26 year old; She/her (idc so much about specifics, go nuts, my dudes) Minors don't interact: MATURE CONTENT) Link to Rules and Boundaries I couldn't think of a title, but at least it's titled. (Ha!) I write fanfics and make a little art once in a while.
Please read my RULES AND BOUNDARIES before interacting with my content.
In alphabetical order:
EstroGem: Jester OC
Art and sketches
Asks and interactions
My Little Pony (MLP)
Fanfiction
BLACK AND WHITE IN GREY (CLICK HERE TO READ)
Luna x Discord/Chaosmoon (COMPLETED!)
Summary:
Discord and Luna got caught in a situation where they have no choice but to tell their secret of their relationship. The story is about Lunaâs struggles to find peace with her past and how her interactions with Discord breathed new life into her nights. Meanwhile, Celestia is acting stranger by the day and isolates herself to the point where Luna barely recognize her sisterâs mannerisms. Luna wants to move on, but her sister and her heart holds her stationary. She learns the importance family being determined by love and not by blood.
Warnings: Extremely (intended) awkward moments, mature themes, various kinds of tension, bullying/abuse, self-hate (ow, the edge!)
Fanart
BLACK AND WHITE IN GREY COVER PAGE (SEE HERE)
Discord x Luna fanfic cover page
Original art
Canvas
Nothing Blue
Doodles
One thread
Sunrise
Nobody nose
Sonic
Fanart
The Murder of Me (TMOM)
GiGi the Goddess
The Amazing Digital Circus (TADC)
Fanfiction
OASIS (Ongoing: CLICK HERE TO SEE)
Summary:
A collection of oneshots revolving around the relationships among the characters of The Amazing Digital Circus.
The characters of The Amazing Digital Circus all depend on each other by fulfilling a role that was silently assigned to them. They form their own little ecosystem; an oasis in a seemingly impossible environment - all in the name of maintaining their sanity.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (TBNC)
Fanfiction
WILD ROSE (CLICK HERE TO READ)
Disclaimer:
This is a fanfiction about an OC in a The Nightmare Before Christmas AU. It has a mature tone that keeps cheesy romance to a minimum and a survivorâs journey to a max.
This is also inspired by the song, "Where the wild roses grow."
Warnings: Language and violence
None of the characters are mine, except the OC.
Summary:
A story of a young woman with amnesia, who found herself in the Court of the Dark. Old wives tales and legends and scary stories told around a campfire are suddenly as real as she is. Stalking, cunning and fighting her way through trails, beasts and ghouls, she finds herself questioning whether her actions truly speak louder than words. She will fight to resist being consumed by what she fears most, while hopefully finding herself along her journey.
Author's note: Hi there everybody! Here's another entry to the TADC AU everyone forgot about and one I am too stubborn to let go until I've finished the story. Take note of the tags and warnings before reading this chapter. It is a mature story not intended for young audiences.
WARNING: MATURE CONTENT:
Violence/Gore Murder and talk thereof
Angst
Emotional/Psychological Manipulation
Emotional/Psychological Abuse
Physical Abuse
Self-harm And
Implied Self-Harm
SUMMARY: The group now found themselves flung into the adventure that Zooble coaxed Caine into; reunite at the centre of a House of Mirrors. With nothing but seemingly themselves to face, the strained group have no choice but to find each other and stick it out together. As their special abilities were immobilised for the sake of the adventure, each of the character have little to no advantage. No one is happy with the objective.
CHAPTER 4
Endless mirrors.
Endless perspectives and angles.
Gangle had been moving non-stop with nothing but one thing in mind.
She had to find Pomni.
Thereâs something about The Amazing Digital Circus that any new inhabitant tended to underestimate; something that crept up on all of them and hovered over their heads like an executioner that they had to strain their necks to see.
It wasnât insanity â that lived within them as a norm.
It was loneliness.
It was unfathomable loneliness.
Upon first glance, it didnât make any sense. She had friends â limited but with intimate bonds and relations that only made sense to those involved. They were together practically all the time â based on the system their late leader carefully crafted and orchestrated; with her giving him the strings that conjoined them all together by being his eyes, all while his brilliant mind ensured that they had to be involved with each other. Nearly constantly.
But what no one told them, was how lonely it would be; even as you were surrounded by people.
Their roles were each specially delegated to them and they were all very different.
So different that it divided them by a thin barrier; enough to keep them apart while still being able to interact. Gangle often found herself wondering if it was fair to consider it a form of torture, only to have Kaufmo honey her thoughts stuck and stagnant as much as itâs sweetness would allow.
He would remind her that her mind was more useful remembering details and events. It was required for her to memorize conversations and facial expressions⌠subtle movements⌠throwaway lines of her peers; whether she was involved or not.
She was Kaufmoâs eyes â he needed her.
He said so himself.
It was hard to feel lonely then, when her value was so blatantly tied to her usefulness. She felt validated. She felt seen. She was necessary. It was only after his abstraction, when it truly stabbed her in the back; it was as unexpected as it was painful.
He always welcomed her input but never gave her feedback on what he used it for, so she only had his temperamental and random bouts of praise to show for it.
Kaufmo always demanded raw data, but he never let her see the statistics of what it represented.
All she knew was that he came back with strange requests and random appearances; having her whisper subtly to some, while delivering things to others.
No context.
No explanations.
But the system, their oasis, worked â that was the payoff.
Everyone had a role, yes, but just as that, no one knew what the other was involved in. No one knew why they were doing what they were doing, but it was working.
The five of them were the longest-lasting individuals with no abstractions. They did so well that for the first time, their population grew to more than five people at a time.
Zooble entered the Digital Circus; and Zooble was their magnum opus.
Gangle saw it before anyone could even comprehend what was happening. Zooble had no reason to be sane today, but they were. They made it, despite the body horror, liminal spaces and events beyond human comprehension.
They survived.
Until recently, their population rose to 7; albeit it was for a day.
For the first time in decadesâŚ
They survived, because the system worked.
And then Gangle saw that theyâre leader was gone â ripped from her grasp and never to be seen again.
And then her system had no base.
She was merely a pair of eyes that couldnât understand what she was seeing. She was seeing a film play out, but it was in a foreign language, and it had no subtitles. Kaufmo was gone and she had nothing but her partner; Zooble.
It was supposed to be enough.
But it simply wasnât.
For days after, before the loss of Kaufmo really sunk into her system, she was left with time to think â to really think about her role, her relationships and her partner. The world without Kaufmo felt so far away, that she didnât feel like a part of that world anymore. Even with Zooble, steadfast by her side, she couldnât seem to bridge the gap that was widening between her and the oasis.
Gangle was stuck in her own head and left to think and think and think until she couldnât think away the fact that Kaufmo was gone anymore. She couldnât think of reasons to be a part of the oasis anymore. With Kaufmo gone and no strict eyes on them, Gangle surprisingly didnât even seem to find a reason to be with Zooble anymore.
It was cruel, but it was all that she felt.
The thrill was gone.
Zooble was the wind beneath her wings. Zooble was her escape and her solitude when the weight of everything that was expected of her, became nearly too much to bear. They had been nothing but patient and supportive to the ribbonoid â their role nearly unaffected by the clownâs absence.
Now, Gangle had nothing to escape from.
She was too detached from reality of the oasis for distance to make a difference.
For the first time since the masked ribbon found herself trapped there, she felt lonely.
Miserably lonely.
