Chapter Text
"Welcome back my devices of narrative importance!" Caine exclaimed as the cast rolled onto the circus floor, the hard surface feeling nice after the last adventure in one big pile. Who even decides that a twister bouncy house adventure would be a good idea? Especially with gloinks in the middle of it.
"I hope you guys enjoyed the shortened adventure! I have something to attend to which I think you guys will enjoy and I definitely will! Later!" with a snap Caine disappeared and untangled most of them.
"Ahh!" as Kinger took in his surroundings, accidentally dropping Ragatha. "Gosh I didn't see you there, sorry Ragatha".
"Zooble?" a confused Gangle asked, laying on the floor before looking down at themself and seeing Zooble pieces wrapped up in ribbons. "Over here Gangle." Gangle turned towards Zooble’s head piece on the ground close by, picking up the rest of their pieces in an effort to help them.
"That wasn't any fun at all. Caine must be prepping something pretty big then." said Jax, prying Pomni off of him. "Yeah it really does, does he do that often?" Pomni replied, brushing herself off.
"Not that often" replied Ragatha sitting up from her fall. "Though it's never been for more than a couple of days so him going on for about a week now is rare."
Jax shrugged, brushing off the idea. "I'm sure whatever he's making won't be too crazy, plus it's not like he'd take anything from the suggestion box now."
"It’s a shame I quite liked the bar." answered Pomni.
"I would've enjoyed it, but I had the whole vegan thing going on," replied Jax, staring at Zooble and Gangle as they were gathering the pieces up. Their conversation was too quiet to hear. "You were poaching us though so it was warranted, but I will say that I didn't even know what the vote was for." Pomni joked.
"It's not like I didn't want to have a good time with you guys," sneered Jax. "I just wanted to see if Caine would actually do it!"
Ragatha and Pomni stared at him. Ragatha had a worried face as Pomni was just stunned by the response. After a moment of awkward silence Pomni replied "So you put our lives at stake just to see if Caine would make us animals so you could eat us?"
"And I swear we would've had a fun time! Plus it was funny!" smiled Jax. He bent his body down to be face to face with the jester. "Plus it's not like Caine is just going to hand us guns anytime soon."
"About that-" the loudmouth dentures appeared in between Pomni and Ragatha in a flash of confetti scaring all three of them.
Caine continued as if ignoring their reactions, "I sadly have to restrict you guys to your room for the time being until I finish up the final touches of something that I found interesting from the suggestion box. Goodbye for now my digital delights! For I am sure the readers will understand!" With a snap of his fingers the trio disappeared into the hallway in front of their doors. Jax took note of his surroundings realizing what Caine had said. What did he mean from the suggestion box? Didn't he say that 'suggestion box ideas were not fun at all' and that 'Caine's ideas were much better'? What do you mean he found a suggestion box idea that intrigued him and what did he mean by readers? Didn't they have viewers?
"My gosh did I finally get moved closer to you guys?" Kinger said, apparently his pillow fort had moved seemingly untouched. He was checking out the hallway from his fort in front of Queenie's room.
"We weren't even aware Caine had moved us until now," Zooble and Gangle had caught up to the rest of the group, their rooms being further down the hallway from the rest of them. "It was weird, I certainly hope that whatever he has planned is not too crazy." Zooble didn't hate every adventure, but they were worried about what kind of stakes might be in it if they couldn't even go to the main area. In fact-
"Uh guys? Did anyone else notice that we can't leave the hallway?" Ragatha had evidently tried to leave the hallway which was covered in a curtain. As she tried to pull it apart there was another layer of curtain until she seemingly had gotten lost and right back where she started.
"It's like a maze with only an entrance in there. No way out. I get so turned around!" Ragatha exclaimed. She started breathing really hard. "No, Caine wouldn't do that, is this why we had a shorter adventure? Just so that he could redesign the Circus?"
"Does Caine redesign the Circus often?" Pomni asked. Concern growing on her face.
"Maybe it's part of that adventure he's been cooking up and we just need to hangout until tomorrow or something? Just wait for the time to pass maybe?" Gangle quietly suggested.
