#rancher apocalypse au

[hybbart]

Day 2408: A pack of zombies passing what the ranchers hoped would be camp causes more trouble than expected when they spook Bullseye, causing a commotion among the animals.

May or may not be based on a hyper specific recurring nightmare I used to have before I learned how to create train my cats...

[r4tch3travity]

HELLO, TIM.

I really enjoy the Rancher’s Apocalypse AU :3 and I love Grian so i drew RA!Gri 🙏 Can’t wait to see the next day

Rancher Apocalypse AU MasterPost!!! ^^^^^

@hybbart , Apologies for the tag but I felt like it’d be nice for you to see your rancher’s brother!!

[afiniteredwood]

Self-indulgent angsty fanfiction for @hybbart 's Ranchers Apocalypse AU :) I haven't stopped thinking about these guys for a solid month. The number of things I had to change after the first draft because I read the Notes Posts is incredible so don't hesitate to mention if I messed up the details somewhere

(Meet Me In The Woods by Lord Huron)

Day 543

Sleeping next to Jimmy objectively sucks.

Don't get Tango wrong- Jimmy is wonderful, a sleepy hugger and a furnace of a man, and Tango is never cold during the winter months. And, mostly, he doesn't have nightmares and doesn't talk in his sleep and Tango knows that he does that. Really, Jimmy has it worse. 

But Jimmy is also all ruffled feathers and whimpered noises brought on by elbowed and healing wounds, and the click-fssssssss of the breathing machine, only worsened after his recent battle with pneumonia. It becomes hard to breathe next to him, the farm dust once trapped in Jimmy’s wings clouding into the air whenever he rolls and the regular rumbling of the machine instilling preemptive terror in Tango’s stomach.

Still, on most nights, it is entirely bearable. Tango sleeps. On the days when he does sleep, he sleeps like the still-dead, and on the days where he doesn’t it’s because of the nightmares or the fact he has pointedly not taken his metal arm off, not because of Jimmy.

He always dreams of blood on his hands, spilling in rivulets down his clammy skin. Not what has happened to them, not what could happen, just blood. It’s probably Jimmy’s. 

So when, two hours after he had bade ‘Goodnight’ to the bedroom already full of the sound of Jimmy’s even breathing, he gets up and sneaks out again, it is an unusual thing. Revy notices his loss, curled up at the end of the bed, raising his head once and whining. Tango shuts the door softly on him. Revy returns his head to Jimmy’s thigh.

Yellow eyes open in the muted dark.

Tango’s sneaking isn’t particularly effective. (It terrifies him a little, how easy it would be for one of the undead to kill him now.) He’s so tired he feels like he could pass out at any second, and really, the creaking of the farmhouse with every gentle gust of wind is more than Tango will ever be able to unsubtly make. 

He makes it to the bottom floor, following the moonlight marking a square of light up the stairs from the glass patio doors to his feet. Spring is still only a dream, so the floor is cold beneath him, and he stands on tip-toes to stumble towards the doors. Something wants him out there- something about being one with nature, of just being able to sit and breathe and relax for a blissfully freezing moment. 

Opening the door is difficult with fingers numb from cold on one hand and metal fingers clicking ineffectively over the lock on the other, but he manages. Shit, but it takes him ages though, trying awkwardly to turn the key in the lock with his flesh-and-blood hand and using his other hand crossed over to turn the handle even though the angle hurts. It’s fine. He’s capable of doing whatever needs doing. 

He continues unsteadily outwards, dropping down to sit on the edge of the patio when he reaches it, legs dangling in the empty space below him. The forest is spread out in front of him, the house backing directly onto the wildlife that before-the-apocalypse had never allowed him. Quiet. If the apocalypse has done anything good, it has brought silence. It’s too early in the morning yet for birds, but there is wind through the trees and the sleepy mooing of distant cows and the even more distant, barely audible and mostly harmonious groans of the undead. 

He hooks one leg back up onto the patio and hugs it against his chest, resting his chin on his knee. 

It should be colder than this, really, but it is an exceptionally early spring this year. Already the ground is beginning to thaw during the day and the old seeds in the tool shed have started to smell damp and earthy again. At night and this early in the morning, it is still bitterly cold, but it's not quite as cold as it should be- not quite.

Tango exhales and his breath crystalizes in the air in front of his face. He shivers in his t-shirt and hugs his knee tighter and thinks of Jimmy. 

Jimmy stands at the top of the stairs and wonders what he must have done in a past life to deserve Tango. Something great, surely- he must have been a hero.

