Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Dear me! What ever shall I do with this unexpected fight from this unexpected friendship!” Caine exclaimed after rewinding the same scene of Jax and Pomni fighting for like the fiftieth time.

After the award ceremony—and a little meltdown that totally didn’t happen—Caine decided to watch everything from the gun adventure he had Bubble record on camera. It was wonderful to see the most recent member get along with the circus’ most disliked member (according to his observations).

“We should put them in a room together, and leave a note that says they can only leave once they’ve fffff**ked!” Bubble enthusiastically suggested. “Make up sex is always the answer to preventing a break up! Don’t deny the human needs!”

Caine immediately brushed him off, “Bubble, that’s disgusting… But wait! Human needs!” The ringmaster’s eyes lit up. “I need human consultants!”

And off he went.

.•.•.

“So… what’s the main plot of this anime again?” Zooble asked, trying to understand the manga Gangle was trying to redraw from memory.

Gangle paused in her sketching and her face flushed, “O-Oh sorry… was I not explaining it clearly?”

Zooble chuckled and assured Gangle, “No it’s fine. I got the gist of it, even if you did get sidetracked and started rambling about your favorite ‘ships’…” They looked even more amused after Gangle turned even more red. “I was just wondering what the genre actually is? From everything you explained it sounds like there’s no consistent genre.”

“Oh! There isn’t.” Gangle happily replied. “That’s part of why I like it so much! You never know what’s gonna happen next. Some fans complained that the author couldn’t commit to one genre, but I like that he’s mixing in different genres. It’s a slice of life, a shounen and world building all in one.”

“But I have to admit… I can’t focus on the serious stuff… haha… all the cute family moments and the elementary crush subplot caught all my attention.” She rubbed the back of her hand, guiltily.

Zooble shrugged it off, not seeing any reason for the ribbon to feel bad, “That’s nothing to be ashamed of. When I was in middle school, I had this phase where I only watched horror movies for the really hot actresses, until I grew out of it and realized how stupid the chasing sequences are when it’s one of the chicks running.”

Gangle laughed at that.

Zooble laughed a little too, before getting back on topic. “Okay, so shifty genre aside… the main plot is this guy has to stop a war, and his organization recommended starting a family was the best option?”

“… pretty much?” Gangle hesitantly answered, still grinning. It was pretty funny when you put it that way actually.

“And the main characters of this whole thing are a closed off guy, who doesn’t know how to handle kids, an awkward woman who thinks she’s stepmother to an adoptive kid, and a kid who’s probably internalized all their trauma before getting adopted…. They all have some secret identity that they’re hiding from each other, and it’s only the kid that knows because her secret is being a mind reader?” Zooble summarized it to their understanding.

“Yup.” Gangle confirmed.

Zooble leaned back, impressed. “Cool. No wonder people eat that stuff up. Everyone loves it when two dysfunctional adults are forced into parenting.”

“I know I do. It’s cute. And personally… Even if those two don’t love each other right now, I think they're actually falling in love with being the kid’s parents.” Gangle said, before resuming their drawing. At least until—

“WHAT A WONDERFUL IDEA!” Caine exclaimed after appearing out of nowhere.

“AH!” Gangle practically launched into the air as Caine popped into existence, scattering her pencils and half-finished manga pages across the floor. Her comedy mask hit the ground with a sad little crack.

“Aw…” She stared at the ground and sniffled in disappointment.

Zooble stood up from the couch and yelled up at the floating ringleader, “CAINE! What the f*ck!?”

As if he didn’t hear the mismatched  member’s shouting, he continued. “Two incredibly incapable adults get forced into capability and genuine bonding, when a child’s happiness is on the line!? THAT’S BRILLIANT! I know just what to do now!”

With that, he left the same way he came.

Gangle turned to Zooble, now in her teary state again. “What was that about…?”

Zooble shrugged and rolled their eyes, frustrated with the AI. “Beats me. I’d say he only hears himself, but he’s literally zero percent ears and one hundred percent mouth. So I think that’s already a given....”

.•.•.

Later that day, the whole circus gathered in the tent’s main area after Caine’s very dramatic summoning.

Everyone stood in confusion before a bubblegum pink bassinet stroller, pushed by an NPC, rolled into view.

The NPC stopped and faced everyone.

“Here—“

They all dully moved their eyes from where Disappearing Guy was to the stroller left in front of them.

“What is this?” Pomni was the first to ask.

“Alright, gang!” Caine announced proudly, holding his cane like a scepter. “After hours of deep planning I have crafted a foolproof plan to strengthen and rekindle interpersonal bonds! Specifically the recently broken bond of our last adventure’s winners!”

Both Pomni and Jax froze and stared at Caine with wide eyes.

Jax’s face dropped to unimpressed, he didn’t even bother looking at Pomni. “Uh, yeah… no. I’m not really in the mood for any team bonding.”

Pomni frowned. But, while she wasn’t thrilled that Jax was still avoiding her…. she’d rather not let their next interaction be during another adventure. So she agreed, “Yeah, and what would this team bonding adventure be about anyway?”

She gestures to the bassinet, still confused about its existence. “Because I don’t see how giving us a stroller would help have—”

“A baby!” Caine interrupted with a clap. 

Everyone blinked.

Pomni and Jax reacted at the same time.

“...Say what?”

“Scuse me?”

“A baby!” Caine repeate. “From this day forward my little jester and rabbit duo, you will be parents to this poor little child!”

Almost instantly, everyone started overlapping each other.

“Wait what—“

“Hold on! Does this have something to do with me and Gangles conversation—“

“Caine, wait! I don’t think everyone is capable of the parental role—“

“I thought NPCs shouldn’t stay in the circus—“

“Oh, hey! Why is there a stroller in here?”

“Quiet down everyone!” Caine calmly raised his voice. Surprisingly everyone did quiet down.

Caine continued, “It’s true, I did say NPCs couldn’t stay here. But that’s because I’m worried I might lose track of who’s who. But since everyone here is a mature adult…”

Zooble gave Jax a side eye, “I wouldn’t say mature—“ Caine cuts them off.

“It won’t be that hard for me to remember that this little cutie patootie”, he cooed into the stroller, “is one of my creations! And to make even more sure I won’t confuse myself, I’ve decided to utilize a prototype design from the Leap Frog Tribe!”

After hearing that, Jax’s shoulder tensed.

Slowly he walked up to the stroller, and so did everyone else.

With a flourish, Caine pushed back the stroller’s roof, revealing a tiny AI… baby(?)

“TA-DA!” Caine shouted proudly. “Meet the newest member of the circus! Isn’t he precious?”

Everyone stared but Jax immediately recoiled and looked away from the NPC.

Ragatha instinctively turned with him and placed a hand on his trembling shoulder —to which Jax reacted a little late to, due to whiplash, but eventually slapped her hand away.

Inside the stroller was a tiny creature that resembled a little monk-turned-baby. It had pitch black eyes, its body was green with dark green spots, a big lilypad wrapped around the lower area. Three red curls that sort of look like frog tongues? (Gross) But… It probably served as hair, and on top of everything it had a big mushroom-like beret that looked like a frog head.

It didn’t look anything like a baby. The only thing that was ‘baby-ish’ was its tiny stature and the pacifier placed in its mouth.

“This is some ugly-a** baby.” Zooble muttered under their breath.

Caine gasped, and screamed into Zooble’s face. “Zooble! How could you say that to an innocent child’s face!?” —He cleared his throat(?) and continued more calmly. “But, I agree! I didn’t like this design, and so this NPC became one of my unfinished works, until now!”

“It looks like one of those lilypad monks…” Gangle softly said.

“Precisely why I said prototype!” Caine responded. “This little fella was the original design of those lilypad monks before I created their official version! Which was the version that you all saw. Well, except Pomni, of course—wait. Speaking of… where is our lovely jester mother?”

