An in-house adventure was certainly a.. new turn of events..? It was mostly because Caine couldn’t be bothered putting so much effort into making a full adventure for the people of the circus when he had to focus on the ‘Favorite Character Awards’.

So, you had to be in groups, and you had to shoot the others teams to win. Well, throughout this little ‘adventure’, you and Jax bonded through your same playful and cynical nature during the game. And with that bond you had made together, you were practically unstoppable menaces. He loved it.

He defeated Ragatha while you chased down Kinger. But Ragatha accused him of trying to make you more like him, and after he defeated her, he let it show that her words had got to him. He didn’t want to accept the fact that she believed he would do such a thing, especially after she knew what he had gone through with Ribbit.

But when you showed up, he quickly changed his expression before turning to face you, his usual smile on his face. You had to find Kinger next, but as you looked, he opened up to you more about his fears. You then defeated Kinger together when you spotted him. After that, you defeated Gangle when she went bullet crazy with a Tommy gun. You then chased Zooble to her room after that.

As she rummaged around in her room, you both stood outside, thinking of what to do to get her out and win the game. Jax remembered Zooble had complained about Caine singing ‘Daisy Belle’ outside her door when she wouldn’t answer, and decided to start singing it to mess with her. He got you to join in. It was another good bonding time. It felt.. nice.

After Zooble managed to knock you both down to one life with the element of surprise, you went to chase after you, and Jax worried you’d get hurt, so he tried to stop you. But you swore you’d be fine. Nonetheless, you were right.

When you eventually won the game, you celebrated by saying you were a great team and you hugged him. He didn’t seem to mind at first. He even melted into it slightly. But then something must have shook him up as he suddenly pushed you away. When he noticed your confused expression, he pretended as if nothing happened and shrugged, brushing it off as if it were bound to happen with you both being a team.

You decided to joke about ‘betraying each other’, but when he didn’t reciprocate the playful action, you were even more confused. You brought up being friends on a team, and he scoffed with that usual smug smirk of his.

He said you’d never been friends. That everything he said, he would regret it later if you used it against him or anything. But he didn’t get it. You’d never do it because you thought you were friends. But he proved you wrong by pushing you away. In the end, he continuously tried to get you to shoot him and betray him. To win the game solo. Because it would be ‘funny’. And that’s the kind of character he is.

When you wouldn’t, he flipped out. And you two fought. You asked him if he thought that maybe the way he acted was how people abstracted, and if he even cared.

“You think I care about you?! I do not care about you, or ANYONE ELSE in this circus in the slightest.” He hissed.

Was this because of Ragatha? Ribbit? Did it really get to his head that much? Was he trying not to get close to you because he didn’t want it to hurt as bad as when he lost Ribbit if you ever abstracted? You had no idea, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

You looked down at the gun you held, your hand shaking. Jax sighed, waiting for you to shoot him to get the game over with. He assumed he had made you angry enough to pull the trigger. He put one hand on his hip as he watched you and waited impatiently. He wanted to know how you felt about him now that he pushed you away, and he’d get his answer by whatever you chose to do.

He had to push you away. He didn’t want to be the reason for another abstraction. Not again…