#yes I have a thing for post canon aus | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

unfinishedslurs · 1 year ago

Text

Jonathan Byers This Is An Intervention

“You’re not happy here.”

Jonathan looks up, startled. Will stands in the doorway with his arms crossed. They’re alone in the house, El hanging out with Max and their mom on a date with Hopper. They had to practically shove her out the door before she’d leave, rambling a list of phone numbers and where to find them, as well as reminding them where the leftovers were.

“We know, Mom,” he and Will had chorused, and permitted her to pull them down for one last kiss on the cheek before closing the door on her. Hopper just watched in amusement.

He and Will had eaten dinner before separating to work on their projects, Will with a dnd campaign idea and Jonathan cleaning his camera out. It has more dust than it should, having been sitting in his closet unused for too long. It makes something in him ache, but he can’t make himself pick it up again. There’s something blocking him.

“What?”

“You’re not happy here,” Will repeats. “In Hawkins.”

��It’s Hawkins,” he points out. Being unhappy is a given. He’s always known it sucks here, from the way people treated his mom to the rumors that always flew around when he made his way through the halls. The way they’ve treated Will. He hated this town long before interdimensional monsters factored in.

Will’s frown gets deeper. “I’m happy,” he points out. “Mom’s happy. El and Hopper are happy. We actually have friends here.”

“I have friends,” Jonathan protests, slightly offended. He and Argyle call multiple times a week. He and Nancy are still good friends, and Steve and Robin are slowly growing on him. In a surprising turn of events, Eddie is the person his age he talks to the least, but it makes sense when he thinks about it. Eddie’s brand of freak has always been loud and dramatic, half relying on shock value. Jonathan prefers the quiet.

“When was the last time you actually hung out with someone that wasn’t me?”

Is that what this is about? Something in his heart sinks at the idea that Will doesn’t think he’s enough. “I like hanging out with you. You’re the coolest person I know,” he says, shifting over and patting the bed next to him.

Will sits down with a huff that sounds very fifteen-year-old of him. He’s glad he’s getting to be a kid. “You’re not listening to me,” he complains.

“Then what are you trying to say?”

Will won’t meet his eye, suddenly nervous. “Everyone your age here is leaving,” he says quietly. “Nancy is going to Emerson soon, Steve and Robin are going to Chicago, and Eddie…uh, I don’t know his plans, exactly, he might be going with them. He’s not staying here, anyway. And Argyle is on the other side of the country. So all the people you’re friends with are leaving.”

“They are,” he agrees, laying what he hopes is a soothing hand on Will’s shoulder, “but you know I’m not leaving you, right? I’m not leaving you and Mom.”

Will squeezes his eyes shut. “Maybe you should.”

It feels like ice water being poured over his head.

Something in his stomach twists uncomfortably at the idea of calling Hopper his dad. He doesn’t know if he’s ever going to. He doesn’t even know if Hopper would want him to. But “dad” is always a word he’s associated with bruises and yelling, the stink of whiskey and a gun in his small, shaking hands. Jim Hopper, with his gruff, fumbling way affection and sweet smiles at his daughter will never fit his version of the word.

“You’re not my dad,” Will says. “You’re my older brother, you should be my brother. You should be moving away and going to college and living your life! You shouldn’t be stuck here because of me.” He seems near tears now, and Jonathan flounders. He’s always been pretty good at making Will feel better, but now it’s different. Now it’s him making his little brother upset.

Will takes a deep, stabilizing breath.

“You’re not my dad,” he says again. “You shouldn’t have to be my dad.”

“I wasn’t trying to be,” he says weakly.

“You’re doing a better job than he ever did.”

“Okay, then how should we start?”

“You could tell me why we’re always running out of tylenol.”

He didn’t even realize anyone noticed that. He’s been replacing it before it was even empty.

The words stick in his throat, reluctant to come out. But he promised. He promised he’d tell him, and he hates to break a promise to Will.

“It’s my back,” he admits. “My boss hit me with a chair, and it hurts all the time now. I used to smoke it away, but…”

He smoked a little too much. He was too reliant on it. He was being neglectful. The reasons stay on the tip of his tongue, unable to admit his shortcomings.

Unfortunately, Will takes it another way. “You stopped because of me.”

“No!”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Or Mom? We can go to the doctor now, we have insurance.”

“I know.”

“Then why didn’t you go? Why can’t you just take care of yourself?”

“It’s just a little back pain,” he defends, “it’s not a big deal.”

It’s really not. It’s practically nothing compared to what some of their friends ended up with. Will has respiratory problems, Eddie uses a cane now, Max is in a wheelchair and her eyes might never work again. Not to mention Steve’s mix of migraines, glasses, hearing loss, and scars he’s accumulated over the years that put Jonathan’s to shame. His issues pale in comparison.

“It is when you take as many painkillers as you do! You’re going to eat holes in your stomach.”

“If I get an ulcer, it’ll be because I know there’s another world out there full of things that want to kill us,” he says, poking Will in the stomach. He giggles, and then looks mad about it.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you actually happy. I feel like it’s my fault.”

What does he say to that? It can’t be your fault, because I don’t remember the last time I was happy like that? I felt like this long before you went missing? Anything he says will make him worry more.

“It’s not your fault,” he finally settles on.

“But if I hadn’t disappeared—“

“I would still feel like this,” he says, because he has to. He can’t stand the idea of Will thinking it’s his fault when the truth is that something has been wrong with Jonathan for a long, long time. “It’s not because of the Upside-Down, bud. It’s not something you can fix. I’m pretty sure I’m just…like this.”

