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.

"So it's never occurred to you that I might care? Ever!?"

"Pfft- acting like if any of this was actually real then you still would"

"All of it is REAL, Jax!"

"Can you prove it?"

"..."

"Can you show me if this is real or not?"

"..we could always try, Jax.."

"I've spent- years- YEARS, trying, and it's as useless as..anything you might try too"

"Just..dont lose hope, please, Jax..please.."

"..."

Being lost does not always have to feel like losing direction or fearing what might come in the road you're taking, it takes forms that can mask itself as curiousity, a tilted head to the side that turns against the push of inner turmoils telling you to turn back, scared of what might happen to you rather than what you might encounter, and the overthinking overrides the initial joy of the adventure, taking a twist that has you forgetting what it was like before you took the first step into what you were bravely confident of overcoming, and rethinking every choice you made, even the ones you're making along the way, disregarding every word before it comes out of your mouth, because anything can have the same outcome as the good ideas you had, anything can turn badly.

Being lost doesn't have to be the loss of your one road, but the fear of not finding any direction that could lead you to the place where you could find yourself out of this hole.

And the only witness, might be the trees, listening to the breeze ruffle their leafs, a sound he mocked when he first stepped into the portal and to this adventure, a journey that Caine refused to elaborate more on, just telling them that they had to finish a series of quests until they get to their one true ending.

There were parts that Jax honestly and obviously didn't care enough to pay attention to, and it didn't help at all that he unfortunately got paired with kinger out of everyone, he had tried to reach for a hand, but he fell on top of the chess piece's hard body, groaning as he stood back up with narrowed eyes and small, pixeled dark pupils.

"What- what are you doing here- why are you here???" He eyed Kinger, hissing at him unnecessarily.

"Oh- hi jax" Kinger waved with a floating hand before standing up from the grass himself, and dusting his purple robe, uselessly because he couldn't get a single bug off of himself, they seemed to stick to him like glue, he hummed and looked around, "this is nice, isn't it?" He blinked at the trees and grass enveloping them in the most quiet and peaceful of atmospheres, though it did not lessen any of Jax's irritation, whose fist balled at his side, he looked down at it, side eyeing the glove that had now turned to a dark black color, Jax brought his hand up to examine it silently.

"Youre wearing gloves if you-"

"I have noticed, yes, I dont need googly eyes for that observation" Jax snapped back, not taking his gaze off his palm, until he heard Kinger walking away.

"Wha- hey! Where're you going!? Do you even understand what we have to do!?" He called, stomping one foot on the grass, a disbelieving look on his face.

"Yes I do" Kinger answered simply, one hand held out for a butterfly to land gracefully on his unchanged white glove, and his eyes turned to the annoyed rabbit, "Caine said to finish some tasks where we start, and then they will repeat"

"Repeat!?" Jax walked closer to Kinger, "he never- when did he say that- no he said when we finish something we will-"

"Find a new way to start until the real ending comes up" Kinger cut him off only to correct him before Jax could say something untrue, "it shouldn't be hard, Caine said he would leave clues and all" he shrugged, looking around again and brushing off the wide eyed look Jax was giving everything that dared touch him like he blamed even tbe breezer for this awful situation.

"Alright then" he snapped out of the trance, his hands on his hips, it went unnoticed by him how his pink overalls were now far from that style, "you find them" he said simply, "since you know too much about this freaky thing- and Caine, and everything, find the clues and I'll- eh" he trailed off, one arm shifting to wave around with an eccentric air that broke through his annoyance, and it was when he felt something fall down from his shoulder to hook on the dip of the inside of his elbow.

"Huh.." he picked up the piece of wood and slid it out his arm, and there he held in his hands, a beautiful wooden bow, with intricate details of suns and moons, a few stars littering the edges as well, the string was made of silver that seemed flexible enough to bend.

Kinger walked over and tested it by pulling it, once it returner to where it was supposed to be, it let out a tune that traveled across the forest in golden glitter.

Jax was frozen, looking around ready for any threat, an instinct he didnt know he had, had him reaching over his right shoulder where he found arrows, turning on his heel to look around.

"Look at this" Kinger hummed, and Jax whipped around, knowing Kinger's reactions, he expected something extremely terrifying, "WHAT!?"

A bright, blue butterfly, hovered and circled around the sweet chess piece, who seemed to be naively blessed in his own happy bubble, following the beautiful insect with a patience only someone with nothing to worry about can muster up.

And Jax couldn't find it in himself to be impressed.

"I think it's telling us to fol-"

"NO, I THINK THAT YOU SHOULD ACTUALLY FOCUS ON THE TASK" Jax shouted shakily, thought the sheer confused anger just went right over Kinger's head, and drifted away with the butterfly that started to fly into the forest, pausing a few steps like it was waiting.

And Kinger didnt wait for Jax, he hummed and followed the insect, and the rabbit found himself with the only option at his hands, which is let Kinger believe he was leading them, or maybe Jax to convince himself that having his eyes glued to the butterfly puts him at the front line of their unknown mission.

"Do you even have the slightest idea what the task could be" Jax's whisper was a harsh demand, but a shy whisper all underneath that shield he didn't know was another weapon of his.

"I dont know.." Kinger shrugged casually, "but i think we should follow it.." he added, like he was playing with fire and he didnt even know it, and the flames were just burning behind him.

"And what if it's just another misleading from Caine??? What then???" Jax ordered an answer, nearly barking it, he had no reason to be angry, but all the long list to be agitated, and they both collided in his mind, it did not help in the slightest that Kinger still paid him no mind, silently taking turns through the woods, "are listening, KING-"

His words were bitten off by the sun itself, shining down into his eyes, his pupils reflixively turned to small pixels and a hand placed over his forehead to guard his eyes.

"There you are!!" Ragatha's voice was the first thing he heard.

"You took way too long" and then Pomni's was the one that had his hand falling from his forehead.

They found themselves in a clearing, the grass shone like algae under crystal clear water, the surface of the ocean being in the view over their heads that was the sky, littered with clouds that looked to familiar to what Gangle draws in her sketchbooks, while that wasn't an observation noticed by Jax, it sure went fast to the artist herself, who stood infront of the crowded, wearing a dress with the color of the skies above, a mocking image considering who puts them in their clothes of every adventure.

A castle stood proudly not too far, its large exterior dominated the field of vision, but it didn't hide the incredible number of wooden npcs dressed in medieval clothes that stood behind the three only humans there, looking just as confused as the two who just joined them from the forest.

"What's-"

"THE PRINCESS OF LAVENDER MOORES HAS ARRIVED! TO WITNESS THE ROYAL COMPETITION FOR WINNING HIS HAND!"

