Chapter Text
Dreams had become a welcome break for Pomni. At least, most of the time. They were one of the few places where Caine couldn’t badger the members. And in this seemingly eternal hell, she needed all the safe spaces she could get. He had no control over their minds, after all. Of course, being a central character in her life, he sometimes appeared in them still. But it was never actually him… At least, she thought it wasn’t.
Until one night, that was.
It was a pleasant dream at first. She was in a mundane setting, some coffee shop that she vaguely recognized. Maybe from her life… Well, her life before everything. She had a laptop on the table in front of her, opened to an urban exploration video. Her video. She was editing it in her favorite place, a decaf coffee in her hand and a half-eaten chocolate croissant right next to the keyboard.
It’s not gonna get any views, you know, A voice piped up from behind the laptop. She looked up from her editing to see that familiar, blank-mannequin face that she’d become so acquainted with the past few weeks. I don’t know why you keep doing this.
Well, it’s more for me, Pomni said defensively. I like it.
Are you sure? I see the way you look at those analytics. The voice coming from the mannequin was so, so familiar… But she couldn't place it as any of the circus members, or Caine, or even the NPCs. You’re disappointed, every time.
She tried to take a sip of her coffee, but just before it reached her lips, A booming voice interrupted her dream. “POMNI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING SLEEPING AROUND WHEN THERE’S ADVENTURE TO BE FOUND?”
That stupid jawbone. His voice was so loud in her head that it woke her up in real life. Pomni sat up with a jolt, hitting her head against the headboard as she did. “Ughhh… Caine, I was sleeping…”
She wasn’t expecting him to actually be in the room with her, so when he replied, she jumped once again. “SLEEPING? IN MY CIRCUS? WHEN THERE’S SO MUCH TO DO?” He floated next to her, tapping her on the head with his fist. “OH, YOU AMUSE ME.”
“Boring!” Bubble agreed. Pomni hadn’t realized that she had an audience. “I’m yawning just thinking about it, boss!”
“I AGREE, BUBBLE!” He flew towards the door, his body doing a complete spin while his head… Or, jaws?— After all this time, Pomni still didn’t quite know what to think of his face— Stayed facing her. “NOW GET DRESSED AND COME TO THE MAIN ROOM!”
“I don’t know, Caine, I’m still a bit tired from the gunfight… And the Awards show…” And everything, really. She hadn’t had a true moment of rest since she’d arrived in the Circus. But she wouldn’t tell him that. Not when his mental state was so unreadable.
He started laughing, in that strange way that he did where she wondered if he really found her funny or if he was just falling apart. “OH, POMNI, YOU CHAINMAIL-CLAD-CAROUSEL, DON’T MAKE ME SNAP!”
She tensed, wondering what the hell that could mean, but he didn’t give her the mercy of making the choice herself. He snapped his fingers, and she teleported into the main room, still in her pajamas and all.
She scrambled to her feet, holding herself tightly as she looked around at the other Circus members. A few of them looked like they’d gotten the same treatment as her— Ragatha was yawning, trying to look cheery as she straightened her nightgown. Zooble had no P.J.s to speak of— They never wore clothes, anyway— But they were falling right back to sleep. Gangle and Kinger looked relatively normal. As normal as they could, of course. Gangle was still fitting her comedy mask over her face, the same way you’d try to make your hair look nice in public. Kinger’s eyes were more bloodshot than usual, but he looked oddly lucid. Of course he did. The lights had gone out for the night, the only source being the Moon’s soft glow straining through the tent’s fabric.
“Oh! Hey, Pomni!” Ragatha’s voice cut through her sleepiness. Ragatha always seemed to drift towards her for some reason. Even right now, she made an effort to walk towards Pomni. She saw her stretch out her hand to touch her, but she seemed to think twice about it in a split second.
“Hey.” Pomni rubbed her own arm, for the first time realizing how different the circus tent looked at night. She hadn’t been out here before at this hour— In the darkness, everything looked a little softer. The shapes and colors and the harsh black-and-white floors were much easier on the eyes. “Did Caine come to your room, too?”
“Not exactly.” Her glassy doll-eyes avoided making contact with Pomni’s. “I just heard his voice calling us out here. I’m kind of a light sleeper.”
“I see.” Pomni looked away from her friend. Or… Acquaintance? It felt weird calling Ragatha a friend. She was nice, of course. And she’d always made an effort to connect with her. But there was something missing, some kind of block that kept them from fully making that connection. Not like…
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Not like Jax.
It hurt even more now to think of their argument after the gunfight. She’d thought their easy conversations and roughhousing and light jokes had meant she’d finally made friends with him. I guess not.