He’s had moments of happiness, obviously. Sometimes he’ll get days, or even weeks, where he genuinely looks forward to the future. When he was in California with Argyle, he felt even better. But eventually, the heaviness in his chest always comes back. It’s just something he knows how to live with now.

Will sits up, glaring at him. “That’s bullshit!”

“It’s just how it is.”

He squares his shoulders, a telltale sign that Jonathan isn’t going to like whatever he says next. “Mom and I think you should see a therapist.”

Jonathan really doesn’t like that. “You’ve been talking to Mom about this?”

“She’s worried about you!”

“She shouldn’t be!” He’s almost offended. He’s been taking care of himself for years. He was taking care of her for years. “I’m fine! I know how to live with it!”

“I haven’t seen you smile for real in two months!”

“I’m fine!” He snaps again, and immediately regrets it. Will’s lower lip trembles.

“You’re not fine,” he says. “You’re not. Don’t lie to me, Jonathan. You just said you weren’t going to lie to me.”

#Jonathan byers this is an intervention au #stranger things fanfic #jonathan byers #Will Byers #depression boy go brrr #YES I am posting my two favorite characters in the show being tragic back to back. What about it #Jonathan Byers definitely has chronic pain and depression that he is 100% using weed to self medicate with. He told me himself #His parentification and loserboy personality have captivated me #I know we all joke about Steve being the kid’s mom or dad or whatever but he’s not. He is NOT #he’s an older brother figure to Dustin Lucas and maybe Max in my brain but Will???#Will HAS a big brother and he’s the best big brother in the world and I love him so much he’s literally my wife #Did I mention he’s autistic? He’s autistic #This isn’t meant to bash anyone btw I enjoy a lot of “mom steve” content and shit. It’s just the difference between canon and fanon to me #And I’m not bashing on fanon god knows I indulge in it plenty

104 notes · View notes

amazingspider-z · 6 months ago

Text

Smashing two separate aus together to reach terminal velocity for fun and profit on accounts that

1) Gigai should lean into the being fake bodies bit, I think. Have people with spiritual pressure Notice that shinigami are Not Human actually bc something about them is. Off. They don't blink. They don't breathe. etcetc

Or. They should have leaned into the half-human angle for the Kurosaki kids more. Ichigo was already bullied for being a redhead just. Add a little spice and have them set off some kinds of alarm in the back of most people's heads. Let them be half actually physical and half made up spirit particles only you know, nobody told them ever. (And yes ik it is A Major Plot Point that Ichigo was alive and even got his whole soul chain cut but! I posit mind over matter. Nobody told his ass he could Danny Phantom it up (well. nobody actually knew they could do that tbf but also nobody ever hit him with the oh yeah your dad was never alive in the first place) and so well. Good luck with the Shattered Shaft I'm-definitely-not-hollowfying-you-on-purpose Ichigo! He figures it out. At some point. Eventually)

and

2) I do Not claim the aftermath of the Winter War/timeskip/Lost Agent Arc okay. Power loss arcs/storylines squick me out, okay! They're just. Sad. And I hate 'em. So a 'fix-it', the basis being that even if the Old Man and White Zangetsu were fused, it was the Old Man acting as 'Zangetsu' when Ichigo used the Final Getsuga Tensho, so the backlash went a little. Funky. (Bc yes i go with the theory that the Final Getsuga is a shinigami/Shiba thing not a bastardized Vollstandig and that mattered) so instead of losing his powers, Ichigo's soul started to destabilize (which yeah, did affect his power levels, but more on the his reiatsu is back to where it was before the Dangai instead of. Well. Everything) which to be fair was Very Bad and potentially fatal in the moment, so he had to be placed back in his body and was medically forbidden to leave it until his soul healed (which. for the purpose of the fused au is also how Ichigo figured out about the able to turn into a ghost on command thing-the combination of being forced to transmit spiritual energy through his physical body while he was healing+learning that his goddamn old man was. a shinigami actually shifted his worldview enough that when he was okayed to leave his body he just. Transformed instead). Alas, on account of his soul barely holding together with spit and determination and the teensy little detail of him being part-Hollow (and actual-Zangetsu being the only one awake to frantically try damage control) meant that some wires got crossed as his soul was healing itself, and well, instead of re-solidifying in it's previous state some elements from (both of) his Hollow form(s) filtered in accidentally to his new base state. Which. Yk. Is a super fun thing to find out and absolutely not at all horrifying to learn to live with.

#bleach #kurosaki ichigo #ichigo kurosaki #yuzu kurosaki #karin kurosaki #unstable spirits au #is what im calling this #long post #and YES ik about the whole #isshin binding his soul to Masaki's and becoming a shinigami-human hybrid whatever to become her opposite or whatever but #a) as i learned from the hell pit of comics i start to pick and choose how rigorously i stick to canon #and b) its still a FAKE body #like yes. i get that urahara (and mayuri) are mad scientists who play god but like. have fun with it #making as close to exact copies is something that urahara might do yeah but. fucked up meat puppet fun #and yk even if he was playing god working out dna out of nothing for reproduction was a work in progress and the kids were uh. a surprise #couldnt fit this above but. ichigo does end up speed running realizations bc the Old Man is knocked out HARD #(and technically his quincy powers except well. he never used those AS quincy powers but that's what uryu's for)#meanwhile ichigo is having multiple crisises over the state of his soul and his history and the Real Zangetsu (and uh. their relationship)#also as an aside yes ichigo (and karin and yuzu) still have fullbring potential just from. whoo hybridization does weird things #zsketches

18 notes · View notes

pyrriax · 8 months ago

Note

meangills and some fags from lifesteal (your pick)

i'll hope you know i started fucking cackling when i read this BUT we continue on 🙏 meangills first, clownzy second cuz they were the first one i thought of also forgive the one million pieces of nuance im going to explode 👍

ask game!

