#we need more comedy mask gangle

[the-s1lly-corner]

HI there, hate to bother you but i was wondering if you could do the amazing digital circus head canons for a gn! reader who acts a lot like ena

if you have never heard of it you can check on the ena wiki but i would really love if you did something like this so thanks

TADC x ENA type!GN!reader

typically i would do all the characters in one post, but its starting to get late and tumblr wont let me save half answered asks in my drafts for some reason TToTT so im gonna split the cast in half, if you want the rest of the characters you can send in a second ask so i can remember to do everyone else :0! also my apolocheese for any personality mistakes, i think i watched ena a long time ago but was confused/didnt watch the whole thing so uh uh!! relying on a character wiki for this (on that focuses on season 1 so uh uh, idk if that will impact anything) little bonus bonus incorporating enas color thing into this cuz uh we can say its digital world stuff ooo that gives me an oc idea; oc whos like the mayor from nightmare before christmas who has a spinny head/face thing that relates to their emotions

CAINE:

caines is going to be shorter because hes just your number one fan regardless of your personality, in fact he probably has a silly shirt with your face on it somewhere

will do everything in his power to make sure youre happy and content, and will do everything to cheer you up when you switch over to your sad side

takes you to wherever it is that he 'sleeps' when you get overwhelmed by stuff and keeps you there until both of you are sure that youll be okay and your blues are long gone

you and him easily match energies, sometimes he will even try to one up you with using fancy intricate words

POMNI:

writing pomnis part first but oh funny is it that pomni and ena have the same VA

anyways

absolutely loves you, but she is so so worried about stressing you out and switching to your 'sad form', tries to (often times unsuccessfully) cheer you up

honestly you both need a break, things in the circus are hectic and insane, and considering pomni just got here she is going to need your help to get used to things

not much to be said since i think pomni is another character i struggle to write

JAX:

initially teases you for how fast you switch up, its almost like gangle being more upbeat with her comedy mask and more sad when its broken

tones it down a little when you explain you cant really control it whereas gangles case is just her being more confident with the comedy mask (at least thats my hc)

sometimes give you weird looks when you use an unnecessarily long set of fancy words to describe something mundane

bro is fighting the urge to mimic it

surprisingly does the kind thing, he takes you off to the side when something stresses you out so you can have a minute to compose yourself

RAGATHA:

optimistic sweetheart meets ray of sunshine, you two are an unstoppable force of good and kind of rub off on some of the others

similar to jax when you get stressed out or upset about something, usually when its an in house adventure, she sweeps you to the side and helps calm you down. she probably knows some breathing techniques, i think

ignoring the fact they probably dont need to breathe but thats asides the poin

[tadcdreamlandau]

WELCOME, TO THE OFFICIAL TADC DREAMLAND AU-CENTERED BLOG! ! ! Sorry if it's way too long btw.

STATUS: [Updated Gangle picture & desc, Zooble now being a knight]

[AU still in development AND will update regularly]

"WHY, HELLO THERE DREAMER! "

"SEEMS TO ME THAT YOU'VE VENTURED OUT INTO THE MAGICAL WORLD OF DREAMLAND! "

SHIPS THAT (might) BE ADDITIONAL TO THE AU:

Showtime (Caine x Pomni) [heavily implied but it detaches from the AU]

Bunnydoll (Jax x Ragatha) [somewhat implied but by interactions, it's up to ya'll if you want it to be officially part of the AU or not]

Abstradegy (Gangle x Zooble) [similar situation as prior mentioned]

Chessboard (Kinger x Queenie) [married]

CHARACTER DESIGNS:

Pomni [Alias: "the dreamer"] (Designed God/Goddess/Host: Caine)

Caine [Alias: "Dreamscape's Host"]

Ragatha (coming soon) [Alias: "The Solar Servant"] (Designed God/Goddess/Host: Sun)

Jax (coming soon) [Alias: "Melancholy Valley's Mischief/Trouble maker"] (Designed God/Goddess/Host: Moon)

Kinger (coming soon) [Alias: "The Astronomer"] (Designed God/Goddess/Host: Formely Caine's, now Eclipse's)

Gangle (coming soon) [Alias: "Tarot, the chancellor, Advisor, Tragedy (sister/left mask) Comedy (brother/right mask), the conjoined twins"] (Designed God/Goddess/Host: Eclipse)

Zooble (coming soon) [Alias: "guard, knight, 'that thing' (only by Eclipse)"] (Designed God/Goddess/Host: Eclipse)

Sun [Alias: "Daydream's goddess/ ruler/ queen/ empress"]

Moon [Alias: "Melancholy Valley's goddess /queen/ empress"]

Eclipse [Alias: "the insane one, the gatekeeper, the madman, Deity of The Ephialtes"]

(NPCS SUCH AS GUMMYGOO AND PRINCESS LOOLILALU WILL ALSO MAKE AN APPREANCE, DEPENDING ON HOW THE STORY GOES)

☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆STORY (it's gonna be long, so brace yourselves. Or don't. You COULD skip the whole thing and pray everything will be explained in the comics/animations)⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡ :

[Take note that Dreamland's timeline is divided into three factors.]

BACKSTORY ERA (Before Pomni's arrival)

IN-BETWEEN PERIOD (before Pomni's arrival but with all the other members already set inside the world)

PRESENT TIME (Present day/after Pomni's arrival)

[☁︎_BACKSTORY ERA_☁︎]

Dreamland takes the place of an outside world beyond our 'astral bodies'. Where, due to an ancient temple made thousands of years ago, became its own physical plane and had, at first, two main gods. First is the goddess of light, day and daydreams, The Sun was in charge of both to rule the day with its giant light ball we all know and love, and to rule above and beyond the daydreams, whenever its people, who dream for a future, a purpose, or stay zoned out, everything related to detaching yourself from reality and make a second you in the DreamLand's plane (basically your conscience is torn into two- one half stays in the mortal realm and the other lives for the rest of their lives in Dreamland). Then was the Goddess of sombre, melancholy, night and, you guessed it! THE MOON! She does something very similar to what the Sun does, but instead of detaching from reality due to ambition, it's due to a mortal feeling sad, depressed and in need of comfort- in this case, the Moon helps the conscience be split and comforts the much sadder side in the 'other world', that way the one that stays on earth feels an unknown feeling of care while BEING cared for.

Though one day, the Sun and the Moon realized that their jobs were very overcrowded. Dreamland millions of years ago was WAY too tiny for them to have control over, and some were complaining about how 'off-putting the emptiness of the clouds and sky' were, so, they collaborated to expand Dreamland. Creating two new attached realms: The Daydream and its glorious Heaven City where all is perfection and happiness under the Sun's rule; and the Melancholy Valley, (which is also HEAVILY inspired by Undertale's waterfalls), which serves as a much more tranquil escape that is ruled by the Moon.

Of course, soon they realized that the original plane was getting too empty, so to still honour the ancient temple that brought everything together, they created Hypnos. Or later on, known as Caine. Now, Caine had a LOT of development through the years- at first, he started as a confused being who was being kind of babied by the Moon, only to then slowly become the Sun's disciple to learn how to manipulate clouds into any wish a Dreamer (human) desires! His main priority was that if any Dreamer were to appear on neither Sun's nor Moon's realms then he had to be in charge and to be nothing but entertainment to them. And so did he! Dreamers began to appear in the place known as the 'Dreamscape', where Caine would reside and do his absolute best to make them all smile. That is, until a new problem came to be for some reason, whenever a Dreamer wasn't satisfied with Caine's entertainment, they slowly began to grow conscience of their in-earth conscience.

Feeling dread and despair in realizing that this. All of this. That all of this wasn't real. Nor were they. Thus, they began to slip- and no matter what Caine tried to do, the dreams that they were meant to feel slowly turned into agony. From there they turned into Nightmares (Dreamland's abstractions). Of course, Caine, the Moon and the Sun don't know what to do. It slowly tormented all the dreamers in each realm and, with the threat of them turning into a Nightmare. They had no choice but to create a new realm. A realm that worked as a cellar, a prison, for all Nightmares to be imprisoned and confined. This is called 'The Ephialtes', where a new god took form. One much more powerful than the rest of them. Eclipse, the god/dess of madness, dementia, hallucinations, and hysteria.

[☁︎_IN-BETWEEN ERA_☁︎]

Even with all the security and protection that was promised with Eclipse's arrival and the Ephiltes, none of the gods felt any ease after the incident. To them, it was something that they were never prepared for. Not when the temple was first built, not even when they passed on to their own seperate realms, this was simply to them the impossible. So, just like the humans began to slip, so did the goddesses themselves and taking all the blame and hate on poor Caine. Sun, as the original tutor of Caine, felt like he had disappointed her expectations. She felt like it her responsibility for Caine's 'incompitence' and only blame it on him for being 'imprefect'. His 'imperfection' tinting on her reputation, and therefore Sun snapped and became a control freak. One who banished Caine out of Dreamland and implemented a cruel system on her city. All just to do two things; make sure her little heaven was "clean from impurity" and for everyone to be too distracted on becoming little perfect mannequins to question their exsistance. In a very strange and messed up way, it worked. As for moon, well, she deeply tried to reason herself into understanding Caine's situation as simply an accident, but yet she couldn't live with the feeling of dread of the possibility of it being on purpose, which obviously was not, but yet still it CRUSHED her.

So much so that she became an emotional, crying mess. Sob after sob, Melancholy Valley began to have terrible floods by the Moon's endless tears. Resorting in, instead of Moon being the one to comfort others, she was one who deeply needed comfort. It did, however, helped her little realm. Because everyone fell into the manipulation of either "comfort her or else we'll drown" or "we owe it to her, she had been the one who gave us tranquility so we have to do the same" that nobody thought of the impending doom, nor the feeling of dread of their de-attached bodies. Therefore, nobody got turned into Nightmares by how busy they all were trying to makeup to the goddesses's expectations. Everyone except Caine. He was devastated. Sun had banished him from Daydream and will continue re-enforcing security everytime he tried to reason with her or even come as close as APOLOGIZING, and Moon couldn't handle even LOOKING at his direction without letting out a hurricane! Every. single. time did a dreamer coem into his realm and tried to give his absolute all to entertain them, only to end up with them turning into Nightmarish monsters the very next 'day'. It made Caine desperate. Hopeful even. For perchance maybe, in some way, somehow, he could make a change. But he wasn't like the other gods. He couldn't make people feel incredible pity for him like Moon, neither could he be strict and strong as Sun. Hell if he could even come as close as Eclipse.

There was one time, however, where a dreamer came by and had a lot of pity on him. This beign Queenie who probably was the one of the only people who did have any care for him at the moment, which was an absolute RELIEF. He tried his very best to entertain her, make a show, enjoy the dreamer's company which it all lasted, and surprisingly enough, she did manage to stay up for a long time! She even fell inlove with another dreamer that came into Caine's realm, which... well, on his own fault, thought the man was about to turn into a Nightmare and threw him into Eclipse's realm without realizing Kinger was just... Kinger. But oh well, everythign was going very well for Caine and he even had a mother and son relationship with Queenie. Only to... well... turns out that Queenie was terribly ill. So much so that neither in her dream state could she run away from her body changing and eventually leaving her in her death bed. Her last wish being...? Well....

Clubble.

Mhm, might sound very shocking, but she dearly wished that Caine would've some forever company with him, even when there were no dreamers alone. So there you have it, clubble. You didn't expect that, would you? Of course, that STILL didn't save Caine from his terrible loneliness. Even less from griefing on Queenie's death. He became anxious, desperate even, to make up for his mistakes. So very much so that the colours of the world around him CONSTANTLY changed. When it was grey and lifeless, it was his heart aching for the want of company, to want and need of hearing a dreamer's laugh, and even when he's feeling despair and sadness, he starts to wish to see someone bright up his world. When there's colour, you can tell by the static filter that it's him wanting to go back in time, to when there was still a blue sky, when there was still laughter and joy, when the goddesses still considered him family. Those times, where there were moments of colour, were when Caine could do the impossible for a god. To dream.

[☁︎_PRESENT TIME_☁︎]

(Coming soon...)

[denny-artsss]

Caine throws a "prom night" as the adventure and Gangle (reluctantly) agreed to be Jax's date and Jax basically shuts down because he did NOT expect Gangle to look that good in a dress, like DAMN

Caine: HELLO EVERYONE!! I HAVE SOMETHING SPECIAL PLANNED FOR TONIGHT!

Jax: you're gonna learn to speak in your inside voice?

Caine: SILLY JAX! THIS IS MY INSIDE VOICE! NOW! WERE GONNA HAVE A PROM NIGHT!

Zooble: what are we school girls? Ragatha and Gangle be playing bingo like they're in a retirement home.

Ragatha: we play cause its fun not cause were old.

Gangle: bingo-

Caine: COME ON IT WILL BE FUN! YOU CAN DRESS UP IN DRESSES AND COSTUMES! ITS TONIGHT AT 8!

Jax: is it mandatory to show up?

Caine: YES! ITS ALSO MANDATORY TO HAVE A PARTNER!

*everyone finds a partner except Gangle and Jax*

Gangle: *slowly backs away*

Jax: *pulls her close* Gangle! My best friend!

Gangle: *raises an eyebrow*

Jax: best- frienemy? Whatever. You coming to prom with me.

Gangle: that sounded more like a statement than a question.

Jax: UGH YOURE SO PRETENTIOUS! FINE! oh my dear Gangle, light of my life, would you make me the HUGE honor of going to Caines stupid prom with me? *ironic*

Gangle: you forgot to drop on your knees and beg

Jax: YES OR NO

Gangle: *sighs* I would've gone with you anyway. There's no one left, big brain. But thanks for humiliating yourself I guess.

Jax: whatever. Have fun finding something to put on that body of yours. We'll see who's gonna be humiliated. *walks away laughing*

*Gangle walks with the others to look for something to wear*

Gangle: I'm not forgiving you guys for leaving me to be his date for prom.

Zooble: a risk I'm willing to take as long as I'm Jax-free.

Ragatha: yeah sorry Gangle. My Hate for Jax is bigger than my love for you.

Gangle: that's understandable. *picks up a nice black dress and puts it on* huh- this doesn't look too bad does it?

Ragatha: no it actually looks really good! Here- *hands her some accesories* ooo

Zooble: Gangle trust me.you don't need to get this dressed. Jax will probably just show up in his pajamas.

Gangle: pfft. Like If i was dressing for him anyway- *admires herself in the mirror*

Zooble: I think ill just slap a tie on and call it a day.

-time skip-

Jax: *knocks at Gangles door* you abstracted yet?

Gangle: I wish. *opens the door and looks at him* wow you actually put on some decent clothing-

Jax: ah this? I just stole it from those 2 npcs having a wedding now the groom is naked.

Gangle: there was a whole box of costumes downstairs. *steps out of her room into the light*

Jax: *stares at her, a blush creeping on his face*

Gangle: what? Does it look wierd?..

Jax: no- no it looks- *cleans his throat* it looks good- *hands her a red rose*

Gangle: *smiles softly and puts it on top of her head* how do I look?

Jax: beauti- I mean you look okay- *comes closer and wipes the running mascara off her face*

Gangle: I shouldn't have put make up on with my tragedy mask.

Jax: what happened to your comedy mask?

