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“This is what you wanted to show me?”
After their rapid fire adventure, Pomni had surprisingly gotten to know Jax better. She couldn’t say she understood him entirely, and she wasn’t on board with his tendency to abuse others for his own entertainment, but there was a different side to him that he was slowly showing. Whenever he wasn’t being a complete jerk, he could actually be kind of funny. Not only that, but after some of their conversations, she got the sense that, whether he realized it or not, he needed a friend. Someone, anyone to vent to for just a moment. Before brushing it off and pretending it never happened, of course. Even so, he sought her out specifically to talk to. That had to mean something, even if he would never admit to it.
During one of their conversations, they talked about some of the weird rooms in the circus, and he mentioned one in a hallway that she hadn’t gone down yet. He actually offered to show her once the adventure was over and they had some down time.
Just like he’d promised, he led her to a small room at the end of a corridor. Half expecting it to be a trap or a prank, she stood back while he opened the door to reveal what looked like a game room. There was a billiards table in the corner, a couple of couches around a coffee table with cards and board games tucked underneath, even a bookshelf that was filled with what looked like actual novels.
“Yeah,” Jax remarked, showing off the space, “nice hang out spot, isn’t it?”
“It’s… actually pretty normal.” She said, relieved. “I thought your idea of a cool room was something like that weird, tower carousel thing. Or that one door that just has a fist come out and punch you if you open it.”
“I mean those are great choices too, but I figured you’d already seen them. Not as much fun if you're expecting it.”
“I see,” she rolled her eyes. “Do you guys ever use this room?”
“The others do sometimes. I haven’t been here in a minute.”
She couldn’t help but notice the way his pupils changed. What was once big and round turned to smaller squares, before going right back to their usual shape. The same thing happened earlier when Ragatha had brought up the fact that he didn’t have friends in the circus any more. Maybe he used to come here with them. She doubted he would tell her if she asked.
“So, why show me this room?” She tried moving on. “Did you want to play a game or something?” She hadn’t been expecting him to want to hang out, especially after two back to back adventures. She thought it would have been more of a quick trip before he would slink off to go sleep in his room.
“Actually,” he grinned, pulling out a pink bottle from his pocket to show her, “I had a different idea.”
It was one of those squeeze bottles for condiments, except filled with some sort of pink, mystery substance. She recognized it immediately.
“Is that the stupid sauce from the fast food place?” She asked, confused. “How were you able to keep that?”
“It isn’t hard stealing a prop or two from an adventure,” he chided. “And I figured this is the closest thing to drugs as we’re going to get in here.”
It was surprising that Caine would allow something like stupid sauce in the first place. This whole ‘family friendly’ shtick had been fairly consistent throughout the adventures. Though she had noticed that Caine would sometimes make exceptions, like with the alcohol from the mini bar adventure.
“Wait, did you show me this place so we could sit here and get high off that stuff?” She questioned indignantly.
“Um, yeah. It’s probably the best place in the circus to do that.”
Out of all the things he could have asked to do. Play some cards, shoot some billiard balls, maybe even just sit and talk. No, this was what he wanted to do with their free time? She could understand being curious about the stupid sauce, but there was no way she was about to try it for herself, especially after seeing how Ragatha reacted to it when just a drop got on her.
“Jax, we don’t even know what that stuff is.” She tried reasoning with him. A fool's errand if she’d ever known one, but she had to try. “And how am I supposed to know that your not just going to try and prank me by getting me high as *BlOink* while you stand there laughing at me?”
Jax’s grin only grew at that. “Come on, Pompom, do you really have that little faith in me?”
“I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer.”
As much progress they had made on their recent adventure, she still didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him, especially with something like this.
“Is it so hard to believe that I just want to see what it’s like? It’s not every day Caine lets something like this slide.”
“Why don’t you just take it yourself, then?”
The pupils again, starting huge then slowly shrinking while he thought of a response.
“That’s no fun.”
He didn’t want to do it alone. At first she really expected that he was just trying to trick her into taking it for his own, twisted amusement, but something about him seemed to genuinely want to do this.
“Gosh, I thought you would know that it’s no fun getting blasted by yourself. What, are you too much of a goodie too shoes to get high?” He taunted.
She’d smoked a couple of times in college when she was offered, but smoking a little weed was WAY different than just eating some weird sauce that Caine came up with.
“I’ve been high before,” she rolled her eyes. “Have you?”
Again, a slight shift in his expression. During one of their conversations earlier, he’d mentioned that he was 22 when he arrived in the circus, making him the youngest one out of the group, barely past the legal drinking age where they were from. Thinking back on it, that was about the age she tried an edible for the first time. Depending on how he grew up and where he was from, he probably never got the chance to do something like this before.
She thought back to the bar they had been at on the previous adventure. Could that have been his first real experience with alcohol? He had seemed to get much more loose after that drink, maybe because it was his first real drink. If that was his first time feeling drunk, was he just wanting to try out a bunch of things he’s never gotten to experience before?
She almost felt bad for him for a second. His entire young adult life and experiences had been taken away before he even got to try living them. But chasing these experiences he’d been robbed of was going to end badly.
“Look, I get it, I miss having the choices we had out there. We’re adults, if we want to drink or smoke we should be able to. But we have no idea what that will actually do to us here, and we can’t just trust Caine to be honest about it either. No way am I eating something like that.”
Something changed in his expression as he looked at the sauce in his hands. It was as if he put two and two together, like he was starting to process what the sauce really was. Some strange way Caine got around not being able to affect their minds directly. A loophole in his own rules.
And as usual, as quickly as it happened, it disappeared as he sported his usual smirk.
“Jeez, if I’d known you would be lame about it I wouldn’t have asked. You think Zooble would be into this stuff?”