They didnât understand what it was like to see the world in the palm of your hand, only to lose all perceptions of itâs colours in the flash of a moment. All Zooble had known since they had entered the Digital plane, was building themselves to serve the system as a fully operational mechanism.
Gangle was broken down to only function with the help of Kaufmo.
Half-built and only partially attached.
She suppressed the resentful thought of him crippling her function and skills only for the clown to keep himself in the game â to keep himself necessary â to divide one role into two in fear of being seen as irrelevant.
Always scribbling in his books; keeping tabs on all of them.
Detailed notes.
He noted everything in them. She remembered countless times she had met him to share intel, only for him to splutter about âholding the thoughtâ while he scrambled to get a hold of whatever book he wanted to write in at the time.
He never let her take a peek at them; she had to mind herself to her own role and not bother âburdening herself with matters beyond her capabilities.â
If only she could access them nowâŚ
She could teach herself what she needed to know to keep the oasis up and running.
But Caine didnât allow access to the abstracted membersâ rooms.
Gangle was spiraling â she didnât notice it before, but she was spiraling. The empty void within her; the one Kaufmo steadily dug into her as he infiltrated her role in the oasis â the one that nothing, not even Zooble could fill, was causing her to implode and no one could see it.
She didnât know how to express it, because she was burdened with the knowledge that they never would understand it.
The loneliness.
It ate at her while she was still breathing.
Then, there was Pomni.
Gangle didnât mean to possess her and run off; she was just the first person the ribbonoid saw.
They didnât start off well. Gangle could tell that Pomni was fascinated with her in ways that made her gut twist with uncertainty of what the jesterâs intentions were. Maybe it was more than fascination⌠but it unnerved her.
Because she didnât know what it meant.
Because thatâs the role Kaufmo filled.
She was helpless and it broke her, but after she possessed the jester, simply wanting to scurry away from her friendâs prying eyesâŚ
Gangle felt it.
She understood.
Pomni was as lonely as she was.
She was isolated since the day she spawned in there. She was an outsider, looking in⌠and she didnât know how to find her way in. She had never known belonging, sure, she never grew to know the others like Gangle did. She hadnât lost her place in a pre-existing system like Gangle did either, but it didnât matter.
Pomni understood.
The jester understood better than anyone what the masked ribbon felt.
Because it flooded Gangle when she possessed Pomni.
For a while, all she could do, was sit down in it⌠let it wash over her. They sat there in silence for a while; it could have been forever. The jester was initially too stunned to fight against it, until the shock wore off enough for her to take in the trembling grip of the ribbons that were wrapped around her. Gangle was sure that the girl would retaliate and move to pluck her off, but she didnât, she just sat there, getting used to her thoughts mixing with her own.
Zooble would have talked her out of it.
But Pomni just understood it, taking it in.
Recognizing it.
When Zooble was alone, it was because it was out of their own choice â they could never understand what it was like having something or someone that made you feel fulfilled and validated to be ripped away from you against your will.
She had Kaufmo ripped from her.
Pomni had lost her sense of belonging since she first arrived.
The jester understood.
Zooble could never.
That was why she needed to get back to the jester as soon as possible. The little fool needed her; they made a pact. She must feel so lost and aloneâŚ
The idea of Pomni succumbing to her own helpless mind only served for the masked ribbon to flick through the twisted and branched house of mirrors even faster than before. Her elongated limbs and body scurried and flittered about the spaces to brute-force her ways about the maze.
Of course, there were her reflections that flanked her.
She found its appearance to be odd, but didnât destroy her own brain trying to analyze or understand it.
This was Caineâs game.
Caine was a machine beyond the means of human comprehension and something she was told to never bother understanding â that no matter how human it acted; it was never human to begin with.
âDonât even bother.â Kaufmo told her once.
So even after questioning everything she went through while under the influence of the clown, she didnât see a reason to read into anything the AI had done or said, because even after everything, she still saw reason to dismiss him.
He wasnât one of them.
No NPC he could conjure up would ever be one of them.
Because unless another human that entered the realm, tried to actively resist or fight against the ways of their oasis, that was the line that was drawn in the sand.
Humans were loyal to humans.
Machines stuck to their objectives.
So the dark, mutated raptor flying soundlessly beside her, wearing a determined expression that reflected her own as she zipped through the endless halls was none of her damn business.
The hallways blurred in darting shadows and blackened feathers that surrounded her; inky eyes darted for any two-toned printed characters that she could find â the vibrant colours would be easy enough to see in the monotone reflections.
But all she saw, were fleeting shadows and tall figures that glided over the tiles as she ripped through the various areas.
The vibrant colours made her stop.
They came out of nowhere.
A pair of wide, striking eyes froze mere inches from her inky gaze as she regained control of her momentum.
The colours suddenly surrounded in the reflections of the mirrors, and with a brief look-around, it registered in her mind that the characters had to be seen in person before the other could see their reflections as well.
A fleeting thought noted how she had a monstrous owl as a reflection, only to be startled by the sight of a familiar character in front of her.
Kingerâs blue eyes were always so piercing up close.
âGah!â a shriek escaped him â a full 5 seconds after she had stopped dead in front of him, dangling from above, like a prowling spider.
The masked ribbon only needed that to relax at the sight of the startled chess piece.
He clearly wasnât awake.
âKinger.â She acknowledged, slightly inconvenienced, trying to let her mind catch up with her eyes, âAre you alone?â
Kinger seemed to instantly be distracted by the question, eyes crinkling as he gleefully chattered, âNo, silly! You are here with me⌠unless you are a ghostâŚ? Did you turn into a ghost, Gangle?!â
Not awakeâŚ-ish.
âItâs alright, Kinger. Iâm here, see?â She spoke patiently, taking one of his white, suspended gloves and wrapping her cool ribbon around it, giving it a gentle squeeze as her ribbons took on the form of her default body shape once again.
It was painful to think that the last time they directly interacted like this, was when she was holding his dearest friend hostage as he relentlessly clung to sanity; fighting the ribbinoid off of her.
Now, with him in this state, it was like it never happened.
It was whiplash.
Kingerâs gaze traced over her, then landed on where her ribbon was interlaced with his fingers. He stared at it for a long while.
Gangleâs heart froze in her chest at the sight, waiting for his icy gaze to flick to her eyes and for him to drag her below the checker tiles, kicking and screaming as he infiltrated her mind for his bishop to whisper mind shattering insanity that would abstract her in seconds.
Luckily, that moment never came.
He just looked over to his reflection and blinked slowly, like he was processing what he saw. His eyes drifted to her reflection as well, his blank expression never ceasing.
The quiet thought of Kingerâs reflection not differing from his avatar quietly surfaced in the masked ribbonâs mind.
She had an owl as her reflection, yet Kinger just looked like Kinger.
âItâs funny.â The king piece obliviously chimed, âYour reflections matches what you look look like. Mine looks⌠different.â
Another epiphany clicked in Gangleâs sharp mind;
The owner of the reflection will see themselves differently, while others remain oblivious. Her curiosity was instantly peaked.
âWhat do you see yourself as, Kinger?â
âA Bishop.â
Gangleâs ribbons all flinched simultaneously.
âAnd strangely enough; the bishopâs eye is locked on you, even as I am looking right at it.â
Gangle did her best as she tried not to react, schooling her features to be neutral and unbothered.
He wasnât awake.
He wasnât.
She wouldâve known.
He wouldâve finished what she started that day.
