#because im not a coder Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[sheepboychibi]

i made the silly some models!! :0

[bi-panic-at-the-disco]

I like how whenever I watch AstralSpiff or Backseat play a new Poppy Chapter it’s pretty clear what game that they devs had been playing before hand lmao,, Chapter 4 being very clearly referencing to the Resident Evil 4 underground factory insect fights with how it was framed

[infinity-on-ri]

Weird hours actually

[psicheanima]

Sneak peek of the makima and denji point and click im making. It will take a while despite the script being 60% done because I am a shit coder. The gimmick is you, Denji, are led by Makima through five doors dealing with various aspects of trauma

This is the set up of what is behind each door:

Door 1: Young Denji and Denji’s father

Door 2: A fairytale about Denji’s father and mother

Door 3: Himeno Reze Kobeni

Door 4: Aki’s dairy entries

Final Door: Power

You can chose to forgive or not forgive all of these characters. It won’t change the ending but there’s additional dialogue for any choice made.

[starryeyed-apple]

a fresh start (back to the beginning)

part i of small town au xavier series

synopsis: you thought that once you left your hometown, you were done with it forever. but fate has a funny way of working itself out, and your world falling apart drives you to return. and in the back of your mind, you can't help but remember him...

★pairing: xavier x fem!reader ★wc: 2.4k ★content: fluff and some angst, humor. small town dynamics, returning to hometown, childhood crushes. reader's grandpa had a health emergency as part of the plot (he's okay). reader is a medical coder, and still has heart problems. brief zayne mention (back in the city). mainly exposition in this chapter. ★a/n: YIPPEE YIPPEEEE im so excited to be starting this one. please be patient with me as this is the first series I've done in a while, and it may take time to get updates out because I want to take my time and have fun with this <3 ★masterlist ★read on ao3

Maybe you should've known, that despite everything in you trying to stay away, you'd always come back again.

There's a rush of relief when you see the deer on the town's welcome sign once you turn off the freeway, mixed with a sinking feeling of dread. A sensation that you've never been able to shake. A deep seated disappointment that yes, every road you'd taken away from here had eventually led you straight back.

You'd tried. You really did.

And you'd done pretty well for yourself, for a while. You'd landed a career that actually suited your education, one with benefits and a retirement plan on top of that. Also, it didn't make you want to peel your skin off 24/7, so that was a bonus.

You had a nice little townhouse all to yourself, with low enough rent, and good restaurants near your neighborhood.

A tight-knit group of sweet friends pulled you along with them when they went out on the weekends. And your boy—

You pause in your reminiscing, glancing down towards your hand on the steering wheel when you turn the car off the main street.

Yeah, no. Not thinking about that.

But it all boiled down to that phone call that nearly stopped your heart, already too faint for its own good all on its own.

The stop sign right before you turn onto your street is still a little crooked, a monument to the storm that had ravaged through the town back in '02. You'd only been a kid, and remembered how the water on the street came up to your knees before Gramps had swept you back inside.

Gramps, you think with an ache in your heart, hands tightening on the steering wheel before you force your grip to loosen.

His old beat-up truck is still in the driveway when you pull in next to it, and you have to remind yourself that that's all the scare was—fear, unrealized.

He was still inside, still okay. Maybe a little worse for wear, but alive.

Still, you wouldn't believe it until you saw it.

And so you're rushing out of the car when you've barely turned the ignition off. The keys dangle in your shaky hands when you take the steps up to the front door two at a time, an unbidden sob escaping your throat when the door's already opening.

Your grandpa just smiles, waving you closer from the wheelchair that his longtime neighbor pushes out—the very neighbor who'd found him passed out in the driver's seat of his truck when they came home after work.

"Oh, my girl," he sighs when you collapse into the hug he's waiting for, crying into his shoulder.

His wrinkled hand comes to pat the top of your head, and you finally feel at ease for the first time in the last 48 hours, since you'd gotten the call he was in the hospital. It was just a mini-stroke, they'd reassured, and you wanted to laugh bitterly if the sound wasn't stuck in your throat. Just.

"I'm okay. It's all okay now."

He wipes your tears and laughs, deep and joyous, when you pout at him.

"You scared me." You try not to sound like a whiny child, but the sound escapes you anyway, afraid you'd lost the only family you'd ever had in the blink of an eye.

"I'm sorry, girlie." He pats your head again, smiling, and it brings the first smile in the past two days onto your face. Relief finally floods your chest, and you deflate with it. "Come on, let's get you inside. Have you eaten? You look more like death than I do."

You laugh at the familiar dark humor as you grab onto his wheelchair handles to push him inside. Shooting a grateful glance towards Bethany, your neighbor, you mouth a sincere thank you. She just smiles.

"Anytime, sweetie," she hums, tucking your hair behind your ear, and the familiarity soothes that ache that still sits in your chest.

That persistent, gnawing feeling that now that you're back, you're not getting out again.

Still, there's comfort when she offers a warm greeting to your return, "Welcome home."

With a quiet groan, you squint at your laptop screen, all the letters making up the medical jargon jumbling together. You reread the sentence about which vein had been surgically connected to which artery for the fifth time, glance towards the codes, and lean back in your chair.

It had only been a week back home, and you were already going crazy. You could still do all your work remotely, thank god—but that just meant you were stuck with the same work and same old views all day, now. It was hard not to start feeling stir-crazy already, missing the life you had built for yourself.

Even if it had already started falling apart before you got the call.

Rubbing the heels of your palms against your eyes, you sigh, blinking rapidly at the lights that swim in your vision when you pull them back.

"Too many veins. Too many fucking arteries," you grumble, reaching for another sip of your latte, only to discover you were on its last dregs again. "Aarya—"

"No way," the barista calls from the counter, leveling you with a glare that rivals your own. "That's the second one you've had today, missy. I'm not making you another one, I know how your heart acts up when you've had too much."

You groan and huff, head dropping onto your arms on the corner of the table where you'd set up your work.

"It's not my fault." You switch tactics to whining instead, smirking into your arms when you sneak a glance to see your old high school friend wincing at the sound. If it grated on her nerves enough, she'd give in. She always had. "This is the fifth cardiovascular surgery in a row."

