I haven't been active on this blog for a while now, and that's sadly because I kinda fell out of the TADC–Jax hype. I'm hoping ep5 will bring back some interest in the show for me (not sure about it, but we'll see!), BUT I did want to make a post and share:
a darker, probably-unlikely TADC theory that I’ve been thinking about
and an also darker and detailed story idea with my TADC OC (which the fics A Slithering Adventure and Stress Relief are part of)
TW: mention of depression, self-destructive tendencies, drug addiction, suicide (oh boi...)
WC: 7277
Let me know if you find any of them interesting!
Also changed the name of this blog cause I wanted to switch it up with my main that I don't even use.
1. THEORY: The Circus is a Digital Prison / Rehabilitation Program
This one isn’t tied to any OC, but more of a theory-lore idea.
What if the digital circus was never supposed to be a circus at all? What if it started out as a government-funded or corporate-backed digital prison?
The original idea was to develop a new kind of incarceration. Instead of physical prison, they would digitally upload the minds of criminals and mentally unstable individuals into a simulated world. Their memories and identities were stripped, and they were dropped into a surreal, chaotic environment meant to break them psychologically and eventually rewire them into "model citizens".
As time went on, the system evolved. The circus was just the latest version of the simulation: something colorful, distracting, and bizarre enough to keep inmates occupied while still applying extreme mental stress.
The cast members we know (Pomni, Jax, Ragatha, etc.) are just the most recent batch of inmates. Every one of them committed a crime in the real world, ranging from severe to petty, depending on how far they were willing to go as humans. Some ideas for what they could've done:
Murder (Jax?);
Cybercrime or hacking, possibly part of an anti-corporate movement (Kinger, Pomni?);
Repeated vandalism (Ragatha?);
Arson (Gangle?);
Anarchist actions (Zooble?)
NOTE that I haven't put too much thought into the crime ideas and matching them with the characters. But this would tie with Goose saying they actually deserve to be there (or at least I think they said that, not sure).
Caine wasn’t always the ringleader – he was created to become the AI warden. His happy, chaotic personality is a mask meant to pacify the inmates and is a part of the psychological manipulation. His goal is to keep the inmates distracted and compliant, until someone steps out of line, and things get darker.
The abstracted aren’t glitches. They’re inmates who broke under pressure, people whose minds fractured beyond repair. The “cellar” isn’t a hidden corner of the circus. It’s solitary confinement. It’s where the system dumps those it can’t control.
This theory would mean none of the cast members are there by accident. They were chosen, one by one - erased from the real world by powerful people who are still watching their suffering from the outside, using it as both control and entertainment.
2. My Own Story and My OC, Azryn
This one could actually be darker in a sense, so just bear with me lol.
Azryn was the first human ever trapped in the digital circus. Long before Pomni and the others arrived, she was already there – alone and terrified. In the real world, Azryn struggled with severe depression, suicidal ideation, and drug addiction. On the night she planned to take her life, she mysteriously woke up in the digital circus.
Additional lore I wasn't sure about:
She had a close friend (or ex-partner) who was a talented programmer. They saw Azryn’s addiction and self-destructive spiral and, instead of helping her, became obsessed with the idea of "fixing" her. When they found her overdosing, they uploaded her mind into the digital circus - believing they had “saved” her by giving her a second life. But in truth, they only trapped her in a nightmare she couldn’t escape from.
I was also thinking they created the circus together, but I’m not entirely sure which direction I want to go with that yet.
After waking up in the digital world, Azryn believed she had actually died and ended up in some kind of hell. She locked herself in her room and refused to interact with Caine, who was already there at that point.
But whoever uploaded Azryn into the circus didn’t disappear. From the outside, they could still watch her suffer, monitor her every move, and even manipulate Caine from time to time. Azryn doesn’t know exactly how, but she can feel it: she’s being watched. Controlled. Punished.
Sometimes, in the quiet moments when no one else is around, she breaks down and screams at the walls, her voice raw and hopeless:
“Are you enjoying this?”
“Is this what you wanted?”
“Is this what saving me means to you?”
Over time, more and more cast members appeared (I imagined the person who put Azryn there would have this twisted mission of "fixing" other people as well). The world around her became louder, weirder, and more unbearable. Azryn tried every possible way to die in the circus, but nothing worked. Eventually, her mind broke, and she abstracted – but her abstraction was different. She retained her consciousness in the cellar. Down there, she could still feel. She could still see. She witnessed the pain of every lost cast member, felt the weight of their loneliness, and realized that someone had to stop this place from continuing.
Somehow, after what seemed like forever, Azryn magically appeared back in the circus: fully intact, fully aware, and deeply changed. But she kept her past a secret. When she reappeared (sometime after Pomni’s arrival), she pretended to be a new arrival, claiming she didn’t know anything. Only Kinger had a vague sense of familiarity about her, because they used to be friends before Azryn abstracted – but his fractured mind couldn’t put it together.
Azryn's true goal is to end the circus and find a way out – but she lies to the others to protect them. She fears that if they knew who she really was (or what she knew), they’d panic.
That fear proves true when Caine eventually turns on her. At first, he simply avoids her, as if he’s unsure whether to acknowledge her return. But when she starts investigating the circus too deeply and planting ideas of escape in others, he retaliates. He sees her as a threat to the system - and maybe even to his own sense of control.
