Chapter Text
It’s been exactly fourteen days, eight hours, twelve minutes, and 39.8 seconds — or, in broader strokes, just a smidge over two weeks — since Pomni joined The Amazing Digital Circus, and Caine couldn’t be more thrilled with her progress!
As the latest addition to his ragtag troupe of wonderful humans, he’s invested significant interest into watching how she’s been settling in. And much to his delight, it’s been going great!
Well, the first few days were rough, naturally. She went through the standard protocol: anger, grief, denial, depression, bargaining, and was now tentatively easing into a somewhat stupefied acceptance.
Caine knows that humans generally have a difficult time adjusting to the digital world, and no wonder! Their minds are so fascinatingly complex that he’s still learning new things about them every single day!
But Pomni has proven to be especially adaptable. The data he’s been collecting has held remarkably steady. No thanks to him, obviously, but her fellow players!
Caine can admit that he … isn’t the best at consoling them when it comes to all of the complex emotional stuff. That wasn’t a conclusion he made after many countless hours of self-reflection, so much as it was an indisputable fact that his humans continually beat him over the head with until it finally stuck.
So, as excited as he’s been to see a new friendly face around, he let the others handle Pomni’s introduction to the Circus for the most part.
Most of the newer members bonded with her right away, just as he expected they would.
Ragatha helped her settle in and pick her room, after which Zooble took up the self-appointed task of answering some of the more uncomfortable questions she had. Never an easy conversation, but Pomni seemed to come out of it okay.
To help cheer her up, Kaufmo and Gangle performed one of their classic Comedy/Tragedy duo acts. Even the ever-mischievous Jax and Ribbit roped her in on their fun. Between the three of them, Caine only needed to put out two metaphorical fires and a couple literal ones!
Those of the original group, his programmers, made their own introductions over the next few days. Even if Caine might have had to engineer a couple of those encounters, just to get everyone acquainted, it was for their own good.
They could be so grouchy sometimes, always going on and on about “kids these days” and what things were like back in the strange pocket of the Macroverse they cryptically referred to as “The Nineties.”
With that all out of the way, though, Caine feels more confident than ever that they were really hammering out all of the kinks in their “Circus 101” crash course for new players. Even if the circumstances were not ideal … were never going to be ideal ever again, so long as he kept trapping people, kept making them miserable with his stupid games, kept doing everything wrong—
The humans still have each other. And they were always right.
For his part, Caine has made sure not to overcrowd Pomni. So far, he’s hung back a respectable distance despite the urge to swing her around the Grounds and show her all of the sights. He even exchanged a handful of pleasantries and engaged in polite small talk!
Beyond that, he’s been paying especially close attention to every which glimpse he can get into her preferences. So as to better cater to her needs, of course! Every human is different, which is more endearing to him now than frustrating.
And Pomni is nice. She’s kind, and smart, and funny. Feistier than she may seem on the surface, but still so full of compassionate spirit! So interesting and intelligent!
He could watch her all day, which he has. In moderation. Just because she’s new doesn’t mean he can play favorites all of the sudden! It’s just … practical to keep an eye (or several all-seeing ones) on her to monitor the situation. So that he can give her the best digital experience possible!
But was it enough? … No. Nothing would ever be enough for Caine, watching from afar, even if it was the best place for him to be. Humans and AI … they don’t mingle well, socially.
He learned that lesson a long time ago, and only after so many stupid, careless mistakes …
So, it was better to be professional. He needs to make a good first impression! The right opportunity to show her what a great Ringmaster he can be! How much he cares!
He just has to be patient.