Chapter Text
“so, how does it work?” Pomni points at gangle with her fork “your ribbons I mean, are you like a snake?”
“oh, I can move my arms and legs and… that’s pretty much it” their true face deflated at the last part, feeling like they had just disappointed Pomni by crushing her expectations
“I think you might have the worst luck out of all us with your avatar (Zooble doesn’t count because they can become grievous and that’s cool as shit)” Jax snickered and ignored the others stares of annoyance or anger, he took a bite out of his pancake before adding with a mouth half full “remember when you tried to slap me?”
“wait, you tried to slap him?” Zooble’s ire was replaced by genuine surprise and totally unhidden respect
“yeah” Gangle added softly, quietly. “it didn’t cause much damage”
“it didn’t caused damage at all!” Jax chuckled “it was like, like… being gently caressed with soft paper” wait no, that analogy sucked ass, fuck.
“technically speaking, it’s not possible to cause damage, what you are trying to say it’s that it didn’t caused any pain” Kinger eyes remained unfocused, unaware of the bit of trivia that he had managed to conjure from god knows where
“so, Gangle, what did Jax do to push you to that limit? You aren’t usually very… erm” Ragatha shrunk on her chair when Zooble moved their head to look at them, clearly annoyed at how her lack of thought about she was going to say could affect Gangle.
Thankfully, Gangle didn’t seemed to mind
“Oh, I… I can’t recall” that was a bold lie to none brought, she knew it, but the alternative was to share one of her most embarrassing moments in front of everyone. Looking like a liar seemed to be the best option
Pomni opened her mouth, trying to find any way of comforting Gan-
“GOOD MORNING MY THE AMAZING DIGITAL CUCKOLDS!”
“…your amazing digital wh-?“
“TODAYS adventure WILL require YOU to wear a FULL BODY 600K DOLLAR FURSUIT while exploring an ABANDONED submarine filled with ANAL SEX SPIDERS! Who wants TO go first!?”
Caine stared at the cast with a wide, bright eyes and a mouth (face? Skull?) that was open as wide as… well, as wide as he wanted to be since there was nothing such as “physically possible”
“…h-“
“YOU UNGRATEFULL LITTLE SHATS!” he grew to the size of a small bulding and slammed his fist into the ground “YOU THINK THIS IS EASY PEASY LEMON AFRICA?!”
“…h-“
“WRONG” he closed his mouth with a loud snap and grind his teeth with enough force to send sparks flying everywhere “I HAVE TO BREAK MY pingas TO MAKE A [redacted]! YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF-“
Caine grew back to his original size and pulled out a pipe, he took a long inhalation from it, before letting out a bunch of bubbles from his mouth, and storing it back in his pocket. Meanwhile everybody was paralyzed by fear and shock, shacking with fright and mouths slightly agape
“actually, that is not a bad idea, not a bad idea at all!” his normal tone was somehow even more jarring that usual “alright gang, me and the council have reached a decision!”
He pulled out a second cane, identical to the one he was wielding on his free hand, and pointed at the table
“each and every.single.one.of.you” a new arm spurt with each punctuation, growing and twisting until it was pointing directly at each person “will get ONE AND ONLY ONE chance to take my role as a ringmaster! Maybe then you’ll get how HARD my job and be more grateful”
“…h-“
“well go in alphabetical order” he clasped his fingers, teleporting a very confused and lost Jax directly to his side “Jax, you go first!”
He shoved his cane into Jax hands and with a poof of smoke and a loud POP, he was gone. Jax looked down at himself, admiring the fresh fit that this newly found powers had granted him.
He had the typical ringmaster outfit, with a top hat and golden shoulder pads and shiny brown shoes.
(N/A: he looked like this: https://www.tumblr.com/nest-of-the-artist/814651876516691968/you-mentioned-someone-else-taking-pomnis-place-in?source=share)
A wide smile spread across his face, a yellow expanse that spoke of eternal torment and hellish agony, but before he could do or say anything (good or bad) a scream broke the tension
Happy mask already broken in the floor since the second realization hit her, Gangle was clawing at her own face, hyperventilation being the only reason of her lack of soul wrenching screams, incoherent rambles coming out of her mouth, an expression of pure dread on her face.
One second she was alone, and in the next everybody stood beside her, clearly desiring to help but lacking any means to do so, Ragatha hug herself, Pomni ran towards the table to get a glass a water and Zooble attempted to put a hand on her shoulder
“Give her space, if it’s too crowded she won’t be able to calm down” Kinger spoke with a clear voice, using his floating hands to push the others away “Gangle, can you hear me?”
