#VR headset add-ons

[tomato-jump]

Complied list of all the interesting information in episode three so you don't have to

Jax wouldn't reveal what happens when he doesn't breathe so that's one point for Jax NPC theory

Kinger was reminded of his wife in the monster because of all the eyes and dark space looking like her abstracted form

For some reason, the NPCs in the adventure knew about Kinger's dead wife- the only explanation I can think of is that all the NPCs are connected somehow but tbh I don't know how they'd know that???

Caine probably isn't in control of the circus. The way he started genuinely tripping at the idea that he's not good at the "only thing he's made for" is giving weird vibes. Either he's an NPC himself, or some kind of admin/moderator over the circus

When Zooble tells Caine why they don't enjoy the adventures, they comment that they've said before but he keeps forgetting. Because he can't control their minds (ep 1 reference im going insane) it's like his code just can't cope with the information and rejects it all together

When Caine started freaking out the circus started glitching. So to add to 4, while I don't think he's in charge I do think his presence keeps the circus running, again like an admin of sorts

Kinger did computer science for seven years. Make of that what you will but I feel the relevance is kinda self explanatory, especially with a popular theory rn being that the circus members all worked for the VR headset company

thats all I can think of right now I'm going to sleep 💯

[kaidatheghostdragon]

Halfas and Fear Gas

Ive seen a lot of "fear gas makes danny high." Its hilarious and i love it. Other variations i recall seeing are: fear is not as potent, complete immunity, 'food supplement' fear gas, and the boring 'effects him like normal.'

BUT.

I haven't really seen anyone treat effect effect on the brain and core as separate processes. In other words, humans get affected one way, ghosts get affected another way, and halfas get blasted by both.

We already know how normal humans are affected, so we dont really need to go over that. Ghosts, however, are free reign. (Unless there's a canon incident where a ghost like boston brand or gentleman ghost are exposed to a fear gas attack? Any DC canon nerds out there that know of something like that?)

The options I've seen or thought up so far:

Complete immunity - ectoplasm just doesn't react to physical matter in a way that impacts the ghost. Fear gas, as in the chemical itself, has no effect whatsoever.

Effects ghosts like humans. Straight forward, it's a bit weird if you think about it, but eh.

Fear gas, as in the chemical itself, is like ghost weed, or perhaps something stronger. Might be hallucinogenic, but in a bad trip sort of way rather than a worst fear sort of way

Fear gas, as in the chemical itself, is accidentally a super effective health suppliment for ghosts

If emotions are food to ghosts, fear gassed humans can span the range between 'delectable snack sprinkled with extra sugar' to 'weird chemical food that isnt healthy but will still sustain you' to 'supercharged health snack completely saturated by nutrients'

Fear gas, either the chemical itself or the people affected by it, has a distinct smell. It could be good, bad, or neutral, possibly related to how it affects the ghost. (Or deceptive, for humor and/or angst.)

Fear gas is outright toxic to ghosts. Perhaps the chemical itself is similar to, but just left of, ectoplasm. Like many artificial chemicals that can substitute various nutrients / usurp metabolic pathways in humans, it could have any number of mild to debilitating, short to long term effects on ghosts.

(If anyone has another idea, feel free to add)

Now we get to halfas, who have both a human brain and a ghost core. Dany has a human body and brain that are affected normally by the fear gas: hallucinations, panic attack, adrenaline response, etc etc. Someone better at biology can describe the actual biochemical processes going on.

But the ghost core? Added on top of All That? Can be excessively angsty, somewhat mitigating, or outright hilarious.

Going through the list of options:

Complete immunity.

This sounds boring, but its actually my favorite. Why? Because danny is getting conflicting signals. His brain is compromised and in full panic, but his core is telling him that he's completely safe. As a hybrid, Danny could be capable of having critical thought with both organs. If he's clever enough to recognize the seperation between the two, he can exploit it as a sort of anchor (I'm imagining it somewhat like how a multitasker can do different things with different senses, like listening to an audio book while solving a jigsaw puzzle - the book is auditory, the puzzle is visual and tactile, neither interfere with the other.)

Danny, in this scenario, is definitely in an altered state of consciousness, seeing things that aren't there and right on the cusp of panicking or defending himself. But if he can recognize that his core is unaffected, he can focus on the sensory input that his core is processing, and the whole situation might be somewhat equivalent to becoming lucid in the middle of a nightmare - its terrifying, but just the recognition that it isn't real takes the edge off. To him, it's now like being stuck in a VR horror game and being unable to take the headset off, flinching at all the jumpscares but recognizing that his body isn't actually being attacked or injured.

Affects ghost like humans

Danny could either be affected exactly the same as anyone else or effectively double-dosed as both brain and core fight entirely different hallucinations. Maybe if danny is lucky, he'll just black out from the sensory overload.

Ghost weed

This could make what was initially designed to be a really bad trip into something catastrophic... or mellow it out. Idk. I've never done recreational drugs. Both the brain and core are cut off from reality. The brain is terrified, and the core is tripping out. If his core naturally reacts to his emotional state, it's gonna amplify the effects, which is Really Bad. If the core is compromised to a point where it can't really process anything, then Danny is still trapped in a nightmare state, just more loopy and otherwise no worse than any human.

Health supplement and/or literal food

This one is confusing. Brain is terrified, core is satiated? Energized? A boost to his powers is gonna make him much more difficult to contain and treat. When he comes out of it, there's real potential for angst from danny worrying that the conflicting emotions of absolute terror and hunger satiation are a sign that he's turning evil. Especially if his core was instinctually feeding off of the fear of nearby civilians who were also gassed during the trip. That undercurrent of predatory satisfaction is gonna leave him awake at night for a few weeks.

On the plus side, feeding his ghost core might help it clear out the toxin faster, so the trip is much shorter. Maybe he even pulls out of it before he accidentally causes any damage with his powers.

Smelly

Pretty straightforward. If it smells bad, Danny is automatically gonna hold his breath, limiting his exposure. If it smells good, he might take a good few wiffs before realizing what's up and holding his breath, or just keeps dosing himself more and more as that effects, good or bad to the core and definitely bad to the brain, settle in.

Toxic

Has the potential to be much more long-term and insidious. You can run the full gamut here. Does he need to be restrained and taken to the far frozen for days or even weeks of treatment? Does the ectoplasm incorporate the drug, and Danny has to suffer weeks or months of microdosing until it's used up, turning him into a paranoid schizophrenic during that time? Is it blood blossoms 2.0? Does it have no mental effects but screws with his powers? Does it influence his emotional self-control? Does he grow the ghost equivalent of a tumor that encapsulates the toxin and has to be surgically removed? Does he need supplemental ecto to remain healthy, temporarily, or permanently? Does it affect his ectosignature or peak power level? Injure his core? Lower his healing factor?

All of this is on top of the initial fear gas trip, which he may have never even fully pulled out of. The angst possibilities are endless.

Then, there are liminals who have the potential to be affected like halfas or in an entirely different way. Does your headcanon give them proto-cores or baby ghost cores, or are they just severely ectoconaminated? How would that change their symptoms?

Anyways, just some ideas for people to use. My favorite idea so far, that I'd love to see someone use, is that Danny has learned to use his separate brain and core as insurance against mind control and mind-altering drugs. The freakshow incident was a sort of catalyst that helped him recognize the differences between his brain and core, and he taught himself how to lean into one or the other for various advantages in different situations. (Sort of like how a person can lean on either logic or intuition to make different types of choices.)

There's a lot of interesting potential here. Essentially, Danny could teach himself to be immune to mind-control and greatly resistant to drugs, as he can evaluate his surroundings with both organs and identify differences. Mind control wouldn't work unless it targeted BOTH brain and core, as he could shift to the uncontrolled one to break away. Any drug designed to knock out or roofie a human is countered by the fact that danny's core still remains conscious of his surroundings, and creative use of ghost powers counters the accompanying paralysis.

