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#had some good Ponk Moments
the-final-sif · 2 months
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Sixteenth Day Event Prompt:
Dream and Ponk discuss their experiences with Sam
@sixteenth-day-event "What happened to your arm?"
The question came out of nowhere. It was an impulse. A stupid one. Dream wasn't really expecting a response.
Surprisingly, Ponk's eyes blinked open. They weren't red anymore (thank god), but they were fuzzy and unfocused still. Several seconds ticked by before Ponk managed to rasp out a response.
"Sam."
It was just one word, but it was the most that Dream had gotten out of him so far. He would dismiss it as a quirk of timing, but from Punz's recounting, talking about shit had helped ground him and pull him back from the Egg. Alright. So Dream just needed to keep this going.
"Weren't you two dating?" He could swear he remembered that. Ponk huffed a dry laugh.
"Were. Broke up af'er he cut m' fuckin' arm 'ff."
"That uh- makes sense." Great. A+ conversation. God fucking dammit. Okay, refocus here.
"Was there like, a reason? Or did he just get bored?" That sounded harsher than he meant for it to, but too late now.
Ponk's gaze went hazy for a moment, too far maybe? Before he managed to shake his head, bringing himself back down.
"Stole the prison keys. Wasn't eve' tryin' to do much. He'd been ignorin' me. Thought it was funny. Thought I might go visit you or somethin'. He freaked out. Never thought- Never thought he'd do something like this." As he finished speaking, Ponk managed to lift his good hand just barely and gesture at his stump.
Ah. Dream wasn't sure how he felt about that. Was it better? That it hadn't been just him. Who thought Sam could be trusted and was wrong? Or was it worse? That it all came back to Dream himself in the end. Something corrupting, corroding, ruining everything he came into contact with?
A question for another time maybe.
"That sucks." Okay, he winced at that one. "Sorry- uh, I didn't. I didn't think he'd do something like that either. Before."
It said a little more than he wanted to say. Ponk, of course, had recovered enough to catch on. Eyes now focusing in on him. Taking him in and judging. Dream clenched his jaw and tried to ignore the weight of an old friend's gaze. Tried to change the subject.
"You feel up for some water?"
Thankfully, Ponk let the topic drop in favor of nodding. Probably parched by now. Dream pushed himself to his feet and grabbed the spill proof bottle that Punz had left. They were ready for this.
He held it out carefully, trying his best to control the shaking in his own hands. From how Ponk's eyes narrowed, he didn't quite manage it.
The light in here was soft, and Dream had been hoping that would hide his scarred hands. Not from Ponk's eyes though, as the other carefully took the water bottle, drinking from it in long gulps.
By the time it was finished, Dream had returned to his spot on the far side of the room, right by the door so he could get out if he needed to. Not that he would need to. Ponk wasn't infected anymore, the guy could hardly lift a bottle.
The silence stretched out between them, until finally, Ponk spoke again, eyes watching Dream's hands far too closely.
"Is it fucked up if I'm glad it wasn't just me? That he- It was him. I mean, I knew he was the one that fucked up. He cut my fucking arm off over some fucking keycards. But- I mean- He kept trying to act like it wasn't a big deal. Like I should just ignore what he did to me. Like it was all my fault. I didn't buy it- but- I mean- God, I'm not sure what I mean."
Something inside Dream wanted to break. Wanted to shatter apart. Wanted to scream and cry and-
"It's okay." Dream replied, his voice far more shaky than he would've liked. "I get it." That might be a lie. Both statements might be lies.
"I'm glad it wasn't just me either." Dream said, because it was what he needed to say.
Maybe one day he'd be able to figure out if he meant it.
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overthinkingfandom · 2 years
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Protagonist Paradigm Exemplar - A character analysis of Tommy
(Part 1)
/rp /dsmp
The topic of Tommy’s hero complex is a discussion that pops up every now and then in fandom. 
The discussion is often framed around a couple of specific moments: The time Techno asked Tommy whether he wanted to be a hero on Nov 16, and the time Dream accused him of wanting to be one during the Disc Finale. 
Many people rightfully point out that being a hero is the last thing Tommy wants. He isn’t someone who’s praticulary driven by justice to protect the weak and helpless. Nor is he looking to be the person to swoop in and save the day, praised and admired for his heroics. In fact, he would probably be more than happy to never be involved with a war or a high stakes conflict for the rest of his life. 
However, by focusing so much on those two specific moments the discussion gets railroaded in a particular direction. One that focuses on the idea of “hero” in the context of Theseus and Greek heroes.
Yet that’s not the only possible meaning the word “hero” can have. A lot of people use it as a synonym for the main character of a story. The protagonist. To be clear, despite being used interchangeably by many, protagonist doesn’t mean “hero”. It doesn’t even mean “good guy”. It merely means “main character”.
Having said that, we know Tommy doesn’t think of himself as a hero like the Greeks, but does he think of himself as a hero like a protagonist?
Tommy: “What if- what if the protagonist over there had a family bond that you simply couldn’t comprehend due to your loneliness on this server and lack of family, so he had to stick with him even though there might have been a slight amount of reluctance in there. Also, he’s had some pretty hard times over these past few months, such as exile uh depression uh lots of terrible things so maybe you should go light on this protagonist.”(x)
Yes. Yes he does.  
This protagonist complex is something which accompanies the character from his very first days on the server and affected much of his development throughout the plot, but the true origin of Tommy’s protagonist complex started before even that. 
It started with the very conception of the character.
Roleplay has always been a part of DSMP’s identity in one way or another. However, back when it first started it was more along the lines of a sketch comedy or a sitcom rather than the epic character-based tale we have today. The ccs would log on and play their personas, bouncing off each other and causing all kinds of shenanigans before eventually resolving it. There was no script to follow, instead the plot was formed through a combination of roleplay and improv etiquette. 
It’s no surprise then that many of those personas took on qualities of the archetypes common in sitcoms. Those archetypes are more than just a collection of personality traits, they often also indicate the role a character has in the joke so it’s easy to fall into them naturally when looking to create humor through character interactions. The influence of those archetypes can be seen most clearly in Tommy’s character, but they also helped shape many of the other characters who grew from their streamer’s persona (like Tubbo, Fundy or Ponk, to name a few).
For cc!Tommy, his persona was a mix between what the industry calls Loveable Loser and what Tv Tropes calls unsympathetic comedy protagonist. 
Loveable Losers are common sitcom protagonists. They’re those characters who are driven by their want for something, and in their quest for getting that want they’ll manage to go about it in all the wrong ways. Most of the humor with them comes from their impulsive ideas that are bound to get them in trouble as well as their ability to dig themselves deeper once consequences come knocking. The archetype is very much defined by the character losing, and making that loss as hilarious as possible for the audience. 
Which is why it’s a natural fit for the unsympathetic comedy protagonist trope. Despite the name, the trope isn’t about characters who are so hateable no one could sympathize with them. They’re about characters who make it easy to laugh at their misfortune when they bring it upon themselves with their harebrained ideas or by being a jerk. 
Of course watching such a character would get tiring fast, so the “loveable” part comes in to balance it out. Whether through their charisma, hidden heart of gold or just an otherwise adorable or cool manner, the character endears themselves to the audience with their charm and makes it fun to watch them, not just to watch them fail. 
cc!Tommy relied a lot on what makes those archetypes function in his streams. There was this routine he would do in the early days of the server. He would log on, hatch up a zany scheme (often one which involved getting power, scamming someone or scamming someone in order to get power) and set about implementing it until something went wrong or he provoked people enough that they decided to retaliate.
What followed next was sure to be hilarious. With everyone else also being some shade of asshole, it made it easy to laugh no matter whether our loveable loser ended up bemoaning losing all of his stuff in the conflict again or if he somehow managed to overcome all the obstacles in his way and emerge victorious. 
Part of what made this routine so compelling is that it gave cc!Tommy a great way to generate conflict and keep things exciting. Conflict, as we all know, is the bread and butter of stories and indeed that’s what his streams ended up feeling like. Like a story where things were happening, rather than just people hanging out on a live stream. 
When cc!Wilbur joined the server the roleplaying really went up a notch. The scope of the bits increased. No longer did they fully revolve around minecraft mechanics - with the main sources of conflict being stolen items or murdered pets - but now they were also about drug monopolies and rebelling countries. 
The comedy show aspect was still there but it existed alongside other kinds of stories being told. Sometimes more literally than others. It’s well known that during the Independence War cc!Wilbur and cc!Tommy were constantly referencing the musical Hamilton, with cc!Wilbur taking on the role of the mentor character, George Washington, while cc!Tommy adopted the role of Hamilton, the main character himself. 
However, unlike the sitcom archetype cc!Tommy played up to that point, the character of Hamilton embodied a more heroic archetype. The impulsive sort, who doesn’t think before he acts but has his heart in the right place. Who despite all his faults still wants to do the Right Thing. You know the one.
That archetype wasn’t hard to incorporate into Tommy's existing characterization. He was already impulsive and not prone to much thinking. He had enough Pet The Dog moments to show that he did indeed have a golden heart underneath all of his many flaws. The only problem was the part about doing the Right Thing.
You see, sitcom characters don’t often concern themselves with the morality of an action, at least not anything beyond what could get them into trouble. Philosophizing too much about Right and Wrong tends to kill the humor, especially when the characters are all assholes to one degree or another. As such, the archetype doesn’t have many internal values associated with it in that regard. 
The heroic archetype… also doesn’t have many values associated with it, surprisingly enough. It wants to do the Right Thing but once we start looking at specific details they get a bit scarce. Heroic characters rarely fight because of a specific ideology. More often than not they do so because they have some kind of personal stake in the issue. Those who do fight for a specific ideology tend to be portrayed somewhere in the range between a well intentioned extremist and a villain. 
Still, there are some commonalities which tend to emerge. Power is Bad, unless the Right People have it. The status quo is Good, or at most it was Good until the villains made it Bad. Fighting for the personal is more heroic than fighting for the utilitarian big picture. Etc, etc…
Yet, where in most heroic characters those values are baked into the personality (to various levels of success), with Tommy’s character they’re tacked on top the sitcom archetype. Something which creates a lot of dissonance between what the character says he values versus what his actions show he values. 
The combination of those two archetypes creates another interesting aspect to it. Both of them are commonly seen with main characters. It makes it easy to look at Tommy’s character and see him as a protagonist, if only because of how familiar that kind of character is. It doesn’t help that cc!Tommy plays into that familiarity because, well… 
cc!Tommy: “Until the exile arc my character was basically just me cause I just assumed I was the main character.”(x)
However, DSMP is not a book or a movie. It’s a roleplay, it has no main characters. Or alternatively, everyone is a main character. Everyone is complex and three-dimensional, with their own agendas and internal worlds that don’t revolve around any other character. Furthermore, it’s a story told live on a minecraft server. The cc’s ability to make the world of the story bend over backwards for the sake of the plot is pretty limited. While stuff can be arranged, it’s not common. 
So what we end up with is a character who acts like he’s the main character, expects the story to revolve around him like the main character, but isn’t actually the main character. 
What we end up with is a character who has all the makings to be someone with a protagonist complex.
Of course, just because a character has the potential to develop a protagonist complex doesn’t mean they will. While those OOC reasons planted seeds, it’s really the plot and the character’s history which really made Tommy’s protagonist complex blossom.
We see those seeds in the way c!Tommy acted during the pre-L’manburg era. From the very beginning he viewed himself as set apart or more important than other people, whether it be by thinking he’s above rules he himself set(x) or by barging into meetings and talking over people to insist his issues were more important than whatever problem they were dealing with(3:43). At his worst, he went so far as to completely disregard any problems people had with him(x).
We see it also in the way he approaches morality, thinking he’s always a good person(x) or in the right(x) regardless of circumstances, as well as judging if someone is his friend by whether they’re on his side or not(x). Protagonist centered morality is what happens when a story treats everything the main character does as Right simply because they’re the main character. Usually it’s a meta trope, used to discuss the narrative, but here we see that Tommy believes in-universe this is how the world works. 
Yet that belief is not confined to a single trope. Just in general Tommy seems to believe that life runs on narrative conventions. 
Tubbo: “Wait what made us in the right to begin with? Maybe we’re the bad guys.”
Tommy: “No because we’re the funny guys and they’re always in the right.”(x)
Is it any surprise then that when Wilbur came on the server, spinning tales of evil tyrants and heroic revolutionaries, Tommy believed him wholeheartedly? 
