Something was deeply, profoundly wrong with Pomni today.

Or maybe it was right.

Either way, she had woken up and immediately chosen chaos.

The day started with harmless pranks. Then it escalated.

Jax's cane mysteriously vanished. His room had somehow been filled with rubber ducks. His collection of stolen junk was hanging from the ceiling in elaborate knots. At one point, Pomni had convinced Ragatha that Jax was secretly afraid of glitter, resulting in a catastrophic glitter-related incident that he was still finding traces of hours later.

The entire circus watched in horrified fascination as Pomni somehow became an even bigger menace than Jax himself.

And Jax?

Jax was loving every second of it.

Jax: "You know, Pomni, if this is some kind of mental breakdown, it's the funniest one I've ever seen."

Pomni responded by throwing a plushie at his face.

---

The crash came later.

Because it always did.

The energy disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, leaving Pomni feeling wrung out and exhausted. Her thoughts became heavier. The world felt louder. The constant panic she'd managed to outrun all day finally caught up to her.

She wandered through the circus in a daze, barely paying attention to where she was going.

Then she found warmth.

Without thinking, she latched onto it.

Arms wrapping tightly around the nearest living thing, Pomni buried her face into soft fur and refused to let go.

A few seconds passed.

Then a familiar voice spoke from above her head.

Jax: "...You realize you're hugging me, right?"

Pomni froze.

Unfortunately, her body had already decided that Jax was warm, comfortable, and currently the safest thing available. Letting go suddenly seemed impossible.

Jax looked down at the tiny jester currently attached to him like a frightened koala.

The smirk on his face softened ever so slightly.

Jax: "...Wow."

His tail flicked behind him.

Jax: "You must be having a really rough day."

Despite the teasing, he made absolutely no attempt to push her away.

Unfortunately for Pomni, this meant Jax now had unlimited material to annoy her with later.

For now, though?

He simply stood there while she clung to him, pretending not to notice how tightly she was holding on.

Jax: "Take your time, Pom."

The nickname slipped out before he could stop it.

Neither of them mentioned it.