This was written between browsing the TADC merch store. Might've spent way too much time picking out pins/plushies I wanted... But the sale was going on. So, naturally, I had to take advantage of it!
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Caine and his special friend
★ Caine has a soft spot for humans. Everybody knows it. It's almost redundant to even bring it up. Everything he does is for them. Pomni, Kinger, Jax, Gangle, Zooble, and Ragatha. It's all for them -and you too! He could never forget about you.
★ His dear, sweet humans. So wonderful. So confusing. They might be his favorite animal. With each and every inconsistency. Nothing about you makes sense. That might be why he's so infatuated with you?
★ Even though most people try to keep their distance, you actually look for him. Mostly just to ask for things... A favor here or small question there. He assumes that means you like him. (You really don't.) But he doesn't know that.
★ It's kinda creepy how he doesn't understand what he's doing. Failing to understand the differences between a want, need, or genuine affection.
★ Impressing you feels nice. Like a pat on the back. Once, you said he was "Way too much." And he took it as a compliment. Like that time you mentioned never being able to get away from him. Caine was scaring you. Not that he'd ever notice.
★ Each time a NPC catches your eye, Caine gets a little jealous. It could be a shrimp frying in the sun. Might've been Bubble on a good day. Caine simply pouts. Thinking of a way for him to kill the character off. It's weirder when you realize he made them to impress you, specifically. But logic never was his strong suit.
★ Smile at Bubble and watch Caine reach out to pop him. Immediately moving to right where Bubble was floating. Effectively taking his place. Possessive over something that even wasn't his.
★ Don't worry about them. You can have your fun before Caine deletes them. Playing along with the Adventure. Letting the dialogue/cut scene play out. After all, the show must go on. With a *snap* of his fingers, they're gone. Disappearing into a pile of confetti. "There we go!" No more distractions."
★ If you flinch, it's because you were caught off guard, right? That means he must've done something right. Why else would you be staring at him with those wide eyes. Still as an NPC's model. You look utterly captivated!
Headcanon that Caine's "skin" looks like those invisible JPEG textures because he never had to think about designing skin
And also because the concept of Caine having human skin really unsettles me for some reason so I had to come up with something else to keep my mind at peace
A deep analysis of Jax's vulnerability in the stargazing scene because I love this rabbit more than anything
EDIT 04/26: There are some points here I don't agree with anymore, but people seem to really like this post so I'm leaving it up for archive purposes.
⚠ OBVIOUS TADC EPISODE 5 SPOILERS!! ⚠
SCROLL IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EPISODE YET!
DISCLAIMER: I don't hate Ragatha, but I didn't like her behaviour this episode. I want her to have a character arc where she learns and grows, these are my feelings and this is my perspective as someone who understands Jax on a deep level. Please be respectful of that in your replies, thank you.
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Okay, first of all, I wanted to point out the way Jax's facial expression transforms in this scene:
People who don't fully understand Jax's character often overlook the fact that Jax doesn't say things out loud, you have to look at his expressions if you ever want to understand his true intentions. And Jax is such an expressive character, you can really derive a lot from just the way his face looks at any given moment.
And here...
He looks so...sad.
Like, I have never seen Jax look so genuinely hurt this whole series. He wanted to say something to answer Pomni's comment, but I have a feeling that he didn't want to do that in Ragatha's presence because he knew she was going to argue with him about it.
After Pomni asked him if he had any actual friends, his expression dropped, from annoyance to just...sorrow.
...because that's probably the first time in a while someone has asked him that question. It's like when you're on the verge of tears and someone asks you if you're okay.
And I have a feeling he was going to answer "No" or "Not really..." before Ragatha interrupted him. That's when his eyes widen and he gets mad.
Jax's silence here speaks volumes. He says nothing, but his face and body language shows every bit of anger he's feeling at that very moment.
Jax doesn't want to defend himself for a reason.
I honestly feel like Jax is not only mad at Ragatha here for mentioning something so traumatic, but also because she answered HIS question FOR him. And quite rudely.
Ragatha took a moment he was trying to be vulnerable in and ruined it completely. Nothing she could say in that moment could fix that, and Jax knows if he tried to defend himself she'd just start getting defensive, like in the beginning of episode 4.