There is a certain sharp beauty to the way that Tango is outlined against the darkness with his blue fire and sparks that makes Jimmy think of gods he doesn’t believe in. He’s just sitting there, shivering and exhaling stars, and he looks so entirely ethereal doing it. Totally silent, just the regular hum of his breathing that Jimmy can only see from this distance, beautifully poised, like a beast that Jimmy could startle into bolting at any moment. 

But he carries the same inherent fear in him as wild animals do, and Jimmy frowns. Tango is never usually scared- not how he is now, hunched in on himself with one hand gripping the deck in the way that only Jimmy can see the tension in. He is only ever on edge, only ever afraid for someone else, only ever worried when there is genuine danger on the horizon. 

Jimmy takes a step closer, down the stairs, grimacing at the noise it makes. Tango does nothing, so he shakes his wings gently and cracks his knuckles and breathes louder through his mouth than he usually does in an attempt to not scare Tango out of his skin when he makes his presence known. Nothing.

He abandons any subtlety and follows Tango’s elongated shadow to the open doors, quiet regardless of how much he tries not to be. The doorframe is cold underneath his fingertips. 

Tango might be crying- he’s not sure. Noise outlines him in gold and cyan and it ripples with every breath, peaking at weird times that could be from tears or could just be the wind around the collar of his shirt. Jimmy’s almost too scared to ask- does he really want to know why Tango is crying? Why he’s scared? Why he’s hanging onto the back porch of the house Jimmy found for them like he’s fighting the urge to slip down and run away forever?

Yes, Jimmy decides. Yes, he does want to know. 

“Tango?” that voice says from the doorway, soft as anything. “Are you working on something?”

Tango does his absolute best not to jump, but he’s pretty sure that Jimmy notices anyway. He shakes his head to dissolve the tension in his frozen muscles, turning only slightly to look at Jimmy’s shadow’s head. He wipes his tears on the back of his hand entirely unsubtly. 

“No,” he admits, an invitation bare and raw in his voice. “Not really.”

Jimmy’s exhale casts a faint shadow next to his face in his image on the deck, pluming outwards from where his mouth must be. Jimmy has always had a fun shadow, Tango notices absently- deformed up around his shoulders where he isn’t really, his wings held awkwardly up against the cold. It really does make Jimmy look strange, like some kind of monster, shifting and growing- Jimmy drops down beside him, leaning defiantly back on the heels of his hands and looking up at the sky. 

Tango swallows his heart and looks at the ground, where he’s sure he won’t see Jimmy’s face. Whatever, Jimmy has a face like a deity incarnated into the body of someone who has known what love is, whatever. There are plenty of those around, plenty of people who make him want to hide himself away because all his fire and grace pale in comparison to the solid humanity of the man next to him. 

“What’s on your mind?” Jimmy asks, before the silence swallows them both. 

“Nothing,” Tango says, his eyes on the ground, the tone of his voice meaning ‘Ask me again and I’ll tell you about how I don’t think I ever made my mother proud, and how she’s probably dead now so I’ll never get to know whether I did. Ask that question again and I’ll tell you how there is so little left of her in the world, and how little there was of her when we lived together, and how there was so much more I could’ve done for her that I never did and will never get to do. Ask me again and I’ll tell you that I regret every decision I’ve made since the end of the world, even in and with you and guided by your hand.’

A gust of wind through the trees and a bird coos softly into the open air. 

“Tell me,” Jimmy says anyway, face half-turned to catch the sharp moonlight and to try to meet Tango’s eyes. “What are you thinking about?”

The dog comes pattering out from the house behind them, having followed a few minutes after Jimmy. He shakes himself all over and grunts, then settles down between the two of them and noses at Tango’s hand until Tango gives in and pets him. 

“Big man,” Tango says, smiling, avoiding the question. “Big shake- oh he wants some scritchies, does he?”

Jimmy frowns at him, but pets Revy too all the same. 

“Tango.”

Tango sighs and cannot bring himself to look at Jimmy. Instead, he finds himself looking outwards, at the forest from which one of the undead stragglers could emerge at any time and they would never be prepared in time to defend themselves. 

“Don’t you ever feel like you’re running on borrowed time?” he asks the forest, voice quiet and careful. 

Jimmy says, “No!” and laughs with such ferocity that it startles Tango into looking at him. Revy leaps up at the sound and jumps and dances around them, barking in the ‘play with me!’ manner that all dogs do when the air around them is happy. 

Shit- Tango remembers why he had known it would be a bad idea from the beginning to look. 

