#oink asks

the general idea is that instead of like. having his brain exploded or whatever happens to derek at the end of dawtde, derek instead has his brain basically totally wiped. "derek" the identity is completely destroyed alongside the king in yellow, but his body and consciousness still remain. he wakes up on the floor of his apartment bleeding from most of his face and with no idea who he is, where he is, what happened to him, how it happened, or why

the only thing derek remembers is the name avery, and he has a clear sense avery is looking for him, though he doesn't know who avery is or the nature of their relationship

all that above is in the singular posted fic about this au

i want to for sure post two other parts: avery's search for derek, and the two of them reuniting. i have a fair portion of both parts written, but neither of them is complete. i won't give too many details on those since i for sure plan to post them, but here's an excerpt for part 2 because i want to cause everyone pain forever

(i went to my friend's bday party the other day and arrived late and made one of my other friends, who had already been drinking, read all three parts. she had her head in her hand the whole time. another friend popped by to check on her and told me i was killing her)

we also have a few other random scenes beyond those parts fleshed out, but idk i'll ever get around to writing them. they do haunt me tho. some scenes for this au include...

- avery kind of unofficially moving into derek's apartment because neither of them really want to separate and derek clearly needs the support. only issue is derek's couch is too small for a person to sleep on and there's only one bed........ look im not immune okay. i'm not stronger than only one bed trope

- only one bed + avery being a physically affectionate person who nonetheless doesn't have many friends and is worried about coming on too strong and derek being someone not only wholly unused to physical affection but literally unable to remember the last time someone touched him affectionately. avery is clingy in his sleep and its awkward and desperately needed for both of them and they're not talking about it at all. godbless

- the two of them trying to go through derek's things together to find out who derek was, because neither of them really know at all. digging up old photo albums, finding journals derek hid in his closet, brute forcing their way into an old laptop. going thru his stuff together

- avery tries to help derek clean his apartment and picks up a towel derek threw over the massive bloodstain in his living room and has a moment about it

- derek physically cannot interact with anything related to the king in yellow without horrible pain. trying to watch the footage back gives him a horrific headache. he touches a copy of the king in yellow novel and faints. they find this out the hard way by avery trying to explain things by showing derek the footage and derek doubling over and avery breifly thinks he killed derek again for real

- derek's mom showing up to figure out why her son's not answered any of her texts and finds he had a guy living in his apartment she's literally never heard him mention before and she's kind of worried he's gotten into drugs or something. who the fuck is avery.

- avery's complicated as hell feelings for derek because he loves and admires him but feels deeply indebted to him but he but barely knows him. he'll always be there to take care of him and he wants to but he also feels like he has to just to make up for it all. and he knows derek cares for him but he also knows derek literally doesn't know anyone else to compare him to

- derek picking up old skills and new hobbies... he relearns the weird bullshit on his desk and how to do his fun little tinkering. his mom shows him some recipes she taught him when he was younger and he and avery try them together

- we actually had a bit about derek's mom (who we named georgia, after pooling the names of all of our aunts for a suitable name). they were close but didn't talk often because she's super busy (first responder) and he isn't a good texter, so it took her a little while to realize he was like. gone. she feels awful about it, but is doing her best to make sure he knows he can rely on her. she invites him over to check out his childhood bedroom at her place and explain to him some old stories and photos. derek brings avery to this. avery and georgia get along pretty well. she's happy to see derek has finally made a friend, especially one who is so caring toward her son

- derek is good at art now. he didn't used to be. lingering effect of the king in yellow. he paints a a landscape from avery's world (the only way he can interact with that time) and avery kind of freaks out a little in his head

- other lingering king effects: a very, very slight gold in his eyes visible only when low light hits juuuust right. and he's a really good liar/actor now. he doesn't know this is a new skill. avery can still see right thru him tho

- nightmares.... had a lot of thoughts about derek having reoccurring nightmares that he barely remembers. dreaming about the worlds, about the king getting avery, about dying. waking up uneasy with some horrible feeling something has happened to avery and having to check avery is still alright beside him

- avery also has nightmares, but basically only when sleeping alone, so it takes derek a while to realize they're happening. doesn't even notice until he stays up to late working at his desk. think we said he dozes off at his desk and avery wakes up and shakes him awake bc he saw him sitting there facedown at his keyboard and he thought derek was fucking dead and he panicked

