Chapter Text
They were setting up for DND when it happened. Caine straightened up, frozen, staring off into the distance. Behind her DM screen at the head of the table, Gangle tentatively asked, “Um, Caine?”
No response.
“Is something wrong?”
A long few seconds passed. The others shot glances at each other. Since coming back from the dead, Caine sometimes froze up or zoned out if he was overwhelmed or overstimulated. It happened more often in the beginning, when emotions were running high and he had no real idea how to regulate them, but over the past…weeks? months? Half a year? Only Caine knew for certain (and that had been an interesting discussion, one they had yet to revisit), but regardless, as time wore on, it happened less often, as he and the humans started to figure out their boundaries - both each other’s and their own.
But this seemed to come out of nowhere.
Caine’s attention suddenly snapped back to the group. His voice was serious, expression intense.
“I have-We have to go. There’s a new human.”
The reaction was, understandably, a bit chaotic. Gasps, questions, demands, but Pomni’s voice cut through.
“Guys!” Her hands jerked in a cutting motion, gesturing for silence. The leadership role she had taken on in the immediate aftermath of Caine’s deletion had changed her - she had an unspoken gravitas, a more commanding presence than the Pomni who first arrived in the circus. She was also the most recent arrival - the other humans deferred to her for this.
“They’re already in the circus? That can still happen?”
Caine looked confused. “Yes. That was never-“ He shook his head, recalibrating.
“Regardless, I-We need to go welcome her!” He floated up from his chair, heading in the direction of the stage, as everyone else scrambled to get up and follow. Pomni tried to catch up to him, but Ragatha’s longer legs got there first. She put her hand on his shoulder and with a just-barely-forced smile, said, “Just, try to let us take the lead, okay? You can be a bit, uh, loud, at first.”
Caine slowed down a bit, hovering closer to the ground.
He’d started to have actual conversations with the humans since his return (and wasn’t that a thrill, to be included not for any service he could provide but for want of his company, so they could get to know him!). Sometimes (fairly often, if he were to tally up the instances honestly), those conversations veered into personal stories about the circus. About him. Past him. At this point, Caine had heard from almost all of them some version of how they felt when they arrived in the circus. Scared, confused, disbelieving, and in every single one of them, how disorienting (or in some cases downright terrifying) it was be greeted with by a loud, exuberant, teeth-headed ringmaster. (Ragatha was nicer about it, but he was getting better at distinguishing her strained cheerfulness from actual joy).
It hurt at the time (who was he kidding - it still hurt), but he had begrudgingly begun to see their point of view. It’s not like he’d never been overwhelmed by someone saying a bunch of things he didn’t understand, and then expecting him to respond immediately with 100% comprehension. Still, the way some of them talked around it…He didn’t always understand the way humans spoke, but observation and having the same thing happen to him again and again and again and again had taught him that that tone of voice used in conjunction with carefully not-saying the thing they actually mean meant he was doing something wrong. They wanted to tell him what was wrong with him without him getting mad or freaking out or torturing them again. He got the picture. Caine was too much for a confused new human to handle. He should stay back and let the other humans take care of it.
It was fine. He would just…watch. Be there if they needed him. Quietly.
He nodded, giving Ragatha a comically oversized thumbs up. “Youuuuu got it!”
Ragatha visibly relaxed. “Thanks, Caine.”
They kept walking towards the stage as the others caught up. Caine knew Ragatha was doing the weird human-telepathy thing where they look at each other and send information without speaking over his head (not that it was hard - if he stood on the ground, he was the shortest out of all of them, even Pomni), but at the moment, he couldn’t help getting excited. A new human. A human who would meet Caine. Not Ringmaster Caine, not an all-seeing overlord, not a failed prototype - just Caine. He was able to suppress the urge to vibrate in place with excitement, and channeled it instead into tapping his fingers on his cane, clutched in both hands like a lifeline.
As they grew closer, the humans started to hear her voice too. Caine was the circus - not the same extent as Before, but it was still part of him. He had heard her calling out for help immediately. If he’d teleported to her, he could’ve made sure to answer her right away, but-No, teleporting was “unsettling” and “creepy”, he would’ve just scared her. It was a good thing they stopped him. Even if it took a little longer. Even if she’d stopped calling out for people she knew and started just yelling louder and louder to try to be heard, voice echoing across the empty stage.
