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Leaving her bedroom, there was a bizarre chill in the circus. A slight shiver shook her body as she stepped out in the hallway. She peered from door to door as the rest of the circus members exited their rooms into the cold corridor. Ragatha waved to Pomni and they stepped together to walk towards the main tent area.
“Good morning Pomni! It’s awfully chilly!” she exclaimed while rubbing her arms for warmth.
“Good morning,” Pomni yawned in response. The cold made her miss being wrapped up in her warm blankets asleep. The others gathered around her and Ragatha and they all start towards the tent.
They were met with a weird sight to say the least. Caine was already there but he was sitting in an arm chair that definitely wasn’t there yesterday. Instead of his usual ringmaster outfit, he was sporting a red sweater with a pattern of himself, bubble and all the human circus members, standard black pants and red slippers. He was pretending not to see them approaching as he sipped from a mug that appeared to say ‘Best Ringmaster’ and read from a colorful magazine titled ‘CIRCUS’.
“This is really weird,” Jax muttered towards Pomni. Ragatha ignored his remark and waved at Caine who excitedly put down his magazine, confirming Pomni’s belief that he was never reading in the first place.
“Good morning, Caine,” she said warmly.
“GOOD MORNING RAGATHA AND MY OTHER SWEET TOOTHED SNOWCONES!!” Caine said as he zipped over to the group, spilling a bit of whatever he was drinking out of his mug. Everyone just stared at him, not sharing his enthusiasm. Caine taking no hint whatsoever at the casts lacking excitement said “YOU ALL WOULD BE JUST IN TIME FOR TODAY’S ADVENTURE-”.
Zooble groaned and rolled their eyes. Pomni stared at him waiting for the catch. Something is going on..
Caine stopped hovering over them and landed. This is definitely weird. He was only a bit taller than her when he was standing. It was definitely weird because everyone but her was so much taller than him. Everyone else was staring at the small ringmaster in front of them too. Caine took no notice to the weird stares and continued.
“IF YOU HAD AN ADVENTURE TODAY.” Caine watched the puzzled expressions on the cast. “YOU SEE, IT SNOWED LAST NIGHT AND IT CANCELLED THE ADVENTURE I HAD FOR YOU!” Caine excitedly threw his arms in the air. Of course this made no sense and he definitely planned this but… A circus snow day could be fun. Pomni felt a slight smile tug at the edge of her mouth.
The rest of the humans looked around a bit puzzled but Caine waited and watched them. Jax suddenly took a quick sprint to the entrance of the circus and pulled the fabric door back. The rest of the cast joined him and looked out to see a fluffy blanket covering every inch of the circus grounds. For just a moment, every ounce of hatred she held for the circus and its routine left her and she felt a childish glee grow to replace that hate. She smiled and looked to see that the rest of the circus members were also smiling at the sight. Caine was hovering behind them observing their reaction. He seemed proud to have brought them some joy. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, this might be a pretty alright adventure.
Jax took a step out of the circus and was followed by the rest of the cast. Caine zoomed in front of them startlingly and exclaimed with a loud “OH I ALMOST FORGOT” and snapped his fingers. The cast's outfits changed to more appropriate winter weather wear. Pomni’s gloves became thicker and woolen. She looked down to see she now dawned a long coat that was split in half in her signature colors. Her regular puffy jester shorts were instead blue and red pants split down in the middle. She had taller blue and red boots that she could see had a fluffy interior. She reached up to her hat, which remained pretty much the same except it was knitted now. She looked away from her own new outfit to the other members of the cast.
Ragatha’s patchwork dress had long sleeves and she had some white mittens with little lavender flowers on them. She had matching purple earmuffs and some tall boots with a fuzzy interior that poked through the top. Jax looked relatively unchanged besides a pink scarf with a pattern she couldn’t recognize on it. It also looks like Caine gave him some boots so he wouldn’t be barefoot in the snow. Kinger only got a hat that instead of having a pompom at the end had a fuzzy cross to replace the wooden cross that it covered. Gangle was wearing a fluffy cloak with a hood that was decorated with little bows. Her comedy mask was missing but instead of teardrops on her cheek, she had two little snowflakes under the corners of her eyes. Zooble stood next to her with a long trenchcoat jacket draped over them with some geometric patterns.
