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When Ribbit arrived at the digital circus, after a panic attack, an existential crisis, and throwing up some disgusting black liquid, Ragatha and Kaufmo took her to meet the last cast member she hadn't met yet. A purple rabbit named Jax.
But when they arrived, instead of finding the funny purple rabbit from the portrait on the door, there was a black monster covered in multicolored eyes. After a two-hour chase in which all six cast members ran for their lives, Caine showed up and locked the black thing away in the cellar.
What struck Ribbit was that that thing had been Jax. A person. She was only able to fully grasp it after attending his funeral. That mindless black creature had once been human.
Ribbit considered herself a very curious person. Who had that person been before becoming a black mass with thousands of eyes? Ribbit didn't want to associate that thing with someone who had once been human. It didn't feel right. It was dehumanizing. Ribbit wanted to know the person behind that picture of a purple rabbit with yellow eyes and black pupils. The brief speeches dedicated to Jax during the funeral hadn't been enough.
Ribbit was curious. And Ribbit always got her answers. Even if she had to wait several weeks for the opportunity to ask.
“What was he like?”
Ragatha stopped and looked at the same door with the red X across the portrait that Ribbit was staring at.
“You mean Jax?” a grimace formed on the rag doll's face. “Why do you ask?”
“Curiosity,” Ribbit said simply, shrugging. “The way everyone talked about him at the funeral was weird. It sounded like they really cared about him, but at the same time they kept describing him like he was a complete jerk.”
Ragatha laughed and looked away from Jax's door.
“Yeah, he kind of was...” she murmured nervously. “I-I mean, before he wasn't a bad person- wait, no, he wasn't one afterward either! He was just... a complicated guy, haha... He changed a lot after she... well, after she abstracted.”
“She?”
“Pomni.”
Ragatha turned around and looked at the door across from them with melancholy. There was a portrait of a clown or maybe a jester with large eyes and a sad face, also crossed out with a big red X. Ribbit had seen it before, but she hadn't paid much attention to it until now.
Ribbit hummed in understanding.
“Were they close?”
“Oh, yes!” Ragatha smiled sweetly. “They were more than just close. Even though Jax was always embarrassed to admit it, Pomni was very open about it. I remember one time she came to me with a rather peculiar question...”
~~~
“Ragatha?”
Ragatha looked up from the blanket she was knitting and turned toward the familiar voice of her friend. Pomni and Jax looked back at her. Jax was slightly flushed, grumbling like a little kid.
“Hey, you two,” Ragatha greeted politely, somewhat nervous, “what's up?”
Pomni smiled and gently took Jax's arm, encouraging him to speak. Jax opened and closed his mouth for a few seconds before looking away. He looked like he was about to run off, but Pomni took his hand and gave him a gentle smile. The two exchanged a silent conversation.
Ragatha watched them with mild suspicion, trying to figure out what they were about to ask of her.
“Can we borrow your room?” Pomni asked after a moment.
“What?!”
Jax smirked teasingly.
“Don't worry, Raggy. I’m not gonna leave any centipedes under your pillow. If that was the plan, I wouldn’t be asking for permission.”
Pomni elbowed him. Jax reacted dramatically, clutching his side.
“Ow! Ow! That hurts! Ouuch! See? Pompom wouldn't allow it. I'm completely at her mercy. Poor me!”
“You're so dramatic.”
“Look who's talking.”
The two traded a few more jabs, laughing loudly. Ragatha smiled, happy to see how much things had improved between them since that awful argument months ago.
Months ago, Ragatha wouldn't have trusted Jax with her room, but now...
“Alright, you can use my room,” Ragatha said, holding out her key. The two turned to look at her. “I trust Pomni to keep my things safe.”
“Your lack of faith wounds me,” Jax said, but Ragatha could see the excitement shining in his eyes. Oh no. Had she just sold her soul to the devil?
“Thank you, Ragatha! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Pomni exclaimed with a huge smile as she grabbed the key. “We'll give it back tonight or are you planning to go to your room before then? If so, we'll return it earlier!”
