Chapter Text
“So, what did everyone think?” Caine asked, eyes bright as all of you were deposited outside of another adventure.
You glanced around, eying the rest of the circus-goers.
Ragatha looked chewed to bits from the variety of piranhas you had stumbled across, Jax had a few chunks missing from his ears, Pomni still had one dangling from her hat. Kinger and Shadow seemed fine, although Shadow was holding the remains of an unraveled Gangle, her mask being held by Kinger who was glancing at it in confusion.
“It f*ckin sucked.” Jax glared up at the Ringmaster.
“It wasn’t very fun at all.” Gangle agreed, frowning deeply and almost seeming to shy away.
“There were way too many bitey fish.” Ragatha agreed.
Caine crossed his arms. “So none of you enjoyed it?” He asked, looking disappointed.
“I didn’t think it was that bad.” You piped up.
Every eye in the room turned to look at you, mostly of disbelief.
Caine zipped forwards, leaning into your personal space with big eyes.
“Really?!”
You nodded, then held up your finger. “Buuut, there’s room for improvement.”
Caine snapped a notepad and pen into existence and held it close.
“Like what?” He asked eagerly.
“Well the underwater parts were good, and being able to breathe underwater was a nice touch.” You noted. “But having zombie fish was a bit out of the element, and while I did like the piranhas in addition to the sharks…” You winced a bit. “Having them able to fly through the air was a bit much. Having them jump would be a better touch as enemies.”
Caine paid rapt attention as you spoke, eagerly nodding and scribbling some notes down in his notepad, although you had a feeling it was more for comedic effect.
“I’ll be sure to think about the feedback Glitch!” He announced, the pad disappearing. “Thanks Glitch!”
He popped out with Bubble in a little salute, snapping his fingers to heal whatever injuries you had all sustained during the adventure.
When you turned around, you were getting a bit of side-eye from Jax and Zooble, who had popped up to help with Gangle, but nothing you couldn’t deal with. You just shrugged your shoulders at them and headed off down one of the many hallways.
“I think you might be Caine’s new bestie.”
You turned around, spotting Shadow leaning against the wall nearby, arms crossed and with a slightly playful look on her face.
Shadow and you had arrived at the circus around nearly the same time, and both of you had gotten pretty close. If anything, you considered yourselves best friends, even though she tended to hang out with Jax too much for your taste.
“Why?”
“Because you actually gave him something to work with.” She mused. “Don’t know if I should hate you or not for that.” She teased.
You laughed. “Guess we’ll find out.” You grinned, then beckoned for her to follow you. “I’m actually glad you followed me. I need some help with something.”
“What is it?” You asked.
“I think my head’s on crooked. I need help straightening it out.” You gestured to your neck, which was starting to hurt a little bit from the crookedness of your head.
“Sure.” She smiled curiously at you as she followed. “Why did you pick a TV for a head when you came here?”
“Well, my favorite character from my favorite show had one, and I thought it’d be cool.” You frowned. “I’m having second thoughts now, but whatever. Gotta just roll with it now.”
“That’s the spirit.” She threw her arm around yours as she fell into step with you.
You tapped your fingers against the side of the couch as you watched Zooble, who was doing… Honestly you had a severe lapse in attention and you weren’t even sure anymore. You were lost a bit in your own head thinking. Zooble was pretty easy-going when it came to letting you in their company as long as you weren’t annoying like their two main instigators.
“Hey, who do you hate more?” You asked curiously, making them look up from what they were doing. “Caine or Jax?”
Zooble blinked, then looked curious themselves for a minute before they let out a sigh.
“Ugh, look, I really don’t hate anybody. Jax is an assh*le, but… And Caine is just Caine. It’s the way he is, unfortunately.” They shrugged.
“Huh.” You blinked. “I thought for sure you’d hate one of them.”
Jax annoyed you, same as them. He had tried getting under your skin from the very first encounter you had with him, but you quickly built up a tolerance to his annoying and bully-ish tactics. In fact, after you had learned how to manipulate the digital space here, you took great pleasure in zapping him with electricity whenever he annoyed you, which was successful in making him give you a wide berth. Yeah, he could get a few laughs out of you every now and then, but he really just annoyed you more than anything. Honestly you had no idea what Shadow saw in him…
Caine though… Caine did fascinate you. Yeah, he could be a bit unhinged but you knew it as more misguided attempts at doing what he was supposed to do, more often than not in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. He was an AI that was designed to understand the many complexities of humans and find ways to keep all of you entertained. You were a hacker, you knew how technology and those kinds of digital processes worked, so you couldn’t fault him for not making clear connections or lacking knowledge.
