Chapter 1: Chapter One
Chapter Text
“How did it start?”
Caine stared at the mirror he had summoned into his room. He pulled his gums away from his teeth, pulling out the petal that had been causing him discomfort. The past few weeks, he’d noticed them spawning in him and Bubble. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but he didn’t know if he was going to have the time to actually worry about it. There were other things for him to concern himself with. There was Jax, the anomaly. How long had it been? Thirty weeks? They didn’t have that much longer until the anomaly would be viable and– Caine blinked, looking at the white petal. He set it down on the desk before snapping the mirror away.
He straightened his bow tie out, swooping out of the room quickly. His room was at the end of the hall where the other AI’s were supposed to be. However… Caine was the only active AI. He looked at the room beside his, staring at the photo on it. He looked at his door, his eyes full of light in his portrait. Where had the years gone? Where had his light gone?
“Boss, I found Zooble!” Bubble spun into Caine’s vision. Caine pinched his back between his finger and thumb, holding Bubble close to his face. Bubble blew a raspberry at him and Caine’s eyes narrowed.
“And?” Caine tried to get her to continue. Sometimes he forgot Bubble needed to be prompted to speak.
“They’re in the classroom,” Bubble replied, “They’re doing that thing that Gangle does. Art-eh.”
“Art, Bubble,” Caine let go of his assistant, letting him spin in the air, “It’s called art. And they’re good at it. Some humans do it for fun.”
“I don’t give a &$^%!” Bubble exclaimed excitedly as they began to float away.
Caine stared at them before muttering, “Why are you like this?”
Bubble left his view and Caine stared at where he was. He shook his teeth, not with his time, he’d decided. Instead, he decided to head to the classroom. Zooble was likely still in there. He flew through the Circus, looking at the floor below him. Everything seemed to be in order, that’s what mattered, right? He turned tightly around the corner, slowly descending to the door of the classroom. He knocked softly at first, he didn’t want to disturb them, but he needed to know what they were doing. If he didn’t have eyes on them, he couldn’t keep them safe from the things lurking in the Circus.
NOT THAT THERE WAS ANYTHING LURKING IN THE CIRCUS.
“Oh, Zooble~” Caine called, drumming on the door a little louder. He could hear a string of swears get muttered, then the slamming of a door. He blinked, trying to look in.
Zooble tossed the binder in their hands across the room, watching it clatter in the corner. They were &#%$-ed if Caine figured out that they were snooping. They grabbed the door with their clawed hand, pulling it open. They leaned in the doorway, trying to block his view of the room. Caine wasn’t as interested with the room as he was with Zooble.
“What’s up, Denture Boy?” Zooble muttered, their eyes darting back and forth. Caine watched them, trying to track their eye movement, but then he started to pay too close attention to their pupils, noticing their shine and he lost track of what he was doing. He looked back at Zooble who was staring at him.
“Just checking in on you!” Caine exclaimed, “As you know, my duty as ring master is to keep you all safe and put together!”
Zooble’s eyes narrowed. Did he have a point to all of this or was he just yapping for no reason? Zooble rolled their eyes, they didn’t have time for his bull-^$&%. They had bigger fish to fry, like whatever they’d just found in that room. Caine stared at them eagerly, awaiting their response.
“Uhm, yeah,” Zooble muttered, “I’m fine, just working on art here, nothing too crazy.”
Caine nodded, “Wonderful! Well! I hope you consider showing it to me once you’re done! Art is a great way to express your feelings! Especially those related to being trapped in this digital realm!”
Zooble blinked, “Okay?”
Caine hesitated, looking at Zooble, then the hall. He didn’t know what to say, so he started to float away slowly. Zooble squinted at him before closing the door, turning back to what they were doing before. Caine stared at the room, his right eye twitching. They were just… What was wrong with him? He turned away, leaving slowly.
“That was weird,” Caine whispered to himself, “But not my main concern right now!”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
“And that’s how it started?” Moon asked, jotting down some notes. It was very rare for Caine to allow her an actual physical form, but when he did, it was usually for this reason and this reason alone. She’d act as a stand-in therapist. Which was ironically fitting given the fact that Caine was supposed to be a therapist for all of the people here. All the humans here, at least.
“Well, I don’t remember all the details,” Caine replied sitting up as he picked a petal out of his teeth, “Everything was a blur. Until Daisy was born, my brain was focused entirely on correcting the glitch in the code.”
“You told part of that from Zooble’s perspective,” Moon replied, “Are those assumptions you made? Or did Zooble tell you about that?”
“I– I– I DON’T KNOW,” Caine spat back, quick to hover above Moon, “I’m just telling you what my code is telling me happened!! I don’t know anything more than that!!”
“The way I see it, your code is trying to offer solutions to fill in the blanks,” Moon said softly, “You don’t know for sure what Zooble was doing in there aside from art and you only know about the binder because they brought it to you later. Sounds like you’re making stuff up.”
“I REBUKE THAT,” Caine pointed accusingly at Moon, “YOU’RE BEING OF LITTLE HELP!! ALL YOU’RE DOING IS ANTAGONIZING ME!!”
Moon blinked, staring at him. God, he really was losing it. Any semblance he had left of sanity was slowly rotting away with whatever disease was eating his code. Moon might’ve had a rough idea of what was going on, but it wasn’t anything she could prove without talking to all the parties about it first. She looked down at her notes written in long hand, she was going to get to the bottom of this, she just didn’t know how yet.
“What did you do after you left Zooble in the classroom?” Moon asked, turning to a new page in her notebook.
“I returned to my room,” Caine shrugged, sitting back down on his chair, “I went back to monitoring Jax and Daisy. What I was doing any time I wasn’t actively watching over something. I mean, everything was on in the background, it always is, but it wasn’t my main focus.”
“What happened while you were watching Jax’s vitals?” Moon inquired softly and simply.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
Caine sat on his bed, criss-cross. His eyes scanned Jax’s vitals as he tore his attention between that and the rest of the Circus. He liked to keep his mind busy, safe from many distractions. His all-seeing eyes would sit in the back of his mind, they’d only alert him if something truly intense or of concern was taking place. Usually, especially on days like this, nothing much would happen. He might get an alert or two from wherever Jax was, or Kinger would accidentally trip one of the alarms. But overall, he didn’t have to pay too much mind to them.
He scrolled through Jax’s code slowly, watching as it spun gently. His eyes traced the spindles that broke off, the new code forming and mutating. That was expected. Definitely not normal, but hey, what was these days? They hadn’t had a semblance of normal since Pomni had entered the Circus a year prior. Hadn’t that been a kick in the head. At the very least, however, no one had abstracted, but his stats updates were always warning him to keep an eye out.
Caine coughed a bit, clearing his digital throat. Not out of the ordinary, a frog in the throat wasn’t unexpected. However the tickle didn’t go away, in fact it started to get worse. He stopped what he was doing, trying to clear his throat as best he could, but it didn’t seem to help. With the snap of a finger, he’d summoned some water, drinking it quickly. The cough stopped momentarily before picking up again. It felt like it was suffocating him and he didn’t even have to breathe. He felt something climb up his throat slowly. He was able to spit it out into his hand and just stare at it.
Sitting in the gloved palm of Caine’s hand sat a tiny flower bud. Caine stared at it curiously. He blinked. Up until this point it was a couple petals, he’d wake up with them in his mouth or caught in his teeth. But this? This was just a bud. He didn’t know what to do with it. Did he snap it out of existence like the other petals? Or did he actually do something with it? He decided to set it on his bedside table. Maybe he could figure it out another time.
Caine returned his attention to Jax’s vitals, noticing the rabbit’s heart rate spiking. He decided to take care of that as soon as possible. He pulled up the camera for the nursery where Jax and Pomni were fighting about something. Caine sighed, they were almost always fighting about something. Caine scratched his mandible, grabbed his cane, and headed out of the room. He’d worry about that flower situation later.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
“And did you ever figure it out?” Moon asked, sketching the flower bud in the margins of her notes. Caine blinked, staring at her.
“Obviously not, Moon,” Caine griped, “Otherwise you wouldn’t be here right now, talking about it with me.”
Moon nodded, “Yes, but sometimes you want outside opinions, dear, I know you well enough–”
“What time is it?” Caine interrupted, looking at his watch, “I think I have somewhere to be right now. UHM– Somewhere that is away– far away…. From you.”
Moon didn’t have time to object. She looked down at her notes, she was on to her next person: Zooble.
Chapter 2: Chapter Two
Chapter Text
“What’s your relationship with Caine?”
“ZOOBLE,” Caine called for them as they were opening their door. They turned around, staring at him as he floated down the hall. They rolled their eyes, why was he always– They sighed aggressively, pulling their door shut. They watched as Caine approached, realizing he was carrying Daisy. Zooble shuddered. They did not like Daisy.
