Chapter Text
There was a lot more to explore in the Circus than Pomni had ever realized. Now that she could choose how to spend her time, when not with the others she found herself wandering seemingly endless halls and rooms. There was always another easter egg, another one-off joke, another demonstration of creativity. She had experienced this somewhat on her first day, desperately trying to find Caine, but she was beginning to realize that it just. Kept. Going.
Pomni was also starting to be able to guess at when different parts of the Circus had been made. Earlier areas had simpler textures and ideas, made by an AI who was evidently still figuring out 3D environments. There wasn’t a gradient from oldest to newest, however – patches from different eras were all jumbled up next to each other, lovingly rendered wood flooring giving way to basic checkerboard giving way to uncannily striped carpet.
Even though the Circus had a poor sense of the passage of time, she got the feeling that most of these areas hadn’t seen human visitation in years. Maybe it was a sixth sense from her urban exploration days, but so much of it felt...abandoned.
She cranes her head back to look at the planets hanging from the ceiling far, far above her. It wasn’t the solar system she knew, however; there were too many planets, for one, and the center of the system had two suns. She tracked the movement of a toy rocket ship that seemed to be following a set path through the sky, weaving among planets and moons. It left a trail of glowing light behind it, a light purple against a dark background.
She was so caught up in the spectacle that she didn’t watch where she going, tripping over something and landing flat on her face.
Groaning from her new spot on the floor, she sat up slowly, rubbing her head. One benefit of being digital, she supposed, was that pain tended to fade quickly. She looked back to see what had caught her foot. There was a stack of colorful blocks, and sticking out of them was-
“Gah!” she exclaimed, jerking back from the motionless body. But, wait. Weren’t those legs familiar? Yes, she definitely recognized that shoes-fused-into-pants look.
“Caine?” she called quietly. No response. Shifting to get a better look, she could see how his torso and head were carefully tucked among the blocks. His jaw was closed shut, eyes hidden from sight.
She was just now realizing, staring at his frozen form, that Caine normally animated breathing even when otherwise idle. He didn’t need to breathe, of course, but it definitely helped him seem more alive and real. Not like this, like a discarded puppet, inanimate and left behind.
“Caine?” she tried again, a bit louder. Still no response. She felt a prickle of unease. Was something wrong? Was he malfunctioning? Should she get Kinger?
Well, before she really started panicking, she had one more thing to try. Shuffling closer and reaching in among the blocks, she shook Caine’s shoulder.
“WHOA!” Caine shouted, sitting bolt upright. Pomni flinched back at the sudden movement. Caine’s shift also disturbed the block tower, however, as it creaked ominously before completely collapsing on top of him.
“Shoot, sorry, hang on!” she says, moving to dig him out of the block pile. Caine’s own attempts at escape are comically ineffectual, legs kicking weakly and arms flailing about. He almost seemed disoriented. Not that he was particularly put-together at the best of times, but still.
A few moments of work unearthed first his teeth, then the rest of him. Caine spat out a block – surely just for comedic effect, as all of the other blocks were too large to fit in his mouth.
“Thank you for the assistance, my dear!” he said, and Pomni was reassured by how chipper he sounded. If something was seriously wrong, he’d sound different, right? Then again, he had kept up a similar level of pep through most of his breakdown…
She pushed those thoughts away. It had been a few months now since Caine had come back, and he did seem to be genuinely trying. He was far less pushy about things and actually took the time to listen to their complaints. He implemented most of the changes they asked for, and explained why not for the ones he didn’t. And, probably the biggest change, adventures only occurred once a week, with attendance being completely optional. Pomni actually found herself going on most of them, now that she had time to relax in between. With appropriate feedback, they were even consistently fun now!
But Caine himself had been...skittish. Distant. Understandable, perhaps – she certainly didn’t know how she would go about trying to make amends after all the shit Caine had pulled. He still seemed to desperately crave interaction, without knowing how to actually reach out and connect with them.
Maybe this was an opportunity to reach out for him.
“What were you doing in there?” she asked, as Caine stuck a hand in the block tile and searched about. After a moment he let out a quiet “Aha!” and pulled out his top hat, plopping it on his head. He turned to face her, head tilted inquisitively.
“I’m sorry, my rotoscoping raffle ticket, could you repeat that?”
“Why were you just lying on the ground?” Pomni reiterated, gesturing vaguely to the block pile Caine was still in the middle of. “I tripped over you, and got worried when you didn’t respond to me calling your name.”
“Oh!” Caine said, suddenly looking a bit nervous. “That! Terribly sorry for the inconvenience, Pomni. I was just doing a spot of maintenance! I must have gotten really into it, to not notice you, but that’s also to be expected. That’s why I’m all the way out here! I was hoping to stay out of everyone’s way, but look how that turned out!” He laughed, but it was a short, brittle thing. “With that cleared up, is there anything I can do for my favorite jester?” He leaned towards her, eyes wide and sparkling.
“Er...no?” Pomni said hesitantly. Something about his explanation didn’t quite sit right, but she couldn’t imagine what he could possibly be trying to hide. Was going comatose an indicator of evil scheming in AIs? Somehow, she doubted it.
“Alright then! I’ll let you keep exploring the amaaazing Circus grounds! Bye!” And before Pomni could say anything else, he disappeared.
Pomni frowned at the spot he had been a second ago. Was he just going to do maintenance somewhere else? Did she need to keep worrying about potentially tripping over him? Maybe she should ask Kinger about Caine’s odd behavior. Except it’d have to wait for tomorrow – today was one of Kinger’s “break” days, where he made no effort to avoid the light and instead relaxed into his mental haze. She’d have to check in tomorrow.
Except, early the next morning, Ragatha knocked on her door and invited her to a picnic. And then she spent the afternoon reading to Jax. And, with one distraction after another, the strange incident completely left her mind – at least until the others started to notice Caine’s behavior as well.