Pomni's number 1 fan and kin

(Everyone and their mother has made a post like this for different circus members being regressors, but while working on my Little!Kinger fics (there’s two more in the works!) I got the idea of the rest of the circus eventually having their own regressive episodes, culminating into this, a list of headcanons I have for each one of them. I’m excluding Kinger since I already wrote out his, but I’ll link it *here* to make it easy to find if you wanna see it after reading this. Anyways, rant over, here’s some regression headcanons for our favorite band of misfits!)

(Quick note: Jax is referred to as Lilly throughout this and uses she/her pronouns. Please use those pronouns if you decide to write about her in the tags/replies!)

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Ragatha

🧸~ Her regression age ranges from around five to nine; it all depends on what triggered it/if it was an intentional regression. She’s usually older when it’s a trauma response out of a subconscious need to still have some autonomy (the chance to run and hide more effectively) while still being regressed, whereas regressing lower is the ultimate showing of trust on her part.

🧸~ Her primary caregiver is obviously Kinger, but Pomni has also filled that role quite a few times. Kinger’s her favorite by far, their history of being alone in the circus together for awhile and the bond they’ve forged feeding into this newfound dynamic, but Pomni is by no means a bad caregiver. She’s arguably better at it than Kinger- when he’s delirious, that is- but Ragatha can’t help but want her dad more 99% of the time.

🧸~ She refers to Kinger as Daddy, Pomni as Mommy, Jax/Lilly as Sissy or just her name, Zooble as Zoob/Zoobie, Gangle as Gangy/Sissy, and Caine as Bubby.

🧸~ If it’s an involuntary regression, she becomes very defensive and closed off out of fear for how other people will react, as well as to avoid any potential danger. The first time she dropped was a few weeks after finding out about Kinger’s regressive tendencies; it scared the heck out of her and she immediately went into hiding, but Kinger found her within the day and coaxed her through it, afterwards promising to look after her whenever she regresses, just as she’s done for him.

🧸~ Like Kinger, she also has the potential to unconsciously physically regress, but it’s very rare, mainly because such an extreme change would be because of a younger, more voluntary regression, which she would be more alert for, making it easier to repress. It does happen though, and every time it startles her, but luckily Kinger and Pomni have gotten good at handling her no matter the circumstances.

🧸~ Flip-flops between being a very anxious and very clingy regressor, it depends on how it started. When she’s clingy she tends to get underfoot, her desire to still help out despite her mental state making it difficult to get her to relax and just accept what’s happening. Kinger usually solves this by being firm about not letting her do any chores or tasks, instead redirecting her to play, whereas Pomni lets Ragatha help out until she’s tuckered out, after which she’ll convince her to go play or take a nap.

🧸~ Her version of “acting out” is either endearing or deeply worrying, there’s no in-between. She’s either swapping people’s pillows or refusing to eat despite not having eaten all day. No one is all that comfortable with the thought of disciplining her, especially since they know she’s often neglecting herself as a form of self-harm, so the only “punishments” she gets are a time-out with Kinger, who will try to talk her through her feelings.

🧸~ On a cuter note, she loves messing around in little ways with whoever is watching her. If they’re distracted or working on something else, she’ll do something like stare dead at them until they look her way, at which point she’ll quickly turn her head and act like nothing happened. It amuses the heck out of Kinger and never fails to make him chuckle.

🧸~ Do not leave her unattended with ingredients for a meal or art supplies; she’s clumsy as can be while regressed and is pretty much guaranteed to make a mess at some point, which always leads to the poor dear crying her eyes out in shame and fear since she believes she’ll be hurt by her mom/caregiver for it. It takes a lot of verbal comforting and reassurance to calm her down, after which she’ll only accept physical comfort from Kinger.

🧸~ She prefers regressing alongside a few other people, primarily Pomni, Lilly, and/or Gangle. With Pomni she gets to play as a big sister for her, something she takes comfort in out of a repressed longing to have had a sibling while growing up. With Lilly she gets to indulge in the friendship and playfulness that Lilly had with her before Ribbit abstracted, plus she just finds her cute as a button and much more pleasant to be around while she’s little. With Gangle her feelings are similar to what they are for Pomni, but she actually has a much easier time playing with her.

