#Wilbur: what do you mean you don’t have ptsd? What have you been doing in therapy??

[nomsfaultau]

With enough determination, Techno can probably ignore that too!

From chapter 6 of Mandatory Family Reunion

[ramfather]

Break Up... Sorta

Schlatt waited for his boyfriend nervously, chewing on his lip. He had asked Wilbur to meet him in a private room of Quackity's casino, with news that terrified him to even say.

It took a bit, but eventually, the door opened.

Wilbur walked in, still in his usual attire but without a smile on his face for once. “Hey, I got your message. Is everything alright?”

Schlatt hesitated. He shook his head a little. "... I'm sorry for leaving so abruptly yesterday. I was too scared to... be around you if I had any alcohol..." He said quietly.

“What are you talking about?” Wilbur asked, approaching Schlatt and resting a hand on his shoulder.

“You know I don’t care if you drink, love. What’s going on?”

Schlatt shook his head. "I... really want to stay sober. I don't know how-" He sighed. "... I still think about that night... the festival... I'm terrified of it h-happening again..." He looked up at Wilbur. "... I know you promised you won't hurt me unless I'm evil again but..."

Wilbur stayed silent as he listened. His hand that had been resting on Schlatt’s shoulder tightened a little, his nails digging lightly into his skin.

“But…?”

Schlatt hesitated. He winced a little at the hand tightening on his shoulder, looking away.

"... I'm too scared of you... I know we've only been back together for a little while but... b-but... I can't do this..."

“..What do you mean?” Wilbur’s hand slid to grip Schlatt’s chin, making him look up into his eyes.

“You’re scared… of me?”

Schlatt bit his lip to keep from tearing up, struggling to remain calm. He nodded slightly. "... I'm terrified of you... I do want someone to hold me and someone I can be a shoulder to but... b-but... you've hurt me before... and I tried to get it out of my mind, but..."

“Darling, don’t be ridiculous,” Wilbur said sweetly, tightening his other hand around Schlatt’s waist and pulling him closer.

“I will never hurt you again. I promised,” he said, caressing his cheek with his free hand.

Schlatt took a breath. He leaned into the caress to his cheek and bit his lip. He felt like this whole conversation wasn't working.

"... my friends said... that I deserve..." He struggled to find the words.

“That you deserve what…? Finish the sentence.”

Wilbur was getting more annoyed by the second; his jaw was set in a tight line, and his hands had almost begun digging into Schlatt’s frame.

Schlatt flinched. He looked away. "To be with someone who loves me, and I love them... and that y-you... you aren't good for me... and I shouldn't like you..." He felt like a child telling an authority figure whatever sin he'd committed.

As Schlatt spoke, Wilbur’s grip began to become increasingly more and more painful.

“So your friends are the ones telling you who you should be with or not, hmm?” he hissed.

Schlatt whimpered and squirmed. "I... They just helped me realize... That m-maybe I shouldn't be with you..."

“And why’s that, darling?” Wilbur asked, his grip tightening to the point of bruising. “I’ve treated you well, haven’t I?”

"You're hurting me-" Schlatt whispered, eyes wide and filling with tears.

“Oh, sorry about that, doll,” Wilbur said, his voice taking a sickly sweet tone. “But I need to know. Why do your ‘friends’ think you should break up with me?”

Schlatt squeezed his eyes shut. "Because... what you did at the festival was... u-unforgiveable... and I still have PTSD..."

“And that’s all?” Wilbur asked with a scoff. He finally let go of Schlatt, taking a step back.

“They think one incident undoes all the effort I’ve put into being better?”

Schlatt hesitated. He bit his lip hard. "... I... I don't know..." He said quietly.

“You don’t know?” Wilbur repeated, scoffing once more. “Well, I’m glad you’re taking your friend’s words over mine, that’s what I love to hear.”

"I'm sorry-" Schlatt moved forward, taking Wilbur's hand carefully. "I... I'm sorry...."

Despite the apology, Wilbur didn’t feel any anger leave his body. He gripped Schlatt’s hand tightly in return, looking him in the eyes.

“Are you really? You should know that I have put a lot of effort into making you happy. After everything I’ve done, are you going to throw it all away because of something that happened once?”

Schlatt hung his head low and shook his head. "... I don't know... I'm still scared of you but... you're right... I'm just so confused..."

“Of course you’re confused.”

Wilbur lifted his chin, making him look him in the eyes again. “You’d have to be stupid to not be. Your friends are putting stupid thoughts in your head – thoughts that’ll only hurt the both of us, love. You shouldn’t pay any attention to them, got it?”

Schlatt nodded softly. "... okay..." He said dejectedly. He moved to hug onto Wilbur, starting to cry softly into the other's chest.

Wilbur wrapped his arms around him, one hand resting on his head. He gently ran his fingers through Schlatt’s hair as a form of reassurance.

“There there… You’re gonna be alright, babe, I’m right here...” he muttered in an almost sing-song voice.

Schlatt felt bad for causing all of this hassle... he didn't know what to think or who to listen to.

“Shhh…” Wilbur continued quietly, running his hand through his hair to comfort him.

“Just relax, my dear. I’ve got you, I’m right here. No one’s going to tell you what to do but me, alright?”

Schlatt nodded against Wilbur, but he didn't trust himself to speak. His crying subsided slowly, gripping onto Wilbur a bit tighter.

"Alright..."

“Good, good…” he said, caressing Schlatt’s back. “That’s the attitude.”

He chuckled before continuing. “And don’t even give your friends the time of day. They have no idea what they’re talking about, and I don’t want you putting their words over mine, doll.”

Schlatt sighed softly. He felt bad. He felt like he was betraying Oves and Quackity, but Wilbur was making a good argument for himself...

“Trust me,” Wilbur muttered. “I’ve made a lot of progress to get here. It would really suck if you paid more attention to them than me, you know?”

He chuckled dryly, his fingers now tracing patterns on Schlatt back. “I’d probably get very upset if that happened. You don’t want to see me upset, do you?”

"No, I don't..."

“Then keep listening to me, alright?” Wilbur asked sweetly. He stopped tracing the patterns and began to caress his hair again.

“You just need to listen to what I say. I’ll keep you safe, doll. I won’t ever let anything bad happen to you again, I promise.”

[dreamsclock]

What happens if c!Wilbur/Alivebur finds snowchester and decides to take over or maybe he finds out about the nukes and uses it to get c!Dream out-

Ah, let chaos run the server :)

someone: h—

me: YOU WANT ME TO WRITE C!WILBUR AND C!TUBBO INTERACTING ?? THAT’S WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO ?? YOU’RE DEMANDING I WRITE THEM TALKING ????? OKAY LOL UR CRAZY 😇

/lh omg tysm for giving me the chance to write c!wilbur do you know how much i love him? anyway have this :D

warnings: toxic relationship, manipulation, trauma, PTSD, trauma response, smoking, threats, dark themes / content, dark c!wilbur portrayal

“Oh, this is a familiar sight!” 

Tubbo jerks round at the sound of a stranger’s voice, mouth running dry at how much the voice reminds him of debris and a too-big suit and a lean, mean knowing smile that had watched its own world blow up before destroying everyone else’s too. “Wilbur,” he greets uneasily, wiping his sweaty palms on his coat and turning properly to face him, “aren’t you supposed to be...”

He trails off, because yeah, Wilbur is. He’s supposed to be with Phil and Techno, on house arrest (or as close as one can get to house arrest when it comes to Wilbur Soot), permanently, until they can figure out how much of a threat he is and how seriously they should hide anything explosive from him. But Wilbur only smiles, serenely, stepping further into the room, and Tubbo hates how fluid and natural he makes everything look, even walking in a world that’s outgrown him, because Tubbo can try and try and he will never feel as at home in this place as Wilbur looks now.

He isn’t bred for explosives and nukes. 

Wilbur is, and he’s never looked more at ease.

“I just came round to say hi,” Wilbur tells him, nonchalant despite how obviously uncomfortable Tubbo is, “it’s been over a decade since I’ve had proper conversation, you know? Schlatt and Mexican Dream and Tommy didn’t exactly count: the first two pretended they didn’t know English to avoid talking to me after the first year, and Tommy was too preoccupied doing his whole shaky breath traumatised teen act to actually have meaningful conversation, so I’m here!” He spreads his hands, cracks a wider smile. His eyes are black, black swirling void and oblivion. “And I’m glad I stopped by. This a little secret passion project you’re working on, eh?”

Wilbur’s gaze sweeps from Tubbo, shifts from making him feel as small as an ant to gazing with delight at the singular nuke on the table between them like he’s struck gold. Before he can think straight, Tubbo is snatching it from the table, shoving it into his inventory and backing up as casually as he can, because he’s a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them, no matter what anyone thinks, and he doesn’t want Wilbur Soot of all people getting his hands on this nuke, not when they’re one down already. 

If anything, this only entertains Wilbur. His smile grows more serene, more placid, but there’s steel and iron behind his expression, steel and iron knives that dig into Tubbo’s skin the more Wilbur stays here. “Don’t worry,” Wilbur tells him with a chuckle, “I know you know what I’m like, but I have no plans as of now to blow anything up, least of all this place. Not when you’ve worked so hard on it!”

I worked hard on L’Manburg too, Tubbo wants to snap, but the words feel stuck in his mouth, cling to his tongue and drip down his throat like blood, I worked hard on L’Manburg and Manberg and New L’Manberg and you destroyed all of them, you and the shadow of who you became and the memory of your handiwork, you blew up my everything and left me stumbling blind in the dust-

He doesn’t say any of this, of course, because he’s not Tommy, because he’s got what Tommy calls “thicker skin” but Tubbo prefers to call cowardice. In one graceful, slow movement, Wilbur ends up closer than ever, on Tubbo’s side of the table, leaning against it casually and fiddling with a lighter. Tubbo can only watch, a rabbit trapped in the headlights, as Wilbur lights a cigarette, takes a long drag, his eyes never leaving Tubbo’s, before he speaks again.

“Does it call you?” He asks curiously. “The nuke? Does it sing in your head at night? Can you hear it, Tubbo?”

Tubbo swallows bile. “No,” he says, “’cause I’m not out of my mind, Wilbur. Not like you were. The nuke doesn’t speak.”

But he’s lying, and Wilbur’s eyes glitter like he’s hit the jackpot (he has), arching one eyebrow idly. 

“There’s a dead man’s switch on that nuke.” He points out, and he almost sounds detached - he’s been there, done this before, Tubbo supposes half-hysterically, why should he sound interested? He’s not talking to Tommy, he’s not talking to Dream: Tubbo knows he’s always been somewhat of a pawn to Wilbur, knows it in the same way he knows Tommy had been right to want Dream dead before he brought Wilbur back, and in the same way he knows now that Wilbur’s sudden interest in him again is a bad, bad sign. “Taking a leaf out of my book, Tubso?”

The nickname that usually comes from Tommy makes Tubbo feel nauseous. 

“Sometimes you have to do what’s necessary to defend your nation,” he forces out, and, behind his back, slips out his communicator, types Ranboo’s name as discreetly as he can, gets ready to message him with a simple and desperate help, “I want Snowchester to stay in one piece. I want the people living here to be happy. If I have to use a nuke to make sure people stay that way, then I won’t hesitate.”

Something wistful and mean flickers in the light of Wilbur’s cigarette. “Such wise words from our former President,” he muses, driving a dagger into Tubbo’s heart and twisting it with his next words, “you almost sound exactly like how I used to think. Isn’t that funny?”

Tubbo’s mouth runs dry.

Wilbur pulls out five blocks.

Tubbo is too busy reeling backwards in preparation for a blow or threat to realise what’s happening until his back hits a wall and he finds himself boxed in by Wilbur’s quick block work, two blocks on either side of him and one in front and oh fuck fuck fuck this is just like Schlatt all over again and his vision blurs for a moment and he can’t remember where he is but there’s fireworks exploding all around him and a pain shattering fragments into his chest and he’s screaming out for Schlatt to stop and Wilbur to save him and he’s staring down Techno begging pleading with his eyes not to hurt him and it hurts and he’s so so scared Tommy please

“Tubbo in a box,” Wilbur says cheerfully, before breaking the front block. Tubbo’s legs shake, quiver, but he keeps himself standing anyway, because he’s got thicker skin, or because he’s too much of a coward to be honest about how fucking scared he is right now, “just like old times, right? Boxed in back then, and...” His eyes trail around the enclosure of the nuke holding site, dark, cutting, and Tubbo has never been more claustrophobic. “...And boxed in a slightly bigger box now.”

The blocks are broken. Tubbo doesn’t speak. He doesn’t think he can. Wilbur is still smiling, but it feels expectant, like he’s waiting for a chess move from an opponent, like Tubbo has somehow upgraded himself from pawn to player all by showing his trauma. 

“What’s going on?”

He wants to cry at the sound of Ranboo’s voice. Instead, Tubbo latches onto it, uses the sound to soothe himself enough to force words out. “Nothing,” he says, chokes, “Wilbur was just popping in to say hi.”

“I like reacquainting myself with old faces,” Wilbur agrees, as composed and unruffled as ever, and for a moment, Tubbo wants to set off the nuke there and then, wants to kill him and Wilbur, wants them both to die just so he can see Wilbur’s expression of surprise, “it’s nice, after so long being stuck in that Void.”

He turns, then, and Tubbo catches sight of Ranboo standing there, sword in hand, armour and shield out, expression unyielding and tight. There’s a flicker of protectiveness when they lock eyes, and Tubbo is suddenly reminded of the half formed message on his communicator he’d never quite got to finish - an unfinished symphony, he tries to joke, but it’s wild, frantic in his mind, a hummingbird trapped inside that throws itself hysterically against his skull. 

“It’s nice to see new faces too,” Wilbur tells Ranboo, cocking his head, “I’m sure we’ll see a lot of each other! I want to pick your brain every now and then - I’m a big fan of the whole Enderman thing, by the way, that’s well cool.”

Ranboo smiles, but it’s hard. “Can I borrow Tubbo for a bit? I really wanna talk to him about something, if that’s okay.”

Wilbur raises his hands good-naturedly, expression falling into something less genuine, falsified, almost, if not for the fact Tubbo knows Wilbur is being as sincere as ever. “Of course! I’m done here, anyway. I just saw my chance to catch him and speak to him: it’s just been so long. You know what they say about reminiscing too much, Lesson 27 and all that, but I’ve never been able to help myself, you know?”

“Yeah,” Tubbo says uncertainly, feeling like he’s missing something when Ranboo goes still like he’s been shot, “yeah, we know.”

