Chapter Text
It's been a few months since they've left the circus. Zooble's gotten a job working in a tattoo parlor again, which has been nice.
Though it's been two months and they haven't been able to find anyone else… They don't even know if they live nearby; they don't even know for sure if they all live in the USA.
It seems like all of Gangle's art accounts have been scrubbed from the internet, Pomni is just one of thousands of urban explorers, Ragatha probably only has a Facebook, they don't know if Kinger's even— and Jax…
A guy with dyed purple hair walks into the studio; he's around 21, in a purple hoodie and… pink overalls, the front hanging down. There's no way… right? They watch as he goes to glance over the flash on the wall. his thumbs in his belt loops.
"Anything catch your eye?" They ask. They'll know after he speaks. They got to…
He turns to look them over, looking suspicious before he smiles. "Oh sure, you got lots of cool stuff here," It's definitely Jax; he even still talks through his teeth, the fucking weirdo.
"I think you'd look good with a bunny," they say, gesturing to his arm.
"Only if you do it, Zooby," he smiles.
"Holy shit!" They smile, still not fully sure if this is real. "Oh, now you gotta let me."
"You know what? Yeah, do it," he agrees. "Man, you are– not what I expected," He circles around them, looking over.
"What you'd expect, a triangle?" they joke.
"Honestly? I expected less color," He gestures to their multicolored twill jacket, colorful pant legs, and bright jewelry.
They chuckle as well. "It's a new look for me honestly. Kinda digging it though; I see you picked up some of your avatar's style as well," they gesture to the overalls.
"Yeah, I saw them in a thrift store and just knew I had to have them," he messes with the front. "Felt like destiny… and… well…"
"You were hoping it would make you recognizable?" Zooble guesses.
"Yeah…" Jax admits.
They nod. "Me too, I can't believe… I… It's really good to see you."
"Yeah, it's… good to see you too. Have you found anyone else yet? I've been looking for Pomni's YouTube channel, but I haven't had much luck."
"No… I've been searching for Gangle, but there are so many places people can post art, and I haven't found anything that looks like hers."
He nods. "Just us then."
They nod. "Yeah, just us. Do you live nearby?"
"Nah, just been driving around, getting used to life again," he admits.
"I get that. It's… weird."
"Yeah… I feel so… disconnected from this," he gestures to himself. "I forgot what hunger feels like… Isn't that weird? and pain! Why is it all painful? I'm constantly trying to figure out what's making shit hurt. Am I hungry? Thirsty? Do I need the bathroom? Am I tired? It's stupid."
"It really is. Relearning all this crap sucks massive ass. Human needs are all so… needy. And it's really weird to be… whole? No parts to switch out. Though it does mean I'm not losing my head."
Jax laughs. "Yeah, the worst part is it all feels like things you shouldn't have to relearn."
Zooble groans. "Truly… I feel like it should come naturally, and it just doesn't. but swearing again is pretty sweet."
He nods and leans on them. "I wonder what Gangle's up to. You'd think an artist would be easy to find; I mean, she could just draw our avatars and get it on Google or something, right?"
"Yeah. Maybe I'll start searching specifically for our avatars. She might also be getting back to all… this. I had to find a whole new place and stuff. The landlord thought I was dead."
"Oh, yeah. I was real lucky my car was well hidden. It's a bit more rusty than it was but…" he shrugs.
"Oh, not bad. Though, why was it hidden?…"
"… 'Cause I was breaking into buildings and putting mysterious headsets on," he cocks an eyebrow at them. "Can you believe them?" he asks the air next to him.
"There's no cameras, Jax," Zooble comments.
"Uh– yeah…" He blinks a few times, then just shakes it off. "So… You gonna tattoo me or what?" he asks.
"Oh, yeah," they gesture for him to follow to their station. "Are you really gonna let me put a bunny on ya?"
"Sure, whatever," he shrugs.
"Jax. This will be permanent. Forever. Till your grave," they remind.
"… Oh, yeah…" he pauses. "Make it a good bunny."
"Alright. Realistic or cartoon? Fuck I could just put your avatar on you," they joke.
Jax's smile falters a bit. "Yeah, you could. I think I'd prefer Ribbits though… If we did that…" He admits quietly.
Their look softens. "… How about a small bunny today, and… I'll sketch out a memorial piece? Make sure it's perfect."
He nods. "Sounds good."
"Alright, where would you want it?"
"Depends, shoulder maybe? Or like… lower arm?" He takes his jacket off. They didn't notice before, but the sleeves have red and blue stitching around the cuffs…
"We could do the lower arm; I think Ribbit would probably look better on your shoulder," they say.
"Alright," he nods. "Have at it, Zoobs," he gestures to his arm.
Zooble smiles and moves closer to get to work on the sketch. They're pretty good at freehanding this stuff, It's a simple headshot, but there's little stars and shapes around it.
"Looks cool," he nods. "You know, this is my first tattoo," he leans closer. "You're going to be taking my virginity."
"Oh ew, why'd you have to ruin it?" Zooble gives him a look.
"It's what I do best," Jax flashes them a smile.
They sigh. "Yeah, yeah. Hold still," they tell him.
He nods and pulls out an old phone to scroll through videos while they get everything prepped.
"Alright, I'm going to start," they warn.
"Okay," he nods. "Oh… Fuck, that hurts," Jax grits his teeth as the needle makes contact.