Out of everyone there, Zooble was the most likely to have been a stoner at one point. Pomni wasn’t going to say that now though.
“There’s no way they’d try anything like that in this place, especially not if you offered.”
“Good point. Oh, I bet I could convince Gangle to try some.”
There it was, back to his usual prick attitude. She wasn’t sure if he was serious about finding and harassing Gangle over the stupid sauce or if this was just his way of messing with her, but she sure as hell wasn’t risking it. She had to get rid of that stuff before things got out of hand.
“You are not going out there to peer pressure Gangle into eating this weird *bOnK*-ing sauce. Now give me that.” She tried making a lunge to grab the bottle out of his hands.
“Hey- come on!” He pulled the bottle away, “I just want to see what’ll happen.”
“You know what’s going to happen already. That stuff completely messed up Ragatha for, like, the whole day.”
“Yeah, all the more reason to get someone else to test it first. Maybe it affects everyone differently.”
She thought back to when she’d learned about how their different avatars reacted differently to some things, like with the breath holding. She also remembered him taunting her into showing him what her ‘cartoon body’ would do.
“Of course you never planned on eating it yourself! You just want to get someone to trip out of their mind.”
“I never said that.” The grin on his face grew back to its usual, cartoonish proportions. “But now that you mention it, that would be pretty entertaining!”
“Just give me that thing, we shouldn’t have it in the first place.” She managed to grab a hold of it as he tried to keep it from her reach. She squeezed trying to get a grip on it, accidently putting more pressure than she intended.
In a second, the pink substance shot from the bottle and hit Jax directly in his eye.
“Oh *sQeAk*!” She yelled.
He flinched suddenly, wincing back as he tried to wipe it away. For a moment he looked fine, but just as it had with Ragatha, it all hit at once. His body relaxed and his eyes went wide. From Pomni’s perspective, all she could see was his pupils dilating as he stood frozen in place, still holding the bottle. They’d gotten so large that almost his entire eye looked black
“Crap, are you okay?”
“I- I feel…” he doubled over for a moment, bringing his hands to his stomach as he slouched.
Dang it, was he going to be sick? That was a lot of sauce. What if he took too much for his mind to handle? Was overdosing a thing in the digital world? Would Caine be able to fix him? All of these worries ran through Pomni’s head as she started hearing him make a strained, breathy noise.
His shoulders shook as the noise started getting louder, and she placed what it was. He wasn’t getting sick or panicking, he was-
“Are you laughing?”
He giggled as he steadied himself upright and she was able to see his face. His smile was different than usual, it was a wide, dopey grin, like he was half asleep and struggling to stay awake.
“I just- ahahahahaha! I feel weird!”
Without realizing it, or maybe he was too out of it to care, he dropped the pink bottle and let it roll on the floor, straight to Pomni’s feet.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she picked it up. Looks like the stupid sauce did affect everyone a little differently. When Ragatha accidentally got some on her she’d been fully relaxed, no cares in the world as she spoke her mind for once with no filter. Jax on the other hand turned out to be a giggler. Most stoners will tell you that everything is way funnier when you're high as a kite, and that was how Jax probably felt at the moment.
“Okay, you're fine. You're just going to… be like this for a while.” She sighed, already planning on getting rid of that damn bottle when she got the chance. “It’ll take a long time to wear off. You should lie down somewhere.”
Jax tried taking a wobbling step before nearly tripping over his own feet. “Whoa, my legs are like jelly right now. That’s crazy!”
She could just leave, let Jax ride this out on his own, but one look at how he was struggling to walk had her second guessing. He couldn’t truly get hurt, but there were worse things to worry about. What if being stuck like this for too long could cause someone to abstract? Stuck in a room, alone, out of your mind and helpless to do anything about it while you slipped away? That was a fate too cruel for anyone. Pomni couldn’t just leave him there, even if it was his fault he was in this situation. Well, maybe it was just a little bit her fault too.
“Alright, let me just help you to the couch.” She reached out to grab him, hoping she could support his weight.
“No,” he swatted her away defensively, slurring his words. “I can do it, I swear.”
Clumsily, he put one foot in front of the other, grabbing whatever he could to stabilize himself as he made his way across the room, then flopping face first down on the couch.
“See, did it.” He mumbled into the cushion. “I win.”
“Sure Jax, you win.” She followed him over. The couch was long enough for him to lay down comfortably, but no room for her to sit without him moving. “Can I sit here?”
He gave a grunt as rolled himself over, bending his knees to make space for her. She was almost surprised that he didn’t just make her take the other couch. She was more surprised when after she sat down, he laid his legs in her lap.
“Jax,” she groaned.
“Whaaaat? You're sitting on the couch now.”
She supposed she didn’t mind, as long as he didn’t plan on kicking her.
“I guess I’m trip sitting for the rest of the day.”
“Yoooooou could still try some,” Jax grinned, “we could be stupid sauce buds.”
“Absolutely not, that’s the last thing we need.”
“Boooooooo! Lame!”
Great. She had a whole day of this to look forward to. Not that time really mattered there, but she would have at least appreciated a nap at some point. She considered dozing off on the couch, but she had a feeling leaving Jax unattended for even a few minutes was a bad idea. She couldn't take her eyes off him for a minute.
Then again, looking at Jax now made her doubt he could do much of anything in this state. He was lounged back, but instead of his usual, cocky posture he was fully limp, looking around constantly at seemingly nothing with wide eyes. It was enough to almost make her think he was harmless.
He started giggling quietly to himself. She couldn’t tell if he was laughing at her or at whatever he was seeing around him, but he wouldn’t stop.
“What’s so funny?” She finally broke, asking with an amused grin of her own.
“So, Pompom. You know how cats hate water?” He rambled.
