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Stupid sauce tastes... weird. Like, really weird.
Seriously. It's sticky and overly sweet and yet has no real discernible flavour. Bleh. But, getting stupid off of it is the closest alternative to getting, well, high, in the circus.
Turns out, Ragatha's got a whole secret stash of the stuff in her room. And it's become a bit of an unofficial official routine for her, Pomni, Gangle, and, of course, Zooble, to hang out after particularly bad adventures and get high
(Jax is strictly not allowed to be a part of it. That's an unspoken rule. And none of them particularly think that getting Kinger high would be a good idea.)
Is it a good coping mechanism? Probably not the best, no. But it's not as if they have many other alternatives, and hey, at least it's something.
Today's adventure was particularly taxing. It involved rocket cannons, an assassin, and a time loop. So it's truly no surprise that Pomni now finds herself sitting cross-legged on Ragatha's baby blue rug, feeling like she's floating.
Gangle is situated on the floor against the bed, scribbling away in her sketchbook, while Zooble has claimed the bed, mumbling to themself about something. Pomni doesn't blame them. Ragatha's bed is really comfortable. The ragdoll herself is seated next to Pomni, currently very focused on a game of cat's cradle.
After getting the blue yarn once again tangled up in an impossible mess, Ragatha finally relents, dropping her hands into her lap. Pomni watches as she tilts her head back to stare at the ceiling, smiling at who knows what.
“Hey. Hey, guys, um— Hear me out.” Ragatha then bursts into a fit of giggles, before suddenly turning deathly serious. It'd almost be scary if it wasn't, well, Ragatha. “The Gloink Queen.”
The room immediately goes silent, the three of them staring blankly at the ragdoll, who sighs with a faraway look in her singular eye.
“Dude.” Zooble lifts their head up from where they're laying, spread out like a starfish on Ragatha's bed. They've got pink sauce smeared into their eyes — Lacking a mouth means they can't exactly consume the sauce the same way the other three do. “What the fuck?”
“What?!” Ragatha pouts. Zooble stares at them for a moment, an impossibly judgemental look on their face (impressive, considering their aforementioned lack of a mouth) before shrugging.
“Actually, no, that kinda checks out. It's the mommy issues.”
Pomni winces. That, apparently, was the wrong thing to say; because Ragatha's eye suddenly swells up with tears. She looks so pathetic. Kind of like a kicked puppy. She understands, now, why Gangle once drew her with dog ears and a tail.
“Oh...” She sniffles, looking down at her lap, hands twisting together as she unravels the yarn and sadly drops it onto the floor. “Mommy issues...”
Pomni shuffles over — Somehow, she almost manages to topple forward and faceplant on the ground; it's not her fault that the room won't stop spinning — And awkwardly puts an arm around Ragatha.
“Um.. There, there..” Offering comfort doesn't come naturally to Pomni the way it does to Ragatha, but she tries her best. It's the least she can do. A tear rolls down Ragatha's plush cheek as she buries her head into Pomni's shoulder.
“I wish my mom loved me…” She wails. Oh boy. Pomni is not equipped to handle this.
“I know, Ragatha. I know.” Fuck your mom, she thinks privately, and not in a hear me out way.
“And… And… I miss my horses.” Her voice is practically muffled with the way her face is pressed up against the jester. “I miss them a lot. My horses..”
“I know.” Pomni sort of feels like a broken record at this point. She scrambles for something else to say, but her brain feels like mush at this point. Like soup. Brain soup. Hehe. Somehow, though, amidst all the fog, an idea comes to mind. “Oh! Hey, what if I asked Caine for a horse riding adventure?”
Ragatha raises her head to gaze at Pomni, her eye wide and adoring. Pomni has the sudden urge to cradle her face in her hands and maybe even kiss her forehead.
Which could mean nothing.
“Really? You'd do that for me?” Ragatha's voice cracks halfway through the sentence, which makes her giggle. In turn, this sets Pomni off and she laughs as well. Everything seems funnier when they're like this.
