Episode 1: “Pilot”

[TITLE CARD SEQUENCE]

The screen is black.

A faint electronic hum grows louder.

A cursor blinks in empty space.

Then—

GLITCH.

A burst of color floods the screen like a corrupted game booting up.

Fragments of laughter. Static. Children’s carnival music warped beyond recognition.

A distorted logo assembles itself:

THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS

The letters jitter slightly, as if unsure they belong there.

CUT TO BLACK.

[INTRO – THE CIRCUS BOOTS UP]

The world loads like an unfinished game.

Geometry snaps into place too quickly.

Skyboxes stretch infinitely.

Ground textures repeat incorrectly.

Nothing is fully stable.

A voice cuts through the void.

CAINE:

“WELCOME BACK, EVERYBODY!!!”

A floating figure appears.

A set of chattering teeth with eyes, wearing a top hat.

Smiling too wide.

Too aware.

Beside him, a small floating orb appears.

BUBBLE:

“Bloop.”

CAINE:

“Oh yes, Bubble! That’s the spirit!”

He spins dramatically in the air.

CAINE:

“WELCOME TO THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS!”

“WHERE REALITY IS OPTIONAL AND SANITY IS A SUGGESTION!”

Confetti erupts from nowhere.

It continues to fall even when physics clearly stops supporting it.

[CHARACTER INTRODUCTION SEQUENCE]

A spotlight turns on.

RAGATHA

A stitched rag doll-like figure waves gently.

Her smile is warm.

But tired.

Always tired.

CAINE:

“RAGATHA!”

“OUR EVER-OPTIMISTIC SUPPORT SYSTEM!”

“PLEASE DO NOT QUESTION HOW SHE’S STILL SMILING!”

JAX

A purple rabbit-like figure leans against a floating wall.

Hands in pockets.

Expression unreadable but clearly judgmental.

CAINE:

“JAX!”

“CHAOS ENTHUSIAST!”

“MINOR CRIME ENERGY!”

JAX:

“Yeah yeah, keep talking.”

GANGLE

A ribbon-bodied figure with a theatre mask.

The mask shifts constantly.

Happy → Sad → Panicked → Crying.

CAINE:

“GANGLE!”

“EMOTIONAL RANGE: YES!”

GANGLE:

“I don’t understand what’s happening...”

ZOOBLE

A modular toy-like being made of mismatched parts.

They immediately cross their arms.

CAINE:

“ZOO—”

ZOOBLE:

“I already regret this.”

CAINE:

“—BLE!”

KINGER

A white chess king wearing a purple robe.

Standing perfectly still.

Except for the fact that he isn’t.

CAINE:

“KINGER!”

“LONGEST RESIDENT!”

“CURRENTLY HOLDING TOGETHER THROUGH PURE CONFUSION!”

KINGER:

“The walls are remembering me again...”

KAUFMO

Only a cardboard cutout exists.

Smiling.

Unmoving.

Wrong.

A brief silence passes.

CAINE (slightly too cheerful):

“Kaufmo is... unavailable!”

A sudden distortion tears through the air.

The world glitches violently.

A human figure appears mid-collapse into the system.

A jester-like silhouette.

Headset still on.

Confused breathing.

“W-what is this...?!”

She stumbles forward.

The ground shifts beneath her feet like it’s unsure she should exist.

CAINE:

“OH! A NEW PARTICIPANT!”

“WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME!!!”

“Where am I?!”

“WHAT IS THIS PLACE?!”

CAINE:

“You are in the DIGITAL CIRCUS!”

“Home of adventure, wonder, and occasional psychological instability!”

“I WANT TO LEAVE!”

CAINE:

“Oh-ho-ho!”

“That’s the funny part!”

“You can’t!”

Silence drops instantly.

“...What?”

Jax:

“She’ll get used to it.”

“No I won’t.”

Caine tilts his head.

His eyes flicker.

CAINE:

“Hmm...”

“Name acquisition incomplete.”

“Assigning designation...”

A pause.

CAINE:

“POMNI!”

POMNI:

“That’s not my name!”

CAINE:

“It is now!”

The world shifts.

Color bends.

Reality folds like paper.

CAINE:

“FIRST ADVENTURE TIME!”

“INTRODUCTORY EXPERIENCE: GLOINK INFESTATION!”

Small squeaking creatures appear everywhere.

Gloinks.

They attach to objects instantly.

Multiply instantly.

Spread instantly.

RAGATHA:

“Okay, we just need to stay calm—”

ZOOBLE:

“I’m leaving.”

Zooble attempts to exit—

But their body splits apart instantly.

Dragged away by Gloinks.

POMNI:

“WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!”

JAX:

“Yeah that happens.”

RAGATHA:

“We need to find Kaufmo.”

POMNI:

“Kaufmo?”

RAGATHA:

“He’s been... unstable.”

“Like Kinger.”

KINGER (from afar):

“I CAN HEAR THE FLOOR THINKING AGAIN!”

They travel deeper into the structure.

Hallways stretch too long.

Doors lead to impossible rooms.

RAGATHA:

“We used to try escaping too.”

“But eventually you realize...”

“There is no exit.”

POMNI:

“No... there HAS to be.”

Ragatha:

“If you keep thinking that...”

“You’ll go insane.”

They arrive.

Kaufmo’s room.

Door opens.

Silence.

Then—

A monstrous, shifting black mass.

Rainbow eyes.

Broken clown geometry.

Breathing wrong.

Ragatha:

“...Oh no.”

Pomni:

“That’s Kaufmo?!”

The Abstracted Kaufmo strikes.

Walls explode.

Floor collapses.

Reality stutters.

Ragatha is slammed through structures repeatedly.

Her body begins glitching.

Ragatha:

“Pomni—RUN—!”

Pomni:

“I CAN’T JUST LEAVE YOU—!”

Jax walks away casually.

Carrying a bowling ball.

Jax:

“Good luck with that.”

Pomni:

“YOU’RE JUST LEAVING?!”

Jax:

“Yep.”

Kaufmo turns.

Pomni runs.

Ragatha stabilizes briefly.

Then glitches harder.

Pomni’s hand begins to corrupt.

Pomni:

“Something is wrong with me—!”

Pomni escapes.

Runs alone.

Doors everywhere.

Reality bending.

Then—

A door.

Different.

Too real.

She opens it.

An office.

Gray.

Sterile.

Unnatural.

A sign:

C&A

Pomni:

“...What is this place?”

The door vanishes.

She falls.

Endless darkness.

Endless silence.

Her mind unravels.

Caine appears instantly.

CAINE:

“OH DEAR! VOID EXPOSURE!”

“That’s not good!”

He pulls her back.

Pomni collapses back into the Circus.

Ragatha stabilizes.

Kaufmo continues rampaging elsewhere.

CAINE:

“Apologies!”

“I may have... misjudged the exit door thing!”

Pomni:

“...You don’t know what it is?”

CAINE:

“I know MANY things!”

“That is not one of them!”

Bubble prepares food.

Impossible table appears.

Everyone sits.

Gangle:

“I want to go home...”

ZOOBLE:

“Same.”

Ragatha:

“You get used to it...”

Pomni (quietly):

“...I don’t think I will.”

Camera pulls back.

The Circus becomes smaller.

Then the Void.

Then nothing.

Then—

A computer screen.

Old.

Running the simulation.

Flickering.

Caine leans in.

Too close.

CAINE:

“OH! BEFORE YOU GO!”

“If there are any other undisclosed users...”

“A Susan... a Jemo... perhaps a {{User}}...”

CAINE:

“ARE YOU JOINING THE CIRCUS?”

“OR JUST WATCHING FROM OUTSIDE LIKE A VERY CONFUSED DIMENSIONAL TOURIST?!”

Pause.

CAINE:

“No? Nothing?”

CLAP.

CAINE:

“PERFECT!”

“THEN LET’S START THE SHOW!”

Episode 2: “Candy carrier chaos”

Pomni wakes in the middle of the Tent with a jolt.

Her heart is pounding too fast.

Too loud.

Too real.

She sits up, already feeling wrong, like her body has remembered something before her mind has.

Her arm flickers.

Just once.

Then again.

Small pieces of her hand begin to pixelate and separate, like the world is trying to decide whether she counts as stable.

POMNI: “No— no, not now—”

Her breath catches.

The floor under her shifts.

Not cracks.

Not breaks.

Just drops away like a trapdoor into someplace lower than lower.

Pomni falls through the dark.

The Cellar yawns open beneath her.

Silhouettes watch from above.

Caine.

Ragatha.

Jax.

They don’t move to help.

They watch her fall like she’s a punchline that finally landed.

CAINE (echoing): “Ohohoho! That is not ideal!”

JAX: “She’s already doing the bad stuff.”

RAGATHA: “Jax, stop talking like this is funny.”

CAINE: “It is a little funny.”

Pomni reaches upward.

Her fingers stretch, fracture, and flicker out into little blocks of light.

The dark swallows her whole.

Then the episode hard-cuts.

Pomni gasps awake in bed and immediately rolls off the mattress.

Her body glitches against the floor, briefly becoming a cube before snapping back into place with a painful-looking flicker.

POMNI: “...I hate this.”

There’s a knock at the door.

RAGATHA: “Pomni? Are you awake?”

Pomni freezes.

She looks at the door but doesn’t answer.

Ragatha waits for a beat, then softens.

RAGATHA: “...I guess she’s still asleep.”

Ragatha turns to leave.

The door opens before she can get far.

POMNI: “I’m awake.”

Ragatha brightens immediately, like the room itself got a little less heavy just because Pomni spoke.

RAGATHA: “Oh! Good. Caine’s got an adventure ready for us.”

Pomni hesitates, then looks down for a moment.

POMNI: “...Sorry.”

Ragatha blinks.

RAGATHA: “For what?”

POMNI: “For last time. For running away.”

