Chapter Text
***THE CHAPTER IS JUST EXPLAINING THE AU AND THE DISORDERS***
The AU:
Phil-
Phil is 32 years old and is currently working as a licensed therapist. He has adopted 2 kids and is currently fostering one.
He's adopted Wilbur and Techno, but is only fostering Tommy for now. (Will foster Ranboo in the future)
Wilbur is the oldest at 18, Techno is the middle child at 17, and Tommy is the youngest at 16
Wilbur-
Wilbur has been living with Phil since he was 5 years old. Wilbur was unplanned and his parents knew they weren't in the position to care for a child so they put him into the system as soon as he was born. He's only ever been with 3 foster families, including Phil. The first family was alright, they had good intentions but just bit off more than they could chew and ended up not being able to properly care for Wilbur and their two other biological children so Wilbur was taken out of the home before he ended up turning one. The second home kept him from age one to five and the father was abusive towards Wilbur and towards his wife, Wilbur came to school with bruises and was instantly removed from the home, be was quickly placed into Phil's care and although he didn't have the amount of trauma that some others in the foster system have, Phil still helped him and got him diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. Phil adopted Wilbur on his 8th birthday.
Techno-
Techno started living with Phil since he was 12. Techno ended up in foster care because when Techno was only 4, his mother ended up becoming very sick and when she passed away his father killed himself. Techno never made it to a foster home before he was placed with Phil, he was placed in a group home that treated their kids horribly. Every kid basically had to fight for their right to live. They fought over food, beds, showers, literally everything. All of the kids were "homeschooled", though their wasn't actually any "school" so when the group home got shut down, Techno was pretty far behind in academics. He was soon placed into Phil's care where he met his new brother, Wilbur, who was 13 years old and already adopted at this point. Phil helped him adjust to a new normal life as well as cope with his trauma and got him diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder and Paranoia.
Tommy-
Tommy was placed into Phil's care at a fairly old age considering he was 13 years old at the time. Tommy was born to a single mom who unfortunately fell into the world of drugs. Tommy was removed from her care when he was 6 years old but has been through so many foster homes since then. Because Tommy's mother spent so much time worrying about drugs and not her son, Tommy started acting out to get attention once he was placed into his first few foster homes, because he was so defiant and rowdy, Tommy was misdiagnosed with Oppositional Deviant Disorder. This labelled him as "a problem child" and "difficult to work with" not only in the foster system but also in schools. Tommy was frequently being sent back and ended up not staying in one place for too long, he was in 8 different foster homes before he was placed with Phil. Phil helped him work through his emotions and taught him how to better communicate when he was feeling left out or wanted more attention. Tommy ended up being diagnosed with ADHD and Trust Issues (after Ranboo joins the family, he will help Tommy notice that Tommy's not just Tommy and that he might have DID as well, but this will start a spiral of self-hatred and self-doubt)
*Ranboo* (not appearing until later in the book)-
Ranboo was placed into Phil's care when he was 16 because Ranboo has Dissociative Identity Disorder and his previous foster homes were worried that they wouldn't be able to help him to his fullest or they realized he needed more support and assistance than they were willing or had the time to give. Phil ends up helping him sort through emotions and introduces Ranboo to Dream, their neighbor who also has Dissociative Identity Disorder, and the pair grow pretty close. Phil also helped him get a therapist who specializes in DID and helped him figure out his system and better ways to work together.
RANBOO'S SYSTEM-
Description of the Inner world- The system's inner world is known as "the end", it's cold, and the skies are just empty with no color, not even black, the ground is an odd yellow-ish rock that's extremely rough to the touch but they all like it that way.
Ranboo (he/him)- Ranboo is a cohost meaning he fronts most often and normally deals with school, social interactions, etc. Ranboo is the same age as the body and also identifies as male.
