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After the Spudsy’s adventure, Zooble was nothing short of exhausted. It was by far not the worst one they had been through, but somewhere along the lines, everything just turned to shit.
A testament of that was the drunken Ragatha with her arm now hoisted around their shoulder. It would’ve probably slipped off if it weren’t for Zooble holding it in place.
“Did'ja know that most white horses aren’t really white?” Ragatha slurred, her eyes hazy and unfocused. Zooble stayed silent in hopes of it getting her to shut up.
“N’ they also-they also…” Ragatha trailed off. Zooble, confused by the sudden silence, looked at her. “ ‘And they also’ what?” They questioned. The doll’s head lolled to the side.
“My head hurts….” She groaned.
“Well that makes two of us..” Zooble muttered under their breath. They were nearing the main area of the circus. Jax was thankfully not there, but neither was Gangle.
Zooble still remembered seeing her friend looking so miserable. The mere thought made their already shitty mood take a considerable dip.
They wished they could’ve been there for her, but, unfortunately, there was a drunk Ragatha to take care of. A part of Zooble just wanted to have Jax deal with her, but they knew that he couldn’t be trusted with Ragatha in the state that she was in.
However, they were at least reassured by the fact that Pomni was still at Spudsy’s with Gangle. She’d be fine– at least, that’s what they were counting on.
Speaking of Pomni, after chatting with her, Zooble was able to piece together what had caused Ragatha’s current behavior: something with a stupid sauce and a stupid burger.
It was clearly the in-world equivalent to drugs; they would have found it humorous, but the fact that they had to deal with the consequences made it not the slightest bit funny.
Not to mention the fact that she now really couldn’t shut up. It was so annoying. She just kept on rambling on and on about horses or whatever. They honestly couldn’t care less.
Once they were able to get Ragatha out of their hair, Zooble intended to make a bee-line directly to their room. They took a quick glance at Ragatha, her eyes were half-lidded, looking at nothing in particular and she was grinning from ear to ear.
“They’re just so beautiful, ‘n majestic.” Ragatha grinned. “I could write a whole book about ’em!”
Wait, what was she talking about? “A book about what?” Zooble asked.
“About horses, silly!” Ragatha laughed. Zooble groaned once again, still annoyed by Ragatha’s meandering. Once they reached the couches in the main area, Zooble sat down and positioned Ragatha next to them, it was a struggle even getting her to sit upright.
Their original plan was to head to their room as soon as they could but they thought it’d be best to wait until Gangle arrived, just to check up on her.
In the meantime the company of the ragdoll would suffice.
“Y’know, I remember havin’ loads of ’em when I was alive,” Ragatha continued. Zooble furrowed their brows. “You still are alive…” They muttered.
“Oh, y’know what I mean! Living, like, actual life. Not this digital place,” Ragatha grumbled.
Zooble nodded– despite the weird wording of it, the doll was right. They weren’t really ‘alive’ anymore. They didn’t need to eat, sleep or even breathe. And those are all the common criterias for a living creature.
It’s something they often tried to not think about since they knew it never led to anything good. It was that kind of thinking that led people to their breaking point.
They weren’t all too familiar with breaking points, though, the only abstracted circus member they ever actually met was Kaufmo. And they never really bothered to get to know him before it was too late.
They groaned; their thoughts had fallen into an unpleasant spiral and they needed something to take their mind off of it. Then they focused their attention on the drunk ragdoll next to them.
“Hey, Rags?” Ragatha turned her head to look at them. “What else do you like?” They asked, their annoyed demeanor subsiding.
“Oh, I dunno… I like…. softball, cats ‘n dogs, horror films…” Ragatha responded, struggling to find the words. Zooble’s eyes widened slightly. “Horror? Really? Which films are your favorite?” they questioned. “That—that one with the, uh… The one serial killer that was actually two,” she said sluggishly.
“Yeah, that one’s alright,” Zooble remarked.
“I remember watchin’ it when it first came out…” Ragatha murmured, her eyes closing fully.
She leaned her head on Zooble’s shoulder and let out a contented sigh. Zooble, although slightly caught off guard by the action, let it happen.
“Do you like horses, Zooble?” She asked. They were slightly confused by the question but answered nonetheless.
“Oh, uh.. They’re fine, I’ve just never been interested in them, I guess.”
Ragatha nodded absent-mindedly. “Well, I like ’em,” Ragatha mumbled. “I like ’em a lot.” Her voice faded into a faint whisper.
“Yeah, I know that now,” Zooble said.
At this point Ragatha was starting to fall asleep; she stopped speaking and her body began to slump.