#dream smp unreliable narrators

[rosaacicularis]

i used to absolutely despise unreliable narration…. it was like a pet peeve of mine…. i dnfed books because of it…… and then i started watching the dsmp and i was like ughhh why don’t they know everything :///….. and then i got used to it because they were my skrunkly blorbos….. and THEN i started third life…… and i watched it from different perspectives…… and i realised….. wow… this is funky… this is fresh…. this is so indicative of the personalities they have versus the personalities they present to the audience….. this is purposeful…. and it was done so well to skew the narrative to believe in a black and white story with pure protagonists and pure antagonists…..

[charles-simmons-fanfiction]

I LOVE THIS QUESTION! Dw, I'll explain!! @thatrandomfandom

Dream smp, basically, is a minecraft roleplay server with its own story. Every character gets to tell the story through their own point of view, so depending on who you chose to watch you'll experience the same events completely different, bc every characters perceives things differently (like an unreliable narrator, but you can hear all the sides!!). Some parts and POVs happen on minecraft, which is a very simplified media for storytelling, and some of them were recorded/animated or even written (literally canon content, but posted on ao3 by the creator!)

It has three seasons of lore (if you like Hamilton or history, you'll like it from the start), and LOADS of fanon content, seriously!

One of the main reasons I love dsmp is that most of its content it's about platonic love. Two traumatized brothers who will hurt each other in every way and still can't let go. Three child soldiers who will clingy tightly to each other even after every war. Two anarchist old friends who would give the world to each other. It's perfect. It's rare to find fandoms with this much focus on the platonic relationships and not treat them as "less", y'know?

Dsmp is also great for its amazing AUs and fanfics!! Like Passerine or Tommy's Clinic for Supervillains, which became so famous people made physical copies of it!

Anyway, this got a little long and you probably wanted a short answer, so my bad. I just love this story so much! I love how there are no villains or heroes, and how morally gray and truly complex the characters were, and how realistic it felt despite being literal minecraft?? Like, it's awesome!! And btw, thanks for asking, I never miss out on a chance to talk about dsmp! <333

[duckprintspress]

February 2024 Created Works Round-Up!

Duck Prints Press’s monthly “created works round-ups” are our opportunity to spotlight some of the amazing work that people working with us have done that ISN’T linked to their work with Duck Prints Press. We include fanworks, outside publications, and anything else that creators feel like sharing with y’all. Inclusion is voluntary and includes anything that they decided “hey, I want to put this on the created work’s round-up!”

Check out what they’ve shared with us this month…

Faebruary 2024 by May Barros / @mayarab

art || original work || no ships || teen & up || no major warnings apply || work in progress

summary: Faebruary is an art challenge during the month of February in which one creates an artwork a day inspired by fairys or the Fae. In the case of this particular instalment, works were made following a prompt list and combining that with archetypes of player characters from the TTRPG Changeling: the Lost

TUMBLR - LINK

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Warmth Enough to Share by D.V. Morse / @nursinggeek

fiction || supernatural || f/f || charlie bradbury/jo harvelle || general audiences || no major warnings apply || 1,538 || complete

summary:

Watching Sam and Eileen set up their nursery back on earth gives Charlie and Jo ideas.

other tags: past canon character death

AO3

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Nothing Not Romantic by D.V. Morse / @nursinggeek

fiction || buffy the vampire slayer || f/f || kennedy/willow rosenberg || general audiences || no major warnings apply || 946 || complete

summary: Anniversary dinners are supposed to be romantic. Willow isn't sure this one qualifies.

other tags: past canon character death

AO3

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To Sleep, Perchance (Not) to Dream by D.V. Morse / @nursinggeek

fiction || wayward sisters, supernatural || f/f || kaia nieves/claire novak || general audiences || no major warnings apply || 680 || complete

summary: Claire's hunter reflexes ensure that Kaia never wakes up from a nightmare alone.

AO3

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Ready for (Almost) Anything by D.V. Morse / @nursinggeek

fiction || october daye series || f/f || may daye/jasmine "jazz" patel || general audiences || no major warnings apply || 835 || complete

summary: This time, May and Jazz are ready for whatever Aemelia can throw at them ... or so they think.

AO3

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Time Won't Give Me Time by firefly124 / @firefly124

fiction || mcyt, life series smp, hermitcraft smp || m/m || jimmy solidarity/tango tek || teen & up || no major warnings apply || 12,629 || complete

summary: Jimmy thinks he and Tango (and the other Double Life soulmates) are in danger of being used against each other in the next Life game, so he warns Tango they need to stay apart. Whether that's going to do any good is another question.

other tags: 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series-Typical Character Death, spoilers for Limited Life SMP, Watcher Lore (Evolution SMP), Canary Hybrid Jimmy | Solidarity, Blaze Hybrid TangoTek (Video Blogging RPF), mention of New Life SMP

AO3

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until you are its primary evidence by ilgaksu / @ilgaksu

fiction || mysterious lotus casebook || m/m, poly (one gender: male) || di feisheng/fang duobing/li lianhua | li xiangyi || mature || creator choses not to use warnings || 5,805 || complete

summary: In the firelight, A-Fei shrugs, panther-lithe in the roll of it down shoulder and into the body, and starts to lick his hand clean. Fang Duobing makes a face at him.

“You eat like an animal,” he complains.

other tags: Character Study, Disability, Canon Compliant, Unreliable Narrator

AO3

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carry your childhood with you by ilgaksu / @ilgaksu

fiction || dmbj - grave robber's chronicles (xu lei) || no ships, platonic or familial || hei xiazi & wu xie, wu xie & xie yuchen || teen & up || creator choses not to use warnings || 3,276 || complete

summary: “Hey,” Wu Xie says to Hei Xiazi, sitting next to him on a bench by the Yongding River, swinging his feet. “Hey. Hei-shushu. Can I tell you about Xiao Hua?”

“I’m not your uncle, kid,” Hei Xiazi replies, “I’m just your uncle’s unfortunate employee.”

other tags: Childhood Memories, Childhood Friends, Trans Xie Yuchen, Hei Xiazi's No Good Very Bad Day Babysitting

TUMBLR - AO3

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Bring It On Home by NursingGeek / @nursinggeek

fiction || mcyt, empires smp || f/f || katherine elizabeth/shelby grace | shubble || general audiences || no major warnings apply || 1,458 || complete

summary: Katherine's had a rough night of monster slaying. Thank goodness Shelby knows how to fix her up.