She looked at him â really looked at him, desperate for reassurance to know that he wasnât awake. He met her eyes with a matching blank look.
It could mean anything.
âMaybe it just finds you fascinating.â His voice droned, quiet and thoughtful.
Gangle forced herself to take a breath. She couldnât read him if she was panicking. She told herself to consider the possibilities and what intentions awaited her if he was, in fact, awake.
Maybe wouldâve benefitted her to have tried to figure out Caineâs game â then their reflections mightâve had a meaning that she couldnât see beyond her nerves at this point in time.
Or it really was just Kingerâs subconscious that still held onto his rage from before.
âCâmon, Kinger.â She gently coaxed him, as if she wasnât scared of him, âLetâs go find the others, hmm?â
âOh, right!â the elder man instantly perked up.
Gangle shuddered internally, having trouble recognizing how sincere he was without her character ability. The ripple of shame at how reliant she became of her special abilities, compared to Zooble, who actively put herself at a disadvantage by being disassembled most of the time; Ragatha practically suppressing her ability - never to be seen using it and Pomni, not even having had a lot of experience with practicing it, yet seeing more in control and capable that the ribbonoid felt even without using it.
She felt her shoulders weigh heavier, desperate not to sag down in front of Kinger as she led him through the various halls of mirrors.
It was a strain not to wonder about her use in their precious oasis in her current state.
The burrowing owl of their desert paradise truly was a mess without the ground squirrel to step in and clean up as he always did.
It was comical to think of Kaufmo like that; a prey animal, when it often felt like he was the one eating at her â disabling her⌠patronizing her so gently that she convinced herself to like itâŚ
That she was happy to roost on his shoulder and look down on the others as the vital part of their system; forgetting of the brightly coloured anklet he branded and domesticated her with.
She couldnât even justifiably be mad at him when all that he did, worked out to protect and guide them.
His careful orchestrations and meticulous cataloging and intervening kept them sane.
The system worked.
She really was thankful that it did.
She felt so lost without Kaufmo, their resourceful ground squirrel, to tweak and bend and bribe the way forwardâŚ
But even then, still.
She felt like there was something dear to her that she missed other than the clownâs presence.
Something Zooble couldnât help her escape to.
Something even Pomni couldnât understand intimately.
Something she couldnât place her finger on.
âWowâŚâ Kingerâs soft musings broke the ribbonoid from her own thoughts, âThis place sure is huge!â
Gangle sighed, âIt is, isnât it? It just mightâve been a miracle that I found you in here⌠who knows how long weâd have to wander around before we find them.â
âIâm pretty sure weâve passed that mirror beforeâŚâ
âNow, now, KingerâŚâ Gangle tried to assure the seemingly oblivious chess piece, squeezing his white glove briefly as she tried not to chide him about all of the mirrors looking the same.
âWe mightâve been going in circles for all we know.â
âKinger-â
âNo, really!â he warmly, yet enthusiastically chimed, like he was trying not to giggle, âItâs silly to think of it! Wandering around aimlessly, trying to find something or someone while we donât even know where WE are.â
Gangle stopped to look back at him with an unamused look, but her ribbon was clutched around his hand to the point where her shivers seem to transfer over to the king piece.
He hit the nail on the head and he wasnât even awake to realize it.
Because that was what Gangle felt.
Wandering aimlessly among their shared oasis; circling and circling that very spot in the desert as she searched for something â anything that resembled herself.
She couldnât find anything.
The owl couldnât even find her own shadow to get a perspective of where she was in the sky.
Not even the entirety of the oasis seemed to be structured as it was before.
She was lost.
She was lost in a paradise of their own making and she didnât even step a foot out into the desert yet, to use that as an excuse for why she felt lost in the first place.
The masked ribbonâs eyes briefly flicked to the image looking back at her in the mirror, only to be met with the piercing eyes of a predator she felt no resemblance to.
The monstrous owl merely flanked her side, with a comically normal Kinger trailing half-behind her.
She stubbornly looked forward again, trying to ignore the eyes burning into the side of her face.
Kinger mightâve had a point.
Maybe they really did pass that mirror before...
âOh, I know!â Kinger said gleefully, stopping so abruptly that the force of it almost yanked Gangle backwards, lest she stopped, âWhy donât we stop and ask directions?â
Gangle blinked up at him.
âThereâs nothing wrong with asking for help when you need it, my dear!â Kinger seemed to reassure her, patting her on the top of her head in an oddly fatherly way.
The ribbonoid was stuck at the halfway point of sarcastically pointing out the lack of people around them and bashing her porcelain face into her own distorted reflection.
âKingerâŚâ the masked ribbon managed to force out, internally fighting the frustration that felt like she was pulling teeth, âThere is no one around to ask for directions.â
âDonât be silly, Gangle!â he chuckled, like he wasnât acting like a loon, âThereâs a lovely looking Queen piece standing right there â next to the seemingly flawless clone of you!â
Gangle felt her soul drop into her shoes as she felt Kingerâs hand leave her ribbon, while the chess piece neared the very obvious reflection of himself, clearly seeing something she couldnât.
âKingerâŚâ she groaned, hanging her porcelain face into her hands, barely registering that the bishop Kinger saw before, apparently was traded in for a queen chess piece now, âThatâs just a trick of the reflections in the mirror! Thatâs YOU.â
âDonât be ridiculous~!â the king all but chuckled, pointing to his reflection that Gangle perceived to stand next to the monstrous owl she saw herself as, âDo I look like a queen piece to you? She even has differently coloured eyes than me!â
Shaking her head, the ribbonoid sighed as this reaffirmed that Kinger wasnât, in fact, Awake.
She looked up to the owl she saw in the mirror, as if it could help her, but the sight of it struck the masked ribbon like a freight train.
Never mind the dark, monstrous owl silhouette that stood before her â the one she had grown used to â because once she saw it, a shard of ice stabbed her in the back.
Itâs eyes had changed.
It was no longer staring right through her.
One green and one blue eye pierced into her soul.
A chill ran down her spine as she instantly took a step back from the reflective glass. Her ribbons bristled at the sight of Kinger nonchalantly approaching the mirror, but Gangle was too scared to move.
Because she recognized those eyes.
âExcuse me, maâam, could you point me into the direction I need to go to get out of this place?â
Gangle couldnât even register the question before she jumped at the sight of the newly-coloured eyed-owl in her warped reflection flicked and fixed into a direction, completely breaking the illusion of the reflection not being separate entities from themselves.
He was watching them.
How could she forget??
âSo quiet~â Kinger mused obliviously, before nodding his head respectfully at his own reflection, clearly seeing things that the masked ribbon couldnât, before slowly walking into the direction that Gangle saw the owlâs eyes flick into.
She blinked dumbfounded, trying to piece together what just happened.
âDid⌠Did you just-?â
Kinger turned around, unbothered, taking Gangleâs ribbon as he apparently began to lead the way forward, âWhat?â
âHow did you do that?â
âWhat do you mean? We were stuck and I asked for help since we didnât manage on our own!â Kinger said simply, practically dragging Gangle through the passages, eyes flicking to the mirror every now and again.
âThat doesnât make any sense!â she called out, fumbling behind him, âIt wasnât even a real person â you just asked help from your own image! Yourself!â
âSometimes, thatâs who we need the most help from, my dear!â
âIâm someone with two masks, not two personalities! Iâm one person.â Gangle groaned, ceasing her struggle to walk briskly alongside the king chess piece.
