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It had been a few weeks since she had first appeared in this huge #*!$ hole and it sucked . Pomni wasn’t happy to wake up everyday hearing the cheerful music, hell even she was included in that stupid intro. Today was no different, the bright colors and frankly assaulting sounds surrounded her. Usually by this time she’d be thrusted into some new adventure and endured nothing but stress and anxiety for hours. Today she decided she wouldn’t.
One perk of being so small and blending in with the background is that it’s easy to sneak off. Half the things she could hide behind were tall enough to hider her whole body. Never in her forgotten life would she think to be smaller than a @$#? barel. The only sounds down the halls were the squeakers in her clown shoes and jingles of bells. She opened the door to her room and flinched as she shut it behind her, automatically expecting a loud laughing track to play. She sighed happily knowing that her latest project had worked.
Recently she took to redesigning her room. She was given a wide variety of things to put in it, even though it was all jester themed and regal in a ‘Im the king spend my money however you want funny guy’ way. She made her way over to the corner of her room and opened a tiny door in her wall. She was able to get Ragatha to help her with some more in depth features. She crawled through the hole and shut the door behind her. The long, dark, tight, kinda terrifying hallway was her decision. She liked the squeeze of the walls, it decompressed her. She would brag about the darkness of it too, a distraction to the brightly colored $<^* outside.
The king crawl opened up to a cozy little room with a mirror on the wall. Pillows with patchwork designs lined the floor and next to the mirror was a little chest. She had a few candles in the room, sitting up high and secured from the highly flammable pillows. She flopped onto the ground and sighed, finally letting herself space out. This was always something she did after a particularly long day. She went to her little hole in the wall to just relax. Her body moved on its own, a few tugs at her clothes and a bit of scouring in her chest to find what she was looking for. Of course Caine never let real knives into the circus…except he did.
The kitchen did have fake food but it didn’t dim his fascination with cooking. Not only did it allow everyone to make their own food anytime but it was quite enjoyable for him. Pomni just happened to find a large set of tools and took them with her. She made her way back to the center of the room and stared at her body. Ragatha told her that getting used to her new body was hard so she’d try to focus on the good. For Pomni the hood of her body was its durability. Despite it being durable it didn’t hold wel against sharp objects.
Pomni hated when her mind went empty. She hated it so much to where she had cried for hours to feel something human again. She was overjoyed when she did find it, the one thing she held onto tightly and didn’t want to be stripped from her. Stark white tape wrapped her body and covered up the scars in the rubber. She slowly began to unwind the tape and stared at her wounds. All of them were a goopy black against her pale skin and it was the few things she hated about this. She ran a gloved hand over the deep cuts and hissed at the pain. There were so many since the first time she saw the faint lines. It was almost like keeping track of progress. They grew deeper each day and she would soon get to learn what was really inside of her, how much truly wasn’t human. The prospect gave her hope that somewhere she was more, that distantly she was still there. At the same time it brought her dread if she did truly find out if she was truly full of nothing.
***
“Hey Jax! Wait! I said wait!” Ragatha was met with a grumble and a loud huff as the tall rabbit turned to face her with a stomp. “What do you want? If I’m doing something we’ve got a problem, if I’m not doing something it’s a god $@>^ PROBLEM!” Ragatha huffed and rolled her eyes. “Jeez, someone’s having a rough day.” Jax just scowled at her and tapped his foot impatiently. “So? What do you want?” Ragatha straightened out and frowned a bit. “I was just wondering if you’ve seen Pomni recently. She’s been a bit distant recently and it’s got me worried.” Jax paused for a long moment before bursting out in laughter. Ragatha scowled and placed her hands on her hips.
“Doll face you realized how long that’s been going on right? Like since day one she’s been distant and now you’re worried?” Ragatha ‘breathed’ out and rubbed her face. “Yeah well she just hasn’t been talking with me recently and it’s got me worried.” Jax’s laughter slowly died down and he panted. “So she’s just now pulling away from you huh? Honestly would’ve thought she would’ve abstracted longgg ago.” His words put Ragatha on edge and made her frown harder. He was about to walk away but she quickly pulled him back by the ears and squeezed them tightly. “Where. Is. She.” Jax twisted a bit to give her a nervous smile.