Wilbur turns back to him, taking another drag from his cigarette and clapping Tubbo on the back warmly.

“I’ll see you soon, probably,” he says, and there’s no probably about it, “I’ll tell Philza you said hi!”

He heads for the exit, unbothered entirely by Ranboo’s excessive armour and weaponry, putting out his cigarette on the wall as he passes him. Tubbo waits very calmly until he knows Wilbur is gone, and then does the rational thing: he grabs hold of the table when his legs buckle from underneath him, and tries very hard not to start hyperventilating.

Ranboo is by his side in an instant, shaken, worried. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Tubbo struggles to compose himself, gulps in a lungful of air and focuses on something positive, like the fact Wilbur hadn’t taken the nuke or killed him or hurt him, but all he can focus on is how hard it is to breathe in this little space and how Wilbur had stubbed out his cigarette on his wall, almost staking a claim over it, leaving a permanent mark that screams this is mine, Tubbo is mine, that nuke is mine, this is all mine and I won’t let anyone forget it. Ranboo’s hand on his shoulder is a comfort, and Tubbo turns, burying his head in Ranboo’s chest and hugging him tightly. “Thanks for coming.”

“Yeah, course,” Ranboo says gently, holding up his communicator and hugging him back, “you didn’t reply to my response to your half sent help, so I had to come. I was worried.”

And for good reason, neither of them need to add, because Tubbo’s shaky breaths and Wilbur’s presence that still hovers over them thickly is proof enough of that, so Tubbo tries for a smile, tries for a light laugh as he pulls his husband from the nuke room and locks the door very tightly shut behind him, because he will be fine, eventually, he doesn’t need to worry Ranboo more. 

“No need to be worried about me, boss man,” he tells him playfully, “I have a totem now. I’m all safe. Besides- Wilbur wouldn’t hurt me. He’s an awful, awful person, but he wouldn’t hurt me.”

He doesn’t need to.

Because even outside, Tubbo still can’t breathe; because even in the company of Ranboo, his mind is fixated on the nuke; because, even in the vast expanse of open area that makes up Snowchester, Tubbo feels claustrophobic, choked like he’s still stuck in a box after all this time.

[bellfort3]

SBI Fanfics of the Week (week 66)

Baby Steps by SilverWing15

3/3

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of your own prisoner,” the piglin says, and there’s a mocking laugh in his voice and Tommy hates it, hates it, hates it! The humans always laughed at him and said he was scared. He’s not scared!

“I’m not scared!” He yelps, glaring at the piglin from around the tree. He’s not scared, but he’s not stupid either.

The piglin stares at him, his eyes wide, his mouth open a little bit and it shows even more of his big teeth. Tommy goes back behind the tree.

“I’m not scared!” he says again, “so you better not laugh at me!”

“I--I’m sorry?” the piglin says, and he sounds weird, kind of high pitched. “Come back here.”

A month (or three) in the life of Tom Simons by Drhair76

2/?

"Come over," Wilbur says.

"Brighton nightlife is out on the prowl, Wilbur," Tommy points out. "They're gonna scoop me up and spit me out."

or, this is Tommy's life now - he, for one, adores it.

spilling out unnecessary secrets by plantform

1/1

Tommy’s keeping something from him, Wilbur knows. He knows because Tommy’s bad at lying in general, but especially to him—he is infinitely smug at the fact. So, Wilbur knows Tommy wants to tell him something—he even knows what that something is; Tommy’s going to America. For whatever reason, the boy hasn’t told him, and is now actively keeping it from him.

It only hurts because it seems like everyone knows except for Wilbur.

Or: Tommy's going to the U.S. and he hasn't told Wilbur.

Getting The Most Extensive Grounding Of Your Life The Day Of The Full Moon Is Not A Good Idea by WistfulWriter

2/?

Tommy Danger Careful Kraken Innit -ok, well, maybe that wasn't his legal name, but he didn't remember his birth family, and there was no way he was going to accept that Simons was the latter half of his legal name. No, no, he was much too cool for that.- had always considered himself to be a careful boy. I mean, he had been in the system since he could remember, and seeing as none of the homes he'd ever been in had discovered his secret, he felt he'd earned the title.

But back to the main point. Tommy Innit considered himself a very careful boy. Considered. Right now, he really. fucking. didn't. Because he fucked it up. So now, here he was, everyone scared fucking shitless, as he pressed himself as hard as he could into the recently shit-ily painted frosted emerald walls -the paint that he could still clearly see in Wilbur's hair no matter how many times he told him there was still more- with his tail tucked between his legs, ears pinned back, and going between whining in fear and discomfort, and growling and snapping at his- his fucking pack for the same fucking reasons.

So to anyone still confused, getting the most extensive grounding of your life the day of the full moon is not a good idea.

hold me like a fire (hold me like a river) by Anonymous

2/2

Wilbur would not let go of Phil’s hand. His sword hand, an angry and guilty part of his mind provided. The hand he'd slayed his son with now clutched within that very son's grip.

"Wil," Phil said, just wanting to break the silence. Wilbur didn't react, not a flicker of light in his eyes. "What can I do to help?"

He wasn't expecting an answer, but that didn't make the lack of one hurt any less. He put his fingers against his son's pulse point to feel the delicate flutter of Wil's heartbeat, anything to remind him that they were alive and together.

Or PTSD's a bitch, huh? Too bad all these fellows have that problem! They'll get each other through it.

my heart in your hands (and still i breathe) by rinredacted

1/1

"Fuck you,” Tommy all but cries out, chest exploding into fireworks of seething red. “Fuck you, Techno, you pretentious bitch, you fucking asshole. You come in here and— and start trying to tell me who I can and can’t be friends with? After fucking ignoring me for six months? You controlling fucking— I can talk to whoever I want!” A beat, a break, a bated breath. His voice does not waver. “And if it’s not you, that’s not my problem!”

It backfires.

or: Tommy and Techno have been talking less and less since Techno started college. In a subconscious attempt to fill the void, Tommy unwittingly makes good friends with one (1) Wilbur Soot— to which his actual brother does not take kindly.

[tobi-smp]

Regarding your tags on the post about the misuse of trauma-dumping--I don't disagree with you, but what are your thoughts about the accusation of abuse apologism--or worse, threats of abuse itself--sent to people who do like Dream, including other abuse survivors? Isn't that also silencing, just in the other direction? It just seems like a messy situation overall, with shit behavior on all sides.

context: [Link]

I'm gonna be real with you anon, these two things are not comparable for very important reasons.

the situation with dream and tommy is what it is because they presented an abusive relationship with enough authenticity and nuance that people who've experienced these things in real life have been able to see their experiences reflected back and represented in a way that they haven't seen before in popular media. I've seen my c-ptsd in tommy in ways that I just Haven't seen in movies or tv.

[Links that go into more detail: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4 and summaries of dream's treatment and affect on tommy in all of the exile streams under "A Comprehensive Analysis of the Exile arc": Link]

"trauma dumping" as a term isn't exactly rigidly defined, but it's essentially the practice of suddenly oversharing about trauma at random in a way that can be toxic to the people around you. this means going into detail about something horrific that you've experienced without giving someone time or space to consent to seeing that information, which can be triggering or draining. it seems more appropriate (to me) to define it as a pattern of behavior, rather than a one-off, but it can be useful in talking about isolated interactions anyhow.

what people are accusing of being "trauma dumping" is what I've already done in this post, mentioning the fact that you have trauma at all and how it affects your relationship with this piece of media. this is blatantly misusing the term specifically to shame people out of speaking up about why it can be harmful to other fans who are survivors to make light of the canonical abuse (or worse, which I won't get into).

it's a silencing tactic because it's essentially weaponizing someone's trauma against them through what's more or less a lie so that the accuser doesn't Have to acknowledge what's already in the text of the story they're consuming and talking about.

the problem with abuse apologia in the fandom can't be summed up with "people have started blatantly misusing a term seemingly at random to try to get what they want."

this is going to sound harsh but anyone can spread abuse apologia whether they mean to or not, whether they themselves are a trauma survivor or not. in the same way that being lgbt+ doesn't stop people from being able to spread queerphobia or ideas that contribute or stem from queerphobia.

the problem is not in that people Like dream, it's that there are people who actively excuse his actions or actively try to blame those actions on tommy. people who say and Believe that tommy "got what he deserved," people who try to argue that tommy Provoked dream, who say that dream was only doing what he had to because tommy was Clearly the cause of everyone's problems on the server (which is, of course, the logic that dream used to justify his own abuse and attempted murder), etc.

these are all real things that I see Frequently and Have Seen for months. not just in fringe sections of the fandom but front and center on twitter, youtube, reddit, and of course floating around here on tumblr. and I've personally seen much worse, but I won't be getting into that right now.

of course people should make the distinction between apologia spread for a fictional character and apologia spread about real people (or people you personally know) because it Is absolutely different. but it's important to point out regardless of whether it's fictional or not because it's being posted publicly where people who Do see themselves and their trauma in tommy can see it and be hurt by it.

tommy provoked dream by being annoying and argumentative in the prison? and what if someone has a loud personality and has been punished for it by their abuser? how do you think They'd feel if someone looks at behavior that reflects them and say that the person who got hurt deserved to be because of that?

it's not the same because it's true. a Lot of the things said about tommy and his experiences are extremely uncomfortable and hurtful to read from the perspective of someone who can relate to his situation. which is problematic when his "situation" is canonical trauma and abuse. and its important to point out that the things being said mirror real life abuse apologia because the things being said are reaching and hurting real life abuse survivors.

pointing out that your words can have an impact on traumatized people because the subject matter you're talking about already deals with themes of trauma and abuse is not a silencing tactic Because It Is The Truth. if someone pointing out the reality of a situation makes your argument fall apart (to the point that you have to try to deflect through lying) then maybe there's something wrong with your argument.

there's nothing wrong with Liking dream, I like dream's character, the problem is when you try to paint him as justified or in the right when it comes to tommy (or tubbo, or ranboo, or wilbur, or-). I don't think people are right when they try to call people outright abusers over blockman discourse, but I can also say that that's just something that I haven't seen. I absolutely believe that it happens (discourse just is that way) but I mean that I don't think that it's common in the same way that the abuse apologia is, or even the misuse of the term "trauma dumping."

so comparing the two situations and calling them The Same just feels, Gross.

[anawkwardshit]

Defending C!Tommy

I would like to preface this by saying that much of this rant consists of pasted pieces from my previous Dream SMP posts, so be aware of that. I would also like to mention that I base many of my ideas off of not just lore but also introspection into the less detailed pieces of lore or the realities that come with stuff that happens in the lore even if not explicitly mentioned in canon (i.e. Tommy’s PTSD from being a child soldier and his other trauma).

Before we begin, keep in mind that Tommy had to suffer through multiple wars, deal with his brother who was suffering from a manic down spiral and another sibling/friend (depending on what you take as canon) who killed his best friend in front of him and then fought him to the death in a pit. He then proceeded to watch his father/father figure (whatever you take as canon, since Wilbur and Phil have submitted different versions, though Tommy has admitted to Phil being a father figure to him regardless) kill his brother after being witness to the entire nation he’d built, bled, and fought for be blown up, and mere seconds later had his other brother/friend (Techno) turn on him and attempt to kill him and the rest of his friends with massive beings of death and destruction. That’s gonna instill some PTSD.

Let’s address what we can accuse Tommy for, starting with the reason for his exile. Why excuse Tommy burning down George’s house and breaking rules? Easy: Tommy didn’t do anything more than what others have, and nobody else ever received punishment for it. People have repeatedly stolen from each other and griefed without repercussions, let alone one as harsh as exile and the isolation and abuse that came from it. Hell, Tommy’s house has been griefed and stolen from multiple times without anyone batting an eye or bothering to defend him (Connor even moved in and claimed it as his own later without permission, essentially kicking Tommy out with little to no remorse). Next to that, the burning of George’s house was a complete accident to begin with; the stealing was just supposed to be a prank, a harmless one. Don’t forget that Ranboo was involved, something he later admitted, and was never punished for it. This basically proves that Tommy’s exile wasn’t a punishment or justice, it was just Dream using it as an excuse to hurt him. In fact, Dream’s argument during the trial that Tommy has continued his destruction across the SMP and continues to be a danger and destroy the peace is false, since it was Dream and even Puffy who were the ones to blow up the other builds (meaning Dream is not doing this out of any professional/political lens, he’s just framing Tommy for his own self gain).

When it comes to Jack, I have multiple arguments I could make. Tommy’s mindset when it comes to pain is skewed (read the section in this comment about Fundy’s torture and Connor’s hostage situation to get a more in-depth detail about how it’s skewed). Hell, this happened during the exile, where Tommy considered Dream a good friend, and the man had been the one to take away his first two lives; for all it’s worth in Tommy’s mind, what’s a little killing between friends? In other scenarios, Tommy didn’t even intend to hurt or kill Jack. He got startled, rightly so as he was not only being abused and constantly nervous when Dream would show up but also suicidal and lost to a relatively consistent state of disassociation. I’m not saying he doesn’t owe the man an apology, but Tommy likely doesn’t even realize the wrongs of what he did; pain and death to him is so normalized that it likely doesn’t even register (like with Dream being his friend and killing him before, even Phil killing Wilbur (assisted suicide) and still claiming to love him). And even if we ignore all that, we’re all aware of the hallucinations Tommy experienced in exile, not to mention Dream’s gaslighting. He saw Tubbo everywhere, talked to an imaginary figure he called Clara and a girlfriend he built out of wood like they were real, and Dream even managed to gaslight him into thinking that MD (Mexican Dream) died of an overdose even after he killed him right in front of Tommy as the boy watched. For all Tommy was aware with his state of mind, Jack very well could have been another person/situation his mind created in an attempt to combat the isolation and loneliness.

One can also argue that Tommy messed up siding with Techno, the enemy of L’manberg. But what else was there for Tommy to do? He was running from his abuser, his friends had turned their backs on him for all he was aware—he was forced to fend for himself, even if that resorted to stealing, and he took the companionship and help where he could. Techno gave that to him.

