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As much as he wished he could, Jax just couldn't stop thinking about Kaufmo's abstraction.
Kaufmo was hardly the first resident to abstract, to be clear. It wasn't like it was a new concept by any means. But Jax hadn't seen it so up close and personal before, and it had never happened to anyone whom he would've actually considered a friend.
Well, until Kaufmo, that was.
Ragatha was just walking down the hallway one night, still trying her body back to full function after she glitched out when she suddenly heard a familiar, clenched-teeth voice scream from behind a door.
Immediately, she ran to Jax's room, fearing the worst. However, when she opened the door, she found that he was not abstracting, just sitting up in bed, panting with a freaked-out look on his face.
It didn't take a genius to figure out the man must've had a nightmare.
She walked over to the edge of his bed and climbed on, far enough to where she wasn't invading his space too much, but close enough to where he could shove her off if he wanted to. To her surprise, though, she soon felt his long, slender arms wrapping around her.
He was shaking and his eyes were shut very tight. The only sound in the room was his heavy breathing and the occasional, panicked whimper. Unsure of what else to do, Ragatha awkwardly changed her position so she was the one hugging him.
"It's okay" she told him in a hushed voice, rubbing his back. "Whatever happened, it was just a nightmare"
"It wasn't, though" he said, his voice more emotional than she'd ever heard before. "He really abstracted..."
Oh.
"He did" Ragatha confirmed. "But, it's okay. Caine dealt with it"
"W-What if I'm next?" he asked, his breath picking up at the thought. "Or you? Hell, what if-"
"My vote's on Kinger" she told him, rubbing his back. "Just try to breathe, okay Jax? You're okay"
"Okay..." he exhaled. "Okay, okay, okay"
It took a few minutes but, soon enough, Jax began to calm down, though he didn't pull away from the girl.
"...Thank you" he said after a moment. Ragatha had to resist a jaw-drop. Did Jax just thank her for something? "Don't look so surprised, geez" he chuckled. For all her effort, the surprise had not been lost from her facial expression. "Just... I don't know. That was kinda embarrassing and I was really freaked out, so thank you"
"Yeah" she said, unsure of what else to say. "Uh, you're welcome"