“What? I mean, yeah, I guess.”
“But they like fish. And fish love water. They’re in water.” He giggled deliriously. “What’s up with that?”
She tried to comprehend where the hell that thought could have come from. Trying to understand it just made it make even less sense.
“Pfft! What the heck are you talking about right now?”
“I’m saying it’s weird. Like, what’s up with that?”
“That makes no sense,” she replied, trying her best to contain her laughter.
“You're right, it doesn’t make sense. They should love water, it’s where the fish live!”
“This is going to be a long day, isn’t it?”
Even as she sighed to herself she couldn’t help but smile. She had thought that Jax would get on her nerves after a while, but she had to admit that his crazed ramblings were pretty funny.
“Hey Pom, what’s a didgeridoo player called?” Jax continued.
“A didgeri-what?”
“You know, didgeridoo. The big tube things the Australian guys play, that's all Wooooomp.” He made a tube with his hands and tried to imitate the deep, bass notes that usually come from the instrument, but he made it sound more like a drunk whale.
“I have no idea,” she replied.
“Maybe a didgeridooer. That makes sense, right?”
“None of what you’re saying makes sense at all.” She snickered. “Are you thinking about that because of the president adventure? The one where you were supposed to be Australian?”
“Hehe, yeah. See, now you're getting it.”
“Guess you're just processing the adventures in your own way.”
Now she was starting to see a thought pattern. A mix of passive thoughts and his brains attempt to make sense of the day they had. Even then it was hard to keep up with the rapid fire statements.
“Oh, the vegan thing.” He groaned suddenly as he face palmed.
“The vegan thing?” She asked. “You mean from earlier? What about it?”
“It was so dumb, right? I’m just vegan now.”
His vegan status had been removed for a while, but for the time being he probably had the memory of a goldfish.
“You know it stopped once the adventure was over, right?”
“Oh. Yeah.” He mused, before getting the biggest grin on his face. “Hey Poooooom. If two vegans got into a fight, would it be considered a beef?”
As stupid as that joke was, Pomni laughed out loud at it. “I don’t know, Jax. Did you bring up the vegan thing just to say that?”
“Nah, that’s just improv, baby.”
She hated how funny she thought this was.
“Stohohop talking!”
“I’m just asking the big questions here. Like if I were vegan still, could I eat animal crackers?”
“Ohoho my gosh, shuhuhut up.” She said, playfully shoving him.
Jax rolled onto his side, curling up his legs and clutching his stomach in laughter.
This was the most she’d ever heard him laugh before. Thinking back, it might have been the first time she heard him laugh ever. For all his talk about wanting to “see funny things happen to people”, he never actually seemed to laugh at anything. Maybe a smirk or a quick breath through the nose, but nothing like this. It was different than she expected it would sound, high pitched and almost wheezy at times. It suited him.
“Pom. Hey, Pompom.” He asked when he could finally stop himself from laughing. He started prodding her leg with his foot to get her attention.
“What? Ow- hey! Knock it off. What is it?”
“Can you take off your hat? Or is it, like, part of your body?”
She thought about it for a moment. She’d tried taking her hat off before, but it only stretched out, along with her face.
“I guess it’s part of me, I can’t really take it off.”
“Is it still a hat, then?”
“I… gah, stop asking questions I can’t answer!”
“Poor Pom, can’t braid your hair or anything.” He slowly sat up and scooted closer to her, a hand going for the hat.
“Jax- I just told you it doesn’t come off!” She tried to scoot away.
“I knowwww. I want to see the puff ball things.”
Her jester hat had two, little puffs on the ends. She never paid much attention to them, but for some reason Jax seemed especially fixated on them. He grabbed hold of one, actually gentle for once, before he gave a little tug. To her surprise, the pompom actually came off.
“Yessss!” He cheered, “Can I borrow this?”
“What? Why do you want it?”
“I want to see if it can be my tail. I miss my old one.”
That was something else from the adventure he’d mentioned, at some point in time he had a tail that he lost. She still had no idea why or how he lost it.
He tried to maneuver his body so that he could somehow see where his tail would have been. As expected, he only managed to roll over on the couch.
“Pfft, Jahahax!” Pomni snickered. “That’s not going to work.”
“Says yoooou,” he scoffed as he continued his impossible task, endlessly rolling in place.
“You should be resting,” she tried putting her hands on his legs to stop him when he came around again.
For whatever reason, he actually stopped once he was facing her.
“Fiiiine. But I’m keeping this.” He said, showing off the pompom in his hand.
“Hey! I didn’t say you could keep it.”
“Finders keepers. Pompom from Pompom, it’s mine now.”
“Would you give that back?” She reached over to grab it, only for him to lift it over his head. “Why do you want it if you can’t use it?”
“Souvenir.” He simply said.
It was stupid, she knew. He was obviously trying to get on her nerves, and was somewhat succeeding, but there was something different about the way he was taunting her. It felt more playful, like someone goading a friend into a wrestling match.
“I said give it back,” she laughed as she finally gave in, leaping from her spot on the couch, trying to climb on his legs to properly reach far enough. She managed to straddle them as she tried to snatch the pompom from his hands, only for him to somehow stretch it even further from her reach.
“Why don’t you maaaake me?” He taunted.
Now he was clearly asking for it. If it was a play fight he wanted, it was a play fight he would get.
“That’s it,” she reached forward to scribble her fingers underneath his arms.
She was expecting him to flinch and bring his arms down long enough for her to snag the stolen pompom. What she wasn’t expecting was for Jax to flail so hard that he nearly knocked her to the side, squeaking so loud it made her jump in surprise. He crossed his arms around his chest, protecting his underarms.
“Nohoho tickling! Not allowed!”
