Chapter Text
The scent of damp wet earth filled Pomni’s nose, every commoner is preparing for The Festival of Miracles. A traditional competition held every 5 years, where commoners compete to death for 5 days in hope of the blessing of power by King Caine. This world is divided by two, The ‘Blessed’ – people with powers who were ‘blessed’ by God, and Commoners, – people who were not fortunate enough to be granted with special abilities. The population was mostly filled with commoners like her, which is why so many people were so motivated to gain powers. Essentially it was shown in the name, if you were a commoner, well… you weren't so important. But if you were apart of The Blessed, everyone would respect you, fear you, envy you. But the thing with Pomni was that she didn't mind being a commoner, she kinda enjoyed it actually. Sure things were a bit rough with things like not having a place to sleep, malnutrition , and chilly nights. But… she found comfort in the feeling of being normal. Not being unique was fine to her, things were okay as is.
This time of the year was perfect, this is exactly what she needed for The Press. Survey the contestants,write about their point of view, release her newspaper, and get noticed by someone with higher status. Although she wanted to be an author who writes creative fantasy novels, her agent told her releasing something like this could get her noticed by someone in the higher classes and get her a spot in the writing industry. Pomni thought to get started as soon as possible so she got to work surveying the commoners, although… it was harder than she thought. Everyone was so focused on making sure they were prepared for The Festival of Miracles that everyone brushed her off.
Crap, I didn't think this far! Pomni panicked,
I forgot how important this was to them..
It's fine.. Surely I'll find someone who has time, right?
All I need is 10 people,
10..?
Oh god.
Not even one person wants to talk to me!
How am I supposed to get 10!?
Its fine Pomni, just breathe,
you just started?
You have until the game starts to survey, write, and release the paper!
Which is in 3 days..
You can do this..!
Pomni reassured herself and got to work. The dark gloomy weather indicated that it was going to rain soon so she better get on with it before getting soaked. She looked around the village as she saw someone who might have been on break from training. He was a navy mannequin with a thick mustache sitting on a tree stump drinking beer. She approached him with hope in her eyes,
“Excuse me, sir”
The man paid no attention to her as he continued chugging his beer
“Uhh hello!, sir?”
The man took one last sip of his beer and looked down at Pomni
“Hello! Sorry to bothe-”
“What do you want” The man interrupted coldly
“Oh! Uh.. i was wondering if yo-”
“I don't want to buy any of your bullshit” The man angrily interrupted again.
Okay well, if you let me continue talking?
“Oh no! I'm not selling any-”
“fuck off! Can you take the hint!? Bloody hell!”
Pomni stood there for a second before walking off without saying another word.
Is it that difficult for human decency? What is wrong with people nowadays!? Jeez..
Pomni continued with unfortunately 15 more similar interactions but out of the 25 people she surveyed, fortunately, 9 of them actually complied! All she needed was one last person, then she could head back to her hideout and rest. With all her interactions, Pomni took note that mannequins were not the friendliest, so it was best to avoid them and go for more kind, gentle looking people. In the corner of her eye she spotted someone, a lanky purple anthropomorphic rabbit leaning against a cobblestone wall with his instructor handing him a beer.
Perfect, rabbits are cute and cuddly this couldn't be too hard!
But the closer Pomni got to the rabbit, the less cute and cuddly he got. The rabbit wore a loose, off‑white long‑sleeved shirt rolled up to his elbows, slightly unbuttoned at the collar. His black, baggy pants were tucked into brown boots that reached just below his knees. He had multiple brown leather belts wrapped around his waist and wrist, paired with a black necklace with an infinity symbol lying on his chest. And to top it all off, he had a scar on his cheek and a sly grin on his smug face.
That is the least cute and cuddly rabbit ive ever seen. Well maybe not cuddly but – kinda cute