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Adventures would be boring for Jax if he didn’t have others to pick on and annoy. And, since he does have people to ‘harass’ in the adventures, he never complains about them.
But Gangle’s idiotic request drove him to that point. Working at a fast-food restaurant? Seriously?
But Jax isn’t going to give up on pulling pranks that easily. He’ll find a way - like he always does - and he knows exactly who to start with.
Jax finds Ragatha putting condiments onto a burger over a counter. He grins and strolls over. She doesn’t seem to notice his presence, so that’s a plus.
Slowly, he leans closer to the ragdoll from behind.
“Whatcha up to, Raggy?” he whispers really close to her ear, causing her to yelp and squirt some of the pink sauce she was holding all over the counter. He smiles mischievously and steps back.
“Jax!” She turns to face the rabbit and narrows her eye at him, planting her hands on her hip.
“What? I was just checking in to make sure you’re doing your job!” Jax mocks offense by placing a hand on his chest.
Groaning, Ragatha pulls at her hair, trying to calm herself down, and is about ready to make a snide comment back, until she notices Jax’s face. He’s grinning widely, and she can tell he’s enjoying seeing her upset. Well, the ragdoll decides she’s not going to give him what he wants, not this time. She turns around to face the counter again, and resumes putting together patties.
Unsurprisingly, Jax is incredibly stubborn, and does not stop at that. He steps forward again, leans his hip against the counter she’s working on, and works up another obnoxious remark.
“Be careful, Doll,” Jax teases. “If you do pull out your hair, it won’t grow back–”
Ragatha whips around and squirts the pink sauce onto his face.
“Gah!” The rabbit stumbles back, grabbing his face. It takes a moment for Ragatha to realize she did that. It’s empowering for a moment, until she realizes Jax looks in pain, and she needs to help.
“I-I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me!” She stumbles over her own words and slowly reaches out for the rabbit’s shoulder.
“Are you okay, Ja- “
Jax goes to slap her hand away, but it begins to grow sluggish, and comes out as more of a weak swat. His posture is slumped, and Ragatha notices how exhausted he looks. Out of it, even, which is unusual for Jax. He glazes over her features before he looks down to what she’s holding in her hand – the condiment she sprayed on him.
She squints and reads the label. ‘Stupid sauce’. Hm.
She looks back to Jax. He’s now slumped over on a counter behind her with his head down and ears lazily flopped over to the sides of his head. He might be muttering something under his breath, but she can’t tell.
“Uh… Jax?” She says uncertainly, taking a small step forward. “You okay there?”
Jax doesn’t respond.
Uh… okay. Ragatha decides to risk it and takes another step closer to him. This is weird; Jax has never pulled pranks that self-deprecate himself. And this is a prank, right?
One of Jax’s ears twitches. It’s almost cute, in a way, and she slowly reaches out for it, just to feel it for a second-
“Ragatha!”
Said doll yelps and jerks her hand away from Jax, who still shows no reaction. What was she even doing, reaching out to pet him? She didn’t even realize. Working here must be doing numbers on her sanity…
“Ragatha.” It’s Zooble. She turns her attention to the assortment of toy parts and tries her best to look composed and not guilty of squirting some sort of toxin onto one of the other employees.
“Zooble! Heeey! What’s up?” She tries to emphasize her best attempt at causality with two finger guns awkwardly pointed in their direction.
“Yeah… Okay.” Zooble’s not buying whatever act she’s putting up, and their deadpan expression shows it. Ragatha keeps her finger guns up for a few more seconds before succumbing to the awkward silence.
Zooble then looks to Ragatha’s right, and their brows furrow in confusion.
There’s more silence before Zooble eventually says something.
“…What’s up with Jax?” They ask, eyeing said rabbit suspiciously, brows furrowing.
Ragatha chuckles awkwardly, panic settling in. “Oh, he’s just- “
“Raggs?” Jax slurs, and he looks just as stunned as before.
“Wha- Is he drunk?” Zooble looks perplexed.
“It’s not what it looks like,” the doll tries hurriedly, but it’s too late. Zooble has already come to the conclusion that Jax is indeed drunk, or on something, at least. She’s about to plead them to not call Gangle over, when Zooble begins cackling hysterically.
“There’s no way, he looks like an idiot!” This gets Jax to push his head a little off the counter, but nothing else.
“You’re going to have to handle him for the rest of your shift, Ragatha,” Zooble says after calming down. “Sorry.” They turn a corner and are gone.
Ragatha sighs and glances back at Jax. Guess it wouldn’t hurt to check on him, right? She turns, ready to ask if he’s feeling well, or if he needs to lie down or anything.
What she doesn’t expect is to see him look so conflicted, and vulnerable. His ears are drooped lower, and he looks from his position against the counter. He’s turned around now, looking from where Zooble left, back to Ragatha’s face over and over, dragging his vision back and forth between the two spots.
Ragatha’s resolve weakens, and she doesn’t see this as another prank anymore. She needs to check on him. Something is off.
“Jax?”
He groans in an annoyed manner and dismisses her with a lazy wave of his hand. “Calm down, Raggs, I’m fine, I guess.” His slumped form suggests otherwise, however.