🧸~ Her favorite activities are playing simple/easy sports, playing on the beach, and really anything that’s more active and involved. She hates sitting still while regressed; she feels like she needs to be doing something at all times, at least once her anxiety lessens and she accepts that she’s regressing for the day.

Pomni

🃏~ Her regression age ranges from around three to ten, but it’s usually on the older side of that spectrum. Her regressions are most often triggered by getting a little too into playing along with an adventure, becoming overwhelmed, or even just by choice. While she’s still getting used to it, being exposed to Kinger’s regression has eased her embarrassment around it a lot.

🃏~ Her primary caregivers are Ragatha, Kinger, and Lilly, her favorite secretly being Kinger, who provides stability while still being silly and fun. Ragatha’s great in a big sister sort of way, although she can sometimes get under Pomni’s skin if she’s too pushy (usually via making sure Pomni eats and naps when she needs to). Lilly is a bit of a mixed bag; in all honesty she prefers just having her as a playmate.

🃏~ She refers to Kinger as Dad, Ragatha as Mom/Big Sis, Lilly by her name or a silly nickname, Zooble by their name or Zoobs, Gangle by her name or Sis, and Caine as Lil’ Bro.

🃏~ Regressions are almost always a somewhat conscious choice; if she feels it coming, and the situation isn’t too dire or inopportune, she won’t fight too hard to repress it. If she does try to repress it, either because she’s trying to take care of someone else or she’s in a predicament, it tends to be a very unpleasant drop once it finally happens.

🃏~ Physically regressing isn’t something she deals with too often outside of Caine enforcing it for an adventure/group regression. Sure, she can theoretically do it, but she feels plenty small already; she just doesn’t see a point in it.

🃏~ Very playful and mischievous regressor no matter the circumstances. Oh, she’s not allowed to run in the tent? Sorry, you’ll have to catch her if you want her to stop! Lilly wants a cookie but dinner is in less than an hour? What are these rules you speak of? Those are just suggestions, suggestions that she won’t abide by anytime soon. As a result she usually gets in trouble at least once per regression, leading her to be punished with time outs and chores, much to her frustration.

🃏~ If she can, she wants to regress alongside Lilly, who at that point becomes her partner in crime despite Lilly usually being a surprisingly chill regressor (more on that later). Pomni and her bounce off each other all too easily, and if they aren’t kept in check and heavily monitored, they’re bound to stir the pot and cause trouble, or at least make a mess.

🃏~ Her favorite activities are rough-housing/play fighting, tag, NERF/paintball wars, and anything else that can be described as competitive, and boy howdy is she competitive! She’s in it to win, and no one is gonna get in the way of that! …Unless whoever she’s playing with starts crying or gets upset, then Pomni “accidentally” misses or slows down enough that the other person wins. Even while small and playful, she’s still empathetic at heart.

Zooble

🎨~ Their regression age ranges from seven to thirteen, but on rare occasions they’ll regress to be a toddler. They honestly thought they didn’t have it in them to be a regressor for the longest time, but after an adventure went unexpectedly haywire in a way that was triggering for them, they came home shaky and dissociative, later learning that they regressed for a few hours after the adventure, but they don’t remember much of it.

🎨~ Their primary caregiver is Gangle; while Ragatha can sometimes talk them into letting her help, they don’t feel comfortable around anyone but Gangle while they’re regressed, making it difficult for them to trust anyone but her to look after them, although Gangle mostly just hangs out with them and enforces the rules when it’s necessary.

🎨~ They don’t talk to the others much while regressed if they can help it, but when they do, they call everyone by their names or silly nicknames if they’re feeling particularly playful.

🎨~ Physically regressing just isn’t a thing for them, like at all, save for the times Caine has implemented it on an adventure or for a group regression, which usually results in them being especially fussy and uncooperative for the duration of the experience (they’re mostly bitter about it because the first time Caine did it for an adventure was the first time they regressed into a toddler headspace, which genuinely unsettled them… even if it was kinda fun to be a little kid with Gangle).

🎨~ Teenage rebellion is pretty much the cornerstone of their regressive episodes. I headcanon that they grew up as the oldest sibling by a decent margin, and that they were forced to babysit/borderline raise their younger half-siblings while being neglected by their mom and stepdad. This culminates in their regression being an outlet for the neglected, angry teenager in them to feel like they have a childhood again, even if it’s just to play video games and act reckless.

