#funbun fic

Life is a meadow, and not in the sense of the sweet image that everyone holds stereotypically of the landscape, much like its neighboring forests, there, it can rain, snow, have flowers lose their petals to grow new ones with every seasonal change that temporarily alters it, and despite it all, people still assume a meadow is the epitome of spring, they refuse to acknowledge what they see as flaws to other fields of nature, it can be blind love mirrored as assuming the best of the one thing you love, and in both cases, the flowers will still grow with the rain that will never stop, it would wear the various white snowflakes that dare everyone to read, to see the small details and love it as much as they love the big picture.

And big pictures are all that is there to live along with in the circus, Caine loves to add details that don't take long to be noticed, practically yelling their existence to the world, the ai ringmaster have not mastered the human art of lying, because that's the core of Easter eggs, to give something to the eye that does not match what the ear would hear of truth later on, he still likes to please all the senses at the same time in a way that doesn't leave anything to their imagination.

Caine sometimes even lies about not stealing from Gangle's art ideas, and even when the ribbon lady tried to defened herself, he throws in another adventure that blends the fight away, or atleast postponed it for another time when he yet again, takes her sketches and makes a new npc with it, over and over again..

"It's getting ridiculous, Caine!" Zooble shouted, their eyes narrowed at the ringmaster who was floating up in the pink sky over their heads.

"What is!" Caine gasped back, arms comically held up in the air, his jaws held open as a way of his eyes widening, the set of teeth playing the role of the eyebrows, but the cartoonish act didn't fish a single smile from none of his 'superstars', who he had dressed in school uniforms, "But i worked so hard on perfecting it! I even have accurate teachers and subjects!" He cried out dramatically.

"You didnt do s%^t, Caine" Zooble folded their arms over their chest, "this is all Gangle's idea, and she didn't even put it in the suggestion box"

Gangle was next to Zooble, her happy mask broke the second they got here and she saw the same school she had drawn in her sketches come to life, well, artifical life, and contrary to what she thought she would feel when she would have it, Gangel was not ready or happy, her mask broke to give the others the idea of how she was feeling, aside from Zooble who guessed it on spot.

"Unless you read her mind-"

"WOAHAOWHAA WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT READING MINDS!?" Caine laughed loudly, cutting off Ragatha's attempt at a hearty joke, it never worked, the way he always flipped like a switch at the subject, "i just happened to think and think haaard and it happened to be the best of COINCIDENCES that me and Gangle share the same AMAZING THOUGHTS!" Caine's praise fell on deaf ears and unavailable hearts, because there was no way Gangle would believe that, especially when the place had the pink leafs of te Sakura trees shaped like the hearts she doodled.

"You have to stop doing that, Caine, its getting old" Zooble seemed to be the one holding this one sided argument, and Caine was not enjoying the fact they haven't even started their adventure.

"Yeah, I mean if you do want to steal ideas, just take ones that are actually fun" Jax piped in, his comment, though aimed at teasing Gangle, still ruffled Caine's feathers and messed with him even more, "who wants to be back in school anyway" he grumbled to himself, opening one of the lockers, and being met with countless probably useless unsent letters and pens, falling at his feet, he blinked and kicked them away, turning to the group again and trying not to pay too much attention to the fact that the sender is him, he averted his gaze to Gangle who seemed to forget that she was fighting for the rights of her ideas and was more interested in watching Jax watching the letters.

And now he was watching her watching him, they locked their eyes for a second until Pomni snapped then both out of that weird trance.

"Just..try another idea, one that's more- eh..not as sweet" Pomni tried to search for a word that doesn't align with Gangle's style of artistic universes, "maybe something more- adventurous! Or eh..has weird things, and creatures and monsters and-"

Caine snapped his fingers and a drawer appeared floating next to him in thin air, "i have always known that pomni is the SMARTEST among you!" He said excitedly, opening drawer after another and running his fingers through files inside until he pulled out a green one, with pixelated flowers and stars, "i got the PERFECT match for that description!" He announced, running through the file too fast to be reading it, he threw it over his shoulder back into the drawer, snapping his fingers twice, one to make it vanish, and the second to open another portal.

"Try this ONE THEN!" he exclaimed, and had the swirling pink and blue portal swoop them in.

The immediate change from pink skies and faint music that played from basically nowhere and everywhere all at once to the wind that deafened their own thoughts, locking them in a state of bliss that would only come from the mere existing in nature, and considering the fact that the greenery they have outside the tent back in the circus can only be described as a poor attempt at drawing grass from memory, what Caine so generously gave them right now had them questioning if they were all dead and in heaven now.

"That's empty as hell" Jax huffed.

Well, it was too early for them to go to heaven anyway.

Pomni looked over at Gangle, "is this yours too?" She asked cautiously, watching her friend shake her head, resisting the urge to keep some of those ideas to use them for herself maybe, "no..I've never..that's new for Caine" Gangle mumbled, her shoulders sagging in relaxation.

"This is nice.." Ragatha hummed, the wind running through her red curls, it was almost too peaceful to be true, she met the gazes of everyone who had the same thought of closing their eyes, but interrupted by the nagging fear that Caine was counting their blinks.

"Too nice.." Jax whispered.

"Dont jinx it" Pomni locked eyes with him, and watched him fall uncharacteristically silent.

"What do we do now?" Zooble asked, they all seemed to opt for quiet speech, which made the comforting atmosphere creepier than it should.

"It's an open world adventure.." Jax hummed, looking around, the trees, the endless fields that seemed to stretch forever, and nearly empty of any anim-

"HORSES!" Ragatha gasped, pointing a hand out in a direction their gazes haven't sweeped over yet, bringing their attention to where she began to run towards the brown horse.