Pomni turned her attention back to the outer grounds. There was still a gentle but steady flurry of snow falling from the sky. Pomni didn’t much care for the snow in the real world. It made her morning commute more of a hassle and it was far too cold and by the end of it all you get is piles of slush and mud. But here it was different. She felt like a child seeing snow for maybe the second time in their life. She was overcome with a flurry of happiness that combated the flurry of snow hitting her cheeks. The lake appeared frozen solid and the small shack next to it that she had always wondered what it was had a warm smoke emanating from the building. Looking at the carnival, it was still moving but there were new signs that stated the specific winter activities taking place in the carnival. Everything looked so magical with the thick fluffy, albeit cold, blanket of snow covering the entire place.
“WELL?” Caine interjected to the silent appreciation of the circus members. “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GO HAVE FUN!” He then vanished away, leaving the humans standing in the falling snow.
“Pomni?” She heard a gentle voice call to her. “I think they have ice skating down by the lake. Do you want to join me?” She held out her hand to Pomni.
“Sure, that could be fun” She responded but didn’t take Ragatha’s hand. Ragatha retrieved her hand and they walked side by side. Gangle and Zooble also followed behind them to the lake.
The mystery hut with smoke was a hot chocolate shack for warming up. It had a covered awning with benches and tables for them to rest at. There was a new structure that had a shelf with six pairs of ice skates and benches to equip them. She quickly found the ones meant for her, red and blue just like her boots but with blades on the bottom. She took a seat on the bench and put on her ice skates. She can’t remember the last time she had gone skating, let alone ice skating. It’s similar enough to roller skating, if not maybe a little easier. Maybe it was when she was a teenager at her friend's birthday but she didn’t want to believe it was that long ago. She shook her head, trying to erase the thought.
“You okay?” Ragatha inquired. Pomni felt her cheeks heat up, being a tad embarrassed to shake her head like an etch-a-sketch trying to undo her thought.
“Yeah. Yeah, just… Trying to think of the last time I’ve been ice skating, "she said.
Ragatha chuckled and said, “Well at least it’s not your first time ever. I can help you remember how to do it if you need help.”
“Well lets see how much I remember” She said as she rose up from the bench and stepped towards the ice. She’s definitely never skated on a frozen lake before, the fear of falling through made her never tempted to try. However, that fear was non-existent in this world. She took a stride on the ice and slid forward. Her arms flew in front of her as she balanced throughout her motions. Ragtha joined her on the ice and skated a few slow laps to start out, keeping an eye on Pomni however to make sure she was doing alright. Gangle and Zooble also joined them out on the ice but took a small portion of the ice to stumble around on while getting used to the sensation of skating.
Eventually Ragatha stopped by Pomni on one of her laps. “Here, come join me for a lap around the lake,” She held out a hand again and this time Pomni did end up grabbing it but only because she lost her balance a bit while taking a step forward. Pomni stabilized herself but didn’t let go of Ragatha’s hand. She nodded and she and Ragatha skated forward. After about half a lap, Pomni let go of Ragatha’s hand and by the second lap she was feeling more confident and sure enough was having fun.
Zooble and Gangle also had started doing laps around the lake. They held one another's hand tight and when one lost their balance the other reached a hand to their arm to help them stabilize. It was awfully cute. Despite not going particularly fast and still stumbling a bit they both were laughing together and smiling, or at least the closest Zooble can get to smiling with no mouth.
The lake shimmered beneath her, she could still see fish swimming deep below her. The sight freaked her out a bit and she looked out around the lake. The snow was still steadily falling. If she had to guess, it had accumulated to about two or maybe three inches on the ground. A decent amount for any snowy activity one would want to do. There was a decent sized hill with a variety of sleds on top of it. Pomni hasn’t been sledding in forever and the sight got her way more excited than she should have been for a grown ass woman. She could see that Jax was off in the distance doing something in the snow. It took her a bit longer to spot Kinger; she found him laying in the snow. The sight concerned her before she realized he was making snow angels. She smiled and pointed out the sight of the chess piece to Ragatha. Ragatha was confused at what Pomni was trying to point out until she spotted him and a smile and gentle laugh escaped her. They had slowed down to almost a stop as they watched Kinger sit up in the snow and start watching the falling snow around him.
Gangle and Zooble took no notice of what Pomni and Ragatha were looking at. Or even that they were approaching from behind startlingly fast. Distracted in conversation, Zooble noticed they were about to run into the ragdoll and jester and halted suddenly but Gangle lost her grip of their hand and ended up crashing into Pomni and they both fell over onto the ice.