If we were to address Tommy’s betrayal of Techno himself at the Green Festival, I would argue that it wasn’t truly betrayal at all. Techno literally offered to give Tommy to Dream for the favor while Tommy was right there next to him (how was Tommy supposed to trust him after that?), continued to insist their relationship was only a business transaction until the very end where he admitted that maybe he “might” consider Tommy something of a friend, only let Tommy stay with him and hide as long as Tommy was useful to him in his own goals (ergo, they used each other, and his insisting that Tommy only treated him like a weapon was a hypocritical argument to make when he didn’t treat Tommy much differently from a tool; he could at least respect the fact that they used each other equally), and while Techno insists he made his intentions clear from the start, that is untrue—Tommy’s the one who made his intentions clear, saying he didn’t want to blow up or hurt L’manberg, and Techno simply brushed that aside and insisted they’d talk about that later (Tommy only agreed to “minor terrorism” which we see he doesn’t back out on when he lets Techno spawn a Wither, take Connor hostage, etc). He even deleted the “Destroy L’manberg” item on the To-Do List before giving it to Tommy to look at, intentionally deceiving him of his intentions. He teamed up with Tommy’s abuser after even seeing the effect he’d had on Tommy after exile and then calling what Tommy did “betrayal” even though it could be more realistically considered a conflict of interests.

Let’s also talk about the “torture” of Fundy when he and Techno infiltrated L’manberg and the taking Connor hostage. Tommy was going along with what Techno wanted to do, for the most part. He was trying to prove he was useful and worthy of the refuge and companionship Techno offered. Remember, even after escaping Dream, Tommy was still struggling to recognize the abuse he’d endured (when he ran from the Final Control Room in the sewers, he was asking for Dream, his “friend”, to help him). Tommy still had yet to recognize that the hurt he’d suffered wasn’t justified. To him, torturing Fundy for information probably didn’t even register in his head as malicious. He wasn’t hurting Fundy just to hurt him, he was doing it for the good of his discs and L’manberg (as Tommy said). The pain he’d brought Fundy was a means to an end for him, and since a lot of the hurt Tommy has been through, not only by Dream, has been the same kind of pain, pain brought to further others’ goals and even teach “lessons”, it likely didn’t register in his head as wrong. I’m not saying Tommy doesn’t have to apologize, but it’s not as though the kid did it for the sole enjoyment of inflicting pain; his mindset was skewed due to his own experiences. In this instance, Connor’s situation is similar. They took him hostage to negotiate and further their own goals; I don’t think they even really hurt Connor. Hell, Tommy himself has been used by Wilbur, Techno, Dream, and probably others I can’t recall in the same manner, even in similarity that they didn’t inflict physical pain onto him either. Again, we’re back to Tommy not recognizing the mental stress and hurt he’s inflicting on people because he doesn’t register it; it’s normal to him, something he himself has been subjected to and then been told to suck it up.

In all honesty, I believe a lot of the stuff Tommy does that makes some people find it hard to sympathize with him is an attempt that Tommy makes to relax and have fun like he’s always done before everything went to crap (before the wars and betrayal and hate). Tommy’s character is naturally an angry kid (another reason why some dislike him), possibly a partial effect from growing up in the midst of fighting and war, or even an effect of his trauma and PTSD (mental health isn’t always pretty or as romanticized as people like to make it out to be). He’s all for a good spat and scuffle, but that’s familiar and lighthearted; he’s as tired of all the bloodshed and war just like anyone else is. He always seems to be raring for a fight, but like with his idea to fight Dream instead of taking punishment, he’s nowhere near willing to lose his home again, making fighting reasonable. When Sam Nook asked him to destroy the Egg, Tommy decided not to in fear of starting another war since it wasn’t really hurting anything at the time. Beyond that, Tommy’s character knows very little beyond fighting and violence; it’s the most familiar to him. Coping with peacetimes must be such a hard thing for him to grasp as a child soldier. Dealing with that and his recent grief over Wilbur through some harmless theft (no worse than what anybody else does) shouldn’t have gotten him so harshly punished, if punished at all.

[darealsaltysam]

I WATCHED THE ELECTION RESULTS STREAM (once more, wilbur’s pov) AND OH GOD THIS IS PAIN

1. HOLY SHIT SCHLATT’S LAUGH NEVER FAILS TO DISSAPOINT 

2. god the banishment.... wilbur and tommy running into the woods through the night... niki being the only one to speak up against schlatt... tubbo being pulled into it all... GOD ITS SO GOOD WHY IS IT SO GOOD

3. techno’s tweet sounds like something that would be posted together with a promotional poster for a movie where a beloved character comes back, absolutely brilliant mr. blade

4. GOD THE WHOLE WALL SECTION. WILBUR SINGING, TALKING ABOUT HIS SON, NIKI SEEING HIM FROM THE DISTANCE AND HIM WALKING AWAY, GOD IT WAS ALL SO PERFECT ???????????

5. wilbur has trust issues aimed specifically at americans (and eret) because of everything that happened now, this poor boy cant even trust the blade 

6. “I’m gonna make schlatt pay for this”

7.  THEM PLANNING TO TAKE OFF THE UNIFORMS IS SO SAD BUT ITS ALSO SO IMPORTANT TO EVERYTHING GOD IM SCREAMING (also “i can’t go back to my old skin wilbur, it has schlatt’s suit and it HURTS”)

8. TECHNOBLADE IS GONNA TRAIN THE BOYS !!!!!!!!!!

9. wilbur trusting tommy with his diamond armor just shows how far theyve come... and... “i trust you, youre the best right hand man i could have ever asked for”, AAAAAAAAAAA

10. technoblade cant roleplay and hes just there with his monotone voice... i mean go off king, we stan a man whos done with all this shit and just wants to stab some people. and this quote of them talking about their past on the earthsmp specifically shows it;

tommy, all emotional: good talking to you again big man

techno:

techno: 

techno: didn’t we just talk yesterday?

11. EVERYONE’S REACTION TO TECHNO LOGGING ON IS GOLD, LIKE NIKI THERE IN CHAT GETTING ALL EXCITED KNOWING THERE’S A CHANCE FOR L’MANBURG I LOVE HER-

12. wilbur breaking down over the destruction of l’manburg while schlatt wanders below, with tommy pulling techno away and telling him to give wilbur space- god why is all of this so CINEMATIC? ITS JUST MINECRAFT-

13. SCHLATT SAYING HE’LL CHANGE THE NAME OF THE COUNTRY AND NIKI TELLING HIM HE CANT DO IT AND SCREAMING AND HIM TELLING HER TO SHUT UP IS AN ACTUAL MOVIE SCENE THIS IS A MOVIE THIS ISNT MINECRAFT ANYMORE THIS IS-

14. “you’re going to pay for this” - why did niki sound so menacing when she said that what the fuck?????????? i didnt know this pure little sunshine could do that????????????

15. manburg??? MANBURG????? 

MANBURG??????

16. “TECHNOBLADE STOP LOOKING AT THE FUCKING DOG”

17. just...

Wilbur: Tubbo, can you be my Hercules Mulligan?

Tubbo: I can get the information and then smuggle it! :D

Tubbo: I got that reference! :DDDD

18. the first time wilbur said something mean/aggressive to tommy in this stream was when he mentioned talking to schlatt.... like im sorry if that doesnt tell you everything you need to know about the relationships of these three i dont know what will

19. TECHNO POTATO FARM BOTTOM TEXT

20. quackity broke nihachu out of prison?????? are they on the same side???? could it be quackity realized that being by schlatt’s side is a bit more than he bargained for?????? the intrigue....

21. “this is what i listened to with jschlatt on what should have been his only night on this server” okay tommy COMING ON A LITTLE STONG THERE-

22. another gold quote...

Techno: If I see an opportunity to assassinate the president, do I take it?

Tommy: Yes!

Wilbur: No! Absolutely not!

Tommy: Right, of course not!

23. TYLER “NINJA” BLEVINS???? THE TYLER “NINJA” BLEVINS???? ON DA DREAMSMP IN A WEEK?????? 

24. wilbur calling the country manburg and immediately throwing up is about what i expected from this “peace talk” 

25. wilbur i know you have trust issues now but if you don’t risk techno on your side you will literally die there is no other outcome to this honey please let yourself be helped jfc

26. the gang desperately trying to come up with a name while low-key getting sad over loosing l’manburg and techno just in the background going “if that’s our name im switching sides” and “my standards are low but not that low” has energy i cant quite place but i love it

27. pogtopia it is i guess????

28. tommy and wilbur getting straight up dreamsmp war ptsd when they found the bunker they hid in is some, once more, movie-tier stuff. i mean, what else to do when the heroes are already down than to beat them down further?

29. “go potato boy go!!!” 

30. god this whole stream was.... such a ride... holy shit... and this is only the START of this new arc??????? BOY I AM HYPED. like, MORE HYPED THAN IVE EVER BEEN FOR ANY SMP BEFORE

on another note... the new guy, huh? that must have been a wild ride for your first day on the smp.... hope you stick around, hbomb

[hamphobicbasil]

Could u elaborate about the dsmp story being bad? Not a rabid/brain dead fan, just genuinely curious and I enjoy reading people's rants lolol

oh you dont know the floodgates you just opened

a few things:

1. despite not liking the creators of the dsmp anymore, I don't actually hate most of them. [the ones that are particularly unsavory fall outside of this of course] so all that I'm saying i truly mean in a critical sense towards the story, its also just all purely my opinion as someone who enjoys fictional and fantasy stories and who like criticizing works to see what it does well and what it doesn't do well

2. for clarification I'm going to use the c![name] to indicate when I'm talking about the characters. Don't get me wrong, I think its annoying too but its the only way I'm gonna be able to write this thing without getting something across the wrong way yknow?

3. I stopped watching the streams after November 16th, [save for one Techno one but I closed out after a particularly bad story beat lol] and so all information coming afterward is all second hand from either me seeing people on twt talk abt it or people dming me. All i really know is up to dream's imprisonment and some stuff past that.

4. This is mostly aimed towards the "main" story, so stuff abt the badlands, eggpire, and whatnot are briefly mentioned.

anyways uh, i'll try to be brief but also include enough information to get why i feel the way i do on some stuff across

A. Performances Alright obviously these people are all streamers, so obviously they might not be the best actors, and hell no one is even asking that of them. However, when you're telling a story that's based on the audio with the visuals kinda coming to a second, it's gotta be pretty strong. I will say, some of the best actors in my opinion are Wilbur, Tommy, and Tubbo. I would include Ranboo but I never watched any of his story bits or story streams so I can't say much. Wilbur and Tommy are excellent in selling their character's emotions and feelings, when I watch the stream I don't feel like I'm watching an rp but an actual thought-out story yknow? And one of my favorite Tubbo examples was in the Hog Hunt video whenever Techno attacked him, he sounded genuinely afraid and I believed everything his character was feeling.

However, unfortunately, not everyone is gonna be that good. And I'm gonna say it; Dream and Techno have to be the worst out of the entire cast. I understand Techno's whole character is this monotoned badass, however, when really emotional moments hit I feel like he never lets that fall, and a lot of intense moments just ring hollow. And I'm sorry but Dream's attempts at being intimidating leave me laughing whenever I watch them. It feels like he watched that one scene from The Marriage with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johannson and said "Oh this is what good acting looks like! Just yelling." His whole "I don't give a FUCK about Spirit!" speech isn't as great as people keep making it out to be. And whenever he tries to act coy when being a villain it feels like a guy reading the script for the first time, a bit like he's trying too hard. I have more problems with his character but his portrayal certainly doesn't help.

Everyone else is fine, and I don't feel strongly either way about a lot of them.

B. The "Lore" Okay first off, I can't be the only one who thinks it's silly that people are calling the dsmp's story "lore" when it's not, it's the fucking story. Lore indicates backstory to either the world or the characters, which a lot of the streams don't really pertain to. This is a really petty section but god it's a weird pet peeve of mine.

Other than the misusage of "lore" vs "story", the actual lore and world-building of the world are so lackluster that new elements can be introduced whenever and it often feels cluttered or not well thought out at all. And here's the thing, I feel like if the writers sat down just for a few minutes to establish world rules and general history, a lot of this could be solved! but so much is made up on the spot that it starts to feel like they're grabbing at straws to keep people invested, trying to reach that next high and intense story beat without actually earning it.

C. The Egg / Eggpire This is a pretty minor note since I was only invested in the Egg storyline for a little bit, but god it's so underused that it's almost embarrassing. Bad has provided this super interesting antagonistic force that's infecting the SMP, can control people, and who one of our main character is immune to, and it's just never used or even talked about again? Now I understand if he wanted to keep it to a side storyline only, however, to introduce this borderline eldritch creature and force within the world and then never have it dealt with is so weird.

D. The Writing Oh boy this is. kinda a big one. Now I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty obvious I have a bias for the Wilbur writing over the current team [that consisting of Dream, Quackity, and Tommy mostly]. I don't this his writing is perfect by any means, the characters constantly bringing up traitors got obnoxious after a while, and writing Hamilton but in Minecraft really isn't the modern Shakespeare or anything. However, I think his exploration of characters and plot progression was a lot more thought out and well planned, like he actually had two brain cells behind the story yknow? The current team I think fails to be as emotional or even impactful, things happened too fast and my god was everything drowned in angst for so long.

Don't get me wrong, you gotta have your characters face hardships to make them reach their goal believable, but some of the shit they put the characters through just felt like too much. From c!Tubbo's constant comparison to c!Schlatt [who btw, fucking ordered his death and kept him from his friends in a nation he felt trapped in] and on a side note, i kinda really fucking dislike the "c!Schlatt dad!!" au's or the au's where c!Tubbo inherits some of Schlatt's features, it would be like c!Tommy getting a c!Dream mask after his exile, it's feels so weird yet people eat that shit up for some reason.

But god, did c!Tommy get the brunt of it all and in retrospect after his final death, it kinda feels really fucking gross. Now obviously, I'm not trusting any of these people to write decent mental health representation, but c!Tommy's PTSD and how it was explored was just degrading. [Specifically the scene in that one Techno stream where he saw the final control room from the first war, and had a flashback / panic attack where he started calling out for c!Dream. I understand this is an actual thing people with PTSD will experience, but it felt so fucking stereotypical it got on my nerves. I actually had to close out of the stream because it made me feel sick, fiction shouldn't leave you feeling that way.] And don't get me started on how they basically reused the formula from the previous arc. [Problem introduced -> Tensions rise as things start to fall apart -> Big confrontation -> Exile -> Return from Exile -> Blowing up L'Manberg, again.]

And speaking of characters-

E. Character Arcs, or the lack of them In my genuine opinion, some of these characters' arcs are so disappointing. Especially c!Tommy's. I'm not one to believe that he was a "selfish" character or anything, however, his goals were simply set on his discs and maybe c!Tubbo, he didn't have much outside that. However, L'Manberg gave him something to care about, he gave up his discs for it and he fought for it tooth and nail, I think it taught him to open up to others and trust more. It was a great character arc for him to have, seeing him still fight even after his first exile alongside c!Wilbur, to return safely to the nation that he and his found family had built.