A voice boomed throughout the clearing, followed by cheering and drums.

And heads all turning to Jax. Including Kinger who was clapping next to him positively.

Who just only now realized why his pants were very comfortable, because they were a beautiful deep purple dress.

He felt himself freeze on the spot, his chest squeezing into a more flat width, it probably never changed how he looked, but, it sure did feel that his heart was clenched on itself.

"WE START WITH PRINCESS RAGATHA!" the same voice boomed, and Ragatha only now could move, her limbs were all stuck in their place before Jax and Kinger arrived to activate the adventure.

She fixed her hold on the bow and arrow, trying to aim directly at the target, her hand trembled and the arrow fired before she should've let it go, and it landed right-

At the top far circle, "aw..d%^m it.." Ragatha sighed with a sheepishly smile, toying with the bow in her hands as the crowd behind her murmurs in disappointment, Jax's eyes traveled to the next name that was called.

"PRINCESS GANGLE! HAVE A TURN!"

The crowd behind the ribbon lady roared to cheer her on, but it failed in watering her fraying nerves, her lips formed a squiggly line, she tried to grip the bow and an arrow, dropping some of them to the grass.

Both Ragatha and Pomni tried to help, but the doll couldnt step away from the spot she was standing on and the jester could not move an inch from the mannequin-like posture she was kept in, so Gangle was left on her own, picking up the arrow and shot it without looking, "oh just shoot already" she whimpered, just wanting it to be over with, and watching her arrow miss the target completely, and atleast her turn was over.

Atleast his eyes can now focus on something for real.

"LAST BUT NOT LEAST! PRINCESS POMNI!"

Pomni took a few seconds just to move her arms the way she finally could, sighing and looking down at the bow in her hands, she looked over at Ragatha and Gangle, and they both nodded to her, the doll holding thumbs up for her friend.

Pomni took a deep breath and put an arrow, she closed an eye and focused the other on the target.

"JUST SHOOT IT ALREADY!"

Jax's yell had her flinching, gasping and letting go of the arrow, her eyes shifted unfortunately to meet Jax's, and unlike everyone around them, she missed where the arrow had landed.

"PRINCESS POMNI WON!"

the voice had every NPC erupting in cheers, drums beating to the melody of other instruments that Jax had no mind to pay it any attention, the ringing in his folded back ears turned even louder, and before he realized it, he felt the grass move under his quick steps.

He pushed past Ragatha, taking an arrow from the ground where she had dropped them earlier and aimed, with all the determination in the world, he shot it directly in the middle of the target.

The crowd fell silent.

"Wa- Jax! Jax what are you doing!?" Ragatha called as he pushed past her to walk to Gangle, who before the angry rabbit could nudge her away, she moved on her own, dropping her bow and arrows and Jax picked them up, shot another arrow straight on the target, landing on the red circle in the middle yet again.

"Jax!" Pomni yelled, but it didn't stop his angry stomping, she narrowed her eyes at him, "JAX IT'S JUST AN ADVENTURE!" She shouted again, once he towered over her, she didn't feel any intimidated by his presence, not when the emotion he was trying to convey didn't match the one he had on.

"NO IT'S NOT AND YOU KNOW IT! CAINE IS TRYING TO-"

"HE IS NOT TRYING ANYTHING!"

"AND HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT!?" He yelled back, and reached for an arrow to shoot at the target.

"You are being ridiculous, Jax" Pomni warned, eyes narrowed, Jax didn't let go yet.

"Youre not thinking, you just think that everything is making fun of you" she added, nearly a hiss, noticing how Jax's hand shook slightly on the arrow.

"Jax" the mere sound of his name just those three letters, gathered his attention better than any other sign, his eyes turned to the side to the jester silently, she wouldn't call this a win, but Pomni would work with what she had.

"If you let go of that arrow, then we were never friends"

Her whisper was quickly accompanied by the sound of the arrow piercing right through the one she had shot earlier, cutting it in half and shooting the target itself until his arrow exited from the other side.

For three, unholy seconds, the silence was competing with the other bad things Jax had experienced since the adventure began, and maybe just a while before that too, and then he turned his whole body to look down at the confused and hurt look on her face.

"If you think an adventure would try to help your stupid little ideas, then you. Are. Wrong." He whispered, accompanying every word with a poke to her chest.

"I didn't suggest the adventure" she whispered in disbelief, and the last poke to her chest was landing with a ding that came from somewhere in the atmosphere, attracting everyone's attention, and in a split second, the landscapes were swallowed into the abyss.

"Where..where am I.." Jax whispered to himself, opening his eyes to see utter darkness, for a moment he thought he was still in the teleportation zone from quest to another, because apparently, Kinger was right, again, but then what sounded like a roar, startled the rabbit, "F$&K!" he yelped, and started running in a straight line, where he hoped to see the light at the-

"YES! PLEASE BE REAL PLEASE BE REAL!" He bottled faster and jumped into the end of whatever tunnel he was inside, his eyes squinted when he was greeted with the sun, he held a hand over his eyes, and noticed how he couldn't see anything after restricting the sun from entering, and it wasn't from the lack of the bright star..

He moved his hand away, and got Immediately dwarfed by buildings and cars, the vehicles were what he thought were lions at first, and the fact that the NPCs around him all seemed normal height did not settle well in his confused mind..

"What is that now.." he mumbled, and if anyone was beside him, he would've never used that same defeated tone, his heart racing fast and he didn't notice how his foot was tapping on the asphalt until he looked down..he was naked.

"WHAT!? WHAT IS THAT!? WHATS HAPPENING!!" he yelled, his bunny ears flopped back to his skull, because not only was he lacking his pink overalls, but also the thin and tall body they normally covered too, now replaced with lavender fluff and curves that resembled a real bunny's.

That was a nightmare.

"Awww, look at that little bunny!" A wooden NPC kid pointed down at him, and Jax had half a mind to run, and the other half to freeze in his spot like a deer in the headlights.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" he shouted, which only elicited more giggles from the child, "awww, come here, pretty bunny!"

Once he noticed those hands stretching down to pick him up, Jax has never ran faster in his whole digital life, "I SAID GET AWAY!!"

He didn't even have to try and use his hind legs only, his body knew that it should run on fours, which drowned Jax in an immense sense of shame, but he swallowed it back with a sound he hoped to never have to make again.

Jax maneuvered his way through crowds, running at people's feet and with some kind of instinct, he didn't have anyone step on him, and he hated how much he benefited from this edit to his avatar, his conflicting emotions played a part in his focus shifting back and forth until he bumped into someone's feet with an 'oomf'.

