Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

She was never one to wander, at least not into buildings. On streets, blocks at a time, she’d often walk in circles to soothe her tired mind and take in the world, never somewhere abandoned. But her numbness towards the world led toward thrill-seeking that was quite unlike her, exploring the empty homes and offices gave her a sort of excitement and anticipation she had long since forgotten. Now the world had come to bite her again, as it often did, but it had missed. While searching a large abandoned office building, one called C&A by the looks of the excessive logos dotting walls and every piece of equipment, she had nearly stepped through a gaping hole in the floor. She should’ve known better than to step anywhere near open windows, the weak wooden floors had endured too much rain and exposure to the elements to possibly be stable. Nonetheless, it had turned out alright, and she freed her foot from the flooring before she could fall through completely. Her gaze turned to a desk at the far corner of the room, a rusted metal table with an old computer and headset atop it. The two items seemed to be the only things without visible aging, small scuffs around the visor betraying its use. It was almost alluring, curious and alien to her. She couldn’t help herself, and put on the headset, careful not to damage it. At first, nothing happened. It was simply a black screen, but something was off. The feeling in her body was rapidly fading as colors came into view, and her eyes shut completely. Now, she had awoken on a wooden floor, staring at the high and vaulted ceiling above. A nothingness filled her being, and as she looked around, she couldn’t seem to find anyone. Without warning, a booming voice echoed from above, rapidly approaching, “Bazoowiezooweewa! Another one!”.
What the hell was going on. A small form whirled downward from a stationery hot air balloon, a set of chattering teeth with a full human body and a black velvet top hat. While short in stature, it quickly flew to meet her, floating inches from her face to look her in the eyes. “And who might you be, my zealous zanni?” he wasted no time, tilting his head to the side like an animal faced with a puzzle it wants to figure out.

Though she thought carefully, even the furthest corners of her mind produced no sense of her identity. “You want me to be honest?” She asked hesitantly to the unfamiliar character.

“Mmmmmyes!” he tilted his head in the opposite direction, shifting closer to her and intensifying his gaze playfully.

“I have no idea. What about you?” She replied, hoping someone had a clue.

“Me?” He enthusiastically responded, eyes widening slightly in excitement.

“That’s not what I-” The stranger suddenly placed a gloved hand to her mouth.

“Shhh! Why, I’m so glad you asked! My name is Caine! I am your ringmaster! I’m here to keep that brain of yours stimulated and make sure you all stay sane! No need to thank me.”
“Who’re ‘you all’?” She inquired, voice tinged with nervousness.

“The other circus members, of course! You arrived so quickly after Zooble, I wasn’t expecting anyone else for a while! What luck, hm?”

This was a lot, and Caine definitely didn’t do much to ease the transition to wherever she was now. Her head stung dully, but Caine’s close proximity kept her from checking if she had some sort of fever. “Soooooooo,” he dragged out, “If you don't remember your name, nothing out of the ordinary, have no fear,” he waved his hand dismissively, “What should we call you?”

It was all too much. “I don't know,” she sighed, rubbing her head gingerly, “you pick.”

She immediately realized that probably wasn't the best idea. “Really? You're trusting…” his irises widened to an unnatural degree, staring at her with exaggerated endearment, “me to come up with your name?”

She paused for a moment, but caved, not wanting to quash his happiness. “Sure, man. Whatever. Just make it a good one.”

Caine kicked his feet excitedly, “Of course! Of course. It'll be great! The best you've ever heard!”

He raised a finger, appearing to come to a decision before bluescreening completely, a static buzz playing as he floated in midair, still as a statue. As quickly as he froze, he resumed as if nothing happened, “how does ‘Harli’ sound?”

She opened her mouth to respond, but Caine cut her off again “You're right! Terrible. Then maybe-”

“No, it's great. Just fine, Caine.” She assured, placing a hand on his shoulder, completely misjudging the force of her gesture and jostling him slightly.

“Alrighty then, Harli,” He drew out the name, testing its sound, “That does have a ring to it!” he remarked. “Oh! The rest of the humans are on an adventure right now, so,” He returned the hold on her shoulder, and jerked unexpectedly forward. The circus blurred and muddied, before returning to stillness as a large office with dark wooden shelves lining the majority of its walls. The shelves all had circular stands of golden wire, some empty and others occupied by what appeared to be crystal balls. Harli didn’t have time to inspect them further, as Caine had already settled in the tall crimson chair adjacent to her, hands folded neatly and staring expectantly. “...What?” She slurred, head still swimming.

“We just have to wait!” He effused, “You could just hang around the tent until they get back, but this seemed more comfortable! So, while we’re here,” Caine conjured a yellow notepad and pen, already writing something down before the conversation started, “Any questions?”

Lots, actually. But Caine definitely looked to ramble, so she had to choose carefully. “What is this place, exactly?” She responded after a moment of thought.

“My dear, you’ve stumbled into the Amazing Digital Circus! A place of wonder, where anything can happen! You already know I’m your ringmaster, and you have several other fellow circus members to interact with! I plan all of the adventures myself, slave over them to make each one perfect! Just for you all! Sounds good, don’t you think?”

Harli paused. Now that she had more time to consider it, this situation didn’t sound half bad. “It does, doesn’t it?” She mumbled in awe, mostly to herself.

“Yes indeed-y it does, my amicable alichino! So glad you agree!” A whorling sound echoed from what Harli could only assume was the far corner of the circus, reverberating through the high halls of Caine’s office. “Looks like the other humans survived their adventure! They found the possessed mask a lot quicker than I expected! We’ll have to cut this short, Harli, but until next time!”

She couldn’t respond before a hand was firmly placed on her shoulder once more and she was again transported to the tent floor. This time, she wasn’t alone. Five other figures faced her, each incredibly different from one another, but all caked with peach-toned sand. They didn’t directly address Harli at first, until a red-haired ragdoll turned to face her, eye widening in surprise. “Oh!” she yelped, expression turning to hesitant excitement. “You’re not an NPC, right?”

Harli shook her head as the remaining avatars scanned her, returning the gaze in kind. “A new sucker!” a tall purple rabbit smiled, yellow-toothed grin unsettlingly wide, “What’s your name, kid?”

