He Doesn't Need To Improve His Reputation He Just Needs To Be With People Who Don't See Him As A Product/a

he doesn't need to improve his reputation he just needs to be with people who don't see him as a product/a business.

and also have fans that actually, like, don't victim blame him or put the responsibility of fending off an ongoing years-long harassment campaign that's reached actual cult levels in the creator space entirely on his shoulders.

like maybe people need to stop concerning themselves with his "reputation" and trying to ask other fans to backseat manage this guy's career as if any of us has a better understanding of youtube and the creator space than he does, and start reading up on counterspeech, conspiracy thinking, extremism, cult mentality, etc, and then do the work within yourselves to make the community less polarized, less extremist, less prone to conspiracy, and much better equipped to fight this alongside dream. because we either fucking do that, or it's not looking good for his actual life.

dream is the target of this campaign. dream is the victim here. there is nothing dream can do as the victim to make this magical world where everyone loves him happen, and acting as if it's on him to par himself down into something the people who hate him will like is not only tremendously unfair, but it's also denying him his humanity.

and it's not like creators, even in this sphere, haven't always fucking hated him anyway. kaceytron has had a creepy obsession with the idea of him being straight for years. john swan was impersonating dream before the speedrun drama even happened and the only reason he didn't get away with it is that some people in the commentary drama community have an actual spine (shout-out to nicholas deorio, chief drolo). noah hugbox had literal sexual harassment against dream as his pinned tweet for forever.

none of this is new. what is new is the actually alarming things we saw from this drama, which have made it pretty clear that whatever is going on with the brighton crew is insidious, and it is dangerous.

you gotta start with unlearning the damage this whole thing has already done to you. you gotta start with not centering your feelings over the humanity of any of these creators. you gotta start with getting smarter about this instead of putting all of it on the shoulders of the victim. how the fuck is dream supposed to do anything? did y'all not see how genuinely out of touch with reality tubbo was sounding? how is dream going to convince people to listen to him if they think that every point they end up agreeing with is a result of his mind control powers? the goal here isn't convincing someone who hates dream that he isn't the source of all evil. the goal here is to mitigate the harm, clear up misinformation, and stop validating the views of these creators very much like dream has been tirelessly trying to do.

Offering help in a dark place

TW: blood, prison, torture, broken bones, generally injuries, amputation (of hybrid traits), maiming,

I didn't prove read this, so I'm sorry if you find mistakes, it was just too long ;n;

Techno decided that he had waited long enough and it was time to break his rival out of prison. He discovered not only what had been going on in the prison but also some secrets of Dream himself.

The weight was heavy on Techno’s back. There was no strength left in Dream who was now resting on his back. It’s not like he was heavy. He would have probably been a little bit heavy a few months ago when he still had muscles and fat on his body, but now he looked like a skeleton covered in bruises, cuts, and wrongly healed broken bones. The cloak which was wrapped around his shoulders was the only thing which kept him warm.

So, Techno fought his way through the snow, waiting for the familiar sight of his home to appear on the horizon.

------

When Techno broke into the prison through the roof and landed quietly in a pool of blood, he didn’t recognize Dream at first. He even thought the cell was empty at first glance. Well, empty apart from the blood on the floor and walls, chains and half eaten, raw potatoes laying around. Did he miscalculate and enter a different cell? Techno quickly threw away that thought when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

He quickly pulled out his sword, slowly creepy closer to the mystery which was hidden behind a simple chest.

What he saw, almost made him drop his sword in shock. There he was, the person he had been looking for.

He looked horrendous.

There was Dream, curled up in a corner, hands gripping the chest tightly, blood covering nearly every single spot on his mangled body.

Techno had seen the half eaten potatoes, did that mean he only got raw potatoes to eat? Techno himself was a potato lover, everybody knew that but raw potatoes, not only were they bad for your health, toxic even, but they also didn’t have enough nutrients for a grown man.

The next thing Techno noticed was Dream’s hair. It was longer than he had ever seen before. It was extremely dirty and he could easily see the knots and clumps in the hair, so unkempt. It was almost the same length as his own, but it seemed lighter than before, almost white. Maybe it was the reflection of the lava in the grease of the hair or it had actually turned white. Or both. There were still a few flecks of dirt and blood in the hair, which tainted its whiteness.

Looking at Dream’s visible body, which wasn’t covered by the orange dark brown fabric of the prison uniform, Techno had to swallow harshly. He saw various cuts and bruises and both of Dream’s legs seemed broken, sticking out in weird angles, even though he had pulled them closely towards his chest. Techno knew a lot about injuries, both receiving them and giving them to others. He knew how injuries looked on a person who just had a friendly fight with someone, he knew how injuries looked on a person who had a life and death fight and barely got away with their life, and he knew how injuries looked on a person who had been in a fight in which they couldn’t defend themselves, had no chance of winning, and were basically just a punching bag.

