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dreamsclock · 1 year

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c!Endersmile and the seven stages of grief

major character death, grieving process, depression, illness/infection, one graphic mention of torture

Stage 1: Shock.

Dream does not allow himself to think about the moment when Sam’s sword plunges through Ranboo’s chest, carving its way through his apprentice’s heart. Yes, he acknowledges it: Punz, who he’s fighting, must notice the tremor in his hand, and the sudden fever he fights with. But Dream does not focus on the body crumpling behind him or the cry of Techno from in front of him or the feeling of something shattering deep inside him. Instead, he nods at Punz, vaults onto a horse, and he runs.

Stage 2: Denial.

“Ran—” Dream’s voice stutters in the emptiness of their base.

Punz is nowhere to be found: Dream urges him to constantly make himself scarce, uneasy about the two of them being discovered together, while their horses are being given a clean by Techno and the Syndicate. Dream is half asleep himself, bare-foot and maskless, blinking grit out of his eyes and Ranboo’s name out of his mouth as he slides to alertness.

Ranboo is not here. On a very rational day, he knows this.

Deeper down, at night, however…

Dream’s hands fist round themselves, looking for the fabric of a cloak he knows is gone. Ranboo is not here, he tells his hands, and they don’t believe him — they reach out for the chair his friend had always sat in, searching for proof, searching for confirmation of Ranboo’s existence.

They find dust. A crumpled cushion, from where Ranboo had moved in a hurry.

Ranboo is not here. And yet the room is suffocating him. Dream sucks in a stilted breath through broken teeth and closes his eyes.

He’ll pretend for a second. Just for a second, he’ll give himself the luxury of imagining a simpler happy ending.

Stage 3: Anger.

He meets Sam in prison — in his home — and finds with a horrified disgust that the feeling dominating him is not fear, or contempt, or betrayal. It’s not even bitter resignation.

It’s anger. White hot, blistering. Dream blinks, and swears he can see the scars on his limbs from the lava and burning obsidian burst open, weep their rage and hatred down his skin. He blinks again, vision billowy in the seeping heat, and the scars become scars again, and Ranboo is still gone.

Rage is new. He hasn’t felt it in a while. He doesn’t quite know what to do with it, either: wearing it as a second layer is stifling, oppressive, but he’s viciously proud of how well he hides it. Sam and him talk of morality and life and death and prison, while Dream’s heart sings a song of blood and anger and grief he can’t quite feel.

When he slams a blade through Sam’s eye and leaves him to walk back through the prison himself, Dream thinks of Ranboo, and how close they’d been to escaping before Sam had killed them.

Sam does not speak when he comes back. Not until he gets to the nether portal, standing there timidly, bright eyes fixed on him. They’d been friends, once, Dream remembers fleetingly, friends, maybe even family.

“I’m sorry about Ranboo,” Sam murmurs, as particles pull him away, “if you’d listened to me—”

Dream lunges for him, but Sam is gone before he can scream.

Stage 4: Bargaining

“You’ll give me him back,” Dream demands, asks, pleads.

XD stares at him. A blossoming shower of iridescent stars tumble from the sky behind It.

Dream knows how gods work, by now. Making deals with one is worse than shaking hands with the devil. But he hasn’t slept in four days and Punz is off in his tower and he’s jittery, anxious, newly escaped from Quackity and Sam’s newest trap and feeling almost entirely alone in the world.

And when he’d told Techno that he didn’t sleep, it hadn’t been entirely true. He sleeps, sometimes. But he doesn’t ever dream. This is the first dream he’s had in months and months and Dream’s not even sure it’s real: all he can see is the god in front of him and the showering of stars and the moon, that glistens and gloats untouched far above them both.

You’re the one that can bring back the dead, XD tells him. The words scorch Dream’s throat. Or have you forgotten already?

Dream swallows. “I can’t.” It comes as bitter as poison. “I can’t do it. I don’t— I mean, it won’t work. I don’t know why it won’t work. I don’t know how.”

XD turns as a comet whizzes by with a howl. Dream is bowled away by his own insignificance: how many times, he thinks, will he have to die to understand this place?

You aren’t supposed to be here. It’s time to send you back.

“Wait,” Dream blurts out, “wait, I need—”

He wakes up in a clatter of armour and with a fever Punz is coaxing him through. Infection in one of his wounds, apparently. Dream doesn’t say, but he remembers Quackity driving his shears into that wound. Peeling the skin off like dried glue. Laughing at the shrieks.

“You were mumbling pretty badly back then,” Punz says, voice shrewd. His gloved hand cards through his sweat-soaked hair and Dream’s eyelids flutter. “You okay?”

Dream does not reply. He just closes his eyes, and prays for sleep.

Stage 5: Depression.

Sleep comes. He doesn’t move from his bed for days. At one point he thinks he sees Ranboo standing on one block in the middle of a raging ocean, but he’s lost track in this sickness of what is real and what is not.

Stage 6: Acceptance.

Dream takes his first steps on trembling legs after his fever of nine nights, just as snow begins to tumble lazily from the sky.

He gets Punz to sleep under that open sky with him that night, even though his friend complains and grouches about the cold and the wet. Dream rolls his eyes, jabs a bony elbow into his ribs and makes Punz yelp in pain. They’re not friends, not exactly, but it helps soothe the ache in the hollow of Dream’s chest.

Ranboo had listened once when Dream had explained the stars to him, mad on coffee he hated and preparing for the finale of the disk war, and so Dream explains them to Punz now. It’s different, obviously: Punz quips where Ranboo had been quiet, Punz is silent where Ranboo had asked questions. It’s okay, though: Dream is different too. He talks until his voice goes hoarse and Punz forces his hands around a mug of hot chocolate, and then they drift off to sleep together.

