(shakes tumblr) PLEASE TELL ME WHEN IM RAMBLING TOO LONG I CAN TAKE IT

anyways i'm going to continue the ramble here bc tumblr ate it:

But going back to the scene with Hope getting Alexander, like I don't know how to stress the idea that this group was a group that argued and fought early game and even split because they just couldn't see eye to eye on anything.

You get to that scene with Hope, who now lacks any reason to go on because at that point the only thing that he had going for him was the hatred and desire to kill Snow before he realized this was no way to live and it wouldn't save him from anything, and only finds that both as the youngest and least experienced, he felt more or less like a burden to the rest, even expressing the rest of the group to leave him behind.

This group who argued and fought early game all came together to protect Hope and assure him that he deserves to be here, just as anyone else does.

Like!!! That character development!!! The relationship building???? It's all so smooth and well done at that point that it felt so natural that they'd take care of each other. We are in this hellhole together, and we will get out of it together.

It's just!! I don't know. The charm that I have with this game is not in the battle system or the plot itself, but rather the characters and how human they all feel, and the relationship they build with one another. It's a really wonderful game if you're looking for something more character driven.

I need to replay this entire series at some point,, ahhh

Breakdown

Crie s I'm done with this aaaa. I think this might be the longest fic ive ever wrote omfg. I'm actually pretty proud of myself, because i usually never finish things this long. But thanks a lot to both @uf0-toast and @cartoons-behind-blogging for listening to me scream about this for two days ;v; a cookie for whoever can guess the three songs I referenced !

Summary: GCBC gets invited to a party.

TW: anxiety, possible ptsd, minor blood

Rating: T

It was at a party. Well, not exactly a ‘party’, more of a festive get-together as Bad Cop called them, considering the fact that he didn’t want to be there in the first place. Especially not at Cloud Cuckooland. The lights were too bright, music too loud, and even voices were gosh-darn annoying. The only reason he had been there was because of a certain someone wanting to go.

  ‘Hey, buddy, why don’t you go n’ dance? Make some new friends!’ Good Cop had spoken up, speech still a bit slurred.   The cop gave a sigh. “If you wan’ a dance n’ make friends so bad, why don’t you come out n’ do it yourself?“ He mumbled back.  ‘You know ’m scared t’ come out like this. B'sides, you need t’ work on your social skills, Bad’ Good Cop held back a laugh at mentioning this.   Ever since the events of TAKOS Tuesday, Bad Cop’s other half hadn’t exactly… been himself, in more ways than one. It’s been about a week since then.

