Archive of Our Own ^beta

Pomni sighed.

The tension in her clenched fists and her chest were quickly released. Now she was back in the digital circus after the gruelling -and frankly traumatizing- adventure, she felt that she could breathe a little more easily.
The ‘oh-so-great adventure’ involved a jungle theme this time, featuring glitchy animals that hunted them down, and spiders. So, so, so many spiders. All of different sizes, shapes and colours.
Pomni had never wondered what it was like to see a mega-tarantula molt in its lair, but thanks to the WONDERFUL adventure Caine had crafted, she would never have to wonder about it or even unsee the sight again.
With a shudder that made the bells on her hat lightly jingle, she turned to see what her fellow performers were doing.

Over in the distance, she could see Jax and Zooble arguing about something or other.
Though she couldn’t hear what they were saying, she was certain that none of it was good, nor was it even mildly child friendly judging by all the curse words being thrown at one another. That was for sure.
It looked like they had both recovered quickly from being chased by those savage technicolour wolves that had more eyes than they ought to have done.
In fact, Zooble thankfully had all their pieces together again.

Pomni pried her eyes from the pair of rivals to focus on Gangle and Ragatha, who were both sharing one of the blue couches in the common area. Gangle was happily sketching away in her red sketchbook, while Ragatha relaxed -at last- on the other end of the same couch.
Every now and then, the two stole glances at each other. Other than that, no other words or sounds broke their comfortable silence.
Despite herself, Pomni allowed a tired smile to appear on her face, seeing the pair and knowing they were both safe. That helped with her own anxiety, without a doubt.

On the other side of the room, she could hear Kinger retreating back to the confines of his pillow fort. He hadn’t been as insane as he usually was, thanks to the numerous dark patches in the jungle terrain, and to be perfectly honest, if it wasn’t for Kinger and his quick reflexes, Pomni would have certainly fallen prey to another mega-spider and its cluster of eggs that squirmed with revolting balls of life. And eyes. Too many eyes for her liking.

Pomni blinked, zoning back into her digital reality. For whatever reason, Pomni was having a hard time staying present, even more so than usual.
It wasn’t a rare thing for her to dissociate in her bedroom after a truly taxing adventure, but to do it out in the open? That hadn’t happened since she had first arrived. Well, Gummigoo’s disappearance by their ringmaster’s hand may have brought one on, but nothing like this current state of mind.

She just hoped that Caine didn’t catch on.

Speaking of Caine, where in the digital world WAS that eccentric ringmaster of theirs?

Frantically, Pomni searched the circus tent high and low for him, calling his name, but there was no sign of him.
Where was he?

Squaring her shoulders, Pomni decided to take it upon herself and start searching the circus grounds for him. After all, Caine had to be around somewhere, right?

She took a second to glance behind her.
Nobody was looking over. At least, she couldn’t see anyone. For all she knew, that pesky Bubble was watching her run around like a headless chicken. He was always a freaky little thing, and at times she wasn’t sure whether she should be amused or creeped out by the shiny, sharp-toothed orb of mischief. The way he stared at them with soulless black eyes, its shifty-sounding speech, not to mention the tongue that could stretch and curl like a wet snake. The very thought of Bubble spying on her would normally make her cringe, but today she didn’t seem to care at all.
With a shrug, Pomni reached out and lifted the flap of the circus tent just enough for her to fit through, and slipped out onto the path that led towards the grounds in a winding trail.

Like usual, the sun and moon were both shining above the digital world, lighting up the terrain just right. Not too bright but not too dim. Just enough to see the green trees and yellowish trail she was standing on.
Even though the sounds of the carnival and lake could be faintly heard just a walkable distance away, it was quiet enough for the jester’s thoughts to settle.
Pomni looked around, but still, no sign of Caine.

“Caine, are you out here?” Pomni called, taking a second to admire the tranquility of her surroundings. Well, compared to what her regular surroundings were in the circus tent, anyways. Distant carnival sounds could still be heard, and with the night and day blended into one, it was a perfect amount of dark and light around her.
For a second, she was allowed to be still. She was allowed to breathe.

She reminisced on hazy memories of a bustling accounting office, a street lit with golden street lamps, when all of a sudden-

Drip.

A drop of something wet landed on Pomni’s arm, snapping her out of her thoughts. It surprised her that she could feel some type of water dripping onto her skin, but she welcomed it.