“Wow,” she laughed, “Are you seriously that ticklish?”
His face started flushing red as his laughter picked up again.
“Noooo I’m not!” He brought his hands over his face, trying to hide his sheepish grin while still holding on to the pompom.
“You’re not what?”
“Mm not ticklish.” He mumbled into his hands.
“Um, yes, you definitely are.”
She wasn't sure if this was his usual deflecting or if he didn’t remember that she literally just saw him burst into laughter after she brought her hands down.
“Noooo,” he continued to argue. “Tickling just isn’t allowed.”
“Wha- That means that you're ticklish!”
“No it doesn’t.”
“Oh really?” She smirked, shifting her weight until she was seated on his legs. She poked at his side, making him jump as immediately broke, swatting away at the offending hand.
“Y-yeah. Not ticklish. Nooooooope.” Despite his argument, the nervous grin didn’t leave his face.
“Oh, so I can keep doing this-“ Pomni brought her hands down to his sides, squeezing just underneath his ribs. “And you won’t mind?”
“Pohohohohom! Nohohohoho!” He protested through another bout of laughter. “I sahahahaid not ahahahallowed!”
He would have probably kept this argument up all day if she didn’t do something. She could just drop the topic, but he was still holding that pompom in his hand, and she wasn’t going to let him get away with it.
“I’ll only stop if you give me back my pompom.” With that she suddenly jumped back to tickling under his arms. He brought his arms back down, trying to block the sensation as he threw his head back in laughter. He managed to keep the pompom tucked away in his hand.
“Ah! Nohohoho fair! You’re cheheheheating!”
“Cheating?” She scoffed, “This wasn’t even a game! Just give it back and I’ll stop.”
“Nhehehehever!”
He turned his body away as quickly as he could, breaking her grip as he rolled on his side. He tried to stealthily put the pompom in his front overall pocket, hoping that Pomni wouldn’t notice.
Pomni had seen it plain as day. He wasn't nearly as slick as he thought he was being. Without wasting any time, she reached swiftly into his pocket and grabbed it back.
“There!” She shouted triumphantly.
Jax weakly reached for it as she sat back up, scooting back over to her side of the couch. She was able to attach the little ball onto her hat again.
“Nice try, Jax.” She gloated.
Jax was unusually quiet, eyes looking down. It almost looked like he was pouting. What, was he really hoping to keep that pompom forever? Even if he’d managed to successfully hide it, she probably would have just kept tickling him until he gave it up. It seemed like a weird thing to be a sore loser about, but maybe his ego was just that fragile. She wouldn’t have been surprised.
“You’re no fun,” He finally said.
“You can find your own tail later,” She lightly scolded. “Maybe Caine can give you a new one.”
He didn’t seem to lighten up at the suggestion. Whatever this was, it wasn’t about the tail thing. She was about to ask what was wrong when she saw his loopy smirk.
“Pom, I’m boaaaaard.” He complained, all while his smile morphed into something more mischievous.
Oh yeah, she was going to have to find something to occupy him until this whole thing blew over. Or until he wiped himself out enough to sleep the rest of this off.
“Oh, do you want to try to do something?”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to get uuuuuuuup.”
Pomni rolled her eyes at him. Even when he was high off his ass he was so demanding. “I could grab a board game or something, maybe we could play monopoly.”
“Hmmmm, I don’t know, I think this would be more entertaining.”
“What do you- hey!” She was interrupted as she felt a jab to her side. Jax had managed to poke her side with his foot, actually managing to tickle her back.
“Jahahax! Stohohohp that!” She tried to push his legs away, but he was strong and held out.
She’d almost forgotten just how ticklish she was, at least in the real world. Jax seemed real keen on reminding her about it.
“Do something fun, then I miiiiight stop.” He kept poking and prodding her side, gentle enough that it didn’t hurt, but firm enough that it tickled like hell.
“Knohohohock it off!” She yelled, half annoyed and half amused by him. “Ugh, you're so annoying!”
“Cmon, Pompom, do something funny. You’re a clown, right?”
“Whahahat does that have to do with anything?” She swatted at his legs, hoping he would relent with a hard enough smack.
“Just do something funny, make me laugh!”
“I was making you laugh a lot earlier. Did you forget about all of that?”
Just like earlier, his face flushed as he averted his eyes.
Pomni started piecing it together. The constant pestering and comments, even when he knew he was helpless and couldn’t fight back. The bashful look on his face when she commented on it. He was trying to goad her into tickling him. He’d put the pompom in his pocket, not in the hopes of keeping it, but so she would tickle him into giving it up eventually.
“Are you trying to get me to tickle you again?”
Jax froze completely, staring up at her. It was hard to read his expression. Somewhere between surprise and embarrassment. In the blink of an eye it disappeared as he went back to lightly kicking her sides. “I’m just looking for something entertaining.”
Of course he would never admit that he wanted something. Even in this state of delirium, without cares or worries, he’d still rather taunt someone into retaliation than actually ask for something.
Well, she understood what he was trying to accomplish. If he wanted to be entertained so badly, why not give him what he wanted?
“Alright. Just remember, you asked for this.” With that final warning she grabbed a hold of his legs, hopping over them so she could hold them down with her body weight before she squeezed his waist.
“Pohohohompom! Wahahahahahait!” He broke, bucking his hips in a halfhearted attempt to get her to fall off. Pomni held tight, refusing to move.
“Pfft, you literally asked me to make you laugh! What were you expecting?”
“Ihihihihihihi- nohohohohohohoooo!” He was in no position to argue with that. His arms failed helplessly as he tried to grab at her hands to get them to stop moving. His grip was so weak that he couldn’t even hold on. “Youhohohoho suhuhuhuck!”
