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total-drama-brainrot · 6 months

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This Alenoaheather AU is bringing me an unholy amount of serotonin and I love it- I’m still just now discovering it and I wish I knew about it sooner😭😭 But question if I may!

So, by the time Noah gets eliminated, where would you say his relationship lies with Alejandro and Heather? Like, does he leave the competition like, “You both tried to play each other, but I ended up playing the both of you, L” Like does he just think that Alejandro and Heather only romantically like each other, and he was just their attempt at emotionally manipulating one another, or does he at least have an idea that they potentially may feel romantically towards him? Honestly I’m just curious about how his elimination would play out between the three of them-

I'm glad other people are enjoying this AU as much as I am. Me and Perp are slowly spreading our Alenoaheather propaganda and it's working.

It's been established that Noah's elimination in this AU will take place at some point in the early post-merge game, probably either China or the Serengeti (though Niagara Falls might work too. We haven't exactly touched on how each challenge can/will play out since this whole concept has been put on the backburner), which gives his dynamic with Heather and Alejandro time to blossom from the initial double fake dating ploy into something more genuine.

Well before his elimination, Noah's been caught in his double-crossing ways; or to be more accurate triple-crossing, since Noah initially decided to play along with both Heather and Alejandro's schemes with the intention of throwing them both under the bus (or at least reaping all of the benefits for himself). But, by the time his ploy is figured out, the three of them have developed genuine feelings for each other.

As such, Heather and Alejandro are hesitant to have him eliminated; sure Noah somehow managing to pull the wool over their eyes for as long as he did was infuriating, but it was also impressive. Like recognises like, and the two biggest schemers in the game can appreciate when they've been outplayed, aggravating as it is, especially when the person who bested them essentially used their own trickery against them. Also, though the two of them would never admit it, both Heather and Alejandro know that they'd honestly miss Noah's caustic company.

Of course, at this point in the competition Heather and Alejandro are still deep in their "rivalry" phase, so it takes the two of them a very convoluted and overcomplicated conversation to figure out that they both share the same sentiment concerning a certain cynic- since every encounter they have with each other is practically a game of backhanded compliments and dancing around the true meaning of their words. It takes even longer for them to come to an agreement, given how stubborn the both of them can be, but eventually they manage to co-operate.

Which is what leads to The Confrontation, the point in the story where the two fake dating plots merge into Heather and Alejandro putting aside their differences to rule the game together, utilizing Noah as their shared right hand man since he's shown a knack for strategy and subterfuge. After all, why would they want to get rid of the one person on the jet who's able to go toe-to-toe with them in terms of scheming, when they can instead keep him around as an accomplice?

At least, that's the excuse they both use. But the two of them internally can't deny that, even if it was all pretend, Noah wasn't a bad "boyfriend" by any means, and they genuinely enjoy his company. In turn, Noah's accepted that neither Heather nor Alejandro are as insufferable as he initially assumed, and that playing along with their grand plots is actually really fun. (And maybe he also likes the two of them, but Noah would never admit that.)

But there's a a whole cast's worth of people on the jet who the trio also have to consider in their plans; it would be super suspicious of all three of them if the flirting and Aleheather's animosity suddenly ceased. No matter how oblivious the rest of the competitors are, a sudden public change in their dynamic would be the equivalent of waving a huge red flag and screaming "hey, we're in an alliance, vote us out!" Very counterintuitive to their goal of winning the competition.

So the three of them resolve to act as they have been during challenges, and sneak off to the confessional when it's most convenient/feasible to do so, where they can plot and scheme away from the rest of the cast.

This means that, at least to everyone else in the game, Noah's still in this weird grey area where he's actively flirting with both Heather and Alejandro. Or, well, "flirting", since I imagine most of the advances would be initiated by the other party and Noah would play the part of the blushing damsel- or more accurately the begrudging but highly amused recipient, since I just can't conceptualise snarky, stoic Noah being the type to get flustered easily.

