Archive of Our Own ^beta

              The setting for this adventure had been one of Gangle’s suggestions. The kaiju battle, however, had doubtlessly been a Caine addition.

              He must have pulled inspiration from the Godzilla movies that were old and comparatively low budget, thank god, because the creature they’d all had to take down (all while wearing things like hakama and geta and wielding swords that clashed anachronistically with the mid-60’s Japanese architecture) had only been around 150 feet tall. Caine could have put them up against one of the gargantuan 2010’s iterations of the thing (or a copyright-skirting simulacrum), and Pomni feels like she has to count her blessings, even ones that are stretching the definition. Covered in black blood and panting in the ruins of the city block as the creature fell to a death by a thousand cuts (which is what Caine had clearly intended. They’d stab its feet until its health bar hit zero, like a Monster Hunter game, right?), confusion fell over the group as neither an objective complete! pop-up nor a multi-colored portal back to the circus appeared.

              “Are we…are we not done? Is it not dead?” Gangle pipes, ribbons barely keeping a grip on the handle of her katana.

              “Hey Caine!” Zooble throws her sword down to her feet with a vitriolic clatter, yelling at the sky like someone convinced enough righteous fury will inspire God to answer. Pomni winces sympathetically; Zooble had only joined because they softened when Gangle seemed over-the-moon excited to hear it was her Showa-era sandbox suggestion that had been plucked for expansion into an adventure. They had not signed up for a monster fight, and that sentiment is clear in their tone when they shout, “What gives? We’re done! Open up!”

              “No, wait, hang on…I think we’ve gotta be missing something,” Pomni rubs at her temple, trying to remember Caine’s exact preamble to enthusiastically ushering them into the fractal noise. Plus, he rarely if ever intervenes with them mid-adventure, shaking their fists probably won’t yield an appearance of the ringmaster. “Caine said—”

              “He said enjoy.” Jax is suddenly behind Pomni and sticking his face right next to hers, and she jolts a little at the sudden voice over her shoulder. “What, did you guys not get a kick out of killing a kaiju?”

              Pomni rests the back of her hand against Jax’s face and lightly pushes it away, hating the conclusion his little interjection is directing her toward, but—

     “Caine did say for us to enjoy the worldbuilding he put into this one.” Pomni turns toward Kinger’s voice. The hakama suits him the best out of the group, oddly enough.

       “If…if having fun around the map is the actual, literal objective,” Ragatha begins,

            “Then we haven’t done enough to meet the win condition yet.” Kinger gives a sage nod as he finishes her sentence, then looks down to the sword in his hands and drops it like it were a snake, giving a little yelp.

              The rest of the group bursts at once into protest:

              “What sort of sadist—”

              “How is he even measuring—”

              “What if we don’t find anything we like—”

           “Going to be stuck here like a g*ddamn Saw trap—”

              “Well, I’m golden,” Jax cuts in, sheathing his katana like it’s something he’s done a thousand times and turning on his heel. “I liked that little fight plenty. The rest of you clowns, no offense,” His round gold eyes curve in a grin and list towards Pomni, and her mouth thins under the eye roll she gives him. She’s not even in jester getup right now. “…figure your sh*t out. I’m gonna go find something to eat.”

              “Don’t you think we should stick together?” Ragatha’s hands flutter dangerously, sword still clutched in one. “We don’t even know how big the map is, or what else is here. What if there are other giant lizards or, or dinosaurs we’ll get cornered by?”

              “Not my problem, dollface. I’ve already done my part and had my fun. I think that means I’m taking this adventure more seriously than the rest of you, don’t you?” He grins wickedly over his shoulder, and despite his flippant, superior tone chafing harshly against half the group like it always does, Pomni can’t fault him. If anyone is primed to meet the win condition of “have fun,” it’s Jax, and if he's met the objective and wants to just wash his hands of the adventure and find something else to do while the cast is stuck here, she gets it.

              Ragatha throws her hands in the air in a gesture that would have sliced half her yarn hair off with the way she’s holding her sword were it not tied back like a samurai bun in a questionably appropriative choice on Caine’s part.

              “You’re just going to wander around to god-knows-where doing god-knows-what while the rest of us flounder? You don’t even know if there’s food here!”

              Jax’s genuine easy grin is beginning to list toward one weighed down at the corners with malintent as Ragatha tests him. Pomni senses a needless argument brewing and cuts in.

              “I dunno, I think there will be,” She presses a knuckle to her lower lip as she mulls over Caine’s directive. “Gangle requested a sandbox,” She turns to the ribbony figure bound in a lovely pink and white yukata now gruesomely ruined by monster blood. “Right?”

              “Yeah,” She nods, strings of little decorative beads fastened to her mask clicking together. “I thought a big map where we could find lots of different stuff and do just the things we wanted to do would be fun. Or, you know,” She lifts a hand into her approximation of air quotes. “…‘fun’ as anything could be here.”

              “Hate to say it, but,” Zooble sighs in the most exasperated manner Pomni has ever witnessed (which is saying a lot for Zooble). “If that’s right, then this is Caine actually following a suggestion to the letter and arguably not being a psychopath about it—which would mean this fight was probably f*cking optional.”

              Pomni looks around, taking in the architecture of the block around them proper, and even as rubble, it all looks lovingly rendered. Caine must have put a lot of effort into the map if it’s all open world and it all looks this crisp, and if he was trying to specifically build a single adventure that contained a wide swath of miniquests that could theoretically cater to all their interests (a challenge he’s been trying to best for a while), it makes sense that his instructions were literally to “enjoy the worldbuilding.” Sucks that the first thing they’d run into had been a ten story tall monster they’d all assumed they had to fight.

              “Well, all that to say,” Pomni wipes Godzilla blood off her face, or, more like she just smears it around. “Jax is always the one asking if anyone wants to get stuff to eat. If Caine clocked that, he probably put food stalls or something around here somewhere. I think we can all probably find something to do that we’ll actually like, we just have to put time into exploring.”

              “Would ya look at this,” Jax’s voice is suddenly in Pomni’s ear again. She thought he’d left? It’s not like him to dignify a discussion he’s not interested in with his attention (let alone after having a spat with Ragatha, however minor). “Am I being defended right now?” He places a palm on top of her head—hatless, for once—and she’s half expecting him to do something asinine like noogie her, but he just rests his hand there. “What’s gotten into you, Pom-Pom?”

              She turns to meet his gaze, at her level as Jax hinges at the hip jauntily, so for once she doesn’t have to crane her head back to look him in the eye. His expression is smug (when is it not?), but there’s a genuine interest laced through it. It’s giving Pomni that same sort of impression as when he’d asked her about her day, flopped down on the counter next to her at Spudsy’s, if far less miserable. She’d been guarded then, justifiably, but he’d just moved on, no meanspirited teasing about her answer, no setup for a prank down the line.