But then his second exile happened, and I feel like all of that was undone.

c!Tommy's exile genuinely pisses me off for so many reasons. It's not that characters can't have their low points after reaching a major change or feeling like they've "completed" their arcs or anything, but it's more of the fact that it seems like he's never going to heal that feels like a spit in the face, especially to people who might have had setbacks like that before. Progress isn't linear, sometimes things happen and you get knocked back down, it can take a while to get back up, but I don't think c!Tommy's character is ever going to be allowed to get back up. From c!Dream, who pretty much was a constant abuser in his life, killing him then reviving him, and his still fractured relationship with c!Tubbo, which by the way I have a had time believing they would still be friends after all that happened, it feels like he can never get a win and it's generally kinda a shit way to treat your characters who have been abused. Of course, not all abused characters are going to get happy endings, I'm not trying to dictate that they all should, but c!Tommy deserves one and the fact that it's so obscure feels shitty.

Side note: we still don't have a canon reason to give a shit abt the discs. Like I'm sorry but without some sorta connection to the MacGuffin why should we give a shit about him getting them other than "he wants them lol". Like hell, I would even accept the classic "they were the last gifts from his parents" or something, but we still don't have a reason.

c!Tubbo also lacks a fulfilling arc as well, from someone who started out as a yes man, he has progressed a bit into having his own interests first, but besides that sometimes his character makes me so. depressed. He's easily one of the most pushed around and hated characters within the story, all for being a kid who didn't know what to do and he's in the same vein as c!Tommy; these kids can't get a break. Also, his anti-violence beliefs morphing into the "lets kill c!Techno lol!" bit was so out of place and without proper build-up it was like. what. And now he's building nukes?? god c!Tubbo makes me so sad because he's kicked around constantly and never given a chance to grow.

Another small note, I also don't really enjoy c!Techno at all. Besides the previously stated reasons of lack of emotions when they're really needed, I find his character to be weirdly pretentious. He talks as if he's constantly been betrayed and hurt but I personally, don't see it? Like, I think one of the main examples was the Pogtopia vs. Manberg war, yknow he wanted to end the government but they just reinstated it after they won = c!Techno upset. But this doesn't make sense to me because why did he think otherwise? The entire time c!Tommy had talked about taking back their nation and starting again, so the fact that c!Techno suddenly thought there would be a sudden change is, to put it bluntly, kinda fucking stupid. I don't want to say that he "plays the victim" or anything because that feels a bit harsh, but his character feels so far up his own ass that I can't enjoy him.

I have a major grip with c!Dream as well, but that's getting it's own fucking section.

F. L'Manberg This is a quick note before we get into the, forgive me for this, endgame, of this entire rant, since the next two sections are tied together. But god, L'Manberg makes me upset because it feels like they gave up on it.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that it is supposed to be c!Wilbur's "unfinished symphony", the thing that destroyed a once charismatic and widely loved man, his attempt at power that utterly ruined him. But the fact that it just got blown up in the end after everything and left to rot felt like such a waste of time. From the first war, to Pogtopia, to even c!Tommy's exile, it all felt fucking worthless in the end, and the story is actively closer to how it was when it started now more than ever. I wished it was actually allowed to exist and continue to be a peaceful place in what is a chaotic world, but no it was just snuffed out because why dedicate to this concept of finding others you can band together with and feel safe. fuck that noise apparently?

G. The Villains Now villain-wise, I'm only talking about c!Dream [during the first war], c!Schlatt, and c!Wilbur. And believe it or not, this is actually mostly positive.

Now I'm not gonna lie, c!Dream as a staring antagonist wasn't bad actually, he posed a genuine and threatening opposition to L'Manberg, even if we didn't know his real intentions or motivations as to why he was against it. He's lucky in this sense because he didn't have to be good, he had to be passable. If anything, he felt more like an anti-hero than a tyrant or traditional villain, and my god do I wish he kept this theme going forward.

Now quick disclaimer, I don't like JSchlatt as much as the next guy, he's an adult man who should know better than to joke about some sensitive topics and act the way that he does. But the one thing I'll ever give him is that damn, was he a good actor for his character.

Now here's the thing, c!Schlatt wasn't particularly deep at all. He had no real motivations behind his exile of c!Wilbur and c!Tommy other than getting competition out of the way, had no reason to act the way that he did and yknow? that's fine. The reason why he worked was from his performance alone, he was actually intimidating. When he came onto the stream and was doing his typical bad guy stuff, it was actually intense to see what he would do. Whenever he would almost catch c!Tommy back in Manberg, whenever he would begin to pressure c!Tubbo, it put you on the edge of your seat and it felt like everything would change at the drop of a pen. He's a villain to be a villain, and this works out because he's just charismatic and well put together enough to make it interesting, even without the backstory or motives.

c!Wilbur however, is much more tragic, and the best villain of the story. He essentially was the "mentor turned evil" trope and it felt terrible watching him descend into madness, unable to trust barely anyone except for c!Techno and c!Tommy. Hell, in the end I think he still cared about them both, despite losing everything. Sure, he blew up L'Manberg, but there was still a smidge of the old c!Wilbur in there made everything he did feel melancholic. His death at the hands of his father after achieving his final wish was chilling, and something I still think about.

Until yknow, Ghostbur came back way too soon to let people feel his loss as a character within that world. And then he got revived, pretty much-undoing everything that moment meant for his character lol.

And then there's the worst one:

H. Dream. I'm going to be completely honest, c!Dream is one of the main reasons why I dislike the current dsmp stuff so much. Outside of his actions as a person, the way Dream decided to write his character as this overpowered madman of the dsmp really just. destroyed any intrigue that he could've had. Perhaps this is from my growing dislike towards him, manifesting into a bias towards his character, but god I cannot fathom why people try to insist he's interesting when he has as much depth as a fucking puddle.

And here's the thing, I'm not even entirely against c!Dream being a villain, hell I think he would've been great as an anti-hero if anything. Make him sympathetic but not through c!George to get your precious "DNF" points or anything, but show him actually caring about the people within the dsmp, including c!Tommy and c!Tubbo. This would make his rival status with them just a bit more complicated, sure they're enemies, however, he doesn't want to hurt or kill them, and there's still a level of friendship there that keeps them bonded when things get super bad. This could've been super interesting to see, the first villain of the story receiving a sorta redemption arc then descending into madness as he started to fixate on being a god. This is all how I feel personally, but god do I feel like it would've been better than his current character, and hell would've worked with how he was during the Pogtopia arc, before the war that is. I'm not trying to tell Dream how to write his own character, but there are so many other ways he could've done the madman seeking to become god rather then. whatever the hell we got.

Because instead, we got this power-mad asshole who does things... because he can? And that's one of my major issues: he tries to surround his character in mystery to make him "intriguing" but it's kinda like c!Techno, it comes off as pretentious. Not only that, but you cannot keep waving around this mystery of a backstory without ever actually revealing it. I know the story isn't over, but c!Dream is effectively at his lowest point, now would be the time to reveal his backstory. But no just keep it in the dark and keep everyone guessing, that's totally fun and not at all tiring and annoying. (sarcasm, if anyone needs it)

And back to his performance, he doesn't sell this aloof, cynical and strategic warrior that has perfected the blade or some shit, he comes off as some angry guy yelling on reddit. which i don't need to tell you, isn't intimidating. It feels like he's trying to have c!Schlatt's intimidation combined with c!Wilbur's depth, but instead he's like a little brother who's trying to hard to mimic his older brother and is kinda embarrassing himself.

but other then that i dont feel too strongly abt the dsmp lol

but seriously, these are the main complaints I have abt the story tbh, I could probably talk about more but I wont because man. this is probably gonna get me in trouble if any of the hyper-dsmp fans actually read it.

[cregla]

/rp I can see the appeal with the "Dreamon" storyline, the one where it has possessed Dream since at least Manberg vs Pogtopia. I really see it. Because Dream, even when he was against Tommy and Wilbur, was still... Dream. Their dynamic is wonderful. Fun and amazing. You can still see it in Exile when Dream is faking a friendship with Tommy in order to manipulate him more - and that's because while they're still acting, CC!Dream is friend with CC!Tommy and THEIR dynamic is wonderful. It automatically translate in us having a good time whenever they're on screen together (well... we didn't have a good time during exile or the prison, but you know what I mean). People want it back. They want Dream to be able to roleplay alongside the other like he did before, and I undertstand it! Dreamon!Dream is the easy way out of it. And I can totally see it in fanfictions and fanworks. In canon, however? It would be so harmful.

A very long post, please follow me.

C!Dream is an abuser. It's a completly different character from what his CC actually is (duh), in a way no other characters are in this SMP. C!Dream is an abuser, a murderer, and someone who did REALLY bad things and still thinks he was right all along. A person like this NEEDS to be punished (and I'm not entering in the "prison" discourse. Regardless of the prison conditions, Dream still deserves to be imprisoned) and the story NEEDS to give him consequences for his actions. People need to know that he's the bad guy and what he did was wrong, regardless of our own appreciation of the character (appreciation, not apologism). And the character especially work because he's a REALISTIC representation of abusers. Sure, he as an axe and potions and there's the whole PVP and Minecraft gaming system to take on, but in the end? Dream is just a guy. When Dream abused Tommy he did it with isolations, gaslighting, threats of death and beatings and actually beating him, lies. It's something any abuser in the real world, even without potions, could do. It's something abusers do.

To say that Dream was "possessed", to give every fault to a "Dreamon", is to erase this. Because it's not a person anymore, it was a demon controlling that person! And demons don't actually exist in real life. It's not Dream's fault anymore, guys! ("But Nate, stories shouldn't only educate people! We can have bad things in our stories if it makes them good!" While that is true, DSMP is a medium followed by very young teen and even children and the CCs themselves said that they had researched about real life abuse to be more accurate possible, therefore it's not the same as, I don't know, a fanfiction or another media that wasn't made with this intent)

And what about Tommy? He already feels guilty for things that are not his fault. Putting a possessed, innocent Dream in prison? That would break him. Knowing his personality he would totally, 100%, believe himself to be at fault because he "had" to realize what was really going on. He would feel so guilty near Dream while it should be the exact opposite. And then what? He couldn't, of course, blame Dream anymore. But he would still be fighting his own PTSD - do you believe he would be able to start a friendship again with Dream? No, no he wouldn't. And both characters and viewers, who are so critical of Tommy for ANYTHING, would give him hell for this, not realizing how PTSD works.

One of my favourite fanfiction in this fandom, if not my favourite one, has Dreamon!Dream. And yet, let me show you a paragraph of one of the last chapter (here is the link to the story, btw.)

Then he shakes his head and Sam asks the question he’s been dying to know since he first saw Dream in his little museum, “is that why you destroyed your family? Why you turned on all of us?”

And suddenly, Dream is laughing that horrible, broken laugh, one of pain and malice. It hurts Sam’s heart and he wonders if he can go back to his mother, if her arms will warm the ice spilling down his neck.

“No, Sam,” Dream says and the voice is harsh, hoarse. “No, that was all me.”

The story explain Dream's motivations. It gives him a backstory and an explanation on why he ended up like this and why he did so many bad things. But it never justifies him. And, above all, specifies that even if Dream may have a "redemption arc", it will be something personal, or connected to his friends. Tommy, Tubbo and all those he has harmed are not forced to accept his apology, whether it is sincere or not.

That's the only way I could see a Dreamon storyline in canon, honestly. Handled with care and never used as a way out of Dream's actions. And even there, we know how most of the viewers are. We know how Dream's apologists are, how everyone's prone to victim blaming in this goddamn fandom. The CCs may handle it PERFECTLY. And yet people would still misuranderstand it. I'm 100% on with Dreamon in fanfiction and fanworks. Even if you're using it to have Season1!Dream back, even if you want to completly excuse Dream like this. But in canon? No thanks no. I dread the day we might discover that's the storyline. Please, no.

[dsmp-shitposts]

OKAY I'm in an analysis mood so!!

Here's why "Savior" by Rise Against is such a good song about c!wilbur and c!Tommy's relationship in the dream smp!

Firstly tho I just want to give an honorable mention to the first lines of the song: "it kills me not to know this / but I've all but just forgotten / what the color of her eyes were / or the scars and how she got them." it's such a good c!bee duo line and I might have to analyze it in another post lol

(there's kinda a tldr at the bottom if you don't want to read the specific lyric analysis and just was the overall analysis!)