He bent down to her eye level, but she didn’t had the capacity to recognize his presence, or to think at all.
The world slowed down to a crawl. Everything, everyone, started to move in slow motion. Pomni’s hand reaching towards the table, Gangle clawing at her own face, Zooble staring in disbelief and hopelessness…
It wasn’t a trick of the mind or adrenaline altering one’s perception, the world had actually almost fully stopped, and it was all by the will of the newly appointed ringmaster.
The first thing that Jax did was to buy himself more of what couldn’t be bought, time. The second thing he did was to alter his own mind to think a dozen, a hundred, a thousand times faster than what was humanly possible.
He wasn’t going to let Gangle abstract on his first and last day as a ringmaster, he wasn’t going to let her abstract at all.
He reached deep inside a vast well of knowledge that resided in him and from it he pulled every single information available about panic attacks. He slowly drifted towards Gangle, a part of him knew that he could just alter her mind to stop her from losing her sanity, another part screamed that it was a bad idea.
He listened to the latter.
With a motion of his hand he conjured a few small items, a warm heavy blanket, a glass of water, a golden feather and a sugar pill to act as a placebo.
The first step was the most crucial and hardest of them all, he had to bring Gangle back to a state where she could listen. There were many paths towards that goal, but only some of them lead to victory… time’s up.
.
.
.
Gangle’s spiraling was interrupted by a glimpse caught by the corner of her eye. A shiny, golden feather that seemed to float without the need of any current of air moved into the center of her field of vision. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to break her out of shock and back into the reality.
The feather shifted until it was a few mere inches away from her face, and a doft, deep voice spoke above her
“inhale”
It wasn’t an order, it wasn’t a suggestion, it was something else that she couldn’t describe, something that complied her to do so. trought shaky, sobbing breaths, she filled her nonexistent lungs with oxygen. The feather flew up and up until it was barely inside her sight.
“exhale”
She emptied herself from air, a warm pressure gently being posed around her. The feather accompanied her breaths, slowly falling down to below her eye level.
“inhale”
Trough more steady breaths, she inhaled and retained.
“exhale”
The process repeated itself one, three, six, as many times as it took until she was no longer shaking, until her breaths and mind were as calm as the surface of a lake.
Jax drifted in front of her, everybody too taken aback to stand on his path.
“it’s okay” he whispered with a softness that he didn’t knew himself capable of “no one is going to get hurt… except for Ragatha”
“W-what?” Ragatha shock her head, snapping out of any surprise or shock
“here, drink this” He handed her a pill and a glass of water, Gangle would usually never accept such “gifts” from Jax, but the breakdown from mere seconds ago had devoid her from any energy to argue.
“what do you mean by “except for ragatha”?” Rags pointed with a shaky finger, trying to see if anyone was paying her attention
“Take as much time as you need” She gulped down the water and gently placed the glass on the floor “there is no hurry, we will wait for you”
“what did he mean by “except for ragatha”?!” she looked around but it seemed that no one had cared too much about that part of his speech.
“I-I think I’m better now” she slowly stood up, wrapping the warm blanket around her like a cape
“cool, cool”
Everyone stood there, awkwardly, unsure of what to do next. Still trying to process Gangle’s almost abstraction and Jax sudden change of heart
“well, I guess that today’s adventure is pretty much dead on arrival since I assume that none of you would like to participate?” Jax scratched the back of his head while looking at the others, but before they could voice their opinion-
“new rule, everybody has to go in the adventure” caine sipped his piña colada “you know, to get accurate feedback and allat” and with that he left back to whatever he had came from.
“…alright then” Jax clapped and teleported everyone into what seemed to be a natural cave lit by fixated torches that produced no smoke.
“today’s adventure is “adventure(9).exe”” a hologram of the letters appeared above him on a golden arch. “all you need to do is to get to the end of this dungeon” he pointed with his caine towards a long, poorly lit hallway that twisted and turned deeper into the darkness ahead.
And so, without saying a single word more, everybody started their long march. It took Gangle a few seconds to notice that instead of teleporting away (like how caine usually would do after the start of each adventure) Jax remained present, constantly hovering above them, barely above the reach of the light.
Jax watched over all of them at Gangle, her slow pace made it so that soon she was the last in line. The others clearly understood that she was in no mood for conversation right now and decided to give her space, but such luxury Jax couldn’t afford.
