’s my fault he’s like this.” She figured Pomni would just leave, that she would hate her just for that sentence. But Pomni just looked at her with those sweet pinwheel eyes of hers, inviting her to continue.

“You know that comment I made during the stargazing adventure about Jax not having friends anymore?” Ragatha said, causing Pomni to nod slightly. “I wasn’t just talking about me and him. There used to be someone else, named Ribbit. Him and Jax were very close and back in the day I was close with them too. We would always make jokes and Ribbit and Jax would play pranks on each other but never took it too far. One day, something happened between them, Jax started pushing Ribbit away and Ribbit became depressed and obsessed with the exit. The last time I talked to Ribbit, he was in his room. He was just closed off and frustrated at first so I figured I would just give him some space. But then, a day later, he was… gone. Abstracted.” Ragatha shuddered at the memory. “After he was gone, I tried to help Jax, to comfort him, but I pushed too hard and he pushed me away. He hated me ever since that day, and all of the things Ribbit and I loved about him, he changed into his worst traits. His joking and funny demeanor became more like cruelty, always laughing at the expense of others, especially me. But I let him do it, I let him bully me and act like that because I know it’s just his way of coping. And I know I deserve his cruelty because I’m the reason he had to cope at all.”

Ragatha was shaking slightly and she felt tears in her eyes but she tried to choke them back. *Hold it together for Pomni, she needs you to be there for her, and if you aren’t, then you’ll fail her. Just like with Jax and Ribbit.*

“It’s not your fault.” Those words were the absolute last thing Ragatha thought Pomni would say to her after what she had just admitted to. “You try so hard to be there for everyone, and what happened with Ribbit, it sounds like you were just giving him space. And for Jax, all you did was try to help him, and you don’t deserve for him to treat you like that, coping mechanism or not. All of this just explains a lot.” Pomni stopped for a second thinking. “You’re so obsessed with helping others because you’re afraid something like that might happen again and you think it will be your fault. But it’s not.” Pomni was crying slightly now, but Ragatha was frozen, couldn’t move or speak to comfort her. “You are so sweet and kind to everyone, even when you’re tired or frustrated or sad. Even after I left you in that hallway on the first day, which I still am so sorry for by the way, you still were so kind to me. Even after Jax bullied you for god knows how long, no matter how many times you got beat up or hurt, you still were so nice and caring. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know if some of the others would even still be here. I definitely wouldn’t.”

Ragatha could barely hold back her tears at these words. She still couldn’t move or speak.

“Ragatha?” Pomni asked quietly. “Are you okay? Like actually okay? I don’t want you to hide your emotions from me anymore. I will never hate you. I promise.”

Ragatha shook her head at the question and suddenly she looked down to see the small jester hugging her tightly. Ragatha hesitated to return the gesture, knowing how Pomni felt about touch, but she eventually returned the hug when the jester grabbed Ragathas arm and placed it on her back. The two sat there, hugging each other, Ragatha letting tears fall out of her eyes and onto Pomni’s shoulder.

After a while the two both stopped crying and pulled apart from each other.

“Ragatha, you mean so much to me, and I don’t want you stressing over being perfect, because nobody is. Forgetting that is a good way to end up hurting yourself. So please, if you have something that you need to say or let out, I’m here.” Pomni held Ragathas soft hand with her own. “Even the strongest people need someway to let out their emotions sometimes.”

“Thank you Pomni, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me, and I appreciate how understanding you are.” Ragatha rubbed her thumb over Pomnis hand and continued to speak. “You know I will always offer the same thing to you.”

“I know.” Pomni said.

The two, still holding each others hands, stood up together. Pomni let go of Ragathas hand once they had both stood up. Ragatha found she already missed the contact between the two.

All of a sudden, Ragatha realized something. The guilt and self loathing in her head seemed to be gone. She realized just how much talking to Pomni had helped her.

“Thank you Pomni.” She said softly, looking down at the sweet little jester.

“Of course.” Pomni replied with a gentle smile. “How about we go find those bugs of Kingers now?”

“Oh I almost forgot!” Ragatha admitted. “We should probably start doing that.”

Chapter Text

Jax stalked through the hallways, not sure exactly what to do.

His ear still hurt from Zooble rudely yanking it earlier.

*Jeez one thing after another huh. Seems like everyone’s extra mad at me today. Feels like the only ones who aren’t are Caine and Kinger.*

Jax felt slightly guilty for his treatment of Kinger earlier, which made no sense. All those pranks over the years, no matter how cruel, he never apologized. It wasn’t in his character to.

