Title: Shattered Perfektion Status: Complete Characters: Anon, Fang, Naser, Naomi, Naomi's Parents, Naomi's Sister Rating: SFW Classification: One-Shot Author: Domain_Smith Summary: The following story contains spoilers for Ending 1 of Snoot Game. Naomi has miraculously survived being shot, and awakens to a very different world. Will things get better with the help of her family and a fellow scarred soul? Or will self-loathing and hatred bring everything crashing down? How can someone so obsessed with being perfect, live with an imperfect, scarred body? An imperfect, scarred mind? That's what I want to work with [PRE-NOTES] Inspired by Miscellaneous Snoot Drafts by SurpriseVisitor. For now this is mostly me rambling, but I plan to turn everything into a fic over time. I have already written two chapters, but want to get some feedback on the plot itself, so here it is! Even the title is up for debate, really. So, if you want a complete fic, sorry, not ready yet. EVERYTHING OUTSIDE OF "- -" WAS DONE BY SOMEONE ELSE, IT'S WHAT INSPIRED ME TO WORK ON THIS IDEA. I will probably rework it later, but keep most of it. [/PRE-NOTES] *DING-DONG BING-BONG* The last trickle of students file into the classroom, not wanting to be accosted by the hall monitors and faculty that roamed the halls in-between periods. I wave to a couple of them; acquaintances at most, but it’s good to keep up appearances. The door clicks shut behind the final student, and the teacher settles into their chair, beginning the day’s lecture on economics. The importance of budgeting - how interesting! *BANG BANG BANG* Hardly a minute passes before a student left behind by the bell bangs on the door, and rather roughly at that. The teacher sighs, glancing at me. Being the closest to the door, it fell upon me to rescue this hapless student from a missed lecture and an absent mark. I step over to the door, quietly pulling it open. “Fang, you’re almost late!” I gently chide. I probably shouldn’t be too harsh; I’m surprised she even showed up at all. “Sorry, Naomi,” she whispers. The pale blue ptero’s eyes are heavy and bagged, but her mouth is curved upwards. Definitely a long night. For Naser’s sake, I hope Anon helped her out. I slide out of the way, pulling the door the rest of the way open and waving her in. Then she- Beep. Beep. Beep. Mmm… five more minutes… Beep. Beep. Beep. So… tired… Beep. Beep. Beep. Shhh… quiet… Beep. Beep. Beep. Fine… I attempt to move my arm, but get nothing in response. Come on… I’m gonna be late… A finger twitches, helpless to carry the rest of the arm along with it. My eyelids feel welded shut, and a wispy groan leaks from my lips. It’s just another Monday...only a couple more left… My face twitches, another failed attempt to open my eyes. My hand tenses, a modicum of feeling returning. Gotta turn off… that damn beeping… Just as an eye opens, searing light forces it closed again. I let out a shaky breath, my fingers imperceptibly stroking the sheets. What time… is it… The mind-fog starts to clear, my arm clenching to signal full control coming back. I lift it upwards, and it drops back to the bed with a pathetic thud. Why is everything...so heavy? Slowly, I crawl my arm up to my face, rubbing an eye. As it blinks away the sleep and adjusts to the light, I drag my arm over to the other one. I feel fabric under my fingers, and pressing against it rewards me with a sharp pain that radiates across the right half of my face. I sluggishly prod at the area a couple more times, getting the same jolts in return. What is this? My eye finally grants me the vision it’s supposed to, albeit still blurred and incoherent. A couple of blinks clears the picture enough to look around my room. Where am I? The alarm speeds up, taunting my inability to do something as simple as shut it off. My eye slowly scans the room. The walls, ceiling and floor are all an immaculate white. I glance to my side, but my side table with my alarm isn’t there. The alarm speeds up again, fully aware that I can’t stop it. A pair of footsteps click nearby, and my eye flicks over towards the source. A blue dino woman in spotless white slacks is staring at me, wide-eyed. She rushes over to my side, placing a hand on mine. “Easy, easy, you’re alright. You’re alright, and you should relax,” she coos. Her soft voice takes the edge off, an uneasy breath leaving me. “I’ll get the doctor and he’ll help you, okay?” I try to speak, but my tongue sits still and my jaw feels rusted. She nods, then hurries out of the room and out of earshot. I trace a bundle of wires coming out from under my sheets to a heart rate monitor, every beep a reminder of my still-sustained life-force. Drawers and sinks lined the walls opposite from me, no doubt filled with medical supplies and equipment. Why am I here? A different pair of footsteps click into the room, this time belonging to an older, brown dino male holding a clipboard. He walks to my side, pulling over a stool and situating himself on it. “Hello,” he says plainly. “Do you know your name?” What a strange question. “Na… o....mi…” My jaw aches in protest as I struggle to speak something as basic as my own name. “Hun… ter…” My voice rasps painfully, my throat begging me to