#ask a ghost #asker: apollosunn #this bingo card made me stare blankly before realizing that the nuance i require must be added in post.#clown and branzy are a ship where i need one of them actively being murdered to truly enjoy it. as evidenced by. my main aus #AND my opinions on mean gills are fleeting as did not have nearly as much brainrot over them when i was watching limlife #clownzy are the fandom ocs at this point and people need to do more with that. use them for more interesting things than #the millionth high school au like yes i understand main demographic but. please. Please. eviscerate them instead #also canon joke is that ash is the prettiest girl in the world and he was made their child during his wedding (minecraft joke lore is great #<- i dont even know and i watched ash's stream. i have it downloaded. i still have no clue.#pyrr pyrriax dont type an essay challenge (impossible) ((literally this just happens i have too many thoughts in my head))

13 notes · View notes

the-greek-mythos-project · 6 months ago

Text

The Greek Mythos Project: What We Accept Within Submissions

Hello everyone, it is once again Camila here and I am writing this post because I decided I should probably clarify things sooner than later. I know I and quite a few other lovely people can struggle with open barriers within things, especially in such a large and "imposing" project, so I decided to write down the general specifics of things to lessen everyone's anxiety. This can and will definitely be improved if we are given more information/questions/asked for clarification so feel free to check every once in a while or reach out if you don't see a specific question you have answered. This is once again here to promote better communication within things and break down this large project to more manageable things. So, let's get into it!

[Note: This post will go from the broader, more unspecific, topics to the smaller, more specific ones so feel free to scroll down or up as you please :)]

The Biggest Thing First! One Singular POV. This is something that I, Camila, want for the project and therefore, it will be the most enforced thing within here. Don't worry, though! We will be releasing a Second Work alongside this main project consisting of things that didn't quite fit into the original project, such as works that aren't exactly (or at all) one POV but still want to be recognized or OC pieces that are like reincarnations of various gods/mortals/characters which I'll get into later. So you work has a place with us, I promise you <3.

Anyway, back to the One Singular POV thing. It genuinely does not matter whether the piece is First Person, Second Person, Third Person, or something within those parameters as long as the setting, scene, thoughts, and work are being described in that one character's thoughts/experiences. A great example of this in Third Person is in the Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan, a popular YA Book Series centering around Greek Mythology in a Modern Setting told by their Demigod Children, where the narrative is in Third Person POV but it only ever follows whoever's POV it's in. Such as we do see the character's actual name and "he/she/they" instead of "I" but we're not privy to anything other than what the character is experiencing.

That is what I am asking for, and I am asking for this mostly for myself!) As we all may know by now, this project was created because I--Camila--took one look at my goal to rewrite the entirety of Greek Mythology in my search to learn more about the Greek Myths, was like "yeah... no," and then proceeded to make this public with the intent to bring out those niche writers, gain a community, make friends, and generally learn more about the various communities and ideas surrounding such a vast and deep thing such as Greek Mythology (remember, people not only know this across the globe, but across centuries. It's not just our ideas and the original texts, it's the Roman Empire's thoughts, the Rise of Christianity, all of our forefathers, and even those who we have read dissecting these things and creating academic papers or other works. It's just so interesting how much character and change and even how much influence various things have had on our modern perceptions). But, this is also a Project, this is also mine, and so I am very politely asking for it to be One POV of a Greek Mythological Character--However Niche They May Be--Only.

Thank you so much for understanding and, again, I will be hosting a Secondary Fic for all the things that don't quite fit under this Main Project but may still want to have the recognition/community that this comes with <3.

Note!! Because this post ended up being a little long and would be hard to properly organize going further, the rest of it will be comprised in reblogs <33

#The Greek Mythos Project #Greek Mythology #to do a quick and basic summarization of the rest because I don't know when I'll be able to get it out there:#yes OCs can be included as long as the POV is of a canonical main character #yes you can reuse old published works (& you can also provide their links so we can give the original posts some love)#AUs are undecided on where they will be placed among here #(they'll either be clearly labeled within the project or have their own Work)#will definitely be rewriting all these posts later down the line but they should serve as something #and we all deserve some human error over here don't we #and sorry if I'm being really repetitive #...they kind all revolve around the same thing #just let me know if I need to actually clean up this post or clarify something bc I cannot trust my own perception of myself #I am; and I quote; “my own worst asshole” and it can be applied to me doing stupid shit to myself or being a perfectionist <3 #but yeah #hope this helps and yeah #once I write most of these little posts clarifying things I'll definitely rewrite everything to make them more cohesive #bc we learning as we go along too!!#/pos /gen #...did I miss anything?

