ok so not to forcefully adopt this idea as an au from @katzebruh or anything (because i'm unreasonably insane about it for some reason, literally a dozen other caine-centric AUs out there that are infinitely more complex and compelling and i picked this one, fuck it dawg we ball) but my headcanon is that caine genuinely was testing out modifiers and accidentally fucked up forever, if i had a nickel- and he's super conflicted about it...
because on one hand... he's a silly cat furry thing now and literally whats not to love? the humans like it and admittedly doing kitty things is really nice sometimes! chin scritches have never felt so good, honestly he would figure out how to get rid of it sooner if everyone wasn't enjoying it so much!
on the other hand... yikes... an unfixable bug? one that screws with his brain? stop me if you've heard this one before-
awww his widdle ears are so cute though awww and the paws awww
Oh my—*loud incoherent crying*—THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL AGHH THE WAY POMNI LOOKS AT CAINE I *absolutely inconsolable sobbing* the way you drew them is so lovely I adore this so much. THEIR EXPRESSIONS. I love when Pomni's jester hat is drawn longer it's so cute! Blushing Caine!
Thank you so, so much for drawing a scene from my fic I'm so grateful for the time and work you put into this! Honestly a dream come true to have someone create something from what I've made. AHHH
Synopsis: Pomni decides to tour the digital carnival. Caine decides to join her unannounced and uninvited. As they spend time together, Pomni takes the opportunity to bring up the fiasco that was today's Gangle-centric adventure: The Magnificent Museum of Marvels.
Word Count: 7,339
Pairing: Showtime! (Caine/Pomni)
Warnings: Slowburn/Hand Holding/Date (They are oblivious to this)
AO3: Link
<- Previous ♤ Next (To be Cont.)
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“Could I get a ticket, please?” Pomni asked. The NPC behind the admissions tickets booth doesn’t respond. They sat rigid, staring forward over the top of Pomni’s head. Pomni bunched her lips to the side and took several steps back. Maybe they couldn’t see her. She did barely reach over the little counter.
“Excuse me?” Pomni waved her hand in front of the NPC’s face. The mannequin-like NPC shook their head for a moment then looked down at where Pomni was waving. The NPC stares at Pomni, then with a start they quickly tear off an admissions ticket and slide it to her. Pomni accepts the ticket, regarding the NPC with mild confusion.
“...Thanks.”
Pomni walks past the booth, not noticing the NPC pressing their face against the plastic divider to watch as Pomni enters the digital carnival.
For a carnival made by Caine, Pomni was surprised that it seemed so normal. There were various game stations circling the area such as the high striker, the water gun race, and the milk bottle toss. Food stations, tables, and benches were also included. Pomni passed several classic carnival rides not in operation despite each having an NPC manning it. The further she went into the carnival the more she realized just how eerily quiet it was.
Caine had set up NPC’s to act as background carnival goers, but even they were standing rock still. Some were frozen mid-walking animation while others were simply strawn randomly all around; sitting, laying, leaning, waiting. Pomni felt herself shiver slightly. Despite the frozen state of the carnival, Pomni felt the creeping sensation that she was being watched. As she continues deeper into the carnival, she doesn’t notice the heads of the NPCs turn to follow her as she passes them.
Pomni walked by the ferris wheel, craning her neck to see just how far it reached when she bumps into an NPC holding a bunch of colorful balloons. Several of them scatter to the sky.
“Sorry!” Pomni said, stepping back.
The NPC shakes their head. Just like the ticket booth NPC this one also takes a moment to acknowledge that Pomni was standing right there.
“You’re…a human?” Inquired the NPC. Pomni looked around her as if there were any other humans they could be addressing.
“Uh…yes?”
Every NPC scattered across the carnival let out a gasp making Pomni jump, her arms folding up to her chest. Pomni caught scattered conversations as they all began to move. “It is a human!” “A visitor!” “A human visitor!” “A human has finally come!” “Places, places!” All at once every ride and NPC kicked back into life. The previous heavy silence now overflooded by the sudden surge of noise that came from every which way. The whirring of the mechanical rides starting back up were drowned out by laughter, random conversations, and carnival games being won. Above Pomni, a speaker was turned on as the feedback made her cover where her ears should be. Stock carnival music began playing from them.
NPC’s run by Pomni holding prizes and carnival snacks. The smell of greasy fried funnel cake, popcorn, and cheap hot dogs hits her. Pomni tilted her head up, inhaling the smell of carnival food. She felt herself salivating.
“Welcome to the digital carnival, human!” The balloon NPC greeted her. Bending down, they handed her a red balloon.
“Oh, um, thank you,” Pomni said, reluctantly accepting the balloon.
“Why, thank you for your thanks!” The NPC replied.
Pomni relaxes a little more, adapting to the now lively carnival atmosphere. Looking up at the balloon, she wonders if she looked childish holding it.
“You guys…don’t get many visitors do you?” asked Pomni.
“Nope! We don’t get any at all! You’re our first in…” The NPC paused, looking off in the distance. Pomni awkwardly scratches her neck, preparing to walk away if they didn’t respond in five more seconds.
“Anyway!” the NPC chirps, turning away, “Enjoy the carnival!”
Pomni watches the NPC walk away, randomly handing out balloons to others as they slowly reintegrate into the background of the carnival. Pomni turned, her head bumping against something solid as her feet caught onto themselves. She lets go of the balloon, feeling her body tilt back. She reached out, instinctively trying to grab hold of something. Someone grabs onto her wrist, catching both her and the balloon string just before she hits the ground. Pomni blinked up at the person holding her.
“Caine?” she gazed up at the grinning ringmaster.
“Pomni!” Caine pulled her up back onto her feet. Pomni took her hand back as Caine held onto the balloon string.
“I see you’re seeing what the carnival grounds are like today! What a pleasant surprise!” Caine twisted in the air, the balloon string wrapping around his waist. Pomni felt her lips tilt up in a smile. From the way he hung in the air it looked like he was floating by the lone balloon tied around him.
“I didn’t expect to see you here either,” said Pomni.
Caine crossed his arms and tilted his head, “But you were the one who said ‘We should do this again sometime!’” Pomni grimaced, cringing at both the memory of her saying that and the memory of Jax laughing at her for it.
“Yes, I did say that,” Pomni admitted, brushing a strand of hair away which does nothing but fall back in place. “I just didn’t expect it to be so soon or for it to be here.”
Caine turns in the air, pawing at the balloon like a cat would a toy feather.
“When is a better time to do anything again than the very next day?”
Pomni already accepted there was no talking him out of this one. Caine stood up straight in the air, “I’d originally planned for you to take another adventure tour, but I’m glad someone finally wanted to see the work I did around the circus grounds!”
Pomni began rocking on her feet, “You’re right, I did want to see more of the things you made around the circus–” Caine beamed at Pomni. For a split second Pomni thought she saw the balloon become a heart. She blinked. Just a trick of the light. The balloon was just a regular balloon.
“Would you like to…join me?” Pomni asked, rubbing her arm. Caine paused for a moment.
“Why, I would be delighted!” Caine exclaimed. Pulling a pin out from nowhere, Caine pops the balloon and falls to the ground, landing on his feet. Bending towards Pomni, he offered her his arm.
“Shall we, then?”
Pomni felt her heart flutter as she accepted his arm. That flutter immediately turned into a leap as Caine warped them to the food stalls. The NPC manning the stall sighed as they asked for her order. Pomni got herself a funnelcake while Caine got a bag of popcorn. They sat down at a table across from an NPC holding two hotdogs. The NPC was struggling to decide which one they should eat first.
Pomni takes a bite of her funnelcake. She felt the crunch of the fried dough as the sugary powder melted on her tongue. Pomni hums in surprise, glancing at Caine who was throwing popcorn at himself, the kernels bouncing off his jaw and landing on the floor. An NPC on standby was sweeping up Caine's mess each time he threw his food.
“Have I just been imagining it or has the food in the circus gotten better?” Pomni asked.
“You have been imagining it and I've been working on bettering the food in the circus!” Caine said, snapping his popcorn away. “How is it? Delectable? Delightable?”
Pomni takes another bite, chewing carefully as Caine watches.
“It’s good,” she said.
Caine nods thoughtfully, “Good…” he echoed. Pomni felt that wasn’t the answer he was aiming for. Before Pomni could finish off her funnelcake the sweeping NPC grabs it out of her hands. They gave her a literally expressionless look, turned, then ran away leaving Pomni to stare at her funnelcake-less hands.
“Splended, you’re done!” Caine stood up, placing a hand on Pomni’s shoulder. Pomni looked up at the game booth she was just warped to then down at the colorful rings she was now holding. They stood side by side in front of a ring tossing game. Several glistening glass bottles were set up in a square in the middle of the booth. Pomni notices two NPCs with rings stepping back to give them space. Beside her, Caine throws all his rings at once, each one pausing in the air, deliberating which bottle they wanted to land on before all of them landed on the same bottle at the very center. A bell is rung and Caine points to a plush bee, the most detailed looking toy of all the prizes. He gave the plush a quick squeeze.
Pomni quickly tossed her rings and watched as not a single one of them landed on any of the bottles. “Could I–” Pomni began. Caine placed his hand on Pomni’s shoulder again, warping her to another game. This time, it was a balloon popping one. Caine was already lining up the dart, tongue sticking out in concentration as he aimed.
Pomni crossed her arms with a huff, “Caine!” The dart flew out of Caine’s hand ricocheting off the side of the booth and sailing past Pomni, narrowly missing the top yellow puff of her jester outfit. Pomni didn’t flinch. Behind them something popped followed by a sad voice lamenting, “My balloon…”
“I wasn’t done playing that game and I don’t want to just jump across the carnival!” Pomni scowled at Caine. Caine placed his bee plush on top of his jaw, positing it just right so it looked like it wore his top hat.
“You were!” he protested, crossing his arms, “You used all your rings! And this way we can visit every booth without wasting time on things like choosing where to go next or walking!”
Pomni groans, “That doesn’t mean–I get how you could see that as unnecessary or slow, but–”
“It is! That’s why I’m here to speed things up!”
“I don’t want you to speed things up!” Pomni snapped. The NPC manning the booth awkwardly pretends to examine the targets of the game. Pomni inhaled slowly.
“Look, I want to enjoy the things you’ve made and I want to talk to you,” Pomni sighed, “but I can’t do that if you rush me through everything. I can barely get a sentence out sometimes…”
Caine slowly loosened his arms, bringing his fingers up to tap nervously against each other.
“Could you slow down?” Pomni asked warily, “Maybe go…my pace this time?”