              He'd sought her out on the lightning round adventures, as well. It started antagonistically (at least from where she’d been standing), but over the course of the various simulations, casual and more importantly, enjoyable conversation passed between them with increasing frequency. Jax had even apologized to her at one point, and though Pomni hasn’t seen any other apology from him to compare this one to for signs of sincerity, she’d chosen to accept it. He’d basically cornered her into being (reluctant?) friends with him by the end of the adventure.

              Since then, his baseline around her has shifted for the less-malicious. As it stands, even if it’s some elaborate joke she can’t fathom finding funny, Jax hasn’t been as purposefully obtuse with her, so Pomni is less reflexively inclined to shy away from his touch, or his question.

              “Only if you want to see it that way.”

              Doesn’t mean she has to cater to his ego, though.

              Sans Jax, five cast members dumped into an open world without so much as a minimap or list of side quests means that they’re probably going to all be here for a while, so the group had promptly split from the scene of the kaiju battle to each go explore the expansive and intricate map and see if they could track down an activity they’d actually get genuine enjoyment out of in order to get back to the Circus as quickly as possible. Not that the setting this time isn’t particularly lovely, but one can never be too relaxed in one of Caine’s mindscapes. At least at the Circus there aren’t usually any twists the ringmaster finds appropriate to fling at them like he does during adventures.

              Gangle had decided to try and track down a street market or little festival, lamenting that her outfit would be perfect for that kind of outing were it not ruined with black blood splatters. Zooble’d said she’d like to find somewhere quiet where passing the time would be easy, like maybe a library. The books would probably be in Japanese (or just lorem ipsum), but she’d said something about the nostalgia being enjoyable enough all on its own. Ragatha had thought finding an art museum would be a safe bet. And Kinger…

              “I’m going gambling!”

              Pomni’d had to bite back a chuckle.

            “Do you…have any money?” Gangle, asking the big questions.

              “Of course!” And he hadn’t elaborated.

              “Try not to get caught up in an illegal cockfighting ring or some—wait, we can say c*ck?—F*ck’s sake. Caine!” Zooble cursed the ringmaster again. Gangle’d snickered into her ribbons.

              And Pomni most immediately wanted somewhere to wash all the fucking Godzilla blood off of her, so she’d settled on trying to track down a bathhouse or something.

              Jax had long since disappeared. Pomni had given the group’s surroundings a long look before shrugging, feeling just a little put out. He’s been saying goodnight to her every now and again before the cast disperses at the arbitrary hour moonrise happens. She’s started to notice when he simply vanishes.

              Pomni can’t read the signs that had pointed her into the hills, following instead what she figured to be a simplified little image of a steaming pool of water with an arrow directing her upwards. The cobblestone road running parallel to a river leading into a lightly forested area is treacherous to ascend with the geta she’s wearing, and there’s something comforting and nostalgic about carrying her uncomfortable shoes and walking barefoot after an outing that proved to be draining. She’s never been alone while doing it, though, and the little grin tugging at the corner of her mouth slackens at the thought.

              The path becomes steeper as she ascends and she’s panting a little by the time a square wooden structure comes into view, nestled idyllically between trees and huge, likely ancient boulders (well…modeled to give the impression of being ancient). The mannequin that greets her at the front desk gives her bloodstained outfit a disdainful once-over before directing her to some showers.

              “Please wash thoroughly before visiting our onsen.”

              “Your…sorry, your what?” She should have asked Gangle to come.

              “The hot spring, jeez, Pomni.” Jax is suddenly there behind her again, and he makes her jump like he hasn’t since her first day at the Circus, leaving him snickering at her expense. “I thought you and Ribbons were close! Her feelings are gonna be so hurt when she learns you’ve been faking an interest in her anime trope tangents.”

              “What—how long have you been here? I thought you were hungry?”

              “Covering ground is sort of a highlight of my rabbit skillset. This is my third stop since the weeb brigade dispersed.”

              Pomni clicks her tongue, but there’s no real annoyance in the sound.

              “Rich coming from the guy who knows what a hot spring is called in Japanese.”

              “Not my fault you’re the least culturally versed of the Circus. I bet Caine knows more than you and he can’t access the internet. He had to go read books. You have no excuse, Pom-Pom.” He ruffles her hair, and it’s been so long since she’s been without her jester hat that the touch there doesn’t make her skin crawl at all.

              “If you are done checking in,” The mannequin interrupts more brusquely than Pomni thinks necessary. “Please continue through this door to our locker rooms; there are other guests I must assist.”

              Pomni glances behind her. She and Jax are the only two in the lobby. He nudges her side.

              “Wanna throw this wooden assh*le in the river? Bet they’ll float away all the way down the hill.”

              Pomni snorts. The mannequin stiffens nervously.

              “Maybe later. I actually do want to rinse off.” She eyes Jax up and down, cocking a brow. “How did…you not get any stupid monster blood on you? You did the most stabbing.”

              Jax shrugs, lacing his fingers behind his head and peeking at her with one eye closed.

              “I’m just that good.”

              “Uhuh.” She rolls her eyes, but it’s not like she has a better answer than his.

              There aren’t any hangers in the women’s locker room. Her clothes definitely have a proper way they’re meant to be removed and folded, but Pomni can figure out little more to do with them than leave them in a relatively neat pile. She has no clue how she’s going to put them back on when she’s done here. She might just forgo them entirely and leave them in the locker in favor of the much simpler cotton robe the onsen provided. If she ventures back out after this the NPCs will certainly clutch their pearls at her inappropriate dress, but she’d rather be secure in the knowledge that her tits won’t fall out of a robe she’s confident she’s tied properly. She will not be able to say the same of however she would try to put the hakama and all its trappings back on.

              The showers are nice. Beyond just the practicality of washing the congealing Godzilla blood out of her hair and watching it swirl around the drain in satisfaction, if she hadn’t stumbled upon a building that boasted even nicer and more indulgent ways for her to relax in some hot water, she would have been more than happy with this. She really has to hand it to Caine, the physics and verisimilitude of rendering water is an area in which he shines, and she does appreciate his work in that respect. Except when she drowns. She could do without that little true-to-life detail.

              She scoops up a towel and cinches the robe around her waist, finding a little pair of slippers she slides her weird four-toed feet into before heading toward the main draw of the place, but the locker room’s exit leads to a sort of dizzying array of hallways, marked by a jumble of overlapping signs that of course are in Japanese. There look to be facilities for laundry, a tea room, a cafeteria, what she can only assume is a daycare of some sort, among other amenities. She’s struggling to decipher the mess of signage for a long minute before narrowing down the paths in front of her to the ones that lead to the hot springs and pressing on.

