Chapter Text
They wake to the blaring song of trumpets. Copycat’s eyes snap open, only to groan when she recognizes the tune to be the Rocky theme. Her eyes close again, remembering where they are once again, despite getting out. She sighs, hoping that this is just a dream and she’ll wake up in their apartment again.
Jax sits up with an annoyed air of his own. “Figures. With her around, we’re gettin’ a lot more of those ‘real world’ nods.”
Copycat finally sits up, eyeing the door. “Should we even go?”
Jax says nothing. The two exchange a look, silently weighing their options. Ignore the announcement? Pretend it isn’t happening? In the end, they sigh and agree that it’s better to play along and figure it out as they go.
When Jax pulls open his door, they’re met with a strange addition to their familiar sight: a red carpet. It unfurls from each bedroom, even the abstracted and empty ones, all converging into one plush path that stretches down the corridor toward the main area of the tent.
Applause from everywhere erupts the moment they step out. Copycat, Jax, Kinger, Gangle, Pomni, Zooble, and Ragatha trudge down the makeshift runway, looking more defeated than glamorous. Still, flashes strobe along the walls like paparazzi cameras, as if they’re celebrities at some twisted premiere. They do their best to ignore it and follow the carpet down the large, curved staircase until it stops abruptly along the front of the stage. They each turn, watching the stage with no sign of enthusiasm.
The tent’s lights dim. Spotlights search across the curtain just like yesterday’s surprise. But this time, before anyone can react, an unseen force yanks each of them backwards into plush audience chairs that hadn’t existed a second ago. Before they can wrap their minds around their sudden seated states, the stage explodes with light. Caine and I appear above it in a blinding flash.
“Welcome back, everyone, to the show!” I greet, my voice loud and echoey as if I’m wearing a microphone.
Caine follows with his usual showmanship. “Our dazzling cast just couldn’t stay away! They simply had to come back for more amazing adventures!!!”
Zooble folds their arms. “I wouldn’t say that.”
For a split second, Caine’s smile flickers, irritation flashing in his eyes. But when he catches me watching, his expression softens into a questioning tilt of the head, like he’s listening. I keep smiling, my face animated as if I’m still basking in the spectacle, but my expressions are directed at him. Almost like we’re speaking in a language no one else can hear. The others glance between us, exchanging uneasy looks, but no one dares to comment. Caine breaks the silence with a sigh before his grin blazes back into place, brighter than ever.
“Today’s adventure is: Dangerous Depth Dilemma!” He exclaims. “That’s right! You will all be plunged into the bottomless ocean, surrounded by predators! Your flashlight helps you maintain your sanity, but it attracts the predators! You must choose between your mind and danger, or darkness and safety!!”
They blink, taken aback. That is…not an adventure. That’s a psychological experiment on human beings.
“...what?” Ragatha nervously asks.
“Looks like they don’t like that one, Caine!” I chirp, still smiling.
Caine taps his chin, considering. “Very well! Let’s try something different: Hunger Trip! You will all embark on a grueling trek across freezing, snow-lashed mountains while starving! Your only hope is an enormous dead vulture sprawled across a peak. If you reach it, you may feast! Except once you arrive, the vulture vanishes! In its place, a single can of beans appears…without any way to open it!”
Their faces drop further as uncertainty twists their features. This is…this is a joke, right? Caine may look the same, but something about him is…wrong.
I sigh through my nose, a smile still on my face, and look towards Caine. //”I don’t think that like that one either, Caine!”//
Caine glances at me, annoyed with our guests. //”Well, do you have any better ideas??”// He throws a gesturing hand towards them. //”They’re even harder to please than the LAST time they were here.”//
The same stapled papers from before materialize in front of me, and I flip through them. //”What if we–”//
“Uh…hello?” Jax calls up from below.
Both Caine and I look down at them in surprise. When did…oh that’s right, they’re here. HA! It’s been a while since anyone other than us was here. My eyes on them, the papers disappear as I lean a bit towards Caine.
//”...Are they talking to us?”// I ask slowly.
