If you're still taking requests for the fanfic two words list ask game, how about #11 with ethubs?
11. stain / unravel (x) (781 words)
He hears Etho before he sees him. He hears snow being pushed aside as he cuts through the wall (why they haven’t made a door is beyond him), as Etho worms his way through. Etho drops his tools and bag in a pile as he walks in, sighing to himself. Bdubs feels his gaze on the back of his neck for only a moment before it slides away.
"Hey."
Bdubs looks over. Etho’s halfway up the steps. His hands are stained red.
"Hey-yoh,” Bdubs starts. Etho’s halfway up the steps. His hands are stained red. “Yo. Woah."
Etho turns to him. He still hasn’t pulled the mask from his face, but his eyes give away his confusion.
“You good, Etho?"
"What?"
"You got a little..." Bdubs gestures to his hands, then to the stains on his jacket. Etho hums. Bdubs narrows his eyes, hands moving to find his communicator. He would’ve gotten a message. His mouth suddenly feels very dry. "Did you...?"
"Hm? No, it's mine."
Well that’s not any better. Etho frowns, more with his eyes than anything else.
"It's nothing."
Bdubs scoffs, folding his arms.
"Well, clearly it's something, otherwise you wouldn't be so damn dodgy—"
"I slipped, that’s it,” Etho quips. Bdubs winces.
"Ouch."
Etho shrugs. Something about him radiates discomfort more than apathy.
"It's fine. It doesn't hurt."
Bdubs lets him turn away and walk up the rest of the stairs, watching the patches on his jacket.
"Okay,” he says, to the impression of him.
He follows him a moment later. He hears him rustling around more than he sees him, and something in his chest becomes unbearably tight.
When he steps into the space, hands braced along the wooden beams of the fence, skipping over the notches, Etho is ducked over his hands, holding a rag. He scrubs at his hands, as if to wipe off the blood that stains them. He rubs, and he rubs, and he isn’t stopping.
"Etho." Bdubs says it slowly, announcing his presence. Etho doesn’t stop.
"Etho," he tries again. Etho keeps scrubbing. His skin is red raw under the stains. He doesn’t stop. Bdubs braces his hands on the fence before he hauls himself over. He doesn’t stop. "Etho, stop—"
He grabs at him, hands around his hands, and Etho freezes, muscles going taut under Bdubs’ hands. Etho meets his eyes. His are wide, dark, still green, framed with his pretty white lashes. His mouth hangs open like he can’t make words form in his mouth. His mask is off.
"Bdubs,” he finally says. Bdubs watches him swallow.
"Stop,” Bdubs manages, even if it comes out as a whisper. Etho tenses, more if possible.
"Other side,” he says. Bdubs shakes his head.
"No,” he says. “Not if you don't stop."
Etho squirms, but only for a moment. Bdubs keeps holding him.
"Let me go."
"No."
Finally, Etho seems to sag under his grip. Or resign. He isn’t sure what’s worse. But when he lets go, Etho doesn’t move. He also doesn’t look at him. He doesn’t look up when Bdubs finds a bucket of water, or when he takes Etho’s hand again and rinses the cloth. Bdubs wipes the palms of his hands, littered with nicks and cuts, a slice on the heel of his hand that only looks bad when it’s bloodied. His hands come surprisingly clean with little effort, still rubbed raw. Bdubs works gently, his eyes flicking up every so often to Etho’s face, expecting to see something. He never does. Etho keeps watching his hands, like he might watch Bdubs disappear from his grasp, or better yet, watch Bdubs take his first life.
Bdubs wraps his hands, too, pulling the bandage over his wrists. Only when he’s satisfied with his job does he pull away. He takes the bucket with him, the rag, the rest of the bandage. He turns his back to Etho, a dangerous thing that he cannot help but do (I’m not going to hurt you. Not right now. I don’t think I ever really could). He’s braced on the fence, again, dividing them, before Etho speaks.
"Thank you,” he says. Bdubs nods.
"Sure thing."
Etho looks up at him, tries to look him in the eye, finally, and something inconsolably warm washes over Bdubs. He doesn’t know if he wants to truly meet those eyes.
"Thank you."
"Hey,” Bdubs ducks his head, smiling a little. He can’t meet his eye, as much as he wants to. He gives him a shrug instead. “Don't worry about it. You're welcome."
