dulciineavonrocks

[pittycrybabytom]

Forget-Me-Not || Eddsworld AU || Part 1

Diclaimer: • This AU includes TomTord/TordTom and EddMatt/MattEdd! • TW: Gore, "Death", Angst [Yes, there will be comfort!]

If this AU actually gets bigger I might make a blog for it but for now it stays on my main! If my english doesn't turn out to be the best, I'm german so YEAH-

[vasito-de-leche]

;R1999 - Self-Aware AU

Headcanons about an Alternate Universe in which everyone knows they're living inside a videogame. However, Vertin is the only one aware of the entity inhabiting her own mind, the real conductor - the "Player".

this is one of my favorite AUs to slap on whatever media I'm into so here we are <3 not sure if anyone's done this already, but PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE link me if you've seen any other ppl write for this AU! this one and any actor AUs are my absolute fave

this is just a word vomit introduction for fun, to get the basic ideas out of my head, so I can start writing for characters individually!

Okay, okay! First of all, some context for the AU before I go deranged overexplaining my HCs!

Aside from the "Storm", there is something else that haunts the people of this world: the fact that their lives are nothing but a simulacrum, part of a game.

The requirements to obtain this "self-awareness" is unknown. Those within the Foundation believe it's related to their respective "roles", that only the main and relevant characters are given the chance to fully open their eyes to the truth. Those within Manus Vindictae claim that one must be strong enough to break through the fog of complacency and their assigned scripts, to have their full potential unleashed and obtain true liberation. Either way, similar to the "Storm", this is a well-kept secret for a very good reason - everyone wants to have the upperhand.

There is one outlier to this whole system. Vertin is not only aware of the truth of this world, but also of her duty as the eyes and hands of the "Player". She must experience it all for their sake. Or rather, whatever she experiences will be the story that the Player will see.

This applies to her suitcase, the place where the Player's influence increases tenfold, bending everything and everyone to their will through her own body and voice. The longer one stays within her suitcase - or within her general vicinity - the easier it is for them to become self-aware.

How does one become "self-aware" and what does it entail?

The requirements and the catalyst for a character to become self-aware are still a mystery. But that's mostly because I specifically wanted to keep them as vague as possible, to allow some flexibility for NPCs and other characters outside of Vertin's suitcase.

The whole process of gaining sentience or self-awareness is mostly described as waking up from a nightmare, or a very, very realistic dream. It's like a switch, something that happens in a second without any warnings whatsoever.

I like to think that most of the people who wake up are easy to spot, because it's a jarring experience and panicking is the most normal reaction - but that they're often taken care of by the Foundation or recruited by Manus Vindictae.

The levels of awareness also depend heavily on each individual - some only know that nothing is truly real, that everything they've done up until that point was just a carefully scripted lie, the most basic realization. Others can understand the rules that govern this game and use them to their advantage, either through observation and study or just inherently.

Overall, the experience of being sentient varies as well, with some describing a disconnect from their body, while others feel exactly the opposite. Again, keeping it pretty vague so that people can fill in with their own ideas!

I'll talk about Vertin's case in detail when we get to her specific bullet point, but the same way the Player is able to experience the "story" through her eyes, she's able to see the same things they do - this includes the UI, the menus and everything you can interact with in-game.

Vertin as a character and a vessel for the Player.

The most common thing I've seen in self-aware AUs in my years of fandom is to turn the player stand-in (the main character that serves for the player to experience the story through and/or project onto, depending on the genre of the game) into an obstacle, one that keeps the characters from truly interacting with the Player, capital P.

The second most common thing I've seen is to simply ignore the existence of this player stand-in and replace it with the Player themself, either through isekai methods or thanks to the customization the game allows, etc etc.

When it comes to Vertin in this AU, I know I want her to retain her role as the center of everything, instead of being sidelined by the Player. She's THE Timekeeper, after all.

There's still some details I'm trying to iron out, like whether she's always been self-aware or if she became self-aware at some point during her childhood at the St. Pavlov Foundation. But I like to think that her relationship to the Player is a parallel to her immunity to the "Storm" - neither of these two things are inherently good nor bad. Surviving the "Storm" is helpful, sure, but it's painful for her. Having an entity like the "Player" haunting her is scary, sure, but it can be an advantage. It's a matter of how she utilizes the assets she was given, since her adaptability and determination are big aspects of her character. Vertin makes up for her mediocre arcane skills with unconventional plans and strategies.