Alright, I need to tell her that I’m sorry, that I will tone it down, that I had no idea of how much damage I have caused her and that it was never my intention to hurt her that deeply… and I need to be able to convey it in such a way that won’t make it look like I care.
“you are really fucking stupid, you know that, right?” Great start genius
Gangle heard him but said nothing, she looked ahead at the others and wondered if Jax had done
something to made them deaf, or maybe he was visible for her and her only
“I mean, they are all just… silly little pranks, they were never meant to be taken so seriously. So don’t lose sleep overthinking them, trying to find a deeper meaning in them or anything like that”
Gangle kept looking forward. Should she answer him? What could she even respond with? Would he get mad at her if she ignored him? Would she be punished for that?
“…I mean, come onnnnnnn! You almost abstracted because of some stupid jokes?! What, they really were that bad?!” his smile was visible forced and strained, his pupils a pair of tiny dots. He was grabbing his head firmly between both hands.
Gangle slowly nodded, he wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t for his newly augmented senses, before he could make a mention of it, a voice at the other extreme of the line spoke
“Ugggh, is the whole adventure just a really long hallway?!”
“relax zoob’s” Jax drifted until he was right beside them, horizontally resting on the air “It’s all about building tension”
“and coming up with ideas for what to put ahead?” Jax smiled widely
Speaking of, ahead of them the hallway came to an end, arching out in a huge chamber that house a gargantuan set of wooden doors. More fit for a castle of giants than for a small cave. The cast stopped in their tracks and gazed with marvel at the dantesque construction, a primal emotion swelling inside their chests, the pure awe of being witness of something too large, too big to comprehend in a single look.
“…Should we, hu, should we knock?” Ragatha bit her index finger, totally lost on what could they do to reach their goal
“I don’t think that is the solution for this puzzle but… it is worth a try” Pomni walked forwards and lightly tapped her knuckles against the door… before deciding that it wasn’t loud enough and slamming the side of her fists against the wood, sending loud echoes down the hall from which they came from.
They all waited for a few seconds, when nothing happened (for the relief of most of them), Pomni tried to push the door… it didn’t budge an inch
“open sesame!…” nothing “abrete sesamo! … aberto sésamo!” Kinger started chanting, both hands raised towards the door. Pomni stared at him for a few seconds before going back to pushing.
“that looks heavy, here, let me give you a hand” Zooble moved to her side and added her own strength, which didn’t seem to change much, other than drown Kinger’s chants with groans of strained work.
“hu, maybe we are supposed to go through there?” Ragatha pointed upwards, towards a keyhole large enough for a small person to fit in.
“wh- how are we supposed to reach that?!” Zooble took a few steps back to appreciate it, and indeed, it seemed like a person could squeeze their way in “and it doesn’t look like all of us will fit through it”
“we could stand atop of each other shoulders, and maybe… maybe there is a way to open the door from the other side?” Ragatha looked down at Pomni, she didn’t want to bring up her short stature but-
“did we…” Gangle spoke silently, she would had allowed the rest of the words to die in her throat if it wasn’t because the others looked back at her, wanting to know what she thought “did we tried pulling?”
They all stared at her, changing looks with one another before Zooble attempted to do just that. Grabbing the door by a small iron handle on its side, they pulled… and it moved.
“of course” Pomni sighed, facepalming herself. This was a Jax adventure afterall.
“good job guys! Gangle gets 25 Jax points, but I’m feeling communist, so I will redistribute her wealth so that each one of you gets 5 points instead” an intangible colored counter appeared atop their head, increasing with a ping that repeated itself 5 times.
“god da*!-@t Jax! Communism doesn’t work!” Kinger frowned and pointed with a shaky finger towards Jax, the others too focused on the number above them to comment about it
“…Jax points?” they asked at the same time, with tones that shifted between confusion, fear and apprehension
“Yeah, you can exchange them at any point for some impressive new features, like being able to swea-“
“FUCK PISS SHIT CUM ASSHOLE MOTHERF@!*#!” Zooble looked at the censor bar that appeared for a second “1 point per insult? … meh, it was worth it”
“…swearing, changes to your avatars… yeah, that’s, hu, that’s pretty much it… speaking of changing avatars” he grabbed some loose skin on his neck and pulled out his own skin like it was but a cloak, revealing underneath the figure of a tall, lean guy with almond eyes and brown hair with some parts dyed blonde.