“AGH” and Pomni stumbled forward and landed on her knees. A staticy ache coursed through her legs and hands that she caught herself on as she fell forward. She kneeled and turned around to see what crashed into her. She saw a remorseful Gangle sitting on the ice behind her. Zooble skated to her aid from behind her.
“Oh, Pomni! I’m so sorry! I was distracted and ran into you! Are you okay?!” Gangle said, covering her mouth with her ribbon hands.
“Oh it's okay Gangle! I mostly caught myself, are you okay?” Pomni responded. Gangle nodded as Zooble came up from behind them and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“You okay?” Zooble asked. Gangle confirmed she was okay and attempted to get up but fell back down. Zooble leaned down and hoisted Gangle up from under her arms. Pomni could see a pinkish hue faintly paint her mask as she stood up on the ice. Pomni also noticed Zooble subtly stumble in their move to lift Gangle to her feet but quickly stabilize themselves.
Pomni smiled watching them and attempted to get up for herself. She placed one bladed boot down on the ice, then the other and lifted herself back on her feet, hardly stumbling. She felt a sense of pride and figured out how to stand up on the ice and Ragatha nodded in seeing that she got up on her own. Ragatha was about to turn around to continue skating when Pomni tugged at her dress slightly to get her attention.
“I think I’m gonna go get some hot chocolate and take a bit of a break. Do you want anything,” She asked the ragdoll.
“Oh I think I’m gonna skate longer.. Enjoy your hot chocolate though,” She replied.
Pomni nodded and skated back to the bench where her ‘regular’ boots sat. She undid the laces while watching as Ragatha picked up her pace and moved into the center of the lake a bit. She did a few laps before doing a graceful twirl and Pomni realized she was definitely far more experienced than she first thought. Pomni also felt a bit bad for holding her back as she slowly matched Pomni’s pace on the ice. But now she seemed so free. Ragatha glided along the ice and raised her foot as she did. Pomni watched her for a little longer before remembering her task at hand.
Pomni walked over to the hot chocolate hut and got herself a cup of hot chocolate. She attempted to take a sip but the beverage burned her tongue and she held the cup away from her like it could leap up and burn her again if it so chose. She picked a table to sit at and watched Ragatha skate as she waited for her drink to cool.
When she turned back to her drink and barely lifted it when she finally noticed Caine leading over the table from across from her.
“GAH” She exclaimed and fell backwards. Caine leaned back and raised a hand up above her. She closed her eyes in anticipation of the impact of falling to the ground but it never happened. She opened her eyes to see that she was floating, tilted, just barely off the bench. She floated back to sitting on the bench and felt the force that caught her fade. Her cup of hot chocolate followed after her and landed on the table.
“WOAH! LOST YOUR BALANCE THERE!” Caine spoke. Pomni realized that he had in fact spared her from the unforgiving nature of gravity.
“Uh thanks Caine-” Pomni started before Caine interrupted. “WHY, YOU’RE VERY WELCOME POMNI!” he threw his hands up excitedly at the appreciation. Normally, Pomni would give him a weird look but she was in a good mood and ended up smiling at his enthusiasm.
“Uh, Caine?” Caine dropped his hands and leaned forward and replied with a “YES POMNI??”
“Uhh, what inspired this adventure?” She asked
“I ALREADY TOLD YOU! THE ADVENTURE I HAD PLANNED WAS CANCELLED DUE TO SNOW!” He replied. Pomni gave him a look which he surprisingly noticed and added, “WELL ACTUALLY IN MY RESEARCH ON HUMANS I LEARNED ABOUT SNOW IMPACTING JOBS AND SCHOOL AND ALL THAT JAZZ! THEN I ENDED UP LEARNING MORE SNOW THEMED ACTIVITIES AND THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE FUN TO HAVE A ‘SNOW DAY’” He finally honestly said.
He seemed really genuine for a change. As he explained all he learned about humans in the snow, she saw that he was just covered in appreciation for humans. He might mess up from time to time but this time he actually did his research and it paid off. She and her fellow circus members were actually enjoying this adventure.
After listening to Caine yap on for far too long she decided to speak her appreciation. “Well, your research seemed to pay off because this is actually becoming a really fun adventure.” She said before adding “Or a really fun not adventure because it was cancelled.”
Caine looked away briefly and Pomni thought she saw tears welling up in his eyes. He quickly turned back and had a big smile on his face, or rather his whole face was a smile.
