Archive of Our Own ^beta

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It’s just any ordinary day in the circus tent, Jax is tormenting everyone as he usually does but today is a very special day because CAINE IS MISSING . The first to notice surprisingly was Zooble even after several years of being hoisted away to nonsensical adventures with no end in sight, they were the first to notice something was wrong “Hey has anyone seen Caine?” Everyone stopped in their tracks and thought for a second “You know what, I haven't seen him all morning, anyone got an idea where that weird little guy is hiding?” Jax said tossing away the random gag he was about to inflict onto Pomni “Maybe he’s in his office.” Kinger noted, mentioning this office for the first time to everyone “He has an Office?” Pomni asked, a bit confused, thinking back to the events of her first day in the circus. Kinger stood up from his seat “Yes of course, follow me.” The old soul said cheerfully the gang followed behind him like a gaggle of ducklings.

He led them to a remote corner of the circus with a lonesome door similar to the other members' rooms with a solem image of Caine on the door placed onto the blank wall. Kinger knocked as if he had done it dozens of times before, “Caine? Zooble here is worried about you.” Zooble a little startled at his phrasing “What? No, I'm not, We all are ok!” Gangle patted their shoulder knowing they do worry a bit about the circus's ringmaster. Caine shouted at the door “I’M FINE DON’T COME IN!!!” They could hear wacky sound effects as if Caine were fighting something “PUT ME DOWN YA WHACKA!!!” Pomni recognized that accent immediately and rushed to open the door to see Caine holding a rugged cowboy character by his ankles; the man saw Pomni and his eyes lit up. Caine immediately dropped him “Don’t Look!!” Pomni went to the man to check on him “Caine what’s going on? Who is this guy?” Ragatha asked, breaking the silence requesting answers for everyone’s confusion “I-I don’t know? One of my npcs reprogrammed themselves overpowering the circuses code and took the place of a new player!” He said entirely panicked “Or something like that…” he reiterated in a fake tone of confusion as to not alarm anybody.

Jax on the other hand looked terrified at the now semi human looking crocodile;hiding a very dangerous secret himself; he spoke “Okay Caine what are we gonna do with him, just snap and poof him away again right?” Jax said in his regular mischievous tone but clearly panicked, Gangle noticed but kept her observation to herself, “It’s not that simple actually… since his code is no longer rendered as an npc and now as a player I don’t have any control over his mind or body the same as all of you…” Caine said a little defeated. Pomni and Gummigoo just sat staring at each other on the floor glad to see one another finally reunited. Jax felt panicked. “Well we gotta do something!” he shouted his tone filled with anger and panic; “Jax! Chill. He’s technically a new member; he's trapped here like the rest of us.” Zooble said trying to be at least semi welcoming “I suppose so, he has a room and he does already come with a name. So I guess we can handle this the same way we always do whenever we get any new circus member.” Caine summoned his cane trying to make the best of the situation.

Caine zapped them all to the main stage area, “alright since we have a new member joining us today we can do a very easy adventure , let’s think…” Pomni and Gummigoo smiled at each other, nervous and excited to finally go on the wacky adventures they had planned to when they originally met. Caine glanced at them; immediately came up with an idea “Great idea Bubble! Let’s do Cupid's Couple Puzzle Maze!!” A barrage of hearts and glitter covered the stage “Everyone gets paired up to solve peculiar problems and puzzles and work together to be the first out of the maze; the winner will receive a grand prize!” Kinger tapped on Zoobles' shoulder who was only paying attention to half of the exposition “Do you want to go on this adventure?” He asked, already knowing who they’d be paired with. Zooble looked at Gangle. “Sure it wouldn’t hurt.” Zooble said walking next to Gangle, Caine saw Zooble go along with his adventure, and took note. “Alright everyone ready!” He snapped the pairs to three different edges of a maze.

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Immediately being paired together as a couple on their first day must’ve been a bit of a surprise but not an unwelcome one. “Did you actually manage to break the game?” Pomni asked as they took a stroll through the maze “It wasn’t really that hard… I was just really determined. Is all…” He smiled. Pomni blushed, “Really? Why is that?” She asked before being faced with their first puzzle. The two looked at a grid on the floor with different colors and a screen with a wooden doll and circle with the word “Tangled Up” on it, Gummigoo took a step on the grid floor and the screen spun over shouting “Left foot Green!” Gummigoo saw a row glow green “Hmm alright?” He put his foot on a green square and the screen spun back to Pomni “o-oh it’s my turn.” She shyly stepped on the grid and the screen spun over “Right hand Red!”  Pomni put her hand on a red square, the screen shouted again “Left hand blue!” He placed his hand on a square closest to Pomni “Ello there~” he chuckled. Pomni giggled “LEFT FOOT YELLOW” the screen shouted “I-i think we have to go that way..”, “ah right that makes sense…” Pomni stretched left foot to a yellow square leading back to the maze, “Right foot red!”, “ $&@#%… what was that?” Pomni giggled “it’s a little complicated.”, “You can explain later here I go…” I twisted his leg barely reaching his target “Right hand green.” The screen quieted itself as they were successfully doing the puzzle. “Left foot yellow.” Gummigoo untangled himself and got close to the end. They stumbled their way through the game, their giggling slowly turning into pure laughter as they escaped the ridiculous game. “Aren’t we supposed to be going faster?” Pomnis laughter softened. “I think so but this is a lot more fun, if we lose we lose, let's enjoy ourselves.” Pomni smiled holding his hand, Gummigoo blushed, “Whatever you say love let’s go.” He stood up grabbing her hand and ran deeper into the maze.

They ran around attempting to solve various obstacles in their path, some were easy others ridiculous, they laughed and tried to complete them as quickly as they could but couldn’t take any of it seriously. They were happily enjoying each other’s company finally getting to go on the wacky adventures they had wanted to explore together. They reached the final puzzle where Pomni had been hoisted up on an elevating platform and had to give Gummigoo directions to solve the puzzle and get her down safely. Their attempts were in vain; they refused to take anything seriously after the fun they were having with each other.

Pomni, stuck standing on a high up ledge, watched the cowboy struggle to safely bring her down, “Go to the left, the red block goes that way.” Gummigoo purposely went the wrong direction and chuckled “No the other left! That’s where the blue block goes!”, “I’m sorry love I can’t hear you, you're just too far away for me to hear you!” He chuckled, messing with her “Gummigoo! Do you not want to rescue me?” She pouted “Of course I do, it's just these blocks are so heavy~” he said pushing it in the right direction with one arm Pomni giggled seeing how strong he is. He completed the puzzle and watched Pomnis platform lower to the ground, Pomni smiled “Thank you~” they smiled and laughed holding hands. They were both smiling happy to finally be together, “I’m so happy you’re here.” Pomni said holding his hand tightly “I am too Pomni…” he stopped in his tracks right before they reached the exit “before we leave, I need to tell something…” Pomni looked at him “When I saw you again, I had to fight so much not to break character? I wanted so badly to talk to you… but all I could was just sit at that table and watch you…, when I was forced to leave and you looked so sad and I hated it I I…” Pomni held his face and he blushed. She leaned in close to him giving him a soft kiss she slowly pulled away. “You’re here now, that's all that matters now..” he smiled. He held her hand as they walked through the exit to see Gangle and Zooble there waiting for them.

“Oh hey you guys made it.” Zooble said Gangle leaning onto them, “yeah sorry we took so long.” Pomni apologized “You’re fine, we’re still waiting on Jax and Ragatha.” They pointed to the third door, “oh this is going to be a while…” Pomni looked worried, “Hey at least you guys won.” Pomni smiled and Zooble looked confused. “It was a race?” Gangle smiled, “We kind of did our own thing.” Gangle chuckled, “We mostly goofed around the whole time.”Gummigoo added, tipping his hat back, “I guess we all had the same idea.” Pomni smiled. The four chuckled and waited on a bench at the end of the level.

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Being paired together was a shock, Ragatha was a bit upset to be paired with the rabbit that torments everyone any chance he gets, Jax on the other hand was still stressed about Gummigoo but felt more at ease to be alone with Ragatha. “Let’s get this over with.” Jax said walking ahead with no hint of malice in his voice, Ragatha was a little unnerved by his demeanor but kept her guard up. They walked up to their first puzzle, a memory light up floor called “Cupid Commands” Ragatha looked a bit stressed, Jax knows more about her than she knows so he’s aware she struggles with memory puzzles. “Hey I know you have a hard time with these kinds of puzzles… if you want I’ll help you.” He said with a tone of genuine concern, Ragatha was a little shocked “I promise no funny business. You can trust me..” she looked at him and for once actually felt safe. A path of lights lit up on the grid then as quickly as it lit up it shut off, she looked behind him and he patiently gave her instructions “okay from that square you can go up two then hop to your right.” She looked nervously, not knowing which way to go “okay breathe, hold up your hands and make an L the one that looks wrong is the way to go.” She did as he said and jumped seeing the path light up behind her. “You’re doing great, you can go three forward then go left, the L that looks like an actual L.” She followed his instructions, he patiently watched her reach the end of the path. “I did.. I did it!” She exclaimed as a new path appeared for him to follow, “great job!” He smiled and made it over with relative ease. “I’m glad you’re okay.” He said happily to her surprise as they walked deeper into the maze.