But this isn't to say that Vertin isn't affected by the presence of the Player. Ironically, she's the one person whose freedom is limited. During battles, her skills and Tuning are available to you, they can also prove to be vital to win a fight, but in the end you're still the one calling the shots and choosing when her friends get to attack. You're the one choosing the layout of the Wilderness. You're the one picking which one of her friends deserves to become stronger.

In the last bullet point I mentioned that some characters can understand the rules of the game - Vertin is the most extreme case, as she can see the same UI as you do. She learns the way you like to fight your battles, your own strategies, she can see this and more.

Overall it's a very complex dynamic. It's not as easy as saying that she likes or dislikes you, that she considers you a friend or foe. You're part of her, you influence each other in many aspects and are stuck together for reasons she can't even fathom. While you may be able to read her thoughts most of the time, she becomes invisible once you enter the suitcase - the main menu of the game. Sure, the character you selected to greet you every day is actually talking to her, not you, but she's out of your view and therefore, out of our range. That's when Vertin wonders the sort of person that you are, if you care about her friends as much as she does. Are you playing just to be entertained? Are you invested in these events? Will you be there for her until the end of her story?

Another detail I like to think about is that Vertin is the only one who knows your name. Because at the very beginning, you were asked to input a name and she was there.

[screenshot was taken from this video, since it's the first one I could find that showed this specific part of the game lol]

Well, "your name" not quite right - she knows that whatever you wrote there is the name linked to your account, at least. And that's the name she knows you as.

Those who take residence in Vertin's suitcase or spend prolonged amounts of time with her, growing closer to her and all, end up becoming self-aware. This is a direct side-effect of your presence.

I like to think that characters who reach the 100% Bond can begin to sense the Player, to see the world in a similar way as Vertin does. Maybe even feel their presence EXACTLY like Vertin does whenever there's a battle. There is someone else on the other side of this screen, the fourth wall, who watches over them.

To some, it's hard to differentiate Vertin from the Player, as they just go hand in hand - but Sonetto, for example, has the easiest time telling the two apart.

On the subject of freedom and acting out of script.

The Foundation, Manus Vindictae, Laplace... It doesn't matter if they're self-aware and acting outside of what their script dictates, because they're missing one key ingredient: you. No one else but Vertin and her group knows about your existence, after all.

They don't know that the only story that matters is the one that Vertin is part of. The one that the Player gets to see and read and experience. And because the game gives you a very limited view into the lives of these characters, you don't know what neither Arcana nor Constantine do behind the scenes. You and Vertin don't see that, therefore, it never truly mattered.

Those most likely to start "acting out" are the troublemakers within Vertin's suitcase. Characters who are too curious for their own good, who are more susceptible to supernatural entities, who are just too impulsive - they would start to test the limits and see how far they can go, how much they can interact with the Player. Can the game be broken should they end up shattering the fourth wall? Is there a way for the Player to communicate with them? What will happen to Vertin?

I like to think that Vertin probably supports this, as she's rather curious herself, prone to questioning everything. She would also like to learn more about the Player, to truly tear into the game and see the full extent of your influence and her freedom.

Sometimes, Regulus and X will change their usual voicelines, just enough to be noticeable if one pays enough attention. Characters like Sotheby or Leilani might slip up and address the Player, rather than Vertin. Lilya, Pavia, Bkornblume have new animations and different expressions, ones you've never seen before - they stare ahead, as if searching for something, and then smirk or hum to themselves, deep in thought, like they realized something you're not privy of.

Sometimes, if you leave them as your selected assistant on the main menu, you can catch them muttering to themselves - idle quotes you never heard enough, about the outside world. Diggers does this the most, it's almost embarassing how easy it is to catch him talking nonsense, followed by Sonetto. If you leave Medicine Pocket alone for too long, you might come back to a screen covered in weird scratch marks.

On the subject of these characters being curious about the outside world and all, I think that a good chunk of them are generally content with the way things are?

We have to remember that in-universe, they're arcanists displaced from their respective eras. Their best chance at surviving is siding with Vertin, and if Vertin is content with the way things are, then there's no point in trying to disrupt what they have right now. They're curious enough to prod, but only as far as Vertin allows it.

And I think that's it for the word vomit!