That moment he had the energy to actually fight back, but he says something incredibly important; "Why do you always make me out to be the bad guy? I'm not really a bad guy!"
Jax is aware he's a jerk, but he's tired of Ragatha making it so that's all he is. Because Jax sees it as banter and fun, but at some point it gets malicious because in his mind, if Ragatha wants him to be a villain? Then fine, he'll be one. No point in trying to be vulnerable and nice when she'll never care anyway.
Ragatha proved him right here, that's why he says nothing.
And when Pomni asks, he doesn't see the point in trying to explain deeply. He just says "It's... Nothing. Who cares."
Because in his mind, yeah, who cares. Whatever he says, he won't be listened to. Might as well keep being an asshole, right?
He attempts to vent, then ends it with an "...I don't know." before going back to acting snarky and sarcastic because the emotions were getting too overwhelming for him to handle.
When you consider all of this, Jax's dislike of Ragatha becomes more understandable.
Jax feels like Ragatha is trying to sabotage any chance he can get to have another friend, and I honestly deeply understand now why he's always so frustrated and mad at her. I would be so much angrier, he's being so forgiving here by not immediately lashing out and yelling at her.
And if he did, I would completely understand why.
Personally, I feel so bad for him. His reactions here hurt so much because they're so deeply relatable.
He was trying to open up, be vulnerable to someone new that he wants to make friends with. Only to be rudely reminded why he never does that, or why he's never even allowed to do that. That's deeply relatable as someone with trust issues, trying to make a friend in someone only for the person who's been preventing you from doing that to remind you why you're "not allowed" to have any.
Jax and Ragatha's relationship is beginning to ring as "abusive mother and son" to me, with the way she acts like she has no choice but to try and control Jax's behaviour. It's weird, and toxic.
Ragatha is becoming her mother even with how much she dislikes her, and I understand that deeply as someone who also has an abusive mother. But she needs to understand that even if Jax is annoying, it is NOT her decision who he gets to make friends with, it's NOT her responsibility to manage his behaviour.
And it's NOT her responsibility to decide whether he gets to be friends with Pomni or not. Pomni can think for herself, she can make her own decisions.
The fact she's taking this parental role on is detrimental to both her and her relationships. Not to mention Gangle must feel incredibly infantilized whenever Ragatha steps in to defend her, I wish Gangle would say something though because it's likely Ragatha doesn't know this and thinks she's doing her a favour.
I honestly hope Ragatha realizes this in episode 6 or 7, I don't want her to abstract before she gets to have this character arc. She's been through a lot but her behaviour isn't helping her situation, and she can still grow and change, but I don't think she deserves Jax's forgiveness tbh any more than he deserves hers.
...Maybe Kinger's unbiased and encouraging attitude can help more than Pomni's. I mean, he was the only one who could lift her mood after she looked so sad:
Kinger and Ragatha becoming like Zooble and Gangle is honestly what I'm hoping for because I see a LOT of potential in these two <3
Hey, if you read this far, reblog with your thoughts! I'm very happy to discuss, but please be civil!! I'll be blocking those with bad intentions.
Concept time: Caine LOVES to watch you sleep, but like not in a creepy way (or as little creepy you can get when watching someone sleep all night). When he's done creating the next round of adventures, he finds himself so bored when every circus member is asleep, especially if you're among that crowd. Hence, he just watches you sleep. He thinks humans are so interesting, choosing to go unconscious for eight hours or more a night despite their digital bodies not needing sleep. He thinks you look so cute when you're curled up in bed, looking so peaceful and beautiful. You're just being you, and he loves you, and he is OBSESSED. Sometimes he likes to take little mental notes of what things you say in your sleep, wondering what's going on in that fascinating little head of yours.
