Swatch - Hates? Former Best Friend

Swatch and Spamton have had a long and complicated history. They were once very close friends, first properly meeting when Spamton had moved to Queen's mansion, and Swatch had been assigned to help him settle, having no strong feelings towards the Addison one way or the other.

Spamton had been starry-eyed by his new life, recognizing Swatch as a former waiter he'd seen in the mansion before. Followed by rumours from his siblings, who referred to Swatch as The Swatch, The Prototype, The Original Swatchling, Spamton couldn't help but be intrigued by the bird's silent presence.

Swatch's avoidance of their past legacy couldn't help but make Spamton curious. Swatch's success in their work, their recognition, and the respect of their peers, Spamton often found it bizarre how they rejected what to him felt like the ideal life. It made no sense, but whatever the reason was to make Swatch quit their position as a creator, letting the Swatchlings take over that work, they simply refused to say.

Despite this, the two formed a casual friendship, as Spamton often found himself visiting the Colour Cafe during his breaks. Despite his success, Spamton's social skills still left a lot to be desired, and Swatch couldn't exactly leave their station, instead choosing to passively indulge in the Addison's tales, seeing their jaded world so freshly painted in wonder through Spamton's eyes.

This awkward relationship eventually grew into something more genuine, as Swatch slowly opened up to Spamton, who would excitedly count the minutes until he would see them again, often offering unprompted gifts to the bird, as if in an attempt to impress them.

Swatch couldn't say they were impressed by extravagant displays of wealth, but having someone see them as someone more than just a servant and express their affection without a desire to use them for their art couldn't help but flatter them. And with Spamton's struggles to deal with the loss of the relationship with his siblings and past friends, Swatch often found themself as being his shoulder to cry on.

Spamton would often inquire Swatch about their past, curious questions about why the bird had retired from their career as an artist in exchange for the humble life of being Queen's Head Butler and cafe barista. Worried, Spamton had sensed that something had happened to cause this shift, and the way Swatch would stare vacantly during the brief mentions of their past work. There was something they needed to tell him.

When Swatch took Spamton to a retired art gallery hidden away in the basement, Spamton had no idea what to expect. Wonderful masterpieces, art, and creations, all hidden away from the world for no one to see. Swatch had hidden all of their past work, eventually pausing by an old machine.

It appeared to be a robot, filled with geometrical shapes, large coloured wings and an empty face, however, unlike the other art pieces, this one appeared corrupted, surrounded by glitchy artifacts, broken textures and missing parts. Spamton could tell from Swatch's silence that something about this piece had been the cause of their premature retirement from art.

Swatch had served the Lightners all of their life, with an eternal devotion to the purpose they had been given from the moment they had been created. Yet, even as a creator, Swatch had always been limited by the will of the Lightners that they served. That was until NEO was created, one of their greatest creations.

One of their greatest creations, and the Lightner was going to erase it soon after its creation. Desperate, Swatch refused to allow this, panicking and forgetting their role as a Darkner, they took the machine to themself. But in their hubris, rather than the perfect creation that their Lightner and them had brought to the world, in its place appeared the corrupted glitchy abomination that now sat in front of them, as a harsh reminder of what happened to the Darkners who tried to step out of line.

Spamton could feel the grief in their voice as they recounted this, was this all there was to Darkners? All his life had been him stepping out of his line, pushing in his ambition to be more than the defective Addison that fate had wanted him to be. From the very moment of his creation, every second that Spamton had stayed alive was an afrontation to higher forces. Higher forces that never even spared a look in his direction. Forces that would take his friend's creation away from them without as much of a thought for the hard work they put into making it the perfect masterpiece?

Didn't that make them angry?

Swatch would find this notion outrageous, but their haunted look hid something more. Like they saw something in Spamton, an omen of what the small Addison could become if he continued on this path. Swatch didn't know what Spamton was doing, how he had reached his success, or how going against the preconceived notion of what an Addison was supposed to be would end up affecting him.

Although Spamton would become defensive whenever the origin of his success was brought into question, at that moment, he felt a kinship with Swatch. Were they looking out for him?

Instead, he saw the bird reach for the machine, asking if Spamton was capable of keeping a secret and handing him a small shard of what at first glance appeared to be glass. It appeared when they went against their programming and took the machine from its Lightner, Swatch explained, signalling for Spamton to look through it.

