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It had been planned for two weeks. Not because it was particularly difficult, but just because… well, a bunch could go wrong.
For context, two months ago, Caine found a way to reset all of the abstracted characters. They came back, but not without some error here and there. Their memories were foggy for a bit. There were a few times they looked like they had abstracted again, but recovered just as quickly. Altogether, though… Everyone was grateful to have them back.
Anyways. They’d been planning a playdate, between all of the littles. Nothing major. And now, here they were. Gangle and Ribbit were sitting on the floor, drawing together. Ragatha and Zooble were sitting on the couch behind them. They had been keeping a close eye on the pair, but they really didn’t cause much worry.
Caine was watching Gangle draw, as well. He tried to make a few pictures, but ended up getting a bit frustrated. After calming down with Queenie and Kinger, he decided he’d rather watch. Gangle didn’t mind– she asked him what else she should add to her picture, and gave him some tips. Ribbit also would ask him what colors they should use— making sure he felt included– but Caine was actually quite patient and calm when regressed. It was a bit shocking to see from the previously loud Ringmaster. But he’d been much more calm as of late, even when he wasn’t regressed. He was making steady progress.
Jax was the only one who didn’t have any interest in drawing. Ribbit tried to include her. Gangle was much more hesitant, but also tried. Pomni had encouraged her several times to go and do some sort of craft, but Jax wasn’t having it, at all. Which wasn’t out of the ordinary. He refused to play with the others often. Even if it was just parallel playing, he didn’t seem all that interested.
It wasn’t even disinterest. It was like Jax didn’t trust playing with them. Ribbit had been the most tenacious out of all of them. She’d always have an extra piece of paper out for Jax, or would make sure she got a snack as well. This meant Jax had played with them sometimes, but… she still seemed wary. Ribbit didn’t seem to mind, the social butterfly they were. Unfortunately, no amount of coaxing from Ribbit or encouragement from Pomni would get Jax to go out and play. She was in a bit of a mood today, and had barely agreed to be at the playdate to begin with, so Pomni decided she’d take what she could get.
Jax was building towers with blocks, currently. He refused to get close to anyone else, and was stuck by Pomni’s side. However… He wouldn’t even let her play or engage. She had tried a bit at first— Jax had always been more receptive to caretakers trying to play with him compared to other littles. But once more— he wasn’t in the mood, at all. Jax, surprisingly, wasn’t being mean— just didn’t touch the blocks if Pomni tried to help, and ignored the towers altogether. So now she just watched, staying there just in case he came around.
“Hey, Gangle?” Zooble asked, after a lull in their conversation with Ragatha, “What’re you drawing?”
Gangle looked up and meekly displayed her picture. It was a picture of a person— not quite as skilled as Gangle normally could draw, but definitely still good. Especially given that Gangle regressed to be rather young sometimes.
“It’s my mom,” She murmured softly, a bit of a conflicted expression painting her face, “She’s really nice…”
Ribbit… quickly took notice of Gangle’s sudden change in demeanor. Probably a bit homesick. They all knew there was absolutely no “going back to the real world” now. But that concept got a bit more tricky to remember when regressed.
“Good idea, Gangle. I think… I think I should draw my mom too!”
Ribbit announced, lying down on their stomach and grabbing a new sheet of paper. Gangle was distracted and leaned forward, watching as Ribbit started to doodle.
“Was your mom a nice mom?” Caine asked, maneuvering so he could now watch Ribbit draw instead. Gangle returned to her own drawing, her sadness briefly passed by as she focused on her sketch once more.
“Uhhh… yeah, I think so,” Ribbit assessed, reaching out to grab a colored pencil. Pomni briefly listened in to the conversation. Zooble looked a bit relieved that the subject had turned more upbeat quickly, before Gangle would be absorbed by her sadness.
“...my mom was really nice,”
Gangle murmured, less sad this time, not looking up from her doodle. There was a little bit of silence, and then she looked up and around. Eventually, her gaze landed on Ribbit, and she looked a bit nervous. She turned around and tapped Zooble’s knee, before leaning in and whispering something to them.
“You can do it. Go ahead,” Was all Zooble had to respond with, and Gangle didn’t look too pleased with that answer, but eventually reached out to tap Ribbit’s shoulder.
“Can I… borrow that pencil?”
She gestured to the colored pencil Ribbit was using, and the frog looked a bit taken off guard, before quickly nodding and handing it over.
“Ok! Can I have it back when you're done, though?”
Gangle nodded, and Ribbit, now left with nothing else to do [until their colored pencil was returned], began to fill the silence as they swung their legs idly.
“My mom was pretty nice. She always made me go to church though. I didn’t like church,”
Ribbit hummed pensively, as if they were making a very important assessment over the quality of their mother. Gangle looked up briefly, before shaking her head.
“My mom never made me go to church. She did make me go shopping with her though…”
“You don’t like shopping?” Ribbit inquired seriously, because this was apparently a very shocking revelation, bordering betrayal. It was at this point Jax looked up, although her ears were pinned to her head.