If ghosts dont sleep, one could argue that Danny's core is in a meditative state when his brain rests, which is why his ghost sense can wake him up from a dead sleep - he's never fully unconscious. Workoholic danny could find a way to get homework or paperwork done, or solve a problem, or design a piece of tech, or even play a videogame, while 'sleeping,' even using ectokinesis to move stuff while his body is sleep-paralyzed. Sleep-deprived danny is still functional because his core isn't affected by his brain's lapses in consciousness from micro-naps. (He is a lot moodier, though. His core is more emotion-focused while his brain is more logic-focused, on top of the normal mood-swings from sleep deprivation.)

This version of danny, after being fear-gassed, immediately recognizes that his brain and core are suddenly experiencing two different realities. He would be able to talk himself down from a panic attack and slowly find his way to safety. He probably wouldn't trust himself to hold back if he got in a scuffle, but he would be coherent enough to vaguely understand his surroundings to avoid danger.

And lastly, something I dont recall seeing in any fics - if the bats encountered fear-gassed Danny, and he's aware enough to refuse an antidote, I dont think the bats would push it. Yeah, forcing more medical trauma on our favorite blorbo is all good and fun, but he clearly has an altered metabolism that was affected differently by the fear gas than normal, so there's a heightened risk that the antidote would also have an altered affect, for the reward of removing the effects of fear-toxin (which is no longer guaranteed), which danny is already showing he's capable of working through.

On top of that, medical professionals are not allowed to force treatment if the patient refuses them and can walk it off. (If they are unconscious or can't get up on their own, they can intervene.) Medical conditions and allergies are a thing too, and its the priority of the patient to inform the medical worker as soon as possible to prevent complications. Jazz may have coached Danny about "in a medical emergency, declare closet-meta status with highly modified metabolism and unknown reactions to most drugs."

I see the conversation going something like:

"If you can hear me, im going to administer an antidote."

"Dont. Give it to someone who actually needs it."

And then the bat treats everyone else before approaching danny again to ask how they can help. They would be trained to take all of this into account:

Human male, visibly uninjured (unless the fic writer has different ideas) experiencing non-standard reaction to fear toxin. Probable indication of meta or enhanced status.

Victim is cognizent, replied to verbal communication, denied treatment. Appears to be managing the effects of the fear toxin. Not currently a danger to themselves or others.

Nonstandard reaction to fear-toxin implies potential non-standard reaction to antidote. Victim may be aware of medical condition that could complicate treatment, and is reasonably stable at the moment. Further questioning needed.

There are other victims in the area that are less cognizent, they become higher priority. Approach victim again when all other victims are cleared out, (in case of uncontrolled meta powers, to avoid further casualties), ask more questions and ascertain situation.

Once questioned further, danny drops the memorized line about altered metabolism and unknown effects, and giving Danny the antidote basically immediately becomes a non-viable option. They will probably argue Danny into being taken to Leslie's clinic, as he'll refuse a hospital (probably quite hysterically, given the fear toxin), which i'd imagine is the bat's normal protocol for closet-metas.

At least, that's how I imagine the situation panning out. Danny noping out before the bats return to him or during mid-interrogation is also extremely likely, which is gonna put the bats in panic mode for the next several hours. (Going to *any* secondary location with the bats is a non-option to Danny, for many potential reasons.) Danny is definitely going on a watch list (as in, possible meta with unknown powers, keep an eye out in case he gets caught up in another rogue scheme, need more information).

[hypnogold]

Crescent Park

A special thanks to all my bros on the team!

As the sun dipped lower behind the trees of Crescent Park, a tense stillness filled the air. The Golden Team moved with precision, converting park-goers one by one, their sleek metallic jerseys glinting in the fading light. Coach Richard oversaw the operation, his towering frame exuding authority, while Walter—recently promoted to team manager—moved with newfound confidence, handling the transformations with growing expertise.

Walter approached his next target, a young man sitting alone near a pond, fiddling with his phone. His heart beat faster, not out of fear or hesitation, but from anticipation. He relished this. As the team manager, he took pride in outfitting the recruits, creating custom golden suits that symbolized their complete submission. He had worked hard to design each uniform, from the sharp white button-up shirts to the black-and-red striped ties beneath the shimmering golden jerseys. Now, it was time to add another name to the roster.

“Hey, man, mind if I sit?” Walter’s voice was smoother now, confident. The young man glanced up, surprised, but nodded.

Walter slipped a golden jersey from his bag, his fingers brushing against the soft, shimmering fabric. “You ever worn something like this? Trust me—it feels incredible. Changes everything.”

The young man raised an eyebrow, clearly unsure of where this was going, but before he could react, Walter grabbed his shoulder, locking him in place. The golden jersey slid over his head with an eerie precision, and as the fabric touched his skin, the transformation began.

The first sensation was warmth—an almost intoxicating comfort that spread from the jersey, radiating into every fiber of his being. The young man gasped, his body stiffening, his mind fighting for control, but it was futile. The warmth grew more intense, like being wrapped in the most welcoming embrace. His muscles slackened, a strange euphoria taking over as his thoughts slowed, rearranged, and reshaped by the power of the jersey.

As the golden spirals in his mind deepened, his name—whatever it had been before—was erased. He blinked, and a new name filled the void in his mind: Dean. It wasn’t just a name; it was an identity, a purpose. Dean belonged to the Golden Team now. His personality shifted, becoming simpler, more focused, his mind locked on one thing—obeying the Cap, obeying the Gold.

“We obey Cap and we obey Gold,” Dean murmured softly, as if the mantra had always been part of him.

Walter grinned. “That’s right, bro. You’re one of us now.”

Dean’s posture straightened, his hands smoothing over his new jersey. His speech changed, becoming more casual, almost bro-like. “Feels good, man. So good to just… obey.”

Walter clapped him on the back. “Welcome to the team, Dean. Now let’s get you to work.”

Not far off, Brody and Scott were working on another group of men, this time two joggers who had been cornered by the fountain. Brody, with his sharp eyes and quick movements, had already wrestled a VR headset onto one of the men. The spirals flickered to life, and the jogger's body jerked in response, his eyes wide with shock as his mind was engulfed in the golden waves of hypnotic control.

Brody and Scott are ready to recruit some more bros..

The man’s breathing quickened as the headset took over, each pulse of the golden spirals draining his resistance. His body sagged into submission, his mind softening like putty, molding itself to fit the team’s desires. His name? Gone. A new one settled in its place—Barry

Barry let out a soft laugh, his former self melting away. He tugged at the golden jersey that now fit snugly over his chest, feeling an overwhelming sense of belonging. His voice, once steady and confident, now carried a playful, bro-ish tone. “Man, why didn’t I do this sooner? Feels so right, bro.”

Scott stepped up beside him, laughing with him, slinging an arm around his shoulder. “That’s what I’m talking about, Barry. You’re gonna love being on the team. We’re all about the Gold now.”

Barry’s face lit up as he joined in the laughter, his eyes swirling with the lingering golden spirals. His focus had narrowed, his thoughts reshaped into one core belief: obedience to Cap and Gold. “We obey Cap and we obey Gold,” he repeated, his voice filled with a mix of pride and devotion.

As more men succumbed, Walter’s confidence only grew. He was proud of what the team was becoming, of the role he played in crafting their identities and uniforms. Each golden suit, carefully tailored and fitted, was a symbol of their unity, their purpose. The fabric seemed to glow brighter as each new recruit joined, as if absorbing the strength of their allegiance.