"That's too bad," Aarya sings, shooting you a smirk when you lift your head to glare at her. "Hey, you wanted to move to the city to work for a big hospital, now you have to deal with the consequences."

You stick your tongue out at her, and she returns it with a rude gesture that makes you bark out a laugh. It eases that tension at the base of your neck, and you sigh, rolling out the remaining tightness.

Glancing out the window you're seated next to, you squint at the small stage set up at the civic center right across the street from your favorite coffee shop.

"What's going on over there?" you ask, glancing over the small crowd that had gathered around whoever was giving a speech on stage.

Aarya leaves the counter to walk up behind you, leaning down to get a better look.

"Oh, that." She rolls her eyes, disinterested. "It's re-election time."

You look at the speaker for a few more seconds. Their platinum blond hair is graying, eyes too blue even from a distance, and then realization hits you.

"Is Mayor Shen still the mayor?"

"Yup," with a pop of the p, she shoots you a knowing smirk. "Some things never change, do they?"

"Is that even legal?" you ask, trying to remember if there was ever a time when the richest man in town hadn't also ran it. "Can you be mayor of a town for that long?"

"Who knows?" Aarya throws up her hands with a shrug, readjusting her septum piercing before sitting across from you. "Small towns and all that. People like things to stay the same."

"I guess so," you mutter, chin propped on your hand as you look back at your friend. "Does anybody even run against him?"

"Yeah, sometimes. I think somebody else is campaigning this year, but I can't remember who." She smirks, a familiar look in all its cynical charm. "They'll lose anyway."

You sigh, shaking your head as you look back at your laptop screen. With a groan, you slam it shut, earning an arch of Aarya's pierced eyebrow.

"Dr. Li will forgive me for taking a break," you tell her with a bright smile, and she huffs out a laugh.

"Dr. Li sounds like a merciful boss."

"Sometimes," you allow with a shrug. Zayne could be sweet if the mood struck him, especially if you were catering to his sweet tooth.

The surgeon was far too serious for his own good, but you had grown fond of him in the time you worked for the cardiovascular department in Linkon City's top hospital. His medical reports were way more organized than most other doctors you've coded for, and he was patient whenever you needed to ask for clarification.

"He's not really my boss, though."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." You nod, staring longingly at what had once been a full cup of coffee, as if willing it to refill on its own. "Hospital administration pays me."

Your phone chimes with a medication reminder, and you pass on the message in a quick text to your grandpa. Waiting, you see the read notification light up with the time, and frown when there's no further response.

With a sigh, you push yourself up from your seat, tucking your laptop back into your tote bag.

"Gotta go check on the old man," you explain at Aarya's questioning look. Fondness coats your voice at the nickname for him, emphasizing your hushed worry, and she softens.

"How's he doing?" she asks, her voice notably quieter, kinder than her usual harsh-edged monotone that you love so dearly.

"He's good," you brush off, because he was. Because he had to be.

You couldn't entertain any notion that he wasn't, even if he was remaining tight-lipped on everything the doctors had to say in his brief hospital visit. Stubborn as always, just like he'd raised you to be.

"Yeah, he's good."

"Good." Aarya is nodding, her mouth opening to say something else, but you're already spinning around towards the door, your practically empty drink in hand in preparation to throw away.

You stumble back in surprise when you collide right into somebody else as they walk into the café.

The jingle of the bell distantly rings in your mind while you sway dangerously, steadied by the gentle strength in the hands that quickly come around your shoulders.

"Woah," you hear a soft voice mumble.

It's faintly familiar in its melodic lilt, and your widening eyes shoot up towards its owner.

Deep blue eyes peer back at you, slowly widening a fraction as they take you in.

"Xavier," you breathe, and clear your throat. "Uh. Hi."

Xavier Shen blinks a few times.

Long, slow blinks, his head tilting to the side as he continues to take you in. It makes the bangs of his fluffy, silvery blond hair fall across his gaze, and he doesn't even bother to push it back.

"Oh," he finally says after a long moment that feels more and more like eternity. "It's you."

You try not to wince at the utterly lackluster reaction. Or retreat into your shell because of how long it took him to even recognize you.

"Yup." You attempt a laugh, grimacing internally when it comes out strained. "It's me…hi."

Trying to wave awkwardly, it gets even more awkward when you remember your cup is still in your hand.

The awkwardness intensifies when you realize even though it wasn't completely empty before, it's definitely empty now.

"Oh, shit," you hiss, eyes narrowing in on the very noticeable little coffee stain over the pocket of the completely white, pure as fucking snow hoodie that Xavier was wearing.

Your face heats up when he looks down and slowly blinks again.

"I'm so, so sorry," you begin to ramble, hovering around him in a panic. He just stares at the stain, then back up at you. "I—I can pay for you to get it cleaned, or get you a new—"

"It's fine," he interrupts you, not even trying to cover up the yawn that stretches across his face.

He rubs at his eyes, and with the tiniest tilt of his head that can hardly even be called a nod—honestly, it easily could've just been him looking at the menu behind you—he moves past you.

You're left blinking rapidly, empty cup still in hand, staring at the door you had been about to exit through.

You hear him ordering a drink from Aarya behind you, in that same soft-spoken tone he'd always had, and you try not to feel like you've just been left in the dust. A toy never even taken out of its box.

Some things never change, do they? You can practically hear Aarya's voice as you feel the weight of her gaze on your back when you leave, in a daze all the way back to your parked car.

Well.

That…wasn't exactly how you'd imagined it.

But in hindsight, it was Xavier Shen.

Effortlessly cool, top student Xavier Shen, having not a single care in the world as he aced every single test while hardly lifting a finger to study. Sleeping in the back of the classroom and finishing an exam in ten minutes when it was passed back to him.

Xavier Shen, who led the school's fencing team all the way to the national level of competition, and came home with the only first place trophy to grace its barren display cases. And another trophy every year after that, his name shining proudly on the top of the team's list on the shiny plaque.

Xavier Shen, only son of the rich and successful mayor, unsmiling but present in every newspaper photo of a town charity event.

Xavier, who disappeared from school for days or weeks a time, and came back paler, more tired than before.