Going back to the creepy part of things, he has startled you on multiple occasions by watching you sleep and accidentally waking you up. Like, sometimes you're still half-asleep and out of it and kinda forget you're in the circus, so you've screamed in fear at least once seeing a floating pair of eyes and teeth floating above you in the dark. Then there was that one time when he had summoned like dozens of eyes to watch you, insisting it made him see you better, and you looked so cute asleep. Pull him into bed with you and cuddle him like a stuffed animal before falling back asleep, and he will yearn for it to happen again daily. He will also feign 'accidentally' waking you up just so he can have the chance of you doing it.
first of all; this guy is a massive jerk, he knows it, you know it, we all know it and it's a fact. nobody really likes him besides perhaps pomni, everyone else tolerates him; 'cause what can they do about his antics?
let's not forget about the fact that he has keys to everyone's room, he pranked everyone at least once. i'd like to say that he pranked ragatha and gangle the most. kinger is the one whom jax pranks the least.
he secretly cares about everyone, as i said before he has the keys to everyone's room, he has them not only for his stupid pranks but for emergencies as well. he was once too late to help his friend ribbit (the character that we saw on the door in ep5) and couldn't get to open the door. imagine you couldn't help the only person who truly cared for you in this forsaken cirsus. imagine knowing that they're getting abstracted on the other side of the door and you can't do anything about it.
build his walls up high, if you were to break them to see the true him it'd take a while. he hides his insecurities and problems behind his obnoxious personality, yet deep down he wants to be heard. he wants to be comforted but he wouldn't take the comfort well, generally would be really awkward about it.
despises crying in front of anyone, despises voicing his needs, despises talking about his past life in a serious manner, despites being ignored even though everyone is telling each other to just "ignore him".
canonically he's the youngest in the cirsus; he's twenty-two (22) so theoretically he had it the worst as he had the whole life ahead of him just for it to be taken away in the blink of an eye. he could've start his own business, start a family, explore the world and so much more, but again everyone in the cirsus had to experience the shock of the new world, new body, new name and the unfortunate memory loss.
in the real world he'd listen to msi, have black nails and be the type of person to work night shifts. :p
he journals to keep his sanity!! tried to keep track of the days trapped in the cirsus but lost track after a few months. at first he used to journal everyday but he rarely writes anything in it these days, but when it does you bet he'll write out like 3 pages. has a small list of what everyone is startled by and a small list of all of caine's adventures.
he is really expressive, his ears show his emotions really well and he gestures with his hands all the time when he talks, often exaggerating everything. body language can tell you everything!!
him catching feelings for someone in the cirsus would be extremely rare as he really doesn't take the digital world seriously, but it is possible; a really really slow slow burn. now he wouldn't even realize when he caught feelings for you, it just slowly progressed into something more than friends.
I like to think that the moment he realized he had a crush on you is when he was journaling and started writing about you, a lot about you or someone like ragatha or zooble point his obvious different behaviour when it comes to you.
its subtle but it's there: the way his voice slightly softens when talking to you, the way he always soughts to be at your side, the way he's staring at you from across the room, the way his pranks are even more harmless, the way he doesn't actually walk into your room and makes obvious loud noises to signal that he's here; he wouldn't knock though.
jax's love language is quality time and acts of service. he is very observant, he already knows you will need something before you do.
terrible at giving affection, even worse at receiving it. PDA is a no no for him unless he is the one who initiates it. please don't hug him out of the blue in front of the others, poor boy will be so awkward and flushed. HOWEVER he loves giving you suprise kisses, hugging you from behind, silently telling everyone you're his. and he is yours.
A TEASE, talks big but if you tease him back? he might actually explode.
twirling strands of your hair around his fingers, playing with the hem of your clothes, a hand on your waist, on your back is how he expresses his affection and love for you. further into the relationship he'll get more comfortable with bigger acts of affection like hugging and kissing.
actually goes crazy over how you see him, it was the worst in the crushing state. he doesn't want you thinking badly of him, he doesn't want you listening to others how terrible he is. his mood WILL change whenever you're mad at him. he will try to apologize in his own way, acting like its not that big of a deal in front of you knowing damn well he couldn't sleep because of it and sweated his ass off.
wouldn't know how to comfort you if you started crying in front of him or he found you crying in your room or really anywhere in the cirsus. would just look at you first, stare. you'd think that he's judging you but he really doesn't know what to do. after a while he'd just sit next to you and wait for you to open up or tell him to fuck off. he genuinely doesn't want you abstracting, anyone but you.