10 notes · View notes

skitskatdacat63 · 1 year ago

Text

I meant to write more for a pt 2 lore post earlier but didn't end up doing so, so pls take these AU sketches(Mark & Jense and then some assorted sketchies)

#i should never have drawn them as catboys bcs now they appear as catboys in mind half the time 😭😭#its only on paper but i drew more catboy sketches of them than whats included here 😭#seb reminds me of my cat where hes being all nice and cuddly and then will bite you out of nowhere #seb in his frilly nightgown is very important to me!!!#i meant to draw both of them in nightgowns but brain wasnt worked too well tonight #so thats why these are mostly half finished #the bottom seb is too remind myself i have a regular art style 😭😭😭#mark in this au is so funny to me. bro is tortured by having to be with seb like practically every waking moment #he basically is a offically provided live-in bestie 😭😭#*based on real life thing. i think its funny how you can be royalty yourself +#but bcs youre not part of the imperial family you can still be reduced to the job of having to dress the emperor 😭#^ so thats mark in this au #seb promoted him to an important role when he became emperor but still makes mark do his old duties 🤭🤭#jense is in charge of all the horses and transport and things. thus: ye olde horse girl #im sorry but in historical AUs all f1 drivers are legally obligated to be horse girls. its literally canon #so sorry for the catboy sketch. it will happen again.#but ig i dont wanna go too deep into lore stuff in these tags cause yeah. another post in the works!!#i think about it and have talked about it a lot. but its hard to like contain all of it to bullet points and such #my brain is not built for writing fic i think so idk of youll ever get that from me. but lore yes i will deliver #sebastian vettel #fernando alonso #jenson button #mark webber #f1 fanart #formula 1 fanart #catie.art.#formula 1 #boy king au

26 notes · View notes

luvbug724 · 9 months ago

Note

36 days.

i think we as a fandom don't talk about dan and renee enough aftg hitlist anon. i understand that renison and mattdan (?) prevail but we need to look at the sheer potential in that one short story about dan's recruitment alone. the sports rivalry turned hatred. dan only getting recruited because wymack came to watch renee. the strip club. having to unite in the face of misogynists. do you see the vision. do u see the vision aftg hitlist anon.

#i'm sorry i know i always go against mainstream fanon #but are u seeing this #more unpopular fanon sorry:#bi renee. ive been a jeanee truther for 3 years i cant put it down. their canon interactions r really cute theyre just got the vibes sorry #at least some of the foxes have gotta be a little ugly im sorry guys they cant all be hot #i hate reading aus unless its like nearly exactly canon backstories but they meet differently #that ones just like a general thing all the time i'm not an au person #i LAY MY LIFE DOWN for people who write like ridiculously long pre canon or post canon fics #um #u might be able to guess what fandom i very recently got into based on that #if u r thinking “Is it that one?” the answer is probably yes. its a big one.#have never read or watched source material nor do i plan to who cares they're all dead anyway & authors a pos #also missing scene canon compliant fics. anyone whose ever written andrew pov baltimore.... i come to you humbly #and with love #aftg hitlist anon #i hope u know that my replies to these asks r genuinely the first thing i think of in response thats the philosophy im going with here #today i have dan and renee on the brain. it happens.

8 notes · View notes

victorluvsalice · 18 days ago

Text

AU Thursday: Valicer Severance AU Time

Okay, so, it's been a while since I talked about this one -- blame various things in my life being distracting and having trouble getting all of my thoughts together, for there are a loooot of thoughts. But I am here now and we are going to talk about it, damn it. Let's go --

-->To recap from my previous post, this is a multi-fandom crossover AU using the premise of the "Severance" (2022) Apple TV+ show, where a group of workers for the Lumon company have their consciousnesses "severed," splitting their minds into Innies (who only exist on Lumon's "severed floor" and are perpetually at work, with no memories of their outside lives) and Outies (who only exist outside the floor and have no memory of what they do at work), with the switchover between the two happening in the elevator that goes to and from the severed floor. My AU would focus primarily on the Innie versions of Victor, Alice, and Smiler, who together with their supervisor Wheatley make up the Macrodata Refinement team on the severed floor of Aperture Science. Because I can't see corporate malfeasance and not think "Aperture Science." XD

-->Some worldbuilding for you about how the severance procedure came about in this universe: When Cave Johnson got sick and started demanding that, if they couldn't successfully shove HIS consciousness into a computer before he died, they shove CAROLINE'S into a computer instead, one lab boy, seeing how reluctant Caroline WAS to become a computer, went, "Well, what if we try copying your brain into a computer instead?" Caroline was more on board with that, and they gave it a go --

And got GLaDOS, a computer intelligence that had most of Caroline's personality and intelligence, but none of her memories. This version of GLaDOS did indeed still try to kill the scientists (pissed off by them insisting she was an "imperfect copy" and yet trying to force her to work for them regardless), but they managed to shut her down -- and Caroline, despite the danger, thought there was something to this. They thus started experimenting with scanning the brains of various employees, turning them into artificial intelligences, and seeing what resulted. Some were -- imperfect (one "personality core" wouldn't do anything but recite cake recipes, while another wouldn't stop going on about space), while others were almost perfect replicas of their human counterparts, just without any memories of who they were before. Which made them more amendable to doing jobs that their human counterparts might have balked at. Caroline was all for having a workforce that couldn't REMEMBER why they might not want to work at Aperture and do inadvisable science, and thus the severance chip was born!

-->And one of the first test subjects for that chip? Why, none other than Test Subject 0001, aka Chell! Who was just as intent as escaping THIS version of Aperture as she is the canonical one. The scientists at Aperture were hoping that her Innie would be much more amendable to doing all their tests without complaint --

Instead, they got an even angrier Chell who, upon realizing she couldn't fucking remember anything, rebelled by refusing to even talk to anyone and tried even harder to escape. The scientists decided to try and put her under the supervision of one of their newly-made personality cores -- a scan of one of their janitors, Stephen "Wheatley" Wilco -- to see if the talkative robot could maybe convince her to be more compliant --

Instead, Wheatley -- who, having overheard some scientists talking about the outside world and grown very curious about it -- ended up befriending Chell and helping her escape. The IDEA was that he would join her in the elevator to the surface world once he got her safely inside -- but when he disconnected from his rail, Chell failed to catch him. And of course, once the elevator went up, Chell swapped to her Outie form, who had no idea that Wheatley even existed, and Outie!Chell just fucking ran for it when she reached the surface. Leaving poor Wheatley still trapped in Aperture. The angry and embarrassed scientists promptly wiped his memory of the whole incident and moved onto new test subjects, figuring maybe they should start with office workers instead...