stop. The doctor smiles and quickly scribbles something down. “Good, good. Do you know where you are?” “Hos...pital?” He nods. “Do you remember how you got here?” “No…” “What’s the last thing you remember?” “I…” Was it a dream? It feels so hazy. “Fang...late to class...let her in...then…” I trail off. “Right, give me just one moment.” He leaves the room, and I see him flagging down a nurse in the hallway. They exchange some words, nod, and then he comes back. “If you wouldn’t mind waiting a few minutes, one of your classmates is nearby. It may be better if he fills you in on what happened.” I slowly nod, my strained voice demanding a respite. At least Naser will fill me in. The doctor exits the room, leaving me with the heart monitor as my only stimulus. I watch the monitor, taking note of all the numbers and graphs and blinking lights. Feeling the rhythm of my heart and the machine. Minutes pass before I turn away, my head settling back into the dent in the pillow. I poke and prod and the bandages around my head, mapping out which spots hurt and which ones didn’t. Good Lord, this is boring. Something approaches the door, and it sounds like… crutches? Please don’t let my muffin be hurt… A bald human on a pair of crutches and a cast around his leg shakily makes his way inside, and we lock eyes. He freezes in place, as surprised to see me as I am to him. He makes his way over to my side, taking great care to not collapse onto the floor, and sits on the stool. “What… happened?” I manage to ask the first of many questions. He looks at me with an expression of pure dread. He makes some sounds that could barely be classified as syllables, then buries his head in his hands, crutches clattering onto the floor. “Fang… shot you…” he whispers from behind his hands. - Conversation between Anon & Naomi, with Naomi pretty much learning of what happened, and Anon remaining quiet about Naser dying for now. Why? Because... Naomi's family was there until a few weeks back, but now they're just visiting every other day. Anon feels extremely guilty for Naomi, and remains there by her side almost every waking hour, this is why the doctor asked for his help to break the news. - - During the conversation, Naomi gets some memories back here and there, but things are very fuzzy. Her memories of that day are very screwed up, but she still breaks down when Anon tells her almost everything. Specially because at some point she begins to ask Anon where is Naser, and Anon tells her the doctor had called her family and that they'd be there soon. She thinks for a moment that he may've died, but in the end considers that impossible. In her mind, no matter how fucked in the head, Fang would never kill Naser. So instead she asks Anon if he is too sad about what Fang did, and Anon remains quiet, and she takes that as an answer for now. - - Naomi's family get there, they're a pretty good family, in the sense that they love each other and all that. It's just that there is no real interest between family members, meaning that pretty much no one talks, no one cares about what the other is doing, and no one really pays attention, as long as things are seemingly good - - Naomi's family is her mother(caring but a bit overbearing), her father(caring but cold and focused on other matters that are surely more important), and her sister(caring but... mean, and very strong, pretty much that girl from I Wani Hug that Gator). After asking for Anon to leave, Mother is the one to break the news, this leads to her breaking down into tears, and pretty much telling her family to leave, something that she has never done before because she always tried to be the perfect daughter. End chapter with her crying herself to sleep. - - Okay, this is the hard part. How the fuck do I transform this shitshow into a Naomi/Anon story? We have an extremely traumatized Naomi, who will surely think Anon was responsible for not "fixing Fang," and at the same time we have an Anon who feels extremely guilty towards Naomi, but at the same time has some grudge against her, because surely if she hadn't pushed Anon & Fang together everything would be okay. - - How about fudging the timeline a bit, as to speak. I don't remember how much time Anon spent in the Hospital before being discharged, so let's just say that instead of simply feeling guilty and remaining in the Hospital, Anon is still in the Hospital because of his leg. Let's say... observation, yes, the doctors are observing his leg to make sure it will heal properly. After all, Anon is somewhat of a micro-celebrity now as a survivor of a school shooting. No matter how much he hates that. - - So, Anon is in the Hospital because he is still with a fucked up leg, and Naomi is in the Hospital because she is healing and all that. This is the ideal way to make them interact, the Hospital will keep them from boiling over because of the doctors and nurses, and they will have a long while to make "amends" of sorts. Of course, not real amends, they will still have real bitterness towards each other, but as two people left lost by Fang's actions, they bond somewhat. - - There is even... let's say the real moment they bond, when Naomi asks her sister for help to smuggle Anon out of the