What if my brain worked right and i apped Lottie

punnyinpink: that would have been wild because Walter finally would have had to explicitly say out loud "it's her or me" to Misty

In the AU where Walter didn’t totally hate the Barge, and thus stuck around for a deal, what would he be like as a warden?

magicom: what if barge transfers were real

That's a big fucking AU. My god. Once I was finally past the several hoops I had to jump through to imagine him tolerating it, my first thought was actually cringing incredibly hard at how he would post so much more???

The BASIC premise of this AU is going to be that the Admiral was ousted and replaced at some point in Summer 2025 and there was some element of the subsequent conditions that had Walter like "okay sure I'll stay with my friends for another year" (such as that inmates HAVE to be paired for graduation/revival so an extra warden in the mix will help)

This is truly... a lot had to change... lmao ...

The really hard part, even though it is the most interesting part, is how the fuck he would work with a paired inmate

Everything else is surmountable like ok he's living in a place with his friends, the pain is temporary

But like

Walter: maybe it's not my place to live Misty's life for her

New Admiral: here's an inmate, go live their life for them

If Walter were a warden he would work with the goats full time because that is where he's most actually useful. Y'all will miss him in the library.

The inmate ledger in its current form is probably not something he should literally just start lots of grudgewank in, but he would definitely be keeping tabs on inmates (AND WARDENS) because there are repeat offenders like bffr

In this scenario there would still be floods and breaches and ports. Maybe it's like "we've accepted that we need to move the barge because the Authority doesn't like the fact that the admiral was replaced". He would put a lot of effort into even POSTING THAT "hey a flood is going on" and/or "it turns out this was a powers gone haywire pseudo flood??? Jeez."

He would be using significant quantities of magic particularly for "self defense" (combat). You'd best believe he would take advantage of the fact that wardens cannot be demoted for acting in immediate defense of the life or dignity of oneself or another

He would sure be on an adventure finding LITERALLY ANY INCENTIVE AT ALL for inmates to have good behavior as opposed to cathartic outbursts in a safe environment

i think i've said it before but i feel like Walter in Malevolent wouldn't necessarily be a cultist but he's definitely someone way too deep in eldritch bullshit because he thinks it's going to Help Him in some way and doesn't realise how it's eating him from the inside out