“I’m 28.” Harli huffed, already fed up with his attitude, “And my name’s Harli.”

“Ick,” the rabbit scrunched his face in mock disgust, “How’d you come up with that one?”

“I didn’t. Caine did.”

“Ooh,” he leered, “Already sucking up to the ringmaster? You’ve got competition, Ragatha.”

The ragdoll, presumably Ragatha, sighed, pinching the bridge of her sewn-on nose and shutting her eye tightly. “Alright, Jax, that’s enough.”

She turned to face Harli again, a pitying half-smile plastered on her face. “How’ve you been doing? I know the transition here can be pretty rough.”

“I’m fine,” Harli confirmed, “this seems like a nice place! Nicer than, you know, all the stuff that goes on in the actual world, right?”

Ragatha looked a bit concerned at her praise of the circus, but seemed to brush it off, grin returning. “We should get you introduced to everyone else!”

She clapped her hands, coming to face the other assorted characters. “You’ve already met Jax and I,” she started, pointing to each of the unfamiliar avatars. “This is Kinger,” she gestured to a tall wooden chess piece wrapped in a royal purple robe, whose striking blue eyes were following a small scarab beetle, presumably one which had come with them from their adventure. “Gangle,” she moved to a tangle of shining red ribbons mounted by a theatre mask with glittering tears at the corners of its eyes. Gangle waved weakly to her, seemingly preoccupied with her mask. “And Zooble!” Ragatha motioned towards the last character in the small crowd, a mess of mismatched and intensely colorful toy parts kept together enough to resemble a figure. “That’s it?”

“Of course not!” Jax drawled, “Kaufy isn’t here right now, said he had something going on with some exit door, but he’ll be back.” He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial tone, “Laugh at his jokes, will ya? He’s had a rough couple days.”

“Haven’t we all.” Ragatha lamented, offering no further context. A beat of silence passed, until she glanced over to Harli again. “Your room is just down the hall, by the way! You’ll probably want to make yourself at home before Caine sends us all on an adventure to celebrate your arrival.”

Harli nodded and started her way down the hall Ragatha had indicated. It was impossibly long, each door displaying a picture of its resident. Most of them were crossed out or blank. Eventually she found her room, and swung open the door. It was unlocked, but a key had been placed on her bed so that she’d be able to lock it in the future. It was an incredible room, blank and clean as a prestigious hotel room, with a single queen-size bed and nightstand in the center. Nothing too personal, nothing too notable. Hollow and unintrusive. A sleek white lamp stood adjacent to the bed, but she neglected to turn it on as she shuffled over to the lights and shut them off, making the room nearly pitch-black, save for the sliver illuminated by the partially open door. Harli kicked the door shut, turning the lock behind her and moving to the bed. She lay down on the covers, trying to shake the dull pain from her head. Her eyes slid shut, and a relaxing numbness enveloped her. Time passed fluidly, and she had no idea how long she had been laying there until a small pop reverberated through her room. Slowly opening one eye, she was met with Caine, hovering closely to her head. She scrambled to sit up, facing him with shock written all over her face. “What’re you-” she stumbled over her words, “I thought I locked the door!”

“Oh, you did!” he answered simply. “Doesn’t stop me, though! I can just appear here whenever I please! And I do please right now, because I have an adventure to welcome you to the circus! It’s all set up outside, if you’re ready!”

“No, yeah, definitely,” she rubbed her eyes, shaking herself completely from the idea of sleep. “Can’t wait.”

Chapter Text

For her first adventure, it was amazing, despite the ringing in her head. An aquatic treasure hunt, with the final goal being guarded by fish. Considering there were only two guards, it wasn’t particularly difficult. Harli and the others exited the portal a bit waterlogged, but otherwise unharmed. “Spectacular work, my ambitious argonauts!”

The rest of the humans were already caught up in conversation and argument, save for Kinger, who exited silently. “Thank you, Caine. For the adventure.” she responded without thinking.

This caught Caine’s attention, his head whipping around instantly. Harli kept walking, not wanting to make it some kind of ordeal. She could feel Caine’s eyes on her as she went, entering her room and locking the door again. Her head was still buzzing, she hoped some sleep would help. But she had her reservations about Caine not disturbing her, mainly because she was both new and open to conversation about Caine’s favorite topics: humans, himself, and his adventures. Harli returned to her bed without further interruption, and fell asleep in short order. Sleep was peaceful in the circus, the lack of temperature and feeling in her digital avatar ensured that she wouldn’t be disturbed by much. She never dreamt much in the human world, chalking it up to a bad imagination.
Her peaceful sleep was slightly disrupted when a dream began, one of a dazzling beach. The sand was shining as if it were made of glass, and the water shone like crystal, unmoving except for small rolling waves washing up to the shoreline. A few insects floated lazily through the air, bumblebees and butterflies. It was a welcome break from the same old space, and Harli couldn’t help but heave a relaxed sigh and make a place to sit in the sand. The wind blew softly, texturing the surface of the water with light force. Her gaze drifted from the setting sun to the sand, running her hand through the coarse granules. A vague awareness settled in of a presence behind her, but she couldn’t be bothered to respond. “Isn’t it nice?” An unusually calm voice purred, slowly approaching her.

Harli nodded in contentment, keeping her eyes on the water. Her eyes were lidded, nearly shut, when Caine joined her to sit by the water. It felt unnatural to be anywhere near him and experience quiet. His demeanor was constantly over-the-top and loud, expressive to the highest degree. To be so peaceful and still almost seemed an honor. “I really do want you all to be happy here,” he continued, mostly to himself, “I think I’m glad it’s working, at least for one of you.”

“You think?” She asked, a bit confused by his wording.

“I don’t know much about emotion, but I’ve seen the way people act when they feel joy. I think I feel the same way.”

“It’s a good feeling,” Harli exhaled, “hopefully you’ll get it more often. This circus makes me happy, and it does the same for you, at least that’s what I’d guess.”

“It’s my purpose.” Caine brushed off her half-question, tracing lines in the sand with a gloved hand. “I want you to be happy.” He finished, staring fixedly at the ground.

“I am, and I think everyone else, I don’t know them too well, but they’re doing the best they can too.”

