Chapter Text
Pale arms lurched over, their gloved hands finding purchase on the ground below. It appeared as though they were breathing heavily, unable to catch their breath, which seemed to escape them without much of a fight. The movement caused the hat on their head to jingle the bells at the end. Were they some sort of clown? They hadn't realized it just yet, but they were sweating profusely, soaked almost as if they had been dunked into a pool prior to this ordeal.
For a second, they held their breath, pushing themselves onto their knees as their eyes swirled. When was the last time they had felt like this? When was the last time—
"Pomni, are you okay?" The jester slowly turned their head to the right, their gaze lagging upwards to see what appeared to be a doll with red curly hair. For some reason, their vision was blurry, unable to make out the details of the doll’s appearance.
"Hhh… Huh?" The words in their throat caught them by surprise, one gloved hand reaching up to gently grasp it. When did they even start to breathe again?
The other shifted before them, sending a chill down the jester's spine. They weren't sure what was happening or who they or anyone else around them were. All they knew at this point was that their name was Pomni, a clown, and that they did NOT feel well. Soon, another wave of nausea hit them, sending the jester once again forward onto their hands as they emptied their stomach contents onto the ground below. It stung their throat and nose, the black sludge never seeming to end.
Pomni could feel themselves growing weaker, opting to roll over onto their back as they shut their eyes tightly to avoid gazing at the bright lights above. They could feel the ground below them shake ever so slightly as footsteps grew near, belonging to more people than they were willing to even try to count.
"Sheesh, what's wrong with her?" Ah, so she was a woman. At least she didn't have to worry about that either now.
"Come on Jax, let's not [Quack] around right now." A pause. "Gangle, can you please go get Caine?"
"Y-Yes!" A soft feminine voice warbled. Did they even leave? Pomni couldn't tell.
"Geez, Rags, she's clearly just sick." There was a hint of something within those words, but it never registered as the poor jester finally gave in and passed out.
When Pomni came to, she was nestled on a green sofa with multiple different colored blankets tucked around her. She tried to move, but instantly regretted it when her ears began to ring and the bile in her stomach pushed up her throat. So, instead, she opted to just sit still within her cocoon.
Pomni's vision was still a blur, her head pounding hard enough that she could hear it in her ears. She did feel a little better, the blankets providing warmth to her increasingly cold body. I guess one of them put me here, the jester thought to herself.
"Oh, she's awake." Pomni turned her head in the direction of the voice, it being one she did not recognize from her previous encounters. They sounded a little rough around the edges, monotone yet gentle all the same. She couldn't quite make out their appearance, only being able to see a pink and yellow blobbed shape sitting in a chair opposite her.
"Oh, thank goodness!" This caused the jester to groan, the redhead's voice a little too high-pitched for her current headache. She didn't even notice that this person was right next to her, having reached over with the back of her plush hand to feel the jester's forehead. Despite their hand feeling like fabric, the coolness of it almost made her moan as she leaned into the touch.
This caused the doll to squirm a little, not quite used to such a reaction, but not taking their hand away as they hummed to themself.
"I've never seen someone so sick in the Circus before," the doll stated, almost whispering. Another mystery was solved; Pomni now discovered she was a resident in some sort of freak attraction known as the Circus. Still, she couldn't help but furrow her eyebrows at the thought, since when were people made of fabric?
Without warning, someone plopped on the couch next to her, causing the small girl to release a pitiful whine as she was moved. She whined once more when the hand left her forehead, raising it as the person before her crossed their arms in anger. This caused Pomni to try and follow the doll's gaze, looking to her left as her vision was filled with pink and purple. Were those rabbit ears?
"Jax! You shouldn't mess with her while she's like this!" The doll's voice was no longer a whisper, anger rushing to the surface as she scolded the purple blob next to them. So this was Jax?
The couch moved slightly as the purple being— Jax—shifted in their seat as their knee closest to her started to bounce up and down. Quickly their movements stopped as their arms shot up in self-defense. "All I did was sit, get that stick out of your [Quack]."
Huh? Was there a duck in the room as well? The jester remembered hearing a similar sound earlier before she unceremoniously passed out on the tiled floor.
"Besides, I'm the one who had to carry her." Jax’s voice seemed annoyed.
"Congrats on doing the bare minimum." They sounded sarcastic, Pomni figuring the voice came from the blob that sat across from her.
"Oh, shut it, Zoobs, you weren't even there." Zoobs? Was that the name of the pink and yellow blob? Pomni tried to record all this information into her memory.
Clearly, everyone around Pomni knew who she was; opting to take care of her in her time of need. The jester struggled to try and understand anything, not remembering who she was, how she got there, or who any of these people before her were. Are we even people? Pomni shook the thought away as quickly as it appeared, having decided that she at least knew one thing—they cared about her, and that's all she needed currently.