âYou are one person, yes! Youâre the person that needs to be someone you can get along with for the rest of your life.â Kinger chuckled obliviously, âCan you imagine hating the one person in your life you could never escape from?â
Gangle had nothing to add.
She couldnât think about the weight of his words at that moment.
The masked ribbon settled on leaving the sentiment be, desperately trying to ignore the quietest thoughts currently screaming for her to stop and ponder it.
You get soaked and the shock of it leaves you stunned for a mere second - your mind trying to catch up with your body.
It burns your skin and then you begin to shiver and get goosebumps. You are suddenly aware of eyes all around you, tearing you apart while you quietly try to school yourself into fixing your expression to appear as normal as possible.
Because this isn't normal, but they must never know.
An invisible force pulls at your ribs like it's trying to pry them open and your sternum caves down, like it's internally squeezing your heart so hard that it feels like you are experiencing pins and needles. All while that occurs, there is too much air in you lungs and you feel dizzy, like you are getting high on oxygen.
Everyone that knows you, is telling you to 'just breathe' but they haven't realised that the breathing is nothing compared to how the static is buzzing over the surface of your chest.
Everything is suffocating you while you somehow feel like you are drifting further and further away from reality.
But you have to hide it.
They are not aloud to see it.
That burning that simmered on your skin before, managed to travel deeper into your body, making the surface of your bones itch - driving you insane.
Your own skin feels too restrictive for you to breath and it takes everything in you not to let you thoughts run away with your sanity at this point.
And you vibrate in place while trying to reconnect with your body again, while meticulously trying to hide it.
Because they can't see that you suddenly imploded into youself.
You can't allow them to see how bad it feels.
Because you know how scary it is.
And you don't want to scare them too.
It takes a while, but it sinks back into the depths of your mind, waiting patiently to splash into the forefront again when it sees fit;
When you forget that it was waiting there all along.
Any character ability can be used in addition to another if they have multiple, it just requires more concentration/piles onto cognitive load.
In Jax's case, he's better to set the Luck bar before going Feral, since he can't really think rationally, the more Feral he gets.
Luck COULD be OP in some cases, while it's only slightly more convenient in other cases. 'The worst case scenario' is not similar in all situations Caine puts them in; hence why it's 'not reliable.'
@chaoticace2005 this is the answer to the question you had in the comments of the previous post - I just posted it in a type of ask + answer format.
I hope that's fine - unless you want me to take this down...?
Hi! Iâve been binging your series and Iâm super curious about the castâs abilities in the Oasis!AU. I know you mentioned Ragathaâs will be explicitly brought up more later but Iâm also wondering about the others:
Gangle and Kingerâs we have a pretty good idea of considering the fight, but Iâm wondering specifically how Kingerâs ability would be described? It seems almost like a summoning thing?
And for Jax and Zooble, are their abilities mostly physical and what weâve soon so far? With Jax being pretty fast (and feral) and Zooble being able to kind of become a giant collection of parts? Or are those more avatar quirks and not their specific âability.â
If Jax and Zoobleâs are more physical, then Iâm thinking about how half the cast has more physical based abilities (Pomni, Jax, Zooble) while the other half has more mental/supernatural (Gangle, Kinger, presumably Ragatha)
(This also makes the pairs/neutralizers interesting because each pair is one more physical-based person and one with more psychic stuff, almost like a balance to completely each other.)
And then Kaufmo⌠maybe youâll go into this later but Iâm wondering what his ability is?
And ending this (super long) ask, Iâm also curious how you would rank the characters in terms of strength/power/OP-ness?
I appreciate the interest! Thank you for asking ^^.
I'm surprised and VERY impressed that you were able to see that there were Primary Metaphysically Gifted (PMG) and Primary Physically Gifted (PPG) characters. You were correct in noting that there is a PMG and a PPG in each set of neutralizers.
THANK YOU for SEEING my vision!
This posts contains spoilers to those who had not read Oasis!AU entries of Arc 1.
This is a long answer, sorry.
Kinger of Oasis
This takes into account that he is "Awake."
I've sketched additional to his part, since it's it stuff you can SEE, and because most of the confusion seemed to stem there??
Kinger's character ability could be seen as a summoning thing, yes! It's called Blind Chess.
Including himself, he has 16 pieces at his disposal that he can place anywhere he wants on the checker-tiles. He can also choose to show you where he had placed them or not, then summon one at a time, each taking their turn by emerging from the tiles in the inverse order as displayed above. Obviously a lot faster, as the only have seconds to move in Blind Chess.
The abilities of each piece is described in Arc 1; Mirage - Chapter 3.
The main point is that Kinger essentially BECOMES a sentient chess board and the only way to escape is to get off of the checker-pattern.
Other than Blind Chess, he can use the checker-tiles as a form Fast Travel - almost teleportation - in which he can sink into the tiles and pop up somewhere else on the board. The scope of this depend on how well he is familiar with his surroundings.
Kinger can also Body Swap himself to embody one of his pieces, but as each of the types of pieces are extensions of different parts of himself, but communication, general abilities and mannerisms are limited as long as he embodies the alternative piece. Body Swap can only be done on checker-patterns of at least 4 tiles and Kinger can only Body Swap back to normal on a checker-pattern of at least 4 tiles.
Gangle of Oasis
Gangle has a nice mix of character abilities; her most powerful being Possession
She can Possess any of the characters or NPC's (thus not technically making them NPC's anymore) and completely take over their actions, abilities or completely suppress them. Abilities of others are ridiculously hard to control and she needs various hours and sessions of practise before she can master one skill. It's easier for her to allow the possessed character to perform their ability themselves - that is, if they want to.
She can interact with the character in their Mindspace - every character has one. Gangle usually keeps them suspended within their own mindspace.
She can allow leeway for the character that she Possessed to have control to whatever extent she desires. Character can obviously She has access to memories and emotions if the characters she Possesses, but has a hard a hard time remembering them, when Possession is disabled and she can not alter them at any point.
Gangle is has great Empathetic Observation, in which she is able to read the other's state of mind or current emotions, even intentions if she manages to hone in on her detective skills. Her theater masks can assist in this ability; the comedy masks can fixate onto general positive emotional states and the tragedy masks can fixate onto general negative emotional states.
Physically, she is very Stealthy and strong - specifically in terms of tension (it's rare for her ribbons to tear, so she can easily Restain.) Her ribbons can be cut with sharp objects, but she has learned to react for her ribbons to be cut along their length rather than completely off, which hurts a lot but allow her to have multiple tendrils.
She can Stretch/elongate her ribbons, but it is extremely limited. Longest being about 3 times it was in their original length.
Jax of Oasis
Jax got the short end of the stick with character-abilities. Compared to the others, he is very weak (in my opinion).
He has Ferality, Dexterity and Luck that he can enable and disable; Ferality and Luck both on a sliding scale mechanic. The mechanic is NOT reliable at all and the more feral he is, the harder it is for him to became human/civilised again. It takes grounding techniques, concentration, shock and/or time for him to restrain his Ferality. It must be noted that shock is more likely to send him into Ferality than out of it.
While Feral, Jax's situational awareness sky-rockets and primal/survival instincts takes charge in his general ability to reason. Since he is a rabbit, his first instinct would be to flee to what he would consider as a greater threat than he is. This is where Dexterity allows him to make a quick escape. He is one of the naturally faster characters and possess the most endurance out of all of them.