- related. avery actually mostly manages ti hide that he's doing poorly? he mostly seems okay to derek for a while. yeah he's clearly upset derek has no memories, but he's taking charge as a caretaker and helper and derek's got enough on his plate he doesn't really... get a chance to worry about avery because he seems to be doing okay. especially when he only hears about the actual experience w tkiy from avery, and avery mostly glossed over his own suffering (stressing that derek was stuck bc he couldn't look away from his screen, but not mentioning his own getting trapped in the church for 12 hours)

- derek finds out because one day avery doesn't come over like he's supposed to or answer any texts/calls, which he's usually good about. so he goes over and knocks and avery doesn't answer, but he has a spare key "just in case" so he lets himself in. and there's dishes in the sink and laundry on the couch, but the laundry is a bit damp and the dishes are a little bloody. he call for avery and avery doesn't answer, but there's water running in the bathroom and a trail of water to the door. so he opens it. and avery is sitting over the bathtub, water overflowing, his hands dry and cracked enough to bleed, his head under the water. and derek pulls him out and his eyes are open but he doesn't even seem conscious until derek gets in his face and starts calling for him, and only then does he start coughing up water and seem to become aware of what he's been doing for the last few hours. and that's how derek finds out about the church and that avery didn't escape the king in yellow unscathed either

- we had they'd move in together after this bc neither of them really want to be apart anyway but now derek is worried avery might actually die if they live separate and avery does this again. that's kind of the last thing chronologically. there's no real end to this au since it's kind of a rest of their lives thing

- we talked about them kissing .also

actual game plot

Bdubs is engaged to the Red King™, a well-meaning but somewhat insecure and lonely king. Bdubs meets the love of his life at his and Ren's engagement party, and the rest of the game is about trying to find a path to happiness with his true love. this involves either removing the King in a good end or, in a bad end, failing to remove the King or going too far in some other direction

no matter what route one picks, good or bad, Ren’s arc is one of falling into intense paranoia. he starts off nervous and a little pushy with Bdubs, chasing him to spend time with him, and slowly loses his mind and becomes violent and vindictive. Ren is so scared of being alone he ends up driving everyone away, eventually bringing about his own destruction. this au DID start off loosely as a 3L/s9 au, so you can think of RenTheKing for him

the game is intended to be a bit cheaply made, with a few stock talk sprites and backgrounds. any action scene happens on a black screen, minus probably a fancy ending card for each route

of note: when a player picks a love interest at the party, the other characters mostly dont show up again (it is esp difficult to encounter Cleo and Impulse, who do not live at the castle, again). there are opportunities to meet a different love interest later, but switching later increases the chance of a bad end, esp if you switch real late in the game

Scar routes

Silver-tongued and shady, Scar Goodtimes, advisor to the King. Scar is a fan-favorite, charming and funny. He dresses more colorfully than even the royal options, and if one plays his route, they’ll find him strongly implied to have some kind of magical ability that is never fully elaborated on.

Though he seems incompetent at first glance, all wide smiles and clumsy movements, it’s a cover for the fact he’s been blatantly skimming off the top of the King’s coffers for years.

general route: Scar’s been stealing shit from the king for years, and now hes scheming to cut loose with his riches. its really just whether he takes his existent partner, Grian, or if he takes Bdubs. the plot is mostly gaining Scar’s trust/affection while dealing w both Ren and Grian as LN villains. im picturing Grian specifically as the most stereotypical romantasy/otome/isekai villain imaginable. im assassinating his character for fun and profit. that man IS kidnapping Bdubs and throwing him to an assassin to be rescued, as is romantic rival standard

good end: Scar assassinates Ren point-blank and skips town w Bdubs. man’s been planning this a while, got a house and an escape in some other country ready to go. good crimes with scar

bad end: this bitch goes to jail for so much fraud. was meant to be executed but talked his way out of it. heavily implied hes going to escape, just without Bdubs.

(i think it would be supremely funny if this is the one and only time the wizard thing comes up, but it makes sense to also be the way he kills Ren. either way its a weird and somewhat jarring deus ex machina)

of note: in all routes EXCEPT his own bad end, Scar will leave either towards or at the end of the game w his stolen money + Grian (here’s how scarian can still win). this exasperates the problems in any other LI’s bad end and will push that closer to happening

Impulse routes

Kind and cunning, Prince Impulse of Middle Centuria. The youngest of three sons, Impulse may not have a lot of power, but he wins over Bdubs’ heart during a stolen moment on the balcony at his engagement party.  

Impulse and Bdubs are love at first sight. Though they don’t expect to meet, they quickly realize themselves to be soulmates destined to find each other and be together against all odds. Their story is pretty sappy, honestly, especially if one sticks exclusively to the good end, but takes the darkest turn out of them all if not.  

