Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A small voice broke through the tense silence of the room she’d been sitting in, hesitant and nervous.

“After the suggestion box day, Caine seemed to get a little more…intense?”

“And for a later ‘adventure’ he decided that for the ‘well-being’ of all of us, he’d give us these solo therapy sessions. We just…sit in front of a camera and talk about our feelings, I-I guess.”

Pomni shifted in her chair uncomfortably, staring at the camera in front of her with an unsure expression, like someone making a YouTube video for the first time. She knew Caine would be watching these even if he said he wouldn’t, but a part of her liked the idea of talking to a camera for a while. Looking around the room reminded her of a therapist’s office, but more for kids. It was colorful with a soft couch, full of posters about adventures and other things that Caine had definitely made. Her foot tapped against the carpet.

Sitting here and having a moment of silence felt so weird to her after everything that had happened, but eventually she snapped free of her thoughts and looked at the camera with a nervous chuckle as she rubbed the back of her head. The silence almost felt too loud.

“Uh, well, I don’t really know how I feel. T-This reminds me of how I felt doing interviews for my old job so long ago, staring in front of a camera, awkwardly.”

She sighed, her weak smile falling a little as she let her hands fall to her lap, slumping slightly.

“Everything’s been so crazy and hard to believe. And sometimes I don’t get the point of it all, u-until I look at everybody else here…they care, I think they care.”

“I’ve been talking to Jax more, which I feel kinda bad about because no one else seems to like him? I know he’s a total jerk, but he’s fun to talk to…sometimes. I just feel bad for feeling that way, I guess. A-And seeing Ragatha’s reaction made me think about that more.”

Pomni paused, sighing heavily as she tried to rub her eyes as if that would make everything easier to understand, she looked sadder by the second. She’d been going on for so long that she’d almost forgotten She was in front of a camera. It felt nice, to get things off her chest.

“And Ragatha overall, I-I just don’t know how I feel about her. She’s always so nice, too nice really, and it feels really…repetitive? That and she treats me like a kid sometimes and it’s frustrating! I like her, it’s just that she tries too hard and so it feels impossible to actually connect to her. Seeing her snap at Jax the other day was a little nerve wracking, honestly, I-I don’t think I’ve ever seen her get that frustrated. “

As she was talking, she occasionally looked around the room or fidgeted with her fingers, seeming nervous when it came to spilling her feelings like this, even if no one could hear…yet.

“Gangle’s nice, and she likes to draw things for me sometimes. When we did the Spudsys’ adventure and so offered to close for her, I-I realized how much she tries to hold in, even when we were working all that frustration she seemed to aim at me didn’t feel like it was because of me, more she was just…exasperated or on edge, like she wanted it all to go perfect! Or make the others see her differently?”

She tapped her fingers on the arm of the couch repeatedly as something contemplative etched its way onto her face.

“I think she looked much more comfortable without that new mask, I-I think the other one made her feel more obligated to h-hide her negative emotions. How she was at work kind of reminded me of how I was at my job, because I had to force myself to smile a lot at my old job. It's the nature of working in places like that, where you have to bottle everything up until you’re home. And it…sucks.”

She looked at the camera again, looking at her own reflection and tapping her face.

“It feels like that was…almost a dream. At least now. I don’t even remember my name or what I looked like. N-No one remembers that about themselves here.”

She looked down, shaking her head to try and ignore the hopelessness that flourished in her heart at the thought, the reminder that she was stuck in this place that made her feel like she was in hell.

“Then there’s Zooble. I don’t know much about them, they talk the least…but they seem to care about everyone. E-Except Jax-“

She chuckled, looking at the floor again with a small sigh before looking back up.

“They’re also the most honest when it comes to Caine’s…”adventures” and I mean, you could say Jax is, but his honesty feels like insults where Zooble’s honesty feels genuine. Y’know?”

She tilted her head, leaning her head in her hand and she propped her elbow up on her knee.

“It’s been more fun to have Zooble join us on adventures…and just use the suggestion box in general. It feels so much more…real. It’s not some kind of nightmare, l-like the one where we just relaxed together!”

“Oh, also, there’s Kinger! He’s…definitely interesting, but he’s…he’s done a lot for me, and has some of the wisest words out of everyone. Which sounds crazy, but it's true. Even if he forgets them later, he means it. That’s what’s important. Letting someone know you care about them, right?”

