#c!dream healing arc

[rozugold]

Tubboohhhg :]

[goosewizard]

thinking about tommys death and resurrection. thinking about dream, with no access to anything outside of what is in his cell. dream, bludgeoning tommys corpse and tearing apart skin and muscle to grab at his new tools. dream, with bone shards for scalpels and sewing needles, with tendon for string. tommy wasn’t using it right anyway. dream, who puts tommy back together piece by piece, just to destroy him again. and tommy, who is broken and made anew over and over, tommy, who paradoxically loses as much flesh as he gains, tommy, who is never whole but retains all the pieces, tommy, who’s cracks are not filled with gold but his own flesh, twisted and wrong, tommy, who’s broken and ugly, tommy, who walks with a limp now, tommy, whos bones never set right, tommy, who never fully left the prison, tommy, who is still sitting shiny and new on dreams countertop.

[mellorphic]

In Defence of c!Niki - a Four Part Analysis of Every Arc

People who didn’t watch C!Niki see, in the fandom, a big sister type character with girlboss energy who wants to kill a child. Niki isn’t that. She has a well-written narrative which focusses a lot on her relationships with others. Here is me breaking it down!

PART ONE: c!Niki’s Early Days

PART TWO: c!Niki’s Rebellion

PART THREE: c!Niki’s Disillusionment (you are here)

PART FOUR: c!Niki’s Healing

TW FOR THIS SECTION: brief mention of sh, derealisation, a lot of discussion on grief and death. Let me know if I should add more tws

I don’t think c!Niki’s disillusionment arc started on Doomsday, randomly. I think it started on the day of the festival, when Niki watched her friend die, was chased out of her home, and saw how much her best friend had changed.

Despite her anger at Tubbo for his speech (which sounded very pro-Schlatt) she still told Schlatt to let him out once Schlatt and Quackity started to box him in. It still had not been revealed quite yet that Tubbo was a spy, yet Niki still stood up for Tubbo regardless of how she felt about him. That’s the thing about Niki. She is a good person with sound morals who will support people even if their views don’t align with hers, because she knows what’s right and what’s wrong and she won’t let ‘wrong’ happen to anyone.

Once Techno killed him, Schlatt literally fucking exiled her.

N: You killed him!

S: yeah, I did. I did fucking kill him, Niki.

N: you are so cruel- how could you do that? After everything he has done for you?!

S: he’s been a thorn in my side since-

N: I DONT EVEN WANT TO BE HERE.

S: he-

N: I DON’T EVEN WANT TO BE HERE!

S: […] you can leave if you want

N: ….Where am I supposed to go?

Manberg may not be Niki’s home but L’Manberg is and it always will be. That’s why the thought of leaving for good hurt her so much. Wilbur comes out into the open after she says this, and he defends her.

S: you really crawled up here on the day of my festival, celebrating my country. That you are not a part of. And you started- you started crying.

W: You sounded like you were gonna murder another person.

S: no, I was only gonna murder Tubbo.

W: you sounded like you were gonna go for Niki.

S: he’s the only person- well I mean, Niki..

N: what?

S: I might murder Niki, actually. I might murder her.

Wilbur tells her to run. Fundy gives Schlatt arrows but he and Quackity tell Schlatt not to do it, all the while Niki’s getting chased out of the country she used to love. This solidifies for her the fact that she truly has lost everything. Ponk chased her down and he killed her - Ponk, who a few streams before, Niki had called a friend. Earlier Techno had also killed her, when he shot at the audience after killing Tubbo. According to the wiki neither of those are canon deaths but I think they should be. At the very least, being killed by Ponk should be.

She joined Pogtopia that day, and Niki already had heard about Wilbur’s plans from Tommy. He, her and Tubbo had all vowed to get L’Manberg back and at this point in time, Tommy was the person she trusted the most. Her relationship with Tubbo had been ruined because of her thinking she was on Schlatt’s side - and even now that she knew he hadn’t been, it didn’t change the fact that he did not stick up for her while she was there. Her relationship with Wilbur was still a close one but she was scared for him and worried for L’Manberg’s future. But Tommy hadn’t wronged her, and she knew she could trust him to help with Wilbur.

Her birthday party was where she really saw the extent of Wilbur’s mental decline first hand and was completely powerless in stopping it. The day had been going so well, and she’d been having fun, until Wilbur went to blow up Manberg. Niki had to beg him to stop playing the anthem and Quackity talked him down from blowing it up, but Niki was terrified.

This is when Niki began working on her Secret City - intended to be a safe space away from the conflict, or a last resort for refugees if the war went badly.

On November 16th, Niki was hopeful, especially after Techno revealed his armoury. That day, Niki also defended Eret when they were accused of being the traitor, saying she trusted them and that they helped her. Once again, proving her loyalty and the fact she was grateful for people who stuck by her side.

We all know what happened later. After they got L’Manberg back, and were cleaning up, Niki found the TNT Wilbur had placed under the podium. She made sure nobody else saw it and she hid it again. Because after everything, Niki still believed in Wilbur. She was still loyal to him. She still saw the good in him and trusted that he wouldn’t. But he did.

She’d kept her promise, she’d been loyal to him and L’Manberg, and it didn’t change anything. She didn’t manage to help anything. And Wilbur, the one person Niki believed would always be there for her, no matter what, betrayed her. And she couldn’t even ask him why. So after that she was left hopeless and never wanted to let anyone in again. But as much as Niki didn’t want to, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Tommy reminded the L’Manbergians that the L’Mantree was still there. And I think Niki found that comforting, at the very least. She asked Tubbo what they were going to do with Wilbur’s body and his only response was “let him rot”. She and Tommy were the only ones who didn’t laugh.