And that’s when everyone started looking around them. Even Jax, who broke out of his emotional state, was confused.

“Oh, she left.” Kinger suddenly answered.

“What?” Ragatha asked, surprised.

Kinger rubbed his chin, as if recalling. “I’m pretty sure it was around the time we were talking about the baby… Perhaps we were being too noisy?” He contemplated. “Oh, maybe she’s preparing a guest bed! She must be excited. She left in such a frenzy!”

“GAAAHH!!!” A distant scream was heard.

“Well, well, well! It sounds like the un-wicked stepmother discovered the renovation I made in her room!” Caine said, fixing his hat and tie, though it wasn’t crooked to begin with.

Jax rolled his eyes, “Ugh! What’s she screaming about now—Wait... Stepmother?”

His question fell on deaf ears when Caine snapped his fingers and transported everyone including the ‘baby’ —to the dorms, right in front of Pomni’s open door.

Perfectly positioned where he could see the inside, Jax’s posture dropped and his eyes expanded at the jester’s room.

Along with the primary colors, the room had a bit of purple in it too.

A few clothes were scattered across the floor, like they were thrown out of the closet during the morning and never put back in—wouldn’t be an issue if they were Pomni’s clothes.

No… they were his clothes.

Not just his clothes, but some of his other stuff too. Stuff that he didn’t really touch but knew was part of his own room. As if… he was in the process of ‘moving in’ little by little.

To top it all off, Pomni’s nightstand had a bunch of framed pictures that definitely did not happen. —Because these pictures were of them cuddling, leaning in to kiss each other, and a couple of family photos that involved them swinging their ‘child’ in the air as they held hands or the three of them in a group hug.

Jax snapped his head towards the ringleader, “Caine! What the f*ck is this!?”

“Plot setting!” Caine said with jazz hands.

With proud enthusiasm, Caine told them,  “At first, I wanted to create an entirely new NPC that resembled you two. But all the illustrations I made of the potential child ended up looking terrible and uncreative. So I decided on something better!”

He reached into the stroller and picked up the monk/baby creature, and cradled it as he continued explaining, “To make this found family’s story more compelling, and bond-forging for the two of you, I’ve decided your child should have a bit of tragedy as well!”

“You Jax—“ Caine zoomed towards the rabbit and shoved the almost very inanimate baby into his arms. “—are the biological father, and raised this baby all by yourself, because your partner died shortly after his birth. You are currently being assisted by your current partner Pomni, whom you haven’t married yet!”

Jax stared at the ringleader as if he grew an extra eyeball, as he tried to digest the sh*ttiest plot of playhouse he’s ever heard.

Pomni, on the other hand, was pressed against the farthest wall of her own room, eyes wide and shaking like she’d just witnessed her own funeral. “Why—why is my room a domestic nightmare!?”

“Because your room is the wholesome room! The child-appropriate room that your little one will go to when he gets nightmares!” Caine explained. “Jax’s room is the ‘lover’s quality time’ room! Where you two spend time in premarital embraces, whenever the others are babysitting your darling toddler.”

“This doesn’t look like a three year old.” Jax pointed out as the baby seemingly gained consciousness and started fussing about in his arms, and reaching for his ears. Jax avoided looking at him, especially the stupid hat. “Aren’t the monks supposed to be tiny old men?”

“Well, I don’t have time to make any more adjustments! I programmed this prototype with an infant mindset, and their current age to be three, that should be good enough.” Caine retorted petulantly.

“Wait, so what did you do to Jax’s room?” Ragatha curiously asked, while walking to the rabbit’s room.

“Hey!” Jax sped after the doll, as she already twisted the door knob.

Oh, sweet baby Jesus…

The room was barely the same anymore… It was pink and red; the typical romantic shades. Jax’s bed looked like 3 different honeymoons took place, because it looked more like a big hotel bed than a regular bedroom bed.

There were chocolates boxes and strawberries on the nightstand, and an old timey TV with off brand vhs romance films scattered in front of it. More cringey and corny photos of Jax and Pomni hung up on the walls, but this time it was just them, and they were more ‘intimate’.

“I… can’t even find a proper reaction to this…” Zooble said as they looked around the room.

“If both of Jax and Pomni’s rooms are for them… where’s their ‘kid’ going to stay?” Gangle suddenly brought up.

That was a good point. Neither of the two rooms contained anything for the kid.

“Why… in his deceased mother’s room, of course!” Caine said as he flew out of Jax’s room. Everyone followed.

Jax immediately paused in his steps, when he saw the door Caine all lead them to.

“No…”

He wanted to protest, but he caught a lump in his throat. He subconsciously squeezed the small NPC a bit tighter as he couldn’t tear his eyes off the door.

Fortunately, and pathetically… someone spoke for him.

“CAINE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” Ragatha yelled up at the ringleader who seemed clueless by everyone’s reaction.

“This can’t… You can’t just…” Gangle covered her mouth, trying to suppress her voice crack. “This is so wrong…”

For someone who couldn’t care less about Jax, Zooble found themselves yelling tne loudest. “What is your f*cking moral ground!? First you traumatized Pomni by blowing an NPC out of existence in front of her on her first adventure, then you back away from the stupid rule about NPCs just to—apparently, get her and Jax to make up by giving them a kid—and now you’re just gonna let an NPC stay in Ribbit’s room?!”

Pomni looked around everyone screaming and to Jax who was frozen in place.

Softly, she asked, “Who’s Ribbit…?”

Everyone except Jax turned to her, making Pomni flinch. The silence made her uncomfortable, as she immediately regretted bringing up a possibly taboo name.

Ragatha was making ‘chopping motions’ on her neck to indicate to the jester that now wasn’t the time to ask that question.

But, Pomni quickly put together the puzzle.

“Do you… have any actual friends?”

“Not anymore…”

She remembered the way Jax reacted after that.

If she’s piecing things together correctly… this “Ribbit” must’ve been a friend. And Jax definitely didn’t take their abstraction well… And now for the sake of some stupid lifelong roleplay, Caine is utilizing this person’s “death” as part of their story.

Pomni kept her mouth shut after that.

In fact… she swiftly turned around and decided to hide in her room.

Besides… in and out of the context, she doesn’t see herself being that NPC’s mother or “stepmother” anytime soon.

Caine, who was somehow immune to the entire room’s tension, simply clasped his hands and smiled. “Now that the mother-to-be is getting herself acquainted with possibly motherly business, shall we see the nursery?”

“Nursery!?” Zooble barked. 

Caine spun dramatically toward the door, which opened on cue with a whimsical ding! sound effect. “Ta-da! Ribbit’s room—reborn!”

Everyone was ushered in.

The room was pretty much the same. —Which was either good or bad, depending on what might be going through Jax’s head.

There were some small additions, like toys and a playpen. Baby necessities, because of course they still have to change diapers (even though this baby isn’t really wearing diapers right now).

“Aaaand that’s it for today’s renovation tour! I trust you all know what to do! I hope you have everything settled for the little bundle by tomorrow before the next adventure! Have him changed, fed, named, and hopefully say their first words! Toodle loo my, bodacious bubbly babysitters!” Caine flew out of the room, as Zooble screamed after him.

“You’re still gonna make us go on adventures WITH A BABY?!” Zooble screamed using the door frame as support as they leaned forward.

Ragatha rubbed her chin as she looked at the now here-to-stay child. “If he’s a toddler, shouldn’t he have said his first words by now…?”

“Well… I think there are some kids out there who have delay in speech? But, really… I think Caine just doesn’t know how babies work…” Gangle answered.

“Uogh! Ahh!” The baby made noises as he poked Jax in the face.

Jax nonchalantly stared at the babbling toddler as it playfully tapped his cheek.

He slowly made his way to the bed, and sat down as he let the baby abuse his face.