“...no. It was always really loud for me… but she would hold my hand if it got too upsetting. She let me pick out my own clothes, too. She was super nice,”
Ribbit nodded, abandoning her drawing for a second to pay more attention to the matter at hand.
“My mom wouldn’t let me pick out my clothes, when I was super little. Like… really, really young. And then she would make sure I chose clothes that were ok but let me pick my own. I remember one time, she even let me wear a suit to a big event even though she wanted me to wear a dress. That was pretty cool,”
Ribbit hummed, quite proud of that specific moment. Gangle offered a weak smile and reached out to return the colored pencil, when very loud clattering caught her attention.
All of the blocks that Jax had made into a tower had collapsed. He had his arms crossed as he glared at the damage. Pomni startled and turned her attention back towards him.
“Hey… Jax? You want help building your tower again?”
She didn’t respond, outside from angrily stamping her foot. Pomni reached out to help tidy the blocks up, when Jax shot her foot out and kicked the pile of blocks. They went skidding across the floor, scattering everywhere. Gangle leapt out of the way, but one ended up nailing Ribbit right in the ribcage. They quickly sat up and held their side, where the triangular block had hit. It was clear they were trying to be brave and strong about it, but they bit their lip to hold back tears. Yeah… looked like it hurt…
“Jax–”
Pomni immediately chided, rising to her feet. But Jax wasn’t having any of it. She stamped her feet, refusing to get up from the ground.
“NO! Go away!”
“Pomni, it’s ‘kay! I’m sure she didn’t mean to–” Ribbit reassured, which wasn’t very convincing, given the tears running down her face. [seriously– it looked like it hurt].
“I did mean to!” Jax screeched, grabbing at her ear and yanking it. Noticing that she’d be inconsolable in the current situation, Pomni hauled Jax up and guided her away from everyone. Jax was being stubborn, trying to fight against it, but thankfully cartoon logic worked in Pomni’s favor and she was able to steer the angry bunny away.
“Jax, you need to take a break. Come on,”
“I don’t wanna take a break–”
While Jax had stopped resisting, tears were steadily falling down his face as he sobbed. He hid his face in his arm, trying to stop Pomni from seeing him like this– Like she hadn’t seen his tantrums before.
They eventually made their way into the tent. They had decided to leave it up, because it was a comforting place. It was quiet, comfortable, and private enough that Jax would hopefully open up. Pomni guided her to one of the corners of the tent, and kneeled in front of Jax as she sat down. She was still sobbing and reached up to pull on her ears again, which wasn’t the best self soothing mechanism. Pomni guided her hands away and sighed as she watched the bunny continue to cry. The tantrum had turned into a meltdown, but at least Jax was starting to calm down a bit.
“It’s– It’s not fai- Fair–” Jax hiccuped between words, scrubbing at his face. He repeated that same phrase over and over, broken by choked sobs each time.
Now that confused Pomni. Everything had been fair. Jax received the snack he asked for. He’d been invited to play several times. He had Pomni’s attention, and was offered a chance to color, and was given the blocks when he asked for them.
“What’s not fair?”
She asked after a moment, once she felt that Jax would actually be able to respond. Jax continued to sniffle, now hiding her face from Pomni in shame.
“Gangle– Gangle and Ribbit have good moms. Their moms were nice,” Jax started, breath hitching as she stumbled over her words. Her hands balled into fists as she hit the pillows beneath her, trying to release some of her emotions, “But— but my mom was mean. She was mean because I’m bad. I wanted a good mom but I’m a bad person. I don’t– I don’t– I don’t deserve it–”
Jax choked out, and Pomni’s expression fell. She leaned forward and rested a hand on Jax’s shoulder, mainly just to check to see if he was okay with touch. When he didn’t pull away, Pomni pulled him into a hug, holding on to him.
“Jax, is that what was wrong? That’s not true, bunny,” She murmured softly, gently rubbing the tip of Jax’s ear to try and soothe her. Pomni didn’t like pet names, and neither did Jax [usually]. But being little, she seemed to melt right into it, although she was still a bit sad.
“You’re not bad, okay? You did a mean thing by kicking the blocks, but that doesn’t mean youre bad. Your mom was mean, but that wasn’t because you were bad. You didn’t deserve any of the mean things she did,”
Jax sniffled, still seeming uncertain. Pomni pulled away from Jax, and he huffed.
“Stay here. I have an idea,”
He watched as his caretaker left the tent, and pulled his knees to his chest. He trusted Pomni to come back, but he wasn’t certain what she was going to do, and it made him nervous.
Meanwhile, Pomni jogged out of the tent and back to the living area. Ragatha looked up upon seeing her return, and looked a bit concerned.
“Hey, uh… could I actually steal you two for a second?” Pomni asked sheepishly, looking at Ragatha and Pomni. Ragatha immediately jumped to her feet. Queenie also got up and walked over without another question, gently patting Caine on the head as she walked past. Caine didn’t seem to mind– he still had Kinger to look after him.
“I’m going to be right back, Ribbit. Is that okay?”
Ragatha asked, and Ribbit gave a thumbs up. Ribbit usually was self sufficient– she typically didn’t regress to be as little as Jax or Gangle. Also, she was all around pretty easygoing to begin with.
