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“Hey.” Jax grimaces. “Do you have any of that stupid sauce left?” It must be getting pretty bad if he has to ask the box of Lego pieces for something.
Zooble narrows their eyes at him. “Why,” they ask dully, “So you can lace us with it? As if everything isn’t already 
up enough as it is?”
He holds up his hands. “Yeesh! Can’t a guy want to get stupid between hours of unending torture?” When Zooble doesn’t adjust their glare, he continues, letting his own voice flatten. “As if you’ve never wanted to numb the pain before.”
Their mismatched shoulders drop the slightest amount. After another moment of glaring, they sigh and uncross their arms. “I guess I can check. Stay in the hall, though. And don’t sing that ing song!”
Jax slinks slightly behind as the two follow the familiar route to their rooms. “Well, don’t give me any ideas.”
He doesn’t bother to stay out in the hall. Zooble gives him an exhausted look of defeat.
“I don’t know.” They survey the mix of objects and patterns that cover all the surfaces. “Could’ve sworn I gave it back to—Oh, there it is.” Zooble picks the squeeze bottle off the dresser and just stares at it for a second. “Huh. Guess it’s still… Anyway, I mean what I said. Don’t go making things even worse for us, you hear me? It’s bad enough as it is.”
“Heard loud and clear, captain.” Jax holds out his hand.
Zooble hesitates again but hands it over. “And don’t get too stupid.”
He almost bites out something like, What’s it to you? or I’m going to get twice as stupid now or Look who’s talking or Join me? but settles on, “No promises,” before turning on his heel. He whistles the familiar tune on his way out and all the way down the hall: Daiiisy, Daiiisyyy, give me your answer dooo…
Zooble stares after him. When his whistling fades, they lean against the dresser. “.”
As expected, no one is up here, because no one really came up here in the first place. That’s why the three of them bothered with it at all. They couldn’t choose their bodies or rooms or clothes, but they could choose who to spend time with. They could choose where to go, together.
Jax freezes halfway up the stairs. Zooble’s words replay in his mind. As if he’s ever listened to anything they’ve said before. As if he’s going to start. Maybe he’ll get three times as stupid. But his feet won’t budge.
Which is fine. He’s still gripping the bannister as he slides to the floor. This is fine. He rests the bottle on the step above him. He can just hang out here. No need to go all the way up there and dig up old memories. No need to stare into the bottom of an empty cocoa mug. He can get stupid right where he is, sitting on the stairs.
Well. He’s more splayed than sitting. He straightens up as much as he possibly can and eyes the bottle of stupid sauce. Didn’t bring anything to eat it with, or on. No spoon. Or burger, or hot dog. Not even a french fry. He shakes his head slightly. He really is stupid enough without the sauce.
Jax lifts the bottle and carefully squeezes some onto his pointer finger. It doesn’t seem like much. But he figures he can always get stupider later.
He licks his fingertip. It tastes kind o̝̭ͫ͊ͅf̗̐̿͝ ̶͍̬̌͂l͓͖ͩ̈́͂i͎k̞͎ͮ̒ͫ́e̞̳̓—̡̬̻̼—̤̜͉̘ͦ̐—̵̮ͪ̑
Lately, he’s been dreaming of a precise shade of green.
He knows the form at the end of the hall well enough to know it’s not her. It can’t be her. But it looks like it could be. And she’s turning to face him.
Everything is wrong. The eyes are in the wrong place, the mouth too thin and long. “I missed you, Jax.” Lips stretch into a grotesque smile, peeling back to reveal dozens of spiny teeth. “Are you still ruining everything?”
They’re there at the end of the hall, but somehow they’re getting closer. Jax can’t move. Why can’t he move?
“You were so close.” Her quiet voice sounds straight out of his memories. “I bet if you knocked on my door two minutes sooner, you could’ve saved me. Too bad,” she sighs, then smirks. “It’s kinda funny, isn’t it?” She giggles as if it is. “How you ruin everything, every time.”
The giggles turn to laughter. It gets louder and louder while her form twists and morphs. The hallway is completely dark except for her sickly green glow. Somewhere between her laughter and the darkness growing and shrinking, everything shatters to pieces around him. Ribbit fractures like a broken cup, still smiling, still laughing, shooting light out of the gaps. “Come on, Jax!” she garbles. “Jax. Jax. J̷̨̤̜̤̣̗͓̩͎͈͍̣̺̎̐̽̃͌̅͌̚a̷͙͈͚͂x̸̢̙̟̊͆̌̌.̷̭̣̹́̋̐͊́͝ ̶̠̩̥̥̩͆͒͒̌͑̃̃̉̀̎́̀̅̄̕J̶̥̱̳̲͕̕ǻ̷̤̲̜͉̉͂̅̚͘͝x̶̙̲͚̔̒͋̓̈́̑̾̌̑̈̉̇͑́̚.̴̡̢͍͓̙̘̗̳̙̭̭̝͛́̆̆̈́͌̊̋̃̈́̎̕͝ͅ”̶̛̛͙̜̣͇̭͈̹͕̠̘̲̥̾̆͋̀̅̾̀͝͝
“—Jax! Wake up, Jax, I swear to —”
Everything is too bright. He winces and blinks. “Ribbit?”
The hand on his arm falls away. “Jax, it’s me. Pomni.”
Stupid ing sauce. Stupid ing idea. “!”
“Jax? Hey. You okay?”