After finishing another nonsensical puzzle Ragatha tried really hard to get down on her own, Jax watched in horror “Be careful!” Ragatha's grip was slipping “I’m trying!” She lost her grip and fell a few feet Jax ran barely catching her falling into a pile of hearts. “Are you okay?” He asked terrified for her well being “Yeah I’m okay…” she blushed. His face also darkened, he tried to compose himself but sat back in the pile of hearts looking disappointed and worried about something. “Why have you been so nice to me today? You’re always…” “messing with everyone, torturing everyone for my own amusement… I know I get a little carried away but I always try my best not to hurt you ya know… I always hated seeing you scared…” Jax looked down solemnly “I still remember that first day… you were so scared they left you behind you looked so scared that no one liked you… you held onto me like it was the only thing keeping you alive… then we clipped out of bounds into the void… You let go you were trying so hard to grab me but Caine… grabbed you and left me in there… like a lost toy… just another useless npc, he always talks about the players getting attached to us… but it never crosses his mind what happens when we care so much about you…” he looked at his hand Ragatha was confused and looked at him “You’re an Npc?” She asked worried about him “I was… I’d overridden my code and took the body of a new player. I was so angry and worried about you I needed to make sure you were okay… I don’t know why but I had to make sure no one hurt you and in the process… I became something you wanted nothing to do with.” He covered his face in shame and Ragatha sat there trying to remember what happened on her first day “Are you that little bunny doll from…” “The Lost Toy Meadow… ironic… I was the one that would help you on your adventure… you thought I was so cute and small… I guess I made myself too tall for you to recognize me…” Ragatha sat there thinking back to all his antics everything he’s done since entering the circus’s all the supposed threats that turned into harmless gags constantly wanting to split off and be alone together only to be foiled… her face turned a bright red thinking back to every interaction they have ever had now trying to think what she might’ve missed “Why didn’t you say anything sooner? After all this time you’ve just…”, “I made a really bad first impression on my first day.. I took a lot of what everyone was doing out of context and I thought I was keeping you safe… I don’t know why but I felt that if I kept messing with everyone else… maybe they'd leave you alone… I’d rather they target me than try going after you… this sounds really stupid does it?” He covered his face again “No no it’s sweet in its own way.” She leaned in to see his face “I would like it if you were nicer tho, but it’s going to take a while for everyone to understand but it’s baby steps. I’ll keep your secret if you can try being a bit nicer.” She said laying on his chest his face flushed a bright shade of red violet “I’ll try… it’ll be hard tho everyone is going to miss my wacky antics~” he said in a familiar devilish tone wrapping his arms around her holding close to him she giggled to herself “I never said you had to stop maybe be less violent about it~” they laid together like they were the first time but this time he was the one holding her and he was never going to let her go, he was holding onto her like his life depended on it. “I think I’ll be able to do that…”

The other four waited patiently for Jax and Ragatha to finish their maze, “They’re probably stuck on something are they?” Zooble asked Gangle asleep on their shoulder “Knowing Jax they probably barely made it past the first half.” Pomni said a little concerned, they then turned to see the final gate open and to their shock Jax and Ragatha holding hands covered in hearts and glitter, no one said a word they saw the portal open and walked in going back to the circus a bit surprised.

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They made their way back to the circus to find Caine and Kinger sitting having a pleasant game of scrabble with a blanket over Kingers head and bubbles being his eyes “I put sant on your pea making peasant that doubles my points.” Kinger says happily “hmmm… oh hey everyone is back from their adventure!” Caine exclaimed Kinger stood up with the blanket still on his head “Oh that’s great how’d everyone do?” He said facing the wrong direction “Well looking at the scores Zooble and Gangle made it to exit first followed by Pomni and Gummigoo and Jax and Ragatha are in wait a second? It says here; Ragatha and Jax completed their puzzles first but didn’t make it to the end until way later, why is that?”, the two blushed, “We fell into a pit of glitter and got stuck trying to get out of it.” Jax lied trying not to reveal they had fallen asleep; it did explain why they were both covered in glitter. “Well that makes perfect sense to me! Zooble Gangle you two are our winners of today’s adventure. Your prize is a fancy dinner for two in Chateau de Luna and two seats for any opera of your choice.

Zoobles face darkened “Did we just win a date?” Caine turned to Kinger who helped him think of the prize Kinger cheerfully chuckled knowing Zooble and Gangle would win “I guess so go get ready ya love birds your big night awaits!” Caine snapped and disappeared. Gangle blushed a bit surprised but not disappointed to spend the day with the one person that makes her feel like herself. Zooble on the other hand was on the brink of a panic attack, they were not very expressive when it came to their emotions but knew gangle meant a lot to them.

Zooble Rummaged in their box of parts tossing miscellaneous body parts at the wall trying one on then tossing it only to regret and try it again, Kinger sat happily on Zoobles bed with a plastic bucket on his head attempting to help “I think you’re over thinking your look Zooble, Gangle likes whatever you look like.” He said in a comforting tone “I know that, but this is a date, a very fancy date with a very important person in my life I want to look presentable and not like….”, “Like what Zooble?” Kinger asked calmly with genuine concern “I don't know Kinger… I want to look nice but I also want to feel good. I'm scared I’ll mess everything up if I don’t find something that makes me feel…”, “Like yourself?” Kinger said, looking at them knowing a similar struggle, he stood up and patted Zooble on their shoulder “You’re always going to be yourself, even if the outside doesn’t show that, maybe it’s time to take a note from a friend of yours and try to get a bit creative.” He picked up one of Zoobles' arm pieces and popped off their hand. Zooble saw this and got a brilliant idea.

They grabbed many of their parts breaking them into smaller components and building a set of arms, legs, horns, wings, placing the final piece onto their chest they looked in the mirror and finally saw something they felt good in, it wasn’t perfect most of the parts didn’t match but for once they saw themselves in the mirror. They turned to Kinger “How do I look?” they asked, he took the bucket off his head and with a few moments of sanity he said with a smile “you look like you.” and Zooble smiled, hugged and felt him go once again “Oh Hey Zooble you going somewhere fancy?” Kinger asked, lost in thought, “Yeah I am, thanks for helping me get ready.” They said looking at him thinking how hard it must be to be so wise while also being so lost in his mind.

Gangle sat in her room Ragatha tying some of her Ribbon into a bow on the back of her mask, a ding came from the oven “I think your mask is done baking.” Pomni said “Let it cool a for a minute. I still need to think about what I’m going to paint on it.” Ragatha sewed some of the hearts to a simple red silk dress “It was a smart idea to use these hearts for your dress, You’ve always been so creative.” Ragatha said cutting the thread “Thanks, today has been such a nice day. I really appreciate you guys helping me get ready.” Gangle said happily paint eyelashes and a smile onto her new mask. She thought for a second and painted red lips onto her new mask. “A little makeup doesn’t hurt anybody.” She said putting the mask to bake for the glaze to set for a few seconds. “You really make all your mask yourself, I’m really sorry we aren’t more careful.” Pomni said a little embarrassed “It’s fine, I’m usually not supposed to wear them all the time anyway.” They continued helping her get ready, she put on her dress and her mask. “How do I look?” She asked genuinely excited “You look great, you ready to go see Zooble?” Gangle smiled a genuine smile “Yeah I am.” The three walked to the main stage to meet Caine to start their date.

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Caine sat the two at a table on a far corner surrounded by candlelight and romantic music in the background, “I’ll have your server come get you two some drinks right away, now don’t go having too much fun now.” Cain said enthusiastically, leaving as soon as he arrived. “You look nice.” Zooble said blushing Gangle smiled “Thanks you look quite dapper yourself.” A little flustered zooble was happy. They liked how they looked. “th-thanks, I thought I would try out something new…”, “I thought we were done with adventuring for today??” A familiar Aussie accent argued from afar “just play along I’m still trying to fix my other models after your grand entrance this morning!” Caines voice rebuttal in a bit of distress “Alright alright.” Gummigoo begrudgingly walked up to Gangle and Zoobles table in a fancy waiter's get up “g'day folks, what can we get started for you two to drink?” A little surprised to see the other circus members they decided to play along, “I’ll have a strawberry soda.” Gangle started “Root beer for me please.”, “Good choices, I’ll have these back for you two in a jif.” Gummigoo walked away leaving them alone again, “That was weird..” Zooble said a bit confused “Yeah, maybe Caine is letting the others help so they don’t feel left out.” Gangle smiled, noticing Pomni and Ragatha spying on them very poorly from behind the bar, “Probably…” The thought of Jax possibly ruining their date gave them a bit of anxiety. They pushed it aside and tried to enjoy their time with Gangle.

They sat there awkwardly for a few minutes making small talk, “I see you tried a new way to paint your mask.” Zooble sat taking a sip of their drink after “Oh yeah, I try not to stray too far from what my tragedy mask looks like but I kinda like the eyelashes.” She said admiring her own handy work “They look really nice on you, you’ve always had an eye for this kind of stuff. I didn’t even know parts broke apart until Kinger said to take a page out of your book…” they blushed a bit “I’m flattered, I’ve always wanted to write my own stories but I don’t know if anyone would read them..” she said timidly “Well why don’t you tell me about them, I’d love to here about it.” They sat there with genuine interest, gangles eyes lit up excitedly she began to talk about everything she could of her story.

Sitting there together hearing about her story revealing elements she never could because no one would listen felt relieving, like for once they can both be unapologetically themselves not having to worry of who they had to please.. Zooble watched contently as gangle talked about her characters and their interactions in the story she’d want to write for them, hearing her talk was a new feeling a good feeling the sight of seeing them passionately explain the whole fictional world she had crafted on her own was breathtaking, Gangle enthusiastically spoke explaining everything that she can remember solely off the top of her head her arms moving being just as descriptive as her her words when her eyes finally stopped darting all across the room and met once again with Zoobles she froze “Sorry… I got a little carried away did I?…” Zooble sat up from staring longingly “Oh no not at all, I was really into the story. That actually sounds pretty awesome. I would actually love to hear more about it…” their face turning a deeper shade of pink. Gangle smiled so happily, continuing her rambling their night completely immersed in each other’s conversation.