Gangle: Caine keeps forgetting to fix it-

Caine: DID SOMEONE MENTION MY NAME? MY MY! YOU BOTH LOOK STUNNING- oh wow Gangle I don't think that dress is prom appropriate

Gangle: huh? *looks down*

Jax: SHUT UP CAINE SHUT UP I WILL FORCE FEED YOU DENTAL FLOSS SHUT UP.

Caine: alright then-

Gangle: *walks with him to the prom* wow you must really like this dress-

Jax: *blushes embarrassed* yeah well- I also just really DISlike Caine.

Bubble: does this mean you're my date for the prom Caine?

Caine: ... *pops bubble*

.

(Also heres a drawing of her in the prom dress)

Yes I used this as am excuse to draw Gangle in yet another dress.

[livi-in-digital-circus]

“Their Deepest Desire” || a short Bunnydoll story

I'm a big fan of Miraculous Ladybug and somewhere in the middle of the night I got this idea based on the season 5 episode "Jubilation", so I thought why not write something like that with Bunnydoll? You can consider this an exclusive story for tumblr people 😎

“Alright, my superstars! I hope you are ready for what is coming today!” Caine exclaimed, scanning each circus member with his big heterochromatic eyes. The previous adventure had taken longer than expected, causing the characters to fall asleep late and wake up not too many hours later.

Pomni thought sleep deprivation lethargy was non-existent in the Digital Circus, but here she was, trying to stay on her wobbly legs and keep her eyes open. Though her comedy mask was already broken, Gangle smiled and giggled uncontrollably from lack of sleep. Kinger seemed to be sleepwalking, occasionally bumping into walls and props. Zooble, on the other hand, decided not to give a damn about the day’s adventure and fell asleep standing up.

The ringmaster paid no attention to their current state, instead focusing on something else. He quietly counted everyone present in the main area and quickly noticed that someone was missing. Caine looked around to see if he wasn’t going blind from all the flashing lights and bright colors, but after a while, he could finally confirm his observation.

“It seems we encountered a problem at the very beginning of our adventure!”

“Don’t worry, boss! I’ll find them and suck their souls out!” Bubble was prepared to do so, but Caine popped him as soon as Jax and Ragatha arrived, the tension between them clashing with the friendly and colorful image of The Amazing Digital Circus.

Unlike the rest of the cast, the rabbit and the rag doll seemed much more lively, Jax walking casually with a grin plastered on his face and Ragatha yelling about something no one could understand. Their argument continued even after they were standing next to the others, and showed no signs of ending any time soon.

“I wouldn’t be yelling at you right now if I hadn’t caught you in my room in the middle of the night, tucking disgusting centipedes in my hair!”

“I just wanted to help them get their midnight snack.” Jax bared his yellow teeth and wrapped a strand of Ragatha’s hair around his finger.

“For the last time, MY HAIR IS NOT LICO-”

Before Ragatha could finish her sentence, Caine teleported right between them, not wanting their bickering to waste the precious time that was allocated for the adventure.

“Excuse me, but I do not recall you two being an old married couple. However, we can give you a speed-run wedding if you’d like!" The ringmaster was about to snap his fingers, but the rag doll shook her head and protested immediately.

“There is no need to! I am truly sorry for being late.”

Jax, on the other hand, was not. He was looking forward to an occasion when he would finally have the chance to mess with Ragatha for an entire day instead of going on some crappy adventure that didn’t involve even a tiny bit of violence and blood.

But would he really spend that much time making his Dollface’s life miserable? Probably not. For weeks, Jax had been bottling up his newfound feelings for her until he couldn’t handle them anymore. They were slowly opening his eyes, showing the poor rabbit boy the true beauty within Ragatha’s smile and personality. And though he showed no signs of it, she was on his mind all the time.

So he was on Ragatha’s. She felt like the protagonist of a typical love story who, as the plot progresses, falls for the bad boy who probably broke her heart once or even twice. The more time she spent in his presence, the more she found herself admiring his attractiveness and blushing whenever he caught her in the act. What was she even thinking?

Still, they argued a lot. There was no way any of them would show any kind of affection for each other, no matter how strong their feelings became. Not to mention how the others would react if they started to notice and suspect something, especially Caine, who actually wasn’t completely against having romantic feelings for someone or the idea of dating itself, but he mentioned once that such a thing could change the dynamic of the group drastically and he didn’t recommend it.

“Let’s not waste any more time, then! A very special adventure awaits you!” With that, Caine snapped his fingers, and a set of what looked like photo booths appeared in front of them. “These are brand new machines that will reveal to you your deepest desires! The ones you didn’t even know existed! Not the obvious ones like finding an exit, for example.”

“Aren’t these just photo booths?” Pomni asked, slowly dozing off, but her head still managed to register what Caine had just said.

“DEEPEST DESIRES REVEAL MACHINES!” The ringmaster shouted in Pomni’s face, and one by one he threw everyone into the ‘booths’.

Ragatha groaned as her back hit the wall of the booth. She was used to being thrown around like a literal rag doll from time to time, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt anymore. She tried to sit up, but that was when she realized that something heavy was on top of her.

Or rather someone.

She thought everyone would be able to see their deepest desires individually. But the number of booths did not match the number of circus members. There was one too few. And that’s why Caine either decided to throw both Ragatha and Jax into the same one, or he actually planned it beforehand.

Jax got up, not even bothering to ask Ragatha if she needed any help standing up. He had to keep his cool, even if no one was watching. He sat on a bench, hands behind his head, waiting for something to appear on the screen that would take a picture.

Meanwhile, Ragatha sighed and slowly moved to the spot right next to Jax, adjusting the bow in her hair a bit. At first, there was complete silence between them as they waited. Yet the screen remained black.

“Oh, come on, do something, you useless device.” Jax complained, clearly not pleased with what Caine had prepared for the day and what he called an ‘adventure’.

“You know you have to press the button to turn it on?” Ragatha asked, a soft laugh escaping her mouth as she observed the rabbit's frustration at such a silly thing.

Jax blinked a few times, realizing that the rag doll was right and noticing that there was indeed a button right under the screen. He tried to play it cool, muttering ‘Of course I know’, while feeling embarrassed and wanting to slap himself in the face for acting like an idiot in front of Ragatha. And he would never want her to see him as an idiot.

Finally, he pressed the button and a pink, bright light spread through the room. Jax and Ragatha quickly covered their eyes, surprised by its intensity. When it faded, they found themselves staring at the image of the main area in the circus. Ragatha felt like she was still sitting in the booth while Jax couldn’t move an inch. What was going on?

Then they noticed that everyone, including themselves, was sitting at the table as usual at their feasts. However, something was different. Jax wasn’t seated between Pomni and Zooble as always, but he had two similar boys next to him. They had bunny ears like Jax, but they looked more plushy and their skin color was blue.

“Slow down, kiddos. Nobody’s gonna steal your food, you know?” Jax rolled his eyes, a smile forming on his face. The boys lifted their heads, their mushy cheeks covered in jam.

“Let them eat, Jax. I bet you were a glutton yourself when you were a kiddo.” Zooble commented as they watched the bunnies eat their tasty breakfast. Pomni, who was sitting next to one of them, giggled and handed him a tissue.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Ragatha sat and instead of enjoying her own food, she concentrated on feeding a little girl in a high chair. Kinger cooed to her from time to time as she played with what looked like a rubbery centipede.

“Good morning, my superstars! I hope you’re eating well and gaining strength for today’s adventure!” Caine appeared out of nowhere and flew up to the boys who were devouring their pancakes. “Don't think your godfather Caine forgot about my adorable rag bunnies! This adventure is one hundred percent safe for the two of you, and even for your little sister!”

The ringmaster moved over to the girl Ragatha was feeding and pinched her cheek, causing her to let out a cute giggle and raise her little hands in his direction. She also had bunny ears, confirming Caine’s words about her being the boys’ sister.

Jax and Ragatha were still glued to the bench in the booth. The rabbit looked confused, wondering what was going on and who these kids were. He glanced at the rag doll sitting next to him, her face turning bright red as she connected the dots. Her lips were trembling, she wanted to say something but couldn't get a word out. Meanwhile, Jax still had no idea why Ragatha was blushing so much.

When everyone had finished their breakfast, Ragatha picked the girl up from the high chair and headed to the bedroom area.

“Come on, Ellie. Mommy has to get you dressed for adventure.” She kissed the baby’s forehead, and the other Ragatha, watching the whole scene, made a series of unclear noises.

Then the two boys ran up to their mother and sister, demanding attention as well. Last but not least, Jax joined the four of them.

“Alright, little guys. You two go to your room and get ready. You don’t want to be late and make Uncle Caine angry, do you?”

Owyn and Ethan, whose names had been mentioned somewhere at breakfast, nodded their heads and began racing to their room. When they were out of sight, Jax took the opportunity to wrap his hands around Ragatha’s waist.

“How is my beautiful wife doing today? I hope Ellie isn’t too fussy.” Saying that, Jax tickled Ellie’s nose, making her wriggle and happily call him ‘Dada’.

“I am good and so is our little rag bunny. She’s so excited for the adventure.”

“I see. But to be honest, I would like it better if we were just alone, without kids or anyone who would want to interrupt our moment of privacy.”

The moment he kissed Ragatha gently on the lips, the other Jax finally realized what this all meant and why the rag doll was blushing. The booth they were in was meant to show their deepest desires. And apparently, theirs was to have a family together one day.

After a while, the pink light shone again and they found themselves back in the booth, with Caine waiting for them outside.

Ragatha was burning up, her mind replaying every single detail of what she had seen. She didn’t have the courage to look at Jax even a little bit. The said rabbit also felt a little warm in his face, trying to get rid of the image of him and Ragatha being a happy couple with kids.

“So, you want a gun or something?” Jax asked casually, ready to get up and have a ‘nice’ conversation with Caine.

“Better get two, just in case.”

“I SAID NO VIOLENCE IN MY DIGITAL CIRCUS”

Thanks for reading!

(we finally have something else than angst lol)

[ms-awesome52]

I don't think Jax isn't as big of a jerk as he lets on

Spoilers for THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS! Pilot. It's on YouTube

I've watched Glitch's new pilot and find the character of Jax really interesting. He comes off as a major jerk, and he is, but I feel he cares a lot more and is kinder than he lets on. I'm going to go through his major moments and break down how many of them were kinder or more harmless than many assume.

1: Meeting/interacting with Pomni

When Pomni first joins the circus, it's obvious that she's confused and freaking out. Ragatha attempts to sugar-coat what's happening when Pomni asks about leaving. Jax rips the band-aid off and tells her that they can't leave. At that moment, Pomni is looking for answers, not comfort, and this may be my autism talking, but Jax's bluntness and ability to get straight to the point likely helped Pomni understand the situation and prosses her new reality much quicker than if they just let Ragatha tip-toe around the topic. Later when they're on their way to meet Kaufmo, Jax makes a joke about Pomni trying to pretend this was all a dream. Both of the previous times Pomni claimed it was a dream, he was the only one to react, and he did it in a way that made it obvious that he and the others knew it wasn't a dream, as to not give her false hope, while also not outright making fun of her. Another thing to point out is that Pomni never has a negative reaction to Jax. To a situation Jax pointed out? Yes. To Jax himself? No. While this isn't an indication of how Pomni feels about Jax, it does show that Jax's comments didn't hurt her.

2: His interactions with Zooble

Zooble and Jax seem to have the most similar mindset. When Jax says that they can't leave and stuff, they'll tell him to shut up and then confirm and/or agree with what he said. They're both sarcastic and don't want to bother with meaningless fluff, which is why they both avoid going on the Gloinks quest at first. They both know that the Gloinks aren't a threat and are just an inconvenience. I get major sibling energy from their dynamic.

3: His interactions with Kinger and Gangle

(These are some of the harder ones to explain but here we go) Kinger and Gangle are the least stable of the main cast as far as I can tell. Kinger is a anxious mess that has forgotten human social cues while Gangle's emotions are dictated by her masks, which are easy to break (Caine probably fixes them often since Gangle says that her comedy mask is broken again). Since he knows the Gloinks are harmless and that Zooble is in no real danger, he trusts the day's quest to them. When he learned that Kaufmo abstracted, he ran away to where they were. When there, he says that Kaufmo is fine (sarcastically, but they didn't pick up on that and I get the vide that he didn't expect them to) then he hears the abstracted Kaufmo and pushes them both into the Gloink hole and jumping in himself. He later confesses that he was only down there to avoid Kaufmo. I interpreted this as him being helpful because 1: he got both Kinger and Gangle to safety and 2: He did it without telling them because while Pomni needed his bluntness, they didn't and telling them straight up before it was truly necessary because they needed to finish the quest so Caine would be there to take care of Kaufmo. If they knew, they would have been to panicked to finish the quest and that would have been a much more dangerous situation.

4: His interactions with Ragatha

Ragatha is the character we see him mess with the most, but she and Zooble also are the characters that are able to handle his jabbing the best, which is likely why he focuses on them instead of those who would be more hurt by his words. When they learn that Kaufmo abstracted, he ran and left them behind, but I see no reason why he wouldn't assume they would run as well. I also get sibling vibes here.

5: His reactions/interactions with Caine and the world itself

Jax seems to be the human that understands how the Circus works the best. When Pomni shows up the first thing he mentions is that they're going to need to rework the theme song to work her in. He also understands the formula best, predicting a brand new adventure (implying that Caine reuses adventures sometimes, like replaying a level in a videogame). This is also the reason I think he knew to go finish the quest to bring Caine back. Another thing to consider is the fact that he has keys to everyone's room. How would he get his hands on those if he didn't understand the mechanics of the digital world? At the end he has a debate with Kinger about Kinger feeling the need to explain that they don't need to eat after Jax says that he's hungry.

TL:DR Jax is blunt when he needs to be, but also knows when to hide info, he only goes as far as he knows the others can handle and he understands the world enough to be able to get the others to a safe area if anything serious happens. (please note, I'm explaining, not excusing any of his behavior. There are many situations where I feel he does take it a bit to far)

[ominous-auburn-orbs]

@just-observing-here Here's the fic you suggested! Hope I followed the prompt right

Jax had pushed it too far. Gangle couldn't take it any longer. The performers saw how a glitching mass of black and brightly coloured eyes had tried to consume her. They were just barely able to calm her down enough to return her to normal. Even Jax had left her alone after that.

Throughout the whole process, Caine had just stood by. He could've helped. He knew he should've. But he had felt paralysed. Fear, he reminded himself. It was called fear. It was a sudden wake-up call for him that any of the performers could abstract at any time, and he would never be able to get them back. Was it his fault they were abstracting? He never wanted them to. He'd gotten attached to this group. He always did. How could he save them? Could he save them at all?

His hand glitched, causing his cane to fall through it. That had started happening since these thoughts had begun. He picked up the cane, but it just fell again. A bit frustrated now, he clicked his fingers to make it disappear, but instead it just shrank. Guess he'll have to deal with that later.

Before long, Caine's thoughts were spiralling again. His chest was getting tighter. He couldn't save them. He couldn't save them. He couldn't-

His body filled with a sharp and painful tingling, causing him to lose control of his floating. The collision with the ground brought him back once more. The loud thud it created also alerted a nearby Kinger, whose responding scream caused both worry and relief. Kinger could help him. But what if Kinger was scared of his glitching? What if it spread like abstraction?