hospital, because he wanted to be in the funeral. Naomi also wanted to be there, but she can't. The machines are the only thing keeping her alive right now(PRAISE THE OMNISSIAH!). Anon later returns from the Funeral, and Naomi doesn't ask much about it, because it's very painful for her to think of the matter, and instead Anon promises her that as soon as she is able to live without a machine, he is bringing her there. - - From this point, things are a bit easier as to speak. Mostly because now they have a real bond, and Anon has a bond with Naomi's Family. Not only because he awaited outside their daughter's room for weeks, but also because Naomi's sister helped him. As stated at first, this entire fic is from Naomi's perspective, so we get to see how Anon looks and acts after being so greatly scarred, while always having a glimpse at how Naomi's mind works. - - Let's say that, when Naomi finally leaves the Hospital, Naomi's family ends up eventually taking Anon in, because he quite literally has no real money to pay rent, and his parents have essentially disowned him... why? Not only because they are terrible parents, but also because Anon's father simply thought Anon was extremely stupid when he learned of how exactly Anon got injured(running into an active school shooting situation unarmed). - - Sooo... let's say that Anon really doesn't want this charity, but he also doesn't want anything right now because he is pretty much extremely depressed. Make sure to add some light jokes at some points, to show Anon's humor shining through from time to time, but he is pretty much depression squared at this point in time. - - So, instead of merely accepting the invitation to live with Naomi's Family until he got his feet under him, they had to tell him that they wanted someone to look after Naomi now that she's going home, like a live-in nurse, because they had work to do and all that. Have a moment where Naomi tries to help her parents by emotionally blackmailing Anon, but can't bear going through with it, because she feels pretty depressed and being manipulative reminds her of how SHE failed to fix Fang. Because, of course, Naomi is going to think that maybe if her schemes were more complex, Fang would've been fixed and nothing bad would've happened. - - Now this is where the bulk of their relationship is built, with Anon living with Naomi's family and always being there for Naomi. Not like, cleaning her ass or anything like that, she isn't crippled. It's just that her brain is sort of fucked up, so there must be someone nearby all the time to make sure she isn't having a stroke or fell to the ground because of a sudden loss of limb strength. - - Naomi's parents are mostly a plot device, appearing very briefly from time to time, because they spend all their time working, and because Naomi spends most of her time sleeping. Because while she is "healed," she isn't really well enough mentally or bodily to do anything strenuous. Maybe make that a part of the plot too? Showing how the perfect girl has to reteach her body how to be perfect? Even if she is forever scarred by Fang's actions(both mentally and physically)... and God it's the same thing with Anon, his body and mind are also scarred. Another good point to bring them closer? - - Oh! I can already see it, how Naomi will want to eat something, but fail to lift the fork multiple times and start to get angry, only for Anon to help her out and for her to immediately put on a fake smile and thank him, all the while seething inside, until Anon tells her that it's okay to complain from time to time or something. Maybe have a moment when she falls asleep in the bathtub and Anon breaks in worried for her? Sort of a cute scene, not focused much on the sexual aspect of it. Just how worried Anon had to be to break down a door, and how embarrassing it was, but also... charming. - - Also, because Naomi's father considers it a pathetic failure of Anon's parents to not really care for him, he pays for a psychologist for Anon. He also uses Anon as a charity case of sorts, and Anon complains to Naomi how her father brought him around to some business event, where he told everyone how he is helping this poor boy heal from the Volcano High Shooting to gain good publicity, because in the end Naomi's father is extremely business focused, like Japanese black company-level, but with a mostly virtuous heart, so if he can use something to help his company while also doing a good action, he will do it. - - Naomi and Anon bond because of problems with Naomi's family, and as the chapters pass, and weeks and months pass. Naomi and Anon grow into stronger people, better people. With Anon getting a part-time job at Naomi's father's company, and Naomi slowly regaining her bodily autonomy and confidence in herself. This culminates with Naomi finally getting the courage to visit Naser's grave. Because when she first left the hospital, they tried to go there, but she broke down when she saw the graves from afar, and her sister helped wheel her back to the car. ALSO! Great idea! She was using a wheelchair for a good amount of the time she spent healing at home. - - This visit is... maybe the ending of the fic? I don't know, but I know