Chapter Text
It was difficult for Pomni to ignore the tension between Jax and Ragatha. The heated looks, the flushed faces, the way they seemed completely unable to keep one another’s names out of each other’s mouths. They drove each other crazy and, by proxy, everyone else in the circus.
Pomni had never seen two people hate each other so much.
Being the kindhearted person she was, this dilemma weighed heavy on her shoulders. Neither would talk about what past events caused their mutual loathing, but it was glaringly obvious that they shared a complex history. And whatever this history was, it had prompted endless arguments, all of which seemed to multiply by the day. It was an obsession between the pair and honestly, being at the center of it was exhausting.
It was so exhausting, in fact, that their detestation of each other plagued Pomni now more than ever. Constantly, she dreamed up scenarios where their problems magically evaporated. Whether they were ex-friends or betrayal personified or had simply hated one another since day one, her hours could be so peaceful if they simply sucked it up and got over it. Or tried being honest for once in their lives.
If only they knew how similar they truly were, maybe a truce wouldn’t be so out of reach. Maybe they could have a heart-to-heart and realize they were squabbling over nothing. With Pomni’s excellent mediation skills to thank, of course. What good was daydreaming without a little self-indulgence?
Pomni happened to be ruminating on this very issue, pacing the shared living area, when a booming voice startled her from her thoughts.
“GOOD MORNING!”
A scream burst out of the jester as she leapt about a mile in the air, flipping backwards over the coffee table and landing in a heap on the other side. She found herself groaning from the impact, staring up at a flurry of digital stars encircling her head.
A face (if you could call it that) appeared overhead, staring down at Pomni with blatant confusion.
“Oh dear,” the face said, his eyes taking in her shocked state. “I know I’m a thrill, but don’t be too starstruck. Tumbles like that can’t be good for your coding.”
Though the entire room was spinning like a top, at this point, Pomni knew that voice better than her own. Ignoring the obvious hypocrisy in his logic, Pomni shook away the stars in her eyes and pushed herself to sit upright.
“Ugh,” she mumbled, raising a hand to her head. “What’s up, Caine?”
The ringmaster flurried around her head as if looking her over. What for, Pomni didn’t know, but he soon returned to floating in front of her.
“Well, I couldn’t help noticing you burning a trench in my carpet,” he said.
Pomni squinted up at him before her eyes fell to the rug beneath her. Though she had assumed he was being metaphorical, there was truly a deep trench burned into the floor, no doubt caused by her incessant pacing. She blinked at the sight.
“Oh,” she said. “Uh… sorry.”
She would never get over this cartoon physics thing.
Caine merely snapped his fingers, the hole disappearing in a puff of smoke and sparkles.
“No need for apologies,” he replied, maintaining his comically theatrical voice. “Though I will say, I’m a bit concerned. What’s weighing you down on such a beautiful morning?”
Pomni was well aware of the fact that 1) the circus looked basically the same every day and 2) she had a mile-long list of existential crises that could be “weighing her down.” However, pointing any logical fallacy out to Caine had proven to be futile in the past, so she merely waved her hand in lazy dismissal.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “Just… thinking about some of the other circus members.”
Intrigue immediately sparked in Caine’s eyes.
“Ooh!” he cheered, rolling himself over until he was laid out on the coffee table in front of her, bottom row of teeth propped up on his hand. “Gossip in paradise?”
Pomni hadn’t previously taken Caine to be a gossip fiend. But from Zooble’s complaints about his excitement to take on a therapist role, she supposed this was kinda similar. Well, to an AI, at least.
She examined the ringmaster’s eager expression, as if looking at a massive pair of eyes and a set of teeth could tell her what he was really thinking. What his motives were. But after a few seconds, she realized that maybe voicing her frustration would be helpful. Even if it was with someone who might malfunction and tell her to off herself.
“I wouldn’t say gossip,” she began, a little hesitant. “It’s just… it’s Jax and Ragatha.”
“Ah, yes,” Caine said, nodding very seriously. “I know.”
Pomni cocked her head to the side in question, giving him a look of surprise. “Oh? You know?”
“Know?” Caine answered with a jovial laugh. “Of course I do! What kind of game master would I be if I didn’t know them? What silly questions you ask, Pomni.”
The jester stared at Caine and debated swan diving into the basement on the spot. But she settled on giving him a weird look and powering ahead.
“Right… well, they’re… they’re not getting along very well. In case you hadn’t noticed.”
Caine’s eyebrows shot up, almost past his top hat.
