mekachu04 | wild au chat logs (Reply)

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mekachu	Au - western Adult kiki retired to be ranchers, kidd as the local "authority" of the island. Locals mostly made up of crew and the extended families they have made. Killer spends most of his day outdoors with his horse and the cattle. Living his best life. Let the story build on the mundane. But kidd seems a hair occ - too reserved and quiet. And always frowning when he thinks killer's not looking. The longer it goes on the more it starts to bother killer - does kidd regret retiring? Does he miss the open seas? They can go back to sailing if kidd wants, killer doesn't mind. Kidd will go still. Ask if killer means that. Of course he does! Except when he says it is hurts. When he thinks to hard about the how and when and why the retired in the first place… it hurts. New day. Its like the conversation never happened. Repeat the earlier mundane chapters with eerly similar beat for beat. The only change is kidd. More withdrawn. Killer will start to notice again. He gets to asking. Nearly exactly the same wording. Rinse and repeat. A loop of some kind. Playing over and over until killer asks what kidd wants. Like its punishing them. Finally, kidd changes his answer. Not if killer means it , but he'll go wherever killer wants to go. Its his partner turn to pick the path. Killer smiles, calls him a sentimental fool. They enjoy the moment, and then killer admits while this is nice, it doesn't feel right. Kidd tries to keep him thinking about it but he does anyway. It hurts…. Bavk to the start. Kidd isn't sure how many more times he must watch killer break. But this time killer is different. Like he's noticing the loop. Or maybe he's always noticed but its hurt to think about so he didn't. But he can see how miserable kidd is and he can't ignore it anymore. It fights the pain and >remembers< Remembers shanks and the Damned Punk exploding. Remembers hitting the water . Remembers them being pulled ashore, someone tutting over him, before promising to make it stop hurting. The flash of a devil fruit before he wakes up in the ranch house. Kidd's known since the start. He tried to break them out once - got himself free, but no one else followed. Too hurt still from the fight. He saw them being taken to prison. He stole them away , escaped. Thier bodies lay broken and thier minds trapped. Killer lay broken. Kidd arranged them to be cared for and made the df user send him back. Eventually he got through to the others. They're just figmanets of Killer's imagination now. Its only the two of them that are real in this world. Kidd tried hard at first to snap killer out of it too but his physical body was still healing and he wasn’t able to get back. Kidd's afraid he might never be able to go back now. And if thats the case, kidd will stay here for along as killer still dreams.
	Its a devil fruit induced coma - make them see their hearts desire or some shit like that. But yes. But the fact kidd knows and chooses to stay with killer anyway. Potentially giving up his own dreams of being pirate king because his partner has been too grievously injured at the moment and killer is more important to him ____ Kidd might be quite content to die for his dream.. but with the reality that it could cost killer and crew their lives too has him reevaluating ______ this time the cycle stops with killer realizing he has to wake up. Its going to hurt. Alot. _____ They both have to choose the other. Thematically it works well, though admittedly i think killers needs to be him choosing himself over kidd for once but i have figure out how to make yhat work by leaving the dream
dolf	Does it mean that both of them are dreaming of staying with eachother in any universe/timeline/etc? So they both can leave already but Killer just.... Doesn't want to? 'Cause Kid already chose Killer over his dream (as far as i understood he broke free 'cause he knows wtf is going on and made a right decision) And how does the df work? It sends them all to 1 universe where they find eachother and choose to stay/leave?
mekachu	The df "traps" them in a shared dream, originally shaped by the crews shared subconscious wishes but as more crew woke up, the dreamers left had more and more control in the dream until only killer is left to shape it. Kidd questioned the dream first, he "woke up" in the dream having already found the one piece and but he couldnt picture it in his mind. Even with his imagination his mind couldn't just generate something like the one piece having never seen it. In a panic, He then woke up in the real world He tried waking his crew up in the real world but couldn't counter the df. So once his crew was relocated to safety, had someone he trusted (probably luffy or law much to his disgust) he made the df user send him back. > kidd left and came back. The df user wasn't even sure kidd could go to an already existing dream. there was a chance kidd might enter a completely new dream and the killer and crew of this dream might be its own figmanet of kidds dream. In the dream he was able to get his crew to see the dream for what it was and get them to wake up. But when he tried to wake killer up, the pain killer,s physical body was still in, and the effects of the SMILE, sent him recoiling away. So much so he kept reseting the dream in a way, erasing any idea from his own memory to question the reality he was in. Wouldn't you? Beaten and broken and half crazed, forever happy and smiling, possibly the only one still alive, your home gone. Here your family is safe and happy and everyone's dreams came true... In this dream, Kidd is here. Awake? awake he doesn't know for sure. Killer might be the only survivor for all he knows.
