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elmhat · 7 months

Note

I decided to just copy paste @unliklytai post

Literally crying in the club about c!staged duo istggg

How. Did Dream tell him? Did Punz see?

Did Dream have scars that had to be explained? Did he flinch about a simple movement and desperately explain that it wasn't anything Punz had done?

Or did he just tell him. Is he emotionless when he does, like it's just a information that his partner should know, is he thrown off by the crescent agitation in Punz's expression? Is he surprised when Punz is deeply horrified and worried for him?

[ Here’s the original post by @unlikelytai ]

// dsmp rp

Punz’s reaction to seeing Dream after the prison break was that of someone who thought that the plan went wrong, but not too wrong. Little prompting remarks about how awful prison must have been, which Dream brushed off. But in all fairness, “wrong” could just be down to how long it took Dream to get out. Either way, I assume that however Dream looked that day, while it was probably a bit bedraggled, he wasn't obviously and horrifically scarred or injured. Smaller wounds could be overlooked as part of the prison break battle, or just as “maybe he’s always had those,” which might even be true in some cases.

I think that Punz and Dream would’ve met very little after that. Dream wants to be alone as much as possible: partly because being around each other is dangerous, partly because he is still enamoured by the idea of having his privacy back, and partly because the prison made him reluctant to fully rely on anyone beyond himself, even his closest ally. We even see this idea in the scrapped lore, where the communication is done through notes, without even meeting face to face; I don't think that kind of thing would be uncommon.

When they do talk, they talk business. Dream has learned that letting his mind wander to other topics is a quick way to spiral. He’s more guarded than he used to be, less willing to share things about himself: where he’s been when Punz isn't around. So Punz asks him questions, are you okay? Dream answers, I’m fine. That's as far as it goes. Punz probably senses that Dream is keeping secrets from him, but he won't push. If it's important then Dream will tell him; otherwise, they have work to do. After all, it's Dream. Punz can't think of anyone less in need of his babysitting.

Practically speaking, there is no reason for Dream to tell Punz about the torture. He already has Punz’s trust, and maybe even his sympathy—all the admission would do is embarrass him, lose him respect, and he needs Punz to continue to respect him, in order to maintain their partnership. Plus, why does it even matter? What happened happened; it doesn't affect the present.

Overall, Punz probably suspects that Dream’s prison stay was worse than it was meant to be, but has no reason to think anything went seriously wrong. This is reinforced by the Dream he knew before prison not being terribly mentally stable either. This is nothing too out of the ordinary for him.

Now, I’m going to talk about this from the perspective of the scrapped lore being canon, because IT IS TO ME. And here's the thing: I can't see Punz ever agreeing to the plan in the scrapped lore if Dream explained it to him in full. The way Punz is furious and hateful and protective and eager to participate in Dream’s revenge in LN5—it just seems strange to me that he would let Dream walk into Las Nevadas alone like that. Too easy for that to go wrong. (And it did.)

But we do know that Punz still scouted out Las Nevadas for Dream and gave him coordinates for that plan specifically. Therefore, I think that Dream never told Punz the reason for it, only gave him a set of simple instructions and left the rest up to himself. I’d say it's not out of the question that Dream even gave Punz these instructions in note form, rather than in person, so as not to have to explain the reasoning behind getting involved with Las Nevadas in the first place.

But after the scrapped lore? Dream is going to be a MESS. Mentally, it’s the worst he’s been since his imprisonment—and ironically, I think Punz might be the person he trusts the least! Punz gave him those coordinates and it turned out to be a trap! (I actually think this can be explained away fairly easily: I imagine that the coordinates could’ve possibly led to one of Quackity’s hideouts, but that Quackity knew Dream would be after him and was lying in wait. He was probably staying somewhere near the replica cell, so that when Dream did eventually show up, it would only be a short run to the trap.) But for Dream, the most logical conclusion is that Punz was in on it, and that he sold him out to Quackity. Sam’s little warden arc gave Dream some crazy trust issues.

All of this means that when Punz and Dream do finally meet up in the aftermath, I think it’s going to be impossible to hide that something is wrong in ways that it wasn’t before. Dream is really badly and obviously shaken up, and that’s coming out as defensive anger, even after he’s figured out that Punz never actually betrayed him. Punz is, understandably, angry back; he has no idea what’s just happened, and Dream is coming in here flinging accusations at him? After all he’s done to help, with plans he hasn’t even been informed about? Yeah, that won’t stand. Not to mention, this is concerning; Dream isn’t someone to get easily flustered. Punz has no idea how to help him, how to… what? Comfort him? Does he need comforting? This is unknown territory, and like hell is he letting Dream leave without an explanation.

So, Dream is going to force himself to calm down, and with a practiced casualness, he is going to recite the facts. Start from the beginning. No details, just bullet points: Quackity came every day, Sam let him, he doesn’t know for how long—six months, maybe? And he was going to Las Nevadas for payback. That’s all there is to it; nothing more. Maybe it’s even good to keep his partner up to date like this.

Once the shock passes, Punz is probably going to have the horrible realization that he knew. Of course this is what Dream was hiding, it was so fucking obvious, and he chose to ignore the signs at every turn. So, back to anger. In the moment, I think a lot of that fury at Sam and at Quackity and at himself is going to be directed at Dream—how dare he not even tell him! How dare he act like everything is fine when the plan has been going off the rails for years! Dream is… unimpressed. He’s angry, too, but it’s more annoyance than anything; some rolling eyes, it’s not a big deal, Punz, it doesn’t even involve you. He’s always been so dramatic. Punz demands to go back to Las Nevadas and finish the job; he’ll do it himself if Dream won’t. Dream flat out refuses. They need to maintain their illusion of animosity, or it was all for nothing. (They’re starting to wonder if it’s really an illusion.)

Once the dust has settled, Punz asks him, are you okay? Dream answers, I’m fine. Life goes on. It’s like nothing has changed.

Neither of them really wants to think about the implications of Punz’s reaction (because if Punz is reacting this strongly then that means what happened was actually bad enough to leave a lasting impact beyond Dream’s prison stay and he CANNOT allow that), and about how much they genuinely do care about each other’s safety. It’s hard to think of each other as friends when you’re trying to change the world together, but there’s nothing like a brush with the unthinkable to make you stop and assess the true value of your relationships. They are each the only person the other can be at least mostly honest with; it’s a lonely existence. They’re suddenly terrified of losing each other.

Even though it’s not really supported in canon, I enjoy the headcanon that Punz approaches Purpled without Dream’s knowledge or consent. Because Punz needs this revenge, for Dream’s sake, and if Dream has given up seeking it himself, then—well. Maybe Punz is okay with forcing his hand.

#c!dream #c!punz #c!stagedduo #dreblr #dsmp analysis #lore thoughts #elm asks #I'm a little late answering this because. um. it got LONG #I'm not trying to claim that this is definitely how it would've gone down! this is just my own tired musings #I hope I answered your question jasdkjhksdf

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