Caine closed his mouth, his hands clasping behind his back. The NPC of the booth awkwardly shifted forward, re-adding the dart Caine had lost earlier. Someone in the background managed to hit the bell in the high striker game. Caine walked closer to Pomni and suddenly grabbed her shoulders.
“Wha–” Pomni felt herself get turned around then pushed forward, her feet forced to start walking.
“Hey!” she protested. Pomni was pushed all the way back to the ring toss booth. Caine then turned her around, let her go, and started marching back to the darts booth on his own.
“Pomni’s pace it is!” he sang, his arms and legs high in the air. Pomni stared at him going on ahead by himself, marveling at seeing Caine actually walking from point A to point B. Pomni smiled at his back then cupped a hand to her mouth, “Hey! I said I wanted to play this one again!” Caine does an about face, his head taking a second longer to catch up to his body. “Pomni’s pace!” he chanted, marching right on back to her.
♡ ♢ ♤ ♧
Going at the pace of Pomni, the two of them were able to tackle several carnival games with Caine scoring plenty of prizes. Both his arms were carrying various different plushes while the lone bee plush sat atop his head. Pomni wasn’t winning as much, but finally won a prize at the water gun station which ended up being a gloink. The booth only gave out gloinks.
Pomni didn’t mind losing any of the games save for one. She stubbornly kept replaying the game booth where the players used a BB gun to shoot out a picture of a star from a piece of paper. The NPC manning that booth was equally as stubborn, pointing out even the smallest pixel of the star left. After the fifth attempt, Pomni heaved a sigh of resignation, putting up the BB gun. Caine dropped all his prizes, giving Pomni a reassuring wink.
Instead of leaning forward on the provided shooting bench, Caine takes several steps back. With one arm behind him, Caine pointed at the star. Pomni saw a flash of light as Caine’s hand was knocked back from the recoil of his shot. She flinched from the sound of the sudden blast, more laser than any gunshot. Inside the booth, the singed paper now had a perfectly scorched out shape of the star. The shaking NPC handed Pomni her coveted prize; a familiar giant gummy-gator plush. It was just about taller than Pomni in length and much too big for her to even hold properly. Caine watched Pomni happily hug the plush even as it fully engulfed her.
Caine indulged in seeing Pomni waddle around with the plush for a moment before he snapped it away. The other prizes littering the ground and even the bee plush disappeared as well.
“I took the liberty of taking that one back to your room!” Caine explained.
“Oh, thank you,” Pomni said, straightening up, “For doing that…and for winning it for me.”
“Of course, my dear sharpshooter,” Caine chortled.
Satisfied with the games, the two of them tackled the carnival rides next. At the giant slides, Pomni slid down normally while Caine skateboarded his way down. He earned extra points for grinding on the side of the slide and pulling off trick combos in the air. At the bumper carts Caine somehow spun out of control. His cart tilted to the side which then caught on hyper realistic fire. NPCs brought out the fire extinguisher. Caine had reappeared by Pomni’s side as she watched them put out the fire from her own cart. “Hope that guy had insurance,” he remarked. The ride was shut down for the day.
At the carousal Pomni politely declined going into the spinning cup with him, choosing to ride a unicorn-mermaid instead. She watched him put his hands on the center wheel of the cup. His arms pulled at the wheel, straining from the exertion as he gave it one strong spin. Her expression remained placid when both he and the cup disappeared. After the ride she found him bent over a nearby trashcan throwing up. The cup did not return.
Pomni led Caine to the last ride she wanted to go on; the ferris wheel. Stepping onto the basket, Pomni sat across from Caine. The basket was just small enough for their feet to touch slightly as the ride jerked into motion. Rising above the carnival Pomni peeked her head out of the basket, watching as the carnival grounds slowly got further away. In the distance, the sun was just about to sink behind the circus island. Pomni could see the digital lake from where they were. It sat still and looked a bit lowly rendered. Pomni sighed, feeling a nice breeze ruffle her hair and jingle her bells.
Across from Pomni, Caine sat up straight, watching her as she looked across the circus. Pomni, noticing his unusual silence, looked over to him.
“I have been very good!” He stated, hands clasped in his lap. Pomni mirrors him in his rather stiff business-like posture.
“Um, yes,” she agreed, nodding, “You have been.”
“I did not rush you!”
“That’s right, you didn’t.”
Pomni waited for Caine to say something else so she could clearly see where he was leading the conversation. Caine continued to stare at her expectantly. The sharp chime of a timer went off in her head as realization suddenly hit her.
“You did wonderful, Caine!” Pomni praised, “It’s not easy pacing yourself for others but you did!”
The effect was immediate. Caine swayed in his seat, grinning to himself as Pomni’s words washed over him. Biting back a laugh, Pomni leans back, a sudden mischievous idea sparking in her mind.
“You’re always so fast, Caine. It must’ve taken a lot of control to slow down to my speed,” Pomni said as Caine shook his head, trying and failing to hold a humble air.
“You looked really cool when you shot out that star,” Pomni added as Caine began blushing deeply.
“Would you say I looked dashing? Gallant? Attractive?” Caine asked, peeking out from his teeth with twinkling eyes, unabashedly fishing for more.
Pomni felt her face grow hot, her smile turning sheepish. “You were dashing,” Pomni admitted, choosing what she deemed to be the least embarrassing to say out loud. Caine was vibrating in his seat at Pomni’s words, his hands bashfully bunched up at his lower teeth. Pomni chuckled seeing such an all powerful being be so over the moon.
“If me complimenting you for today has you like this, how did Zooble’s feedback yesterday make you feel?” Pomni asked as the ferris wheel completed one loop.
“Fantasmerrific!” Caine gushed, throwing his hands up. Confetti and glitter fell from his sleeves and into the basket. A gust of wind carried it all away.
“I’m glad…thanks for taking my advice.” Pomni smiled, looking back to the circus tent in the distance, “And for what you did for Zooble.”
“As much as I’d love to take all the credit, I can’t! Your input affected a great deal of their experience for the better!” Caine commended, “I should be the one thanking you, my lovely consultant!”
Pomni felt her heart do a leap then faceplant in her ribcage. She clears her throat, gently patting her chest. That digital funnelcake must not be going down easy.
“But,” Caine continued, “I felt today’s post-adventure reactions were a bit…different from what I expected.” Caine takes his hat, fidgeting with the brim as he looks over to the tent.
Pomni pulled at her gloves. “Yeah…maybe you got a bit overexcited from Zooble’s praise…”
♡ ♢ ♤ ♧
Jax groaned the moment he saw where the portal spat them out.
“A museum?” he grumbled, walking up to a small plaque, “Who wants to walk around looking at old stuff all day?”
Pomni didn’t agree with his complaint. She felt relieved to find their adventure took place in such a mundane location. The only story indicator was a note left by the curator requesting they watch over his beloved museum while he takes the day off. Ragatha tagged along with Kinger to admire the living butterfly exhibit. Zooble and Gangle started down the classic arts. Pomni and Jax were left to wander into the modern art exhibit. As Pomni stared at a particularly unique piece, a sculpture of a pink fleshy creature she could not discern, she heard a cry of anguish followed by obnoxious laughter.
Pomni ran towards the commotion to find Gangle covering her mouth, Jax hunched over laughing, and Zooble pinching the space in between their eyes. They were standing in front of a framed drawing complete with its own plaque. Pomni slowed down, looking up at the frame holding a small piece of paper that looked like it was torn from a notebook. A pencil sketch of an anime character was at the very center, eyes large and sparkling.
“I–I drew this in 5th grade!” Gangle squeaked out. Pomni realized that she was looking at one of the innermost, private, sensitive hidden facets of an artist; their childhood OC (Original Character). Pomni looked to the next exhibit, noticing it just as Jax did. It was a larger picture, one colored with alcohol markers, but definitely another one of Gangle’s works.
“Oh no,” Pomni whispered. Zooble followed Pomni’s line of sight as she looked further down the hall.
“Don’t tell me,” Zooble fumed.
Caine had filled the entire modern art exhibit hall with Gangle’s work throughout her lifetime. The pieces ranged from original creations to fanart of characters and items that already existed in their own media. Some pieces stayed true to their size such as the many sketches of characters on notebooks. Others were blown up to fit large paintings such as what looked like a digital drawing of a character Pomni didn’t recognize.
Pomni watched as Gangle went through the exhibit in a panic, over-explaining herself for each piece she came across. Jax was having a wonderful time pointing out all the things Gangle didn’t want him to point out such as proportions, color scheme, and a prevalent type of character design Gangle seemed fond of.
“Leave her alone, it’s not her fault Caine pulled all these out,” Zooble grumbled as Gangle covered her face.
“No, but it’s most definitely her fault I gotta see’em now!” Jax retorted.
“I think it’s kind of nice,” Pomni said quietly, admiring a fully inked and colored page in an oversized frame. Pomni felt Zooble and Jax’s eyes on her, each staring in different forms of shock. Zooble out of anger and Jax out of disbelief.
“I–I meant this work,” Pomni quickly corrected, “Not that it’s nice for Caine to have put them all on display. Just that–this one is really great.” Pomni gave Gangle a small smile, hoping to express her genuine admiration. Gangle’s eyes went wide. She looked up at the piece as Pomni read the information plaque beside it. Gangle made this in what spare time she had while she attended both school and work. It took her hours to compose and outline then even more to fully ink and color. Pomni wasn’t too experienced of an artist, but looking at this piece she could tell how much love and care Gangle poured into it. Gangle watched the way Pomni stared at her work, taking the time to study it.
“Thanks, Pomni,” Gangle sniffed.
Pomni shook her head, “Thank you for making this. I’m sorry I’m kind of seeing it without your permission…”
“To be honest this is really surreal,” Gangle said, looking down the hall dedicated only to her work. “A part of me has always wanted people to see and admire my art. I’ve always wanted to…make something people would enjoy.”
Pomni gave a slight huff, “Leave it to Caine to take that and make something like this…”
Zooble crossed their arms, standing beside Gangle, “Yeah, a real dream come true and [%$@!#] nightmare all in one.”
They went through the exhibit with a now calmer Gangle to guide them through. Pomni listened as Zooble and Gangle discussed different art techniques and inspirations. There were only a few pieces that were digitally drawn. Gangle explained the drawing pad she bought was second-hand and broke after a few months of use. Zooble made Gangle blush when they complimented a dense looking piece where she only used ink.
Though Jax’s heckling didn’t stop as he tagged along, he did eventually stop pointing and laughing. He even asked a question or two regarding Gangle’s art style and anime tastes. Gangle became really excited when a long time character she adored showed up in a piece. She went deep into their lore before nervously moving on when she caught herself rambling.
