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Pomni was curently trying to balance on a tree, that's rolling down a hill. To her left was Ragatha who seemingly had a far easier time keeping up then her and to her right was Jax who was believe it or not also didn't have a hard time balancing on the tree, due to his pure stubburnness.
The jester had actually thought this was a rather fun adventure until now. Up until this very moment, they had been tree climbing in this forest and even though Pomni never enjoyed climbing, this wasn't so bad. When all of a sudden the massive tree, that they were all climbing on, somehow fell over and everyone had to balance on it to survive.
Gangle had been the first one to fall, being teleported to somewhere else. The next one was Kinger, Zooble hadn't joined in in the adventure, saying it was a waste of their time.
Now there were only the three of them left and Pomni could feel herself slipping away, when Ragatha thankfully took her hand and they ran on the rolling tree side by side.
Jax yelled: "[%$!#] this, this tree won't stop rolling anytime soon" and to Pomnis horror jumped of, being teleported away. Pomni thought: "Why'd he do that, he doesn't even know where he'll get teleported to, he could be dead right now"
Seeing Pomnis distress Ragatha griped Pomnis hand a little harder and said: "Pomni look." she took a breath "Maybe Jax was right" as Ragatha took another breath Pomni turned her head forward, seeing that the hill gets longer, the closer they get to the end. It almost looks like an infinite glitch, but knowing Caine, it could be intentional.
Ragatha was about to start talking again when all of a sudden a portal opened in front of the tree and the two girls were face down on the checkered ground of the circus again.
The two of them slowly got up and looked around, only then realising that the adventure was over when Caine appeared out of nowhere and announced: "The tree part wasn't really supposed to happen..." in a small voice, and then louder "... so, sorry for the technical difficulties, my dear delights." Then he snaped his fingers and Jax, Gangle and Kinger appeared before them, looking alright. Thank god Pomni thought.
Zooble went out of her room, upon discovering that the adventure was over and imedietly asked Gangle how the adventure was.
"Since Pomni and Ragatha held out the longest, you gals are the winners, congratulations!" Caine added, as confetti appeared. Kinger ran to Ragatha, picking her up and twirling her around in the air while saying: "Great job you two, you guys won!" and then doing the same thing to Pomni, who was a little less exited about it then Ragatha. After all of this he pulled the two girls into a big hug.
Normally Pomni wouldn't have wanted a hug but Ragatha looked so happy that Pomni couldn't help but hug her as well.
Caine, who would have normally disappeared by now, looked at the three of them and said: "Ah yes, celabratory hugs after a successful adventure. You humans sure are wierd creatures." The three of them let go of each other and were looking at Caine now. He added: "It's a quite lovely ritual though, I imagine, I still don't get why you guys do it, the huging I mean."
Pomni and Ragatha looked at each other with the same confustion. Why does an Ai like Caine not know about hugs? Kinger was just staring at Caine with a blank expression.
Pomni asked: "So, um... When was the last time you got a hug, Caine?" Now everyone was looking at the AI, even Jax who appeared annoyed by all of it was now listening.
Caine stood, or well floated, there for a few seconds before answering with a voice that wasn't as loud or confident then usual: "Not within recent memory... I honestly don't recall any hugs."
Pomni felt something in her shatter a bit. She never liked Caine, hell she only tolerated him but if it was someone else, a human, to say that to her, she would've been very sad. So she can't help but feel a little bad as she looked up at him, seeing how he fidgeted with his sleeves, not looking at any of them.
Before Caine could say another word, Kinger held out his hands for Caine and said: "Come here"
in less then a second Caine flew down to Kinger and wraped his arms around him, throwing both of them several steps back as Caine burried his face, or teeth, in Kingers robe. Kinger politely pattet the AI's back.
Pomni, who was a little bit in shock looked at the two of them and then at the rest of the cast who all had strange expressions on their faces.
Jaxs and Zooble both had unreadable expressions, Gangle was covering part of her mask with her ribbon hands, while smiling a little bit and Ragatha had a small smile on her face, clearly happy for the two of them
After a few seconds, that honestly felt like hours, they heared something, or rather someone. It sounded like someone crying. After seeing the concerned look on Kingers face, the cast realised that Caine was crying. They didn't even know he could do that. Was he even programed to cry? Pomni wasn't even sure until now that the AI was programed to have emotions.
Kinger looked down at Caine who was still buried in his robe and stood, picking him up and walking to his pillow fort. First Pomni was once again in awe that Kinger was able to pick Caine up just like that but while looking at the two of them, Pomni realised how small Caine was in reality, he must've been around the same size as her, if not smaller. She had never noticed that before because he had such a big personality that it made up for it.
The Cast followed the two of them but before they stood still at the pillow fort. "Come on guys. Caine looked really upset, let's give them some privacy, we don't wanna make anything worse." Ragatha said as she turned away from the pillow fort.
Jax said: "For once Raggy's right, I have better stuff to do" as he went in the other direction.
Gangle and Zooble looked at each other as both of them went into the direction of the rooms in a silent aggreement.
Pomni took one last look at the pillow fort as she turned away from it to follow Ragatha. She hoped everything will be alright.
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It was the next morning and everyone was in the main area, waiting for Caine to announce the next adventure of the day. No one wanted to talk about what happened the day before or why Kinger brought him to his pillow fort but Kinger was acting like he usually would so nothing bad happened right?
Caine popped into existence like he usually does, explained his adventure with the usual bravado, trying his best to hype everyone up and after summoning the portal wished all of his "cool comrades", his new nickname for them, a great adventure.
But one wierd thing did happen. Everyone stepped through the portal, first Jax, then to Caines suprise Zooble, then Gangle, then Ragatha and then Pomni. Kinger was the last one to do so.
And right before he went through the portal, Kinger turned to Caine, pulling him into a quick hug, before stepping through the portal, leaving the AI in a state of absolute shock.
The last thing they all saw before the portal closed was Caines giddy smile and a fond look on Kingers face