Popsie :3

It had been... a long day, to say the least. Nothing bad happened, per se, but long nonetheless.

A lengthy adventure occupied most of the day, a rather fun one at that! Chosen by Ragatha, the group had all gone along on the horsebacking trip in the digital countryside.

Kinger and Queenie each manned a rest stop, not exactly being able to ride horseback, due to... the not having legs thing.

Gangle and Ragatha chatted it up in the front of the line along the trail, talking about nothing in specific.

Ribbit and Zooble were behind them, getting to know one another, never having met before Ribbit had abstracted. They were hitting it off quite well!

Kaufmo was... around. He was at the very back of the line, and seemed stoned as hell, but nobody had the heart to tell him it was obvious whenever he decided he HAD to share some "profound" thought.

And Jas and Pomni rode next to one another just in front of him. They didn't have much to say during the adventure. It was relaxing and fun, even not conversing, just being there.

Well, relaxing and fun until about the three-hour mark. That's when plenty of the group seemed about ready to be done for the day.

"I didn't think this was gonna be so long..." Ragatha mumbled to no one in particular. "Do you guys think we should call it?" She called out behind her.

Pomni was the first to answer. "Uhm..." she paused and glanced around. "Oh! It looks like there's a sign just around the bend! Should we see where the next rest stop is first?"

Jas looked like she might object, and just wanted to be done with this adventure, but she held her tongue and chose not to say anything.

Besides her and Kaufmo—who clearly was still pretty high, and could probably keep enjoying the adventure mindlessly for another few hours—the group seemed in agreement to at least check that first.

As soon as she could see the sign, Ragatha spoke up again. "It looks like the next rest stop is in about 20 minutes!" There was a brief silence while she read the rest of the sign. "And the end of the trail is about an hour away."

She stopped her horse for a moment, and the group copied. She turned her upper body to look behind her at the others. "What do you guys think?"

There ended up being an overall consensus to get to the next break in the trail, then reconvene again.

They ended up stopping there, having Caine bring them back to the tent then, and everyone first settled into the common area, before slowly dispersing.

First, the Chess Couple, heading outside to watch the fireflies while the sun set.

Just after them, Kaufmo, headed up to the café to satisfy his craving for something sweet. Ribbit trailed behind him, sticking almost abnormally close to his side.

Then Zooble and Gangle. To "Google things," which confused Ragatha and no one else in the slightest.

Ragatha followed a few minutes later, just ready to clean herself up and wind down for the night.

That left Pomni and Jasmine.

Pomni was definitely tired, but had had a good time today. Jas looked... significantly less happy and significantly more tired. Pomni scooted across the couch she was seated on to be up close to the one Jas sprawled herself across.

"Hey..." Pomni murmured, reaching a hand toward Jas.

Jas leaned into her hand, shutting her eyes and sighing. Her voice was softer than usual when she spoke. "Hi..."

A soft, knowing smile spread across Pomni's face. "It's been a long day, huh?" She ran a hand through Jasmine's hair.

"Mhmm," she hummed as an answer. "'M tired..." her voice was barely more than a breath, as she brought her arms close to herself.

Pomni's face shifted into a gentle concern, her eyebrows sinching together just slightly. She understood. "How 'bout we go get settled, then?"

Jas nodded.

And with that, Pomni carefully helped her up, supporting her back when she was at first unsteady—whispering, "I've got you,” when Jas almost panicked at how wobbly her own legs were.

They walked at an extra slow pace on their way upstairs to their rooms. Pomni held onto Jas's hand the whole way and guided her to hold onto the railing with her other as they ascended the stairs.

When they reached the dormatory hallway, Pomni briefly paused. "Your room or mine?"

Jas hesitated to think. "... yours," she mumbled, her voice breathy and small.

So, that's where they went. In the room, Jas immediately flopped down face first onto the bed, startling Pomni.

"Careful!!! I don't want you to hurt yourself doing that," she panicked.

Jas rolled over, sitting up criss-cross. "Sorry..." she muttered guiltily, her gaze focused a little too intensely on the floor. Pomni sighed and smiled softly again.

"It's okay, I just don't want you to accidentally hurt yourself, that's all," she explained, stepping forward to sit next to Jas, who still looked ashamed.

"It's okay, bub, really," Pomni reassured.

"'M sorry," Jas mumbled again.

"No more of that. It's alright, I promise." Pomni turned and reached for something on her nightstand. "Turn so I can put your hair up, please."

Jas looked like she wanted to apologize more still, but listened to her caregiver. “No more of that."She shuffed herself around to face opposite of Pomni.

Carefully, Pomni began brushing through Jas's hair, getting rid of any tangles before parting her bangs from the rest of it, then carefully pulling it up to where she would tie it.