The morning brings winter flowers and sneezing pitifully in the snow-turned-slush. When they show up at the Syndicate, Techno cackles at them.

Dream places new flowers on Ranboo’s grave and for the first time breathes easy.

Stage 6.5: Hope.

When Dream breathes for the last time, and wakes up in an iridescent friend with a blonde boy squawking, the first thought in his head is of an Enderchild beaming uncertainly at him.

He asks Tommy if he knows any half-Enderians, and Tommy shrugs, spitting out a bone from the chicken he’d been eating. They’ve set up camp near a river, and Tommy is good company: Dream just remembers something, someone, and feels lonely.

“Don’t think so,” Tommy says, “but we can look. Lotta world here. There’s got to be one somewhere.”

Dream shoots him a soft grateful smile, and begins to map.

Stage 7: Processing.

When he finds Ranboo, Dream does not cry.

But he does hug him, tightly. In this world, he has nothing to fear and nothing to hide, no armour to drown in and no plans to self destruct. He breathes, deep, and the familiar scent of End-particles and earth fills his head.

“I waited for you.” Ranboo’s voice is muffled and small. “I waited for you for so long. You didn’t come.”

Dream’s hands tighten around the cloak. “I know,” he replies, “I’m— I should’ve come. You have every right to be mad at me.”

But Ranboo only pulls him closer, scoffing, and Dream feels warm again.

( ask to be added to the taglist (: )

#> c!endersmile #> memory boy #> that one clock guy #> sparrow’s writing !!

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kenjo-arts · 2 years

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New fit for the villain, cat hat

#dreamwastaken #c!dream #technoblade #ranboo #punz #rivals duo #endersmile #staged duo #kenjos art #congrats everyone who asked for the cat hat kdsjfælksd

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carpedzem · 1 year

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merry christmas @yumgrapejuice!!! this year im giving you c!endersmile (forever in our hearts ☹️💚💜)

its an au in which c!dream, during his experiments, ends up in c!ranboos limbo from time to time and they have a little chat before c!punz revival. i hope you like it!

#dsmp #dsmp fanart #endersmile #c!endersmile #dreblr #c!dream #c!ranboo #carpeart

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cgogs · 2 years

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ranboo. ranboo the plan . ranboo-

#i hope i dont wake up and like hate this but TAKE ITTTT #my art #endersmile #c!dream #c!ranboo #dsmp #dream smp #i dont care if the timeline doesnt mstch up i realized i might be wrong like halfway thru and i dont care ok #click for better quality im begging

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catsandgoodbooks · 7 months

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No. 20: “People don’t change people, time does.”

Blanket | Found Family | “You will regret touching them.”

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“Careful, it’s hot.” Philza passed Dream a cup of tea, who took it cautiously. Dream wrapped his hands around the cup; his hands were cold and the cup was warm. It was nice. “It went well, mates?”

“We got everything we wanted done, so I’d say yeah, it did,” Technoblade answered, hanging his cape up on a hook.

Punz scoffed, rolling their eyes. “You don’t say, Technoblade.” They looked back at Phil and Dream. “I mean, he’s dead now and the whole place’s burnt to the ground. It’s taken care of.”

Niki smiled at the two of them brightly. “It’s safe to say we won’t have to worry about them anymore, right?” she asked, sitting down on the couch and narrowly avoiding sitting on Dream’s toes.

“Thanks, guys.” Dream knew they wanted him to say that, and he didn’t want to disappoint them. “Like, that’s great, thank you, but did you have to do that–”

“He hurt you,” Techno interrupted. “Quackity hurt you, and we needed to make sure that he would regret that.”

“Exactly,” Punz acquiesced. “We might not of had to do that, but we fucking wanted to, Dream.” (“My poor monetization,” Techno grumbled.) “He deserved it, and there needs to be consequences sometimes or everyone’s going to be running around doing whatever the hell they want.”

“I can’t speak for everyone here, but I think it’s safe to say that we care about you, and, uh, we don’t like people we care about getting cut up by people we don’t,” Ranboo volunteered from where he was hovering.

(Phil offered Punz a cup of tea as well, and they took it. “Thanks.” The mercenary pulled out a chair and settled down)

“I couldn’t of said it better myself,” Techno agreed, and Ranboo puffed up a little bit at the approval. “We care, Dream. Even if you don’t want to admit it, it’s the truth.”

“Uh-huh.” Niki smiled over at Dream. “We care, and that’s the important thing here. We’re family at this point.”

“You have a point there,” Techno commented. “A very good point.” He glanced over a Dream. “You hear that? You’re never gettin’ rid of us.”

“Nope,” Punz remarked, smiling crookedly. “Not even this ‘until death’ shit. We all know that’s stupid.”

Dream rolled his eyes. “You know that I’m the necromancer here, right? I could just, like, not bring you back.”

(He and Punz still hadn’t told the rest of the Syndicate about the Revival Book situation. They didn’t need to know about it. It would just invite too many questions)

“I think it’s a bit late for that, mate,” Phil told him, smiling faintly. “You wouldn’t still be here if that was actually a possibility.”

“Fine, fine,” Dream compromised. “I’ll stop. I’d totally bring all of you guys back if you died.”

“Good to know. Now I don’t have to worry about losing any of my lives,” Technoblade joked. “I can do as much stupid stuff as I want now.”

Dream glared at him. “That’s not what I said, Techno.”

“It basically is,” Punz responded. “Also, there seems to be a bit of double standard there, you know, considering the fact that you literally locked yourself up in prison.”

Niki grimaced. “Not your greatest moment, was it?”

