Chapter Text
“[%$!#]king RUN!”
The chamber shook as the dragon's furious roars gained on them, its scaly feet pounding on the stone in pursuit.
“I KNEW I SHOULD'VE STAYED BEHIND TODAY,” Zooble fumed in between a string of profane language, unfittingly censored with honk sounds and dolphin noises.
“There! There's the way out!” Pomni was pointing a gloved hand at a glowing archway directly across the dungeon, with a big fluorescent sign of Caine's face directly above it.
Some excellent world building, Jax thought as he leapt over a pitfall trap in the floor below. “You suckers better catch up, or else I throw this thing back to its mom and let it catch you!” He waved the golden egg they'd come for at the rest of the characters trailing behind him.
“I swear to god . . . Who left him in charge of carrying that?”
“Wow, Zooble . . . no faith in me, eh?”
“NO!”
Bringing up the rear, Ragatha yelped. “Watch out!” A hatch had opened in the wall beside them, blasting Pomni with an eruption of a familiar pink sauce straight to the face.
At last, the entire group was nearly at the doorway with their prize. Jax came through first, followed by Zooble, Gangle, Kinger, and Ragatha dragging along Pomni, until they were all back in the familiar, highly saturated hellhole that was the circus. The dragon let out a final bellow of anguish, and the portal closed with a loud pop as well as the egg. Jax frowned down at his empty hands. “I wanted to keep that.”
“GRRR-EAT work, my lackadaisical licorice lollipops!” Caine boomed, floating down from god knows where. “You successfully infiltrated the DANGEROUSLY DARK DUNGEON OF DOOM and stole the dragon's hoard.”
“Caine . . .?” Started Ragatha.
“You all seemed so VERY invested! So, I'll make sure the next adventure will be a DOOZY just like today's!”
Gangle whimpered. “Does it have to be as intense? That was kinda stressful . . .”
“Caine.”
“I'll make sure to cook up a suitable reward for you all tomorrow! Until then,” he paused to consider something with a glance at his companion, “Well, Bubble's in charge.”
“Caine!”
With that, the ringmaster flung his arms in the air and disappeared in a burst of glitter. Bubble's maniacal, shark-toothed grin grew wider as he stared down at the group.
Jax stretched and started walking away to his room. “I ain't sticking around here any longer with you losers,” he sneered. “Going to take a nap. Peace out.”
“Hey, Jax?”
He stopped and turned to Ragatha, rolling his eyes in annoyance. “What do you want?” Gangle and Zooble had already left together, hand in hand. As per usual, Kinger was nowhere to be found.
“There's kind of a small problem, and I sort of, uhh. . . need your help.” She rubbed the back of her head with her free hand, cringing as if she was already regretting speaking to him.
He feigned a grin. “Oh wow, finally want me around, do ya Dollface?” Jax asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.
“You're going to the rooms anyway, so could you help me unlock Pomni's door? Y'know, with your weird thing for keys?”
“Why do you need me to- oh. Right.”
Pomni, the problem in question, leaned heavily against the ragdoll. Loopy from the stupid sauce and completely out of it, she stared off into space with her eyes half-lidded.
Ragatha fretted as Jax led the way to the bedrooms. “Caine wouldn't listen to me. I-I don't know what to do.”
“Just put her on the bed and leave. It's not that difficult, Rags.” He waved a hand dismissively.
“But I don't want to leave her alone! And I already told Gangle that I would play catch with her,” she cried.
Jax paused mid stride. He spun around to face Ragatha, his eyes narrowing and a scowl on his face. “So what you mean to tell me is that I'm supposed to babysit her and just wait for the effect to wear off???” He scoffed. “And now all of a sudden you actually trust me for something important because you need a favor.”
“That's not at all what I'm trying to say! Besides, aren't you supposed to be Pomni's friend?” the doll snapped, becoming increasingly frustrated.
“I never said that.”
“Jax!”
They both hesitated when Pomni whimpered and covered her nonexistent ears. Ragatha's frown deepened and through her eyes she warned, we'll finish this later.
Jax groaned and kept walking, though his scowl never left and the fur along his spine stayed raised defensively. He quickened his pace to avoid any more confrontation, finally reaching “The Problem's” door. He dug around in his pocket and pulled out the right key, fitting it into the lock. “Voilá,” Jax said dryly, gesturing to the open door. Now it was Dolly's turn to roll her eyes at him. He stuck his tongue out at her when her back was turned.
“Huh.” This, he realized, was his first time actually being in Pomni's room. It looked like a child's playroom with its bright colors and toys scattered around, except for the chandelier and good sized bed in the corner, upon which Ragatha had set the jester down. Guess I'll be stuck here for a while, he observed, though he found himself not too upset about this. Somehow.
Ragatha stepped away from the bed, glancing down at Pom and then back at Jax, as if she wanted to say something. She swayed her hips nervously.
“I'm not gonna murder her or anything,” Jax assured her, keeping eye contact to figure out if that's why Ragatha was worried about leaving them alone together. Testing the waters, he added in a lower voice, “Or take advantage of her. I have more standards than that.”
At that, the ragdoll's shoulders relaxed slightly.
