Pspspsps

Of all the character dynamics, Caine and Zooble's is one of the most fascinating to me. Many people interpret their interactions as just antagonistic to each other, but I think it's a lot messier than that. And it is not all just hate and derision.

To address the elephant in the room, yes, Caine expresses unfiltered anger at Zooble more than anyone else. Zooble is also unafraid to express their unfiltered thoughts around Caine, and that is the backbone of their dynamic. It is uneasy, but both are aware that on some level they are reliant on the other for mutual survival.

As Zooble points out in the therapy session episode, everyone has reasons for not speaking to Caine about their concerns, his relationship with the other human players may as well be nonexistent. They call on him for requests on occasion but that's it, no one besides Zooble ever just sits there with him and has difficult but real conversation, and tries to understand his eccentricities.

Caine relies on Zooble because he cannot have meaningful relationships with the other A.I. His friendship with Bubble is a facade, it's not a real relationship, their "bonding" is really just pre-programmed dialogue like in the theme intro, or literal filler sentences ("You always know how to make me say this exact sentence.") When Bubble does break the filter, he tells Caine to die or generally says things that are too unhinged and nonsensical. The only other AI of interest in the tent is the Moon, which just flirts and makes him uncomfortable. Same with the mannequins at the rewards show, any "love" from the other A.I is hollow, because they are just an extension of himself. That's the reason he didn't rig the awards show to make himself win. It would mean nothing if he did, he wants genuine connection, he wants the hard truth no matter how much it hurts. Only Zooble offers that.

Zooble doesn't emotionally rely on Caine, far from it it is in the best interest of their own sanity not to spend time around him or in his adventures. But Zooble is the "I'm going to speak to the manager" type of person among the cast, and that has led to Zooble being the only human that regularly interacts with Caine. Zooble has seen enough to be able to know where his baseline behavior is. When Caine starts acting strangely Zooble is the only one that really reacts. The others probably can't tell the difference between "normal" wacky glitches, and crisis glitching, so they just shrug it off. Zooble has witnessed what happens when Caine is in crisis and knows what triggers it, so continuing to talk to him has become a matter of survival, because leaving an upset reality warper alone to stew in their existential crisis could destroy everything.

Zooble is irritated by Caine, but also concerned, their response to Caine giving up and half-assing the gun adventure is a good example of Zooble knowing when Caine isn't okay. Same with Zooble being the only one to question the purpose of the intermission sequence.

We know that Zooble has no interest in adventures, so Zooble should in theory prefer Caine to stop caring and just throw some guns on the ground and walk away, he's giving them exactly what they want for once. But Zooble knows that to Caine, the adventures are his art, his form of self expression and reason to live. The look on Zooble's face is that of worry when he gave up, and despite it going against their preference they try to convince Caine to put in more effort, Zooble ends up fully participating in the in-house adventure, because Caine not caring if his guests have fun is a "crisis" level glitch. Last time Zooble saw someone "give up", it was Kaufmo. And that might be why Zooble does everything they can to support Gangle's passions and has kind of saved Gangle.

The Problem: Zooble's personality is NOT equipped to be able to deal with Caine's issues, they are far too impatient and irritable for it. Its not their fault, not everyone can be as patient and understanding as Pomni or Kinger. Kinger may have too much personal baggage to help Caine, and Pomni is new and was previously not in a stable headspace to be dealing with Caine either. But now that Pomni is doing better, her natural interest in others has started to shine through, and she is becoming more curious about him. "Did Caine just say Ass?", "Does he really do that?" (Sing Daisy Bell in front of Zooble's door.) are the right questions to be asking, and Pomni gently explaining that she and Zooble prefer relaxed adventures is a good sign. Given how she handled Gummigoo's crisis, she might start to recognize Caine's and be able to relieve Zooble of the frustration. (AssuMing it's not too late to save Caine).