“What’s going on?”
Queenie asked once they’d started walking towards the tent. Pomni rubbed the nape of her neck with a small sigh.
“Well… She’s kinda jealous. I think hearing Ribbit and Gangle talk about their mothers brought back some insecurities. I handled it to the best of my ability, but I figured… you two might be better at this than I am,”
Pomni muttered sheepishly, lightly kicking at the ground as she walked. Queenie looked at her curiously for a moment, before smiling warmly.
“I’d be happy to help. But don’t sell yourself short. I’m sure you’re doing great. It can just… be a bit difficult sometimes,”
Pomni offered a weak smile back, but Ragatha seemed to catch her lack of enthusiasm. She gently nudged Pomni’s shoulder and offered her own reassuring smile.
“Is he still having a meltdown? Or has she calmed down enough?”
Ragatha asked, once they had gotten closer to the entrance of the tent. Pomni shrugged, starting to walk in. Jax looked up, but quickly averted her gaze, sniffling. Her ears flattened out of embarrassment— even when little, Jax always tried to pretend to be unaffected. However, her facade didn’t work on anyone. Ragatha and Queenie knelt in front of her. Suddenly self conscious [and still a total coward]. Jax scooted over to Pomni and tried to hide behind her, as well as any loose pillows.
“Jax…”
Ragatha sighed, but Queenie just chuckled softly at the display. She didn’t seem deterred by Jax’s stubbornness— calm as ever.
“So.” Queenie hummed curiously, watching the pillows like she expected Jax to stop hiding any minute now, “I hear you’re a bit upset because you’re jealous of Ribbit and Gangle’s moms, huh?”
Jax did drop the pillows immediately, but glared at Pomni, affronted that she’d ever share such personal information with Queenie and Ragatha. But then his gaze landed on the chess piece, and he decided arguing wouldn’t be a good idea. Queenie didn’t look stern, but instead, extremely patient. The kind of patience that made Jax know that he’d have no chance of trying to annoy or frustrate her until she went away. So instead, he nodded, albeit quite petulantly. He decided to really demonstrate his frustration at the situation by stamping one of his feet— which wasn’t as effective as Jax hoped, given all of the pillows.
“Well… for starters, you hurt Ribbit,” Ragatha chimed in, and although her tone was soft, it was clearly a bit disapproving. Tears welled up in Jax’s eyes again— not because she was in trouble, but because she was starting to feel bad. She did care for Ribbit, even if she could be stubborn. She didn’t want to hurt her friend. “Even if you were upset, that wasn’t a nice thing to do,”
Jax didn’t respond, instead looking down at her hands. She bit her lip, but didn’t hide behind Pomni this time.
“You’re allowed to be upset, Jax.” Queenie hummed upon seeing her bite back her tears. Her tone was soft, but vaguely amused. Endeared. “You can cry. But we shouldn’t throw fits, should we?”
“Nuh-uh,” Jax finally responded, although she still didn’t seem happy at having to do… any of this. “ ‘cause people can get hurt.”
They nodded approvingly, but Jax probably couldn’t see that, given that he was avoiding eye contact with everyone right now.
“If you’re upset, you can always tell someone, Jax. That way you don’t have to listen anymore if you don’t want to. I’m sure Pomni would’ve taken you to have a break if you had just asked. You can also talk about why you’re upset, you know,”
Ragatha murmured. And the day Jax, little or not, decided to talk about her feelings on her own time? That was the day that the circus crashed, or something—- But the first part was probably something Jax would consider.
They spent a bit more time in the tent. Eventually, Queenie and Ragatha went back to help the others supervise. So Pomni remained in the tent with Jax until he felt up to going back out again.
“Jax?”
“Yeah?”
Pomni stood up and offered a hand out to the purple bunny. He took it and rose to his feet, but still wiped at his eyes a bit, sniffling occasionally.
“I want you to apologize to Ribbit and Gangle when we go out there,”
“But–! But the block didn’t even hit Gangle! ‘S not fair, Pomni!”
The protest was immediate. Jax’s ears flattened against her skull as she stomped her foot again, but her theatrics was winning her zero points. For a few moments there, it looked like Jax might start crying again on principle alone. But she huffed and crossed her arms across her chest, glaring at the ground.
“Fine….”
Eventually, they made it back to the living area, with no more mishaps. Jax tried to hide behind Pomni [entirely ineffective given their different statures, but worth a shot] and refused to walk to the others. But eventually, he walked over to where Ribbit, Gangle, and Caine were still sitting. He rubbed one of his arms before finally biting his pride and getting it over with.
“I’m sorry… for kicking the blocks towards you,”
She bit out, and Gangle still looked uncertain. Caine looked impartial. But Ribbit grinned at the half-assed apology and held out a piece of paper and some colored pencils.
“Thats okay! We’re done coloring pictures of our moms, anyways. Now we’re drawing pictures of each other? You wanna join?”
Jax bit her lip and looked at Pomni, but she just nodded. So with a small, nervous sigh, she took the paper, and the colored pencils, and sat down. She didn’t have the best drawing, but she tried anyway.