Chapter Text
---
Caine had to be kidding her, right?
Well, it seemed like he was messing with everyone there.
As always, Caine had come up with another “wonderful" adventure.
This time, his idea was to make everyone relive their traumas so they could “overcome them.”
But, of course, it turned out to be the exact opposite.
Everyone there was sad, scared, and completely irritated.
Kinger was trembling — well, he’s always trembling, but this time it was worse than usual.
And he looked angry, which was rare enough, considering he normally seemed so calm.
Pomni looked totally spaced out. The edges of her hat were a little burned — what on earth had happened there?
She was rocking back and forth, whispering, “They can’t find me, they can’t find me…”
Creepy.
Gangle couldn’t stop crying. That was all she could do.
Jax looked completely unhinged, stomping his foot against the ground as if he wanted to make a hole through it.
His pupils were so tiny they were barely visible, and his fur stood on end.
He looked like he was about to snap at any second.
And Zooble was clearly furious — one look at their face was enough to tell how mad they were.
They were sitting beside Gangle, trying to comfort her… with zero success.
Then, out of nowhere, Caine popped up above them with that annoyingly cheerful energy of his — and that was when everyone knew things were about to go from bad to worse.
“Welcome back, my sweet little strawberries of love! How was your healing adventure?”
Caine said, throwing confetti everywhere with that big grin of his (if you could even call it a face).
Zooble was about to yell at him, but Ragatha beat them to it.
She was so angry that it almost looked like steam was coming out of her head.
Her hands were clenched into fists — she looked ready to jump on Caine.
“What the fac*bloink* was THAT, Caine?!”
Ragatha’s voice was so loud that even people by the lake probably heard her.
Everyone turned toward her, shocked — even Pomni snapped out of her trance.
Well, Ragatha was just getting started.
“This was, by far, the WORST adventure you’ve ever made!”
She said through gritted teeth.
Caine’s grin slowly faded, replaced by confusion.
“What?” he asked, staring at her blankly.
“Do I have to repeat myself? This was the worst adventure you’ve ever made!
I mean, it’s not like your adventures are ever good, are they?”
She gave a bitter little laugh.
“They always cause trauma, injuries, sadness, agony — and if I keep listing things, we’ll be here until tomorrow!”
Her hair was practically frizzing from how tense she was.
Gangle covered her mouth with ribbons, Kinger stopped shaking, and Jax — for some reason — started smiling.
“Wow, Ragatha, you’re not usually like this,”
Caine said, crossing his arms.
“How do you want me to be, huh? Oh, I know — your cute little ragdoll who sings with the birds, right?
Well, guess what? I’m done. I’M DONE WITH THIS!”
Ragatha shouted, almost lunging at him.
“It’s not my fault your mother left your traumas so horrible,”
Caine said, folding his arms again, shrinking his head like a clueless child who didn’t realize what he’d just said.
“You don't know fac[beep] about my family
You don’t know a shi[dolphin.mp3] thing about anything!”
Even Zooble flinched — they couldn’t remember seeing Ragatha this furious since arriving at the circus.
And before anyone could react, Ragatha leapt at Caine.
He panicked, clearly not knowing what to do.
There it was — a scene no one ever thought they’d witness: Ragatha punching Caine.
It only lasted less than a minute, though, since Caine teleported away to who-knows-where.
After that, Ragatha brushed off imaginary dust from her dress and stormed off to her room.
Once there, she locked herself inside.
Why was everything going wrong today?
She tried so hard to be kind to everyone, but no one ever gave her the same in return.
Even Caine — she always tried to be cheerful and excited for his stupid “adventures,” and this was what she got for it: reliving the worst moments of her life.
She was so angry, she felt like she could smash anything in her path.
Her eyes fell on the full-length mirror in her room. She hated mirrors.
They reminded her how miserable their bodies were — and that they’d never get their real ones back.
She hated her appearance. She was just a ragdoll — torn, fragile, like prey.