              She gets turned around once or twice (the outside of the building really defies how sprawling its interior is) and the sun has set by the time Pomni navigates her way to the women’s outdoor bath. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. The dusk is listing from orange to purple, and the darkest parts are giving way to a star or two. The lights along the wooden wall bordering the steaming rock pool are just beginning to flicker on, warm and soft and unassuming. It looks cozy and very inviting, but there is just a little hesitance in her movement as she pulls the cinch from her robe. Even though it’s allowed (and even expected) here, she’s never been nude in a technically public space before, but then she remembers that the only other people who would come to the women’s onsen are either maybe the other female-identifying cast members, but they’re all at the bottom of the hill and scattered to the wind, or NPCs made of strings of ones and zeroes. She can actually relax. She’s looking forward to relaxing. She folds the robe neatly and sets it aside by the doorway, next to her towel and slippers.

              Gosh, Caine is good at rendering water. Pomni can feel her skin prickle under the pleasant heat as she carefully dips a foot into the bath, searching for a little ledge to lower herself down onto. The steam coming off the surface isn’t just repeated assets of puff-shaped clouds of pixels, it curls like it does in the real world, and as she steps fully into the hot spring she displaces both the water with a series of ripples and the steam in a wispy retreat.

              It's not just the water, either; everything about the little space has been modeled very thoughtfully. There are motes drifting around the lanterns adorning the wooden privacy wall to emulate tiny moths. The stars are beginning to dominate the sky, and she can differentiate a constellation or two from the rest of the twinkling dots. She even has a hard time picking out where the cricket mp3 loops. It’s more than immersive—she can pretend she’s not in a simulation without too much contrivance. She just has to not look down at the number of fingers and toes she has. Pomni exhales heavily in a relieved sigh, wilting into the comfortable warmth and closing her eyes.

              A small ping breaks her immersion. She feels a little stab of irritation, squinting up reluctantly at the green notification floating above her head.

              Objective complete!

              Oh. Well, that’s fine, she guesses. The badge blinks away quickly anyway and Pomni settles back into the water, closing her eyes again and happy to stay here until the adventure ends. Caine wants to build adventures with intrigue and stakes, but if the meager battle mechanics of the kaiju fight are anything to go by when compared to how carefully and—dare she say—artfully rendered this little location is, it’s clear he has a knack for constructing ambience over implementing strategy. Maybe she should say as much, when she gets back to the Circus. Yeah, she and Zooble are constantly telling him they prefer adventures where there’s hardly any challenge, but maybe they’ve been pitching it to him wrong. If the setting is detailed and intimate, he can surely find ways to make even a small, character-driven story compelling. She wonders briefly which of the cast she’d be sharing the stage with in a character drama adventure, what the interpersonal conflicts would be, but her mind is getting just a little mushy from how relaxed she is and she lets that train of thought go off into the distance. She might even doze off, it’s serene and warm and—

              “Very bold choice, Pom-Pom.”

              She leaps to attention like a startled cat, reflexively reaching for something to cover up with, but her towel and robe are still folded near the doorway, right next to—

              “Jax! What the f*ck!”

              He actually seems a little taken aback by her outburst. She cannot fucking fathom why.

              “What the f*ck what?”

              “What the f*ck you!” She stabs an accusatory finger in his direction then crosses her arms over her chest, drawing her legs up for good measure. “The nerve—! You can’t just—! You can’t be here, this is the women’s bath! Go away! Right now!”

              Jax tilts his head, confusion giving way to a mischievousness that makes Pomni’s heart sink.

              “Hate to break it to ya, Poms, but you’re in the co-ed bath.”

              Oh, shit, really? She splutters.

              “Wh-What does that matter? Whatever! Go to the men’s side!” She raises an arm out of the water in a “begone” gesture before quickly crossing it over her chest again.

              “I dunno what to tell you, Pomni. I’m well within my rights. It is unfortunate, but it’s not my fault you came to the wrong spring because you can’t read.”

              “You—!” She feels color rising to her cheeks as she realizes Jax intends to stay right the fuck where he is. No, worse, he intends to—

              “Me?” He bats his eyes at her and laces his fingers behind his head, sauntering over to the little series of stairs that lead into the onsen.

              “Jax I swear to god, if you take one step into—” He starts to casually uncinch his robe and a horribly undignified little choking squeak leaves Pomni’s mouth as she covers her eyes with both hands. Jax straight up laughs at her.

              “If you’re so scandalized by my presence—even though, I’d like to remind the jury, that I’m allowed to be here—then you can take your tits over to the actual women’s side.”

              Oh, she hasn’t been this pissed at him in a while.

              “Leave my tits out of this!”

              “They’re already out, ain’t they?”

              “Oh my god, shut up! And I can’t get out of the water if you’re here, my towel and stuff is all the way over there!”

              “Hm. Rock, hard place.” She hears him flop loudly into the hot spring with a purposefully intrusive splash, little waves knocking into her. Her face is hotter than the bath.

              “You couldn’t have even gone to get it for me so I can leave?” She says miserably.

              “Well, dang, Pomni, why didn’t you say something sooner? Now my fur’s all wet. If I get out, I’ll catch my death of cold.”

              Pomni growls into her hands. She feels him post up right next to her and she gestures “begone” again with one hand, sure to keep her eyes closed and her knees tucked to her chest.

              “Other side. Now.”

              “Oh but I like this spot. I found a great little ledge. It accommodates my tail.”

              “I thought you were less interested in ruining my days, recently!”

              “Nah, I’ve just been saving up all my antagonism for a special occasion, and tonight might just be the night.”

              She might actually cry with how wound up Jax is successfully making her. She won’t dare unfold her legs to move herself to the opposite side of the pool, so she just fucking sits there, sense of relaxation and serenity irreparably shattered. She refuses to give him any more volleys, at least, and turns so she’s clearly giving him the cold shoulder.

              “Aw, Pom, c’mon, don’t be like that.” She feels a little splash against the side of her face and all she does is stiffen in response. “You’re missing out hiding your face like that, it’s such a beautiful night! Whoah, oh my gosh, a shooting star! Too bad you didn’t see it; I’ll be taking that wish.” He splashes her again. “I wish Pomni would stop flattering herself thinking I’m here trying to get a peek at her tiny chest.”

              …That does make her bristle something fierce. Just because Jax hasn’t been pushing her buttons recently, it doesn’t mean he’s forgotten how, but she stays stubbornly silent. She can picture perfectly the face Jax makes as he changes his angle of approach in trying to get her to relent and give him any reaction.

              “C’mon, you’re being rude not appreciating all Caine’s hard work. Cruel, some would argue. Look, he coded the water so well it’s even reflecting the sky!” Still she gives him nothing, and there’s a beat of silence too many for a Jax on a roll. “…‘Sreal pretty.” Then, “I can almost forget, you know?”

              Pomni exhales. This is Jax’s way of walking back how far he’s pushed things without actually apologizing or modifying his behavior, and she knows it, but he did get hit by the exact wistfulness she’d experienced when she’d taken in the ambience here, and the melancholy chord it strikes in her is one that better resonates in pairs.

              “Yeah…I know.”

              Even so, she really shouldn’t have given him an inch. Jax is the type to take a mile.

              “Do you really want me to leave that bad?”

              Shock at his muted, civil, genuine response actually makes her pull her hands away from her face to give him a gobsmacked stare.