At this point Tommy became a constant, for Niki. He’d been there since she joined, he was the only one who understood that she still wanted Wilbur back, and in her eyes he was able to take on his role in the sense of inspiring them all.

So, of course it hit her hard when he tried to blame her for burning down George’s house. Then, he’s exiled and the next time she heads from him it’s because he blew up the community house - we know he didn’t, but Niki didn’t. She begins to see Tommy as someone who just causes problems on the SMP, nothing more. She thinks he’s arrogant and a nuisance and that he doesn’t care for anyone.

When it comes to Niki’s character it’s vital that we understand - she has been through so much pain that got overlooked by everyone around her. At this point, she was poor, grieving, and felt as if nobody in New L’Manberg listened to her. She was going through the lowest point in her life and nobody in that nation seemed to care.

And she couldn’t hate everyone for it so she needed someone to blame and that happened to be Tommy. He didn’t deserve it but he was an easy target. And it’s true that he wasn’t kind to her, but he wasn’t the only one, and he was obviously going through his own things. But Niki was angry and she needed somewhere to put her anger. Is that fair? Not at all. But it’s what happened.

N: L’Manberg has not been L’Manberg. For many weeks. Maybe even months, maybe even.. maybe even, I don’t know.. since the start? […] I want the people to realise L’Manberg is not what they think it is. I want them to open their eyes and stop being in this circle.. in this circle of fighting for it. Because that will not bring us anywhere.

Do I even need to say anything? She fought for it for so long, on her own, and lost everything and everyone anyway.

On Doomsday, she spoke to Ranboo.

N: Do you.. do you really think L’Manberg should be safe today? …Ranboo, I will- If you think that we should fight for L’Manberg today, I will fight with you. Because I believe in you. And I always believed in you.

R: I think we should. […] the thing is, if we don’t fight with them, then what are we showing them? We’re showing them that we never cared about them.

N: .. i care about them, I really do. But I got.. hurt by them… They always talk over me, Ranboo. You know how that feels.

R: yeah. But like you remember yesterday, sometimes you just have to get louder.

N: You’re right..

R: sometimes you just have to get louder until they have no choice but to hear you.

And good god, isn’t that exactly what she did? Something something, peaceful protest is ignored (striking at her bakery, not paying her taxes, verbally standing up to Schlatt). OSomething something, she got louder. (Burning down the L’Mantree, blowing up her bakery)

An underrated line from Doomsday though? Niki telling her chat that she needed to save Puffy. I think she was muted so you’d only hear the line if you were on her stream, but she tried to help Puffy after and seemed distressed that she couldn’t get to her. Puffychu crumbs.

She held it together until she saw Ghostbur, believing she was hallucinating and repeating to herself that Wilbur was gone and that he betrayed her. She doesn’t want to care, but she does. And the idea of Wilbur still existing terrifies her, because what does that say about her grief? And if her grief isn’t justified, then the things she’s done definitely aren’t. As long as Wilbur is dead, Niki feels like she has a reason for her anger.

During her meltdown Niki is rambling. ‘Wilbur is dead’ becomes ‘L’Manberg is dead’ which becomes ‘L’Manberg is gone’ which becomes ‘I am gone’ and ‘I am L’Manberg’. This reveals a lot about Niki, even if it may seem nonsensical at first glance.

I’ve made a post before about how for crime boys, L’Manberg is interchangeable with the other person (For Tommy, it’s Wilbur. For Wilbur, it’s Tommy.) And I think that this is the same thing for Niki. L’Manberg is Wilbur. Wilbur couldn’t live without L’Manberg, and L’Manberg isn’t the same without Wilbur.

Then, she is gone and she is L’Manberg. Niki isn’t the same person she used to be and she’s starting to think that she can’t live without L’Manberg either, not happily, anyway. But at the same time, she helps to destroy it because the memories are too much to bare, and all it does is remind her of all the times she’s been hurt there. She can’t see the good in it anymore.

Destroying her own bakery was somewhere between emotional self-harm and trying to separate herself from L’Manberg as much as possible. There could’ve also been a sense of survivors guilt? Everyone else’s homes and things were destroyed but Niki’s bakery was untouched, and she found that really unsettling.

She talks to Jack about why she burnt down the tree, saying it was because she’s lost everyone.

J: that’s not a very good way of going ‘hey, I wanna be friends again’, burning down their sacred tree.

N: i don’t want to be friends with any of them again! Have you seen them?

J: then why do you care?!

N: because it hurt me! […] we both have been ignored by all of them all the time. We walk behind them slowly and-and carefully because they will ignore us all the time but we wanna be part! We wanna be part- we’re like little puppies, aren’t we?! Like little puppies, just walking and walking. But they’re never going to see us. All we are for them is something to take something from. […] whats the difference between these people and us? When we lose something, we lost it. And we grieve it. And it will be a part of us. When they lose something? They move on and they find something new.

I feel like people who think c!Niki is badly written or don’t like her just watch this stream and think she is overreacting because they don’t know her lore. But none of this came out of nowhere.

The thing is, Niki was ignored throughout Manberg and New L’Manberg by Tubbo and Fundy and sometimes even Eret. Niki has had things taken from her by Schlatt and Tommy. She has seen everyone move on from Wilbur when she couldn’t.