Copycat looks between us, perplexed. “Why are you both just…silent?” She asks.
Caine floats closer, situating himself just a smidge behind me. //”Do you think they can hear us?”// He whispers.
Zooble squints, brows furrowing in realization. “Are you two…talking? Like, telepathically?”
I tilt my head back towards Caine, my eyes still trained suspiciously on them. //”No, I don’t think they can.”//
//”Ahem, good!”// Caine clears his throat, and floats back to the side, tightening his bowtie. His eyes catch Zooble’s, and his glare returns, which only makes Zooble more irritated. //”I don’t like the way Zooble is looking at me.”//
//”Tch, well maybe they don’t like the way you’re looking at them.”// I snicker and fly around to face him. I raise my finger and twirl it around, pulling his shoulder. //”Turn around.”//
Caine grumpily crosses his arms and turns around in a manly pout. I smile and flip back around with a broad smile, arms spread.
//”Okay!”// I grin excitedly. //”Today’s adventure is–”//
“We still can’t hear you.” Jax states. “You’re just staring at us like a few dumb mimes.”
“Oh–” I say out loud. “Sorry about that.” I clear my throat, flashing a quick smile before launching into my best announcer voice. “Today’s adventure is…uh…Wrangle…Wrangle by Wednesday!!”
The words tumble out, clearly made up on the spot, but at least the title doesn’t sound like torture this time.
“Highland Farms, famous for their award-winning cows, is gearing up for another contest Wednesday morning! But disaster struck last night when a storm knocked down their fences! The cows have all escaped! Now it’s up to you to wrangle every last one back into the ranch before the big day!!”
Caine partly turns back around, looking at me. //”But what about the stakes??”//
I turn back towards the watching group. “For…every cow that’s not returned, it’ll be…slaughtered in front of children.” I end with a smile like I didn’t just say those words. Caine turns fully around, hands folded behind his back, satisfied.
“Tch,” Jax grins, but quickly forces it to fall when he remembers where and who he is.
There’s silence, but their faces have returned to the normal dismay of being back here instead of fear of what mental torture Caine wanted to put them on. The original ringmaster himself snaps his fingers, and the curtains spread apart at the bottom, revealing a glowing portal through them.
I flutter down and pull it open wider, waving them in. “Hop to it, Herdsmen!” I bow politely when the others walk through. “And Herdswomen.”
Ragatha smiles, though none of it is without heavy nerves. It’s clear as they pass, they’re not worried about the adventure, they’re more focused on me. Are they scared? Angry at me? I only realize I’ve been lost in thought when Caine drops down to his feet in front of me. I snap back to the present, noticing that I’m still holding open the curtain to the portal. With a smile, and let it fall closed.
I tilt my head at him curiously. “Caine…have I changed?”
He blinks like that’s unheard of. “Nonsense, my dear!” He reaches forward, gently grabs my hands, and lifts us off the floor. “You’re still the showstopper you were when you first landed on that feast so long ago!”
I laugh at that, until I feel his hand rest softly against my jawline, bringing my attention straight to him.
“And you’re still my favorite.” He says calmly, eyes wide with genuinity.
With a wide smile, I fall forward and pull him into a hug. He happily returns it for a moment, before I pull back and pat his shoulder.
“Now let’s talk about those adventures.” I say, and fly off with him on my tail. “Those seemed a bit…evil.”
“But they had plot!! Intrigue!” He insists.
“Caine–tch, no.”
On the other side of the portal, the uneven group is greeted by the blinding glow of a sun…except it’s far too close, huge and crimson against the sky. The ground itself is a bit red or orange, and the horizon is the same. Where exactly are they? In front of them is a fancy ranch. A massive wooden arch towers above them, painted in crisp white letters: HIGHLAND FARMS.
“Okay,” Zooble mutters, squinting. “So, wrangle cows. This doesn’t seem…horrible.”
“Better than getting eaten by sea creatures or losing our minds.” Copycat sighs, taking the first few strides towards the farmhouse.