Walter spotted another target, a tall, lean man who had been watching the chaos unfold from the far end of the park. The man’s eyes were wide with fear as he turned to run, but Walter was faster. He reached him in seconds, grabbing him by the arm and yanking him back toward the team. The man struggled, panic in his eyes, but Walter was calm, collected.

“You don’t need to fight this, take my headset” Walter said, slipping the golden VR headset over the man’s head. “Just let it happen.”

The man’s body trembled as the spirals began their work, dissolving the fear, the resistance, until he was completely still, his mind under the control of the Golden Team. His name was stripped away, replaced with something new—Travis. His thoughts dulled, his emotions drained, replaced with a singular focus: obedience.

“We obey Cap and we obey Gold,” Travis whispered, his voice trembling with newfound loyalty. Walter gave Travis his new uniform and he discarded his bright blue one. He obeys Cap.

Coach Richard watched from a distance, his gaze approving. Walter had come far, and he had proven himself not just as a manager but as an integral part of the team. He made sure every recruit wore their uniform with pride, and he executed the transformations with precision and confidence.

As the park darkened and the last of the stragglers were brought into the fold, Walter, Brody, and Scott stood proudly beside Coach Richard. The Golden Team had grown once again, and with each new recruit, their power expanded.

“Another good day’s work,” Coach Richard said, his voice filled with pride. “We’ll keep pushing, keep growing. They all obey us eventually.”

Walter nodded, a satisfied smile on his face. “We obey Cap and we obey Gold.”

The others echoed the mantra, their voices blending into a single, unified chant. The park was theirs, and soon, there would be more parks, more recruits, more gold.

At the other side of the park...

I was in the middle of a perfect slapshot, the whistling through the air, when I saw them coming—these guys in golden jerseys. I didn’t think much of it at first. It’s a park, right? People wear weird stuff all the time. But there was something off about the way they moved. They weren’t just walking—they were converging, fast, in this synchronized, almost military formation.

Then I saw them close in on the basketball game happening across the field. My buddies were laughing and shouting, passing the ball back and forth, completely oblivious to the group of golden-shirted guys surrounding them. My heart jumped, something about the way they moved didn’t sit right.

Before I could shout a warning, one of the golden guys—this huge dude with a smirk—grabbed Tim, our goalie. He yanked a shiny gold jersey over Tim's head. It was so quick, almost casual, but the moment that jersey touched him, Tim froze, his whole body locking up like he’d been hit by a truck. He dropped the ball, eyes wide, and I could see the struggle on his face, like he was trying to fight whatever was happening. But it didn’t last long. His muscles relaxed, and then, something worse—his face twisted into this... this grin, like he was happy, relieved even.

“Tim! Run!” I shouted, but it was too late.

The golden guy holding him turned him around so we could all see. Tim’s back was now emblazoned with a name I didn’t recognize—“Brad 8.” I froze in place, stick in hand. That wasn’t Tim anymore. Brad, whoever that was, nodded, still grinning, and joined the golden guys, completely in sync.

I felt a pit in my stomach. Panic set in as I watched them move to the next one—Mark. Mark was trying to shove the guys off, but another jersey was already over his head. The moment it touched him, his resistance melted away. His body slumped before straightening into that same eerily obedient posture. He turned around, and sure enough, “Barry 17” was stitched across his back. Just like that, he was gone too.

That’s when instinct took over. I dropped my ball and bolted for the trees. I ran so fast I could feel the air burn my lungs, but I didn’t stop. Not until I was deep into the park’s wooded area, out of sight. My heart was pounding, and my hands shook as I crouched behind a thick bush, peeking out just enough to watch.

From my hiding spot, I had a clear view of the field. I could still see the others—the guys I’d known for years—being systematically transformed. One by one, those golden jerseys were yanked over their heads, and each time it was the same. First, a struggle, but then... they’d just stop. Stop fighting, stop thinking, and become part of them. Every time, a new name appeared on their backs—Henry, Brock, Chad—and with it, the person I knew was gone.

The golden guys were chanting something too. I could barely make it out over the wind and rustling trees, but it sounded like, “We obey Cap and we obey Gold.” Over and over again, as if that was the only thing that mattered now.

I saw one of the golden guys grab Alex, the last one left. Alex was a tough dude, always talking about how he’d never back down from a fight. But he didn’t stand a chance. They wrestled him to the ground, and soon, he was wearing the same jersey. When he stood up, his back was turned toward me. “Cody 23” was stitched into the gold, as if he’d never been Alex at all.

I pressed myself harder into the ground, biting back the urge to scream or run again. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was like they weren’t even human anymore. They laughed, patted each other on the back, but it wasn’t normal. It was like... like they were all sharing the same brain, like they all belonged to something much bigger than themselves.

I swallowed, my mouth dry. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, because if they found me, I knew what would happen. I’d get a jersey too, and that would be the end of me.

The golden guys, now with my friends—no, with Brad, Barry, and Cody—moved on, searching for more people in the park. They’d completely forgotten about the game, about the goals and the ball. That wasn’t their world anymore. It was all about Cap and Gold. That was their new identity, and I was the last one left who wasn’t part of it.

I stayed there, hidden in the bushes, for what felt like hours. The chanting faded as they moved farther away, leaving me alone in the park that used to be ours. I had to get out of here, but every time I thought about leaving, I remembered the look on Tim’s—no, Brad’s—face when they took him. That empty, happy grin. I was terrified I’d see that smile in the reflection of my own face if they caught me.

I waited until the sun began to set before creeping out of my hiding spot, moving quietly through the trees, making sure no one could see me. But as I left, the mantra kept echoing in my head, the same phrase over and over:

“We obey Cap and we obey Gold.”

It wouldn’t stop. And a part of me feared that no matter how far I ran, I might still hear it.

1 hour later..

I crept through the trees, my heart still hammering in my chest. The sun was dipping lower, casting long shadows over the park. I thought I was in the clear, that I could escape unnoticed. But as I took a step out of the wooded area, there was a sudden rustling behind me.

"Where you headed, bro?"

The voice sent ice down my spine. I turned, and there he was—Brody, one of the golden guys. He was standing just a few feet away, his metallic golden jersey gleaming in the fading light, the white button-up shirt and striped tie underneath still visible. He wore that same grin I had seen on the others, like he was in on some cosmic joke.

I froze, my legs refusing to move, my mouth dry. I had no idea how he had found me, but I could see it in his eyes—he knew. I was the last one left. Brody took a step forward, his grin widening, and before I could react, two more golden-clad guys appeared from the trees—Scott and Dean. They had circled me.

“Coach is gonna be happy to see you,” Brody said, his voice so casual, like we were just old friends hanging out. “You can’t run from this, man. You’re part of the team now.”

“No, I—I’m not,” I stammered, taking a shaky step back. My hands were trembling. “I’m not like you.”

Scott chuckled softly. “You will be.”

Before I could even think to bolt, Dean moved with lightning speed, grabbing me by the arms. His grip was firm, but not painful. It was almost... comforting. "Don't fight it, bro," he whispered, his voice strangely soothing. "We obey Cap and we obey Gold."

“No! Let me go!” I yelled, struggling to break free, but Dean held me tight. Brody and Scott stepped forward, both of them pulling a golden jersey from the bag slung over Brody’s shoulder. My heart pounded in my chest as I realized what was coming.

“Don’t worry,” Brody said, “it feels good once it’s on.”

I thrashed, trying to escape, but Dean’s grip was like iron. I couldn’t break free. Then, with a swift motion, Scott yanked the jersey over my head. As the golden fabric touched my skin, something inside me shifted—an overwhelming warmth spread through my body, starting from where the jersey pressed against my shoulders, down my arms, into my chest. My resistance faltered, my limbs growing heavy.

