Chapter Text
“So. This is awkward,”
Ribbit deadpanned, sitting next to him. They’d been left to supervise Kaufmo. Not that the lion needed supervision— he seemed just content sitting there, staring at absolutely nothing.
Yet Jax winced at her bluntness. Yeah, it really was awkward, but pointing it out didn’t help at all. So he sat there, shifting uncomfortably for a few moments, not exactly sure what to say in this situation.
“Ribbit, I…”
“Look, Jax–”
They both started, and Jax immediately cut himself off. But Ribbit did the same. They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few more moments.
“You… don’t have to tell me anything you’re not ready for. I mean, we both know how that ended last time. I’m not upset, I just—”
They inhaled deeply, like they were going to continue, but never did. Jax stared at the floor, before inhaling deeply and biting his lip.
“I’m just… just this, Ribbit,”
He managed, gesturing to himself. She tilted her head in confusion, trying to figure out what he could possibly be implying. Eventually, it seemed to click. Ribbit’s gaze softened, and she stared ahead at the lion.
“I see. Still. What I said earlier… well. The first time, still stands, okay?”
Ribbit hummed, offering him a smile he definitely didn’t deserve. He got himself all worked up, and for what? This is what she abstracted for. What a fucking genius he was.
“Pomni’s… the only other one that knows,” He mumbled, and Ribbit shot him a sly grin, moving away from the awkward conversation fast and on to the opportunity to tease him. Gosh, they really were a bad influence.
“You definitely warmed up to her quickly,” Ribbit teased lightly, a grin painted on her face, “You better ask her out soon. Or else I will,”
Of all the things Jax expected from this conversation tonight, that was not one of them. He felt the tips of his ears heat up, and he flattened them to his skull, rolling his eyes at Ribbit.
“Please, good luck with that. I’m pretty sure Pomni’s straight,”
Jax deadpanned dismissively, but Ribbit huffed at that. He raised an eyebrow at them.
“What?”
“No way in hell she’s straight. Bisexual? Probably. I mean, have you seen the way she acts with Ragatha?”
“C’mon, they’re friends,”
Jax tried to reason, because obviously. But Ribbit stared at him with mock pity and patted his shoulder, like he was some idiot kid who didn’t quite understand romance yet. Then they seemed to remember something and that damned evil grin returned.
“Dude. She had a girlfriend. I can’t believe I forgot that— she didn’t tell you?”
“What? No…” He reluctantly admitted. It wasn’t his fault those subjects never came up. Granted, Jax would be the last person you should talk to about romance. He was a fucking idiot. And yeah, he could admit it.
The banter continued, back and forth, for a while. Eventually Ribbit started to get tired, and just… went to bed. It was quite unceremonious. It was like they were having some impromptu sleepover in high school, and not keeping guard over an abstracted friend. Jax tried to fight sleep off for longer, but he wasn’t invincible, and eventually, sleep took him.
He woke the next morning to Ragatha shaking him awake. Ribbit was sitting up, rubbing sleep from their eyes, but everyone else seemed to be… anxious. Pomni, Caine, Kinger, and Zooble were missing. Gangle was the one who woke up Ribbit.
“What?”
He grumbled, swatting away Ragatha’s hand grumpily. But her expression sobered him up quickly, and he looked around for the cause of anxiety.
“What? What’s going on?”
“Kaufmo’s… missing,”
Gangle was the one who spoke up, and that caused Ribbit to shoot to her feet and turn around. Indeed, the lion was gone.
“We looked before going to wake you guys up. He must’ve left the tent at night— none of the others ever did that. They’re all doing another sweep, but nobody has found him yet. We wanted to see if… either of you knew where he was,”
The look on both of their faces must’ve given them their answer.
The rest of that day [the entire day] consisted of tearing apart the circus, looking for Kaufmo. Nowhere to be found. They took down the tent, checked in the aquarium. It didn’t make sense— he was a decent sized fucking Lion. There were a bunch of places he could hide, but they checked ALL of those. If he moved hiding spots, it should’ve been easy to spot him. But it wasn’t.