🎨~ Regressing alongside others isn’t something they consciously seek out, it just sort of happens, and quite often in fact. Usually it’s alongside Gangle and/or Ragatha, but they do decently well with the others too, save for Kinger, whose regression has the potential to snap them out of theirs in an effort to take charge of the situation and help look after him (someone’s gotta be in charge around here, and they’re not about to leave it to Caine).

🎨~ While they’re regressing they’re still very level-headed, but with an added layer of “I don’t give a f*ck” attitude that has them mostly just watching chaos unfold instead of trying to stop it, which is quite the juxtaposition since they’re usually the quickest to intervene when shit goes south during someone else’s regressive episode. They certainly add commentary though, actively encouraging whatever is happening to continue while teasing those involved.

🎨~ Their protectiveness over Gangle is tenfold while they’re regressed, much to her amusement. If they’re not actively doing something together, Zooble will trail Gangle and try to keep her out of harm’s way, even when there’s no harm to be found, resulting in them being pretty hostile with everyone else, especially Caine and Lilly.

🎨~ Due to their poor attitude and tendency to get into actual physical fights if pushed hard enough, it’s not uncommon for them to get in trouble while regressed. Usually they’re punished with taking a nap, if only because being forced to do nothing but chores was basically their entire childhood. Gangle has joked a few times about sp*nking them since it works so well when they’re big- cue Ragatha spitting out her tea and Zooble’s whole head turning red with embarrassment- but she’s never actually punished them like that while they’re regressed.

🎨~ They have a lot of body parts that are specifically for when they’re regressed, their favorites being a big teddy bear arm and skates they can add to whatever they’re using as feet (cool skater kid vibes).

🎨~ Their favorite activities are working on art projects and playing video games, preferably with Gangle at their side. They’re open to playing with the others too, but only if they’re not too whiny or little for it, at which point they get almost as competitive as Pomni!

Gangle

🎭~ Their regression age ranges in much the same way as Zooble’s, but leaning more on the younger side, so about five to thirteen. Her regression is very much a self-care/comfort for her, and is more often than not voluntary, but every so often she has a hard enough time to drop without meaning to, which usually lands her on the older side of her regression age-slide (it’s her mind trying to still have autonomy but still make herself seem smaller and less like a target, much like Ragatha does).

🎭~ Her primary caregivers are Zooble and Ragatha, although she’s fine with pretty much anyone filling that role, save for Lilly, but she learns to trust her more once Lilly proves that she’s changing for the better.

🎭~ Like Zooble, she doesn’t change people’s names too much, other than calling Kinger Daddy/Papa and Ragatha Mom/Mommy; it depends on if she’s feeling younger or older. Everyone else is a sibling or friend.

🎭~ Troublemaking/mischievous regressor. Can and will try to pull pranks on people while she’s regressed; she grew up as an only child to very strict and reclusive parents, so it was difficult for her to ever goof around with and make friends among her peers. Her pranks are mostly harmless, but every so often she accidentally sets something in motion and loses control of it, resulting in either a huge mess or some very hurt feelings.

🎭~ Physically regressing is something that occurs more often than not, although she has much more control over it and doesn’t (usually) do it unconsciously. When she’s like this, she tends to wear magical girl-inspired clothes and anything else she finds cute!

🎭~ She really doesn’t like being alone while regressed, so she’ll either have a caregiver or trail after someone else in the circus (usually Zooble or Ragatha). She makes it a game, though; she’ll try and hide any time the person she’s following turns around, leading to a game of cat and mouse that often ends with her trying to jump out and scare whoever she’s following.

🎭~ While she’s on the younger side of a regression, she loves nothing more than to put on dress up shows and/or act out little plays with whoever she can convince to join, those usually being her caregiver(s) and whoever is in a younger headspace than her. She can be a bit fussy about how the games are supposed to be played though, so be prepared for her to be bossy as hell if things don’t go her way.

🎭~ Regressing alongside others is something she loves, especially when she’s the oldest of the regressors since it means she’ll be in charge (other than the caregiver, of course). She especially likes playing with Zooble and Pomni, but honestly she loves everyone, even Lilly (over time she starts liking Lilly the most for shared regressions; she loves getting to be a big sister to her for awhile… and also getting to boss her around)!

