Chapter Text
An argument. What it was about, none of the others knew. Gangle had been the first to the table after the days adventure, ready to relax after managing to keep her comedy mask safe all day, but to her dismay Jax had followed right behind her. The others couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but Jax was clearly being his usual self. Before the rest of the gang could get close enough to the table to intervene in the argument taking place, it was brought to an immediate standstill.
Whap!
With a swift flick Gangle had smacked Jax across the side of his face with her ribbon hand. The rest of the circus members stopped in their tracks, an array shocked expressions upon most of their faces. Aside from Zooble throwing out a thumbs up, they were all flabbergasted; long accustomed to Gangle talking back to her rabbit bully at the absolute most, before always rolling over and giving in to whatever cruelty he was forcing on her and anyone else at that moment. It seemed even Gangle herself was shocked at how forcefully she had stood up for herself, holding her wrist with her other hand and looking at it, stunned, as if it had a mind of its own and she was worried it would lash out again. The collective stupor of the circus members was shaken away when Jax stood up from his looming position he had been holding over Gangle; from where they all stood they couldn’t see his face, but Gangle could.
And she looked terrified.
The lot of them quickly made their collective way to the table, Ragatha taking the lead, worried about the situation escalating further. But in (what seemed to be) the days theme of unusual actions, they were once again shocked as Jax stepped towards Gangle, then again, and then… past her, until finally just… walking away entirely. Gangle, who had been covering herself with her arms out of fear of retaliation, looked up to see no one but the others, before turning in her seat to see Jax walking into the residential hall and out of sight. Confusion overtaking her previous feelings of terror, Gangle turned to the others as they closed the gap between themselves and her.
“Are you alright, what in the world happened between the two of you?” Ragatha questioned.
“Yeah, did he say something before he walked away? I’ve seen Jax freak you out, we all have, but you looked more scared than I could remember seeing before.” Pomni interjected before Gangle could even start thinking how to respond.
“I don’t care what that jerk said or did, I wanna say good f-*cymbal crash*-in’ job standing up to him!” Zooble practically yelled over the other two, once more throwing out a thumbs up.
With the three of them crowding Gangle and continuing to question, ponder, and congratulate respectively, she found herself overwhelmed, unable to structure her thoughts, until.
“A lot just happened really quickly, maybe we should give Gangle a moment to catch her breath?” Kinger spoke from behind the crowd, immediately earning stares from all four of his circus mates, catching them off guard with one of his random moments of clarity.
“Oh, yes! Yes, you’re probably right, Kinger.” Ragatha responded.
“Right about what?” And there it went.
Equal parts embarrassed and guilty about potentially adding to Gangle’s discomfort, the three stepped back and patiently waited for the ribbon woman to put her head in order. No longer being bombarded with overlapping voices, Gangle was able to actually think; with a sigh and a few seconds of sitting in silence with her eyes closed, she was able to calm down enough to speak to her concerned circus mates.
“He didn’t really say anything that he doesn’t usually say when he’s being mean, he was all sarcastic about me being lucky and joking about how he would have to try harder next time to make the adventure interesting. But then he started joking about yesterday when he “accidentally” spilled water on one of my drawings out here, and then the day before that when he bumped me out of the air balloon basket we were in for the adventure that day. I guess I was still really on edge after today’s adventure, because it got to me a lot more than usual- with my comedy mask I can usually ignore him- but I guess I just… boiled over and lashed out.” Gangle explained to the others, a look of guilt on her face.
“Hey now, don’t you go feeling bad for that jerk. You gave him what he deserves!” Zooble was the first to speak up.
“While I would prefer if things didn’t turn to violence, I also can’t blame you for what you did, Gangle. Jax has always treated you as an easy target, so while it wasn’t the best way to handle things (in my opinion) I also agree you shouldn’t feel too guilty.” Ragatha spoke second, reassuring Gangle in her usual motherly tone.
“But what happened after you slapped him? He must of done something, you looked horrified!” Pomni reiterated her question as soon as Ragatha had finished talking.