She hated feeling weak and powerless, and this body didn’t help at all.
She walked toward the mirror, teeth clenched so hard her jaw hurt.
Then, in one quick motion, she punched it with all her strength, shattering it to pieces.
For a split second, she swore she saw a woman with a human body and red hair in the reflection.
But… that was probably just her imagination.
Great. Now her hands were full of tiny shards of glass.
She was about to curse again when someone started knocking on the door.
The knocking kept going until a voice spoke up.
It was pomni, with a calm voice
“Ragatha, you can’t just go around punching Caine. I know he’s impossible sometimes — especially today — but whatever the problem is, you have to find a solution.”
…
Who did she think she was?
She’d been here for barely a month and already thought she could lecture her? Oh, no way.
That only made Ragatha angrier.
She unlocked the door and swung it open, stomping up to the jester.
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you, Pomni?”
She said, frowning deeply.
Poor Pomni froze, shrinking back as all her confidence evaporated.
“I—”
Ragatha cut her off immediately.
“Yeah, that’s right. You always have to butt in like you’re an expert on everything.
But maybe you should realize the world doesn’t revolve around you — maybe then you’d start caring about your own image!”
She said, like it was something she’d been holding in for a long time.
She took a quick breath (even though they didn’t need to breathe).
Now Gangle was completely speechless, ribbons over her mouth.
Kinger, for some reason, had a bucket on his head.
Zooble looked stunned, and Jax had a strange grin that was impossible to read.
Ragatha turned to go back inside her room — but then she stopped.
If she’d already started, why not finish?
She let go of the doorknob and faced the group again.
“You really think Jax is the only mother fu[bomp] in this circus? You’re all selfish. You’re arrogant.”
She said, counting on her fingers as the others stared in disbelief.
“And none of you even had the guts to tell Kaufmo his jokes weren’t funny!”
She pointed toward the doodle of Kaufmo’s face with an X over it on his door.
Her expression softened for a moment — then hardened again.
“The only one here with a shred of decency is Kinger. The rest of you have sh[bomp] for brains.”
She turned to head back inside, when suddenly—
"Well, it seems that Kinger is Ragatha's best friend, who would have thought that that loser's best friend would be a crazy old man"
Jax said in his usual snide tone.
But Ragatha wasn’t in the mood today. That was the last straw.
She stopped dead in her tracks and walked toward him, teeth clenched.
“And you,” she said, pointing right at him.
“You’re always trying to humiliate me, always needing to get the last word.”
Now she was right in front of him, poking a finger into his chest.
“But this time, that’s not happening.”
Her voice was low and dangerous — something no one there had ever heard from her before.
“Do you understand me?”
She glared into Jax’s eyes. His pupils shrank.
“What?”
He asked, grinning that venomous grin.
“I said, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, JAX?!”
She shouted, shoving him hard enough to knock him to the floor.
“ANSWER ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU!”
She yelled, all the anger she’d bottled up for years exploding at once.
Jax looked away, glancing into her room, then quickly looked back at her.
His posture slumped, and in a low, quiet voice, he muttered,
“…I understand.”
“Good.”
Ragatha clicked her tongue, face still hard as stone.
“Now leave me alone.”
She turned, slammed the door, and locked it again.
“Wow…”
Jax muttered, still on the floor.
“I SAID WOW!”
Ragatha yelled back, reopening the door for a second before slamming it shut again.
After that, the atmosphere turned heavy.
Everyone just went their separate ways, heading off to different corners of the circus.
Except for Kinger and Jax — they stayed where they were, both deep in thought.
Was Ragatha… okay?
---
What did she do?
Now there she was, crying pathetically and pressing both sides of her head with her hands.
She was mean
She spent years trying to be nice to everyone, only for it all to go down the drain in 10 minutes.
She wanted to abstract
She just wanted to find a way out
Exit
Exit
Exit
Exit
She needs help