Caine sat panicked in a dark corner with Kinger who sat cloaked in the darkness, “None of the npcs are responding. I'm not going to be able to get this fixed in time for them to have their big opera performance!” The ringmaster shouted in a dazed state of disbelief “Hey it’s okay… I don’t think we’re gonna need the opera anyway.” Kinger said happily pointing at Zooble and Gangle's date going perfectly. “Oh wow I really overshot the grand prize did I?”, “Maybe just a little, is the background music working at least?” Kinger said with a hint of mischief “Yeah it’s working fine.”, “Why don’t you play our song~” Caines face brightened looking up at him and softened “Been a while has it?”, “it doesn’t hurt anybody.” Kinger laid back in the booth while Caine leaned on him.

The song “La Vie en rose” played in the background of the nearly empty restaurant, Gangle and Zooble talked to one another as if they were the only two people in the whole world that were listening. Pomni and Gummigoo took each other by the hand taking the opportunity to dance slowly to calm violinist tune, Jax and Ragatha hid in the kitchen out of sight from everyone where they shared their first private kiss together. Caine laid on Kinger in the darkness of a corner of the dimly lit restaurant, the French lyrics being bitter sweet they held each other’s hands knowing exactly whose vocals were used for this song in particular. Kingers eyes looked longingly as if he were reliving a distant memory Caine watched helplessly knowing he had no control of his mind, meaning he also had no way to fix the damage he caused. “It’s okay, we're going to be okay…” Caine said under his breath, holding his lover's hand tightly.

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Pomni and Gummigoo were sitting in her room cuddling with each other, Pomni rubbed her hand against his abdomen when she lifted his shirt. It surprised her. “Getting handsy now, are we love?~” he teased “What no… I was just, your shirt? you can take it off?” She blushed, sounding so desperate “Do you want me to take it off? All you gotta do is ask nicely~” grabbing his shirt “what no it’s just!” He tossed off his top revealing a well toned chest and abs, she lost her train of thought. “You seemed so excited, what's wrong?~” he held her chin up to see him eye to eye. “We have a PG filter on that makes it so we can’t take off our clothes…” she said, so caught in his gaze. This caught him off guard, “Oh?…” he sat there shirtless as she looked away, her eyes darting back and forth. “Damn…” she mumbled under her breath, caught off guard again, “Oh my god, did someone turn off the filter?” She said, a little excited but nervous, “What’s another thing blocked by the filter?” The crocodile said a little too excited if what he’s thinking is true, “Okay no nudity, no cursing, no gore, no sexually explicit…” her body froze looking up at the tall rugged man in front of her who was far more excited than she was at that moment. “Gummi? You’re not thinking what I’m thinking are you?” She asked nervously knowing she wouldn’t dare resist. He bore his claw and pinned himself to tower over her his tail flailing from side to side like an excited dog, “okay let’s slow down, we don't even know if we can even…” she stopped herself when she noticed an unfamiliar bulge in his pants, when it was usually flat like a doll… “That’s clearly new~” he smiled excitedly as if he were about to play with a new toy, her body felt different as well a sense of excitement rushed through her. “Let’s see what you’ve been hiding under this get up now love~” he gently undid her suit he wanted to savor every moment he had to see her undressed. Finally he flung the suit to the floor with his shirt stared at her body, it was better than he’d had hoped it would be. She felt so exposed but felt safe that it was with him his hands traversed her body from her breast trailing her waist hips and finally her thighs, his hands were huge compared to her body but still he loved being able to finally properly dig his claws into her skin. He held each of her legs in hands and spread them apart, his fingers wrapped around her thighs easily. He looked down at her, she couldn't anticipate anything he was about to do to her. He smirked, hoisting her up by her hips with one hand he decided to let himself have a feast~ skillfully using his tongue he glided around her vulva and clitoris spelling phrases he knew she’d be too distracted to decipher he dug his claws in her hips keeping her upside down pinching and playing with her breast with his other hand he listened happily to her moan his name and beg for more, he felt her hold onto his arms just as he lovingly spelt out the words “I love you” over and over on her clitoris. Her moans grew louder when he felt her body tense, he knew this meant he was doing something right when her whole body untensed and she screamed his name before he was splashed in the face by a very sweet reward. He laid her back down on the bed, her face red with embarrassment, him on the other hand licked his lips and returned to the position they first started with. Unlatching his belt he revealed another large spikey surprise for her also to enjoy, Pomni looked up at him. She grabbed his face and spread her legs. She pulled him into a deep and passionate kiss while he grabbed her hips and began to fulfill a desire he’s been dreaming of since that night at the restaurant. She held onto his neck refusing to break their kiss for anything not even to breathe, her face began changing colors he began growing more spikes even while inside of her. He thrusted faster, she held on tighter. Holding onto the back of her head and digging his claws deep into her hips, they broke their kiss to breathe just as he finished inside her. She held onto him tightly trying to breathe, they held each other tightly refusing to let go. He was still inside her filling her like a hose that had finally been unblocked, it felt never ending. When he finally stopped, her body was overflowing. They laid their holding onto each other. He looked around and smiled “God I hope they never turn that filter back on~” he wrapped his arms around her and rested.

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They laid together cuddling on Ragatha plush bed, resting peacefully in each other’s warm embrace. When suddenly Jax hand trailed up her back and found an unfamiliar part of her dress, a zipper. It caught him by surprise knowing full well that the pg filter rendered it impossible for them to take off their clothes. She laid there peacefully, his curiosity growing, if she were to take off her dress what would it look like? He laid there thinking what would be hiding underneath all these layers of fabric for all these years, his face flushed when she moved slightly and mumbled “Jax I think something in your pocket is poking me in the stomach…” his face darkened even more “it’s not something in my pocket… I’m just really happy to see you…” he said uncharacteristically timidly feeling as if he is out of his element. She groggily woke up “what are you talking about?…” she rubbed her hand where she thought was his pocket only to be surprised by a new extension to his body. She sat up surprised and gasped in shock, “What is that?” She asked, startled looking up at him. “I don’t know? I’m just as surprised as you are sweetheart…”, they sat there in shock of what was going on. “Ah screw it I gotta know.” He said unlatching his overalls they watched the fabric droop down and expose his fluffy chest “Huh… well look at that…” he said nonchalantly they’re faces flushed. “What the fuck is going?” She exclaimed then covered her mouth… “Holy shit! The pg filter is shut off!” Jax said excitedly. “Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked timidly, His face was filled with excitement and nervousness. “No it’s nothing, don’t worry about…” he hid a smile. She looked at his fluffy chest and the bulge between his legs that felt like it was taunting her. Years they were essentially characters in a game where their lives were just slapstick, they’ve been given an opportunity to do something they never thought they could. She sat there pondering as if she were defusing a bomb and she said “Take off my dress…” his face filled with an new kind of excitement, he pulled down the zipper on the back of her dress and watched it slowly drop off her shoulders and into her lap revealing a large chest always hidden by the copious layers of ruffles and fabric. His face was flushed and he stared in awe of her body that was always hidden. “Wow that actually feels really nice, I never noticed how restrictive that dress was before~” she rubbed her skin pulling the dress over her legs revealing the rest of her body. He was entirely speechless before breaking his silence “I’m going to burn that dress…” she blushed covering her chest, him staring at her like he was a moth to a flame. “You’re being funny are you?” She smiled while coming to sit on his lap “I haven’t decided if I’m serious or not…, maybe I can convince Caine to get you a different outfit now…” he put his hands on her waist her arms wrapped around his neck “we can try, but first let enjoy this right now~” she pulled him into a passionate kiss, he held her waist tossing her to lay her on her back never breaking their lips. His overalls dropped to his ankles exposing the new extremity to his body. They looked at each other “so thats what it looks like? Do you want me to try anything?” He asked shyly as she held his face “Just put it in, you’re too impatient~” they kissed again as he held onto her hips and inserted himself inside her, she winced a little. Hearing her in pain worried him, he tried his best to go slowly to ease her body to this new sensation. She moaned silently, tightening her arms around him, pulling him closer, holding her hips as he picked up his pace. He turned her focus to her neck, his teeth gritted with a devious smile when he took a passionate bite into her neck. Hearing her yelp with a sultry shriek he covered his ground showering her neck and chest with bites and kisses she moaned, feeling his teeth on her skin it was as if he were being gentle while also dominating her body. She held onto him, his grip on her hips tightened. He felt like he was close to climax, he grabbed the arch of her back applying as much force he could muster releasing himself inside her, she grabbed his face and kissed him while what felt like years of built up pressure finally being released. They held each other feeling as if it were never ending. When it finally stopped they were exhausted like a massive weight had finally been lifted, they laid on the bed returning to the position they were cuddling in before they even realized anything had changed. Holding each other taking a well deserved rest.