I think the other characters did care about her - Wilbur definitely did and Tommy did too. Karl did, Eret did, Puffy did. But it’s so difficult for her to see that because the love is so quiet in comparison to everything else. She’s no longer an idealist, she can’t see it when it isn’t right in front of her. And that doesn’t mean she’s wrong. She’s not completely right, but she’s not wrong about being used and feeling unwanted. That did happen.

So why does this turn into hatred at Tommy? Like I said earlier - he was a constant. The only one she still had after Wilbur, but he didn’t seem like he cared about her. In Niki’s eyes he became just like the rest of them - he used her left, and then when he came back she thought he’d replaced Wilbur with Techno and was now replacing him with Tubbo.

(I’m not saying I think that’s what happened but it’s what Niki saw. This part of my analysis is also partly speculation and partly based on things Niki said after the fact, because I can’t find the vod where she and Jack decided to target Tommy specifically, I think there’s a missing one between Niki’s Doomsday vod and the one where Jack tells her about the nukes.)

She directs her anger at him also because it gives her an ally. Jack blames Tommy for most of what’s happened to him, because Tommy resulted in him losing his second life; if Niki agrees that it’s his fault then she has Jack. So unconsciously she starts directing her anger more towards him.

The thing about Tommy is that he’s loud. He’s annoying. He can be rude. He doesn’t take things seriously, especially when he’s being painted in the wrong, because he doesn’t know how to handle it so he just deflects.

That makes him a really easy target for anger. But the vast majority of what happened to Niki was never Tommy’s fault. She blames him for Doomsday, she’s angry that he used her, and she’s processing her grief of Wilbur through hating Tommy. That’s why she does what she does.

[bleue-flora]

There’s no reason to think he didn’t, per say. It’s a fair assumption, after all regeneration potions as well as health potions and golden apples are part of Minecraft, so it would be reasonable to assume they were used to keep Dream from dying. Interestingly though, in the torture scenes we do get, there are no potions in Quackity’s inventory that we see, which makes me wonder if they only depended on the potatoes to heal him after all. Hard to say, though there are certainly more options for methods with potions involved and I imagine 80 something days would make someone get creative. :]

I'm going to ignore everything, put on the tinfoil cap and say that cQuackity forced cDream to drink regenerate in the torturing sessions because he didn't want cDream to randomly die. (Also because he liked cutting the fresh, no scar skin more than the already scarred one, sooooooo)

[gingergofastboatsmojito]

What Carmy wants

IMPO it's pretty obvious that what he wants is Reparation by Opposition.

In Psychogenealogy and Transgenerational Therapy this means that when you come from a family that was the source of trauma, your responses can only be 3 potential ones: Repetition → status quo that only serves to perpetuate the trauma, Opposition → breaking the cycle but in spite, not as a reparation but as defiance, again: trauma response, OR REPARATION BY OPPOSITION → the only response that includes real healing and liberation from that trauma, which entails not perpetuating the toxic cycle, not acting in spite and just to challenge the status quo to prove "them" wrong or that they don't own us, etc. It's the only mature and healthy response, although the other two do not necessarily imply a conscious conflict. Some people can lead a seemingly "conflict-free" life even when perpetuating the status quo or opposing to it in an act of vengeance, like our case study here:

He wants his legacy to be all he never had growing up:

A panic-less environment.

Anxiety-free.

Be square with everything and everybody.

To make it good, he'd have to filter out the bad.

I already went over this in terms of the show in general because I firmly believe those lines are nothing but a huge foreshadowing of the show's whole arc, and as usual, Storer hid it in plain sight:

That is why MEAT was in the background, in the frame, in the center, because what Carmy was saying was the whole "meat" of the show:

However, as for Carmy, individually speaking, those lines are ANOTHER PIECE OF HARD EVIDENCE, we, Sydcarmy truthers can and should hold onto and go by, to back up our SYDCARMY ENDGAME claims and wishes. We are not delulu. Well, not because of believing in Sydcarmy endgame anyway...

There is no way on Earth Carmy can achieve all that with the C person. Someone who represents his past and triggers his trauma to the point of causing panic attacks, someone who he associates with the "old Carmy" he wants to outgrow to get to where he wants to be and spend the rest of his life in (his purpose). Of course, she represents the status quo for him, the literal girl next door who is totally familiar with his past family trauma and all the things he wants to leave behind. She is what his toxic family wanted for him. She is in no way, shape or form a symbol of progress or healing, you can read about that in pretty much ALL my C Person meta, here ↓

The only character on the whole show that represents change, evolution, growth, and progress, is:

Every one of Carmy's breakthroughs, had her presence in them, in one way or another.

He started turning The Beef around when she came along, even when everyone was still opposing his leadership because he wasn't alone anymore:

He accepted his shortcomings and vowed to change:

He shared his dream with her because he trusted her fully, even when he had only met her for a few months at that point (he didn't even trust C with his right number even after knowing her for years)

He shared her dream:

He put everything in her hands and then couldn't live with the guilt of having let her down, which triggered ALL HIS DEMONS.

