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The crew sprawl onto the floor, restless. Going on non-stop adventures with barely any time to complain outside of them, it's really taking a toll on them. Caine observes the six from above, a thoughtful look on his face, his thumb and index slowly caressing his chin. Bubble floats right next to him, before speaking up.
"What're you thinking about?" It asks, clueless, it's not like bubbles are assumed to have thoughts anyway. It seems Bubbles question brought him back down to earth, as Caine yelps quietly before calming himself down.
"It's just.. they seem to not be enjoying my adventures! Everyone enjoys my adventures, so what could possibly be going on!?" He exclaims, with a small hint of sadness in his speech. Bubbles lowk doesn't care, it blinks at Caine a few times.
"Maybe if you actually considered using the suggestion box again.." Caine looks down, realizing that just because they're all exhausted out of their minds, doesn't mean they cannot hear what's going on around them, or above them in this case.
Zoobles right, he hasn't used the suggestion box in a hot minute, maybe that'll keep them more contempt and back to their old selves, maybe they'll even enjoy his adventures when he secretly goes back to them. He doesn't speak up yet, thinking of all the benefits.
"Zoobles' right—"
"Zoobles' right! Right on Zooble, we shall use the suggestion box! Whose excited?" Caine completely cuts off Ragatha. He goes to their level, ground level, to face them. They look exhausted out of there minds, obviously. Jax does perk up his head though.
"Finally! I've been dying to have us go to an amazinggg bug Zoo! With all the amazing, cool.." Jax slowly creeps up behind Ragatha without her knowledge.
"Centipedes."
"AHH!—Jax you—Stop it! Don't do that again!" She tenses up at the thought of centipedes, her biggest fear. She puts her hands on her hips, starting to scold him. Jax simply walks away, much to Ragatha's annoyance.
"Centipedes? Oh.. that reminds me of a similar suggestion I had too! A trip to the cinema for a bug movie, how fun." Kinger's chimes in.
"Stop, saying that..." Ragatha muttered, the thought of centipedes makes her stomach churn like crazy.
Pomni, on the floor, notices two purple feet Infront of her, she looks up at Jax, weary. He has that signature teething smile on his face, one hand on his hip. He signals for her to get up with his hand, not even trying attempting to help. She stands up, legs worn out from these adventures.
"Me and the jest have some business to attend to, choi!" Jax grabs Pomni and scurry's away. The rest watch as they leave, dumbfounded.
"So... what do you want, Jax..?" Pomni asks, slightly annoyed, he did drag her into a random empty hallway after all.
"I know you're tired after the adventures, I am too! But guess what? I found.. coffee!!! Now you won't have to worry your silly little head off about sleep!" Jax presents a coffee maker, from the dining room. Pomni blinks at him, even more agitated. Before walking away. Jax can barely hold in his laughter, her face of dissatisfaction and disappointment, he really made her think it was something important or new.
"There you two are!" Jax's smile slowly turns into a frown, that annoying ragdoll here, to ruin the fun like she always does.
"What's the dolllll doing here?"
"Caine asked me to find you two, because you decided to wander off during his speech! He requested me to fill you two inn.. about our next adventure." She trailed off slightly, barely remembering what he said. She looks at both Pomni and Jax after finishing her sentence.
"Oh okay, thanks.." Pomni muttered. Ragatha gave her a nod and a smile, she glares at Jax before leaving.
"Taking 'just smile and nod' to the maximum huh?" Jax said, Pomni replying with a small giggle.
Almost everyone is gathered in the dining room, mostly eating breakfast, some others prefer other pastimes like drawing. However, Ragatha is missing, which isn't like her at all. Jax is bored. Without his ragdoll he can't seem to find someone to harass, obviously there's well, EVERYONE else; but he prefers bothering her the most.
"Hey Gangle, where's the' doll at?" He speaks up, startling Gangle slightly.
"Ragatha..? I don't know.. she must still be sleeping..."
"Sleeping?" Zooble chimes in, "No way.. I mean, Ragatha? I wouldn't expect her to sleep in..." She puts their "hand" on her chin.
"I don't know—someone should check on her..." Gangle muttered.
"Jax, you go." Jax turns to Zoobles, slightly shocked and annoyed by that suggestion.