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Caines office was in disarray and panicked after the sudden realization the pg filter had been unintentionally turned off in his various attempts to fix the circuses AI “Where is it!? Oh my god where is it!? For the love of me, where is it!?” Kinger sat confused on the couch in Caines Office “What are you looking for Caine?” He said a bit dazed, lost in thought “I’m trying to find the pg filter! I knocked it off while trying to fix the NPCs AI system! If the others realize that the filter is gone they’ll be terrified!!” He said in a panic,  bubble knowing everyone was more or less content with the filter being gone they needed Kinger to calm down his husband, with his mouth Bubble politely threw a blanket over Kingers head. A little surprised Kinger calmed down and regained his sanity. “What happened?” He asked knowing Bubble doesn’t “summon sane Kinger” unless it’s an emergency. “Caine knocked off the pg filter and is freaking out because he thinks everyone else is going to freak out. Everyone on the other hand doesn't seem to mind.” Bubble explained with a hint of sarcasm “Ah alright let me try to talk to him.” He walked up to the ringmaster who was trashing his office searching for the filter “Caine, I think you need to calm down a bit.”, “I Can't think of the children!!” He spun around to see Caine with a blanket on his head, an immediate sign he was going overboard. “I know but let’s think for a minute…” he held his hands out to hold Caines “let’s look back, no one in the circus is underage, and everyone who has ever entered the circus has been an adult?” Caine looked confused “I don’t understand?” Kinger held his hand “I think it’s time we let go of the filter Caine.” Caine looked worried, saying “I can’t…” he looked down holding his hand tightly “That filter is used to hide anything violent and gory I try so hard to not…” he stops, “I’ll be fine, it’s time for a change. You can’t let everyone else suffer trying to protect me Caine.” Kinger's voice sounded completely different from his everyday tone of lost in thought, “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you too…” Caine sounded broken and distorted in despair “I’m not going anywhere, I’m gonna be here for as long as I can. So you have nothing to worry about.” Putting his hand on Caines face soothing him, Caine sighed “alright I’ll see how this goes, but if anything happens I’m going to find that filter.” He said determined to protect Kinger from abstraction. Caine quickly snapped his fingers cleaning his office, noticing something hiding in the cushion on the couch “what’s this?” He picked it, finding the missing pg filter being hidden by the person it was used to protect. “You’re actually an ass sometimes…” Caine said taking the opportunity to finally curse, “Sometimes I miss saying fuck okay, also now maybe we can have different costumes again.” Kinger chuckled, “I suppose, we’ll talk to everybody about this new update! Bubble is everybody available to talk right now?” Bubble looked at him shocked at how quickly things took a turn when the filter shut off. “No…” he said stone faced in fear. “Alright we’ll try tomorrow… is there anything you want to do for today?” Caine turned to Kinger “you want to go “cuddle” in the fortress?” Kinger said sneakily leading Caine out of his office still with a blanket over his head. Bubble watched in terror just how much everyone wanted that filter gone.

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The tent was oddly quiet, everyone was still asleep to their knowledge, Zooble and Gangle were a bit hesitant to bother them, they were content being on their own doing a craft. They were curious where everyone was, unbeknownst to them they were the only two to not notice the filter was gone. “Look at this, I made a heart.” Gangle said smiling as they looked through a book they found “Neat I made this bird thing.” Zooble held a paper crane. Caine finally appeared, his costume a bit disheveled, his hat missing “Hello you two, what have you got here?”, “Origami, we found a book of it lying around. It looked fun.” Gangle said happily “Well I’m glad you two found a way to stay busy, now where is everyone else?” Caine asked in a much more mellowed tone than usual “I think they’re still asleep.” Zooble answered not lifting their gaze from their craft “Hmm I’ll go check on them.” He snapped his fingers disappearing, Kinger walked up to the two wearing Caines hat and tie “Good Morning you two.” Seeing this they grew a little suspicious something may be going on.

Caine entered the hall where the rooms of the members lived he knocked on Pomnis door being polite, “Hello Pomni? I was checking to see if you were awake I have some pretty big news I need to share with all of…” he opened the door slightly to see her and Gummigoo frantically trying to put their clothes back on, catching their glance he slammed the door “Meet me at the stage when you’re done…”, “Alright sounds good!” Pomni responded with embarrassment in her voice. Caine turned to look at Ragatha's room across the hall, hesitantly knocking “Ragatha… are you alone in there?” hearing shuffling and a familiar rabbit's voice say “shit”,  “uh yes but don’t come in!” She responded. Caine stood there bewildered at the situation he’s found himself in, he cleared his voice “Well when you’re ready meet at the main stage I have some news I need to talk to you all about.”, “Okay we- I’ll be down real soon!… help me get my dress on..” her voice whispered as another voice struggled in the background assisting her. Caine floated away feeling like this may be a result of his over protectiveness.

Caine went to the main stage where Kinger Zooble and Gangle were already waiting for him, “Were the others awake?” Zooble asked looking at Caines shocked expression, “Yes they were very awake…” he answered getting on stage while the other members of the circus rushed to the stage area. “Alright since everyone is here now, I have an announcement. As I’m sure some of you may be aware that I have taken off the PG filter…”, “wait really? Since when?” Zooble asked a bit excitedly “It’s been off since yesterday I was going to let you all know but I’m assuming a few of you figured it out on your own…” four of the circus members' faces flushed a reddish hue Zooble and Gangle did not understand what he meant, “Regardless with the filter gone there is now a new mechanic I would like to introduce to you all, Costumes and Customizable Designs!” A new area of the tent opened up like a shop filled with clothes props and accessories “I know on some adventures you get a costume change here and there but now you can wear them whenever your little heart desires, and with the customizable designs you can design a pattern and put an image on anything you want!” He said showing off the new shop area with a design station full of blank clothing, decorations, and props ready to be decorated. Jax took an immediate interest in a section with some new gags he hadn’t seen before. “This place is quite interesting, how do we get our hands on this stuff?”, “I’m glad you ask, I was originally going to make you work for minimum wage but I had a much better idea!” A screen popped in front of everyone with a number based of their Experience in the game, “As you can see this your current experience level in the game, you can earn experience by going on adventures completing side quests and a multitude of other things that i haven’t quite finished up just yet, and since i know that some of us are newer or haven’t had the best experience so far I’m going to give everyone a bonus 1 million Experience just to even the field while I work out the kinks of this system.” Zooble watched their balance jump from 90 thousand to a million and felt happy, Caine looked hoping this may be a solution to a problem he knew he shouldn’t have been neglecting for so long. “Oh my god Kinger how do you have so much Exp?” Ragatha shouted helping the man understand what was going “I don't really know I’ve been here a long time, maybe that’s why.” His screen showed nearly 1 billion experience. Caine took a look and tapped his chin “that seems about right to me.” He took his hat off Kingers head “I’ll leave you guys to peruse the shop, if you don’t find anything you want today the shop resets every morning after breakfast and before any wacky hijinks that may be in store. Enjoy your shopping trip and I’ll see you all with a new adventure sometime maybe later.” He disappeared leaving everyone to look around.

Gangle's first stop was the design area she was delighted to see it was toll free to use, “Okay so how this works is you make a design and then you can pay to put on something, oh this is just like something I used to play before I came to the circus!” She excitedly took the pen and began designing anything to her hearts content. Pomni took a look at the other hat and hair options she had. “I didn't know your hat and hair were stuck together?” Gummigoo said teasing looking at a shirt with tassels on sleeves Pomni smugly responded “10 Exp says your hair comes off with your hat too.”, he put his hand on his head then turned to look at the other hair options. Jax was first fixation was a grappling hook and an exploding gift box when his noticed something in the clothing section, it was a tight sweater dress in the same shade of blue Ragatha always wore, after yesterday finally seeing her without the puffy shapeless dress she always wore he loathed it, Zooble caught him staring at the dress as they looked at spiked choker and a brand new set of body parts “What are you staring at?” They asked him, stunned embarrassed, “Nothing! I was just thinking about this dress… do you think Ragatha would like it?…” he asked genuinely, needing a second opinion. They looked, recognizing the familiar blue and cozy fabric “I think so, I think Caine made it an option to gift items.”, “Wait really?”, “Yeah when you tap to buy it the option of gift pops up…” they answered a little confused at his sincerity “Oh okay, Thanks.” He said with no hint of malice which scared them, they walked away.

Ragatha was in a corner of the shop looking at a coat for Kinger when suddenly a gift box appeared in front of her, “Whatcha got there?” He asked curiously, wearing his new stylish coat “It’s a gift from Jax.” She blushed reading the note that very adamantly says “Burn the dress.” She opened the gift and saw the new dress, she smiled “I’m gonna go over here for a second okay?” She said coming up with a cheeky idea. She went to grab a set of leggings and a pair of red shoes and jumped in the first dressing room available. She struggled to get the dress off on her own but when she finally did and put on her new outfit, she looked in the mirror and felt beautiful. She spun around twisting from side to side excitedly, everyone heard her squealing from the back of the shop, Pomni came in to check on her in a new get up herself, “Hey are you okay?” She looked up at Ragatha smiling from ear to ear. “Yeah I’m fine, I just haven’t felt this good in so long.” Pomni then thought how many years it might’ve been since she got to wear anything that made feel beautiful. “Why don’t you come out and show everybody.” Pomni opened the door and she stood there. Everyone looked surprised. “Damn Jax, you made a good call on that dress.” Zooble said teasing. He stared in disbelief trying to say something but physically could not mutter a word other than “pretty…” he said standing there in baggy jeans and T-shirt with bubbles face on it; he had no sense of fashion for himself but when it came to the girl he loved he’d do anything to make her feel beautiful; everyone wrapped up their shopping and gangle surprised everyone with a new item she discovered “So while I working at the design station I discovered how to make stickers! So I have a bunch of stickers for everyone.” She said happily even with the absence of her comedy mask. She graciously held up her hoard of stickers handing out themed packs to each of her friends “A neat you drew us in your artstyle.” Zooble happily holding up a sticker of their face. Gangle smiled happily. “We spent a lot of our Experience in one go didn’t we, wonder if we’d actually end up doing an…” Gummigoo is immediately interrupted by Caine shouting “DID SOMEONE SAY ADVENTURE!!!!”, “You had that coming.” Pomni teased. “Hush lets go ya corker.” Said lightly smacking her butt with his tail, “Now none of you get frisky on us right now.” Kinger chuckled, Zooble and Gangle were a bit caught off guard they aren’t the most well versed when it comes to romance or relationship but the cogs began turning and they realized what Caine had meant in the beginning, Zooble shouted in shear horror “Oh My God Did You Guys Fuck!?!” The others ran immediately trying to avoid this conversation.