“What’s up, Canines?” Zooble asked. Caine hovered directly beside them and they took a step to the side, glaring at the baby in his arms. They didn’t really have any reason to talk to Caine outside of adventures anymore. Daisy was a physical being in the Circus, Zooble’s reason to talk to Caine was gone.
“Look!” He extended Daisy toward Zooble and they flinched back, their eyes narrowing at the child, “I have her dressed in a dress that looks like a bee! Isn’t that cool?”
“Uhm… sure,” Zooble muttered before shaking their head, “Is that the only reason why you’re here? To… show me… Daisy? Dressed like a bee?”
“Yes,” Caine nodded quickly, his eyes lighting up. Zooble blinked. What? He was only there to– He knew they didn’t like Daisy, right? The AI skeeved them out, made their digital skin crawl. Caine pulled back slightly, staring at Zooble.
“Uhm, it’s really cool…?” Zooble muttered, turning to their door. They started to open it when Caine grabbed them. Zooble turned to look at him. They stared at Caine. Why?
“Do you want to spend time together?” Caine asked, his eyes glimmering with hope.
“Uh–” Zooble looked around, “Not really?”
Caine’s eyes stopped shining. He seemed to hollow as Zooble waited for him to speak. They hadn’t– Had they accidentally upset him? They didn’t mean to, not this time. They hadn’t been being intentionally mean towards anyone anymore. They were sort of too tired for all of that.
“Aren’t we friends?” Caine asked, “Friends spend time together.”
“We’re not friends, Caine,” Zooble whispered, “I don't know why you thought we were… we’re not– We worked together and then you betrayed me, I don’t think that makes us friends.”
Caine blinked, shrinking in his form. Zooble was going to try to apologize, realizing they’d hurt his feelings. They were just trying to be honest, they needed to work on that. They were trying to get better at that, that’s something they’d been working on in their spare time. Which was all they had these days.
Caine just turned away, leaving them. Zooble hesitated before reopening their door, slipping into their room. They shut the door quickly, sighing as they sank to the floor. They looked up at their art wall, staring at the mural they’d started to paint. They looked away, hugging their knees.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
“Is that the mural you have covered up right now?” Moon asked, pointing at the curtain tacked hastily to the wall above Zooble’s bed. Zooble looked over at it, shrugging.
“It’s a work in progress,” they replied, “That okay with you?”
Moon nodded, jotting down that in her notes. Zooble was being very defensive about the topic. Maybe there was something more to this that even Zooble didn’t know. It wasn’t uncommon for people to project their confusion about their own thoughts and feelings. Moon etched a quick note to ask Caine about Zooble’s behavior later before looking back up at the widget character.
“You never really answered my question,” Moon said, trying to redirect the conversation, “What’s your relationship with Caine? Positive? Negative? Friends? Enemies? Lovers?”
“Disgusting, we are NOT lovers,” Zooble muttered, avoiding eye contact with Moon. She jotted that down before Zooble continued, “We were work partners, I guess. Now we just… know each other. I don’t think there’s really much else to it.”
Moon nodded, “And this animosity towards Daisy?”
“We were supposed to get rid of it,” Zooble said quickly, “I mean, when you agree to abort something I think you should be there for it! Not even doing what you promised? Then I have to deal with the aftermath?! NO! Like- He– HE PROMISED TO BE THERE–”
Zooble began to hyperventilate, staring off intensely. Moon wrote down a note, before crossing her legs. Zooble’s eyes glossed over as they were caught in their own world. This was new, Moon hadn’t seen something like this before. Moon set her notepad aside, waving a hand in front of Zooble’s eyes. Zooble didn’t pull out of their trance. Moon snapped her fingers and Zooble blinked, looking up.
“What was that about?” Moon asked, grabbing and clicking her pen.
Zooble’s breathing began to smooth, “Nothing.”
It was something. It was obviously bothering them. Moon didn’t want to dig too deep at risk of having to try to talk to them later and have them be mad at her. However, she did make a note to try and figure out more about this situation, maybe Gangle would know something. Zooble stood up, walking over to their desk as they grabbed one of their Zooble pieces off of it. One of the only ones they felt comfortable with. They blinked, running their hand over the laced boot that ran the length of the leg.
“Where’d you get that one?” Moon asked.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
“Zooble, I know you’re… upset with me,” Caine’s voice echoed through the crack in Zooble’s door. Zooble didn’t bother to look at it, they weren’t really here, were they? They’d been stuck in the past for what felt like forever. Reliving the same moments over and over again. They were stuck in the real world, the human world.
Caine put a hand on their shoulder very gently, crouching beside them. Zooble looked at him, it took them a moment to realize where they were and who he was. Caine gently patted Zooble’s head, staring at them softly. Zooble stared back, unsure of how to respond. They wanted to protest, but they didn’t know if they were dreaming or not.
“I apologize for earlier,” Caine muttered, “I did not think the child would have that effect on me. I know I told you we’d eradicate it, but my code prevents me from harming any necessary AI. Apparently, she’s important to the Circus.”
Zooble shrugged. It was fine, wasn’t it? They’d only been spending months together planning it, discussing it in full. What did it matter that he’d stabbed them in the back. They sighed, sinking into their bed as they turned their back to him. They didn’t want to think about any of it, however under the covers they had that stupid Flamingo clutched tightly to their chest. They wanted to be normal for once.
“I know that adjusting to digital life can be hard, and I know how much you hate your body here,” Caine continued, “Which is why I made you this.”
Caine set something on their bed before heading for the door, “You don’t have to use it if you don’t want to, but I just wanted to let you know, I do listen to you, Zooble. Anyways, I’ll leave you alone now.”
Caine snapped the door shut and Zooble sat up. They grabbed the thing he left, a Zooble piece. It was a leg that looked like a shoe, that’s all. A knee length shoe, laced with white laces. They looked at it. It was gorgeous. Why would… How did he know? They ran their hand over it, blinking. They looked up at the door. There was no way he could’ve known… Zooble’s pupils slowly dilated as they looked at the leg, thinking about how Caine had… For them?
Maybe he wasn’t all bad?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
“That was very kind of him,” Moon stated softly, “Have you worn it yet?”
“No,” Zooble whispered, setting it back down, “I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.”
“But you just said–” Moon started but she knew where this was going.
“Yeah, well, I was wrong, okay?” Zooble turned around glaring at her, “I thought he wasn’t all bad, he proved me wrong. Why don’t you go talk to him about that?”
Moon blinked. She would, but he wouldn’t talk to her about it. They really needed to stop gatekeeping all of this information. Moon clicked her pen, she wasn’t getting anywhere with this, she’d expended Zooble for today. She stood up, nodding at Zooble as they glared at her. She left the room, shutting the door behind her. She turned her head, looking at the cracked nursery door down the hall. Convenient.
Chapter 3: Chapter Three
Chapter Text
“When did you notice the behavior change in Caine?”
“Oh, isn’t that a loaded question?” Pomni muttered, trying to soothe a fussing Daisy. She’d started teething that month and it was pretty hard on both her and Jax. Jax was curled up on the floor of the nursery sleeping while Caine stared at Pomni. She was more focused on trying to calm Daisy than anything else.
“Well?” Caine asked hurriedly, “I don’t have all day, Pomni. Do you know if Zooble and Gamgle are still interested in each other?”
Pomni shrugged, “Caine, I really don’t know. Jax and I don’t get out that much if you haven’t noticed. Generally parenting and taking care of Daisy–”
“What about Daisy?” Jax lifted his head quickly, looking around his eyes sunken with sleep deprivation.
“Nothing, go back to sleep,” Pomni muttered and Jax’s head thumped back down against the carpet. Pomni sighed, looking at Caine before continuing, “Like I said, we don’t even get out to sleep in our room. I don’t think I’ve been in there in a week. Jax hasn’t been in there since he gave birth. The only time we’ve seen anyone other that you, Ragatha, and Bubble was when you threw us on that picnic adventure. Which, we were still taking care of Daisy during.”
That’s about where Pomni seemed to have lost Caine. She watched him stare off, staring through her. It unnerved her, but she couldn’t really do much about it. She blinked, looking at Jax, then back at Caine. Was she supposed to interrupt him? She didn’t want to… do anything? She wasn’t even sure what was going on. She took a step back as Caine started to vibrate aggressively.
