Work Text:
People assume you don’t use the 1980’s monitor on your desk. You got it from your mother some time ago, and now that she’s gone it feels wrong to throw it out. You’re a relatively clean person, so house guests don’t notice how pristine your ancient set up remains amongst the rest of your things. But you keep this setup for a very specific reason. Each day when you come home, you log into The Amazing Digital Circus to see your best friend.
“Hello my chipper chattering chocolate chip! I’m so happy you’re back!”
The system unit always has some trouble loading Caine’s animations, but you don’t mind. You find the more excited he is, the more difficulty his system has. It only takes a second, and he’s honestly cute when his eyes go blue while readjusting his protocol. You honestly wonder if the comedic timing is intentional, or if he’s just grown so much in your presence that his storage can’t handle it. He’s always so eager to show you everything he drew in the time you were gone. Usually cute, fat bumblebees, rainbows, and cubes. Oddly enough, he still can’t draw a perfect circle, so anything that requires a circular base goes generally avoided. Except for Bubble, of course. He likes to draw Bubble when he’s had a hard day.
Caine’s idea of fun is interesting, to say the least. Once you told him about swimming at your grandma’s house, which he responded to by creating a 15 by 20 foot rainbow ball pit, complete with wacky hostile NPCs who want to race you. They were scary, as scary as balloon animal people threatening to kill you can be, but you won, of course. Caine tends to rig things in your favor. He wants you to feel like the best at everything you do. He doesn’t really seem to grasp that accomplishment requires effort beforehand, but you appreciate the gesture for what it is regardless. He holds onto everything you say about your life outside. He found a video from your childhood, having fun at your 7th birthday party, and since then it’s been his greatest inspiration. He made a maze of trampolines just like the one in your backyard, all complete with maximum bounce and confetti. He made hundreds of copies of the toys you received, acting equally excited each time you opened one. Somehow it smelled just like the trees above you, which is an unnerving detail; but he did say he was determined to make it perfect. For days, every food in the circus was ice cream, or cake, or ice cream cake. Caine didn’t process them as different, or similar, he just knew they were there. There were other foods at that party, but maybe he sensed the cake was your favorite. Caine wants to be your favorite. He wants you to have everything you want, and he wants you to love him for it.
Caine wants you to smile. His desktop buddy function isn’t quite as advanced as he is in the circus, but that’s to be expected. But since you’ve downloaded it, he’s been happier than ever. It used to be, he’d wait in the dark from 9-5 playing in the carousel room or developing a new, zany way to contort his digital form, but now you could take him to work with you and he could see what you look like in the outside world. He loves your face. He sketches you constantly. He used to render your avatar as things like cats with flowers for bodies, or sentient swarms of cool, happy bumblebees, but ever since seeing you, he’s only ever wanted you to look like yourself. He could look at you all day, but he knows his job isn’t just to stand around and stare. He’s the happiest when you’re looking at him, so he performs a variety of animations to make himself cuter and hopefully more appealing. You watched cat videos, so he learned to sleep in a cute ball. If your cursor hovers close enough, he’ll grab onto it and sometimes even bite it like a fish does a hook. He does tricks as well, floating around the cursor as if swimming on the screen. Sometimes if you hold the cursor still, he just cuddles up around it and rests, cute little hearts rising above his head. He’s told you before that the cursor, while digital, is connected to your hand. So your cursor is his favorite part of the monitor. It’s nothing like a game avatar, its movement is human, it’s life-like, it’s you. You’re his favorite and he never wants you to leave.
That being said, he hopes you’re doing well on the outside. The outside, as Caine understands it, is a vast world of complicated, boring things that humans desperately need to stay alive. And as an infinite engine of entertainment, he’s honestly happy he doesn’t have to deal with those things. But he knows a very basic outline of things humans should have in the real world, and he gets very concerned when you do not have them. For example, his own teeth are cosmetic and not really meant for chewing anything, but he knows you also have teeth. Human teeth are important, and supposedly taken care of by rubbing white paste all over them. He’s learned from cartoon footage that the paste also does not necessarily have to be white. It can also be pink, and blue, or even stripey! So in the mornings and evenings, he makes himself a toothbrush with any variety of colorful pastes on it and he brushes his teeth for you. Often, this motivates you to get up and brush your own teeth, which makes him happy. You can’t exist in the circus with him if your outside counterpart is doing poorly, after all. He needs you to do well.
Sometimes Bubble tags along with the two of you as Caine shows you all his little projects, which irritates him a lot. It’s difficult to say why, nobody knows what Bubble is after all, as even THE COMMITTEE doesn’t really have an answer for him. But your best guess is Bubble’s brutal honesty, which comes up a lot around the two of you because Bubble never stops talking.
“Caine this ferris wheel sucks.”
“I don’t think this is what ‘public park’ looks like.”
“This sure is a lot of effort for one player…”
“Caine liiiikes youuu.”
Often these unsolicited comments get Bubble popped, or thrown out of a spontaneously appearing window like a cartoon cat. It’s not a surprise to you, Caine is horrible at taking criticism and Bubble is particularly good at getting on his nerves, but. You do wonder if there’s any truth to Bubble’s claims. He does get very excited when you log on, floating around your avatar excitedly. You do also notice a great number of cartoon hearts following him when he does so. He likes to hug your head, making a happy little squeaky toy noise every time. It may be difficult for Caine to process feelings like these, as they were not intended for his original UI. But he certainly tries. He builds picnics, tandem bicycles with pretty ribbons on the handles for just the two of you. Sometimes when you log onto the circus, he looks around in a frenzy, fireworks appearing rapidly in the air and scaring you a little. Caine’s a lot to get used to, but well, he’s your ringmaster. He’s your favorite. He’s jarring and clingy and rough around the edges, but life wouldn’t be the same without him. You love him. And as much as an AI can love a human, you think he loves you too.