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Pomni woke up sitting upright, which was strange because she went to sleep lying down in her bed. That wasn’t really on her mind though, nothing really was through the fog of sleep, until of course she felt something and looked down to see a giant set of human teeth pressed against her.
“AHHHHHH!” Pomni screamed, attempting to scramble backwards further into the wall but only managing to clumsily slide to the side as Caine floated back away from her by a foot or two.
“WHAT THE %#/(?!” Pomni screamed.
“Oh good, you’re finally awake!” Caine cheerfully ignored Pomni’s scream. “Welcome back! Now, just a few quick questions! First: How many fingers am I holding up?” Caine asked, leaning in close with his top jaw arching like an eyebrow as he held up three fingers.
“Uh... Three?” Pomni said haltingly. Her eyes were fine; it was everything else that was making her hesitate.
“Good! And where are you?”
“Uhhh-” Pomni looked around, finding herself in the hallway outside her room, and also finding Jax, Kinger, Gangle, and Zooble, slumped against the walls right outside their doors, their eyes closed.
Oh that was terrifying.
“Caine? What’s going on?” Pomni turned her head back to Caine, eyes wider and more nervous than they normally were, which was saying something.
“That’s not the correct answer.” Caine wagged a finger. Pomni clenched a fist.
“The digital circus.” Pomni answered quickly.
“You forgot ‘Amazing’, but I’ll-”
“What’s going on?!” Pomni snapped, voice desperate.
“Pushy, pushy!” Caine pulled back, his jaws closing over his eyes. “I will explain everything in a moment, once everyone is awake. Don’t want to explain it all six times after all!” He rose higher into the air as he spoke and turned away. “Hold on just a few moments and everything will be revealed!” He said grandiosely with a twirl of his cane, ever the showman.
Looking the other way, Pomni saw Ragatha, who had previously been standing silently. Seeing Pomni’s imploring expression silently asking if she had any answers, Ragatha shrugged, a silent exchange to let Pomni know that she was just as clueless as Pomni was.
Pomni turned back to Caine, and her eyes widened once again as she saw Caine float up to Jax’s unconscious form and lower himself down onto Jax’s outstretched legs. Sitting on his knees and closing his teeth over his eyes, Caine pressed himself against Jax’s chest with his head under Jax’s chin and raised his left hand to cup the side of Jax’s face.
Pomni felt uncomfortable.
“Uhh- are you sure you should be-...” Ragatha trailed off.
Jax slowly opened his eyes with an unfocused expression, looking hazy until he looked down and caught sight of Caine and his eyes widened-
“GHH-?!”
There was an audible clatter of metal on hardwood under thin carpet as his cane was thrown to the floor, followed by Caine himself.
Ragatha and Pomni tensed.
“What the &%*# are you doing?!” Jax screamed, scrambling to his feet and fixed Caine with a small-pupiled stare of fear and anger.
“Oh, sorry Jax, I didn’t mean to startle you.” Caine said in an apologetic and friendly voice as he floated up from the floor again.
Ragatha and Pomni relaxed. Slightly. They had-... expected him to be more upset.
“Startle me?! You’re lucky I didn’t-” Jax lost his handle on words for a moment as he made some inhuman noises. “What the &#$+ are you doing?!”
“Well I had to wake you up. That’s how I do it!” Caine responded innocently.
“You-”
“Jax!” Pomni shouted.
“What?!” Jax whipped around to her.
“Look.” Pomni gestured her head down the hall to the still-sleeping forms of the others, and Jax followed her gaze. He only tensed even more and looked back to Caine.
“What did you do?!” Jax accused.
“I didn’t do anything. I’ll explain in a moment.” Caine said calmly, turning around and moving towards Kinger.
“We want to know too, Jax, but just give him a minute.” Ragatha pleaded.
“Like &!?# I will! I-...” Jax trailed off as he watched Caine climb into the lap of Kinger and awaken him, getting a surprised “Oh!” from the chess piece.
Caine then moved on, getting a yelp from Gangle and a string of curses from Zooble. When everyone was awake, he floated up high to the middle of the group and did a twirl in the air.