With his head thrown back and hair tangled around his ears, moonlight catching on his throat and on the fragments of glass and sand still in his wings, Jimmy looks every bit the picture of brilliance. Whatever god has possessed him has made him beautiful, has made the night split about him and the sun spill from his eyes when he opens them to look back at Tango. 

Tango’s not sure what face he’s making. Something just short of shock, no doubt- genuine affection blooming in his chest and sneaking onto his face along with this new sort of amazement. He feels himself smile and Jimmy's genuine happiness is so damn contagious that he can't help it even if he doesn't mean the emotion behind the smile. It’s just such a strange reaction, and so much more so from someone like Jimmy-

“Why are you laughing?” he still has to ask, even as Jimmy is still giggling into his hands. “Jimmy?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Jimmy amends, tears in his eyes. “I just- you feel that way?”

Tango has to look back into the distance. Yes. 

“Yeah.”

Jimmy has no joy in him anymore. 

“Oh- I- sorry.” He swallows and returns his hands to the dog, who has fallen back onto the deck with her belly in the air. “Tell me. What do you mean?”

Tango sighs. This was meant to be an emotion dealt with alone.

“You know,” he starts, before realizing how clearly Jimmy does not know. “I mean- we’re still just running from the end of the world. We’re never really going to be safe, are we? We’re always going to be living like this.”

Jimmy tries and fails to not take that comment to heart. Like this- like what? Trapped oh-so-cruelly in the house he had chosen for them, bound by the land nourished by their own hands and the burden of the animals they have given hope to with their presence? Oh, what a truly horrible fate it is, to have to live with one’s friends and family in the countryside. 

“You don’t…” Jimmy casts around for words that won’t come out sour and hurtful. “You don’t want to live like this?”

Something in his tone catches Tango’s attention (maybe it’s the betrayal squirming just beneath his skin) and he looks up. 

“I don’t want to live during an apocalypse, Jimmy. I don’t want to be in danger. I don't like being scared all the time.” 

Oh. Understandable, but-

“We’re not in danger now, are we?” 

Tango frowns at him. “That’s not the point-”

“No, but….” He hesitates. “I don’t know. I don’t think we’re running out of time.” That’s not what I said. “This is all I’ve ever wanted, Tango- a farm and a family and a dog and freedom and, you know, what we have.”

“No- not that we’re running out of time.” Something grips Tango and he wants to say things that he’ll regret. “We’re running on borrowed time. It’s going to catch up to us eventually.”

Jimmy laughs. “Same thing, really.”

Tango shakes his head but it doesn’t matter anyway because Jimmy isn’t looking at him anymore. Instead, he stretches out and lies back on the deck, feet still dangling over the edge, wings crushed beneath him, looking at the sky. Revy squeaks and wiggles over to sit next to him, planting his face on Jimmy’s chest. 

“We’ll take whatever comes to us, Tango,” he says, somehow with so much calm certainty that it’s almost convincing. “No matter what. We’re going to be okay.”

Tango wonders whether that’s a lie.

“Okay,” he says instead of asking whether it is. “Okay. Okay. Yeah.”

Jimmy glances over at him. There’s nothing but uncertainty in Tango’s self-reassurance.

“Trust me.” Jimmy reaches out to touch whatever part of Tango he can reach- his upturned palm on the deck between them, the metal of it cold. “Tango. Trust me. We’ll get through this.”

Tango’s hand twitches towards the space where his other arm should be and he chokes on a pained whimper- shit, fuck, losing a limb shouldn’t keep hurting after it’s gone. Revy’s ragged tail wags between them in his almost-sleep.

“Okay.” 

Sensing the lack of conviction in Tangos’ voice, Jimmy grabs Tango’s arm and tugs him to lie down next to him- well, as close as they can get with the dog snuggled into the little space between them. Tango has never been so uncomfortable in his entire life. He doesn’t move. 

“Tango,” Jimmy says, rolling onto his side to take Tango’s face in both of his warm hands. “I promise. We’re going to be okay.”

Tango doesn’t mean to, but he’s crying again, so Jimmy clambers over the dog to crush Tango in an embrace, tucking him close to his chest. Tango struggles closer still, sobbing into Jimmy’s shirt as he clutches onto it. 

Jimmy hushes him, rubbing his back in circles. His every breath sounds that little bit more laboured with the air spilling out from the cannula, and Tango’s metal arm is stabbing him in the side.

“We’ll be okay,” he whispers. Tango nods furiously, desperately. Jimmy is briefly glad that Tango’s fire does not catch on other people. “We’re going to be alright.”