And he knew what tortured looked like.

Techno didn’t know how to approach the trembling mess which was his rivals. Still was his rival. The first thing he did was putting his netherite sword back, because through the curtain of hair, he could see one of Dream’s green eyes, ripped open in plain and simple terror, staring at it.

“Dream?” He simply asked, trying to get the apparently unmasked man’s attention on him. What he didn’t expect was Dream flinching back violently at the sound of his own name and hiding his face in the crook of his elbow, pressing himself even more into the corner of the cell.

Techno himself flinched back seeing the reaction of his former ally. It was so very unlike Dream. He usually stood tall and strong, rather choosing fight than flight but also knowing when he couldn’t win.

Dream, the master of parkour, winding himself around obstacles no one else could, climbing the highest trees, and pulling the most unusual tricks out of his sleeves, was cowering in fear of Technoblade in the corner of a hot, humid, and extremely disgustingly smelling cell, which walls were covered in blood.

Techno had noticed the bandages which had been clumsily and badly wrapped around the skinny extremities, probably by Dream himself. That told Technoblade a lot, because that meant that no one bothered to look after Dream’s health, not even taking care of life threatening injuries. The molding potatoes in the corner weren’t any better.

Glancing slightly to his left, Techno noticed a cauldron with water in it. It was murky, slightly tainted in a pinkish tone. There was a slight movement on Techno’s right side, which told him that Dream had moved. He glanced over to the prisoner, who froze mid movement, eyes staring at him.

Both men stood still.

But Dream quickly pressed himself into his corner, face hidden in his arms again.

Techno sighed, and decided to sit down. He knew that his pants and cloak would probably get extremely dirty, covered in grime and blood from this. Still, his plan was to make himself seem approachable and not like this terrifying monster, Dream was probably seeing at that moment.

“Dream, it’s me. Techno.” He said once again, voice barely above a whisper. When Dream didn’t move, he continued. “I’m here to get you out. To break you out of prison.” A small smile spread on Techno’s face when he saw one of Dream’s eyes again, peeking through his hair, head slightly raised.

“Yeah, I’ll get you out of here, don’t worry.” He chuckled and reached out with his hand. Big mistake on his part. Dream immediately flinched back, staring at the hand now. Techno slowly pulled his hand back, slightly raising them in apology.

“I’m sorry if I scared you. Can you give me your hand? I just wanna see if you are fine.” Techno asked, slowly holding his hand out again. He could see Dream’s eyes switch from his hand to his eyes nervously. “I just want to help, I promise.”

Slowly, a trembling hand, which had been wrapped in bandages but still had blood seeping through, extended. When it rested in Techno’s hand, he rubbed over the back of the hand, trying to show peacefulness and comfort.

Techno noted that the first thing he will have to do, once both of them are safe in his house, was washing all the dirt and blood off Dream, cutting his hair, because a lot of it he won’t be able to save, cleaning his wounds and rewrapping them.

Techno was shocked by various things when looking at Dream’s hand. He could see that 4 out of 5 fingers were missing fingernails. On his palm between the bandages which were easily moved to the side, was a smiley cut in. At first he thought it had been Dream’s signature smiley, but it was different. The smile seemed more rectangular, which reminded him of a certain duck hybrid on the server. Trying to tune out the voices and not let rage take over by the implications of that, Techno turned the hand around again. gently covering it with his second hand, holding it gently.

“See, I’m not going to hurt you.” Techno quickly replaced the bandages and kept rubbing his thumb over the dry hand. Dream didn’t answer, he just kept staring at Techno.

“I’m going to remove my cloak now and give it to you, ok. It’s raining outside and where we are going will be extremely cold.”

A long time he got no answer from Dream, until he felt the boney hand gently press his own. He barely felt it but it was there nonetheless.

“I’m going to let go of your hand now, ok?” Techno asked and got another squeeze from the still shaking hand.

Gently he retracted his hand, and so did Dream. He unclasped the golden buttons of which kept the cloak around his shoulders and barely stopped it from falling into a puddle of blood.

“I need you to lean forward, so I can wrap it around you.” Techno advised but Dream kept still. He let a few seconds pass but nothing happened, so he slowly raised his hands with the cloak in them. He edged closer on his knees, trying not to scare Dream. Once he was in front of the man, he held his hands over the cowering man. He could see Dream hiding his face in his arms again, apparently expecting to be hurt even more. Techno quickly twisted and flicked his own arms, the cloak fluttered down behind Dream’s back. Leaning back a little bit he connected the golden string with the buttons again, so it won’t fall off Dream's narrow shoulders.