“Don’t do anything rash, yeah? I saw her sneak off back to her room earlier. Hopefully she’s there and hasn’t gone full koo koo yet.” He slowly slipped out of her grip as it loosened and inched away from Ragatha. She sighed and looked down at the long hallway. She swallowed and began what felt like the longest walk to Pomni’s room and slowly knocked on her door. “Pomni? Are you in there?” No response made her more nervous. She knocked again and called out, still getting no answer. “I’m gonna come in!” She opened the thankfully unlocked door and looked around the room.
Admittedly it was way cozier, she even had a few books beside the bed with too small reading glasses on top. It was cute learning that Pomni couldn’t read with glasses, prompting Ragatha to ask Caine a day later for some readers and gifting them to her. Pomni had purred so loudly and gingerly hugged her. It was obvious her gift was greatly appreciated and that was all that mattered. Speaking of Pomni, the room was void of the cute little clown girl. This only increased her worry. She nearly booked it out of the room to find other places to look.
Suddenly she remembered the little feature she helped Pomni with and quickly made her way to the little door and huffed at the right squeeze. In the distance she could see her unmistakably giant hat and began to crawl toward her excitedly. It was too much of a tight squeeze if she said so herself but Pomni had insisted on it. As she got closer she began to realize Pomni wasn’t moving, nor was she even doing anything at that point. The closer she got the more she could see. Pomni was surrounded in a pool of black goop and she didn’t even notice Ragatha until she came into view of the mirror. “Oh..” Finally she began to move, turning a bit to face Ragatha.
“Why are you here?” The question put her off guard and she stared at Pomni. Her eyes trailed down curiously making her blush for a second but she saw it. A deep gash placed right in the middle of where her stomach would be. She wasn’t used to seeing blood being this thick, nor such a weird mixture of black and white.
Arms covering the wound made her snap out of her trance and look back up at Pomni’s distraught face. “You can’t be here…you weren’t supposed to see me like this.” Her cries came out quickly afterwards and she began to back up against the mirror. Ragatha didn’t know what to do, her brain still catching up with the implications and having more information crammed into her head. She shakily spoke to her, knowing if she stayed silent it’s make it worse.
“Pomni I…I won’t make you talk if you don’t want to but please just…let me stitch you up?” It’s all she could think of doing, despite knowing they couldn’t die she still wanted to get the obvious danger away. Pomni shook her head and began to hyperventilate, making Ragatha begin to panic too. She moved a bit closer to Pomni, knowing quick movements would only cause her to flinch. As soon as she was close enough she pulled Pomni into a hug and shoved her face into her oversized hat. She wanted to be much stronger for Pomni but instead she cried. She clung onto Pomni and cried. Pomni hugged her back and tugged at her clothes, clinging just as hard.
They had stayed like that for what felt like hours just crying into each other. Pomni was the first to pull away, looking up at Ragatha with huge eyes. Guilt was evident in them and even more in her mannerisms. “I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have scared you like that.” Ragatha shook her head and wiped ar her eyes, still a few tears clinging on. “Don’t apologize , I get it’s hard and we’ve all been through it.” She backed away a bit and her eyes trailed back down to the gash. “I know it’s not exactly necessary but can I stitch you up?” Pomni looked down at herself and slowly nodded.
“Yeah, but only because we’re so close knit.” Ragatha stared at her with such a blank look that it made Pomni cough nervously. “Sorry, that was a stupid joke.” She slowly sat up a bit and covered her chest. Ragatha huffed out a bit of laughter and dug through her rag pockets. She took out a small sewing kit and opened it. She took out a bit of fishing line and a needle. “I think It’ be better if you laid on your back.” Pomni looked back at the pillows on the sides and scooted over to lay down on one of them. She was extremely aware that she was nearly naked and bleeding all over the place.
Ragatha composed herself and hovered over Pomni. Usually sewing was a calming process, something she did to pass time or take control over her own healing process. Honestly she rarely needed to stitch other people. It was a bit nerve wracking pressing the needle and wire into Pomni’s skin but it seemed like she didn’t mind, as if she was happy about it.
“It’s not all that bad…the pain.” Ragatha looked back up at Pomni curiously and waited for her to continue. When she didn’t she kept stiching, sharp hisses filing the silence. “It feels…$h!?-“ Ragatha paused and mumbled out an apology which was quickly brushed off. “It feels human, makes me feel…alive.” Ragatha pierced her rubbery skin again and tightened the tear together. “I’ve learnt a lot from doing it, like have you ever squeezed a stress ball and wondered what the weird stuff inside of it is? Well it’s the same stuff inside of me and it’s kinda cool.” She shakily smiled and gripped tightly on the pillows near her. She whimpered and tried curling in on herself.
