#eqex extras

Anything to distract him from the tower that reached into the sky behind him.

"Do you think he would have done the same, if he were in your position?"

Tubbo shot up, stumbling into the surf. Waves lapping at his legs as he turned to look at the man who interrupted his wandering thoughts.

"Dream."

"Tubbo." He responded smoothly, impassive as ever. The smiling orb swivelled to look blankly at the young president.

"I asked you a question."

Tubbo's shoes were filled with water, his socks soaked through as the ocean saturated the fabric. He does not move. Dream tilts his head.

"Do you think if he was given the choice to exile you, would he?"

"No." His voice tremors with the slightest hesitation. Fists clenched at his sides, the water soaks into his pants further, pushing at his legs as the wind picks up. Dream hums, the single note soft against the steady drum of Tubbo's heartbeat.

His eyes catch on the tower behind Dream, the seemingly endless structure stretching up into the gathering clouds. Breath catching in his throat, he looks away, down at the ocean soaking his dress pants.

"Why are you here." He wills his voice to stay steady. He can't. Not in front of him. But his shaking fists pressed to his side are indication enough.

"If given the chance, would you have taken the fall for him?"

"What are you asking Dream?"

"Would you prefer it, if it were you in his place?"

"Yes." This time, his voice is steady. It's something he had thought of far too often in the last few days- a foregone conclusion. He lifts his eyes from the water, meeting Dream's gaze once again. With a jolt, Tubbo realises the green clad figure was now directly in front of him. Tubbo hadn't even heard him move.

The smiling orb is too close for comfort, and Tubbo takes a step backwards only to lose his balance. A gloved hand catches his, pulling him close as Dream grips his hand harder.

"Then it's a deal."

-----

Tommy stops mid-sentence as he feels the world shift.

"Techno." He staggers across the table, and the piglin in question reaches forward to steady him.

"Shit- shit shit shit- no- move back-" Technoblade hesitantly obliges, giving the boy space as he hovers nearby.

"Fuck."

The world shifts, and Tommy lets out a cry as the universe tears him at the seams, remaking him against his will.

When Tommy's mind returns to him, he finds himself sprawled across the table uncomfortably, Technoblades sword pointed at his throat.

"Have you always been able to do that?"

Ignoring Technos question, Tommy scrambles off the table, pitching for a moment as he misjudges the distance between tabletop and the floor.

"Shit. Shit. Who- who would he have swapped me with-" The crossbow hung on the wall shines, enchanted runes glinting in the setting sun. It still looks the same it did the day Techno used it to murder-

"Tubbo."

[end]

-----

:)

extra notes:

- it hasnt come up yet but in this au dream has different forms he can shift between! this is one of them vyugvjhvhjjh not quite classified as a shapeshifter but yknow.

- dream knows tommy is alive! hes looking for him :)

the crack theory is. mostly correct agdhdbdndvfj george made a deal, he was in a situation where theres no way he could have known the consequences, and he wants to be human again.

and for the comic itself: it is a dream. (as well as a jumble of memories in the way dreams can be)

George dreams of Dream being human sized, but quickly realises that it is a dream/memory of sometime before the events of the lore but... theres something off about it. when he realises that something is up, he slips into something more of a memory.

the blood on George's hands is Dreams, the perspective is is intended to be Dream's pov in that shot- Dream is a borrower! George is human. to save Dream, George makes a deal with a powerful entity, and its meant to imply that they have swap heights. but also yknow. theres other side effects with deals- especially ones with such powerful entities such as XD (for example. theres a reason XD and Dream look similar later on)

the text in the last few pages are from the minecraft end credits, and are intended to be kind of George and XD- George cares for Dream and is willing to make a deal with. god basically. "the universe said you have played the game well (and i will reward you for it)" as i said in the caption: the universe plays favourites.

and if you look closefully in the background of the XD page, you can see vague rectangular shapes outlined in dark purple ;]

at the end, George wakes up from the dream, as a borrower once more. (personally i dont think this next detail is clear in the comic, but i intended to imply that the dream was brought on/manipulated by XD, who also brought George back to the waking world. notably, the colours i used for XD are brighter/more neon, than Dream, but i assume its not that obvious cos of placement in the comic + black vs white backgrounds ;P)

i definitely think theres some things id change about that comic if i were to do this again but honestly i was so shocked and overjoyed that someone had sent me BASICALLY what i had planned for this big plot point for george that i just wanted to respond ahsjfbejfbej

main posts (chronological)

The Betrayal (comic): [link]

The Betrayal cont. (ficlet): [link]

Respawn (comic): [link]

Regrets and Realisations (ficlet) : [link]

Burns on Blackstone Walls (illustrated ficlet) : [link]

Ending/Beginning (comic): [link]

extras/bonus content

Democracy (comic): [link]

END (lore dump): [link]

check out the #eqex extras tag for ONLY extra content!

Extra Notes: [1] [2]

Possible Future (exile arc angst ficlet, read the tws): [link]

The Universe Plays Favourites: [link] (further explanation+talk abt the end: [link] [link])

Notes on George: [link]

Notes on Quackity: [link]

as always there is more content (info + bonus doodles in the tag :]!!!) arranged agreement stuff is in the process of being tagged/sorted

fanart/related works

people,, made things,,,,,, 🥺??!??!! im still reeling over that ok absjfbskbc

PLEASE GO LOOK AT THE AMAZING WRITING AND ART 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

equivalent exchange

[Ghostbur and Friend] by fanart anon

[Wilbur and Tommy] by fanart anon

arranged agreement

writing by @/wendy130 (angsty, tw for death) [link]