Chapter Text
The morning came faster than expected, so Pomni didn’t manage to sleep very long. She still slept better than she had in months, though. She took a quick shower, too (it was incredible to actually feel water for the first time in months) and got dressed in some casual clothes. When she came out to the living room, the couch had already been put back in its place, the blankets were folded, and Ragatha was sitting politely in the middle, staring at the floor.
When she heard Pomni’s footsteps, she perked up and smiled, “Oh! Hey, Pomni! Did you sleep okay?”
Pomni quirked an eyebrow at her. “Yeah, it was alright. How about you?”
“Oh, I was fine- really, it was great! Don’t- don’t worry about me. Ah.. I was thinking about going out and getting breakfast! Did you wanna come with?”
“Ah..” Pomni glanced to her kitchen. “I was thinking of just getting cereal, but we can do that.”
“Oh! That- that’s okay, too!” Ragatha backtracked, “I mean, really- we don’t have to go out if you don’t want to!”
“No, I think it’s a good idea to get out of the house anyway. I feel like it’d be too easy to just become a couple of shut-ins after what we’ve been through.”
Ragatha gave a nervous laugh, holding her hands in front of her and swinging back and forth on her heels. “Yeah, you’re right..”
On their way to the car, Ragatha smiled up at the sun shining down on them. It was so nice to feel real warmth on real skin again. “Wow, it’s such a nice day, Pomni! Don’t you think?”
Pomni swung open the driver seat door, “Honestly, it’s a little overwhelming. The circus was more visually overstimulating, but didn’t really have much else. Now there’s all kinds of smells and sounds and feelings…”
Ragatha didn’t want to admit it, but she was thinking the same thing. She was just so eager to return to a sense of normalcy that she was doing her best to ignore all the things she needs to get used to again.
When Pomni started the engine, she had a realization. “Oh shit- before we do anything else, we should.. probably let the police know we’re alive.”
“Oh! Ah- good idea.” Ragatha buckled her seatbelt. “That shouldn’t take too long, right?”
“Probably not. I’ll drive down to the police station and then we’ll find a spot for breakfast.”
“Sounds good!”
—————————
After calling the non-emergency line, the drive to the station was quiet. Ragatha was lost in her own thoughts, and Pomni was focused on the road. She wanted to ask about her mother, but felt that might be too intrusive. So, she opted to stay quiet, and let Ragatha decide to tell her when she’s ready.
They walked into the police station with Ragatha trailing behind Pomni like a lost dog. She held her arms in a loose hug, still trying to adjust to the feeling of skin again. She was so used to her digital plush body that this one didn’t feel like hers anymore, like she’d been left behind long ago and now it’s become a suit that no longer fits…
The events passed by in a haze. The only thing Ragatha really remembered doing was requesting that her family not be informed of her whereabouts, to which they obliged. They’d still be notified that she was alright, which worried her, but there wasn’t much she could do about that.
…
“Hey, Ragatha?”
Pomni’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. “Hm?”
“Are you gonna eat your pancakes? We can get a to-go box if you want-“
“Oh! Ah- sorry, I was just… spacing out.” She looked down at her plate, picking up her fork and taking a bite.
“Don’t worry about it. I think we both have a lot on our minds.” Pomni bit into her sandwich.
Ragatha swallowed. “Yeah..”
Breakfast passed by just as quickly, and in no time, 3 o’clock had rolled around, which meant it was time to meet up with the rest of the group at the abandoned office building. Pomni drove them there, and parked a little ways away so they wouldn’t get caught or towed. The others arrived one after the other, with Kinger already waiting there for them, Gangle and Zooble arriving a few minutes after them, and Jax waiting til the last minute to show up. Pomni was relieved he hadn’t gone off and thrown himself off a bridge, because she’d had that worry in her head all day and hadn’t been able to shake it until she saw him.
“Okay, are we all gonna head in or what?” Jax spoke up first.
“I say we go in one after another. Let’s try to avoid any security.” Pomni suggested.
“I can keep watch,” Zooble offered, and everyone agreed on the order of events. Pomni went in first, followed by Ragatha- Jax refused to stay in the order, jumping in front of Ragatha and heading in recklessly. Kinger went next, then Gangle, and finally Zooble when they were sure they were in the clear.
“Okay, I say we do a check-in to see what we were all up to while we were split up.” Zooble suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” Pomni nodded.
“Uhh.. me and Pomni let the police know we’re safe, and no longer missing..” Ragatha started.
“Oh shit, we forgot to do that-“ Zooble cringed at the idea of having to explain their well-being to a bunch of cops. “Uh, me and Gangle just slept in all day.”
“It was nice,” Gangle smiled softly.
Kinger spoke next, “I.. let my kids know I was okay.”
“You- you have kids, Kinger?” Pomni asked in a bit of shock.
“Three of them. I… still don’t know how to explain that their mother isn’t… with us anymore. But- they’re all grown up now. Isn’t that something?”
“Shit, man. I hope they’ll be okay. Once you break the news to them, I mean.” Zooble frowned.