AO3

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You're My Home by NursingGeek / @nursinggeek

fiction || unstoppable series by charlie jane anders || f/f || elza monteiro/tina mains || general audiences || no major warnings apply || 916 || complete

summary: A few quiet moments as Elza and Tina get ready to head back out into the galaxy after their brief return to Earth.

other tags: spoilers for the Unstoppable series through Promises Stronger than Darkness

AO3

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Comyn he is of gret by Rhosyn Du / @rhosyn-du

fiction || the sandman (tv 2022) || m/m || dream of the endless | morpheus/hob gadling || explicit || creator choses not to use warnings || 10,582 || work in progress

summary: In 1389, Hob follows the mysterious stranger out of the White Horse, makes a number of questionable choices, and gets thoroughly railed for his trouble.

other tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Porn With Somewhat More Plot Than The Author Intended, Canon Divergence Purely For Porn Reasons, Bets & Wagers, Monsterfucker Hob Gadling, Light Dom/Sub, Enthusiastic Consent, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Multiple Orgasms, Overstimulation, Come Marking, Come Eating, Additional Tags To Be Added

AO3

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To Fall Like the Rain by Shadaras / @shadaras

fiction || modao zushi - moxiang tongxiu / the untamed || platonic or familial, m/m || lan wangji/mo xuanyu, jin ling & jin rusong & mo xuanyu || teen & up || no major warnings apply || 7,550 || complete

summary: Jin Xuanyu is ten years old when Lan Wangji declares that they're soulmates.

other tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - More People Live, Alternate Universe - Mo Xuanyu is a Reincarnation of Wei Wuxian, Soulmates (But Only For The Lan), Jin Family Feels, Slow Burn (In Universe)

AO3

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So go check out their creations! Who knows, maybe you’ll find your new favorite story…

[rutadales]

Do you not think cDream is the villain? Sorry this is not at all meant to be agressive or anything, I just have trouble understanding that interpretation. I’m genuinely interested in what you think bc I’m not as well versed in lore as many dsmp fans but from what I’ve seen, cDream is a pretty unequivocally bad person. I think few of the characters aren’t to be fair, but though cDream is more complex than the common interpretations, he doesnt necessarily seem to be morally better? Again, don’t mean to sound rude or anything!! Just kinda trying to understand :)

So this question kinda expands into several branching off points for me, but I'll try to keep it simple and break it down into sections as best I can. this is going to get long

So do I think c!Dream is a villain? Depends on what definition you're using first of all but also in what context, in which storyline, and from whose perspective you're consuming the story from. A strength of SMPs as storytelling devices is that the concrete plot and hard facts of the story are often pretty fluid; what happened when, who was there, who saw what, and who is a villain or a hero is all dependent on which stream you chose to tune into at the time. But as much as this is a strength, it's also a detriment. Entire character beats and motivations can be missed or obfuscated by simply not tuning into a creators stream. A big example of this is how many people missed the Staged Finale reveal, anyone who didn't watch Punz stream will still be operating under the belief that everything Dream did in the disc finale was his true nature, and not an act. Completely changes how to interpret those characters and the entire finale as a scene.

The nature of stream based storytelling is audiences are consuming completely different stories, simultaneously, and there's no hard copy of this story. It's not a book you can go pick up at Barnes and Noble or a movie you can stream on Netflix. To get caught up and engage with the fiction you either have to go back and rewatch hundreds of hours of live content (with dead space and parts that have been completely ret-conned), watch recaps edited by third parties who are at liberty to cut out anything they deem irrelevant to the story, or get it exclusively word of mouth by the audience. A character being more loved by the audience now means that character's narration is given higher value in contrast to other characters. Even supposedly non-biased sources, like the fan wiki, meant to lay out bare bone facts of the story are riddled with un-sourced fan interpretations of the media. Look here

Now, reading a characters unreliable narration as reliable isn't a failing as it is more just engaging with the media as intended. The intent of utilizing unreliable narrators is often to "trick" the audience or to showcase how that character sees the world. Its fine and is used is a lot of different mediums, I'm actually a huge fan. Love me some bitches who just lie. The thing is, due to everything I've laid out above, having a character who is unreliable, like c!Tommy often is, in this medium means fans who only consume the content via world of mouth are getting an unreliable narration without the context that its unreliable. This completely changes entire swaths of the fiction and more, to our point, who is the villain.

A really, kind of neat phenomena in the fandom is how fans bought into c!Wilbur's lies about L'manberg the same way the characters he was manipulating did. Fans became part of the narrative in a strange way. Which is actually a perfect example for how other characters shape the narrative around Dream, both within the fiction and within the fans trying to engage with it.

With that in mind, I don't even read the dsmp as a story with "villains" or "heros", its a story with a lot of different perspectives that clash with each other. Those terms don't really lend themselves to the kind of questions I'm asking about the story.

I think the question you're really asking is "Do you think c!Dream is a good person". You bring up being "unequivocally bad" and moral a couple different times, which to me flags as a question about fictional morality. Because the question of who is a villain in the dream smp is completely dependent on who you watch, which streams you've watched, and whosever narration you decided to subscribe to-- and is why I find the label villain in dsmp analysis fairly mute. It's kinda a pointless exercise to try and determine who earns that label and who doesn't. Not the kind of analysis I'm interested in.

But to answer the question I think you imply here, no I don't think c!Dream is a good person. I don't think anyone on the smp is. Maybe Michael? Well he tried to break into a prison for information, so by some moral standards, absolutely not! I'd certainly agree with you that Dream is more complex than common interpretation would lead us to believe, but that complexity does lend itself to morality in some cases.

Is Dream wrong to want to prevent his home from being split up into countries and thus filled with conflict? Is it worse to threaten, torment, and assault someone because you're pathologically obsessed with them or because you have a larger goal in mind and find those actions beneficial to the goal at hand?

To me, that's it's just pointless hole to get sucked into. I am personally uninterested in ideas of a character possessing or gaining moral purity and much more interested in characters learning to move on from the harm they've caused. C!Dream is interesting to me, not because he's a good person, but because hes a complex one. TL;DR: I am uninterested in using villain as a term within the context of dsmp and find the discussions of the moral goodness of characters reductive.

If you have any other questions feel free to shoot me an ask! I actually quite enjoy breaking down how I think about characters and media and am always open to (friendly) discussions on the matter. <3

[antimony-medusa]

Fic Recs March '23

Some fic recs! Mostly going to be Dream SMP, but I wander outside the fandom ocassionally! If you ever want to see the longlist for this, you can keep an eye on my bookmarks on Ao3, but here's a short list of stuff that made me go Damn, that's just so fun/painful/good.

I'm gonna have to put this under a cut because dear god once you put all the tags in this is not that short of a short list.

The Fics

A Helping Hand by Because Plot Fandom: Dream SMP Rating: Teen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship: Philza & Philza's Chat Tags: Philza's Chat is Made of Crows, Action/Adventure, Exploration, Nature, Near-Death, LightHearted Length: 1/1 chapters, 9,630 words

A young Phil gets adopted by some crows! Crows are smart, right? These crows seem— really smart. And kinda unnatural. And there are so many of them? I'm sure it's fine.

the breezy feeling of the faceless crush, by Odaigahara Fandom: Dream SMP Rating: Teen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Eret & Wilbur Soot Tags: AU - The Magnus Archives, Limbo, The Lonely, Beholding Avatar, Traitor Eret, Rescue Missions Length: 1/1 chapters, 3,862 words

Exceptional TMA fusion where Eret goes back for the man she betrayed. The creeping of all the avatars is so scary and the messy nuances of the wilbur & eret relationship and the weight of what eret has done is so well done.

best friends, by monsterloot Fandom: Dream SMP Rating: Teen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tommyinnit & Tubbo Tags: Fluff, Humour, Not Really Character Death, Light Angst Length: 1/1 chapters, 1,667 words.