She looked over at his drawing in the dust, a cartoonish bumblebee like the ones flying through the air. “And I want to try to make sure you’re having a good time, anyways. Doesn’t look like people talk to you much.”
“Not really.” He conceded.

“I look forward to whatever adventure you have planned next, I promise. But my head’s feeling a lot better now, so I think I might go poking around the tent for a bit.”

Harli stood up, brushing herself off though no sand was left on her. She offered an outstretched hand to Caine, who looked at it blankly. “Oh would you look at the time!” He sputtered, looking down at his wrist at a nonexistent watch as what she could only assume was a blush rose to his face, “Looks like I’ve got to get going it was a nice time let’s do this again goodbye!”

He rushed, hastily waving and disappearing suddenly. Harli stood alone on the beach for a moment, gazing at where Caine had sat just seconds before, and at the bumblebee he had drawn in the sand. She couldn’t stay on the imaginary shoreline forever, but she decided she wanted to return someday, if she was able to. The digital lake might be just as nice. Harli smiled as she slowly roused herself from sleep, eyes not yet adjusted to the darkness of her room. She was peacefully alone again, nothing particular to do until the next adventure. Making good on her plan, she grabbed the key from off her nightstand and went to wander the tent.

Chapter Text

Harli quickly found out how empty the tent was, at least for the most part. It was scattered with a variety of colorful objects, flower pots and basic shapes, but nothing really came together to form a coherent location, with the sole exception of a tall, spiraling staircase. Ascending the staircase revealed a comfortable cafe with smooth eggshell walls and a bar.
She took a seat atop one of the barstools, an unfamiliar drink popping into existence before her as she sat down. She took a hesitant sip of it, forgoing basic instinct for a moment. It tasted sickeningly sweet, far beyond what any normal or well-adjusted human would think is palatable, an incredibly concentrated strawberry flavor. Fearing coming off as ungrateful or impolite, she took another few small drinks of it, looking around to try and spot any of Caine’s all-seeing eyes. Not noticing any, she set what seemed to be a strawberry milkshake back down on the table and leaned back in her seat. The smell of candy and strong cologne permeated the air, undoubtedly Caine, though he was nowhere to be found. It made sense, since he made this entire place, that he’d be somewhat omnipresent, but it still was unsettling to constantly feel eyes on you.

Footsteps slowly approached the cafe, Harli turned around in her seat to steal a glance at who it might be. To her slight disappointment, it was only Ragatha, turning the corner into the cafe with utmost caution. They exchanged a friendly smile before Harli pretended to return to her drink, trying her hardest to avoid an awkward conversation about the circus. Ragatha heaved a deep sigh as she sat down beside Harli, grabbing what appeared to be a box of apple juice from the shelves in front of them. “So,” she began wearily, “what did you think of your first adventure?”

Harli wasn’t sure if the truth was the right answer, but Ragatha seemed tolerant enough of different opinions. “I thought it was great,” she yawned, trying not to sound too enthusiastic, “the change of pace and everything. I’m sure I’ll miss the real world soon, though.” she added hastily in an attempt to not seem alienated from the rest of the humans. “But overall this place seems awesome, to me at least.”

She traced her finger around the rim of her drink absently, refusing to meet Ragatha’s gaze. “I’m glad.” Ragatha answered curtly, “And Caine?”

Harli froze, still staring adamantly downward. She took a while to choose her words, she’d seen how the other circus members reacted to Caine, and it was certainly a touchy subject.
“I think,” she faltered, “he tries. I don’t know,” her voice became more desperate as Ragatha snapped up to judge her face-to-face. “He was nice to me. And nice to you, from what I saw. I don’t get what the big deal is.”

“The ‘big deal’,” Ragatha intoned, voice unusually firm, “is that he has all of us trapped here until we go insane, sending us on adventures we don’t like for his own entertainment. I understand that he was kind to you, but most of us don’t want to be here, and he doesn’t care. As much as you might want to find some sort of person in him,” she monotoned, “he’s an AI. One made to torture us until he discards us when we can’t do it anymore.” She turned away again, returning her gaze to the bar. “Please, stop looking. I don’t care if you keep trying, I’ll still be here, but the others,” emotion snuck back into her voice, tainting it with disappointment, “they won’t want to be friends if you keep ties with Caine like that. Considering the circumstances, it’s important to have people who care about you. And Caine,” Harli shifted uncomfortably in her seat, but Ragatha continued, “Caine won’t do that. When you abstract, I hate to say it, but he isn’t programmed to know what that means. He’ll cast you into the cellar like anyone else, like…” she trailed off, turning to the door.

“What’s that?” Harli questioned hesitantly, but Ragatha didn’t respond, continuing her fixed gaze at the door.

Jax was leaning in the doorframe, a smug smile on his face. “Hello, ladies,” he grinned, “we’re hanging out up here now?”

Ragatha gave a frustrated exhale, but nodded and gestured to a seat beside her. Rather than taking the seat she had suggested, Jax sauntered over and took an uncharacteristically close seat to Harli, roughly putting an arm around her shoulders and laughing shortly. “So, Harley-Quinn,” he misnomered purposefully, “I heard you’re a fan of Caine. What’s all that about?”
“None of your business, Jax.” she mumbled halfheartedly, already tired of conversing with her circusmates.

“Aw, come on!” he whined melodramatically, “We’re all dying to know! There’s no one in the circus you’ve talked to more!” He lowered his voice to a mock conspiratorial whisper, “I heard you and him were in his office alone, huh? ‘Rough first day’ my [@#%]!”

Harli shook him off angrily at the implication. “[^&*$] off, it wasn’t like that. He wanted to know if I had any questions.” she snarled, a bit more frustrated than necessary.

“Ooo, you’re real mad!” Jax laughed, “Nice to know I’ve still got it. Don’t worry, I don’t mean anything by it. Us rabbits have to stick together, eh?” He returned his arm to her shoulders in pretend companionship, still smiling obnoxiously.

“I’m a hare, Jax.” she retorted. It could be true, but she was mostly focused on distancing herself from the purple rabbit. “And besides, I have no intentions of being friends with you, of all people.”