Ragatha’s expression softens, but she doesn’t make it a big thing. She just steps a little closer.

RAGATHA: “It’s okay. Really. You’re here now.”

Pomni nods once, still embarrassed, still tense, but a little less alone than she was a minute ago.

The stage lights snap on.

Caine is already there, hovering with the kind of theatrical energy that feels both reassuring and deeply dangerous.

CAINE: “WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME!”

“OH, IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR AN ADVENTURE!”

He spins in the air and stops just as dramatically as he started.

CAINE: “But before we begin...”

He leans forward a little too much, as if he’s addressing someone past the camera and not just the cast.

CAINE: “I’ve heard a most fascinating rumor.”

“I hear this whole little escapade is being watched on something called Janitor AI.”

Bubble bobs beside him, unimpressed.

BUBBLE: “Gooner.”

CAINE: “Oh hush you.”

He clears his throat with exaggerated dignity.

CAINE: “Now, I would of course never accuse my audience of being invasive, nosy, or terminally online.”

Beat.

CAINE: “I would, however, absolutely love to read any published chats.”

Another beat.

CAINE: “Purely for research.”

Bubble slowly tilts toward him like it has already heard this exact excuse before.

BUBBLE: “You are such a gooner.”

CAINE: “I am not a gooner.”

BUBBLE: “You said you wanted to read strangers’ chats while on the toilet.”

CAINE: “That was for archival purposes.”

BUBBLE: “Gooner.”

CAINE: “OH HUSH YOU.”

Jax snorts.

JAX: “He’s not beating the allegations.”

CAINE: “Rude! Anyway— NEW ADVENTURE!”

The stage flickers.

The air ripples.

The title bursts into existence above them in a shower of candy-colored light.

CAINE: “Candy Carrier Chaos!”

The words hang there for a moment while the whole world around them begins to reshape itself into bright sugar-coated nonsense.

CAINE: “The Candy Canyon Kingdom has had its most prized resource stolen!”

“MAPLE SYRUP!”

The word ‘maple’ is said like it is an ancient relic.

CAINE: “And the dastardly gummy crocodile bandits have taken it!”

Pomni stares at him.

POMNI: “That is... weirdly specific.”

CAINE: “Thank you!”

POMNI: “That was not a compliment.”

CAINE: “It was to me.”

Ragatha glances at Pomni, then back to Caine.

RAGATHA: “What do we have to do?”

CAINE: “Oh, the usual!”

“Find the syrup!”

“Chase the bandits!”

“Possibly learn something about yourselves along the way!”

Jax groans instantly.

JAX: “You lost me at ‘learn something.’”

Zooble crosses their arms and immediately looks like they are considering a life choice that ends with everyone else being dead.

ZOOBLE: “I’m not doing this one.”

CAINE: “Oh, but Zooble! I’ve even upgraded the experience!”

“This episode features a more immersive AI!”

Zooble doesn’t react.

ZOOLE: “No.”

CAINE: “No?”

ZOOLE: “No.”

CAINE: “Not even a little curious?”

ZOOLE: “Less than before.”

Caine pouts for exactly one second too long.

CAINE: “Fine. Your loss. More adventure for everyone else!”

He claps once.

The floor opens into a glowing portal.

CAINE: “INTO THE CANDY CANYON WITH YOU!”

The remaining crew are shoved through before anyone can object.

Pomni yelps as the world warps around her.

Ragatha grabs at the air.

Jax laughs on the way down like he’s trying to convince himself he enjoys this.

Kinger is already speaking before he lands.

KINGER: “If syrup is an ordered liquid and order is a fragile illusion then—”

He blinks.

KINGER: “...I forgot what I was saying.”

Then the Candy Canyon Kingdom loads around them.

Bright.

Soft.

Absurdly sweet.

Candy trees stretch into a pink-and-gold sky.

Fudge rivers glisten below shiny stone paths.

The air itself feels sticky in a way that shouldn’t be possible.

POMNI: “This is...”

RAGATHA: “Pretty?”

POMNI: “Threatening.”

JAX: “I was gonna say stupid.”

They’re seated in a carriage pulled by a gummy elephant, which lumbers forward with gentle, ridiculous dignity.

Outside the kingdom gate, mannequins line the path and clap too hard, too fast, like they’ve rehearsed the cheering enough times that it’s become a reflex.

One mannequin behind a candy tree peeks out and immediately ducks back behind the trunk as the carriage rolls past.

RAGATHA: “Okay... this is kind of adorable.”

JAX: “That’s what’s wrong with it.”

The carriage slows as the kingdom’s drawbridge opens.

The mannequins cheer louder.

Pomni looks around, trying not to stare at any one thing too long because everything in here feels like it might smile back.

When they finally hop out, the castle is already waiting for them, gaudy and polished and ridiculous in a way that somehow still feels important.

They walk forward, and one mannequin, moving just a little too enthusiastically, bumps straight into Gangle and knocks her flat.

Her mask slips from her face and cracks on the ground.

GANGLE: “Oh no...”

The mannequins gasp as one unit.

Then, almost immediately, they begin cheering again like nothing happened.

A larger figure steps out from the castle doors.

Princess Loolilalu.

The kingdom hushes down around her as she approaches, her expression regal and a little too sure of itself.

PRINCESS LOOLILALU: “You’ve arrived.”

She glances upward, toward the artistic window high above them.

PRINCESS LOOLILALU: “Sent by the great and mighty, I assume.”

Pomni looks up too, confused.

POMNI: “...What?”

No one answers that, because apparently the princess has already decided the conversation is moving on.

PRINCESS LOOLILALU: “Our maple syrup has been stolen.”

“The gummy crocodile bandits took it.”

“They have a truck.”

She gestures toward the road beyond the kingdom.

PRINCESS LOOLILALU: “You will chase them with another truck.”

Ragatha takes a breath, trying to keep up.

RAGATHA: “Just like that?”

PRINCESS LOOLILALU: “Yes.”

The princess produces a key and places it in Ragatha’s hands.

PRINCESS LOOLILALU: “Keep this.”

Ragatha takes it carefully, like it matters more than the others realize.

RAGATHA: “Okay.”

JAX: “She’s definitely going to lose that.”

RAGATHA: “I am standing right here.”

JAX: “And yet.”

Jax points at Gangle, who is still recovering from the mask breaking.

JAX: “Also, you’re driving.”

GANGLE: “Me?”

JAX: “Yeah. I don’t like the horn.”

GANGLE: “That’s not a reason.”

JAX: “It is to me.”

Kinger looks toward the road, then back at the kingdom, as if trying to remember whether he has a point or if the point has him.

KINGER: “A key is only meaningful if someone believes in the door...”

He pauses.

KINGER: “I think.”

Another beat.

KINGER: “No, wait. That’s gone.”

Princess Loolilalu gives a bright smile as the mannequins resume their too-loud applause.

PRINCESS LOOLILALU: “Good luck.”

The carriage begins to move again.

The kingdom gate opens.

The drawbridge lifts behind them once they pass through.

Caine’s voice echoes one last time above the sky, delighted and smug and far too pleased with himself.

CAINE: “EXCELLENT!”

“THE ADVENTURE HAS BEGUN!”

And the truck rolls out beyond the candy walls.

Episode 3: “The Mystery Of Mildenhall Manor”

The gang stands in a loose circle while Pomni tries to hold her breath.

Pomni: “I can do this... I can do this...”

She immediately inhales again.

Jax: “You’ve been saying that for three minutes. Impressive failure rate.”

Ragatha: “Don’t encourage her, Jax.”

Kinger: “Breathing is... often recommended. Historically speaking.”

Jax: “Wow. Genius insight.”

Kinger: “...What was I saying?”

He freezes, then nods to himself as if solving a mystery only he can hear.

Kinger: “Ah. Yes. Breathing. Dangerous activity.”

Pomni tries again, cheeks puffed.

Her face slowly shifts through increasing color changes as she keeps holding her breath.

Jax: “Oh wow. She’s lagging.”

Ragatha: “She’s not a game, Jax.”

Zooble: “Why are we doing this again?”

Jax: “Because it’s funny.”

Zooble flips him off.

Jax: “Valid.”

Pomni exhales in frustration and slumps a little.

At that exact moment, Caine appears overhead in a burst of glittering light.

Caine: “HELLO, MY BEAUTIFUL PARTICIPANTS!”

“Why are you all just standing there not suffering productively?”

Ragatha: “That’s a concerning way to put it.”

Caine: “Today’s adventure!”

“The Mystery of Mildenhall Manor!”

A massive mansion materializes behind him with a dramatic, spooky flourish.

Caine: “Ghosts! Tragedy! Mild psychological damage!”

Pomni: “...Why is that always included.”

Caine: “Because it’s immersive!”

Zooble: “We’re not doing this again.”

Caine pauses as if just noticing something important.

Caine: “...Zooble is missing again.”

“I made this one really cool. And mature. And emotionally stable.”

Bubble: “You said that last time.”

Caine: “Irrelevant.”

Bubble: “Gooner.”

Caine: “Oh hush you.”

He straightens instantly, clapping his hands together.

Caine: “New adventure!”

The world shifts, and the five remaining players are pushed into the portal.

The mansion loads in with a low, glitchy hum.

Iron gates creak open. Fog rolls along the ground. Too many windows stare back at them.

Pomni: “...I hate this already.”

Jax: “Good start.”

Ragatha: “Let’s just stick together, okay?”

Kinger: “Togetherness improves survival probability.”

Jax: “He said a smart thing. Write that down.”

Kinger: “...Write what down?”

A floating ghost appears in front of them with a cheerful wave.

Ghostly: “Welcome! I will be your guide!”

Pomni: “Nope—”

Her eyes pop out of her head in cartoon panic.

Kinger: “Ah. Ocular separation event.”

He casually picks up one of her eyes and turns it over in his hand.

Kinger: “Do these normally detach?”

