Chapter Text
The day begins like all the others. Pomni wakes up, meets the others in the main part of the circus, before being sent off on the day’s adventure. Pomni wasn’t excused from it this time, though Caine mentioned something to her about wanting to meet when she and the others get back. She doesn’t feel nearly as nervous about being alone with him today as she did yesterday. In fact, she somewhat looked forward to it. Today’s adventure is just as strange and outlandish as any other, but to Pomni’s relief, she doesn’t have to deal with any existential or demonic horrors. Overall, it was kind of boring, and Pomni would happily take boring over painful. After a few hours, the crew returns to the circus. Caine greets the others when they arrive, as he usually does after each adventure. Pomni’s noticing the painful pattern in all of her days here, and she feels a bit of dread creeping over her. She shakes the feeling off. She notices Zooble, who sat today’s adventure out without being pushed through the portal by Caine. Pomni figures they must’ve been pretty upset with him about that yesterday.
“Hey,” Pomni joins Zooble, standing off to the side as the others talk with Caine. “You know… you never finished telling me about that therapy session.”
“Oh, yeah. Right…” Zooble sighs, crossing their arms. “It was all a huge waste of time, honestly. But you’re probably still wondering about that strange thing I mentioned.” Pomni nods, her pinwheel eyes wide. She can’t lie, she had been curious since they’d mentioned it. “Well, I sort of gave Caine a piece of my mind too. Y’know, about the adventures. But he like, totally freaked out. Started questioning his existence if he was so terrible at the one thing he’s ‘good at’,” they use air-quotes on the last part. “He started to like zone out, his eyes got all freaky. And the entire room started to glitch out. I’ve never seen anything like that before. It stopped when I started talking about something else, but… That’s strange, right? It got me wondering… Does the stability of this place rely on his own mental stability?” Pomni stares blankly at them for a moment. That is strange. Pomni’s noticed her own share of glitches; when she and Gummigoo clipped through the map, the exit door. Then she remembers Kaufmo after his abstraction, recalling how horrifying he was in that state. When he tossed Ragatha, it made her start to glitch too. That’s the only time she’s seen something like that. Was what Caine went through something similar? It’s hard to make sense of anything in this world, and the more Pomni tries, the more her head begins to hurt.
“Well, that’s definitely... weird. You’ve really never seen him do that before?” Zooble shakes their head. “And the entire room glitched?” They nod.
“Yeah. I could like, see through everything. And some stuff started to disappear completely, too.” Zooble looks away and sighs. “It probably doesn’t mean anything, but I thought you’d be curious.” Pomni stares off at Caine in the distance, considering what Zooble’s told her. Their eyes meet for a moment and he waves at her, happy and oblivious. Zooble notices, and looks at Pomni through narrowed eyes. “What did you two even do yesterday?”
“Oh. Um, well he actually apologized about the whole… me getting possessed thing. He even offered to add some new things to the circus so we aren’t so bored. I think between both of us criticizing him the other day, he finally realized we aren’t happy. Maybe those glitches were just him having a much needed wake up call.” Zooble can’t help but feel like Pomni’s glossing over the glitches. They also feel a pang of disappointment that it seemed Caine was willing to listen to Pomni more than them.
“Well, at least you got an apology, I guess… He keeps staring at you, and it’s kinda freaking me out. So I’m gonna leave you to that.”
Zooble walks away, leaving Pomni on her own again. She stands awkwardly by herself for a moment, trying to process everything. On Pomni’s first day at the circus, she would have done anything to escape, would've jumped at any possibility. She considers Zooble’s question; could Caine’s own mental stability have an effect on the circus? If it does, what does that mean? If Zooble hadn’t distracted his crisis by changing the subject, what would’ve happened if Caine continued in that state? Before she can ponder things further, Caine appears next to Pomni seemingly out of nowhere.
“Hello, dear Pomni!” Pomni jumps, his loud voice snapping her out of her thoughts. “Jumpy, aren’t you? While you and the others were off on your adventure, I finished adding those new touches to the digital lake for you! And of course, I added a park area too, as you requested! Ready to have a look?” He stares at her, beaming with excitement. She nods, and he extends a hand out to her. “I don’t want you getting all dizzy on me again. Are you ready?” He actually remembered not to teleport her without warning. And he already finished one of her requests? Pomni can’t help but smile. She hesitates for a moment before placing her hand in his. He gives her small hand a gentle squeeze, still staring at her.