“Oh… yeah. It’s kind of dumb, but all he did was touch his face where I had… hit him… and… smiled.” The other three looked at Gangle in confusion “I don’t know! it was just his usual grin or whatever, but after what had just happened- in the moment it- I got really creeped out. I expected him to get angry or yell or hit me back or something, but when he just… did nothing and stared at me with that big grin it- it scared me really bad.”
“Ugh, I don’t even want to know what might be going on in that weirdo’s head. Don’t think too hard about it, guys a freak, always has been, always will be.” Reasoned Zooble with a disgusted tone and a dismissive hand wave.
“That’s not… exactly the way I would put it,” Ragatha interjected “but Zooble is right again, if there’s one thing we can all agree on about Jax, it’s that he is predictably unpredictable.”
With nods of agreement from the rest of the group, the circus members settled in around the table and partook of their nightly simulated meal. Eating in silence as the rest of those around her chatted about the days adventure, making a noticeable effort to avoid mentioning a certain rabbit for her sake, Gangle found herself finally calming down. Her guilt had been assuaged by the rest of the gang and, even if she still wasn’t exactly proud of herself for resorting to physical violence, she began to even feel a bit of pride in finally standing up to Jax in a big way. Part of her was worried about whatever retaliation he most definitely was planning, but she took solace in the fact that she had proven to both him and herself she wasn’t a complete pushover. After a time, she realized that all of the day’s excitement had left her feeling exhausted, mentally at the very least, and so she ended up leaving the dining table much earlier than the others. With a smile and a wave, she walked down to the seemingly endless hallway of bedrooms. Despite her best efforts to not let Jax get to her, she couldn’t help but keep her eyes trained on his door up the hall, as if he would suddenly throw the door open and rush to attack her.
“Stop thinking about it, don’t let him get to you.” She mentally chastised herself as she reached behind her own mask and pulled out the key to her room. Where it was when it wasn’t back there, and how it appeared whenever she needed to lock or unlock her door was just another mystery of the circus, but sensing an opportunity to distract herself, she chose to ruminate on it. “Maybe the circus can tell when I'm near my door and makes it appear? Or maybe it’s the opposite, it’s always back there but I just can’t feel it when I'm away from my room? Wait… is that the opposite, or is that just the same thing with different…” Her musings had done their job in turning her thoughts away from today’s happenings, but as she shut the door behind her and turned the lights on in her room, they grinded to halt as she looked around.
Her room was utterly destroyed.
Furniture destroyed, shelves and drawers overturned, hand crafted figures shattered to pieces, and her drawings, her drawings! Sketchbooks with their every page ripped out, folders poured out over the floor, and all of them crumpled, torn, scribbled over, or otherwise ruined. She couldn’t even bring herself to cry, all she could do was stare at the destruction in utter shock and silence. Even if she hadn’t already been certain who had done this, she wouldn’t have had to think on the mystery for very long as suddenly a loud click sounded behind her as someone pressed the button in to the lock her door from the inside. Standing to the side of her door was Jax, her own intentionally distracting thoughts combined with the darkness of the room when she had entered had hid his presence.
“Hehehehe… whew, the look on your face… I tell yeah, made standing here in the dark for who knows how long all worth it.” His mocking laughter ringing in Gangle’s ears as she turned to look at him, the stunned horror plain on her face. “Aww, what’s with that look? What’s that old saying again, don’t give it if you can’t take it or something like that? Welp, seems like you couldn’t take, crybaby.” He stood from his lean against her wall and began stepping towards her. “And don’t you go thinking that this makes us even just yet.” Overwhelmed with emotion Gangle only came to her senses in time to feel Jax grab her face roughly around the edges. Looming over her, he began to squeeze with all the might he could muster in his hands. The pain left a ringing in whatever she had that could pass for ears, all she could feel was her mask… her face straining and cracking under the pressure of Jax’s hands. She didn’t know if she screamed, or if she even fought back at all, it was just a painful blur, as if he was ripping a tooth out of her mouth with pliers. Until finally her mask shattered to pieces and crumbled to the ground in shards. Dropping to her knees, the ringing in Gangle’s mind only grew louder, she could see Jax’s mouth move but she couldn’t hear anything.