Jax has Luck, which adjust the outcomes of his actions to favour him. This only applies to him in a direct sense, but can influence other characters indirectly or by chance and can vary based on how he adjusts the intensity on the sliding scale (Default to Lucked Out). There is no "Unlucky" for him. He seems to keep it set to Default most of the time, despite having a clear advantage.
Zooble of Oasis
(I'd love to draw it, but there's SO MANY parts >w<)
Zooble's default state is to have a combination of various parts, heads, limbs, eyes and torsos in an amalgamation that doesn't resemble a human or an animal. This is known as Full Form and is the strongest state they can be in. It's very difficult for others to pull them apart in that state.
They are generally the strongest character in Full Form, and have the ability to Climb on almost any surface. They can mold and shift their shape, Rearrange limbs and detached part of themselves with relative ease.
They can Split their form into multiple individual organisms that all share a mind in real time. Their ability to let them all function individually depends on their ability to multitask - something Zooble had to learn throughout their stay in the Digital Circus. Their parts have natural affinity to want to cluster together, so Splitting takes effort - not unbearable, but still a little of a strain.
Zooble tends to lock most of their parts in a box the Caine to graciously gifted them, to both appear more human and not be burdened by how bulky they are or the mental strain of controlling all of the parts at once. Naturally, the locked parts claw and scratch and bash into the inside of the box to rejoin with the rest of Zooble, especially when times are dire of they are distressed.
They prefer to sleep in Full Form. The most sensitive parts to pain is the various eyes scattered about their body.
Kaufmo of Oasis
*You don't remember.*
As for an OP-ness scale?
Ragatha is definitely OP and Jax is definitely the weakest.
Author's note: Hi there everybody! Here's another entry to the TADC AU everyone forgot about and one I am too stubborn to let go until I've finished the story. Take note of the tags and warnings before reading this chapter. It is a mature story not intended for young audiences.
WARNING: MATURE CONTENT:
Violence/Gore
Murder and talk thereof
Angst
Emotional/Psychological Manipulation
Emotional/Psychological Abuse
Physical Abuse Self-harm And
Implied Self-Harm
SUMMARY: The group now found themselves flung into the adventure that Zooble coaxed Caine into; reunite at the centre of a House of Mirrors. With nothing but seemingly themselves to face, the strained group have no choice but to find each other and stick it out together. As their special abilities were immobilised for the sake of the adventure, each of the character have little to no advantage. No one is happy with the objective.
CHAPTER 3
It was better when things were awkward due to things being unknown.
Now, things were just awkward because there was nothing to be hidden behind.
At least, not for Pomni.
She thought she missed Gangle before, but now she missed her even more than ever. It was far more bearable to step back and watch the masked ribbon handle her current tormentor. She didnât understand their dynamics, but there was at least a dynamic to begin with.
Gangle called herself Jaxâs oldest friend.
The Jester could only imagine how they ended up at a truce â how they ended up to sought each otherâs presence. Almost all she had ever seen, was how Gangle willingly subject herself to the rabbitâs twisted whims.
Only once, did she see what she assumed wasnât meant for anyoneâs eyes to behold. The vision flashed before her; like she was there again.
Jax slumped over, barely able to keep his head up, fur bristled like a cat caught in a fight. Looming over him, a network of ribbons married by an ivory theater mask, twisted in the most unsettling smile she had ever seen the older girl adorn her face with. Black, hollow eyes on Pomni that spied on her every move, like she wouldnât think twice to rip Pomniâs limbs from her torso.
Then, with the mere glint of the ribbons left in their wake, Gangle was wrapped around Jax and blurred down the hall, into a room; suddenly out of sight. She was fast â threateningly fast â and Pomni felt that strange unease well up in her gut at the memory of it all.
It almost made her dread meeting up with the ribbonoid again.
A strike of fear ripped through Pomni, bracing for the flash of disappointment she would feel from Gangle within their shared Mindspace. How dare she think that?!
Things were different now.
It wasnât until a beat later, when the silence â the nothingness â within Pomniâs thoughts; the feeling of her own thoughts and nothing but her own thoughts in her head, hummed dormant and still, when the girl eased up and remembered that Gangle wasnât here now.
She should be devastated at their parting, and she should be happy to find her muse once again.
Pomni needed Gangle; they made a pact.
Gangle said she would never let the jester be taken away from herâŚ
âStuck again, are we?â A bored, annoyed voice drawled from right behind her, making her jump and look back to glare at Jax as she straightened up, letting a cruel smirk dance at his lips, âOr should I go back to smashing mirrors with the new, nifty battering ram I came across~?â
So why did their eventual reuniting lay before the two-toned jester like a mountain?
Why was all she could think while apart, about the time ticking down before she was-
He was insufferable.
âOnly if you wanna go back to running in circles again!â Pomni hissed back as she bristled at the idea of him bashing her head into her own reflection⌠again.
While the smile on his face didnât waver, the girl got a twisted sense of accomplishment at the sight of his eyes narrowing by a fraction as he retaliated, âYou know, you could always just tell me how to get by, and we could be well on our separate ways.â
That stubborn itch within Pomni kicked up a racket at the thought of him getting away that easily. It was the first time she had ever gotten close to having any form of leverage over the hare and she would be damned if she didnât exploit it just a little longer.
Even if it was at the expense of her peace.
âIâd explain it if I knew you had more on your mind than what was already occupied with⌠oh, I dunno â MURDER?â
âYou flatter me~â Jax put a hand to his chest in mock sincerity, before casually brushing her off with the roll of his eyes, âJokeâs on you, though, you canât kill anyone in this hellhole. Trust me, Iâve tried.â
âThatâs not what happened based on what Gangle told meâŚâ Pomni mumbled aloud before she could think.
Shoot-!
Her neck strained at the harsh tug that Jax used to yank her back with one of the tussles on her hat. His large golden orbs burned into her face as he loomed over her, faced pulled into a manic, strained smile.
âOh, really?â the younger man spoke in a quiet, calm tone that didnât match the rest of his demeanor, âWhat other sweet nothings had Ribbons been whispering to you?â
For the first time in a while, Pomni felt a sense of fear towards him again.
He had a way of becoming more of a threat when any of the others were involved. As the pie-cut eyes darted from one golden eye to the next, she felt a slither of discomfort at the sudden and exaggerated dilation of his abnormally large pupils as they raked over her tense, frozen form.
She didnât dare to utter another word.
âListen, clownfaceâŚâ Jax purred sweetly, but only managed to cement the unease into the girlâs racing heart, ââŚthe only reason why I havenât wiped you from the face of this digital plain, is because youâre Gangleâs new little pastime. Hear me when I say this, though; she only finds you mildly amusing. She doesnât need you. Sheâll toss you eventually. And when she does; Iâll be there to make sure that you donât get into ANYONEâs head again.â
Pomni didnât know what she was thinking anymore, but his words hit a deep nerve that left her to the devices of her own denial, âI havenât done ANYTHING to ANYONE! You donât know what we have! You donât know Gangle like I do!â
A sharp bark of laughter erupted from the rabbitâs chest, so harshly, then it left Pomni recoiling as far as she could with Jax holding her hostage, âNo, no, no, silly thing~! Itâs YOU who doesnât know Gangle AT ALL!â
Pomni hesitated at that, before flying back and skirting along the checker tiles beneath them as Jax abruptly let her go. The girl was stopped when she hit into the mirror behind her with a soft âoof.â
She groaned as she struggled to a seated position, facing her aggressor with a horrified expression.
