Chapter Text
It was a relatively average day in the circus the day she showed up. Jax had been just waiting for one of the neighborhood idiots to waltz right into his trapーthe one set up by the stairs next to the stage. He was soooo ready for somebody to be covered in ‘crazy-goo’. He was damn lucky to have found that stuff behind one of the many doors here, and of course he was going to use it to sabotage someone. Any sad sucker would do, really.
But alas, that anticipatory moment was soon forgotten.
No, he didn’t get to see any sorry sucker get gacked. Why?
Well…because of the dumb newbie.
When Pomni showed up, he didn’t really notice at first. He wasn’t a witness to her arrival, after all; moreso a spectator after she’d been fumbling around for the first thirty seconds. When he did notice her, she was all shaky.
Like, a severe alcoholic without a drink in eight hours, shaky. Heh, weird…and she was looking all around, like a swarm of bees was attacking her or something. Woah this chick must be riddled with nerves…
How delightful!
Ha, she was a real freak. Oh, this one will be fun to torture. He hasn’t had any fresh meat in a while, so this little ball of anxiety was a godsend. He could already feel the satisfaction of tormenting her; the sound of girly shrieks already promising him contentment.
The adventure Caine shat out for her proved a total bust. Zooble got eaten, for like, the twenty-fifth time? Whatever, he didn’t care. That sock puppet-ass looking snake diva was quickly a bore, even though he was just happy to be away from killer Kofmo. That bastard had to go and abstract, and leave him behind with the rest of the mentally ill joke of a cast. Ragatha was glitching out pretty hard when the adventure ended, and the new girl bitched out and ran away with a glitchy handーmaybe she learned her lesson about helping. He ran away in that situation, so maybe she had a brain in that nearly spherical head of hers? Or maybe the new girl was more coward than idiot.
Anyway, now that shit show was over, and they were sitting at dinner. That little jester freak sat next to him and was just staring blankly at her digital food, right through it. Everybody munched away, either too exhausted or too oblivious to give a damn. Except, of course, the annoyingly persistent queen of kiss-assery herself.
“So, Pomni! Do, uhh, do you not like chicken?” Ragatha had asked politely, pushing around her digital food with her fork, cheek resting on her balled up fist.
Rags had an untouched breast of her own on the plate before her. Jax momentarily thought about commenting about how that chicken was more well-endowed than she was, but he was distracted by the promise of a reaction from the new girl. He needed to suss her out, to dissect her. Like a formaldehyde-preserved cat in biology class.
Pomniーlike an absolute brickーsaid nothing, and remained still.
Hmmm.
“Oh don’t be silly, Rags,” Jax interjected mirthfully, “Everybody loves chicken! Show’er, Pom!”
Then, he snatched a chicken leg from her plate and shoved it rather forcefully in her mouth. It successfully brought Pomni back to reality…or whatever the hell plane of existence they currently resided in. Pomni didn’t hack, or choke, or have any fraction of the grotesque reaction Jax was hoping for. Instead, her eyes focused, and she gently grabbed the leg and bit down on it.
This little character was kind of…interesting? Yeah…yeah. She wasn’t really having the reactions he had predicted, what with her being so anxious and fidgety. He’d assumed she’d be more flamboyant, animated, and lively. Not to say that her reactions weren’t funny, but more so that they weren't what he’d expected. She was so weird. Like, not creepy-weird, but more awkward-weird.
“This is so strangeーit’s like eating the smell of chicken. Or the idea of the smell of chicken,” she murmured as the virtual food tucked into her cheek.
“Yo, that’s rude,” Jax said with a smirk, hiding his curiosity at her lack of abrasion to his antics, “don’t’cha know it’s not ladylike to talk with a mouth full of vood.”
At that, Pomni faced him with a puzzled look. Ohhh…this is different? What is this feeling? She’s so confused. It’s so entertaining. She’s not really mad, or even bothered. Just, kindaーlost. Her big ol’ eyes made him a little dizzy, what with the funky colors in that wacky pattern. That must be it.
“Vood?” Gangle, who sat to the right of him, asked meekly.
“YES, GANGLE,” Jax said dramatically, throwing his eyes at the ceiling to accentuate his eye roll. He then shoved a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth.