“Let’s not talk about it right now. Doesn’t matter.” Dream really didn’t want to talk about that right now. (Or ever, really)

“Thanks, I guess.” Dream pulled the blanket tighter around himself. He wanted to just make sure about one thing, but it would be showing vulnerability, opening himself up to admitting that he cared and getting hurt…

“Just checking but…you’re not going to leave, right?”

“Of course not, Dream. You’re one of us now. Yes, yes, I said it chat, you can stop screaming now.” Techno rolled his eyes but sobered up quickly. “You’re family, Dream.”

#whumptober2023 #no.20 #blanket #found family #“you will regret touching them”#dsmp #fic #c!dream #c!techno #c!phil #c!niki #c!punz #c!ranboo #rivals duo #the syndicate #staged duo #endersmile

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altair214 · 2 years

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I cannot get over how c!Ranboo saw Mexican Dream coming towards him in a boat and saw the green skin, thought it was c!Dream and immediately said “have you come to take me back? is it time?”

Like I knew they were working together, but it was always subtle implications. This was solid evidence. c!Ranboo is waiting on c!Dream to bring him back for something specific. Perhaps a particular step in The Plan that will be the season 1 finale?

#they make me insane #c!ranboo #ranboo #c!dream #dreamwastaken #c!endersmile #dream smp #dsmp #dream smp lore #dsmp lore #dream smp theory #dsmp theory #dreblr #mcyt

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llitchilitchi · 1 year

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anyone remember when we were promised 3 c!ranboo lore streams, the first one revealed some of his suppressed enderwalk memories that hinted at his cooperation with c!dream and then we never got any info about that stuff ever again?

#litchi.txt #I am still not over that #c!endersmile #we were ROBBED #there were so many hints to enderwalk being just him fully aware and much more sassy and cool #working with c!dream because they wanted to and not out of manipulation #and what were we left with? absolutely Nothing #dont get me started on the prison visits I am soooooo

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bsders · 2 years

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i didnt say i´ll let you go with out some scarring...

#dreblr #c!dream #cdream #c!sam #csam #art #endersmiler

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the-final-sif · 2 years

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Hello and welcome to c!Ranboo causes problems (sort of on purpose). A reminder that Ranboo has been revived for awhile in this AU. c!Sam did still kill him though. They’ve got some mixed feelings on that one.

Now, Dream wants it on the record that he did an amazing job keeping his composure. He did the stupid ear drops. He got through changing his clothes. He didn’t stab Sam even once, despite his inclinations to do otherwise and the annoying hovering.

Sure, he didn’t do the stupid stretches, but it was fine. He could do them later (in the moment, he just needed Sam out of the fucking room before his heart gave out. The pace it accelerated too was starting to worry him. It was a normal hybrid response when injured around a stranger. He wasn’t scared of Sam. It was just a hybrid thing).

Dream had wholeheartedly intended on brushing his leg fur out (he’d forgotten about the compulsion to groom, it itched at the back of his brain constantly when he wasn’t in pain), and then taking a nap until he had to deal with Sam again (he was too keyed up to sleep, but he could fake it).

Only, it seemed a certain enderman wasn’t having that.

One moment, Dream was in an empty room, working through the last of his leg fur, and the next-

Ranboo didn’t even have the decency to keep quiet. Dream’s hearing had barely improved and even he could tell Ranboo was being too loud.

The enderman hybrid’s eyes locked right onto Dream and Dream watched several expressions flicker across his face before he let out out a delighted warble.

Right.

Sometimes Dream forgot that nobody knew. Hell, sometimes he forgot he was a hybrid. The mask did it’s job. George was the only one who’d ever asked. Or at least, George was the only one who’d ever asked at a point where Dream was willing to trust them.

Ranboo trotted across the room from his teleport spot, from how his mouth was moving, he was clearly talking, but english was already a fight. Ender was next to impossible for Dream right now. He had no idea why Ranboo was here either. He’d done his check-in this morning, he was sure of it.

He had to jerk back and give a wave to get Ranboo’s attention properly.

“Ears are still out. Can’t understand you. Write it down or communicator. Sam is around. Be quiet.”

Ranboo remembered himself, folding inward a bit and offering a (barely) apologetic expression. A glance around the room revealed the notepad, which Dream tore a piece off of so Ranboo could write.

It took him a minute, but the paper was offered back with messy handwriting. All in ender. Translation took a minute (Dream’s headache was lighter, but not gone. it made thinking hard).

here to rescue you. not leaving you with him. not again. know better now. not leaving without you.

Ugh. Punz might’ve agreed to the terms, but it seemed Ranboo wasn’t on board. Dream could hardly blame him. He’d revived the teenager as soon as he could after the prison break, both Ranboo and Punz had helped him through his recovery.

Both of them had been... disturbed by his condition. But between them, Punz was at least somewhat used to this. He knew how bad things could get. Ranboo had been unfamiliar with the aftermath of that sort of violence. It’d been harder for him to accept what happened.

Ranboo’s face was hardset. Unwilling to be dissuaded. Dream let out a sigh as he handed back the paper.

“Listen, it’s fine, I swear. If it was dangerous, I would’ve already dipped. If anything gets weird, I’ll let you come get me out. This is the safest option right now.”

There was a mouth opened, and Dream gestured to his ears again. Ranboo switched to a fierce scribbling instead.

not fine. already hurt.

Oh. Had Ranboo not seen the explanation? Had he misunderstood?

“This wasn’t- Ranboo, this was a warden. Big blue guys underground that guard skulk. One got me with a sonic attack. It wasn’t Sam. He got me out, got both of us to Ponk.”

Ranboo’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t believe that. One of his clawed hands reached down to pat one of Dream’s feet, before he started writing again.

you’re don’t get caught by a warden. you’re a RABBIT. rabbits don’t get caught by wardens, and you don’t get caught by wardens. you would’ve run. unless he did something.