Xavier, valedictorian and refusing to make a speech. Xavier, never bothering to show up at a school dance, absent even when he won the title of prom king.

Except for…

You clear your throat, shaking your head as you sink further into the driver's seat. Your face is hot when you bury it in your hands, banging your forehead against your steering wheel.

Popular without trying, without even caring, aloof and beautiful Xavier Shen.

Who met your eyes every time you would sneak a glance back at him. Who never said anything when you passed him in the halls, even with the way your eyes were glued to his every move.

Xavier, your biggest childhood crush, who hardly knew you ever even existed.

So maybe it should've been all you expected after all.

[weebsinstash]

Now Im interested on the "What if the 3 Vs passed Reader around like a blunt"

I kind of meant it in like a "what if you were some weird shared friend/pet" but I've seen people HC that the 3Vs are poly, although we've never seen any canon confirmation of this and on the Instas it was always Vox who was Val's explicit partner

Although to be nasty I feel like Velvette would be fucked up enough to watch Reader get railed by Val and Vox. Like in some party scenario where you're with all 3 in their house and Valentino dopes you up or something, she's just like, recording you getting spitroasted on her phone

I usually imagine these sorts of scenarios as Reader meeting Val and then slowly drawing the attention of the others, although Vox really has grown on me and I hope we see more of him these last two episodes. Anyways i'm starting to like the idea of Reader meeting Vox first. Like can you imagine you get hired on as a coder or a programmer or a product developer, and he's patrolling the facilities or checking in on a specific project and that's when you meet. He either notices the quality of your work or your manager brings it up to him, or there's some massive metaphorical fire you put out (like that woman who saved toy story 2 from being completely erased because she had all the files backed up, something like that)

You and Vox get to talking, getting along, having similar tastes. He starts giving you different projects, ones he thinks are better suited to your skills (and also put you in closer proximity to him). Fucking liar is arranging shit like company calendars or company events where there are photoshoots JUST so he has an excuse to pose with you for a photo. I mean, it makes sense right? Why would you question your boss wanting to take a celebratory photo at the release of a huge product launch? And you're happy and feeling so respected and successful and being friendlier with him the more you settle into Hell and feel safer, and then I imagine Vox's way of being "obvious" is that he's like, easily nervous or a nervous laugher , I dunno. It's all preference but I like yandere/antagonists who keep their cool a little bit but then it's also cute when they fawn over you 🥰 like the people who know him see the way he laughs around you and they Instantly Know

But then, maybe Val is perceptive enough to notice, "hey why does my man keep taking photos with this one specific person". Like maybe Vox is trying to be slick with it and all the photos are group shots but Val notices that every single photo has you in it and some of the photos are for really minor events he knows Vox wouldn't normally care about. Vox slips up one day when you and him are "sharing a car to go to a company event" which totally isn't like a catered dinner that there are only going to be SO many people at, TOTALLY NOT an incognito date that you're complerely unaware of the intentions behind, and Vox has to stop in back home to grab something, or you get pulled inside for a moment just to wait, he's gotta grab a laptop or a flash drive and, suddenly here's Velvette, "Vox I'm borrowing your nerdy employee, I'm short someone and I need a model for something" and you're getting dragged away

Vox is freaking out thinking you got swiped by Val and he's zipping through the electrical lines in the house (the electro-teleportation shit really is SUCH a game changer), and he finds you trying on things with Velvette, "oh my gosh I've never worn something this nice before, thank you for giving me the opportunity to try it on ^^" and Velvette is so pompous that any praise goes right to her head, and now Vox gets to see you all styled in... whatever. Velvette waves a finger, "now you two match!" as she puts you in an outfit with Vox's aesthetic and color scheme, and she's doing it to tease the both of you but she IMMEDIATELY notices "oh hey Vox what's that look on your face >:3c does someone have a crush?"

SHE would be the fucking gossip who would tell Val honestly. Actually new headcanon lmao: the Vs rarely want to share you but will rat each other out for "having you" in a heart beat. Velvette and Vox hide you from Val, but any of them will gladly steal you from the other lmao. God, a yandere Vox who's lucid and tryna keep his behaviors under wraps, keep it to pictures, stalking and looking from afar, and then you have the other two Vs like SHOVING YOU at him as like, a joke to watch him squirm and blush. They'd be randomly bringing you along just to tease him and watch him sweat. Valentino hits Vox up for a date or a night out and the tv demon shows up and you're there too lmao

I feel like these three are the worst because they all have the capacity to be obsessed with your appearance. Velvette is an influencer, Vox is a TV mogul and tech CEO, and Valentino... obviously we don't need to comment on his penchant for having arm candy. All of them are obsessed with their appearance and their brand and one of them is literally a tailor with magical clothes changing powers. You could have something like the other two Vs show up while you're serving Val drinks and Velvette cocks her brow, "hey, why doesn't this one have a proper uniform?" And she just starts zapping you into different varying levels of exposed outfits that match the other employees at the strip club and Val's aesthetic just for kicks as the big man himself oogles you like a pervert and his boyfriend is pretending he's not interested but, his screen is totally turning red

Tbh I'm suddenly thinking of like, imagine thinking "your body is safe" because Val has never come onto you and, you aren't sleeping with anyone and, you get upset one night and do some self harming behaviors. Velvette or Valentino comes and demands you try something on or you get nonconsensually zapped into something and there are cuts hidden on your body. Velvette is furious because this affects how you look in her clothes and what she can dress you up in, Vox is you know concerned because idk I imagine he knows what it's like to be horribly insecure and feel like you aren't good enough, and Valentino probably loves having you constantly half naked and the self harm scabs? Not hot, babe. Obviously they're all upset over you hurting yourself but, these are occasional feelings on top of that

Ugh I dunno just. They all have power and influence and money and they're all crazy and I'm over here kicking my feet and twirling my hair with thoughts of being objectified in allllll the fun ways

[mxwerbenmanjensen]

personal TADC character analysis

uh warning this is long lol

autism time let’s go (/not in a negative way i have autism) stretches hands * I’ll go in order of the character episodes cause why not we have it (see below) i’ll put periods but it will just be to make it more readable not to be intimidating lolll

btw im completely open to interpretations of characters changing throughout the series this is just for fun

Gooseworx has said this series is mostly focused on characters rather than lore, and from what we know, i truly believe it. I don’t think any of the current characters will abstract because of this.

