#fruit loops au

[brokenrealitylooper]

Another Dream

This goes with the other times I've written Weiss meeting others from outside the world/reality of Tarnished Silver and Regrets and Love.

It borrows from Fruit Loops AU, and thus has some spoilers. It's also long.

(those present blink and find themselves where the story starts)

o0o0o0o

"You know..." Weiss murmurs, glancing up at her Roman before looking across at 'Ruby' and the other 'Roman', "I don't think I'm all that surprised…"

Roman, her Roman—the man who gave her four beautiful children before they found themselves back in time—stands beside her with his arm over her shoulder, supporting her as she leans into his side. She knows his other hand is on his hip, close to his tonfa.

Across from them are Ruby—she thinks it’s Ruby, if an older one than she ever got to see—and another Roman. But a… a harder Roman. Darker, maybe. But not Dark, not like Adam Taurus or Cinder Fall had been. Just… Weiss holds back a frown, watching the two.

‘Ruby’ leans back into ‘Roman’, her arms loosely crossed as she watches with guarded curiosity. This other ‘Roman’ stands just behind her, his hands deep in the pockets of his signature white coat with Melodic Cudgel hanging from his elbow, head tilted down enough so only his right eye and his smirk are visible from under his hat and bangs; a very… predatory smirk, Weiss thinks.

0o0

“You know… I don’t think I’m all that surprised.”

Ruby watched—guarded, cautious—as ‘Weiss’ glanced up at the doppelgänger of Roman before focusing on her, feeling her Roman—Husband/Mate/Solid/AlwaysLoyal—hunch behind her with his hands in his coat pockets. She could tell without looking he was eyeing the other pair with a hint of menace.

Though, if the other two even noticed, it didn’t seem to bother them.

It puzzled her. This other Weiss and Roman. They both looked the right age—early 20s and late 30s respectively—but there was a weight to them she’d only felt from her own team, and Roman behind her; the weight of age.

And she could feel the weave of their Auras, intertwined like-yet-not-like her bond with Roman.

So she reached up and back, her hand finding Roman’s cheek, feeling the edge in their Auras soften at the contact.

“I’m a little surprised.” Ruby smiled, watching the other two focus on her, “More from your presence than the pairing.”

“Ice Queen is a decent conversationalist.” Roman murmurs, voice just loud enough for the other two to hear, earning a matched pair of smirks from the couple.

0o0

Weiss watched the other woman glance around, so she did the same. It was their living room; a sofa and a few large chairs, familiar bookcases along one wall and a window on two of the others. Behind Ruby and the other Roman was the hall that connected to the front door and the kitchen, with the bedrooms down the hall.

“I wonder why we’re in my home, and not Somewhere Else.” Weiss mused, moving to sit on the sofa—Roman joining her and relaxing back beside her—waving for the other couple to sit on the chairs opposite.

“This is your space, I think we’re only visiting.” Ruby mused, sitting in one chair while Roman—she really needed to tell them apart in her mind better—stood behind her and looked around.

“I’m certainly not complaining.” Ro—She’ll think of him by her name for him—grinned as he watched the Others, “The real question is why are you two nuisances here.”

“Red here probably dragged me along,” Roman looked down as Ruby looked up, sad smiles on their faces that put Weiss on edge and made something in her chest ache, “We did die about the same time.”

0o0

The faint gasp from across the low coffee table drew Ruby and her husband’s gazes, watching Weiss bring her hands to her mouth as tears formed in her eyes, the white-haired woman focused on Ruby alone as the other Roman—we’ll go with Torchwick for now, Ruby thought—leaned forward and over against Weiss.

“It’s alright, we’ll just Wake Up in a new timeline.” Ruby tried to sooth, watching as the alternate version of her best friend blinked, “We’re long used to it by now.”

“You too?” Weiss whispered, surprising Ruby, and she could feel Roman’s focus latch onto the pair, “I didn’t know others could suddenly relive their lives. I thought it was just myself and Ro.”

0o0

“And I didn’t know other versions of us could Loop.” Ruby stared, and Weiss blinked again at her words. There were capitals to some of the words she used, like they meant something more.

“It’s only once, for us.” Weiss gestured to her paramour and herself, “One try, to fix the few things that lead to the last time so this time is perfect.”

“But you two-” Ro looked at the Others, frowning in thought, “-You keep repeating, don’t you?”

“Hundreds of times in this bull-marathon,” Roman snorted, finally relaxing as he leaned on the back of Ruby’s chair, “And Nothing. Ever. Sticks!”

Ruby softly shushed him, leaning back in her chair so her head brushed his arms, “We have some leads, possible reasons we keep starting over that need cleared up before we can make a timeline stick. For more than a handful of years.”

“I’m sorry you’re going through that.” Weiss soft words touched something in Ruby, then. An odd familiarity that reminded her of her mother.

She didn’t really want to touch it, it was still a sore point for her even a few dozen Loops later, but this Weiss across from her… Ruby thought she must’ve been a mother before going back in time. Maybe she could hint at it?

“We don’t lose anything but time, though sometimes one of us will live a life Remembering while the other doesn’t.” Ruby smiled, feeling Roman’s irritation over his Loops without her, “It makes it hard, but we know we’ll find each other again.”

