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"Hello, my masterful magical musicians! I hope your ears are open, because today's adventure is rather musically inclined!"
Ribbit 'ooh'ed, before smirking and pulling gently on Jax's rabbit ears.
"Look, Jax's ears are wide open!" She shouted, wrestling to keep their grip as the rabbit squirmed.
"Ribbit, you %$!#!! Let go!"
"Oh kids…" Kinger sighed, turning back to the AI and motioning him to go on. He didn't even need the 'okay', but it was pure habit for most people.
"Now! I need two performers… Preferably two performers who can show off their skills on a musical instrument of their choice…"
After a moment of hesitation, Ragatha stepped forwards slightly.
"I can play the cello!" She said, holding up a finger nervously.
"Wonderful! What does it sound like?"
"I— it's a bigger violin, I suppose, but it's much de—"
"Wonderful! A big violin, coming right up!"
"No, Caine—"
Caine continued to not pay any attention to what the ragdoll was saying, instead tearing Jax and Ribbit apart.
"Can anyone else play an instrument here, to accompany our lovely ragdolly?"
A very long pause, before Ribbit elbowed Jax in the stomach.
"Ack—! Sheesh, fine, fine. I can play the piano, I guess. I really only know one song though."
"Absolutely amazing! Do not fret, Jax-a-palooza, for you will have ample time to learn your piece before the big day!"
"Woo! That's my Jax! I can't wait to throw rotting tomatoes at you if you mess up!" Ribbit cheered, and Ragatha's face blanched.
"Ribbit! Don't give him ideas, you goof!" She joked, crossing her arms.
"Buzzkill." They stuck their tongue out at her.
"Well! Enough of that, it's time to rehearse! Go on now, my musical monkeys! Here's your sheet music!"
A stack of papers fell into the duo's arms on command, and immediately, Jax spoke up.
"Hey, wait! I need a piano to practice on!"
'Why certainly! Where do you want it?" Caine eagerly asked, readying his fingers to snap.
"My room! We can practice in my room! And Kaufmo can join us if he wants!" Ribbit volunteered, and Jax nodded, not at all inclined to disagree. Kaufmo gave a thumbs up.
With a snap of his snapping fingers, the three were teleported into the room, away to rehearsal, leaving Kinger and Ragatha.
"And for you, my ready ragdoll, your cello! Tell me where to put it!"
"Ah, uh— Kinger's pillow fort, if that's okay?" She glanced back at the chess piece, who nodded. With another snap, the duo were teleported into the dark of the fort, with a cello at Ragatha's side.
"Ah, shoot, I… forgot to tell him cellos are considerably deeper pitched than violins." She muttered, eyes downcast.
"I'm sure it'll be okay, Dolly! You'll do wonderfully no matter what." Kinger smiled, moving to sit down on a pillow to watch her play.
"Ah, and he gave me a chair. How sweet. I'm… surprised he knew we needed one."
With that, she grabbed the cello and the bow, positioned herself as she remembered how to, and straightened her posture. Admittedly, this brought back unfond memories; playing for her unsettlingly extended family during the holidays, feeling their eyes on her.
Snap out of it, she told herself, this isn't your old house.
"Okay, um… How the heck am I supposed to—" Ragatha glanced around, noticing the lack of a music stand, "Uh, C-Caine?"
"Mmyes?" The ringmaster appeared just near the exit of the tent, cane held in his teeth.
"I… sorry. Can I have an uh— a stand for my sheet music?" she gestured to the sheets on the floor.
"…Oh yeah. My apologies! Here you go. I even made the notes and lines and thingies glow-in-the-dark so you can see them!" And with that, he took his leave.
"Well, that's neat." Kinger said from the floor.
The next indeterminate amount of hourss of their lives were spent individually practicing their parts for the piece. Ragatha had next to no trouble, for the most part, only messing up during pitch or tone transitions. She was honestly shocked she could still play as well as she could, given her… rather unfortunate hand shape.
Jax on the other hand, was having a bit of trouble. Given he only knew one song, he was pretty unfamiliar with a lot of the techniques used to play this particular piece. Somehow, someway, he did eventually manage to get it down and nearly memorized. All the while, he and his friends were goofing off, and they cheered him on.
"Goodness… I can't say this enough, Ragatha, your playing is beautiful," Kinger marvelled, lights twinkling in his eye, "Queenie would have loved to listen."
"I'm glad. I… I wish she could, too."
"Come on, Dolly, keep practicing. We can always reminisce later."
Ragatha giggled quietly; "I'm on it."
Midway through a run, Caine quietly popped in beside Kinger. He made next to no sound, simply observing the song, almost awestruck at the ragdoll's talent.