As the small Addison brought the crystal to his eye, he suddenly saw it. A bright sun in a blue sky with white clouds was seen through a window of a room he did not recognize. It was an amazing sight and he found himself fascinated by it, even if for just the briefest moment, he felt an uncanny shift in the back of his mind.

Pulling the crystal away, he glanced at Swatch but was shocked to find that they did not share his wide smile and gleeful expression. Instead, they looked as if mourning.

To Darkners, the Lightners were gods. The ones to bring them purpose. But to the Lightners? They were just objects. Things. Entities stuck living in a computer room with a view of the blue sky just out of reach.

But Spamton didn't see it that way, instead growing fascinated by the world out there. Maybe if he somehow found a way out, he could help Swatch escape and they could both live for themselves without the rules that had been imposed on them. But Swatch wasn't convinced, taking the crystal and leaving Spamton with a lot to think about.

After this, the two ended up spending a lot more time in the basement, talking and forming a stronger bond, but when Mike learned of this, he became suddenly adamant that Spamton placed his focus on NEO and tried to take it, a behaviour that Spamton saw as unlike him.

Spamton couldn't bear the thought of betraying Swatch like that, but ever since he first glanced through the crystal, things had started to make less and less sense for him. He saw NEO as a way out of this world, but his friendship with Swatch came first.

While his focus was on maintaining their close friendship without screwing it up, with Spamton's growing arguments with Mike, his lack of focus on his job, and his slowly dropping sales, the small Addison knew he was losing it.

Although clinging to Swatch for as long as he could, Spamton's downfall and deteriorating mind were getting him more and more distant from them, and he often found himself visiting the basement by himself, fixated on the machine as if it could give him an answer or a solution to his problems.

Eventually, Mike was gone, all because Spamton put his friendship with Swatch first, but his priorities were soon shifting. Swatch didn't always accompany him in his basement visits, but one day, as they went down there to check on him and then saw Spamton messing with the machine that they had shown him in confidence, they felt betrayed and kicked him out of the basement.

Spamton's mind wasn't all there and it hadn't even occurred to him that there was anything wrong with his actions, instead begging Swatch to let him look at the machine. Swatch brought him to his room and as Spamton came to his senses, he realized just how shaken Swatch had been with his actions. Swatch couldn't know what had happened with his mentor. Or that Spamton's outsider help had vanished and that that machine was the only way to bring it all back.

They would have forgiven him, but instead, in his desperation, Spamton began to repeatedly try to get back in the basement, fully disregarding Swatch's feelings on the situation as they became more and more exasperated with his attitude towards them, the worry eventually shifting to anger.

Spamton too had begun to resent the bird for always getting in his way, as their once close friendship became more and more antagonizing. Fondness and unrequited feelings being replaced with fights and bitterness. Spamton soon came to the conclusion that his friendship with Swatch had run its course. If they had just let him take the machine, if they just let him get his life back on track, if they just stopped getting in his way-

This went on for weeks before Spamton was finally evicted, with Swatch refusing to meet his gaze no matter how much he called for them.

Heartbroken, Spamton regarded Swatch as yet another traitor, but this did not prevent him from continuing in his pursuit of getting into the mansion's basement, even if his attempts were consistently stopped. Despite his anger at the bird Darkner, part of Spamton still felt like half of his attempts at stalking the mansion were but excuses to see them again and find new ways to taunt and antagonize them, much to Swatch's dismay.

His break-ins eventually became less and less frequent as Swatch stopped being the one to stop him, instead getting the other swatchlings to do it for them. It was clear that Swatch was avoiding him, and even in his anger and faulty mind, Spamton couldn't help but feel sick to his stomach at this realization. Not like he stood a chance against Swatch, let alone a group of swatchlings.

As time went on, Spamton had a hard time keeping up with his own sense of self, his thoughts and voice became less and less comprehensible, but part of him couldn't help but see Swatch as an image of stability. Wondering if they had listened to him that things would be so much more different then.

Mike - Former Mentor / Dislikes

Mike was Spamton's mysterious mentor, originally reaching out to him through an old rotary phone that Spamton found in his home. Due to reasons never truly specified, Mike made it his personal mission to make sure that Spam would achieve all of his aspiring salesman dreams.

Seemingly dubious of Mike's supposed lack of ulterior motives, Spam allowed the smaller Darkner to become his guide. He was already struggling with making anything out of his life as it were, so any help was better than nothing.