“Your family is always there?” The flicker of hope Ruby felt from Weiss as she spoke made something in her chest ache, and she hated that her next words might burst it.

“My team and a few others are usually Awake in timelines with me-” Feeling the hints of confusion in the two across from her, Ruby’s smile turned apologetic, “-when you remember previous lives, we call it Waking Up.”

The hope Ruby felt from Weiss turned shaky, the other Roman closing off completely in her senses, both Aura and AT-Field, “Just them?”

0o0

Weiss felt something in her break anew when Ruby shook her head as she answered, apologies in her eyes, “None of us had children, before time started resetting every time Weiss—my Weiss—dies.”

“But you did…” Roman spoke, his voice achingly soft just like Ro’s would get when he knew Weiss was hurting.

Ro tugged her into his lap, sheltering her in his arms as she took shaky breaths to settle herself. She knew it was a long shot, the other two spoke like they’d been repeating their lives for ages, like Ro had guessed. She wouldn’t see her children again.

“Four munchkins, though all adults when I… passed.” Ro spoke, his chin atop her head as his low voice carried across the room. From Ruby’s faint, there-and-gone wince, Weiss guessed she must feel things like her Ruby does, “And a grandson starting Signal.”

“I’m sorry.” Ruby said, and Weiss knew in her bones the woman meant it, “I don’t know how I’d handle losing kids. I react badly enough losing Roman, even knowing I’ll see him again.”

“Come on,” Roman suddenly said, standing straight and brushing off his sleeves as Ruby turned to blink at him, “Let’s allow the ladies to share, we can talk outside.”

And without another word, he walked to the front door and stepped out.

“Guess I’ll see what the kid wants.” Ro snarked, stirring a giggle from Weiss as she moved to sit on the sofa so her husband could stand, and startling a laugh from her with his next words, “I promise not to pick any fights.”

Weiss watched him leave, then focused on Ruby.

0o0

Ruby snickered as the two Romans left, settling as she turned back to face Weiss, “Roman is far too old to be a ‘kid’. We’ve lived enough lives to be centuries old now.”

“Anyone younger than we feel after a lifetime and a half is a kid to him.” Weiss chuckled, lacing her fingers together on her lap, “He’s very amused by the reactions he’s gotten from people physically older than either of us.”

“Sounds right.” Ruby sighed, watching the other woman a moment, and Weiss let her with faint amusement on her face and in her Aura, “Neither of you are what I’d expect. He’s so… calm, so mellow, but I can feel the steel in him. And you… I think I knew you’d been a mother, just the way you talk.”

“I’ve been told I come across as either motherly or grandmotherly, depending on what I’m telling my team.” Weiss admitted, still amused, “And Ro and I spent ten years between Beacon and meeting in Riga. He’d nearly been killed by Cinder and Neo, and I’d lost Ruby and Yang to Neo.”

“Bet she went into hiding.” Ruby snorted, then froze at the spike of vengeful Satisfaction that rolled off Weiss.

“Oh no, she made the mistake of running to Ro while Blake and I hunted her,” the smirk on Weiss’ face was eerily similar to Roman’s when he’d finished dealing with a threat, “and he snapped her neck for killing our Ruby.”

“Now that’s something I’d expect from him. Either of them.” Ruby shook her head, smiling softly as she leaned forward, “Tell me about your kids, I bet they were absolute rascals.”

The soft smile that lit Weiss’ face and gentle adoration that filled her Aura instantly told Ruby she’d picked a good topic.

0o0

Ro stepped out the front door and closed it, watching his double lean against the railing that ran around the porch. The other man only tilted his head, shifting his hat and bangs enough to watch him back. Snorting, Ro stepped over and leaned against the pole at the edge of the stairs down to the lawn.

“How do you make it work?”

The question caught Ro off-guard, though he only shrugged. He thought he knew what the man wanted, “Communication-” the other man snorted, and Ro flashed him a grin, “-yeah, I know. Easier said than done. Probably helps I had ten years to mellow, and she was the first decent conversation I’d had, depressed as she was at first.”

“She didn’t always listen, at first.” Roman pulled out a cigar, lighting it, and Ro saw the amusement in the other man’s smirk when he frowned—so sue him, he’d dropped the habit decades ago—before he continued, “she’s gotten… better. The Bond helps a lot.”

“A little mind reading goes a long way.” Ro shrugged, “But if she’s anything like the Ruby I know, you still gotta explain. Emotion only gets her so far, points her in a direction.”

“I’m well aware.”

“Don’t get short with me.” Ro drawled, earning a glare he ignored, “You might be older, but sounds like all your time is the same few years around Beacon. I got to actually grow old-” he gave Roman a side-eye the other man snickered at, “-I recommend being nice to your knees. I know Sweetheart has told her Team the same.”

Roman grunted, his amusement fading as his teeth worried at his cigar, “How did… you… handle kids?”

“Amazingly, if you ask Sweetheart. At least after the initial surprise. It’s nothing like dealing with the strays I know you’ve taught.” he watched the other man, sighing, “I’m betting you didn’t know we could have kids, until a minute ago.”