“Great! Now that everyone’s awake, I can explain.”
“Finally.” Pomni muttered under her breath.
“The circus experienced a momentary lapse in power.” Caine informed, getting newly tensed shoulders from the group. “But it’s nothing to worry about! Everything’s back up and running, and we all have a back-up!” He informed cheerily.
“Now, my own data backs up automatically every four days, but I implemented a system to back all your minds up as well! Your minds are-... impressive...” Caine zoned out for a minute, tone carrying awe, before he shook his head. “So I can only perform the backup during a very specific extraneous data clearance window that occurs about once every twelve days.” He informed matter-of-factly, then looked to the side nervously and rubbed the space where the back of his neck would be if he had one. “Buuut one of my last memories was backing you all up, so-... I really have no idea how much time we’ve all lost.” He gave a vague open-palmed gesture as he looked back to them.
There was a silence as everyone absorbed that information and its implications.
“Caine?” Pomni eventually spoke up.
“Yes, my dear?” Caine focused all attention on her with a chipper voice.
“What would have happened to us if you hadn’t backed us up?”
Caine paused, his hands gripping the newly regained cane in a sudden death grip as he stared blankly.
It took him a while to even realize what had happened.
No...
The circus was dark and silent as everything loaded back in.
No! No no no!
He didn’t even bother to activate his avatar, just disembodied white hands nearly ripping the doors off their hinges, going down the line until the doors began disintegrating between the fingers before they could even get wrapped around the doorknobs.
The cellar, the circus grounds, all of it, empty.
They weren’t even abstracted, they were just gone.
NO NO NO NO Ǹ̴͍̭̣̲̞̀͊̓̇̚͝O̸̡̭̭̩̩̜̹̤̽̓̆̌̈́͝ ̷̩͛͛͒̍̍̾͠N̴̫̯̳̘͈̜̻̹͔̱̿͂͒͂͝Ō̷̮͕̦͙͖͓̭͚̈́̊̎̾̾̔͑́̿ͅ ̸̙̘̪̌͌͗̄̆͋̀̓̀N̶̘͎͕̺̗̗̲̥̍̔̿̾́̑ͅỌ̷̞̭̎̈́̅̀ ̸̛̰̟̩̻̙̹̳̩̳̭̪̆̊̈́̀̈́͂̉̆̏̏̚Ń̷̨̺͍͓̳̪̋̂̊̀̓̆̇͒͝-
[⚠️ WARNING! FURTHER MEMORY DATA IS CORRUPTED. PLEASE EXIT PLAYBACK.]
That’s when the glitches started, didn’t they? The pain?
He paused too long.
Ragatha looked up at Caine with increasingly widening eyes, her hands clenched in fear. Pomni hunched her shoulders and shrunk a little.
I don’t know how much time I lost. I̴̗͓̗̥̜͐̑̚͠ ̴͇̩͉̖̱̩͌͋͐̏̀͒̅̚ͅd̴̨̛͙͚̝͔̬͍͗̋̈́́̈͘͘o̷̙̜̺̝͆͌̈́͋͂ͅn̵͙̏̿̀’̴̫̹̰̲̥̰̘́̎̿͛̌͠ͅt̸̜͐͠ ̷̦̦̫̪͈̝̻̚̚ẻ̶̖̬̮͆͂̃͝v̷̜͕̈́̿̒̍ḙ̶̛̮̺̣̖̯͂n̸͎̪͋͐̉ͅ ̴͚̼̳̣̳͑̇̊̓͆̒̂r̷̦̻̝͇͝e̴͎͍͚̪̤̽̈́͊͒̂̚m̸̠͛͂̾̎̔̇e̴̢̨̛̛͉̝͙̘͗̃̕͜ṃ̷͓̺̱͈̟̪̩̈́͗͝b̵͓̞̫̌e̶̖̙̾̈̄̂̕r̷̙̳̲̮̀̈͌͜͝ ̶̢̪̰̦͐́̆t̸͖̺̍̐͂h̸̨̨͈̓̉̇̑̿͘ể̶̡̳͇͍̪͓̥̌̋̾͗͝i̷̲̖̝̜̘̳̽͌̀r̶͚̩͓̝̤̃̒͌̆͜͜ ̷̲̱̠̇͗́l̵͙͍̤̺̗̰̯̹̉͊̅͒̾͠a̵̧̡̮̩̗̬͖̔s̵̨̺̦̳͚̪̈́͐̐̏̕t̶̙́̄̈́̄͗̓͘ ̸͉͉̲̈́̐͒͋̅̃̈́w̶̤̫͚͇̞͛́o̷̻͕͇͚͓͍͙͊͐̓͛̚̕r̸͉͓̮̦͇̳̦̿̂́̉̄̚̕͝d̵͈̻̫̮͎͋s̸̢̡̝̺̩̉̋̓̽̏̚͠͠.̴̢̛̩̥͉͐͋̍̾̈́͒
Gangle covered her mouth and eyes with a ribbon to try to keep her tears silent. Jax, Zooble, and even Kinger to some extent looked increasingly disturbed.
