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Jax was transported to a tower. He had to blink a few times to see what was going on. Caine was explaining the adventure, but to be honest he wasn’t really listening. (He was still thinking about this morning.)
Across him is a wall, grey blocks, it looks like a prison. There’s a window, with bars on it, outside is the bright blue of the sky, though he can’t see see the ground from any angle, meaning either that’s the skybox and this adventure only takes place in this building, or they’re very high up. and he very quickly noticed he was wearing different clothes.
They felt different to his normal overalls, and the dread slowly hit.
It’s a similar pink to his overalls… at least… that’s not a pro.
It’s a dress, of course it is. A plain pink dress, it’s long and flowing. Still no shoes though… whatever Caine’s weird.
Oddly enough the last thing he notices is that his hands are tired behind him (and his legs are tied together.)… that probably should’ve been the first thing he noticed huh. There’s something on his head too, between his ears, he can’t feel it. He tries to look up, but he can’t see it properly.
Time to look around the room.
Taking a quick glance he sees a bucket… great. A bed, a door (much too far away to reach.) and a mirror. Bingo.
It seems he’s wearing a pointed pink hat, with a glittery ribbon coming from the top. Very clearly a princess outfit.
Okay he gets it.
It’s a classic damsel in distress situation. But couldn’t they have picked LITERALLY anyone else. Ragatha probably would’ve been the best fit. Or gangle. Why him?!
The closest thing to him is the window. It’s hard to walk, but just maybe he could stumble his way there.
So he does, awkwardly shuffling, and flinging himself on the ledge, now looking out of it.
It’s high up. He can see the ground, so far below, but definitely there.
The aforementioned bars still are on the window, but like in lost cartoons he can very easily fit in between them.
Honestly if he leaned over a little more he could probably fall out.
He took a glance back.
Then the sky… went dark? Like a big cloud covered this tower, then they parted and the night sky came.
Stars. There was a lot of stars, he could make them out between the clouds (or maybe it’s smoke.)
They were pretty. He couldn’t stop staring at them. (Comforting.)
If he jumped he could be out there. Laying down in the grass. Asleep (it would hurt. He’d probably die. But the only effect that would bring is being sent to caines game over room. Or maybe cairn would just respawn him back in the tower.)
That sounded nice- no. It was funny. Caine put a whole adventure together and expected him to stay stuck in some dumb tower. Obviously it would be hilarious if Jax immediately escaped. Even if Caine brought him back he could just jump out the window over and over until Caine snapped them all back in the circus (or gave them a better adventure.) yes. He’s doing this because it’s funny.
So he leans on the lead of the window. More and more and more, shuffling awkwardly, but almost tipped enough to fall (for a moment panic goes through him. But that’s dumb. This world is all fake anyways. He’s died in plenty of adventures. It hurts. It hurts really bad. But there’s no reason to be scared of it.)
“what the [$%!#] are you doing.”
He jumps at the sudden voice, now fully tipped over and sliding out the window. (More panic goes through him. He didn’t mean to fall, no- he did of course he did. Because it doesn’t matter. And it’s funny. He just didn’t mean to like this. This was an accident. But it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t-)
There’s a hand gripping on his leg and then with one tug he’s back on the floor of the tower.
Zooble is above him, he struggles, trying to stand, but the ropes are too tight.
“Never mind” they say, hushed under their breath. Before picking him up again, much to his dismay. And then throwing him on the bed.
They’re wearing an outfit too. A big one pointed dark purple hat, with a wide brim, as well as a frilly button up, and pants, and a cape.
“So you’re a wizard?”
“Evil wizard” they roll their eyes “didn’t you hear the roles Caine was giving out?”
He didn’t. So he shrugs.
“Fine, there was queen, knight, king, princess, wizard, and, his words not mine, ‘goon’”
Jax nods his head. That makes sense for the fairytale setting that this obviously was.
“I told him not to call it that-“ they cross their arms, then look at him… is he supposed to be saying something? Is there a joke he’s missing “do you… not know what g-.. wait I guess you wouldn’t.”
Okay yeah he’s definitely missing something.
“Can you stop being so vague??”
“It’s a more modern joke.” They say.
He wants to ask them to SAY the actual joke, because he’s sick of them treating him like he’s dumb for not knowing it. But asking would be confessing that he IS dumb for not knowing. So he keeps his mouth shut “whatever, weirdo” okay that was a lie, he’d never shut up.
