Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Through Caine’s inexplicable, nonsensical train of logic, he thought that the newest upcoming adventure required a test subject before execution. Jax was the unfortunate candidate, volunteered against his will.

“Eenie, meenie, minie… Jax!”

“Wait, what-”

As Caine had stated in the past, he could do whatever he wanted with the coding of the Digital World and with the properties of their physical avatars, but he couldn’t touch their minds, even if he wanted to do such a thing. Any mental trauma transformations as a result of his actions were just that, indirect and secondary to his actual intentions.

Which was why he, in his ever-growing AI brain, wanted to test the limits of his own capabilities.

“That sounds terrifying,” Gangle had whimpered, ribbons pulled into herself at his explanation.

However, Caine was also programmed to prioritize the fun and the silly over obedience and corporal punishment, fortunately for Jax and the rest of the Circus.

“Unfortunately for Jax, Caine is still an idiot,” Zooble added, unaffected.

While he couldn’t change the very nature of the rabbitoid’s character like deleting some code, he could, in a word, infect him with a virus that came close to reprogramming him.

In Caine’s words, it was a lot more like being “possessed with the spirit of childish innocence, again”! 

With a snap of his fingers, Jax was suddenly barely four feet tall, and now, the gang had a young rabbit with the mind of a bratty, little shit.

“Who knew he’d be such an ankle-biter as a kid?” Zooble said.

“…Well, actually that makes a lot of sense,” Gangle replied.

At first, nobody knew what to do. It was still Jax deep down in there, but he was energetic and rambunctious in a way that was different from his usual brand of mischief.

At first, most of the cast elected to just let the kid do as he pleased despite Caine’s initial insistence that they should band together and watch over him as a group. What was the worst that could happen, they thought, now that he was too small to fling them around or throw heavy objects at their heads.

Quickly, it had devolved into chaos as the Circus was filled with the sounds of screaming, cackling, and following crashes.

In the end, Ragatha couldn't help herself.

She could be seen up and down the circus, hurriedly scurrying after a hopping, purple blur.

At first, she thought it’d be no harder than watching over any little kid or a baby pony. Both equally active and curious, no more demanding beyond feeding and putting to bed at the end of the day.

With a nervous smile on her face, a panicked, outstretched arm betrayed her attempted coaxing tone, “H… Hey, Jax, sweetie! Maybe let's put down the hammer for now, okay?”

“No!” He would respond, a favorite word of his, apparently. 

Left and right, Ragatha would exhaust herself, chasing a little kit boy. Turning corners, she’d quickly lose sight of him, and she would be left ducking and peeking over and under every nook and cranny she came across. A major downside to this new form of his was his newfound ability to fit into the smallest of spaces to hide from nosy, well-intentioned ragdolls.

Small giggles could be heard all over the Tent as if he were in the walls of the Circus itself. 

“Jax, honey, would you mind coming out for a second?”

“No!”

She'd often have to catch falling objects to keep them from breaking, usually pushed over or thrown away by a local, reckless child. She would slide across the floor and occupy her arms until she had only her foot to cushion a particularly fancy-looking vase from hitting the floor. Stood on one foot, her body trembled as she struggled to balance herself and manage the weight of ceramic plates, statue busts, and glass objects.

“Jax, please…”

“No!”

Some time later, Ragatha lost track of whether she was pursuing Jax for just an hour or a week. Body trembling with fatigue, she trudged down the hallway, voice too weak to call for the elusive rabbit. However, behind her, she could hear the small footsteps of the very same child. Turning around, she was met with a sweetly-smiling little boy, eyes sparkling as he approached her, “Big sis, lookit what I found!”

He barely reached her waist in height, not counting his rounder and more expressive ears that bounced with his steps, and his eyes were bigger, staring up at her with large, square pupils.

For a moment, her stuffed heart melted at the sight of her familiar cast member regarding her with something other than a sarcastic eye roll. Behind his back, he held out an offering, trademark grin wide as usual but more genuine and even with an adorable tooth gap for added youth. 

On impulse, she reached out to accept his gift but paused, insides going cold at the sight of the offering.  

“Raga?”

“ NO! ”

“Hey, have you guys seen Ragatha?” After an indeterminate amount of time since Jax's transformation had passed, Pomni couldn't help but wonder how the ragdoll's babysitting gig was going. 

“Dunno,” Zooble shrugged, sat next to Gangle doodling in a small notepad, “At least, she's keeping the jerk busy.”

“Aw, but he's just a little kid,” Pomni objected, recalling the sight of the miniature lagomorph. It was harder to find him as intimidating when he didn't tower over her, and plus, it seemed like he wasn't mentally all there, anyways.

“Ragatha just wants to be a Raga-mom!” Gangle smiled, and if Pomni peeked over, she could see sketches of the tiny rabbit boy, “It’s her maternal instinct activating!”

“Really?”

“Some people are just natural caretakers like Rags.”

“What, because she's a woman?”

“No, because she's got a thing for control, probably.”

“No, it's because she's just the Mom Friend is all! She's the one who worries over everyone and makes sure everyone feels included!”

“Oh, that sounds nicer…”

“And that's probably because she's got some Mommy Issues herself!”

“I see.”

The three of them paused their discussion at the sound of a scream that could be heard across the entire Grounds. Down the hallway, cotton footsteps stomped toward them, followed by smaller, quicker pitter-patters and laughter. 

Ragatha came sprinting through, raggedy fabric turned white as she babbled, incoherently. Little Jax came soon after, chasing after her with a bug on a stick that he had found outside the Tent. 

“That’s about right.”

“Yeah.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Jax began to match Ragatha’s shrieking, fueled by the chaotic energy as he waved the stick her way. The poor ragdoll flailed about before finding providence behind one puny jester, crouching behind Pomni in as small of a ball as possible. Still running after the fearful doll, Jax ended up colliding with Pomni who managed to scoop him into her arms with a grunt, spinning from the momentum.

“T-thanks, Pomni…” Ragatha panted, still pale in the face from where she sat on the floor, “I… I was just…!”