Although primarily starting as a boss-like figure, Mike and Spamton were quick to form a strong bond and friendship. Despite never having met him in person, Spamton felt like he could trust Mike for just about anything. The Microphone helped him achieve his dreams and helped him stay focused.

Despite Mike's insistence that Spamton kept their conversations a secret and that no one was to know of their interactions, there were little to no other demands that he had ever made of him.

Until things started going south that Mike asked Spamton for an urgent favour. The only favour he had ever asked. But it was something that Spamton could never give him. The NEO robot wasn't theirs to take.

With Mike refusing to elaborate as to why he needed Spamton to get NEO, and Spamton's refusal to get it and risk losing everything he had ever worked for, a growing resentment started between the two as their once friendly calls became replaced with shouting matches and arguments that never lead anywhere.

At some point, they used to consider themselves family, with Mike acting as Spamton's guardian, but this too became irrelevant in the end.

Their calls ended after one of the worst arguments, Spamton snapped, yelling at Mike to cut it with the NEO conversation and to leave him alone. And after a moment of silence, Mike hung up on him and Spamton sighed in relief at finally being left alone. Good riddance, he thought.

This relief was short-lived as his anger began to cool off, and after a few weeks of not getting another call from Mike, despite his discomfort at their last interactions, Spamton still felt a tinge of worry.

Deciding to call just to check on him, Spamton's heart sank when rather than the usual waiting sound on the phone, he was met with loud garbage noise instead. No matter how many times he called, how much he waited, how much he hoped to hear from him again, all the phone ever played was static.

After losing friends and family, losing Mike was a far heavier hit to Spamton than he ever expected, and as his growing obsession with hearing from him grew, Spamton eventually placed his focus back on the source of their arguments. NEO.

Convincing himself that getting the robot would bring his mentor back, Spamton became obsessed with the idea of NEO, neglecting everything else. And after he was evicted due to the countless basement break-ins, he blamed Mike for it all, his focus on NEO followed by the desire to speak to Mike again, not to hear from him, but to tell him off for even abandoning him in the first place.

As the years went by, his old mentor remained a fresh memory in his mind, and in some moments of clarity, Spamton wonders what would have happened if things had just remained the way they always were. Just two small starry-eyed Darkners ready to show the world just how capable they truly were.

Host - Suspicion / Dislikes

Spamton's relationship with the TV Headed darkner has always been... Awkward. Spamton and Mike were as close as they could be, but no matter how much the Microphone Darkner would prattle on about his partner, Spamton always felt a detachment from Host.

He supposes that he was intimidated by them? Their silent yet constant presence always felt creepy to him, and while the times that Mike would interpret them and give Host's perspective on things gave Spamton some insight, he doesn't think the two of them ever actually spoke.

Spamton never really learned to speak in hands, and there was only so much conversation to be had through the phone when it came to the mute Darkner.

It didn't help when the TV Head became an ominous presence in his dreams. And post-eviction, whenever Spamton heard static in his mind, he often recognized it as their static.

This lack of a proper relationship made Spamton try to fill in the gaps of Host's intentions himself, and with how abruptly he and Mike lost contact, Spamton always wondered what part Host had played in this.

Kris - Likes

[This relationship isn't too fleshed out in the AU. Info may be changed or updated]

Post-Eviction, Spamton had long given up hope in the possibility of ever being able to find someone he could trust. Darkners were hardly an option, let alone Lightners, but something about Kris was different.

Moved by the delusions in his mind, unable to take control over the direction of his life, Spamton found kinship in the young Lightner. Much like himself, something was controlling them as well.

And maybe if he struck a deal with them, both of their chains could be shattered.

Figuring that sooner or later, they'd betray him as well, he tricked Kris into doing his bidding.

But humbled by the Lightner's persistence and realizing that they truly intended to help him, even if this meant making him snap out of his NEO madness, Spamton put aside his grudge, becoming an ally to Kris instead.

In a way, he was still under someone's control, but maybe through Kris, he too would finally be able to achieve his freedom.

Noelle - Likes

[This relationship isn't too fleshed out in the AU. Info may be changed or updated]

Spamton had a hard time forgetting one of the few Lightners to ever give him the time of day. Noelle's presence in his life was short-lived, but served as a sliver of hope that maybe he wasn't as obsolete as he had believed.

In an alternate weirder route, he knows he'd be able to count on her to help him once more.