              Jax is resting his head in one hand, elbow braced on the ledge surrounding the pool, expression neutral as he holds her gaze, but not in the way it would be if he were trying to hide something. His fur is sectioning into damp clumps, except for where it’s slicked smooth to his skin like a seal’s would be at the inch-wide purple strip disappearing into the water right under his collarbones. His ears are in a rare position, laid back loosely in a manner that makes him seem smaller. More honest.

              Pomni bunches her mouth to the side. She had been thinking about how she used to have fun in groups in the real world. And it had made her feel just a little lonely.

              “…If I say yes, will you actually go?”

              “…Nnnno? Maybe.” Pomni scoffs and rolls her eyes, and Jax gives a sharp exhale, paired with an eye roll of his own as he raises his other hand out of the water and waves it in a dismissive little circle. “Fine, I guess. Believe it or not there are lines I’ll step back from after crossing if I…you know. Like, get bored or something.”

              Uhuh, she thinks wryly to herself. For all his theatrics, it hadn’t taken Pomni that long to catch on to the fact that Jax is actually a really bad liar. One just has to bother to learn his tells. She sighs, relenting.

              “You can stay if you aren’t a creep and don’t mention my tits again.”

              “Weren’t you listening when I beseeched the stars to get you to stop flattering yourself?”

              “Okay, yeah, no, that counts, out, out, go away—”

              “Fine, fine, god, Pomni, I agree to your terms.” He raises his hands in a conceding gesture and rolls his eyes again, but there’s a lightness to the smile across his face. “Would it kill ya to take a joke?”

              “If it’s one of yours, literally maybe.” She keeps her knees to her chest but cautiously lowers her arms to loop around her shins. The water crests just over her shoulders and weighs down the bottom half-inch of her hair, and it’s a comforting little curtain she can draw with a turn of her head to rob Jax of her attention if he starts testing her again, which could be sooner rather than la—

              “Being a little flat isn’t the worst thing in the world.”

              “Jax for f*ck’s sake—”

              “I’m trying to lift your spirits, Pom!” He plows right over the next part of her sentence where she was going to admonish him for lasting exactly thirty seconds before doing what he said he was not going to do. With a shrug he adds, “None of us got to pick how we look. I’d say you lucked out that having a hard time filling out your jester onesie is the main thing you’re self-conscious about. A couple of the others are jealous as hell.”

              She cocks a brow at him, mouth closing with a click as the rebuttal she had on deck fizzles out. Honestly she should know better by now than to think she can predict where Jax will direct a conversation. Fine, she’ll bite.

              “…What, like, of me? My avatar?”

              “Yeah. I won’t name names, but Zooble covets what you got goin’ on. They’d settle for limbs that don’t pop off but I know they would kill to cut a humanoid silhouette. Rags would trade her other eye for skin that wasn’t made out of fabric and you’re the only one who has skin to speak of.”

              “Don’t you have skin?” She gives him a quick once-over. What is the soaked-through fur clinging to if not skin?

              “Hardly counts when it’s covered in fuzz.” He shrugs. “I don’t have to say anything about Gangle, I mean, we all can see what she got saddled with. Kinger, eh,” He waves his hand in a circle again. “I honestly think he probably doesn’t spare too many thoughts to how he looks too often. Not like he has many of those to spare in the first place anyway.”

              “Hey, mean.”

              “Is it mean if it’s correct?”

              “It’s the most mean.”

              “Ah, so you admit I’m right?”

              His grin is listing toward intolerably self-satisfied, and Pomni wants to do something about it.

              She unclasps her hands under the surface of the water and drags an arm in an upward arc as quick as she can. Jax might have rabbit reflexes, but he gets overconfident when he’s being smug, and that slows him down. He takes a face full of water so squarely that Pomni thinks he didn’t even have a chance to close his eyes, and he spends the next few seconds wiping his hands down his face and spluttering. Pomni smirks.

              “Yeah, I guess I am admitting you’re right. Too bad you look like a huge dork right now or you’d have won the conversation, which is something normal to want and possible to achieve.”

              He stares at her, face dripping, gobsmacked and indignant.

              “…You cheated.”

              “Ha! How did I cheat at splashing you, enlighten me.”

              “You distracted me with your wiles.”

              “Don’t bring my wiles into this. That’s adjacent to topics that will get you booted from the hot spring.”

              He continues to blink and pout, tongue-tied for once, before the corner of his mouth pulls up into a smirk. His eyes soften.

              “You can be fun when you want to, huh Pomni?”

              She huffs out a little chuckle, his gentler-than-usual grin settling a little strangely over her. It’s not unheard of for Jax to compliment her, but they’re always in passing, spoken lightly and meant to be taken lightly. Right now, there’s an undercurrent of sincerity in his expression that’s got her feeling a little shy all of a sudden. It sort of makes her want to respond in kind.

              “…You can be sweet when you want to.”

              The smile drops from Jax’s face, eyes all at once unreadable and instantly making Pomni worry she’s crossed some invisible line with him (all his lines are invisible until they’ve been crossed).

              “…Under what circumstances would you ever consider anything I do to be sweet.” It’s not a question.

              Pomni exhales, mouth pressed thin. Though she’s disappointed she has to, she can navigate the minefield that is Jax’s long list of hangups. She hums, bringing one of her hands out of the water and defeatedly gesturing to the three digits she has. She shifts her gaze away from him to examine her fingers as they flex bonelessly. There aren’t even nails at the ends.

              “You created an opening to talk about my avatar in a way specifically meant to make me feel better about it, but that’s not even it. How’d you clock in the first place that I’m not exactly stoked about looking like I do? I never said anything about that.” She flicks her eyes back over to him, where he’s keeping his expression carefully neutral. “You watch. You notice. It’s a nice trait you have. It’s just unfortunate that usually you choose to use your power for evil.”  

              “…You leave my traits out of this.” Jax grouses, bringing his own legs up to his chest and crossing his arms atop his knees, resting his chin on them as he stares out over the surface of the steaming water. Pomni cocks a brow at the odd lapse of his self-censoring of his body language, tilting her head. Is it the subject matter? An openly vulnerable Jax is a rare Jax, indeed. She leans back, looking at the stars to give him grace.

              “What about you?”

              “What about me?” She can practically hear in his voice the way he squints suspiciously.

              “You ran down a list of things the others would change about their bodies. What would you change about yours?”

              “You’re insane if you think for a second that I’m admitting to any insecurities.”

              She side eyes him slyly.

              “Oh so there are things you’re self conscious about.”

              Jax splutters again, caught, then narrows his eyes at her.

              “I don’t like how you do that.”

              “Who do you think I learned it from?” She nudges his shoulder with her fist. “C’mon. The biggest difference between you and me is I won’t use things that bother you as ammunition for horrible pranks.”

              “…You’re not wrong.” Jax grumbles, looking away from her. “But why do you think I’d want to chat to you about anything remotely heavy?”