one thing, that after Naomi weeps over Naser's grave, she leaves the graveyard holding Anon's hand. Maybe that's a bit disrespectful for the characters, and there's a more tactful way to say: they finally allowed themselves to not be held back by the past so much. But! Hey! This is just me rambling. - - Maybe instead of ending here, I could have a few more chapters dealing with the problems Anon and Naomi now face, mostly because of Volcano High. But what would these problems be? Well, we have Reed going all into Carfe, like, too much. And it could make for an interesting mini-arc to have Naomi see from afar how Anon helps Reed cope through this all. - - I won't even touch Trish. There is no redemption for that little beast. Instead she would be the main instigator of problems for Anon. Maybe Anon even receives a call one day from his old Landlord because a "fuckin' trigga broke into my building! Vandalized your old room! I want money now because she is clearly your scorned girl or something! MONEY MONEY MONEY!" - - Stella would pretty much be a charity case of sorts, with the same trauma from Blood Apple(pretty good fic, if somewhat too edgy at times), and maybe Naomi could take the helm here instead of Anon? That'd be interesting. We'd also have Rosa here to help out, so this mini-arc would be much less problematic than Reed's. Of course, the only real problem is that this mini-arc would be happening at the same time as "trigga is hunting you down"-arc. - - Now, let me specify here, the "trigga is hunting you down"-arc would not be the same as Blood Apple's, because I really dislike how heavily it went into Mafia stuff. Instead we just have a very vengeful Trish, who is maybe on some hard stuff because she really wanted that ptero-ass, and because she saw other guitars in one of the closets, but decided to keep quiet about it to make Fang play bass. So we just have a very angry, very tiny, very stupid, very depressed, very vengeful, and very furious crackhead trying to destroy Anon for what happened to Fang. - - HM! Just got a cool idea. So, when Anon finally meets Trish, she is pretty much a shadow of her former self. Scarred, thin, and all that other shit. And that's one of the moments he realizes how bad it'd have been if he had kept clinging to the tragedy with all his might, because Trish has been doing that, and it clearly destroyed her completely. It ends with Anon and Trish duking it out, but Trish is so fucking weak right now that even with his leg still a bit tender, he overwhelms her and knocks her out. They call the police and they arrest that TRIGGA ASS BACK TO THE JAIL IT BELONGS! - - Now, what I do know is that I'm going to have an epilogue of sorts, where it shows Naomi trying to get all her children together in the same place, because they're all very unruly and all that. One of the children is named Naser, and a few other children, and a daughter named Lucy. Yes, she does hate Fang and all that, but her husband really wanted to name one of their children after Fang, so they made a compromise and decided on Lucy. And yeah, it's pretty much an ideal family of sorts, maybe hint at some problems here and there, but end it with a hopeful note, with Anon or Naomi stating that they will raise them better than the previous generation, they will pay attention to their children and put them before work, just to ensure they're the ones raising them to be good people, instead of leaving it to the school system or... basket weaving forums and hentai in Anon's case. - [POST-NOTES] Now, here is some random thoughts of mine that I just feel like including, you can ignore this. I watched a video from a guy criticizing ending 1 for being too edgy, for not making much sense, because if the guitar string hadn't broken, then Fang wouldn't have had her meltdown. But the thing is, Ending 1 is what I consider the non-Anon ending. What does that mean? It means that, in a universe where Anon never existed, Ending 1 would always come to be, because Fang would've doubled down on her identity problems, then would've tried to play the bass, and that would lead to her meltdown. Some would argue that it was Anon confessing about Naomi that caused her meltdown, so in an universe without Anon it wouldn't happen, but that'd be to ignore Naomi's possible actions and plans to fix Fang without an Anon. So, it's entirely possible that Naomi would've fucked up in this universe, and led to an Ending 1. But really, I don't even think Anon confessing Naomi's manipulation is what really causes Fang's explosion. It's just her feeling like she doesn't matter, like her actions have no meaning, like she is but a puppet being controlled by things beyond her, and that she needs to take back control through the only action she imagines possible, vengeance and violence upon the bigots who destroyed her life. In conclusion, what Ending 1 is showing isn't just a chance event of the guitar string breaking. No, what it's showing is what Fang would've done in a world without Anon. Because, really, if you play Ending 1, you'll notice how Anon is pretty much a nonentity in it, always choosing to remain a ghost and not really open up nor risk himself in any form. It's pretty sad, honestly.