The humiliation of her little gesture of defiance being met with such disproportionate cruelty, the agony of having her very happiness crushed in his hands, the sheer violation of one of the few things that brought her happiness in this digital nightmare now laying strew about her room in crumpled, shredded, ruined piles. She didn’t sob, or shout, but she could feel the tears silently flow down her face. Unconscious of her actions she lashed out once more, no thought beyond misery and anger, using the first thing she found within her grasp.
Thwup thwup thwup
The muted sound of liquid dripping onto the floor was all she could hear. As her erratic breathing slowed and her whirlwind of emotions steadied, she came back to the reality of where she was. And of what she had just done.
Her vision, once a blur of roaring emotions, cleared.
And in her hand, was a jagged shard of her comedy mask, black ichor staining the pointed tip.
In a panic she dropped the mask piece, her eyes trailing it to the ground as it clattered onto the floor with a thud, a deafening sound in the almost total silence of her room. Beside the piece of sharp ceramic was a small black puddle on the carpet, drops falling from above it. Unsure of what she had just done, but terrified of the possibilities, she drew her gaze upward, following the drops. She had hoped for anything else, even if she had no clue what else it could have been, but it was for naught. As she followed the droplets upward, her fears were proven correct. In front of her stood Jax, turned to the side, she couldn’t see his face but she didn’t need to, to realize what she had done.
The droplets were flowing from his face.
As if knowing she had finally noticed, Jax turned back to face her. His hand was on his cheek, a waterfall of black spreading down his face to his neck to the front of his clothes, his arm completely drenched in the “blood” that Gangle had drawn, the drops falling from his elbow as he stood and stared at her.
“OH- oh my god- I'm so- I didn’t realize- I'm sor-!” Gangle’s stammered and panicked apologies were interrupted by Jax thrusting his foot out faster than she could react to it, stomping the ribbons that made up her torso to the ground and pinning her, arms and all. He leaned forward over her, staring into her eyes, as he slowly peeled his hand from his wound, and once more his usual smug grin found its way onto his face.
The vicious gash Gangle had sliced into his cheek elongated his smile into an unnatural smirk, the ichor continued to wash down his front, droplets and globs, now unimpeded with his hand out of the way, fell from the loose flayed skin of his face onto the floor as well as Gangle herself. She could feel every drop that landed on her ribbons, it made her want to vomit. He stood there, staring and smiling in silence, until he brought his clean left hand to his face and, to Gangle’s sickened horror, brought his fingers up to the wound. Slowly he reached towards it, shoving his fingers into the gash, the facsimile of blood coating them quickly, but that seemingly wasn’t enough. He pushed harder, muffled groans and tears in his eyes giving away how excruciating his own actions were for him, digging his near entire hand into the vicious wound. All the while his smile never wavered, and he never broke eye contact with Gangle. Powerless under his foot holding her down and shocked into inaction by the horrific sight she was witnessing, all she could do was stare in terror. She wanted to scream, to yell for help, to fight back, to wake up from what must be a horrid nightmare, some small part of her even wished she would abstract just so this vile disgusting moment would be over, for her at least. But none of those things happened, all she did was stare and wallow in misery as Jax tortured himself above her. After what felt like a genuine eternity he pulled his hand from the gaping hole in his face, his gloves absolutely soaked in his “blood”. He dragged his fingers across his face, painting his smile with the ichor that stained them. He reached down towards Gangle, grabbing her face and dragging it up towards himself. It was finally enough to shock her from her fearful stupor.
“NO! WAIT PLEASE! I'M SORRY, PLEASE! SOMEONE, ANYONE, HELP ME PLEASE!” She pleaded and begged as Jax’s iron grip on her mask effortlessly dragged her face towards him. She didn’t know what would happen if her tragedy mask broke, but she was terrified that she was about to find out as Jax got closer and closer, his macabre face painting running and dripping onto her. Closer and closer still, until.