If this monk was a rabbitoid creature, Jax would’ve dropped kicked it by now. But… unlike him, Ribbit wasn’t at all insulted by the whole frog adventure. In fact he thought those stupid NPCs looked cute, they even got sidetracked because they lost him and found him dancing with the tribe.

And Jax knows that if he were here right now, he’d make him play along with the playhouse thing.

He doesn’t know how to feel about the NPC in front of him, but he knows he’s lost all motivation to be violent to anyone and anything in this room.

“Hey.” He monotonously said to the frog toddler.

“Ahh! Hehehehe!” He giggled like hearing his ‘dad’ greet him was comedy gold.

Ragatha hesitantly made her way to the bed and sat next to Jax.

“Um, hey… Jax—“

Jax cut her off. “I don’t want to talk and you’re too close.”

“Sorry!” Ragatha quickly inched away from the rabbit, and stopped talking.

The atmosphere grew thick as the two sat on the bed in silence, while Gangle and Zooble stayed in place staring at them, Kinger drifted off to the corner to examine the bug stickers plastered on the wall.

It was like that for a while until Jax broke the silence, and turned to Ragatha, “You have a hat or something, Rags…?” He asked in an uncomfortably dead tone.

Ragatha jumped when Jax suddenly called her, barely registering the question. “H-Huh?” Then she realized what he was asking and looked at the kid and the… “—Oh! Yeah! I-I have one!” She quickly stood up and sped walked out the room.

“Take it easy. You might step on a building block.” Jax said, as he lazily followed after her.

He barely reacted to the kid suddenly jumping off his lap and waddling behind him, before dropping to the ground. He simply shrugged it off and let the kid crawl after him.

“There was no research before Caine turned that into a baby…” Zooble said.

“Yeah…” Gangle agreed.

.•.•.

“Here!” Ragatha handed Jax a white and blue pinwheel beret.

Jax took it, reached down to grab the frog hat. Thank goodness the hat can come off, so he had no problems switching it out.

Ragatha carefully took the hat out of Jax’s hands, and placed it at the bottom of her dresser.

The new hat helped. Without it, the NPC looked less like a frog and more of a weird green alien, in a beret. And a lilypad loincloth, but… surely they won’t need that anymore after a diaper change.

“Have you… thought of a name?” Gangle timidly asked.

“No.” Jax answered, crossing his arms as he stared down at the baby smiling up at him. “But I know I want it far from anything frog related…”

Fair.

“We could mix letters from yours and Pomni’s name together…?” Gangle suggested. “Jaxni, Pax, Jox…?”

“Terrible.” Jax rejected it.

“Jack?” Ragatha recommended.

Jax shook his head, “I don’t like it, sounds too normal, plus there’s going to be a lot of confusing accidental wordplay with that.”

Zooble was hesitant, but eventually voiced their suggestion, “How about… Jun hee?”

Everyone looked at them, confused.

“Jun hee? Is that like, a Korean name?” Jax asked.

Zooble nodded, “Yeah… but, we can change the spelling into something un-generic, if you want. To fit with our weird names?”

“Why Jun hee though…?” Jax asked, genuinely curious.

“Um…” Zooble rubbe the back of their neck, trying to explain their thought process. “Have you watched… squid game?”

“The f*ck is that?” Jax asked.

“Yeah, I figured…” Zooble dropped their shoulders.

Deciding not to bore anyone with too many details, Zooble just went straight to the point. “Anyway, spoiler alert, around the second season, one of the characters was pregnant, died at some point, the kid survived and ‘inherited’ her mom’s spot and player number. And well… we’re in a game too, so…”

“Z-Zooble…” Gangle timidly said. “I don’t think that’s—“

“Okay. Let’s go with that.” Jax said.

“You want to call the baby Jun hee?” Ragatha asked, surprised.

“Sure, why not. But we’re changing the spelling.”

.•.•.

Around night time, Pomni had the urge to leave her room for a walk.

She locked herself in her room —though it’s technically not just her room anymore—the whole day, that the space was starting to feel cramped.

So she walked out the door, and wandered through the dark halls.

She stopped, and did a double take at the door that was now occupied by the NPC.

Aside from the red ‘X’ disappearing from the frog character’s door, there was a little sign hooked below it.

‘JOONHI’ was what was spelled on the sign.

“Joonhi? That’s the baby’s name?” Pomni mumbled to herself. “What.. like squid game?”

“So you know that show too?” Jax's voice came from behind, making Pomni flinch before meeting his eyes.

She looked down momentarily to see the baby in a purple bunny blanket, in Jax’s arms. He was sleepy, but his eyes shot open when he saw Pomni. He bounced Jax’s arms a bit, accidentally shrugging off the blanket, and waved his arms out trying to get Pomni’s attention. Pomni took notice that the frog hat was gone, and he was wearing a diaper instead of the lilypad.

“Hey…” Pomni grinned awkwardly, before re-focusing her gaze back on the rabbit.

“He got hungry, and wouldn’t stop whining until I found the bottles in the kitchen. You think Caine would’ve remembered to include that in the ‘renovation tour’.” Jax explained before continuing his rambling, “Anyway… Zooble won’t tell me anything else about that show, other than a single character’s name. Is it any good?”

Pomni was quiet for two seconds before answering, “That depends on who you ask…”

She eyed the baby, once more and moved back as soon as it started making grabby hands at her.

“Well, I just wanted to take a walk. You and Joonhi have a good rest of the night.” Pomni quickly waved before turning around.

“Now hang on just a sec, Stepmom Pompom.” Jax teasingly called out.

Pomni cringed, but quickly fixed her face and looked back at the rabbit. “What?”

“Why are you so shifty? He’s not gonna bite you.” Jax held the baby up like a stray kitten and shook him in front of Pomni.

Joonhi made the grabby hands again, and Pomni refused to move her hands in any way, worried Jax might take the opportunity to pass the kid to her.

“I-I know… it’s just. I’m not really.. You two seem comfortable with each other already, so…” Pomni tried finding an excuse.

“Ah. I see what’s going on here.” Jax smiled at her smugly, as soon as he made the conclusion.

He held Joonhi at his hip with one hand and confidently circled around Pomni like a detective. “Little Miss Sentimental thinks she’ll be triggering me, if she plays stepmom because of the ‘first’ mom in Caine’s little backstory!”

Pomni stood stiffly as she let Jax circle her. “Huh?”

“There’s no need to be so soft and considerate, Pompom. You being labeled stepmom is the least of the problem.” Jax turned his head to Joonhi’s door. His face momentarily dropped, as he stared at the frog’s picture again.

He hated the day the ‘X’ appeared on his door, but hated it even more that Caine took it down because of the new occupant.

“Trust me… there are bigger things for me to be p*ssed about.” Jax spoke again.

He then laid a hand on Pomni’s shoulder, “Plus, you two are completely different people. Ribbit was really ‘jumpy’,” he snorted —“but in a fun, goofy way. He’s not easy to upset, and finds a positive outcome to every sh*tty thing that happened to him here! But unlike Ragatha, he doesn’t push it. He’s just naturally a feel-good dude. It takes immense effort to actual break the guy’s mood.”

Pomni didn’t like the indirect implication of how this Ribbit guy’s abstraction went.

“Also, Ragatha swapped the hat out for this one, so he looks more like a knock off toad —don’t you, you widdle ugly freak?” Jax mock-cooed to the baby who was none-the-wiser.

“That’s right! I can say as many mean things I want because you think I’m being nice when I use this stupid voice~! Right, you ugly wugly dummy~?” Jax cooed even more, and the baby’s giggling just proved him right.

Pomni looked at Jax with a very judgmental face, but rolled her eyes at his antics. “Well, glad to see you adjusting…” she trailed off. “But the whole frog friend, stepmom thing isn’t my problem…”

“So, it’s about our fight then?” Jax concluded.