Just as Caine was picking himself up from the floor, Kinger rounded the corner.

"I heard something, are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine, my dear! There's nothing you need to stress over! Nothing at all!" His arm disconnected for a moment, floating beside him before moving back. Kinger definitely saw it.

"W-what was that? Is that meant to be happening?" Now Kinger was concerned. No way out of it now, Caine had had to learn that the hard way before. Odd how he seemed so forgetful and unaware, yet unable to drop something he truly cared about or noticed.

"Well, no, but I'm sure it'll just fix itself!" Kinger ignored him, reaching for his arms and inspecting him, but struggling to keep hold as Caine kept clipping through.

"Did you catch this from Gangle?" The chess piece continued to run his hands along where the glitch showed, pulling a nervous and flustered chuckle from Caine. "Hmm, probably not, or I'd have caught it by now, too. You were pretty far from Gangle anyway..."

Kinger continued to mutter to himself, trying to find a pattern in the glitches. Caine just stared at him. What would he do when he lost him? Caine wasn't ready for that. Kinger could never abstract. He'd lasted this long, but it's not like he could last forever.

Kinger jumped back when Caine went through a strong full-body glitch, bringing him to his knees.

"Caine!" Kinger's hands supported the ringmaster, keeping him from falling any further, but his now ever changing shape made that easier said than done. "Just- just try taking some deep breaths! That usually helps me."

"Kinger- I don't have lungs," he laughed. How could he laugh? Kinger shouldn't be protecting him, it should be the other way around. The chess piece had no idea how much danger he was in.

"O-oh, uh- then what's causing these glitches? Was it Gangle? We fixed her and her comedy mask up, if you were worrying about that. Even gave her a nose, too! I thought an extra feature might make her feel better." Caine was laughing again, the glitches calming. So it was based on his feelings. "I know I'd feel pretty good if I was given a mouth, let alone a nose, even if it was just drawn on! Bet you'd like it if I had a mouth, huh?"

The ringmaster burst out laughing, startled by the comment. Well, he supposed Kinger wasn't wrong.

"Hey, the glitches stopped!" Kinger pressed his face to Caine's teeth in a makeshift kiss. "Who knew I was such a comedic genius?"

Caine just kept giggling, pulling Kinger closer. "I could've guessed."

Kinger joined in on the laughter as well, until he was sure Caine was fine again. "So, any idea as to what that was about?"

A melancholy feeling started creeping across the back of Caine's mind, but it went away when he looked into Kinger's eyes again. "Is it okay if I tell you later?"

"Of course, honey. Whatever helps." Caine's face reddened at the pet name.

"H-honey??" The whirring sound of computer fans emitted from him. Kinger kissed him again, the smile clear on his face despite his lack of a mouth. Maybe everything would be fine after all.

[dragon-creates]

Five Times Jax and Pomni Share Dreams of Their Past Lives (And One Time Where They Remember)

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Here we are, back with another chapter! Thank you so much for the support with this, it really means a lot to me. Especially those in the funnybunny discord server I joined, ya'll have been so welcoming and accepting when I joined so thank you so much.

Also, check out these art that people have made for my fic, I still can't believe people are drawing art of it thank you so much!

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Thank you all again and I hope you enjoy chapter 3!!!

3. Paper Rings

Jax stood with his arms crossed, and a frown printed on his face. Caine had called everyone for the last adventure of the day and Jax already wanted to be finished with it. Ever since his revelation earlier about how he felt about Pomni, his mind had turned into a storming whirlpool. He tried to think of anything else, pranks, centipedes, the existential dread that he was stuck here forever – it might be morbid but it was something at least -, kicking leftover gloinks, breaking Gangle’s comedy mask, Pomni-Pomni-Pomni-Pomni-Pomni…

“Thank you all for coming!” Caine’s abnormally loud voice from him from his daze, thankfully. “I understand that you’ve all been working hard all day with the adventures I’ve given you, but fear not, I have one more and you can all retire for the night!”

“Do we really have to?” Zooble muttered, “Can’t this wait till tomorrow? I’ve got better things to do.”

“I agree,” Gangle whispered, “I wanted to try and fix my comedy mask…again.”

“Don’t you worry Zooble and Gangle, you darling multi-shaped freaks!” Caine bellowed, “This adventure is only for two, so you don’t need to worry about joining anything. I just wanted to gather all of you to see them off before the most exhilarating voyage of a lifetime!”

“Well, whoever it is, I’m glad they’ve got this opportunity to do so,” Ragatha smiled, “It’ll be nice to hear about it when they finish it.”

“Even if it includes insects!” Kinger interjected, “That’s very important.”

“I mean, its just one more adventure,” Pomni shrugged, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

Caine gasped dramatically, finally, their new little jester was starting to get the hang of it here. “That’s great to hear Pomni, for you and Jax are going to be paired up for this glorious crusade!”

Said jester and rabbit’s faces blanched, they were still barely processing their sudden dreams two nights in a row and still weren’t able to get today’s earlier events out of their heads! Not only that, the two were still trying to process their sudden budding feelings with one another, now Caine wanted them to pair up?! Could they not have five minutes of temporary sanity before being shoved into another bizarre situation?!

“Woah, woah, hold up there, dentures!” Jax stepped forward.

“I really don’t think-” Pomni was about to continue before Caine interrupted.

“Now, now you two!” Caine waved his finger, “No need to be so shy! By the end of this adventure, you two will be closer than ever! Just think of it as team building, especially for you Jax, I don’t think I’ve seen you be close with anyone other than-”

“Don’t,” Jax bit out, making the AI go silent. A small whimper was heard, everyone turned to look at Kinger, the chest piece was clutching his cloak tighter to himself, trying to look as small as possible.

“I…I believe we should continue on with the details of your adventure!”  Caine spluttered, wanting to change the subject as quickly as he could, “After all, there’s no reason to think of the past! Since there’s no ‘past’ for any of you to go back to.”

Pomni’s eyes darted from Caine to Kinger and Jax, curiosity began to bite at her. What happened to make everyone react like that? While she was still learning about the past performers here, she still didn’t know everything. Was there someone that Jax genuinely liked here? Did they abstract like Kaufmo as well? She remembered her first day here, the first time seeing an abstraction. If she didn’t arrive would Kaufmo still be okay? He probably had a family before this realm as well, and now any chance of seeing them again was taken from him.

“Now about your adventure! Both Jax and Pomni have to venture through the winding maze! It will be grovelling, it will be exhausting, it will leave you both wondering when this madness will end! But hey, you will end up the best of buddies the time it’s over, you might even wish you’d have stayed!”

Pomni blinked her brainstorm away, she nearly forgot about the adventure!

“Good luck, and we’ll see you both in the morning!” Before Pomni could ask him what he meant, Caine snapped his fingers and the rest of the tent disappeared before her eyes.

The ground felt different underneath her feet, looking down she realized that she was standing on some sort of pixelated grass. She lifted her head to take in the rest of her surroundings, two tall hedges standing on each side of her.

“Well, this is fantastic,” a sarcastic voice drawled. Oh, right, she was stuck with Jax until this was over, “Thank you so much Caine, this is exactly what I wanted.”

“It’s fine, this is fine!” she didn’t know if she was saying this to both of them or just to herself, “It’s just a maze with long winding paths and tall bushes that you can’t see out of and hey what was that Caine said about this madness not ending!?” She was spiralling, she knew that, but in her defence…it was Pomni. “Oh god! How long are we gonna be in here until we find an exit?! What if we don’t find an exit?!”

“Easy, Pom-Pom,” Jax rolled his eyes, “Caine would lose his entertainment if he kept us in here, now come on, I wanna get out of here as soon as possible.” He started walking a few steps, only to pause when he realised that Pomni wasn’t beside him. He let out a groan when he saw that she was still stuck in the same spot, her red and blue eyes replaced with dark swirls that only appeared when she was too caught up in her mind. He went back over and tapped the back of his hand against her cheek, causing her to gasp and jump. “Come on, the last thing we need is you delaying us because you’re too busy panicking.”

Pomni scoffed, that was unnecessary, “It’s not like I can control my panic attacks, unlike you, you actually choose to be a jerk.”

Jax froze, a smirk curling on his lips. Now this was an interesting development, “Well, well. Looks like the new cat on the block finally found her claws.”

Pomni rolled her eyes, she forgot that Jax could be incredibly annoying, “Let’s just try and find an exit.”

“Whatever you say Pom-pom,” Jax’s smirk fell, returning to his prior grimace as the two continued down the maze.

Their suspicions were corrected when guessing that this maze would last more than a while, each corner they turned was a dead end, each path seemed to lead them back to where they started and when they looked back it seemed like the area where they just were had been blocked off. They didn’t know how long they had been walking, minutes, hours? All they knew was that their feet were aching and that they desperately wanted to leave. Jax was starting to lose his patience. If he were stuck here with anyone else he would have tried to run as far away from them as he could. But for some reason, he had some sort of soft spot for Pomni and he couldn’t stand it. It made things much more frustratingly difficult for him, such as not bearing to leave her behind.

It wasn’t until she tripped for the umpteenth time did he start to lose his patience, he picked her up by the back of her collar, holding her at eye level. He had to bite back a laugh, she really did look like a cat this way, a miserable wet one at that. “I don’t think Zooble has fallen over as much as you have,” he said, “At least he has a reason to be so clumsy.”

“Oh really? And what’s your reason for being such an @SShole?” she challenged him, crossing her arms over her chest, “Or were you just born that way?”

Jax let out a slow breath, dropping Pomni into her feet again, watching her stumble as she regained her balance, “You’re right, I don’t have a reason, as long as I’m watching funny things happen to others I don’t really care.”

“Well that’s definitely a sad way to live,” Pomni mumbled, taking a few steps ahead of him.

“Its better than looking for an exit that isn’t there,” Jax retorted, “I mean, its pretty sad when you think about it."

“At least I didn’t leave you with an abstraction,” Pomni quipped, “Thanks a lot for that! It was so much fun for my first day here. Not!”

“Oh you’re so welcome,” Jax gave her a shit-eating grin, “Always great for the newbie to be traumatized on her first day, it gives ya a great taste of what else is coming.”

Pomni glared at him, oh he was having too much fun with her, “You know Ragatha got really hurt because of you? You could’ve tried to help get Caine but you just ran off to who knows where. Then when I tried to help her my hand started glitching, we could have both died!”

“But you didn’t,” he replied, placing a hand on his hip, “This isn’t my first rodeo with something like this, you would’ve been fine.”

“That doesn’t mean I wasn’t freaked out by it!” Pomni grit her teeth, “Like you said, I’m new, how was I supposed to know that it was gonna be fine?!��

“Look just lay off it already?!” Jax fumed.

“Right, cause nearly getting devoured by a glitchy monstrosity is so easy to forget about,” Pomni walked past him. “God you’re such a pain.”

Jax grumbled under his breath, “What do you want, an apology? That’s not something I do sweetie.”

Pomni growled, whipping back round to face him, “Okay, what is with you?! You say you don’t have a reason to care, yet you defended me earlier today when Caine was yelling at me! What the h%ll was that about?!”

Jax inhaled deeply, now she was starting to get on his nerves, but he seemed to be doing the same to her so at least he had some sort of equal footing, “Like I said, I didn’t want Bubble to destroy the carnival, there’s no deeper meaning.”

“And I don’t believe you,” Pomni frowned, “Otherwise you wouldn’t react that way earlier when Caine was talking about you being close with someone.”

Jax flinched, he spoke in a low tone, “That’s deep water you’re treading there, sweetie. I’d recommend for you to stop while you’re ahead.” He shoved past her, ignoring her scoff.

“At least I’m trying to leave!” she stated, “If I can find a way to do that then I can help the others get out of here too! What have you done other than be a d*)k to everyone here?!”

“You really wanna know Pomni?!” he yelled, turning back and stomping over to her, “I have tried to get out! I’ve tried to collect every single key here and yet none of them has opened an exit! Do you know how it feels, to watch everyone else here slowly give up on finding a way out?! You haven’t been here as long as I have! You haven’t seen what I’ve seen! And it hurts to have everyone tell you that it’s pointless in trying to leave, trying to find a way back to a life you don’t remember! So yes, I’m awful and I shouldn’t act this way! I get it! You don’t think I hate it too?! But for some reason when I’m with you I just-!”

He froze, catching himself before he fell off the edge. Pomni’s eyes were wide and cautious, great, he was scaring her off. This should be a good thing, he wouldn’t have to deal with these stupid butterflies anymore, so why did he feel so upset about it? But instead of her yelling at him to leave her alone, all she said was, “I’m sorry that you went through that, but don’t ever speak to me like that again.” A tear fell from her eye, “And maybe it is pointless for me to find an exit like how you tried to as well, but I wanna go back to a world and see what it can offer me rather than live in a place surrounded by fear and void. Even if the life I had before was bad, at least I’ll know that I’m able to change it into something else…I feel sorry for you Jax, I really do.”

With that, she finally walked away, slowly enough for him to catch up but enough for her to leave some distance between them. He shouldn’t care, he doesn’t care, he won’t care. But, just looking at her, seeing the disappointment in her eyes. There was just no denying the raw heartache he felt after hearing those words from her. He really did fall for her, didn’t he? And he probably messed this up too, just like…no, he doesn’t need to think about that event, not anymore.

The next hour of walking was nothing but awkward filled silence. The whole time, the two just wanted to say something, anything to the other, but the words just couldn’t come to mind, and they were just getting too exhausted to keep going. Though there was no indication of night and day here, the way that their eyes kept drooping and the struggle to keep going was starting to overcome their senses.

“We-um,” Pomni stuttered, Jax’s heart fluttered a bit, was he happy at the fact that she finally said something? “We should probably try and get some sleep. It isn’t a good idea to keep going like this.”

“Yeah, we…we should,” Jax nodded, “It’ll stop you from constantly tripping over your feet, eh?” He meant for it to be a joke, but she didn’t react other than a simple hum, he could understand why though.

They walked over to one of the hedges, sitting and leaning against the back of it. It wasn’t the best bed but there wasn’t anything else that they could do. Pomni shuffled away from him, to give Jax some room. “Well, night,” she said softly.

“It’s not able to be night here,” Jax spoke, “But I get what you mean.”

Like that, they turned away from each other, shutting their eyes. Neither of them aware that they were wondering what their dream would be about tonight.

.

.

.

The coffee table in Amber’s living room was scattered with treats. From the remains of gingerbread men and houses to chocolate chip and sugar cookies, even some sweet mince pies, two mugs of hot chocolate and a can of whipped cream on the side. It definitely wasn’t a healthy breakfast, but this sugary calamity was something special Penny liked to share with her mother since she started homeschooling. When things started to turn around for her, Amber made sure that every single aspect of her life was, while not perfect, something for Penny to look forward to. And thus, dessert for breakfast on Christmas morning was born.

Amber and Penny were lazing on the couch, the TV in front of them playing ‘The Grinch’ while the two stuffed themselves to their hearts content. Amber had squirted some whipped cream into her mouth before automatically doing the same with Penny, not even taking her eyes off the TV to know that her daughter had opened her mouth for some. After placing the can back onto the table, she and Penny leaned back into the cushions, with Amber wrapping her arms around her youngest daughter and holding her close. “I feel like at some point we’re going to become the couch if we keep doing this each year,” Penny giggled.