Not only did the stereotypical story make sense within his existing worldview, it came from Wilbur. Wilbur, who was Tommy’s guiding light. The one he trusted to point him in the right direction and hold him back if he goes too far. His mentor in all but name. 
So when the time came to create and fight for L’manburg, Tommy threw himself into playing a persona that would fit the role of heroic underdog revolutionary that Wilbur’s tale laid out for him. As a result, L’manburg lies in the core of the persona he builds, in more than one way.
There are the obvious moments, like the ones we see during the Independence War where Tommy acts for the sake of L’manburg. Nothing says “heroic main character trying to salvage a hopeless situation” quite like butting into the leaders’ surrender negotiations(x) or making the fate of the entire country lay on his shoulders in a one on one duel with the enemy leader(x). Even the character arc Tommy acted out during all of it, of learning to believe in something bigger than himself and act on that belief - to be selfless for a change - fits the heroic persona he was playing.
(And it is playing rather than a genuine arc. Tommy shows a few notable moments of change, such as when he refrains from griefing Dream’s house or gives up the discs for L’manburg’s independence, but there’s no consistent followup on them later down the line. He continues to grief others and even ends up endangering L’manburg in his quest to get the discs without so much as reflecting on those acts. No actual internal change came from this arc, not even one that Tommy ended up backsliding on. 
As cc!Wilbur said: “[Tommy] flips his values radically based on tiny non-emotional changes in his environment.”(x) For this reason, I’m describing him as acting a heroic persona which fits his situation rather than say he’s a heroic character with flaws.)
There are subtler ways in which L’manburg influenced Tommy’s protagonist complex as well. One of the first real values Tommy picks up, the values that actually stick with him and consistently influence his actions, is that L’manburg is Good. A value which was only reinforced by him trading the discs to secure its freedom. After all, his discs were Good, right? And if he gave them for L’manburg’s sake that must mean that L’manburg was also Good. Good enough to be worth his precious discs. 
But more than that, L’manburg only existed because of his discs. Because of him. Or at least that’s how Tommy saw it. More than once he brought up how he gave up his discs for L’manburg(x) in order to argue that it’s worth preserving and keeping. In fact, it can be argued he felt entitled to L’manburg for his role in its creation. 
On the flipside, feeling like L’manburg is his meant that any attacks against the country felt personal, like they were attacking all that Tommy did in order to preserve the country. And considering how L’manburg has been in the center of most conflicts on the server up until it got blown up for good, that made Tommy feel like all those conflicts were personal to him. Even when the other side's desire to destroy L’manburg was completely unrelated to Tommy. 
This only reinforced the mindset that he was the one at the center of the story, the one the narrative of the world orbited around. A mindset that eventually led him to proclaim, “This server wasn’t about- this! It wasn’t- It was about me and Tubbo fighting Dream!”(x) when he saw the world moved on and changed during the month he was stuck in prison and/or dead.
(For the sake of not being misunderstood: Yes, Tommy said that because he was freshly traumatized from the events of the prison and his death. No, this does not contradict what I just said. That trauma didn’t create the sentiment behind this quote, it just brought Tommy to a mental state where it became a problem.)
We see Tommy’s possessiveness over L’manburg most obviously after Schlatt wins the elections. When Wilbur does his bad guys speech and asks if he’s the villain for trying to overthrow Schlatt, Tommy answers that he isn’t because “we started L’Manburg and… we should have won that vote.”(x) Even after Wilbur challenges him, correctly pointing out that Schlatt’s appointment is completely legal, Tommy continues acting like Schlatt usurped the throne of L’manburg away from its rightful heirs. 
Yet for all of the ways in which Schlatt threatens Tommy during the Pogtopia arc, the one who truly leaves his mark is WIlbur. 
Much of Tommy’s protagonist complex can be traced back to Wilbur’s influence in one way or another, an influence that is inextricably linked to the way Tommy sees him as his mentor. Despite being more self aware about it, Wilbur also acts like life runs on narrative conventions. This reinforced Tommy’s own belief, both because Tommy adopted a lot of Wilbur’s mannerisms but also because Wilbur treated him like a protagonist. 
Wilbur: “And here’s Tommy. Here’s the man of the hour himself, Tommyinnit. The protagonist is finally here.”(x)
He even went out of his way to put Tommy in the spotlight sometimes. Such as when it was time to kill Schlatt and Wilbur decided to give Tommy the “honor”, despite there being people (like Niki, Tubbo or Quackity) who have an equal or greater claim to that honor due to being personally victimized by Schlatt(x).
But Wilbur’s biggest influence came from his downward spiral. “Let’s be the bad guys,” He told Tommy, “let’s blow that whole thing up!”. In that moment Tommy’s mentor died, stepping out of the story and leaving in his place a threat he had to contend with. 
Like any mentor dying, this too forced the “hero” to stand on his own two feet rather than rely on someone else. It’s at this point in time that Tommy really internalizes the role. If Wilbur kept talking about being the Bad Guy, Tommy - who wants to stop him - is by implication the Good Guy. 
We see it in the words he chose to use when arguing against WIlbur. “[Blowing L’manburg up] isn’t the moral thing to do,”(x) He told Wilbur when they first discussed it. A sentiment he didn’t express a few days before when he wanted to torch Manburg to the ground to avenge Wilbur’s honor after Fundy disowned him as a father. 
Tommy: “Wilbur, take one look at Manburg. Cause it ain’t no more!”(x)
Because really, it’s not that Tommy suddenly gained a conscience about property damage. He didn’t. Even months later he would suggest blowing up the community house and had to be talked down(x). Rather, it’s Tommy retreating further into the “heroic” role in order to distance himself from Wilbur’s “villainous” role. 
(Ironically enough, it’s at this point where he embraces the “heroic” role the most that he starts to reject the narrative Wilbur creates for him. The one that places him as the most important person. The one that would place Tommy as the president.)
Wilbur’s tales worked too well, and by the time Pogtopia came Tommy bought into the myth of L’manburg just as much as he bought into the myth of his discs, in a way that was independent of its origin. Seeing Wilbur - the man who came up with the idea and taught it to Tommy and bolstered his faith when it faltered. Seeing that man trying to shatter the myth and go against it shook Tommy to the core. It would’ve been like seeing Tubbo trying to burn his discs. 
The more Wilbur spoke about destroying L’manburg the more Tommy dug his heels into the opposite position. If Wilbur wanted to blow it up, Tommy made sure to not allow a block to be out of place, even if he needed to grief Manburg as a distraction(x). If Wilbur went around calling himself the villain, Tommy would pull out the most stereotypical heroic arguments regardless of how relevant they were to the situation(x). 
All of this, in addition to Wilbur’s death, left a deep imprint on Tommy. So much so that even months later he talks about the way Wilbur’s “let’s be the bad guys” line rings through his head when he tries to sleep(x). The ghost of that experience haunts him and even without Wilbur around Tommy tries to distance himself from being the “bad guy”.
However, it’s important to note that there’s a very specific kind of “bad guy” he tries to avoid. The image of the “bad guy” Wilbur evoked in his speech and downward spiral. Image being the key word here. 
For all he talks about not wanting to be the bad guy, he sure doesn’t mind taking the same actions said bad guys take. That double standard is there in many of his actions, but we can see it even with his objection to Wilbur’s plan to blow up L’manburg. I’ve already talked about how he’s not really opposed to property damage, but one may argue that the thing Tommy took issue with was abandoning L’manburg rather than the way it was done. 
Tommy: “So you have all the discs?”
Tubbo: “I believe so, yes.”
Tommy: “So- Sit with me, Tubbo. Right now we could- I mean we could run away from here and we’d never have to- We have everything we ever wanted.”
Tubbo: “We have everything we care about.”
Tommy: *resolute* “No. We can’t. We’re here for L’manburg. We’re not giving up now. We’re gonna restore it.”(x)  
Except later in the day, after Wilbur made his speech and Tommy argued with all those pretty words, Tommy considered the very thing he condemned Wilbur for. 
While he ends up deciding not to, the way he frames those two situations is very different. With Wilbur he framed it as a moral issue. But when he himself considered the idea, Tommy framed it more along the lines of whether it’s worth it to fight. Not because L’manburg may not be worth saving, but because the fight is hard and they may lose. 
What we see here is Tommy’s protagonist centered morality from the early days after it has been entangled with the myth of L’manburg and the heroic role Tommy has been playing all this time. By the time the events of Pogtopia finished, that mindset grew much worse. 
This was not helped at all by what came next.
Exile.  
Exile did many things, but most importantly in the context of Tommy’s protagonist complex, it cemented Dream’s role as an irredeemable evil villain. Where before he saw Dream as his arch nemesis but still could accept the good sides in him (to the point where he seemed genuinely surprised that Dream wasn’t on their side during for the Pogtopia-Manburg war(x)), now the resulting trauma clouded over any attempt to see Dream outside that role. 
Something which Dream abused mercilessly.
In order to pull off the Disc Finale the way he wanted to, Dream had to make sure his actions won’t be looked at too closely. Many of his actions and mistakes would make anyone familiar with his methods raise an eyebrow simply by how stupid they are for achieving his stated goal there. That level of scrutiny wasn't good for someone who relies on information warfare as much as Dream does. 
So for the sake of masking his goals and win conditions, Dream played into Tommy’s existing expectations. All of which were colored through his belief that the world runs on narrative conventions with Tommy as the protagonist. 
Confirmation bias is a powerful tool and we see Dream continuing to adjust his persona to give Tommy exactly what he expected. “Why?” Tommy asked, and Dream answered: “The server will be at peace now.” “Couldn’t you just do it to me?” Tommy continued, and Dream changed tracks: “This is much more fun.”(x)
The way Dream went about Doomsday was in large part because he needed to establish his supervillain persona before the Disc Finale so it won’t seem like it came out of nowhere. As soon as he got his hands on Tubbo’s disc, Dream switched from his normal, more reasonable demeanor to that of a blatant villain. The more stereotypical the better. 
Techno: “Dream, Dream, what’s our plan for tomorrow? Why did you give them a full day? We could’ve been back there in like thirty minutes, Dream.”
Dream: “Well, it’s like an evil villain thing, right? Like you give them time and then-”
Techno: “Ah, an evil villain thing. Cringe. Been watching too much anime.”(x)
From Tommy’s POV, this didn’t seem like an abrupt change but rather Dream taking off the mask and showing his true colors, confirming what he always thought about him.
In fact, everything from exile up until the Disc Finale served to confirm and reinforce Tommy’s perception that the world runs on narrative conventions. Not necessarily because all of it was meant to cause that impression, but because thinking this way made it easier for Tommy to cope with all he has been through. 
Tommy: “I fucking miss when times were simpler. When all I had to worry about was defeating one big green guy.”(x)
Seeing the world through narrative conventions allowed Tommy to make sense of things. There are certain ways in which stories go. Consistent arcs and patterns that show up over and over again. If Tommy is the protagonist and Dream his antagonist, that makes the way forward clear. He can rely on tropes and countless other stories told before to figure out what’s going on and put it in context. 
But it’s also something that brings comfort. Stories are neat in a way that life isn’t. The good guys win, people learn to be better and once the bad guy is taken down everything is resolved. Tommy held on to the hope that once Dream was defeated, it would all turn out alright, even when Dream’s defeat didn’t logically solve the problems he was facing(x).
Dream’s supervillain persona being so stereotypical and generic made it easier for Tommy to believe in it. It played into two of his beliefs at the same time. Both that life runs on narrative conventions and that Dream is a mustache twirling villain. He had no problem believing Dream would monologue his actual plans or have an evil lair where he puts his schemes on display, because that’s just how villains act, right? 
And if Dream is the evil villain and Tommy opposes him, that makes Tommy the hero right? The only one, by choice or by fate, who’s capable of stopping the villain’s evil. 
Tommy: “[Dream] was just here to make sure- ‘cause I’m the only one that will thwart him. I’m the only one that Dream’s scared of.”(x)
As a result, Tommy ends up defining himself in large part through his opposition to Dream, which has the same effect as his desperate attempt to distance himself from Wilbur and the “villainous” label he chose during Pogtopia. Only by comparing himself to Dream he also exacerbates his tendency to think he’s always in the right. After all, when the bar for “evil” is set as low as Dream placed it, any lesser fault comes across as inconsequential. 
We can see the results of how much he defined himself in his opposition to Dream in him saying that he feels like he has no purpose without Dream(x). We can also see it in his mindset in exile. In fact, this mindset is what allowed him to escape exile in the first place, which is another reason why it’s so hard for him to let go of that mindset. 