"Oh? A bunny in the street? How adorable" he heard a voice speak, too controlled to be an NPC, but he knew that he shouldn't question Caine's abilities much, so he looked up ready to fight.

"OH I AM NOT ADORABLE YOU D$&!^*S! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO IS MADE OF WOOD AND HAVE NO SOUL ANYWAY!"

Jax's fight died down in his throat when he met the smug smirk that the NPC had drawn on his face and those lidded mocking eyes, and something weird settled in the pit on his stomach.

"Nothing more to squeak about, bunny?"

Once the man spike again, Jax found himself bolting through the closest door to him, and into whatever building he might find, anything better than where he was.

The calm, slow music that dawned on his fraying nerves made his brain settle into a state of content even if he tried not to, holding onto the fear of looking back at the door, that he would've missed the beauty awaiting behind him if didn't turn around at the sound of his name called.

"Jax! Jax?-..wait..Jax? Is that actually you or some wei-"

"POMNI! oh thank f!&k- finally!" He jumped and climbed up the red and blue apron she was wearing, and the jester had no other choice but to make sure he doesn't fall,

"I woke up under a car and WHY DID CAINE MAKE ME THIS PUNY HUMILIATING SIZE!? AND WHERE WERE YOU WHY DOESNT HE HAVE US SPAWN INTO HIS NEXT ADVENTURE IN ONE PLACE!? NOOOOO HE HAS TO THROW EVERY ONE IN A DIFFERENT PLACE-"

"Jax-"

"AND THEN HE WONDERS WHY WE HATE HIS ADVENTURES SO MUCH-"

"Jax-"

"WHAT!?"

Pomni waited until he stopped before looking at him with furrowed eyebrows, lips forming a sheepish line, "you know i..cant understand you, right?" She whispered, as calmly as she could, she saw his bunny nose shake a little, his ears dropping down further and she regretted the choice of her words, "nonono- its okay! It's okay! You can stay here now atleast!" she tried frantically to calm him down, his squeals continued and Pomni found herself panicking as well.

"Ragatha!" Pomni called, walking through the tables and to the kitchen of the restaurant where the doll was busying herself with beignets, reading off a book, she turned her head when the doors opened.

"Pomni I know how to make them now!! They're so easy and delicious!" Ragatha said excitedly, smiling as she held up two plates filled with the sweets, but her eyes focused on what's behind those she was holding and onto what Pomni had in her arms.

"Is that?.." she trailed off, placing the plates down and had one hand over her mouth, eyes widening when Pomni nodded to confirm her thoughts.

"Yeah, it's him.." she looked down at the pouting bunny in her arms and back at the doll, when Gangle peeked her head through the doors, "table fifty seven asked if their order is ready!" She called, "yeah it is!" Ragatha returned to her proud excitement, holding out the plates to the ribbon lady, "wanna ta-"

"Nope! You deal with it! Zooble's on the stage next with the band!" And with that, Gangle walked out, closing the door behind her before she could notice that their group had now all gathered in the restaurant, but she failed to ask about the bunny, so for all she knows Jax is still somewhere out in the streets of New Orleans, but that was the least of her concerns anyway.

"Well, think you can tak-" pomni couldn't even finish her sentence with Jax in her hands, barely able to offer him to the doll before he started to squeal and kick the air, his adorable noises somehow showing how agitated he seemed at the suggestion, Pomni's wide eyed blinked and Ragatha's were quick to follow.

"Uhm..no I think I'll take the tables" Ragatha spoke finally, holding the plates on a tray and smiling, "i got it, Pomni! Dont worry!" She said excitedly, and despite the weird consequences, Pomni mirrored it too, "thanks, Ragatha" she got a nod from the doll before she walked out, leaving Pomni with a bunny who shivered the more he tried to stop his trembling, and Pomni knew this had nothing to do with a weather.

She sighed and placed him on the kitchen counter, right next to the batter and the recipe book, and he complied with zero complains, looking up at the jester with wide eyes she wished she saw more often, and she had to suppress a smile to keep them.

"How did you know to come here and find us?" She knew her question was useless, but she could atleast try.

"I didn't..I was..scared..ran into the closest thing to me.."

His shrug was all she needed to know that he ran into the place by sheer luck, and she nodded to his wordless reply.

"Okay..atleast you're not lost" she sighed, picking up the bowl and resuming where Ragatha had left off, "you should..because of yours..eh- size..you should stay here"

Jax rolled his eyes, and Pomni missed it because hers were reading off the book and adding ingredients, "Caine said there are threats here," this grabbed his attention, "its not as safe as the last one, he didn't say what was there, but just..some bad people I guess" she looked back at the rabbit to see if he had understood her, and she saw the way his black pupils were too wide she almost saw her reflection in them.

"We didn't see Caine ourselves- i mean he didnt tell us, we just saw some posters hanging around and some notes on them-" Jax started to squeal and move his body to the side, standing on his hind legs and looking around, as if searching for what Pomni had told him about, she understood quickly.

"Uh- eh..I dont know where we put them" she mumnled to herself, leaving the bowl and walking to the messy table, moving items and food around until she found two papers, she brought them back and placed them on the counter, biting off a very embarrassing question for Jax, just because he cant speak doesn't mean he cant read, and she had to remind herself in that moment that he was still Jax.

He leaned over the papers and read, "shadow murderers. Never once caught, they snatch their preys at night, please roam the streets cautiously and return home safely before sundown" that was very vague, he felt like he was reading a poorly written puzzle, and he had to look up at Pomni with his eyes lidded, she nodded with a smile, "yeah, very useless, he didn't even give us their faces or anything, and we have a restaurant with many people that visit, anyone could be them.." she sighed and returned to the stove, while his eyes glued to the window where they pass plates to the waitresses outside, scanning the crowded and bustling area.

"Dont think about it too much, Jax.." her voice had his head turning around again, "he maybe added them just for horror effects or something.." she shrugged, paying the bunny another comforting look before her focus returned fully to the task ahead, leaving Jax to the thoughts that were running in his small head.

He was looking at the posters at his feet, his little nose twitching as he ran over every scenario that could occur if those shadow murderers were real and not just for the sake of the plot, that they could be roaming around at any time, he was suddenly reminded of what Pomni said, the restaurant was crowded, filled with people, but as soon as he let that thought entertain his nagging fear, his eyes shifted to the jester again, looking too calm, way too friendly for someone who was arguing with him just a day before.

"Wha- ow, hey!" Pomni gasped and flinched when Jax suddenly kicked her with one of his feet right at her side, "what do you want now, Jax?" She sighed, exasperated, filling two plates with beignets and holding them out through the window for Ragatha to take.