Another drop hit. Then another. And another. Soon a whole rainfall began to hit the land and her, cascading down in a gentle shower, and making a very pleasant sound as the rain landed on the ground.
The noise was comparable to all those rainy days at work, where she’d find it very hard not to fall asleep at her desk while the rain hit the window panes, drumming away like a background song. Now it hit the ground and the outside of the tent in an identical way, still steadily pouring down.

To avoid a rather embarrassing moment of becoming momentarily blinded by rain water, Pomni used her hand to shield her eyes, and looked up at the sky.
No longer could she see the smiling sun and gentle moon. Instead, the sky was full of deep purple and dark grey storm clouds which blocked out most of the light.

Pomni was puzzled.

“Caine?” she tried again. No answer came once more.
It was really starting to worry her, not to mention get on her nerves. But with the faint raindrops landing on her skin, it was difficult to get worked up.

Just as she was about to give up and go back inside, she noticed something hovering above the tent. The top hat and the tail coat -even at a distance- were unmistakeable.
Yes, this was no other than Caine. It just had to be.

Curious, and a little bit nervous, she approached Caine.

He ‘sat’ atop the tent with one leg dangling over the tent’s edge, the other had the knee bent with his foot flat on the tent’s ‘top’. One arm rested on his bent knee comfortably, hand loosely hanging down in a relaxed manner. The other hand was palm-down, flat, as if he was resting partially on it rather than hovering in mid-air. He stared into the middle distance silently, deep in thought, until-

“Caine, can you hear me?”

Instantly, the ringmaster snapped out of his thoughtful stupor at the sound of the jester’s voice.
His eyes now held more of a cheerful, sentient glint, and his posture straightened up, making him seem more attentive.
Peering down over the edge of the tent, he could see Pomni standing in the rain below him.

“Ah! Hello there, Pomni!!” Caine happily greeted her.

“Apologies, I didn’t see you at first. But now that you’re here, my dear, why don’t we go for a walk?” he offered.

Pomni was surprised, but the offer of a walk in the rain didn’t seem too bad. As far as she could tell, there were no visible dangers, no aggravation between other circus members, and certainly no horror or jumpscares.
What harm could it do?
With a smile, she looked up at him.

“Sure” she agreed, a couple of raindrops hitting her face.
“I’d like that.”

“Wonderful!” Caine declared with a grin. He snapped his fingers and before her eyes, his cane stretched and morphed into a simple black umbrella with a curved wooden handle. It didn’t look all that special compared to other umbrellas, but Pomni was still quietly impressed.
Caine held the umbrella’s handle, the stick resting on his shoulder. Rain drops continued to fall on the grounds, bouncing off the top of the umbrella, but not a single drop hit the pair beneath it.

“Shall we?” Caine asked kindly.

Pomni, despite herself, felt herself blush faintly, and she nodded with a soft “yeah, w-we shall.”

But inside her head, thoughts were racing rapidly and muddling together into one confusing web.
Why had she gone so shy all of a sudden?
What was with the blush?
Did Caine plan to turn this casual walk into something filled with terror and despair? She hoped not!

Amidst the doubt and confusion, there was a small part of her that felt at ease being there.

She felt calm, quietly observing the surroundings while she walked with Caine. Her wide dual-coloured eyes glimmered. She looked up at Caine who was looking straight ahead, almost like he was checking something or other was perfectly in place. Huh, strange.

Pomni glanced at a random tree nearby, which was dripping with blue and grey rain water, until Caine’s voice jolted her back to full attention once again.

“So, Pomni! What do you think?” the ringmaster asked as the two walked.

Pomni gave him a confused stare. She wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by that.

“What do I think of what?” Pomni asked, a rumble of thunder gently purring above her head.
“Of the rain?”

Caine glanced up at the sound of the thunder, then back at Pomni.

“Why yes, my dear!” he confirmed.
“I’ve been trying to tinker with this rainstorm for a while now. After all, this was your suggestion for an adventure, was it not?”

Pomni’s eyes widened and she tried not to gasp.
He…he had remembered that?

“Yeah….yeah, it was. That’s right” Pomni replied tentatively.
“You remembered that?” she asked in slight disbelief, turning to face him again.

“But of course!” Caine replied with a smile, gently spinning the umbrella to remove any excess water, before holding it still on his shoulder again.
“I’ve had some time to look through the suggestions in the box. Since you asked for a bit of normalcy, I was curious, especially when you mentioned you wanted a rain storm. Is this what you would consider normal?”