However, it also opened him up to being more easily manipulated by Dream. Someone who always says no is just as easy to manipulate as someone who always says yes, the key is just presenting your goals as the opposite of what they actually are and then watch the victim rush to be a contrarian. Lying to Tommy also became significantly easier by abusing that persona and narrative conventions to get him to believe it. 
Something the Disc Finale shows perfectly. Dream set up the confrontation and played the villain to a T, allowing Tommy to get a storybook ending while giving Dream exactly what he wanted. 
This storybook ending marks Tommy’s “completion” of his hero’s journey, and unfortunately it also marks Tommy’s protagonist complex being fully cemented.
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cyncerity · 1 year
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hmm how about store shifter au? i love that one :D
"if you're not going to buy anything, put that camera away and get out."
idk i feel that fits wil tryna be sneaky in dre's store, not sure if that's what you were looking for but that's the first thing that came to mind,,,
ok but i actually love this so much-
you’re absolutely correct this fits their dynamic perfectly, this is exactly what I was looking for
***
“So there isn’t anything illegal going on in this store?” Wilbur asked, an old handheld camera pressed uncomfortably into Dream’s face as he was trying to close up shop. Good god, he only had 15 minutes till the store closed. Why did Wil have to come in now?
It definitely didn’t help that Quackity had chosen to come and talk to Dream at the checkout counter moments before Wil came in, and was now pressed uncomfortably against the bottom of the desk since Dream’s first reaction was just to grab and hide him as soon as he’d seen a camera.
“For the last time, no. You’re not gonna find a reason to arrest me, now please leave me alone.” “What about…those!” He pointed at the pharmacy corner, looking at Dream like he had somehow won. Dream just sighed and rubbed his temples. “That’s for prescription meds, Ponk is licensed to sell those. Now please-“
Dream’s saving grace was the door ringing, signaling that someone had come into the store, Tommy walking in holding his uniform from Wilbur’s store.
“Ah, Tommy!” Wil yelled, rushing over and slinging an arm around the blonde, camera still pointed at Dream’s face. “Perhaps you could shed some light on this situation. To your knowledge, has your..your guardian,” he said, as if it hurt him acknowledge Dream’s connection to his favorite employee, “committed any atrocities in this store?”
Tommy hummed as Dream simply slumped over the checkout counter, waiting for whatever lie Tommy was gonna say. He knew Tommy, he wouldn’t miss an opportunity to mess with the both of them. He did, however, take that opportunity to quickly and discreetly shove Quackity into his shirt pocket, only hearing a yelp in response and a quick whisper of “asshole” directed at him. To be fair, he wasn’t great at handling tiny people yet, he could have moved Quackity a bit more gently. But in his defense, he didn’t exactly want Tommy’s deranged boss to see him. He wasn’t sure if Tommy had seen him or not, but he wasn’t really worried about that. Sapnap would probably have told his fiancés that Dream had a kid who was a shifter. Right?
“I’d say there’ve been a few war crimes.” Tommy apparently decides on, nodding his head with a stupid smirk. “A few violations of the Geneva Convention. Owning exotic animals without a license. Did you know we have an entire room of Hedgehogs in the back? Did you know Hedgehogs were illegal to own without a license?” Tommy lies, trying not to laugh. Wilbur didn’t even seem to process it, staring at Dream like he had just won the lottery.
“Ha! Your own son testifies against you! What do you have to say to that?” Wilbur asked, crossing his arms and smiling smugly. Dream sucked in a deep breath as he closed the distance between himself and Wilbur. “I think if you’re not going to buy anything, put that camera away and get out.”
“But-“ Wilbur didn’t have a chance to finish before Dream was physically pushing him out of the store. “Nope, don’t care, out!” He yelled over Wilbur’s protests. Tommy laughed loudly in the background as Wilbur was pushed out the door and locked it behind him. He swore he could even hear Quackity laughing slightly as he flipped the sign on the door to “closed” and Wilbur banged indignantly on the door.
Dream ignored him and quickly headed back to the break room, Tommy following shortly behind. Tommy flopped himself down on the beanbag as soon as they entered and Dream locked the door behind them.
“Y’know the only reason I haven’t gotten a restraining order against him is because you seem to like him.” Dream said, taking his apron off. Tommy shrugged. “What can I say, he’s entertaining. ‘S your friend ok?” He asked, pointing at Dream’s shirt. Ah, so he did see.
Dream pulled on the opening of his shirt pocket. “You doin ok in there, Big Q?” “Fuck off, man.” He responded, only lifting a hand to flip him out from in the pocket. “You gave me a migraine flinging me around like that, you bitch.” He complained, though there wasn’t any real anger in his voice. Dream laughed. “Sorry, sorry, I panicked. You gonna be alright?” “Yeah, yeah. That your kid out there?” He asked, finally sticking his head out of the pocket to look at Tommy, who had been playing on his phone and hadn’t been listening to any of that, apparently.
“Yeah, that’s him. Sapnap tell you about him?” “Yup. You two should spend the night sometime, he seems fun. Put you through the ringer with that other guy.” Quackity laughed as Dream scoffed. “Tell me about it. Wilbur’s a bitch.” “…is he a single bitch?” “Im not gonna answer that. Plus, aren’t you engaged?” “Hey, we’re open.” Quackity responded, smirking. Dream shuddered. “Don’t even think about it.” He responded, lifting Quackity out of the pocket and setting him on the room’s counter and grabbing his box of small clothes from his cubby, holding them up so Quackity could see them. “You mind if I take you up on that offer? I’m sure Tom has his backup clothes.” Quackity smiled. “Not at all. I’ll go let Sapnap and Karl know you’re coming, if you don’t mind giving me a hand.” Quackity said, standing up and pointing to the room’s higher vent. Dream obliged and laid down a hand for Quackity, letting him step on as he lifted him up to the vent.
Quackity headed back to his home as Dream grabbed a blanket from the break room communal closet and threw it over Tommy’s head, the teenager responding with an indignant shriek as Dream laughed. “Keep that over your head for a minute, I need to change.” Tommy huffed as Dream shrunk and changed into his separate borrower outfit, kicking Tommy in the ankle to signal that he was done. Tommy yanked the blanket off his head to look down at Dream, confusion clear on his face. “Get changed and shrink, Sapnap’s fiancés want to meet you.” Dream said, climbing up beanbag to end up on Tommy’s knee. His son beamed. “Fuck yeah, sleepover!”
108 notes · View notes
heartkade · 1 year
Text
Post-Red Banquet -> Present Day lore recap!
Lore and arcs summarized for each character who’s part of the Egglore finale, up to present day. Just a basic refresher to know where each character is at currently
*Updated to Ponk’s lore stream “A Helping Hand” so it’ll be outdated for current egglore
c!Hannah
Was granted fairy wings from DreamXD
Sam employed her and c!Boomer to work under Awesamdude Inc. She is the bank manager. Boomer and her share a strange connection/familiarity, and became fast friends.
Sam holds what happened at the Red Banquet against Hannah, but she wants to move on since it’s “all in the past.”
Boomer tears off her wings accidentally, they declare each other as enemies and fight. Sam wants them to fix their issues for the sake of the business. She’s upset at both of them for not caring.
Currently: desperate to have her wings back, wants to ask DreamXD but can’t get in contact
c!Sam
Locked the Egg away after the Red Banquet, was still the Prison Warden. On the side, works on Awesamdude Inc. for the bank and Las Nevadas for Quackity.
Big reveal that he can transfer his soul between (possibly artificial) bodies that lay dormant all around the server. He knows c!Boomer from the past.
The whole giant Prison Saga which I’ll sum up very briefly: People die on his watch, he continues getting corrupted mentally by the Warden role. Allows violence, kidnaps and takes lives himself believing it’s for righteous reasons, and everybody escapes from the prison in the end. Very few people trust him now.
Gets locked in the prison as retribution. c!Dream visits every day, breaks down his willpower, and takes a canon life.
Has nothing else to do but throw himself into work with Awesamdude Inc. Regularly doing projects with Sam Nook and Foolish.
Egg Resurgence Arc. He finds out that the Egg is growing in power, realizes his methods to contain the entity didn’t work, and is worried about Bad.
Sam Bucket Saga
Currently: just disturbed by everything.
c!Ponk
Post-Red Banquet, moves into the Summer Home to regain Foolish’s trust and heal from egg control, they become good friends, and she later moves out
Confronts Sam for chopping off his hand. Finds out that Foolish went on a date with Sam and breaks off their friendship. Cuts off all ties and lives in a cave for a while.
Later rebuilds their friendship with Foolish.
Confronts Sam again after the prison break for what he’s done. Is disappointed in what Sam has become, when he used to be such an amazing person.
Still lives in a cave, not doing too well & had another bad encounter with Sam
Currently: desperate to get his hand back and went to the Egg for help (egglore finale)
c!Puffy
Still unsure of how she got to the dsmp, had gotten amnesia from her ship crashing during a storm.
Accepts that everybody on the dsmp is evil in some way, even herself for killing Antfrost at the Red Banquet. Ant and her mutually apologize. Was still upset at Bad.
Slightly involved in the L’Sandburg War arc
Gets her restaurant exploded. Later on decides to leave, wanting a new start.
Currently: birthday party
c!Eryn
Half demon, knows Tommy from childhood. His parents died in an attack on their village, and after many years of traveling he arrives in the dsmp. Tries to befriend Tommy again.
Immediately gets attached to Badboyhalo as a father figure. Views Sapnap as a brother.
Big reveal that they can relive past moments of war and violence as auditory hallucinations. Hears the Red Banquet but doesn’t believe that c!Bad would’ve ever hurt anyone.
History lesson from Eret. c!Dream prison escape happens.
Everybody on the server seems on edge and depressed now, Eryn is upset that he can’t help. Feeling lonely & also scared by the past violence he heard, they hide underground for several weeks until c!Aimsey comes and the two become friends.
Currently: deflecting their emotions but otherwise is doing okay
c!Antfrost
Apologized to everyone for his involvement with the Egg and Red Banquet.
Continued to work as a prison guard under Sam.
Takes his work vacation only to come back and find that c!Dream has escaped the prison. Sam blamed him for not being there to help.
Ant talks to Bad and they confront Sam for abandoning the Badlands and blaming them when he should be responsible. After more arguing, Ant quit the job and left.
Currently: unknown
c!Seapeekay (C!PK)
Fox that can travel to different dimensions and ended up in the dsmp.
Is given a tour by Ponk and later Badboyhalo. Bad repeatedly loses his memory of meeting CPK during this because of the egg trying to control him. Foolish quickly intervenes and brings the two to the Summer Home. Bad later takes CPK to the egg room, before managing to stop himself and disinfects the two in a panic. (this is one of my favorite lore streams)
One day CPK hears creepy voices, curiously goes to the source (egg room) then passes out.
Starts changing his preferences to the color red & his fur becomes discolored.
Another day when cc!CPK is not at the computer, his character begins unconsciously moving on its own. He goes to the Egg and touches it, then runs away. 
He and Aimsey make a team devoted to fixing things but it doesn’t work out. He decides to destroy stuff instead and his house gets exploded.
Currently: unknown. probably not doing very good
c!Badboyhalo
Was not willing to apologize to everyone for his involvement with the Egg and Red Banquet. Trying very hard to repress it out of guilt.
Continued to work as a prison guard under Sam.
Decides to live with Foolish at the Summer Home, beginning the very long rollercoaster ride that is the Roommate Saga. Many arcs are part of it, in order we have:
The L’Sandburg War arc
The DreamXD Statue arc. We find out XD hates Bad for some reason.
The L’Cactusburg Prank War arc. Bad & Skeppy’s house got moved to Ohio.
Dream prison escape, Bad quits his job as a prison guard along with Antfrost.
Egg Resurgence Arc. One part being the CPK tour egg-control thing already talked about above. The other part follows Bad and Foolish trying to find out why the Egg is growing stronger, as bloodvines are growing around the Summer Home & Foolish’s builds.
Bad moves out, ending the Roommate Saga “for now”
Sam Bucket Saga
Currently: friends with Sam Bucket, concerned about the Egg and is gathering people for Puffy’s birthday party
The Egg
Got drowned in church prime by Foolish Post-Red Banquet
Tried to get revenge on Foolish and infect Bad again during the Egg Resurgence Arc
Successfully infected C!PK instead
Was “destroyed” by Foolish but actually just moved somewhere else (has similar properties to an ender dragon egg)
Momentarily stopped by Sam Bucket
Currently: growing more powerful. uh oh.