Pomni rubbed her hands, “Um…”

“Okay, look, I’m not one to respect most boundaries and all… but I do have boundaries of my own, okay? I don’t want the real-talk, or the ‘don’t run from your emotions’ talk, or any cringey sh*tty talk like that. If you had just left me alone, maybe we could’ve still had a casual relationship? But you decided to try and play mary sue and push a reaction out of me!” He raised his voice as he got closer to Pomni’s face.

Pomni moved away, growing uncomfortable.

Jax moved back, and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry.” Jax said through gritted teeth.

Pomni looked up, shocked.

“I’ll admit, you’re cool… and I liked hanging out with you that whole adventure. Color me surprised that I barely had a hand on your ‘chaotic evil’ side. All I did was tell you to let loose and you did. So, I guess I kinda… did regret everything I said to you that day.” Jax confessed.

“I’m an a**hole, I’m not denying that. And I’m not changing any time soon.” He sounded a bit more stubborn than he thought he would. “But… this a**hole hates you the least… and I still wanna do funny sh*t with you if we ever get a chance. So…”

He held his hand out to Pomni, “Can we… be ‘normal’ with each other again?”

Looks like he’s still not calling them ‘friends’.

Pomni stared at the hand for a moment before sighing and taking it. “Thanks for the apology… and… I’m sorry too. I didn’t respect your boundaries… I got violent with you…”

“That was kinda funny…” Jax jokingly said.

“Yeah it kinda was.” Pomni snorted, “B-But, still… whether I had a point or not, I was pushing too hard. —Of course we’ll be ‘normal’ again, I still enjoy your company and respect your space. But please, this time…  if you ever feel… um… comfortable to actually ‘talk’ with me… please do.”

Jax’s eyes narrowed.

“By your choice, of course.” Pomni clarified. “I won’t cross a line if you want me to stay behind it. But instead of being a d*ck and making a whole show to make me hate you… just tell me whenever I’m being too friendly. I’ll back off and give you space, okay?” 

Jax stared at her, and the hand he was still holding, before looking off to the side and sighing.

“Okay…” He squeezed her hand, as if letting her know he’s being honest.

As if on cue, Joonhi started giggling again, and Jax smirked and held him up with one arm again, while the other gave Pomni a side hug. “Well now that that’s outta the way—“

“Wait.” Pomni cut him off, breaking away from the hug, her eyes shutting with guilt. 

Jax raised a brow at her, “What?”

“Thank you for the apology, and the talk, and for agreeing to let me know if I'm going too far and all but… my choice is the same… I’m uh… not ‘participating’…” Pomni awkwardly fiddled with her hands, looking at anything but the two pairs of eyes staring at her.

That last line hung awkwardly in the air.

“… Not participating?” Jax repeats flatly.

Pomni nods quickly, avoiding his gaze. “I mean, you and everyone else have the parenting thing handled, right? I don’t see how my help would—uh—improve anything.”

Joonhi babbles something unintelligible.

Jax scoffs. “Heh. You think I want to play dad? I was gonna leave the kid with the others after seeing it, but I lost my opportunity after someone screamed so loud over a little room renovation.”

Pomni groans, pinching her temples. “Because he redecorated my room too look like we had a one night stand!”

“Hey, could be worse,” Jax quips. “Could’ve been what he did to my room. That thing looks like cupid threw up all over it.”

“Look,” Jax says, tone softening. “This kid isn’t real, okay? If we injure the baby, Caine can just fix him up! You don’t have to worry about the ‘responsibilities’ or whatever. That would be like, freaking out over a baby doll.”

“…I guess, you’re right.” Pomni mumbles.

“And,” he adds, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, “you could at least say hi to him without looking like you’re about to file a restraining order.”

Pomni glances at the baby. Joonhi’s still staring up at her — his big, cartoonish eyes wide and curious. The pacifier bobs as he tilts his head.

“…Hi.” Pomni waves weakly.

The baby gurgles in delight, kicking his stubby legs.

Jax smirks. “See? He already likes you. Great.” He thrusted the baby forward. “Now hold him!”

Pomni’s jaw drops. “What!? N–no! I–I can’t—!”

“Come ooon! Just for a few seconds!” The rabbit insisted, thrusting the baby closer.

The jester hesitated, but she decided to just suck it up. A few seconds wouldn’t hurt right…?

She opened her arms and let Jax transfer the baby to her.

“Hello…” Pomni said, smiling nervously at the baby. She bounced a bit, trying to make Joonhi feel safe.

Joonhi giggled loudly. Happy to finally get uppies from his mom.

“See? He likes it! With the exception of the screaming and the crying, he’s calmer than an actual baby!” Jax said, proudly placing his hands on his hips.

“Yeah…” Pomni lifted Joonhi higher, and looked up at him. “I guess it isn’t so—”

“Blargh!” Joonhi suddenly burped, and along with it, brought all the milk back up. It shot right into one of Pomni’s eyes.

Usually, Jax would’ve started laughing, but with Pomni’s lack of reaction, he couldn’t find himself to even grin.

Pomni lowered Joonhi and held him out for Jax to take back. Her left eye stayed closed and the rest of her face was stone cold.

Jax took Joonhi back and looked at the motionless Pomni in concern.

“Uh… you good?”

“I’m… going to wash this out…” Pomni finally said, holding her eye. “And maybe just leave the tent for some fresh air, after.”

Jax held a hand out, “I can come with you—”

“Oh, n-n-no!” Pomni held her free hand out to stop Jax from coming any closer. “I’m sure Joonhi’s hungry again after… that. So uh, you should feed him, while I go… alone.”

She turned around, this time not stopping.

“Hey, Pom—“

“Goodnight, Jax.” Pomni immediately said, as she continued to walk off.

Chapter Text

“Rrraaaah!” Joonhi screamed as he thrashed around and slapped the surface of his high chair.

“Hold your spazzy little a** for 5 seconds you little sh*t! It’s warming up.” Jax half aggressively, half tiredly screamed back at the baby.

Joonhi momentarily stopped to snicker at his father’s potty mouth. Before hunger in his belly made him cry again.

Hurriedly Jax fumbled to get the formula out of the warmer. Then he rushed to Joonhi, pulled him out of the chair, and started feeding him. The little tadpole wagged its tail in content.

As he cradled and fed Joonhi, Jax pulled a chair out of its place and sank down on it. He sighed, exhausted.

They never had a kitchen before… Whenever they were given food, a table would always be materialized into the middle of the main area. But because of Joonhi’s existence, Caine thought of installing some actual permanent rooms in the circus.

Now they have a full set kitchen and dining area. Jax had to admit, that kinda benefitted him. He likes grabbing a snack, to take his mind off things or when he just wants to distract himself. He was pretty glad there was an actual fridge, and all he had to do to get what he wanted was press the button at the front of the fridge and order like it’s a drive thru.

But, he wished they got this without the screaming baby.

Jax looked down at the clueless npc, who was smiling through the bottle he was drinking from. “I kinda wish Caine made ‘nursing’ possible, just so I can drag Pomni here out of spite!”

“Hmhm!” Joonhi giddily hummed while he sipped.

Jax’s mood changed and he menacingly started cooing at the baby. “Yeah? Right little you little freak? You wanna torment your mama too? Because I know I do!”

Joonhi pushed the bottle away and let out a gurgled laugh, before resuming his drinking.

“Ugh! Thank god… I thought he’d never stop.” Zooble’s voice was heard as they came into view. Followed by Gangle, Ragatha and Kinger, who were all suspiciously relieved.

“Gee thanks, you guys!” Jax sarcastically said, rolling his eyes. “Did you all literally stand outside of the kitchen and wait until I got him to stop crying?”

“Um…” Gangle couldn’t say much, and just stared at anything but Jax.

“In our defense… yesterday, any time we offered help, you get really b*tchy about it. Like asking if you need help babysitting is so patronizing.” Zooble said, matching Jax’s aggressive tone.