"She's great, isn't she?" Kinger whispered to him, and Caine startled a bit.
"Eep!"
"Sorry." The chess piece chuckled, turning away and letting him return to his state of observation.
In truth, Ragatha looked… calm. At home. It was a side of herself people rarely got to see; Caine being on the top of that list. He wanted to seize the opportunity.
"Jeez… I can't get that high note right." An off-tune note broke her focus, and she returned her bow to the starting position, immediately restarting the entire song.
"Is this how you humans solve problems? By redoing the entire thing?" Caine whispered to Kinger.
"Sometimes," He whispered back, "Only if the situation calls for that solution."
"…Sounds too complicated." Caine grumbled.
Next, he popped into Ribbit's room, behind the trio. From just out of sight, he watched Ribbit and Kaufmo cheer Jax on as he struggled with a certain set of notes.
With a quiet snap, he did a little trick to make playing a bit easier, then sitting back and listening for a few moments.
And then, once he got bored, he snapped himself back into his office.
"Best one yet, right Bubble?"
Said bubble was staring at him like a deer caught in headlights, with multiple adventorbs (adventure orbs, yet that was the nickname Caine bestowed upon them) stuffed in his face.
"Why are you like this?"
"Knock knock?" Ribbit's voice came from outside the pillow fort.
"Ribbit! Can they come in?" Ragatha smiled, looking at Kinger for permission.
"Of course. Come in, Ribbit!"
Said frog entered, shutting the door behind them with a smile. She sat next to Kinger before piping up.
"How's practice going? Can I hear a run? Please?"
Ragatha giggled, cheeks heating up slightly. She hoped that it wasn't visible in the darkness.
"Of course, silly. I just can't seem to nail this one part, so forgive me for that in advance…"
Ribbit just smiled, and the blush spread further. She buried those feelings down, like she always does, and begins at the beginning once again.
It was almost like the soundtrack in a movie where the couple has their first kiss, or when the main conflict is solved— it begins almost as if it had already crescendoed, it was utterly stunning. It was so different from what Jax's part was like, Ribbit was so eager to hear the two together.
And when their eyes finally focused on the ragdoll, finally seeing what she looked like in the dark… she was beautiful. Her heart fluttered in her chest, the blush on their cheeks almost definitely saturating in colour. She was so stunning…
"—Dang it, that's exactly the part that gets me." Ragatha sputtered as an incorrect note rang in the tent.
"Are you kidding, girl? That was breathtaking. I can't wait to hear you and Jax performing together."
Out of the corner of her eye, Ribbit saw Kinger looking at the, knowingly. Like he read her like a book. Oh shoot, was she gonna get the shovel talk? Hang on, is Kinger Ragatha's dad?
At this point he might be, they thought to herself, but shook the thought away.
"Oh-! Thanks, Ribbit. That means a lot…"
"Well, I think I should leave you to it. Don't wanna be a bother. I'll see you at the show?"
"You aren't bothering! But I suppose if you must… I'll see you at the show."
Not long after that, Caine snatched up the two performers and their instruments, then stuck them in a room seperate from the rest of the group.
"For the thrill and suspense!" Caine said when asked, then promptly vanishing seconds later, leaving Jax and Ragatha alone to practice.
"Huh. Ready for this, Rags?" Jax deadpanned, turning to Ragatha with a softer version of his signature smile.
"Let's see what you're made of." Ragatha smiled back, and set herself up with her cello and sheet music.
They both ran a few test notes to get comfortable, and Ragatha tried her best to shake off the unshakeable nerves that had clung onto her.
"Aren't cellos supposed to be… more bass-like?" Jax questioned, glancing away from the piano.
"Yep… I tried to tell Caine, but… you know how he is."
"Darn. Just a fake cello now… no more authenticity." He tsked, smile growing.
"Yeah, yeah… start us off, bunny boy." Ragatha snorted.
And so he did, playing the soft notes of the intro, only tripping up on a few faster notes. As the notes slowed, he prepared for Ragatha to enter, ready to hear a screeching, terrible sound.
What he didn't expect, was the fact that Ragatha was extremely talent despite her impaired hands. So much so, that he immediately lost timing and tripped up all of his next notes.
"You good over there?" Ragatha smirked, glancing at the rabbit playfully.
"Yeah, my bad. Didn't expect it to be so… good."
"What, my playing? You wound me."
"Yeah, yeah, sew yourself back up. From the top, ragdolly."
Playing the intro notes again, he tried to hone his focus on the notes again.
