Pomni hugged Jax tightly under the solemn orange glow of a singualr lampost standing solitary in an eternity wide salted puddle. He crumpled to his knees and clutched her close, sobbing into her oversized jester hat. She wouldn'h let him go, she would bring him back. Pomni promised him, in that dark open space, that she would bring him back from this misery, and everything would be okay, so long as he just stayed with her. So long as he calmed hus breathing. The breathing that every increased in shallowness and frequency. It was a wonder how Jax could even take in oxygen with how fast he was gasping desperatly for air, his eyes scrambling wildly around for something to grounf him in his panic, and his gloved hands clutching to Pomni, fearing he'd lose her too in this manic hysteria. His eyes welled with tears and the world shook around the both of them. Just then, Pomni was violently pulled back from her place, back into reality, and back to the true form she had to face.
His eyes were spirralled ripples of neon yellows, pinks, blues- and dozens of other colours, continuously rotating their shifts as the dominant hue. His form was jagged and sharp, constantly shifting, yet always threatening. His colour- aside from the toxic glow of the hundreds and hundreds of eyes- was a deeper darkness than an abyss blanketed by a galaxy absent of starlight; pure darkness the farther in she gazed. His movements, the most of the gathered features that at least partially resembled what Jax used to be, were erratic and unoredicatable at best. She stared up what he had become in utter terror. Pomni could feel her heart beat in her chest- she didn't even know she had one. Her palms were absent of skin yet felt clammed, her throat lacked the tubes to feel such yet she had a lump the size of an orange lodged inside, and her head spun round and round faster than a carousel whose torque was amplified by every rushing blood cell that rose to her brain and flooded her mind. Pomni was in full panic mode, and she couldn't move. She was frozen in place, unable, even, to see what had pulled her from the collapsing embrace where she once saw the familiar purple skin and pink overalls.
She couldn't breathe, she couldn't scream, she couldn't move or cry or blink or think or feel or see and then-
"GUH" Pomni gasped and thrust herself upwards from her sleep. She sat upright, clutching her chest and heaving heavy breathes, feeling her hand against her own body and manually relishing in the physical sensation of breathing again. Her haggared gasps sounded like a kettle when it is dry of any more water than a droplet.
"...mmm" The pillows beside Pomni grumbled and shifted before falling silent again. Then a slick and gentle sound of satin over cotton softly made its was closer to where pomni sat stressing.
"Pom?" A quiet voice asked. She didn't respond, though she wanted to. Pomni couldn't get over what she saw. How wrong everything felt- not just the wrongness of her own body sensibg every little thing yet being numb at the same time, but the general queasiness that the nightmare brought with it. The room was wrong, the tent was wrong- the wholr circus in it's entirety just felt wrong. There was nothing familiar about the strange terror-land she had found herself dreaming up. Nothing familiar except...
"Pom..?" The voice repeated, slightly louder, but still a light sound. Gangle crept over to Pomni and sat down next to her, her pink sleeping gown falling softly over her ribbon body. "Hey, Pommy, what's wrong? Are you okay?" She intrigued, but still Pomni found herself without words. They sat together for a breif moment before Gangle put her red ribbon hand on Pomni's shoulder and leaned her head in the same place.
"You're okay. It was a nightmare, Pom." She reassured. "I'm here." Gangle's soothing voice and gentle weight grounded Pomni for a moment, and snapped her out of her panic. Her heart was still racing, but she focusef less on her ability to breathe, and now on the deep fullness of her breathes. She slowly let her shoulder rise and sink beneath Gangle's head, and let her eyes focus on the room. She realized she was right where she had fallen asleep the night before, safe in the fort and in a familiar place she knew for certain was not that wrong circus which had been heaunting her dreams the past few nights. She almost debated asking Caine if he could somehow take back their ability to dream, but she couldn't do that to the others, they enjoyed their dreams. Perhaps Caine could take away just hers? She decided to ask in the morning, if he could even still do so, that is.
Pomni looked beside her to finally meet face with Gangle, and she smiled calmly.
"Thanks." She whisperef as she lay back down into the pillows. "I'm sorry for waking you up." She apologized.
"No, it's okay. I'm a light sleeper anyways." Gangle reassured. She layed down next to Pomni and wrapped her ribbons around the Jester's arm before nuzzling into her and cozying up in the warm fort.
"Hmm." Pomni let out a contented sigh at the affectionate touch, and let herself relax once more into the soft bedding.
A quiet movement came from what Pomni thought was to the left of her, and then she felt the ever so soft padding of plush feet on a mattress floor make their way over to where the pair rested.
"Hey" Ragatha spoke just above a whisper. "Got room for one more?" She asked, her words slurred with sleep.
"Mhm" Pomni replied, and Ragatha crept over to rest on her chest, spreading her ragdoll body evenly over Pomni's small frame, and curling her arms underneath her waist like a child with a toy. The Jester shifted slightly to find a confortable position once more, which wasnnt too difficult considering her cuddle buddies being either paper thin or plush and soft.
Then, in the arms of two sound asleep girls, Pomni gave in to rest again.