Satisfied, Technoblade leaned back and looked at his rival drowning in his royal cloak. He was rather closer to Dream’s head right now and the man in question peek through his hair up at him. Suddenly he noticed something sticking out of Dream’s head. At first he thought it was just a clump of blood, but upon further inspection he saw that it was solid.

Scared that it was something which was hurting Dream he gently touched it, only for Dream to flinch back and cover his head with his arms, head tucked between his legs. Being a hybrid himself, Techno didn’t need a long time to identify what he was touching, if only it was just for a second.

Those were horns from a hybrid.

“You are a hybrid, Dream?” He asked stepping back again, eyes still focussed on the horn sticking out of the apparent hybrid’s head. Techno raised an eyebrow in thought because he couldn’t think of an hybrid who only had one horn, which wasn’t even centered, unless it had been…

Oh.

It was very dark in the cell, except for the glowing lava and the mushroom light glooming in the corner but Techno’s piglin side had very good sight, so he could easily see the jacked ends of a clearly cut off, or rather cracked or ripped off horn. Closing his eyes, he could think about what happened to Dream’s other horn.

“okay…” Techno put his hands on his legs. “we have to go now, it’s time.” He gently put his hand on Dream’s shoulder, surprised when there was no flinch. He could still see the watchful eyes of the apparent hybrid on him.

“I’ll have to carry you. It doesn’t seem like you can walk on your own.” He slowly moved around, so his back was facing Dream’s chest. “I’ll give you a piggyback ride. I have to use my tools to get us out of here okay?” There was no sound coming from Dream and Techno slowly wondered if his rival could even speak anymore or if it was just the terror and panic Dream was probably feeling right now.

“I need you to move your arms over my shoulders, so I can pick you up. Can you do that?” Surprisingly his sensitive ears could hear shuffling behind him and suddenly he felt a weight flop against his back and two thin arms appear on each side of his head. Dream had just thrown himself against his back, too weak to even hold himself upright.

“Alright. I’ll just move my hands under your thighs and we’ll be off.” Techno didn’t expect an answer but he could hear a tired and quiet hum close to his ear, where Dream’s head was resting against his shoulder.

The piglin hybrid got hold of Dream’s thighs which were as thin as the rest of his body. Dream had always had lots of leg muscles coming from the manhunts, the running he did and the parkourin, but all these muscles seemed to be gone now.

Techno leaned forwards a little bit, so Dream didn’t have to hold on too tight while he got his trident out of inventory. Both men now stood under a hole in the prison roof, where Techno had mined into before with the help of Philza and lots and lots of buckets of milk.

“You hanging in there, buddy?” Techno asked while they stood in the rain for a second. “I need you to hold onto my neck tightly for like three seconds, so I can trident us out of here.” Techno could feel the arms around his neck slightly tightening. It wasn’t a lot but it was enough that Dream wouldn’t fall off mid flight.

Not waiting any longer, Techno threw one last look at the dirty and blood covered cell, closing his eyes for a second to feel the cold raindrops on his face. It was quite the change from the temperature of the cell, he couldn’t imagine how Dream was feeling.

The flight up to the roof was done in 2 seconds and Techno squatted down on the roof while landing, trying to make the impact as soft as possible for Dream.

He heard steps beside him and saw the familiar face of Phil staring down at him.

“Oh my god.” He just said, upon seeing the condition of the former ruler of the smp.

“I know, I know, let’s talk about this at home, okay?” Techno cut off Phil, before the older man could say anything else. What surprised the piglin hybrid was the arm on the left side of his head which suddenly started to move. It extended, palm up, and trembling fingers were hit with cold water droplets.

“Haven’t seen or felt rain in a while now, huh?” Techno grinned while he stood up, watching Dream’s hand getting wet. He heard a quiet hum next to his ears.

Techno could also see a small smile appear on Phil, who still had worry written on his forehead.

“We need to go now, you’ll get sick if you stay too long in the rain with these clothes.” Phil mentioned and they walked to the edge of the prison, ready to jump down. Before they did so, Phil opened the screen of his inventory and pulled out an invisibility potion.

“I’ll splash the two of you with invisibility, so you can walk through the mainland without anyone seeing you.” Phil explained and threw the bottle on the ground and Techno with Dream on his back disappeared.

“Be safe.” Phil said, before he spread his wings, ready to fly off. “Both of you.”

With those words, Phil was gone, only a small dot on the horizon, disappearing quickly.

