Some days passed, and the connection between Pomni, Ragatha, Gangle, and Raziel, movec closer. Kinger remained apart, talking with Ragatha to guide her and comfort her to make her feel better with intimacy as extra help for a more straight deep comfort. Jax remained away from everyone, his left ear very slowly abstracting more and more. Zooble remained taking an endless shower with the secret NPC of the circus, enjoying him for her alone.
Caine came back, taking everyone, except Jax, to the stage. Once there, Caine explained he was going to give them a special mini adventure in the one they were still going.
Then, Caine moved them to a professional and huge kitchen with everything. Meanwhile, Jax was walking through the hallways, repating in his head "It wasn't my fault", over and over again, until he trembled and fell in the bedroom hallway, where he noticed he was near the bedrooms of Kaufmo and Ribbit, and then after a second he looked away, but he then started abstracting completely.
After a moment, Caine organized a chef competition. Ragatha moved forward as she admitted she knew how to cook. Pomni admitted she didn't really know how to cook; Kinger was being silly, and Caine didn't asked him either; Zooble wasn't there, as she was still enjoying her intimate shower with her now personal secret NPC; Raziel remained silent looking around and all of the kitchen while standing still; Gangle said she knew something about cooking, but she was bad at it and most of the times she burnt it or left it raw.
Ragatha then followed Caine, while Caine explained she was going to cook for them. Then, Raziel hearing she had to cook for them, he got up and walked forward, and passed both to be straight grabbing and preparing things his own way.
Ragatha: "Wait, you know how to cook?"
Raziel: "... I prefer doing it myself, and eat my failure, than accept the failure of others. I don't accept others doing things, less if is a women doing so. I don't trust you. And yes, I know how to cook, and much much more."
Ragatha hesitated, but Caine ignored her and gave the same for both, with a lot of everything as ingredients and spices to let them do as they prefer the dishes.
Both cooked, and after a big while, and many challenges Caine made up mid-way, both finished. Ragatha cooked 6 plates, while Raziel cooked 8 plates.
Ragatha: "Why did you... cooked 2 extra plates?"
Raziel: "What do you mean extra plates?"
Ragatha: "Me, you, Kinger, Pomni, Gangle, and Caine."
Raziel: "And the purple rabbit, and the weird lego pieces?"
Ragatha: "Oh, Jax and Zooble! I forgot about them!"
Raziel: "... Well, too bad. But it is what it is. If you don't see, you don't feel. You didn't saw them, you forgot them, that easily."
Ragatha: "How could I forget them? Am I this bad friend??..."
Meanwhile, Caine blushed and remained firmly while t-posing.
Caine: "Wait, you did a plate for me. Oh, you two..."
They then started eating and evaluating. Gangle then noticed Raziel was eating his own plate very abd done and mostly raw.
Gangle: "Are you... sure you want to eat that?"
Raziel: "I cooked it, I eat it. My failure, my fault. I ddi this the first, and as I failed, I moved it away for burning the outside but making the inside raw, not gonna make other enjoy my shame. It's mine, and so it is."
Gangle hesitated, but then went back to evaluate the two plates in front of her.
After a moment, they al finished evaluating and gave their ratings:
- Gangle gave Ragatha a 9, and Raziel a 8.
- Kinger gave both a 8.
- Pomni gave Ragatha a 6, and Raziel a 9.
- Raziel gave Ragatha a 8, and giving his apart plate a 2.
- Ragatha gave Raziel a 9, and herself a 8.
They hesitated, as both were equal in score, 2-2. Then, Raziel lifted his hands and shoulders.
Raziel: "Meh, who cares? Is not as you can actually rate how you taste food. I prefer see it as school grades, if pass, that's good enough. I know I suck at cooking, but if it's eatable, that's more than enough."
Ragatha: "That's... a very nice way to look at it."
Raziel: "Yeah, sure. Don't eat my ear with empty words."
Ragatha: "No, I really mean it. I didn't expect you to be... like this."
Raziel: "Because I'm a genocidal, does that mean I can't actually not be, and may know how to be in different situations?"
Ragatha: "N-no, no no. I-I don't..."
Raziel: "Yeah, sure. Well, I'm talking way too much, much more than I'm used to, so... Bye."
Then, Raziel started to walk away, but because all the noise, Jax appeared breaking in his way. Everyone got shocked and surprised. Debris fell everywhere, impacting everything.
Jax attacked Raziel, grabbed him, and started crashing him up and down to the ground. Raziel started to glitch by contact with an abstracted player as was Jax now.
