I Once Met Two Girls From Greece On Vacation. They Asked Me Two Questions; Are Cafeterias A Real Thing,

visiting the step kids

Forneus, Baal and Aym, the kitty family! so cute!

I'm so glad to draw Forneus, I never get to draw characters this big. When playing the og demo, i had to stop the stream to squeal over the chonker kitty.

NASA Data Sonification: Black Hole Remix

In this sonification of Perseus. the sound waves astronomers previously identified were extracted and made audible for the first time. The sound waves were extracted outward from the center. (source)

OKAY OKAY episode 3 of tadc has made me go insane and I cannot stop thinking about it. so!! I'm gonna point some stuff out here that I haven't really seen anyone else point out (yet). spoilers for episode 3 under the cut!

1. "Forget it."

during the scenes where caine tries to have a "therapy" session with zooble, they finally admit (assumably not for the first time?) that they don't like their body, that they want to find something that feels right. after caine "helpfully" tells them he already fixed that problem with the box of limb attachments, then immediately rounding back to the subject of his adventures, this happens:

he literally forgot the conversation, because zooble told him to. remember, as far as we know and as far as the show has told us, caine is an ai who was given certain instructions for the circus (remember his comment about making adventures being "all he exists to do"). assuming that's true, zooble basically gave the prompt "ignore the previous prompt I gave you." he keeps forgetting because, presumably, zooble gets frustrated with trying to articulate themselves over and over and gives up by saying "forget it" or "can we talk about something else," and caine does exactly that because it's what he was told to do.

(I could even stretch this a little more by saying that this applies to when zooble said "you're probably not even listening right now," and caine promptly drew a bee.)

2. The cellar...

these next two will be a bit shorter but I wanna talk about them anyways. remember when pomni and kinger fell out of the elevator? pomni asked where they were, likely rhetorically, and kinger answered with "I'm not sure..."

which, in this case, it does look like a cellar! I find it interesting, though, that this is where he starts to gain lucidity. this place, shrouded in darkness, which he specifically calls a cellar...

hang on. isn't the place where caine sends the abstractions also called a cellar? isn't that place also shrouded in darkness?

I'm not necessarily claiming that kinger saw the cellar directly, but I think this implies that there's more to triggering his memories than just darkness. I think it also has to do with the actual environment, the tone of conversation, etc. remember the bucket on his head in episode 2 and how he suddenly remembered what ragatha was like when she first got to the circus? I think the context really determines what things he remembers. which... is sorta obvious, but I thought it was interesting regardless.

3. Queenie

okay so this episode was a HUGE win for all the queenie x kinger shippers/believers. I can't help but notice something interesting about the flashback scene, though. of course, kinger said himself that this wasn't the full story since his memory is still spotty (and having your wife abstract is likely a traumatic experience that your brain would want to repress), but in the first, he said that she eventually was "calm enough..."

very sweet! but... didn't episode 1 imply (if not outright confirm) that touching an abstraction led to glitches?

why didn't kinger glitch here?

now, there's a bunch of possible explanations for this, but I'll just list a few I can think of:

kinger was so caught up in the moment that he was glitching; he just didn't notice it (I don't think this is the case personally).

the glitching that ragatha experienced only occurs if the abstraction is aggravated in some way. since queenie was calm, there was no risk of glitching.

kaufmo made ragatha glitch because he had the actual intent of hurting her (maybe not to that extent, but in some way). she did state that they never got along, so maybe his abstracted form amplified that dislike of her to an extreme? and because queenie didn't want to hurt kinger, again, no risk of glitching.

not entirely sure what happened there, but I think it's at least interesting that not all abstractions act a consistent way.

4. Very "matoor!"

this one is more of a small detail that I remembered as I was writing this, but on rewatch, I'm pretty sure that caine actually might've turned off the censorship that usually occurs for swear words or obscene gestures for this adventure, specifically in the "scary door" section! while introducing the adventure, caine says this:

I can't quite remember if "hell" was said or censored at all in the first two episodes? but kinger and pomni were able to freely say that in this episode, and kinger said this:

no censorship at all! and I'm sure that if they wanted to say fuck, they could. I'd imagine they were just too caught up with... everything else to realize they could freely swear.

although caine still doesn't quite understand why zooble just doesn't seem willing to do adventures (even after they explain it to him), it's somewhat sweet that he tries to make a specially curated part of the adventure just for them.

rambling aside!! I'm pretty sure that only 2 people will see all of this but I wanted to get my thoughts out :)

Digital Circus "Daughter Theory"

Okay so the third episode of digital circus just dropped and I'm sure we all had similar theories about Kinger and Pomni, but here's my theory about their relationship in the real world based on nothing but speculation.

Here's my theory: Kinger mentions at [17:55] that he was a computer scientist, "Man, seven years of computer science for this, huh?"

While he could mean that he spent seven years of his life studying computer science only to end up in Hell, this also implies he had some kind of hand in creating the Digital Circus itself.

