Riff does feel a bit bad when he notices the mood shift after his last few words, wincing a bit. "Sorry Ribbons, force of hab-" he stopped as he started to notice things starting to change around him, getting bigger...oh no, they were getting smaller, Just great. Groaning, Riff dragged a talon along his face. "For [dog bark]s sake Caine...ugh...well good News Gangel. If we can make it to the rooms without incident, I have some glue in my room." He grumbles. At hearing the giggling, he tensed. "Nuh-uh, nope. If Caine set a kid NPC after us, I'm not staying out in the open. I may not remember much from before this dumpster fire, but I vaguely remember what the [spring boing] kids can do with 'toys' our size." He is looking about, the bright lights are stinging his eyes like always but he can't let that bother him now as he's looking for places to hide along the way to the rooms. "If I remember correctly and Caine is fallowing his own rules, if we get to one of our rooms we should be safe right? If Caine can't enter, then an NPC can't...right?"

"Wait!" Patch calls as Jax sprints off, reaching out in his direction. "You'll still be......small." Her voice drops at the end of her sentence as Jax is too far away to be heard by her now. She watches for a moment longer, then turns back to the rest of the group.

"I'm all for hiding," she says. "I bet we could hide in our rooms, but then how would we get big again? And it will probably take us so long to get there! I bet its one, two, maybe even a three-" Patch was about to say that it would take hours for them to reach their rooms at this size, but she is interrupted by an excited exclamation from a certain sentient chess piece.

"Oh, she's counting already! Gotta hide!" Kinger shuffles as fast as his limbless body can take him in the opposite direction of Jax's departure. Patch facepalms as she watches him leave. Then, she says, "Maybe we can find some place to take cover and come up with a plan. How about over there?" Patch points in a third direction toward the living room area where the furniture stretches up like skyscrapers. "We can hide under the sofas."

Amber found themselves on a hard floor in a circus tent, with no idea how they got there.

they looked around them, taking in the sights, even though they were an eyesore to look at.Thuen suddenly they saw the world getting bigger-no, Amber was getting smaller. Soon they saw others around them. "could somebody tell me what is going on?"

Gangle's frown turned upside down hearing there was a chance to fix their mask. That was immediately stripped away when Riff tensed up. Gangle did as well, hunching and anxiously wrapping the ribbons that now constituted as hands around each other. She looked around, anxiously expecting some massive monster to come after her.

Patch then presented them with an immediate answer to their predicament. Not a perfect or permanent one, but a solution to give them time to collect themselves. Gangle nodded to Patch before making her way towards the sofas.

Clover's explanation only made Snix try to yell louder, but he was never able to fully raze his voice.

"Zoobs! Zooble! Hey! Listen to me you miscellaneous $#@!" He let out, getting louder and louder with each word. Finally, rather than even speaking he blasted a loud train whistle, steam blasting from the cob pipe that constituted as his mouth.

When he stopped, he was gasping for air, fist clenched in raise. Only then did he turn around as see Ragatha. He also saw a new figure. He may not have had any eyes but you could practically feel him making that exact expression as he sighed in exasperation.
"Welcome to &$#@ kid, we don't have a lot of time to explain"

His clenched fist opened, and he offered a hand to this stranger before him. A toy soldier lacking eyes, currently billowing steam from a cob pipe.
"Just follow the jester and you should be alright" he added, waiting until they've stood up to start heading for the sofas as well.

Jax, meanwhile, had completely ignored any request to stay put. With long legged strides, even at his size, and the speed of a rabbit, he managed to make shockingly good pace just hoofing it across the playground they called home. He was making a b-line for the rooms.

Amber was trying their level best to adapt and not go crazy. But it isnt easy when you run into a talking toy soldier, a doll with... is that licorice hair? , a clown that appears to be made of mismatched parts, a plush bird and a five leaf clover. Hesitating, Amber followed the jester. Their refuge was bright enough to see out, so it was the perfect hiding place. Of course, though, They quickly walked to the other side of the sofa as fast as their nonsensical legs could take them. hey! wait up! but Amber didnt.

Suddenly, they turn around. "where am i? And who are you?

Booming interrups their rant. oh, [fanfare].

With each following moment, the thunderous rumble got closer. Snix could feel the ground below him shake with the sheer force of whatever it was behind him. His clunky, mechanical body was slow, and he took up the rear of the group. He readied himself to catch anyone who might stumble. It was standard routine for them to be sent running. It made his blood boil that in this moment, in a brightly colored circus tent full of baby toys, he felt scared. It made him all the angrier, knowing that he was used to this by feeling by now.

