#and since MH (and especially tim) has a lot to do with memories

[icarrymany]

YES I DO THINK. i hc that skully has their own rlly weird music taste however if you play a song one of the many loved they would feel feelings abt it. if you throw a bass at them they could pluck out something.

[purplecatghostposts]

oh my god, i love your MH time travel idea. did you have any other ideas for it??

OH BOY DO I

(Referring to this!)

Warning, this may be… Incomprehensible. I just have a lot of ideas and they aren’t fully fleshed out so I’m just throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. Hope you like a wall full of spaghetti, Anon!

- While going back in time reverses the physical effects that Operator Sickness had, they all still carry the trauma of its effects and what happened during it, so while only Tim is experiencing symptoms (though currently managing them with his medication), they aren’t completely off scot-free.

- I imagine it takes them a minute to realize exactly how many people woke up with memories of the previous timeline. I feel like Brian would want to tell someone and that someone would end up being Tim and then they’d both realize they remembered and compare notes

- I HC Seth and Sarah as roommates so they immediately find out as well. Amy and Jessica too. Pretty much the only person that thinks they’re in this alone at first is Jay but fortunately that doesn’t last too long because maybe Brian starts trying to subtly figure out if anyone else has any memories by asking questions only someone who knew would know, and finally Tim, Jay, Brian, Seth, and Sarah all realize they’re on the same page.

- Imagine their shock and suspicion when they realize Alex is not. Further suspicion that only grows when Amy and Jessica show up meaning Alex is the only one who doesn’t remember. Maybe they try and test him to see if he’s faking it and if he’ll slip up.

- He doesn’t. Alex really doesn’t remember anything.

- There are… Lots of things to work out. Not just with where to go next but there’s still some animosity within the group and especially regarding the members of ToTheArk. Influenced by an otherworldly being or not, it’s still something they need to resolve. Not to mention, Amy points out that Alex was influenced too, an argument that keeps being brought up because nobody really knows what to think. Alex killed people, but how much of that was Alex and how much of it was something else entirely?

- Meanwhile, Alex just really wanted to work on his film but while he can location scout and work on the script all he wants, without actors, it’s not really gonna go anywhere, and his actors keep finding excuses to put it off.

- Alex has no idea what’s going on with everyone because Tim and Jay are polite at best and usually tense around him, Jessica keeps looking at him like she doesn’t know what to think, Brian can’t seem to make up his mind, Seth and Sarah flat out refuse to be in a room alone with him, even Amy is acting distant. He feels like he’s missing something but he doesn’t know what and nobody is telling him. All the conversations he catches sound like nonsense too so he’s pretty much completely in the dark too.

- Since Alex is out and about location scouting, he ends up catching the early stages of Operator Sickness. The next time he gets into a coughing fit in front of any of them, they freak out and Alex doesn’t get why.

- The arguments get worse. They can’t tell if Alex is doomed to repeat the cycle and if they need to take him out in order to prevent it, or if they can make sure he doesn’t turn out the same this time

- Being around Alex makes them all conflicted. Because this Alex is the Alex that they became friends with in the first place and they missed this version of him a lot but it’s one thing to miss it and another thing to get it back, especially considering a good chunk of them last remember dying because of him before waking up in the past. They don’t know if they can trust him, or if they’ll just get hurt all over again if they get attached

- Their distance from Alex causes a lot of internal issues for Alex himself. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out he’s the odd man out here, and the problem they have. He just doesn’t understand why and it’s frustrating but whenever he gets frustrated, it just drives them all further away and makes it worse. He doesn’t know what to do.

- Then maybe (still deciding on when), one day, Alex wakes up. And he remembers everything and understands better than ever. He doesn’t blame them. He didn’t help them at all in the end. But maybe he can now.

- In order to stop the sickness, it’s best to cut it off at the source. Alex doesn’t know what he can do against a monster like that but since it no longer has such a tight hold over him, he can do something this time. He has to do something. And if he dies trying? Then at the very least, it can’t use him against them anymore.

- While Alex does try to stand up to the Operator, it goes rather poorly. Fortunately, someone finds him unconscious somewhere (maybe Brian), drags him back to one of their apartments, and they have a talk when he wakes up. They’re still not the most comfortable around him but suffice to say, Alex regaining his memories and immediately choosing to attempt to fight the Operator proves that he’s not gonna repeat the same mistakes twice, solving that matter at the very least.

- Cue a whole lot of healing while attempting to figure out a way to get rid of a creature beyond their understanding

That’s about what I got! Again, just spitballed ideas, definitely needs some more fine tuning but it’s a start. Hope you enjoyed!

