Chapter Text
QnA
Does Tommy ever see Clementine and Clara again? Does he ever go back to Earth in the future?
The short answer? No. He doesn’t.
The long answer? After the end of the fic, Tommy joins the crew of the Argo II as a permanent member. Once he reaches his late teens/early twenties, he’s sworn in as the official ambassador of Earth. However, it will be many years until the Esempii galaxy makes official contact with Earth/vice versa, so the position is mostly symbolic. While Tommy does return to Earth many years later as an adult to show everyone around, when he does visit the old gas station, it’s been torn down.
(Clementine + Clara leave town and move somewhere on the west coast. They get married and live happily ever after <3)
Why this ending?
FHTN has always been centered around the concept of change. Two of the largest themes of the fic being, “You are always changing. The goals that you have + the things that you need/want out of life are going to change as well. You might reach a goal only to find you don’t want it anymore, and that’s okay.” As well as, “you are not the same person that you once were. Even if you could go home again, it will never be the same as it was. You can never go back, and that’s okay, too.”
I wanted Tommy’s decision between going back to Earth and staying in space to be a one that has weight and consequences. This is why I have Sam swoop in at the end, bringing him a ship he can use to get home even though the Pandora was destroyed, to offer him that choice, and have it be one that he makes on his own terms. Tommy being able to stay with his space family and being able to go visit his Earth family gets rid of those consequences. I also feel like it muddles the message a bit, too?
What happens next with (insert other character here)?
Use your imagination ✨✨
Okay but seriously: Eret becomes the new Governor of Viona, and works closely with Sam, Puffy, and Ponk to make the galaxy a safer place and to provide closure to the families of victims. Punz, the bounty hunter, receives a generous amount of cash to track down anyone that was revealed to have been working for Dream/Boris and were involved in the trafficking ring. Jack and Niki explore the Galaxy together. The Council rebuilds— with some changes, putting more power in the hands of individual governments with more checks and balances to ensure that something like this never happens again. Brusieus and her wife live happily ever after. Quackity + Wilbur + L’Manburg gang reconnect, and are on better terms than they were before.
As for the main crew? They go on adventures, explore the galaxy, and continue to get into all sorts of stupid shenanigans.
Did Clementine and Clara actually care about Tommy, or was Tommy just an Unreliable Narrator?
It’s both. Tommy summed it up pretty well, they viewed him as the “weird neighbor kid they babysat sometimes.” They did care about him, and they were upset when he went missing, but he was definitely more attached to them than they were to him. It just took him a while to realize that. Hindsight is 20/20, and all that.
Tommy is definitely an unreliable narrator, though. Throughout pretty much the whole fic. FHTN is very much less "character goes through something traumatic and then heals" and is much more "character goes through something traumatic, attempts to repress it for like 250,000 words, and then finally admits that he maybe might actually need therapy/help. maybe." Do not be like Tommy!
What’s Purpled’s whole… deal?
This was one of those things that was intended to be explained via its own oneshot, but as it is, I’ll give you guys the cliff notes version:
Purpled is half-Alien, half-Human, the result of a (CONSENSUAL) relationship between a human and a researcher aboard the Pandora . The researcher was eventually able to rescue the human, allowing them to escape the next time Dream visited Earth to kidnap more humans, but only realized she was pregnant afterwards. In fear of anyone finding out about his heritage, she hid him on Netheria, giving him to a sounder of Piglins. This ended up not turning out too well, as the sounder is soon murdered. Growing up alone on the streets of Netheria, Purpled eventually becomes indebted to Schlatt, resulting in the scene we get in FHTN where he is almost kidnapped. Tommy intervenes, of course, and in return, purpled helps him escape. Now, free of his debts, Purpled sneaks aboard a ship leaving Netheria and ends up on Nevodis. Intrigued by Quackity’s human-themed Casino, he gets himself a job, hoping that Quackity might be able to help him find a way to Earth so he can seek out his human parent. It actually ends up working, albeit in a roundabout sort of way.
How did Ranboo end up on Netheria?
Ranboo was kidnapped by some aliens leaving Netheria, with the intention of trading them over to repay the debt they owe to Schlatt. This was pretty common prior to the downfall of the fighting rings. They got what they deserved, in the end.