“You say, ‘our help’ like you were involved —when all you did yesterday was stare at Rags and Gangle trying to hover over me, and so tenderly hold their shoulders with that stupid ‘don’t be too nice, he doesn’t appreciate it’ look on your face!” Jax yelled at Zooble.

Zooble crossed their arms and stared Jax down, “My point stays the same; help was offered, you rejected it. You were perfectly fine with us helping you dress and name the baby, but last night when we were woken up by Joonhi’s screaming you didn’t want sh*t from anyone who cared enough!”

“Because, you guys aren’t even the ones that’s supposed to help me! It was supposed to be Pomni!” Jax finally snapped. “That’s why this little sh*t existed in the first place! Because Caine thought dumping a baby on us would be a good bonding exercise!”

His outburst shocked everyone.

Ragatha decided to ask, “If you wanted Pomni’s help… why didn’t you ask her…?”

Jax went tight lip and he turned around to avoid everyone’s stare.

Joonhi eventually finished all his milk, and pushed the bottle out of his mouth. Jax gently placed it down.

No burping was needed, because the little npc handled that all by himself, loudly belching right into Jax’s face.

Well… at least it wasn’t disgorged milk in the eyeball.

“Jax…” Ragatha called out again. Making Jax roll his eyes.

But, he sharply inhaled and put his signature smile on before turning back to face them.

“Oh… well Raggy… you know how it is…” Jax said in a faux miserable tone, pouting.

He dramatically leaned back, until he was halfway lying down on the table, holding Joonhi in one hand, while the other was pressed against his forehead like a 20s actress.

In an annoying baby voice, he said, “They tell you to find someone to marry so you won't be alone… But they don’t realize even in marriage you still feel all alone in this world~”

Joonhi did not cooperate as his fussing nearly made Jax fall over. The rabbit had to quickly stand back up before he could knock the table over.

“Um… okay?” Was the only thing Zooble could say.

“Yeah. I know right.” Jax replied, nonchalantly. “I caught her looking at Joonhi's door last night, and we had a talk. Basically we kinda made up—“

“You guys had a fight? I thought you were getting along, last adventure you guys were—” Gangle interrupted.

Jax snapped his neck at her, disturbingly natural smile on his face, “Not. The. Issue.”

Gangle squeaked and decided to stay quiet as Jax continued.

The rabbit cleared his throat and continued, “Anywaaaay…. She pretty much said, she’s glad we’re ‘fine’ already. But she told me that she’s, and I quote, ‘Not participating’. —translation: ‘I’m glad you’re not p*ssed at me anymore. But, I’m not raising this kid with you. You’re on your own!’…” he bitterly finished explaining.

“You’re… kidding.” Ragatha let out an awkward laugh. “Pomni wouldn’t do that.”

Jax scoffed, “You sound like you hosted therapy sessions together for the past ten years. —Rags, she killed all of you and had fun doing it. She’s not exactly Mother Theresa.”

He leaned in closer, though he couldn’t cross his arms, his face said it all. “Or do you think she did all that because I corrupted her? You know, because I’m that bad of a person I managed to make a perfectly innocent woman follow my lead?”

Ragatha gulped and looked away, guilty.

She had to admit, she regretted saying that. She didn’t even believe herself when she said it. Jax was a lot of things, but an influence wasn’t one of them. Though he occasionally nudges one of them, especially Gangle, to do something terrible that he finds ‘funny’. He never actually forces them to find his humor appealing. He’s always been in his own space ever since…. that incident.

“Morning guys.” Pomni walks in greeting everyone.

She pauses in her steps as she sees and makes eye contact with Jax.

“O-Oh! You and Joonhi are here…” Pomni says, genuinely surprised. “I thought… he would’ve been too tired from all the screaming last night. I kinda expected him to sleep in….”

“Oh, so you did hear him last night.” Jax laughed dryly. “And here I thought you were a heavy sleeper. Good to know, you’re just good at dismissing midnight screeches.”

Pomni froze, blinking like she hadn’t expected the verbal jab to sting so hard.

“W–Well, sorry that I didn’t know how to help with your baby!” She snapped back.

“Ah. My baby,” Jax echoed, voice dipping into that sing-song mockery that made everyone’s stomach tighten. “That’s funny, because I could’ve sworn that Caine spat this little monster out for both of us.”

He bounced Joonhi lightly on his arm for emphasis, though the laugh that followed was more hollow than smug. Joonhi, of course, liked being bounced. He gurgled and clapped his hands, oblivious to the spike in tension.

“He also prepares other adventures for all of us too, but Zooble doesn’t get involved with most of them…” Pomni weakly argued.

“Hey hey hey —I don’t know what the f*ck happened to you two last night, but don’t dump Jax’s current issues on me!” Zooble held their hands out as they retorted, quickly pushing themselves out of the argument before they could get dragged in.

Joonhi started squealing in delight, because apparently—as Jax had discovered last night—he doesn’t fear yelling. Nope. If anything he enjoyed it, thought Jax swearing was funny. And laughs louder as the volume heightened. It’s as if he was made to love chaos and enjoy when someone gets unhinged.

And pain… Jax isn’t going to forget how the little gremlin fell back on the bed dying of laughter when he stubbed his toe on the dresses last night. What a tiny sadist.

Ragatha tried to cut the tension. “Soooo, who wants pancakes?”

Nobody answered.

Regardless, she grabbed Jax’s arm and pulled him back down on his chair. Did the same to Pomni, and rushed around the room to usher Zooble, Gangle and Kinger to their own seats.

.•.•.

“Here, Gangle! With strawberries, just like you asked!” Ragatha said, placing a plate of pancakes in front of Gangle.

“Thanks.” Gangle smiled up at the ragdoll.

She had made (almost) everyone their own pancakes. Plain with maple syrup for Zooble, strawberry for Gangle ..undercooked and covered in cornflakes for Kinger…. and blueberry for herself.

Jax just got a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of milk from the fridge.

Pomni made herself french toast and a cup of coffee.

Though Joonhi already drank his milk, Ragatha didn’t want him to feel left out, and placed a bowl of crushed bananas mixed in oatmeal in front of him just in case.

She didn’t do it intentionally, but as she sat everyone down earlier she had put Jax and Pomni practically next to each other. The high chair was the only thing in between their seats.

“Ba! Ba!” Joonhi babbled as he tapped the table, curiously looking at the bananas.

The fussing made the bowl shake across the desk, and spilled the contents everywhere on the surface and all over Joonhi.

Pomni’s face scrunched up a bit as she saw the mess. She subtly moved herself and her breakfast a few inches away from where the splatters were landing.

“So…” Ragatha started. “Shouldn’t Joonhi be wearing a bib or uh…?”

“Oh… yeah.” Jax tiredly pushed himself up from his chair, and made his way out of the kitchen. “I’ll go get it. Maybe the pacifier too, so I can plug up his cords of steel. Be back in a sec, don’t puke on Mommy Pommy again, kid.”

Pomni, both flustered and pissed, yelled out to the rabbit, “DON’T CALL ME THAT!”

Jax flipped her off as he continued walking away.

Pomni’s frustration turned to guilt as she watched his figure disappear.

She looked back at Joonhi, as at the mess he made.

Okay… The least she could do was clean up after him.

She got off her chair and went to get a rag from the covers.

“Joonhi, look at the mess you made.” She said, with the most tender voice she could muster, as she approached the highchair and started wiping down the splatters on it.

“Be a little more clean.” She said, as she turned around to wipe the mess on the table too.

Then… she suddenly felt a tug on her hat.

She gasped as she felt something nuzzling against the sleeve.

She turned around and caught Joonhi wiping his face all over her hat. She immediately broke away from his tiny grip.

“Eugh!” Pomni couldn’t stop the disgusted noise from leaving her mouth.

Joonhi’s face was still messy, but he managed to get some of the mush off.

Pomni reached behind her head trying to wipe the sticky stuff the tadpole left on her.