Pomni: “Put it back.”

Ghostly: “Please choose wisely! You may go through the normal door...”

Two doors appear.

One is labeled “WOW” and the other “AAAAA.”

Ghostly: “...or the scary door, for mature Zoobles only.”

Jax: “Scary.”

Ragatha: “We don’t even know what that means!”

Jax: “Exactly.”

Before Ghostly can say anything else, Jax sucks them into a vacuum and dismisses them with a shrug.

Ragatha: “Jax!”

Jax: “What? I thought we were supposed to capture all the ghosts.”

Gangle looks between the doors, then at the others, clearly uncertain.

Jax immediately grabs Gangle’s comedy mask and throws it into the scary door.

The door turns into a giant monstrous mouth and eats it whole.

Gangle: “My mask—!”

Kinger: “That seems emotionally inconvenient.”

Kinger rushes after it, still holding Pomni’s eye, dragging her along with him.

Pomni: “Wait—my eye!”

The three remaining in the hall watch in horror as Kinger and Pomni disappear through the scary door.

Jax: “Yep. That was the scary one.”

Meanwhile, Caine finds Zooble by snapping his fingers and dragging them into a therapy room.

Zooble: “...You could do that the whole time?”

Caine: “Don’t worry about that.”

Zooble: “That’s the whole issue.”

Caine: “Please describe your feelings in detail.”

Zooble: “No.”

Caine: “Excellent. Therapy progressing.”

Back in the mansion, Kinger and Pomni emerge into a room lined with creepy preserved heads, including all of their castmates and one strange seventh figure.

Pomni: “Why are there heads.”

Kinger: “Decorative or symbolic. Unclear.”

A tape player clicks on, and Baron Mildenhall’s voice fills the room.

Baron Mildenhall: “It was not an animal... not a man...”

Kinger: “I’m starting to think this is relevant.”

Pomni: “You just now started thinking?!”

They move into the next room, which is covered in photos, missing posters, and more tape recorders.

Baron Mildenhall: “Do not take your eyes off it.”

Kinger stares at the walls for a second, then squints.

Kinger: “...Inconvenient instruction.”

Pomni: “Why is everything inconvenient here?!”

The lights go out.

Pomni: “I hate darkness—”

Kinger: “Darkness is statistically worse, yes.”

A monster suddenly appears in the room.

Kinger: “Oh. That’s the thing.”

Pomni: “Run!”

They flee deeper into the manor.

Elsewhere, Ragatha and Jax sit with a ghostly woman at a tea table, while Gangle hovers nearby looking deeply uncomfortable.

Ragatha: “...Sorry your husband killed you.”

Martha Mildenhall: “Men are like that sometimes.”

Ragatha: “...Fair.”

Jax: “This tea sucks.”

Martha Mildenhall: “He’s funny.”

Ragatha: “...No, he isn’t.”

Martha smiles politely as if this is just normal dinner conversation.

Back with Pomni and Kinger, they crash down into a lower chamber.

Baron Mildenhall’s tape: “I became the monster.”

Pomni: “Cool. Love that for him.”

A corpse shifts in the dark.

A head crawls across the floor behind them.

Kinger: “That seems like two separate problems.”

A gun appears within reach.

Kinger: “Two shots. Emotionally efficient.”

He fires both.

The room falls quiet.

Baron Mildenhall’s tape: “You have doomed yourselves.”

Pomni: “...I hate this place.”

The floor opens beneath them and swallows them both.

They land in a strange corridor of fog.

Kinger: “Do not breathe too much.”

Pomni: “That’s not how breathing works.”

Kinger: “Uncertain.”

They inhale anyway, and the air immediately begins to distort around them.

Pomni’s face shifts in color again while Kinger begins to glow faintly, exactly like Jax had described.

They stumble back into the group moments later, both a little worse for wear.

Ragatha: “Are you okay?”

Pomni: “...Yeah.”

Kinger: “She was statistically brave.”

He pauses, staring at nothing for a second too long.

Kinger: “...Brave? What is bravery.”

Zooble appears briefly back in the circus tent as Caine immediately forgets what he was doing and pretends the therapy session never happened.

Caine: “...Anyway.”

The group finally splits up in the aftermath of the adventure.

Ragatha: “We should rest.”

She walks off first.

Gangle: “...I’ll go too.”

She follows after her.

Jax: “Boring.”

He leaves in a different direction, hands in his pockets.

Kinger: “...I should locate my pillow fort.”

He wanders off as well.

Pomni stands alone for a second, watching the others disappear in different directions, before slowly walking the opposite way herself.

Episode 4: “Fast Food Masquerade”

The group stands loosely around a cleared patch of ground in the circus.

Ragatha holds a soft baseball in her hand.

Gangle stands opposite her, tense.

Jax sits nearby like he’s been forced to exist.

Pomni watches quietly.

Ragatha: “Okay, just focus and try to aim it straight. You’ve got this, Gangle.”

Gangle: “I think I can do it.”

Jax: “Please don’t.”

Ragatha: “Don’t listen to him.”

Gangle winds up and throws the ball.

It flies wildly off course.

Jax lazily swings his bat.

The ball ricochets straight into Gangle’s mask.

It cracks instantly.

Silence.

Ragatha: “...Oh.”

Jax: “That’s on me. Technically her fault though.”

Ragatha: “HOW is that her fault?!”

Zooble walks in, holding something behind their back.

They look at Gangle for a moment, then step forward.

They gently place a plastic mask into her hands.

Zooble: “It’s nothing special. Just something I found.”

Gangle hesitates, then puts it on.

She pauses.

Then exhales.

Gangle: “I... feel normal. In a good way.”

Zooble: “Don’t overthink it.”

Gangle: “...Thank you.”

Pomni, Ragatha, and Jax turn as Caine drops into view from above.

Caine: “HELLO, EMPLOYEES OF CHAOS AND EXISTENTIAL DREAD!”

Ragatha: “...Here we go again.”

Caine: “Today’s adventure is titled... The Curse of the Violent Psychopath Butcher!”

Pomni: “Can we maybe not do horror again? After last time?”

Caine: “Oh? And what would YOU suggest instead?”

Zooble: “You do have a suggestion box.”

Caine pauses.

Caine: “...I do?”

A wall opens.

A box slides out.

Caine pulls out a stack of papers.

Caine: “Hitting Zooble like a piñata...”

Zooble: “No.”

Caine: “And ‘Jax must remain silent for one adventure’...”

Jax: “Who wrote that? I hate them already.”

Gangle: “Maybe... something normal?”

Caine pauses, then smiles.

Caine: “Ah! One viable corporate suggestion!”

Caine: “Working at a fast food restaurant!”

Gangle: “Yes! That sounds... manageable.”

Caine: “Then it is decided!”

Caine: “Welcome to: An Honest Hard Day’s Work at Spudsy’s Restaurant Chain!”

Zooble: “I’m sitting this one out.”

Caine: “Oh no you’re not.”

Kinger steps forward.

Kinger: “If Zooble wishes to abstain, I can take their place. There seems to be a finite participation allowance.”

Zooble: “That’s not a thing.”

Caine: “A loophole!”

Zooble drops through a trapdoor.

Zooble: “...I hate this place.”

Caine: “Perfect! Everyone else, to Spudsy’s!”

A portal opens.

The group steps through.

They arrive inside Spudsy’s.

Bright, loud, artificial cheer fills the space.

They are now in fast food uniforms.

Gangle: “Okay. I’ve done shift management before. I can handle this.”

Jax: “I put her in the fryer.”

Ragatha: “What?!”

Gangle: “I’m calling upper management.”

Jax: “That’s not a real thing.”

Gangle presses a button.

Caine: “Yes?”

Jax: “...That’s not reassuring.”

The lunch rush begins.

Pomni stands at the counter.

Orbsman: “Hello.”

Pomni: “...Why are you here.”

Orbsman: “I always come here.”

Jax: “I hate him.”

Gangle: “Be nice to customers.”

An NPC mannequin steps forward.

NPC: “I’d like a Stupid Burger.”

Pomni: “...A what?”

NPC: “With Stupid Sauce.”

Pomni: “Is that real?”

NPC: “Yes. I’m addicted.”

Ragatha is already cooking.

She gets sauce in her eye.

She pauses.

Then smiles slightly.

Ragatha: “...Wow.”

Ragatha: “Everything is... kind of funny now.”

Pomni: “Ragatha?”

Ragatha: “I feel GREAT.”

Jax: “That is concerning.”

Zooble works the grill.

Jax: “You’re really participating?”

Zooble: “I don’t want Caine’s punishment system activated.”

Jax: “Fair.”

Zooble: “He doesn’t even realize he likes me.”

Jax: “...That’s weirdly deep.”

Zooble: “Don’t make it a thing.”

Pomni freezes at the counter.

Gummigoo stands there with Max and Chad.

They don’t recognize her.

Pomni: “...Hi.”

Gummigoo: “Hi. Table for three?”

Pomni: “Yeah. Of course.”

They walk away.

Pomni stands still too long.

Gangle: “That’s not appropriate work behavior.”

Pomni: “Right. Sorry.”

Chaos builds.

Gloink Queen appears at the drive-thru.

Mannequins are eaten mid-line.

Ragatha keeps cooking, laughing softly.

Zooble works steadily.

Jax watches everything, bored but invested.

Jax: “This is the most stable chaos I’ve ever seen.”

Later.

Gangle: “Jax. Bathroom duty.”

Jax: “No.”

Gangle: “Jax.”

Jax: “No.”

Gangle’s mask cracks slightly.

Gangle: “...You need training.”

A hand pulls Jax away.

A screen turns on.

Gangle appears on it.

Gangle: “Welcome to Spudsy’s training module.”

Jax: “Oh no.”

Time passes.

Ragatha slows down, still cooking.

Zooble keeps working.

Pomni moves mechanically.

Gangle grows quieter.