“WHY THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MY DEAR! THAT MEANS A LOT TO ME!” He leaned very close over the table which made Pomni shift back a tad. “I KNOW I DON'T ALWAYS NAIL IT BUT I TRULY AM TRYING TO MAKE SURE YOU ALL HAVE A FANTASTIC TIME.” He was the quietest she's ever seen him but she knew how touched he was with her complement. She for a moment forgot all he put her through and she felt they had put that aside and had a humane chat. She then quickly remembered he wasn’t a human, just an AI. But for that brief moment, it didn’t matter.
“WELL, I’LL LET YOU GET BACK TO YOUR SEASONALLY APPROPRIATE BEVERAGE!" he said and snapped his fingers and he disappeared. Pomni smiled and took a sip of her finally cool drink.
The warmth and smoothness of the chocolate brought her smile right back. She felt like a kid again. Her mom having a perfect mug of warm hot chocolate waiting for her and her siblings after playing outside in the snow. It brought her right back to her home kitchen for just a moment.
Ragatha, Gangle and Zooble eventually joined her at her table. They were all talking together but Pomni was a bit distracted. She really wanted to go sledding really bad.
“You okay Pomni?” Ragatha asked. She noticed that Gangle and Zooble also ceased talking and were looking over at her.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m thinking about what I’m gonna do next.” She glanced over to the sledding hill.
Ragatha shrugged. “I might keep skating. I forgot how much fun it was!” She smiled and closed her eye in joy.
“You have fun with that but those skates are heavy. I’ll go do something else on my own.”
“So how much snow do you think Caine is going to let pile up,” Gangle asked. Pomni looked out and saw that the snow was still steadily falling from the sky. Now there was maybe about four inches. Not a lot now but at this pace, there will be a foot in no time.
“I’m guessing he’ll stop at half a foot” Zooble chimed in. Pomni just shrugged at the question and Ragatha made her own guess. After listening to them talk for a while, Pomni decided it's time to stop standing around and to go sledding.
She excused herself from the group and started her trek towards the sledding hill. With the snow falling at this rate, it will be harder to walk in soon. She made it to the top of the hill and saw the array of sleds to choose from. She chose a small one and approached the edge of the hill. She looked down and saw that no one had started the sledding track and so she’d have to. She took a breath and stepped back and got a running start before falling to her knees on the sled.
The cold wind rushed past her and pushed her poking strands of hair back. The falling snow stung her face as it hit her as she slid down the hill. She closed her eyes and smiled. Her sled slowed down gradually and brought a pile of snow onto her sled with her. She laughed and fell to the side into the snow. The snow enveloped her in the coldest little cocoon as she felt the falling snow more gently came down over her.
As she opened her eyes and watched the snow, she heard approaching footsteps. A familiar purple rabbit peered down at her in the snow.
“Having fun?” He teased. Pomni sat up and nodded, not caring how childish she was being at the moment.
He shrugged and started up the hill. Pomni got up and grabbed her sled to follow him. Jax stood in front of the group of sleds for a long time. Then he turned back to the hill.
“Kinda pathetic, don’t you think?” He said, gesturing at the hill Pomni had just gone down.
She shrugged and said, “Well it’s what we got.”
“Okay well just because you are entertained by this lame hill doesn't mean I am. I want more of a thrill.” He looked around the scenery and pointed off in the distance. “What about that one?”
Pomni followed where he pointed and saw a taller hill that was far more steep and had more obstacles. She looked back at Jax who had a wide smile.
“Uhh I don’t know, I think I’m good here” She turned back around to face down the hill.
“UGHH! Don’t be lame!” He grabbed her sled from her. “Come onn, it’ll be fun.”
Pomni tried to grab the sled back from him but she considered the offer. “Fine,” She finally muttered and Jax returned her sled and picked a red plastic sled and off they went. It did look thrilling, what’s the worst that could happen?
They trudged up the larger hill. Not only was it a steeper hill but it was also longer. So they were walking for a long time. The snow caved onto her foot in every step she took and she noticed the snow was getting quite a bit more difficult to walk through, especially going uphill. Jax didn’t share this problem as he just stepped higher to evade the snow. She stabbed her sled through the snow to try and gauge the depth. It was now about 6 inches and might be well over by now. The snow appeared to be falling without end and might even be coming down harder.
