Chapter Text
Pomni was distraught.
She held a gun in her hand. It contained one bullet.
One bullet. She thought. But is that really the kind of person she is? To shoot Jax like that? That makes her no better than how he usually was.
“What would you do if i abstracted tomorrow?”
The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them. But she really wanted to know what he would-
“I’d move on,” Jax said, his face shifting to an unsettling grin. “And probably forget about you.”
Her hand shook, no matter how hard she tried to keep it still.
“Okay,” her voice quivered and cracked as she spoke. She said it again, hoping to sound more confident, and failing. “Okay. Okay. That- yeah,” her voice cracked again.
Slowly, and with violently shaking hands, she raised the gun to her forehead.
“Jeez, you really can’t take a joke, can y-“ Jax cut off mid sentence, seeing what Pomni was about to do. “Hey, wha-“
BANG!
The sound rang out through the whole circus, holding significantly longer than it needed to, as the gun clattered to the floor. A familiar, overly theatrical voice became audible throughout the circus.
“CONGRATULATIONS JAX! YOU WON THE GUN ADVENTURE!”
Jax’s genuine look of worry shifted to one of anger and resentment, as he sulked to his room.
~~~~~~
POOF
Pomni appeared in a dimly lit room with a medium sized fish tank, some relatively short bleachers, and a large banner that read
“LOSER CORNER”
But what really caught her attention was the other four circus members, all wearing cat costumes (clearly gangle’s idea), looking straight at her.
“Jax, he- OH I’M GOING TO KILL HIM WHEN WE GET OUT OF HERE!” Ragatha spoke first, and spoke passionately.
“Jax did-“ Pomni started, but got cut off by Ragatha continuing on her rant.
“FOR HIM TO STOOP SO LOW AS TO KILL HIS OWN TEAMMATE? well to be fair, that is jax, BUT STILL!” she continued rambling, with it eventually shifting into mumbling as her volume continued to decrease.
Gangle shared a look and a thought with Zooble.
Ragatha definitely likes Pomni.
Kinger, who had been focused on the fish in the tank while Ragatha had been rambling, turned his attention to Pomni, who was now sitting with her head in her knees, her arms wrapped around her legs, crying.
Kinger slowly approached her, careful as to not make her more overwhelmed than she already was, and quietly spoke.
“Pomni?” he said, not quite a whisper but almost. He reached out a hand and put it on her shoulder. Almost immediately, she flinched away. Kinger, ever the gentleman, pulled his hand back and sat down next to Pomni, a generous distance away.
“Did something happen between you and Jax?” he said in that same polite and quiet tone.
Pomni nodded. It was small, but it was noticeable.
Kinger, even though he did not want to overwhelm the poor girl more but he knew it wouldn’t get better until she opened up, asked “What happened?”
In a small, barely audible voice, Pomni said, “We fought. He… he said nothing we did together meant anything to him. I asked what he would do if I abstracted tomorrow. He told me he’d move on and-“ her voice cracked as she buried her head deeper into her knees. “He told me he’d forget about me.”
Kinger’s expression softened.
“Oh… that’s… oh.”
-
Ragatha was outraged. She knew Jax was an @$$h013- wait, she can’t even swear in her head? She thought Caine couldn’t- nevermind, that’s beside the point. As to why Jax would just shoot Pomni like that is beyond comprehension. He- wait, where even was Pomni?
Ragatha looked around for a moment, before realizing Pomni was sitting next to Kinger in front of the bleachers, head in knees.
Shoot, she thought. Is that my fault? I’m such a horrible friend. I let her down and now look at her.
“R- Ragatha?”
The voice- that sweet voice, now cracked and hoarse, startled her wait hold up where did that come from? Ragatha had never liked a woman. That was a lie. Ragatha had only ever felt attracted to women. Her mother made it difficult to truly figure herself out.
“J-Jax didn’t shoot me.” Pomni’s voice pulled Ragatha from her thoughts.
“I’m sorry what?” Ragatha was confused. If not Jax, then- oh. Oh.
“I-“
“You-“
They both stopped talking, Ragatha having understood what Pomni was trying to convey, and Pomni having conveyed her message.
“Why?”
Ragatha regretted asking the second the word left her vocal chords.
Pomni really didn’t want to explain it all again. “Jax… he- he said some things. He told me- hetoldmeifiabstractedtomorrowhewouldmoveonandprobablyforgetaboutme.”
Somehow, Ragatha managed to catch everything the jester said.
“That’s- that’s low. Even for him.”
“Yeah.”
The silence that followed was not quite awkward, but not quite not.
Seconds later, they were transported back into the overly colorful sensory overload that the group was forced to call home.
There was a clock above the stage, along with large words that read, “Hello my little dinosaur chicken nuggies! I hope you enjoyed the adventure! The Favorite Character Awards begin soon, so you have 5.7 minutes to do whatever you need to do to get ready!”
Something Ragatha noticed immediately was Jax’s absence. Why wasn’t he here?
Pomni seemed to notice as well, which incited a spark of… jealousy(?) in Ragatha.
No. She didn’t like Pomni. Right?
F~:&.
She liked Pomni, didn’t she?
-
Pomni looked around. Jax wasn’t there. At all.
Pomni saw that Ragatha was also looking around. Likely for the same reason. It’s so sweet how she always cares for other people. I wonder if she’s sin- wait. Where did these thoughts come from? That-
Pomni’s thoughts were interrupted by a loud buzzer going off. She looked at the clock. It had reached 0. That meant-
Suddenly, the room went dark.
A voice from within the darkness spoke.
“WELCOME TO THE FAVORITE CHARACTER AWARDS EVERYONE!”
One by one, the lights came on, and they now appeared to be in an auditorium of some kind. Caine floated above the stage as he spoke, occasionally naming a fellow human.
Pomni looked on both sides of her. One side had seats filled with NPCs, and the other was mostly empty, except for the few spots occupied by the others. She spotted Ragatha sitting alone, and decided to sit with the woman she maybe liked.
Pomni listened to the names for a little, then began to daydream, until she heard a much louder announcement.
“AND NOW… THE AWARD EVERYONE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR… THE AWARD OF FAVORITE CHARACTER GOES TO RAGATHA!”
Pomni was instantly snapped from her trance. She clapped loudly as Ragatha stood up and walked nervously to the stage to accept her award. Pomni smiled a little. She felt her heart flutter a bit, proud of her friend.
Yes… her “friend”