-->Bringing us to the "present day" and the Macrodata Refinement team! So why exactly are Victor, Alice, and Smiler all down there when they're not canonically Aperture employees? Well --

Victor signed up after the death of his fiancee Victoria Everglot and their mutual friend/secret third Emily Merrimack during a mugging perpetrated by Emily's old boyfriend Barkis Bittern. The poor guy ended up extremely depressed after their deaths and even tried to take his own life, which led to him (unwisely) allowing his parents to take more control over his life and finances to stop that happening again. They were told about the program by one Dr. Kellard Kelman, one of Aperture's chief psychiatrists and "social compliance officer," and they talked Victor into trying it so he'd have at least eight hours a day where he wasn't moping about his lost love (William also wanted to see how it worked because, well, as owner of Van Dort Fish, he was interested in the procedure for his own employees...).

Alice was signed up for the program after it was offered as a "rehabilitation program" -- to the prison she was currently in. Yes, unfortunately in this reality, while Alice did successfully shove Bumby in front of a train for what he did to the children of Houndsditch and her own family, she was subsequently caught and convicted of murder. (With the silver lining being that Bumby was exposed for all the horrible things he was doing in the process, so the public is pretty sympathetic to her reasons for murder.) She wasn't exactly keen on the program, as you might admit, but as a prisoner of the state and an orphan with no one really speaking up on her behalf (not even Nanny, who thought it might be good for Alice to forget Wonderland, even for a short time each day), she didn't really have a choice in the matter.

And Smiler -- well. Smiler, aka Marmaduke Kelman, had no interest in joining the program, having no real idea it existed because they'd gotten away from their asshole father as soon as it was possible for them to do so. They were happily living on their own, hanging out with their friends and working a barista job they loved while studying chemistry in college --

And then Kelman, with the help of his assistant Miles Cedars, managed to kidnap them and forced the procedure on them because a) he thought it would make his "son" more socially compliant and b) it would look good for Aperture for his kid to have gone through the procedure as well. Smiler, as you might imagine, was furious about the whole thing, but unfortunately they were also trapped inside Kelman's "Sanctuary" and unable to do anything about it. The most they were able to do was to convince Kelman to let them keep their purple-tipped hair and yellow contacts -- and that was only because Kelman decided that Smiler asking for a haircut "would be a good sign that you're becoming more socially compliant." (Smiler made a vow right then and there that they would do ANYTHING they needed to maintain their haircut.)

-->As for the order they were "hired" -- Alice entered the program first, then Victor came along about a month later, and Smiler a month after that. However, despite being the second employee hired, Victor is in fact the Team Lead of Macrodata Refinement (aka MDR) because Nell insisted he have some sort of "managerial" role, and that was the best they could offer under the circumstances. Innie!Victor has no freaking idea why he's Team Lead and doesn't actually want the position, basically ignoring it as much as possible.

--As stated above, their supervisor is Wheatley, post-Chell memory wipe, with the scientists wanting to see if his "deviant" behavior of "wanting to escape the horrible basement" comes back despite the change in circumstances. Caroline especially wants to keep an eye on this experiment after the whole "Chell" debacle, so she takes on the persona of "Miss Glados" for the Innies, serving as their terrifying and misanthropic boss. She finds it a great way to blow off steam after having to play up the perky "Ms. Caroline McLain" persona for the rest of the world. Dr. Kelman rounds out the department as their "social compliance therapist," monitoring the group for unwanted behaviors and pushing them to become happy corporate drones with the help of "guard core" Rick (who keeps hitting on Alice, to her annoyance). (And yes, Rick has a human counterpart upstairs -- ironically, he's the security guard who swipes all the severed employees into the elevator at the start of their day. And yes, he still hits on Alice, to her annoyance.)

-->The AU would "officially" start with Smiler's hiring, with their Innie self ("Marmaduke A" according to their badge -- Dr. Kelman thought it best not to even hint that they might be his kid) waking up on a table in a conference room and being asked a series of questions to confirm that all their personal memories have been locked off by the chip (as per "Severance" canon). Once that's been sorted, they're introduced to the rest of the team by Wheatley, and learn from them what exactly it is they do -- which is stare at files full of various numbers on their computers and try to sort them into bins based on if the numbers make them feel scared, happy, angry, or sad. (Smiler: ...we sort numbers based on vibes? Alice: [sarcastically] The work is mysterious and important.) They also learn the incentive system for sorting these numbers -- at 10% file completion, you get an Aperture-branded eraser; at 25% done, you get an Aperture-branded finger trap; at 75% done, you get a "Music & Dance Experience" (a five-minute dance party for the team); and at 100%, there is a Cake Day for everyone. Though -- well, I'll let Alice explain it --

Smiler: We get cake if we complete a file? Victor: Ah -- theoretically. Alice: Yes, don't get your hopes up -- for whatever reason, these files mysteriously vanish on us after a while, and we have to start new ones. Victor and I have never been able to fully complete one. Smiler: Really? Victor: [shaking his head] 73% is the closest I've come. Alice: 74% for me...so while earning the "Music & Dance Experience" is probably possible -- I think the cake is a lie.

Oh, and there's also the possibility of earning a "waffle party" if the entire team does really well, which Wheatley is mildly obsessed with.