They continued up the hill for far longer than any sledding hill is worth. But eventually they reached the top. Jax set his sled down on the edge and pulled it back. Pomni looked down the hill and maybe it was just all that snow but it looked incredibly steep and the sight made her take a few steps back.
Jax took notice and said,” Oh come on, don’t tell me you're gonna chicken out at the top.” He gave her a smug grin while waiting for the response.
Pomni would be lying if she said she wasn’t considering it but Jax’s smug face and taunt made her approach the edge of the hill again. After seeing Pomni come back to the edge he pulled his sled back and got a running start before jumping in his sled, leaning forward to increase speed.
Pomni hesitated but shook her head and took a few steps back. She took a breath and quickly, before her fears could take the reins, she ran forward and jumped on her knees on the sled.
The wind whistled as it flew past her. Now she really did think that the snow was coming down harder as the snow snapped against her face and caused a cold stinging sensation. The path up ahead was mostly clear with Jax several feet ahead of her. He was still leaning forward and going quite a bit faster than her. Pomni still thought she was going too fast but she couldn’t leave now so she clutched her sled’s handles and crouched down before realizing that would only quicken her descent. She sat taller, which did slow her a bit, and she could see the tent and the lake. The snow made everything look hazy. It was a bit scary with how much seemed to be coming down.
Jax let a loud “WOOHOO” escape from him and Pomni didn’t fully get why until she hit a steeper part of the slope and caught a slight bit of air time. She let out a scream, which she heard Jax laugh at from the distance. She had leaned down out of fear and was going really fast.
She sat up, scanning the path ahead. She noticed a slight lump in the snow. And Jax was heading right towards it. Racing his sled speed, she shouted, “JAX LOOK OUT!” but he didn’t understand her warning until he hit it and flew over his sled and landed a foot or two away from his sled in the snow.
Pomni veered to the right to avoid Jax but she steered too hard and rolled off her sled and slid much slower as she ended up on her back in a pile of snow.
Pomni laid there dazed for a moment as she felt the speed adrenaline wear off and sat up in the snow.
“Are you okay, Jax,” she said and accidentally laughed at seeing he was still laying face down in the snow.
He lifted his head up. “Ugh yea. You?”
“Yeah, I’m okay.” Pomni smiled. She looked back down the hill. They weren’t that far from the bottom. She stood up and a pile of snow fell off her lap. The snow she was standing in was quite deep but she had dragged a good amount down with her while slowing down. Jax also stood up and dusted himself and his scarf off. He ventured to his sled, which had slid sideways after hitting whatever was hidden under the snow.
“Well that was thrilling,” he said while dusting the snow off his sled.
“Yeah!” Pomni said. She would never admit it to his face but she was glad she tagged along. Now that the intense speed had worn off, she thought that was quite fun. Pomni walked up the hill and tried to get another running start but didn’t end up picking up as much speed as she needed to keep going and sunk into the snow.
“HA!” Jax snicked at her. He laid his sled down and gestured for her to get on. She hesitated but threw her own sled off to the side and climbed on. He pulled the sled back several feet then started running with it before jumping on the back of it.
They picked up a decent amount of speed, but it didn’t feel too fast like before. She smiled and closed her eyes, partially because she was enjoying herself and partially because the cold winter air hitting her eyes stung and made her eyes water.
They slowed down gradually to a stop. Jax stood up before flopping into the snow. Pomni watched him and smiled but didn’t join him as she was already plenty cold enough.
“There they are!” Pomni heard a voice exclaim in the distance. She watched Ragatha walk towards them, significantly slowed down as she stepped through the heavy snow with Gangle and Zooble by her side.
Pomni felt something hit her head and splatter cold snow on her neck and back. She shivered as the snow started melting on the back of her neck. She turned to see Jax looking away, clearly trying to pretend he didn’t just throw a snowball at her but the smug look on his face and the powder on his gloves gave it away. Jax looked toward her and gave a smug “What??”
A figure approached from behind him. Kinger raised a closed fist and launched a snowball at Jax’s head and nailed him right in the back of the head. Jax’s smug look disappeared in confusion at who that was and he turned around. Kinger threw another ball of snow that he had in his other hand and got him square in the face.
Jax leaned down to create a projectile for his revenge and Pomni took the chance to swiftly gather some snow and lob it at him. Another two balls of snow followed after hers as Gangle and Zooble had each also taken the opportunity.