Tubbo is dying (he's not actually dying) and he summons Tommy to his bedside for a final request (he wants to troll him). Very fluffy and delightful, and great character voice.

The Last Takeout, by King_Dove Fandom: Dream SMP Rating: Teen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Captain Puffy/Niki Nihachu Tags: Bittersweet Ending, Complicated Relationships, Food, Emotional Hurt/Comfort Length: 1/1 chapters, 2,707 words

Ooooo messy relationships. Puffy takes Niki out for takout. It goes— not as bad as it might be. These women have so much baggage— but this could be the beginning of their reconciliation! Maybe! If we're lucky! They're trying! They care and they hurt. :sob:

Ranboo's Terrible No-Good Very Bad Hostage Situation, by Aard_Rinn Fandom: Dream SMP Rating: General Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ranboo & Tubbo & Tommyinnit, Philza & Technoblade, Ranboo & Technoblade Tags: Misunderstandings, Hostage Situations, Fluff and Humour, Memory Loss, AU - Superheroes & Superpowers Length: Chapter 2 of 5, 5,371 words.

In a desperate attempt to negotiate with a supervillain (the crowfather) for the release of his friends, vigilante Ranboo decides to kidnap the blood god. It goes as well as you'd expect. This is just a really fun concept well pulled off, but I especially appreciate how benchtrio feels realistically young but not babied, and emduo is DANGEROUS. Love me a murderphil.

pick up your gun (put up those gloves), by Teahound Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP Rating: Gen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Grian & GoodTimesWithScar Tags: AU - Superheroes & Supervillains, Vigilante GoodTimesWithScar, Hero Grian, Enemies to Friends Length: 1/?, 2,159 words.

Hero Grian finds an injured HawkEye and has to deal with the fact that he Should arrest him, but he's hurt, and maybe he's helping... Exceptional character voice.

AITA For Kidnapping A Sixteen Year Old?, by Anonymous Fandom: Dream SMP Rating: Teen Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Dream & Tommyinnit, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & Philza & Tommyinnit, Tubbo & Tommyinnit Tags: Kidnapping, Unreliable Narrator, Family Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, AU - Modern, Angst and Humour, Miscommunication, POV Multiple, Obsession Length: 22/60 chapters, 17,177 words

Written entirely as Reddit posts and comments. This one is just soooooo interesting as a form piece. It's not really crack treated seriously in anything but the form, cause once you're used to the form it's just an unsettling slow burn as you realize how unreliable your narrators might be and how people are missing information. I started it going "oh is this sympathetic [character]?" and then certain chapters hit and I went "oh noooooooooo" with eyes the size of saucers. Really interesting. Author has been going through it though.

Swan Song, by CodaAtTheEnd Fandom: Dream SMP Rating: Teen Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Technoblade & Philza Tags: AU - Witcher Fusion, Witch Curses, Witcher Technoblade, Cursed Philza, Angst, Wakes and Funerals Length: 1/1 chapters, 3,231 words.

*sounds of sobbing are hurt* It's a witcher AU and Phil is cursed and Technoblade tries to save him and nothing works and— *continued sobbing*

Blood End, by andthentherewere Fandom: Dream SMP Rating: Teen Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Wilbur Soot & Tommyinnit & Philza & Technoblade, Wilbur Soot & Tommyinnit, Technoblade & Philza Tags: AU - Vampires, AU - Post-apocolyptic, Coming of Age, Relgion, Road Trips, Kidnapping, Angst Length: 4/24 Chapters, 14,982 words

Tommy wants to go on a road trip with vampires, but fates (and everyone in town and also technoblade who is a vampire) won't let him. It's post-apocolyptic AND it's vampires— there is so much worldbuilding sunk into this one. Religions! Cultures! The shadows of cultures past! I automatically trusted the vampires because they're emduo and I have emduo brain, but was I right to do that? Who KNOWS

pov: me when I fucking Get You, by doingthewritethings Fandom: Dream SMP Rating: Teen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Quackity/Wilbur Soot, Wilbur Soot & Tommyinnit, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade, Quackity & Slimecicile Tags: Enemies to Lovers with a twist, Homoerotic rivalries, Student Government, I have read mangoball four times, Social Media, Chatfic, Asexual Wilbur Soot, Asexual Quackity, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Hijinks Shenanigans and all sorts of Tomfoolery Length: 1/1 chapters, 3,450 words.

This was the breakout fic of the 48 hour exchange because when I tell you this is hilarious, I am not joking. Oh my god. Quackity thinks he and Wil are enemies, Wil thinks he and Quackity are dating. They clash. It's a chat fic. It's a high school au. It's outstandingly funny.

Ghost Stories, by CodaAtTheEnd Fandom: Dream SMP Rating: Teen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Quackity/Jschlatt Tags: POV second person, Character Study, Unhealthy Relationships, Cannibalism Length: 1/1 Chapters, 1,713 words

Didnd't realise until I typed this out that it was second person, it just hits like a freight train. INCREDIBLE schlackity character study. I think I get it now. Does exactly what it sets out to do, finishes it in under 2k words, goes home. Mic drop.

The Dollhouse, by MawoftheMagnetar Fandom: Dream SMP, Hermitcraft SMP Characters: TommyInnit, Keralis, Xisumavoid, Docm77, Grian Mumbo Jumbo, xBCrafted, Rendog Rating: Teen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Tags: Atypical Hermit Tommy, Healing, Cosmic Horror, Body Horror, Tommyinnit is Fine, Eldritch Horror Keralis, DSMP is a TV Show Length: 10/20, 14,727 words

So this one is by MawoftheMagnetar so you KNOW Keralis is going to be there, but there's also a Tommy who's on the run from something (what's happening), mysterious monster hermits (what's happening), powerful and myserious forces that are controlling people (what is HAPPENING). It's super fun to see the monster designs for the hermits, Tommy was a star of his tv show but everyone was watching the show for side characters, I have no idea what's happening but I am SO here for the ride. Adderstones.

Ongoings that just completed

Sweeter Than Honey, by CleanLenins Fandom: Dream SMP Relationships: Technoblade & Philza, Skeppy & BadBoyHalo, Philza/MissTrixtin Rating: Teen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Tags: Dark SBI, Kid Technoblade, AU - Fae, Child Neglect, Manipulation, Kidnapping, Mind Manipulation, AU - Royalty, OCs Length: 6/6, 68,376

Okay now that I put those tags out there it looks much darker than the experience of reading this is most of the time. For MOST of it it's just fun times as young prince Technoblade, who is the cutest, is gradually lured away by the fae. Hmm okay maybe that plot is also dark. But come on now, Fae au. Anyways very cute Techno who I love so much, Fae Phil who is just here to cause problems and steal children (which honestly is just gainfully enployed and respectable when you're fae), extremely hateable OC family for Techno who get what's coming to them, beautiful descriptions of magic.

brittle body, brittle blood, by chrysalizzm Fandom: Dream SMP Relationships: Purpled & Sapnap, Purpled & Dream & Sapnap & Punz, Purpled & Wallibear Rating: Teen Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Tags: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, AU - Fantasy, War, Trauma, Religious Commentary, AU - Royalty, AU - Gods & Goddesses, PTSD, Angst with a Happy Ending, War, Grief/Mourning Length: 13/13 Chapters, 56,417 words

The fantastic Purpled revenge longfic with an entire invented religion and super-cool magic system. I can't overstate how cool the worldbuilding is. Purpled is a construct and a vigilante? Assassinations? I'm struggling not to spoil but mind control comes up at one point? Delightful exploration of revenge plots and recovery.