Tango makes a choked noise and manages, “We’re going to be okay,” his voice watery and sharp with tears. 

Jimmy half-smiles, continuing to rub circles onto Tango’s back. Revy pokes him in the shoulder with his nose and curls up again near Tango’s head. Tango’s whole body shakes with every sob. 

“We’re going to be okay,” Jimmy reiterates quietly. “I’ve got you, Tango. We’re going to be okay.”

[pixiemage]

A snippet of a conversation I had earlier with Hybbat about their Ranchers Apocalypse AU...

You're plotting things. I know it. I've got my eye on you Hybs.

[alienssstufff]

Obsessed with your last life apocalypse au spare lore please? 🥺👉👈

(also the ethubs and ranchers oneshots you mentioned are they posted anywhere?)

So far? No where. this is the first of its kind B]

That Ranchers oneshot, in a perfect world, would’ve been smth of a visual novel / rpg horror (but that’s the whole au tbh). Where SYNOPSIS picture this:

It’s week 5 into the apocalypse — you’re Tango Tek, alone, driving along the beaten road in your friends’ ute. You (as Tango) spot this stranger, also alone, who by mysterious means is walking on the side of it.

He begs you to take him with you (when I mean begging he is grovelling crying you think he threw up at one point) so you do. And now you, and this stranger, together in your friends’ ute, on route to the Nether Lands — because by gods, it takes two if you’re going to retrieve everything your idiot of a team member dropped when he turned.

As for the ethubs comic,,,,, I lost it 💀 idk what or where I named that working file. I doodled this instead :]

[theminecraftbee]

psst incidentally if you’ve been liking solving counting sheep and are looking for more to read, it’s part of a WHOLE COLLECTION of fic and art! there’s a bunch of REALLY GOOD STUFF in the @mcytblraufest collection! go, look through and find some stuff to read! it’s worth it!

[sunofaraven]

LD+G Oneshot - Tango and the Zombie

My first oneshot in the universe of Love Death + Grumbot! And of course, it's a Tango POV.

Tango watched as the Zombie clawed at the dirt. It was dying. Or at least, it was in the process of dying more than it already was. A kinder man might put it out of its misery, but Tango was tired.

[smallidarityyuri]

I did a thing

So like. There's this au called Ranchers Apocalypse Au by the amazing @hybbart that they did such a wonderful job on and so I made a playlist for it but the songs match the art in chronological order (if that makes any sense)

and i think i did a good job so here you go

[deepfriedhopesanddreams]

Lists of my tf botbots aus!

#box au

#darksiders au

#darkside reopen au

#bee and puppycat

#slime rancher

#Rabbids au

#Hazbin Hotel au

#minus au

#splatoon au

#out of home au

#outer explore

#kingdom au

#BE au

#sweet apocalypse au

#project: family au

#curses au

#Botbot tale

#alice: madness returns au (scrapped)

#DHMIS au

#divines deal au

That's all I can do for now... Well I tried...

[hybbart]

Day 2394: The ranchers run into Oli and Joe, who've returned to the remains of Joe's favourite diner to try and get the arcade machines working again. A little finagling and generous use of the rancher's generator later, Tango gets pinball up and running while Jimmy makes space for the four to camp out safely.

[iconicanemone]

Old Town Road (Let’s do this together)

Aka fanfiction of a fanfiction

original au is here by @hybbart

Read it on Ao3 here!

It’s day 471 of the Apocalypse. Or something like that. The days sometimes blur together. But hey! Eliza got a new project to work on!

Aka I decided to take Hybbat’s Rancher Apocalypse AU and lightly put my own characters in there

Also I wrote this last week or so and waited till I posted my latest chapter of Run Blackbird Run, the fic of which my characters come from.

THIS IS AN AU. This is not canon to the Rancher Apocalypse Au. It’s also an au of Run Blackbird Run. my story does not have MCYT in it. I just got the urge and wrote it out.

“I really don’t know why you keep messing with that?” Roxanne said, her legs kicking as she looked over to where Eliza was working.

Putting two wires together, Eliza took the pliers out of her mouth to twist them together. “I think I'm almost done.” She said in lue of an answer. “If I can just get these wires right-“

“If only you could do that with your own brain.” Connor commented, not looking away from brushing Denver’s coat down. The donkey let out a huff of air as if agreeing. 

“Hey!” Eliza frowned, throwing a light glare at her friend, before turning back to the radio. 

“Seriously, I don’t know what you’re trying to do.” Roxanne pulled her legs up further into the wagon, leaning closer to Eliza. “The radio stations are probably all gone, and Pan doesn’t seem like the kind to know how a radio works, if he’s even still alive.”