He leaves when he feels Etho’s eyes leave the back of his neck and pretends that he won’t be staying up to make sure he sleeps.
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something i've been thinking about:
Wally is set up as a sort of "main character" by the whrp. he's said in the site's description of the show to have introduced the main theme/lesson of the day's episode, and then the rest of the neighbors join him on his escapades. but then we have our first glimpses of everyone's actual dynamics and characters through the audios and you look at Wally and its like
first of all, thats an npc. second, nearly everybody else has severe main character syndrome
but its fascinating how Wally is just kind of... There. he doesnt talk much. he doesnt contribute beyond a couple of lines. its more like he joins the others on their shenanigans. he fades into the background. he's off to the side while everyone else holds conversations & leads the moment
Wally, despite being described as Thee character, is borderline background.
& whats even more interesting, within his individual secret audio files and interactions - he's almost chatty. not only that but the way he talks is more confident and faster paced. he's taking initiative. he can be kinda pushy. when talking to the qa/whrp/Us, he acts more like the character his descriptions portray. he acts more like a person instead of a puppet waiting for his next cue
I cant tell if - when around the neighbors - his tepid milk behavior is a purposeful act or if he's masking. and if he's masking, is it deliberate or involuntary? and in regards to both, why is he acting so different? It could be tied to what he's trying to accomplish. if he's trying to "restore" Welcome Home, it would make sense for him to act as he does around the neighbors - he wouldnt want to clue them in that he knows so much more than he's letting on, would he?
but then that begs another train of thought - what if he isn't acting or masking? if there is a time discrepancy between Wally's interactions with the qa/whrp/Us & the more 'official' audios, that could explain the difference in behavior. we could be getting glimpses into "future" (read: current) Wally, who's had much more time to figure himself out since we can safely assume he started out as a blank slate. we could be seeing a more experienced Wally than the one seen with his friends.
of course that line of thinking loses some merit when considering the 14 "bug" audios. or it could lend to it... if we're seeing a more experienced Wally but his friends are only seeing what he allows them to. it's still him, just... a carefully curated version.
in general it could really tie into the themes of identity and change and being other, to me. when you're so different - or you feel so different - that you can't bring yourself to be your most authentic you around your friends. when you feel like you have to hold back and be who you think they expect you to be, or what would be most palatable. most normal. will they accept you as you really are? there's always the fear and terror that the people you consider closest to you won't. or when you're so scared of change that you'll shove down & lock away parts of yourself so that you can keep things as you are. because once they know you've changed, so will they. and really, do you want to even accept that you've changed? what if that's what scares you most of all - that you're different, you've metamorphosized, you can't go back to the way things were because you yourself are no longer the person you were before. there is no reversing this no matter how much you try or pretend
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kirbytober 2023 21 + 26 : fav characters + ship [ prev || next ]
putting this at the top because it's extremely important but i received a message implying that some folks headcanon these two as drastically different ages. you may headcanon whatever you like of course, but in my work i firmly think that they're both full adults who are at least 25+. this is abundantly clear in my work. i'm not interested in headcanoning any of them as literal children and i would never touch that shit. dni if you think that sort of ship would actually be okay. don't be a freak. thanks.
very typical to take your favs and then also shove them together but isn't that the point. anyway i have literally never seen anybody else ship them (if you're out there... hello... 😭) despite them both being very main characters and i don't know why?? they could be so cute i think...
they are both industrious adventurers, prolific hard-workers (team task doers), and a little cheekily competitive!
i think that bandee is no stranger to a wide variety of close and intense relationships; he's beloved by many and loves them all equally but distinctly in turn. magolor on the other hand has been sooo isolated and lonely for such a long-ass time, he barely knows how to be friends let alone really care for someone. bandee is smart enough to be suitably wary but kind enough to give him a chance despite that, which i think would knock him off his non-existent feet instantly. in reply, magolor could give him something unique by loving and prioritising him utterly singularly, in a way bandee wouldn't even have realised he was missing
in awtdy (pictured in the sketch page; if you see a tattered looking magolor in my art it's probably this au) in particular they are both thrown into the angst soup together and come out insanely trauma bonded at the hip. their friendship/relationship is central to the plotline; together they're working on a solution to the timeline anomaly, while also hiding that they even really know each other the whole time
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