"Is that the most exciting thing he thought of?" Jax sighed, folding his arms, one foot tapping on the grass, and after the third time, Pomni suspected he did it for the softness of the green grass, but didn't comment on it to see if he would keep going.

"We didn't see everything yet" Gangle commented, taking a few steps towards where Ragatha was feeding the horse hay she found under a tree, followed by Zooble, whose arm was stretched for the long grass.

"What's there to see, it seems hopeless" Jax replied, not moving an inch except up and down with his foot.

"Won't you give it a try?" Pomni asked, and that was when his neck moving to the side was added to his countable body movements.

"Nah" he shrugged, dropping down on the grass on his back, arms folded under his head, under other circumstances, Pomni would've found the sight endearing, the purple rabbit enveloped by grass and wildflowers under the artifical sun that seemed too real with the warmth it left on the jester's cheeks, but he was also getting on her nerves.

But not on the last one.

"Could be interesting, though" she suggested, shifting her feet on the floor, one hand reaching for the long grass and tracing it, missing the way Jax's pupils were fixed on her reverent ministrations, even if it started as intentional, it turned into something hypnotizing.

"What's interesting about something you dont know what even has of danger" Jax said.

"You never know until you look for it" pomni answered, her words almost whispered, his voice waved with the wind, he looked up to meet her eyes and her own understood the trace of meeting each other's gazes, "it was your idea to have monsters and crazy stuff" he pointed out.

"And I thought you liked fun and dangerous stuff" Pomni smiled.

"Fun and dangerous when I know what it is" he argued back, standing up on his feet and walking over to her.

"That takes out the fun part then" pomni smiled, turning into a huffed Chuckle when Jax nudged her shoulder playfully, pushing his hands into his pockets with a breathless, nearly laughed scoff, and walking away before she could see how his grin softened into something he wouldn't want to name the reason of yet.

"WHO THE F&%K SAID THERE WOULD BE ZOMBIES!?"

"STOP RUNNING GET SOMEWHERE HIGH!"

"DOES IT F$?%&!K LOOK LIKE THERE'S A PLACE TO CLIMB!?"

"JUST GIVE ME YOUR HAND!"

in a blink, Jax grabbed onto Pomni's stretched hand from the small space she had climbed into and lifted himself up, jumping in and falling down onto the stone next to her, his breaths a ragged uneven panting style, bunny ears pinned back to his skull, and the hints of coal that latched onto his purple fur could be both from the cave and the leather he was wearing that dyed on him.

But it all was thrown over his back, where Pomni's hand was resting, her words a distant ringing in his ears as he tried to get back to earth slowly, his pupils turning to dark scribbles.

"Jax.." the whisper was still too far to reach him, even the shake to his shoulder had him reeling.

"JAX!" a slap landed to his shoulder and snapped him out of the static that his mind was locked inside, he turned on his back and let out an exhaled, shaky sigh, "had to do that?" He panted, eyes lidded as he looked up at the jester.

"You weren't answering!" Pomni argued back, her breathing had no reason to be uneven, but there she was trying to regulate it, "youre not hurt, are you?" She asked, she'd already checked his back for bruises or hits, and now to his chest, there won't be any way to tell if he is hurt unless he could feel something aching under the leather.

"Hm?" He hummed again, Pomni narrowed her eyes but not in anger anymore, as her hand patted over his chest, eyes focused on his face, waiting for a wince or his features to shift into something pained, but when she was touching all the way to the tips of his gloved fingers and got no reaction, she was able to let out that breath that has been stuck in her throat since she beat him up to the hiding place in the cave.

"You're fine, just..a little shaken" she comforted, her hand leaving the top of his.

"Shaken does not explain how-" he scoffed, his hand flying up to swat hers unintentionally, she missed the way his eyes widened for a split second at the action, because he sat up quickly, back to the stone, and by the itchy material of it and the smell, he could tell it was even more coal.

" why didn't- why is us huh?? Could've been Zooble or Kinger who were down here but noooo, one has more important stuff like decorating the stupid house and the other followed BEES all around and had to be dragged back inside, could've been Ragatha but she's busy with her pretty ponies-"

"JAX" Pomni threw a pebble at his forehead to shut him up, "no one told you to tag along with me you know!?" She shouted back, eyes narrowed.

"A-As if i had better things to do or anything" he huffed, rolling his eyes, fixing his gaze on a random edge in the cave.

"Then stop whining about it, you can go back to the house whenever you want" she stood up, held her bow and arrow, leaning over the edge to aim down at the patrolling zombie that was waiting for them to fall back down, letting go of the arrow and hitting it right in the neck, a proud smirk playing on her lips despite her anger.

"Youre coming?" She looked over her shoulder, and if se had known just how she looked at the moment, she would have followed herself to the end of the world.

The cave seemed to be a never ending maze, they learned early that they should keep a track, torches didn't work beause they kept going in circles, so they opted for white chalk they grabbed along from the floor, drawing a line, they attached it to a long stick and it was Jax's job to make sure it was always touching the floor, but much like anything that falls in his hands, it broke after the sudden zombie chase, the chalk turning to dust and the stick in halves.

"We already have more than we came here for" pomni pointed out, rummaging through the bag she held, it was filled to the brim with coal and iron, but the weight seemed to rival a feather, it was nice to see that on rare occasions, Caine can have understanding additions to his adventures.