She echoed his words to her, a small smile on her face as she reminded herself of what he’d said “The worst thing you could do in this world is make someone feel unwanted or unloved.” Those words had changed her mind a lot since she’d gotten here. She didn’t talk about what Kinger had told her, feeling that it was something better left unsaid. Eventually her thoughts drifted to something she’d been trying to ignore.

“And, the whole Gummigoo thing! Haha, I-I’m definitely over it! I-I-“

She stumbled for a minute, before a sniffle left her and she seemed to shrink into the chair.

“I feel so terrible because I-I broke his world and then when I gave him h-hope Caine just-“

She started to cry, softly sobbing into her knees, her breathing hitching. She was gripping her legs tightly.

“K-Killed him! B-Basically killed him! And n-now sometimes I-I have to see versions of him who d-don’t know who I am!”

“And Caine, he’s just-“

Pomni let out a frustrated yell into her hands,kicking the couch repeatedly while she sat on it out of frustration. Eventually she sat up and just started to angrily rant, her bottled up feelings towards the ringmaster almost spilling faster than her tears. Her pupils turned to the black sketchy blobs they usually do when she’s stressed.

“I-I don’t understand him! I feel like all he wants to do is make us suffer! Every single one of his adventures feels like a stupid nightmare just like this stupid circus and even when I find something good out of it he just TAKES it!”

“I hate his adventures, I hate them! A-And he acts like they’re t-the best! And he always tries to convince us the suggestion box is worse when it’s better than anything he’s ever suggested! He says he can’t just create a fun adventure, that it has to be something dark, but why?! Because it’s fun to make everyone unhappy?!”

She cried, her words stopping as her crying continued, eventually they slowed, a shaky sigh leaving her frame as she looked around the room at Caine’s posters sighing as she wiped her eyes feverishly with a final sniffle, looking at the camera with a tired expression with a slight hint of shock.

She’d forgotten.

She finally got up and walked to the camera, crouching in front of it. It gave a better view of her face. Slightly red while tears ran down it, her eyes back to their normal red and blue checker pattern while she had a soft frown on her face. She looked so tired.

“I forgot I was in front of this for a while.” She admitted softly, looking down.

She found it in herself to smile slightly, just for a little.

“But, at least I know there are people there for me, at the end of all this.”

“I’m gonna…go thank everyone for what they‘ve done for me.”

With that, Pomni shut off the camera and signaled the end of this “adventure” leaving Caine to pick the next one of the Circus members to do his “solo therapy sessions”.

Chapter Text

“What, do you really expect me to spill my feelings? HA!”

Jax was seated on the same plush couch, the same overly colorful room that reminded Pomni of a therapist’s office, yet how he saw it was different. To him it was stupid, pointless, honestly laughable. His smug expression would look at the camera, chuckling a little himself. He couldn’t believe the fact that Caine would actually put him here thinking he’d play along.

“This is so stupid, in fact, I bet if I talk long enough I’ll reach a word count or something and get sent out.” he’d remark snidely, rolling his eye as he kicked his feet up against the arm of the couch, putting his arms behind his head as he leaned against the other arm of it. Despite his apparent relaxed position, something about him felt almost tense.

“I could tell you how much of a crybaby Gangle is, or how nuts Kinger is, there’s plenty! I mean, I put a centipede in Ragatha's room again this morning. I’m just waiting for her to scream.” he closed his eyes with a sigh, seeming proud of himself. “Y’know, what if I just spilled EVERYONE’S secrets? That’d be funny.”

He’d fall silent after, opening an eye to look at the camera in the room, which was still recording without fail. He’d talk with no real goal in mind for a bit longer, until eventually he got up to check how long he’d been here for. He seemed impatient, and with how quickly he moved it could almost be argued that he seemed anxious.

“Come on, this is boringggg. I think I’ve said enough, usually someone would tell me to shut up by now.”

Once he saw the clock, he realized it’d been an hour. An hour and no sign of any ability to leave. He got an idea after a second and approached the camera, attempting to turn it off.

“That’s enough of this joke of an adventure.” he muttered, rolling his eyes again with a smirk. But after a minute or two, the camera still didn’t shut off. His smile became a little off, almost strained as his foot started to tap on the carpet that covered the floor. A hint of frustration appeared in his eyes, and after enough meddling Caine’s voice cut through the camera.