“Guess we’re gonna be here for a while” Zooble says, sitting on the bed with him.
“Aww quality time” he smirks, putting on an obnoxious voice “you must be SO happy about this.”
They barely look at him. looking at the wall as if it’s a lot more interesting.
“So kinger probably got the king role” he almost chuckles at the thought “ragathas probably the queen” It fit well enough. “I could see pomni being the goon-“
“Don’t say that.”
?????? “Pomnis the goon. And gangles-“ he laughs “I’d love to see her as a knight.” He can’t stop laughing, she’d probably collapse under the weight of her sword.
“Well gangles the henchman-“
“Goon.” He corrects. (He doesn’t even know what it means, but it really seems to annoy zoobie and that was a good enough reason to keep saying it.
“Stop- [$%!#] off.” They say “gangles down stairs.”
Oh. Yeah wait that makes sense, a goon would be with an evil wizard.
“Guess pomnis probably the knight then.”
“I don’t [$%!#]ing know” so much for conversation. Though what did he expect. Zooble is a grump.
He looks around the room. “What’s that book.” It definitely wasn’t there before, but it’s in the corner, near the door.
“Oh yeah, it’s like a spell book.” That could be fun. He shuffles, but it doesn’t do much.
“Could you untie me.”
“Nah.” They say “I’m evil or something.”
Annoying. “What? Scared I’ll leave~” he sings out “would you miss me too much?”
They look at him with a glare, and their eyes obviously dart to the window “depends on how you leave.” They then say.
“WOW!!” He laughs “you really do worry”
“Yeah???” They sound confused, frustrated even “you almost fell out the window????”
…why do they care? “I didn’t.” Why did they sound like that. He comes at them with an equally stern tone. Because Zoobles being weird. Why would they care? They don’t care about this stuff. “Just untie me.”
They glare, but then sigh “okay.”
Whatever. They’re just annoying. That’s all this is.
He lifts up his legs first, hell have to roll over to reach his arms, and he’d rather do that later.
Their hands go up his dress.
“Not even taking me to dinner first.”
“Oh [$%!#] you.” There’s the zoobie he knows.
“I didn’t know you felt that way zoobie!”
“Oh shut-“ they reach the rope, hitching up the skirt to reach it better. They then wrap their hands around it, the top, the sides. “I can’t find the knot” they then say, pointlessly pulling the ropes. But it doesn’t loosen, it doesn’t even tighten. “Maybe I should start on your arms.”
Whatever. He rolls over. And then feels them do the same fumbling to his arms.
“Can’t.” They then say.
“Seriously??? Are you even trying??”
“No jax I’m just looking at the rope- of [$%!#]ing course I’m TRYING, what do you think I’m doing??!”
This sucks. “Whatever.” He tries to roll back over. But it sucks. It all sucks. And because this situation is the worst he’s stuck lying on his stomach and he doesn’t even care to move.
His eyes move around the room. Anything sharp. But nothing.
“You got a spell for this.”
Zooble groans “I can check.” They leave the bed, but quickly return, book in hand. And open. “I can’t read this [$%!#].” They then say.
“Just try it??? Maybe get something to cut the ropes??? Anything” he then says. He’s sick of being tied up. This isn’t funny.
“Okay okay-“ Zooble then reads something aloud. It sounds like gibberish. If this was actually a competent piece of media he’d probably assume it was a different language, maybe a fictional one would be cool. Or that it has some deeper meaning, but knowing Caine it probably is actually gibberish.
Sparkles surround him. It’s definitely doing… something…
It…
Changed his outfit.
Great.
It’s still a pink dress, but it’s poofy, with lace and a lot more intricate embroidery of stars, with gems. The top is frilly, with the same amount of details, and the hat on the top of his head changes into a crown…
It’s just a more fancy princess dress?????? That didn’t do anything???? (Honestly it’s a little better than the other one. By like… 1%. The stars are nice. He’ll give it that.)
“I think that one’s for a fairy godmother”
Oh. Yeah. That makes sense
“I give up” Zooble closes the book. “You’ll just have to deal with this.” They stand up again. “I’m gonna check on gangle.”
They leave him.
The door shuts on the way out.