The warmth was intoxicating. It seeped into my bones, making my mind feel... fuzzy. My thoughts, once sharp and panicked, began to blur at the edges. I could still feel the fear, but it was fading, being replaced by something else—something far more pleasant. A sense of belonging, of calm.

My legs buckled, and I fell to my knees. Brody and Scott knelt beside me, their hands resting on my shoulders. “Just let it happen,” Scott whispered, “it’s easier that way.”

I tried to hold onto who I was—tried to remember my name, my life—but the jersey was working its way deeper into my mind. I could feel it now, creeping through my thoughts, replacing them with something new. My name—it felt distant, like a word I had heard once but didn’t fully recognize anymore. A new name was forming in its place.

As I knelt there, struggling against the warmth flooding my body from the golden jersey, the last fragments of my old self slipped away. My name… I tried to hold onto it, to remember who I was before all this. But the more I fought, the deeper the warmth sank in, washing away my resistance. A new name began to form, one that felt foreign and familiar all at once.

“Joshua,” I whispered, the word coming from somewhere deep within me. It felt right, like it had always been my name, like it was who I was meant to be.

Brody smiled down at me, nodding approvingly. “Yeah, Joshua. Welcome to the team, bro.”

I felt a strange rush of pride. The jersey was no longer just a piece of fabric clinging to my body—it was part of me now. It fit perfectly, like it had been made for me, like it belonged on me. And I belonged to the team.

Scott stood beside me, placing a firm hand on my shoulder, his grip no longer threatening but reassuring. “You feel it now, right, Joshua? The purpose. The brotherhood.”

I nodded, standing up on shaky legs. The transformation had washed away every trace of fear and hesitation, replacing them with something far stronger. I looked at the other guys, at Dean, Scott, and Brody, and I didn’t just see a group of men—I saw my team, my brothers. I was one of them now.

I turned to look at my reflection in the fountain. The name "Joshua 19" was emblazoned on the back of my golden jersey, the number gleaming in the evening light. It felt perfect. I felt perfect.

My thoughts had shifted completely. The confusion, the doubt—all gone. Now, there was only loyalty. Loyalty to Cap. Loyalty to Gold. It was simple, clear, and it filled me with a sense of fulfillment I had never known before.

Brody chuckled, his voice warm as he patted me on the back. “You get it now, Joshua. We obey Cap and we obey Gold.”

The words slipped from my lips as if they had always been there. “We obey Cap and we obey Gold,” I echoed, feeling the power of the mantra take root deep within me. It wasn’t just a phrase; it was a way of life. A belief. An oath.

Scott and Dean joined in, all of us chanting together, a unified voice of devotion. “We obey Cap and we obey Gold.”

I smiled, finally feeling at peace. The struggle was over. I wasn’t running anymore. I wasn’t hiding. I was home.

As I stood there with my brothers, the mission was clear. We weren’t done yet. The park was full of new recruits, and I knew exactly what my role was now. It was time to find them, welcome them, and show them what it meant to be part of the team. I was Joshua now, and nothing else mattered.

They were told to enter a golden bus and drive of to the Golden Home where all the Golden Team boys live. They needed to wear the VR headsets, because no one knows where it is...yet everyone obeyed.

I had a purpose, and together with the Golden Team, we were going to make sure everyone understood: we obey Cap, and we obey Gold.

[monakisu]

rating oil paintings i did in high school based on their likability (to Me) ⊙▂⊙

light study 💡 - the earliest one out of all of these bcuz i technically painted it in middle school but then went back in HS to add the seagulls and boat so i could fit it into the theme of my AP art portfolio LMAOOO but still one of my favorites, which is sorta sad cuz it’s so old… 9/10

filial love - honestly didn’t care for this one very much because it was meant to just be more fodder for my AP portfolio but turns out my mom likes it a lot!! she says it reminds her of “the lion of judah ✝️” (whoever that is) so i was happy to give it to her! she displays it in her room so her fondness really carries this one’s rating: 10/10

play nice with your brother!! 🐻‍❄️ - i like this one a lot! because it’s one of the only paintings my hardass art teacher let me use neon colors on (or at least as neon as u can get with oil paint). usually he just paints over my colors to make them grayer. that guy… otherwise this one is just not very interesting. 8/10

koi pond 🎏 - PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHAT I MEAN when he paints over my stuff with gray!!! i was so excited to paint this one and added all sorts of flair that i like—pink dots as leaf highlights, super detailed colorful water—AND THEN HE JUST WENT AND SMEARED ALL MY DETAILS 💀💀💀 so i Hate this one and avoid looking at it as much as possible. 0/10 below it is a version from a diff angle that i did in an hour with shitty free acrylic verrryyy recently in college, and u can just see how i went ham on the colors right?! eugh. what could’ve been… 🪦

with heavy heart ❤️ - a pretty big old lady (18x24”). i feel obligated to like her because she won me the congressional competition for my district so i got to go to the capitol to see her framed there and briefly meet my stale white bread representative but HONESTLY all i can think about is how hideous my makeup was at the time and i get upset. 🙁 i do think this granny is very pretty though!! 7/10

my ocean blue 🪼 - this one im not sure if i like it or only tolerate it. i just wanted to paint a super colorful coral reef!! "🐠🪸🫧" you know?? but my mom and teacher said it Needed a message for ~intrigue~ so they brainstormed together (without me) and made me add this random ass child with a VR headset smack dab in the middle… something about cyberreality? IDK i just want her ass gone so badly. i also never got around to finishing the stripes on that fish in the front but nobody calls me out on it so it's whatever 🤷‍♂️ LOL 4/10

radial self portrait 🎯 - HUGE DEVIATION IN STYLE not only bcuz this one’s gouache instead of oil but also because i got to paint without an old man (art teacher) hovering over my shoulder!!! 😸 it was my first time painting something super stylized and i realized that painting can actually be Not Agonizing!!! 😸😸 this was at my summer camp where we had to come up with a radial pattern using a compass (i hate that little pointy shit) and then combine it with our self portrait. it’s me having a headache! i painted this in a single stressful sleepless night because i have HORRIFIC time management when i’m left alone so it’s pretty sloppy. also at the time i had those blonde e-girl bangs hahaha… i still like this one a lot!! i was just SO happy i didn't have to go photorealistic AND i could use my favorite colors (mainly hot pink)!!! 10/10 😸

overall my high school painting in experience was spent beefing with my art teacher and inhaling paint fumes. sort of miserable honestly -_-

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

Just played Beat Saber with my brother, so naturally I started thinking about how each member of the Bad Batch would do with it:

Hunter: his enhanced senses would make him practically unbeatable in the game, if the VR headset plus the overstimulating flashing lights and fast movement didn't give him massive headaches and vertigo within two seconds (that is, until Tech gets his hands on the headset long enough to add a setting that approximates Hunter's helmet, so all the input isn't as overwhelming). Regardless, he loves watching everyone else play too.

Tech: it's not his favorite pastime, but he has no objection to joining in when the rest of the family plays. Naturally he analyzes the game and somehow deciphers patterns so he always gets top scores.

Echo: he takes the game seriously. Like, almost scary seriously. Like, "battle face" seriously. Like, "everyone knows better than to talk while he's playing" seriously. But when his turn is done he'll pass the controllers over with a shrug and a casual "That was fun."

Wrecker: scores pretty well overall, especially considering that he's blind in one eye. SUPER enthusiastic about it, and try as he might he can never stay standing in one place (at least one item ends up broken every Beat Saber night, and Echo and Hunter have saved him more than once from plowing through the TV).

Crosshair: his sniper skills lend to his extreme precision with the game. At first, he pretended he wasn't interested, but by the end of the first Beat Saber night he and Wrecker are keeping track of how many wins they have over each other, and by the time the third night rolls around Crosshair is in open competition with each of the others.

