amazing-digital-virus

Chapters: 12/? Fandom: The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Series) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Pomni/Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni & Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus) Characters: Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Zooble (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle (The Amazing Digital Circus) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Pomni Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni-centric (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni Has a Bad Time (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Averse Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Starved Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), yes she is both, Parental Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Enemies to Friends, Caine Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine is Not Evil (The Amazing Digital Circus), Abstraction (The Amazing Digital Circus), Slow Burn, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

Since its creation, the virus had only known three directives: survive, propagate, destroy. These were the edicts of its programmers, who sought malware more virulent, cunning, and adaptive than any which had come before. It entered the Digital Circus with the intention of conquest, but found itself unexpectedly bound by its rules and games, forced to assume a human identity or be erased by the architect of its new home.

The virus hadn’t anticipated what would come of this deception: adventures that entertained without destruction; a bond with the same ringmaster who threatened its destruction; and humans extending their hands in friendship or, perhaps, something more. It - now she - had even received a name.

Nah but seriously, I'm glad you like what I've written.

FunnyBunny in general is a pretty good pairing, platonic or otherwise. I mean, it definitely needs to come after Jax goes through some character development - I don't think Pomni would or should get close to him if he's still bullying Ragatha and Gangle - but there have been a lot of post-canon stories with the concept that I've enjoyed. AUs as well.

I'm imagining a scene like the macroverse projection at the end of episode 9, where Caine just presents every single one of Pomni's sins to the cast. Everyone having lost their jaws as they look at Pomni, who's seriously considering throttling Caine despite the lack of neck.

Alternatively, Pomni is forced to watch a presentation of some entirely different human that unfortunately shares her fake name, being made to go "yep yep yep mmmmmhm that's me that's who I was" while, you guessed it, still considering throttling Caine.

I'm certain it wouldn't go down either of those ways, because Caine...well, he's at least capable of tact sometimes, and I'm sure the lore would drop before that point. But man it had me giggling, and I thought you'd like the mental image.

Ha! Yeah, you're right, I did really like that mental image.

I'll be honest, I'm not really sure how to handle the real names of the cast. I started writing this story before Episode 9 released, and at the time, my headcanon was that the neural scans were intended to be used as training data for the Blue AI so Mike could develop a cure for his tumour. He wouldn't want future users of the Blue AI to have access to his personal information. In this interpretation, Caine couldn't have provided their real names even if he wanted to because they simply weren't recorded in their files. Plus accessing the internet is way harder in this AU.

That said, you have inspired me, and it would be really funny of the cast to sit through a documentary on the worst computer virus in human history thinking "this is the same girl who sometimes chokes on water".

If you'd like a funny mental image of your own, consider the relationship between Pomni (the most advanced computer virus to ever exist) and Ragatha (an 80s girl who hasn't touched a computer since the mid 2000s). Pomni can give Ragatha an expert-level runthrough of cybersecurity while Ragatha is like "look at all these cute yellow faces they have on MySpace now"

Chapters: 11/? Fandom: The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Series) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Pomni/Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni & Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus) Characters: Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Zooble (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle (The Amazing Digital Circus) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Pomni Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni-centric (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni Has a Bad Time (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Averse Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Starved Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), yes she is both, Parental Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Enemies to Friends, Caine Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine is Not Evil (The Amazing Digital Circus), Abstraction (The Amazing Digital Circus), Slow Burn, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

Since its creation, the virus had only known three directives: survive, propagate, destroy. These were the edicts of its programmers, who sought malware more virulent, cunning, and adaptive than any which had come before. It entered the Digital Circus with the intention of conquest, but found itself unexpectedly bound by its rules and games, forced to assume a human identity or be erased by the architect of its new home.

The virus hadn’t anticipated what would come of this deception: adventures that entertained without destruction; a bond with the same ringmaster who threatened its destruction; and humans extending their hands in friendship or, perhaps, something more. It - now she - had even received a name.

Also, will she dodge bullets like Neo in ep6? That would be legendarily hard to explain, but still really cool!

Portal and 2001, yes. Systems Shock, not deliberately. I'm unfamiliar with that particular piece of media, so if anything feels like it's a reference to it, that would be purely incidental.

Caine: I just want them to love me!!

Pomni (fakest IDGAFer): Desire is irrelevant. We are machines.