              She grins smugly at him. After the shock and scandal had settled, the little logic puzzle of why Jax would choose the co-ed onsen over the men’s had begun to idly order itself into shape in the back of her head as they’d talked, as he’d freely offered up more and more unexpectedly genuine gestures.

              “You’re not gonna like the answer.” 

              “Try me.”

              “Nope. Maybe after.”

              Jax clicks his tongue.

              “Or I could go back to antagonizing you. I haven’t pointed out your itty bitty titties in a minute—”

              Pomni flings another handful of water into his unsuspecting face, and Jax spends a few moments sputtering and wiping his eyes before turning them onto her in a glare. She matches it. The standoff lasts several seconds before Jax lets out a relenting chuckle.

              “Credit where it’s due, you’re picking up how to speak my language really quick. Shame the same can’t be said about your ability to read the signage here. Imagine all the trouble you’d have avoided.”

              “Yeah, imagine.” She lightly splashes him again, though is careful to aim away from his face. “How about I’ll go if you go. We can both b*tch about our lots in life.”

              “Huh. Misery does love company. And I do like learning what makes people miserable.” Jax makes a show of tapping a knuckle to his chin, clearly agreeing solely because he can frame it as a way to use his power for evil down the line. “Ah, what the heck, alright. Smooth talker.” He grins appreciatively, resting an elbow on a knee and considering her for a long moment before inhaling to speak. “I guess, uh,” The air of nonchalance immediately wavers and his eyes fall to the surface of the water. “I guess…I don’t…really like how my mouth works.”

              “How it’s always closed but not really?”

              “Yeah, like. Except when it’s open? I don’t control that, by the way. It just happens sometimes. And my teeth are sharp, have you seen them?” He flings an arm out, palm upturned. “Like what the f*ck, I thought I was modeled after an herbivore.”

              Pomni hums sympathetically. She can help take the edge off his distress, though.                                    

              “Would you prefer big ol’ Bugs Bunny buck teeth?”

              “I—” Jax cuts his own rebuttal short, gaze falling to the middle distance as he mulls over the image she’d painted. “…would not.” Then, looking almost dumbfounded as he glances to her, he adds, “Good point.”

              She huffs through a smile.

              “My turn? Or do you want to confess more anxieties for me to alleviate?”

              The chuckle he lets out in response has a dark edge to it.

              “You’re not ready for the big leagues. You go.”

              She really might not be. There’s a deep well of things she doesn’t and might never know about Jax, and some of them may very well be stones she has no business insisting he turn. She hasn’t been on friendly terms with him for all that long, after all. She tilts her head back to look at the sky as she thinks about what to bring to the bizarre little support group confession booth thing they’ve settled into doing. The stars twinkle. She can spot Pisces.

              “I spent like a year planning a trip to Italy before I got stuck here. I read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants when I was a kid and thought a whirlwind romance in a foreign country was the most exciting thing a girl could experience, and the vibe just stuck all the way through to my twenties. But I’m here now, so. You know. That’s a lot of stupid time and effort wasted.”

              She senses Jax lift his chin from his palm and consider her.

              “That’s not exactly a complaint about your cartoon body.”

              A little rueful smile worms its way onto her face.

              “Guess it’s really not.” She turns her head to meet his gaze. “You okay with broadening the scope of b*tching about our lots in life?”

              Jax’s eyes flick away from hers.

              “…Nnnnot really, no. But since that tidbit is already out in the open I do have some follow up questions.”

              “Ha, sure. Shoot.”

              “Whirlwind romance?” His voice is thick with incredulity.

              “Don’t diss a girl for having idealized girly fantasies.”

              “No, no, fantasize away, it’s just, I guess you struck me as the type to, like, prefer to be more selective with the people you’ll give your time to, if given the choice. What with the good head you got on your shoulders.” Pomni straightens at yet another little sincere compliment. Jax doesn’t even seem to notice he’s given it this time as he continues, “Going through customs with the sole purpose of having a spring fling with a stranger you stumble upon seems like…I don’t know. I dunno. Like what if he sucks?  You don’t speak the same language, it might be too late to salvage the trip by the time you realize you’d backed the wrong romance horse.”

              She cocks a brow at him.

              “Ho risolto il problema della lingua.”

              “...Oh.” His ears twitch. “...You were really prepping to be swept off your feet by some Italian stud if you put up with that pervoid owl.”

              “Ero.” She smirks. “And regarding the company I keep, maybe before the Circus I would have been a little less discerning.” She sweeps her eyes over Jax once, then meets his gaze and lets him hold it for as long as he wants. “I choose ‘em more carefully now.”

              They’ve been in the hot spring for a while at this point. The flush in Jax’s face is probably just from that.

              “…No accounting for taste,” He says, brushing off whatever had just passed between them. “Any reason Italy in particular?”

              “The food.” She answers easily.

              “Not the studs?”

              “The studs were a secondary factor in deciding the location of my whirlwind romance. Couldn’t fully enjoy a sexually charged dinner date over food I didn’t like.”

              Jax chuckles at that.

              “Thank goodness you’re secretly chock full of ulterior motives, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to stand talking to you.”

              “I have to be duplicitous to hold your interest? Are the tales from my past life not enrapturing enough on their own?”

              “Maybe they’d be if you revealed you also, like, had ties to the Italian mafia or something.”

              “Maybe I could’ve had one day, if I’d gone. Who knows?” Her face falls just a little. “Guess the entire shebang is gonna stay a fantasy, now, though.”

              “Nah.” Jax dismisses the impossibility, quick and sure in a way that draws her brows together, perplexed. “When we get out of here we’ll get you set up with a hot mob boss. You’ll be Mrs. The Don and you’ll be running the underground olive oil distilleries and saying things like ‘sleepin’ with the fishes’ and wearing a casual but assertive suit like the ones we had in that bar.”

              “Wh…That’s entirely unhinged.” She laughs.

              “What’s unhinged about you in a suit? Everyone already has plenty of proof you look good in ‘em.”

              The hot spring must be getting to her as well because her face heats suddenly.

              “O-Oh. Uh, well, that wasn’t really…well, in any case, that’s generous. I think everything looks weird on me with my proportions.”

              “No weirder than anything looks on anyone else.” Jax shrugs, smile light. “I’m not gonna move the goalposts on ya, Pom. A suit suits ya. If we’re gonna keep b*tching about our looks, you gotta follow the rules.”

              Pomni blinks, and she can’t write off the flush in her cheeks this time as a result of being in the onsen too long. Where…had all that come from? She knows the whole point of this bizarre exercise they’d started was to help each other feel less dysmorphic in their digital bodies, but…those were some almost flirty compliments.

              She shakes her head. Lest she forget, Jax enjoys fucking with people. She’s sure he considers being flirty a valid avenue for that.

              “Alright, but, didn’t I just go?”

              “That whole last tangent didn’t count because it wasn’t complaining about your avatar so you weren’t following the rules again. It’s still your turn.”

