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A basket of soaps and lotions clatters to the ground. Nobody notices it. What would they need it for anyways? They get reset after every adventure, so theres no need for baths or self care.
The only purpose it had was being a cruel reminder of what they lost. Or rather, never had.
They should have seen this coming from the moment he started making those exit doors. He had been experimenting with this concept for a long time. They just didn't think, didn't register, that it would go so far as to.....
Gangle moved first, a blank expression on her face. She turned to the door, almost monotonously, when Zooble put their hand on her shoulder. Maybe hearing her move snapped them out of it.
Gangle didn't turn their way, but she loosened up a little, silent tears starting to slip down her porcelain face. They opened the door together, and Jax bolted out.
Zoobles eyes narrowed in his direction, evidently still angry about the part he played in this, but, deciding it wasn't worth it, gently walked Gangle out of the room.
Pomni turned to Kinger, who was looking at her with a concerned expression on his face. His hands were missing. Then she looked down, and realized why. They floated around, picking up bottles, and handing them to...... Ragatha?
She had crouched down to pick up the stray bars and bottles, with a focused expression on her face. Pomni suddenly noticed a few by her foot, so she started picking them up, handing it to her.
Ragatha grabbed them without looking at her, fixated on the basket.
Them doing such a normal, mundane task seemed to hammer in all the other oddities in the place. A life size ragdoll cleaning up, a bobbleheaded jester helping her, along with the detached hands of a chess piece.
This isn't who they were. Kinger was a man, who had a wife and a degree in computer science. Ragatha was a woman who worked in real estate and loved horses. Pomni was a woman with a taste for adventure and a day job accounting.
Was.
Was.
Was.
It hit her once again that they truly weren't ever going to leave. That this is her life now.
She knew this before.... she reconciled with it before...... but this wave killed something deep down. The room started swaying, becoming fuzzy, which seemed fitting. Nothing here is stable.
Not the circus. Not their minds. Not the way in or out.
Theres no way out.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Something patted her shoulder. She looked up, just now realizing how much she had been shaking. Kinger was a little closer now, one hand on Pomni's shoulder, and the other rubbing circles on Ragatha's back.
The mess was cleaned up, but Ragatha kept rearranging the bottles, straightening the bow, busying herself in any way possible.
"Its ok dear. You did what you could. Lets go."
Ragatha stopped. "N-not yet. I have to make it right. Make it better."
It sounded like she was trying not to cry. Pomni suddenly realized they were both struggling with the same thing.
"Ragatha."
Ragatha looked up, shocked by her presence. Did she think that Pomni had left? She suddenly felt guilty, because she had, once. But she's different now.
"I-Its going to be ok."
She held out her hand. Ragatha looked at it for a moment, before taking it. Kinger took her other hand, and picked up the basket. They stumbled out the door. Shaking, silently, more broken than when they first entered.
But they were still together.