(I put a version of this in the glitch inn discord theory thing so if you recognize it that’s why)

Pomni: we already know her deal pretty well, as we’ve already had her episode. uuuh if anyone’s going to do something important lore wise it will probably be her as she’s the main character but can’t rlly tell what that may be. to review ep 2 though she’s an outcast who has felt like she was nothing and is a logical thinker.

(Kinger and Zooble will there their focus episode but i put it in order of who was revealed to be the ep 3 focus first)

Zooble: From their design (the entire motif is it can be changed at any time) and the fact she doesn’t know his gender, we’re dealing with some pretty clear identity issues. Friends with Gangle seems cool excited for next episode to learn more about them!

Kinger: One of the most interesting characters so far. I feel like we will get to learn more about abstraction though Queenie, the X-ed out door that looks like a female version of him. If i had to guess, since Gooseworx said they were not siblings, they were a couple. (Also judging by his age and the fact he could have been married, he may have been a father yeowch imagine that) I can see the common theory of the insect collection implying he was a coder before getting trapped, but i could also see him being some random guy who just likes bugs lol. He seems like really sweet guy behind his constant anxiety and disassociating.

 Gangle: (My faveorite human rn) Her mask design can be interpreted in a lot of ways but it’s clear that the happy mask isn’t her real personality. My take on it rn is she doesn’t wana bother people with her stuff so she pretends she’s happy? She seems easily embarrassed and def has self esteem lower than the last circle of hell. What’s interesting though is she’s willing to stand up for herself from time to time, even though she’s easily shot down after.

Ragatha: Waaaay too nice for her own good. Also probably has self esteem lower than the last circle of hell and bases her self worth of others approval.  Though she’s been here the second longest, she seems a lot more normal than Kinger. Makes me question how long apart their introductions have been. Probably copes via escapism.

Jax: I can see why everyone is very interested in him cause me too. He seems like the only fourth wall breaky guy (unless you count Caine cause of his intro at the pilot)which is rlly interesting how did he figure out more than everyone else? what’s with the keys? i have no clue lmao. He’s an asshole who makes the best of his situation by torturing everyone else. At the end of the day though, he’s a human and was sad at kaufmo’s abstraction but he probably isolates himself so it would probably be the same for anyone

but waAitTt a moment

that’s 6 humans but Gooseworx said we would look into 7 (cause of the “other” part) in her twitter post talking about the character focus timeline so we know our fav character won’t be left behind ⁉️⁉️⁉️ I hear you not asking well my dear hypothetical person, who better to fill the 7th character than Caine?

Why you did not ask? Too bad i’m info dumping. First, he’s the main antagonist and alongside Pomni, the commercial face (or lack their of haha teeth and eye joke) of the series. he’s an important character and loved by many. (and hated equally if not more aside the point lmaooo)

Yes, gooseworx can lie about stuff but I think she’s smarter than to lead this heavy into Caine depth/ angst territory if there wasn’t going to be anything On top of that, the entire purpose of the timeline post was so we know our faveorite characters weren’t getting treated poorly. It’s unlike for a character based show to suddenly drop such a major character for some random other guy were introduced to later or smth. i mean cmon there’s three episodes after all the humans at least one of them has to be focused on my boy.

Caine: I believe he really does have good intentions and wants to help but just does not understand people at all. This means he’s like an anxiety disorder; it wants to help, solves some issues but creates 500 more. Judging by the Tumblr post, loneliness may play a big part in what’s to come? I’ve always had a feeling his front was extremely fake and his VA saying “breaks keyfable” (an act that pretends it’s true) supports that theory. Episode two gives some insecurity vibes when Zooble didn’t want to go on the adventure. I find that pretty interesting cause he didn’t care at all if people went on the gloink adventure or not. Maybe he puts some adventures over others and he could have been proud of the candy adventure cause more time and care was put into it and he made a new AI. Why did he blue screen? i feel like he could have some blockages on what he can say built in though im not sure why he was blocked then if he even was. one of the biggest questions i have ab him currently tbh. what’s with him grabbing his cane like that in ep 2? if i had to guess simply be nervous = that? His VA also knows some depth to him even though his focus episode is likely going to be at least one of the last 3 episodes, which they have not gotten to recording yet. You know what this means Caine angst solidarity club? Sad Caine so more fan angst appetizers before the main cannon feast let’s friccin go‼️‼️⁉️⁉️

(try to guess my fav impossible /j)

[lilybug-02]

Sorry about the (very long) delay, I was seeing if I could get all 4 breads in a single message-

Anyway, 3 breads are now in desktoptale! Again, sorry.

Fairy bread.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/xdbmvjfeifzu1whkls9kh/AG8DX87QEn2haulNYTGl37I?rlkey=5tnu4buqi3lx3te9btj2bzqt3&st=rjr25q31&dl=0

Base/Lily bread.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/pgna9wrkjjhhdl13cq3b3/AMwcm2ZwmzfhIyVzRn0tZw0?rlkey=afp8lrzwb2cuj0uvaknzp7oj7&st=xh7mc1wf&dl=0

And Moldycepts bread!

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/b9s0mpmmcjz4kttyq9gtb/ABnfB9HLupGc8PBiHsscD5M?rlkey=djzn88q2yjkhhwqys7cfoeph6&st=t8o2rilf&dl=0

Finally, ultimate power! CT Chara & Asriel with Bread!

thn;fas{h}:;][onwt;pd\ripoeuaeahewthn;fas{h}:;][onwt;pd\ripoe:;][onwt;pd\ripoeuawthn;fas;pd\ 🌈☀️🌈☀️🌈☀️🌈 🎨👾 🎨 👾🎨👾🎨 OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! 🥖🦄🧚‍♀️🫓🎉

THEY ARE ON MY SCREEN.