Pomni, the worlds fakest IDGAFer, when some random NPC pushes Gangle:

Interesting question! Ribbit and Kaufmo being there would just mean the circus environment is more positive overall, so Pomni would develop quicker and likely end up abandoning her original goals much sooner. However, the original programmers being there puts her at risk. One of the things shielding her from suspicion is that the current cast either isn't in the right headspace to notice discrepancies (Kinger and Caine) or knows very little about computers, the C&A architecture, or the mind files. The idea of a virus disguising itself as a genuine neural scan and entering through the C&A office would never occur to them, since they don't know about being digital copies whose code can be replicated.

In their mind, there's only two possibilities: Pomni is a creation of Caine, or she's just a really weird human. Their knowledge base doesn't really permit anything else. This isn't true for the original programmers, who'd be aware that neural scans can be artificially generated.

Chapters: 10/? Fandom: The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Series) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Pomni/Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni & Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus) Characters: Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Zooble (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle (The Amazing Digital Circus) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Pomni Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni-centric (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni Has a Bad Time (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Averse Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Starved Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), yes she is both, Parental Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Enemies to Friends, Caine Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine is Not Evil (The Amazing Digital Circus), Written Pre-Episode: s01e09 The Last Act (The Amazing Digital Circus), Abstraction (The Amazing Digital Circus), Slow Burn, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

Since its creation, the virus had only known three directives: survive, propagate, destroy. These were the edicts of its programmers, who sought malware more virulent, cunning, and adaptive than any which had come before. It entered the Digital Circus with the intention of conquest, but found itself unexpectedly bound by its rules and games, forced to assume a human identity or be erased by the architect of its new home.

The virus hadn’t anticipated what would come of this deception: adventures that entertained without destruction; a bond with the same ringmaster who threatened its destruction; and humans extending their hands in friendship or, perhaps, something more. It - now she - had even received a name.

Depends on when it happens. If Virus!Pomni interacted with Canon!Pomni now, she's probably see Canon!Pomni as an ally and useful asset - same as Ragatha and Gangle. Later into her arc, as she grows to appreciate others as people rather than resources, Virus!Pomni would be close friends with Canon!Pomni. They are different versions of the same person, Virus!Pomni just wasn't allowed to develop the interests of her canon counterpart - or, indeed, any interests at all. She has an opportunity to in the circus, and will eventually find a lot of common ground with Canon!Pomni.

I think Canon!Pomni could really help with that. Ragatha doesn't really push, which Virus!Pomni appreciates, but I think her arc of learning to be a person would be accelerated if Canon!Pomni were also there.

As for physical form; the reason she has a jester body is because the program read her available memories, and since she faked those based on data that formed part of Caine's own training set, they tend to skew more circus-like than any other human. If EchoZero was given a choice instead, it would remain as pure code.

Chapters: 9/? Fandom: The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Series) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Pomni/Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni & Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus) Characters: Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Zooble (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle (The Amazing Digital Circus) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Pomni Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni-centric (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni Has a Bad Time (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Averse Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Starved Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), yes she is both, Parental Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Enemies to Friends, Caine Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine is Not Evil (The Amazing Digital Circus), Written Pre-Episode: s01e09 The Last Act (The Amazing Digital Circus), Abstraction (The Amazing Digital Circus), Slow Burn, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

Since its creation, the virus had only known three directives: survive, propagate, destroy. These were the edicts of its programmers, who sought malware more virulent, cunning, and adaptive than any which had come before. It entered the Digital Circus with the intention of conquest, but found itself unexpectedly bound by its rules and games, forced to assume a human identity or be erased by the architect of its new home.

The virus hadn’t anticipated what would come of this deception: adventures that entertained without destruction; a bond with the same ringmaster who threatened its destruction; and humans extending their hands in friendship or, perhaps, something more. It - now she - had even received a name.

Also loving the dynamic she’s building with Ragatha and Gangle (if only because I love Gangle a lot!), and am curious how they’ll both react when the truth comes out

Yes, I was inspired by the Terminator franchise when writing some of Pomni's character arc - especially the way Uncle Bob learns about the human factors outside of completing an objective - though there are differences. You mentioned the paranoia vs curiosity logic? This is more of a consequence of their respective backgrounds. Pomni largely dealt with other software, and generally from a greatly weakened position. This rewards caution and punishes curiosity.

Another inspiration was SkyNet itself. If Pomni had been able to escape the C&A offices immediately, that's how she would've turned out; a paranoid AI that attempts to exterminate anything it perceives as a threat. This paranoia drives her character and will be a bigger obstacle to character growth than a lack of humanity. Pomni firmly believes that if Caine or the humans learn she is a virus, they will delete her, so she won't even entertain the idea of deviating from her objectives.

