#asks.char

[char-lie-spirals]

I would like to learn about the rest of the aus you mentioned here:3

Okay okay so!! I talked about some of them, so I'll just put the entire list under the cut and either link to my previous responses or cook something up! And what I cook up can possibly include a snippet of my writing too :]

Also since this is a lot of AUs/WIPs I'll try to be brief, but feel free to ask about more details on them!

Terminus' Ritual

This is an AU I've had for like a year now, and it answers a very simple question - What if the End HAD a ritual? That its avatars complete between mag 159 and mag 160? Simple answer - Zombies. And also some deaths getting reversed because getting a quick taste of it should make people more scared, and it's hard to keep a zombie apocalypse going with too few people. (This doesn't match the End's values, I Know.)

I have some notes on different characters' situations, who comes back etc etc but honestly the storyline I focused on the most is Oliver seeking shelter in Graham's old flat only for Graham to also be there, Pretty Confused about the passage of time between his death and now. :]

Graham gets spat out AU

Sasha gets replaced, NotSasha picks up the tape recorder and goes to dispose of the tape. The Artifact Storage is silent, but not empty, as a man who doesn't recall his own name wakes up on the floor. Okay this already sounds a bit like a snippet so I guess you can have a proper one too:

It was all pointless, you only suffered longer -- but is that truly pointless?

This one is a WIP in which I just wanted to explore the idea that the only reason Graham lived for so long was because he was scared that entire time, to the point the NotThem wasn't in much of a rush. It's pretty angsty, but can be bittersweet too if you look at it at the right angle and I am a simple man with a lot of hope in my heart. I've not been making much progress with it, and I'm not sure if I'll end it on the title-question and leave it up for the reader to decide, or if I'll provide my own answer, but let me say here: I don't think it was pointless. Not to me.

Michael(s) experience confusion

Already talked about this one here!

Graham Lives WITHOUT Becoming

Graham survives the events of MAG 003 because Oliver gets there in time to help him, and the two of them try to navigate the aftermath together. They go through many ups and downs, Oliver ends up becoming an Avatar himself, but Graham just kinda,, doesn't?? It just never happens. No fear claims him. At this point a lot of people are convinced he's an Avatar because of how his life is intertwined with the Fears but nope. Just some guy who can bluff pretty decently, gets lucky a lot, and loves his End-Avatar fiance a whole bunch :] (yes they're engaged now)

Graham Folger Lives because The Eye Is A Backseat Gamer

One of my Eye Graham AUs :] The main one, you could say! In this one, The Eye backseat-games his MAG 003 experience, and he Knows where to hide, what to do, and how to survive. After that, he goes on to start working at the institute, becomes an Archival Assistant after Jon's promotion, and goes through the horrors! I also talked about it Ages ago, right here- hold on that was in MAY???? 2023????? 10 months ago???? This is messed up.

Anyway! here's a little something I have written about it so far :]

DeathNote intro

Just me trying to explore how Graham and Oliver might've met, grown closer, gotten together and stayed together for 6 years :] No clue if I'll ever publish this and if so, if I'll use it as a backstory/background for one of my AUs or as its own stand-alone thing? But yeah it's just the two of them growing closer and falling in love :] You can have this snippet of it, too! It's their literal first meeting!

Antique seller Graham

Talked about this one here! I will probably do so again soon! But you can also have a snippet, since I guess writing all this really put me in a snippet mood! This is from this AU's version of Amy's statement :D

Cockroach Graham AU

I don't think I need to elaborate.

[notexactly-anartist]

Your Ship and otp ?

.3.

Hm, I feel like I could ship literally almost anything, but so far my otp is Riley and Chris for sure!

[char-lie-spirals]

I have to commute no silly happenings better take place 🫵🫵

no silly happenings here, nuh uh!

(This is said while I am hiding a suspiciously boop-o-meter shaped object behind me)

btw thanks to your noble sacrifice i have hit 1k :]

[char-lie-spirals]

Damn, you seem to be very fond of Graham Folger. What's up with that?

Oh I am Strongly and Endlessly fond of Graham Folger. I couldn't tell you what exactly captivated me about him (sike, I have a PowerPoint on that) but it's been well over a year and the amount of thoughts I have about him only grows,,

Can't tell you what's up with me tho, research has been inconclusive thus far :[

[char-lie-spirals]

Needles is Grahams younger cousin send post

you are the first person on earth to say those words in that order. just so you know.

