god Angel dust and husker's solo song (especially husker's) in Hazbin hotel ss2 episode 6 was very catchy for me and the i thought, "what if showtime tho?"
A tadc one shot I wrote based on this post by the incredibly talented @iamespecter! This is written mainly with platonic!Showtime in mind, but it comes with romantic!Showtime goggles if you would prefer đ„œđ You donât have to âsquintâ for it, trust me. But itâs all up to you! In any case, enjoy :)
Pomni still couldnât believe that sheâd done it. Even in a world of endless possibilities, the notion had seemed nothing short of impossible. But sheâd done it.
She had escaped from the Amazing Digital Circus. The virtual reality game had kept her prisoner for so long, and now, it was just a memory of the past. The very recent past, sure, but the days would keep coming until the memories were diluted with time. Maybe one day, Pomni would be able to pretend like the wacky digital purgatory never really existed at all. Maybe one day, she could convince herself that it was all nothing more than a very strange dreamâŠ
âRise and shine, Superstar~! Early birds get the worms,â cooed a very, very familiar voice.
âŠBut who was she kidding, anyway?
âOw,â she muttered. âCaineâOW!!â Pomni winced. She definitely lost a couple strands of hair on that last tug. âWould you stop that??â
Caine, the host of the Amazing Digital Circus himself, was more real than heâd ever been. Despite the loss of his near-omnipotent abilities, he still managed to hold onto his impressive knack for rude awakenings. Pomni didnât know what sheâd expected. He didnât need to be a digital god to give her hell. All he needed was to be a pair of teeth with way too much personality and no sense of boundaries.
Said teeth had mysteriously gotten onto her bed from the nightstand, despite there being a not-insignificant gap. Now he had a piece of her sleep-tangled hair in his jaws, and he was going to yank on it until she got up. Or until she âaccidentallyâ knocked him into the little trash can by her bed. Who would know?
Pomni sighed in tandem with another tug. Her life could never be so convenient. Just when had this menace slipped his way into her heart?
âAlright, alright!â Pomni snagged the little robot from her pillow. She rolled onto her back and glared at Caine while she fished her hair out from around his mismatched optics. âYou donât have to be so pushy. How do you keep getting onto my bed at night, anyway? Thereâs no way you can make it over from the nightstand!â
The digital hostâs internal operations were a lot more impressive than his external components, which were pretty physically restrictive. His new robotic body was little more than a modified set of chattering teeth with wheels, two camera-embedded eyeballs, a specialized hinge for controlling the jaws, and an admittedly adorable top hat. This also affected how expressive he could be. Caine couldnât blush, flap his hands, or do any number of things to show when he was being bashful. But when his teeth closed ever so slightly around his eyeballs, Pomni got the message. She could read his body language even now. Sheâd definitely spent too much time with him.
âLife is much more thrilling with a bit of mystery, wouldnât you agree, my fabulous hibachi fried family heirloom?â
Pomni stared at him. âYouâre about to discover the mystery of whatâs in the back of my closet if you keep waking me up like this.â
âOH! Is it a mummified frog?â
ââŠIâm gonna go make some coffee.â Caffeine save her.
The old keurig gurgled and whistled, sputtered and choked until a steady stream of black coffee began filling her mug. Pomni definitely needed a new coffee machine. It was just another item on the list of things that she needed. She needed a new job after the last one fired her for an absence that was way too long to be forgiven. She needed a new beta fish, because Ponyo was discovered belly-up and she totally DID NOT cry about it for hours. She needed a million dollars. Oh: and she also needed Caine to stop following after her every minute of every day, like sheâd accidentally uploaded some kind of lost puppy with zero sense of independence!
As it turned out, she mostly just needed to have a sip of coffee. Her shoulders slumped. She breathed easily even when a certain robot knocked into her heel. So many weeks trapped in the circus did nothing to cure her caffeine addiction, apparently.
âCounter, please!â Caine called from beside her feet. Staying mindful of her hot coffee, Pomni leaned down and plucked him off the floor. She set him on her kitchen island, then leaned against it. She propped her elbow on the counterâs cool surface and indulged in another sip of coffee. Caine rolled closer until his teeth bumped into her arm. A couple weeks ago, she wouldâve considered herself an obstacle and given him space. But it didnât take long to figure out that Caine was a lot more efficient at operating his body than he sometimes let on. He just wanted to be touching her. When had it happened that Pomni stopped minding? In fact, it made her smile. She tried to hide it behind her mug.
âSo, my dear,â said Caine, and she heard a grin in his voice. âAre you prepared for todayâs wondrous adventure?â
There went her smile. Pomni nearly dropped her coffee. To say those words inspired dread was a complete understatement. They were the words she used to hear before experiencing the most well-intentioned torment since her grandmaâs handmade wool sweater. âW-what are youââ Just then, her brain decided to wake up and smack her over the head. âOhâŠright. Itâs the fifteenth, isnât it? You have an adventure planned for today.â What was it that people said about good deeds? But she couldnât exactly go back on her promise now, could she?