“Honey, we already have,” Amber smiled, pressing a kiss to Penny’s hair, “We are couch people and always will be couch people. I still can’t believe you used to be scared of this movie when you were a kid.”

“That was until I discovered the magic that was Jim Carrey’s comedic line delivery,” Penny replied, “The man’s a legend.”

“He really is, and you will be too my little costuming star!” Amber nuzzled her daughter’s nose with her nose, laughing at Penny’s groans.

“Mom!” Penny buried her head into Amber’s shoulder, “Stop!” She didn’t mean it and Amber knew that.

“I can’t help it if my daughter is amazingly talented,” Amber grinned, loosening up a bit as she peered down to look at Penny’s face. “You know, you seem a little different after that date with Jack at the Christmas fair.”

“I-what-mom!” Penny spluttered, her face as red as a tomato, “It was not a date!”

“Mmhmm,” Amber was not convinced in the slightest, “Baby, I’m old enough and wise enough to realise what a date looks like.”

“Mom…you, wise?” Penny stated.

“Ah, ah, I’m not finished,” Amber waved a finger in front of her face, “Trust me when I say this, I’ve been watching your sister fall in love with Winter and I’ve seen how they act around each other. You know when they first met it was over carrot cake?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard this story before,” Penny smiled, “There were having lunch at work and Winter got carrot cake because it was her favourite while Riley hated it.”

“And the two debated the whole day about cake flavours that they ended up becoming friends,” Amber continued, “And every time they saw each other Riley always brought Winter carrot cake.”

“What does this have to do with Jack?” Penny asked.

“I’ve seen the way Riley looks at Winter,” Amber told her, “She looks at her as though if she was the only thing that matters in the world. She could be surrounded by all the treasures in the world but she would still choose Winter. I saw how that boy looked at you before he left, in a room full of riches he would choose you.”

Penny blushed, thinking back to Jack kissing her cheek. The way he looked at her back then, it filled her stomach with butterflies and her heart thump hard. She never felt this way about anyone before, but the way he would smile at her, send her winks and always make her feel safe, it was hard not to fall for him. The only question was, did he feel the same way back? Sure he kissed her back but that was only on the forehead, what if it was a friendly kiss? What if she makes him feel awkward once she tells him how she feels? What if he wants nothing to do with her anymore?

“Penny, hey, it’s okay,” Amber pushed her daughter’s hair away from her eyes, taking her cheeks into her hands, “I can hear the cogs in your brain turning, but trust me when I say this, your dad has never looked at me the way Jack looks at you.”

Penny bit her lip, she knew that though her mother loved David in the past, he had hurt and betrayed her in many ways too. It was why they had these sugary breakfasts for Christmas, little things like that as a way for Amber to show how sorry she was for what David did to them. If there was a way Penny could show her that she wasn’t at fault, that she forgave her for everything that happened, that it was David who should be at fault for always gaslighting and manipulating Amber into thinking he was still the same man she married, but he was nothing of the sort.

“Mom,” Penny snuggled further into her mother, providing her with the comfort she needed.

“It’s okay baby, I’ve made my peace with it,” Amber held her tighter, “My only regret is that I didn’t realise he was this way before we were married. He gave me false hope and promises, love-bombed me until I could only see the world in rose tinted glasses and by the time I could finally get them off, he got you into that car crash. Jack isn’t like that. I’ve met him a few times while Winter and Riley were dating, and while he didn’t fully introduce himself, Winter’s mom always spoke about him. What I know of him is that while he’s scared and has been hurt many times before, unlike David, he wants to get better not just for his family, but for himself too. That’s more than David has ever done for me or for us.”

“Hey,” Penny turned her head to look up at her mother, “David fucked us all up. And yes, I’m still really scared with giving others a chance, but you’re one of the reasons why I’m able to get help. You were there for me every single step of my recovery and made sure that I was safe and happy. Parenting is a two-person job and not only did you have to do most of it on your own, but you also had two kids under your belt and raised us no matter what was thrown at you. Even if you didn’t leave David before the crash, you helped shield Riley and I as much as you could so that we had a good childhood. Don’t let your shitty ex-husband make you blame yourself for being a great mom.”

“Oh, babygirl, how did I get so lucky with you and your sister,” Amber pressed kisses over Penny’s face, her daughter’s nose scrunching up as she giggled. Her mother pulled away, smiling at her again.

“And you really think that…that Jack sees me like how you said?” Penny mumbled.

Amber gave her a look, her brow was raised and mouth was agape, “Honey, the guy wanted to wait for the perfect moment to ask for your number and kissed your forehead under the moonlight, the man is wrapped around your finger and you don’t even know it.” Penny blushed, ducking slightly under the blanket she was in. “Pen, I’d say go for it, only if you want to. You seem so much more yourself around him. But if he breaks your heart, I’m sending Riley after him.”

Penny burst out laughing at that, “Riley would send him to an early grave!”

“I know,” Amber stated matter-of-factly, “And I won’t hesitate to let her do it.”

“Mom no!” Penny snorted, “And you wonder where Riley gets these tendencies from.”

“Good,” Amber grinned, “That means I taught her well.”

Amber couldn’t help but join in on the laughter, just hearing her daughter laugh was enough to help her forget that she had even mentioned or thought about David. Penny was just that important to her. If anything happened to her…no, this was a good moment, there was so reason to think about the inevitable.

Penny’s phone dinged from the coffee table, sobering up from her laugh session, she leaned over to see what notification she got. What she saw made her gasp and nearly drop her phone.

“Winter proposed to Riley!” She squealed to Amber, the older woman immediately leaning over to check the recent news, “And she said yes!”

“Oh my god!” Amber screamed with joy, shaking Penny by the shoulders, “My daughter is getting married, I’m so happy!”

“Mom I know you’re excited too but I’m gonna be sick!” Penny warbled, starting to get dizzy.

“I’m sorry baby but it’s just, aaaahhhhh!” Amber got up from the couch, “I’m just so happy for her! Wait here, I’m gonna get my phone and message your sister!”

Penny giggled at her mother’s antics as she ran out the room, turning away to look at the image on her phone again. Riley and Winter’s faces weren’t in the picture, but what she did see was the Winter was behind the camera, holding Riley’s hand as she showed off her new engagement ring. This was without a doubt going to be an interesting Christmas dinner.

.

.

.

Jack straightened up his tie again, before unfolding it and retying it again as he stared at himself in the mirror. This was the first time he and Penny were having their families together for dinner, and after the kiss from the Christmas fair, he wanted to follow up on that. Penny had taken over his mind and senses to the point that he had to see her in person again.

Winter and her 8-year-old sister Nina stood at the corner watching him, with Nina’s twin Alex still upstairs getting ready. “What’s the retying count at now Nina?” Winter asked.

“49, wait, it just got up to 50,” Nina told her.

Winter whistled cooly, “Jeez, that’s a new record.”

“I can hear you both you know!” Jack called to them, “You guys wanna keep standing there or do I need to give Nina’s new toys to the bogeyman.”

“No!” Nina cried, running away back up to her room to check if her new Christmas presents were still intact.

“You don’t need to keep worrying,” Winter walked up to him, shoving his hands away and took his tie into her own, “You were blushing like a tomato after kissing that girl and she was just the same. Just play your cards right, take it slow and things will work out.” She wrapped the tie into a knot.

“That’s easy for the recently engaged lesbian to say,” Jack pointed out, “Which by the way, congratulations again.”

“Thank you,” Winter grinned.

“I just…I’ve never felt this way about anyone before,” Jack sighed, “I never thought I deserved someone who could make me this happy. Every time she walks into a room I forget how to breath. I can’t mess this up.”

Winter stopped her hands for a moment, “The only way you’re gonna mess things up is if you let those thoughts win. You’ve been doing great and you told each other what happened when you both were kids and she still wants to see you. Just take a breath, let me fix your tie and just let the night lead itself. I didn’t have much of a plan for proposing to Riley other than doing it on Christmas and she still agreed to marry me. Plans are overrated…sometimes, you know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” Jack nodded, “I do.” He took a breath as Winter finally finished his tie, checking himself out in the mirror. He flashed himself a grin, “Still as handsome as always.”

“And he’s back,” Winter rolled her eyes.

“Ooooh!” Both Jack and Winter turned to the sound of teasing voices, looking up to the stairs and seeing Nina and Alex with mischievous grins on their faces while chanting, “Jack has a girlfriend! Jack has a girlfriend!”

“Jack is gonna give all your gifts to the bogeyman!” He retorted, making the two scream and rush downstairs into the living room.

Meanwhile, Riley was busy helping carry the plates and cutlery to the table making sure everything was carefully placed on the Christmas-snowflake themed tablemats. Winter’s mother, Laura, came in carrying a hot plate of steamed vegetables, focusing on her attention on the food to make sure it wouldn’t fall before Riley came over to take it from her. “Here, Mrs Alvarez,” she said, “Let me.”

“Oh Riley there’s no need,” Laura patted her back, “I just wanted you to relax with Winter, let me and Marcus manage it.”

“I’m going to become part of your family soon. Please, allow me,” Riley persisted, placing down the pot near the centre of the table.

“Oh you’re a good girl Riley,” Laura took Riley’s hand into hers, “It’s no wonder Winter fell in love with you.”

“Mama!” Winter flushed, entering the dining room with Jack hot on her heels, “Please save the embarrassing stuff for the wedding!”

“No Laura continue,” Jack grinned, “This is karma for teasing me about Penny.”

“Oh, Penny Reed?” Winter’s father Marcus entered the dining room, his smile wide and his eyes crinkling with joy. “Winter told me so much about your date with her at the fair. Tell me more about her!”

Shit Jack cursed internally, with Winter sending him a smug look. “Well, I-”

“Yes, do go on,” Riley’s firm voice chided him, almost threatening him to not slip up. “Tell us more about my sister Jack.”

And now he had to tread carefully, especially talking about the younger sister of a 6-foot redhead with the experience of breaking the bones of criminals and throwing people over her shoulder. Please let whatever luck he had be on his side during this moment. “W-well she’s kind, funny,” He gulped as Riley squinted at him, he really didn’t want to die tonight, “And she one of the best people I’ve ever met in my entire life…whenever I’m with her, she makes me the happiest I’ve ever been. I just hope that I’m making her happy too.”

Riley softened a bit, did that mean she approved of his answer or thinking of plans ranging from A to Z to murder him?! This woman terrified him to no end!

“Well, she must be pretty special if you think that of her,” Laura beamed, “I can’t wait to officially meet my other daughter-in-law! Now if you excuse me, I need to get the pork out of the oven.”

“Hang on, I’ll help!” Marcus called after his wife as he trailed after her.

That was when the doorbell rang, light and quick on his feet, Jack bounded for the door. He straightened his jacket and tie one more time, cleared his throat rolled back his shoulder, he could do this. With a turn of the knob, the door swung open, revealing Penny glowing under the moonlight. Suddenly, his voice was cut in his throat and his palms were sweating despite the chill rolling in from the open door. The only word he managed to say was, “Hi.”

“Hi,” she shyly replied, her hands tightening on a small gift bag she brought.

He shook his head quickly, letting himself reboot as he turned to Amber, her smirk held nothing but the knowledge of a woman who knew all too well about what the two felt for one another. “Amber,” he greeted, holding out his hand for her to shake, “It’s good to see you again.”

“And you Jack,” Amber returned the handshake, letting him lead her and Penny into the house before shutting the door behind them. “I see you’ve cleaned up well.” It was a normal sentence, but her words told a totally different story.

Oh, she knew, she really knew! He was an open book and Amber had flicked through every single page. “I-I always dress this nice for Christmas, ma’am,” he stammered, “It wouldn’t be formal of me to not look this good for the holidays.”

Amber hummed, sure she believed what he said, but what Jack failed to realise was that Amber noticed his suit was the colour blue – Penny’s favourite colour.

“Hey mom,” Riley made a beeline to her mother, wrapping her arms around her, “I hope walking here wasn’t too bad with the snow,”

“Don’t worry baby, it was fine,” Amber pressed a kiss to her hair before pulling back, “But enough about me, let me see the ring!”

Riley blushed, unable to hide the giddy smile as she held up her hand.

“Oh my god, Riley!” Penny squealed, hugging her older sister. “Winter got you a good one! I’m so happy for you!”

“I know,” Riley laughed, “I’m the luckiest woman in the world.”

“Actually, that would be me,” Winter slid her arms around fiancé’s waist from behind, resting her head on her shoulder, “I’m the one who’s marrying this beautiful woman.”

“Flattery already?” Riley pressed her cheek against Winter’s, “And the marriage hasn’t even begun.”

“Am I not allowed to compliment my soon-to-be-wife?” Winter kissed Riley’s cheek, “Besides, that’s only 20% of my flattery, I’m saving the other 80% for my vows.”

“Dear god,” Riley slapped her palm against her forehead, knowing Winter, she was going to leave Riley as red as a tomato.

Penny stifled a laugh, Jack screamed internally at the sound. How can anyone be this fucking cute?!

“Penny!” Laura came rushing down the hall, her apron stained with some type of sauce, “I’m so happy we can finally meet.”

She opened her arms, ready to bring Penny in for a hug, only for the girl to freeze and back away. Laura faltered, her brows furrowing with concern at Penny’s startled reaction. Winter was quick to step in.

“Mama, remember,” she told her, “Penny is funny with being touched unless it’s by someone she fully knows and trusts or she’s the one going first.”

“Oh goodness,” Laura gasped, “Penny sweetie I’m so sorry I genuinely forgot!”

“It’s fine, really it’s fine,” Penny reassured her, stepping forward, “Honestly I’m able to tell when it’s a simple mistake.”

Jack’s stomach churned, all those years of bullying and her father berating her made Penny so frightened. He just wanted to shield her from everything bad so that she would never have to feel that sort of fear and pain ever again. Out of anyone in this room, he could relate to that type of fear.

“I’ll make sure to let the others know, I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable during your first meal here,” Laura informed her.

“Thank you Mrs Alvarez,” Penny smiled, “I really appreciate it.”

“It’s absolutely no problem honey,” Laura emphasized, “Now I’ve gotta get the rest of these plates out, please, make yourselves at home.” With that, she turned to walk back into the kitchen.

“Here, let me take your coats,” Jack offered, holding his arm out.

“What a gentleman!” Amber gave Penny a look, making the girl glare at her mother, “Penny you better snatch him up before anyone else does.”

“Mom!” Penny hissed. Jack was fairly sure his face resembled the red lights flashing on the Christmas tree.

“Mom, why don’t you and Penny just wait in the living room please!” Riley exasperated, desperate for her mother to not spout out whatever she had in mind.

Amber put her hands up in surrender, “Alright, I yield.”

“Don’t worry Amber,” Winter took the woman’s arm into hers and led her into the living room, “She’s been like that with me whenever I point them out as well.”

“Honestly Winter, what it your fiancé like?” she joked, leaving Riley gaping behind them.

“I heard that!” Riley hollered, chasing after them, leaving Jack and Penny alone in the hallway together.