âYouâve clearly heard what Iâm capable of.â Jax spoke, like he was reading a verdict to a jury that he felt no regard for; words chosen and contemplated, âYouâve seen what I am⌠yet I know better than to mess with what belongs to her. So, tell me, what does that say about what sheâs capable ofâŚ?â
He had a point.
He had a very valid point.
But Pomni didnât want to believe it.
âWhat are you saying, Jax?â she asked, not recognizing her own voice.
Jax merely straightened up with a slow, even movement, looking down at her, like he was lowering her into her own grave, âYouâre in danger. And it wonât be long, until you wished it was from my hand instead, because at least Iâd leave something of you that would still be âPomni.ââ
What was there to say after that?
She didnât know what he meant.
She didnât know what to believe.
He seemed too serious to be joking about it. The sense of unwanted unease welled up from her gut again, as the thought of reuniting with Gangle made itself known, like before. She couldnât help but wonder if she should have listened to it, her gut twisting her resolve to be as coiled as the snake in front of her.
Maybe there was a reason that her instincts were screaming at her.
A moment passed and the little jester was struck with a thought â something bizarre enough to-
Oh.
Oh.
âYou @&#$@^!â the girl found herself growl at Jaxâs sharp grin, âYouâre trying to turn me against her!â
âWhat, little olâ me?â the man feigned innocence, half covering his mouth in a mocking display of innocence while batting his lashes at her, âHow could I ever do such a thing~?â
Pomni felt her blood boil as Jax let the façade melt into a spiteful grin once again.
She wouldnât let him get the last jab.
With a cocky smirk of her own, Pomni, straightened up and folded her arms, looking at him in challenge.
âWell, youâre awfully chatty with me after making it your lifeâs mission to avoid me~.â
The way his smile fell from his face made her wish that she had a camera. And his silent, murderous stare was far too satisfying not to rub in his face. His eyes flickered to the mirror beside him and in a flash, the smile was sharp and unwavering once again.
It was all in less than a second.
But it was all Pomni needed.
âWhat, nothing to say, bunny~?â
âFunnyâŚâ Jax mused despite the palpable aura of malice that stretch so far, that it caressed Pomniâs heart, âYouâre starting to sound just like her. I guess it wonât be long until youâre nothing but an extension of her.â
Damn it, he was good at this.
âYou shut your mouth!â Pomni bristled, facing him fully, only getting a smug chuckle in return, âYouâre a liar. She would never do that â make me into something Iâm not. We are there for each other. We donât CONSUME each other like animals! Gangle makes me better.â
With a lazy tilt of his head, he sauntered over and bent down to a patronizing degree, taunting her; inches away from her face, âReally? Heh! You know, in all that you said, I never heard you say that you wanted to be âbetterâ in the first place. But what would I know? Like you said; Iâm just a liar~â
His remarks were framed to be taunting and playful, but they left the jester stunned.
She knew that he was just trying to get into her head.
It was working, very well in fact.
Her mouth opened and closed like she wanted to defend herself, but nothing came out because nothing came to mind. She was left to quietly rake over her thoughts as he straightened up, looking down at her with a sudden unamused look of boredom.
âAw, nothing to say, clown~?â
He had the nerve to  throw her words back in her face.
Pomni shook her head, left behind Jax as she chose to keep moving, looking to the closest mirror beside her, seeing softened blue and green eyes staring back at her. Her reflection was looking back to her in what she only could assume, was pity.
In the moment of quietness, she took a few breaths to look herself over in the mirror, before she met the foreign eyes again. She didnât want to admit it, but those eyes, as different as they were, were probably the kindest eyes she had seen since she ended up stuck in the circus.
It was just a crying shame that it was wearing her face.
âJester.â Pomni said softly, more to the reflection than to Jax, before she stood tall, giving her reflection one last look before turning to face Jax steadily, âIâm a Jester. Not a clown.â
Jaxâs eye twitched, despite his general demeanor not wavering â so subtle, Pomni convinced herself that it was a trick of her eye.
Green and blue eyes bored into her.
She didnât know about the spark of recognition in Jaxâs mind, in which the look she was sporting at that moment was the exact look she sported weeks ago â back when Pomni wrapped herself around Kingerâs ferocious knight to give him a chance to save Gangle and Ragatha from each other.
The rabbit never forgot that look in the newcomerâs eyes.
âYou donât stay down, do you?â the honest contemplative tone in the hareâs voice shook the harlequin to the core, but it didnât last. Like whiplash, he shifted, morphing back to the jackass sheâd come to recognize, âSo as cute as this pity party is, are you gonna point me into a direction or do I need to bash some sense into you again?â
The rabbit sounded so casual that Pomni wanted to fight â to retaliate â but much to her annoyance, he was right.
It seemed that when it came to Jax, she could only scratch the surface.
Because piercing under someoneâs nailbeds, was his game.
The little jester gave her reflection one last look over; and offered half a smile to the foreign eyes that comforted her before. The eyes seemed to search hers, quiet and present, before flicking into a direction.
No rest for the wicked, it seemed.
With that, Pomni got up with a heavy sigh and walked passed Jax to continue navigating the house of mirrors. He was barely out of her line of sight, before her vision went black for a brief second as the world tilted.
Her ears rung.
Then the pain hit.
Her head was heavy and it felt like there was a dampness that wasnât there before.
Painfully slow, the harlequin turned her head through the haze to look up and see a snarling grin flash down to her. The vicious creature with blown pupils tilted its head in bemusement, trailing along the wet trickle down the side of the jesterâs face. It didnât take too long for her to realize what had happened.
Jax bashed her head into a mirror.
Again.
A funny honking squeak escaped her as she cursed Jaxâs name. She should have bit his foot off â that was the goal, bit he was light on his feet, hopping away with a child-like giggle.
He really was hellspawnâŚ
âLooks like you really are a little puppy, ainâtâcha?â Jaxâs sleazy voice drew as he leered down to her staggering form in attempt to get on her feet again.
âI should lose you.â The harlequin growled lowly, not missing how a prominent glow of blue and green eyes glowered towards Jax in the mirror. She wondered how he would react if he could see them. Even though the eyes were not directed at her, she found them intimidating.
Pomni wondered if the rabbit was ever capable of feeling such a thing.
âSilly thing~ You think you could lose me?â he chuckled, âIâm faster than you.â
Pomni turned her back to him, feeling the glow in the mirrors dim again, directing her where to go, âWhen our character abilities are switched off, such as now? I doubt it.â
âIâm still faster than you.â
He seemed so confident, she thought twice before accepting it as a bluff.
Their journey continued.
Pomni was surprised by her acquaintanceâs ability to navigate the smaller spaces and areas they encountered. She tried to lose him once or twice, rounding the quick turns and coils of the maze â but he always caught up. When she finally actually bothered to watch him maneuver through another peculiar tight squeeze, it was hard not to be enamored by the fluid movements and deliberate motions to practically glide through the obstacle she previously flopped through.
It was all a mystery, until it clicked that THAT was why his eyes were so fixated onto her with every occasional obstacle.
He watched her make the mistakes, so he wouldnât have to.
It felt unfair, but the jester couldnât fault him for it.
She would have complimented him if he wasnât heartless. The silence hovered over the characters in the meantime.
It didnât ease up the tension.