They are all very close friends now. Chara and Asriel Sprites by the same coder :DDD with @ejsuperstar being the artist.

available through -> (desktoptale)

Im gonna cry. These are so so so cool. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to make these. I'm showing my family and friends. I'll put the link to these in my pinned post!!! Because oh my god YES.

[crossovers-nobody-asked-for]

So amazing digital circus spoilers for ep.3

Hey so heres a random theory i came up with about the amazing digital circus. What if Queenie was an NPC. Look hear me out. We unfortunately all know there is a very very good chance Kinger is going to abstract. The foreshadowing is practically hitting us in the face. But this got me thinking “what would be Kinger’s tipping point?” Put this thought on the back burner.

Now let’s talk about Queenie and Kinger’s possible job before the circus. Obviously, if you have seen other theories, im referring to the “7 years of coding experience” comment from episode 3. So it’s very much hinted at that Kinger was a coder for the circus.(Similer to how Pomni was a secretary for the company) However, a big thing in coding is bug testing. In short, I believe this is why Kinger isn’t a big fan of bugs when he first enters the circus. Queenie on the other hand adores bugs but why would someone who we amuse also worked for the company enjoy bugs.

It could be coincidence or it could be a play on words. Queenie, herself, was a “bug” in Caine’s program and he wasn’t able to tell if she was an npc or not. Kinger doesn’t remember because well it’s Kinger, he already struggles with memory. Kinger is a coder and bug tester while Queenie is a bug in the code sort of.

Back to what i was talking about earlier about Kinger’s abstraction. Story wise it would make sense for Kinger’s tipping point to be finding out that his wife,the person he started appreciating insects and constantly trying to be in the dark to remember her, is an npc. This would imply that Queenie is not real and Kinger would spiral.

Thank you once again for listening to my late night rambling. Have a good night everyone. 💚

Edit: Yes i do realize my mistake with the quote being computer science and not necessarily anything to do with coding but my point still stands.

[drinkyourvillainjuice]

not the male ro anon (obv), but it feels always kind of strange to me when people ask for more or like even gender distribution in ro? like ik its bcs im a funky aroace, but first of all, the romance is a feauture not the main selling point. if there's no ro that appeals to you, the story (should) and their friendships can. like yeah, i also scroll down to the ro list and check everyone out, but if no ones my personal taste, im still playing the game if the premise and plot sound cool. like your writing is more than just the romance points. (maybe im a bit bitter on this topic bcs i deal/t with romance being the main and only point in every media ever, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.)

and you also dont have to stick to your taste. am i into women? no but i can make a character who is and i can still enjoy the romance of it. ik customization is a really massive part of if games, but it also offers the means to explore outside of your own identity. i think thats a big part of flavor texts too, seeing the small differences and how it changes the experience between different types of people.

and speaking from a coders perspective, maybe im just lazy (laziness is a lie and doesnt exist), but having to code the different pronouns and maybe even gender specific flavour text for gender selectable RO can be kinda annoying at times ngl. and i can absolutely understand why writers dont want to add gender selectable ro options because theres a lot of important differences in how people are brought up as, and the amount it could change someones character can be massive, we're talking like straight up two (or more) different people, just for one selection in an RO. and sometimes offering gender selection just doesnt make sense for the romance or the plot. not only does teddys sexuality but also gender play into his romance and character. it would not have the same meaning if we were allowed to change his gender.

and thats just like 3 points i personally can think of. and personally, genuinely, obviously no hate to the anon, i understand if its just a frustration of an perceived "imbalance" in ro, but authors have many reasons why they chose to offer the ro that they do, to make them gender selectable or not. and speaking from a readers perspective, sometimes we do feel entitled to ro, options and flavor, that the author knows wont happen. that doesnt make us bad readers, or authors bad writers and coders, its just something we have to remind ourselves of. "theres probably a reason for it".

I spent a bit of time considering which ROs could even have been switchable and I ultimately came up with Wil, Alistair, and CG. And with CG that would mean changing some of her background and tbh I kind of like Alistair being a guy and a more 'nurturing' type of character.

So yeah. idk. With Wil I felt like the opportunity was there to make them switchable and I decided to give it a shot since it'd be something I hadn't tried before (and let me include a character who potentially has neopronouns. but M!Wil was always gonna be a thing.

and agree that pronoun code is a pain in the butt.

[sammygender]

what homestuck characters do each of the hearth way gang members relate to the most? you asked me this and it was a great question so im asking you

yeah i was so right this is a fantastic question. anyway here we go

robyn - terezi. he is soooo terezi. views himself as a figure of fun and not a permanent fixture in peoples lives…. check! clinically depressed… check! very little faith in himself and very little belief anything essentially Matters…. check! thing about needing to Remember…. check! he’s even a mind player. he’s a lot nicer than terezi though of course but i just know he’d feel so seen by her. oh and dave. of COURSE dave. daves silly and traumatised, just like robyn. and he’d like kanaya and jade. i keep coming back to his and adding more but like… also june. especially epilogues june. chill silly and depressed :)

laine - sollux (coder) or nepeta (avid :3 emoji user). he likes the trolls. from the kids he’d see himself in rose, i think, even though he doesn’t really act like her. oh and 13 y old laine would’ve imprinted on dave so hard. OH and KARKAT. HOW COULD I FORGET. there’s definitely some karkat there. and, awfully, definitely vriska. he’s actually very vriska-ish i think in terms of complexes even tho he doesn’t act like her or narratively fulfil her role

seth - dirk. in every way possible. do i even need to elaborate? and jade, i think. he likes vriska a lot but he’s not really as controversial as her deep down. he’s a dirk.

marie - rose (light player‼️). she is sooooo rose. don’t even need to elaborate on this

ishu - ishu would see herself in like. aranea or someone. she’d like the dancestors more than the actual characters no i don’t know why. but also dirk. and vriska. not because she’s that much like vriska but she just sees herself in characters like that. she’s got a touch of kanayaism too i think. oh and she likes dave she’s just really fond of him

dean - i actually reckon he’d feel weirdly seen by vriska and probably hate her. and like. he’d be a gamzee fan. god is dean/robyn just preretcon gamrezi……

fantastic question slur anon🙏🙏

[savventeen]