When the truth starts surfacing, Caine manipulates the rest of the cast into believing Azryn is the one who created the circus. He spreads the idea that “C&A” stands for “Caine & Azryn,” and claims that she’s responsible for trapping everyone. This breaks her completely and forces her to fight back.
I also imagined her to have a slow-burn, enemies-to friends-to lovers relationship with Jax lol. From the start, Azryn saw straight through Jax’s antics and called him out, which annoyed him enough to target her constantly. But over time, through being stuck together in adventures and sharing vulnerable moments, they grew closer. Jax eventually opened up to her, only to later feel deeply betrayed when her true backstory was revealed. He was hurt that he had trusted her with his feelings while she had kept everything hidden.
Final thought I had:
If Azryn had already died in the real world, then escaping the circus would be impossible for her - she wouldn’t have a body to wake up to. Even if she and the others eventually found a way out, Azryn wouldn’t be able to go with them. She’d be left behind, all alone in there once again, just like how it all started.
I imagined this ending with a quiet, devastating goodbye between her and Jax. After everything they went through - the fights, the trust, the slow healing - he’d be forced to leave her behind, and she'd have to let him go. She’d smile through it, trying to be strong for him. And once they’re all gone, she’d be alone in the empty circus… still standing, still fighting, but finally at peace with her fate, knowing she's saved everyone there.
A/N: This is my first time writing Jax fluff. I have nothing but shame and regret. Hug the bnuuy.
This is partly about Jaxy and partly Jaxy x Y/N (or at least how he acts with my OC after they get closer, eheheheh…), so I tagged it as x reader as well.
CW: none | couldn’t help sneaking the teeniest bit of angst in there BUT HE'S FINE SHHH
Word count: 729 | Masterlist
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Sleeps curled up, with his ears tucked down
When he’s sleeping, he curls up on his side, knees pulled up, arms folded close, and his ears naturally droop down over his face. It’s a weirdly small and vulnerable position, like his body is bracing for something even in sleep.
His eyes light up when you laugh at his jokes
He pretends like your reaction doesn’t matter, but if you genuinely laugh at one of his dumb jokes, his eyes actually brighten and he gets this smug little smile like he just won the lottery. He’ll pretend to shrug it off, but that moment stays with him all day.
Pretends he doesn’t like physical affection but secretly melts
If someone ever casually ruffles his ears or leans against him, he’ll roll his eyes and act like it’s the most annoying thing in the world. But the second they stop? He suddenly finds himself lingering near them, making excuses to keep them close. He denies this need even to himself.
Gets sleepy when you play with his ears
Following the previous one: If somehow you ever get the chance to pet him or play with his ears while he’s lying down or curled up nearby, he’ll act annoyed and look around if someone else is there. If he sees you two are alone, he starts visibly melting. He leans into it, eyes half-lidded, basically purring to you to continue.
Will stick to someone’s side he trusts without a word
It’s hard for him to actually get attached, but if he genuinely likes someone, he’ll become more relaxed near them. No teasing, no pushing buttons (maybe just a little, he has a reputation to uphold after all), just existing in the same space.
If you sit on the couch, he sits next to you. If you need to pair up for an adventure, he stands next to you without saying anything. If he senses danger, his first instinct is to look your way. If he feels like you’re upset, he tries to distract you with stupid jokes until he sees a smile. It’s the closest he gets to admitting he feels safe around someone.
Carries things for you without saying a word
If you’re holding something heavy or look tired, he just… takes it from you. No snark, no jokey comment. He walks off like it was nothing, pretending it’s not a big deal – but if you thank him, he gets all fidgety and brushes it off with a “yeah yeah, don’t make it weird.”
Talks big but gets flustered easily
He’s an unbearable tease, but if someone genuinely flirts back at him? His brain shuts down and goes into panic mode. The second he realises someone is playing his own game against him, he either doubles down in an almost desperate attempt to stay in control (he usually ends up failing spectacularly), or completely shuts up for once.
Hoarder of small trinkets
If something catches his eye, he keeps it. Random objects, buttons, small toys, a weirdly shaped rock – he doesn’t even realise he does it, but his pockets are always full of little things he’s picked up from adventures. If he ever gives someone something from his collection, it means something.
Bonus: Sometimes he leaves you random gifts near your door or sneaks something into your pocket. No note, no context. Could be something useful, could be just a funny-looking rock. He never admits it was from him, but it always ends up being something you actually like.
Watches you while you talk, totally focused
If you enter the room or just talk to someone else when he’s around, he loses interest in whatever he was doing before. He’d look at you from the corner of his eyes every so often, ears tilted your way. He doesn’t say a word, just carefully listens. If you look over suddenly, he pretends he wasn’t.
Acts like he doesn’t remember things, but he does
He pretends to forget little things people say or do, but he remembers it all. He knows everyone’s favourite foods from their past lives, the memories they remember, what makes them laugh, what they’re afraid of. He just never brings it up because admitting he cares, even in the smallest way, is terrifying for him. He thinks of it as getting attached – something he swore to never do again.
someone on twitter is trying to claim that use of an em-dash is an indication of AI-generated writing because it’s “relatively rare” for actual humans to use it. skill issue
And this isn’t just a fanfic problem either. I had to “dumb down” a uni essay once because the professor used AI detectors and when I ran it through them as a joke, they all flagged it as not written by a human??? LIKE BRO SORRY I'M ON ANOTHER LEVEL
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