Interesting. Also rude. “Now didn't you say you have somewhere more important to be?” The rabbit half-teased, half accused.
“Well, I mean. . .”
But he was already ushering her out of the room. As soon as she crossed the threshold Jax waved. “Ta-ta Rags!” Then proceeded to slam the door in her face.
“That wasn't very nice. . .” Pomni scolded him quietly, her eyebrows knitted together.
“Well, she started it. Also, I've never been nice, Pom-Pom. You should know this.” Jax flicked the lights off and watched her get startled at the sudden darkness. Dragging one of the wooden blocks closer to the bed, he plopped himself down on it. The clock in the corner said it was six fifty-seven. They were in for a long night. He heaved a sigh, still salty from earlier.
“You were nice to me. Nice-ish . . . nice. . . ish. That's not a word, is it? A little nice. Not-not very mean.”
“Don't hurt yourself.”
“See? That was nice- . . . That was sarcasm, wasn't it.” She pouted at him, sounding so disappointed in his actions that Jax chuckled despite himself.
“Why do you care so much about me being nice?” For once, he was asking a genuine question.
“That's a dumb question.”
Ah.
“Because it's the right thing to do? And you're not so bad when you're not being mean. The others might start to like you if you do, Bunny.” She flopped back down on the bed, turning her head to look at Jax with her big eyes. “I know I do. A little.”
He blinked at her, rendered silent. She'd given an answer and admitted that she cared about him so bluntly? The rabbit turned away. “No you don't. You're just saying.”
“Am not!”
“Are too- wait. You called me bunny?”
“. . . Huh?”
He sighed. “Nevermind.”
“I do like you,” Pomni huffed, sort of indignantly.
Jax frowned down at her. “You're not thinking straight. Stop saying stuff you might regret later.” Trust me on this, he thought miserably. I would know.
“But . . . I am straight,” the jester said, squinting through the dark like she was lost.
“Har dee har, very funny.” Jax said with a smirk.
“Or am I . . . ?” There was genuine confusion on her face now. Oh god, she was serious. He opened his mouth to keep arguing before being interrupted by several sharp knocks at the door, the sound of plastic against wood.
“Open up, f[%$!#]k-nugget!”
“Wow look, company!” Jax stood up quickly and answered the door with a wide grin. “Heeey Zoobie, came to see me?”
They glared at him, antennae twitching in aggravation. “We already had dinner. I brought a plate-” they smacked Jax's hand away from the food "-for Pomni, not for you.”
He shook his head disappointedly with a tsk sound. “Bummer. Alright, I'll give it to her, don't worry.” Zooble stood by the doorway and watched him hand it over. “See? I can listen, I just choose not to.”
“I could tell.” They looked him up and down, their expression becoming curious. “You're actually staying in here with her? Just because? Are you feeling okay?” they joked, their tone both playful and questioning.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Thanks for the delivery or something.” Jax waved Zooble off. They peered in further to wave at Pomni before leaving, the door closing with a small click. When he turned he realized that Pomni had left the plate on the nightstand, so he picked it back up. “What's all this about? They brought it for you.”
“Mmph . . . not hungry,” she mumbled.
“C'mon, just eat something.” He set the food down on the bed and pushed it closer to her face. Giving up after she nudged it away again with a very floppy arm, he put it to the side. “Fine, but it's still here if you want it.”
“. . . 'Kay.”
He plopped himself onto the armchair after dragging it closer to the bed, deciding that sitting on the blocks wasn't very comfortable. Time passed slowly, the only sound in the room being the ticking of the clock. Jax assumed that Pom had drifted to sleep already, so he sat there in bored silence, zoning out for what felt like forever. He wondered what the others were doing, if they were asleep yet, or how long he was supposed to stay with Pomni.
“You have a stupid face, Bunny,” she murmured out of nowhere, making him almost leap out of his seat.
“Excuse me,” Jax began, staring at her in amused bewilderment.
“But s'okay 'cause it's my favorite one to stare at . . . “
“Wha- uh, HUH?” He stammered, his face flushing. He could tell he was grinning like a doofus by the way she giggled, then immediately closed her eyes and fell back asleep as if nothing had happened.
Jax sat there in silence for ages yet again, trying not to let his thoughts wander too far. He couldn't help but notice how Pom had tucked her arms close to her chest and the way her hair fell, framing her round face.
Cute . . .
Before he realized what he was doing, his hand hovered over her, resisting the urge to brush his thumb over the red blush patches on her cheek.
“They had those too,” he breathed wistfully, barely audible in the empty silence. Round head, big eyes, long eyelashes, for some reason the avatars felt so . . . alike, it-
She stirred, lifting her head, and he quickly averted his gaze to the ceiling in alarm, hoping she hadn't noticed. His leg bounced and his fingers tapped on the armrest absentmindedly as he tried to think of stuff to distract himself with. Silence was one of his least favorite things. When it was quiet, he couldn't make jokes or sarcastic quips to keep himself from spiraling. At least when he's with the others, he can distract himself from his thoughts. That's the one reason he tolerated them, or that's what he told himself.
At last, he was sure Pomni had completely knocked out. Gently, so as not to wake her, he covered her with a blanket and left to his own room, but paused at the door.
“G'night, Pom-Pom.”