🎭~ Her favorite activities are (predictably) drawing, painting, sculpting, and playing pretend games. Anything that involves being creative and artistic is pretty much guaranteed to be a hit with her!

Lilly

🐰~ Her regression is pretty much always on the much younger side, anywhere from a baby to a toddler, and it’s difficult to predict which she’ll be. Her regressions are never voluntary, and are either a result of her guilt overwhelming her or the stress of life becoming too much to handle anymore (or because of a PTSD trigger involving her childhood).

🐰~ Her primary caregiver is Pomni. She’s been babysat by a few of the other circus members, but she’s still struggling to recover from her abstraction, not to mention her guilt over what she did and said to everyone beforehand. Once she’s gotten more comfortable, she’s willing to let Ragatha be her caregiver for short periods of time, but she’ll always come running back to Mama 💜

🐰~ When she’s writing/signing to the others, she refers to Pomni as Mama, Ragatha as Auntie, Gangle as Gangy, Zooble as Zoob, Kinger as Dada, and Caine as Bubby.

🐰~ Shy/Mild-mannered regressor. She’s pretty much completely non-verbal while regressed, making it rather difficult to communicate with her, especially since her sign language is very limited early on. She communicates mostly through vague gestures and just pointing at things she wants/needs. She’s also very easy to frighten and make cry, her worst triggers being any mention of her past (whether it’s in regards to Ribbit, Kaufmo, her parents, or her awful behavior before her abstraction) and loud noises.

🐰~ Continuing off that last one; I headcanon that a lot of Lilly’s childhood is blocked out by her subconscious due to her father being a lot more abusive than she remembers while big, but when she’s regressed those memories resurface in various ways. The worst incident was during a race-car themed adventure; she was already upset and jumpy because of all the noise and an argument she had with Zooble, only for the sound of a garage door opening to send her into a blind panic. Lilly took off out of the adventure and back to her room to hide, forcing Caine to pause the adventure while he tracked her down and found out what triggered her. She was unbelievably embarrassed once she aged up, but luckily for her no one gave her any grief for it.

🐰~ On a somewhat lighter note, she’s the most like Kinger when it comes to unconscious physical regression, which is to say it’s almost guaranteed to happen, at which point she’s even smaller than regressed Kinger and her ears are a little droopier/floppier ((I need to draw her ASAP!))

🐰~ For the most part she’s okay with regressing alongside other circus members, but her personality/mannerisms vary person by person. With Pomni she’s her partner in crime, roughhousing with her and causing all kinds of mischief. With Zooble, Gangle, and Caine she’s a loyal but oblivious follower, going along with whatever they say/do since they’re the “big kids” and she wants to fit in with them. With Ragatha she’s quiet and affectionate, eager to hug her and be given as much positive attention as she can get. With Kinger she tries to act bigger in an effort to take care of the “other baby”, but if someone else takes charge she just chills with him.

🐰~ Her favorite activities are drawing and napping; whatever is quiet and not too exhausting. She’s usually open to the idea of playing with the others when she’s more alert, just don’t expect her to be very coordinated for it (except for that time they all played a fighting game and she button-mashed her way to victory, much to Pomni and Zooble’s frustration).

Caine

🎩~ His regression age ranges from around three to eleven; it’s difficult to predict and looks the same from most angles, but a keen eye can spot the differences. He didn’t understand that he was having regressive episodes until awhile after everyone else had been experiencing them, believing up until then that he was just underdeveloped/a failure.

🎩~ His primary caregivers are Kinger and Pomni, it’s just a matter of who’s big and who finds him first, although they’re happy to watch him together. He tries not to regress in front of or around the others, but it happens a lot more than he realizes; everyone else is aware and either plays along or gets Kinger and Pomni to come help.

🎩~ He refers to Kinger as Daddy, Pomni as Mommy, Ragatha as Big Sis/Dolly, Lilly as Sis/Bun-Bun, Gangle as Sissy/Ribbon, and Zooble as Sib-Sib/Puzzle. He also uses a lot of more generalized silly nicknames for everyone like he usually does, but with an emphasis on more kidsy stuff like; “my babbling peanuts”, “my playdough-stealing graham crackers”, and “my cranky-wanky turnips”!

