#SSDN Nortimer

[moonfurthetemmie]

so just for funsies i rewrote the second part of the DS Verses crossover with SolarSystem. Aka, the version of DS Nightmare with DID (there's one other post about it but you'll have to go through the tags)

i also, for this exact reason, made notes on how everyone (except scenario-specific alters) talks when fronting. i need to learn more about how Australians talk but here's the list

Nortimer (host):

miles newton. 'normal' for those of us who are used to modern-day Dreamswap

i don't know what else to say man. you know who he is. memey little fuck

has the most up-to-date knowledge of anime but that's gonna change real fast now that they all know they're there

Vex:

High-strung

kind of screechy

the only one that seems to not have a sense of humor at all.

Jack:

he just Sounds emo. You can't put your finger on why but he does

also sounds tired and/or irritated. probably because he often switches when Nortimer's being a moron

dryer humor than Nortimer, to the point where you can't always tell if he's fucking with you or not

Hades:

Australian accent for reasons unknown (moon's brain said so) (moon's brain can't tell you why either)

Generally very tense since she doesn't usually front in safe situations. Gets worse the longer she's out

rather high-pitched but not as much as Vex. by far. Vex why are you so shrill.

Noot:

yeah that's a teenager. at least he's not having random voice cracks

awkward as fuck

talks like he was born a hundred years ago. because he was. and hasn't really gotten out much since. still painfully obvious that he's a goddamn teenager

And now here's the fic. I have never written a plural character before so this was interesting.

Apparently, England (in some universes) had closed the parks for the Queen’s passing. Why, Nightmare didn’t really know, but he and his friends were happy to take advantage of this. They’d talked a lot about how nice it would be to just go eat outside somewhere, but being wanted criminals made opportunities for that…well. Non existent. 

But, if the parks were going to be completely empty, and not even patrolled, there’d be no one to call JR or arrest them.

“And Vex isn’t going to lose his goddamn mind about it,” Jack had said before they left, much to the amusement of everyone but Vex.

So they packed some sandwiches, chips, and drinks, and had a picnic. Most of Nortimer’s headmates had decided to hang out near front for this excursion, since it sounded like fun. The group also brought Kevin. On a leash. At least he wasn’t smart enough to figure out how to wiggle off the collar like a dog.

Cross and Error still weren’t sure how Nightmare had managed to find a chicken collar, but decided that some questions are better left unanswered. The system would probably pass a majority vote and sell the body’s kidneys to get something nice for Kevin. They didn’t want to know.

Everyone was enjoying themselves, though. It felt weird to be in a park without anyone else around, but they decided to pretend they were just eating in the middle of nowhere, which conveniently had uniformly short grass. It was peaceful, even with Kevin wandering over and trying to steal the ham from Error’s sandwich.

“Why is your chicken carnivorous,” Error complained, holding her sandwich out of reach. “He’s supposed to eat grains and stuff, isn’t he?”

Nightmare snickered. “Chickens’ll eat just about anything. I’ve heard stories about them even eating other chickens just because one of them was bleeding.”

“…ah,” Cross said, slowly putting down her PBJ. “Not. Quite so fond of chickens anymore.”

“Mostly they eat grubs,” Nightmare assured them. “And that been Kevin’s diet for about a hundred years, so ham’s like a delicacy for him. Don’t give him any though, he’s not supposed to have table scrapes.”

“I’m trying,” Error complained, trying to keep Kevin from climbing on her to get to her sandwich.

“C’mere, Kevin.”

Kevin stopped for a moment, cocking his head to the side. Nightmare tugged on his leash. Kevin ambled over to him, letting Error finally eat in peace. Nightmare held out a small bag of chicken feed he brought, and Kevin made himself busy. Error watched Kevin warily, slowly bringing down her sandwich back to face level.

Cross grinned. “Eat it quick, before he comes after it again.”

Error snorted and took a big bite that wasn’t really polite, but she didn’t care. It was just them, after all.

They’d chosen a bad day for their picnic. At least they didn’t have to find out the same way Dream did, though.

Kevin suddenly looked up from his very important task of eating and crowed loud enough to be heard across the park and probably reached the gift shop by the road, right before a loud POP made the trio yelp. Cross dropped a handful of Cheetos. Nightmare accidentally tried to breathe soda and started coughing. Error nearly spit out that bite of sandwich.

They followed Kevin’s gaze, and found a tall, familiar looking man staring at them with a blank expression, though something about his posture and stance expressed absolute bewilderment.

Nightmare caught his breath after a moment, and stared at the man with equal confusion.

“Oh, that’s not good,” Hades said in a hushed tone. “Shit.”

“I guess it’s a good thing Noot stayed in back this time,” Vex muttered.

Noot himself heard them, but couldn’t presently do anything more than try to listen.

