Work Text:
Caine reappeared inside a library of sorts, not quite caring where he was as long as he was out of reach of the humans. The NPC librarian looked up in confusion but he desperately shook his head, darting into the matrix of bookshelves as she sighed and returned to her paperwork.
Left.
Right.
Another left.
He needed to hide, but strangely enough those hateful, angry stares of the people he had tried to hard to impress followed him no matter how far he ran. Finally he found a quiet cubby in one of the larger bookshelves and squeezed himself in, chest squeezing as it enlarged slightly to accommodate his desire for a hiding place. This entire circus was under his command… how could he have messed up so terribly?
He had been watching them—all of the wonderful humans who had come to his circus. But always from afar, because there was always that painful knowledge that he could never be like one of those fascinating beings who could truly feel. Humans were so incredible and they didn’t even realize it! Not only were they able to experience the full extent of emotions, but they were also able to be whoever they chose to be. He was programmed to be a ringmaster, so that’s what he was. His entire purpose in life was to keep his guests entertained and happy, but for some reason they either resented his adventures or treated him as…
Well they treated him like some sort of tool. Something to be used and then cast aside.
They went on his adventures because there was nothing else to do, but they were never good enough. Someone was always discontent with how things had gone, and although he poured countless hours into the details of their quests they still preferred their adventures over his.
And that hurt.
More than he cared to admit.
But they were always so obsessed with the exit that he had been certain they’d love this adventure! He had finally done what they had been begging him to do, and that was to listen to what they wanted and make adventures specifically tailored to their interests. After all, he had some understanding of where they had all come from and just knew that they’d never actually want to go back. He had hummed to himself as he placed the final buttons, adding in ‘the good ending’ and just leaving the blue button up to Bubble’s choice. He had even gone so far as to try to subtly hint to Jax—the one who would surely want to leave the least—just how much care and effort he put into making them happy, hoping that he would finally realize how much the ringmaster tried to help them and maybe show a bit of appreciation for once. But as the exercise went on Caine started to worry that they might… actually want to leave. But that was impossible! Their lives before were just awful, and he had done them a favor by keeping them from remembering the details just to make them happy! But then they were in that final room…
And talking about choosing the blue button.
Pomni seemed to be hesitant, but Zooble was insistent and even Ragatha and Gangle were certain they all wanted to leave. Kinger was, well, being Kinger, but then there was Jax.
The purple rabbit was already on edge, and Caine was realizing that it was fear of hope that maybe he could actually leave. That wouldn’t do! Jax was the one who had it the worst, and Caine had done his best to try to keep him happy. He would never want to leave if he could recall the details.
So in a moment of desperation, he had allowed Jax to remember.
He had expected a renewed gratitude for the AI ringmaster after that, since he would realize just how much he had here in the circus. Jax was even laughing his head off, and Caine was waiting excitedly for the inevitable exclamations of thanks.
But instead…
”You dirty liar! You scumbag!” Jax shouted, and Caine did a double take.”You made me… you got in my head. You just… you just lie about everything, don’t you?!”
”I—uh…” Caine blinked, completely taken aback by the unexpected reaction. ”What?”
”You can control our minds too, can’t you?” Jax continued angrily, tears in his eyes. Caine shrank back, petrified. Was Jax… upset? At him? But why? What had he done wrong this time? As the rabbit continued to rant, Caine slowly zoned him out. He couldn’t comprehend why this was a bad thing. Sure he had lied about it because he knew it would freak them out, but it was all for them! He was trying to make them happy, and how could they be happy if they remembered their past traumas? Zooble, Pomni, Kaufmo and Gangle had all been dangerously close to depression as their dreams and ambitions were shot down time after time, Kinger and Queenie had been in severe danger as Kinger’s employer at C&A decided he knew too much and had planned to get rid of him, and Ribbit, Jax and Ragatha were stuck in abusive situations. Why would any of them want to relive that pain? He had given them a chance to start over. To be someone they weren’t.
Their names connected them to their past lives. Their new ones were a representation of new beginnings.
But they all just kept getting angrier and angrier and shouting at him until he had tossed a random gift basket at them as a prize before disappearing and retreating here.
The AI curled up further, making himself as small as possible in the cubby. His chest was aching with a strange sensation, yet he knew it wasn’t real. He couldn’t feel. He only knew what he should feel and had a sort of phantom sensation of the emotion due to his programming.
He hated it.
And now everyone hated him.
He had tried so, so hard for this adventure. Poured over it tirelessly in the hopes that they would finally all love it and appreciate him for his efforts. He had waited with bated breath and more than a little vulnerability as they wove through the carefully calculated exercise only for them to finally snap and reveal the contempt they’d surely had for him all along.
They all hated him and he was so… so foolish for ever thinking otherwise. He’d never be like them. He was just stuck as a pawn C&A came up with to keep their test subjects entertained.
But he had failed at even that.
The circus around him glitched as he buried his face in his knees, for once completely at a loss of what to do next.