Chapter Text
Ever since the Circus “reset”, as they like to call it, things have been fairly calm for Pomni. Though, there have been many changes. She and the others don’t go on adventures anymore. Instead, they’re free to roam and explore the circus grounds, as well as any previous adventures, as much as they like. Caine adds whatever they ask for, for the most part. He and Kinger continuously try to make new things for the betterment of the Circus. They’re making the best of their situation, and it really seems that everything has changed for the better.
Well, almost everything.
Since that moment in the hall, Pomni has held out hope that Jax will recover from his abstraction. He hasn’t shown much progress to uphold that theory, but the feelings and belief she has in him fuel her delusions anyway. Jax was different from the other abstractions. Pomni almost had him back before the rogue flashbangs went off, ruining the darkness she had created.
Jax has remained asleep in the pillow fort tent since Pomni and the others put him in there. However, sometimes as Pomni watches him, she swore she could see him move around, as if reacting to something deep within a dream. It gives her hope that he’s not gone completely, but that one day, he’ll come back from abstraction.
“Psst! Pomni!” She suddenly awoke to the sound of her name being called. Startled, her eyes shoot around frantically and catch a slightly concerned looking Ragatha looking down at her. “Sorry! It’s just– you fell asleep here again.” She says in a slightly raised whisper.
Pomni becomes aware of where she is. She hadn’t meant to, but she ended up making it a habit to fall asleep at the opening of the pillow fort tent. Something about watching Jax’s - rather, the abstracted Jax’s, body rise and fall rhythmically as he breathed calmed Pomni to the point she unknowingly fell asleep.
“Oh! Yeah, sorry Ragatha. I just can’t seem to stay awake recently.” Ragatha furrows her brows, then looks into the tent at Jax, then makes a face as if formulating what she wanted to say.
“Ya know Pomni, you don’t have to watch him. He doesn’t seem like he wakes easily. And if you’re worried about him getting out, we could always take turns watching him at night.” She says as though she wasn’t just whispering as to, presumably, not wake him.
“No, it’s nothing like that.” Pomni ends at, not really sure why she kept watch of him. Really, it’s almost more of a comfort to herself knowing he’s still here with them.
Ragatha nods slightly, most likely understanding Pomni’s real reason for watching him so closely. “Well, if you ever want company, you know I’m here.”
“Thanks, Ragatha. I really appreciate it.”
Ragatha smiles and starts to walk away when Pomni says, “Hey Ragatha, you don’t have to wake me up anymore.” Ragatha looks at her for a while before shooting a quick thumbs up and heading for her room. Pomni looks back at Jax for a moment longer, then lulls back to sleep.
When Pomni opens her eyes, she no longer feels the warm comfort of numerous pillows surrounding her, no longer sees the comforting sight of the pillow fort tent she’d recently been falling asleep at. Instead, she wakes with her feet planted in cold snow. She looks around her. The large, snowy hills and distant cabins looked familiar, but she’s sure she’d never been to this place before.
Suddenly, she remembers when she peered into Jax’s memories. This is definitely the place where he had his argument with Ribbit. But why was she here? Pomni starts to take long, slow steps, surveying her surroundings, hearing the snow crunch beneath her feet.
After several minutes of walking around aimlessly, she notices smoke billowing from the chimney of a tiny cabin behind a hill. She sets her sights on the cabin and makes her way towards it, not really knowing where else to go.
When she rounds the hill, she’s taken aback by what she sees. There, plain as day, Jax stands yelling. But he isn’t alone. As Pomni more closely approaches the scene, she notices another figure, Ribbit, standing across from Jax. They seem to be arguing, and Pomni once again recalls Jax’s memories.
As Pomni stands there, half not believing what she saw, and half not knowing if she should intervene, Jax suddenly notices her. They stand staring at each other for a long second before Pomni springs awake from her sleep.
She frantically feels around her, the soft feeling of many pillows reminding her of where she is. She looks into the pillow fort tent and at the sleeping abstracted Jax. What was that dream? She knew it was Jax’s memory, but why was she there? Why was she having dreams about it now?
And… Why could he see her?
She thinks of all these questions as she hears a low growl coming from the pillow fort tent. Abstracted Jax tosses and turns, letting out growls as he does. Pomni stares at him, processing everything she’d just seen. Is it possible the dream was real, had that really been Jax? Pomni sits there with her knees pulled up to her chest and continues to stare at Jax until the sun comes up and everyone gathers in the main area for breakfast.
As everyone files in and heads for the table, Pomni is stuck in her thoughts. As she haphazardly walked toward the table, she was stopped by Ragatha.
“Hey! Good morning, Pomni. You feeling okay?” She said with a finger to her mouth.
“Oh! Morning Ragatha. Yea I’m okay, I just had a really vivid dream.” Pomni said not really knowing if that was the truth. It had to be, right? There's no way Jax was actually there.
“Yeah! I get what you mean. Those kinds of dreams can be so crazy, you feel like you were really there.” Ragatha said eagerly as she twirled her hair around her finger.
Pomni thought for a moment before saying “Yea, it really did.”
They sat down at the table. It was already a semi-routinely thing for them to eat together at the table before the “reset”, but now it was an agreed upon part of their schedules. Pomni ate without much thought about what she was putting in her mouth. From the taste of it, she could only assume it was some sort of bread with a berry-like jam on top of it.
She stayed in this strange haze all the way to her room. She didn’t participate in any of the group's exploration activities they had planned. She thinks it may have been a Carnival based on the music and games she hears down the hall.
She, at one point, is alerted by knocking on her door. When she opens the door she is semi-surprised to see Zooble and Gangle looking back at her. Zooble seems to be the one who knocked, with Gangle standing a little behind her hugging a panda plushie to her chest.
“Hey.” Zooble says in their usual monotone voice. “Were you wanting to join us? Caine really went all out this time spawning a bunch of NPC’s to make the Carnival more realistic.”
“Yea!” Gangle says excitedly as she holds up her plushie. “Zooble even won me this panda! I’m gonna name her Princess Mochi.” She says with a wide smile. Zooble looks at her endearingly.
“Nah, I’m okay today, guys. I didn’t get the best sleep last night, so I don’t think I have enough energy for all that fun.” Pomni says as she rubs at the back of her head.
“Ok, then.” Zooble says before continuing. “Just remember, if there’s something on your mind, you should talk about it, ok?”
Pomni nods her head then says, “Of course, thank you guys.” Zooble nods their head as well before they and Gangle walk back towards the direction of the Carnival music. Pomni shuts her door and goes to lay down on her bed.
She retraces everything that happened in her dream, not able to shake the feeling that creeps up on her when she recalls Jax’s face as he noticed her. He seemed almost scared, but also happy? She’d never seen him make that expression before. Had she just been able to completely make up that new expression? She thinks about it so hard she tires herself out and she realizes too late as she drifts off to sleep.