But you're not yourself (I know you better than you), by BecausePlot Fandom: Dream SMP Relationships: Wilbur Soot & Philza, Philza & Technoblade, Technoblade & Wilbur Soot & Philza Rating: Teen Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence Tags: Emotional Hurt Comfort, Fluff and Angst, AU - Canon Divergence, Pogtopia, Angst with a Happy Ending, Queerplatonic Relationships. Length: 11/11 chapters, 71,354 words.

A deep-dive into the Wilbur and Phil relationship as Wil grows up. As the author put it, this isn't Bad Dad Phil, but Phil is carrying his own trauma and Wil is a complex opinionated person and oof. Sometimes these things collide. It's the sort of messy exploration of that relationship that I have wanted for a long time, without villifying anyone involved. And thank goodness, a happy ending.

Non-Fic

Super Secret Important Meeting of Seriousness, by NegligentSum Fandom: Dream SMP Relationship: Niki & Ranboo & Philza & Technoblade Medium: Art Rating: No rating Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Just a wonderful syndicate tea part art drawn for the 48 hour exchange! This is uncoloured, but it's so full of detail, and I love all the guys so much. Everybody has unique teacups!

Start Again, by indulgentAnaesthetic Fandom: 3rd Life | Last Life Series Relationship: Bdubs/Ethoslab/ZombieCleo Medium: Animation Rating: Gen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

An incredible ANIMATION also made during the 48 hour exchange about traffic series ties. It's absolutely beautiful. I honestly didn't realize until I was typing this out it was shippy, I just went ueueueueueue the loyalties, so you can read it through a non-ship lens, but also if you ARE into clethubs, it's there.

DSMP Comics Fandom: Dream SMP Relationships: Dream SMP Ensemble Medium: Zine Rating: Teen Warnings: It's not on the archive but I'm gonna say no archive warnings apply, maybe some comic violence.

I was part of this one, but so were about twenty other people, so I feel justified in linking this one. Incredible interlocking series of comics, stories and art, doing a single slice of life in a city when everyone's powers are swapped, and what happens to the city's superheros and villains when they try to recover and fix things. So many cool POVs and story arcs.

[ao3feed-crimeboys]

a passion for apathy

by Anonymous

Seven years ago, Wilbur Minecraft left his father’s home to make something of himself. Seven years later, Wilbur Soot walks into a home that is not the one he left but is his father’s because while Phil actually built another life in the past near-decade, Wilbur failed. He’ll be damned if he tells Phil that, though.

From Phil’s wife, he gets a warm welcome. From her sons, the welcome is a bit colder. All that matters to Wilbur, though, is that he has a warm bed to sleep and mourn his life in, and his father does not know of the failure he has become. This becomes harder the more he starts to care about the family he has waltzed into the life of unprompted, the more they start to care about him, and it is not just his father he fears disappointing.

Words: 7248, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Dream SMP

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Gen

Characters: Wilbur Soot, TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Phil Watson | Philza, Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Kristin Rosales Watson, Minor Characters

Relationships: Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & Phil Watson | Philza, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson | Philza, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Kristin Rosales Watson & Phil Watson | Philza, Minor or Background Relationship(s)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Dysfunctional Family, Only Child Wilbur Soot, Wilbur Soot is Phil Watson | Philza's Only Child, Technoblade and TommyInnit are Siblings (Video Blogging RPF), Suicide, Suicidal Thoughts, Bipolar Wilbur Soot, Unreliable Narrator, Smoking, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Religion, Atheism, Parent Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Parent Kristin Rosales Watson, Wilbur Soot Has Daddy Issues, Dysfunctional Relationships, Divorced Sally the Salmon/Wilbur Soot, sally probably won't be in this fic she's just mentioned, Other Additional Tags to Be Added

[sculkdin]

negative days nearer death

My @mcytblrholidayexchange gift for @bearandhoney-com! I really went for the "angst (or otherwise darker) content" part of your request here, and I hope it worked out well! Ngl, I actually spilled coffee on my laptop on the 11th, and was completely offline because of it for most of the exchange (i am SO sorry mods), so it was really up in the air if I'd be able to complete this, and I'm so happy that I did! 

Characters: Tubbo, Schlatt, Wilbur, Quackity, Dream

Tags: Character Study, Unreliable Narrator, Canon Compliant, I think, Angst, Dramatic Irony, of a sort, Manipulation, Manberg | Manburg on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF)

Ao3 Link

Tubbo sometimes finds himself wondering if Schlatt can read minds. 

He knows, logically, that he can't. Tubbo spends most of his time in Manburg after all, at the President's side— there's no way he'd be able to do that if Schlatt really was a mind reader. Still. Sometimes he wonders. Schlatt just seems to know things, seems to have an uncanny sense for detecting when Tubbo's not in Manburg, an uncanny sense for what buttons to press to set Big Q off and reel him back in, an uncanny sense for knowing exactly what to say when Fundy starts looking at the area where the walls used to be.

It's terrifying. More than that though, it's impressive. It's— and he stumbles over the thought even in the safety of his own brain, can't fathom putting it into words, but— quite honestly, it's cool. 

When Schlatt is at his best— and that's getting rarer and rarer these days— but when Schlatt is at his best and he's got a metaphorical good hand of cards, being around him is a rush like one Tubbo has only ever felt around Wilbur. It's much more volatile then Wilbur ever was at his most charismatic, sure, and there's a wave of nausea that often comes with it, but as long as he pushes down his uneasiness, that doesn't detract from the sheer coolness of it all. 

(Wilbur's not like that anymore, hasn't been since the election results. Being around him no longer comes with the rush of standing next to the man with the winning shot in his pocket— rather, standing by Wilbur is quite like standing next to an already ticking bomb.) 

He adored L'Manburg. He's... probably happier in Manburg than he should be. It's not a good place, fuck no, and the absence of Tommy and Wilbur haunts his every step, but... the landmarks are familiar, and he's seen the land a hundred times before, and sometimes he does a damn good job at convincing himself that that's all he needs. 

It's just a place, after all. Sure, his shoulders may instinctively tense up until he leaves the city limits, sure, he can't stand to look at Niki's bakery anymore, but it's just a place. Surely still liking a place isn't that bad. Surely he still likes his home. Surely— 

No, he's thinking himself into corners again. He keeps finding himself doing that when he works on the archive— needs to stop doing that, because every time he's lost in his thoughts and he fails to reply to one of Schlatt's messages, he just looks more and more guilty. 