"Pshh.. why should I go? Can't it be like you, or Pomni, or Kinger?" He puts his hands to the back of his head, leaning in his seat with his eyes closed.
"You asked first right? You clearly wanna know so [#^$@/}€^] bad.. So you go check up on her."
"Fine finee.. I'll go check up on Ragatha... But if she abstracted or something Its not my fault!"
"Jax!" Pomni yells at his insensitive joke. None of them find abstracting funny, except Jax for some reason, 'dark humor' bullshit. He chuckles as hops away. Jax reaches Ragathas door, he hesitates to knock, before taking a key out of his pocket and unlocking the door.
There's the doll! Well, sleeping, sleeping deep at that. He almost wonders if he should just let her pretty little face get her pretty little rest, but he's kinda obligated to wake her up. He flips the light switch on so her can see better, before shaking her awake.
"Button-face~ C'mon.. wake up!" She turns to face the rabbit, eyes squinting, adjusting to the light. She sees Jax's snobbish grin, her eyebrows slightly furrowing. He finally stops shaking her.
"Well, you better get up soon Raggy. We have somewhere to be remember?" He leaves. Right! They do have somewhere to be. Ragatha gets dressed quickly and heads to the dining room. Jax is the first one to speak up.
"See? I told you I got her up!" He exclaimed proudly.
"Well, he isn't wrong. If it wasn't for him reminding me about our adventure today, I probably would've gone back to sleep, heh.." She says, in her usual cheerful attitude. A few of them exchange giggles. She sits down next to Jax, that sadly being the only available seat.
A plate of five pancakes perfectly stacked on top of each other and syrup spawn right in front of her, she shrugs it off. What she can't shrug off is her hunger. She eats as much as she can of the big meal, highK giving up on third pancake. Jax stares at her as she eats, she finally notices him and his stupid grin.
"... Yes Jax..?" She muttered after swallowing her food.
"Look at you! Having table manners and everything!" She looks at him, not quite being able to read his emotions.
"Ah, well I suppose it's—" He kicks her foot. "Ow! Jax!?" That yelp from Ragatha caught the tables attention.
"Whatttt?? I'm just having some fun guys!"
"How are my amazinggg contestants doing!? Sleep well last night?" Caine doesn't give them a second to respond even. "Well I hope so! Because today we're going to the theater!! To watch.. uh.. bubble..?" He mutters the last words, seeming to forget the last words.
"Plan Bee."
"Plan Bee..? What is that..??—Nevermind the details! Let's get this show on the road everybody! C'mon, get your butts into the portal."
He forces everyone into the portal. It leads to a movie theater, Kinger looks eager, obviously, it's kinda a movie about bugs? I mean, who really considers bees bugs.. whatever. They are the only ones in the cinema, besides from the silly mannequin cashiers. He didn't even bother to give them a uniform or hat.
They ordered their foods and drinks, mostly the same, not like their was many options anyway. Everytime the mannequins would be right about to tell them their pay amount, it would go limp, how lazy of Caine to not just alter their script.
They finally took their seats. Kinger absolutely GEEKING in his seat, eager for the movie to start, he was in the dark after all, so it made him more conscious, and more happy, in this situation at least.
Kinger sat next to Pomni, Pomni sat next to Gangle, Gangle sat next to Zooble, Zooble sat next to Ragatha, Ragatha sat next to.. Jax? She could've sworn he was harassing Gangle like two spots ahead of her in the line. Whatever, she just hopes he won't be a pain in the ass, which she doubts but still.
"Are you two excited for the movie?" She asks, directing her attention to Jax and Zooble with that usual smile on her face. Zooble leans back.
"Well, it's better than nothing.. at least we'll be able to maybe relax. A movie about Bees doesn't sound.. chaotic."
"This is just straight boring! You can't expect me to stay still and watch this stupid [%€^£].." Jax crosses his arm and looks away, performatively annoyed.
A good thirty minutes into the movie, Jax cannot keep his eyes open, at all. The dim lighting is made for his rabbit eyes, making just the more comfortable in this environment. Maybe if he just.. closes his eyes.. for a.. second... No! He mustn't, if he rests just head to the left, he'll fall to the side, and if he rests just head to the right...