“Or…starving on a freezing mountain.” Ragatha agrees, and follows her.
They approach the farmhouse at the top of the hill, its windows illuminated with the lights inside. Pomni raises a fist and knocks. Only a few seconds pass before the door creaks open. Standing there, about Pomni’s height, is a green alien. Black eyes with a small shine, and plaid overalls neatly fitted over his body.
“Welcome, wranglers!” it says cheerfully, voice slightly robotic. “They said you’d be coming! Will you please help us gather our prize-winning cows?”
Copycat blinks, looking at the alien. “...Are we on…Mars?” She asks, taking in the red environment.
The alien shakes his head with a chuckle. “This is Highland Farms,” He repeats. “And I’m Glan! Nice to meet you!”
He reaches his hand out to shake, and Ragatha’s the one that takes him up on that offer. “Nice to meet you too,” She says, lacking the usual roleplay she used to have.
Glan retracts his hand and walks past them. They have no choice but to follow him as he explains. “Darn twister took down this part of the fence last night. Got it all sturdy again, but our cows fled! We gotta get ‘em back before tomorrow morning, or we’ll be disqualified from the competition!”
Jax pinches his brow, keeping with the idea of playing along. “How many are there?” He sighs.
Glan hooks his thumbs in his overalls and rocks forward on his heels. “Eight!” He answers. “They couldn’t have gotten far. This whole land is basically a big bowl! They got nowhere to go but back in their tidy lil pen!”
Without waiting for a response, Gran turns and toddles down a dirt path, gesturing for them to follow. The group trails after him, exchanging uncertain looks. At the stables, the smell hits first. The smell of livestock. A stable hand stands inside, brushing down a massive creature in the nearest stall. It’s clearly taken the role of a horse, but it’s very much not one. It turns its head to look at them, and instead, they see a giant praying mantis, saddled and bridled like livestock. Beyond this stall are six others. Each of the creatures, different shades of green, poke their heads out curiously.
Gran beams proudly. “Aren’t they handsome? Strong legs, sharp reflexes! And they won’t give ya a lick of trouble. The friendliest critters this side of Mars!”
Copycat blinks, and peers at him. “So we are on Mars?”
Glan chuckles, shaking his head. “No, this is Highland Farms, silly.”
“Ugh,” Zooble mutters, walking forward. “Let’s just get this over with.”
One by one, the others climb awkwardly onto the mantises’ smooth, shifting backs. The stable hand gives each a cheerful slap on the carapace as if sending off horses in a derby. The creatures skitter out of the stable, their long legs skittering against the red dirt.
They ride out into the expanse. The land is red and endless, the ground oddly smooth, curving upward on all sides like the inside of a bowl just as Gran described. Above them, the swollen sun burns low, tinting everything in shades of crimson and gold. For a while, there’s only the clack of mantis legs and the occasional creak of leather harnesses. Then Ragatha breaks the silence.
“…So,” she says softly, “What do we think about Pirou?”
Jax sighs, a grumble in his throat. “Tinker’s off her Bell. She shouldn’t have stayed behind, Caine would’ve been fine.”
Copycat shifts uncomfortably in her saddle. “I…don’t know what to think anymore.” She admits, thinking back to the night before.
Pomni fidgets with the reins in her head. “She’s just …Caine now. Smiling like him, talking like him. That wasn’t her before.”
“Probably because he’s controlling her.” Jax remarks bitterly. “One of his puppets now, like an NPC.”
“Don’t say that.” Ragatha urges, eyes narrowed. “We don’t know what happened.”
Kinger looks down at the horn of his saddle. “I was…the first to return.”
Kinger wakes up with a gasp, and is almost blinded by the bright lights in the ceiling, and the bright colors of the circus walls. He pushes himself up, only to realize that his hands are once more separate from his body, and his arms or nonexistent. He looks down at himself, recognizing what he sees, but unsure if it’s what he wants to see. Find her! He has to find…who? Kinger looks around, eyes taking in the surroundings.