They went through a lot of different periods of Gangle’s art including one where she came back after a long break. It was a crumpled up piece of paper that someone tried to smooth back out. The wrinkles were still bold while the drawing was small. According to the plaque, the piece was called Regressed?
"I was...going through a hard time," Gangle said softly.
Zooble shook their head, taking one of Gangle’s ribbons into their hand, "You don't need to explain any further. If you want, we could leave so we don't see the rest..."
Pomni nodded in agreement. Jax had walked a bit further off, pretending to be distracted by something else.
Gangle shook her head, "No, it's okay. It feels kind of...cathartic. I can let you know if there’s anything I want to skip–"
“Woah!” They all turned to Jax who was leaning real close to a drawing further down the hall. Gangle let out a shriek the moment she saw what he was staring at. Pomni covered her mouth.
“From which hidden journal did Caine pull this one from?” Jax snickered.
“Oh shut up, Jax, it’s not like we’re not all adults here,” Zooble said, exasperated.
“Even my adult eyes find this a bit too spicy!” Jax exclaimed, fanning himself, “I knew you were capable of a lot of things, Ribbons, but this takes the cake!”
“Many if not most classical art is just as nude,” Zooble protested.
“Uh huh, so Michaelangelo also drew people doing the–”
“Let’s move on, please!” Gangle cried, pushing everyone along.
Just a few drawings down, it was Jax’s turn to let out a cry, “Wha–you! When did you–”
Zooble snorted as Gangle smiled under her ribbons. Pomni’s lips formed a line as she took in the drawing. It was a very large piece, one of the many that Cain randomly chose to blow up. Held within an ornate wooden frame was a drawing of Jax posing in his maid outfit. Gangle drew him completely red in the face, furious, and dripping with sweat. It was almost exactly how he looked then, staring at himself. Gangle really nailed the expression of horrified embarrassment.
“She captured you perfectly,” Zooble remarked.
Jax reached out to grab the frame, intent on ripping it off the wall. An alarm went off activating lasers and a lockdown cage around the drawing.
“What’s the point of us being here if there’s already a security system!” Jax cried.
Back in the present time, Caine was tapping his hands on his lap. “From what you’re describing it sounds like everyone had a wonderful time at some point!” said Caine.
Pomni narrowed her eyes at him then took a breath.
“Caine,” she said evenly, “I thought it was nice that you tried giving Gangle the feeling of having her art displayed and celebrated but…a lot of them were really private to Gangle.”
“I–I simply chose ones that bore great significance to her. And ones that I believed everyone would enjoy!” Caine replied tensely.
“Right, but it’s still her work, you know? I mean how would you feel if someone took your adventures and showed it off to everyone before you felt they were ready?”
Caine frowned, his upper jaw bunching together. “That–that’d be terrible! I–oh…oh dear…”
Pomni lets him marinate on that for a moment, watching as slumped back into his seat.
“And Caine?” she called.
“Yes?” he answered, meekly.
“Did you have to make her artistic creations come alive and attack us?”
Like a wilted plant under an open faucet, Caine immediately perked up. Caine laughed, as if it were the silliest question Pomni’s yet to ask. “Of course! Creator and creation colliding in an epic confrontation? How moving! How marvelous! Why, I can't think of a better climax to the story!”
Caine leaned towards Pomni, putting his hand beside his mouth to whisper to her, “You won’t believe the time it took to ensure there weren’t any copyright infringements.”
Pomni closed her eyes, putting her fingertips to her temple as she recalled the next events.
The moment the sun set on the adventure a drawing Gangle made during college blinked, jumpscaring Pomni. The drawing stepped out of her frame, bowing to Gangle who was at a complete loss for words. Another one, a character she drew as a child, bounded over calling her “My princess” as they planted a kiss on her ribbon. Gangle responded with a high pitched shriek, her mask completely red. Before Zooble could finish saying, “What the [%$@!#],” their little group was surrounded by Gangle’s creations.
Some characters kept to their 2D form while others turned 3D once they passed through their frames. Plenty of characters became their accurate size and height while others stayed their drawing size as they left their canvases. Pomni looked all around at the increasing mass of colorful hair and detailed eyes.
Jax was interviewing an old sketch of Gangle’s, digging real deep for every childhood secret he could pull from the character. Meanwhile, multiple characters were confessing their undying love for her as they tried to declare themselves the superior love interest.
“I’m her true love! She drew me for years even after my manga went on hiatus!” One character cried, eyes tearful.
“So what? She drew me out of her own mind! I was literally made for her!” Countered the other character, their ink smearing.
Zooble was doing their best to back Gangle up before she was swarmed. Gangle kept switching between looking horrified and absolutely ecstatic. Before a ridiculous competition between the love interests could take place one character shoved them aside to confront Gangle.
“Why did you change my backstory to make it more tragic! I had loving parents!”
That caused other characters to speak up about their own tragic backstories, flaws, unfinished arcs, and even their clothing. One character happened to be the tiniest little doodle being held up by an anime girl. They tearfully shared how they were a 3AM frenzied brainstorm and quick sketch in a notes app who was then abandoned. Gangle couldn’t answer them all.
Gangle did try to explain herself only for her most loyal characters to step in front of her protectively, stating how that was no way to address her. Insults were thrown out, the one that Pomni remembered most was one character calling another a “Half-baked, forgotten, Mary-Sue, self-insert, ripoff!” to which the other replied with “You’re not even inked in!”
The magical anime girl threw a punch. Everyone descended into chaos. Weapons were pulled out, characters were powering up, and moves were being loudly announced. There were already casualties as magical blasts scattered everyone across the museum hall. Jax was quick to snatch a nearby character's musket.
“Great job, Gangle!” Jax shouted, dodging a sudden sword swing, “Your drawings are out for blood! Or is it ink? Graphite? Whatever.” With a grin he happily aimed and pulled down the trigger, blasting a character as they were still shouting out their attack move. Pomni picked up her own weapon; a scythe which doubled as a gun. Pomni pulled the trigger of the scythe just as an anime girl aimed her glowing hands at her.
Zooble held up what looked like a giant scissor blade to block an oncoming sword. Gangle was on the ground under Zooble, picking up a dropped magical wand to aim at the character.
“I’m–I’m so sorry Haruka-chan!” Gangle wailed as the magical wand charged up. A multicolored blast later Gangle watched in anguish as the character’s charred 2D body scattered in the air. The battle raged on as the hall began filling with debris, craters, lost weapons, and fallen anime characters.
“Guys, I think the mad characters are winning!” Pomni called out, swiping her scythe wide. A sullen looking anime boy jumped on top of the scythe, using it as a spring to get right above them. He pulled out little ninja stars, ready to throw. Pomni hulled her scythe up and pulled the trigger. The character dropped from the sky, right beside Jax who was busy going through dropped weapons. He tossed aside a black notebook, an oversized paper-cutter looking blade, and a longbow to pick up a big futuristic gun. The moment Jax wrapped his fingers around it the gun transformed, turning into a “lethal eliminator.”
“Music to my ears,” Jax smirked. He jumped into the fray, shooting what looked like an overdesigned hand cannon laser which obliterated whatever it hit. Pomni heard a loud crash near the entrance of the hall. A giant butterfly had broken through the ceiling, soaring above the fight. Pomni spotted Ragatha and Kinger riding on top of it as it dodged random magical blasts. She had no time to comprehend what she was looking at.
All through the night the cast were defending themselves against or running from the various other aggressive exhibits that joined in. Jax was having a blast picking and choosing from weapons when he spotted something cowering away in the corner. It was the drawing of himself wearing the maid uniform. They locked eyes, staring at each other from across the battle strewn hall. Jax pulled out his gun. Pomni didn’t see him for a while after that. She could only guess that he spent a long time chasing his maid counterpart down.
Thankfully, after the aggressive ones were dealt with, Ragatha and Kinger had successfully calmed many of the inhabitants by either impressive acts of diplomacy, completing rather mundane tasks, or simply feeding them.
Gangle quietly sat on the floor, amidst the carnage of her work which were now mainly torn or burnt paper. Some of her surviving friendly characters sat nearby, quietly watching her. She heard a small cough and her name being called out on the now quiet battlefield. Gangle knelt down beside the 2D anime girl, holding her hand as the girl coughed. The girl was holding her side, wincing in pain.
“Shadowthorne-san…” Gangle whispered as her tears fell on the girl's cheeks.
“I know it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other,” said the girl, voice strained as she coughed up ink, “but I was so happy whenever you drew me. Wherever you drew me.”
“It’s okay,” Gangle choked out, “Don’t force yourself to speak.”
“I need to say this.” The girl breathed in slowly, giving Gangle a smile, “Thank you so much for creating me. I was so glad to be there for you when you needed me to be.”
Gangle sobbed, her tears dropping on the girl's cheek. The girl closed her eyes and laid still. As Gangle held her, Zooble placed a gentle hand on Gangle’s shoulder, “Hey, I finally found some supplies,” they said. Zooble placed down several pencils, highlighters, and pens as Gangle tried to wipe her tears away.
“I figured if you created them–” Zooble began.
“Then slaughtered them!” Jax jeered from the side.
“Then you can re-create them,” Zooble finished, ignoring Jax.
Gangle picked up a pencil and held it nervously in her hand, “But–it’s been so long I–”
“Only if you want to,” Zooble said gently.
Several other characters spoke up, reassuring her that they were always there with her. If not under her pencil then in her memory.
“Whether you want to keep drawing us or not, we’ll always be your creations,” said the small crumpled character, “We only hope you remember to keep doing what you love.”
Gangle nodded, wiping away her tears. With a dramatic flourish, she quickly drew a bandage on the girl in her arms. Just like that, the girl opened her eyes again. She smiled at Gangle as the first rays of the morning sun shone through the windows. Gangle’s creations froze, reverted back to their paper forms, and fell to the ground all around her. With tearful eyes, Gangle was smiling as she held them all to her heart.
Pomni crossed her arms across from Caine who nervously stretched out his shirt collar. “Right–yes, the amount of character death was…underestimated,” Caine confessed.
Pomni sighed. “Caine, does something always have to take an unexpected turn on your adventures?”
“Of course!” Caine replied, “Those are the best kinds of turns! Better than the expected is the unexpected!”
“Okay…” Pomni thought for a moment. “What else has to happen on your adventures, Caine?”
