#alien dream and wilbur mean everything to me

[supernovaa-remnant]

hi stella do you mind if i alien code wilbur in your askbox. this is him and dream (ikea space themed collection)

jade you are always always welcome to alien code wilbur in my askbox I love alien coding wilbur

asdhsakjdhasjkdhdjsdsdss it's them it's them it's literally them 😭💕

they're just little guys out in space exploring the cosmos interacting with new alien cultures and becoming friends and ouedoeuwhduhsdksiueodheiodjs

do do you think they find cool space rocksand and do do you think they show them to each other like "look at this discovery I made!! it reminded me of you :D" aseiuaoinniendouhaudjhsjs

[justanormalfangirlx2]

hey chlo

so the situationship went HORRIBLY

dm me when ur active ill tell ya

maybe spiteful break up hcs?

please?

also ive been listening to i hope ur miserable until ur dead sooo u know what i mean :(

Spiteful breakup fics;

DREAM:

i can see him basically being a bitch about it and throwing your shit out the house

changing the locks on the doors

”give me the house key back, you don’t deserve to be in the house anymore”

“you’re such a bitch.”

dream + middle fingers = badass

”fuck you, i’m done”

WILBUR:

“just get the fuck away from me.”

”you lied about everything! how am i supposed to love a lier when i’m not sure what the fuck is the truth?” (lowkey might make this into a story with this line)

alienates you from everyone else

since you broke up, nobody has reached out to you

if you try and approach him, he starts cussing you out

[aslitheryprinx]

Ask Game! Again!

Yep, it's time for yet another one of these! If you've been following me for a while, you've likely seen this ask game before. If not, it's easy to play along! Simply send me an ask with the color(s) of the au you want. You can ask a specific question about the au if you want, or just send the color!

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Red- Shipwrecked

Mers: gigantic beings that can grow to over 100ft long that rule the ocean. They are highly feared by humans as 'man-eaters.' As years go by, several humans have encounters with mers, usually as a result of a shipwreck. Tommy is one of those humans. When he's found by a mer, he knows it's only a matter of time before his death.

Phil, a mer, finds a young human after a devastating shipwreck. Knowing the human will drown if he abandons him, Phil does the only thing he can: put the human in his pouch for hatchlings. Unfortunately for Tommy, this involves swallowing him. Phil is really regretting not learning English so he can tell the human he's safe...

Contains: platonic vore, a lot of initial panic.

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Blue- Shooting Stars

Phil and Techno live in a cabin in the forest. Tommy and Ranboo live in the forest too... just not in a house. All four see when the alien spaceship lands. To their horror, the aliens- terrifying giants- see them too. Tommy and Ranboo are taken by one that looks vaguely goat like. Phil is taken by one with four arms. Techno sees his best friend abducted and sneaks onto the ship... Right before it leaves Earth.

Wilbur and Tubbo are part of an intergalactic exploration vessel. They're specifically on the research team. When they land on a planet full of enchantingly tiny creatures, they take a few specimens. When they notice strange behavior from the creatures, they dismiss it. After all, animals so tiny simply couldn't be sentient... Right?

Contains: accidental dehumanization, panic, captivity, and discussion of experimentation

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Pink- Starstruck

Wilbur is a scientist who's just been assigned to oversee a new experiment. To his horror, he finds that three miniscule teenagers, who were apparently artificially created, have been stuck into a simulation where their entire life is studied and manipulated. After a month long moral debate of whether it's worse to leave them in a false reality or to rip them away from everything they've ever known, the choice is taken out of his hands.

Ranboo, Tommy and Tubbo are three ordinary teens. They go to school, hang out, and listen to their new favorite music artist, Wilbur Soot. Then, after a deadly car crash, they wake up to a terrifying new reality. In a lab, where everything around them is giant, learning that their entire lives save for each other was a lie. The only thing keeping them from losing it is the confusion about the new head scientist. Because... isn't that Wilbur Soot???

Contains: struggle with reality, some panic, talk of past experimentation

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Green- Stitched

The human soul is more fragile than people know. Each hardship humans face tug the threads of their soul out of alignment, sometimes to the point of harming them. And that is where beings like Techno, the stitchers, come in.

Wilbur doesn't dream, so when he wakes up and sees a terrifying creature holding him and pulling at glowing strings that come from his body, he doesn't know what to think. It happens again a week or two later, and a sheepish Techno explains that humans aren't supposed to wake up during this process, and if they do, they're supposed to think they're dreaming. Wilbur stumbles into the world of stitchers, becoming more and more of an anomaly with each passing day.

Contains: mild panic, some themes of grief/loss

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Choose your own au!

Let's spice it up a bit with a wild card option! For this, you just send in the name of whichever au you want to ask about! If there's a specific thing you want to know, by all means, ask. If not, just the au name is fine!

[space-anon-writes]

Your “weekly” fic recs give me life, I’ve loved every rec so far

I appreciate the lack of sarcasm in those quotation marks, and the full confidence you have in my delivery of fic recs in a consistent and timely manner. You have won my eternal gratitude and also more fic recs

Ours Poetica by zeeskeit

Tommy's brothers left when he was young, and his father is barely present, but despite that he still managed to find his place. It turns out that place is poetry, and for a moment, Tommy has everything he ever wanted. Then his brothers return home, and things take a turn from there.

I will cry. Also the poetry is so fucking good. Dream and Tommy's slam poem performance? Holy shit holy fuck I got lost in the sauce

Chapter 10/? - 60k words

opus by darkwhitepebble

Mmmm pretty fic. It's kinda got surreal/psychological horror? With stringed instruments? Tommy has been through some shit, enough shit to turn a musical child prodigy into a nobody teen working three different jobs and living through sleepless nights. Luckily, he might still be able to piece himself back together.

Chapter 6/? - 30k words

My boy lost in time by sircantus

Featuring Tommy, who can time travel, and the rest of the SBI, who are immortal. It. It takes awhile for everyone to see what's happening. It's like that spiderman meme except its running into someone who should have died like a dozen centuries ago.

Chapter 1/2 - 6k words

Intergalactic Pest by skratchmarkz

Someone attempted to ship a whole-ass human in the mail across the galaxy. Just stuffed him in a package. It's okay though, the human both got free and is ready and fully willing to bite. It's also safe to say that the alien postmen are not enthused to have a bitey boy now scuttling around in their vents.

Chapter 15/? - 21k words

can you hear me? and as painless and colourful by droppingdroplets

Two exiled Tommy fics that give me brainrot. The first of which deals with his hallucinations, the second tries to give him a happy ending. I just. I just really like how this author wrote exile not gonna lie.

Chapter 1/1 - 6k words - complete (stats are the same for both fics)

people that you must remember by acatalepsy

Tommy really, really doesn't like Ranboo, but he also has to deal with him, since he's sort of living in Ranboo and Tubbo's mansion. However, after Ranboo loses his memory book and spirals, Tommy finds himself reevaluating that opinion. Allium duo my beloved.

Chapter 1/1 - 6k words - complete

Breathe by the_lanky_kat

Tommy can't stand to be touched after his death. However, he'll also do anything for his friends, even if that means helping Ranboo out of a panic attack with a hug. I continue to have allium duo brainrot.

Chapter 1/1 - 3k words - complete

from a cedar tree by sailingthenightsea

At the conclusion of the Manberg vs Pogtopia war, Tommy tries everything in his power to keep his loved ones alive, even at the cost of himself. Somehow, this lets him get a happy ending.

Chapter 1/1 - 4k words - complete

A Lifetime of Plans by Live

It turns out that Wilbur, Techno, and Phil are vampires. So, obviously Tommy does the logical next step: he locks himself in Tubbo's house and throws garlic at them from the windows. They may try to win back his affection, but Tommy knows its just lies. Sorta. Alright, maybe his affection can be bought with food, but it's good food!

Chapter 3/? - 10k words

Sharing is Caring by bitsinboots

Tommy is living with Phil, but he's still wary as fuck around Techno. Techno, it turns out, does not appreciate this.

Chapter 1/1 - 2.9k words - complete

heavy is the head by Odaigahara

An exiled Tommy makes the executive decision to raid Techno's house, but instead finds him hibernating. So, maybe it's not an awful idea to stick around for a bit? Featuring a half asleep Technoblade blurrily looking around his house, finding nothing out of place, and Tommy nearly having a panic attack.

Chapter 1/1 - 1.8k words - complete

Throw the Walls into the Fireplace by lockergirl

Tommy breaks into Techno's house post-exile, fully ready to get slaughtered. Except, well, what he finds instead is a hibernating Technoblade, and warm house to stay in until spring since obviously Tommy can't just leave Techno alone and undefended!

Chapter 1/1 - 4k words - complete

[arc852]

Red, green, blue, pink!

Red: Tiny Companions

Instead of me rambling, have a sneak peak of part 2 to Learning the Obvious instead!

“It was a bit different from your situation but…after everything, I gave Sapnap the same choice, to leave or to stay with the promise he wouldn’t be treated like a pet anymore.”

“And?” Tommy asked, leaning in. He could already guess the outcome though, after all, Sapnap was still here with Dream after all these years.

“And he chose to leave.”

Green: Two Borrowers and a Little AU

Karl has somehow managed to hide the fact that he's been visiting the humans for a few months now and has become really good friends with Sapnap and Quackity.

The two humans still find it weird that Karl won't just stay with them though, and that he still insists on borrowing for things even though they could help him but they don't force anything on Karl and let him do his thing.

One day though, Ranboo ends up seeing Karl with the humans. He freaks out when Karl comes back but Karl explains everything to him and begs him not to tell Dream. Reluctantly, Ranboo agrees but he's still nervous about Karl putting himself in such a dangerous position.

Blue: Crossed Over AU

Despite Wilbur's best efforts, Phil and Techno end up discovering Tommy's existence. This happens when Tommy and Wilbur still can't understand each other, so Tommy is a bit freaked out at having two new giants know about him.

But at the same time, Tommy trusts Wilbur and while Wilbur is panicking a bit, he doesn't seem too freaked out, so Tommy assumes that these two are safe.

Wilbur does his best to introduce everyone and Tommy gets more used to them as they start to visit more often. At one point, Wilbur needs to travel for something and doesn't want to take Tommy with him for Tommy's own satey. And instead of leaving him at the lab by himself for a week, Phil and Techno decide to watch him.

It takes a while for Phil and Techno to get used to the langauge barrier and even when they are, they can't understand Tommy like Wilbur can but it's enough.

Pink: Space Bois Inc

Because Dream gave the okay for Benchtrio to live with SBI and be in space, they are the first and only humans legally allowed in space. This means that they don't need to hide when landing on other planets for things.

Of course, they still need to be careful. Just because they are allowed in space legally doesn't mean another alien won't try and kidnap them. More often than not, they stay hidden.

