#jax doesn't get love because he's just a plot device to me

[ominous-auburn-orbs]

OH your human writings were so good!! But on that 👀 what about human Caine getting sick for the first time (if you’d be comfortable writing it!)

I knew a sickfic was inevitable. Thank you for fulfilling the prophecy.

This is essentially a continuation of my other fic where they escape and whatnot. Please don't make me make this a series it requires too much creativity and I'm stupid /hj

While being human again had been more of an adjustment than what they were expecting, the group was happy to be free from the life-and-sanity-endangering environment the circus made them live in. They had all apparently been reported missing, which did help them with relearning their names, but they had chosen to keep their circus names anyway as they felt more like their own.

Despite being an abandoned company, C&A somehow had sent them all financial compensation, which they had all decided was too good to question. Even Pomni had stopped asking, especially considering how little progress it always got her. The troop had moved into an apartment complex together, as they had spent enough time with each other that living in completely different houses felt wrong. While Jax lived alone, Gangle and Zooble shared an apartment, Ragatha and Pomni shared another, and Kinger and Caine were paired together as well. Jax had no problems with being alone, liking the personal space it gave him, but he could always visit the others rather easily if he wanted to.

An unfortunate side effect of Caine coming with them was that he had no idea how to look after his human body or how it worked. He was getting better, but the first month or so was a lot of primarily Kinger teaching him how to function. The ringmaster got a lot of injuries now that his powers and cartoony physics weren't there to save him, although Kinger had no issues with patching him up each time.

Now, Kinger was in the kitchen, making breakfast for Caine. Caine was hopeless in the kitchen, as he was used to either just summoning food or Bubble making it instead. Kinger also had to keep track of when Caine was eating, as he frequently forgot it was something he needed to do. His lack of experience with eating as a whole was one of the most difficult parts of being in reality again, so Kinger often made him simpler meals that were easy to digest. At least Caine was surprisingly good at cleaning, so Kinger wouldn't have to do all the work.

Caine stumbled into the room, still in his striped pyjamas. He still tended to trip over his own feet, so Kinger made no note of it until he spoke up.

"Kingerrr... I think I might be dying..." The ringmaster's voice was hoarse and he sounded stuffy.

Panic spiked in the other man's chest, even though he knew Caine was likely overreacting. It was not an irregular occurrence, but that knowledge did little to calm him. "What?"

The man had to keep himself from rushing to Caine, gently putting a hand to his forehead to check his temperature. Caine leaned into the touch, his expression nothing less than pathetic. "Kiingeerrr-" he sneezed, spraying mucus across Kinger's front, "s-sorry. I don't know what's going on, breathing's so difficult now, my- my throat hurts, what-what's happening to me?"

Kinger removed his hand and wiped some of the mucus off of himself with his sleeve. "Eugh..." Caine sniffled, muttering another apology. "No, it's fine. You have a fever, and from everything else you told me, you're just sick. You aren't dying, which is good. Well, I don't think anyone's ever died from the common cold, at least."

"C-common? This horrid disease is meant to be common? I don't even wanna know what other things this reality subjects you to!" His yelling brought on a sudden fit of coughs, with Kinger slowly rubbing his back throughout, his concern growing.

"You are probably having worse symptoms than what you're supposed to, since you likely have a very weak immune system. How about I take you back to bed so you can rest?" Caine grabbed onto Kinger's shirt and held him close, whining into his front. Kinger took that as a yes and picked him up, taking Caine back to their shared bedroom. "You adorable, pathetic little man." Kinger placed a kiss on the ringmaster's temple as he set him down on the bed.

Suddenly, Caine wrapped his arms around the other man's neck and pulled him down, drawing a yelp from him.

"Caine- you're strangling me a bit-" He loosened his grip, but didn't let him get up.

"Don't leeeaave... pleeeaasse?" Kinger laughed, kissing him again.

"If you don't let me get up, then I can't get you anything to help with the cold."

"Mmm, I can live with that." A mischievous smile began to creep across Caine's face.

"Are you sure about that? Because I remember you saying just earlier that you were dying."

