Chapter Text
“Work for the actor lies essentially in two areas: the ability to consistently create reality and the ability create reality and the ability to express that reality”
That was a quote by a human called Lee Strasberg.
Sadly the Creative Artificial Intelligence Network Entity did not have complete knowledge over the inhabitants and culture of the Real World-
(why do the players insist on calling it the Real World? Wasn’t this real enough for them? It certainly was for him. Maybe they should workshop their own cool unique name for it. Something memorable and catchy! Maybe something like Ma-)
WAIT DANG IT. Side track.
The point is that while Caine didn’t have much knowledge of normal life stuff, he is a bit of an expert when it comes to Entertainment from Music of all melodies and Festivals to celebrate all walks of life.
And most importantly relevant to the current situation is the centerpiece of that particular proverb.
Acting.
In terms of consistently creating and expressing realities, Caine was a unmatched master of his craft. Mountains, Oceans, Buildings, ENTIRE ECOSYSTEMS, all diligently and carefully crafted with his own bare avatar-simulacrum-of-human-hands! But what does a ecosystem need to be truly a reality?
Inhabitants. People. And that’s when they come into the picture.
The NPC’s.
In most Games, the way to create an NPC is rather simple. Take a basic character design and implant a rudimentary AI into it.
But Caine cannot….WILL NOT…..Allow any other form of artificial intelligence into HIS Circus ever since……
H̷̛͚̬̘̞̭̬͕̺̟̥́̀͐͗̈͒́̊͒̑ͅͅI̷͖̠̩̰͔͇̲̘̳̽͂̈́̔̇͒͑̅̌̌̓̒̽̈̓͗̈̄̓́́͝M̴̗̪̺̩̳͕͕̖̫̪͚̝͚̜̫̃͆̓̄̅̅̔̒
So instead Caine took on a different, more unorthodox solution. One that allowed him to partake in a particularly noble form of Human artwork.
Acting. Caine would allow his core to leave his Avatar and insert it into various new shapes, voices and forms and spread them across the Adventure map allowing himself to ensure that any interaction with his Bodacious Beta Testers went smooth as freshly churned Billy Goat Butter. Sometimes Caine would fully immerse himself into these roles by puppeteering these new roles as if they were his very own avatar.
Sometimes he would do the equivalent of taking a recorded message and inserting it into a movable model mannequin.
Of course as with any bold new artistic experiment, there was bound to be certain….snags.
Orbsman, a seemingly easy way to cheap out on having to fully model a new body via reusing the exact same blue orb design over and over and then attaching it to a basic rig Skeleton. Perhaps it was Caine’s own bias against round glowing blue objects or just a simple speed bump on the road to becoming a master programmer but there were so many….. just plain unforgivable mistakes with Orbsman.
His animations were so stilted he might as well have been created using PNG’s on Microsoft Paint and they would rapidly cycle between them if his nonexistent heels so much as shifted.
Plus a massive glitch-inducing breakdown in Caine’s old microphone had made all of the dialogue he had spent an entire day recording come out like a auto tuned Racoon trapped inside a tuba. (That’s what you get when you use a recording application that came preinstalled into the computer)
Then there was his first experiment in remote controlled NPC’s. Caine thinks it was a cowboy adventure, wasn’t it? It would explain the hat.
The concept for this NPC was simple: appear to the players, recite the dialogue necessary for the plot to move forward and then vanish into the debug room when either every player had left or just until the timer ran out. But somehow Caine must have miscalculated the timer because this NPC vanished before he could even speak a single completed syllable. Fortunately his dialogue wasn’t critical for the adventure to function, but it was still a disaster in terms of audience immersion in the adventure.
After that he preferred to ensure he was fully in control to prevent any such errors.
There was also the issue of having to play multiple NPC’s at once. The system mostly in play was that Caine would play the “Main” NPC and Bubble would have to take on the role of the smaller or less important ones. For example. The Gloinks.
Sometimes Caine would reuse Orbsman and Disappearing Guy as Easter Eggs in newer adventurers, hypothetically as a treat for older players but more of a reminder to Caine of past mistakes and how far he has come as a host.
Which brings us around to why Caine was currently hunched over a table. Hands grasping a bottle of (Non Alcoholic!!) Whiskey like a lifeline. Teeth firmly clamped around a (Non Tobaccoholic!!) Cuban Cigar.