"Not enough diamonds though" jax went through his own bag, it glittered in blues and whites, clinking like glass and water running, he almost wanted to sit down and trace them with his fingers, but there was too many to choose from, and he didn't want to find time for something as naive as..eyeing jewelry? What was he a medieval princess? He scoffed at the mere thought, tightening the rope of his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

"More diamonds?" Pomni blinked at him, genuinely surprised, "we have a bag full of them, Jax" she said sternly, slinging her own bag with the confidence that only comes with knowing that it wont hurt her in any way possible.

"Not enough" jax mumbled, scanning the extra entries where they could search for more, swinging his pickaxe side to side in thought.

"Are you planning on building a palace of diamonds or something?" She smiled, raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up" he narrowed his eyes with the mumble, swallowing thickly and bringing his gaze back to the first narrow entry it landed on, "just this one, this will be the last, okay?" His sentence, if read , would sound like an order, but the way he said it sounded completely different, and lucky for Pomni, she had ears, and the rabbit himself giving her that look and those words.

"Just one" she agreed, nodding and ushering him to walk, "but you lead the way" she smiled, having him go inside first, Jax smirked and looked over his shoulder as he walked, holding the torch in one hand to light the way, "didn't take you for the submissive type, Poms"

"No, just in case something shows up" she corrected, shutting him off with a stuttered, unintelligible huff of words, "and I'd kill it of course"

"With an arrow to it's neck?"

"Oh you just-" he yelped, missing a step and falling face down onto the stone, not his first time tasting the cave, and it never turned any better after the one that started the chain of kisses with the stone.

"Jax!" Pomni grabbed the back of his leather cloak to stop him from falling, but landed on top of him in her failed saving attempt, feeling his groan into her own ribs as she rolled off his back and onto her knees on the stone, Jax pulling himself up to uselessly dust his clothes.

"Should've went back to the stupid house-"

"Jax"

"Wha- I didnt say- what?" He stuttered, blinking rapidly, turning his eyes back to Pomni, just to fall silent all over again.

The cave was dark for the most of their mining trip, the only light for their way was from their torches, and it soon felt like an annoying bright light rather than something that's keeping them safe and their road lit, and the change from that to the soft lavender light that was now shining on Pomni's pale face was a pleasent and surprising change, or atleast those are the only two words that Jax would describe them in right now, maybe later, he would find more to act like he didn't know of.

"Where are we.." he whispered, shifting his eyes, unwillingly, to scan the area, the circular shape of the cave was suiting for the opening on the top, where a waterfall was as clean as it can get, dripping down in a hypnotic cycle, most likely had come from the surface and all the way down here, to form a lake, bioluminescent with a variety of blues and reds, bathing the cave in a purple light that danced on the walls all the way to Pomni's face where it had Jax stilling, not knowing the next move to whatever song he didn't know that could be played.

"It's beautiful.." Pomni whispered, walking around.

"Yeah..very beautiful" Jax breathed, his eyes following her.

"Why would be buried all the way down here?" Jax asked, walking to the edge of the lake and forcing himself to look up, seeing the stars through the opening where the water was falling from, they've been in the cave for hours.

"Wouldn't have seen it if you didn't fight that Zombie by the way" Pomni said playfully, walking the edges of the lake and smiling over her shoulder to the rabbit, who, for once, had all the words stuck in his throat.

"Your point?" He teased, smiling, tilting his head to the side and following her slow footsteps, not beside her, but a few steps between them.

"Hm" she shrugged, smiling, "whatever way you understood it in" she chuckled.

It could've been her own echo, but what she heard was fainter than her laugh, hidden in a way that it wished it could be a mirror of her own, so to respect its privacy, she didnt turn around.

Pomni's eyes latched on something blue shining through the walls, she stopped to turn her tracks to the side, her eyebrows rising, "jax! There's more diamonds!" She called for him, swinging her bag to find her pickaxe, before she paused her rummaging and turned at the lack of footsteps.

"Come on..you take them" she offered, smiling, standing back up and taking a step to the side.

Jax's eyes went from the diamonds to Pomni, to her bag, the peeking iron of the pickaxe, to the barely there lump of purple that was turned wiggly to make his reflection on the pickaxe.

He turned his chin up and huffed, "we already have enough" was the only sentence he said, before continuing to walk, slowly, to make it seem as gentle as her offer.

And at the sound of her footsteps, falling in track with his own, his shoulders loosened from the tension they were holding for those few seconds.

"Do you still think it was useless?" She whispered.

"H-hm?"

She smiled, making sure the side of her lips that turned up was the one he couldn't see, "to discover new things, to see if it's good" she explained, and the longer the silence stretched on, the more she thought he wasn't thinking at all, but judging by the unfocused way his eyes were on, she learned that it was his way in keeping his thoughts to himself until he could find his answer, or atleast the one he wanted the other to hear.

"Was it worth it for you?" He countered back, eyeing her bandaged arm.

"Yeah.." she nodded, subconsciously touching where his eyes landed for a split second, she still felt the claws of the wolf on her arm, her heart probably didn't heal from the jumpscare, even after Zooble tamed it and gave it a name, even after Pomni saw how sweet it was, her heart might take a while but- "it'll heal..scars always do, but thats not the point"

"No thats exactly the point, Pom"

She blinked at his words.

"Same thing with your adventure, and ideas and stuff" he waved his free hand.

"What's stuff?" She hummed.

