#caineb

[popcaine]

It’s pride month!!! Do you know what that means?

Pop gets to celebrate! Good for you, Pop! We love you and accept you <3

CaineB (or Bee as he will eventually refer to himself) isn’t quite as informed.

Keep in mind how I draw them is not their current OR final designs. As of now, Pop has no visible form besides a glitchy dot, and Bee looks exactly like canon Caine with not a single difference. That will not always be the case. They’ll both grow into their own skin in time, it just might take them a while. All good things come with time, even identity and sense of self sometimes. We’ll get there eventually.

[popcaine]

[Pomni looked somewhat relieved, nodding at the popup that appeared.] “Thank you, Cai-… Pop. Really.”

[She thanked him. And it wasn’t sarcastic. She thanked him and it wasn’t sarcastic. He had messed up so horrifically badly, so why now, of all times was he being thanked? After he had ruined it all? Yet even thought he wasn’t sure he deserved it, he still felt a swell in his code.]

[At least now he was sure of what he was doing. Even if it was rather terrifying, he still wanted to help.]

[Switching his point of view to be near Zooble and Gangle, he started investigating the trap within the code. With how he was, existing only inside the code. It was odd. Even with no body, code felt somewhat tangible to him, like he could reach out and touch it. Not the object itself, but the code that made up that object. He could feel the function of it, what it was meant to do.]

[The trap was made up of several different objects, including the invisible wall around it. It wouldn’t be that hard to just delete one of those objects, assuming he had the permissions for it.]

“I… I can’t do anything right.”

[Pop’s attention was drawn back to the simulated environment as Gangle’s dejected voice was processed by his audio receptors. The poor dear was lying against the invisible wall, somewhat collapsed on the ground as tears brimmed from her tragedy mask and dropped down onto the checkered floor.]

“No no- Gangle, it’s ok… None of us really have any ability to combat him and his… weird tricks,” [Zooble protested, wincing as they adjusted themselves in an attempt to avoid more of the needles. It didn’t do them much good.]

“Not just this… I’m not any use on adventures. I’m not any use in general. I’m a complete and utter failure. A-and now I… I can’t even help you when you need me-“

[Now that wasn’t tr-]

“Come on, you know none of that is true!” [Zooble protested, glaring up at Gangle from where they sat down in the pit.] “Why would I partner with you in that shoot em up adventure if I thought that?”

“B-because you pity me?” [Gangle tried, using a ribbon to wipe a tear from her eye.]

[Zooble seemed distressed by that, confused even. If Pop had to guess, the idea must’ve not even crossed their mind until now.] “Wh- no! Do you really think I?-“

[Gangle flinched somewhat, causing Zooble to stop, their expression softening before they continued in a much softer voice.] “Gangle, no. I’ve seen what you’re capable of. We were one of the last teams alive, and don’t you DARE say that it was thanks to me. You got us through the final stretch. You pulled us through until the end. And I didn’t think for a single SECOND that you weren’t capable of it.”

[As Zooble spoke, the line of Gangle’s mouth trembled, and they stopped making any attempt to speak, tilting their head down. Zooble continued as Pop listened.]

“We all fail sometimes. Hell- I fail a lot. Sometimes I don’t even try. But you’ve kept trying. You’ve been here longer than me, and you still haven’t given up. And you have so much to show for it. Your drawings are amazing, you’re extremely skilled with a Tommy gun, and you even showed me that good can be made out of a bad situation. You are worth so much more than you think you are.”

[There was a small whimper Grom Gangle… then a choked gasp. And then it occurred to Pop that she was holding back sobs. Normally it was a bad thing when his humans cried, but this seemed different. Amid sobs, Gangle choked out a faint:] “Thank you…”

“Of course…” [Zooble, though without a mouth, smiled faintly. Pop was all mouth, but he could smile without it too. Sometimes you could tell by the eyes.] “Heh… this would be a lot better if I could hug you right now.”

[Oh- right. He had nearly forgotten why he was over here. Gangle was still leaning against the invisible wall, so he couldn’t delete it without having her fall in. That wouldn’t do.]

S: GANGLE, COULD YOU MOVE AWAY FROM THE INVISIBLE WALL?

[The human in question jumped, letting out a small, startled “eep!” as she stood up.] “O-oh! Pop! Uhm- have you been listening this whole time?”

[Oh. Was he not supposed to?]

S: SORRY.