Eventually, after a couple dozen tries, they had gotten through the whole song five times — as per Ragatha's advice; "If we can do it five times in succession, we're ready to perform." He thought she was being a bit stuck up, but there was no point fighting it — and they let out a collective sigh.
"Hey, what do you think Caine's making the others do while they're waiting for our slow %$!#es?" Jax wondered as he watched Ragatha do… whatever she was doing with that sticky stuff and the bow of her cello.
"Oh goodness, I don't think I wanna know. Hopefully it's nothing too tiring… I don't want them falling asleep at our show." She fretted, eyes never leaving her work.
"Psh. Kaufmo's like a 40 year old man, I bet he'd fall asleep watching a horror movie."
"Is he actually 40?!" Ragatha cried, and Jax cackled.
"No, he's like, 29! But he acts like a middle aged %$!#rd!"
"Oh… Yeah, that checks out." She snickered, closing the lid of the container that held the sticky substance.
"I'm telling him you said that." Jax smirked.
"Jax!" Ragatha yelped, and swatted at him jokingly, "You rascal!"
"Bunny and Doll! Are you two ready for your big debut?" Caine suddenly appeared, floating in between the pair."
"Jesus—! Yeah, I'm good. You, dollface?"
"I'm all set!"
"Wonderful!" Caine exclaimed, dragging the 'w' for a good few seconds, "to the big stage we go! No time to waste!"
Oddly enough, Ragatha and Jax had actually been teleported backstage, their instruments hopefully on said stage. They had changed into more formal wear, Jax sporting a very dark pink two-piece suit with golden trims, as well as music note accents on the cuff and pockets.
"Not too shabby."
Ragatha sported a cornflower blue dress, flowing just to her ankles. Her waistband was a deeper shade, fabric flowing at her sides and forming an overskirt. Her sleeves flowed just to the middle of her upper arm, and she had a gold necklace on. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail, with a fancy feather tied into the hairtie holding it all up.
"Oh wow, this is stunning."
"Dang, you clean up nice." Jax said from behind her, and she glanced at him in the mirror.
"I can say the same for you. Pink suits you very well, Jax."
"I know." He said flatly, and she snorted.
"Oh Dolly… Caine let me visit you before the show, come here!"
Ragatha rushed to the side that she heard Kinger's voice, eye widening. Admittedly, she could use a bit of reassurance. Showtime nerves and all.
Once she got to the wall, she turned to look for the chess piece, and smiled gently once she spotted him.
"Oh wow… you look incredible, Dolly." Kinger said, bringing her into an embrace. She gladly hugged back, grateful for the wordless encouragement.
"Thank you… I feel very fancy." She admitted, sheepishly smiling.
"You'll do great, I promise. We'll all be cheering you on."
"Caine made the song strangely short so, I can only hope it's not too bad. But thank you, Kinger. You're the best."
"It's my job. Go up there and break a leg, dear." He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead — somehow, he has nothing close to a mouth — and returned to the front mezzazine. Ragatha hurried back to backstage, joining Jax in staring at the instruments.
"Take the rotting tomatoes together?" She said suddenly, holding out her fist for a fist bump.
"…Take them together. Mostly you, though. You'll be my human shield." He fist bumped back, despite it.
"Whatever makes you happy, Jax."
"Ladies, gentlemen, and anything else in-between, put your hands together for our dearest performers, Jax and Ragatha!" Caine's voice boomed from center stage, and as soon as the applause began, the duo entered from stage right. The applause grew louder as they did, earning a few whistles and cheers as well.
"Hooray! Welcome on, you two! Are you ready to wow our audience tonight?"
Ragatha nodded with a glowing smile, and Jax just shouted a 'yeah!'.
"You heard them, folks! Prepare to be blown away! Now, please hold applause, cheering, whistling, screaming, and any other form of disruptive noise until the performance has concluded! At long last, I am proud to present… Jax and Ragatha!"
The two took a seat at their respective instruments, rolling their shoulders and prepping their first note. Jax nodded at Ragatha; Ragatha nodded back.
The soft intro notes reverberated in the venue, echoing back at them in such a way that had Ragatha enraptured. Jax really does lock in when they most need it, huh?
Ragatha raised her arm at a specific note, ready to make her entrance. The chime-like notes that marked her debut played, and with an exhale, she moved her arm gently, hitting all the strings as she needed with perfect precision, listening to the immediate creschendo. She really did enjoy hitting high notes.
The lights turned to them, making the gold on them shine, and fireflies fluttered around them.
Ragatha shut her eyes as the tune softened again, having her high notes take the louder part, playing in perfect sync with Jax now.