  The day prior to the festive get-together was one of the Cop’s first days back from working under Business’ strict rule. After leaving the Super Secret Police that Business had them working in, they had instantly gone back to working as a normal cop. They knew they should take time off after what had happened in those last 3 short days, but they couldn't just laze around their home all day. For them, normal patrol work was a vacation, compared to the work Business had them doing. It was a good break, Bad Cop returned to the normal car chases he loved, and Good Cop went back to crossaint and donut breaks, which he oh-so loved as well.   "PULL OV'R N' COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!" The cop had shouted into the megaphone, head halfway through the window. The criminal was persistent, and it took hours upon hours to finally catch him. And after that was Good Cop's croissant break.   Bad Cop had to order the croissants and coffee, of course. The other still had a bit of a doubt of how people would react to his new face. Bad paid and thanked Larry before rushing out the coffee shop door.   The cops had made their way back to the police cruiser before meeting a familar furry face.   "HIIII, BAD COP!!" Unikitty had shouted in her high pitched, hurting-Bad-Cop's-ears voice. The cop gave a shout, being startled by her sudden appearance, nearly dropping the hot coffee in his lap. "GAH! DON'T SNEAK UP ONE SOMEONE LIKE THAT!" After attempts of trying to calm his heart rate, he continued, putting his hand on his forehead. "What d' you want? I thought the Master Builder's wouldn't want anything t' do with me." Unikitty's excited grin faltered a bit at that question. "Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Buuut! I am throwing a party tomorrow night to celebrate the defeat of the Kragle," that word had caused Bad Cop to flinch a bit, "and Emmet, Wyldstyle, Benny, Metalbeard, and myself thought it would be great for you to come stop by and join us!" The cop opened his mouth to say something-   "There'll be CAKE, and ICE CREAM! Oh, and MUSIC," He had been interuptted as she continued to list off things she had planned, "and GAMES, because who doesn't love party games?! Of course, we're still doing reconstruction on CCC, or C3 for shorter, but we were able to make one party room for tomorrow-"   "Unikitty."   "And it should be good until we get the other 23 up and running-"   "Unikitty?"   "But we REEEALLLY think it would be great for you two to meet new peop-"   "I can't."   Well, that just made her stop dead in her tracks. "W-Why not?" Bad Cop picked up his keys, as a way to hint at her that he wanted to escape from this conversation. "I jus'... think that it might be better if I wasn't there. After all, I was th' one t' ruin... C3," Man Upstairs, he didn't want to call it that. "Look, I appreciate the offer but I just can't."   Unikitty looked defeated. Her ears folded back and she looked toward the sidewalk. "Alrighty. Well, if you change your mind you can always come anyway! Bye, Bad Cop!" And with that, she was off, sparkles and glitter and every other bright shiny thing you can think of trailing her.   'I think it would be fun.' Good Cop had spoken up after a short period of silence.   Bad Cop had ignored what he said. "Do you want your croissant 'r not?" He heard a mental sigh come from his other half as their head spun and suddenly his scribbled face was in control. He picked up his croissant and hesitated.   'You're okay.'   Ever since the... 'incident' with Good Cop and Business, several things have been harder for Good Cop to do with his new face, replaced by scribbled features. Eating, for one, was an issue, considerjng his mouth was nothing but a cross between smooth and jagged edges. Sight, another. Without his glasses, Good couldn't see very far, and adding that to his new eyes, several problems could erupt, which is usually why Bad does all the driving. And of course, speech. He didn't sound like he used to, which is something he could ignore, but his speech pattern had become slurred, which led to some misunderstandings. "I know, I jus'- Maybe we should go?"   'No one would want us there n' you know it.'   "We don' know that. We won' if we don' go."   He took a bite from his snack. "I think it'd be good fer you."   Bad Cop had been so busy thinking back to the day before that he hadn't even noticed the unicorn/cat hybrid and a familiar blue spaceman walk (or rather, float, in Benny's case) up to the punchbowl where the cop had been hiding out since he arrived. "Hey! Bad Cop! Wassup! It's me, Benny, remember?!" Ben had shouted at the top of his lungs, over the loud music playing, snapping Bad out of his thoughts. He jumped back a bit, startled by the new set of loud noises. "Uhm...?" He started, making an attempt to actually remember who Benny was. Good Cop spoke up.   'Remember when we were stuck at th' tower? 