#traffic series AU

[silverorchideon]

"Tango of the Tek Variety, the Master of the Pyramid, a structure proudly standing in the Orange Oasis. He'll introduce you to the pyramid, promising treasures if you find it.

Though... Nowadays, after one of the levels of the pyramid sunk under the Orange Oasis's sweet desert landscape, the Master of the Pyramid has gone missing, his role filled with the Pyramid's Spoon Dealer, Skizzleman.

Where did Tango go, I wonder?"

"You're Destroying Yourself, Dreamer. You're Destroying All Of Us"

[alabastersblockfolk]

Siren!Scott, with an outfit very inspired by his Pirates SMP getup and the gorgeous fanart folks have made for that. Sketched these up for my Life Series AU on AO3. You can read excerpts there where this lovely lad almost loses his mind :]

[0asterous0]

Prologue, Part One.

Grian opened his eyes to darkness. There was nothing but a black void and pressure, the feeling of being dragged down to earth. He tried to remember where he was and how he got there but came up with nothing, his mind a complete mess of words and thoughts. It dawned on him that he was falling and instincts finally kicked in, forcing him up to try to save himself, but he couldn't. There was a noticeable absence on his back– he didn't have wings. The wrongness of the situation crawled deep inside his bones with fear overtaking his already racing mind. Grian was falling, and he didn’t know how far the ground was. 

“No… no, no, no, no, no, no-”. He tried to move his wings again, hoping that maybe it was just numbness and that his wings were still there, but they were not. Why? They were supposed to be there! He felt as if was falling faster and faster with every second, and his head started to spin in panic which only served to make him dizzy, when he saw something flicker around him for a second. 

Slowly, the darkness surrounding him started showing color– which would have been great if the color wasn’t a blinding white. His breath hitched when he finally recognized the white walls through the pain in his eyes, and this just made him even more panicked because he wasn’t falling toward the ground, he was falling sideways and Grian could see it because of all the doors he was flying by. With every flicker, every door left behind, he could see the golden numbers on the metal decreasing. He was sure he passed a golden 63 a few seconds ago, and now he was at 30-something. Did that mean..?   

Despite the fear running through his mind, he glanced behind his back– and horror immediately took over upon seeing the metallic door without a number at the end of the corridor, rapidly getting closer. He turned on his side, hoping that maybe he could protect his spine from the fall somehow and take all the damage to the shoulder, but it didn’t stop the shiver in his body now that he could see the approaching wall. He covered that side of his face with his hands and closed his eyes, bracing for the collision, for the pain. Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain-

He heard a metallic click and a little hope sparkled inside him that maybe he was safe; but the moment he tried to move his hands to look, his shoulder came in contact with the white wall. The sudden thud of his body against the wall made his body jolt, head hitting the surface. He screamed into the white void, feeling his bones crashing against each other and blood dripping down his temple from a wound that opened on contact with the wall. He didn’t have enough power to raise his head; instead he stayed there, lying on the floor. The pain in both his body and his head was pulsating, making everything worse, and Grian could feel the incoming nausea. He just got a concussion, he thought, and by the way it all looked, he was either going to black out or throw up. 

“Aaww,” Grian shuddered upon hearing the voice above him. He knew who this voice belonged to, he didn't need to look up and see the face to fall back into emotional distress; he could already feel the tears running down his cheeks, the agonizing pressure on his heart threatening to crush him to death.  

“Can’t the pesky bird fly anymore?” As always, the tone was sad and sincere, but he knew better. He knew that the moment he looked up, he would be met with a cruel smile, laughing down at him. 

Right. He remembered now. 

A nightmare. Of course. 

He opened his eyes and looked towards the door, seeing the familiar figure of a child through his tears– red vibrant eyes looking down at him. For a second, the cruel smile stayed the same, looking nothing like the kid from his childhood did, that he still held in his heart so dearly; but then it moved and Grian can hear a very steady and determined, but also not very childlike voice.

“Wake up!” Yeah, that is not the same voice. 

Wake up, wake up, wake up, Grian I know you can hear this, gooood morniiiiiing, hellooo!! Time to get up!!

“Uuughhh, Ren whyyy?” Grian tried hiding his face behind the pillow, but the stupid alarm clock kept going, the voice becoming louder.

Wakey-wakey!!! Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP! WAKE UUUUUP!

“Void, just kill me now,” Grian whispered into the pillow and finally leaned on his elbows, standing up from the bed. His wings swept against the blanket and dropped it down on the floor, but he had no desire to pick it up. His room was already a mess with all his paints and brushes scattered on the ground, while his desk was fully occupied with papers and pencils. Needless to say, he completely ignored the overflowing dirty clothes basket that was standing on the side of his closet. He needed to take care of it because soon he would be out of clothes to wear, but that’s a problem for future Grian; now-Grian had to deal with the clock. 