Mwah
With an exaggerated smack of his lips, Jax planted a bloody viscous kiss upon her forehead. Gangle could only shudder in disgust and fear as Jax released her, dropping her head to the ground, his wretched makeshift lipstick running down her face. She lay there, eyes and mouth clamped shut to hopefully spare them the running ichor, quietly sobbing to herself for what could have been days as far as she was concerned. Suddenly, she felt Jax’s foot lift from her torso and as soon as she was freed she rushed to wipe her face clean. The feeling of it on her hands was still awful, but nowhere near as bad as it being on her face. With her face clean she looked towards her door; Jax was still standing there, gory smile still upon his face. As she met his eyes he narrowed them, his deranged grin becoming devious and scheming as he leaned his head towards the door as if he was… listening for something? Realization rushed through Gangle’s mind, but so to did the fact that she couldn’t do anything to stop him.
“AHHHH! YOU FRIGGIN PSYCHO,” Jax screeched as he ripped the door open and flung himself into the hallway, the rest of the circus crew in the hall having just left the dining table “YOU LITTLE MANIAC! YOUR MASK AIN’T THE ONLY THING ABOUT YOU THAT’S CRACKED, FIRST YOU ROB ME THEN YOU TRY TO KILL ME?!”
“What in the world is- OH MY GOD, Jax what happened?!” Ragatha had ran ahead, always trying to be the first on the scene to deescalate. Her concern was only intensified when she got close enough to see Jax, utterly drenched in what she and the others recognized as their equivalent to blood.
“She happened!” Jax shot back, pointing accusingly at Gangle and uncovering his wound for all of them to see. Gasps and disgusted gags filled the hall as they all got an eyeful of his mutilated face.
“What are you talking about?” Zooble asked, the skepticism plain in their voice.
“I'm talking about HER, building blocks!” Jax threw his hand out again, pointing at Gangle as he sat himself against the wall across from her door. “She did this! …what, don’t believe me? Ask her yourself!”
Whispers of disbelief came from the crowd as they stepped in front of Jax and looked into Gangle’s room, gasps replacing the whispers as they took in the sights within. Gangle on her knees, her room destroyed, covered in “blood”, and most damningly of all, the jagged shard of her own mask, splattered in black, laying on the ground beside her.
“Gangle, just slow down, take some deep breaths and tell us what happened here, ok?” Ragatha spoke with a calm and measured voice, desperate to defuse whatever situation she and others had stumbled upon.
Gangle didn’t even realize she had been hyperventilating, but with Ragatha’s direction she found herself… definitely not calm given the situation, but much more capable of responding. All eyes outside her door were trained on her, but she looked past all of them once more locking eyes with Jax, a sick epiphany forming in her mind. As everyone looked at her, his face had again gone back to his deranged lopsided smirk and she knew exactly why. He knew she felt guilty for her actions, regardless of how hard he had pushed her to them, and he knew that guilt meant that even without the weapon sitting at her feet she wouldn’t even try to lie. With all eyes on her, he was free to openly revel in his sick glee, to silently gloat about having her dead to rights.
“I… I… I did it… he’s telling the truth.” The looks on everyone’s faces as she admitted to Jax’s accusation made her want to fling herself into the void and never return, the disappointment, the disbelief, the confusion, it all compounded her misery.
“And? So, what if she did?” Zooble spoke up, breaking the silence and drawing everyone attention to themselves. “We all know Jax, look at her godd-*Snap*-n room! Are we really going to take his word alone, we all know he did something to deserve this.” Gangle once again felt like she was going to burst into tears, but for much happier reasons than before.
“Jeez, Zoobie, your sympathy knows no bounds, doesn’t it?” Jax groaned from the floor, now wearing a much more pained expression.
“Shut up Jax, now tell us what happened here!” Zooble demanded from him.
“Do you want me to shut up, or tell you what happened?” Jax retorted.