“Close enough to it, yes” Pomni replied semi-sheepishly.
She was then struck with a realization; were the others coming out to enjoy this weather as well? Or were they still in the tent, completely oblivious? What was the likelihood that Jax would show up out of nowhere, or Zooble trying to avoid getting their pieces soaked? Would Ragatha and Kinger be relaxing like the stargazing adventure? Would Gangle be enjoying the calm?
Last she saw of them, they were still in the tent. Still not in the know. In fact, nobody had really noticed or said anything when she went outside to look for Caine. It was confusing to her, but she decided to get some clarification.

“You sure you didn’t want the others to see it too?” she pried.

Caine observed the nervous jester; much like Kinger and Ragatha, she was one of the few that was holding the group together. Yes, she’d contested him, but not as much as Zooble had done. He didn’t seem to mind it. In fact, it was refreshing rather than just the mindless praise or instant degradation of his work. He found her questions amusing, most of the time, glad she wanted to be knowledgeable of what she and her friends would be facing.

“Oh, Pomni” Caine sighed fondly.
“The members of the circus, they truly are wonderful, I assure you. They’re all superstars, each and every one of them” he said.

“Even Jax?” Pomni asked, Caine trying not to laugh.

“Yes, my friend. Even Jax” he confirmed, before continuing.
“But with all the adventures happening one after another, many of them taxing for both the body and mind, Bubble and I noticed it was taking a toll on everyone, but especially you. Don’t worry about them, he’s watching the rest of the cast to make sure they’re safe. So, in truth it is just you today, but don't be down! I thought you could use a moment of reprieve to get that noodle of yours re-aligned so you can enjoy any and all future adventures once they’re complete! This one’s all for you, my sparkling kaleidoscope!”

Pomni was touched.

All this effort…just for her?

Without thinking, she wrapped an arm tightly around Caine’s waist, giving him a gentle but meaningful and firm side-hug.
Despite being made up of code and programming, the fact that the ringmaster felt solid in the jester’s arms was a comforting feeling. They were able to make contact. Real contact.

In response -and possibly to regain his balance- Caine wrapped his arm around Pomni’s shoulders, an act that Pomni welcomed (much to her own surprise), both of them blushing. This was a rare occurrence for Caine, having only blushed visibly once before. But neither of them minded.
He was unable to shake the strange fuzzy sensation in the ones and zeroes of his coding. It felt strangely right.

The pair slowly, calmly, made their way around the lake as the thunder rumbled overhead. Little licks of silver lightning flashed like fairy lights in the clouds above, though there were no threatening strikes that put them in any danger. No, it was like the world was encouraging their close bond with weather as their ovation.
The lake itself rippled and splashed as if it were alive, its blue surface now dappled with silver and purple.

Caine and Pomni continued to converse about anything and everything in this bizarre digital world. For a moment during their trek, they stood still and observed the rain on the rippling lake. Then they continued, following the damp dirt path back up the hill past the carnival.

At one point, Pomni held out a hand, feeling and seeing the raindrops land on her glove and arm with great delight, much like she used to in the real world.
She was pleased. Caine was pleased for her. And though the sun and moon weren’t currently visible, he was certain they were also pleased.

~ ~ ~

At long last, the two had reached the entrance of the circus tent once again.

They both shared a silent, peaceful gaze, their arms still around one another, as Caine turned the umbrella back to his normal cane. He held it by his side and lifted the flap of the tent for them both.
With a bow and an open hand, he let Pomni inside first, following after.

Pomni could hear Caine snap his fingers, both of them now dry and free of any mud splatters. Once they were both inside and making their way down the hallway, the circus tent closed behind them once again.

“I gotta say, Caine,” Pomni began, Caine hovering next to her, “I really enjoyed that adventure!”

Caine’s digital heart leapt.

“You did?”

“Yeah. I really did. It felt more…normal. It was nice” she mused.

Their arms were both around each other again.

“I’m glad you did, Pomni” he replied calmly.
“We should do it again sometime, if you wanted?"

Pomni nodded.
“Yeah. I’d like that” she decided.

“I’m glad you think so, my dear” Caine chimed.

The two headed towards the main area, wrapped in an air of comfortable silence.

Maybe another rainstorm someday wouldn’t hurt.

Caine would see to that.

~Le Fin~