'N all the Master Builders escaped, buddy?' Bad Cop thought back. He did remember a blue-clad astronaut among the other Builder's. "Vaguely." He mumbled to Good, just enough to where the music drowned it out. Benny tilted his head a bit when he noticed that he had said something. "Hmm? You gotta speak up, dude, it's LOUD IN HERE!" Bad Cop shook his head in annoyance and opened his mouth to repeat himself, but next thing he knew Benny was already off on another tangent. "Hey! I just wanted to thank you for letting me build a spaceship last week! It really meant a lot!" The confused cop made sure to speak up this time. Benny was right, it WAS loud in here. "'m not th' one you should be thankin'! Good was the one who-"   "OH, YEAH!" Benny had interrupted, "Unikitty and I wanted to know how Good Cop was doing!" Bad flinched. "He's f-fine." He mumbled, forgetting that the music automatically drowned it out.   "WHAT?!"   "I said he's FINE, Ben!" He just about screamed that.   "OH-KAY!"   Unikitty felt as though it was her turn to speak, just trying to keep Benny from being in the hospital due to possible death by chair. "I'm so glad you could join everyone, Bad Cop! I was kinda worried you'd miss the party!" The only response she got was a quiet grumble from the cop standing in front of her. "C'mon Mr. Grumpy Pants! Lighten up a little and come dance!"   Man Upstairs, why does everyone want him to dance so bad?! "No, thank you. Not happenin'."   Unikitty raised one eyebrow and put on a fake innocent smile. "I bet Good Cop would come out and dance!" This caused her to receive a glare from Bad Cop, which was hidden behind his aviators. So Unikitty's expression didn't falter in the slightest. "He doesn't wan' t' come out right now."   Unikitty's smile disappeared, and was soon replaced by an expression of 'the opppsite of happiness'. "Okay... I won't pressure you anymore, sorry!" Bad Cop sighed in relief. As the two Master Builders went to the other end of the snack table, where all the cookies and cake and cookie cakes where. Something told Bad that the last thing those two needed was more sugar.   'B-Buddy?'   "Hmm?" Bad Cop had responded, quietly.   Good Cop had been silent for a few short moments. He did a mental inhale before saying,   'I want t' come out."   Bad Cop froze for a few short seconds.   'Bad?'   "I heard you." He looked out across the sea of dancing Master Builders and 'Party Animals' as Unikitty called them You really wan' t' come out?"   'Yeah. I haven't... been out... much.'   Bad Cop sighed. "I know." He looked back over at Unikitty and Benny before calling for them.   They were in a smaller, separate room. A dress up room. With a mirror and a large closet stuffed with party costumes.   "You wanted t' know how Good was doing?" The cat and spaceman nodded. "You look a little nervous, Bad Cop, is everything alright?" Benny was the first to ask. Bad Cop had been gripping at his shirt with his right hand, left on his cheek. "'M fine. It's jus' that he hasn't been out in public much since..." He stopped himself there.   'Bad, I'll be okay... breathe.'   "Bad Cop you don't have to do this if you don't want to. Not if it makes you uncomfortable." Unikitty reassured. Gosh darn it, why were these two being so nice to him? It's a question he hadn't even thought of asking, he's been so distracted with literally everything else.   A new song had started up and could be heard from through the walls.     Even if it makes me blind     I just want to see the light     Breath in, leave it all behind     I just want to see the light   Unikitty's expression changed from concern to excitement in a matter of milliseconds. She squealed with delight. "Ah! This is my favorite song! C'mon Benny!" And with that she ran out the door, the spaceman following. Ben turned back around to face the nervous Cop. "Hey, just chill, dude! You'll be okay. If not, just give us a shout!" And he left.   A shout. Right.   He turned to look at the mirror, taking his hand off his cheek, other hand still gripping at his shirt. It was a good thing that he had been wearing a normal button up shirt rather than his leather police uniform, or those wrinkles he was creating would've been there forever.   "You sure you wan' t' go through with this?"   Good Cop's only reply was a simple word.   'Yes.'   Next thing Good Cop saw was his scribbled face in the mirror. He was starting to have second thoughts.   'You don' have t' do this if you don' want t', you know this, right?'   Good noted Bad's repetition of Unikitty's words. He shook his head.   "I need t' work on my social skills jus' like you do." He laughed a bit, making a light-hearted joke to ease the anxiety between the two. Good Cop stopped laughing and took deep breaths before walking out of the room and into the main party hall. He felt his heart skip a beat as he took one step foward, then another. Some partygoers had started to notice him, and the room went quiet, save for the loud music and chatting of people who were clueless to what was happening. Good Cop's heart started to race, which Bad Cop took note of.   