In his bad end, their affair turns from fated to star-crossed, and Bdubs is forced to kill him. Impulse not only kills the Red King, but attempts to use his newfound power to dethrone his own country’s King, a move that would destabilize all three of their kingdoms in the name of true love.  

general route: at the party in which Bdubs is meant to be engaged, he steps out of the party to the balcony where he locks eyes with a man he knows immediately to be his soulmate. alas, Impulse is the youngest prince of a small kingdom, and thus has very little reason to be around or power to offer Bdubs.

it's double life dynamic alright. theyre real sweet but theyre also definitely like, some of the fastest to bring up the idea of killing Ren. home wreckers. Impulse is very much about making sure they get away with it without getting caught

good end: very sugar sweet. Impulse sticks around in Dogwarts for ??? reasons. clandestine meetings in the night to take walks in the garden. love letters when he goes home. lots of hammering home that soulmate nonsense. two hearts beating as one. also a bit of political unease w the whole, how to handle killing Ren. i know these two the least well, so i have the least understanding on how to execute this one

bad end: he kills Ren, same as, but something goes wrong somewhere and he decides he needs to assume control of Middle Centuria as well, which would start a war neither MC or Dogwarts would be able to handle (thanks Scar for stealing half the godamn treasury). romeo and juliet nonsense, murder suicide </3

of note: theres probs clock symbolism, pocket watch as a gift. smth smth “counting seconds until i see you again” or smth equally corny.

why does this route remind me of heathers.

Cleo routes

Bold and brilliant, Queen Cleo of the Crastle. The rumors which swirl around her speak of a woman so cold that she can turn men to stone. “But is there secretly a softer side…?” is a phrase Martyn remembers seeing several times in AtPM’s promotional material.  

Following her route reveals that she and Bdubs are longtime friends, and had years ago been engaged as kids. Martyn doesn’t actually remember what the reason for the engagement breaking off was, but if a player decides to find her tonight, their childhood romance is rekindled.  

In her bad end, a war brews between her kingdom and Dogwarts, and no matter the path the player takes, the Red King’s head rolls. Her route has always been Martyn’s least favorite, and in this it’s probably the one he’d most like to avoid.  

general route: childhood friend of Bdubs, invited to the engagement party bc the Crastle, a neighboring country, and Dogwarts are ill at ease and its a gesture of goodwill. she’ll be around a lot if you pursue her route bc theyre trying to figure out what to do w peace relations or w/e.

she and Bdubs used to be engaged a long time ago (i guess Bdubs country + Ren’s country + Cleo’s country all share borders) but had a falling out and broke it off. working thru whatever that falling out was would probs be the key to this romance. some of that fucking godawful tsundere nonsense goes on here probably

good end: assassinate Ren. blame him for all the political issues between Dogwarts and Crastle publicly and marry Cleo to restore peace and balance to the kingdoms. this is such a stupid game

bad end: bro starts a war! chop the King’s head off in the public forum. probs cant exactly spirit Bdubs away, might end up forcing him to rule dogwarts alone as the country goes to war against Cleo’s

of note: i know her route the least well bc Martyn plays it the least, claiming its his least favorite. this one probs has some of the fastest character regression for Ren

Etho routes

Mysterious and mischievous, Sir Etho of Slab, Captain of the King’s Guard. He’s renowned across the kingdom for his prodigal rise amongst the ranks of the Red Army.  

In truth, Sir Etho is far less noble, having taken the promotion solely for the higher paycheck. His true passion lies with invention and tinkering, though he rarely has time to explore it and even rarer feels the need to share it. In the good end, the two would run away together or something—Martyn doesn’t entirely remember the details, he hasn’t played it in a while.  

What’s important is that if the player pursues Etho and doesn’t properly dispose of Ren before the end of the game, Etho takes the fall for their affair and is executed for treason.  

general route: some fucking corny nonsense abt seeing behind the mask <3 getting to know Etho not as prodigious captain of the knights but seeing his true passions in inventing and tinkering. and also being a little shit. Etho is so annoying i love him. his doesnt rlly have the political turmoil of the other routes, making it simpler in story, probs a common first route.

good end: i remember talking about a scene in which Bdubs sneaks away to Etho's workshop and some shirtless (but mask on) fanservice. Etho and Bdubs assassinate the king in some looney toons ass bullshit. run away together to another country, start a new life, leave dogwarts entirely without leadership (oops!)

bad end: Etho is caught fraternizing with the King’s fiancé and, considering their statuses, is assumed to be colluding to assassinate the king for power (which, i mean,). executed for treason </3