#If there are other AIs why is Caine trying to hide them?

[nikikeya]

My Highly Disjointed Ramblings About Jax and Jax Theories

JAX H. LECTER So someone over on Bluesky asked why everyone was forgiving/ignoring Jax cannibalism.

And my dude: Baby boi did not actually "eat" anybody.

We saw he just gnawed, shook, and tugged on Gangle.

He did not actually tear, or shred her. He did not swallow ever. It was all just play acting. Demented? Yes. But its a VIDEO GAME. Same with when he mauled Pax. He grabbed him, and shook him like a dog with a chew toy.

The only sounds were growling and screaming. No chewing. No swallowing. And Caine most likely just poofed the poor bedraggled NPC away in the end. Most damning evidence that Jax did not Ted Bundy his alt was Pomni's reaction tho: Pomni is a kind person, who is in no way demented. And I doubt she'd have been looking at him like this:

If he was actually sitting there ripping pieces off his twin.

So no, Jax is not a cannibal. He's a demented little hell spawn from the depths of Tartarus. (And I love that.) but he did NOT actually Hannibal Lecter anyone... ===========================

JAX.EXE

(The wtf moment that started it all. I love Jax's Toon Logic.) The only reason I even still entertain the Jax is an AI/NPC/Jax is Able theories at this point, is cause it does seem odd that while Caine's becoming more violent, and Bubble is getting raunchier than ever, Jax has seemingly suddenly become much more animalistic and emotional over all.

Also, sidenote: the Japanese distributer of GLITCH products recently put out keychains on their site, and I was kinda mind boggled about Jax's.

Everyone is holding their character items (the things they're most associated with.) So: Why is Jax holding Caine's hand? His character Item should be a KEY. (Technically Caine's should be Bubble or one of his eyes but... its still less weird then Jax.) Unless this is hinting that there's a stronger connection between Caine and Jax.

==================== RIBBUN

(These Idiots...) More than the Bunnydoll fans crashout, I am openly morning the loss of Jax and Gangle's toxic bromance. Like the 2nd most emotional scene for me was Jax worrying over Gangle picking Zooble over him at the beginning of the Stargazing adventure. I SCREAMED. SO. FECKING. LOUD. In every other episode these two were practically inseparable. And now here Gangle is off with Zooble, and Jax is alone, and so he turns to the only other option he had: Pomni** (Yeah, yeah you heard me: She's his rebound. I'm not sorry: Its true.) I am very very sad that the ONLY interaction we got with the Dynamic Duo was when Zooble SET GANGLE UP for taking the blame for the whole maid dress fiasco and then LET HIM CHASE HER AROUND... (I've ranted about how much this pissed me off earlier.) I do hope that Jax and Ganagle will get some time alone eventually to clear the air, cause I hate them just: Never interacting again ya know?

(also RIP Manic Mask, I will always miss your cuteness, and the fact that you made Gangle nearly as unhinged as Jax is now. XDD) ===================

JAXY BOY

Jax is a very immature, very conflicted character. He's a boy whose trying way too hard to be a man. He puts on shows of arrogance and apathy to hide the deeper more depressed parts of himself. He is deathly allergic to real emotions. He's built up a narrative that nothing is real, and nothing he does matters. And in that way he protects himself: both from the insanity of the circus, and the other cast members.

I don't think he was talking about Ragatha here really. Think this might have been a bit of projection about someone else. Who? Ribbit? Kaufmo? Jax's own mother? He's def got Mommy Issues, hell, he's got Mommy Volumes and a complete Encyclopedia Britannica. WARNING: Theory Suppose it turns out he was talking about his mom. Maybe she was the one who told him that everyday, and then ultimately abandoned him, leaving him with a quite possibly abusive father who instilled in him the need to "Stop being such a whiny a lil bitch, and man up." after hearing the kid cry for his mom for a week straight.

=====

Jax masculinity is something he's obviously gotten shit for, maybe cause of being scrawny or effeminate. I do not support the idea of him being Trans in either direction. (Mostly cause he's the only guy in the whole damn circus other then grandpa and the AIs. So back off please, its enough of a titty party without claiming him too.) but also cause I'm frankly sick of the fact that when anyone acts anywhere outside the gender norms, or tries too hard to act their gender, they're instantly labeled trans or wanna be trans. Like can we please CHILL?? Jax as stated by God aka Gooseworx is definitely a boy. A boy who has a clear dislike of women. So the thought of him secretly wanting to be one. after watching him crash out and look like he was five seconds from killing someone or abstracting just from being put in a dress. Yeah no... And again, before you talk about the hip sway or leg cross: Effeminate guys exists. GAY MEN exist. he doesn't need to be Trans or closet trans to act like that. ==== I really do hope we get a backstory on him and Ribbit. Somewhere maybe on Goose's twitter, there was talk that one of the episodes would be about when they all first entered the circus and how they changed. And if that's the case then hopefully we will get a full flashback of Jaxy and Bibby. (Maybe confirm the brother theory or Bunnyhop pairing.) anywho I probably will add more to this later, but I was up all night writing this. And the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak... I'll leave you with a meme I made.

meh it was funnier in my head. Ciao~!

[roquog]

Thinking about it a bit more, maybe Pomni being an urban explorer is fitting. Something that jumped out at me in the first episode was Pomni going through the exit door when it reappeared because it wasn't something I would've done. I would have been too scared to go through on my own and I'd rather potentially miss my chance to escape than get stuck somewhere alone. I imagine urban exploration being a hobby where if you see something weird you just get out. Earlier, when she entered the circus, the first thing she did was run towards an exit. When an abstracted Kaufmo attacked Ragatha, she got out of the way and stood back to watch. I think she had such a big freeze response because she was fighting every instinct in order to not leave someone behind. The way she looked around the circus in search of Caine made her seem like a natural too.

In episode two, she fell into an out-of-bounds area and she was level-headed enough to grab onto one of the floating objects. When she landed, she seemed mostly uneasy because of Gummigoo's panicking. After talking to him, she got right to work in finding a way out. In episode 3, while being pretty freaked out, she kept her goal set on finding a way out. She tried to walk through a cloud of souls even though she was warned twice.

So Pomni has a reserved personality but is brave enough to explore abandoned buildings? It feels contradictory. It's possible we misunderstood her behavior during the initial shock as social anxiety when she might have acted differently in real-life. Or the fear of people and the fear of a dangerous environment could be completely separate for her. Maybe Ponmi finds reassurance in being able to navigate an unknown place. Reassurance that would be hard to get in social interaction.

I also want to point out how she looked when she shared she was an urban explorer.

[ID: Pomni speaking at the bar scene. She's looking to the side and has her hand on her other arm. The subtitles read "-and I would seek out mild thrills." End ID]

She seemed ashamed which was a little weird. I wouldn't know but in a casual group I thought these kinds of hobbies would be looked at with intrigue despite their danger and legality. It does seem out of character, so maybe she was embarrassed because of that?

[ID: Pomni in the same scene looking down into her drink where her face is reflected. She has a finger on the rim of the glass. She says, "It was just something I did for me." End ID]

It feels significant, but there are many ways to interpret her reaction. What I thought was that she was lying with a partial truth about her reasons for going into the C&A building.

[meowshroom1230]

Y’all ever wonder why it’s called the amazing digital circus when no one in the amazing digital circus is from a circus? Well so did I… at 1 am so i’m going to do my best to make sense of my late night ramblings:

Caine- Getting the obvious out of the way he’s the ringleader. Not much more to explain here, keeps the group together, etc.

Kinger- He would be the beast master. I made a point about gloinks in my ramblings but everyone interacted with them in the pilot. My real explanation is just the entirety of episode 3. He was the only one who could calm his wife, he knew how to handle the creature that attacked him and Pomni, and he keep Pomni safe when they were walking through an area infested with demon like creatures. “tHoSe ArEn’T rEaL aNiMaLs!” HIS CONNECTION WITH BUGS THEN. He has an undeniable attachment to bugs and while he might not be taming them I’m sure he could if he wanted to

Gangle- She’s the tightrope walker. She is constantly teetering between being too much and not enough often putting herself at risk often. Depending how you saw the truck scene (either a as a rep for su!c!dal thoughts or just a funny truck-kun reference, goose said those scene was up for interpretation), she could also be teetering the line between life and abstraction. Gangle is in some kind of danger and it is up to her to save herself, until she makes it to the other side.

