Chapter Text
The circus was unusually cold that day. Pomni couldn’t decide what was worse. The fact that the digital blankets did practically nothing in terms of warmth, or the fact that Gummigoo had just been blinked out of existence days ago and waltzed into Spudsy’s days later. She sat up in her bed, letting her legs dangle over its side. She sighed longingly.
She hadn’t felt that way about anyone since before she became trapped there. But even then, it never felt as real as it did here. She supposed for a while that it was because he couldn’t disappoint her, not really. But boy was she wrong in that regard too. It always felt unrealistic for her to be genuinely liked by anyone. There were only a few people in her life before that truly did like her. But the feelings they brought were only accompanied by blurry images of who they were.
Somehow, Gummigoo felt different. Not only was he an NPC, he was familiar, relatable even. He didn’t judge her for telling him the truth about himself or herself. He sat next to her and listened to what she had to say. No one had done that for her in a long time. Ragatha tried to yet it always seemed to come off as pushy or condescending. Pomni wasn’t a child, she knew that everything going on was either horrifying or completely ridiculous. She could handle it by herself. She didn’t need any help.
A quiet knock arose from her door.
“Hey Pomni,”
Jax’s voice startled her from her perch. She cautiously approached the door with a shaky hello in response. Why would Jax of all people be outside her room?
“I wanted to..well..”
He groaned exhaustedly. She could almost see him slapping his hand against his face in exasperation.
“Jeez..just open the door will you?”
Her door creaked open. She poked her head out to see a less than mischievous Jax looking back at her.
“If this is about avoiding you at Spudsy’s, I was just preoccupied with..I didn’t expect you to..”
“The gummy guy? Yeah, I figured. Listen, can I come in and talk to you for a second? It’s…about that actually.”
She left the door ajar for the rabbit to walk in. He shut the door behind himself and sighed again. He looked like he could be holding back tears. Well, he looked about as emotional as someone in the digital realm could anyhow. He sat against the door, hugging his knees to his chest.
“I’m sorry about what happened to him.” he said finally. “I know you..enjoyed his..company.”
An uncomfortable moment of silence passed over the two. She awkwardly stood before him, unsure of what to say. Again, her mind wandered back to when Jax asked her how she was doing. Curious, she had a question for him.
“Why were you so nice to me then?”
Jax wasn’t sure how to answer. Maybe it was an obligation of him for being so horrible to everyone for so long. No, it couldn’t be. He was Jax, the one who didn’t care about anything. However, he was the same Jax that never showed up to Kaufmo’s funeral and he was the same Jax that never let anyone into his room.
A look of shock remained still on his face when he understood his answer. Pomni had a feeling why he looked that way. So for once, she was braver towards him.
“Is this about..Kaufmo?”
Jax’s ears drooped down at the sound of his name. It wasn’t that deep. He didn’t care. Why was he here with Pomni anyways? It’s not like she could help with anything. She wasn’t even stable. He abruptly stood up and left the room, slamming the door on his way out.
She could hear the muffled voices of their friends outside. Still, nothing could have beat the sound of aching silence that Jax left behind in Pomni’s room. She knew there was always something off about his demeanor. At least now she knew even if it made her feel like a terrible person.
Her mind drifted back to Gummigoo. She wondered what he must have been doing at that point and time. Could he be in his own room? What did his room look like? Could he possibly be thinking of her right now? Would he go into Spudsy’s and lose hope of them ever meeting again? No. He didn’t have to do that. Because Pomni was going to do something about it. All that was left to do was to figure out a plan. As soon as she figured out how to get warm anyway.