There are some details I didn't know where to fit in, like the possibility of the fourth wall slowly dissipating the more time the Player invests in the game, leading to some characters being able to directly hear you if you talk while playing and whatnot. Or what would happen should someone outside of Vertin's suitcase figure out the existence of the Player, let alone interact with you in some way.

Or the concept of death being meaningless, unless it was pre-established by the game itself.

In Borderlands, there's this game mechanic where you can just be revived over and over and pay a percentage of your money as a fee, even though the canon that's established is that you play through the whole story without dying a SINGLE time - because the revival mechanics aren't canon. There's the divide between story and gameplay. That's pretty much the standard. But what about the deaths in battles in R1999? The amount of times I died to 1.3's UTTU's Flash Gathering is insane. How do self-aware characters feel about this, now that they know that they're bound to die over and over and be brought back because you have to do your Pneuma Analysis or reach the final stage of Limbo?

But that's pretty much it for now, I think I got most thoughts out of my system! Thank you for reading!

[sipsteainanxiety]

i just- /clenches fist/ the notion of loving someone so deeply that they get ingrained in every part that makes you, you. that they sink themselves so irreversibly into your heart and carve themselves into your soul. that even if you somehow forget them, you can't shake this feeling that you're missing someone. and it makes you want to cry but you don't know why and you don't know you're grieving until you see them and you think- i know you. but you don't, you don't know them, not really. but you love them anyways even if you don't realize it

[sp1resong]

rusalka and the shepherd girl - the forgetmenauts

fuck you [slavics your warrior cats]

i have a whole animation/au idea for this,, i might never finish it but. know it exists

[andizoidart]

7/8, Sans is trying to explain to Papyrus why he can’t leave the labs just yet. It’s a little bit difficult to answer everything when the other has so many questions for him, but it’s just to make sure he’s healthy and well after… everything that’s happened with… someone.

[1-marigold-1]

An AU thingy that umm, please listen to my ramble I beg you :[

Hello!!! Had this AU in mind for a bit too long decided to dump it all here :] sorry if it's all a bit messy I'm bad at organising those stuff hghghgghg <-- delusional (explanation and story below the images)

So:

I call it the FMN AU [Forget-Me-Not] and it's set in a fantasy world of course, in a great Empire of Heremitaran.

Because of how big the Empire is, it's divided in two, with two rulers: Ren The King of the North known for his bravery, plenty of victories, feared by those outside of his Empire , and the other one in the Sout is ... well... Mumbo.. (yes he's a king because his father died, he sucks at it tho, can't help but be that wet poor cat and not knowing what to do).

And that's when we come in with Grian and Scar.

There's a crown, to be specific, called the Vacivus Halo which is safely kept in Ren's vault , away from the rest of the world. It's the most powerful thing ever known, and Watchers are ready to fight for it against Listeners, who are worshipped by most of north people and Ren himself. The war those two spiecies of angel-gods started over a crown has been going for many centuries and now when Listeners has had it for themselves for so long, Watchers start to fear that they might use it against them to finally get rid of the enemy.

The crown has been under Watchers' control for some time too, that's when they tasked Mumbo's father with protecting it, but he died at war, crown got stolen, landed in Ren's hands and now all they got is Mumbo... They quickly realized that he's definetely not... well.. worthy? So they give the task of getting it back to an orphan living near the palace. He's a poor chicken keeper until he meets one of The Watchers disguised as a snake, asking him for help, the snake promises him everything he wants. So he agrees.

He gets powers such as:

Manipulating others' minds [putting images and memories that never existed before into anyone's head ]. It's his most powerful ability that he uses by just looking into their eyes, yet there's one thing about it: he can't make people forget the things he puts in their heads.

Flight, he has a cape that turns into wings when needed.

He can see what his snake sees whenever he wants, so he can use it to spy on people.

With those abilities he fools everyone at the palace into believing he's Mumbo's new guard and personal assasin, so he can be always close to the ruler who should be visiting the North very soon... he also makes friends with the young king, they get along pretty well.

Meanwhile Scar has a simmiliar story, though he was an assasin and Ren's guard before Listeners chose him. Ren is still in a good shape and probably will still be a good protector of the crown, but they felt like they need more than one If Watchers ever plan on getting the crown back, so they chose Scar by appearing to him as a cat, they wanted to tell him that they are ready to give him anything he wishes for but he was like "KITTY!!!!!!!! HELLO YOU SO CUTE!!" and agreed right away, just to have a scarf that turns into a cat...... he likes cats alright, he's been feeling pretty lonely recently too...