Clearly incensed by his sarcasm, Zooble took a step towards Jax only to be blocked by Ragatha. “Look let’s just hear Jax out then Gangle can tell us her version of events, ok?” She said, doing whatever she could think of to prevent further violence.
“And why does he get to go first, you taking his side on this?” Zooble asked, narrowing their eyes in suspicion.
“No, I'm not “taking his side” he is the one who is hurt, it’s only fair that he gets to explain first.” Ragatha spoke, once again trying to be the voice of reason.
“Besides, didn’t you just ask me to explain what happened? Is it only taking my side when someone else does it?” Jax snarked from the floor.
“Ugh, whatever, fine, talk!” Zooble grunted out, embarrassed at the unintentionally contradictory nature of their statements being pointed out.
“So, after me and ribbons had our little “talk” at the dinner table, I went to my room. While I was in there, I noticed that something was off, so yeah, I went to Gangle’s room and let myself in-”
“So you did trash the place?!” Zooble interrupted Jax, accusatorially.
“Zooble, we can talk about all that once we get both sides of this.” Ragatha talked them down, before motioning to Jax. “You mentioned something was off in your room, and that’s why you went to Gangle’s, what was wrong?”
“I was getting to that; I had let myself in so I could look for something. A notebook, not really a journal per se, but something I used to keep notes on stuff around the circus, plan out my jokes and the like. I went to her room because I knew she was the one who took it.” With Jax’s new accusation the rest of the circus members once again questioningly looked at her, Gangle, however, could only respond with a confused expression, unable to explain she had no idea what he was talking about before he started speaking again. “That’s what we got into at the dining table too, stuff has been going missing from my room for days now and I know it was her, I’ve seen her sneaking out from my own door. So, I'm in her room looking for my notebook, when she shows up and starts freaking out about me being in there. I just keep grilling her about where my stuff is and suddenly, she loses it, flipping and tossing things all over the place, she even tried to hit me with her little desk chair; while I was fighting her off, her mask broke and then she…” An almost scared or nervous look crept onto Jax’s face, before being replaced with an angry and pained grimace. “Well, that’s how I ended up like this, and that’s what happened.”
“Pfft, yeah like any of us believe that cr-*doot*-p, right?” the ever-skeptical Zooble was the first to speak up after Jax finished explaining, though to their surprise the rest of the circus members just looked between them, Gangle, and Jax, nervously. “Wait- wait- wait, you guys don’t actually believe that load of garbage, do you? We haven’t even heard Gangle’s side yet!”
“That’s exactly it, we haven’t heard her version of events, we’re just keeping an open mind for this situation.” Ragatha once again talked the emotional bundle of shapes down.
“Ya know, for someone who got on Dollface’s case for taking sides, you sure seem to already believe Gangle, and she ain’t even told her version yet.” Jax, on the other hand, provoked another rise out of them.
“Because I know you, and I know her, and I know that she wouldn’t just do something like this!” Zooble shot back.
“But… she admitted to it.” Pomni half whispered into the conversation, clearly uncomfortable doing something that could be seen as defending Jax.
“I mean that she wouldn’t do something like this for no reason, all she admitted to is being the one to hurt the jerk, she hasn’t told us her version yet, but I already know he must have done something heinous that deserved some self defense in return.” Zooble spoke forcefully, but wasn’t actually raising their voice, glaring at Pomni with a look that seemed like their mismatched eyes were trying to bore a hole into the jester’s head.
“Zooble, Pomni wasn’t accusing Gangle or defending Jax, she was just stating a fact.” Ragatha spoke in a measured tone as she held her hands up, now standing between the second largest circus member and the shortest. “You’re right, and she’s right, Gangle did admit to being the one who hurt Jax, but she also hasn’t told us her side or why she did it. Why don’t we all take a breath and listen to her, then we can discuss things afterwards?” She punctuated her request for peace with a nervous and disarming smile; fortunately, the plea seemed to reach Zooble, who stepped back from both the doll and jester and instead turned to Gangle.