God, could the humans go any faster?
Just as he had the thought, Gangle gasped and said “I hear them!” before breaking into a sprint, pulling Zooble along by the hand. Caine took that to mean he could float along faster. Just slightly less fast than the fastest human. That way they’re still technically taking the lead. He heard the others speed up behind them as well, but it was a distant input - his focus was entirely forward, on the cries of distress from his newest human. He couldn’t have that. He had to fix it.
They rounded the corner and looked up at the stage.
She was facing the other way, in a short, plain white dress, with a small white hat. Dark green scales covered her entire body - her reptilian head, her strong arms ending in slightly clawed hands (five fingers - that was a new one), and her long, long tail. As she turned her body slightly and put up her hands to her mouth to shout again, it became clear why she hadn’t moved from the spot. She had no legs to speak off - below the hem of the dress was all tail. In profile, the shape of her head was clear - she was a snake. An anthropomorphic snake with arms and a dress, but still, a famously legless creature.
“HELLO????”
Wow! This close, she was very loud. Caine was honestly impressed - usually only he could speak that loudly and still be intelligible. His gut instinct was to try and match her volume in reply, but the humans had made it clear - stay quiet, let them handle it. He’d have to ask where she was from later; she spoke with an accent he’d never heard before, rough and guttural and interesting.
“Hey! Over here! Hi!” Ragatha called back, waving a hand.
The new human did not turn around. She kept frantically looking around backstage, her hands now shaking at her sides. “Please?”
Ragatha frowned, confused, but immediately started running up the steps to the stage (one of the very first changes to the circus - most humans can’t jump 5 feet straight in the air, and none of them can float). The rest started to follow, but Kinger put a hand on Caine’s shoulder. Again? What did he do this time?
Brows furrowed over his off-kilter sunglasses, Kinger asked, “Caine, could there be an issue with her audio reception? She may not be able to hear us.”
Oh. Caine quickly checked her avatar’s audio reception. “Nope! She’s receiving audio just fine!” He looked up to where Ragatha was waving at the new human, who seemed to notice Ragatha for the first time and jumped back in shock, like she hadn’t known anyone was there. Hm. He switched to her mind file, carefully locked to read-only, as all mindfiles now were. Ah, there it is!
Caine looked back up to where Ragatha was speaking slowly and softly, hands out like she was trying to calm a frightened animal, while the new human looked at her face with intense concentration, and no small amount of fear. He was supposed to stay quiet. But he needed to help. How could he convey information without undermining Ragatha’s authority?
Wait a second. That could work.
Caine snapped his fingers, and (quietly) a pop-up window appeared next to Ragatha and the new human, visible to all. He had to be careful about the design - nothing too bright or flashy, but not basic or boring either, something approachable, safe, and above all, legible. He settled on a light pink background with big black text in Comic Sans Bold, and after some deliberation, made the border a (soft, light, not bright or scary) pastel rainbow. The new human needed to know she was safe. Zooble (and Gangle and Pomni) had explained to him about the different colorful flags humans used to signal gender and sexuality, and he distinctly recalled Zooble saying that locations in the macroverse would display a rainbow flag (or one of its many fascinating variations) to indicate that the space was safe and welcoming for people “in the queer community.” He didn’t know if the new human was “in the queer community”, but hopefully it would be a subtle indicator of safety regardless.
Ragatha read the text aloud, almost to herself, “Welcome to the Amazing Digital Circus! Don’t panic - everything is going to be okay! What is your preferred method of communication?”
Caine heard Kinger chuckle (it didn’t sound mean, but Caine could never tell), and he could feel some of the other humans turning towards him, probably to chastise him for taking advantage of a loophole (it wouldn’t be the first time), but his eyes were on the new human. Had he messed this up again? Had he inadvertently traumatized yet another innocent bystander?
Her shoulders dropped, her face relaxed, and she looked relieved, if still a bit wary. She leaned over to press one of the options, but it was too far away - Caine hadn’t wanted to violate her personal space, but he didn’t realize she was still so wobbly on her new tail. She started to lose her balance. He immediately moved the pop up window a little closer, slanting it slightly so when her flailing hand landed on it, it held her weight, allowing her to straighten herself up. She looked closer at the pop-up window, puzzled, but…smiling? It was small, and a bit hard to read on a snake, but…did he make a human smile?