"That good?" She asked. Jas hummed approvingly.

Then, she continued working. She used the brush to smooth out any bumps—she knew how much Jas hated when her hair was bumpy before the tie. Finally, she pulled the elastic tie around her hair, looping it four times. Her tongue poked out in concentration.

"Anddd..." she paused, finishing the last loop. "There!"

Jas, after feeling her hair and peeking in the mirror, turned back to face Pomni with a little smile.

"Did I do it right this time?" Pomni questioned, tilting her head at her.

"Mhmm! 'S good," Jas was soft-spoken.

She was already quite tired before the day's adventure had ended, and now that it had been over an hour since she had begun to tucker out, and now that she was slipping, Pomni could only imagine how tricky it must be for her to come up with words right now, so she wasn't offended by the lack of energy in her response.

"Good! I'm glad I've finally got it down, then!" Pomni chirped proudly, much like she had just won a battle on her very first try— she kind of did.

Jas was definitely genuine telling Pomni her hair was done right— Pomniknows she would tell her if it wasn't. Despite that, Jas was still clearly... not comfy.

She curled in on herself, and she was fiddling with her dress— more so than usual. And she averted her eyes back to the floor.

Pomni spoke up again. "Hey... can you tell me what's going on in your head right now?" She reached out and placed her hands lightly atop Jas's.

Jas let out a noise that wasn't quite a whine or a huff, but somewhere in between. She glanced down at her and Pomni's hands, before carefully adjusting her own to hold Pomni... but only two of her fingers, much like a little kid would with their tiny hands.

Jas's eyes dashed up and met Pomni's for only a split second before resuming her staring contest with the ground. Like she knew what she needed, but just couldn't say it. Luckily, Pomni knew her all too well by now.

"You can let yourself fully slip, bubba," Pomni assured her, holding Jas's hands back, running her thumbs along the tops of them.

In just a moment, there were tears welling in Jas's eyes. Pomni continued.

"You're allowed to be tiny, Jas. I've got you. You don't need to do anything else today. Just let me take care of you now."

And that's all it took to break her. Tears dripped down her cheeks, slow but steady. Pomni wiped them away before pulling her into a tender hug. Jas tensed only for a moment before melting against her, resting her head on Pomni's shoulder, sniffling.

Pomni rubbed her back with just enough pressure to be soothing, like a weighted blanket. She didn't hush Jas one bit. She let her know that she was there. That she was allowed to cry and be small.

They both sat like that for a few minutes, before Jas slowly settled. When Pomni pulled away to see her face, there was a distinctive look on it.

Big pupils and wide eyes—not in the way Jas's face was when she would disassociate, but the face that happened when she wastiny. Relaxed and trusting, pliant in a way she could never let herself be otherwise.

Pomni couldn't help but coo at it.

"Ooh, there she is..." she doted, taking Jas's face into her hands, her thumbs wiping away any trails of tears that still remained. "There's my sweet tiny."

That flustered Jas quite a bit. She whined and pressed her face back into Pomni's shoulder like she was hiding. Pomni chuckled.

"Sorry, sorry," she apologized, patting Jas's back. Jas fussed for a minute more before pulling away and yawning.

Pomni smiled softly, "I guess we should get you into something cozier for bed time now, yeah?"

Jas nodded, staring at her with those big ol' eyes again. Pomni's smile widened.

"Will you be okay if I just run up the hall and grab some jammies for you?"

Jas didn't hesitate too long to nod. She would be just fine for two minutes while Pomni grabbed her cozies! She wasn't baby small right now.

"I'll be quick," Pomni assured her, even though Jas seemed to have no issue with her leaving at the moment. Pomni knew her better than that though—one minute too long and she'd be teeny tiny and wailing.

"Back in just a minute," she remarked, stepping out of the room.

Pomni made quick work of scurrying down the hall to Jas's room.

Inside, she opened the bottom drawer of her dresser, where her comfiest clothes were kept. She was hurried to get back to Jas quickly, so when she couldn't choose which nightgown to grab for her, she grabbed two.

As she was about to head out of the room and back to her own, she paused, backtracking and grabbing the pink sippy cup that rested on the nightstand before leaving. Just in case.

As she hustled back to her own room, she could hear Jas starting to get herself worked up. She got back just as Jas was beginning to cry again, clearly having slipped smaller than before already.

Pomni set the things she had gathered on the bed next to Jas.

Jas stared at her again, seeming so surprised that she really did come back. Pomni wiped her tears away for the third time this evening.

"You're okay, bubs," she consoled. "I was only grabbing some things for you. See?" She gestured to the items. "So we can get you comfy cozy for bedtime."