The lyrics I want to analyze (these are more about characterization) are: "as the telling signs of age rain down / a single tear is dropping / through the valleys of an aging face / that this world has forgotten." this is about wilburs resurrection. the first lyrics, "as the telling signs of age rain down" are about how much more different Wilbur looks to Tommy after he was resurrected. wilbur was in limbo for what he perceived to be 13 years, and he shows it physically. he has the white streak of hair that signifies his revival, and I know there's a popular headcanon that wilbur came back "wrong." "A single tear is dropping" is referring to Tommy's reaction to the revival. we know he was in disbelief and even angry at wilbur being back, but intense emotions also can bring on tears. it's a very natural response from your body. The third line is pretty much the same as the first, but "that this world has forgotten" is about wilburs impact on the history of the smp. obviously he's been a very big player in many major plot points, but since his death he has mainly faded to the background in most characters minds, especially after ghostbur's library with all the records from lmanberg got destroyed. as the smp progressed, wilbur got talked about less. focus shifted from him to dream who really emerged as the villain in the story after wilburs death. we can see the impact of this after wilburs revival. everyone on the smp had gotten used to living without him for so long, growing past the people they were when Wilbur was alive. and now when Wilbur gets revived, he expected fanfare and everyone welcoming him back, but in reality people's memory of him faded.

okay now that we have the preface lyrics, we can go into the ones that are more about tommy and Wilbur as a duo. the first ones before the chorus are "but seldom do these words ring true / when I'm constantly failing you / walls that we just can't break through / until we disappear." I'm gonna analyze this with the first two lines and the last two. the first two lines are from Tommy's perspective about him trying to constantly please wilbur. we see this with him gathering lots of stone for him and following Wilbur to stand against Las nevadas and quackity. but even with all of this, Tommy still feels like he's "constantly failing" wilbur and that he needs to do more in order to stay in high regard in Wilbur's mind. we could even look at these same lyrics from wilbur's perspective! wilbur might have felt like he's failed Tommy for not being there for him for the time he was in limbo. I know Wilbur doesn't know about what dream did to Tommy in the exile arc, but I'm betting that if/when wilbur finds out about that, he will feel horrible for not being there himself to stop dream because wilbur cares about Tommy. (this could even lead to him resenting ghostbur more because ghostbur was there but wasn't able to do anything). now with the second half of these lyrics, the "walls that we just can't break through" is referring to the emotional vulnerability, or lack thereof, between the two. I'd argue that wilbur is more emotionally vulnerable to Tommy than Tommy is to wilbur. now, there is a severe lack of communication between the two, but wilbur drops "trauma bombs" where he'll unload something all at once and suddenly. he doesn't do much internal reflection of his feelings, instead wanting to share with others, Tommy in this case, to get validation. with sharing, he wants people to agree that he's a bad person but at the same time wants them to refute those ideas so he feels like he's healing without actually doing anything. now Tommy does more introspection about his feelings (cc! Tommy monologuing) and doesn't feel as big a need as wilbur to share his feelings and trauma. and besides, Wilbur dominates the conversation most of the time anyways so Tommy wouldn't likely be able to carry a constructive conversation about his own feelings without getting talked over by wilbur.

now we're moving onto the chorus! it goes: "that's when she said / 'I don't hate you / I just want to save you / while there's still something left to save' / that's when I told her 'i love you / but I'm not the answer / for the questions that you still have.'" I see this as a conversation between Wilbur and Tommy; Tommy saying the "I don't hate you" section and Wilbur saying the "I love you" section. it's important for Tommy to make it clear to wilbur, and himself, that he doesn't hate Wilbur despite his past betrayal of lmanberg. wilbur thinks everyone hates him, so Tommy consistently sticking by his side is a reminder to Wilbur that he isn't alone. Tommy staying by wilburs side is also how he's ensuring that wilbur doesn't spiral again ("I just want to save you"). he knows that wilbur still isn't in the best mental place, not having the right environment to heal in limbo, so it's more crucial in his mind to be wilbur's crutch right now because it'd be very easy for wilbur to spiral again ("while there's still something left to save"). wilbur, with his part of the lyrics, wants to ensure that Tommy knows he still cares about him despite being gone for a long time. now for the last part of wilburs lyrics, I would love for it to mean that "wilbur understands that he can't be a good mentor to Tommy anymore because of everything that happened. he wants Tommy to realize that he does care for him but their relationship shouldn't function with Wilbur as a mentor anymore," but that wouldn't be accurate to their canon relationship. wilbur still wants to be Tommy's mentor because that's how their relationship has always functioned. my hope is that in wilbur's healing process that he realizes he doesn't have to be a mentor to Tommy, they can just exist as friends. and I would love for Tommy to realize that it's not his job to save Wilbur! while having friends you can talk about your emotions with is good, he shouldn't have to push his own feelings aside to prioritize wilbur's. wilbur also needs to learn that self reflection is a part of healing

the final specific lyrics I want to analyze are: "one thousand miles away / there's nothing left to say / but so much left that I don't know / we never had a choice / this world is too much noise / it takes me under once again." the first three lines, in my opinion, all relate to the fact that Tommy had gone through so much while wilbur was dead, such has dream's manipulation. the last three lines of this section, which are honestly my favorites, are relating to both of their revivals. even though wilbur and Tommy have developed so differently since the lmanberg and pogtopia eras, they have this one thing in common. Tommy didn't have a choice in his death or resurrection. both were committed by dream and have contributed to the massive amount of trauma and PTSD that Tommy has. wilburs death was practically by his own hand as it was an assisted suicide, but his resurrection wasn't his choice, again done by dream murdering ghostbur. that line could also refer to wilbur not feeling like he had a choice in living anymore, feeling like death was the only option for him at the end of his spiral. the last two lines refer to the mental problems that both Wilbur and Tommy are still facing. we talked about wilburs a bit with his need for validation and him villainizing himself in his mind. Tommy still struggles with suicidal ideation, seen most recently with his comments while on the balcony in Las nevadas. he also struggles with his triggers from the final control room and the prison that we see him try and speedrun exposure therapy for. what I'm trying to get at with this is that wilbur and Tommy have developed so differently while away from each other but they have their resurrections in common.

OKAY CONCLUSION TIME!! (also kindof a tldr)

while Tommy and wilbur have been apart from each other for a while and developed in different ways, their relationship after both of them have been revived is centered around both of their relationships to healing from their trauma. Tommy feels like he's the one who has to "save" wilbur and keep him from spiraling again, letting his own feelings be pushed aside to prioritize wilbur's. wilbur lets himself be the saved to Tommy's savior. he consistently seeks out validation for his own feelings instead of taking the time to sort out how he really feels about the things that have happened to him.

if you read this far then oh wow thank you!! I hope this made sense and I'd love to hear what you think of the comparisons to this song!

[square-blunt]

I love my friends, they make me feel alive again, or at least they remind me that I'm not even dead

I am kicking and screaming i must put this one and another Esmp fic out before tomorrow and I am very Nyoom rn so I'm sorry if this one isn't as good, I really liked the way it turned out so here have some clingyduo fluff bc yeah I can writing things that aren't angst?? What? no one dies and their best friend holds them in their arms this time?? fuckin crazy. /lh

TW- Abandonment anxiety, ptsd WC: 2530 words Ao3: :3

It was Tubbo's birthday today. Tommy had been planning something for weeks- grinding, mining, stealing, going through ax after ax getting wood. He even asked Foolish for some help, and after those weeks, he had finally built a perfect replica of the L'manberg bee house. It wasn't in L'manberg, of course, but Tommy was sure Tubbo wouldn't care.

He didn't fill the basement with wolves, but he did get two or three bees in there- he named them. Beeinnit, Ranbee, and Tubbee. Tubbo and his two best friends, but bee form. Tommy was still Tubbo's best friend, right? He knew that Ranboo was more than a friend to Tubbo, the two were married, Ranboo couldn't technically hold both titles, and Ranboo was too dumb- he needs to stop blaming Ranboo. Sitting in the bee dome, planting a few last flowers- cornflowers, poppies, sunflowers, and white tulips, Tommy realizes that he needs to stop blaming Ranboo. He needs to. Because Ranboo was a good… enderguy. And he was good for Tubbo. He had asked Tubbo if Ranboo made him happy- Tubbo nodded, and that was good enough for him. He needs to stop blaming Ranboo, and start looking at himself. Because if he and Tubbo aren't talking as much, of course, he's gonna find someone else to talk to. And he's learning to not blame himself for everything, he does blame Dream for that, but this isn't Ranboo's fault and it isn't Tubbo's. And Tommy knows that he and Tubbo are still gonna be friends. It's been him and Tubbo since the beginning, that's what he said before fighting Dream. And Tommy knows that he and Tubbo will have each other's back. He's just overthinking this, but he is still gonna try and give Tubbo everything he wants or needs. And try to give him the world that he deserves. He's gonna try and make the world a better place for him. And a bee dome is a nice, easy start. It was more tedious than anything- thank prime for Eret stealing the blueprints before Doomsday. They had the plans for every building ever created- they let Tommy have the one for the bee dome. They even brought over the bee that would become Tubbee. Tommy… wanted to forgive Eret. And he would. Eventually. Tommy kind of did that before going off to fight Dream- Eret was the last person he talked to. And Eret looked so relieved when Tommy said that he thought they were the true king. They had been there for him and Tubbo. That was good enough for him. He did think that Tubbo, Ranboo, and Eret, even, were his best friends. He knew that Puffy was his friend, and her griefing his house was just some friendly pranks, and he enjoyed having something to do. Shit was getting too buddy-buddy around here. Wilbur… he wanted to be Wilbur's friend- brother. He wanted the Wilbur who started L'manberg, he wanted the Wilbur who would sit down and play a song. He knew that Wilbur was still there. Somewhere. He stops to touch the petal of a cornflower next to him. Blue and yellow are on opposite ends of the color wheel, but they mean the same thing to Tommy. He loves, and misses, his best friends. They make him a better person. He doesn't have to be the bad guy.

Tommy shields his face, the sun setting and glaring into his eyes through a window. It's almost night, shit. He had put enough lanterns and shroomlights in the dome that mobs wouldn't spawn, but he wasn't so sure about outside. There was some pathing, courtesy of Foolish, and there was some light around, but he wasn't sure. Because mobs weren't the only thing that darkness hid.

Tubbo whispers to you: I'm here boss man

Tommy smiles. He had asked Tubbo to meet him at the community house, after his birthday party in the mansion- Tommy had left early to put the flowers in and told tubbo to meet him there whenever he was ready.

/msg Tubbo: k I gotta do one last thing

/msg Tubbo: be there in a sec

He's almost happier it's night, it'll look a lot cooler from a distance. He plants one more cornflower next to a hive. He brushes his hands off on his pants, and then brushes his pants off, and checks his reflection in the window. It wasn't too far of a run back to the community house, the dome was just to the side of Eret's castle.

"Tubbzo!" Tommy runs up behind his friend, who, unfortunately, had his back turned.

"Tommy!! You scared the shit out of me, fuck you-" Tubbo said, Tommy laughing.

"You fucking jumped, like, 30 feet in the air," Tommy says, a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Fuck you," Tubbo repeats, lightly hitting Tommy in the arm, beginning to giggle as well.

"Come on, I spent so fucking long on this so you'd better like it," Tommy says, beginning to drag Tubbo out by his forearm.

"Yeah, is Ranboo already there?" Tubbo says, walking at pace with the other.

"What? I haven't seen Ranboo since the party." Tommy says, a pit in his stomach opening up.

"Huh, he said he was going to go help you with my birthday gift. You never saw him at all?" Tubbo says, voice laced with worry.

"No, was he going anywhere before coming to me? And- and I never told him where this was- only Foolish knew. So I don't even know how he'd find me." Tommy says, his grip loosening on Tubbo's forearm so he could pull away if he wanted. Tubbo didn't.

"No, he did that weird thing though, he calls me Tubbo and talks to me like you or Foolish would." Tubbo walks a little closer to Tommy.

"What's off about that?"

"Ranboo usually calls me beloved or snow angel, and he'd talk to me like a husband would, yknow?"

"He calls you 'snow angel?'" Tommy screws up his nose.

"Oh, piss off," Tubbo smiles a little.

"But still, we can look for him on our way? Unless you wanna look for him now, the be-irthday gift can wait."

"A beirthday gift, you say?" Tubbo says, smiling.

"Oh, piss off," Tommy mimics Tubbo, "but seriously, if you wanna look for him we can." Tommy stops and turns to face Tubbo, giving a reassuring squeeze.

"No, no, it's- you made it, whatever it is, I'm sure he's fine, and I'm sure he'd want me to go ahead," Tubbo says, looking up and smiling slightly.

"If you're sure. Because fucking Prime, this shit took so fucking long and I had to practically beg Foolish to help…" Tommy continues to talk to Tubbo, trying to distract him from his currently missing husband. Eventually, the moon high in the clouds, they get to the start of the path.

"There's no way you did this." Tubbo laughs.

"I didn't- Foolish did the path but I built the actual thing," Tommy says, letting go of Tubbo's arm, "I'll race you!" and off he sprints.

"NO FAIR YOU KNOW WHERE IT IS!" Tubbo laughs from behind him.

"BYE-BYE BEE- boy-" Tommy skids to a stop, not long after rounding a corner of trees. He can see flames, high over the tree line, the light eating away and the surrounding stars, in the back of his mind he hears explosions- there aren't any explosions, Tommy, it's just a forest fire, there isn't any TNT, there isn't any TNT-

"Oh, is that… supposed to be on fire-" Tubbo stops next to him, Tubbo's hand on Tommy's forearm this time.

"No- no it-" Tommy straightens up, and he catches a glimpse of someone running away- a figure behind the trees, he blinks, and it's gone-

"Tommy?" Tubbo turns to look where Tommy was looking- where the figure was just moments before.

"N- nothing- Tubbo get- get behind me-" Tubbo's grip tightens on Tommy's arm as he pulls Drista's dagger out of his inventory, holding it in his other hand. Together, they creep up the path, until what's left of the bee house comes into view. It’s engulfed in flames, and all of Tommy’s hard work is being eaten away before his eyes. Tommy curses, puts the dagger away, and pulls out his water bucket.

"You've got-" Tommy motions at the bucket

"Yeah- and c'mere," Tubbo says, pulling on Tommy’s arm, throwing a fire res pot up. Tubbo lets go of Tommy’s arm as the shield washes over them, Tommy's skin feeling tingly. Together, they manage to put out the fire and put out a few trees that had caught before it spread anywhere else. They end in the dome, the roof all but gone, one of five beehives on the top floor remain.

"Oh, Tommy-" Tubbo begins to say, sadness heavy in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I spent fucking ages on it. Can't have shit- the gods must hate-" Tommy begins bitterly, collecting the last of the water, and putting it back in his hot bar. At least before his knees buckle under an unanticipated pile of weight. He hears Tubbo laughing from right behind him- he jumped on Tommy’s back, “Fuckin- Get off of me-” Tommy laughs, too. He doesn't mean anything by it, there's no malicious tone to anything he says to Tubbo- and Tubbo's one of the few people who actually understand that.

"I know exactly what this is-" Tubbo says, standing straight, a hand on his hip.

"What it was supposed to be." Tommy, out of habit, mirrors Tubbo. "See, why can't we have nice things? Fuckin, everyone else gets cool buildings and kingdoms and shit why the fuck can't we have a bee dome in the middle of the woods- what, why are you laughing" Tommy gestures vaguely at the rubble before raising a quizzical eyebrow at Tubbo's silent giggles.

"What it was supposed to bee," Tubbo says, cackling, and Tommy groans.

"Augh Tubbo, now is not the time-" Tommy rolls his eyes

"It was never meant to bee-" Tubbo laughs harder, clutching his stomach, leaning on Tommy for support. Tommy finds himself laughing a little bit,

"Ok, yeah, that was a good one- you wanna bee a hero, Tommy?" Tommy mimics Techno in a high-pitched voice- sending Tubbo into hysterics.

"We- We-hehehe- We would rather die than give into you and joi- join your SMBee-" Tubbo says between fits of laughter, making Tommy bark out a wheeze, "That was- was beeasier than I thought-"

"My unfinished symphobee-"

"TOMMY-"

"You can't control who lives who dies who-"

"-tells your storbee?"

"Yeah-hahaha! F- for Tommy to bee exiled-"

"That was so fucking stupid why'd I do that-" Tubbo shakes his head, his laughter subsiding.

"Because that's what you thought was best, you had no way of knowing what he was gonna- what he was gonna do to me-" Tommy says, the tone becoming solemnly serious.

