-Heart to Heart-
[Bowtie/Sweet-tooth (WHATEVER YA CALL IT) Caine x Ragatha Oneshot!]
After a not-so-great adventure, ragatha goes to consult Caine about it, but ends up in a private picnic adventure.
[-· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─ ·✶· ]
Ragatha was among the last to arrive at her room,
Her fingers kept on rubbing her face in frustration as she made small attempts to recollect herself. She tried to shake off the pesky negative thoughts creeping into her mind, forcing a sweet and optimistic smile even when she felt like she had been hit at the back of her head with a migraine... Even in solitude, she put in the effort to remain upbeat, not just out of worry of anyone looking at her in this state, but for her own mental state... Sure, the recent adventures had been… roughish; it had been exhausting, especially since the fiasco of the whole escape attempt that Caine had pulled on everyone had cast a shadow over the cast’s spirits. But it was okay—everything would be fine!
Yet… it still felt like the weight of her optimism felt…
It felt like it was hanging by a thread sort to speak.
She took a deep breath, reassuring herself to just… just open the door to your room, Ragatha. Just take a deep breath, have a nap—tomorrow will be better. Just another day. It’s just another day.
But how long could she keep telling herself that? How many adventures till she can no longer hold a grip on herself?...
She paused at her doorstep, hand frozen on the doorknob, staring at it with a conflicted expression. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as uncertainty filled her chest. After a long moment of deliberation, she turned sharply and marched away, determined.
“Oh, for god’s sake- I can’t handle it anymore. It’s not like I’m bothering him either way-,” she muttered, hastily adjusting her thoughts. “It’ll just be a quick chat… to clear my mind. Can’t go to bed with bad thoughts, how-... bad could it go anyways?” With renewed purpose, she called out, “Caineeeee!” “Caine- where are you?!... Caineee.”
When silence met her plea, her shoulders slumped, and she frowned, glancing around. Just as she began to turn in another direction—
“You called? my—RAGGEDY RADIANT RUTABAGA?” “EAH-”
Ragatha jumped, nearly losing her balance and letting out a startled yelp. Caine floated up behind her, catching her at the waist just in time to prevent a comic tumble. It was so weird- after so long, she would’ve already thought by now she’d be used to him creeping up on people.
“Whoa there! Don’t go tipping over now, my dear!” he chided gently, shaking a finger at her while releasing his grip, nearly sending her off-kilter again. She steadied herself just in time. “You’ll get your dress all dirty, and that just won’t do, will it?”
“I can always get squeaky clean!" Bubble chimed in cheerfully from beneath Caine’s hat, spinning playfully in mid-air. “Just like how I cleaned up the evidence of the crime!”
“What crime?” Caine’s expression shifted to mock concern as he turned towards Bubble. “Bubble, what are you going on about?”
Bubble simply grinned back with an exaggeratedly silly expression.
“... I CAN CLEAN IT UP SQUEAKY CLEAN!”
“Bubble, what do you mean—”
“THEY’LL NEVER FIND THE BODY.”
Caine suddenly popped Bubble away, staring at the space where he had been, clearly baffled.
“..........ANYWAYS!” he said, suddenly upbeat again, flipping onto his stomach mid-air and swinging his feet happily. “Back to the point! What did you need, darling? My little cubical French fry? My Radiant—BEDAZZLING cucumber?”
“Uhm… well,” Ragatha swayed a bit, running her hands together nervously. She glanced away, tilting her head slightly, trying to collect her thoughts. “It’s really… nothing. I just-... wished to have a word with you about the latest adventure-”
THAT got Caine’s attention if it wasn’t clear enough with how his big ol’ eyes stared over at her. Slowly floating even closer. “... YOU? Talk about my adventure?” He’d stared at her with the most taken aback look- then jerking back with a tap at his lower jaw in thought, turning around. “Well, THAT’S-... interestinngggg- I’d expect Zooble to be rushing to me about anything relating to my adventure- any criticism at ALL if anything! Yet… you showed up and- You’re the one who’s all optimistic, which LEADS…. TO…” He’d give a very slow turn, his eyes somehow twice as big. “GASP! You!… GENUINELY about to give me some positive feedback?! FOR REALSIES?!”
“Well, I wouldn’t say… positive-” She’d cringed slightly back in somewhat guilt. “That’s more of an overstatement, really, by a long stretch- WOAH-” “OH, GOLLY LALLY! WELL, I CAN’T BELIEVE MY- NONEXISTENT OR WHATEVER- EARS!!!” He’d spun around her happily, taking her arms and beaming, not listening to the last bit she said. “I didn’t even have to do the whole Abel thing if I was to be complimented either way! I SHOULD’VE KNOWN IT’D BE FROM YOU, sweet little raggedy anne, you!”
“WOAH HO-! C-caine! I DIDN’T MEAN- I!- EEEAA-” She’d yelped up when she was getting spun. “I didn’t MEAN to SAY-” “This calls for a SPECIAL OCCASION!” Caine snapped his fingers before Ragatha could mouth out another word. The world was twisting as they both got teleported away from the circus tent. Ragatha, upon instinct, gripped Caine’s arm and then froze. Looking down and around as she found herself… sitting.