“No, of course,” Jax nagged, “you only go for glorified AI chat-bots, my mistake. Sounds pretty lonely, if you-”

“Quit it, Jax.” Ragatha finally interrupted, tense but sure of herself, as if they’d had this conversation hundreds of times.

“I’m just havin’ fun, Raggie!” he shrugged, finally backing off, “I forgot you hate fun.”

“You didn’t used to be like this. I miss it.” She answered simply, cutting off further conversation by exiting the cafe without another word.

Jax watched her go, expression empty and unreadable. Harli took the opportunity and followed Ragatha out the door silently. Jax hadn’t moved an inch from his seat, still fixing both of them with a hollow stare. It felt late. Harli knew time wouldn’t pass the same, but it was worth heading back to her room, at least for a bit. Ragatha looked to be going to her room as well, presumably to sleep. Unfortunately, Harli didn’t feel tired in the slightest.

Chapter Text

Harli wandered around the tent for a bit longer, checking random rooms for anything of interest. An idea formed slowly in her mind, one that was unlikely to work, but it wasn’t like she had anything else to do. “Ca-ine!” she called out, looking around for a sign of change.

He was probably busy planning the next adventure they’d all go on. To her shock, Caine came spinning out of the empty air, coming to a stop a few feet from her. “Hello again, Harli!” he boomed cheerfully, “I didn’t know you could just summon me like that! Very impressive. Whaddya need?”

“Nothing much,” she hummed, “I just wanted to hang out…or something?” He stiffened for a moment, staring at her blankly. “You know, talking? About you? Or the adventure today?” she offered awkwardly.

“Hang out…” his tone was dead serious, devoid of emotion, with an expression to match, “with me?”

“Yeah. With you. If you’re busy or not in the mood or whatever, it’s totally fine,” she was cut off by Caine breaking his silence.

“I’ve never hung out with a human before! The other humans all hang out with each other, and I saw you doing that earlier, but…” he was practically spinning in the air with uncontained joy, and Harli couldn’t help but smile widely in return. “With me! Wowie! What do humans do when they ‘hang out’? Wait, don’t answer that, I have the perfect idea!”

Without warning, he transported the two of them to an incredibly colorful pastel room scattered with a variety of activities. A low-set table held what had to be at least twenty different board games, a television set, a few beanbags and couches, and an outlandish quantity of art supplies were scattered throughout, along with a number of posters all over the walls. Upon further inspection, the posters were blurry and impossible to decipher, but looked nice from a distance. “So,” Caine kicked his feet playfully, resting his jaws on his hands in midair as if he were laying down, “what should we do first?”
Harli took a moment to look around and consider, “We could play a game and talk, if you want.”

“If I want?” he asked, expression one of genuine confusion.

“I don’t really care what we do, so I’m leaving it totally up to you. No pressure.”

“A game would be nice.” He conceded, suddenly a bit more timid. Taking a seat on one of the couches, Harli noticed that there was only one controller. She got up to look in the vicinity and between the cushions as Caine watched, a puzzled expression on his face. “My modest martinelli, what are you doing? The controller’s right here.”

“There’s only one, I’m looking for the other.”

“A second one? Why would you-” his eyes widened, glitching slightly. “You want me to…” he refused to finish the sentence.

“I thought we were both going to play, if you don’t want to,”

“No!” he yelped, a bit desperately, “I-I mean, no, I would love to. Here!” he held out his cane, which morphed into a more complicated-looking black-and-gold controller.

He sat down beside her to play as she booted up the television. It had a variety of games, but they eventually decided on a relatively simple game, a pair of stick figures fighting with various firearms. It was fun enough, but Harli had a feeling Caine was throwing the rounds. Each time he lost, he’d congratulate her, but it never seemed like he was trying his best. To test her theory, she threw the game harder, falling off of the map or “accidentally” misfiring her weapons. As expected, Caine reacted in confusion, before adjusting to continue his manufactured losing streak. Neither gave up, faking worse and worse ability until Harli finally broke the facade. “I know you’re losing on purpose, Caine.”

He tensed up, slightly guilty at being caught, regardless if he was really doing something wrong. He tried harder afterwards, but was able to adapt to her playstyle so quickly that he ended up winning nearly every round. It was a relief, to Harli at least, that he still tried to the best of his ability, despite how many remorseful glances were shot her way every time he won. Eventually, they both grew bored of playing, and grabbed some art supplies from around the room to draw and talk. “You sketch those a lot, huh?” she asked passively, gesturing to his sketchbook, almost completely filled with drawings of bees, the same she had seen on the beach.

“Aren’t they interesting? They’re adaptable and organized and fuzzy and follow instructions! Sounds pretty perfect to me.” He gushed, clearly passionate about the subject.

“Where’d you learn all that? About the instructions, I mean.”

“Kinger!” Caine answered simply. “He knows an awful lot about bugs, sometimes, at least. He prefers butterflies, but I don’t see the appeal.”

“Why not?” an opinion so strong from an AI naturally warranted a response.

“They’re just so aimless! Migrating to wherever when they can’t live there anymore, no home, just doing whatever they want in the moment! No structure at all! I’d say bees are a lot smarter, living in a colony all together. And butterflies are all spindly. People only like them for their wings.” A surprisingly well thought-out answer.

“I guess I could see that.” She murmured, finishing a small drawing of a bee in the corner of the page, attempting to replicate the numerous ones Caine was creating. “Do you have any hobbies? Unless making adventures is sort of a hobby for you.”

Caine took a long pause, pencil coming to a stop in the middle of drawing. He stared at the page for a while, finally answering by removing his hat. He wrung the rim of it anxiously while searching for something inside of it, focusing entirely on the item he was looking for rather than meeting her gaze. “Well,” with a flourish, Caine removed three polaroids from his hat, laying them out on the table. “I study these pictures an awful lot. That’s a hobby, right?” Harli nodded, ignoring that staring at photos was by no means a hobby. “They’re the office where I was made! Pretty neat. Too bad they cut me off, or I’d be able to make an exit for all of you!” He laughed forcedly, still searching the photos on the table.

“You don’t…” he looked up, expression a bit concerned, “want to leave, right?”

“No, of course not.” She reassured, “I think I’ll like it here. And I’ve made a friend on the first day! I haven’t had one of those in years, y’know.”