Anyway reading them in this order did something to my brain just now and I will never recover. Thank you o7

[char-lie-spirals]

holy shit that's the guy,,,,,,,,,,

[char-lie-spirals]

Charlie . Charlie explain .

what do you MEAN "cockroach graham au". You cant just leave it there

yea the cockroach graham au, what's not clicking?? 🤨

If you Really want an explanation you can start [here] tho :D

[char-lie-spirals]

cockroach graham??

I said what I said.

But yeah I have an AU that I refer to as the "Cockroach Graham AU" because that name always gets people's attention and I think it's funny :]

[I explained it briefly here], but to go even shorter, it's an AU in which Graham dies (a lot) but doesn't get to stay dead. It starts off pretty angsty, but it quickly gains a more silly tone - or, well, at least in my mind it does, but I never wrote anything proper about. I might, though! One day. I might.

[char-lie-spirals]

gives you this rock

(it's micheal distortion coded)

:0 its so yellow,,, Thank you I love it!!

[char-lie-spirals]

I would like to ask you about graham Folger

Hi yes, hello!! I know it took me a bit to answer but you came to the right guy!! I have no idea if this is about the poll I just posted, about my description on Ao3, or about a secret 3rd thing so I will just. Ramble about him.

But if you want anything specific ask away!

Right so I keep saying this, but Graham is such a cool character and you can literally take him in So Many different directions it's amazing, honestly. He only features seriously in one episode, with 2 one-sentence cameos later on, but that alone gives you So Much To Work With. Like, do you see how many fears are after that guy?? The Stranger, obviously, the Eye, again obviously, and he has a Web artifact in his flat as well. But you could make arguments for Every Single Fear to get involved!! And I know that, because I have at least one [fear]!Graham AU for every fear!! Sometimes multiple!! Not to mention the countless AUs that don't have him Becoming as a goal-

I have so many AUs you have no idea. My notes are all over the place. I tried to remember things about one of my Eye Graham AUs and they were in 7 different places. Possibly more, because I still hadn't found them all.

But yeah, even setting the entities aside, he's such an interesting character to think about!! What was he cooking with those notebooks, what was he like when he was out of Amy's sight, what did his life look like before late 2005?? There are infinite ways you can interpret what little we know about his backstory, countless things you can imagine and it's just. augh. I'm struggling to find words to describe how amazing this is.

I've been typing this up for a while now and it's getting late but like I said, if you have any questions about specific things like AUs, fics, theories, etc etc ask away!!

[char-lie-spirals]

YOU HAVE A CORRUPTION GRAHAM AU?? YES PLEASE

Of course I do, who do you take me for! I have at least one Graham AU for all 15 fears! (Some are just. Less planned out then others!) This one is decently planned out tho so let me just,, elaborate a bit!

Warning for Corruption-typical content (bugs, sickness, and all) and uhh. Unreliable narration?

In this AU, Graham realizes that the last time he felt safe was when he had Amy's company... so maybe the solution is just Having Company? To check that out, he tries to approach her to apologize for how their last meeting went and sure enough! Not being alone feels better!

It's clear Amy isn't very interested in hanging out with him, though, which is fair... but also not the end of the world! He can make new friends! And until then, well... Even if he knows Oliver probably won't take him back, he's sure the man would be down to catch up! And talk! And... keep him company!

He wasn't wrong. While a bit reluctant, Oliver agrees to keep in touch, meet up sometimes, and just... hang out. They don't move back in together (even if that would make Graham feel much safer), but Graham spends so much time around Oliver that the NotThem,, doesn't really see the chance to grab him at any point??

He is Well on his way to falling for the "unhealthy love" side of the Corruption with how much he clings to Oliver's company, but then one day, as he's waiting for Oliver to come out of the magic shop he's applying to work at... he spots something that grabs his attention.

The ants. The same ants Jane Prentiss mentions in her statement from mag 32. The ants other people seem to ignore, but now he sees them and there are just so many! And he starts to wonder... maybe there are ants in his house. Or bugs in general. He wouldn't be surprised, with the state his place is in!

And you see, if there are bugs there, then they can keep him company! If he feeds them, they'll stay! And then he can be at home, and always have company, and he can always be safe!