How did Techno and Phil meet?
Once again, this was supposed to be a one-shot, but here’s the cliff-notes version:
Phil crash landed on Netheria when Techno was an older-teen/young adult. Techno basically saved his life by dragging him out of the crash, and helped him to recover enough to get a ride off-planet. Years later, after Schlatt’s rise to power and the popularization of the fighting rings, Phil returns to Netheria. Techno at this point is involved in the fighting rings. Phil recognizes him, and repays the debt he owes Techno for saving his life by saving him from the Pit. He intends to just drop him off at the next safe planet but… well, we all know how that goes.
What’s the deal with Kristin? Is she alive?
Yes, the mysterious character we see in the very end is Kristin. Surprise! She’s alive! She’s been on Earth the whole time! How did she get there? Wouldn’t you like to know!
I originally wanted to write a follow up one-shot of her and purpled embarking on their own road-trip around the American Midwest, attempting to find a way for her to contact Phil and let him know that she’s still alive. Sort of like a reverse-FHTN. Instead of a road-trip across the Galaxy to return to Earth, it’s a literal road-trip across the US to find a way to return Kristin back to space. She does manage to get into contact with Phil, though. They start doing video chats and writing sappy letters back and forth— it’s very sweet.
How did Quackity get his scar?
The first time Technoblade and Quackity met ended in a bar fight on Netheria. This was before Techno and Wilbur became friends, but after he had become friends with Phil. Quackity had still been with Schlatt. They both said some things they probably shouldn’t have, Quackity, being himself, took things just a bit too far and ended up getting his shit rocked.
So what species is Ranboo?
well you see, they’re actually
How did you come up with the planet names?
Most of them are word play! Netheria, Aether, and Enderion are all plays on Minecraft dimensions. (Nether, the Aether mod, the End) Nevodis is a combination of Los Nevadas + Vegas. Viona is a play on Vienna, and is meant to be a reference to the song Since I Saw Vienna by someone who is now dead to me. T’Aria is a play on Terraria, like the game. Bezzar is the laziest, it’s just a play on the word Bizarre.
Lestea has the most convoluted origin, I wanted to include the word “tea” in it somewhere, since I first wrote the moon’s description down in my notes as “trade moon from oneshot— where everyone in the galaxy goes to get the good gossip. spill the tea, sis.”
Do you have any advice when it comes to world-building?
ORGANIZE! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! Write things down! Take notes about the things you mention, even in passing! It might be important later! Learn from my mistakes please
Do you have any advice for when it comes to planning out / finishing longfics? How did you manage to stay motivated for three whole years?
For the first few chapters, I wrote purely because I really enjoyed writing, and the characters, and the aesthetic, and the universe I had made. Chapters 8 and onwards were the result of pure stubbornness and spite.
Okay but seriously— Pace yourself. Don’t burn yourself out trying to churn out chapters one after another. Don’t worry about how long writing will take, the time will pass anyways. Just have fun! Making a playlist definitely helped me get into the mood, too.
What’s the whole… furby thing about? You mention furbies suspiciously often over the course of this fic?
Rule number one about the Secret Tumblr Furby Cult is that we do not talk about the Secret Tumblr Furby Cult—
Do you have a favorite / least favorite chapter?
I had the most fun writing Flesh and Bone (all parts), Dustland Fairytale, and This Is Your Life (part II).
The one that I am the most proud of looking back on is probably either Neon Tiger or This Is Your Life (I), though the latter kicked my ass while I was writing it.
Least favorite is probably either the first few chapters (god, my writing was ROUGH in the start), or… Exitlude. I think that you can definitely tell that I’d fallen out of love with the story by the end, but I did my best to give you all a satisfying ending instead of just abandoning it. Hopefully you all still enjoyed it?
Did you plan out everything from the start? How different is the final fic from your original outline?
I do outline every chapter beforehand, but not really in too much detail— just jotting down all of the most important scenes, or things that I know have to happen. I work the particulars out later, and things tend to change a lot once I get around to actually writing the chapter. Some chapters (basically every chapter where we see a new planet) we’re planned from the start. Others, (Neon Tiger, Deadlines and Commitments, etc) were added later on, or ended up having to be split into way more parts than I initially thought (cough cough THE WHOLE FUCKING ENDING cough cough cough).