I JUST BINGED YOUR ENTIRE “THANKS FOR PLAYING” AND I HAD TO STOP MYSELF FROM CRYING IN THE LIVING ROOM AND GODDAMN I GOT SO MANY QUESTIONS/IDEAS so here’s a dump lmao

AND SPOILERS ‼️‼️

and be honest if you honestly don’t have any idea or want to leave it up for interpretation

dino’s friend recommended it to him and he recommended it to mc right? well what happened to that friend/person?? i bet they are alive because they sent that game to 13 people before 3 am so the lady in the closet doesn’t get to them 🤭

if mc didn’t mess around and acted seriously in the game, would the outcome have changed? or was it always the gamemaster’s intention for the player to fall into obscurity?

how come dino remembered the mc? power of love??? or because he knew about the game (im pulling stuff out of my ass)?? or he has an android phone in this au 🧐

what if the pfps for the “AIs” are actually previous victims

so if you actually finish the game against all odds everyone is released (if they aren’t dead) hmmmmm sequel merhaps?? jk

imagine the only clue left about the players existence is the goddamn phone bill for texting 💀

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MC????? wait that’d be really sad if the mc was actually still alive but dino couldn’t recognize them as “mc” but knows they exist somehow uGH

i know you wrote this story for fun so these don’t need to have answers/comments but please provide any extra tidbits of info about this concept it’s so interesting 🙏🙏

SKLJDFLKSDJF OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING????? AND IM SO HONORED HOLY SHIT I WILL DO MY ABSOLUTE BEST TO ANSWER WHAT I CAN 😭💜

also you are not the only one with questions so I'm going to do my best to answer them all here!!!

[for anyone who hasn't read it yet and wants to know wtf we're talking about, you can read the entirety of my .|X| THANKS FOR PLAYING |X|. smau here!]

*cracks knuckles* alrighty buckle up folks time to try and answer some questions and take a deep dive into savv’s personal TFP lore here we gooooooooooooo

[putting it all under a readmore bc it got long af and also i didn't realize how hard it would be to translate the lore in my brain into words??????? i somehow didn't realize how oddly complicated it is??? like writing all of this out in any kind of semi-coherent way was SO HARD sdkjfsdlkjf]

~ Was it all a dream? (this one was asked by @junhui-recs)

Sadly, no. 😭 In the reality of this fictional universe, a tragedy very much did happen and Dino and MC are very much suffering from it 🥲 (I will not stop you from imagining that it was all a dream tho, we all have different ways of coping dklsjfsklj <3)

~ What's the main purpose of the game? Why are they doing this? (this one asked by @diamondyjh)

OKAY SO to start off you need to know that this au was heavily inspired by an episode of a podcast called "The Magnus Archives", specifically the episode “Binary” (transcript here). [If you're a fan of horror, I highly recommend giving the episode a listen/read, it's delightfully creepy — you don't need to have listened to any of the other episodes to understand it (just stop at the ending 'supplemental' part)]

The episode goes into detail about this sort of digital urban legend/creepypasta/copypasta about a guy named Sergey Ushanka who, long story short, tried to upload his brain/consciousness into a computer because he was afraid of death and wanted to try living forever virtually. There are tame versions of how he did it and other much more brutal ones, but basically "Sergey Ushanka" is a prank that various coders/programmers like to pull when making chatboxes in which you could talk with "strangers". It would start out normal and then steadily devolve into something creepy. This paragraph taken directly from the episode transcript sums it up very nicely:

"But then the responses start to break down, become more sinister, and keep referring to how much pain Sergey is in. Eventually, the only response the bot gives you is screaming and pleas to be released. The idea is that the chatbot is Sergey Ushanka’s mind, and he doesn’t like being in a computer nearly as much as he’d hoped."

So the idea that I stole from the episode essentially was: but what if it was real? What would the reality of being turned into cold, unfeeling data feel like? Agony is what the episode posits. Here is a list of phrases that the Sergey in the episode uses:

cw: vague body horror, blood mention "the angles cut me when I try to think" / "it peels my mind like knives" / "it feels like thinking through cheese wire" / "there's no feeling, but the no feeling hurts" / "it's cold without blood" / "the maze is sharp on my mind"

My next thought process was: What happens after? If someone were able to survive this process and were somehow able to keep any kind of agency, how would that person try to get out of the digital hellscape that has now become their existence? After knowing what it feels like to become distinctly inhuman, wouldn't they do anything to feel human again?

And how do we feel human? How do we find connection with each other and our humanity without ever having to come in contact with another person?

Stories. Fiction and non-fiction alike, we are all connected through storytelling, by finding feeling through other people's words. The thing about stories, though, is that they aren't messy in the same way that actually feeling our feelings is. That being human is.

So what does all of this have to do with the purpose of the game?

Essentially, when it's all boiled down, in this universe the story of Sergey Ushanka is real, and in this universe he is trying to gain his humanity back by stealing that of others. He started off with stories, with whatever online libraries and resources and archives he could find across the internet. And while it wasn't even close to enough to satisfy him, to get rid of any of the pain he was constantly experiencing, it was enough for him to learn, to grow, to realize that if he wanted his humanity back, he needed to go to the source.

So he started stealing real people from the real world, with all of their messy feelings and emotions and humanness.

That is the purpose of the game, why "they" are doing this. (pls don't ask the how bc i don't have an answer for that, just -waves hands- you know, insert your supernatural/sci-fi explanation of choice sldkflksj)

~ Did all the other characters from the game also get pulled into it the same way reader did? (asked by @diamondyjh) / What if the pfps for the “AIs” are actually previous victims

Short answer, yes to both! (Longer answer in the next question lol)

~ Who are those other people? (asked by @junhui-recs)

Essentially, the other characters/bots/whatever you want to call them are a kind of amalgamation of all the previous players who got sucked into the game. Once someone's been... let's call it absorbed, whatever parts of themselves are left after the process basically get shoved into whatever "character" they fit best, sometimes different pieces going to different characters.

