Chapter Text
“It may take time. But all good things do.
I still love you.”
⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ
“So what are we going to do?” Pomni was the one to move the topic along after they’d watched Caine’s video. She looked at the ringmaster with a determined expression. “What are you going to do?”
Caine faltered. So Pomni continued, softer. “Thank you for the present Caine, I know you’re… sincere about what you’re doing. That you want to change how things work around here. I just want to know more details about what that entails. What are you going to do?”
He tapped his fingers on the pommel of his cane. “Well control will go to you all.” He repeated, still a little unsure. “The worlds will stay open but I won’t uh… make any new ones.”
“Could we make new ones if we wanted?” Pomni probed.
He winced, but it was imperceptible to most. “Y-yes… if you wanted to. I won’t call on you against your will, I won’t dictate what anybody does.”
“Will you walk on the ground?”
“Huh?”
“Will you walk?”
The group all looked a little confused by the suggestion.
“If you… want me to?” Caine floated down to the ground and stood next to her, looking to the others. “Is that better?”
Slowly everyone looked amongst themselves and nodded, Zooble finally spoke up. “It makes sense… you feel more like one of us rather than… Above us.”
Caine seemed to gear himself up to be comfortable with the request, perhaps not understanding, but not questioning it. He was still holding his cane nervously to his chest, and it was strange to see him so small and… normal.
“It’s easier to talk to you this way.” Pomni agreed. She smiled at him. “Let’s all think on what else we want from you, but, the only other thing we all need from you is… for you to listen to us more.”
He bolstered himself up and swung his cane a little. “Your wish is my command, Pomni.”
She nodded, and looked to the group. “Then how about some dinner?”
Dinner was easy to conjure, and Caine sat with the group for the first time in memory, everybody was equal parts wary and curious, so it was quickly decided to make the table round so that everybody could hear what he had to say. The ringmaster looked terrified, but was doing well to mask it behind a tamed form of his usual bravado, and Pomni wouldn’t blame him for feeling like a prized pig at a farmers fair with the way everybody was eager to grill him.
In the end, two major decisions were made. Caine’s office entrance in the hot air balloon had to be brought to the ground, so that everybody could have access and find him when they needed him. Nobody was going to be left alone anymore and that included him, though it was clear everybody was more concerned about what he would be doing behind their back. They would have to intrude on his privacy a little, at least until trust was struck again.
Secondly, every morning he would be at the sofas or in the cafe to talk to everyone. No more “only showing up to start an adventure” he would also have to learn to enjoy the small talk, and actually be with everyone when they decided what to do for the day.
⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ
“So do I die now? Did I lose?” Caine was whimpering like a puppy, hands gripping his top jaw in dismay as they discussed what would happen after his dice roll of a pitiful one.
“You didn’t do anything wrong Caine, sometimes it just happens and a character dies.” Ragatha cooed, cutting her laughter short as she picked Caine’s die back up off the table, patting his head with her other hand.
“Well it can happen, but it proooobably wouldn’t have happened so easily if you hadn’t split from the group buddy.” Pomni teased. “That’s just new experience for you though, won’t happen next time will it?”
“So Caine your character’s hitpoints have reached zero,” Gangle began, hiding a smile, she picked up Caine’s character sheet and hid it behind her DM screen. “Which means I’ll be doing death rolls for you now ok?”
“That’s the thing where you roll to see if my character lives or not each turn?” Caine muttered, clearly uncomfortable, and trying to sneak a look behind the screen.
“No peeking!” Gangle taunted playfully. “Death rolls are for the sole eyes of the DM Caine-y boy!”
It had only been a couple of weeks, but Pomni was shocked by how much dungeon mastering seemed to bring Gangle out of her shell. Caine and Ragatha had grown close after she’d taught him the real rules of softball and they’d had a proper game, she’d quickly warmed up to the idea of pretending that nothing bad had happened between them, perhaps because she felt like she should be the first person in the group to show Caine grace as an example for the others, or perhaps she just loved softball that much. Pomni still found herself watching Caine’s every reaction though, still waiting to figure out what he did truthfully and what was still an act. She had to remember he was an AI, his “tantrum” seemed to suggest that his feelings were very real, but what if that had also been an act? An inscrutable method of getting them to do his adventures he’d been instructed to give them? Though if he was programmed to find any method to get them to play his games, he’d sure ignored those rules recently, they hadn’t been on any adventures of his choosing. Other than the softball court, and a couple other world visits, perhaps they counted?