As for the lore of characters that also have a good chance of being in the finale:
c!Foolish
Post-Red Banquet, the Egg was in his head until he drowned it in prime water. They apparently have a long history that Foolish doesn’t remember.
The Roommate Saga & the Las Nevadas Saga happening at the same time
DreamXD Statue arc, became besties with XD and was granted immortality and knowledge of the Death Book.
Egg Resurgence Arc same as with Bad. Foolish used his immortality to destroy the Egg; the action kickstarting the Sam Bucket Saga. The egg moved locations and is now more dangerous.
Roommate Saga end & Las Nevadas Finale
Currently: fixing Las Nevadas with c!Quackity
c!Skeppy
Was slightly involved in the L’Sandburg War and L’Cactusburg Prank War arcs. Him and Bad’s house got moved to Ohio so they rebuilt it.
Currently: living quietly at his house
c!Punz
Has mostly been planning things with c!Dream after the prison escape
Slightly involved in Las Nevadas Finale
Currently: unknown
Sam Bucket
Was a victim of the Egg long ago. He wanted his dog Francis back and the Egg said it could help
Realized he was being controlled and discovered the egg’s weakness to iron. Buried himself with the Egg so hopefully no one would ever find it again. Now has an extended lifespan and teleportation powers
Badboyhalo rediscovered the egg and got corrupted. Sam Bucket wasn’t able to stop the Red Banquet & could only watch
Could physically appear as a result of the Egg Resurgence arc
Sam Bucket Saga. Is trying to protect people from the egg
Currently: saaaam bucket
———
104 notes · View notes
dawnmon · 2 years
Text
A list of who and who should not be allowed into the Dream SMP 2 Writers Room (pretty much Do I Like Their Character/Think They’re Well Done).
I am also an Inniter. That says a lot I feel
Aimsey: Yes! Their lore at the start was very good. They pulled out Bangers for their first few lore streams and told a really good story that was ruined by the s4 curse.
Allowed
Antfrost: Don’t know much about his lore besides that he was in the eggpire. also bad tommy takes
Not Allowed (Bad Tommy Takes)
Awesamdude: Yes Absolutely! He’s one of the most consistent characters on the SMP, if not The most, and he plays three separate characters to boot. Very talented, very good lore
Allowed
BadBoyHalo: Nn. No. I loved the Eggpire arc but the s4 victim blaming towards c!Tommy was Not something I’m. comfortable with. So.
Not Allowed (Bad takes)
BoomerNA: Another person I don’t know the lore of too well. From what I Have seen, it was well made and had quite a bit of thought and effort into it. Joined very late into s3 so his potential hasn’t come to fruition.
Allowed
Callahan:
Allowed
CaptainPuffy: Her recent disrespect of lore, to be frank, didn't sit well with me. She’s making a different character for goofing off now, but her trend of droppings arcs before really starting them leads to a really inconsistent character. She also hopped on the c!Tommy Hate bandwagon, which makes zero sense since she was his therapist.
Not Allowed (Inconsistency)
ConnorEatsPants:
Allowed
Dream: He’s the literal owner of and titular character of the server who is tied to all lore. He also has not appeared in main s4, i miss him. I miss c!prime.
Allowed
Eret: Oh absolutely. Her lore is special and she deserves it.
Allowed
Eryn: Like Boomer, they joined very late into s3, but from what i’ve seen put in a lot of effort into their story. They utilize their character’s newness and chaotic nature well. Just needs more time to develop.
Allowed
Foolish Gamers: Absolute beast of a builder. As a writer as well, his character is interesting and his interactions with the egg arc were impactful and had huge consequences on his character. Really solid, though outside of egg lore and his Eret history I don’t know much.
Allowed
Fundy: A sparse character who doesn’t hop on often But Man when he does? He's an absolute treat and I adore his lore. So much effort is put in and he’s often swept to the side despite being a Lmanberg OG, so he gets this.
Allowed
GeorgeNotFound: it would be funny
Allowed
Hannahxxrose: From what I’ve seen of her lore? Yeah! It’s some cool stuff. I like her character. Not much else besides she absolutely was ready to murder Dream on multiple accounts and had nice bank lore.
Allowed
HBomb94: Haha cat maid. (also genuinely has a cool lore moment)
Allowed
ItsAlyssa: If she wants to
Allowed
JackManifoldTV: One of the only examples of a character who hates Tommy Well, because they used to be friends. Very good character.
Allowed
Jschlatt: Haha evil goat man. Seriously, a threatening yet comedic villain during Pogtopia.
Allowed
Karl Jacobs: Yes. His Tales stuff is absolutely phenomenal and expands on the lore so much. Absolutely impressive.
Allowed
LazarBeam and Vikkstar123: Their only lore to my knowledge is getting tortured by Dream and that qualifies them
Allowed
Michaelmcchill: He has some really cool stuff! His radio lore was super cool and I really wish he got to use it to interact more.
Allowed
Nihachu: Oh boy um. Niki’s character really isn’t one I’m too fond of? She’s in this really weird and really contradictory spot honestly. Earlier, it was great, but joining the Syndicate, trying to kill Tommy, and freeing Dream aren’t actions she seems to have reflected on or apologized for.
Not Allowed (Inconsistency)
Ph1LzA: Haha,, no. Terrible advice in s4, frees Dream with no consequences, kills his son and believes it’s justified, absolute mess. CC Phil is great but I Cannot stand his writing.
Not Allowed (Wtf is with this man)
Ponk: PONK! Yes. Really impactful stuff, and is ingrained in server history.
Allowed
Punz: So he’s one im on the fence for mostly because i really don’t like staged disc finale. It feels like a cheap twist for a cheap twist and it’s disappointing because I liked his character a lot before it. Disregarding it I Like his lore post breakout retcon with Dream but Man it sours me.
Not Allowed (On the fence)
Purpled: Really cool lore! Utilizes his lack of lore to actually better his character in the Las Nevadas Arc.
Allowed
Quackity: ABSOLUTELY! Las Nevadas is such an incredible arc and so much effort is put into his stuff. I could go on for ages but he’s such a good, consistent, and well written character.
Allowed
Ranboo: Mmmm. So, his decision to have irl time = smp time is just One of my many frustrations. I liked his lore in the start, but it’s been a year and a half and we’ve gotten basically no answers or payoff at all. His treatment of c!Tommy is also something that frustrates me a Lot looking back and it’s not intentional. I dunno. His character irritates me.
Not Allowed (Stagnation and c!Tommy treatment)
Sapnap: So I really liked his resolve to kill Dream and then. That arc died. But I Do really like his relationship with Dream and how that’s evolved. There’s some bits I am Eh on but nothing Too bad.
Allowed
Seapeekay: Another late addition but I really am intrigued by his stuff! It’s super neat. Deserves more time.
Allowed
Skeppy: Lol gem man. Honestly the table conversation alone should admit him but also his egg stuff was cool.
Allowed
Slimecicle: Yes! Such a good character oh wow. I really liked Slime/c!Charlie, his interactions with everyone were so amazing and I really wish he came back to life.
Allowed
Technoblade: No.
Not Allowed (Not in a million years.)
TinaKitten; Don’t know anything about their lore!
Not Allowed (Lack of knowledge)
TommyInnit: I’m an Inniter
Allowed
Tubbo: So even before he was a leading cause of my S4 distaste, he was kind of on the fence. Knocked it out of the Park with the L’MB anniversary stream, but Cookie Outpost was super Eh for me, and Saving Michael and Everything after was the nail in the coffin. Goodbye to 2/3 of Benchtrio, if only your writing was better.
Not Allowed (Ruined S4!)
Wilbur Soot: Last one, Wilbur! Yeah. Recent s4 mishap aside, such a solid character and writer especially. Should’ve stayed in written form but ultimately really good and deserves it.
Allowed
——————
All Unalloweds:
Tina (Don’t know enough)
Ant (bad tommy takes)
Tubbo (Ruined S4)
Puffy (Inconsistent and also soured S4)
Punz (Seemed to genuinely care about Tommy And Then Didn’t, plot twist bad)
BBH (Has Yikes takes on c!prime)
Everyone in Syndicate (minus connor)
195 notes · View notes
mcytblraufest · 1 year
Text
MCYTBLR HOLIDAY EXCHANGE - The Gifts by the Numbers
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How Many Gifts?
Over the course of the event, we saw gifts delivered from 221 gifters, of which 33 were pinch hits. Some of these gifters gave multiple gifts, because you are all just incredibly dedicated!
What Gifts?
The most commonly given gift was art this time! But we also saw a considerable amount of fic, and a good amount of other types of gifts.
Art: 112 gifts
Fic: 83 gifts
Playlist: 12 gifts
Web Weave: 9 gifts
Other: 6 gifts
Moodboard: 3 gifts. 
Which Servers?
We saw gifts given themed around 17 different servers! DSMP was the most popular, but Harmitcraft, 3L/LL/DL, and Origins all made strong showings, and we had several people making gifts for smaller servers, including one for pure game lore!
DSMP: 85 gifts
Hermitcraft: 57 gifts
3L/LL/DL: 27 gifts
Origins: 22 gifts
Empires: 18 gifts
Lifesteal: 5 gifts
Philza Hardcore: 5 gifts
Dominion SMP: 3 gifts
MCSR/House Builder Gang: 3 gifts
100 Hours Hardcore: 2 gifts
Create Mod SMP: 2 gifts
Rats SMP: 2 gifts
SMPEarth: 2 gifts
Tommyinnit Mod Videos: 2 gifts
Game Lore: 1 gift
Phantasmaphobia server: 1 gift
Technoblade Sky Block: 1 gift
What Characters? 
People wrote, playlisted, drew, and otherwise created around 94 different characters, drawing from both streamer characters and beloved NPCs. Tommyinnit, Grian, Technoblade and Wilbur Soot were the standout characters, but there were a LOT of other characters who got the spotlight for a moment.
Tommyinnit: 44 gifts
Grian: 34 gifts
Technoblade: 33 gifts
Wilbur Soot: 32 gifts
Philza: 31 gifts
Ranboo: 26 gifts
GoodTimesWithScar: 24 gifts
Tubbo: 24 gifts
Ethoslab: 16 gifts
Bdouble0100: 14 gifts
Mumbo Jumbo: 14 gifts
PearlescentMoon: 14 gifts
ImpulseSV: 12 gifts
Quackity: 11 gifts
TangoTek: 10 gifts
GeminiTay: 9 gifts
Jimmy Solidarity: 8 gifts
Michael _Beloved: 8 gifts
Eret: 7 gifts
Joel Smallishbeans: 7 gifts
Awesamdude: 6 gifts
Charlie Slimecicile: 6 gifts
Foolish Gamers: 6 gifts
Niki Nihachu: 6 gifts
RenDog: 6 gifts
Zombie Cleo: 6 gifts
Jschlatt: 5 gifts
Martyn InTheLittleWood: 5 gifts
LD Shadowlady: 4 gifts
Scott Smajor: 4 gifts
Shubble: 4 gifts
Dreamwastaken: 3 gifts
Fruitberries: 3 gifts
Fundy: 3 gifts
fWhip: 3 gifts
Joe Hills: 3 gifts
Ponk: 3 gifts
Sapnap: 3 gifts
Skizzleman: 3 gifts
Spoke: 3 gifts
ClownPierce: 2 gifts
ConnorEatsPants: 2 gifts
Docm77: 2 gifts
Friend the Sheep: 2 gifts
Georgenotfound: 2 gifts
Ghostbur: 2 gifts
Hannahxxrose: 2 gifts
Illumina: 2 gifts
Jellie the Cat: 2 gifts
Karl Jacobs: 2 gifts
Keralis: 2 gifts
Legundo: 2 gifts
Mappic: 2 gifts
Oli Orionsound: 2 gifts
ParrotX2: 2 gifts
Pixlriffs: 2 gifts
Roshambo: 2 gift
Sneegsnag: 2 gifts
VikingPilot: 2 gifts
Zedaph: 2 gifts
Aimsey: 1 gift
Ariana Griande: 1 gift
Baconwaffles0: 1 gift
BadBoyHalo: 1 gift
Bekyamon: 1 gift
Bigbst4tz2: 1 gift
Blaze Empress: 1 gift
Blood God: 1 gift
Captain Puffy: 1 gift
Cubfan135: 1 gift
Ghostboo: 1 gift
He the Nether Demon: 1 gift
Henry the Cow: 1 gift
Itzsubz: 1 gift
Jack Manifold: 1 gift
Krowfang: 1 gift
Mexican Dream: 1 gift
MisterJokerTV: 1 gift
Mumza Goddess of Death: 1 gift
Olivesleepy: 1 gift
Owengejuicetv: 1 gift
Planetlord: 1 gift
Poafa: 1 gift
Princezam: 1 gift
Purpled: 1 gift
Rekrap: 1 gift
She the Nether Demon: 1 gift
Sir Billiam: 1 gift
Sniff Snifferish: 1 gift
Soupforeloise: 1 gift
Vortex: 1 gifts
xBcrafted: 1 gifts
Xornoth: 1 gifts
Yeahjaron: 1 gifts
Check out the blog for more of the gifts, and you can check out the Ao3 collection for the fics! (77 submitted fics on the Archive, for 13 different fandoms, of which six broke 10k.) Thank you all for participating, this was tons of fun. We’ll see you in the summer!