"That's what it felt like... but I feel so much better with you!" Caine turned away to cough again, fortunately less severely than last time.

"Thank you, dearest, but you'll feel even better when you let me take care of you properly." The ringmaster grumbled, but he did let go.

"Fine. Can I have another kiss first?" Kinger smiled and kissed Caine's lips before walking away.

"I'll go get your breakfast, then I'll go out to get you some medicine." Caine whined loudly at Kinger saying he would leave, making him laugh again. "I won't be gone that long! It'll keep you from 'dying', anyway."

Over the next week, Kinger looked after Caine as best as he could. Thankfully, the ringmaster had gotten most of his complaining out of his system in the first day, but that didn't stop him from being overdramatic every time Kinger had to leave the room, no matter how brief it was. He would admit that he was also overplaying it because it made Kinger laugh, which was a sound he always loved to hear. Caine did feel like it was Kinger who made him feel well again, even more so than the medicine, anyway.

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

TADC: Thoughts on Jax in Episode 2

Thoughts on Jax after Amazing Digital Circus Episode 2 Dropped.

Massive spoilers below the cut. Just watch the ep before you read.

Amazing Digital Circus had an amazing second episode as we're introduced more to what the adventures are like, and what NPCs are like and ofc the existential horror of being a living AI only created for a source of entertainment.

Also, I love the dream sequence at the beginning, because we actually get some deeper insight into Pomni's thoughts on Ragatha. Feeling like her helpfulness is the guise of like "man, you're not cut out for this like the rest of us" which is typically something a lot of people who have been bullied in highschool perceive genuine acts of kindness and engagement. (which I kind of suspect Pomni might have been, or at least, been a shut-in and didn't have a lot of friends in her human life. )

Jax wasn't really the main focus of the episode, but it wasn't really until the end of the episode I understood his behavior and what this episode is foreshadowing overall.

Since while Jax isn't the focus emotionally, he is definitely the plot device to push things forward. And I mean, a plot device in a very active and quite literal way. He's the one that causes Pomni to clip out of the map, takes advantage of everyone and is just... genuinely an unpleasant person.

I actually really like this.

As, I know the first episode in the digital circus, many people (me included) could perceive or analyze Jax's actions as someone who is "helping" in a roundabout asshole way. Episode Two has none of that here. He just wants Bloodshed, And I love that we're getting additional context on his character.

It's hard to tell how much fan reception Gooseworx saw of episode one before episode two hit production, so I don't know how much of the fandom perception of Jax had an influence on the writing process, but I can't deny that might have been a factor in assuring us "no he's not secretly helpful, he's just an asshole" But I'm just going to assume that this has been part of his characterization from the start and it becomes way more clear as the episode goes on.

But there was something in his behavior throughout this whole episode that seemed off to me. Like Jax was taking up a majority of the B-plot, while Pomni had the A-plot. So I was wondering why Jax seemed to be the protagonist with the B-plot when Pomni was the A-plot when they seemed to be so disconnected with eachother in motivations and telling us things about the characters.

But then it hit me when the episode ended and the two plots merged together.

"who... knows... what could happen..."

And then it hit me.

Pomni finds comfort in an NPC who is going through a similar experience to her and can emphasize, despite their being other humans who have gone through the same thing, due to her self-admitting to being a loner in her human life. Well, she didn't admit it outright, but from how she perceives Ragatha's kindness as an act, or patronizing, it seems like she doesn't have a lot of friends...

Meanwhile... Jax... He treats the adventure like a videogame. Why shouldn't he? He's trapped in a videogame, right? But it really goes beyond that.

The fellow humans that Jax is trapped with, he treats THEM like they're NPCs, while Pomni treats the NPC like they're human.

Jax says to Gangle "Aren't you supposed to be the suggestible one?" Which you wouldn't typically wouldn't say to a person, right? That's something you would say more about a character that you maxed out the dialogue trees in.

He calls Pomni "His Bridge" even.

They're his objects. His tools, his own npcs he's exhausted the dialogue options on.

Jax dehumanizes the players in a way that Pomni humanizes the NPCS.