She blew a kiss to the pop-up window (with her chin instead of her lips, but given her current facial arrangement it was an impressive feat nonetheless), and pressed the option labeled “Other”. A keyboard popped up, and she got right to work typing.
Of course. If there was one thing Caine had learned over the years, it was that given an “other” option, someone would always press it. He was just glad he had the asset for the keyboard ready to go.
People were talking to him. Right. He was still a bit lightheaded from the high of a BRAND NEW HUMAN actually SMILING at something he did (and blowing a kiss!!! Had anyone ever blown him a kiss before??) and hadn’t really processed what anyone was saying to him. Caine rewound the recent footage from his immediate area - ah, Zooble was upset with him for "taking things over," and Pomni had been agreeing, but stopped when Gangle touched her shoulder and pointed to where the new human was now interacting with the pop-up window. Kinger had been muttering to himself, eyes ping-ponging between the new human, Ragatha, and Caine. Caine tried not to take that as a bad sign.
Okay. Prioritize. First, respond to Zooble.
“I assure you, my zesty zig-zag, I intend to take over nothing. I simply had information the rest of you didn’t have access to, and acted on it accordingly! Our-“
Zooble cut in, “Couldn’t you just tell us what it is?”
Caine’s smile got a little tighter. “Yes, that’s what I’m getting to! Our new friend here is unable to hear. Presenting a way for her to indicate her preferred method of communication, visible to both her and Ragatha, was the quickest and easiest solution!”
Gangle turned back to Caine, confused, “But didn’t you say she was receiving audio?”
Kinger nodded, adding “Is it a sending issue, or interpretation?”
Zooble shot Kinger a confused glance, “What’s interpretation?”
In the middle of all that, Caine received a notification from the pop-up window - the new human had finished typing and submitted her answer. The other options disappeared as he moved it up to the center of the pop-up window, where it was easily visible. He changed the bottom text to a simple “Thank you! We’ll get to work on that right away!” with a little bee with a construction hat next to it. Ordinarily, he would minimize or de-spawn the window, but the new human was still leaning on it slightly, so he kept it still and solid to help her keep her balance. And okay, maybe he was reluctant to de-spawn a creation of his that garnered such a positive reaction, so sue him!
He tuned back in to Kinger’s rambling, not entirely coherent explanation of how digital sound works, and wow paying attention to this many conversations at once was exhausting. And if was confusing for Caine, who could hear and understand everything being said, it was probably doubly confusing for the new human to try and figure out. If he could just grab everyone’s attention for a second…
Caine zipped up over the human’s heads to the side of the stage across from the new human, and snapped a huge whiteboard into existence. As he expected, this caught her attention immediately, as well as most of the others. He shook his baton out into a pointer, and rapped it on the whiteboard a few times, just to make sure. Ignoring the glares, he focused on calling up his old subtitling program - gosh, it really had been a while since its last update, he’d have to get on that immediately. Hopefully it would work for now.
Caine cleared his throat, “Seems like a few clarifications are in order!” Thankfully, the words scrolled across the top of the whiteboard as intended, and he noticed the new human’s eyes lock onto them automatically. Good, she didn’t seem confused or alarmed, just reading.
“In order to be “heard”, an audio file must be SENT, RECEIVED, and INTERPRETED!” He tapped the whiteboard again, and three headings appeared.
“For example, if a bell rings, it SENDS an audio file to everything within a certain radius,” A bell appeared under “SENT”, sound waves radiating off of it.
“If you’re in that radius, your avatar will RECEIVE that audio file!” Under “RECEIVED”, a simplified drawing of Ragatha popped up, and as the sound waves reached her, a green checkmark appeared above her head. Using Ragatha as an example was an old habit - she never complained, so he used to assume that meant she never minded. Goodness, what would Ming say? But the others he used as examples would complain, or at least comment on it, so he didn’t question it. Caine was trying to make things a little more even now that he knew better, but he was nervous, and old habits die hard.
“Once received, your mindfile will INTERPRET that audio file in a manner consistent with your brain’s hearing range!” An outline of Ragatha’s head appeared under “INTERPRETED”, with a sound wave running through it.
“However, every human’s hearing range is different!” Now drawings of Gangle, Zooble, Pomni, and Kinger appeared, with ranges of numbers underneath them. Hopefully this next part would make up for using Ragatha as an example.