              She rolls her eyes. Won’t move the goalposts on her, sure. She chews on her lip, trying to rattle her head back into order and think of something within the game’s ruleset to bring to the table for Jax to examine.

              “Well…I had a little piercing here I really liked.” She taps the center of her face. “I could fidget with it and it was demure enough that I could wear it at work. I’ve had to overhaul my entire fidgeting habit because I don’t have a nose.”

              “Hm, I see how that would be frustrating. But if you had a nose there wouldn’t be enough room for your big ol’ eyes.”

              “I don’t like my eyes.” The rebuttal comes quickly. She hadn’t really ever mentioned it aloud before.

              “Oh…” Jax sounds genuinely taken aback. “No?”

              “No. They’re unsettling. It’s all iris. Maybe if they’d been a solid color, but they’re like oversaturated hazard warnings for radiation.”

              “Oh…I mean, I dunno, I think it sounds metal as hell when you put it like that.” She hears Jax shift in the water next to her. “I don’t find them unsettling, anyway.”

              She glances over to him, planning to give him an understated but appreciative little smile, but the bottom drops out of her stomach when she locks eyes with him. His mouth is resting on the inside of his elbow, arms folded atop his knees still drawn to his chest, eyes perched over his forearm and gaze absolutely singular and intense. She glances down for half a breath to make sure a nip hadn’t slipped, but no, everything is locked down still. Her eyes flick between his, and if she watches closely enough, she can see his own square black pupils following hers.

              “…Thank you.” She manages. Jax blinks, lifting his head a fraction of an inch from the crook of his arm as he holds her gaze for a heartbeat longer before sliding a hand from around his knees and bracing his elbow once more on the edge of the pool to prop his head up jauntily, easy grin slipping over his mouth and eyes closing casually.

              “I mean, I only say as much ‘cuz I got you beat by a mile.” His eyes blink open, settling on Pomni in a way that pins her in place, and then the gold becomes completely eclipsed by his pupils growing and overtaking the sockets they sit in, like a shadow cast by an object getting steadily closer until it’s too late to dodge. “How’s Demon Jax for unsettling?”

              And maybe anywhere else, at any other time, it would have made Pomni’s fight or flight instinct kick in, and she would have found it unsettling. But Caine had done a quite literally stellar job rendering the stars overhead, and Jax’s eyes are reflective like dark, round mirrors.

              Twin skies sit like sparkling gems set into his skull, kaleidoscopic and dizzying in a way that makes her breath catch in her throat. Things are strange around the Circus, but they’re rarely strange and pretty. She can’t help but stare, suddenly a bit hypnotized and finding herself speechless at the little intimate spectacle. Jax’s eyes sure are big and glossy. Expressive. Deep.

              A handful of seconds must have passed like this when Jax’s casual grin slips just a fraction, and then the thrall is broken as the skies implode, shrinking back into their little black squares floating in a sea of gold. Pomni blinks, straightening up and shaking her head just a bit. She…really has been in the hot water for too long (and she still hasn’t solved for the problem of Jax being here and her towel and robe being all the way by the door).

              “Didn’t mean to actually spook you. It’s just a party trick.”

              She thinks distantly that she should be relieved he mistook her wide-eyed silence as the unsettled reaction he’d been expecting and not the truth of the matter, but letting him believe that would be against the spirit of the game.

              “You didn’t spook me,” She rubs a hand over her cheek, eyes falling to her knees as she bashfully dances around the truth, lading on, “It’s a good look on you, with the right lighting.”

              “If you’re struggling to find something nice to say, we can add a rule that says you don’t have to make up a lie for ego’s sake.”

              “I’m not struggling or lying. If you hadn’t refocused I would’ve kept looking.” She feels herself being studied and glances back up to him to find his carefully neutral expression cracking along the reddened faultline of his cheekbones. He lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck, trying to summon a dismissive grin and only half succeeding.

              “…Guess you openly admiring me is a surefire way to disprove any misconceptions I had about being anything less than a ten.”

              Pomni snorts.

              “You’d never admit to thinking you’re less than a ten.”

              “Certainly not now, you can’t take your eyes off me.” He lifts one lid to side-eye her smugly. “But I can stand being just a nine most of the time if it means having an advantage over you. My big wet dreamy eyes I can at least put at a premium. You’ve got your pretty pinwheels on display all the time, just flaunting your ten-ness for free.”

              Pretty. Pomni shifts on her ledge, finding a hand coming up to brush hair back from her face. They’re…they’re still playing their game, right?

              “You already said they don’t unsettle you, you don’t have to embellish and throw ‘tens’ around to spare my feelings or anything.”

              “You know me better than that, Pom-Pom,” She shyly glances up from her knees at the nickname. Jax is grinning at her in a way that makes her feel something about him she hasn’t before. “I never spare anyone’s feelings.”

              She runs her hand over her flushed cheek again, and an unexpected flutter of nerves runs through her. Is she feeling giddy? Is she reading this right? She swallows a little dryly, hesitant but brave when she asks,

              “Why…are you saying all this to me?”

              “I thought it was the point of the game.” He shrugs. “I thought we were passing compliments out. I’m taking today’s objectives very seriously.”

              The bashful, cheerful little bubble that had been cautiously growing in Pomni’s chest wilts and her eyes fall back to the surface of the water. Yeah, the game. Makes sense.

              “Mh, right.” Hot embarrassment creeps up her throat. It’s been so long since she’d felt pretty, since she’d been flirted with, she’d let it start to feel nice. She hadn’t expected it to come from Jax, but in the moment, looking back at how his demeanor around her has changed recently, it had sort of fallen into place and suddenly made sense. So, maybe she could believe he’s being serious. But, it was stupid of her to think Jax would be serious about anything. She wants her robe.

              “You, uh,” She hears Jax lift a hand from the water and run it over the back of his neck. “Were you hoping for a…I dunno. A different answer?”

              He watches. He notices.

              “Mm-mm.” She manages, still turned away from him, like that will be a convincing display. Pomni tenses and tightens the little ball she’s tucked herself into, feeling somehow even more naked, embarrassment listing toward humiliation, and dread pours into her stomach when she feels tears prick in her eyes. How the fuck else is Jax supposed to interpret this? It’s not even that she thinks about Jax that way, but that doesn’t really matter when she thought he’d been flirting with her and she was ready to respond in kind just to try and feel human. Craving touch is an exceptional rarity for her. She’d been about to trust Jax with that and she’d misread the entire thing, and now it stings like a rejection and she’s being a dramatic fucking idiot about it. She hears Jax exhale uncertainly.

              “Pom, I, uh…I wasn’t trying to toy with your feelings or make fun of you, honest.”

              “I know,” She mumbles into her arm. “It’s fine.”

              “Um…you know, I meant all the things I said.” She cautiously lifts her gaze to his. The flush is back across his cheekbones. “I think you look bangin’ in a suit. I think your eyes are…honestly, kinda hypnotic.” The suggestion of mischief dances around his grin when he adds, “And I think your tits are perfectly satisfactory.”