"And do what in here Ribbons, room tours? We're stuck in the hallway and I don't think we need to think too hard about what your room might look like," teased Jax. His smile was wide as he leaned on his door. "Plus my room doesn't need to be shown off, if I showed mine then all of your rooms would look terrible by comparison."
Zooble stared at him wondering what in the hell he was talking about. "You only say that because we can't get in your room. Speaking of, why do you have all the keys anyway?"
"If I told you Zooble then I'd lose all the charm I have left." Flashing his eyes and putting a hand on his chest as if he was trying to puff up his chest. Zooble rolled their eyes in response, annoyed that he wouldn't take anything seriously. "Plus Caine said something about an idea from the suggestion box being used and I don't think I put anything in there that would change having him prep like this." He leaned closer to Pomni who had migrated over to him from her side of the hallway.
"Well if it's from the suggestion box I'm sure whoever picked it must be curious on how Caine is building it." replied Pomni. Kinger turned his head and jumped with a "Oh hi honey!" from seeing Queenie's portrait. His eyes dilated, his body freezing up.
"Well we lost crazy now, guess we can figure it wasn't him." Jax tore his eyes away from Kinger staring down the end of the hallway for a tad too long.
"Well maybe we can just ask for Caine? Yeah he's busy, but he always seems to be just a call away." Pomni was unsure in her statement since she wasn't aware of the extent Caine would go to just to have this adventure be good for all of them.
"Probably not, Caine doesn't like being bothered when he focuses on something." Gangle replied. Her body ever so slightly got smaller in size as her ribbons compressed with stress. Her mask breaking today in the bouncy house hadn't helped at all.
"Should we have someone keep an eye on Kinger then? I don't think he usually is out here when we all go to bed." Ragatha's voice wavered. Caine had never done anything on this scale before from what she could remember.
Pomni stood up from the floor and raised her hand slightly. "I can do that, he's directly across from me right now and I can also keep an eye out for Caine in the meantime." She may have just volunteered herself to look after Kinger, but it was a good reason to talk to him again since the manor.
Jax sneered, his smile covering half his face. "Great so I'll have crazy and PomPom outside my door? Guess I'm just the luckiest guy in the circus aren't I?" He kicked himself off his door from leaning on it. "Any more of this and I'm gonna have to start charging rates for group therapy. You'll know where to find me if you want to." He wouldn't just open for anyone though. He opened his door quickly entering his room before the others could see.
The smile dropped. God, he was tired of them all being around here. He heard them talking through his door though he could barely make out what most of them were saying. Probably trying to figure out what Caine was doing, but he could care less. If Caine was putting this much effort into an adventure then he was worried. He had a couple ideas of what it could be, but none of them made sense. Why would Caine redesign the circus just for one adventure?
He sat down at his door trying to listen to the others. He didn't want to miss out, but he was certainly tired from just interacting with them.
He could hear a muffled Ragatha talking first. "Jax is probably right though, we should head to bed. We don't know when Caine is going to come back." Shuffling sounds became quieter as Zooble and Gangle walked down the hall to their room. "Have a good night guys. Do try to get some sleep, I wouldn't want to be the only one doing this adventure just for Caine to get mad," said Zooble before entering their room. Jax could swear there was a pause between that and the door shutting, but he couldn't tell. He'd have to tease her about her hesitancy later.
Jax considered going onto his bed before Ragatha spoke again. "Are you sure you want to stay out here with Kinger Pomni? I can take a shift if you need to."
Pomni answered Ragatha quietly, "I should be good, if I need to though I'll let you know." There was a silence for a bit before Ragatha spoke again. "Have a good night Pomni."
There was a soft sound of Ragatha's door shutting and then silence.
Jax finally decided to move away from the door onto his bed, turning over before he fell asleep. His eyes landed on the bucket of keys he had. He stared at them thinking. Less stared and more looked through them, his eyes losing focus. His ears caught what little bits of conversation he could as he was passing out.
Pomni tapped Kinger on his shoulder trying to be light. When she was just an inch away from him Kinger turned towards her. "Oh hi Pomni! Did you know I have a room here?" Kinger had pointed halfway down the hallway.