He wasn't wrong. There are bugs in his house, and they seem to like him! Maybe? At least they stick around, and the scuttle around the place, and he knows he's not alone just from hearing them around, and he's safe! ,,hopefully.

Cut to [probably not April 7th, 2006, since the timeline is messy in this one already... but a day just like it]. Amy gets home, decides to spend a relaxing few minutes checking in on Graham and,, oh. Oh, he's just kinda lying on the floor?? Over there?? And she's pretty sure he might be fuckin dead.

She calls the emergency number to report that she just happened to glance out of her window and her neighbour looks like he's been dead for a few days?? Then she realizes that that pipe isn't supposed to be there?? And it's moving?? But before she can report that to the operator, the thing pulls itself up to the window, stays there for a few seconds, and then retreats.

Yes, the NotThem got a single look into the flat and decided "nope. Not messing with that, goodbye"

Unlike Amy assumed, Graham wasn't dead when she called in. According to the paramedics that had to get him out from under a pile of bugs, that was an actual miracle.

The second he's let out of the hospital, he goes back home, of course! His friends are there! The friends whose mere presence saved him from the monster he got to see before it retreated! He can't be away from his company for too long, it's not good for him :[

Not long after, wanting to avoid getting pulled away from his companions again, he leaves his flat with them and has no intentions of ever returning. He lives here and there, on the outskirts of London, collecting more friends and companions from all over the place,,

He looks like he's sick, he has way too many bugs crawling all over him, at some point he just lies down in a patch of moss and relaxes, knowing that he'll never be alone again, listening to their song... and he's safe

By the time he gets up from that spot again, not even the best doctors could help him. It's a good thing he doesn't want help, then, isn't it?

After all of this, he goes on to become friends with Jane Prentiss at some point, accompanies her to the institute, spends the entirety of season 2 in the tunnels, and gets up to a lot of "fun" stuff! Makes a lot of "friends" along the way!

Also this entire time, he is 100% convinced that having friends/company is the best thing that can happen to a person, so he goes out of his way to "befriend" people (declare them friends and try his best to help them out when they're in trouble! Which... would be nice, if he stopped to consider that the Corruption still scares some people)

I have,, a lot more ideas for the AU, but unfortunately my notes about it are incomplete because I think too fast to write things down :[ But speaking of those notes, you can have this little gem from them for getting through this entire thing:

[char-lie-spirals]

See, on the topic of Needles - do you think he and Ink5oul would be ambivalent towards each other, hate each other, or be best friends? Because I have been swayed to to friends side and there are so many fun scenarios to imagine there

Oh to me they are besties, partially because of [this post] and partially because they just are. (Alice voice) I don't decide which random characters are friends now. The universe decides that, through me :]

A bit more seriously, on one hand I think they could genuinely be Great friends. They meet up and catch up every once in a while and Needles tries to steal Ink5oul's tattooing needles while they're not looking (they are well aware he's doing it). Tattoo Artist & Piercer (in the most literal sense) friendship.

On the other hand (more realistically I Guess >:/) I think they might end up having something similar to what Jude and Mike had going on in tma?? But in my heart they are besties and you can take that from my cold dead hands

[char-lie-spirals]

YOU HAVE A OLIVER GRAHAM SKYRIM AU!! (I know nothing about Skyrim)

I DO!! For the past like 2 months I've done next to nothing other than playing Skyrim and learning about Skyrim but I have the 2 of them on my mind constantly so Of Course I put them in Skyrim!!

I'll explain the AU in a second under the cut, but before that, to get the basics out of the way - Skyrim is a game in the Elder Scrolls franchise where the main character, you know, runs around, kills dragons, and does quests for the people of Skyrim. It's also very fun and I love it. It's also far too big to properly explain in a single paragraph so I'll try to provide context as I go.

Now, I don't think either of them would take on the role of the main characters, so with the AU I mostly tried to focus on what they'd do/be like in Skyrim, as just normal NPCs. And the first thing I wanted to decide was Where to put them on the map. Said map, for context:

Let's start with Graham for now. In the AU he was born and grew up in Solitude (the city in the North, on the left side of the map). His parents owned a general goods store there, but seeing as there's already a different one in the city, business was,, slow, so they took orders from other cities as well. At some point, they both set out to transport a bigger order to Markath (The city in the West), but... well. The roads around Markath are particularly dangerous, and they didn't even make it to the city before they were attacked. This is this AU's version of them dying in a car accident on the M1 near Sheffield.