She was also there when he gathered the strength to confront his abuser:

Summing up, the only one who can bring out this Carmy we all want, including himself, is Sydney and he already knows that, he told her:

Bonus track: What Syd always wanted and still does is this ↓

The great news is that what Syd and Carmy want are FULLY COMPATIBLE things.

which is the key to any healthy and lasting relationship love story. Not wanting the same things, none of us want the same things as our partners at all times, it's impossible and or childish because we are dynamic beings and individuals, and any relationship that annuls or censors our individuality can't or shouldn't last. Now, finding someone with whom you can be yourself, NOT LOGAN:

Being accepted by them and at the same time inspired and driven to change for the better, as opposed to remaining stuck in the past, THAT IS LOVE and that is at the very least PROMISING. A relationship based on that and on trust can only be a good one, no matter how toxic or hard it gets at times, as most relationships at some point do or might because that means that all the tools to "fix" it, are there, at hand.

Remember to follow my tag #Gingerpovs 💋

[rottmnt-residuum]

Some Things You Aught to Know (this also the index)

“At the end of it all, what’s left of you?”

The long reaching ramifications of an alien invasion… it all starts here. After the Kraang were defeated, the boys have taken a back step from their usual activities to heal. Which has been surprisingly easy due to sudden lack of activity from their rogue gallery. At least, until Donnie disappears.

Hi! Welcome to the side blog that hosts my comic, Residuum. This little brain baby of mine was conceived in a dream my subconscious cooked up one night and then refused to leave me in the morning! Yes, yes, very interesting, but why is that relevant? Well, my darling reader, dreams can get really, really fucked up. As suuuch, this comic gets kinda, okay a lot, fucked up (￣▽￣|||)

So, this handy dandy pinned post is both the content/trigger warnings and where to find parts. The warnings do contain some spoilers for future installments, so I’ve put them under the read more. I do stress again that this comic is fucked, but to those who don’t read the warnings:

Probably don't read this if you're squeamish. It will contain a lot of, uh. Gore. Seriously. I'm not kidding around here.

This comic will not contain anything sexual, consensual or not. Nothing implied, either. (I can’t believe I have to say this, but no incest, and yes, I am kink-shaming you.)

Directory | F.A.Q.

Parts

Parts that have gore or the more extreme tw's will be red. Parts with mild-ish tw's will be yellow. Censored versions of extreme gore will be blue.

Read it chronologically: [censored gore] [full gore] (only works on desktop as far as I am aware. also! part 17 isn't showing up in either of the links, and i don't know why...)

[ part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 | part 11 | part 12 | part 13 | part 14 | part 15 | part 16 | part 17 | part 18 C - part 18 G | part 19 C - part 19 G | part 20 C - part 20 G | part 21 | part 22 | part 23 | part 24 | part 25 | part 26 ] - Arc I Complete

part 27 | part 28 | part 29 | part 30 | part 31 | part 32 | part 33 C - part 33 G | part 34 | part 35 | part 36 | part 37 | part 38 C - part 38 G | part 39 | part 40 | part 41 | part 42 | part 43 | part 44 | part 45 | part 46 | part 47 | part 48 | part 49 (September 29th)

(Updates every other Sunday)

Content/Trigger Warnings

Subject to change, I’ll tell y’all if they change when I update. They probably won’t change much, but the creative process is annoying :)

Feel free to message directly for any reason, be it clarification or something else

Desturbing Imagery, Trypophobia, Kidnapping, Manipulation, Guns, Gun Violence, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Ableism, Coercion of Minors, Solitary Confinement, Contractual Slavery, Blood & Gore, Implied Death/Actual Death, Major Character Death, Animal Death, Animal Experimentation, Dismemberment, Disembowelment, Non-Consensual Medical Procedures, Irreversible Alterations, Cannibalism, PTSD, Anatomically Correct Organs, Lobotomy, Imprisonment of Innocents, Medical Experimentation, Body Horror, Police Brutality, Corrupt Government Institutions, Xenophobia

[hopalongfairywren]

don't particularly care for the inniters who *still* basically treat the fanon-ified dad persona of sam nook or what have you onto c!Sam himself, while ignoring or making excuses for his own abusive behavior just because Tommy isn't the primary person he hurts . Not even touching the whole prison thing, Just. Hannah, and fucking Ponk. It's not even so much of a thing anymore, but I can't help but get annoyed at people who shit (rightfully) on c!Dream but still think c!Sam is another 'tragically pushed to evil villain who only acted like that because Dream caused him to repeatedly bully and lash out at whoever he had power over' And to be clear I'm not a Dream apologist it's just a fandom irk.

so now that the dsmp fandom is over can i say something a bit controversial

[vivilingriphyn]

Before Jay lost his memories, does he ever accidentally attempt to attacked his own friends especially Nya, because of C!Nadakhan tricked him just for fun?

Yes. Yes he has and probably again.

@mariasparkles PRETTY COLORS❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Definitely. Especially after skybound and the aftermath of it, since C!Nadakhan still hasn't had any development in its character at that time, its torment on Jay was constant and severe to the point Jay often couldn't distinguish dreams from reality anymore because of C!Nadakhan. Making him feel as if the consequences of his actions seem meaningless since he thinks he's in a dream or in an illusion, like many times before. And when confronted by the others, Jay would look at them as if he doesn't see them at all but thinks he's simply in another nightmare. So he would either let them hurt him (basically giving up at times), putting up a fight or to hurt them without a second thought with the intention of just wanting to get this round of torment over with.

So yes he has hurt them and at one point almost killed them. To which I wanna i call that part of The Sham | Origins, the seclusion arc or Self-imprisonment. Basically more hurt before the healing begins for Jay.