Snix was taken out of his hopeless spiral when he saw the new player. He crushed his feelings down to try to put on a brave face, even if his face was lacking in features. He could not get rid of the growing unease he was feeling, even as they reached the dark sanctuary of the sofa. Once there, he leaned against a leg and collapsed, breathing heavily as he did.

"Everyone ok?"

Gangle practically collapsed in on herself when she got to safety as well, putting her hands on her knees as she tried to control her breathing. As she did, she looked up to see that there were two new people.
"Hey Ragatha," She said between breaths, only to then turn to the other figure. Not knowing what to say, she merely waved to them.

So this is terrible.

The thing is, Caine’s adventures aren’t all so bad. Clover enjoys some of them, though he’d abstract before ever admitting it. Being shrunk down and cowering under a sofa to hide from two giant toddlers isn’t ideal, but it isn’t terrible.

That would be the new person who’s shown up in the middle of the adventure. Patch said that Caine wouldn’t pause Itsy Bitsy Hider for the sake of a new player, but Clover isn’t so sure. Didn’t he put the theme song on hold when Pomni first arrived? The ringmaster always gets excited with new players. The more the merrier, or some such nonsense like that.

It’s bad timing. But the sky is blue, life isn’t fair and, sometimes, people just get sucked into brightly coloured children’s games.

Their avatar’s cool, though. He’ll give them that.

‘Oh, you know,’ he says to Snix, ‘we’re peachy. Better than squished, I guess.’ With that, he turns to Patch. ‘Which we would definitely be if we waltz towards the giant... baby... toddler... whatever they are.’ He waves a leaf towards the wide – now near-infinite – expanse of the Circus. ‘Don’t you think it’s likely that Caine, I dunno, hid something that could make us big again? Like the guns we had to find last time?’

---

There’s someone else.

Somebody new. Somebody real. Someone who’s wandered into the same decrepit building and put on the same headset she had. Someone who’s stumbled into this crazy world in the middle of a wacky thing going on, the way she had.

They don’t seem to have realised the new body they’re occupying. Good thing, she supposes. One crash-out at a time.

She steps closer to the nine-tailed fox (and God, that is a weird sentence to think).

‘Hey,’ she says, softly. ‘This might be a lot to take in right now, but you’re going to be fine.’

Right. Easy part done. Pomni takes in a breath, tapping her fingertips together in nervous succession.

‘You’re, uh, not going to remember your name. Do you want to pick a new one?’

Insanity was one option. Thinking was another.

Amber had already noticed their new body, but decided not to talk.They just sat and thought.
Of course, The other option was leaving. Seemed as good as any, so Amber turned around to leave,, while saying, "I'll name myself... Amber."

🎉*POP!*🎉

In the moment immediately following Amber's decision on their name, Caine appeared in a thin cloud of confetti with his limbs outstretched and his eyes bugging out of his mouth.

"Whew!! I cannot do that again. My word, I could hardly wait to meet you, Amber! Wow!" Caine energetically floats forward to excitedly shake Amber's hands in his clasped white gloves. He shakes for a few seconds too long to be considered a "normal" interaction--and honestly, what interactions with him even are normal?--then stops to catch his breath. "Ah, you know, for science, I wanted to see how a human would go about choosing a name without my presence affecting the choice! I hated that idea of course, but-"

"But an Intelligent scientist dedicates himself to his craft!" Bubble arrives with a much smaller popping sound beside Caine's head, seemingly pleased that he had effectively interrupted Caine's monologue. Caine seems to feel the opposite.

"Yes, thank you, Bubble," he says, crossing his arms. He eyes Bubble for only a second before turning back to Amber, forgetting his momentary irritation. "So! That's Bubble and I am Caine, your digital host!" Caine puts his arm around Amber's shoulders and sweeps his arms across the air in front them as the words "DIGITAL HOST" appear in red bubbled letters. They pop a moment after Caine speaks them. Then, Caine spins Amber around so that they are facing the rest of the group again. "It looks like you've met everyone else except..." Caine pauses as he looks around the group, pointing and counting to himself. "What happened to Kinger and Zooble?" he asks.

Patch smiles and rolls her eyes. She's certain that Caine knows where the others are. He controls this whole digital universe and can teleport to anyone's side at will. But Patch plays along. "They went that way," she says, pointing toward the bedrooms. "Jax went that way too, in case you were wondering."