“It’s alright,” Pomni reassured once her friend had begun gagging when Jax taunted her with the twig, again. She adjusted her grip around him, surprised by how much she dwarfed him for once.

“He’s so little!” Gangle cooed, waving at the rabbit who, for once, was in a companionable mood. Pomni felt him nuzzle under her chin, and she patted his head to sate him.

“You okay with that?” Zooble asked, seeing the way that Jax had latched on tightly to her.

“Oh, uh, yeah, I’m alright,” Pomni nodded, eyes growing with realization as her hands instinctively wrapped around the smaller form, “It’s… Yeah, it’s okay.”

Eventually, Zooble and Gangle decided to show mercy on the frazzled Ragatha and take over Jax Watch. 

“Maybe we can do an activity with him to help him get his energy out,” Gangle suggested as she and Zooble trailed after the toddling kit. He wasn’t able to stray too far with one of Zooble’s newest arm attachments acting as a leash around his torso.

 The three of them walked through the Carnival, looking around at the various stands with games and toys for any kid to potentially enjoy for hours. Surely, there was enough here to tire Jax out by the end of the day.

“I guess,” Zooble shrugged, “Maybe we could do that goldfish game over there-”

“WHAT A GREAT IDEA, YOU TWO!”

Spawning between Gangle and Zooble, Caine’s body ended up shoving them aside with a flourish of eye-straining visuals and loud trumpet noises. The two castmates jumped back, immediately overwhelmed by their ringmaster’s appearance.

“What the [BOING], Caine??”

“My mask almost broke!”

“What better way to enjoy this mini-Jax to the fullest than to go on an adventure with him!” Caine continued, unperturbed, with his arms and legs spread out.

“That’s not what we meant.”

Jax, meanwhile at the sound of the commotion, was energized, running around in circles and screaming.

“He loves it!”

With a snap of his fingers, the Carnival was transformed. The sky turned a shade cooler as the foliage around the Carnival began to change the Grounds from a bright green to a series of oranges and browns. The Sun even put on an infinity scarf as the SFX of a light breeze filled the air. A rumbling traveled beneath their feet as, on the other side of the Carnival, stalks began to sprout out of the “dirt” all at once, practically stretching to the end of the map. They grew and grew over their heads, tightly filed together with one section on the edge of the crop field left open for anyone to step through. Leading into the depths of the large plot of maize, the stalks swayed slightly with a low hush as leaves brushed against each other, and dirt and pebbles were shuffled as if alive. 

“A corn maze?”

“The Capacious Corn Maze Craziness!” Bits of popcorn flew behind him as an ornamentation of letters spelled out their newest adventure, “You will all be split into two groups, and the first ones to make it out of the maze wins! But keep an eye out for some surprises throughout!”

“I wanna win!!” Jax squealed, pumping his fists in the air as he booked it for the entrance.

“Jax, wait!”

“Ugh, I really don’t want to do this,” Zooble sighed tiredly, looking down at their limb attachment as it stretched all the way down into the maze with Jax. They could easily just detach the arm and be on their way.

“Zooble, help me!” Gangle cried out, chasing after the fleeting rabbit into the corn.

After a moment’s hesitation, they groaned, trudging in with a censored curse.

“See you at the end, Zooble!”

“[BOING] you, Caine.”

In terms of corn mazes, this was a fairly standard one as far as they could tell. Tall stalks of corn forming narrow paths that occasionally branched out into two or three alternate routes. Without a map, the trio had opted to allow Jax to take the lead, seeing as how he refused to stay by their side and listen anyway.

With a wordless grunt, he pointed, chest puffed up in confidence as he picked a random right turn. Zooble tried to occasionally dig their feet in to slow him down, but all it did was create a constant tug-of-war between the two of them.

“Slow down, will ya?” They huffed, “Do you even know where you’re going?”

“No!”

“Great.”

“Thank you for coming with me,” Gangle muttered, shoulders slumped. Her Comedy Mask had unfortunately broken a hundred corns ago when Jax had run them in a circle too fast and stopped suddenly, causing Gangle to trip over the kid and fall on her face.

“It’s fine, I guess,” Zooble sighed as they continued trying to reel their arm back like a fishing line, “Could be worse.”

“What do you think Caine has planned?”

“Probably something idiotic and dangerous as usual. Or do you mean in general or just with Jax?”

“Is he gonna turn us all into little kids?”

“Seems like it…”

“Wouldn’t this mean he could turn us into other things? Like not just our avatars but mentally? He couldn’t always do that…”

“I…” Admittedly, Zooble shared this implied concern since the kid-ified Jax concept was introduced. While Caine wouldn’t try anything malicious with this development, any time soon, it was still unsettling when you took into account how oblivious he was about pretty much everything around here. Still, they chose to give Gangle a reassuring look, hand on her shoulder, “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’d never do anything that bad to us. Whatever happens can always be fixed, like your mask, right?”

Gangle hugged her Comedy Mask pieces to her chest, nodding in thought, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Yeah, let’s just get through this first, alright?”

“Okay, sure…!”

“Jax-” Zooble paused, brows furrowed as they looked ahead of them. The two of them hadn’t even realized how distant the kid’s voice had gotten until they noticed the slack line of Zooble’s arm-leash contraption with no Jax to be found on the other end of it.

“...”

“Did he just…?”

“Looks like.”

Jax was hopping. 

He was hopping through the maze, singing gibberish without a care in the world. 

He went left. 

He went right. 

He took the middle way because he saw a crispy leaf that he wanted to step on. 

It was all instinct.

And he was a rabbit. 

Jax was hopping. 

Going his own way was much easier without Zooble's dumb leash holding him back. Too busy kissing Gangle to pay attention, yuck. 

What's the point if he couldn't run to the end of the maze? Then, it wouldn't be fun, and it would take forever! And Caine said this was supposed to be fun. 

So duh. 

He went right. 

He went left. 

He went right, again, because he just went left and wouldn't do the same thing twice. 

He was babbling lyrics to a song that he vaguely remembered. It was catchy despite the complete lack of sensical words. 

Doo doo doo

Doo doo doo

Jax was hopping. 