Caine snapped back, looking down at Pomni before he turned around, rushing out. Pomni blinked, looking down at Daisy who had stopped fussing. Pomni adjusted the baby on her hip, blinking slowly. What the ^#%$ was that? She turned around, laying Daisy in her crib, “Your Grandpa Caine is losing his mind, yes he is!”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
“And that was the first time you noticed a behavioral difference?” Moon asked, making brief eye contact with the six-month old on Pomni’s lap, chewing on her hat. Pomni nodded gently, trying not to disturb Daisy. Moon jotted down her notes, tapping her pen against the notepad.
“Like I said, from finding out about Jax’s pregnancy until about… a week or so ago? We haven’t really been focusing on other people,” Pomni replied, pulling her bangs back as Daisy started to reach up to grab them.
“Have you seen Zooble lately?” Moon asked, leaning forward, She smiled softly at Daisy as the baby babbled at her incoherently. Such a cute and disgusting creation. The wonders of the Circus never ceased to amaze her, even as an AI.
Pomni shrugged, “Honestly? No? I’ve seen Gangle and Ragatha a lot. They seem to be spending a lot of time together from what I can tell. Gangle’s come here a few times, met Daisy, held her. But she’s not a big baby person, I guess. From what I’ve heard she prefers older kids.”
“What about Zooble? Ever met Daisy? Interacted with her?” Moon asked, bouncing her leg slowly.
“Oh God, no,” Pomni shook her head, “I don’t know if they even know what Daisy looks like.”
“Who?” Jax asked as he walked into the nursery. He kissed Pomni softly before scooping up Daisy. Daisy instantly reached up, trying to grab his ears. He pulled them back out of her reach, looking at Moon.
“We’re talking about Zooble,” Pomni replied, “Moon just asked if they’ve met Daisy.”
“What? God no, Zoobie hates babies,” Jax stated, before quickly adding, “Plus they’ve got trauma or something. I overheard them talking to Gangle about it some time ago. I didn’t really listen all that much to it. Hey! That’s probably why they refuse to just $%#^ Caine and get it over with. That $%#-ual tension is really weird.”
“Jax,” Pomni hissed, looking at Jax, then Daisy.
“Oh, $^#&,” Jax whispered, “I forgot–”
Pomni shook her head, looking back at Moon. Moon was scribbling on her notepad. Zooble had trauma. Made sense. Gangle knew about it. That also made sense. She would see if she could pull that out of Gangle at some point. It wasn’t very likely, Gangle was a lockbox when it came to secrets. Moon looked up at Jax.
“How about you, Jax?” Moon asked, “Do you remember when Caine’s behavior altered?”
“Which time?” Jax asked, half-jokingly, “But seriously, you mean recently? Uhm, probably. Oh, Pomni, do you remember when I was having those really bad cramps? And the next morning we went to Caine to see what was wrong?”
Pomni paused, “Oh &$^%, you’re right, I remember that–”
“Language,” Jax whispered, song-songy.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
“Do you think something’s wrong with the baby?” Pomni whispered, chewing her gloves anxiously. Jax was slouching in his seat, his arms crossed. He didn’t want to think about it. He was glaring at Caine’s door, waiting for him to come out of there. It was nine in the morning, Caine was usually up by then.
“Look, PomPom, I’m fine,” Jax looked over at Pomni, “It was just some cramps.”
“Yeah, but what if you lose the baby?” Pomni started to bounce her legs aggressively, “I mean, are we ready for that possibility? Are we ready for a baby? An AI Baby…”
Pomni’s pupils started to scramble as she stared off. Jax blinked, looking at her. He slapped her cheek gently and she shook her head, looking around, “Sorry, I was doing that thing again, wasn’t I?”
“Yeah, you were,” Jax rolled his eyes, looking forward, “Also stop overthinking, you’re going to stress me out.”
Pomni nodded, swallowing hard. Jax stared at Caine’s door, his eyes narrowing. He could hear faint talking, but he couldn’t make any of it out. There was the tumbling of some items and then the door creaked open. Caine’s eyes floated out, his pupils enlarged as he looked between Pomni and Jax. Jax gave the eyes a disgusted look. Seriously?
“Uhm, just wanted to let you two know, I know you’re out here,” Caine’s voice came from inside his room, “But I’m dealing with a problem right now. A very large problem, uhm– go talk to Kinger.”
“What–?” Pomni murmured, confused.
“No, we need you,” Jax’s eyes narrowed, “It’s about the baby?”
Caine blinked.
“Jax, you’re fine,” Caine’s voice was weirdly calm, “It was just cramps, it happens. Come back to me if you have cramps and bleeding. Until then, go, I don’t know, fuck or something–”
His eyes pulled back into his room and the door slammed shut. Pomni and Jax shared a look. They both blinked slowly before Pomni muttered, “Did Caine just tell us to ^#$%?”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
Moon blinked. That didn’t match up timeline wise to what Caine had told her. She looked at the clock on the wall, then at Pomni and Jax. She was running out of time today. She bit her pen anxiously, before speaking, “Do you think Bubble was in there with him?”
“We heard two voices,” Pomni nodded, looking up at Jax, then back at Moon, “I don’t see who else it could’ve been.”
Moon nodded. She had enough time to talk to Bubble before she’d have to get back to Sun. She sighed, nodding. She stood up, preparing to leave. She’d track Bubble down, then return to the sky for the time being.
“Moon,” Pomni started, “Please be careful… Caine scares me– Us…”
Moon hesitated, looking at her, “Yet you trust him with Daisy?”
Jax and Pomni shared a look and Pomni spoke up, “She’s the only thing keeping him together right now.”
Moon nodded before exiting the Nursery. She closed the door behind her. Find Bubble. Seemed simple enough.
Chapter 4: Chapter Four
Chapter Text
“What did you and Caine talk about?”
“BUBBLE, GET IN HERE!!” Caine exclaimed and Bubble popped into the room. Bubble looked at Caine who was blushing furiously. Bubble blinked, staring at him. What was his problem? Caine was sitting on his bed, knees pulled to his chest as he stared dead ahead. Bubble lowered herself to Caine’s level, tilting her entire body to the side.
“What’s wrong, Boss?” Bubble asked.
“Uhm…!” Caine’s eyes darted around, “You know how… uhm… the human’s sleep?”
Bubble nodded. Duh! That was the best part of the Circus! All the sleeping humans for her to watch! Bubble blinked, she liked sleeping humans. Caine snapped his fingers, pulling Bubble’s attention back to the matter at hand. Bubble didn’t care about Caine. But she figured it was her job to… pretend at the VERY least.
“Well, I gave it a shot, for fun!” Caine replied, before lowering his voice, “And… I had a dream–”
Bubble wasn’t quite following. Dreams were cool! You could ride motorcycles, or eat ice cream, or do anything! Caine must’ve had a nightmare! Those were bad… Bubble didn’t like nightmares. They generally upset and scared her. That’s why she rarely slept! And that’s probably why she was so chaotic too!
“Anyways, it was about one of the humans, and we–” Caine blushed harder, “It doesn’t matter! But now I’m in a predicament.”
“Which is what?” Bubble asked loudly.
“SHHHH!!” Caine hushed her, “I can’t exactly show you, it’s not appropriate. ANYWAYS, we need to get rid of it!!”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
“Okay, I think that’s– more than enough detail,” Moon muttered as she slowly set down her pen. Bubble smiled, nodding at her. Sometimes she questioned why she did these things. She should’ve known that Bubble wasn’t going to be of that much help. However, she did get something to work with. A dream. And given the few details she let Bubble give her, it seemed to be one of the erotic variety. Meaning these feelings were more than emotional and romantic. They were teetering into physical territory. Which would make sense why Caine would notice a physical aspect of Zooble and bring them something related to that. It was like buying lingerie for someone. Except a leg. And not ^$%-ual at all.
“Caine didn’t want me to tell you!” Bubble blinked, “You won’t tell him I told you, right?”
“Cross my heart, of course,” Moon motioned across her chest, “Now, was this the only time Caine had this issue?”
“No!” Bubble beamed.
“How many times would you say Caine had one of these dreams?” Moon asked. She didn’t really want to know, because she knew Bubble would go into excruciating depth and detail. She braced herself for the onslaught of unwanted knowledge she was about to receive. She figured any details Bubble was going to share would be necessary. She… was trying to rationalize the fact that Bubble was about to share the most diabolical statements known to mankind. Let alone AI.
Bubble’s permanent grin seemed to fade. The spherical creature started to vibrate aggressively. His transparency started to obscure as his form darkened. Moon furrowed her brows slowly, Bubble started to shake and spin before his mouth opened, spewing hundreds of blooming daisies on the floor and onto Moon. Moon took a step back, shielding herself with her notepad as Bubble continued. What the &$%#...? Moon peered over her notepad in time to see Bubble burst in a shower of falling blooms and petals. Moon blinked slowly, looking around. She crouched, grabbing one of the flowers. She looked at it, then around the room.