.
It’s dark.
.
He’s tired.
.
He struggles against the ropes. But then stops. It’s pointless.
.
This room is boring.
.
He struggles, rocking his body back and forth.
.
Then he tries again, this time successfully rolling himself on his back.
The room is dark, the walls remain that same grey stone, the window remains too of course. As well as the bucket, he has to turn his head uncomfortably to see it, as well as the mirror, still in corner of his eyes.
His head rests up, straight up, that’s the most comfortable position to lay.
The walls are still the same gray stone. It’s almost cartoonish, he glances down at it again. He can almost see the outline, or maybe it was supposed to be the glue in between stones. Either way the point is the wall is far from realistic. It’s still 3D, but it’s definitely trying to appear more cartoonish. Its texture looks painted on.
The windows still there.
Just checking.
The bars are cartoonish, and outside is dark, and there’s no light in the room. (No there is. But it’s off.)
His head hurts, being tilted uncomfortably, his eyes strained to look at the wall.
Why would Caine program that anyways. He doesn’t have joints, he can be bent and stretched, and burned and killed over and over. So why would Caine bother to program in an uncomfortable sitting position. It’s not like he’s ever had a sore back from a bad mattress (there’s no such thing as a bad mattress here anyways.)
He slowly moves his head back straight up.
The ceiling.
It doesn’t match the rest of the room. So Caine did an awful job.
(It’s a popcorn ceiling. Off white. The bumps are small from a distance, a light texture. From his side he can see a ceiling fan, it sits in the middle of the room. It’s not moving. The middle is made of metal, it’s reflections don’t look painted on. In the middle is a light. A normal light bulb, with a casing around it. Two short strings fall from the center of the bulbs. Despite the fact that there’s no way any one could reach them. On the sides he sees little metal bits, screws maybe.
Real. Straight from a suburban home.)
It’s just Caine being dumb of course. He’s mashing things together, things that don’t fit. A realistic home ceiling with cartoonish tower walls.
His head doesn’t want to move, doesn’t want to strain himself to look back down at the gray walls.
So he lays there. Staring at the ceiling.
Tired but awake.
Still awake.
He can’t sleep. Not like this.
He takes another breath.
Zoobles coming back right? They have to eventually. (Or someone will come to ‘save’ him right? That’s the plot. It’s just a stupid silly adventure. It’s all fake.)
He stares at the ceiling.
He’s stuck in a game. It’s not real.
None of it is. It’s not real.
He stares.
He should sleep. He knows that. He tells himself that. In his head, maybe mumbling it out aloud. Yes. Sleeping sounds good. Sleeping is great. He’ll wake up back in the circus, having slept through this boring adventure.
So he closes his eyes.
But they don’t stay shut. They can’t.
The bed doesn’t feel right! Yes that’s it. It’s putting him off. There’s just something slightly wrong with the bed.
(… he can’t tell what… the blankets? No they feel the same. It’s just as soft.)
No it’s being tied up! That’s what’s wrong. How is he meant to sleep with his hands behind his back, and legs tied. Well the second one wasn’t as bad but still the point stands! It’s uncomfortable!! That’s the only reason he can’t sleep.
He shuffles. Getting more comfortable. relieving some of the stress on his arms….
But he still doesn’t sleep.
.
His eyes dart down. To the window again.
The stars are outside.
(He doesn’t need stars to sleep. That’s stupid.)
He can’t take his eyes off it. He’s not sleeping, not like this. He’s so tired too. He wants this adventure to be over. Back in his room. His ceiling was better than this one (not because of the glow in the dark stars of course. They’re dumb. It’s dumb.)
The night sky remains outside his window.
Whatever. He’s not doing anything.
Jax shuffles before shoving his feet off the bed. He struggles to get his balance, but after a while of maneuvering he gets up, now steady, on his feet.
He takes small steps, shuffling awkwardly back to the window.
Still night.
It’s nice. He walks closer.
It’s just so calming. The ceiling washes away from his mind. As if looking outside rids of from the world (outside he doesn’t need to worry. No one will come barging in his room. No yelling. No judgement. Just alone with the stars.)
Leans on the edge. Looking up.
He could fall asleep like this. (He wishes there was a way to get down, to descend and sleep on the grass looking up… well there was one way.)
It doesn’t matter. He’s bored.