“Is something wrong?” Ragatha broke her train of thought. Good thing, too. It wasn’t something she wanted to think of too much right now.
Pomni thought of telling Ragatha about everything. They’d been planning to talk after the Awards Show, but they hadn’t gotten the chance. Caine had teleported them right back to the Circus, not giving them any time or privacy to have a conversation.
Just as she opened her mouth, though, a subtle whoosh signified the end of their brief exchange. Pomni looked away and saw Caine floating into the room. “GOOD EVENING, MY MILDEWED MIDWIVES!” He paused mid-monologue, reached into his hat, and pulled a shocked Jax out by the ears. The lanky rabbit blinked, scrambled out of Caine’s grasp and fell to the floor. He was in his pajamas, too: A mismatched flannel set. Pomni couldn’t help but slip a smile at his circumstance, but she just as quickly dropped it when he shot her his creepy, bug-eyed grin. Not his normal smile, but something a little different. It was so clearly fake, so devoid of feeling… She’d’ve honestly preferred if he’d just glared or sneered.
Did anyone else see that? She wondered. But the expressions of everyone told her they hadn’t. He took his place, as far away from Pomni as he could get. Coincidentally, that was right next to Gangle.
“I’VE BEEN GIVING SOME THOUGHT TO WHAT ZOOBLE SAID EARLIER,” Caine said in that gratingly loud voice.
Zooble blinked their eyes open, not even bothering to sit up completely. “Hm?”
Gangle’s comedy mask finally seemed to snap on. “Do you mean… Y’know… The thing?”
“WHAT?” Caine’s body drooped, telling Pomni that he knew exactly what she meant. “OH, NO. NOT THAT. WE HAVE TO KEEP THE CIRCUS APPROPRIATE FOR ALL AGES, AFTER ALL!”
Was Pomni mistaken, or did she see Gangle’s posture slump at his declaration?
“WHAT I MEANT—” He twirled around in midair, pointing his cane at a darkened neon sign that definitely wasn’t there before. “—IS LOW STAKES! NO ACTION, NO EGREGIOUS VIOLENCE, NO EXTREMELY WELL-THOUGHT-OUT PLOTLINES FROM A CERTAIN CREATIVE RINGMASTER! THE SLICE-OF-LIFE GENRE HAS BEEN CAPTURING MY ATTENTION LATELY…”
“I got out of bed for this?” Zooble groaned. “A genre-shift? Wake me when it’s over—”
They got up and started hobbling back to their room on uneven legs, but Caine teleported right in front of them. “NOW, NOW, ZOOBLE! WHAT KIND OF HOST WOULD I BE IF I DIDN’T FORCE FEED YOU AT LEAST ONE OF MY NEW, NOT-EXCITING-AT-ALL ADVENTURES DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU?” He pushed them back towards the group and continued his monologue. “AND I DECIDED TO START WITH A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE! IMAGINE THE MYSTERY! THE FRESHNESS!”
“The freaky hijinks!” Bubble interjected.
For a moment, Caine paused. “Why are you all so fixated on… Oh, whatever.” He popped Bubble. “TONIGHT’S ADVENTURE IS… DRUMROLL PLEASE… WITCHING HOUR WITCH-HUNT!”
Pomni grimaced as the neon sign lit up, revealing the name of their newest side-quest. “Does he do these… Often?”
“What? The night adventures?” Ragatha turned her focus back to Pomni. “Not often. Usually when he does it involves vampires. Or zombies. Or packs of rabid wolves.” She shuddered, but then perked right up again. “It might be a nice change of pace, though. Don’t you think?”
“Ehhhhh.” Before Pomni could answer, Jax piped up loud enough for everyone to hear. “I prefer the ones where I can use Ragatha as a human shield, if need be.” He smirked at where Pomni and Ragatha were standing. Hoping for a reaction, Pomni guessed. Well, she wouldn’t give it to him.
“THE RULES ARE SIMPLE: ONE OF YOU IS A WITCH, AND THE REST HAVE TO FIND THEM! FIRST ONE TO REACH THE WITCH WINS A MYSTERY PRIZE!”
“That… Actually sounds kind of fun.” Pomni looked up at Caine. Maybe he really is willing to take our criticism. “Who’s the witch?”
“LET’S DECIDE NOW!” Caine summoned a bottle in the middle of their group and gave it a good spin. After a few seconds, it slowed and clumsily pointed at Kinger. “WOWZA! THE BOTTLE HAS SPOKEN. KINGER IS OUR WITCH!” Caine snapped, and a crooked, black-and-purple witch hat that looked like it was from Party City spawned on Kinger’s cross-shaped head.