The awful clock that he– unfortunately– couldn’t break (“It’s a gift from Bdubs! He loves his clocks, it’s basically a friendship offering!” Ren had declared.) stood proudly on his nightstand. The annoying recording of wake up still going on and on, echoing in the messy room. He quickly found the button and finally turned it off. He would have loved to go back to bed and sleep some more, hopefully without any nightmares this time; but sadly, the alarm worked because Grian was now awake.  

Letting out a yawn, he stretched his limbs and turned towards the full-length mirror standing against the wall. Grian didn’t like looking in the mirror. He didn’t like seeing messy and greasy hair, knowing how good and fluffy it looked after a bath. He didn’t like looking at the dark eyebags that he’d been trying to get rid of for weeks. He didn’t like seeing his dirty and coffee-stained pajamas that he’d been trying to throw into a washing machine for a while now, without any success. So tiring.  

But he could see his wings back in their rightful place, and that was enough to calm him down. 

Stupid nightmares messing with him again. 

He checked that the battery on his phone was full before taking it off the charger, and then looked at the time. 7:38, the same time he woke up for work every day, but today it seemed too early. Maybe he didn’t get enough rest again, and his nightmare messed that up too. Ugh, he could already see how awful this day would be. Holding his phone in hand, he exited his bedroom, going down the corridor towards the kitchen while ignoring the door to another bedroom just ahead of his own. Knowing Ren, he was already up and about. 

-der the rubble. The superhero team alongside the fire department arrived four minutes later, getting everyone out without any lethal casualties. Two out of the eight victims were hospitalized in critical conditi- 

“Took you long enough!” Ren said with a giggle, while Grian flinched. Right, Ren. He took his eyes off the TV that was hung in the living room right in front of the kitchen, looking towards his roommate.

Despite the very early hour he already looked full of energy, his eyes sparkling and dog ears swiftly flapping around. He had his long reddish hair in a messy bun and wore his favorite “Let me cook!” apron, which made Grian laugh when he first got it. Hearing that giggle and seeing the mischievous grin, he knew that the ‘Ren alarm’ was loud enough for the culprit to hear it himself. He could see that he was very satisfied with the result. Grian could also see two plates on the dining table because Ren, as always, was cooking for them both.

______

'-.° Masterpost - Next Part °.-'

[verdantglow]

Read a little of a fanfic last night where Etho worked at a mall & I was aghast at what store they had him working at (won’t say where ‘cause the point of this post isn’t to put the author on blast) & now I’m thinking of a Traffic smp AU where folks work at the same mall & I just…

- Etho, Tango, & Mumbo are all geniuses at the Apple Store. Impulse is a genius admin.*

- Joel, perpetual former emo boy, works at Hot Topic. He’s probably like. A key holder or assistant manager or something.

- Scar also works at Hot Topic. Because he needed a job desperately & Grian convinced Joel to get him one at his store. So now he’s the location’s token normal guy. But hey, they carry a lot of Disney stuff now, so he’s not too upset about it.

- Lizzie & Gem work at Lush. They always smell amazing & are always covered in glitter.

- Pearl works at Aveda. She also always smells amazing, but is not covered in glitter.

- Grian & Martyn work at Game Stop. Grian is very begrudging about this, putting in minimal effort unless something specific piques his interest, while Martyn will happily chat with any customer about pretty much any game.

- Jimmy works at like. Abercrombie & Fitch or Hollister. (He knows nothing about fashion & very much got the job for being tall & handsome. Like he literally was walking past the store & they offered him a job.)

- Scott is the manager at Express/Express Men. He does know a good bit about fashion & especially is good at picking out clothes that accentuate people’s best features.

- Cleo manages the Starbucks inside the Barnes & Noble.

- Ren works at a table top game store as assistant manager & runs in store ttrpg sessions for people to try out different systems. (He runs these sessions off the clock; his friends are appalled by this.)

- Bdubs is assistant manager in charge of visuals at Pottery Barn.

- BigB manages the Cinnabon. (Currently. He’s actually worked almost everywhere in the food court & knows the dirt on every single one.)

- Skizz is a full timer at a cell phone provider kiosk. He’s been employee of the month at least six times in the last year, ‘cause he’s so friggen genuinely friend that it’s really hard to ignore him while walking past. You just have to stop to say hi because otherwise it’d be rude & you’d actually feel bad about it.

* genius admin is the person who goes through paperwork & payment with you on return of repaired items. Other duties include: maintaining the store’s repair database, all part inventory handling, managing the repair queue, & generally being in charge of the repair room.

[littlenekodraws]

Rollover Conflict

An AU based off Life Series

The AU is placed directly after Secret Life, which means all events leading up are still prevalent. In this AU, all players are assigned a randomized amount of lives 2-6 like Last Life. However, there's now a new twist, which comes in the form of implementing the reroll mechanic.