"You know, stuff- the..the things you always are so positive about for no reason, and say that it could turn out well in the end" he turned his head to look at her, "you could end up hurt." He whispered, seeing her mouth open, he spoke again, "and not in a way where it could heal with time"

Pomni hummed, her hand still resting over the bandages, tips of her fingers sensing the material, the pain had turned into numbness now, she could still feel it, but every time she moved her arm, her brain worked harder to make her remember how that sweet dog would now lick up at the same bandages and nudge his snout against it, in a manner where he didn't understand might hurt her, and even if it did, it ended up tickling her over time.

"If im too positive, then you see the world darkly, too dark actually"

"No I see it realistically" he corrected confidently, one that can only be worn with shyness behind walls.

"Realistically? Really?"

"Yes, really," he nodded fast, "anything can turn out badly, anything can go the wrong way no matter what you do, anything can just-"

"Anything can turn badly if youre on your own"

Jax froze, not his legs, but his tongue, ending up biting it at her words, hoping she would keep talking before he would say something he would regret behind those walls, and she got the idea.

"No one is truly ever- fully alone.." pomni said softly, cautiously, her hand coming up to rest over his, just a whisper of a hover over his own, not acting further than that, and it gave him time to think of his next move.

"How can you be sure.." it wasn't a question, Pomni could feel the absence of the question mark in his words, and she refused to fill it up in her own reply.

"Because im not.." Pomni whispered, nodding faintly, "i know I'm not alone.." looking up at him slowly, to see if her words had sunk in.

"Do you know if you are alone or not?" She couldn't help the question though.

The light never stopped dancing on the lake, the sound of the water a far echo of what he wanted to actually pay attention to, a far cry to where his mind was buried in, not in the clouds that can be seen through the opening, or under the bioluminescent waves, but in the gaps that were filled when Jax intertwined their fingers slowly.

Sometimes, a wait can last a century with every blink, ones that a person wastes countless landscapes just to speed to the pleasure of witnessing the face that sleep couldn't save them from the exhaustion of waiting for, the stars start to speak the same language that they wish with every night, and even then, it would all sound like a distant memory in a few more minutes, despite days having passed, the only thing frozen in time is the inability to forget how the wind tasted when all they could do is exist in a moment created from a world that wasn't real, but experienced through one they never thought they would find.

And finding something new wasn't an extraordinary thing in the circus, considering Caine's passion for breaking the laws of physics, chemistry, math, any scientific field that begged to be treated well was swung back and forth like a toy in the ai's hand, ignored for the sake of what he deemed as fun and what they unfortunately saw as torture methods, it was only one rare occasions that Caine actually listened to them and gave them something that they could go to sleep calmly after, anything can be expected for them to face through that portal, and by anything, it meant anything.

"Atleast we can't feel cold" Zooble murmured, taking a few steps on the snow grounds, unbothered by the wind hitting at their body which was covered with an unnecessary layer of a coat and scarf.

"But we can be worried though.." Gangle mumbled, looking around the forest only to be met with fogged darkness and eerie silence, cut by Jax's arrogantly loud steps, "Jax can you please stop?? Wh-what if There's something in the woods??" The ribbon lady shouts in fear.

"Then it would wake up from you shouting" Jax grinned, whispering just to make his point clear with a far jump into a snow pile, getting some flakes onto Ragatha's long blue dress-like jacket, "Jax she's right!" The doll desperately huffed, brushing the snow off her clothes and fixing her scarf.

"You people are the most boring bunch in the universe.." he groaned under his breath, his legs going far back behind him and preparing to kick a tree thats branches are loaded with snow.

"There's a- cabin there?" Pomni's voice broke through the annoyed tension, Ragatha followed after the jester's gaze, Gangle and Zooble met each other's gazes and headed towards the light Pomni was pointing at between the trees.

"Where didja see it?" But, they all came in second place when Jax's long steps took him to Pomni faster, nearly knocking her into the snow when he turned the top of her jester hat into an armrest.

"There-" she groaned, trying and failing to move her head from below his arm, setting her focus onto the far wooden house.

"Cool, I saw it" Jax pushed Pomni aside and took a step forward, hands stuffed into the pockets of the pink coat that he didn't feel like being mad about the color of.

"Wh- hey? And who put you as leader exactly?" Zooble huffed, narrowing their eyes and stepping up after the rabbit.

"No one, just the fact that not all of you fought to stay where I am" he shrugged, the ego that dripped from his words had Zooble fighting for something else entirely, which is not using his head to hit the tree that he wanted to kick.

"Oh you little-"

"What?- fine you wanna have a role?- eh, I guess you could be the protector of some sorta?? Uh.." Jax stumbled over his words, turning around to face the group of unamused faces, he met the way Gangle's eyes were widened and smirked, "sure, Zoob's our warden, and masky there can be your assistant, happy?" He put his hands on his waist, "i did good" he praises himself.

"No you did not??" Ragatha raised an eyebrow, bringing his attention back on the ones he didnt look at, "you can be theeeeee..uuuuh.."

"You're the worst leader" Zooble grunted, walking past Jax with Gangle next to them and heading to the cabin.

"Hey!? Im not!" Jax shouted back at them, louder than he should, eyes dancing around the darkness surrounding them and watching Zooble and Gangle's bodies vanish into the fog, pretty shortly after were followed by a red and blue jacket that he quickly reaches to grab.

"Where do you think you're going?" He hummed, raising an eyebrow.

"The cabin?????" Pomni shrugged his hand from her jacket, "it's not that far, Jax, come on" she jerked her head to the side to get Jax to follow her, watching Ragatha and Kinger walking after Zooble and Gangle.

"Uh huh, but who said you're walking ahead of the leader, hm?" He rolled his eyes, hand coming to her scarf to hold as he led them both through the fog.