[wewinbees]

“you only saw me as a weapon!” an in-depth analysis of tommy and techno’s relationship /rp

a mild focus on techno’s thoughts since it’s his speech, but not one or the other is in the right here. a lot of this might have been said, but this is a BIG collection from pogtopia to doomsday to address as many angles as possible. to preface, i don’t think tommy sees techno as a weapon and nothing else, but the point remains that techno feels like he does, and that’s important.

this is from like january btw lol

we’ll start with “the blade” tommy’s nickname for techno, which got adopted by a lot of the server (as tommy’s nicknames tend to be). most other people have the Big [X] format, but techno gets this specialised nickname. i think the reason he developed a negative association with it was because of when it was used; when they need him for fights. the most important would be the vault reveal, with wilbur getting everyone to victoriously chant “we have the blade!” to boister morale. this would have been fine in and of itself, if it weren’t for the events of the rest of the day and what that name would come to represent. it ends up becoming a taunt to him, because that’s what people get close to him for. his use to them as the blade rather than his friendship to them as technoblade

tommy’s always very happy to call in techno for help, and techno usualy sorts it out with... minimal effort required. i do see this more as a blend of tommy’s pride in knowing techno and smugness at having that kind of upperhand in a fight over him viewing techno solely as a weapon to use, but this still ends up being detrimental to their friendship because of how much it happens. remember, the entire reason techno joined the server was to help wilbur and techno form pogtopia. techno doesn’t mind helping tommy out, but at some point it’s going to be frustrating, being called in for any and all minor struggles. but in the end of the day, it’s fine, because they’re brothers under the same cause. destroying manberg. Oh Wait.

the main issue came after the festival, with that faith and trust tommy had in techno being shattered; rightfully so, because watching tubbo get murdered was traumatic for him, because for tommy the pit was no way to settle that conflict (which reminded, wasn’t techno’s suggestion, it was proposed and pushed onto them by wilbur). since tommy sees technoblade as unbeatable, he couldn’t understand why techno was so easily peer-pressured by manberg. he was threatened by how many people were against him, he was stressed dealing with the voices telling him to do it, he didn’t see any other way out, he wasn’t getting any support from his only other allies even though he was looking right at them and they still did nothing.

but tommy didn’t understand because he thought techno could have won. techno did try to stall as well, but without orders from his friends he ended up following schatt’s, and once he realised he had the power to kill everyone on stage, he just gave into that power. the miscommunication during the pogtopia arc was why techno felt as betrayed as he did, and why the victim complex argument annoys me so much, since he was kept in the dark for that long while grinding resources for the army. also, since techno wasn’t there for l’manberg’s peaceful days or the start of the disc saga he would never understand how important those attachments were to people, so he’d feel little remorse blowing them all up (especially since he knew that was the backup plan for pogtopia anyway, and just because people were unhappy about it didn’t change the fact that it was a plan)

a lot of people say that techno should have known that pogtopia’s goal was to form a new government, that at some point he should have overheard the real plan. everyone agreed to ‘destroy manberg’ (as in the government not the land) but somehow techno never found out about the ‘restoring l’manberg’ part of the plan. how that happened, who knows, but in the end of the day, the writers chose for that miscommunication to happen for the story. it’s not a how or a why, it’s just a fact that was written in. he didn’t find out until it was right in front of him, and he was bound to feel betrayed by that, enough that he was driven to do something irrational. my personal theory is that techno was mainly following wilbur’s orders, and because wilbur was the real traitor, chances are he never mentioned any forming of a new government since he knew that would lose techno’s support. wilbur was probably using techno as a weapon, that was his mentality for a lot of people back then, but since he was the leader of pogtopia then that negative transference carried on to the rest of the members for techno, most of all tommy as he was the other key founder, and not as underhanded about getting techno’s help. i’d say wilbur’s address of techno during the final speech was the a key reason as to why techno doesn’t feel as used by him than he is with tommy, solidifying the anarchy bros before dying, meaning anything else could be revealed.

after the war, the bedrock bros were completely alienated from eachother. tommy started to blame everything about l’manberg’s destruction on techno, since wilbur died and ghostbur isn’t really at fault for anything. techno distanced himself from everything, going into retirement for the unforeseeable future because he felt like his violent anarchist tactics were futile and grew tired of constant conflict. he talked to tommy a few times during retirement, and every single time, he asks tommy how the government was working out for him. when he was at risk of being exiled, just before being exiled and immediately after exile. he wanted tommy to see the government in the same light as he did, because when l’manberg sold him out he realised they were the same. they’d both been betrayed by the government and from that point on he fully believed tommy would be better off away from l’manberg. but every time tommy said no, because he believed in the original dream wilbur had for l’manberg and because he trusted tubbo’s leadership. techno was smug when he was proved right because of course he was he’s technoblade. plus, they did view eachother as enemies at this point, so it’s not unacceptable for them to argue with eachother right now.

that brings us to the execution. traumatising! the refusal to run a fair trial and the dehumanising treatment from his old allies in pogtopia hammer this home, but importantly they rope philza into the chaos this time. ALSO it’s important to mention that techno was killed; he just got an extra life from the totem. he was actually killed and his character experienced that pain as punishment. he was pushed out of retirement, which was unjust in his eyes, since he believed he had genuinely changed. it didn’t help that quackity explicitly told him it wasn’t actually punishment for the withers, but instead a move to consolidate power, furthering his view of the cabinet as corrupt. from that point on he left retirement. he’d been doing well without violence, building connections with new people like vikk and lazar and finding a fragile form of peace, but in the end this shattered it. he’s back to being the blade, speaking with violence, because l’manberg made it clear there was no other way for him to be heard at this point. so he’s going to destroy them, even if he has to do it alone.

enter stage raccooninnit.

tommy taking refuge in techno’s house because he knew techno was rich enough for him to steal his resources and strong enough to defend him from dream is... interesting. he couldn’t go back to l’manberg, but he took refuge with a man who he viewed as a villain. this probably doesn’t help techno’s opinion of him, since he is quite literally using him for his resources, but in the end of the day tommy was desperate and quite literally on the verge of death, so he seemed to take some kind of pity on him. the exile period of their relationship is definitely the most important part of this argument, because it was just the two of them: no wilbur or pogtopia as an external force (though the pressure of dream and l’manberg still affected things) but in the same way ultimately doomed to fail. they fight for a moment, but ultimately settle as ‘business partners’. which quickly evolves back into a friendship like the one they had before the festival.

my least favourite take is that either one of them never valued the other at this point because this is just.... violently not true. they started off working for mutual benefit; tommy explicitly agreed to do minor terrorism in l’manberg and to help techno get his weapons back in return for techno’s help getting the discs back and taking refuge in his house. from the start both of them stated their limits:

techno was always planning on getting revenge on l’manberg for what happened on the day of his execution

tommy never wanted to upset tubbo, and wanted to put getting his discs back first

should note that tommy changes his mind on the disc’s priority later on, but at the point of their alliance he does make it clear that’s what he wants out of the partnership. the issue is that from the start both of them went in with blind optimism. neither of them lied to eachother or forced them to change their viewpoints but in the end of the day they could never be on the same side as long as l’manberg was involved. (note, i think some people think he wasn’t but techno was actually planning on helping tommy getting the discs back, with him getting annoyed at tommy letting tubbo give dream the disc because that made both of their jobs so much harder, but it was more of a long term goal bc he knew dream was hard to beat. plus before his execution, he visited tommy and strongly implied he would be willing to help with the discs, and that he would be a better ally in those personal aims than NLM were)

i don’t understand the ‘techno was only using tommy’ accusation here because like... how? what would he have to gain by having tommy on his side? he could definitely have blown up l’manberg without his help, so why bring him in at all? it was a very mutual agreement of ‘we’re using eachother’ that developed into genuine friendship. i’ve always seen it as a teaching experience: techno knows tommy had been wronged by NLM, and by extension tubbo, and by taking him on these minor terrorism trips, he’s showing tommy the worst of l’manberg. look, look at this execution stand, look at what they’ve done. and in doing this, he’s trying to prove to tommy that what he’s going to do to l’manberg is right. and in showing him the worst of NLM, he’s neglecting all of its good parts, but again, techno cant see any positives in l’manberg, and is trying to show tommy that everyone, especially tommy, would be better off without it. and tommy had criticisms of l’manberg before he was exiled, especially in regards to tubbo. he told ranboo the reason he chose wilbur to be president instead of tubbo was because he was worried the presidency would ruin their friendship, and Look At Exactly What Happened. techno highlighting the flaws of the country to tommy was easy because it WAS flawed and it hurt both of them. and techno’s hope was that tommy would join him in the eventual destruction of it, because he wanted to share his revenge with tommy and for him to get his own justice against l’manberg. but it... didn’t quite work out that way.

they both tried to make it easier for the other; techno told tommy he didn’t need to fight against l’manberg if he didn’t want to, but tommy came with him to the festival anyway to confront dream, despite techno’s mission being against the government in that situation. tommy started to view tubbo’s cabinet as corrupt for the execution and neglecting him during exile, and ended up helping techno out around the base and even toning down the purposeful annoyance (per techno’s ooc request). and the day before the green festival, he told techno he would help to destroy l’manberg (not knowing how quickly things would escalate the next day, since doomsday was fairly spontaneous) but in the end they would never be able to find a full compromise: techno would always be an anarchist and tommy could never hurt tubbo.

people accuse techno of not caring for tommy, which really annoys me because it’s not?? true??? if anything he shows more outward affection than tommy did. he didn’t have any benefit from taking in tommy, but he still did it. it’s not really basic decency either, given that they were technically enemies beforehand. he picked up on tommy’s fragile state around dream and defended, hid him despite the fact that he owed dream, he kept him away from logsted and the final control room after realising how upsetting they were. he exchanged the christmas presents, he jumped in to defend him against the rest of the server and when tommy betrayed techno, he was genuinely hurt! he was wrecklessly impulsive in a way the calculated blade usually wasn’t, almost blowing up half his house (including almost killing his villagers) because of the negative association with dnret.

that’s not to say tommy doesn’t also get absolutely crucified for betraying techno because of all of techno did for him. again it was somewhat inevitable. tommy said it himself, he was turning into someone he didn’t want to be, he was hurting people, and it was somewhat because he was living with technoblade. he was so powerless under dream, and he liked the feeling of power he got from teaming with techno, so much so that it drove him to cruelty, with even techno telling him he went too far with fundy. in the end, it’s probably for the best that he set that boundary and left to go back to l’manberg, but ultimately it was upsetting to both of them. techno felt betrayed because he genuinely thought tommy was his friend, only to be turned on last minute once again, now surrounded alone by enemies he was trying to protect tommy from. to him, allying with dream was just as bad as tommy allying with l’manberg. a betrayal for a betrayal, absolute reciprocity.

we all know the doomsday speech, with techno’s arguments being consistently stronger than tommy’s and much easier to defend, but we can’t just dismiss him. tommy had a lot of emotional input that day, and was angry at techno for a Lot of reasons, so he was more focused on shouting than making sense. he was more accusatory, while techno had fairly focused rebuttals (which, fair, i’m pretty sure that was techno’s first big addressal of most of that with other characters). it ended with tommy calling techno selfish for destroying l’manberg and techno coldly shutting tommy out for the betrayal.

betrayal was the driving force for techno’s “weapon” speech. tommy used him in pogtopia, tried to use him to stop dream exiling him and terrorising NLM) which he laughed at when told in character) and used him for getting the discs back. tommy wasn’t just using him, he genuinely felt like they had built a relationship beyond that, but when techno acted under his own ideals that went against his, then it was over. because tommy doesn’t value techno’s ideals, because they’re ‘selfish’ to him since he’s one of the only ones who believes in them. in turn techno sees that as making tommy selfish and as such they’re unable to compromise.

living with techno was an important part of tommy’s recovery process, which is still ongoing now. he saw immediate changes from his time with dream, claiming he felt “more me-ey” around techno and genuinely valuing his company. but he viewed techno’s alliance with dream as a betrayal, and he viewed the nov 16th incident as a betrayal. because he see’s techno’s belief in anarchy as selfish. something i never hear people point out is that tommy ADMITS he betrayed techno. after doomsday*, he says “all this time, technoblade told me i was betraying him. and you know what? (whispered) i was.” he’s guilty about it, and he understands that techno’s hurt. but he still can’t see him as being in the right, because techno took l’manberg forcefully and violently, and because tommy was hurt by their separation too. techno was powered by revenge more than anarchy during doomsday, which i think is important to point out. tommy had focused in on the threat of dream, and forgotten all the trauma techno went through with l’manberg, and left techno to rejoin l’manberg.