🎩~ Playful regressor. Somehow he manages to be even more chaotic and rambunctious than usual while regressed, leading him to be bouncing off the walls and begging people to play with him. It’s difficult for him to reign himself in while he’s like this, so patience is key to communicating with him, especially while he’s in “play mode”.

🎩~ Bitey as all hell. He never bites down very hard, but he’s one-hundred percent willing to bite someone or something with almost no provocation, it just feels right to him. He’s been scolded for it countless times, but he just can’t seem to shake the habit; the best deterrent is giving him a chew toy/pacifier, at which point he’ll calm down significantly, it’s almost like a mute button. It amused the heck out of Zooble when they discovered it!

🎩~ Good luck trying to get him to nap or clean up, he wants exactly no part in either activity, although Kinger has come up with a good workaround by making it seem like an adventure/game. For example; “Caine, you need to help me put all these toys in the toy chest before a dragon comes and takes them all for their hoard!” “You don’t wanna take a nap? Alright, how about we play princesses? I’ll be Cinderella and you’ll be Sleeping Beauty!”

🎩~ As mentioned before, he struggles with knowingly regressing around anyone but Kinger and Pomni, his desire to be the ringleader/take care of “his humans” often getting in the way, but once he’s more comfortable with it, he likes regressing with everyone, especially Gangle, who becomes a mix of his best friend and biggest op, it depends on whether or not they’re arguing over what/how to play together.

🎩~ His favorite activities are going on adventures, playing pretend games, and reading with a caregiver! He loves being around his family, even before he’s ready to tell them that he’s also a regressor, but once he does, boy howdy does he go all in on playing with them!

(Bonus) Group Regression

🎪~ (Warning: mentions of padded/diaper regression) The only circus regressors who always have to use padding while regressed are Kinger and Lilly, although it’s not unheard of for the others to occasionally need padding if they regress young enough. Gangle isn’t too bothered by it, but she’s still not a huge fan and will make an effort to hide it under a skirt/dress. Pomni absolutely hates it and will raise hell if she’s forced to wear one. Ragatha thinks they’re cute on other people, but she’s conflicted when she’s the one wearing one; she becomes perfectly fine with it over time, though. Zooble outright refuses to wear one, even when they’re in a toddler headspace, leading them to run away like Kinger so often does in an effort to avoid it. Caine doesn’t understand why everyone is so fussy about it, so once he gets comfortable openly regressing around the others, he has exactly no reservations against wearing them; he doesn’t even try to hide it really, much to Zooble and Ragatha’s secondhand embarrassment.

🎪~ If there are multiple people regressing at once (which is usually the case) Kinger is pretty much always the caregiver, unless he’s one of the people that’s regressed, at which point it falls on Caine, but if he’s also regressed… well, the first time it happened it was pure, explosive chaos and mayhem, so much so that they had to have a family meeting afterwards to discuss how to handle such a thing moving forward. Now when they end up in that situation they call on some NPCs to help look after the group, those being some handmade caregiver mannequins (inspired by “this fic”; go read it, it’s delightful!), the Gloink Queen, or Gummigoo + his gang!

🎪~ If they’re all regressed at once, it basically goes like this; Kinger is climbing the fridge to reach the cookie jar while Ragatha pleads with him to get down before they get in trouble, Pomni is waiting in the shadows with a NERF gun ready to open fire on them when they least expect it, Lilly is crawling behind her until she’s intercepted by Gangle, who carries her off to come play dress-up with her and Caine, all while Zooble watches from the couch, reading a magazine and offering little more than commentary. Needless to say, the NPCs have their work cut out for them!

🎪~ Following many minor disasters and adventures gone awry, Caine (with input from the others) has put together a schedule for planned regression hangouts, which usually involves either going on a kid friendly adventure (stuff like a school field trip to the zoo or an afternoon at the park) or putting together some kind of group activity like a big sleepover, birthday party, or game tournament, it all depends on how old everyone is mentally!

🎪~ Actually deciding what to play/do together is always a hassle, especially if Caine and Gangle aren’t in agreement, at which point it becomes an argument. This is the point that Zooble will (reluctantly) get involved and help them sort it out, but then they’re right back to chilling.

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