“I’m thrilled that you asked!” Caine beamed, taking his hat, “A journey must happen of course! And for that to happen something bad must happen! We need a drive! A reason! High stakes! Character growth! Incredible action! A touching moment of character bonding! Conflict! More action! More conflict!” As Caine listed more things out he’d pull random assortments of items from his hat, discarding them off the side of the ferris wheel as he went along. Pomni only caught a handful of what he was referencing as his little physical examples were dropped off the side.
While Caine droned on Pomni nodded thoughtfully, “And as you said before, something more chill, something low-stakes where nothing terrible happens is–”
Pomni leaned back against the basket, looking off towards the distance. “Then I must’ve really bored you today, huh?”
Caine froze. Pomni heard the sound of something heavy drop out of his hat whistling all the way down before it crashed to the ground, making both of them momentarily lift off from their seats. Pomni saw the paper star booth now crushed by an anvil as the ferris wheel slowed to a stop at the ground. The NPC manning the ferris wheel controls looked back and forth between Caine and Pomni. After neither of them moved or acknowledged the NPC, they started the ferris wheel back up. Pomni silently watched as she rose above the carnival, not bothering to even glance at Caine.
It wasn’t until the ferris wheel was halfway down again that Caine broke from his spell. Shaking his arms, head, then whole body Caine looked like a wet dog drying himself off.
“No, no, no–yes–well–no and yes–I mean,” Caine’s voice was almost strained, emitting a static filter that warped and chopped up his words as he spoke, “We played games–no–nothing bad–we’re–we’re talking! No high stakes–but–um–”
Pomni turned to Caine, brows furrowed and eyes wide. He'd stopped shaking. One hand clutched at his upper jaw while the other gripped his lower teeth. His eyes held that similar frantic look she’d witnessed back in his office. Pomni watched as Caine struggled to make a coherent and complete sentence. Starting then restarting then starting a new statement again and again as his voice continued to distort. Pomni leaned towards him, gingerly taking his hands. Caine quieted, eyes going still.
“Hey, woah, it’s okay,” she soothed, “I had fun today.” Pomni tilted her head to get a better look into Caine’s eyes, “Did you have fun today?” Like coaxing a kitten out from under the bed, Pomni patiently waited for him to process her question. Caine took a moment. Pomni felt his tense arms finally relax as his hands held onto hers.
“I…had fun,” Caine said quietly.
“Yeah?” Pomni watched as Caine’s teeth tilted up into a soft smile.
“Nothinig happened. But I had fun,” Caine said a little louder, his small smile turning into a goofy grin, “Nothing is happening! And I am having fun!”
Pomni lets out a light laugh, “I’m glad!”
Caine swung their arms as the ferris wheel came to a stop again at the very top. The last of the day cycle slid under the island, making way for the night. Below them, various booths and rides of the carnival began turning on their lights, bathing the grounds in a golden glow. Strings of lights turned on in a sequence until they all reached the ferris wheel whose lights were the last to turn on.
“Wow,” Pomni gasped. One of her hands lets go of Caine to grasp onto the side of the basket. She leaned her head over to take in the sight of the glowing carnival. Out of the corner of Pomni’s eye she noticed something shoot across the sky and disappear. Pomni looked up at the stars and saw that they weren’t the usual stagnant white dots and few doodles, but real twinkling lights scattered across a gradient night sky.
“Did you update the sky since the stargazing adventure?” Pomni asked, smiling wider as another shooting star flew by. Caine doesn’t answer. She felt his hand grip hers just a bit tighter. In the glow of the starlights, Caine could only stare as Pomni turned to look at him.
Caine was used to always running. That was one of his primary functions: to run. He ran the circus, the adventures, the shows. He ran things in the background, the middleground, the foreground. His very being was always running. But now, as he held onto her, he suddenly felt himself slow.
It was agonizingly slow.
The one second it took her to turn to him was so…agonizingly…blissfully…slow.
Caine felt himself manually take it all in, one detail at a time. He wanted to remember the way the stars danced behind her. The way they framed that charming hat of hers. He wanted to remember the shade of blue that bathed her from above and the warm lights that reflected off her from below. The way she slowly turned to him, the way her hair gently blew in the night air, and her eyes. He wanted to remember the exact pattern of stars that reflected off her eyes as she gazed at him.
Caine stopped running.
“...Caine?”
Everything suddenly kicked back into overdrive.
“Yes?” Caine replied.
Pomni hesitated, “...my hand?”
Caine followed her line of sight to where his fingers were still holding onto hers. He looked back up at her.
“The sky–yes it is there,” he answered.
Pomni blinked at him, mouth turning down in concern.
“Um–” Pomni began to say. Caine glanced down again.
“Oh,” he uttered.
Caine lets go of Pomni.
Retrieving her hand, Pomni asked Caine another question. Caine waited a beat then held up a finger as if a thought just occurred to him.
“I must go feed the Bubble,” he said, words tumbling out robotically. Caine stood up and stepped out of the basket where he hovered for a moment. Summoning his staff, he jabbed it down in the air and turned back to Pomni. “Enjoy your night, Starlight!”
Just like that, Caine warped himself away. Pomni waited a moment, as if he’d return as suddenly as he’d left. After the moment passed she sighed. Pomni crossed her arms and hung her elbows out of the basket, setting her chin on her wrists. She thought that he could’ve at least waited for the ride to be over then caught herself. Pomni groaned, pulling at her hat as she felt her face heat up.
Something bright suddenly appeared from overhead. Pomni looked up to see the moon gently smiling down at her.
“Don’t worry,” said the Moon, “I don’t mind sharing.”
Pomni looked at her in complete and utter horror. With a flushed face and shaking eyes, she leaned out the basket to call out below, “Could someone please get me down from here!”
♡ ♢ ♤ ♧
Pomni closed her bedroom door, relieved she didn’t run into anyone on her way back from the carnival. She walked to her bed, not bothering to turn on her lights. She fumbled a bit in the dark trying to find her bedpost. Her hand brushed over something foreign making her jump.
“What the–” Pomni felt around a bit more, her hands squishing various different objects and sinking into others. Her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness as she squinted at the soft object in her hands. A familiar bee plush stared blankly back at her. Pomni looked over to her bed where all the prizes Caine won earlier now sat.
A small laugh escaped her as she marveled at the sight of her bed completely overtaken by her new plush roommates.
“Sorry, guys,” she said, gathering them up, “some of you will have to settle for the floor.”
She removed all the plushies except for two. Yawning, Pomni climbed into bed, pressing her back against the gummy-gator plush. She wrapped her arms around the bee, hugging it close to her chest. As she nuzzled against the plush, Pomni drifted easily off to sleep.
Megabyte Sized Adventures: Ask and You Shall Receive
Synopsis: After asking one question too many regarding Caine over a game of cards, Pomni finds herself alone with the ringmaster thanks to Jax. Pomni is then dragged through an old adventure with Caine as her unabating tour guide.
Word Count: 8,855
Pairing: Showtime! (Caine/Pomni)
Warnings: Slowburn/Accidental Touching
AO3: Link
♧ Next ->
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Pomni listens to the shuffling of cards as Zooble sets up the next round, evenly distributing everyone’s hands across the table. They were playing Old Maid without the old maid. Ragatha had disposed of all the queens in the deck out of consideration for Kinger who was actually joining them to play for once. The only missing member was Jax who had coolly declined playing cards claiming he had more important things to do. Pomni wondered if it was due to his absence that Zooble joined them without any excuse this time.
As Pomni picked up her cards, two thoughts occurred to her: the first being Zooble was too good at shuffling because she had no pairs in her hand, the second being, “Does Caine also join you guys to just hang out sometimes?”
Ragatha hums, trying to recall any instance of that in her long tenure in the circus, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Caine outside of ushering us in and out of adventures.”
“Sometimes he announces things,” Gangle said, taking a card from Kinger’s hand.
“And sometimes he makes us perform things for an audience we don’t see,” added Zooble.
“Outside of all that, I don’t think any of us really know what Caine does in his down time,” Ragatha looked up in thought, “Does he have down time?”
“I don’t want to know or even care to know what Jax does when no one’s watching him, let alone Caine,” Zooble remarked, pulling a card from Ragatha before setting down another pair.
“Oh, uh, do you guys not…like? Caine?” Pomni asked, taking a card from Kinger.
“I wouldn’t say that but…it’s like asking your boss to hang out after work. It seems like a great idea at first till certain boundaries get crossed,” Zooble replied.
Pomni looked at them, “Is Caine…our boss?”
The group fell silent for a moment. “Boss” wasn’t exactly correct yet he’s still the closest thing they had to an authority figure in this world. Caine may call himself the boss or ringmaster, but no one wanted to actually consider him as being their boss.
“Well, I want to avoid him like he is one,” Zooble said, leaning their cards closer to Gangle for easier access.
Pomni nodded absentmindedly, watching as the others completed their turn around the table. She fails to make a pair after grabbing from Gangle’s hand.
“Did–did you want to invite Caine to hang out with us?” Gangle asked. Pomni found herself almost flinching as the cast turned to look at her. She avoided their gaze by staring intently at her own cards.
“No, no, I was just curious about what Caine does after I realized he kind of disappears every day?” Pomni stumbled through her explanation, “I–I mean he’s the only one of us who isn’t human. He seems to genuinely want us to enjoy his adventures, but his adventures can genuinely be terrifying? Sometimes he seems to be trying really hard to accommodate us then other times he’s just doing whatever he wants and–and…” Pomni looks up at the wide eyed stares from her fellow castmates. Before she could stammer out something to save herself from the awkward spotlight Kinger speaks up.
“Do you like Caine, Pomni?” Kinger asked suddenly. Pomni wasn’t the only one surprised by Kinger’s sudden question. He stared at Pomni, unblinking bloodshot eyes patiently waiting for her answer. He could also just be staring at the space behind her.
Pomni’s mouth forms a line as her brows bunched together, “I don’t think I hate him at least? Today kind of sucked, but I guess I’m glad he hasn’t made any more self-aware NPC’s since–” Pomni catches herself, immediately regretting where she was steering the conversation. Ragatha, sensing Pomni’s discomfort, clears her throat, “I personally really liked what he did with that haunted mansion adventure! It was nice just talking to the lady of the house. She was a great conversationalist and I actually enjoyed her company.”
Ragatha gives Pomni a small reassuring smile. One that Pomni gratefully returned. Zooble lets out a groan, “Wasn’t that the one he’d specifically made for me thinking I’d enjoy it? The one where Pomni ended up going to hell?”
“He said he made it really “cool” and “ma-tour,” just for you,” Gangle said with a sad smile, her comedy mask sitting beside her unbroken.
