Chapter Text
Slamming his behind into his metal chair, Jax sighs. Well, tries to. His nose is so stopped up no air comes out, and the breath that attempts to escape his lungs scrapes against his already sore throat.
His eyes flutter in misery as he looks down at his plate. On it is a “digital feast,” as Caine called it. Argh. Looks like more bland plastic food a kid would serve in a pretend kitchen...Eh, it doesn’t matter, he think after a moment. I'm not hungry, anyways.
Stomach churning, the rabbit pushes the plate away and crosses his arms on the table. He buries his face into the crook of an arm when-
“What’s your problem?”
Inwardly, Jax groans. Normally he’d be quick with a comeback to Zooble. “I don’t know, go look in the mirror and you’ll see why, Blockhead.” “You are always the problem, Zoobie.” “None of your convoluted beeswax, Mix-&-Match Massacre.” But today, he just doesn’t have it in him to even look up. Instead, he gives a half-hearted shrug of disinterest and buries his head deeper.
“Today’s adventure wear you out, Jax? Oh ho, it sure did me!”
Yeah, because you’re older than dirt, Kinger, the rabbit wants to jab, but he physically just can’t- in part because the stupid chess piece is right. Today’s adventure had worn Jax out to his core. He feels like he’d been hit by a few Mack trucks- maybe in part because he had been. Stupid Caine and his Monster Truck Adventure... and stupid Pomni driving like a maniac. Seriously, today’s adventure was so lame- and not just because I was hacking up a third lung the entire time.
An ill-timed cough bubbles from his throat, feeling like nails as it slices his throat. He groans out loud, feeling his ears droop in front of him.
“Uh... are you okay, Jax? Because I thought you would’ve loved today’s adventure. But you didn’t even try to run any of us off the road-”
“Especially me as payback, heh.”
Usually the sound of Gangle’s voice makes him want to scream- and Pomni’s, eh, he can tolerate. But right now, Jax just wants silence.
Thankfully, the two girls to his right don’t push it and give him the desired quietness. It doesn’t last long, though, when he softly sneezes, the noise coming out like a dull squeaky toy- and he winces at how much he just sounded like an actual rabbit just now.
Forcing himself to lift his head, Jax rests his chin in his palm. He uses his fork to play with his plate of “food” for a moment. Eyes fluttering, he feels himself starting to nod off, sleep overtaking him-
“Oh my gosh!”
An over-the-top gasp is heard, followed by the irritating sound of a metal chair being pushed back. Without warning or invitation, Jax suddenly feels soft, plush hands on his shoulders as a certain ragdoll leans her horrified face way too far into his personal space.
“Jax, you look just terrible! You’re several shades lighter purple! Gosh, even your shoulders feel warm! I bet you have a high fever! And your fur feels almost damp and clammy! Oh, you must be just miserable-”
Wiggling his shoulders free, Jax groans in exasperation. He sends a seething glare at the woman and narrows his eyes at her.
“Keep your head on, Ragatha,” he hisses, making a point to haughtily dust off his shoulders as if her mere touch had infected him with something. “I’m fine.”
The doll woman scoffs loudly in response and places her hands on her hips. Normally Jax loves ticking her off enough to do that- but right now, it’s the last thing he wants to deal with.
“You most certainly are not!” she retorts immediately, voice laced with both concern and annoyance. “I thought you were acting off earlier- and now it’s clear why! You’re sick!”
Taking his turn to scoff, Jax rolls his golden eyes. Trying to prove a point, he casually places his hands behind his head and leans back in his chair.
“In the head, maybe,” he sneers with a shrug, making her roll her own eye. “But physically? Nah. We’re trapped in a digital world where our bodies are cartoons, and getting some sort of sickness isn’t a thing, remember?”
She opens her mouth to answer, but she’s cut off when he starts coughing again, the guttural sound making him straighten in his chair. The crook of his arm goes up to his mouth, and within seconds, it’s covered in thick mucus. Oh, that’s more disgusting than what’s in Gangle’s blue notebook.
To his left, Pomni and Gangle lean as far away from him as possible, swapping looks of repulsion. To his right, a lid-hooded Ragatha just crosses her arms with an arched eyebrow.
“Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that, Jax.”
“Someone please kill me now for saying this, but... Jax is right, though,” they all hear Zooble say as he stands up from the table and ventures closer. “None of us have ever gotten physically sick since we entered this place.”
Ever reasonable and astute, Pomni peers curiously over at Kinger.
“You’ve been here longest, Kinger. Have you ever gotten sick here or seen anyone else get ill?”
The chess piece peers up in thought, rubbing his nonexistent chin. “Not that I recall-”
“Well, we all know how reliable your memory is,” Jax starts to joke, trying to play it all off. “You’re- you’re-”
When he’s cut off by another pathetic rabbit sneeze, the others eye each other, each face wearing the same expression.