Omega: she's the one who got her brothers into it, and she's just as enthusiastic as Wrecker, though she does manage to stay in one spot while playing. Though quite good at it, she rarely scores the highest, but she does start taking bets for Crosshair's competitions with the others and wins most of the bets (Tech is impressed).

BONUSES:

Phee: she's the one who got Omega into it, she's a natural at it, and she can give just about any of the others a run for their money.

Batcher: paces around and barks at the TV the entire time. Despite this she usually can stay out of the player's way, though one of the humans has to take up "Batcher duty" and keep her seated when Wrecker is playing, otherwise catastrophe is imminent.

[cosmokrill]

I know it's been exactly two days since I said that I would be taking a break, but I realized I never really got to elaborate on a few things regarding Noah (The Narrator) and Ford (Timekeeper)'s appearance in relation to their story, since relaxing for a bit has let me work on proper character stories a bit more.

Um... spoiler for (sort of?) partial nudity, they're full body sketches but rest assured, nothing explicit is showing, everything sensitive is covered up, and it's in no suggestive way! It's important because it does go in-line with their story.

And if I see any of you being weird about Ford again I will personally and publicly call you out on my blog

Stanley's being left out here, at least this time, because there's really nothing special about his appearance despite his goofy little dot eyes.

So, what are we looking at?

Noah has a partial-body scar across the left side of his torso and his left upper arm! Back when he was completely human (yes, he really was once fully human!) He attempted to fully dedicate himself to his writing and storytelling as a part-time author, in a world technologically advanced enough to have closed trial runs and proofs of concept when it came to an experimental machine that, in all aspects, was a bit like a sensory chamber mixed with full-body VR inside a computer and the Internet; the only thing separating it from modern tech was that it was a lot bigger and more clunky than the VR headsets we have in this day and age.

Being a man with a soul-sucking 9 to 5 who just barely got by on money to have a nice apartment and some comforts, but who didn't have enough spending money or the apartment space for the giant pods, Noah took to... well, building one himself. He had the blueprints and some experience in building things, how hard could it be?

Well... he certainly did build one. It was EXTREMELY unsafe, but he built one. Hooking himself up, he flipped the power switch without a test run and it had a bit of a shocking result, haha. To put it simply, he did manage to slip into the digital world, but his computer stationed at his left side experienced an electricity surge and completely fried his physical body beyond saving, represented by the scars on his digital self and a slight voltage in his body, enough to dimly light a bulb in his hand. It only takes a bit of appearance tweaking in the files to hide the scars, although they do revert if he's very emotional.

It's interesting to think of how he would've fared if Noah never uploaded his consciousness, but that's a story for another time. The only thing I'd say is that... he'd probably look like this!

Now that we have Noah out of the way, it's Ford time! One thing I never noted with their appearance, due to it being mostly covered up by clothes, is that they have fairly visible stretch marks. What, you really didn't think they were always 8'11", did you? In their "Pre-Parable" look, back when it was an office simulator running basic AI, Ford was much shorter, both in height and hair length.

Due to "unknown" circumstances, though, Noah panicked and tried to delete Ford's code, but the AI caused the files to corrupt in the background, still existing, causing rapid growth to start and their demeanor to become... well, the way it currently is. With the changes happening in such a short time, it's expected that they would have many growth marks to show for it. Their current form, as crazy as it is, is only very early in the corruption, so their body is going to get REALLY fucked up millennia from the story's present if they don't figure a way to keep a hold on it. And to add insult to injury, they blame The Narrator for it all.

What's fun is that, something I never realized until now, the discoloration on Ford's left half perfectly copies Noah's scars! That's fun!

...And if you're asking why I noted Ford having slight shoulder freckles... I just think they're cute, okay?

[tarhonk]

AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS THEORY ALERT

WEEOO WEEOO THEORY ALERT

So this is gonna connect to that "everyone in the circus worked for C&A" theory

Alright so just yesterday Glitch posted this in the community tab on their youtube channel

Despite it being funny af I couldn't help but notice how much 80's memorabilia was in here. All these items (minus the digital circus stuff) were very popular or invented in the mid 80's.

So I decided to check back on that scene where Pomni is running through the exits. Specifically that moment where she stares at the desk and I noticed something.

That straight up looks like an old and dirty Commodore 64

All this equipment just screams 80's to me. Everything in that office seemed like stuff from the 80's.

And I haven't seen anyone else talk about these but I noticed a few other things

One

We see the headset that all the characters have put on to get in the circus right on the desk.

Two

We see several computers on as Pomni runs past them. I counted 4 but that light on the floor in the first picture could be a 5th. In that case, that's one for each human currently not abstracted in the circus, minus Pomni. And what do we see when Pomni is back in the circus at the end of the pilot?

The computer she had a mental breakdown over is now on.

She's back online

Finally, three

A poster can be seen in the back that seems like the same colors as the digital circus logo. This could definitely be a hidden reference to something I don't know but this looks very digital circus-y to me.

So with all that, here's what i'm adding on to the office theory.

C&A (Caine & Abel) was a video game company in the 80's that was experimenting with creating a virtual reality headset for gaming purposes. The world of gaming had slowly begun to rise in popularity, and they decided to stay on top of this trend with a very ambitious strategy. VR gaming was just beginning to make a statement in the world as well, so the C&A company began working on something new.

They create this idea for a wacky game called The Amazing Digital Circus. A VR game where you'd get an avatar and go on adventures lead by a ringmaster character. All was going well, but at some point during development, something (who knows what) went wrong, causing anyone who wears the headset to have their consciousness sucked into the game. They'd lose the memories of their lives, only knowing that they were human, and now they're stuck there forever.

This was less of a theory and more of pointing out stuff that I haven't seen people mention yet, but I think its useful.

Please feel free to add on with theories on how you think their bodies are affected in the real world and stuff about the digital circus. Expand upon this please. I feel like i'm onto something.

EDIT: https://www.glitchprod.com/thewackywatch

Just remembered that the wacky watch commercial proves like everything I said.

They reveal it on an 80's computer

"New experimental hardware that gets you awesome visuals and lifelike audio" experimenting with VR!!!!!!

I'm going crazy

[kokomiin]

I didn't want to have to do this but I am currently being harassed by somebody I worked for with no sign of letting up, so here it is. Some of you might remember me working on an RPG called Moonatic since last month. I was contacted by this person in early December to be the artist for the game, after seeing how many people were working on it I decided to accept, but everyone involved was working out of goodwill under the promise that we would eventually be paid. I was encouraged by the director to work at maximum capacity every day, I am aware that I have an especially fast art output compared to some people, but this still takes work and energy as I am a human being. If I was only able to complete one piece in a day, he would comment on that being "a shame" and would point out if I finished my work day earlier than him due to exhaustion even if I had actually gotten things done. I kept working hard every day because I genuinely believed in the project and thought this kind of crunch wouldn't be permanent, and I didn't want to cause friction between myself and the director by complaining which I now realise was a huge mistake. Whenever I took a day off I had to announce it, there was no set schedule and I believe he would have me working every day if possible.

My friends can attest to the decrease in my physical and mental health before I even realised how I was being affected by this. The director also initiated a friendship with me as well as me being his employee, I accepted but over time personal boundaries were crossed, he made judgements about some things in my personal life and just two days ago, the day before I decided to resign, he implied a romantic interest in me knowing full well that I'm in a relationship. This was a breaking point for me and I had to reevaluate everything, after discussing with many people I decided it was best for everyone if I left. But when I gave the director my resignation, explaining to him the stress I was under and how I was uncomfortable with how he spoke to me, but that I would still let them use my work for the project, he immediately reacted with a mental spiral, blamed me for the project failing and even now still refuses to contact me directly.