She gasped playfully. “I suck? You asked me to make you laugh, and that's what I’m doing.” She started to spider her fingers up and down his sides, feeling his body shake as his laughter rose with each touch.
“Where else are you ticklish?” She asked.
“I- hehehehehe- I dohohohohohohn’t know!” He insisted as he made another attempt to grab her hands, able to gently grasp the wrist but putting up no real resistance.
“You’re such a liar, of course you know!”
“Yoooou’re the liar,” Jax snickered.
“That doesn’t even make sense!” She laughed, quickly reaching her hands to scribble along his neck. He scrunched up his shoulders at the contact, trying desperately to keep her fingers at bay. His laughter started to settle, but it was clear he was trying to hold it back.
“Not the best spot,” Pomni mused, shifting her reach to gently trace his ears instead.
“Pom!” He whined, bringing his hands up to try and cover his ears. Unfortunately for him they were too big to block completely, leaving the ends exposed for Pomni to continue. Light as a feather, she scratched the ends of his ears. Jax kept laughing, but he almost seemed to relax at the touch, as if he was melting into it. Pomni wouldn’t have believed the sight if it wasn’t happening right in front of her.
“Better,” she stated, “but I bet you have a spot that’s way worse than this.”
He almost seemed disappointed as she stopped, but the expression was quickly replaced by anticipation as he watched her hands hover above his torso, scanning for where to strike next. They settled right over his belly, dipping down to test the waters. He let out a wheezing, nearly screeching laugh before her hands could make contact.
“I didn’t even touch you!” She laughed. “Is this a bad spot?”
“Nohohohoho it’s nohohohot!” Now that was definitely a lie.
“Really? It sure sounded bad. Is your tummy your worst spot?”
“Dohohohohn’t call it that!” His frantic giggling grew louder as he curled in, arms wrapping around his torso to protect himself.
“What? Don’t call it your tummy?”
“Yehehehehes! It’s stupid!” Somehow the pink hue to his face grew even darker.
“What, you don’t want me saying you have a ticklish tummy? I hate to break it to you, but you do!”
“Nohohohoho!” He practically begged. “Nohohohot allowed!”
“Well yeah, if you keep covering yourself like that.” Pomni wasn’t very strong, but Jax was nearly wiped out at this point. Any resistance to her pulling his arm to the side was futile as she used her knee to pin his hand down to the couch, followed by doing the same to the other side.
“There, now those can’t get in the way.”
Jax wasn’t responding anymore, the only noise he was able to make were soft giggles as he squinted his eyes shut, anticipating whatever would happen next.
“So, you’re still not ticklish, right? You won’t laugh if I bring down my hands and tickle your tummy? Because it's not ticklish?”
“Juhuhuhuhst gehehehet it over with!” He finally shouted.
Pomni had no idea teasing like this could be so effective against him, but he looked flustered out of his mind. She felt mean for just a moment, holding him in suspense like this, but after thinking about all the shit he’d put her through before, she figured she was entitled to at least this as revenge.
“Alright, if you really want me to.” Putting him out of his misery, she gently kneaded at his belly. It almost felt plush, soft the way a stuffed animal would feel, but with a bit of added resistance. As she curiously pressed into him, Jax nearly deafened her as he screamed.
“NOHOHOHOHO! *hOnK* YOHOHOHOU!” He flailed his body, seemingly involuntarily, trying to pull his arms free to no avail.
With his eyes squinted shut, he kicked his feet behind her body. Whether it was an attempt to get her off of him or an involuntary response to the intense tickling, she couldn’t tell.
“Wow, you even kick your feet like a rabbit!’ She laughed as she felt him thrash. She had to admit, this teasing thing was pretty fun. Especially when her victim was Jax, and especially when he was acting like this.
“Youhohohohur crahahahazy!”
She wondered if he was sober would he have ever let her do this? Would he have actually wanted her to do something like this all along, or was this just from the stupid sauce? She supposed it could just be a strange side effect, craving something along the lines of physical stimulation. But maybe there was some part of him that actually wanted this. To be able to laugh freely. The mask he wore had been coming down lately, she’d seen just bits and pieces of who he really was and wanted to be. Was this something that he craved deep down?
Without even realizing it, she’d slowed her relentless scribbling down to a gentle trace along his sides, letting him catch his breath while he still squeaked out the occasional laugh.
He giggled up at her, looking with dreamy, teary eyes. She wondered what he saw from his perspective at that moment, questioning whether he was really looking at her or something else.
“Hehehehe! Hehe- he….” He took a deep, long breath that almost sounded like a sigh. “I missed this.”
Pomni raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“This. You always were the best at making me laugh, Rib-“ he trailed off, seemingly lost in thought, before his eyes widened. For just a moment he seemed to have some sort of clarity, like he realized he said something he didn’t mean to.
“Nothing.”
The pupils went back to how they were before, and his lazy, blissful smile returned to his face.
“What we’re we talking about?”
A strange feeling washed over Pomni, making her finally get up to release him from his constraints. Jax rubbed his hands, which were probably sore. She couldn’t tell if he remembered what had happened.
“Hey Pooooom.” He said lazily. “You’re kind of cool I guess. Even if you're weeeeeird.”
She smiled gently. “Yeah, I guess you aren’t that bad either.”
The rest of their time together was spent trying to play board games, only to give up 5 minutes in to play around with the colorful pieces and cards. More crazed ramblings that Pomni couldn’t help but find hilarious as she laughed more than she ever had before entering the circus. And eventually, when the weariness of the day wore on him, Jax started snoring loudly on the couch. Pomni thought about finding a blanket, maybe something both she and him could share, but decided against it, not knowing how he’d react once the sauce wore off. She remained awake to keep an eye on him, busying herself with the books that were up on the shelves in the small nook in the corner of the room.