Ragatha paused and gently rubbed her sides. “I’m almost finished…” She looked down at the stitch and frowned a bit. She was totally lying to Pomni but it would be better if she did so. Pomni tried looking down at the stitch and pushed her back down. “Trust me.” Pomni huffed and nodded, turning her gaze to the candles in the room. “I was…scared to find out what was inside of me. When I looked it was just…black. A void that was inside of my body. My ‘blood’ didn’t even mix, just a marble of black and white. It was dreadful but…you wanna know something hilarious?” Ragatha shuddered as she began to laugh hysterically. It was obvious her findings bothered her, in fact she began to get that crazed look in her big eyes. “I had ribs! Out of everything, my stupid rubbery body had $¥!@& F€!¥^#> RUBBER RIBS!” She laughed and laughed, making it harder to finish the stitches but she got it done. Slowly her laughs died into silent tears.
“Pomni…I don’t think this is helping you..” Ragatha sat down next to her and pulled her into a close hug. “It feels like the only thing I can control about myself. I don’t know what else to do.” Pomni curled up closer to her, sighed and grunted at the pain from the stitches. “Maybe we could find something? There’s surprisingly a lot of stuff to do around here. I took up sewing mainly out of necessity but now it’s a really good hobby! Maybe we could find something for you.” She gently rubbed her back and listened to her calm breathing mixed with the rumblings of purrs.
“That sounds…nice. Where would we start?” Ragatha hummed and squeezed Pomni’s arm a bit. “How about…a shirt and then books?” Pomni stared up at Ragatha a bit confused before blushing hard. She let out a yelp and moved away from her. Ragatha couldn’t help but laugh and enjoy the way Pomni nervously did so too.
***
Pomni had taken it in her own hands to do all the research. She flipped through piles of books for hours but eventually landed on something that caught her interest. She spent another day just trying it out, doing her best to follow the instructions. She stared at the colorful papers around her, all folded into different things and shapes, some having softer features, some being just as sharp as they are in the books.
Pomni took a handful of them and held them gently. It was a struggle to get out into the hallway, having to juggle the paper crafts and opening the door. After that it was a bit of a breeze, she placed the paper crafts next to people’s doors, even being kind enough to offer Jax something. The last person she visited was Ragatha, a bit nervous about it. She gently knocked on her door and stared up at it. She jumped a bit as it opened but quickly calmed down as she heard Ragatha’s heavenly laugh.
“Good morning Pom, how are you?” Pomni shuffled a bit and smiled a bit, feeling warmth fill her chest. “I’m ah, I’m okay? Feeling better. How about you?” Ragatha shrugged and smiled. “Happy that you’re doing better.” She ruffled the hat on her head, filling the hall with jingling. Pomni blushed and looked down at the floor, leaning a bit into the touch. She purred and caught herself before she closed her eyes. “I wanted to uh..give you something. I hope you like it.”
Along with origami Pomni had just been practicing with paper crafts as a whole. It took her all night but the gift looked decent. It was a heart filled with conferring that she had lying around since the redesign of her room. Ragatha gently opened it and revealed a little strip of paper with writing on it. Ragatha squinted her eyes at the crude handwriting making Pomni nervous. It was a lot harder to write with such big stupid gloves. “Looks like we’re tailor made? Seriously?” Ragatha laughed and closed the heart. “I love it, thank you.” She bent down and pressed a quick peck on Pomni’s cheek.
“I should thank you, since you’re all…” Pomni just motioned towards Ragatha and blushed hard. “Y’know! Pretty and like nice and caring!” Ragatha giggled and cupped Pomni’s cheek. “I could say the same for you.”
“Gross, can you guys not do that here?” A loud gagging sound could be heard behind Pomni and Ragatha glared at the source of the voice. “Don’t you dare.” The sound of a camera went off and Pomni’s eyes went wide. “Just a bit of black mail for later~” He giggled and stuffed the camera in his pocket. “Oh and by the way Pomni, pretty lame gift but I truly gotta appreciate the handicraft, just a bit sad that I didn't get anything like doll face’s gift. I feel…so unloved.”