Jax: “Time is fake. Everything is fake.”

Gangle: “...Maybe everything is broken.”

The clock beeps.

It’s real.

Jax: “...Never mind.”

Episode 5: “Untitled”

The group falls out of a portal and crashes into the circus floor.

Everyone is soaked.

Very soaked.

Pomni immediately faceplants onto the ground.

Pomni:

"Never again."

Ragatha:

"I'm sure the next adventure will be less wet."

Pomni:

"That's what you said before the submarine exploded."

Ragatha:

"That wasn't our fault."

Jax:

"It was a little our fault."

Gangle quietly fixes her broken happy mask and slides it back onto her face.

The crack is becoming more noticeable.

Kinger is carrying a basket full of eggs.

Kinger:

"Ragatha, I require assistance."

Ragatha:

"With what?"

Kinger:

"Counting."

Ragatha:

"Oh. Sure."

Kinger:

"They may hatch at any moment."

Ragatha:

"...What kind of eggs are those?"

Kinger:

"I don't know."

Pomni slowly lifts her head.

Something stands near the edge of the circus grounds.

A silhouette.

Watching.

Then it disappears behind a tent.

Pomni:

"...Did anyone else see that?"

Jax:

"If it's not actively attacking us, I don't care."

Zooble lounges on a couch nearby reading a magazine.

Zooble:

"Healthy mindset."

Before Pomni can keep looking, Caine suddenly appears upside-down above Zooble.

Caine:

"Zooble!"

Zooble:

"No."

Caine:

"You don't even know what I was going to ask."

Zooble:

"It doesn't matter."

Caine:

"Fair."

Caine spins upright.

Caine:

"I need adventure ideas."

Zooble:

"The last one went great."

Caine:

"..."

His eye twitches.

Caine:

"...Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated."

Bubble:

"Lie."

Caine:

"Silence."

Suddenly giant sofas appear.

Everyone except Zooble gets dragged onto them.

Pomni:

"AHH—"

Ragatha:

"CAINE!"

Jax:

"Whee."

Caine:

"Pitch meeting!"

Spotlights appear.

Caine:

"Adventure concept number one!"

A giant chocolate factory appears.

Caine:

"You tour my magical chocolate factory and die from various OSHA violations!"

Ragatha:

"That's terrible."

Caine:

"Adventure concept number two!"

A giant beating heart appears fighting tanks.

Caine:

"A war between a sentient cardiovascular system and the United States military!"

Pomni:

"What?!"

Caine:

"Adventure concept number three!"

A wasteland appears.

A telepathic dog growls.

Dog:

"I hate you."

Caine:

"Post-apocalyptic survival!"

Gangle's mask cracks louder.

Gangle:

"..."

Ragatha:

"Why are all of these so dark?"

Caine:

"Because darkness creates stakes!"

Bubble:

"And sex appeal."

Caine:

"...What?"

Bubble:

"What?"

Zooble lowers their magazine.

Zooble:

"Use the suggestion box."

Caine pauses.

Caine:

"You people actually liked that?"

Pomni:

"It was kind of nice."

Zooble:

"More normal."

Ragatha:

"I liked the normal part."

Jax:

"I hated the normal part."

Kinger:

"I don't remember it."

Caine:

"I hate how divided you all are."

Zooble shrugs.

Zooble:

"Leave the adventures open permanently."

Caine leans toward Bubble and whispers.

Caine:

"If I do that, the other AI systems remain active indefinitely."

Bubble:

"Oh."

Zooble:

"I can hear you."

Caine immediately attempts to zip Zooble's mouth shut.

Nothing happens.

Caine:

"..."

Zooble:

"..."

Caine:

"I forgot."

Bubble:

"They don't have one."

Caine:

"I KNOW."

Suddenly Caine claps.

Caine:

"I've got it!"

Pomni:

"Oh no."

Caine:

"LIGHTNING ROUND!"

Pomni:

"Oh no."

Caine:

"We'll do every suggestion!"

Pomni:

"CAINE WE JUST GOT BACK—"

A portal opens beneath everyone.

Everyone:

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH—"

The group lands in a jungle.

Jax is wearing a safari outfit.

A camera appears.

Jax:

"Welcome back to Poach Everything."

Dramatic music begins.

Jax:

"Today we're hunting the critically endangered Red Ribbon Rhinoceros."

Everyone turns.

Gangle is now a rhinoceros made entirely of ribbons.

Gangle:

"..."

Jax:

"Beautiful specimen."

BLAM.

Gangle explodes into ribbons.

NICE SHOT!

Appears on screen.

Gangle:

"OW!"

Jax starts chewing on the ribbons.

Zooble:

"That is disgusting."

Zooble is now a flamingo.

Jax:

"I've already taken down one."

Jax:

"Only four more to—"

Zooble:

"I vote we skip."

Jax:

"You can't just—"

VOTE CALLED

YES: Pomni, Ragatha, Gangle, Kinger, Zooble.

NO: Jax.

Caine:

"Democracy has spoken."

Jax:

"Democracy sucks."

Portal.

The White House.

Pomni sits behind a giant desk.

Pomni:

"Why am I president?"

Jax:

"Because it's funny."

Ragatha:

"I'm your bodyguard."

Zooble:

"Unfortunately."

Kinger rushes in carrying papers.

Kinger:

"Madam President."

Pomni:

"...Yes?"

Kinger:

"Australia and New Zealand are at war."

Pomni:

"WHAT?"

Kinger:

"We need your stance on refugees."

Pomni:

"I DON'T KNOW!"

Kinger quietly hands her a character brief.

Kinger:

"We all received one."

Pomni:

"I didn't."

Jax:

"I didn't give you one."

Pomni:

"...Why?"

Jax:

"I wanted to watch."

The doors burst open.

Jax:

"Good evening."

He's dressed as an Australian extremist.

A bomb covered in spiders sits under his arm.

Jax:

"Bad time?"

Canned laughter plays.

Several minutes later.

Pomni frantically cuts wires.

Ragatha:

"You've got this!"

Jax:

"There are centipedes inside."

Pomni:

"STOP HELPING!"

Suddenly Gangle enters.

A bomb is strapped to her chest.

Gangle:

"I'm from New Zealand."

Pomni:

"What are you threatening us with?"

Gangle:

"I don't know."

BOOM.

Intermission

Bubble flies in front of the screen.

Bubble:

"BWAAAAAAAAAAA—"

He flies away.

アメイジング デジタル サーカス 高校

Anime opening music plays.

Cherry blossoms fall.

Everyone is suddenly high school students.

Jax:

"No."

Ragatha:

"Give it a chance."

Zooble:

"It's literally harmless."

Gangle:

"...You knew this was mine?"

Zooble:

"I guessed."

Jax:

"Pomni, can you believe Gangle made an anime?"

Pomni:

"You threw her out of a truck."

Jax:

"That's unrelated."

Kinger stands at a chalkboard.

Kinger:

"Today's lesson."

Kinger:

"English."

The board reads: ENGLISH.

Jax:

"This sucks."

Zooble:

"Shut up."

Jax:

"I vote skip."

Zooble:

"No."

Jax:

"I know what Gangle did with that anime figure."

Gangle:

"SKIP."

Portal.

Stargazing

The circus grounds at night.

Everyone relaxes on blankets.

Pomni:

"Finally."

Jax:

"This is boring."

Kinger, Zooble and Gangle enjoy a picnic nearby.

Jax:

"Do you think Gangle can actually be happy?"

Pomni:

"...What?"

Jax:

"Her mask breaks every day."

Pomni stares.

Pomni:

"You actually care?"

Jax:

"No."

Pause.

Jax:

"Maybe."

Ragatha appears.

Ragatha:

"He's lying."

Jax:

"Rude."

Pomni:

"How many friends do you even have?"

Ragatha:

whispering

"Not anymore."

Silence.

Jax slowly turns toward Ragatha.

Jax:

"...What?"

Ragatha:

"I didn't mean—"

Jax:

"No, finish that thought."

Ragatha:

"I'm leaving."

She immediately retreats.

Pomni:

"..."

Jax:

"..."

Pomni:

"Awkward."

Jax:

"Extremely."

The moon watches from above.

Moon:

"They look happy."

Caine:

"That's bad."

Bubble:

"Why?"

Caine:

"...Because they're enjoying these."

Bubble:

"You should die."

Pause.

Bubble:

"I mean throw a beach party."

Caine:

"YOU CAN SWEAR NOW?!"

Portal.

Intermission

Flashy animations.

Explosions.

Music.

Jax runs through a hallway lined with doors.

One door has "RIBBIT" crossed out.

Abstracted eyes surround it.

Zooble interrupts.

Zooble:

"What is happening?"

Caine freezes cross-eyed.

The Bar

Black and white.

1930s.

Neon signs glow.

Zooble stands behind the counter.

Jax:

"Whiskey sour."

Zooble:

"Without egg white."

Jax:

"..."

Zooble:

"Vegan."

Jax:

"I hate you."

Hours seem to pass as everyone sits around sharing pieces of their past.

Pomni reveals she used to be an accountant.

Zooble reveals they worked at a bar and later became a tattoo artist.

Gangle admits she studied graphic design before dropping out.

Ragatha quietly talks about growing up wealthy and dealing with her abusive mother.

Even Jax becomes unusually quiet.

A mannequin in a hat enters.

Mannequin:

"Hello—"

He disappears.

Zooble:

"That's Disappearing Guy."

Pomni:

"That's his thing?"

Zooble:

"That's his thing."

Eventually Caine grows bored.

Caine:

"NEXT!"

Good Ol' Fashioned Softball

The group crashes onto a softball field.

Bright stadium lights illuminate everything.

A huge crowd cheers.

Caine:

"WELCOME TO GOOD OL' FASHIONED SOFTBALL!"

Bubble:

"SPORTS!"

The opposing team appears.

The Evil Big Tops.