“Hello there my little soft served candy canes! In order to make this adventure as effective as possible, I made sure to make it impossible to turn off the camera until the AI I set up determines you’ve said something meaningful! Good luck!”

An audio recording. Jax could tell from the moment he heard it that it was designed for him, and he didn’t like it one bit.

“What the [%$!@]? Meaningful?”

Jax let out a frustrated sigh, his foot tapping more aggressively as he backed away from the camera, folding his arms, letting his fingers grip them tightly. One wouldn’t notice the smaller details unless they really looked, and that’s because he was a good actor. But his breathing just barely shook as he tried to find a clever way out of this, something to say to break the AI, anything. It was an easy task in truth, but for some reason he couldn’t think of a way. His usual quick wit had faltered as a feeling he’d been pushing down threatened to break through his artificial mask- fear. It wasn’t the normal kind of fear, it was the angry kind. The kind when someone traps a feral animal in a cage and leaves it pacing for hours. Jax’s wire had already begun to run thin.

“Fine.” He laughed, a little too hard, his composure beginning to rapidly fade as his breathing became visibly more heavy, his smile cracking, becoming wider and more unsettling by the second. He started to think about the other night, about Pomni, and that only made it worse.

“FINE! YOU WANT ME TO SAY SOMETHING MEANINGFUL?! Then I want you to listen very, very closely.” He exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air sarcastically, a weak attempt to keep up his usual sarcastic attitude.

He approached the camera again, leaning down as he tilted his head, breathing deep to allow the mask to cover him again, leaving his expression uncomfortably artificial, with just a hint of humanity from the occasional hitch of his breath. He hesitated.

“None of this matters. None of the adventures, none of the time, none of these stupid games, no one else here. It’s all so…pointlless!” He hissed, gritting his teeth as clenched his fists before moving his hand to grip his arms tighter while he sat on his knees in front of the camera. His smile widened, yet it began to shake. His efforts to appear sadistic left him looking more broken than anything, and above all, scared. Panicked even.

“Not even him. No one matters. They’ll all be gone eventually, so I’ll just play with them until they do.”

His breathing sped up again, and he looked down at his hands. They were shaking.

He was shaking.

“He’s gone. He doesn’t matter.”

It almost sounded like he was mumbling to himself at this point, his voice bordering on desperate as it remained laced with frustration and bitterness. It was like he was trying to convince himself of something, saying it over and over to force himself to believe it, yet deep down it would never work. He would never be able to convince himself of something that he knew was a complete lie.

“Raggy even said it herself,” he said, shrugging his arms hopelessly, sounding exasperated “he’s not here anymore!”

He found himself thinking back to what it was like when everyone abstracted, why he avoided the funerals, because he didn’t want to think about what he saw. What he’d seen over and over again, and it felt like it always happened when he got too close.
“None of them are.”

He took a breath in that sounded like a wheeze, a gasp for air despite not needing to breathe, his pupils becoming scribbled. He put a hand to his chest, kept one on his knee. His ears had long gone flat by now.

A broken whisper would follow a few minutes later, the most honest thing he’d ever said from the moment he entered this circus, more than he would ever admit to anyone.

“I don’t want anyone to get close anymore.”

“I’ll just lose them and then-” a broken laugh interrupted him “then it’ll be my fault again. They’ll blame me.”

Tears built up in his eyes for the first time in a very long time. He couldn’t even remember how long it’d been since he broke. Had it been days? Weeks? Months?

Maybe even years?

He really didn’t know.

The tears finally started as he let himself go. The only reason he did was the fact that he didn’t think Caine would actually look at these. He probably knew better, but if Caine was having an AI gauge the quality of his words? It was probably just a gimmick to make himself think he was doing something good, or to play with everyone, like a sick joke. This whole room felt like a joke to him at this point. A vicious mockery of everything that had ever happened in this god forsaken circus.

His hands would slowly, shakily, reach up to the camera. His eyes were bleary as just a few tears ran down his face, a small sniffle escaping him. He didn’t cry much, but even a few tears was unfathomable for him. He fumbled with the camera for the button to shut it off, silent in doing so, in his head hoping that the AI counted it, that it wasn’t faulty, that he wouldn’t be stuck here with his thoughts any longer.