Just then Joohni’s face scrunched in discomfort, as he leaned forward and puked all over Pomni’s shoes.

The jester shrieked, and tried stepping out of the puddle.

The others stared at her in both concern and horror.

Ragatha immediately got up to grab two more rags, using one of them to wipe the mess off the floor.

“Joonhi…” Ragatha softly said as she stood up, and used the second rag to wipe the nod. “Did you not like your food…? You puked it all over your mom.”

“No, don’t!” Pomni said in mild panic.

Ragatha turned to her, with a worried look. “Wh-What? Did I do something wrong?”

“No no…” Pomni assured her. “It’s just… Please don’t call me that in front of Joonhi.” She pleaded with the doll.

“… call you what?” Ragatha asked.

“Mom…” Pomni answered firmly. “Or mother, or mama or mommy… J-Just don’t call me any of that in front of him. I’m not his mom, Ragatha… and I don’t just mean Caine’s stupid backstory about me being a stepmom. I’m not a mom in any way. And… I don’t want him getting used to thinking I am.” She explained.

Ragatha’s face twisted in confusion, “But—”

“Mama!”

Both women stiffened up as they slowly turned their gaze at the toddler.

Ragatha was more surprised, but Pomni was full-on horrified.

She was hearing things… right?

Maybe if she didn’t react or say anything, Joonhi would stop…

“Mama!” Joonhi said again.

Okay… apparently she wasn’t imagining it.

Pomni gently but frantically stepped around Ragatha, and got closer to Joonhi. “No no no no!”

She put a finger to her lips, “Shhh! Don’t say that!”

“Mama!”

“Stop that!”

Too late, Joonhi seemed to love the panic in her eyes, because he giddily continued. “Mama! Mama!”

“No! Jax can’t hear that! And you can’t keep saying that!” Pomni said, gripping the sides of her head.

Ragatha’s eyebrows furrowed the more the jester panicked.

Gangle and Zooble were just as stunned as she was.

Pomni gently placed her hands down on Joonhi's desk. “Joonhi… please say something else? Say ‘Dada’! Jax spent more time with you, come on! Daaa-da!”

“Maaa-ma!” Joonhi mimicked her with the same tone.

“No. Da-da! Dada!” Pomni pushed.

“Ma-ma! Mama!”

Pomni inhaled sharply, before trying again. “Repeat after me… Daaaa…”

“Maaaa….”

“—Da!”

“—Ma!”

“Dadadadadadada—”

“Mamamamamamama!”

“Ugh!” Pomni threw her head back in frustration.

“Pomni, calm down.” Ragatha found herself saying. “He’s just happy he can say an actual word.”

“Well he’s even more happy that I don’t like it!” Pomni countered, not looking at the ragdoll, as she glared at the tiny menace that was teasing her.

“Maaa!” Joonhi said one last time as he shoved the bowl off his table and right into Pomni’s face.

“…” Pomni was silent as the bowl slowly slid off her face, and shattered onto the floor.

While Joonhi clapped, amazed by the flying shards near his feet, still chanting his word, everyone else looked at Pomni as her eyes became dark squiggles again. That hasn’t happened in a while.

She shakily brought a hand up to her face and wiped off a bit of the banana oatmeal stuck to her face. She stared down at her sticky palm, she just barely heard Joonhi’s voice still calling her as her head started drowning out the noises.

Suddenly she let out the most frustrated scream, causing everyone to flinch back as she continued to scream while wiping off as much oatmeal as she could.

When she was done, she quickly raced out of the kitchen, bumping into a confused Jax who came back just in time.

“Oof! Hey!” Jax exclaimed as he was knocked against the door frame. He looked back at the jester, who disappeared from view.

He turned back to everyone else in the kitchen. And his eyes found the mess on the floor. “The f*ck happened here…?”

“Joonhi… had a little mess.” Ragatha answered.

She stared a little past where Jax was standing, repeating the way the jester ran out in her head.

Her chest tightened as she replayed it each time. A new feeling rose from inside her. She felt… pissed.

What was that?

They’ve handled messier adventures! And Pomni sure as hell didn’t have a problem with the idea of an NPC in the circus. She was utterly devastated over that gummy guy being poofed out of existence. She even ignored her job at Spudsy’s to talk to him.

And she certainly doesn’t have a problem partnering up with Jax either. She felt bad at first choosing to go with Kinger last adventure, both because she rejected the jester’s invitation to be teammates and because it left her with Jax —But the jester had never been any livelier in an adventure than that one.

Which meant Joonhi was her problem.

For whatever reason she can’t fathom, Pomni is so terrified of a… baby? An innocent baby who was so happy to call her “mama”. A young child trying to get her attention, and she could only react so negatively towards it.

She was so lost in thought, she didn’t notice the yellow glove waving in front of her.

“Ragatha. Circus to Ragatha. Rabbit to Rag dolly! Hellooo!” Jax loudly called her. “What happened while I was gone?”

Ragatha blinked, finally snapping out of her spiraling thoughts. “Huh? Oh, nothing, I just—Pomni seemed—she just ran off to get herself cleaned.”

And left a bigger mess for them to clean.

She exhaled, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace as she tried pushing that thought in the back of her mind.

Jax raised an eyebrow, “You good, doll face?”

“Yeah.” She said, almost too softly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Ragatha walked to the other side of the kitchen to grab the broom and dust pan, and made her way back to sweep up the shards. Thoughts still heavy.

Pomni was acting like Joonhi was some kind of monster. Like he’s dangerous….

He’s not. He’s just a kid.

To think that Jax was a jerk, and he still is…

But… he’s actually here. And considering what Joonhi is supposed to be, and the “origin” Caine came up with… that says a lot.

But, Pomni can’t even look at him without flinching. It’s—It’s wrong!

.•.•.

Pomni finally made it to her room. —Or what used to be her room.

She pressed her back against the door, panting as she slid down onto the floor. She tried to calm herself.

She crawled towards the nearest piece of cloth she could find, which was a spare pink overall, and tried wiping all the leftover sticky bits stuck to her.

Finally, she felt less tense. She stayed on the floor, leaning against her bed.

She looked up at the ceiling, feeling remorseful. “I’m so sorry, Jax…”

She’s sure he and the others see her as some lunatic for running away like that…

Caine had a terrible sense of boundaries — but THIS took the cake. Creating such a real baby.

Maybe not entirely real as some things about Joonhi were a little inconsistent… but he’s almost as real as all the restless and emotional children she’s encountered in the real world.

That’s what scared her most.

If the baby could learn words, express feelings, look at her with recognition — didn’t that mean there was something there?

Something capable of getting hurt…

Something she’s just not made to handle…

Her chest twisted.

“God, I’m horrible…” She muttered, curling forward. “He’s just a baby. He doesn’t even know what he’s saying. And I— I screamed at him…”

Her head thunked back against the bed frame with a dull thud.

“But I just can’t!” She buried her face in her hands, curling in on herself.

“CAN’T WHAT, POMNI?” Caine suddenly appeared right in front of her. Making Pomni scream and jump back all the way on the other side of her bed.

“Caine!? What are you…? Why are you—“

“The real question iiiis my lovely little jester, why are youuuu…” Caine rolled the last letter off his tongue, pointing a finger at her and then continuing. “—in here and not catering to your bouncy baby boy? Jax is out there all by his him, himself and I —and we all know there is no ‘I’ in teamwork!”

Pomni collected herself off the floor, using the bed to push herself up. “Well there is an ‘I’ outside of teamwork. And I don’t want to and can’t do this family thing! Caine, not every man is a capable family guy. And not every woman is built to be a mother! —In what situation did you ever see me in, that made you think I’m capable of being a  mother!?”

“But that’s precisely what your family is about, Pomni! You and Jax are to figure out how to cater to a child, and develop a bond while learning responsibility!” Caine replied obnoxiously.

