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The sound of rustling fills the house as Jax and Pomni are SO excited to head to the new theme park Caine had built. He said he would add anything they wanted and was bombarded with suggestions like arcades and basketball rinks and ice skating and even regular parks. He made all of that happen like the good man he is, although, Caine is technically just eyes and a mouth with a body… that doesn't matter. What matters is how fun and cool the night out will be for our purple bunny and cute jester.
“Hey Pomni!!? Are you ready to head out or are ya still sleepin?!” Jax calls out to wherever in the house she might be.
“Yeah, yeah. I'm ready!” She responds, coming down the stairs, greeting him in her cute new customized outfit Caine made for her, just for today (it’s the exact same thing as usual except with little flowers,bows and shinies scattered around) with the girl’s iconic jester hat.
“...Why didn't Caine make one for me?? All I got is this lousy old thing from some random adventure…”
“Whatever, it's not important. Let's go already.”
“Alright! Alright!”
They head out, walking over to where they were told the amusement park is located.
Once they arrive, it's a long walk from the walkway to the actual doors but something catches their eyes that's stuck on the gates, it reads; “SORRY!!! CLOSED TODAY !!!” with a small frown drawn next to it.
“What!!??” the two exclaim in confusion and slight disappointment.
“That #### lied to us!! How is it not open today??” Jax yells as his curse is automatically censored with a funny sound due to the weird rules of the circus. The two groan and sigh, their whole day ruined by this inconvenience.
“Great. Now what?” Pomni asks, not bothering to look up at her tall companion
“We could… dang, uh… go somewhere else? I guess.”
“Go where, exactly?”
“…” The purple bunny is silent. He hadn’t thought that far.
There’s a long pause between them. Both clumps of pixels trying to think of something else cool and fun to do since their first option clearly won’t work.
“What about we go skating? Like, on ice. I remember watching that one anime with the two guys…”
“Right… Skating animes…” He’s hesitant but decides to go on with it “Fine, let's go.”
It must be tiring, chasing something you know will never come: Freedom. The fact nothing is real only leaves you with two options, go crazy or… don’t. You can either watch others abstract while clinging onto the little bit of sanity you have left or you could be the one to go die. In this world, its predator and prey. Kill or be killed. The strong and the weak.
Sound familiar?
They turn around, starting their long walk to their backup activity passing by one of their friends (a different character in the circus) on the way.
“Hey Guys!” Ragatha exclaims, the two wave back not expecting to see her and her licorice type hair and ragdoll body.
“Heeeeeyy…” Jax cringes at his words, wishing to take them back.
“What’s up with you two?” She asks, her red hair bouncing in her question
The tall one shoots the shorter one a look of “Help me out here, i don’t wanna talk”
Pomni sees it, understands it and helps him out “Nothing really, just… heading to uh… the skating rink Caine said he made”
“Oh wow! How fun!” Her dress sways as she jumps closer to them although she doesn't really want to actually strike up a conversation, she's doing it anyway. Why? She hates herself, probably.
They finish their pathetic conversation with their pathetic friend who's stuck with them in this pathetic life. If you could even call it that;
life.
As they walk through their digital world, it starts getting increasingly cold. Colder and colder and colder. Why?
There's suddenly white speckles on the ground and trees that gradually start getting bigger, turning into more and more. It's like they're stuck in that forest Belle almost got killed in, in the Beauty And The Beast. They're scared and confused until Jax pokes his head around one of the snowy trees, seeing an empty skating rink while some of the snow falls on his head.
“I found it.” He says flatly, brushing the smooth, surprisingly not cold white fluff off of him. Speaking of the cold, that weird weather went away for some reason and the temperature seems to have come back to normal. Weird.
“Nice…”
They finally land on the ice, no skates needed. They slip and do that little cartoon fall as their feet hit that cold icy floor, laughing.
They're skating for around 10 minutes before Jax lets out a tired groan.
“What?? Tired already? C’mon…”
“This is soooooo boring!!”
“We JUST got here!!”
The sky darkens and rumbles in anger.
“Can we just leave??”
“You. Are. SO!! …Whatever, let’s go. Where do you wanna go next?” She pouts, clearly upset about his attitude
“...uh. Good question…”
She groans at his response, suddenly feeling empty like when you pick something up that’s been in the dust for so long and there’s just this spot left under it that’s still clean.
They gradually start yelling and kicking as the sky grows angrier and angrier until…
The sound of *sssssssshhhhhhhhh* all over them. Rain. Fake rain water. They are suddenly drenched in wet pixels while looking like some wet dogs on the side of the street.
“Ugh. You’re a #### ya’know that? This is all your fault.” He complains, his tall figure towering over the short jester.
“Whatever, let’s head to that damn park and figure something out.”
“Fine.”
It’s a long, awkward walk to that damn park and somehow there's Mitski that starts playing all around them. Random songs with her angelic voice start getting louder and louder as they get closer and closer to the playground, yet, once they arrive the music suddenly stops. It's also a small park, like, for children. Like, actually sized for literal preschoolers.
