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R A I S I N G ◦ A N ◦ N P C !

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⊹˚₊·‧21: Le Petit Prince

In the next moment, he was wearing mafia gear: a fedora instead of a tophat, pinstripes instead of red, and shades instead of… eyes? 

Then he hovered downwards and actually touched the floor, now standing, facing them on eye level.

That seemed to intrigue the doll. Pierrosie wiggled in her arms, prompting Pomni to put her down again.

Caine walked over to Jax, who now looked borderline terrified. Then the dental arrangement pointed at the items behind Jax.

“I came to fetch my monthly gift, James. The pristine chocolate cigarettes for my wife. Hand them over, I don’t have all day. Or do you want your grandma to have another unfortunate… unmatch on her dating app?”

Jax gaped at him, dumbstruck.

When Pomni looked at the toy wares behind him, she saw that the cigarette assets were now chocolate cigarettes. Was this an attempt to make the whole scene a bit more child friendly?

Then, to the surprise of all, Pierrosie joined in by pointing her gun at Caine.

“Who the hell are you, Tootsie? Haven’t seen you on the streets. Nice gun, though. Do you even know who you’re talking to?”

Pierrosie shrugged and pointed at the chocolate cigarettes.

“The Venetian chocs? Ah, I see you’re a gal of taste. Unfortunately for you, James is in my pocket.” Caine acted out - rather convincingly.

Jax tried to get up.

“I’m done. I don’t want to do this—” 

Caine snapped his fingers once more, and in an instant, Jax was dressed in 1930s-inspired attire, looking something like a paperboy, while the store itself now appeared far more authentic and period-appropriate.

Pierrosie made a little joyful sound, obviously enjoying the direction this roleplay was taking.

This made Jax stop and sigh.

“Fine.” He said annoyedly, “The… boss is right. Like I told’cha, I can’t give you those.”

“If you want to buy James’ little hustle from us, it’ll cost you at least 5G, Tootsie. And considering you’re alone, this is your only option to get some of my imported chocs. So I reckon you better give up on that dream.”

Pierrosie gave him a smug grin and crossed her arms.

Then she snapped her fingers, too.

Nothing happened.

She looked over her shoulder at Pomni; And just in the moment Pomni understood what she wanted, Caine snapped, too, changing everyone’s avatar, fulfilling Pi’s wish. Pomni looked down at herself, then at the others. They were all now wearing mafia-themed skins that looked rather similar to the outfits they wore at that one short bar adventure a good while ago. Except that Pomni was wearing a jacket now, and Ragatha was wearing a suit, too.

Surprisingly, she looked oddly attractive in a suit. Pomni had never imagined her in anything other than femme clothing before.

She needed a moment to compose herself. Being suddenly involved in a roleplay with Caine wasn’t particularly desirable, but Pierrosie was obviously very much into it; And as much Pomni found it unsettling, Ragatha was right. None of them would be able to teach Pierrosie AI-related things. They could only teach her human actualities, which the artificial child would most likely just imitate, not fully understand.

A long, weary breath escaped her, while she relaxed her shoulders. Might as well give Pea a good show.

Pomni straightened her back and opened an invisible door, walking into the imagined store. 

“Oh, you think the boss is alone?” She asked Mobster Caine as she walked behind Pierrosie, crossing her arms.

Ragatha joined in right after her, positioning herself behind Pierrosie protectively, like a formidable henchwoman, and throwing Pomni a short, lovely smile.

The little pierrot gave the cutest, most joyful sound but immediately looked comically threateningly at Caine again. 

“What are we supposed to do?” Pomni heard Gangle whisper to Zooble.

“I don’t know… whatever we want?” Zooble whispered back. 

Gangle didn’t answer at first. Then, she murmured, “I want to make out with you.”

It took Pomni quite some strength to hold back a shocked laugh and try to refocus on the others, as she felt guilty for overhearing.

“Ah,” Caine responded and walked over to the counter, sat on top of it, and stroked Jax’ head as if he were his pet. Jax was shock-frozen in place, so much so that with every stroke of Caine’s hand, his eyelids were pulled back.

“So, you got yourself a cute little borgata. Ain’t that somethin’. Guess that makes you Le Petit Prince, huh? Yeah, I heard the whispers ‘bout you. Thought you’d have more of a French accent. Eh — shows what I know. Name’s Carlo ‘Big Gum’ DeMayo. And these mugs here? They’re my muscles, toots.”

With that, Kinger, Zooble and Gangle floated over behind him. They looked a bit rattled at first, but ultimately decided to play along. Caine snapped again, and everyone was holding a gun. Much to Gangle’s joy, she was holding a Tommy Gun once again. It suited her particularly well in this dress.

“Hey, boss,” Ragatha whispered towards Pierrosie, “They outnumber us by one. Two, if you count James.”

Pomni looked over to Jax. He was still stiff — probably in disbelief of what he had gotten himself into and being brushed like a cat. 

“What should we do?” Ragatha added.

Pierrosie tapped her chin, pondering. Pomni found herself liking where this was going. How serious Ragatha took this experience for Pea, and how they were able to explore more of her mindset this way. To observe how she was working under stress and tough decisions. 

The little doll looked at Caine. And shot him in the foot.

Pomni’s and Ragatha’s eyes widened as much as they could.

Caine howled and then stared at his foot, which now featured a perfect cylindrical hole, slightly smoking.

“Did… did you just shoot me?!” He exclaimed in disbelief. 

Jax, next to him, was the first to react. He laughed so intensely that he actually didn’t laugh at all; He just wheezed, barely getting any air into his lungs.

“Boss,” Pomni said nervously, “W-was that really the right choice?!”

Pierrosie crossed her arms. She seemed unfazed.

“Boys! Shoot the Prince!” Caine shouted in either feigned or genuine anger, “Show her who’s boss!”

Nothing happened. Except for Jax, who fell on the floor laughing behind the counter.

“I said, shoot her!”

Zooble threw the gun on the floor. “Yeah, nah. I’m not shooting a child.”

The others followed suit.

Pierrosie looked over her shoulder, giving Pomni a smug little grin.

That cocky tiny bastard. She had known they wouldn’t hurt her. Pomni couldn’t help but grin, too.

Caine glanced at them, furiously. “You can’t quit on me! I’m your Capo! Your boss! You’re supposed to protect me!”

“I want to be on the French prince’s team,” Gangle stated. The others nodded.

Caine gritted his teeth. 

“Fine! Go ahead and jump ship, you no-good mugs. I’ll round up the rest of the family — you’ll ALL be swimming in cement shoes before the night’s done.”

With that, fedora-wearing mannequins with all kinds of guns were storming the playgrounds, surrounding them.

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