BOTH of them have explicitly stated “i viewed him as a friend but he never viewed me as one” and that’s just... devastating. at one point we can only hope that they have an in-canon conversation to actually settle all of this, but for now their storylines are separate and we’ll just have to live with that.

if anyone has anything they’d like to ask/clarify, or additions from any side i’d love to see it bc character analysis of dsmp characters is what’s keeping me going rn lmao. i said betrayal so many times here i am very sorry for clogging up the tag bc my readmore isn’t working yet (edit SAVED)

*i actually think this speech from tommy is very important, and not looked at as much as other stuff so im gonna link it here [55:52].

[ka-writes]

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Notes: READ WARNINGS!!

Please I really want you to be safe.. anyways, this is mainly a set up for the next chapter.. it has a shit ton of angst prepare yourself.

Also am very sorry it is late!! ‘‘Twas very hard for me to start writing it, btw I started another AU please go check it out, thank you <3

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Warning: Torture I go into detail, gore, cussing manipulation, characters lose sense of reality.

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In case you missed:

Chapter 1:

Chapter 6:

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Inspired by:

Humans are Space Velociraptors

By:FreshRoses_InMyGarden_NeedTheRain

Some kids come from storks, others come from crashed spaceships

By: mmmajora

Home Again, Home Again

By: teeth_eater

All works can be found on Ao3

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Ao3 link for this work:

And my other AU:

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Change 7: This is a dream… right?

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He was back where he started this whole thing.

In a cage.

One cage over from the door and now in the middle of the room. It felt empty and bare, yet full of an uncomfortable sense of dread and fear, though he would never admit that aloud.

This time there was only one other cage in sight. The room had changed as well. It was no longer covered in grime, or smelled of blood. Instead it was a sickly white and smelled of rubbing alcohol. Which caused his nose to burn with the overwhelming scent of the cleaning supplies, making the entirety of the room feel more and more like one of those horror stories in hospitals, the only difference being that this one was real.

The thing that replaced the other cages and humans was an operating table with vials and tools that Tommy couldn’t identify.

There were no lights currently, except for the same small door window, which was the only thing that really stayed the same.

It was cold, it felt empty. There was no description fit for the amount of dread Tommy felt. It was built up after laying in the dark for so long. It burned his gut and made his head swirl with thoughts of what would happen next.

He wouldn’t ever admit he was scared, but the situation kinda explained itself.

Without warning the door swung open. No squeaks like last time, just a smooth motion allowing the room to be basked in yellow light from the hall.

Then the lights turned on, immediately causing Tommy to shut his eyes. His head started throbbing and every fiber in his body screamed at him to run. The lights turned into blurry blinding blobs that lit everything in a white fire, making it apparent that the room was indeed scrubbed of any stains or blood. Once his eyes finally adjusted, his migraine caught up to him, making the entire thing unbearable.

“Hello there!” An alien stepped in the room. Their features were outlined in white and their skin wasn’t even recognized, simply because it looked like a shadow. They had claw-like hands and wore glasses over their white to red eyes. They had a black doctor’s coat and wore black pants with white knee high boots. They had a devilish tail along with devil horns and a floating white halo. Their fangs poked out from a blinding white mouth, which was curved into a practiced smile.

“My name is BadBoyHalo, but you will refer to me as Dr. Halo.” They finished with a sickly sweet tone and a side smile, “My pronouns are he/him, and I will be taking care of what happens while you’re here.. not that you will ever leave of course.”

His mind was racing. Everything told him this was real, but he couldn’t help but pray that it was all a sick dream.

“Now we will start off easy and move onto the harder stuff later! Please refrain from trying to run, we have a shock function attached to your translators.” This caught him off guard. Why was he using plural tenses?

He looked towards the other cage, that’s when he noticed the strange bee alien also wearing a petrified expression. His eyes didn’t wander to the other cage, only watching Dr. Halo.

“Now who do we start with?” The doctor asked, even though he clearly already knew. A twisted smile shone on his face letting the light catch the awfully amused glint in his eyes, “Let’s start with the droneling!”

——————

There was no explanation for where the two went.

They simply vanished. No traces to follow or reasons to run.

The only logical explanation was Dream catching them. Which meant Techno would have to ask around for where the ship was harboring. The only problem being, he was awful at talking to people.

“So what do you wanna know?” A tall Wollylock person asked, she was the only known person to know anything about Dream, being his mother and all.

“Er- information on the Dream Team Ship.” Techno stated rather awkwardly.

“Why?” The captain asked, impatience clearly visible with her expression.

“They took two starlings from my crew.” At that the captain practically fumed with furry.

“I will help. After all, that boy needs to learn some manners.” The captain stated, her determination was infectious. “What is your craft’s name?”

“The SBI Craft, piloted by captain Philza.” He said robotically.

“Course it has to be Phil. That man has what, four kids he claimed to his crew..”

“Technically, I am not a kid, neither is Wil- Er our scientist, so really he’s only harboring three kids, now one since two were taken..” Techno decided that was the best explanation he could come up with, though there was really no point.

The captain chuckled and brushed off the other’s attempts at defending the crew. “Just send me the ship’s cords and your captain’s contact and I will be in touch.” With that the captain slid a communicator over the table and walked out of the sketchy bar.

Techno made his way back to the ship and delivered his captain the news. He tried to ignore the gut feeling that everything was wrong…

——————

(The next section has graphics depictions of torture and gore, please skip this section if it could or will trigger you in any way, there is a summary at the end. Thank you <3)

The world moved unbearably slow. The cage opened ever so smoothly, making him want to throw up. It was the sign that everything was going to go to hell.

That’s what this has to be right? A hellish nightmare that wasn’t real..

No that wasn’t right..

Did it matter?

A hand yanked his wrist out of the cage and into the blinding white room, that felt like fire surrounding him as he stepped to the operating table.

Needles and scalpels were set neatly on a silver tray. The restraints were heavy and felt like they burned his wrists and ankles. He was pushed onto the table as the ‘doctor’ slapped on gloves. More restraints were clipped over his waist and thighs.

Then something pinched his leg. He felt the blood rushing it’s way down to the cut, as a scalpel carved out a rectangle. He could hear scissors cutting something, and distant screams… were they from him?

He didn’t know at this point. More agonizing cuts on his legs along with a couple of needle pin marks.. a couple snaps of an illusion disk and a bit of writing, on both his skin and paper..

He couldn’t really feel anything after the first one, only simply knowing that his body was reacting to the pain yet his brain hadn’t quite caught up with reality.

It was like he wasn’t exactly controlling his body, just simply existing in the dream-like state. Time didn’t exist there, neither did recognition of the pain. Emotions ran wild. Turning all of his thoughts sour as he attempted to remember what happened.

It wasn’t until the doctor un-clipped him and put him back into the cage that he noticed the other.

That’s who did this to him. That’s the person that pushed him through pain.

The human wore a terrified expression as the doctor took him out for his turn.

He couldn’t help but smile at the other’s pain. The other deserved it..

Right?

(If you skipped this, Tubbo got tortured and blamed Tommy for the situation.)

——————

“IT’S BEEN A FUCKING MONTH! And you still haven’t found your son’s damn ship?!” The man on the other line was furious, and rightfully so.

Puffy undoubtedly understood the anger the man had. I mean she had been in the situation before when her youngest was kidnapped by another crew of pirates. The only difference in this situation was she was fighting against her son, her duckling… when did her duckling turn sour?

“You’re right about that, Phil. I can assure you Niki is doing everything in her power to track them down, along with Jack.” Jack joined the team after Puffy met Niki.

She must admit that having someone working in the ISF had its perks. Though no one could fully trust him. For good reason of course.

“Ponk is ‘talking’ to Sam, he sure as hell ain’t cracking yet.” She finished bitterly, “Like I said Quakity is waiting for his monthly letter from his fiancé, which would hopefully give us a clue at where to look.”

“I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it’s been a month.. Wilbur said the humans barely last a full week if they aren’t treated..” The worry was lining his face and causing the bags under his eyes to look more like nasty black eyes. His face was sullen making it apparent the man hadn’t been eating properly. His wings ruffled at every noise and he seemed to be running purely on coffee. Puffy wanted nothing more than to return the man’s unofficial sons back to him.

——————

Everything was great!

The plan worked perfectly, and Sam hadn’t cracked yet.

Meaning he could easily start on the next faze. The only issue would be he’d have to gain both of the starling’s trust.

Even if the present was a bitter reality lined with things that would annoy him, the end result would be worth it.

Having a human and a nuke expert by his side would allow him to have everything he ever wanted.

Power.

Not just power, but all the things that came with it. He wouldn’t be questioned again, and everything and anything he said would be the final word.

It would be hell for those who crossed him, and even worse for those who abandoned him.

Wilbur, Sam, Ant, Quackity, Foolish, and even mother dearest, Puffy. They would all pay for their disloyalty. Once this is all over, they would never cross him again.

I mean he did give up everything to gain this life.

There was nothing to lose and everything to win, and he’d be damned if he didn’t win.

I mean he sold his soul for this!

It was all worth it.. right?

Of course it is. Stop doubting me child.

——————

28 days of torture, and now they were sitting with their captors playing house.

It was wrong. So utterly wrong.

“Eat your food Tommy.” The captain commanded.

Tommy complied not wanting to go back in the cage. Every day he woke up there, more things were shoved into him and more pain was given.

“You too Tubbo.” The command was given and the other complied, the same fear visibly shown.

“Reports.” Dream stated sternly, the rest of the crew compiled without hesitation.

It was a bunch of regular reports of how no one knew where they were, what supplies needed to be restocked, the current condition of the ship, and any developments with the news. A bunch of boring bullshit. He bit back any sarcastic remarks that threatened to spill, but refrained in fear of what they would do to him.

The crew was dismissed leaving Tubbo, Tommy, and Dream alone.

“I want both of you to listen.” Dream started his tone raising all hairs on the back of Tommy’s neck, “Phil and his crew led you to us. They didn’t comply the first time and poisoned your minds. We did the right thing, and fixed you. Now, there are some rules you have to follow. You may not wander the ship, only go anywhere with one of the crew members. You will both share a room and follow the same schedule. Anything you do that is not an order deserves a punishment, for it is proof of what the other crew poisoned you with. Now! Go to your room, it has a black door.” With that the man finished and the pair headed towards their room.

The speech sounded right, yet felt wrong. But everything was justified, therefore it was fine. Plus the worrying was just a problem for future Tommy, maybe that’s what Dream meant by the other crew poisoning him.

The other said nothing as they entered the room, only fixing Tommy with a bitter gaze which turned into something of confusion. Neither one slept, they couldn’t bring it in themselves to sleep, especially since Dream hadn’t told them to.

Instead both of them settled into a silence as they lay on their bed, only getting up when the man told them too. This was all they could really do as they faced their new reality. Slowly but surely their brains began to believe every word of the speech. Finally when the man asked to join him, a bubbly sickly joy gave them the grace to finally help their rescuer.

Six months after the initial capture, one month of torture and five months of vigorous training, consisting of fighting, weapon design, and hours of studying blueprints, they were finally able to go on their first mission with their rescuer, not questioning anything any of the crew said at this point. Sick months of training and they became living weapons ready for whatever the cruel world threw at them…

This is a dream.. right?

——————

Chapter 7- End

Words: 2221

——————

Notes:

Hahahaha I am in pain from writing this... please bare with me.. ;-;

——————

Dream is being a manipulative bastard... I mean the character. More specifically my take on Dream’s character in this situation... ahhhhh

——————

I hope you’re staying safe, don’t forget to take care of yourself!! <3 also likes are appreciated but reblogs are always better! <3

——————

[infinitedeaths]

i am Actually Fuming.

cc!techno really came out here and said ‘age doesn’t matter i’m gonna make my character 3 years old hahaha’. man misses the point: c!tommy, c!tubbo, and c!ranboo had ALL been referred to or referenced as teenagers for months. c!technoblade is implied to have been around for decades?? changing the character’s age now would be a logical fallacy and also just piss people off, while the apologists decide to use that to be assholes.

like just say you don’t care about the story or the community that’s built around the DMSP roleplay, dear gods. I already had the feeling he didn’t but this just cements it for me: he doesn’t care about it.

