The FunnyBunny Trap
CH 3 - Child Neglect for Dummies
SUMMARY
Pomni and Jax's guide to child neglect!
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𖡼.𖤣𖥧⋆˙𖠋𖠋𖠋𖠋⋆˚𖡼.𖤣𖥧
The tranquillity of the circus twilight wasn’t sufficient to set the right mood. In the grass field, Little Pomni was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time when a hand-held, silver weapon manifested from thin air. The perfect upper hand. Her brother was not so lucky when Little Pomni started threatening the frog he held, for no particular reason. Little Jax blew a raspberry at her and ran away, prompting a chase.
High above, an observer watched the newfound family from afar. The Moon sighed and looked around wistfully. Caine was still nowhere in sight.
Despite the chaos, Pomni couldn't care less about keeping the kids in line. Instead, she brought Jax aside.
She glanced at the children far away before confiding in him. “Listen, Jax. Caine’s eyes saw… everything that happened between us.”
Jax crossed his arms before she continued.
“And somehow, he thinks this is the remedy to the… last adventure.”
“Not surprised about that,” Jax glowered at the kids.
The rabbit didn’t meet her eyes. She reached out her hand, but then stopped herself.
“Honestly, I just want to talk whenever you’re ready—”
“I’m hungry,” a tug at her digital shorts spoke. Pomni looked down and met Little Pomni’s eyes.
Annoyed, Jax seized the child by her ears. Little Pomni glared at her father, to which he scoffed. “Wow, Caine, these NPCs are getting out of hand.”
Jax’s daughter grabbed the arm that held her and brought it closer to her face, just enough for her to take a bite. Wincing, Jax tried to shake her off, but she held on as if her life depended on it. He attempted to get her off by pulling her by the leg, but it was of no use.
Pomni watched with amusement, but shook her head and prepared for an opening. There is no doubt that Caine is improving his NPC designs by being thorough with the details, for better or for worse. Once she got a shot, Pomni grasped onto the kid, yanking her off with enough force that sent her and the child onto the ground. The purple bunny groaned with annoyance.
“Just like her mother, hm?”
Pomni narrowed her eyes at him. Fortunately, the child was off Jax’s fur. Unfortunately, she found a new victim: Pomni. Thankfully, she was not a huge nuisance, for she just bit her hat and hung on as if an additional accessory. Adult Pomni’s jaw muscle tensed, and she crossed her arms.
Amongst the chaos, Little Jax approached his dad and tugged at his overalls. “Hey, are you gonna give us chocolate chip cookies or what?” Jax looked down at his son with no amusement on his face, glancing at the frog in the little boy’s hands.
“Leave me alone,” Jax frowned.
𖡼.𖤣𖥧⋆˙⋆˚𖡼.𖤣𖥧
A baby pen was conjured up somewhere in the field, allowing Jax and Pomni to keep the children away from them. To some extent, Caine was in their graces after all. Little Pomni and Jax were busy in their own dream worlds, eyes shut from the circus. The adults ventured as far from the kids as possible. They ended up at the edge of the beach, both crouched down by the sand. Jax finished his drawing with a tree branch before standing up, taking in their scheme.
“Okay, Pomni, here’s the plan.” He used his stick to point at a primitive drawing of him and the jester. “We bake these suckers cookies, and maybe that’ll satisfy them enough to trigger the end of this adventure,” his stick followed a series of images until the end, where he and Pomni were both happy, free from the children.
The jester sat comfortably on the ground, furrowing her eyebrows. It seemed like a reasonable plan to get rid of their… kids. She hoped that it would be sufficient to satisfy Caine, a thought she never found herself thinking of til now.
An option would be to ignore the children and the adventure forced upon them, but after the revelation of what Caine was doing to the humans, Pomni wasn’t sure what would happen if they didn’t comply. Ideally, she didn’t want to find out. “And if it doesn’t work?”
Jax didn’t grin. “We can always throw them in the oven.”
“Jax.”
“They’re not real,” he rolled his eyes and threw the stick away, sitting down across his drawing and Pomni. But both of them knew that’s not what Pomni meant. “I’m done with being Caine’s form of entertainment,” his tone was small enough for Pomni to hear.
She widened her eyes. This wasn’t the first time Jax opened up to her. Deja vu, she thought. But this was a different type of vulnerability. Jax was definitely not his usual self. All the women knew was that the bunny, just like the majority of them, indulged in these adventures as an escape. However, Jax played into “the funny one” archetype, a role he bestowed upon himself, claiming it's for the “viewers'” enjoyment. Pomni doubted they had an audience watching them, but acknowledged this was probably how he coped. Not that it’s healthy whatsoever.
Jax played into his role all too well, a coping mechanism that didn’t leave room for him to heal. Not that it was easy with the lack of resources in a digital hell, especially for a man who seemed to have a myriad of problems. For a long time, Jax didn’t actively fight against Caine whenever the AI crossed a boundary. Instead, Pomni noticed that the bunny would let the AI use him, even when he expressed reluctance.
Jax may call the other humans his playthings, but Caine used Jax as his plaything. Not out of malice, of course. Of all the humans, Jax probably deserved it for the abuse he inflicted and the stunt he pulled with the red button. Karma bites back, as one might say. However, Pomni spent too much time with her fellow stuck in this digital realm that there is no turning back. She couldn’t help it, whether Jax deserved it or not, whether she was better off cutting ties.
“Same here,” she expressed, softly. “Caine probably made a kitchen for this adventure somewhere.”
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