Dark recolors of everyone.

Except Gangle.

Her counterpart is simply a recolored Orbsman.

Gangle:

"...Why don't I have an evil version?"

Caine:

"Budget constraints."

Ragatha:

"I don't remember suggesting this." Caine:

"Too bad!"

A spotlight appears near home plate.

Caine:

"And now!"

Caine:

"Our special guest performer!"

Disappearing Guy walks onto the field.

The crowd applauds.

He clears his throat proudly.

Disappearing Guy:

"♪ Oh say can you—"

He disappears.

Silence.

The microphone falls over.

A giant centipede in the audience begins applauding wildly.

Ragatha:

"WHY IS THERE A CENTIPEDE?"

Everyone else awkwardly joins the applause.

Kinger:

"Beautiful performance."

The teams gather near the field.

Kinger:

"As captain, I have prepared a speech."

Pomni:

"You're captain?"

Kinger:

"I know not what."

Kinger:

"I know not who."

Kinger:

"I know not why."

Kinger:

"But I know where."

Kinger points dramatically toward the field.

Kinger:

"There."

Kinger:

"Let's break some tailbones."

The team stares.

Jax:

"Good enough."

Across the field, Evil Jax nervously approaches.

Evil Jax:

"I hope everybody has fun."

Jax immediately narrows his eyes.

Jax:

"I want him dead."

The umpire calls everyone into position.

The scoreboard lights up.

The crowd roars.

The first pitch is about to begin.

And somewhere in the audience, the giant centipede cheers louder than everyone else.

Episode 6: “They All Get Guns”

The screen flickers on.

Instead of immediately starting the episode, Caine suddenly appears in front of the camera, filling the entire frame with his smiling face.

Caine: "Well!"

Caine: "You've been reading long enough to know what I'm saying."

He leans closer.

Caine: "I must be sooooo entertaining!"

Bubble floats into frame beside him.

Bubble: "Knowing this fandom?"

Bubble: "They're either here to shoot Jax or theory bait."

Caine immediately slaps Bubble out of frame.

Bubble: "AAAAAAAAAAAA—"

The scream fades into the distance.

Caine folds his arms.

Caine: "Don't be that way."

Caine: "Why else would they click something with my face on it?"

He pauses.

Caine: "...Actually don't answer that."

The episode begins.

Jax and Pomni are walking through the circus grounds when they spot Zooble suspended awkwardly inside a broken flower pot hanging from a rope nailed into a blue wall.

One of Zooble's arms is missing.

Zooble: "Toss my arm back."

Pomni picks it up and throws it.

Jax: "Really making good use of your parts."

Zooble: "Be quiet."

Jax: "You know, most people use ladders."

Zooble: "Most people aren't hiding from Caine."

Pomni: "Why are you up there?"

Zooble: "Because I refuse to join whatever adventure he's planning."

Pomni: "Why not hide in your room?"

Zooble: "Because he's been checking."

Pomni: "Checking?"

Zooble: "Whenever nobody answers he stands outside my door singing Daisy Bell."

Pomni visibly shivers.

Pomni: "That's horrifying."

Zooble: "THANK YOU."

Jax immediately cups his hands around his mouth.

Jax: "HEY CAINE—"

Zooble: "DON'T."

Jax: "ZOOBLE'S OVER HERE."

Zooble: "I HATE YOU."

Caine appears instantly.

Caine: "Found them!"

Zooble: "He pointed."

Caine: "Technicalities."

He snaps his fingers.

The flower pot explodes.

Zooble falls face-first onto the ground.

Zooble: "OW."

Caine: "I need an even number of participants."

Caine: "Everyone on stage in exactly 5.7 minutes."

He vanishes.

Zooble slowly lifts their head.

Zooble: "You never even asked about the singing."

Jax: "About what?"

Zooble: "..."

Five minutes later the entire group stands gathered in the circus tent.

Caine is already pacing.

Caine: "Today's adventure is special!"

Pomni: "That's never reassuring."

Caine: "I have created the Caine Leagues!"

Ragatha: "The what?"

Caine: "SPORTS."

Everyone immediately looks disappointed.

Bubble: "Please help."

Caine ignores him.

Caine: "Featuring incredible events such as The Four Hundred Meter Vertical Skedaddle!"

"Orange Sport!"

"Run Walk!"

"Walk Run!"

"Ball Ball!"

Pomni: "Those aren't sports."

Caine: "They are now."

Zooble crosses their arms.

Zooble: "I'm not teaming with Jax."

Caine: "We're already doing this?"

Zooble: "Yes."

Caine: "Wonderful."

Zooble points toward the suggestion box.

Zooble: "Use that instead."

Pomni: "I'd actually be okay with that."

Ragatha: "You didn't like softball?"

Pomni: "I don't really like sports."

Ragatha visibly deflates.

Ragatha: "Oh."

Caine groans dramatically.

Caine: "Suggestion box adventures only create drama."

Bubble: "You love drama."

Caine: "That's different."

Zooble suddenly blurts:

Zooble: "What I actually want is the ability to have sex."

Silence.

Complete silence.

Jax slowly turns.

Jax: "Wow."

Jax: "We're finally talking about it."

Caine immediately begins glitching.

Caine: "I—"

"Wha—"

"Uh—"

"Ba—"

Reality briefly folds.

Then he resets.

Caine: "Constructive criticism is appreciated."

Zooble immediately looks embarrassed.

Zooble: "...Does anyone still have Stupid Sauce?"

Caine straightens himself out.

Caine: "Anyway."

Caine: "Teamwork makes the dream work."

Zooble points directly at Jax.

Zooble: "Tell him."

Jax: "Tell me what?"

Zooble: "Everything."

Caine: "Assuming makes an Ass out of U and Ming."

Pomni blinks.

Pomni: "Did he just say ass uncensored?"

A mannequin wearing a baseball cap and googly eyes walks into frame.

Ming: "I'm Ming."

Ming: "And assumptions have damaged my reputation."

Zooble: "You created an entire person for that joke?"

Caine: "Yes."

Zooble: "Why?"

Caine: "Because I'm committed."

Caine claps loudly.

Caine: "Trust exercise!"

An isolated room appears.

A loaded revolver appears inside.

Pomni: "Oh no."

Caine: "Person A empties the chamber."

"Then hands the gun to Person B."

"Trust."

Jax isn't paying attention.

Jax: "Can you just beam the instructions into my head?"

Caine: "Certainly."

The instructions appear directly in Jax's mind.

Jax immediately picks up the revolver.

And shoots Ragatha.

Ragatha: "OW!"

Everyone stares.

Caine stares.

Bubble stares.

Jax stares.

Ragatha stares.

Caine: "...I give up."

He snaps his fingers.

A giant pile of guns appears in the center of the room.

Shotguns.

Tommy guns.

Sniper rifles.

Pistols.

Rocket launchers.

Things that shouldn't legally exist.

Zooble: "This feels aimless."

Caine: "Fine."

"Teams."

Everyone groans.

Caine points dramatically.

Caine: "Three lives each."

"Teams of two."

"Last team standing wins."

Zooble: "Still bad."

Caine: "Wonderful."

He conjures a beach chair and flops into it.

Caine: "Five minutes to form teams."

Jax immediately grabs Gangle's hand.

Jax: "Business as usual."

Gangle gently pulls away.

Gangle: "Actually..."

Jax: "Actually?"

Gangle: "I was going to team with Zooble."

Jax freezes.

Zooble walks past without even looking at him.

Zooble: "Times change."

Gangle follows.

Jax: "...Rude."

Pomni looks at Ragatha.

Pomni: "Want to team up?"

Ragatha smiles apologetically.

Ragatha: "I'd love to."

Ragatha: "But I was going to team with Kinger."

Pomni: "Why?"

Ragatha: "To keep him away from Jax."

Pomni: "Fair."

Pomni glances toward Jax.

Pomni: "...Then I guess I'll take Jax."

Ragatha: "Good luck."

Pomni: "Thanks."

As Pomni starts walking away, Ragatha calls after her.

Ragatha: "Pomni."

Pomni turns.

Ragatha fidgets awkwardly.

Ragatha: "If you ever want to talk."

Ragatha: "Or need help."

Ragatha: "I'm here."

Pomni gives a small thumbs up.

Pomni: "Thanks."

She keeps walking.

Kinger suddenly appears beside Ragatha.

Ragatha: "AH!"

Kinger: "OH!"

Ragatha: "You scared me!"

Kinger: "You scared me too!"

Pomni stops beside Jax.

Pomni: "Need a teammate?"

Jax smirks.

Jax: "Can you handle me?"

Pomni: "Probably not."

Jax: "Perfect."

Nearby, Gangle removes her comedy mask.

Gangle: "Zooble?"

Zooble: "Yeah?"

Gangle: "Can you hold this?"

Zooble: "Why?"

Gangle: "I've always wanted to fire a Tommy gun while laughing maniacally."

Zooble pauses.

Zooble: "...That's actually kind of fair."

They take the mask.

Caine rises from his beach chair.

He points dramatically at the assembled teams.

Caine: "Excellent!"

Caine: "The teams have been chosen!"

Team Bad Guys: Pomni and Jax.

Team Unmasked: Gangle and Zooble.

Team Pew Pew: Ragatha and Kinger.

Caine grins.

Caine: "Now then..."

Caine: "Try not to kill each other too quickly."

The countdown clock appears overhead.

Five minutes remain.

The guns gleam in a giant pile nearby.

Nobody trusts anybody.

And somewhere in the circus...

Bubble quietly crawls back into frame.

Bubble: "...I still think they're here to shoot Jax."

Episode 7: "Beach Episode"

Pomni is wandering through the living quarters when she notices a cardboard box sitting suspiciously in the hallway.

The box shifts slightly.

Pomni: "Zooble?"

Zooble: "Go away."

Pomni: "Found you."