It’s all fake and even if it wasn’t… it doesn’t matter.
He shoves his body a bit more out the window, and looks up.
He pauses for a moment.
It wouldn’t be that bad… but if he did then he wouldn’t see the stars anymore. There’s no way he’d survive the fall. (If he did what would he say. ‘I wanted to see the stars and I fell’ That’s it. It rings in his head a few times, like a reminder. Again. And again. Each time sounding more believable than the last. Practiced.)
Of course he’d see the stars again. He’d reset, even if he made it to the game over room he’d still see them in the circus. This isn’t real. He could say whatever he wanted. It didn’t mean anything.
Still he hesitates. Staring up at them.
(If they had just kept in a way to get down. Then he wouldn’t be contemplating this-)
Just a second more. Then he’ll go through with it.
“WHAT THE [$%!#]”
Zooble. He didn’t even hear the door open.
He groans in annoyance. Just what he needed right?
This is so dumb. He’s in a fake world. None of this is real. Why was he acting so weird. (Just like this morning.) he shakes it off. This is a cartoon. It’s fake. He could jump out the window. It wouldn’t matter. It doesn’t need to be a difficult choice. It wouldn’t matter.
Suddenly hands are on his back, and he gets pulled back to the floor with a thud.
“Ow- jeez. No need to throw me! You’re so rude” he shakes his head. He makes a point to roll his eyes, he’d cross his arms too if he wasn’t tied up. Silly. Teasing. He smirks, ready for Zooble to respond annoyed, and curse at him.
Zooble looks at him with a bewildered expression, then back to the window. “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?”
That’s… a bit more than annoyed? Weird, but he can work with that.
“Just trying to escape from the evil wizard who kidnapped me” he then says “what? you thought I’d stay in place?”
“Use the [$%!#]ing door-?!! It’s not locked?!”
Oh. He hasn’t noticed that. “I’m tied up zoobie, I don’t know what you want from me” he says dramatically.
“Not tied up enough to go to the window though?” There’s the fight! The annoyed tone. “Dude” they sigh “you’re kinda freaking me out”
What? What does that mean?
They seem to sense his confusion. “I mean you were trying to jump out the window!” They gesture at it “twice?!”
Jax could laugh at that “And if I did what would happen?” He smirks.
Zooble doesn’t say anything. Because they don’t have a point against that! Jax is right. He always has been, none of this matters. It’s not real. If he falls he’ll reset. It’s not permanent. Nothing is.
They sit on the floor next to him. Speechless. He has to assume it’s because they realized he was right.
“You know gangle said-“
[$%!#].
“I was just looking at the sky okay!” He says quickly “I saw it changed from day and I was confused” he shrugs the best he can. It didn’t sound believable, too rushed, but he looked, awaiting Zoobles responds.
“Gangle said she saw you this morning-“
No no- he TOLD her it didn’t mean anything! He said it was nothing!!
He can save this? He just needs to redirect the conversation-
“I- I need to be under the stars to sleep- I don’t- I just like it- that’s the only reason I was looking out the window!” he cringes so hard at himself. This sucks. This is so embarrassing. This is so dumb.
Though, to be fair, Zooble does pause.
“Really?”
Oh thank god! He nods.
“I was gonna sleep but-“ he cuts himself off. He’s already said too much. This sucks (but it could’ve sucked more. So… success? Yeah. Success.) maybe Zooble will fully believe that too, and forget whatever gangle told them.
Zooble looks at the ground (then back to the window.) he wants to say anything! Defend himself. But he knows from this morning the more defensive he gets the less they seem to believe him. So he sits there uselessly. And watches them put something together in their mind, something he has no part of.
(just act confident. No don’t act. He doesn’t NEED to act. He WAS just looking at the stars. That’s all he was doing. He HAD just forgotten his pen. A simple mistake. And he WAS planning a prank that involved scissors. That’s all that had happened.)
“Mine and gangles bed is on the balcony”
“Wow” he responds immediately with a smile “you and gangle share a bed-?” It was a joke, though definitely not a very clever one, but it was SOMETHING at least. Something to distract, to cut the tension.
And it worked. Zooble glared at him. “I was going to offer it to you, but if you’re a [$%!#] about it then I guess not.” They get up
“I’m joking” he says quickly. (Sleep does sound good right now.