“Jax and I are NOT a family, and we’re not going to be one!” Pomni yelled back at the ringmaster. “And for f*cks sake, Caine! This isn’t a sitcom, where someone just magically learns something they don’t want to just because a dependent creature gets dumped onto their lap! If the world worked like that then children would be getting their pets right after asking for them!”

Caine floated in silence for a moment, his manic smile twitching, eyes flickering like TV static.

Then he began to laugh. Loudly. Too loudly.

“Ohhh, Pomni! You silly little rationalist! This isn’t the real world!” His voice boomed, echoing through the walls of her room. “In here, I decide what works and what doesn’t! Isn’t that wonderful?”

Pomni’s hands balled into fists. “You can’t just force people to change!”

Caine spun upside down, beaming. “Of course I can! I do it all the time! You all change, learn, adapt! Why, I thought you’d be thrilled to participate in this wholesome, character-developing, family-friendly experiment!”

“Wholesome? You made a baby out of spare code!” Pomni’s voice cracked, her pitch rising with every word. “A baby that doesn’t even look like us!”

“He takes after his deceased mother!”

“You didn’t even ask if we were okay with this!”

Caine crossed his arms with exaggerated offense. “Ask? Pomni, you’d never have agreed if I did. And I’m tired of all of you saying ‘no’ to all my wonderful ideas.” He huffed immaturely.

Pomni stared at him, utterly aghast. “You’re insane if you think this is a good idea.”

“Insane?” He gasped dramatically. “No, no, no! Just committed!” His grin softened slightly as he drifted closer, his tone turning disturbingly gentle. “You see, my dear jester… I just wanted to help you and Jax. You both looked so lonely. So bitter. So… emotionally constipated!”

“Emotionally— Caine!” Pomni’s voice cracked again, half outrage, half despair.

“You can’t fix people with— with parenthood!”

“Why not?” he asked, genuinely curious. “It works in every movie I’ve seen!”

Pomni groaned and covered her face, trembling with frustration. “Those are movies! They have endings! We don’t!”

Caine blinked.

“Exactly!” He said cheerfully, snapping his fingers. A roll of baby blankets popped into existence beside her bed. “Which means you’ve got infinite time to figure it out! No need to rush development arcs when you can nurture them forever!”

Pomni stared blankly at the pastel blankets, patterned with bouncing cartoon bunnies.

Her stomach twisted.

“Now, I suggest you put that motherly guilt to use and rejoin the family!” Caine told her. “It’s not ideal for any parent to work alone, now! Jax is struggling!”

Pomni was hit with realization.

Right… Jax is kinda doing most of the work… while she was just hiding out in here, after a bowl to the face.

Even if she can’t bring herself to touch the baby, she can’t just do nothing.

There has to be some way she could help…

Then a thought came to mind. “Well… you’re not wrong. I should be acting as—“

“A mother?

“—help.” Pomni said firmly. “Which is why… I think I should talk to you about today’s adventure, since I’m sure you’ll be making us go even with Joonhi in tow.”

“Ah, yes! Today’s adventure!” Caine exclaimed as if he remembered. “I can’t wait to feel your maternal adrenaline kicking in with this one!”

Not even a question in, and she already figured out this adventure won’t be child safe.

“What is it about the adventure you’d like to talk about Pomni?” Caine asked, closing in far too close for comfort.

“Well… a child’s safety is very important. So I’d like to… um… discuss some ‘conveniences’ you could give us for, not just this adventure, but for every adventure you’ll be making is take Joonhi in.” Pomni started off.

“Oooh! Interesting!” Caine said as he materialized a leather chair and a desk for him to sit upon, and a second chair for Pomni to sit face to face with him. “What would you like to discuss with me??”

Pomni fidgets in her seat as she tries to collect her thoughts. “Um… well…”

.•.•.

Pomni made her way to the main area, where everyone else was.

She noticed everyone directed their gaze at her as soon as she got closer, but none were malicious or judgmental.

Though, she noticed Ragatha hadn’t looked at her. Instead she was smiling at Joonhi, who was cooing up at her, in her arms.

Jax looked at her more tired than angry, “You are not gonna believe this Pom!” He said in exasperation. His tone sounded like he was ranting to a friend… almost like they didn’t bicker this morning.

Okay, seriously… is this f*cker bipolar?

Pomni didn’t have time to think about Jax’s mood swing, because he continued ranting.

“Joonhi said his first word.” Jax said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder, to the rag doll and the tadpole.

Pomni’s eyes shrunk and she gulped.

“O-Oh…! Wh-What did he say…?” Pomni asked, nervous.

“Hear for yourself…” Jax monotonously said, then turned to Joonhi. “Hey, kid! Who’s that again?” He pointed at Ragatha.

Joonhi blinked at his dad, then up at the button-eyed woman carrying him before smiling and cheering out, “DOLLY!”

Pomni dropped her shoulders.

Oh, so Ragatha managed to get him to forget ‘Mama’, and even covered for her.

Thank god!

As soon as the doll finally looked at her, Pomni smiled at her and gave her a thankful thumbs up.

Her thumb twitched down however when Ragatha's brows knitted a little closer together.

She was still smiling, but it seemed a little more… forced.

“Lame!” Jax threw his head back. “I was so close to getting him to say ‘massacre’.”

Ignoring Jax’s frustration, Ragatha happily held Joonhi closer. Very clearly flattered over his ‘first words’. —It wasn't the first, and she knew that… But what Jax won’t know won’t hurt him. She’s sure he wouldn’t even care, anyway.

“Aww, but that’s way too much of a mouthful, isn’t it?” She asked Joonhi, rather than Jax. “It’s a little unfair that he called me first before you though, Jax… but I appreciate it anyway.”

“Dolly! Dolly!” Joonhi chanted.

Pomni forced out a weak laugh. “That’s… cute.”

“Yeah, cute,” Jax echoed, but his smirk didn’t quite match the word.

Pomni just smiled awkwardly.

Caine popped into existence midair with a trumpet blast.

“Good morning, my dysfunctional darlings!” he announced, throwing confetti that disappeared before it hit the floor. “Now that the little bundle of joy has achieved language, it’s time to celebrate by sending you on a brand-new adventure! Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Not really.” Jax answered straight away.

“Splendid!” Caine said in return. “Now… for today’s adventure….”

Caine snapped his fingers, and a massive corkboard popped into existence behind him — plastered with crudely drawn doodles of tents, campfires, and splattered red paint shaped suspiciously like blood splatters.

“—Is Creepy Camp Carnage!”

“Camp what?” Zooble deadpanned.

“Carnage!” Caine repeated brightly. “It’s a cheerful, character-building summer getaway! Complete with camp songs, roasting marshmallows, emotional bonding exercises, and—” he leaned close, whispering conspiratorially, “—a mysterious slasher haunting the woods!”

Gangle whimpered. “Slasher?”

“Relax,” Zooble said, assuring Gangle. “I’m sure it won’t look that scary. You can barely take half the ‘scary’ NPCs Caine makes seriously.”

Pomni shook her head, “You just haven’t seen the angel head…”

“The what…?”

“You are absolutely right, Pomni!” Caine acted flattered by the jester. “You think I’d be that lazy, Zooble? I’ve been improving my ‘scary NPC’ designs —here’s a preview!”

He snapped his fingers again, and a giant tv started playing above him —showing a hulking shadowy figure dragging a bloody hatchet through fog, lit by flashes of lightning. The hologram leaned closer, until its glowing eyes filled the room.

Zooble actually flinched.

Ragatha instinctively covered Joonhi’s eyes.

Caine continued, “You’ll be playing the new camp counselors! Your job is to keep the little campers safe from the horrors that lurk beyond the cabins, because you were informed too late about the serial kidnapping of children in that camp! Simple, right?”

Jax gave Caine a questionable look, “Aaaand you’re making us take a baby into this slasher scenario…?”