Eventually, all good things must come to an end. She noticed that Jax’s snoring stopped and she heard a groan from the couch.
“Uhhhh. What happened?” Jax asked, a hand to his forehead.
Pomni was seated on the other couch, a book still in hand before she set it aside.
“You, ah, accidentally got some sauce in your eye.” She said, trying to break it gently to him. “Oh! Don’t worry, I made sure nothing bad happened. You might just feel a little bit… Off for a while.”
He groaned as he sat up, probably groggy from the ordeal. He glanced sideways at her before giving an incredulous squint.
“I didn’t do anything… Weird, did I?”
She thought about how to respond to that. How much did he actually remember? She had a feeling that if he knew what he had said, everything he had done, would have made him furious. Maybe it was for the best that he didn't remember what occurred.
“No, you were just mostly tired the whole time.” She lied.
She tried to read his face, hoping that he would believe her. For a moment, a look of recognition crossed his face, and he looked upset. That was before he went back to sporting his usual grin as he yawned.
“Well, guess that was a waste of time,” he said, stretching as he stood up. Without even acknowledging her, he made his way to the door.
She stared as he left, wondering if he truly didn’t remember anything. He was about to open the door when he turned back to her, eyes narrowed.
“If you tell anyone about what happened, I’ll find another truck to throw you out of.” His face was nearly deadpan as he threatened her.
Pomni nervously looked around, hoping to find the right thing to say. “Nothing happened. Nothing to tell them about.”
Eyes still narrowed, he opened the door. “Thats what I thought,” He murmured as he finally left.
Maybe it really was just a trick of the stupid sauce making him say and do all those things. Maybe she would never see him act like that again. But deep down she hoped that it wasn’t. That she’d finally seen a bit of who he truly was, and that she would be able to see it again.
So… been a while eh? So much has changed and happened over the last year, and I never thought I’d write again, but something in me called to the inner gremlin.
Seeing Beyond.
Warning: TADC episode 6 spoilers!
After episode 6 of TADC I think we all need some fluff to brighten our spirits. Not exactly funnybunny but can be interpreted as such I guess.
Anyone that comes across this that is not in the you know what community uh… I’m sorry?
—————————————————————————
The stakes were high… the least threatening of groups, Ragatha and Kinger, had been taken down, leaving just Pomni and Jax, and Gangle with Zooble. Both parties patrolled the circus tent in search of the other team, guns loaded and in hand.
As Jax and Pomni walked, their eyes drifting from place to place in search of any sign of the others, all the while jumping from topic to topic as they conversed.
“Ok… Here’s another one.” Pomni begins with a soft smile as she walks alongside the tall rabbit.
“Least favourite color.” Pomni asks, clearly enjoying this unexpected game of trivia she was having with the purple rabbit. Jax rolls his eyes despite his usual charismatic smile still being plastered on his face.
“Eh… probably blue… or maybe red.” He smirks, holding his hands behind his head casually as he walks. His eyes dart up and down Pomni’s figure for a moment with a cheeky grin, waiting for her to catch on to his teasing remark.
“Huh… Why’s- Wait! Hey!” Pomni stammers, her pupils growing small in playful irritation as she looks up at the purple rabbit. Jax only chuckles. “Oh come on, Pompom, ya walked right into that one.~” Jax teased, his smirk growing wider at her irritation. Pomni sighs, shaking her head. She wasn’t actually mad, but it seemed this playful banter and picking at one another was Jax’s way of being somewhat genuine... So she’d roll with it for now. The two stroll along the black and white checkerboard floors for a few moments in silence before Pomni smirks.
“So….” She begins, piquing Jax’s curiosity as he opens an eye to look down at the small jester.
“About that maid dress, huh? I mean… it seemed just a little too… personalized.” She smirks as she sees Jax’s eyes widen in surprise and embarrassment. “Wha- Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!-” Jax stammers, clearly taken off guard by the sudden question. Pomni chuckles, twirling her gun on her finger casually. “I’m just saying… it looked like it was *Maid* for you!~” Pomni giggles, crossing her arms and leaning closer to the rabbit, whose face was flushed red in irritation. It’s clear she hit some kind of nerve, but what the core of it was? She had no idea. After a moment, Jax shakes off his initial embarrassment and playfully shoves at Pomni’s head.
“Oh, shut it. It was completely against my consent, ya victim shaming me now, Pom?” He retorts back as they stop by a bunch of blocks near the large tubes and towers in the main opening of the circus. Pomni smiles as she sighs, leaning against one of the boxes.
“Man… being evil is exhausting…” She groans, flopping down onto her butt to sit for a moment. Jax simply scoffs, rolling his eyes, but leans up against the block as well.
Jax clicks his tongue. “Really? Tapping outta your evil era already? Lame.” He smirks, crossing his arms almost in a challenge, egging her to keep up her act. When she doesn’t right away, he slides down against the block, sitting down next to Pomni for a moment, propping his lanky elbows up on his knees, his handgun still lazily gripped in his right hand. He had to admit, stamina was one of the few things he’s still not figured out about the circus. While they don’t need to sleep, can’t die of oxygen deprivation, or even eat, they still can’t run and be on the move none-stop. Maybe it’s like a stamina bar in video game, Jax ponders…
The two sit in silence for a few minutes, listening for any sign of Gangle or Zooble… Pomni watches as Jax’s ears twitch every so often at small sounds her own ears couldn’t hear. She looks up at the tent above, contemplating for a moment… being on Jax’s team wasn’t ending up at all how she expected, though she’d be lying if she said she was super surprised as well… When she first got here, Jax seemed like just another prick of a guy that bullied people for fun… and maybe that was part of him. But over the past little while, she’s been seeing different sides to him, albeit slowly.