“You know I’m going out of my way to be nice to you, right?” They glare “I was gonna sleep until the others got here, gangle too. And there’s no way we’re sleeping on that bed” they glance at the bed in the corner. It didn’t feel bad, though honestly from a distance it does look pretty gross.
“And… how is that my problem?” He didn’t ask Zooble to do something nice for him? Why would Zooble even offer something if it was going to be a burden on them??? Probably so they could complain about it, that seemed in line with their character.
They stand up. And make their way to the door.
Leaving him again.
(But they pause.)
“You coming or what?”
He blinks.
“Before I change my mind.”
He struggles.
“Oh wait [$%!#]” they take a step forward. “Forgot you were tied up.”
Pretty easily he was scooped up in their arms, and held bridal style. He opened his mouth to say something. To hiss ‘put me down’ or try and steal a part, or scratch at them (though he couldn’t with being tied up.), even his words failed him. Whatever. This adventure was boring anyways. It’s not like he would’ve done anything interesting cooped up in that room.
So they hold him and take him out the door. He’s tired. Too tired to do anything honestly. (Which… like he shouldn’t be tired?? They don’t even need to sleep in this world. And even if they did he definitely got enough sleep???)
It’s luckily not too long until Zooble reaches their room, the rooms typical for a wizard, dark and a little wet looking (the stones seemed a lot more reflective, still painterly), as if it was a cave as apposed to a tower. Theres candles, but none are lit. In the middle is a cauldron. On one wall is a bookcase, on the other is a massive window (blue curtains drawn to the side.), it seems to be a sliding door. Zooble walks to it. (He can see out of it is a balcony with a bed, Zooble really wasn’t lying. If this was real it’d be far too inconvenient, what if it rained. But Caine doesn’t focus on realism. And of course this isn’t real.)
Gangles sitting on the bed, looking out in the distance, but she quickly notices them through the window. Her eyes widen for a moment, looking at him for a second too long, before she scrambles to get up, and push the sliding door.
“W-welcome back!” She tries to smile. Her comedy mask is already gone… he hadn’t done that? (He didn’t see it shattered on the floor either, but maybe it despawned already?)
She looks at him a bit too intently, smiles a little too sweetly. It doesn’t fit with her sad mask.
He was GOING to say something, but he’s rudely interrupted by getting suddenly dropped onto the bed.
“HEY-!” Comes out instead, and he shoots Zooble a pointed glare.
They don’t seem to mind. “We’re going to watch over him or something” (weird. Why are they lying?)
Gangle nods weirdly determined, and her and Zooble lock eyes. Suddenly Jax feels like the one being played here.
“Are we still sleeping…? Or?” Gangle then asks (so at least Zooble didn’t lie about that.)
Zooble shrugs, sitting on the bed, having Jax laying down in between Zooble and gangle.
“Is he…. Uh?” Gangle looks closer “tied up?”
He would strangle gangle if not for the obvious.
“Yeah, I couldn’t get them off” Zooble says.
“Oh.” Gangle frowns (Jax could sigh of relief from that alone. That fits her face much better.) then she lays down, hands clasped awkwardly on her stomach (where it would be anyways. Those ribbons couldn’t really be called a stomach in Jax’s eyes).
There’s a pause. As she lays, tense, she glances at him once, then once more. (She does a third time, but it seems as if her eyes move past his, and onto Zooble.)
It’s quite.
“The dress looks nice!” Gangle then says. He wants to strangle her harder.
“Shut up.”
“I meant it… it’s very pretty, I wish I got clothes like that…” she sadly looks down at her outfit, it’s generic. A turtleneck under a brown coat. Honestly (not that he’d say it out loud) his outfit was ten times better.
Zooble shuffles, getting up from the bed, and getting their magic book. “I could probably change that”
Gangle smiles (weird.) “really!!!” She sits up.
“Sure”
They say the same spell he heard before, and looks at gangle.
Her clothes change as well into a dress. It’s no gown (not like his) but it seems to make her happy. It’s baby blue, with multiple bows on it. Gangle stands up, and does a twirl “wow!!! It looks amazing! Thank you Zooble!”
They shrug, before looking in their book once more. They grab something, it looks like a piece of paper? Maybe a book mark, before quickly putting it in the book and closing it “well I’m going to sleep until this [$%!#]y adventure is over.” Then they lay down.
