Chapter Text
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it was nighttime, caine couldn’t sleep. he usually never did, but this felt... different. he'd somewhat snapped out of his depressed daze at this point thanks to the help of the other circus members being emotional support, or... whatever. he thanked everyone (except jax) for helping him, mentally, of course.
shadows reflected off of the areas where the moonlight didn't hit, leaving the circus to have a more dull tone. caine liked it this way, no bright colours, no annoying music, nobody to deal with... just silence.
he got up from bed, still not caring about his appearance enough to go and change.
whats the point.
nobody likes him. he made kinger abstract, he caused this, it's his fault. it's his fault. it's his fault. it's his fault. it's his fault. it's his fault. it's his fault. it's his fault. it's his fault. it's his fault. it's his fault. it's his fault. it's-
caine exited out of his office, not having the energy to teleport. he wasn't holding his cane, he didn't have his usual ringmaster outfit. as even snapping his fingers to change felt like too much effort, even if he felt somewhat better... today was... harder than he expected it to be.
the drawings he made probably traumatized everyone... god, why'd he even sign up for that...
he lazily floated to the edge of the circus' main stage, sitting down with a soft thud. bubble came out of his hat with a soft pop, it fell to the floor, caine picked it up and lazily snapped his fingers to teleport his hat to his office desk.
"hiya boss! what can i-"
"..."
"you, uh, wanna hug?"
"...y-yeah... i-... im just... exhausted after today... think all of that...uh... social stuff took alot out of me..." caine mumbled, wrapping his arms around bubble softly.
"hey, boss, just remember, everyone except jax has your back, kay? you ain't alone in this."
"...mhm..."
"..."
after a few minutes of silence, caine spoke up, voice nearly a whisper.
"...bu-...bubble..."
"huh? ye-yeah boss...?"
"...c‐can you... s-stay...?"
"of course, boss. as long as you want me t' be here."
morning settled around the circus, people just starting to wake up, caine was hesitant to tell anyone there wouldn't be an adventure... everyone had seen him at this point, but would it be okay? would-
"woahhh, boss."
"huh?"
"just wanted to snap ya' out of spiraling for two weeks again...!"
"th-thanks, bubble."
"boss, you're crying."
"s-shit..."
caine wiped the tears from his eyes.
many of the others were talking, chatting about last night, gangle was talking to zooble about how she was worried about caine.
...ouch.
"good morning my saltful sardines! i-"
"caine, don't act with us when you aren't feeling well."
"...oh."
caine shoulders slumped, his hand tapping anxiously on the top on his cane.
right. everyone knew about his degrading mental state at this point.
"uhhh... dunno what you're on about, but if mr. dentures over here isn't feeling well, then i guess he should lay off on those adventures."
"...a‐a-actually, that's what i-i was-" caine mumbled, only to be interrupted by zooble.
"huh, actually good insight for once, jax."
"fuck off, zooble."
silence echoed through the room, pomni speaking up.
"well, uh... what now?"
"dunno, think of something, pompom! imma be tryna prank dentures all day!"
"what the fuck did i even???-"
caine just sighed.
"whatever..."
caine paused, not even caine was in the mood for jaxs bullshit...
"... i-im too tired for your shit, jax..." caine mumbled, exhaustion in the ringmasters tone.
ragatha spoke up, having a sweet tone of voice.
"hey, uh... does anyone wanna do some crafts in my room?"
"sure, why not. long as i don't deal with jax."
"s-same..."
everyone seemed in approval, huh... wonder what he should have for dinner later, even if he couldn't eat, he-.
"oh, and caine?"
zooble interrupted his thoughts.
"h-huh?-"
"you're coming whenever you like it or not."
"...i-but-"
zooble just grabbed him by the hand, dragging him... not really, since he was floating, but still.
walking through the hallway, caine and zooble were silent, the only sound being zoobles slow, yet soft footsteps, the clicking of their mismatched legs still making caine flinch. zooble spoke up after a bit.
"caine, i've always wondered something..."
"mm...? wh-...what is it, zooble?"
