Uh oh. You looked. What have you done.

Anyways.

There’s a level of intrigue when it comes to the twins (ik, Ik, again.)

BUT THINK about it. If we are assuming that this au tones down some of the more, erm. Mystical elements of these characters. (Like, being basically gods and such) (also it can’t be said yet how far this goes! Does error still have glitches? Is nightmare corrupted? Does ink have a soul? Do the twins sustain some sort of empathetic abilities? Is killers soul thing normal? Who knows!!!) they would have different origins!! The twins are probably the most in depth of a switch, considering their origins are the MOST bizarre💀

assuming they aren’t buddy buddy (which they could be, we won’t know till zuchiyeni spreads forth their hand into the abyss and reveals to us the flames of canon ✨) they may have had some sort of falling out…

so ahem

THOUGHTS!!

Is Nim their mother.

if an alternate version of Nim(their mother/creator in dreamtale) is, in fact, their mother, it can be assumed they have been adopted in some way :) maybe not depending on how you would view uh, monster coupling💀 but they aren’t visibly of split heritage, and she isn’t a skeleton. In Dreamtale, Nim never put the effort into KNOWING the twins. If that carried over, it could cause some really interesting dynamics. Is NIM associated with the music or entertainment industry? 👀 imagine a cold, uppity Nim. Maybe she isn’t horrible, maybe she is, but She’s got expectations, and is distant.

in this hypothetical, we could question what path the twins really wanted to live. Did they ORIGINALLY want fame? Or did they feel trapped. Did they have to learn to navigate their own way? Do both of them leave her? One? Neither? Does she die? (within this concept , again.)

if she isn’t at all associated, did the twins have dreams and aspirations of fame? Did they….at some point…have a career together??? How sad would that be.

(maybe she isn’t their mother, maybe she’s someone they contracted under. Also YES she easily might not exist in this world I’m just having fun with potential parallels 🫠👏)

NOW. MY BRAIN DEMANDS TO CONSIDER THE OTHER DREAMTALE DEITIES. I could see Quetzalcoatl and Lanny being big in the music industry, which would be INTERESTING if those two and Nim were all affiliated with that life. It would make sense for them to still have the affiliation and possibly competition?

IT ALSO OPENS AGNST OPPORTUNITY. (And you know we love angst in this fandom.)

again, in dreamtale, let’s mention Lanny. Dreamtale is unfinished so keep in mind we don’t have 100% solid characterization, but the creator HAS discussed character personality and bias, and has carried the information to the making of the story so far.

Lanny …is implied to have…had a thing for her fellow guardian, Nim. Lanny hated Nightmare for what he did, for how he ruined everything with the corruption and destroying what’s left of Nim.

but she…also resented and despised Dream. Blaming them both for what happened, and with nightmare having gone rouge, all of that pressure then falls on dream. Dream, who had lived 6 years of life out of the hundreds he was trapped in stone.

She is, not sure how yet, the reason Dream was able to break free of stone, and she went on to mentor him. Train him. But she’s portrayed as being unnecessarily harsh and disdainful towards Dream. (IF WE INCLUDE Neil, yk the cat/ father figure/friend of dream, that would be interesting cause he really cares about dream and seemingly didn’t appreciate lanny’s treatment.)

(also I realize how deranged this sounds without context, there’s WAY to much of dreamtale lore to actually explain here so if you need more context go check out dreamtale lore💀I promise I’m not bs’ing, just criminally simplifying.)

ANYWAYS this is so unorganized. Adhd brain uh—

LANNY. Imagine Dream and Nightmare split ways for whatever reason. Dream signs a contract with this Lanny person. Lanny already knows who he is ofc, and he probably is familiar with her, as she knows their mother and probably has been keeping an eye on them. It would be interesting for Lanny to be a past ( or even current idk) contractor or something to Dream. I don’t imagine he’d have a lot of freedom in that space. She would have a lot of expectation too, and is rather unsympathetic and overworking. Maybe he pulls a t-swift and manages to escape that with the stars 😌 maybe not. Probably manipulative. Gaslighting even.

She could give “caring“ aunt energy.

“wouldn’t want to disappoint them, do you? Disappoint me? LOVELY! I knew you’d understand!”

IF DREAM GOES TO LANNY. What If Nightmare goes to Quetzalcoatl?

this seems odd. But hear me out. Quetzalcoatl is implied to be the one who ends up getting Nim killed in dreamtale. It’s complicated. Anyways, if he has it out for her, and Nightmare grows to resent his mother and/ or her way of doing things, a young nightmare going to the guy who “understands him” is interesting. It would give creepy uncle energy💀 but like. It also makes sense on some level because, again, in dreamtale, the person who attacks Nim and gets her killed is a human. The human is implied to have been a creation OF Quetzalcoatl. (Guardian of the life tree) said person gets killed and perished on the roots of the feelings tree. His um….consciousness is like. Absorbed into the negative side of the tree. (I am SO sorry if you haven’t read about this.) anyways. That GUYYYYYY. Yk nightmares corruption??? YEAH, THAT’S HIM!!! The voice that manipulates nightmare isn’t ‘just negativity’, dreamtale often highlights that negativity also has positive outcomes,just as positivity has negative outcomes, and that balance is important.. it was the GUY being involved that changed things :,) . I don’t think nightmare knows this actually? ANYWAYS NOT THE POINTTTTT. what I mean is. Quetzalcoatl manipulating nightmare makes sense, as he indirectly did so in dreamtale.

he could give vibes of the “cool” creepy uncle.

“They just don’t understand people like us, do they? They never will.”

I can imagine nightmare getting older and more self sufficient and being like F that. Especially as he makes his own friend (mtt trio? 🌸) and realizes he isn’t codependent. But maybe it changed him in a lot of ways.

maybe the twins were in a normal sort of family, and dreamt of life in the spotlight. Maybe one did and one didn’t. Maybe their entire family has more drama than “just them” does, and that complicated things for them. Maybe they’ve been trapped and manipulated and naive in this world too. And they had to grow up and find their way. Maybe those situations have affected them and their worldview. And…their relationship. maybe they weren’t little kids when they fell out, but young, unknowing adults who don’t know who they are and made messy mistakes that affected more then just themselves.

maybe Nightmare can’t stand being misunderstood, and seeing people taken advantage of. Maybe Nightmare needs to be heard, and he’s learned to translate this to music and such. Maybe Nightmare has an easier time being aloof and angry towards his family because it means his own feelings are valid. He enjoys the ability to connect with a lot of people, an audience, while being distanced. He can’t be hurt. He can flip off the people who have hurt him and make his OWN way. The ability to overcome people opinions of him, to prove his own worth to himself. His voice will be heard.

Maybe he want’s to be seen.

maybe Dream desperately needs to have a mask on, he’s not allowed to express himself openly. Maybe he’s confused and can only take on blame for things that have gone wrong. Maybe he feels indebted to this industry , or people around him. Maybe he enjoys the audience as individuals but feels isolated among them, undeserving. Maybe he’s guilty of the fame. Maybe he wants close connection. But people can only see him for the perfect image he puts foreword. Get too real, and people leave.

Maybe he fears being seen.

….ANYWAYS THATS ENOUGH FOR NOW. *snips off the list of concepts here*

Idol! Au belongs to @zucchiyeni