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Pomni sighs slightly as she stares at the monitor she had bought for this specific reason. When.. they escaped the circus and everyone had left the building, she had stayed behind and she had pulled out the disc with the Digital Circus on it. She…didn't know why she did, but it felt wrong to leave it..in a decrepit building, probably months away from falling apart. It felt..wrong to leave Caine there. Sure, he might've been less than a great host, tormenting them more than helping them, but she could understand where he was coming from most of the time.
She understood that it was probably through his main directive that he did most of these adventures for. She holds the disc in her hand quietly. It.. wouldn't pull her in. Probably. She had put the headset on last time to make that happen. So she was safe. She pushes it into the player quietly and she waits for it to start. She hears as the player processes the disc, making all those groaning sounds that a disc player always makes no matter how old the system is.
Pomni waits. And waits.
Pomni falls asleep at some point while the system gets set up. She only wakes up after a... nagging voice quietly speaks at her?
“Human? Hello? I know you're there.. I can hear your breathing. It's kinda like-" He mimics Pomni's breathing. “Are you asleep?"
Pomni looks at the screen, blurry brightness and a jabbering mouth... that's - that's Caine! Pomni swallows slightly, this.. was this the Caine that they knew?
“Oh- you're breathing faster again- are you having a nightmare?" He questions, Pomni plugs in the mouse to the side of the monitor, she starts moving it slowly. "oh- hi-”
Why hadn't Caine stated her name? Sure she wasn't exactly a clown-jester girl anymore, but she wasn't too far off from it really.
" Hi.” She mumbles back.
Caine noticeably pauses and he gets closer to the screen. He presses his hand against it for a moment. "...you sound familiar. Tell me.. um. What's your name?" Caine tilts his head.
Pomni mumbles her name. “But um, you might remember me as Pomni."
Pomni watches as the entire screen glitches out, and her mouse freezes. Jesus. Caine doesn't reply for a long while as his frozen image stays on the screen.
“POMNI!?" She hears the audio start up again even if the video didn't. "You- why- how? Are you alright out there? Is it too much- like I mentioned you can always come back-"
Pomni slightly dials back the volume as Caine gets louder. "I'm alright, I just um..took the disc from that office you were in. Y'know? I took it and put it in my apartment.”
Caine tilts his head, finally not glitching and the video actually follows his movements. "Now, while I do enjoy a surprise relocation… I can't help but notice from the fact that you said that we are in your apartment, that I'm quite far away from the C&A offices, where.. I'm meant to be.”
Pomni felt weird stating this. "I just..I..” She looks away from Caine. "I didn't want you in there.”
Caine pauses, pulling away from the camera, he looks away too. “Not in there?" He looks back. “Curious. You do know that is where I am meant to be. Correct?"
Pomni bites her lip. “I know. I-"
“And yet you moved me anyway. Was there… something wrong with it?” Caine questions.
It would be better not to tell him how the ceiling was leaking, how it was falling apart, how the building might've fallen apart and left Caine to be forgotten and disposed of. That wouldn't be helpful right now.
"No. It's just easier out here, y'know?” Pomni chuckles.
"Easier for whom?" He questions. “Is this easier for you, because I'm here to help you again?" He was smiling back at her.
She sighs tiredly. She was glad to have him back even if he was his usual ecstatic self.