I think he did. He and a group called "Caine and Able" (named based on other theories) created a VR game called "The Digital Circus" with the intention of just making a fun highly immersive VR game for young audience using AI technology.

He and his wife were the first play testers, but there was some kind of error in the code that caused them to lose their memories so they couldn't get out. (perhaps the VR equipment was attached to their brain or something? Or the it was attached to their skull so they couldn't remove it? IDK)

After they got stuck, the team tried again and again to get them out but nothing worked.

But why is it called the "Daughter Theory?" You aren't asking, well my friend that is because Pomni is actually Kinger's daughter.

It is obvious from the moments in the episode that Kinger is a sort of father figure/was acting very fatherly to Pomni when he was more lucid. Anyways, yadda yadda Pomni went into the game to save her father only be to trapped herself unable to remember anything.

Of course, this part of the theory is kind of a stretch, and there's something to be said about the comparisons you can draw from the Mildenhall guy in the recordings and Kinger himself both being married men who went insane. In one of the recordings he mentions not having kids which would imply the same for Kinger. But if we assume everything Mildenhall said was supposed to apply to Kinger, that could mean he also killed his wife in his insanity. I don't think happened. At least I hope not 0-0.

New oc

Going on a trip soon and I'm not going to be able to finish this piece so have a wip

idk how to make art of this hc / take on him / whatever u call it so take these

WEIRDLY SPECIFIC BUT HELPFUL CHARACTER BUILDING QUESTIONS

What’s the lie your character says most often?

How loosely or strictly do they use the word ‘friend’?

How often do they show their genuine emotions to others versus just the audience knowing?

What’s a hobby they used to have that they miss?

Can they cry on command? If so, what do they think about to make it happen?

What’s their favorite [insert anything] that they’ve never recommended to anyone before?

What would you (mun) yell in the middle of a crowd to find them? What would their best friend and/or romantic partner yell?

How loose is their use of the phrase ‘I love you’?

Do they give tough love or gentle love most often? Which do they prefer to receive?

What fact do they excitedly tell everyone about at every opportunity?

If someone was impersonating them, what would friends / family ask or do to tell the difference?

What’s something that makes them laugh every single time? Be specific!

When do they fake a smile? How often?

How do they put out a candle?

What’s the most obvious difference between their behavior at home, at work, at school, with friends, and when they’re alone?

What kinds of people do they have arguments with in their head?

What do they notice first in the mirror versus what most people first notice looking at them?

Who do they love truly, 100% unconditionally (if anyone)?

What would they do if stuck in a room with the person they’ve been avoiding?

Who do they like as a person but hate their work? Vice versa, whose work do they like but don’t like the person?

What common etiquette do they disagree with? Do they still follow it?

What simple activity that most people do / can do scares your character?

What do they feel guilty for that the other person(s) doesn’t / don’t even remember?

Did they take a cookie from the cookie jar? What kind of cookie was it?

What subject / topic do they know a lot about that’s completely useless to the direct plot?

How would they respond to being fired by a good boss?

What’s the worst gift they ever received? How did they respond?

What do they tell people they want? What do they actually want?

How do they respond when someone doesn’t believe them?

When they make a mistake and feel bad, does the guilt differ when it’s personal versus when it’s professional?

When do they feel the most guilt? How do they respond to it?

If they committed one petty crime / misdemeanor, what would it be? Why?

How do they greet someone they dislike / hate?

How do they greet someone they like / love?

What is the smallest, morally questionable choice they’ve made?

Who do they keep in their life for professional gain? Is it for malicious intent?

What’s a secret they haven’t told serious romantic partners and don’t plan to tell?

What hobby are they good at in private, but bad at in front of others? Why?

Would they rather be invited to an event to feel included or be excluded from an event if they were not genuinely wanted there?

How do they respond to a loose handshake? What goes through their head?

What phrases, pronunciations, or mannerisms did they pick up from someone / somewhere else?

If invited to a TED Talk, what topic would they present on? What would the title of their presentation be?

What do they commonly misinterpret because of their own upbringing / environment / biases? How do they respond when realizing the misunderstanding?

What language would be easiest for them to learn? Why?

What’s something unimportant / frivolous that they hate passionately?

Are they a listener or a talker? If they’re a listener, what makes them talk? If they’re a talker, what makes them listen?

Who have they forgotten about that remembers them very well?

Who would they say ‘yes’ to if invited to do something they abhorred / strongly didn’t want to do?

Would they eat something they find gross to be polite?

What belief / moral / personality trait do they stand by that you (mun) personally don’t agree with?

What’s a phrase they say a lot?

Do they act on their immediate emotions, or do they wait for the facts before acting?

Who would / do they believe without question?

What’s their instinct in a fight / flight / freeze / fawn situation?

What’s something they’re expected to enjoy based on their hobbies / profession that they actually dislike / hate?

If they’re scared, who do they want comfort from? Does this answer change depending on the type of fear?

What’s a simple daily activity / motion that they mess up often?

How many hobbies have they attempted to have over their lifetime? Is there a common theme?