#protege ask

looks at Nightmareinnit.

Baby’s first mission, a test of his loyalty (+ruining Tommy’s chances at repairing things with Tubbo)

Awwww, you’re here to give me angst :)

But yeah, i agree 100%. That is something Dream would do. It's a two birds with one stone scenario and lines up with Dream's MO almost too perfectly.

Dream would definitely use Tommy as his proxy in wars and to instigate wars. It has some deniability (“I don’t know why he looks like me, Tubbo! Whoever that is, he is just trying to frame me! We are friends, Tubbo. I would never do that to you and your country.”) and action like this will only widen the rift that Tommy would have to overcome to return to his friends.

Tommy developing some manipulative tendencies as well after his time with Dream, seeing that he gained Ranboo's trust, end up manipulating that trust into getting him to side with him. Maybe he could even steal the Memory Book and rewrite some entries in an attempt to make him more loyal to him.

Bonus if it is revealed he is doing this to fill the hole Tubbo left, finding Ranboo to be a replacement :)

Either way, there might be a struggle with Ranboo being tempted to join Tommy while also trying to get Tommy to shake off Dream's own control over him.

I mean we alredy established that Tommy mimicks people he likes/respects (and that’s one of my reasons for him being in the mask in Protégé AU).

So it wouldn’t be too out of character to take on Dream’s manipulation tactics and use them on someone else. Especially because that’s what his best friend Dream did to him - which in Tommy’s mind equates to showing you are a good friend.

Seeing how truly mentally weak was Ranboo in that moment, and knowing that Ranboo, at his own admittance, “has no moral backbone”, manipulating him would be easy and Tommy wouldn’t feel wrong doing it, because that’s his new understanding of how true friendship works.

And Ranboo is friendly to Tommy also, so he would go along with it for Tommy’s sake, even if he knew something was wrong.

I actually don’t really use Nightmare for Masked!Tommy precisely because of the reasons you’ve mentioned. Like it was a fun post to write and he is Dream’s weapon in a metaphorical sense, sure, but it would be too on the nose.

Sleepwalk is actually a cool name. Concise, clearly related to the Dream’s theme and actually lore-accurate at this point, as we see Tommy starting streams in water as if he was swimming towards L’Manburg in his sleep. I like it!

I just really love the idea of Techno being involved due to his debt with Dream but instead he is working alongside Tommy like in Canon :D

Dream cashes in on his favour by hiring Technoblade to help in Tommy’s training. At one of their training sessions, away from Dream’s ears, Techno asks why Tommy chose this, seeing how he hated Dream not that long ago. Tommy reluctantly discloses to Techno his plan, and to the blonde’s surprise, the anarchist promises to help. Techno should’ve realised that Dream is as much of a tyrant as his sworn governmental enemies. So maybe he’ll help Tommy in his quest.

tbh, it’s kinda where it was going to in canon. Tommy becomes very passive and willing to act on orders when pain is introduced, especially when he has no way of retaliation: we saw it in the beginning of his exile when Dream had to just hit him with a sword once for Tommy to start throwing his armour down the hole. After that it was enough for Dream to just point his bow at Tommy. And in general Tommy can be hitting you with a sword in a “playful” type of way, but he starts backing away and saying “stop” when you hit back. It’s an actual behavioural pattern for him. I personally believe it’s not exclusively the fear of pain, but rather a combination with the fear of permanent death (as Dream implied multiple times that if he kills Tommy, it would be his true death).

As to how Dream can use it in Protégé AU? Well that depends on how you see Protégé!Tommy and his relationship with Dream.

In my fic I tried (and failed lol) to introduce the idea that Dream uses a combination of light physical pain (in fic it was Dream painfully grasping Tommy’s shoulder) and shifts in his tone to influence Tommy. This fic uses similar ideas with a clearer execution. But no actual brainwashing to the point of changing behavioural patterns on the click of a finger.

I have two different (or similar? You can combine the ideas if you would prefer) ideas for Tommy's masks

1. I feel like wearing the mask can cause Tommy to act differently in a way that him wearing the mask is like him repressing what makes him "Tommy", the loud, well meaning, kid that cares too much. Masked!Tommy represses his emotions and does what Unmasked!Tommy wouldn't normally do as a sort of coping mechanism of the horrible stuff he does that he knows he'll regret. As such, if you ask Unmasked!Tommy about his actions Masked he'll be mostly confused, his memories fuzzy as that is a part of him he doesn't like confronting.

2. An addition to the Dreamon Mask idea but more of an aesthetic one in that the mask has the practical effect of actually making Tommy look far more distinct than regular Tommy (be it making him Taller, different hair or eye color, etc.) This gives a practical usage for the mask besides maybe enhancing his own skills (though I personally prefer it if he trained to be more comparable to Dream instead of a mask giving him super powers tbh). Heck, maybe he can have a more Dreamonic design while wearing it? This I gotta draw!

Like I said, two distinct ideas but they can be applied together if you prefer :D

Did you send this ask before the Ranboo lore reveal? Because Masked/Unmasked dynamic is basically Ranboo rn.

Philza is a difficult character to gauge. He clearly cares for Tommy (e.g. in the last DSMP stream when he broke the house arrest to check that “Techno and Tommy are safe”), but not enough to actually interfere in whatever’s happening to the blonde. Phil is definitely feeling guilty for what happened with Wilbur (and is trying to find a way to make up for that by resurrecting him) and he is overcompensating by focusing on the Technoblade’s support. But the price is that Tommy gets NO support, emotional or otherwise. Philza is a very single-minded father. He loves his children, but there’s a clear favourite.

A time travel plot, huh? I could see it in a “what if” scenario. That’s a nice fic idea if anything.

Protégé!Tommy would definitely get in contact with Dream, though that interaction will be strained to say the least (after all for Dream Tommy is still an enemy). From there I see at least two possibilities:

1) Protégé!Tommy kills his past counterpart and takes his place, working for Dream on the inside. Basically Tommy takes over Eret’s role in the revolution as a betrayer. Seeing that L’Manberg and it’s future existence is wholly reliant on Tommy’s actions (duel with Dream and their subsequent deal), L’Manberg is basically gone and history is rewritten.