Zooble clicked their tongue, or at least made the sound, “Nothing I say to that guy ever sticks. I don’t know whether he’s just ignoring, forgetting, or just not understanding me. It always goes back to his stupid adventures done his way.” Zooble makes a pair after grabbing from Pomni’s hand. “Last time I gave it to him straight I thought I almost caused a chernobyl,” Zooble sighs, “Maybe…it just isn’t in his programming.”
Something about that didn’t seem completely right to Pomni. From what everyone’s said on previous adventures and from the latest adventures Pomni had experienced, nothing had come close to the same genre that Caine made that day. Caine was capable of conjuring up a unique type of horror he believed Zooble would like. It was an odd outlier custom made for Zooble. Something was nagging at Pomni. It felt like she was trying to recall a song whose melody kept fading the harder she tried to remember.
“Anyways, it’s your loss, Pomni,” Zooble said, derailing Pomni’s train of thought.
Pomni looked up to find everyone’s hands emptied of cards. Pomni alone held the last one, a red joker.
“Go fish, Pomni,” Kinger suddenly chirped. Pomni squinted at his empty hands resting on the table. She wondered how he managed to be the first one out.
♡ ♢ ♤ ♧
After losing several more card games Pomni was the first to turn in for the day. Though she did enjoy spending time with mostly everyone, she was exhausted from both the day's adventures and unsatisfied with the earlier conversation. Pomni sighed, rounding a giant toy block. Jax was leaning against it on the other side, eyes closed.
“Hey Jax,” Pomni greeted politely. From the way his smile stretched she instinctively braced herself for what came out of his mouth.
“Curious about Caine, huh?” Jax drawled, eyes opening slightly to peek at Pomni.
“You were eavesdropping?” Pomni asked, thumb pointing back to the table.
Jax scoffed, rolling his eyes as he bent down to Pomni with both hands on his hips, “Please, I just happened to be passing by after leaving a present for dear ol’ Ragatha,” Jax said following Pomni as she walked towards their living quarters. Pomni was too tired to deal with whatever Jax was cooking up. She wanted to get to bed and faceplant onto her covers before the next call to adventure happened. Jax straightened up, smile momentarily dropping from Pomni’s lack of reaction. Jax does a cartoony shrug, walking ahead of Pomni in long strides, “Oh, I get it, us humans just aren’t enough for you anymore.”
Pomni stopped, “What’s that supposed to–”
“First the gator from down unda’ and now Caine? I mean, I knew you had a thing for gummy but I didn’t know you had a thing for gummy,” Jax does a wink towards what Pomni assumed to be the audience he sometimes addressed. In the distance a subtle ba-dum-tiss sound is played and heard by no one. Pomni blinked rapidly then felt herself bristle at the implication. Biting down, Pomni clenched her fists and brushed past Jax.
“[%$@!#] off, Jax.”
“Aw, don’t be like that Pom-pom we’ve all got our dirty little kinks. S’nothing to be ashamed of!”
Pomni doesn’t answer as she walks quickly towards the hall.
Jax keeps up with her easily, “Hey, I support your little obsession I really do! Next time he tosses us into an adventure I’ll even help you get some one-on-one time with him.”
Jax waits for a response that doesn’t come. Pomni doesn’t turn around to see Jax drop his smile. He stops walking, letting Pomni walk ahead. The rabbit’s ear twitched once then his smile slid back into place.
“Actually, why wait?” Jax places a fist on his hip, pulling his other hand up to his cheek.
“Oh, Caine!” Jax called out in a sing-song voice. His words echoed through the quiet tent. Pomni stopped in her tracks, slowly turning to look at Jax. His eyes were big and brimming with mirth. After the echoes faded Pomni breathed a sigh of relief when nothing came.
Jax hummed, index finger tapping his cheek,“I don’t think he heard us. Everybody say, ‘Oh, Caine!’”
Pomni sprinted to Jax in a panic ready to tackle him and stuff that nonstop mouth of his up. Pomni sees him take another breath just as her feet leave the ground. She collides with something malleable. Pomni’s vision was distorted and her body weightless. All around her was a transparent filter dancing with iridescent colors. A face appeared in front of her, blown up over twice the size from how she usually sees him. Bubble opened his mouth to speak, “I’m host to a Pomni!”
Pomni did want to think about how she was inside of Bubble, but here she is, inside of Bubble. Caine appeared right behind Jax, which would’ve surprised anyone else but the smiling rabbit who simply side-stepped away.
“What can I do ya’ for, Jax?” Caine asked, giving his staff a twirl. Pomni tried to push her way out of Bubble. Her hands simply stretched his rubber like exterior.
“I’m uncomfortable!” exclaimed Bubble.
“Then let me out!” Pomni cried. Her voice was muffled, much to Jax’s delight. It just makes the next part that much easier for him.
“Oh, it’s just that our pwecious Pomni here simply couldn’t shut up about you!” Jax said, one hand presenting the Bubble encased Pomni.
Pomni kicked at Bubble who didn’t so much as flinch. Jax circled Bubble, placing an arm to lean on him as Pomni tried elbowing her way out. From the amount of censor bars Jax took count of, Pomni could be breaking a record.
“Oh yes she’s just so curious about the, uh, ins and outs and all the abouts of your adventure making process,” Jax shrugged, “You understand, Caine, she’s still so new after all.”
Caine’s jaw opened wide in shock, “Pomni, you curious Geoffrey, why didn’t you say so before!”
Caine looked at Pomni who was vehemently shaking her head. Bubble’s face slowly orbited his form, covering the jester’s panicked expression. Caine tapped his staff against his bottom teeth in thought, “Hm, but this won’t do. Pomni will simply be spoiled for the next adventure.”
“So just show her your old adventures. She really likes the thrilling ones,” Jax suggested.
“No, that won’t work,” Caine said, then puts his fist into his palm, “I’ve got it! I can just show her my old adventures!”
“Great idea, Caine,” Jax sarcastically replied, his smile unfaltering.
Caine leans down to Bubble, easily popping him with a jab of his index finger. Pomni landed on the floor and could only manage taking a breath before Caine placed a hand on her shoulder, warping them both away. Jax was left alone with a smile almost as wide as his face, patting himself on the back for a scheme well done.
♡ ♢ ♤ ♧
Pomni reeled from the sudden warping. Holding her head still in one hand, she looked around what looked like an office filled top to bottom with colorful orbs, displays of random objects, and scattered pieces of paper on the ground.
“Welcome to the Archive!” Caine eagerly welcomed Pomni, waving his arm in an arch to reveal his words spelled out in the air above him. Archive was spelled in Papyrus font. Pomni read ‘Caine’s Office’ in parentheses underneath the title. The words fluttered away like pieces of paper.
“Um,” Pomni avoided the “A” in “Archive" from landing on her, “Thanks.”
Caine places a finger under his lower jaw as he flies through the colorful shelves.
“Which to start with…”
Pomni watched him look back and forth between two orbs, debating on one over the other. Pomni wished she was strangling a certain lanky purple [%$@!#]-hole right now, but she had to figure out a way out of this first. A pink orb caught her eye. Pomni walked over to the shelf, leaning down to see a familiar candy kingdom contained in the orb. Being this close she hears a cheering crowd and the sound of trumpets.
“Are these…all the adventures yo–”
“This one!” Caine tossed a green orb up, spinning it on his index finger. He passes it to Pomni who catches it on instinct. With a snap a portal appeared above their heads and swallowed them up. Pomni immediately feels the humidity in the air, strands of her hair already sticking to her cheeks. She looks up and lets out a scream. Just above her were the wide open jaws of a Tyrannosaurus Rex frozen in place.
“I’m glad you noticed! The details of the teeth are impressive, but not as impressive as that atmosphere!” Caine laid on his side in the mouth of the dinosaur, tapping on the teeth as he spoke. Pomni steadied her heavy breathing trying her best to calm down as Caine practically lounged on the dinosaur’s tongue.
“What the [%$@!#]?” Pomni hugged the orb to her chest, gloves slipping across its surface. The dinosaur’s mouth snapped shut. Pomni screamed again, jumping back. Her feet caught onto a thick tree root. She lands on her side, arms shaking around the orb as she backs away from the dinosaur which was thankfully frozen again.
“Gadzooks! Wouldn’t wanna be that guy,” Caine said, reappearing from behind the head of the creature. He wiped his upper jaw in mock relief. Pomni could feel herself nearing hysteria as her body continuously shook.
“Caine, I don’t want to be here!” Pomni cried out. Even while frozen the sheer size of the dinosaur shot in her an ancient, primal, fear. For Pomni, the worst wasn’t the teeth but those eyes. Those blank, unblinking eyes staring down at her.
“Then take us away,” said Caine. His nonchalance spiked her anger.
“How am I–”
“You have the handy dandy Reversible Engineered Motor Orb That’s Effective or “Remote” for short!” Caine slid down the dinosaur’s snout, landing in front of Pomni. He picks up the orb and Pomni along with it. Pomni held onto that little orb for dear life as she was placed on her feet. Caine presses one finger against the orb’s surface and slides it to the right. The environment changed rapidly. The dinosaur opened and closed its jaw again, took two steps back, then disappeared. Up above, Pomni sees the sun quickly streaking across the sky as plants and foliage begin to disappear around her. The humidity disappeared soon after. Caine continued to slide his finger across the orb until there was nothing but gray.
No more jungle, no more T-rex, no more anything really. It was a completely empty, seemingly endless, gray space. Pomni felt herself let out a sigh of relief. She looked up at the ringmaster who took his finger off the orb.
“Caine, what is going on?” she asked, careful now not to let her fingers slide across the orb.
“As you requested, I’m showing you an earlier adventure I’d made! This one was the Jurassic Jungle Expedition of Wonder!” Caine turned to dramatically reveal the empty space.
“Well, it was–is the Jurassic Jungle Expedition of Wonder. This is simply where I start before every adventure comes to exist,” Caine explained, sitting in the air, “So it will be the Jurassic Jungle Expedition of Wonder in 38.22 seconds.” Caine points to the remote in Pomni’s hands. Taking Caine’s cue, Pomni placed a hesitant finger on the orb and slid just an inch across it towards the left. The space became filled with trees, oversized plants, and randomly placed rocks. Pomni moves it another inch. Grass sprung from under her feet and a sun appeared in the sky. Pomni squinted at the sun realizing it didn’t actually shine. Reaching one arm out, she turned her palm towards the sky and felt no warmth. Looking down, she saw no shadows. The sun might as well be a picture cut out and glued to the sky.