Which fucking sucks because his direct influence on shit in the story has affected things negatively. and i don’t mean just like, plot wise? i mean like. man kinda ruined the scene/reunion for clingy duo during the bedrock bros arc. i’ve always felt his stream on the egg made that feel way less serious than it originally was, because after that stream, it always felt less serious than before his stream for it.

also, for fuck’s sake, the whole thing about the red festival pisses me off so much. like, ah yes, tommy and tubbo didn’t warn anyone! even though tubbo was told RIGHT BEFORE THE FUCKING FESTIVAL? and tommy was busy convincing wilbur to NOT blow everything up.

tommy also had like. zero reason to not think techno knew about it. he’s an ally and dream knew about it so why wouldn’t techno?? its not like techno communicated at all during this time period god. especially because a lot of the stuff techno says could be implied that he knows about the TNT?? like i legitimately recall him saying something about destroying lmanburg with tommy around before the red festival and idk that kinda, to me, would imply he knew about the TNT.

literally, all of those discord messages from techno read as ‘i’m an asshole who thinks people who enjoy the roleplay and also enjoy analyzing it are stupid, haha fuck you’. congrats, you’ve alienated me at the very least, because that behavior is shitty.

[pandoraborn]

Coping - Part 5

( previous. )

Characters: Sleepybois Inc (c!Tommy, c!Phil, c!Wilbur, c!Techno) Word count: 1743 Content: mention of kidnap, mention of dissociation, therapy arc, mention of necromancy

---

Car?

He’s slowly coming back to reality, and that’s the first thought on Tommy’s mind. He doesn’t remember the SMP ever having cars. He can’t remember the last time he’d ever been in one. Somehow, in between falling asleep and waking up, they really had traveled incredibly far.

Lifting his head, Tommy glances out the window, squinting against the sunlight that seems to be directly in his eyes. There’s still that same familiarity of the world he knows, the sprawling forests in the distance, the plains, and even some snow even further out. But they’re definitely not anywhere near the SMP anymore.

He looks around his seat. He’s in the backseat of a small car, with Wilbur seated next to him. The guy is still transparent and very much dead, and sound asleep, too. Tommy had no idea ghosts could even sleep. At his feet lies his new dog.

In the front passenger seat is Techno. He’s holding a map in his hand and muttering to himself. Tommy can’t make out the words Techno is saying over the sound of the engine, but he gathers that Techno is talking to Phil, who is driving. It seems like a completely normal outing, except for the fact that this is completely unusual and alien. Their world doesn’t have cars or electricity. Techno is too big to be crammed into a car, and seeing Phil drive with his wings smashed flat against his back looks almost painful. Yet, the pair in the front are engaged in a muted conversation while pointing at a map.

Part of him wonders if this is a dream. He’s probably still in Techno’s cabin, or had fallen asleep in his own dirt hut while packing, and he’s having strange dreams of another universe where cars exist, and they’re a completely normal family. Tommy could almost enjoy this, it’d be so nice to slip back into sleep and pretend they’re all ordinary humans, and Wilbur isn’t a ghost, Techno isn’t a pig, and Phil doesn’t have giant wings. He could live in a reality where they’re all actually a loving, healthy family.

A bump in the road has Tommy smacking his head against the window. The sharp pain lets him know this is very much real, and they’re still very much a broken family, and he’s still a prisoner among them. At least he’s not panicking this time. Instead, Tommy reaches down to scratch his dog under the chin, smiling at the animal. The dog shifts and lifts his head to let Tommy pet him. At least he has Clem to offer some sort of support.

Sitting up straighter, Tommy ignores Wilbur giving him a sleepy side-glare while stretching his arms out. Instead, he focuses his glare on Techno, decidedly not liking the pig-like features for once. “Where the fuck are we?” Tommy blurts. He’s not going to bother with pleasantries right now.

Techno turns his head to glance back at Tommy, breaking into an amused grin. He nods once at Wilbur before re-focusing his gaze on Tommy, lifting the map as if that explains anything. “You’re awake,” Techno replies. “Did you have a good nap?”

The only response Tommy wants to give is smacking his hand against the window, indicating the distance buildings and modern technology that isn’t supposed to exist. He’s pretty sure none of it is redstone. Shooting Techno a pointed glance as he knocks again seems to help, too, because Techno lets out a sigh before slumping back in his seat, turning to Phil.

“Tommy, we said we were going somewhere far away,” Phil speaks up, watching Tommy in the rearview mirror. “Completely away from the SMP and nearby areas. Do you remember that conversation?”

He does, barely. Tommy had been in such a foggy state of mind that night; he remembers crying, but he doesn’t remember much in the way of conversations. He remembers being offered a dog, and he remembers leaving to go pack up his belongings in his hut. But the actual conversation? Nothing.

Phil nods at the blank expression in Tommy’s eyes. “I know of witches that can help Wilbur. And we’re taking an extended vacation, and that’s if we decide we want to go back. The SMP brought out the worst in all of us, and splitting up like that had been a huge mistake.”

“If only ‘splitting up’ had been that simple,” Tommy retorts. He stares out the window, trying to piece together any fragmented memories. There’s too much going on and already, he can feel himself wanting to slip back into something more numb, but he keeps himself grounded. It helps that his dog is now trying to climb up onto his lap. Tommy buries his face in Clem’s fur and inhales. “You all destroyed me.”

“That’s the thing,” Wilbur says softly. It’s only Wilbur that seems to calm Tommy anymore. Wilbur had destroyed himself so badly, but he’s also here and trying and... Tommy wants so bad to just fall into Wilbur’s arms and stay there. “Once I’m alive again, we’re going into therapy. We really need it.”

There’s a hollow laugh. This conversation had already happened, he’s sure of it, and the idea is utterly ridiculous. The thought that a few therapy sessions would fix months of extreme and deadly damage between a family is laughable, but there’s also that dim spark of hope. Mostly, for Wilbur’s sake. Wilbur seems like he wants it, and Tommy doesn’t want to disappoint him.

“You laugh now, but you’re going to love it after a few sessions,” Phil says. “I know you’re itching for a chance to vent about us.”

“Don’t try to psychoanalyze me, dad,” Tommy jeers. “You don’t know what I’m going to say to some shrink, if that even helps. You all know what I’ve been through. Hell, you all are the reason I need it in the first place. So don’t tell me what I’ll love or what I need.”

“In all fairness, it was Dream too,” Techno points out. Unhelpfully.

Rolling his eyes, Tommy shakes his head. “Sure, I’ll play along for awhile. But that doesn’t explain where the fuck we are or how we got here. Can I find my way back?”

“No.” Wilbur reaches over to tuck hair behind Tommy’s ear. “We’re in a more human realm, Toms. Magic isn’t a huge deal here. There are no hybrids or ghosts or people with god complexes. We purposely came here so you wouldn’t try to run.”

“So not only did you kidnap me, but you’re actively preventing me from returning home.” He leans into Clem again. “I’d say this is fucked, but I sound like a broken record.”

“I’d rather you sound like a broken record than shut down completely,” comes Phil’s response. He sounds sad. Startled, Tommy glances upward into the rearview mirror. Phil looks sad. He looks worn out and sad and he’s glancing at Tommy, and Tommy is certain Phil is silently pleading with him.

The idea that anyone would be sad like this is strange. He’s so used to people pitying him that genuine sadness is something...almost distressing. A soft whine slips out before he can stop himself, and he’s leaning forward.

“Do you mean that?” Tommy asks.

“Mean what? Me wanting you to voice your frustrations? Of course I me-”

“No, no. The sad. You look sad, Phil. No one is ever sad for me. It’s all fucking pity. Do you mean it?”

The silence stretches out in the car. No one has a response to Tommy’s question, no one seems to want to say anything. But when Tommy glances around the car, staring at each person individually, he can see matching expressions of sadness on their faces.

He needs to process this. It doesn’t seem like it’s all for him, either. He’d known that Wilbur was sad for a long time. He’d been sad enough to want to die, and that emotion hadn’t seem to go away even now. Techno looks sad in general, and Tommy doesn’t understand why. Phil...

Phil, he understands. It’s like he’s now seeing everything through Phil’s eyes; the reason for the rapid getaway, kidnapping Tommy to begin with, and escaping into a new land entirely . It’s all because Phil wants to rebuild burnt bridges, and Tommy can understand that. He wants that too, because holding onto anger has done nothing for him.

Leaning back in his seat, Tommy stares out the window again. He doesn’t know how to let go of his anger and resentment yet, and staring at them too long has Tommy wanting to lash out, especially to Techno. But therapy? He’d go through with it if it meant Phil didn’t have to look this sad anymore.

“What about Techno being a pig? Or Phil’s wings?” Tommy mutters.

“We’re going to talk to witches, Tommy,” Wilbur laughs. His tone is welcome after the awkwardness from seconds ago. “If they can practice the art of necromancy, I’m sure they can do something about Techno’s ugly and Phil’s wings.”

“You call me ugly, but I’m not the ghost haunting the backseat of the car,” Techno retorts dryly. “You’re uglier than I am.”

“So how far away are we?” Tommy asks. “It sounds like we’re going somewhere specific.”

“We are,” Phil says. “We’re in the human realm now Toms. We’re an hour away from California.” At the noise from Tommy, he lifts his chin. “No, I’m not explaining to you how we traveled from the SMP to this world. It happened, and that’s all you need to know.”

“Alright, alright.” He sits back and beckons Clem onto the seat. “I’ll make an effort to play nice for now.” Clem stretches out, half perched on Tommy, and half perched on Wilbur. Wilbur pulls his beanie down over his face and slumps back, ready to go to sleep again

“Just sit back and relax,” Phil offers. “Take another nap if you need it. I promise that soon things will get easier. This is good for all of us.”

Trust is hard to come by after it’s been shattered, but this time, Tommy can allow himself to trust a little. Just a little. “Okay.” He supposes that maybe being with these three isn’t so bad. It’s hard to hate them when they want to make things up to him with more than just words.

Who said coping with life had to be all sadness and broken bonds, anyway?

[justalittlelemony]

The Dead Man’s Switch Chapter 2

Read both chapters on Ao3 here.

Word count: 2,303

After Jack Manifold told him of the dead man’s switch, Tommy sends a message to Tubbo to have a long overdue conversation.

TW for mentions of suicide. There’s nothing that actually happens, but the idea of it is discussed.

Full fic under the cut

Despite his promise to Jack Manifold, it took Tommy another hour and a half to get in contact with Tubbo.

Now sure, he had opened his communicator and found Tubbo's name almost immediately after the conversation, but why try and actually communicate with your best friend when you can ignore and agonize over it for another hour?

Which was exactly what he did.

But after trying (and failing) to get his mind on literally anything else, he bit the bullet and sent his best friend a message.

<TommyInnit> Hey Tubbo

<TommyInnit> Tubbooo

<Tubbo_> what

<TommyInnit> I need to talk to you

<TommyInnit> Meet me at the bench

<Tubbo_> ok?

It wasn't exactly the most tactful way to start the conversation, but Tommy wasn't exactly known for his way with words. Speaking of words, Tommy, sitting on the bench and waiting, really wished that he had spent that hour and a half at least trying to figure out what he was going to say.

Hey, Tubbo! How are you doing? How's your husband, Ranboo? By the way, did you want to kill yourself?

Again, not very tactful.

"Shit," he muttered, running his hands over his face. What was he doing? This was a job for Ranboo, or Puffy, or literally anyone else on the server. Tommy was the absolute last person who should be voicing concerns about someone else's mental health because he knew he wasn't alright. He knew full well this conversation was going to be hypocritical because he had his own dead man's switch. His wasn't planned and certainly wasn't as involved, but it served the same purpose.