[cdroloisms]

fuck it i'm making this c!awesamdreamity sitcom AU (dr3 edition) a real thing for the funnies alone. why the hell not

premise: they get thrown into a sitcom. that's it. they're in a sitcom world that plays by sitcom rules, which means that everything that occurs Has to conceivably work within the genre. that means no throwing dream in a cell underground and treating him as a prisoner, sam, that's not funny enough. they can't leave or escape, and if they try to do something that Doesn't work within the genre they'll either just be completely unable to do it or they'll be foiled in some genre-specific way (ex: sam tries to build a cell on the property anyway and ends up in a three-episode arc about his fight with HOA)

the main point of this set up is that anything is technically possible as long as it works within the bit. also, yes, there's a laugh track, and whether or not the characters can hear it has everything to do with what's the funniest option (c!sam fucking hates the thing, for the record.)

highlights of this include:

the sitcom Demands A Relationship. because neither c!quackity nor c!sam is willing to do the whole married couple spiel with c!dream, that means that c!awesamq are the ones that are officially "together." this goes so fucking badly and is like, the primary reason why i'm making this a thing in the first place

c!dream isn't Allowed to be a prisoner, but he does have to stay within the house. between the genre and c!awesamq's opinions, he's not really going to end up as just "the roommate" or family or you know, an official third part of the throuple, so the maid it is

a level of violence is allowed but like, the actual pain/consequences has everything to do with whether it works For The Bit or For The Drama. like, c!q might hit c!dream with the car and nothing will happen bc it'll be played off as a punchline, for example, but also a dramatically timed fall might lead to someone walking around with a broken arm for an 'episode' or two. there's no magical accelerated healing here, just the Power Of The Bit

similarly, a lot will be allowed to slide as long as you're genre savvy about it. c!quackity won't be able to get away with outright torturing c!dream for hours, of course, but pushing him around is fine as long as it's funny enough. especially if it comes with a side of romantic drama

speaking of the romantic drama, hoo boy are c!awesamq a fucking TRAIN WRECK. like my god are they so toxic. c!sam is literally the quintessential asshole condescending boyfriend on that server and c!q has a quick fuse, a hell of a temper, and generally reacts to being talked down to with several knives and cursing. they take to a domestic romantic relationship as a fish does to . uh. lava maybe. like it's BAD

think screaming slammed doors things being thrown there's a glass sailing towards c!sam's head screaming over the banisters holes in the drywall fine! FINE! [laugh track] bad. it'd be gloriously, ridiculously toxic. the crowd goes wild

c!quackity has to contend with the fact that his husband is absolutely down horrendous FOR THEIR STUPID GODDAMN MAID .

the maid also wants his husband more than quackity :/ sidelined in his own relationship once again (i wonder why, Q)

how well they adjust has everything to do with how well they acclimate to the genre. c!quackity does the best job--he knows how to play a crowd and do so well. c!sam by FAR acclimates the worst. he's inherently completely offended by the idea of everything about his job and the prison being turned into Entertainment, into something Funny, into A Show To Consume and basically reacts to the sitcom thing by trying to ignore it. this, of course, means that he ends up generally being the butt of the joke

c!dream is. well. at least he's got less stress about dying i guess. and is generally a lot less injured bc starvation and torture lead to lower comedy ratings smh. is still kinda in hell but you know yesterday he got to watch c!quackity hit c!sam over the head with a frying pan and literal cartoon birds appeared so

honestly he's kinda quietly having an existential crisis and lowkey earning sympathy points from the proverbial audience by being the one that comes off the least as Just The Complete And Utter Worst

(meanwhile: c!sam is yelling at c!quackity for how he's apparently cut up all of his dress shirts while c!quackity screams back about something something and he can stick the scissors up his ass)

[laugh track]

[theoceanswaves0]

Opinion time!~ Spoilers for up to ch. 3 of Jewel Joker!

Just wanna start by saying I haven’t felt so invigorated to talk about something like this in so long. Like, Shugo Chara isn’t my first magical girl manga, but I think it’s the one that resonated with me the most. One of these days, I really need to write that Dia arc essay, because years after reading it, it’s resonated with me so much.

—> So we learn about the existence of Arc-eggs, which seem to be some sort of manufactured (?) egg made by the school? I have a few theories that pertain to them:

A. The X-Egg in chapter 1 was an Arc-egg, and the reason it couldn’t be healed was because it wasn’t anyone’s actual dream.

B. Kurumu (Amu’s roommate) will have an arc about rejecting the manufactured arc-egg and coming to accept her own dreams, even at risk of not actually being able to have her own guardian character

C. Erito will reject Rosetta in favor of an Arc-egg, with Amu trying to convince her to accept her own authentic self over seeking out power or whatever else tempts her.

—> Kinomi (the Spade dorm leader) is def a horse boy, that is the only explanation I will accept. Also, what are the chances he’s related to the Arcana academy director?

—> Niya is another character I suspect has deeper ties to the director. Also, he’s clearly meant to foil Ikuto. We know he’s into make up and content creation (just as Ikuto is a musician), and he’s got the cat thing going for him, but now we have Michaelangelo the Second (who insists on his full name), and interestingly, Niya’s egg isn’t an arc-egg (which isn’t entirely surprising).

—> Erito insisting that she will beat Amu at the games when Amu doesn’t even know what’s happening is funnier than it has any right to be.

—> It’s interesting to see Tadase and Amu no longer in positions of power, and now be on the outside as part of the student body. Of course, they’re not entirely normal, and still have targets on their back (especially from Erito) and it almost feels like it’s using what made them popular in elementary school and leveraging it against them.

