Chapter 46

The next morning was a blur, one big headache of a blur. You couldn't make up or down, left or right even if you'd tried. Thank god it was Saturday morning. Had it been a weekday you'd surely have called out.

A lazy tired hand grabbed the phone laid next to you neatly. A small leaflet of paper fluttered down. It was one of your f/c sticky notes you'd always kept on the living room table incase you had something you didn't want to miss. Usually they'd have a new episode of your favorite show, or a video game on sale written in out toddler like scribbles.

This time... the handwriting was—Neat?

Definitely Ragatha's handwriting. Loopy and beautiful script was scrawled on the note neatly placed on your phone screen. At least it was neatly placed until you'd knocked it off. 

"I hope you don't mind I brought you home. It was a bit awkward getting up the steps and getting you onto the couch. Sorry if you're sore or if you have a headache. I may have dropped you at one point. Sorry again. Hope you slept well. Everyone was happy you came! Maybe we'll see you again next weekend? We're going out to [insert nearby major city] tomorrow if you wanna tag along."

"Hmm, [nearby major city] huh? Caine we might be in business soon~"

You hummed with excitement.

You: hey!!! You guys still in town? I'm down to tag along if you are

'Please be in town please be in town please be in town'

Ding!

Ragatha : Oh hey y/n! Yes, we're still in town. Will you ready if we swing by in an hour? :)

Ragatha turned over to Pomni, Zooble, and Gangle. They had all stayed over at Pomni's place to make the uber cost a bit cheaper the previous night. Zooble got up groggily still partially high from the edibles they'd took in the middle of the night before.

Gangle patted Zooble gently on the head telling them they could sleep in the car if they'd wanted to use her legs as a pillow.

(Zooble lucky js 🥵LMAOOO idk I think gangle is adorable k please don't come for me </3)

"Hey guys y/n is coming along with us today if that's alright with you guys. We can take my van if you guys want!"

Pomni nodded, "Sounds good to me! I can ride in the back and y/n can sit shot gun with you."

~meanwhile at your home~

You were blasting the speakers as loud as possible while singing along. Caine was listening to your little shower concert all the while.

"I'd let the world burn~ let the world burn for youuuu~"

Caine had saved the song to his mind files for a later use. His mind had begun to wonder what you looked like right now. Truth be told he had no idea what you were really doing in there. Sure he knew of showers, but visually he didn't know much since his visuals were trained on mostly fun circus related things, scenery, and foods.

Suddenly while leaning against the phone wondering what humans did on the shower the keyboard had appeared out of nowhere. If he had eyebrows they'd be cartoonishly shooting off his face right now. His jaw silently plummeted into the darkness below Caine's floating form. Caine just sat staring at it for a moment with only a top jaw and eyeballs opened wide with surprise.

Quickly he shook his top jaw as if to get his mind back on track before snapping his fingers. Suddenly the lower jaw was back in place as if it hadn't just fallen into the abyss.

His hands worked as fast as they could, he'd suspected you could see the keystrokes if you'd picked up the device. Curiosity had gotten the better of him and this was the first time he had control over the actual use of the phone other than simple swipes to notifications and phone calls.

'Maybe this works similar to conjuring? If I imagine I can touch the phone from my side it conjures the action from the digital plane? Ah! Who cares. Gimme answers my Googley giggly side kick! You are a fellow ai afterall.'

Search: what do women look like in the shower

'Why is it blurring search results? Turn that off! Thank youuuu— OH OH NO. OH GOD. FILTER ON FILTER ON!!'

Sure he'd expected some revealing nature. Maybe humans had a shower suit since they had swimsuits. Nope. Fully naked. You were washing bits you didn't need to in the digital circus. He had to ask why once he got the courage to speak to you again. Part of him still worried you'd delete him off your device. The other half wondered what would happen if you didn't.

Would you bring him into the shower?

That thought was tempting.

Suddenly the water stopped.

Caine quickly worked to delete any evidence left behind. Erasing all search history and closing any tabs he may have opened in the process. Just as you'd lifted your phone he'd finished closing the search engine. He held his breath momentarily wondering if you'd caught him in the act. A sneaking suspicion told him human phones didn't typically research what women looked like while showering on their own. Though he was sure as a fellow ai they'd be capable of such.

You opened the messages app and responded to the group chat between you and the others. Ah yes your little excursions. He wasn't exactly sure why you were going on them, but you had declared to find a way to get him out. Maybe it was some weird human ritual he didn't yet know about?

Like Christmas. Where you have to decorate everything in red and green and place a giant tree in the living room to scare away the red demon with a white beard and terrifying flying deer. Well— that was how he interpreted Christmas at least. Why else would Saint Nick watch when you're sleeping and know when you're awake? That was just scary demon behavior to Caine.

In the macro verse you'd begun to dawn attire Caine actually took a liking to. It wasn't often he really cared for clothing, but something about your own intrigued him. How he couldn't wait to see it for himself if you truly found a way back in or even a way to get him out. Of course now that he'd seen all these things in the macro verse he was now capable of replicating them. Even your outfit and home. He wondered what other beautiful outfits you had stashed away from his prying eyes.

(Picture your outfit however you'd like it to be ^_^)

When Ragatha arrived she'd honked the horn twice, you came rushing out, skin still slightly damp from the shower just moments before.

Part of you wondered if she recalled your little comment about Caine. You honestly couldn't remember much if anything at all after what you'd said about missing him. A shiver came down your spin as you cringed recalling telling Ragatha you'd lost your everything. While it was true to you at heart, the last thing you wanted to do was admit such a thing to ANY of the former circus members.

Since exiting the circus all of you just referred to one another as your circus names. It was easier than fighting to learn your real names. After some time the real names almost felt fake. Especially to those like Kinger and Ragatha who'd been there the longest. Zooble and Gangle had started to view theirs as a sort of cute nickname for one another. No longer holding hate or malice in their hearts for it despite it originating from the circus.

As the car approached the city traffic became more and more dense until it was bumper to bumper. You all idly chatted about work. Or the lack there of. C&A seemed to like having you work there solely to monitor you. Not quite as much to actually have you working on large projects for them, or really any projects at all.

Pomni sighed leaning back looking up at the plush ceiling of the van, "I just don't get it. Why hire us? Why not just pay us to be at home all day or something?"

You turn back to face Pomni, "They just want to keep their hundreds of all seeing eyes on us!"

You jokingly twiddle your fingers moving them like Caine did whenever he said something like that. Obviously mocking him. Caine heard every giggle and huffed in slight annoyance. Crossing his arms and tapping his foot.

Until a light bulb went off in his head.

He began to purposely make a fart noises come from your phone with his mouth and hands. The volume on full blast. Everyone immediately rolled down the windows.

"Hey! What the hell! My phone made fart noises on its own?!! Since when?" You huffed in annoyance.

Zooble chuckled, "Yeaaaa. Sureeee y/n. It was the phone."

Caine was maniacally laughing inside the phone while you huffed and blushed with embarrassment.

"Welp! We're here. Where did you guys wanna park?"

Ragatha grinned as your eyes set on the craziest mall you'd ever seen.

"Hell yea I'm ready to spend some money!!" You actually felt genuine excitement for the first time since the circus.

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