"-If I had known I never would have done it, I would have told Dream to shove it up his ass, you know that right?" Tubbo says, reaching for Tommy's hand.

"Of course. We're best friends, I know you'd never do that to me." Tommy squeezes his hand. Tubbo lets out a breath, and he looks like a massive weight has been lifted off his shoulders. As much as he feels guilty admitting it, Tommy's glad Tubbo's been worrying about that. It means that he cares.

"Should he go in there and see what we can rebuild?" Tubbo says, rocking back and forth on his feet.

"If any, but- the bees!" Tommy breaks into a sprint, tugging Tubbo along with him with a yelp.

"Bees?" Tubbo easily gets his footing as they fly down the stairs, and all of Tommy's breath leaves in a sigh of relief. He can see three balls of yellow and black in a patch of flowers.

"Oh, thank prime," Tommy says.

"Oh, the flowers are L'manburg colors!" Tubbo reaches down to pick a poppy.

"Yeah… I tried to think of as many things as possible because I know how much L'manberg meant to you-" Tommy flails his arms out- Tubbo launching himself at Tommy- into a familiar hug, their laughter bouncing off the walls.

"It's fine, Tommy," Tubbo says, his voice bright- and Tommy becomes coldly aware of a memory- the last time Tubbo had roughly tangled him into a hug.

What am I without you?

Yourself?

"Tommy?" Tubbo's pulled back, a- at this point- very familiar concern on his face.

"I'm alright- just, bad memories. I'll be alright-" Tommy shakes his head, pulling Tubbo back into the hug.

"Are you sure? We can stop for a second- sit and talk?" Tubbo says softly from Tommy's shoulder.

"No- not on your birthday, I promise- I promise I'll be alright, this is nothing I haven't done- we haven't done before," Tommy says back, tucking his head into Tubbo's shoulder, trying to chase the pit in his stomach away.

"You sure?" Tommy can feel Tubbo's hand smooth down his hair. Tommy just hmms in response. "Do you think they- the bee's are asleep?"

"What do you mean?" Tommy looks up, he can't see the bees, but he doesn't want to leave the hug.

"The smoke, you think it put them to sleep?" Tubbo muses.

"Maybe," Tommy mutters. "Fuckin- I spent days on this." it was more of an inconvenience than anything at this point. "Do you wanna rebuild it?"

"Not right now, I'm tired, boss man." Tubbo sighs. Tommy realizes how tired he is, too, the familiar ache in his bones.

"Me too, Tubbzo, me too. Let's go home?" He says, making no move to back out of the hug. Tubbo just hums. And so they stand there, until they figure out they can shuffle together- at least to the stairs. Tommy laughs at the image this must make. Two boys, one half-cow, one half-dead, who would rather tear up the ground and trample flowers than break their hug. By the time they do eventually get to the stairs, they both are laughing. Tommy notices that he laughs a lot more whenever he's with Tubbo. He also notices he gets tired a lot quicker. Puffy would say something about Tommy feeling safe around Tubbo, enough so that he shows emotion and lets his guard down, but Tommy knows that. He yawns, he is actually really tired. Tubbo yawns too, and they help each other up the stairs and out of what's left of glass and wood. About halfway down the path, Tommy stops and looks over his shoulder, at the space between trees, where he saw-

"Whacha lookin at, big man?" Tubbo asks from beside him.

"Nothing- I thought I saw someone running away from the fire when we first got here- I think maybe they were the one that did it, but I didn't catch their face." Tommy says, half lying. It was true, he didn't catch their face, but he'd know those two glowing eyes anywhere. He knew who it was. No way he was gonna tell Tubbo about it.

Because he was almost sure it was Ranboo.

[ruby-whistler]

Hi, I just found to your blog and I noticed you are a dream apologist but also like tommy, which is rare to see, and even tho I dont agree with alot of your posts about dream it's still interesting to hear other people's perspectives anyways the reason I bring up Tommy it was because I was wondering what you think dreams see Tommy as?

Like does he hate him ?does he like him ?does he see him as a toy a pet ? I'm very interested to see what your perspective is

absolutely! i am so happy to see someone who isn't a full-on dream apologist stumble upon my takes, hello there :] always refreshing to see different kinds of people around!

i actually know quite a,,, couple who also like c!tommy! dream apologists don't inherently hate him, they dislike a lot of his fans more than anything because of,, personal experience, let's say, but most of them are quite neutral or sympathize w/ the character!

i myself really do like the character from a writing perspective! i don't like him personally despite relating to him (ptsd go woooo) because of his quite insensitive and extroverted personality (not saying that's bad! he's flawed and that's very cool of him!) but he's a good protagonist for his own story, albeit a bit stuck in bad mindsets.

as for the disc duo,, man, i am so sad every time i think about the two. during season one i used to be such a discduo stan, like their interactions gave me life, dream reminded me of myself back when i was willing to reach out to people like tommy.

and then uhh,,, stuff happened, as we all know

but from the beginning, i do believe the two were very rivalsduo-like. they'd tease each other but in reality they really were friends even if they didn't admit it. before l'manberg, after l'manberg, it really didn't matter that much, even through the initial disc wars it really was just a way to fight each other but it was not all that serious. they were being immature over a couple of worthless items. they were hanging out. and then war and trauma and revolution came, and everything went downhill at a 90 degree incline.

their relationship had just,, such a twist for the worse and it freaking hurt because now i had to choose between the two and i for the love of god couldn't. everything light about them turned dark.

of course, this is c!dream's fault. the reasons he did what he did are debatable to being a product of the environment, the effect others had on him and the situations he was put into, but he absolutely wrecked it and he made it awful in every way.

the thing is, dream when interacting with tommy - much like tommy had often said about people like dream, wilbur and techno - makes him somewhat the worst version of himself.

and i'm not even making this up, the way he interacts with literally anyone else is so much different from how he acts in front of tommy.

and it's??? so strange?? green man you ok????

like, contrary to popular belief, c!dream doesn't like to see people suffer, or play with them, or making them hurt.

the only times when he says stuff like this is in front of tommy.

my theory for this is what i think is the most supported by actual canon - he's falling into the villain-hero narrative.

the fact that c!dream is not mentally healthy and has been shoved into terrible mindsets is evident especially from the finale stream, and i think the whole vault scene definitely leans towards my theory about this. he keeps going on about sidekicks and pawns and - not only is he treating everyone else as a game, he also does it to himself.

it's important to note his actions have always been both outwardly and inwardly destructive, many being unhealthy coping mechanisms.

what i think is, he's purposefully playing a role. i think this might sound like a stretch but... it really is not if you consider everything?

it makes sense; dream is trying to make tommy (and tubbo, by extension) terrified, to view him as a monster, something less than human, someone to fight, someone to defeat, to bring down. he's taking every opportunity to make himself out as someone totally cruel, while actually acting completely different with other people.

so, as to answer your question? that's what i think dream sees tommy as. i think he sees him as the hero; or rather, someone who wants to play the hero. he wants to challenge him, wants to get tommy to play his game because it's the only thing c!dream knows how to play anymore and he's,, secretly scared, because he's forgotten how to be anyone but a villain, and on top of that doesn't see any other way for himself to achieve his goals and get back what he cares about.

like, dream cares, that much is obvious. he cares about people. i don't think he hates tommy and i don't think he likes him. he says they're friends, and in some twisted sense, i think he means it, and he thinks tommy is simply in denial. he's wrong.

the way he acts makes me think that he genuinely considers him and tommy the same at their core, and that if the roles were switched, tommy would do the same as dream and dream would do the same as tommy. this is untrue, of course, but dream believes things like this because his worldview is utterly shattered, much like his mental stability. i think he thinks the only difference between them is their role in the story. i think he buys into the narrative to the point when he fails to see it's,, incorrect, about him, tommy - about everyone.

but that's just my opinion! sorry for rambling, c!dream is such an enigma sometimes, and although i claim a lot of things in good faith, there are some i don't usually touch upon because they genuinely confuse me. the way c!dream acts around c!tommy is one of them.

[mashbits]

I thought of this at 2 am it was my peak

✨theory time✨

/roleplay

in the smp, we’re currently going through what I’ve been calling the theseus arc- the hero is exiled after defeating the nations biggest threat, he’s thought to have died by his closest friend, when in actuality he’s been hiding in a new terrain only to be killed by the ruler who took him in. we all know where the story is going, we all know that dream is trying to push this myth onto tommy.

“it’s not your time to die yet.”

dream knows that soon, technoblade would kill tommy. dream would be rid of his biggest threat. tubbo would be gone as well, if the story continued as the myth is.

dream is expecting it. we, the audience, are expecting it. I mean, technoblade is the main writer in this arc, ofc he’d follow the myth through and through, since he’s the one who brought it up in the first place.

right?

however, i don’t think that’ll happen. while yes, this is the theseus arc, I’d like to believe it’s following another theme- history repeats itself.

tommy is exiled by the president, someone he once trusted. he’s teaming up with techno. he thought dream was an ally, but he was just a pawn. wilbur.

tubbo exiled tommy. he keeps saying everything is for the sake of his nation, despite most citizens unhappy. he’s hosting a festival. schlatt.

it was set up in the beginning.

“if I can’t be the next schlatt, you can’t be the next wilbur.”

but they are.

with the theseus arc, it’s literal greek myth history repeating itself. again, we’re all expecting it. but techno is smart, he knows what we assume and what we think is gonna happen. which is why, I feel like he’s going to refuse finishing this arc.

technoblade, while consistently saying he doesn’t care for tommy or is only in it for the destruction of the government, it’s extremely clear that he shows immense care for tommy. hiding him from dream, getting defensive when dream is looking, distracts him when he’s trying to get the truth out- when tommy was in panic from his ptsd of logstedshire, techno subtly attempted to distract him from the memories. he looked for tommy and grounded his feelings. techno, while his morals are far from tommy’s own, is genuinely trying to help save tommy.

when dream comes back, demanding that the arc is followed through, I believe techno is going to refute him. he’s going to deny history. history repeats itself only if you allow it to, and techno is done letting everything circle back in one endless loop of bad decisions. techno is going to protect tommy. and that will be the end of the arc, a denial of how history believed it to be.

tubbo, still in belief that tommy is dead, will still be in danger of the myth. of jumping to be with tommy once again. this could go one of two ways- he succeeds, being the one to allow history to repeat itself, and the curse of the presidency mixed in will end his last life. or, as suspected above, the theme will be denied. tommy will get there, just in time, he’ll save tubbo against all the odds.

with technoblade the main writer for this plot, I genuinely do believe this narrative twist will happen- or at least a version of it, not the exact scenario above lmao.

[houndsharkk]

alright alright, do yall want my dreamSMP headcanons?? keep in mind that i only watch a few of them

/dsmp

Possible TW's: trauma, manipulation, death, suicide, overdose; the basic dreamSMP stuff, unfortunately.

ok here we go:

Dream - a separate entity from DreamXD, though they are related; perhaps XD is from another universe? anyways, Dream was possessed by a 'Dreamon' at a young age, making him think that things like manipulation are ok simply because he didn't know any better. he says he's trying to get better, but is he? no. this is just another trick to make Tommy think he can change. Jacob Sheep horns are slowly growing (sheep-hybrid thanks to his mother, Cpt. Puffy). Him becoming family with George and Sapnap made him realize that he can make his own family, an idea which he twisted and turned into manipulation. In his words, paraphrased, he "did a bad thing but for good reasons" which were "bringing the server together"; he wanted to be a family with him in control, a dictatorship, a hivemind.

Drista - Dream's sister, more related to XD than Dream is. somewhat OP but has morals unlike her brother.

George - Mooshroom hybrid!! Has a little mushroom crown and cape because he thinks of himself as royalty (he isn't) - has little horns and a little tail. Misses Dream the most out of the Dream Team, but somewhat afraid of him. Wants 'the old dream' back, which was partly a persona and partly Dream learning about found family. He tries not to get involved with politics or the server after the events of the first wars, because he's scared. Sleeps through things as an excuse. Awesamdude's kid - doesn't tell anyone.

Sapnap - Dragon hybrid - has small horns and a tail, with burn marks at the base of them. His hands and feet are clawed and burnt. He also wants their Dream back, but understands that he was always corrupt and has mostly gotten over it. Wants to help with the Egg but, like George, doesn't like getting involved with big things on the server. He's ashamed of his dragon heritage, covering up his head burns with a headband and covering his horns with his hair; he hides his tail under a cape and wears gloves as well. Sapnap has unnaturally orange eyes, which he would change with contacts, if they didn't melt anytime he tried. Battle-scarred and hungry to start fights and sever friendships out of boredom. Badboyhalo's child.

Callahan - Cervitaur (deer-centaur). Distantly related to Puffy, Captain Sparklez, and Schlatt. I will admit, I have never watched him, and I don't think he's ever been too involved in server politics? Just a simple deer man trying to live his life.

Awesamdude - Creeper centaur thing (he and Callahan are... cousins? i guess?). Incredibly insecure about his morality and the fact that George doesn't talk to him much. Thinks he's a bad person. He becomes a father figure to Tommy through his Sam Nook persona - slowly gaining his confidence back through his real estate and his (illegal) adoption of the gremlin. Badass. Runs the prison by himself because he feels the need to prove himself, and he doesn't know anyone that would be up to the job.

Alyssa - inactive :[ probably human

Ponk - Human!! One of the few humans on this server, actually! He quite likes building and terraforming; he makes very aesthetic builds (see; war campsite). He and Sam are close friends. Ponk is also a parental figure to Tommy, but is closer to the fun uncle. The three of them steal together and then Ponk and Sam cover for Tommy because who could accuse them of lying?? Hesitant to join in with politics.

BadBoyHalo - Demon. Very, very tall demon. Large. Pretty wholesome. I honestly don't know what else to say about him lmao I haven't been paying attention to the Egg much. He and Skeppy are a thing though. Wishes his son would stop killing people's pets to start wars.

TommyInnit - He doesn't know what kind of hybrid he his, but he isn't human. His eyes change color with mood, going from a light grey to an extremely vibrant cobalt blue. He believes he may be part raccoon, or part bird(?) on Philza's side. Phil wasn't around during his childhood; Tommy only knew him as the hero from the strories that his older brother Wilbur told him. Philza killing Villain!Bur cemented his heroship, which is why Tommy sees him as a father figure. Wilbur never told him that he (Phil) was their father. Tommy is actually part siren, but his gills and fins haven't appeared yet. His PTSD is triggered by Dream, blackstone, tnt, people asking for his armor, and a few other things. An extremely traumatized kid. Best friends with Tubbo.

