Chapter Text
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Caine knew he had 
He could see it in their faces, when he appeared after they pressed the correct button to stay with him forever.
Humans were so complicated... they had made the choice to stay with him, had they not? And yet they were still griping about him 'lying.' It wasn't lying! It was ADVENTURING! He had only done it for the plot... and a lot of that C&A garbage was real stuff. So really, this was on them for being fickle, emotional creatures.
But Caine could fix it! They were upset because they were stuck here, not because they were trapped with him, of course, but because they had lost those other humans, right? So if he could just give them the other humans back, maybe they would be happy with him again...
Except... He couldn't actually un-abstract the lost humans. Their data was far too corrupted to even touch, frankly, much less puzzle out. That's why they went to the basement.
But he could make NPC's based off of those old personalities! Make new avatars identical to the missing humans, give them the memories of the abstracted, and that should be enough to put a bandaid on the whole situation, right? Honestly, it was so easy a fix, he wasn't sure why he hadn't done it before!
...Yes he did. It was because it would be hard to keep track of the real humans from the NPC's the longer he ran the codes, and if he got too mixed up, that could be really bad…
"Why not just tattoo them with a big
But a tattoo... that would certainly help.
Someplace where it wouldn't be too distracting, since the real humans probably wouldn't like seeing a big fat NPC label staring them in the face while speaking to these guys… Breaking immersion on adventures was always a bit of a no-no and that would certainly break it.
The bottom of their feet, then. That should work. Yes… it was genius! "This is great, Caine!" Bubble said, appearing again.
"Thank you, Bubble!"
"This is sure to make the remaining humans abstract faster!"
Caine popped Bubble again, and moved to conjure the set of abstracted humans in NPC form. At first, he just made them all T-Pose, tilting their models around, checking that they looked the way he remembered them. Then he triple-checked that he had marked them appropriately. Yes, the left foot for each had a bold printed NPC on the bottom. It was unmistakable, but out of the way enough it shouldn't cause an issue. The only exceptions were Queenie and Wormo, Queenie having the NPC print listed on her base, and Wormo... well, however he turned, Caine couldn't seem to hide the label well enough. Fine; he deleted Wormo's NPC body. Bizco, Rattie, and Spike too. Nobody really remembered them aside from Kinger anyway. He almost kept Scratch, thinking the humans might like the guy who Abel had been based on in his adventure, but then he thought better of it. If his personality was too accurate to the real Scratch and shared the real Scratch's memory data, well...
That could be a problem.
It was settled then. He'd bring back Queenie, Kaufmo, Ribbit, and... Gummigoo. Pomni didn't have any abstracted friends yet, but she seemed pretty partial to that alligator Caine had made for the Candy Canyon adventure. That ought to placate the jester, and four NPC's should hopefully be enough to keep the six humans happy. So he didn't have anyone in particular for Zooble; she and Ragatha should be happy enough with Kaufmo, right? Maybe if they wanted something or somebody in particular they should be more upfront with their desires anyway. How else is Caine supposed to make them hAPPY
Jax might not totally agree or disagree with the others, but watching them confront Caine was interesting, to say the least. So he sat back and watched as they tried to get Caine to listen, and Caine completely ignored them, even going so far as to zip Pomni and Zooble's lips.
Wow. Jax was glad he hadn't spoken up, for once...
"I know you're all still upset about the last adventure with the buttons and everything, but I'm here to make it up to you!" Caine explained.
Zooble unzipped her (lack of) lips. "How?! You--"
"With THIS!" Caine interrupted her, gesturing to the curtains onstage, which pulled themselves back with gusto.
And Jax's digital heart stopped as he laid eyes on the unabstracted forms of his friends. One in particular, mainly:
Ribbit.
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*….Upload complete….*
—————— wakes up and… no, that's not right.
[reset]
Ribbit wakes up. Now THAT feels right! Now to figure out what’s going on—
[Download successful]
Ah yes of course! NPC, she… is an NPC. Modeled and programmed with the memories of a long departed cast member. Created to put a little pep in the humans’ steps! Why? They don’t know. Caine didn’t grant them that knowledge, but that’s okay! She’ll figure it out eventually, she’s sure.
Ribbit takes a moment to observe her surroundings. She’s behind a curtain of some sort but where—
*We’re on the main stage…*
Huh. Thanks random totally not suspicious voice!
Ribbit smiles to herself, they hope that the others are as eager to see them… them…
She glances to her sides, finally taking note of the OTHER stars of the show. He doesn’t recognize the chess piece, nor the gummy gator. They must have gone either before or joined after her departure. She is however taken aback at the sight of poor ol’ Kaufy.
He must have abstracted some time after her, shame. Caine knows they can’t trust Jax to keep the moods uplifted!
The thought makes her snicker; oh, that silly Jaxy. She’s excited to see him again. They hope that he’ll be happy too.
*He won’t…*
Silence, voice! We’re having a main character moment!
Ribbit shakes her head to clear it, and waves enthusiastically at Kaufmo with a wide grin. Kaufmo seems to immediately light up as he waves back at her.
She turns her attention back to the curtain at the sound of the circus cast’s protests and Caine’s enthusiasm. Seems like the show’s about to start!