dolf	Is this DF user their enemy or more like neutral presence? Did they send KP into coma for them to heal? 'Cause so far I'm surprised the User let Kid freely relocate his crew and return for Killer
mekachu	My thoughts on the df was that they are a coward- and they use thier power to incapacitate other and then run away. They may have gotten mixed up with bounty hunters and was working with them for money or favours, or possibly turned the kp in after the fact for a quick buck when the opportunity presented itself. But they themselves are kinda spineless and easily bullied. They've never had to stand up for themselves because the can just wammy people and walk away. Someone like Kidd probably scared them shitless. Especially since kidd could unwammy himself so seemingly effortlessly. Killer atleast is unwittingly holding kidd there, the sympathetic antagonist of the story __ Yeah caribou is a perfect example. Worthless man.... 🤔 Figuring the DF user might not know how to wake people up? otherwise kidd woulda forced him to wake up killer and crew. Maybe the dream looses potency the longer it goes on, and most people wake up on thier own eventually. Maybe after a few days? weeks? [Df might put the body in a tracelike state so dehydration isn't such a factor? Its devil fruits - they defy science anyway] .... Time works different in dreams so maybe it just feels like they've been in that dream far longer then they really have? As for whoever was holding the KP crew - they were small fry; there was no way they coulda taken down any of the crew on thier own. They assumed our pirates would be down for a while still while transporting them = they stood no chance again kidd [probably assumed they'd all be under longer and didn't bother with seastone] (alive is typically worth more than dead, and if they're asleep it makes for easier transport and less resources like food or stockades) Kidd probably merced the actual bounty hunters as soon as he figured out what was happening and then had to hunt the df user down when he couldn't get his crew to wake up
dolf	Unawakened DF can't awake the victims Yeah, it sounds logical if the User just can't do anything to reverse the process 'cause they lack knowledge, powers etc Makes Kid more frustrated and angry at them. Could Kid's temper worsen the state of dreamers? Like, the User's fear affects how deep asleep their victims will be As for how long the dream can last.... Maybe, depends on person's imagination? Like it was with Kid when he understood he can't imagine the One Piece Okok, fair. Kid alone can sink anyone. But transportation is still pain in the ass. Ig Law would help there better than Luffy
mekachu	instinctually i wanna say awake kidd's temper doesnt effect the dream - in it, absolutely. But thinking on it - kidd and killer's bond is so tight, killer might be able to pick up on kidd's frustration even asleep. it might be pushing him deeper; dream killer is strengthening his own delusion as a means to try and keep kidd safe? I think you might be right on how long the dream lasts, its how long the brain can keep pulling things up. its almost like a sleeping beauty/snow white curse.... [heartbreak idea: in the real world, kidd tries to kiss killer awake like in the old fairy tales. true loves kiss and all that. i want to say but thats not how the DF works and it leaves kidd looking small and lost... >BUT~~~ the part of me trying not to always break poor dolfie's heart is also thinking, what if he tries is again, at the end? maybe still in the dream, as kidd starts to understand that killer might not be able to break this - that the damage to his body from the damned punk {the way the anime has his head tilted in kidd's realisation of what has happened still haunts me}, and to his mind from the SMILE, might be too much this time to bounce back from. HIs acceptance to stay and live this dream with killer, the soft kiss he gives killer - maybe on the forehead, soemthing less romantically charged but still with just as much love - maybe that kiss is what motivated killer to face the pain and fear and torment of the waking world. becuase he cant keep kidd here...and maybe he can tell, even witll all the love - its not real. and he wants the real thing, even if it hurts.] law would probably be more sympathetic and willing to let kidd figure it out on his own, wereas luffy would absolutely want to help. no way he'd sit on the sidelines
