Chapter Text
It wasn't supposed to be this way
Pomni had hoped that by this time, they would all be out of the circus and go back to their normal lives. Without random adventures, without feeling trapped.
Yet here they all were, sitting in the same four couches with no changes.
Pomni studied the expressions of her fellow circus cast.
Ragatha, who sat to her right, looked distraught. Her hands together as if to try to soften what she's thinking.
Kinger, to her left, was in his usual non-lucid state. Pomni was slightly envious. He wouldn't have to deal with the crushing reality of the situation. Although she really wanted to hear his words of wisdom
The couch to her left had Gangle, who wiped away a tear from her mask as she looked down.
Zooble was on the right couch, deep in thought with their head resting on their hand
And then there was Jax, laying the furthest away from the group. Pomni was reminded of Jax's reaction earlier. His laughter that was on the brink of insanity, the frustration and vulnerability he carried. She hoped that Jax would start to drop his mask
The untold emotions everyone was feeling created a unanimous truth
What Caine did was unmistakable
He lied, tricked them, dangled freedom in front of their faces and took it away cruelly. Seeing his infamous grinning mouth appear from the light was almost harsh. Like a reality check that no one wanted to admit was real.
Jax got up, seemingly about to say something snarky
But before a word was uttered, the circus vanished around them
Everyone blinked and backed up in surprise as they realized they've been teleported
They were spawned in a small room with a TV on the wall. The room felt oddly normal with it's plain pale walls and a small coffee table in the middle. Their couches were brought with them too, fitting perfectly into the layout of the unassuming room.
Zooble immediately sprung up, looking up in the ceiling to talk to the one they thought was responsible
"Caine!? You better not have taken us to another adventure!" Zooble yelled, but no reply from the ringmaster was heard. This was unusual. Caine would usually respond in some way with his name being called
Ragatha got up as well as Pomni "Uhh, does anyone recognize this place?" Ragatha asked, everyone shook their head
It was a semi-dark room with only the soft light of the TV glowing to illuminate their surroundings
Wait, Pomni thought This TV looks too modern compared to the ones Caine uses
Her thoughts were then stopped once she saw Jax standing up.
"Man, Caine is going to torture us at this rate." Jax huffed, looking around as if he was waiting for a surprise
Then the TV started spewing text using text-to-speech, catching everyone off guard
"Hello circus members. Welcome to the Reaction Room. To quickly answer your questions. No, I am not Caine. And Caine is currently in sleep mode, so he is unable to attend to your needs."
Everyone paused, digesting what's been said
That didn't sound like Caine
"I-If you're not Caine, then who are you?" Pomni quietly asked. Jax merely chuckled and rolled his eyes
"It's obviously Caine trying to trick us again. Let me guess, this is another NPC that'll pretend to be just like us?" Jax accused, crossing his arms
"I wouldn't put it pass Caine to do that, especially after earlier..." Gangle somewhat agreed. After Abel in their last adventure lied to them, they could not be more untrusting towards npcs
"Who I am doesn't matter. For now, just call me 'TV'" The TV hummed in robotic speech
"Ok, so what the hell is happening? And what do you mean 'Reaction Room'?" Zooble pointed everywhere, looking skeptical
The cast stared at the TV, which displayed dots "...", Pomni figured that it was thinking of an answer.
"I'll be up front with you." The TV responded
"That'll be a first" Jax commented harshly
"Jax, lets just hear what 'TV' has to say" Ragatha pointed out
Then a string of text pops up, along with the monotone voice
"Right after the 'Escape The Circus' adventure, Caine promptly decided to activate a protocol in his systems known as 'Reaction' Which is a program set to activate if ever 'The humans are dissatisfied with outputs'. Caine had no idea what the program will actually do. And once he clicked it, he immediately went on sleep mode and now I am here"
There was a even longer silence. A program if they weren't satisfied with Caine's 'outputs'? This was so random and out of the blue.
Jax, ever the snarky one, spoke from the silence "You'd think he'd activate that program way earlier?"
Pomni tried wrapping her head around it, scratching the side of her face in confusion
"And...what is the 'Reaction Protocol' exactly?" Pomni asked
The TV hummed a response
"The humans shall be teleported to the Reaction Room and watch several videos that could answer or sway their opinions" The TV continued "Such videos aren't picked out by Caine and are instead affected by the current circumstance"
Jax lets out a dry laugh "Are you kidding? You're not gonna make me believe that Caine didn't choose videos that will make us like him."
Zooble sighed "I hate to agree with Jax but yeah, this has Caine written all over it"
It's not out of the realm of possibility that Caine would make an adventure like this, Kinger thought. His mind slowly grounding himself to the reality of his fellow circus members
Gangle spoke up "Wait, so we're here to watch some videos? That's it?"
Ragatha chimed in "I mean, it did say that the videos 'could answer or sway opinions'-"
Jax cuts Ragatha off "Which means that Caine is trying to gain our sympathy. After the crap he pulled on us, I do not buy it."