Tubbo - Sheep hybrid. His horns started coming in during Schlatt's presidentship, making him think he was a goat and following in his footsteps. In reality, he's Captain Sparklez's son; related to Schlatt yes, but not at all like him. He likes headbutting the people he loves, including his best friend Tommy. Wholesome, but still a chaotic being of destruction. He and Ranboo are also very good friends!

Fundy - Fox shifter; unlike most of the other hybrids on this server (other than Techno), he can turn into an anthro fox. Canonically transgender! Son to WilburSoot and Sally the Salmon (another shifter). Wilbur was an amazing father while Fundy was small, but started neglecting him during the Presidency, when he really needed a father. The two grew apart further during Pogtopia, and Fundy still tries to refuse his father's attempts at redemption. Despite this, Fundy and Ghostbur, even though they've had arguments, have a better relationship. Fundy is even one of the people who are attempting to bring back Wilbur. He sees Phil as a somewhat father figure despite him trying to be bitter towards him. Very involved with L'manburg and DreamSMP poilitics, but has taken a step back since his dad's death. Fundy also canonically misses Schlatt and wants him to be proud of him. He picked up smoking from him.

Punz - gonna be honest, I have never watched Punz.

Purpled - Enderdragon hybrid. Like Sapnap, but purple lol. Use to have a healthy rivalry with Technoblade, but doesn't talk to him anymore. A bit reserved. I don't watch him either idk if you could tell.

Wilbur - Bird hybrid, like Philza; his wings were clipped by Dream when he first began fighting for independence. Good friends with Technoblade. Wilbur was an idealistic person, and he was probably the most loyal member of L'manburg. He was so upset about the betrayals, he thought of them not as betrayals to the country, but to himself. When Schlatt took over, he began to panic. His perfect nation was being ruined, his nation, HIS nation. He thought of it as his and his alone; all those other people? They were side characters. L'manburg his unfinished symphony wasn't his anymore. It scared him. He began planning to take the country out because, well, if he can't have him, then no one can. He manipulated Tommy, making him go along with his plan, slowly becoming more insane and destructive. Deep down, Wil still loved his family, and his country, and his lost lover, but that didn't matter to him anymore. After blowing up L'manburg (the first explosion), Wilbur broke down. He realized what he had done, he'd become a bad guy; he'd worked with Dream. He asked his father to kill him. And so Philza did.

Ghostbur - Wings work again. Ghostbur pretends not to remember, he pretends that he's changed in death, but he remembers all of it. The bad memories hurt him now, more than ever, and he just can't deal with it; so he doesn't. Water makes him melt, and that includes tears. He's trying so hard to be a good person, he's trying so hard to be a good father, a good brother, a good friend. But it isn't working. He's still, though unintentionally, hurting people, and he feels so bad about it.

Schlatt - Ram hybrid. Brother to Puffy and Jordan (Sparklez). Schlatt is a smoker and an alcoholic, and a power hungry dictator. Or well, that's the persona he puts on. Schlatt, in reality (still /dsmp) genuinely does not give a fuck. He didn't care what happened, because he knew that people disliked him. He knew for a fact that he would be killed. This is why I believe he offed himself. He planned his stroke, or heart attack, the fandom doesn't seem to know which. He probably ingested some bad protein powder or poison or something, maybe he drank himself to death, maybe he OD'd and then drank, we don't know. But it seems unlikely that someone like him would let his body give out like that without a reason. Oh yeah, and he and Quackity were married at some point, but it was too short to really mean anything.

Ghlatt - Ghlatt, though still addicted to alcohol and various drugs, feels bad about being a bad person in his life. He thinks that it's a good thing he died, that the server benefited from his death, and that he shouldn't have become a ghost. He's right, of course, but I like to think that he's regained morality. Maybe now, in the afterlife, he can work on himself. Ghlatt isn't strong enough to take a physical form, so he borrows Ghostbur's occasionally.

Skeppy - Some sort of Diamond Ore man?? I think he's human. He and BBH have a thing. I don't think I've ever watched a Skeppy DreamSMP stream. Uhh Egg?? Egg. Badlands boys woo.

Eret - Herobrine is his cousin. Like. Yeah. That Herobrine. Anyways, they're a king, and they're more of an Awesomedude morally grey type character. Her only interest is survival, and I respect that. I haven't really paid much attention to him though. Their crown has bi flag colored gems on it :]

Jack Manifold - Jack Manifol! Jack Manifall~~ Jack Manifall.. off bridge!! Jack Manidrown :} OH SHIT- (i dont watch him)

Niki - Human. Wears Wilbur's old coat. Though she did go through a tough spot after Wilbur's death, she now runs a flower shop with Puffy. Dyes her hair often. I don't watch her either.

Quackity - Duck hybrid; wings were clipped upon his joining the server. His face scar was canonized :] Alex genuinely liked Schlatt, but realized he was being mistreated so he joined Pogtopia. He felt bad about it though. I don't have many headcanons for him to be honest.

Mexican Dream - ok am i the only one that wasn't into this arc?? i didn't even watch any of it. i saw him like once and was like "oh this is just a bit" and left wtf. was he important???

Karl Jacobs - Time Traveler man; human. Karl is slowly losing his memory due to his travel between timelines. The more he does it, the more he loses. I look forward to seeing this progress. Are he, Sapnap, and uhhh someone else actually engaged?? I like that headcanons :] I don't remember who the other person is though.

HBomb - Cat maid.

Technoblade - Piglin shifter. Techno is softer than he seems, and he genuinely enjoys the company of Ranboo and his friend Philza. Technoblade met Phil after saving him from wither skeletons in the Nether, making short visits to the Overworld until he built up an immunity. He likes the cold because it's the opposite of his terrible home dimension. Techno really did want to help Tommy, but their ideals clashed too much for it to work out. Very destructive anarchist. Though, he is pretty chill nowadays.

Antfrost - Cat shifter. So I lied, there are three. Uhh wizard!! I like that HC!! Wizard catboy go brrrr. In reality, I don't watch the Badland Boys often and I haven't seen any of the Egg plot so idk what's up with him lol. I like to think that before the Egg, he and Fundy were friends.

Philza - Wings were beat up during the explosion; he tried to protect Wilbur with them, but still ended up failing. He's the father to Wilbur and Tommy, with Techno being an old friend of his. He canonically really likes cobblestone. Phil tries his best to be the dad, but his morals are all over the place. Lately, he's unofficially adopted Ranboo, helping him with his uh. Issues.

Connor - Human in a Sonic onesie idk i dont watch him

Puffy - Sheep Hybrid. Sister to Schlatt and Jordan, mother to Dream. I really don't know tbh; she's everyone's adoptive mom. She's what Philza and Awesamdude wish they could be.

Vikkstar - Human. Has he?? Done anything?? Ever??

Lazarbeam - Isn't he a gingerbread man or something.

Ranboo - Half Enderman Half [REDACTED]. I dont have headcanons for him tbh I just accept his canon. May be related to XD?

Foolish Gamers - A literal god. He can revive people, but it takes one of his lives. Uhhh he's really good at building what.

Hannahxxrose - I don't watch her :[ I should though

Slimecicle - CHARLIE SLIMECICLE. Slime hybrid obviously. New to the server, very scared [/j] and confused. Doesn't know what's going on and that's ok because he's funny I like him

I got really tired of this towards the end oops

[firefly464]

The Real World - Chapter 9

:insert eyes emoji here because shits about to get real:

@i-have-this-now​ wrote the last part because she’s great and amazing and wonderful :D

Master Post

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~~~

Wilbur sat in his office, staring at his computer screen in dismay. It had been roughly a week since him and Tubbo had gone and visited Tommy. Roughly a week since his friend's panic attack. A week since Tommy had started acting differently. His friend had been acting secretive all week, almost terrified in a strange way. He acted as if no one could see the way he flinched at loud noises, or the fearful look in his eyes whenever someone came too close. He had fumbled around with the phone, as if not even knowing how to use it. He had talked to Dream in an almost pleading tone, begging for… something, and Will didn’t know what it was. He had never seen his friend acting like that before. 

His hand traced over the long scar on his arm that Tommy had given him during his panic attack. He didn’t blame his friend at all for the wound, in fact it was mostly his own fault for trying to comfort him. At that moment, it had been clear that Tommy hadn’t actually been seeing him. He had seen someone, or something else. In Wilbur’s concern for his friend, he had reached out to comfort him, despite the fact that he knew it was a bad idea. 

His stupidity had earned him a long, jagged cut down the side of his forearm from the pencil that Tommy had been wielding as a weapon. He had jerked back with a hiss of pain. “Get the fuck away from me! I won’t let you hurt anyone else!” Tommy had screamed. 

Tubbo took a small step forward, his hands out in front of him comfortingly “Tommy, you’re ok, I promise. No one is going to hurt you.” His voice was soft and calm, as if he was talking to a wild animal. Based on the look in Tommy’s eyes, it wasn’t too far off from the truth. 

Tommy’s blue eyes had snapped over to Tubbo, as if trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. “Tubbo? Tubbo you need to run! He’s going to kill you, he’s going to fucking kill you and burn our home to the ground!” 

“Hey, it's all right. I’m fine, see? No one is going to kill me.”

Desperately, Tommy grabbed his friend's shoulders, trying to get it through Tubbo’s head that he needed to run. “You don’t get it. H-He’s going to kill all of you. You need to find the others and warn them. I can’t… I can’t fucking lose you.”

“Tommy, take a deep breath. You’re safe. I promise that we’re both safe.”

“But Dream-” he shuttered, a wave of sobs running through him, “God this is my fault. Why the fuck did I listen to him? Now you’re all going to fucking die because of me!” 

Wilbur stared intently at the scar on his arm, trying to figure out what the hell Tommy had meant. Clearly, Dream had done something to him. But what? What had he done that was so terrible, it had caused the boy to collapse over a simple video clip? Will had rewatched the clip several times, trying to pinpoint exactly what could have possibly triggered the terrible PTSD. He had found nothing.

After WIlbur and Tubbo had left Tommy’s house, it had seemed like things were slowly but surely returning back to normal. Tommy had quickly gone from acting as if he knew nothing about the world around him or how to do anything, to slowly but surely returning to his old, chipper self. Even so, it didn’t feel right. Something was still wrong. His jokes all felt forced, his smiles all fake. Whenever they were in a call together, his words all felt carefully planned out, as if he were scared of saying something wrong. No one brought up his outburst, but it was clear that they were all thinking about it. 

At one point, Tubbo had hesitantly suggested that Tommy get on the DreamSMP, clearly scared of triggering another panic attack. 

However, Tommy had just gone silent, before very quietly saying, “What…?” His voice had been filled with a hesitant hope. Hope for what, Will didn’t know. But it was something that he hadn’t heard in his friend's voice all week, and he wasn’t going to question it. 

“The SMP? The server?” “How do I… How do I do that?” He had asked quietly.

Tubbo had ended up walking his friend through the entire process of getting online, never once asking why or sounding annoyed. It was clear how important this was to Tommy, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to ruin it by teasing. 

As Tommy had logged onto the server, the discord call was silent. No one spoke as he spun in a slow circle, taking in everything around him. Not a word was muttered as he cautiously moved around. The only sound that could be heard were the quiet sobs being picked up by his mic.

“Home…” He had whispered quietly, the sound just barely loud enough to be picked up over discord. 

God, none of it made any sense. None of it made any damn sense, and just thinking about it made Wilbur’s head hurt. Tommy acted as though he was an entirely different person. At first, Will had just attributed his strange behavior to PTSD. A strange way of coping after whatever hell he had gone through. But now… Now he wasn’t so sure. Tommy was recovering far too quickly for it to be merely PTSD. So what the hell was going on? He needed to talk to Tubbo. They needed answers.

~~~

The next day, Tommy was sitting in front of his computer, staring at the walls of L’manberg. Looking at it made his chest hurt with homesickness, but it was his only connection to his old life. It may not have been as impressive as the real thing, but it was still beautiful in its own right. Ever since the others had shown him the server, he had spent most of his time on it. He hadn’t exactly done anything, but simply walking around the familiar lands of his home felt calming. 

A ring sounded from his computer, making him jump. It took him a couple seconds to calm down enough to register that it was only an incoming call, and not any sort of attack. With a slightly trembling hand, he answered. 

Silence. “Hello?” he asked, trying to see what was going on. 

“Hey Tommy.” Tubbo’s voice was reserved, almost nervous in a way. Tommy could feel his muscles tense. The last time he had heard his friend speak like this was during the war. Something had happened. Something must have happened.

“What's wrong? Are you ok? Did something bad happen?” he asked, trying to figure out what was going on. 

“What? No, no. We just uh… We just wanted to ask you something.”

“I mean, go for it…? Are you sure everything is alright?” 

“We’re fine. Tommy, I want you to answer me honestly, got it?” Wilbur’s voice cut interrupted his rampaging thoughts. Thoughts of how his friends were hurt. Thoughts of what had gone wrong. Thoughts of how Dream might have gotten to them… “Tommy, what happened to you?”

“I told you already. I don’t remember,” he replied half heartedly, his mind elsewhere. 

“I think we all know that isn’t true. Tommy, what did Dream do?”

That brought his train of thought to a screeching halt. What did they know? How did they figure it out? What had he done wrong? “W-what? What do you mean?” 

“Alright, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Tommyinit wasn’t this shit of a liar. He was bad at it, yeah, but at least he could lie without sounding like a moron. I’m going to ask this once, and I expect a straight answer. Who the hell are you?” 

Tommy felt like his blood had frozen in his veins. They knew, they fucking knew. Dream was going to kill him. Dream was going to follow through with his threat. “I uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Wilbur ran a hand through his hair. “Alright. If you aren’t going to give us a straight answer, I might as well ask Dream himself.”

“NO!” He screamed. If Will went and asked Dream, then Dream would think that Tommy had snitched. Then, who knows what would happen. “Please don’t talk to Dream about it. Please.” 

Will had already left the call.

~~~

“Yeah, you’re right, chat. Hold on let me check if he’s online,” Eret said, switching browsers from Minecraft to Discord. “Yep, he’s in VC 3 with Tubbo.” 

Eret clicked on the voice chat. He tried to talk yet Tubbo cut him off. “Oh fuck, we aren’t in a private VC.”

“Sorry, a wha-”

“Er… Hello?” Eret said. The two of them suddenly stopped talking. “So, what’re you two up to?”

“...Eret?” Tommy said, it sounded more like a statement than a question.