“No, I actually discovered some youthful indiscretions left me four.” Ro blinked, knowing he’d only fooled around with Neo before Weiss, and Roman paused at the reaction, “Something else different between us.”

“Do you talk to any of them?”

“No.” Roman paused again, and Ro suddenly realized this was how Weiss must have sometimes felt early on. Pulling teeth for each word, “Well, only one. She’s pretty feral when I can find her. Takes a lot of effort to get her out of the streets and safe.”

Ro hummed, letting the silence settle, before he watched Roman jerk upright with a smirk.

“Ro, dear!”

Straightening up himself, he followed the other man back into the house at Weiss’ call.

0o0

Grabbing a picture from the bookcase, Weiss handed it to Ruby as their men came back into the room, “This is a family photo from right before Katrina went to Beacon.”

“What’s her weapon?” Ruby grinned, studying the family of six in the frame.

“You would ask that.”

Both Roman’s glanced at each other and snickered, moving to stand beside their respective partners as the women laughed.

“Calicaster, a Dust powered gun-saber.” Weiss grinned, watching Ruby gush over the photo. Ruby was Ruby, in any life, “She based it on Myrternaster, but curved the blade and angled the hilt. She was far better at Summons than I was at her age, but it took almost two years in Beacon to manage spells like I used.”

Ruby chuckled, then glanced at Roman before focusing on Weiss, “Can I keep it?”

“I don’t mind, but I don’t think anything here carries over to the waking world.” Weiss shrugged, touched by Ruby’s request, then blinking in surprise as Ruby seemed to slip the photo into mid-air where it simply vanished.

“We’ll see. Inventories are strange things.” Ruby smirked at her, a very familiar smirk, “Anything we put in them carries over to the next life.”

“Handy.” Ro hummed, wrapping his arms around Weiss and letting her lean back into him.

0o0

“Very.” Ruby chuckled, something impossibly warm in her chest as she watched the two so easily slotting into and around each other. Like she and Roman had started to do. Natural as breathing, “I’m so happy for you, Weiss. I hope our final life is something like yours.”

“Be nice to actually learn to settle down.” Roman hummed behind her, Torchwick smirking from above Weiss.

“That’d probably take a few years, knowing us.” Ruby joked, grinning back at him over her shoulder.

“Probably about ten years,” Torchwick quipped, earning a chuckle from Weiss and Roman, “Knowing myself like I do, and knowing you.”

“Ruby is always,” she turned back around to watch Weiss smiling at her, all fond and fondly exasperated, “Always, Ruby.”

“That she is.” Torchwick agreed, and the warmth in her chest overflowed.

o0o0o0o

This version of Weiss and Roman Torchwick is from Regrets and Love, while this version of Ruby and Roman is from rather late in Fruit Loops and well after they'd gotten together--they had a few growing pains, needing to really learn about each other and let the other learn instead of letting hurt and misunderstandings wall them off.

I'm also planning on Weiss from FL meeting Weiss from R&L.

[randomm-person]

So.. um-

I've been thinking about Fruit-loops a ton and thus these have been born. Hope ya like it cuz I sure had fun drawing it!!

I'm working on a Fruit-loops fic at the moment so apologies in advance for the few posts.. I'll try to keep posting :D

[waffultaim]

Ksksksnwls it's really crazy to crack an idea for a cool au concept (or original concept story idk) in the fcking shower and like you can't really make it public to see if anyone would be interested because one, your English grammar scks for the record and your natal language won't reach any public, two, your art is in progress to make any cool content and you barely write consistently(only loosed ideas, shame), Ahhh agonyy but hey at least I can drop my cries here 😿.

[brokenrealitylooper]

“No mischief, promise.” Torchwick spread his hands. Paused. “Well, not much. I have to keep myself entertained somehow, after all.” Allowing his hands to fold behind his back, he stood at relaxed attention. “My current occupation, this Loop, is solely a gift for Red. I wouldn’t have put up with it otherwise.”

The first weekly word for 2025 is...

✨ PROMISE ✨

Find the word in any WIP and share the sentence containing it. Reply, reblog, stick it in the tags, tag us in a new post, or keep it private. All fandoms, all ships, all writers welcome.

[grimdarling69]

Another de aged Dan and Ellie story or otherwise known as Crack

Pt 1 Pt2

If only Clark hadn't been busy tracking Luthor, he would have been able to save his nephew, his sons best friend.

Once again, Lex Luthor has sabotaged him. He didn't even need kryptonite to do it this time. After Lexs mental breakdown, he had apparently gone off the grid, and unsurprisingly, he wasn't able to hear anything from him. According to the snippets from Lexs staff he had apparently refused to answer to his name, started to hate it, and called his board a " bunch of idiotic bimbos who only appear to work so they could buy expensive cars and whores".

It's definitely a mental breakdown or a possession. Lex doing something to damage his image? Unheard of. Possession didn't seem likely. What kind of person posseses a ceo just to insult his board and completely change their personality? They'd be immediately noticed.

He had been investigating Lex's disappearance for the past month and a half and had only succeeded in not being around to stop his nephew from committing suicide.

Bruce had called out for him, but being halfway across the world he couldn't make it in time, and consequently Damian made it over the bridge and he had been searching for his body for the past 3 hours and he still couldn't find him.