"Oh I dont know, maybe another reason to believe you? Or was our fight too immature for that grown brain of yours so you just brush it off so easily, huh!?" He stomped his foot angrily on the table, right over the poster of the shadow murderers, and that was the only thing that Pomni coukd understand from his mini crash out, and she let out a silent exhale through her nose.

"I told you it's not real, Jax.." she reached and took the posters from under his foot, "just..stop overthinking things that wont hurt you if you just..go the other way.." she added, before crumbling the posters and throwing them down in the trash, and he was left to eye the jester like she was the reason he has a war of emotions in his mind.

And maybe that's what it was telling him, because he landed another hit to her sit with his foot and hopped off the kitchen counter, straight out the window.

"WAIT! JAX!" she called, letting go of what she has in her hands and running after him through the door.

The tables were mostly abandoned, in favor of dancing to the jazz that was playing on the stage, and maybe if she was in her right mind, she would've enjoyed it, put on a beautiful dress and attempted to dance, but not when that stupid rabbit was on a suicidal mission to give her another reminder why they had that fight in the first place.

"JAX STOP!" She followed him out the restaurant and into the streets, it wasn't hard to keep track on him, considering he was the only purple furry lump hopping fast over the pavement.

"WHY SHOULD I STOP, HUH!?" he called, his squealing helping her keep her focus on him, and for he NPCs to part the way for the sudden interruption in their steps.

"YOU'RE GOING TO GET HURT YOU IDIOT!"

"OH HERE WE GO AGAIN! THINKING YOU KNOW EVERYTHING WHEN YOUVE ONLY BEEN HERE FOR A FRACTION OF HOW LONG I WAS!"

every word was translated into more sounds that would've been adorable in other circumstances, but now, Pomni could tell that he was probably fighting back, and since she didn't know what he was saying, she had to warn with what she is able to say.

"YOU'RE TOO FAR FROM WHERE WE SHOULD STAY!"

He didn't reply back this time, taking a turn and heading to the bayou not far from behind the buildings, and Pomni had no other choice but to follow.

"OH- I'll show you what i know-" he panted, his form thankfully not fully swallowed by the grass, and even if it did, Pomni was still able to follow the moving wildflowers and green grass with his rapid movements, one of the few things that's good about the digital circus is the lack of human stamina, but even that couldn't stop her from breathing like she was fighting to grow a pair of them.

"JAX PLEASE!" she called again, hoping to get any word to echo and repeat in his mind, but her begging went unnoticed by him.

Her pleading was not what had him stopping after taking twists and turns that drove him away from her eyes until he was cornered between trees and rocks.

They were the shadows not too far, with glowing eyes, one with a red pair and the other with blue ones, and they both had his blood freezing in the body he left outside the digital circus, his pupils widening as they met with the barrel of a gun, aimed right between his eyes.

"..pom.."

"JAX!"

The ding was heard right at the sound of the gun shooting, the bullet had barely brushed his fur when the light faded into darkness again.

Pitch black was the first thing he opened his eyes to as well, at the edges of his vision, swirls of navy blue and cyan danced until they reached where he was looking up at, and effectively drowning the ringing in his ears, because the more he opened his eyes into focus, he realized that he was actually, in fact, under water, but something comforted him that it won't choke him, and that thought alone had him inhaling and exhaling like it was the first breath of clean oxygen any person could ask for, allowing his eyes to slowly get used to the circles at the surface of the water to take different colors, reflected from the various corals that cradle his body in an embrace he thought he would have to be dying to let himself feel as a last wish, and he did think about that option, but the more he looked around, the more flaws he saw, in texture, in shapes of fish, and in the fact he had a mermaid tail, all of it screamed unreal, and unfortunately, he was hearing good again to act like he can't acknowledge the truth, though one calling remained unanswered, and he refused to leave it hanging, even if he ached to stay with his bacn to the sand at the bottom of the sea, the longer he stayed, the more he realized that this was only real because it was an idea not fully comprehended by something who has never tried it before.

With a sigh he wished stayed buried, he began ascending up to the surface, swimming to the shore and letting himself rise up, the fins of his mermaid tail barley brushing he sand as they swished back and forth to keep him afloat.

And from the shore, he saw why the water reflected in reds and blues.

"I was..looking for you.." Pomni called, not in a yell but a statement, her strawberry red cape swishing in the wind as she took a step closer to the water, the tips of her black boots getting cleaned off the sand.

"Why?.." he asked flatly, not unkind.

"You always arrive last..I guess..or you show up at far distances.." she explained, one hand placed over her arm, "how long have you been swimming here" she asked, and by that exact question, he knew that she had no clue what hid under the waves of his lower half.

"I dunno..how long have you been-" he looked up, and saw yet another towering castle, not as old as the one from the first adventure-quest thing, this one was pearly white and decorated with blue engravings that he could see even from a far distance, "-up there"

"Oh- a while, actually..not that long, maybe a couple of minutes, we spent it all trying dresses and stuff" she smiled, shrugging.

"And why aren't you in a dress" she could tell it was meant to be a normal observation, but came out in the only harsh way he knew to speak with when he couldn't..verbalize many other things.

"I didn't find anything that suit me" she blinkd.

"Last two times you wore dresses, did Caine get bored or uninterested or something" this, now this, could have been for attempting a joke, or for something Pomni wasn't brave enough to name yet, and she decided to stick with the unnamed.

"He gave us options i just didn't find anything I might like" she explained calmly.

"..wasting potential and time then, didn't know you could be this neglectful" the eye roll saved his comment from being rude, because now and now only did Pomni feel something flutter like the sun that was rising behind him, she took off her boots and placed them down on the sand, before making a few steps into the water until it reached her hips.

"Dont come closer" his voice was suddenly and hurried, it caught her attention quickly, "why?" She froze, though her foot landed that extra step she waned to take, but didn't act any further.

"It's..the water's too deep" he shrugged, his gaze flicking up to her jester hat, unchanged, "unless that thing could keep you floating" he tried to smirk, and halfway succeeded when she smiled at his words, "fine, fine I'll stay here.." she rolled her eyes, "but just for your information, im a great swimmer" she added matter-of-factly, and Jax caught himself scoffing before he could stop it, and even swimming paralleling her steps that started and he followed without realizing.

"Yeah, like that one time you got swallowed by a wave" he raised an eyebrow, and it didn't take her half a second to remember the exact adventure when this happened, "that was fully your doing and you know it- you pushed me onto the plank!" She fought, all as playful as the bubbles from a fish breathing and swimming at their legs (and mermaid tail).