Didn't he just cross this bridge? He remembers because he thought it was so cool that there was a bridge in the middle of a corn maze and just HAD to cross it. It creaked under his feet, and he jumped up and down to see if it would fall. 

It didn't. 

Boring. 

He went right. 

He went right. 

He went right. 

He went right. 

A circle! 

Or a square, he guessed. 

This was getting kinda lame.

Doo da doo do... If he was hungry, he could eat the corn.  

A corn maze was far from the worst adventure that Pomni's been through, so far. Grouped with Kinger and Ragatha, the latter did her best to lead the way, trying to come up with some type of strategy to the end. Currently, she was keeping her right hand on the wall of corn stalks, following the path that keeps her hand to the corn. 

Pomni and Kinger's jobs were to just follow along. 

Maybe Zooble and Gangle did have a point about the ragdoll's need for control. 

Or maybe Pomni was overthinking it. After all, someone had to figure out a plan to get them out of this endless trail, and Ragatha had the enthusiasm and the experience, apparently. 

"Easy peasy," Shoulders pushed back and head held high, their leader confidently turned corners and split at forks without hesitation. 

"It's almost like it's alive," Kinger whispered to Pomni. 

"What is?"

He silently jabbed a finger next to him and next to her and ahead of them and behind them and all around them. 

"Uhh, you mean the corn?"

He shushed her loudly, shoving a digit at her mouth. 

Pomni pulled her head away and looked at their surrounding environment. The stalks swayed slightly, and the SFX of crunching husks and a small breeze looped. Even within the depths of the stalks that went deep into the maze where she couldn't see through, it remained quiet, lifeless as far as she could tell. 

"I'm not so sure about that," However, he didn't respond, only hunching over as he darted his gaze between their organic walls. 

"You know, going through this maze kind of brings back memories," Ragatha piped in, almost blissfully unaware, "Have you ever done one of these before, Pomni?"

"Huh? A corn maze? I think that I did once on a field trip... That was, like, a while ago when I was about... Uh, whatever Jax's current physical age is right now?"

"Ahh, I used to go to one of these every year!"

"Really?"

"I mean! There wasn't too much to do back there, you know? It was an annual thing for me. Autumn has to probably be my favorite season of the year!"

"I see…”

Pomni had a so-so relationship with Fall. On one hand, the cool weather and aesthetics were nice, and she could confess to a taste for Pumpkin Spice. On the other hand, it also meant jumpscares and horror and daylight savings time. As a kid, however, dressing up for Halloween and eating candy was like an extra birthday, and she didn’t hate that this time of the year meant going back to school like other kids. Things were just simpler then, she guessed, when you only had to worry about that stuff.

“I like it, too,” She turned to Kinger, “How about you, Kinger? Do you like Autumn and stuff?”
“Oh! Well, let me think about it.”

The three of them fell into an extended silence, continuing to traverse the maze with only the crunch of leaves and husks under their feet filling the air.

“I wonder how the others are doing,” Pomni pondered aloud.

“Oh yeah, I hope they’re handling Jax okay,” Ragatha laughed, sounding fatigued at the mention, “He was quite the handful.”

“Was he that bad?”

“W-well, I mean, he’s just a kid, so it’s hard to blame him for being so… Energetic,” She gestured with her hands, eyes averted like she was being interrogated, “But he’s still Jax, you know? And a Jax with twice the energy and half the self-control is…”

Pomni hummed, amicably, “Do you think that’s what he was like as a kid back then? Like in the real world?”

“I hope not for his parents’ sake. If I was anything like he was or is, actually,” She let a laugh slip, less humorous than she would have meant, “My mom would have had a field day.”

“Yeah, hard to imagine what kind of parents Jax had to be the way he was.”

“Definitely nothing like mine, that’s for sure,” Ragatha smiled at her, laughing in that painful way, again, before speeding ahead of her and Kinger when the former didn’t immediately react the same.

Pomni didn’t know what to make of it, even turning to Kinger for guidance. Their companion, however, perked up, replying, “Oh, I think that I’m more of a Summer person, personally. It’s the best season to see the fireflies.”

She sighed, quietly, “I’m starting to wonder if everyone just has mommy and daddy issues around here.”

“Oh, I never had any kids, Pomni.”

“No, I meant,” It was always difficult to guess when Kinger would clock in on what they’d say, “This whole thing just got me thinking about, like, how I was as a kid and maybe just… How I’d be in Jax’s position, I guess? I don’t know. What exactly are you supposed to do if, one day, you are just turned back into a little boy or girl, again? In a world like this one, especially.
“I don’t even know what I’m saying - I just can’t wrap my head around getting to just be back in that time anymore when my biggest issues were whether or not my mom would bring me some Jack-in-the-Box to school tomorrow. It’s so simple looking back on it, but back then, that was probably life-or-death for me. So, maybe it’d be easier to deal with things around here?”

“Well, their Bacon & Swiss burgers did have the most amazing garlic butter sauce.”

“ That’s what I’m saying!” Pomni exclaimed, hands thrown in the air, “Or wait, maybe it’s not, but it also is? Ugh, does anything I’m saying make any sense here??”

“Hmmm, not at all,” Kinger tapped his “chin”, “I know - why don’t you and Jax both get a couple of kid’s meals together!”

“It’s not about the burgers-”

“WHAT A GREAT IDEA, YOU TWO!”

"Jax?"

"Jaaaaax!"

Zooble and Gangle were wandering around, aimlessly, calling out for the elusive boy for what felt like forever now. All they could find were stalks and stalks of corn. 

"I wonder if the others found him," Gangle worried, staying close to Zooble as she held up their detached head in an effort to look over the corn walls, "Do you see anything?"

"No trail of destruction here," They sighed, "Even if there was a clue, it's getting too dark to tell."

She placed their head back on their shoulders with an anxious whine, "What should we do?"

"Try to finish this maze, I guess. The others are probably waiting, and they can help us find him if we need to. It's not like he's a real kid; Jax'll be fine by himself for a little while."

"Yeah..." With sagging shoulders, Gangle followed Zooble's lead in silence, dragging her feet. 

