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Pomni’s POV
Of all the ‘characters’ trapped within the digital circus, Jax has always been the hardest for me to figure out.
When I first met him, I thought he just derived sick pleasure from making everyone miserable. Constantly putting Gangle down, blackmailing her, shattering her comedy mask, driving Ragatha crazy, abusing his knowledge of her centipede phobia, Zooble and Kinger’s…everything.
He threw me out of a moving truck for [BONK]’s sake!
And yet, within these snippets of suggested adventures, I’ve learned that perhaps there is more behind the persona he flaunts, and that, in a way opposite of Ragatha, he uses these sick jokes to humor him from tipping into complete insanity.
Or perhaps to push away anyone that even dares to get close to him again.
“Not anymore” Ragatha’s bitter remark replayed in my head.
What exactly happened to make Jax so…Jax?
“Whoops I missed” Jax droned, seemingly unbothered as the digital softball flew directly into Evil Orbsman’s…orbs.
As quickly as the ball had been pitched, Jax didn’t waste the effort of bunting the second pitch thrown at him.
“Oh darn, I’m out” He shrugged, dropping the bat lamely onto the home plate, and slouching as he took his seat next to me in the dugout.
Oddly enough, when he wasn’t being a complete jerk, it was actually kind of comforting to see someone struggling the same way I was. Is that a horrible way to think ?
“Having fun?” I offered. He forced himself to grin.
“Oh you know it!” Jax replied sarcastically.
As Gangle stepped up to plate, everything happened so abruptly. One moment things were fine, but as Jax does, he opened his big mouth and said something that irritated Ragatha. Suddenly instead of watching the game, I watched the two of them bicker over who was supposed to be the better influence over me. It's always bothered me that just because I’m new that it somehow translates to me being a lost duckling in need of a role model.
As if my own thoughts and feelings don’t matter at all.
“I can think for myself guys…” I interrupted, glancing between the two as they bickered.
This only escalated things further, Ragatha was at her breaking point while Jax just sat there grinning ear to ear.
Exasperated, Ragatha let out a heavy sigh, apologizing to me and, reluctantly, to Jax before walking away. The game was dying down, and I thought that letting Ragatha take my place in the batting lineup would ease some tensions, only now I was left, mostly alone, with Jax.
For a brief moment, I thought we’d stay in silence for the rest of the game, only for Jax to say something completely unexpected.
“Thank you” He said, soft enough I almost thought I imagined it.
“W-what are you thanking me for?” I chuckled a little, kicking my feet back and forth.
“Y’know for…not voting I guess?” He explained gesturing towards the maid outfit.
“Oh! W-well then you’re welcome.” I replied, keeping my hands folded in my lap.
Jax smiled briefly, before readjusting the skirt. I could tell he was uncomfortable, he still didn’t fully trust me, but despite how much of a jerk he was, I couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for him.
“You don’t have to talk about it right now, but…if you really need someone to talk to…I’ll be here” I blurted out, surprising both him and myself.
As surprised as he looked at first, Jax quickly brushed it off, and turned my offer back into a joke.
“It's really cute how much you worry about me,” he offered playfully.
“I mean it” I deadpanned, my thin cartoon brows furrowing.
“I know you do, but I also know that to help everyone else, you need to take care of yourself too, dummy" he chuckled, flicking me in the forehead.
“I can take my offer back just as easily” I joked but Jax shook his head.
He paused, grinning at me, and then he started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, but he just kept laughing.
“Nah, you’re too nice for that.”
“What?”
“If I were actually of the verge of a meltdown, a REAL abstraction level meltdown, would you talk me out of it?”
I paused, trying to gauge if he was being serious or not.
“If you were really struggling like that, I’d want you to know that you have someone to talk to…before it reaches that point” I repeated.
Jax nodded.
“WELL enough of that serious [BONK] once all of this is over, why don’t I show you something”
“I don’t know…” I remarked, earning another chuckle in response.
“C’mon Pomni, don’t you trust me? I told you, I’m on your side”
I rolled my eyes but after a moment of reflection, I agreed it would be nice to learn at least a little more about Jax.
If I could get him to open up more, if he could learn to trust me, then maybe we both wouldn’t feel so alone.
Maybe we could actually be friends.
“Alright”
“Alright, what?”
“I’ll go with you, to your mystery thing”
Jax grinned.
“Well then, I’m looking forward to getting out of this”
Our conversation abruptly ended as Jax was poofed out of his maid outfit, and said
“Oh cool, I’m not a vegan anymore!”
Running over to Evil Jax, the real Jax took the NPC between his teeth and started to shake him around like a dog chewing on its favorite toy.
I couldn’t help but laugh a little. Getting to know more about Jax made me feel less alone. Despite how much of a jerk he was, underneath that facade was the Jax that cared. At the end of the day, I laughed because I realized, for the first time since meeting him, that we weren’t that different from each other after all.