Pomni and the Desert Bus Ride.

Desert Bus

"Gather 'round, campers, because we've got a long road ahead of us!" Caine nudged Zooble slightly, making as bemused a face as one could make with a pair of dentures for a head.

"See, it's funny to me because I know what's going on." Rolling their eyes, Zooble made their exit stage left.

"C'mon Zooble, where ya goin'?" Jax said with a shit-eating grin and hands firmly on his hips.

"I'm not getting stuffed in another @*#*ing gloink hole. Later."

"Sorry m'dear, this one's not optional!" Extending his arm, Caine wrapped it around Zooble, rapidly swinging her back into place.

"Hope you don't mind." Caine said with a light punch to the shoulder.

"Go *#*# yourself." Despite his words, Zooble merely crossed his arms and realized he had no say in the matter.

"Great to hear!" Letting go of Zooble, Caine shot up from the ground, cracking his knuckles. With a snap of his fingers, the tent dissolved away in a transition fitting of an early 2000s powerpoint animation. Around the cast members was a vast expanse of plastic-sheen desert. A few low-poly cacti dotted the landscape, and the skybox seemed to have a few mountains drawn onto it. Although it gave a certain illusion of a continuous landscape, Pomni was pretty sure she could see a cliff between the mountains and the ground.

Most notably, was a rounded block of a bus, sporting an exaggerated face on the front bumper. Being a shorter bus, it contained only around eight seats. Still, it was enough to comfortably fit the whole cast.

While for most of the cast this sort of vibrant teleportation is a normal Tuesday, Pomni looked around anxiously, not nearly as used to it.

"So, look. I know we're all a little shaken up after... Ahem. Kaufmo." At the mention of the abstracted character, Caine tugged at his shirt collar a bit, refusing to make eye contact. Likewise, the cast didn't seem too terribly comfortable at the mention, except for Jax, who put on a veneer of apathy, and Kinger, who looked like he didn't quite comprehend the situation.

"So I've decided to make it up to you by bringing back a human tradition! I- I think anyways. Far back in time, humans used to travel via large, motorized contraptions across the desert. This was largely considered to be 'fun' and 'mentally stimulating'." Caine paused after this, looking around to gauge the group's reaction.

"So what, you're gonna drive us around in circles all day?" Jax asked with a wave of his hand.

"No!" Looking to each other, everyone waited for the ring master to explain the plot of the adventure. When no answer was forthcoming, Ragatha spoke up.
"So-"
"YOU'RE gonna drive yourselves around in circles all day! And nobody leaves until we've had a nice long.... say, eight hours of continuous driving? Anyways, have fun!" With that, Caine shrunk slowly away until he was too small to see, leaving the gang around to decide what to do. After a few moments of awkward silence looking at each other, Jax was the first one to speak up.

"I vote Kinger drives." he said with a chuckle, folding his arms. Ragatha just gave him a dirty look.

"I don't-" Gangle said before immediately being cut off by Jax.

"C'mon guys, let me have this." Without waiting for a response, Jax began slowly pushing Kinger towards the vehicle.

"I don't care. Wake me up when we're done" Zooble gave a wave of her claw. Gangle slunk after the three and Ragatha took a few tentative steps towards the bus. Stopping to turn around and look at Pomni, she saw her looking nervously around her new environment before speaking to Ragatha.

"So we're just... driving around for eight hours? That's it?"

"Well... Not all of Caine's adventures are winners. We can still have fun though! C'mon, new stuff." Ragatha held out a linen hand and offered a reassuring smile.