“Ughh I’m so bored!” He yelled to nobody.

He gave up on pacing and chose to instead go back to the main area to maybe find something to do.

As he walked over to the main area, carefully watching out for Pomni and Ragatha, he noticed Kinger off in the distance, alone. He was rebuilding his fortress, sitting under a part that was partially built and shrouded in darkness. As Jax watched, he was able to make out Kinger accidentally knocking over a bunch of the pillows.

Jax was starting to feel really bad now. *I guess I could go over there to figure out where Ragatha and Pomni went so I can avoid them better.*

“Hey Kinger!” Jax yelled out.

“Jax? What do you need?” Kinger asked with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Jax’s devious smile melted at the sight of the strange older man looking so helpless among his piles of pillows.

*Agghhh I can’t believe I’m about to do this.* Jax looked around suspiciously before walking up to Kinger.

“Sorry.” Jax said quietly, sitting next to Kinger and his pillows.

“Hmm?” Kinger said, surprised. “Oh, it was just an accident Jax, I understand, everyone is a little clumsy sometimes!”

“It wasn’t.” Jax’s voice sounded angry and depressed. “I did it on purpose and I think you know that Kinger.”

Kinger sat in silence for a second, considering what Jax had said. “Well why did you do it?” He asked.

*Thats it? No anger or frustration?* Jax thought, but he wasn’t quite sure why he expected something like that. He had never seen Kinger angry in his life.

“Just wanted to mess with the others I guess.” Jax replied to Kinger.

“Why would you want to do that though? You know that today was supposed to be relaxing right?” Kinger asked Jax with concern in his voice.

“Was bored I guess.” Jax mumbled back, looking away from Kinger and his concerned face.

“Well I could use some help with rebuilding this, do you think that would help distract you from your boredom?” Kinger asked.

“Sure why not.” Jax replied, and the two stood up and began to get to work.

Chapter Text

“And… Got it!” Pomni shouted triumphantly, sealing a butterfly in the jar they had gotten from Kinger. The multicolored butterflies wandered around the jar in an almost mesmerizing way.

“I think only one more to go!” Said Ragatha cheerfully.

“Okay let’s get to it so we can finally relax!” Said Pomni.

Both Pomni and Ragathas moods had improved since their talk with each other. And Ragatha couldn’t help looking at Pomni constantly, watching the way her pinwheel eyes followed the butterflies in awe, the way her arms swayed when she walked, but most of all, the way she smiled at Ragatha. It made her feel so important and special.

“There it is!” Pomni shouted. “On top of those blocks over there!”

The two ran to the base of the tower of blocks that the butterfly was sitting on, staring up at it.

“How are we supposed to get it when it’s all the way up there?” Ragatha asked.

“I guess I could climb it?” Pomni said, looking nervously at the vibrant blocks.

“I can handle it Pomni it’s-“

“No Ragatha, I can get up there. Trust me, Please?” Pomni smiled. “Besides, if I fall, you can be there to catch me.”

“Of course!” Ragatha replied giving Pomni a smile in return. “You should go quickly though, so it doesn’t fly away.”

Pomni gave a thumbs up as she ran towards the structure. She began to climb, quite nimbly, upward, making her way towards the butterfly near the top.

Ragatha stayed close so that she could be able to catch her if she fell.

Pomni was close to the butterfly now, and pulled out the jar to trap it, but as she reached out and trapped it, she lost her balance and fell off.

“AHHH” Pomni screamed on the way down.

Pomni slammed into Ragathas plush body suddenly, and the rag doll winced at the hard impact, but held on to Pomni tightly.

“Oh my god that was terrifying.” Said Pomni breathlessly.

Ragatha felt breathless too, not just from the impact of catching the small jester, but because she was holding Pomni in her arms, and Pomni was clutching onto Ragatha desperately.

*Shes so cute* Ragatha couldn’t help but think, looking into Pomnis wide eyes.

“Thanks for catching me but you can put me down now Ragatha.” Pomni said, chuckling slightly.

“Of course, I’m so sorry” Ragatha said, setting Pomni down gently.

As Pomni attempted to stand on her own two legs however, she began to fall from her own shakiness. Ragatha caught her, the jester leaning against Ragatha.

*Now would be a good time to say something cool Ragatha!* her brain yelled at her.

“W-well you seem pretty unstable there, I could just carry you again?” Ragatha winced at the shakiness in her voice.

“That sounds nice” Pomni mumbled, looking up at Ragatha.

Ragatha gently picked up Pomni once again, hoping that she wasn’t blushing right now.