Gangle lays back down on the other side of him. He tries to wiggle to her side, in hopes they can swap (it’s kinda weird to have him of all people in the middle). but all that happens is a useless shuffle, for he is still tied up. And he figures he doesn’t care enough, they can move him if it ends up being a big deal.
The bed is pretty big, they’re still close, obviously. It’s strange, to feel both of them next to him (it kinda reminds him of sleepovers he used to have with… it doesn’t matter.)
He looks up.
The stars. That was the reason why he was there. His eyes closed easily. He really is tired. And just looking at the stars… it set his mind at rest.
Gangle tapped her foot on the bed. Still laying down. She wasn’t sleeping, though Jax was.
Sound asleep, breathing in lightly, and out, in a rhythmic way.
Zooble wasn’t sleeping. They had shared a bed enough to tell that.
She wanted to say something to them, but to do so she’d have to talk over Jax, and she didn’t want to wake him.
They were both worried. Gangles honestly not sure how they convinced Jax to come down here with them. They had both agreed to watch over him, but they didn’t have many ideas on what to do to make Jax not get defensive.
It should be good. They had gotten Jax in their view. But if anything it made gangles chest tighten more. Why would Jax agree to sleep in the same bed as them?
She just had to ask Zooble. She had too. She sat up, and watched Jax closely, his body not moving.
They sat on the floor, then scooted away from him, closer to “Zooble?” She asked quietly. Their eyes opened almost immediately. They hadn’t been sleeping.
“Yeah” they whispered back.
“How did you get Jax down here?” She just had to know.
“He said he wanted to sleep under the stars.”
She hummed. But why had he said that? That’s not a very Jax like thing to say?
Zooble must’ve seen the confusion on her face.
“He tried it again.” Oh. “That was the reason he gave me. That he wanted to see the stars.”
Maybe that was just it. She hoped so “Do you believe him.”
She wishes they’d just say yes. But instead they shrug “he definitely seems to be sleeping better but… he was also definitely trying to jump out. It was weird.” Zooble shakes their head “and with what you told me-“
“I might just be dumb” she’s trying to smile “and looking too into it. It might be nothing” it was a small thing. It was so small.
“And if it isn’t?”
…yeah. Yeah that’s fair. It’s better they try now, Then run the risk of being wrong.
She just feels so dumb. She had felt so dumb explaining it to Zooble, and making a big deal out of nothing. But it wasn’t nothing! Not really.
Jax had liked that pen. It was a big one, the type you’d get at a school book fair. It was multicolored, having 6 different levers you could pull on the sides. Each one being a different color. It had always reminded gangle of the one she had in high school. She had loved that pen so much. It made it easy to sketch quickly. Pull a lever for the head, then another to have a different color for the hair. It’s nice.
Which meant Jax loved to tease her with it. She had asked Caine for one of her own, and for whatever reason he just couldn’t make it (she had a hard time describing it. Caine would always make a pen with one color, and that color being rainbow. And then say ‘it’s multicolored’ but she hadn’t meant it like that!) Jax thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Always commenting on how she was jealous of a pen.
He had used it a lot too, to write notes, plan pranks. She’s never seen him use a pencil or any other pen (though to be fair she doesn’t see him write very often.)
So when she saw the pen this morning, unmistakably his, in her cup of drawing supplies… it was weird. It set her off. And she knows it was dumb, she had assumed he was snooping in her room and then forgot it.
Then she went to his room, to return it. She knocked, and he sounded tired. Very tired.
She had tried to give it back. And he dismissed her. Saying he didn’t care about some dumb pen. Telling her to keep it (he of course did it in a way that sounded rude. But still it had thrown her off.) he didn’t just give her things she liked??? He’s never done that before. And she liked the pen, but Jax used it all the time! She had a lot of pens, she didn’t NEED this one. So she thanked him and tried to give it back again. And he just got more and more defensive. Calling her the weird one. Saying he never cared about the pen. Saying he forgot it because he didn’t care. Accusing her of blowing everything out of proportion because ‘you’re fixated on some weird pen’. but Jax was the one who made the biggest deal out of that pen in the first place!!! He was the one always rubbing it in her face!! It wasn’t even her! It was always Jax.