'Good, calm down.'   He could hear comments about his face, and more and more comments about his presence overall.   'Stay calm.'      'Ew, what happened to his face?' 'Wasn't he the one that destroyed Cloud Cuckooland in the first place?' 'He's probably just here to spy on us, so we can just do this whole shebang all over again.' 'Business better not have followed him here.'   That name. Business. Good Cop started to focus on that name.   'Good, breathe in n' out. You're not breathing, Good! Snap out of it!'   He was right. He couldn't breathe. He was frozen to the spot like a deer in headlights. Why couldn't he move? He could've moved if he wanted to but-   Emmet was walking over. Wyldstyle, Metalbeard. Why were they walking over? He tried to hide his face, arms merely twitching. Emmet walked up to him. "Heh, hey, uh Good Cop? Everything all right there, pal?" He placed a hand on the cop's shoulder, which caused him to step back. He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't find a lie to tell him. Bad Cop was so much easier at lying to people's faces, gosh, why couldn't he?     He closed his eyes and held his head, blocking out any noises around him. Man Upstairs, if he could just move he could run back into the room. Why couldn't he move?!   He opened his eyes. Presi- No. It was Lord Business. He was wearing his Power Suit and everything. His helmet, his cape, his boots. Where did he get them?! He had told everyone he had gotten rid of it. Good Cop's eyes went wide as he started spitting out apologizes left and right, hoping he wouldn't punish them again.   He didn't mean to let the Special get away, it was that darned Master Builder's fault. Business said something, which Good Cop couldn't seem to make out. Robots came over. He felt hands grab his shoulders, cold and firm, and he desperately thrashed about to get away, eyes glued shut. Through much struggle he pulled his arm free and clocked whoever he could reach. The hands leg go. After several short moments, he opened his eyes to where Business had been standing, ready to apologize once more for punching one of his robots. Although, when he opened them...   He was still at the party. Metalbeard- goshdarn his size- was standing in place of where Business was, Benny to his left, holding his nose, blood dripping from it and down his chin, under where his space helmet had cracked, Wyldstyle and Emmet at his side. Oh.   Oh no. Oh no, no, no.   He could hear Bad Cop shouting at him.   'SNAP OUT OF IT! IT'S NOT REAL, GOOD!!'   Good Cop shook his head. His mind cleared. The whole room had gone into shock, only the music left playing. The cop just stared with wide eyes. He didn't want this to happen. Why did this happen?! All he wanted was to be more outgoing than he had been. All of this was just a mistake. Mistake. Suddenly, he could breathe easily again, though he felt as though the room had been getting smaller. Metalbeard leaned over to him and said, as quiet as he could, which isn't very, "Ye be alright, laddy?"   And there they were.   Tears. Tears had started to fall down Good's face, mixed with the ink of his eyes and mouth, staining the shirt he had been wearing. Everyone stopped short and took a step back, allowing him some room. Darn it all, first he clocks Ben in the face, causes a scene, then cries in front literally every Master Builder? Bad Cop would have his head, if they didn't share the same one, for showing all this vuberability of the two. Biggest mistake of Good Cop's life, considering he felt awful bad for everything that had happened in the span of 5 minutes. Benny looked up, ignoring his now broken face (he could worry about that later), and floated over to Good Cop, who was doing his best to hold in sobs.   "Hey, man? Are you okay?"   That was all Benny had to say before Good let it all out. These people really cared about him and he just didn't understand why. His legs gave out and was soon on the floor, crying inky tears into his white (now gray) shirt and onto the floor. Unikitty must have noticed because the music had been shut off. Everyone stood still looking in the direction of where Good Cop had been sobbing. The room was absolutely silent now, save for the few hiccuping sobs coming from the cop.   Good had made an attempt to reach out to Bad, considering he needed him now more than ever. But he received no response from his other half.   Everyone had been staring. Good Cop expected them to laugh, to use these weaknesses against him and Bad. But they just stood there, concern across everyone's faces. Emmet exchanged glances with Benny. No one knew what they should be doing. They had never seen the two like this. Emmet had walked over to him on the floor and sat down. He said nothing and put his hand on the cop's back, starting to rub it. He looked back at the crowd with an expression of 'This doesn't leave this building', then back to Good Cop with sad eyes. He had gone quiet, save for the occasional hiccups. Emmet didn't know how long he sat there, Benny didn't realize how much blood had gotten on his suit, and Good Cop didn't realize how many were staring.   