[alliumsduo]

Alliumduo my beloveds they are so important to me because they just. Hnfndjsb they had SUCH a strong start and exile and all that came with it just kind of. Came between what to me kind of felt like uhhh... An easy connection that almost had soulmate vibes? Like, if things hadn't been so messy all the time and they actually had the time and environment to just hang normally, I really wonder what kind of friendship they would've had then. Because even with what we got they still had a remarkable bond! And those were very subpar conditions! But yeah,to me, while clingyduo always have a "chosen soulmate" vibe, Alliumduo have a more traditional soulmate vibe. A seed that sadly didn't get quite the water and soil and sunlight it deserved. Fanworks that actually put more emphasis on them are so very dear to me. Especially fanworks where they were given the room to actually really bond because my god can you imagine? Can you imagine how much greater their bond could've been if the server storyline didn't constantly get in the way?

Not to downplay the Alliumduo we got obviously. Because they are already. Holy shit. Like. That stream after Wilburs revival where Tommy tries watching out for Ranboo? They are so. Goddamn soft for each other. I can't.

They have me in tears

ANON. ANON YOU GET ME. YOU GET ME ANON.

they make my physically unwell /silly

You are so right, clingy duo does have more of a chosen soulmate vibe while allium duo did give me more traditional soulmate vibes.

To me, DSMP ending never happened. Prison break who? No no. c!Dream stayed in prison,c!Ranboo lived amen. 100% canon don't question me.

I like to headcanon them as soulmate best friends OR queerplatonic. We value friendships in my house take your shoes and LEAVE if you dont.

You are so right, fanworks are CARRYING the allium duo enjoyers. They really would've had an remarkable bond had it been expand upon more, I think c!Tommy would've actually really trusted c!Ranboo. c!Tommy looking out for c!Ranboo makes me just like yell and cry on the floor because THEM. YOU CANT GET BETTER THAN THEM!!

They truly had a great start with exile, it really was an amazing introduction to their bond and what got me hooked on them. C!Tommy taking the blame and c!Ranboo being like 'dude wtf he's not selfish.'

It would have been so cool if c!Tommy could have actually been integrated into c!bee duo's family, he is technically an uncle to Michael and I would have love to see that, I also would have love to see c!Fundy and c!Tommy healing arc but thats just me. anyway.

Anyway. They make me so ill. /silly

[ladyddanger]

Dsmp live action but even worse

Adding some hate and negativity to your dash. No need to thank me.

DISCLAIMER

[these are not my real thoughts and feelings rather a parody]

Wilbur blows up La’Manberg to Look what you made me do by Taylor Swift. (They had a brand deal with her.)

Dream’s face reveal is hyped up for two seasons and it’s baited that he’s Tommy’s father.

Sam is green horse. Not a creeper hybrid just a green horse with spots that randomly turns into a shirtless human man for reasons.

Quackity sleeps with Ponk, he and Sam fight about it and it’s never brought up after that episode.

Karlnapity also magically heals Quackity’s trauma and they are the perfect couple until they suddenly ignore him for reasons.

Sam makes a tik tok in prison.

Tommy wears Nike in an obvious product placement.

Wilbur has PTSD from the Independence war for one episode and then it’s magically healed by Niki telling him it’s not his fault people died. (This is her entire character arc for season 1)

C!Foolish is a hahaha silly himbo.

Quackity wears a dump him shirt into prison.

Tommy is so jealous of Ranboo and Tubbo he tries to fight Ranboo

Techno is a literal pig. He turns into a man sometimes tho.

The writers want Sam to only have one life left after Dream kills him so Sam gets hit by a truck while he’s yelling at Quackity for sleeping with Ponk. Chasing cars plays while Quackity and Ponk sob in each others arms by his hospital bed.

Reivebur randomly grabs Quackity, throws him over his shoulder and runs away with him into the sunset in the mid season finale. The next episode Q is back and this is never explained.

Eret and Reivebur look at each other and it becomes a huge ship on on tik tok. The writers hate this so much they give Wilbur a girlfriend in Utah named Callie.

Straight phobia is real. Wilbur calls Phil a “hetro” and Niki beats him up for it.

Dream and dreamXD kiss. The writers get canceled for writing incest on twitter so they make it Gnf having a weird Dream and that’s worse.

[mellorphic]

In Defence of c!Niki - a Four Part Analysis of Every Arc

People who didn’t watch C!Niki see, in the fandom, a big sister type character with girlboss energy who wants to kill a child. Niki isn’t that. She has a well-written narrative which focusses a lot on her relationships with others. Here is me breaking it down!

PART ONE: c!Niki’s Early Days (you are here)

PART TWO: c!Niki’s Rebellion

PART THREE: c!Niki’s Disillusionment

PART FOUR: c!Niki’s Healing

Niki joined the server a little while after the L’Manberg War for Independence and she immediately joined the nation as Wilbur invited her to it. Of course, Niki was close with Wilbur from the beginning and quickly she got close to Tommy and Fundy too. But a relationship that I find interesting was her bond with Eret.

From the get go, Niki is told by L’Manberg (read: Tommy and Wilbur) that Eret was a traitor and wasn’t trustworthy, and while she understood their apprehension, she remained friendly with Eret as they were nice to her. She had no real reason to dislike him because she had not been there during the war and therefore wasn’t betrayed by her.

Wilbur ends up talking to her about this.

N: you know I’m loyal to you, Wil! You know I’m loyal to you.