“Don't worry, I don't plan on going back to my room anytime soon. I was thinking of staying here to finish knitting this blanket, and then helping Kaufmo and Kingler paint butterflies...”
“Yeah, yeah. Have fun with that, but we're heading out. Come on, Pom!”
“Jax,” she replied, frowning with her arms crossed.
“What?” Jax asked in exasperation, until he noticed Pomni's expression. “Ughhh... right. Thanks, Raggs.”
“You're welcome.” Ragatha replied, dumbfounded.
The two quickly said their goodbyes and disappeared down the hallway. Ragatha could only hope she hadn't made a mistake by handing over her key.
~~~
“Was it a mistake?” Ribbit asked, taking a bite of her sandwich. As Ragatha told the story, the two of them had moved to the cafeteria to get something to eat.
“Yes, it was,” Ragatha replied, cutting off a small piece of cake, “but not in the way you're imagining.”
~~~
An hour later, Ragatha ran out of red yarn. She looked at her unfinished blanket and decided she couldn't continue without that color. So she got up from the couch and headed to her room to get more.
She was almost there when she heard a sound she would recognize anywhere. Picking up her pace, she caught a melody. The familiar sound of her piano made her stop in her tracks.
“Daisy, Daisy, give your answer do!”
Ragatha covered her mouth with her hand and kept walking forward, though more slowly this time. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
“I'm haalf crazy... all for the love of you!”
“It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage...”
She stopped outside her room door, now able to clearly make out the sound of her piano and the voices of Pomni and Jax. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” she whispered.
“But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two!”
That was why they wanted her room. The piano. It made sense. There wasn't another piano in the circus. But which one of them played? It couldn't be Pomni. She herself had told Ragatha that she'd like to learn how to play the piano the first time Ragatha invited her into her room. That could only mean one thing. Jax knew how to play the piano?
“I'd love to learn how to play this song, It's beautiful!”
“Cheesy~”
“Hey! Come on, you're the one who suggested it.”
“Because I knew you'd like it, Pompom.”
“You're impossible.”
“And yet you still love me, weirdo.”
“You're right,” Pomni replied with a fond laugh. “I do.”
Silence fell on the other side of the door, and Ragatha suddenly lost all interest in getting more red yarn. It was an intimate moment, one she shouldn't be listening to.
Practically on tiptoe, Ragatha moved away from the door.
She hoped Kingler and Kaufmo would need her help sooner rather than later.
~~~
“Woaaaah,” Ribbit sighed wistfully. “They sang together while he played the piano? That's so SO cute!”
“Yeah...” Ragatha replied, staring into her mug of hot cocoa, “the two of them had something special.”
“But then what was the mistake?” Ribbit asked, genuinely confused.
“I could never bring myself to refuse when they asked to borrow my room,” Ragatha sighed, sounding almost resigned. “Even after Pomni was gone and Jax changed, he still asked me sometimes. I could never tell him no.”
Ribbit frowned. Instead of clearing up her doubts, this conversation was only creating more questions. She was about to ask another one, but Ragatha beat her to it.
“Well, I'm exhausted. I think I'm heading to bed.”
“Alright, Ragatha,” Ribbit replied, taking the last sip of her hot chocolate. “I'm gonna get some rest too. That adventure today was crazy.”
Ragatha glanced at her.
“By the way, I was closer to Pomni than I was to Jax. If you want to know more specifically about him, you could ask Kaufmo. They were very close friends.”
“Mm, yeah, maybe. Thanks for the tip.”
“It's nothing,” Ragatha replied with a tired smile. “Good night, Ribbit.”
Ribbit was about to return the farewell, but she remembered one last thing she wanted to ask the rag doll. Something unrelated to the story that had caught her attention.
“One more thing, Ragatha, if that's okay?”
Ragatha turned to her expectantly.
“Could you teach me how to knit? I'd like to learn.”
“Of course!” she replied brightly. “Tomorrow after the adventure?”
“Sounds great.”
“See you then. Get some rest.”
“Night!”
Ribbit doubted she'd be able to rest well. She had a lot to think about that night. Her curiosity had been awakened to one hundred percent. There was a mystery here. A story to piece back together. And Ribbit was a very curious person.