Scar's powers are:

Super speed [he got it with the boots]

Sensitive Hearing

Completely silent walking

He also got his cat [he named it Jellie because it's semi-transparent like a jelly when in not-scarf form lol] that can transform into a tiger like creature sometimes.

Yeah guess what.

They meet. Grian and Scar. They. Meet.

And they uhhh kinda make friends with eachother and don't really think that they might be enemies.

Watchers don't know that Scar is Listeners' servant, and the other way around, Listeners don't know that Grian is Watchers' servant.

Things escalate from here...... and that's where the story starts!

I have plans on making short comics and stories to tell you the lore piece by piece, but be aware that updates won't be very often, I'll try tho!

ASK ABOUT ANYTHING I WILL ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

Also

Just wanted to add that I made this AU long time ago and Jellie is a fundamental thing in it, very important, as much as she was important to all of us, may she rest in peace <3

[seongwars]

beware the full moon! | drabble series

Pairing: Song Mingi x werewolf!Reader AU: non-idol | martial arts | arranged marriage Genre: fluff, humor Summary: You never though your life would be like this: stuck in a century long feud, an arranged marriage to the son of your family's sworn rival--and on top of it all, your own curse of turning into a werewolf every full moon! Word Count: 745 Warnings: none, probably just descriptions of werewolf transformation shenanigans

a/n: after watching a bunch of Halloween movies and the Ranma 1/2 reboot this drabble series was born. but seriously I need to finish chapter 6 of fmn and chapter xiii of awtw

Life wasn’t always this complicated. For years, your family’s dojo thrived peacefully, teaching martial arts to eager locals, hosting small community events, and occasionally winning a regional tournament or two. Life was simple, and business was steady. But for as long as you can remember, there’s been one constant cloud hanging over your family’s otherwise calm existence: the Song family.

No one really knows how or why the feud started. Your parents had vague stories passed down from their parents, stories that range from comical to downright absurd. Generations of pettiness and one upping each other have turned the feud into an all out soap opera. The Song’s would claim victory at one tournament, only for your family to show up at the next with twice the energy, determined to outshine them. It’s a never-ending cycle of sabotage, tournaments, and petty gestures of supremacy, each dojo determined to prove they’re the superior martial arts school.

It wasn’t always like this. According to family lore, your great-grandfather and Mingi’s great-grandfather were once close friends, back before all the rivalry nonsense began. One summer, they went on a fishing trip together, and things took a wild turn when Mingi’s great-grandfather fell out of the boat and nearly drowned when trying to reel in a giant fish. Your great-grandfather pulled him out of the water and saved his life.

In the heat of the moment, Mingi’s great-grandfather declared that he owed your family a debt he could never repay. In the kind of dramatic, over-the-top way only old men can manage, he promised that one of his descendants would marry one of your grandfather’s.

Now, here you are, stuck in the middle of this century-long saga, facing the ultimate twist: You’ve been arranged to marry Song Mingi, the clumsy, slightly awkward, and overenthusiastic heir—a misguided attempt at peace due to a pact made on a fishing trip.

"It's like Romeo and Juliet but with worse sword skills," your cousin Jongho muttered under his breath, observing Mingi in all his 6-foot-something clumsiness as he failed to gracefully spar with your brother, Hongjoong.

You rolled your eyes just in time to see Mingi trip over his own feet, narrowly dodging Hongjoong’s wooden katana as it whooshed past him. He stumbled forward, arms flailing, and miraculously caught his balance before crashing face-first into the floor. 

You groaned, pressing your fingers to your temples. "I can’t believe my parents put me up to this."

Jongho smirked, nudging you with his elbow. “Look on the bright side. He’s...tall.”

“Yeah, and that’s about all he’s got going for him,” you shot back sarcastically as Mingi attempted to land a strike but ended up accidentally whacking his own shin.

To make matters worse, there’s the whole werewolf thing—a curse you never asked for and definitely didn’t see coming. 

When you were about six, visiting your grandparents in the mountains, you spotted an adorable wolf pup wandering around. Naturally, you wanted to return it to its mother—after all, who wouldn’t? It was tiny and cute, and you couldn’t bear the thought of the baby lost in the wild.