He needed to wipe his face and do something. To distract himself, anything. He almost never got in his head like this but when he did it was unbearable. It made him feel so disgustingly human, something he’d tried to abandon in an effort to embrace an archetype. To be the funny one. To ignore every bit of pain, suffering, hopelessness, or any other emotions that were too much for him.

He almost dropped the camera, catching it before finally feeling his finger run over the button after what felt like hours. Relief hit him as he clicked the button and watched the camera shut off, leaving in the silence of the room. He wiped his eyes, letting the mask watch over his face while barely perceptible traces of breakdown remained, smiling as he looked up at the clock for just a brief moment before being teleported out, leaving Caine to pick his next victim.

It’d only been half an hour.

Chapter Text

“Oh, hello there. I’m not quite sure I remember what I’m supposed to be doing. Was it something about mushroom chowder?” Kinger would mumble, curiously. Seated in the same room that Pomni and Jax had been in, he didn’t seem to feel a particular way towards it. It sort of reminded him of an office, but his mind was a little too foggy to really piece any coherent thought or memory together, like usual.

After a second, Kinger’s hand would fall to his side again. He got up, moving a bit closer to the camera and sitting on the floor in front of it. “I think this is better to talk to a camera. I know I’m supposed to talk…or was I? No, I was. But about what?”

Kinger sat in silence on the floor of the room as he tried to think of what to talk about. He sat there for multiple minutes, silently in front of the camera, though oddly enough the silence didn’t feel uncomfortable nor tense. Though, after another minute passed the lights went out and his scream would break the silence. He got up to try and figure out what happened, but ended up walking into the couch and choosing to sit on it instead. He sighed a little, the only light in the room coming from the camera.

“I guess the lights are out for good right now. But I finally figured out what to talk about. About everyone here, and really I suppose Pomni.”

He seemed to really mull over what to say, how he wanted to say it, like it was important to him.

“All of them have their own issues and the longer I’ve been here the more I’ve realized that Caine isn’t exactly the most accurate with picking up on their emotions. Which makes sense. He’s the only one who isn’t human.”

“I hate seeing how it affects the others. All of them are, even if they don’t show it.”

He would sigh, deeply. A thought seemed to hit him that really weighed him down. Even in the dark, it was obvious he’d slumped slightly, his eyes pointed at the floor before returning to the camera.

“And I hate even more that I can’t control my memories, because I’m sure it makes them feel like…I’m not there for them. I want to be, I am sometimes.”

He sighed in frustration, shaking his head. After a second another thing came to mind that made him chuckle a little to himself as his expression softened,

“I guess a good question to answer might be, why I haven’t abstracted? No one has ever asked me that, but I know that everyone was questioning it. I’ve even thought about it myself, but I guess it’s just because I don’t see everything as…pointless?”

He seemed a bit conflicted on how to word it, though eventually he’d continue it.

“I see a reason to be here as long as they’re here. I almost abstracted at one point, soon after my wife, but…”

He paused, seeming almost fond as he sighed to himself again, he’d look at the camera with a warm and almost grateful expression.

“Then Ragatha got stuck here, and it gave me a reason. Seeing how much she needed the support. It gave me a sense of persistence. It’s why the memory thing frustrates me so much, though I cherish the good ones I do have, as few as there are.”

“Sometimes I don’t exactly know what to think of this place. In truth I never have. To think I spent all those years…”

He waved a hand dismissively within the light of the camera, his voice getting softer.

“Nevermind that. I’m just glad to try and make the others feel wanted. It’s not easy in my situation, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try, does it?”

He didn’t know what to say now, his words hung heavily in the air.

He sat in comfortable silence for a moment, letting himself get lost in the light of the camera, that small light that illuminated the room and made his eyes shimmer softly, as though lost in a long forgotten memory.

“You look beautiful, honey…”

A small whisper, broken, soft, adoring. Something lost to both pain and time. After a second, this memory would be broken as the lights flicked back on. Kinger would scream and his eyes would dart up to where Caine’s eccentric voice had begun to play through an unnoticed speaker.

“My apologies to whoever I put in the therapy room. I was testing out some…other…adventures and it seems like that got in the way of some of the effects of this one. Everything should be working again now so enjoy yourself, superstar!”

Then it fell silent for a second before Kinger looked around in confusion, hopping off the couch as his hand tapped the top of his head.