"Yeah. You're doing good though, keep holding still," they encourage.
He nods and returns to his phone, looking for Pomni to distract himself from the pain.
"Fuck, how long do tattoos take?" he asks after about an hour.
"I'm almost done," Zooble chuckles. "I went easy on you for your first time, just line art, really."
"Ugh, I'm never getting another tattoo. This sucks,"
"What did you expect it to feel like?" they ask, shaking their head.
"… I don't know. I thought it would hurt; I just thought it would take like… 10 minutes."
Zooble laughs. "This is about as short as tattoos get, unless you just want a dot. look, I'm all done," they say, backing away.
Jax looks down at it. "Ohhh… Oh, that's cool," he smiles.
"Heh, thanks," they say, cleaning up. "Think it was worth the pain?"
"Yeah," Jax turns his arm this way and that, admiring it.
"Mind modeling it for me before I get you wrapped up?" they ask, taking their gloves off.
"Not at all, you gotta make money off of this somehow, 'cause I'm not paying you," Jax chuckles and holds his arm out for them.
"I figured," Zooble chuckles a bit and gets their phone out, taking some pictures and a video. "Alright, now I get to wrap you like a sandwich," they joke.
"Hell yeah. Saran wrap me," he jokes back.
Zooble laughs. They have him hold out his arm to get wrapped up. "Here. Follow these instructions and use these," they hand over a sheet and a small plastic bag containing a bottle of soap and lotion. He's getting all the fancy shit. "Don't remove that for 2 hours and clean it after removing the wrap."
"Thanks, Zooble," he smiles as he takes it. "Nice thing is I'll still be around in a month or three or two years or whatever for fully healed follow-up photos too; I know those are hard to get."
"Are you sure you're going to hang around me that long?" they ask.
"Yeah, I mean, even if I head out, I'd be willing to drive back whenever."
"… That's really nice of you, Jax."
"Ew. Don't make a big deal out of it," Jax wrinkles his nose.
"Right, you hungry then?"
"Are you going to treat me to dinner?" He asks hopefully.
"Yeah, I am," they say as they make sure everything is away before grabbing a backpack.
"Fuck yeah! Man you're the best," He pumps his fist.
They chuckle. "That's a first coming from you."
"Yeah, well don't get used to it,"
"Right, of course. Yo, I'm heading out!" They shout to their coworkers before walking out with Jax.
He goes to a beat-up rusty car and yanks open the trunk to pop the stuff in. The trunk seems a bit crowded with a backpack, a box, a blanket, a pillow, and some grocery bags.
Zooble looks at it. "… Are you staying in your car?"
"Eh," he shrugs. "I've been traveling around. Didn't really want to set up in one place until I found everyone else," He closes the trunk.
"Suppose that makes sense. If you need somewhere to crash though, I got a couch," they offer.
"I'll take you up on that, at least while I'm in town. So where are we eating?"
"Had no plans. What sounds good to you?"
"Literally anything that isn't fast food sounds amazing," he says. "I've had nothing but McDonald's since leaving the circus."
They chuckle. "Alright. How about pho?"
"Ah… yeah, sure," he shrugs.
"Have you had pho before?" they ask.
"Nope! No idea what that even is."
"It's Vietnamese. It's a soup with noodles and beef normally," they describe. "Plus, they got other stuff,"
"Oh, cool, yeah," Jax nods. "Sounds good."
Zooble smiles and leads him to a restaurant just a few blocks down. Each of them gets a menu once they find a table.
He looks over the menu. "Man, I am so excited to not be eating a burger."
"I bet. Not much on the open road,"
"Nah, and definitely not stuff you can get for cheap," Jax agrees absently. "Damn, it all looks good. How am I supposed to pick?"
"Choose two. I like everything here, so I'll eat whichever you like less," Zooble offers.
"Thanks, Zooby," he debates over it for a while longer before he picks out two meals and a boba drink.
Zooble relaxes into their seat more once they're ordered. "So, how's life been?"
"… It's been… life. You?"
Zooble shrugs. "Life… Things have been weird… Seeing old friends, getting what stuff I had left. It doesn't feel real."
He nods. "Ah, yeah, I've been doing… A lot of the same… old friends and such…" He pulls out his phone to scroll through videos again.
"Looking for the others again?" they ask.
"Yeah… You'd think Pomni would change her name on YouTube… I mean… Surely she'd know I'd look for her on it… But nope. No Pomni channels," he sighs and puts it away again.
"I'm sure you'll find her…"
He nods. "Doesn't matter really, as long as she's safe… I guess," he shrugs.
"Yeah…" Zooble nods a bit.
He pokes at the food when it arrives, investigating it before he takes a bite. "Oh, not bad,"
"I told you, this place is pretty cheap too."
Jax tries a bite from the other dish as well. "Oh, this one's better. Here," He hands them the reject.
Zooble takes it and starts to eat.
"So, where do you live?" Jax asks.
"An apartment in the brown complex a few streets from here."
He nods. "It nice?"
"It's not bad. Rent is fairly affordable, and it has a separate bedroom," they brag.
"Ooooh fancy," he wiggles his eyebrows.
They chuckle. "Yeah, it is. Honestly, I got pretty lucky. Plus I promised to do a lot of my own touch-ups to the place for a lower fee. Don't think it's exactly legal but, eh," they shrug.
"I'm excited to see it."