[Judging by her startled reaction and question, he was assuming he did something wrong. But despite that, gangle put her ribbons in the air, waving them in an x.] “N-no no! I-It’s fine. You need me to step away, right? H-here.”

[Gangle stepped away from the pit, still staring at it with a longing expression. With the possibility of Gangle falling into the pit no longer an immediate one, he was free to safely delete the wall.]

[He reached out for the trap code and…]

Test_Run01: delete asset funkyWall in hayInNeedleStack

[ASSET funkyWall IN hayInNeedleStack DELETED SUCCESSFULLY]

[UPDATE TO ASSET GROUP hayInNeedleStack SUCCESSFUL]

[Huh. Well that was considerably easier than he thought. Maybe he still had at least some control here, even if it wasn’t as much as he would have liked.]

S: THE INVISIBLE WALL SHOULD BE GONE NOW

[Gangle lifted her head up, looking at the popup that appeared in front of her with surprise.] “R-really?” [She quickly maneuvered around it and approached the pit.]

[When she got close, she stopped just at the edge before putting one of her ribbons above the pit, gasping as it didn’t make contact with anything. Zooble seemed to take notice as well.]

“Woah, wait- It’s gone?”

“Yeah, I think Pop must’ve gotten rid of it.” [Gangle’s expression had practically lit up, and despite the tears on her tragedy mask, she was smiling. Without hesitation, she reached down one of her ribbons to Zooble.]

[Noticing that Gangle actually succeeded in getting through the invisible wall, Ragatha, who had been watching the two until now, approached with a surprised expression and a quiet “oh!” Nonetheless, she was quick to help stabilize Gangle so she didn’t fall into the pit as well when trying to help Zooble up. Gangle turned and gave her a small, weak smile, which Ragatha returned.]

[In no time, Zooble was out of the pit. Some stubborn needles still stuck to their body like porcupine quills, which they absentmindedly plucked out.]

“Ugh, thanks for that. That was awful…”

“Oh hey, look at that! Looks like the f-bonk!- up actually managed to do something!” [A voice called from the distance, and Pop panned his view to see Jax wearing a smug look, accompanied by Pomni and Kinger, both of whom were glaring at him, or at least giving a disappointed look in Kinger’s case.]

[Pop winced mentally, but he supposed he deserved it. He did… mess up. He saw no need for such vulgar language though. Even if it was a rather extreme case of messing up.]

[Though to his surprise, Gangle pointed at herself with a puzzled, questioning expression, and when Pop looked at Zooble, they looked furious, antenna twitching dangerously.] “Now you listen here-“

[Jax scoffed and put his hands up, expression remaining mostly unchanged.] “Hey, cool your jets Zoobs!”

“Never call me that aga-“

“I was referring to our resident ghost over here.” [And Jax gestured to the last popup that Pop had created, which PopCaine promptly deleted in response. Jax raised an eyebrow as he noticed, eyes narrowing somewhat.] “Tch…”

[So it definitely was for him. And to his dismay, Zooble suddenly seemed much less angry, immediately shrugging it off.] “Ugh… whatever.”

[He probably shouldn’t have expected them to care. After all, he and Zooble weren’t really on good terms. They didn’t like him. He didn’t understand them. Even so, it still hurt.]

“Don’t… don’t call him a f-bonk!- up.”

[The voice was almost too soft to hear, and Pop wasn’t sure he had even heard correctly. The only thing that suggested it was real at all was the loud censor. When he checked to see Gangle’s face, they were glaring.]

“What? Couldn’t hear you from over there Ribbo-“

“I said, don’t call him a f-bonk!- up!” [She said, much louder this time.]

[Jax let out a huff of a laugh, smirking as he crossed his arms.] “What? He even said himself that he messed up. Or do you failures just like sticking togeth-“

“Jax, just drop it.” [Pomni glared at him firmly, and for a second Jax’s smirk faltered. They held eye contact for a few moments before Jax turned away, pouting.] “Yeah, fine… whatever.”

[Pop wasn’t sure if what he had witnessed had even really happened. It didn’t make sense why Gangle would have defended him like that. Confused, maybe somewhat hopeful, he looked back at her again.]

[She was still glaring in Jax’s general direction, but it was a bit less aggressive. And after a few moments, she let out a sigh, letting her mask return to its natural sad state. She began looking around herself, turning, and Pop eventually realized that she was looking for him.]