No one noticed the smirk that flashed across Jax’s face for a moment as he watched the argument unfold.
Caught between the confusion of the seemingly random accusations of theft and the great appreciation towards Zooble for standing up for her, Gangle had been staring at nothing in particular. She found herself brought back to simulated reality as she met Zooble’s gaze, a much more kind one than what Pomni had gotten, and realized the others were waiting for her to speak.
“I- I… don’t know what he’s talking about when he says I stole something, that isn’t what happened at the dining table at all. It’s like I told you then, he was picking at me over things he had done recently, it got to me more than it should have so I fought back. Then after I left the dining I came here to my room; he was already in here. The place was trashed- he started making fun of me and then he grabbed my mask and broke it with his bare hands! I was so scared I- I- I panicked I guess; I swung at him with the first thing I could grab and it happened to be… a piece of… my… mask.” As she replayed the events in her mind, she found herself thinking back to being on the ground. The grotesque horror she witnessed as Jax mockingly tortured himself, as he splattered and dripped his own blood all over her, as he planted a twisted kiss onto her forehead. “And then he… after I… he pushed me over and…” She couldn’t find the words to tell them just how far he had gone, every attempt left her with the image of his crooked smirk pouring a black waterfall filling her mind. She had been sobbing before, but actually articulating everything she went through, being forced to properly face the events of the day under such duress, it all proved to much. She slumped on her knees and covered her own face, and then she began wailing, practically screaming into her own hands as both an emotional and literal waterfall flooded from her. Her cries only quieting after she slowly flopped face down onto her floor, and even then, it was only because the carpet was muffling her. The rest of the circus stood in silence, watching her rock from side to on the floor as she wept and yelled for minutes before eventually going still and relatively quiet.
Ragatha was the first to notice the cold and unreadable expression in Zooble’s eyes, complemented by their fist clenched so hard it was shaking. Already knowing what was going to happen the quickly stepped in front of Jax. Her suspicions proved correct as Zooble turned in place and started marching towards the injured rabbit. “Zooble, we haven’t had a chance to discuss anything, just please stay calm so we- woah!” Her pleas were interrupted by Zooble themselves. They grabbed Ragatha by the shoulder and forcefully yanked her to the side, sending her stumbling out of their way.
“I’m gonna finish what she started, AND PEEL OFF THE REST OF YOUR FACE YOU F-*Honk*-K!” Zooble had heard more than enough from Gangle, they screamed in rage as they stomped towards the rabbit slumped against the wall. Regardless of whatever the others were thinking, they had made up their mind and it was their opinion that Jax had yet to suffer enough for whatever it was he had clearly done.
“WAIT, I HAVE PROOF! I HAVE PROOF I JUST REMEMBERED SOMETHING!” Jax’s sudden plea was the only thing that stopped Zooble just short of wrapping their fist around his neck and making good on their threat.
“What proof could you POSSIBLY have?!” Zooble coldly fired back, their every word slathered in disbelief.
From behind them Gangle slowly lifted their head from the pit of despair she had been trapped in, now equal parts confused and worried. “Proof? What is he talking about, I didn’t do anything.” She thought to herself as she sat back up onto her knees, hers and everyone else’s eyes fixed on Jax, waiting for him to explain.
“I Remembered something, when she was flipping out, I saw something fall into the corner of her room, there was so much going on I didn’t pay attention, but now that I'm thinking more on it, I'm certain, that was my journal- notebook, whatever!” His explanation was met with uncertain glances being exchanged amongst the circus members, except for Zooble who only kept staring straight at him. “I’m serious if you go into the corner of her room behind her little drawing desk my notebook will be on the floor, and if it isn’t then you’re free to accept her word as gospel all you want.”
Pomni was the one to act, sheepishly sidestepping the confused Gangle, walking to her drawing desk and sifting through the papers on the floor behind it. Gangle and the others just watched in silence, the sound of rustling papers being the only noise in the hallway. Zooble continued to stare straight at Jax, as if ready to launch themselves at him the second he was proven wrong.