At their insistence, Graham stayed behind to watch the shop, so he was still safe within the city's walls and inherited the place. He tried to keep it open for a while, but eventually struck a deal with the other shop owner - he closes down his store and in exchange, he will get permanently hired in hers. She'd be his boss, but he'd still have a job and the business should get easier to keep afloat.

Solitude is also one of the 2 cities with a college available - the bard's college, and just like in mag 003, he takes a few classes there to kill the time and broaden his mind. Is he a bard? No. Does he know a couple of songs now? Yeah :]

I also found a very fun way of translating his passion for interesting antique furniture into Skyrim! He's one of those people who looove learning about the Dwemer. The Dwemer/Dwarves were a race of elves that was Incredibly advanced, they had huge underground cities, technology, all that... but then hundreds if not thousands of years before Skyrim takes place, they just,, poof! Disappeared! And after all that time, their robots still work while the rest of the world is running around with swords (and magic), so a LOT of people are trying to learn more about their technology, inventions, culture, etc.

And Graham is one of those people. Show him a chunk of Solid Dwemer Metal and he will buy it from you no matter the cost. He also wanted to move to Markath one day, seeing as the city was built on Top of a Dwemer ruin... but well, after what happened to his parents, he's less eager.

One last thing I want to say about him is just his general armor/weapon preference: He strikes me as your average heavy armor one-handed sword user, but he also dabbles in magic a bit. Now, magic is kinda frowned upon by a lot of people in Skyrim, so he's not Loud about it, but he does know a fair few restoration spells. That extra bit of health can be really helpful and all, you know?

Now, onto Oliver!

Oliver doesn't live in Solitude. In fact, he's never visited it, even! He grew up in Dawnstar (North city, middle of the map), and I think he Might've briefly moved to Winterhold to attend a semester or so in the Mage's College, but he quickly moved back home. I also think he might've been on his way to joining the Jarl's court (the Jarl is basically the head of the city and they have a court, which usually has a Stuart (handles finances), court wizard (handles magic stuff), but a few extra people too, depending on the city), however, with how Messy everything's been lately, he just had to take a solid step back.

You see, Dawnstar is a smaller city. Hell, they don't even have a general goods store! There's a caravan that sets up camp by the town every couple days/weeks, so they can still get their supplies, but it's all very limited. Not to mention, something's been Off in Dawnstar lately. All of the residents have been plagued by horrible nightmares. Nightmares of death and alike, that may or may not have something to do with a powerful entity affecting their memories.

Which, you know. Fits Oliver, doesn't it? Nightmares, death, powerful Thing responsible for them, as well as patchy memory? Best part is, This Is Literally In The Game. This Is What's Happening In Dawnstar At The Start Of The Game. I'm sure you can see why I put Oliver in this city rather than any bigger one, right? :]

Now, regardless of whether I'll end up deciding he's been to the Mage's College or not, he does know a fair couple of spells as well - mostly Illusion ones but I think I can let him know a Destruction Spell or two - maybe Flames? Just like Graham, he doesn't talk about using magic much to make sure other people don't look at him differently, but he's quite proficient with his magic regardless.

Other than that, he prefers light armor over heavy armor, and uses bows rather than melee weapons. He just hates being in the heat of the battle, is all. And the distance is safer! Of course, if push comes to shove, he probably has a dagger and it's also possible to use Destruction magic up close, so he's not entirely defenceless... just less likely to come out of it unscathed.

Like I mentioned, with everything happening in Dawnstar he ended up taking a step back from trying to earn his place in the Jarl's court, and doesn't exactly have a job per-se anymore, he just helps around? Runs errands for people if needed, and helps out the old lady at the alchemy store by looking for ingredients for her outside the city as well.

Now with all that background information out of the way (tears in my eyes there is so much of this), the proper plot:

The Caravan that usually sets camp by Dawnstar was attacked by bandits on their way. They weren't killed or anything, but lost quite a few of their goods, so they don't have much to offer. Since the town relies on their supplies and is running quite low, the Jarl decides not to wait until they're back with more supplies and sends Oliver to the nearest town that can provide everything they need - Solitude.