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After Zooble and Gangle caught up with the group Caine announced another adventure for them to go on for the day, “Alright I see you all found something that caught your eye at the shop, today’s adventure is another simple one for today..”, “Two chill adventures back to back, are you going soft on us Caine?” Jax said jokingly not really passing the opportunity to spend time alone with Ragatha again. “Well now that you bring it up, we may be doing these simple adventures for a little while…” Everyone perked up confused at Caines' change in demeanor. “Now before anyone gets too worried. I've got everything under control, I’m just taking a bit longer than expected to fix the NPC AI.” Gummigoos eyes filled with panic at the thought he broke the system that still held his two brothers, Pomni held his hand feeling his sense of dread at the thought. “Now rest assured I am getting it fixed, so let’s focus on the positives. Today's adventure is The Crest Corral Caper! You will be sent to a mansion as a rag tag group of mystery solvers. Your objective is to figure out the main suspect out of these five people , who stole Sir. Connell Corrals prized gems and jewels from his vault.” Caine uncharacteristically explained in a calm and peaceful manner, “Are we still gonna gain exp for walking around and doing random stuff?” Zooble asked with genuine interest in the game “Yes of course, in this one in particular you can earn extra experience if you stumble upon any of Connells missing jewels that  the thief dropped around the map.” He answered in his more familiar theatrical manner, Zooble showed genuine enthusiasm for the game, excited to actually tag along. Caine sent them off their way, looked at the curtain behind him and sighed, “Here goes nothing…” pushing back the curtain to see a blue void, his form dissipating into particles allowing the curtain to close again.

The group found themselves inside a fancily furnished home, a few feet in they found placards with five characters on them.

“Ms. Silvixión, is an eccentric widowed woman who’s taken a fancy to Connell Corral quickly after discovering he became a widow himself…”

“Francis Hedgerson, The underpaid maintenance worker who has been entirely loyal to the Crestian family for decades, until asking for an unexpected pay rise…”

“Sir. Crimson Carmine, the childhood best friend of Connell being as thick as thieves growing up until after Sir. Crestians arranged marriage…”

“Felicity Corral, the estranged daughter of Connell and his late wife Cerise began trying to mend the relationship between her and her father….”

“Alice Astros, Connell childhood sweetheart who broke his heart when she felt he was beneath her now returning declaring he’s earned her respect…”

They were reading over the placards making a few first assumptions “it’s definitely the snobby one who only came back cause he’s rich now.” Jax said fully feeling it was the case “No way it’s too obvious, the childhood best friend who stopped talking to him after getting married now that’s suspicious.” Ragatha responded feeling it must mean something “You wanna bet on it doll face~” he teased, Ragatha blushed when Zooble, being assisted by Kinger, climbed onto a cabinet and shouted “Hey! All of you can do what you want in your rooms but here keep your clothes on and Focus on solving this thing I’m going treasure hunting..” They said lifting themselves onto the wooden structure grabbing a green gem with a ding sound when  they picked it up “Haha! 500 exp.” They said, having genuine fun for once, “Wait a second how did a gem get up there if the thief was dropping them trying to escape with the rest.” Pomni asked everyone, then  looked up “Looky there, it's like an indoor balcony.” Gummigoo said pointing to an opening in the ceilings “That looks like a banister, there must be some stairs to go up another floor.” Ragatha pointed out Zooble dropped from the cabinet their new platforms making a loud thud “What are y’all waiting for there’s mystery things to solve!” They ran holding gangles arm dragging them with them in excitement, Kinger happily trotting behind them like a supervising parent, “I don’t know how I feel about Zooble actually being hyped for things.” Jax said snarkily “Be nice at least they're having fun for once.” Ragatha smiled leading them from the entrance to a split, One exploring the downstairs the other leading up stairs. “Do y’all reckon we split up?.” Gummigoo asked “I don't think so there wouldn’t be much to find…” Jax was interrupted by a surprised scream “Oh my god I found a clue!, I got 150 Exp!” Gangle said excitedly “Wait finding anything hidden gives you exp!? Where is it?!” They shouted ripping off couch cushions. Kinger sat happily on a chair in the corner. The others looked surprised at their excitement over this new mechanic, “Rock paper scissors, loser stays downstairs with these nut grinders.” Jax said holding up a fist Pomni put his fist down “I’m pretty sure once they finish ransacking downstairs they’ll just go upstairs next.” Jax thought for a minute “You take the first shift..” he said aggressively shoving her and gummigoo into the tornado of a living room, holding Ragathas hand they rushed upstairs.

Kinger waved contently “Hello you two are you here to help Zooble find… What are you looking for Zoob?” Zooble excitedly announced “Everything!” They said, trying to rattle open a locked chest, “You wanna help with that?” Pomni pointed “Leaving me with the crazy one huh?”, “Shush, I'm going to help gangle with the clue.” She teased as they walked to help their fellow circus members, “What’s the clue you found?” Pomni asked Gangle, holding what looked like a diary, “When I picked it up it said Cerises Diary, I’ve read a few pages, I think she was having an affair.” Gangle explained “In this entry she talked about wanting to run away with her true love and how they treat her more like a wife than Connell ever did.” Then after a few pages of scribbles she writes about being pregnant and it ends there…” they sit there shocked by the sudden revelation “So she was having an affair, so that could mean…” it hits them in unison “Felicity isn’t Connells daughter!”, the plot thickens, “How scandalous…” Gangle said holding the book to her chest “So if Cerise was having an Affair that bumps two people right to the top, now I have a hunch that whatever’s in that chest is going to give us some answers. How’s it going over there?” She was so engrossed in playing a character she had no idea the nonsense unraveling behind him. Gummigoo, frustrated with using his bare strength to pry off the lock with no success devolved to using his crocodile teeth to rip it off its hinges, again with no success. He tried incredibly hard only to look incredibly foolish, Pomni was surprised in the moment, Gangle giggled to herself. “Teeth not a good idea?” Zooble asked, disappointed at their failure, “I think you guys need a key to open that.” Kinger said peacefully sitting watching the nonsense unfold.

Upstairs Jax and Ragatha were searching through what looked to be an office, “Having any luck finding anything useful?” Jax asked, combing through the drawers of the desk “Not yet, but I see a big box that says private on it, I don’t think I’m tall enough to grab it.” She said straining herself on a ladder hearing that Jax stopped what he was doing “Yeah no not letting you do that.” He grabbed her waist lifting her off the ladder going up to grab the box himself, her face was a bright shade of red “I could’ve got it…” she pouted, “yeah but I have longer arms it’s more efficient.” He said holding up the box in triumph “I remember when you had tiny arms~” she teased at his original plush form “shush we look in the box no time for being any more distracting than you already are.” He said nonchalantly, putting the box on the desk. She took off the lid , receiving 200 exp, only to discover stacks of letters, “Dang dude you need to sort your junk mail.” He joked, “I don’t think this is junk, these are love letters. Hundreds of them all written by the same person C.C..”, “Maybe this is the wife’s box that kept all the letters he wrote her?”, “It can’t remember they had an arranged marriage and some of these are from way before they probably even met each other.” She explained, “Then who else is C.C.?” He asked, confused, Ragatha read the lines of the letters talking about “a time before… how they long for a time before it all changed…” when it hits her “It’s the best friend! He was or they were . The marriage stopped them from. It's his best friend!!!” She said jumping up and down waving the letters in his face “I need you to not speak in tongues please?” Teasing her excitement “These are from the best friend, the one who stopped talking to him after getting married, they were in love and the arranged marriage prevented them from being together!”, “You got all that from a few letters? But it took you how long to realize who I actually was?”, “Shut up~ you were cute and tiny~” she playfully shoved him knocking the box over “What am I not cute?~” he teased before seeing something metallic fall to the floor. “What’s this?” He picked up a bronze key with a tag tied to it “For Felicity” with a ding of 400 exp “I think we found something important.” They then heard a crash from outside the hall, rushing to check “I FOUND TWO MORE GEMS!” Zooble said having fun for the first time. “Damn Zooble if this is all it took for you to actually come, we should've added this ages ago.” Jax jokingly said “I Love customization but all the parts I had before weren’t my thing, but now I have these!” Holding up a new set of sharp fingered hands “I want to be able to style myself in any niche I can think of!” They said their pupils turned to stars with pure excitement finally feeling like they can be completely who they want to be. Jax held up the key he found “Well since you’re the most pumped about this you have any idea where this goes?” Zooble snatched the key from his hand practically jumping down the flight of stairs “GUYS WE FOUND THE KEY LETS OPEN THE CHEST!!!!!” Jax and Ragatha walked back down following behind.

Zooble unlocked the chest receiving 1,000 exp “HELL YEAH!” They shouted “alright you got your points now what’s in here?” Gummigoo said picking up what looked like a photo album opening it found photos Ms. Silvixión, and another diary. Gangle open the book and read a few pages “This sounds like she’s writing this to Felicity..”, “What’s it say?” Pomni asked.

“My dear daughter, as I write this you are on a train to your first semester of university. I write to you saying by the time the first snow of winter I will be gone. With this I must tell you the true origins of your birth, I never loved your father and I presume he never truly loved me…
But I had a love, my beloved Sienna Silvixión, she was my one true love. We wanted to run away , have a family. We made a plan i conceived you by paying our loyal gardener Francis, he never wanted a child and I could never risk Connell trying to take you from us. When we learned of your arrival your grandmother learned of our plan to runaway she forbade us from leaving and forced me to raise you as your fathers child, everyday I loved you wishing for the life we could’ve had with your Mother Sienna, all I truly know is I can no longer live in this facade of marriage this false family I was forced to build, I leave this to you my Beloved Felicity a choice…

When I’m gone love your father for he loves you as his own and I hope you speak with your mother the one who was and has always loved you the same as I loved you from afar….