(Despite his issues with Manburg, despite the way his stomach drops when he sees Schlatt with a bottle, despite the way an insidious, guilty relief crawls into his brain when it's Fundy or Big Q who's work Schaltt takes issue with— despite all that, sometimes Tubbo speaks with Wilbur, speaks with Tommy, speaks with the Blade, and finds himself thankful he wasn't ordered to move to Pogtopia.) 

Sometimes Tubbo wants to pull both Tommy and Wilbur out of that ravine. It's a stupid wish though. Where would he pull them to? They're all stuck at the moment. Manburg wouldn't be helpful, it would be the opposite. 

So everything's not... great, but it is manageable. It is workable. And that's the most he can ask for right now, isn't it? 

-----

Things get— tenser, between the President and his Vice. 

Quackity had been an impressive combination of moralistic and apathetic right after the election was won— confessing that the devil you didn't know sometimes was better than the devil you did when he got blackout drunk that night and Tubbo accidentally eavesdropped on a conversation with Fundy. Quackity was moralistic in that his reasons for running for President hasn't changed, his thoughts on how Wilbur was running the place hadn't changed, and apathetic in his almost-single minded focus on the joy over his victory while Wilbur and Tommy ran for their lives and Tubbo was tasked with hunting them down. 

Immediately after the election, Quackity was apathetic in a way that Tubbo would figure out was actually uncharacteristic of him as he got to know him better. 

It doesn't come out as care, not at first— just a casual disdain for doing something in a way that Big Q thinks is wrong. It elevates to genuine irritation pretty quickly though— when Big Q is all for Schlatt's plans, he's all in, but when he thinks they're dumb, he somehow manages to make them sound like the dumbest thing on the planet. 

(Schlatt doesn’t like that. But Schlatt doesn’t like a lot of things.)

Big Q's care, the actual passion and anger underneath it all, uncurl as months pass, as Schlatt gets more drunk and more stubborn and somehow more rude, as the President starts taking the smallest disagreements as personal attacks, as Tubbo, Fundy, and Quackity somehow find themselves trapped in a weird almost-competition for Schlatt's favor. The care uncurls, and Big Q starts yelling louder, stops portraying his anger as some sort of logical disdain for stupidity, starts putting more time and effort into keeping Schlatt somewhat stable and baiting him into a blind rage— at this point, the two feel like they are practically synonyms. At least when Schlatt’s angry, he’s predictable, and predictable is the closest any of them get to stability these days. 

It’s… nice, almost, how Big Q cares. It’s nice to see that there’s more to him than that glee at Tommy and Wilbur getting kicked out, that he’s truly sticking to his reasons for running for president.

But as the apathy seeps from Big Q, Tubbo finds himself taking more and more of it on. 

Balancing Schlatt and Wilbur is a sport he's gotten quite good at now— he's proud of it, almost, in the detached way anyone can feel pride these days. His concern was overwhelming at first, crushing him during any moment of downtime he had, but now it’s faded. Muted. Background noise, at most.

And that’s not to say that he doesn’t care about anything, because he does! Truly! He cares that Niki is furious, he cares that Schlatt seems to be doing worse. (It’s just that Niki's been furious for a long time now. It’s just that as he spends more time under Schlatt, he finds himself paying the price for caring more and more. It’s just that if he focused on all his emotions, he think he might explode, so instead he’s focusing on the few bright spots he has, and ignoring the rest.)

So maybe that’s why it's funny when Tommy gets stuck in between the pistons. Maybe that’s why it's funny that Wilbur rages after Tubbo gets him a backdoor the White House comms and hears the bullshit Tubbo's been hearing all day long. Wilbur couldn't manage both himself and Schlatt as well as Tubbo is managing them— Wilbur can't stand to hear even a day of it without publicly lashing out. 

Tubbo almost can laugh when he imagines Wilbur in his shoes. 

-----

One day, when Tubbo is leaving Pogtopia, he sees Dream. 

The apathy that has held him suddenly deserts him so quickly it nearly gives him whiplash. It's dread that clutches his heart first, then fear, then apprehension. Dream isn’t exactly an enemy at the moment, technically, probably, but… he’s not a friend either. He’s not someone who should know that Tubbo is playing both sides. 

He finds himself frozen in place as Dream tilts his head to the side, stares at him. The mask is worse when it's at a 90 degree angle, when it's trained solely on you and there's no one around, no one to save you. 

Then, in an instant, his head is back straight up, and his body is slouched, like they're two friends meeting at a bar, like he's not holding Tubbo's life in his hands. 

"Secretary," Dream says, and it's light, breezy. Tubbo swears he can hear his own heartbeat ricocheting in his brain. "You're a long way from Manberg." 

"I mean, it's not that long," Tubbo defends, and the words feel awkward in his mouth, awkward on his tongue. "There's, uh, there's like this tunnel system here? That we go on walks in sometimes?" 

It's a partial lie— Schlatt and Quackity take those walks, not Tubbo. Still, Dream nods along. 

"Sure," he says, crossing one arm over his chest, leaving the other one free to gesture. "Of course. Walks." 

"Yeah," Tubbo says, doubling down on it. "Walks.”

“And you take walks with your paperwork?” Dream asks, sounding amused. 

“I mean, it can get kind of stifling in the white house, you know,” Tubbo replies, “I like to uh, get some air. It makes the signatures go by faster.”

Dream laughs, not quite his signature wheeze, but something a little to the left of it. “Fair!” he says, “that’s– that’s really fair, Mr. Secretary. Let me tell you, I, I do not envy your paperwork.”

Tubbo tries for a smile. He comes up a little short. “What are you doing here, Dream?”

“Oh, a little bit of this, a little bit of that,” Dream says with a lighthearted wave of his hand. “Just getting the lay of the land, you know, seeing what’s up.”

Slowly, Tubbo nods. He starts to inch his way around Dream, and seamlessly, Dream shifts to keep Tubbo straight in front of him. “I heard there was a festival coming up,” Dream says suddenly, and Tubbo stiffens.

“Uh, yeah,” he says after a moment of silence. “Yeah, Schlatt wants to celebrate Manberg. President Schlatt, I mean.”

Dream nods along. “Good to keep up the citizens morale, I’d assume,” he says lightly. “Well, good luck. I hope it goes off with a bang.”

“Yeah,” Tubbo replies, and he’s opening his mouth to say something, anything when suddenly he blinks, and– Dream disappears. “Dream?”

No response. Tubbo looks around, scans the treetops. Nothing. He calls out again, gets no reply. The only evidence he was even here at all are the broken twigs in front of him, right where Dream was standing. 

It’s warm out. Tubbo finds himself shivering anyway.

-----

When Wilbur tells Tubbo that he wants to blow up the festival, Dream’s words finally make sense.

He’s not bitter that Dream knew about this beforehand. Really, he’s not. The thought of it might hurt a bit, but it’s easy enough to bury that hurt in another layer of apathy, to instead focus on the task at hand.

Wilbur wants to blow up the festival, wants to blow up Manberg, but he’s leaving the final choice to Tubbo. Huh. That’s– kind of unexpected. 

He’s flattered, almost. Impressed, maybe. Surprised, definitely.

It all comes together at the festival itself, when Wilbur says that he’s just a yes-man. 