“He’s alive.” Eliza firmly said. “And you never know what I might pick up.”

With that, Eliza leaned back, sticking the side of the radio back on. She then went around Roxanne to get the generator that was in the wagon, pulling off and onto the ground.

“We should probably make dinner before you test your radio out.” Connor said, pushing the donkey away from eating at his hair.

“Oh yeah!” Roxanne exclaimed, hopping off the wagon to lightly bump Eliza out of the way with her bum. Picking up the generator with less effort than Eliza had to give, she gave Eliza a grin. “You guys can get started on setting up camp.” 

Eliza didn’t even resist the temptation, sticking her tounge out at her friend before laughing. “Okay, I guess that’s probably smart.”

She climbed up into the wagon as Roxanne moved further away from the wagon. Shoving a few bags and a cat, Eliza grabbed the tent, before turning and tossing it out. It landed right at Connor’s feet, where he picked it up and moved near the generator to set it up.

Eliza puffed into her hands, the cold seeping in quicker now that they weren’t in close proximity. Shaking them out, she moved to get their bedding out where they could get to it better.

They soon got into a rhythm like they had done for nearly every night since the world ended. Connor and Eliza set up the campsite, tossing and organizing their sleeping stuff in the tent once it was set up, and then starting the campfire with a few shouts of frustration as Roxanne laughed at them from where she was cooking, a pot of Watever Soup on top of the eclectic stove.

Soon the fire was lit and the food was cooked, and they found themselves surrounding the fire and jokingly complaining at the food.

“I mean-!” Eliza shook her head, gasping for breath with all her laughter. “You can make grass taste good. But guess what!”

“This tastes like water, I know!” Roxanne said, giggling as she spooned a scoop of her soup into her mouth. “Be glad I didn’t put grass in it this time.” 

“And you said that stopping by that ranger station would have been a waste of time.” Connor said, petting the cat as it slept in a ball next to his legs. “If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have been able to find those wild carrots.”

“I still agree with Roxanne.” Eliza said, sobering up slightly. “That place was way to sculky for my taste.”

“It barely had any!” Connor said, pointing at Eliza with his spoon. “Just that one corner!”

“‘Barely any’ is still too much.” Roxanne sighed. “But we did find some decent stuff in it.”

“Hmm,” Eliza tapped her spoon against her lip, trying to recall what they had found. “There was the book on edible plants. And we found my busted up radio. There was some blankets and jackets. We didn’t find any food though. Was that it?”

“We did find some cat food.” Roxanne said, setting her empty bowl aside as she scooted her folding chair closer to Connor to snatch her cat from him. “That was a lucky find.”

“You’re right, that was.” Connor said smugly. 

“But we’re still going to need to get more food.” Roxanne frowned. “Human food this time. We’re not that good at foraging yet. And I have no idea what’s around that we could safely hunt.”

“We can survive another couple of days.” Eliza reassured her. “We might be able to find a safe abandoned house that isn’t infested in sculk or zombies.”

“That’ll be the day.” Connor said, shaking his head with a smile.

“Oh, did you get the heater going?” Roxanne asked, petting her cat close to her chest. “You know that it takes a while to heat the tent up.”

Both Eliza and Connor froze, before Connor sat up, his rattling on his seat from how quick he got up. “I’ll get right to that.” He said, before running to the wagon. 

The two girls laughed. “Sorry Roxanne.” Eliza apologized. “It slipped my mind.”

“I told you that we had to do that sooner!” Roxanne shook her finger at Eliza with an overdramatized pout, before glancing over at the setting sun. “I should probably do the heater. Connor needs to settle Denver for the night. Here, take Pokie.” 

Eliza traded her empty bowl for the cat before taking it to the tent, lightly tossing it in before zipping it close to where Pokie wouldn't be able to sneak out. 

The bustle to prep to the campsite for bed went quick, with Eliza going to put the stovetop and other mealtime dishes and equipment next to the wagon for a quick wash. Roxanne was quick with the heater and came over to help, soon followed by Connor who got done with putting his donkey in the tent along with Pokie.

The chores got done, and they ended up in the tent for the night, the sun having set and the outdoors getting too cold to handle. The electric lantern lighted from the top of the tent, and the only sounds were of loud donkey breath, the rustling of pages, and the static of a broken radio. 

“I swear,” Roxanne said, slamming her book closed. “That noise is going to drive me crazy!” 

“I think I got it!” Eliza insisted, fiddling with both the antenna and the cord input. “I just need a few more minutes!”