"It was Captain's orders" he placed a hand over his chest, the ghost of a smirk playing on his yellow grin, "and you followed them precisely, im- like wow, im proud" sarcasm could've overflowed the ocean if it wasn't accompanied by many other emotions hidden under many transparent layers of uncare.

"I didn't follow anything! I had a sword to my back!" She argued again, a smile fighting its way onto her face afraid if it showed up, it would be let down as every time.

"That was a leap of faith! A good push to help you get where you needed" he explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ha, taking like you have experience in leading"

"Excuse you! Im an excellent leader!" He gasped, one hand rising from the water and splashing some over the surface when he placed it over his chest, his eyes narrowing for a whole other reason when Pomni started chuckling, her head shaking and helping the breeze jingle the bells of her jester hat.

" yeah yeah, sure..it's a good thing that Caine doesn't recycle adventures, or else we would've been under the mercy of whatever you call leading skills" she chuckled, huffing.

"Yeah.." he huffed, smiling, the past part of her sentence was where his reply was aimed for poorly, but he failed at it and it sounded exactly how his face looked in response to the first half, "it's good that he doesnt.." he continued, the lowering of his already quiet tone had Pomni realizing she hit another nerve, and she desperately raked her brain for anything to fix it with.

"So he's actually never redid an adventure before?" Oh yes, that was great, more reminders, and somehow, despite his pupils switching with every blink from size to another, his mouth remained the same, which meant whatever came out through his voice was all his doing.

"Not once..he's all about doing new things..new more disturbing s%^t" he mumbled, Pomni nodded slowly to that information.

"Do you..ever wish he could?"

A beat of silence that might have been three seconds or three hours stretched in his suddenly quieted brain, and in-between those seconds, he found himself losing his thoughts in what he usually busied himself at night, in the comfort of his own place, running over memories and remembering how it was like to..do this..run over that..joke about this and that..and to maybe do it all over again and so much more..with someone new..

"Sometimes.." he whispered, "but not all of them" he quickly added, but the zoned out look on his face remained, "some were too boring or annoying to be replayed all over again" he hummed, with every word, he recalled a memory, something he laughed at after a gew days of it happening but lately, he forgot if that's how he actually sounded or that's his memory tricking him.

Pomni took another moment of silence, letting the sound of the waves parting at their movement be what filled it, her fingers threading the water, until she spoke again.

"Im sorry.."

His head snapped to the side to look at her, eyebrows furrowed and pupils slightly narrowed into small pixels, she met his gaze and swallowed a lump of words gathering in her throat.

"Look..Jax, I-..I wasn't there for too long here, I dont know how- how you were with..others, or on adventures or such.." she bit her inner cheeks, thinking he might take the chance to cut her off again, but it never came, his eyes were focused so intently at her, for a second, she thought he might be hearing her speak in numbers, "i only know you for now..for a couple of months, actually, and..and for this short while, or for as long as I might stay..I just- dont want you to feel like you've lost everything.." she tried to handpick her words carefully, pausing between each one for a split second, "you're still here..you have us..even if you don't want us, i..im still here..if you want- if you want of course!" Pomni stuttered, her heart beating way too fast for a digital avatar.

Jax couldn't reply for a while, that while being five too long seconds, then his lips parted again, "you're not going anywhere" he whispered, and the way he said it, like those words were the only four that made it out from the pages he wanted to let out, but as long as she got letters from him, it was more progress than she thought she would get from this conversation.

"And don't apologize again, it sounds pathetic" he scoffed, smirking, his eyes lidded like the half sun that was slowly rising behind him, Pomni smiled, "then don't give me a reason to, idiot" she huffed, and Jax splashed her with water, earning a chuckle and a splash to his face, "dont try again!" She laughed, holding a hand to his face, "too allergic to fun, Poms" he groaned playfully, she smiled behind her palm, before she moved her hand over to him, palm opening to the rabbit.

He eyed it like it was something new..something..something..

He took it before he allowed himself to name what her hand might be, before he could remember that he had no legs, but a fish for his lower half, the first step he took had him find out that he had his legs back, he schooled his expression so she wouldn't ask of his fear turned surprise, but focus on leading him to the shore, thankfully, he had pants on.

"To the castle?" He asked, refusing to let go of her hand even when they walked the shore.

"Mhm, yeah, there are some places you could like" she nodded, smiling, "wanna go?"

Shoulders may carry mountains, but they are left unseen by the people around them, burdened by the invisibility that hides them from people who may want to help, just in fear of those who might hurt them, they cower behind the shadows and latch onto the back of the person they're attached to, engraving their inner thoughts onto the first thing they could find, since emotions can't be actually worn on the sleeve, they crawl up, and into the bag where thoughts are translated into items, ones that can be memories, hopes, dreams, or even fears, latching onto them and creating a world of their own, anything outside, in the light, is alien to the comfortable darkness, but maybe, just maybe, with every blink, the sun can slowly shine withoit blinding.

And to pull out those items can be hard, it's not easy to take away something from its comfort zone, especially when the items start to gain a soul, reflecting what the person sees in it, but with a little bit of courage, Gangle can realize they're all part of the same person.

Her.

"Are you ready, Gangle?" Pomni's soft voice rang the doorbell of the masked lady's mind, she looked up from the folded paper in her ribbon hands to the jester's gaze, almost lost in the colors that surrounded them in a daze of rainbows, but somehow, Pomni managed to be a constant, and Gangle found herself nodding slowly, "yeah, im ready" she handed Pomni the paper, but she held her hands up, smiling,

"It's yours, you should put it", Gangle felt her hollowed chest grow a heart and pound fast.

"What's wrong?" Pomni asked, eyebrows furrowed, "you dont- i have more papers here, you could add anything or-"

"No no, its- I.." Gangle stuttered, one hand going to her happy mask on instinct, clutching the paper in her other hand, "it's a stupid idea, Pomni,..maybe Caine wouldn't even read it, he doesn't read them.." Gangle shook her head, Pomni's eyes instantly widened, and she resisted the urge to reach out to the paper that her friend held back.

"Gangle, he would, he does sometimes, there's a chance you could get your adventure" Pomni coaxed gently, her voice too real to be artifical breeze, and it got Gangle looking back up at her again, if she had cheeks to bite, she would've been doing just that, and Pomni sensing that her silence wasn't of thought, but from overthinking, she continued to speak, encouraged by her own need to help her friend, she placed her hand over Gangle's wrist, "you'll never know what could happen unless you try" she said softly.