He's not just a yes-man, Tommy yells in response, and Tubbo almost wants to laugh, almost wants to choke. 

Because Prime Tommy, the sentiment is appreciated, but— Wilbur's right, finally, and it makes something in Tubbo's heart settle to know that Wilbur recognizes this, that Wilbur isn't quite so far gone as Schlatt is. The old Wilbur was sharp as an axe, would've noticed and called Tubbo out for managing him the moment Tubbo started doing so months ago. If Wilbur is calling him out now, well... maybe he's not as far gone as Tubbo feared. 

A yes-man for Schlatt, for Wilbur. That's all Tubbo feels he has been since the election went haywire. He’s just been saying yes and then doing otherwise, again and again, trying to keep both sides of this mess from imploding. 

But now it's time to make a choice. Time to stop playing both sides. 

He looks at Wilbur. He looks at Schlatt. 

He thinks of Big Q yelling at Schlatt, telling him not to be a goddamn idiot. He thinks of Tommy yelling at Wilbur, saying the same exact thing. He thinks of a man who fiercely guards his power from even his closest aides, and a man who wanted to know the truth about Manburg despite the fact it might undermine him, a man who then all but literally handed over the button to all those stacks of tnt. Wilbur made this Tubbo's call. He can't remember a time Schlatt made something his call without doubling the pressure and throwing in some horrifying catch-22. 

He thinks of the power that lies in his hands right now. He's the right hand man to the President, and he's looking the President dead in the eye while he stands on a stage in front of an entire nation; while his left hand is holding both the mic and the fate of his country. 

Schlatt can't be a mind reader, because if he was, he'd know how monumental of a moment just passed. Schlatt can't be in his mind, because if he was, he'd know the treason that Tubbo is considering, know that Tubbo is highly considering turning his back on this country forever— literally and metaphorically— when he runs away as it goes up in flames.

So he betrays Manburg. Truly, firmly, in a way he'll never be able to come back from. After all, his cover isn't the only thing in a hundred block radius that's about to be blown to shreds when Wilbur gets to the bomb. 

“Let the festival begin!”

[orangestorapples]

Chapters: 2/?

Chapter Summary:

Rating: Mature

Category: Gen

Fandom: Minecraft (Video Game); Video Blogging RPFDream SMP

Relationships: Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF); Clay | Dream & TommyInnit & Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF)

Characters: Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF); TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF); Phil Watson | Philza; Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF); Alexis | Quackity; Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF); Toby Smith | Tubbo; Niki | Nihachu; Sam | Awesamdude; Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF); GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)

Additional Tags: Mentioned Cara | CaptainPuffy; Dog Hybrid Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF); Piglin Hybrid Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF); No Beta We die like Dream's mental state; Manipulative TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF); Apologetic Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF); Dehumanization; Animal Instincts; Crow Hybrid Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF); Tommy does not die in Prison; Canon Divergence - Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF); Post Prison Break; Duck Hybrid Alexis | Quackity; Goat Hybrid Toby Smith | Tubbo; Human TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF); Unreliable Narrator; Possessive TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF); Hurt Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF); Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD; Traumatized TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF); Traumatized Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF); Panic Attacks; Self-Harm; Animal Abuse; Emotional Manipulation; Dark TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF); Enabler Techno; Enabler Phil; Ranboo does not die in Prison; Kill him with 'kindness'; Gaslighting; White streak in his hair lots of stress now; Dark fluff; Touch-Starved Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF); Blood and Injury; Infantilism; Clay | Dream is Not Okay (Video Blogging RPF); Tommy put him down he is not a dog thats a grown man

[briarlovesclara]

Wilbur: the ultimate unreliable narrator

A stream of consciousness analysis of Wilbur’s character on the Dream SMP and the stuff I’m afraid people are going to try to gloss over.

Spoilers from Wilbur’s May 5th lore stream, though I hopped in partway through so I haven’t seen the very beginning.

This is stuff that I genuinely believe people need to pay attention to if they want to at all understand Revivebur-- I was very disconcerted about him until today’s stream and I connected some dots. 

/rp!

We shouldn’t be surprised. 

Wilbur Soot, as in content creator and real person, confirmed a long time ago that the dream smp was full of unreliable narrators, including and starting with his own character. We knew that. His character crumbled before our eyes, but we focused on it wrong-- and we were supposed to. We did what we were molded to do. 

Now, I came in late with a lot of things on the Dream SMP. I resisted joining the fandom despite my TikTok FYP until I got trapped by an audio pertaining to Tommy and Vilbur (it was a “let’s be the bad guys” audio). I arrived post November 16th, maybe two weeks later, in that lull period where Ranboo, Philza, and many others were getting onto their feet, Wilbur was dead, and Ghostbur was a full cast member.

And I fell in LOVE with Ghostbur, immediately. 

He got me into the DSMP. His character was so rich, and complex, and simple at the same time to the point of fascination. I was able to watch him and understand him, then click off clips of him and figure out who the hell Wilbur was. I filled in the gaps. I watched the story of L’manberg unfold in front of me, its rise and its fall. 

And I loved it! I really, really loved it. Wilbur’s character arc sang to me, as a deeply angsty spiral full of power and the need for control to the point of lacking any of it. 

But when, a couple days ago, Wilbur got revived, it felt wrong. 

I didn’t know why I was so hesitant. I love Ghostbur, and preferred him over Alivebur, sure, but I had liked Wilbur. What had changed? Why did I feel so deeply and viscerally uncomfortable?

The answer, of course, was Quackity. Or more specifically, his lore.

Up until the flashback to the L’manberg era, Wilbur fans had seen the ‘unreliable narrator’ tag as one similar to the way everyone else played it-- the character doesn’t know that they are being unreliable, because everyone experiences things subjectively and we’re shaped by that. That Wilbur’s narration was solely influenced by his deteriorating state of mind.

But then Quackity was shown talking to President Wilbur, what many thought of as the Golden Age, our Wilbur… and it was all wrong. 

Not only did this Wilbur not talk like the Wilbur we knew then, he didn’t talk like any Wilbur we had ever seen. Revolutionary Wilbur stood for peaceful discooperation, for bloodlessly removing himself from the SMP and only striking when struck (similar to Ranboo in that sense). 

Vilbur was insane, we had all agreed, and he was violent to a point, but never this bluntly. He was wrapped up in himself so much that he was self-destructive more than outwardly hurting anyone else. 

But here was Wilbur, canonically, advising Quackity to take the fight to the power. To hurt and to maim, and that the strategies that got Wilbur into power didn’t work. 

And it made me uncomfortable, because that wasn’t Wilbur.

But it turns out we were looking at Wilbur all wrong. 

When cc!Wilbur told us that there were unreliable narrators, he meant that even the ‘flawed story’ that we were getting was wrong. 

The Wilbur we saw wanted a peaceful place to live. He wanted to raise his son and live with his found family by a lake. 

Today, we were told that that dream was simply a farce-- but he didn’t want power, simply to take it away. 

L’manberg was a tool, a vessel. It was a way of “sticking it to the man” (Dream), a way of rebellion against someone who was unjust. He couldn’t care less about its actual contents, only what it meant. When we wept at the walls falling under Schlatt, under the hand of his own son, he didn’t care. And if he DID care, it was about the fact that Fundy had joined ‘the man’ (Schlatt). 