A suicide bomb and a pillar of mismatched blocks to the sky.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of footsteps on oak planks. "Tommy?" He turned to find his best friend standing next to the bench.

"Hey, big man." Tubbo was in his Snowchester clothing, undoubtedly having walked over from there. His hair was longer, starting to clip at his eyes. Despite how little Tubbo seemed to look like the kid Tommy knew on the surface, he saw his own red bandana around Tubbo's neck, just as he had a green one around his. And frankly, Tommy knew he was in no position to think Tubbo looked unfamiliar when he looked as he did. Apparently, being resurrected fucked with more than just his head. There was now a white streak in his hair, which was admittedly kind of badass. But worst of all, his skin was completely brand new. There were no scars, no blemishes, no imperfections of any kind. It felt so alien, so wrong. He hated it.

Tubbo sat down next to him on the bench. "Hi. I got your message. What did you want to talk about?"

Tommy, completely unsure of how to start this very uncomfortable conversation, did what did best: started talking. "Do you remember that last time we were here? Just you and me, on the bench?"

Tubbo furrowed his brow in thought. "It was right after we fought Dream, right? When we got the discs back?"

"Yeah." Tubbo sounded so casual about it, as if it hadn't almost been the single worst day of Tommy's life.

"Tommy, is everything alright?"

"Do you remember much about that day?"

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean, do you ever think about what all happened? Not just Dream going to prison, but everything that led up to it." He stood up. "'Cause I do. I think about it a lot. I don't want to, but I do. You almost died. I almost lost you."

Tubbo stood up to face him. "But you didn't. I'm fine."

"But you didn't think you were gonna be. Tubbo, you told me to take the discs and run." Tommy realized partway through his sentence that his voice was raising, but he couldn't stop it. "And, and later, in his fuckin' bunker or whatever, you said, 'It's about time!' You didn't even care! It's like you wanted to die!"

There it was. The root of his distress. The reason they were talking.

Tubbo just stared at him for a few seconds. "I didn't want to die," he said finally, "But I wouldn't have minded. Not if it meant you lived."

A pained noise escaped Tommy's throat. "That's not- Tubbo, that's, that's not okay!"

"You heard Dream; he was gonna kill me either way. If I was already going to die, at least you would be safe!"

"But that doesn't fucking matter, Tubbo!" And Prime, Tommy really felt like he was back in Dream's blackstone bunker, pleading with Tubbo, trying to find a way, any way to keep him away from the man they had been fighting for what seemed like forever. "It doesn't matter 'cause then you'd be dead! You don't get to just give up like that!"

"Why not?" Tubbo was yelling now too. "It's my life!"

"You find something else, anything else! You don't just-"

"I don't know how to do anything else!"

They both stopped, one in anger, one in shock. Tubbo breathed heavily, his glare fixed on Tommy. He wiped at his eyes a bit, and Tommy realized with a start, he was crying. He sat down on the ground, his head resting on the edge of the seat of the bench. His arms curled around his torso as he quietly spoke. "I'm not Wilbur, or you. It's like Dream said. I'm a pawn. That's all I can do."

Tommy wanted to say so much to Tubbo. He wanted to tell him that he was wrong, that he was one of the smartest, strongest, bravest people he knew. That of course he wasn't a pawn. That of course he was worth more than that. But he couldn't work the words out of his throat. Instead, he sat down next to Tubbo. When he finally did speak, it was slow, hesitant. "I meant what I said that day, y'know. I don't know what I'd do without you." I don't even know who I am without you.

(Dream might have called Tubbo his origin story, but Tommy knew he was dead wrong. They were Tommy and Tubbo, Tubbo and Tommy. Two halves of a whole. Tommy couldn't live without his other half.)

Tubbo gave him a sad smile. "You'd be fine."

"No, I wouldn't have. Not without you." He sighed. "Look, Tubbo, you've got a life. You've got people who care for you. You've got a fucking kid, for Prime's sake! You can't," Leave me. Kill yourself. "You can't give up. If not for me, then for Ranboo, for Michael. Please, Tubbo."

Tubbo paused for a second, then turned to Tommy. "What made you think I was giving up?"

"What?"

"The Final Disc War was months ago. It's been pretty quiet on the server since then." He looked down. "Well, mostly. Why'd you think I was giving up?"

Tommy sucked in a breath. "Jack Manifold came to see me earlier today. He said you put a dead man's switch on the nukes." Tubbo's eyes widened at the mention of the nukes. Tommy hesitated but continued on. "Tubbo, you made a suicide bomb. You know that, right?"

Tubbo was silent, his gaze fixed ahead of him as if he were working something out in his head. When he spoke it was quiet, barely loud enough for Tommy to hear. "I know."

"You knew?" It wasn't new information. (Of course Tubbo knew what he was doing. Of course Tubbo knew what it meant.) But it still rocked Tommy to his core.

Tubbo still wasn't looking at him but was instead playing with his hands. "I didn't have a plan to use it. Or, at least, not a specific plan. It was more of a contingency if anything. Just in case."

Tommy couldn't help but let out an incredulous laugh. "Just in case what? You had to blow yourself up and take a chunk of the server with you?"

"Yeah," he said, quieter than before. He sighed, "Look, I know you're worried for me-"

"Yeah, no shit."

"-But I'm fine, I promise." He finally looked at Tommy. "It's not like I'm trying to hurt myself or anything like that. It's just, I'm alright, with dying, I mean, if it's better for other people."

And there was just so much behind that single statement. The fact that Tubbo seemed to have such apathy towards dying made Tommy sick to his stomach, although he couldn't quite pinpoint why. But once he did, he knew what he was going to say.

"Did I ever tell you what happened during exile?"

Tubbo's eyes widened. "No. But you don't have to if you don't want to," he said reassuringly, "I know you don't like to talk about it."

Tommy shook his head. "No, it's alright. I think I'm ready." It's about time anyway. "Obviously, I was there, alone, with Dream. He'd make me take off my armor and all my other stuff and blow it up. That's what the hole bit was about. He'd spend a lot of time trying to convince me that he was my only friend, that nobody else cared." He looked down. "And I, I actually fucking fell for it, for a bit."

"Tommy, I'm so sorry-"

"Don't," he said, a stern tone in his voice. "It's not your fault, it's Dream's." They had never really discussed it, but Tommy didn't, wouldn't blame Tubbo for exile. He shook his head. "But, anyway, between Dream being my only company and just basically everything going to shit, I, I guess I gave up." His voice started to tremble and he did everything in his power to stop it. "I didn't care if I lived or, or not. And so when Dream blew up all my shit and told me he was never coming back, that was it for me. I built a tower." He looked back to Tubbo. "I know you've seen it. And, and I want to say that I was joking, that I wasn't going to jump. But I wasn't joking."

No, he hadn't been joking. It scared Tommy knowing just how close he had come to jumping off of that pillar that day.

"And I'm telling you this because what happened to me and what happened to you was fucked. It was completely fucked." He had managed to steady his voice. He sounded confident, sure. "But jumping into the water that day was the best decision I've made in a long fucking time."

Tubbo didn't react, didn't even move after Tommy finished talking. For a moment, he wondered if he said something wrong. But then, Tubbo rested his head on his shoulder, and Tommy pulled him into a hug. Tubbo buried his face into Tommy's shirt, just like he had done since they were kids, whispering apologies. "I'm sorry. Prime, Tommy, I'm so sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry, Tubbo," he said, and he meant it. He rested his own head on top of Tubbo's. They sat there for who knows how long and for once, Tommy thought, everything felt alright.

Not good.

But alright.

At some point, Tubbo peeked his face out from Tommy's shirt. "What do you suggest we do?" the voice from underneath Tommy asked.

"I dunno." He shrugged (Well, as much as he could without moving Tubbo). "Puffy's got a therapy office. I've already signed up."

"...You want me to go to therapy with you?"

Tommy laughed. "No! Not with me, you clingy fucking... Sign yourself up!"

Tubbo giggled at that. "Is Puffy even qualified to give therapy?"

"Is anyone on this server?"

"True."

"I mean, unqualified help has got to be better than no help at all, right?"

Tubbo looked as though he were going to disagree, but instead said, "I suppose."

"So, will you go and see Puffy?" Please say yes.

Tubbo paused. "I'll think about it." Tommy let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. "Will you stop avoiding me?"

Tommy stopped. "I'm not avoiding you," he lied.

"Really?" Tubbo pulled himself out from underneath Tommy so he could look at him directly. "'Cause it really feels like it, ever since you got back. Tommy, you're my best friend, you know that, right? I haven't replaced you."

Tommy wanted to let him know just how much that statement meant to him. That he knew he wasn't being replaced, but that it felt like so much had changed in the month he was in the prison. Instead, he said, "Of course, you haven't replaced me! I'm TommyInnit, haver of wives! I can't be replaced! I'm just," How to put it? "Not a big fan of that Ranboo fellow."

"Tommy-"

He raised hands in faux surrender. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I'll try and visit you more often, I promise." He put his hands back down in his lap and started playing with them. "It's just been weird since I got out."

Tubbo had sill been looking at him, but looked down as he spoke (In guilt? In understanding?), "I know." He rested his head again on Tommy's shoulder, which made him feel a little better, at the very least. "Do you-" Tubbo started to speak, but stopped, before starting up again. "Do you think things will ever be okay?"

And that really was the question, wasn't it? "I dunno," Tommy answered honestly, "But it's still worth trying."

Things weren't going to get better overnight, Tommy knew. Especially not on this server. They still had a myriad of problems to deal with: Dream, the prison, and someone should probably do something about that Egg thing. But the point was it wasn't going to be an easy journey. But as long as they were together, they'd be alright.

Tommy, Tubbo, (And maybe Ranboo, I guess.) against the world.

[bewaretheidesofmarchyall]

Hi! I follow you, and you're reblogging a lot of Dream SMP stuff, and I googled what the plot was and I didn't find anything so can you tell me the plot?

Alright

I covered the plot of Season One here:

https://bewaretheidesofmarchyall.tumblr.com/post/635954614437593088/hey-i-really-like-minecraft-and-used-to-watch

So, here’s what happened in Season Two!

Ranboo arrives! He’s half-enderman, he has amnesia, and he’s new in town!

Tommy and Ranboo broke George’s house, which gave Dream a flimsy excuse to build enormous obsidian walls around L’Manburg

In order to get the walls taken down, Tubbo is forced to exile Tommy

So, Tommy is sent away to Logstedshire, and becomes depressed (The fact that Dream shows up every day to destroy his things and emotionally manipulate him doesn’t help)

He comes very close to taking his final canon life, but he realizes what a terrible person Dream had been to him and runs away from Logstedshire to live in Technoblade’s basement

Speaking of Technoblade! He’s getting executed!

The Butcher Army (Quackity, Tubbo, Fundy, and Ranboo) decided that he needed to pay for the whole “releasing withers into the city and leaving into the night” thing

They were unaware that Technoblade had stopped his violent ways and was just living a peaceful retirement in the arctic with his favorite horse, Carl.

So, the Butcher Army shows up and threatens Carl to get Technoblade to follow them back to L’Manburg

They attempt to execute him with an anvil, but unbeknownst to them Technoblade had a totem of Undying

With Dream’s help, he escapes into the night after killing Quackity with a pickaxe.

Techno is greeted with a surprise when he returns home to find Tommy living in his basement. He decides to team up with the kid, and shows him his giant vault of wither skulls with the iconic line “Welcome Home, Theseus”

Meanwhile, the Butcher Army starts planning how to kill Dream at the next festival

Oh! There’s also a giant maximum security prison now!

And a mind-controlling alien parasite called The Crimson!!