Jas glaced over, scanning her eyes over them. Then decided she didn't actually care! She flopped herself against Pomni who stood in front of her, nearly falling off the bed and scaring the shit out of Pomni in the process.

Pomni was going to scold her a bit for it, but just couldn't. Jas was too teeny for that right now. So, she just sighed, adjusting her so she wouldn't slide off the bed anymore, and gave her a tight hug.

"I'm right here, bubs, you don't need to launch yourself at me," she explained gently. Jas wasn't really listening, though. She just gave a small babble in response.

When Jas eventually let her, Pomni carefully pulled away.

"We gotta get you in some jammies now, 'kay?" She held up the two nightgowns she had picked from Jas's drawer, raising them for her to see.

Jas didn't quite catch all of her words—brain lagging—but being visually promoted had her understand the choice. After a few moments, she patted at the one in Pomni's left hand.

It was black and looked more like a very oversized T-shirt than a gown. It was one of her very favorite things to wear.

"Good choice," Pomni complimented as she tossed the other option to the chair in the corner, setting the chosen gown aside. Jas looked disappointed when Pomni didn't put it on her right away.

Pomni shook her head with a fond smile. "We can't put that on over your clothes, bubba. We gotta take off your day outfit first." She paused for one moment, choosing her words. "Do you want to do that yourself? Or should I?"

Pomni was deliberate in asking Jas about changing every time, even though she usually allowed it now. She knew how she could get insecure about her body easily, no matter her headspace.

Jas shook her head and raised her arms for Pomni to do it.

"You want me to help you?" she asked, just confirming a second time that it was okay.

Jas nodded, arms still up.

So Pomni did the changing. She had to pull a bit of skirt from under Jas's bottom first, then pulled the dress up over her arms and head, tossing it to the chair with the other nightgown.

She was as speedy as she possibly could be while still being gentle to unclasp her bra—throwing it with the rest of the discarded clothes—and pull the black T-gown over Jas's head.

"There we go! Comfy?" Pomni asked as she pulled Jas's ponytail from the collar of the gown.

Jas shook her arms, unbunching the baggy sleeves of the piece, and nodded again. Then, she flopped backwards on the bed with a happy little huff. That made Pomni giggle.

Pomni then changed herself into something comfortable for the night. Rumaging through her dresser, she pulled out simple, soft black shorts and a big gray shirt. Not really pajamas, but it was a very cozy ensemble nonetheless.

Before she would crawl onto the bed next to Jas, she switched the light to come from the nightstand lamp instead of the overhead, and turned on the sound machine by it to the 4th level out of 10.

As she sat down, Pomni snagged one of Jas's binkies from in the bedside drawer, baby pink and simple. She was quick to replace Jas's fingers, which the little one had begun to chew on, with the nubby.

"No chewing on your hands, baby. That's no good for them."

Jas put up exactly 0.2 seconds of fuss about it before melting, slowly suckling on the silicone bit. She yawned around the binky as she crawled to snuggle up with Pomni.

Pomni didn't hesitate to pull Jas right in, breathing a sigh of relief for her as she went completely limp and relaxed in her arms, eyes fluttering shut in mere seconds.

"You really are tucked out, huh?" She asked with an easy-going grin, rubbing her hand slowly up and down Jas's back. The only response she got was a tiny hum—barely a breath.

"Ooh, so sleepy..." she doted, pulling the thick comforter over both of them to shield them from the chill that always flowed through the tent at night. Jas only babbled near silently, too small and sleepy for any more words.

"Night night, bubs," Pomni hummed when Jas's breath began to slow to peaceful sleep.

-Jax's new chosen name is Jasmine! But she mostly goes by Jas

-I like to think she would regress pretty little most of the time ! Like 1-3, only really older when she's slipping down

-Veryyy clingy when small. She gets really nervous when alone, cuz she's scared of abstracting again :( so when she's tiny, she clings onto whoever is closest (but mostly Pomni)

-Sensory overwhelmed super easy! So she's normally dressed in something loose and soft! Maybe a nightgown or soft dress :) pants are ILLEGAL!!!

-Wants sooo much attention, but refuses to say it, she she will sort of just stare at whoever until they acknowledge her

-Crybaby 1000. Refuses to cry when she's big so she just can't help it when she's little and overwhelmed !

-Maybe not what you'd expect, but she's a very sweet baby. Especially with Gangle, cuz she feels really bad about how she treated her before :(

-Bad at communicating when she's little. She has a real hard time getting words out, and it frustrates her !

-Binky always ! Otherwise she will chew on her hands or hair (or Zooble's pieces. No one know how she gets her hands on 'em)

De-abstaction was never something anyone in the circus had expected to be something that could actually happen. But, while messing with code trying to get a handle on Caine, Kinger had made plenty of extra discoveries. Not just the existence of their mind files, but the fact that they could be *altered*.