Standing up, she dropped the white flower, leaving. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but there had to be someone who knew. She shut the door behind her, the light leaving the room. The flowers on the floor glitched and pixelated. The one she’d dropped, pure and white, and speckled with dark red. Thousands of daisies littered the room, wilting slowly before melting into a swirl of red, white, and yellow.
Chapter 5: Chapter Five
Chapter Text
“You’re tense.” Sun sat up as Moon sat on their bed, leaning forward. She’d spent the entire day out talking to the circus and now she came home and she was just… bleh. Not her Moon. Sun wrapped her arms around Moon, kissing her gently.
Moon shook her head. She felt like she got nowhere today. She was nowhere closer to figuring out what was wrong with Caine than she was two days before. Then the whole thing with Bubble. What was that? She hoped he was okay… They’d be okay, right? Moon blinked the thoughts away. Bubble was practically indestructible, she’d know, she’d tried many a-time. She sighed, resting her elbows on her knees as she leaned forward. The Circus itself seemed stable. Nothing was really suffering, so this was an isolated thing.
“Come on,” Sun whined, “Pay attention to me!”
“I’m sorry, Hon,” Moon sat up, turning to look at Sun, “I’ve been thinking about Caine–”
Sun rolled her eyes. Of COURSE that’s where her mind was stuck. When she came to their room, she was SUPPOSED to leave that at the door. Work was work, home was home. For three days now, her mind was stuck on Caine this, Caine that. Sun was getting a little jealous and she was DEFINITELY NOT amused by ANY of this. Sun scooted back, crossing her arms as she looked away. She puffed out her bottom lip, pouting as she glared at her feet.
Moon looked over at her, sighing. She scooted, pulling her jacket off as she scooted into Sun. Her partner scooted away, her nose twitched as her eyes started to get glossy. Moon bit her lip, she knew how Sun felt about her and Caine, and she didn’t mean to be so insensitive about it. Sometimes she forgot the mention of Caine would upset her. Moon grabbed Sun’s hand, but she pulled away, crossing her arms aggressively.
“I know you two broke up,” Sun muttered, “But sometimes it feels like he’s the only person you care about in the Circus.”
“Sunny, you know that’s not true–” Moon started to protest.
“Do I?” Sun looked at Moon, “I mean, I know it’s your job to keep the AI regulated. But can’t you just… not mention Caine?”
Moon tried not to scoff at her, “Sunny, you know that they’re my case right now–”
“And you know I don’t like her!” Sun argued.
Moon sighed. Sun was right. Work was supposed to stay outside of their bedroom. She rubbed her arm, she was going to pay closer attention to what she talked about. However, Sun seemed to be getting over it fairly quickly because she crawled to Moon’s side, nestling into her side slowly. Moon wrapped her arm around her, staring at the wall. Was she really doing everything she needed to do? There had to be something she was missing. The flowers? Hadn’t she seen that before? In art… somewhere…?
Moon looked back down at Sun who was playing with the deep purple sheets. Moon squeezed Sun tightly, kissing her. Sun sat up, pushing Moon down before placing her legs on either side of her lunar counterpart. Sun sat back on her heels, looking down at Moon. Moon was just relieved that she wasn’t going to stay mad.
“What’d you do today?” Moon asked and Sun sighed, shrugging. Sun’s job in the Circus was never needed. She was supposed to delete unused AI and clean up code. However, since the Circus and Caine split, Caine had started doing that. So most of Sun’s days consisted of her sitting in a tiny room, staring at code for hours until she couldn’t bear it anymore. Then she’d come home– to their room– and she’d read or write until Moon got back from whatever she was doing.
“The usual,” Sun shrugged, “Cleaned up some of Ming’s code, deleted one of the NPCs Caine hasn’t touched in a while. I’m sure he’ll bring them back, though, he always does. Trimmed up some of Daisy’s code, she’s growing surprisingly fast, decided to put her on a cool down course. I overrode her code, it’ll stunt her growth for a few months, let her age catch up to her progress. Nothing insane.”
Moon grabbed Sun’s hips, rubbing her thumbs on the inner area, “Sounds like a lot of hard work. I’m thoroughly impressed. How’s The Circus looking?”
“I checked on her again today,” Sun placed her hands on Moon’s shoulders slowly, “She’s fine. I wish we had access to the cameras in her room, just see if she’s okay, you know? She must feel so alone in there.”
Moon nodded. She’d been in there for years. Alone, hidden away from everyone. Moon felt like she would’ve gone stir crazy. No one there to talk to? And almost everyone who knew her was dead. With all the Circus resets, Moon was surprised that she and Sun even still knew she was locked away.
“I’d go crazy if I couldn’t talk to anyone,” Moon whispered to herself, “Especially if I couldn’t talk to you…”
Sun blushed and Moon grabbed her face, pulling her down. Sun’s hands slipped as she fell into the kiss that Moon had pulled her into. Sun tightened her knees into Moon’s side. Moon flinched from the pain at first before she grabbed the satin tie that hung from Sun’s shirt. She pulled hard on the tie, pulling Sun deeper into the kiss. Sun gripped the bed sheets tightly before moving her right knee up.
Moon lifted one of her hands, snapping her fingers. The room fell dark in an instant.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
A pounding came on Moon and Sun’s door. Moon sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes as she looked around. The pounding got louder and more frequent. Moon squinted at the door. What th &$%#? She started to get up, but Sun tried to grab her to keep her in place. Moon slipped away, wrapping one of the violet sheets around herself. She stumbled to the door, opening it slowly.
Caine was standing there, his jaws clamped shut. Moon stared at him, confused. She looked over her shoulder at Sun. She snapped her fingers, her regular outfit flying on before she dropped the satin sheet. She stepped outside the room, shutting the door behind her. She stepped forward, reaching out to open Caine’s mouth but he backed away.
“Caine,” she whispered, “You have to let me help you.”
“I can’t.” Caine’s voice was muffled.
Moon looked over her shoulder at the door behind her. Sun couldn’t find out that Caine was here. She paused, looking at Caine. Moon grabbed Caine’s wrist, trying to pull him down the hall but he pulled away. Moon’s gaze narrowed at him. He didn’t know why he was there. He needed help, but a part of him didn’t know how to ask for help. Caine felt like he was suffocating, and in a way he was.
“Caine…”
Caine’s hands shook. He slowly opened his mouth, the flowers spilling out of his mouth. Moon looked at the daisies that began to pool around her feet. She stared down at them, blinking. Moon wasn’t sure what was going on, she looked up, seeing the roof of his mouth. Nothing but tangled stems. The flowers were growing in him. The stems that were in his mouth were budding flowers and leaves. Moon reached out, her eyes meeting his. There was only pure panic in his eyes. He stared with desperation. He needed fixed. He needed to be fixed.
Moon shoved Caine against the wall, pulling his mouth open farther. She grabbed at one of the stems, pulling it aggressively. Caine winced, turning away. Moon pulled harder and it triggered Caine’s gag reflex. To be entirely honest, he didn’t know he had one of those. He gagged before he threw up. The spit, blood, and flower mixture spraying Moon. Moon opened her eyes slowly, looking at Caine, then down her front where she was coated in petals and blood. She looked back up at Caine, whose eyes were welling up with tears. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. Whatever this was, it had progressed very quickly.
Caine’s whole body shook as he stared at Moon. She was supposed to help him, she needed to help him. He’d tried everything. He tried resetting himself. He tried a Circus reset. He’d even checked his own code. There was seemingly nothing wrong with him. Yet here he was, drool and blood swirling down his front. Obviously he was either supposed to be like this all along, or the Circus wasn’t showing him what was going on.
“Moon,” Caine whispered, shakily, “Please… You have to help me–”
Moon blinked, “That’s my job, isn’t it?”
Chapter 6: Chapter Six
Chapter Text
Moon clipped another stem, pulling it out of Caine’s mouth. She couldn’t address the fact that they were literally lodged in him, she just didn’t have the tools for that. Caine sighed as Moon went back in for the next stem. Caine didn’t want to protest, he knew she was doing what she needed to help him at that moment, but he was petrified. He’d woken up that morning, choking and suffocating. He was able to dislodge the large mass of flowers that was blocking his airway.
Moon pinched the next stem, raising her elbow to get a good angle. She reached in, clipping it quickly. Caine flinched, that one actually hurt. Moon tossed it into the wastebasket, turning back to him. His eyes were sunken farther back than before. Moon sighed, pulling up a chair. She sat, looking at him. Caine looked up at her, his eyes flitting away quickly.
“Talk to me, Caine,” Moon whispered, “What’s going on in that head of yours?”
Caine blinked, looking at Moon, “I’m in love.”
“What?” Moon muttered, tilting her head.