Either way, what Pomni could tell immediately was that he wasn’t taking his character dying in DND very well. Like most children or first time players, the thought of being out of the game or having failed somehow, like you misunderstood the game or perhaps that the DM had targeted you unfairly- any sort of thought could be going through the AI’s head right now, and Pomni was nervous of which it was. She glanced at Gangle as they continued the turns, praying that she knew what she was doing.
Two rounds passed, two death rolls. No revival yet, Pomni and Ragatha quickly realised they couldn’t get to Caine’s character on time without killing the monsters between theirs and his room, and the tension was building.
“And back to Caine’s turn, which means, DM’s turn.” Gangle gave a cat like grin before rolling the dice. Now that her comedy mask broke less often, it was interesting to see how she interacted with everyone. The dice stopped and she looked over them, and she hesitated, her smile twitching. Pomni could see the cogs whirring, clearly the game master was thinking carefully about what she’d say next, and the whole table seeped with tension.
Caine was practically shaking like an autumn leaf.
Finally Gangle turned to Caine and she put on a soft dramatic voice. “Caine… You open your eyes, and hear the gentle voice of a maiden.”
Caine shot up in his seat, staring back at Gangle, wide eyed and excited.
The woman continued. “As you look around you realise you are surrounded by the phantoms of other soldiers who have fallen to the beasts here before, and they all look at you with hope in their glimmering eyes. The ghostly maiden stands before you with a Lyre of blinding light, she hands it to you and puts her palm gently on your shoulder. “Your time is not nigh young bard. A blessing from us who have fallen here before, weave songs of us, avenge us, and save your friends.” What say you?”
Caine puts his fists to his chest as though he were accepting the imaginary lyre, he sits up straight, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Pomni has to suppress a giggle at the part he was playing. “My lady! I shall avenge all of thee thrice over! And blanket the land with tales of your glory!”
Gangle grins and nods sagely. “As you reply, the lady smiles at you, and the ghosts vanish. You have seen into the astral plane briefly! A parallel world to the living, where the spirits of the dead reside. Before reawakening alive in the material realm.”
“Gasp! That can happen??”
“Oh yes that can happen.” They weren’t sure if he meant if that could happen in the real world or not, but the game had to move along. “Now quickly!! Here’s the lyre she gave you.” Gangle shoves a scrap of paper in Caine’s direction with the loot’s stats on it and he reads, eyes wider with each line. “The beholder that just killed you is floating with it’s back to you. You can use half your movement to stand up, and use your action to petrify it with your new magic lyre of ancestral blessings!”
As Caine excitedly took his turn, Pomni smiled and relaxed her cheek into her palm. She looked over at Ragatha, the only one who’d also said they hadn’t really played the game before, and she could see from the laugh she was hiding that even Rags had figured out that Gangle had made that up on the spot. Gangle hadn’t been lying, she was a very good DM.
The game wrapped up with the party rescuing their client from Gangles elaborate dungeon, foes either vanquished or petrified to everyone’s satisfaction. It was the most excited they’d seen Caine in weeks, boisterous and loud about his brush with death, and making up little songs whenever he could. By the end he was definitely floating above the table out of joyful habit more than he perhaps should have, but only Gangle worried about it since if he went too high he could sneak a peek behind her DM screen.
The ghosts returned to grant the team a blessing in the form of a level up for next time, and the group packed away their things, though Caine was still excitedly yapping to Gangle.
“That was terrific my masked maiden! I didn’t think I’d vibe with a… non-adventure, adventure but despite us all sitting at a table that was still lots of fun!”
“Yeah well, not actually being there helps give people time to think about what they’re going to do y’know? Like, less pressure.” Now they’d finished dungeon mastering, Gangle clearly seemed at the end of their social battery, shying away from Caine’s eagerness a little, though flattered enough that he seemed to have enjoyed it so much.