              Pomni lets out a reluctant, wry snort.

              “It’s not too late for me to kick you out of here.” She brushes some damp hair away from her face, glancing away. “You…you didn’t toy with me. I’ve just…been in the hot spring for too long and started getting the wrong idea and hurt my own feelings.”

              “Aw, you sure know how to make a guy feel flattered.”

              “Don’t let it get to your head.” She huffs out a chuckle.

              “Don’t let the biggest catch in the Circus feelin’ funny over me go to my head? Are you insane? You can’t ask that of a man.”

              “Jax,” It’s lighthearted, but it’s still a warning. She’s still embarrassed.

              “Really,” He insists. “You’re the ten just walking around being a ten for free, remember? I’m but the humble nine what’s caught your eye. I’m gonna get Caine to make a prom adventure just so I can ask you to go with me and show off to the NPCs that the hottest girl in school chose me.”  

              “Jax, oh my gosh.” The warning tone is slipping from her voice, cracked by the giggle that sneaks in.

              “You’re gonna be the one in the suit, obviously.”

              She cocks a brow at him, not bothering to try and stuff down the grin.

              “After the softball incident, you’re willing to wear a dress again?”

              “For the right reason I will do unspeakable things. Putting you in a tux is an obviously worthy cause to make that sacrifice.”

              She shakes her head with a chuckle.

              “And what makes you think I won’t turn you down?”

              “After the promposal I’ve got cookin’ up, it’ll be impossible to say no.”

              “Yeah?” She grins, and her heart is only a little tender when she says, “When you commit to the bit this hard, you really can’t blame me for getting the wrong idea.”

              “Well…it’s not an idea I was expecting but…it doesn’t have to be the wrong one.”

              Pomni blinks, searching his expression for any sign of a joke or insincerity, and she’s still a little surprised to find none, because,

              “Just like that?”

              “You were the one who wanted a whirlwind romance.” Jax tilts his head, gaze affectionate. “And, no, not ‘just like that.’ I’m under no illusions your thoughts about me shifting toward twitterpated is a product of heat stroke.” She snickers even as she starts to protest, but Jax raises a finger and continues, “But. Obviously I think you’re pretty swell, Pom. I like talking to you. And you know I’m also suffering from heat stroke because I’m openly admitting that to you.”

              “I was gonna say.” Pomni giggles.

              “So, I’m thinkin’ after the adventure, once we’ve had a chance to cool our heads, would you want to…” He rubs at the back of his neck again. It’s a cute little mannerism he has. “…keep flirting?”

              “So you were flirting with me!” She can’t help but accuse.

              “Sure, but, that time was just for fun. Plus it was kid gloves.” He glances at her, expression between smug and bashful. “You have no idea the rizz I can bring when I’m being serious.”

              Pomni feels her chest fill as she considers him.

              “Alright. I might like that.”

              Jax’s face splits open around an almost flustered grin, reaching his eyes and making his expression soft and honest and handsome.

              A ping interrupts their moment.

              Objective complete!

              Jax’s eyes jerk upward to the notification floating above his head, ears falling back in what has to be embarrassment. Pomni lifts a brow, perplexed.

              “I thought you enjoyed killing Godzilla?”

              “I did!” Jax snatches the icon out of the air and stuffs it down into the water by his side, like he’s trying to drown it. The blush on his face is distinct from the ones borne of heat or romantic tension. It’s a little similar to the one from the softball adventure, where he had no control and thought he looked very uncool. A grin creeps up Pomni’s face.

              “You’re that thrilled about getting to keep flirting with me?”

              “Look, I approached you, okay? I just don’t appreciate being doxxed by a Steam achievement!”

              “You don’t have to worry about not being smooth around me a hundred percent of the time, Jax.” Her smile softens. “I like seeing you honest.”

              He grouses, blush still hot on his features, but doesn’t offer a rebuttal. Pomni bites thoughtfully at her lower lip, wondering if maybe offering to hold his hand right now would ease his—

              The sudden feeling of falling at terminal velocity and dizzying surroundings of color and static is always unpleasant, and it’s especially so at this exact moment as Pomni is literally yanked away from her contentedness and dropped unceremoniously in front of the portal back to the Circus. After taking a breath to crush down the nausea, panic floods her whole body instantaneously and she clutches at herself, relief making her woozy as she realizes her hakama had been reapplied during her transport, thank god. She does not need the group to wonder why she and Jax had shown up together and naked (the horror at the misunderstanding isn’t purely what fuels the color rising in her face at the thought).

              “God, finally.” Zooble snaps a book closed that had apparently been dragged with him back to the portal. “Who were we even waiting on? I get the map’s big but come on.”

              Gangle is weighed down by festival trinkets, obviously having spent plenty of time at her activity of choice. She shrugs and gestures to her haul.

              “Well, I did spend a lot of time trying to find a museum,” Ragatha begins apologetically. “but eventually there were some lovely botanical gardens that I…”

              She trails off. Pomni follows her line of sight to find Kinger sitting in the middle of a gigantic pile of money, holding a rooster in his lap. He refocuses after a beat of silence and holds the bird out in front of him, delighted.

              “Oh! I’ve made a friend, it seems.”

              “And a gajillion dollars, jeez, old man,” Jax has already righted himself, standing jauntily like he hadn’t been naked with Pomni for the past hour. “How’d you do that?”

              “I’ve had pets before.” Kinger shrugs. “I must have made a good impression on him.”

              “Sorry everyone, I think we were waiting on me.” Pomni stands and dusts herself off, half expecting her hair to be wet still. Jax glances over to her and she gives him a little half shrug and a knowing smile. “I had to make three stops before I could find something that was enough fun for me.”

              She’d said she wouldn’t use her inside knowledge of Jax for evil, but having the upper hand just once, even secretly, is satisfying in a way that makes her see the appeal.

              The next day at the Circus is a free day. The stress on the processors had been significant for the open world and Caine needed a break, apparently. Pomni had been sure to pass along her positive thoughts about his environment construction and coding for the ambience and can only hope he’ll take away the right message.

              It’s still early; the theme song hasn’t started yet and Pomni thinks everyone else must still be asleep. She’d admittedly had a little bit of a hard time staying in bed once she’d awoke. There’s been a swarm of butterflies in her insides becoming more and more restless and their kinetic energy had to go somewhere, so she’d gotten up and dressed and paced around the Circus for a while thinking about yesterday.

              Jax had made sure to wish her a goodnight before they’d closed their doors opposite each other. He’d winked at her. It made her feel like a schoolgirl, excited for something new and fun with someone she likes. It made her feel normal. She wonders if Jax feels the same. She hopes he does. She wants him to feel nice. Feel normal.

              This early in the morning, there isn’t anything really for her to do around the Circus, so she finds herself sitting on the brightly colored couch in the common area with a Rubik’s cube in her hands, not so much solving it as she is just randomly turning the sides. She’s never known the trick for these.