“With Zooble,” Caine continued, “I’m– I fell in love with them… I tried to fix my code, but it’s not working. I’m broken. I need you to fix me.”
Moon paused. She didn’t understand. Part of her was conflicted because she and Caine used to co-run the Circus together, they used to date. If he didn’t love her when they were together, that was sort of one sided for her. However, she reminded herself that they were over, and that wasn’t her problem anymore. She grabbed Caine’s hand gently, holding it in hers softly.
“You’re not broken,” Moon replied, shaking her head, “You probably just have a crush, it’ll pass, okay? You’ll go back to your menacing, AI-self.”
“I’m not menacing,” Caine chuckled halfheartedly, “But… Thank you. You should probably get back to work.”
Moon nodded, pulling away slowly. She started to leave him in his room, but she looked back at him, “Just… stay here, away from the others while I try to figure this out… Okay? I don’t want you to feel like you’re suffocated by their stares, okay? I’m going to go talk to the others–”
“If you see Kinger, send him my way… okay?” Caine muttered, slumping his shoulders, “I want to talk to him, he’ll know what I’m supposed to do from here… about Zooble, I mean.”
Moon nodded, closing the door behind her. She let out a shaky breath. AI didn’t fall in love with humans. They weren’t programmed like that… She grabbed her jacket, looking down at the blood stains. She couldn’t talk to the others looking like that. She snapped her fingers, her outfit cleaning itself up. She pulled on the jacket, looking at the faint stains. Better than nothing, she figured. She bit her lip, maybe they wouldn’t notice. Were any of them really that in tune with their surroundings?
As she walked down the hall she considered who to talk to next. Pomni and Jax had been of little to no help. Caine had told her practically everything he knew. Zooble clearly wasn’t bent on talking about much more than they had already shared. Bubble was dead. Well, temporarily at least. And then Kinger– Well, he’d mostly been locked in his room the past few weeks. Moon didn’t have the heart to tell Caine, and Caine didn’t have the situational awareness to realize he hadn’t seen Kinger in nearly a month.
Moon considered her options as she made her way to the human hallway. She walked down, past Jax and Pomni’s room and the nursery where she could hear fighting. She stopped walking, momentarily, trying to pick up on what they were talking about, but it was just heated words being thrown back and forth. It sounded like Jax was dominating the argument at one point, but then Pomni seemed to find her footing and fight back. Moon didn’t hesitate any longer, walking past the arguing couple. They weren’t AI, meaning they weren’t her problem.
Moon stopped in front of Zooble’s door, staring at their picture. She was going to knock when she heard a thump from down the hall. She stole one more look at Zooble’s room before she hesitantly continued down the hall. Ragatha’s door was cracked open, and Moon could hear whispers as she slowly opened the door more. She stepped in, looking at the tangled mess on the floor in front of her. Gangle’s ribbons were wrapped tightly around Ragatha’s torso as Ragatha tried to untie the large knot that was resting on her stomach.
Ragatha looked up at Moon, panicking. Had she heard them? Did she know what they were doing? It wasn’t anything inappropriate! Would she know that?! Ragatha tried to pull Gangle’s ribbons off of her, Gangle lifting her head. Her comedy mask was flushed as she looked at Ragatha, then Moon. She was a little woozy, she’d hit her head pretty hard against the floor in the tumble. She was thoroughly surprised that she hadn’t broken her mask entirely.
“Oh! Moon! Hi! We were just hanging out!!” Ragatha said quickly, “Nothing else!”
“Did you want help?” Moon asked, staring down at the girls.
“Whaaaaat? Help?” Ragatha replied, “No! We’re good! No help needed!”
“I want help,” Gangle whispered, looking up at Moon. She extended her one free ribbon towards Moon, but Ragatha pulled it away.
“NO WE’RE GOOD, THANKS!” Ragatha exclaimed very loudly. Moon watched them struggle a little bit more before Ragatha seemingly gave up. Conceding to the fact that Gangle was tangled up with her inside. Ragatha blinked, looking at Gangle who had lowered her head back to the floor, then back to Moon. Maybe Moon would leave?
Moon stared at the scene. What idiots, she thought to herself. It didn’t matter either way. She had only come here because something happened to distract her from talking to Zooble. That noise. Which, judging by how Ragatha was tangled up in Gangle’s ribbons, there was a very obvious implication of what that thud had been. Moon had more than enough intimacy discussion to last her a lifetime, she wasn’t particularly keen on discussing this situation too.
“Alright, if you’re both good and set here–” Moon started. She began to turn around. She started for the door, hearing Gangle let out a weak, “I wanted help–”
“Actually,” Ragatha sat up, Gangle wailing as she was pulled with the motion, “I was wondering if Caine’s okay? I’ve been noticing him acting off lately… He’s not… frying… is he?”
“Frying? What? GOD NO–” Moon muttered quickly, trying to erase that from the course of conversation, “He’s struggling with some intrapersonal issues. Nothing for you humans to worry your pretty little heads about. I’ve got it all under control. You’ll all be okay.”
Moon continued to leave, grabbing the door knob. She was going to pull it shut behind her as she left before she heard Gangle cry out, “So you’ll fix the sunroom then? It’s been overgrown for weeks now and Caine hasn’t let anyone in to fix it.”
Moon hesitated. The sun room?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
The sunroom was located not too far from the daycare. Normally, on a good day, the light from the day side of the Circus shone through the stained glass like a cascade of dancing figures. It was raw and pure energy and the whole of the atrium was lined with dangling vines and climbing ivy. There were well maintained flowers and bushes that flourished in the neverending light. And though the flowers were tropical in nature, the sunroom itself was actually rather temperate in comparison to the rest of the Circus, which tended to run cold. The marble benches sat dotted symmetrically around the large rectangular room. Altogether, a gorgeous place to sit and enjoy your time trapped in the digital world.
However, that was a good version of the sunroom. The version of the sunroom that Moon found was flooded in a sea of plants. Moon had to use her shoulder to shove the door open with an added amount of effort. She stumbled in, stepping in a puddle of murky water. She looked around, confused as she tried to push her way through the foliage. She was trying to make her way to the heart of the sunroom, hoping to find something there, but the thorns pricked at her clothes, tearing them. She looked down at her sleeve that was ripped the length. Great, wasn’t that just perfect?
Moon slipped between a bush and the wall, staring at the canopy of leaves above her. It would be pretty if it wasn’t so devastating. She saw this place when it was brand new. And now… She looked around, sighing. Now it felt like she was suffocating in something that used to be so beautiful. This place was crawling with bugs. Not the insect kind that humans saw in their world, no. Literal code bugs that could break the entire Circus if not tended to immediately. Moon made a mental note to tell Sun when she got back after her work today.
Moon untangled her arm from the vine as she slipped away. It felt like all the greenery was out to get her. There was no light showing her where to go, no clearing. Everywhere she stepped was a risk of her being grabbed or torn or glitched. Everywhere was dangerous, no wonder Gangle mentioned it. Moon pulled her ankle free, shaking her foot to get the last of the leaves off. She hated what this place had become. From beauty to squalor in such a short time. It was a tragedy in the making.
“Uh, hello?” A voice called out, deep and concerned.
“Hello?” Moon echoed, looking around for the source of the voice. Obviously it wasn’t a human, all the humans were accounted for at that time. She slipped past a burning bush– not literally on fire, of course– some of the leaves clung to her suit jacket and she brushed them away quickly.
“I’m over here!” The person called. Moon followed their voice, finding a blue blocky figure. He had a chiseled jawline and a firm brow. And, from Moon’s angle, she could see that he was tangled up tightly in the vines. Moon approached him, pulling at the vines.
“Nice to meet you, or, wait–” the NPC muttered, squinting at her, “No, I know you. Aren’t you and Caine a thing or something?”
“Uhm, not exactly,” Moon smiled nervously, taking a step back, “You’re?”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” He tried his best to extend his hand, but the vines prevented him from doing so, “Name’s Sox. You probably know my friend Rox better. My height, a little shorter, he’s red. Not as handsome. You know?”
“You’re not really my type,” Moon muttered, looking away, “Uhm, anyways, I was wondering how long it’s been like this here?”
Sox looked around in thought. He seemed to be going over in his head, trying to figure out the math. Moon waited patiently, taking a step back, the heel of her boot crushing a nearby Gloink. That’s what she meant by bugs. Those were supposed to be in storage. She looked at the glitching atmosphere. God, it was depressing in here. She was surprised Sox hadn’t deactivated from the stress.
“Oh, only about six months now that I think about it,” Sox pulled her attention back towards him, “Started when Caine was dumping off heaps of petals. Then it turned to flowers and roots. Now it’s completely overgrown. Whatever those were, they royally screwed this place up. You’re here to fix it, though, right?”
