Sideswap Roceit, featuring Deceit!Roman and Creativity!Janus as Ro shoots his shot and Janus is a flustered gay about it jhuhihkh
Shout out to @fangirltothefullest who drew our Dragon Romans ‘fighting’ over Janus bc they’d def be Rivals of the Century cknsofjskfjr
(Also, Yes this was inspired by one of those palette asks, but it evolved into its own monster, so i apologize, but not really bc it lead to this au, so i hope it still counts!!)
It was kinda hard to think of what animal to go with for him. Most of the ones that came to mind didn’t really come across as ‘deceitful’. I went with the graceful fox because it has red fur and was on a list of animals that symbolise deception in dome way. Also because they feel both graceful and dramatic in their general appearance and behaviour.
Since foxes tend to be viewed as thieves (because they steel chickens or something) I decided to go with that. His general thing is focused on both appealing to ones desires and dreams (and encouraging the disregard of how that affects others) and covering up the more upsetting reality with false promises and nice things. His general attitude is ‘the ends justify the means’ which I image would fit any version of deceit but I’d say this one is laser focused on the idea, this is mostly to do with the thief thing. Things like stealing food or money to feed oneself or others is kinda fine, but taking from the needy for your own sake is not. This guy is for either, as long as it befits him (or Thomas). He doesn’t focus on morals (as expected) and while he isn’t out to hurt anyone his actions are far from selfless. He loses the heroic Prince nature in that, but keeps the fantasy and pride.
His staff doesn’t have any magical properties, it’s there cuz’ it looks cool. However he will swing it around like a sword if needed.
For your sideswap AU (anxiety!Logan is adorable btw), are there big changes in their personalities from the original sides or do they act the same for the most part?
Also how about how they interact? Do they like/dislike the same sides or are their relationships different too?
Okay okay okay so this’ll take a lil bit of explaining so bare with me kjhkjbij
my basis of the swap part of the au is that while two side’s ‘cores’ (i.e. Logic, Anxiety, Deceit) are swapped, half of either original character still remains as a base, so theyre each a combined half of eachother in clothing style, personal motivation, *and* personality. So:
Virgil <-core swapped with-> Logan
Roman <-core swapped with-> Janus
Patton <-core swapped with-> Remus
(This got long, hiding the rest under the cut)
For instance:
Anxiety!Virgil & Logic!Logan have become -> Anxiety!Logan and Logic!Virgil, right?
So in this Au, Logan would:
-struggle with social cues
-Be hot-headed
-overwork himself
But also,
-Being anxious, overthinking and overanalyzing things
-being stand-offish on purpose bc he feels he doesnt deserve help
- struggle to trust the others whilst worrying constantly about them and Thomas
Which adds up to him being the type of person who doesn’t care what the others think of him so long as he succeeds in keeping everyone safe. He wont hesitate to start an screaming match argument if it gets the others to hear his point of view, because he often feels pushed to the side and ignored. He has the added bonus of being able to provide rational points of logic in his arguments but struggles to be taken seriously because he cant handle being taunted, and ends up lashing out because he thinks every jab is a serious one because he legitimately struggles with telling the two apart. He’s sort of like, a heightened version of both personal and external insecurity alongside anxiety, yknow?
His redemtion arc probably involved him getting so frustrated and confused by them coming to bring him back from ducking out that he literally burst into tears, because ‘I don’t understand! You all hate me, so much! I know I can’t be perfect but I can’t handle this, this, pity party! I’m not coming back knowing you’re going to go right back to hating every little thing that I do!’ Because he’s convinced himself that theres no possible way the others could even remotely like him. They *do* manage to convince him otherwise, dont worry!
As for Virgil, his character take looks a little more like this:
-Doesn’t have a high self-esteem, and can be awkward with showing vulnerable emotions
-still leans into the dark brooding shtick to be taken seriously but with a quieter demeanor, which doesnt always work
-can easily match and give playful quips, but needs time to explain himself and his reasoning
But also,
-carries a bit more confidence knowing his points and views are backed by facts
-serious insults and snips aimed at him do not land as hard on him as he knows how to brush illogical lash-out’s(like Logan’s) off as emotionally-charged but not done with malicious intent
-is able to keep up a reasonably constructed schedule, and has logical work-arounds for bumps in the schedule.
-definitely doesn’t take as good of care of himself as he likes to lead the others on to believe
I’m kinda running out of steam here to write out Virgil’s character bits all tied together as a cohesive character type but i hope what i’ve given so far will suffice??
As for the character’s interpersonal interactions, I’ll probably have to explain that more in depth in another ask bc.. I kinda want specific examples to work from because, As I said, trying to explain the relationships via the swap, where the ‘light’ and ‘dark’ sides have flipped positions with who i deemed their opposite half, but obviously not swapped each others personalities 100%, it means i’m aiming for all the original standing relationship types between the canon group to stay the same for their core positions, but just altered enough in a way that fit’s the current core-holder’s personality.
(Plus, for anyone whose curious about the au’s ships but is new to the au, it’s Roceit, Intruality, and Analogical.)
For super simple examples:
-if Anxiety!Virgil & Morality!Patton had a Father/Son type relationship, then Anxiety!Logan and Morality!Remus have a Father/Son type relationship(sort of. I’m aiming for brotherly relationship in this).
-If you headcanoned(like I do, for this au anyway) that Anxiety!Virgil had been raised by Deceit!Janus as a father figure before joining the lightsides, then Anxiety!Logan had been raised by Deceit!Roman as a father figure before they joined the lightsides.
This technically sets things up for Patton and Janus to be brothers in this au, for that reason Remus and Roman are not considered brothers. However, this does not mean that shipping Remus and Roman will be allowed in this au. Please do not take this as invitation to do as such.
Now for a bit of added fun, heres this bonus jumble of character math that i’d tried to used to explain this whole mess to ske last like at like 1 am, and some mock character interactions using this math lol:
“(Really tho its like. Solving math trying to just take two swapped characters and be like ‘okay what the fuck do we have now’ i.e Janus and Logan would actually probably get along rly well bc theyre basically swapped prinxiety, but janus and and Virgil would *STILL* have friction bc theyre swapped logince, but patton and logan would have either a raised by Roman as brothers dynamic or simply just chaotic tension bc intru thoughts and anxiety fuel eachother, but Roman and Patton would be a swapped!dukeceit dynamic, yknow??)”
———
A take on Anxiety!Logan and Deceit!Roman’s relationship:
Anxiety!Logan, having just been woken up from sleeping on the table: *hissing irritatedly at Roman*
Deceit!Roman,sitting there in all his dragon glory in still his night clothes, eyebrow raised but otherwise unphased: Good Morning to you too, 21 riots.
Anxiety!Logan: *hisses louder, bc he’s half asleep and hasnt realized it’s Roman*
Deceit!Roman, tossing the tiny feral child over his shoulder: Alrighty, Pancakes or Bacon?
A!Logan, melting into cuddle mode bc ‘oh okay this is Father, not a giant monster, its purring time then’: …Coffee
D!Roman: Pancakes it is
A!Logan: >:(
———
Aaaand a Take on Logic!Virgil and Deceit!Roman interacting:
Logic!Virgil, a lil peeved: “Are you done trying to mess with me, because-”
Deceit!Roman, smiling with a smug grin and a lil head tilt: “No.~”
Logic!Virgil, now angy from being interrupted “*listen here u lil shit*”