And while the pictures could just be random ones, I like the idea that they're taken from the most recent players that got absorbed :')

~ Why was Changkyun evil? (asked by @junhui-recs)

Well, the main reason he was "evil" was because he's, y'know, a part of the game and the game is trying to steal people's souls or whatever. As for why he's mean, that's because he's trying to trigger an emotional reaction. The more messy, human feelings that are happening at the time of absorption, the better :').

~ Dino’s friend recommended it to him and he recommended it to mc right? What happened to that friend/person??

"i bet they are alive because they sent that game to 13 people before 3 am so the lady in the closet doesn’t get to them 🤭" SJKDFSKLDJ this made me snort, so thank you 😂

BUT to answer your question, in the story, Dino says that Yeonjun gave it to him and that he got it from "a friend of a friend of a roommate". Because the absorption and the consequent complete erasure is such a big process, not everyone who plays gets sucked in. In fact, most people who play don't get sucked in. Which is why Yeonjun is totally fine! (And why the friend of the friend of the roommate, aka this universe's irl Changkyun, is not 🥲)

~ If mc didn’t mess around and acted seriously in the game, would the outcome have changed? Or was it always the gamemaster’s intention for the player to fall into obscurity?

This one's a little bit complicated. It's kind of a yes and no situation? Generally speaking, the game isn't looking to ensnare every single person who plays because 1) it takes A Lot Of Effort to take/erase a single person, and 2) the game needs to spread to other people somehow, thus it needs people to play it and then tell other people to play it too.

For MC specifically, though, it's hard to say. How they played the game didn't matter so much as how they reacted to the game, specifically the first phase(s) of the Mnemosyne Protocol. The whole point of the game is to get big, messy, emotional responses, so if MC hadn't had such a big reaction, the game probably would have turned out differently. That being said, if MC had played the game as blandly as possible, the game might not have ever decided to test out the Mnemosyne Protocol, so. *shrugs* Do with that what you will lol.

~ So if you actually finish the game against all odds everyone is released (if they aren’t dead) hmmmmm sequel merhaps?? jk

Sadly, nothing special happens if you finish the game 😭 Plenty of people finish the game and pretty much go "huh, that was cool I guess" and then move on with their lives after telling their friends about it. This can be said about all four games mentioned actually, since we only see one of them get played.

As for a sequel... almost certainly not 🥲 I'm not going to give a hard no/no forever, because who knows if I'll end up getting another idea/get suddenly struck with inspiration, but... it is Extremely unlikely. Another story in the same universe??? ...still not likely, but slightly more likely than a sequel lol.

~ Why is Dino the only one who remembers reader? (asked by @diamondyjh) / How come Dino remembered the mc? Power of love??? Or because he knew about the game (im pulling stuff out of my ass)?? Or he has an android phone in this au 🧐

I almost want to make the answer "bc he has an android" because that is So Funny to me like sldkfjsldkjfslkjdf amazing 😂

But no, that's not the case lmao. And while I am a huge sucker for the Power of Love being an unstoppable force (ESPECIALLY when it's non-romantic love!!!), the reason Dino and only Dino remembers is thanks to sheer luck and a glitch.

So, in episode 28, MC drops their phone when meeting their brother and in episode 29 we see the alert ".|| MNEMOSYNE PROTOCOL COMPLETE ||." show up on a cracked screen.

The final phase of the Mnemosyne Protocol is the erasure portion, and the reason players get erased instead of just like, disappearing is because their "essence" is basically being transferred from reality into this digital realm of Sergey's existence. And reality, because it's now lacking an entire person and their history, just kinda... rewrites itself to make sense with the missing gap. Think of it as the universe doing like a sort of reverse autocorrect.

But because MC's phone got broken in the middle of that transfer, there was a slight glitch in the process. A glitch wherein Dino, because he was on the opposite side of the globe when this was happening, got accidentally missed in the autocorrection process. If he had been in Korea (or heck, anywhere within a few thousand miles) when this happened, he would have forgotten MC as well.

So long story short, Dino was just extremely (un?)lucky 🥲

~ Where is reader? (asked by @junhui-recs) / WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MC????? Wait that’d be really sad if the mc was actually still alive but dino couldn’t recognize them as “mc” but knows they exist somehow uGH

Well, sad news here friends. Most of what's left of MC is now stuck inside the game. They got absorbed and are now a part of Sergey's dataset and will be used/distributed into "characters" as needed.

Notice that I said most. Because, thanks to the glitch, the part of them that was connected to Dino didn't get transferred properly, and now that part of them is kinda stuck — it no longer exists in the real world, but it also didn't get fully absorbed into the game.

Which leads me to the next question:

~ Did reader turn evil and try to pull Dino into the game or is it the game itself being evil and impersonating reader to lure Dino in? (asked by @diamondyjh)

When I wrote the original version of this, the answer was a kind of combination of both — MC had gotten absorbed and corrupted by the game, so while it was the MC reaching out, they were doing so because it was what the game wanted.

But in this version... It's actually neither! Which I think would normally be a good thing but I think in this instance actually just makes this sadder oops.

So, the epilogue isn't the game impersonating MC and it isn't an "evil" MC trying to lure Dino in, it's actually just the part of MC that got stuck during the glitchy transfer. This is why the messages show as being from "Unknown" instead of the phone number associated with the game. And the reason what's left of MC asks Dino if he wants to play a game is because that's the only way it knows how to connect with anything anymore.

Basically, this sliver of MC that's left is experiencing what the original Sergey went through when he first "uploaded" himself, but instead of reaching out to anyone through a chatbot for help, it's reaching out to the only thing it "remembers" about humanity — Dino.

...I honestly didn't mean to make this story any sadder than it already is and I'm glad that the epilogue by itself just reads as spooky/freaky as hell instead of, well, this. 🥲

~ If Dino plays the game, will he be reunited with reader? (asked by @diamondyjh)

It pains me to say that there is no longer an MC for Dino to reunite with 😭 The part of them that got absorbed by the game is, well, a part of the game now. And the piece of them that's left and trying to reach out to him? Well, like I said, it's just a piece.