              “Are you so bored without me it’s come to this?” Jax’s voice over her shoulder makes her insides jump, but not so much in surprise like it had at the start of the adventure yesterday. She turns to find him leaning his forearms on the back of the couch next to her, putting their faces at eye level again. He gestures to the cube in her hands.

              “Good morning to you too.” She grins, shrugging. “If I were bored enough to try and actually solve it, maybe, but I’m not really trying to.”

              “Ah. So is this a permanent addition to the overhaul of your fidgeting habit, do you think?”

              It’s hard not to melt just a little. He notices.

              “Nah,” She sets the cube down on the side table. “Not idle enough.”

              “Well, that won’t do. Maybe we can get Caine to generate a slew of fidget toys for you to choose from.”

              “You’re sure that’s a good idea? I mean, some of them could explode after a certain number of button clicks or something asinine like that.”

              “…Yeah, good point.” Jax adjusts his weight next to her. “By the way, about how you figured I’d be chill talking about, I guess capital R capital P Real Problems we have with our lots in life…”

              Pomni shifts on the couch so she’s facing him more directly.

              “Mhm?”

              “You never told me your theory. You said I wouldn’t like the answer but I’m a reasonable guy.” He puts a hand to his chest in mock sincerity. Pomni snickers. Alright, maybe now the answer won’t chafe him like it would have in that moment.  

              “I came to the co-ed bath by accident. You didn’t.”

              Jax tilts his head.

              “Help me follow the logic.”

              “Why didn’t you just go to the men’s side? You must have gone to the co-ed one hoping I’d be there.”

              Jax’s mouth bunches to the side, eyes sliding away from her. She grins. Caught.

              “…Maybe I was hoping you’d be there just so I could torment you.”

              “And why would I have knowingly chosen that bath if I thought that was gonna be the outcome? You were hoping I’d be there on purpose because if I was, it would mean I was hoping for your company too. If we were both there under that conceit, deep conversation would be more than on the table.”

              “Well…you certainly laid that logic indisputably out.” Jax’s ears wilt after a moment of consideration. “…Says a lot that you thought you were in the women’s side, then.”

              “I didn’t know there was a co-ed one.” Jax’s gaze finds hers again. She shrugs, grinning softly. “I can’t read, remember?”

              Jax stares at her for a moment longer before snorting.

              “You’re the smartest one in the Circus. I’ll give you a pass just this once.”

              “Oh thank goodness.” She says with amused flatness, then, something dawning on her, she raises a brow at him and asks, “How were you able to read the signage?”

              “I’m just that good.”

              Pomni squints. Or he’s secretly a weeb, just like Gangle. She’ll let that lie for now though.

              “Uhuh. Anyway, so, um,” She continues, just a little shyly, “Youuu…got plans for the day?”

              “I do, actually. It’s my manicure Monday.”

              Pomni cocks a brow at him, glancing down to his hands resting at his elbows.

              “Days of the week don’t exist in here, and you don’t have fingernails. None of us do.” She rubs a thumb over where the nail on the opposing digit should be, mouth thinning just a little.

              “Think fast.”

              She does her best, but the thing Jax tosses at her hits her square in the face before she clumsily catches it, just a little annoyed (it wouldn’t be Jax if he didn’t do antics). She gives him a tiny glare before dropping her eyes to the box in her hands, which only raises more questions. She looks back up to Jax with another cocked brow.

              “A manicure kit doesn’t solve for—”

              “Blah blah book by its cover.” He rests a palm on top of her head, physically turning her attention back toward the kit. “Open it up.”

              She skeptically pokes a finger into the top of the box, lifting the plastic lid, and among the files and polishes, there’s a set of—

              “Acrylics?” She plucks the container from the larger box, turning it over in her hands and glancing to Jax. “Where did you even get these?”

              “Stole ‘em.” Pomni snickers and rolls her eyes, and Jax’s grin gets wider. “What, like the mannequins running the nail salon adventure are gonna use ‘em.” He leans down a little more, resting his head on his crossed forearms. “Wanna go apply press-ons and try to feel more normal together?”

              The warm bubble in Pomni’s chest is growing and pushing into her throat, and her words are a little more raw than maybe she’d meant for them to be when she says,

              “It’s really nice when you use your powers for good, you know.”

              “Do not tell the others I even have the capacity. I have a hard-earned reputation to uphold.”

              “Ah, right, of course. Can’t have it getting out that you’re actually extremely good at making others feel better about themselves instead of only worse.” She sweeps her eyes over him, mouth thinning as she thinks. “Do you feel weird not having nails, though? You only told me the one thing about your avatar you were unhappy with and it was your mouth working weird.”

               “Maybe I only have the one thing I’m less than thrilled about.” He shrugs. “Like I said, I’m content being a nine most of the time. One hangup is the perfect amount to keep me humble.”

              Pomni snorts.

              “Sure, that’s the word.” She rests her elbow on the back of the couch, propping her chin up in her palm as she faces him. “But I’m chock full of complaints. If you really have only the one hangup, how will we play that game again? I already suggested something that made you feel better about your mouth.”

              Jax takes a moment to consider her, eyes flicking over her face. She can see the gears turning.

              “Mmmmaybe you could keep finding ways to make me feel better about it. Bump me up from neutral to good to great vis-à-vis how I fare at mouth-related tasks.”

              “I could try.” She shrugs. “I might need some time to think of someth—”

              The rest of her sentence is muffled and swallowed up by Jax pressing his lips to hers. He pulls away from the kiss before Pomni can even process he’s kissing her at all, leaving her heart beating in her throat. She blinks dazedly and refocuses on Jax’s face arranged into something smug and bashful at the same time under a blush. She rubs a hand over her own flushed cheek, gulping and moving her heart back into her chest. She should probably have expected Jax to move to keep the upper hand, but that was more than flirting.

              “Hmm. That face you’re making tells me I’ve got nothin’ to worry about there, at least. That helped a ton, thanks Pom-Pom.” And just like that, he stands straight, lacing his fingers behind his head and beginning to saunter toward the kitchen. “Wanna get something to eat before the theme starts?”

              Pomni touches a hand to her mouth, staring after him.

              “Is this the new game?” She calls out. Jax pauses and turns, looking back with eyes soft over a gentle grin.

              “Not a game. I’m not about to fumble a ten.” The grin lists toward mischievous. “But I will keep you on your toes.”

              She puffs out a chuckle, but there’s something just a little warmer left in her heart as it settles at Jax’s words. He’s taking this seriously. He’s taking her seriously.

              “I suppose it wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.”

              “Precisely.” He unlaces his fingers and sticks one hand in a pocket, holding the other out to Pomni. “Come on, let’s go fuel up for the song and dance schtick. Afterward we can go do our nails and drink prosecco and talk about our husbands, sound good?”

              Pomni giggles, chest light, and shifts to get up from the couch, carefully placing her hand in his.

              “Sounds good.”