SFKJKFSKFJ yeshihellO!! 🤩💜💜💜 Thank ya’ll omfg hi 🥺😭 lemmie just ahem hide this real quick lol. Rambling Skeptic/Shigaraki AU details below! It’s a very dark AU that will be rated E on ao3, so... +18 only, thank you!
tw for psychological horror, captivity (stockholm syndrome fosho), dehumanization, Shigaraki’s essentially his bottom bitch
none of that will be talked about explicitly here, but they are the core struggles Shigaraki/the LoV face in this AU so I wanted to warn ya, just in case.
As is tradition, I’d like to start by offering my Skeptshig playlist for ultimate vibes: Here! (shoutout to Lyrick and Sam on twt for their wonderful additions!)
The Distortionist was the song that sprouted this AU, though!
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Tentatively titled The Doll Maker
It takes place in, basically, the MLA’s mansion, just more Haunted-Victorian-Mansion. Every night is once upon a midnight dreary, y’know? Shigaraki’s certainly weary of this shit 😂 Gothic horror is a big inspo for the environment and tone, both aesthetically and thematically! Channeling my Edgar Allan Poe baybeeee 👏
notes from the Doc:
A very haunted, Victorian mansion, where the Doll Maker lives with and keeps his things. Some are special enough to have their own rooms; Shigaraki Tomura is not one of them. The Maker hangs him up on his own walls for decoration and entertainment.
Most call him Master (per his request), but Tomura calls him the Maker. Those that’ve been there the longest have adopted his sentiment. Eventually, their minds believe it.
Herein lies the core of it all!
Their reality has always been the Mansion; their reality has always been controlled by Skeptic. The circumstances surrounding how or why they’re there (other than for Skeptic & CO’s entertainment) are unknown. He doesn’t know how long he’s been there, but he’s been there the longest and the others look to him as some de-facto leader for it. Told from Tomura’s point of view, we’re introduced to the unofficial house hierarchy: he’s the only one that’s kept like this, and it fucking sucks. I have the whole flowchart he’s mapped out for the average Doll’s living-situation over time but I’mma keep it to be detailed in the fic if it’s ever posted cause that’s just worldbuilding detail.
the League
Their interactions are something I’m really excited about~ We’ll get to see how he met each of them throughout the Mansion, their day-to-days milling about and pondering (or blindly accepting) reality.
I can imagine Dabi’s room, full of burnt taxidermy, walls and furniture permanently stained with soot, and Tomura checking up on him when he doesn’t show up in their Biltmore-esque library, like usual, after a “playdate” with Geten.
Spinner would be a Doll Shigaraki finds molding alone in a room, forgotten. Not anymore goddamnit. He’d understand that solitude, what with the isolation he feels by being kept by Skeptic’s side so often, and long-dormant sympathy&empathy would reintroduce itself!
Toga and Twice would be the “newest” and most chipper, following Tomura around like lost puppies whenever he’s out and about.
(Dabi and Spinner do, too, just a little more mutedly).
Not 100% on Compress and Magne but they’re theeeeere haha.
They’re the heart he’s lost over time. They bring him back to life in a place that wants nothing but to stifle and control him as they support each other. Idk how, but the goal is escape for Shigaraki and the League in the end, with them on a road to further healing together. 🥰
in conclusion
It’s all very much a ~what’s reality~ mindfuck because I love that shit and want the question to be if they’re really Dolls of Skeptic’s creation or just tortured people being used. Breaking out of a created reality is what I want for them and they will get it, if only in my mind and unpublished word vomit lol. I started it for Shigtober, my silly little combo of Kinktober and a Shigabowl, so maybe it’ll make its debut in October 😂😂 ... I hoard my writing, it’s a problem... 😭
The Doll concept is tightly intertwined with the whole Puppet Master/Puppet dynamic, also, and kinda branches off into other circusy vibes/possible plot directions I don’t think match the more Gothic tone this has grown to be. Idk tho, I ruminate on it off and on and it’s no where near fleshed out enough soakdjglkajakdjf 🙈
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I’m sorry this wasn’t all that in depth or exciting (or coherent), but all the points that get me hyped for it are basically major plot spoilers I don’t wanna ruin just in case!! 🙇♀️🙇♀️ Which is silly bc what if I don't even write it? it's a rarepair with (1) Really Fantastic Work, who's gonna see this and read it, let alone remember this ask? But my anxiety has spoken so I will not 🙈
Thank ya’ll so so much for even being curious! I’m not one to talk about my ideas unless asked, so it’s always hella hella meaningful to have someone want to know 🥺💜💜💜 I hope you both have an absolutely fantastic day! 🥰🤗💜