The two look at each other, which breaks the tension between them.
Laughing, they head to sit on the comedically miniscule swings, their knees hitting their torso’s uncomfortably.
“Listen… I-I didn't mean to be so rude earlier.” He shifts in his extremely small seat, trying to face the girl in her jester suit with all the primary colours.
“... It’s… Fine, really. We just have many differences and not that many similarities.”
“I guess. I mean, I'm amazing and you’re… you.” He smiles jokingly.
“I mean! We should probably just… actually talk before yelling at each other."
“Right… Right. Because our conversations are SO great. Look at this! You sent me a damn “uwu” yesterday while I was sleeping!” He pulls out his phone that he technically shouldn't have because they don't exist here. There it is, the magnificent “uwu” Pomni had clearly texted him… Somehow.
The girl gets all embarrassed, asking how and trying to defend herself which is a very normal human response to being accused of something or whatever. As they’re laughing about the situation from last night, Jax sees a familiar ribbon walking past the park, it’s Gangle! The girl who’s stuck in a comedy mask that continuously breaks with a body of thin, fragile red ribbon. She notices them.
“Oh, hey you two.” She’s nervous, like always.
The two don’t respond back, just sorta stare at her.
“Well. Uh… I was gonna go meet Zooble.”
No answer.
“Okay… nice seeing you guys… I guess…”
She continues to walk past the mini park. Apparently going to meet her “friend” Zooble who’s a bunch of pieces of everything glued together. We don’t know Zooble’s gender. Some might say Kinger, the king of a chess board ate it. Others think Bubble cooked it and fed it to everyone as a treat; Zooble’s gender. That’s just a theory though, who knows where it went?
Isn't gender such a funny thing? Boys and girls. Boys who wanna be girls, girls who wanna be boys. People born blue who grow a favor towards pink and vice versa. Just girls and guys who wanna be comfortable in their own body and are shamed for it. God forbid people are envious or hate themselves sometimes. Just like Zooble, who’s stuck in her stupid body, we all are. For some people it’s their stupid gender, for everyone else? Who cares! They’re allowed to change whatever it is they hate.
“So. Where to now?” Pomni asks, watching Gangle leave.
“Ugh. I don’t know. Basketball?”
“I don’t even like sports, what about the arcade?”
“Ew I suck so bad at those... Although, I’d totally beat you! I don’t wanna embarrass you or anything.”
“Okay… what’s something we both like?”
“Dang. I have no idea.”
Again, they sit in their awkward silence which you’d think they’d grow comfortable in after a while, but no.
“I’m kind of tired now.” She slumps in her seat, realizing the sky is clear. It’s been decently sunny for a while now and she’s just noticing it.
“Honestly, same.” Jax agrees, following her eyes upward.
There's suddenly this small little shadow getting bigger from above. It’s sorta shaped like… Caine?
He disappears from the sky and reappears right in front of the two
“Hey! Jax and Pomni!” He greets them, his loud presenter type voice instantly catching their attention
“Hey caine, what are you doing here?” Pomni asks, her soft voice like a small yet noticeable crack in a wall
“Trying to catch you two!”
“Oh, why?”
“Uh… To tell you guys to get your silly heads back to your rooms! It’s late,no need to be out at the moment!” He’s… unsure in his words, lying or hiding something even. The two feel a change of mood in their minds, a change so subtle that it feels… natural. Like it’s their thoughts. Their thoughts that they suddenly wanna head back, convinced by Caine, obviously.
Right?
The two agree to go home.
As they're strolling through the fake pixelated fields that make their stomachs churn and be filled with nasty goop that they can feel weigh them down, knowing they're stuck in a fake world that has no purpose except suffering and endless torture.
Pomni notices her feet sinking lightly into the floor and for a second, everything disappears and she's back in the void. Her eyes backtrack to her foot that's now mutilated, panicking, she calls out for help only to hear nothing. She feels herself sinking more and more, the goop from her stomach burning her from inside and for the smallest, tiniest moment… She remembers her name from the regular world, she remembers how she looked, her friends, her life, everything!
Until that fantasy crashes and she finds herself being pulled up from off the ground, back in that stomach turning field.
Jax tells her she basically collapsed, her eyes shutting and her body just straight ragdolling onto the floor. It's a weird, unsettling walk after that. The constant looking over the shoulder, around the bushes and just being extra careful. Who knows? Each step could cause something to go wrong in the system or something.
Finally, after way too many conspiracy theories, new bug discoveries and hatred for Caine later, they make it back to the circus dorms. Tired, they sit on the floor in the hall and lay down like some stupid, naive little kids.
Now, as they shut their eyes and finally fall asleep after their hectic day. It's only fair to believe they will die here. In this cold, fake, uncanny circus. Why a circus specifically? Who are they entertaining with their weird bodies and voices and quirks? Who is this all for? I guess we'll never know…
Or maybe…