These are two opposite ends of the spectrum but what really sold it for me was Jax's reaction to the funeral.

And Jax is the one member out of the cast who doesn't even show up to the funeral. (aside from Caine and Bubble but they are AI.)

He does NOT want to think about the Players as real people. And showing that opposite perspective compared to Pomni I think is much as important going forward.

Jax was the plot catalyst of this entire episode, and served the thematic theme of the episode quite well, even if it didn't look like it on first glance.

I absolutely loved this episode and I can't wait for more.

Also... Poor Pomni can't have shit in Detroit

[zalrb]

I don't understand when you say that jax and tara's relationship leads to a devolution of her character but with elena her character is torpedoed and thats a bad thing, like don't both of them have a negative character arc? Idgi

OK, so, TW for violence.

Elena's character "arc" isn't intentional, Tara's is, which is why she literally ends up dead.

Jax ends up dead.

Gemma ends up dead.

Clay ends up dead.

Juice ends up dead.

Bobby ends up dead.

Opie ends up dead.

Donna ends up dead.

Wayne ends up dead.

Luann ends up dead.

Piney ends up dead

Pretty much everyone on this show ends up dead. Because that's the point. You can't be a part of this world, you can't even be tangentially related to this world, and not suffer the consequences for it, which is why before Jax commits suicide, he is adamant that his sons physically leave Charming and grow up hating the idea of him because he doesn't want the cycle to repeat

Tara's devolution, which is really morphing into Gemma

mirrors Jax's devolution, which is morphing into Clay

when they're both adamant that they will not be those people

when they spend the show trying to find a balance, but they're both being consumed and corrupted by this world,

Kurt Sutter: The sort of irony of the crown is that you can’t necessarily sit at the head of that table and not become Clay. In Jax’s mind, he is the anti‑Clay. Like he’s doing everything for completely different reasons. But the truth is, the behavior is still the same.

Maggie Siff: I know Kurt [Sutter] has always imagined that, at some point, [Tara] becomes Gemma. And the only way for that to truly happen is if she does things akin to what Gemma is capable of doing. So, there was an interesting irony about her perpetrating this on Gemma.

and desperately hoping that their love will ultimately end up saving them, getting them out of this Life

and it doesn't. It's a tragedy. It's meant to be a tragedy. Kurt Sutter was heavily influenced by Shakespeare and framed Jax and Tara through Romeo and Juliet

"I knew early on in the series," said Sutter. "I won’t say from the very beginning, but fairly early on, I knew I wanted for that final season, Tara’s death to end season six."

Sutter said "I knew I wanted Tara’s death to really feel like straight-up Shakespearean tragedy. And the device of mistaken information, it's right from 'Romeo and Juliet.' I knew I wanted it to be visceral and just fucking heartbreaking."

the devolution of Tara's morality, Tara's priorities, the "Education of Tara" as Kurt Sutter put it, her transforming into an Old Lady and then realizing much too late that as much as she loves Jax, she can't live that life because of her sons, is a fantastic character study.

The intense, fierce, desperately passionate way Jax and Tara love each other in this environment, despite this environment

makes for compelling television.

This is not what happens to Elena. This is not what happens with Delena. What happens to her character isn't an "arc", the writing for her and for Delena simply sucks because it lacks detail and lacks foresight and lacks common sense. Why are you telling me that Elena is such a moral character, good friend, great sister when she's sleeping with the man who consistently terrorizes her friends and family? Why are you telling me that she has an influence on this man when his behaviour never changes? What is the intentional devolution of her character exactly? How does being a vampire actually, intentionally, narratively change Elena post her non-humanity phase? Is her relationship to Damon a thematic centrepiece of the show that intentionally affects dynamics, character developments and plot or do the writers ignore so many of the implications related to her relationship with Damon that their refusal to actually explore those implications, explore the contradictions, explore what Elena being with Damon actually means that it ends up negatively impacting the show because all of the characters become hypocrites and enablers to allow this relationship to happen? (*hint* my answers are in the masterlist)

The writing for SOA is a whole other level from the writing in TVD. That's the difference.

@convolutings anything to add?