check chat gushing thread bc four (4) people said it was ok ((as i write this)) n i have no self-control:

the beginning always gets me. i love how george's immediate reaction isn't fear or panic like in other works with this premise and he literally just goes "deadass?" i can't stress enough how much i love it it's so accurate to what would prob happen irl

i love how the Big Team spends a good portion of their first hours doing fuckall and just messig around with the controls bc of course that would happen when you're surrounded by other nerds

i also love how dream is so relieved to not be in full-body neon green tights but draws the line at fundy n co not being in fursuits. also love the implications that he didn't consider striders to count as furry material,, like what

also the fact that xisuma and grian are in this still boggles my mind. this is a dnf fic it has no right having over 30 ccs in here, much less being this good

i love how phil is consistently the one to beat everyone else to menu operations. like how he opens f3 or tab first, and how he's the one reading out the new advancements

i remember the nether preparation scene when the Big Team is deciding who's going and they have to plan stuff outside their base bc grian and eret don't want dirt inside??? bruh

actually grian and eret leading the base construction team n actually trying to make a good-looking base despite the fact they're rushing to escape that place is,,, just hilarious to think about

im 99% sure fit and sal are only in this for the basalt delta scene whith tubbo, which is fucking fantastic. i guess fit also gets a bunch of ppl to zero-zero but c'mon, he's here for that one scene lets be real

also the basalt delta scene. tommy consistently failing his jumps n bad deciding halfway to just stay n help him. techno focused like he's playing tnt run. dream being good bc of parkour. fundy complaining. tubbo, sal, n fit breezing past them. everything about this scene is gold

the pickaxe full-lobby flawless reference in this fic gives me life. also the fact that it's techno's reflexes the ones stressed in that small bit instead of like just raw combat prowess is so good.

i know this fic is one long "smart george rights" essay but man it makes so much justice to a lot of the other characters as well

like tommy in particular i like in this. i think him being young is mentioned one (1) time n it's when deciding the nether team, it's never brought up again n it's such a breath of fresh air

also the fact that he's the most anxious to get to the last two survivors. like it says he runs *ahead* of calisto, but you can also see he's the first one of the Big Team to get the fortress achievement, implying he drops down first as well.

speaking of calisto, one of the comments puts it better but the fact that she finds the fortress *first*, marks coords, and chooses to go find the others before entering is,, so good,,,

oh don't get me started on yumi. he exudes a different brand of chaotic, the fact he was one of the solo survivors just makes it worse. casually mentions how he got the wither effect, somehow determines charging the fortress alone is a good idea,,, what a dumbass i love him,,

yumi n calisto could've been the most annoying thing ever but instead they're one of the highlights of this fic n im just,,, in standing ovation to trashcan's writing skills,,,,,,,,,

small thing i rly like is the implication thay, where it not for the nether update being an unknown factor in this au, then the fourth solo survivor would've made it till the end,, that one died bc of the piglins, which nobody but xisuma knew about,,, god,,,

i haven't even talked about the main solo survivor god this is one rant and a half huh

i meant it when i said this fic is a "smart george rights" essay, it's so good,, love how he immediately shifts into a survival mindset instead of thinking of it like just a game

i also love how accurate it is that the solo survivors get so powerful so quick bc they have no support. trashcan put it very nicely in a reply, how the big group took it slow and safe while george would literally die if he didn't have diamonds by yesterday

i could go on for ages but twitter won't let me make longer threads n i think that's for the better of this world lmao

also sapnap waiting for dream n george by the portal has me in tears everytime

anyway go read check chat i beg you, it's only 20k words and it's a completed work. literally a win-win situation since its also platonic like 80% of the time. sometimes i even forget it's dnf lmao

adding the link at the end bc im dumb and i didn't think this thread through at all:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/26305894/chapters/64051357