There’s a lot of subplots

But we’ll skip to the Green Festival, where Dream does not die

No, the only things that die at that festival are L’Manburg’s chances and Techno and Tommy’s friendship

Basically, Dream blew up the Community House and blamed it on Tommy, then used it as an even flimsier excuse to get Tubbo to surrender the final disc (one of the things Tommy cares about the most in the game)

Tommy, who was watching the entire thing invisibly with Technoblade jumps in and fights with Tubbo, upset that he would even consider handing over his discs

However, he has a moment of self-realization, and he lowers his weapon, telling Tubbo to give up the disc

Despite his words, despite even some of his actions, he’s always going to choose Tubbo.

Tommy leaves Technoblade and joins up with Tubbo again, which Technoblade is obviously not a fan of.

Sadly, once Dream has both discs, there’s no reason for him to keep L’Manburg around, and he tells the crowd that the country will be destroyed tomorrow

They prepare for Doomsday

Dream, Techno, and Phil show up the next day

L’Manburg doesn’t stand a chance

The city is destroyed with withers and replicating TNT, and all that stands is a crater and one flag

That was four days ago

What comes next?

Tommy is still determined to get his discs back, mostly because he needs to focus on that or he’ll have a breakdown

Tubbo is dabbling in mad science, and blames himself. He’s made a new house that could one day become a country of its very own once Dream isn’t around to screw things up. 

It’s called Snowchester

Technoblade is back to vibing in the arctic after destroying a country. Still feels betrayed by Tommy.

Ghost Wilbur was very upset by the destruction of L’Manburg, since he was the one who owned the most stuff there. He wants to be brought back to life, which will be attempted today!

Phil has taken Ranboo under his wing and given him a place to stay, since he helped blow up his old house. Phil is also trying to bring back his son, Wilbur, from the dead.

Ranboo is not doing great, but he’s coping. He has a panic room, and has been needing it a lot lately after he was revealed as a “traitor” (it’s complicated). Currently living in the arctic with Phil and Techno, though that could change.

Quackity still may or may not be possessed (it’s complicated), but he’s cut ties with L’Manburgian government and is really trying to kill off Dream (but with diplomacy)

Fundy is also trying to kill off Dream, after he sabotaged the Anti-Doomsday effort and is having a corruption arc of his own. He and Ranboo are not that good of friends any more.

Niki burnt down the L’Mantree. She’s at an unstable part of her character arc, and isn’t doing great. Currently teaming with Jack Manifold.

Eret is a noble and kind king, and they’re the only one really doing okay here

Jack Manifold went to hell (He got better!), and now wants to take revenge on Tommy.

Callahan mourns the Community House

Sapnap has reconciled with Tommy, and fought on the right side of history for once

I think Punz is still a spy, but I’m not sure about that one

Captain Puffy is alright, I think.

George still wasn’t there for Doomsday

The Crimson grows

And Dream? Dream has finally destroyed L’Manburg. All that’s left for him is to destroy Tommyinnit once and for all.

Everyone on the server wants to kill god (and by god I mean Dream). The only problem is that everyone is really bad at teamwork.

If every person on the server actually works together, I think they can take Dream down and be free to live their own lives, complicated as those may be.

That’s the only hope at this point.

(Finally, Purpled played Bedwars instead of showing up to Doomsday)

If you have any other questions, please ask! I wasn’t able to cover everything that’s happened on this server, so if you want to know more about certain characters or theories, my ask box is always here.

Thanks for reading!

[noobsomeexagerjunk]

we wake with the intent to find enlightenment

Eret was what any sensible Minecraft server would call a "player of games," descending from the first slayers of the Dragon that dreamed hard enough to achieve the highest level. He was the epitome of what the voices whispered in their little poem.

Well, he was supposed to be.

In a sudden new development of powers, Eret converses and looks back on conversations to finally figure himself out, to finally wake up.

(read on AO3)

chapter 1: and all those sparkles in my eyes still remain

When you talk with enough people, you are forced to think.

When you think hard enough, you are forced to change.

Eret did not mean to trim away (or make disappear, based on his witness) all the leaves from the trees in his castle garden with a flick of his hand, but he just did.

He neared one bald trunk and touched the branches. It was odd how clean the cut was.

He reckoned that something about his person changed that caused the phenomenon to happen.

That kind of change had not happened since he was still growing up when he was as young as the few children on the server, most of whom he loved fervently.

The first time he knew he was different from the other children, human or otherwise, was the white of his eyes, which were aglow perpetually and unnatural enough to make people, who didn’t have the family eyes, unnerved around him. At some point, people began to flee at the sight of him.

Perhaps it’s the legend that one relative of his that he had made for himself— yeah, that’s right.

That said relative had remarkable power and chose to make himself a nightmare amongst servers, which was a feat no one in his immediate family, with their own powers, chose to do. None of them had that kind of audacity.

Neither did he, who then just decided to chop down the naked trees, planting new ones in their place.

The mystery of the kin who had Eret’s blood could make monsters, villains, but also heroes, leaders, gods even! They’re the epitome of dreaming, of what man should be in the sandboxes that Minecraft offered. Eret, by blood, descended from those who lived fully through uncovering the hidden truths from that so-called poem, the poem a server would whisper to those who, when the dragon of that server’s End is slain, actually save the End in question.

Eret’s power gave him a particular knowledge when he first stepped into the Dream SMP, a knowledge that framed him as an alien god trapped in the fragile clay that was the average Dream SMP mortal. It’s knowledge of the End but knowing the art of respect (and in that knowledge, not breaking the rules concerning its restriction).

Despite all that, Eret was left still trying to figure whatever the fuck he was. She was? They were?

Eret was, as far as he knew, something .

Wilbur said he was a traitor.

Dream said he was a king.

Everyone else said he was a puppet.

He made himself a historian.

He was something. Some...things?

Eret knew that he and he alone dictated his identity. He did not know whether he was happy with what he gathered, with what he made, with what he was.

Blinking back into reality, Eret dropped his enchanted netherite axe, leaves now restored. He hadn’t even begun cutting down the trunks!

“Okay, this is getting weird,” He remarked, picking up his axe and placing it back in his inventory.

He then walked back into the quarters of his castle, heading into that hidden boudoir where he did his more private and intimate matters concerning his person.

Armor off, then after some consideration, robe off as well.

In his regality and decoration, Eret always felt most like himself wearing gray shirts and blue jeans. It was bland, (as one drunk Wilbur Soot once whispered to him playfully, during one of those nights before everything went wrong,) but it was comfortable.

The mirror of the boudoir was massive, reaching the room’s high ceilings, making Eret’s figure so small from within the room’s walls.

Eret picked up his crown from off his head and took a good look at it. The marks of enchantment on the golden material resembled blood splatter, the pretty, intricately-carved jewels covered in beautifully contrasting impurities.

Now, the SMP’s other known leaders, or at least those most fascinated by its powers? They were intriguing to Eret, many of them possessing skills he wished he himself had. In their crafts and games, it was odd how Eret never could hold his own against them.

Eret’s craft was a museum. Unlike symphonies, it had the right to remain forever unfinished. It depended on housing so many stories—there were too many stories left unsalvageable.

Eret’s game was the game of Jacks. As bad as he was at the game, it was the game he can’t help but choose to play. The ball is bouncy just as his crown is heavy, the bones in hands as little as the friends he actually had.

The (let’s be real here,) crown of thorns—the Crown which was currently in Eret’s possession—both allured and terrified, like a bomb waiting to be used, waiting to blow up.

Bombs made Eret remember a conversation with Tubbo and Captain Puffy on a visit to Snowchester.

“Independent?” Eret picked up the Declaration of Independence on the podium, reading the haphazard handwriting of the founder of Snowchester.

“Have you come to contest it, your majesty?” Tubbo approached from behind him with a snarking tone; pulling with him on a lead was a bay horse that Puffy was riding on.

“Well, no, as nothing of any harm is,” The nukes, ”um, well-“

“Yes, we are peaceful, aren’t we?” Tubbo maintained his tone.

“Besides the nukes, Tubbo?” Puffy interjected.

“It’s a deterrent!” The teen repeated, “Like I said earlier, Eret. I’ve got them decommissioned and we don’t want any trouble.”

“Yeah, I can see how you’d come to that kind of protection,” Eret remembered Doomsday, “though I would request—actually no, recommend you communicate with me if you are going to use them at any point.”

“For what?”

“The help would be needed. You never know.” Eret was reminded of an equally alien red. Tubbo had mentioned seeing some growths on his land during their earlier conversation.

“I never do know, don’t I?”

Eret chuckled lightly, “Well, Tub-”

Tubbo suddenly smacked the ewe off the horse, much to her dismay.

“Tubbo! That hurt!”

“Thank you for getting off my horse,” Tubbo said, absurdly and frankly.

“Are you alright, Puffy?” Eret quickly went to pick her up, only for Puffy to be standing when he was at a reasonable distance from her.

“I’m good, I’m good.”

Puffy was quite a character. Her request of resignation was something he happily allowed, as her disillusionment with the server certainly coincided with his. He made no public spectacle of it (though to be fair, he never made a spectacle of his knight table, to begin with,) but had a meal with Puffy for it.

This was the price of an unannounced excursion. You leave for a month to make sense of all the chaos you’ve had to endure healthily only to come back to an even worse Dream SMP.

You have come back negligent. Wasn’t the break supposed to make you a better ruler?

Eret remembered welcoming Puffy when she first arrived, disheveled and a bit of a klutz, though nonetheless friendly.

Of course, who wouldn’t be a mess joining the Greater SMP, most especially after a historical act of political terrorism?

Eret quickly repressed the thought of Wilbur, though the dead fellow’s charisma seemed to leak out of Puffy’s excitability. She acted much like him, much like he was before Eret had hurt him: quick to founding family, being a shoulder to cry on, quick to burn when necessary, being a paragon of hope against tyranny and towards peace.

Captain Puffy had long wooly locks, brown and highlighted with a prismatic shade of white. She hid her eyes behind glasses like his, enigmatic like himself, surely? This ewe walked into the server with a friendly, warm wool onesie of many colors, reflected in her horns and hooves.

Eret’s shock was reasonable when she came to their little arranged meal together in a brand new costume.

She looked so much like Wilbur, as attractive as him, even. This was the man who had the ambition to fight tyranny through a division Eret thought at the time as dangerous.

The reminder can no longer be avoided.

In some way, Eret felt he was correct about the effect of L’Manburg, of it being a further cause of division in a server that didn’t need to create factions but to simply negotiate with words—to coexist and be passive and not be so Goddamn stubborn.

Dream and Wilbur, in their disagreements, agreed they were both unbelievably stubborn. Too mortal, too measly, two mere men...Eret found it awful how they fashioned themselves as immovable objects. He, for one, belonged to a race of men far more powerful than that of the two, and yet they had the audacity! What are simple server owners and the children of angels to dreamers? To the descendants of those who had taken the universe’s whims to heart? To the same brood that begotten the nightmare known as Herobrine?

Eret was something, but that something was not Herobrine, that’s for sure.

Wilbur could only handle so much. L’Manburg could only handle so much.

The stains of betrayal still prod and cry at Eret before his very eyes.

Nevermind. Eret wasn’t as sure, now that he thought harder about it.

He huffed to himself. He was being fickle.

Captain Puffy was quite fickle. She bent and broke like him, if her resignation as a knight was of any indication. She mothers a god but is so ever mortal and yet is so humble. People and happiness mattered to her, and that was why Eret loved her.

The tricorn hat and the long coat, worn out by what seemed to be the waters of storms instead of the fires of war, were an ashen color, black like obsidian, and were punctuated with gold pads, embroidery, and buttons.

She wore glasses like his, in that through certain angles, semi-hid eyes of enchanted prismarine. As we know, Eret’s glasses hid a blinding, mythical pair of whites.

“That’s quite the look there,” Eret remarked at the sight of her, almost tempted to blush.

“Yeah,” Puffy failed to hide her hesitance, “I, um, thought I needed a wardrobe change.”

“You didn’t have to dress up for this, you know?”