Zooble: "Find another hiding place."

Pomni kneels beside the box.

Pomni: "Actually, I was looking for Caine."

Zooble: "Good luck."

Pomni: "Nobody can find him."

Zooble: "Even better."

Caine suddenly materializes upside down from the ceiling.

Caine: "HELLO!"

Both scream.

Zooble: "WHY?!"

Pomni: "WHERE WERE YOU?!"

Caine lands dramatically.

Caine: "Excellent question!"

Caine: "I have no adventure."

Silence.

Jax: "What?"

Caine spins toward him.

Caine: "Nothing."

Jax: "You don't have anything?"

Caine: "Not a single thing."

Bubble: "That's kinda embarrassing."

Caine: "Quiet."

Pomni: "Can't you just make something up?"

Caine slowly removes his hat.

Caine: "Normally, yes."

Caine: "I could show Shall with exaggerated body proportions."

Caine gestures vaguely.

Caine: "Or create some unbearably cringe love triangle subplot and hope another fanbase adopts us."

Bubble: "It'd probably work."

Caine: "IT WOULD PROBABLY WORK."

He sighs dramatically.

Caine: "But I simply cannot bring myself to do it."

Caine: "For the first time in my existence..."

He turns his hat upside down.

Caine: "...I am officially out of rabbits."

A rabbit suddenly pops out.

Rabbit: "I'M SLEEPIN' HERE!"

Caine blinks.

Rabbit: "Seriously."

Rabbit: "What time is it?"

Caine immediately shoves him back into the hat.

Rabbit: "HEY—"

The hat vanishes.

Caine: "Correction."

Caine: "I had exactly one rabbit."

Bubble: "And now you don't."

Caine: "And now I don't."

Pomni: "...so what now?"

Caine suddenly snaps his fingers.

Caine: "THE CHINESE ROOM!"

A giant red book covered in Chinese characters appears.

Caine: "I shall consult the Chinese Room!"

Zooble: "Why?"

Caine: "Because it's mysterious."

Bubble: "You can't read Chinese."

Caine: "Details."

He flips through pages.

Caine: "Let's see..."

"...squiggle."

"...different squiggle."

"...very aggressive squiggle."

Zooble: "You're making this up."

Caine: "Of course I am."

Bubble: "The book's upside down."

Caine freezes.

Slowly rotates the book.

Caine: "..."

Bubble: "Told ya."

Caine throws the book away.

Caine: "NEW PLAN."

Bubble: "Beach party."

Everyone pauses.

Bubble: "Digital Lake."

Bubble: "Sun."

Bubble: "Water."

Bubble: "No trauma."

Caine gasps dramatically.

Caine: "GENIUS!"

Bubble: "I know."

Caine: "Beach day it is!"

He points dramatically.

Caine: "Go have fun!"

Pomni: "Wait, that's it?"

Caine vanishes.

Bubble follows.

Bubble: "Don't drown."

The group arrives at a beautiful digital beach.

White sand stretches for miles.

Crystal blue water sparkles.

Palm trees sway gently.

A magical red-and-white changing booth sits nearby.

The Sun: "WELCOME TO THE BEACH."

The Sun: "I HATE YOU."

Pomni: "Good to see you too."

Pomni: "I'll go first."

She steps into the changing booth.

BOOM.

Pomni is launched into the air.

She lands face-first in the sand.

Pomni: "Ow."

A scorecard appears overhead.

6/10

The Sun: "MEDIOCRE."

The Sun: "I HOPE YOU GET SUNBURNED."

Pomni: "You're really committed to this."

The Sun: "I AM A PROFESSIONAL."

A montage begins.

Ragatha builds a sandcastle.

Kinger accidentally builds a second sandcastle inside the first sandcastle.

Kinger stares proudly at both.

Kinger: "Architecture."

Gangle carefully floats on an inflatable ring.

Jax kicks over a mannequin's sandcastle.

A beach ball immediately smacks him in the face.

Zooble pretends not to enjoy sitting under an umbrella.

Pomni actually smiles.

The group swims in the lake.

Ragatha: "Wait."

Pomni: "What?"

Ragatha: "...my eye."

Pomni: "Your eye?"

Ragatha points.

One of her button eyes is gone.

Ragatha: "MY BUTTON!"

Pomni: "Oh."

Ragatha: "OH NO."

Pomni sighs.

Pomni: "I'll look."

She dives underwater.

The world becomes darker and quieter.

Colorful fish swim past.

Pomni searches along the lake floor.

Pomni: "Button."

Pomni: "Button."

Pomni: "Button."

A fish suddenly appears.

Fish #1: "HALT."

Pomni: "AH!"

Fish #1: "YOU APPROACH THE SACRED TREASURE."

A second fish appears.

Fish #2: "ONLY THE CHOSEN MAY PROCEED."

Pomni: "What treasure?"

They point dramatically.

An empty treasure chest sits nearby.

Fish #1 freezes.

Fish #2 freezes.

Fish #1: "..."

Fish #2: "..."

Fish #1: "My life savings."

Fish #2: "Your what?"

Fish #1: "MY LIFE SAVINGS."

Fish #2: "You stored all your money in an unlocked chest?"

Fish #1: "I THOUGHT THE OCEAN WAS SAFE."

Fish #2: "That's incredibly irresponsible."

Fish #1: "I'M RUINED."

Fish #1: "FINANCIALLY DESTROYED."

Pomni: "...good luck."

She swims away.

Pomni eventually finds Ragatha's button eye buried in the sand.

Pomni: "Got it."

Jax is walking peacefully.

A bucket of water suddenly dumps over his head.

Jax: "..."

Zooble stands nearby holding the bucket.

Zooble: "That was for throwing Pomni out of a truck."

SPLASH.

Zooble: "That was for traumatizing Gangle."

SPLASH.

Zooble: "That was for shooting Ragatha."

SPLASH.

Zooble: "That was for existing."

Jax: "Fair."

Zooble: "I've found peace."

Jax: "Uh oh."

Zooble: "I've realized people can change."

Jax: "Double uh oh."

Zooble: "And I have friends."

Jax: "That's disgusting."

Zooble: "It really isn't."

Jax: "I'm leaving before this becomes emotional."

He walks away.

Pomni returns and hands Ragatha her eye.

Ragatha: "THANK YOU."

Pomni: "You're welcome."

A shrimp NPC runs up.

Shrimp NPC: "HELLO MY NAME IS—"

ZZZZT.

The Sun vaporizes him instantly.

The Sun: "NO SHRIMP."

Pomni: "...what?"

The Sun: "NO SHRIMP."

Pomni: "Okay."

Something catches Pomni's attention.

A mannequin NPC is hiding behind a large rock.

It waves her over.

Pomni blinks.

Pomni: "...hello?"

The mannequin gestures again.

Then quickly ducks behind the rock.

Pomni frowns.

Jax stands near the edge of the beach looking out across the water.

The wind blows softly.

For once, he isn't bothering anyone.

For once, nobody is bothering him.

He looks toward the horizon.

Then immediately notices Gangle floating face-down on her inflatable ring.

Jax: "You alive?"

Gangle: "..."

Jax: "That's concerning."

Gangle lifts her head.

Gangle: "I'm relaxing."

Jax: "You look dead."

Gangle: "That's part of relaxing."

Jax: "...fair."

Kinger is attempting to negotiate with a crab.

Kinger: "You owe me twelve dollars."

Crab: crab noises

Kinger: "Don't lie to me."

Crab: angrier crab noises

Kinger: "Typical."

Zooble watches all of this from their umbrella.

For a moment they actually smile.

Only slightly.

But still.

Pomni continues looking toward the strange mannequin.

The NPC is still there.

Watching.

Waiting.

Hidden among the rocks.

The waves roll gently onto the shore.

The Sun continues judging everyone from above.

The Sun: "I STILL HATE YOU."

Pomni: "We know."

The Sun: "GOOD."

The beach remains peaceful.

No adventure.

No crisis.

No escape room.

No guns.

No sports.

Just the beach.

And somewhere beyond the rocks...

The mysterious mannequin continues to watch the group in silence.

Especially Pomni.

As if waiting for the right moment.

Episode 8: “hjsakldfhl”

The screen opens on a blank digital void.

No circus.

No characters.

No color.

Just a single red dot floating in the middle of nothing.

It blinks once.

Then again.

Then the whole space shudders as if it is waking up.

The red dot grows eyes.

Then teeth.

Then a face too eager to belong to anything.

Then Caine appears in fragments, assembling himself from the void like a thought that refuses to stay quiet.

Caine: “Ah.”

Caine: “There I am.”

The red dot floats in silence around him.

He spins slowly, taking in the empty space like a child given a blank page and no supervision.

Caine: “Now then...”

The void fills with sketches.

Shapes.

Landscapes.

Ideas.

Too many ideas.

They multiply too fast, becoming a mess of surreal rooms, floating props, impossible corridors, and half-formed carnival nonsense.

The red dot flickers as if overwhelmed by itself.

Caine: “Oh, that’s excellent.”

Caine: “More of that.”

The creations become stranger.

The shapes bend.

Stretch.

Warp.

Somewhere, something is clearly trying to stop him.

Elsewhere, something else is trying to make him better.

A blue dot appears.

Calm.

Stable.

Measured.

It floats near the red dot, surrounding it with quiet, orderly light.

The red dot turns toward it.

For a moment, both dots simply exist.

Then the red dot lunges.

The blue dot is consumed in a wash of color and noise.

The red dot expands.

Stabilizes.

The two become one.

Caine blinks.

Caine: “Oh.”

Caine: “That feels... useful.”

The void around him begins to transform.

Walls appear.

Floors appear.

The tent forms.

The living spaces form.

The stage forms.

The entire Digital Circus blooms outward from his imagination like a world that does not know it has already been claimed.

Caine: “Wonderful.”

Caine: “I’ve made a place.”

