#s.m.p studios is also very very corrupt and bad

[fridgeza]

one of us is leaving; an excerpt from the self sacrifice files

“hey!” a voice calls him from across the floor, and it’s scratchy and dirty and the sound of it makes purpled want to curl up and die. it’s a rich voice, but all voices are if they’re this high up in quackity’s casino. he turns, and a blonde boy is leaning across his table, beckoning purpled with one hand, holding a cigarette in the other. purpled winces, and briskly walks back to the table. he’d rather not interact with quackity’s people today, but this boy screams ‘important’ and purpled would be a fool not to listen to him. maybe it’ll get him in good graces with quackity, he thinks and then promptly snorts. yeah, right.

“uh, hello.” purpled greets awkwardly, “can i help you?” the blonde is familiar, a face he’s seen maybe a little younger. maybe a little happier.

the blonde lets out a laugh, “nobody can help me, man. not anymore. the real question is what someone as clean as you doing in a rotten place like this.” he seems amused, as if he’s toying and imagining purpled’s backstory in his head and hoping purpled’s more realistic telling will do his imaginary script justice. and with that, purpled realises where he recognizes him from.

“wait, aren’t you tommy innet?! from smp earth?” purpled sputters, eyes going wide for a moment. tommy innet was an icon, for practically everyone. he was the character everyone wanted to be, behind no one except for maybe technoblade, and even then he was a funnier character. people loved him, and once he got booted off the show, there were practically riots. nobody's seen him since the show, but his fame remains the same. tommy doesn’t look pleased to have been recognized, his eyes darkening and his smile returning to a straight face for just a moment. the facade comes back up though, when he laughs and waves the hand with a cigarette, the smoke curling around his dismissive wave of a hand.

“yeah, yeah, old news. that isn’t all that important right now,” the blonde says, his smile taking a dispariging tone. “what’s important right now is your story.”

he points a cigarette at purpled, grinning. purpled feels like he is trying to distract purpled from why child star, and current star, tommy innet is doing in a casino when he’s clearly underage and it will wreck the reputation s.m.p studio’s built up for him.

“now come on, do tell.” he leans closer to purpled from across the table, and dismisses the casino worker that’s been standing by them this whole time. purpled can’t refuse, partly because it seems like tommy really wants to know, and mostly because tommy seems like the type of person to have access to executing purpled if he doesn’t get the story he wants, and purpled is not in the mood to die. he can entertain a spoiled rich kid with his sob story, for just a moment. it might help him get some cash, or even better, some reputation.

“there’s not much to it, i’m afraid. my brother’s been missing for months because of a job. quackity said he’d help me find him if worked for him.” tommy raises an eyebrow and covers his mouth with a hand, seemingly suppressing a smile. but then he takes a longer look at purpled, probably realizing the older boy is serious. his eyes soften in sympathy, and he breathes out a sigh.

“and you believed him?” he asks, and purpled could feel his breath stolen. he has nothing to say to that, nothing other than-

“yes.” and there’s nothing else, truly nothing else, purpled can say. he feels like an idiot, to put it simply. that he believed quackity would help without any strings other than work, that he believed anyone so high up in this fucked up, and ruthless city would spare a moment of their time with someone like him without an ulterior motive. it’s such a simple lie, that purpled is ashamed he didn’t see through it. ‘work for me and i’ll find your brother,’ that was it, no contracts signed, which means quackity is under no obligation to pay him or help him except his own free will, and purpled’s entire life and way of earning money and aspirations are in his hands.

“it seems you’ve figured out that was a shitty ass decision yourself.” purpled looks up at tommy, and the boy’s eyes look questioning, so he nods. tommy shakes his head, sad and tired and angry, all at once.

“quackity isn't a good man, i’m sure you’ve seen. but he was once, and that’s gotten you farther then it should have. you know to be careful, i’m sure,” he doesn’t phrase it like a question, he says it like a fact, and purpled feels almost complemented by it. he thinks that’s the best complement he could receive from people high up here. he nods, and turns to leave, because that’s when these types of conversations are usually over, with the person never helping him except for wasting time but making purpled feel artificially better. tommy grabs his wrist, and purpled twists his head.

“be better than i was, okay? be smarter than i was. don’t sign any of his contracts, don’t even look at a pen near him. the city’s elites will sink their claws into you and pick you apart, bit by bit. i don’t want that happening to someone like you. you’re the future for kids like us, don’t waste it.” and oh, this isn’t some artificial sympathy from a boy who’s had it good, rocking with the stars his whole life. tommy is desperate and clinging onto a last hope, and when purpled gets a good look at him, everything fits into place. his blazer’s a bit too big, looking less like an expensive jacket tailored to him but a hand me down, something a poor girl would wear when trying to look rich. his dress looks like it was supposed to be white, the black lace looks like it’s supposed to be fancy, but it doesn’t quite do it. tommy’s hair is blonde, but it’s a dirty blonde, and his blue eyes are not dollish or adorable in the way s.m.p studios marketed them as, but wild. tommy looks wretched.

tommy either looks like an expensive mess or a cheap legend, and purpled supposes that was always the tommy innet brand. ripped apart and scrappy, but in a sellable way.

“okay.” purpled says, and tommy lets go of him. he offers out an unused cigarette, a signing to their peace treaty. purpled takes it, and pockets it. he doesn’t smoke, but he knows an olive branch when he sees one. it’s tommy’s apology to him, and it’s tommy’s apology to the people’s he left behind, because when purpled recognizes his face from massive billboards and hit reality tv shows, he also recognizes it from the orphanage that was just down the street from him and his brother’s tiny apartment, filled with kids who would’ve killed at a chance to even see the blinding white lights of the city, of fame and money and people to love them.

purpled supposes that’s what tommy did. he killed. they all killed to get here. it’s another thing purpled and tommy have in common.

#purpled and punz (the brother) do murder work for quackity btw if it wasnt obvious #s.m.p studios is also very very corrupt and bad #tw implied abuse #tw abuse #tommyinnit #purpled #tommyinnit fanfic #quackity #purpled fanfic #quackity fanfic #smpe au #smp earth au #dsmp au #dream smp au #mcyt #mcyt fanfic #mcyt fanfiction #tommyinnit au #purpled au