“Was I saying something important? I think I was…maybe it was about insects?”

He looked around before rediscovering the camera and screaming again then he’d sit in front of it just like in the beginning before reaching out to grab it, his hands shaking slightly for some unknown reason.

“Oh! Right, I was talking in front of this thing. It’s been a while since I properly held a camera.”
He seemed to fidget with it a little, trying to find a comfortable way to hold it. It seemed to come naturally to him, but there was a bit of struggle due to how long it’d been.

“I wonder how long I’ve been doing this…I can check this to see how long it's been recording, right? Or maybe that was something else. Well…”

After a second he found the back screen, reading it before he exclaimed “TWO HOURS?!”

“I don't think it's been that long. I think I just lost track of time. What was I talking about…”

Kinger was trying his hardest to think, but his mind kept coming up blank, it was a little frustrating, but not something he wasn’t accustomed to. Eventually he accidentally found the button to shut off the camera, placing a finger on top of it.

“Hmm…I can’t think of anything else I want to say. I think I should turn this off.”

He clicked the button and watched the camera shut off, his eyes tracing over his reflection for just a second. A hint of remorse crossed his face, as though he was slightly sad. He couldn’t really understand why. There was just something that felt…melancholic.

He set the camera down in its place, and a second later he’d be teleported out of the room. Back in his pillow fort, trying to put together the pieces of what he’d said.

Then Caine would eventually pick the next person as the recording began to accumulate, though right now he just sat in something like an office that he’d made, Bubble nowhere to be found for the moment. For some reason, he found himself feeling impatient, eager. He wanted to know how to improve his adventures, and a part of him was excited for the insight on the group themselves, and on the human mind. He didn’t want to wait for the other three to record, but he forced himself to. He was imagining the kind things they’d say or the suggestions they might make. That made him feel like it’d be worth disturbing their privacy that he said he’d give.

But for now all he could was wait.

Chapter Text

“I’m mostly worried about how Pomni’s doing,” Ragatha mumbled, fidgeting with her plush hands as she sank into the couch. She looked weighed down, staring at the camera with uncertainty as she tried to hold up her usual smile; it looked weak. She’d glance around the room, taking in the therapy-style decor that Caine had set for this ‘adventure’. She sighed, looking away from the camera as if it were someone in front of her, listening, judging.

“I know she can handle herself but she’s new, and I want to be there for her, y’know? Especially with Jax…” she admitted, an undercurrent of loneliness and slight jealousy mixing with the concern in her tone. Her mind whirled with thoughts of what had happened recently: Pomni’s arrival, Kaufmo’s abstraction, the adventures…

Her snapping at Jax the day before. Pomni getting closer to him.

How alone she felt.

As much as Ragatha wanted to appear dependable, it all threatened to unravel under her pain, like a stitch sewn too tight, barely holding a doll together. She tapped her fingers on the arm of the couch as she fought to find another subject to talk about that wouldn’t reveal how much pain she was in.

Or pointless her efforts had begun to feel.

Regardless, eventually the stitch began to rip. Ragatha’s soft voice broke through and she was unable to bring her eye to meet the camera. Instead, she fiddled with her fingers while her eyes glanced around.

“I guess I just feel like a failure. I failed so many of them. It’s funny that I care so much because none of them ask about me, like at the bar…”

She chuckled sadly, tears pricking at her eye that she lazily attempted to wipe away, but her heart wasn’t in it—just like how her smile didn’t reach her eye.

She was trembling slightly, as if trying to keep herself together by force and preventing her emotions from spilling out like stuffing.

“They didn’t ask about where I came from, they just kinda forgot I was there, and it’s okay! It-it’s not a big deal, really, but it makes me feel alone. Like I’m just kind of there, I guess? And, again, it’s fine but-“

She hesitated, the tears beginning to drip from her eyes as her smile faltered.

“But…”

Her grip tightened on her dress as she tried to breathe in and stop the tears. She tried looking around the room again, but it was all a reminder;The red and blue pillows on the couch, the multicolored rug that had a pink base, Caine’s face on the posters—all of it.

A soft sob came from her as the stitches finally broke off, leaving her to cover her face with her hands.

“I-I can’t…keep pretending it doesn’t hurt.”

She sniffled, her frame trembling.

