Tavern

by You_Are_Loved_143

Summary:

Jax was just trying to help Kinger with a project, not knowing why he was sad all the time. Not knowing why he could barely get out of bed and has lost interest in almost all his hobbies. He drowned himself in work, trying not to think about who he’s lost, or really his feelings at all.

Kinger desperately wants his code to be adopted, knowing it’s the right thing to do. But the companies that are forcing AI into everything refuse because it would make them lose profits, and Kinger is getting sick and tired of it.

Ragatha can’t seem to drop her mask, even outside of the circus. No matter what, she feels like she has to play the part, dancing around for everyone else to enjoy.

Pomni can’t seem to find validation in herself at all. She doesn’t have anything to look forward to other than the numbers on her Uoutube channel going up, so when they start plummeting, she will do anything to get it back. Even if it means sacrificing her own mental health.

Zooble can’t feel comfortable in their own body, and they don’t know why. They do, but they don’t. It’s all they think about, and they don’t know how to handle it.

Chapter 1: Code

Jax sat down on his bed, in one of the three bedrooms that was above the bar. He had stopped stealing once they had come back into the real world, knowing people actually cared here, so his room was more plain than anything. He had a desk with some crochet plushies that Ragatha had given Jax, along with some photos of everyone together. It was kind of reminiscent of how his room was decorated back in the Circus, but without the over-exaggerated forest. 

 

He put the hamster plushie on his bed, grabbing an energy drink and his computer off his desk. He wrapped a blanket around himself after he sat down on his bed, the plushie falling onto his thigh. If he had access to his old apartment that he used to share with his brother, which he assumed had been cleared out and rented out again, he’d have way more plushies. But that’s really a lost hope now.

 

He opened the drink with a fizz sound, taking a big sip out of it. He would need it, really. This stupid project that he and Kinger were working on together was taking way too long for his liking. He didn’t know how implementing a moral code into AI was this hard, but it was.

 

He opened his email first, seeing two unread messages. One was from an email he didn’t recognize, and one was from Kinger. He opened the email from Kinger first, just thinking the other email was spam. 

 

Jax,

I know you’re tired, but I need you to look over this

The test AI that we’ve been using, even with this newest build, is still half generating images. Obviously, we don’t want that, but I can’t figure out what’s wrong with my code

Can you look it over for me?

 

And then a link was attached to the email.

 

Jax clicked on it, and saw how many red lines were under the document of code typed on his screen. He pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing this was going to be a long night. His eyebags were practically on the floor.

 

The clock on his computer seemed to suddenly transform from 11pm to 5am. He knew Kinger didn’t mean for him to fix it right that very second, but it would have bothered him to go to bed if everything wasn’t done before he did so. Jax had gotten lost in it, meaning to take a break by 2am, but it was satisfying to get rid of those red lines. Plus, he found coding fun, when he wasn’t stressed out and sleep deprived. It had been him and his brothers dream.

 

His brother..

 

His thoughts trailed off, his fingers floating over the keyboard now. He stared at the computer screen, everything starting to morph into gibberish. He shook his head, pushing those thoughts deep down. He didn’t want to bring anyone else down, who knows what they’d do if he was vulnerable. He trusted them, but only as much as he really could.

 

He sighed, closing the computer and placing it on his side table. He took his blanket and covered himself up completely, grabbing Pomni’s plushie and hugging it tightly to his chest. He immediately fell into a deep sleep, obviously tired. In reality, he hadn’t slept in two days.

 

.-*-.

 

“Jax!” Pomni yelled. 

 

Jax turned around, smiling. He ran up to her, not expecting to see her out and about today. “Pomni! Why are you here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in the plaza.”

 

Pomni shrugged. “I was bored. Plus, you’re here, and that makes it better!” She said, happily. 

 

Jax felt his cheeks heat up, giggling like how people did in the anime’s Gangle forced him to watch sometimes. “Well, flatterer.” He said simply, not trusting his voice not to waver if he said anything more.

 

Pomni matched his giggling, before her phone rang, cutting the talk short. Jax felt a sad feeling rising up, not understanding why. It was the most simple conversation he’s ever had, why did he feel sad they were interrupted? 

 

Pomni hung up, looking back at Jax. “Sorry, I gotta go.” She said, genuinely. “Ragatha’s having some problems with her car.”

 

Jax nodded. “Alright, we’ll.. have fun I guess?” He said.

 

Pomni smiled at him, before turning away to leave.

 

Why did Jax feel so sad about that?!

 

Chapter 2: Walking Dead

Notes:

I wrote this chapter in a dark corner of my house in ten minutes

Jax got woken up about two hours later by his alarm blaring in his ears. He startled awake, confused. He had expected to pull another all nighter, like he had for the past two nights, not fall asleep. He still had the plushie in his hands, squeezed to his chest. 

 

He placed the plushie down next to him, kicking the covers off himself. He felt like he was going to fall asleep while standing, but he forced himself to push through. He threw on a sweater that he had stolen from Kinger and some ripped jeans. He hated wearing his own clothes, preferring the comfort of everyone else’s clothing. They’re the only things he’ll steal now.

 

He walked out his bedroom door, going across the hallway and knocking on Kinger’s door to try and wake him up. He heard some shuffling, before the door opened, revealing an equally disheveled Kinger. Jax looked at Kinger, confused. 

 

“..Kinger, what's wrong?” He asked, before realizing that’s probably too nice and adding, “You look horrific.”

 

Kinger immediately launched into a small rant about the project they were both working on. “Jax, the same problem still applies.” He said, his voice lethargic. “When we put the restrictions on the AI, it’s still generating images. It isn’t saying no when we prompt it to write a story, and it keeps telling flat out lies about simple subjects.”

