Chapter Text
-Background Info-
It’s been a few years since Caine came back, everyone has settled into working together to make this place more livable. Zooble has started to run a small bar for fun, Gangle has gotten really into animation, and making movies for everyone. The movies are surprisingly well put together, that's probably due to Caine smoothing out the process, automation does help after all. Life has been peaceful, Gangle and Zooble starting dating in secret, though it wasn't kept that way very long, turns out Gangle is a screamer. In other news the lights of the circus are dimmer now, so Kinger can think most of the time, which has helped curve a lot of Pomni and Ragatha’s anxiety. That being said we are about to look into a new chapter, a new ADVENTURE!!
- 2021 - Summer -
A gentle knock is heard from the doorway, Pomni sits up groggily holding her head, before giving a slight look towards the doorway and shouting out,
“Just a minute, I need to change!” It felt weird saying that, but she was happy Caine made a special wardrobe they can step into to have themed outfits, or lack thereof. Pomni now wears a soft red and blue plaid jacket, over a golden t-shirt with some black jeans and her classic shoes making up the remainder of the outfit. Stepping out of the small booth, Pomni focuses for a moment, popping a single hair tie into existence, and putting her hair up into a high ponytail. Pomni can’t help but notice how much easier it has become with time, before getting too stuck on that, Pomni heads out her door into the hallway, seeing a nervous and fidgety Ragatha waiting for her. Seeing the soft lighting from the main tent area from the circus fall gently onto Ragatha, emphasizing her curves and the softness of the turtleneck she has on, stole Pomni’s breath away.. Before Pomni could get too lost in thought Ragatha spoke up,
“O-oh! Hey Pomni! Me and the rest of the gang were going to go out to the fields today, d-do you wanna join us?” Ragatha looked slightly to the side seeming too embarrassed to look at Pomni directly, Pomni didn't really notice or chose to ignore it before responding,
“Yeah, I don't mind, want to.. walk together?” Pomni gave a gentle smile, before gently grabbing Ragatha by the hand and walking, startling the poor doll. Ragatha’s mind raced looking down at their hand, there was one thought in her mind, “she is actually..touching me? I-I thought she didnt like touch..” Ragatha’s face burned as she was absorbed in her flusteredness, turning a deep shade of red. Both of them emerged into the main area where Gangle was softly resting her head on Zooble, and Caine was calmly talking with the two of them. Despite everyone seeming relaxed the air was unnaturally heavy, Pomni gently and hesitantly enters the conversation, Regatha following closely behind. Gangle noticing them, gently informs them on the topic,
“Caine thinks he has figured out a way to get the abstractions back..well not without our help.” The world suddenly felt tilted, can they come back? Was all the mourning they did for nothing? Does that mean their time is truly infinite? Questions raced through Pomni’s mind as she was trying to piece it together. Ragatha also overcome with similar thoughts glances forward, and almost on instinct puts a grounding hand on Pomni’s shoulder.
Pomni slightly startled looks back at Ragatha, A gentle smile carves across the doll's face, the racing thoughts go silent. Pomni gently smiles back, and looks towards the former ringmaster and in a slightly stern tone asks,
“What does Gangle mean Caine?” Caine tenses up like a startled cat, before hesitantly responding
“Well you see my Jolly Jester-” Pomni cuts him off, “Use my name Caine, I know your habits die hard, but you know better.” Caine looks down, taking a sharp breath in somehow before continuing,
“R-right Pomni, I looked into their mind files, and it's all still there, just scrambled, with some work, time, and assistance we should be able to bring some of the other humans back.” The room falls silent as the air gets as thick as molasses, Pomni is the first one to speak,
“We should… Plan this out properly, later.” The rest of the room is filled with silent nods, Caine perks up a little and asks,
“Just so I can prepare my- ahem everyone, who should I bring back first?” The question stung, but before anyone else responds Ragatha practically trips over herself to speak first,
“Q-Queenie! w-we should bring back Queenie… I’m sure Kinger would like his wife around.” Pomni jumps in adding to Ragatha’s point starting confident before trailing into a mumble,
“It would be kinda nice to have a mom around..” Zooble seeing a prime opportunity to tease Pomni a little prods,
“Why? Do you need her approval?” Pomni’s face turns beet red from the comment as she just looks down.
Ragatha getting a little defensive in her stead retorts,
“What was that for Zooble??” almost playfully Zooble responds,
“Oh nothing~.” prompting a slight giggle from Gangle, and after letting the air settle for a moment the gang heads outside the tent to the large field next to the beach. Caine calmly summons a picnic blanket for everyone, as they all make some food for themselves and relax. Gangle and Zooble lean on each other as they eat, Pomni sits nervously next to Ragatha, and Caine rests in the grass, letting a digital butterfly and bee land on him. Kinger quickly shuffles over the hill, a little bit late due to grabbing a coffee.
