Comfort Characters (both Believe They're Screw Ups Who Ruin Everything And Deep Down They Just Want Their

Stanley is smart.

He doesn't know it. No one knows it. Nobody truly saw the hidden depths of Stanley's mind. All their lives, they've been told: Stanford was smart. Academic. Bright. A world by his fingertips. Brimming with potential. His mind alone was worth millions. Stanley was lucky to be worth a cent. People knew where to look, where to point their attention, and it was never at Stan.

Ford was smart, Stan is right there. Ford was going places, Stan is right there. Ford will one day bestow upon the wisdom the world needs. Stan is right there.

But Stanley is smart. No one else knew.

Because no one knows what sharpness it took to craft the perfect lie. No one knows what understanding it takes to make masses grin in the wake of their words. No one knows what experience it belows to seemingly tip the scales of Lady Fortune herself in one's own favor as easy as breathing.

No one knows what cleverness it took to trick a trickster of the mind itself. No one knows, when Ford's own mind had dimmed with grief and despair, his hope crushed under inky black fingers bit by bit, Stan's had shone through, burning so brightly it took the two inhabitants away. No one knows what resilience of the mind it takes, to reach into the depths of their own mishapen, shattered remains and pick itself up at the call of their of their loved ones.

But Stanford knows. Stanford always knew.

Stanley is smart. He's always been smart. He keeps getting smart, every day, every minute and every second.

...

Stanford can only hope he doesn't get too smart. He can only hope that the lavender haze that plagues Stan's eyes blurs the signs enough so that he'll never be wise.

Because the day Stan wisens up, he'll understand what everyone— teachers, their father, Ford, and himself— was wrong. The day Stan wisens up, he'll see Ford as the walking chain of his insecurities and hurt that held him down for decades.

The day Stan wisens up, he'll know, and he will leave Ford to flounder.

Ford hopes Stan never knows how smart he really is. He would stay right there, just by Ford's side.

preincidents meet their future selves

based on these posts (images under cut) by @dreamvonlicht and @dreamvonlickedmyass

whygod.jpg

Diseño de las Bad Girl's (frisk's )

Stanley being a bad influence on Ford (drawn for @corndog-patrol)

(+ a little bonus comic because i couldn't help myself)

SORRY MY BRAINROT IS INTENSE, to try to resolve this im going to write a little something! it's obvious dream (i might just use utmv names for the sake of my terrible memory) is the founder and top dog at justice reigns, i know ink is his mercenary and is the only one to take direct orders from him, but where does that place finch? is he above ink at 2nd or under ink at 3rd? if you have the time, could you maybe explain briefly what they think of eachother? moreso ink & finch and dream & ink for the sake of my plot, they'll be interacting and i want it to be as accurate as possible

just let me know if the asks are a problem and i'll stop sending them! i know it's an inactive work but the autism drives me LMAO

ok so, first off, ink isn't the only one to take direct orders from dream, if I said that in the past it may have been a mistake. (who the heck is getting orders from dream if only ink is taking orders from him hahaha) ink, for the most part, only takes direct orders from dream, not is the only one who does. for his status, ink is not part of the hierarchy in JR; he doesn't have the authority to give anyone orders. if dream tells ink to take orders from the justice division, he has to take orders from the justice division, but the justice division doesn't have power over ink by default. if JR has a hard or specific mission, they might send ink. (I feel like it would make sense for there to be more JR mercenaries than just ink. but it's a little late to contemplate changes to the lore)

finch is an officer of the justice division, but I don't know what exactly his status is supposed to be. I've said he's a captain before, but I feel like it only makes sense if he's 31, aka his fatal flaws age. so, take with that what you will. he could be young at 24 and be far ahead for his age but not in a position of full authority (think: a senior who gets put in charge of a smaller group, not the guy who goes to meetings) or he could be 31 and be a captain. that aside, I imagine that finch and ink don't really talk on a casual basis. their impressions of each other are probably limited to "that guy again," while passing each other in the hallway and likely some awkward small talk. they probably have worked together a few times and finch probably thinks that ink is too irresponsible and doesn't fully understand why ink works such an important job. (because he gets it done, somehow) they're kind of polar opposites. which does leave some room for an interesting dynamic if you think it's interesting.

as for whatever ink and dream have going on, they're kind of friends even though they're technically not supposed to be. in ds there is a tangible barrier of authority and power that would be difficult to overcome. not impossible, but difficult. they do still kind of have that "you're just my boss" relationship in fatal flaws which creates a little distance, but I think they could become friends more easily there because arthur isn't immortal and hasn't used any godlike power to gain a following.

AIWKANDNKDJDKS🩷💞💕💖🩷💞💕💖💕

ALQOPQSKDNBDWLSKDN 🩷🩷💞💕💖🩷

and then he's a lil menace 🩷🩷🩷🩷

Epic!Tale Frans skecht

Amo el ship Epic!Sans x Epic!Frisk •w•)

AU Stan still pretends to be Ford, but contrary to Canon,

his mother Caryn is aware of the ruse. He regularly sends her letters. Filbrick has no idea though, since he never bothered to visit his son or his grandchildren.