It wasnât until bits and pieces of an unknown figure started to show up in the very corners and sides of the mirrors. Just like Pomni had experienced when she stumbled upon Jax, the figure was blackened out for both her and Jax. The little jester figured that they would have to face the character directly, before they would be revealed.
Caineâs sure had a way to add mystery and intrigue to his damned adventures.
The duo walked faster and the unknown figure appeared in more and more mirrors.
They were quiet; focused.
Pomni was focused.
The figure was etched into her skull.
She had to know â she just had to.
She had to know who it was.
She had to know if it was Gangle.
She had to know, because the anticipation made it feel like her gut was ripping into itself.
She had to be prepared.
It wasnât anything bad; she kept reminding herself of that.
It wasnât a bad thing.
She wanted to go back.
She needed to go back.
This⌠was good.
She just had to remember that this was good.
This was different.
What they had was different.
She needed Gangle.
And if the figure they were approaching WAS Gangle-
âŚthen everything was going to be fine-
âŚ
Oh.
Time seemed to stand still.
Pomni stood frozen as the character appeared when they rounded a corner. Jax stood silently right behind her, but she couldnât bring herself to look back at him; even as the thundering elongated footsteps stilled to a silent idle.
There were spots of red glimmering in the reflections surrounding them.
The soft, occational plattering sound of droplets falling into the puddles crept into the air. Before them sat one of their fellow circus characters, hunched over a puddle of scarlet. Pomni tried to swallow in attempt to create some form of moisture for her to speak comfortably.
But nothing could make the scene comfortable for anyone.
âRagathaâŚ?â
The ragdollâs head tilted up at the sound of Pomniâs wary voice. The sight of the mutilated face that came into view, made the two-toned jester visibly recoil.
Ragathaâs eyes were ripped out by their stitching.
Frayed ends of threads wildly sprouted from the spots where her eyes were supposed to be. From the worn fabric of the loose threads, scarlet trails of blood oozed into angry lines of drops that couldnât be soaked into the cotton that trickled down and dropped into the puddle at her knees.
The ends of her hands and fingers were also stained red and clutched at the royal blue blanket that she seemed to have wrapped around herself. Splotches of maroon were scattered randomly about the front.
The puddle on the checker-tiles had Pomniâs bewildered eyes darting about the edges, until they paused onto two, bloodied clumps disturbing the flat, shiny surface of the puddle.
Those were her eyes.
Oh god, those were her eyes.
âPomniâŚ?â she asked, far too calm for the girl to comprehend as she made a sheepish display of pulling the blanket to create a hood that cloaked her injuries, âOh, Pomni, Iâm so sorry that you had to find me like this-â
âWhat happened to you?â the little jester asked as her legs moved on their own, leaving Jax standing in place as she hurried to the ragdollâs side, awkwardly hovering her hands over the womanâs form like she couldnât decide how to help.
âOh⌠uh, itâs really not as bad as it looks!â the doll chuckled awkwardly, making Pomniâs head spin, âI just happened to run into-â
âGet a load of this, short stack!â Jax seemed to animate back into the situation out of the blue, quite deliberately interrupting Ragatha to muse tauntingly at the state of the doll, âItâs just as I said just now; Raggs is a clutz even when sheâs trying~!â
âShut it, Jax!â Pomni hissed over her shoulder, âYouâre making it sound like we were trash-talking her before we found her. We never talked about her in the first place.â Pomni turned to the startled doll to reassure her, âI swear to you; we barely spoke at all.â
Ragatha jumped at the sound of the rabbitâs interruption, like she didnât expect him to be there. Pomni wanted to slap a palm to her own face at the realization that the older woman was essentially blind now.
âO-Oh!â the doll blindly felt the air with extended arms all around her, almost slapping Pomni in the eye, âIs everyone here?â
âNo⌠itâs just Jax and I.â Pomni grumbled, glaring at the hare, âWe havenât found the others yet⌠but thatâs besides the point; you were saying something about you running into someone-?â
âWhat? No, no, I ran into a-a mirror!â Ragatha immediately corrected Pomni, âAs mean as Jax is, heâs right. Iâm a real clutz when it comes to most things. The mirrors and reflections make everything confusing, and I bashed my silly little head into more than one of these, heh⌠The stitching of my button and my eye had never really been the best. The glass shards cut them off. I tried to stop the bleeding in the meantime, hence the stains on my hands.â
Everything had an explanation.
Everything made sense.
Everything but one single detail.
âWhereâs the cracked mirror?â Pomni asked dumbly, looking around, âJax had been wrecking the mirrors before I found him and they stayed broken⌠and thereâs no broken mirror around here.â
âOhâŚâ Ragatha responded quietly, like she was lost in deep thought before she gestured vaguely to the area behind her, âItâs back there somewhere⌠this place is riddled with twists and turns-â
âOh Iâd pay to see that!â Jax eagerly said, setting chase passed them into the direction the Ragatha mentioned, but not before swooping up one of the bloodied clumps that were the dollâs eyes.
The sight shocked Pomni into calling back, scattering to her feet in seconds to set chase after him, âWha-? Hey! Give that back, you jerk!â
 Ragathaâs flustered voice halted her, âWait! Did he take my eyes?â
Pomni winced as she saw the mitten-hands scurry about the puddle of blood, flinching only slightly at the touch of the moisture. After a quick look back to the corner around which Jax had disappeared behind, the little jester danced in place as she fought herself on what to do, before fully turning to Ragatha and putting a gentle hand on the ragdollyâs shoulder.
âHey, uhmâŚhere.â The jester awkwardly said, trying not to hurl at the feeling of the dollâs bloody button-eye when she took hold of it to stuff into Ragathaâs hands, âHe only took one. Iâll get the other-â
The sound of glass smashing made her blood run cold.
âOH HEY, IT IS HARD ENOUGH TO BREAK A MIRROR!â Jaxâs cruel bemused voice called back from the unseen area.
Pomni swore that she felt a vein pop in her head.
She was about to yell back, before the unpleasant tingling of the dollyâs warm hand on her forearm made the little jesterâs skin crawl.
The fact the she was now blind, disturbed Pomni slightly.
The feeling was like when she first discovered the reflections all staring right at her
The feeling of being watchedâŚ
But she was blind.
âJust leave it be.â Ragatha said, almost in a reassuring sense, âHeâll be back.â
She seemed so confident for someone that so brutally lost her sight. Pomni knelt down reluctantly and sat with her, trying to not react too squeamishly to the half dried blood that her knees sunk into.
The doll said that Jax would be back soon.
Then, soon, back he was.
As if on cue, Jax wandered into view with a sickening grin. He strolled in with leisure and his arms folded over his chest, until he loomed over the duo and shifted his weight onto one hip.
His nonchalance aggravated the jester to an unreasonable degree, but Ragathaâs calm, patient presence and the horrible wet feeling of the blood on her knees kept her grounded. She turned to look away from him, only for her face to soften at the sight of the ragdollâs mutilation.
Something was off, but it didnât seem scary to Pomni, like with the previous conversations she had with her acting apathetic and numb.
It just seemed sad in a sense.
Pomni looked at the slow stop of the blood trickle, then spoke aloud before she could stop herself, âHow is it that you can bleed?â
âEveryone bleeds here.â Jaxâs quiet voice surprised Pomni, ââŚif the injuries are superficial enough⌠blood drips to the floor, bones audibly snap and jointâs pop... but if you get an arm ripped off? Nothing but stuffing pours out.â
âHow would you know that?â Pomni managed to choke out, eyeing him warily.