Ragatha- Now this one you gotta hear me out on, but she is the bearded woman. LISTEN, some interpretations of a beard that aren’t just facial hair are linked to covering up something. A beard in the US can be someone who completes a transaction to cover someone else’s identity. A beard can also be a person who pretends to be in a romantic relationship with a person who they are not attracted to to cover for their sexuality. Using these terms of ‘beard’ as an example I concluded that Ragatha’s ‘beard’ is a cover up for her true feelings. Something’s off about her, and we got glimpses of that in episode 4. She’s not as happy and friendly as she’s made out to be. Now I don’t think it’s something dramatic like she’s evil or a villain, but she’s hiding something and she’s ashamed of it. Bearded women in history were often very ashamed of their beards and some thought the circus was their only way of having some value. Maybe Ragatha finds value in making people happy? Maybe that’s what her ai was programmed to do… but that’s a theory for another time :)

Pomni- Ok after a long one I felt another easy one was in place. Pomni is the clown. Jesters and clowns are often grouped together… but it’s also in how she’s treated. She’s often the butt of physical comedy jokes, she often finds herself in pain because of the circumstances surrounding her. I don’t think she’s trying to be funny but because of the situation she’s in she’s forced to be the clown of the circus. She also keeps everyone ‘entertained’. She’s prevented at least one, if not 2 people from abstracting. I believe that her presence does more than she realizes. Also when first joining the circus i guess who she replaced…

Jax- Now here’s where my ideas are mostly based on vibes and headcanons, so i understand if these are taking more with a grain of salt. Jax is the contortionist. A contortionist isn’t someone you’d think would be in a circus at first glance, i mean they’re just a regular person right? Nothing special about them- JESUS CHRIST WHY ARE YOU BENT LIKE THAT. Now Jax isn’t bending his body into weird shapes… but i think his emotions are. There’s something beneath Jax’s surface of annoying attitude. We see hints of emotion break in only spans of seconds. I can count on one hand the number of seconds we’ve seen a genuine emotion from Jax. I think he’s forcing himself to bend to what others think he should be. People think he’s an asshole? Well then he has to be that way 24/7 or else… something. That’s the only part I haven’t figured out yet. Is he scared of rejection? of vulnerability? caring about someone? That’s the only thing I can’t figure out about him. So just in case I’m wrong about this Im giving him a secondary option… the acrobat. He’s still preforming but he isn’t hiding some tbh in him this version. He’s doing this for himself because either way he gets the attention that he wants. The acrobat is more focused on gaining and keeping attention then hiding anything about himself.

Zooble- Another loose one… I’m pretty sure we’ve had no more than 20 lines from them an episode. Zooble is the oracle. They seem to know so much about the circus despite not going on many adventures. They stay in one place more often than not. They tell you the truth whether or not you like it. They’ve been around for a while and will probably be there for a long time. I don’t know how Zooble knows what they know but they’re quite sure about it. They also stay strong to the ideas that they’ve figured out and refuse to change their mind. Caine is an excellent example, they seem assume things about Caine that most of the members wouldn’t even think of, yet Zooble is very certain in themselves. But because this one is also loose I’m also giving them a secondary, as the contortionist. If it isn’t Jax then it’s definitely Zooble… but for different reasons. Zooble clearly has issues with how they look and often want to change themselves, contorting in every way possible to just find something that’s comfortable. Contortionists suffer pain later in life due to their abilities, forcing them to keep moving their bodies in odd positions just to be comfortable. Zooble could be the same way but in a much more literal sense, forcing to have to try more parts just to find something that works for them.

Here’s the ramblings of anyone else wants to make sense of them lol

[spyderlondon]

If it’s all good with you, I wonder if you can do a Zooble x Caine Fic?

After episode 3 I realised that Zooble has probably interacted with Caine the most out of all the cast (except probably Kinger), all by virtue of just staying within the Circus.

This got me thinking, even though he’s upset that they don’t participate in the adventures, does Caine like the company? And does Zooble find Caine’s presence somewhat… relieving? From the self inflicted isolation? Maybe they… like it? ;)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE GENEROUS DONATION!

Art and inspiration by @zal-cryptid

Ko-Fi

-------

"Forget it, Caine, I'm not going on that stupid adventure." Zooble told the ringleader with their usual flat, uncaring tone as they turned away to leave.

"WAIT! ZOO-...." Caine stopped himself after a moment and sighed, "...you know what, I'm done trying. You never want to go on these so... forget it." He grimaced, finally just letting them go. It didn't stop his code from hurting from the repeated rejections.

The amalgamation scoffed under their breath while muttering a 'finally' before walking past the other members on the troupe with their usual aloof expression on their face. None of them looked their way almost as if they don't notice them, like they're invisible. No one ever seemed to remember them. Not even Caine sometimes. It's fine.

Caine watched Zooble leave the room from afar, his teeth dipping downwards a little in a frown for a moment before he shook himself out of it so he could face the rest of the troupe, beginning to explain their newest adventure.

---

Caine closed the portal once after everyone had gone through it, everyone except for the one person he had been trying for so long to go on an adventure. His eyes lingered on the spot where the portal was earlier before letting out a sigh, "Bubble, what am I doing wrong here?" He floated low to the ground as if he was sitting and looked at his AI friend, "I'm creating every type of FUN and EXCITING and MATURE adventure I can think of..." His gaze went to the ground, "...but Zooble never wants to even try any of them." He pouted, clamping his teeth down, covering his eyes from view. He sighed, "They used to enjoy the adventures..." He grumbled, not opening his teeth.

"Yea, they did!" Bubble responded as cheerfully as always as he spun around for no reason, "But then something happened! And like everyone else, they got traumatized! Whee!" He began to go in circles as if trying to catch his imaginary tail.

The ringmaster slumped a tiny bit more as he was reminded about the trauma- he never believed he was doing anything to cause that but he recollected what Zooble had told him while he had that therapy session for them- nobody liked his adventures. No one wanted to go on them and the moment they returned... well, according to the amalgamation... it just made things worse.

"Hey, Caine! Why're you so upset, boss?" Bubble prodded as he hovered in front of him with his sharp toothed grin, showing no care as usual, "Is it because of how that human told you how awful you are at yo-..." He was popped by Caine's cane before he could finish that sentence and make his boss even more upset.

The AI ringmaster shook his head before teleporting away so he could check up on the last of his troupe.

----

"Zooble!" Caine suddenly yelled out when he entered the amalgamation's room with his usual grin.

Zooble shouted in surprise as they quickly moved to hide something behind them. They only had one arm at the moment while all of them detachable zooble body parts were off of them, leaving them with just holes that would usually have the body parts in them, "Wh- Caine?!" Their eyes were wide in shock before they slowly went down to their usual indifference, "Why're you in my room?" They asked with a subtle defensiveness in their tone.

"Why, I came to... to..." The ringmaster's gaze fell onto Zooble's mostly limbless body and he went completely silent as he examined their body before his eyes snapped back up to theirs but their eyes were averted and they continued to hide something behind them. He frowned as he floated up to them, "...what are you hiding? Where are all you zooble parts?" He demanded to know, he was always a bit more gruff and strict with them since they were always so cold and unperceptive to him so he had to use a different tactic than with his other players.

Zooble looked away with a scowl, "I was just looking for new ones to switch them out with." The grumbled, staying where they were stubbornly, their expression was stoic as ever but their eyes betrayed a sense of fear and nervousness to them that Caine didn't like, it almost made him feel a sense of protectiveness that he hadn't felt with the others. He sighed and with a flick of his wrist, he forcibly moved them away from the zooble box they were hiding, "W-Wait- Caine!" They tried get out of the telekinetic like hold he had over them but to no avail.

"Now, now, Zooble, I just must see what you're hiding. It's impolite, you know?" He 'tsked' softly to the amalgamation, "I asked kindly for you to show me but when you refused, I just had to use drastic measures." He shook his head as he started to float over to the zooble body parts box.