Ahh. That- well, it wasn’t unfair. Dream really wasn’t the sort to get caught by a Warden. Let alone in his hybrid form.

“That wasn’t- Ranboo, the hunters that took us. They were there. They triggered a warden, and I lead it to them to buy us time. Sam was- he was totally blind at the time. Plus he’s a creeper. If I didn’t draw agro and lead it off, he was dead. I couldn’t let him die.”

One scribbled word in reply.

shouldve.

Alright, Sam did kill Ranboo, but he really needed to move on. It was... everyone was stressed out at the time. Dream fixed it as soon as he could.

Letting out a sigh, Dream reached out to give the teenager a pat.

“I get it. But we were offworld. Undoing that would be a nightmare. Besides, do you really want someone left to hunters? Really?”

Ranboo held his grumpy expression for an admirable ten seconds before caving and shaking his head.

“That’s what I thought. It wasn’t Sam’s fault. If anything, he got me out and back to the world after that. And he hide my involvement from everyone else, except for Ponk. It’s not... I get that there’s risk, but there’s a lot less. Besides, it’s best I stay here. That way, when Ponk gets back he can check that everything’s okay. If I leave, getting back if stuff gets worse will be way harder. Looking after my health and all of that.”

As much as Ranboo didn’t want to concede defeat, he clearly didn’t have a counter argument. Instead he just flopped back onto the bed, reaching out with grabby hands towards Dream’s left leg.

Checking the clock (silver and silent, no ticking noises, Dream wasn’t sure if he liked it that way or not), he still had time before Sam would be by. So Dream allowed it.

The left leg was offered, and Ranboo stuck his claws right into the fur (gentle, despite how sharp they were). Stroking through it and marveling at the texture.

It was a stupid thing to be proud of, but Dream couldn’t help the swell in his chest. His fur was soft, and it was well groomed. Having someone else (trustworthy) going through it, felt nice.

It felt very nice, actually, and he was pretty tired. So he didn’t notice time slipping by until-

Ranboo jolted up, ears swiveling to an alert position.

Oh fuck.

It was noon.

Dream was only shocked Ranboo lasted this long. Usually he couldn’t hold his memories like this for longer than a few hours. Getting here alone must’ve taken a lot out of him. As the teenager stood, he swayed slightly. Eyes flickering purple. Oh fuck.

If Ranboo was nearly out of juice, there was no way he could teleport out. Which meant-

Luckily, Ranboo thought quickly. He ran straight for the walk-in closet. Ducking inside. As long as he could hold out until Sam was gone, it’d be fine. Ponk’s house had lots of exits.

Dream managed to get a hold of himself. Pretend nothing was up. The paper- huh. Ranboo had taken the paper. Hopefully he got rid of that.

A minute later, the door creaked open. Dream couldn’t tell if Sam was knocking, but he at least opened the door slowly.

Dream was already figuring out how to get Sam out of the room as fast as possible- could he get away with faking being sick to his stomach? Or would that cause Sam to stick around? Maybe if he said his headache was making him feel sick?

No sooner did he open his mouth to speak, then the worst case scenario happened.

Ranboo exited the closet, expression dazed in an all-too familiar way. He’d forgotten again. The teenager took both of them in, tensing at the sight of Sam.

Nobody knew quite what to say, until Ranboo finally spoke up. In English this time. Dream could make out most of what he was sayin. The ear drops must be working well.

“Uh, so - a bad first introduction, but my name’s Ranboo. Do - know where I am - ? Or how I got here? - welcome to-. I don’t - I’ve met you -. Sorry if I have. Are you - hostage -? Do you need help?”

Oh.

Oh- this was. This was actually good. When Ranboo forgot, he tended to be against Dream’s presence. It would’ve presented a security risk. If he didn’t know who Dream was though.

Sam got a very confused look on his face, before also putting together the puzzle pieces. As much as Dream wanted to speak, he didn’t want to give anything away.

Instead, he reached up to tap his ears gently, and then gestured to Sam with a confused expression, who took the hint.

“Oh, this- he can’t really hear you. He uh- he also escaped. From the hunter’s camp. His ears got messed up. I’m helping him recover. He doesn’t- uh, he’s not staying here. And he’s... nervous. About interacting with people who aren’t from his home server. So uh- You’re at Ponk’s house. By the way. How did you get here?”

Most of the words washed over Dream, but he caught the important stuff. Inferred the rest. Ranboo appeared to buy Sam’s lie, and nodded, before looking embarassed.

“Honestly, not sure. Just sorta... ended up here. Keeps happening to me lately. I’m gonna... go home. Now. I could ask Tubbo to bring some stuff to help with his ears maybe?”

Oh absolutely not. Tubbo had the rare and powerful ability to sometimes possess two brain cells, usually when it was very inconvenient. He couldn’t come here. Sam, luckily, thought the same.

“No- uh. He’s- We’re trying not to tell anyone else he’s here. Ponk doesn’t want him swarmed and, uh, not that like, anyone would say something on purpose. But if the hunters found out...”

Ranboo, thank fucking god, bought that instantly, nodding in agreement.

“Ah, yeah that makes sense. I’ll forget I saw anything.”

He then seemed to realize his own pun, half-chuckled, flushed when Sam didn’t laugh, and then shuffled his way out of the room.

Dream counted to 15 mentally to be sure the other was out of earshot. Then he turned to Sam, putting on his best look of utter shock and a touch of accusation. It was hard to lie with his face uncovered, but he made do.

“What?? How did he?! There was- The air felt weird a minute ago, but I had my eye on the door- How long was he in there? Did you put him in there?”

It was a very dumb accusation, but dumb accusations offered an air of innocence. Sam’s brow furrowed in response and he pulled down his mask to respond. A bit indignant, but mostly defensive and placating.