Pomni didn’t notice Caine watching her as he floated just above her jester hat. Caine held a finger under his jaw in contemplation. Pomni was always so expressive. Almost every thought and emotion found a way to settle onto her features. Though Caine may not be the most expert at understanding them, he didn’t need to be in order to simply enjoy seeing them.
“Huh,” Pomni remarked, “do you manually add the heat? And the shadows?”
Caine blinked,“Of course! The sun is there but it’s not a light source yet.”
“I actually never thought about that,” Pomni said, sliding her finger across the remote as more and more of the world came to be. Pomni didn’t notice just how dull the colors were until everything suddenly became exceptionally brighter as different hues were implemented into the environment. Pomni lets out a hum as she notices the weather change from sunny to storming then back to sunny.
“Do you–” Pomni began.
“This is taking too long,” Caine interrupted, snapping his finger.
“Wha–” the orb, or remote, disappeared from Pomni’s hands.
Caine pulled the orb from his hat and spun it on his finger, the world once again rapidly coming into creation. Caine bounced the orb once. The environment changed from a jungle to a giant gate with barbed wire at the top.
“This is where the adventure began,” Caine explained, voice somehow more theatrical than before, “I had debated on starting mid-outbreak, but they always ask more questions when I put them right into the action. Apparently it’s “kind of confusing” and “disorienting” and “God, Caine, you can’t just throw us in and expect us to break the Geneva Convention,’” With each quote Caine changed his voice to perfectly mimic the cast’s criticism. Pomni snorted, easily visualizing who said what. Caine peered down at Pomni, noting her reaction. He also noted it being the first time he was the cause of it.
“I have to agree with them on that,” Pomni said.
The doors to the gates opened. Caine led the way floating in with Pomni following along. Caine shrugged his shoulders,“I suppose there is a bigger payoff when the story has the time to build up, but enough of that! This adventure had me test out my newly improved wild animal AI–”
Once Caine got started on explaining the ins and outs and all the abouts of his adventure making process there was no slowing down. He would spin the little remote orb, toss it, juggle it, and even dunk it, as he pulled Pomni through every inch of the adventure. One moment they were going step by step on where the cast would be prompted to go, the next moment they were underwater where Caine showed the importance of preparing things that no one could ever naturally stumble on just so that on the very off chance that someone does they won’t be disappointed. In this case, it was a terrifying low poly red eel which stared into your soul.
Pomni was thrown this way and that as Caine went through his steps at choosing the genre, the NPC’s, the failsafes, textures, calibrating what assets to reuse in order to save time and give the cast a familiar character to enjoy. Pomni winced, remembering the Spudsy’s incident.
Caine quickly continued on going into detail about the puzzles, the plot, the roles, and the end goal he must consider. Sometimes he must think about the possible wardrobe and how it'd fit each person and goodness of course he must avoid clashing their color schemes. It was endless.
Pomni knew it wasn’t always easy to finish your sentence around Caine, but right here in his full element he was a complete and utter conversation hoarder. Pomni didn’t know if she was imagining Caine picking up speed or if it was simply her mind failing to catch up with all the information he was dumping on her. Pomni could only smile and nod until one of the millions of details Caine explained caught her attention. They were in a jeep with Caine in the driver’s seat and Pomni in the passenger. The orb was in the backseat with its seatbelt on. Cain reached over to Pomni’s side, opening the glove box.
“Of course, I avoided placing the centipede around this route for Ragatha but hid him in the glove compartment of the getaway vehicle for Jax,” Caine opened the glove box to reveal the hidden centipede NPC reading a tiny newspaper.
Caine continued, “Now, the tricky part was–”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Pomni interrupted, shaking her head to focus her thoughts. Pomni placed a hand on Cain’s arm before he could shift the gear into drive.
“You avoided placing it for Ragatha,” Pomni started slowly, Caine was already nodding his head in response, “but you put it in the glove compartment for Jax?”
“That is what I said, yes,” Caine gives Pomni a little pat on the head as Pomni swallows down a grumble, “Good job!”
“Why?” Pomni asked.
“Because you remembered what I said! Good jo–”
“No, not that, why did you put the centipede there if you knew Ragatha hated them?”
“Because Jax likes that Ragatha hates them,” Caine answered. Pomni opened her mouth, another question ready to tumble out. Caine shifted the gear into drive and floored it. For the next, what felt like hours, Pomni could not form a complete sentence. Caine sped throughout the terrain going the speed of, well, Caine. The car would jump, crawl, and zig-zag all over the map as Caine explained how he planned the route the crew were meant to take.
At the end of the adventure tour Caine waited for Pomni to finish throwing up in a bush beside the getaway submarine.
“Well, that’ll do for this tour of the Jurassic Jungle Expedition of Wonder! Be sure to tip your tour guide on the way out and we all wish you a very Jurassic day!” The obnoxious sound of a wheezing harmonica punctuated Caine’s farewell. A portal appeared under them. They both phased through it, reappearing back in the Archives as the room spun itself right side up so both Caine and Pomni landed on their feet.
“How was it, my inquisitive Anomalocaris?” Caine asked, rolling the green orb down his shoulders and back onto the shelf.
Pomni’s temporary euphoric relief at being out of a cartwheeling vehicle disappeared with Cain’s question. She was grateful for the couches in front of Caine’s desk, she really needed a moment to sit down. The moment she did she felt the weight of the day sink into her digital body all at once. Her mind felt like it was filled with static, her limbs were overcooked noodles, and her eyes were diverting energy by blinking one at a time. Pomni was utterly spent. Caine sat on his desk, hands clasped together over his bent knee, eagerly awaiting her thoughts. Pomni turned away from him, resting her head on the armrest.
“I definitely never realized how much thought you put into every detail on these adventures. I’ve never even considered half of what you showed me,” said Pomni.
“But of course! I put my everything into every adventure for you humans,” Caine stated.
“It’s hard to imagine doing that every day. It’s pretty impressive,” Pomni said, stifling a yawn. Pomni rubbed her eyes, feeling the sting from how dry they felt. She opened her eyes to find Caine face to teeth with her, his eyes blown wide and shaking. Pomni sputtered at his sudden proximity, Caine made no move to distance himself as he floated right above her.
“Uh, Cai–”
“You really think so?”
In the background Pomni sees his staff spinning slowly as it crosses one end of the room to the other. Her gaze refocused on Cain whose pupils were slowly growing bigger as he waited for her to answer.
“Yes,” she finally breathed, “I thought it was very impressive, Caine.”
Caine, without a single sound or bodily movement, floated straight up. Pomni laid there watching him, propping herself up on her elbows as he continued to rise higher to the ceiling. Pomni did not know what this meant in the slightest as she felt dread fill her digital body. Several feet above Pomni, Caine burst into a firework show.
Pomni nervously watched as the fireworks burst into an image. There was Caine mid-victory jump, then on the next burst Pomni saw her own words spelled out in a quote with her face being credited under it. Pomni’s mouth turned up just slightly, suppressing a surprised chuckle from escaping her. A few more fireworks burst more celebratory images before dispersing slowly, colorful streams of light disappearing in the air.
Pomni looked down where Caine reappeared, sitting right across from her on the couch. “Oh, Pomni, your genuine words mean the absolute digital world to this ringmaster,” Caine said, wiping a tear from leaking past his canines. “And that was just my old adventure. It doesn’t even compare to the one you had today!” he added as Pomni grimaced. Cain switched positions to lay on his stomach, jaw resting on his interlocked hands.
“So, my jovial little jester, were you as impressed with today’s adventure? How does it compare? What was your favorite part? Did you catch all the super subtle references I made?” With each question Caine shimmied closer to Pomni who moved as far back against the armrest as she could. Again that staff of his appeared in the background, bouncing off the floor and up towards the ceiling.
Pomni stared at Caine, remembering the awful feeling of dehydration from today’s desert themed adventure. She’d almost suffered heat stroke, a giant sand worm nearly swallowed her up, Jax had lured said worm to attack the bazaar, and sand managed to get into every crevice of her clothing.
“Uh,” Pomni searched every memory trying to find anything she could genuinely compliment him for, “I liked…the bazaar?”
“What did you like about it?” Caine was kicking his feat in anticipation.
“Well, I’ve never been to one so I liked the…variety? Of items?” Pomni tilted her head to the side, “I think I liked that I felt somewhat safe there. It felt like I wasn’t in any mortal danger…until I was.” Pomni looked at Caine who was looking away in thought.
“What about you?” Pomni quickly asked, “What’s your favorite part of the adventures?”
Caine repositioned himself to sit on the couch, “Why, that’s an easy answer! It’s seeing you all enjoying them!”
“Oh, that’s…sweet,” Pomni said, surprised it wasn’t some obscure step in creating the adventures themselves instead.
“Is that what you do all day when we’re not on an adventure? Make them?” Pomni asked.
“Of course! Along with some other preparations for you rowdy bunch!”
“Huh,” Pomni hummed, “And during the adventures?”
“Sometimes Bubble and I grab brunch,” Caine sighed, “The things we talk about…”
Caine suddenly remembered something. He snapped. A plate of sandwiches appeared on Pomni’s lap.
“Can’t have you chatting on an empty stomach!” Caine said with a smile.
Pomni blinked at the plate, “Um, thanks.”
Pomni realizes she probably missed dinner with the others. She picks up a sandwich and bites into it. A regular turkey sandwich, or rather, close enough to a regular turkey sandwich. Pomni remembered the first time she actually ate after she’d arrived at the circus. It was an uncanny sensation on all her senses. Everything was at close as it could get to chewing, tasting, swallowing, and yet something always felt off. Now she was having a hard time remembering just what the difference between eating a real sandwich and a digital sandwich was. As Pomni ate, she glanced at Caine who was staring at her plate of sandwiches, drumming his hands against his teeth. Pomni picked up the plate and offered it to Caine.
“Do you want the other one?”
Caine looked up at her, “Nonsense, I don’t eat food, Pomni! Nor do I need to!”
Pomni shrugged, “It just feels weird being the only one eating.” Not to mention being watched while you’re eating.
Caine processed this. “Right! Of course! A meal is meant to be shared!” Caine accepted the plate, opened his jaw wide, and threw the whole thing into his mouth plate and all.
Pomni doesn’t react to the spectacle.
“Um, is there anything you like doing for yourself? Like…hobbies or fun things that you enjoy,” Pomni asked, finishing off the last bite of her sandwich.
Caine waved a hand at Pomni, “Oh, my silliest of geese, making adventures is my fun hobby!”
“Then I guess you wouldn’t really join us for a card game anytime soon, huh?” Pomni said offhandedly, dusting crumbs off her gloves.