With another sigh, they put a hand on her back, ushering forward to their side, "Don't worry."

"I just feel bad that we lost him in the first place," Gangle looked off, absently playing with an ear of corn. It snapped off with ease, and she held it in her hands, fiddling with its leaves and kernels, "It's like-!"

"UNHAND THAT, YE PESKY CROW!"

A loud, grating voice screamed, startling the two of them as a face made of burlap and straw shoved its way from between stalks. A deep frown was cut into hessian fabric, accompanied by two buttons that glared at them between straw that stuffed its head. More straw was tightly packed into its body as it stepped out, unbalanced but attempting to be menacing. Adorning a flannel and old jeans, its flimsy form shuffled toward the two cast members, repeating its warning, "Greedy crows! ‘Tis MY corn!"

Gangle tossed the cob, hurriedly, at its feet with a light thud. 

"We don't want your corn," Zooble grunted, watching as the scarecrow bent down at the waist to pick up its precious produce, "And we're not crows."

"Yeah, right," the NPC guffawed, holding the husk close to his chest like a newborn, "All desire my corn. All CRAVE my corn! ‘Tis the best around! Ye can use it to create all forms of sustenance-"

As it began listing types of corn-based food, Zooble started to walk past it with Gangle close behind. 

"I think that was one of the surprises that Caine was talking about before."

"Great."

In the distance, they could still hear the scarecrow ramble on about, "Popcorn, creamed corn, cornbread, cornmeal..."

"Uh, Zooble?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that Jax might have run into one of those things?"

"...Maybe."

Jax was running. 

Jax was running and not looking back.

A scary scare-face was chasing after him, screaming about corn flakes and corndogs, and Jax was all alone, and it was SCARY!

He got hungry and pulled off one of the corns, having to use both hands to yank it free before falling on his butt, but he still got it. And even though he wanted a hamburger, he was gonna enjoy this hunt.

Then, a big monster wearing red with a bag for a face came out from between the corn plants and started pointing and yelling at him. He was clutching onto the cob in his hands when the monster started coming closer, so much bigger than him that he blocked out the moon. Its weird hair started to fall on him, too, all long and tough and itchy like uncooked spaghetti.

It was night time, so all he could see was the scary frown yelling in his face and the creepy, shaped-wrong hand reaching out to grab him. He turned and ran before he could get got.

Jax didn’t know where he was going, fists tight to his chest and little feet beating hard on the floor. All he could find was corn.

Corn corn corn corn corn!

He turned right, and there was corn, showing more corn.

He turned left, and it was the same.

He started to run between the corn plants, leaving the big path, and he could still hear the monster shouting about corn salsa.

It was all he could see: big, tall corn plants whose leaves scratched his arms and felt like hands trying to grab him to… To eat him! Because he was trying to eat their babies! The corn eyes were following him wherever he ran, telling the big monster where he was, exactly.

Jax whimpered, slapping away the monster hands all around him and covering his ears to block out the creepy corn talking. He realized he was still holding the corn baby from earlier, screaming at the sight of its long, bumpy, creepiness with its hundreds of eyes that exploded in your mouth when you bit it. No wonder the monster and maze were trying to kill him! They were gonna do to him what people do to them! He threw the corn baby as far as his little arms could throw, running faster.

He hated the feeling of the dead corn peels under his feet, reminding him of the yellow eyes following him everywhere.

Jax ran faster.

And he still couldn’t find stinky Zooble or stupid Gangle; not even Raga was there to save him.

Jax’s heart was beating, and he was just a bunny trying to flee the big monster trying to eat him. The whispering grew louder in his head, soon turning to shouting that he tried to block out as they chanted.

EAT HIM EAT HIM EAT HIM EAT HIM

Then, he heard bells.

Not like a cow bell, even though Jax thought this place was like a farm. Bells like jingle bells like Christmas like Santa Claus.

Jax heard bells ringing, and he thought if anyone could save him right now, it would be Santa.

Jax ran toward the bells, and his chest was starting to hurt, but the sound of Santa was louder than the sound of corn, so he tore through it all.

The bells grew louder, so they must have been closer, so Jax ran the fastest in the world.

Then, he ran into someone.

His body hit another body that he fell on top of, and the world turned sideways for a second.

“OOF!”

Jax groaned, confused, as he was quick to push himself up to sit. He blinked, looking around to see he was back on the big path. He heard a whining underneath him, and he looked down to see a girl?

She had a big head.

A bigggg head.

Her eyes were closed, and she squirmed around on her back like a worm, making noises like a sad dog.

“Ow ow owieee,” The big head girl whined, worming around. She opened her eyes, slowly, and Jax stared.

She had big eyes, too.

Big eyes with red and blue pizzas. They were nothing like the corn.

Jax wondered if she could do mind control with those eyes.

Rubbing her head and sniffling, she sat up, looking right at him.

Bells.

Bells rang when she moved, hanging from her big head hat, red and blue like her big eyes, and the bells were also big but shiny, too.

“You hit me,” She stuck her lip out, looking at him with pink cheeks.

...Santa? He grabbed the bell hanging from Santa’s head, yanking on it. He wanted that Christmas magic she had.

“OW! Quit it!”

Chapter Text

“You made Pomni into a baby, too??” Zooble was yelling at Caine.

They had all managed to eventually escape the maze, an army of scarecrows chasing them out of it, when they realized what their ringmaster had done.

“It was at her suggestion!” He explained, unperturbed by his cast members' shock.

Inspired by Pomni’s concern regarding little Jax, their ringmaster interpreted it as envy, coming out of the corn to wave a wand and shrink her down to half of her already-puny size. She was the same height as her fellow kid member with big, pinchable cheeks and even bigger, tearful eyes.

Immediately, she was put into a state of fear, waking up in a tall field of corn and surrounded by odd-looking characters. It was not helped by the sight of Caine whose giant canines and eyeballs got into her face and greeted her with a boisterous, “HELLO THERE!!”

She was like a deer in headlights, shrinking in on herself as she looked into his unblinking eyes, before the smallest sniffle filled the tense silence. A whine escaped her throat, tiny and weak-sounding, until her baby voice wobbled into something louder and more upsetting.