Then she had noticed the pair of scissors. It was hard to see at first. Jax had been talking to her through a crack in his doorframe, never opening up the door too wide. So it covered his other arm pretty well. But she leaned back, getting another angle and that’s when she saw it. Clipping into his wrist.
There was no blood, because there never is. But still she had almost screamed at the sight, just from imagining the pain alone.
Jax had noticed that she noticed. And he said it was an accident. And started to ramble on defensively, she hadn’t actually heard most of it. He was trying to hard to explain why they were there, voice high pitched and rushed, and accusatory. But the more and more he went on the more and more she had a feeling it wasn’t an accident.
She had felt so dumb. Because Jax kept telling her she was. It hadn’t meant anything. She wasn’t even going to say anything. In case Jax was right. And it was an accident.
But then Zooble said Jax was trying to jump out the window and before she knew it her comedy mask broke and it all came spilling out.
Now Jax sleeps here. With them. Soundly.
She hopes he’s okay.
She crawls back in bed to the other side. And closes her eyes.
…
It was a few hours before kinger, who turned out to be the knight, broke into the tower and stole the princess (not before falling down many… many stairs.)
Zooble and gangle didn’t care enough to fight him.
“I MUST BRING YOU TWO TO BE EXECUTED…. I think?”
“Yeah okay sure.” Zooble shrugs
They brought them to the queen and king, which were pomni and ragatha. And soon enough the adventure was over.
It was late in the middle of the night. And Zooble had… tested some things. In their room, they had chanted the spell they memorized. Creating a night sky on their ceiling. Beautiful stars sparkled, even they could admit it was pretty.
They walked down the hall to Jax’s room. And knocked.
Normally they wouldn’t care. But they just… [$%!#]. Of course they cared. Just cause they didn’t like him didn’t mean they cared.
They knocked again.
The door opened, but a little. “What? It’s the middle of the night.”
“I got something cool to show you”
“What???” He says “you’re acting weird.”
They gesture him to follow them. And he looks at them, then back at his room, before they open the door just slightly more, and slither out. “Okay.” He smiles, as if he’s the one in control. “Since you’re obsessed with me now or something”
They don’t humor him, beginning to walk back to their room.
“You know, I was joking about you having a crush, but this is pretty forward isn’t it?”
Again. They don’t humor him, opening their door.
Then he sees it. Stars on their ceiling.
“What- how did-“
“The spell. I memorized it. Cause you liked it.”
He looks at them, before quickly looking away. His mouth opens. Then shuts. Then opens again. Like he wants to say something but can’t.
“Okay.” Then comes out of his mouth. “You want something from me or?”
“Nah.” They did want one thing. For him to stay alive. But they thought better than to say that. “Wanna sleep here tonight.”
He laughs, it’s awkward, they can’t tell if it’s real “what-? Zoobie? You really do have a crush on me!”
he smirks, mockingly, looking at their face, trying to get something. And Zooble doesn’t let him have it.
He plops down on their bed. Looking up at the stars.
“How do you sleep in your room?”
“Oh I see” Jax says “you’re doing all of this to get information out of me! And here I thought you were just being nice!”
“I feel like that’s a pretty normal question.” It wasn’t too prying, not compared to the question they could be asking.
But Jax smirks. “Alright. I’ll let you have it tonight I guess.” He doesn’t look at them, looking up at the stars instead “I have glow in the dark stars. Like the stickers.”
Oh…? Really “those work the same?”
Jax shrugs.
They lay down next to him, having to awkwardly crawl over to the other side, since Jax picked the side closest to the door.
“I just like something to look at.”
They didn’t really get it, but if it works it works. “Interesting.”
“Did you memorize any other spells?” Jax asks.
“Yeah a few.” They wrote them down when they came back, better to have some power in this world.
“Which ones.”
“I got the dress one. Because gangle seemed to like it. And one that can turn you invisible for a little while, another that can teleport you short distances. They might be more trouble than their worth. But I thought might as well” they did have to speak the whole spell to do any of them, which seemed annoying, but maybe the invisibility one could hide them from Caine, and the teleporting one could maybe be cool too?
“Oh.” Jax says. “You should try it on me?”
…? And what? Turn him invisible? What would that achieve? Or move him two feet off the bed?
There WAS the dress one.
