Vashonian

It's definitely going to be something that's going to happen in the future installments between Pomni and Gummigoo. I've debated on how far and how soon I've wanted to go with it, but it's certainly going to be seriously discussed to an extent in Part Two. On the Candy Canyon side of things, there's about a seven month timeskip, so things are going to ramp up between them.

When the rest of the crew come back, they're going to be rather bewildered that Pomni's somehow engaged/hitched/seriously romantically involved to an NPC.

In any case, Bubble and Abelle have almost certainly dealt with the inappropriate human activities alarm on Caine's Wacky Watch, so in any case they'd be getting up to things.

But given the amount of detail she's putting into every aspect Pomni is coming across, as much as a janky video game like the Digital Circus can anyways, I have to wonder if deep down she's trying to prove that she can make an adventure far greater and far grander than anything Caine can come up with without even fully realizing it.

Some kind of subconscious perfectionism and devotion to artistic pursuits baked into her code?

You've onto something there!

It's going to be covered in much greater detail in later fics, but Abelle's entire existence is pretty much to support Caine in his creative endeavors. She only comes gets added into the program because Caine does have his own perfectionist streak, and gets so lost in his attempts at adventures and worldbuilding that he spirals and crashes out, for lack of a better term. And unfortunately he's the linchpin holding the entire Circus together, so he needs to have a creative assistant/handler to guide him. It's only somewhat effective.

Abelle has the same underlying issues, but she's even worse off because she can't really doesn't have full control over the creations - Caine's always got the final word and of course, would never admit he has help in his adventures, so none of the other humans know of her existence, so there's a lot of resentment that slowly built up over the years.

She also doesn't have a permanent, proper avatar like the humans or Caine, so there's a bit of a complex around that and around her own limitations without a model. It seems rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things and almost unlimited creative controls but it definitely stings much more than she'd readily admit. She's pretty much the equivalent of a software addon - easily installed and easily replaced, and she's got program limits that Caine and the humans don't have.

This is not an ask but rather me spilling out my creativity in writing since your work has been turning my gears left and right lately haha. I really wanted to make my own animatic and show you but I don't have the skills for it so this has to suffice for the time being. I hope what I wrote makes since to you..

I think the song "Me and my husband" by Mistki really fits your Pomni and Gummigoo very well! The line "I steal a few breaths From the world for a minute" fits both of them in a way, as in Pomni putting on the headset and Gummigoo falling out of the map.

"And all of my memories And all of the things I have seen Will be gone" Also fits both of them in a sense. Pomni losing her memories of the real world and kind of having a crisis about if she's even real, and Gummigoo literally dealing with the fact that he's not real as well as his memories.

"And I am the idiot with the painted face In the corner, taking up space" So this one applies to Pomni both literally and figuratively, her white face and pink blush stickers, her blue and red pinwheel eyes. She's literally a jester with face paint haha. And she's in the corner taking up space by the fact that she's strange. She doesn't belong in this world and is strange from candy people. And she takes up space as the main character with the adventure literally revolving around her.

As for Gummigoo, his painted face is his coding. He's a 3D model that takes inspiration from real life elements but is in fact fiction. A painting. He's in the corner with the isolating realization of his world being fake, he can't relate to his people and no longer belongs with them despite not being different from them.

"But when he walks in, I am loved, I am loved" I would like to assume this line to be pretty self explanatory haha. Both Pomni and Gummigoo feel loved when in the presence of the other. They feel safe, like they belong, like things might eventually make since somehow. Gummigoo might get lost in his isolating consciousness but when Pomni walks in, everything will be okay. Things might not make since and Pomni might not have an answer to everything, but as long as they have each other things will be alright. Pomni has many instances of barely losing her sanity but Gummigoo was always there to bring her back, to comfort her and give her a sense of security. He might not know as much as she does and he can only do and say so much, but when they are together, things will be alright.

"Me and my husband We're doing better" I haven't read past chapter 36 yet because I got really busy lately but up until that point both Pomni and Gummigoo are really doing better compared to the first half of the story. They are handling the story, themselves and each other with better attitude and more confidence. They are finally getting the hang of things and as a reader, for once I have faith in them not falling apart at the edges when facing hardship hahaha (waiting for my turn to reach that point lol)

"So I bet all I have on that Furrowed brow" Pomni giving up on the circus and leaving all together, deciding to stay with Gummigoo. Gummigoo has already bet all he has on Pomni the day they got to the ranch..

"And at least in this lifetime We're sticking together" When I envisioned the animatic in my mind I just imagined them in their merch plush form together, their form in the show, their form in your AU, and their human design which I have hidden in the back of my brain haha. I just think it's cute.

I'm sorry for making this so long. I hope you got my vision and enjoyed what I wrote. Thank you for writing Sherbet's Gate!

Oh cool! Thanks for sharing with me.

I definitely see the vision you're going for there, and the song does fit pretty well! If you ever do decide on creating the animatic, I'd love to see it! Debated on dabbling in the animatic scene myself and it is something that's a lot of work, though it's pretty fun. I'm definitely limited resource-wise, but perhaps someday there might be some animatics for Sherbet's Gate.

What you have right now in visualizing different scenes is a great start! Even rough doodles/drafts or something cobbled together in Powerpoint or Flipaclip or any other program, it's good practice to get to the things that you really want to do!

And that little bit at the end there is really cute!

New chapter is out!

The Mildenhalls, Rocher, and the hodgepodge of shipwreck survivors and Jax cultists find themselves at the edge of a vast wasteland and contend with being stranded forever.

