#he wasn't powerless anymore. but he never learned how to handle his power ethically.

[lasnevadaslaborunion]

Thoughts on the bet

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS.

So first of all, this casts everything about c!Quackity during Las Nevadas into a whole new light (that it was already teetering on the edge of). He finally got a win. The very first gamble in his new nation was a victory for the house, as it was designed to be. For just a moment, the system worked as intended and he bested somebody who once made his life hell.

(And then, c!Schlatt didn't show up to work - at least, not for a very long time.)

But that's fine, right, he's still riding that high. He won. He can win again. It's only uphill from here. Why not keep risking it?

What this changes most is that it makes c!Quackity's real goals a lot clearer. Him winning the bet hammers home harder that the revival book - at least, using the revival book himself - was never the primary motivation for torturing c!Dream. Which, let's be real, anybody paying attention probably would have picked up already. His first words on the subject were about what c!Dream did to Tommy; he takes it as a given throughout the arc that his own death is iminent, never even considers using the book to gain immortality or whatever else; hell, he flat-out screams that he doesn't give a crap about the book and that he's only torturing c!Dream to pay him back for the harm he's caused. If the book factored in at all, then his desire was more to make sure that c!Dream didn't have it than that c!Quackity himself did.

But that right there is the aspect of this reveal that gives me full-body chills: c!Quackity had full autonomy. There was nothing compelling him to walk into that prison cell and beat someone bloody for two months straight. He did that of his own free will - for reasons that are sympathetic on paper, sure, but he still chose that.

It's a fucking brilliant twist. Set up a situation where we're led to believe that this abuse survivor is going down a dark path at the direct coercion of their abuser. Give them a very clear excuse - one with plenty of holes (how exactly would c!Schlatt have ensured that he kept his word?), but which makes sense intuitively, cudgels you with sympathy. Then, strip that explanation away, and force people to think about the realistic chain of events that led to this horror show. He didn't have to do that. But he did. And as much as I loved the angsty portrayals of c!Q on a time crunch, c!Q humiliated and terrified, c!Q haunted by c!Schlatt's ghost until he fulfills his debt... I think the hidden, metaphorical demon, not being dragged screaming and crying into corruption, but stepping into it willingly, with a gritted-teeth grin and rolled eyes, believing that this time, you really do have all the power... is so much more fascinating and disturbing.

He was a free man. He wasn't under anyone's thumb anymore. He could have been living the dream.

He almost was. Almost.

Shit, man. He really just... did that, didn't he?