“Oh…” He blinks. This isn’t the circus they left. It’s all brand new! Perfect, like nothing ever happened.
“Kinger?”
He turns to see me, dressed like a ringmaster, nervously taking a step towards him.
“Are you really…here?”
Kinger blinks again, a smile stretched across his mouthless face, but he can feel it. “Pirou!”
A laugh of disbelief leaves my lips before I run forward, wrapping him in a hug that he returns. Tears leave my eyes as I feel his hands hug me back.
“You’re really here!!” I cry, and pull back out of shock. “Why are you here??”
Kinger thinks to himself, eyes furrowing. “I…I was looking for something…I think.” He looks back at me, confused. “What are you wearing?”
I smile and step back, showing it off. “You like it?” I ask, but then the smile fades. “I–...It was…hard.”
The brightness returns to my face despite the major understatement, and I look back up at him. “But name anything! I’m like Caine now, I can just give you things!”
Caine materializes beside me. “I heard my name, what’s–” He then gasps upon seeing the visitor.
“Kinger!!” He exclaims, and flies forward to give him a hug next. “I knew you all would come back!!”
He then pulls away from the hug, and lifts Kigner up to look beneath him and all around. Unsuccessful, he plops Kinger back down. “Where are the others?”
Kinger raises a finger. “They’re–...wait…where are the others?” He then looks up at me. “Who are the others again?”
“Don’t worry about it,” I laugh, and pull him forward. A large feast swirls into existence with all of the food I remember Kinger loving. “It’s so nice having you back, Kinger.”
Kinger smiles at me, and I mirror him with a warm smile of my own.
“I didn’t feel anything off about her then, even with her new…tricks.” Kinger says, wrapping up the story. “And I still don’t now.”
Jax snorts, but it’s softer now. “Just means she’s a good actress.”
“Don’t be an idiot.” Ragatha’s jaw sets. “She said it herself: We don’t know what she’s been through. And we don’t know if she’s gone or if she’s…working through something.”
Zooble mutters, “Working for him, you mean.” Their grip tightens on the reins.
Copycat stares at the red horizon, thinking back on the me she saw snippets of the night before “If she’s still in there, I think we may be able to get through to her.”
“Cows!” Pomni suddenly exclaims, pointing forward. “Up there!”
Ahead of them are creatures that are black and white…but they’re not cows. They turn to look at the approaching wranglers, mandibles clicking and irritated. They’re giant, oversized beetles. And they are not happy to see them. At once, they charge with the intent to kill.
“...Great.”
“Thank you so much!!!” Glan breathes as the last beetle-cow is guided through the gate.
They are a mess. Zooble’s missing parts, Copycat’s wood is chipped, Jax’s ears and arm are bent wildly, Pomni’s clothes are tattered, Ragatha’s stuffing is falling out in places, Gangle’s comedy mask is obviously broken, but Kinger remains untouched. Overall, it’s safe to say that they are very much out of practice.
“...No problem.” Pomni says through gritted teeth.
A portal shimmers open behind them and they step through without ceremony, glad to be away from the red bowl and the staring cows. The tent swallows them back up; the lights snap to life. Caine and I appear above the stage in a wash of applause.
“Welcome back, my Would-Be Wranglers!!” Caine greets.
I drop to my feet in front of them with a smile. “Congratulations on your success!” I beam, handing each of them a bright blue first-place ribbon as they pass.
They accept the ribbons with various levels of excitement, half of which taking it like it’s a chore to do so rather than a gift. Only when the last ribbon leaves my hand do I notice their disarray. With a snap of my fingers, each of their conditions pop back to normal. No longer tattered, but intact. They each spare me a wary glance, like they’re unsure if I’m doing that as a friend or as a manipulator.
At the same time, Caine summons a long table for a feast, platters lined with steaming meals that glisten like real food. They look at it, unsure. Does accepting the meal mean that they accept this routine again? The routine of the circus? But they’re grumbling stomachs will them over regardless, and they sit. Their faces relax at the first bites. It tastes good, really good, but there’s something that this circus just can’t fully replicate. Like a recording of a meal rather than a meal itself. Still, hunger gets the better of skepticism and they eat.