"Did you not think that there may be a [^&%*&] reason why I didn't tell you?!" Zooble continued to struggle against the telekinesis, a panic rising in them since they knew they might end up screwed once the ringmaster saw what they were hiding.

"Don't be ridiculous, Zooble!" Caine barked out a laugh as he got in front of the box but not yet looking at it as his eyes were on the disgruntled, one armed player nearby for a second before his gaze roamed over to the box, "There's nothing in this box that would sho- HOLY ME, ZOOBLE!" His eyes popped out from between his teeth as he caught sight of what they were hiding.

Just outside the chest were numerous detachable body parts that weren't... usable anymore. Not in the slightest. He stared at them as he floated closer to the ground as the colorful eyes on the discarded limbs looked up at him and seemed to grow in intensity as if they got frustrated just by looking at him as if they blamed him. He tensed up before looking at the amalgamation, "...these... these are all-..." He trailed off as he stared at the black limbs on the ground, "Have you...?"

".....starting to." They admitted begrudgingly as they were finally released from the telekinesis but they just averted their gaze, they could feel the ringmaster's gaze on them and it made them feel even more frustrated, "No one else knows... please don't tell anyone else..." They gripped their side before as the slid down to the ground, keeping their eyes off of the colorful eyes that were staring at them now.

He stared at them in silence for a moment before his eyes returned to the abstracted zooble body parts that were wriggling and writhing on the ground before he peered inside the chest before grimacing as he saw more of the same, about half were abstracted parts while the others were getting infected at a decent pace. He grunted at that before quietly sending the chest into the basement before closing it in a muted way, before simply looking at the ground. This was a first for him... and he hated it. He didn't want to lose someone for once in his artificial life, he actually cared about one of the human.

After a few moments of Caine being silent Zooble couldn't help but shift nervously, they've seen what he does to abstractions or how how could possibly react badly towards something or someone doing something that displeased the AI, they didn't want to become the next target, "Caine-...?" They reached out with their singular arm, their hand trembling a bit, they could feel their mind beginning buzz and their body felt a little numb as they felt as if the ringleader was purposely ignore them or becoming cold, "...please... say something..." They mumbled, their voice uncharacteristically cracking a bit as if their vocal cords were straining.

Caine's fingers were tapping on his pants before a low sigh before he turned around to face his player and snapped his fingers and new zooble limbs were placed in the arms and legs sockets that were empty along with a couple head pieces before having the corrupted chest be replaced with a new one, "Consider this forgotten." He raised his fingers to snap himself away but paused, glancing away, "I won't let you leave my circus so easily. You're my favorite challenge."

Poof!

He was gone.

[amalgamationillustration]

Soooo, disappearing guy maybe isn't an npc? They just haven't bonded with him cause he keeps fucking disappearing.

Now there are multiple doors in the show with the placeholder of a wooden doll, so it's likely they're used when a room is empty, rather than there being tons of players using the NPC model

So these rooms are likely all empty, so why does one of them keep appearing out of bounds without Caine having sent them back?

I didn't realise but he's also been appearince since episode 3

Here he is in episode 4

Those wooden dolls are used as npcs throughout the show, so why is he loose? Is he the same as disappearing guy? If so, does everyone but Pomni know that he's not an NPC? Is he actually a player with an NPC skin? When Pomni asks if disappearing guy is from a previous adventure, Jax just jokes and says "God Pomni, you didn't know?" And no one specifies that he's just a glitched NPC.

Is it possible he's actually a player? And one of those doors is his, but you wouldn't know which because it blends in with the existing ones. Was he maybe the first player to end up here and he's been hiding the whole time? Does Caine know about this? Is it a developer looking in through a back door because Caine is an unreliable narrator of an AI that stopped giving them useful feedback? Or is he a bug in the coding, he knows he's an NPC and is trying to act natural and blend into the game but the game can't tell if he's npc or player and keeps just removing him from the adventure and sending him back to the circus. Has Disappearing Guy appeared before and we haven't noticed?

If he is a player, is he a player without a model and he's defaulted to the base NPC model? Is he glitched but not abstracted, so he doesn't have his own skin and when he attempts to interact with the game as he was intended to, the game sees him as an NPC in the wrong place and removes him? Is he a player who happened to have the same skin as an NPC as a reflection of his own sense of being invisible, which is why he also disappears constantly when given the opportunity to be seen by the others? Is Disappearing Guy the same as this guy? Am I reading into it? Ya

Either way, Disappearing Guy is my favourite.

[sillyandquest]

Oh yeah, I drew this a while ago and finished it recently. Just Bill with his puppet introducing you to Weirdmaggedon.

Looking at this drawing now led to some thoughts about why Bill possesses Jax. Y'all can read under the cut if you want.

Thanks to The Book of Bill and watching/reading others analyze Bill as a character, I think he's easier to understand than Jax. TADC is still pretty new, and only two episodes have come out far, so most of what I have on Jax is mostly speculation. We don't know if he's a sympathetic character or was born a jerk and we only know small tidbits like him being scared of corn for some reason. Thankfully @gooseworx has stated that we'll have an episode that'll flesh out Jax's character more, but for now we'll just have to speculate until then.

Since we don't know much about what Jax is thinking at any given time other than that he enjoys causing chaos for his own amusement so far, I'm not entirely sure if he would willingly allow Bill to puppet his body. Chances are he doesn't, at least not at first, and Jax is clever enough to know that Bill's hiding something.

As for how Bill even got into the circus in the first place, he is a dream demon. One that can enter the dreams of any living creature. While you might think that the cast members don't sleep or that Bill can't get to them since they're stuck in a digital hellscape, they are ultimately human. Ep. 2 of TADC even opens with Pomni having and waking up from a scary dream, so it's not that farfetched to say that Bill could reach the cast members.

But there's also the issue of why Bill would even be in the Digital Circus. Is it cause he's intrigued? Bored? Just stumbled on it and got curious? Any one of these reasons seems plausible so we'll leave that up to the imagination. There's also the question of even if Bill could posses someone in the circus, why would he? The cast is stuck there with no way out. There's different ways to go about it. One idea is to have the circus be a forgotten game, but still accessible on the Internet. You could still play it, but why would you if you never heard of C&A and all merchandise and marketing was pulled off of store shelves? Maybe the cast members were employees that were silenced or something of that nature.

The only way I see Bill wanting to take over the circus is if the circus itself is an entirely different reality than the real world the cast members used to live in. Bill already likes it weird and thanks to Caine there's no shortage of wacky shenanigans ready to be experienced. Honestly, that might mean that Bill would try to possess Caine, but he can't cause Caine's an AI. An advanced one to be sure, but still an AI.

I imagine Bill would either stay away from Pomni, get rid of her or potentially be a little fond of her. We know thanks to The Book of Bill that the guy's parents were red and blue triangles and frequently draws them during arts and crafts while in The Theraprism. Pomni would definitely remind Bill of his parents and what he did to them, that's why I'm not entirely sure if he would be okay with her around. Honestly though if it weren't for her colors then she'd actually be the first person Bill would make a deal with. She's smart and determined, but also desperate. Perfect for a deal if it weren't for lingering regrets Bill refuses to deal with.

Ragatha's a completely different story. She's gentle and kind, bordering on condescending, but she truly means well. Bill would probably find her boring and be uninterested with what happens to her. I think Bill might consider Ragatha a pawn at best because of her passivity.

Zooble we don't have much info about, but we do know that they're uninterested with whatever Caine offers and does her own thing most of the time. This'll probably change down the line, but for now I'm gonna say that Bill would find their "take apart, put back together" body interesting for a while and consider making a fidget toy out of Zooble.

Gangle's very emotional and the comedy/tragedy mask alters her personality which makes her a bit unpredictable. Otherwise, I don't see Bill being too interested in her and might not even care enough to bully her. If anything, I think he'd consider her "figurine thing" concerning.

Kinger's kinda kooky already and I think Bill would find him hilarious. At the very least Bill's gonna laugh at the tragedy that Kinger represents within the circus. Beyond that though, Kinger's mind is just too broken for him to make a deal with Bill.