Then Pomni looked into her eyes with those cute little pinwheels, and Ragatha knew she definitely was blushing. But she realized something, so was Pomni.

There were cute little reddish blush lines on her cheeks, and she looked away from Ragathas eyes as Ragatha looked at her.

*I have to say something, she looks so cute!* Ragatha thought, practically exploding from the look on Pomni’s face and trying to keep herself from doing something possibly embarrassing.

“Pomni.” Ragatha said, surprised at the confidence in her voice.

“Yeah Ragatha?” Pomni mumbled, looking at Ragatha again.

*I can’t do it!* Ragathas brain yelled at her in protest.

“Are you okay?” Ragatha asked with a twinge of disappointment as she realized her nerves had caused her to avoid saying what she really wanted to say.

“Yeah, just tired from collecting all these bugs and shaky from the fall I guess.” Pomni replied. “We should head back to Kinger now. But I have something to ask, would you mind, carrying me back? I understand it’s kind of far and if you don’t want to-“

“Of course I will.” Ragatha interrupted Pomnis rambling. “You have Kingers butterflies?” She asked Pomni, making sure this whole trip wasn’t for nothing.

“Yeah I do.” Said Pomni “Wouldn’t want that fall to be for nothing.”

“Well then, let’s head back!” Ragatha said, pasting a smile on her face.

The two went back in silence, allowing Ragathas thoughts to attack her again.

*Why are you so scared to just tell her? Why do you even want to tell her in the first place and risk the friendship between you two? Why are you so awkward? Why does every part of you become a mushy blob when she looks at you like that?* These thoughts, however, were interrupted by a realization.

Pomni, at some point, had fallen asleep in Ragathas arms.

Ragatha wanted to scream at the unfairness in the universe that was the fact that this adorable little jester had fallen asleep in her arms. But at the same time, she appreciated that this was happening, that Pomni trusted her and was vulnerable around her.

They slowly came into view of the fully rebuilt pillow fort, that looked even better than before. Ragatha ducked into the entrance slowly.

“Raga-“ Kinger began to greet them, but stopped when he saw Pomni asleep in Ragathas arms.

Ragatha found a pile of pillows and gently set Pomni down on them, taking the jar out of her hands carefully and giving it to Kinger. The two moved over too the opposite side of the fort so they could talk hopefully without waking Pomni.

“Thank you for getting these back Ragatha.” Kinger whispered to her.

“Of course Kinger.” Ragatha whispered back, leaning back against a pile of pillows as Kinger placed the jar back in its spot. As her eyes adjusted to the dim surroundings of the fort, she realized something. “How did you manage to build this all on your own though?”

“I guess I just got lucky.” Kinger whispered.

*Thats not cryptic or mysterious at all.* Ragatha thought.

“Well seems like I missed something.” Kinger gestured at Pomnis sleeping figure.

Ragatha blushed.

“What are you talking about?” Ragatha whispered in a panic.

“I just know how Pomni is with people touching her, and I think it’s very sweet that she trusts in you enough to fall asleep in your arms.” Kinger said quietly with a caring look. “I’m glad you two are close, but I wanted to ask if there is something more than just friendship happening here.”

*He read me like a book.* Ragatha was once again surprised at Kingers sudden bursts of wisdom.

Ragatha chuckled awkwardly “I think so?” She wasn’t sure how to put it into words.

“Do you have feelings for her?” Kinger asked.

“Yes” Ragatha choked out. “I do.”

“Do you think she feels the same?” Kinger asked.

The question caught her off guard.

“Of course not, I mean she only probably sees me as a friend and until today I wasn’t even sure if we were friends, so how could she ever like me in that way?” Ragatha was talking frantically now, and had to remind herself to lower her volume.

“Even if she doesn’t feel the same, admitting your feelings is a better solution than leaving them bottled up forever.” Kinger whispered. “And from what I’ve seen, she definitely cares about you, even if it might not be in the way you want.”

The two sat in silence for a moment.

“Thank you Kinger.” Ragatha said.

“Of course Ragatha, just know I’m always here if you need anything.” Kinger said.

“I think I might just sleep for a bit.” Ragatha said. “I’m tired from everything we did today.”

“Go ahead.” Kinger said.

Ragatha crawled into a pile of pillows and fell asleep, her dreams nothing but jumbled messes in her head.

She woke up to Kinger shaking her gently awake.

“Caine wants us by the stage in a bit because the adventure is almost over.” Kinger said gently. “I’m going to head over there, and Pomni isn’t awake yet so if you want to talk to her, now’s the time.”

