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Larina has been a recent addition to the circus, only joining a week or two ago. She was a grey wind up robot with pigtails and a pink ballerina dress, that's how she got her name, being a ballerina and all. She always had a pretty bad case of thalassophobia, it was there in her life before the circus and it kinda persisted even after the reality change. Ragatha was someone she could always confide in and one day while venting about her irrational fear to her, Jax eavesdropped on the conversation and decided to abuse this information.
“Today’s adventure is! SUPERB TROPICAL BEACHSIDE SCAVENGER HUNT!!!”
Oh boy…
“That’s right my glittery gumdrops! You all are going to the beach to search for ancient artifacts buried in the sand! Whoever gets the most by the end wins! But be warned! For some artifacts may be CURSE-”
“H-Hey! Uh, Caine? I’m going to sit this one out…” Larina said as she was slowly walking away
“Nonsense darling! You just need a relaxing beach day to loosen those gears!”
“Caine-”
“That’s enough dear! Now go have fun with your friends!”
“WHA-” before Larina could say another word, Caine pushed her and the rest of the cast into the portal which transported them to a tropical beach with palm trees and a beach with a long expansive ocean near it. Larina slightly stumbled back as she was looking at the massive water bank in front of her and was already shaking by the sight of it.
“Larina sweetie?” Ragatha asked “Is everything okay?” Larina immediately leaned closer to her and gripped her hand tight. Ragatha slightly blushed, being slightly caught off guard by the assertiveness but kept quiet, especially because well, she was kind of enjoying holding her hand like this.
“Y-yeah” Larina replied “I’m just, a little shaken, I’ll just keep my distance-”
“What’s wrong Buttercup? Scared a little water will get in your gears?” Larina turned around to see Jax mocking her with his damn shit-eating grin.
“Shut up Jax”
“C’mooon, it’s not that bad, not like it’ll kill you or anything”
“Statistically speaking-” before Larina could finish that sentence, Jax held Larina in the air like a kitten and curled her up in a ball before throwing her into the ocean.
“JAX!?” “JAX YOU [BOINK]HOLE!” “WHAT!?” the others cried.
Larina eventually landed in the water, and immediately got up and kneeled to the floor, luckily she landed into the shallow end but that did NOT lessen her anxiety. She was hyperventilating and trying to keep her composure as she coughed up some water in her lungs and was heavily shaking, her hands couldn’t even stay steady for a millisecond as her windup key was turning and ticking furiously. There was a beat of silence for a second as Larina got herself out of the water, she stood up, whipped her face, stared at Jax, and was pissed.
“JAX, WHAT THE ACTUAL [BONK] YOU [BLEEP]ING [BUZZ]HOLE YOU [CRASH]ING DIP[BANG]!!! SON OF A-” Larina ran head first at Jax landing a gut punch knocking some air out of him, before kicking behind his legs and uppercutting the back of his head before he fell to the floor. Jax twisted Larina’s left arm before she kneed his chest and swung at him with her right arm. Jax fallen to the ground and as he was looking up, Larina grabbed an artifact and raised it to the air, preparing to dunk it on Jax before-
“LARINA STOP!!!” Ragatha came from behind and grabbed Larina, pulling her close to her chest as the artifact fell to the floor, breaking into a million pieces.
“LET ME AT HIM!!!” Larina yelled “I CAN DROP THAT [BLARE]’S [HONK] EASY-” Larina stopped as she turned to look at Ragatha, and seeing her face, how she was legitimately afraid, something about her gaze, spoke to her in an odd way, and she couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about it, made her not want to fight anymore. Larina relaxed her muscles as Ragatha finally let go, Jax got up, still dazed and looked genuinely shocked and slightly afraid even.
“The hell is wrong with you!?” he yelled out, but Larina just ignored him and ran off.
“Larina! Wait!” Ragatha jolted up as she followed behind, chasing after her.
The rest of the day was, awkward to say the least, Larina and Ragatha didn’t hang out with the others for the rest of the adventure. When they all got back, the tension was so thick even Caine could tell something happened but didn’t wanna say anything. Larina locked herself in her room for the next two days only unlocking it to let Ragatha in when she was checking up on her, eventually Ragatha convinced her to leave her room and meet up with the others and things went back to normal after that, and though Jax never stopped troubling her, he did harass her LESS and knew the line she very clearly drawn.