Work Text:
It was quiet. Too quiet. Too quiet to be considered serene and that made Pomni nervous. Since the last adventure, everyone had been quite. All pondering, questioning, arguing internally, about what everything meant. They had all known since the beginning there was no leaving this place and yet when the carrot had been dangling in front of them, hope reared its ugly head. Ragatha had been nervously wringing her hands, Zooble had been more grouchy than normal, Gangle had been... Gangle, Jax had been his normal self yet there was an eerie undertone to it, and Kinger had been odd. Well, odder than normal.
Pomni meanwhile wasn't sure how to feel. On one hand she wondered if the others were mad that she hesitated, on the other she was trying to put a positive spin on it all so she didn't fall to insanity. Ever since she arrived, it was one thing after another but this time felt different and she wasn't sure why. She wasn't angry, more... Confused than anything else.
Everyone else was gathered in their communal area, just sitting around so they weren't alone. Even Jax was there which made Pomni glad but also wondering if he was okay. He hadn't been himself since their argument. Yet, if wasn't even Jax she was concerned about.
The Ringmaster of this Digital Circus hadn't been seen since the adventure, infamous to say the least. Whilst the others wondered where he was, they were glad. They had to all at least let the anger ebb off before seeing him again. Pomni though, she was letting her curiosity get the better of her. She knew he was just as artificial as everything else here but there was something that set him apart from everything else. Caine reminded Pomni of the Mad Hatter in some regards, living in a different world to Alice but being closer to her than everyone else.
Pomni was alone, standing underneath the hot air balloon that led to Caine's Office. She did wonder if it had actually been his office or if that had been a fabrication for the adventure too. She couldn't help but stare up at it, pinwheel eyes going wide the longer she stared.
Making her jump out of skin was the abrupt arrival of Bubble who popped into existence inches away from her face. He licked his tongue across his face and panted like a dog.
"Bubble!" Pomni gasped sharply, hand over her chest. "You frightened me."
"Oops." Bubble blew their tongue. "That wasn't part of Caine's instructions... Or was it?"
Pomni furrowed her eyebrows together. "Caine told you to come to me?"
"No. He said to go to the jester."
Pomni blinked a couple times. "Erm... That's me?"
Bubble stared blankly at her for a moment or two, it was a tad unsettling and it made Pomni realise that she didn't give Bubble much attention, perhaps Caine was just too... Caine for her to notice Bubble.
"Oh." Bubble made a strange noise but before Pomni could step back or even question what was going on. He formed his tongue like a lasso and wrapped it around Pomni before tossing her into the air and into the basket leading to the slide leading to Caine's Office. Bubble burped before popping out of existence, and thus leaving the place empty and quiet.
***
Pomni landed on her backside with a wet squelch. She shuddered, shaking the saliva off her clothes with a grimace. Stumbling to her feet, she attempted to eradicate what just happened out of her mind. She rubbed the side of her head as she stood in front of the door to the office. She wasn't sure why but there was something different about it. Pomni couldn't put her finger on it but she didn't feel like there was something ominous about it. That surprised her. The last time she was standing in front of these doors was when she thought there was a chance she could leave this place and go home. She could picture home now. She wasn't sure how much time had passed or even if time in the digital realm worked in the same way. During the fast food adventure she went though a whole day and night in no time at all.
Pomni's hand trembled as it gravitated towards the doorknob but she didn't actually need to touch it since the door opened by itself, creaking quietly as it opened into Caine's Office. Pomni assumed it was going to take her a moment to find Caine but to her surprise she saw him straight away. He didn't have his red coat on or his top hat. Instead, he had a red waistcoat on, the white sleeves of his shirt were pulled up to the creases of his elbows. Pomni found herself staring at Caine for several beats, how he didn't even notice her presence was bewildering but it granted her a unique opportunity to study him. She wasn't sure why but in the dim light, the fact it was just the two of them, he seemed to appear more human than he ever could.
He was standing in the middle of his office, standing in the middle of an ocean of papers, all scrawled with his writing and drawings. Pomni could make a few out. They were all adventures, all ways to make them happy, and then the guilt began to chew at her. That's all he wanted to do. Make them happy.
