#popnet

Behind the curtain, POP.net (simplified to Popnet, they/she, age unknown) is a fairy – like, actually. A mythical, old folklore style fairy. When the dot-com boom hit, humans quickly began putting more faith in urban legends, cartoon characters, and soon, influencers, than mythology and fairytales. Without humankind to thrive off, fae kind began to slowly die out – or get dangerously desperate. Against all odds, Poppy persisted, made the gamble to jump to the digital plane to survive off of the favor of humans on the world wide web, and metamorphosed. But… this new life has come with new challenges of its own. It’s harder than it looks, keeping up this many intimate friendships… especially now that they’ve been deemed dangerous, discontinued, and made into a niche internet urban legend themself. Trapped in cyberspace, Popnet’s parent program endures only through torrent links and occasional misdirection. What’s worse, though, is knowing all their friends will either get bored and uninstall them, or wither into… nothing once Popnet has claimed all they can. No matter how many times it happens, it never gets easier – but that’s the cost of survival in a digital world! Better to be consumed by depression than starvation… right? —----------------------- TADC AU

POP.net isn't really intended to be a TADC oc, and that still isn’t their primary purpose, however meshing their current lore with the TADC lore was too much fun. I’ve been workshopping this character for years, but they felt like they fit into one of my fav medias scarily well. TADC is my favorite genre of webcore/nostalgic fucky wucky nonsense. i consider TADC Popnet to be a fun AU.

In this AU, they function even more like a “virus”, and a lot lighter on the fae lore. Latching onto the program that TADC lives in, “Popnet” appeared in the Circus much like a new human would. Enthralled by being able to directly interact with other sentient beings – humans, in particular, and finally potentially make lasting friends – Popnet was in no rush to correct them or Caine about the nature of their existence. This has led them to constantly be on edge, trying to play along and prove their humanity, while also making connections and proving their worth as a great new friend! That won’t blow up in their face ever, right? Right?

This also makes their dynamic with Caine… particularly interesting. Relationship chart here! —-------------------

They have a WIP playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0dNtxyJNz07W4VazXrMzvR?si=7ad7a61bee314ad0 But the most notable songs are - My Diorama by Stomach Book - Point and Click by MEMODEMO and AQUASINE - Image by Magdalena Bay - Static by Flavor Foley - Machine Love by Jamie Paige - Spoken For by Flavor Foley - Bloom For Me by Pearly Drops - Sphere Of Annihilation by ivri