“Oh? I… had noticed,” he said slowly, in a tone of voice that suggested he very much had not. “I have eyes everywhere to keep you all safe and secure. But… what have you noticed? About them not getting along?”
Pomni huffed out a laugh at the question.
“What’s not to notice?” she asked, thinking back to their last spat, which had only been last night. “They’re clawing at each other’s throats every day. Frothing with hatred. I swear, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Caine frowned deeply at this news.
“Hatred? Oh goodness, that won’t do at all!” He seemed genuinely distraught. “Do you know why?”
Pomni shrugged, pulling a knee up to her chest.
“No idea. They’re both so stubborn, I can’t get either of them to talk about it.”
Caine nodded again, seeming to also ponder the dilemma. Of all people, Pomni hadn’t expected to discuss this with Caine. She was also surprised that he himself didn’t know what was going on. Then again, he had the emotional intelligence of a thumb drive. Even that might be an insult to thumb drives.
Pomni propped her chin up on her knee, eyes drifting to the side.
“It’s a little tiring after a while,” she admitted, more to herself than to Caine. “Watching them go back and forth, almost like they’re fighting to be the best. They’re obsessed with each other, and the most annoying part is, they use me as a middleman.” She twisted her lips in thought, voice dropping to a mumble. “Sometimes I wish I could just lock them up together until they finally communicate like grownups. Fix everything.”
By the end of this statement, Pomni was halfway in her head. Sorting through memories of their fights as if something might click in her brain. What could she be missing? Could there even be anything between them to salvage?
“That’s it!”
Caine’s voice snapped her from her head, pulling her attention back to him. She hadn’t forgotten him but had more so forgotten she was speaking aloud. But when she refocused, for some reason, he was grinning.
Her eyes narrowed. “What—"
“I’m a genius!”
Caine shot up into the air, flipping over and over in animated celebration. Pomni’s eyes widened as she watched him go round and round, baffled by his sudden burst of inspiration and admittedly a little scared. Caine’s excitement, in many contexts, was not a good sign.
Before she could ask anything else, however, he stopped spinning just in time to wave his cane around and, with a final flourish, smoke and sparkles erupted in a cloud. This cloud happened to be right above Pomni, raining down on her and forcing her into a coughing fit.
“Caine,” she croaked out between coughs, trying to swat the smoke away, “what are… why are you…?”
The ringmaster swooped down and grabbed Pomni by the shoulders. She yelped as he yanked her forward, almost close enough to smush his eyeballs into hers—a graphic image she definitely could have done without.
“How lucky are you to have such a brilliant game master?” he asked, clearly puffed up with pride. He took her hand in his and shook it violently. “Shake a man’s hand and turn in your middleman badge, because I just solved all of your problems!”
After being aggressively rattled and nearly choked out by a glitter bomb, Pomni was left a bit befuddled. Nevertheless, Caine’s words managed to work their way through the confusion, leaving her with a chilling realization.
I just solved all of your problems.
She blinked at Caine as horror slowly began to set in. Horror in the wake of her and her big mouth.
“Caine…” she said. “What did you do?”
Caine, being completely immune to social cues, merely giggled like a child on Christmas. He whipped into another backflip before pointing his cane at her.
“No need to thank me!” he boomed before vanishing in yet another puff of magic.
Pomni was set into yet another hacking fit, doubling over and waving her hands wildly. That d*** Houdini, top-hatted b****.
Once the fuss and feathers finally died down, she noticed that she was alone yet again. Pomni didn’t have time to sit in the regret of her life decisions, however. Because before she could even so much as take a fresh breath of air, she heard a shrill scream, coming from somewhere down the hall.
“CAINE!”
The jester’s blood ran cold at Ragatha’s voice, which was promptly followed by the pounding of running footsteps. She didn’t get to her feet, too disoriented to even consider running away.
To nobody’s surprise, in ran a frantic, red-faced Ragatha, followed closely by an uncharacteristically furious Jax. The pair spotted Pomni immediately, rushing over to her in a flurry of urgency.
“Have you seen Caine?” Jax demanded.
Though Pomni had seen the two angry before (especially when they sought her out for mediation purposes), there was a fresh sort of frustration pinching their features. Her stomach suddenly felt funny.
“Uh… I don’t think he’s in here,” she said, carefully traipsing around the full truth. “Why?”
Neither answered in words. They merely jutted their wrists out, revealing a pair of shiny, red-and-white striped handcuffs. One cuff on Ragatha. One on Jax.
If the ground had any plans to crack open and swallow Pomni whole, now would have been the perfect time.
“Oh,” was all she managed to say.