How blessed I am this day <3 alright, I’ve given some thought to this in the past, and this is the way that I see it.
Russ is a... different sort of asshole. He’s less violent, and more manipulative. He’s learned to bide his time, in his terror of a universe, watches and listens and calculates from the shadows; when he strikes, it’s with precision. It’s how he stays alive, how he asserts his own form of dominance. People think he knows everything, is everywhere, and kills with a single move, and rightly fear him for it.
It has left him far more alone than he ever intended or wanted, though. His brother is his only real company, besides the “friends” gold can buy, and he’s always been a disappointment in Sans’ eyes, so that’s hardly a comfort. He’s given up on finding his mate, by the time Chara comes to him... but he knows her almost instantaneously. Her scent is impossible to deny, it calls to him in a way he’s been waiting for all his life... her soul is a beacon he could have felt miles away.
She’s his from that moment on, even if she doesn’t know or accept it. She’s resistant, completely devoted to Stretch and her promises to him, but Russ is far more patient than Red ever was. He’s conniving, finding ways to make her question the difference between them... if he’s truly not her mate-to-be... if she’s denying what was meant to be. He twists facts, clouding her mind and tempting her with things Stretch had denied her... until she falls into the palms of his hands, convinced against all reason.
In shorter terms, he would treat her well enough, considering. He houses and feeds her, protects her and provides for her (Sans is away almost constantly, the queen’s right hand, so he doesn’t have to worry for him finding her). The worst of his loneliness and desperation and desire is carefully hidden, until she gives in, and the worst he does is lie and confuse her, to make her accept him. Is it truly better than force, his manipulations and lies? In some ways, perhaps... but the result is the same~ the theft of her, from her true mate, bonded to another, far more selfish and brutal monster.
As for poor Stretch? Pissed isn’t the word for it.
Stretch has never been an angry monster. Even in the worst timelines, his soul is more given to resignation than fury. His fight with Chara, in the one cursed timeline that he was forced to step in her way, was fraught with tears and regrets, a thing he has never truly forgiven himself for. Love drove any form of anger even further from his mind, the peace and plenty of a real, true future with his beloved a boon he had never dared to dream of, much less wish for.
To have her stolen from him, though... to have his light and his hope and his love tarnished, twisted against him until she believes he is this... this pretender, this snake in the grass, is beyond his capacity to handle. The past begs him to grieve... but the righteous lividity of feeling the bastard mark her, feeling him use her and lie to her until she clings to him how she should have only clung to him-
It breeds an anger in him that can only be quenched with dust.
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