Work Text:
A box of spare parts. A rabbit that’s a mess of code who hated her digital body more than anyone else. Zooble, who has only just started learning how to use the circus to its full potential. It won’t hurt to try.
Everyone’s been trying to figure out if the abstractions can be rehabilitated. They’re calmer like they are now. Happier, possibly, than they were in the cellar. But that’s just making them as comfortable as possible in their current forms. Forms that they did not want. Contained in the vague shape of an animal and cursed to be silent.
Pomni showed Zooble how to clip down below the ‘level’ in Caine’s worlds. They’ve been going down every now and then, picking out pieces they want to use for themselves at first. Then for Jax. The code’s messed up, but maybe if it had a new place to be contained then…
Zooble shakes their head. They don’t want to get too hopeful. It’s worth the attempt, but they have to think of it more as an art project to get through it. They take a long, deep breath. The others are asleep, or they should be. Zooble wants to do this by themself. Maybe that’s selfish, somehow. They’re just afraid if they work on it with anyone else it’ll hurt more if they fail.
The obvious thing to do would’ve been to grab Evil Jax wholesale and dress the body up, but something about that felt wrong. Too easy. Too similar to the body Jax hated. Too pink. So, instead, with a box of their own spare parts to one side and a bag of pilfered assets to the other, Zooble gets to work, building a new bunny from the torso out.
They start with a chest, stolen from Evil Ragatha. There’s that slight feminine curve to it, they think Jax would appreciate that more than stupid balloon tits made from two round gloinks. The bottom of the torso is stolen from one of the generic mannequin npcs. A light red one, so it at least sort of matches the top. They give up two of their own most normal looking legs and cap them off with a pair of Spudsy’s uniform shoes. One of Orbsman’s hands for a tail.
Back to the top. Chad’s arms, but cut down to a more reasonable length. In the end, Zooble did end up just taking Evil Jax’s face. They draw on eyeliner, though. And top it with Martha Mildenhall’s pretty, but unfortunately kinda transparent, hair. They fashion new rabbit ears with two of the fruit slices that make up Loolilalu’s hair. Then they finish up by dressing ‘Jax’ up in Gangle’s school uniform and fastening Evil Ragatha’s bow on her head.
Zooble steps back. It’s a mess. They’re starting to feel like this whole idea was stupid. Fuck. Why did they think this was the way to go? All they’ve done is make themself sad.
They’re about to start shoving the parts back into a bag when Jax’s many eyes open. She steps towards the effigy of herself. Zooble steps back, not particularly interested in getting glitched out at the moment. Jax makes a motion like she’s sniffing it, despite not having a nose. She looks at Zooble and, maybe they’re imagining it, but they feel like there’s some kind of recognition in her eyes. Then she circles the body Zooble built for her a few times before curling around it like a dog and closing her eyes again.
Zooble stays and watches for just a little bit. They let themself get hopeful, but it doesn’t seem like anything is happening right now. Maybe she just needs a little privacy. Maybe she just appreciated the gesture. It’s all up in the air. They pick up their box of parts and start back towards their room. Zooble doesn’t think they’re going to get any sleep, but they can’t stay in this fort any longer. Not tonight. They just can’t.