"We didn try before, and he got angry, and he-" Gangle rambled, Pomni already knew what she wanted to say, and she forced herself to listen to Gangle just to have her let off a little bit of her anxiety out, "he didn't accept anything and thought we dont enjoy his adventures- he could get you all in trouble because of me"

"Woah woah- what does this have to do with us? It's your adventure- no i mean! I mean like-" Pomni sighed, her words not placed well into a sentence and she regretted not taking more time to think, one look at Gangle's confused face had her knowing that maybe this is how her friend feels at the moment, she inhaled and gripped her wrist gently aain, "you dont have to be scared for us, if he gets angry? The worst he could do is give a cocktail of adventures we suggest" she pointed out, before smiling, "which wouldn't be bad, we would get to try everything you wrote one by one" Pomni continued, watching Gangle's face slowly shift into a steady smile.

She walked to the box in the middle of the circular colorful room and placed the paper inside it, watching it get swooped by the air.

"Oh- there you are!" Zooble called, watching Gangle walk from a distance, followed by Pomni.

If Gangle could have a mask that showed a greater feeling than happiness, she would've worn it at the moment, but all she could do was a big smile and brushing past Pomni as she rushed to Zooble.

"I did it! I put the suggestion in the box!" Gangle giggled, Zooble's eyes squinted in a sign they were smiling, holding their hands out for Gangle to take, "you did!?" They said excitedly, clutching Gangle's ribbon hands tighter, watching her nod.

"Just now! And now we wait i guess" Gangle shrugged, though the small ministration with her shoulders didn't dim her excited happiness, "atleast that's what Pomni told me, you know I haven't suggested in a long while" she added, Zooble hummed and nodded, "yeah, we should wait..but how long exactly, Pomn-" Zooble looked over Gangle's shoulder to see no one there, the jester just vanished into thin air, but that was a mechanism that can only be achieved in two ways, either Caine teleported her somewhere, or she walked way, and in Pomni's case, she would never walk away without atleast saying bye, and who had that lack of social manners?

"WOW WOW WOW! A NEW ADVENTURE SUGGESTION!? AND HERE I THOUGHT GANGLE WOULD STOP SENDING THEM!" Caine exclaimed loudly from behind his desk, too fast for the dazed jester to understand what could be the reason for his excitement now. "AND I SHOULD BE PROUD! I thought I hid the suggestion box in a deeper place this time.."

"Wha?.." Pomni mumbled, rubbing her forehead.

"THIS ADVENTURE IS QUITE THE SPECTACLE! I must admit..I've never thought you might like something this..boring!" Caine hummed, reading the paper that seemed to just appear out of thin air, leaning back in his chair, one leg over the other, tapping the gum of his lower jaw in thought before snapping his fingers, "tell Gangle that I will be working on IT IMMEDIATELY!"

Pomni, yet again, blinked and found herself falling face down onto the black and white floors of the circus tent, groaning, her body refused to get up, just in frustrated stubbornness at how she's been treated in the last minute.

Until a foot nudged her leg, rudely interrupting her annoyed timezone.

"Geez, didn't think I'd see the day you needed therapy in"

His voice had her gathering her will to turn over on her back and glare up at the purple rabbit in pure unamusement.

"But i see it in you every day" she groaned, standing up and brushing her shoulders uselessly, but it was just an act that they all enjoyed doing every chance they would get.

"You never fail to give me reasons to" Jax shot back, smirking, folding his arms and nudging his shoulder against hers, "but if this is your way of asking me out then you could've been sweeter, Pom"

"Huh?"

"HELLO MY COOL CUCUMBERS!" Caine popped into thin air at the stage, floating like a starfish next to bubble, bringing attention to him in a split second from genuine surprise at the sudden noise.

"I HOPE YOU'RE VERY READY FOR WHAT I HAVE FOR YOU TODAY BECAUSE BOY OH BOY!- ITS GOING TO BE FANTASTIC!" He laughed, throwing his cane from hand to the other over his head without looking up, in a failed attempt to bring more attention to what he persumed was catchy of his announced words.

Pomni looked over at Gangle from the side, who was sitting on the green couch with Zooble, her sketchbook abandoned now that she waited in hopeful anticipation, the jester wanted to spoil the surprise, but it would be better to watch her friend find out on her own than ruin it for her, so she returned her gaze back to Caine.

Who didn't seem to be in the mood for stalling the adventure with labels and titles, "now NOW! EVERYONE IS HERE, HMM!?" He clapped his hands, looking around, he counted the six residents of the digital circus before snapping his fingers, "HAVE FUN!"

everything went dark in a split second, it was silent, still, and eerily cold for a place that never granted them nerves unless to toy with them.

Pomni scrambled in the room she was in until she found the door and snapped it open, greeted with light of the hall she quickly worked her legs to run down, past the other doors she didn't bother to stop reading what's written on them, knowing Caine, this could be another one of his horror adventures, a part in the back of her brain was grateful that she didn't tell Gangle about the conversation she had with the ai ringmaster, she would've broken her heart and happy mask.

Pomni kicked open another door, leading her into a dark room, lit by something that Pomni couldn't focus on, her eyes landing on the first person she saw.

"Ra- Ragatha! Oh good!- what kind of- what is this adventure!?" Pomni panted, her hand coming to the doll's shoulder, her eyes widened in frantic panic that didn't match the look on Ragatha's.

"CUT!" a normally squealed voice, now shouted, making Pomni's neck snap towards where Gangle was perched on a chair, with papers in her hand and a speaker with the other, looking insanely displeased at both girls standing infront what Pomni now realized was a stage that resembled a bar, she looked back at her hand, she was holding onto Ragatha's black dress, not her usual blue doll one.

"Oh, great, we gotta do this again now!?" Jax groaned loudly from a seat at the bar, bringing Pomni's disoriented gaze to the rabbit, whose own pink overalls were changed for a white shirt, black tie and pants, and while that wasn't one of Pomni's concerns, it surely was one thing to pay attention to closely when she got her mind unscrambled.

"Yes! We will! But only after your line, Jax" Gangle called through the speaker, the item whistling and had everyone covering their ears at the ringing sound, except for Jax who was busy scowling, "and Pomni!?"

"Y-yea??" Something about Gangle's authoritive tone, the one that last time they heard it was at Spudsy's adventure, had Pomni standing up in a straight line with her arms frozen by her sides.

And an understanding flooded her brain like light in a room, this has got to be Gangle's suggestion.

"Take your script and into the changing room! You have a couple of scenes to rehears! Come on!" Pomni headed to Gangle's chair, grabbing the papers from her hands, reading over at the first page, before looking back up, "eh- where's the changing room?"

"Behind those curtains" Gangle spoke normally, gesturing with her hand to the left, Pomni nodded and walked there, not sure how exactly she was going to change out of her jester costume, mandatory to her avatar base, only one who could mess around with it was Caine, changing their clothes to match the adventure, but nevertheless, she opened the curtain and walked inside, closing the black fabric behind her.

