Chapter Text
“AHAH!”
Pomni laughed maniacally as Zoobles body parts clattered to the ground upon contact with the flying silver bullet.
”We make such a good team!”
She giggled and flung herself onto Jax standing next to her, pulling him into a tight embrace, a large smile on her face - perhaps the biggest since she entered the circus.
And for just a moment, Jax chuckled with her, so quietly it was near impossible to hear. For less than a second she hugged him, and he almost let her, until he remembered himself.
That happiness of winning had worn off nearly instantly, and the guilt started to seep in. Whatever happy look was on his face was wiped off as he pushed the jester avatar avatar off of him harshly.
Pomni stared at him with a blank expression, dazed and confused. Had they not just been bonding? But Jax’s look of disgust had quickly morphed into his usual grin, and she had no choice but to brush it off. She wasn’t into physical contact anyway.
“Urgh, I guess. To be fair, our competition wasn’t anything crazy.”
The purple rabbit shrugged, wiping the hand he had used to push Pomni away on the leg sleeves of his bright pink overalls. He watched the clown turn away and used the opportunity to think about that.
She hugged him. Him. She always seemed so… uncomfortable when touched. But she hugged him. And they had acted close during this stupid adventure today. That was his first mistake. He had to break it off. For her sake. No, for his sake.
“I guess this is the part where one of us betrays the other… huh?
She was still turned away from him, hunched over with the shotgun she had used to eliminate Zooble together with Jax clutched in her hands. She squinted her eyes and a devious smirk appeared on her face.
“HAH!”
She jumped to face him and pointed the gun in his face, giggling at her fantastic joke she was expecting him to play along with. But Jax didn’t even reply, instead jst stood there, staring at his hand.
He only snapped out of it when she wiggled the gun in the air a little, earning a small jump out of him when he regained his composure.
“What? Oh, yeah. You can betray me, go for it.”
He grinned widely, tossing his own carabiner far behind him.
What was he doing? Didn’t he call himself the “funny one”? Why was he rejecting her joke now that she was finally… comfortable?
“Oh! I- I just kind of thought this would be a… mutual? Thing..?”
She let her shoulders drop and her eyes shift around nervously. After all day of being chaotic and shooting up the place, she still couldn’t relax properly. It was like all that progress had just been erased.
“La-aame! Come on! I thought you were cool?”
Jax replied in a sing-song voice and began to approach her, slouched slightly to be able to see her face better, though that was a mistake.
She wasn’t smiling anymore. No more random fits of giggles like the many others throughout the day. Her jester avatar just looked sad and disappointed - betrayed.
It had to be done. Whatever.
“Well… Now I kinda.. don’t… want to.”
Pomni lowered the gun slowly, her pitiful expression somehow becoming sadder.
“Can’t we just win? Together. As a team?”
She gave him a weak smile, the gun now stuffed in her pant leg.
Gosh, why was she so adamant? She was just making things more complicated. Jax sighed and crouched infront of her, now at eye level with her. Man was she short.
“We’re not a team. Never were.” He placed a finger on her mouth to cut her off. “Everything that happened today was for the adventure. I was just using you to my advantage. I always do.”
He raised her arm gripping the gun to his head with a wide smile, staring straight into her eyes. He positioned the barrel of the gun right between his eyes and whispered something that sent chills down her spine.
“Shoot me, Pomni.” He smiled wider at her look of shock, debating her choices. As he stared, he realised how frog-like her avatar was. Did she always look like that?
He was snapped out of his daze when Pomni spoke up in a quiet, slightly shaky voice.
“If i shoot you… will we still be friends after this..?”
He answered straight away.
“We were never friends.”
It sounded odd when he said it. They weren’t. They couldn’t be.
Pomni stared back at him for a moment, then seemed to understand. She pulled away from his increasingly tight grip and took a few steps back, hiding the gun behind her back.
“What- What was that? We’re not doing this! After- After everything you said you’re just gonna… pretend it never happened?!” She looked up at him in confusion. “Don’t look me in the EYE! And tell me none of that meant anything to you!”
Smoke blasted out her ears cartoonishly as the tall rabbit stared her directly in the eye with a grin.
“None of that meant anything to me.” He replied simply.
“UGH! Are you actually doing this right now?! Pushing me away!?” She slammed her foot down in rage.
There was no way he just… didn’t care. He could be emotional or… even caring, she knew it! He was being held back. Held back by himself.
“Is this why you didn’t show up to Kaufmo’s funeral? Because you’re to afraid to show any amount of human emotion?!” She fumed.
“I don’t show up to any funerals!” Jax yelled in response. “I’m too AFRAID I’ll be bored to tears!” He continued smiling, though there was something different about this smile. It was… unsettling.
Pomni groaned loudly, pinching the bridge of her nose in anger.
“Don’t you get it? This is how it happens! This is how people abstract-!”
”Oh and you’d know that huh!?” Jax cut her off. “You didn’t even know them! You don’t care! You have no idea what they’re like before it- it happens! They are not pleasant to be around! At ALL.”
He took a step with each angry gesture he made, moving closer and closer to Pomni, who was now nervously backing away, her look of anger now replaced with one of fear and concern. When Jax realised this, he cut himself off. He stood up straight and turned away from her, forcing his face of rage to ease into a careless smile and move on.
He ignored Pomni’s apology and continued his nonchalant facade.
“Whoo! That’s embarrassing! So, ya gonna shoot me or what?” He stayed turned away from her. Those frog-ass lookin’ eyes can be really good at guilt tripping, he noticed.
But Pomni didn’t answer. She stayed silent. He hadn’t gone too far again, had he?
“What would you do if I abstracted tomorrow?”
Her question echoed through the empty halls, and it made Jax slow down a little.
What would he do? He wouldn’t go to her funeral, that’s for sure. He had a look he had to maintain in front of the others. He wouldn’t visit her room either. That was an act reserved for one old friend. Nothing. He couldn’t do anything. It didn’t matter if he wanted to, he couldn’t.
“I’d move on” He turned to face her slowly, traces of a smirk still clearly visible on his face. “And probably forget about you.”
He stared at the small jester in front of him, now completely defeated. Whatever hopes of being able to rely on Jax had seemingly disappeared, and the only emotions that could be detected on her face were disappointment and despair.
And it reminded Jax of a similar face someone else had made, a long, long time ago. Someone with even more frog features, who was now long gone. Jax now knew that wasn’t a good face. It was the last look someone makes before they leave for good, whether they like it or not.
“Okay…” Pomni replied softly. Were her hands trembling or was that Jax overthinking? “Okay…” She muttered even quieter now.
She couldn’t have her eyes meet his. She couldn’t look at him. He wouldn’t just forget about her for the rest of eternity, would he? If he did, would the others too? Would Kinger forget she ever existed? Ragatha? Gangle? Even Zooble?
Their only reminder of her would be the stupid cartoon photo on her door covered with a big red X. They’re used to losing people now, they’d have no choice but to forget.
Pomni slowly turned away from Jax and watched the shotgun tremble in her hands. He was not the funny one. He never was.
Jax realised what he said was worse than just playing along. He wasn’t avoiding catastrophe, he was starting it, burying that little seed of doubt that’s sure to grow into an accident.
“Geez, you really can’t take a joke, can ya?” He tried to play it off cool, but Pomni didn’t answer. She didn’t move or turn around. She just stood there, gun clutched in her hands and spacing out in thought. It almost made Jax feel bad.
He reached out his hand, and was just about to approach her when she turned around.