Ragatha bites her lip. “You sure…?”
He shrugs and rolls his eyes. “Go waste your time comforting Pomni, or something,” he spits out the jester’s name, “It’s not like I deserve it.” He’s trying to act nonchalant, but the stupid sauce is preventing him from putting up the act – and it’s noticeable. Ragatha catches his bottom lip quiver.
Usually, Ragatha has a natural knack for comforting others. That skill is nowhere to be found now. She doesn’t know what to do – or if he even needs to be comforted. Maybe she should just leave him alone, but something tells her that’s not a good idea. He doesn’t look the most… stable.
“Well, I’ll just be right over here…” the doll gestures to the nearby counter and starts to slowly walk away –
“Wait.”
Jax weakly grasps her plush wrist. She flinches, but turns around to face him. “Yeah?” She asks in a careful tone.
“Maybe stay, for a little while? I dunno.” He looks ashamed, and his gaze is downcast. It almost looks endearing, but it’s off-putting more than anything. This isn’t Jax. Or, it isn’t who he wants to be seen as. It makes feel a twang of sympathy that she just can’t ignore.
“Okay,” she lets out an airy sigh and cautiously walks over to him. “Do you… wanna sit down, maybe? Or go get some air outside?”
Jax mumbles something indistinctive and tries to push himself off of the counter, which results in little success. Ragatha is immediately there, gently helping him up and letting him lean on her for support. He doesn’t shy away from it – instead he’s practically using her as a crutch, but she finds that he doesn’t weigh much, so it’s fine.
She leads him towards the back door, one slow step at a time. When they finally reach outside, she helps the rabbit sit down slowly against the Spudsy’s outer wall. After a quick examination of his features, he looks like he’s on the verge of sleep.
Ragatha finds herself stuck. What is she supposed to do now? Just sit out here with him? The others will surely notice their absence. But he did ask her to stay, and she’ll probably regret it later if she just leaves him here, anyway.
So, she goes to sit down next to him, and smooths out the folds on her uniform once she’s seated. There’s silence. Jax doesn’t say anything snarky, which leaves a gap in the atmosphere that’s not ever there.
“So, uh… how are you feeling?”
“Like s#$t.” He pulls his knees up to his chest and buries his head in his arms, refusing to look at her at all. Ragatha wrings her hands together. More silence. A car passes though the drive-thru. She’s trying to brainstorm what to say next, but Jax is the one to break the silence.
“Ragatha?”
She snaps out of her trance and looks over to Jax. His voice is softer, and when her eye meets his, she feels something light flutter in her chest. But it only lasts for a moment before his gaze shifts downwards again, and he speaks again.
“Why are you still here?” He sounds serious, despite his drunken state-of-mind.
“I-” Ragatha stops. Does she really know why she’s out here with him? She’s never really thought about how she feels about things; she’s always too busy making sure the needs of others are met. Also, she hates Jax! Right?
She looks over to him again. Jax, stripped down to vulnerability, something he’s never wanted to show. It feels like she’s intruding on something precious, something that she’ll surely never see again. Something light swells up inside her; she shoves it away not too long after. She’ll focus on feelings later.
Jax speaks up again, ears wilting. “Just leave, Raggs. It’s fine. You’re just wasting your time here.” He doesn’t want her to leave. It’s all over his face, and Ragatha notices.
“Jax, don’t say that.”
“Why not? You’d probably be happier talking to Pomni.”
“What is your problem with Pomni?” Now Ragatha’s mad. “She hasn’t done anything to you! If anything, you’re the one messing with her all the time!”
Jax frowns, pupils constricting into small squares. “Well, maybe you should pay more attention to me, then! You’ve been all over her ever since she arrived!”
You should pay more attention to me.
Ragatha’s heart stutters, and all she can do is stare in shock. Does he know what he just said? Maybe he didn’t mean it like that, she tries to reason.
Jax’s glare slowly tires – Ragatha watches his pupils grow yet again – and she finds it increasingly hard to not focus on her feelings.
The small yawn he lets out doesn’t help, either.
“I think I’m gonna pass out,” he mumbles, and drops his head down in his arms.
A minute passes by, and Jax doesn’t move. Ragatha sighs with relief, and relaxes her shoulders. Thank gods it’s over.
Or, that’s what she thinks for the moment, until she feels some soft pressure on her shoulder. Jax’s head, in his sleep, has lolled over onto her. Ragatha immediately tenses. Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod – don’t move don’t move don’t move don’t move! If she moves, he might become uncomfortable and wake up. Plus, she doesn’t know how much longer he’ll be affected by the stupid sauce. If he were to wake up normal, that’d be a whole story.
The ragdoll glances at the rabbit’s face out of the corner of her eye. He looks calm. No tension in his face to be found. No shit-eating smirk, either. She’s never seen him like this. Her face warms up slightly, and this time, she doesn’t ignore it.
Ragatha knows she’ll never see him present himself like this again. The only reason this happened in the first place is because of the stupid sauce. She plays with the idea of smuggling some from the adventure and bringing it back to the circus, but decides against it.
Will he remember this? At all? If he remembered practically any of this, he’d never talk to her again, surely. But she doesn’t need to worry about that.
For now, this is fine.