“Caine!” Ragatha chastised, moving him aside to kneel down and pick up the sobbing Pomni. 

The latter was, however, sent into a state of panic at the contact, flailing her arms around and scooting away on her butt with a whimper.

Before they knew it, she was running off into a random direction, little cries fading into the distance.

It wasn’t until much later that they found her, again, holding onto the overall strap of the missing Jax.

“T-they’re so cute!” Gangle cried, wanting nothing more than to squish their little faces in her ribbons.

“There you two are,” Ragatha let out a sigh of relief, chest full as Jax whispered something into Pomni’s ear, and the two toddled over to her with their short, stubby legs. Grunting, the small rabbit jabbed a finger at her, communicating something unknown.

The equally-small Pomni, however, seemed to pick it up without much trouble. Significantly less scared than before but voice still just as little, she said, “Jax says he’s hungry. Can we get some food, pretty please?”

“Oh,” Heart melting at the polite speech of her kid castmate, she nodded furiously, tears welling up in her eye, “Oh, of course, honey! What do you guys want to eat?”

Jax leaned over, muttering to Pomni, again, who hummed, understanding, “Burbur…”

“Burbur?”

“With cheese… Please.”

“Oh! Burger?”

“Ye…”

“Yes, I can get you guys burgers!” Practically bouncing over to the two, Ragatha crouched down with open arms to pick them up. Jax obediently walked over, but Pomni hesitated, fidgeting with her pom-poms.

“I want to walk…”

“Sure, sweetie,” Taking it in stride, she scooped the boy up instead, beaming at his relaxed expression, “You guys want fries with them? Or maybe we can get some of the leftover corn from the maze and-?”

“NO NO NO!” Like flipping a switch, Jax was suddenly shoving at her face and flailing around in her arms. He screeched like a banshee, kicking and fussing, wildly until he became a blur of tiny limbs with sharp teeth bared like a wild animal snapping at her face.

Ragatha shouted in surprise, struggling to keep a hold of the squirming boy as he threatened to slip out of her arms. She finally released when his teeth managed to grab at her button eye, attempting to lock around it and pull it off of her face. It didn’t quite hurt, but it definitely caught her off guard, “AHHH!”

With a grunt, he ended up sprawled out, facedown, with spread out limbs. He laid there, unmoving, to the point that she worried that he had knocked himself unconscious. 

“Jax…?” Reluctantly, she approached, hand reaching out, slowly, when he, all of a sudden, sprung back to life, standing on his hands and feet and growling. Her face twisted, disturbed and shocked, “Uhh?!”

And just like that, he was off, running on all fours back into the Tent with a garbled noise.

Ragatha was at a loss as Pomni came up to her side, lips pursed in amusement before a crooked grin broke out on her face at the bunny’s departing figure. She glanced down at her in surprise before the little girl noticed her and straightened out, acting nonchalant.

“Let’s… Get Jax and then get you that burger?”

“Yay.”

“I’ll be…” Zooble’s eyes darted toward the little Pomni, “...Darned if I have to run around looking for that brat.”

“H-he should still be somewhere around the Tent, guys,” Gangle tried to be optimistic, sounding unsure.

With a long-suffering sigh, they rolled their eyes with a shake of their head.

“He’s not in his room,” Ragatha announced as she entered, Pomni trailing right behind her, “Or mine or Pomni’s.”

“I have a room…” The latter spoke quietly in awe. She fidgeted, touching her lower lip in thought.

“Yes, that’s right, hun,” The older woman said, wanting to pinch those chubby cheeks, “We can go back later and show you all your stuff after dinner, okay?”

“Really taking Pomni under your wing, huh, Rags?” Though their tone sounded nonjudgemental, Ragatha couldn’t help feeling perceived.

“Raga-mom…” Gangle whispered, like witnessing a prophecy come to life.

“W-what? No!” Raga-mom laughed hysterically, waving her hands, “She’s just a kid and doesn’t really remember anything, so I-I just want to make sure that she has a good second first day!”

“Redo,” Gangle nodded.

“Wait, what are we doing?” Pomni interrupted, taking a moment from staring off into the distance to join the grown-up talk.

“Oh,” Ragatha cleared her throat, “Looking for Jax, remember?”

“But he’s right there?” The group followed her little finger pointing to Kinger’s pillow fort.

“How did she-?”
“Jax!” The ragdoll hurried over to the pile of cushions with Baby Pomni attempting to keep up with her shorter legs. The latter grunted with the effort. 

Stopping short of the fort, Ragatha hesitated before pushing aside a couple pillows and peeking her head inside. The little one with her followed suit, sticking her head inside right below hers. 

“Hello? Jax?”

“Oh, hello, Ragatha,” Kinger answered, calling their attention to a far corner of the fort. Jax laid curled up in a ball, sleeping soundly. His large ears laid limp across his face with an arm around a fluffy pillow. With his free hand, he sucked on his thumb, loosely. 

“Kinger, hey!” Relief clear in her voice, she climbed into the makeshift fortress with some effort. Pomni attempted to follow, trying and failing to throw her weight over a particularly tall pillow, “You found him!”

“More like he found me,” He chuckled, jabbing a thumb at the sleeping bunny, “He ran in here like a real jackrabbit and did a few laps before knocking out like the dead.”

She kneeled carefully at Jax's side, careful not to jostle him awake as she lowered her voice, “Still, I'm glad he's okay. Last we saw him, he went running off into the night.”

“Never to be found, again?” Kinger joked. He hopped past her and helped out Pomni who was patiently holding her arms up the whole time. She let him scoop her under the arms and cradle her to his chest as he rejoined Ragatha and Jax. 

“Yeah…” The ragdoll's body sagged as the tension from her concern left her all at once. A long, heavy sigh escaped her, and she rubbed her face, wearily.

“Hey,” She looked up, watching Kinger set a sleeping Pomni down right next to Jax, “How about you rest now, too? Looks like they're not the only ones who could use a nap.”