It’s time to get Caine involved.
“Okay! Now open and say ‘Ah!’”
“Ah...”
“Wider, Jax!”
“Ah!...”
“Open your mouth wider!”
“AH!...”
“Can’t you-”
“You may not have noticed, Bite Size, but my head isn’t exactly made up of two jaws like yours! I literally can’t open my mouth any wider than that! And why in the actual h[3!!] are you using a pair of scissors like it’s a tongue depressor?!”
Standing quietly by the doorway, Ragatha can’t help but give a small eye roll and an even smaller smile. The day Jax stops being a sharp-tongued brat is the day he is truly as sick as a dog. In fact, she’s actually glad to hear his nasty remarks for once.
When he gives another sneeze and winces again, though, she gulps. Her eye stays glued to him as he hunches over that much more, seeming to deflate and shrivel up like a sad balloon. Seeing the suffering so strong in his eyes -he’s not even trying to hide it anymore-makes her heart echo loudly in her tight chest.
Seeming insulted by the rabbit’s questioning, the ringmaster being spoken to tsks.
“Because those wooden popsicle sticks are my worst nightmare!” Caine exclaims as if it were obvious, shuddering as he looms closer to Jax. “Trust me, I speak from experience when I say those things do not belong in your mouth.”
“Right,” Jax sardonically answers between a few coughs. “Because sharp objects like scissors totally do.”
After a few minutes of tense silence as Caine looks him over, the ringmaster hums to himself and rubs his chin.
“Well, my petite purple cackiwhompus, it definitely appears you’ve caught some sort of mild digital virus,” he finally says, pulling a notebook out of his pocket. He pretends to write something down- but everyone knows he’s just drawing bees. “They are a rarity in the circus, but are essentially harmless long term. A few days of rest and good ol’ TLC should leave you good as new!”
It sure doesn’t look mild or harmless, Ragatha can’t help but think as Jax hisses in pain when the ringmaster gently pats the rabbit’s back in consolation.
“How did this even happen?” Pomni asks beside her, leaning a shoulder against one of Jax’s colorful room walls.
“Every so often, a small piece of malware will sneak into the digital coding without my knowledge,” Caine answers casually, still scribbling away. “The good news is that I’ve already identified this one and have set up a program to delete it.”
“Then why am I still... still...,” Jax tries to get out before he sneezes, “sick?!”
“Because the virus must be eliminated gradually, Jax,” the ringmaster explains all too calmly. “If the program tried to delete the entire virus at once, it may also accidentally attack and even delete the host of the virus- and currently, said host is you.”
Eyes going wide, Ragatha tries to swallow the lump in her throat. When Jax just blinks in horror at the showman-turned-doctor, she fiddles with her mittened hands.
“Is this thing... contagious?” Gangle asks softly. “The virus, I mean.”
Caine raises a finger and opens his mouth before it shuts.
“I... don’t fully know, to be honest,” he admits after a moment. “I’ve only seen this happen a few times. As far as I’m aware, these pesky viruses don't attempt spread from one host to another. Not easily, at least.”
“What a shame,” Zooble surprises everyone by saying, and although he has no mouth, everyone can tell he’s smirking toward the sick rabbit. “I needed a valid excuse to avoid Jax like a plague.”
“Ha-ha,” the rabbit answers weakly, wiping his nose on his arm. “Keep talking and I’ll give you a reason.”
“Is Jax able to join us on any of the adventures?” Kinger asks, nobody sure if he is ignoring the bickering or genuinely oblivious to it. “The one you have for tomorrow sounds like a blast!”
But the ringmaster shakes his head and crosses his arms.
“Unfortunately, it’s best he stays put and rests, treating this as if it were a physical virus he'd get in that macroverse place you humans came from,” he says gently before turning toward the rabbit. “As awful as it sounds, you must stay mostly in your room and sleep, Jax.”
“What a pity,” the rabbit tries to jab, falling onto his side on his bed. He buries his head into his pillow, his voice muffled. “A few days spent staying in bed and away from you freaks. How will I manage?”
The room falls into an awkward silence (well, aside from Jax’s hoarse coughing) before Caine floats up toward the ceiling. He hesitates before shoving his sketch pad back into his coat pocket and placing determined hands on his hips.
“Anyways, I will go and monitor the program to make sure it’s running smoothly-”
“Wait- it’s running now?!” Jax crows as he weakly lifts his head from the pillow. “That stupid thing can potentially kill me, and you’re in here sticking sharp objects in my mouth and drawing bees?!”
“-And I’ll be sure to check in on you from time to time,” Caine cuts himself in to pointedly say.
He hovers down and tries to pat Jax’s head like a dog, but the rabbit rolls back over and scoots away.