W: I don’t- I want you to be loyal to L’Manberg.

N: and to L’Manberg! I am!

W: […] just stick with L’Manberg! That’s all I’m looking for- that’s all I look for in- in a woman- <laughs>

N: I promise, I promise I will

W: okay..okay, I’ll trust you..

N: I mean, y’know, that is why I joined! I joined to join the independent nation, didn’t I?

W: you did.. you did. You did. And just not their independent nation.

N: no. Our independent nation.

I think this is the first really important bit of Niki’s character - she is loyal. But she won’t take what people tell her and trust it blindly. She wants to form her own opinions on things and on people rather than listening to what others tell her about them. And yet, even when she ends up disagreeing with someone on something it doesn’t affect their relationship. Niki quickly begins to trust Eret a lot and Wilbur doesn’t trust him at all. Despite this Niki remains loyal to Wilbur and assured him she’s loyal to L’Manberg too.

That’s another thing - she promised Wilbur she was loyal to L’Manberg. And she kept this promise for as long as she could. Throughout this analysis I’m going to reference this promise a lot because while it’s a mostly forgotten piece of lore I think it has a lot of potential to be bigger and to be talked about a lot more often.

Additionally, I think this shows that Niki is pretty good at reading people - she obviously knows Wilbur very well and can read him because of this, even starting to say ‘and to L’Manberg’ before Wilbur had even finished saying he wanted her to be loyal to it. At the same time, she’s able to figure out from Eret’s behaviour that he’s trustworthy. Analysing motives and behaviour is how Niki figures out who to trust and it’s important to remember this for the Manberg era when suddenly the behaviour and motives of people around her didn’t match up.

Niki showed her loyalty by making the nation’s flag, by telling Wilbur her fox Fungi was the mascot of L’Manberg, by creating her bakery, and by giving everyone lots of gifts. I’ve said it before that she was the soul of L’Manberg. She loved that nation and she lived and breathed its ideals. C!Niki was an idealist. I truly think she would’ve been happy to remain in L’Manberg forever, if it hadn’t changed. Unfortunately, though, change is inevitable and attachment is a main theme on the Dream SMP, and there were many people attached to L’Manberg. It wasn’t ever going to remain the same.

The first pet war was the first time we really saw how strong of a moral code c!Niki had, and it’s something a lot of people think she only developed later on. While she was initially angry at Sapnap, Niki only wanted an apology (but she refused to beg for one). She never wanted revenge like Tommy and Fundy did.

Early Niki is often regarded as naive, but I genuinely don’t think that was ever the case. She was kind and compassionate but she was never a pushover and she’s always been headstrong.

Niki joined Coconut2020 in the elections as Fundy had told her they could bring peace to the Nation and make it better. It’s important to note that she was extremely upset when she learned he had committed voter fraud. Niki cheered despite coming in last place and this made it clear she’d be happy regardless of whether or not she won, as long as the people were happy.

[prisonpodcast]

Extremely self indulgent c!Dream as Rapunzel :3

Headcanon that in the non-existent c!Dream Arctic Commune healing arc, c!Techno would braid his hair like this :D

Refrence image under the cut:

[kisuminight]

I mentioned before that c!Tommy does have a run-in with c!Dream and c!Niki during Dream's Syndicate Arc. It's an interesting meeting, because it forces Tommy to engage with, and reflect on, the image that he's built of Dream in his head.

See, Tommy runs into Dream and Niki when they're doing resource gathering. The two of them have separated a little, but not too far--out of line of sight but still within shouting range. So Tommy runs into Dream when Dream is nominally alone--and doesn't recognize him.

Dream is in blue and white. In a cloak, not a hoodie. His hair is braided, but it's visible--which is more than Dream really ever used to let it be. More importantly, Dream is unarmored and unmasked--when Dream never felt close enough to Tommy to bare his face to him, and didn't even feel safe enough on his own server to walk around unarmored since after the L'Manberg Independence War.

So Tommy comes crashing up and shouting hello to someone he thinks is a brand-new member of the server. And Dream freezes and just about has a panic attack. Because it's bad enough that he's interacting with someone other than the Syndicate, he's now interacting with Tommy. More importantly, Tommy is the person most likely to realize that Dream hasn't lost his memories--if only because of his sheer obstinate paranoia that Dream is always out to get him.

Worst of all, even if Tommy doesn't hurt Dream directly, he's going to tell people. Spread the word that Dream is back, it Niki's Blade, and that is going to put Dream in danger, put Niki in danger when people come hunting for power because apparently power is more important than peace.

For now, though, Dream needs to make sure that he really, really sells the no-memory, newly Awakened Blade bit. And keep Niki out of it, if he can. Being a Blade with an "unknown" Driver will grant her more protection inter-personally than any reputation she could gather by being in Resonance with Dream.

Dream tries to keep his voice quiet and soft when he introduces himself. Make it not immediately recognizable. He shouldn't have bothered. Tommy recognizes it, sputters out Dream's name, and then descends into cursing. He's go a sword in his hand and he's going for Dream.

Dream gets caught in his own head--does he pull his own sword to block and blame it on Procedural Memory? Does he pull his Soul Weapon and let the fishing rod take the blow to throw Tommy off further--too busy trying to be not-previous-Dream.

Then Niki is there (she came as soon as she felt Dream's rising panic). Her shield counters Tommy's sword, and she puts herself between Dream and Tommy. Dream shivers in her shadow and tries not to feel pathetic about feeling grateful.

