Shout Out To Past!Allen Walker For Being Some Unfortunate Rando Who Came Into Contact With The Narrative

I know we all make fun of Cale for sabotaging his own slacker life, but honestly given his life experiences, it kind of makes sense.

Beyond the obvious fact that he’s a good person who’s going to help where help is needed, it was also his responsibility to do so for around a decade.

Like, I’m pretty sure one of the reasons he gives for why he needs to do all this is because conflict would inevitably reach his doorstep and cause issues for him. In the shelter before he joins team 1, he wasn’t actively involved in the fighting… then the fighting came to him, destroying the shelter with massive amounts of casualties.

And unless I’m misremembering the side chapter, he did try to take a day off as team leader krs (for cjs and lsh’s death anniversary)—and then the company called him in to deal with a crisis.

So his life experiences do kind of align with the “I have to fix everything before I can have a day off” mentality

*actively attempting murder*: his compassionate nature and aura of tragedy have captivated me

personally, I’m not the biggest fan of modern aus (the more distance from real life the better lmao), but in particular the significant traumas of the characters don’t always translate well (which… maybe the point actually). But seeing how the author does is always interesting! that said, here’s how the closest I can think of for a dgm modern au:

Allen: if you cut out the whole past self and possession situation, up until the Order, it’s pretty one to one. As a child, he had a limb difference and was trafficked. He met Mana and Allen the dog, the dog died, the place he was trafficked to burns(? maybe attacked and he was spared out of pity?) Due to the trauma of the incident, Mana gets worse, thinks Allen is Allen the dog and then they live on the streets until Mana’s death. Occasionally Mana mistakes him for Nea to keep that aspect of the trauma. Allen is attacked shortly after, survives, and is eventually taken in by Cross (and his debts). He gets a few stalkers or already has them and finds out later.

Lenalee: once again, the fighting is a bit tricky for a plain old modern au, but I can make some things work! After her parents died in an attack, she was adopted out of China into England to an abusive family. Eventually Komui was able to get custody of her… I’m unsure/doubtful he would actually be able to do this with the systems in place, so maybe foster care would work better?

Kanda: A cult??? I guess? And Alma died setting a fire maybe? Unless you want unethical government experiments in your modern au!

Lavi: … I don’t know about this one. A very emotionally distant family that shamed any expression of emotion or connection as weakness? But it doesn’t have quite the same implications, I think.

Miranda: Pretty easy! She’s still miserable and can’t keep a job. Poor Miranda.

Alistar: A bigoted, isolated small town? Very tough on this one. Maybe such a small town that superstition still runs strong and he was run out of town during a series of disappearances (actually caused by his girlfriend, Eliade).

Timothy: Pretty much the same. Abusive father who was eventually jailed for thieving, the orphanage where he lived had money trouble and he started stealing himself. Not sure where the trauma from the orphanage being attacked could fit in.

Mana: A crime family/mafia?? His brother (for reasons we aren’t sure of yet) went on a rampage and managed to take out most of the family, forcing Mana to kill him.

Link: he and his siblings/friends from the streets are adopted by a corrupt government official.

I might make a more in depth post about this later, but there’s something about Allen and Mana’s ways of grieving that stick out to me. They’re so similar, but I think there’s one key difference:

Mana forgets, Allen doesn’t.

When confronted with guilt over hurting a loved one (regardless of circumstances) and the grief of losing them, Mana couldn’t stand to look at himself to the point he literally changed his own face. He spent years searching for the very brother he killed. He hated himself so much he became someone else (Adam). It wasn’t it his fault (Adam’s), it was his fault (Mana’s)

Allen is similar, but ends up swinging in the opposite direction. When he’s at his lowest, he couldn’t cope with it either, becoming catatonic (is that the right word?). After he comes out of that state, it’s because he needs to keep a promise that he (Allen) made to Mana. And like Mana he’s acting like a different person! But he’s still Allen and he carries the guilt of turning Mana into an Akuma directly. He can’t change his face. Everything about his appearance is a constant reminder. It was his fault, and he’s going to spend everyday atoning for it.

Allen, on the verge of death again: I’m tired of this Crowned Clown

Crowned Clown: That’s too damn bad! You keep going!

with the knowledge that innocence is an parasitic entity that basically eats misery, I want someone to know that I think of Crowned Clown refusing to let Allen be killed/die or be separated as a kid throwing a tantrum because someone took away their candy.

like Apocryphos is desperately trying to get this piece of candy away because “it’s not good for you!” and Crowned Crown is kicking screaming crying about losing this food.

my desperate craving for d gray man content has become near unbearable, so it may be time for me to take matters into my own hands. that being said. I have no idea what to write about.

so if anyone sees this and has any suggestions or prompt ideas, please let me know!

that being said, I’m not the biggest fan of modern no power aus (unless they’re funny enough). But I do welcome crossover ideas!

Do I think these characters from tcf would say/follow through with this quote: “because I do believe in killing the messenger. do you know why? because it sends a message.”

cale: yes, I think he’d say it. Depending on who was injured and if the messenger was a part of the scheme, he would follow through (but not before torture).

alver: no

choi han: still no. he might kill the messenger, but I don’t think he’d do it to send a message

ron: he’s not saying because he’s a professional, but he’s absolutely doing it

lee soohyuk: … unsure. He’s introduced as a nice guy, but cale's scheming and ruthless plots came from somewhere.

choi jungsoo: no, it seems like he has a pretty solid moral compass. Then again, I haven’t caught with part 2, so…

mary: no

rosalyn: no

hannah: absolutely

the white star: obviously, yes

cage: no

taylor: no

clopeh (?): yes, he’s positively insane

roan: maybe? I don’t think he’d say it or do it to send a message, but if someone told him a member of his family was killed, he’d kill someone

on: no. maybe if she continues training as an assassin, but ron and vicross don’t seem to be encouraging that

hong: similar to on, but I’m more firmly on the side of no for him

now, I know that cale henituse and bruce wayne have similarities. They both have an adoption problem, are cunning strategists, terrible at communicating, and are filthy rich. but I think on a fundamental level they would not get along. Bruce has (admittedly kind of necessary due to frequent mind control situations) contingency plans for friends and family. Cale would Not Vibe with that at all. He would rather die than do that shit.

plus bruce’s no-killing policy (again, valid reasons for this), and while bruce does various other brutal acts short of killing, I think this would cause some problems. cale might understand it on a moral level. But if they had to work together? They would be butting heads like nobody’s business. honestly, if they did have to team up to take down an enemy, I think there would be a confrontation a la “Ruthlessness” from EPIC the musical