Ragatha thought about it, but before she could find the right words to say to Kinger, he had already walked out of the fort.

*Can I really do this? Can I tell her how I feel?* Kingers advice had helped her realize that she could.

She breathed in deeply, steeling herself for what she was about to do.

She walked over to where Pomni was asleep, shaking her awake gently.

“Ugh” Pomni groaned, rolled over, and opened her eyes, staring up at Ragatha. “Good morning or whenever it is.”

“It would be good evening now I believe?” Ragatha said. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah I think that was the best sleep I’ve had in a while.” Pomni said sheepishly. “Thank you for carrying me by the way, I appreciate it.”

“Anytime!” Ragatha said, far too cheerfully. “There was actually something I wanted to tell you.”

Ragatha sat down next to Pomni, looking at her intently. “I wanted to tell you… that I like you. As more than a friend. And I’m sorry if that ruins our friendship but I can’t hide it from you anymore.”

Ragatha instantly wanted to hide, run, take it all back with lies and excuses, but she stood her ground.

“Ragatha…”

*Here it comes.*

“I like you too.” Pomni said gently.

Ragatha looked up in surprise, a smile slowly settling onto both of their faces as they looked at each other.

Ragatha opened her arms, offering a hug to Pomni. Pomni practically threw herself at the doll, causing the both of them to laugh as Ragatha fell back, and Pomni, still hugging her ended up lying on top of her. The two laid on top of the pillows, cuddling each other for a bit.

“So…” Pomni lifted up her face from Ragathas shoulder. “Are we dating now?”

“I hope so!” Ragatha said laughing. “And only if you want.”

“Of course” Pomni said.

After some time the two pulled apart, Ragatha remembering that Caine wanted them.

“Awww now?” Pomni groaned.

Ragatha smiled at her girlfriend’s grumpy demeanor.

*Girlfriend… that feels nice.* Ragatha thought happily.

The two managed to drag themselves out of the pillows and before they moved to the main area Pomni asked Ragatha,

“Should we tell them about us?”

“I don’t think we should yet, but I’ll leave that up to your discretion.” Ragatha answered, looking down at Pomni.

“I agree with that, we can just wait until we’re ready.” Pomni said.

The two walked out into the main area together.

Everyone else was already there. Gangle waved to the two, Zooble nodded at them, Kinger smiled and Jax didn’t even look over at them. Caine had been waiting on the stage, likely for them to show up.

“Hello my beauties!” Caine shouted. “How was your excruciatingly pointless adventure today?”

Before they could even fully answer, Caine continued. “Excellent, I’m sure we all learned a valuable lesson today! That I am always right! And relaxing is terrible!”

“Caine shut up. Today’s adventure was really nice.” Zooble said, irritated.

“Hmm but do the rest of the cast think that?” Caine asked, turning to the rest of them.

Gangle, Ragatha, Kinger, and Pomni all agreed with Zooble but naturally Jax being Jax, yelled over everyone.

“Today sucked.” He said, loud enough to drown out the words of the others.

“There you have it!” Caine said, “‘It sucked!’ Thank you for your honesty Jax! Well it’s been a long day for all of you I’m sure, struggling through your… ‘relax’” Caine made exaggerated air quotes. “Whatever that is, but nonetheless I’m sure you could all use some sleep!”

Zooble grumbled something and walked off, Gangle following them after waving goodbye to everyone else.

“Rude!” Caine yelled. “I didn’t finish saying good night!”

“Caine.” A tiny voice spoke up from beside Ragatha.

“Thank you for letting us have time to relax.” Pomni said, looking up at the irritated ringmaster.

Caines angry eyes softened at the sight of the small jester.

“Well of course my dear, if you really enjoyed something like that, then maybe, just maybe! We could do it again sometime.” Caine responded with a gentle smile.

“Ahh! The wacky watch is alerting me it is bedtime! You three best get to bed soon instead of attempting to distract me.” He waved goodbye and disappeared.

Ragatha was about to say something to Pomni, but was distracted by Kingers approach.

“Hello you two! I have a small question!” He asked with a confused yet oddly delighted look at the two of them. “Why are my favorite bugs in a different jar than before? And why does my fort look different?”

Ragatha couldn’t help but laugh slightly to herself.

*He remembers exactly how the fort and the jar looked before, but not the fact that all of that happened? He’s so ridiculous sometimes.” Ragatha thought.

“That’s a bit of a long story Kinger.” Pomni said, glancing over at her girlfriend. “But Caine said it’s bedtime, and I’m sure we can tell you tomorrow.”