 

Jax sighed. He didn’t know why, but what he just said was super hard to follow. Really everything without captions was.  “In normal people terms, Kinger.”

 

“Literally all of our code failed.” Kinger said, simply. 

 

Jax groaned quietly, before sitting down at Kinger’s desk. He knew Kinger had been up all night, like him, and he deserved rest. When Kinger protested, saying they’d work on it together, Jax turned around to look him in the eye. “Sleep.” He said, protectively, like he was scolding a child.

 

Kinger looked at Jax, confused about the tone, but did as he was told. Covering himself up in the royal purple blankets that covered his bed, the mountain of pillows almost falling on him. Jax smiled at the site, ever so slightly. He was just happy Kinger would be getting sleep.

 

He felt himself getting sucked into the work again, glancing at the clock multiple times through and seeing how five minutes turned into thirty. He knew someone was probably going to yell at him when they saw him working like this, hours upon hours on end, but he didn’t really care about their anger. At least that’s what he told himself.

 

Jax had forgotten the door was unlocked until he felt an elbow on his head. He looked up to see Zooble, with a frown on their face. Their faded pink hair was half covering their eyes. They were obviously disappointed and even a little bit worried, looking at the lines of code on the screen. They didn’t understand it fully, but they assumed the red lines were bad.

 

“Hey, Zooble.” Jax said, apathetic. He looked back at his computer and kept typing, not really caring about Zooble’s presence. At least, not until he felt the laptop being taken out of his lap and heard it being closed shut. Jax almost started yelling at them, too sleep deprived to really think about what he was doing, but one look from Zooble made him shut up.

 

“We need to talk.” Zooble said, grabbing his arm.

 

Jax felt his anxiety spike. The last time they ‘talked’ was in the circus, and that didn’t end very well. He let himself be dragged to their room, hating the utter silence. When they got inside, Zooble threw him on the bed and sat on the opposite end. Jax caught himself, sitting himself back up on the mattress. 

 

“What do you want?” Jax asked, glaring at them angrily. He hated being interrupted, and he didn’t know if his work had been erased from the computer being closed. He started fidgeting with the drawstring of Kinger’s hoodie, trying to get rid of the panic.

 

Zooble shook their head, sighing. “You look like a corpse, Jax.” They said, their disappointment clear in their voice.

 

Jax took a relieved sigh. He didn’t know why, but he was expecting it to be much worse. “Oh. I doomscrolled all night.” He said, lying through his teeth. He didn’t want the worry that came with ‘I was working’, and would much rather have the disappointment directed at him. Anything but worry.

 

Zooble rolled their eyes at the obvious lie. “You overworked yourself again, did you?”

 

Jax completely gave it up, knowing his facade was see-through this time. “What’re you gonna do about it?” He teased.

 

“Take away your laptop.”

 

Jax laughed in their face at the suggestion. “Oh, so you’re gonna ground me? I’m not a little kid, Zooble.” He said, humor in his voice. 

 

“Don’t think I won’t.” Zooble said, threatening. 

 

“Yeah, yeah. Shouldn’t you be working down in the bar?” Jax asked them. It was already noon, and the bar usually opens to serve food at lunch. It was odd to have Zooble not down there, even if business was usually slow during the afternoon. 

 

“Don’t try to change the subject.” They said, before adding. “I’m..I’m worried about you, Jax.”

 

Jax laughed it off again, standing up. “I’m fine.” He said, even though it was a lie again. Really, someone should add a counter. He was just surprised Zooble was worried about him, enough to admit it. 

 

Zooble tried to call out to him, to scold him to stay, but he was already out of the room.

Notes:

✨He✨sashays✨away✨

Chapter 3: Spam

Notes:

IM BACKKKKKKKKK ✨✨✨✨
This won’t be a daily thing since school is starting soon; possibly weekly.
Also a few things might be wrong with the continuity :,D
Short chapter to get back into the groove of this fic <3
You are finally getting fed 😔😔😔
I’m changing up my writing style for this fic; Usually, I have a really clear outline, but right now I’m just trying to get an end goal. I’ll take feedback and if there’s too many continuity errors/the fic is kind of mid I will rewrite the whole thing 😀
I take feedback!! :)
Because I don’t have a clear plan, some requests may get in (you will absolutely get credited for any ideas you throw in- at the end of the fic, though, for no spoilers :3)
Thank you all for your patience <333
Anthill cafe is absolutely NOT getting abandoned!! I will try to finish it before school so I can keep up daily updates!

Jax flopped onto his bed, taking his laptop and opening his email. He had forgotten about the other email he had gotten until then, and he needed something to distract him from that talk with Zooble. He had gotten a bit softer lately, and it was terrifying. What happens if someone hurts him? He’d break, that’s what.

 

[email protected]

Subject: Public Relations

 

Dear Mr. Abel,

 

 

We at Abomi AI are writing to you and your partner about your developing restrictive code on our AI assistant. We would like to remind you that our AI is not like any AI you’ve seen before; we’ve sourced the code from companies, but we have made it better. If you put restrictions on innovation like ours, the backlash that will come will be completely reasonable. 

 

If you still wish to continue with your project, go ahead. We will not make a move to implement your code until it is legally required, which will never happen.

 

Sincerely, 

James Smith, co-founder of Abomi AI

 

Jax’s first question was how they got his new last name. Jax had taken on Kinger’s last name ever since they got out of the circus, but they never told the media, so they all called him THAT name. Being legally adopted was weird, since he actually was treated like a son now. 

 

His second question was why the tone of the email was so threatening.

 

It had to be spam, right? It couldn’t be anything more than that, he rationalized. He told himself that because the second option was much more terrifying.

 

They could be in danger.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of Dumb Bunny