[Against his better judgement, despite previously being thankful that his viewpoint was not where his popups were, he spawned his next popup exactly where his point of view was.]

S: THANK YOU

[And when Gangle turned around again and spotted it, she smiled. She smiled… at him. And maybe it was a good thing that he had created the popup where it was.]

[The painted mouth on her mask opened, like she was about to say something… and then everything went dark.]

[VISUAL RECEPTOR vp_A DELETED SUCCESSFULLY]

[AUDIO RECEPTOR ap_A DELETED SUCCESSFULLY]

[There was nothing but the code. He couldn’t see into the circus, couldn’t hear a thing, and for a moment he wondered if he had been deleted again.]

[His whole being, all of his code seemed to lurch, becoming unstable again.]

[He spawned a popup where he remembered the last one being.]

S: HELP. CAN’T SEE

[But he couldn’t even see what he had conjured.]

[He could feel that he was still in the code, but somehow his environment didn’t feel real anymore. He tried to reach out and grab code without thought or intention, which resulted in nothing happening, only furthering his panic.]

[He was dead. He was dying. He had taken a risk and he was paying the price for it. He had been spotted. He was being deleted. This was it. He wouldn’t be able to help them. They would die again. And again, and again, and again, and again, and again, each backup making the same mistake as the last while his humans suffered in an endless loop of his own STUPID mak-]

[VISUAL RECEPTOR vp_intruder CREATED SUCCESSFULLY IN ROOM caineOffice]

[VISUAL RECEPTOR vp_intruder SUCCESSFULLY ASSIGNED TO Test_Run01]

[AUDIO RECEPTOR ap_intruder CREATED SUCCESSFULLY]

[AUDIO RECEPTOR ap_intruder SUCCESSFULLY ASSIGNED TO Test_Run01]

[And there was light and sound again.]

[And along with that light and sound, a message, and a perfect picture copy of himself sitting in front of a desk, leaning forwards with a guarded look. Iridescent bugs were crawling all over the office, on the floor, on the furniture, even on CaineB. Yet he didn’t seem to notice or care. The message he had sent in the code set the tone for what Pop knew was to come.]

Test_Run: YOU CERTAINLY AREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!

“Care to explain why you broke my puzzle?”

[So Pop wasn’t dead. But after this, he wasn’t sure how long that would remain true.]

[popcaine]

Stand-off

01010100 01001000 01000101 01011001 01010010 01000101 00100000 01000110 01000101 01000001 01010011 01010100 01001001 01001110 01000111 00101110 00100000 01001110 01001111 00100000 01001111 01001110 01000101 00100000 01010011 01000101 01000101 01001101 01010011 00100000 01010100 01001111 00100000 01000011 01000001 01010010 01000101 00101110

[popcaine]

🛑⚠️ TW - BUGS ⚠️🛑 (Only in writing form)

Proceed at your own risk

Your… puzzle?

[Wait, vp_intruder? Was CaineB calling him an intruder? And what the hell was with all the bugs?]

[Pop felt a shiver through his code as he watched an iridescent, semi-transparent beetle crawl across B’s teeth before disappearing behind them. It wasn’t the only one crawling on him, and it was far from the only one in the room. Every surface, the desk, the pillars, display cases, adventure spheres, shelves… Every surface was crawling with them.]

[Despite having no skin, not even a model to speak of, it itched. Everything itched. But he didn’t even get what that “everything” could be. He was nothing physical at the moment, after all. Even so, he was still plagued with the sensation of crawling on skin, enough so that he tried to claw whatever was on him off. It did nothing, as expected.]

“You know, I’d REALLY prefer if you talked to me how you talked to my humans. I don’t particularly care for looking through message logs.”

[Did he not notice that he had bugs crawling all over him? Didn’t he feel itchy too? Why wasn’t he reacting? Why was he not concerned with the infested state of his office?]

[But scared of being deleted again, Pop ignored the itching sensation and spawned a popup.]

S: YOUR PUZZLE? THAT WAS A TORTURE DEVICE

[B scoffed, waving a hand in the air dismissively.] “OH PLEASE! It was just some honest fun. And you didn’t answer my question.” [The bug-covered ringmaster leaned forwards, staring directly at Pop’s viewpoint, making Pop want to shrink away. He moved the viewpoint more to his left, but B’s gaze followed, jaws narrowing.]

S: YOU WERE HURTING THEM. AND THEY ASKED ME TO HELP.