“Am I intruding on something? I can go if you’d like.” Eret replied, hoping to lighten the tension on the situation. Eret’s twitch chat was going insane, spamming questions and shouting. Eret wasn’t really focused on the chat.

“Hold on, I think we should go to a privat-” Tubbo spoke but was cut off.

“No, that- that’s not right- I- you fucking-” Tommy started, and was immediately removed from the VC. Tubbo also exited the VC seconds after.

“It is actually getting a bit late here so I guess it’s time to end the stream.” Eret tried to make an excuse to end the stream. “I’ll see you later guys. I love you all so much, thank you for all the support this stream. I think I’m gonna be streaming tomorrow? Still not sure. Anyways, I’ll see you guys later. Peace.” 

He quickly exited Twitch and stopped streaming. Tommy sounded… mad? Upset? Scared? Eret didn’t know. He opened Discord and sent a message to Tommy. 

TheEret Today at 8:52 pm

You alright? 

He instantly got a Discord notification back, but it wasn’t from Tommy. 

Tubbo_ Today at 8:52 pm

can we private VC?

TheEret Today at 8:53 pm

sure

The second he sent the message, he got a call from Tubbo. “Hey, Eret.” Tubbo said. “I… I don’t think Tommy’s feeling too well. I’m really not sure what happened.”

“Oh god. Is he okay?” Eret asked, concern creeping into his voice. 

“I- hold on, I’ll dm him and see if he wants to talk.” 

“Alright.”

A few seconds passed. “Oh. Oh no.” Tubbo said.

“Wait, did something happen? What’d he say?” 

“He’s very… mad at you. I- Oh jeez, that’s a lot of messages- I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

“Do you think it’s because of the SMP? I- you know it was just a bit, right?” Eret asked. Surely, Tommy can’t be mad at him because of a video game right?

“Yeah, yeah, but he’s… he sounds pissed, man. I don’t know wha- Oh. Shit, hold on, he wants to be added in the call. You okay with that?”

Honestly, Eret wasn’t sure. “Uh- yes?”

“Eret.” Tommy’s voice rang through the call. His voice was quiet and stable, unlike his usual self. “What the fuck.”

“I- I’m sorry? I don’t know what I did wrong. Was it the SMP? You know that was a-”

“You could’ve been on the right side of history, Eret. You could’ve-” 

“Tommy, calm-”

“Instead, you chose to loot us and leave us for dead. You chose power. You chose to be with Dream.”

Wait, were they supposed to be in character? Eret just ended his stream, so was Tubbo streaming? Or was it something else?

He immediately switched into character, hoping it was the right move. “Well, it wasn’t hard for me to choose. You were fighting for something futile, something you didn’t guarantee. I chose Dream because you were fighting a losing battle, and I didn’t want to get the short end of the stick.”

Whilst he was talking, Eret sent Tubbo a Discord message.

TheEret Today at 9:12 pm Are you and tommy streaming?

Tubbo_ Today at 9:12 pm no?

TheEret Today at 9:12 pm so i’m not supposed to be in character?

Tubbo_ Today at 9:12 pm uhh yeah

Before Eret could wrap his head around the situation, another person joined the call. It was Wilbur. “Dream said you have 48 hours, Tommy wh- wait, why is Eret here?”

Before Eret could respond, he was kicked from the call. He stared at his monitor in stunned silence, not entirely sure of what had just happened. Tommy had seemed so mad at him for his “betrayal,” even though none of them were supposed to be in character. Why was he so upset? And why did Wilbur react to Eret being there in the way that he did? Had he said something wrong? Was there some sort of planned stream that Eret wasn’t told about?

Eret turned off his computer with a sigh. His mind was racing with possibilities of what had just happened and why, but he wouldn’t be able to act on his thoughts until tomorrow. All he could do now was sleep.

~~~ On the other side of the country, a man sat in front of his computer. A sadistic grin sat upon his face as his green eyes pierced through the dim light. “I warned you not to tell them Tommy. Now, it's time to face the consequences of your actions.”

~~~

Master Post

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[hermits-that-craft]

Staying With The Traitor - Chapter Two

Hope

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26695042/chapters/65201827

“Eret where did you go?” Nikki’s voice echoes through the large, empty castle. Sunlight filters through the rainbow stained glass, casting beautiful patterns onto the floor. 

She knows it’s dangerous to be walking so close to the glass, so close to where the Manburgians could see her, but she doesn’t care. Eret is missing, and she needs to find him. “Eret?”

“I’m here!” Eret’s voice calls out. “Sorry for worrying you Nikki.”

“I heard the Manburgians last night.” Nikki says, her pace quickening as she runs towards where Eret’s voice came from. “I thought they attacked us.”

“Not us, another hunting party.”

“Did they find the boys?” She asks, her hair flowing behind her as she runs into the throne room.

Where Tommy and Wilbur stand, bandages covering any exposed limbs and outfits soaked through with water, soot and blood. They both look like shit, dirt and blood indistinguishable besides the fresh stuff, and bags under Wilbur’s eyes practically giving him another inventory of space. Tommy has a new cut on his cheek, unbandaged and bleeding. Tommy has a blanket around his shoulders and a thousand yard stare that looks through Nikki and out the other side. Wilbur’s eyes are empty, hollow and tired.

“You’re okay.” Nikki mumbles, walking towards them slowly. She raises her hand, brushing a stray tear from Wilbur’s cheek before pulling him into a hug. “You’re okay.”

“I’ll prepare some food for everyone.” Eret says softly. “How does pancakes sound?”

“That would be nice.” Wilbur says softly and Tommy nods, a small smile on his face. A sad one.

“I’ll throw in some chocolate chips.” Eret nods, walking out of the room. 

“When did you guys arrive?” Nikki asks, pulling the two men onto some seats. They’ll move to the dining hall later.

“About five minutes ago.” Wilbur says, pulling off his beanie. He holds it in his hands, gently passing the saturated material between his hands. “We’ve been walking all night.”

“You should have messaged me, I would have brought some horses.”

“Didn’t want to wake you up.” Tommy mumbles, his voice almost as hollow as Wilbur’s eyes.

What happened to them, out there? Nikki wonders to herself, half ready to whisper to Tubbo or Fundy to ask them the question.

But she can’t ask them.

Then Schlatt will know that she’s with them.

“I wouldn’t have minded.” Nikki says, placing her hand on Tommy’s. She tried to ignore the small flinch from the teen. Months of working on his PTSD from the war, and it looks like it’s all gone again. Unless something else happened to them. “Do you guys need any health potions?”

“We can handle it.” Wilbur says immediately, before guilt flashes across his face. “Sorry, Nikki, it’s just-”

“We’re under Dream’s rule again.” Tommy spits, glaring at the floor. There’s an emotion that Nikki can deal with, can help the teen with. Anger. “We fought and died and lost everything for L’manburg and we’re back the same place we fucking started!”

“I know.” Nikki says sympathetically. “But you need to be safe, and this is the safest place for you both and-”

“You don’t understand, Nikki. We’re citizens of the fucking place again!” Tommy yells. “We fought, and we died, and it was all for nothing.” His voice cracks on the last word, tears streaming down his face. “It was for nothing. We lost.”

“Tommy-”

“Tommy, do you want the first pancake?” Eret’s voice cuts through what Nikki was about to say, and Tommy gets up, walking out of the room.

“Does he know where the kitchen or the dining hall is?” Nikki asks Wilbur softly, and the man shakes his head.

“He’ll find it. He’s a teen, he’ll just follow the scent until he gets to the food.” Wilbur laughs, though it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I failed him, didn’t I? I promised freedom and the world to him, and now he’s back where we started. I might as well goddamn lied to him.”

“You didn’t fail him.” Nikki reaches out to Wilbur, though he doesn’t look at her. His eyes, though empty, harden like stone before her eyes. “You did what you had to do to survive.”

“I promised him freedom. I promised him safety.” Wilbur glares at the ground. “This is all my fault. If I hadn't held the election none of this would have happened.”

“Do you really think Schlatt would have sat back and let you have power?” Nikki asks softly. “You know him, you remember what he’s done, what he did. You know him better than the rest of us. He wouldn’t of let you have power, let you run your country. You did the right think.”

“And now Tommy is homeless, stuck in a country that he died to escape, a country that leader killed him, and now we have to play the role of ‘good, upstanding citizens’ while our country burns.” Nikki holds back a finch at Wilbur’s words, though she can’t help but agree with him. They’re citizens of L’manburg, they shouldn’t be here. In Eret’s court. They aren’t Dreamers, they are not his citizens. L’manburgians through and through.

“If we don’t play that role we won't have a safe place to stay.” Nikki mumbles. “We need their allyship. We can’t afford to lose L’manburg.”

“We already have.”

“Only with that attitude.” Nikki jokes, and Wilbur finally cracks a smile. It’s small, but it reaches his eyes.

“I guess.” Wilbur smiles, tilting his back. “I guess we haven’t lost yet, why else would Schlatt be hunting us?”

“Besides how we are the good looking members of L’manburg?” Nikki teases, and Wilbur laughs, punching her shoulder. “We’re going to have to play the part, Wil. We have to make Eret trust us. We need his help.”

“I don’t trust him. I won’t trust him.” Wilbur says, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I don’t either. But we have protection here. We’ll need their allyship if we want to get L’manburg back.”

“Techno and Phil are coming.” Wilbur says, and Nikki feels hope spark in her chest, a small yet warm fire, dancing brightly. “We won’t need Dream, or Eret, not once they arrive.”

“Only as a back up.” Nikki smiles. “We can let Tommy flip them off when we leave. When are they arriving?”

“In a month or two.” Wilbur smiles. “Not too long, all things considered.”

“We’ll need to set up a base, and get armour ready.” Nikki says. “We could use Eret and the Dreamer’s to get the supplies for it.”

---

“Where are they?” Jschlatt yells, slamming his hands down on the table. Tubbo flinches in the corner, his eyes wide as he watches the room argue. “We can’t afford for them to start a rebellion against us.”

“Really, you shouldn’t have exiled them.” Fundy says, waving his hand. “We could have thrown them in prison or something like that, you know? Kept a close eye on them.”

“Nikki didn’t stay in prison, what makes you think that those two bastards would have?” George rolls his eyes at the fox hybrid, who just glares back to him. 

“You don’t think that Nikki’s with them, do you?” Jack asks Tubbo, staring into Tubbo’s soul. His throat goes dry, feeling the room’s eyes on him.

“I think Nikki is hiding nearby.” Tubbo mumbles, trying to avoid everyone’s eyes.

“Where would you suggest that place be, Tubbo?” Schlatt asks him, his voice kind and dark, the threat not needing to be spoken for Tubbo to understand what will happen to him if he lies again.

“Eret. With Eret.” Tubbo says softly. “I think that she’s hiding with Eret.”

“They always were close, weren’t they?” Jack nods to himself. “It makes sense that she’d hide with Eret.”

“And Eret knows where Wilbur and Tommy are hiding as well, he told me so last night.” Schlatt smiles. “I think it’s time we pay the king a visit.”

“Not yet.” Tubbo blurts out before he can stop himself.

“And why not?” Schlatt glares at the teen, who tries his hardest not to cower.

“Because there’s a ball coming up, we’re all invited.” Tubbo says softly. “Better to show up invited and burn the place down than to declare war. We can always blame Wilbur or Nikki for that. Not if we all show up now.”

“Tubbo i didn’t realise that you were so good at planning.” George whistles under his breath, and the men in the room give Tubbo a nod that turns his insides to ice.

He’s just betrayed them all.

---

Tommy sits on the roof of the castle, his hair blowing in the wind as he reads through Techno’s letter for the second time that day. Below him, Wilbur and Nikki are discussing a deal with Eret so that they can get help with getting equipment for the rebellion. Tommy wasn’t invited, Wilbur saying something about him ‘not being the calmest’.

As though Tommy didn’t make most of the trade deals between L’manburg and Dream SMP when Wilbur was too mad with Dream or Eret to meet with them.

So Tommy sits on the roof, a music disk playing softly over the air. Far, he thinks, wondering where Eret got the disk. It's peaceful, at the very least, playing softly as the sun sets. The sky lights up in golds and ambers, birds flying in the distance. He wonders about Manburg, about Tubbo and Jack and Fundy. Are they alright? Are they actually working for Jschlatt, or are they going to double cross the man?

He doesn’t know. Doesn’t want to know. Does he have to know, if it means that he will lose more of his family? Knowledge is a curse.

Maybe thats the real reason that Wilbur and Nikki didn’t want him there, in that meeting. Maybe they didn’t want him to lose more hope, to lose more family and friends. Would it hurt more to find out loyalties now, or later? Would it hurt more now, to find out if Tubbo is fully with Schlatt, then to find out if Tubbo was fully with Schlatt after weeks of trusting him? What would be worse?

A bee flies idly by, trying to find its hive before dark. Tommy doesn’t know why the bee would be here, there are no gardens in Eret’s castle, no flowers to be found. Maybe he could plant some, for this bee. For any other bees nearby. That's something he can do, that’s something that won’t hurt anyone. It’s not training, but it isn’t running either.

He’ll have to check with Wilbur and Eret, and see if they approve. 

---

Tubbo watches the sun set over the water, turning the ocean into a deep orange. Inside Nikki’s bakery, Schlatt, George, Fundy, Jack and Quackity drink. They took all the yeast from the bakery when Nikki left, turning it into beer. Tubbo has been put in charge of finding more, trading for it with his villagers. It could be worse, Tubbo thinks to himself, They could have banned me from baking bread like they banned Nikki from it.

Of course, Schlatt banned him from gardening, but at least he can bake. They haven’t taken that away from him. Sure, it’s his duty, and when the men leave, stumbling and drunk and angry, Tubbo will work until midnight preparing tomorrow's bread. 

So Tubbo watches the sunset, longing to find Tommy. He could leave, right now. The Manburgian’s are drunk, always drunk at this hour of the night. Though normally one doesn’t drink, keeping an eye on Tubbo to make sure he doesn’t run. 

He’s been caught trying to run before, on the night of the inauguration. George caught him, and he slept in the prison instead of in his bed, down with Nikki. It was nicer in the prison than in his room, with two guards outside his door to ‘protect’ him. In any case, he wouldn’t be able to run far tonight, shackles around his ankles keeping him from taking too large of a step, let alone running.

He shouldn’t have disagreed with Schlatt.

Glass breaks in the bakery, and Tubbo strains to hear anything other than the fighting from inside the building. He can almost imagine Far playing on the breeze, and a stray tear falls down his cheek. Tonight won’t be good.

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