But as it turned out, that little pup belonged to a revered pack of mountain wolves, considered deities by the locals. And after it playfully nipped you, the curse passed on. Now, every full moon, you transformed into a giant, fluffy, wolf with little to no control over your impulses. That urge to howl? It kicks in at the most inconvenient moments, like when your parents are trying to sleep. The urge to dig into the yard? There’s no need for landscapers anymore. 

Your family has mostly accepted this strange new reality. They’ve gotten into a routine of boarding up the windows and locking away anything chewable once a month. Your brother even started stockpiling raw steaks to appease you in wolf form, while your cousins Jongho and San built an agility course in the yard just to keep you occupied. It’s chaotic, sure, but manageable.

But Mingi? He has no idea. 

While you’re busy stressing about how to keep your werewolf transformation under wraps, your fiance is happily bumbling through life, completely unaware of the full moon and the curse waiting in its wings. 

[hammerbonk]

Manus Vindictae Vertin AU Ramblings Part 2: Vertin’s Loyalty

CW for long paragraphs. This one is even more incoherent than the first one

So ever since I first posted about this AU, this has been something that I’ve been thinking about for quite a while. If the Foundation, an organisation that took Vertin in when she was just a few months old, never managed to get her on their side, what chances did the Manus have to get that little bellwether to join their flock?

And I think the reason why the Foundation was never successful in getting Vertin to be loyal was because they tried to work against her, instead of with her. She hated literally everything about SPDM - being cramped in a stuffy classroom, the lack of self expression, the harsh punishments etc.

For example, when Vertin sings the song from the pamplet with the others, the kneejerk response from the principal is to fucking tear gas these children (albeit accidentally). Hell, Constantine’s response to the Breakaway Plans is to push the date forward so that the Ring and Isabella literally get erased from existence. All so that Vertin ‘learns the price of rebellion’.

This isn’t to say that Manus Vindictae aren’t as vicious. They’re arguably just as, or perhaps more so, as evidenced by the shitstorm that FMN and Arcana pull during Chapter 2. However, at the time of Chapter 3, their outward image is that of ‘saviours’ who provide slivers of the outside world to these children trapped within the walls of the Foundation. Iirc, they even protest but they protest peacefully.*

*i need to fact check this

So when the somewhat naive but extremely useful 12 year old Vertin expresses interest in joining them, I think Arcana and FMN’s first course of action would be to maintain that image of freedom by fulfilling Vertin’s wish of self exploration. This may include things like taking her to places, letting her try out new clothes and refining her arcane skills and honing her power practising the piano with her.

I’m not entirely sure when they would entirely drop the facade. I don’t think it would happen all at once. To keep doing their Good Samaritan work dropping pamphlets and shit, I think Arcana and FMN would take Vertin to normal places at first like the park, uptown streets, etc. Almost like a normal family.

Then the places would get shadier, and the people more hostile. They would say something along the lines of ‘See, Vertin? This is what the world thinks of us. This is why you were trapped for so long.’ And it would work on her. Maybe.

Or maybe it wouldn’t. She might spot a human helping an Arcanist child out of the corner of her eye and never entirely believe in the worst of humanity.

Maybe they completely turn when they end up in 1920s Chicago? Schneider was familiar with the executions duels between failed members so it seems like they were doing that for quite some time.

TLDR - MV tries to appeal to Vertin by allowing her to do the things St Pavlov always forbade her to do. They slowly go more off the rails over the years.

Oh yeah and Vertin would be the main recruiter for the Manus. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it but yeah 💀

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Major 1.9 spoilers CN spoilers

Big spoilers do not read (have I covered my bases?)

(Speculation for future patches not global friendly)

For context I am a Xenoblade fan.

Alright the interchapter of 1.9 follows the events of 1.9, the Storm of 1914 and the nuking of Arcana. We get to briefly speak to other characters about the event and potential plans for the future.

This is from listening to the interchapter being stream by Merui (idk to spell) but Druvis' is the most interesting in terms of Arcana. When its out in global Ill make a better version of these posts but the way Druvis talks about Arcana is fascinating.

Right now other than Vertin, Druvis is the only person alive (sane cause Isolde) and in the Foundation who have interacted with Arcana, Druvis likely the longest between her, Vertin and Isolde (however Isolde likely only met FMN, or it was Theophil).

I cannot word for word quote Druvis but she explicitly tells Vertin Arcana is not dead, that was not enough to completely kill her. She describes Arcana as an immovable concept, an "entity" that cannot be easily defeated. Dropping a literal nuke was not enough and she will come back.