Bad Cop had finally spoke up through the silence of their mind.   ''m sorry.'   Good Cop wanted to say something back, but his throat had felt like it'd closed up.   He couldn't say anything. He didn't know what to say anyway, so it wouldn't make a difference.   ''m sorry.' Bad Cop repeated.   'I knew you were too nervous t' go out there. I shoulda stopped you.'   Good Cop took in a breath. "I-I'm okay." He said with a shaky breath, both to Bad Cop and the crowd around him. Bad just about screamed.   'Good, you're NOT OKAY. YOU'RE ON TH' FLOOR, STAININ' YOUR SHIRT. I THINK THAT'S A WEE BIT FAR FROM 'OKAY'.'   He tried to stand up. He needed to escape. To leave. To forget this ever happened. He was embarrassing himself. Emmet and Unikitty helped him onto his feet, his gaze locked to the floor, finding the little bit of space between each brick in the makeup more exciting then what had been currently happening. Once he had gotten to his feet, he crowd began to mumble things under their breaths. Good Cop refused to look away from the floor, hands covering his face. "Good Cop? You feeling better?" Benny had asked him. Through his hands, he responded with, "'m f-fine." He lied. "I- I jus' wanna leave."   "Okay. Unikitty and I'll see you out, i-if that's o-okay?" The cop nodded and started out the door. The spaceman looked back at Emmet, Wyldstyle and Metalbeard, as a way to say, 'Everything's okay,' and allow them to resume the music.   Good Cop had already been in the car he drove to the party, which is actually the opposite of what you would expect him to drive. It wasn't a police cruiser, more of a normal everyday car, one much like what Emmet would drive. Benny had floated over with Unikitty and found the cop sitting in the passenger seat. Although, it had been Bad Cop who had taken over, mumbling quietly to himself. The vehicle had been dead silent, but the two still couldn't make out what he had been saying.   Benny opened the driver door. Before he could open his mouth to say something- "Get in. Both 'f you." Bad Cop had demanded. Although the Master Builders were confused, they got in anyway, Benny, in the driver's seat, Unikitty in the back seats. "What are w-"   "You're drivin', Ben." Bad Cop informed him, looking away. Benny said nothing, gripped onto the steering wheel and started the car.   The cops had lived a long ways away, and the ride had been silent, save for occasional mumbling and grumbling from Bad Cop, the spaceman barely able to make out what he had been saying. Apologies, how much he hated how bright C3 was, the sort. Benny looked at Unikitty in the rear mirror. She had been looking out the windows, a bit of a bored, yet regretful expression on her face. The blue astronaut put his eyes back on the road, remembering that he needed to be more careful with this car and not cause a crash. After all, there were two things it wasn't: his, and a spaceship.   He took a look at the car radio. He hadn't noticed how quiet this ride was until he took a glance at the buttons and bells and whistles to his right.   "'m sorry all this happened, Good." Bad Cop whispered under his breath.   ''s okay.'   "No, it's not okay. We shoulda given you more time t' recover. All this is my fault 'n 'm sorry."   'It's not your fault.'   The two stayed quiet after that. Benny spoke up, breaking the two from their conversation. "Bad Cop?"   He grumbled.   "Look, I-I'm really sorry that happened to you, dude." He meant more than just the party incident. "But, if you ever need to talk to someone about this, we're your buddies, man, we'll listen to anything you gotta say."   Buddies. Right.   "Emmet, Wyldstyle, Uni and I, even Batman-" Unikitty shook her head. "Okay, maybe not Batman," he still had that whole tax evasion thing going on, "but everyone else, we'll be here for you okay?"   Bad Cop said nothing. It was a few more minutes of silence before Unikitty whispered something to the astronaut, just enough to where the cops couldn't hear. It would've made a difference anyway, he hadn't been listening to anything but the sounds of the engine running.   "Could I play some music? I think it could get your mind off things for the night." Ben asked.   Bad Cop shrugged. "Sure, but we're almos' there anyway. It's jus' about fifteen minutes."   Benny rolled his eyes. "C'mon, dude I'm trying to help you out here. Look, I'll try to see if I can find, like, an 80's music station or something."   After about a minute, Bad Cop heard a song playing. "Oh, my gosh! I love this song!" Benny shouted. A few seconds in, Unikitty perked up from the back and agreed. Bad Cop listened to the lyrics as Benny and Unikitty sang, quite bad, if you wanna put it politely.     