“I know, I know,” Puffy put a lock behind her ear, “This is just—how do I put this? Um, a necessity.”

He was about to jokingly question whether she was going to war, but then stopped himself in realization.

“I see. Come,” He gestured to her to follow him towards the table and food he set up before her arrival.

[brightbeautifulthings]

Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

"'For the love of God, Montresor!' 'Yes,' I said, 'for the love of God!'"

Year Read: 2020

Rating: 2/5

Context: Starting two years ago, I’ve picked an intimidatingly long classic to read over the course of a year. I have a problem with trying to read books as fast as I possibly can, so if I set myself a thousand page novel, I’ll try to pound it in a week, and it will just be a miserable experience all around. So, a year is a nice compromise. I’ve hit the major Poe horror stories in the past, and I’ve been thinking about rereading them, but I couldn’t decide where to start. Reread my favorites? Read the ones I’ve heard of? What if I’m missing something awesome? As usual, my go-to answer is to read them ALL. For more thoughts on individual stories, see my monthly blog posts. Trigger warnings: character death, torture, live burial, cannibalism, decapitation, animal abuse, injury, severe illness, racism/xenophobia, anti-Semitism, ableism, slurs, mental illness, bitter ranting from the reviewer.

Thoughts: My edition, with an introduction by Wilbur S. Scott, is probably not the edition I would have picked, since I prefer more notes or even essays to help me out with books that are 100+ years old. Context is helpful. Somehow though, my dad and I ended up with the same edition, so we decided to read it together. My dad loves all things horror (I come by it naturally), and we’re both longtime Poe fans, especially if you happen to put Vincent Price in one of his film adaptations. Scott’s introduction is particularly pretentious for a book we probably found in the bargain bin, and he manages to criticize the horror genre for not being “literary enough”. This is an Edgar Allan Poe collection, right? Way to alienate 90% of your audience right from the start. You can’t snub an entire genre and then attempt to explain why people like it. Like a lot of critical writing, it tells us more about Scott than it does about Poe, and I was circling his typos to entertain myself by the end of the introduction.

It did not get better. In short, I actively hated so much of this collection, and it's my most arduous and least enjoyed year-long read to date. To be even shorter, the only stories I found worth reading for pleasure were the horror ones I had already read and loved, and I'm afraid to examine too closely whether that has more to do with nostalgia and pop culture than the stories themselves. Poe has a way of lingering on pointless descriptions and belaboring a point to its absolute death, alongside an aggressively pretentious tone that suggests the narrator (and, by extension, Poe himself), knows everything there is to know about everything and you're an idiot for even asking. His true talent may not be horror, but in turning what might have been a good story into an intellectual soapbox and hammering it the point of absurdity. It would be different if the stories actually were intelligent instead of ridiculous. I’m happy to talk Aristotelian ethics, but the point is never to intellectually engage the reader–-it’s to show how clever the writer is.

On the whole, it seems like Poe struggles with telling a straightforward story, and I can’t tell if it’s because the short story genre has changed so much since then or because he’s so busy trying to show readers how smart he is that he forgets that stories have very specific components like suspense, exposition, or rising action (or endings). Most of them consist of some narrator speaking the entire time (I have all kinds of problems with this, from, “You just ruined the twist of your own story” to “No human talks for thirty uninterrupted minutes unless some idiot gave them a microphone.”), and few of them have anything resembling action, plot/character development, strong themes, or closure. There’s an essay-like quality to some of them (“The Imp of the Perverse”, “The Premature Burial”) where he seems to be trying to tease out a concept on an intellectual level, sometimes for pages and pages, before he remembers that he’s telling a story with characters and what could loosely be called a plot. I could do without all the intellectualizing, verbal grandstanding, and narrative cartwheels; just tell a good story, please.

And he does, sometimes. It's clear why Poe remains an essential part of the horror canon because those are easily the best stories in the collection, and I don't think that's just because I'm a horror fan. Horror seems to age better than some other genres because certain things remain consistently scary over decades or even centuries--being buried alive, for example. “The Fall of the House of Usher” is permeated by a feeling of bleak foreboding, culminating in some truly terrifying images, and “The Tell-tale Heart” is one of the better examples of Poe’s rambling narrator who thinks a lot of his own intelligence and slowly unravels over guilt. Both scared me to death when I was a kid, and I’m happy to see that they still maintain a high creep factor as an adult. (I also had the Great Illustrated Classics Tales of Mystery and Terror as a kid, because all a story about being buried alive needs is an illustration!) “The Cask of Amontillado” has long been one of my favorites (because there is something deeply wrong with me, probably), and “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Masque of the Red Death” are both top-notch horrifying, the latter a classic plague story that's a little *too* relevant to the times just now (but, you know, also one of my favorites). The clock symbolism is some of the best in the entire collection. Why, pray tell, would you be afraid of time?

The tolerable stories are the detective ones and the adventure ones, in that order. I can see why Poe’s detective stories like “The Gold Bug” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” spawned a genre. I was getting clear Sherlock Holmes vibes from his character, Dupin. However, it reaffirms that something is a classic because of its effects on literature as a whole and not because it’s still all that accessible. Just because something is the first of its kind doesn’t mean it’s the best of its kind; in fact, it usually isn’t because that was only a starting place. I can’t help feeling “Murders” would have been more compelling as a horror story than a detective story. Murdering gorillas are cool; listening to someone talk about murdering gorillas, much less cool. I was extremely irritated by his hot air balloon stories ("The Balloon Hoax", "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall"), but apparently Jules Verne loved them, which makes a lot of sense. I was getting a lot of Verne vibes from things like "A Descent Into the Maelstrom" and even the utterly long, boring, and racist "Narrative of A. Gordon Pym." It's clear they had influence on other writers, even if they're not the best examples of their genres.

Which brings us back around to the bad. It's not worth my time or yours to list all the terrible stories in this collection, but I can briefly summarize what I found so terrible about them. First, Poe is tragically, emphatically unfunny. The things he seems to find humorous are either in very poor taste now (his tasteless descriptions of mental patients in “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether”), or they’re outright ridiculous, almost slapstick, like the woman who gets her head stuck in a clock and is subsequently decapitated by it in “A Predicament,” which is an odd sequel to “How to Write a Blackwood Article.” I’m sensing that Poe is making fun of intellectuals or would-be intellectuals here, but with so much time and cultural distance, it’s hard to tell. In any case, it led to a running joke (“I’m going out for groceries!” “Don’t stick your head in any clocks!”). Somehow, I doubt this is the major takeaway Poe was hoping for.

Worst of all, they don't age well on representation either. Poe seems at pains to offend every single minority he possibly can throughout his oeuvre. There are a lot of horribly racist depictions of African Americans, snide comments about Jewish people (or the much more obvious anti-Semitism in “Four Beasts In One” where a mad king has a thousand Jews killed--really?), and blatant ableism (“Hop-Frog”). It's at its worst in "Narrative of A. Gordon Pym," a novella that spans over a hundred pages, that is basically a tedious, xenophobic setup to paint the native population of an island as the most horrific and duplicitous monsters imaginable. (The narrator previously ate one of his shipmates, so can he really afford to throw stones here?) For inexplicable reasons, that story isn't finished, and by that point, I was grateful.

Poe's poetry is a little easier to work through than his prose. I love "The Raven" with its lilting rhymes and dark message, and "Annabel Lee" is very pretty, both ubiquitous in popular culture. I also liked "Dream-Land," "Al Aaraaf" (where Ligeia makes another appearance), and "Alone." Most of the poetry has pretty simple rhyme schemes, the subjects mainly love and loss. There's an excerpt of an unfinished play, "Politian," included as well, but it didn't make much of an impression on me. TL;DR: I stand by my initial opinion, which is to read his horror stories for pleasure and, possibly, his detective and adventure stories for genre purposes, and to skip the rest. I'll probably be looking for a smaller edition of the stories I like. This one is a massive hardcover, more like a book you put on your coffee table to look impressive than a book you actually read (but I don’t have a coffee table, so it’s actually just taking up more room on the shelf than any one book has a right to).

[ka-writes]

——————

Notes: I was at camp. Sorry for posting late... in return I gift a long chapter!

——————

In Case you missed it:

Chapter 1:

Chapter 2:

——————

Inspired by:

Humans are Space Velociraptors

By:FreshRoses_InMyGarden_NeedTheRain

Some kids come from storks, others come from crashed spaceships

By: mmmajora

Home Again, Home Again

By: teeth_eater

All works can be found on Ao3

——————

Warning: Characters being trapped, mentions of IVs, Cussing, yelling, characters being restrained, nightmares, mentions of murder, a guy being arrested.

——————

“Humans are [add text here]”

Chapter 3: A Wild Crow Father has Appeared

Phil wasn’t expecting to be returning to Planet A112 so soon but Wilbur had sent a distress signal and that was the Dream Team Craft’s next stop.

The planet itself stood as a port market place. There were many of these planets around the galaxy, but it was probably the more popular ones for criminal ships and such. Poachers and Scientists alike came here to get supplies to take the biggest beasts in the galaxy, Humans.

Phil never understood the appeal, but both of his sons had gained that sort of adventurous aspect that he had lost so many celestial years ago. He assumed the only reason people ever chased the creatures was to fill their pride.

That was the exact reason Techno had joined the poacher ship three years ago. He only returned when it had crashed three months ago. To this day he has yet to reveal what horrors had gone on the ship.

Wilbur had another reason to go after the infamous creatures. His crave for knowledge was eating him up as was for most scientists. He joined the Dream Team Craft only six months ago and was already heading back to the SBI Craft.

Techno was pacing around the marketplace studying different weapons and supplies. Phil had been standing off to the side, leaning on one of the building walls. Every once and a while he would check his communicator to see where Wilbur was. Thankfully he had turned on his location so Phil could easily watch as he made his way through the maze-like market.

“Is he getting close?” Techno asked running low on patience.

“He’ll be here in two minutes or so.” Phil bit his lip, “You can head back to the ship, I don’t mind waiting for him.”

“I am not leaving you. Prime knows what Wilbur brought back this time.” Techno replied. Wilbur always had a knack for bringing back things he found interesting. This wasn’t the first time he had left the SBI Craft. This would be the 37th since he turned 14. Now he was 24 and the Craft had been designed to handle whatever he brought back. There was a holding room fit for literally any species, a mechanics room full of technology he gained an interest in. A garden and a gardener which was also retrieved by Wilbur. And of course Wilbur’s pride and joy, the laboratory.

“If you want mate..” Phil said, shaking his head.

Not even two minutes later he saw Wilbur coming from the middle of the crowd. He was carrying what looked like a hurt child.

“Well this should be interesting.” Techno mumbled as he spotted Wilbur.

Once the phantom saw them he strode over and they made their way over to him.

“What do you have this time mate?” Phil asked, curiosity filling him to the brim with questions.

“Someone I can’t explain till we get to the ship.” Wilbur states with a tone he had never heard from his son.

After a second of standing awkwardly they had come to a silent agreement to head to the ship.

It took less than five minutes. Wilbur was half sprinting to the lab before Techno’s assistant had even registered that Wilbur was back. Phil gave a quick greeting to the gardener and assistant before following Wilbur to the medical part of the lab. He almost fainted when he saw what was laying on the medical bed.

“I know it looks bad, but I couldn’t help myself.” Wilbur said apologetically, “I know you’re gonna want answers but I really don’t have a lot of time before serious damage is done to him. I’ll explain after I fix him up.” He glanced up with a face full of sincerity.

Phil sighed pushing aside any fatigue and collecting his thoughts. “How can I help?” He states without an ounce of shown-fear in his voice.

Wilbur took a moment before answering. Prime the silence was loud. “Keep everyone out of the lab, and set up another room.. that would be great.” Wilbur said. The worry in his voice was apparent, but Phil said nothing of it. Instead he started on the tasks that came with being the captain of the craft.