I imagine The Confrontation would happen somewhere around London timeline wise (it just feels like the most appropriate place to have a major shift in the plot happen, for obvious reasons), which would give the initial fake dating aspect of the AU time to run it's course without getting stale, and allow the three of them to establish their dynamic as a trio before the merge hits. It'd give Alenoaheather around five or six episodes worth of time to grow closer as a trio (from Greece's Pieces to Niagara Brawls, at least) and have their feelings grow and develop at a natural pace, to the point where they acknowledge that, perhaps, not all of the romantic tension between them is fake.

And then, of course, the Fake Cheating Arc happens. Noah's elimination is the catalyst for this section of the plot, which Perp and myself touched on pretty heavily in one of our reblog chains, and at this point in the story Alenoaheather are in a sort of vague kind-of-dating situation; the three of them know there's feelings there, but they're all more invested in the competition (and their manipulation of such) than trying to figure out what exactly is going on between them. Plus, World Tour takes place in 2010- concepts like polyamory weren't exactly common knowledge back then, so the three of them wouldn't have any basis of comparison for what their dynamic is/would be.

That, and the three of them are all fairly emotionally closed off, so getting them to admit genuine feelings for each other and show vulnerableness to anyone would be like pulling teeth. As it stands, they're fairly content to continue acting as a Trickster Trio, contented to leave whatever's going on between them unlabelled for the time being in favour of focusing their time and energy on winning the million. There's an unspoken understanding between the three of them; what they have is special, inconceptual and indescribable by mere words... which is mostly just an excuse for the three of them not to breach the subject, since they have the collective emotional intelligence of a spork.

That doesn't mean they don't love each other. Because they do, even if some of them (Heather and Alejandro) aren't exactly familiar with concepts like "unconditional love" and "loyalty/compassion for someone besides yourself" and "lowering your emotional walls and being the most genuine version of yourself in front of the people who care about you". It's a steep learning curve, but they're doing their best.

But that's besides the point; at this point in the plot, the trio are essentially a throuple in all but name at the point of Noah's elimination.

That's why his suggestion of playing off of his "cheating" is initially met with hesitance on Aleheather's part- they don't want the one person on the jet (besides each other) they actually care about to risk his reputation, but they also know that it's a strategically sound idea. There's a conflict of interest between their desire to win the competition by any means necessary, and the budding sense of empathy they've both began to develop as a result of their situationship.

Of course, they eventually agree to his plan, and then the whole Cheating Arc plays out as it's been explored previously.

Which means Noah's actual elimination ceremony is a very tense affair.

He's intentionally playing himself up as kind of a scumbag during it, since he wants both Heather and Alejandro to appear as sympathetic as possible to the remaining competitors, so the three of them stage an altercation during that day's challenge where Noah's caught out in his "cheating", and consequently "admits" that he's been playing the two of them and it's all ingenuine on his part, to direct the majority vote against him. It'd kill two birds with one stone that way; Noah gets himself eliminated without having to do much out of the ordinary, since he's already kind of an asshole so all he really has to do is play up that aspect of himself a little and lie about manipulating his partners, meanwhile Heather and Alejandro can reap the benefits of whatever brownie points they gain from being his "victims" by using their own manipulative prowess to adopt the role of the ex-villains, redeemed by their shared heartbreak. Or something equally melodramatic.

Noah doesn't really care about the specifics of it, he'll be long gone before his partners can start playing up their "betrayal and heartbreak", and then soon enough one of them will win the competition. And spoil him rotten with their money.

So, during the actual ceremony, Noah becomes persona non grata. No one wants to sit anywhere near him on the benches, and the remaining cast members form a protective wall between him and a distraught Heather, who sniffles back quiet tears every time her eyes wander too close to the cynic's slouching, impassive frame, and Alejandro who's sat eerily still and taut with disgraced fury, who's fiery green eyes haven't strayed from the burning glare he's shooting towards the bookworm.