"And why am I nex-"

"Dont question my authority"

Pomni swallowed a laugh that bubbled in her throat, the snow crushing under their footsteps as the cabin slowly came into view, a small wooden house of two floors, golden lit from the inside with candles, the details on the oak were appreciated, but not as much as the screech that rumbled from deep within the forest and shook snow off the trees.

Zooble, Gangle, Ragatha and Kinger were already inside the warm place, calmly examining the interior when Pomni was barrelled into the couch, thrown like a ball, the door closing with a loud bang and locked with multiple locks that Jax fixed fast.

"Wow! That was close!" Jax grinned, faced by wide eyes and a groaning Pomni from the couch, "whatever outside almost ate me!" He added, dusting off his gloved hands and walking into the living room and sitting down on the couch.

"As if you have enough meat!-" Pomni huffed and slapped him with a pillow straight to his face.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!?" he gasped, pushing the pillow off his face and glaring at the jester next to him.

"Whatever way you understood it" Pomni whispered, eyes narrowed.

"BOTH OF YOU- SHUT UP!" Ragatha shouted, before her hands came to rest over her mouth, eyes widened, "i mean!- Just.. god, just stop fighting and look around, see things, try to find something useful" she quickly added, explaining her initial outrage that was fully righteous.

Pomni and Jax stared at each other before taking different actions with a quiet understanding.

Jax stayed on the couch, arms folded over his chest, while Pomni went over to the rest of their friends, "coming"

The following few minutes were spent in discovering what hidden items Caine kept for them to hunt out of their immediate sight.

So far, the cupboards were filled with canned food, most of which was tasteless, even when Kinger insisted that the mushrooms actually had some saltiness to them, maybe if they were focused on what he was saying instead of gathering wood for the living room fireplace, they would've found more importance to the digital food, but Ragatha was busy setting up the fire, just the sight of the flames twisting from red to orange and yellow made her feel warm enough to take off her jacket, revealing the sweater and pants Caine gave her for this adventure, she sat down next to Gangel who was drawing in her sketchbook, peeking over at the paper and smiling, "seen something inspiring?" She said softly, Gangle hummed and instinctively hid the paper against her chest, "heh, uhm- yeah, actually- I mean, there aren't many pretty things but there's enough" she shrugged.

"This place is devoid of life" Jax, eavesdropping on everyone from the kitchen, called to them, closing a cabinet with a shiver when he saw canned corn, "i dont think even you can bring it some sort of- naive joy" he huffed, walking back to the living room and flopping down on the couch.

"I thought you liked boring things" Zooble mocked, enjoying the annoyed expression that immediately fell on his face.

"Define boring"

"You know" they shrugged, "things that we dont like, since youre the cool and mysterious one" if they had a mouth, it would have rivaled the smug smirk that Jax usually wore whenever he thinks his bullying is casual teasing, and since he has one, he was fully able to use it, but the sound of a curtain opening to the side gripped his tongue in his throat, his head snapped to the side where Pomni was looking outside.

"Uh..this tree looks..out of place" she hummed sheepishly, doubting her color identifying irises, Gangle sensing that, stood up and walked to her, eyebrows shooting up, "it's brighter than the rest"

At her words, the others followed to the window, each with a cautious expression.

"Think we should do something?" Zooble whispered.

"Like..its a task or something?" Ragatha mumbled her own thoughts under her breath, gaze darting around, everything could be a trap with an obvious quest like that, the quiet tension was broken with Pomni's footsteps to the door.

"Wait-" Ragatha called, the jester turned around to look over at the doll, a pair of legs standing up abruptly going unnoticed by her "nothing could happen, and if it did then the worst situation is a losers corner" she smiled, shrugging and opening the door, hit with a gush of wind that was supposed to feel cold, and at the assumption, she shivered, hugging her jacket to her chest and walking out, her foot colliding with something like a small bump, she looked down to an axe that wasn't there when they first arrived to the cabin, which made the task more obvious.

She picked it up and trotted down the stairs into the snow, and the second her feet hit the snow, it seemed like she was hit with a wave of nausea, fog becoming more dense and restricting her vision from the tree that once stood brightly ahead of her.

"Okay.." she breathed out, her own voice echoing in her head, the eerie silence that followed reminded her of how long it's been since she's heard her own heartbeat.

Pomni gathered all the information she knew of Caine's adventures and started walking in a beeline that she assumed must lead her to the tree, every sep measured by how far she was getting from the cabin, she swallowed the urge to look over her shoulder, but she knew that if she was met with acres of fog from ever side then her panicking wont be of any use to her in a situation where she thought she had it all under control.

But she herself and the control she assumed she had, were both under the situation's mercy.

The beeline she created with her silent footsteps stretched for longer than her mind could take of endless emptiness without starting to imagine things that shouldn't be there, and before she could lose all hope and turn around, her eyes finally reflected the lime green spruce tree.

"F&!k..finally" she breathed out, running to the tree and not wasting a second in swinging her axe at the trunk, it was too easy to be true, and her swinging got slower when her ears picked out the sound of footsteps in the snow.

She stopped her cutting and held the axe in the air, having to turn and look around and ignore her fear of the abyss, she rushed around.

"WOAH! WHAT!" she gasped when the abyss wasn't fog, but a tall figure clad in pink, she resisted the urge to swing her axe at him to make sure he's real, but the gun in his arms that they found earlier in the closet of the cabin was proof enough that he wasn't some kind of hallucination Caine created..or did-

"Why- why are you holding the gun!? Wasn't someone else supposed to be the protector??" She quickly panted.