Rerolls: Once per session, a player gets the option to reroll their current amount of lives. There's a risk with rerolling, as now the number 1 is thrown into the mix. Any players that are on their last life forfeit rerolls, and their only goal is to eliminate other player's lives. Rerolling becomes much more dangerous as player lives get eliminated. As soon as the highest number of lives is eliminated, it's taken out of circulation for rerolls and replaced with one (ex. If all 6 life players lose their sixth life, rerolling a 6 counts as a 1)

Lives: The give life command is available, but it can only be used to give lives to players on red. (eliminates the chances of life monopolies). Gifting a life to a red player forfeits your own reroll next session, however.

All player's lives are divvied up like this in the beginning:

7 - Grian

6 - Cleo, Lizzie, Tango

5 - Etho, Mumbo, Martyn

4 - Scar, Pearl, Skizz, Gem

3 - BDubs, Impulse, BigB

2 - Scott, Joel, Jimmy, Ren

Grian's life count broke the game because Grian himself is the reason the games even exist (those Watcher allegations are catching up, I see)

Teams: All players fall into certain teams for the AU, and they congregate in certain areas of the map. In total, there are 6 teams, ranging from the Snowy Mountains to down by the River. All teams are:

Jungle- BDubs, Etho

Snowy Mountain- Scar, Grian, Pearl

Cliffside- Scott, Joel

Meadow Mountain- Impulse, Skizz, Cleo, Mumbo

Riverside- Gem, Lizzie, Jimmy, Tango

Plains- Ren, Martyn, BigB

Through betrayals and allies, the games prattle on. Who will end up on top, after all else fails? I guess only I know

[alabasterplasterart]

Bloody Foam on Burning Sand

“You’re a Siren..” he muttered, eyes wide with the sickly lead-heavy dread taking ahold of his gut. “You’re a bloody Siren.”

“Bingo, wonderful job. I was wondering when you’d get there.” Scott hummed a laugh and patted away the ruffles on his undershirt. “But I’m not too fond of that attitude. Why don’t you just calm down, Martyn.”

●●●●●●●●●

I'm making an AU because I have blockfolk brainrot. If you'd like a gander, I've started a new work over here on my AO3 for sans context excerpts from a Pirates/Life Series AU. Essentially, it's the world of the Pirates SMP but with the cast of the Life Series, with a plot built off of Martyn's Watcher/Listener lore. I've got some really fun ideas for it and have a few scenes in the works. I've posted a nice snappy tense scene to get this excerpt work started. Kudos and comments and reblogs are always appreciated!

[mini-soda]

WELCOME TO- THE GALLERY OF LIFE:

A Traffic SMP au written by minisoda [me!!]!

What if the Life Series had a grand finale? Where all the characters were brought back in for one final game, where the stakes are higher than ever. When you die at red, You won’t be coming back this time. No spectators, no second chances in the next timeline. Your soul will be destroyed and scattered across the very fabric of the universe.

The players will compete in challenges that range from trivia, to pvp battles, extreme biome survivals, and full on mini life series tournaments.

Betrayals! Terrible jokes! An insane game narrator who is only a black silhouette with a singular eye! Divorce! Guillotines! Boogeymen! We’ve got it all here folks!

Join us soon for Episode 0: The Center Of the Universe. Where Jimmy finds himself pondering the meaning of existence whilst hurling towards A Deadly Ball Of Light!

[animaljamrendog]

GoodtimeswithScar, Cowboy AUs, and Horses

I'm a big horse guy, I love thinking about and messing with horses- and making AUs is no exception. When I got into the Life Series/Hermitcraft(-ish), I wanted to represent Scar's disability like many other AUs- and fandom interpretation- do.

I began to look more into parapalegic equestrianism, and found a treasure trove of valuable information to make any cowboy or horse-aligned AU all the more inclusive of Scar designs that use wheelchairs or canes (or any other steam-punky assistive devices I've seen).

First off, The horse.

This is an excellent situation where one really doesnt require a certian breed standard to be met in order for this AU to work. Any horse will do, with only maybe a temperment or height check to keep things in line. Horses can spook at wheelchairs, and, in a AU that has more steampunky elements, become nervous around the hissing steam of pipes and wires, so a calm horse (maybe an older one, or one that is incredibley well trained) is in order.

What comes to mind distinctly was a Tiktok I saw months ago about a trainer and their horse, who had been taught to bow so their rider with physical limitations did not have to throw a high leg or jump up to be able to ride. (Although with further research along the lines of actually teaching a horse to bow, I found an article where a poor woman had taught her horse so well every time the farrier would come and pick up her hoof she would go into a bow without cue.) A bowing horse- or maybe even one who lays down on command- is a helpful addition to Cowboy Scar's arsenal.