A few weeks ago he insisted on purchasing a VR Headset for me, which I declined multiple times due to the cost and because I didn't ask for it in the first place, but around my birthday when he kept insisting I decided to accept, considering it my compensation for the month's worth of free labour I had done. I drew many character design sheets, environments, a comic, promotional artwork, helped to finish the trailer's storyboard and had begun animating it, with only a few days of breaks. I left the project because of stress and a lack of personal boundaries that were caused by him, and now this person is spamming me with payment requests to give him back the money for this gift. He claims it as a work tool, but when we talked about him getting it for me he treated the 'work' aspect as an excuse and said he really wanted to hang out with me in VR after work. Now he is declaring it as a work tool that needs to be repaid if not shipped back. A VR headset is not at all a necessary tool for this project, which is an RPG game developed in game maker.

I'm genuinely afraid about what else this person might do as he is blaming me for the project failing as though it was my own, and refusing to take responsibility for his treatment of me. If you are an artist, in the future please avoid any company with the name Andel in it. If I end up being forced to pay back the price of my free labour :') I'll open emergency commissions, ok?

screenshots under the cut (i'm pretty shaky right now so I forgot to add some, the ones related to my resignation have been added now)

[missamyrisa2]

Your tickle machines reminded me of an horror game idea. Having to keep quiet while bound in vr while a monster stalks around you and you're stream followers can add more tickle monsters to make things harder. Live steam viewers guiding evil little tickle bugs across your body in a race to make you expose your laughter to the stalking creatures.

mmmmhhh I loveeee the ideaaa so much. VR sets just make me wiggly in general because it's like you have so many of your faculties kind of distracted and gently bound. One time I was at a convention and during the off hours our group went to a game center which had one of those big VR setups, where everyone is like on a conveyor belt with the headset and everything. I was a stumbling mess the whole time because I couldn't not think about the tiiiiicklesss~!!

Likeeee it was a shooty shooty game butttttt being on that conveyor and running (and stumbling) I was onlyyy thinking about what if this was like an escape the tickle factory scenario and I was trying to run backwards on the conveyor as all the machinery was buzzing and waitinggggg and eeeee all the tickles would be sent through that VR harnessssss and just ahhh~~!!

But yessss the tickle monster game soooo perfect toooooo ~ especially with followers sending in more monsters, surely pooling together to summon the big baddiessss the multi armed menaces and giant kissyyyy lip cutie attackers and creeeepy ghostyyyy stalkersss just mmmh! I would be a complete wreck so fast it would be like 5 minutes of action, me stumbling around trying to hide and escape and the rest just total gang monster ticklesssss on meeee, writhing around in my VR equipment as my virtual self suffers an endless line of bad endings ~<3

[berrypass-de-murdler]

2 - 32 Country Clubbed to Death

goddammit I worked so hard on another drawing that wasn't enoughhh

Anyway, recently I have been pouring a ton of effort into BABYTINO lore, so have these ridiculous smol chonkers. I've been working on it a lot so if you wanna know more let me know :3

I'm also depressing myself with this new lore so let's get to an extremely stupid filler episode to snap me out of it

DON'T READ THE EPISODES WITHOUT READING THE BOOKS!!

LOGICO: Why are there SO MANY murders? Literally daily murders. Don’t you think it’s a little suspicious? IRRATINO: Hmm… nah. Look a country club! I bet we’ll find a murder there.

They sign up to do some golfin’.  Some others are also there, gently whacking balls.

TANGERINE: Hi.

A murder occurs.

TANGERINE: :p  LOGICO: I know country club politics are cutthroat, but this seems like overkill… IRRATINO: HAAAAHhahahaha. ‘Overkill’.  LOGICO: Hehehehe I know right? Because the murder.

The other two suspects are Judge Pine and Vice President MAUVE. Logico expects the latter to announce her catchphrase, and is almost disappointed when she doesn’t.

MAUVE: Heh? What are you looking at.

First, the boys head to a CREEPY boarded-up shack - the place where the golfers keep their SHIT… and bodies. Tangerine has retreated there to do their… y’know.

TANGERINE: Logico. Look what I got.

They show off a NICE-ass first-place trophy. They do some enchanting hand gestures to add to the effect.

TANGERINE: Mauve was caught cheating - using her VR headset to guide her swings. With her out of the picture, this baby turned out to be all mine. LOGICO: Um… okay. So, what do you know about the murder? TANGERINE: Nothing. Why are you in here? LOGICO: [facepalm]

Next, they move on to the Judge Pine.

PINE: All I know is Vice President Mauve was in the dining hall. LOGICO: That’s all you know? About the entire murder? PINE: Yes. IRRATINO: You don’t know where you were? LOGICO: Or what weapon you were carrying? IRRATINO: I think she must have been blacked out. LOGICO: You know the drinks they serve in these places. PINE: Wh- OXYMORONS: [snickering like idiots]

After getting statements, Logico finds Irratino grinning madly by one of the holes.

LOGICO: What are you doing? IRRATINO: Being an esoteric detective. I’m imagining Mauve with a poisoned cocktail.

Mauve puts down a glass she was about to drink out of.

IRRATINO: Watch me do this hole in one.

He swings a club badly and faceplants. Logico laughs.

LOGICO: You have to dress like an OLD MAN, Irratino. No one else GOLFS.

The suspects look offended.

LOGICO: You think you can just GOLF in THAT? [tickles goat] IRRATINO: Ohhh don't you mess with me! I'm the golf queen! I’ve been to 5,000 conventions! [picks up short king and shakes him around] LOGICO: Oh you have? Well my GREAT AUNT was an ACTUAL GOLF BALL! Give me the club! IRRATINO: NUH-UH!

They are running around and giggling like maniacs. Are they high??

MAUVE: I want to go home now.

Pine can’t take it anymore!

PINE: [stomp] WILL Y’ALL SHUT UP? I DID THE MURDER OKAY?? He cheated at golf! He had to be dealt with! LOGICO: Pfffft. Golf isn’t worth KILLING over. TANGERINE: Um, yes it is. That human fucking deserved what he got. No one cheats at golf in front of us. NO ONE.

Mauve VERY slowly slides away.

LOGICO: I can’t believe your idea of annoying them into a confession actually worked. IRRATINO: The amount of sugar I dumped in your coffee helped! LOGICO: >:0!!!

He lightly whacks Irratino in the nuts with a golf club.

LOGICO: Now are you proud of yourself? I get VIOLENT on a sugar high. IRRATINO: …fine… 

They have to calm down before the next murder.

The end!

New trick - if you're annoying enough, the suspects will just confess! ^w^

NNAAAAAAA BABYTINO MAKES ME SAD GIVE HIM TO ME RIGHT NOW-

The power of Goat Lord compels you!

See you next time murdlers!

[andmaybegayer]

Quest 2 arrived, got to fiddle with some existing apps because the previous owner had not logged out. Didn't feel like being mean so I've reset it now but it handles pretty solidly! They have Firefox for VR headsets now! You can just install ublock origin and it works perfectly. Going to find out what the Linux VR ecosystem looks like, it seems... fraught but manageable.

I am interested in playing with LÖVR sometime, I made a lot of quick little game sketches with LÖVE in high school and I really liked the fast and easy development lifecycle.

I have used the Quest 2 before, some friends bought one and I spent some time fiddling with it, fortunately my VR sickness only really occurs on older systems. The first time I used VR was in 2016 at a convention and I had a great time poking around and then I took off the headset, walked around the corner, and threw up in a dustbin. That's never happened since but I also don't do VR a lot.

The previous owner bought a few facepieces and the hard headstrap so that's nice, much more sturdy than the stock fabric setup. Also my spare glasses fit nicely in here so I don't have to get the lens add-in just yet.