Z (they/them)- Z is the other cohost but also takes the role of the "protector" of the system. They're assertive and make sure everyone's boundaries are being respected. They're not afraid to talk back to authority and will stand up for the system in verbal, physical, and mental altercations. Z fronts a lot because the system is very skittish and easily triggered and Z is more than willing to protect the alters and provide them with a sense of security. Z is slightly older than the body and knows they have a gender but prefer to not be labelled.
Void (It/its)- Void is the gatekeeper of the system. This means that it helps with unwanted switching, failing to switch when necessarily, and failing to switch to the correct alter. It also helps prevent traumatic events from bleeding into the memories of other alters. Void doesn't front very often but is normally near the front to help assist with things as needed but sometimes will cocon to make sure nothing bad happens to the body. Void is also ageless and genderless. Currently integrating with Server
Ender (he/him)- Ender is an example of one of the memory holders of the system, he hold most of the traumatic memories so that other alters don't have to deal with them. Because of this, if something triggering happens he's normally pushed to the front and forced to relive traumatic experiences, but Ender is extremely unstable and isn't afraid to hurt the body to help manage the emotions. Ender is a little younger than the body, but only by a few years. He also identifies as male.
Server (it/its)- Server is the internal self-helper. An internal self-helper is an alter who holds vast amounts of knowledge about the system, alters, trauma, and/or internal workings. Server is ageless and genderless. Currently integrating with Void.
Eddie (he/him)- Eddie is another memory holder but he hold the memories of childhood innocence. Eddie doesn't have a set age but he falls normally within the range of 3-5 years old. He's innocent and normally just wants to play and fronts occasionally when the system knows they're in a safe location.
Bad-
Bad is 32 years old and works as a medical professional. He has one biological son, one adopted son, and is currently fostering another.
Sapnap is his biological son, he adopted Dream, and is fostering George.
They are all 18 years old and Dream and George happen to share a birthday. Technically, Dream is the oldest by an hour and Sapnap is the youngest by 5 months.
Bad and his kids are neighbors with Phil and his kids.
Dream-
Dream has been living with bad ever since he turned 14, before then, he was living with his biological parents. His mother was an alcoholic and his father, while he still lived with him, was more or less absent and Dream only saw him a few times a week and they never really talked. Because his father was so absent, his mother would bring in other men and over his 14 years of life, they would physically, emotionally, and sexually abuse Dream. The repeated trauma caused him to develop Dissociative Identity Disorder. Dream was also born with Epilepsy but neither of his parents helped him very much with that and being left to deal with and wake up from seizures essentially all alone is very psychologically damaging as well. Once he was removed, he was placed directly into Bad's care and Bad helped him feel support and love, helped him cope with his emotions and sort them out better, got him to a therapist who specialized in DID and helped him iron out his system and taught them how to work better together. Bad also helps him manage his seizures.
DREAM'S SYSTEM-
Description of the inner world- The system doesn't have a name for their inner world, it's just know as "the inner world". The inner world consists of a large brick house, surrounded by a dense forest. The house is large but doesn't look large enough to house all of the alters but once you go inside, you realize the hallways are constantly changing and warping, but the alters seem to always know where things are even if they can't necessarily get to them.
Clay (he/him)- Clay is one of the cohosts, he deals with most of the social interactions as well as school. He is the same age as the body and identifies as male
Dream (he/they)- Dream is the other cohost as well as a memory holder, he holds a lot of happy memories though and is normally pretty excited about life in general. He's very ambitious but also craves validation from everyone around him and can be sensitive to critisism. Dream is the same age as the body and identifies as nonbinary but doesn't hate he/him pronouns
Essie (she/her)- Essie is an introject, introjects are based off of real people outside of the system and Essie is based off of the system's first therapist. She provides stability and also will listen if any alter needs to vent or will try her best to provide advice when an alter needs it. She also makes sure everyone in the system stays safe to an extent and will normally force her way to the front to go get help if someone hurts the body or the body is too far into a panicking.