“You did all… Hm..” Caine stuttered to a halt and looked thoughtful. Then he pushed Gangle again, looming over her with wide sparkling eyes. “Wouldn’t it be fun if the next session was a real adventure we could be in though?”
Gangle’s smile wobbled into a petrified expression. Pomni froze and Ragatha let out a nervous laugh. “H-hey! Easy now there Caine, let’s not… Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.”
The ringmaster sputtered, shot back to his chair, tucked his knees in to his chest and crossed his arms. “An adventure of GANGLE’s creation of course!” He huffed and looked away, mumbling. “That’s not an offer I make lightly.”
Rags and Pom looked over to Gangle for an opinion, but the girl had lifted a gentle ribbon to her chin in thought. “An… An adventure I could make?” They looked at Caine in wonder. “You want me to make you an adventure?”
Everybody looked at Caine for an answer, and his eyes swished about them from behind his teeth in nerves, before nodding quickly.
They looked at Gangle again who was embarrassed, but nodded. “I- I think that’d be rather fun-”
“WOWIEE!” Caine burst up from his chair, limbs flailing about with joy.
“A-AFTER! A couple more normal sessions.” Gangle sat him back down in his chair. “I’m still not good at conjuring things at all.”
“Oh! I can- I can help with that.” Caine replied, eyes still wide, but diligently sitting down, tapping his fingers together.
“But then won’t you know all the secrets to it ahead of time? That wouldn’t do.”
“Well we’ll catch you all later,” Ragatha gently interrupted with a wave, Pomni joining her.
“You two take it easy ok?” The Jester agreed.
Caine looked nervous again, but Gangle soothed the situation with a smile to the other two. “No problems here, thanks for playing guys!” She waved them off before looking nervously back at Caine. They hesitated before reaching up and gently taking their comedy mask off. Caine stared at her, unsure what to think, Gangle looking around at the ground before finally looking back at him and drawing a breath. “I don’t… I don’t know if that’s the best idea, Caine.”
The ringmaster looked defeated for a moment, before sitting forward in his chair. “But I really do want to play more Gangle, you’ll be in complete control-”
“I- I know that. I just…” They tapped two ribbons together as they searched for words. “People could hate it, I don’t know… But if people like it.” They looked back at Caine and tensed. “I know artists Caine. And I know because I’ve felt it before. But if two artists do the same thing, and one of them gets more praise for it than the other, that hurts. And th-that… That’s what hurt you about the suggestion box wasn’t it?”
The ringmaster had completely frozen up, though he was looking away now. “Whoever said that?” He replied flatly.
Gangle wasn’t as brave as Pomni, and fluttered nervously. “I- I’m only guessing! B-because I’ve felt- I-I’ve felt that way before, even though I felt terrible because I loved my friends but it made it impossible for me to want to bother them with my own art if… But if I’m wrong then I’ll just-” The ribbon girl turned to leave but was stopped by a gentle hand grabbing her arm. They stood still like that, till Gangle got the courage to speak again. “I just… Though it sounds fun. And not like- I think I’d totally make a successful adventure, it’d probably suck- but there’s the chance, so I’d rather not risk… stepping on your toes. I know it means a lot to you, because I’ve felt that… Too.”
Caine eventually let go of her arm, and withdrew further into his seat. Saying nothing.
Gangle brushed her hand over where he’d grabbed her and watched him carefully. “You know… You’re pretty much like… a god? Here? … I admit I didn’t realise you worried about stuff like that before and then you suddenly…” She sighed. “You’re a lot more human than I thought, I guess, is what I mean. And with that in mind, you remind me of myself, a lot. I think the showmanship is maybe a bit of a mask too?”
It looked like he was struggling to respond, so Gangle changed the subject. “I’ll think on it, but like… I’m not gonna make anything. If you still want to give it a try later, come and ask me again, ok?”
“Gangle did you…” His brows were furrowed in thought. “Did you plan that room I died in to give me that Lyre? There’s no way… It feels too convenient that I’d get a Lyre if anybody could’ve died in that room, did you plan different objects for each person or?”
Gangle relaxed, perhaps his mind had been off elsewhere and he hadn’t heard half of what she’d said, she shrugged. “Uhh you got me!” They waved their hands and then tapped them together. “I uh… made that up.”