Also ty for the Ask, I love rambling about funny little AUs and it gives me all the more reason to :)

[villruu]

actually gonna go ramble now bc i am obsessed

Honey, this club here is stuck up Dinner and diatribes

Okay, this could literally be Tim and Brian meeting. Maybe at a college party or a frat party. Tim going because he wants to Socialize So Badly and just wants the normalcy of college, going to parties, getting drunk. Brian, as a lot of the fandom likes to point out, does seem like he would be kind of a party/frat boy. (Personally, i rather like the idea that Brian is just very social, this man is the type of guy who knows like 20 other people in college, the one who always stops in the hallways to say hi to some random guy while you stand awkwardly to the side, he is literally the "Knows Everyone" friend)

Dinner and Diatribes part!!!! I do think Tim and Brian may have met at a party but they definitevely became friends because they started to have lunch or dinner together. They probably are those friends who have no classes together but still have lunch at least thrice a week together. Also diatribes! -> Brian and Tim absolutely bond over their sarcastic jokes.

Brian probably likes how Tim is ironic and sarcastic, and Tim absolutely likes that Brian can put up with his remarks and dish equally strong ones back. They constantly bicker (in good faith), they probably like that the most about their friendship! They are mean and sarcastic with each other but they Care So Much about the other!

My bases in this: Entry #54, #9 and of course, #51 (rip)

I knew well from our first hookup The look of mischief in your eyes

This can both refer to their time in college BUT, if we put on our "mentally ill glasses" this is also about them during the Marble Hornets series. "First hookup" and "look of mischief in your eyes" can both refer to them being FWB pre-mh (i am looking with my Brim Glasses okay) but also to "Hoody" meeting "Masky" for the first time, the way the two seemingly agreed to just kill Alex and make his life miserable. The way the two of them stalk Jay (for literally no reason sometimes LMAO)

Also diatribes could be linked to totheark, especially considering that diatribes is "a bitter or angry attack in speech or writing" (according to google lmao). Combine this with totheark and Tim in the later series -> the almost bitter and constant attacks brian did against Tim in the channel (liars just to name the most iconic) and also the whole way Brian just constantly mocked and attacked Jay in the channel.

Also, i have to add my piece of evidence these images from entry #68 and #84:

Your friends are a fate that befell me Hell is the talkin' type I’d suffer hell if you'd tell me What you'd do to me tonight

THIS PARAGRAPH!!! THIS FUCKING PARAGRAPH!!!!

First line: can be interpreted as either side (Brian or TIm). But, interpreting this line as Tim to Brian is just!!!! Because, BECAUSE, we can link it to entry #59, specifically to this part around 2:56

"And I start getting better. And I can hold steady work, I can function like a normal human being for once in my life. And then suddenly… (...)You show up, pointing a camera in my face, bringing back old memories like it couldn't possibly have any effect on anybody else. And you're not even trying to fix any of this. All you do is point your camera at every little thing that happens. How does that help anybody?"

Because at one point Tim Gets Out. Like, he fully gets out. He mentions he manages to hold a steady work (considering that Alex broke Tim's leg in april 2010 and tim reappars as the Masked Man in January 2011 and Jay stalks him between November 2011 and May 2012, then that means Tim probably kept his job for a year!!!!), he mentions he gets better so he has no contact with Brian since No Masked State -> No losing Time. And then, and then Jay drags him back and Tim is forced to endure what happens to Jessica, to Jay, to Alex, hell even to Brian. Like! If Tim could have, he never would have gotten involved again! JUST!!!!! [head in hands]

"hell is the talkin' type" -> This could literally be related to the last point re:Jay. For tim, his hell was Jay (more specifically the marble hornets channel). (YOU GET THE IDEA YOU GET THE THEMES WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY!!!! IT DOES IT JUSTICE ALREADY!!!)

"I’d suffer hell if you'd tell me What you'd do to me tonight"

THIS!!! THIS IS JUST SO BRIAN AND TIM IN THEIR MASKED STATE, DO YOU GET IT!??!

I am not immune to the "Tim as Brian's attack dog" symbolism okay. In Fact, I would even go and say i am EXTREMELY weak to it. JUST!!!! Tim, willing to do anything for Brian because This is His Friend, so yeah he's down for murder. Yeah he's down to stalking, to maiming, to killing, to suffering being hurt and all because it Helps Brian. and like you can argue that "um actually, tim also wanted to murder Alex 🤓" AND IM HERE TO TELL YOU NO!! Totheark (AND THE COMICS) imply that Brian is Consumed With Hatred ("how much do you hate it is not enough"; the way Brian instantly attacks Alex in the 3.5 comic, Brian in his masked state constantly attacking alex at the slightlest hint that he can do it meanwhile Tim's masked state willingly attaking is way less than Brian's), like you can say "oh but Tim killed Alex in the end" AND IM HERE TELLING YOU IT WAS THE OPERATOR, IT WAS THE FUCKING OPERATOR!!!

RIGHT BEFORE TIM ATTACKS ALEX THE OPERATOR APPEARS AND WE GET DISTORTION IN THE VIDEO!!!! TIM SUDDENLY ATTACKS!!! HE QUITE LITERALLY THROWS UP AND PASSES OUT FROM THE SHOCK AND HORROR THAT HE KILLED ALEX!!!!! WAKE UP SHEEPLE!!!!