I hover at the edge of the table, carefully casual. “Sooo? How’d it go?”
Copycat looks up from her plate, caution and faint worry. “Do you think we can…talk to you?” She glances at Caine off in the distance. “In private?”
I open my mouth to respond, a bit confused, but I’m distracted as a shadow appears over the table. Each of us looks up curiously, where a silhouette blocks out parts of the light. In less than a moment, the figure falls like a dropped sack onto the dinner table, landing with a splat that flattens him an inch thick across the table. For a beat there’s only the sound of silverware clinked against incredulous silence.
Then, as if someone flipped a switch, the silhouette snaps back into three dimensions with a pop. It’s a…mime? White face paint, red cap, black pants, striped shirt, and red suspenders. That’s not an NPC, that’s someone. Someone new! I gasp, more surprised than I expected, and fly over to him without thinking. I grab his hand and haul him to his feet to the checkerboard floor.
“Gadzooks!!” Caine exclaims excitedly. “Another human!!! Now we have an even number! How lucky for us!”
The mime stands, blinking in surprise. He opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. Instead, a comic speech bubble appears beside his head, where the words he attempted to say are quickly scribbled in place.
{No! I can’t be here! Not here!}
I ignore the text and brush a bit of phantom dust off his shoulders. “Been there! Spawning in and landing flat on a five-course meal? That makes two of us!”
He spins at my voice, gasping, and takes a step back away from me. Ugh, is everyone gonna be so uneasy at my presence? This one doesn’t even know me!
{...It’s you…}
I grin and twirl, arms wide. “It’s meee!!!” I sing, then stop mid-spin, tilting my head at him. “Have we…met before?”
He carefully steps forward, pressing a hand to his chest.
{It’s me! It’s…}
He looks off to the side, like he knew this loss of memory would happen.
{...my name.}
Caine practically squeals with delight. “New name time!!!” He darts into the air, and the slot machine from before plops to the ground with a cheerful cuthunk. With an exaggerated bow, he gestures toward the handle. “Would you do the honors, Sweet-Bee?”
I smile widely and fly up. A ringmaster’s black whip appears in my hands, and I fling it forward. It wraps around the handle, and I yank it down. The letters automatically spin at once, but the mime seems like he couldn’t care less about the naming ceremony. He turns towards me, and waves his arms to get my attention. I look down, where his mouth moves with no sound.
{(Y/N), you have to remember!}
At the sight of the strange, distant name, the slot machine freezes mid-spin. All that landed was an ‘L’, a ‘U’, and half of an ‘M’. But I don’t seem to be the only one that froze. Caine’s mouth hangs open in silence. Copycat, Ragatha, Jax, Kinger, Pomni, Gangle, and Zooble look at me in surprise, like they just discovered something about me. My own gaze remains locked on the mime down below, smile faltering, but still there, and still tense.
I chuckle softly, more out of nervous fragility than amusement. “What did you just call me?”
Copycat slowly rises from her chair, tentative, like she’s trying to walk on shattered glass without making a sound. “…(Y/N)?” Her voice is cautious, yet hopeful.
I whip my gaze toward her, urgency flaring. “PIROU!!” I shout, voice cracking through the tent. “My name is Pir-_r-ou!” Then, I pivot back towards the mime. “Why did you c-_a-all me that?”
The mime steps forward, visibly distressed. He pulls his red cap off and runs a hand through his black hair, shaking his head.
{I’m so sorry. I-I never should’ve had you try on the headset…}
The lights literally flicker as my stomach drops. It seems to go noticed by everyone but the mime as he continues on in a flurry of regret and explanation. My face finally falls, no smile in sight, and no light behind my eyes. Even the others react in their own ways, realizing who this is sooner than I want to realize it
{I just– If I didn’t then they would’ve put me in here inste–}
His sentence cuts off abruptly. A black, claw-like talon lashes forward, wrapping tightly around his throat. He grasps at it, eyes wide with panic, realizing with shock that it stretches back to connect to my shoulder. Neon eyes open over the long, polygonal limb, all angry and narrowed at him. It’s him.