It wasn't easy, fast, or anything short of dangerous, but through the months following Caine's return and redemption, he and Kinger put their skills to the test.

Abstraction, in the simplest terms, is when someone allows their mind file to corrupt. With Caine's help to access the files, Kinger could work to fix the code. Not just that, but make small alterations to non corrupt code. Like his own. Able to become more lucid.

And that's how he was settled down outside, back with Queenie. They chatted endlessly atop the steep hill covered in cartoonishly green grass. It seemed just as it had once before. Save for the extra set of hands that Queenie ended up with post-de-abstraction.

Something to do with the models for circus members reflecting their files. But with those being slightly altered now, each human brought back had at least some slight alteration to refelct the change.

By the same means through which the two chess pieces were now reunited, Ribbit was back too. Except they didn't spend their first day or two back with their best friend. No... she couldn't recall exactly what happened between the two of them, but she did know that she didn't feel like facing Jax again yet.

Sure, they had *seen* Jax, around the common areas. They were sure he saw her too, but neither of them said anything yet.

Speaking of Jax, she wasn't sure of his identity anymore. Like, if "he" was "him". He appeared feminine now, not like how Ribbit recalled seeing him last. Ribbit then made a mental note to refer to Jax as "they", until she knew what was proper for them now.

Jax looked different now, and, clearly, had made some real development towards getting better. They had begun to show real comfort around the other members of the circus, unguarded enough to apologize. Maybe something they did too much now. Vulnerable enough to, when they were feeling bad, leave their room and sit near whoever seemed the safest place to be.

Ribbit definitely got the short end of the stick. Literally. She was clearly at least a few inches shorter than before, plus they now had some chub. And clothes, all baggy and of colors easy on the eyes. She supposed all of those things made her a bit less vulnerable to a punch in the stomach.

She felt jealous seeing Jax feel safe again. Maybe more than they ever felt with her. Ribbit always felt a strange beat in her heart when she caught a glace at them pushing themself up to Pomni, who would wordlessly hold them until they sat back up, ready to face the world again.

It was a feeling that made her chest let out a heavy beat, one that made her legs go weak and made her brain forget how to brain. And she couldn't even recall the reason why Jax sparked such a bittersweet feeling in her.

Ribbit knew she missed them, but she also knew that approaching them felt like mission impossible. They weren't sure what they expected to happen if they just *talked* to them, but such a feat currently felt impossible, with the way her head pounded, somehow without a single complex thought in it.

She missed her friend. But the feeling that accompanied the thought of them kept her tethered to her bed, eyes locked on the ceiling.

Ribbit stared up at the surface, admiring the stars the danced above, projected by round spinning lamp. She didn't know why she felt to fuzzy in her head.

Realistically, she knew that she should probably find someone to tether her to reality, but that didn't stop the task of leaving her room do so from seeming any less daunting. The halls felt to big to wander, and she didn't know who she would even search for if she chose to do so. Or if she found someone, if she would be able to talk to them! Her vocal cords felt locked, as if she couldn't speak even if she tried.

Despite the task seeming near impossible, she wanted a hug so, so badly.

Despite their better judgement, they rolled themself off their bed to stand. She almost fell back, her legs full of a sensation much like that of too-wet jello. Their head felt full of cotton, and they weren't sure exactly what they were even doing, but, on their wobbly legs, they stepped out of their room and into the dormitory hall.

The hall felt longer than it normally did. The ceiling felt higher. Ribbit felt smaller.

She wandered down the hall near aimlessly. The only idea in her head anymore was the need for comfort. For a hug. For someone to tell her everything was okay.

Her vision was blurry as she peered down the stretch of hall left between her and the stairs down the common spaces. And suddenly, it was too much. She didn't know why she left her room anymore. The task was too much, and she didn't know who she was even searching for.

Ribbit plopped herself down on the ground of the corridor, scooting herself over the the right wall. She pulled her legs up to her chest, and pulled her large grey shirt over them.

Ribbit didn't know how long they had sat there, curled in on themself, before a smooth voice brought them back to.

"Ribbit?" the voice spoke. Her name sounded like it was spoken from beneath a thick blanket. They looked up towards where the word came from.

She didn't recognize much of the figure, her vision simply done trying to do it's thing. She only made out a pink shape and some squiggles.

The voice spoke again, no less muffled the second time around. "Ribbit? Are you okay? What are you doing out here?"

Ribbit stared at the figure. She couldn't form one single thought, other than that the figure seemed *safe*. She had no weird feeling of something being wrong, like she did with Jax. And the voice of whoever was speaking seemed gentle.