"Ah, yes, Jax," Caine says offhandedly, waving away the thought. "Right, then. You arrived at a wonderful time. Everyone has just started the adventure for today! The goal is to get big again! As you can see, you are all currently really, really tiny. But! Because you are new, I will give you a hint." Caine speaks with a twinkle in his eye as if he's been itching to give the group some direction. He dramatically holds a hand up to his face and turns toward Amber as if he is whispering to only them, but speaks loud enough for everyone to hear. "You'll need to find the recipe for getting big again!" Caine's eyeballs turn inside his mouth to look pointedly at Snix when he says "recipe," then they spin back to face Amber. "Think you can help with that?" he asks, proudly setting his hands on his hips.

"I pan handle the can!" Bubble adds enthusiastically. At this, Caine squints at Bubble and says "What is wrong with you?" before turning toward Amber again to hear their answer without waiting for an answer from Bubble, of course.

They were safe, at least for now. His immediate response was to check on the newbie, and he was relieved to see that Pomni was already on it. She was the one he trusted the most with that task, and he was relieved it wasn't his. Everyone was talking so fast, and his heart was still racing, causing his metallic chest to rattle, only adding to his growing frustration. Even if they were away from harm, it did not keep that overbearing dread at bay.

If there weren't a duo of dangerous megatoddlers just within earshot, he would have yelled for everyone to stop talking. Except he couldn't yell. Another excellent part of being this metal freakshow. His mind was swirling, for as tough and gruff as he tried to make himself out to be, he was often overwhelmed. He could not keep his thoughts on one thing or another. He clung to what Clover had said, at least what he had heard of it. They were ok. He could tell by the way it was said, body language, and tone, even if the words weren't all there. He gave them a thumbs up and a nod, which creaked slightly when they moved their rigid neck.

Gangle took this moment of reproach to sit down, still faintly panting from the run here. How was it that she had no cardio even in a digital body? As she sat about, she looked nervously at the new person, currently getting consoled by Pomni. She wanted to help, and maybe having another person to listen would have helped, but she was in no place to be comforting. Still, she turned to Patch and nervously spoke.
"Do you think they'll be ok?"

Distant thuds alerted Jax that play time was beginning. His wry grin grew ear to ear as he saw the massive forms currently hunting down his allies. Then, he saw them pause. The telltale sound of one of Caine's various interventions thus ensued. Something was off, something off enough to make Jax halt his rush towards the bedrooms. He studied the scene for a moment before ultimately shrugging his shoulders.

"Weird day," He said directly into the camera before continuing his spring.

As sooner had Snix managed to center himself, his focused went back to the new human. She was...walking away?! His whole body started to rumble, steam billowing from his pipe as he did. They where walking directly into danger and away from the only safety net they had. With loud, stomping steps he trudged towards them, reaching for their wrist to try to stop them.

"Listen, you muppet!" His voice was unnervingly steady and low, a byproduct of having to maintain his tone for so long.
"We're trying to help y-"

🎉*POP!*🎉

Caine had arrived. Attention immediately gravitated towards him, it always did. That was by design of course and as per usual, Caine's designs where flawed. Gangle hesitantly turned to look at the shoes of the giants. They where unmoving. Caine would never deface the construction of his own 'art' with an interruption afterall. As perusual he started speaking a mile a minute, but Gangle was just glad his focus was on the rest of the team. Like it usually is. Then she suddenly jolted up, rushing to find Riff.

"Do you still have my mask? Maybe he'll fix it!"

It unnerved him the way Caine looked at him, but everything about the guy unnerved Snix. Instictually he let go of Amber, assuming he ever grabbed ahold of them. His mind was still racing, it usually was, and in his anger towards the newly dubbed 'Amber' it was only worse. Still. he managed to catch the word 'recipe'. Clearly there had to be some sort of association.

Amber found themselves jostled by the hyperactive and bubbly supposed 'digital host' and felt their hand released. They were still shaken by the complexity of it all, but that seemed accurate. However, Amber's face lit up at the mention of the word recipe. Finally, something normal and easygoing.

However, The soldier-Apparently Snix-was being unnecessarily rude and a big [quack] at the same time. "well," They said, "what the [boink]" Then proceded to cover heir mouth, saying "wha-?"

---

Ragatha checked if she was hallucinating or not, because even for the Circus, it was bizarre. Walking over to the young fox, she tapped the newly dubbed Amber on the shoulder and said "You okay? you seem... nervous."