There's a video player app that can access DLNA servers so I was able to open some movies directly over the network which is neat.

The avatar system does not give me weird embodiment things like some other systems have, they're too simple, which I guess is probably why Facebook made them like that. It feels like I'm looking at a video game character who looks vaguely like me. I'll have to poke at VRChat at some point.

Very interested to try a primitives based modeller that runs in VR. One of my big issues with primitives modelling is struggling to translate 2D input movements to 3D vertex movements, I suspect a good VR vertex editor would let me get around that. The reason I grok parametric CAD is because it relies heavily on constraints systems to limit degrees of freedom.

[cybrsan]

Hey cutieeee congrats on ur 100! I hope we can become moots!!

I was wondering if you can do a yunho request :33333

I was thinking of request 125 & 148 fluff

There’s lowkey so many from ur prop I wanna request for but I don’t wanna overwhelm you so I will wait ><

Aw, thank you so much, you're so sweet <3 I am more than happy to write something for Yunho! I've been meaning to for a while, I have been so in his lane recently, omg.

Prompts:  125. “Here, let me help you.” + 148. “I really want to kiss you right now.” “Then do it.” Pairing: Best Friend!Yunho x F!Reader Genre: Fluff Word Count: <1k Tags/warnings: Friends to lovers, mutual pining

Requests are currently closed, but my masterlist can be found here.

“Yunho, I don’t know why you are insisting that we do this. You know I’m awful at games.”

Yunho doesn’t take no for an answer and practically forces the VR headset into your hands. You’re surprised by the weight of it; it’s much lighter than you expected. Somewhat intrigued, your fingers trace the smooth edges, following the curves of the device.

“See, isn’t it cool? It’ll be fun,” he promises, practically bouncing up and down with excitement. “Plus, this is different from a normal video game so maybe you’ll be better at it.” When you make no move to put it on, he adds a sickeningly sweet “Please?” with puppy eyes that make it impossible to resist. 

“Alright, fine. You’re lucky I like you.”

He beams at you, and you practically melt into a puddle. It’s so hard being friends with someone you can never say no to. How are you supposed to when he looks that happy when you agree? He could outshine the sun with the brightness of his smile. You put the headset on; it’s a bit too loose, and you struggle with the straps as you try to adjust it. Yunho chuckles, watching you endearingly for a moment before moving towards you.

“Here, let me help you,” he says, his slender fingers making quick work of the straps. Once he tightens them, he gently shakes the headset to make sure it stays put. “Feel okay?” 

You nod, and after a few bouts of dizziness later, you have managed to adjust to the virtual world and are doing a pretty good job of killing zombies and watching Yunho’s back. You’re in the middle of a particularly chaotic fight, with enemies coming at you from all sides, when you feel a very real pain on the back of your head. You yelp, stumbling over your feet and falling to the ground.

Yunho immediately pauses the game and comes to your aid, kneeling beside you and helping you get your headset off. He inspects the back of your head for any noticeable wound, apologizing non-stop all the while.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing, I didn’t mean—”

You cut him off with a laugh. “Yunho, I’m fine. It hurts a little, but it’s nothing major.” 

He looks at you, a twinkle of embarrassment in his eyes. “I promise I’ll stop forcing you to play games with me now.”

“You don’t force me to do anything—I may pretend I don’t want to, but I always will because it’s something you enjoy, and you mean a lot to me.” He seems to blink away tears at your words, and you gape at him. “Jeong Yunho! Tell me you’re not about to cry right now.”

“No, no, I’m not,” he insists, laughing. A beat passes, something changing in the air between you, and you suddenly feel a lot more conscious of his touch. His hands are still lingering, one mindlessly playing with your hair while the other holds one of your own, his thumb rubbing soothingly over the back of your knuckles.   

You look at him, really look at him, suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to take in his every detail. While he has always been attractive, it is in these past few years that he has truly flourished. He has managed to find his confidence and now carries himself in such a way that demands the attention of those around him.

His soft, chestnut-brown hair has gotten long, a few loose strands falling across his forehead. His eyes are warm and inviting, and he always looks at you as if he hangs on every word that you say. His lips… as much as you try to avert your gaze, not wanting to give into the thought of what they might feel like on yours out of fear of what that might do to your friendship, you find yourself unable. 

“I really want to kiss you right now.” 

The words are out of your mouth before you can give them a second thought. Yunho’s eyes widen, and he freezes, obviously not having expected things to take this turn. You go to backtrack, to pretend like it was just a joke, when suddenly he’s intertwining his fingers with your own and pulling you closer.

“Then do it,” he murmurs.

And so you do. The second your lips touch, it’s like something within you sparks to life, igniting a fire that has long been smoldering beneath the surface. Time seems to stand still as the world around you fades into oblivion, and all you can focus on is him. His hand tangles in your hair, pulling you impossibly closer as if now that he has you, he never plans on letting go. It’s obvious now that this is both something you have been yearning for, something that you have been holding back from. Together, you tumble over the point of no return, willing to deal with whatever the consequences may be. 

When you part, breathless and wide-eyed, neither of you seems to know what to say. The air crackles with anticipation and uncertainty. But Yunho, never one for awkward silences, takes it upon himself to be the first to speak.

“Should I be concerned that this stemmed from me hitting you?”

You immediately laugh, flinging yourself at him as the tension in the room dissolves. “Hey, don’t make me sound like a weirdo!” 

He laughs too, pulling you close and pressing a kiss on the top of your head. “Sorry, sorry, I couldn’t help it. Now,” he stands, holding out his hand and helping you up, “Why don’t we go get something to eat? Seems like we have quite a bit to talk about. It’ll be my treat to make up for hurting you.”

“Sounds good to me. Don’t complain when I order one of everything!”

He just shakes his head, smiling at you fondly as he follows you out of the door.

[theramblingsofadork]

It dawned on me this morning that—at the start of the competition, Hex isn’t very experienced with large scale projects or building full-sized robots.

He’s built a lot of smaller scale robots in his garage, using stuff he’s found lying around, (like the toaster, which he got in big trouble for disassembling...)

…But due to his small size and lack of proper resources, his robots were never quite up to the elite standards he wanted them to be, looking more ‘kiddish’ and cobbled together’ than ‘sleek’ and ‘epic’ like how he visualized in his head.

His fascination with video games—in particular a game franchise called Hero Mania— is what got him into coding and inventing in the first place; seeing as they featured giant hero mechs, which he became inspired to one day build and control/pilot in real life.

But his inability to make The Thing™ a reality, along with all the negative voices in his life got him discouraged. So, he began to focus on the coding side of things instead.

His headset acts very much like a VR one, giving him access to a 3D digital space where he can work with and build his creations while not being limited by resources or space.

Using this and his custom coded tablet, he ended up learning how to write up programs and build digital versions of the robots and suits he wants to bring to life.

But until he meets Lug, he has no idea how he’s ever going to pull it off— or if it’s even possible. But the bulldog loves the whole concept and wants to see him succeed, so he helps him obtain bigger and better materials. Helps him with the building side of things, and even encourages him to silence out those negative voices.

He’s also the one to introduce Hex to the competition in the first place. He thinks it’ll be good for Hex to try his hand in a place with other inventors.

Not to mention—the Atmos Corporation has a plethora of supplies and space, something Hex can use to attempt one of his larger scale robots. (Although of course, they don’t understand just how tricky doing that will actually be until they’re already doing it.)

⭐️ Bonus note to add: During prelims, people—including Starline—do end up judging Hex on his robots’ appearance since it is still quite crude. But his programming and what he makes it do is what really blows them away.

It’s the only reason he and Lug even get through the first round in the first place. And why Starline tracks them down to get them to join his team.