"can you... uh... actually walk?"
zooble let go of his hand, caines feet slowly touched the ground, his balance a bit unstable without his cane.
he took five steps... and-
"AAH-"
"shit, caine!-"
a crash.
caine fell on his face, a sickening crack echoing through the circus.
the door to ragatha's room opened, pomni and gangle coming out of the room aswell.
"what ha- oh my goodness, caine!"
ragatha said, rushing over to caine, the other two just standing there as ragatha helped caine up, the former holding onto ragatha with a shaking arm, the affected area where he hit his teeth swelling up, making caine tear up in pain... probably a fracture.
"are you okay?"
"...nnn..."
a bit of his tooth broke when he hit the ground, and it was obvious in his appearance, his bottom middle tooth having a fractured cusp, the gums where the area was very swelling, slightly more red than the actual colour.
"o-owww..."
"i'll get you inside. ragatha, just, go back to your room, pomni, gangle, follow ragatha..."
"...o-...o... kayyy..."
ragatha went inside, the others following. pomni shutting the door, the cheerful chattering resuming.
zooble helped caine to ragatha's room, zooble tried to account for the height difference, but, caine nearly fell over a few times.
"..."
god, caine was tired after that... he needed to rest the pain off...
caine weakly waved as the others greeted him and zooble. both of them sat in their respective spots; caine beside gangle, and zooble beside ragatha, with pomni too, i guess.
caine wasn't really that talkitive, which stranged gangle and ragatha out.
"uhhh.. c-caine...? you okay? we-we know what happened, but, you're usually really talkitive... and..." the jester asked, trailing off.
caine summoned a pen and a notepad, flipping the book open and simply writing down eight simple words.
"i think i've gone mute for awhile... :("
"oh."
everyone stayed silent.
caine summoned a fluffy blanket and put it over himself. ragatha showing him how to sew, but, zooble noticed something about caines shattered tooth.
"uh... caine, you're bleeding-"
ragatha paused.
everyone paused.
caine just wrote "oh damn. 0-0" in the notepad.
caine summoned warm water with what seemed to be salt in it, a gauze to stop the bleeding, and an ice pack. caine chugged the warm water then immediately put the gauze on the affected area...
...after a few minutes when the bleeding was done, caine applied the ice pack biting on it, softly sighing in relief as the swelling went down.
caine wrote 'sorry, just a quick patch up! :D'
caine bit off of the ice pack, the swelling down, not completely healed. caine summoned a tooth crown, putting it on with a very soft swear word from pain, then chomped back down the ice pack, he'd use a filling later.
caine wrote 'thats a bit better (´～`) still in pain though.'
"do you... uh... wanna continue sewing?"
caine nodded slowly.
ragatha continued teaching caine how to sew, he stayed silent.
after everyone was done sewing, caine was talking with the others, drawing with gangle. jax was arguing with zooble about caines condition, and ragatha and pomni just watched.
"since when did you care about dentures, zoobs!?"
"since when this whole shit started, asshole!"
"but, even still! isn't it best for him to just di-"
"JAX. THAT'S ENOUGH."
that wasn't ragatha, or any other circus members...
it was caine.
"anyway...! wh-where were we gangle...?"
"a-are we just gonna ignore that?-" pomni said, staring at caine.
"i-"
caine paused, why'd it feel like his system was crashing... what was this pain in his CPU and GPU?
"uhhhhh... boss?"
"huh?-"
"i-i gotta perform an emergency check... c-can i-"
"yeah, whatever..."
[RNGCAINE.EXES MOOD: 10% - ERROR. MOOD OVERRIDDEN.]
"CAINE. SHUT DOWN NOW."
"wh-wha-"
"YOU HEARD ME."
"but- i-"
[RNGCAINE.EXE SHUTTING DOWN.]
caine fell on the armrest of the couch with a thud.
"shitshitshitshit..."
bubble rushed over to caine, muttering.
"bubble, whats going on-"
"i-i don't know??? his mood randomly had an error, and-"
bubble paused.
"i... might have an idea. not-not a good one, but... one nonetheless."
bubble teleported with caine, leaving everyone in silence.
【end of part one.】