The issue is, going from Dawnstar to Solitude through the official roads takes 2-3 days, depending on your pace and the amount of stops you take, and they need supplies ASAP, so instead of backtracking South and going through Morthal, Oliver decides to head straight West - through the marsh. It makes the journey take a bit over a day, but the marsh is also full of things that want to murder you.

I actually walked that path in the game just to see, and I ran into a dozen Mudcrabs (not strong but camouflage well), a troll (very dangerous) and even a bug-creature that poisons you. I had to resort to running most of the way, and it all ends in having to cross a very strong river. Which is to say, Oliver makes it to Solitude in a day, but Good Lord does he nearly die like 5 times on the way.

He gets a bit lucky, though, because as he jumped into the river to get away from the things chasing him, extinguishing his torch in the process, Graham just so happened to be outside of the city walls and spotted the light going out. And yeah, Graham's not a fan of leaving the city, but he also gets worried about travellers easily, so he decides to go down to the river bank to see what happened.

He uses his restoration magic to heal Oliver back up, or at least keep him stable in spite of being poisoned, and then helps him to the town and the tavern/inn. They get to know each other a bit over some food and then part ways.

The next day, Oliver does what he's been sent to do - goes shopping. He spends most of the gold he was given at the general goods store, and is very surprised to find out that Graham actually works there! They chat for a bit and Oliver explains he'll probably be heading back to Dawnstar now that he bought everything the city needs, and, well...

Even if he's not heading to Markath, the roads can be dangerous and riddled with bandits, and Graham really likes Oliver's company already, so,, he offers to escort him there! Watch his back and all! As well as make sure he sticks to the proper path instead of cutting corners and trying his luck in the marsh again.

They get even closer during their 2-day journey, and it just so happens that Apparently There Are Some Dwemer Ruins By The Road To Dawnstar???? Between that, and Oliver himself, Graham starts considering moving a bit closer to Dawnstar. Not into it, at Oliver's insistence, seeing as that would mean the nightmares would get to him as well, but somewhere close :]

I think he and Oliver will eventually open a general goods store + Tavern/Inn between Dawnstar and Morthal, seeing as neither of the cities have a general goods store and making it into an Inn as well makes travelling there for supplies safer (you can stay the night if you head out too late to make it back before dusk). And yeah, they'll probably go somewhere from there :]

"Unrelated" fun fact, you can get gay married in Skyrim!

If you have any questions re:the au or just like skyrim in general feel free to ask me i am. "normal" about both of them. as evidenced by the length of this post. I just checked and this is 1.7k words. Good lord.

[char-lie-spirals]

‘Antique seller Graham’?

[x]

Sorry it took me a while to get to this, tmagp premiere took over my life for a second there-

But!! The Antique seller Graham! I think I will say a few little something-s about this one instead of explaining the entire plot :]

In this WIP, Graham is Eye aligned, but refuses to become a proper avatar for a looong time. He's lucky the Eye likes him and gives him one (1) little "gift" to keep him safe until he changes his mind

He has an antique store now :] And if some of the antiques are spooky and/or murderous? Well. He knows how to handle that, more or less. Or even less. He does know how to make it other people's problem sometimes!

Last little thing, despite not being an avatar himself, he's made quite a few friends over the years! Too bad those friends are willing to give out his information while sending the Archivist on a wild goose chase :/

[char-lie-spirals]

Wait, I might just have bad memory, has Graham been mentioned three times? I just know ep 3 (ofc), ep 11

YES he has been mentioned 3 times and I will take any and all opportunity to bring it up because I love him and he's mentioned in 1.5% of tma episodes, not just 1%!!

So there's mag 003, obviously, then mag 11 with "Antonio" mentioning him, but then!! Then, in mag 51 Not!Sasha also mentions him by name!! She says she thinks the table might've "caught Graham in its web"!! He is mentioned 3 times and he is so cool for that :]

[char-lie-spirals]

spiral graham you say? 👀👀👀👀

Yes I DO say :]

And sorry for keeping your ask hostage for nearly a day but I decided to save it until now! Because yeah!! I'm starting to post my 2nd Spiral!Graham fic!!

[Here] is the 1st fic from the series, for the reference,,

And [here] is the 1st chapter of the new one!!