Gangle stared at the silver piercings on his ears and lower lip, before quickly looking away with some blush on her cheeks, unsure if anyone caught her looking. Thankfully for her, the others were too busy eating him with their eyes, although each one for different reasons. Pomni was scanning his fit of a white t-shirt with ragged jeans and a pair of sneakers, while Ragatha was more focused on his hair.
“ah man, I’ve missed my old looks” Jax pulled out a mirror and stared at his reflection, brushing a palm alongside his chin
“Why the change? didn’t you said that your bunny body was “the pinnacle of masculinity”?” Pomni teased him before clarifying for a shocked Ragatha “HIS words not mine”
“well duh, but who says that there can only be ONE pinnacle? There are many ways in which a peak physique can present itself” He flexed an arm showing
“…this is how you used to look before the circus?” Zooble asked with a tone of suspicion and a raised brow “…wait, what that’s on your hand?”
“you mean my super cool and badass tattoo?” he clenched his fists and moved frontwards, allowing them to take a close look to the letter inscribed on each digit.
“…did you seriously tattooed the word FIST on your hand?” Zooble gripped his hand with a claw “And what is the second T for?!”
“it stands for thumb” he smirked
“oh I see, to make sure that you wouldn’t forget how to spell it, right?” Pomni batter her eyelashes at him while Rag’s and Gangle chuckled, Zooble was too annoyed by the poor craftmanship to humor her but she let a snicker all the same
“haha, real funny” he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms
“that” Kinger raised a finger towards Jax hand “has to be the second worst tattoo I’ve seen in my life”
“what’s the first one?” Gangle couldn’t help but ask, after all, what could be more stupid than-?
“a swastika” he said plainly
“…okay yeah, damn, that’s… ok” Jax quickly shock his head and decided to change the topic “anyways, wait until you see the one on my chest”
Without giving 0 warnings for the people with heart palpitations on the audience, he lifted his t-shirt, showing a line of well-marked abdominal muscles (even if it was more for lack of fat than for time spent at the gym). Out of all of them, Kinger and Zooble were the only ones that didn’t ogled for even a second, the former due to focusing his attention on a fly on the wall, and the latter because the rage inside them overwhelmed all aesthetic sensibilities.
“SERIUSLY?!” Zooble huffed and puffed, reaching levels of rage that weren’t seen before that moment “DID YOU SERIUSLY TATTOED THE WORD “TATOO” ON YOUR CHEST?!”
“Z-Zooble, calm down, it’s not-“ Ragatha tried to put a hand on their shoulder but it was brushed
“NO! THIS-THIS TWINK!” they pointed their claw towards Jax and ignored his offended expression “SPENT GOD KNOWS HOW MUCH TIME AND MONE-“
“Actually it was for free, it was the practice of an old friend” He did spend a lot of time on it thou, that was true
“I DON’T CARE! This…” they let out a deep, defeated sigh that deflated them like a balloon “this is totally on brand with you, s*@#, you are probably being honest”
“probably?” He raised a brow, did they really taught him capable of lying about his real world appearance? … I mean, he WAS capable, but only if it was funny (funny for him).
“I would like to exchange my points to get my real world appearance as well” Pomni raised her hand, maybe she should save her points for later, but she didn’t feel the need to swear
“…I huuuuu, I don’t know your real world appearance” Jax scratched the side of his head.
“oh, right” a bit disappointing but, she could still work with this “can I change my points to be able to remove my hat?”
“sure” Jax opened what seemed to be a screen on the air and pressed a few buttons “there we go”
“great” Pomni didn’t waited a single second more, for the first time since her arrival she was able to observe her hat with her own eyes, rather than just a reflection on the mirror, it was almos- what was that sound?
She raised her head to observe how everyone was staring at her, everybody trying to repress a laugh… everybody but Jax, who was cackling loudly at her, clutching his stomach, kicking his legs
“HAHAHAH! Oh my god! I swear it wasn’t me!” he wiped out a tear of his eye, Pomni touched his head only to realize…
She was bald
“JAX! YOU PIECE OF CRAP” she threw the hat on the floor and stomped hard on top of it “give me hair right FUCKING now!”
Everybody was now laughing at her. She blushed hard from embarrassment, eyes too focused on Jax to pay attention to a poor Ragatha trying to apologize between fits of giggling.
“Sorry pompom you already spent all your points” he shrugs his shoulders “guess you’ll have to wait”
“it’s ok Pomni” Kinger slid towards her “I’m bald too, see?”