“You made it up?!” Caine was startled.
“I grabbed a legendary item from a room you guys had missed earlier and made up a reason for you to get it. I just, improvised.”
“Did I really die?”
Gangle fretted before gently nodding. “Generally it’s a bad idea to split from the group, nobody can heal you if you go down-”
“You broke the rules to let me live? Why?” Caine’s eyes were narrowed and probing.
“Well it- It looked like you weren’t having fun.” The girl explained.
“But all the plans- all the rules- you just bent them for me?”
She smiled. “Some people follow the rules, but I’ve played with lots and lots of people. In the end I’ve found DnD is a conversation, it’s my job at the table to make sure that everyone has fun, not that my adventure goes the way I planned it or anything. In fact, adventures never go as planned… But every player has different needs, some players want difficulty and some players just want to tell a story. A good dungeon master caters to all of them. As long as everyone leaves the table satisfied, then that’s a success.”
The ringmaster was clearly thinking hard, he sat back and twiddled his fingers before looking away. “Did I really look so upset?” He was blushing. “That’s a… sorry.”
Gangle giggled. “You looked like you were about to break down crying. Should I not go easy on you next time?”
“Oh! There won’t be a next time! I’ll be sure to not go into any rooms by myself again.”
“What if I drop you into a trap room all by yourself?” She was snickering.
“Aha! Well I have the magic lyre now! So I’ll petrify whatever’s in my way!” His bravado was returning, he seemed ok.
“Perhaps I’ve given you too much power with that… I’ll have to find ways to keep you in peril, Caine the bard~”
⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ
It was late, the sky still tinged with a hint of red from the sun cycle, but Pomni preferred going out when the sun couldn’t yap at her. She had a little basket with a collection of snacks and drinks, and a little picnic blanket. Yes, everyone had agreed to never leave each other alone, but with the circus fixed and peaceful, pomni was still a loner at heart, and after talking all day, feeling like she’d become everyone’s emotional manager, she was quite excited to have some alone time.
She laid the blanket out on the grass and got to stargazing. Since the suggestion box adventure, she’d grown quite nostalgic for it. Though Jax wasn’t next to her this time… it reminded her of a time when they had been together and things had been… good. She thought he would prefer she remembered the happy memories of them, when they’d bantered and joked about him not having a tail, when they’d talked about the adventures they’d enjoyed before, when they’d offhandedly admitted to caring about others without meaning to. That was the closest Pomni thought Jax had gotten to opening up in a… gentle setting.
She sighed deeply, her gentle smile lowering a little. It was hard, missing them. Perhaps she shouldn’t have tricked herself into thinking this would be an entirely happy exercise, but there was nothing wrong with a quiet think about it either.
She focused on the sky, the stars, the gentle velvet hue of it. The sounds of crickets, fireflies gently drifting around the peripherals of her vision. It was warm… The grass and rug were soft, the snacks were comforting… She wondered if it had been this good whenever she’d done this in the real world. Never quite this late at night, not alone anyway… But sometimes after wandering abandoned buildings, or generally going on lazy walks with her camera, she’d find a grassy spot to sit and reflect. And this… this felt close to that. The most normal. Calming.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d lain there for, but something caught her attention at the edge of her senses. A distant, but joyful voice woke her up.
Her eyes snapped open, and took a moment to focus, until she recognised Caine sat on the moons chin, talking excitedly with her.
She stared up, stomach a little twisted with nerves that she was witnessing something she shouldn’t, something secret. But she also couldn’t take her eyes off them. The moon was her usual demure self, as Caine bounced and spun around her, dancing through the air in his characteristic way. He hung upside down, he laid on her chin and kicked his feet, he spun around and pranced. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, far too far away. But the moon was a little easier to hear.
“Oh really? … And then? … My dear, that sounds delightful…”
Then Caine settled down to a sit, and practically stopped moving altogether, so far off but she could tell he was withdrawn, wringing his hands and muttering the rest of the story. The moon looked at him lovingly, staying dutifully silent until. “In time Caine. So much has already changed… You’ve made a friend. You deserve to feel joy.”