Caine snapped up to face her in shock, eyes wide. “Friend?” he responded, voice nearly a whisper.

“If you wanna be?” She shrugged, masking her worry about his behavior.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a…friend before! Fantastic!”

“How long have you been around?” She questioned, now far more intrigued by how long he’d been ‘alone’.

“Twenty years? Something like that! I lost count after sixteen. And by the way, about the whole ‘first day’ thing, every day is your first day! Time passes weirdly here.”

“Yeah, I noticed the sun and moon both out today.”

“They like to chat.” he justified, a bit indignant at his inaccuracies being noted.

Maintaining conversation with Caine turned out to be easy enough, his rambling made it simple to just sit back and listen. Topics changed fairly frequently, but the thru-line was the human world. Caine was obsessed with it. He wanted to learn everything he could about any part of nature, society, space, anything he could. They traded facts between one another about their respective worlds, giving Harli some useful shortcuts in exchange for vivid descriptions of office buildings, rainforests, and the like. Lights across the ceiling seemed to ambiently dim with time, giving the illusion of night. Harli sighed and stretched across the couch, adjusting the pillows to lay down comfortably. “What are you doing?” Caine asked, getting up from his seat to stand by her, shifting on his feet awkwardly.
“I think I’m going to sleep for a bit or something. It’s getting sort of dark.”

“Like a sleepover?” He asked excitedly, “I’ve never been to one of those! I mean you can probably guess that, because I’d mentioned not really having friends earlier, but I did used to know Kinger and Queenie, and they talked about all sorts of things people do when they’re friends! And in love, they were a cute couple.” He prattled on enthusiastically, eyes gleaming with ecstasy.

“Yeah, like that.” She interrupted his train of thought, but he could’ve gone on for hours. He didn’t seem to care that she’d interjected, eager to be invited to yet another social event.

“Hanging out and now a sleepover? My arlecchino, I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy!”

“That can’t be true.” she grinned, not meaning to reject a compliment. Caine didn’t respond, already occupied with restructuring the entire room. “Are the other circus members doing alright?” she wondered, shifting her hands behind her head.

“Oh, they’ll be fine. I left a note for them in my absence!” He snapped his fingers and returned to work, a piece of lined paper appearing in the air and drifting down to rest on Harli’s face. She grabbed it and scanned the rushed writing, something about cleaning black mold out of the cellar. She hadn’t known he was able to lie.

“Here!” Caine tossed her a fluffy yellow-and-white patterned blanket and took his spot on the couch adjacent to her.

“I didn’t know AIs were able to sleep.” she mused aloud, settling in to sleep.

“We don’t! I’ll just watch you sleep or…uh…” he took notice of the shock on Harli’s face, “something like that.”

Ignoring the eyes which were undoubtedly now trained on her, Harli drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

Awaking, Harli found herself back in her room. She seemed alone again, but there was commotion to be heard outside. Stepping through the doorway, a bullet whizzed past her head, making impact at the other end of the hall. A large target was painted at the end, a black mark now staining the bullseye. Jax, holding a hunting rifle, grinned smugly from the other end of the barrel. “You messed up my shot!” he bantered, standing up and collecting the empty round from the floor.

“What the [^&*$] are you doing?” she snapped, staring down the hall.

Jax walked over leisurely, firearm posed easily over his shoulder. “Caine let me have a gun, so long as I don’t hurt anyone too much. Just practicing, no need to get all worked up.” He tossed the shell to Harli, who fumbled slightly before catching it.

“What’s this for?” she retorted, holding the round between two fingers. It was around three inches, incredibly warm to the touch. If she were able to feel pain, it would no doubt have burned her fingers severely.

“A souvenir! Obviously. Gotta have something to remember me by when Caine locks you in some room and never lets you leave.”

“The [#&%<] are you talking about.” She snapped, lowering her voice.

“I don’t expect you to know much about how he acts when he’s passionate about something, but I’ve been here for years. Probably. I know a [#&%<] of a lot more about how he behaves than you do. And he’s crazy. He acts nice, especially ‘cause you like his adventures, and that’s even worse. He’s gonna be so scared you’ll leave or end up like Zooble that he’ll hardly let you do anything! I could be wrong, though, who knows! Wanna roll the dice?”

“Shut up.” she snarled, turning on her heels and slamming her door.

It creaked slightly, signaling Jax coming to lean against it. “What, a guy can’t joke around? Quit takin’ everything so seriously, it’s only your first day.”

It wasn’t so much Jax’s insensitive remarks, more their believability. Caine did present as an ardent and flamboyant individual, caught up in whatever interested him with incredible dedication. “Guess I’ll take a chance. Now go away.” she added curtly, pushing back on the door.

Jax acquiesced, sauntering back down the hall. Harli placed the empty round on her desk and sat down in the chair beside it. She toyed with it, the only unique thing in her room, before suddenly being transported to the tent floor. The rest of the circus members were lying prone on the floor as well, Caine hovering a decent distance above them. “Hello again, my silken satellites! Hope you all got a nice long rest, because today’s adventure is…” With a theatrical flourish, he wrote the next adventure’s title with neon blue in thin air, “The Secret of Clockwork Mountain! Your goal is to reach the peak of this robust range and discover what lies at the very top! However, you’ll have to look out for mysterious rifts, which will appear and send you back to this very mountain at an entirely different time period! Be safe, my little canny crewmen, and have fun!”

A portal appeared, swirling yellow and blue. Even Zooble entered willingly for once. Someone was still missing. “Hey, Caine,” Harli started, waiting until everyone else had begun the adventure.
“Mmmmmmyes, my charming comedienne?”

“Where’s Kaufmo? Did you…” she hesitated, considering how Caine may respond, “do something to him?”

“What?” he exclaimed, an offended look crossing his face. “I’ve never done anything to torture you humans, and I never will! Any turmoil, physical or emotional, that I may inflict is 100% accidental! Why would you ask that?”

“No reason at all, just wondering.”

Caine looked entirely unconvinced, but shot a glance towards the portal. “Better get going, or else you’ll fall behind! Now that I’m thinking about it…” Caine drew closer to Harli, speaking in a hushed whisper, despite them now being alone. “There’s a rift near the base of the mountain that can take you into the future, rather than the past. Use that!”

