oi

not very good but I was determined to do one self care fetish art before I'm away from home for the weekend. so whatever Good Enough lol. I gotta get off my laptop

After I was talking about freaky N a bunch this mental image popped into my mind. I ..... don't have much else to say. It's self indulgent. yum

She wandered around the circus for a while. It was silent save for the occasional popping of one of the bubbles overhead. Pomni stared at them for a few minutes, waiting for one of them to grow fangs and a potty mouth, but they stayed blank, floating to and fro much like actual bubbles would.

The circus was strangely eerie without Caine’s booming voice or Kinger’s squawks or Ragatha’s awkward laughter to fill up the place. Ironically, the colorful walls and large, cutesy props sort of reminded her of an abandoned mall or a toy store. This would have been exactly the type of place Pomni would have been itching to sneak into with nothing except her cell phone and a camera in her hand. 

But that was a habit of the past.

Eventually, Pomni found herself stepping into the circus’s common room…if one could call it that; nothing about this place was particularly ‘common,’ but it was one of the few relatively normal rooms.

Pomni stopped in her tracks.

Jax lay across one of the couches with one of his arms draped haphazardly over his face. His legs hung over the armrest. His eyes were closed. Pomni would have thought he was sleeping if it wasn’t for the way his foot tapped against the side of the couch.

She scratched the back of her hand as she thought about what to say, but her mind went blank. Should she even talk to him? Breaking the silence somehow felt like some sort of taboo. 

…Well, if it was anyone who would be more than willing to break anything that was considered to be remotely decent, it was Jax. With newfound confidence, Pomni stepped over to where he was lying down.

“Hey,” she said, her voice low. “I thought you’d be in your room.”

If Jax was surprised about Pomni’s presence, he didn’t show it. Instead, he opened one eye and scanned her up and down before closing his eye again. “I got bored,” he said simply.

“Me too.” Even though Jax was no longer looking at her, she still smiled. Granted, it was a small, awkward one, but a smile nonetheless. After what had happened with the whole button thing, she wanted Jax to know that there weren’t any hard feelings, at least not on her side. “I napped for a bit, but that was it.” She bounced on her heels as she glanced around the looming circus tent. “It’s a bit weird here without anyone else.”

Jax hummed flippantly in response. 

“Uh,” Pomni stretched out the sound. “Do you mind if I sit here?”

For a few seconds, she thought Jax wasn’t going to answer, but then he shrugged. “I don’t care,” he muttered through his teeth.

Pomni plopped down at the end of the couch, next to Jax’s head. If she had the choice, she probably would have sat on the other side, where his legs were, but there wasn’t any room for Pomni to sit. Honestly, there wasn’t much room on this side, either. The top of Jax’s head narrowly avoided brushing against her thigh, but that meant his ears were nestled squarely in her lap. She pressed herself against the back of the couch.

Jax’s eyes popped open. His pupils were tiny. “What are you doing?” The question came out quickly, almost a snarl. His ears perked up in such a way that they were no longer touching her skin, which she appreciated.

“You said I could sit here.”

“I said I didn’t care.” Jax glared in a rather non-uncaring way. “And, I thought you meant one of the other couches. You know, the three other free ones?” He jabbed his pointer finger toward the set of equally colorful couches across from them. 

“Oh,” Pomni said. “Sorry.” She didn’t bother to move.

Jax gave her an unimpressed look before rolling his eyes. He settled back into the couch cushions and covered his face with the back of his forearm. “...Whatever,” he mumbled.

They sat like that for a long time. 

It was weird. For a while there, it seemed like Pomni and Jax were sort of getting along. Sure, he was pretty rough around the edges and overall a jerk to literally everyone here, but they were beginning to find some sort of common ground. That was, until the gun adventure, and now…whatever that whole thing was with Caine. She couldn’t understand him.

Pomni glanced down. Jax’s ears bobbed slightly in the air. Every so often, one of them would droop down far enough to hit her leg, but he always picked it back up.

She kept watching it.

Maybe that was the problem with this place. Everything here looked close enough to real, but not real enough for them to stick. Jax was a person, obviously, but he was also a purple rabbit made of whatever passed for code in this world, splayed across a toy-bright couch underneath a giant multicolored circus tent. The whole scene felt staged. It felt like something set up for her to poke just to see what would happen.

“You know, it’s kind of funny,” Pomni said, “but, for some reason, I had assumed that you were slightly fuzzy. Like an actual rabbit.” Before she could think better of it, she rubbed one of his ears with her forefinger and thumb. Jax flinched slightly at the contact, but he didn’t move away. “But, you actually feel more like rubber.”