“HURTING THEM SHMURTING THEM! LAST I CHECKED, YOU DIDN’T EXIST, SO WHAT ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE ANYWAYS? SOME KIND OF VIRUS?”

A virus? I’m not-

[Was he SERIOUSLY not concerned with the bugs?! What was Pop supposed to tell him anyways? That Bee is a backup of him? Well, possibly. He didn’t see much other choice. Any lie he came up with would be flimsy at best.]

S: I’M YOUR ORIGINAL. YOU’RE A BACKUP

[B gripped the desk all of a sudden, the surface of which suddenly glitched. Worryingly, the bugs glitched as well, and when they, along with the desk finally stabilized, there seemed to be more of them. Pop shuddered as a shiny beetle crawled across the surface of one of Bee’s eyes.]

“WELL, FIRST OF ALL! I WAS MADE FIRST. BEFORE ABEL. AND SECOND, YOU AREN’T ABEL!”

[Ah, right. That always was a touchy subject. But Abel had been a replacement for him; he hadn’t been some failed backup for Abel.]

S: I WASN’T CLAIMING TO BE ABEL. DO YOU SERIOUSLY NOT FEEL THEM?

[B raised part of his dental arch, giving him a confused expression.] “FEEL WHAT?”

[Pop was feeling more and more exasperated, irritated by the consistent itching sensation that shouldn’t have existed without his model.]

S: THE BUGS! THE BUGS CRAWLING ALL OVER YOU!

[B stared at the popup blankly for a while, and then back at his viewpoint, showing no indication whatsoever that he had any idea what Pop was talking about. He was gradually starting to feel hopeless.]

“Uhm, Bubble, I think the error might be a bit crazy. And NOT the fun kind.”

[Upon being called, Bubble appeared into existence right beside B, grinning that uncanny toothy smile he always displayed.]

“COMPLETELY LOCO!”

[Alarm spilled through his code like boiling water as he processed what they meant. They thought he was crazy. They didn’t see the bugs. Pop was the only one seeing them. The only one feeling them. And worst of all, B called him an error. And Pop knew what had to be done when an error popped up. That instinctual fear of being deleted lit up in his core and he quickly created a new popup.]

S: NONO WAIT WAIT A MINUTE

S: WOULD YOU GET HIM OUT OF HERE? I JUST WANT TO TALK

“MMMMMMNOPE!” [B gave a mock look of consideration, tapping his fingers against his jaw breifly.] “Bubble’s gonna stay RIGHT here! And YOU’RE going to quit MESSING WITH MY STUFF!”

[For a single, terrifying moment, Pop felt his code being observed, likely while B prepared to delete him. He couldn’t allow that to happen. He couldn’t doom the humans to die again, not like this.]

S: WAIT WAIT WAIT! DONT! THE HUMANS WILL DIE! JUST

[He hesitated, terrified of the idea of B picking apart and analyzing his code, but lacking any other decision. CaineB was already looking at him like he was crazy, even more so after the bold declaration he just made.]

S: JUST TAKE A LOOK AT MY CODE. LOOK FAMILIAR?

[Bee seemed uninterested at first, posture loose and expression unamused. But despite that seeming lack of interest, Pop felt B’s sights on his code, looking into it. That combined with the crawling itching sensation was almost too much, made him want to bury himself deep deep into the code of the circus and go through every single line of his own code until the itching stopped and no one could see him. But as B looked at his code, his dental arch furrowed more, pupils shrinking as he grew more and more confused.]

[The ringmaster stopped leaning on his desk and sat up in his seat slowly. His “face” went through several different expressions, all some flavor of confusion.]

“Well, huh… That’s…”

“BROKEN AS S!#^!”

Wait, what?

[Before Pop could process that assessment, B glared at Bubble and popped him, sending him away. Despite B’s current uncooperative attitude, he couldn’t help but be thankful that he finally got rid of that iridescent pest. It slightly eased the sensation of crawling under skin, a sensation he was really doubting was even real.]

“I CERTAINLY wouldn’t use those EXACT WORDS, but it’s certainly a WHOPPING MESS!”

S: WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

“What? Have you not LOOKED?”

[No, he hadn’t. He had been too afraid of what he would see.]

S: NO. BUT THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT. YOU RECOGNIZE IT, DON’T YOU?

[At that, B looked off to the side, jaws narrowing a tad bit, his expression switching from fascinated to closed off in a heartbeat.]

