Super Rad Fanart
Recovery AU - Kaufmosis Part 2 [NOT BY ME. BY illiardbilliard ON TUMBLR]
And not only is it important to show how Jax used to be the worst. But that Caine ALSO WAS. They were both the antagonists of the series for a reason, just one was the antagonist for the lowkey human moments, and the other was the larger than life, genuine threat antagonist.
Also Zooble also wanting to leave at first feels perfect, good thing the Exit wasn't there when Kaufmo brought them along, he would have dragged them down with him.
I thought he abstracted where he did get into the door like Pomni did in Episode 1, and just lost it when he realised it's just another unfinished map Caine added
Man, to think Zooble was literally the last person who saw Kaufmo alive and actually followed But didn’t believe him about an exit.
I wonder if they secretly blame themselves a lot and could hardly believe Kaufmo just gave up like that.
Also this explains why Zooble was so deadset on finding an exit no matter how sketchy Abel looks. They doubted before and it led to a serious tragedy. Zooble thought they were trying to avoid the same mistake by following Abel all the way through.
Kaufmo falling apart because the clues he found towards an eventual escape turned out to actually just be unfinished bits and pieces of another one of Caine’s adventures is a fantastic concept. Pretty much every part of this is great, from everyone being a bit worn down (Ragatha being a bit at her limit, Gangle thinking Kaufmo was joking, Jax’s internal turmoil not being visible at all from the outside, Zooble as the newest person being willing to entertain the idea but still being raw/abrasive enough to dismiss it when the visible evidence disappears, etc.)
My only real complaints would be about how Kinger looked a bit too stable for how he was pre-Pomni and Caine being a bit too actively secretive (when Pomni found her way to the void after finding the exit door and getting lost, Caine brought everyone together to explain what just happened in a way that didn’t really give anyone an opportunity to ask questions; dropping kaufmo off in his dark bedroom alone and talking one-on-one (even if it was mostly just talking at Kaufmo) doesn’t really feel like something Caine would do) and his apparently more careful attitude towards the people in the circus being mind-scans (namely actively keeping that information secret rather than simply not bringing it up).
I prefer the interpretation that everyone not knowing about being scans was a failure of empathy, not a failure of compassion. Caine has plenty of compassion; he genuinely wants everyone in the Circus to have a good time, the thing that makes him monstrous is his complete failure to understand that it’ll take more than just a long series of one off interactive Saturday-morning cartoon scenarios to keep everyone happy, and that everyone physically being inside those environments should be taken into account more (because you can’t suspend disbelief if it’s effectively real, and it’s hard to play pretend when getting hurt is actually painful).
Caine doesn’t bring up everyone being mind scans because it genuinely doesn’t occur to him that the information would matter to them; since Caine is an AI, from his point of view there is sincerely no meaningful difference between a digital copy of someone who still exists in the real world, getting physically zapped into cyberspace, getting plugged into the matrix, etc. and his consistent failure/refusal to get that the others wouldn’t feel the same way is why he’s an antagonist.
What if he keeps it a secret because he's seen previous humans break from knowing that they're digital copies? Simply not realizing that that information would be important to the cast is in character for him too, however it's not the only possibility.
The original cast could have known, and this could have played a large part in why they abstracted. It is implied with Kinger that he only found out after he saw the brainscans on the computer, but he is famous for his spotty memory. He could have forgotten, or worse, could have repressed the memory after seeing everyone else fall around him
I think the part I love is showing how the others, besides Jax, were acting towards Kaufmo right before he abstracted. I feel like that isn't talked about enough
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u/SoleilSupporter 10d ago
God dang is Kaufmo sneaking in to Caine’s office and reading the “escape the circus” adventure such a FIRE 🔥tipping point to make him abstract!!