#cujo and vanta

[msmkcreates]

My Swapfell Boys: Vanta and Cujo

I've always used sort of the same archetypes for my Swapfell boys, so I figured it was about time to share them! I've been using these headcanons since Swapfell boys first appeared in Six Skeletons in Your Closet and beyond. As is the nature of small Fandom, I've then seen some of the same headcanons used or in bits and pieces scattered, and I'm happy to have had an influence on the Swapfell archetype! I figure it's best to lay them out proper so everyone can see what I'm thinking when I use these.

If you are going to use these versions of the boys, please tag them as Swapfell Bane

Cujo

Older brother

Gold teeth on both sides, crack from left tooth all the way up to the base of his skull in the back

Royal purple magic, like a ripe eggplant.

Confident, big flirt, but huge commitophobe/trust issues. Trusts basically just Vanta and his Undyne.

Basically spoils Vanta. Does everything for him. He's the opposite of lazy: he does all the chores so that Vanta doesn't have to

Huge magic capacity. He's the perfect specimen, and was experimented on at a young age in a since-abandoned super soldier program. As a result, he has a werewolf-esque animalistic beast form that gives him increased strength, speed, and stamina, but it's hard to control and the transformation is painful. Trigger is vague, usually the same things that cause LV flares.

Smokes. Done harder drugs in the past, but is currently clean. Drinks very rarely.

He wears Vanta's collar because Vanta is incredibly delicate. The entire underground is terrified of Cujo and his beast form, so in turn they are terrified of Vanta because Cujo willfully kneels to him.

Vanta

Younger brother

1 HP since he was small. With his ill-gotten LV, it is now at a whopping 5 HP.

Magenta magic, a pinkish purple.

Made it to rank of Captain basically out of straight fear. People refused to even look him in the eye with Cujo over his shoulder.

Vanta is actually incredibly smart and tactical. It's been him and Cujo alone from a young age and Cujo has always told him he "needs brains to his brawn" and encouraged reading and puzzle skills. His favorite book ever has been The Art of War and he has used it to his advantage many a time

He knows the basics of taking care of himself, he isn't an idiot. But he's more dependent on Cujo than he'd like to admit. He gets a little into their charade, and he's kind of a brat, but deep down he's terrified of Cujo getting tired of him someday.

Three scars over left socket, from Catty's claws. They were only sparring, so the Intent wasn't there, which graciously spared his life.

A romantic, but horrendously terrible at showing it. Words are his strong suit, but only if they are criticism. He's trying, okay?

Bonus size comparison below the cut:

[msmkcreates]

Yaaaas! I have vague memories of this! Why does Cujo have a Werewolf form? Is he the only one that does?

When they were younger, there was a super soldier program spearheaded by the royal scientist at the time (here it was not Gaster, but the River Person, so he didn't have a name other than Royal Scientist). Gaster thought if he gave him Sans (Vanta), who was overwhelmingly fragile, it would give him a better chance at life. Basically he had the right intentions, but he pretty much sold his kid for science.

Papyrus (Cujo), who had basically been raising Vanta since he was a babybones, did not accept this. He ran away from home to track his brother down, and basically offered himself in exchange (because the contract said "Son of WD Gaster" but didn't specify which one, and Cujo argued that Vanta had too low of an HP to be useful for test runs bc he wouldn't survive a needle prick).

The experiments were a success! Except for the part where nobody could control the final product, making Cujo useless to the guard and therefore the program was scrapped due to too many failures. They tried to kill him, and he might have let them to end the pain, but Cujo caught sight of Vanta in a cage across the room and remembered what he was here for. He used the new power he had gained to kill the royal scientist and some of his assistants, take his brother, and flee back home.

He gained notoriety instantly. He had a hard time controlling the form, and much of his lackadaisical attitude nowadays is learned behavior--if he loses his temper. The monster may come out.

[msmkcreates]

Hmmm well what are the brothers roles? (figure we'd start with the skelebros cuz we all love um XD) Also why is it call Swapfell Bane? What's the Underground like?

Cujo is unemployed (except for being the judge) and handles most of the housework, cooking, etc. He also often follows his brother on patrols as his loyal "attack dog". To make sure he's okay.

Vanta is the "breadwinner". He's the captain of the Snowdin chapter of the guard, and he's a workaholic.

It's called Swapfell Bane mostly because of Wulfsbane, since Cujo has a werewolf-like form. Also cause I needed a swapfell name that wasn't already taken...lol

The Underground is a desperate place. Outside of the palace supplies are short, there's a lot of violence and Vanta keeps strict rations on the town to minimize fighting over supplies. He's got charts in his room with every household, how many, age and food needs all taken into account. He's very good at puzzles.