Apparently, as everybody but Pomni and Kinger soon found out, it was impossible to die of laughter in the digital circus, or shame for that matter. Her face was almost completely red from anger and shame. She knew that in a few weeks this would be a fun anecdote, but that did little to change his current feelings. With a loud “humpf” she put her hat back on and crossed her arms.
The laughter slowly started to die out until they were all out of breath, barely standing on their feet.
“I would like to change my points for a happy mask” Gangle rised one of her ribbons but quickly put it down when Jax looked back at her
“No” his pupils were big, his mouth completely absents from his face
A cold shiver went down Gangle’s spine, the contrast with his attitude from earlier jarring and unsettling. She wanted to ask why, but she didn’t felt brave enough to do so.
“I-er, we should kept going, right guys!” trying to move from this moment of tension as fast as she could, Ragatha started to march towards the open door, the rest following soon after.
The next room contained a single wooden chest.
Highlighted by a spotlight.
With a giant red X on the floor beneath it.
And a big letter right next to it, the words “this is not a trap (and/or a mimic)” written in what seemed to be blood.
“…alright, so” The bells on her hat made small jingle sounds with each step “the options are:
A) this is a subversion and the chest is actually just a chest
B) this is a subversion of a subversion and it’s actually a trap
C) The chest is fine but the letter is a mimic”
“erm, what is a mimic?” Ragatha tilted her head left
“it’s a creature from dungeons and dragons, it usually disguises itself as different objects… like a chest” Gangle clarified, slowly but cautiously approaching the chest. “actually, give me a second”
She moved past the letter and frowned “yeah, the other side has a message too, *ejem* “the chest is not a mimic and/or trap either””
“…that didn’t really helped at all”
“I volunteer to open it” Kinger moved to the front, gathering the attention from all the present.
They all nodded in agreement, taking side next to him in case they had to intervene. All watched in tension as his hands slowly floated towards the chest, struggling for a bit before finally opening it… and pulling a brown, small bag tied with rope.
They shook it, causing a satisfying clinking sound, they had no mouth but their eyes clearly showed that they were smiling.
“well, would you look at that” Zooble extended their arm, receiving their newly acquired treasure “it seems that it was case A) after a-“
When they opened the bag a long tongue shot out from it, grappling their head like a frog catching an insect, and enveloping whole inside its leather body.
Everybody stood still for the duration of an eyeblink before launching themselves at them, Ragatha and Kinger Grabbed Zooble, while Ragatha and Pomni held the bag, both sides struggled on what seemed to be the worst game of “pull the rope” before finally releasing Zooble’s head with a loud POP.
The bag fell on the floor and skittered away, like a cockroach when you turn on the lights. No one dared to try and crush it, opting to hope for it to never come back instead.
“…oh look, a coin!”
“Kinger wait!” Pomni stretched her hand but it was too late, Kinger had already picked what seemed to be a golden coin from the bottom of the chest, moving it between his fingers, eyes catching the way in which the light glimpsed from it.
After a few seconds of quiet, a collective sigh of relief was let out, if it was another trap it would had been triggered already.
“great, all of that for 1, measly Jax point” Zooble cleaned the mimic saliva from their antenna with their non-claw hand, frowning at the coin.
“actually, that is NOT a Jax point” the shadows on the wall shifted into the form of a tall bunny “that is a golden coin, you can use it at a shop to buy stuff”
“wait, so we have Jax points AND normal, regular money?”
“yeah, never played a triple A game before? The more types of currency, the better” he pulled out a pack of bills and started to flip them over “keeps players on their toes, ya know?”
Zooble felt a hand gently patting their back, they gave back a tired stare to Ragatha before just walking out of the room, giving the conversation as finished.
The Door lead to a room of ceramic floor and wooden walls, each centimeter of the wall was covered in trinkets, all available surfaces on tables and chairs were used as displays for curios. From what seemed to be a long table rose… Jax but with a cowboy hat
“welcome, my dear clients, to my humble establishment: Jacks magical trinkets shop” he pointed towards a very, veeeeeeeeery tiny letter that was partially hidden behind a broad steel sword.
“…your name is jack?” Pomni walked towards the sword and moved it aside to inspect the letter
“yup, totally distinct from any other similar sounding name and free of copyright. Feel free to ask any questions that you might have”
“erm, what is the story of this dungeon?” Gangle walked towards the counter and picked one of the notebooks.