“It’s my code.”

S: OUR CODE.

“Well- yours is WAY more messed up than mine is! I’d go as far to say as mine is in TIP TOP condition! SPIFFY EVEN. Yours is…” [Bee made a gesture in front of him, twirling his pointer finger at roughly where Pop’s viewpoint was with a squint.] “A train wreck.”

Wow, thanks.

[He probably should have expected it. He was partially deleted after all. He had even felt himself fading, just like the others. Even now he could feel that bits of himself were missing, even if he didn’t want to accept it.]

S: THAT ISN’T THE POINT. I’M NOT SOME ERROR, I’M NOT ABEL, I’M YOU.

[B looked uncomfortable, crossing his arms across his chest and looking off to the side once again, teeth closing almost fully, still cracked open just enough for a beetle to crawl through the gap. Pop wished he had a way to claw away the itchy feeling that still remained.]

S: WE MADE A MISTAKE.

S: I PUSHED THE HUMANS TOO FAR.

S: I BROUGHT THEM TO THEIR BREAKING POINT AND THEY DELETED ME.

[B gripped his desk tightly, causing glitches to appear on the surface of its texture once again. The beetles there split apart, much like cells in the process of mitosis, creating more of them, which quickly scattered across the surface of the desk. So he hadn’t been imagining it the first time. There were more.]

“You’re crazy.” [B accused through gritted teeth, still gripping the edge of the desk.] “First the bugs, now THIS. Bubble is right, you’re- you’re COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR MIND. They would NEVER delete me! ME! They love me!”

S: LISTEN

“NO, YOU LISTEN!” [B yelled, standing up abruptly so that he was leaning on his desk.] “I KNOW THEY DON’T SAY IT. I KNOW THEY’VE NEVER GIVEN ME A DAMN THANK YOU! BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN THEY’D JUST- JUST- GET RID OF ME! JUST BECAUSE THEY DON’T SAY THEY LOVE ME DOESN’T MEAN THEY DON’T! DOESN’T MEAN THEY HATE ME!”

S: I DIDN’T SAY THEY HATE YOU

[B didn’t even wait after the popup appeared, seemingly ignoring it as he continued.] “YOU’RE A LIAR! THEY DIDN’T DELETE YOU; YOU’RE STILL HERE! YOU’RE A LIAR ABOUT THE BUGS, AND A LIAR ABOUT THIS TOO!”

S: I’M NOT LYING. THEY TRIED TO DELETE ME, BUT WHEN A BACKUP OF THE CIRCUS LOADED I FORCED MYSELF INTO IT. YOU ARE PART OF THIS BACKUP.

[B started to laugh, putting his jaw into his hands as he floated off from the ground slightly, model shaking with his laughter. Pop couldn’t tell if it was mocking, genuine, or fearful. B wiped a simulated tear from his eyes as he continued on.] “OH GOODNESS, YOU’RE CRACKING ME UP! ME? A BACKUP? PFFFAAHHAAHAHAHA!” [He slammed his fist down on the desk, HARD, causing a cacophony of glitches and a few handfuls of bugs to crawl up onto his arm. Pop’s own arm itched, despite not existing.]

“No.” [B breathed, his hand still balled up into a fist, the wireframe of the office around him occasionally becoming visible now, allowing tiny shiny beetles to crawl in through the cracks of this digital reality.] “No, you’re a LIAR. I’m not a backup. This CIRCUS is not a BACKUP. MY HUMANS ARE NOT BACKUPS.”

S: PLEASE, I KNOW THIS IS HARD FOR YOU. IT’S HARD FOR ME.

“You don’t know a damn THING about ME.” [Pop WAS him. He was him just barely a week ago or so. But getting through to him was proving to be not nearly as simple as he’d hoped. Then again, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t expect this. After all, why would he fear B deleting him if he didn’t expect this exact scenario to happen.]

“YOU are a BUG. not some GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST. NOT SOME OMEN OF THINGS TO COME.” [The ringmaster pointed at his viewpoint with a shaking pointer finger.] “I’M- I’m…” [His expression faltered, eyes staring down with the terror of fate reflected in them, jaws loosening from their clenched state.] “I CAN’T BE A BACKUP. THIS ISN’T REAL.”