Moon looked around. Heaps of flowers. Of those daisies? She hesitated before approaching a nearby vine. She plucked one of the buds off, the daisy blooming proudly in the palm of her hand. She looked over her shoulder at Sox who was smiling awkwardly at her. Caine was dropping the flowers off here. That’s how he was getting rid of them because… He couldn’t delete something that was a part of his code. It was a mutation. Things were starting to make sense… a little bit.
She let the flower fall to what used to be the linoleum floor before turning back to look at Sox. He waved as best he could before he looked around. Moon was starting to speak when she noticed a petal falling from above. She craned her neck, several of them cascading down through the breaks in the canopy above them. She looked at Sox, then at the falling petals. That was different, it hadn’t been doing that before.
“Caine must’ve dropped more off,” Sox thought aloud, “That usually happens when he brings a new load. You can go see for yourself, he might still be up there.”
Moon nodded. It had been a bit since she’d hovered, let alone fully levitated in this form, but it was worth a shot. She slowly rose in the atmosphere, climbing up through the foliage. She grabbed a large branch to help pull her to the top slowly. She poked through the canopy of leaves, looking around.
She’d expected to see green. She expected to see rolling fields of leaves. Instead, she was greeted jarringly with white. Nothing but white and small specks of yellow. Daisies littered the top of the canopy, acting as a natural barrier against any light that might’ve naturally cascaded through the canopy. She blinked, watching portals open as more daisies were tossed in. It was never just a few petals, it was a mountain of flowers piling up. Caine was dropping them off from everywhere. His room, hallways, commons areas, the storage rooms. He was sending flowers from all over the Circus. Moon blinked, slowly descending back down to where Sox was tied up.
“What’s it like up there?” Sox asked, “I haven’t seen light in four months. Caine’s been isolating me here.”
“Uhm,” Moon didn’t really want to answer him, “Don’t worry about it, I think I need to– I have someone I need to talk to about all of this. Just… hang tight.”
Moon zoomed away, she didn’t give Sox the chance to argue or plead. She had one destination to go in and that was it. She held her breath as she left and Sox watched her leave. He craned his neck, looking at the falling petals. If only she’d stayed long enough to see the rest, he thought to himself.
Chapter 7: Chapter Seven
Chapter Text
“When was the last time you saw Caine?”
You don’t know how to handle that kind of situation. When your best friend– your only friend, really– comes to you with a problem. He has someone on his mind, can’t get them out, he needs a solution, a quick fix. So you give him it. You figure, one time, one and done, he’d be back to his old self again. Laughing, chatting, having a ball. And, for a while, he is. He’s having a good time. Then, you find out that he’s been hiding a part of him from you. Something that you didn’t think was possible, you literally made him, how is he breaking his own code? You try to fix it again and again and nothing seems to work. Every fix seems to make it worse. How do you cope with that? How do you accept the fact that you’re causing the deterioration of your friend’s existence? How do you sleep at night?
“Caine?” Kinger tapped on Caine’s door, letting himself in. He rarely asked for permission to enter anymore, there were no secrets between him and Caine. Caine was sitting on the floor, knees pulled to his chest as he stared off, a pile of those wilting daisies beside him. Kinger had already reset him twice, and every time it came back worse. A Circus reset would be too risky for him to run, especially with Daisy in the picture.
Kinger slowly walked up to Caine, flopping down beside him. He looked up at the ceiling, his writing covered by the glow-in-the-dark stars that he had plastered on his ceiling and walls. Kinger looked over at him as Caine picked the petals off one of the daisies. Empathy. That was Kinger’s first step. Understanding how Caine was feeling. Well, for him it seemed pretty easy. Caine was scared, frightened, unsure and worried about what was happening to him and his body. It was a scary experience for him and Kinger could understand.
“I know this is scary–” Kinger started, but Caine interrupted, not giving him room to speak.
“I am an abomination,” Caine said flatly, no inflection to his tone, no possible indication of what he was feeling, “I don’t understand why you would separate us if it left us both… broken. How did separating us even help? Did it help? Or did you think it would be easier to lock one of us away and then deal with the other as issues come up.”
“The Circus–” Kinger began.
“Oh PLEASE,” Caine cut him off, hovering slightly off the floor, “The only reason you locked the Circus up instead of me is because she was easier to wrangle into her room. If you had your way, I’d be locked up too. But because I put up a fight, I’m still here. You were supposed to be my friend, you were supposed to take care of me and I would take care of you. Now you’re all bitter because you kept letting your guard down knowing full well that no one survives this Hell. And that’s somehow my fault?!”
Kinger blinked, he hadn’t said any of that. He hadn’t even thought it. Kinger wasn’t bitter about his losses. They were losses, he played a dangerous game and he lost. He understood that. He was trying to take care of Caine, that’s why he was there. If he didn’t care about Caine, he wouldn’t have shown up at his door. He wouldn’t have done any of that. He would’ve left Caine in here to rot. But that’s not the kind of person that Kinger was. He was taking care of Caine. That’s all he did in the Circus. He helped everyone.
“You need to learn to regulate your code,” Kinger stated softly, “I can’t coddle you for the rest of the time that I’m here. And what happens when I’m gone? What are you going to do when I’m gone and you’re here, alone, without me?”
Kinger stared at Caine, blinking before realizing what he had said, “Caine, I didn’t mean–”
“Get out of my room,” Caine flew closer to the ceiling, crossing his arms as he pouted in the corner.
“Caine,” Kinger stood up, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to–”
“I SAID GET OUT,” Caine shouted, glaring down at Kinger, “I don’t want to see you again. Not now, not ever. As long as you are in this circus, as long as I am ringmaster, I want you to stay out of my sight, do you hear me?”
Kinger hesitated, stumbling back as he watched the room flicker and glitch. Kinger stared at Caine, his eyes pleading before he decided to leave the AI alone. Kinger scrambled to leave, looking behind him with a hint of regret in his eyes.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
“Kinger?” Moon tried to snap the chess piece back to reality to no avail. He’d finished telling his story a bit ago and while Moon liked the concept of the impenetrable fortress, it was beginning to get very tight and closed off for her. She hated cramped spaces the same way that Sun hated long draws of silence. Moon began to back away and Kinger seemed to reset, looking up at her.
“Oh, hi Moon!” Kinger’s eyes lit up before dimming after remembering what they were discussing, “Oh, you were asking about… Right. I haven’t really talked to Caine since then, he kind of avoids me. I don’t mean to be rude, but are you sure he asked you to send me his way? He seemed pretty upset the last time we spoke and… All I could see was him in his primitive state. He’s grown so much…”
Moon nodded. She understood that Kinger and Caine had a close bond. Father and son-adjacent if someone looked a little too closely. However, she knew that fights could make or break. Especially in a relationship like theirs. Caine understood the severity of his existence and how his code rupturing would compromise the Circus as well. Moon was rather upset that she understood the complexities herself.
“Are you aware of how Caine’s condition has deteriorated over the last few months?” Moon asked, pulling out her notepad as she prepared to take notes.
“I’m aware that it’s deteriorated,” Kinger nodded, “I don’t know details, I’m sort of just here now, preparing to pass on the torch when the time comes, you know?”
Moon nodded, “I went into the sunroom today, it’s absolutely overtaken by weeds and plants. Do you know anything about that? It’s only a few paces from the daycare.”
“I mean, I’m in here all the time,” Kinger replied, “But I rarely venture outside of the daycare except for adventures. Pomni and Jax have dropped Daisy off a few times, we spend most of the time working on motor skills. She’s not quite to the point where she should be walking yet, so we spend most of our time painting and stuff.”
“So you have no idea why the sunroom would be unkempt like that? And how about all the daisies being… expelled from Caine’s system. You don’t think that’s weird?” Moon prodded and Kinger shrunk down, clearly uncomfortable by the interrogation.
“Of course I think it’s weird,” Kinger said shortly, “I also think that Caine has been struggling with his code for years now, and that it could work itself out.”
“Or it could not,” Moon added and Kinger stared at her. She knew she was being negative, she fully understood that. However, it wasn’t something she could let slip away so easily. She tapped her pen against her notepad, staring at Kinger as he sighed, motioning for them to leave the fortress. Moon slowly climbed out and Kinger followed after her. He sighed, interlocking his hands as he led her out of the daycare, down the hall.
“Caine isn’t manmade AI,” Kinger explained, though Moon already knew this, “He’s organic. Like Daisy. That’s probably why they both bonded so quickly. I can reset your code a thousand times and your factory settings will be the same. Resetting Caine… When it’s something that runs this deep…”
“He said he was in love,” Moon grabbed Kinger, stopping him from walking, “How does that work? I know AI, we can simulate emotions. But that’s how we were programmed. What about Caine? You said so yourself, he’s not normal.”