Caine easily deleted the debris, and was about to solve it, but then Raziel suddenly made a fire explosion in Jax's grip.
Raziel jumped down, and his head started to twitch extremely erratically, and he staretd to walk like a corpse about to fall down, his eyes flashed in blakc and white extremely fast, and his arms swong around like he couldn't move them.
Then, large bones appeared around Raziel, and attacked Jax, sending him flying. Then, Raziel swong erratically his right hand, throwing an orange sparkle at Jax, then with his left. When the orange sparkles reached Jax, fire explosions impacted Jax, and set a little flame over Jax.
Caine flied to solve the issue, while Gangle grabbed Raziel to her. Caine fixed the place, and sent Jax with the others who abstracted.
After a moment of Gangle relaxing Raziel, Raziel started blinking, his empty eye sockets back to normal emptiness.
Caine: "It seems Jax has abstracted."
Ragatha: "Wait, that was Jax?!"
Gangle: "Jax did... abstract?... Oh..."
Kinger: "That's unfortunate... he was the youngest..."
Raziel: "Who is Jax?"
Gangle: "Who you call purple rabbit."
Raziel: "Oh, well... Meh? I don't know him, so... Doesn't really affect me, but must suck, and I... Nah, I better stay quiet."
After a while, they prepared a funeral for Jax. But Raziel remained distant and decided to walk away.
Gangle: "Wait, aren't you... gonna accompany the funeral?"
Raziel: "... No. Others' feelings overwhelm me. I prefer calm."
After the funeral, Ragatha went away, reaching the bedrooms and entered her bedroom.
Ragatha: "Oh, oh no... Jax abstracted... I... really failed him... I did it the worst... I wanted to help, but I only pushed him to... this... I failed him with Ribbit, and now I failed him with himself... I'm just failing everyone!"
She then slowly fell down, sitting down with her knees up and legs in V, her hands hiding her face, while she cried.
She then started abstracting, her mind overflowing with guilt ideas of her failing as her mother always told her she always did all the time.
After a short moment, Raziel knocked the door as he heard noises and was curious. Ragatha hesitated before opening a short moment later the door.
Ragatha: "I... I'm sorry you have to look at me like this... I'm a disaster..."
Raziel: "... Well, and who isn't?"
Ragatha: "Gangle, Zooble, Pomni, Kinger... I'm the disaster here making people abstract... because I couldn't help them..."
Ragatha continued abstracting, Raziel hesitated for a second before walking and grabbing her head to make her look at him.
Raziel: "Is not your job. So stop. That's my job to do."
Ragatha: "What do you... mean is your job?"
Raziel: "... As the angel for humanity, is my duty to be entirely for humans. Is a job I extremely hate, but cannot forfeit. Your personal duty to help them, is great, but I cna tell... you reached the point I broke..."
Ragatha: "The point... you broke...? I don't get it."
Raziel: "Well... is normal. But in short, I spent a decade helping and changing humans. And trust me... I learnt why in earth there aren't any angels, or why God, if there is any, didn't do anything... Humanity doesn't deserve angels, they cannot change..."
Ragatha: "I... What...?"
Raziel: "Yeah, I know... Could be the worst job ever, but I never got paid in the first place, so... For me, it was."
Ragatha: "Wait, n-no, no no. What do you mean? Working as angel, God... You're human, like me, or like them."
Raziel: "... Wish, then I could have died. But I never was, am not, never will be, human. I'm died, and I'm inmortal by the same sake as the world works. Determination."
Ragatha hesitated, but then walked and sat on the edge of the bed, and Raziel followed her to sit aside her.
Ragatha: "... And... Don't answer if you don't want, but... When did you... die?"
Raziel: "... When I was 10. And then drowned when I was 11. But I kept dying every day, multiple days per day; it was almost constant."
Ragatha: "I... I can see why you... better if we change topic, right?"
Raziel: "... You know... I like Raziel, and I'm used at it as my name, mainly because that's how I was named, and I personally gave it an understanding for myself of why the name. But when I was called Asriel, my sould resonated, recognizing the name as it's name, and I felt like it was my name."
Ragatha: "... if you want... I can call you Asriel."
Raziel: "Meh, sure. I don't mind."
Ragatha hesitated, but then slowly moved closer to Raziel. He hesitated, wondering, until she was up of him at his left side.
Raziel: "... You want a round?"
Ragatha: "Yes, please. I really need it right now."
Then, both had intimacy for a round.