There could potentially be a chance for him to find some closure here, but that's about it I'm afraid :')

And now because I want this to end on a more lighthearted note:

~ Imagine the only clue left about the players existence is the goddamn phone bill for texting 💀

It becomes the next biggest conspiracy, that there's someone (or a group of someones) out there completing the world's next biggest scam by raking up random people's phone bills and somehow finding a way to steal the profit lmao

~ Some last thoughts from savv:

If y'all made it all the way to the end of this... holy shit I applaud you sldkfjsdlkjflksjdf LIKE!!!

thank you for taking the time to read all of this?????? it's not even fic it's just me rambling and making things Even Sadder??????

i also want to say that i'm a believer that 'canon' is whatever was posted in the story itself and that anything else is just headcannon, even if it's from me, the author. so if you don't like/don't agree with anything i've said here, feel free to ignore it!! fill in any gaps/questions you have in the way that makes your reading experience the most enjoyable!!

but yeah tHANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING AND I HOPE THESE ARE SATISFACTORY ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS AND IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE/HAVE A RENEWED DESIRE TO FIGHT ME MY INBOX IS OPEN SDKLJFSLKJFLSKFJSLKD

[saltboroughs]

so while we're still waiting on the actual check-in, im still thinking about how we've got one single owner of the site and it sorta worries me a bit. i dont know. theres this thread over on FR discussing how it has managed to stay as successful as it is compared to other pet sites that even if still active today get significantly less traffic at any given moment. one thing that has really stuck out to me and hasn't really been brought up over there is how there are multiple founders that im assuming act as leads in their own respective areas like business operations, art direction, engineering, and so on. theres some areas of overlap sure but each of them has their own Thing so to speak. now im not all that knowledgeable of how other pet sites have had their leadership structured outside of LW, which is probably one of the worst possible sites to try and make a point of comparison because of... Everything, but I think they also have suffered from not having enough people share the weight of what running a game/business entails (literally just a husband/wife duo, not even any additional coders until recently).

i really really hope that PB can have more people in leader or directorial positions so it doesnt just fall onto blue. i think i can understand how being The One In Charge means that things can progress faster and smoother since everything just goes through One guy rather than potentially splitting through 3-4 (referencing FR here) but it also means that if he goes down for any reason everything goes down too. ugh, sorry, this is probably getting repetitive now. hell, there could already some level of co-leadership going on in the different areas of development already and we just don't know about it since theres not really any place to look at staff credits yet. lots to think about.

[toxicangelrobotyuri]

i like to think i got hired as a TA for my python class not because im pretty good at it for only doing this for a semester now but because im the cutest python coder they have <I made a heart out of an array :3 <this is not impressive i just wanted to make a heart <3

[milkieways]

we are growing! 7/21/23

Honestly im feeling a bit all over the place, like, oof- what do I do first and where should I continue.. but things are moving forward even if we don't know the way. I appreciate my friends (the team / anyone whos working even just a bit into the game) ! BUUTT OKOKOKOK ! LETS GET A LIST OF STUFF THAT IS CURRENTLY FLOATING AROUND! - The town's name is Aiyana Gardens. ✨ - Here is a list of all of the characters so far: Star (protag, first person), Kishu Chi, Nocte Ventus, Markus Bowen, Lily, Daryo Anne "Incarnation", Yu Bou, Anemone (not official name), Manager Noe, J, Katie Anne, Angela and Oliver Miller. These are official characters that are being planned and then we have a list of possible characters implemented. Possible characters: Brielle Gilmour, Lee Gilmour, Skye Joss, Ryoko Tinselly, Chloe, Edward Sam, Misaki This is all subject to change but the first list is highly unlikely to change <3 Character profiles and desc will be coming in (yall can request specific posts abt characters as well!)

I✨ - Yu bou's VA is currently in the works! If his possible VA becomes his official, we have our first character with an official voice AND VA! WOOO ✨ - A general rule in this world is that everything around the world evolves around the idea of plants, characters are assigned to plants / are identified by plants except for some characters. ✨ - The Anne family is a famous family with one of the members living in the town

- The cafe's work system is being worked around, having multiple managers, workers and hours. So far, we have the hours and shifts: 7 am - 12 am. Morning shift is 7 am-12 pm, mid-day / afternoon shift is 12-6 pm and night shift is until 12 am ! Different characters are assigned to different shifts, still being discussed. ✨ -Our protagonist, Star, is a worker in the morning and night shifts, we have J, working morning and mid day shifts, (Anemone) is there as well working in the mornings and Manager Noe! ✨ -Working on getting character sprites for Markus and Yu Bou, drawn by one of our amazing artists >v< ari!! <3 ✨ -Star, Noe, Anemone, and a couple unnamed character development and details ✨ -Writing the "book" version of it so its ready dialogue ✨ -Looking for coders / programmers and general networking to find other people to help + abilities of ppl! ✨ - Doing research because I want certain amount of diversity and visual accessibility in the game (the cafe's design being accessible for example), as a disabled poc, lgbtq+ person, I'd love to create a media that shows more diversity for people like me and people from communities I know / come from :) ^ fair warning though because I am a third cultural person (basically having mixed cultures bc home country's culture, family culture and where I live culture) and I am yet to be learning more about other countries BUT I personally have a disconnection from stuff like that so getting feedback on cultural stuff would mean a lot! Despite this, my point still stands, the people and communities I've met plus myself have features I'd love to include! So, im open and planning sort of to make open discussions for this :) ✨ There might be some more stuff but I can't recall more rn so this is it for today <3 General reminder that while it seems that we r doing a lot of work, it will come in slowly, specially with me also being a college student + future full time student, but I appreciate all the comments and general support!! I literally am stimming everywhere and bouncing off the walls bc of this game and the development, emotionally everywhere haha. But yea!! <3 Might do an "about the creator" post and some about the team!! anyways, THANK UUU <33

[alansaysthings]

MEET THE STARBOY!!

THE WANNABE TECH ANALYSIS

; alexander or alan ; younger minor ; mgg fan ofc ; newer criminal minds watcher but i do have prior knowledge about the show because of my mother. ; my top 3 faves (not in order) r: spencer reid, penelope garcia, and emily prentiss. ; i am also in the stranger things, harry potter, the vampire diaries, and joseph quinn fandoms. ; im a writer and a beginner coder.

THANK YOU FOR MEETING ME!!