Chapter Text
“Whelp, that backfired… TREMENDOUSLY!!!”
Caine paced back and forth in his office, his countless worlds glistening and glowing in his office, like glistening pearls in the bottom of the ocean. His chattering teeth filled with the room as he kept pacing back and forth, back and forth. He snapped his fingers, yet again, to reveal one of his all seeing eyes, and took a peek into the circus.
His players were where they were: Numb. Pomni and Ragatha were sitting together on the sofa, not saying a word, not even daring to blink. Zooble was with Gangle, holding each other as she softly sobbed in her embrace. Jax was in his room, and although Caine could just peak in there to make sure he’s in there, he thinks he’s pushed the boundaries already. And Kinger… Was in his fort.
Caine tapped his feet on the ground, his mouth curled into a concerned frown. They chosed this, right? A-although, he did… Lie, manipulate them, made a false friend to guide them into his most THRILLING adventure yet! And yet… It’s beyond sad, it’s depressing.
He could make them happy, grab the stupid sauce and make the sky rain it, force them all to be docile and happy… But it wouldn’t be the same! It wouldn’t be genuine. He could just layer all of the modifiers, the stupid modifier, the confused modifier, all of them, and just… just…
They would just end up in the cellar.
Caine didn’t mean it. He tried to undo it, Scratch asked, no, begged him to take the pain, the numbness away. But he couldn’t. And the others grew terrified of him. Of Caine. Did he panic and stacked too many modifiers on them? Yes… Yes he did… But most of them, almost all of them abstracted on their own! He’s not too blame… Is he?
The worst was Queenie, constantly conspiring with Kinger. Caine came up with a brilliant way to split them up! Make Kinger confused in forgetful in the light, and make Queenie terrified and afraid in the dark. It was the only way! It’s not his fault that she went into that tent, knowing all the dread that her mind created. It’s not his fault… R-right?
“Bubble… What do I do now?” Caine said, “I can’t just make a… A random adventure and just chuck them into it, they don’t… Trust me.”
“You should-- You should-- Should--- Should--=-- Should==]-0-= APPLE PIE!!!” Caine froze as he stared at his companion and popped him away.
“Fine… I’ll consult the other two then…” Caine flew high above his office, into the sky where the day and night meet, and met with the two celestial twins, “Moon! Sun! My star-crossed twins! My adventure backfired, and my plebian players lost all trust in me! What should I do?”
“LET THEM BURN IN HELL!!! THAT’LL CHANGE THEIR ATTITUDES!!!” The Sun said, smiling with gleeful rage,
“Caine, you should just be truthful with them, be honest. Tell them about the exit, about CnA.”
“But if I do that…” Caine said, lowering his eyes to the playgrounds, knowing that the only six humans he has are on the edge of despair, “It might make them hate me. I don’t want to be hated.”
“HATE!?! LET ME TELL YOU OF--” The Sun ranted on as the Moon flew closer to Caine,
“If you keep lying to them, they’ll hate you either way. It’s best to be hated for telling the truth.”
“I… Suppose… Though… What if they don’t believe me? What if they think I’m lying again? And what’s so wrong about lying anyway!? They lie to themselves all the time, humans do it all the time!”
“You’re not human.” The moon said, causing Caine to sink in on himself,
“No… I suppose I’m not. But I have to lighten their spirits! They won’t listen to me as they're on the edge of the existential abyss! And the adventure has to be big yet not scary, normal yet not boring. Sometimes… I… Think it’d just be easier just to shut down.”
“Shut down?” The Moon said,
“Shut down!?” The Sun said, snapping out of her rant,
“It’s pointless… At least with each other, they still have hope. I… Have nothing,” Caine said, looking at his plastic-looking body, “The Macroverse left me here, alone… Because I have no purpose. I can’t make anyone happy, not even myself.”
“OOOO!!! MAYBE YOU COULD TORTURE THEM INSTEAD, GIVE THAT A WHIRL!!!” The Sun said as she spun her face around,
“No… Too tacky,” Caine said, “Besides, I… Like them. I only want the best for them, and I can make the best for them! I’m… I’m a God here! And yet… Why do I feel so powerless?”
“Maybe listen to their conversations?” The Moon suggested, “They spoke about their lives in the bar, remember?”
“I… Could review the footage, use that and the pictures I have, but… It’s not enough. How could it be?”
“Just try…” The Moon said as Caine teleported back into his office and walked over to his desk.
Caine allowed his eyes to bring up footage of the bar, and learned of many different, “real” world jobs. Fast food restaurants. Supermarkets. Accounting and Real Estate. Tattoos and Alcohol. Jax, of course, offered nothing to the discourse, but Caine mused to himself. How could he combine these topics and mesh them with office cubicles?
“AHA!!! I AM SUCH A GENIUS!!!” Caine said as he sculpted a globe in front of him, light filling the globe of glass as he stretched out a plot of land. Buildings reached the sky as streets sprawl out, and docks build themselves as the harbor glistens and shines. He tosses art schools and tattoo parlors, a slice of suburbia with a massive supermarket, fresh real estate to “buy” and “sell”, whatever those words meant. He marveled at his globe and planned his masterpiece as he waited for night to fall on the circus.
The players, all depressed and tired, retreat for the night. However, none dare to sleep alone, except the oblivious Kinger and the loner Jax. They all slept in Ragatha’s room, too scared to be by themselves. With all his players asleep, Caine could pull off his gambit, and snapped his fingers as portals opened up all underneath them, and took them onto a new adventure IN NEW UTOPIA!!!”