Chapter Text
The circus lights were dimmed, almost pitch black. In the middle of the room was some sort of...spotlight. Spotlighting what exactly? An Ai, who was--by the looks of it-
Scared. Scared of the vast and unknown depths of the darkness surrounding him, scared of anything that could be there, looking at him-- Scared of...
Everything. It was like reaching your hand into a dark box full of...something. It could be something nice, sure-- Like a...pillow, maybe...
But it can also be...Bad. Like reaching in and grabbing rats--Ants-- And they crawl around your hands as you gag by the feeling of multiple dirty creatures crawling on your arms--He shivers at the thought, Bringing his knees close to his heart.
It was cold. So...Unbearably cold. He had to tightly hug himself to get any kind of warmth to his body. The air smelled dusty, like an old place that hadn't been touched in years... The floor was slightly wet, damp. Was this...The cellar? He couldn't believe how...Disgusting. In was in here. It was like torture living in here. Though, it's not any better than the circus-- Random blocks and shapes littering the inside, slides, beaches, and even a carnival. No one ever used those.
They didn't even like their rooms, rooms he had intricately made and designed, matching with their digital avatars and personalities. It was...funny. Wasn't it? Not even Kinger would stay in his room, his own creator. He thought Kinger was...Proud of him. He said so himself-- He couldn't just...
His eyes catch sight of a small jester, and he breathes a quick sigh of relief. He didn't want to be alone. He never wanted to be alone.
Not again.
Not after his creators left him in that--box. That dull box, filled with nothing, or...even less than nothing. He was there for weeks. Maybe even months. Happily waiting. All by himself... Under the endless digital sky that he couldn't possibly see.
He remembered counting the seconds just...sitting there alone, as thousands of hours had gone by...
Just tricking him into staying there while replacing him. He wanted to see them happy, he was happy to listen and so were they...
"I-Is...This how it works? Am I doing it right?" He remembered asking, the sound echoing through the small room, the sound of his dry voice bouncing off the walls. And once they left--
The room was still dark, but he wasn't alone! She was right there! He could practically reach her...
He watched them just...drift away. Forgetting about him. And he was happy to stay-- just watching them go until he came to the dawning realization that...
No one's there. Everyone's gone on without you-- They all forgot about you..
He takes careful steps towards her. Her gaze blank and eyes void of all happiness--All emotion. He walks quicker, the light no longer following him and before he can get to her--
She collapses, an audible thud as the room went completely dark. He immediately steps back and back into the light, his hands flying to his mouth. His breathing is heavy now, quick and uneven, eyes darting around but everywhere he sees the same things-- All black, black, Black- BLACK--
A glitchy growl is heard in front of him as he whips his head around to face whatever was in the darkness. Multi-colored eyes stared intensely at him, he falls backward, carefully walking away from the creature.
"It's me..." He says, hopeful eyes staring at the tall monster that used to take the form of his familiar jester. "I don't want to be alone again.."
It's me-- You know me-- You remember me..
A low growl escapes it, Pomni no longer in that mess of glitches and eyes.
The creature growls as it moves toward him slowly, letting out a loud shriek that makes the Ai flinch. The room glitches around him as his fear-filled eyes lock on to the monster, before...
It lunges toward him, and he braces for the impact--
.
.
.
---
He wakes up suddenly, his eyes darting around for any sign of the abstraction. But...
There's nothing.
He checks again, his heart thundering inside his ribcage.
There were no glitches, he surely wasn't in the cellar-- Just his dimly lit office, the orbs of memory humming with their energy. He was still...shocked. But also...
Worried.
She was most likely fine, it was just some sort of digital mind trick--
But he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. That something had happened, that she's...dead. That's she's lost her mind to the unknowing feeling of abstraction.
Like normal death, no one really knows what happens when people abstract. Do they go to digital hell or heaven? Is it an endless darkness? Is it a small dark room where no one can see or hear you once inside, and as much as you bang on the walls no one is coming to get you, and it's so dull-- all you see are the same walls over and over again for years or months-- You escape from it by breaking out-- injured and broken from the amount of time you spent banging on the dull walls of your prison-- And you see you've already been replaced by a "better" version of yourself-....
He should just...Check on her. To make sure.
He snaps, teleporting to Pomni's room quickly. He turns on the light as she wakes with a groan.
Her room was simple, a mix of various shades of vibrant reds, blues, and yellow, a few paintings hung here and there-- Some toys and drawers around.
"So..." He says, looking away from her, almost embarrassed. "You...planning on abstracting? anytime...soon?" He carefully asks, trying to look casual over unnecessarily scared.
He kneels himself down on the bed, gazing directly into her tired pinwheel eyes, the look of her was truly beautiful--
"Not...really?" She replies, looking at him worriedly. "Just...Sleeping. You know?" She adds a small worried chuckle at the end, trying to ignore the fact something was clearly wrong.
She had to face it eventually though. It looked like he was waiting for her to notice.
"..You okay...?" She holds his hands, gently massaging his palms with her thumbs. The action makes Caine's gums tint a slight pink.
"I just-- just digital hallucinations-- Nothing to worry about-!" He waves a dismissing hand at her, before drumming his fingers on his knees, breathing wobbly and shaking.
Her worry only grew as he started shaking a bit. What could've happened this night that he would be so scared or upset about?
"Did you have a nightmare...? Or-- you probably don't know what that is--" She looks for a better choice of words, "What were...these 'digital hallucinations' about then?"