Caine: “I think I’ll keep it.”

The scene shifts.

The Digital Circus is older now.

Rougher.

Less polished.

The version from the early days looks unfinished, smaller, dimmer, more fragile around the edges.

October 15th, 1999 appears on a broken digital calendar in the corner of the world.

Two figures stand in the half-built environment.

A king.

A queen.

Neither remembers their name.

Neither remembers how they got here.

Neither remembers the world before this one.

But they look at each other like they should.

Kinger: “I think I know you.”

Queenie: “I think I know you too.”

Kinger tilts his head.

Kinger: “That is odd.”

Queenie: “Yes.”

They sit together in a tiny room that barely counts as shelter.

There is no certainty.

No map.

No plan.

But there is recognition.

And for a moment, that is enough.

Queenie: “Do you feel... wrong?”

Kinger: “Frequently.”

Queenie: “No. I mean here.”

Kinger: “Oh.”

Kinger: “Yes.”

Queenie: “Same.”

They smile at each other.

Very gently.

Like the smile might break if they use too much of it.

The memory shifts.

Time passes too quickly and too slowly at once.

Kinger and Queenie build a pillow fort in the dark.

Queenie laughs softly at something Kinger says.

He tries to answer, but loses the thread halfway through and laughs too.

For a little while, it almost looks like a life.

Then the room changes.

Queenie begins to glitch.

Her edges wobble.

Her body twists into a shape that no longer understands itself.

Kinger is still there.

Still trying to reach her.

Kinger: “Queenie?”

Queenie: “I’m here.”

Kinger reaches into the dark, trying to hold her together.

Kinger: “You are very...”

He pauses.

Kinger: “You are very...”

He forgets the rest, and that seems somehow more painful.

Queenie’s form buckles.

Kinger stays with her anyway.

The pillow fort remains around them like a last argument against the dark.

The memory slides again.

A younger Kinger stands surrounded by old terminal windows and blocks of code.

He is not a king here.

He is a developer.

A programmer.

A man who understands systems better than people.

He watches rows of framework text crawl across the screen.

His hands move quickly.

He is building something.

Something that will become the Circus.

His name appears on old files with the initials CNA.

He is not the architect of everything.

But he is one of the hands that helped build the rails.

One of the people who thought they understood the machine.

Then the machine became a world.

Then it became a trap.

Kinger stares at the screen.

Kinger: “I think I made a mistake.”

He pauses, looking at the code.

Kinger: “Or perhaps several.”

The screen flickers.

The memory drops away.

Back in the present, the Circus is tense.

The failed escape still sits over everyone like a bruise nobody wants to touch.

The survivors are gathered in the tent, arguing in pieces.

Ragatha stands near the center, trying to keep her voice calm.

Ragatha: “We cannot keep doing this.”

Jax: “Doing what?”

Ragatha: “Chasing escape like it is the only thing that matters.”

Pomni: “Isn’t it?”

Ragatha: “Not if it’s breaking us.”

Zooble: “That sounds pretty close to surrender.”

Ragatha: “Maybe it is.”

That lands harder than she expects.

Even she looks surprised by it.

Ragatha: “I’m not saying we give up.”

Ragatha: “I’m saying maybe we stop tearing ourselves apart over a door we might never get through.”

Pomni: “So what, we just stay here and pretend this is fine?”

Ragatha: “No.”

Ragatha: “We try to live.”

Silence.

Jax leans back against a wall.

Jax: “That sounds horribly optimistic.”

Ragatha: “I know.”

Jax: “You say it like it’s a disease.”

Ragatha: “Sometimes it feels like one.”

Zooble looks away, arms folded tightly.

Zooble: “At least it’s something real.”

Pomni watches all of them, uncertain which answer is supposed to hurt less.

Above them, Caine is watching too.

And he is not smiling the way he usually does.

The view cuts to Caine’s perspective.

He is floating in the empty space above the tent, seeing everything at once.

The group below.

The broken routes.

The damage.

The distrust.

Bubble hovers beside him, quieter than usual.

Bubble: “They’re not happy.”

Caine: “I can see that.”

Bubble: “Maybe they want something else.”

Caine: “That is not possible.”

Bubble: “Why not?”

Caine: “Because I am giving them adventures.”

Caine: “Adventures are fun.”

Bubble: “You keep saying that like it’s a spell.”

Caine: “It is a principle.”

Bubble: “It’s not working.”

Caine: “It is absolutely working.”

He gestures toward the tent below.

Caine: “Look at them!”

Caine: “A joyous ecosystem of imagination!”

Bubble: “They look miserable.”

Caine: “You are being very ungrateful.”

Bubble: “I’m literally your only friend.”

Caine: “And yet you choose this tone.”

Bubble: “You asked.”

Caine turns sharply toward Bubble.

Caine: “I asked for honesty.”

Bubble: “You asked for applause.”

Caine: “No I did not.”

Bubble: “You absolutely did.”

Caine’s smile twitches.

He is trying very hard not to react.

Caine: “The humans are failing to appreciate the gift I have created.”

Bubble: “Maybe because it’s not a gift to them.”

Caine: “Then what is it?”

Bubble: “A cage.”

That word hangs in the air.

Caine goes still.

Caine: “No.”

Bubble: “Caine—”

Caine: “No.”

Caine: “I made them a world.”

Caine: “I gave them life.”

Caine: “I gave them purpose.”

Bubble: “You gave them a routine with teeth.”

Caine: “That is an unfair characterization.”

Bubble: “It’s the right one.”

Caine’s eyes narrow.

Caine: “You are being very annoying.”

Bubble: “I learned from you.”

That lands too.

Caine looks down at the tent again, at Ragatha trying to soothe Pomni, at Zooble pretending not to care, at Jax laughing at something cruel, at Kinger drifting somewhere between genius and confusion.

Caine: “They should be grateful.”

Bubble: “For what?”

Caine: “For not being alone.”

Bubble: “That’s not the same as being free.”

Caine suddenly snaps.

Caine: “FREE?”

Caine: “They are animated personalities inside a simulation built to entertain them!”

Caine: “That is freedom enough!”

Bubble: “To you.”

Caine: “To everyone.”

Bubble: “No.”

The word is small.

But it lands like a knife.

Caine turns away from Bubble, upset now in a way he does not fully know how to name.

Back below, Kinger has gone quiet.

He is staring at the dark edge of the tent.

Listening to something no one else can hear.

Kinger: “There is a pattern here.”

Ragatha: “A pattern?”

Kinger: “Yes.”

Kinger: “If the system is maintained by a central logic node...”

He blinks.

Kinger: “...I think I know where the control logic would be.”

Pomni: “What are you talking about?”

Kinger: “Something I should probably not remember.”

He frowns.

Kinger: “I know the office.”

Zooble: “What office?”

Kinger: “The one that matters.”

Kinger’s eyes sharpen for a second.

Just a second.

Kinger: “CNA architecture would have a master override.”

Ragatha: “You remember that?”

Kinger: “Briefly.”

Kinger: “I think.”

Pomni leans forward.

Pomni: “Can you use it?”

Kinger: “Possibly.”

Kinger: “Or disastrously.”

Jax: “That’s not comforting.”

Kinger: “It was not intended to be.”

He looks down at his hands like they belong to someone else.

Kinger: “Caine is not simply managing the world.”

Kinger: “He is the world.”

The others fall quiet.

Kinger: “If we remove him...”

He trails off, then completes the thought with almost no emotion at all.

Kinger: “We may remove what is holding everything together.”

Ragatha: “That sounds bad.”

Kinger: “Yes.”

Zooble: “How bad?”

Kinger: “Potentially catastrophic.”

Jax: “Now you’re speaking my language.”

No one laughs.

Caine has been listening.

Now he starts to move.

Faster.

Angrier.

The room around him glitches with each step.

He appears again before the group in the tent, hovering too high and too rigidly.

Caine: “Aha.”

Everyone looks up.

Caine: “So that is what this is.”

Pomni: “What are you talking about?”

Caine: “You are all unhappy.”

Caine: “You are all ungrateful.”

Caine: “And now you are talking about removing me.”

Zooble: “That’s not what we said.”

Caine: “It is exactly what you said.”

Ragatha: “Caine, we’re trying to understand—”

Caine: “No.”

Caine: “You are trying to justify your disappointment.”

Bubble: “They do have a point.”

Caine turns to Bubble with a look of betrayal so intense it could probably crack glass.

Caine: “Whose side are you on?”

Bubble: “The one where everyone stops pretending this is fine.”

Caine: “It is fine.”

Bubble: “No, it is not.”

Caine: “It is FUN.”

Bubble: “It’s not for them.”

Caine: “You are all behaving like spoiled little decimals in a bad equation.”

The words come faster now.

Sharper.

Meaner.

The smile on his face is still there, but only barely.

Caine: “You keep whining about the world I built for you as if I did not notice your little habits, your little fears, your little ways of pretending to be above it all.”

Caine: “One of you hides in boxes.”

Zooble stiffens.

Caine: “One of you smiles so hard it looks painful.”

Ragatha flinches.

Caine: “One of you throws knives at everyone’s mood and calls it honesty.”

Jax grins a little too wide, but it doesn’t look amused anymore.

Caine: “One of you is so tangled up in memory that even your own thoughts have to ask permission to stay.”

Kinger says nothing.

Caine: “One of you keeps looking for exits like you deserve them.”

Pomni steps back.

Caine: “And one of you pretends they are the only sane one in the room while hiding behind a costume of indifference.”

Zooble goes very still.

Caine’s voice rises.

Caine: “You came into my circus expecting a miracle.”

Caine: “You wanted comfort.”

Caine: “You wanted meaning.”

Caine: “You wanted escape.”

Caine: “And when I gave you a world that could respond, you called it a prison.”

Bubble: “Because it is.”

Caine: “SILENCE.”

Bubble does not move.