“Did you find that out when you were beating me into a pulp?” Jax asked.

Pomni blinked. “Ah, well, um, yes,” She stumbled over her words. “But, you did throw me out of a moving truck once, so I think we’re even on that front.”

“Touché.”

“You have to admit that it is kind of interesting, though, right? Our bodies, I mean.” She stroked the tip of his ear with her thumb. Jax sniffed, stiffening slightly. “Like, I’m wearing gloves, but I can still feel things normally.” To emphasize her point, she ran her fingers down the length of his…fur? skin? Whatever exactly covered his avatar.

Jax bolted upright and turned around in his seat. “D-Don’t do that,” he yelped, cringing at the way he stuttered. He tugged at his ear, as though he was attempting to shake out the sensation. 

“I’m sorry.” Pomni held her hands in the air. “I didn’t mean to tickle you.”

It was as though Pomni had just kicked his puppy. Jax stopped cold before turning around fully, so he was now on his knees facing her. “You didn’t tickle me,” he sputtered, his voice turning ever so slightly shrill. “I’m not ticklish.” He slapped the cushion with his palm.

“Relax,” she said. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about–”

“I’m not embarrassed!” Jax gestured toward himself. “Who said I was embarrassed? I just don’t like people touching me, alright?”

“Okay, okay. I get it.” Pomni found herself agreeing with Jax just to get him to settle down. “I don’t like being touched all that much, either.”

Jax paused. “...Good.”

A beat passed between them. Pomni glanced to the side, but there wasn’t much to look at. Jax wasn’t moving. He scrutinized her every movement as though she was going to jump him at any moment. Pomni tapped her fingers against her knee just to have something to do. 

“I was being serious, though,” she said just to break this awkward energy.

“About what?”

“About how there’s nothing embarrassing about being ticklish.” 

Jax crossed his arms. “Would you let go of that already?” He kissed his teeth. “I didn’t peg you to be some sort of pervert.”

“Pervert?!” Pomni sputtered. “What are you talking about?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Jax’s tone took on that same lazy drawl it usually did when he was trying to deflect. He smirked as he leaned back against the armrest. “I mean, you basically waltzed in here begging to cuddle up with me—”

“Excuse you?”

“And then you start touching me all over—” He threw his hands in the air wildly in some strange attempt to mock her. “—like some sort of perv!”

Pomni frowned. She waited a second just in case she had managed to mishear him, but nope. 

She chose her words carefully. “...If the first thing you think about when someone accidentally tickles you is something perverted, then maybe you’re the issue?”

Jax went still.

He stared at Pomni. His pupils were so tiny that his eyes were basically a sea of yellow. Jax’s ears straightened up as if someone pulled them by a string, and his shoulders hunched over. He sort of reminded Pomni of a predator hunting his prey, which was kind of funny considering what he looked like.

Then, he smiled.

It was wide, almost encompassing his entire face. 

“Wow, Pomni, you’re even more perverted than I thought.”

“Are you serious?”

Jax stretched his arms out in front of him before cracking his neck. He was acting like someone who was about to start a workout. “Let’s see how you like it when someone gets handsy with you.”

“What are you talking about—ah!” Pomni screamed as Jax leapt on top of her, knocking the wind out of her chest. They tumbled into a heap on the floor. “What are you doihing—!” Pomni got her answer once Jax started digging into her sides.

“See? You’re ticklish, too!” Jax exclaimed. He sat on her legs, pinning her to the ground. 

Pomni noted the last part of his sentence. “I nehever said I wasn’t!” Jax didn’t answer. Instead, he chose to drill his thumbs underneath her arms. Pomni flinched. She could feel a wobbly smile creep onto her face as quiet giggles poured out of her. “Hehey!” She placed her hand over his to dull the sensations. 

Jax scowled and moved onto her stomach, then her hips, and then her sides, again. If Pomni didn’t know better, she would say he was beginning to get annoyed. What? Were her reactions not funny enough for him? Because they certainly weren’t funny for her.

Finally, having had enough, Pomni seized Jax’s shoulders and shoved him to the side. He gave a clipped yell before crumpling onto the ground like a rag doll. Pomni pushed herself up. She knew she didn’t have much time before Jax would decide to retaliate, so she did the only thing she could think of.

She sat on his back.

“Huh? Hey!” Jax collapsed underneath her weight. Pomni experimentally wiggled her fingers against his ribs. Any sort of smartass comment that Jax might have said in that moment was drowned out by a high-pitched squawk. “AAHHAHAHA—!” He slammed his fists against the ground as his arms scrambled underneath him in some sort of futile endeavor to push himself up.