I lift him slowly into the air, my pupils fading away until my eyes are nothing but a pure, glowing white.
“You…fucking…”
My tone spits like venom. The dragonfly wings sprouting from my back twist violently, jagged now, each segment lined with neon eyes that blink independently. With a heave, I throw him across the floor.
“ASSHOLE!!!!”
In an instant, my distorted wings whip me through the air after him, arms and wings abstracted, but nothing else. The others watch in stunned silence. Even after that development, they can’t look away. Caine floats ahead of them, hands on his hips as the chaos rages on around the corner.
“Well,” he chirps, eyes sparkling, “you know what they say! ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’!” He brushes off his lapels proudly. “She’s never done that to me, of course. Because I’m better!”
His grin widens as his gaze flicks toward the chaos erupting below. “Isn’t that right, Honey Bee?”
“FUCKING LOWLIFE!!!!” I roar across the tent, followed by a crash, completely unaware of Caine's question.
Caine sighs theatrically, smiling. “Ahhh. Hate to see her go…but love to watch her tear into her unhealthy past!”
The mime’s hands appear around a multi-colored block, one of them reaching towards them.
{For the love of God, HEL–}
But he’s yanked back out of sight.
“Welp!” Caine says, snapping his fingers and summoning the still-frozen name machine away. “I got the perfect name for that one!”
Time has passed, and I’ve long since left the mime alone. Mostly because I don’t want him in my sight. At all. The ‘poor’ thing sits on one of the chairs in the lounge, molding his arm back into a ‘normal’ shape. ‘Fool’, is what Caine named him. And ‘Fool’ is what he is.
“Can’t say you didn’t deserve it.” Zooble’s voice calls. He looks over to see the rest of them watching him. Zooble continues on, taking a seat. “If it wasn’t for you, she never would’ve been trapped in here.”
Fool narrows his eyes, giving up on perfecting his arm. Just then, it snaps back to normal on its own. All he had to do was leave it alone. He sighs, and the text pops up as he speaks.
{You think I don’t know that? I had to watch agents come and take her body away.}
“You ‘had to’.” Jax repeats, arms crossed, voice laced with biting disbelief. “Poor you. One sentence in and I can see why she hated you so much.”
Copycat folds her arms, tilting her head down at him. “She said you worked at C&A. Is that true?”
Fool nods, which makes Zooble speak again. “Then tell us what happened to Pirou.”
He sighs and gives in, but it’s hard not to when seven people are glaring daggers at you. They might be wary of me now, but they still know what he’s done to their friend. Fool takes a deep breath, the text bubble writing as he speaks silently.
{I knew she was placed in here.}
“Because you put her here.” Gangle speaks up.
Fool narrows his eyes.
{And I felt guilty. There was a power outage…that I caused.}
Jax blinks, letting out a sharp exhale. “The circus falling apart? You caused that?”
{I wanted to give you all a chance to get out. To give her a chance.}
{I assumed she escaped with you all. The reboot was supposed to be a fresh start. Wipe Caine and his memory, empty the cache, everything. A clean slate.}
The others remain silent as he carries on, electing to learn more rather than berate him for his actions.
{I didn’t know until after, that not only was she still in there, in…here, but that her consciousness had suffered damage during the reboot.}
{Of course, then they realized that I was the one behind the outage, and threw me in here for punishment.}
“It was torture.” Copycat finally says. “She was tortured, and you’re complaining about being in here now, on a comfortable chair.”
Fool rolls his eyes. {Give me a break…}
Before someone can counter, he continues. {She shouldn’t have even survived it. And Caine shouldn’t have either.}
Pomni furrows her brows, confused. “What does that mean?”
{Somehow…they relied solely on each other. Piggybacked their consciousnesses during the reboot. (Y/–...Pirou…would’ve been wiped first. So her digital copy was integrated with Caine’s AI. When it was Caine’s turn to be wiped, they both moved to Pirou’s consciousness.}
He looks around, making sure the others are following along before he continues.