“If you wait any longer, we’re going to go to bed, and you’re going to have write in your diary in the dark.” Connor commented, not looking up from where he was leaning on Denver, flipping a page of one of the few magazines they had.

“It’s a journal.” Eliza said, pouting as she twiddled with the dial. “And I think I just need to adjust the frequency and-”

The static gave a burst, before it faded, the sounds of other human voices coming through.

“-getting colder in these winter months. No clouds, so I don’t think there’s going to be any snow.” A female voice said, the speaker crackling as the group in the tent held their breath. “I don't know why you want me to do the weather, Pix. Everyone can just look out their windows themselves!” 

The chorus of laughter coming from the radio was joined by Eliza and her friends, cheers erupting in the night.

“There’s people!” Eliza said, taking a few kneeled steps to hug Roxanne, a smile stuck on both of their faces. “We’re not alone!” 

“Finally!” Connor said, a relieved look on his face. “We can see if they have food!”

“My Wataver soup can’t be that bad!” Roxanne joked, laughter coming from all of them. 

Eliza faded into a happy sigh, falling back next to the radio, where a man with a british accent was talking about the latest zombie herd now gone from the rural areas.

“Remember,” he said through the crackle of the radio. “We need you to let us know about the activity in the area. Either radio in, or come tell us. Valley radio station, just north of the city.”

“But don’t forget to stay clear of the city.” a heavy german accent interjecting. “Those zombies haven’t cleared out yet.” 

“I was just getting to that Zloy.” Said Pix with a smile in his voice. “Anyway. This has been Pixelriff. Report was written by ZloyXP, and the nightly weather report was done by Lyarrah. Morning report will start tomorrow at eight. Good night, and have a good one everyone.”

The radio fell to silence, the slight crackle filling the air as the trio looked at each other.

“I think I know where we’re heading tomorrow.” Connor said, a glint in his eyes. 

Eliza grinned back at him and Roxanne, before turning around. “Good night!” 

The two laughed as Eliza quickly pulled her journal to do her nightly entry. The lantern was soon turned off though, and everyone in the tent settled in for the night, the anticipation for tomorrow filling the air until they all fell asleep. 

[lunarcrown]

Some @hybbart style ranchers I got to doodle this morning!! If you haven’t already read their extensive rancher apocalypse au ITS SO GOOD GET IN THERE!!!!

[puddleorganism]

Pondering a new rancher au (yes the giant fucking bird is Jimmy) - rambling/explanation under the cut

[Image IDs:

ID 1: a digital drawing of Jimmy/SolidarityGaming and TangoTek, in which Jimmy is a massive approximately 20 foot/6 meter tall bird-like creature. He’s standing idly (to show off his design) with a nervous smile on his face. He has a long neck and long legs that make him look like a dinosaur, but he is covered in light golden-brown feathers and has wings. His wings are huge, the primaries/tips sticking out behind his back. They’re modeled after a turkey vulture’s wings. He’s got a grey hooked beak that is mostly covered in feathers. He’s also got long tail feathers that look just short of skimming the ground. His legs are dark grey with huge talons. All over his legs, wing tips, and tail feathers is a dark grey ash. Tango’s sitting cross-legged on his back/shoulders, hunched over and looking at one of those map books you usually have in your car. (Note: the next image is of Tango, so to avoid redundancy I’m going to describe his appearance better there.) /End ID 1

ID 2: a digital drawing of TangoTek, a humanoid with fire for hair and a long, thin tail tipped in fire; like how a lion’s is tipped with fur. He’s standing idly (again, to show off his design) with his hands in his pockets. He’s got light tan skin with freckles on his nose and wrist. He’s got what look to be black scales on his ears - which are long and pointed - cheeks and nose that have glowing orange cracks in them like burning wood. He’s wearing a red handkerchief over his nose and mouth and has red-tinted goggled pushed up on his forehead. He’s wearing an off-white sweater, a worn leather jacket with red accents, grey cargo pants and black boots. He also has a pale gold and brown messenger bag slung over his left (the viewer’s right) shoulder and back behind his arm. He’s also got two scuffed, worn pins on his jacket; a small, round yellow one and a tiny polyamory flag. He’s also covered in ash - even more so than Jimmy - to the point where his boots, sweater, and handkerchief are stained with it, and are almost more grey than their original colors.