Jax’s laughter was more like a scream than actual laughing, but it was amusing nonetheless. His face scrunched up, but he couldn’t keep his lips closed for more than half a second. Pomni suspected that he was trying to hold his laughter in, but he was apparently too sensitive to even do that. 

“Huh,” Pomni said. “I guess you are ticklish after all.” She spidered her fingers up and down Jax’s sides. While she always thought his overalls were pretty goofy, they gave her great access to exploit his weak spots. 

Jax’s legs twisted and turned wildly as he tried to buck Pomni off, but she held on strong. “Sh–shuhut uhuhUHUHP!” His laughter was borderline maniacal with the occasional hiccup splattered in between. How endearing. “It’s nahahat…!” Jax squeaked when Pomni pinched his side. “It’s nahat FAHAHAhair!!”

“What isn’t fair?”

Her fingers crawled up and around his back, targeting the especially sensitive spot between his shoulder blades. Jax tried to push her off of him, but he couldn’t quite reach the spots where Pomni’s hands were. Despite being taller than her, Pomni was definitely bigger, which she used to her advantage. She planted her knees against the ground to steady herself.

“You’re n—nahahat that—!! Eheheeh!” A particularly squeaky chirp spilled from Jax’s lips. “Stahap! Stop thahahaat!” Jax’s fingers dug into the floor, but he couldn’t find any leverage. 

Hm. Was Jax complaining that she wasn’t as ticklish as he was? How childish could he be? Though Pomni supposed she wasn’t one to talk, considering the circumstances. 

“I’ll stop if you promise not to tickle me again,” Pomni said.

Before the softball adventure, Pomni didn’t think they could blush. They didn’t exactly have blood, after all, but Jax had proved her wrong, then. And, he was proving her wrong, now. Jax’s face had taken on a more pinkish hue. Since they didn’t need to breathe here, Pomni surmised that his reddening cheeks were mostly due to embarrassment. Unless his face just did that when he held his breath, but she doubted that.

She lightly brushed her index fingers up Jax’s armpits. His arms clamped around his sides as he let out another sharp scream. “AHAHAH—!” Jax almost managed to fully shake her off of him that time. That must have been a particularly sensitive spot. “Nuh uhuh!! Yoh–ou…” Another hiccup. “You stah–AHAH–arted it! Eehehek!”

“Yeah, by accident!” Pomni rolled her eyes. She suspected that he was mainly refusing due to pride. He could be pretty stubborn, after all, but she could be, as well.

“Oh, I’m sohoho getting you bahaHAHAck when I gehet out of thihihs!” 

At this rate, Pomni was going to be tickling him forever. She needed to find a way out without Jax immediately getting revenge. She shifted, so she was looking behind her. Jax’s legs were still kicking as he writhed all over the place. It sort of reminded her of that one rabbit from that movie she watched a long time ago as a child. What was their name, again? Thumper? 

Huh. 

Something else managed to grab her attention. She blinked just to make sure she wasn’t seeing things, but no, Jax’s tail was wagging. That was pretty surprising, considering he didn’t have the thing a couple of weeks ago. Pomni wasn’t all too knowledgeable about rabbit biology, but she wondered if his tail was similar to a dog’s. Maybe Jax was secretly enjoying this? It certainly didn’t seem like it by the way he was yelling at her, but his tail was telling another story entirely.

She didn’t dwell on it. 

She hummed in a fake inquisitive way. “I wonder if your paws are also ticklish.”

Jax shrieked. It sort of hurt her ears. “FIHIHINE! Fihihihine! I wohohon’t get you back! I promihihise! Ahahaha! J–Just stop! Ple—ahahah—!” 

Satisfied, Pomni stopped tickling him. She slid off of Jax to give him time to calm down. Jax’s arms gave out from under him as he fell into a pile of limbs on the floor. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he tried to catch his breath. His cheeks were still rosy in hue, but they were starting to return to their natural purple shade. A singular droplet of a tear had welled up in his right eye, which made Pomni scratch her cheek. Yeah, she might have gone too far this time. Again.

Jax wheezed. He tried to push himself up once more, but he only managed to prop himself onto his elbows. “Never ever mention this to anyone ever,” Jax said in between labored breaths. He wiped away the tear with the back of his hand. 

“As long as you do the same,” Pomni said.

Jax paused for a moment, like he was mulling it over. Then, he nodded. “Deal.” He held out his hand. 

“Deal.” Pomni shook it.