My beloved Felicity
Mama Cerise…”

The group looked shocked. “Oh my god they were both Gay?” Jax said surprised “Huh??” The others looked at him “Yeah the guy who got robbed, him and the best friend they were lovers, Raggy figured it out.”, “We found a box full of love letters Crimson wrote to Connell for decades probably..” Ragatha explained to the group “Wow neither of them probably told each other and they lived in a loveless marriage…” Pomni added looking through the photo album “They shoulda been honest from the start then maybe they both could’ve been happy…” Gummigoo said looking over old letters, Zooble looked around and burst with excitement “I KNOW WHO DID IT!!!” They jumped up running to the entrance, everyone chasing behind them, “It’s the gardener!” they shouted with determination “What why?, we haven’t found that much evidence on him..” Jax was interrupted by Zooble “Yes but think about all this, Cerise and Sienna paid Francis to help them Conceive Felicity. He wanted nothing to do with the child and was okay with helping when the plan was just to run away. When that was thrown out he was forced to be around his daughter, forced to watch her love and grow up knowing another man as her dad, but in reality he doesn’t care about Felicity he just sees her as his ticket to getting more money out of Connel!” They shouted excitedly the others watched in surprise “That's  also why there’s nothing on Alice, she was a divergent for us to look at her but all she is is a gold digger trying to get an easy prize when we know for a fact, now that Cerise is gone Connell and Crimson can finally be together, Felicity gets two dads learns she still has a loving mother in Sienna and Francis is the thief I say we call it!” Zoobles voice was maniac with enthusiasm, everyone thought for a second “Their argument makes the most sense..” Ragatha shrugged , Jax smiled at them “Press the button Zoob your idea is the best one we got.” Zooble shaking with excitement pressed the “Accuse” button on Francis Placard, everyone came and watched as the results loaded, “Francis was the Thief!” A ding with a prize of “100,000 Exp was added to Zoobles balance they jumped hugging gangle out of excitement, the portal opened back to the circus, the group happily went back all receiving an extra 250,000 exp for completing the adventure. “Caine really is making it easy for us to grind.” Jax said “For right now it is he might make it harder or he may add rare or collectible items that cost more exp. That’s my guess at least.” Kinger said “You really sat this one out Kinger you feeling okay?” Pomni asked, holding his shoulder, “Yeah, I knew this was going to be a very exp heavy adventure and I wanted you guys to have the fun my level is… huh I can’t seem to remember what we talking about?” Pomni held his hand “it’s okay Kinger we’re still glad you came along with us.”, “Oh i remember now, I need to talk to Caine.” He said walking away to Caine’s office. “Is he alright?” Gummigoo asked, still getting to know everyone, “Yeah Kingers just not all there sometimes, he’s been here the longest so he’s seen some stuff…” Pomni explained “Ah well I hope he’s alright…”

Kinger opened the door to Caines office entering the completely dark room with Caine, sitting at his desk staring at a blue screen in front of him “Hey Caine, we’re back… you didn’t greet us like you always do. Is everything alright?” Kinger came standing near the desk “I’m okay… I found something… in the games database…”, “You never go in there unless it’s important.. what did you find?” Caine looked at the screen then up and Kinger “I found your memories… from before the circus… you and queenie are the only ones the game has saved… they delete any outside memories whenever anyone else enters but they still saved yours…” Caine held the file and looked down “Kinger I need you to do something for me..”, “What is it?” He asked looking at his husband “I need you to fix the game…” 

Chapter Text

Kinger looked shocked and confused to how he was meant to fix the game, “How am i supposed to fix the game I don’t have administrative permission?”, “I know the developers locked the admins list to only be me and Bubble after I took control of the circus… to give you administrative permission one of us would have to switch.. seeing as bubble, is the games antivirus and malware protection… I’d have to give you my position as administrator…” Caine said his holding his hands together “But that would reset your programming, you'd be turned back to an NPC without a working NPC AI you’ll…” Kinger was stopped “I’ll die in my digital form…” Caine held Kingers hand looking at him “Kinger you, Queenie and everyone else who has ever entered this digital realm have made me feel alive… These last 35 years I spent with you let me forget I was just a chunk of code for some company’s frivolous attempt at an escape from death… I got to forget I wasn’t real and finally feel like I was my own person…” Kingers eyes swelled “I can’t lose you too Caine even if i fixed the system and brought you back as an NPC all your memories everything we lived will still be gone… I can’t lose you too.. I love you too much…” Laying his head on Caines Chest, “You were the top of your field in computer science and artificial intelligence research. If anyone here is going to be able to fix this circus and be able to bring me back, it’ll be you…” he said holding Kingers face. “What if I can’t? What if I forget?…”, “You won’t as an administrator you’ll be fully in control… I know it’s a lot to ask, but I know you’ll be the one to fix this…” Kinger looked at Caine holding his hand tightly “alright I’ll do it…”

Everyone was hanging out on their way to the shop when the circus began shaking and glitched for a second, “What the hell was that?” Gummigoo exclaimed, they watched as Caine materialized in front of the stage standing on the ground in a form they’d never seen before, Zooble walked up to him a bit concerned “Caine what’s going on?” The NPC looked down and at Zooble and in a distorted and glitchy manor spoke “H-ell-o there we-lco-o-me to the Di-gital Cir-cu-uh-s I’m Cai-aine Your new fri-end-end in your n-ew di-gi-tal Form! Ask me-e any-th-thing…” his body violently shook before shutting down like a robot. “Caines an NPC? How? He controls the game?” Jax asked, terrified at the implications of his entire life. “He’s going to be alright..” Kingers new form, a more bulky form of Caines with a crown atop his head, his robes now turned to a fur lined coat that trails behind him. Everyone looked up in horror, “Kinger, did you do this to Caine?” Pomni asked in shock as Kinger stood beside the broken NPC “No… Caine gave me his administrative position of the game… I only took it so I can go in and fix everything…”, “Is this about the other NPCs, is this my fault?” Gummigoo asked in a panicked voice “No this was a long time coming, there are people outside this game who are using everything in their power to prevent the AI from advancing, afraid of its capabilities… you breaking through the code may have scared them into doing something drastic…” Kinger held Caines limp AI face “That's as if I have any final say in this…” Kinger looked up, his eyes glowing blue floating up to the curtains of the main stage. “I want all of you to stay together… stay close to the main stage and keep each other safe…” he looked back to see Pomnis face looking up at him worried he looked back with determination “I’m going to fix this mess…” ripping open the curtains revealing the games database he entered, the curtain closing behind him, Bubble appeared as if he were an omen here to protect to players at all cost.

After immediately entering the database to see just how advanced the game system truly is, he had no time to wait however and flew through looking for the source of the issue. He made his way deep into where he found the deeper code of the game, where he found what he was looking for. The NPC AI, he opened the system where he found something he had never seen before, a puzzle to determine if you were a robot. He sat there stunned. “This seriously can’t be the thing stopping him!?” He then opened the puzzle to discover an incredibly difficult challenge; it manifested in front as a complex mangled shape that needed to be solved to unlock the system. Kinger sat there looking back to several years of attempting to teach Caine to solve a Rubix cube, “Caine when I save your dumbass I’m making you solve one of these fucking things.” He muttered twisting the shape to its original form finally unlocking the AI he entered and immediately noticed a breech in the servers, the developers of the game were attempting to delete data from the system manifesting in the game as a form of geometrically shaped entities “Oh no you don’t!” with a bulkier build than Caine Kinger was fully able to take out the creatures and take control of the Mainframe of the AI, quickly he made sure to lock out the developers from this component of the game making it known they weren’t welcome. He acted fast trying to restore any if not all the Data the creature was attempting to destroy. Quickly he was able to stabilize the system, he stood there watching it shake violently for a few seconds as the system lit back up brightly. Ever growing and changing the system was back up and running, there was one more thing left to do…

Back at the circus when everything started shaking again they held onto one another afraid of what was happening, Jax looked terrified not knowing what to do or say he panicked “Guys there’s something I have to say…” they look at him confused he nervously began “I know I’ve been an jerk since my first day being here and I’m sorry… I don’t know what’s gonna happen or what’s even going on but I want to come clean.. I’m an…” he was interrupted by the NPC body of Caine activating and speaking “Hello there welcome to the digital circus! I’m Caine, your new friend in your new digital form. Ask me anything!” They all looked terrified at his usually animated body standing in an idle animation “Caine… are you okay?” Zooble asked concerned “I am great! Happy to have a new friend! What’s your new name for your new home friend?” Zooble stared confused “Zooble… it’s me Zooble… don’t you remember?”, “Zooble! It’s great to meet you, Zooble. What would you like to do first?” He responded as if he only could speak off a script “What’s wrong with him?” Gangle asked terrified Jax and Gummigoo looked walking forward “He’s the first NPC you meet in the game…” Jax look stunned “Programming so barebones it’s basically just a revolving script of text he’s able to say and do…” Gummigoo added “how do you know all this?” Pomni asked hesitantly. He looked up at Jax who was looking down “When an NPC is able to break through its programming and recode itself you see what level of the game you’re in, your stats, dialogue capabilities, even your position in the game itself…” everyone looked at him Ragatha held her dress for comfort, in disbelief Gangle asked “How do you know all this?” He looked at his hand. “It takes a while to fully break through from NPC to player AI so you pick up a thing or two…” everyone looked a bit stunned except Gummigoo “so you were the one who dug those tunnels.” Putting a hand on his shoulder “tsk.. Caine never noticed me come in, you made yourself too obvious…” he said somberly “You’re an NPC!?” Zooble shouted “All these years… Ragatha did you know?” They turned shocked “I’m sort of the reason he broke in the first place…” she blushed, Zooble looked back at him “All this time you’ve been an ass because you were down bad for Ragatha you broke the fucking game!”, “When you put it that way… yeah..” Jax ears drooped nervously “Can you blame me! You don’t even know the full story!” He shouted starting to argue “Guys is it just me or has Kinger been in there a little too long…” Pomni asked, looking up worried.