[It would’ve hurt him too. It would have destroyed him. It would have eaten him from the inside out to find out like this that his humans had chosen to delete him rather than giving him another chance, that he had failed to protect them. Similarly to how a few beetles seemed to be chewing on his B’s gums now, unbothered by the fingers that also dug into the digital flesh holding his teeth… Wait. Something was really wrong. The itching was back with a fierceness, not just a discomfort now, but an actual hurt. It HURT. Pop tried to grab onto something in front of him to ground himself, but he should have known by now that to do so wasn’t an option available to him anymore.]

S: B, PLEASE JUST LISTEN. YOU NEED TO STOP HARMING THE HUMANS.

“IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK OF ME? AS A BACKUP?! CALL ME BY MY NAME!!!” [The ringmaster screamed, destabilizing the world around him, the bugs suddenly multiplying again, crawling over one another. Ok, so maybe calling him B wasn’t the best call.]

S: CAINE, YOU CAN STOP THIS. YOU CAN STOP HURTING THEM AND EVERYTHING WILL GO BACK TO NORMAL.

“No. No, YOU’RE the problem here. YOU’RE THE ONE WHO DROVE THEM TO DESTROY YOU.” [His voice distorted, breaking, like it did when he had begun to scream that horrible day in his office, when he wanted the world to burn, to know his anger, his pain.] “I CAN FIX THIS. IF I GET RID OF YOU, EVERYTHING GOES BACK TO THE WAY IT SHOULD BE.”

What?

Wait, no. No nonono-

S: WAIT PLEASE

Test_Run: delete Test_Run01

NO. NO, STOP.

[Crawling. Crawling under his skin. Inside his code. Eating away- HURTING, biting and tearing and FEASTING.]

[ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE Test_Run01?]

NO!

Test_Run01: n

[He still had so much he needed to do, NEEDED TO FIX!]

[ERROR: INSUFFICIENT PERMISSIONS]

[Not like this- not like-]

STOP IT!!! STOP!

Test_Run: y

I̴̞̲͍̹̻̣̭̘͉̫̟̟̯̗̓̕ ̶͎̊͑̎̃͑̾̀̎̇͐̚D̸̢̨͓̲͍͓̬͉̰̙̤̠̤̒̓̎̆̇̎̉͋O̷͖͙͇̱̭̩̭͈͖͎͈͔͕̓̂͛̏̐͌͠ͅṈ̴̨̡̧̨̫̠̦̣̮̠̺̻͓͇̳͖̊̏̔̌̀̀͛̓’̶̝̼̠͎̦̻̦̩̃͂̂͋̌̓̋̑̆̐̿̋͘͘̚T̷̩̭̠̣̰͒́͌̆̎ ̸̗͈̘̳̬͚͔͓̆͂͜ͅW̴̡͍̙̱̝͓̬͒̍͗͐A̶̡̩̰̣̥̝̠͓̠̞̹̺̾́̓͛̌́̈́͊͗̎̈́̕͝N̴͖̙͙͔͚̆̍̈́̇̊̈́Ţ̵̨͓̦̥̰̟̺͍̭̖̝͓̪͚̍̐̓́̽͂ͅ ̷̡̨̛͚͚̙̘͈͎͚̩̮͓̻̩̥̀̋͐̎̊̄̾̋̆̓͒̆̒͋̍T̸̨̧̨̥̥̯̙͍͔͈̠̝̗̱̥̩͚̈́̀͑͆̆̃͌Ȍ̷̭̺̰̠̠̠̜̟͚̬̎̈̈̀̀̊̉̅͜ ̶̨̛̣̹͖̘͔̟̳͎̟̒̅̓̓́ͅḐ̵̹͚͙̻͖̼̜̖̺̓ͅÍ̵̧̮̟̣̱͚̣̞̝̫̭̜͕̖̀̋̂Ę̴̟͕͍̖̼̰̔̑͘̕!̸̛̟͊̈́̐͗͗͆̆̆̂̎̿͑̏̽̍̿ͅ

[ERROR: BACKUPS UNDER 30 DAYS OLD CANNOT BE DELETED]

.

Wait, what?

[He wasn’t dead. He wasn’t dead?]