The new guy looked…like Dream. Almost exactly like Dream, but something was off. Nightmare could barely sense anything from his except his aura, like he was somehow suppressing all of his emotions. And he just looked…different. The sword at his side looked more decorative than anything; its scabbard covered in jewels and gold filigree, and the hilt didn’t look very worn at all.

His wings and eyes were startlingly orange, and even as they watched they could see feathers flaking off and dissolving into ambient magic.

Nightmare was so confused, with all of them so busy trying to figure out where the hell this guy came from, that he didn’t notice the uncomfortable warm sensation in his soul building until it started to burn. 

“…Ow. Ow, ow, ow ow ow,” Nightmare stumbled to his feet and backed away from the strange Dream quickly. Once he’d regained his footing, ‘his’ voice changed in pitch and accent. “What the fuck, dude? Why are you burning me?”

“Oh, I do not like him. I don’t like him at all.” 

None of them were used to Hades getting forced into front, but being pulled out of front when it happened was even worse. Especially given what had to happen to trigger it. 

This guy hadn’t shown any sign of wanting to kill Nightmare, but he’d still managed to force a switch. 

Cross and Error quickly got to their feet. Cross’s fingers twitched and started to glow red, but she and Error suddenly gasped and grabbed at their hearts, too.

‘Dream’ folded his wings back, which only lessened the burning sensation slightly. He gave Hades an odd look. “My sincerest apologies,” he said, not sounding very sorry, or seeming to care. “I seem to be in the wrong universe.”

Cross and Error hurried over to Hades, all of them still trying to get away from the winged fire ball.

“Wrong multiverse, maybe,” Cross snapped. “What the frick is wrong with your aura thing?”

The man shook his head and sighed. “I’m afraid I can’t afford the time to speak with you three. I have things I must take care of, and I don’t have the luxury of free time.” He nodded his head to them, spread his wings, and took off.

They stared after him, and watched as he opened a portal and flew through.

“…Um?”

“Bukbukbukbukbuk,” Kevin said as he cleaned up the chicken feed Nightmare had spilled.

“That was…” Error started, finally able to swallow that bit of sandwich. “…Weird. What planet did he come from?”

Hades coughed. She could still feel that burning sensation, and her lungs were still rebelling from Nortimer’s attempt to breathe diet coke.

Pop!

“Oh, god, not again.”

This one was behind them. Kevin apparently had decided that this person didn’t need a rooster’s trumpeting to welcome them.

Before any of them could turn around, though, they heard an excited gasp, and Hades was nearly pushed to the ground.

Hades wheezed and stumbled yet again. “Fuck, my ribs-“

“Blue?” Error sounded indignant and confused.

Hades was released, and the man that had randomly bear-hugged her said, “Sorry, sorry sorry! I got a little too excited.” He giggled.

This ‘Blue’ looked like he hadn’t seen the light of day in months. The Blue they knew was pale, sure, but this guy was white white. Hades was pretty sure she could see some of his veins. His hair was a choppy, messy, uncombed tangle, and despite his energy, he had bags under his eyes like he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in years.

He was grinning at them, a little too widely, but seemed friendly enough. He didn’t seem to notice how they’d all tensed up.

“This is a different multiverse, isn’t it?” He asked, but instead of waiting for an answer, he went on. “We should have nicknames, so we don’t get confused! Or, at least I should get a nickname, since I’m the stranger here.” He paused, his eyes sliding to the side like he was listening to someone else. His smile seemed frozen for a moment, almost forced. Hades could sense emotions that weren’t his, coming from a different source, but it was faint, and she couldn’t figure out where it was, or what exactly they were feeling. ‘Blue’s emotions were sliding from excited to despondent, before he suddenly looked back at them and said, with the same excitement as before, “How about you call me ‘Hunter’? I really-“

Cross held her hands up. “Ooookay, slow down dude. What the fuck is even going on, another Dream dropped out of nowhere and then left right before you showed up.”

Hunter perked up. “Really? Dream’s here too?” He laughed. “I wonder if anyone else from our multiverse is here!”

Hades and her friends glanced at each other. Hunter seemed to have a few screws loose in there.

“Ooookay. Right. Well.” Hades scratched her head. “Nice…to meet you? I guess? Did you have to nearly break my fucking ribs?”

Hunter giggled again. “Sorry. I don’t get to spend time with my versions of you very much. I get a liiiittle over excited to meet new people~”

“…So you knew right away we weren’t from your multiverse?” Error said hesitantly. “How different are they from us, then?”

Hunter taped his chin. “Hmm…Well, physically, not very. I think maybe some slight height differences? And Nightmare has a more American accent and his voice is deeper.” He looked them all over again, humming. “I think the others have more scars, too.” His gaze stopped on Cross for a moment, and he tilted his head. “Lots more scars, in your case. Do you only have the one on your chin? I wonder why there’s such a difference.”