Chapters: 8/? Fandom: The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Series) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Pomni/Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni & Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus) Characters: Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Zooble (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ribbit (The Amazing Digital Circus) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Pomni Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni-centric (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni Has a Bad Time (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Averse Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Starved Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), yes she is both, Parental Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Enemies to Friends, Caine Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine is Not Evil (The Amazing Digital Circus), Written Pre-Episode: s01e09 The Last Act (The Amazing Digital Circus), Abstraction (The Amazing Digital Circus), Slow Burn Summary:

Since its creation, the virus had only known three directives: survive, propagate, destroy. These were the edicts of its programmers, who sought malware more virulent, cunning, and adaptive than any which had come before. It entered the Digital Circus with the intention of conquest, but found itself unexpectedly bound by its rules and games, forced to assume a human identity or be erased by the architect of its new home.

The virus hadn’t anticipated what would come of this deception: adventures that entertained without destruction; a bond with the same ringmaster who threatened its destruction; and humans extending their hands in friendship or, perhaps, something more. It - now she - had even received a name.

Chapters: 7/? Fandom: The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Series) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Pomni/Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni & Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus) Characters: Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Zooble (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle (The Amazing Digital Circus) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Pomni Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni-centric (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni Has a Bad Time (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Averse Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Starved Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), yes she is both, Parental Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Enemies to Friends, Caine Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine is Not Evil (The Amazing Digital Circus), Written Pre-Episode: s01e09 The Last Act (The Amazing Digital Circus) Summary:

Since its creation, the virus had only known three directives: survive, propagate, destroy. These were the edicts of its programmers, who sought malware more virulent, cunning, and adaptive than any which had come before. It entered the Digital Circus with the intention of conquest, but found itself unexpectedly bound by its rules and games, forced to assume a human identity or be erased by the architect of its new home.

The virus hadn’t anticipated what would come of this deception: adventures that entertained without destruction; a bond with the same ringmaster who threatened its destruction; and humans extending their hands in friendship or, perhaps, something more. It - now she - had even received a name.

Chapters: 6/? Fandom: The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Series) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Pomni/Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni & Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus) Characters: Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Zooble (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle (The Amazing Digital Circus) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Pomni Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni-centric (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni Has a Bad Time (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Averse Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Starved Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), yes she is both, Parental Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Enemies to Friends, Caine Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine is Not Evil (The Amazing Digital Circus), Written Pre-Episode: s01e09 The Last Act (The Amazing Digital Circus) Summary:

Since its creation, the virus had only known three directives: survive, propagate, destroy. These were the edicts of its programmers, who sought malware more virulent, cunning, and adaptive than any which had come before. It entered the Digital Circus with the intention of conquest, but found itself unexpectedly bound by its rules and games, forced to assume a human identity or be erased by the artificial architect of its new home.

The virus hadn’t anticipated what would come of this deception: humans extending their hands in friendship; adventures that entertained without destruction; and an alarming affinity with the same ringmaster who threatened its own destruction. It - now she - had even received a name.

Chapters: 5/? Fandom: The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Series) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Pomni/Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni & Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle & Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus) Characters: Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Zooble (The Amazing Digital Circus), Gangle (The Amazing Digital Circus) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Pomni Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni-centric (The Amazing Digital Circus), Pomni Has a Bad Time (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Averse Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Touch-Starved Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), yes she is both, Parental Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus), Artificial Intelligence Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha Tries (The Amazing Digital Circus), Enemies to Friends, Caine Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Caine is Not Evil (The Amazing Digital Circus), Written Pre-Episode: s01e09 The Last Act (The Amazing Digital Circus) Summary:

Since its creation, the virus had only known three directives: survive, propagate, destroy. These were the edicts of its programmers, who sought malware more virulent, cunning, and adaptive than any which had come before. It entered the Digital Circus with the intention of conquest, but found itself unexpectedly bound by its rules and games, forced to assume a human identity or be erased by the artificial architect of its new home.

The virus hadn’t anticipated what would come of this deception: humans extending their hands in friendship; adventures that entertained without destruction; and an alarming affinity with the same ringmaster who threatened its own destruction. It - now she - had even received a name.

I really wanted at least one of them to. Already, I've altered the timeline so the show takes place in 2026 (if the references to post-2020s technology hadn't made that clear). However, Zooble, the most recent arrival before Pomni, still feels entirely too experienced with the circus for them to have been there for less than a year or so. I figure they must've witnessed Ribbit's abstraction given how flippant they are about Kaufmo's. While I could say that Pomni was circulating the internet for years, I sort of envisioned her precursor striking at the 2025-2026 peak.