His grin just seemed to widen and sharpen by a fraction.
She didnât like the implication that was left hanging in the heavy air.
What did he do to her?
âHey, Pomni?â Ragatha asked, pulling the girl out of her stupor, âHelp me up, will you?â
âO-Of course!â
It was easy, the doll rose to her feet like a flower in bloom. Pomni almost struggled more than she did.
The request made the doll seem so softâŚ
Pomni found herself wondering how she couldâve ever felt uneasy in Ragathaâs presence before when she was reduced to nothing but the sorry state she was in.
No, now the ragdoll seemed just fine.
Her eyes drifted the Jaxâs folded arms and how he hid his hands by doing so.
Hands the grabbed the dollyâs button eye.
Hands the smashed a mirror with Ragathaâs eye just to see if it was possible.
Pomni looked over to Ragathaâs blood stained hands as the scarlet glistened in the odd lighting of the maze. Before, Ragatha claimed to stop the bleeding of her missing eyes â yet it was her fingers and thumbs that were stained red; not her palms.
Something just wasnât rightâŚ
âWell then, GPS...â Jaxâs voice cut through the air like a knife, âOff to the next loser!â
âAlright, alright, geez!â the two-toned character hissed, hesitating before awkwardly taking Ragathaâs hand, trying not to bristle at the touch.
How she hated being touched⌠now she didnât have a choice.
It didnât help that she could feel the rabbit zero in on the way she tensed up.
Sheâd hate to give him leverage.
âRagatha, stay close, ok?â the harlequin assured the doll, âIâll guide you best I can until you glitch back to normal. Youâll be able to see again in no time!â
When Ragatha didnât answer, it made Pomni pause.
The doll all but seemed to clutch at the blue blanket she cloaked over herself. Pomni couldnât ask before a harsh grip practically clamped down around her arm, then ripped her hand away from Ragathaâs.
Jax stepped between her and the doll, facing the redhead before she could tell him off. Then, she was absolutely stumped at the sight of him promptly bending down and hoisting the woman into his arms in a bridal carry. Even more surprising, Ragatha, while tense, didnât protest and wrapped the blanket to hug her form tightly, settling in his hold.
âNo way Iâm letting you drag Raggs around when you can barely handle yourself. Weâll move way too slow!â Jax spoke with an odd steadiness that threw Pomni off guard.
It wasnât long until Ragatha also chipped in, âJax is right, Pomni. Itâll be easier for him to carry me. Weâll get out of here faster if Iâm not stumbling about the maze-â
âHeâll drop you for the hell of it!â Pomni finally found her voice again, âHe literally just destroyed your button eye unprovoked.â
âIâm over this adventure.â The rabbit simply stated in a bored tone, âWhile dropping her heavy, cotton-stuffed butt sounds tempting, I wanna get this over with. Now get on with the navigating, clown, or these rabbit feet wonât be so lucky for you.â
âJester.â Pomni corrected before she looked over Ragathaâs crumpled up form in in his arms.
It was true, the dollâs unwavering optimism, patience and apparent inability to be angry, depressed (from what Pomni had seen), along with the random bouts of apathy her encounters with the redhead were littered with, DID disturb the little jester, but she still couldnât help but feel sorry for her.
She had seen Ragatha stumped, surprised, sheepish, meek, bubbly and happy, but she never really looked this small before.
âPomni?â the doll asked in an honest curiosity â likely, because they werenât moving yet⌠and while the dolly couldnât see, she didnât seem to lose all sense of perception.
âUh, yeah, yeah.â The two-toned harlequin fumbled out of her stupor, looking over to the foreign eyes in her own reflection, kindly indicating the way forward, ââŚthis way.â
âYou know the mechanics of the maze?â
âApparently it does!â Jax, quipped in a sarcastic manner, âBut good luck trying to find out yourself, because this cockroach wonât spill itâs guts no matter how hard you squish it.â
Ragatha was quick to scold him, âJax! Could you at least try to be a bit nicer to Pomni?â
âYou know, maybe I would if you werenât so heavy that Iâm struggling to think straight~â
âOh, yeah, no, sure, youâre looking real out of breath there!â the doll bit back with her own sarcastic tone.
âI thought you couldnât see at all, dolly~â
It was so foreign to Pomni, that it almost made her do a double take while guiding the couple that was wrapped up in banter.
She didnât though, instead opting to glance at her reflection as she walked, as if to silently ask if it was just as surprised as she was. It appeared that its expression was as alarmed as hers were, but the green and blue eyes seemed unphased; like it was normal.
Was this normal for them?
Pomni snuck a glance back to Jax carrying Ragatha as the two continued to bicker. A quiet meeting of their eyes, paired with a sharp, menacing grin that flashed into her general direction was a clear enough message from Jax that her curious, pie-cut gawking did not go unnoticed.
Even with Ragathaâs mutilated face as close to his, all while he carried her in what would normally be considered a romantic manner, his sinister aura didnât waver once.
And, surprisingly, neither did Ragathaâs resolve.
Pomni figured that the doll was not disturbed by it since she couldnât see him, but the way the doll casually used her fingers to turn his head back towards her as she continued to scold him, made it dawn upon Pomni that not only did the doll not fear their resident tormentor at all⌠but she seemed to really know him.
And Jax just⌠humored it.
He actively enjoyed playing into it, even.
There was no way that they were equal.
Those differences were just left at that.
One had reason to fear and submit to the other.
One clearly had the upper hand and could rip the other into ribbons with minimal effort.
And the two concepts were just left at that.
No fear, no manipulation, no blackmail and no clear fight for dominance.
They were just different without having to justify it to each other.
It was twisted.
It wasnât normal.
But Pomni couldnât help but envy them for it as she quietly became enraptured by the coupleâs dynamic and wondered if she and Gangle could ever be like that.
She wanted it to be, desperately so.
Unfortunately, only a slither of doubt echoed to surround her as the trio headed deeper into the house of mirrors on the lookout for the remaining circus inhabitants.
Because she and Gangle were different.
Gangle reminded Pomni of that every day since they chose to form a pact.
The sight of two smashed mirrors right next to each other ripped the little jester right out of her thoughts. The memory of Ragatha explaining how she lost her eyes rung in her mind, while Jaxâs reaction to that by rounding the corner to smash another mirror with the dollâs severed button chime in an echo.
Both their stories checked out. Pomniâs gaze drifted from one bloody splatter on the broken mirror to the clean, yet equally as smashed mirror as itâs neighbour.
The clean, cracked mirror had literally no blood on it.
It made Pomni think.
She discreetly turned back to spy Jaxâs hands holding the doll in the bridal carry; one exposed hand supporting her back â the glove stained with red from the button eye he nicked from the blood puddle before, and the other hand conveniently hidden by the layers of overlapping skirts of Ragathaâs dress.
She shouldâve asked, but she thought better of it.
The little jester frowned upon the idea of Jax having broken both mirrors before.
That would imply that Ragatha lied about bumping into one and losing her eyes in the process â and if anything, the doll really didnât seem to be a liar.
Pomni glanced back at Ragathaâs red stained hands the ragdoll claimed to have used to stop the bleeding of her missing eyes.
There was absolutely no way she wouldâve mutilated herselfâŚ
No, Pomni didnât come to know the woman like that.
Green and blue foreign eyes of her own reflection, quietly glanced at her in response to her looking back at them as a curious thought struck Pomniâs mind;
What did Ragatha see when she looked in the mirror?