“No, I- I opened the closet this morning. He must’ve... he must’ve like, teleported in his sleep or something. Weird things happen with Ranboo. I didn’t- I had nothing to do with that.”

Dream help up his suspicion for several seconds after before huffing and letting it drop, murmuring about needing to put a lock on the damn closet now.

Sam sighed (way too loudly), and then moved to offer the food. Clearly accepting the bullshit they’d just gone through.

Well. That was one way to get away with that. Dream just hoped that Ranboo would stay away, and would forgot about what he saw before he forgot to not tell anyone.

It was a dangerous game to play, but Dream already played tag with a warden, so it wasn’t like he was drawing the line at a bit of danger.

#c!ranboo #ender smile #endersmile #c!dream #dreblr #dsmp #dream smp #apology cake AU #sif speaks #sif writes #my headcanons #bunny c!dream

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simplepotatofarmer · 2 years

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my favorite thing about c!endersmile is it takes them 0.002 seconds to start bickering like kids, no matter what the situation.

c!ranboo is holding his finger right by c!dream's face and dream is whining 'he's touching me' except the person driving the car is c!techno and he's just like, 'i see absolutely nothin'' and dream kicks his feet and says he hates this family.

#this was basically just how the prison break stream went let's be honest #loyal talks about stuff and things #dsmp shitpost #c!ranboo #c!dream #.......what is the trio name for these guys it's something dumb isn't it #c!techno #endersmile

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elmhat · 1 year

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// dsmp rp

A Post-Prison Endersmile Drabble

Dream fell against the wall, but remained determinedly upright. Deep breaths in. Out. He couldn’t pass out, or he could very well end up with a knife in his back.

He didn’t know how long it was since he last used the book—how could he? But it was enough for the sheer force of it to be alien again. The world spun.

In and out.

He straightened his spine, looming tall over the body laid across the stone. Slowly, it blinked, red eye glinting in the firelight, and Ranboo hauled themself up onto their knees.

Then the eye snapped to Dream, and went wide.

Ranboo scrambled back against the wall. “W-Where am I?”

Dream had handpicked the location: a shallow tundra cave, not too far from the Syndicate’s land, just warm and sheltered enough to keep them both alive. Dream shivered anyway.

“What did you do to me?” Ranboo’s eyes flicked between Dream and the exit.

“Relax,” said Dream, and talking was suddenly harder than he remembered. “I'm helping you.”

“What— No, you’re not helping me. Wait— What do you mean?”

And Dream didn’t need to explain himself, but Ranboo had presented an opportunity. “Look. I'll let you go back home, back with— to all your friends. But first, I’m gonna need you to tell me something.”

Ranboo frowned. “Tell you something?”

“I need you… to tell me where you were.”

Ranboo glanced outside. “Well, I-I mean, I, um— I don't even know where I am.” All Dream could see was a blanket of white, but then again, his vision wasn’t wholly reliable.

“Think harder.”

There it was, that fear that Ranboo had always been so terrible at hiding. Good. Fear made Dream’s life easier.

“Um. Well, um— I see we’re in the snow. Uh. I live in— in the snow. On my own.”

Dream shook his head. “You don’t have to— I already know about the Syndicate. Techno and Philza and Nihachu, right? They literally helped me escape. I don't care where you live, that’s not— What I need is for you to tell me where you were, like, five minutes ago.”

Ranboo’s face was an open book: panic to contemplation to panic again. “Wait, was I… no, wait, hold on, was I dead?”

“That’s not my question.”

“I'm sorry, I don't— So, wait. You revived me.” Ranboo weighed up the words. “You revived me. You brought me back to life. Which means— Which means I was in limbo. I guess? Is that what you mean? It was just this, um, massive ocean.”

Huh. That wasn’t right.

“What kind of ocean?”

Ranboo’s eyes narrowed. “I mean, why do you want to know?”

“What kind of ocean, Ranboo.”

They flinched. Privately, Dream smirked.

“It— Well, there was just water everywhere. That was all I could see. And I think… yeah, there was this tiny island I was on. Like, really tiny. I was just. Stuck there.”

Ranboo had died by Sam’s blade; Dream wouldn’t soon forget it. But, in Dream’s experience, that kind of death didn’t result in an ocean limbo. It could relate to the prison’s location, he supposed, or to Ranboo’s terror of the burning water.

Whatever the reason, it needed research. Dream wished he could ask Ranboo to accompany him. He would just have to test it himself by the prison’s entrance.

“Are you going to let me go?” asked Ranboo.

Dream cringed as he shifted his weight, then cringed again at the slip—it was too dangerous to let Ranboo see the state he was in. “Head south, you'll reach Techno. He should be pretty easy to find.”

Ranboo gawked. “Oh! Um. Thanks! And, I guess, thanks for reviving me.”

Flames glinted off of netherite; the sword was still within Dream’s reach. No one had come for him, as of yet, but he wasn’t stupid enough to believe it would last.

“Just tell Techno we’re even.”

#Shut Up I know this is random #I just wish we had more from these two #c!dream #c!ranboo #c!endersmile #endersmile #dreblr #dream smp #dsmp #dsmp fic #dsmp writing #drabbles #my writing

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dreamsclock · 2 years

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fate’s favorites

or, the c!beeduo c!endersmile c!clingyduo superhero fic!!

one / two / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine (new)

Tubbo has been a lot of things over the years of his life - a son, a villain, a sidekick, a hero: and just for once, he wants to try just being Tubbo. When he meets Ranboo, a nonpowered kid who he instantly takes a shining to, he thinks it might be possible.