...well, he'd be resting his head on a ragdoll shoulder. He considers that idea for a while, before snapping back out of it, what a foolish thing to think! But it IS good way to prank Ragatha. Plus, her shoulder is a good pillow, since she's pure stuffing.. No! He's just teasing her bit, no actually falling asleep, or getting comfortable..
He yawns dramatically, getting Ragathas attention for a second, before she turned her eyes back to the movie. Jax closes his eyes before laying his head gently on her shoulder. She freezes up, realizing what he just did. She feels her face burning up for some reason.
"J-Jax!? Uhm.." She attempts to nudge him awake or even push him off, but to no ones surprise, he didn't move an inch. "Jax, stop messing around.." This isn't like him at all, he must be messing around, obviously. Does she wish he wasn't..? No way..!
"Alright Jax.. you're done teasing her, get off.." His mind screams at him to do, but he just can't seem to move. Jax's face contorts as he argues with his mind, he starts unknowingly thumping his legs, in frustration. Ragatha notices his body language, she assumes he's uncomfortable.
"Sigh.. if you decide you want to be so comfortable lying on my shoulder, I can't bare to see how uncomfortable you are..." She whispers to him, before taking her hand and putting it behind his ears, petting him gently.
The sudden touch makes Jax tense up completely, before he slowly relaxes into her touch. She can tell because of how much more warm he is now. Ragatha continues to slowly caresses behind his ears, he doesn't move.
Zooble chuckles at a scene, they assumes the doll laughed too. She turns to Ragatha, only to see Jax's bum ass self on her shoulder, very comfortable. She shocked, bewildered even, she thought they despised each other. She turns back to movie, laughing to themselves.
"You learn something new everyday huh.. hmhmhmm.."
The more Ragatha caresses Jax the more he feels pleasure. He nuzzles his face into her shoulder more. As she continues this petting, Jax unknowingly makes a noise.
"Mhhmghh.. R-Ragatha.." He whined, easing his head more into her hand. That moan was enough for Ragatha to know, this wasn't enough for Jax. She pushes the arm rest down and rests his head on her lap. Jax's eyes go wide, he was supposed to just be pranking her, and making fun of her when she got all red and comfortable.
That completely backfired.
"I-I..— your so dead after this.. a-adventure.." He manged muttered, he was only met with a chuckle and a small 'okay.' She continued to pet him, just like how she would pet a less humanoid rabbit. Seeing him like this, so vulnerable, so calm, so normal.. it was adorable, and something she can use against him. He continued to occasionally mutter and whine the whole movie, before eventually falling asleep to her touch.
Most of the crew was gathered in the tent, except Zooble and Jax.
"So my glorious, stupendous, friends! Who enjoyed the movie!?" Caine asked cheerfully, seeming that everyone's in a fairly well mood for once.
"I-I did! Zooble and I drew a lot of the bugs.. it was fun." Gangle spoke, she was in a nice, calm mood, just like everyone else. Someone sits between her and Ragatha, the purple rabbit, Jax. He kicks Gangle in the face, off the couch, breaking her comedy mask again. Gangle sobs, picking up the pieces.
"It was sooo boring! I almost fell asleep, oh wait, I did..!!" Jax exclaims, snickering. He rests his head on Ragathas lap again, looking at his nails. "If you're looking for Zooble, Caine. She's hiding, from youuu." Caine looks frustrated.
"Oh? Well.. Zooble!!! Zoobleee!!!!" Caine instantly goes looking for them.
Jax looks up at Ragatha, she glares at him.
"What's the matter doll face? Weren't you okay with this a few hours ago??" He teased, Ragatha pushes him off, he lands on the floor with a thump.
Pomni whispers to Gangle.
"What's up with those two..?"
"I-I don't know.. was he laying on her lap...?" Gangle replied, baffled.
"Maybe it's just him teasing her again. It's funny to see how she's treating him back, heh.." They both exchange chuckles.
"C'mon Raggy, you know you want to!"
"Didn't YOU lay your head on MY shoulder first!?—" She immediately gets her mouth covered, Jax turns to Gangle and Pomni, face turning red.
"What are you two looking at!?" He yells, embarrassed. They both burst out in giggles, seeing Jax embarrassed is not usually a sight.
"Both you! Shut up!" He screams louder. Jax buries his hands in his face, completely embarrassed. "Look what you did Ragathaaa! I'm gonna kill you..!!"
He's met with a small chuckle.
"Okay."