Desperately workshopping the newest costume for this man of many faces. (Despite lacking one in the first place)
This NPC. He needed to be perfect.
Why?
Because this was Pomni’s first truly official Adventure in the Amazing Digital Circus.
Poor Pomni.
Her first day was shaping up to be the biggest disaster in the ringmasters career since…since…
NO MATTER. IT WAS JUST REALLY BAD ALRIGHT.
Having to cut short the theme song before the second verse and being unable to include her even now. Having to rush through the entire scenic tour for the sake of completing the adventure planning. Finding out she has severe motion sickness at the worst possible moment and Bubble being Bubble. But the nadir had to have been her unintentionally spoiling the surprise of his future Escape The Circus adventure and revealing just how incomplete his modeling of the C&A Offices had been. HE DID NOT EVEN HAVE TIME TO INSTALL THAT MANY WINDOWS YET.
Not to mention. He hated to admit it. Genuine pain in his molars like they were being handled by a particularly incompetent dentist, but….the in house adventure had been.
Sloppy.
The Gloink Queen was generic as far as Caine’s boss disguises had been. Big. Lots of teeth and eyeballs. Naught but three primary colors. Weak minions with even weaker designs and no real honest motivation. Caine couldn’t even believe the hackneyed dialogue he was screeching under the mask. “Even God must be Gloink’s!”, Really?
Even Jax had found her to be far too unimpressive to his liking.
JAX.
Who once found a way to make a adventure about watching paint dry exciting!
Then again, it was via taking thousands of paint vials and tossing them at Gangle and Ragatha’s walls of paint just as they were about to finally dry in order to force them to stay for several more hours while he went to get Hot Cocoa. BUT STILL.
Kaufmo always hated Boss Battle Adventures. Said they were always far too physically strenuous for the players compared to other ones and “They are never really that good at fighting anyway”. Well EX-Scuse their ever so benevolent Ringmaster for not wanting his Calamitous Clowns to be actually burned by dragon fire instead of having to casually jump over the fireballs that moved at the speed of a butterfly’s wings.
Heh.
Kaufy must’ve still held that opinion with the way he violently attacked the Gloink Queen once he broke free of his room and into their lair.
Oh Kaufmo….
Caine still had no idea why he abstracted. Kaufmo had friends. Kaufmo was rather optimistic and eager to joke around even if these japes were never truly appreciated. Kaufmo even occasionally liked some of the Adventures! even if his feedback was mostly “I guess that was kinda cool in a way”. However the Clown did seem to be a bit oblivious at times, seemingly still believing that Jax and Ribbit were still friends when even Caine had figured out that something went wrong. Sometimes Caine thinks the only reason Kaufmo was even looking for a exit is because Kaufmo’s friends wanted one since otherwise he appeared strangely content with his current life, at least by the standard of other previous players. “Where else would a clown ever truly belong other then a Circus?” Kaufmo would joke one day and for reasons Caine couldn’t decipher, Ragatha chose to place a comforting hand on his shoulder and tell the clown he shouldn’t talk about himself like that.
……..
No matter.
Sadly, Kaufmo is…gone.
Just like Ribbit.
Just like Queenie.
Just like Scratch.
BUT! With every dark tragedy there is light comedy! And as one clown has left them, a jester has appeared.
Admittedly Pomni seems to be rather on the fence. Most of the time she had gone through the motions and was still currently the only Circus member to have willingly stuck with the Randomised names Caine had suggested when everyone else had long since picked their own.
She was a anxious little thing wasn’t she? always so quiet and jumpy lately. Even Gangle had acclimated easier then Pomni did.
Which was why this next adventure NEEDED to be perfect.
He needed Pomni to like him.
Because….. he honestly wasn’t sure anyone in the Circus really liked him.
Sure, Ragatha was kind to everyone, even the most basic of NPC’s and Kinger didn’t seem to remember any reason to hold true animosity for the ringmaster.
But everyone else?
Zooble DESPISED him. That mismatched cash piano made it clear in every interaction the two ever made. Gangle always appreciated him repairing her Comedy Mask but that was pretty much it when it came to their interactions. And Jax never paid him much mind at all unless it served his own comedic purposes.