But fate doesn’t like to be avoided, and Ranboo is hiding secrets of his own. Things begin to spiral, and it’s not long before Tubbo is racing towards the future while he tries to enjoy the present - and his past is catching up to him more than he’d like to admit.

The clock is ticking closer to Doomsday, and, for the first time, Tubbo realises it might not be possible to outrun his destiny, whether he wants to or not.

[Or, Tubbo is a hero. Ranboo is a villain. Their worlds collide.]

#> beeduo super au #> writing !!#> c!endersmile #> c!clingyduo #> c!beeduo #> nuke boy #> memory boy

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proudfreakmetarusonniku · 10 months

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uhhh I kinda went crazy with this. might edit it for ao3 in the morrow bc I love it that much. the allium duo joint exile fic

tw: abuse, kidnapping, injuries, suicidal ideation, self hate, manipulation, brainwashing, vomiting, ableism (either unintentional or solely as a manipulation tool), mutilation, starvation, possessive behaviour, obsession, threats

it's raining, when they’re exiled.

ranboo has his suit jacket pulled over his head and when droplets slip through to the tips of his claws he hisses and jitters. sometimes, it looks like he'll almost disappear and reappear, like the endermen he so resembled, but instead he falls to the ground with a pained screech, the calves of his feet burning on impact with the sodden ground where his skirt isn’t long enough to protect.

still gripping painfully onto tommy's arm, dream slowly walks back to where he fell, and hits him with the butt of his axe. the screech of pain is distorted, almost otherworldly, and it’d be terrifying if it wasn’t so fucking sad.

“get up,” he hisses. “or i'll fucking kill you, and then-“

dream doesn’t have to finish his sentence. shakingly, ranboo gets onto their talons, wincing as they try and match the brutal pace dream immediately sets back on.

(he'd tried to save ranboo. he really had. he'd said it was all him, he lied, but ranboo had confessed, trying to get him out of this mess, and now he was in it too.)

(tommy wants to be sick.)

he’s not quite sure when and why things happen. they’re on a boat at one point, cramped and barely afloat. water sinks in and burns the bottom of ranboo's feet. there’s shouting after that. an explosion. a beach. tommy drags a shaking ranboo under a tree to keep the rain from falling on him. more shouting. more explosions. pain. blood on his collarbone. pain pain pain. blurring vision.

tommy drags himself under the tree and curls up next to ranboo and hopes he'll fucking bleed to death.

——

it rains far too much in logstedshire.

that is what tommy names it, the logs tell him too. they send their messages from the primes. maybe, if he listens, they'll accept him despite his sins.

he doubts it. he doesn’t deserve it.

he dug a den on the first day, for ranboo to hide under, but even the dirt under there grew too damp and after tending to burns all across his face, he'd spent what energy he had left with the aching scars and bruises and gnawing hunger in his gut to hang up a tent. it's only big enough for one of them, but that's okay. tommy doesn’t mind sleeping on the beach.

(it allows him to pretend maybe the tides will come in and he won’t wake up at all).

he pinches himself. dream wouldn’t like him having those thoughts.

honestly, tommy isn't sure what dream likes. it’s not like he and ranboo were stupid enough to break the rules- they’d learnt that painfully over the first week. it just seems like dream always favours the one of them, and who that was switched on a dime. one day, he'd bring ranboo chocolate (watching him like a hawk to prevent him giving any of it to tommy) and hit tommy for daring to look at him. another, he'd spend all day hanging out with tommy and shout at ranboo until he cried when he so much as said a word.

it was easy to resent ranboo, sometimes. when he got hugs and gifts and food and got to spend the day playing around instead of being forced to mine. but tommy remembers the times where dream extended that kindness to him and remembered how awful it made him feel when ranboo was being treated like shit. it was almost worse.

he just tries harder to be good. if he's good maybe he'll be able to get dream to stop. if dream likes them both maybe everything would be okay.

it never is.

——

when ranboo shows tommy his memory book for the first time, he really is sick.

which is annoying, because he'd only had scraps ranboo had hidden today, but fuck. it was bad.

tommy could recognise dream's handwriting from a mile away. even if he couldn’t, the pages blatantly ripped out would give the game away, along with what was in the book.

“my name is ranboo,” the first line read. “my home is logstedshire. my best friend dream keeps me and my friend tommy safe here. l'manberg kicked us out so dream is helping. if we follow dream's rules to protect us everything will be okay…”

ranboo rubs tommy's back, as gently as they can. “are you okay? are you sick? i'll ask dream for a potion.”

tommy shakes his head weakly. “no, it's…”

he can’t fucking break this spell for ranboo, though. his throat dries up when he tries. ranboo was always the happier of the two, excited in a way that was almost funny in each passing day. it was like ranboo had become the loud, excitable one and tommy had grown quieter and more distant.

and this was why. he didn’t have a fucking clue what was wrong, did he? he's happy because he thinks this is safe, thinks this is normal. and maybe it's selfish of tommy but prime he wishes he could live in that fantasy land where he doesn’t know it’s not normal for your best friend to hit you and starve you and never explain why. at least one of them should get to live that life.

“nowt. just hungry.”

ranboo furrows his brow in concern. “i'll be good today, then.”

tommy feels sicker at that. dream had started switching from his weird hot and cold game to being… nice. usually. it was weird, at first, but it was alright. dream was a good friend, even if he wasn’t as cool as ranboo. but the thing was, it was even worse when they actually fucked up.

they wouldn’t be hurt at all. dream wouldn’t change a thing with them. it was always the other who bore the full weight. no food, no privileges, any sort of thing they’d earned the right to keep taken away. if it was more serious, then they’d be hit, or shouted at, and dream still sometimes used the axe. they’d be abandoned to tend to themselves and do the tedious work of survival while the one who actually fucked up would have the guilt eat up at them as dream chatted like everything was normal.

ranboo forgot to make armour to destroy yesterday. a grievous enough sin, apparently, that now tommy's still smarting bruises.

he's not stupid. he knows that isn’t right. he likes dream, it’s better to have him as a friend than a jail or and he was pretty sure he was trying to help, but what dream does to them isn't okay.

but ranboo doesn’t need fo be burdened by that knowledge. they, at least, deserve happiness, even if it is fake.