“Thanks, Caine.” Harli sighed, grateful for the hint as she stepped into the portal. The rift he had mentioned was not incredibly difficult to find, concealed in brush so as not to be used unless someone was searching for it. It was a silvery and golden hole in reality, similar to shattered glass. The hole was large enough for her to peek inside and check her surroundings, finding herself to be most of the way up the mountain. Crunching footsteps could be heard faintly, echoing across the steep redwall limestone incline. Muffled voices, seemingly entrenched in an argument, accompanied them, growing closer by the minute. Harli crawled through the rift, falling directly into a dried out bush, collapsing it on impact. The resulting crackling resounded loudly, and the voices stopped. Twisting to face the rest of the circus members, Harli came to face Ragatha, who jumped back in surprise. “Oh! Hi, Harli. We thought you were skipping out this time.”

“No, I just joined a little later and couldn’t find you. I fell into one of those rifts.”

Zooble and Gangle approached behind her, Zooble missing a few parts.

“Kinger wandered off, and Jax fell into a prehistoric rift. Now he’s stuck.” Zooble monotoned.

“Zooble pushed him in.” Gangle exclaimed happily, comedy mask upon her face.

“You shouldn't have done that, Zooble.” Ragatha mumbled tiredly, “I get that he's annoying and all, but-”

“He'll be fine. Not like we can die here, anyways. Worst-case scenario, he gets chased around by dinosaurs for a few hours. Or days. It doesn't seem like we're getting much closer to the peak.”

Zooble was right. Though they looked to be mostly finished when Harli was peering into the rift, from here it didn't seem they'd made much progress at all. “Is there some other rift we can catch to get up there?” Ragatha kicked around some dust, thinking aloud. “We were looking for one, before we got chased down by a giant tumbleweed. It took half of Zooble.”

“Maybe we should split up.” Gangle suggested meekly, “Two of us go up the mountain, the other two go looking for another rift.”

“I'll go with Gangle.” Zooble responded.

Ragatha stared at the group, gaze shifting from person to person. “I think…I'll go with Gangle and Zooble too.” Harli turned to face her frustratedly. “Not that I don't want to go with you or anything,” she rushed, “It's just that Zooble and Gangle can't really face off against the tumbleweed again, and I don't want Gangle to lose her comedy mask. It'd just be safer, you can understand, right?”

Harli nodded reluctantly, separating from the group to look for another rift. The mountain was incredibly hot, dry stone cracking and forming small canyons up the mountain. She checked each one, ensuring that no rifts were concealed within them. A few did hide a portal, but they never led to the right places. One led to the prehistoric era, presumably the same Jax was now inside, but he was nowhere to be found. Time passed, evident by the movement of the sun, now lower in the sky, though her search continued to be fruitless. Whether or not the other group had more luck, she had no idea.

Chapter Text

The sun had long since set in the artificial sky, stars twinkling happily from their blanket of night. A peaceful mood, soured by Harli’s search, which continued with not even a modicum of success. “To [#&%<] with this, man.” she huffed, deciding to rummage through her pockets for anything she may have been given to help on this adventure.

It produced nothing more than a batacchio and a few packages of saltines. Not especially useful, but the crackers tasted alright. Gangle and the rest of them had to have reached the summit by now. If he hadn’t fallen into a rift, Kinger might be around to help out, though he seemed to be in no condition for that, mentally speaking. Twigs broke beneath her feet as she continued to wander in a general upwards direction, looping diagonally around the mountain. The peak stretched on forever, always considerably out of reach. A scrabbling and breaking of bushes sounded not too far from her, and Harli ran to meet the noise, in the hopes of regrouping with the others. It was, unfortunately, only Kinger, sitting contentedly in a patch of brush. “Oh! Hello. Are you an NPC?” He asked calmly, pupils dilated from the darkness, giving him an unsettlingly peaceful look. “No, you aren’t.” He answered his own question, “I saw you earlier, right? I’m Kinger.”

“Yeah, Ragatha sort of introduced us, but we never talked. I’m Harli. So,” she looked around, nothing but dried greenery and rocky ground as far as the eye can see, “what’re you doing just sitting here?”

Kinger laughed lightly, scanning the horizon, “I got separated and walked off, but now that I’m a bit more conscious of my surroundings, I don’t have a clue where to go! So I’m staying here until the adventure ends to make sure I don’t wander into any more trouble. I picked up a couple of Zooble’s parts on the way, though.” He held up three brightly-colored toy parts, some stuck with thorns.

“I've been wandering for a couple hours, wanna join me?” Harli offered, outstretching her hand.

Kinger nodded, getting up and gathering Zooble's parts to take with him. The air had cooled down since midday, and crickets could be heard despite them being nowhere to be found. As they walked aimlessly, Harli began to notice insects buzzing through the night air. They were nearly imperceptible due to how fast they moved, but all seemed to be headed in the same direction. Motioning to Kinger, she adjusted their path to follow the path that the insects were creating. It was a clever hint, one that could be easily ignored and likely only came out at night to make sure people didn't spend too much time on the adventure. The thought had to be appreciated. After a solid period of tracing the same trail, a light began to come into view. It was a campfire with a strange lack of smoke trail, ringed by a few log slabs as benches. The fire was unusual in color, more golden than orange, translucent and twinkling ever so slightly. A rift. Kinger moved back from the light a bit, pupils shrinking. “Think this is a portal?” Harli asked, stepping over one of the benches to gaze into the faux flames.

“It does look like one, doesn’t it?” He gazed into the fire in awe, watching motes of light drift up and into the sky, taking places among the stars before fizzling out.

Harli reached her hand into the campfire hesitantly, feeling the flame curl around her hand. It felt more like liquid, cool to the touch and sparking upon contact. The rift moved too quickly to make out what lay inside of it. “What’s inside?” Kinger questioned, still keeping a safe distance away from the fire.

“I have no clue.” She sighed, continuing to wave her hand around in the wormhole, “I’ll try to go through and let you know what’s on the other side. If I don’t come back, it’s probably a bad idea to enter it. We can’t have both of us getting stuck who-knows-where.”