Jax quickly stood up and took the snowball and threw it at the group and hit Gangle in the shoulder but another snowball hit Jax in the back of the head.
Pomni watched Jax scramble to get something and finally return that favor to Kinger when she felt something hit her back. She quickly turned around to see Zooble’s extended hand that had thrown it at her. Oh it was on.
From that point on it was a free for all. Jax still got mostly targeted, deservedly so, but everyone was throwing snow everywhere else. Ragatha got a face full of snow from Gangle and had revolted by throwing snow back at Zooble. Kinger tossed snow around and got Pomni a few good times. Even Gangle and Zooble ended up getting in a pretty intense crossfire before Gangle tripped on something hidden under the snow and they both fell back with Gangle ending up on top of Zooble. They laughed together and Gangle rested her head on Zooble as they laid in the snow together.
Eventually things slowed down as each one of them ended up sitting or laying in the snow. They all panted but every one of them was smiling. They all fell quiet after huffing for a while and just watched as the snow fell around them.
“So I guess my guess on how much snow Caine was going to make was wrong,” Zooble finally said. Pomni finally sat up and saw that there was at least seven inches of snow that she was surrounded by.
“Is it just me or is it coming down harder?” Gangle asked.
Pomni looked at her and nodded while saying, “Okay so I’m not the only one to have noticed.”
Ragatha and Jax looked around to observe the heavy falling snow. Kinger took no notice and started drawing in the snow with a gloved hand. Ragatha walked over to Kinger in the snow, a task that was becoming harder for everyone including the rather tall ragdoll. She started writing in the snow beside Kinger. Surprisingly, Jax also joined and drew a simple shape in the snow.
Pomni was a bit scared Jax drew something crude but to her surprise, it was just two lines at a right angle.
“It’s a snow angle,” Jax said, which made Kinger laugh pretty hard. Jax eventually walked off after leaving that masterpiece and left Kinger to his drawings.
Looking back to Gangle and Zooble, they were rolling a ball of snow to increase its size. Off in the distance, she could also see Caine was placing the head on a snowman he made. Except the head was a frozen Bubble that was stuck in his signature sharp smile. She laughed at the sight before joining Kinger and Ragatha in drawing in the snow.
Ragatha wrote her name in a loopy elegant cursive font and started drawing some flowers, a simple drawing of herself in winter attire and attempted to draw a horse. Kinger drew butterflies, bees, ants, a firefly and other various insects. Pomni stared at the blank snow for a long time debating what to draw. She ended up with a mug with some steam, a cat and drew Zooble and Gangle, as they were the easiest to draw and could always look up to make sure her drawing was accurate.
Caine started walking over to them in the snow but gave up halfway to them and flew the rest of the way. He hovered over Kinger’s drawings and gave a thumbs up at the bee one.
Pomni stopped drawing and looked back around the snow. It was getting far too tall.
“Uh Caine?” she started to ask and he looked up from his spot in the snow. He had decided to join Kinger in drawing in the snow but he was drawing exclusively bees. “How much snow are you going to let pile up?” she finally asked.
Caine stared for a moment. “IT IS GETTING QUITE DENSE ISN”T IT?” He finally said after holding a hand to his chin. He snapped his fingers but nothing happened. A puzzled look flooded his face and he snapped again. He snapped for a third time and Bubble thawed and floated over by Caine but as he opened his mouth to say something, he quickly froze again and fell, sinking into the snow with a quiet thud.
Caine snapped and snapped again but the snow wasn’t showing any sign of stopping. At this point everyone had halted their individual snow activities to look at the snapping ringmaster.
“Uhh” he said quietly. Pomni finally realized he couldn’t stop it.
“HAHA, UH… DON’T PANIC MY LITTLE SUPERGLUED SNOWGLOBES, I WILL GO TROUBLE SHOOT AND STOP THIS BLIZZARD! YOU SHOULD PROBABLY RETURN TO THE TENT BEFORE YOU GET SNOWED IN HERE!” He finally exclaimed after snapping for a good solid few minutes straight. He seemed a little panicked which filled Pomni with unease. Caine snapped for a final time and he and Bubble disappeared to wherever he needed to go to fix the snow.
“Where did Jax go?” Pomni asked while surveying the scenery for the lanky rabbit.
Zooble gave her a look and Gangle shrugged. They clearly don’t care where he ended up. Ragatha’s eyes met Pomni’s in a concerned look but it faded as she said, “I’m sure he went inside already. He’s probably fine.”