“Let’s say that the audio file SENT by the bell reaches Pomni and Kinger at 10 decibels. Both their avatars will RECEIVE it, since they’re both in the audible radius of the bell.” Pomni and Kinger’s drawings appeared under “RECEIVED”, with checkmarks over their heads.
“However, 10 decibels is outside of Kinger’s hearing range! So only Pomni will “hear” it, because their mindfiles INTERPRET the audio file differently!”
The outline of Pomni’s head showed the sound wave running through it, and a checkmark appeared above it, while Kinger’s remained empty, and an X appeared above it.
So far, no one was screaming or throwing tomatoes at him, so Caine plowed ahead, quickly creating a drawing of the new human. Interesting - the scales faded from dark green to yellow on her belly, throat, and inner arms. He’d have to query his databases later to see if her avatar design corresponded to a specific species of snake.
“Our new friend here has a much smaller range of hearing than the rest of you! So, while her avatar still RECEIVES audio files just fine, her mindfile rarely INTERPRETS them in a manner consistent with hearing.” Another checkmark in the “RECEIVED” column, another empty outline and X under “INTERPRETED.”
“Communicating with her via audio files is not advisable, as the decibel level would need to be extremely high, well out of the comfort zone of the rest of you. So, I created a means to communicate with her visually, to ask about her preferences.” Caine gestured to the pop-up window, and floated down, almost to the ground. Staying high up in the air was too tempting - he itched to zoom over and talk to her. His soul burned to wow and dazzle and impress and turn this whole awkward scene into something fun, but he was already pushing his luck as it was.
One last flourish - Caine’s baton extended further to point to her written answer: “American Sign Language (ASL), but if no one signs, written communication like this is fine. Usually I read lips but none of you have lips (no offense).”
Ragatha had been bursting to say something pretty much the whole time Caine was talking, and once he was done, she turned to the others in a take-charge manner and asked, “Do any of you guys know sign language?”
Most shook their heads, but Gangle very nervously raised a ribbon, “I took a class in college, but I don’t think I’ll be much help, i-it was a long time ago and, well, um-“ she looked down at her ribbon-hands and their notable lack of fingers uncomfortably.
Kinger gently patted her on the back and said, “That’s more than the rest of us can say, at least. I think…I think I signed a bit with my youngest daughter.” He let out a soft chuckle, lost in memory, “She wasn’t big on talking when she was little, so my wife and I picked up a book on baby sign language. I don’t know how much is the same, or how much I even remember, though.”
Caine had been tinkering with the subtitle program while they spoke - the only things his databases had on “American Sign Language” were the dictionary definition (“a form of sign language developed in the US and used also in English-speaking parts of Canada” - not very helpful!) and a strange font made to resemble realistic human hands in a myriad of poses, which wasn’t much help since the new human could clearly read other fonts. However, he’d made the subtitle program ages ago, but due to negative feedback we think your ideas suck he rarely used it. As such, it’d only been routing his words to the whiteboard, and now the new human was lost again.
Come on, work! Caine frantically sorted through lines of code, reassigning inputs and adjusting font sizes. He needed to fix this, now. Rewriting code on the fly was usually no issue for him, but since ripping out his br returning to the circus, Caine had found himself frazzled and disorganized on more than one occasion, and it could not happen now. Not when his beautiful new potential friend human needed him. How long had it been since he’d been needed?
“Oh! It’s nice to meet you too!”
That was the new human! That was her fascinating accent!
Caine looked up to see her facing Gangle, smiling, and making decisive, deliberate hand motions as she spoke. He rewound the footage a bit, and saw Gangle shakily making similar motions a few moments earlier. He noted them down automatically - that must mean “nice to meet you!”
With the ice broken, Gangle had taken out her sketchbook and was writing something down. Ok, good! The humans were communicating! No one looked angry or disdainful or condescending or the million other negative emotions people generally had about him. They were speaking at normal volumes in neutral-to-positive tones, and all seemed interested in collaborating to communicate with the new human. Zooble, who Caine had been most concerned about, was listening attentively to Gangle, and reading over her shoulder. Pomni was suggesting things to write down, while Kinger conjured miniature whiteboards & markers and Ragatha started passing them out.
Of course. They didn’t need him at all.