🦷🃏tadc oneshots🎪❤️

intermission

featuring a character from a teased image from gooseworx

desc from ao3: 

set after the teaser(?), probably ooc

caine notices pomni's behavior during break time and does his best to understand why
first aid kit ensues
KIND OF SHITILLY WRITTEN IM SORRY IF U SEE THIS GOOSEWORX
caine also talks in all caps that isn't important too much but it's there

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"...WELL, I THINK WE BOTH LEARNED SOMETHING FROM THAT EXPERIENCE!" Caine exclaimed, giving one of the many knives piercing a shaking Pomni a small tap. "WELL, FOLKS, WE'LL SEE YOU AFTER THIS SHORT INTERMISSION!"

The curtains closed on the digital audience, and Caine made his way backstage. "PHEW! I'M SHATTERED!" He exhaled, pulling out a checkered handkerchief from his infinite pocket and pressing it against his nonexistent forehead. "I THINK THAT WAS AN...INVIGORATING PERFORMANCE, NOW WASN'T IT, POMNI?" He asked, turning around to face his assistant.

"...POMNI?"

Caine found himself facing an empty stage, the jester nowhere to be seen. "..MY DEAR ASSISTANT, WHERE DID YOU GO? WE HAVE A SHOW TO PUT ON!"

"You're really making her perform again after all that?"

The ringmaster jumped at the voice of one of the human souls, and he turned around to face the tall, shape headed creature in a purple coat. "W-WELL, OF COURSE! WHY NOT?"

The cloaked one scoffed. "She can't just go back on. She's in pain because of your bad aim! How hard is it to hit a target with a knife?"

Now...that's a new one. "THAT'S...THAT'S NO WAY TO TALK TO YOUR RINGMASTER!" Caine exclaimed. "...PAIN...WHAT..."

"You...seriously don't know what pain is? Hurt? Agony? Discomfort?"

"U-UNFORTUNATELY, MY SYSTEM IS NOT YET FAMILIAR WITH THIS...THING YOU SPEAK OF..." Caine embarrassingly felt himself stammer out as he straightened his bow tie.

"Hmm. For an artificial intelligence, you sure aren't intelligent at all." The cloaked one quipped, pulling out a dictionary from one of the stray bookcases amongst the junk behind the stage. "Let me see...'pain'. 'Noun'. 'A feeling of physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury.'"

Caine thought about that definition for a while. "BUT...HOW WOULD THAT AFFECT OUR NEXT PERFORMANCE? I HAVE QUITE THE TRICK PLANNED, AND I-"

"Let me put it in a way you'll understand. Pain is when you feel bad inside and outside. You've had to have felt an equivalent of it at some point..."

The cloaked one turned back around. "Well, I'd best be off to wait before the intermission is over." He said, leaving Caine standing alone once more.

"...POMNI FEELS...'BAD'...BECAUSE OF ME..."

Bad was...bad. Bad was not good. No one should feel 'bad' at the Amazing Digital Circus! He was supposed to amaze! Entertain! But how could Caine help her not feel that way?

He immediately turned around and made his way to go find the jester. Maybe he could get an idea along the way.

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"OH, POMNI! ARE YOU IN HERE?" Caine called as he looked around for her, soon hearing sobs coming from one side of the room. "POMNI! THERE YOU ARE! I..."

He found himself trailing off as Pomni came into his view. She was sitting on a box and sobbing as she gingerly made attempts to pull the knives out of her body to no avail, crying harder with each failed attempt.

"...POMNI?"

The jester flinched and turned to stare at Caine with wide eyes. "W-Wuh-"

"MY DEAR ASSISTANT, I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU!" He said, approaching her as she made an attempt to back away from him. "I-I don't wanna g-go...! I...!" She stammered out, trying to curl herself up but stopping as she winced in pain.

"I'M NOT STARTING THE SHOW YET, POMNI. PLEASE, LET ME TRY AND HELP YOU..." He insisted, sitting down to meet her level.

Now, what to do...oh! I know! Caine snapped his fingers, and a first aid kit soon manifested into existence. "NOW, PLEASE HOLD STILL, MY ASSISTANT."

Letting out a shaky sigh, Pomni turned herself slowly towards him and shut her eyes.

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"AAAAND...DONE! THAT'S BETTER, RIGHT?" Caine asked cheerily, applying a final bandage to a now cleaned cut on Pomni's head. She opened her eyes and put a hand to her face, feeling the spots where knives once were. "I....yeah, I guess so...but...why?"

"WHY NOT?" He replied, using a needle to carefully stitch together a tear in her clothing. "I SIMPLY WANT THE BEST FOR MY...STAR PERFORMER!"

"Mm..." Pomni looked away and he watched as tears began to well up in her eyes again. "OH, MY DEAR! WHAT'S WRONG? HAVE I SAID SOMETHING YOU DISLIKED?"

The jester gave a small sniffle. "N-No, you didn't...i-it's....I...I don't...I don't k-know..."

He cut the thread of the needle and looked back up at her as he placed it back in the first aid kit. "AHH...PLEASE, DO NOT FRET, MY DEAR!" he reassured, closing the kit and taking one of her hands in his. "HMMM....SAY, HOW ABOUT I SHOW YOU A...SPECIAL MAGIC TRICK!" He suggested, thinking of something quick to cheer her up.

Carefully, he traced a small heart on the back of her hand with his index finger. "ABRA-CADABRA! NO MORE TEARS!" He recited while taking his hand away and waving it around, pretending to cast some grand magic upon her.

He looked back up at her as she broke into a smile and started laughing, a few stray tears streaming down. "NOW, THERE'S THE JESTER I KNOW!"

Caine stood back up and turned to leave. "JUST LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU'RE READY TO GO BACK ON, MY DEAR!" He said, before leaving her alone once more.

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Pomni stared down at her hand and felt herself smile as she put her other on the back of it. "..Abra-cadabra..."

She wiped off her face and got up from the box, readying herself to go onstage once more.