He had never seen Dick so shaken before. Jason had barely been able to stop him from following his brother over the bridge. After he arrived on the scene, Jason started to take his brother home.

"Find his body." He had told him before turning and wrangling Dick onto his own bike

"Stop, Jay. I have to find him. Please... Uncle Clark, please. You have to bring him home. I have to... " He could hear Dick plead with them the whole way back to the cave.

He could only bring their bikes home.

They had now all retired to the cave. He was ignoring Alfred calling Steph and Cass in the other room. Ignoring their desperate denials and begging to be told it was just a cruel prank. Ignoring Dick's full body sobs into Jason's arms, shaking them both. Ignoring Bruce's absent look and ignoring how similar Bruce and Jason's grief was.

Tim, luckily, hadn't broken his leg like what they originally had thought, only popped his knee out at such an angle it looked like it. Alfred had already reset it and listed his usual recovery despite Tim not even pretending to listen to it this time. Duke had already helped him upstairs, eyes red and swollen.

Finally the the tense silence came to an end.

"Did you find anything?" Bruce, one of his oldest and closest friends, asked, his voice calm and steady, his heart unwavering as ever but he knew better.

"I'm sorry."

"Search again."

Just as he was about to fly out again, the elevator opened.

"I found this in Damian's room." Tim hurriedly spoke he was already rushing past him on his crutches to the evidence processing, not even explaining what "this" even is.

"Tim. Explain." Bruce rushing and limped past him following quickly.

Like father, like son.

"What is it?" He turned to look at Dick, he had tear stains but his eyes were dryer his mouth was set in a firm line but he was leaning heavily on his younger brother.

"Tim found something." He responded quietly, and he continued on following his friend.

They sat silently together while Tim and Bruce worked together without speaking like a well-oiled machine firm in it's objective.

He'd say Jason was as still as a corpse with his eyes glazed over unseeing, but that observation was far from appropriate,considering everything.

99% Match found. Partial fingerprints detected unknown. The computer had finally accounted after 15 minutes of silence.

He and Jason waited for Bruce and Tim to tell them instead of jumping like Dick did to get the first look. He doubted Jason could get up, Jason was strong so strong, but he was still so young.

They all were.

Especially Damian, despite all his headstrong confidence and borderline arrogance, he will still only fourteen.

Only fourteen years old and dead by suicide.

He still needed to tell Jon he was buying time by the well-timed expedition of him and Kon already off planet and galaxy on whatever Kon called "brotherly bonding with a little bit of interplanetary fighting and toppling monarchies splashed in and maybe we'll catch a movie on the way home" they had joined some green lanterns to help rescue some new green lanterns who got in between a revolution on accident. He remembers researching for days before letting Jon go, but even just the name of the planet now escapes him.

It all seemed so trivial now.

He had seen what became of Dick and Bruce when Jason had died when Dick had been off-planet, and Bruce hadn't reached out to tell him. He just hoped Jon could forgive him.

"Clark. Where is Lex Luthor." Bruce demanded turning to finally look him in the eyes.

"I'm not sure. Lex went underground a month and half ago. Why? What does he have to do with this?" Clark asked carefully. He had to be careful not to set Bruce off.

" AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TELLING ME? Bruce's voice rose exponentially.

Too late, he couldn't help but think.

"His fingerprints are all over this goddamn envelope. Whatever was inside made Damian kill himself, and you're asking what does it matter!"

"How do we know?" Dick spoke softly, his eyes still glued to the results.

Everybody turned at the same time. Jason's head snapping so fast he winced.

"Know... Know what?" Tim asks him just as softly.

" How do we know Damian is.. is dead?" He spoke again, looking up to glance at them all.

" I know Damian. He's my.. my...He wouldn't just kill himself. He couldn't have. He showed no signs of ever even contemplating it. Not even... Damian would have told me.. Would have trusted me to help him. Lex must have taken him or.. or somehow lured him away." Dick spoke hurriedly or desperate but still completely convinced.

"Chum.."

"FUCK!" Jason exclaimed standing up and kicking his chair sending into the wall hard enough to crack the plastic. His hands shook like they were itching to wrap around someone's throat. They twitched and he ran his hands through his hair, his eyes were greener than ever and glowed so strong there seemed to be a small headlight in front of him almost.

"He could be out there being tortured or worse! And we are just sitting here twiddling our thumbs like FUCKING BABIES!" His voice grew louder and louder until he was screaming into their faces.

"Jaylad-" Bruce started just by hearing that name he knew whatever Bruce was going to say was going to be the complete wrong thing.

"We are going to find him. No matter what it takes. I never gave up on Bruce, and i can't give up in my baby brother either." Tim spoke up, his voice unwavering his heartbeat never stuttering, not even once.

He risked a glance at Bruce. His old friends face was softer, looking at his sons, but his frown was determined, and he tilted his head in the way he always did when he wasn't going to give up.

They were going to bring him home. They just had too.

---------

Crack

Boy, was Damian glad about this storm. He quickly realized that he couldn't use more than one of his powers at one time. He was able to make it to the coordinates of the apparent luxurious island Vlad was hiding out on.

He was expecting actual underground, not just some shell company bought island decked in lead and man-made waterfall galore.