AND IM NOT FINISHED WITH THIS LINE!!! BECAUSE IT IS ALSO BRIAN'S PERSPECTIVE WITH TIM!!!

"But V, you just said-" IT CAN MEAN BOTH, I CONTAIN MULTITUDES (mental illness and hyperfixation on two miserable and pathetic guys).

This is also Brian's POV because I want to bring up again what I just mentioned before as evidence: Entry #51 (first encounter of Brian with the operator and just after Alex attacked him and left both him n Tim to die) and the issue 3.5 of the Marble Hornets comics.

Brian could have, at any point, left. He could. Alex thought he was dead, Tim didn't remember, and everyone else was gone. He could have left to the other side of the country and nobody would have ever found him. But He Stayed. And I think it has a lot to do with Tim.

In entry #51, the second Brian sees Tim curled up in a corner, he becomes really serious. When the operator appears, he doesn't run away, he stays right where he is (which is, let me point out, just in front of Tim's curled up form). In the comics, when Brian is inside the ark and sees Jay dead in the floor, well...

He makes a clear distinction of both Him and Tim. He instantly puts Tim alongside him. The next pages strongly imply that, despite all that happened, Brian cares Deeply for Tim. The next pages (which im not putting bc you should go read the comic, it will make you go absolutely crazy over Brian & Tim dynamic) show that Brian is absolutely determined to get out of the ark, or just throw himself and alex inside the Ark (the giant hole in the ground inside the ark dimension which feeds the Operator, idk how to describe it but You Get It). But then, the second he learns that Tim is not in the ark, that he is alive, Outside, he is willing to let his hatred to the side and be "absorbed" into Skully alongside Alex (despite thinking Alex doesn't deserve it) just because it means he can get out and see Tim.

Honey, I laugh when it sinks in A pillar I am, upright

This, I mostly see, as Brian's POV.

Because, while Tim fears the operator sickness, it doesn't seem as if Brian does in any way?

Sure, if you believe the theory that the totheark codes exist bc the sickness left brian unable to speak normally and only on code, you could differ. But. It still fits.

Because while the sickness left Jay unconscious, left Tim convulsing, left Alex unhinged and terrified out of his mind. Brian is just the opposite. He is very focused on Alex's murder, yes, but it doesn't seem to affect him to the same point it did the others.

Brian, in his masked state, is always the character that recovers the FASTEST whenever the Operator appears. If he falls down, it is never for more than a few seconds, he never appears to succumb to the same extreme Tim does (but you could argue he does in other ways and Yeah tbh).

The way that Jay, Tim, hell even Alex, constantly think of Brian (totheark) as like, the puppetmaster, the all-knowing. The way he knows mostly (if not) everything that goes on, constantly 5 steps ahead, running interferance, creating codes, directing Jay and Alex to new places.

Scarcely can speak for my thinkin' What you'd do to me tonight

This is, again, A masked Tim "attack dog" symbolism with Brian masked state.

The way Tim in his masked state never speaks, just grunts or growls, but is always ready to follow whatever Brian tells him to do (my piece of evidence for this is when they get Jess and try to get Jay out of the motel).

Like.

[head in hands]

You Get It.

Now that the evenin’ is slowin’ Now that the end's in sight Honey, it’s easier knowin' What you'd do to me tonight

This is Brian, very specifically, towards the end of Marble Hornets.

I relate this verse so So much to Entry#82 (Or as we all know it: Brian fucking Dies). Because, Brian, the second he sees Tim in this entry, runs. He runs, because he probably knows what Tim would do to him.

And he could have spoken, he could have said literally Anything and Tim could have probably stopped (If you say no: rewatch entry #86 and hear Tim's horror upon seeing he killed Brian and then try to say no to me, in my face, just try it)

AND WHEN TIM CORNERS HIM, WHAT DOES BRIAN DO? HE GOES OUT THE WINDOW AND DROPS *WILLINGLY* TO HIS DEATH.

Tim doesn't even get to push him, man motherfucking let go! Brian could have ambushed Tim again (remember the iconic 3rd person perspective when Brian whacks Tim with a pipe in this entry), he could have pushed him, he could have easily escaped! And yet, he goes out the window and then, lets go.

the THEMES, the FUCKING THEMES

Oh, let there be hotel complaints Oh, let there be damage ensued And tabloid news and that kind of love, mm

This is absolutely Brian and Tim's dynamic.

The way they both hurt each other, the way they both care so fucking much about the other. They hate each other, they miss each other. Best friends, enemies, allies. The memory of someone who doesn't exist anymore and the newfound presence they inhabit. Do you Get it??????

THIS IS YURI, TOO

I am so fucking insane over Tim & Brian's dynamic and relationship. You do not get the levels of mentally ill I am over them, okay, it is out of this goddamn dimension.

if you read all this rambles hahaha why.

Anyways. Thanks for reading, I am going to go and be completely normal about everything <- [visibly lying]

dinner and diatribes is SUCH a brian & Tim song to Me