“That won’t be necessary,” he hisses as he lifts his blankets enough to tuck himself in. “Just stay with that stupid virus-deleting program thing and keep it from killing me.”
“...And have your friends take care of you instead?” Caine answers slowly as he gestures excitedly toward the others, making Jax’s eyes go wide. “That’s a great idea! I’m always looking for bonding methods for you guys!”
“Wait-”
“Remember, you can each conjure objects at will, which will be necessary in order to aid Jax’s recovery,” Caine interrupts to tell the others, wagging a stern finger their way. “But try to take turns generating and avoid it falling on one person. Too much conjuring in a short period of time will leave your body feeling a bit zapped of energy, and it can take days to fully recover!”
“Well, Jax is already sick, so he can conjure what he needs himself,” Zooble snaps with an annoyed eye roll. “We aren’t his servants.”
“Wow,” Jax deadpans. “I can really feel the love.”
“But it takes great mental and physical concentration in order to do that,” Ragatha slowly answers the mismatched, toy-like character. Marked with pity, her eye falls on Jax as she tries to reason. “No doubt Jax is too weak to do it himself. And even if he did have the needed strength to conjure, it could leave him weaker and make it harder to protect himself from further harm by the virus.”
“Exactly, my dear!” Caine applauds before waving his cane across the group. “So take good care of our resistant rabbit! And just holler if needed!”
Before Jax (or anyone else, for that matter) could argue about the idea, the showman snaps his fingers and vanishes into thin air.
“So... what’cha need, sicko?” Pomni asks awkwardly, still keeping her distance. “Tissues? A bowl to throw up in-”
“Funny, I was planning on using your face for both,” Jax sneers, making the jester go pale.
Ignoring them both, Zooble closes his eyes. Appearing in the air before him pops a bag of cough drops.
“Here,” he growls as he haphazardly tosses the drops toward the rabbit. He ignores it as Jax scrambles to catch it. “I don’t want to hear you hacking all the way down the hallway.”
Suspiciously looking the bag over, Jax groans.
“Grape-flavored?! Ugh...Seriously, Zoobs?!” he whines as a deep, painful cough leaks from his throat. “You couldn’t at least conjure better-tasting cough drops?! God, you’re even more worthless than I thought!”
Exclaiming in frustration, Zooble shakes his head.
“Annnd I’m done,” he growls, turning to stomp out the bedroom door as he calls over his shoulder. “Enjoy being sick, Jax. I’m going to milk being away from you as long as possible.”
“The feeling’s mutual!” Jax yells defensively out the door, but the only answer he gets is a door slamming shut somewhere down the hall.
The others in his room stand quietly for a moment. Fiddling with her ribbons, Gangle gulps.
“I... better go check on Zooble,” she says quietly after a minute, quickly slinking out the door. “Um, feel better, Jax.”
“Yeah,” Pomni agrees uncomfortably as she bounces on the balls of her feet. “Like Caine said, you need to sleep-”
“Exactly,” the rabbit agrees, extra bile in his tone. “So the rest of you get lost.”
When Pomni seems thankful for the dismissal and quickly rushes out the bedroom door, only Kinger, Ragatha, and Jax remain.
“Oh! I’ve got an idea!” the chess piece chirps. Closing his eyes, he snaps- and out of thin air pops a small bell. He shuffles over to Jax’s bed and sets it on the bedside table. “Here! You can ring this anytime you need assistance!”
“Wonderful, Bobby Fischer,” Jax bites, already starting to close his eyes and rub his forehead. “Now leave me alone.”
His sensitive rabbit ears hear the chess piece hobble out of his room, making Jax slowly start to relax. He snuggles deeper under his blanket, already starting to nod off-
“Um... Jax?”
Without opening his eyes, he groans.
“Why are you still here, Ragatha?” he hisses out loud, rubbing his eyes. “Take the hint already.”
“I... I just...”
Jax finally blinks open his eyes, finding an uptight Ragatha anxiously rubbing her arm. When he glares sharply at her, she quickly looks away.
Her stomach flopping again, the ragdoll tries to open her mouth only to shut it again. No answer or action seems right; she knows Jax far too well. Trying to help him would only prove to upset him, making him feel weak or vulnerable. And knowing Jax, he’d push her away at the slightest sign of concern.
But when he starts to physically shiver from chills, stiffly moves his body like the whole thing deeply aches, and groans loudly after he has a coughing attack...
He clearly needs to be taken care of right now, the other side of Ragatha’s mind argues. He’s simply miserable!
As she watches him turn on his side so his back is facing her, all she can do is bite her lip. Help him heal- or preserve his pride?
I guess all I can do right at this moment is just give him space...
With that, she sighs in defeat and slowly turns around. After quietly walking out of the room, she hesitantly starts to shut Jax's bedroom door-
"AH-CHOO!"
But she can’t help but keep it open just a crack.