ID 3: simple digital sketches of the above characters. From left to right they are: Jimmy laying down with his head bowed, and Tango standing on his tiptoes to lean against Jimmy’s head. Both their eyes are closed and their foreheads are pressed together. The next is of Tango with his goggles on and looking confused at the map book, which is folded in half in his hands. Jimmy is leaning over his shoulder to look at the map as well. Two question marks float by Tango’s head. The last is of Jimmy standing upright, one of his talons held up near his chest. In his talons he’s holding Tango who seems surprised and is kind of doing that thing that cats do when you pick them up under the arms. This sketch is captioned with the word “hold”. There’s also a small bit of wing from a drawing that’s been cropped out in the corner. /End ID 3

/End IDs]

Ok rambling time!

So it’s set in a that was similar to the modern day, but after in a post-apocalyptic world (recent enough that they both would’ve known the world before). Not a zombie apocalypse or anything, though. There may be Foes but probably not.

I’m not exactly sure what the apocalypse that happened actually is yet, but it’s left the world an ash-covered wasteland with few ruins and even fewer survivors (survivors being organisms in general, not just humans). I want the landscape to be kind of surreal and bizarre, but I haven’t decided if that’s because of the apocalypse or not. Maybe it was just Like That lol.

Anyway, one thing you may want to know more about, is why the hell is Jimmy a giant bird? And the answer is: I like giant birds. In all seriousness though, he’s cursed! Don’t know why. He was a normal ass dude. Now he’s a bird.

Tango might also be cursed? Depends on how edgy I end up wanting this to be lol. He might be an undead wraith or something who knows.

[gaytimeswith-scar]

remember this jimmy ref? well i made more art for the au (most of it is old stuff but i Am getting back into it)

quick bg it’s called the hollow ribs au, and it’s basically a zombie apocalypse, boatem and ranchers story. not very unique lmao but i am having fun w it

here’s grian yippee

[alienssstufff]

i remebered you answering an ask about the last life au at some point where u listed off like 2 inspirations for it but now i cant find it if its real could you link me to that post or just tell me cus im looking for more apocolyspe media

[ PART 2 ] [ PART 3 ] LAWL I couldn't find the first ask that resulted in these two - TLDR the inspirations I mentioned are: Train to Busan, Gakkou Gurashi (School Live!), The Last of Us 2.

I also recommend The Shadows that Run Alongside Our Car - short visual novel, this is also the main inspiration for the Ranchers subplot in the au

Sweet Home (the manhwa NOT the show) - I like the premise of being trapped in an apartment building with other strangers and the formation of different groups, tie in with shtuff about the desires across each character what makes them likely to succumb to the disease. Inspirations of the clashes between the au's factions + the electric spear Tango crafts is the same :]

Will always recommend Charlie Slimecicle's We Spent 100 Days in a Hardcore Minecraft Apocalypse, so much so I added it as a canon spinoff in the au timeline ToT.

I'd love more recommendations! Doesn't have to be zombie apocalypses either wwwww

[mcytrecursive]

Nomination Overview - Post-Apocalyptic AU

A niche tag, so you'd think? Well not THAT niche, not in this fandom. 7 post-apocalyptic works so far, including our longest work nominated to date, (over half a million words), and several art AUs!

Title: this is about a stuffed bird Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36163102/chapters/90146260 Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP Author: Bee_4 Relationships: Mumbo Jumbo & Evil Xisuma Characters: Mumbo Jumbo, Evil Xisuma Length of the work: 78,043 words Genre: Action/Adventure, AU, Character Study, Friendship, Horror, Post-Apocalyptic AU, Type: Fic Summary: In which Mumbo crosses several towns, learns some creative methods of self-defense, fights some monsters, sees things no human is meant to have seen, befriends a stranger, steals multiple cars, has inconvenient moral scruples, grows increasingly terrified of his own culpability in the apocalypse, grows a spine, blows up at least one building, accidentally prevents a murder, and attempts to find his best friend in the futile but ever-burning hope the man’s still alive. He has to say, he’s so exhausted and terrified that he thinks he might just be mad? (OR: the one where, after most of humanity turns into a series of terrifying monsters, Mumbo decides he’s going to risk his life on an apocalypse road trip to try to find out if Grian is alive. Things, as you might imagine, devolve from there.)

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Title: greener grasses Rating: E-rated Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31163336/chapters/79676620 Fandom: Dream SMP Author: Apocynaceae Relationships: Quackity/Schlatt, Quackity&Karl, Quackity/Eret Characters: Quackity, Schlatt, Karl Jacobs, BadBoyHalo, Awesamdude, Ponk, Tommyinnit Length of the work: 569,475 words Genre: AU, Crossover, Drama, Horror, Modern AU, Post-Apocalyptic AU, Slow Burn, Time Travel, College AU Type: Fic Summary: Twenty-two years after the Survival Multiplayer event, Quackity has dreams of attending a law program in a walled city out West. Desperate to pay for expenses during his next semester at ManbergU, he accepts a TA position with his former professor. It's Quackity's last chance to get out of Manberg. It's his worst mistake. Features ghosts, time travel, possession, alternate universes, nonconsensual drug use, academic misconduct like you would not believe, an apocalypse, and midterm drama. 