"Tommy," Niki greets. It's a cool tone, nothing like the warmth she uses for the Syndicate. Her emotions are a curdled and bitter underneath Dream's tongue, though it doesn't seem actively hateful. "Are you alright Dream?"

"Yeah," Dream mutters, fighting the instinct to move further behind Niki. "The kid came out of nowhere." Tommy is a threat because he's surprising, not good at combat--if he tries anything, he won't be able to do enough damage to outpace Dream's healing. The real problem will be if he tries to make a trap, or if he calls backup.

"What the f*** Niki! Why are you protecting Dream!" It's not really a question, as Tommy tries to edge around Niki to get closer to Dream. "And you! Aren't you even going to acknowledge my name?"

Dream takes a deep breath, steps forward, and looks Tommy dead in the eye. "Why do you think I know your name? You didn't even introduce yourself before trying to attack me." He's trying for reasonable. It even comes across that way, for all that his mouth is set in a nervous line and his hands keep clenching and unclenching because he wants a weapon but is worried about making the situation worse.

~

The entire situation is a mess. Tommy is convinced that everybody is Wrong and that Dream isn't a normal Blade (true, not that Dream knows) and that Dream somehow remembers his previous life (also true) and that everything Dream did in his previous life was deliberate without input from Dream's Driver (he's one of the few people to get that right) because Dream is evil (false).

Tommy is Not Dealing well with seeing Dream unexpectedly again. He is incredibly resistant to adapting his mental image of people, especially Dream. Since L'Manberg's creation, Dream has been the Enemy. Tommy has a valid reason for why he feels so negatively about Dream--but he's also obsessive about it, and tends to project his feelings for Dream onto Dream (which is... not helped by cannon!Dream eventually falling into using fear as a mechanism to make Tommy do what he wants, or Blade!Dream's passive attention-attraction).

~

Dream is lying extra hard about not remembering and honestly just trying to convince himself that it would be a Bad Idea to just take Tommy's last canon life. Tommy's biggest threat to George was a combination of his chaotic nature, general antipathy, and Dream's lack of a Memory Patch. Tommy is generally sympathetic to Niki, so he's less likely to just start trying to kill her Because.

The problem is that he's feigning that he doesn't have his memory, and suddenly attacking Tommy wouldn't make any sense for the "character" that Dream has been portraying to the Syndicate. In the past, terrifying Tommy has made Tommy run--but Dream doesn't look scary now. And if he tried to make himself terrifying, well, that's hard to blame on Procedural Memory and it might be enough to push Tommy over into attacking Niki, too.

~

Niki still doesn't like Tommy. She's gotten over her desire to see him dead, but there's still a general distrust. She's stopped blaming him for things that weren't his fault--but he's on thin ice for upsetting on of Her People, and it's made worse by the fact that she's getting all the chaotic ups and downs as his presence turns the Emotional Bleed from Dream into a storm.

So Niki plants herself between the two of them and does not move. Tommy's good, but Niki is better, especially as she's been training with Techno as part of the Syndicate meetings. If it comes to a fight, she's confident that she can take Tommy out.

~

While it's a mess, I don't think it would end up in the kind of mess that ends with any of the participants dead. Dream basically going "I don't even know who you are," in various levels of plaintive both makes things better and worse. Tommy is furious that Dream is pretending that everything that happened means nothing, furious that Niki is agreeing with Dream, and furious to cover the deep, cold hurt that is trying to rip him up inside because they were right and Dream doesn't even know him anymore.

Eventually, Niki manages to get him to back off for now. Tommy is loud and brash and declares that he's going to prove everyone wrong about Blades and that Dream really does remember everything. Then he goes charging off in a huff to get Tubbo in on the "plan." Niki takes one look at the situation and decides that it's time to take an extended vacation in the arctic, actually. Tommy doesn't know where her city is, but she doesn't want to be trapped there while waiting for him to get over himself.

Overall, this AU probably isn't going to end with proper closure for Tommy in any way. At this point, the way he's fixated means that he won't stop until he's sure that Dream is gone for good, and finally convincing him that Dream's memories were lost (no matter how false that is) will probably be the best short-term solution.

Admittedly, in the long term it's going to make Tommy feel pretty betrayed, but the Syndicate aren't really characters that care about his opinion overly much? Well, Ranboo might care about how it affects his relationship with Tubbo. But Techno mostly cares that Tommy is annoying and also betrayed him and to Philza, he is just Some Kid that Wilbur was attached to (and Wilbur hasn't even been revived in this AU).

Tommy is good as a plot device and as a character--but he's chaotic and difficult and also he and Dream need to have their therapy arcs in separate time out corners if they're ever going to recover from the catastrophe their relationship became. So for the sake of the story and also healing, Dream's Syndicate Arc is getting precedence

[stemms]

In the prison arc, as c!Tommy began his proper healing journey, he also continued the exploration of his sexuality and gender more thoroughly. He discovered that he’s Aroace, and on top of using he/him, he quite enjoyed they/them and it/its. To ensure that his pronouns were respected, he came up with an idea to decorate his cardigan with Pride and pronoun pins.

However, upon being kidnapped by c!Dream in the post-prison break arc, his pins were taken away and replaced by green butterfly-shaped pronoun pins. This way, c!Tommy’s pronouns were still going to be respected and c!Dream was able to mark the boy as His, a win-win situation, isn’t it? :)

And besides… butterflies tend to be attracted to corpses, don’t they? :) :) :)