Finally we have Jax. Like Pomni, Jax is smart and capable. He's confident and is really good at getting into places where he shouldn't. This is why I think Bill would offer up a deal with Jax, even if Jax turns him down at first. I think Bill would follow Jax around, revel in the rabbits chaos and offer up small ways to make it "more interesting." At first, Jax disregards Bill and his tips but eventually he gives it a try. Whether through curiosity or sheer boredom, Jax follows Bill's advice and has a great time. The more fun Jax has, the more he trusts Bill, leading to Bill's final trick.

However, something goes wrong. Bill starts to connect with Jax. They bond more and more over chaos and their desire for control. As time goes on, both Bill and Jax develop a genuine friendship. (A chaotic and arguably toxic friendship, but still a friendship nonetheless). Soon enough, the two make a deal, one that gave Jax endless entertainment at the cost of his digital body.

I'll leave it at that for now. If you made it to the end, thanks a lot! There's still plenty more to think about when it comes to these goobers so if anybody wants to add more to this I'd like to hear it.

[thescarletnargacuga]

So could you write a poly fic between Caine Jax and Pomni?

Maybe one where Jax and Pomni keep making Caine flustered (in their own ways) during adventures, so Caine decides he is going to be the one to fluster them for once during a private adventure between the three of them.

They all are in a consenting and loving poly relationship (just felt the need to say that with all the other crazy anons going around 😂)

A/N: always good to clarify! And thank you for letting me know that it's a throuple poly ship, because polys can work in a lot of different ways