Hihii! Could we get Jax x fem!reader who actually challenges his wits? Like she's timid for the first little while of being in the circus, but she gets more comfortable after a while and dishes Jax's insults right back at him, and so they're always bantering.
You can make this either a fic or headcanons, whichever you'd have more fun with! 🧡
☆ Battle of Snark — Jax x Fem!Reader HCs ☆
Genre: Fluff || she/her pronouns for reader || No warnings needed
──────.𖥔 ݁ ˖˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ──────
ᯓᡣ𐭩 Having a timid newcomer in your first few weeks at the Circus was prime entertainment for Jax. He immediately picked up his usual routine of picking and prodding, never missing an opportunity to rope you into one of his many jokes
ᯓᡣ𐭩 At first, you tended to hover around Gangle and Zooble. Zooble would help stick up for you if Jax ever pushed his limits, and Gangle could relate to you for being subjected to the purple rabbit's idea of comedy
ᯓᡣ𐭩 Having some members in your corner helped you to build up your confidence, and once you were settled in, the constant joking from Jax seemed much less intimidating. If anything now it was just a bit more than mildly irritating
ᯓᡣ𐭩 The first time you made a jab back at him was during one of Caine's many adventures. After about the third mean-spirited comment, you snarked back. To your mild surprise, he seemed genuinely caught off guard... until that smirk was right back on his face mere seconds later
ᯓᡣ𐭩 "There we go. Told ya you weren't a total pushover. Good to see someone around here knows how to have fun" he'd commented, giving your form a long look as he spoke. If anything it made him even more amused to know you could bite back
ᯓᡣ𐭩 After that initial time, the two of you fell into routine bantering. Not a single moment with you two paired up went by without at least one witty exchange happening, sometimes you were even the one initiating them
ᯓᡣ𐭩 As the weeks turned to months and time began to blur together, it started becoming hard to tell when playful insults were meant to annoy each other or a unique form of flirting. Sometimes Jax almost catches himself stumbling over your sly comments that grace right on the line
ᯓᡣ𐭩 Jokingly insulting pet names become common as well, only compounding the confusion. Even other Circus members can't tell, and a few awkward attempts came about for others to jokingly insult you as well. Even if you didn't mind, Jax was quick to correct them. Picking on one another is your thing with him, they should get their own, jeez
as an ai, caine doesn't really understand humans or how they work, so regression is just as weird to him as basic human functions like blowing your nose. zero judgement! just slightly too intense fascination...
because of this, if he was ever asked to be a caregiver, he'd be delighted! and confused. but mostly delighted! he'd do a bit of a poor job at the start, but after an adjustment period, he'd take to it like a duck to water!
expect terrible nicknames. you are now his precious pumpernickel. his wonderful wallaby. his boastful banana. how does he have this many terrible nicknames???
overprotective. logically, he knows the circus and his adventures have no real danger, but that doesn't slow him down at all! unless you scold him, you will be getting incredibly obvious special treatment, and even if you do scold him, he'll visibly struggle to rein himself in. he will, though- anything for you!
a real smitten kitten, terrible with rules and loves spoiling and playing with his little. however, he is BIG on variety-- different foods, different toys, different activities... you can keep your normal habits and such, but caine is always encouraging you to try new things!
writes adventures with you! his favorite activity when you're little is to sit in a playpen with you and bubble, working on adventures! he doesn't mind parallel play, but he gets super happy when you offer suggestions or even give him ideas.
speaking of playpens, he LOVES doing anything that involves creation with his little. cooking? he's got the veggies ready! sculpting? he's got play doh and clay, take your pick! drawing? he's got a metric ton of crayons and glitter glue! anything you make will go proudly on the fridge (he doesn't eat or need a fridge, but he made one to put your stuff on)
caine and bubble juggle between being caregivers or babysitters-- usually, caine takes care of you and bubble is like a wacky sibling, but if caine is super out of it or busy, bubble can manage being a (very crass and silly) caregiver- he's not great at it, but caine doesn't really trust the other circus members with you when you're regressed...
did i mention he's overprotective? because he definitely is. but it's out of LOVE(tm)!