“Yeah, I’m ready.”
Pomni holds her breath, and in just a second they’re out of the tent and by the lake. She still feels a little dizzy, but not nearly as bad as she normally does. Pomni looks around, taking in the surroundings. Next to the lake, there’s a little park area equipped with swings, slides, and even a basketball and sand volleyball court. Sports were never her thing, but she thinks it may be a fun activity to do with the others- at least, with such limited options. On the other side of the lake, the area that used to only have just a few sad and lonely trees is now thick with greenery. There are a few benches over there to sit on and enjoy the digital scenery as well. After glancing around her surroundings for a few moments in silence, Pomni feels Caine’s pressing eyes staring into her, eagerly waiting for some kind of response. After their eyes lock, Caine soars into the air, throwing his arms up. “What do you think?”
“It’s wonderful, Caine.” The jester looks up at him, smiling. He comes back down, leaning closer to her face. She leans back a little.
“Really? Well, I tried to add more fun activities! But what I think you’ll really enjoy are the smaller details.” He presses a hand against her back, his other arm extended in front of her, guiding her.
They walk towards the benches near the lush trees. As they walk through Caine’s new additions, Pomni notices some of the details he mentioned. The trees look more realistic, being full of individual leaves rather than just a green cube attached to a stiff stump. They even seem to sway a bit. She can tell that he put careful consideration into each tree, rather than just copying and pasting the same details for each one. Even the blades of grass under her feet are more detailed. And there’s even a smell, like dirt and earth. It’s almost frightening how realistic he made things. Caine really was a bit of an artist, being able to recreate something he’s never truly experienced himself. Pomni hears a bit of rustling behind one of the trees and sees a rabbit.
“Aw! How cute!” It looks at her, its nose twitching, before running off into the greenery. “I love it when they aren’t mean and purple,” she laughs, and Caine does too. “This really is amazing, Caine. You outdid yourself.” He blinks at her, suddenly looking almost flustered at her praise. He clears his throat.
“Well- you haven’t seen anything yet! I’m still working on that aquarium for you, don’t think I forgot! But that’s a slightly more intricate project, and you can’t rush perfection!” Pomni smiles, taking a seat on one of the benches.
“That’s okay. I mean- no rush. I really… appreciate all of this. It means a lot.” Caine sits next to her, a bit close, and Pomni feels herself grow tense. Caine doesn’t seem to notice.
“It’s nothing! I’m happy to do it!” Pomni stares at the ground, her short legs swaying beneath the bench.
“I know I enjoyed sitting outside. Back home- I mean. Not even particularly doing anything. Just sitting, watching.”
Caine watches her closely, Pomni looking off into the distance and watching the lake. A few birds even fly over the water, another new addition Caine added. He figured adding a few NPCs as different animals would make things more immersive. It would give Pomni something to watch. He loves hearing her share what little she can remember from her old life. No one else has ever opened up to him like that before. Although he knows he’ll always be confined to the digital world, his body made up of code, he can’t help but be curious about the world he’ll never know. He figures it must’ve been amazing, considering how much everyone seems to miss it.
“I know you miss your home. But I hope you can learn to feel at home here, too.” Pomni looks at him for a moment before looking back at the lake with a sigh. It’ll never truly feel like home, but that doesn’t mean she has to be miserable. Especially when Caine’s trying so hard.
“I guess it will, eventually. With time.”
“What do you miss the most about your old home?” Pomni wasn’t expecting that question, and she has to ponder it for a moment before she can answer.
