Prompt link: tba
A/N: This only swaps a few characters with each other, not everyone. I call this AU "alliance swap" so yeah. Anyway, I'm so sorry but prepare to see a healthy, non toxic alliance get swapped with a toxic one. Though, really, there are only 3 alliances I actually remember from the show. And I had to not use the Leafy Pin alliance because they didn't have enough members for the swap. (No, 2014 me, Teardrop isn't part of Leafy and Pin's alliance. She literally never agreed to any of that. They just so happened to crash into her. That's all. That won't stop me from headcanoning that she was friends with them before BFDI in canon, though). Okay enough author's note. To the story!
Teardrop had had enough.
In truth, she probably should have had enough quite some time ago, back in season one, when Lollipop had assumed she was too dumb for the test since she couldn't speak, while Gelatin just nodded along, agreeing.
Or maybe earlier in the season, when Lollipop had demoted her for just preventing Lightning from zapping someone else.
To tell the truth, she still doesn't know why she had stopped Lightning. Teardrop wasn't evil, by any means, but neither was she as pure and kind hearted as Bubble, a shy girl who tended to mind her own business unless someone was wronged. In that moment, however, Teardrop had just instinctively grabbed Lightning and shook her head, clearly sending the message that he shouldn't go through with this. In return, Lollipop had demoted her, but what had made Teardrop uneasy was how callous Lollipop had become towards others. Sure, Teardrop had seen it before with Book and Ice Cube, as well as the way Lollipop sometimes treated Ruby, but really? Electrocuting people?
What finally had drained Teardrop of all her patience, however, happened only after Lollipop had been long since eliminated.
Lollipop may have always been smug, but Gelatin was just a guy who, admittedly was kind of dumb and impulsive, but was a good person, nonetheless. So Teardrop had assumed that once Lollipop wasn't around to influence Gelatin anymore, she wouldn't have to worry about him mistreating her or their team.
She was wrong.
Even with Lollipop eliminated, her influence lingered on, like a spirit unable to cross through the veil. It had taken up residence with Gelatin, and he had demoted her once again, all because he didn't realize that it wasn't a wise idea to have the teammate who can only answer by writing be the one to answer questions in a quiz show-esque competition. They were lucky that Free Food had decided to cheat. Otherwise, they really would have lost the contest.
Honestly, it wasn't even the demotion that upset Teardrop. Honestly, the words "bember" and "bemb" just sounded stupid. It also looked stupid too. She found that out when she tried to write them down. They just looked silly, as if a three year old made them up. She had expected it from Gelatin, but really, Lollipop should know better.
But anyways, what had really got on Teardrop's nerves was how Gelatin just tried to talk to her again after a few days as if nothing had happened.
Teardrop was just done at this point. She didn't want to listen to whatever Gelatin had to say. Sure, being demoted to a bemb didn't really hurt that much, but Teardrop was no pushover. Gelatin didn't get to scold her one day, then be so shameless as to try to get her to listen to him the next day. Heck, he and Lollipop never even apologized for what they said about her intelligence in season one. Neither did they apologize for anything else they did. Well, she wasn't going to grant forgiveness in response to an apology that would never come. Why should she? She might not be able to talk but that doesn't mean she's gonna just take things lying down.
So she moved away whenever he tried to talk to her. Writing that she didn't want him to talk to her would take too long, and she didn't have the patience to listen to him talking at all.
Unfortunately for her, he kept on persisting, not just for one day, but for months until she finally broke the promise she had made to herself about not using violence.
Okay, it wasn't the best decision, and maybe you could argue that it made her no better than Lollipop and Gelatin when they ordered Lightning to zap people, but Teardrop was no saint. Also, Gelatin never seemed to get the hint that she wanted him to leave her alone, so if she really wanted him to, she'd have to make it extremely obvious.
Until the 11th challenge. For some reason, Teardrop got this sense of foreboding that this may be the one of the last times she and Gelatin would have the chance to talk for a very long time. Knowing she couldn't put it off any longer, she wrote down all her thoughts on a piece of paper, marched up to Gelatin, and set it in front of him so he could read it. It was time for them to talk. Well, not literally in Teardrop's case, but you know what I mean.
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Meanwhile, on the team 8 Names at Once, or Team Bleh, Bubble was gently trying to cheer Taco up. She still didn't understand what had happened to Book. She used to be so nice back in BFDIA, and even stood up for her when Coiny forced her to join his team. Book was even the one to invite shy Bubble onto the team, reassuring her that she was on her side. So what had happened? Bubble furrowed her eyebrows, trying to figure it out, as she kept trying and failing to make conversation with Taco.
Some distance away stood the other members of their team. Among them, Pencil stood, glaring at Book. She knew that with the new information she had, she should probably reassure Taco first, but well, to be honest, she had always found Book annoying, and was glad to have a reason to act on that. Besides, Bubble had been trying to reassure Taco since the whole conflict started, so it would be more efficient for Pencil to try to convince the dictionary of Taco's innocence. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to be getting anywhere with her.
Now, the final object we'll be observing today, Match, just looked up to see Bomby going up for her team. "Like, good job, Bomby!" she yelled out, before turning back to Firey Jr. "So, like what color should I dye my hair now?" the matchstick asked, not a care in the world.
He only shrugged in reply.
A/N: lol it was pretty funny writing all of these conflicts but with different characters involved, thus giving us new perspectives on them. Also, everyone involved in this swap are knee deep in drama, except Match, who's just chilling. Again, I tried to swap roles but still keep their personalities the same. Also considering Bubble's personality, you can't tell me she wouldn't try to comfort Taco if she was on team Bleh. Okay, because I wrote 2 different versions, I have had enough writing for today, bye, I'm gonna rest now.