“Ok, nerd. You have to hang on tight onto me one last time, while we jump off. I’ll also hold onto you, so don’t worry. I’ll trident us to the land, so we won’t hit the water.” He muttered softly and he could feel a nod on his shoulders.

While they were falling freely for a few seconds, the arms around his neck tightened again and Dream pressed his body tightly against his back. Techno made sure he landed as softly as he could with a trident in one hand and a prisoner on his back.

“You good?” He asked once he stood steadily on the ground. Another hum reached his ears in affirmation. “Alright then, let’s go.”

------

Techno gasped when he finally saw his house behind the mountain. The travelling through the nether had been bothersome for Dream due to the drastic temperature change and the apparent fear or nervousness around lava.

Both of them had been travelling for a few hours now, the invisibility potion long ran off.

“We are nearly there, Dream. Only a few more minutes.” The man on his back was shivering with his entire body and his fingers and toes had turned from red into a slightly blue hue. “Just a little longer.”

There was no response from Dream and Techno worried if he fell unconscious, if he was just sleeping, or he just couldn’t answer because of the cold and exhaustion. The familiar feeling of worry, which he normally only felt for Phil, was seeping through his body, forcing his legs to hurry up even more.

The closer he got, the clearer could he see the silhouette of Phil waiting for them on the wooden connection between their houses. When they were close enough, Phil quickly disappeared into his house, only to reappear after seconds, running towards them with something in his arms.

Philza greeted him with a nod and Techno could finally see what Phil had been carrying. A few blankets were resting in his hands which he all threw around the two of them, so Dream was encased in blankets on his back and his front was protected from the cold by the body heat of Techno.

“Get him into the house quickly. We’ll warm him up inside.” Phil grabbed Techno’s arm and dragged him towards the two houses. He quickly ran up the stairs, shooing away curious dogs and sleeping polar bears. Phil held the door open for them to pass through.

“Lay him on there.” He pointed on a bed which had been sat next to the wooden box, which had been Tommy’s hiding place a few months prior, and a few chests. There was a bowl of hot water, a few bandages and various colored cloths on the chests, waiting to be used.

Techno sat down on the bed, gently coaxing the freezing arms from around his neck, only to turn around and gently let Dream’s body fall onto the soft mattress. Looking at Dream in normal daylight made everything worse.

The hair was splayed around his head, clotted together in blood and in grease. Dream’s face was covered in fresh wounds, some with reopened crusts. Blood was everywhere. There were bruises in the forms of hands around his neck, fresh and old, clearly from being choked. Cuts and bruises littered the entire body in front of him and blood was everywhere. It was mostly dried old blood, but some wounds have reopened and were now leaking blood, already soaking up the mattress below.

The legs were the worst of all the injuries. Dream’s feet looked unregular, like they had been broken multiple times, which was probably the case. Dream’s right shin looked like it had suddenly sprouted a joint, bending in another way midway through. Clearly broken. Dream’s left leg didn’t look any better with bruises of what seemed to be a hammer head spread all over.

“I don’t even know where to start.” Phil ruffled his own hair in uncertainty and desperation. “There is so much.”

“You start with the legs, I start at the head?” Techno suggested and Phil nodded quickly. Both took a cloth in their hands and dipped it in the hot water. Techno scooted up, so he could sit next to Dream’s head. At first he removed the bandages which were still loosely hanging off his face. Some of them he had to pry off because they were stuck to Dream’s head, glued to the face with dried blood.

“Did you know Dream was a hybrid?” Techno asked while starting to clean the cuts on his rival's face. While Techno kept working, Phil stopped.

“A hybrid? What kind of?” He mused, while going back to work. “Normally hybrids have some visual traits which indicate they are one. I mean not every hybrid has them but I’d say 90% do.”

“He has horns.” Techno answered. “Well, had. Kind of.” He carefully parted the long, now clearly white hair, to inspect the horns closer. Now he could see that the second horn, which he didn’t see in the darkness of the prison had been cut off completely at its root. It was a clean cut, probably done with a sword or a saw. The edges were still a little rough, so probably a saw. Only a cut off stump remained. The other horn was still there, though not completely. Like he had thought before it had been ripped off, or cracked like a glowstick. The edges were sharp and unregular, probably ripped off with brute force. “Come see.” He nudged his head, waiting for his old friend to come closer.

He could see Phil glancing over his shoulder and his breath stopped when seeing the maimed horns. “Fuck.” He said and sighed deeply. “What kind of hybrid do you think he is?” Phil asked while going back to try and relocate the bones without causing too much stir up or pain.