In another line, if he uses a wheelchair in your AU and is a bit of a traveler, look for a more endurance-aligned horse to be able to shoulder the weight of Scar's chair. An average horse can carry 20% percent of their body weight comfortably. I would look more towards wider, stronger horses- if they are, of course, available in your AU.

No matter your AU's Scar's opinion on horses- whether he loves or hates them- it is almost vital that his relationship with his horse is specifically special. He might not be all crazy for every horse out there, but it's good for him to have HIS horse, one who understands him without words, one who is connected to him by seemingly beyond souls. I'm talking SPECIAL SPECIAL.

Second, the tack

This is a more indepth part, where there are differences between english and western and the type of AU you're going for can make the direct answer look more like a shopping mall of tack selection.

The Classic Cowboy AU

Whether your Scar is a gunslinging sheriff, a lonesome cowboy, or a snake oil salesman- His tack is probably always going to be westerned aligned, usually simple and rawhide. The issue with Western Saddles and a man in a wheelchair or using a cane- especially if he's toting around said wheelchair on whatever quirky adventure he's going on- is that they are BIG. They are CLUNKY. Part of them is made of WOOD for heaven's sake. I'm completely abled and I have trouble carrying them sometimes. A good solution to this problem is opting for a freer, bareback style of riding. Although requiring a good sense of balance, it can be assissted by a bareback pad, or even a saddle blanket simply draped over the back of his beloved partner in cowboy crime.

2. English-Centric Aus

Now I know that sounds... weird. No, we're not turning Scar British- but along the style of English riding... Personally- he seems the more savvy owner type, a guy who admires horses from the sidelines, focused more on the economy of his gold-leafed stud barns. If he had to ride, it'd probably be one of thoser custom made english saddles, like the one this woman uses to ride:

3. Racing

He's too tall to be a jockey, but he has- like I said- a savvy buisnessman feel about him. He'd be an awesome owner... I think.

Admittedly, My knowledge is mostly cowboy-centric, and also most I had to say about, but in general I hope this is a good overview on horses and Scar. Thanks! I love Horse Racing- but that's a topic for another day.

[yoshiintheweb]

Doodles be upon ya!

I have no idea what am i doing i should be sleeping

[avi-mation]

Apocalypse buddies

[oooo-leanderies]

I wanna beeeeeee famoussssss

Cleo gets two versions bcs I am NOT used to seeing humancleo rather than zombiecleo. I based the confessionals off of random moments from various seasons 😼

[silverorchideon]

"The Four Immortal Scientist Siblings (One Having Traveled the World), Their Home, and Their Experiment, but ah, One is Not Like the Others..."

"Don't Fall in the Deeper Well, Don't Fall in the Deeper Well, Don't Fall in the Deeper-"

Woe! More Hermit/Life Omori AU be upon ye!

Anyways, yeah!

Cleo replaces Medusa, Scott replaces Molly, and Pearl (or, at least, an imitation of her) replaces Marina! Pearl accidentally fell off an edge in the Deeper Well while looking for specimen to experiment on, and she landed in Black Space, though a version of her still must be in Headspace.

Martyn technically replaces Pluto in this au, but he used to be a scientist with the rest of them (focusing on astronomy) until one of Cleo's sons decided to leave and he decided to go with because he wanted to. After becoming a right hand man, he decided to visit home and his family, as pictured here.

BigB replaces Humphrey, and instead of the gang being ingested, it's just BigB's base in Secret Life. BigB is a little Eldritch, him being the base and all (really, his personage is likely a manifestation created after the base was spawned, but that's besides the point), but he offers his Backrooms base to the Slime Siblings in exchange for offerings, as a true Eldritch being would do. Does he still eat them? No, probably not, but he can throw people into the hole™. Does it kill them? Who knows? The Slime Siblings sure don't!

Finally, Gem as Experiment 667. I just think it's silly like that.

[honeybeebuddy]

part 2 of the modern au: Gem and the Scotts!

[risibledeer]

i just wanted to draw him being pretty lol

[velvvetcat09]

i give you warden mumbo x creaking grian

[littlenekodraws]

Scott and Joel surely won’t cause any trouble together right? Right? (Scott will try to sacrifice himself and Joel will try to kill Scott)

For the teams what are you thinking about? Is it random, the watchers choosing or did the players choose themselves?

Scott... Definitely sacrificed himself for Joel 💀

They get along decently at least. And Joel isn't the reason he died. ...Well he is, but he's not who kills him.

Teams were actually selected by players! The teams naturally congregated together, except for Mumbo and Grian. Mumbo died first night, warranting Skizz and Impulse to go find him and bring him to their team. Grian's... It took Grian a while to team with Scar again. He did eventually, but it took a couple sessions 😔