“Put two and two together, Dummy,” he antagonized as he leaned in Gangle's direction, poking her with his spoon, as a piece of potato flew out of his mouth and landed on her mask.
“EWE, JAX! WHY?” she shrieked, wiping at the mess under her eye. Jax only cackled at her displeasure. Haha, she’s such a chump. She was so disgusted by it but it wasn’t even real. The only things that matter are what you decide mattersーJax learned that early, and Gangle did not.
“Virtual food,” Pomni said, watching the shenanigans play out with diminishing energy.
Jax turned to face her, trying his hardest to emulate a dissatisfied mood, and hoped she couldn’t see the hamster wheel turning in his head. But little did he know, she did noticeーhis eyes were practically gleaming from her perspective. It made her retract, probably at the thought of more antagonization.
He smoothly spooned another pile of mashed potatoes, not breaking eye-contact with the jester, and catapulted it onto Gangle’s lap without even a glance to aim. It was kind of impressive, to be honest, but the others at the table thought otherwise.
“Nope. Not even close,” Jax said, sputtering out another fleck of potato, squinting his eyes at the small primary-covered girl as Ragatha and Zooble complained in the background.
Pomni took another tentative bite of her less than real chicken, watching the bulge in his cheek, and muttered, “hypocritapult,” under her breath.
Jax laughed at that remark, throwing his head back slightly to try and push the rest of the amusement out of himself. Then he took a long drink from his mug of whatever-the-fuck. He glanced at Gangle and then waved his gloved hand in the direction of Ragatha and Zooble to dismiss their bitching. Afterward, he peeked at Pomni, to find her staring at her food in silence yet again.
She must have been an astronaut before this place because she sure likes to space the fuck out.
“You know, Pomni, you can have any condiment you want, if it doesn’t taste good! They all exist here. You can have barbeque, honey mustard, or..or…” Ragatha piped up again, trying to cheer Pomni up and bring her back to the table. It was kind of obvious the little freak was overwhelmed, and the ragdoll had to go and unintentionally stimulate her. Pomni’s gaze shot up to meet Rag’s, and she blinked herself back to dinner.
“The chicken is, um…interesting, Ragatha, b-but,” Pomni said as she pushed away from her seat with a start.
“ーbut I think I’m gonna go rest for a little bit. I’m kinda worn out,” Pomni said monotonously, sliding out of her chair and pushing it back to the table.
“Oh, yes, ok! That’s reasonable! Do you want to take anything back in case you want food later? You haven’t eaten much,” Ragatha said with a soft smile. Uuuggghhh….gross.
“N-uhh…I-I mean, I’m notーI…” Pomni stuttered, gazing at her mostly virgin dinner, unable to make eye-contact with the sweet doll lady. She kind of made her feel like a little kid.
“Stutterbutt says ‘Nope’,” Jax interjected, nonchalantly reaching over and sliding Pomni’s mostly untouched food over to himself. With that, she nodded swiftly, and looked at Jax with…what the fuck was that look? Was that…? No, couldn’t be. Not appreciation. Why would that freak be thankful to HIM of all people? The audacity! That little shit.
He was very intentionally converting the strange, unidentifiable feeling bubbling in his stomach into one he understood very wellーretaliation. It was the only thing he could do, really. What else could he have done with that sort of feeling? Certainly not acknowledge it.
And she was gone before he could form a snotty quip. Well, whatever. She’d just have to learn the hard way that Jax was the very last person in the universe you wanted to appreciate.
And with that, he dove into her vood and the rest of the table chatted idly about nonsense until it was time for bed, or nightly activities. Like stewing in existential dread, contemplating if life was life without death, and jacking off.
When Jax made his way to his room after everyone else had left, he stood in front of his door a moment, staring at the door opposite of his own. That new girl was his next door neighbor, how delightful. Her pouty little face was slapped on her door fittingly, he snickered to himself how accurately it represented the strange little thing. Well, he’d better get to work on mapping her personality traits, anxieties, fears, and thought process if he was gonna fuck with her sufficiently enough to test her mental fortitude.
Now that she gave him something new to work with, he was going to be quite entertained for the time being. He opened his bedroom door and slid in, smiling like a villain.