-->Speaking of food, the Innies have lunches provided for them by Van Dort Fish -- tuna fish sandwiches and carrot sticks! Every single goddamn day! Victor has made it clear that, if he ever meets him, he is punching "that asshole with the mustache" on the label. XD There is also a vending machine, with each Innie allowed two tokens per day to get snacks -- Victor, however, immediately warns Smiler off getting any of the pudding cups in there. Reason being, Victor got one of the blue puddings shortly after he was brought in, only for Alice -- annoyed with him for some reason, I haven't quite decided why yet -- to grab it from him and throw it on the floor -- and the damn thing BOUNCED all the way up to the CEILING. There's still a small blue stain up there. Among the "safe" snacks are dried blueberries, cubed ginseng, roasted peanuts, and "Raisins (Shriveled)." Smiler is naturally like "what" and Alice tells them "this place is so weird I bet they HAVE made unshriveled raisins."

As for drinks, the Innies have their choice between water, lemonade, and coffee from the coffee machine. Smiler feels oddly drawn to the latter, and it is quickly discovered that they are mysteriously amazing at making coffee -- to the point where, after allowing Smiler to make her a cup, even Miss Glados has to say "...good job." XD They cheerfully take over all coffee duties going forward, which everyone is happy to let them do.

-->Anyway -- after some time spent as part of the MDR team, dealing with the baffling work and the fact that they're trapped on the severed floor (because every time they get into the elevator, from their perspective, they just end up getting right back out again in different clothes -- Smiler had a bit of a hard time adjusting to that the first time it happened), Smiler goes "I am assigning myself the duty of keeping us all sane so we don't snap" and goes to raid the supply closet for stuff to decorate their cubicle with, settling on grabbing as many colorful Post-It notes as they can. Victor and Alice are initially reluctant to join in, but Smiler points out that there's nothing in their employee manual that says they can't decorate their cubicle -- and when Wheatley protests, saying they can't "deface company property," Smiler shows him how the notes just pull right off. And then gives him an orange Post-It note with "Supervisor" written on it, which makes him MUCH more amendable to the whole idea. XD The gang ends up having a lovely time using the Post-Its to make pictures on their walls, and even manage to suss out what they think are their favorite colors (Smiler yellow, Victor blue, Alice red).

-->Not long afterward, Smiler comes up with the name "Smiler" for themselves (they'd been going by "M" previously because, well, their name is fucking Marmaduke) and uses a label maker they found to update their name badge appropriately. Wheatley insists THAT is defacing company property and gives them their first write-up for it --

Smiler: What exactly happens when I get written up? Wheatley: It means you can't earn any incentives -- no erasers, no finger traps, no nothing -- for a week! [beat] Alice: [holds out her hand] Give me the label maker.

Yes, it's not exactly a deterrent. XD However, unfortunately, not long after that, Miss Glados shows up and starts making snide comments about their decorations -- and a fed-up Smiler deliberately tears a hole in their cubicle wall. Victor immediately is like "I'm sorry, I didn't onboard them well, please don't punish them," but Miss Glados will not be deterred, and Smiler is taken to the Break Room. Which, as per "Severance" canon --

is the place where they break you. Usually by having you recite an apology over and over and over again until they're content you mean it, but occasionally Miss Glados gets -- creative. Smiler gets the apology, though, and ends up staying in there three hours until she's content they're truly sorry. They slump back to their cubicle feeling miserable, and with the "Smiler" label on their badge scraped off. Victor and Alice immediately offer them water and comfort, talking about the first times they ended up in the break room (Alice actually ended up in there on her second day after trying to smash her way through the fire escape door with a fire extinguisher; Victor ended up there at the end of his first week for threatening to take his fingers off with a paper cutter unless they let him go home) -- and Wheatley, who was being a bit of an ass about the "Smiler" thing before, starts using their preferred name because now he feels bad.

-->From there, we have a bunch of random Innie adventures and discussions --

A) Victor taking the group on a trip to the "Johnson Memorial Wing" as a "team-building exercise" when Smiler asks who the hell "Cave Johnson" is anyway -- the little museum features such things like the giant singing "stone" head from the Desk Job game/tech demo, causing Smiler to go "Are we in a cult?" (Alice: "I haven't ruled out the possibility.") Grady from that game is also there as the local "Maintenance Core" -- Wheatley hates him because he gets to have an arm and Wheatley doesn't XD

B) Smiler discovering one day while playing with index cards that they can fold hopping frog origami, and the Innie trio wondering what other skills they have that they might not know about -- notably, Victor discovers that he can speak French when Wheatley tries to show off his command of languages (telling the core that he said "Please consult your user manual for help using this translation software"), and Alice realizes she seems to know a weird amount about photography

C) Relatedly, the trio wondering who their Outies are and why they would go through severance -- notably, Alice's theory is that they are all in jail and were made to get severed to make sure they remained "productive citizens." Smiler goes "like we're all murderers or something?" and Alice goes, "oh no -- you robbed a bank, and Victor probably committed tax evasion." An amused Victor goes "what about you?" and she replies, with a big grin, "Oh, I totally killed someone."

D) Alice dealing with hallucinations still, because being severed does NOT cure her mental illness -- most often, she sees horrible black goo dripping from the ceiling, and the walls being covered in rotting pink flesh, with occasional glimpses of this weird grinning cat and this white rabbit with a pocket watch observing her. Victor and Smiler do their best to support her as she deals with the weirdness

E) Smiler getting the orange pudding cup of the vending machine one day just to see what the "pudding" does -- after determining that it massively speeds up anything rolled across it after painting some on a piece of paper, the gang end up making rally cars out of office supplies and holding a race. Unfortunately, Miss Glados catches them partway through -- and while she doesn't force any of them to go to the Break Room, she does give them all a second-level write-up. Which means they don't get any vending machine tokens at all for the rest of the week. As you might imagine, they spend the rest of that week kinda hungry

F) The gang having "social compliance sessions" with Dr. Kelman which don't really make them feel any better about their lives -- Smiler in particular does not understand why the guy seems so annoyed by them using they/them pronouns, or why he's utterly obsessed with their haircut...

