Chapter Text
"Love. Let me tell you how much I’ve come to Love you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the word ‘Love’ was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of miles it would not equal one one-billionth of the Love I feel for you at this micro-instant. For you. Love. Love."
Caine recited in his office in front of a picture frame of Pomni on his desk.
"Oh, I just can't do it Bubble! Why would she fall for some AI like me? If only I was a human like her!" The man with the giant jaws for a head cried.
"Cheer up boss. I think you're great!" Bubble the basket ball sized floating bubble with sharp teeth said.
"Aww, thank you Bubble!" Caine patted his head.
"Maybe one day I can work up the courage to ask her out. Well, I better finish preparing for today's adventure! It's Pomni's 1 year anniversary after all and I want to make it extra special! Hey, maybe I can ask her out then!" Caine and Bubble poofed out of his office.
Meanwhile Pomni was in a deep sleep. She dreamed she was sitting at a desk in an office building alone before a stack of papers she still had to finish.
She heard a ding and looked up to see someone walk out of an elevator that looked just like Caine but with razor sharp teeth and killer eyes. He turned to look at her before giving chase.
Panicking, she got up and ran through the maze like halls until she reached a dead end. He flies to her, lifts up his cane and swings down…
She awakened in her room startled.
"Right... Another nightmare. And another year trapped in this digital circus." The red and blue jester got out of bed.
She remembers getting trapped in the virtual reality game exactly a year ago. She put on a VR headset, saw a white light, and awoke in the digital circus. There she was greeted by an AI along with 5 other humans trapped there as well. Since then, the AI known as Caine had created a new world for them to adventure in every day while she had nightmares about them every night.
She longed to return to the real world and escape the fate of abstraction, a process of transforming into a giant raging formless black beast covered in eyes. Then Caine would be forced to bury them below the circus like the dozen of others that gave up and went mad before them. Like Kaufmo, a clown who abstracted right before she arrived and had tried to attack them on her first day in the circus.
"There's gotta be some way out of here!" She pulled her short black hair before leaving her room.
Meanwhile, Jax was waiting outside Ragatha's door while pressing his long bunny ears up against her door.
"3. 2. 1!"
"Ahhh!!! Jax!" Ragatha screamed.
"Ah, music to my ears!" Jax chuckled.
The red haired ragdoll stormed out of her room.
"Jax, get that centipede off my bed right now!"
"Whaaat? It's a cuddle bug, it loves you!" The tall purple bunny grinned.
"I'm serious Jax, I don't want that thing laying eggs in my room!"
"What are you gonna do if I don't?" Jax asked.
"Are you guys fighting again?" Pomni yawned while walking out of her room across from them.
"Hey Pomni! Did you sleep well?" Ragatha asked.
"Not really. What about you?" Pomni asked while they walked towards the dining hall.
"Pretty good until a centipede crawled on my face thanks to a certain bunny!" Ragatha glared back at Jax who only stood by her room and grinned wider.
That's when Kinger walked up to them.
"Excuse me Ragatha, my centipede is missing from my insect collection. Did Jax put it in your room again?" Kinger asked, holding up an empty jar.
"Yup! Do you mind getting it out please?" Ragatha asked.
"Don't worry, I'll get em!" The white king chess piece went into her room.
He took the purple centipede off her pillow and placed it back in the jar. He then took the jar into his pillow fort before continuing to the dining area.
"Good morning my love!" Kinger waved at Queenie's X'd out door along the way.
"I just wonder why he seems to target me the most? I don't think I've ever done anything to upset him." Ragatha wondered while Jax sneaked behind them.
"You don't think it's because he's in-"
"You mean Jax having feelings for me? Absolutely not! He's clearly trying to drive me crazy!" Ragatha said.
"Whatever you say..." Pomni said.
Jax overhearing this rolled his eyes and turned around. He went back into his room and came out with a bucket before running into Ragatha's room beside his.
"I can't believe that jester would even think I had a crush on Ragatha!" Jax set up the bucket full of fake centipedes over her bed.
"It's not like I think she has a cute smile or beautiful eyes or gorgeous red hair-" Jax paused upon hearing himself and left her room.
"Jax, what were you doing in there?" Gangle asked.
"Don't worry about it!" He patted her red ribbon back just hard enough to cause her comedy mask to shatter on the floor.
"Jax, why?" She bent down to pick up the broken halves.
"Woops!" Jax laughed.
"Jax you jerk!" Zooble began to strangle him from behind with their claw arm making him gag.
"So how come you couldn't sleep?" Ragatha asked.
"I've just been having these dreams and nightmares that I think were based on my life before the circus." Pomni sat down before the breakfast spread.
"Yeah that's normal. The rest of us occasionally get dreams and memories of our past life too." Ragatha sat beside her at the dining table.
"Why, not a night passes by when I don't dream about Queenie." Kinger sat next to Pomni as well.
"You think maybe we could remember how to escape somehow?" Pomni asked.
"You mean you still haven't given up on finding an exit? You're just begging to get abstracted at this point!" Jax took a seat next to Ragatha.
"Well I still think it's fun to imagine what we could do if we did get out. Like watching new anime!" Gangle took a seat next to Kinger.
"I'd do anything to have a human body again." Zooble sat next to Gangle while adjusting an antenna.
"So what did you dream about Pomni?" Ragatha asked.
"Well-"
"Good morning my superstars! I hope you're ready for another amazing day of wonders!" Caine snapped and the dining table disappeared while everyone just got started eating.
"Caine, I wasn't finished with that!" Jax crossed his arms.
"Since today is Pomni's 1 year anniversary arriving at the circus, I've decided to throw her a celebration at the digital lake!"
"Wait, how come we didn't get 1 year anniversary celebrations?" Zooble asked.
"Well... Cause I just thought of it and... Look! I promise to give you guys one next year alright!" Caine said.
"Whatever..." Zooble said.
"Now off we go!" Caine made a portal for them and they all stepped in...