“If Caine had done this a-at any other time…”

She was frustrated with herself because she couldn’t hold it together. Everything that had been going on at the moment built up too much for her to hold it back in an environment like this. She hoped Caine would never watch these, she didn’t want him to know how much she was struggling, to show the others. She knew how he was, she knew he’d probably put them in a room and have them watch each other’s videos together regardless of the ‘privacy’ he promised.

And she didn’t want anyone to see her like this.

Slumped over, trembling, head in her hands as tears dripped down her face and her soft sobs echoed through the room, each one dripping with loneliness and hurt that had been repressed for far too long. The tears had started to get on her dress and out of reflex she pushed the fabric out of the way. She couldn’t let her dress get ruined by something like tears, no one could know she was crying once this was over.

She finally spoke again after a few moments of crying.

“I-I just, I try so hard-“ she hiccups, trying to rub the tears out of her eyes, but they only resumed with each word she spoke, as if they were needles being stabbed into her heart, which twisted with every breath she took.

“Even before the circus, at home, I just wanted to make them proud. Maybe then they could stop yelling. Stop telling me how much of a disappointment I was.”

Her voice broke on the last word.

“And here in the circus I try to save them, I try to be as nice as I can be, to offer support, to smile, to say sweet things, yet none of it matters. I’m still alone. I still feel like I’m sitting by myself when everyone else is in the same room.”

“I’m pretty sure Pomni hates me, and yet she likes Jax iwhen he’s such a jerk. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong.”

She sniffles, her eye finally looking up at the camera as she pulls a hand from her face and weakly gestures at herself.

“I want someone to ask about me, to choose to spend time with me, to actually want me there. I hate feeling so invisible.”

She cries more, falling apart at the seams as she tightly grips her dress with that free hand.

“How can someone be too nice?”

She sounded exasperated, frustrated even, but most of all hurt. Her voice was slightly raised.

“I know that sometimes what I say is just meant to be nice words, that it’s not always the most genuine it could be, but shouldn’t it still mean something?”

Her voice suddenly dropped, her hand fell into her lap, now both her arms lay limp as her tears continued to linger.

“What’s the point of trying anymore? Sometimes I think like that. It’s hard not to.”

Her eye gets duller, deep sadness shining through her them with painful clarity, yet it was clouded by the remnants of her tears. She let her dress go to wipe her face again.*

“They all think I’m so artificial, that I’m fake. My personality ‘isn’t real’. Basically a nice way to say I’m too much of a people pleaser.” She chuckled, it sounded more hurt than anything. There was an undertone of bitterness to it. Her voice got softer as she continued.

“I just…don’t want to be mean to anyone. Don’t want anyone to hate me. Don’t want to be alone here.”

She hiccuped again, her breathing hitching. Her hands reached up to pull at her hair. She felt childish breaking like this, but she couldn’t find it in her to care enough to hold it back.

“And they tell you it’s okay to get mad, but when you do you suddenly need to calm down! But didn’t they want me to be real?”

She huffed, letting go of her hair and wiping at her tears again. She was more rough about it this time, scoffing. Her eyes did soften after a moment as a passing thought graced her.

“I…I know some of them care, especially Kinger, it’s just difficult sometimes. Especially when the one you know cares a lot…isn’t always there.”

She sighed, standing up and looking square at the camera. Then she got on her knees and picked up the camera in her hands, which still had a faint shake to them that had begun to fade.

“It’s okay. I’ll get through it. Do another adventure tomorrow.” She mumbled, a shaky smile covering her face. A smile to reassure someone who isn’t there.

“…Maybe we can do the suggestion box one more time. Better than Caine’s stuff.” She mumbled it even quieter, her eyes roaming the room around her a final time until she remembered she was holding the camera, which she soon turned off.

She breathed out a sigh of relief as she saw it stop recording, catching a glimpse of her reflection in it. She could see the remnants of tears on her face and made an effort to wipe it away so the others wouldn’t see, her smile faltering as she noticed her own vulnerability, right before she put the smile back on.

“It’ll be okay.”

She breathed in and out, closing her eyes.

But then Caine removed her from the room and she found herself in her own room instead. Despite her attempts to stay strong, she immediately turned to lay back on her bed.

“Even in a digital world things can be exhausting, huh?”

She closed her eyes again, feeling her body relax as she breathed in and out. She let herself try to focus on the good memories she had.

Just like Kinger had taught her a long time ago.