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Title: Space Mining AU Link: here and here Fandom: 3rd Life SMP Author: wszczebrzyszynie Relationships: Team Ranchers, Cledubs, Ethubs, Scarian, Treebark, Convex brothers, ImpSkizz, Flower Husbands. Zedaph, Doc, Pearl and Gem are also characters. Everything mentioned as platonic, except romantic Jizzie. Characters: Tango and Jimmy Genre: Action/Adventure, AU, Drama, Post-Apocalyptic AU, Space AU Type: Art Summary: Space Mining AU. Tango was an engineer, became a wanted terrorist after he blew up Callisto, a moon where he was doing illegal skulk mining. He blew it up alongside other miners after finding out that skulk is alive, parasitic and infecting people, but he ended up being the sole survivor of the explosion, and the skulk wasn't completely sealed off. He ends up living with Desert Duo for a while (a pair of also dangerous criminals), and that's where he meets Jimmy. It kind of all goes downhill from there.

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Title: the last days of the free angel of carrows  Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41524917 Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP Author: Bee_4 Relationships: Mainly Joe & Cleo & Pearl Characters: Joe, Cleo and Pearl Length of the work: 79,327 words Genre: Action/Adventure, AU, Casefic, Fantasy AU, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Apocalyptic AU, Angels & Demons AU Type: Fic Summary: The Atsign Agency: run by Joe Hills and the zombie Cleo, they're here to solve all of your supernatural problems, hauntings, magical accidents, and also just about any contracting work or errands you need if you're willing to have it done cheaply by two unqualified odd jobbers struggling to make rent. After over a decade together in the city of Carrows, the two of them frequently see things and deal with things that are probably a bit too ridiculous to name, and have the experience to handle it, if not particularly frequently the money. When the mysterious (and clearly very rich) Pearl Moon walks into their agency, offering them a massive payment for a simple job, what are they to do but accept? Yeah, they may be about to regret that one. This job is going to be anything but simple, and the entire City of Angels may be at stake. Careful, Atsign Agency: the past is watching.

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Title: future site of something Better [a fabulous killjoys au] (Restricted) Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48146797/chapters/121412023 Fandom: Dream SMP Author: hallmarked_error Relationships: Jack Manifold & TommyInnit, Ranboo & TommyInnit, Tubbo & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & Phil Watson, Jschlatt & Wilbur Soot Characters: Tommyinnit, Technoblade, Philza, Wilbur Soot, Jack Manifold, Ranboo, Tubbo Length of the work: 54,020 words Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, AU, Found Family, Post-Apocalyptic AU Type: Fic Summary: a fabulous killjoys au featuring the cast of the dsmp (plus a few others thrown in for good measure), inspired by the concept album by mcr and the comics by gerard way.

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Title: Last of Us + Tntduo Link: here Fandom: Dream SMP Author: ashthefrogprin Relationships: Quackity/Wilbur Characters: Quackity, Wilbur Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, AU, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Apocalyptic AU, Romance, Slow Burn Type: Art Summary: A series of images depicting quackbur in a The Last of Us AU, followed by a brief summary of a few scenes the artist was imagining. Wilbur has a shotgun; Quackity has an axe. They're both traveling across the country together trying to find a safe harbor with other survivors-- and, as it turns out, being in close quarters with someone during life-threatening situations means the two of you tend to bond. Odd thing, that.

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Title: Just the Two of Us  Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45549838/chapters/114615043 Fandom: Dream SMP Author: eepyvoid Relationships: Philza & Tommyinnit Characters: Philza & TommyInnit  Length of the work: 6,675 words Genre: Angst, Dark Fic, Found Family, Post-Apocalyptic AU Type: Fic Summary: As the world descended into zombie apocalypse driven madness, the number of living people was cut in third - two of those people being Philza Minecraft, an infamous criminal who was wanted by everyone for all the wrong reasons, and a small former 'lab rat' kid, TommyInnit, a small and scared child being free for the first time. The two meet, and team up, both not sure how mere friendship looks like. Or, Two traumatized blondes bonding over their shared lack of other people to trust in their life, under the looming threat of the zombie apocalypse.