"Yeah well, Zooble won't be as good at keeping the team safe as the leader is" he said, she wasn't really sure what emotion he wore, not focusing on that.

Oh thank whatever God watched over them in this hellhole.

Pomni exhaled and put her axe down onto the snow, "im almost done" she gestured to the tree, Jax's gaze turning his head to the tree, "then keep going, what stopped you"

"Some idiot who gave me a heart attack" she scoffed, Jax smirked and cocked his gun, "and that same idiot has good aim, so keep cutting that tree, Pom" he winked and turned around so his back faced her.

She picked the axe up and continued to cut.

One after the other until the tree fell with a loud thump into the snow.

Pomki discarded the axe and went to the tip of the tree to drag it, she looked up at Jax expectantly, "do you mind?"

"What? I thought you were a strong and capable woman" he cocked an eyebrow, Pomni wanted to be mad at him, but the fact that he was right, had her holding back her tongue, she could hold a gun any day, but now, she was sure that she would be able to hold the tree without nagging as much as Jax would have if it was him carrying it, "youre presence has the same effect as your absence in this case" she panted, groaning as she started to pull the tree on the snow, eyes lidded with annoyance.

"And what if a big bad monster comes up when youre doing this big work?" He gasps, swinging the shotgun in his hand like it's not a weapon.

"Then losing would be better than looking at your smug face" she grunted, nearly tripping on her own feet.

"Aw, pom, I wonder when the day would come and you'd say something sweet to me" he mused, tilting his head to the side and smirking in faux hurt.

"And I wonder when youd-"

"POMNI!"

In a split second that cut between the quiet banter and the hidden danger, chaos erupted when a skinny, boney creature, screeched and emerged from the trees on all fours, its hollow black eyes reflecting the feelings that broke free on the moment of its appearance.

Three shots echoed in the air, two of them were muffled by the snow where Pomni was pushed into, she quickly stood back up when the silence returned with the ringing of her ears.

Jax turned around to face her on the ground, his eyebrows furrowed, grin faltering and the jacket managed to hide the way his thin shoulders were as shivery as the tree she cut down moments ago.

"Oh..so thats what we heard when we came here.." she whispered, adding something to the silence that filled the space, the dense fog slowly easing to reveal the other spruce trees again, only to be met with more of it, only the sound of the gun following the axe to the snow.

Jax silently picked up the tree with Pomni, and guided it back to the cabin without another word, and Pomni was smart to know that anything she might say would either break the moment, or trap them both in it for the rest of the adventure.

"Pomni! Jax!" Ragatha's voice gasped when the door opened and they walked in with the tree the were dragging, "we heard gun shots!" She added, with a bit more relief at the sight of them unharmed.

"Yeah, Jax shot the thing in the woods- eh, when we heard that voice when we came here? There was actually a monster behind it" Pomni explained, the door closing and blocking any wind from outside.

"Oh? Oh god- I mean, it's an adventure" Ragatha sighed, rubbing her hands together and nodded her head sheepishly, looking over at the tree, "so what do we do with that?" She asked, bringing all heads to search for another presumably glowing space that might lead them to the next step.

"This seems like a very inconveniently empty space" came Kinger's voice from he living room, where he was staring at the left corner next to the fireplace, right then, the stairs to the second floor sparkled with green and red glitter that led to one of the doors there, now with a sign that Zooble took a couple of steps up to read that said-

"The secret gifting room?" They blinked, turning around to face the group again, it didn't take long for the idea to click into their brains.

"Are you kidding?- a- a.." Jax huffed, letting go of the tree that he was holding onto still, murmuring under his breath and taking the glittering steps upstairs, passing by the gift door and to one of the three bedrooms there, closing it behind him loudly.

The tree has never looked more nostalgic, they may not remember anything from their lives outside the digital circus, but for once, they didnt have to close their eyes to imagine how peaceful it must have been.

The living room was lit in warm shades of green and red, brown for the carpets and matching the cups of hot cocoa they each held, Ragatha took great joy in finding items in the cabinets that looked delicious to try, marshmallows that Gangle enjoyed and shared every colorful piece with Zooble, Kinger was intent on praising the sweets that Ragatha kept bringing, cookies, brownies, ginger bread, the nonexistent time relativity helped her bake in record time, her smile has never been wider, the table was soon filled with trays and plates, it would've covered the view of any gifts hidden under the tree they set up, but there was nothing left to be hidden.

The secret gift room was small, and had only a box with a paper and pen infront of it, they each went inside to write down what they wanted to give each other in secret, and the gift would appear under the tree downstairs, with a card from whom it was and to who, they all agreed to open them together.

They knew that mind reading was only Caine's ability that he reused to admit he had, but in that moment when they each were picking a gift for Ragatha, they ended up choosing horse figures and plushies, and despite the unintentional copying, the doll seemed more than joyous with them, setting them all next to her on the couch and naming them after drinks she made, spiking excitement from Gangle to see what she got from everyone, a sketchbook with a pack of pastel colors, a ribbon bow to put on the back of her mask, halfway through her gifts, Zooble joined to open them with her, falling down to their knees to unravel a beautiful mirror with a frame made from coloeful blocks and shapes, mismatching in a way that looked abnormal to any other eyes than Gangle's, but even Kinger seemed to grasp how important those were, even when he was busy counting the bugs he was finding in his boxes, eyes showing just how happy he was with every tiny creature that climbed up his body and head.

Pomni enjoyed the view of her friends and the genuine smiles that were a rare sight in this place, she could've opened her boxes, five of them sitting under the tree untouched, until Ragatha urged her to, to which she agreed and scooted to the tree.