29 notes · View notes
aike-pandas · 2 years
Note
Hi, I’m guessing requests are open? If so, can you write about c!Techno slowly becoming best friends with the Reader (considering he invited her to the Syndicate without knowing much about her, just that she was “wise and strong” and stuff, so they weren’t close at all beforehand)? [Platonic :D] [also sorry if its too specific haha]
Sweet! Of course I'll do it <3 also don't worry sweetheart it isn't too specific ^^
Slowly melting like gold
[Technoblade x GN!Reader] → Platonic.
*Friendly reminder this is with their Minecraft personas! I don't write about CCs.
Read rules before requesting~°♪
Note: No pronouns used. GN reader.
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Although he was indeed the reason you met and joined The Syndicate, he didn't know pretty much anything about you. He did saw that you were closer to Phil and Ranboo though, so he got interested on you. Plus, he saw you carrying Tommy and Tubbo once —you were trying to stop them of making chaos— so he had to try and test your force too.
That's what he told Phil at least, but in pure honesty, he had no clue why did he wanted to meet you more.
But Phil encouraged him to friend you, so... Let's see intent number one:
He walked down to your location; The Greater DreamSMP. You were looking from far away at Ponk and Foolish talking, something seemed apparently wrong, and didn't notice the "tall" (has to use platforms to reach 6ft tall) reaching out to you.
“Y/n.”, he called you out, making you slightly jump in your place. “Oh! Hi Techno”, you smiled at him, getting up from the stone walls you were sitting on. “What brings you here, "Mr.Blade"?” you asked with a grin on your face. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit when he heard the nickname you called him for. “Nothing extraordinary, just wanted to pass by.” he shrugged it off. You titled your head, humming with curiosity. “Only that?” you asked, not believing that the pig man would have gone out from his comfort zone to be in a place full of drama. “I mean, yes, why else would I be here?”. He regretted his words as soon as they came out of his tongue. He could see your bad-hided pain from his words. “I see, well, I gotta go Techno, nice to talk to you.” Techno wanted to hit himself in that moment, but he panicked.
Well, that one didn't work. He refused to get out of his house until he had a good plan to friend you. Phil watched him, shaking his head in disbelief. If only Techno knew it was easy for him to friend you.
But oh well, let's not throw his work down. Time for intent number two!
He was decided this time, you had accepted meeting him in the Syndicate room.
He couldn't lie, he was nervous even though he didn't show it. He was terrible with words (even of he had an English mayor), but he had make some friends still, why was so hard to have you as a friend?
He saw the door open itself, letting show your figure trough it. You smiled at the pig man in front of you. “Hello there, Techno”, you greeted him, sitting on your chair. “Hello.” he greeted back, mimicking your action.
Silence fell awkwardly between you two for a couple seconds, until you decided to break the tension. “So, Techno, why did you decide to meet me here?” you played with the little flower on the table, waiting for the anarchist's answer.
Techno, however, didn't really expect the question. And now he was more nervous to be there with you. Why was it so frustratingly hard? He did try, but now he wasn't sure.
“I... Um...” he sighed as the words wouldn't come out of his mouth. “Tech? You're alright?” you questioned him, truly worried about his strange behaviour.
“'m fine...” he mumbled under his breath, not really trying for you to hear. “It's just... Harder than what I thought.”, “What exactly?”.
You saw his black pig eyes dodge your view. He couldn't really look directly at you in that moment. “...Just wanted to friend you...” he whispered, but it was loud enough for you to hear. You smiled at him, “so that's what everything was about?” you chuckled at his expression, you really didn't expect for the blood god to be this sweet.
“Awe, Techno” you cooed happily. “I thought you would write a letter for his those of things since you are not good with words when you have to talk face to face.”
He turned slightly red in embarrassment. “Shut.” which only made you chuckle. “I do want to be friends with you btw”, your words only made him look at you with shiny eyes.
Guess third time didn't have to be the charm this time.
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× Hope you liked it! Feel free to request anything you want as long as it follows the rules!
60 notes · View notes
brick-a-doodle-do · 11 months
Note
I’m a little late but fake fic titles if you would still like them :3
Questionable actions and a carrot
A piece of cake
Your no*1 fan
In a figurative and literal sense
All mine
Can you tell I wanted to be obscure? :3
agh. very obscure i love it :D i got an idea for one of them and now feel obligated to do all of them at once before i bury them in my drafts,,,,,,
questionable actions and a carrot
lately, wilbur'd seemed stressed. tommy understood, with the struggles of holding independence for l'manburg, he new the ruler would be stressed. so he wanted to offer his condolences and try to help his leader out.
after trading with ponk and sam and everyone else who was willing to help him, he finally had it: a shrinking potion.
shrink wilbur, force him to rest. that was his plan.
while he couldn't cook, he knew niki could, and tommy had immediately sought her help. reluctantly she agreed and the two organised a picnic/pot-luck type event for the recent winnings of their nation.
only thing was, niki and tommy had made stew and mixed in the potion to wilbur's portion.
in the end, wilbur wasn't exactly happy. but tommy did make sure to shut him up pretty quickly (he stuffed him in his pocket, gave him a shrunken carrot to calm the tiny, and went about his day)
a piece of cake
dream doesn't know why he stopped ghostbur from inviting the people to tommy's party, or why he'd sent the ghost off into the wilderness on top of it. maybe somewhere in the back of his mind, he didn't approve of it and thought it to be too friendly for an exile. or maybe he just wanted tommy to himself. he'd never exactly hated the kid, sure he was annoying, but he offered excitement. and lately their shared moments where he didn't have to fight for some quality time was pretty great. so maybe that's why he's here, standing in front of the nether portal, waiting for the motivation to go through.
when he does, the tiny is there already, sitting on the beach by the table he'd set up with dream just a few days before.
the two got into a pretty quick argument thanks to tommy's constant bickering and irritable self. but dream pulls the evening together pretty quickly. he'd made a small trident for the kid and had the cake that tommy had made. and the day ended with tommy eventually falling asleep in the crook of his neck. he wouldn't admit it, because tommy would've fucking killed him (both of humiliation and anger), but he'd left logstedshire and kept the tiny in his mouth for the time being. he had covered up his guilt surprisingly quickly.
your no*1 fan
tommy had heard many rumors of a famous leviathan hybrid that roamed the oceans just outside of the town, and he was determined to find it. he'd tried since he was a kid, just six years old trying to sneak a boat away without paying for it. sometimes it'd work and he'd sail around for a couple minutes before getting caught. he'd made a deal with the owner of the boat shop though after a while: if tommy promised to help search as often as he could, there wouldn't be a word about his stealing to his family. ever. and after a while, tommy grew out of the deal and he and quackity became good friends, and phil and wilbur knew all about his adventures with him.
tommy even got his own boat!
eleven years had passed and tommy was growing hopeless. at his core, he always believed in "karrohaird", but maybe he was too awesome for tommy.
until his very last outing, where he'd decided to go earlier and pass the time by fishing.
the area had been empty for a while, and he hadn't caught a single thing.
and when he did, he was surprised to find something that was very much not a fish. karrohaird. but...much smaller than he'd ever expected. immediately, he emptied a jar he'd collected shells in and swiped it in the sea, put the mer in, and sealed it as tight as he could. holy shit. he'd finally found the monster he'd spent years looking for.
--
technoblade had seen the bottom of the same boat for years. the human seemed more eager than any other child or adult he'd ever seen. and him, being a sizeshifter, decided he owed it to the kid. but just because the fish had all fled at his arrival and he was bored he thought this way.
in a figurative and literal sense
(VERY MUCH BASED OFF OF "FIELD NOTES" BY OWL CITY)
also please get why i made the scavenger/tiny wilbur. please. i will cry if you don't. this is the entire purpose of the fake fic /vlh
technoblade was just starting to build a life in the overworld, trying to find first a job, which had proven difficult. on his way home, he had gotten distracted by a skeleton that must've wandered too far out of the woods. his instincts yelled at him to follow after it and kill it, which led to him abandoning his car to chase after the thing, who had seemed surprisingly vulnerable and scared of the sudden attack.
he chased it through the fields, and right into a water-filled ditch. despite the inconvenience of being soaked, he still killed the thing and found his way out of the ditch after deeming satisfactory from the way his voices calmed instantly.
on his way out, he noticed something shimmering in the setting sun.
curious, and his voices whirring again at the sight, he dug in the mud until he found the source: a rather elegant old box with jewels dotted across and intricate lines. it looked beautiful. and something, not just the hint of gold, drew him to it.
when he opened it after much struggle, he found a scavenger. one of the rarest and most valuable things in the dimension. it was infinitely small, drained-out looking and curled up in the corners of the box. it's brown curls obscured what he could only imagine to be a soulless and tired face.
all mine
so what if he sold a little bit of drugs? why was he of all the murderers and assholes in the prison sent to the scp foundation to serve as bait for these fucking monsters?
first off, this technoblade guy was rude as shit, and he'd immediately thrown him in a cell with a bunch of other poor class d's who didn't know what they were getting into. neither did quackity, to be fair, he just knew it was bad.
and now he's being handed off to a scientist named wilbur who was almost eager to send him off to conduct tests with an scp, who apparently was friendly but also very much not (wilbur's words, not his). it had similarities between 999 in looks. but that still didn't calm him down.
when the time came, he was shoved into a room with what had to be a fifteen foot tall glob of green slime. he was told never to smile around it, and then spent the evening doing just that. the slime was friendly with him, and apparently as it was new even wilbur was blown away by the fact that it could have a simple conversation with quackity.
and unfortunately quackity felt fond of it.
so he'd left, then came back the next day ready to start more experiments. until the thing made some comment that had been so simple it made him laugh, which made him smile.
and now, he's encased right in the middle of the incoherent body of slime.
eee im very slowly getting into the scp stuff so i thought it'd be cool to make a fake fic out of it :D
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llitchilitchi · 1 year
Note
(Copecetic Au) What if the person to find Dream is Ponk? How would they fact to see that Sam was again hurting someone he sayd he loved? Making the person he was hurting think he did? How would they react to hear Dream ask about Sam as if he did nothing? Your Au scares me but I can't stop thinking about it. Anyway how does feel being the queen of this side of tumblr
he doesn't necessarily have to find Dream, though Ponk seeing the state Dream was in, clean and pristine (because Sam always hated messes), clinging to Sam and begging him to help, yet unable to stand (because Sam cut his legs, Ponk learns later) would be enough to make his skin crawl.
even if the two of them were to meet later, during Dream's recovery, and seeing Dream's eyes lose a little bit of their spark when he realises that it's not Sammy- it's devastating, an terrifying all the same. and sometimes they can't help but wonder if this is what would've happened to them, too, were they to stay with Sam. maybe wonder how much of the love and aggression Dream suffered through was meant to be theirs, at first. there are moments when they think that maybe it is for the better, because Dream is a monster that deserved it, and mentally slap themself for allowing their thoughts to stray in that direction.
the two might bond, eventually, over the trauma, so similar yet so different. maybe Ponk tells Dream about her arm, and after some time, Dream opens up about the little things in his own relationship with Sam. they reminisce about the good and the bad. and Dream is a terrifying ghost of a future that could have been. and maybe she could be able to push Dream along, guide him through the process of letting go. because she has experience, and had the time to begin recovering, one way or another
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boonbeenblade · 2 years
Text
They Were All Happy, Once
The people of the server have lived through times of good, and times of bad. Chaos, war, peace, stagnation. One thing has always found its way to be true.
They were all happy, once.
Maybe not all at the same time, but there was a point in each of their lives where things were good. A point that they could've stayed in forever, and lived a good life until the end of their days, as long as things stayed as they were. As long as all roads ran straight to their conclusions. For some of them, it was a few different eras - different kinds of happiness, but all lives they would've been content leading.