Pomni had to think for a moment, needed time to process everything.
Kinger suddenly puts his hand on her shoulder, causing the jester to look up
"It seems weird, I know. But I doubt we have a choice to leave" Kinger kept looking at the TV in deep thought
The whole cast looked back at Kinger, looking rather shocked at the usually out-of-state chesspiece saying something relatively sane. Pomni realized that the room was dark enough for Kinger's sanity to come back. Although Pomni wondered where was this when they were in the button room. Which may be Caine's doing-
Pomni shook her head and nodded. "Right, I don't think we have a choice guys"
Jax looked annoyed "Are you kidding me? You're gonna believe this crap?"
Ragatha tried to calm everyone down "W-Well I agree with Pomni and Kinger. We might as well watch the videos. I mean, what's the harm?"
Jax groaned "If this ends up to be Caine's plan, I'll tell you 'I told you so' once again"
Zooble looked like they wanted to respond
Yet it sounded like you believed the last one when you pressed the button, Zooble thought, finding Jax to be a hypocrite. But realized that it was a bad time to talk about it as they sat next to Gangle
"I'm not denying that Caine is a part of this. I just fear that we don't have any other choice right now" Pomni responded quietly, going back to her spot in the couch, as well as the rest of the cast.
The TV starts speaking again
"Thank you for your cooperation. Now, as the videos play, if you have any questions, I may or may not be able to answer them"
Zooble groaned in annoyance "So just another NPC who has limited scripts? What's even the point of all of this if Caine would be behind it?"
Nobody was believing that Caine wouldn't be involved, it made sense.
The TV spoke "Believe what you want to believe. I will say, before starting, there will be videos that Caine would have never shown you."
That caught everyone's attention. What does that really mean exactly? Does that mean they'll finally get answers that Caine wouldn't give them?
"Don't get your hopes up" Jax said, more to himself really. Nobody was agreeing or denying his words as they stayed in their thoughts
"We will begin shortly. After a certain amount of videos, we will take a 5 minute break. But first..."
The screen flashes their face icons, the ones that are used for their rooms
"Each of you will state you're current opinion on your ringmaster"
Everyone blinked as Pomni's icon turns green
"Pomni first" The TV pauses, waiting for her response
Pomni struggles to find the words. Suddenly it felt like being put on stage to a whole crowd. What could she say about their ringmaster? If Caine is behind this, then I doubt he'll like what we'd have to say
"Oh wowwwww, Caine wants to know if we like him? Ha! Hilarious" Jax laughs, not caring at all
"I-I uhm..." She tries to find her words before taking a deep sigh, narrowing her eyes "I-I'm angry but like I want to know more? I-It's complicated-" Pomni stops as the TV wrote "Frustrated" below her icon.
The TV switches to Zooble
"Oh for crying out loud-" Zooble face palms, feeling like Caine won't listen to what they have to say anyway "Caine, you're a pain in the (BOINK)" They didn't care if it wasn't professional, it was how they felt and they were gonna say it.
The TV wrote "Angry" below Zooble's icon, then moved on to Gangle
"Umm..." She rubs her ribbons together shyly. She never really had a way to describe her emotions towards Caine but said what was quickly on her mind "I-I'm sad...and scared..."
"So creative, the sad one is feeling sad" Jax chuckled, which made Gangle sink into herself as Zooble shot Jax a look before comforting her
The TV typed out "Scared" then goes to Jax
Jax stares at the screen and glares "You're a dirty liar. Whatever kinda crap you're gonna pull next, I'm not gonna fall for it" He wanted to make his thoughts clear.
TV puts "Enraged" then looks at Ragatha
"O-oh! I-I umm...I-I wasn't prepared for this" Ragatha chuckled nervously before taking a deep breath "I-I think you need to be honest...And I'm just...very...upset right now" Ragatha looks at the ground, her tone turning less fake-happy and more anxious. She had hoped to leave, wished it, and now it was gone.
Under Ragatha's icon, it wrote "Upset" then turns to Kinger, who had to blink a couple times to realize what was going on
"I-" Before he could mutter another word, the TV just leaves Kinger's part blank "The first part of the protocol is finished"
Everyone stared at Kinger then at the screen. Did it not wanna hear from Kinger?
Kinger was utterly confused. A part of him didn't wanna admit that maybe Caine does not want to hear from him. But that also felt out-of-character, considering how much Caine valued Kinger. Regardless, perhaps Caine was upset with him. Since this is surely Caine...right?
"I-I didn't even get to say-"
The screen flashed to show a timer ticking down
"Ooookk that was weird" Gangle pointed out while Jax scoffs "Of course it was captain obvious"
Ragatha looks at Kinger, who was merely looking down in deep thought. Usually, Kinger always seemed to be in his own world. But his expression looked more normal then usual, even if he wasn't talking or responding to the world around him. It made Ragatha think, Did something happen between him and Caine?
Nobody knew what to expect, but Pomni hoped that they'll get their answers. If not from Caine, then maybe from...whatever this was.
A video starts playing