——

ranboo moans in pain as tommy finishes up bandaging the stumps where his tails once lay.

he can still smell the enchantment on dream's axe, hanging in the air like pollen. it almost drowns out the stench of blood and the ash of the ruins around them. he’s not sure which is worse.

it’s all tommy's fault. it has to be. he tried to pretend like he could own things, and he knew ranboo would bear the brunt of that punishment. dream had just done what he always had done.

“it's okay, big man, it’s okay,” tommy tries to soothe, running fingers through the overgrown mop of hair that almost reached down to ranboo's waist. he just flinches more.

tommy just screwed everything up, didn’t he?

a week. that was what dream had said. he'd visit in a week, to watch them. until then, it was all tommy's responsibility to take care of ranboo, and he wasn’t sure he could. there was just so much blood.

he shudders, thinking about what dream will do to him if ranboo dies on them. being without his best friend was bad enough, but dream could make anything worse.

tommy sobs, trying to keep the tears from landing on ranboo's already scarred and tattered skin the best he can. he fails, and the faint smell of burning flesh joins the horrible mix and ranboo lets out another faint moan.

if dream could see him now. he'd always been there to watch over them, and what if when he came back to watch, there was only one of them left?

“well, watch me now,” tommy mumbles to the air. he was meant to be there to watch them.

watch them. watch them. that sits wrong. he's meant to be their friend, right?

“you were only here to watch us.”

tommy mouths it more than speaking it, but it feels like a proclamation. he was only there to watch them. just watch. he wasn’t their friend. he didn’t care about making them better. what he cares about is watching them.

and then what? would he even care if ranboo died?

would he kill him himself?

“ranboo.” tommy hisses. “can you stand?”

“tommy?” ranboo slurs, eyes half open.

“ranboo! fuckin'- this is important, okay?”

“i- i think so-“

“okay, then this is what you’re going to do, big man. there’s a cabin through the snow that way.” tommy points vaguely in the direction of techno's place. “there’s more bandages there than i have. i want you to run there, as fast as you can, and not look back.”

“but-“

“i don’t know how to do this,” tommy admits. “i've dealt with shit before but never like this. if you have those supplies you'll at least have a chance of surviving. now go, before you die.”

“but dream-“

tommy's throat constricts. “i'll explain. he'll understand. he's our friend, right?”

ranboo nods, before stumbling up to his feet, limping across the ruins towards the vague direction of the tundra. tommy whispers a silent prayer to the primes that he’ll make it. that at least one of them will survive.

ranboo deserves it more than him, at least.

——

dream, unfortunately, did not kill tommy. if only he’d be that merciful.

he pretends it’s mercy. he pretends to be concerned and he treats tommy with condescending kindness until he doesn’t. then, tommy sometimes swears he does die, but when he's better dream is even more smothering and the cycle continues.

he’s not stupid. tommy knows why he does it. he wanted two pawns, and if he lost one he'd do anything to keep the other. nothing personal.

it's easier to see it like that, at least. it's hard, sometimes. but it's easier.

dream does not call the room he’s in a cell, but it is. it’s in a prison, and he's locked in most of the day. the baby-blue wallpaper and fuzzy carpet he'd installed hadn’t changed that, nor had swapping out the sparse furniture for a million blankets and decor more suitable for someone half tommy's age. he almost misses the dark obsidian and lava- at least that didn’t treat him like a child.

because even if sixteen was a child- he could admit to that now, because ranboo was certainly just a child- what tommy had gone through had undoubtedly aged him out of that.

they train, sometimes. on days where dream doesn’t panic when tommy has so much as a paper cut, or on days when he's not beating tommy's head into the wall. sometimes, tommy helps repair dream's endless supply of cloaks. sometimes, he cleans blood off of dream's weapons and tries not to think about how it got there.

(sometimes it’s his, and that’s easier.)

dream, in almost paternal tones, calls tommy his protege. under his breath, tommy calls himself a glorified servant.

every day, his thoughts drift to ranboo. his kind smile, the scars that ran jagged lines over his entire body, how absurd he looked in his half-ripped suit and tiara, trying to keep his hair in an orderly braid and failing miserably. dream would help sometimes, if it was a good day. dream insists on braiding tommy's hair the same way now, and tommy almost wonders if he misses him too before he reminds himself that dream does not care for either of them at all, because the alternative is worse.

(either way, it’s clear tommy would be the favourite. dream says as much, saying how thankful he is that tommy is the one that stayed because he was far more fun and ranboo was boring. tommy reminds himself it’s a lie and it makes him feel less sick.)

maybe ranboo is dead. part of him hopes he is. that way, he was free. the primes would surely guide his way, and he'd be granted the happiness he deserved. fuck, even if they didn’t, there couldn’t be anything worse than this.

could there?

——

tommy doesn’t know how long he spends in the prison before dream decides to take him out on his “first mission.”

which is a meeting. of fucking course it is. because tommy’s mission has always to be a glorified page, hasn’t it.

tommy skims his fingers over the waters edge absently as dream rows. maybe they’re leaving the server. maybe if they didn’t tommy could make his own escape. if he sank to the bottom it’d be deep enough no one could save him in time, if he were to jump. and if dream didn't constantly shift from looking at the ocean to tommy, clearly aware of the same possibility.

dream always got so fucking mad if he tried to die and failed, so it was best to make sure that the opportunity wouldn’t fail.

they stop too quickly to have gone far. idly, tommy wonders how far they must be from-

logstedshire.

the ruins lie there, same as always. tommy hadn’t noticed how bloodstained those ruins are until now, red and green.

the skeletal remains of two tails still lay on the floor, undisrupted.