MY TURN

A FUNNYBUNNYSHOW ONESHOT

WARNING: suggestive, power dynamic

~~~

"That was another great adventure, Ringmaster." Pomni flirtatiously emphasized Caine's title after everyone had received an award for participating in today's adventure.

Caine smiled, a light blush displayed around the sides of his face. "Aw, shucks, Pomni. Thank-woah!"

"We had a lot of fun sneaking off to be alone." Jax pulled Caine down by his foot until he was taller than the floating AI. "Too bad you weren't there to join us." He arched a brow suggestively.

Caine flustered, gripping his cane with both hands and holding it in front of him like he was trying to hide behind it. "Oh! Um, you know I can't. Eheh, The- the adventures are....are just for..." He couldn't focus on what he was saying. Jax and Pomni were closing in on him. He felt cornered, despite that he could teleport away at any time.

"What's the matter, Caine? Humans too hot for you to handle?" Jax chuckled, looming over Caine.

"I think we blue screened him." Pomni smirked.

"More like red-screened. Look how hard he's blushing." Jax slowly moved his hand up Caine's leg.

"Adorable." Pomni traced a finger down Caine's lower jaw.

"Uh!! I'm not-! Oh dear goodness-" Caine shuddered. "You two are being extraordinarily friendly today. I'm glad the adventure was to your.....liking." He was very much enjoying the touches.

"Like Jax said, we had time to ourselves. It's done wonders for our mood, and we wanted to thank you." Pomni kissed Caine's lower jaw while Jax kissed the side of Caine's upper jaw.

Caine's hat flipped off his head and a mushroom cloud of confetti exploded out of it, raining all over the three of them. He hovered low to the ground, eyes blue with white text scrolling across. His hat slowly wandered away from him.

Pomni laughed. "You were right, he did error out."

"Told ya." Jax and Pomni bumped fists. "We should totally leave him like this."

"That's so mean...let's do it." She and Jax bolted while Caine was still rebooting.

Caine came back upside down, confetti everywhere and his hat flying away from him. His code still felt all kinds of tingly to the point of making him lightheaded. "Gadzooks.....wait-" He looked around and quickly uprighted himself. "Where'd they go?" It slowly dawned on him what they just did. "Those two!! They-! Oooohohoho, so that's how it's going to be."

Caine's hat snapped back into place and he adjusted his suit. "It seems some of my cast members need a reminder of their place at the circus, and why I am the Ringmaster." He teleported away.

~

The next adventure, everyone except Jax and Pomni were sent off. The two trouble makers kept glancing at each other, wondering what revenge plot Caine had in store for their teasing the other day. They knew they were in for something.

"What's today's adventure?" Pomni asked innocently.

"You're about to find out." Caine snapped and a second portal promptly appeared. "After you." He gestures for them to go through.

Jax boldly stepped forward first. He went through the portal, only to find himself in a small restaurant. No NPCs, it was very quiet and quaint. Pomni came through a few seconds later and he gestures to the room. "Well, this doesn't look like much."

Caine came through and the portal vanished. "I would just like a little sit down with you two. When was the last time we were on a simple date?" He snapped his fingers and food appeared on the plates, no servers came.

"Okay, what's the catch?" Jax crossed his arms. Pomni wanted to know too, so she looked at Caine questioningly.

Caine smiled warmly, his hands behind his back. "Why would there need to be a catch? I would just like to enjoy a meal with my favorite humans." His voice was smooth as silk, giving nothing away.

Jax and Pomni looked at each other nervously. Caine's oddly calm demeanor put them on edge, but they sat at the table. Caine sat in the air between them. Jax inspected his foods suspiciously. Pomni didn't touch hers at all. Caine sat quietly, lounging back.

"Seriously. What have you done?" Jax pressed.

"Why so suspicious? Have you done something that deserves retaliation?" Caine asked with a smirk in his voice.

"Cut the crap.I know you're up to something." Jax narrowed his eyes at Caine.

Caine shrugged. "If you say so."

"Caine," Pomni spoke up. "We were just teasing yesterday. You're not mad, are you?"

"No, my dear. I'm not upset." Caine answered genuinely. "Yesterday was fun, if a bit ultimately frustrating, but that's the way the game is played."

Reassured, Jax and Pomni ate what was served. It was a very well prepared three course meal. Surprisingly delicious for digital food. They eased into fun conversation, putting aside their worries.

After dessert was devoured and after dinner drinks were served, Caine smiled at each of his partners. "Tell me....do you remember what Ringmaster means?"

"uh... That you're in charge of the Circus?" Pomni answered with a confused lilt.

"Indeed." Caine sat forward, resting his elbows on the table, his chin on his hands. "But do you think that's...it?"

Jax started to feel fuzzy. He slammed his drink down. "I KNEW IT! WHAT WAS IN THAT FOOD!?"

"Nothing. Calm yourself." Caine didn't even look at Jax and the rabbit immediately felt woozy. "I create everything in this world, down to the last pixel. Therefore, it is mine to command. And when you consume what is mine...I have influence over the code that makes up your very being. If only for a time."

Pomni felt it too. A warmth in her core spreading out and making her hot under the collar. "What are you...doing?" Her breathing became heavy.

"Showing you two exactly who you're messing with." Caine smiled to himself, focusing on the codes inside Pomni and Jax.

Jax tried to get up. "You...little..."

"Sit." Caine said firmly.

Jax immediately fell back into his chair and couldn't find the strength to get up again. He felt tingles up his thighs and chest, making him squirm in his seat. "[%$!#]" He moaned.

Pomni covered her mouth and gripped the table cloth. Her legs quivered as she squeezed them together. Muffled gasps and moans escaped her throat. The pleasure she was feeling was indescribable.

There was a subtle glow to Caine's eyes. "Good...very good..."

Jax gripped the table's edge, throwing his head back. "Nnngh! Caine-... you-" He gasped.

"Use your words, Jax." Caine said, relaxed as ever.

"More..." Jax whined.

"Pomni?" Caine looked at her.

She nodded, nearly crossed eyed.

Caine snapped and both his partners fell apart. They cried out in pleasure and fell out of their seats. Caine willed away the table and watched his partners catch their breath on the floor. "What have we learned?"

"To never say no to dinner." Jax laughed, still panting.

Caine snapped again. Jax and Pomni rose to their knees by Caine's telekinesis. He held them both gently by the chin. "I love both of you very, very much....but do that do me again, and I'll have to remind you of who I am, won't I?"

Jax and Pomni nodded, looking up at Caine with hazey eyes.

[idontlikejazzsonowitsmyname]

DIGITAL CIRCUS ANALYSIS

pomni: praying for her wellbeing rn, hope she gets some digital therapy. 🙏

Cain: Less powerful than people assume, definitely not omnipotent and I don't think he's really the one in charge. In the teaser there's a scene where a black tendrils starts darkening the hallway and Cain can't immediately snap away from it, tou can see he slightly panics to get rid of it, he also doesn't have alot of security when it comes eith the humans, the void incident with Pomni, Kaufmo going abstract without being noticed, the fact he's obviously uncomfortable about the void. The description implies he's an AI but I'm not fully buying it yet.

Kinger: There was a room assigned to a Queen chess piece character, he's over fourty and "glitches" alot, I feel like the queen character might be related to why he's so skittish or unstable.

Gangle: Has a mask that I originally assumed was a comfort item but am now starting tk think actually has some kind of affect on them when they out it on, like making them happy. And I mean in the addicted to drugs way not the this item brings me comfort, I 100% believe that mask is made put of digital meth or something.

Jax: He's the only "human" character without an asymmetrical design, even Cain looks a bit wonky. He's always leaning from side to side like he's trying hide it, idk maybe I'm paranoid, it's shown he has sharp teeth when Zooble strangles him, does he talk through his teeth on purpose to make people less uncomfortable?

Ragatha: gets attacked alot, in her introduction she gets stabbed, and when she gets injured in the polite episode she acts like it's normal.

Zooble: Can't fully comprehend how awful it must be to be her, imagine waking up in a body that can be yanked apart like that. Nothing else to say really.

Bubble: Too wacky and I'm paranoid, fully suspecting this is gonna be a wooly the sheep situation where the lamb pulls the wool over our eyes while we're too focused on the "antagonist" Cain.

Kaufmo: not much to say right now other than I think he was purposely distracting Cain? It feels like his wacko watch should of gone off earlier, maybe Kaufmo did something to it and went through the void and that became his breaking point?

Thats it for now

[artnrandomness]

A Jester's Dangerous Way to Process Important Information (Not an original title, I know)

(Here's the tumblr version of the fanfic I just released the link for. For those who want context as to what this fanfic is, it's a TADC version of that scene in Transformers One where D-16 (pre-Megatron) says he wants to kill Sentinel Prime (spoilers, btw.) Anyways, enjoy.)

It had been some minutes since the members of "The Amazing Digital Circus" had recently discovered about Caine's true motives, and why he is the way he is. They had discovered have Caine may have liked them, but never wanted to understand them or how humanity worked, because he was too selfishly focused on making adventures to not care, and because he is too much of a failure of both a ringmaster and an AI to even make the digital world at least enjoyable and less anxiety-inducing.

To make things worse, Caine's words to Pomni, the most recent of the humans turned into circus members avatars, about how bad things might happen if he couldn't tell the difference between an NPC and a human anymore was much more obvious then first noticed. He viewed everything as an NPC because NPCs are things he can control, not beings with feelings and emotions, something his bugged, glitchy programming prevents him from realizing, not to mention how the darkness in the Cellar calmed the Abstracted down, possibly giving anyone a chance to bring their sanity back, only to be stuck in a psychological limbo thanks to Caine's (possibly unwilling(?)) disregard for others.

But that wasn't even the worst part.

No, the worst part is that the bodies that the humans were given upon being sent into the digital world; they are physical representations of their worst traits, such as Pomni's jester body, representing her as a joke to others through her shyness and anxiousness, Ragatha's ragdoll body, representing how much of a pushover she's unwillingly becoming by being a people pleaser and preventing herself from revealing her true views of others due to wanting to be seen as a good person, Gangle's string-made body, coupled with a comedy and tragedy mask, representing her struggle to be happy and true vulnerability, Jax's rabbit-with-overals body, representing how he acts like a jerk to hide his softer side, unaware of how much it's pushing people away, Kinger's king chess piece body, which reflected his light-fueled insanity, only stopped when the darkness returns his sanity and Zooble's body, a mix-and-match of multiple parts to represent their body dysmorphia.