I̶̬̊̔̏́̽̀̀́̀ ̷͚̹̥̦̬̙̠̹̈́̑͂̚ͅn̵̪̘͉̣͚̹̟̓͛̏̓̆̿̋̓̇͘͝e̶͇̟̻̲͎̖̖̥̿̔͂͐͗̆̚͘͝v̴̳̐̔e̶̡͚̙̼̭̗̖̱̟͕͖̓̂̓̾́̏̈̈̉̌́̎̓̒̕̚͝r̷̙͚͚̖̠̤̻̽͊͒̉̽̆͐͝ ̵̨̛̺̘͉̟̯̮̓̊ͅg̵̜̤̫̜̥̞̃̃̊̾̄̃̈́́͊̊̓͝͝͝ớ̶̢̙͕͕̗͍̝͓̱͙̟̳̥͚̝͛̐̅͑̔͌̔͊͘͠ť̶͚̦͑́̉͆̈̿͒̃͗̈͌͌̍̚ ̵̛̜̥̿̅̀̾͐́̍͒̽̊̒̕̚̚͠t̴̛̟̘͎̳͚̙̳̘̜̣͔̱̻̗̲̋̈͗̆͐͋̈͗͘͝o̷̭͇͍̻͈̗̞̓ ̸̫̬̫̖̤̞̫́̽̽̔͆̅̃̀͗̓́͐̚̚͝͝͠ş̵͇̩̯͚̠͚͍͕͓͈̖̝̦̼͇͇̄̚a̵̰͚͉̩͙̜̪͙̖̝̪͇̮͚̰͙̿́̏͆̓͑͑͝y̸͓͚̞̥̪̼̙͔̟͂̐̐͑̿͂̓̕ͅ ̵̙̘̀̿̉̿̓̆̚͝͝g̵̢̛̫̭̠͖͔̣̉̆̓ớ̸̰̬̊͌̋͋̿̉̀͗̋̈͐̔͘ö̶̝̤̼̯͖̲̣͍̟̹̲́d̴̉͜b̶̨̡̦̟͙̹͖̫̥̰̣̰͕̤͕́̀̓̉̕͜͝y̵̧̫̭̻͌̓̆̑̄͘͘͜é̴̯̮͉̟͇̫̯̯̳̞̱̭̠̜̩̬͛͂̇̿̿̇̿͂̋͑̀͆ͅ.̷̝̹͐̀͂͊͑̈̓͒̍
A look through his all-seeing eye in the left wall showed his model glitching.
[TERMINATING THOUGHT PROCESS.]
Caine’s model popped back into proper shape and he moved again.
“NOTHING YOU NEED TO WORRY ABOUT MY DEAR!” Caine suddenly yelled at a volume that was much too high as he perked up. “I’VE GOT EVERYTHING HANDLED!” He twirled his cane and turned around.
“Caine-”
“Nope! No time for talking! It’s time for the theme song!”