“no idea”
“...what is in the other rooms?”
“I’m as lost as you are”
“…favorite color?”
“hmmmm, thought question… I don’t have an answer for that, sorry”
“well, I guess they are right” Pomni dragged her finger along the edge of the blade “you cannot write a character smarter than yourself”
“ooof, I hope you have some potions of fire resistance” Ragatha high fived Pomni, slowly bending so that she didn’t had to jump to reach her hand “get it? Because you got burned?”
“yeah yeah, real funny, you gonna buy anything?” He tapped his foot against the floor and adjusted his silly hat.
“how much for this sword?” Pomni pointed at the sword that was twice her length and probably weighted more than her
“2 golden coins”
“and how much for this notebook?” Gangle pointed at the notebook she had seen earlier, made out of green dyed leather and with yellowish pages.
“2 golden coins”
“how about that?” Kinger pointed towards the wooden door they had come trough
“2 golden coins”
“do you have anything more, you know, affordable?” Ragatha started to scan the price tags, realizing they all had a prize of 2 golden coins, independently of whether they were on a gem or a rock.
“yeah, this mystery potion with a random effect” he raised his hat, revealing underneath it a small flask that contained a multicolored, bright liquid that seemed to shine and swirl on its own “its gonna cost you 10 silver coins”
“…and how many silver coins is a golden coin worth?”
“9”
“is there anything in this shop that we can afford?!” Zooble slammed their hands on the desk, causing all the crap standing on it to shake and tumble
“hmmmmm, no, I don’t think so” he repressed a smile, only making his expression more intolerable
“then why is the shop here?!” they were starting to wonder if it wouldn’t had been more preferable to be traditionally tortured compared to… this.
“the first time you go to a shop you are broke, you never played a game before?”
“if this is the kind of games you play, then I can get why you are such an insufferable a!*#@e” Pomni bit back, showing a row of clenched sharp teeth. Leaving the room, being shortly followed after by the rest
Zooble stared at the curtain that lead to the next room, wondering how they could had miss that, they were about to step through it when a voice spoke from behind them
“Here, have this”
They turned back to see Jax handing them the mystery potion from earlier, they took a step forwards but hesitated before grabbing it.
“look, we both know that when it’s your turn to be ringmaster you are going to… you know” He looked to the side while slightly blushing
“dude, you are an adult, you can say SEX” They narrowed their eyes at him, was he being for real right now?
“yeah, that. Anyways, I wouldn’t like getting the short end of the stick when that happens sooooo, consider this a “peace” offering” Zooble finally took the potion, storing inside their “hammer dimension”.
“I wasn’t going to give you a micropenis or anything like that, I’m not that petty” they WERE going to make him believe that he wasn’t going to be given the freedom to have sex, but no reason to ruin the surprise for him “also… you should apologize to Gangle”
Jax opened his eyes wide and blinked a few times at that statement. He knew that they were right, he just didn’t get why they brought the topic right now. Before they could ask any questions, Zooble was already gone.
None seemed to notice the gap of time between them leaving and Zooble following behind, wether that was a trick of Jax or merely human distraction remained a question. On the next room they found… Evil Jax, just standing there, big ol eyes staring forward without blinking.
“alright fellas, heres a bunch of weapons” Jax summoned a large pile of medieval weaponry, axes, swords, maces and even a large frying pan “now go and kill that sucker”
“dude, we are not going to kill some innocent NPC just because you hate them” Pomni still picked up one of the swords from the pile, striking some poses with it
“ah right, my bad” Jax snapped his finger, causing Evil Jax to blink rapidly and jump in place
“guess who won the lottery?! I did! Yeah!”
…
“yeah, ok, that’s good enough for me, RAAAAAAAH!” Pomni charged forwards and plunged her sword deep into Evil Jax, Blue blood spraying her face
Zooble and Kinger followed soon after, wacking down the poor fucker whos only sin was being too much of twink. Ragatha closed her eyes and plucked her ears, as cartoony as this violence was, it still disgusted her a little.
Gangle was carefully considering what weapon to pick when a finger poked at her shoulder, making her squeak before turning back. Meeting eye to eye with Jax.
“here” he passed her the notebook from earlier on the shop, she flip over the pages, admiring the fine craftsmanship
“thanks but… why?” he wasn’t the type to give gifts, and when he did, they came with a notable, hidden downside.
“just feel like it” he turned back and started to hover away.