“Knowing Captain Puffy is… was his mother, probably something like sheep or goat.” Techno pointed at the limp but still fluffy tail which peaked out of Dream’s prison pants.

Phil chuckled.

“Never thought big bad Dream would be a sheep hybrid.”

Techno only hummed in response, turning his attention back on the man on the bed.

Both men worked in silence for a few minutes until Techno spoke up again.

“I think we should cut his hair while he is asleep.” Phil grabbed a few of the bandages. After he had relocated and taken care of the broken bones, he wanted to wrap them up again with fresh and new bandages.

“Don’t you think we should wake until he is up. Getting his opinion on it?” Phil suggested.

“Normally I’d agree. But I doubt Dream would trust up with scissors or shears near his body. You didn’t see what the inside of the cell looked like.” Techno sighed. “There was blood everywhere. Look at my pants! They are drenched in blood and I just sat there for a few minutes. I honestly don’t know what happened in there. My best guess is torture.”

Phil tied off a knot on a bandage of Dream’s left leg. The bandage started the knee and went down to his ankles. “Torture, are you sure?” He asked and grabbed another roll. He dipped the cloth back into the water, which slowly changed colors into pink.

“Check out his hand.” Techno took the now cleaned hand into his own, and turned it around, so his palm was visible. Phil scooted closer and gasped when he saw the lines resembling a smiley cut into the soft flesh.

“That’s… that’s Quackity, right?” Phil asked and Techno only nodded. “I don’t know what he wanted from Dream but this is definitely his work. He was never a fan of Dream.” Techno slowly started wrapping the hand back up.

“The question is was Sam in on this?” Phil asked, now finishing off Dream’s left leg, moving to his right.

“He must have, from what people have told me, you can only go into the prison with Sam’s permission. He has keycards which are needed to open doors.” Techno finished with the hands and now moved to cut open Dream’s torn prison uniform. He gasped when he saw how starved his rival looked, with every broken rib visible. “Niki even told me that you have to leave all your items in a locker, and you are being killed two times. So Sam makes sure that you can’t smuggle anything in. Sam must have been in on it, Quackity wouldn’t be able to bring all those weapons into the cell without him.”

Techno finished wrapping the torso, while Phil was nearly finished off with Dream’s legs. The entire time Dream had been quiet, the only sounds were an occasional whimper or a groan.

“Do you think you can do anything for his horns?” Techno asked while he stood up and stretched his body. He was exhausted from the long travel and the breakout.

“Let me see. But if they are already cut off, I can’t do much.” Phil squatted down at the head of Dream and gently parted the long hair. Phil hummed and Techno already knew the answer from looking at Phil’s face. Eyebrows scrunched up and lips pressed into a thin line. “No, sorry. The best thing we can do is clean them up and let the wounds heal.”

Technoblade didn’t know what he expected but he was disappointed nonetheless. Traits like horns were important for hybrids, they were a sign of their identity. Them being cut off or maimed like Dream’s were, wasn’t only extremely painful but also bad for the moral and psyche of the hybrid.

“Let’s clean them up and rest for the night.” Phil suggested after he stood up. Both men nodded and went to work.

------

Phil and Techno had decided that one of them should stay with Dream for the night. Techno had volunteered, after all, his face was familiar and safe to Dream, after he broke him out of prison.

His head was leaning against the armchair he was resting on, eyes closed. Suddenly he heard rustling and he immediately opened his eyes. He turned to look at Dream, who was staring straight at him. Technoblade didn’t want to admit it but he flinched a little bit, surprised by the nearly glowing green eyes staring at him in the darkness.

“I see you are awake, nerd.” Techno sat himself up straight, Dream’s eyes following his every move. “You remember what happened?”

Dream gave him a nod and blinked a few times.

“Good, good. Phil and I cleaned you up and rewrapped your wounds. We also cut your hair, it was getting in the way while we healed you up.” Technically that was a lie but they didn’t want to deal with a terrified awake Dream while they were handling sharp scissors. The hair was too clumped up, unsaveable, so they just cut it off.

Dream nodded again and kept staring at Techno, who fiddled awkwardly with his fingers.

Suddenly Dream let his arm fall out from under the covers and motioned for Techno to come closer to him. Techno obeyed and sat next to Dream’s head, waiting for what the other hybrid wanted. Dream fumbled to grab Techno’s hand. He had pity on Dream and gently placed his hand on the other’s. Dream patted rhythmically on the back of Techno’s hand.

Morse code.

- .... .- -. -.- / -.-- --- ..-

Techno’s moae code knowledge was rusty but he still understood what his rival meant.

“You are welcome, nerd.” He said and for the first time in months, Dream smiled.

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