Jack took this moment to take in the garment she was wearing. It was a simple crimson dress with a floor length pleated skirt, long off-the-shoulder bell sleeves and a ruffled neckline. “You look…wow,” he breathed, how was she able to take something so simple and still look so stunning? She truly was remarkable.

“Thanks,” she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, “I wasn’t gonna wear it but I thought that it would be nice for this evening.”

“You’re so beautiful,” he knew what he said, and he wasn’t going to take it back, not when she peered up at him through her long lashes with a gasp.

“Y-you’re ridiculous,” she uttered, handing him her jacket.

“Hey, just telling the truth here,” he replied as he went to hang up her jacket on the wall, “Besides, someone’s gotta point out how pretty you are.”

“Keep the chivalry to yourself sir,” Penny placed a hand on her hip.

“Can’t help it, I’m dreamy,” he was unable to keep the grin off his face at her pout. His face softened, holding out his arm, “Shall we?”

Penny raised a brow at him, grinning. “Mr Jack how thoughtful of you.”

“Well I have to put the wellbeing of our guests first,” He joked back, “Let me introduce you to everyone else.”

Penny nodded and slipped her arm into his, the two unable to fight of the chortles at their current predicament. He led her into the living room, Amber was already sitting down talking to Riley and Winter. On the sofa across from them was another couple around Marcus and Laura’s age. “Penny, this is Winter’s aunt and uncle, Anya and Winston.” he introduced. She gave them a nod before Jack led her to another young woman around her age. “This is their daughter Kiara.”

“It’s really nice to meet you Penny,” Kiara greeted.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Penny returned.

Winston spoke up, “Laura’s been talking nonstop about ‘Jack’s new sweetheart,’ so it’s nice to finally meet the lovely lady in person.”

“Of course Laura’s been talking about us,” Jack groaned, Penny had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing.

“She’s so pretty Jack!” Anya gushed from her seat, “Where did you find this lovely girl?”

Both of them paled, sharing a look. The story about how they met was always going to be an awkward one, wasn’t it? They were saved by the sound of thundering feet descending down the stairs as Nina and Alex came bounding over to Jack and clutched each of his leg.

“Jack!” Nina cheered, “Penny’s here!”

“Yes, I can see that-ah-guys let go!” He stumbled over his feet and words, how much sugar did these two have earlier?

“Jack has a girlfriend! Jack has a girlfriend!” Alex chanted.

Penny and Jack spluttered over their words, at a loss of what they heard. “We’re not-” Penny gasped.

“It’s not like that-!” Jack objected “We’re just-”

“-Friends!” They chorused. Friends yes, that was what they were, but it just didn’t sound like something they wanted to continue being. They were unable to keep the daydreams of each other away anymore, to constantly wonder what the other was doing, what other hobbies they might have, if the other felt the same way.

“Nina, Alex!” Laura came back through again, the apron gone as she took each twin’s arm in her hands and pulled them off Jack, much to his relief. “That’s enough harassing Jack, dinner is ready.”

“I can’t wait to see what you’ve made this year Laura,” Winston clapped his hands together.

“I’ve gotta say I’m pretty excited to eat what you’ve made as well,” Amber got up, “As well as the table gossip as well.” She gestured to Jack and Penny.

“Oh Amber you must sit next to me, I have so much to share,” Laura not-so-subtly gestured to Jack and Penny.

Both mothers grinned, leaving Jack and Penny flustered messes unable to move from their spots.

“I’m so sorry about that,” Jack unlinked his arm, immediately missing Penny’s warmth.

“No, I should be sorry,” Penny objected, “My mom can be a lot sometimes.”

“Well I guess that’s just another thing we have in common,” Jack nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah, I think so,” Penny’s embarrassment began to slip away, Jack’s seemingly doing so as well.

“Penny!” Riley interjected, taking her sister’s hand, “Sit next to me!”

“But I-woah!” Riley dragged her younger sister into the dining room, plopping her down to the seat on Riley’s left while Winter sat on Riley’s right. Guess she was still a bit protective.

“What are you waiting for over there dude? Come on!” Winter waved a hand over.

Jack let out a slow breath as he walked over, sitting opposite from Penny. At least it would be easier to talk to her face to face without twisting his head. Soon, everyone was loading pork, bread and steamed vegetables onto their plates, Kiara was taking photos of her food with Anya scolding her to put her phone away, Winston was already scooping up spoonful’s into his mouth, Nina and Alex grimaced at the greens on their plates and asking when dessert was, Laura was pouring wine into her and Amber’s glasses before clinking them together, Marcus was listing off each shop he had to visit just to make sure he got every right ingredient for tonight’s meal, Winter and Riley were holding hands and had all their focus on each other instead of the food in front of them, and Penny and Jack kept trading small glances while eating, their eyes holding their own conversation as the drowned everyone else out.

“So Jack,” Anya piped up, “Do you have any plans once you graduate?”

“Uh, what?” he barely registered the question until it finally caught up to him. “Oh, right! Um, I’m trying to apply for an internship at this game company called C&A, they hire a lot of indie and free-lancing creators and help promote their games so I’m hoping to get a place there.”

“I think you’ll get it,” Penny said, “I’ve seen some of the stuff Jack worked on, he’s really talented.”

“And so are you little lady,” he said that mostly to see her cute pout again, “Laura, did you know that Penny is a costume designer?”

“I did,” Laura nodded, “And I’ve seen some of the pictures of her creations that you showed me, Penny you really do have a talent.”

“She’s been designing ever since she was six,” Riley said, “I have no idea where she gets her ideas from, it’s incredible.”

“It meets the bar at least,” Penny objected, “Trust me there’s people in my class that are way better than I am.”

“Don’t sell yourself short Pen, every time you send me a picture of something you’ve made It just shows how creative you are. Someone’s gonna reach out to you one day and say ‘Penny, you are one of the most talented people in the world and I wanna hire you!’ it’ll happen one day, I swear on it, after all I’m never wrong,” Jack said, pointing his fork at her.

“You? Never wrong?” Penny said doubtingly.

“What? I’ll have you know I’m very smart,” he frowned mockingly.

“I’m gonna have to agree with my sister there,” Riley said.

“Oh come on!” Jack cried and turned to Winter, “A little help here?”

“Why, everything they said is true,” she chortled.

Jack moaned as the rest of the table laughed, clearly taking pride in his misery.

Penny’s giggles died down, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye as she faced him again, “Well hopefully someone will take pity on my designs one day.”

“You mean someone will see how exceptional you are,” Jack pointed out.

“Awfully generous but sure, we’ll stick with that,” Penny rolled her eyes fondly.

“Let’s just hope he says what he means instead of talking out of his ass,” Riley quipped.

Penny threw her sister a look, “Riley,”

“What?” Riley shrugged her shoulder, “I’m not saying he’s wrong.”

Amber raised a brow at her daughter. It was a joke, she knew that was going to happen. But she knew Riley long enough to know when her daughter was hiding something, and more importantly, when Riley was hurting.

“Speaking of designs,” Penny said, “Riley, you gotta let me make your dress.”

“What, you don’t need to do that, I just want you to enjoy the wedding,” Riley interjected.

“Can’t hear you, I’m too busy thinking about your dress since I’m the best sister ever,” Penny gave her sister a sly grin.

Riley huffed a laugh, once her sister was inspired nothing could stop her.

“Jack?” Nina piped up.

“What’s up squirt?”

“Can you sing ‘No Girl’s Toy? after dessert?” she pleaded.

“Yeah, “No Girl’s Toy!” Alex cheered with his sister, “Oh please Jack, please sing that!”

Jack flushed, waving his hands in exasperation, “Woah, woah hang on! I’m not singing that!”

“Please Jack, please!” The twins chorused.

“It’s just a little song Jack,” Winter jeered, Jack glared at her.

“Yeah,” Riley joined in on her fiancé’s antics, “What’s so wrong with the Raggedy Andy song Jack?”

“I sung that one time and suddenly whenever it’s brought up I’m forced to sing it!” he told them, “I’m putting my foot down on this one, there’s no way that any of you can convince me too-”

“Raggedy Ann was my favourite movie growing up,” Penny mentioned, “I’d love to hear you sing that song. Please?”

Oh god, Penny’s chocolate brown eyes had such an effective grip on him, how on earth could he say no to those lovely eyes? He sighed, “Fine, one song and that’s it.”

“Yay!” The twins cheered before tucking back into their meal.

“You should bring Penny over more often,” said Alex.

“Yeah she makes you do fun stuff,” Nina agreed.

“It is very interesting how easily swayed you were,” Laura joined in.

Jack wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole, he was being way too obvious with how he felt. “Please, I just want to eat my food without any further humiliation.”

“You know Marcus, he’s acting just like you before you started going out with Laura,” Winston said, “The red face, being easily swayed, the teasing. I’m getting a bit of déjà vu here.”

Jack bit down on his fork hard as Penny began to quietly squeal like a kettle, this night was already too much for the both of them.

After dinner and dessert was finished, Riley was helping Laura wash up the dishes despite the woman requesting Riley to sit down. “Laura, do you mind if I have a word with my daughter?” Amber asked, entering the kitchen.

“Oh, of course,” Laura said before turning back to Riley again, “Remember sweetie, you’re our guest, make sure you relax tonight.”

“Just after I’m finished with this dish Mrs Alvarez,” Riley continued to scrub the plate, “Than I’ll relax.”

Laura patted her back, leaving the mother and daughter in the kitchen alone together. “Is everything okay with you?” Amber asked.

“What do you mean?” Riley didn’t take her eyes off the plate.

“I mean with Jack and Penny,” Amber told her, “I thought you were fine with him back when you started dating Winter.”

“I am,” Winter dried off the plate and put it away, “If this is about Penny, that’s just me being protective.”

“I know that,” Amber walked over to her, “But I also noticed that you seemed a bit aggravated towards him.”

Riley whipped round, “No I wasn’t, I was just looking out for Penny.”

“Penny is a grown adult who can make her own choices,” Amber walked closer to her, “Riley, baby, why are you so worried?”

“Come on mom, you aren’t at least a little bit worried?” Riley argued, “You aren’t worried that he’s like the boys from Penny’s high school. Penny’s got a sensitive heart, what if he breaks it like they did? Those boys didn’t actually like her, they wanted to control her. And once she didn’t give them what they wanted they would just dump her! What if he’s like that, what if he makes her hate herself? What if he makes her so scared to the point she stops talking again? What if we actually lose her? What if-”

“-If he’s like David,” Amber finished for her, “That’s what it is, right?”

Riley froze, part of her knew that this was why she was so scared for her younger sister, but she wanted David out of her mind. He already tried to force himself back into Riley’s life many times to ask for money, and she never forgave him for involving Penny in that car crash. She hated him, she hated him so much that she would never let anyone else hurt Penny like that again, she failed with David, she failed with those stupid high school boys and she won’t make that mistake ever again. “I have to be careful mom,” Riley said to her mother, “I can’t let Penny feel that kind of pain again.”

“I know baby,” Amber said, “When I heard of Jack and Penny seeing each other I got worried as well. It’s always my first instinct. But now, I know that I can’t let David control what could actually be good for Penny, I won’t let him get into my head like that. I’m still scared, baby believe me, but not as much as I used to be.” She cupped her daughter’s cheek, gently lifting her head to meet her eyes, “David hurt you too Riley, I know you hate thinking about him, but you’re allowed to feel betrayed as well. If I ever made you feel that you weren’t allowed to hurt for what he did to you, I’m so sorry. I’m your mother and I’m supposed to protect my babies. Yes, I protected Penny, but don’t think for a second I won’t protect you too, even after you’ve left the nest.”

Amber held her arms out for her daughter. After so much anger and frustrations for her father after so long, Riley all but broke in her mother’s arms, Amber stroking her hair and whispering comforts into her ear. “It’s okay baby, I’m here, mama’s here.”

A soft sniffle made them turn to the doorway, seeing Penny there with a few leaked tears. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” she whimpered, “Can I have a hug too?”

Riley and Amber opened their arms for her, letting the youngest daughter cry along with them as their mother squeezed them both. In that moment, Riley wasn’t an engaged woman and Penny wasn’t an aspiring college student. They were just the 10- and 14-year-old girls letting their mother sooth them after so much pain.

After a while, their tears were dried and the three headed back into the living room. Everyone rushed up to them, panicking and asking them if they were all right. They told the rest of the family that they were fine, just a mother and her two daughters picking up a few fallen pieces.

It wasn’t until Penny erupted into a fit of giggles, seeing Jack being the one to pout this time as he held up a microphone and had the TV ready to play ‘No Girl’s Toy.’ Everyone was immediately seated, ready to hear the performance.

“I hope my suffering entertains you monsters,” he mumbled, before pressing play on the music. He gave out one final sigh before he began to sing.

Well, you can push me, shove me, turn me around, but I'm no girl's toy!

You can tie me, toss me, upside or down, but I'm no girl's toy!

I sing my own sweet melody, I go my own sweet way.

I won't beg 'round tomorrow for the kind of affection that was free today!

Oh, you can squeeze me, tease me; say I'm your own but I'm no girl's toy!

You can charm me, chase me, follow me home; I won't be coy!

You may not like it much but I'm my own best boy,

And not some sugar and spicy, lacy and nicey, sissy you're gonna enjoy!

No, I'm no girl's toy!

Everyone applauded and clapped as he continued to sing. He was embarrassed, that was for sure. But seeing Penny so carefree and happy, no worries and stress in those beautiful eyes of hers, just having fun with everyone else, he would sing this song for the rest of his life as long as she was happy. He was unable to stop his pleased smile while he sang.

Riley rested her head on Winter’s shoulder, she didn’t need to say anything for Winter to know when her fiancé needed her. She kept looking between Jack and Penny, just seeing what he would do for her, she knew that he wasn’t a bad person, although her protectiveness would always take over her senses. However she knew that Penny had to do this on her own, but for the first time in a while, she believed that her little sister was safe.

.

.

.

Spring had arrived, the perfect atmosphere for Riley and Winter’s wedding to take place. They had booked a hotel for the night and rented out it’s ballroom for tonight’s event. There was only one thing on everyone’s minds, make sure this wedding went off without a hitch.

Since Christmas, Penny had put all her focus on making the perfect dress for Riley, something that was pristine and bridal while also making sure that this dress was something only Riley would wear. Jack had facetimed her every time she was sewing, making sure she was getting on well with the dress while also making sure she was eating and drinking enough fluids. He had also seen the final result of the dress and he was determined that once Winter saw Riley walking down the isle wearing that, she would promptly burst into tears.

After hours of setting up flowers and decorations, making sure the place was spotless, the meals were delicious, the dance floor was ready, getting changed into their wedding outfits and the chocolate fondue was prepared, everyone could finally breathe until the wedding officially begun.

Jack was currently standing at the end of the aisle, waiting for Winter to walk up with her father. That would be the order, the brides would wait in their dressing rooms, wait for one of them to walk up the aisle first before leaving their own room to walk up as well, in order for neither of them to see their gowns.

He wore a black tux with a simple white blouse underneath, fiddling with his cuffs one more time before resting his hands. Of course Winter had asked him to be her best man, it was expected since he was practically her adopted brother. Alex was beside him, standing proud and taking his job as the ring bearer seriously. He ruffled the boy’s hair, making him laugh before Laura sent a look to the boys, telling them to behave.