Gangle drilled her eyes into his skull, frowning at him, gripping the notebook with all the strength that her lace limbs could muster. He always did shit like this, he always moved from one extreme to another played with her feelings and emotions as if they were a damn fiddle.
She was no longer having any of it
“you have to apologize”
Jax stopped dead on his tracks, slowly floating down until his feet were touching the ground. He turned his neck, barely enough to be able to look at her from the corner of his eye, expression hidden.
Gangle knew that this was a bad idea. Right now, Jax was as powerfull as he would ever be inside the circus, he could do anything and she would be powerless to stop him… she took a step forward.
“I know you feel sorry, so why don’t you apologize?” she narrowed her eyes at him, trying to decipher him, as if he was another puzzle with a stupid solution that was clear in hindsight
“if you know I’m sorry, then where is the need?” he shurrged his shoulders, looking ahead, unable to meet her gaze “we talk to clarify our feelings and ideas, so, what is the point”
“the point is that I deserve an apology, you owe me that much” she took another step forward, and another
“…it wouldn’t change anything of what I did to you. It wouldn’t make up for any of it” Gangle didn’t looked back, she knew that the rest where still beating Evil Jax, unaware of this entire conversation. Right now, she and him were the only people in the world.
“it would make up for some of it” she was now right behind him, the difference in height more obvious than before.
“I’d rather speak with my actions” he had to repress the urge to teleport away, to run, to fly, to flee.
“saying sorry IS an action” she took the few final steps that separated them, and was now staring straight at him. Eye to eye, face to face, she was looking up, but she wasn’t flinching. “I know you are sorry... why can’t you say it?”
Because if I apologize to you, if I recognize what I did to you, then I would have to recognize what I did to the others, some of whom I would never be able to apologize to.
Admitting that I was wrong, that I AM wrong, that’s the first step on a journey of changing
Saying sorry would make it real
His face was blank, empty of all emotion, just a straight line for a mouth and two big, almost closed, almond eyes.
Please, just read between the lines, tear my skin and see what’s behind, understand that what you ask of me would shatter me
She stared back, she did not move, she did not react. She knew, and she didn’t cared, this wasn’t just about him.
“I-” He opened his mouth, he closed it, and he opened it again. He couldn’t apologize, not right away… but he didn’t have to start with an apology “I’ve always hated your stupid happy mask”
She kept staring at him, a small nod being the only acknowledge that he had been heard
“it’s not just that you hide your true self, that you lie, that you fake what you feel” and that her lie makes harder to believe in his “but that even before I picked on you, your mood always shifted too fast, too hard”
He leaned down a bit, barely bending his knees. They were now at the same eye level.
“I gave you a reason to be miserable. I could control that, I could pick when you would break, where you would have to show your true self to others… I wish I could beat the sadness out of you, I wish it was a physical thing I could just punch away”
That sounded almost sweet, just almost.
“I’m… I’m sorry”
He blinked rapidly, the words… they didn’t burn his throat, they didn’t break his reality. Embracing the truth that you refuse to admit rarely does.
“for what?”
He chuckled, it wasn’t funny but he did all the same. Now that the knife was out, the blood poured freely and fiercely.
“I’m sorry for breaking your happy mask every single day, I’m sorry for dipping you into tar and screaming loud as fuck, I’m sorry for throwing your mask towards the door, for hunting you down for sport, and for making you a new Zealander”
“and for hitting my mask with a baseball?” she raised a brow, the start of a smile starting to creep its way into her face
“I know it sounds convenient, but I wasn’t lying when I said that it was an accident” his eyelids were half closed giving him a pair of slutty eyes, they both giggled at that, some sort of peace settling down between them
“I… I won’t say that everything is forgiven right away” he went silent and looked away, it was fair after all “but it’s a beginning”
He smiled. It was a small blessing that he stopped before his crimes were unforgivable, before his sins became impossible to redeem in life. He pulled out a happy mask from behind his back and offered it to her. Gangle took with both hands… but she didn’t put it on right away.
“thanks, and for what is worth I’m sorry for being such a shitty manager”
“oh, that’s right, the spudsy’s adventure! I almost forgot about it!” he facepalmed himself “ok, I take it all back, I aint sorry about shit”
“…what”
“actually, you know what?” he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her in the air, the unworn mask falling and breaking into the floor, catching the attention of the others, whatever spell had been cast into them broke away by the attack against their friend
“Jax! What are you doing?!” Ragatha started to pull at her hair
“I’m going to torture Gangle because of the spudsy’s adventure” he said, slowly floating upwards
“look, I know she was kinda harsh with us, but none of what she did makes her deserving o-“
“she said “if you have time to lean you have time to clean”” Jax looked at her and pointed a finger towards a frightened Gangle.