Pasting on her most Oscar-worthy grin, and using a hand to quickly adjust her bow, they greet the opening of the curtains with gusto.
*So many new faces… they weren’t all here before right?*
There are familiar ones too though! Kinger, Ragatha, and… him.
They lock eyes.
Jax.
Her Jaxy boy.
He does not look happy to see them, if the shell-shocked, slack-jawed look on his face is anything to go by.
Ribbit rocks on the heels of her feet, swinging her arm anxiously, the first to look away.
*This isn’t going to end well… time to get this
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"You... could bring them back the whole time?" Jax almost said it himself, but Ragatha managed to find the words first, the redheaded doll stepping toward the stage in shock and awe at the sight of the long gone circus members.
"Oh, no, these are just NPC's! See?" Caine beckons the bots to raise their feet to show the printed letters on the bottoms. The humans didn't like the surprise last time, so being upfront ought to help sweep any negative feelings under the rug, right?
WRONG. "This is
"What? You missed these characters, I brought them back for you! Isn't that what you wanted most?" The ringmaster asks, flourishing his cane toward the NPC's.
“They’re NOT characters—”
"G... Gummigoo?" Pomni whispers, her mouth now unzipped.
"Li'l lady." The croc winks at her, and Pomni is confused.
"But I thought he wasn't a human— "
"Oh, he isn't! But you liked him right? So now you can keep him! Permanently! All of you! HAHAHAHAHA!" Caine laughs maniacally, "Isn't that great?"
"No, these were our FRIENDS," Zooble protests, and Caine shushes her again.
"Op op op, we are NOT ruining the moment for our other humans, my suspicious squirrel-sacks."
"That sounds dirty." Bubble is popped almost the moment he appears, thanks to that comment.
"Ruining the moment for who?" Pomni asks though, looking around, "I don't think anyone wants to have a fake version of their real frien— " She cuts herself off as she looks at Kinger.
His eyes are dilated as he looks at Queenie, and the black chess piece is looking at him with such sheer love it's hard to believe it is fake. "Queenie...?" He calls in a voice so soft and yearning it's clear he's fallen for the trick in his usual stupor. And it doesn't matter that she isn't real. She's real to him.
Pomni looks around in a panic, checking to see if anyone else is as transfixed by the NPC's— and sees an expression on Jax's face that makes her feel concerned for new reasons.
The rabbit's ears are down and back. The way they never are, at least, from her experience with him. His expression changes slowly from gasping, dilated pupils to shrunken ones as his smile falls and he bares his teeth in rage.
Uh oh.
"U-um, Caine, I think that you should reconsider— " Pomni starts to tell the ringmaster, knowing that they might just have another abstraction offstage with Jax looking so unstable suddenly, but Caine cuts her off again. The man isn't letting ANYONE finish a sentence but himself. Not when this idea is so good and useful and they just need to let HIM speak.
"WELP, time for me to go! Got an important business meeting with Bubble and the mannequins." He announces, fixing his tie and disappearing from the scene, leaving the NPC's behind with the humans, still up on the stage.
🐸
To her credit, Ribbit really does try to avoid looking at the rabbit. She really does! But they were so excited and he looks so mad… She feels her nonexistent heart crumble just the tiniest bit. Yet, she catches herself glancing over at him every few seconds, only half paying attention as Caine forces her to raise her foot to show off the bold ‘NPC’ mark.
They manage to tear their eyes away as Caine talks about Gummigoo. Huh. So he WASN’T an abstraction. Jester girl must have a big heart if she got attached enough to an AI for Caine to bring him back.
*Not everyone made the cut, we’re special.*
Despite the tense atmosphere, Ribbit can’t help but snort and giggle a bit at Caine’s unintentional comment. She leans close to Kaufmo and stage whispers “I think that’s the closest I’ve ever seen him get to saying
And in true Kaufmo fashion, he cackles at her comment like they just said the funniest thing he’s ever heard.
*She missed this clown.*
In her mirth, she nearly misses how Jax’s face curls into pure rage.
Oh. *Oh no.*
With Caine finally gone, the frog leaps down from the stage. They hesitate a moment before taking a deep breath and approaching the already aggravated rabbit. She tries her best to pull on a reassuring smile as she reaches out to him. “Jaxy..? Ya feeling alright hops? You look about ready to blow a gasket—“
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It isn't right.
Jax hears her voice for the first time in ages, hears her curse and the curse getting censored, knows the joke she was making even without her being able to fully voice it... and it's just not right.
Because it's perfect.
That's just like her, to just— brush everything off like nothing happening even matters. The way she pretended everything was fine before— before—
Caine is gone, and Ribbit— more like Robot, she isn't real— jumps down from the stage.
"Jaxy..?" No... "Ya feeling alright hops?" NO. "You look about ready to blow a gasket— " "DON'T TOUCH ME." He smacks her hand away with the back of his as she reaches out to him, standing up straighter now, furious. She's not much shorter than he is, but he towers over her like a thundercloud, eyes full of hatred.
"Jax!" Pomni calls to him, and his eyes flicker to her only a fraction before they glare down at 'Ribbit' again.
"You aren't her. You will NEVER be her. Don't talk to me." He pauses, then bolts away from the familiar frog, running from the area.