Chapter Text
"That was the most ridiculous adventure I've ever been on" Jax mumbles as he trots out of the portal from a horse riding adventure caine made to try to make ragatha feel better. "It really wasn't that bad...was it?" Ragatha asks slowly, following Jax. "Yes, it was Doll. It sucked. Never recommend anything ever again." Jax says as he walks away. Gangle and zooble flee to gangle's room shortly after they get back. Shocker. They have been a lot closer recently. "I think I'm gonna walk around the grounds for a bit..anyone down?" Pomni says, brushing off dirt from being thrown off horses all day, no one replies to her question, she sighs and heads outside. Jax watches her from a distance, gosh she's so cute...ew..gross why would he even think that. It's not like he likes her or anything...he doesn't like anyone. He's just..too good to have a soft spot. Pomni walks along the trail, a long dirt trail runs though the grounds, it splits into 2 directions, the digital lake, or the theme park, she sighs and heads toward the theme park, she HATES rollercoasters, but she loves ferriswheels, they calm her down, a way to get away from...well..everything. She climbs into the ferris wheel and it goes up. She rests her head on her hands and stares at the sky as she goes round and round, round.... Round... So many times she starts to get dizzy, so she gets off. Pomni has purposely been avoiding everyone recently, her and ragatha had gotten into a small fight the other day, ragatha was so jealous she tried to shove jax out of Pomin's way when he tried to catch her when she fell from a tightrope from last week's adventure, that's when it broke out, pomni had been so fed up with her, she screamed so hard she lost her voice, ragatha ran off crying and didn't show up until the next adventure the day after, and hasn't said a word to permit since. Even though Pomni feels bad for making Ragatha so upset, she was making Pomni feel as if she can't choose for herself. The moment plays over and over in her head as she walks though the theme park. She sits at a bench picking at a thing of cotton candy she had gotten from a stand run by a boring npc. Footsteps "Who's there..." Pomni immediately asks, she's so nervous. How does she know she won't get attacked by a bear or something? Jax is walking along the path behind her, she sighs and stares forward, avoiding eye contact, he sits beside her, they sit in silence for a bit. "Why are you even awake, isn't it like...midnight?" Pomni finally says "Cant sleep....although i could ask you the same question" jax says with a slight smirk "Cant sleep either...nothing wrong with that i suppose" pomni kicks a rock, and sighs again "you here to annoy me about defending you the other day...i dont wanna hear it" pomni sighs out, staring at the stars "Well...no..but if you wanted me to-" jax stands up "No...not what I meant...it was a joke...I guess." She shrugs "You guess?" Jax tilts his head "Yea....i...." Pomni looks up to see jax standing in front of her "What's that look for?" Pomni raises an eyebrow "Take a break." Jax just says...just that. Pomni pauses "huh?" "I said take a break, Pomni. Like...from the adventures..from people...i..not me..in general..people have been noticing your really uh ..stressed..and stuff" jax rubs his neck "so like.. Maybe ask caine if you could stay out of a few adventures in the future" " i..." Pomnis' mouth stays open "so..you're serious?" She is genuinely so confused "Fine...dont take me seriously... I'll just never do anything nice ever again." Jax grumbles "No i....i mean..thanks but...i just..how do you know...that i was having a hard time?" Pomni glances at him "your never nice, its just odd for you to..care all of a sudden" pomni kicks a rock "I.. Listen..i may seem like a complete asshole...but.no one deserves to have...thoughts like that" Jax nods toward Pomnis arm, she quickly covers it, she looks up, eyes watering "how did you..." "Pomni, I can hear you at night. The walls are paper thin. Though..might i add..you sound ridiculous when you're sobbing" they stand there for a long second "but I won't bring it up if you don't want me to." Jax adds, he extends a hand "lets ride a roller coaster or...something..whatever" Pomni bites her lip "that...uh..might not be a good idea" Jax lets out a light laugh "And why is that? Ya scared?" "Well-...yea just a...little bit" "Oohhh pomni is scared of roller coasters?" Jax smirks and grabs her arm, tight but not enough to hurt and pulls her towards the biggest coaster in the theme park "Comon it will be fun!" He gets her into a seat and straps her down "Jax! Let me out right now!" Pomni desperately tries to yank off the restraints, but it needs a special key to open...that key being in Jax's hands. "A$$hole" Pomni curls up and covers her eyes as the cart jerks up a tall and steep hill. "Uncover your eyes! C'mon are your seriously telling me your scared of such a silly thi- oh..s#%t we uh...we sure are going up pretty high aren't we?" Jax looks over the edge and down below you can't even make out the faces of the npc's walking, they could probably touch the clouds. "Hey uh...pomni i uh...wouldn't.... Open your eyes if i were you..." Jax slightly regrets this trip. His comment makes Pomni open her eyes AND look straight down, she lets out a terrified scream, and the drop hasn't even happened yet. "JAX YOU F#%&$NG A%$HOLE" the cart pulls to the top, not only does the drop go down, but it goes....straight down. "Hey i didnt think it be that-" cart pulls down the hill, pomni squeezes her eyes shut and clings to jax the whole rest of the ride, jax laughs a bit as she does, but he also holds her tight. She's so small. What if she falls out? The ride ends and they both sit there for a minute, until Pomi realises she's still clinging to him, her face goes red and she steps out "uh...sorry" "It's uhm... Its cool...i guess that coaster was..intense" "Yea it was. Next time, I hate them. Never again. " Yea..im sorry about that..i...sometimes things like that takes everything off of people's mind so..i just...start