“I… uh… think I found something!”
Zooble’s death glared instantly melted into a look of shock as they finally took their eyes off Jax, looking with everyone else as Pomni walked out of Gangle’s room brandishing a small brown notebook. No one in the crowd was more confused than Gangle herself however, as she watched evidence of the crime she had never committed being found.
“Open it, you’ll see.” Jax said as he sat up a little straighter against the wall, mustering all the smugness his wounded face could produce.
Pomni started flipping through the pages in front of the others and, true to his word, it quickly became apparent that it belonged to Jax. Diagrams of traps, notes about painful incidents that happened to the others on adventures, and even a few disconnected sentences complaining about this or that event of the day. Despite how quickly they would distrust Jax in any other scenario, this book was irrefutably his.
As they all flipped through the book to confirm its owner Gangle was trapped within her own mind, horrid realizations flooding her thoughts. “He planted his journal? That’s how far he went for all this? Was it just to excuse trashing my room or was it… did he… he really went this far just to hurt me. All because what, I stood up to him one time?! But that doesn’t make sense, Ragatha, Pomni, and especially Zooble all talk back and fight off his bullying constantly… so why is he being so cruel to me specifically? It can’t just be because I got physical with him, Zooble hits him all the time when he gets on their nerves. Why… why does he hate me specifically so much?!”
Gangle’s melancholic line of questioning was once again interrupted by her staunch protector.
“That doesn’t prove a thing!” Zooble continued to deny any credibility on Jax’s part. “For all we know he planted that, and besides, even if for some reason Gangle somehow snuck into his room and stole something from him that doesn’t prove that she “lost it” and attacked him out of the blue. He has done far too much in the few miserable years I’ve known him for me to believe anything he says without concrete evidence.”
“I don’t believe him when he says he didn’t provoke her either but,” Ragatha placated Zooble, her words earning a look of incredulity from Jax “Gangle admitted to hurting him, and we have something of his that we found in her room. You’re right that we don’t know she stole it exactly but after all this I think we should just find Caine to get Jax patched up and move on from this, we’re all emotional” She motioned towards Zooble “and tired, right?” Kinger and Pomni nodded at her in agreement “And besides what is there more for us to do, Gangle is miserable and Jax is mutilated, no matter who was in the wrong they’ve both suffered a lot today.”
“Fine, whatever, you do whatever it is that you think you need to do, I'm gonna stay here and make sure Gangle’s alright.” Zooble responded with a huff.
Taking the little victory of more or less defusing the situation, Ragatha went to Jax and helped him to his feet. As soon as he was up, he walked up to Pomni, who was still flipping through Jax’s notes, and snatched his book from her hands. The black blood on his hands stained the cover of the book as he grabbed it.
“Yeah, shortstuff, I think we know it’s mine, you can stop checking. Nosy little jester…” He hissed haughtily.
“Ok, Jax, lets just get you to your room, ok?” Ragatha started leading him by the shoulder to his door. “Pomni, Kinger, do you think you two could look for Caine?” Her request was met with simple nods as the two walked off in different directions. “Let’s get you sat down somewhere I can help stop the bleeding.”
“Yeah, that would be good, I'm startin to feel a little dizzy.” Jax mumbled back. The two awkwardly walked to his room, Jax being half carried the entire way.
Gangle hazily watched them walk up the hall, mentally lost in the recollection of the days events and still fixated on that very pertinent (to her at least) question. “Why is he being so cruel to me specifically?” She found herself brought back to awareness when the sight and sound of Jax’s door shutting behind him and Ragatha filled the hall. She looked to her side and saw that Zooble had already begun picking things up off the floor, the sight leading to her realizing she still wasn’t finished dealing with the consequences of today’s events. From her position, seated on her knees, she started turning in place to pick up and pile papers and figures that had been scattered in the chaos. How she was going to clean the black inky stains on her carpet was something she would have to think about later, unfortunately. As the two worked to reorganize the mess of a room, Zooble shuffled past Gangle and spoke as they did so.
