Chapter Text
Christine Moore. 25 years old. Female. And seven month escapee of the digital hell once known as The Amazing Digital Circus. Of course, no one but a few select few knew about that last fact about her. That wasn't something she walked around sharing to strangers. She liked staying out of mental hospitals, thank you very much.
Christine had escaped seven months ago thanks to Kinger, who she now knew went by the name of Grant Williams, along with the rest of the circus members. She had been able to find Ragatha pretty quickly. She just took the small amount of information she remembered from their time in the circus and had been able to find a woman be the name of Catherine Roberts, better known as Cathy. Gangle and Zooble were a little harder to find. Christine found Gangle first though, through a webtoon she found called The Adventures of a Circus Member, written by Emilia Garcia, who commonly went by Emmy. Zooble was found through Instagram promoting circus themed tatoos, and their name was Nicky Miller. Emmy, with her amazing tech skills, had found Grant at a hospital in some little town in Washington state. He was stuck in a coma, unresponsive, but he was alive.
The only person Christine, or anyone in the circus, hadn't seemed to be able to find was Jax. She had no idea if the rabbit had even made it out of the circus or if he had went down with it. With Caine, and bubble, and the colors that had made her believe she was constantly on the verge of a migraine. And that not knowing hurt her more than she could describe.
Christine was currently on her way to Washington from her house in California. She had wanted to move closer to Washington and somewhere away from the hustle and bustle of city life, maybe Montana or Wyoming, but she had stayed in California for one reason. Besides Grant, everyone else had woken up somewhere in California somehow. Which made her hope that maybe Jax was still there. Of course, everyone constantly reminded her that Jax could've left Cali, or maybe he never escaped the circus. But Christine had to have hope.
A horn honked from behind her and Christine realized the light was green. She waved in apologies to the car behind her before easing onto the gas and letting her car continue its way down the road. She really needed to stop getting lost in her thoughts as often as she did. It was going to end up getting her in trouble one day, but she honestly couldn't help it. In the circus, when Caine wasn't sending them on adventures every time they turned around, there wasn't really much else to do aside from think. So Pomni Christine got very accustomed to being able to just sit and think.
She was once again interrupted by her phone ringing, which she answered and connected to the bluetooth of her Honda so she could continue driving without having to focus to much on the device. Emmy's voice filled the car almost immediately.
"Chrissy! Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to see you! Are you on your way yet? I'm getting ready to leave myself, I had to finish packing my suitcase and-" Emmy is cut off by someone from the background yelling something at her and whatever the person said caused her to go quiet for a minute, which was enough to make Christine worried. In the circus, Gangle had been timid and shy, usually avoiding speaking to people and keeping to herself. Outside the circus however, Emmy was talkative and energetic and usually nothing could quiet her.
"Emmy? You good?" Christine asked, a frown on her lips as worry filled her chest. Emmy laughed softly, though it sounded more like an annoyed huff. Weird. Emilia Garcia never got annoyed with anyone.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, my brother is just being a jerk." She said. Christine nearly crashed the car. Emmy never mentioned having a brother.
"You have a brother?" She manages to ask. Theres a small squeak on the other side, as if the older woman hadn't meant to say that, but she does admit to it.
"Yeah, younger brother by four years." Theres silence on the other end before Christine can hear Emmy yelling at someone, most likely her brother. "Just because you're taller does not make you older! I am not telling people you are older than me!" Christine laughed. She knew what siblings were like, having an older sister herself. Then again, they weren't really in contact at the moment.
"You should bring him to the meet-up Emmy. It'd be cool to meet him." Christine says and Emmy falls silent again before responding.
"He's not really big on social interactions. He prefers being holed up in his room like some edgy kind of emo teen." Emmy chuckles. Christine could faintly hear someone shouting and it faintly sounded something like 'Shut up Ribbons!' which was strange, because the only person who had ever called her that was Jax when they were all in the circus.
"Emmy, what did he just call you?" Christine asked. She could practically see the girl freeze up at the question before a forced chuckle escaped her.
"Oh, I told my brother about the circus and he thought that what Jax used to call me was hilarious due to my avatar and after seeing my comics, he decided to adopt the nickname himself." Emmy said. Christine heard someone speak, and Emmy must've pulled the phone away because all of a sudden her voice was hushed and Christine couldn't make out the words her friend was saying. Whatever it was though, she was arguing with the other person there with her. When Emmy finally came back on the line, she sounded nervous. She sounded like Gangle, not like the Emilia Garcia that Christine had gotten to know.
"I've got to go. But I'll see you there, yeah? Bye!" Emmy hung up before Christine could respond, which only left her more confused because what the fuck was that? Emmy had never mentioned having a younger brother. And why did she seem so determined for the rest of the group not to meet him. Christine gripped the steering while so tight her knuckles turned white. Surely her brother wasn't like, a murderer or anything, right?
She shook her head, clearing that thought out of her mind. No, Emmy wouldn't do that. There was a good reason for Emmy not telling them she had a brother, and Christine would respect that. Emmy could introduce them, or tell them all about him, whenever she was ready. For now though, she focused on the road before her and hoped that she would be able to get to her hotel in time for check in.