“what the fuck.” tommy says under his breath. “what the fuck.”

“aww, didn’t you like the surprise?” dream laughs, and tommy immediately prepares for the worst. “chill out, i'm kidding. you act like i'm gonna kill you. we're obviously not here for this, we're going to see techno.”

tommy feels an equal amount of hope and fear bloom in his chest at that. techno's cabin was this way. and if it was, then maybe…

suddenly determined, tommy walks as quickly as he can, trying to match dream's confident strides even with the limp in his leg. he can barely feel the humid awfulness of logstedshire shift into the equally awful ice of the tundra, all caught up in his thoughts.

maybe there would be a grave. or maybe ranboo would open the door, or he'd be in the cabin, because surely techno would take him in. he'd be wearing a cleaner suit, and he'd have cut his hair back to shoulder length. they liked it long, actually, so maybe they’d keep it. they’d be smiling, like always, and they’d greet him with a hug. “tommy, it’s been so long!” they’d say. and, he hoped, they’d add “i realised dream was a fucking bitch” and tell techno to punch his lights out.

or maybe there would be no hints at what happened. but tommy can hope, even if he really shouldn’t.

when they get to the house, techno's already standing outside, waiting. “i dunno why you had'ta keep me waitin’ this-“ he says, cutting himself off once his eyes drift to- “tommy?”

“i told you it was important, right?” dream laughs.

“he's dead.”

“prime, no. he's… he wasn’t well, y’know. not in that place. so i found somewhere better for him, and started helping when i couldn’t before.” dream shrugs. “of course, that’d be illegal even though it was the right thing to do, so i kept it quiet. don’t go telling l’manberg, though, or they’ll have my head for not killing him myself or something.”

liar. liar liar liar. tommy wants to scream the truth to the world, but dream wraps his arm around his shoulders tight and squeezes his bruises, a reminder to stay quiet and be good. so he nods.

techno growls. “i knew they were bad, but…”

“it’s okay. i just thought maybe tommy needed a change of scenery, y’know? he's… he's fragile, after everything. he’s not well, y’know, physically or mentally. so he might say some weird stuff, but i knew you'd be able to handle that.”

techno snorted. “yeah, i got my hands full with ranboo-“

“ranboo? ranboo's here?”

he was alive. he is alive. tommy feels more sick than he ever has in his life and he’s not sure if it’s from excitement or fear.

“oh yeah, you two were in exile together, weren’t you? c'mon, he's in the livin-“

tommy pushes himself free of dream's grasp, excited to finally see his friend, practically his brother, again for the first time in- months, maybe. he could never even be sure. time felt like it dragged too long to tell.

bursting through the door, tommy sees them. he won’t miss them for the world. their hair's different, in a ponytail, and they're dressed in much more casual clothes than they’d normally be caught dead in, but he could recognise that face anywhere.

“ranboo!” tommy scoops ranboo into a warm hug, barely noticing how they remain limp. “oh, prime, i missed you so much-“

“do i know you?” ranboo squeaks, and tommy's heart breaks.

“ranboo, it’s me! we were in exile together, remember-“

“i'm sorry. i'm really sorry. but i- i don’t remember a thing.”

oh. of fucking course. because he didn’t have the memory book, he must have forgotten everything by the time he’d healed enough to really be cognisant again. tommy scans his face for the slightest hint of recognition, but there’s none.

tommy must be a fucking bitch, because he bursts into tears then and there.

“i'm sorry! i'm sorry!” ranboo cries out, desperately trying to find a way to salvage the situation, and tommy keeps sobbing. and sobbing, and sobbing. the floor falls underneath him, and he curls up, shaking, like a fucking pussy.

he didn’t even cry this hard when dream was at his worst. but the idea of ranboo not knowing who he was, his only friend, the only person who ever cared for him no longer being able to… it was stupid, but that must be his breaking point, he guesses. like a fucking idiot, that makes him cry harder.

“i'm so so sorry about this,” tommy vaguely hears dream say, “he's not mentally well, is there a spare room i can help him calm down in?”

“yeah, there’s one upstairs.”

tommy barely registers as he's lifted up like a child, carried away from ranboo, but he does when he hears dream whisper harshly in his ear.

“tommy, if you fuck this up i'm never letting you out again. ever. smile and play nice and act like l'manberg ruined your life, or you'll wish i'd let you die.”

tommy nods, still sobbing.

“and dry your eyes. you’re making me look bad. stop acting like an abused puppy, i practically spoil you.”

tommy tries to stop, but the tears refuse to stop, even as he tries to dry them with his hands desperately. dream's voice softens as he ruffles tommy's hair affectionately. “look, i know it’s tough, but this is for you and ranboo, y’know? if i'm able to make things right, you can be friends again. i'll make sure he remembers you, tommy. i know how to fix it, just let me, okay?”

tommy nods, finally managing to go from hysterical tears to a more reasonable level of crying.

“that’s good enough. just smile and pretend everything’s fine, okay? i'll even let you listen to your discs for a while when we get home if you’re good. and remember it’s for ranboo too.”

it hurts tommy's face to force a grin, hurts his heart to try and think of how to pretend to play along with dream's story and throw his home under the bus. but tommy isn’t stupid. he doesn’t believe dream’s bullshit, but he knows what he’s implying. behave and ranboo won’t get hurt.

that, at least, is a comfortingly familiar game to play.

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