The short jester didn't even notice when she began to lean to the left, her blanket cocoon too heavy for her to correct herself as she now leaned against the purple and pink figure. She couldn't help but notice how they seemed to stiffen.
"I swear on everything you know and love, Pom, if you throw up on me I'm going to toss you like a basketball." They only seemed to be joking, but Pomni did take note that they seemed to be serious as well. Also, Pom? Was that her nickname?
"Jax!" The doll shrilled, causing Pomni to groan as she buried her head beneath the covers as a means to escape the offending sound.
Jax shifted at this, seeming unsure whether they wanted to push her away or get up. Apparently, they decided on neither, their tense muscles slowly relaxing as they turned their gaze back towards the doll. Pomni couldn't really make out their expression, but she could tell from the tone of their voice that they were annoyed. It seemed to be their default.
"Ragatha, you're too loud." She could feel the rumble of their chest as they spoke, quieting their own voice in a lower tone as they addressed the doll. Soon, they spoke again, "She clearly doesn't like it."
This caused, whom Pomni now knew to be Ragatha, to flinch. They didn't seem to intentionally cause the sick jester harm; Pomni figured that they genuinely seemed to care for her wellbeing. It made her chest feel a little tight, now peeking up from her blanket cocoon to really get a good look at the doll.
Honestly, Pomni was a little taken aback. She couldn't really make out the details of their face, but was able to take note of their blue dress and matching bow that sat upon their curly red locks. There was a hint of blue on their face as well, but the more Pomni tried to focus her eyes, the louder her ears rang as her brain seemed to bounce against her skull. So she gave up, mouth parting like a fish out of water as she stared at the beauty before her.
"P-Pretty…" The words left her mouth, her inside thoughts spilling outward. Pomni didn't even notice that she was the one who spoke, her gaze still fixated on the doll, specifically their bow and red ringlets. They truly were pretty, although she wished she were able to see better to just know the details of their face. Her thoughts quickly got pushed to the side as the person sitting next to her, now slightly beneath her due to her falling over, tensed up once more.
Before Pomni could register anything, she was hoisted up in the air, blankets and all. The quickness caused her to wince, the nausea she felt before returning at full force. Jax really was going to throw her, weren't they? Pomni gulped at the thought, trying her best to hold back the contents of her stomach from spilling out once more. She really did not want to be thrown around, her body aching enough as is.
"Come on Jax, put her back down." Ragatha's voice was now just above a whisper, to which Pomni was grateful.
"She's right, Jax, we shouldn't be messing around with her." Zoobs chimed in, their voice still flat with a hint of venom. It appeared Jax was the troublemaker of the group, seeing as they needed multiple people to tell them the plainly obvious. At least Pomni knew how to address Ragatha now.
The purple and pink blob shifted Pomni in their hold, their arms wrapping around her to secure her better as they glared at the two berating them. "I'm not messing with her, I'm taking her to her room."
Of course, she would have a room already. Pomni felt a little stupid for thinking she didn't, still not fully grasping that she was a part of their group the whole time. How could she? She didn't even remember anything. She didn't even know what she looked like other than her four-fingered gloved hands, cartoonishly large in comparison to her noodle arms and legs.
Pomni didn't even notice she was shaking at first, fear overtaking her as it dawned on her that she may not be human herself, just like the creatures before her. Wait, no—’creatures’ were a little too harsh for the jester's own liking. Not even her overthinking mind could quell the existential dread that filled her to the brim, threatening to pour out in ways that confused her. It was almost as if she was stuck floating in some sort of abyss, something lurking in the shadows of the depth ready to attack her at any minute.
"This can't be real." This caused everyone to stare at her; Pomni was once again caught by surprise by her own voice. It terrified her—how could she not even recognize her own voice, let alone know that she was the very person speaking?
Before anyone could speak, a symphony of what seemed to be a mixture of horns and whistles rang within the room as colorful confetti filled the jester's sight. It was quickly followed by an energetic booming voice, unfazed by the current dynamic that plagued the dwelling’s occupants. It immediately made the poor girl lurch over, unable to stop herself as the bile finally found its way past her lips and onto the tiles below. The purple being held her far away from their body, desperate not to let the black sludge touch them.
"Well hello, my superstars! A special little red birdie told me Pomni was sick!" They paused, looking over to see the mess before them. "Oh, cheese and cotton candy debris, she really is sick!" They snapped their fingers, Pomni blipping out of Jax's arms, blankets now abandoned as she hung in the air next to the loud pair of… dentures? Huh? They were really close to her face now, Pomni being able to see that within their giant mouth were two different colored eyes—one a deep blue while the other a forest green.
She couldn't help but scream, unable to hold back the unfiltered terror as she looked at the nightmare before her. It was the last thing Pomni saw before darkness took over once more.