"So then why don't you stay there then?" Pomni had asked. She'd never seen it and yet never thought to check it since Kinger was always in his pillow fort. "And give up my impenetrable fortress?" Kinger jazz hands at the deceptively small pillow fort.
Pomni leaned against the wall and slid down waiting for the long night. "Fair point. I'll be here if you need me, Kinger." She put her head down between her legs as Kinger went into the pillow fortress, his eyes softening and looking at Pomni from the fort.
"What are you doing over there Pomni? Wouldn't your room be more comfortable?" His voice is different from his usual self. Pomni recognized it as the one he used when they were in the mansion. Looking up at Kinger in the fort she replied "I'll be fine, plus I said I'd keep an eye on you."
"Oh, well then I hope I don't cause you too much trouble. Do try to get some sleep if you can. We may not need it now, but it's important to at least try to have a moment for our minds to rest." Kinger advised, the words wrapping around Pomni like a blanket.
"Thank you Kinger, I'll keep that in mind." Pomni heard the pillow fort door close shut with a soft thump as she closed her eyes and attempted to sleep.
Sometime went by before a door opened, the sound stirring Pomni awake. She couldn't tell when she passed out nor could she tell who was making the noise as the footsteps were quick as a blanket fell around her. She'd have to thank whoever it was later. She quickly fell asleep finding what comfort she could find on the floor.
Silence came over the cast as sleep claimed most of them. Jax though, had too many questions in his head. He rolled back and forth in his bed, walked back and forth in his room, even ventured out into the hallway a bit though spotting Pomni again laying on the floor made his eyes roll. Saying she'd watch Kinger and then falling asleep on the job wouldn't be good to have the others wake up to. Ignoring her would be his best bet. As he turned back towards his room his eyes caught a door, the lines underneath his eyes appearing more noticeable. He stopped and reconsidered something. Quickly going back to his room and out he had grabbed a blanket as he draped it over Pomni. He quickly made his way back to his room as he tried not to get caught.
As he closed the door behind him he fell. The void seemingly infinite as he saw bubbles go past him as if he was in an ocean. Fear and panic gripped him as he fell unaware of what was happening. Was this part of Caine's adventure? Was he going to the cellar? Had he abstracted? Thoughts rushed past him as he tried to calm himself down.
He swore it felt so real. There was no way any of this was real, or was it?
As he flipped and rotated in the dark he finally landed on a hard surface. Finally some ground to stand on. He looked around in the void before he was blasted by light and birds from his feet.
He looked around as he saw the glass underneath him and Caine's voice echoing around him.
"I had so much to do in so little time just for this adventure that I really didn't test how you guys would handle it. So I kind of just sent you guys as soon as I was done."
"So you're saying I'm your test dummy for this then Caine?" Jax shakily said. Oh great, being a lab rat for an AI never went wrong.
"Well, yes and no. The suggestion needed a main character and since there's multiple of you and this adventure was set up for only one I picked randomly and set roles for the others to follow as well." Caine explained as three pedestals rose from the stained glass. Jax looked down to see the stained glass depicting a white mannequin NPC behind a green backdrop.
"Could you at least tell me who made the suggestion?!?" Jax screamed into the void. Jax looked down at himself. Caine had apparently changed Jax’s costume for this adventure. What was this short jacket and exposed legs? And these yellow shoes? They felt like clown shoes.
Caine's voice still echoed as if he was far away "Now now Jax, you know I don't disclose that. It would ruin the integrity of the adventure. Let's get you started on how you're going to be running around this adventure."
Jax looked around in the void hoping to catch sight of the floating pair of dentures. "Alright alright, just stop bothering me and I'll get through this adventure."
"One last thing Jax! This is going to be one of those longer adventures so don't think you'll be able to speedrun your way out of this one."
Jax sighed. Great, just what he needed, a longer running adventure. "Alright, now let me pick and enjoy watching the show". He looked at the pedestals around him, each one offering an item. A sword, a shield and a staff. He stood there hands on his hips thinking about what to pick.