He was absolutely soaking wet and shivering by the time he crashed onto the island. The storm just kept on thundering down on him, plastering his clothes and hair to his face in clumps. He better not get sick from this.

Cold fog escaped his throat, and he shivered even more.

"Daniel! Is that really you?" Lex fucking Luthor called out after he'd been laying exhausted and chilled to the bone in the grimy muddy sand for a few minutes.

"Hey, fruitloop." Was the first and last thing that he said before promptly passing out.

[anxiousapplepie]

'loop will confess who they are to someone' so what im hearing is that every t! (or more) variant of the party will find out their identity in unconnected yet progressively more stupid looney tunes esque sequence of events.

YOU MAKE A COMPELLING OFFER. *holds head* Loop ending up snapping so badly they scream their deepest and darkest secret in pure frustration to T!Mira is perfect. I'm still personally attached to Loop meeting T!Odile first (and seeing Fighter!Siffrin standing in the background happily bonded and with all the love and affection they have ever wanted right out the gate) but this is valid and I adore this a very normal amount. Loop would hate it. T!Mira would be so confused and startled like someone just dropped the surprise twist in her favorite book series. "what do you mean you're Siffrin-" and cue Loop wanting to talk about anything else or pushing her out of the tree and refusing to engage with her for the rest of the loop XD

[laptoparmageddon]

*Drops this for the remaining Reverse Context fans*

[pixelga1axy]

Train Conductor Emit and Fruit Loops sharing some candy

[ranchsoda92]

she is tall

[scalefeathers]

Lalapril - 23 - rise

The second-to-last thing to pass through the creature's mind was intense, brief surprise.

The last thing was Moku Shiroku's axe.

(Or, how Zettai Unmei decided that the Lambs of Dalamud were giving his Dalamud cult a bad name, tried to clear out Tam-Tara on his own, got in over his head, and was saved by his god reborn.)

(Zettai Unmei belongs to @saesama.)

[fruitsaladgame]

it's the catholic schoolgirl au no one asked for

[brokenrealitylooper]

Had a wonder as to how different characters in my two big RWBY fics would react to each other; the fics being the NobleTheft series and the Fruit Loops AU.

Spoilers and blurb under the cut.

So with Tarnished Silver posted and several chapters of Regrets and Love up, plus the NobleTheft Omake, and my slow working on editing/rewriting/continuing Fruit Loops… I had been imagining Weiss seeing glimpses of other AUs.

And after writing the drabble of Weiss Torchwick meeting alternate—canon—versions of herself, and the drabble of her meeting Ruby’s daughter from a different timeline, I wondered how Weiss and Roman of Tarnished Silver would react to Ruby and Roman of Fruit Loops.

Which led to the following really short snippet, which has been eating my brain alive for the last 18hrs since I wrote it.

o0o0o0o

“You know..." Weiss murmurs, glancing up at her Roman before looking across at 'Ruby' and the other 'Roman', "I don't think I'm all that surprised…"

Roman, her Roman—the man who gave her four beautiful children before they found themselves back in time—stands beside her with his arm over her shoulder, supporting her as she leans into his side. She knows his other hand is on his hip, close to his tonfa.

Across from them are Ruby—she thinks it’s Ruby, if an older one than she ever got to see—and another Roman. But a… a harder Roman. Darker, maybe. But not dark, not like Adam Taurus or Cinder Fall had been. Just… Weiss holds back a frown, watching the two.

‘Ruby’ leans back into ‘Roman’, her arms loosely crossed as she watches with guarded curiosity. This other Roman stands just behind her, his hands deep in the pockets of his signature white coat with Melodic Cudgel hanging from his elbow, head tilted down enough so only his right eye and his smirk are visible from under his hat and bangs; a very… predatory smirk, Weiss thinks.

o0o0o0o

Obviously it’s not complete, and only shows Weiss impressions. A full version would, I think, include Ruby’s impressions; echoing or contrasting Ruby’s thoughts against Weiss’ thoughts.

[randomm-person]

Can you imagine if Sun and Moon forgot small thing about Y/N as the loops go by??

For example- 'Did Y/N always have that scar on their arm? What color were their eyes again?? What about their middle name???' etc. And then the only thing they truly know for certain is that Y/N always wears that silver charm necklace that only has one charm, a small gold star.

:]

[brokenrealitylooper]

Think I’ll slowly go back through Word Game Wednesday, and share the ones that catch my eye.

It had started in the worst way possible, an outcome she and her team – and Ozpin himself – had feared: Ironwood had tired of Vale’s standoff behavior, and decided to break the treaty and invade.

this week's word is...

Find the word in any WIP and share the sentence containing it. Reply, reblog, stick it in the tags, tag us in a new post, or keep it private. All fandoms, all ships, all writers welcome.

[sadagios]

Icarus, and the Sunflower

A Desert Duo/Scarian AU about an avid player meeting his favorite, comfort character in a death loop video game.