“Hey, you alright?” they asked, the concern plain in their usually stoic (barring anger) voice.
“No… but thank you for asking, for helping me too, it felt like you were the only one willing to hear me out.” Gangle murmured her response, a tinge of appreciation coloring her pain.
“I think it’s ridiculous that they would even listen to a thing he said, all the garbage he’s pulled throughout the years and they still give him the benefit of the doubt?” Zooble vented their frustrations with the others as they crouched down to begin shuffling some loose papers into a pile.
Gangle noticed Ragatha exit Jax’s room and walk towards her own, presumably to get something she thought could help Jax.
“Looks like we’ve got most of your stuff all together, I can help you finish putting everything back where it should be tomorrow, if you want.” Zooble offered as the stepped in front of Gangle, their back to the door.
“Yeah, I would appreciate the help a lot, thank… you…” Gangle’s voice trailed off as her eyes looked past Zooble, looking into the darkness of Jax’s half open door.
From the very edge of the shadows within, she could see him. Leaning forward and peeking barely out, staring at her. His bright yellow eyes almost glowing in the dark, his lopsided macabre smirk overtaking her vision. She caught herself falling backwards, ending up looking like she was going to try and crawl away on her back. Terrified whimpers fled her mouth against her will as she shot a ribbon hand out to point at the door. As Zooble followed her pointing however, Jax pulled back and closed it leaving any hint of movement gone before Zooble had even realized what Gangle was pointing towards.
“On second thought, maybe I should stay the night, make sure you’re alright, ok?” Zooble asked, the concern in their voice at odds with the clear anger with which they closed the door to Gangle’s room.
“Yes, please I think I would like that a lot.” Gangle muttered barely audibly, embarrassed at how pitiful she must look at that moment. Thought even with all that she couldn’t help but feel a bit of positivity thanks to her friend’s willingness to help.
“You go clean yourself up, no way you’ll be able to sleep like that.” Zooble pointed to the bathroom as they spoke.
Gangle was confused at first only to suddenly and very uncomfortably remember she was practically drenched in Jax’s blood. Taking Zooble’s advice, she nearly sprinted into the shower. After minutes and minutes of desperately scrubbing every inch of herself clean of the black inky repercussions of her defending herself, she finally stepped out and returned to her actual room. To her confusion, her desk had been slid in front of the door while Zooble was lazing in a recliner in the corner.
“I'm just making sure a certain someone doesn’t try anything while we’re asleep, you know that creep and his keys.” Zooble explained, having noticed Gangle glancing at the odd placement.
“Oh, that makes sense. I hadn’t thought of that, thank you. I'm… sorry… that you always have to look out for me like this.” The pile of ribbons couldn’t help but feel like a burden after all the chaos of the day, like she had pulled Zooble into her mess.
“You don’t need to apologize for anything, especially not for standing up for yourself. If that freak can’t handle someone fighting back, then he shouldn’t act the way he does.” Her friend reassured her, their voice calm and measured aside from the obvious disdain for the “He” in question.
“Thank you… uhm good night then I guess...” Gangle crawled into her bed as she spoke, she wanted to say more, to tell Zooble that this was the first time she felt safe all day, that she actually felt a little happy now that they were here with her. But be it exhaustion or nerves, she could only mumble out a halfhearted platitude.
“Yeah, no problem. G’night.” Zooble responded in total calm, remaining friendly but stoic to hopefully help Gangle relax, before turning onto their side, closing their eyes, and pulling the spare blanket they had grabbed over themselves.
Gangle found herself on her side as well, watching her friend sleep. It was a little shocking how fast they were out, but some people were just like that. Curled up in her blanket, Gangle forced the memories of the day from her mind. She focused on Zooble, their calm breathing and presence in general. She focused on the times they would just quietly be in each other’s company, no real interaction beyond glances or quick questions about what the other was doing. But those simple thoughts helped her forget the day, even with the violent reminders scattered across her room. Finally, she found herself so focused on the happy thoughts that she fell asleep.