To give you an idea of how much this fic has changed, when I first began writing it, I was planning on making it 12 chapters, and thought that it would be done by the end of Summer, 2021. So. Yeah.
Do you have a favorite planet?
Aether <3
Who’s your favorite character?
Tommy, obviously. I feel like that’s a given. I also fell more in love with Tubbo the more I wrote him, he’s unhinged as all-hell. My boys <3
Outside of the main cast— it’s Brusieus. I feel like that’s also kind of obvious, I do favor her quite a bit lmao. I have a weakness for buff women okay, I am but a humble lesbian leave me alone
(Speaking of Brusieus, I wanted to talk about her and her wife for a little bit. The names Brusieus and Atlanta come from Greek mythology— the former a misspelling of Briseis, a character from the Iliad and the latter, who was a badass huntress raised by bears. Her title is One Who Weaves. It was originally One Who Mends, as is, one who mends fabric/a seamstress, but it didn’t really make sense in the context of the story/within Piglin naming conventions.
But like. Guys. Brusieus’s title is One Who Ends. Her wife is Atlanta, One Who Weaves. What’s another name for someone who weaves? A seamstress. What do seamstresses do? They create and/or mend fabric. One Who Ends is married to One Who Mends . Both literally, like weaving or sewing, and metaphorically. Because they’re both working to rebuild, or mend, Netheria. By weaving things back together. GOD I love lesbians)
Where do you get your inspiration from / what inspired you to write this fic?
The Killers songs, my 2018 Voltron phase, Star Trek, and other space-fics that I’ve read before. I definitely wanted to go the more cheesy, bad-80’s-sci-fi-movie route, though.
Is there anything that you regret about this fic / would change, if you could?
OH DO I! Here is my list, in no particular order:
—I would go much more ham on the alien aspect. I played it pretty safe so I could focus more on the characters and environments, but I wish I played it up more. The translators were a little bit of a cop-out tbh
—I would have spent more time exploring the planets we don’t see very much of or spent much time on, like Lestea, Netheria, Viona, and Enderion
—Put more care/thought into developing some of the supporting cast. A few background characters ended up getting more lore/attention/backstory (Quackity, Brusieus, etc) than some of the main cast. Ranboo and Techno especially could have used some more love. I planned on writing some one-shot prequels to expand on them some more but… yeah. </3
—Include alien lore!!! I wrote so much that ended up never getting used, or only mentioned in passing. Lots and lots of festivals and other tidbits I never ended up using—Which ended up biting me in the ass later, when the plot ended up hinging on some of these details.
(For example: Why was Boris working with Dream? Well.
Most planets in the galaxy have a primary export, with the smaller trade moons like Lestea and Bezzar existing as, well. Trade moons. Places for trade to occur and different cultures to mix together rather than places with a set culture of their own. (Or, in Bezzar’s case, creating their own culture that's a mix of others, resulting in something pretty unique) T’Aria is agriculture, Netheria leatherworks/jewelry, Nevodis is technology/entertainment, Viona used to manufacture all sorts of things in its factories, but now a days, most manufacturing of common goods and spacecrafts has been moved to Enderion. Viona now specializes in manufacturing potions, and other medicinal needs.
Now, if you were perhaps, running an inter-galactic traffic ring with unknown species, wouldn’t it help to have some of the galaxy’s best doctors on board?)
—Seriously like. I have spent a ridiculous amount of time thinking about how a galaxy-wide economy would work.
What now?
FHTN is over. I currently do not have any plans to continue this series. I’ve learned so much, and come so far, but I think it’s time for me to move on to something else.
I do have some other half-finished DSMP fics in my drafts that never saw the light of day. I won’t say that I’m completely 100% done with this fandom forever, I might return later on down the line to clean up those WIP’s and post them when I’m feeling more nostalgic, but I’m definitely taking a bit of a step back for now. Currently, I’m juggling a handful of other WIP’s, for various other fandoms. There’s a few Batfam works I’m messing around with, as well as a Danger Days series I’ve already started working on! If you like my writing and want to support me further, consider checking those out.