“Why hello everyone!” Kinger excitedly exclaims, everyone else gives proper greetings in response, as Kinger sits on the other side of Pomni, a gentle breeze washes over the group as they just enjoy each other’s company. After a little while Caine gets up from the grass and heads back inside, followed shortly after by Zooble and Gangle. Ragatha, Pomni, and Kinger stay outside a while longer, it was nice getting to relax like this. After sitting outside for around another hour, Kinger stands up and asks,
“Hey Pomni, can you follow me for a second?” Pomni looks back at Ragatha and somewhat hesitantly responds,
“Sure, Hey Ragatha, I’ll be back in a minute, don’t go anywhere!!” Ragatha kind of perks up at the mention of her name, and gives a slight thumbs up, before laying back down on the blanket. After a half second, Kinger and Pomni walk slightly up the hill, and Kinger turns back now out of earshot and whispers,
“I’ve noticed the way you two look at each other -” before Kinger can continue Pomni interjects,
“W-what are you talking about Kinger?! I-Is it too bright out here for you I-I mean -” Kinger voice now more stern,
“No Pomni, Everyone has noticed you two lately, I wanted to tell you to go for it.” Pomni looks down at the floor now entirely flustered, Kinger continues to rattle on,
“After all, what dad wouldn't want his girls to be happy?” The comment causes a chuckle out of Pomni, Kinger chuckles along with her. Pomni breaths in sharply before asking the question that has been plaguing her mind for the better part of a year,
“W-what if it doesn't go well Kinger? Sure she has been there for me whenever I need it, and I have been there for her, but what if that's not what she wants, I’m not like Zooble.” Kinger calmly listens nodding along, before pondering for a second, then responding with an unseen amount of confidence from the old chess piece,
“Pomni, you are the best thing that has ever happened to this place, you were the one to lead the charge against Caine, you were the one that supported Gangle, and Ragatha. More importantly I can promise that you are the thing that kept her going when the circus fell apart, you have more impact then you know. I promise.” All Pomni can respond with is a sniffle, as Kinger gently cups both of her hands in his, as a small necklace forms in between her palms.
“When you are ready to ask her, give her this.” The necklace was a rather pleasant rose gold chain with a horse dangling from it, Kinger laughs softly,
“It’s very similar to the one I gave my wife, guess I’ve lost my originality with age.” The only thought in Pomni’s head was “Oh, Kinger” as she quickly pulled the chess piece into a hug. After that short conversation and following hug, Kinger heads back inside the main tent, and Pomni heads back down to Ragatha’s side. The Jester, seeing a slight opportunity, pounces at the Doll, causing them both to roll down the hill and end up at the edge of the lake area. Laughter fills the air as the two are sprawled out criss crossing with each other, Ragatha looks over at Pomni, purposely not getting up and questions,
“So Pomni, what did you and Kinger talk about?” Pomni unable to look back at Ragatha as a slight blush covers her face,
“Oh u-uhm he just talked about Queenie a bit, and asked me to do something for him, th-thats all.” Ragatha not catching the nervousness (Lesbian obliviousness strikes again), promptly responds,
“Yeah, Kinger must be really happy she might be coming back. I don’t blame him if I had a beautiful wife like that I..would….” The rest of her thought got caught in her throat, as she quickly sat up practically throwing Pomni off of her,
“Y-you know what nevermind! I’m glad you two had a talk imma go pick up the picnic and head back inside and-” Pomni’s voice cut through the air, hitting Ragatha’s ear like a sharp sting,
“Ragatha wait! It’s.. okay, I get it, you don’t have to run from me.” Ragatha freezes, as Pomni quietly approaches and gently grabs her hand, looking up at Ragatha with a bright and gentle smile. Ragatha’s face is a brilliant shade of crimson, slight tears rolling down her fabric skin. As she just sobs, and sobs muttering something about wishing her family understood, Pomni couldn’t really make it out, and honestly was more focused on how the sun caught Ragatha’s hair. Eventually Pomni draped both of her arms around Ragatha, slowly Ragatha stopped crying and looked up at Pomni. The two of them hadn't been this close in a long time, almost like being pulled together the two gently fell into a kiss. Realizing what was happening Ragatha quickly pulls back, pulling so fast she begins to fall, pulling Pomni atop her. Pomni’s thoughts raced looking at the heavily flustered Doll beneath her, as she quickly went in for another kiss. The two of them stayed like that for upwards of ten minutes, before finally separating and almost skittering away from each other as they shouted out in unison,
“Wait, You wanted this the entire time?!?” The air fell silent slowly after, as both began to laugh a hearty laugh, tears rolling down both of their faces. Between sniffles and laughter Pomni questions,
“Why did I wait so long? I have been thinking about how to approach this for months!” Ragatha laughs harder quickly stating,
“Kinger has kept trying to give me dating advice!” Which then prompts Pomni to laugh just has hard as Ragatha is,
“He just did the same thing for me! Well, he basically told me to relax and just pull the trigger, guess gravity did that for us though.” The two girls are overcome by that fit of laughter for a while, slowly inching closer to each other. Eventually they are next to each other again, Ragatha decides to pull the trigger and ask the question burning a whole in both their minds,
“So, now what?” The question itself was simple, but the implications weren't, the air suddenly grew as heavy as it was earlier if not more so. The two girls simply stared at each other for a long moment, before Pomni finally acted, clipping the necklace just given to her around Ragatha’s neck. While doing so, Pomni simply states,
“I guess we both stop being some nervous idiots,” as she kisses Ragatha’s cheek lighting a spark of heat that burned across the dolls face, Pomni continues,
“What do you say, honey?”
A few minutes later the Jester and Doll returned to the tent hand in hand, both shades of red that realistically should not be possible. Ahead of them there was a massive blanket creating a mini tent right next to where Jax has been kept, Kinger is sitting outside of it, fidgeting nervously. Inside Caine is gently hovering just slightly off of the ground, an abstraction's glowing eyes piercing out from the shadowed underbelly of the blankets. Kinger noticing the two taking in the situation in front of them quickly chimes,
“Oh Pomni, Ragatha! Caine is starting to work toward helping Queenie!” His face beamed. It was the happiest both girls had ever seen him. Maybe the future can be better than they thought it could be.