“Uh huh,” Pomni nods once, twice, and then three times for good measure. Silly ragdoll, she thinks. You deserve good things.
“I do..?”
Oh. Did she say that out loud? Oops.
“Yep.”
“Pomniiiii…” Ragatha drags the word out, voice going soft. “That's so sweet…”
“Wanna know who my hear me out is?!” Gangle, who's mostly been quiet this entire time and staring off into space, suddenly pipes up. They've all kinda moved on from Ragatha’s impromptu declaration, but that doesn't seem to deter her. In fact, there's a certain sense of urgency to her words. She doesn't wait for any of them to respond before quickly following up in a drawn out, breathy exhale, hugging her sketchbook tightly to her chest, “Zooble…”
“For real?” Zooble asks.
“For real,” Gangle confirms, twisting around to look at them. Pomni swears there are actually hearts in her eyes. The two of them maintain eye contact for a few moments before Zooble lazily waves a hand towards themself.
“Ah, [&$#@] it. C'mere.”
With an excited squeak, Gangle clambers up onto the bed and — Oh, wow, okay, she's on top of Zooble. The pair essentially melt into a puddle of colourful shapes and ribbons, and…
“...Are they making out?” Pomni squints and tilts her head, trying to work out what exactly she's seeing. It sure looks like they're making out. How is that even possible? Zooble doesn't have a mouth.
“Huh?” Ragatha hums, drowsily raising her head up. Did she manage to doze off? Oops. Pomni hopes she didn't wake her. “Oh, wow. Yeah. They're definitely making up… Out. Making out.”
Pomni feels a little rude for staring at their blatant display of affection, but it's just so fascinating.
“How romantic…” Ragatha whispers, settling herself back against Pomni's side. The subtle weight of her body is oddly comforting, despite Pomni's typical aversion to physical touch. For some reason, she's a lot more comfortable with it when she's high.
Or maybe it's just because it's Ragatha.
Anyways. Romantic isn't quite the word that Pomni would use — ‘heated’ feels more fitting, or perhaps ‘passionate’ — but, regardless, it's about time something like this happened. The blatant pining was becoming a little ridiculous.
“Hey, you two!” Zooble suddenly breaks away from Gangle, who mumbles something before nuzzling against Zooble's neck. “No offense, but I’m gonna need you both to get the [&$#@] out.”
As far as Pomni is aware, Caine never did grant Zooble's wish for the ability to have sex. That clearly isn't going to stop Zooble from trying their damn hardest to make it happen. And honestly? She has to respect that.
Extracting herself from Ragatha, she slowly rises to her feet. She then extends a hand to the ragdoll, helping her to get up. Ragatha sways on the spot.
“Um… Have fun?” Her words go ignored as the two of them have already returned to their equivalent of making out. Oh well. Leading Ragatha out of the room, she's careful to make sure the door is closed behind them.
They then just kind of. Stand there for a moment. Until Ragatha seems to realise something. Letting go of Pomni's hand — Up until now, the jester hadn't even realised they were still holding hands —, she stares at the door. Her own illustrated face stares back.
“... Wait.” Pomni can practically hear the gears in her mind whirring. “Did they just kick me out of my own room?”
Pomni giggles. “Uh… Yeah. That's kinda awkward.”
Looking forlorn, Ragatha pouts. “Aw…”
Feeling bad for her, Pomni steps forward and, once again, slips her hand into Ragatha's. The action feels natural. She needs to do this more often, she decides.
“Hey, it's okay,” She says, offering Ragatha a small smile when she turns to look down at her. “Wanna have a sleepover with me tonight?”
Normally, Pomni would cringe at herself for saying something so childish, but it's hard to do that when she's still feeling light and carefree from the stupid sauce.
The way Ragatha lights up makes it worth it, anyways. “Aw! I'd love that!”
That settles it, then. All in all? Not a bad night.