Kinger nodded in agreement, still captivated by the fire. Harli stuck both of her hands into the fire in an attempt to spread the rift, at least enough to get in. The flames still flowed unpredictably, but now a hole had been made, inside still shifting. Without a second thought, she leapt into the portal headfirst, knocking her head on the ground. It was a softer fall than expected, and when her hands came to meet the earth, it was grassy and dotted with four-leaf clovers. Rubbing her head as she got up, Harli took in her surroundings.

It did appear to be the peak of the mountain, a lush patch of soil with a stunning pink weeping willow casting long shadows across the terrain. Daisies and clovers ran throughout the grass, waving back and forth in the light wind. Harli was alone, it appeared that Ragatha’s group hadn’t made any progress. The rift wasn’t incredibly high up, and the soft ground broke her fall just fine. She was tall enough to reach it, sticking a hand through and gesturing for Kinger to join her. He obliged, falling clumsily through the portal and staying on the ground for a moment. He turned over on his back to look up at the sky, all sense of urgency lost. “Did we win?” she mused calmly, propping herself up against the willow tree’s grayish-pink bark.

“We should wait for Ragatha and the others before we finish. They’d like this place.” Kinger opined, closing his eyes peacefully.

“They’d like to be back in the tent more, wouldn’t you think?”

“No,” Kinger contradicted slowly, “You can’t get anything like this in the tent. A silent night, cool-toned colors, all of it. The only thing that could make this better is…” he trailed off, thoughts getting lost down his stream of consciousness.

Harli couldn’t deny that it was nice, being aimless like this. Kinger was right. How long could it possibly take for the rest of the circus members to catch up?

Chapter Text

There was a yellow button glowing softly in the grass, the way to bring this adventure to an end. Kinger had insisted that they keep waiting for a while, but eventually he couldn’t wait any longer. He finally conceded to ending the excursion, signaling for Harli to press the button. She did as suggested, causing confetti to erupt from the ground surrounding the button, directly into her face. “Congratulations!” Caine whirled into existence happily, gazing down at the duo in excitement.

“You’ve found what lies at the peak of Clockwork Mountain! Looks like not everyone made it up here in time, so,” with a snap of his fingers, the rest of her circusmates appeared.

Jax was scorched nearly beyond recognition, face coated in ash. He shook out his entire body, returning it to its original form. Ragatha looked at Zooble in obligatory annoyance. “How was I supposed to know about that? I just thought dinosaurs would be the problem.” Zooble deflected.

“Of course, you had no clue that the dinosaurs died from a meteor and volcanoes, basically hell on earth. It’s only one of the best-known things about them!” Jax fumed, trying and failing to keep an edge of playfulness in his speech.

“Now, now, getting a little banged-up during your travels is perfectly normal! No need to blame each other.” Caine chided.

Jax opened his mouth to respond, but the group was swiftly transported to the tent floor once again. He loped back down the hall, the rest of the circus members following suit. Caine hovered, hands on his hips, beside the portal, watching intently as everyone dispersed. “Thanks, Caine.” Harli smiled upwards, “For the hint. The peak was beautiful.”

“You think so?” Caine queried, “We could go again sometime! They’re mostly reused assets from the digital lake during the nighttime.”

Harli nodded simply, wandering off into the tent.

It became a cycle, however slightly different it may have been each time. Go on an adventure, say thanks, look around the tent or talk to Caine, sleep, and over and over and over again. It wasn’t unpleasant, and the adventures became more refined each time. On the contrary, the more boring part was being alone in the tent. She’d poked through every bit of it, and while there were plenty of interesting rooms, they didn’t serve much of a purpose other than looking cool. Her personal favorite was a tall stack of carousels in a pitch-black void. Children's laughter echoed through the room, though there didn’t appear to be any walls for the sound to reverberate off of. It was almost hypnotizing, revolving in arcing circles through the empty air. This day in particular had been tiring, the daily adventure involving more running than anyone wanted. Harli had elected to cease her fruitless searching of the tent for anything intriguing, heading back to her room immediately. No sooner had she laid down on her bed that Caine popped into existence above her. “Hell-o, my dearest Dominus Arlecchinorum! I was overworking my metaphorical brain trying to think of adventures for all of you, and am taking a break! What’re you up to? You’re usually looking around the tent right now like a stranger!”

“Hey, Caine. I’m just resting. Pretty sure I’ve explored the whole tent by now, so I’m done searching when there isn’t really anything to find.”

“My oblivious observer, that isn’t all that this circus has to offer! Here, come with me!” Taking Harli’s hand in his own, Caine turned on his heels, shifting their location to a sandy shore beneath a starry sky.

It was beautiful, to say the least, albeit empty. The water was clear, darkness obscuring its depths. “You really like beaches, huh?” She exhaled, taking a seat on a red folding chair by the shore.

Caine waited a moment to respond, settling down beside her. “It's one of the best things I was given as source material. They're stunning, but that's besides the point. This is a lake.”

“Oh. It's gorgeous, in any case. The shrimp are a nice touch.”

She pointed to a few shrimp milling about by the palm trees, bumping into one another as they moved. Safe to say they weren't exactly high-functioning. Bubble blipped into existence, snapping his teeth and chasing the shrimp along the shoreline. Caine laughed openly at his antics, a robotic but contented sound, pleasurable to the ears as much as the emotion behind it. It was cool out, the water definitely couldn't be nice to swim in, but resting beside it was rejuvenating enough.

Chapter Text

“Do you think my adventures are fun? Nothing boring? They're relatable, aren't they? To you humans?” Caine broke the short silence, posing one question after another with barely contained worry.
“They're great, but they definitely aren't ‘relatable’. I sort of thought that was the point.”

“What do you mean?” He blurted, frustration tainting his voice, “I’ve used your descriptions of the world, the jungle from today was based almost entirely off of what you said! And everyone hated this adventure especially! I just…”

He shrank in his seat, pressing backwards, “I’m not doing anything wrong.” He murmured with a surprising level of certainty.

“I had no idea you were going for ‘relatable’ with all of this. If that’s what you’re looking for, just so you know, I’ve never even seen a jungle, at least with my own eyes. Everything I was telling you was from other people, or from looking at pictures.” Harli confessed, reclining her seat to meet Caine eye-to-eye, “Most people don’t visit jungles or deserts very much, unless they live there. Most people live in average houses, with average jobs, and an average life that ends right on time.”