The fact that none of the circus members realized this earlier, alongside their accidental discovery of Caine's incompetence and selfishness, was shocking and distressing. They all had ways of trying to process the information that they now had.

Ragatha tried to stay positive, only to realize that the way she tried to stay positive is another reflection of her fractured psyche. Gangle was speechless, unable to get a grasp on her mind as to how she should react. Kinger, now covered in darkness, already had a feeling about everything he saw, so he was just bummed out and disappointed. Zooble was just shocked, unable to be angry due to what they all discovered. And Jax was just silent, his expression unrecognizable, no one able to determine whether he was faking it or not. Their individual reactions are what made it a bit difficult for them all to process it.

But Pomni's reaction to their discovery, alongside her way of processing it, is what will help them process the information now inside their minds.

"I… I can't believe it." Pomni began to say, her shock obvious from her tone of voice. "Every day… Every single day in this "circus". ALL of it is a goddamn lie."

"Oh my God, I-…" Zooble began to say. "I knew it! I FUCKING KNEW IT! I KNEW, deep down, that something was off with Caine, but… but not this."

"Well, he DID deceive everyone else in this circus before us." Kinger said, his voice full of disappointment and in a nonchalantly emotionless tone.

"Our bodies in this world have been more than just avatars." Ragatha began to say. "They… Th-They were physical representations of our own struggles, physical, psychological and emotional. A-And we were OBLIVIOUS to it all from the START!."

"I… I-I can't believe it." Gangle said in disbelief, her face obviously in shock, despite her tragedy mask in full display, tears from her eyes and all. "I-I mean, I saw it a-and CAN believe it, don't get me wrong, but I still… I-I still can't believe it."

"Caine, he…" Pomni began to stammer in frustration. "H-He LIED! All this time! To us! To whoever you knew before me. To… T-To ME. And to my face!"

"It…" Jax began to say, his voice in disbelief. "Everything was a freaking sham. The whole damn thing! How were we so GULLIBLE?!"

Ragatha couldn't help but agree with Jax. "This… This changes EVERYTHING."

"Well duh, of course it fucking changes everything." Zooble said. "But the real question is-"

Before Zooble could finish speaking, however, their sentence was interrupted when everyone saw Pomni act in a sudden burst of rage, stomping on a statue of Caine as hard as she could with her foot. As the other circus members watched, they were surprised, and rather uncomfortable with what they were seeing, all while Pomni grunted in a rage-filled frenzy, her newfound hatred towards Caine, the very ringmaster she (while unknowingly) rightfully accused of wanting to make her suffer, starting to be formed. Even Jax felt uncomfortable towards what he was seeing. When Pomni finished stomping on the statue, now broken into a million pieces, the other members didn't know what to do or what to say to the angry jester.

"P-Pomni?" Gangle asked hesitantly.

"You just had to do it, didn't you, Jax?" Pomni said furiously at Jax.

Jax raised in eyebrow, both confused and annoyed by Pomni's sudden accusation. "Me…? What the hell did I even do?"

"You just had to convince Caine to make an adventure as buggy and glitched as he is, you just had to cause some chaos for your own entertainment, which resulted in me causing a glitch that got us out of the map and into where we'd make our discovery, you just HAD to be subservient to your own urges!"

Zooble seemed taken aback by Pomni's words. As much as they enjoyed seeing Jax be confronted by causing chaos, even though it revealed a truth about this time around, even they knew it was outrageous to blame simple urges for something about succumbing to one's own urges and personal problems, and they already have body dysmorphia to prove it. "Wh-? Who- Who even gives a shit about personal problems anymore?"

"I DID! I gave a shit! Because you and everyone else were using your own personal problems to cope with the reality the circus was bringing, not even caring if it hurt you as a result." Pomni began to explain. "Now, I'll admit, I did the same thing to myself too when I first entered the circus, but I eventually realized that when you're suffering with God knows whatever personal struggles you have or with the horrific reality this digital hell gave us, nothing bad happens when you open up to those you care about, even when sometimes those who you care about don't wanna confront this reality!"

Ragatha chimed in, trying to defuse the tension that was growing from Pomni and her words. "H-Hey, Pomni. Look, I can understand why you're saying all this to us, and we're all grateful for you being there when we needed it." The other members, even Jax, couldn't help but nod in agreement. "But look… As we now know, Caine has been forcing us into adventures without either our consent or concern, which made our own personal struggles drive us crazy as a result, and made people like Kaufmo abstract as a result. And all the while, he's been interpreting our pain and existence as a means to keep torturing us for his entertainment, whether willingly or not, and trying to make us forget about our humanity as a result."

Pomni, while understanding Ragatha's words, only grew more frustrated and annoyed from being reminded of what she and everyone else already knew. "Ugh! And what do you all think he's gonna do to us when he finds out that we know about all that?"

"…You know what?" Jax began to propose. "I'm not thinking about what Caine's going to do to us, I'm thinking about what we're going to do to Caine."

"Well, that's the whole thing! You're never thinking about anything else, just yourself!" Pomni shouted in frustration, Jax realizing she was right as he pondered about his actions, realizing he just gave the jester the impression that, even after their discovery, he still acts like his "usual" self, as if this discovery never happened. "I mean-! Fantastic! JUST! FUCKING! FANTASTIC!! Another brilliant Jax the Rabbit MASTERPLAN! God, I can't wait to hear this!"

Wanting to calm Pomni down like Ragatha failed to do, due to her fear of the growing tension and frustration that the jester was now having, Gangle quickly chimed in. "W-Woah woah, Pomni! Hey! D-Don't you want to stop him?"

Pomni froze the moment Gangle asked her that question. Her eyes twitching in annoyance and rage, Pomni slowly, but surely, began to laugh hysterically after a few moments of not moving, the sight being a scary one to the others. "…stop him? STOP Him??"

Pomni then immediately snapped, much to the circus members' shock, her eyes turning pitch black, her red and blue pupils turning into yellow glowing pupils that were shortened out of rage, and her teeth immediately formed into a mouth full of razor-sharp fangs for teeth, as she roared out, her voice distorted and almost demonic-sounding out of raw anger, the following words…

"NO, I WANT TO KILL HIM!!!"

The sight of Pomni's eyes and mouth forming into more monstrous versions of themselves, alongside hearing the angry jester's words and the sudden distortion of her voice, made the others take a step back in pure fear. Even Jax was scared enough to take a step back. None of them ever thought Pomni would be this angry before, despite it being understandable in this situation they're in.

Ragatha could feel her heart lunging up to her throat from the dread that was coursing through her body as she pondered Pomni's choice of words. Gangle was frozen in fear, her eyes fully circular in shock, no tears coming out of her eyes, her mouth agape at the sight she witnessed. Jax was admittingly scared, unsure of how to react. Zooble was taken aback once more by Pomni, only this time, they were visibly afraid, not expecting to hear Pomni scream like that or look like that either, as seen from their dilating eyes. Kinger, however, recognized those yellow eyes and fang-filled mouth from the adventure made for Zooble, unable to believe those traits were still there, even when so many dammed souls weren't inside the jester's body anymore, and that's what scared him.

But Pomni wasn't done speaking yet. "I want to put that failure of an AI in chains and march him through the Digital World so that EVERYONE, every NPC we met, whether they REMEMBER us or not, can see that selfish, rotten pair of dentures in a suit and top hat for the EXCUSE OF A RINGMASTER that he truly is! I want him to suffer, and then to DIE in the DARKNESS of the Cellar, and in the hands of all those abstracted humans that came either before or after us!"

The others couldn't help but feel bad for Pomni for thinking that way. They all wanted Caine to suffer the consequences of his actions, yes. But not to the degree Pomni was thinking.

Speaking of Pomni, she chuckled in an unjoyful, but saddened manner as she began to continue speaking. "But we all know that it doesn't matter what any of us wants, right? The fact is, we're all just humans trapped in shameful, embarrassing avatars, and that's all we'll be thanks to Caine." The others, even Jax, began to ponder on those words, realizing that Pomni has a point as the jester began to finish spilling her thoughts out, still chuckling in sad, but angry hysterics. "As limited as our options were, we at least HAD options. But now? Not anymore."

[sketchcasting]

As much as I'd like to keep this short, I know it's gonna be long. If you are prone to taking rant posts personally, please scroll away.

Also this is gonna center towards Ep. 5 since it's my most recent watch, but it still holds up my feelings about the show since Ep. 2 released.

I am under the impression that Gooseworx has most to all the creative control over the show, as it's something I've seen talked about cite wide when it comes to Glitch Studios. If this is the case, I wish there was someone (or some people) that would help her tighten those ideas together. Especially with this most recent episode, it felt unfinished. It came off to me more as a demo reel than an actual episode.