“I’m flattered, really.” Kinger’s eyes seemed unfocused, a far cry from how he looked just a few short minutes ago. “I thought I had a speech prepared for this… Oh, what the heck. It’s not every day—”
“OH, ALSO, THE WITCH HAS POWERS TO STOP THE OTHERS,” Caine interrupted, cutting Kinger off. He snapped, and a liquidy-looking black portal opened in front of them. “GO ON! ADVENTURE STARTS NOW!”
Kinger, Zooble, and Gangle walked through without issue. When Jax, Ragatha, and Pomni tried, though, Caine’s eyes nearly popped out of his mouth. “YOU THREE! YOU CAN’T GO OUT LOOKING LIKE THAT! WHO DRESSED YOU?”
Pomni straightened up, looking down at her ratty t-shirt and shorts. She’d nearly forgotten that she wasn’t in real clothes.
Caine snapped, and the three’s clothes turned into their normal outfits. The familiar weight of Pomni’s hat returned to her head, and Ragatha and Jax’s signature dress and overalls, respectively, appeared on them. “NOW GO! MAKE ME PROUD!”
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When they emerged from the portal, they stepped into a world that looked like an old colonial-era town. Abandoned, of course, but in pretty good shape. It wasn’t dilapidated or creepy at all. Lightning-bugs floated around in groups, and the sky was tinged a nice purple-ish color.
Ragatha smiled at the scenery. “Ooh, pretty! Kinger, they’ve got fireflies all over the place!”
“I see.” Kinger held out a gloved hand to catch one. As soon as it landed on his hand, though, there was a pop and he disappeared.
“THE WITCH HAS BEEN TAKEN TO A RANDOM SPOT IN THE MAP,” Caine announced. “THE HUNT BEGINS IN THREE… TWO… ONE!”
“Come on, crybaby.” Jax reached out to grab Gangle’s ribbon-arm, but was stopped when Zooble shot him a venomous glare.
“I’m not going with you,” Gangle told him, an uncharacteristic strength in her voice. “Let’s go, Zooble.”
Jax’s eyes widened as Gangle and Zooble ran off together. Zooble looked at their friend proudly as the search began.
“Whatever, then.” Jax shoved his hands in his pockets and began walking off.
Pomni couldn’t quite bring herself to feel bad for him after everything, but she did feel a little twinge in her chest when she saw his toothy grin falter. “Hey, Jax?”
He turned around to face them, not saying anything.
“You could come with Ragatha and I, if you really want to be partnered with someone.” She could feel the tension grow between the three of them as she suggested it, but she persisted. “It might be easier with all of us.”
He seemed to consider for a second, but just as quickly as it faltered, the mask slipped back on. “Come with you? And have to split Caine’s prize? Pfffft, nah. That’s all mine.”
He ran off in the opposite direction of Gangle and Zooble, not bothering to say anything else. Pomni shrugged, but she couldn’t ignore the dread growing in her chest.
"Alright, Ragatha. Let’s… Show them all who’s boss.”
The two of them charged forward, combing the town for any signs of Kinger. “He’s not easy to miss,” Ragatha mumbled. “But he’s not stupid, either.”
Pomni nodded understandingly. “Not in the dark, he isn’t.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, the dark, he told me… It helps him, I suppose.”
“It does?” Ragatha’s expression was unreadable. “That’s interesting. I guess I didn’t make that connection.”
Pomni turned her attention to her partner. We’re alone now, She considered. This might be a good time to talk. “Hey, Ragatha…”
“Yeah?”
Now that she had her full attention, though, it was hard to figure out exactly what she wanted to say. Not that she was sorry. She’d already told her that before, so it might just ring hollow. But Ragatha had told her that she could talk about anything she needed…
“Can I vent to you?”
Ragatha’s eyes went wide. “Oh, uh… Of course, Pomni! What’s on your mind?”
Where could she start? She decided to start with the simplest issue, the one that was right in front of her: “Is there a reason Jax is… Like this?”
Ragatha slumped. “I was going to ask you. Since you two have been spending so much time together the past few days.”
Pomni looked away guiltily. “We were, weren’t we?” She opened a fence gate, trying not to look Ragatha in the eyes. “I thought I was getting through to him—”
“But he pushed you away?” She sighed. “We’ve all been there. Thought we could be the one to finally ‘fix’ him.” Pomni could tell she spoke from experience. “You can’t fix someone if they won’t let you get close enough to do it.”
“I don’t want to fix him,” Pomni emphasized. “I just don’t want him to act like he wants to be friends with me and then just push me away like it meant nothing!”
