Chapter Text
Gangle was on the main room, relaxing in the couches, she was doing a horse drawing.
"It surely looks nice Gangle" the ragdoll appeared and commented pointing at the sketchbook. "It seems like a real horse"
"Thanks Ragatha, I bet You of all the people know about it better" she answered sheepisly, with a little smile. She looked up from her sketchbook and stared at her. "Do You...miss your horses?" She asked
Ragatha squinted her eyes and glanced at her "Uhh?"
"Sorry! I just...You mentioned You had horses once and...sorry I didn't mean to bother about" she said nervously
"Oh, no, no, don't be sorry Gangle, I was just surprised that You remember it" she explained passing her hand behind her hair. "Yes, sometimes I miss them, they were a lot of work, sure, but, they were so cute and kind" she expressed as she sat down on the coach next to her. "Their names were, Chestnut, Butterscotch and Alfredo; they were...some of the good stuff I had growing up..despite everything else..."
"I think I understand" the other woman answered with a soft voice "What else did You like about it, only if You want to tell" she added.
"Well, I liked the piano and cello lessons...oh and we had a VHS of the movie Raggedy Ann & Andy, I would replay it over and over again when I had time" she told, swinging her hand softly.
"It sounds nice, back then I loved some anime 'One piece' 'Saylor Moon' specially the princess, but my favorite was 'Azumang Daioh' " she said smiling. "That's from where I got inspiration for drawing and design.... I'm glad that...Zoey finally fullfiled our dream". Gangle commented
"Yes, I'm glad that...Suzie got to move forward too" Ragatha said staring at the ceiling "By the way, what was your favorite anime about?" she questioned as she turned her head to her.
"Umm, well..." Before the masked one continued they realized Kinger and Caine had arrived
"Hello girls" Kinger said waving at them.
"Hello" Caine said "Mind if we join You?" by "we" Caine meant himself.
"Hi boys, at all, take a seat" Ragatha said.
The both guys went ahead and sat close to them, Kinger next to Ragatha and Caine next to Gangle.
"What were you talking about?" Caine asked, but got nervous inmediatly "I'm sorry, sorry I just..."
"Caine it's ok, don't need to apologize" Gangle said
"Yes, it's fine, trust me, sometimes apologies aren't necesary" the ragdoll commented as she looked at him. "We were talking about things we liked as growing up"
Gangle looked at Kinger "What about You Kinger, do You.... remember something about your childhood?"
"Oh, well, I shouldn't let You down, about past robots" the chess piece yelped "Uh, sorry...I mean, yes I remember something, although my memory it's not the best" he responded. "I remember, that when I was little I got interested about "Chasey the robot" it was built the same year I was born, and remember about this japanese robot when I was ten or eleven years old, I also learned how to play chess....oh and I loved going fishing with my dad" he told amused.
"Uh, I think it really fits You" Ragatha commented.
"Fits me what?" Kinger asked. "Oh, yes, it does, sorry my brain" he said with a smile.
Caine was just listening, interested, he knew about the concept of childhood, the idea that there were a time in the humans life that allowed them to be vulnerable and so little, it was something he didn't understand fully understand and yet it fascinated him.
"All that it's just wonderful" the former ringmaster exclamed, "Childhood I mean. The fact that You...were so different and it allowed You to become yourselves, I don't think I've ever had something like that or at least I'll never understand completly" he said bringing his knees to his chest.
"I wouldn't agree with that" Kinger suddenly spoke and everybody turned their heads to him. "You see, there's a moment at the early development of Als where they have to learn a lot of data, patterns, rules and boundaries. Like children learning about their surrondings, it's usually called a "childhood" in a metaphorical sense" he explained.
Gangle spoke "Wait, does that mean Caine was a child once?" she questioned.
Caine coughed at his hand "Haha, that's a good metaphor, but the true is, before my final data traininig, I can't remember about it" he said as he sat straight at the couch.
It was a lie, even before he received the pictures to generate results, he remembered some part of it, but he didn't want to think about it.
Suddenly the chess piece spoke "Well, lucky for You, here's someone who now remembers it, in fact" he said pointing at himself. Then he stod up, clasped his hands together as conjuring something, then there appeared a polaroid picture, showing a black squared background and a red circle in the middle. "Allow me, to introduce to You to 'Artificial inteligence Beta Red Project 00.3', currently known as Caine and one....no ...my greatest achievement as programmer" he said closing his eyes and showing the image to the people in front of him.
Caine startled with this presentation and almost falls from the couch, giving a little jump.
Ragatha and Gangle mouth agaped looked at the image. "Is that Caine?" The red haired asked pointing at the picture.
"He sure is, back then Caine didn't have his current body, so this is how he looked on the screen, like a common AI model" he said with a smile "You should have seen him back then, ready to get more inputs, trying to understand commands, we even taught him some songs and made him sing them" he told gladly
The AI stayed at his place, stunned, the fact that Kinger actually remembered it and now he was talking about him like that, it made him feel something. He felt so shy and small, he wished he could stop Kinger, but he seemed so happy...and himself felt surprised and flattered in some way, but still he didn't want to stay and hear it.
"Alright my lovely peers, I'd love to stay with You, but...I have... to meet Zooble and Pomni at the bar, so uhmm, see you later!" and Caine teleported to the bar.
The group watched it confused.
"Caine!....Do You think he'll be ok?" Gangle questioned.
"I hope so" Ragatha answered. "Why was that so suddenly?"
Caine appeared at Zooble's bar and looked around, he found the jester and the toy character.
"Hi Caine" Pomni said softly and Zooble waved at him.
"Oh, mmh, hello, can I take a seat?" The AI questioned sheepisly. "You know it" the bartender answered. "Thanks" he answered as he sat on the stool next to Pomni.
"Zooble made this new drink, I was giving it a try, it's actually pretty good" the jester woman said as she took a sip from her cup.
Meanwhile, the triangle character was making a new cup "Here, taste it" they said as they pushed the drink to him. "Wow, thank you!" The ringmaster said but suddenly he healted, the drink was blue.
"Why does...it have that color?" He questioned.
"Well, it's an "exotic" drink I learned to do it a long time ago, it's called "Smurf" 'cause is blue like the characters" they explained.
Pomni looked at him "It's everything ok Caine?" She asked.
"It's just...do You remember the Blue A.l that I told You about?" He asked looking at them.
"Yes and....oh..shit! Did it, bring you bad memories?" Zooble asked concerned.
"No, no, no, my dear it's just that, it reminded me to Blue, I think I miss them sometimes" he explained "I think it made me remember about all the things I made to them....and the ones I made to you... sometimes I still feel that...I don't deserve you"
"Hey" Pomni yelped "Listen, You really did a lot of bad things, and yes you can't erase them, but You learned about it and tried to make a change" she exclamed.
"That's right, and you have changed, you're someone we can bond with and enjoy little things like this, that's a good things, isn't it?" Zooble said calmly.
"I suppose, you are right, thank you...I really mean it" Caine said, as he took a sip from his cup "Uh, this one tastes sweet and bitter... I like it" he expressed cheerfuly.
The three of them stayed there for a while, just talking and enjoying some drinks.