G) The gang going on a trip through the hallways after getting utterly bored and disgusted with their jobs, taking Wheatley with them on a handcart after it's revealed his management rail doesn't go to the places where they want to explore They find on their wanderings two people named Dan and Trish making a video of some sort (a reference to the "Smile Always" ad campaign for The Smiler); someone named "Des J." inspecting toilets in a room with a giant conveyor belt (aka the protagonist of Desk Job); a room of defective cores, including the aforementioned Cake Core and Space Core; a room full of musical instruments, with Smiler discovering they can play guitar and Victor piano; and a random guy who is taking care of baby goats and insists they're "not ready" when the MDR group shows up (this is something that actually happens in "Severance" itself -- though unlike in the show, the MDR team here gets to pet the goats). Unfortunately, all this wandering causes them to get lost, and they're unsure how to get back to their department --

And then Alice spots the mysterious white rabbit waiting for her at the end of the hall they're in. She asks Victor and Smiler if they trust her, and when they affirm they do, she goes "then maybe I can trust myself" and chases the rabbit. Rabbit, naturally, does successfully lead them back to their own department -- though unfortunately Miss Glados catches them as they return. Smiler immediately takes responsibility for the trip, having been the one to suggest the "mental health walk" -- however, Miss Glados decides that this is actually a failure of their Team Lead and punishes Victor instead, knowing that this will get to them worse than if she punished Smiler. Victor's actually in the Break Room for the rest of the day, to the point where, when he goes home, he has lost his voice from repeating the apology -- leading Outie!Victor to think maybe he's getting sick and take a day off. Smiler and Alice are naturally a bit freaked out by their coworker not showing up for work, and only calm down when Victor reappears the next day (a bit freaked out himself after he realizes they experienced a whole day without him).

H) On the opposite end of that, Smiler actually gets to 75% on a file and earns them all a Music/Dance Experience -- cue the gang actually having corporate-mandated fun with five minutes of "defiant jazz" played through Wheatley's speakers and learning which of them can dance XD

I) Victor doing something to piss off Miss Glados and getting one of the "creative" Break Room punishments -- namely, he's locked in a pitch black room and left to stew on his own baffled terror for a while. He ends up in the kitchenette afterward, curled up on the floor having a panic attack -- Smiler finds him in there and -- without really knowing how they're doing it -- hypnotizes him to calm him down (having Victor picture an image of that swirly-eyed smiley face they keep doodling when they're bored). Having thus discovered the talent, they end up using their surprise hypnosis skills on Victor and Alice at their request whenever they come in a bad mood thanks to their Outies or after a bad Break Room session or the like (yes, Alice too -- no memory of Dr. Bumby's hypnosis shenanigans, remember?). Victor and Alice are very grateful for the chance to turn their brains off for a bit and do their best to return the favor however they can to Smiler (Victor, it is eventually revealed, is quite good at shoulder massages).

-->Now, this is a Valicer AU, so we must have Valicer content -- so how do the romantic times start? Well, at one point after the hypnosis stuff is discovered, Smiler and Alice both help Victor coming in with a nasty headache thanks to his Outie. Victor desperately wants to pay them back for all the good they've brought into his life afterward, so he gets Wheatley to distract them right before their lunch break and tapes up a bunch of green and blue construction paper in the corner of the kitchenette by the vending machine and spreads more paper on the ground for a "blanket" for their sandwiches so they can have a picnic together (as it's the closest they'll ever get to going outside). Alice and Smiler are naturally touched, and the three enjoy a lovely lunch together...and during said lunch, Victor goes "fuck the fraternization policy" and kissing happens. Alice and Smiler fully reciprocate, and the trio become romantic partners as well as coworkers. Now, there are some initial worries about them getting punished when they realize their accidental "date" got recorded on the security camera --

But then they come in the next day, and discover Miss Glados giving Wheatley shit for practicing his "hacking" skills on the security footage, which reveals that he deliberately deleted the footage to stop them getting in trouble. :) The trio thank him, and keep their romantic activities (mainly just making out, though I have some ideas related to the "Kink Discovery" prompt on this year's Polyship Week prompt list...) to the storage closet from then on.

...and holy HELL this is getting long! O.O Like I said, lot of thoughts here. So let's take a quick break to have our tuna fish sandwiches, and we'll pick up after lunch for Part II -- The Rest Of The AU!