assuming-" "Hi, im ming and i-" ming appears in front of them "Nobody gives a f$%k" Jax snaps at him and he disappears, he sighs...why don't we just head back to the circus... This was dumb anyway... "No i...i mean..you..you can go...but i was just going to walk around a bit...maybe try a few games or whatever." Pomni wrings out her palm, a nervous habit she's picked up, as well as one Jax has noticed. "You don't have to come though-" "Ah sure I'll tag along" Jax starts walking and Pomni walks beside him, they walk and talk for a few minutes, they stop to try a game. Knock down the pins. "I have a horrible aim- OH WHAT IS THAT!?" Pomni's eyes light up as she points at a stuffed version of herself. “That is… weird” Jax adds “OH MY GOSH THERES ONE OF YOU TOO” Pomni squeals “Ohhhhh…awesome….” Jax sneers a bit. “Win me one. Win me one!” Pomni jumps up and down “Ahhh..i…do you really need a stuffed version of yourself?” Jax picks up one of the balls “No no, I want the stuffed version of you.” Pomni giggles. Right before he gets ready to aim, he pauses “wait..huh? Why would you want one of me?” Pomin's face goes red “i uh..thought it would be funny…yknow to make fun of you for it..i guess” “Rrriiiigghhhttt” Jax smirks, he grabs a ball and tosses it effortlessly and hits the target, a loud dinging sound echoes through the park. “Whoosh, not even that hard eh?” he grabs one of the stuffed versions of himself and tosses it down to her. The night drags on as they walk through the park, they stop in front of the ferris wheel. “Ugh. These are so boring…movies always make it a mushy gushy ride. Blegh.” Jax glances down to find Pomni but she has already run to the entrance. “Wait..this is what you're into? The boring rides?” Jax rolls his eyes as he follows her “Hey i had to live through your deathly coaster..I think you will survive a ferris wheel.” Pomni sits in a cart, she holds the stuffed Jax on her lap. She watches Jax get in beside her, the ride starts, they sit silent for a moment. “Is..there like…a reason..ragatha gets so..i dunno what to call it..but i guess you could word it as..jealosy..but like, is there something between you two I don't know about?” Pomni asks carefully “I…i mean..kinda” Jax rests an arm on the side of the cart and sighs “Is it…bad” Pomni stares out toward the circus tent Jax lets out a huff “well…to start..yea. It is jealousy, way before you were here…we were actually good friends..And I mean way back..she would have been what…26? I was mmh..let me count, it sure has been a while here..4 years….so i would have been 18. uhm..we actually..got closer” Pomni pauses “like…close?” “You could put it like that I suppose...it's hard to explain without making it sound weird..but yea..we were close enough for one to call it dating but we never really…did.” “Oh..did it..end? Like badly?” “I guess it wasnt that bad…uhm…i think i just lost interest…eventually it got annoying how much she relied on me. I know she has problems, we all do. But she would…hold onto my hand..and…when I try to let go she'll grip harder.” “Oh-” Pomni glances up “she never seemed the..possesive type..thats odd.” “Well..it was like that after I'd already started losing interest..and..by that time..ribbit had joined the circus, and..i became really close with her..thats when it all went downhill. She noticed when I'd try to avoid her, and I'd hang out with Ribbit and Kaughmo more.” “But…why is she so bothered recently? Is it like..because of me?” Pomni wrings out her hand a bit. “No it's not you..i.i think..But even if it was you there is no reason why it should hurt you so much…She can't just drag you into her problems. So..it's not your fault, don't worry about it. I'll figure it out.” “Does she miss you?” Pomni asks, not thinking before she does “Oh I'm sure she does, but that's no excuse for ...pushing you away to let you fall to the ground.” The wind blows through his ears as he stares out into the sky, the sun starts to go down already and it's slightly dark. “Oh…also..I heard you and her had a fight? What was that about?” Pomni sighs “It was actually the same day as the tightrope incident. Uhm..she had been getting on my nerves for…all of the recent times she has been bothering you and i…and i suppose i just..snapped.” The ferris wheel jerks a bit, and Pomni grabs Jax's arm. “Why is it doing that?” “I'm not sure..” The ferris wheel calms a bit, but the two stay close. The ferris wheel nears the top again, it doesn't slow and they expect it to keep going as usual. “Ive never really understood why I like these so much..I guess they are just really calming.” Pomni adds “I guess..they are just a bit too slow for me..but that's alright.” he rests an arm along the back of the cart..behind pomni, near the top, the cart jerks hard to a stop, it flings pomni and she falls over on top of jax, he catches her and her breath is heavy, she pauses, they stare at each other for a moment. Why are we so close right now “Careful, don't wanna fall off the ferris wheel. That would be embarrassing.” Jax says, a smirk growing. Her face goes red, then many colors. This makes jax chuckle “Why are you holding your breath?” “I uh..” She lets out a breath They stare into each other's eyes for a long moment, they both go red and talk at the same time, pomni moves off of him and sits across from him. “Sorry…forgot to move-” Pomni blurts “Right i meant-” Jax shifts “Yea-” “Yeah…” Why are we so awkward together The rest of the ride is awkward, They eventually get off and walk back to the circus, as Jax walks Pomni back to her room, he pauses before letting her go. “Oh and pomni?” “Yea?” “Dont worry about the whole Ragatha thing..she will hopefully get over it after a while…and if not, it is not your fault. Just don't beat yourself up over it. Literally.” Jax smiles a bit Pomni smiles back “thanks..goodnight jax.” “Goodnight pomni.” Jax walks back to his room after he lays in his bed and stares at the ceiling. Thinking about today. *knock knock knock* He sits up “yea? Who's that?” “Jax? It's Ragatha. Can I come in? Or..can we talk?” “s%#t.” End of chapter 1