I can’t write a fic, nor have time to draw comics like i used to, so we are doing bullet points on a tumblr post

PART ONE: BEFORE THE ALPHA TEST

PROLOGUE: PART TWO

2.1k words below the cut

SOME BEGINNING NOTES: - This AU is only character shipping, and references a lot outside the life series events (evo, hermitcraft, empires, etc). This is not meant to ship the CC’s themselves and if anything alludes to it, it is purely unintentional. - This is not canon-compliant ermmmm i do what i want and i will put every idea i have into this - Tags for this part? Game dev AU, Grian is whipped for Scar, some characters are real and some are fictional, this is only the prologue, absolutely not beta'd i only have one impulsive braincell

A. Gria

Gria is a single man in his late 20s; he works at a game company called E.V.O. Games (Entertainment Virtual for Everyone). He was an architecture graduate who dabbled in game dev in his spare time during his undergraduate studies. Although he didn’t pursue that path, he utilized his skills in level design. He used to work in several indie game companies, one of which was a company founded with friends, before he was hired by E.V.O. Games. He was excellent at his job, and his ideas and inputs always improved whatever project he worked on. Because of this, after a few years, he was promoted to creative director.

His latest project was “The Evolutionists’ Portal,” a 3D pixel-style puzzle game in which the player has to navigate the world to find portals hidden in each level, and these portals progress the game. With each portal traveled into, the world becomes bigger and more complicated, making each portal harder to find. However, with multiplayer, this task is easier through working together (and doing fun shenanigans together).

It had a buggy release, especially for multiplayer, but it built a decent player fanbase; the story itself was short and simple, but it was replayable thanks to its multiplayer mode.

For visualization, it’s 3D with a top-down perspective like “Pokemon Diamond/Pear/Platinum” but has gameplay similar to “Stardew Valley”

Gria and his team get along well, and he is quite close to some of them:

Martyn: an audio engineer. This is the first game he’s worked on since he was first hired in the company.

“Big B”: a VFX artist. He and Gria joined the company around the same time and bonded over stressful deadlines and annoying seniors when they started out.

Jimmy: the project manager. Although Gria takes a lot of joy in teasing him, he is hardworking and great at keeping everyone in check with the calendar. Out of everyone, he is the one Gria is closest with. He also works on another game by the company called “Empires.” 

Pearl: an environment artist. She joined the company a bit later in the development. It is her first time dealing with pixel graphics but she did it incredibly well. She also works on “Empires” with Jimmy.

“Empires” is a free-to-play fantasy open-world action gacha RPG. It is the biggest game of the company and their title game. 

For visualization, it’s just “Genshin Impact” and “Honkai: Star Rail”.

Recently, there was a buzz around that their game, “Empires”, will have a collaboration event with another big name. Gria was too busy and overworked to take notice of this, though. 

The fruits of his labor later came as game nominations for “Best Multiplayer” and “Best Audio Design.” Gria was happy their work was acknowledged by players worldwide, even if they didn’t win.

B. Hermitopia

After so long, Gria finally took a week off. It was foreign to have no obligations for even a day. He doesn’t use this time to travel; instead, he sits at home and lurks on the internet to keep up with gaming news and updates. He uses the username “Xelqua” with a red macaw as his profile picture.

He stumbled upon a “Redstone tutorial” post by the user ”Potatonutshell”. Curious and intrigued by how such a complicated contraption is possible in a game (and bored out of his mind), he asked this user what game it was for. Potatonutshell briefly, and over-excitedly, DM’d Gria with a huge wall of text about this game called “Hermitopia 6.”

In the beginning days of his break, Gria spent time messaging this Potatonutshell fella, named “Mumbo.” Mumbo named himself after a character named “Mumbo Jumbo”, who is one of the most skilled “redstoners” in the game. He related heavily with the character and took a lot of interest in the redstone circuitry game feature as he is a programmer in real life. Gria thought the game was interesting, but not enough to install a 36 GB game for $39.99. He changed his mind when Mumbo told him more about the game, especially its base-building mechanic.

“Hermitopia 6: Hermit Civil War” is an open-world fantasy action RPG known for its base-building core mechanic. It is the sixth game in the franchise, and each game starts in a brand-new world. The player and the lovable NPCs are called hermits, a band of humans, fae, hybrids, and other species who live together on an island and work together to live a sustainable life amidst the hostile creatures that roam the world. 

For visualization, it’s like “Skyrim” with “Baldur’s Gate 3” graphics and dialogue UI.

Gria planned to try it for a few hours, only humoring his new internet friend, until he met this beautiful NPC named “Scar Goodtimes” — a human-vex hybrid with scars all over his “handsome face and carved body”, as Gria would personally describe him. He was also a builder who lived near Gria’s very odd underwater base. Throughout the remaining days of his break, and his weekends after that, Gria played Hermitopia 6 religiously.

Scar calls him “GRIAN”, which was a typo error — Gria pressed enter early in the name selection screen and he didn’t realize it until Scar first mentioned his name 3 hours into the game. He can’t be bothered to fix it, though (and he's grown fond of it.)

Gria continued to play the game in his free time, slowly falling in love with the game as he kept on playing. He also kept talking to Mumbo, who he fanboyed about the game with. He found out that Mumbo lived close by too, so they hung out frequently and bonded over the game.

Gria: I genuinely thought you had a big mustache, y’know, like Mumbo Jumbo. Mumbo: I do too! It’s... it's there! [he shows his very faint mustache] It's there! Gria: sure.