Ragatha went silent, and she wondered she’d overstepped her bounds. But then she mumbled something that Pomni almost missed. “He wasn’t always this hard to care for.”
Before she could reply, Ragatha silenced her with a hand. Pomni paused and squinted. Through the greenery, she could see the towering figure of Kinger, made even bigger by the stiff witch hat on his head. “Let’s get him,” Pomni said, starting to push through the bushes.
Ragatha was right behind her as they stalked him. Just as Pomni was about to tag him, he spun around and saw them in the bush. “Ahhhh!”
He pointed a finger at them, and some glowing orb formed, barreling towards them and hitting Pomni right in the stomach. She gagged as it pinned her briefly to the ground.
“Pomni!” Ragatha turned away from Kinger to crouch down next to the jester. In that split second, Kinger fled away.
As Pomni tried to keep from throwing up, she heard Gangle’s voice in the distance. “There he is!” It was immediately followed by the sound of porcelain shattering.
“Are you okay?” Ragatha asked. She touched Pomni’s shoulder, and Pomni felt herself instinctively flinching away.
“F…Fine…” She tried to sit up, groaning at the lingering soreness in her midsection. “Urgh…”
“Oh, man, you sound really hurt.”
“It’s not bad, I promise.” She stood, wobbling slightly but regaining her balance just as quickly. “I just forgot about the whole magic thing, that’s all.”
“We can take a break—”
“No, really, Ragatha. I’m fine. We can go on.” She expected the pain to dissipate quickly, just like it always did. Pain that didn’t last was just a hidden benefit to her digital body. But today, it didn’t fade as quick. She tried to hide her discomfort from Ragatha, but she still hunched as she walked, holding the impacted area of her body like that would help at all.
They made their way through the streets of the town again. Once the pain from Kinger’s attack simmered down enough to stand up straight, Pomni took her first deep breath in a while. “Why is Jax like this now, though?”
Ragatha’s frown deepened. “Why don’t we talk about something else? Something less… Sad?”
“Oh, uh, yeah.” Pomni suddenly realized how much of a sucker she must sound like; After all, how would she feel if she’d reached out to someone as hard as Ragatha reached out to her, and then all they wanted to talk about was someone else? She turned up to the sky, where little hand-drawn stars shimmered above. “Do you like the stars here?”
“They’re nice.” She followed Pomni’s gaze. “They’re like a little drawing. Caine even likes to put constellations up there.”
“Really?”
She traced something with her finger. “There’s a bee swarm… A goose… A horse…” Her face fell a bit at the mention of the horse. “And… Lots of other things, if you know where to look.”
“How long have you been in the circus, Ragatha?”
“Oh, not too terribly long. I know I was 23 when I got here.”
“And… How old are you now?” “Um…” She looked back at the ground. “I don't know, really. Sometimes we celebrate birthdays. Or, anniversary days, more likely. Y’know, the day we got here. That means… Oh.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I've had 7 birthdays since I got here.” She blinked. “I’m 30.”
The sound of her voice made Pomni’s heart drop. 7 years. She’d missed so much of the world. Her family, her friends… Did they grieve Ragatha? Or was she just a faint memory that came up once in a blue moon?
How quickly would the real world forget about her?
Her train of thought was interrupted by a glimpse of a lanky figure in an alley. Jax. Pomni squinted at him. He was lurking, his posture slouched. He would almost look goofy, if it wasn’t for the focused, scary-determined look on his face. He caught a glimpse of Pomni and Ragatha, and Pomni felt herself inhale sharply, which caused a fresh pang of soreness in her chest. She remembered the way he’d yelled at her earlier that day, how small and glassy his eyes had gone. How the smile had never really left his face. He didn’t look like that now, of course. But he didn’t quite look normal, either.
She expected him to mock them, to say something callous or insulting disguised as a joke. But instead he just scoffed and went on.
“Huh.” Ragatha spoke for her. “That was odd for him.”
Pomni didn’t say anything to that. She didn’t have to.
The adventure didn’t last much longer. Pomni and Ragatha moved in relative silence, only breaking it to give each other updates. Suspiciously chess-piece shaped footprints, traces of the other players, that kind of thing. A few times, purple lighting descended from the sky, followed by yelps from Jax, Zooble, or Gangle. When a tolling that sounded like church bells rang through the map, Pomni jumped.
“THE WITCH HAS BEEN CAUGHT!” Caine’s voice cut through the night. “JAX IS THE WINNER!”
“Damn it!” Ragatha swore under her breath. A stupid-sounding boing censored her words, but Pomni could make out her intent clear enough.
In an instant, they were teleported to the town’s square. In the center of the square, Kinger was tied to a stake, his hat askew on his head, eyes wide with fear. Or cluelessness. It was hard to tell with Kinger, really. Next to him, Jax held a flaming torch, looking just as surprised at the predicament as the rest of them.
Gangle gasped, and Pomni grimaced. “Uh, Caine? What is this?”
“THE CONCLUSION TO THE ADVENTURE, MY DEAREST POMNI!” He floated in the sky next to Bubble, who just stared dumbly at nothing, as always. “YOU KNOW THE DRILL, DON’T YOU? WITCHES NEED TO BE BURNED!”
“That’s not very low-stakes, Caine,” Zooble griped. “Not for Kinger.”
“Well, all things considered, this isn’t exactly a high stake, either,” Kinger offered, looking at the pole he was tied to. “More medium-length.”
Zooble pinched the spot where their nose would be, if they had one. “Kinger, you dumbass--”
“I CAN NEVER MAKE YOU HAPPY!” Caine roared. The girls and Zooble all flinched back at his outburst, but just as quickly as it happened, the A.I. snapped back to normal. “OH, ZOOBLE, ZOOBLE. YOU AND POMNI LIKE RELAXING, JAX LIKES VIOLENCE, SO THIS WAY, EVERYONE GETS WHAT THEY WANT!”
“Is Kinger gonna feel the fire?” Ragatha asked, concerned.
“DON’T KNOW! LET’S FIND OUT!”
Jax paused as he looked at the fire, shrugged, and ignited Kinger’s robes. Kinger stared at his burning clothes for a moment. “Huh. Toasty.” He paused. “Wait.”
He started screaming and thrashing. It was obvious that the flames caused him pain. Gangle covered her eyes and cowered behind Zooble, who just stared, horrified, at the violence in front of them. Ragatha had her hands over her mouth, and a small, strangled sound started in the back of her throat. Even Jax looked uncomfortable with the pain Kinger was going through. He dropped the torch and stepped backwards, his ears folded flat against his head. For someone who claimed to relish other’s pain, he didn’t seem to be enjoying this much.
Only Pomni made a move towards Kinger. As she reached for him, she could feel the heat radiating from the flames on his body. She took her hat off her head, braced for pain, and started trying to suffocate the fires with the hat. It didn’t work very well. Kinger obviously kept screaming, and Pomni swore she could feel the skin on her hands, legs, and face sizzling.
“Caine!” She shrieked. “Help him!”
The ringmaster, who had been staring at the scene with his jaw on the floor (Not an exaggeration) snapped back into action at Pomni’s words. “Oh, uh, yeah. Hang on.”
He snapped, and a sheet of freezing water descended on Pomni and Kinger. It extinguished the flames, but left Pomni shivering. Kinger stayed tied to the stake. His pale-beige skin was blackened with ash, and his robe had holes burned in it. His eyes were still wide and quivering.
“Kinger?” Ragatha piped up. “Are you okay?”
The chess piece coughed out a cloud of smoke, fell off the stake, and gave the group a shaky thumbs-up. “Never… Better!”
“What was that?” Gangle’s voice trembled as she turned towards Caine. As if she was afraid he would ignite her, too.
“Uh…” Caine glitched momentarily, and then shook himself back into character. “JAX! YOU’VE WON THE ADVENTURE! YOUR PRIZE IS…”
He pointed his cane at Jax’s hand, and a little low-resolution cake appeared in Jax’s palm.
“A SUCCULENT HELLO KITTY CUPCAKE!”
“Scrumptious! Just like mom used to make!” Bubble chimed in, either too uncaring or too stupid to read the room. Pomni assumed it was the latter.
“That’s it?” Jax looked up at Caine expectantly. “I got electrocuted and hit with magic balls for this?”
“YES! ADVENTURE OVER! NOW GO, GO ON!”
And then, with a snap, they were all back in the circus tent. Like the adventure hadn’t even happened. The only proof of their midnight excursion were the singed holes in Kinger’s cloak and the Hello Kitty cupcake, which Jax promptly forfeited ownership of. No one else really wanted to claim it either, though. So it sat on the table near the couches until Bubble snatched it up.
“Whelp, that was fun,” Jax said, stretching. With that stupid, shit-eating grin stretched across his face. “I’m off to bed, though.”
“Are you serious?!” Zooble groaned. “After all that? You have the gall to just sleep it off?”
“Sounds like you’re jealous, Zoobie.” He started walking off. “Winning is hard work!”
Pomni didn’t watch him go, and instead joined Ragatha, Kinger, Zooble, and Gangle on the couch.
None of them slept much more that night.