“Ha, yeah,” Ragatha looked down at the kids’ relaxed expressions. Jax, as if sensing Pomni's body next to him, scooted closer to his companion who wore a small smile on her face, afterwards.

They gave the older woman the right idea, tempting her with the way the plush pillows let them just sink down without a care in the world. Ragatha followed suit, falling backwards beside Jax with an exhale. She closed her eyes, letting exhaustion take over and falling asleep.

“So, Caine, how long are you gonna keep Jax and Pomni like that?”

“Hmmmmmmmmmmmm… I don't know!”

“...What.”

So, Jax and Pomni were stuck as kids for an indeterminate amount of time. Whether Caine couldn't or wouldn't change them back was up in the air. 

It wasn't too much of a stray from routine, really. They still did the theme song, still had adventures, and still ate their meals. Despite their mental ages, the Digital Circus pretty much guaranteed their physical well-being, no matter what. 

Mostly, it was a change in dynamic. 

“Where do babies come from?” 

A snickering Jax had whispered something in Pomni's ear who, upon approaching Ragatha, relayed his words back to her. The ragdoll in question went white, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. 

For some reason, the kids seemed to like her, which she did not mind at all. Whenever they needed something or had a question, she was usually their go-to, and she was always eager to lend a hand. Not only did it activate her cuteness aggression whenever the two of them would walk up to her with those big, innocent eyes, but it felt so flattering that she was their preferred adult in the first place. 

Bitterly, it crossed her mind that she was closer to them now than she ever was when they were… Actually themselves. 

“Jax said babies come out of ladies’ butts!” Pomni exclaimed, full of wonder and shock. 

Her little friend snickered and grinned mischievously at Ragatha who stared down at the rabbit with disapproval.

But how could she stay mad at those faces? 

“Right, um, well, that's an easy question,” She stalled, debating whether the stork or cabbage patch explanation would suffice for the two of them, “You see, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much-”

“Or not,” Zooble piped in, sitting nearby next to Gangle who couldn't help but giggle.

Ragatha's face turned pink, changing colors like Pomni when she held her breath, “W-well, that's a whole other… Other thing…!”

Suddenly, she felt the pressure of two pairs of wide eyes attentively anticipating her next move. Jax was still snickering while Pomni looked unsure. 

“Do you think…” Gangle spoke up, ribbon tapping her chin, “That whatever you tell them now will affect them whenever Caine turns them back to normal? Like rewriting whatever they believed before?”

“Maybe they'll just forget everything after they change back,” Zooble suggested. 

“Aw, that'd be too bad,” She frowned, “I was hoping we could get Jax to be nicer somehow.”

Ragatha shushed them, clamping her hands over Jax's ears with Pomni similarly cupping the sides of his head, “G-guys! Are we sure that we want to be talking like that in front of the kids?”

“They're not real kids,” Zooble argued, “It’s just Jax, and Pomni is actually 3 years older than me.”

“Yeah, but they don't know that…” She hesitated, looking down at the top of their little heads. 

“So, we should tell them the truth,” They explained like it was a matter of fact, and maybe it was. 

“What don't we know?” Their tiny jester finally interjected, looking between everyone with wide-eyed concern, “I'm confused…”

The adults in the room all looked between each other, having a silent conversation.

“I lied,” a tiny voice spoke up, suddenly. Everyone turned their attention to Jax, and it was so odd to see one of their tallest castmates now be shorter than even a tiny Pomni. He pouted, cheeks puffed up as he looked down at his rabbit feet, “Babies don't come out of ladies' butts.”

“W-what?” Pomni's jaw dropped, hit with revelation after revelation, “Then, where do they come from?”

“Vagina,” He answered, quietly. 

A long stretch of silence filled the room. Ragatha looked like she was going to have a heart attack. Gangle’s mask dropped to the floor. Zooble eyes bugged out, holding back laughter. 

“H-how,” Ragatha scratched her head, “How is he allowed to say that?”

Bubble popped into the room, spawned next to her head. Blank eyes staring into the distance; his usual sharp grin was plain on his face, “Vagina.”

So, Bubble wasn't allowed around the kids anymore. And Jax especially probably required more supervision, Ragatha decided. 

Now, it was another adventure with the kids. Caine was enthusiastic for his technically new cast members to experience the “most jaw-dropping, heart stopping, mind-bending paraphernalia” they’ve ever laid their eyes upon.

“Are you sure?” Gangle, of all of them, asked, “B-because after the last one, they didn’t exactly-”

“OF COURSE, IT WILL!” Their ringmaster was quick to speak over her, snapping his fingers as big block letters swept over their heads, spelling out their next adventure, “GATHER THE GLOINKS!”

“Ugh, again?? No way, I’m outta here before they dismember me, again,” Zooble practically ran off to their room.

But before Caine could object, Pomni’s little voice spoke up, “How do we play?”

Pausing for a moment, as if shocked, their ringmaster turned to the tiny jester before spawning next to her, “I am SO GLAD you asked, Pomni! Well-”

He began to go into enthusiastic detail, explaining the adventure’s goal as well as providing a complete history of the Gloinks to both her and Jax who was listening with glassy eyes. However, to Caine, his excitement was fueled to the brim at having a couple of humans even listening to him at all.

“NOW GOOD LUCK, AND HAVE FUN, MY MINI MACARONIS!”

With stars in his eyes, he poofed away with just the tumbling Gloinks in the background left filling the silence.

“...What did any of that mean?” Pomni asked, brows knitted in confusion.

“Oh, so, that's just one of Caine's little adventures,” Ragatha explained, feeling a sense of Deja Vu as she did, “Remember, like the maze with the scarecrows?”

Jax shook himself out of his stupor, turning his attention to the bounding shapes with faces around the Tent. He ran after them, grabbing a star-shaped one and wrestling it to the ground.

Pomni turned to an idle triangle Gloink next to her, reaching out with reluctance. It clipped through the ground, convulsing violently before launching itself into the sky. She looked up after it, waiting for it to fall back down.

She turned to Ragatha as Jax returned, empty-handed and out of breath, “This game is hard.”