No one wanted to trek through the rising snow to go find him. The only person willing was Pomni but her short stature couldn’t maneuver though the snow well enough to go look for him. She ended up shrugging it off and trusted that he could fend for himself in the snow.
“Perhaps we should also go inside?” Ragatha said. Everyone knew that they had to but no one wanted to. Ragatha started back towards the tent, followed by Gangle and Zooble. Pomni followed and Kinger was behind her.
Despite following in the footsteps of the cast members ahead of her, she was still struggling in the snow. Every step brought inches of snow collapsing right back on her foot and she’d have to pull it out just to sink into more snow in the next step. Everyone was slowing down in the climbing snow but Pomni was struggling the most. She wished Caine also teleported them back to the tent when he was here but it was too late for that now.
Pomni couldn’t lift her foot well enough for one step and fell forward into the snow. Her hands pierced through the snow and the snow clung to the edge of her gloves and stung her wrists.
She felt someone lift her by her arms from behind. Kinger gently lifted her up and placed her back on her feet. Pomni shook her hands to shake out the snow that was clinging to her gloves and wrists. She and Kinger stood quietly as the rest of the group ahead continued forward.
“Are you okay, Pomni?” Kinger asked and tilted his head. She nodded but hesitated to continue forward. She was feeling frustrated trying to walk through the snow that was closely coming up to her thighs. Kinger stared at her and looked at her thoughtfully before grabbing her jester avatar and lifting her up. He placed her on his shoulder and continued walking forward.
Pomni wasn’t a fan of this but she was tired and annoyed with fighting the snow so she didn’t protest. She looked out and could see that the snow was falling harder than ever now. Caine might have actually made it worse than before. She sighed and just tried to be thankful she wasn’t walking through it anymore.
Eventually they reached the tent door and Kinger removed Pomni from his shoulders and entered. Pomni was standing in a more shallow spot of snow. She noticed that a few feet looked hand shoveled out but the rest was eerily perfectly cleared. It seemed like Caine tried shoveling the snow before giving up and ‘circus magicing’ the snow away. She didn’t blame him as she thought of how her back, shoulders and arms would ache after a particularly hard snow had fallen one year.
She kicked her boots on the ground to rid the extra snow that clung on them and jumped to get the snow off her pants. She shook her hands as the snow on her wrists had now melted and cold water took its place. She dusted the snow off that had accumulated on her hat. She eventually realized she was alone outside trying to rid herself of the snow. She took one last look out on the circus. It was quiet and hazy from the snow that never seemed to stop. Every breath she brought in chilled her non-existent nose and throat. She shivered and finally re-entered the circus tent.
The air felt too hot as she came from the bitter outdoors. As she stepped through the door her winter wear disappeared and became her regular jester outfit. She sighed at the sight of the familiar clothes. She was at least glad that she didn’t have to deal with wearing cold and wet snow clothes.
Sure enough, everyone else had made their way to the colorful digital couch. Zooble was sitting upward but looking down at a sleeping Gangle that laid sprawled across their lap. Kinger was sitting in an armchair and watched as Ragatha approached from a distant corner of the tent with a tray of several mugs. She set them down on the floor, as there was no coffee table, and sat crisscross with her back on the couch. Pomni picked up a mug and lifted it to her mouth.
After a while, Jax eventually strided over and picked up a mug before walking off to his bedroom. Pomni wished he would have stayed longer but she was the only one who thought this as the rest of the group peacefully enjoyed the moment without a care for his absence.
Everyone sipped their hot chocolate and quietly talked. Gangle never took her mug of hot chocolate and Pomni asked if she could have it. She took a sip and despite it no longer being warm it still brought a smile to her face.
This might have been her favorite adventure. She thought it was crazy how before this she would consider the snow was one of her least favorite types of weather, but the lack of chaos and the normalcy of it just made the whole day super enjoyable. She spent all day outside in the cold, who was she?! Caine really did nail it. And who knows? Maybe the snow might cancel the adventure tomorrow too and she can relax out of the busyness that Caine tries to keep them in. It made her a bit more hopeful than she’d felt in a while. She finished her hot chocolate and put the mug down.
The day's activities had finally gotten to her, and she was growing more and more drowsy. She excused herself to her room. She stumbled over to her canopy bed and flopped onto it. She rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling before closing her eyes and drifting off.. to … sleep.