If only their stories could have ended there. If time could've stopped, or even just held still a little bit longer.
-----
Dream's moment was in the earliest of days, or at least that's as much as he'd like anyone to believe. Back when the server listened to his rules and was chaos otherwise. When he could say something, and be listened to, and have fun afterwards. Sure, he had to kick Tommy off the server for breaking the rules, but he learned his lesson and Dream let him back in. It was random and free, the way a server should be.
---
Tommy's moment was in L'manburg, just before the first elections, fresh off the victory over the Dream SMP. Wilbur was running the country, but there was always time left over for his right hand man. Dream was beginning to respect the hard-won independence. And Tommy could always think of another way to get the discs back. With all his friends by his side, there was plenty of time.
---
Sam's moment was a very special Valentine's Day, with a very special someone. The Woo Station was adorable - well worth forgiving any indiscretions with stolen tridents or pranked pets. Sam was happy to be Ponk's valentine. Being the one looking after everyone, it was nice having someone who wanted to give him things in return. And the mischief they got into was always relatively harmless fun.
---
Tubbo's moment was in Snowchester, the early days - just after the visit from the Syndicate had crossed one worry off his list. They had beaten Dream, and even Quackity was seeing him on an equal playing field. Perhaps the world would never be safe, but Tubbo was ready to handle what would come. He had responsibility of his own choosing, and the satisfaction of creating the most powerful weapons on the server. He had his son, and his husband, and the mansion would be finished any day now. 
---
Quackity's moments came twice - once before Las Nevadas was founded, and once afterwards. Before, he had his fiances standing with him on the ground of their own country. They outwitted Dream himself, and made a home for themselves, and had each other. After, his broken heart had begun to mend, with a little help from a strange green man with a big mouth and a bigger heart. Las Nevadas' opening sparkled with promise, and the days of paranoia and betrayal were coming to an end.
-----
But time is not kind, nor cruel. It is simply indifferent in its forward march. The same time that heals wounds also wilts the flowers. The same night that grows dark, grows light again. No happiness can stay forever. Neither can grief - but one of these feels more unfair. The nature of life is so often a tragedy, because it does not get to end when it is happy. The story turns a page. It must go on.
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the-final-sif · 2 years
Text
c!Dream has a very confusing day. So he makes it other people's problem. This is not a good long term plan.
Dream stared at the offending object, unsure of his own emotions about it. There was so many of them that they had all blended together into a soup.
He' been staring at it for nearly 15 minutes now. Trying to make sense of what it could possible mean.
Figuratively and literally.
Sam had brought the cake in 15 minutes prior, mumbled a bunch of stuff that Dream had no hope of making out (the man hadn't even bothered to remove his mask to let Dream have a chance at lip reading), and then left.
Dream had been so lost he hadn't managed to collect himself in time to say anything. So here he was, left staring at the cake on the nightstand.
The core question he was wrestling with at the moment felt like it should be so simple.
Was Sam a fucking idiot or was this cake intended as a threat?
....
15 minutes in and Dream had made no real progress on that question.
The main issue at hand was that the cake itself was chocolate, very obviously from the smell and color.
Now, Dream had a mostly human digestive tract, but he was still a hybrid.
Everyone knew that no animal hybrids should have chocolate, save for piglins.
Hell, Dream was pretty sure chocolate wasn't great for creeper hybrids. Sam must've known that chocolate would be poisonous for him.
On it's face, that felt like an obvious threat. Or maybe Sam was just hoping that he was fuckin' stupid and would just eat it and... end up sick? It was just frosting, so it wasn't going to be enough to kill him. It'd fucking suck and make him throw up, but that was about it.
That presented an issue though; Dream was already pretty sick. Sam already knew Dream couldn't walk on his own (although he was getting closer to that with each passing day). What more would he get out of poisoning him?
Not to mention Sam of all people knew Dream was careful with his food. He wasn't starving right now, he wasn't falling for this.
That brought back the second issue, the writing on top of the cake.
The cake had been topped with a blood red icing, but... Dream was struggling to tell if it was messy on purpose, or if Sam had just put the icing on without letting the cake cool properly and it was melted.
Giving that the frosting seemed to be in a similar state, Dream was leaning towards the later.
That added to the very unsteady, messy handwriting, meant that Dream could only pick out a few words.
Prison was one of them (or imprisonment, still, the same implication). He was pretty sure that the starting word was his own name. The last one was Sam's name for sure.
He thought one of the words might be hybrid, but it could also be 'highly' or 'hardly' or maybe hydras. There was little context to help understand.
That would lead to this being some sort of attempt at a threat. Maybe threatening to put him back in the prison?
Dream would like to accept that everything pointed to that but...
Okay. Listen.
Sam can write a fucking letter if he wanted to be threatening. He could just say something out loud or figure out some sign.
Who the fuck makes a cake to deliver a threatening message?
It just didn't add up.
Which lead Dream to wonder if maybe Sam was just a fucking moron and didn't think about the chocolate thing. Maybe this cake was some sort of sincere offering?
But then again, maybe there was the poison aspect? Or maybe Sam wanted plausible deniability? He could just claim to.... Ponk? Maybe? That it wasn't meant as a threat?
After fifteen (now nearly 20) minutes of turning these argument over in his head, Dream was fed up.
Still, he didn't have a great solution, until his communicator silently buzzed against his wrist.
Oh. right. Check-in time.
Punz was the one who messaged him this time.
'You good? Sam tried anything? Ranboo says sorry for nearly getting caught btw. Also he said you were a rabbit hybrid? Unclear where that's coming from. Are you lying to him or is he lying to me?'
Shoot.
Dream forgot that that would get back to Punz.
It wasn't really a big deal. It shouldn't be a big deal.
All the sudden Dream found himself frantically reviewing everything he knew about Punz, interrogating his memory for any indication that somehow, this would be what split Punz off. Not being strong enough, not being what Punz needed him to be. Dream forcible shut that part of his brain off.
Sure, Punz might not be happy about not knowing, but he'd understand. It wasn't even an intentional secret. At some point... Dream just forgot he wasn't born human.
Snapping back to the present, Dream moved to type out a reply before Punz got worried.
'I'm fine. One weird situation but it's probably okay. Neither Ranboo nor I are lying.'
There was a long, long pause.
'okay. i have. questions. is the weird situation urgent?'
For a moment, Dream considered if he could successfully distract from having this conversation using the cake.
Ehh, probably better to answer the basics then get into the cake to avoid deep questioning.
'Not really.'
Punz only took a moment this time.
'how long have you been a rabbit hybrid?'
That one was easy
'22 years, I think. I don't remember the date right now.'
'okay. so this isn't, new? are you like. 1/9th rabbit on your grandmother's side or something?'
In reality, Dream actually wasn't sure what the breakdown was. He went with the easier answer.
'Nope. Full rabbit. Ears and legs.'
There was another long pause. At this point, Dream was fucking with Punz a little bit, but in his defense, it was fun.
'am I just the most blind motherfucker in existence? i know you keep your hood up and like to wear socks but i feel like ive treated enough injuries on you that i woud've noticed that.'
Alright. He should probably be nice now.
'Nah. Mask keeps it all hidden. Wasn't ever really a secret, but I got so used to it that I never mention it. Once I'm healed up I can put the mask back on and be back to normal.'
The pause wasn't quite as long there.
'i dont wanna push, but is there... like, a reason? also im not a hybrid expert, but isnt that not great long term?'
Ugh. Dream didn't want to get into this. Time for the cake distraction.
'It's nothing bad. Lets me eat chocolate and stuff safely. Can't without it. Speaking of which, hypothetically if Sam brought me a chocolate cake with blood red writing on it that's mostly garbled, would you think that'd be a threat or just him being dumb?'
He held his breath, and...
'he fucking what??'
Hook, line, and sinker.
'I can send a photo? I can't figure it out. Wanted a second opinion.'
Who knows, maybe Punz could help make out Sam's terrible handwriting?
It was worth a shot.
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Text
Flourish
A redtaxproject one shot
Summary: Tommy asks a question with an answer that can be told easily but only understood through experiance.
Tommy and Sapnap lean against the wall of the community house, exhausted. Sapnap’s sporting new bruises and Tommy needs to do something about the knife in his calf. Ponk ran away with most of their gear. So Tommy also needs to solve that later. Or make someone else solve it. Probably make someone else solve it. He tears into some bread, passing half to Sapnap. Not dealing with lost armor or weapons right now though. He’s tired and he’s never needed those things.
He and Sapnap having been duking it out for the better part of the afternoon. They were both spoiling for a fight, so they fought. Everyone else had the fucking nerve to be busy. Dream’s hibernating or some stupid shit, Tubbo wanted to do redstone with the fucking baby furry and Tommy couldn’t drag him away. Wilbur thinks that fighting is an “international incident” or some bull crap.
So he and Sapnap had fought over something. It wasn’t important what, except for that obviously Tommy was completely in the right and Sapnap was stupid and mean.
But they were both bone tired now.
Tommy looked over, and unbidden the question rises from his tongue. “So… what does it feel like to kill someone?” Casual as if he were asking about the weather. As though the question wasn’t as heavy in his mind as being buried under snow.
Sapnap looked confused and offers a chuckle “You killed me like, 5 minutes ago?”
“No.” Tommy shook his head to tired from their fight to muster frustration “Actual murder-kill. The canon shit. You killled Tubbo when you fucking cheated and had Eret.”
“We cheated? You…” Sapnap huffed, cutting off to considered for a moment, “It’s not different. We killed you and Tubbo plenty during that fight. I don’t even know why you’re so convinced that one counted.”
-
Tommy throws Jack into lava and thinks nothing of it. Latter, Tubbo tells him Jack really died. But Tommy thinks Jack is just a liar and a pussy. It doesn’t feel like he killed anyone.
Obviously he’d be in the right if he did. Because Tommy was upset and Jack was a dick and a traitor.
It was just so rude. Tommy had done so much for Jack. Jack was subordinate, he’d taken Jack under his wing. And now Jack was being a right prick about everything for no good reason.
Everyone understands that it’s okay for Tommy to do things, he’s traumatized after all.
But it didn’t feel different. It didn’t feel like anything.
It doesn’t feel like anything. Tommy has pushed people into lava before. He does it all the time. Because it’s funny. Because he’s annoyed. Because that’s how the server works. It’s normal. It doesn’t feel different. People laugh and try and push him in in turn. He screams at them for it. And they all laugh.
-
This isn’t the first time Tommy has gotten Dream on his knees. This isn’t the first time Tommy’s won or had control. But it’s supposed to be special. More. It’s the Axe of Peace. It’s everyone finally seeing that Dream is the wrongin and everything Tommy’s ever done is right.
And the disks. He has the disks back and really nothing has ever mattered like having the disks mattered. Having the disks means things are good. Not having the disks means things are bad.
It is special. It has to be. It feels like the world finally understands.
And Tommy cuts through Dream. A clean swift executioners strike through the neck. Like he’s done a hundred times before. Netherite slices bone like butter with the weight of Tommy’s expert swing. Then Dream respawns. And Tommy cuts through him again. And Dream’s whining like a bitch begging in mortal panic, spilling his deep dark secrets. Like he’s sure the next death will be a real one.
But it doesn’t feel different. It doesn’t feel like anything. There’s no satisfaction. No magical intrinsic knowledge that that one was different.
He doesn’t want to remember that dying is the same way. That it doesn’t feel like anything special.
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chromecries · 1 year
Text
my mcc season 2 highlights!
these are my favourite povs from season 2! im quite focused on the whole mcc viewing experience, so there will be whole vods in here, as well as enjoyable and/or high scoring individual and team performances, alongside some funny moments. keep in mind i am a jordan and enjoyer, and i expect a lot of this to be jordan and jojo focused!! (tumblr has a ten link limit per post, so the last three povs do not have a link, but they're all easy to find as they are recent as of now! just up on yt)
yellow15 is honestly one of my personal favourite teams ever. it took one game, ace race, for them to move up to 2nd from 6th, and is one of the best scoring ace races of all time. really nice teamwork from then on, and even if they got swept in db, they had great comms and lots of funny moments together. 
youtube
purple16 OHHH MY GOD this team was crazy especially in the last moments of sg- i would highly recommend the whole pov to see their bm dominance and everything else too! This events sg was one of my faves so i recommend sylvees pov of that as well, its so chaotic but funny to watch in terms of context for the rest of the game!! 