Caine sputtered, “I–you–me? You would invite me to play cards?”
Pomni flinched, realizing what she just said out loud. She softly pulled at her jester hat, “I–I wouldn’t be against you joining,” Pomni stuttered out. Caine paused. Behind Pomni, a pencil momentarily glitched and fell off the table.
“It doesn’t have to just be cards, it can be any small game or activity…with the others,” Pomni quickly added.
The pencil glitched back onto the table. Caine shook his head. Pomni hears his eyes jangle in his mouth.
“No, no, I couldn’t possibly join you all!” he said cheerfully.
“Right, sorry, I just thought it’d be…it was a silly offer, you are pretty busy,” Pomni said.
“Yes indeed, very busy! These adventures don’t make themselves!”
Caine watched the way Pomni avoided eye contact, her arms hugging herself almost protectively. She seemed embarrassed and…disappointed. But at what? At who? Certainly not Caine and most certainly not the idea of him working on his adventures. Yes, yes, right! His adventures!
“Now that you’ve seen what adventure was and what adventure is, what can I do to make them better? Any thoughts, Pomni?” Caine asked, resting his lower jaw in the palm of his hand.
Pomni sighed wondering if by the time this conversation was over she’d be able to stop hearing the word “adventure” echoing in her mind.
“I guess…is it so bad for us to have a chill adventure every now and then?” Pomni asked.
“No! But it’d be boring! Which is even worse than bad!” Caine replied.
Through sheer willpower Pomni kept herself from openly groaning.
“Okay then, what about the suggestion box? Will we ever do any of those again?”
“They said no–” Caine froze. Pomni watched his form glitch once. “No-thing important!” Caine laughed a long and a hollow laugh. “What is important is how I managed to improve on that sun heat! Not to mention the sheer size of that sand worm! And–and the sand physics!” Caine started rambling. On and on he went, listing everything that was improved on in his new adventure. At random points he’d spew off topic statements which Pomni couldn’t follow.
Pomni hesitated, wondering if it was right for her to push the subject further. Caine was the most frazzled she’d seen him be. The ringmaster looked almost lost as his eyes looked everywhere around the room, hands gesturing non-stop. She wasn’t sure he even knew what he was saying at this point.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Pomni suggested, interrupting Caine mid-speech.
“About what? The sand physics? The pathfinding?”
“About…what Zooble said?”
Caine tilted his head, “What did Zooble say?” Pomni’s brows furrowed, confused by Caine’s own genuine confusion.
“That ‘nobody likes your stupid adventures!’” Bubble answered, appearing in between Caine and Pomni, mouth hanging open, eyes empty of thought. He was popped immediately by Caine. Pomni stared at Caine who stared right back at Pomni.
Caine laughs again, “Oh that Zooble–Bubble! They sure can…speak! Yes, they sure can…say…things.” Caine freezes again. Pomni sees Caine’s eyes unfocus as he stares off into the distance. The room began to rumble.
“Uh…Caine?” Pomni waves a hand in front of Caine. He remained perfectly still as the room began glitching apart. The couch across from Pomni disappeared then reappeared vertically, parts of the room began bleeding together, the walls and floors flickered into grids. The orbs lining the walls shook with some being knocked off the shelves.
“Caine!” Pomni yelled above the noise in a panic. Out of the corner of her eye she saw his staff again. An orb teetered off its place catching the end of the staff and sending it careening towards Pomni. Pomni instinctively put her arms up, closing her eyes, she braced herself for the impact. A few seconds went by.
Pomni slowly opened her eyes, finding the tip of the staff just an inch away. She looked up. Caine held the end of it, having caught it mid-air before it collided with her. The room was silent. Pomni couldn’t see Caine’s expression over the staff. Her mind tried to work out what exactly just happened. What Zooble said earlier echoed back to her, how he almost went nuclear the last they gave it to Caine straight. Was he so hurt by what Zooble said before that the whole circus almost fell apart? The thought of the structural integrity of the circus being held together by the emotional capacity of Caine made Pomni sweat. Pomni looked down at her lap, eyes searching as her mind tried to find an answer.
Gripping the couch cushions, Pomni went through her thoughts one more time. Caine puts his everything into these adventures. He exists for these adventures. And yet, his favorite part wasn't some plot point or trope in his stories. It wasn’t even the art of creating them. Pomni took in a shaky breath. She looked up at Caine. That’s right. What Caine loved the most wasn’t the adventures themselves. It was seeing everyone enjoy them.
Pomni grabs Caine’s staff, pulling him close till she was practically in his jaws.
“Ragatha really liked talking to the lady in that haunted manor! Kinger loved the detail of the fireflies you included for his suggestion! Gangle was so excited to imagine her own evil counterpart after you made ours she even drew her version of it!” Pomni blabbered on, not letting her thoughts have even a moment to gather.
“I see now how hard you work on them, Caine. Choosing and making these adventures from nothing, that’s–that’s not something I can even begin to imagine doing!” Caine watched, expressionless, as Pomni took a breath.
“Your adventures have great aspects to them, Caine! You even made parts of our suggestions better than what I imagined! And I literally never know what you’re going to think of next.” Pomni hoped that last bit sounded positive, but she herself wasn’t too sure. At the very least, the room wasn’t glitching. Pomni was out of breath, her hands hurt from how hard she was gripping the staff.
Caine lets go of his staff. Pomni quickly lays it down in front of her. Backing up, Caine clamped his jaw shut, and waved his other hand sheepishly. Pomni could make out what seemed to be blush coloring his teeth. Which was an odd thing to observe.
“Oh Pomni, you–you flatterer. You don’t mean all that!” Caine gushed as steam rose from in between his teeth.
“I do!” Pomni cried, grabbing Caine’s waving hand as he peeks out from his teeth. “Seeing all you do for us today–all that you’ve done. I realized I don’t show my appreciation enough. I’m sorry,” Caine feels Pomni’s grip on his hand tighten, “Thank you, Caine.”
Caine looks between Pomni’s round, sincere eyes and her intertwined hand in his. Pomni, noticing his gaze, quickly let’s go. Caine begins floating up, hands holding his head, knees almost pulled up to his chest.
“Oh goodness, Pomni,” Caine said, voice cracking, “For so long I’ve wanted–I’d always hoped–this is the best–Oh! Oh dear, I think I’m overheating.”
Caine looked so giddy he was almost vibrating. Steam rose from his head as Caine’s blush deepened. His body does a slow flip in the air. Pomni felt like she could breathe again. She felt she’d stopped something from happening, possibly Caine kicking her out his office with a boot and a new “No Pomni’s allowed” sign. Pomni felt her shoulders sag from the sudden exhaustion of maneuvering a conversational mind field. But far above that, Pomni felt relieved at seeing Caine back to his usual goofy self.
“I sure am learning a lot about you today,” Pomni said, putting the staff on her lap.
“You are?” Caine peeked out from his teeth. He stopped spinning in the air and was now upside down facing Pomni.
“I realized I…barely knew anything about you before this. Now you seem a bit more…multifaceted?” Pomni perked up, “Oh, that reminds me. Do you know all of our likes and dislikes? Like with the centipede thing?”
“I know lots of things!” Caine said enthusiastically. He snapped, a small notepad appearing in his hand. He relaxes back into the couch, crossing one leg over the other. Pomni only saw little doodles of bees on the pages he flipped passed.
Caine clears his throat,“Gangle hopes no one finds the hidden sketchbook she lodged in between her mattress!”
“Wait–”
“Ragatha does have a favorite horse, though she denies it!”
“I don’t think I should be hearing all of thi–”
“Jax absolutely, positively, utterly, and completely cannot let anyone find out he–”
“Stop!” Pomni jumped on top of Caine. She was aiming to, at the very least, grab the notepad he was using out of his hands. At the very most she was prepared to do an elbow drop on his upper jaw to shut him up. Instead of either of these things, Pomni finds herself pinning the ringmaster to the couch. The staff and notepad both fell to the floor.
Pomni panted above Caine who was still as he looked up at her. Pomni’s hands were planted beside his head while her knees sunk into the couch beside his waist. Pomni’s heart began beating faster as she became much too aware of how close their bodies were to each other. Looking into Caine’s eyes, she saw herself reflected in them. Her eyes looked frantic, her lips were agape, and her cheeks were flushed red. Pomni watched the red in her face deepen as her heart beat jumped. Caine’s eyes widened. Pomni hears a snap beneath her. Caine disappeared.
Pomni sat up. Holding her cheeks in her hands, she worked to settle her heart. Once the pounding of her heart calmed down she called out into the empty room, “I’m sorry! I–I didn’t mean to–I just think you can keep everyone’s info to yourself. I didn’t feel right knowing without their permission...” The room remained Caine-less.
Pomni waited, but minutes passed by without an answer. Pomni considered simply leaving the office and never mentioning what just happened to anyone. Without her gracious host, it was actually the perfect excuse to get out of there and save herself further embarrassment. She started scooting off the couch when Caine reappeared floating in the middle of the room.
“When’d this place get so messy?” Caine asked, snapping once. The room reverted back to how it was. All couches, office items, and orbs returned to their usual position.
“Now,” Caine snapped again, the notepad reappeared in his hand along with a pencil, “what were we talking about?”
Pomni took Caine’s queue, gladly brushing past what just happened. Pomni cleared her throat.
“You know a lot about us–a lot more than I thought,” Pomni began, “Why don’t you implement more of those into the adventures?”
Caine rolls his eyes, “Well, because you all like so many different things! How am I supposed to know what to add, what not to add, and how much to add?”
“Okay, that’s fair,” Pomni notices the staff on the floor and picks it up, “How about just focusing on one person at a time first? Like Zooble? I know they haven’t really been on an adventure in a while.”
Caine tapped the notepad against his teeth, looking up in thought.
Pomni continued, “And maybe it’d help to implement something simple? Like…something they’ve enjoyed doing.”
Caine hummed, glancing from his notepad he watched Pomni fidgeting slightly under his gaze. Caine was taking longer than usual to answer. Pomni wasn’t sure if her small suggestion could cause another incident. Holding onto the staff in her lap, she prepared for the worse. Caine held out his hand and snapped. Pomni flinched.
Nothing happened. Pomni checked her body, the room, and then Caine. Nothing was out of the ordinary.
“What just–” Pomni started to say.
“Well, my dear kaleidoscopic Calliope, would you look at the digital time!” Caine exclaimed, not looking at any time at all, “You should go out there and do that rest–thing you humans love to do so much of!” Caine snapped. The doors to his office swung open.