dolf	Yes! Killer feels that Kid's frustrated irl and it makes his version of Kid sad/etc and Killer doesn't understand why, so he shifts his dream to make Kid safe and happy but it only makes Kid more frustrated I think Killer would be under for a really long time 'cause of Kid He'd create different scenarios on how to keep Kid by his side unharmed and loved 'cause each time his delusion shatters by Kid and Killer has to "rebuild" the new universe. Kinda like in that movie i mentioned earlier that he tries to find a better safer option and until then he can't relax 😭 Yes, i see the vision 😭 It made me think about the daydreaming Idk if the User did it or Kid's will was too strong to bully the User into doing it or Kid himself just a force of nature But what if Kid is not always asleep to be in the dream with Killer What if his self is stuck in both worlds 'cause he was violently pushed from both realities and part of his mind is stuck with Killer 'cause "he's the half of my soul, as the poets say". And that's the reason he could return to the OG dream and awake at anytime and then return back Kid needs to function in irl too to keep his crew safe, so he can't always be asleep But daydreaming might be a key to keeping all of them safe and sound. He doesn't need to fall asleep to "connect" to Killer's dream, his imagination and bond is strong enough to join at any time As for the kiss What if Kid cries? Just a tear or two? And it's real and dream Kid's tears, full of sorrow and love and Killer can't understand why Kid cries, he was doing everything to make him happy? Why Kid won't stay happy?! Is he doing something wrong? And he should be stuck in the loop of "I'm not enough, I can't save him" 'cause he can't come up with another way to keep Kid by his side (limited imagination), so he wakes up Law would help to look after the injured ones and transportation while Luffy would insist on joining the dream to fight everyone, so they wake up 'cause they don't wanna deal with him (Luffy will absolutely get stuck in a dream 'cause he has wild imagination. He and Bonney are natural victims for this DF XD)
mekachu	kidd daydreaming is interesting. makes there two versions of him in killer's head - the dream on and the real one whos visting.... but kidd rejoining killer's dream through sear will power if on brand for him (the idea that he was able to come back to the og dream despite the users warning was his connection to killer) horrible idea i was playing with as well was maybe as killer gets closer and closer to accepting he needs to wake up, the dream resets ealier and earlier until the dream is a nightmare - the way killer saw the shanks vs kidd showdown. that kidd gets to see how terrifing it was for killer to watch him take that hit - unable to get there in time... until the pain of the dream become more than the pain of reality and waking up isnt so scary anymore... alternatively, maybe what wakes killer up is a kiss with kidd - because it doesn't feel right - its not warm.. it doesnt feel real. there's no weight to it, or any fireworks. no spark. and then with kidd being so sad after - that its wrong. this whole place is wrong. why does everything he do make kidd sadder? true loves kiss still, but a stange inverted verions. i love this man. he loves me. this was never in question. so why is it wrong here and now when we are happy, when its never felt wrong before? luffy is exactly the person this df was designed to compate. the imagination fruit vs the delusion-prison fruit. aaand fight!! the strawhats are all such dreamers that it would take most of them a while to figure it out i fear.
dolf	About nightmare: does the dream affect the body of the dreamer? If yes, could so much pain and fear set back Killer's healing? And what if Killer's imagination runs wild in the nightmare? What if instead of waking up he's trying to find a way to safe Kid but whatever he does just ends up with Kid's and crew's death and he's being trapped anew?
mekachu	It could definitely fuck with how his body now reacts to smile, thats for sure. What if the key to waking killer up is maybe in his acceptance that he cant always save kidd. Kidd is his own man who makes his own choices and killer has to respect that? --- The evil part of me wants kidd to mimic luffy back in loguetown - the smile and quiet acceptance of "im dead" - after he realises that killer is destroying himself trying to save him. A gesture rhat shows Kidd's ar peace with the outcome and to try and get killer to let him fo. However i dont think it would work for killer like luffy meant it to work for his baby crew back then. But still a gesture he accepts his own defeat at shanks hand, maybe dismantling the damned punk on his own before the backlash can hurt killer. Admittedly though this seems more like me just throwing in some good melodramatic heartbreak.... XD
dolf	It could be but Killer's such an anxious man, i doubt he can accept that he can't change the narrative If u do this Killer will die 😭 Literally Just killing himself Maybe it'd work and he'll escape the dream 'cause he has nothing to lose, nothing to dream of