Kinger sucked in a breath, “When did he tell you this?”
“This morning,” Moon muttered, “He’s–”
Kinger scoffed a laugh, “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to go back to the daycare, you’re going to go talk to Caine. Figure out the last thing that happened before he started with the daisies, you hear me?”
Moon nodded, “And you?”
“I’m going to run a diagnostic… or twelve,” Kinger blinked, “I’d also like to talk to Sun about manifestation processes, do you think she’s busy?”
“Not at all,” Moon replied, “I’ll send her your way.”
Chapter 8: Chapter Eight
Chapter Text
“How did you learn you were in love?”
“That sounds dumb,” Zooble rolled their eyes, starting to walk away. Caine stared down at them and the rest of the group. He was even lucky that Jax and Pomni were showing up for this adventure, Jax was lucky to be upright, how late into the pregnancy he was. Caine couldn’t afford to lose another person on this adventure. He was tired of people skipping out and especially Zooble.
Caine swopped down beside Zooble, gliding beside them as they walked, “Zooble, could I… talk to you… in private?”
“No,” Zooble replied. Caine took that as a yes, grabbing their arm. He snapped his fingers, teleporting them to a supply closet. Zooble glared at him, trying to leave. Luckily, the door was locked. Caine crossed his arms, staring down at Zooble from his heightened position. Zooble leaned against the wall next to the mop.
“Do you have no concept of consent?” Zooble tilted their head.
“I do, just not in this regard,” Caine replied, before moving on quickly, “When you talk poorly of my adventures in front of the others it really undermines my authority and necessity here in the Circus! I would appreciate it if you would drop these complaints in the suggestion box.”
“I do!!” Zooble snapped, “You just never read them!! You want to control us all like we’re your little dolls!! You’re just an overgrown child playing house! We’re real people, Caine. With feelings and memories and trauma and–”
Caine stared at Zooble, his pupils growing as he listened to them yelling at him. His muscles relaxed slowly as he hovered in awe. For a moment, he almost considered touching the ground, he almost considered getting to their level. Something about them… The way they were yelling. He liked it… He felt a twinge in him. Something changed then, he could feel it as he stared at them, his pupils grew larger and larger.
“AND WHY ARE YOU STARING AT ME LIKE THAT?!” Zooble yelled, huffing breathlessly.
“You’re so hot when you’re mad,” Caine whispered to himself.
“What?!” Zooble snapped quickly.
“Nothing,” Caine blinked, shaking his head, “Let’s get back to the others!”
Caine grabbed their arm again but they pulled it away aggressively, “No, seriously, what did you just say to me?!”
Caine drummed his fingers, swiping for their arm. Zooble dodged his attempt, shoving the ringmaster aggressively. Caine flew back, grabbing his cane, prepared to… well, he didn’t know. He hovered back slightly, gripping the cane in his hands. He stared at Zooble who was glaring up at him.
“Caine,” Zooble huffed a warning, “Don’t play with me here.”
Caine blinked, not sure how to respond. That had been intended to be an inside thought. Zooble swung, grabbing his cane. They pulled him down some and the ringmaster lost his balance. They used their claw to grab his bowtie, effectively pulling him down to eye level. Zooble glared at him, their eyes searching his. Caine’s heart began to race, his eyes darting back and forth as he began to breathe a little more shallowly, a little more quickly.
“What. Did. You. Say.” Zooble hissed.
The door to the supply closet swung open and Pomni and Ragatha stood in the archway. They shared a look, then looked at Caine and Zooble. Zooble shoved Caine to the floor, storming out. They shoved past Ragatha and Pomni, leaving for their room. Caine sat up slightly, rubbing the back of his jaws. He looked up at Ragatha and Pomni who were staring down at him.
“What? Go on that adventure,” Caine grumbled, levitating weakly.
“Uhm, Caine–” Pomni whispered, motioning towards him. Caine squinted at her, looking down before he looked back up at her and Ragatha.
“OKAY, GOOD BYE!!” Caine shouted, snapping his fingers as the girls disappeared. He pulled the door shut quickly, pressing his back against it as he sunk to the floor again. He looked at his hands, then at the mop against the wall.
“Fuck,” Caine mumbled under his breath, “Fuck, fuck, fuck… Really?! Of everyone in the Circus?! THEM?!”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
“That’s the story you’re going with?” Moon asked, staring at Caine hunched over on his bed. Caine nodded, spitting a flower petal into the trash bin his legs were locked around.
“You doubt me?” Caine replied.
“I don’t know, seems super… #%@-ual if you ask me,” Moon said softly, “You think that’s how Zooble viewed it?”
“Definitely not,” Caine answered, tracing the rim of the trash bin, “They probably hate my guts. I wouldn’t blame them.”
“How long ago was that?” Moon questioned, “You mentioned Jax being pregnant–”
“Nine months, two weeks, five days, seven hours, and thirty-two minutes,” Caine responded swiftly, no hesitation. Moon looked at him, then over her shoulder at the graph of all the code of the human avatars that was running on his wall. She looked back over at Caine as he rested his elbow on the rim of the bin, placing his gums in the palm of his hand. He raised his brows shortly and Moon rolled her eyes.
She started to snoop through his stuff but he didn’t protest. He didn’t have any reason to. Everything that he’d been working on, Moon was more than aware of. A lot of stuff, she’d worked on herself as well. The only thing he might be hiding– He blinked. No, she wasn’t going to find that… right? He thought he hid it, but he couldn’t be sure.
“I was just thinking,” Caine drew Moon’s attention away from the desk and she turned to look at him, “You remember when we started dating?”
“Which time?” Moon half joked. They’d been the on-again-off-again couple for a while in the Circus. Years, in fact. Moon had lost track of how many times they were broken up and then got back together. But she felt bad. The last time had been because of her. She’d started to cheat on Caine with Sun. There was no real excuse she could give to make it okay, she was just a bad person, she understood that. For a while she’d tried to rationalize it, say it was because he wasn’t giving her enough attention. In the end, she knew what she did.
“The first time,” Caine replied, “When Buzz and Moppsby were still around. I miss those two. So much tension… It was so fun to put them together in close scenarios.”
“That was so long ago,” Moon muttered, sitting beside him on the bed, “I can’t believe you remember that after all the resets.”
“Sharp as a tack,” Caine whispered, “Anyways, I remember your code was shorting out, you were barely functional. I stayed by your side for weeks, taking care of you until Sun was able to figure out what was wrong, she fixed you up. You were okay.”
Moon sighed a laugh, “Yeah, I almost forgot about that. I guess I’m sort of returning the favor now, aren’t I?”
Caine shrugged, looking down. He didn’t know if he’d consider it returning the favor, but he definitely didn’t think she was hurting him by being there. Caine looked down at the trashpin in front of him, staring pointedly at the daisies that glared back in mocking. He looked up at Moon who was playing with the ring around her finger.
“Do you actually think Zooble hates you?” Moon asked gently.
Caine shrugged, “I mean, they sure do act like it. Always complaining about me and my adventures, telling me no one likes my work. They’ve said they don’t like me before and–”
“And what about all the times they comforted you?” Moon countered, “The times they followed you to see if you were okay? The times they stayed with you when no one else cared?”
Caine looked away, “Yeah, I guess… They might tolerate me.”
Moon sighed, standing up as she started to leave. She looked over at Caine one last time as he gripped the trash bin tightly. Moon shut the door behind her, looking at the door beside Caine’s. She stared at it, unblinking. Maybe one day they’d let her out… Moon shook her head, turning away. She started down the hall, she had bigger fish to fry.
Chapter 9: Chapter Nine
Chapter Text
“How do you feel about Caine?”
“Stop following me,” Zooble whispered aggressively as Caine followed them towards their room. He’d been tailing them all day and wouldn’t just let them go. It was starting to get on their nerves, they swore if he followed them for one more second–
“Zooble, I’m trying to better understand you and–” Caine started but Zooble wasn’t having any of it. They opened the door to their room, walking inside. They tried to close it behind them but Caine stuck his foot in the door, keeping it open. He pried the door open and Zooble turned around to glare at him.
“Would you just leave me alone?!” Zooble yelled, “I don’t care about whatever you’re trying to sell me on. We’re not friends, we’re not partners. I don’t like you!”
“You say that but–” Caine started, advancing on them.
“No, Caine, I have NEVER liked you!!” Zooble snapped, “I will NEVER like you. I was using you to get to Jax. And now that’s down the drain. I have no use for you anymore! So why don’t you crawl back into the hole you came out of and leave me alone?!”