Alright. Shes described here as an immovable entity, not easily defeatable, and the whole desire of the Manus is to return to the past where arcantists had more power, overwrite human history etc. Druvis depicts her as inhuman like (not as an arcanists not being human completely but more abstractly someone or something that cannot be easily understood or reasoned with)

In some sense she reminds me of Z in Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

Represented as a stagnant entity that refuses look towards the future both entities represent a common human fear/ anxiety of the fear of the future, its uncertainties and the nihilistic belief that nothing will get better - for Z the solution was to arrest the worlds of Xc1 and Xc2 into the stagnant world of Aionios and for Arcana it is to manipulate the power of the Storm to "return to the past".

Vertin then feels similar to Noah (thank you Return to 2009 au fic).

Both resolve themselves to fight for their lost future (both child soldiers) regardless of what the outcome may be, because in the end everyone has the right to decide their future and not have that taken away from them.

R1999 describing Arcana as almost an entity leads me to believe most definitely in some form will come back and that she embodies this fear of the future that cannot be easily defeated and put away, instead a force to overcome.

[unohanabbygirl]

Thinking of Jaceluke FMN au. Luke would absolutely fold, just look at the material.

[major-toast]

When you get this, list 5 songs you like to listen to, publish them, and send this ask to the last 10 people in your notifs!

Hi, dairekt <3

Well, this is going to be a tough one since I'm awfully polyjamerous and basically listen to everything at every hour of every day. But I will try to narrow it down to my recent most listened to.

Headlock - Imogen Heap: Watched one specific edit of The Secretary (2002) and it has been stuck ever since. It also fits one of my OCs insanely well and you can never go wrong with these type of songs.

forwards beckon rebound - Adrianne Lenker: Reminds me of Second Lieutenant Remus Lupin, especially the line "villain and violent, infant and innocent" considering how he sees himself as a monster while simultaneously only being 23 years of age and ultimately a product of his environment, which isn't the most welcoming to begin with. Actually, I could talk about Second Lieutenant Remus for hours, but that would spoil the last chapter of FMN, so I'll have to restrain myself here, I guess.

Mis - Alex G: Watched Brokeback Mountain, got my brain rewired, and now stare quietly into space whenever I see a bbm edit with Mis in the background. Or, just hear Mis in general. It's very dear to me right now, especially because of bbm.

Army Dreamers - Kate Bush: Again, this is an FMN song. It started trending while I was already knee-deep in writing this fic. And you cannot tell me a song about soldiers dying way too young due to the cruel circumstances of war doesn't fit my 18th century military/royal AU, where I focus on exactly that, perfectly? FMN and Army Dreamers go hand in hand now, I fear.

Heart Of Glass - heffy: Barty. That's all I'm saying. Heart Of Glass is B waiting for Evan to return after yet another angry break-up. Barty is much more codependent on Ev than Ev is on him, especially since (my) Barty suffers heavily from abandonment issues. He needs him like he needs the air in his lungs and the blood in his veins. Is it healthy? No. But that's part of his tragedy. He's literally 'getting used to the dark side of this love life'.

My apologies for this wall of text. I live and breathe in music. It fuels every idea, every scenario, every daydream, and every fic idea I ever had. So, yeah, ask me about music and I'll start yapping like a young pup :D

[vasito-de-leche]

I was wondering... I've been reading the self-aware au and I wonder if Manus Vindictae is also aware of the player— How does Forget Me Not even react to the concept of the player too if he's ever self-aware of it? A human who calls the shots on the story progressing (clearing levels) and also the one who beats his ass in battle (i had to insight 2 level 20 my arcanists to beat him under 10 turns in hard mode)

Can he hear the player? Can he see them? (I tend to gush over him whenever he speaks, I repeat the scenes he's in 😭 i miss him sm in the story) sorry for all these questions!!! Im so curious of self-aware aus and how they work and yours particularly was REALLY good

;R1999 FORGET ME NOT - Self Aware AU

Headcanons about Forget Me Not within the Self Aware AU.

this is a very good opportunity to think about non-playable characters within the game, actually! ty for the ask o7

there was someone who commented on one of my self-aware posts saying it was kind of like analog horror and I agree lolol

I vaguely remember mentioning that the requirements needed in order to be aware of the Player's existence were to either reach a 100% bond and/or to be exposed to Vertin's constant presence.

