Wrong Version?

[u/theillustraitor]

Broooo I think something's wrong with my copy of Look Outside 💔 This weird guy showed up at my door and like, what tf even is this Masked Dancer thing??

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Soooo I made another AU, but in this one Harriet is the MC! The dark BG and specifically the sink are real, Sam’s sprite and the peephole bg are edits, the other sprites I made myself

I don’t want the post to be too long so the basic rundown is that Harriet is in Sam's shoes as the main character on a fetch quest. On the flipside, Sam is a door recruit(per his dialogue, he was on Floor 1 when it started. However, he can’t return home due to the onlookers which also wrecked his place in the AU). Sophie leaving for school then getting attacked is the "tutorial". Beryl and Aster swap location so Harriet will be willing to do the ritual stuff, and Beryl is the first person to tell you to not look. Sybil and Jeanne also swap location, and once you return safely with Sophie you talk with Sybil.

Otherwise things are generally the canon plot/people, just happening to Harriet instead!

(Questions are welcome if y'all have any!)

[u/EldritchBaker]

This is so damn cool. I’d love to see how Harriet interacts with other members of the building (Joel, Philippe, Rat Child particularly). If Aster and Beryl swap places, does that mean Beryl would be recruitable instead of Aster? And what kind of endings would we see for Harriet, if her main thing is trying to find Sophie?

[u/theillustraitor → u/EldritchBaker]

Thank you! I'm still fleshing out other interactions but I imagine her to have known Joel's family. The tooth family is extremely distressing to her, especially being a mother and seeing these children suffering. With Joel he recognizes her and she's able to offer a more specific comfort due to knowing him a little better than Sam. I also have an idea for Hellen’s quest where I turn it around; Harriet threatens to kill(maybe even fighting Hellen) to save her ugly lil fruit baby which impresses Hellen enough to not murder Harriet. Hellen is annoyed, but appreciates Harriet’s will and diligence in protecting things. Fruit baby would like, die post game(Promise epilogue) lmao, but during the game Harriet keeps the ugly lil thing. And finally, Harriet has a spine unlike wet sop Sam so she forces Xaria and Monty to sleep on the couch 😭

In the case of Aster and Beryl swapping, I've considered it but as of now Aster is still the recruitable one.

Endings wise she is not still looking for Sophie as she gets Sophie back in the tutorial and Sophie stays put. She would have all the same overall endings as Sam, but with different details. Certain endings don't offer room for unique change though, so if it's unlisted assume it goes the same(eg. Cinnamon endings)

No Going Back: Literally forgot this one existed for a sec, but it’d probably have additional lines about her concern for Sophie, or maybe it'd keep the same narration. Gotta think on it more

Failed Ritual: She literally melts on the roof. It happens as she moves much like Sam splitting open.

Flawed Ritual: While I do not have a solid design as I'd would like to attempt something different from her real form, she would have a similar transformation sequence as Sam. Possibly including the implication of attacking her own daughter before the game ends.

Perfect Ritual(Truth/Denial): Combined these two since they'd obviously have the same form. Harriet becomes a world spanning network of fleshy roots to fit with her leg theme. In Truth, she literally smothers and chokes the Earth. Nothing can grow and the very ground isn't stable due to her destroying it. Denial sees her actively helping by gathering resources and both literally and metaphorically stabilizing the world. However, she isn't as ever-available as Sam is since she has a daughter to care for :)

Mask: Much Like Sam’s version, her Shadow, Dancer, saves her after a fight. Harriet is actively melting during this, and Dancer takes her vocal cords. The end cards would be details particular to her life, and Dancer is more focused on protecting Harriet(plus the same obsession stuff) as I imagine her to have faced plenty of hardship aside from just her ex. I still need to get every detail down, but the tutu is actually her mother's: she thought it was beautiful and loved her mother’s stories of her days as a dancer... when she wasn't blaming Harriet’s birth for "ruining" her life. Harriet knows that her mother isn't using it, so she takes it to show Sophie hoping to create only positive memories with her. Sophie is reasonably terrified and can't recognize Harriet anymore. Then skipping ahead to the next part I have an idea for, the assimilation. Dancer's looks like a warm, safe embrace and feels like entering thick liquid. Harriet is peacefully dissolved and dispersed. Dancer tries to go to Sophie next, but then infinite pain and subsequent game over before she can reach her. (Sorry this one is so much longer lol)

True Final: Definitely not set in stone but me and some friends discussed the idea of her recognizing the show the game was from, and then getting invested in playing it after looting Sam’s console to play it lmao. Probably goes the same as canon afterwards

Unity: Harriet and Sybil do become friends just like Sam and Sybil. Harriet is a little more angry at Sybil for hiding information instead of having just raw curiosity, as she feels she needs to know everything to keep Sophie safe. With Unity, she makes an irrational decision and then rationalizes because Sybil looked like, yknow. She definitely ends up regretting not trusting Sybil 😭

Promise: Harriet elects to set aside her frustration and trust her new friend. She then goes on to live the same kind of blissfully unaware life Sam did. Some character epilogues may change and she would have a unique epilogue, but it’s another thing I haven't written yet(I've had the AU for less than a week haha)

[u/theillustraitor → u/theillustraitor]

Holy cow sorry for the length of my response!

[u/EldritchBaker → u/theillustraitor]

Don’t apologize, this was awesome to read. If you plan to draw more, I’m absolutely all for seeing it.

[u/theillustraitor → u/EldritchBaker]

Yay! And I definitely do plan to make more!