Bubble and Abelle make a deal, as Abelle finds an rather inconvenient road bump in her plans in a feature of the Wacky Watch(TM). Bubble continues to be unhinged.

Hey there!

The Red Dead Confection AU is the umbrella series that Sherbet's Gate is the first part of!

You're on the right path story-wise. There's nothing else so far that's out so no worries about fic-juggling!

It gets referred to as both back and forth all over the place, so I get the confusion. For some of the posts/asks, it's kinda a way to keep it organized by tags, once there's more fics out, since some things would apply series-wide, or just pertain to that one fic. Though it's really a bit slapdash right now with how it's all being applied on my end.

I'm planning on getting part two out in the fall, and across the RDC, there's four parts planned (though I might end up subdividing, we'll see).

Fun Fact: The RDC name was originally just going to be for one fic when I was delusional enough to think that it would somehow all be contained in two fics, but it was too good of a candy/Red Dead Redemption pun...thing, that I couldn't just use it for a singular fic.

That’s not to say it’s a bad thing, I feel like Sherbets gate is really a masterclass on how TADC could be approached or expanded upon, especially since the show ended and many things weren’t explored fully. If I had it my way, I’d opt for some kind of offical print of the first story after it’s completion, something akin to ‘Fallout: Equestria’ (IYKYK) where a few are made but only as collection items.

I’m getting ahead of myself, do you plan on having an additional story or creation in mind following the conclusion of Sherbets Gate? It’s a bit of ways off, but I know you have a real good knack for writing engaging and ambitious worlds and characters, so I’m sure whatever came after if be supporting all the way.

In any case, thanks for reading and I wish you the best of luck with you busywork and slow computer, if you don’t feel the first story can be completed as soon as you had hoped I’m alright with it. If it took to September, hell, I’d completely understand.

Bye then! :3

Oh yeah, there I had a few projects I worked on off and on over the years. I started back in high school writing a historical drama fantasy series – the easiest way to describe it is a 1920s steam-electropunk Austria-Hungary with a lot of political drama and a central mystery of sorts and more underhanded ways for the cast to bump each other off – at least for a while. I can’t remember exactly how far I got into it, but university eventually slowed it down and while I had the plots all done, it’s for the best that it never escaped beyond certain circles I had. Wouldn’t say it’s bad but it’s probably really amateur looking now. Also none of the document files still exist because of computer problems and system corruptions.

I have been working on more nonfiction work, there’s a project I’ve been working on for a decade now and hoping to have published in a couple years, but it’s a different creature altogether than writing fiction, and while I enjoy working on it, it’s very tedious and draining at times (mostly in the citation department – lots of endnotes and footnotes, etc.)

I’ve been toying around with a few ideas off and on over the years too – probably once I’ve cleared a good chunk of Red Dead Confection – there’s a few other historical novel ideas or historically based vaguely sci-fi ideas I’ve had floating around. And I’ve kept busy doing more historical editing and fact checking for other works in my general interests, so we’ll see!

Thanks for the kind words, I’m really flattered by it! On that subject of the first part wrapping up, I’m going back to go edit some of the earlier chapters, because some of the spelling drifted and there’s some slight typos and clunky word choices and sentence structures that are bothering me.

Do you plan on incorporating transfem Jax into either Red Dead Confection or Gummigoo’s Digital Days? Since I know the former you’ve been planning since Ep 2 a.k.a well before any hints we got towards Jax’s gender dysphoria, but I also know you’ve made a lot of tweaks with the episode releases since lol. Or since GDD is much more Circus crew-focused maybe it might make more sense there? Your AU your rules obviously, since it became such a big part of Jax’s character I’m just wondering if you plan on touching on it at all.

That and Goose’s transfem Jax design would probably kick ass in a cowgirl outfit

Good question there! Sorry for the long rambling mess, but I'll try to answer the best I can!

With the Red Dead Confection AU, transfem Jax might be referenced in spades. Some of it a bit unintentionally - there's been one part I've had sitting in my files for about nearly two years where Gangle and Chad use Jax as bait in a heist by making him wear one of those overly ornate lingerie dresses - he claims he doesn't like it but still wears it because he immediately follows up that he's the only one out of the whole group that can actually pull that dress off. It probably won't directly happen in the RDC, since Jax was always a bit secondary until maybe the third act and then kinda...sinks back slightly. But we'll see - it'll probably take me another year or so to actually get to that part, and even then, I'll probably be able to shoehorn it somewhere by then, and including it wouldn't derail any of the major arcs or plots. And even on the off chance that I can't fit it in because of pacing or timing or something, RDC's ending isn't a closed loop, so there's more than enough room for Jax to transition.

As for GDD, it's certainly going to be much, much more prominently focused on. Gummigoo's entire existence in the Circus is going to kick off a lot of things for Jax. He's really the only other 'masculine' character in the Circus (Jax has pretty much written off Kinger as a crazy non-entity) and Gummi is pretty much comfortable with his own sense of masculinity, and that's not including that he's on good terms with his non-existent mother (and also occasionally tagteaming with Zooble to put Jax in line). To make matters even more sore, Gummigoo isn't even human and never will be - in Jax's eyes, the NPCs are basically nothing. Yet Gummigoo is everything that Jax wants to be - or thinks they want to be. It's punching a big hole into their headspace, and Jax...really doesn't like it. Or take it all very well.

In short, it's a mess. Definitely will be explored more.