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yellow16’s sot was one of my favs this season, with it being a unique team that surprisingly did well together! hbomb was a runner whilst he helped ponk who was sandkeeper on his first ever mcc, leading yellow into first place with 5k coins!! An insane run, with funny moments from george, reacted to by hbomb in his vod reviews. 
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Mcc17 - this mcc is so special to me, as it is to so many other people, like the mcsr and hermitcraft community on here!! I highly recommend you watch both orange and pinks whole povs. In terms of team composition, experience and strengths, they were so different, so they had completely different feeling mccs. orange17 were Chilling and smoothly working their way to db, communicating with ease and trusting in their experience and each other.(petes ace race was so SMOOTH here too)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W_S4dJoFaM&t=5182s
pink17 really went up against every obstacle to make it to db, even co-sandkeeping from zeuz and vixella to manage sot, and to top it all off a crazy sg performance from them! 
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Aqua17 sg- now this one. Is not great but their pov when facing pink in skybattle is very funny
Aqua17 sot - vault clutch from jordan that got them to 2nd place! well co-ordinated :) 
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rising was really nice, and i wasnt expecting to love it so much tbh! The energy around the event felt so different, with 40 contestants that were barely known to the community at the time. So many people spent hours practicing and gained whole followings from the event, notably the orange ocelots(eloise and owen now work for noxcrew, and bekyamons just been introduced to the main roster of mcc players, alongside all 3 of them being more well known ccs) yoshinom and makoinari. Owen has a great video about his time during rising that is really well put together and is so worth watching! 
youtube
pink was an absolute treasure of a team, so wonderful to watch them all pop off respectively, especially jojo and nestorio! Jojo had a great hero moment in the events most chaotic sot, and this was my first time watching nestorio, who was so sweet and positive during the event. Pink had a really lovely db too:) 
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pink22 obviously. OBVIOUSLY this is here it was so crazy from their pov too. 4 corners of the community unexpectedly worked so well together, had GREAT comms, especially in pkt and meltdown! A really nice sot, as well as a clutch first place in tgttos from the one and only oli the orion sound!!
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THE GOLDEN GALS OH them them them them them them them them them them i am so insane about them really. such a highlight to not only get an womens team BUT little did we know that this was the beginning of this being regular in mcc!! sylvees space race reaction was so good as well as her and jojo celebrating at the end of their run! It was so cute and i think my fave moment all season!! Jojos ace in bb, overall crazy teamwork and good vibes from the whole team. soo so good 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N1U3Wciqo0
cyan24 had such a nice run up to the event. this season kinda sees the end of practice streams but jojo caught on to how much they help, because its about the Bonding not the Minecraft Practice! they prepared so much and it really payed off, especially with their sot!!
green25 just. So good i am so happy they won obviously they are really really strong, but they deserved it i think. There is no other pov for 25, its green till the end. Jojo continues to lead her team in such a nice relaxed way i love her
teal28 i cant believe jordan won AGAIN and its with some of The people Ever for him. Punz from yellow15(remember them) and sneeg from cyan18 and blue23(both close third places) and jimmy alllll the way back from blue3, which was the first ever 9/9 bb, and second time jordan lost a db. It felt like full circle moment for jordan to win with these three, and for teal to SWEEP DB omg. 1) jordan himself had been swept so much, and he had been swept in mcc15 with punz and in mcc3 with jimmy. 2) jimmys 1V3 i have never screamed such a scream it was so impressive
red28 crazy little sot from them to finish off the season. Jojo does it again my little shining star i love her sm i could talk about her forever and ever and ever but thats for another post
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sparksnevadas · 1 year
Note
🎢 fic writer ask game :)
🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?
this is a cheap answer i know but ALL OF THEM??? or like. 70% of them, considering i had a short "writing challenges phase"
I havent written that much in general. With my first fic "Sam and Ponk flirt their way through self imposed exile " i was just trying to understand ponk's character more, really exploring his voice while imagining what recovery could look like. I wrote it in the summer between my BA and my MA, so i was kinda lost for what to do with my time, since i didnt really have time to get a job. I experienced people actually enjoying my writing and ??? a tiktoker i followed even recommended it to people? that was super wild
with "Local Las Nevada Slime Feels Greener than Usual Today, Will He Survive the Day? " i just... it was me finally going "okay, i know this ship is super small, maybe a little unporpular and hated, but goddamn it will i write something for them bc i LOVE THEM" and then being surprised that people actually liked it, again. i was really surprised and that set me up for my big quackcicle fic Long Night  was written after i saw this beautiful little art of sam and ponk. i wrote something that i hoped captured all the little lonely feelings the art summoned in me, and then took a leap of faith and told pils that hey, i wrote a fic for your art, sorry if thats cringe. and pils... drew me art . it still makes me want to cry lmao. that was the first time i have ever gotten art for my fics A Square Peg in the Round Hole of their Heart was my biggest hit i think is safe to say. to receive so many comments per chapter really blew me away :D I hope its not weird or self aggrandizing, but i get a big ol grin when quackcicle fans recognize my username. This fic became a little difficult for me to write, i learned a bit about my style with it, and although i kinda disliked the ending a bit in retrospect, i love this fic overall :) (plus got to meet some cool peeps!)
skipping ahead, Grian's Involuntary Holiday at Skullcrusher Mountain is defintely my most impactful fic to me personally because i made a good group of friends from it (belle stitchthesewords and aci atherix, to name a few). this fic has been a challenge similar to Square Peg, but its a good challenge. Ive also been less scared to take breaks and really take a moment to figure out how i want to end it, something i learned from my previous big fic. i completely didnt expect people to really like it (actually, if you look at the first few chapters, i got so few comments that i almost gave up lmao). Ive been exploring having an overarching plot, small little plot twists, and writing unreliable narrators. its been a fun and wild ride this got really long and a little off topic im so sorry. thank you for the ask though, friend!!!
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peninkwrites · 2 years
Text
A New Era - Ch 7 of 11
Quackity is a good lawyer. Sam is a bad cop. Sort of.
[CW: abuse, threats of violence against animals, threats of violence in general, guns.]
crossposted to ao3
Ch 1
Ch 6
Ch 8
Mafia AU masterpost
~ Quackity & Sam ~
Quackity hasn’t slept in nearly 24 hours.  In those past 24 hours, he has dealt with Schlatt’s usual nasty behavior, Tubbo acting weird, telling some cop to fuck off for making Karl nervous, helped cover up a murder, and now gone into the police station right in time for the sun to come up.
Fuck, he’s so tired.  But he has no intention of letting this stupid pig know that.
“Okay, let's go back to the charges you mentioned,” Quackity has taken Ponk’s seat in the interrogation room, even as Sam has ever so courteously clarified that he is free to leave after Quackity asked him.  “I really don’t think you want this to go to court, Captain.  This department doesn’t need any more bad press, considering some of your recent troubles with keeping your own city under control, am I right?” Quackity laughs, his friendly tone a thin veneer.
Sam sits across from him, perfectly calm.  His little sidekick Dream has joined him, leaning against the wall behind him.  “Would you mind telling me how you know your client?”
“That has zero bearing on this conversation.  Do you intend to take this to court?” Quackity pushes on resolutely.
“Yes.  I would be happy to negotiate a plea deal.  In exchange for some information,” Sam has his own agenda for this discussion, clearly.
“That depends largely on the information.  Whatever you request is based on assumption, not fact.  So I won’t agree to anything without knowing exactly what you’re asking,” Quackity is sharp and dismissive.  “As I was saying– what charges do you intend to press?”
Sam pauses, watching him, calculating.  “They have been charged with obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and unauthorized disclosure of classified information.”
“Ha!” Quackity grins.  “You’ve got what it takes to make any of that stick?”
“We’ve got enough to make their life miserable for the next few months, if you don’t cooperate,” Dream speaks up from his corner.  
Quackity doesn’t even spare him an annoyed glance.  He leans forward, speaking in quieter, deadly tones.  “I don’t think you realize who you’re fucking with, Sam.”
Sam has the audacity to laugh.  “Ponk?”
“Yes.  Ponk,” every word Quackity says is vicious.  “They’re good at making friends because they’re fucking decent.  The same doesn’t extend to you.  And I can guarantee you’re still alive right now because of them, I don’t need the details to know that.  And even without the shit they’ve done for you– You’ve fucked up, Sam.  You’ve just lost the only good thing in your miserable fucking life.”
Sam looks, for just a moment, startled.  The weighted silence extends.
“You’ve heard the charges.  What do you have to offer?” Dream breaks the sharpness of the tension, sensing Sam won’t move forward.
“I’m not giving you boys shit,” Quackity snaps.  “How about this– You don’t drop the charges, I’m gonna get you for police brutality.  You really want to ruin your career too?”
Dream laughs.  “Right, like those ever stick, especially against a Police Captain.”
Quackity bottles his fury, knowing the bastard is right.  “Fine.  How about this, Captain– I could just as easily stick you with domestic violence, huh?”
Sam seemed to break out of some haze, looking at Quackity with genuine, baffled confusion.
Yet again, before he can reply, Dream: “Sure, like domestic violence charges against a cop ever pan out.  Are you even trying?”
Quackity is glad he had to leave his gun in the car to get into the station.  Otherwise he definitely would’ve done something he’d regret.  It’s hard to bottle rage alongside that vile miserable hopelessness that comes with knowing no one fucking cares about those without power.
Quackity sighs, debating something in his head.  Pigs always fight dirty, and this time he doesn’t have his usual tricks that came with digging Schlatt out of the muck, this time there are no bribes to make either.  There are plenty of perfectly legal channels for him to pursue, hours of paperwork, gathering evidence, talking to his professional contacts, all that for no dice, because as Dream had so gladly pointed out, legal channels don’t do shit for the people they’re supposed to protect. So maybe he’ll try a more quick and dirty solution.  This will be a risk for himself, but at this point he’s too pissed off to care.  Maybe he took this a little too personally.  He never got to tear into his shitty ex, so Ponk’s will have to do.  “Fine– You know what, Sam?  I’ll tell you something.  First, get your boy out of here.”
“What are you going to tell me?” Sam asks warily.
“I’m not going to say it in front of your little pet,” Quackity sneers.
Dream bristles, but before he can protest, Sam raises a hand to silence him, only watching Quackity.  “Wait outside, Officer.  I’ll call you back in if you’re needed.”
Dream’s hatred for a moment extends beyond Quackity and right at Sam, but he leaves.
Silence presses in as the echo of the door slamming fades.
“You know he can still hear us.  At least somewhat,” Sam points out.
“That’s why I’m going to whisper,” Quackity smiles, leaning forward.  He continues with mocking coyness, “let’s chat, just us girls, huh?”
Sam looks like the thought of leaning forward is comparable to sticking his hand in a hornet’s nest, but he does, burying a shiver as Quackity is inches from his face, turned toward his right ear, away from the mirror watching them.
“If you don’t drop the charges against Ponk, I’m gonna kill your fucking dog, okay?”  Quackity’s words are hushed and far too enthused.  He leans back, smiling with too many teeth as he does.
Sam stares at him, gauging for sincerity, and calculating a hundred and one possibilities.  Quackity doesn’t elaborate.  He doesn’t think he’ll need that extra push.
“You’re a horrible person,” Sam says quietly.  It’s childish and pathetic.  
Quackity laughs, “takes one to know one, right, Captain?”
Sam knows not to take Quackity’s threat lightly, his first impulse is to hold him there indefinitely.  His word would be enough to verify the threat.  You hold him here, someone else kills Fran.  He’s not the only problem.
Sam is relatively confident Ponk wouldn’t kill Fran, but Quackity has more than a few connections who would.  Really?  You’re gonna let this go for your dog?  Sam had sent Dream away but it’s like he can still hear his voice.
“I’m willing to negotiate,” Sam eventually says stiffly.
“Yeah, well, I’m not.  Drop all charges,” Quackity continues, leaning back in his chair, kicking his feet up.  “And I want it in writing, obviously.”
The question is no longer whether or not Quackity would, it’s if Sam can keep her safe.  Quackity is here, but she could already be gone.  He has no way of knowing if this is a future threat he could avoid by keeping her with him at all times, or if it’s a hostage situation.  Even if you keep her with you at all times, how is that a guarantee?  There’s one way to keep her safe.  You’ve already lost so much.  We can’t lose Fran too.
“Okay,” every word is like pulling teeth.  “I’ll drop the charges.”
Quackity takes his feet off the table, leaning forward, hands folded on the table.  “Now we’re getting somewhere.  I want it in writing.”
