Chapter Text
"Good morning, my pretty little cotton candy gumdrops, how are we all on this fine afternoon?" Everyone jumped as Caine appeared, before trying to wrap their minds around his strange Caine-isms.
"Caine, can you stop doing that?" Pomni yelled, clutching her chest as she caught her breath. Caine's eyes slowly floated out of his face as he stared at her, before he snapped back to the conversation.
"Glad to hear it! I made a discovery that I'd like to share with you all." He ignored their various groans of disappointment, floating about between them all to throw a slim bottle of clear liquid into each of their laps.
"Valentine's Day!"
Confetti poofed in the air before disappearing, followed by a lacklustre trumpet toot. He held up one of the slim bottles, unscrewing it and blowing a bubble using the heart-shaped bubble wand attached to the inside of the lid.
"If you whisper a nice anonymous Valentine's message into the bubble, it'll find its way to the recipient and they'll get to hear your nice and thoughtful anonymous lovings." His eyes momentarily turned into large pulsing hearts as he floated upside down and muttered into the bubble wand with his strange and mildly grotesque teeth head. A large pink bubble floated towards Pomni slowly before popping, leaving the words 'Your voice does not make me want to mute you' in the air as she blinked. He floated way too close, waiting for a reaction, and she offered him an uncomfortable smile in return.
"Thanks, Caine. That was...sweet."
He grinned and clapped his hands, his coattails wiggling happily, and let the bottle of bubble liquid and its lid float in the air next to him. Bubble suddenly appeared from his hat and ate the bottle and wand, burping out a series of pink bubbles that all popped to reveal large Caine-face censor bars, and the ringmaster AI blinked at him as he blinked back.
“What- What’s...wrong with you?”
Bubble just frog-blinked for a few moments before opening his mouth, and Caine popped him before any strange and disconcerting things could come out of him. Caine suddenly turned his attention back to the humans.
"Got that? Good!"
He then promptly disappeared before anyone could speak, leaving them in the quiet tent again.
The next few hours were plagued by floating pink bubbles that slowly managed to find their victims without fail.
'Your art is amazing'
'You fit perfectly together'
'We all love you, Dad'
'You have the sweetest smile'
'I'd follow you through any exit'
But there were a few that caused less blushes and more eye rolls, and they all knew who those came from.
'You're very shapes'
'I won't break your face today. You're welcome.'
'Smile through that pain, [CENSORED]'
'Your brain is mush. Lucky.'
Pomni got more of those than anyone else did, and each one made her sigh harder. Over the course of the day, however, she noted that the tone of the messages fluctuated wildly between from backhanded compliments to borderline flirty. Another one gently floated around the corner, popping in front of her and making her jump a little as the words 'When you abstract, can I have your room?' appeared in glitter, making her huff in annoyance.
"Jax, what the [CENSORED] is that supposed to mean?"
He shrugged, leaning against the doorway casually.
"They're anonymous, Pompom. How do you know it was from me?"
"Because nobody else talks about abstraction as casually as you..."
"Hey, how dare you. I take this whole situation very seriously, jester. And Valentine's Day is a very serious matter too."
"Sure, sure..." She pulled out her bubble wand and muttered something quietly into it, letting the bubble float gently and harmlessly towards Jax.
'You're a cute bunny'
He blushed deeply, his eyes dilating as his ears drooped a little, looking completely caught off guard by the genuine compliment. She raised an eyebrow, expecting him to get angry at being called cute, or fire back some uncomfortably specific compliments in a sarcastic manner, not...whatever this was. He blinked a few times, physically shaking his head like a cartoon before scoffing, a pink blush lingering on his face.
"Very funny... Too bad it's anonymous...and I'll never know who sent it..." He just walked away, still blushing a little as his ears flicked.
A few minutes later, 'You have a cute face. Even if it doesn't have a nose' floated into the room, and Pomni let out an incredulous laugh.
"Wow, that's the best you could come up with?" She yelled in the general direction of where he'd disappeared.
"You don't have a nose either, Jax."
'You can be actually funny sometimes'
Zooble laughed as Jax blushed again, and he continued to walk towards his bedroom. "We all know that's a lie." They muttered as he left.
'You look completely and totally mentally stable'
Pomni rolled her eyes with a chuckle, noting that Jax's bedroom door had been left open just enough for the bubbles to squeeze through.
The messages gradually became less teasing and more akin to genuine compliments, which shocked both of them.
'At least you're consistent at being insufferable'
'The red and blue really bring out the stupid in your face'
'I don't hate the colour of your fur'
'Your eyes are kinda cool, I guess'
'You have a good singing voice'
'So do you'
'You made this Valentine's Day tolerable'
'You make the circus tolerable'
Pomni set the nearly-empty bottle of bubble liquid aside on the nightstand before she curled up in bed, pulling the blanket up as she drifted off to sleep. One more pink bubble slowly crossed the hallway as Jax shut his door, floating outside her room for a while before giving up and bursting in a final spatter of liquid and glitter against the wood.
'I like you'