Chapter Text
Caine’s been feeling really off lately, perhaps a glitch or two got its way in and that’s why the atmosphere is so different! No, it wasn’t anything with his code… it couldn’t be. He’s checked that dozens of times already and ran diagnostics on himself often out of fear. Everything was functioning exactly as intended!
Maybe that was the problem.
It wasn’t him.
It was them.
The humans, he loved them but they were different lately…
Caine roamed through the circus tent with the same ringmaster smile he always carried, though he’s never admit it was getting harder to do his job. The artificial and bright colors of the circus greets him everywhere he looks, a world of his creation. Yet despite the grilling work he did to create it none of it seemed to land the way it used to anymore.
Just silence. This place was empty without the humans about. What could they possibly be doing, he was getting tired of having to force them into the main room of the circus just to get any attention.
“Well! This simply won’t do!” he chirps to himself, his voice echoing into the circus with of course no response. “This circus without chaos is like a joke without a punchline! And oh boy do I love punch!”
Nothing.
He paused mid air, his eyes briefly glitching it’s not a glitch Caine red and blue, but he pays no mind to it. A thought he didn’t quite want to finish forming anyhow.
The humans weren’t reacting like they used to, what made these humans different than the originals.
At first it was only the small things like an obvious forced smile or a delayed response. But since then now his adventures, the elaborate ones he took all day working on, barely got a hum out of Ragatha.
Caine claps his hands together sharply.
Unacceptable.
“They just need something new!” he says suddenly as he looks around the circus
“Yes! Something bigger and brighter! Even more stimulating!” Exactly what the humans wanted to increase their dopamine quick!
“An adventure to remember for once-!” Caine’s voice gets louder and quicker with forced enthusiasm. “That’ll fix everything, and this is just a large problem with fix! Humans love these experiences! They have to-! That is my purpose right-!?”
But even then, saying it… he knows it would just be history repeating itself yet again.
Because he’s already tried that.
Over and over again.
For years.
What if it didn’t work this time either?
For just a moment the entire circus flickered into particles and the lights dimmed.
Caine froze.
Luckily, as always, everything snapped just into place as quickly as it glitched
“Ahaha! No need for any of THAT-!” he muttered quickly, as he straightens his red suit, being slow with it “It isn’t like I don’t have control over my own creation, I just need to get them to appreciate my art!”
He hovered in the air a little longer as he stares across the empty tent.
“Right.”
In the distance he could see small figures sitting on the couches he created. Doing nothing and seemingly waiting for nothing.
Caine’s smile widened.
“Well then!” he announced happily, his voice booming as he snaps his fingers, the cast appears in front of him now, all on the floor as they were previously in a laying position. “We’ve got an adventure to run!”
He needed to keep things moving. He couldn’t let this place go into silence, he was already abandoned he refused to do that to someone else!
He wouldn’t have to figure out why the humans were slipping further and further away if he kept them close! They don’t actually want to- leave me.