I stopped an old man along the way   Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies   He turned to me as if to say, "Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you"   Bad Cop recognized this song. It had been a song he and Good always started road trips off with. It was never an official trip without it. The chorus came along.   It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you   There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do   Benny and Unikitty had been singing at almost the top of their lungs (not enough to bother Bad Cop), that they almost didn't notice the quiet, slightly slurred voice that had joined in.   Keyword: 'Almost'.   I bless the rains down in Africa   Gonna take some time to do the things we never had   Benny and Unikitty shut up before he was finished singing the second half of the chorus. Good Cop noticed that it had been unusually silent from them, despite the song still playing. He looked over, revealing his still-runny-inked face, which didn't seem to phase either of the Master Builders. Benny had a huge grin on his face, almost literally stretching from ear to ear and Unikitty's eyes were sparkling like they've never sparkled before. "See? I told you you'd feel better with some music! Just some singing and you're back in the groove of things!" The cop made an attempt to pretend that he didn't know what he was talking about. Of course, Benny wasn't believing it.   "You should sing more often!" Unikitty cheered. Good Cop's face flushed at the compliment, which was very crontrasting to the ink smears that made it up. Bad Cop quickly switched in, their head spinning around. "Th-Thanks, but we jus' wanna get home n' forget that tonight ever happened." After that, he quickly fell silent again, Benny and Unikitty still grinning.   The song ended and another began.   Darling you got to let me know   Should I stay or should I go? They had soon arrived at the cops' apartment complex in Bricksburg. Bad Cop jerked a bit in his seat and looked up out the front window. He groaned and put his face in his hands. "Ugh, 'm sorry, I didn't even consider th' fact that you both need a ride back." Unikitty got out of the car through... the window. "Pssh, it's okay Bad Cop!" Benny undid his seatbelt and turned off the car, opened the door and soon floated right out like a balloon. "Yeah! I have a spaceship hangar close by, dude! I have them all over the universe just in case!" Bad gave him a look through his hands before promptly placing them in his lap. "It's only been a week. How've you had time t' build so many spaceships in seven days?" Benny looked nervous.   "W-Well, I never said that..." He waved his hands. "ENOUGH ABOUT THAT. Look, dude, Unikitty and I'll find a spaceship to take back to Cuckooland. And again, remember, that the rest of the Master Builders and us are here if you need to talk to anyone about anything okay?" He handed the cop a phone number. In messy handwriting, it read:      The DOG          270-4730   Bad Cop nodded. "G'night, Ben. Unikitty."   "Good night, Bad Cop. Tell Good Cop 'night for us too!" Unikitty responded.   Their apartment. That old, messy apartment. The one Business had reserved for them while under his rule. After TAKOS Tuesday, it had become more and more filthy and dirty. Bad Cop didn't mind, he had a place for everything, but Good Cop hated it.   He walked into the bathroom. The mirror, which desperately needed a cleaning (Man Upstairs, give him a day off to clean this place), showed his face, his tired, tired face. It then switched to a scribbly face, ink stains running down the cheeks and chin.   'D' we need to fix it?'   "... yeah."   ''m still sorry about what had happened back at 'Kitty's place.'   "'S not your fault."   'I know.'   It had been about a month later. Bad Cop had been sitting in his police office and Business payed him a visit, another attempt to apologize for Good Cop. Gosh, he wanted to punch him. However, by a cruel miracle, he was still the president, and the cops knew all too well that if you threaten the President, you threaten your life. No matter if he's 'reformed or not' (extra claw quotations around reformed). After the president had left, Bad Cop grabbed the nearest, replacable object he could, and gripped it as hard as possible. It broke. It was a ceramic dog, much like one that you would buy for $2 at an arts and crafts store and paint it yourself. A gift from Emmet. The ears, paws, and tail were blue and pink, while the rest was orange. The colors contrasted a bit, but Bad Cop didn't mind. He felt awful for what he did to it though, but then again, you shouldn't give anything breakable like that to Bad Cop.   He cleaned off his hand, pieces from the dog making his hand white from the powdery material, and rainbow colored from the paint.   He sat there a moment, recollecting his thoughts before looking over at a strip of paper taped to his computer monitor. He contemplated something for a few quick moments.   He picked up his phone and dialed the number.   It rang a few times before a cheery voice picked up on the other end.   "Hello?"   "Hello, Ben. Sorry t' bother... but I need t' vent."