“Of course!” Caine sang. “Nothing says quality family bonding like the shared trauma of running for your lives!”

He snapped fingers again, and each member had a clipboard appear in their hands out of thin air. “Here are your briefs!”

Everyone looked down to read their characters for the adventure.

Joonhi merely examined his clipboard, before gnawing on the corner.

“Give me that.” Jax said, snatching the clipboard from the tadpole's mouth.

“Oh, you’re a camper…” the rabbit mumbled.

“Oh! And before you all go—“ Caine took off his hat, and rummaged through it before pulling out a ring of keys and a little remote.

He made his way down to Pomni, and handed her the keys. Then explained, “On the request of the loving mother—”

“I’m not—“

“She had requested some ‘convenience’ for every adventure that Joonhi will be on! —Push the button.” Caine excitedly told Pomni.

Pomni glared at Caine with half lidded eyes, before deciding to press the button.

With a loud honk, a fairly big vehicle came into view —It was an RV. Covered in stickers and childish patterns.

It stopped right in front of them.

Everyone stared at the RV curiously, before they all turned to Pomni.

“What is this?” Jax was the first to ask.

“Um… it’s a ‘mobile home’…” Pomni answered, awkwardly waving her hands for a weak attempt at flair. “I thought since Joonhi was… very realistically programmed to get hungry and… changed… it would be convenient for us to have a portable space to take to every adventure. So… after a little discussion of pros and cons, Caine agreed to give us this RV! Just a click of the button and it comes to us right away!”

Zooble was the first to approach the RV.

“Is there any beer in here?” They asked as they opened the door.

Pomni rubbed the back of her neck, “Uh… no, sorry. I kinda did ask for ‘grown up’ essentials too, but I could only get Caine to agree to so much… There is stuff for us in there, but it’s mostly just for Joonhi’s needs.”

Everyone followed Zooble inside.

Surprise surprise, the majority of the RV was a second nursery.

Zooble went and checked the mini fridge by the door, and found some off brand soda cans.

“Okay… I’m fine with this.” Zooble nonchalantly said, as they helped themself to a soda.

Gangle, who was sitting in the cushioned seats, felt something by her feet beyond the table cloth. She ducked down under the table to check what it was.

She came back up with a sauce bottle in her hands. “Why is there a stash of stupid sauce under the mini table?”

Zooble quickly took the bottle from Gangle, a ‘happier’ expression appeared in their eyes. “Okay. I’m perfectly fine now.”

“W-Wait! Please don’t take that now.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll save for later.” Zooble assured Gangle, as they sat down opposite to her on the mini table.

Ragatha approached the crib, and placed Joonhi in it, while she still examined it. “Aww, it’s even got a baby mobile.” She cranked the said mobile up, and the little gloinks figures hung up on it started spinning around, with soft music playing.

It was the first normal baby thing Joonhi was attracted to, as he actually laid down on the pillow and stared at them.

Kinger went up to the fish tank, and kneeled down to stare it.

Pomni made her way to the driver seat, taking the wheel. While Jax followed her and slumped down onto the passenger seat.

“Why’d you… ask for this again?” Jax asked the jester, as she was looking at the vehicle controls.

“Hm?” Pomni hummed in response, looking up at Jax. “Oh… uh… well, I thought it was the least I could do… I kinda… I don't really do kids… But I wanted to help you somehow, and I thought this would make tending to Joonhi’s needs less difficult.” She explained, fiddling with her thumbs.

Jax raised a brow, “What do you mean you don’t do—”

“Well now that you’re all accustomed to the Family Van, I think it’s time for you to leave for the adventure!” Caine suddenly appeared in front of the windshield, surprising Pomni and Jax.

Caine flew off the windshield and opened a portal, and forced the van through it.

Pomni and Jax fumbled for their seatbelts, Zooble and Gangle gripped the surface of the table, Ragtha who wasn’t able to make it to a proper seat had to clutch the crib’s frame to avoid phasing into the back of the van like Kinger did.

Joonhi, for some reason, was not moved by the forceful speed and remained in his crib.

.•.•.

The van passed through the other side as the portal closed, then it plummeted to the ground. Miraculously, the vehicle survived the impact.

After a few seconds of groaning and recovering from motion sickness, Zooble was the first to kick the door open. Everyone poured out of the vehicle after them.

Ragatha was the last to come out. She tried not to fall over as she had Joonhi in her arms.

Jax pushed himself up, rubbing his temples.

He brought his head up as he took a look at the camp the van had landed in front of, and his eyes grew wide.

He turned around and looked at the doll.

“Uh, Rags… can I… have the kid back?” Jax asked, holding his arms out.

Ragatha blinked in surprise as she gently passed the tadpole to Jax, “Uh… sure…”

As soon as Jax had Joonhi back in his hands, he pushed back Ragatha and went back in the van, shutting the door behind him.

“Wh—JAX!” Ragatha yelled, clenching her fist.

By that time, everybody had gotten up, and stared at Jax’s face peaking through the small window of the door.

Pomni’s brows furrowed as she glared at the rabbit. “Jax! What the f*ck are you doing?”

Jax avoided eye contact as he tapped a finger on the window, as if to tell everyone to turn around.

Half expecting the slasher to be right behind them, they all turned around preparing for a very violent attack only to drop their guard and their jaws at the sight.

The camp was pretty normal… bonfires, flags, cabins… campers.

The problem is, these campers are clearly reused NPCs.

And…

“Are these by any chance… the official ‘Leapfrog’ monks that Caine said was modeled after Joonhi?” Pomni asked, to the others.

“Yeah…” Gangle said.

The camp’s population consisted of little tadpole creatures, in frog costumes… weird design choice, but honestly when has Caine made any sense…?

Some of the ‘campers’ suddenly turned to see them. They happily waved and ran (hopped) towards them.

“Miss! Miss! Look at the flag I made! Is it just like you asked?”

“Can we have smoked fish for dinner again?”

“Can we tell happier stories by the campfire tonight please?”

There was an excited crowd forming around them.

“Oh great… they can talk now.” Zooble sarcastically said.

“They didn’t talk before?” Pomni asked, backing away from the fussy frog campers.

She noticed Jax had ducked away from the window, and had closed all the curtains.

“No. Not normally, at least… They sorta just ‘croaked’. And the only other language they speak in, is just some bullsh*t language Caine made up for them.” Zooble answered Pomni’s question, quickly snatching their arms back just as it popped off from the arm pulling.

Pomni quickly jumped when she felt one touch her from behind, she started distancing herself from the young crowd, lightly pushing them away, when they were getting too squashy. “A little personal space, kids! Please!”

“Oh my!” Kinger laughed as he was lifted into the air by the little creatures. “They’re strong!” He continued laughing as he was carried away past the camp entrance.

“I take it Caine must’ve wanted Joonhi to have… kids he can ‘relate’ to…?” Ragatha said, rubbing her chin as she let one of them tug on her dress.

Pomni felt the urge to look back at the RV again, expecting to see Jax once more.

Instead, she was met with a silent stare from Joonhi.

The tadpole was gripping the window frame, trying to peek out the window. Something about the way he stared was… unsettling.

Before Pomni could react differently, the little tadpole sank back into his crib, disappearing from the window.

“What…?” Pomni quietly muttered to herself.

“Alright then, we can come back for Jax later.” Ragatha said, stretching her arms as she made her way to the camp entrance. Holding the hand of the single camper that clung to her. “Let’s just do what the brief says and make sure none of these campers get kidnapped. Come on, guys.” She happily made her way in.

Zooble and Gangle looked at each other before shrugging and following Ragatha.

Pomni took the keys from her pocket, contemplating whether to leave it with Jax or not. But decided it might be better to keep it —he might lock the door on them after all…

She softly knocked on the door, just to get the rabbit’s attention. “I’ll come back okay?” She’s not sure what she could do when she does come back, but Jax might need some company.

She walked away from the van, and into the camp.