"Find mine first!" Ragatha joked with an excited chuckle, Pomni looked over her shoulder and smiled, giving her a thumbs up, her free hand reaching for the any box, it landed on one, before she felt it..grow?

No, a tinier box, smaller than any other that was opened, appeared, she furrowed her eyebrows, grabbing the card attached to it.

From: "write your name here :) !"

To: Pomni.

The sender was anonymous, but it funnily was so, considering that nearly everyone was here, everyone except for a certain someone who probably didn't understand how the gift room worked.

Pomni smiled and picked up the tiny box, "just a second, I'll be back" she excused herself from her friends, standing up and trying not to step on Kinger's ladybugs as she made her way to the stairs.

She locked eyes with Jax exiting the gift room with a confused scowl, and for a second, they studied each other's expressions, until his gaze fell to the box in her hands.

"Wow, f!*k" he whispered, blinking and walking robotically to his room, and just before the door could close with a loud collision, Pomni's hand held it open and she walked inside, closing it behind her with a gentleness that it deserved, her back resting against the wood as she looked at Jax's back facing her, the near lack of light from outside trough the chiffon curtains gave his purple fur a lilac glow, his faint shadow stretching to where her feet were nervously trading the weight of her body.

"Are you just going to stand there" he asked, it was hard to tell how he felt, not facing her and using a monotone voice that told her why he wasn't looking directly at her.

"Are you?"

He huffed and turned around, "you seriously need to stop doing that, it's annoying" he scoffed, his narrowed eyes doing nothing in covering how his upturned grin was faltering at the edges

"Doing what?" She asked, whispering.

"This!-" he gestured to her, from head to toe, as if that would limit her guessing options, "the asking thing, it's like you dont have anything to say or something" he folded his arms.

"Do you?"

"You are incredib- i.." he cut himself off before the full word could exit his mouth and end with a fullstop.

Pomni smiled and shifted the small box in her hands, taking a small step forwards, she could see in her peripheral vision that if he focused even a little harder on the box in her hands, he would Lazer right through it.

"So..I think you didn't know-"

"Yeah yeah I didn't know how that s^$t room works and this was a bad idea" he quickly cut her off, reaching with one long arm to snatch the box from her hand, failing at the immediate reaction from Pomni when she jumped back, holding the box behind her, "i want to see what it is" she said gently.

"It's useless" he said slowly, trying to sound threatening but the way his pupils were shivering seemed like he was talking more to himself.

"You..did something- I just.." she shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows to seem stern, "it's my gift and I want to see what it is" her tone left no room for argument, but it sure had enough for stubbornness.

"And I made it and I think I could do be-" he never seemed to be able to finish a sentence, not with the way this whole interaction was not scripted in his mind before, "Pomni" he wanted, eyes narrowing as he held his hand out as if expecting compliance.

"Seriously?" Pomni raised an eyebrow, her thumb toying with the purple wrapping of the box behind her, Jax's eyes widened and he lunged forwards at her.

"JAX!" Pomni squealed, jumping on the bed and barely escaping his arms almost wrapping around her legs, she landed on her knees on the floor and quickly unwrapped the box.

"Pomni stOOP!" Jax groaned, his arms wrapping around her from behind to tackle her to the ground, she laughed and held the box infront of her, Jax's weight against her back was having her wheezing with every chuckle, "its done!" She laughed, throwing he box away and dropping whatever was inside it into her awaiting hand.

A small, round watch, attached as a silver necklace, the frame was split into two, one a strawberry red, and the other a navy blue, the time was set on exactly four, no ticking, just a frozen necklace watch, Pomni eyed it with reverence and something like..she's seen it..she's...

A folded paper fell right next to her hand, and before she could reach for it, Jax's hand snatched it and he stood back up fast, stuffing the paper into his sweater pocket, "the watch is enough" he stated quietly.

Pomni's expression was just as stuck as the watch, but no less beautiful, she stood up slowly, cradling the piece of jewelry with both hands like it could slip between her fingers, "i..how did you.." she whispered, looking back up at him.

"You..draw weird stuff" he shrugged, "but you need to stop trying, it's Gangle's thing" he added, his ears dropped back to his skull, eyes widening momentarily, "i mean!- like! Why do you even draw them anyway!? Watches and stuff..it's..I.."

Any attempt to fix his words just made him look more adorably idiotic, Pomni could've spent an entire day teasing every stuttered response from him just to see how long it would take for him to completely melt down in a puddle.

"Jax" she spoke.

"What!?" His rambling stopped like a switch, despite the anger he wanted to put on show.

"It's just the way I imagined it.." she smiled, holding the necklace up, the small clock trinket shining a yellow that reflected his eyes even on a small surface, she watched his pupils grow in size until I'm the reflection turned a grey.

If the clock could tick, it would've made the moment awkward, but the absence of it only made it stretch a little longer, a bit more, just one more second of them looking into each other's eyes-

"Why is it exactly four?" She whispered, a blink would've ruined the trance, and she hoped her words wouldn't completely end it.

"I..it's.." he sighed, taking a step closer, his hands hovering over hers, the twitching of his fingers was hard to resist to hold, "flip it over.." he whispered.

On the backside of the watch, a circle that was half moon and half sun, looked back at her, and in small, barely read font she could read..

"Through every dusk and dawn, I want

You to be the first and last thing I see"

Her chest felt like it was hit by a wave, turning her in the ocean multiple times and flipping her back to the surface where she could lose her breath between giggling and panting for air to fill her lungs with, the feeling too overwhelming that she could almost hear her uneven breathing, one look back up at Jax showed her that it was his irregular pattern that raided her thoughts, and only now, was when the silence packed an emotion neither of them could pinpoint exactly when it started, or have the daring nerve to draw how it should end.