The room had red painted walls, lit by triangle lights falling from the ceiling and reaching the top edge of the long mirror, the only item next to the white vanity in the room.

"Dont be late!" Came Gangle's voice from outside.

"Oh- yeah I wont!" Pomni called back, she placed the script on the vanity, opening he first few pages and letting her eyes sweep over what she can read and remember of them, it didn't seem that Gangle was aiming for long sentences but rather short and deep ones that held meaning that Pomni was sure she would find easy to memorise, her mind already wrapped around the idea of what this adventure is, quick adaptation something that one would have to learn after spending a while in the digital circus.

The synopsis of the movie was that a bunch of friends had found their way back to one another after all of them lost their memories in a bad accident, and despite that, they still got along, but slowly, they started to remember pieces about their past, and the memories can either end what they were growing, or start a new beginning all over again for what they could have.

Pomni knew that Gangle was a great artist but to find out that her friend had an imagination that worked in the writing field was just phenomenal, it was like watching her art come to life, and she knew that she was in for something interesting.

"Amnesia..huh.." Pomni hummed, reading the name of the movie Gangle was directing, and reading a bit more down, she caught how Caine's name made its way to the VFX editor and special effects manager, pretty much into every space that Gangle had her name in, Caine's would be there too, which wasn't surprising in the least.

What was shocking though, was how in a split second, Pomni had changed from her red and blue jester suit, to a beautiful, long iridescent dress with the same color palette of what she wore earlier, a cut thay stretched from her mid thigh to her feet where she wore white heels, and for once she felt at her head and the big hat wasn't there, replaced by a silver tiara with lavender jewels.

Pomni sure did look beautiful, but she's never seen herself in a dress, maybe she did, but her memory hasn't been her best aid since she woke up in this digital world, and if it did, she wasn't sure if her real self would like or hate the dress she's wearing.

Did Gangle write this? Or is this Caine's doing?

"Uh- Gangle?" Pomni called, opening the curtain just a bit, standing behind it to stay hidden.

"Pomni you're almost up!" Gangle replied.

"No its just-"

"Come here and rehears your lines, woman!"

Oh wow, that was..interesting.

Pomni grabbed the script, sighing as she walked out, heels clicking on the studio floor, she looked up to see that another room opened, this one stretching to mimic a raining street at dawn, while Kinger and Zooble had already shot their scenes in the baseball field studio, Jax and Ragatha were still in the bar.

"Are you gonna show up in it?" Pomni asked, looking back at Gangle and failing to notice the eyes that couldn't help but be hypnotized by her.

"At the end, yes, we all will" Gangle nodded, going through the script in her lap, the black coat she wore and the hat on her head managing to add more to her intimidating aura, though melting just one person in the room from where they sat on the bench.

"You've got an hour to memorise your lines, dont worry, they're not too long, and i can tolerate improvising" Gangle smiled at the jester before holding her speaker up and speaking without a warning.

"RAGATHA! KINGER! YOU'RE NEXT ON THE BEACH!"

The rain plattered soundlessly on the pavement, leaving trails of slow water running through the cracks of the road and effectively giving a chance for the determined flowers and grass to grow despite all odds, to see the rising sun over the horizon, the shadows of the two people walking depriving them momentarily of the pleasure of seeing life how it's supposed to be lived, but giving them hushed whispers, and a chance to see and hear how some of those people live it.

"I dont think my skin is used to the sun again yet" Pomni chuckled, her eyes lidded as she hugged the black jacket to her shoulders, thankful for the wide heels she wore that allowed her to walk confidently without fear of tripping.

"Give it some time, and then you will be bored all over again from it" Jax shrugged with a smirk, hands in his pockets as he walked to the jester's pace.

"Didn't take you for a night lover" Pomni raised an eyebrow, earning her a side look from the rabbit, "i never said I was"

She hummed and tilted her head to the side, "i dunno...I thought you could be" she hummed, the tone in her voice holding more than a reply, a continuesy that had Jax intrigued, and he hoped the look on his face would match the way Gangle described it in the script.

"Oh? Your assumptions are gonna be the end of you, Pom" he huffed a chuckle, taking a few more seconds than he should've before replying again, straight from his own mind, "say..why do you think I'd like the night"

Pomni's surprise at the sway from the script was swallowed with the trained response to what he should've said, she clenched the jacket in her hands and parted her lips to find an accurate reply that wont be far from what they rehearsed for.

"Maybe..your mysterious nature?"

That earned a laugh from Jax, his shoulders shaking, good, that was scripted, what wasn't on paper though, was Pomni smiling softly.

"Me? Mysterious, oh im telling you, Pom, im nothing but an open book"

"Yeah but without headline, or a synopsis, or a writer with a sane mind" she replied, and with every word, Jax's laughter would raise, his rabbit ears folded back, chest heaving with every breath, and as if to proof her own improvised words, at this moment, she can't even tell if he's being genuine or eccentric, her fingers toyed with the jacket over her shoulders, biting her tongue with a smile that couldn't quite reache her eyes with with her lower lids trying to fold.

"You're crazy, Pom, im telling you, you already know a lot about me" he hummed, back on script, his eyes closed before he opened to side eye the jester playfully, "too much if im being truthful" he strayed from the words again, toying with them and Pomni's fast reaction abilities like a yoyo.

"So there are things I dont know about you" she snapped back, smiling and raising an eyebrow.

"Of course" he nodded obviously, "we all have secrets, dont we?" He kicked a pebble into a small pond created by the soft spring rain, his eyes fixed on the circular ripples it created as it drowned, something itching at his insides when he couldn't know how deep it could go before reaching the bottom.

"We do.." she whispered, too quiet she feared it wont be caught by the microphone following over their heads.

"But i dont hide anything important from you" Pomni looked up at him, catching him off guard with the way his shoulders tensed slightly.

"Pfft, me neither" he scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"And what do i know about you?" Pomni asked, the words rolling through her mouth before she could think about them, and it seemed from the way that Jax is looking around subtly thay he was waiting for Gangle to shout at them to cut the scene, but the yell never came, and he swallowed thickly.

"What a dumb question, Pom, you- you know a lot about me, more than anyone else" he looked down at her, awaiting her reaction, blinking twice in a row to signal for her to get back on script, but Pomni ignored it the same way he brushed over her own winks when he strayed the first time.

"And that's supposed to make me feel trusty of you?"

"Dont you trust me?"

"I do..but do you trust me?"