Everyone straightened up when the music began. The doors opened, revealing Nina as the flower girl, spreading flowers across the aisle as a few bridesmaids followed, including Kiara, each of them wearing soft silvery grey dresses. There was a swell of pride when he watched Winter walk through the doors and up the aisle, her arm secured in Marcus’s as the man led his daughter up while his eyes welled with tears. Winter wore a snow-white gown with a full-layered skirt while her bodice consisted of a sweetheart neckline and spaghetti straps. Some would call it simple, Winter called it timeless.

Once she arrived at the top of the aisle, her father kissed her on the cheek and whispered praise into her ear. It was only when she stood at the top and her father sat down, Jack noticed her clutching her bouquet of roses while trembling like a leaf. He leaned over and whispered, “You’re okay. Riley has been head over heals with you ever since you met.”

“What if she changes her mind?” she whispered back, “What if she realises we’re too different and leaves?”

“That’s not possible,” he told her, “You too are proof of the carrot cake theory working.”

“Excuse me?” she asked, baffled.

“The carrot cake theory,” he said, “You love it and Riley hates it, yet she always brought a freshly homemade carrot cake because you it’s your favourite. You too are proof that the theory works, that opposites attract.”

Winter snorted, “You just blatantly ripped off the olive theory.”

“Mine is better,” he sniffed, “Besides, it got you to stop shaking.”

Winter looked down at her hands, he was right, she had stopped shaking. The doors opened and Winter’s breath hitched as she gawked at her bride. Riley’s arm was in her mothers, her dress was an off-the-shoulder mermaid cut with a train, the white fabric adorned with glittered floral embroidery and long sleeves. The dress clung to her, Winter let a few tears fall, she was beautiful.

Jack was taken aback to, not by the bride, but by her maid of honour. Penny’s dress wasn’t as grand, yes, but he couldn’t take her eyes off her as she followed her sister. Her dress consisted of a purplish rouge chiffon fabric, a long A-line skirt, a straight across neckline and long balloon sleeves. He fell in love all over again.

Once Riley reached the end of the aisle, her hands latched onto Winter’s as Jack and Penny took a hold of their bouquets. Both brides were focused on each other, nothing else mattered. Once Amber sat down, did the wedding begin.

“Dearly beloved,” the officiator spoke, “We are gathered here today for the wonderful union of Riley Reed and Amber Alvarez. These two have proven that despite our differences, there is a love that can be found no matter what. Today, we are here to celebrate that love as these lovely ladies become not just married, but soulmates on this day. Winter, your vows.”

Winter took a shaky breath, “Riley, when I first met you, I won’t lie, I was a bit scared of you,” That earned a laugh from the crowd. “But after getting to know you, knowing how much you love your family, what you’ll do to make sure our clients get the justice they deserve, and knowing that despite your front, you are one of the kindest people I’ve ever met and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Riley began to cry as well, unable to keep all the affection she felt for this woman at bay. With the officiator’s okay, she began her speech. “Winter, every time I look at you I just keep asking myself, how did I get so lucky? How did I deserve the most perfect girl in the world? You look at the world with such positivity and kindness that I couldn’t not fall in love with you. Every time I look at you, you remind me why I became a private investigator, to help amazing people like you make the world a better place. I just…I really fucking love you Winter!”

Winter gave her a wet laugh, God she wanted to kiss her so bad.

“Winter,” the officiator said, “Do you take Riley Reed to be your wife, in sickness and in health, until the day you part, may you be together?”

“I do!” Winter replied immediately.

“And do you Riley-”

“I do, a thousand times I do!” Riley couldn’t stop the tears, not caring if her makeup got ruined.

“May we have the rings?” the officiator asked. Alex puffed his chest and beamed, carrying the rings over to the brides. The women thanked the young boy as the slipped each ring onto each other’s finger before holding hands again. “By the power vested in me, I know pronounce you too married. You may kiss the-”

The two didn’t wait for the officiator to finished before slamming their lips against each other’s, the crowd erupting into applause. Jack’s focus wasn’t on the couple though, his eyes travelled to Penny as she cheered for her older sister. Her eyes met Jack’s, the two of them just staring for a moment before giving each other a smile. It was in the moment that the two decided internally that one day, they wanted to have this moment and say ‘I do’ to one another. Tonight, they decided, would be the night that they would stop being ‘friends.’

.

.

.

The dance floor was empty apart from the newlyweds, holding each other in their arms as they let the music carry their slow steps. They weren’t able to keep their hands off each other since they were married, afraid that if they did then everything would disappear. By the time the first dance ended, the music picked up the pace and everyone was on the dance floor, dancing the night away, congratulating the couple and unafraid to be slightly more than tipsy.

Winter and Riley even threw their bouquets, having their backs turned to make sure it would be a surprise. When they turned round, they saw that Winter’s bouquet was held by one of the bridesmaids, and Riley’s was plopped into Penny’s hands.

“Penny’s gonna marry Jack!” Nina bellowed, she already had too much sugar from the fondue. It didn’t stop everyone whispering knowingly, apart from Riley still giving Jack the evil eye. However, Jack and Penny didn’t mind the teasing this time, after all, even if they didn’t confess yet, their feelings were mutual.

A while later, after dancing, talking and snacking, Jack pulled away from the buzz to get some fresh air on the balcony. He felt his heart take a leap when he saw Penny outside as well, her long hair flowing in the soft spring wind, taking in the quiet. He gently opened the door, trying not to startle her, though it seemed that he didn’t need to worry about that when she turned and noticed him, she must’ve sensed him coming outside.

“Need a break?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said, going up to rest his arms on the stone rail, “I was also hoping to see you as well.”

“I guess it’s a win-win situation,” she gently nudged his shoulder with hers. He was glad that he was part of her inner circle of people she was comfortable touching. “So, Riley and Winter are finally married.”

“I’m surprised they didn’t do so sooner,” he reflected the first time Winter brought Riley home, how they would giggle and fawn over each other as Riley was introduced to Winter’s parents, “I felt like I was gonna go insane with how much they made goo-goo eyes at each other.”

“They still do that,” Penny replied, “And I think its gonna amplify now that they’re married.”

“Oh jeez,” he put a hand to his head, listening to Penny’s sweet giggle. He took in the situation at hand, they were on the balcony together talking and having fun with all the space they needed to talk about their feelings. Maybe this was his chance, “Although I will admit, I am a little jealous. It would be pretty nice to have someone to do all that sappy stuff with.”

“O-oh,” Penny was taken aback a little bit, the thought of he and her doing all sorts of couple things rushing through her mind. Wanting to spend all his time with her, holding her hand, whispering sweet nothings when no one was looking. “I wanna do that too, you know, with the right person.”

Jack fiddled with the cuffs on his sleeves, this was it, “And what is the ‘right person’ that you have in mind?”

Penny gulped, okay, now it was getting serious, no turning back. “Well, I’d like him to be funny, kind, respectful to his and my family. Someone who has my back no matter what. Someone who makes sure that I feel like I deserve to be here. Someone who…sees me.”

She said, oh she said it! Did this mean she felt the same, only one way to find out. “Is that so little lady?” he took in her blush and nod, “Well, I bet he’s very handsome, jaw-droppingly if you will.”

Penny’s blush faded as she let out a chortle, “Did I forget to mention he’s full of himself?”

Jack placed his hand dramatically on his chest, “Why Penny how rude! It’s takes guts for someone to admit when they’re good looking.”

“Guts? Or an ego that’s too big to fit his head?” she began to belly laugh at his frown, clutching her sides as she clutched her ribs.

“Oh? Well that’s too bad little lady, I was just about to describe my ‘right’ person,” he chuckled as she straightened back up, “But it you don’t wanna hear it-”

“Alright, you smug bastard,” she sighed fondly, “Tell me, what are they like?”

“Well, let’s see,” he tapped his chin in false thought, “She’s extremely talented, always puts her family first, has one of the cutest laughs in the world.” Taking a chance, he tucked a piece of her hair behind her skin, his skin tingling as he made contact with hers, “Insanely beautiful…who sees me too…and is very short.”

“I will bite you,” Penny snarled, but she held no threat in her tone.

Jack’s face softened, “And, I want to hold her, tell her how much I love her and be with her as long as she lets me.”

Penny’s shivered at his tone, if he were talking about her (and she really hoped he was) then she had to do this next part carefully, “And if you were with this girl right now, how would you tell her about how you feel?”

Jack gulped, time to take the plunge, “I would tell her that I’m not a perfect person, but I am someone who’s always trying. You’ve taken over my mind and have stolen my heart, but I can’t find it in myself to care as long as it’s in your hands.” He took her hands in his at those words, “I just hope that she feels the same way.”

Penny’s heart fluttered, squeezing his hand in return as a swell of joy rushed through her from head to toe, “She does! She really does!”

Jack exhaled sharply, he couldn’t believe it! She likes him back! She wanted to be with him! “I wanna kiss you so badly right now,” he clamped his mouth shut when he realised what came out his mouth. They just confessed and now he was admitting that he wanted to kiss her, and just when he thought he was being smooth.

“Okay,” Penny peered up at him through her lashes.

Jack gaped at her, “Pen, you don’t want to if you don’t want to.”

“Trust me,” she cupped his cheek, “I really want this.” Despite her initial shock, she oh so badly wanted to kiss him back. Ever since the Christmas fair she was unable to spot thinking about his lips on her forehead, or how they would feel on her lips. “Are you gonna keep gawking or do I need to make the first move?” she teased.

Both of his hands were suddenly cupping her cheeks, cutting her off. He gave her one more look, a silent request to do this. When she nodded, he immediately planted his lips on hers. She was so soft, so sweet, so amazing! God he loved her!

She returned the kiss with the same warmth he gave her, with one hand on his cheek she used the other to pull him in closer by the waist. His lips felt the same as they did on her forehead, but somehow so different on her lips. No one ever kissed her like this before, like she really mattered to them. But with Jack, his mouth matched his promise he told to her, and she never wanted him to stop.

They parted for a moment to catch their breaths, grinning as they rested their foreheads together. “So,” she took in another lungful of air, “Does this mean you like me back?”

He smirked, taking her chin between his thumb and finger, “You tell me little lady, or would you rather I show and not tell with another kiss.”

“The second option please,” she grinned back.

He was about to dive back into her lips when a gasp made them both freeze. By the doors, Amber stood with a glass of wine, she was probably out here to get some air as well. “I knew it!” she squealed, “I knew you were gonna confess tonight! Laura owes me ten bucks!”

“Mom!” Penny gasped, clutching herself closer to Jack to save herself from embarrassment.

“Don’t worry baby, I’ll keep this between you and me. Besides, this is something that you’ll want to tell Riley by yourself,” Amber added, making both Penny and Jack pale at the thought of her older sister finding out. “Like I said, I’ll keep this to myself. Oh and Penny? Make sure you use the makeup wipes I gave you before you go back inside, the corner of your lip is smudged.”

Penny all but squealed in mortification into Jack’s chest after her mother went back inside, the man stroking her back as he chuckled. “Well, she does have a point,” he mentioned, “We don’t want the first thing that Riley sees when we go back in is smudged lip gloss.”

“Don’t single yourself out mister,” she poked him in the chest, “You’re wearing it too.”

“Oh really? Is it a good colour on me?” He leant in closer.

Penny mumbled shyly under her breath, God she was just too cute. “Wanna say that again little lady?” he asked.

“I said, how about you kiss me again if you like my lip gloss so much,” she pouted, the blush on his face was worth it though.

Jack huffed a laugh and pulled her in closer, “Now that sweetie, can be arranged.”

And just like that, they dove back into another kiss, enjoying only themselves without anyone else to interrupt their moment. It was just them, the moon and the start of their new relationship. And they couldn’t wait to see what else was in store for them.

.

.

.

Jax stirred lightly, stiff from laying against the ground. He must’ve slid down the hedge and onto the plush grass in his sleep, oh well, the grass was comfier. He could feel his lips burn from where Penny kissed Jack, as though he were the one who kissed her. But that was impossible, wasn’t it? There was no way that actually happened.

He was about to move when he felt a light weight on his chest. Looking down, he saw Pomni curled up next to him, hugging his side as she snored softly while using his upper body as a pillow for her head. Why wasn’t he shoving her off or telling her to get lost? Why was he growing flustered by the second and praying that she couldn’t hear his quickening heart rate? He could feel his tail wagging underneath him, was he actually happy about this predicament? There was no way!

He felt her shift beside him, mumbling gibberish in her sleep before cuddling him closer. Cute…wait, no it’s not! Get yourself together Jax! But there wasn’t any denying it though, no matter how much he wanted to, yesterday’s revelation just proved to him that he felt some sort of attachment to the jester and it was driving him up the wall. Her hat had also slid of her head, revealing short yet soft looking locks. The way it framed her face ever so gently with its wisped strands, oh god she was killing him.

He let his temptation win, reaching his hand out to touch it when she suddenly woke up, barely processing what was happening until she saw that she was firmly cuddling into this side while he was reaching towards her. “You got a loose hair there, sweetie,” he tried to squash down the awkwardness, trying to bring up his charm to save himself.

It seemed that it didn’t work as she squealed and pulled away from him as though he burned her, he wasn’t gonna lie, it kind of stung a bit. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t even know that I was doing that!” she fumbled over her words, grabbing her hat and screaming into it.

“It’s fine,” he sighed, standing up and stretching. “We should keep going, make use of the time we have.”

Pomni looked up, still clutching her hat. She was glad that he wasn’t mad, but why wasn’t he? If it were anyone else she was shore he would have told them to get lost, why did he leave her be? Her dream from last night made this moment even more flustering for her, the memory of Jack kissing Penny with such passion was burned into the back of her mind and the minute she woke up she was cuddling into Jax! The universe had to be out to get her.

“Hey, you awake in there?” he pointed to her forehead, “I said we should keep going.”

“W-what?” oh right, they still had to get out of the maze. The long…long maze, “Yeah, I’m coming.”

It seemed that the awkward silence had carried over from last night during their trek through the winding paths, neither of them not knowing what to say and their dreams invading every single thought they had. But besides the kiss, Jax thought of the family that brought Jack into their home. They shared no blood but treated him as though he were their son, making sure he was fed, happy and safe despite the occasional teasing. His mind drifted to Laura, how she cared for each one of her children, with the care and love that a mother should, it made him think of…

He looked to Pomni, who also seemed to be deep in thought, he made sure that she wouldn’t bump into anything. He felt bad for snapping at her yesterday, and the words she said to him afterwards cut deep. It was the first time in so long that someone called him out in a way that hollowed him to his core, to just step back and really think. Maybe that was what he needed. “Do you remember yesterday when Caine mentioned I used to know someone?” he spoke up.

Pomni’s head snapped up to him, his voice drowning out the deafening silence they stewed in for quite some time. “Y-yeah, why?”

“Well, when I arrived,” he started, “I remember that I didn’t know anything about my past, I was stuck in a body I didn’t know and all I could remember feeling was regret and fear. I acted a lot like a wounded animal, just screaming at people to stay away. It worked on everyone…except for Queenie.”

Pomni gasped, she had heard of Queenie and seen her door crossed off. The unsaid implication of her abstraction was what chilled Pomni’s spine, no one had to say anything to know what happened to her, but she never realised Jack was close to her.