“No, we just need to try harder, alright?” The ragdoll tried to reassure them, attempting to keep things positive, “These adventures aren't about winning. They're just something fun to do to, you know, prevent us from, uh… Getting bored.”

“Bored,” Jax repeated, petulant, with arms crossed.

“T-then, we better start gathering those Gloinks, then, huh?” Ragatha laughed, smile tense, as she led the three of them down the hall, “At least, this will be better than the last time, right, Gangle?”

Looking around for the other, they found her and Kinger nowhere to be found.

“Huh, I guess it’s just gonna be us, then,” She chuckled, albeit a bit nervously as she realized she would be alone with the kids on this adventure. Pomni’s awkward silence and Jax’s general inattentive silence did little to sate her.

It was a weird kind of do-over in a way.

“So, this is where we all live as you two probably realize by now.”

Ragatha, Jax, and Pomni were walking down the hallway, and here she was, pretty much giving the two of them a tour, like she had before, once upon a time.

“Or, well, where we all sleep at night. Even though we don't really need to sleep, it's sometimes nice to kind of take a break from everything and have a bit of a routine, you know?”

Jax’s first day was so long ago that she could barely remember the details, and it was easier to recall how he used to be until, well, everything happened.

Pomni’s debut at the Circus was much more recent, and it was a pretty hard-to-forget day when it coincided with the day that Kaufmo abstracted… 

So far, though, it was a fairly uneventful walkthrough. Jax was already a bit familiar with the Tent as he’s been seen running up and down the place before, and Pomni has seen her room, once, at least. They’ve mostly been sleeping over in everyone’s room, now that Ragatha thought about it.

And just like before, there was Pomni’s room, right across from Jax’s and-

“That’s… New,” Ragatha frowned, walking up to the door.

Once formerly an unremarkable, standard door with dark wood and symmetrical paneling, it was now split in half, horizontally. With the top and bottom divided, each half had its own doorknob, like two mini doors stacked on top of each other. Walking up to the entrance of her room, Pomni found the lower door to be perfect height for her shrunken size, pushing it open and walking right underneath the upper half.

“How considerate of Caine to accommodate for your guys’ current bodies,” She hummed, turning to see Jax’s own dutch door, “Though, I think it would be better if he just turned you back-”

A doggy door.

Jax was already barreling through the flap at the bottom of his door, giggling, excitedly.

“I… I see.”

Ragatha eventually followed Pomni into her room, seeing the little jester playing with a Hanoi Tower in the corner.

“Having fun?” She asked, kneeling down next to the girl. Pomni didn’t look up from her puzzle, stacking and restacking wooden rings, mindlessly.

“When are our parents picking us up?”

“...H-huh?”

“What time are our mom and dads coming to take us home?” It was such an innocent question, and unlike Pomni’s first time asking to leave this place, it was matter-of-fact, certain, unconcerned.

“Oh…” It hurt the stuffing in her chest where Ragatha’s human heart should be, “Soon… Just, uh, in the meantime, let’s keep playing and exploring so we can tell your parents about all the fun that you had!”

She stood up, offering her hand to the girl. Though, she seemed preoccupied with her game.

“I wanna finish this first.”

“Okay,” The ragdoll smiled, brightly, “D… You’re doing really well with your game…! How… Do you play?”
“I’m stacking the small ones on top of the bigger ones, but you can’t put the big ones on top of the small ones…”

“How smart, I mean,” They sat there, the room filled with the clacking of wooden rings bumping against each other, “You like doing puzzles?”

“Kind of.”

“Oh, really? What other kinds of puzzles do you play?”

“Mmm… I don’t know,” She shrugged, “I can do my addition and subtraction…”

“That’s really smart of you, Pomni. I remember when I was your age that I had a hard time with math. I mean, my mom got me all these tutors, but you know, it was kind of a lot for a kid, and what I really wanted to do was ride my horses. Not that math isn’t important, or that I was slacking on my studies - you should stay in school for sure. But… Pomni?”

The little girl seemed preoccupied, finally finishing her Hanoi Puzzle before restarting it all over, again. The clacking of wooden rings repeated. It seemed like she was trying to solve it faster.

“I’m gonna go check on Jax, okay?” Ragatha felt awkward. Was it possible for her to annoy even a kid as young as this one that she wanted the woman to leave her alone? “If you need me, I’ll be right across the hall.”

“Mm-hmm.”

As she made her way to the rabbit’s room, following the commotion going on behind his door, she couldn’t help but wonder. Pomni was never the rowdiest of the bunch, but as a kid, she was so quiet and in her own world at times. It was a good thing Jax was also there to get her to come out of her shell.

Speaking of Jax…

Fortunately, the door was unlocked, and Ragatha was well-aware that she had not been in Jax’s room since… Practically since he first showed up at least. Gosh, she could barely remember what it looked like, which is ironic considering the other’s key collection gave him access to all of their bedrooms.

And stepping inside, she couldn’t believe how cute it was!

With a headboard shaped like an actual rabbit head and various fluffy easter-like themes scattered around the room, his wallpaper depicted cartoon bunnies running across a field, and there was a little decoration of a bunch of baby chicks in a nest in the corner.

Cuteness aggression twisted at her chest - she couldn’t believe it! Actual Jax would absolutely hate this. He probably did. 

Laying in his bed and kicking his little bunny feet was Jax, leafing through a comic book with a carrot… Chew toy in his mouth?

Oh, Caine really needed to update his knowledge on human children at some point.

Regardless, the kid was happily gnawing on the squeaky toy, paying no mind to the new arrival in his bedroom.

Gently, Ragatha took a seat on the edge of his bed, peeking over his shoulder to look at the book that he was reading. Curiously, he stayed on the same page for what had to have been 2 minutes until she said something about it.

“Jax…” He jumped in surprise at her voice, finally realizing that she was there, “Are you having trouble reading?”

With wide eyes, he shook his head, biting down on his toy carrot before he hid his face in his arms.

“He can read,” Ragatha turned when Pomni spoke up from the doorway, “He’s just reading it, over and over.”

“Oh? Is it… Hard to understand?”