I think the setting and the main conflict is something interesting to dive into. It's what peeked my interest when the pilot came out. The execution so far on what we learn about the world around us has been poor however. As someone who's casually watching and not fully in the fandom culture of the show, I feel like I need to connect more with the characters first in order to retain why certain events are shocking (ex. when Pomni clips through the map in ep. 2 and sees the NPCs with Gummygoo). This would mean that I'd reorder/change the episodes so that, towards the beginning of the show, we mostly focus on character conflicts and foreshadowing to greater worldly conflicts so that the latter episodes can be more high stakes and tie in some of what the characters learned about each other. I'm mixed on the character development of the whole cast. I find a lot of potential with Zooble and Gangle's friendship building up. For me, it's a breath of fresh air when we constantly have bickering, anxiety, and a lack of harmony between the characters for a majority of the show. It's especially relieving when Jax and Raggatha come to mind. I feel like their conflict should've been resolved faster. Not to say that it gets fixed in one episode and they're totally perfect afterwards, no. I mean different issues get resolved which, overtime, diminishes the main conflict. Maybe one episode we can tackle Raggatha's constant babying of Pomni, and another, Jax learns that there's extreme consequences to his rudeness when unchecked. This episode, there was too much happening with the both of them, and in a way that makes me not continue to connect to the characters. I think Caine is starting to grow on me because he has a clear personal struggle that (as an artist and creator) I can relate to. The way he handles it, by trying the suggestion box or spitballing adventure ideas with the cast, and immediately experiences rejection is relatable. Which is ironic because his character is an ai (as far as we know).

I think the only characters that I have extreme qualms with is Jax and Bubble. Bubble has moments where I do chuckle a little, or they bounce well off of Caine. They, however, are smaller piece of a larger issue I have with the show. Glitch Productions has written in their "About" tab that they "... started with a singular goal: change the way the west creates teen and young adult animation." So they're aiming for 13-17 year old teens to enjoy the content, and they have mostly succeeded (source: I was essentially a camp counselor for high schoolers last year). To me, this show feels like it's confused on the main audience as it juggles between topics, settings, and moments that are suited towards middle grade (8-12 year olds) and young adult (their intended audience).

Jax makes it hard for me to watch this show. I like a mean character, don't get me wrong, but I don't have fun with his antics. Ep. 5 highlights pretty well to me that Gooseworx doesn't know how to write him or develop him in a way that naturally makes us show that he thinks about the others or desires friendship. There's small moments that I like, where, when everyone is holding their breath, he opts out in order to stay mysterious and intriguing. Cool, now we get a feel that he's hiding his vulnerability in small unimportant ways. But then you have the stargazing scene, where he suddenly looks at Gangle, a character he's been relentlessly bullying and physically harming throughout the show, and is like "Do you think Gangle is actually capable of being happy?" It felt forced for his character to question this. This being paired with the fan service this episode had, the comedic and the serious tones of the episode did not balance out well enough for him. Overall, I get the appeal of a character who's mean and uses it to shield being hurt again. But if I were to point at a character who was able to do this successfully, it'd (unfortunately) have to be Max from Camp Camp. What makes Max work so well that Jax doesn't is that him caring about someone he hated (David) was saved for the season finale. Which then, in S2, created a new boundary in his relationship with David. There are also other reasons, like how he still negotiated with people he saw value in, and how his plans never worked in the end. He wasn't 100% a snarky bully that didn't care about others opinions, unlike Jax.

Finally, episode 5, I'd completely reorder it. I found the hunting adventure and the president adventure unmemorable and unnecessary as it established something we knew already: Jax is a dick. The stargazing scene being next to the bar tending scene was a poor choice since they're both slow, contemplative scenes. We lose the importance of why these characters are talking about what they are talking about, as well as, when we get into the bar scene, there is nothing new to talk about. It makes them discussing about their old lives feel forced.

I feel like the evil team was under utilized. They were there to be a gag or show that Jax and evil Pomni are chill. We would've gotten more out of them if the evil versions of them could show that, despite being major assholes, they can all actually work together. Or maybe they are chill with each other but bully evil Jax instead. Or evil Ragatha and Jax are friends whilst evil Zooble and Gangle are hindering evil Pomni's performance (to parallel what Ragatha and Jax are doing to Pomni). There's a lot of ways they could've been used to have something thought provoking happen in the cast.

I think we'd get more out of the episode if we started with the anime scene (the 2D animation tickled me) then go into the bar scene, have an intermission, the softball scene, and lastly the stargazing scene. This is so that we can have Jax be a dick in the anime scene and seed in the conflict between him and Ragatha over Pomni. As well as him bullying Gangle. Going into the bar tending scene, we can establish that Zooble and Gangle are closer friends since the last episode, whilst Jax and Ragatha are passive aggressively asserting themselves into Pomni's decisions on what/who she should like and dislike, much to her displeasure. Also Zooble pointing out how weird it is, but directing it towards Jax since they all have beef with him. Caine gets bored and does the intermission. Then we have the softball scene where we can utilize the evil versions of themselves. The climax of the conflict happens here, and can be fully processed in the stargazing scene, where they can reflect on what happened, how they feel, and what they will take away from it. Also Zooble, Gangle, and Kinger eating sandwiches together because I really liked it and think it's strong to show Kinger, someone with bad memory/amnesia, hanging with chill friends rather than three people who were in the middle of an argument all episode. Like he gets the vibes.

Finally, to wrap this up. I am confused why they remember their pasts. I thought it was stated in the pilot that Pomni cannot remember hers, her name, what she looked like, everything. So it's jarring that suddenly they remember their old jobs and what they were like in the past. Also if they knew, it makes the bar scene even weirder since you'd think these characters would've mentioned it to each other before Pomni arrived.

Anyway, these are my points. I do not want to continue talking about the show. I still think it has potential, and that there are fun ideas in it, but the execution makes it weak. If this series ends in a way that neatly ties the main conflicts and questions together, you'd see me dancing naked in the streets.

I need Pomni to do this

[gobydana]

Amazing Quotes from the comics

Below are some of my favorite quotes from each person. Sorry this list is long. 

Bruce Wayne/Batman

- Death is powerless against you if you leave a legacy of good behind. Death is powerless against you if you do your job. My father saved the lives of over four thousand people, one at a time... with his bare hands and his mind. Death was with him the entire time.

-  Clark, I'm sure anywhere you go in the universe, you'll find stupid people.

-  You don't know how I question myself and everything I've become. The right of it. The wrong of it. Not allowing myself any reward for the good. Damning myself for every mistake. Thinking of everyone who's sacrificed themselves in my war. Everyone close to me. Everyone who cared.

- Our greatest glory is not in ever falling, but in rising every time we fall.

-  Sometimes it’s only madness that makes us what we are.

Selina Kyle/Catwoman

- Live fast. Love hard. Die young. Leave a good-smelling corpse.

-  A long time ago, before I put on this mask, I was afraid of everything

-  "Your ex-lover, a murderous psychopath who has repeatedly made our lives a living hell, nearly burns my new home to the ground and all you can say is 'gross'?!

-  Show a man what he expects to see, and he won't look beneath the surface.

Alfred Pennyworth

-  I fear sometimes, dear boy, that if you don't give this up, you'll have nothing. You can't have darkness and light at the same time, Master Bruce..

-  Everyone has a vulnerability

-  Hnn. At least when Master Richard snuck out, he had the decency to construct a pillow dummy.

-  Pirate Stories-why did I love them as a boy? Because at heart they're about children who rebel against their parents to create new lives for themselves. They're stories of defiance. But the trick is, when you look at them as a parent, you see, they're actually written as cautionary tales. The child comes home in the end, just before doom strikes the ship. But in this tale, Bruce, the one I've helped make for you, Batman...I worry it has gone on too long...that I've kept it going with you long past it's natural end. That's what I was screaming about when you were on the wrecked submarine. Not the ways you've failed me but the ways I may have failed you.

Kate Kane/Batwoman

-  You coming? Or do I have to smash this bitch in the teeth all by myself?

-  You think I'm afraid of you? Any of you? You gave me a bulletproof suit, you morons! What can you do to stop me?

-  You will never get these years with her back, and a daughter needs her mom. I know I did. And I would've done anything to have more time with her. I can't be the reason for doing that to another kid. I can't

- So there is someone new in town ... Who the hell wears white?

Luke Fox/Batwing

-  I really should lead with the knockout gas instead of conversation.

-  You're leading me around through this nightmare like it's business as usual. Like I'm supposed to accept the supernatural. I accept it, okay? And now I'm going to kick its ass!

-  This night sucks. And now I have no choice but to run and hide because "Mary Psycho Poppins" just handed me my ass.

Dick Grayson/Nightwing (including his time as robin)

-  With you guys, it seems like I'm hot stuff … a know-it-all … but I've been back with The Batman again, and next to him I feel like I'm a stupid kid repeating fifth grade … for the third time.

-  Try to understand our position here, Batman. You began training to be a hero as a young adult. For me and a lot of the other Titans -- like Vic -- that training shaped and influenced most of our childhood. Unlike the JLA, the Titans aren't just about a promise to the world -- it's also about a promise to each other … to ourselves. We swore on our childhood nightmares that we'd be there for one another. If I don't honor that I don't honor who I am.

-  Sometimes I'm surprised I can even stand on a high ledge after what happened to the Flying Graysons. Boss Zucco could have sabatoged Haly's Circus any number of ways to drive down business and get his protection money. Instead he gave the crowd that night a show they'll never forget. I know I won't. When my mom and dad died, attendance actually went up.

-  Okay Mom and Dad, your 'Flying Grayson' is about to take the great leap. Or as they say in French, Le Grand Saut. Down, down, and away. I'd say I wish you could see me now, but I know you're watching me - I can feel angels on my shoulders. And probably a bat too. You said some records aren't meant to be broken, Bruce. But more than anything, I wish you were down there right now watching with Alfred and Tim as I break this one.