The way he asked about Gangle during the stargazing, the tension between him and Ragatha… how he would joke and tease her but not in the same way as he did the others… it was odd, but she couldn’t say she minded it that much. A small clicking sound diverts her attention back to the present… She glances over again to see Jax with a bored expression on his face as he idly spins the cylinder of his gun with his gloved finger. She can tell he is deep in thought, his rectangle pupils large as if he’s in his own little world, watching the cylinder spin.
“Out of ammo yet?…” Pomni asks casually, snapping Jax out of his thoughts. The rabbit shakes his head for a moment before looking down at Pomni.
“Nah, got two more in here.” Jax reassures, skillfully flipping the cylinder back into the jack of the gun with ease. Pomni watches him for a moment… she can’t help but wonder why he had opened up to her, even a little. She’s known Jax’s type before… and they are usually a lot more... Aggressive towards anyone that gets close. Well, aggressive may not be the right word, he definitely was that. But there's something else under there, and she can tell it’s buried deep… and she knows it can blow up in her face if she is not careful…
“Hey, Jax?…” Pomni hesitantly says, her voice a bit quieter than usual. Jax’s eyes snap from the gun to her, easily catching the shift in her tone, his guard instantly going up once again. The grip on his gun tightens slightly.
“What you said earlier… about the archetypes…” She begins with a shrug, her eyes look over at him curiously but with caution.
“Why do you think we ended up… looking the way we do? Like- hm… Why am I a… Jester? A-And you a…” She hesitates, looking up at him. “A purple… rabbit?” She asks.
“Well, I’m not sure.” Jax sighs placing the gun down next to him, resting his arms behind his head once again. “Probably just a part of the big joke. Makes us forget who we were.” He shrugs almost coldly, his eyes focused forward at a door across the way. He clicks his tongue casually again before he continues. “Like I said, we’re all part of the machine... we all end up turning into what it wants us to be. Maybe our characters are just another part of that whole plan to make us lose who we were.”
Pomni considers his words for a moment…
“But… then why can we still feel things… as if they are our bodies… Why do we breathe even though we don’t technically need to in here?… isn’t that still human?” She lightly challenges, shifting a little where she sits, knowing she is most likely on unsteady ground with Jax on this topic. Jax sighs, closing his eyes, his grin returning to his face.
“Beats me, but either way it doesn’t matter, pain or other sensations don’t mean anything inside this digital world. It’s not like we have any use for them anymore.” He shrugs again, clearly trying not to think too hard about it, using his masked and sarcastic tone. Pomni is quiet for a moment, looking down at her cloved hand curiously, flipping it around a little as she thinks. Jax does have a point… without the risk of being killed, their senses really don’t have much use, other than sending pointless signals to their brains to stop some kind of perceived danger or damage that could harm them… at least not here…
Jax hisses through his teeth, leaning back a little against the box, crossing one ankle over the other. “But either way…” He peaks open an eye to look at her. “Makes it more fun to mess with people, eh?” He smirks, flicking her in the forehead to lighten the mood and hopefully annoy her.
“Wha- Hey!” Pomni grumbles and recoils back a little, her arms flailing to try and grab at Jax’s hand, as he now begins to poke at her head, making the rabbit chuckle. She swats at his hand until he pulls it back, his amused grin only making Pomni more irritated by his teasing. She huffs and playfully pouts, crossing her arms in mock annoyance. Jax’s smirk grows into a grin at her facade of irritation, moving his hand back behind his head to cushion it against the hard block they were still leaning against. Pomni grumbles and scoots closer to Jax before she elbows him in the side. Her small arm making contact with where his lower ribs would be. Jax’s eyes snap open in an instant, his ever-present grin faltering for a moment as he flinches back, his arm coming down to shield his side. He looks down at her in surprise and almost confusion a bit as he is startled by the sudden, unexpected sensation. Pomni, noticing this, and worried she may have hurt him, quickly tries to apologize, but he is quick to stifle his reaction, over-dramatically flopping down onto the floor.
“Oh! I’m wounded! How could you, Pomni? My own teammate turning against me!~” He mock-cries, placing a hand on his forehead for extra effect. Pomni giggles with relief to see that she didn’t actually hurt him, her expression softening a bit as he flops down next to her. She smiles and gently punches at him, enjoying the playful turn this conversation has taken. “Ow!- Hey! Cut it out.” Jax groans in playful annoyance as she pokes and pushes him, though despite his attempts, he can’t fully hide the small laugh escaping his mouth.
“Muwahaha! Yes! Feel the wrath of Pomni The Evil!” Pomni attempts her evil laugh again as she jokingly karate chops and punches at the rabbit. Jax looks up at her with a smirk, rolling his eyes as he halfheartedly fends off her attack.
“Eh… still kinda cringe.” He teases. Pomni, taking this as an invitation, doubles down on her playful efforts to attack him. Her hands grasp his side in attempts to get a good grip to shove him across the tiled floor. Jax gasps, his eyes going wide once again as his arms pin down to his sides. Jax chuckles as her fingers lightly dig into his sides, making him squirm. Pomni, not seeming to notice right away, continues her playful assault, poking and pushing at his torso.
Jax giggles again, trying to weakly grab her hands despite his body telling him to shield himself. He curls onto his side, his eyes shut in small, mirthful giggles as he swats at her hand.
“Gehehea! H-Hey! No fair!-” He giggles, grabbing her hands. Their playful squabble pauses for a moment as Pomni catches onto his reaction. Once again, he tries to divert her attention, by this time letting out a fake cough, but Pomni quickly realizes what was happening, and her eyes squint in suspicion.