"Stop asking questions"

He snapped, stopping in his tracks and turning to face Pomni fully, whose eyes were widened and eyebrows furrowed, she didn't look at the cameras as the director told them not to, keeping her wavering pupils fixed on Jax's small, black squared ones.

"Jax?-" she whispered.

"No, no you listen to me" he cut her off, one hand held up, "if I didn't trust you enough I wouldn't have had those drinks at the bar, I wouldn't have let you laugh at me without getting pushed over the stool-" he stopped himself with a humourless chuckle, one hand on his forehead, "f%*k, if i didn't trust you enough, i wouldn't be having this stupid conversation in the first place!" He continued to shout, his shoulders tensed, eyes narrowed but wide at the same time that couldn't give Pomni an emotion to work with.

"We were..we were just..talking..having fun" she whispered, resisting the urge to call for Gangle to cut the cameras and lights, but it seemed that everyone sat silently to watch the now fully improvised scene unfold infront of them.

And for the first time since she got to the circus, she's never felt more watched in her life than she does now.

"Oh, yeah, of course, fun, its fun to ask a fr- someone youve known for so long if they trust you enough" Jax said sarcastically, slapping his own forehead as if an idea just struck him, "yeah, You're totally right, Pom!"

Pomni narrowed her eyes, biting her inner cheeks, "You're still not saying my real name" she switched back to the script, hoping to corner him and return to the lines they were supposed to stick to in the first place.

"You will always, always be that stupid, dumb, naive and overly trusting jester to me" but by the looks of it, Jax didn't want to stick to anything other than the moment that didn't match the softness of the rain or the sun that seemed to be stuck at the edge of the horizon, mirroring a hint of emotion that Pomni couldn't reach and grab through the heat that Jax wanted to convey on his face right now.

"And that's the only thing you see me as?" Pomni whispered dangerously, "thats the only way you see everyone! Just your playthings to toy and mess around with for your own twisted amusement- but let me tell you something, I would rather be someone naive than someone manipulative enough to know they have a-"

"Manipulative!?"

"Yeah manipulative!" Pomni yelled back, raising her voice over his shocked one, hands dropping from the jacket she didnt care if fell now to wave around for emphasis around her, "making fun of everyone! Bullying any person who is not strong enough to defend themselves-"

"And when was the LAST time I did THAT!?" Jax yelled, his whole body just a few minutes away from collapsing or doing something stupid, "HUH!? WHEN!?"

Pomni actually had to purse her lips in a thin line, grinding her jaw as she tried to recall the last time Jax threw a centipede at Ragatha, pushed Gangle, made fun of Kinger or done anything remotely annoying to Zooble.

Nothing resurfaced to her brain in the last few days..or weeks..or even-

"Months, Pomni" he whispered almost in a hiss, "six hundred and thirty two days withoit a single, annoying thing, that it became ridiculous to me to think about hurting anyone"

Pomni's lips parted silently, her eyebrows raising slightly.

"Six hundred and thirty two days without pranks, bullying, yelling, useless sarcasm or any of the random b%$$&*!t I usually do" he continued, making Pomni's heart beat far too fast for an organ that doesn't exist in her digital avatar.

"Jax.." she breathed quietly, not sure if calling for him or asking, or anything really, and he seemed to be just as lost as she was, the script colliding with the reality they lived every single digital day in.

"And you're not calling my real name either.." he whispered back, all the fight melting from him as he begrudgingly returned to the script, his voice sounding monotone, even his eyes darted away with a slowness that betrayed how poetically the action was described on the script.

"Because you'll always be Jax to me.."

Though the way his pupils dilated and returned fast to the jester's face made up to how he messed up a few seconds ago, remaining silent in a way that Pomni could only translate as pleading.

"And you will always be that loud, obnoxiously annoying, sarcastic and eccentric purple dumb bunny to me.." she continued, a smile making its way to her wavering lips despite everything, "i..I dont know how you do it but...you will always be the same..but in the way that I could recognize you even when you're a better person.." Pomni whispered, looking down at a random daisy that was blooming and eyeing the sun like its only savior.

"I like the night because its the only time when..I sit down and remember everything I did through the day.." he started, bringing her attention back to the softness that didn't match his earlier outbursts, though that was something she connected to Jax in the most comforting of ways, "and in every single one of them..you're the last thing on my mind even when I dont want to sleep" he breathed out shakily, trying his best not to stutter over his words and match one of the adjectives Pomni described him with, "i like the quiet because it's- quiet..it's lonely it's..it.." he trailed off, hoping that his silence wont have her breaking it any time soon, so he forced himself to speak again.

"It's makes me get used to loneliness..to not having you beside me.."

"You know I wouldn't leave" Pomni was fast to whisper.

"You can't promise me that, Pom" he shook his head in disbelief more than fear, or maybe it was both mixed together to make an emotion Jax thought he could only feel in his room.

"I want to promise you, Jax.." she affirmed, one of her hands shooting out to hold Jax's before she had the process of thinking about her action, and it had them both freezing, looking at each other and waiting for the other to speak, but his body had counted down the minutes and weighed its options, choosing the stupid one.

His arms wrapped fast around her body, looping around her slim waist and pulling her to his own skinny chest, and despite the lack of curves, the whole world folded in his arms at the moment, he's never gravitate towards anyone like this in his lives and he doubted he would ever find that feeling again, but he was sure he would never let it loose, he would never-

"I can't forget you.." he whispered against her hair, the lavender jewels of her tiara biting into his lilac fur but that was something that could never overpower the pain of the thought of letting go.

"We could remember each other.." she whispered again, the script was fully wiped from her mind at this point, and she wouldn't call it back even if Gangle yelled at them to stop, "over and over again.." her promise trailed off into what Jax hoped he could keep as a vow.

"Even when it takes time.." he choked into her hair, eyes closing, it wasn't a question, more of a promise of his own, echoing in every strand of her hair where he read it kept memories.

A line of three words hung in the air, the ink of it would fade off from the script before it would be whispered, but that isn't needed now, no words were needed, not when his arms encircled her waist like if he let go, they would lose everything they could have, like if their arms loosened just even a little bit, the lines they abandoned for improvising would come to haunt them, but through it all, through every word they lost along the way, every laughter that replaced something harmful, the words that were left whispered in their hearts would find the right moment to be shared through mingled breaths, and nights spent awake, because no dream could match the reality they would build together, one day in the future they would forget everything to make memories to remember in.

"Shouldn't yo-"

"No" Gangle whispered shakily, cutting off her partner, one ribbon hands over her mouth, eyes glued to the heartfelt scene that played infront of them, "this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen" she continued quietly, over the sound of papers flipping next to her and the sound of Caine scratching the back of his jaw, "but they got way off the script-"

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.