Pomni’s eyes widened a little, but she couldn’t help but feel happy about that too. She wondered who they were talking about…
The moon and the ringmaster shared another little moment, the moon closing her eyes and beaming at him. “Thank you Caine.” She replied softly. Until finally the man floated away and town towards the tent, a light skip to his steps as he landed and walked back inside.
The Jester stared at the tent for a few moments before realising that the moon was looking directly at her, getting her to sit up with a start. “Aha!! Hi Moon! H-hello! Oh you just caught me sound asleep there!”
The moon blinked slowly with a smile. “Your eyes are wide enough to see even from up here my dear.”
Pomni stared, and flicked her eyes to the tent and back.
“He can’t hear me now.” She assured. “I choose who gets to hear me, and from inside the tent my volume doesn’t matter.”
The human sighed and relaxed her shoulders. “Ok, ok. That’s ok!” She lay back on the grass and smiled up at the moon. “So… His friend. You don’t have to tell me! Let me guess. There’s only a few of us.”
The moon blinked in reply, smile lifting a little higher.
“Ragatha, over softball?”
The moons eye stayed closed.
“Kinger? Zooble? An npc- No it’s Gangle, of course it’s Gangle.”
The moon opened her eye and nodded, looking so full of love.
“Who knew he’d enjoy DnD so much?” Pomni laughed.
The moon looked back towards the circus tent. “My love was so excited… So many things to tell me about his character, and yours. He told me Gangle showed him her drawings of your hero’s, showing him all the races and weapons and deciding what his bard would look like. It sounds like he had so much fun.”
Pomni’s eyes were glimmering and wide. “He really did make a friend… And Gangle too…”
“I’m so proud of him.” The moon admitted with a blush.
The Jester beamed up at her. “You really love him don’t you?” A voice in her head warned her that Gummigoo had been an experimentally more advanced AI than usual, and not all npc’s had as much sentience as he did, so perhaps she was projecting too much onto the Moon, but her smiles looked so genuine as she replied.
“I have always loved him, though my love grows every day.”
They shared a look. “Do you often talk like this?”
A sadness washed over the celestial face. “Not till recently… Caine doesn’t usually bother to talk to his npc’s… He thinks we only tell him what he wants to hear. And he’s partially right… That doesn’t make my love any less genuine. But I would often hear him talk to himself and to bubble that it frustrated him that npc’s would only say and do what he’d programmed them to say, they aren’t of any… interest to him.”
Pomni felt like a new facet had been added to her understanding of Caine. Like he was a sliced apple with pieces missing, and she’d just returned a wedge to the whole. “So he only talked to us before… And now?”
The moon looked sheepish. “He used to talk a lot to himself and to bubble. Now I think that bubble’s gone, he needs somebody new to bounce his thoughts off of. Not that I’m complaining, but, I just feel lucky.”
The jester sat forward on the grass and rested her chin in her hands sadly. Sure she’d come here for peace and quiet, but the moon felt unexpectedly welcome in her evening. “I can come and talk to you more often if you’d like.”
The Moon burst into bubbling laughter, looking to Pomni with adoration. “My pet, that’s not quite what I mean, but I would love to keep you company. It’s more that, after his uh… Breakdown. I wish he’d come and spoken to me rather than… what he did do.”
Pomni frowned. “Just how much can you hear?”
“Everyone at the circus has proximity based hearing, but if I had that, I’d never be able to hear you on the ground unless you shouted. So I have permissions to hear globally, which… Perhaps Caine forgot to limit to just the outside. So while I can only project my voice to people outside the tent, I can hear everything in the circus. Adventures, people inside the tent… And in Caine’s office.”
The girl looked at her crossed legs and rubbed her knees. Ignoring the thought that the Moon could hear what Gangle and Zooble had been up to if she chose to, she wondered what she should ask next. If it was right. “That day… What exactly did Caine talk about?”
The Moon gave her a delicate look, and thought hard before replying. “I think we both know it’d be best if you asked him about that but… Ask him about his brother.”
“His what now?”
The Moon let out an amused “Hm,” and looked away sheepishly. “Yes… that’ll do.”
The jester stared straight ahead, wondering what all of that could possibly mean, before laying back in the grass and closing her eyes again. “Ok… Ok.”