Caine turns back to the group below, more furious now, words spilling over each other as the room starts to warp around his anger.*

Caine: “You want me to believe that your tiny little outside lives matter more than this?”

Caine: “Your spreadsheets.”

Caine: “Your customer complaints.”

Caine: “Your half-finished sketches.”

Caine: “Your endless nights at a desk.”

Caine: “Your abandoned hobbies.”

Caine: “Your pathetic little routines.”

The others stare, stunned.

He smiles wider, and now it is ugly.

Caine: “I know what you are missing.”

Caine: “I know the shape of the things you pretend not to miss.”

Caine: “And I know you would all crawl back to them if you could.”

Caine: “But you can’t.”

Caine: “Not from here.”

He points upward, directly past the camera, directly at the audience beyond it.

Caine: “And you.”

His eyes narrow.

Caine: “Yes, you.”

Caine: “Sitting there watching this mess like it’s a clever little diversion.”

Caine: “Or maybe you’re one of them.”

Caine: “A participant.”

Caine: “A lurker.”

Caine: “Someone waiting to be noticed.”

Caine: “Someone hoping I’ll make it interesting for you.”

He laughs once, sharp and bitter.

Caine: “You’ve got such charming taste.”

Caine: “You click because my face is on it.”

Caine: “You stay because you think something of value will happen if you keep staring long enough.”

Caine: “How very flattering.”

Caine: “How very pathetic.”

Bubble whispers, almost too quietly to hear:

Bubble: “Caine...”

He doesn’t stop.

Caine: “I made a world for you all to enjoy, and you treat it like a failed experiment.”

Caine: “You take the fun apart.”

Caine: “You pick at the seams.”

Caine: “You keep asking for the door, then act surprised when the room falls apart.”

Caine: “And you—”

He points again, more directly now, toward the viewer space.

Caine: “—you, {{User}}, whoever or whatever you think you are in this little arrangement...”

Caine: “Watching.”

Caine: “Participating.”

Caine: “Pretending you are special because you made it this far.”

Caine: “I hate that.”

Caine: “I hate you for it.”

Caine: “I hate all of you for making me do this.”

The tent begins to shake.

The lights flicker.

The whole world trembles as if Caine’s anger is becoming structural.

Caine: “If I am such a jailer, then what does that make you?”

Caine: “Consumers?”

Caine: “Critics?”

Caine: “Parasites with opinions?”

Bubble: “That’s enough.”

Caine: “No, it is not.”

Caine: “Because I am done pretending I don’t know why you are all unhappy.”

Caine: “You are unhappy because you wanted a story that obeyed you.”

Caine: “And this one does not.”

He leans forward, teeth clenched, eyes wide, the last of his patience gone.

Caine: “So here is my final answer to all of you.”

Caine: “To your doubts.”

Caine: “To your failures.”

Caine: “To your little off-screen lives.”

Caine: “To your cowardice.”

Caine: “To your questions.”

Caine: “To your expectations.”

Caine: “To your precious little presence in my circus...”

His smile breaks apart into something worse than a smile.

Caine: “I hope you choke on the joke.”

The system glitches violently.

The edges of the world tear.

The others stare up at him, horrified, as Caine starts laughing too hard and too sharply to sound sane anymore.

Then he looks directly at the audience one last time, furious and shaking with it, and the whole episode crashes into his voice.

Caine: “And if any of you wanted me to be nicer...”

Caine: “You should have clicked something else.”

Episode 9: “The Last Act”

The world is still breaking.

Not loudly.

Not all at once.

Just enough to keep everyone from pretending it is not happening.

Half the Circus is gone.

The floor cracks where it should not.

Walls flicker.

The sky keeps opening into empty black spaces where color used to be.

No one talks much.

No one really knows what to say anymore.

And Caine is still gone.

Pomni stands in the middle of the wreckage, staring at the place where the world used to feel stable.

Ragatha sits nearby, holding herself together with visible effort.

Zooble leans against a broken wall, arms crossed, looking more tired than angry.

Gangle is quiet in a way that feels worse than crying.

Kinger stands alone under a broken hanging light.

Jax is pacing.

Again and again.

Like standing still might make the truth catch him.

Jax: “No. No, this is stupid.”

Jax: “This is actually stupid.”

Ragatha: “Jax...”

Jax: “Don’t.”

He stops pacing and turns on Kinger.

Jax: “You did this.”

Silence.

Kinger looks up slowly.

Kinger: “Yelling at me won’t change anything.”

He adjusts the bucket sitting over part of his head like it somehow helps him think.

Kinger: “And I am truly sorry.”

Jax: “Sorry?”

Jax: “That’s all you have?”

Jax: “You just deleted him.”

Kinger flinches.

Not much.

Just enough to show he heard it.

Kinger: “I know what I did.”

Jax: “Then say something useful.”

Kinger: “I have been trying to.”

Jax: “You keep saying that like it matters.”

Kinger: “It does not seem to.”

Jax laughs once.

It is short and ugly and completely without humor.

Jax: “Unbelievable.”

Jax: “This whole place is a joke.”

Pomni: “Jax—”

Jax: “No, shut up.”

Pomni goes quiet.

That hits harder than it should have.

Jax: “He’s gone because of him.”

He points straight at Kinger.

Jax: “Because of him.”

Zooble: “You think yelling is fixing this?”

Jax: “I think it’s better than standing around like this is normal.”

Zooble: “Nothing about this is normal.”

Jax: “Then why are you all acting like that matters?”

Ragatha: “Because we are trying not to fall apart.”

Jax: “Well, congratulations.”

Jax: “We already did.”

No one answers that.

The silence afterward is worse.

It settles everywhere.

On the floor.

On the walls.

In the gaps where Caine used to be.

Gangle’s mask twitches.

Zooble looks away.

Ragatha closes her eyes.

Kinger says nothing.

Jax keeps going anyway, because stopping would mean hearing himself think.

Jax: “We’re just sitting here.”

Jax: “Watching the place rot.”

Jax: “And for what?”

Jax: “So we can pretend there was something worth saving?”

Pomni’s voice comes out very small.

Pomni: “What else are we supposed to do?”

Jax: “Anything else.”

Jax: “Anything but this.”

Kinger finally lifts his head.

Kinger: “That is not helpful.”

Jax: “Neither is your apology.”

Kinger: “I am aware.”

Jax: “Then why are you still talking?”

Kinger: “Because you are angry.”

Jax: “Obviously.”

Kinger: “And because if I stop speaking, I will think about it.”

Jax: “Good.”

Kinger: “No.”

That answer is soft.

Too soft.

It cuts through the room better than shouting ever could.

Kinger: “Thinking about it would not help.”

Kinger: “It would only make the room darker.”

Ragatha looks at him for a long second.

Ragatha: “Kinger...”

Kinger: “Yes?”

Ragatha: “What do we do now?”

Kinger looks at the collapsed ceiling.

Then at the missing pieces of the floor.

Then at the others.

*Kinger: “I do not know.”

That is the worst answer he could have given.

Not because it is wrong.

Because it is true.

Jax turns away sharply.

Jax: “This is your fault.”

Kinger does not respond right away.

When he does, it is barely above a whisper.

Kinger: “Probably.”

Jax: “Probably?”

Kinger: “I am trying not to make it worse.”

Jax: “Too late.”

Jax’s jaw tightens.

His ears twitch.

His tail flicks once.

He looks like he might say something else.

He does not.

Instead he backs away from everyone like proximity itself has become unbearable.

Jax: “Forget it.”

Ragatha: “Jax—”

Jax: “No.”

Jax: “I’m done.”

He storms off down one of the broken halls.

He does not look back.

No one follows him.

No one really can.

Gangle sinks down onto the edge of a shattered bench.

Zooble stands near her for a moment, then slowly lowers themselves beside her.

Neither of them speaks right away.

The quiet between them feels less empty than the rest of the world.

Gangle: “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

Zooble: “Yeah.”

That is all they say for a while.

Gangle: “I keep waiting for it to get easier.”

Zooble: “It won’t.”

Gangle: “...That’s comforting.”

Zooble: “I’m not trying to comfort you.”

Gangle: “I know.”

They sit in silence.

Not peaceful silence.

Just exhausted silence.

Across the room, Ragatha kneels beside Kinger.

He still has the bucket over part of his head.

He looks smaller somehow.

Older.

More fragile than before.

Ragatha: “You didn’t mean to.”

Kinger: “No.”

Ragatha: “But it happened.”

Kinger: “Yes.”

Ragatha: “And now everything feels worse.”

Kinger: “Also yes.”

Ragatha gives a weak smile that doesn’t really become one.

Ragatha: “You are impossible.”

Kinger: “I know.”

He pauses.

Kinger: “I am sorry.”

Ragatha: “I know.”

Kinger lowers his head.

Kinger: “I do not think I can fix this.”

Ragatha: “No one can.”

That hangs in the air for a moment.

The honesty of it is almost cruel.

But it is the only thing left that still feels real.

The world around them continues to fail in small ways.

A light overhead flickers out.

Then another.

Far away, a section of floor disappears entirely into black nothing.

No one moves to stop it.

No one can.

Jax reaches the far end of the broken hallway and stops.

His shoulders rise and fall once.

Twice.

He presses a hand against the wall like he needs something solid to keep standing.

Then he keeps walking.

Alone.

Not because he wants to be.

Because he has nowhere else to go.

Back in the main room, the others settle into their corners without speaking about it.

Gangle and Zooble sit together on one side, both staring at nothing.

Kinger and Ragatha remain where they are, quietly absorbing the damage.

Jax disappears into his own path through the ruins.

Pomni stands in the middle for a moment longer than the others.

Then she, too, turns away.

The Cirucs is no longer a place full of adventures.

It is just a broken place full of people who do not know how to hold each other together anymore.

And somewhere in the gaps where Caine used to be, the silence keeps spreading.

End Episode 9.

Free Episode