Pomni shrugged, turning to pet a stray stuffed bunny on a dresser, “He says it’s hard to focus.”

“What do you mean-?”

“AHH!” The two of them jumped at Jax’s outburst. He stood up on his bed, pointing a tiny finger in the direction of the doorway. Pomni looked behind her, seeing a triangle-shaped Gloink tumbling closeby.

Then, it was joined by a star-shaped one, bouncing into the air. Then, a square one came over, bumping into the other two. 

In the distance, they could hear a scream growing closer. As more Gloinks began to fill the hall, they saw arms and legs among the fray. In the middle of it all was Zooble's disgruntled head. 

“Not againnnnnn!” 

“Aw, jeez,” Ragatha sighed, pushing to her feet, “Jax, Pomni, do you guys wanna go get something to eat while I help Zooble?”

She frowned at the following silence. Did she say something to upset them?

Turning to Jax, she froze, seeing his big, wet eyes and trembling arms. He whined, looking out into the hallway as his previous excitement was quickly shifted into terror, “T-they killed themmmm!”

Pomni’s face dropped, pale face growing even paler, “...They what?”

Ragatha quickly rushed to Jax’s side as his breathing quickened, “No, no! Zooble isn’t dead, I promise! That’s just something that they can do!” 

“Then, WHY WERE THEY SCREAMING?!” His voice began to rise in volume and pitch, scrambling her brain as she tried to come up with a satisfactory explanation. 

Pomni was no better, slamming the door behind her and locking them all inside. She ran to Jax’s bed, crawling into the corner with her back to the wall and her knees pulled up to her chest.

“B-because it was surprising…!” Ragatha laughed, a second away from hysterically. 

Jax’s face dropped further, cries growing louder and more painful, and in response, his jester companion started to tug anxiously at her hat tails, pupils turning to squiggles. Ragatha tried to wrap an arm around them as comfort, but she was shoved away while Jax shrieked in her face.

It was like whatever she said or did only served to upset them more, quickly filling her mind with thoughts of inadequacy and frustration. 

“Why do they DO THAT?” Jax was barely giving her room to respond, flailing his arms in a panic. Tugging harder on her tails, Pomni whined, providing the distressed, childish soundtrack to the commotion.

The combination of visual and auditory noise only made things feel more “fight-or-flight-y” for the three of them. Ragatha took a deep breath, reminding herself that these two were just kids who didn't know any better… 

“WHAT’S WRONG WITH THEM??” Jax squealed, ringing in her ears, and Pomni joined in with long, nonsensical noises to echo his. 

But they were being so annoying!

“That’s just how this world works!!”

She didn’t mean to scream it, but she felt like it was the only way that they could hear her over their own shouting and not-listening.

“WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT MEEEEEEE?!”

Jax was now full-on weeping, collapsing onto his bed in a ball and tugging on his ears. He hid his face in his pillow, muffling his miserable, little cries. If she listened closely, she could hear him mumbling something along the lines of, “I didn’t do anything wrong”. 

Guilt hit her, swiftly and painfully, like a bucket of ice cold water.

“I…” The feeling was like a heavy pit in her gut, and despite the little kids in her presence, she couldn’t help but feel like she was the one in trouble, “I’m sorry, you two, I…”

She tried to put a hand on Jax’s back, only for him to whimper and flinch away. Pomni went quiet, ducking her head between her knees as she continued to whine behind closed lips.

“C… Come on, guys, it’s okay,” She put on her best comforting voice, trying to bring the mood back up as the back-breaking weight on her shoulders only grew heavier, “We don’t have to go get Zooble right now. We could... Play a game or get something to eat? Whatever you want!”

Jax cried facedown, little body shuddering as his breath caught in his chest. Tugging and squeezing her pom-poms, Pomni moaned something miserable and stressed, too muffled to understand with her head down. 

Ragatha sighed wearily, feeling like she failed terribly. The room was still thick with noisy cries and whining, and all she wanted to do was lie down in her bed away from here.

But could she just leave them when they were unhappy like this? 

Something chained her to the bed, an invisible but an undeniable weight that nobody else could sense. She laid down next to Jax, looking at his face buried in fluffy sheets that were probably soaked with tears.

“I’m sorry. Please don’t cry. It’ll be okay, I promise.”

“Unh cnh pmmph en,” Jax mumbled between cries.

“What was that?” She leaned in, turning her ear to hear him better.

“Y-you can’t promise t-that,” He pulled away from the pillow to speak up, still struggling to catch his breath.

“I swear, Jax, I’ll make sure that nothing bad ever happens,” Desperate, she pushed herself up on her arms and smiled weakly, “Whatever makes you guys happy.”

The rabbitoid dropped his head, turning on his side but not meeting her eyes. His brows were furrowed, and he sniffled, “H-how?”

“Just say the word, and I’ll do it.”

“...” Sticking his lower lip out, he grunted, unsure. In any other situation, Ragatha would find that expression absolutely adorable.

Taking a chance, she lifted her arm, slowly reaching out. Her hand hovered over his head, and when he didn’t pull away, she set it gently down, softly stroking the side. Jax’s pupils dilated, and his voice wobbled, again.

“Okay,” He said, small and hopeful, “Promise?”

“Promise.”

A breath of relief escaped her, and Jax leaned into her touch. It was a victory for sure, but she was already exhausted.

Still, there was a couple of people to account for…

“Pomni?” She looked up at the little jester, still in a tight ball and fidgeting with her pom-poms. The girl hummed quietly to herself, rocking, over and over. It concerned Ragatha a bit, “How are you?”

Pomni grunted quietly, not giving further answers. The older woman sat up, leaning over Jax to offer the same comforting touch to the girl when the boy stopped her.

“Don’t,” He nudged her, “She just needs a minute.”

Ragatha raised her brows in a silent inquiry with the gears turning in her head, “Hm.”

Jax reached over his bed, grabbing a fluffy stuffed bunny and offering it to Pomni who clutched it to her chest, flopping to her side. 

“She'll be okay, too,” He nodded, and the three of them laid there for a while.

Ragatha frowned, “We should probably go help Zooble soon.”

“No,” Jax grunted.