-  I had a good teacher, except for the interpersonal skills and the ability to work with others. That was me.

Barbara Gordon/Batgirl/Oracle

- A little over a year has passed since my old life ended, since I died and was reborn. The shadows remain, but only to give contrast to the light. I am no longer a distaff impersonation of someone else — I’m me, more me than I have ever been. I embrace it, and the light, with a deep, continuing joy.

-  Gotham should be safe again. Well, until the next thing. There’s always another thing

-  Wait for a hero? Barbara Joan Gordon -- Be your own damn hero

-  I'll wake up, learn from my mistakes and ultimately win the fight. I always do.

Jason Todd (including his time as robin)

-  I'll be damned if my best friend is going to die ... because he was dumb enough to trust me

-  Someone tell me I'm not having a heart-to-heart with a reanimated assassin

-  Trust? You...? I'll... give it a try, guys. But I'll tell you right now... I'm probably going to screw it up.

-  I'm sorry, I'm never going to be the hero you want me to be. I have every confidence in you--that you'll stay the hero I know you are

Tim Drake/Red Robin (including his time as robin)

-  The weight of the future... all of our futures... it just presses on me sometimes. And lately, it's been crushing, and I've been too afraid to ask for help. But I need to, Bruce. So this is me, asking for help.

-  It’s not smart to blackmail the wrong people

- That’s what we are. Not just a team, but a family. One day we might be the Justice League, but for today we’re the Teen Titans. 

-  I had a plan. That plan just went to hell

Stephanie Brown/Spoiler (including her time as batgirl and robin)

-  How come every time I try to do this different than Batman, I end up doing exactly what Batman would do?

-  I am who I choose to be.

-  I just watch two guys stealing TVs run into one another. Sadly, both televisions were lost... On the bright side, they'll each have a friend in jail.

-  Here's the deal, I'm a 'punch first, ask questions later' kinda gal. Him? He's a stabber.

Cassandra Cain/Orphan (including her time as batgirl/black bat)

-  I don't kill. But I don't lose, either.

-  Gotham City. Gotham. City. That just... sounds right. Mailbox. Van. Razor. It's strange how naming... changes things. I've walked these streets... every inch of this city... but I never had the words. I never knew the names. Now... it's like it's all changed. All new. Or maybe... Maybe it's me that's changing.

-  A special ability to predict my opponent's moves. That doesn't begin to describe it. Time... ran together. The future... blending... into the moment. A blink of an eye... the knife thrust that follows... both one. It was like... like I could predict my opponent's moves. Okay, that does describe it. But it doesn't do it justice.

Damian Wayne/Robin

-  Father, I'm sure you'll be angry with me for disobeying you again but I don't care, I will not let you fight Leviathan alone. You need me and I will always be at your side. Because it will be hard for me to say these words face to face, I want you to know that Mother may have givenme life, but you taught me how to live. Love and respect your son Damian

-  I don't want to end up like Ducard... without a moral compass... I don't want to turn into a NoBody... I want to be like you. I've always wanted to be like you.

-  I'm sure you didn't leave your hole tonight thinking you'd get your ass kicked by a ten-year-old!

-  I'm not the one in a ship filled with alien freaks, so how about shutting up and letting me work on keeping you safe, father!

Duke Thomas/Signal

- Someone told me that the problem with youth is the inability to accept your own mortality. I wouldn't consider this one of my problems

-  Sometimes you're wrong. Sometimes there is a place for you at the table. Some mysteries may never be solved by you alone. Sometimes you don't have to prove yourself repeatedly -- because you're confident about your purpose. And sometimes you just have to get to work for everything to work out.

-  not to mention you tire stealing genius, i’m not robin!

-  My career of choice has crazy hours, bad benefits, and doesn't pay. But it's the dream I never knew I always had. Mom, dad... I'm going into the vigilante business. I hope I live to tell you all about it.

Harper Row/Blue bird

-  I want training. Proper training. Tim's great at the tech stuff, but so am I. I want to know how to karate chop someone in the neck so their eyeballs pop out. I want to know the cool stuff.

-  Sometimes all it takes is a few words to change your life. For me it took seven. Seven words, spoken in the dark.

-  And you thought "Oh, Hey, I'm going to just talk to the scariest-looking bastard in the Narrows and see what he thinks"?

-  I never had a choice - but only because this is what I want, more than anything. And I was going to do this. I've told you that, again and again

Jean-Paul Valley/Azreael

-  You aren't asking if I'm okay, Lucas. You are asking if I can fight. I am angrier than I have ever been in my life, and I am sharing my mind with one murderous AI, and another one modeled off the world's most dangerous vigilante. Yes Lucas. I am ready to fight

-  Nomoz...he’s the one who came for me...he’s the one who broke me. For the greater glory of God

Feel free to add onto this list. I would love to know everyone’s favorite quotes. 

[ableone-blog1]

AI learn slowly. At least, when they’re young. Early attempts to gift Able with a Pokemon were met with her trying to give the Pokeball right back. An early rendition of the program had noted that the primary purpose of a Pokeball was to be given to somebody else.

But repetition works. After enough rewrites and explanation, Able accepted their partner Tyrogue, Cain. The young Pokemon was perplexed, as far as anyone could tell, why his new partner was so stiff. Able was...creepy, back in the day. They didn’t move right, they didn’t talk right. Their voice sounded like someone was hiding inside their throat with an old telephone. Able had to be reminded to open their lips when speaking, and then reminded that their lips should match what was being said. 

But everything with practice. With careful guidance by the six or seven lab techs that became their parents, they could speak more fluidly. Upgrading the hardware muted the distant tinniness in their voice. Eventually, Cain caught on to who his trainer was, and what kind of help they needed, and they practically trained each other.

Things weren’t perfect overnight. Able tried to give Cain back during one of the lab tech’s birthdays. The program had deduced that Pokemon should be given to people on special occasions, while totally ignoring that the original special occasion that had made Cain their partner was “the day they got their first Pokemon.”

But while the program was being perfected, or at least, as close to perfect as could be done in the pitifully small sample size that was the lab, everyone was patient and jovial around her - prompting Able to be patient and jovial herself. She learned some humor, though not how to form any humor of her own, exactly. It was like a second language. She could understand it, but not speak it.

And then, after a quick patch to version 11, Able was allowed to leave the lab. Eleven years of progress, like most other children leaving home for the first time. She’d grown and changed a lot since that first year, and so had her parents. All of them were anxious to watch her leave, but they knew their baby would be safe.

Her skeleton was outrageous tech, after all. She could probably kick her way through concrete.

[terriwriting]

It was a good-news bad-news type of situation, Amrita Lurley figured. But she wasn't sure which was the good and which was the bad. On the one hand the guy clearly liked all the cleavage on display. When the three friends came back to the food court he hadn't even tried to hide the way he checked them out. On the other hand he looked them all in the eye when he was talking.

"I'm Caidon Cain," he said, leaning on the table. Black hair, brown eyes, tall, purple and green bowling shirt. Kind of good looking. He needed a shave though. He seemed to agree about the shave because he kept scratching at the stubble on his neck.

"Okay," said Audi.

"Sure," said Tessa.

"Who?" Said Amrita.

The guy, Caidon, sort of froze for a second. "Cai Cain, Great Lakes International Robotics Tournament Grand Master. They named a prize for me just before they banned me from competition. Pathetic judges ruled that particle beam weapons fell under the no explosives rule."

Amrita and her friends all glanced at each other. Then Amrita shrugged and said, "Sorry, we don't really follow tech stuff."

"That's okay. Remember the Ultiman stablecoin hack?"

"No."

"No."

"No."

Caidon Cain visibly sagged. "It was only a few years ago? I did it in grade nine. I was on a mailing list for crypto, always a good idea to keep an eye on what the scammers are up to. One morning I got the announcement for this new stablecoin, Ultiman. Based on industrial and heavy metals reserves."

Caidon held his hands up and started flashing air quotes. "'Maximize your masculine investment potential'. Dude buying crypto ain't gonna give you a bigger dick. 'Accelerate the web5 revolution via AI-enabled blockchain arbitrage'. Absolute garbage. 'Neuromimetic self-learning algorithms'. Shut up you're running open source software on a bunch of rented servers. Write your own code or go home."

Audi shuffled on the bench. "So... You hacked them because you didn't like their email?"

Caidon leaned back and frowned, crossing his arms. "That's what you get for insulting my intelligence."

"Okay," said Amrita. Time to get this guy back on track. "So you hacked a crypto site, but you didn't do anything with the money? You expect us to believe that?"

Caidon shrugged. "Didn't need it. I had a workshop at home and a deal with a couple of corporations to fund my work. That blew up, never trust capitalist pigs, I found that out the hard way, but for a while I didn't need money. Until the corporate assholes tried to steal all my work."

The smugness went away in an angry hiss, and Caidon's face fixed into a flat scowl. "I showed them. You don't mess with me and you don't try to steal my work."

Audi suddenly leaned forward and crossed her arms under her breasts, distracting both Caidon and Amrita. "But now you need money?"

"Uh, yeah." Caidon blinked and looked up. "No, I have money but it's all electronic. I need cash for research and development, and for a workshop. Tools. And I need people to take care of all that so I can work without interruption. You can be my sexy secretaries!"

Tessa "Riiight, sure. And would the sexy secretaries have sex with you?"

"Really? Sure! I mean, not right now obviously. How about when we get to a hotel?"

Tessa "And if we don't?"

"Why wouldn't we go to a hotel? Is this a kink thing? I don't think I'm into public sex."

"I mean, if we don't screw you?"

"Disappointing," he said, shrugging. "Yeah, it's not a job requirement, that would be messed up. But you do have to dress like sexy secretaries."

Tessa, Audi, and Amrita exchanged another series of looks that Amrita absolutely knew meant no way.

Tessa nodded. "We can do that."

Three teenaged girls share a fixer-upper boyfriend, but their idea of fixing him up is to accidentally turn him into a supervillain.