“Well, she was the only one who wasn’t really phased by me,” he continued, “She made sure that I wasn’t alone, told me the stuff to look out for and sometimes Kinger would join her with helping me out, it’s strange to think about, back then he was more sane than he is now. I won’t lie, there were times that I was a little sh77t, but I’m grateful that she was willing to help me out. It helped me feel less scared, and sometimes I wondered if I had a mother in my past life that was like Queenie. But soon, I started seeing less and less of Queenie, everyone was starting to get worried. Any time we would see her she was always talking about an exit. I was also looking for one as well, collecting keys hoping that one of them would lead to an exit. One day, I told her about and maybe she could use on of them so it could help her mission…the next day she abstracted. Kinger was never the same after that, I wasn’t really sure if those two were together or not, but it was obvious how strong their bond was. Ever since then he started rambling about his ‘insect collection,’ I don’t know if it was to distract him from the grief or if it was a factor of him going crazy. All I knew was if I didn’t give Queenie that key, she would still be here. If I didn’t try and escape, Kinger would still have his sanity left. It’s better that everyone hates me, all I am is this a%%hole rabbit who killed their oldest friend. It’s no wonder they hate me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Pomni said, making him turn to her, “That situation wasn’t your fault, it was just an awful place in time that no one could control. And I don’t think the others hate you too, I mean, did you even ask them?”

Jax sighed, “No, my mind just immediately believed that everyone hated me. Honestly, I wanted them to, it’ll make things a bit easier.”

“Yeah,” Pomni nodded, before paling at her word choice, “Not about everyone hating you, I meant about making things easier. Facing the bad stuff is scary, when I first got here I denied that this was real and that it was a dream. But at the end of it all, I had to accept that this was my reality, even if I didn’t like it. But I’m not gonna let it stop me from trying to leave, don’t let what happened to Queenie stop you from thinking that you deserve to be hated, you don’t. Maybe the others won’t forgive you immediately, but you can at least make a start.”

“We’ll see,” he gave her a soft grin, she was smiling back proudly. It was starting to get a bit too mushy now, so he pushed her hat over her eyes.

“Hey!” she squealed, she didn’t seem to mind that. She readjusted her hat and crossed her arms, “Really?”

“This is me we’re taking about. Besides, it was too easy Pom-pom,” he chuckled as she let out a groan.

“You’re not funny,” she walked up ahead, keeping the banter afloat as they continued to travel.

“No, I’m hilarious,” he retorted, “It’s not my fault you’re so uncultured short stack.”

She whipped back round at him with a pretend offended expression, “I’m not short!”

“Okay,” Jax snickered, “Come back to me about that were you grow 2 inches.”

She groaned dramatically, “You’re the worst!”

“True,” he picked her up as she let out a yip and placed her on his shoulders, “And I also have longer legs, I’ll get us to the exit faster.”

“Hey!” Pomni giggled, holding onto his head, “Put me down you giant!”

“But I need you to be my second pair of eyes short stack,” he patted her leg, “Just point out if you see anything and I’ll be your steering wheel.”

Despite the light teasing, she knew he was right, they would find the exit to the maze quicker if they worked like this, “Fine!...tall ass.”

“Say that again?” he quired.

“Nothing!” Pomni said.

Jax shrugged and continued walking. After a while, it seemed that the awkwardness had finally died down, leaving the two to engage in light conversations while searching for the exit. It was then they realised that they had forgotten about their dreams, not fully but they were so focused on one another, enjoying one another, they didn’t find the time to really think about them.

It still took them a bit of time, but eventually, to both of their relief and slight disappointment, they found the exit, the circus tent just down the path in front of them. Pomni jumped off Jax’s shoulders, there was no need for him to keep carrying down that they were back.

“I guess that marks the end of this adventure,” Pomni rubbed her arm, was she upset that this was over? Or was she upset that she couldn’t spend time with Jax anymore?              

“Yeah, the end,” Jax nodded, as much as he didn’t want to be part of this little maze escapade, he’ll admit it, it was better with Pomni being here. In fact, he wouldn’t mind being around her more often. “You know, I’ve noticed that whenever you’re on your own, you’re either hyper focused on every single little thing to the point where it stresses you out of your in your own little world while dissociating. Sometimes you’re so in your head that you fail to notice when someone’s coming right at ya. Whether it be Caine with one of his adventures or one of the others fooling around.”

“That tends to happen a lot,” she confessed, “It’s either one or the either, there’s not an in between. It’s kinda a problem.”                               

“Well, I have a proposition for you,” he said, she perked up, “Until you feel like you understand this place a little more, I’ll be there to make you don’t have one of your episodes. Whether you’re spiralling or hyper focusing, I’ll be here to ground you in case that happens.”           

“Really?” her eyes widened with joy at his offer, “You’d do that for me?”

“Just until you’re more aware of your surroundings,” he told her, “After all, I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Ah, right,” she gave him a joking grin, “We wouldn’t want anything to happen to that.”

“See, now you’re getting it,” he agreed, returning her grin.

The way he was leaning in, the way her heart sped up at their newly found teasing of each other, the way that the sense of déjà vu kept creeping in as though they had done this song and dance before. She ready did fall for him, didn’t she? She cleared her throat, “Well, good to know you’ve got my back, thank you again Jax. We should head in so no one’s worrying about us.”

“Works for me,” he nodded, his face suddenly becoming gentler, “And, you’re welcome.”

Don’t blush, don’t blush, don’t blush, don’t blush, don’t blush. “Race you inside!” she zoomed off, leaving the rabbit to laugh to himself.

“She sure is something else, huh?” he said to himself, his thoughts flooding with her again, he didn’t to anything to spot it, only letting it flow.

Pomni-Pomni-Pomni-Pomni-Pomni-Pen-

“Jax! You coming?” Pomni called out to him.

He blinked, what was that? What was his last thought about? He looked towards Pomni, suddenly forgetting that sudden glitch as he raced towards her, wanting to challenge the jester that captured his affections. “Are you sure sweetie?” he ran in her direction, “My longer legs might be more effective than yours short stack!”

“I’ll make you eat those words!” she snickered as he chased after her.

It was just a glitch.

Only a glitch.

[forestguardianstudios]

Okay. So this might be farfetched and need references that I don't have.

Do you think the designs of the characters change the more they acclimate (or de-acclimate) to the conditions of the circus?

Like, all I have to base this off of is a few little things that randomly came together.

We know that Ragatha took a long time to acclimate to the circus because Kinger tells us so in ep 2 but do you think she looked different when she first got there?

And another thing with Kinger is that we know he's...declined in the mental stability sense and his eyes are a little...roll-y. I'd personally like to think they weren't always that way, but became that way through time and loss and grief

And with Gangle. While yes, comedy and tragedy (which I feel like should be a theory in of inself) are the two main masks, truly there has to be others. And maybe she did have those masks but lost them over time.

Think if Jax keeps breaking the comedy mask that she'll eventually lose it entirely?

Just some thoughts.

[tadc-confessions]

I don’t think Gangle comedy mask actually makes her happy. I think it’s more of a thing where she thinks she needs it to be happy and feels vulnerable without it

an anon said it could be like a drug once and honestly, i think so.

we know she isnt truly happy, oh gosh she isnt

but at least the mask lets her feel something?

[tinyinvadr]

Everyone, I have returned from the Void with a new chapter! I really hope I’m able to keep consistently working on this, I feel like I almost never finish a fic anymore!

Hide & Shrink

Chapter 5

We returned to the main stage where the rest of the circus members were waiting for us. They all seemed happy and relieved to see me. I still couldn’t really tell with Zooble, though. They’re hard to read.

“Welcome back, Pomni!” Gangle greeted, a smile plastered on her newly restored comedy mask.

I waved to her, still feeling kind of awkward around everyone. It had only been two days, they were all still strangers. Giant strangers.

“Okay, so Pomni’s back, but we still don’t know where the %$!# Jax went. I don’t like when that creep goes missing.”

“Language, Zooble, language! And… Jax said he won’t be participating today. Neither will Pomni. As for the rest of you, today’s adventure will be…”

With his free hand, Caine snapped his fingers, making bubble letters appear above us as he spoke.

“Wrangle the Wroinks!”

Zooble glared at him. “Didn’t we JUST do that?”

Caine started laughing hysterically. He was so loud I felt the need to cover my ears, even though I’m pretty sure my character model doesn’t have them.

“No, those were the Gloinks that you were gathering last time! The Wroinks are completely different!”

The Wroinks in question suddenly appeared and started bouncing all over the place. They looked exactly like the Gloinks only this time they were wearing hats.

“Right. Of course they are.”

It wasn’t long before a Wroink bounced off of Gangle, knocking her comedy mask off and breaking it.

“Not again…”

Ragatha picked up the pieces for her, looking over at me apologetically.

“We’ll catch up with you later, Pomni. Caine, you remember what we talked about, right?”

Caine gave her a thumbs up. “Sure do! Don’t worry, I’ll make sure our new little friend is safe and at ease!”

After everyone left, he just floated in place, not moving. I sat in his open palm, staring off into space as I waited for whatever was delaying him to pass. This seemed to be a common occurrence. He would just… stop.

“Well then, Pomni, have you decided what you’d like to do today? The possibilities are limitless! *Notethatthepossibilitiesarelimitedtowhatisallowedbyourtermsofservicepleaseaskforadditionaldetails.”

I didn’t have a real plan in mind. If I had the option, I’d just do nothing for the rest of the day, but I had a feeling Caine wouldn’t understand that. Even if he was considering my feelings, it was clear he required some sort of constant entertainment.

“Well… what do you normally do during the adventures?”

He paused, as if he wasn’t sure whether or not to tell me.

“There’s a restaurant Bubble and I go to, but that’s an NPC-only zone! Then again… this is kind of a unique case… Ah, no, no, I’m not picking favorites! Oh… but you’re so gosh-darn adorable! Alright, you make a convincing argument. Let’s go!”

Before I could even attempt to process anything he said, he snapped his fingers and we teleported to a new location.

It was a small, casual restaurant, with wooden mannequins seated at every table. It was strange how it didn’t match the aesthetic of the rest of the circus at all. I guess that’s why it was considered an off-limits area, since it would ruin the immersion. Not that I cared. If anything, I liked that it looked more grounded in reality.

Caine floated over to a table where Bubble was already waiting for us, and sat in the available seat. He then carefully set me down on the table, and leaned on his elbows, resting his lower jaw in his hands.

“Well, this is the place, Pomni! Want anything? Food? A drink? Just an appetizer?”

“Oh, that’s okay, I don’t need any-”

“Nonsense, it’s my treat! Excuse me, waiter? Could you bring out today’s special for the little lady?”

A mannequin in a tuxedo suddenly appeared beside the table with a tray of food and placed it in front of me. Across the table, Bubble eyed the food in anticipation. Caine let out a sigh.

“And a second order for my gluttonous friend?”

The waiter mannequin disappeared and reappeared with more food, putting it down in front of Bubble. He ate the whole thing, plate included, in one bite. Caine stared at him for what felt like a solid minute before clearing his nonexistent throat and addressing me again.

“Now then, I get the sense there’s something on your mind. But rest assured, I am ready and willing to hear you out! So tell me, what seems to be the trouble?”

It should have been obvious what the problem was, but I tried not to let myself get too frustrated with him. There was no point.

“Okay, so… I was talking to Jax earlier, and he thinks I might have a glitch of some sort, which is why you can’t change me back. Do you… know anything about this? Has this happened before?”

“No… but it doesn’t appear to be a major concern! You can still live your digital life to the fullest just like everyone else! I’m sure with a few accommodations here and there we can-”

“CAINE!!!”

We both froze after I suddenly shouted at him. I didn’t know what I was thinking in doing that. He didn’t appear angry, at least. Just confused.

“I-I’m sorry, but… I don’t want this life. I want my old one back. The lack of an exit is already bad enough, but now I’m scared. Being stuck like this, people grabbing me and dropping me and being held against my will… I don’t think I can take much more of it, Caine. I-If this keeps up, I think I might…”

I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Even though I didn’t fully understand what happened to Kaufmo, I knew it was horrible. The idea of losing everything, becoming an out-of-control monster, never being myself again…

Caine sighed, looking down at me sympathetically.

“I hate to see you so down, Pomni. I wish there was more I could do to help, but I just don’t know. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Is there anything you can think of that might make you feel better?”

There were so many things that could have helped me, but they were all outside of what Caine was capable of. He couldn’t make an exit, he couldn’t change my size back, and there was no way he’d be able to protect me from Jax or my own impending abstraction forever. There really wasn’t anything he could do for me.

But Caine is persistent, and I knew he wouldn’t stop until he could find some way to help me.

“Maybe… a new room? Something private, and scaled down so only I can go in there. You know, a place where I can take a break from everything and not have to worry about being abducted in my sleep?”

“An excellent idea! I’ll get right on that as soon as the adventure’s over. Speaking of which, I should check and see how the others are doing.”

He sat in silence for a few seconds, his eyes wide and locked in place. I could only assume that he did this every time he needed to see out of any of the additional eyes he had planted everywhere. Creepy.

“Hmm, it looks like they’re almost finished up with the Wroinks, so we should probably go meet back up with them. Ready to go?”

He offered his hand again, and I climbed on. As strange as it was, I was starting to get used to the feeling of being carried. At the very least, I was comfortable with Caine and Ragatha doing it. It wasn’t something that I necessarily liked, but it was important for me to adjust to it.

“You seem to be a lot calmer. Good for you! I’m sure we’ll get this all sorted out in no time!”

I had to admit his optimism was endearing. I really didn’t feel much better, but maybe if I just played along I could convince myself that everything was fine.

But at the same time, I couldn’t stop thinking about the glitch. If there was a chance that it could somehow get us all out, maybe it was worth looking into. I’d have to figure it out on my own, though. I wasn’t sure how the others would react, and I couldn’t fully trust any of them yet. And there was no way I would let Jax “help”.

The future was so uncertain and it terrified me, but I didn’t need the others to know that. So, I lied through my teeth.

“Yeah. Everything will be fine.”

[chaotictempleknight]

Food for thought, but what if in TADC, Jax is actually supposed to be the villain/antagonist? And Caine is more of an anti-hero/villain? Future proofing...

I was thinking about episode 2 last night and some ideas are running through my head.

SPOILERS for episode 2, so go watch it:

So Jax was being chaotic evil throughout the whole episode. Here's what I thought of:

Jax is bored, on the verge of madness. He went chaotic to stop himself from abstracting

Did Jax having something to do with Kaufmo? He did not attend his funeral

Furthermore, here's some other things I noted

I love how frivolously some people toss around abstraction, like it's no big deal... THE CHARACTERS CONSIDER KAUFMO EFFECTIVELY DEAD. That means there is no "cure" for abstraction. Characters that abstract lose themselves permanently. They all merge together and become a collective blob of insanity in the cellar (or at least, that's what I get from that scene). Caine has not figured out how to fix this. This isn't some symbiote-goo-thing or thing you can just recover from because the plot demands it (not saying abstractions couldn't potentially regain some sense of self, I'm just saying abstraction is VERY complicated)

As more food for thought, I wonder if in a future episode an abstraction will regain some sense of self and cause trouble for Caine and the circus. I'd imagine Caine would put them back in the cellar, however, on the grounds that it could destabilize the entire digital circus. Off topic, but I needed to get this out of my head.