Hades became uneasy. If Hunter didn’t spend a lot of time with his version of them, how could he tell just from a quick glance that they weren’t the same? He didn’t even hear her talk before he hugged her.

“Well, different AUs can be really different. I don’t see why multiverses would be mostly the same.” Cross mused. “It’d be cool to have a lot of scars, though. I bet she looks so badass.”

Hunter hummed. Then he giggled. “My versions of you would’ve already chased me off by now. I think I like you three more, you’re much nicer.”

Error crossed her arms. “Just because we’re not chasing you off doesn’t mean we want to hang out with you.”

“I think I’d prefer it if we chased him off,” Vex said. 

“Yeah, we barely know you,” Hades agreed. “And we don’t have the best relationship with our version of you.”

Hunter’s face fell. “…Oh. So…we can’t be friends?” He sounded heartbroken.

Hades opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly that other, unseen person’s emotions became very, very clear. At the same time, Hunter flinched and lifted his hands up slightly, like he was going to cover his ears.

Hades could tell where the person was, now. They were right next to Hunter. They were angry and so full of hate and contempt, she could easily imagine someone shouting in Hunter’s ear.

Hades and Cross glanced at Error, who looked very uncomfortable. “…We just aren’t going to trust you right away,” she said finally. “We-“

But Hunter had perked up, and grabbed her hands. Error tensed up and started glitching violently. His eyes had practically turned into stars and he started talking really really fast about hanging out with them all and doing things before Error jerked away and tucked her hands under her arms.

Hades and Cross were immediately by her side, standing slightly in front of her to keep Hunter from touching her again. Hunter just blinked. “…What? Are you okay?”

“She doesn’t like being touched,” Cross said firmly. “I don’t know if your Error was different, but you really can’t just grab her hands or whatever like that.”

Hades held her hand out to Error, not touching her shoulder but trying to send a message of attempted comfort. “Are you ok?”

Error’s eyes had filled with glitches and ‘error’ messages, and she shuddered, but nodded.  

Hunter furrowed his brows. Hades could sense the other, unseen person’s dark amusement. “I don’t understand.”

“Just don’t do it,” Cross said.

“I don’t…like it,” Error glitched. “Ask first. No means no.”

Hunter frowned, but said nothing. After a few moments making sure Error was actually okay, the Meme Squad decided to go pack up what was left of their picnic. They didn’t really feel like staying here, if people like Hunter and that other Dream were going to keep popping up.

“Oh, were you having a picnic?” Hunter asked. He started talking. And didn’t stop talking. This guy must’ve been awfully lonely. He politely asked if he could have some of Cross’ cheetos, and she gave him what was left in the bag. At least that slowed down his talking.

Once they’d gotten everything packed up, Hunter seemed disinclined to leave them alone. In fact, he seemed to be more determined to stick with them. Hades could sense irritation coming from somewhere, but not from anyone that she could see. She was starting to wonder if it was a ghost.

“…Uh, hey Hunter?” Cross said as Hunter finally took a breath and Error made a portal. “We gotta get home.”

“Can I come?” Hunter interrupted her.

Cross blinked. “I- huh?”

Hades narrowed her eyes. “Mate, do you remember the part where we hardly know you?”

Hunter tapped his chin. “Well, yeah, but…I don’t know how to get home, and I can’t make portals. I’m going to need help figuring out how to get back, and in the meantime, I’d rather stay with familiar people.”

“You could get a hotel,” Error suggested.

“My wallet didn’t get teleported here with me,” Hunter said. “Please?”

The trio of friends looked at each other for a moment. Nightmare thought he heard someone scoff, but it must’ve been his imagination.

“…You’d really be better off getting help from JR,” Hades said slowly. “They have a lot more people there who actually know about traveling between AUs, and would probably know where to start to get you home. Unlike us.”

Hunter tilted his head. “…But you can’t take me there, can you?” He said. It wasn’t really a question. “You’re wanted by them in this multiverse too, aren’t you?” He stepped closer to them. “Please let me stay with you. I would be perfectly fine sleeping on the couch, if you don’t have a guest room, and I’d be happy to help cook and clean!”

Cross sighed. “Ok, look-“

Hunter, for some goddamn reason, took this as a yes, and beamed at them. “Really? Thank you! I promise you won’t regret it!” And then he rushed through the portal.

Cross’s mouth hung open. “Did- did he just-“

“I think that was the most polite home invasion I’ve ever seen,” Hades muttered. “He’s going to be a right pain in the ass trying to get him out, isn’t he?”

Error sighed wearily. “Great. Can’t ever just have a nice day out.”

Hades silently wondered if she’d get stuck in front with Hunter in the house. That…wouldn’t be good. Not for any of them.