Queen - Dislikes

[This relationship isn't too fleshed out in the AU. Info may be changed or updated]

To Spamton, the ruler of the Cyber World has always been nothing short of a terrifying presence. It was never his plan to work directly for her, but Mike's pushiness ended up getting the small Addison on Queen's radar regardless.

Even as he got his success and Queen's help and sponsorships, Spamton always had this feeling that she didn't take him all that seriously, or that his success was no more than an inside joke to her.

Naturally, a lot of this stemmed from his own insecurities, only getting worse when after his falling out and consequent descent to madness, caused Queen to evict him when he could no longer afford to live in the mansion.

In his mind, he convinced himself that she had planned it all and he was being plotted against this whole time.

Boost - Dislikes

An older Addison who took Spam and the others in, he served as mentor and guide, allowing the younger Addisons to get settled. However, noticing that Spam significantly struggled compared to the others, Boost gave him a job in his clothing business, allowing Spam to work as a model/mannequin.

This, however, made Spam feel horrible, as not only the job was unfulfilling, but as a closeted trans man, dressing up in hyper-feminine dresses and clothing, made Spam feel terribly dysphoric about his body.

Spam did not have the guts to admit this and out himself in the process, so he quit instead. Keeping a distant relationship with Boost.

Banner - Dislikes

Being one of the Addisons from Spamton's original pack, Banner took the role as the caretaker of their group.

Being a defective Addison, Spam was initially going to be repurposed, but Banner was the one to step up and make sure he had as much right to live and everyone else.

While Spam always got along well with him, he always had a sense that Banner's protective tendencies were holding him back, feeling as if Banner didn't believe that Spam could be anything more than what he was and had to be protected at all costs.

After everything, Banner was the one who still stuck by Spamton, coming to check on him when he heard about the eviction, but he was far too late and the smaller Addison was long gone.

Click - Dislikes

The oldest from Spamton's pack, Click always took his job most seriously. So seriously that he worked not one, but multiple jobs at once, having the ability to control various holograms of himself at once, allowing him to be in multiple places at once while controlling a single hologram from one remote location.

To Spamton, this was the expectation he set for himself, the idea of what an Addison was supposed to be. Click had always been the most distant, with his focus on work often leaving his social interactions with a lot to be desired.

This distance, also caused Spam to trust him the least, especially when he became successful and Click was the first one to see through the cracks. The smaller Addison had no reason not to become paranoid that his one-track mind sibling wouldn't want a piece of his success.

Flash - Misses

Being the youngest from their pack, Spam and Flash have always been the closest, with Spam regarding him as an older sibling much more than the others.

Flash took his job the least seriously and was also the one to least pressure Spam about how behind he was compared to his peers. Causing the two to have a much stronger friendship.

Yet, he was also the one most hurt by Spamton's lies and change in demeanour, being the first to disassociate from the group, contributing to Spamton's evergrowing paranoia regarding his family.

Jevil - Dislikes / Fear

[This relationship isn't too fleshed out in the AU. Info may be changed or updated]

Despite never having directly met him, Spamton had heard whispers and rumours of Card Kingdom Darkners through gossip regarding Queen and her past affairs. Gossip about a rogue jester, whose actions resulted in his imprisonment.

Spamton never put much thought into the aforementioned jester, until he lost contact with his mentor and his life started going downhill.

He blamed the laughter he heard in his mind as the ghastly presence that had been haunting him, invisible to anyone else, but he soon came to realize that this was a different entity.

The clown spoke of freedom, of escape, taunting Spamton's mind with his own inability to find comfort in the nihilism, taunting him with how he had defeated the ghost entity in their games and had achieved freedom.

But Spamton? Spamton was still playing. His mind was still haunted by his past and all he had lost. Was Jevil the same? Had he too left something or someone behind?

Spamton would have indulged these questions if the laughing clown's presence in his psyche didn't fill him with sinking anger and dread.

??? - Fear

A ghost, a vision of the past or an omen of the future, Spamton has never fully managed to grasp who or what this strange ghostly entity was.

It spoke in the voice of his loved ones, his family, his enemies, taunting him, making promises, encouraging him... The clown had warned him to be wary of it, but Spamton feared that he too was a trick of the mind.

At times, the ghost spoke in Mike's voice, twisting his perception of reality, and tricking him into believing that his mentor had returned to him. Spamton had felt this presence long before he got the first call from Mike.

But whoever this is, they are not a friend.