Forget Me Not, as an NPC with little to no actual relevant weight in the grand scheme of things (he is only relevant during the 1929 arc as of now) doesn't meet any of these requirements, so I don't think he'd be aware of the player!

His self-awareness is limited to knowing the world around him is fake, which fuels his self-deprecating and self-defeating, deranged, depressing mindset. I like to imagine Forget Me Not doesn't even understand that the world he lives in is a game, he just knows it's fake and that no matter what he does or says, no one will truly remember. Things will inexplicably reset or loop, and even so, he's not aware of the many times he's been forced to battle Vertin and the others because the Player had to grind specific materials. And so on and so forth. In his eyes, the "high power" that could attempt to control this empty world would be Arcana and no one else--after all, she's the one who opened his eyes to the truth through indoctrination.

When it comes to the figure of the Player, I wanted to portray an extremely obscure and detached figure. Vertin herself can't even fully wrap her head around the Player's existence, she doesn't even know if you're human--if the protagonist, the character "closest" to the Player is still left in the dark about these aspects, imagine how it is for other characters who don't have the privilege of acting your will, of being your hands and eyes. Sonetto can't even get a proper look at the Player, she still needs an insane amount of time lingering around Vertin to become more attuned to this somewhat eldritch entity tied to her. Characters of "equal" importance to Vertin, such as Arcana, may be able to perceive the Player in their own unique ways just like her, but everyone else? They need these special cases to even notice such a presence. Vertin is your only link to this world. You're the one looking in, this is a one-way mirror and only a very select few can look into the abyss and realize that something -someone else- is out there, staring back.

Like, of course I'll make exceptions or bend the rules if people request direct interactions between a character and the Player, but if we're talking about the setting as it is, then this is how I picture it.

Can he hear or see the Player? Nope. He doesn't have the means to. He doesn't even know they exist.

Forget Me Not feels superior with his self-awareness, gloating about how he's not like the common rubble who goes on about their day, entirely blind to the horrors. And yet, he's not aware of his limited perception of the world. It's very ironic, the way he looks down on others for the very same crime he's guilty of: obliviousness. Forget Me Not believes everyone outside of Manus Vindictae is too dumb, too unworthy of the freedom that comes with self-awareness. But really, this is just the blind leading the blind at the end of the day. Within Manus Vindictae, we only have Arcana and Forget Me Not as important characters, so it's hard for me to make a proper frame of reference, but overall I think that only Arcana is fully self-aware. Everyone else's perception of reality are equal or slightly inferior to Forget Me Not.

I think this falls in line with his modus operandi, so to speak! The way he believes he truly understands how things are, while turning his back on reality at the same time because he can't take it. He's too delusional, too unstable and frail to acknowledge that he may not be right, that he may be just as lost as when he first opened his eyes, that Vertin, someone so utterly disconnected from his ideals and morals and views, is the "chosen one."

As usual, Forget Me Not prefers to live a lie an double down on his usual habits than realize he always had the chance to change for the better and he just never had the courage to take that road.

How would he react upon finding out the Player's existence and their opinion on him?

I don't know the specifics around how exactly he finds out this piece of information, but either way, Forget Me Not would probably be shaken to his core! This isn't an easy pill to swallow in the slightest. You have to understand that every single time you beat him in battle, he 100% believed it was all Vertin's prowess.

How was he supposed to know she had someone guiding her? How was any of this fair?

Essentially, Forget Me Not has to confront the fact that all of his struggles, all the constant fighting and every conscious choice he's made to further ruin his life, were predetermined, already set in stone by forces beyond his comprehension. It's both freeing and claustrophobic, especially for a character like him who revels in misery and his status as an underdog earning his vengeance. He's done so much, he's worked so hard to get to where he is, and sure, his life is far from ideal, he's still the same self-destructive man, but now you're telling him that this was what the world planned from the very beginning? He had no say in anything? Someone out there decided that he was meant to be like this, and even after gaining self-awareness, he wasn't good or strong enough to break away from the script--in fact, he played right into someone else's trap.

I feel like Forget Me Not, at this point, would continue to do the only thing he knows: he doubles down. He redirects all of his hatred and all of his feelings towards the figure of the Player, if only to justify his existence--he can't live as a free man, he can't be seen as a living being worthy of respect because the plot commands it, he doesn't know where his own conscience begins and where the script and dialogue he's meant to say ends. So he might as well keep digging his own grave.