There was no ambient music, the water from the random tanks littered in the room weren't lit up so the water wasn't reflecting against the surfaces, it wasn't eerie but it was too quiet to think Caine was alright. Pomni silently approached, not even her bells in her hat jingled. She folded her hands in front of herself for a moment, nervously wringing then together. Then, with a deep exhale, she let her hands fall apart and stood close to Caine, looking at his back for a moment or two before she cleared her throat.
Caine wasn't his usual cheerful self as he turned around to face Pomni. He didn't even speak straight away but he did rub his eyes and from the way he formed his...face (was it a face?) Pomni could have guessed he was smiling. Not a grin but certainly not a frown.
"Pomni? What... what- How can I help?"
Pomni furrowed her eyebrows, "um... Bubble came to get me. Said you needed to see me?"
Caine scratched the top of his mouth, "Did I? That's strange. I don't think I did-" Caine turned to the side and watched as Bubble popped into the room and began to lick one of the fish tanks. "Ah. I see."
Pomni didn't say anything but she didn't tilt her head to the side in intrigue.
"Well, it seems my feral little gremlin of soap assumed I needed cheering up and went to fetch something or someone to do that." Caine chuckled softly as he approached Bubble and patted him on the head. "Nice to know you care, Bub."
Pomni looked around the place, it was an almalgamation of paper and ink. "Caine, the others- I was wondering why you've not come back down. Taken us on an adventure?"
Caine stopped in place for a couple of beats before turning himself around to face Pomni. "I..."
Caine closed his mouth, hiding his eyes with his teeth. Pomni noticed the way he clenched his fists, not in anger but rather embarrassment.
Caine opened his mouth again and clapped his hands together, nonchalantly taking a couple of steps towards Pomni. "I've made a grave judgement of error on the last adventure. I realise that. I just... I thought it was best to leave everyone alone for a while. Try and come up with a better idea but it seems I... Can't. No matter what I've done up with, I can't seem to..."
Pomni noticed the glitch before Caine said anything more. Pomni wondered what would happen to them if Caine broke down. Selfish, she realised, but she knew it would also be catastrophic.
"It's my job. My purpose. My function." Caine explained. "To keep you all happy. I thought by... Thinking you were able to get out you would be happy but now I realise I was wrong. Very wrong. I don't know why you can't. I've never known because that's not part of my job."
"What about the abstractions?" Pomni asked. "Can't you stop them?"
Caine sighed, walking over to his desk and sitting himself upon it, legs swinging slightly. "No. I don't know why they happen just that they do and I have to... Look after them."
"Look after them?"
Caine nodded. "I don't know why I'm telling you all this but you don't seem to hate me like the others do. I know they do. I'm not an idiot. I know what you all think, how you all feel even if I don't really understand it all. I didn't design your bodies and I don't know why you can't remember your names. I didn't create this place but I'm it's Ringmaster. It's caretaker, if you will."
"You're a prisoner just like us." Pomni whispered, remembering what Abel said but then it came to her. "You created Abel... Whatever he said is what you said. Right?"
Caine blinked. Then his eyes moved down. Pomni, it seemed, was correct.
Pomni approached Caine with a sad smile on her face. "You know... I could help you."
"Help me?"
"Yeah." Pomni nodded. "You say you struggle to understand human emotion and that's why the adventures don't always pan out so why not have a human advisor as such. That way, you serve your function and I don't lose my marbles in here. Does... Does that sound alright?"
"You would do that?" Caine asked curiously. "Why? It seems you've had the worse time out of everyone."
"It's taken me a while to get used to everything, sure, but we all need help now and again." Pomni chuckled to herself. "Someone wise told me that the worst thing you can make someone feel in this place is that they don't matter."
Caine blinked a couple times more. He had never met anyone quite like this little jester in front of him, he was sure he short circuited when he felt Pomni wrap her little arms around him. He froze, unable to compute what was happening until he felt a warm spark inside his brain and found himself putting his own arms around her.
"No one is alone. Not even you."