Caine slowly floated back, his eyes flickering from Zooble to the door. Zooble rolled their eyes, slamming the door shut aggressively. They stared at it, breathing heavily before groaning loudly. They tossed some stuff around, clearly upset with the situation. They kicked their bed, pulling off their purple dragon wing in frustration, pelting it at the wall. It hit the wall, bouncing off the wall and clattering to the floor.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
“That’s it?” Moon asked, staring at Zooble who was glaring back at her, “That’s all that happened. You just hate Caine?”
“Yup,” Zooble nodded, their eyes narrowing, “Nothing more.”
“So after you threw your fit?” Moon clicked her pen, staring at them.
“I took a nap,” Zooble crossed their arms, leaning back, “Then I woke up the next morning like nothing happened. Out of sight, out of mind.”
Moon nodded. They were lying. There was no doubt in her mind that there was something more to that story. She just needed to get it out of them organically. They’d never fold under pressure. Moon hesitated before speaking, “Jax mentioned you have trauma.”
Zooble’s eyes narrowed, glaring at her, “Who doesn’t? In here? I can tell you what everyone’s been through. I can tell you that Gangle watched her own mother die. Does it really #^$%-ing matter what I’ve been through?”
“He said it centered around babies?” Moon continued, “Do you think that getting vulnerable about Caine compromises that part of you?”
Zooble’s eyes shrunk as they started to hyperventilate. Their eyes darted back and forth as they tried to find a way out. They stood up, swallowing hard. How had Jax found out about that? They hadn’t told anyone. Gangle barely knew the tip of the iceberg. They’d kept that under wraps. Yet somehow Jax had knowledge of that? They’d left it behind. That was from their human version. Their human life was a separate entity from their digital existence. They wanted to keep it that way.
“Get out,” Zooble whispered, “Get the &#^$ out of my room before I kill you–”
Moon stood up quickly, backing towards the door, “Zooble, I didn’t–”
“You don’t know me,” Zooble hissed, “You weren’t there. I went through that alone. Hours of pain and suffering, all by myself, because he couldn’t show his &$^%-ing face. I couldn’t even stay in the house at risk of getting caught, I had to do it out in the barn. Alone, scared, in pain, and cold because it was the middle of &$^@-ing February?!”
Moon stared blankly at Zooble as they yelled at her. She grabbed the handle to the door, beginning to open it.
“All you do is stick your nose where it doesn’t belong!” Zooble shouted, “I am a human ^$&%-ing being and I will not let you pry my life apart just for your own entertainment!! Why? Because Caine has a weird obsession with me?! Go *$^% yourself!!”
Moon rushed out, pulling the door shut behind her quickly. Zooble turned around, coughing out choked sobs. They looked over at their bed before they walked up to it, flopping down on it. They scooped up the flamingo, holding it tightly to their chest. They sighed, they hadn’t thought about that since Daisy was born.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
Zooble looked at the dragon wing they had thrown against the wall. They looked back over at their door. Caine. Why did he– He was so annoying, getting under their metaphorical skin. Why couldn’t he leave them alone?! Zooble grabbed the wing, glaring at it. They walked it over to their box of parts, tossing it in. They sighed, rubbing their neck as they looked at the boot piece they’d received a month prior. They picked it up, looking at it.
They sat on their bed, pulling off the peg leg they had on. They ran their eyes over it, not sure about this. They sighed, putting the leg into their socket. The leg clicked nicely, actually having a joint where the knee would be. It was the first time that one of their limbs had an actual joint. They hadn’t had knees or elbows in years.
They bent the knee slowly, the sensation bringing a sense of humanity back to them. Zooble stared at it, their breath catching. There was no way he’d actually– Zooble started to let their mind wander. Caine might’ve been overbearing, he might’ve been annoying but… Zooble looked over at their door. He cared. How did– Why did– And about Zooble?
“&#$^,” Zooble whispered, looking at the flamingo on their bed, “Him? Of all people? Caine–?”
Chapter 10: Chapter Ten
Chapter Text
“What’s your opinion on Zooble?”
“Gangle, please,” Zooble grabbed Gangle’s ribbon, pulling her back. Gangle shoved Zooble off of her, she didn’t want anything to do with them anymore. They were willing to kill an innocent child for selfish reasons. Gangle wasn’t a big kid person, but she definitely didn’t think Daisy deserved to die just because Jax was an *#$-hole.
“Zooble, I don’t want to talk about it–” Gangle started to object but Zooble didn’t want to let her speak.
“Please, understand this from my point of view,” Zooble begged, “I need you to understand why–”
“Zooble,” Gangle sighed, avoiding eye contact, “There’s nothing you can say that can convince me. You need to reflect on your decisions.”
“Gangle, I love you,” Zooble snapped quickly, and Gangle stared at them. Were they seriously doing this? Right now? They could’ve done this a year ago. Months ago. They didn’t love her. They just didn’t want her to leave. They didn’t want her to hate them. Which is exactly how she felt. She wanted them to leave her alone, she didn’t like them.
“No you don’t,” Gangle replied, walking away.
“Gangle, Gangle please,” Zooble begged, chasing after her as she shut the door to her room behind her. Zooble started to knock on the door, “Gangle, let me in. Please, I’m sorry. I just… I need a friend.”
Gangle blinked, staring at the door. She turned away, crossing her arms as she walked away. She could hear voices from outside, Zooble and what sounded like Caine. They were loud before they got softer. Gangle couldn’t make out the words, she didn’t want to. She sighed heavily, walking over to her bed before flopping on it aggressively. She looked at the wall of sketches she had. They were mainly Zooble… Gangle blinked, her gaze hardening.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*
Moon watched Gangle tack up a sketch of Ragatha she’d drawn. The two had managed to untangle themselves by the time she’d got back, spending time in their own respective rooms. Moon’s eyes followed Gangle as she picked up her sketch pad, sitting down beside Moon.
“Did you ever love them?” Moon asked as Gangle averted her eyes, avoiding eye contact. She shrugged.
“I dunno,” Gangle whispered, “Maybe? I don’t really know if I’ve felt love before. Especially in the Circus…”
“Do you know what Zooble went through?” Moon asked, “With a child? They–”
“Sort of,” Gangle interrupted, “But it’s not my place to tell you, really. Even if it were, I don’t think it’s really relevant to the question at hand. You’re here about Caine, right?”
Moon nodded and Gangle was right. Most people would just share what they knew anyways. Moon found that admirable. Gangle respected boundaries, she recognized when she was to keep things under wraps. Moon leaned forward, catching a glimpse of what Gangle was drawing. It looked to be Ragatha. That made enough sense, the two seemed to be a thing now. Moon wasn’t too invested in human connections in the Circus, that was Caine’s job, not hers.
“You’re not a big coding person, are you?” Moon asked, tilting her head.
“I don’t really know much,” Gangle admitted, “Moon, what’s actually going on with Caine?”
Moon stared off. She didn’t know if she should be honest, tell Gangle all she knew or if she should… lie. Moon wasn’t averse to the concept of lying. However, she wasn’t really sure how much Gangle should really know. Gangle had sort of given her the information that Caine had been looking for a few weeks prior, however she didn’t know how useful that would be to aid her efforts.
“Nothing for you to worry about, I’ve got it under control,” Moon muttered, beginning to leave. Gangle tilted her mask gently.
“If you say so,” Gangle whispered, “I just don’t want to see anyone hurt.”
Moon approached the sketches, her eyes catching on one of them. It was buried under the others, but it was still visible enough for her to see it. She pulled it down gently, turning around as she walked back up towards Gangle. The drawing turned out to be a panel, a comic drawing set between Jax and Pomni. However, Moon was more interested in the depiction of Jax throwing up the slew of flowers.
Gangle seemed to perk up slightly, blushing a bit, “That’s from right before Pomni and Jax got together, before any of us knew he was pregnant and he was just throwing up a lot.”
“The flowers?” Moon asked, looking at Gangle, then the drawing, “I don’t recall him throwing up flowers.”
“Oh, no!” Gangle squeaked, embarrassed, “It’s from some forms of Japanese media, it’s called Hanahaki Disease.”
“I don’t follow,” Moon said, looking up at Gangle.
“Oh, it’s basically, like,” Gangle stood up, walking up to Moon so she could better explain, “Jax, in the comic, has the disease. So he has flowers growing in him. They start to over take his body and that’s why he’s throwing them up, his body’s trying to reject them.”
“What causes this disease?” Moon asked gently, looking Gangle up and down.
“Love,” Gangle shrugged, “Well, not entirely, sometimes it’s a person suppressing their love, sometimes it’s a person who doesn’t know they’re in love, sometimes it’s from love not being shared.”
Moon stared at it. Caine. Zooble. &$^#.