He was gone.
***
The lion had never gone to bed. It sat on the pillows staring out of the entrance. For hours. Only once Ribbit and Jax’s breathing had evened out, did the lion rise to its paws. It stretched like any normal feline would, but its blinding eyes looked anything from normal on the lion. It pressed its nose to the ground, sniffing at the pillows.
It remained in the tent for some more time, pacing. It had caught a scent of something, which should’ve been impossible in the circus. The only things that had any smell were intentional, made by Caine [or Kinger, who was the most experienced human at conjuring].
The pillows weren’t made with any smell at all. Nothing in the pillow fort had any smell. It wasn’t strong at all. Just there.
The lion looked at Ribbit and sat down next to her. It pressed its nose to her shoulder, almost apologetically. Ribbit didn’t seem to notice for a few moments until she winced in her sleep, the burning sensation finally seeming to affect her. The lion pulled away quickly, lifting its bright white eyes to Jax. It quickly leapt up and seemed to make the decision right then and there. It cantered out of the pillow fort, taking long strides and rounding the corner quickly.
It was still dark, which was good. It’s eyes, damn near fluorescent, were the only source of bright light in the circus.
The lion ran aimlessly, rounding various blocks, leaping past the mirror without any regard for it. Eventually, he reached one corner of the circus, and there it was.
The reason he’d abstracted in the first place, standing in the center of the hallway innocently, like it hadn’t driven him to abstraction. Not jax, but that damn door.
He wasted no time, tail swishing, before he charged directly at it. His glitchy shoulder rammed into the door, and it swung open immediately, like it hadn’t been shut properly. He fell to the floor in some office room.
His white eyes glitched with color as he whirled around, staring at the stupid equipment and stationary. No, no, no. This wasn’t–
The door slammed behind him, and disappeared. Was that normal? No, it couldn’t be. Its eyes intensified with color, and he felt his paws start to glitch painfully. He swung his head, beginning to pant through his mouth.
Only then did he catch the scent again. He immediately stopped his movements, freezing. It took the eyes a few moments, but they returned to the same clinical, blinding white. It kept its jaws open, tasting the air again. Once his paws stopped glitching, he took a tentative step forward. Yes, the scent was there.
The smell itself was hard to describe. It was so faint, so it really just felt like he was being pulled in a certain direction by instinct. Maybe clinical? Maybe lemony? Maybe it didn’t smell like anything. Whatever it was, it had brought him to the door. Looking ahead, the scent lead him through a hall, and then another red door.
And another
And another.
It took him through so many doors. He was about to get exhausted, but his paws still dragged him through the halls. His shoulder was sore from slamming into the door, until he realized they were open enough that he could just shove it with a paw. Which helped a lot.
Eventually… he opened a door and promptly fell into a void. And if abstracting had hurt, the void was so much more painful. He was freefalling, but not moving at all. Until suddenly, he was grounded. The pain dissipated, and he was now gently falling until he landed on a seemingly solid surface in the void. He took a moment to recuperate, before taking a tentative step forward, making sure the ground was stable. The lion was cautious for a few more moments, before seeming to gain confidence. Only then did he open his mouth to taste the air, and started bounding off again.
There were no turns to make, no obstacles to avoid. Just something he knew he should follow, and a near impulsive need to find it. His paws thrummed against the ground as he bounded full speed across the void. There was no wind, nothing brushing past his ears. An eerie digital stillness and silence. But it quickly welcomed him, removing the chill from his bones, and replacing it with warmth. He could run forever.
But he didn’t have to. He skidded to a stop, looking up. He felt like his pelt should puff up in defensiveness, but there was no reason for that. He extended his nose to the air, looking up at it curiously, white eyes focusing on it. The soft blue glow illuminated his pitch black face, and for the first time, he closed his bright white eyes.