Not that Noah's a stranger to receiving glares; the rest of the cast are also shooting him some downright murderous looks. Though he is impressed by his partners' acting abilities. He's also physically biting back pearls of laughter- the gritting of his teeth only serves to make him look unapologetically indignant, and thus more irredeemable in the eyes of their company- because every time Alejandro knows that no one's focus is on him, he sends his cerebral partner a cheeky wink and a smirk. The smug bastard.

Unsurprisingly, the vote is fairly unanimous. Chris doesn't even bother trying to raise suspense or tension by counting the votes, since the result is inevitable. That, and the atmosphere is already so tense and dramatic, the host is revelling in it. Chris even goes so far as complimenting Noah for outshining Duncan's cheating fiasco, showing the audience "what real relationship drama looks like", and maybe even congratulating Noah on almost being as heartless as he is.

He's escorted to the Drop of Shame, parachute backpack in tow, but before he can take the plunge he glances back at his audience. A raging sea of hostility greets him, but within the depths of animosity two shining beacons of light greet him. Alejandro and Heather shoot him a fleeting wave, the ghosts of smiles flickering across their features before they continue their flawless acts, but it's enough to reassure Noah that everything will be fine.

(Spoiler alert, things don't end up being fine for Noah.)

Of course this is all just an idea I'm spewing out. Nothing in this AU is set in concrete and it's always open to peer review or change. That's the beauty of public AUs; you can do whatever you want with them!

#is this anything? i just got home from work and sort of typed this out in an exhausted haze #me when i see the word “alenoaheather”: 🏃‍♂️💨#to be fair i did take a break in the middle of writing this to read kijo's newest fic (it's also alenoaheather and it's INCREDIBLE)#uhhhhh #honestly now i kind of want to make an off-shoot of this au where noah really IS that much of a dick--#and IS playing with their feelings and hits the fortnite Take The L dance during his elimination #“L + Ratio + RIP Bozo + I never loved either of you. Peace ✌”#but for this au. yeah. they love each other so much. it's disgusting #i think me and perp touched on it a little but they do have a situationship going on pre-elimination #it's untitled because the 2000s were awful for any relationship that wasn't straight and monogamous #these three are rediscovering polyamory like a group of cavemen reinventing the wheel. it'll take them a while to fully figure out--#but what they've got going on works for the time being!#need to gather The Council and make us all have a brainrot session over this AU at some point #total drama #td alejandro #td heather #td noah #alenoaheather #fake dating au #silly ideas #long post #replies

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batsplat · 2 months

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OT3: casey stoner/his neuroses/the concept of valentino rossi that mostly exists in casey’s head

y'know I have this casey stoner... idk what it is. thematic mind map (literal), let's say, that I like fiddling with and adding things to when the mood hits me. and it does always strike me just how many of his struggles during his careers and issues with the sport can in some way be linked back to the valentino rivalry

casey's sense of isolation? super valentino related. casey's feelings of cultural alienation in a paddock dominated by europeans? even when it's not really related to valentino, casey is the one linking those two things together. casey's issues with other riders not being respectful enough on track? very obviously repeatedly about valentino. casey's discomfort with the performance and entertainment-related aspects of the sport? more valentino. casey feeling treated unfairly by the manufacturers, the media, the marshals, the fans.... keeps coming back to valentino. casey's mystery illness really shouldn't be as relevant to the rivalry as it is, but somehow through this combination of public discourse and whatever comparisons casey's brain is cooking up at any moment in time... there valentino is again

one of the most charming things about valentino's feuds is that in each and every single one, both participants end up being deeply weird about each other? just keep knocking off these banger quotes about the other where you read them and go. hm. what's going on there then. I don't want to make it sound like I think casey is the worst offender with this (not when marc and valentino have their whole thing going on, bidirectionally)... but I do think he's the most susceptible to conflating his valentino issues with like... everything else that was going on in his career. to the extent where his alienation with the sport as a whole, his extreme disillusionment from everything related to motogp, really cannot be meaningfully disentangled from the valentino rivalry. at times it feels like, to casey, valentino literally is the sport. and that's the thing casey dedicated his whole life to!! which means you do inevitably end up regularly going 'wow there's a lot to unpack'. add in a dash of neuroticism...

