Someone asked about my self-comfort TADC AU, so here we go. Fair warning it's a little sad but that's for a reason.
Welcome to Comet's Observatory!
This is a dreamcore AU. The Circus is still digital but it was created before Caine - or Comet - and was made as a place for people to go for comfort and to take a break from reality when they need it. In-universe, the Circus is referred to as "The Amazing Liminal Circus". The AU itself is called Comet's Observatory because Comet watches over everything and everyone in the Circus. In the beginning, Comet didn't know how to provide the same comfort as the Circus. He only knew how to perform his programmed purpose - distract and entertain. But slowly, he took note of how the Circus itself provides comfort - and started trying to apply that to himself.
Calm, gentle, quiet atmosphere? Calm demeanor, gentle tone, quiet volume. Soft pastels, starry skies, and indoor gardens? His suit is now baby blue and decorated with stars, moons, a sun, clouds, coattails that trail off into stardust, and flowers pinned to the cuffs of his sleeves.
The Circus has a code phrase in order to leave - one that Comet initially would give to every visitor upon completing their tour. However, due to being left running for so long, the memory of that code phrase got buried beneath all the incoming data - resulting in people getting stuck. And eventually, they began to abstract.
Every time a visitor abstracted, Comet felt as though he'd failed to help them, as that was the whole reason the Circus existed. He didn't know whether or not they were in distress, but just in case, he began turning their rooms into their ideal liminal spaces - a quiet little "dream" to comfort them. He hopes to figure out how to undo the process. There's a stitched-up heart on the left side of his suit because of this - representing how he feels torn up for failing these people.
The AU takes place after he remembered the code phrase, and let the main cast go, despite knowing he'd be all alone in the end. (He also still had the episode 8 crashout but instead of being deleted he snapped to his senses and retreated, remembering the code phrase soon after and speaking it himself - causing the group to be ejected from the Circus.
"Thank you and goodnight."
But not to worry. The Circus still exists, and Comet is waiting for new visitors. And there's no more Bubble to antagonize him.)
I will be drawing more Comet soon, I just wanted to give y'all this to chew on in the meantime. Sorry for the unfinished post earlier by the way, tumblr glitched and posted my draft instead of saving it, which really sucked. Thanks for reading!