If he’s feeling particularly delusional, he could imagine a note of actual fear in Pomni’s voice. He gets an elbow down and pushes himself up to survey the damage. He’s a few steps lower than he remembers, and the bottle has somehow spilled all over the bottom stairs and formed a little puddle on the landing. He doesn’t remember knocking it down. And Pomni hovers over him. But she’s not touching him anymore.
"Who? Me?" Jax rubs his hand over his face. “I’m... great.”
“Great.” She blinks. “Passed out on the stairs, covered in stupid sauce, that’s… great… for you?”
He clears his throat. “Don’t knock it til you try it.”
“Your eyes were two different colors.” Her own pinwheels are huge.
He still can’t move. “Well, yeah,” he grinds out. “I got stupid sauce in them.”
She holds out her hand. He just stares at it.
“You wanna...get up? Join the others? Ragatha said we could hang out in her room, if…”
He sucks his teeth. “I said I was great. Perfectly fine, exactly where I want to be, thanksverymuch. The stairs have a certain charm to them, especially from this vantage point.”
“I’ve never been to this level before.” Pomni peers over the edge of the handrail, trying to get a look up the stairs. “Zooble and Ragatha had to tell me which way to go.”
“Ah. So they’ve perfected their talent of sticking their freakish limbs where they don’t belong. Bravo.”
“What was your plan, exactly? To come up here and abstract off stupid sauce?”
“Please. That was nothing close to actual abstracting.”
She stares at him. “You’ve gotten close?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“What did you think was gonna happen?”
“Jeez, I just wanted some space! Don’t I have the right not to spend every waking moment with my fellow captives?”
Pomni settles on the step above him. She wraps her arms around her legs and flicks her eyes away. “I’m sorry about your friends, Jax.”
“Don’t.” He sits up fast. “Don’t pretend like you know anything about me.”
“Losing both of them so close together…” Her voice is soft. “…in a place like this.”
“Don’t. Do not. I’m not doing this.”
“I’ve lost people too, you know.”
“That Gelatinous Crocodile NPC is people now?”
She does such a good job of trying not to look hurt. It's commendable, really. “Not only in here.”
“Well, I guess you don’t get to be a 25-year-old grocery store accountant without some happening in your life, do ya.”
She laughs into her knees. Real laughter. “You really don’t.” Oh, god.
He pulls his own knees to his chest. “Come to think of it, I’m kinda glad they don’t have to deal with Caine like this. At least… at least there’s that.” For a moment, he pictures Ribbit back with the rest of them. Being taken apart by Caine, piece by piece. He shivers.
“Jax?”
“You guys are nothing alike.”
“Oh, well…”
“I think that Ragatha thinks that… But it’s just that, they always thought there was more to what Caine was saying. More to Caine. More to… this place.”
“Uh… Who?”
He takes a breath. “Ribbit.”
“Oh.” She must be remembering the crossed-out door. “You know, I… I know I haven’t been here that long, compared to the rest of you, but…” She straightens her shoulders. “I meant everything I said downstairs. I’m all in for you guys. And that means you, Jax.”
He can’t move. Why can’t he ever move? Why can’t he speak?
“Like Zooble said. Don’t go abstracting on us.” There’s a hitch in her voice. “Or on me.”
He nudges her hard enough to make the points on her hat sway. “Tch. As if I’d let Caine get the last laugh. Have a little more faith in me.” As he says it, he reaches over. Pomni takes his hand.
Real. She feels real. Realer than anything else in this damn hellhole. Realer than…
Jax sighs, taking in the mess of stupid sauce. “I don’t even like booze. Man. I miss my bong.”
Pomni sighs too. “I miss my bong.”
“Don’t try the stupid sauce. It’s not the same.”
“Yeah, didn’t really plan to.”
“Oh, what, you’re too good to get stupid every once in a while?”
She’s laughing again as she pulls him up. “Not at all.” They skirt the spill as they make their way down, careful not to step in it. “Just don’t want to have a dream where Caine grinds us up and smokes us in a giant bong, or something.”
“Shhh!! Don’t give him any ideas!”
She stops and lets him get a few steps ahead. “Jax.”
“What.” He hates the way she’s looking at him.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. Like, in the future. But I’m choosing to believe there’s going to be a way to live with it. Okay? I’m choosing to believe there’s gonna be something left for us.”
Jax stares down at her and tries not to sneer. A thousand cruel remarks come to mind but the effort of making one seems exhausting, especially in the wake of Caine’s all-consuming, ever-present cruelty. “Okay, Pomni,” he says. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
They’ve only been back at the couches for a minute or two before Caine comes rollicking out from nowhere. “Hello, hello, my pulchritudinous poultry feathers! I hope you all have savored your meager respite and are ready to resume c̴̪̒̈a͕̺ͫ͑̓ṭ̞a͕͖̓̔̔s̴̜̰̏t͓͕ͣ̊̾͞ṟ̆o̳̥͂͛p̶̒h̜͋̽̎ȉ̭̗ͧ͟ͅc̺͓̳̍̋͜ fun beyond your v̜̾i͚̜͊oͤͅl̟̄e͌n̗t͈e̞̦s̀͋t͉̺̓ͩ dreams!”
They’re all too scared to even groan in annoyance. Pomni turns to look back at him as they make their way into the portal. Jax could say something like, Take it easy in there, or Watch yourself, alright? or I got your back, but instead he nudges her hat as he passes her by.