But I think that Wilbur realized that he was the new ‘man’ after all. He was kicked out of L’manberg, sure, but it was by his rules and because of the power he had created. He had, to be a cliche, become everything he sought to destroy, minus the inherent oppression that he felt Dream held. 

When I thought of Revivebur, I was so uncomfortable because I was looking at a character that, quite frankly, didn’t add up. I was looking at Alivebur and the person who talked to Quackity and I couldn’t understand how they could be the same person, but that’s the point. They aren’t. The Wilbur we saw, the one we watched fight and scream and die for a chunk of land, never existed. 

We were played like we were supposed to be. 

Wilbur was never the big, valiant hero he acted like. It was always Tommy. He just wanted something and was getting really into, essentially, the bit. Like a person playing DnD who gets legitimately attached to the storyline. But at the end of the day, he didn’t need it.

Can you imagine playing Dungeons and Dragons, but the NPCs were sentient? Can you imagine putting your heart and soul into a character, so much like you, and falling in love with the people that surround you? But in your heart you know that it is just play, and that they cannot know. And then you leave. Wilbur, essentially, left his fully sentient DnD game running without him. 

We were fed a cohesive, in-depth character. Wilbur, our Wilbur. The kid who grew up with mixed feelings and was the storybook hero turned villain against those he once thought with. But all this time, we were just seeing what he wanted us to see. And maybe he started to believe it, because just because it wasn’t true doesn’t mean that he was trying to hurt everyone. He cared, truly, about the people he was with, but not the same way we thought. Every concrete emotion we experienced was a detailed lie that we filled in for ourselves. 

After all, Wilbur plays solitaire. 

A/N: this didn’t fit into the rant above, but Wilbur’s character isn’t stagnant, he just always needs power and it always creates the same dynamic! It can feel weird seeing the server kinda pull back full circle energy wise to L’manberg with developed characters, but his power rise and fall is just a requirement of his existence. It’s his rhythm.

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

c!eryn thinks c!tommy’s been ditching him to hang out with c!wilbur while canonically we KNOW c!tommy’s had no clue where c!wilbur is and has been having flashbacks a lot (presumably curled up in c!tubbo’s old house, terrified and alone) is soooooooo

[ghosted-jazz]

Doodles about the recent Tales episode

[cupcraft]

Recipe for mistake: a c!crime poem about regret

[flum3n]

The Mansion

You have this funny habit of burning things

when they bore or betray or hurt you.

I figure its learned behaviour because

your brothers did so too,

or so the history books tell me

because I’ve never met your family-

we’re the only family of yours or mine

that I have ever known.

So we were good for a while

until I bored or betrayed or

hurt you and I pray to god I was only boring:

I’d fall apart in penance for the other two.

Because you put me together,

inventor that you are,

from the scraps and scars

into something human

and to repay you with pain

would be a greater blow

than either of us could survive.

So from my floating heart in the ocean void

which still loves though it’s long since forgotten how

and with every blood drop that splatters numb

I pray to god I was boring

and that’s why you’ve left me alone

in this empty house

that you can’t even be bothered to burn.

[solarwhick]

replaced.

[onecanonlife]

In which Quackity has no idea why Wilbur keeps hanging around Las Nevadas, and the answer, when he finally gets one, is not what he expects.

(word count: 2,228)

--------------------

Quackity’s gotten used to solitude. The true kind of solitude, where you can be with a crowd of people and still be alone. He’s used to it, because he knows himself well, knows exactly what he’s doing, knows that his methods will gain him power and citizens and forced loyalty but no true friends. Which is fine. He hardly needs them. Getting close to people only gets you betrayed and left behind; that’s a lesson he doesn’t intend to forget any time soon.

So he runs his country. Continues to work on preparing it for its full opening. Ignores the fact that even though people live here, now, it’s still empty more often than not, Purpled and Fundy only around occasionally, Sam avoiding him whenever he can manage it, Foolish constantly fucking around in other parts of the server, procrastinating his work here. And that’s not even mentioning the ghost in the basement. It’s fine. They’re still his citizens, still bound to protect this place, and that’s what matters.

He’s sitting pretty. He’s got everything he wanted. Companionship doesn’t matter when he’s got power.

But then, of course, there’s Wilbur.

Wilbur is a wrench in the works. Wilbur is a knot in the rope, a disruption in the pattern. Wilbur is around constantly, always messing with something, always provoking him, always ready with a quick grin and a motion of his fingers, all sharp angles and edges. And Quackity’s not one to admit nervousness, not one to give his opponents an advantage like that, so long as he can help it, but Wilbur is unpredictable, and that makes him dangerous.

And he’s always here.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that it comes to a boiling point. It’s a day like all the others when it happens; he’s alone for the moment, sitting at the bar of a casino that isn’t yet finished, nursing a glass of champagne. It’s about the only alcohol he can stomach; anything stronger, anything like beer or, gods forbid, whiskey, and his mind gets taken back to a place he doesn’t like to dwell on. But here he is, alone, no one else in the country as far as he knows—except for maybe Slime, who could very well be in a dark hole nearby, but he hasn’t seen him—and then Wilbur comes prancing in. Prancing is the best word to describe it. The man has a certain way of moving, a giddy delight combined with a smug surety, confidence oozing from every motion, as if he’s daring him to try to stop him.

Just try to get rid of me, he seems to be saying. You can’t.

He tries to ignore him. He really does. But Wilbur’s not even supposed to be here in the first place; the casino isn’t open to anyone, yet. And all Wilbur seems to want to do is poke around, which is annoying on so many levels, so he finds himself swiveling on his barstool before he can stop himself.

“What are you doing here?” he snaps, and Wilbur looks at him, lips curling into a wide smile. He immediately knows he’s messed up in giving him any attention at all. Wilbur seems to thrive on it. Attention.

“What,” Wilbur says, “I can’t visit? I don’t seem to recall you saying that I couldn’t.”

“I should,” he mutters, and the smile sharpens.

“Going to exile me, then?” Wilbur asks. “Shall we have a little repeat of history, just you and me? You have a stage right outside, I noticed.”

He has to work hard to not flinch at that. He doesn’t want Wilbur to know that it affects him, whenever he brings that up. Because he—does regret it, as much as he is able to regret anything. He regrets his ineffectiveness. He regrets standing there and laughing as Wilbur and Tommy were chased out, as Wilbur literally lost a life on Schlatt’s orders. He does regret it. But regrets don’t change anything, and he prides himself on his ability to move forward.

So instead of rising to the bait, he just sighs, fixing Wilbur with a stare that he hopes conveys how unimpressed he is.

“Why do you keep coming here, Wilbur?” he asks. “Don’t you have anywhere else to be?”

Wilbur seems to take this as invitation to come near, perching on a stool next to him. This close, Quackity can pick out details: the bandage that is perpetually wrapped around his arm and always bloody, the way his coat is missing its hood, the gleam in his eyes that looks red when he catches the light just right. For some reason, though, that red has never looked frightening. More lonely, maybe, even though it doesn’t make sense to assign feelings to a flash of color.