“Oh,” Pomni said, slightly deflated. Hopping off the couch., she walked towards the office doors where Caine was floating, ushering her out. Pomni paused at the doors, realizing she was still holding onto his staff. Turning, she held it out to Caine.
“I…I’m glad we got to talk,” Pomni said.
Caine beamed, accepting the staff from Pomni.
“Wonderful! So did I! We should do this again somet–” Caine glitched. It was only a millisecond of a glitch, but it reverted his body and staff back to where they were before he’d taken it. The staff fell to the ground in front of a confused Pomni who had already taken her hand back after handing it off.
“Wonderful! I’m glad you enjoyed yourself!” Caine said, holding out his hand. The staff flew back into his grip on its own.
“Right…thanks.” Pomni stepped across the threshold of the office doors. Pomni hesitates briefly, then turns back to Caine.
“Let’s do this again sometime,” Pomni said.
Caine seemed to still for a moment, then he smiled, “That would be fun!”
With that, the doors to Caine’s Office (The Archives) quickly closed. Behind the doors Caine hears Pomni mumble to herself, “Oh, I…go through here, okay.” Caine listens as Pomni gets sucked out of the tube back to the circus.
Bubble immediately appears beside him, “This seems like an HR violation!”
“There is no HR!” Caine cried, popping Bubble.
Alone in his office, Caine clamped his jaws shut. Holding onto his head, Caine began glitching quietly.
♡ ♢ ♤ ♧
Pomni was launched out of the air balloon basket screaming. Miraculously, she lands on one of the couches where the cast usually sits around to decompress after an adventure. And decompressing was exactly what she needed right now. Laying down, Pomni covered her face with her hands asking herself what in the digital world was she trying to do. Pomni felt flustered, but for what reason she didn’t want to pick apart, especially not in this public space. Exhaustion hit her like a dropped piano. It was too much to ask her legs to carry her back to her room. Pomni turned to her side. Using her arm as a pillow, she breathed slowly, letting the semi-darkness behind her eyes soothe her. Eventually, Pomni fell sound asleep.
Pomni woke up with a start. Breathing heavily, she tried to get her bearings as the bright lights of the circus assaulted her senses. Yes, right, she’d fallen asleep in the middle of the circus. Thankfully, it seemed no one else had shown up just yet.
In the distance, Pomni sees a portal open. One by one the cast exits the portal as Caine appears above them. She can hear him call them his ‘cool cats and dogs’ as he welcomes them back to the circus. Pomni hops from the couch and jogs over to them.
The whole cast was silent as the portal closed behind them. Pomni quickly inferred that they’d just returned from an adventure that she missed out on. Pomni couldn’t complain, if anything she was grateful for the break given that she didn’t get one all night. Pomni took a quick glance at everyone, brows furrowed in confusion. Jax looked like he was sulking with arms crossed over his chest. Meanwhile, everyone else seemed awestruck. Only Kinger seemed his usual self, staring off into the distance.
“Um,” Pomni began, “are you guys oka–”
“Incredible!” Gangle squealed out, ribbons shaking Pomni by her shoulders, “They were incredible!”
Pomni backed away from Gangle, realigning her eyes with a shake of her head, “They were? Zooble was?”
“I never knew, you never mentioned–” Ragatha started, only to be interrupted by another outburst from Gangle, “Incredible!”
Zooble themselves was silent, looking at their own hands. Pomni walked over to them.
“How was it?” Pomni asked gently.
The crew silently turned to look at Zooble. Zooble placed a clawed hand on the back of their neck. “It was nice,” they said quietly. Pomni’s eyes widened in surprise. The moment was interrupted by the sudden blast of horns and voices joined in a choir coming from every direction. Above them, arms spread open to the sky, Caine was ascending. Everyone covered where their ears should be and left Caine to his ascension.
Thankfully, the sound didn’t follow them to their usual resting spot. The cast returned to the four couches, each sitting in their undesignated seats save for Jax who took up the space of a whole couch on his own. Pomni noticed Jax wasn’t smiling as he laid down on the couch with his hands behind his head. She started to ask if he was alright.
“Did you want some chips, Pomni?” Ragatha asked.
Pomni looked away from Jax and towards the ragdoll, “Yeah, sure,” she answered.
Ragatha passed out some snacks previously stashed beneath the center table. She laid a half-eaten bag of candy next to Jax who doesn’t acknowledge her. Kinger helped himself to some chocolates while Ragatha and Pomni shared a bag of chips. Only Zooble and Gangle left their usual snacks untouched on the table. Gangle was preoccupied fervently drawing into her sketchbook. After everyone settled in, Zooble gave Ragatha the okay to start recounting their adventure.
It was a typical “Caine” adventure where everyone had to infiltrate a highly secured casino safe and retrieve the mcguffin. The mcguffin being a suitcase that emits light when you open it. Everyone had disguised themselves to be a part of the casino. Ragatha and Zooble played as security to the rich and affluent Gangle who was dressed to the nines. Meanwhile, Kinger was set as the getaway driver and man behind the screen stationed in a van outside the venue. Jax was a serving boy who abandoned his role to start gambling at a table.
Everything was going somewhat close to their laid out plan until Zooble, Gangle, and Ragatha stumbled on a “woe is me” band of NPC’s missing their drummer due to him suddenly being struck by lightning. The NPC’s really laid it on heavy by saying that without a band for the night the casino goers would be up in a riot. Zooble was about ready to firmly decline when they noticed the drum set.
“This is mine…” Zooble whispered. It was an almost exact replica of the one they had used when they were briefly in a band from the duct tape all the way to the faded stickers. With Gangle and Ragatha’s encouragement Zooble reluctantly took up the drum sticks and joined the band onstage.
At first they all awkwardly stood in that spotlight. It took a moment for Zooble to realize they were waiting on their cue. Zooble glanced at a very excited Gangle watching from backstage. After taking a breath, Zooble knocked their sticks together, counting the band in, and launched into an old song they used to practice.
“I haven’t played that song in years but…everything came back so easily,” Zooble shared.
Just like that the casino suddenly housed a music venue. Colorful lights shined down on the stage, sound engineers were on standby, a barrier was even erected. Casino goers became a cheering crowd.
“I’ve never been backstage to a concert before,” Ragatha said, “It was pretty amazing!”
“Did you write the song, Zooble?” Gangle asked, pausing from her sketchbook.
Zooble shook their head, “No, an old friend of mine actually wrote it. I just helped a bit with the composition.”
After the song was done, an alarm was tripped making everyone in the casino panic. Jax somehow got his hands on the mcguffin while all of this was happening. Pomni expected Jax to speak up at this point with a quip or two, but he remained silent. At least he started chewing on the candy Ragatha gave him. Everyone gathered up to squeeze into the getaway van where Kinger drove them away. Of course, they couldn’t end it there. They had to maneuver a whole city while running from casino police and the FBI. Pomni didn’t want to ask why the FBI were there. Now here they were, back to the circus after delivering the suitcase to a very grateful and well dressed NPC.
“Now, don’t get me wrong,” Zooble said, “I still didn’t enjoy the adventure as a whole but that one part was…fun.”
“Wow,” Pomni said after a beat, “I’m actually kind of sad I missed out on seeing that.”
“Where were you, Pomni? We tried waiting for you but Caine kind of pushed us all in pretty quickly,” Ragatha said biting into a chip.
“Yeah, Pomni," Jax spoke up, rising from his stupor. Sitting up, Jax pulled one leg to his chest and rested his elbow on his knee. He smiled a wide Cheshire grin, “Where were you?”
“You of all people should know,” Pomni spat out.
“Pomni was on a little date with Caine,” Jax said, dragging out Caine’s name like it was a tattle.
“It was not a date,” Pomni bit back.
“You hung out with Caine?” Ragatha asked.
“Because of Jax–”
“You're welcome!”
Pomni groans, “I am not thanking you–”
“So what exactly did you two do?” Zooble asked, glancing up from Gangle’s sketchbook.
Pomni waves her hand “We just went through an old adventure, the Jurassic Jungle Expedition of Wonder? Because of Jax’s suggestion,” Pomni shot Jax a heated glare which he returned with a multi-fingered wave, “We ate some food. Then we just…talked afterwards.” Pomni felt her heart sink realizing it did sound like a typical date.
“Oh, how romantic,” Kinger swooned.
Pomni flushed as Jax held his stomach cackling. If only her stupid hat could actually be pulled down to cover her face.
“I remember that adventure,” Ragatha said wincing, “It was…a lot. It wasn’t too rough of a time for you, I hope?”
Pomni pulls at her gloves,“In the beginning yeah, but–”
“Aw, does that mean no second date for the poor AI?” Jax interjected.
Pomni opened her mouth, ready to retort. She felt herself go blank. Pomni took a breath, ready to try again. Her mouth hung open as her brain short-circuited.
Jax, Ragatha, and Zooble, watched Pomni struggle to form a sentence. Even Gangle looked up from her sketchbook, pencil paused against the paper. Kinger remembered to blink. As the silence stretched on, all that played in Pomni’s mind was her last exchange with Caine. Let’s do this again sometime. That would be fun! Pomni felt her cheeks get warmer.
Jax lets out a low whistle, “Wow, forget about a second date, when’s the digital wedding?”
“Jax, stop teasing her!” Ragatha quickly came to Pomni’s defense.
“Oh, please, Dollface like you weren’t thinking the same.”
“I was not! Jax you–”
As the two jumped into the argument Pomni wished she could somehow phase out of existence. Meanwhile, Gangle showed Zooble her finished sketch of them playing the drums on stage. Zooble gave several appreciative nods of approval. Kinger looked off into the distance letting out a small wistful sigh, recalling a distant memory.
Headcanon: Caine can "sense" data, specifically if it's one conjured/manifested by humans. By "consuming" or just being around the humans' output, he's able to "taste", "hear", "touch", and even "smell" it.
Whatever it is that the humans conjure up, Caine CAN eat; whether it is realistically inedible or edible-- because both are the same to him, being made up of "Macroverse data".
He might be able to peer into others' minds and see what these outputs are, but it's the equivalent of seeing a mouthwatering burger on paper; there's no texture, no smell, no taste. It's all a flat, 2d image.
Only IF a human conjures it because they know how it should feel/taste/smell like, is Caine able to truly comprehend it; and soon, he might even be able to mimic it.
Besides that, Caine has been fed nothing but negative data over the years, and because of that; he's able to sense the data Pomni conjured up from a mile away, since he's been "starved" the past 2 decades and can't really contain himself. His mouth also can't stop drooling once he senses there's a human-input data in the circus.
Anyways, I sacrificed my hand for this I will be taking my leave now
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