Xelqua started off as a lurker, to an active Hermitopia fan account. He was interested in the base-building aspect of the game and shared his designs online.

Hermitopia is not a dating simulator. There is no romance mechanic in the game. Anyway, Gria installed (and tweaked) a romance mod because no one can stop him from flirting with his fictional vex boyfriend.

Mumbo: Grian, if I hadn't met you personally, I would've pictured you as a crazy Scar fanatic. Gria: Wha— How— I’m not crazy. Mumbo: You downloaded a romance mod just to flirt with Scar and commissioned an artist to draw a scene from it, and now you have it framed on your bedroom wall. So, Grian, I think that’s crazy behavior. Gria: … I do what I want, Mumbo!

Gria's love for the game and Scar grew more as another hermitopia game was released (Hermitopia 7). Then, he, as Xelqua, became a notorious name because of a supposedly harmless poll about the sexiest character in the game. He was known as the insane Scar fan.

He's got every Scar merch, though there isn't much Hermitopia merch released in general. However, if someone posts about a new Scar fan merch, a certain username might appear in their notifications, like a hound trailing a scent. Haters and trolls are also dragged to hell and back because, if they aren't regretful after being berated by this insane man, they will not be able to surf through the web in peace as long as Xelqua holds a grudge. 

As insane as this Xelqua person is, Scar had become a popular character within the fandom, compared to his old status as an underrated sweetheart without much attention or fanfare thanks to Xelqua constantly (for years without missing a day) talking about him. Xelqua also organized or helped some Scar fan events and constantly supported merch creators with hermitopia merch (especially if it involved Scar.)

User Xelqua, about Scar: He is my little sunshine, my precious sunflower. He might’ve killed some men, but he was hot while doing it.

C. The Collaboration Event

Back to Game dev stuff, Gria isn’t open about his current obsession with his coworkers. When the collaboration event with the “Empires” games was finally announced, two representatives from the other company came to visit. “Skizzleman” has been a writer for Hermitopia since the 3rd game. A character from Empires, Gemini, will become a new character in the next Hermitopia game, and there will be a DLC that will add a new small map with many biomes and new materials. In Empires, Hermitopia characters will be featured in a limited-run gacha banner and a limited-time story event. 

Now a Hermitopia fan, Gria tried to interview Skizzleman about the game (while making it not obvious how obsessed he is with it). Skizzleman was the one who wrote the lore for “Impulse” as well as most of his dialogue throughout the games.

Another representative for Hermitopia, the lead designer Joel, came to visit for the collab event. He is a fanatic of Empires and a diehard “Shadow Lady” fan, which is why he is so excited to work with E.V.O. Games for the collab.

Accompaniment art for this here: link

Gria was never into gacha games, but with a mix of Pearl and Jimmy convincing him to try the game they worked on (not to mention the fact that it is free-to-play), and showing him an initial sketch of what some hermitopia characters will look like in the game (this isn’t allowed, but Jimmy and Pearl found the thought of their serious coworker playing a gacha game amusing), he finally caved. Little did they know, showing a topless concept art of Scar is more than enough to reel him in.

When the collab update was finally released, Gria grinded Empires just to get Scar. He practically paid his own salary back to his company just to get Scar to max level and his additional skins. (He loved his new “HotGuy” skin the most)

With the release of “Hermitopia 8: Moon Collision” and the introduction of co-op multiplayer mode, Gria invited Pearl to play with him with the excuse that they're only going to see how Gemini looks in the game. Gria successfully got Pearl hooked on the game.

D. The Watchers Studio

Before Gria properly applied to a game company, he developed small-scale games with his high school friends. They called themselves “The Watchers.” He met them in a small art club and they bonded over their favorite games. Gria’s favorite game growing up was an old zombie game with a title he can no longer remember.

One of their unfinished games was “The Life Game.” It was a battle-royal death game where the players had to gather resources and have limited lives.

Two of their old friend group recently reached out to Gria to catch up. They said they wanted to work on “The Life Game” again and wanted to ask Gria if he wanted to join again. Of course, Gria already had a job himself, so he declined. However, he hung out with the two and checked in with their progress, nostalgia hitting him as they relived their old game ideas.

The two invited Gria to do an alpha test and asked him to invite any friends who might find it fun. Gria invited Jimmy, Pearl, Martyn, and Big B, as well as Skizzleman and Joel who he’s been acquainted with. He also sent an invite to Mumbo, who was unfortunately busy with his job at the moment. 

To Gria’s surprise, the two had turned their game into a VR game. All seven of them played in a medium-sized studio, and although the game was fun, it was nausea-inducing, especially for Joel. They all lost to the Computer-AI characters, which concluded their Alpha Test.

After the meetup, the two lent them their CD copy of the game with the VR Headset they used (which was suspiciously generous of them).

Skizzleman liked the game a lot and asked if they could do it again sometime, which Gria relayed to his two old friends. Pearl shared the same sentiment but is too caught up with work which makes her unable to join their next session.

The gang kept discussing the game they played and its potential to become a hit with a little more polish. This made Gria feel proud of his old team and his past self, reminding him of the time he was passionate about making games despite his lack of experience. 