He also notes that Wilbur smells different, too. Gone is the gunpowder smoke that clung to him in the ravine. Instead, he smells like damp dirt and pine, with a slight coppery tang underneath.

“Not particularly,” Wilbur says. “Do you really want to know, Big Q? I mean, really?”

He takes another sip of his champagne, and leans back against the bar. “That’s why I asked, isn’t it?” he says, and his voice isn’t as harsh as it should be. He’ll blame the drink. “I don’t get it. You’ve declared us rivals, but you’ve barely done anything other than build that stupid looking fort and bother me all the time. What are you getting out of this?”

“What am I getting out of this?” Wilbur repeats, looking surprised. “So you really don’t know?”

He rolls his eye. “Look, if you’re not going to give me a straight answer, just leave it alone and quit bugging me,” he says. “I do actually have work to be doing. And I don’t see why you’re so determined to hang around here all the time.” Nevermind that he’s not doing any work at all at this exact second, and doesn’t really plan to.

“Oh, Big Q, you really don’t know,” Wilbur says, and—why is his voice doing that? Why has it gone so soft? “So I’ll let you in on it. Just this once. Tell me, Quackity, would you say I’m human?”

He blinks. Because—what the fuck kind of a question is that?

“What the hell else would I call you?” he asks, genuinely bewildered, but Wilbur just nods, apparently satisfied.

“That’s it,” Wilbur says. “That’s the big reason. The secret.”

“Wait,” he says, and holds up a hand. He also puts his glass down, and it hits the counter with a loud clink. “Wait, what? That’s it? You’re here all the time because—you’re human? That doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“No,” Wilbur says, patient. “It’s because you think I am.”

He has to take a moment to work through that. But he still can’t make sense of it. He shoots him a look, for once not bothering to hide his expression, displaying his confusion openly in the hopes that Wilbur will elaborate on whatever the hell this tangent is.

Wilbur sighs, shaking his head, but the look on his face—Quackity doesn’t know how to describe it other than fond, but that doesn’t make any sense either.

“You’re the only one who does,” Wilbur says. “I know what other people think of me, you see. I know what they say. I’m a freak, a monster. I’m insane, evil, crazy. A villain.” He does some jazz hands, but the gesture dies quickly, little energy put behind it. His smile no longer quite looks like a smile, even though it’s trying to be one. “And they’re scared of me, Quackity. All of them. They’re waiting to see what I’m going to do, and they’re shaking in their fucking boots.” He leans closer, and Quackity can’t help but mirror him. “And then I come here, and do you remember what you called me?”

He’s finding it a little difficult to keep his breaths even, for some reason. “What did I call you?” he asks, voice almost a whisper.

“Unpredictable,” Wilbur says, hushed. “You called me unpredictable. And I knew then. I knew that you were wary of me, but it was because I was human. A person. An unpredictable, messy sort of person. I’m not sure you understand what that means to me.”

He’s still not sure he’s getting it. “Come on,” he says. “I can’t possibly be the only one to act like—I mean, you’re just a guy, Wilbur, I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“And who else would there be?” Wilbur asks. His head tilts. “Phil? Phil watches me like I’m a ticking time bomb. He might love me, but he sort of has to. That doesn’t count.”

“Tommy, then,” he says, and feels assured in his answer. “Tommy still hangs onto your every word, man.”

But Wilbur snorts. “Tommy hangs on because he’s worried that I’m going to blow up another country,” he says. “He’s trying to be my minder. And I’d rather have that than not have him there at all, but I know him too well to think he likes me anymore. He thinks I’m nuts. And he’d rather have the ghost version of me back. The more palatable version of me. He gave Ghostbur a grave, did you know that? He gave Ghostbur a grave and not me. He’d rather I was dead.”

He feels his mouth drop open, just slightly. He’s sure not all of that can be true. Tommy—he is certain that Tommy still adores Wilbur, that Tommy would still go above and beyond for him. But at the same time, he’s seen Tommy’s trepidation. He’s seen his doubts. He’s tried to play on them, tried to use them to his advantage, tried to bring Tommy to his side. Tried to cleave him from Wilbur.

So maybe Wilbur has a point after all. And if that’s the case—

Wilbur really is a mess. And he can’t blame him for that.

“Even back then, the person I was before,” Wilbur says. “You called me crazy, but you didn’t treat me as something less than human. And now, even when everyone else I’ve met is—” He stops, breathes in. Leans back a bit, and Quackity realizes just how close their faces have been to one another’s. “And then here you are. Someone who doesn’t stare at me like I’m some kind of curiosity, who understands not to point out everything that’s different about my appearance, who thinks I’m human. And that’s a bit exhilarating, I’ll admit. Exciting. Do you see?”

Quackity’s not one to be overly empathetic. He can’t afford to be, these days. But just for a second, he puts himself in Wilbur’s shoes. It’s easier than it should be. His next exhalation is shaky.

“I think so,” he says. “I think I might.”

And just like that, Wilbur is standing. “Good,” he says. “I hoped you would. Don’t think you can use it against me, though. I’ll know if you try, Big Q. I’m quite good at all the same games that you are.”

He inclines his head, the barest suggestion of agreement. And, if Wilbur knows where to look, perhaps an admission, that part of his mind is already filing this conversation away, picking it apart, seeking out the best ways to use this new weak spot he’s uncovered. That’s just the sort of person he is, now.

And yet—

Before Wilbur can leave, he catches Wilbur’s wrist. It’s a skinny thing, frail, though perhaps that’s to be expected. He can wrap all of his fingers around it, and Wilbur freezes, literally vibrating with sudden tension. Quackity wonders if anyone’s bothered to touch him since his return from the grave.

“For the record,” he says, before he can change his mind, “you’re an asshole, I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you, and I absolutely think you’re a threat to what I’m trying to build here. But I wouldn’t rather you were dead.”

For a long moment, Wilbur just stares at him.

“Oh,” he says at length. “Thank you, Big Q.”

He lets his fingers slip away, though slowly. Wilbur tarries for a second longer, just watching him, and then, he’s gone, coat sweeping across the shining, empty floor. Quackity watches him leave, and again, wonders. Has anyone bothered to tell him that, either?

Kind of fucked up, if no one has. He can use that, probably. But—later. He doesn’t want to think about it right now.

His fingers burn where he made contact with Wilbur’s skin, tingling not unpleasantly. He finishes off his champagne, but it doesn’t make the sensation go away. So he flexes his hand, and finds himself thinking, once again, about companionship, or the lack thereof.

He doesn’t want friends. Friends, or—or anything more than friends, that is a bad idea. Never ends well. But he watches the spot where Wilbur used to be, and—maybe having a rival around really won’t be so bad. Maybe it’ll let him push himself, give him something else to strive for, or against.

He’ll turn this to his advantage. And maybe, there could be something here. Something good. Something to be built upon. Something—

Exciting.

The word echoes in Wilbur’s voice, and he finds that he doesn’t mind at all.

[clingyduoapologist]

Because I've been seeing too many posts downplaying exile on my dash

(this is not c! or cc!Bad critical)