Screenshot of AO3 summary/tags for my sci-fi, psychological drama TADC fic Corpus Callosum.
Rating: Mature
Relationships: Multi (Jax/Pomni, Gangle/Zooble, Past Kinger/Queenie, Minor CanonxOC)
No Archive Warnings Apply
Not Finished
Summary:Stuck in a dead-end job and a loveless relationship, Christine Reyes (Pomni) desperately needs a change of pace. Beta-testing a therapeutic video game that promises solace from her everyday seems like just the new experience she's been hoping for.
Only something isn't quite right about The Amazing Digital Circus. Player input is too frequently ignored. The AI running the system keeps breaking down and being overwritten. Glitches and corrupted code seem to follow her even without the headset on.
Underneath the shiny veneer of each adventure lies a secret so damning, it could cost the six testers their sanity. Just what the hell are they all really testing here?
Modern human/video game tester!AU.
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Human, Science Fiction, Psychological Drama, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Psychological Trauma, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Alcohol, Abuse/Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, LGBTQ Themes, Diaspora, Family Issues, Developing Friendships, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Found Family, Eventual Romance, Eventual Jax/Pomni, Eventual Gangle/Zooble, Past Kinger/Queenie, Minor Canon/OC, Pomni Has a Bad Time, Anxious Pomni, Jax Being an Asshole, Jax is Bad at Feelings, Asexual Jax, Lesbian Ragatha, Bipolar Gangle, They/Them Pronouns for Zooble, Any Pronouns for Zooble, Body Dysphoria, Body Image, Gender Dysphoria, Parental Kinger (The Amazing Digital Circus), Kinger Has Memory Issues (The Amazing Digital Circus), Psychosis, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags May Change
AO3 screenshot of the beginning of Chapter One of Corpus Callosum. Includes beginning author notes.
Notes: corpus callosum: Latin for tough body. Also refers to the bundle of nerves that allow the left and right hemispheres of the brain to communicate and work in tandem.
Welcome to the start of my video game beta tester AU! It's heavily inspired by shows like Severance and Pantheon (AMC). You don't need to watch them to read this fic, but if you are familiar at all with either of them, you can get a vague idea of the psychological trauma you're in for :)
Chapter 1: Test, Test, Can Anyone Hear Me?
August 2017
Her therapist’s office always smelled like too much lavender and smoke. Christine didn’t mind it, at first. Until the receptionist divulged that Doctor Morozova connected specific candle scents to each individual patient.
She had briefly wondered what the criteria was for lavender. Maybe her therapist hoped its calming properties would rub off on her as she unspooled her troubles like one might untangle cables.
It made her feel like she was part of a secret experiment. Like she was being judged on yet another parameter she didn’t know about.
Truthfully, it had taken her years to work up the courage to finally try out therapy. The idea of some stranger studying her like a bug in a glass made her anxiety skyrocket. She swore once she graduated high school, she’d get her parents to sign her up for it. Then she finished college and swore then that she’d go.
(Cont. on AO3)
Another screenshot of Chapter One of Corpus Callosum:
“I…” Christine sighed. “I came here to say this is my last session. I’ve made up my mind.”
“I see. That’s a shame, but I understand if you feel like we don’t gel well. Are you looking into finding another therapist?”
“I might take a break from it for little while,” she said hesitantly. “It’s getting really expensive to keep coming here just to have the same conversation over and over.”
“You feel stagnant here?” Doctor Morozova asked.
“You could say that about my whole life the past couple years.” Christine nearly winced at the bitter tang to her words. “I just don’t feel like I’m doing anything worthwhile. Like I’m wasting away for…what? It’s not like supermarket accounting does anything to change people’s lives.”
“You want to make a difference.” Spoken like a fact, not a question. Hearing it out loud just made her sound self-righteous.
Making a difference always sounded like some lofty, intangible task. Sure, there were those who worked tirelessly to better the world around them in a myriad of ways: charities, unpaid volunteer work, protests for the betterment of their neighbors. That was all fine and admirable, but whatever difference Christine sought out wasn’t nearly as praiseworthy as all that.
She just wanted something new to shake up her sour routine. Not so much a difference in the world at large, but her own surroundings. It was just, for someone with anxiety as all-consuming as hers, she had no idea how to start moving forward. She was stuck in the same place, doing the same things endlessly on repeat. Exploring abandoned buildings was the only thing that still gave her a sense of wonder anymore—and even that she had very little time for.
Being poked and prodded about her own complacency just made her defensive.
“I-I guess? I don’t know.”
Word count cuts out. Continued on AO3!
TADC Human Selves (drawn by my sister @/noodlebedoodle on IG)
From left to right:
Jax - 6'0" mixed-race Mexican-American/white man with dark brown curly hair, tan skin, and a bleached black hoodie, dark green shirt, and torn jeans. Wearing scuffed Converse.
Pomni - 5'0". Second-generation Filipino-American. Straight black hair cut short to her shoulders with medium tan skin, red jacket, black-and-white-striped shirt, baggy blue jeans, and blue shoes with white stripes.
Ragatha - 5'7". Mixed-race Black/Irish-American with curly red hair with peach-colored skin. She is wearing a navy blue suit jacket, with a blue vest and white dress shirt under it, navy blue suit pants, and dark blue heels.
Gangle - 5'4". Third-generation Korean-American with long straight black hair that goes down to her mid-back with pale skin. She is wearing a beige shirt, yellow cardigan, red skirt, white knee-high scoks, and beige and white sneakers.
Zooble - 5'6". Third-generation Pakistani-American with thick black hair falling to their mid-back with dark skin. They are wearing a thrifted leather jacket with several pins/buttons in the lapels, a slim-fitting black shirt, brown belt, baggy brown and orange plaid pants, and combat boots.
Kinger - 5'11". Caucasian. Blonde curly hair with gray streaks, unkempt beard, and permanent eyebags from all the times he's pulled all-nighters coding with super pale skin. He is wearing thick glasses, a white shirt, loose blue bathrobe, sweats, white socks, and periwinkle slippers. He is also holding scattered books and papers in his arms.
Finally published Corpus Callosum (a #TADC #FunnyBunny #Abstragedy human!video game beta tester!AU)!
Chapter One: Test, Test, Can Anyone Hear Me?
Read on AO3!
It's heavily inspired by shows like Severance and Pantheon (AMC), just so you know the kind of psychological trauma you're in for 😈