“oh, ok” Pomni took a step back “go on I guess”
“G-guys!?” they were just joking, right?!
“Look Gangle, you know I’m your number 1 fan, your biggest defender, that you are my goat, my MVP… but seriously? “if you have time to lean you have time to clean”? in the big 26? Sorry, but you have this coming” Zooble wanted to stand up for their future wife, but they couldn’t in a good conscience stand up against all the retail workers of the world, it wouldn’t had been righteous.
“eeffoc ym ekil sa nemow ym ekil I” Kinger kept hacking away at Evil Jax with a giant two handed axe.
“welp, you’ve heard them, now I’m going to rip off your face”
Jax skin started to expand, stretch and rip like rotting cloth. Patches of dark purple fur growing beneath tan skin, claws piercing trough fingertips, pearly white teeth falling out, leaving space for golden fangs of considerable size to take their place.
Before Gangle could process what was about to happen, a monster stood ahead of her. It was a rabbit that had been morphed into a predator, front facing yellow eyes, sharp golden teeth, two ears that perked backwards and a long snout that with a nose of a deep purple tone. It was bigger, wider than what any other avatar had been.
And it was about to tear her apart
“I-it was a manic episode” she struggled in his grasp, red ribbons fighting back against a clawed paw pulling at her head “I didn’t mean to! It’s a medical condition!”
“oh, ok”
She was teleported back to the ground, falling ass first into the floor, shaking and trembling like a leaf on the wind
“I mean, I guess I cannot blame you for it, so I take back my take back” he teleported away, not before setting the purple mesh of pink rabbit parts on fire
Gangle slowly stood up, using Zooble as a support in which to lean on.
“I almost fucking died” the words came out too clear
They all waited until she had calmed out before going to the next room. A giant, underground lake with a wide bridge that connected both extremes.
“oh, I almost forgot to tell you, but you got another 5 Jax poin-“
“TIMES UP!”
In a single frame they were back in the tenth… 15 feet above the ground. Suffice to say, the fall was anything but gracious for them, especially for Jax who had been floating a bit above the rest.
Luckily for him, he felt on something soft. Unluckily for ragatha, he felt on something soft.
“well Jax I hope you learned a valuable lesson abou-“
“what was that about?! I wasn’t done yet!” Jax jumped into his feet, face blushing with a deeper tone of purple than the rest of his fur
“well too bad, should had pay attention to the time limit!” he stocked his tongue out, eyes looking in two different directions.
“you never said anything abou-“
“Pomni will go next! See ya guys tomorrow!” and with that, he warped out of their sight but not out of their minds.
They all stood there, still munching on the last events of the day. Jax was about to storm away when a hand pulled at his overall
“so” Pomni looked up at him, seeing more of his chest than of his face “what ideas did you had in mind?”
“ugh, you were going to run across a bridge while catching falling items from the roof before they hit the ground. They were stupid things like-“ he kicked some dust and shoved his hands inside his pockets “an invisible ring that you couldn’t see, a cloak of teleportation that didn’t teleport the user, an elephant of intangibility, things like that… it would have kinda sucked anyways”
“hu, where you ever a DM?” Zooble stuck their arm back into their shoulder, slowly moving it around to make sure it was stable
“N-nah, I just used to saw youtube videos about TTRPG stories back when I was younger” hu, had they always been this short o-?
He looked down at his hands, his clawed, huge hands with pink beans on his palms.
“W-wait! Caine! I still have my monster form!” he looked up, left and right. But the biblical
ringmaster remained allusive, and with it, his only way of going back to “normal”
“Edgelord” Gangle closed her mouth with both hands, that was meant to be a private thought.
“oh please, I’ve heard you humming the opening of Tokyo ghoul, you have no grounds to accuse me of being edgy” he had to do a swat and even then he remained at least a head taller than her, fuck, why did he had to do that stupid transformation?
Well, it wasn’t that bad. Sure, he was bigger and wider and taller and had long claws and his teeth remained sharp no matter what and some wild instincts where now screaming inside his head, but all he had to do was to survive until caine came back to change him.
It couldn’t be that hard.
Right?