Koopazap

I was thinking about it since I read the chapter.... btw I'm "Thanks for the chapter!" one, hehehe

grayscale version:

At first it seems that community is how you survive the circus. Isolating yourself like Kaufmo and Jax is how you abstract.

Then Jax has people remain by his side even through his toxic behavior, and he keeps pushing them away. Which yeah! People certainly do that! And that seems to be the tragedy of Jax’s character.

But then you have Caine. Caine gets… completely better in a vacuum. Quite literally! No one reaches out to him, no one encourages him. The only thing he gets from the humans is criticism and instruction. It seems the moral of Caine’s story is:

“Do the self improvement on your own and when you are better you will be worthy of community.”

They’re so isolated from him in the narrative, there’s a ton of miscommunication between them all and it’s like it’s only resolved on Caine’s side, on his own. Which, along with the problems already addressed here, is also incredibly boring.

The cherry on top I think is this line: “In this world, the worst thing you can do is... make someone think they're not wanted or loved.” Were we supposed to do something with this?? It feels like something that should matter, but I don’t really feel it’s exemplified. You’d really think the narrative would come back around to it considering this is exactly what they (INCLUDING KINGER) have unintentionally done to Caine.

Pomni: YOU'RE A FAILURE!!!!

Jax: Hey I'm literally the worst person ever.

I *like* Kinger. He's a very sweet, loveable character. But I also think the narrative should focus on his flaws more. There's so much missed potential. And also, why is everyone so easy on Kinger, both the fandom and narrative? He created the circus, he created Caine (at least, he was part of it). Kinger has a responsibility. Kinda wish the narrative held him more accountable.

When I said that Kinger should 'hate' Caine a little bit, I didn't mean an extreme amount. Just a little bit. Because honestly, that's human. Wouldn't you hate your creation if it caused so much pain and killed your wife? Now, I don't think Kinger is the type of guy to act on his resentment, or voice it. He wouldn't hold a grudge. He's better than that. But also, Kinger neglected Caine. He really dropped the ball, and it's weird that Tadc skirts around it so much.

I would've structured the narrative like this:

°early days, Kinger takes responsibility. He does his very best to guide Caine and 'fix' the circus to the best of his abilities. Maybe Caine sometimes alarms Kinger with his...low empathy tendencies. But Kinger takes it in stride.

°Queenie abstracts. All of Kinger's worst fears about Caine feel more real. Kinger feels sadness, anger, regret. He loved programming, now he doesn't even want to think about it. It's all ruined. He's sick of Caine, sick of the digital world, numb inside. Kinger never lashes out at Caine, but he stares at him in blank silence. Kinger runs away from the situation and retreats into insanity.

°Ragatha arrives. She asks questions about the circus, and Kinger gets triggered. All his worst memories and regrets are flooding back. Kinger sets an example for Ragatha and he...hides the truth from her. He tells Ragatha it doesn't matter anymore. All they have is each other (the humans). Ragatha is very grateful to Kinger. He supports her like a kindly father. Kinger is guilty, and it's driving him insane. He doesn't want to tell Ragatha that he made the circus. She thinks so highly of Kinger.

What happened with Scratch still clearly haunts Caine to this day. You'll find references to Dogs popping up everywhere in the background of adventures, and even in some places within the circus itself. He's *always* thinking about it, at least in the back of his mind. The hotdog in Abel's locket, referring to a promise? I think that was also a referral to Scratch. As in, Caine promised himself he would never directly modify, or even open, the mindfiles ever again.

Kinda adds to the horror and heartbreak when you realize that a split frame directly before the torment nightmares in ep 8 start, you can see a bolt of electricity hit Pomni's brain. Which implies Caine broke his promise and *read the mindfiles* and/or directly affected them in order to create those nightmares. Gives you a greater sense of how much Caine completely and utterly snapped in that moment.