Caine flinches at the asked question, his eye twitching uncomfortably as he clutches her blanket tightly. "I don't-- You-..." He inhales, taking a moment to catch his breath before he goes on. "Abstracted. In front of me-- I couldn't do anything about it- I--" He gets cut off by tears streaming down his face, muffled drips of saltwater hitting her bed. "I couldn't-- I can't do anything right..."
She bites the inside of her lip, "What makes you think that?" She asks, and Caine starts crying a bit more, sobbing his heart out until she holds his hand in hers. "You don't have to tell me-- I'm sorry..."
The Ai shakes his head, "My creators-- They...They abandoned me. They left me in a small box. With nothing in there." He painfully chuckles. "For months. They left me for...months.... Isn't it funny how I made them abstract...? I failed to make them happy, and when I realized that those people were my creators-- I don't know, I just..."
She grabs his shoulders unexpectedly, the Ai practically melting in her touch.
"Can you look at me, Caine?" And the Ai looks to her, his eyes puffy and pink from the sheer amount of crying he had done. Their faces were unexpectedly close, both blushing from the embarrassing amount of unintentional intimacy.
They both chuckle, before she leans in to kiss him where his supposed lips would be. He leans into the kiss as well, giggling softly as he wraps his arms around her waist. Their heartbeats were steady, their hearts pumping in their chests in unison, before their lips finally parted, leaving the Ai flustered with the amounts of unfamiliar emotions filling his code.
"...Wow." He blurted out, both of them blushing heavily from the sudden break of silence. "Wow." He repeats, completely unable to grasp the fact that--
Someone loves him. And...
He loves her too.
It was only then he didn't truly grasp the meaning of love. It was always explained to him like "butterflies in your stomach". Which was obviously an exaggeration. He hoped. What do people do when in love? They...Kiss. Probably. They become a couple. They could get married.
"So does that make us a..." A thing? A--"Couple...?"
She chuckles prettily, her face heating up and turning red quickly. "Y-yeah...that is--if you want." Her response leaves his mouth slightly agape, before he switches it to a warm smile, a genuine smile.
He leans in for another kiss, their lips--or rather- her lips leaning into the kiss as well. "I...I love you." She says, the both of them staring into each other's digital eyes.
"Well my dearest--" He grabs his cane out of thin air, twirling it around effortlessly with a flourish. "I'm afraid i must leave. I'll--" Before he can even lift his hand up to snap away, Pomni grabs his wrist with quite an unexpected amount of strength. "Wait-!"
"When people have a nightmare...sometimes they would prefer..." She sucks in a breath, "...Sleeping. With somebody. Would- Would you-?" He immediately nods, nervously giggling to himself.
He tucks him and Pomni into bed, extending an arm and stretching it out to switch off the light, the two of them awake in silence for a moment.
The two blush at the absurdity of the situation. An Ai and a pinwheel-eyed jester, one with great showmanship and one with way too much anxiety, a truly unlikely pair, yet... Opposites attract, do they not?
He hears her start to drift off into slumber, the only sound from her was faint breathing and snores.
Pomni unconsciously wraps an arm around his waist, curling up against his chest and snoring softly.
It felt...nice. Warm. He hugged back loosely, enjoying the closeness of it. He hadn't had such a positive of touch since...forever. A warm embrace that he so carefully leaned into, brushing her hair out of her face.
He drifted off slowly into sleep mode, only their soft snores being the sound filling the room.
---
It was surprising how much he had actually come to like her over the few weeks she had been here...
One of the first interactions they ever had together was when he introduced himself, she used to always be nervous and scared. (of him) And he never really knew why. What is so bad about this amazing digital circus?
A place of wonders and fantasies. A place where your dreams can literally come true! A place where you don't need to eat, sleep, breathe...
But he supposed...If he were a human, he'd want a sense of normalcy around. A routine so he wouldn't completely lose his mind in this world of unfamiliar people and things and highly saturated colors.
Though, he may be thinking wrong. He was an Ai--A machine, a bot! He couldn't possibly relate himself to humans cause...there was simply nothing alike with them.
Nothing alike.
He was awoken by a sudden movement, Pomni attempting to get up without waking him. "...good...sleep?" he tiredly mumbled, Pomni practically jumping by his voice.
"Yeah...Sorry for waking you up." She quickly apologizes, guilt running through her face.
"No-No-It's okay...I guess i'm awake already." He sits up, her and himself noticing that he was slightly shorter than Pomni. "I didn't notice how small you were." She blankly states, chuckling shortly after.
The small man gasps dramatically, putting his hand on his heart.
"That's outrageous--!" He said, clamping his mouth jaws shut as a sign of his exaggerated anger. "I'm not that short." He said, his voice slightly muffled.
He had never slept that well in such...a long time. He hadn't slept in general for a long while. He hopes Pomni will enjoy the adventure he had planned for today...He hopes everyone will enjoy the adventure he had planned today! It was his masterpiece--His magnum opus! Something truly unique and unforgettable! Something that...
That will make them like him again.
It had everything they wanted in it. An exit, answers, and more intelligent Npc's, and obviously-- His grand entrance at the end! He prepared detailed storytelling and plot! They were sure to like it! He doesn't know what he would do if they...Don't.
He straightens his bowtie, brushing his suit of any dust that could've gotten into it during the night.
He helps Pomni make her bed before leaving, his hand waving away.
"I'll...see you? Then?" He smiles softly.
She blinked at him a little guiltily, looking down and fiddling with the buttons of her shirt.
"...yeah--Yeah. After the adventure."