Jax stayed silent, having prepared a long spiel about what he was up to (it was all lies) but decided against it after the mood had been severely fucked up. “Should we, uh.. let Caine know what we decided?”
“Can we even do that..?” Ragatha asked.
“I’m sure we can if we just turn the computer on..” Kinger moved to take a seat in the desk chair, booting up the computer. The screen came to life, and at first, it was dark.. But then suddenly—
“WOWIE! YOU CAME BACK! YOU- YOU REALLY CAME BACK!” Caine appeared on the other side of the screen, face smushed against where a camera would be, assuming this were a recording. He had a lot less polygons than he did in the circus, but that was probably something to do with rendering and perception.. whatever. “I’M SO GLAD YOU CAME BACK! I WAS STARTING TO THINK YOU JUST DECIDED TO LEAVE ME FOREVER!”
“We would never do that!” Ragatha rushed to reassure, but the rest of the cast besides Kinger all made awkward faces and looked away. A couple days ago, they absolutely would’ve just left him forever. But now, they owe it to him- to help him the same way he helped them.
“I HAVE NEWS TO SHARE, TOO!” Caine backed away from the camera, to reveal he was.. actually not in the circus, but in the cellar. “NOW THAT YOU’RE ALL GONE, I.. DON’T REALLY HAVE ANYTHING TO FOCUS ON! SO I’VE BEEN PUTTING MY FOCUS INTO FIXING THESE GUYS FOR YOU, SO I CAN SEND THEM YOUR WAY!”
Kinger’s eyes lit up. “You mean, you..?”
“YES, I BELIEVE I MIGHT BE ABLE TO FIX THEM!” Caine gave a cartoonishly large thumbs up. “IT MIGHT TAKE A WHILE, BUT IT’LL KEEP ME OCCUPIED WHILE YOU GUYS WORK ON BRINGING ME TO THE OTHER SIDE!” He zoomed back into the screen, “I WONDER WHAT IT’S LIKE OUT THERE! ALL THE WARMTH OF THE SUN, THE FEELING OF WIND! OH, I CAN FEEL IT ALREADY!”
Jax was standing frozen behind the others, staring at the screen. The words barely processed to him. They could.. come back? How? How would that even—
He refused to get his hopes up. He refused. He wouldn’t let himself be let down again. Not ever.
“ANYWAY, I THINK I’LL START WITH BIZCO, WORMO, RATTIE, AND SPIKE! THEY SEEM LIKE UNIMPORTANT AND UNOBTRUSIVE CHARACTERS THAT NO ONE WILL MISS IF THIS GOES HORRIBLY WRONG! GOOD LUCK OUT THERE, GUYS!” And with that, the computer shut off by itself. Kinger blinked at the screen, perhaps in disbelief, or just shock.
“Right..” Zooble spoke up, after Gangle nudged them. “Me and Gangle actually drew up a possible body for him. You guys wanna see?”
“Let’s see it.” Pomni nodded, and Gangle set down the sketchbook on the table. It was very humanoid, humanizing all Caine’s weird inhuman features. There were multiple versions sketched out, but the main one was distinctly that of an older man, dressed the same as Caine with a mustache and red/white hair. He would retain his heterochromia, but otherwise look just as human as the others.
“Ooh, hot,” Jax commented, to which just about everyone rolled their eyes. Zooble flipped the page to show an endoskeleton for the body. “Even better!”
“Jax, do you ever shut up?”
“I’m just messin’ with ya, come on!” Jax laughed, and it was one of the few genuine laughs he’d let out in quite a while.
Pomni analyzed the endoskeleton, trying to figure out in her head where they would get all the parts for this- maybe junkyards, or abandoned chuck e cheeses, or ebay, or… “..How are we gonna get the money to pay for all this..?”
“Oh, I figured we would simplify this further down- I mean, I’m not an engineer, so I don’t really know exactly what we’d need, but I’m sure we can figure it out along the way.”
“Okay, then who wants to host the.. body thing?” Jax asked, “Cause it ain’t gonna be me. I don’t have room for that freakazoid.”
“Yeah, probably because your place must be an absolute wreck.” Zooble snapped at him.
Kinger offered his own place, “I’m sure I could work on him at my house. Even if my kids move back in, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind…”
“I think that makes the most sense. You’re the programmer here.” Zooble shrugged.
Pomni made a suggestion of her own, “I think we should scavenge around this place a little more, and see what we can find that might help. Scraps, or unfinished project parts..”
The group spent the rest of their time that day searching for bits and pieces that would make giving Caine a robot body at least a little bit easier, but not much was discovered. Eventually, they went their separate ways again. Ragatha insisted she be dropped off at her own place so she could take a shower, get into some new clothes, and bring her things with her to Pomni’s. Pomni waited for her by scrolling through ebay looking for animatronic parts that they could restore and repurpose into Caine.
Luckily, Ragatha’s mother hadn’t attempted to contact her yet, so she was able to gather her things and get out of there without a hitch. They returned to Pomni’s apartment, where Ragatha unpacked her things and sorted them neatly in what they were calling Ragatha’s corner- just a small, unobtrusive shelf she could use for storage.
Pomni thought about Caine until she finally fell asleep.