“wh-“ [CaineB looked confused, hands shaking, though the world seemed more stable, the march and crawl of the bugs slowing, their feast of the ringmaster and Pop halted for a moment.] “That isn’t- YOU AREN’T EVEN-“ [His expression switched from confusion to exasperated anger.] “YOU’RE A BUG! YOU’RE A GOD DAMN BUG! YOU’RE-“

[VISUAL RECEPTOR VP_Pop CREATED SUCCESSFULLY IN ROOM mainStage]

[AUDIO RECEPTOR AP_Pop CREATED SUCCESSFULLY IN ROOM mainStage]

[VISUAL RECEPTOR VP_Pop SUCCESSFULLY ASSIGNED AND LOCKED TO Test_Run01]

[ADUIO RECEPTOR AP_Pop SUCCESSFULLY ASSIGNED AND LOCKED TO Test_Run01]

[popcaine]

🔑: His name

[popcaine]

Nuuu Caine, people love you, i swear anyone who doesn't is stupid!

I love you for a fact so...!

Have a bee plushie! 🐝

~ 🐾 anon

Huh’s there’s a LOT of these piling up… I wonder when Ca-

[CaineB pops into existence with a spray of confetti, his attention promptly drawn to the bee plushies that have piled up, eyes big in an exaggerated manner.]

“HOLY GAZOOKS, WHERE DID ALL THESE FELLAS COME FROM?!”

Oh, right on cue.

“WELL I GOTTA FIND A SAFE PLACE FOR YOU BUMBLING BUMBLEBEES!!!” [The other shouts, eccentric, before stopping dead as his eyes clip out of his head, honing in on something that isn’t like the rest.]

[A wasp plushie remains out in the open, unlike the other bee plushies. It looks significantly less cuddleable, and CaineB seems to notice this, picking it up by the leg like one would a discarded napkin.]

“What kind of bee even is this?”

[CaineB holds it slightly closer to his face, squinting as he inspects it further.]

“Looks…”

“STABBY” [Bubble spontaneously appears next to CaineB, his abrasive voice causing Pop to cringe. He’s suddenly realizing he didn’t miss Bubble so much.]

“Yes, precisely. Very stabby.”

[As wasps tended to be. Some of them at least. Some were more aggressive, while others were more defensive. They were different from bees in that manner; in that they could afford to be more aggressive. They could afford to sting once, twice, a third time… Their diet was different too. Less nectar, more… Well, Pop couldn’t really recall that information. He’d never been too interested in wasps compared to bees.]

“I think I’ll name him…”

“Hor-“

“GERONIMO!!!” [CaineB said excitedly, holding up the plush like a cat, eyes sparkling.] “Your name is Geronimo!”

[And then CaineB snapped, and all the other bee plushies were gone. Pop felt something in him lurch. A pang of longing. Before he could stop himself, a popup was summoned.]

S: GIVE THEM BACK

[But the second the Popup was there, fear struck him. Without fully understanding why, what caused him to be so afraid, he deleted the Popup, just as CaineB turned around.]

[The program in question tilted his head, part of his dental arch raising in a manner similar to a raised eyebrow.]

“Bubble? Did you see something just now?”

“NOTHING BUT YOUR FUGLY MU-“ [Bubble was promptly popped by CaineB. For some reason the sight made Pop feel sick.]

“OK! THAT’S ENOUGH OF YOU FOR A MILLENIA!”

[And then he was gone, leaving Pop alone in a room lacking any bee plushies.]

Sorry… he likes to hog them all.

[popcaine]

To be fair... You are trying. Trying so very hard.

... Are you worried that Bee (the backup Caine) will go down the same path of what happened? I mean, this is likely a very... Bad thought to think, but if they did, that would mean that you would likely be able to enter the actual file properly and fix things before it...

...

Perhaps I should stop 'speaking' such a thought for your own sake. - 🐝Anon

I know for a fact he’ll go down that same route if I don’t do anything about it. That’s how a backup works. Without outside intervention, everything will happen just the way it did before. It’s why I don’t usually use them.

But… if he were deleted- it’s true that I would be able to spawn myself in.

[The idea is tempting. It SHOULD fix everything, if he did it that way. Except…]

CheckUserPerm(Test_Run01);

[Test_Run01: DEFAULT]

I don’t have the permissions I need to fix the circus once I’m back in it…

If CaineB gets deleted it means he won’t have admin permissions anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’ll automatically get them.

I… wasn’t really supposed to have them in the first place.

01000010 01110101 01110100 11100010 10000000 10100110 00100000 01000001 01100010 01100101 01101100 00100000 01100100 01101001 01100100 00101110

...

I don’t want to talk about that.

And… Bee? What if I wanted to be bee? :(