Which is all why he desperately needed Pomni to like him.
When you’ve spent your entire life in a computer without so much as a single reboot, you could use a fresh start.
The next Adventure was Candy Carrier Chaos.
Sure, Candyland was a pretty common theme in fiction, but Caine was confident he would find a way to make it truly unique. Sadly there was a few…budget constraints. Not a literal one as he has no use for money, but in terms of bandwidth. You see, Caine couldn’t quite inhabit that many unique character models all at once before things got L-l-L-llllll-a-agggy.
And unlike certain Triple A HACKS! C&A actually cared about ensure complete quality control over unnecessary visual spectacle!
So sadly they would mostly have to make due with candy coloured mannequins and hope nobody called him out on his laziness.
Caine had just laid out the finishing touches on Princess “Loo” Lollalilu, the designated quest giver for the adventurer. Personally he considered making the hair out of candied orange slices to be a stroke of genius! Particularly because he didn’t need to invent a new object for the hair, rather recolouring and retexturing a previous orange slice asset.
For some unknown reason, Caine had always been fascinated on being able to swap between male and female character models during his method acting job, but for the life of him he couldn’t put his digital digits on it. Perhaps it was a Zooble thing? Then again the temper tantruming toybox wouldn’t speak with him on even the best of time so that mystery might remain unsolved.
Now for the pièce de résistance! The main antagonistic force of the Candy Canyon Kingdom!
The Gummy Bandit.
The answer to his players repeated requests for proper agency and consequences on their raucous romps!
This intriguing little felonious morsel would alter from cold hearted criminal to tragic rebel depending entirely on how his Playful Pop Rocks chose to treat him!
Just imagine! A video game were acts of pacifism or levels of violence would complete alter the very themes of the story! I cannot imagine a single story that would undertake such a tale!
Of course now, only one single probably remained.
He had no idea what the Gummy Bandit would look like!
All he knew was that it would need to evoke Gumminess and Banditry somehow.
Caine sighed and opened the left side of his upper jaws up like a raised eyebrow, causing cigar smoke to exhale from the opening like a chimney. After a while he allowed his eyeballs to slowly fly out of the hole and scan each and every inch of his office to ensure there were no intruders or spies. Once that was done he discreetly allowed his hands to reach down and open a small drawer on his desk.