She moved her arm as Jax played his notes in fast succession, their two pieces making an ethereal melody. This was truly something fantastical. It tapered off into the lower end once again, before Ragatha had her almost-solo, showing off a bit with her skills.
Finally, their seperate tunes joined once again, making a gorgeous harmony. Her fingers danced perfectly along the strings, and miraculously, her arm didn't cramp once.
The final note rang out, an extended one from the both of them. She felt giddy, this was so cathartic. Peeking her eye open, she looked at Jax, who seemed to be in a similar state of joy. Smiling at him, she glanced at her audience. Their eyes were full of stars.
She watched them all move to begin to applaud, and—
She woke up in her bed.
Right.
Ribbit, Jax, and Kaufmo were all gone. They hadn't been on that stage, or even touched a cello since.
That was their final duet.
Her heart panged with nostalgia.
She sat up in theirbed, staring at the empty space where her piano had once sat.
Oddly enough, it was Pomni that had asked to take it.
"Sure! I don't mind at all, but… can't you just conjure up a new one?"
"I… I don't trust myself to make one that's stable yet… or in tune… or that even has the right amount of keys…"
"That's fair enough. I don't even really know how to play anyways, so…" They giggled.
She wondered if Pomni knew any songs yet.
Coincidentally enough, she got their answer mere seconds after stepping out of her room.
Daisy Bell came from Pomni's room. She had always been confused why she liked it so much, but Pomni didn't want to tell they, and they respected that.
Tying the final knot of her corset, Ragatha made her way to Pomni's door on autopilot.
"Knock knock?" She said out loud, a habit she could barely remember picking up, as she knocked on the door.
"Ragatha! Come in!" Pomni said from inside, her tune stopping abruptly. She cracked the door open with a smile, slipping in and shutting the door softly.
"You don't have to stop for me, sweetheart. I was enjoying the show."
"Eeh, my hands were starting to cramp, anyways." Pomni smiled, making her way towards the doll, one of her hands outstretched. Ragatha placed their hand in hers.
"I believe you." She leaned down to press a kiss to her lover's lips.
"How'd you sleep?" Pomni asked as they pulled away, guiding her to her bed.
"Pretty well, I suppose."
"Yeah? I bet it would have been a lot better with me there."
"Yeah, it would have." Ragatha pouted, putting on her best puppy-dog eyes.
"Tomorrow we'll sleep over, promise."
"Only if you want." Ragatha reassured, letting the room fall silent. They stared at their girlfriend's messy hair for a moment, before speaking again.
"You get tired of playing the same piano tune over and over again?"
"I'm kinda scared to admit that yeah, I do get a bit bored of it." Pomni admitted, looking down.
"I… have a piece you can play?" They offered, and Pomni tilted her head.
"Tell me about it, dear?"
"Ah, uh… It's a piece from a past adventure. Um… I played it in front of Ribbit, Kaufmo, and Kinger. J— Heh, Jax actually played the piano part, and I played the cello. You could say it was our final duet."
"Jax played it? She said she only knew two songs."
"Well, under the assumption that Daisy Bell is one of them…. this is definitely the other one. I made her practice it over and over when we had rehearasal together."
"And she listened? Kinda surprising."
"It was under the deal that I was her human shield from the 'rotting tomatoes they'll throw at us'."
"Checks out."
"It was a beautiful piece… Uh, remember when we were fixing the circus, that day?" Pomni nodded, "And the music played as we did so?"
"Was that the song you played?"
"It was. It… it was what pushed me to come to you and D— Kinger. I can only assume it made Jax feel a bit safer to… try and let herself accept your help before… yeah."
"Huh… Do you still have the sheet music? I'd be open to learn it."
"Really? I can go look through my room. Although, we may not have kept it."
"Let's go look together?" Pomni offered her hand again, and Ragatha took it with a smile.
After a while of searching, Ragatha was starting to lose hope that she had kept the sheet music. Her ear wings fluttered slightly, a new addition to their avatar.
"What's it called, if you know?" Pomni asked from the opposite side of the room, shuffling through a drawer.
"I'm actually not sure. Probably something to do with Jax and I or like… duet."
"…Would 'Bunny and Doll Duet' fit those criteria?"
"Oh shoot, that's it!"
"Why'd Jax give you her sheet music?"
"I'm… also not sure."
Pomni grimaced in Ragatha's peripheral as they returned a few things to their respective places in her room.
"This looks pretty complicated." She squeaked, looking at the notes on the sheet over and over again.
"Yeah… according to R-Ribbit, Jax had struggled a lot. She was apparently horrible. Which didn't make sense, since when we performed, it was… it was incredible. She really locked in."