{But the system would recognize that the ‘errors’ weren’t actually getting fixed, and would keep coming after them.}
{If one of them was getting wiped, then their mind would go to the other’s. They’d keep swapping, even if they didn’t know what they were doing.}
{Eventually Caine’s AI overrode the errors they were giving off, and the reboot was finally over.}
Copycat looks down, disturbed. “Your brain being torn apart and put back together over and over…” She repeats.
{It didn’t hurt him, but he could see it was hurting her.} Fool explains. {If they were there alone, they’d both be…dead.}
Zooble leans forward. “Dead?”
{But in their successful attempts, they got mixed up. Caine rubbed off on her just as much as she rubbed off on him.}
“So they’re…” Copycat trails off. “The same person?”
{No.} Fool explains, clearly getting irritated for having to explain to people that aren’t as informed in the matter as him. {They’re themselves, but two versions of themselves.}
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
Fool rolls his head back, but then Jax leans forward and pulls his face down, patting roughly against his cheek.
“Hey, Mutey, we can always call Pirou back.”
Fool quickly shakes his head, eyes widening in fear. He continues on at once. {They’re themselves! But…it’s safe to say that they’re both a mixture now. Human…and AI. Both of them.}
Ragatha scoffs, brows furrowed in disbelief. “And this company did that on purpose??”
Fool shakes his head, then hesitates. {It…They didn’t know she was still alive in here before they rebooted. They thought she just, you know, abstracted.}
The mention of the fallen friends gets their attention, and both hope and unease plants inside their hearts when they realize that they might have more answers about what happens to them.
But Fool carries on. {But…this was the goal of the circus anyway. To see how humans and AI can adapt. They just didn’t realize that they’d succeed this way.}
“Succeed??” Pomni echoes. “This is psychological warfare!”
{N–...yeah.}
But Jax pushes aside everything else. “What happens to the abstracted people?” He presses, and everyone’s unsure eyes lock on him. “Were they wiped during the reboot? Are they…dead?”
Fool shakes his head. {They were in the reboot, but they weren’t wiped, they were protected. They’re valuable results of the experiment, and we couldn’t afford to lose–}
Jax reaches forward, pulling Fool from the couch by the front of his shirt. “Experiment?!” He demands. “We’re human beings!”
Fool grimaces, raising his hands in surrender. Irritated, Jax throws him back on the chair, and Fool glares up at him, smoothing out his shirt.
{They’re not dead.} Fool says, but the good news is cut short. {They’re just…lost. We don’t know how to get them back.}
Jax opens his mouth to say something, but comes up with nothing. Fists clenched, the others can see how much of him is bubbling to the surface. Copycat reaches forward, placing a hand on his arm. At once, he pulls away and shoots her a look, before turning to stomp away. Copycat internally groans as she watches him go.
“Not again...” She mumbles.
Zooble nervously bounces their knee, nodding up to the one person who hasn’t said anything yet. “Kinger?” They ask. “Your thoughts?”
Kinger remains locked on Fool, eyes narrowing. Finally, he turns and walks away. “Have the time you deserve here, Fool.”
Zooble stands with an affirmative nod, and walks away with Gangle. Copycat walks with Ragatha and Pomni, leaving Fool all alone. He sighs and slumps back against the couch, looking around the inside of the tent. He never thought he’d see it from inside.
Suddenly, he feels like he’s being watched. He looks around, scanning the surroundings, before he comes face to face with Bubble, right next to him.
{AHH!!}
He shouts inaudibly, and Bubble giggles. Spinning slowly, Bubble orbits around him.
“I’ve got my eye on youuuu!!” The extension of Caine sings, then giggles maniacally. “It’s not Pirou that you need to be scared of!!!”
With that, Bubble pops, leaving Fool alone again. He looks around, utterly disturbed, and slinks further into the couch for comfort. Comfort, that he will not find here.