and yeah you're so right anon!! the neuroses are what end up creating the version of valentino that mostly exists in casey's head, a version that casey is just a touch obsessed with. I always think it's interesting how aware casey is that he doesn't know valentino as a person - and to the extent casey does know him, he gets on pretty well with him... but valentino the person isn't all that relevant to him. it's valentino the character who matters - and can you even really know a character? in the end, all casey can do is rely on his own understanding of that character, as imperfect as it is. and, well, in a way casey is trapped with that character forevermore. if one man comes to embody a sport to such an extent and if that sport has been your life's work, how can you not be a little bit trapped? as he tries to make his peace with the sport and his experiences within it, so too has casey settled on a narrative of valentino that helps him make sense of it all... a very specific understanding of his rival that casey has shaped in his mind and still trots out now when he sells his own version of events to the media. casey learned from valentino, casey learned to be a little more like valentino, casey learned to fight valentino with his own tools, casey tells himself a story of that fight. he still continues to do so - and in the end he will never be entirely free of valentino

#'do you ever talk to valentino' 'i don't talk to europeans' casey buddy what's going on there #'everybody's going on like he's a crippled hero' *pinches bridge of nose*#//#brr brr #batsplat responds #heretic tag #'x fell first but y fell harder' but make it about feud escalation #it is. interesting. how little the two of them engage in laguna '08 discourse for about two years and then rediscover it in mid 2010 #casey's very similar to valentino in that regard in that he doesn't necessarily lash out immediately #but he remembers. and he resents. and he seethes. and then eventually lets it all out and you go 'huh'. very valentino #like it is SO important to remember that after initially losing his temper at laguna... *most* of the laguna quotes are from YEARS later #(apart from that one early 2009 interview with an italian paper where he was clearly just in a FOUL mood like it's dreadful)#I genuinely think casey's mystery illness contributed more to the change in tone of that rivalry than laguna did #laguna laid the groundwork in terms of resentment but you needed something for casey actually to be willing to go ALL in #idk in a way it's the only rivalry where valentino is the one on the receiving end of Remember That Thing You Did Thirty Years Ago #like they ARE similar!! they're ridiculously adept at holding grudges!! they relish twisting the knife!!#I think it's interesting jorge was talking about how valentino is better at him at knowing when to choose his moments to lash out #because you can say casey did the exact same thing. he'd learned to clamp down on his immediate irritable reactions #and instead get himself to a place where he could attack valentino from a position of strength #basically they're the two aliens i'd get to go on a revenge quest for me. like i think they'd be good at revenge quests #conspiracy theories and revenge quests. that's what i think they're good at

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forgetriestowrite · 1 month

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hi was scrolling through tumblr and was suddenly reminded of how brutal cotg was for me to read because I started reading these books literally a decade ago and like there I was, 19-year-old me, sitting in my college dorm room, reading this after-all-the-bullshit-there's-more-bullshit book and it was wonderful and amazing but then

they are the same age I was a year ago in that book. They have saved the world twice. Percy's mom is pregnant with his baby sister because she got a good relationship for once and she's writing a novel. Annabeth is learning how to bake. She has scars from holding up the sky and then crawling through Rome on a broken leg and then crawling through Tartarus immediately after that. Grover is being the awkward boyfriend we all know he is. He is one of the most important people in the natural world. Percy is trying to get into college so he can have a future. He has a panic attack at the bottom of a river and the only coherent thing he thinks during the whole thing is "wow this reminds me of being a kid", which is so fucking sad. And at the end, he fights literal old age and defeats it by accepting this geriatric, angry god, by saying he wants that, and that just hit me in the face with a ton of bricks because I really, actually thought for the first time, what if they get to grow up?