"Somehow, I can see that." Pomni chuckled again, continuing to look over the sheets in her hand.
"You might be able to get lessons from Caine? If you want to play it still, after staring a hole through the papers." Ragatha suggested, giggling at the jester.
"That… might be a good idea."
"Would you want to, uh… do a duet? This time, instead of a final duet, it'll be a first duet."
"I'd love to! That would be wonderful. You'll have to give me a lot of time to learn it, though."
"I'll just break into your room every night and make sure you aren't overworking yourself, honey."
"Great…"
They both laughed at that.
A few days later, Ragatha's urgeto play grew infuriating. She wanted to play the cello so bad it was making their fingers itchy.
"Hey, Caine? You avaliable?" She called out into the open, cupping a hand around their mouth.
The ringmaster himself appeared a moment later, seemingly excited to see someone.
"Hiya, Ragatha! You need something?"
"If it's okay! I was wondering if I could have a cello in my room, like that one adventure… and also if you'd be willing to give Pomni piano lessons… she might need them…"
"Of course, dear! Are you two planning a duet?" He asked, floating alongside her as she made her way to the hallways.
"Yeah! The same one Jax and I played, back in the days. I figured she'd gotten bored of Daisy Bell on repeat and wanted to give her another obstacle to tackle." Ragatha smiled, and Caine let out a soft chuckle.
"That'll never be me. I love Daisy Bell. I'd be happy to coach her! I haven't had the chance to play that piece in a very long time."
"I get that… Geez, I wonder what other songs I could remember on the cello…"
"I bet you could write a masterpiece, Ragatha." Caine smiled, and Ragatha smiled back. They reached Pomni's door then, and Caine stepped back to let Ragatha knock.
"Knock knock knock! I've got company!" She sang, letting the Jester open the door.
"Hi guys, come on in." Pomni said, shooting the two of them a smile.
"Ah, Ragatha, I put the cello in your room for you." Caine said as he took a seat on the floor.
"Thank you again, Caine." Ragatha beamed, sitting on the bed, watching as Pomni situated herself on the piano.
"Alright, Caine… how do I make this piano sound good and not like a dying cat?"
"I'm sure that's an exaggeration…" He muttered, but began the lessons anyways. Ragatha sat back and listened the whole time, smiling at her girlfriend's genuine joy at learning this new skill. They were looking forward to playing that duet.
As it turns out, when Ragatha drilled the song into her head that one day, they really didn't need much practice the day of the big concert part two. They could tell Pomni was panicking, but she knew that they'd do perfectly.
"Ragatha… I'm nervous."
"I know, darling. You'll do perfect, I promise. Nobody's even gonna notice if you mess up."
"But…" Pomni squeaked, eyes morphing into swirls.
"No buts, sweetheart," She pressed a gentle kiss to the jester's lips, "you'll surprise yourself up there, you know? Nobody will judge you."
"Okay…"
Ragatha was wearing the same dress they wore that day, with the addition of lace bracelets with feather decor.
Pomni was in a suit quite similar to Jax's, except blue and red, and a brooch tie instead of a bowtie.
"You've got this, Dolly!" Kinger shouted from the crowd, and Ragatha smiled.
"Thanks, Dad!" She shouted back, and dusted herself off.
"Dad?" Pomni raised a brow, but Ragatha just shushed her.
"Settle down everybody! Ladies, gentlemen, and Zoobles, please welcome (or welcome back, if you're Kinger) our dearly beloved performers; Ragatha and Pomni!" Caine's voice signalled their entrance, and they entered stage left.
No longer were Ribbit and Kaufmo sat in the audience, like she expected for a millisecond. No longer were they on stage with Jax, about to sit by her side and perform their final duet, the biggest hoorah before a falling-out was bound to happen. They were on stage beside her lover, ready to perform a duet that serves to open a door for the both of them.
"Yes, yes, our precious lovebirds are here! Tell me, who's ready to be wowed?"
Everyone cheered once again. Ragatha's cheeks warmed once again, looking bashfullly to the side.
"That's the spirit! Please hold all cheering, whistling, applause, screaming, and all other forms of disruptive noise until the show is over! Ragatha, Pomni, take it away!"
With that, Caine took his seat next to Zooble, and the lights in the circus dimmed.
Pomni sat, Ragatha followed. She winked at the jester, who smiled and nodded back.
The soft introductory notes reverberated in the open air, reaching out so far in such a way that had Ragatha enraptured all over again. Somehow, Pomni had a completely different playstyle, a way of playing that made the notes sound so different from when Jax played. The nostalgia powered her will to play, and with a breath, she placed the bow to the strings.