At spawn is Sapnap, in full glowing purple armor and a slightly wary expression that evaporates when he sees Quackity.

"Quackity! Good to see you, man."

Some things, apparently, don't change. Q's Sapnap wears his hair a little longer-- just barely enough to tie back-- but this one's the same age, the same height, wearing the same t-shirt over long black sleeves and the same dumb white headband. He smiles the same. 

There is something bubbling up inside his stomach and if he doesn't shut it down right the fuck now he's going to break down sobbing. 

In his defense, it's been a really long morning. 

"Good to see you too." 

"What's up! Wow, I haven't seen you in months!"

"--I, um. I'm like, brand new to the SMP, I got here yesterday, you have not actually seen me ever technically. Sorry. I don't know what's up with the names thing-- Tommy's theory was that I'm your Quackity's evil clone, I think that sounds kind of dubious but I don't exactly have a better idea--" 

Squint. "Names and faces, you look just like him. Different clothes, but those change, dude. You're really brand new, different guy?"

He really needs to find clothes he feels less self-conscious about. (That don't make him look like a party favor. That don't tell you he is a party favor. Shut the fuck up.) 

"Yep! He thought he was being parodied, didn't believe me that I wasn't doing it on purpose. --you look almost exactly like someone I know also named Sapnap, it's kind of a lot." 

"Huh. Weird. ...What did you want to see me for?"

I don't know anyone or anything here and I feel safe when I'm near you and--

I wanted to see someone who I liked and felt comfortable around who probably wouldn't suddenly drop everything just to scare me and equally suddenly turn gentle again--

I love you and I miss you and I am so fucking scared of what might be happening to you that if I let myself grieve I'm worried I'll never stop--

No. Absolutely not. Sapnap's treating him like he's new. None of those are something you can put on someone you just met. 

"Um. I have mostly been talking to Wilbur but he's incredibly bad at explaining anything to people who don't have context." 

"Sure, hit me. Uh, I don't really have very much context either, though."

He isn't here for emotional support. He's here for information. He has something he wants to find out so he looked for someone who could tell him. That's a success. This is a stranger who looks weirdly like his boyfriend, and if he expected anything else, that's on him.

If he makes it through this conversation without making it fucking weird, he can find somewhere to curl up and cry as much as he wants, how about that. 

Good. Now be fucking normal. 

"--um. Why is Dream in prison?" 

“Tried to kill Tommy and Tubbo.”

He guesses it makes sense that Dream and Tommy would have ever met. There's just fewer people here. Tommy and Wilbur are, like, best friends, or something. More to the point (and he is sticking to the point):

"Do you know... why? ...also I had kind of gotten the impression that death doesn't take, here?" 

“He had, like, a whole vault? And a villain speech? I dunno, dude, it was creepy. They’re on their final lives, and I really don’t think he was going to kill them noncanonically.”

"...right. Okay, thank you." 

So the real answer is probably in the vault and the villain speech. Note to self: ask someone-- preferably someone he can manage to not be this fucking weird about-- about what it means for a kill to be canonical.

"Um, I think that's it?" 

“Anytime. D’you want to see Kinoko?”

On the one hand: no, absolutely not, he wants to go and curl up into a tiny ball and sob his eyes out and not have to remind himself to treat this stranger like a stranger. 

On the other hand: yes. Please. I want to spend more time with you. I always want to spend more time with you. 

"I'd love to." 

"Awesome. Follow me."

Kinoko kingdom is beautiful and huge. It's mushroom-themed, to the point of a couple of the houses being shaped like mushrooms. There's a dragon statue and a huge yin-yang pool. 

"So this is the shroom shack," Sapnap says, "and this is Party Island, and this is my building for doing military stuff, we don't have any enemies or anything right now but I've gotta be ready, y'know? Gotta be in fighting shape. And those are empty houses, if anyone wants to join, and that's Karl and George's house, and that's my house."

It's also very, very quiet. Sapnap and Quackity's footsteps, Sapnap's voice, are the only noises.

"It's gorgeous." It is gorgeous. Maybe this is just what happens, if a country is five people and a military is just one. Beautiful architecture with nobody in it. "You... don't live with George?"

“Nah, I haven’t lived with George in—what, probably a year now? I mean, he’s still right next door, it’s not like he’s far.”

His Sapnap-- maybe? Nope, moved in with Dream and George right out of the arena, would've been in residential training before that, was a kid before that. He's never lived alone. 

"Huh." He looks up at the white-spotted mushroom tops of the buildings. "Fair enough." 

"The empty ones are open to anyone who wants to join. By the way."

"I've been hanging out near Las Nevadas but I will consider it!"

Actually, that might be a good idea even given the whole situation with his ability to be normal and the lack thereof; he still doesn't have somewhere to stay that has a bed. And doesn't super want to sleep in the tollbooth again. 

"What's Las Nevadas?"