Chapter Text
Caine tried to be helpful to his guests, and he did. He wanted his circus to be a fun place for all ages! A place to relax and not have to worry about the aspects of real life anymore! He hand-crafted every room for his guests to be personal and comfortable, and hopefully something they would like.
However, recently, Caine has been picking up on the suspicion that his guests aren’t enjoying their stay as much as he thought they were.
It started when he was floating around the circus, thinking of ideas for a new adventure. He heard a crash coming from the bedroom hall, and he teleported there in an instant.
Yelling echoed through the hallway, and Zooble’s box of parts was thrown on the floor in between their room and Jax’s. Caine saw Ragatha, Kinger, Gangle, and Pomni sticking their heads out of their respective doors, each having different facial expressions.
Ragatha looked like she was tired of this. Gangle was crying again. Pomni was standing behind Kinger, and Kinger looked quite concerned about what was happening. Speaking of which, what was going on?
“JAX YOU ASSHOLE!” Zooble shouted, throwing more objects out of their room. “WHERE DID YOU PUT IT? I SWEAR I’D KILL YOU IF I COULD.” Caine peered in the doorway, dodging colorful projectiles that were being flung through the air. Zooble was bent over looking through parts, their blocky face knit in a fury. They seemed to be lacking an arm at the moment. Caine guessed this was the cause of the outburst.
“Woah there Zooble!” Caine threw his arms up as Zooble noticed him and armed themself with another object, ready to lug it at his head. “What seems to be the problem?”
“I can’t find one of my pieces,” Zooble gestured to their missing arm. “I know Jax took it.”
Jax appeared from the doorway. He looked to be just as angry as Zooble was. His purple blobby ears twitched furiously. “I keep telling you. I didn’t take it!”
“I don’t believe you!” Zobble snapped back. They threw the block in their hand at Caine. “Go away, Caine!”
The ringleader barely had any time to dodge the pink block, as he was turned facing Jax.
“I would have told you if I had it!” Jax yelled back, throwing his hands in the air. If one of his guests wasn’t turning their room decoration into weapons, this would be quite a comedic situation. “I wouldn’t give it back, but you would know!”
Kinger approached the door cautiously. “Where’s the last place you left it?”
Zooble’s antenna shook violently, and they chucked another piece at Kinger, effectively knocking him in the head. A yelp from Pomni could be heard as she scrambled over to help him up.
Gangle’s voice rang out from somewhere. He wasn’t quite sure, he couldn’t see them. “What are you looking for Zooble?”
“They’re looking for their arm.” Jax rolled his eyes, crossing his arms in a sassy manner. Caine found it funny how flamboyant the purple rabbit was. The circus is great when everyone isn’t fighting.
“Zooble, you left that in my room,” Gangle yelled. “You were trying on different parts, remember?”
“Oh.” Zooble stopped, standing up.
Jax looked at Zooble with a disgusted look. “What did I tell you?”
Zooble shoved past Caine and Jax and went into Gangle’s room. “Shut up Jax.” They grabbed ahold of Gangle and shut the door behind them angrily.
Ragatha shook her head and walked back into her room. “Let them figure it out, I said. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Jax just sighed and walked into Zooble’s room, Caine turned to follow him, curious. To his surprise, Jax started picking up the things littering Zooble’s blocky room and put them back where they belonged. Caine left the room and picked up the box of parts that was in the hallway.
Kinger was already placing spare parts that had been launched through the hallway, and Pomni was picking up decor that was used as ammunition. Kinger must have caught Caine’s confused look. “This happens a lot, don’t worry about it.” He turned and pat Pomni on the head. “You don’t think Zooble is losing their mind, do you?”
Pomni laughed lightly. “No. I just think we’re all stressed out and tired of each other.”
Caine furrowed his face in confusion. “You all fight a lot? Why?”
Pomni shrugged. “Well, we’re stuck here. Sometimes fighting with each other is the only thing to do.”
“But you’d all have a great time here if you just got along!” Caine suggested. Now that he thinks about it, he’s never seen Zooble and Jax interact well with each other.
“Well, sometimes that’s just how it is,” Pomni said.
Kinger placed the last object in the box. “Well, at least we know Jax feels bad about it.”
“I think Zooble does too,” Pomni said, nodding her head towards Gangle’s door.
Caine turned with the box in his hand as his programming rumbled. He thought his guests all loved each other and loved staying here. If they didn’t like each other..does that mean…
“Do you like being here? At the circus?” He found himself asking this question before he could think. He just needed to know.
“I-” Pomni stopped. Her big eyes looked up at him with complete shock, as if she was confused he would even ask such a thing. “Do you think we like it here?”
“Well, I should hope so!” Caine exclaimed. “I work very hard to make sure the circus is perfect for everybody!”
“Oh,” Pomni said. “Uh, yeah sure.”
His programming crackled with surprise. Sure doesn’t mean yes, Pomni.
He shrugged this off for now, as he walked through Zooble’s door and saw Jax looking rather weird compared to his normal self. His ears were sagging down, and he seemed more quiet, even with his movements.
Caine put the box down beside him. Jax looked at him for just a moment, and then went to the other side of the room, starting to tidy Zooble’s bed. Caine thought he was just trying to look busy, but he wasn’t going to push.
Kinger picked up a block from Pomni’s arms. “I think this goes over here.”
Jax looked at the two of them. “No, it goes on the shelf over there, on the top. Let Caine put it up there, you can’t reach.”
Kinger handed him the block, and Caine floated up to where Jax had pointed. He knew he could just snap and fix the room to exactly the way he had made it, but Zooble had changed things around in the room, and Caine found himself enjoying working together with his guests. He liked watching them interact with each other, and being nice to one another.
As they slowly put Zooble’s room back together, Caine started to think.
How do I get them to like me? More importantly, how do I get them to like being at the Circus? Most importantly! How do I get them to love each other?