So yeah! There’s your character lore dump for the day. :)

[blacktobackmesa]

Today on thinking about Gordon Streamman too much and sending you questions because of it, I was wondering if you have any thoughts relating to Gordon's twitch channel? Like, what his stream labs notifs are, emojis (other than gordongoodnight sksfhdj), inside jokes with his chat, those sorts of things! If you have anything you want to share, I'd love to hear it <3

I am DELIGHTED to have an excuse to snowball on this. Let's gooooo

I had to come up with stream notifs for the first chapter of Run For Your Life, and after a bit of choice paralysis I decided he uses the Banjo-Kazooie collectable noises for at least some of the notifications. He started using them before his Half Life streams blew up, but in a post-hlvrai world, he also has some donation alerts that are Sweet Voice riffs from certain songs that haven't gotten him DMCA'd. He had to increase the donation amount for the Seinfeld theme after a very generous night of $3 donations, because it refused to leave his head for days.

He has quite a few emotes of himself represented by HL!Gordon wearing a VR headset. Of course, there's gordongoodnight, established to commemorate the time he fell asleep half an hour into his monthly movie night stream (which he will never live down). Chat uses it for any topic involving sleep, as well as to bid farewell at the end of a stream.

Most hand-drawn (er, computer-drawn) emotes added after HLVRAI were drawn by Tommy! He's always been a doodler, and it's a nice hobby now that he's no longer working at the facility.

Everyone on the science team has at LEAST one emote. They're most commonly used to show appreciation for each AI and to express an emotion, action or state of being. Coomer is waving with cheery (if a bit INTENSE) eyes, Tommy is smiling with a soda, Benrey is open-mouthed and singing a rainbow of Sweet Voice, Darnold's face is quizzical, Bubby is open-mouthed, likely screaming, and slightly on fire, and G-Man... well, he's a bit hard to read, and his emote is frequently used to represent "he's just standing there... MENACINGLY!"

Bubby's emote is also used when Gordon does something that could be jokingly referred to as speedrun strats.

Sunkist also has an emote. It's just her PNG. It's a go-to emote for "GOOD DOGGY"

I wanna add more ideas later, let's make this a team effort

[thesilliestofgals]

The pilot for The Amazing Digital Circus dropped on Friday, and it's absolutely taken over my brain and become my new hyperfixation, so of course I'm going to ramble incoherently for like 30-40 minutes trying to construct a theory about it.

Ready? No? Well neither am I because hoo boy is there a lot to unpack here!

(WARNING: spoilers under the cut!)

I want to get this out of the way first- the pilot, in my honest opinion, is a treasure trove of those golden foreshadowing nuggets. The video I linked does a really good job of showing most of them. There is one moment, however, I believe, that is foreshadowing and was looked over.

This moment right here... they lurked on it for a reason. "But Nonny!" you protest, "Maybe it was just to show how surprised Pomni was when she finally got a full look at her new body!" And sure, that could be the explanation, but that just... isn't satisfying for me. I have an idea we'll see this scene recreated down the road- Pomni escapes back to the real world and is running from something or someone, and is able to see her human form in a mirror or window or other reflective surface.

On the topic of Pomni... When I first heard the "How do I... take this... headset off?!" My theory brain immediately jumped to "Oh, VR!", but then I thought, "Well, she could be referring to her jester hat". Glad to know I was right, as Pomni says, after failing to take it off, "I-I-I put on some... weird headset and now I'm... here." Later on, when she's running through the office, she stops and we see this:

It's... weird. Out of everything in that office, that stopped her, and it caused a very visceral reaction. I have many questions about how exactly this office is even here (did Caine make it? If so, how would he know what an office looks like?), but something stood out to me the most.

On the far right looks like a weird headset. Perhaps this is the headset Pomni was talking about.

This ties in with another very important detail.

Since the release of TADC, there's a theory that the circus is the creation by a company, and those in the circus are/were employees or beta testers for the digital circus. I want to add onto this theory that. Maybe this company is a bit more.. malicious, and this beta testing wasn't entirely voluntary. Perhaps those trapped in the circus are employees who discovered the truth behind what the company is really doing (what nefarious stuff could it be doing? No clue!). This could work- perhaps Pomni was close to finding something out, so she was manipulated into becoming a "beta tester" for TADC and got trapped there.

You know, "C & A" reminded me of "Cain and Abel"... Now, that first name sounds... familiar...

"Ok," you pipe up again, "but Caine is AI. This is been established. So, how in the world would he be able to make a (presumed) company with another individual?" Well, it could be likely that Caine was named after one of the founders of this company- or maybe he's considered a "founder" of the company. I dunno, this part of my theory needs to be fine-tuned a bit.

ALSO, WHILE ON THE TOPIC OF CAIN & ABEL: TADC seems to make callbacks to the Bible. This post does a really good at explaining it, but to summarize: at the end of the pilot, we get this scene:

The post I linked points out this setup looks very similar to Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper painting. And honestly, considering everything? This isn't too far of a reach. I'll have to keep an eye out in future episodes to see if any more of the bible references show up.

Back to Pomni- something that interested me was, after Ragatha was healed, Pomni's hand glitch healed, too.

...Why? Caine didn't snap his fingers at Pomni, but her glitching stopped when Ragatha's did. Perhaps Pomni's glitching was connected to Ragatha's, so when Caine healed Ragatha, it extended to Pomni. I'm very interested to learn more about abstracting and glitching.

Speaking of abstracting... one last thing before I finish off.

This right here... worries me. The whole Cellar thing implies that the abstracting problem has been happening probably since the beginning of the Circus. And by Caine just tossing these creatures away... I have a feeling this'll end up biting him in the butt later.

This is really I have so far. If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to add it. I know this theory was kinda all over the place, but I just wanted to get it thought there.

[thatastrobae]

🕷️They really tried to be platonic friends before becoming a couple, but they kept pushing the “platonic” boundaries. For example, they can’t keep their hands off each other: linked arms, lingering hugs, cupping each other’s faces, etc. One time as they were hugging, Miles had the sudden urge to kiss her forehead- when he immediately let go, apologized, and wiped her forehead, Margo was vexed

🕷️Miles randomly started claiming her as his girlfriend and although she didn’t mind- she still wanted him to ask so he did. He stated and I quote: “Will you be my girl? Cause as grateful as I am to simply have you in my life- I can’t keep acting like I’m not yours”

🕷️He put her onto ‘Sunflower’ by Swae Lee and Post Malone. Whenever the song comes on, she can belt the lyrics better than he can

🕷️At some point in BTSV, Margo shows off her skills by building Miles a new, technologically advanced suit to replace his tattered one. (It can rival Tony Stark’s Iron Spider and there are no red lines running up his armpits) She updates it monthly.

🕷️The first time he saw her physical person (not her avatar) it was a repeat of when they first met. The double take, intensified spider senses, him in a trance. She rendered our boy speechless again. He didn’t think she could be more beautiful, but he was gladly mistaken.

🕷️He becomes relentless in finding the perfect shades of ✨brown✨that will capture her complexion in his art.

🕷️Margo often has trouble falling asleep after being in front of a screen all day, thankfully he made her a mixtape of lullabies sung by himself.

🕷️Miles is a Leo (canon) and Margo is a Pisces. They’re both romantic and idealistic. She’s prone to drift to-and-flow through life, but he is stable and provides an anchor and safe harbor for her. He loves to talk she loves to listen.

🕷️On Earth-22191 most interpersonal relationships are via virtual reality, so imagine the shock of Margo’s parents when she brings home a living, breathing boy for dinner. They end up liking him though.

🕷️To add on to that, Miles has his own VR headset in her dimension. They go on virtual reality dates and occasionally like to pop in on their friends. His avatar’s coloring is red and blue and he has shoulder length locs.