Sitting on the brighter side of the circus, where the sun shone high above, she found herself beside Caine—of all people—on a picnic blanket with various kinds of sandwiches and foods that were piled up all around them. She took note of this and the elephant in the damn room of how her outfit changed to a spring dres that hung at her shoulders, nothing too off with how the colours were pretty much the same as her usual dress, and to take note as well at how her bow worked at a hairtie that held her red yarn locks like a bun.
Caine wasn’t all too different either- all she could pinpoint was how he didn’t have his coat or his ringmaster hat, and that he was instead wearing a black jumper. His focus was over at Ragatha after snapping his fingers a couple of times to prepare everything (that and also indulging himself in adding small bee particles in the ambience) as he’d looked at her with utter joy.
“WELL, I know, I know- it’s not much. I WOULD bring you along to the restaurant map since it’s the much fancier place to have a chat at BUT.” He’d raised a finger slightly and, “The last time I did THAT was with Jax and-” “That day didn’t go… as I planned.” He’d narrowed his eyes to look slightly away. Then he perked over to look at Ragatha. “Not everyone reacted all too… fondly after all that. If ANYTHING!- I’d hope to praytell if you don’t feel as SALTY as HALF of the cast for that little miscalculation of mine! HAHA!” “Uh… well, it was… mn.” Ragatha leaned back with an uncomfortable look on her face. She’d pursed her lips awkwardly and glanced away with a little tilt of her head, looking off at the floor uncomfortably.
Caine took note after a minute of drumming his fingers on the picnic blanket below. He might be slow, and an AI without any consciousness of human morals- but he was quick to notice how quiet Ragatha had gotten. He worried he might have perhaps ruined the moment- or worse! He probably made her think about how everyone DISLIKED an adventure and made her REMEMBER to not have HIM and HIS ADVENTURES COMPLIMENTED! Well, that simply won't do! Can’t have ANY of that! He needs her to be happy to make HIM happy! But HOW?….
He’d shaken his head and tapped his lower jaw in thought- before having his teeth perked into a smile.
“SOOoooo! Is my fair lady a flower type?”
“Huh? Oh!” She’d raised a brow as she’d perked her gaze back on Caine. “Well yeah, a bit, but- that’s a bit out of context of the adventure ta-” “LET'S FORGET ABOUT THE ADVENTURE TALK!” he’d beamed, words he never thought he’d say, and snapped his fingers on their, a small bouquet popping and dropping on Ragatha’s hands. “For now, at least, let's have some FUN out on the open! A little bit of a BREATH OF FRESH, POLYNICULITIC AIR! That’s what you humans needs afterall- A BREAK! And of all those in the circus, in my opinion, you seem to be the one who seems to deserve it the most!”
Ragatha was left somewhat speechless as she held the bouquet between her fingers. She looked at them, at the half-hazardous attempt at making petals. It looked like something straight out of a 90s computer, and it was safe to say that it wasn’t the most impressive thing she’d ever seen yet…
To glance back at Caine, it felt almost… rewarding to hear those words out of him. Like those flowers, like his adventures- she could see a bit of an attempt at being a good person… it isn’t the best, but- she could somewhat appreciate now how it’s the best coming from an AI out of all things. “I mean, only if you’d want to.” She’d said softly.
“OF COURSE I DO! Of course!” He’d almost smiled back at her and taken her hand.
Kind of everything went into a blur after that. Just a bit of talking back and forth- they managed to bird watch some bird NPCs, Ragatha got to teach Caine how to eat…
“- How come you’ve never tried to eat a sandwich?” “WELL! Quite PRESSUMABLY OBVIOUSLY it's quite pointless!” He’d eyed the sandwich between his hands with a raised frown- er- top teeth if anything. “I can tell the irony, but-”
“This set of teeth wasn’t REALLY made to be munching on stuff!” “Oh, okay, well- let me show you then…” There was a way that she tried to handle him that was just as careful as well- throughout the whole time she felt like having a caring mother at your shoulder- and yet a stubborn thing she was. There was one point where, when they were talking, she had misplaced her hand on top of a knife and got herself all torn up. Caine at first had acquired to fix it in a snap- but then she offered “Actually… this seems like an easy torn, how about I show you how humans mend things?” “Mend things?” Caine sat up straight. “Yeah, like- stitching.” She’d smiled at him and pulled a needle and thread that she always carried with her whenever she wanted a small fix-up.
It was just as nice to teach him things, Ragatha recalled. How… interested he looked to make things more real, in their own way. It was between the talks they had that Caine shared some interests he had about the ‘macroverse’ as he’d put it- small details on everyday life that made her slowly realise…
Maybe not complaining about his adventure isn’t as bad as she thought it’d be-
Correction- she might take some time to give some ACTUAL criticism for once, take one for the team, but…
For today, she seemed to find how actually nice it is to have a heart-to-heart talk.