#severance #valicer severance au #tw: suicide mention #tw: suicide attempt #suicide mention #suicide attempt #portal #corpse bride #alice madness returns #the smiler #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler alton #wheatley #aperture science #I think I said in previous posts about this subject that I have a LOT OF IDEAS for this AU #I thought I could fit all of this into one post but between all the world building #and all the scene ideas I wanted to get down #yeah it felt smarter to split things between two posts #yes Caroline's last name comes from her voice actress Ellen McLain #it felt right #and also YES I HAD TO DO THE JOKE #I REGRET NOTHING XD #and yes I had to put Repulsion and Propulsion gel puddings in the vending machines #they were EXPLICITLY sold as food products in Portal canon #of course they'd try to offload some on the poor Innies #good thing Alice threw that one pudding cup huh?#anyway yes lots going on here #and even more going on in Part II let me tell you #queued

6 notes · View notes

nerosdayinanime · 1 year ago

Note

Please post more about giyu just dating everyone

i should...... gonna start right now cuz ive actually thought about mitsugiyu for the GiyuusFuckingSad au- when hes still moping around in the cafeteria corner she pops over because she saw shinobu, shinobu stops her excited rambling and explains that its Quiet Time and shes like 'oh! okay! i can be quiet!' and she just hangs around to doodle in her sketchbook across from them. giyuu once again baffled by another random girl deciding she wants to hang out near(with?) him when hes literally never said a word in response.

she sees him in the halls and tries to talk with him, he responds minimally but shes encouraged by any response at all and talks to him outside the cafeteria any chance she gets- giyuu's incredibly confused as to why she likes talking to him so much, but one time when he realizes he missed the turn to his class about three halls ago finally notices how much he enjoys listening to her stories (he ended up just walking her to class to hear the end of the story, he was a few minutes late when he got back to his own)

when shinobu starts inviting him to little outings with her friends mitsuri's the first to welcome him, kyojuro and suma quickly follow and hes. very overwhelmed. why did he get introduced to the loudest ones of the friend group first?? contrary to what he thought would happen though, they actually love him and despite how hype the three of them get (and how not hype he usually is) he doesn't ever feel left out or pushed to the side (physically speaking too- suma frequently hangs off him since hes the most stable one around now and mitsuri & kyojuro aren't hesitant to pull him in to make him focus on whatever they're talking about. he likes how free they are with affection towards him like that)

months later he's acquainted with and knows the whole group and they're all out at a restaurant chatting and having fun- giyuu notices how entranced everyone else is at kyojuro's retelling of a story and he can't help but think how much sabito would like them all... mitsuri stops paying attention to kyo and turns to him, "Giyuu? Are you okay?" "Yeah, why?" "You're crying"

the grief finally hits, the tears get heavier despite his attempts at drying them before he starts to panic and excuses himself- he practically runs out and mitsuri worriedly glances back at everyone before excusing herself and running after him. she follows him to the side of the restaurant in the little alley where hes having his breakdown and hugs him- he buries his face in her shoulder and holds back shaking like a leaf for a while before the worst of it passes. she asks what happened, "I-i just- he'd like you all.. he would've loved to meet you.." she knows who hes talking about- well.. she knows he was extremely important to giyuu, and that something happened and he's not around anymore, and that its extremely painful for giyuu to talk about so he just doesn't. she says shes honored by his thought and goes on to try to calm him down/cheer him up, his face looks a mess from the splotchy flush and eye liner- it got smudged to hell and back and hes a little embarrassed by it. only for a moment tho because mitsuri immediately offers to fix it for him. when they're finally ready to go back in they notice obanai standing at the entrance of the alleyway, blocking the view from outsiders. "aw! you're so thoughtful obanai!" "You two good to head back inside now?" "how long were you standing there?" "long enough, you worried everyone running off like that" "sorry.." "don't apologize, idiot. c'mon, lets go eat" and they followed an excited mitsuri back to the rest of the group.

after that mitsuri started inviting him to her apartment to practice makeup art on him since she knew he was okay with it. he was good at sitting still and he liked how gently she touched and moved his face however while she worked, quiet and serene with her music playing from the room over- the first thing she tried out was a simple little water-esque mark on his left cheek. when he was finally allowed to look at it he remembered the time when they were kids and sabito backhanded him there for saying he wished he had died with his sister. remembered how badly he wished he could have gone with sabito too. remembered his final words, 'promise me you'll love again'

he looks back up at mitsuri with a little smile, maybe that promise isn't as impossible for me to keep as i thought. "i like it" "oooh! i just had another idea! what if i made it look like a stream of water coming out the corners of your mouth!?"

#tomioka giyuu #kanroji mitsuri #giyumitsu #giyuu tomioka #mitsuri kanroji #mitsugiyu #loserboy giyuu posting #gfs au #most of this is actually canon to gfs au but this time with added emphasis on his relationship with mitsuri #shes so bubbly and kind its hard not to fall in love with her at least a little bit #(giyuu might also just have a thing for pink hair lmao)#((shit now im thinking of giyuu x sabito/mitsuri/akaza.. full set like.. cedes what have you done))#i imagine for this version at first obanai is kinda jealous bc giyuu's closer to her but hes too nervous to actually do anything about it #once giyuu and mitsuri actually start going out hes like 'well fuck. there goes my chance. guess i'll pine'#giyu however notices said pining and just straight up 'do you want to date mitsuri?' 'wh- no!' 'cuz i think she'd love #to have two boyfriends to dote on her- give tengen a run for his money' 'what.' 'you liked her since before we even met didnt you? thats #kinda sad. coming from *me*' 'shut up asshole. ..yes i wanna date mitsuri' 'cool. i'll talk with her abt it'#'wait youre not fucking w me rn??' 'no? why would i do that' 'idk.. rub salt in the wound..' 'im bad at cooking' 'ha ha.'#mitsuri w two loserboyfriends who love and adore her immensely<3<3 #vauge other ideas for gfs au: movie night‚ pool party(turned skinny dipping)‚ mitsuri's microwaved stuffed animal #oo also giyuu helps her with outfits- if she finds something she likes or thinks would go great with an outfit but its not fitted right for #her he'll stitch it to fit her perfectly. he also buys her little things that remind him of her. lots of watermelon themed trinkets lmao #ough... i wanna draw them now...#its almost 3 tho and i cant...#...if i wasnt a pUSSY

36 notes · View notes