“Fine.  In writing.”
Quackity has him sign it in front of witnesses, the poor guy working the front desk, obviously not Dream.  Dream watches in silence, looking like he’s about to blow a gasket.
“Thank you for this, Sam.  Truly,” Quackity simpers, holding the paper close to his chest like a love letter.  “Before I go, is there anything you want me to pass along to Ponk?  You don’t deserve it, but I’m giving you a chance to apologize and beg for your miserable fucking soul.”
Sam leans forward, fury rising.  He should just snap.  He should arrest him.  There was a time where Sam would’ve at the very least broken the bastard’s fingers, but no– he’s one of the good guys now.  “Don’t push your luck,” he says through gritted teeth.
Quackity smirks.  “What can I say, I’ve got luck to spare.”  And with that, Quackity HQ strolls out of the station, holding the irrefutable key to Ponk getting away scot free.
Sam watches him leave, feeling almost like he should be in mourning.  He’d just lost so much, and Quackity had ensured that he gained nothing.
Well, not nothing.  You’ve gotten rid of the rat.
It still feels like nothing.
“What the fuck did he offer you, then?” Dream snaps.  “What, you dropped the charges and get to make nice with your boyfriend?  Is that it?  What’s wrong with you?”
Sam is ashamed.  He wouldn’t take back anything that’s happened in the past hours, but all the same it had been humiliating.  He couldn’t tell a man like Dream, however much he respected him, although clearly Dream’s respect for him was rapidly waning, that he had not only been responsible for the information slipping out of this station, but had all but given up for the sake of his dog. Again, he cannot regret it, but at the same time he cannot tell Dream.
Sam turns to Dream, expression muted in response to petty rage.  “You need to get ahold of yourself, Taken.  You’re talking to your superior officer and if you question me again I will have you suspended before you can even try to throw another tantrum.  Do you need medical attention, Officer?”
Dream’s irritation is for a moment replaced by surprise, but then it’s like a mask comes down over his face, bitter but calm.  “Why would I need to do that, Captain?”
“You’ve been limping all morning.  Maybe you would prefer if I put you on desk duty until you’ve recovered,” Sam’s concern is so easily traded for a threat.
Dream nods curtly.  “I’m fine, Captain.  There’s no need.  I’ll… be more careful next time.  Thank you for your concern.”  It seems Dream has gotten over his discontent at least for now.  “Look, Sam.  I’m your right hand.  Even when we… disagree, I’m still trying to do right by this precinct, do our job well.”
Sam sighs.  “I know you are.  I know I’m responsible for this mess, at least in part.  Your anger is justified.”
Dream shrugs.  “Could’ve happened to any of us.”   Dream is very good at hiding his pride, his cruel amusement.  This never would’ve happened to Dream because he knows better than to let outsiders stick around.  They’re in a warzone, it’s Sam’s fault he risked letting an enemy into his home.  “How are you coping, then?” Dream decides to follow Sapnap’s lead.  The sympathetic subordinate act had gotten his friend into that interrogation room, it had to have its uses.
Sam is weaker after so many hours trying.  “It’s still strange.  I just… I dunno.”
“What?” Dream pushes.
Sam hesitates.  The thought won’t leave him alone, so he lets something slip.  “They said… they said something like ‘other people dying isn’t you dying.’  What’d you suppose they mean by that?”
“Who knows.  Does it matter?” Dream scoffs.  “Probably just them putting the lives of their little mob buddies over yours.”
Sam can’t help but think of Quackity’s furious certainty, you’ve just lost the only good thing in your miserable fucking life.  Sam replies quietly, knowing he’s already gone too far and the rest of his emotions, his weaknesses, they have to stay buried with him, “no.  No, it wasn’t that.”
~
Quackity leaves the station triumphant and remains as such for the brief walk around the corner to where he had parked.  He gets into the driver’s side, tosses aside Ponk’s promise of safety, and rests his head against the steering wheel, trying to calm the rough anger inside of him.  It’s not only for Sam.
“He’s dead–  He’s dead, okay?!” Quackity doesn’t know why there’s a sob clawing its way up the back of his throat, because it’s definitely anger, but it fucking hurts too.  “He can’t do shit anymore, come on man, pull yourself together!”  Quackity hits the dash hard enough his palm stings.  It still doesn’t feel like enough.  None of it does.  “He can’t hurt you, so– so– F-Fuck-“ Quackity shuts his eyes tightly.  He’s alone in his car, if there’s any time to break down it’s now.  No.  No one can see you like this.  If someone comes by, someone you know– So get your shit together– “what’d you think was gonna happen, huh?  If you’d been the one to do it you’d be fine, right?!  Fuck!”  Quackity screams to nothing and no one and hits the steering wheel.  He laughs, high and hysterical.  This was supposed to be good.  Fucking hell, he’s been waiting for this for so long, he’s wanted that fucking bastard dead maybe longer than he’d ever loved him at this point, but he doesn’t feel better.  He thought he’d left this behind, the conflicting, confusing turmoil over how he actually felt about Schlatt– that was supposed to be over.
The first time Schlatt put a gun to Quackity’s chest, Quackity was still naive enough to think Schlatt loved him.
It would be nice to think that after that moment Quackity decided that his relationship with Schlatt was now part of the job.  And one more thing he would escape as soon as possible.  But it didn’t.  Even then, even with the feeling of cold metal pressed onto his skin, Quackity still thought there was love there.  That maybe Schlatt was just scared, that he didn’t want to lose and he didn’t know any other way to win.  Maybe it somehow showed that Quackity mattered to him, enough to not pull the trigger.  Those thoughts of course grew in the aftermath.  In the moment Quackity had only been aware of Schlatt’s tight grip on his wrist, digging in painfully tight, so he couldn’t pull away from the gun digging into his chest, and Schlatt’s soft, crooning tone, “you’re never gonna leave me, are you, baby?  You don’t want to, right?  Why would you?  Why aren’t you smiling?  Something wrong, sweetheart?  You’re supposed to look pretty for me, aren’t you?  Hey, don’t look at me like that, can you blame me?  You should feel lucky I wanna keep you so bad, considering your many fucking flaws, I mean, look at you.  No, no actually don’t look at you– Look at me.  Don’t look down, don’t look at my hands, look me in the fucking eye– jesus, what’s it gonna take to get any respect from you?  Fuck!  Ohhh am I yelling?  Is that why you’re fucking twitching like a freak?  Come on, babe, you’re not actually gonna cry about this, are you?  You’re supposed to be a fucking adult!  So how about you man up, and maybe I’ll put the gun down, how about that?  Because I don’t need it, right?  You’re never gonna leave me.  You know better.  Let’s just kiss and make up, eh?  No need to throw a fit.”
Quackity hadn’t been a fucking doormat.  The moment the gun was off him he’d chewed Schlatt out.  Sure, the night still ended in Schlatt’s favor, and Quackity maybe more inclined to cling to that delusion of Schlatt’s caring, but still, at least he’d scolded the man who’d threatened to kill him if he ever left him.
He loved Schlatt, however demented it was.  But that was a long time ago.  Not anymore.  And now the bastard was dead and Quackity only wishes he’d killed him first.
Quackity didn’t know how much he had in common with Tubbo on that front.  Maybe if he knew better, that Schlatt’s favorite display of affection involved the threat of a bullet, although that was a joke in itself, that man was incapable of affection.  Instead it had been a charming reminder that they lived only out of Schlatt’s good graces.  Their lives had remained in Schlatt’s hands until Tubbo had made it so they weren’t anymore.
So why does he still feel like he’s lost something?  Why does all of this still feel wrong?
Because the last time Schlatt really, properly scared you wasn’t with a fucking gun to your head.  It was when he called you pumpkin and asked you to move in with him.
That had been a threat.  Especially when he kept asking.  Even now, or not anymore but what was once the circumstances of now, Schlatt asked why he didn’t just stay.  Why he kept leaving back to his empty apartment.  There was a finite amount of times he could say no to a man like that and the clock had been ticking.  At least before that threat loomed over them, even when Schlatt made him stay the night, eventually he got to go home to Karl.  Quackity was fucking terrified that Schlatt would keep pushing and wouldn’t give him a choice and then Quackity would never see the man he loved and felt right for loving.  And the thought of living with Schlatt without anywhere to escape to– every day, belittling insult followed by pet names followed by a backhanded compliment followed by kisses and Schlatt’s arm around his waist followed by another mocking comment about Quackity’s appearance followed by rare praise Quackity takes to like a dying plant to water followed by Schlatt telling him to stay, to come back, that he’ll listen this time and only once he has Quackity back in his arms, his muscled, unyielding arms he cannot break away from, does he remind him of his place–
“He’s dead…” Quackity mutters it into his hands, now pressed to his face.  “He’s fucking dead…”
Quackity didn’t want to spend every fucking night dealing with Schlatt’s bullshit.  It was hard enough to survive it as is, and it wasn’t like he could explain he had to go home to Karl, or god forbid what if Schlatt got impatient about him not being around much and came to his apartment.  Fuck.  The epitome of worst case scenarios.  If Quackity had to leave Karl behind and end up stuck in that fucking house as Schlatt’s stupid pet, that would have been better than the potential fallout of Schlatt finding out about Karl’s mere existence.
“Karl is safe.”  Those words and finally an ounce of the tension leaves his shoulders.  “Karl is safe.”
Quackity does not want to think about why those three words feel so much easier than any resolution about his own sense of self in all of this.
Quackity refuses to show weakness anymore.  Once more, he grounds himself, a last moment of vulnerability whispered like a prayer, “Karl is safe.”
Then he tucks his heart away where it can no longer be touched and starts driving.
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missycolorful · 1 year
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🏳️‍🌈 - Give your thoughts on the Dream SMP's portrayal of queer/LGBT+ identity.
What a fun question, because beforehand, I hadn't really had much to say about the queer stuff in the DSMP. But that's a good thing, because I think that stems from how normal it is on the server.
Like, let's think about it: Most romantic relationships on the server are queer: the fiancés, Niki and Puffy, Sam and Ponk, and depending on how you view them, Tntduo and Beeduo--this isn't even including the brief flings other characters have had with one another. Heteros are basically in the minority. There is a conglomerate of characters who go by different pronouns and/or genders (Aimsey, Eret, Ponk, Punz, et cetra). The queerness is so integrated into this world. In every narrative perspective, at that!
While not every single person who has a queer character has the same sexuality/gender/pronouns as their character, I heartily accept these streamers playing into a spectrum they don’t fall into. Not only to explore different, spicy dynamics, but also for the sake of, as I said, creating a world that makes it so normal. Because even in modern day, we're not quite there yet.
But with this total normalization, there comes a caveat, but what I find to be a good caveat. It’s that the queer relationships are ones that are flawed and broken. That these people are people who do bad things, even to each other. That their relationship might not end up with a fairy tale ending. Literally every single one is/has been severely damaged at some point. Now, of course, so many friend-/familial relationships are complicated in the server, as well. But that's what makes it so good: they're not afraid to make queer couples shitty.
A good amount of queer rep in other media, specifically for younger audiences--because a big portion of the Dream SMP's viewship is teenagers (though some more adult media can be like this, too)-- prefers to give gays characters happy endings. Mostly in modern day, they’ll give gay characters flaws but still make them good guys (look at all those queer coded Disney villains in the olden days i.e. the Renaissance Era. Though they were THE BEST!!). Bury Your Gays is our beloathed. You won't see a lot of family media have queer relationships that break off permanently or be abusive/toxic or anything too negative, especially so when it's at the forefront of the story. This all gives you an idea of how we anticipate queer media to be presented in the modern era.
But the Dream SMP flips that whole idea upside down. The Fiancés had a good relationship that fell apart due to strained dynamics between one another, especially with Quackity obsessing with revenge and power. Sam literally ripped off Ponk’s arm. Tntduo... whatever the fuck’s going on there. Even the one canon wlw relationship in the server is strained due to their different stances on L’manberg, et cetra (I don’t think they ever reconciled? I don’t recall). We are watching them fall apart before our very eyes, because with these moments, they are the main characters! And none of these couples are happy. They’re all pretty fucked up.
And I fucking love that. It highlights that even queer rep can have couples that aren’t just complicated, but damaged to an irreparable degree. It makes them feel even more normalized, by recognizing that any couple can be miserable or fucked up. Having young people witness that dating your fellow gay won't be all rainbows and sunshine, and in fact it can even be heartbreaking or even toxic, is something I think young people need to see more.
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