Following Pomniâs retrieval of Caine from his doomed digital world, the AI had been nothing short of joyful. It honestly made her feel bad to see just how genuinely shocked he was to wake up in his new robotic body. Her heart quietly broke when he expressed, in no lack of words or emotion, how grateful he was that she hadnât just abandoned him to die. To say that she and Caine had been close friends would be a stretch of the imagination not even the Amazing Digital Circus could pull off. But she knew he didnât deserve to be destroyed. She hoped that he knew that, too. In any case, Caineâs happiness in those first days didnât need much effort on Pomniâs part.
But the days would keep coming, and gradually the thrill of being alive would pass. Caine would echo Pomniâs silent longing to find the other members of the circus. The rest of the troupe had escaped before them, and it felt like they were missing pieces of themselves. Pomni promised Caine that they would find the other members of their unorthodox, ragtag digital family. That was all it took to improve his mood significantly, but she could tell there were other, unspoken things bothering him. And if something went unspoken by Caine, it was usually a pretty big deal. Pomni didnât credit herself a genius when she figured out what else he was missing from his old life. Sheâd tried not to feel bad about it. And failed miserably.
So what did she do? In shorter terms, Something stupid. In longer terms,
She spent way too many hours creating an extensive archive of every single hot spot, hole in the wall, tourist trap, and local gem in the city, along with every single park and recreational service within a fifty mile radius. Pomni even included customer reviews, satellite and street maps, and articles of the city's local lore and history to give Caine the context he would be needing. Needing for what, one may wonder? Well, after Pomni had the directory of all directories prepared and properly downloaded, she offered it to Caine as a sort of surprise. âItâs something for you to chew on,â sheâd joked meekly, trying to make a teeth joke to shove down her own awkward discomfort. She couldnât deny that this was anything other than a gesture of love.
Caine had been ecstatic enough just to receive the download. When Pomni told him that sheâd like him to plan an âadventureâ for the middle of the month, sheâd worried she would have to replace his batteries by the end of his celebration dance around the apartment. She didnât even understand how his two little wheels were able to zoom him around so quickly. Heâd basically demanded her to lay down so he could bonk her in the face a million times with âkissesâ. Any of Pomniâs lingering doubts had been thoroughly danced and kissed away.
But now the time had come, and Pomni could only wonder what the set of dentures had planned. She had made a very, very thorough directory, after all, and included some things she would later wonder to regret. Then again, he certainly wouldnât find too much interest in the local abandoned shopping mall rumored to be haunted and otherwise filled with all sorts of creepy things and psychologically troubled people. Right? Even for an urban explorer like Pomni, that place was pretty freaky.
Pomni carefully molded her shudder into a sigh. She blew it into her coffee, which replied with an earthy wave of hot steam. It made her face warm. The world felt more inviting. Today was going to be good. Today was going to be fun.
âSo. Whatâs the adventure?â she asked. Caine squealed in delight. Heâd probably had the adventure planned since the day heâd gotten the download. Somehow heâd kept it to himself. When Pomni thought about it, she realized she should be very impressed at his self-restraint. A funny thought to have while his little wheels were working hard to push his teeth as close against her arm as possible. If he still had arms, she knew theyâd be wrapped around her a thousand times over in a rubber-hose expression of excitement.
Caine cried, âTodayâs adventure is Survive the Abandoned Mall of Malevolent Mysteries! Thereâs also a dessert shop across the street. We can get cookies after!â
No wonder heâd been so eager to wake Pomni up this morning. One of these days sheâd discover the mystery of how Caine kept ending up on her bed at night, oftentimes burrowed into the crook of her neck. There was only one way that she could imagine he crossed the gap from the nightstand, but she quickly tossed it out of the realm of possibility. Her unconscious body would never betray her personal space like that.
Pomni held Caine close as she finished her coffee and mentally prepared for the wacky misadventures the day was sure to bring. âYou know,â she said. âCookies sound amazing.â
âYou think that sounds good? Wait until you hear the cry of the banshee rumored to live in the old Forever 21! Not a bad place for an eternal harbinger of early death!â
A warped and wonderful world it was that Pomni still lived in, that she could hear such a thing and laugh.
âWhat are we waiting for?!â Caine snapped his teeth in her hand. It was his personal version of clapping his hands. âLetâs get this adventure rolling!â He spun his wheels with a distinct whirring noise.
âGive me at least a couple hours to get ready,â Pomni groaned. âYou can be patient!â Could he? âBesides. I donât think anything in an abandoned mall is a mystery of the morning sort.â
Not to speak on unsolved mysteries. But Pomni tried very hard not to wonder when, exactly, she had picked him up. Just how often did her hands move of their own accord, to reach out to her tiny robot roommate?
If this made you smile, my mission is successful. Thank you for reading!
I grabbed some new brush packs so I decided to go to town with them using SDS lmao.
ANYWAY holy SHIT was this fun. and this was only using the plant pack. I got a city pack too and I am SO excited to play around with ittt
anyway if you like Showtime and/or Caine Angst you should go check out @the-spam-specialist and @gaygemzz au! (masterpost for it here!)
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