——————

He woke up to LED lights blinding him. Tommy blinked a bit before sitting up.

He was sitting on what appeared to be a hospital bed. An IV was attached to his wrist and there were strange alien restraints attached to his legs but not to his wrists. That would be a mistake if he knew how to take the sticky black cuffs off. Which he didn’t. Plus he was too weak to attempt.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and looked around. The bed was pushed into the back corner directly across from a window. There was no glass or plastic covering the window, only a shiny force-field looking thing. The window also was the length of the wall. To the right of the window was a little slot and shelf, clearly used to deliver food. To the left of the window was a place for a door. The only thing was there was no visible door, just more of the light blue painted wall. To the left of the space was a bunch of shelves with a bunch of weird toys, games, books, and puzzles. Across from that was a card table and two comfortable chairs. At the end of the bed was a bench looking thing in which the lid lifted up.

All in all the room was clearly used to keep people occupied while keeping a close eye on them. The inhabitants of the ship had prepared it so it could withstand most things. The furniture in the room had been nailed to the floor. The chairs could move either closer or farther from the table with whoever was sitting down using a strange contraption. None of the toys on the lower shelf could be eaten and all games and puzzles were on higher shelves. The books were also all hard covered. There were even plastic bookmarks in a small container next to the shelves. The window was clearly impossible to get through and looked like it would absorb whatever you threw at it. The food shelf had three mechanisms that wouldn’t be easy to get through. There were no vents or places to hide. It was very apparent they had done this sort of thing before.

The last thing Tommy looked for was a light switch. By some sort of luck he spotted it. It was a weird sort of dial thing that was right by the IV stand. It was currently at 100 and he then dialed it down to 35. It was dim enough to sleep but bright enough to see everything clearly. Not even five minutes later he fell into a deep sleep.

——————

“YOU BROUGHT A HUMAN?!” Tubbo yelled, fluttering his wings furiously, making him hover ever so slightly.

Ranboo swiftly put his hand on Tubbo’s shoulder pushing him back onto the ground. The enderian shifted anxiously making Techno ponder if he was also gripping Tubbo to keep himself grounded. Phil stood near Will expectantly. Wilbur shifted from foot to foot and rubbed his arm, yet kept his head up to look at everyone. Techno was leaning against his security desk, side eyeing the now asleep human.

“I knew you were stupid, I just didn’t know you were this stupid.” Techno stated without a hint of remorse. Wilbur scoffed before attempting to collect himself.

“I couldn’t just leave him there! It was a mission built for researching humans. Meaning they would be doing nasty experiments for prime knows how long!” Wilbur snapped, with a seriousness Techno hadn’t seen since Wilbur brought back the other children on the ship, “He is a kid. Not an adult that had nowhere to go and was doing prime awful things. He is a kid with no family, no home, and barely making it through the day. I read through his file and he has gone through awful shit. I wasn’t gonna let him die in misery too. If you don’t want him on the ship, then I will get myself my own ship.” Wilbur threatened with a tone not to be questioned. Techno took a moment to think through Will’s response before coming up with an answer.

“He can stay. As long as you keep him in line and take care of his rations. He is not to leave his room until we make sure he can do no damage. If anyone wants to visit him, you are either outside the window or I am present. No excuses.” Techno finished satisfied with his answer. Phil may have been the legal captain of the ship, but when it came to rules Techno was always the one to make them.

Phil nodded in agreement. The two children nodded aggressively, both of which clearly had no intention of going near the human’s holding cell. After a minute Wilbur nodded.

“Fine. If those are the rules I will comply.” Wilbur said, “I need to adjust some things, I will assume Techno will be coming with me?” He asked reluctantly.

“Yes.” Techno bluntly said.

“So be it.” Wilbur snapped. Techno just brushed it off as they headed towards the lab cells.

——————

Tommy was running through the forest on the edge of town.

It was his favorite trail and the only one his parents let him go on alone. Which cost a long series of promises and supplies he had to go with.

Usually he would be running on the trail for fun but this time it was a sprint home. He didn’t know what was wrong but he knew something was wrong. Especially when he saw the blue and red lights light up the evening sky.

“I didn’t do anything you bastards!!” His dad yelled over the sirens. They had him in cuffs repeating the Miranda rights to him as they pushed him into the back seat.

“What’s going on?” All Tommy could manage his throat was tight and he was struggling to hold back angry tears. He caught one of the officers' attention. She smiled softly.

“He got caught doing something bad to his wife.” She said sadly.

“What did he do?!” Tommy cried even louder this time tears slipped down his face. At this point the officer got more serious.

“I am not obligated to say.” She bit her lip before continuing, “Why don’t you go back to your parents?” She replied softly. This was the first time Tommy got angry, not annoyed or that childish angry. The kind of anger that makes you wanna burn the world down. It was a quick flash but enough to make him snap.

“You took my dad…. What did he do to my mom?” Tommy answered coldly. His answer clearly shook the officer.

“Aw kid, I- .. I am sorry.. he killed her.” Tommy already knew the answer. He shouldn’t have been surprised, but he was. He heard someone scream from far away. Maybe it was him, maybe someone else. They pushed him through a series of questions all of which he could barely answer. His mind was somewhere else. He couldn’t calm down. Everything was too much.

He woke up in a cold sweat. Tears were running down his face. His breath was rapid and uneven. He hadn’t had a dream like that for a couple of months, granted he barely slept. After a few shaky breaths he calmed himself enough to grasp where he was. He wiped the tears just in time for the spot where the door was to open.

In stepped Wilbur along with a really tall alien. The tall alien stood in front of the door as Wilbur rushed to Tommy’s bed. Tommy lost control of his breathing, barely calming down.

Wilbur grabbed his hands to which Tommy snapped his head towards the alien. “I want you to breathe with me okay?” Wilbur said softly. He moved Tommy’s hand to his chest and started taking deep breaths. After a minute Tommy managed to even his breath to Wilbur’s pattern. “Good, good. I am gonna take off your IV since you don’t need it anymore. After that I can get you some food and water, then we can talk alright?” Wilbur said, keeping his tone soft and slow. Tommy rubbed his eyes and nodded.

Wilbur took his arm, there was a small pinch then the IV was off. Wilbur quickly left and came back after about two minutes. Within those two minutes Tommy got a better look at the other alien.

The alien had light pink ruff skin with neat pink hair tightly braided. They were wearing a puffy cream shirt that was tucked into dark brown pants, which were tucked into black boots that went up to their knees. Their knees bent backwards and the boots were shaped weirdly, like they were built for hooves. They had hooves where their hands would be, that somehow had thumbs. They also had tusks poking out of their mouth. Along with blood red eyes that had white pupils. Their ears poked out of their hair and were both torn and pierced with gold earrings. They also had a gold chain necklace with a stone that resembled an Emerald. They also wore a black belt with a gold clip. Attached to the belt was an alien sword leaning against their right hip, on the other side was what resembled a gun.

Tommy swallowed down food that was threatening to come up. He waited patiently for Wilbur to come back, trying his hardest not to stare at the other alien.

“My name is Techno. He/him. Same with Wilbur and most of the crew. The only one who has other pronouns is Ranboo who goes by he/they.” Techno, stated bluntly. Tommy collected himself before responding.

“I am Tommy Innit, er- he/him.” Tommy finished with a shaky voice.

Luckily the awkward tension didn’t last long as Wilbur practically sprinted through the door, shoving Techno out of the way. He pulled a tray that was neatly folded out of the wall and put a glass of water and some food on a plate.

“Some parskey with hatatoes. It tastes good I promise.” Wilbur explained. He then went to grab something he left outside and sat at the card table. He put two plates down and Techno joined him. The door closed after that. There was no button or anything, it just closed. Tommy was a little baffled by it but looked towards the food put in front of him.

It was a white meat, similar to chicken, with a brown version of mashed potatoes. He looked over to the other two who were talking in a different language while eating the same food. With that Tommy decided it was okay to eat. Just like what it reminded him of, it tasted like chicken and mash potatoes with small differences. Like the meat was dryer and more salty and the potatoes were a little sour. Either way it was still good. He then drank the water. There was no odd taste this time so he assumed it wasn’t drugged.

Once he finished he attempted to listen in but was only met with a series of strange sounds. He gave up and pushed the tray away. Almost too quickly he fell into a deep sleep. He didn’t even notice when the visitors took their stuff and left.

——————

Ranboo poked at his food glancing up every once and awhile. The two crew members had returned from the human’s room and decided to finish their food with the rest of the crew. Everyone sat in a tense silence.

“So,” Phil clapped his feathered hands and turned towards Wilbur. “What do we know about the kid?” He asked.

“His name is Tommy Innit, pronouns he/him. He is 14 and was living on the run for six months. No family according to him and he’s allergic to nuts.” Wilbur answered.

“From what I can tell he isn’t super dangerous, just fearful. He already trusts Wilbur, somehow. Though I think it is due to Wilbur saving his life. It will be harder for the rest of us to gain his trust.” Techno added. Ranboo swiftly wrote the responses down, making sure to keep major notes.

The rest of dinner was uneventful and everyone awkwardly washed dishes and went to bed. Assumingly to sleep. Everyone except Ranboo that is. He couldn’t wash dishes due to his biology and he didn’t really sleep. Every time he tried the void would wake him up or he would go into a half-conscious state that the crew deemed as enderwalking.

So for what felt like the hundredth time they stayed awake laying in bed. This time however their mind was racing with thoughts. Traveling through situations that used to seem impossible before the human boarded the ship. Still curiosity was eating their insides.

With a half made up mind Ranboo shot up in bed. They stalked over to where the human was being held and peered into the window.

Almost instantly the human sat up. After yawning and getting into a position he was comfortable in he just stared at Ranboo making them incredibly uncomfortable.

“Who are you?” The human asked, Ranboo couldn’t remember his name.

“Oh! Uh, I am Ranboo.. I am kinda like an assistant, I-I guess.” Ranboo said, fidgeting with his fingers.

“Ah cool. I am the biggest man! Tommy Innit. You should be grateful to be in my presence.” The human practically flowed with confidence making Ranboo question if all humans were like this. He shook off the questions and turned back to the human who was now playing with the light monitor.

“So… what was your planet like?” Tommy asked, startling Ranboo a bit. “I-I mean you don’t have to answer of course.. just wondering..” the human stuttered. They took a moment to go through their thoughts, narrowing down what they could.

“I guess it was peaceful.. in a way.. no one really fell out of line. It was unified, creating a peaceful haven. It wasn’t like people couldn’t fall out of line it’s just they didn’t want to. M-most of them were content with the way they were… but if there was something wrong they would absolutely take any measure to destroy it.” Ranboo finished bitterly, trying to shake off his old hurt of how they treated him. “W-what about your planet?” Ranboo asked.

“Ah.. Earth is interesting to say the least… We don’t all follow the same rules. And there is a lot of falling out of line… But I guess that’s what gave it a certain charm and a certain aspect that made it brutal.” Tommy finished his serious tone melting in an instant, “But that’s there not here! I wanna know what everything is like.” He said looking at Ranboo with curiosity.

That’s how Ranboo created a bond with the strange blond creature. They bounced from topic to topic mainly ending with one of them going into a deep explanation of one thing or another. They talked until both of them ended up passing out sitting next to the window.

——————

Chapter 3- End

Words- 3,212

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Techno- “Don’t go near the human without my presence.”

Ranboo- ._.

Ranboo- Ima do it... >:p

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(That was a bad one but oh well..)

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End Notes: I got carried away a bit... I have a few more filler chapters before we start actually getting into the plot.. also after this should I start a super hero AU?

Ignore minor mistakes... I did reread through it this time so there shouldn’t be too many...

As always likes are nice but reblogs are better! Please share this with people of you enjoyed, I hope you did!

Go get some water, sleep, eat food, and stay safe!! Love y’all <3

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Chapter 4: