Chapter Text
Pomni was pacing back and forwards in her room, her own little way of relieving stress. despite being in the circus for weeks, it still felt very difficult to adjust; the idea that the jester was trapped in a VR game trapped for eternity just sounds like the average sci-fi movie. As Pomni continued her constant cycle of walking- lost in thought, she felt a little off, the jester noticed her balance was a bit shaky but she shook it off as tiredness, she was just about to continue until she heard a knock at the door.
“Coming..” the jester yelled before opening the door, seeing Ragatha above her.
“May I come in?” Ragatha asked politely
Pomni nodded, letting Ragatha sit on top of one of the alphabet cubes while the jester stood up near the wall. “Did you need anything?” Pomni asked, her face carrying a curious expression, Ragatha replied “No, just wanted to hang out, I figured it would be nice to just talk- y’know?”.
As their conversation went on, the doll couldn’t help but notice how Pomni randomly started leaning against the wall while talking, and she seemingly grasped on to it harder and harder despite only minutes passing.
“Uh.. Pom-pom, you good?” Ragatha asked, clearly concerned for the jester.
Pomni knew her balance was only getting worse and worse, out of her control. Pomni didn’t want to be seen as a pathetic sick person, she always hated that stereotype; the jester didn’t know why she felt so weak but she dislikes attention a lot, so she decided to lie.
“Yep!.. Fine and g- great as always!” the jester knew she was a HORRIBLE liar, she tried to stand up without holding onto the wall to prove that she was “healthy” but her legs immediately gave up and Pomni fell to the ground face down. “Oww…”
“Oh [BOINK], Pomni! Are you okay?” Ragatha said urgently, quickly lifting up Pomni in a bridal position and laid the jester on her bed. “Should I go get someone, like Caine or…”
“I’m fine, t- trust me..” Pomni said with a reluctant tone; she definitely wasn’t fine, the jester doesn’t even know why she can’t walk or stand properly, Ragatha could easily tell that Pomni was lying though.
“Pomni, dear- im not that stupid.. you really do need help!” Ragatha replied
“I- I just t- tw- tripped, im fine just…”
“Are you struggling to speak?” Ragatha noticed the jesters stuttering.
Pomni noticed that as well; she keeps messing up her words against her will and felt a little embarrassed from it.
“Wha- n- no, of co- course not- I-“
“I don’t want to be annoying but it’s best if I go get Caine, you’re really concerning me, just stay in here, okay?…”
Pomni reluctantly nodded along as Ragatha walked out her room, leaving the jester alone with her thoughts. She noticed that she was shaking in her legs, which terrified her even more. Pomni didn’t like what was going on at all; it was all too sudden, one moment the jester was standing up fine and the next, she couldn’t even walk without collapsing.
As she continue to lay in her bed, she checked the clock on her bedside table- it has been 10 minutes, Ragatha nor Caine has came to see her yet. Well that sucks, might as well try to explore- oh yeah, she can’t; Pomni isn’t even able to stand properly but she really wanted some freedom and attempted to anyway, hanging onto anything near her for dear life as she made her way to the door.
Eventually Pomni made her way to the doorknob, after about 4 minutes of stumbling. As she turned the knob- the jester fell to the ground face down (again). She rolled over to at least see the ceiling of the hallway, then noticing jax go into her vision, popping up with his usual smug expression but looks somewhat curious.
“What are you doing laying on the floor, short stack?” Jax grinned
“I- I - I cant w- walk…. Or st- stand…”
Pomni groaned. she hated being stuck like this; it also scares her that the jester is literally unable to do anything without messing up in this state, she started to cry out of her control. Her eyes now scribbles.
“Oh, stop being dramatic, Pom-Pom! I’m sureeeeeee you could walk!” Jax mocked.
“I- I’m s- sewi- serious… please…” Pomni replied, she struggled to move her limbs and if she did stand up eventually, the jester would just fall again. She also feels a little dizzy, Pomni is scared as [WHAM] right now.
“C- can you g- g- get r- raga- ragatha?..”
Pomni begged, “I n- need h- help…” the jester didn’t know how she went from refusing any support to begging for help but she isn’t bothered thinking about that.
“Ehhh, nope. It’s kinda funny to watch you so helpless like that” Jax replied smugly, before walking off leaving Pomni alone in the hallway.
“N- NO, JA- JAX!-“ she yelled, however jax has already ran away. The jester really didn’t want to be alone in this situation right now, so she tried to stand up again… which was a bad idea; she kept trying and trying but everytime resulted in a fall. Eventually she settled on crawling so she could move around, better than lying down at least. Pomni couldn’t help but sob, she felt so weak and pathetic.
As she crawled around the hallway; trying to shout some of the circus members names, she noticed all 5 of them except Ragatha were in the couch area downstairs… now how the [BOINK] is Pomni meant to crawl down stairs? The jester tried to stand up and hold onto the railing; it somewhat worked, but she still felt extremely unstable and standing in general took alot of effort.
The jester slowly and shakily walked down the stairs, holding onto that railing as hard as possible; however, she tripped and fell down the entirety of the staircase, oh no.
“HEL- HELPP-“ Pomni screamed until she reached the bottom of the stairs. The others in the couch area noticed the poor jester on the floor near the stairs, crying in pain after she fell, Zooble immediately ran over to Pomni.
“Pomni, did you just?!…” Zooble had a shocked expression on their face
“I- it h- hurts….” Pomni cried, her voice muffled since she was still lying on the floor face down (third time); she HATED whatever was happening to her. She managed to roll over on her back though, seeing Zooble and gangle next to her; both of them looked concerned for the jester.
“I- I see… do you need help getting up or…” gangle asked, noticing how the jester was barely moving from her spot.
“Y- yeah…” Pomni groaned
Zooble held the jesters arms while Gangle lifted Pomnis legs, slowly carrying her before placing her on the couch while Kinger and Jax simply watched the three.
Zooble and Gangle was concerned by how Pomni was acting, Jax could tell that the two lesbians didn’t know what was going on with Pomni so the asshole himself broke the silence.
“The cartoon clown here said she couldn’t walk or stand earlier.” Jax said, with his usual piss-stained grin
“Well that’s definitely… strange.” Gangle replied, looking at the upset Pomni.
Pomni was silently listening to the conversation from the sofa, still terrified by her own struggle to move; the jester didn’t know what to do while she was stuck like this. While silently begging that Ragatha or Caine comes back, Pomni began feeling some mild pain in her legs and nausea; the whatever-it-was seems to get worse over time.
“Pomni?… you alright, hun?..”
She was suddenly awaken from being lost in thought as her gaze shifts towards a scared Ragatha and a concerned Caine beside the doll. Oh thank god, maybe Caine could finally fix what’s going on?
“D- did you f- find ou- out what h- happened? Please?…” Pomni said shakily, the jester seems to be panicking internally.
“Caine is still a little confused.. well… he did find the source of the problem.” Ragatha replied.
“IT TURNS OUT- WHILE I WAS UPDATING A MINOR BUG WITH YOUR AVATAR.. Y’KNOW.. THE ‘BALD UNDER THE HAT’ THING! I ACCIDENTALLY MESSED UP YOUR CODE BADLY IN RETURN! AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO FIX IT!” Caine said
“PFFT- SHES BALD UNDER THE HAT?” Jax practically shouted before giggling on the floor loudly.
“N- not f- fwun- funny…” Pomni replied, although she immediately turned back to Caine, “b- but… be- beside that…. W- what do you m- mwe- mean you c- can’t fix it?…” Pomni practically cried out
“I SAID I DIDNT KNOW HOW TO FIX IT, NOT THAT ITS UNFIXABLE!”
“Tha- that’s still con- concer- concerning.” Pomni replied, her eyes still scribbles.
“D- don’t worry, Pomni.. Caine has some ideas to help you in the meantime!” Ragatha said, kindly; a sweet expression on her face. The jesters eyes turned back to normal, Pomni didn’t actually realise how pretty the doll was until now, she almost looked like a goddess; how was the jester so blind to that? It’s almost like she was flustered by it…
“Uh… Pom-Pom?” Ragatha said, gently patting Pomnis cheek; waking up the jester from her daze.
“Oh- uh- y- yeah…” the jester replied.
“I said your name 5 times… you didn’t answer.. you okay, hun?”
“O- oh yeah.. just… zw- zoned out th- there… heh..” Pomni replied, chuckling nervously. “W- what were the i- Id- ideas?…” Pomni really just wanted anything to help her at this point.
“Well… Caine did suggest using something like crutches while he tries fixing the glitch which may take a while, or he could redo your entire code in one sitting; but he says it could be risky.” Ragatha said.
Pomni suddenly just wanted to rip her hair in anger, it’s not even her fault; why should SHE suffer because Caine fat-fingered her code?! It felt so unfair for the jester. Her previous expression turned into burning anger within seconds of hearing that.
“WHY D- DO I HA- HAVE TO S- STR- STWUGGLE WITH TH- THIS BE- BECAUSE C- CAINE MES- MESSED ME U- UP?” Pomni cried, beginning to sob again; she tried to stand up and straight up punch Caine in the face but fell on the floor face down (this is the fourth time Pomni).
“H- hey, sweetheart… take it easy, I know it’s a bit difficult to handle and it feels unfair but it’ll be alright, Kay?…” Ragatha said with a soothing tone as she slowly picked Pomni up, however, the sudden lifting up must’ve thrown the jester off guard because her nausea went from mild to puking black bile all over the floor while still being held by Ragatha.
Pomni felt so guilty for that, she didn’t mean to be so disgusting, especially around such a beautiful and formal woman like her… “o- oh… I- I didn’t m- mean to…”
Pomni whispered quietly, she felt like she could cry out of shame.
The Ragdoll was shocked at the jesters sudden vomiting, but instead of seeing Pomni as ‘disgusting’, Ragatha carefully placed the clown on the couch and took a towel from Caine to clean up the mess.
“It’s not your fault dear, I probably should’ve been more careful with picking you up; your a strong person, pomni~”
The dolls kind, cheerful tone felt mesmerising for the distressed jester; it made her blush a warm red tint. As Ragatha pulled the clown into a gentle hug- being careful not to cuddle the jester too tight considering Pomni is hates touch; the jester felt fuzzy inside, her heart fluttering and her head spinning- but in a good way. The clown couldn’t pinpoint exactly what she felt but it felt nice… especially when she is already suffering from other things, it’s was like light in darkness… so wonderful. Wait. Is she CRUSHING?
Pomni was surprised she didn’t realise earlier, it was so obvious! The jester noticed she stopped crying mid-way through the hug, that’s nice at least.
“Okay you two lesbians, let’s get to fixing up this cartoon jester.” Jax said, bored out of his mind with a deadpan tone.
Zooble and Gangle heard what the rabbit said, realising he might be right. While Ragatha and Pomni felt a little surprised at Jaxes comment, both of them flustered. The ragdoll slowly let go of the jester.
“Wa- wait w- we aren’t les- lesbi-“ Pomni felt a little called out, Jax must’ve noticed her blushing. She tried to talk but the rabbit cut her off
“Yeah yeah, I don’t care,” Jax replied, before bringing back his usual grin. “So, Caine… what options ya gonna go with?”
“WELL, MY DEAR BUNNY FEMBOY!-“ “wait I’m WHAT?!” Jax interrupted but Caine put his finger over Jaxes mouth. “SHUSH! ANYWAY, IM GONNA GIVE POMNI A WALKING CANE IN THE MEANTIME WHILE I ATTEMPT TO FIX HER UP!”
Caine spawns in a red, blue, and yellow walking cane as it drops to the floor before teleporting away.
Pomni felt a little hesitant, she didn’t really want to look like an old grandma but if it’s the only way to walk around, she might as well take it.
The jester slowly made her way off the couch and held onto the cane for dear life, it somewhat worked but she still felt unstable, and it didn’t help Pomni’s stuttering problem obviously so it looks like she’ll have to live with that for now.
“PFFT- you look like an old man!” Jax mocked, with an annoying grin.
“Oh sh- shu- shut u- up.” Pomni yelled, before trying to walk with the cane, it was a bit uncomfortable but it was decent enough. Ragatha walked up to Pomni.
“Does it feel nice? It matches your outfit!” Ragatha complimented with a sweet smile. the jester felt her heart warm up and her face turn a rosy red, the dolls kind words felt reassuring and lovely to her… if only they could kiss and get married and have children and-
“Pomni’s doing that weird ‘love daze’ thing again!” Jax yelled; more particularly to Zooble and Gangle, but the loudness woke Pomni out of her love fantasy.
“I- uh- wh- what?..” the jester replied in confusion, before realising what jax meant by ‘love daze’. “I- I’m not i- in lov- love!” Pomni shouted, “I was jus- just sunbur- burnt- or someth- something!” Pomni turned her head in embarassment.
Zooble spoke up, “Pomni, we can’t even get sunburnt, and there isn’t any sun inside the tent?…”
“Shes acting like a tsundere right now” Gangle whispered quietly to Zooble before the geometric shapes nodded along, trying to desperately hold in a giggle.
Pomni tried to walk away back to her room, still holding her cane; she didn’t want to be forced to confess her love. But as the jester walked up the stairs, she noticed Ragatha along side her!
“O- oh, hi rag- ragatha!”
“Hi, sweetie! Do you wanna hang out in your room- again?…”
“Y- yeah, sure!” Pomni and Ragatha walked into the jesters room.
They began their usual conversations, talking about their biggest fears, pet peeves, and the whole glitch thing that’s happening to Pomni.
While Ragatha was ranting about her life outside the circus, she noticed the jester sleeping on the bed she was laying on. the doll smiled softly, carrying Pomni over to the bed and climbed in with her, gently hugging her. Pomni was purring softly which was enough to warm the dolls heart.
she looked at the jesters walking cane at the end of the bed, and then back at Pomni, but she didn’t judge her for it, she knows how hard it is for the jester right now. Ragatha gave the sleeping Pomni a kiss on the forehead, wait… DID SHE JUST KISS POMNI?! The doll suddenly blushed a soft pink glow, but she didn’t feel bad about kissing her; it actually felt somewhat dreamy… as Ragatha continued to cuddle Pomni platonically, she couldn’t help but feel romantic…
they eventually both fell asleep on the same bed after Ragatha became tired… the only sounds present in the dark room being the jesters soft purring and the ragdolls gentle breaths. Goodnight.