With limited coding knowledge and a little help from Mumbo, he made a server to host “The Life Game” online instead of LAN. He sent copies to Mumbo and Pearl in case they’d join later. According to the two, the game had more improvements to it since the last time they played it, which was months ago.

Gria had a small voice in his head telling him this was a bad idea— well, he did get a bit sick in the last session, but everyone had fun. So, he ignored the warning bells and hit “Join World.”

This marks the End of Prologue Part One Next Chapter > PART TWO: UNFIXABLE ERROR

ENDING NOTES: I've been brainrotting and hyperfixating on the idea for a while now, and I don't know how to let it all out so I'm going to try out this format. Hopefully I could add more to this! Thank you if you've read this far into the post. :) Made a spotify playlist too in case anyone is interested (I'm still working on this though)

[rin-may-1103]

The Wrong Robin Au (part two?)

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"Alright, kid." Danny sighed as he walked back into the motel. "tell you what, you tell me everything you think you know about me and bats, and I'll be Robin. Deal?"

Tim's eyes widen in surprise, "wait, really?" he asks, dropping the third Oreo he had been trying to balance on Sam's forehead. Sam snored, her nose twitching in agitation for a moment before going back to normal.

Tim leaned back, keeping an eye on her. "do you really mean it? you'll come back and fix him?"

Danny sighed, "I can't promise that I'll be able to fix him, but I can promise to do my best."

Tim nodded his head, "That's all I ask." then the kid stood up, holding his hand out for Danny to shake, "We got a deal, Robin."

Danny smirked, unable to keep a straight face at how cute the kid was being. Reaching out, he shook his hand.

"Right, first things first. Who's Batman, and why do you think so?" Danny asked, making his way over to the table. Tim followed behind him, his face brightening up in excitement.

"Bruce Wayne of course," Tim cheered, plopping down onto the chair across from Danny.

Of course, another rich fruit loop would be Batman. Why not? What's next? Lex Luther was Superman's archnemesis? Oliver Queen cosplayed Katniss Everdeen?

"I thought Dick Grayson, Bruce's ward, was Robin at first. It had made sense, or at least mostly did but I wasn't completely sold on it. I only really thought it was him because Robin was able to do a quadruple backflip, and only Grayson's family was able to do that. but then I saw you! and it makes perfect sense!" Tim smiled excitedly, leaning forward as he continued.

"You were able to do the flip, AND you acted just like Robin did! Dick doesn't act like Robin in public, or ever really. But you do! You did the flip, you make puns! you even bit that one mugger!"

Danny blinked before slowly nodding his head; Well, at least his personality wasn't going to be a problem. "right, makes sense," not. it did not make sense, but who was Danny to crush this kid's hopes. also, how long ago was this? because Danny hadn't done the flip this time... he's definitely bitten a criminal or two over the past two weeks, but the flip? that had to have been back when he first got his powers... he vaguely remembers his parents dragging him around the country on some trip Vlad set up for them.

see, it was totally Vlad's fault.

"and who was the second Robin?" Danny asked, leaning back and crossing his arms.

"Bruce's second kid, Jason Todd," Tim replied, not smiling anymore. "The Joker killed Robin over in Ethiopia. Jason went missing and was declared dead around the same time."

"Right," Danny coughed, glancing away from Tim. "and what else do you know?"

"Well, I know Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara, was batgirl..." Tim trailed off with a wince, obviously not liking the conversation anymore. Danny had to agree, the whole class had been informed about the dangers of Gotham City. Barbara Gordan had been one of the examples they used.

"I know that you're using a fake name!" Tim suddenly added, looking more lively now. Danny blinked before sighing, "Yeah? and why's that?"

"you used your bat training to make a fake identity to throw Bruce off your trail! That way you would have more time to settle in with your new team! and it worked for a while, that is until he caught up to you and your team. it doesn't seem he knows about this identity, so you've been using it ever since Jason's death. because you're mad at him."

"and why am I mad at him?" Danny asked, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling. Just what had he gotten himself into?

"because he didn't tell you about Jason's death." Danny glanced back at the kid, watching as he looked away and out the window. "just like he didn't tell Dick..."

had he finally connected the dots? had he finally realized he got the wrong person?

"why would he not tell you two?" Tim asked, turning to look up at Danny. Danny shrugged, turning to look back at the ceiling. "grief makes people do things they never would have before." like becoming a billionaire and spending twenty years scheming on how to murder a single man. or it could make them more obsessed with their work.

Danny knows Greif, he's had to deal with it for years now. It's the only thing he understands about why Batman has changed so much. Greif, especially for someone you love? It changes you, it holds onto your heart and never lets go. It can drive you insane if you let it.

"he was so caught up in his own grief he didn't realize that there were others who needed to grieve with him."

"Oh," Tim replied.

they sat in silence for a moment before Tim spoke up again.

"I know where the Batcave is."

Danny blinked. Right. Batman. Batcave. the bat-themed vigilante had a secret lair and it was a cave. That checked out. At least it wasn't in the basement.

"yeah?" Danny prompted, "And where's that?"

"under the manor," Tim replied, crushing any and all hope Danny had for Bruce Wayne.

It was official. All billionaires were fruitloops. Danny didn't care if they didn't all have secret basements, they were fruitloops.

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