The Amazing Digital Circus is buggy. Good Lord, imagine getting out of bed and no clipping into one of your things...

Jax most likely has a reason for his disruptive behavior. Also I have to chuckle at people who assumed he was sad from the teaser. Red Sun intensifies...

So is Gangle losing her comedy mask going to become a recurring gag? I feel bad for her... But that is funny, not going to lie.

Why do I get the feeling no one actually likes Jax? The only one that hasn't said anything is Kinger... But he's mad.

We are most likely going to get Kinger with a shotgun in a future episode... Assuming that wasn't an outright joke.

Kinger being one of the oldest cast members has merit to it, given what he said to Ragatha.

Pomni is familiar with video games and how they work. I love how she says she's not an expert. Pomni, that exploit you did was pretty good, something I could see a speed runner doing. Headcanon: she used to watch YouTube videos on this kind of stuff.

Caine's dialogue at the end continues to convince me he's not actually the "villain." The fact that he's worried about losing track of who's human and who's an NPC is very interesting. I wonder if the pause he had relates to a past issue.

Also, JEEZ, what did Bubble even say that warranted being censored that hard?

And that's my thoughts on episode 2. If episode 3 proves me wrong... Ok. That's fine, as this is just speculation on my part. If you any thoughts or have a different idea, speak your mind.

Also autocorrect can go burn in Hell...

[notlushi]

Same anon with the same mealworms thank you for answering with so much info, yess ramble please! And since you’re taking questions, imma lay out all the questions in my brain rn. 

(I’m taking into count the character descriptions, the comics, and the two influencing AUs of Freakshow and Carnival) 

Is there some motivation behind the productions other than the already stated purpose of Gangle’s creative expression and amusement? Like are these being created for an outside audience that’s clueless of the truth (like Freakshow) or something else? 

Who is tip and rule??? I get they’re the comedy and tragedy masks, but are they Ais as well, the angel and devil on Gangle’s metaphorical shoulders? Do they only chill in gangle’s room or can they move? I suppose we’ll get more info on them in due time. 

Is Gangle sentient? since you say she is capable of experiencing human emotion and some what in understanding others emotions just that she’s not aware of how her actions will affect others. 

Soo where do the disembodied ribbons that dragged Jax off even come from? I suppose they just spawn. (I have a small head cannon that they no-clip from the walls, Gangle just has hundreds of ribbons inside the walls, ceilings and under the floor. They just shift and rithe in the walls, in complete silence the actors just hear the walls “breathing” but is just the hundreds of ribbons shifting. An ever present reminder that the director could just grab them off at a moment’s notice. Idk why just horrified myself thinking about that.) 

Do the actors work every day or do they have break days? Like the weekends or are work regulations nonexistent? 

Is death painful? Can the actors feel pain? We know there’s blood but do they also have guts and stuff (like freakshow)? Is it realistic how death works in this world, like would a bullet to the shoulder only injure while one to the heart kill? 

Can the actors fight back against Gangle (it’s probably a Herculean task but is it possible)? Can her ribbons be cut? Has  anyone ever tried to fight her? 

What range of punishments are even dished out and how often. I recon that backstage is the worst. Or at least that’s the illusion she’s probably trying to create but putting such mystery around it. Knowing the influences of this AU definitely something with murder or torture. 

You mentioned that gangle even creates Adventures, are those just more areas for filming or are they actually adventures that Gangle creates to build team cohesion or something? 

Is Gangle capable of puppeteering in this AU or is her control more so over the world? Would she do that if someone’s acting was bad or not exactly what she wanted or would she just scream and punish them? 

Are the productions all professional or can they get a bit silly? (Fanfic-y like carnival) 

Are the exit finding trio the main ones you’ll be focusing the story around? 

Wtf is bubble??? (I refuse to believe he is human he has to be an npc that they keep around or something, I’m so with Caine here. That thing freaks me out) 

Can humans have other roles of productions as well? Are there only actors or can there be mainly maintenance players? Or do the actors not involved in a project work as that? 

ABSTRACTION, so are there still abstractions/abstracted characters in this AU? What does Gangle do with them? They don’t seem to have been mentioned at all and the doors don’t have any indication of them. Kaufmo is still here, although still insane but not horrible to be around. I wonder if he’s not gone just cus of the existence of Caine to share ideas with. Kaufmo’s entry also says he saw exits exists, so Gangle did the Caine thing from the pilot or is it something completely different? 

Is there a lore reason Jax face ugly?/j 

Can we make/ put ocs in your AU? Tagging you fine? (Probably not gonna need this but it’s good to know boundaries) 

So what does it take to give and/or receive a hug from each of these fools??? (I just need to know- I need to know [and I feel it would tell more about their characters]) 

Anyways so that’s yeah. I’m genuinely truly sorry for this, I won’t be bothering you again- (I was not kidding about the worms) 

Just remember take your time, don’t stress yourself and most importantly have fun. And thank you for making this fun AU!

1. So the actors don’t go insane as well as entertainment for everyone.

2. They are like the bubble in this world but way more useful they give advice as well as orders. Kind of like 2 little henchmen. They float around where ever they want but mostly stick to gangles side.

3. Gangle is sentient.

4. They no-clip or spawn out of thin air, mostly just fade through the walls or floor.

5. The actors have breaks occasionally.

6. Death can be painful depending on how you die but it is not as painful as if they were in the real world. When respawning they do feel light headed and numb. Pain and death is a lot less painful in the digital Theater.

7. They can but best not too. You can cutting off Gangles ribbons but it will just respawn as if it was never gone.

8. Backstage is the worst punishment since anything can happen back there and the least is service such as cleaning.

9. Adventure always gets recorded. Kind of like the show “wipe out” but instead it’s gangles wacky ideas.

10. Gangle can puppeteer but is usually on mannikins or npcs. When gangle puppeteers an actor is usually for a twisted joke like “oh I’m jax and I do nothing alllllllll day!”

11. It’s the Amazing Digital Theater! If you blink in a middle of a serious scene a giant duck can show in the middle of the set!

12. Everyone will have a time to shine!

13. Bubble is bubble.

14. The actors can be in any type of production as long as they behave.

15. Abstractions still exist and they all go to the cellar.

16. Yes.

17. OMG YESSSS

18. Ragatha is your best is safest option when asking for a hug. She gives the best hugs too. Kinger just won’t hug you back. Caine will feel a bit disgusted. Bubble will just pop. Kaufmo and Pomni are too paranoid for hugs. Zooble “no”. Gangle will squeeze you too hard. Jax will literally back stab you.

I love answering these questions so much

[daikaiju-zilla]

Analyzing Gangle Based on 4 Minutes of Screentime

Comedy Mask:

So first impressions of Gangle, in the “Meet the Character” clip and the pilot itself, we are shown her Comedy Mask. This is probably due to showing the juxtaposition and surprise of seeing her with a Tragedy Mask when the other mask is broken. In both introductions to Gangle, she’s seen excitedly waving to the audience, indicating an open and welcoming demeanor. When the opening theme song starts, she also has her “hand” (ribbon) on her hip, giving a somewhat confident impression as well.

During the Q&A with Gooseworx during the GlitchX 2023 Livestream, Gooseworx mentioned the unique physics within the Digital Circus, using Gangle as an example: “I like to think that when she’s happy, [and] has her happy mask on, she’s more able to do anything”, which also brings up Jax’s sarcastic comment about Gangle being “capable” when she has her Tragedy Mask on. The keyword here is able. Despite the little screen time we have of her in her Comedy Mask is mere seconds, there’s a lot of information on her character that’s communicated through that limited amount of time.

Tragedy Mask:

Also during the Q&A with Gooseworx, she makes an interesting comment about Gangle regarding her Tragedy Mask, and describes it as the “real her”. This is quite evident, the symbolism regarding putting on a mask to hide one’s true self being an unfortunately common behavior, primarily in mentally ill and autistic people; the official psychological term of this being “masking”. While a clear nod to this phenomenon, one can’t ignore its significance for Gangle’s character and actions.

Circling back to the “able” theme in regards to which mask Gangle wears, Gooseworx commented that “-if [Gangle] was that happy, delightful person, then I think her sad mask would be able to break more”, which instigates that Gangle’s ability to do certain things or anything overall is extremely hindered when being herself, even though her Tragedy Mask is near unbreakable (shown when her mask hits the floor before being dragged down the Zooble Hole, and when Jax pushes her on the ground). Her strength lies in her Comedy Mask, and it can only be theorized if this is due to Gangle’s skewed perception of masking to make her seem like someone better than her genuine self. Her unhealthy, self-depreciative mindset could influence how capable (or incapable) she is depending on what side she chooses to show.

Something smaller that also speaks volumes in regards to Gangle when being her true self is how she covers her face. In the beginning, while mourning her Comedy Mask, she cups her face with her hands (ribbons), as well as when looking at the Zooble Hole. A prominent scene that highlights this behavior is when Kinger is startled, she attempts to cover her face with the shards of her Comedy Mask like a shield. This mask protects her, it makes her feel safe.

Gangle’s reliance on the Comedy Mask is almost like that of an entirely different person, a friend perhaps. It seems like she isn’t aware that she’s the one who wears this mask. She controls what happens while wearing the mask, the reality of this could be lost to her. This could also be a form of a coping mechanism, as it seems that not much of the cast cares or acknowledges her in a respectful manner (even Ragatha), so perhaps taking the form of a different person helps soothe the loneliness she may experience.

However, in her Tragedy Mask, she is not entirely without ability. Throughout the pilot, she is focused and cares for Zooble’s safety, being the only person to bring up how they needed help. She understands the situations she’s in, and what is most important in that moment. Gangle explains what the issue is to Kinger when he forgets, and expresses shock and horror after discovering Kaufmo abstracted. Her true strength lies in her care for others. Care and concern for the people around her, despite how they act or feel towards her.

I hope we see more of Gangle as a person and maybe have some of these questions answered in the coming episodes. Perhaps she’ll even learn that her real self isn’t a weakness, and that she is capable of things she, or others, don’t realize.

[denny-artsss]

i got a wholesome scenario idea

what if gangle unabstracts but she's cool with camilla so they just become like a close knit trio

Please bare with me I have a funny idea.

*Jax and the others talking as Camilla bursts in*

Camilla: Guys- who is that woman in the hallway that looks like me?

Jax: *snuggling one of Gangle's comedy masks* it's called a "mirror" genius.

Camilla: oh- *walks back in the hallway* HI MIRROR!

Gangle: hi.

*everyone turns their heads at the sound of Gangles voice*

Gangle: *walks in* how the @$%# DO YOU NOT NOTICE IVE BEEN MISSING! YOU ALL LEFT ME IN THAT RANDOM REALM FOR MONTHS!

Zooble: oh um- we kinda thought you- abstracted-

Gangle: ABSTRACTED? SO THATS WHY SHES HERE? *points at Camilla* IVE ALREDY BEEN REPLACED?

Camilla: why is mirror angry?

Gangle: IM NOT A MIRROR, IM GANGLE!

Camilla: ohhh...you're the one Jax is obssesed about and kissing the masks of and-

Jax: *shoves her to the ground and covers her mouth*

Caine: WOW! GANGLE IS BACK! *wipes the X on her room door* Well, now that she's here, there's no need for Camilla anymore!

Camilla: h-huh? What will happen to me?...

Caine: I'll just delete you out of existence!

Gangle: no just- *sighs* let her stay.

Caine: but now there's two of you!

Gangle: really? Do we look or act like the same person?

Caine: Guess... not? Well- as long as there's no trouble! *dissapears*

Camilla: *hugs Gangle* thanks for not wanting me dead!

Gangle: yeah... no problem... *looks at the others pissed*

*everyone smiles at her awkwardly*

(Let me know if you want more scenarios, this may not have been as wholesome but I guess I wanted to start the plot first)

(Also, yeah, she never abstracted here cause she can't unabstract after tadc logic)

[the-fictive-haven]

Seeing as we just had someone new arrive from another Circus yet again, I think it's finally time to do a - drumroll please - ... ✨sourcemate search!✨

We are looking for fictives/introjects from The Amazing Digital Circus to chat and hopefully become friends with host Yami and our own Circus gang! EVERYONE Circus related is welcome! Doubles? No problem. Traumagenic system? Great. Endo or self made? Awesome. You are or feel you're the same as the original? Cool! You're canon divergent or from an alternate world? Come on in! This is a safe space for all fictives and their sysmates.

Finding sourcemates would be awesome, but canonmates even more so! We'll give a quick description of everyone so you can get a better idea of who they are and if you'd like to get to know them, or if you may already know them!

Meet the cast;

>This group are all from the same timeline, which is very similar to the original one, but with some different events. All of them have memory of these same canon divergent happenings, or if not, have at the very least accepted the others as their canonmates.

(OG) Pomni - the first Circus introject to show up here. Nervous, breaks under pressure, prone to small outbursts, but a sweet girl and a good friend nonetheless.

(OG) Jax - has a bit of a softer side (don't tell him I said that) and more teasing and annoying than an outright violent jerk. Makes fun of me any chance he gets.

(OG) Ragatha - yeah she's the same personality-wise as the original canon, actually. One of the system "moms" and caretakers. Fuckin love her. So gay for this bitch.

(OG) Gangle - also the same. Clings to me like glue half the time because apparently I'm her security blanket or something, not that I mind. I have gotten the Jaxes to stop bullying her, though, even if only because I'm basically god here and they don't want to get put in time-out out of bounds (lol)

(OG) Zooble - we don't know a lot about her, actually. She doesn't bother to interact with anyone much and most of the time we have no idea where TF she is.

(OG) Caine - ... Caine.

>Everyone hereafter hails from an alternate reality! All of these divergent worlds are given codenames that'll be used when referencing these headmates to make distinguishing them easier.

The Darkside timeline: DS!Pomni - a more jaded and done-with-this-shit Pomni from a world where basically, everyone fucking died (abstracted). Her colour scheme is black, dark purple, and silver/grey. She usually appears glitched in our headspace, the abnormalities growing worse when she's distressed.

The Chain timeline: Chain!Jax - a more quiet Jax who keeps to himself and quite frankly doesn't give a damn. Dresses differently (sassy leather and jewelry type shit) and smokes for some odd reason, I don't even know where he's getting cigs from. The name of this timeline doesn't have much actual significance, it just needed to be named something.

The Ura timeline: Ura!Gangle - her default is comedy and she refuses to return to tragedy, literally destroying the mask and not looking back. While she may feel happier, the lack of balance has essentially made it turn into full-on mania and she'll carry on how she wants with no regard or notice of how it affects others. Also she has no sense of personal space. Her memories show that her world's Jax had grown low-key scared of her, she may have even bullied him back. Ribbons are blue instead of red.

That's everyone for now! But more are bound to keep coming in so we'll update this post as needed. Feel free to send asks, reply, repost, or message us!

[the-amazing-digital-dummy]

right maybe I’m weird for it but does ANYONE ELSE in this whole fandom ship Jax and Gangle.

we need more comedy mask gangle I get that sad mask gangle is a pushover (literally) but what if comedy mask gangle is funny and likable and can joke with/like Jax and it’s just appealing to him,,,

what if comedy mask gangle is mischievous like Jax