He loathes the Player more than anything else, because if there was no one to play this game, none of this would've happened in the first place. He fully blames you for every single thing, no matter how big or small. Everything that is wrong with his life can be traced to the person booting up this goddamn game every single day.

And if he learns that you replay each cutscene that he's in, he takes that as an offense.

This is just cruel mockery to Forget Me Not--not only you're the reason he's turned into such a miserable excuse of a man, but now you've turned him into your personal little jester, to sing and dance for your entertainment.

If he finds out that you hate him? That's good, it's a mutual feeling and it makes this tantrum he's throwing much more easier to deal with. But if he finds out that he's your favorite character? It kills him from the inside. How dare you?

His voice gets sharper, more visceral--every word is drenched with such profound hatred that you, from your side of the screen, can't help but think that Forget Me Not's voice actor is doing such a great job! And the artstyle is so good, his expressions look so real!

I can also see Forget Me Not eventually struggle with the fact that the Player loves him and sees him as their favorite character. It's not as easy and straightforward as hating you anymore--he doesn't even know you. He doesn't even know what to trust anymore.

Given how depressing he can be, I think he may latch onto the Player? The rug keeps being pulled from under his feet each and every time, but your existence, as awful and mysterious and controversial as it may be, is real. You're real. I have a lot of thoughts about this specific dynamic, but I'll leave them for another post so this one doesn't end up being suuuper long lol

On the subject of finding out that the Player is a human.

This one is easy! If someone were to tell Forget Me Not that the Player, the bane of his existence, is a human, then he'll just be in denial about it!

I really just like the idea of Forget Me Not having no means whatsoever to interact with the Player, it makes things so much more frustrating for him. Of course this means that everything he does know come from third-parties. And this piece of information is an extra layer of stress that he can't physically process at the same time as everything else in regards to his self-awareness, so he chooses to ignore it. To debate it. To simply deny it.

What, is he just supposed to believe everything he's told about you now? He can't even perceive you properly, let alone understand the sort of creature you are and your influence on this world--for all he knows, the people claiming to see and talk to you are all liars! All of his informants and spies could just be dead wrong, they may have misheard something on the way!

You can't be human, because he can't take another blow to his pride like this. It's humiliating enough to be played like a fiddle in such a way, Forget Me Not doesn't even want to think about the possibility of this small, fake world being at the mercy of a human--part of the very same group that caused him so much pain over the years.

[tsutan]

I can't stop making AUs.

I have like 2 boyfriend variants that have not seen the light of day in my brain right now and I feel like I should talk about them.

(Angel Doctor) AD!BF (Medi/Meds) - A Boyfriend who stuck out highschool and went to uni to be a doctor because his parents were pushing him to. After getting his degree, he comes back looking for Pico but he's gone a little love crazy and is now the wacky villain who did dubious self experimentation. Basically a mad scientist BF. He wears those pink tinted heart glasses and a white lab coat.

(Forget-Me-Not) FMN!BF (Aoki) - Technically Soft Mod but basically I decided what if he was sick and his disease was represented by flowers sprouting from his body. It looks like the hanahaki disease thing but it's not hanahaki and it's just a visual representation of his deteriorating health. If you ever saw FlowerFell art you'll know what I mean. Takes place in Japan and Pico is a transfer student from America. He's there to study computer science while also seeing other parts of the world.

Both of these story didn't necessarily have to be FNF related, but FNF just kind of fills in the character personalities for me so I don't have to think too hard.

These two also complete a sort of emotional triangle between happy (Bash), angry (Medi), and sad (Aoki).

I don't think I'll include them in the RGBFVerse yet. I need to flesh them out way more and idk how much I wanna write them or if I want to keep them in my brain for myself.

I might draw Medi though. His design is fun :)

[potatofever]

my toxic codependent hyperfixation ships rn! I think they should explode

tcoti by @tcoti-official @onlyplatonicirl

fmn au by me!

[1-marigold-1]

Woooo

Grian asked him about it only because he was curious if Mumbo is also a Watcher Servant but welp he unlocked Mumbo's trauma instead

(bonus info he was going to be a Watcher Servant just like his father but Watchers looked at him and went : "nahh man if we give this kid any powers we are doomed" so they gave them to Grian instead. Mumbo doesn't know that and It's probably for the best.

Also, something something The South is almost completely covered in deserts and savannas, while the North is a never ending winter.

This is my fmn AU you can learn more about it from this post

Pearl next :D