“Jax… are you…?” She asks, a small smirk coming to her face as she looks down at the purple rabbit. Jax’s eyes go wide for no more than a second, his face flushing slightly in realization that she has probably caught on.
“Huh-? Uh heh, am I what?” He inquires, cautiously crossing his arms over his chest, trying to seem unaware of the implication. He could just sit up and run to get away… but that would tell Pomni the answer clear as day.
“Are you ticklish?” Pomni smirks, moving to poke his side again. Jax’s expression resembles a strange mix of emotions: surprise, embarrassment, and even a bit of… excitement? But he quickly shoves those emotions away, pushing her hand off as he scoffs and quickly sits up. “Pfft- Of course not! You must be losing it, Pomni.” He deflects, scooting back to his spot next to her. His attempts to seem nonchalant don’t go unnoticed by Pomni. He eyes her wearily as he subconsciously hugs his knees to his chest, trying to protect any weak spots.
Pomni chuckles sympathetically, seeing the embarrassment in Jax’s expression.
“I… didn’t know we could still be ticklish here.” Pomni chuckles, with an innocent shrug, making Jax’s face flush deeper.
“Yeah, well— We can’t. It was just a glitch or something.” He denies, averting his gaze from her. Pomni chuckles at Jax’s denial, which she is not surprised by at all considering his personality. She scoots a bit closer to him, her smile growing.
“Oh yeah? Then why are you getting all embarrassed?” She teases lightly, digging her fingers into his side again, making the rabbit jolt upright.
“H-Hey!” Jax exclaims, slightly squirming away from her touch. He curls up further, his legs pinning closer to his chest as he tries to shield the sensitive area with his arms. (Yeah, like that saved you before, buddy.)
“Hm… interesting…” Pomni smiles, pulling her hand back for a moment. Her eyes sparkle with amusement and fascination at the new discovery of not only tickling being a thing in this digital world but that Jax was susceptible to it!
“Pomni… I-I swear if you—“ Jax stammers, but before he can finish speaking, Pomni smirks evilly and reaches up, tickling his neck. A shiver runs down Jax’s spine as he scrunches his shoulder up around her gloved hand. A wide, genuine grin on his face as he tries to keep his composure.
“Aeheheheheh! H-Hehey! Pompom! C-C-Cohome ohon!” He squeaks, scooting away from her but easily just traps himself in a corner of the large blocks.
“Hang on. I gotta test this.” She playfully protests, poking and tickling his sides and ribs, making the purple rabbit shriek and squirm.
“Phohomni! I’m gonna kihihill you!” He gasps, but there’s no real malice behind his words. Surprisingly, he doesn’t do much to stop her, or even take control of the situation like both of them assumed he would. Instead, he just… curled up and didn’t resist except for what his body naturally did in response to the sensation… It’s such a strange and almost unfamiliar feeling to Jax… he should hate this. He should shove her back, get mad at her, scare her off, push her away… Anything to avoid her seeing him like this… no one sees him like this. This isn’t his character, and that’s wrong… but something in him stops him, and it both infuriates and scares him.
“No, you won’t! Look at you, you’re hardly even fighting back!” She giggles, lightly scribbling into his underarms, making him squeal.
“Come on! Admit it! You’re ticklish.” Pomni teases, snapping Jax back into reality. He full-on screeches when he feels her hands squeeze his lower sides.
“Gahaha!” He giggles as she moves to squeeze the same spot again, making his foot thump against the ground in ticklish agitation. Jax squeaks and giggles wildly as she teases the sensitive spot.
“Pohohomni! Iihit tickles!” He gasps through giggles and squeals.
“Ha, see! I told you! Who’s the funny one now, huh?!” Pomni teases, fluttering her fingers back up to his neck. His mind races with conflicting thoughts of telling himself he can’t let his persona slip and secretly craving more of the playful affection. The fact he can’t hide his reactions… and yet Pomni seems to accept and want to see more of it… the genuine him… The last time something like this happened was with…
“Aahahaha! Nyahahaha! Nohot thehere!” He suddenly shrieks as she squeezes and pokes at his belly through his overalls.
“What’s wrong, Jax? I thought you wanted me to be evil! Mwahahaha!” Pomni laughs evilly again, clearly enjoying this playful game they have going on.
“Ohok! Ohok! Pomni! Ehenough! Yohou win!”He shrieks pushing her hands back with ease. Pomni, seeing he has had enough, lowers her hands, letting them rest idly in Jax’s hands. The two of them stare at one another for a beat, as Jax catches his breath a small but genuine smile on his face.
“Jax…?” She begins as he glances up at her. His signature smirk once again plastered on his face.
He clicks his tongue. “Well, you caught me. Looks like my biiig secret is out, huh?” He shrugs with his usual sarcastic tone letting go of her hands. Pomni smiles slightly at his tone, glad he isn’t mad. She scoots back a bit giving Jax some space, though she still looks at him with a cheeky smile making Jax playfully roll his eyes as he stands up.
“Hooo, didn’t think you had that in ya Pompom.” He says, his back turned to her for a moment before he looks back, his smirk once again returning, but this time with a bit more mischief than usual, he runs a hand through the fur on his head.
“You got guts.” He smirks down at her, he leans down picking up his gun, twirling it casually before he speaks. “And… “ He sighs stretching his arms a bit. “I think you should run.” He smirks.
“H-Huh why?… Oh-“ She suddenly realizes where this is going. Her eyes go wide.
“Oh [BLOINK]…” Pomni stammers scrambling to stand up, Jax chuckles evilly, clearly having plans for revenge. He takes a step closer to Pomni, just when she is about to bolt a bullet comes flying by her head hitting the ground. Both Jax and Pomni look at the bullet in the floor then back at each other…
They both smirk readying their guns. Revenge may have to wait…
