may i offer you a worm!stan in these trying times? like. ford is asked eventually if he'd love his brother no matter what hes turned into and he goes "oh no... hes gone off the deep end he's become a criminal mastermind or something D:" but no. he's a worm. he tried to sell this witch a crappy product and got sent to bug world, which i can only imagine is like hollow knight but without all the boss fights. (if you do not know anything about hollow knight- imagine bug society. that p much it)
bug world is filled to the brim with solicitors and girlscouts and random whoevers that wandered up to this witch's porch and got bugged. they live underground and do bug things.
stan is a velvet worm (onychophora) because those are my favorites even though they arent really worms bc they got legs.
anyways this would happen like, maybe a year or two after he got kicked out, and by the time ford goes to the mailbox to ask for stan's address and gets increasingly confused about "8006 Centipede Ave in BugsBurg" its been like 9 years and hes living decently comfortably in bugtown. maybe he went to bug jail a few times, maybe hes digging little wormy tunnels for a living. maybe both. hes got worm business stuff goin on
anyways i think itd be funny if stan actually did get a postcard from ford and is absolutely baffled. like, its addressed to him but its not like he can open the envelope?? the only reason he knew it existed was because some other guys were like. hey. theres a letter for you sitting on top of the Hive and hes??? and even if he did open it whats he going to do?? he could certainly TRY to go on a goddamn odyssey in winter to go many states away to do??? nothing?? he's a worm. how did ford even know where he was and why isnt he helping him with his wormness huh
and eventually ford tracks him down and before he can start digging up the ground to look for his brother- (why does his magic spell keep saying stan is Six Feet Under. That's. That's not good. Probably doesnt mean anything he's not freaking out about it.)- when the witch goes?? stop digging up my front yard???? to bugland with you. and i dont know if ford would be a worm as well but i do need to mention there's a version of this au that has bee!stan instead. just thought id share this with the "putting stan in situations" guy in case youd appreciate it
This is delightful. I love Stan becoming successful in Bug Land. 19 years old and just got turned into a worm with legs and its horrifying and scary at first but it turns out bugs have a whole miniature society going on here which isn't too different from the one he just came from so its fine actually.
Tw for velvet worm pic under the cut and more on this.
Except for the whole 'Squirts slime to capture prey' and 'way more legs then before'. That took a while to get used to, but after it was fine.
Gets used to his many legs, his slime, the way he eats other bugs, and makes a whole life for himself. A really successful one once his jail time phase is over and he realizes that most of these other bugs live bug years and he lives human years so he's basically immortal by their standards. Sure some of the other guys here are bugs that used to be people too but they tend to snuff it early on or run off never to be seen again.
By the time Moth Ford shows up (thats right, he's a moth. What kind of moth? Ford moth) Stan's a minor god with a following of bug people as he does bug stuff with his (to them) incredibly long life. He didn't forget about Ford per se but he's also a bug so gave up on ever seeing Ford again or making all that money. He's got a bug life now. Maybe a few dozen bug wives. Eats people. That kinda thing.
And then this giant post card shows up wedged in one of his bug tunnels and it takes ages to find the writing to read it and by the time he does its been weeks and Fords decided he needed to track Stan down himself and whoops! Bug time.
I do think this leads to Bill terrorizing Bug Town Radiance Style (I have not played much of Hollow Knight but am familiar) and it taking Stan either finding a way to kick Bill out himself or finding some eldritch bug to do it for him.
Actually gonna rewind and say that Bug Town is similar to Hollow Knight including Boss fights. The only difference is that there isn't a bunch of gods terrorizing common bug citizens or an apocalypse that went on/is going on. Its Hollow Knight and they are bugs and some bugs eat bugs so boss fights happen.
And also also, right now, I do think it would be interesting if the Gods here are the people who got turned into bugs. All that human soul potential condensed into bug form gives them godlike power but only over bugs so to people Stan's just a worm and Fords just a moth and anyone else who got cursed are just bugs that live a long time, but to the rest of bug town each one is a god of some form with divine power of their own to wield as they see fit, each (should they adapt and survive) creating their own tiny (huge to them) bug kingdoms that have bug politics and worshipers and such.
And Stan's spent the last nine years (A long time in bug years) building his minor bug kingdom and ruling over it like a vengeful god (he's a human trapped as a bug fighting for his life. He will eat other bugs about this) when this other god bug rolls up and makes it clear quick he's both a) new here and b) Stan's brother.
And then Bill shows up the first night Fords a bug and goes "Hey Fordsy. What The Fuck Are You Doing. Why are you a bug in costa rica (velvet worm location). Why are you so far away from my portal. Why are you a moth. What the Fuck is happening here."
Then Stan and Ford do Bug Version Dark Souls But Bugs and beat up Bill, find a way to beat up the witch, and everyone either continues to live as bugs if that's their jam or return to their human lives and put the witch in human jail.
In the version where Stan's a bee I do think it'd be funny if he's every single bee in the hive Hive Mind Style and it was a nightmare at first but its fine now Ford just has to adjust to having a conversation with Stan and mid conversation switching to a different bee but its still Stan.
worm!stan anon here, you mentioned moth ford and made me think about bugs. anyways the first types of moths i thought up are those really pretty and fluffy ones which. aren't ford-coded AT ALL. so ive been looking at moths for like an hour (which ironically is pretty ford-coded) and I propose this: polyphemus moth (antheraea polyphemus). which is still v pretty BUT its also beige like his coat and has little yellow eyes on its wings. also poly- in the name. ok thank you for your time
Hilariously enough I looked at this exact moth when doing my own Ford moth related research lol. It really is a good moth for him, matches his colors and has some eyes for Bill flavor, has the word poly in it, whats not to like!
Now imagine Moth! Ford, a guy who is now super fluffy and now very suddenly a bug, having to go through Bug Dark Souls to find his brother, the Velvet Worm with 0 knowledge that his brother is a velvet worm or how to fly. Def almost dies several times. Is Not having a good time. Has a slightly better time when he finds Stan, then back to not so good when he learns his brothers been eating people.
Stan's explanation that he needs to eat bugs to survive, and that 'its bugs Ford, its not a big deal' does not help. Yes they are bugs but they're bugs that have a whole civilization and are fully sentient. And Stan's inability to confirm or deny if he's eaten any bugs that might have been humans before is not helping.