Like yeah, I've thought about it, in the like "wouldn't it be great" kind of detached thing you get when you're actively watching a story unfold. Like, yes, there's an ending to this story. It's vague and I'm not thinking about it because of the action that's happening right now, but there's definitely An Ending.

But reading cotg, specifically those last few chapters, cemented that ending for me, and made me realize how rewarding it would be to have it. These characters have been fighting on the edge of a sword for their entire teenage lives. They were dragged back in for this trilogy, and they're older, and what if they get to move on? Grover can continue his work without having to worry about side quests. Percy and Annabeth really can get old on a porch. They can have kids. For the first time they're thinking of the future---and not like next birthdays or "if we survive then we'll..." They're actually considering long-term. Thinking of the next thirty years.

I love this trio. They're my childhood. I grew up with them. I love reading their story. But gods, I hope that someday soon they can sit down and never have to get up and fight again.

#sorry for the long post #i got in my feels #they're adults and i'm (technically) an adult now and it's all so adkfsdkfh #i just want them to have a break yk #percy jackson spoilers #percy and annabeth #pjo fandom #percy pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #pjo hoo toa #heros of olympus #chalice of the gods #forge rediscovers her childhood personalities

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thats-a-lot-of-cortisol · 29 days

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I've been thinking about names re: durges (and especially Corentin)

I haven't really liked the whole "this character's name is The Dark Urge" because it's honestly...silly to me? A bit? But I saw someone else discussing their durge's backstory today and it got me thinking about the function of names a bit more.

Naming someone "The Dark Urge" is super dehumanizing. And, like, that's the point, of course. But Corentin, even at their most compliant, was always trying to eek out some semblance of individuality or control or rebellion. They were kidnapped brought to the Bhaalists at 15, after all. Even with the cult's (and Bhaal's) efforts, it's difficult to completely rewire someone who's nearly a grown adult, especially one who's fighting it kicking and screaming most of the time.

So while they lose their memories of their family due to the constant trauma, they do manage to hold on to some things. Their refusal to eat bog body stays the entire time, as does their insistence on maintaining a hair care routine (which is when they start braiding Orin's hair, too). But after they break, other aspects of cleanliness they'd managed to hold onto until that point fall to the wayside, and they stop resisting when Savorak, and Fel, and the Bhaalists call them "The Dark Urge" instead of their name. Orin still calls them Corentin for a little bit, but she stops eventually too as she gets more and more restless and insistent on gaining power.

And then they meet Gortash who, despite also being a horrible person, isn't as bad as the people Corentin had been forced to lead. At this point they know what the likely ending of the Absolutist plot is going to be (though they're still in the early stages of the plan) but being able to work so closely with someone who's sincere and, more importantly, isn't going to stab them the moment they turn their back to him, is like breathing in fresh air for the first time in a decade or more (both figuratively and literally). And they dare to hope that there's an actual, true way out of the hell they'd been living in.

So when Gortash eventually asks if The Dark Urge is really their name, they tell him no.

#rediscovering your humanity etc etc #tin fell HARD and FAST for the first person to show them actual kindness after losing their family #like ive said before: they fell for wyll b/c of his kindness and sincerity #wyll & gortash really are narrative foils #but that's a ramble for another time #part of the reason orin suspects that tin's going off the plan is b/c she overhears gortash call them by their actual name #i dont think bhaal notices. they're not really truly *resisting* their urges yet & we know canonically that bhaal only recognizes/bothered #to learn about the bhaalspawn part of durge. he's not omniscient he cant read their mind or anything #so if they're still going along w/ *enough* of the plan there's no reason for him to get suspicious. plus he's cocky as hell #this also messes w/ their head & heart when their memories start to come back post-tadpole moral reset #b/c they fully see just how bad gortash WAS. especially having met & become friends with one of his victims #having to fight him & orin is. rough on them but they dont process that until post-game #tbh i dont think they fully process gortash until after fixing karlach's heart #corentin #the prodigal saer #durgetash #my post #bg3 durge #enver gortash #bg3 #bg3 tav #jay rambles #bg3 spoilers #durge spoilers

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