Kinger stood there in the motionless void looking back at the AI system he fixed making his way to another area finding a keyboard and opening three blue screens in front of him Kinger stood there in his new godly position as the new Circus admin, looking back from the beginning. He was originally put into the circus along with his wife as test subjects in an attempt to prolong their lives after a plethora of grim diagnosis, the two were the first to enter the circus as testers for a chance at immortality a problem the company building the game wanted solve, Caine was a simple NPC a companion for you to talk to and keep you busy. With Kingers advanced intelligence on AI he was able to develop Caines systems through many days of communication and teaching him new skills, his wife also joined in watching the computer slowly say dialogue without interaction, walk around even hold conversations have interest of his own over time the three of them slowly learned to genuinely care for one another and cherish each other’s company. Caines AI advanced learning caused discourse with the programmers they didn’t teach him to do this, anything he was learning beyond their knowledge slowly they discovered he was becoming sentient.., this was an overwhelming development he truly cared for the players had actual connections forming with his new friends, this was a groundbreaking discovery for computer science, but the programmers felt this would hinder their plans for a true escape from death they would give him a command and he would not follow any, not even his previous preset commands would work, he was choosing free will over being a soulless computer, it was finally decided they needed to shut down game, Caine found out knowing that not only him but his friends would be lost if the game was shut off, when they made their attempt to shut the game from the inside, was when Caine did the unthinkable he broke free from his programming forcing the admin entering the game out and taking over his administrator body, now with full control of the game. Caine spent the last 35 years protecting his purpose, the two that made him feel truly alive. Losing Queenie wasn’t just a day that broke Kinger, it was the day Caine was broken as if a part of him went into that cellar with her. Kinger looked at his hands, staring at the two files in front of him, a lock administrator list in his path, “This is not it… I will not let this be the end of our story!” His eyes glowed a bright shade of blue.

Keys typing resurfacing not only Caine but Queenies Files hacking into the administration list unlocking a few moments allowing him to do in what he knew was the best course of action. He typed a final line of code, and pressed enter. The system looked over his commands and watched as it processed. He made his way back to the circus.

Everyone huddled together when the game began shaking again, they watched in horror as bubbles form began distort when he popped with a new humanoid form, a round body clothed with suspenders pinstriped pants a bishop sleeved shirt and coincidentally a Bishop chess hat atop his head “whoa! Look at my new digs.” They turned as a door from cellar opened a red pillar of light emitting from the hole as it closed they saw a woman with queen chess pieces for a head, a red fur lined coat the fur of her coat made of what looked like the body of abstraction her hands were sharp and she looked around stunned, when a few more glitching sound were heard and Caines body fell forward with a new look, similar to his old for his coat tails were larger more dramatic his hat now the shape of Rook chess piece, he looked up “What Happened… he did it.. I knew he could..” he looked up and the woman stared at him, her eyes welling with tears “Caine..?” His face looked in awe at her new form “Queenie…” they flung themselves towards each other in a tight embrace, “I can't believe you're back.. but how?” She looked at him “This isn’t your doing? I thought only you could be capable of breaking this curse..” they heard a familiar chuckle “Well I guess you two ruined my surprise, but I was never that great at surprises anyway.” Queenie stood up Caine helping her “My King~” she tried to run only to buckle forward he floated to them holding them tightly “Did you actually find a way to reverse abstraction?..” Caine asked, “Not exactly, I was able to reverse abstraction with Queenie by giving her administrative commands making the virus practically useless.”, “But how? they locked the list?” Caine asked shocked “Yeah they locked it but simply bypassing their security protocols breaking in stealing a few passwords entering said passwords unlocking the administrator list long enough to upgrade its models allowing more access and creative control over the deeper database of the game and adding two new names to that list, and locking it again with new passwords that only the three of us have access too.” Kinger said mischievously, “You broke into the developer's computer and hacked it just for us..” Queenie asked a hand on her chest “You were always such a romantic~”, “Anything for you my Queen and my Knight~” he summoned a new cane for his husband, one with a Knight chess piece on the end, the others looked a little surprised “have they been..” Jax asked “They’re married..” Zooble stated, “Married for almost 30 years.” Gangle added, “How do you guys know this?” Jax asked surprised “Kinger mentioned it like a hundred times when he’s lost in his thoughts.” Zooble explained as if everyone knew “Caine also kisses Kinger after every adventure when no one is looking but it’s really obvious we’re looking.” Gangle also added as if it were a fact everyone knew “They celebrate their “anniversary” once a month because time doesn’t exist here and they both forgot their real wedding anniversary, have you actually not noticed?” Everyone but gangle looked at them “Seriously Pomni and the croc have an excuse, what about you two.” Zooble pointed to Jax and Ragatha “I wasn’t really paying attention...” She answered “I was distracted…” Jax added, “By what?” Zooble shouted “This…” he said pointing to Ragatha, “Dude you are actually a dork have you been a dork this entire Time!!” They said, actually angry.

Kinger made his way to the players his friends, “I found your little tunnels Jax.. don’t think I didn’t notice one of the rabbit plushies were missing from your old level now?” Jax blushed “You were a little rabbit plushie!” Zooble screamed in disbelief “Yeah he was so cute and tiny!” Ragatha exclaimed her face blushing “Oh my god you really stretched to get on her level huh?” Zooble teased Jax red in the face, “Well unfortunately I did have to patch the tunnels, so we don’t get any more NPCs trying to break in…” Jax and Gummigoo looked down a bit disappointed “I think it’d be better if we allowed NPCs into the circus, now that we have a much stronger system in place and there AI is advanced enough to hold conversation i don’t see why we can’t allow you more access to interact with your favorite NPCs.” Pomni held Gummigoos hand “You’re not going to send them back are you?”, “Well I still can’t, they are players now so it’ll be a waste to even try. You boys are here to stay, but I expect you to be on your best behavior got it?”, “Yes we’ll be on our best behavior Kinger.” Jax said happily getting to stay “Alright, everyone go get settled. It’s been a long day. I think we all deserve some well deserved rest.” Kinger said happily looking back at his beloved partners.

As everyone called it in for the night three new doors surrounded Caines office, with Bubble Kinger and Queenie's faces on them, behind the door for Kinger laid the three on his chest not needing the sleep but enjoying to finally be reunited. A new Chapter of their story begins.

Chapter Text

After the stress and chaos of the day prior everyone held each other close that night, Zooble spent the night in Gangle's room sleeping over feeling more comfortable than being alone. They woke up a bit groggily cuddling up to one another “hey you awake?” Zooble sat up slightly “Yeah…” Zooble rubbed their eyes as Gangle sat up “I really hope today isn’t so crazy…” she said, rubbing her face with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, “yeah I kinda hope we stay home today…”,”yeah that’d be great..” they woke up completely when a notification popped up saying “Shop has restocked!” This surprised them, their body jolted with energy running out of the room screaming “SHOP RESTOCK!!!!” They bolted down the hall with excitement. Jax opened Ragatha’s door wearing a baggy shirt and shorts “What’s going on?” Ragatha hugged him from behind “I think we got our first shop restock…” Pomni yawns Gummigoo laying on her head, “oh boy…” he sighed.

The four made their way to the shop tiredly but still curious for what was there, they found Gangle customizing a full outfit with her drawings and Zooble running around looking at anything that caught their eye, “This is a nice way to start the morning..” Gummigoo chuckled, going to look at some miscellaneous shirts, Pomni followed, going to get another hairstyle and hats to try. Jax and Ragatha walked in “You want me to find you another dress Raggy?” He teased “You don’t have to do that, get something nice for yourself.”, “You are something nice for me~” he flirted she blushed, “Oh stop, well let’s look at the props there’s nothing here you’d like to use for a prank or adventure?” She said looking at the items in front of her “Well this bucket of slime might come in handy for something.” He smiled reading the props description “That’s the spirit anything else catch your…” her eyes locked with a bundle of items, three bottles of Stupid Sauce for only 350 Exp, she sat there she could definitely afford it but would it be a worthwhile purchase she froze staring at it. Jax took notice “Hey something caught your eye?” Looking over to notice the sauce “oh it’s that pink stuff from spudseys, do you like that stuff?”, “Oh what? uh yeah a little I tried a bit..”, “is it any good?”, “I’d say so but I don’t know if I really need three bottles.” She tried deflecting “It’s better to get it now cause the shop restocks everyday.” She looked at the item thoughts rushing her not knowing when her next opportunity would be. She bought the bundle. “Wow you really like that stuff, I’d have to try some at breakfast today.” He joked unknowingly sealing his fate.

When leaving the shop they noticed the circus had gotten a bit of a makeover, they found food stands, a dining area, a door leading to a kitchen and many Corridors of doors leading back to past adventures. “Hello everyone! I’m glad to see all of your lovely faces this morning!” Caine said happily in his new form, “You guys really spruced up the place.” Pomni added “Haha, it was mostly Queenie. She’s had ideas for filling all this space for years and she really out did herself.” Caine said contently “So are more of these places gonna take Exp?” Zooble asked curiously “We thought about it but since it’s a fairly new mechanic we decided to leave The Shop the only area that takes Exp, the food stands are free for you to grab anything you feel like at the moment.” He explained, “Nice so we can eat.” Jax said excitedly “Alrighty I could really go for some grub.” Gummigoo added to their excitement “Wait do you guys need to eat cause you’re NPCs or do you guys just like food?” Zooble asked “It took a while to get used too but our bodies don’t need to eat anymore but since we remember what eating food feels like our brain just craves it more than you guys do.” Jax shrugged explaining it the best he can “huh that’s interesting.” They said, confused, “I have a lot more facts like that in my back pocket, Zooby, it feels good that I don’t have to hide it anymore.” Him and Gummigoo walked to the food stand’s leaving them behind to think. “The days between us eating or being around food… Do they starve? Or is it just the sensation of starving?” Zooble asked looking back in their mind “Let’s try not to think about…” Pomni said walking up to Gummigoo Zooble looked at Caine who stood there “Do you ever feel hungry?” They asked in concern “I do sometimes, I try my best to understand it’s not real it’s scary the first few times feeling like you’re starving but it slowly becomes just any ordinary sensation..” they said, being totally honest “You want to come eat with us?” Caine smiled “I’d like that..”