"I didn't know what to get you..and..those are- I remember this certain watch you keep drawing.." he explained quietly, meeting her gaze again, "i dont even know if you like necklaces" he whispered, just realizing one of the many flaws in his action.

"I dont remember if I liked them" she whispered back, hoping that the softening in her eyes could ease some of the tension in his shoulders that she could see through his sweater, she held up the necklace for him and turned around.

Without a single complaint, other than the short two seconds of hesitance, Jax reached for the necklace and clasped it around her neck gently, taking his hands back and falling to his sides, Pomni turned around to look at him again, her palm resting over where the watch pendant rest.

"Was the adventure also your?.." Pomni trailed off, Jax shook his head fast.

"No no, no this time it's all Caine, which just..seemed very convenient.." he assured, "but then.. the necklace thing- I was thinking about it for a while.."

"How much is a while?"

Jax looked at her like he was actually biting his tongue, his hands falling into his pockets, and the sound of a paper crinkling there reminded her of what he managed to steal earlier.

"Do I need to read that?"

"You didn't stop the questioning thing"

"Well youre not giving me enough things to work with"

Pomni sighed and held her hands together infront of her chest, "i..im sorry I didn't get you anything.." she whispered, "the gifts appear infront of everyone down at the tree and I guessed..you know.." she smiled sheepishly, Jax's pupils were so wide they would have been able to reflect te whole sky if it held any stars in tonight's adventure.

"You dont think it's weird?" He asked.

"You called my sketches weird, so.." she smiled.

"Wha- I didnt..I.." he ran a hand over his face, "i didn't mean weird as in- ugly, I just meant it's..unusual to see someone interested in drawing clocks" his voice was comfortable for once, "even Gangle isn't that vague" he tried to roll his eyes.

Pomni's smile never wavered, not really, not after the box was opened, she tilted her head to the side, her hand coming to trace her thumb on the back of the watch absentmindedly.

"I like both"

"Huh?"

"Dusks and dawns.." she flipped the watch for a seconds, "in here they don't look as..various or beautiful or..real..but it's just the thought that they're there..working somehow, it makes me.." she looked up at him.

"Makes you what" he urged.

"Feel something real.."

"..and so you draw watches and clocks?"

She nodded, "does it make sense?"

His head mirrored her own, with a quiet hum he took a step closer, their shadows already too close than they are, and maybe he understood now what her words meant.

"You know..you got me this- necklace, and I want to give you something in return" she smiled softly, "its a Christmas adventure and it's nice and you gave me something nice.." she trailed off, hoping he would find the empty spaces in her sentence and fill them with what he wanted, Jax was a very closed off person, even his room didn't hold much about him other than what was assigned to him when he first appeared in the circus.

Pomni bit the inside of her cheeks at the quietness of his answer, she fidgeted with the necklace, "just- imagine you're writing the gift to yourself and I won't tell anyone, I promise" she assured.

"It's not..it..i can't write it"

"Oh?.." she blinked, "can you..show me then? Or like, I dunno can yo-"

He was, in fact, able to show her, two more nervous blinkds from her eyes were enough for her to miss how fast he moved to wrap his arms around her frame, tucking her to his chest and resting his chin on top of her head, the gentleness and tightness he held her with rivaled each other, neither seemed to want the other to win, because they were both needed to keep this going.

Pomni's frame froze in his hold, any words she wanted to say, any gentle coaxing to get him to speak was wiped out in one single movement, her hands stuttered over his waist before her arms pushed past the pockets of his sweater and wrapped around him in return, eyelids drooping slightly.

"This?" She whispered.

"Mhm.." he hummed, squeezing her faintly in his arms to make his point clearer.

She smiled and her eyes closed, letting her cheek melt against his chest.

"Jax.." she whispered, "you make every moment worth remembering.." she continued when she got his hum.

"Geez, how do you even come up with that" he whispered, feeling her chuckle rumbling gently against his chest, and the smile that it drew on his face was nothing like he has ever seen on any of his reflections, and even if he wanted to, his image wasn't the thing he was focusing on when he looked at Pomni's eyes.

"Talking like you didn't write poetry yourself on this" she looked down at the necklace, he huffed sheepishly and tilted his head to the side, his hand refusing to leave Pomni's waist, "thats nothing, Pom, its just a couple of words" he brushed it off.

"Yeah, a couple of them that made every hou-"

"Stop" he chuckled, nudging his forehead against her own, eliciting another chuckle from the jester, her every reaction fueling his urge to learn what else could have her making those sounds. "Kinda miss when you'd ask stupid questions" he teased, and answered by a hum and a smirk, making the same feeling bloom in his chest.

"That so?" She tilted her head to the side and had their foreheads meet again, like two stubborn bugs.

"Very much so" he pressed his forehead against hers again.

"Then what's on that paper" he hummed, foreheads pressed together, and spilling in a moment of thought, "or is it also not able to be written? Or read.." she added.

The weight of the words on the paper held him down, he could still feel how his hand was shaking through every letter until he managed to finish it all, the memory something that might have him staying up all night in embarrassment, but with who he was holding in his arms, he realized that maybe he won't be staying up lost in thoughts anymore.

One of his hands abandoned its location on her waist and rose up to rest on her cheek, he slowly lowered his head and pecked her lips, a faint brush of a kiss that had their breaths barely mingling for a second, depriving them of a hug when he pulled back enough to meet her eyes again.