Trace and Natani AU
An alternate universe where Natani met Trace when he first woke up instead of Flora, suggested by Brandon Awesome!
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The only way I can figure this working is if Flora never ran from the arranged marriage with Sythe (or there never was an arranged marriage and Flora remained with the tigers) and at some point Natani and Zen were caught by slavers and taken into human territory. Trace would wake up and bumble across Natani cornered, fighting the slavers after having escaped them, and Trace would run in and help, not understanding the situation.
Natani would be immediately aggressive towards Trace, but then realize he's an idiot and think "I could use this to get Zen back." With the mental link, Trace and Natani start trying to track Zen's location down. As they travel, Natani picks up human speech out of necessity - which he'd already started doing since being captured by humans - and in turn, Natani starts training Trace to stop him from being such a wuss in physical combat.
They stumble upon Keith like normal, since he's in the nearby town. There would be a lot of aggression here, since this is early, Keidran-hating Keith. There'd be no run-in with Euchre since there's no Flora, although Euchre would still be keeping an eye on Trace from a distance, and Nora would certainly still show up at some point. There'd also be no assassin ambush in the woods, since... that was Natani and Zen, obviously. Although there could be some other wolf attack here instead that might be interesting, what with Natani defending a human. I could imagine some moment of truth where Natani has the chance to betray Trace and almost considers it, but ultimately chooses not to, and the wolves label Natani a traitor. Keith would see Natani in a new light and start reconsidering his thoughts on Keidran.
Eventually they'd make it to the coast and it would turn out Eric's family are the one's that are housing Zen, having facilitated the slave trade. They'd break him free at night and then decide to steal Eric's ship, since they're still going along with the idea of traveling to the Basitin Island for Keith's sake, and Natani & Zen has nowhere else to go, being labeled traitors.
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That's as far as I've thought about this. It is a shame that Flora gets written out of the story in this alternate universe, although perhaps if the arranged marriage never happened, Flora could still show up as a character when the party eventually travels into tiger territory. Which... still hasn't happened yet, but yeah, there's room for Flora to still show up.
There's even ways to have her show up earlier, if, say... there was an arranged marriage, but she only ran after arriving in wolf territory, so she'd run into the gang right before Eric's town. That might even be how the gang end up fighting wolves near the border, since they could be the ones trying to get Flora back.
Comments (41)
Well.. Alright then.. He. Tom finally just came out and said it.
You sound disappointed.
I absolutely love this. I really want Natani and Trace to spend some more time interacting in the main comic. It’s so rarely seen
I'm surprised that no one seems to comment on Trace's hair... It's a cool change (seeing it grown out), but it makes me wonder if Trace is using magic to keep his hair from growing in the prime storyline.
Tom said on stream that Flora cuts it for him. He wears it long here to be more like Natani.
Next time on TwoKinds "WHAT IF"
I love the idea of Trace and Natani and Keith running around together at the beginning. Just bros being dudes, guys being pals. I'd love to see more art of this alternate timeline.
Trace.....cute!!!
I wonder how the Masks' plans would have to be altered in this timeline. Would Neutral possess someone else to attack Trace? Or if not, and its hand never been forced, would the interdiction on human/keidran offspring still be in place?
Also, if Trace trains to be a fighter, who becomes the party's primary spellcaster? So far, every time someone's in real life-or-death danger, Trace basically goes into the Avatar state and starts throwing mana around like he's the Grand Templar or something. ......oh, right.
Does this mean a chance for Flora and Sythe, or will Sythe wind up in a love triangle between himself, Flora, and Maren?
Flora is best girl, but this AU sounds really interesting. Cool that you put so much thought into the picture.
I hope Trace's hair gets this way in canon, it looks great on him!
It does! I hope this one gets coloured.
Now that is an AU! But is it really Twokinds if the main character, Flora, is not to be seen? 😝 Interesting take on Trace and Natani being best bros. Add Keith, and we've got the bro triangle.
Neat write-up, Tom! It's so cool how altering one little element can change so much about the story going forward. The one thing I wonder is how this affects Keith's place in things. Are Natani and him still naturally drawn to one another, despite Trace's new relationship to the two? Does Keith wind up with Flora in this version... or Zen? 0///0 ...What does it say about me that the first thing I wonder is how this affects the ships? Great job, Tom! Congrats, Brandon!
Natani and Keith's personalities definitely still mesh well, but I think first impressions are important, and early Keith still had a lot of rough edges to him. Natani would probably be distrustful and spend more time with Trace, but warm up to Keith too eventually, if slower than in canon. I imagine Trace, Natani, and Keith would all 3 end up in a pretty bro friendship, with Trace and Keith actually becoming closer too now that Natani is forcing Trace to work out and train. They'd all have more in common.
As ask yourself "What If"
Love the sketch. LOVE the story.
Not only a nice picture but also a pretty great AU story. awesome job!
Omg! Thank you so much Tom! I love it so much! You did an awesome job and I love the story you made for this!
It's funny that in the main story, Trace and Natani consider each other friends, yet have never really had a direct conversation with each other. Trace still doesn't speak Keidran and Natani still doesn't speak human. I'd like it if that were an important scene later, one of them learning enough of the other's language and they finally start talking in earnest.
I want to see more of this
Interesting that in this AU, Natani isn't so self conscious about keeping The Girls hidden.
Initially, he wouldn't have a choice. The slavers would have taken everything he uses to keep a male appearance (clothes, mana crystals) and not given a fudge how he identified. He could change his appearance again after the escape, but still choose to show some trust to Trace in private.
Without that description, this seems a lot more sexual
maybe it also could be after their training spar
I didn't expected that. But I expected to not expected, so this don't count. This week will be awesome. Brilliant job as always Tom!
This would be such a cool setting for a story!
It could also make for a weird and interesting multi-dimensional paradox watched from both perspectives through a magical mirror maze...
dang tom, so much au lore and you've just fueled the next 6 months of sunday sketch suggestions, lol
And 2 years of fanfic. By the way, the Dark AU inspire me to do it
Honestly, this AU would be really interesting to see more of it. I really love the idea and the story about this one.
it could be interresting for sure and i'd love to see how much stronger trace would be in physical combat and how much better natani speaks human
Well-thought-out Tom. The only thing I would add is that Mike and Evals might escape with them when they steal Eric's ship and Eric pursues with Kat coming along to help him hoping to stop Eric from punishing them too much.
My thoughts exactly
Suggesting this has created a monster I intend to nurture and see blossom into an AU favorite through potential suggestions and shipping because after sitting on it since Sunday, I will admit I like these two together X)
Don't forget about fanarts
Okay, but how does this complicate them being parents as well? 😂 For Trace, not much probably changes, for Natani though? EVERYTHING. Especially if the gender issues remain.
Who says they have a relationship like that? All it says is that Natani finds him first, for all we know the love angles stay the same.
Love that whole description you added for this au, it’s an interesting idea for a concept, And I can’t wait till we get to the tiger lands