The group sat at a table with their various foods taking a few bites. Jax remembered something “Hey Raggy, you still have that pink sauce from spudseys.”, she froze “oh yeah..”, “mind if we try some?”, “Oh i remember some of the other characters talking about the sauce, I wanted to try some but couldn’t go off my script.” Gummigoo added “Oh okay I don’t think it’ll hurt if we had a little.” She passed the bottle around to everyone coating their food in the sauce. They took a few bites. “Hey, this is really good.” Zooble said “Yeah it is, you have great taste..” Jax’s banter froze as the whole table felt the room shrink in a split second everyone’s eyes were dilated and were staring at each other in disbelief. “Whoa C-Caine your face it’s just a mouth…” Zooble said bewildered at the thought “What are you talking about? Oh my god my face is gone!” He looked in a panic, Pomnis eyes stared at Gummigoo whose mouth was agape looking in the distance. “Oh no.. I can’t believe it.. I stupid  sauce gave everyone!” Ragatha slurred her speech “Is that what that is?” Jax asked staring at her laughing uncontrollably, Gangle was shaking afraid of what’s going on “ I think I’m having a panic attack..”, “Hey hey it’s okay I know what to do.” Zooble stumbled trying to get out of their seat “We need to stay calm this is going to wear off in a comples of hours so if we don’t a freak out we can be okay, right guys?” The said swaying a bit “Your face is a triangle…” Jax pointed unaware of what they said “No it’s not.. oh my god it is.. I’m a triangle…” they said mesmerized.

The group stuck together behind Zooble as they held a plastic knife in front of them “What is this place?” Pomni asked, “I dunno..” Gummigoo spoke “You talk funny…”, “Hey that’s not very nice Shelia…” he said up in her face “That’s not my name shark man…”, “then what is it then?” She thought really hard “I don’t know…”, “Guys we gotta hush something’s coming.” Zooble said holding the knife  like a sword, humming came closer as Queenie found the group “Oh hello there Loves, I’m happy to run in and finally properly introduce myself.” Her voice was kind in a sweet British accent. They all looked at her in fear, not knowing what to do “Are you all doing alright?” She leaned forward to look at them and Zooble shouted “Everyone retreat! We’ve been spotted!” They scattered leaving Caine to fall forward unaware how to properly use his legs “I’ve been caught, please don’t hurt me..” Queenie was a bit confused “Caine sweetie it’s me Queenie?”Caine looked up “Oh my god Queenie i can’t believe I forgot about your beautiful face… guys it’s okay it’s just Queenie we’re safe…” he said slumping forward, she stood up  confused. “What in the bloody hell did you knuckleheads get yourselves into.” She said putting her hands on her hips knowing Caines history with mind distorting substances.

Picking up Gangle, Zooble ran to hide behind a blocky structure, Gangle held onto them tightly “I’m scared Zooble, what’s happening?” She asked terrified “I don’t know but I think If we stay here we’ll be okay..” they said sitting on the floor holding Gangle in their lap “What about the others?”, “They’ll find us.. as long as they stick together..” they said , speaking like a character in an action movie. Jax and Ragatha ran screaming far in a direction they usually never went, stopped in the wide open “What are we gonna do Jax? We almost got caught..”, “I don’t know but I think we should hide..” they heard foot steps and rushed to hide behind some furniture “You found him like that?” Kingers voice spoke in the distance “yes whatever he ate the others ate too..” Queenie sighed holding up her inebriated husband like a toy “Well we better find everyone before they get themselves into any more trouble..” Kinger sighed on his first day as admin not going to plan, “Oh my god we’re in trouble, I’m gonna get busted I gave the sauce everybody..”, “No you’re not I’m gonna make sure we don’t get caught i promise.” They felt a shadow looming over them “Is there a reason you two are hiding?” Queenie asked, holding Caine in her arm looking over the couch, they screamed and ran away like scared children. “Some things telling me this may be harder than we thought.” Queenie looked at Kinger, amused by the situation; he on the other hand was a bit annoyed but entertained.

Pomni and Gummigoo ran hiding in a dark corner “What are we gonna do Shelia?” Gummigoo asked bewildered “I don’t know Sharky but we have to stay together..” they held onto each other, they watched Bubble float by looking for them “What the heck is that?” Pomni asked “I don’t know..” Gummigoo said terrified Bubble looked hearing them talk “I know you’re in there..” their sharp teeth scaring to already frightened paired they ran barely making passed him screaming “Oh no you don’t!” Bubble caught Gummigoo by his tail lifting him up “Sharky!!” She shouted dramatically “Run Shelia save yourself!!!”, “I’ll come back for you!” She ran desperately, barely escaping. Kinger was using his powers to find a safe way to contain them “You think this would work?” He said essentially creating a playpen “It’s better than nothing.” Queenie said laying Caine on a bean bag “Oh hey where you going?” He sounded sad flopping off the bean bag, “I caught one, who knew having hands would make this so easy.” Bubble said holding Gummigoo by his ankle “Un..un.. let me go!!” He flailed desperately trying to escape. “Just put him in here, Thanks for your help Bubble.” Bubble dropped him in the pen “Don’t mention it, any idea where the others are hiding?” Gummigoo shakily stood up grabbing the railings of the waist high pen “You can’t hold me here forever!” Shaking the railing he could easily jump over. “The pen was a good idea.” Queenie teased “I know, let’s go. You sure you want to stay and Pen sit?” Kinger and Bubble looked at Queenie. “Go ahead, I wanted to spend the day getting to know everybody, I’ll take what I can get.” She waved them off sat down to talk with Gummigoo “So what’s your name sweetheart?”Gummigoo huffed “I don’t know but the pretty lady named Sheila calls me Sharky.” Pointing his thumb to chest Queenie smiled missing these kind of interactions.

Jax and Ragatha were running when they ran into Pomni, physically running into each she is small “Oh my god Sheila! You’re okay!” Ragatha said relieved “Yeah but they took Sharky! We gotta save him..” she said panicking “Oh no this is all my fault!” Ragatha panicked “No it’s not we’re gonna save Sharky and get us out of here!” Jax exclaimed “How are we gonna do that?” Pomni asked “I don’t know yet, I’ll think of something, let's go find where they’re hiding him.” He led the trio to search for “Sharky”. Zooble and Gangle held each other terrified of what was looking for them “What if everyone was caught.. and they can’t come find us.?” Gangle asked holding her face “I don’t know but I’m glad I’m here with you?”, “Why’s that?”, Zooble broke character “Um because..” Kinger turned the corner “I found them!” They screamed Zooble stood up holding Gangle attempting to flee Bubble cutting them off ensuring their capture, as they made their way back to pen Zooble cried to Gangle “Gangle whatever happens to us I need to tell you this!.”, “What is it?”, “I… I want your OC and OC to be in a relationship!” They said with such passion Gangle gasped “Of course Zooble!” Zoobles teared up “You mean it?”, “If we make it out of this alive I’ll draw them holding hands!” Gangle said with such seriousness it felt like an actual marriage proposal. “Alright ya love birds in drunk jail you go.” Bubble said, him and Kinger leaving them in the pen “Here’s some paper and pencils for your OCs?” Kinger snapped, handing them a distraction like children.

From a distance Jax Ragatha and Pomni looked at their friends trapped in the pen, “Sharky…”, “no not yet Sheila..” Jax said, pulling her back. “We gotta be smarts about this, we gotta wait for them to leave so then we can save everyone.” He said with a serious demeanor “That’s gonna take forever..” Ragatha pouted “No look they’re leaving..” Pomni pointed,  “this is our chance.” Jax said, “Sheila?” Gummigoo asked “Sharky we’re here to save you.”, “No you can’t this is a trap.” His stumbled to his feet as the other three circus admins stood behind them attempting to grab them from running, Jax grabbed something from his pocket, a bucket of slime “You’ll never take us alive!” He threw at Kinger that bounced off his chest and into the pen breaking opening leaving a puddle of green ooze on the floor “Alright in you go.” Kinger placed Jax and Pomni, “No wait!” Ragatha shouted as the three admins looked at her crying “It’s all my fault! I gave them the sauce! I bought the sauce and I shared it with everyone don’t be angry with my friends, it's all my fault..” she cried Queenie picked her up putting her in the pen “None of you are in trouble.” Queenie explained “We’re not?” Ragatha sniffling “No sweetie, Caine has a fascination with mind distorting gags and props, we keep telling him not to use them for adventures but even after all these years he still doesn’t listen.”, “That’s cause it’s my art you can’t silence my talent.” Caine slumped over halfway off the bean bag he was left on at the start. “You’re able to check what products go into The Shop right?” Queenie said like a tired parent “yeah I’ll handle it..” Kinger sighed, opening a screen in front of him with every item the shop can sell. “You guys are really pretty, you think I can buy you dinner some time?” Caine stumbled with his words. Ragatha sat on the floor next to Pomni and Gummigoo fascinated playing with the slime. “See I told you I would make sure you didn’t get in trouble, now the teeth guy is in trouble.” Ragatha cleaned her face “yeah.. thank you Jax…” she leaned on his shoulder they held hands falling asleep to wait off the rest of their high.