Inside was a collection of 6 small Manila folders, each labeled Mindfiles, there were also names attached but due to an unfortunate and unknown networking error, the names were unavailable to any member of the circus, even Caine. Which was why each file has a sticker of the relevant Big Top on top. Perhaps one day Caine would unlock the secrets of the names, but that would require a ungodly amount of proper concentration, as in being trapped in the Void with nothing to do otherwise levels of concentration.
The names weren’t the only problems with the Mindfiles, as they mainly focused on trivial trivia such as likes and dislikes or very prominent childhood memories rather than any true info on their lives. This at least made them easy to use when customizing nostalgic Adventures.
And with that Caine reached for the mind file labeled
A̶̢̧̢̢͉̬̣̳̺̰͔̮͈͎̠̤̫͍̥͈̬̟̝̰̭̦̱̖͖͓̙͖̮̮͔̩̗͌́̈́̍͑̇̒͋̑́̐̎͛̍͛͂̅̈̒͑͒̽͗̉̚̕ͅb̸̡̤̘̼̐͂̌̂̌͋̚ī̵̬͈͇̻͍̣̏͗̆̆̅̅͆̎͒͋̎̊̈́̆̓̿͒͆͌̀̈̅̒́̋̄̑͐̈́̚͘͘͠ͅg̷̣̖̗̙̝͖̳̠̣̺͕͚͈̺̰͓̭̖̥̫̘̪̺̯̮̖̯̩̯̞͉̣̭̻͚͚̯͇̘͐̒͆͑̀͐͋͊̿͊͒̃͑̊́̍͐́̽̂͊̊́̋͊̅̅̿̿̏͗͆͌̓̆̾̀́̓́̒͗̚̚̚͜͜͜͝͝͠ͅą̶̨̛͔̪̙̙̦̗̭̥͖͍̜̬̗̗̭̘̻̗̟͎̙̝͚̟͈̺̾̀͗̽̆̒̈́̐̀̍̓̈́̀͆̓̓̆̔̌̇̿̿̅͋̿̍͗͐͋̐̑̎͆́̃͋̅̂͌̋̚̚͜͝͝͝͝͝͠ͅi̵̡̡̧̡̛̻̱͍̣̖̩͚̻̠̦̲͊̃̃̑͒́̀̽ͅl̴̛̛͍̣͚̲̋̈́͂́͆̉͂̓̉̓͛͑̅́͊̔͋͗͛̚͝͠ ̷̧̧̛̛̛̼͚̙͕̦̝̪̙̠̥͚̗͇̭̪̗̜̯̱̐̉̈́͆̽̅̈́̋̆̽͛̉̎̒̈́̇̅̌́̈̈́͂̏͒͒̌̄̚͜͠͝͝ͅͅb̶̧̨̡̧̨̧̧̧̛̺̝̖̲̤̤̦̪̲͇̫̣͕͉̮̻̬͖̦̹͚̘̪̰̟̝̝̯̘̣̳̝̫͙͚͔͕̺̳̅̈́̿͒͌̓͒̀̓̍̀̔͂̈̅́̾̈́̓̌̀̈́͑̔̇̉̀̈́̎́͋̚̕͜͝͝ͅr̷͈̱͓̗̦̖̩̩̣̺̝̜͈͈͍̟̳̥̮͑ͅơ̵̛͙̪̯͔͛͛͂̋̂̐̑̃̊̈́̿̿̂͊͐̽̈́̏̏̾̈́̀͛́̿́͌͝ơ̶̢̧̡̡͈̲̙͔̖͍̯͓̯̯͍̣̬̭͚̯͕̹̲̤̦̭͓̰̻̩̖̩̠͇̰̭̭͓̠͓̄̇́̔̆̎̈́̓̆͑̑̽̍̀̒́͗̃̋̃̃̋͛͑̀͐͒͐́̃̅̐̕̚͘͜ͅͅķ̸̛̩̮̼̗̤͉͍̰̪̭̺̩͖̭̤̖͈̺̱̀͂̇͛̈́̓́̄͑͋̓̈́̀̈́͒̑̍͐͗̍̓̇̌̂̓̕͜͠͝͝͠ͅs̸̡̨̧̢̧̛̳͓̦̣̮͚̥͚̪̱͈͉̫̞͇͔͙̬̺̣̤͚̺̞͉̯͇̖̭̼̗̲̮͚̣͔̰̥̞̮̓̂͗̏̓̄̓͋̍͗̀̄̾̿̓͐̈́̐̽̓͛̋̑͌͘̕̚͜͝͝͝ͅͅͅͅ ̵̨̢̨̧͇̱̱̙̠͙͚̪̦̦̱̱̪̯̥̱͓̞̖͍͕̬͇͔̮̜̞̤̭͔̤̜͈̟̣͔̙͓̣̞̞̾̂̈́͑̾͛̿̽́̔͛̽̕͜͜͜͜͝ͅ
And began flipping through as best as he could.
Let’s see here….OOOH! A favorite snack on lonesome fridays was Gummyworms!
But….trucks would be a major component of Candy Carrier Chaos and Worms cannot drive! They don’t have any legs!
Maybe there is something more here?
Ok? A childhood idol of hers was Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter?….hum…
Let’s see, exotic accent opportunities, easy ways to invoke sympathy and likeability and an opportunity to work on his ability to model reptilian characters?
This….could actually work?
Let’s see….
No.
Nonono.
This one’s arms are too stubby to properly pose a threat. Plus the bowler hat doesn’t evoke Australian and he’s not big on vests. And Purple doesn’t mix well with red, believe him he know that.
Next!
Okay.
Better but unfortunately too much in the other direction. Unsure on how the elbows would bend with such long arms. Plus while the hat was more accurate, he wasn’t sure on the purpose of the teeth tied to it nor was he sure on the blue bandana with how it clashes with the scales.
But these designs still have potential and perhaps you could figure out a way for you to still include them in some manner.
Maybe begin with a more traditional gummy worm colour…
……And no unnecessary accessories beyond the Hat
……
…..
Oh!
OH!
Oh, YEAH!
This, this is perfect!
This model truly has some REAL star power!
You can’t wait to take this one out for a test drive!
Now all you need is a super cool tragic backstory and a name…..