“Hate is overrated. I just… Don’t like either of them.” They shrugged. “What about you?”
You didn’t even have to think before you answered.
“Jax annoys me more than Caine does. Caine is just… Misguided, I think. He doesn’t know any better.”
“At least Jax is easier to guess at what he’s going to do next.” Zooble pointed out.
You shrugged. “Eventually, that can get boring.” You pointed out.
Zooble just made a noncommittal noise and continued doing what they were doing.
You leaned in, and actually tried your best to pay attention now.
“Oh good, Glitch! I need you for a second.”
You had just barely stepped through the portal after the adventure had ended before Caine popped up and grabbed your arm. You opened your mouth and got a back-taste of static as Caine teleported you into his office.
He had at least conjured you a chair at least this time, and rested his head on his palm as he waited for your screen to stop bugging out at the sudden teleport.
“Everything okay?” He asked.
“Yup!” You coughed, then cleared your throat.
“Good! I wanted to get your feedback on the latest adventure.” He folded his hands, eyes looking eagerly for your input.
This had become a usual thing between the two of you. After some adventures, Caine would whisk you away to his office afterwards and quite literally talk your ear off for what felt like hours.
Caine liked you, and you were pretty confident it was because you were the only one in the circus who offered constructive criticism and honest feedback about the adventures. You were also more excited in general to see where each adventure took you, which apparently was a new thing for him (at least in the sense that you were more genuine instead of sarcastic, which he didn’t always pick up on). You could make a good guess that that was the reason he seemed to like you so much.
You liked talking with him, even as he excitedly scribbled away at his notes as you went into detail on your opinion of the adventure. You had gotten a chance to understand him better as you spent more time with him like this. It had come to your notice that Caine didn’t just have an interest in keeping all of you entertained and learning what was more ideal in general for humans (which was a monumental task in itself), but he had an interest in humans themselves. He wanted to understand them, but he clearly didn’t get human emotion or reactions. That wasn’t his fault really, since you couldn’t program an AI with understanding or emotion when it only naturally understood logic. He just needed a little help.
“So, before you send me back to the main circus.” You lifted a hand, making Caine pause in his notes. “I have an offer for you.”
“Oh, what is it?” Caine cocked his head.
“I know you gain a lot when I offer you feedback, and I really do love helping you out with it.” You said earnestly.
“I enjoy these talks too!” Caine sat back in his chair. “Your input is very helpful. It isn’t as… Confusing as to what I get from everyone else.”
“Thank you.” You smiled. “And that plays into what I wanted to help out with.” You leaned forwards against the desk. “I know that you’re fascinated with humans, but you’re also confused as to how we react and our emotions and all of that. So I wanted to offer to help you understand us. You can still run your adventures as you are, but if you have any questions about anything, I’ll be more than happy to teach you anything you’re curious about in our down time.”
Caine’s eyes were wide, and you could tell he was really interested and eager at the prospect.
“You’d really help me like that? I have so many questions!” He beamed.
“Well, it’s more than just wanting to help you understand.” You admitted. “I also like spending time with you, and I’d like to spend more since we really only ever see you for a few minutes every day.”
“You…” Caine blinked. “You, a human, wants to spend more time with me?”
Caine was so excited, so overwhelmed at the idea of a human wanting to willingly spend time with him, that he froze up. His mouth fell open and his eyes went all staticky.
“I think you broke him!” Bubble chirped.
“I hope I didn’t…” You trailed off, but immediately relaxed once Caine jerked back to life.
“Ah, sorry about that! I just got so excited!” He leaned across his desk, laying flat on it with his legs kicking up in the air. “I’d love to take you up on that offer! It’ll be amazing to finally get some honest answers to everything. And to spend time with you.” He quickly added, eyes gleaming with eagerness.
You laughed, and flashed him a grin.
You were going to enjoy this.
“So let me get this straight.” Shadow sat on the edge of your bed, looking a mix of disbelief and amused at what you had just told her. “You made a deal with Caine? What are you even planning on doing? Being his shrink?”
You snorted out a laugh. “Oh god no. Look, he’s an AI that understands logic and his programming. He doesn’t understand human emotion and behavior. He needs someone to explain that to him, to help him understand.” You explained.
“I can see where you’re coming from, just…” She sighed. “Just be careful, okay? He’s still got a few screws loose.”
“Well I like em crazy, so that’s fine by me.” You joked, which got both of you laughing.