Maybe a bit of payback wouldn’t hurt. Jax WAS asking for it, quite literally in this case “alright” they said. Before reciting the spell.
It was a much more simple dress than before, maybe the only reason it was an extravagant gown was because he was already wearing a pretty fancy dress.
Jax just looks down for a moment, then back up at the stars. He doesn’t even make a fit about it.
“That’s the spell.” Zooble then says.
“Yeah.” Jax replies “I got that.”
Then quiet takes over, as they both lay down next to each other and watch the stars.
“I was mad at you.” Jax then says.
Whatever that means? “When are you not?” They could count ten times Jax been mad at them off the top of their head, probably twenty if you gave them a minute to think of more. But Jax stays quiet, so they pry a little more “which time?”
“When you came out.”
Came out?? Like as nonbinary? When had that even happened? When they first arrived. They don’t even remember, it wasn’t a big thing, it was just ‘call me ‘they’’ And that was the end of that. “Why? I don’t even remember what happened.” It was such a small moment they barely remember it.
“That’s why.” Jax says “it wasn’t a big deal it just.” He waves his hand around “happened. And everyone was okay with it.”
“Yeah??? That’s cause everyone’s not an [$%!#]hole.” They point out. Plus if Jax wanted it to be such a big deal why hadn’t he made a big deal about it. They don’t even remember what his reaction was.
“I wish I was you.”
…
Oh.
“Do you… want to be called something else.”
“I don’t know- I don’t mean- I don’t know-“ Jax mumbles. Still not looking at them. “Just call me she… or anything. I guess…” she says.
“I’m happy for you”
Jax glares at them, but it fades quick “you would. Wouldn’t you.”
strange. a pit falls in their chest. They want to be there, be happy and supportive but everything just feels off. And one question can’t help but fill their mind.
“Why are you telling me this now.”
A smile appears on Jax’s face, and Zooble can’t help but feel vindicated in their feelings.
“Maybe I’m just in the sharing mood.” Jax shrugs, closing her eyes. Fake. Clearly.
“Jax.” What is she planning?
“What? What do you think I’m doing?” The smile is strained.
Zooble doesn’t want to say. But they feel like they have too. “Jax. You’re not planning on abstracting, are you”
“If I said yes. What would you do.” The smile drops. Jax looks at them, with wide eyes. “How would you save me?”
They’re taken aback for a second… what would they do?
“I’d- be there. Jax.” They need a moment, to think of it. But they don’t have a moment, the more time they take the more time they loose “Jax everyone can be there for you. We can all get along. And no one will care if you’re trans. We’ll all be happy for you, and if for some reason they’re not I’ll handle it.”
“Of course! Why didn’t anyone just think of BEING THERE! It’s amazing that you and you alone SOLVED abstraction! You’re SO SMART Zooble, why did you hide this super power from us for so long. You should’ve used that for kaufy too, you know it’s rude to play favorites” Jax says sarcastically.
“Jax. I mean it. All of it. No one wants you to abstract.”
“You know nothing about this.” Her face falls “How do you know you’re not already too late. That you’re not just talking to a corpse.”
They didn’t. Jax was right. They only saw one person abstract and they were barely there for it. They don’t know how it works “even then. I still want to try.”
“Good luck.” She winks. “I’m going to bed.”
.
.
.
Zooble doesn’t sleep. They already have trouble sleeping normally, and now is especially bad.
They close their eyes, but are still wide awake. Luckily.
The bed sinks, then props back up, it’s quiet as the weight shifts (Jax is getting up.) their eyes open.
Jax is leaving.
[$%!#] that.
They get up too. The bed is quiet. Always too soft and too quiet, the perfect bed, made digitally.
They grab her wrist and she jumps. Zooble can’t find it in them to feel bad.
(Jax hadn’t even asked to be changed out of the dress. There’s no way she’d let the others see her like that.)
“Zooble let me go.”
They grip her harder.
“It’s too late.”
“You’re still here.” They say.
Jax shakes her head “I already gave away most of my stuff.”
“We’ll get them back.” It’s a digital world. They can just ask Caine. And even then stuff isn’t everything.
“I put spiders in ragatha room.”
“And you’ll apologize to her tomorrow.”
She sighs.
“I can’t- I can’t do this. I don’t want to see their reactions.”
“You don’t have to do it alone.”