Code (it/its)- Code takes three roles, it is the protect, the persecutor, and the traumatic memory holder which sounds like an odd mix because protectors protect the body, system, or other specific alters or groups of alters, but the confusing part is that Code is also a caretaker who focuses on looking after younger, weaker, or more vulnerable alters but is also the persecutor which means it will purposefully harm the body due to the traumatic memories it holds. It may be reenacting abuse or try to ensure that future abuse isn’t more harmful due to being preceded by a period of relatively little abuse even if it knows that it is safe and there should be no abuse in the future.
Gatekeeper (no pronouns)- Gatekeeper as no pronouns and no name as Gatekeeper's roll is to just make sure everyone switches cleanly and when they're supposed to. Gatekeepers normally stay pretty close to the front but this gatekeeper comes when he knows someone is either having trouble fronting, getting out of the front, or multiple alters are trying to front at once.
Pixel (no pronouns)- Pixel is a little and isn't exactly human but it's hard to understand what pixel is because pixel just is. Pixel likes to run around and play and color but also has frequent nightmares about the people pixel's mom used to take home.
George-
George started living with Bad less than a year ago at the age of 17. He had been with a few different foster families but when the family that was trying to adopt him ended up having the father fail a background check for a past charge of child molestation that he tried to cover up, George was completely removed and his world came crashing down. George had previously been diagnosed with a panic disorder but spiraled even more and developed an eating disorder and OCD as well. Once he was placed in Bad's care, Bad helped him with keeping his anxiety under check and helping him with panic attacks if they did come, they made meal plans and helped him start to tackle his ED and also helped him manage his Compulsions and Obsessive thoughts.
Sapnap-
Sapnap is Bad's biological son, luckily Bad is an amazing father so Sapnap never experienced any trauma but unfortunately their family history of Bipolar Disorder decided to skip Bad's generation and land on Sapnap. Bad normally helps calm Sapnap down and try to give him reality checks of what truly is possible during Manic episodes as well as make sure he's safe and feels loved during Depressive episodes.
Eret, Niki, and Tubbo's situation-
Eret, Niki, and Tubbo are all biological siblings. Their situation is a bit of an odd one because Eret is the legal guardian of the bunch. Their parents weren't abusive but they were extremely neglectful. Their parents were constantly away for business and in other countries on vacations and were rarely ever home, this wasn't the worst but they started to forget to leave money and Eret and Niki had to work to support the three of them and keep food on the table. They've had the lights shut off on them, they've had the water be shut off, because they were very set on making sure Tubbo stayed in therapy since the youngest was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and when the therapist heard about their situation (the therapist being Phil) he offered to give the older two siblings free sessions and even opened his house up for them if they needed meals or anything and because of all of this Eret held a resentment towards their parents. They ended up fighting for legal guardianship on their18th birthday and it was immediately granted when their parents failed to show up for court. They've since moved and now live across the street from Phil.
Eret is the oldest at 19, Niki is next at 17, and Tubbo is the youngest at 16.
Eret-
Eret was diagnosed with Dyspraxia, a disorder that doesn't effect you intellectually but it does effect your motor skills and verbal skills. When Phil found out about this diagnosis, he chipped in and payed for Occupational therapy to help him with his motor skills and speech therapy because on Eret's bad days he has a lot of trouble speaking and sometimes his words are slurred and jumbled up.
Niki-
Niki was lucky enough to only be diagnosed with depression and also be able to find a medication that works really well with her but it doesn't completely stop her from having bad days and there are even days where Eret knows it might be too much for him to handle completely on his own so he'll go across the street and get either Phil or Bad, sometimes Wilbur if neither of the adults are available, to help Niki feel less alienated
Tubbo-
Tubbo was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Social situations really stress him out as well as the fact he's very sensitive to textures and sounds, but this doesn't mean he can't function. He finds comfort in repetition and is one of the most creative people in his school (even though he opted to take online classes), he regularly goes to therapy and cannot be more thankful for Eret and Niki for taking care of him and putting up with him on his good and bad days.