“I miss how unpredictable it was. There was always so much going on around me, like aside from my own personal life. Sometimes it made me feel small, but I didn’t hate that. I could just sit back and let things happen without feeling so involved.” Caine can’t really understand this idea. Why would anyone want to feel small? He stays silent, listening closely to Pomni. “I mean, this place is definitely unpredictable too. So unpredictable, hardly anything makes sense. But there’s still the same routine each day. And here, there’s only the six of us- aside from you and the NPCs… It’s like being stuck with five roommates and not having the chance to go outside and do your own thing without them.” As Pomni elaborates, Caine can somewhat understand where her feelings are coming from. It never bothered him before, only having Bubble and the cast members to accompany him. He never felt lonely or bored with his routine, even if the other humans tended to avoid him outside of adventures. It just wasn’t something that mattered to him. But humans are more complex, and their needs and desires far surpass anything that Caine would normally consider important.
“What an interesting perspective! Perhaps with the new additions to the circus, you can begin to feel like you’re able to do things on your own again, right?” Pomni finally looks back at him, a soft smile on her face.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
The pair sit there for a while longer as Pomni recalls some of her other memories. It isn't much; they're all hazy, and they mostly consist of just a blur of an activity, or a certain feeling. But Caine could listen to her talk for hours, about anything at all. And suddenly he realizes, maybe he never felt lonely because he hadn’t realized what he’d been missing out on- a true friend. As time passes and it grows darker outside, Pomni feels a slight shiver run down her spine. It seems another detail Caine added was a cool evening breeze. He notices her shivering and removes his coat to place over her shoulders.
“Cold?” he asks. Pomni can feel her face run hot and she hopes the pink tint on her cheeks is hidden under the darkened sky.
“Um, a little,” she laughs awkwardly, holding his jacket against her. She looks at him for the first time without his signature jacket on, showing his white button-up undershirt. She quickly looks away. “We should probably get back…” For a moment, Caine feels a pang of disappointment. But she’s right, and it is getting late. He has more adventures and an aquarium to work on for his jester, after all.
“Of course,” he says, standing up from his spot on the bench. He extends his hand to her and Pomni takes it this time without hesitating. With one hand holding his jacket over her shoulders and the other in his hand, she stands to meet him.
“I’m ready.”
When they return to the circus, Pomni wastes no time to hand Caine’s jacket back to him. The thought of any of the others seeing that, especially Jax, makes her feel embarrassed, and she thinks she’d rather abstract than deal with the teasing. Although his intentions were kind, Pomni can’t help but feel relieved to have his jacket off of her. She can’t- or rather, doesn’t want to- fathom why the simple gesture made her so flustered. Caine hums to himself as he places his jacket back on.
“I enjoyed our time together, Pomni! I like hearing about what you can remember. It helps put things into perspective for me!” While all that was true, Caine also just enjoyed seeing this new side to the usually timid jester. It felt like for the first time, he was actually making a friend. Aside from Bubble, of course.
“Yeah. It’s nice talking about it too,” she smiles. Before she tells him goodbye to head to her room for the night, she remembers her other request. Although now, she sort of feels greedy to ask for more. “I just remembered something else I wanted to ask you yesterday… It’s about my room.” Caine tilts his head. “Do you think that could be altered too? You know, like my own room decor… to make it feel like my own?”
“Oh, you’re putting me to work, my dear!” He laughs, and Pomni feels guilty. “I would be happy to do that, just let me know what you have in mind!”
“Really?” Pomni thinks for a moment, she already had some ideas but decided to think about it some more. “Could I give you some ideas tomorrow?”
“Absolutely!”
“You know… if you do this for me, you’ll have to do it for the others too. Can’t have them thinking you’re picking favorites or anything,” Pomni nudges him playfully with her elbow and Caine chuckles. He keeps it to himself, but perhaps she was his favorite.
“I suppose you’re right. I’ll worry about all that later! Decide what you’d like tonight, and we’ll work on it together tomorrow.” Pomni smiles; another thing for her to look forward to.
The two part ways as Pomni tells him goodnight. As she sits in her bed, she starts to imagine what changes she’d like in her room, envisioning things the way she’d prefer them. She quickly determines most of it will have to go and be replaced by Caine. Glancing around her room for a moment, her eyes fall on that strange plushie Jax tossed at her yesterday. She picks it up from her nightstand and stares at it for a moment, rolling her eyes. As she crawls into bed, she holds it tight as she falls asleep.