“Then why would you tell me about all of the other places, ones that people don’t see?” He faltered in an apologetic but accusatory tone, “Why would they care about those, when they hardly even know about them?”

“You were just asking about the world! How was I supposed to know you’d use whatever I told you in an adventure? I could’ve just explained an office job if you wanted us all to experience the ‘real world’! The places I’d talked about were just the best of the best.”

“Did you work in an office, too?” He asked, distracted from his vexation by one of his favorite topics.

“No, I didn’t.” Harli sighed, “I worked at a restaurant and went to college during the week. Dishwashing and stuff, you know the drill.”

Apparently not. He shook his head, disappointed but still intrigued. “Just making sure everything’s clean. Sweeping the floor, things like that. It was a lot more boring than here and now, trust me.”

Caine was silent for a moment, staring thoughtfully at the ground. “That does sound…uninteresting.” He conceded, “Did everyone else have that kind of job? ‘Boring’?”

“Maybe. More likely than not, if they wandered in here.”

“But if you didn’t like your job, and they had the same ones, why don’t they like the circus? Like you do.”

“Just a dislike of what you do for a living isn’t really enough to hate the whole world. For example,” Harli gestured to Caine, “let’s say you hated making adventures. Would you just hate being here altogether?”

“Yes.” Caine answered without hesitation.

“I-What?” Harli sputtered, taken aback by his assurance.

“Making adventures is my purpose. Without my purpose, why…” he paused, “what reason would I have to continue being?”

“I’m sure that isn’t all you have. Hopes, dreams, something? I know you have things you like to do other than creating adventures, what about those?”

“Those aren’t purposes.” Caine adamantly refused, “As I was made, I have one purpose.”

No one spoke for a while, both slouching defeatedly in their seats. Caine still looked dejected, but steadfast in everything he’d said. He held a regretful determination to keep his programming, this one hard line he wouldn’t cross.

“Sometimes I forget you aren’t a human.” Harli exhaled, getting up from her seat by the lake and turning to head back to the tent.

“I’m sorry.”

Caine didn’t turn around to face her, remaining curled tightly in his seat. She stole glances back over and over on her way back to the tent, but nothing changed.

Chapter Text

Days passed. The adventures were fine, good enough to keep everyone busy but still not enough to be enjoyable. Not even Caine seemed to like bringing everyone through them. Harli wasn't sure what went wrong, but something she said that night was taken personally. Too personally, especially for someone who wasn't a person. That was what she told herself, at least. Ragatha was probably right. Caine was nice when anyone played along, but one short half-argument had him refusing to speak to her for more than a few seconds. She still thanked him after every adventure, only resulting in a guilty sideways glance. They needed to talk again, she was sure of it. Caine just refused to take the first step.

“Caine!” She shouted in a bored monotone, masking her anxious anticipation.

“Caine, where are you?”

The tent echoed without reply as she continued her aimless search, opening doors at random to no success. He was almost certainly away from the tent, in his office or some other area outside. There was nothing she could do if he was still holed up in his room, she hadn't a clue where it was. The other locations were a different story.

The digital carnival was loud, bright, and constantly overwhelming. Every sort of ride, food stand, and fluorescent light were all firing at once, busying the senses regardless of the dulled awareness that came with a digital form. None of the humans bothered to visit, it was essentially just another adventure, one with even more to take in than normal. Harli wandered through the lines of animated mannequins, shouting and laughing surrounding her, blurring together into an irritating ambience. The NPCs played games at countless multicolored stalls, tossing rings onto the necks of bottles or throwing darts at suspiciously Bubble-shaped targets. The main event was the ferris wheel, an impossibly tall red-and-yellow wheel with immaculately-painted golden carriages. It reached so high into the void-sky that the top was almost obscured by its sheer height. The wheel itself, however, was not her focus. There was a carousel which acted as its base, spinning slowly. It appeared more aged than the ferris wheel, paint on some of the horses chipped or faded. Caine had offhandedly mentioned it several times, and it was worth a shot to check. Watching the revolutions yielded no results, he wasn't riding it. Harli approached the carousel base, looking up past the panels and metal rods into the empty upper canopy. Two mismatched eyes stared back, receding from her line of sight. With an exasperated exhale, Harli placed her hands on either side of the carousel's center pole, hoisting herself up to sit on one of the sweeps. She was tall enough that it wasn't much of an issue to ascend, but the space was a bit cramped. Caine looked surprised to see her, but more so that she'd come to join him inside the carousel. He did nothing to leave, arms crossed atop his knees and still perched on an adjacent sweep. “Ready to talk yet?” She posed the question gently, slowly, as if it could somehow frighten him.

He already looked worried enough, but nodded all the same.

“I don't want you to think that I don't understand how you feel. Or at least, that I don't try. But I want to hear it from you first.”

Caine shifted uncomfortably, mulling it over before finally deciding on an answer. “I just can’t... I'm not doing anything wrong, am I? With my purpose.” He asked, mostly rhetorically, a pleading look in his eyes.

“I don't think I have the answer that you want to hear, Caine.”

He inhaled sharply, an almost strangled sound. She'd never seen him breathe before. “But if you'll just listen for a second, it'll help. I promise.” She assured. Caine still looked on, unbelieving but hopeful.
“You're right. There's something wrong with your purpose, definitely. I know the feeling. But it's nothing you can't fix, if you just let yourself.”

“I have let myself! I've tried other things, but they just don't work the same. It doesn't feel right. Making adventures is what I was created for. It's all I was made to be good at. And what you're saying, it means…” He trailed off, eyes darkening slightly. “I won't be good at anything else. It isn't what I was created for.” He finished curtly, cutting short whatever he couldn’t say.

“Maybe just trying something new could give you something else to live for,”

“I don't live.” Caine interrupted bitterly.

Harli stopped. He looked to be breaking, body visibly stalling, glitching apart and back together again. Caine didn't seem to notice. “We all do, just…differently than in the world we used to know. That’s what people hate so much about this place. But as far as you, I think I know what we should try, if you’re willing.”

He didn't say no.