#darkner reader

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

How about reader going on a date with Battat and listening to them ramble in full Pepe Sylvia style at the cafe, and they aren't even listening really just hearing their loved one talk and seeing them so invested is just, so captivating to them

"Man..every time I come here, there's always somebody new." You hummed, looking around at the newest arrivals to Castle Town's cafe. "I wonder how Swatch deals with it. Must be stressful for them."

The green Pippins sitting across from you snapped their head up, as though the word "stressful" had activated the sleeper agent within them. A maniacal grin spread across their face.

"Stress???? You wanna talk about stress? YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT STRESS???" They smacked their hand onto the table, jumping up onto it. "I've been knee-deep in this Mike conspiracy, and I haven't been able to crack it! How about that for stress???"

You ignored the stares of the other Darkners, leaning your elbow on the table so you could prop your chin up with one hand. "Hm..would it help to talk about it, Bat?"

"Yes! Just hear me out, alright? I've got a paper trail. Look." From some unknown pocket dimension, they presented you with a corkboard with papers stuck to it, all connected by pins and red strings. "Let's talk about Mike! Can we talk about Mike?? Please, [y/n] I've been dying to talk about Mike to you all day!!" They babbled, waving their arms around. "Every time Tenna goes on air, he asks: "Mike can you do this??", "Mike can we cut that part out??" IT'S ALWAYS MIKE, MIKE, MIKE!! So I'm thinking to myself: "we gotta figure out who this guy is". Maybe he could teach us a thing or two about impressing the boss. So I go to his office--exactly where Tenna goes whenever he needs his advice--and guess who's there??"

They pause, and don't wait for you to answer.

"NO ONE!! SO WHO IS MIKE??? The man does not exist!! But to Tenna he somehow does!! So that's when my buddies and I decided to work our behind the scenes "magic" and convince ourselves that we ARE Mike! And it worked TOO damn well!! It scared even us! So we had to hide away in that special little room labeled "Mike Zone". The odd thing was that it was already there when we arrived, and that led me to wonder....." They took a breath, a moment to compose themselves, before spiraling even further. "WHO THE HELL MADE THAT PASSWORD??? AND WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CAT STATUES??? I sure as heck didn't put any of those there! Is he secretly part feline?? Does he worship CATS???? WHO KNOWS....!!!"

At the current moment, you lost track of where Battat was going with the "point" they were trying to make. And quite frankly...you wouldn't dare to interrupt them. The only thing you knew for sure was that this all had something to do with Mike, a coworker of Tenna's back in the TV World that apparently nobody else has seen before.

Having come from a different Dark World, you weren't sure why the Pippins was so fascinated and obsessed with finding out who he really was. But it's clear that they were extremely passionate in their research and wild theories about his existence (or lack thereof).

So all you could do was sit back, sipping at your tea while they talked and talked.

You still remember the day you met them, discovering their Mike costume on accident. They feared that you were going to snitch on them and their friends their boss...but thankfully you aren't a Darkner who liked to gossip.

Since Tenna was no longer in Castle Town, there wasn't any real reason for them to keep up their act. Yet despite being informed of this by the Lightners from the prophecy, it didn't seem to change much of anything.

They kept their costumes, and Battat remained determined to uncover the mystery of Mike, even though Pluey and Jongler wanted to take a step back from it and simply be themselves.

Speaking of whom, the pair were sitting at a nearby table, chatting with some Werewires in tuxedos. Occasionally they'd glance back at their friend and you, seeing that you're just listening and nodding your head along to whatever they were saying.

But it's not because you were waiting for them to finally sit down and shut up.

Far from that, actually.

You just liked listening to them talk about something that clearly captivated them. They said things that made zero sense, yet also things that somehow made perfect sense. Your smile never left your face.

To most people in that cafe, they saw a green Pippins rambling for no reason and holding you hostage.

To you, however, this green Pippins was your date. And there's no one else you'd rather be with.

[akanemnon]

Shouldn't there be a minotaur in the labyrinth? Who put this goat here? This is not accurate to the mythology! /j

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)

[c-horror-angel]

GO FORWARD MY SELF INSERT!!!!!

I made a darkner oc . For all the reasons u might think (so I can SELF SHIP WITH TENNA) pls forgive any anatomy/perspective issues I cba to get a reference

His name is Cles, he’s a fortune teller that eats crystals (do NOT let him beat a secret boss), and he’s based off of my pentacle necklace that I wear everyday. :]

(And yes, he’s woke (transgender))

[tennafics]

This is my first fanfic request, but may I ask for a platonic Father-figure Tenna x Child Darkner reader, please? I've seen so much of romance with Tenna, I'm genuinely curious to know what kind dynamic the reader would have with Tenna if they were his child, you know? I don't have a specific plot to request, maybe like Tenna found the reader alone and adopted them or somewhat. But either way, I give you all the creative freedom, lol.

Dad!Tenna

Tenna was often busy. It didn't bother you too much or anything, as he did make time for you quite often. You and your..um... blue siblings. They didn't uh...talk much, let's say. He made games for you, he cooked for you (or when he did not have the time, his workers). But he went out of his way to pay attention to you.

He found you outside his studio, shivering. Picking you up in his hands, he held you close. Asking if you had somewhere to go. With your answer, you were brought inside.

He tucks you in at night. You're his kid. He adores you. Often brings you up when he's on air just to brag about how amazing he thinks you are. You see all of his broadcasts, and it always makes you feel good inside. Every night, he says the same thing to you, with a kiss on your forehead.

"You're the most important thing to me. I love you, sweetheart."

Tenna made you your own play area in his office, with a few guards to make sure you are always safe when he has to be on air. You liked the guards. They were always sweet to you. The second any commercial break, or Tenna went off air, he scrambled back to get you and ask you how your day was. You loved him picking you up in his arms, nuzzling his screen and hugging his head. Playing with his antennae.

The TV dinners were good. But he demanded "BETTER FOOD FOR MY SPECIAL DARLING", so you get a lot of variety. A lot.

When you first called him "Dad", he genuinely broke down, bawling, with you in his arms. He was so happy.

Sometimes, he sticks you in his jacket pocket when he walks around the office as he just wants his kid with him. Keeps himself in check while he does so, no yelling at employees, anything like that. He would not want you to see him that way.

Kinda lets you get away with more than you should with his employees, simply because he can almost never bear to say no to you. Luckily for him, you don't really have a malicious agenda. ...But you have bitten a few Pippins on purpose.

He's a good Dad.

[bookof-xreaders]

Anon Asked:

Can I request a Fun Gang & reader where the reader is a Darkner who closely resembles a demon in appearance, and acts very feral and chaotic? If not, that's okay ^-^

This post is for Ralsei! If you're looking for another member of the Fun Gang, please go to this post!

Ralsei x Darkner!Reader who Looks and Acts Demon-Like

He is a bit cautious around you, at first. It's constant chaos around you, especially if you're teaming up with Kris and Susie!

Don't get him wrong, he enjoys spending time with you! You're a constant source of excitement for him when Kris and Susie are away.

If you're up for it, he'd like to make you some new clothes to wear. They may not be your exact style, but it's the thought that counts.

As said in Kris' post, he does occasionally join you in mischief so things don't get "too out-of-hand". When you combine forces with Susie, Kris, and Lancer, it's hard for him to resist adding a tiny bit of chaos... Even if it isn't much.

If you have claws, Ralsei will often worry about them. At first it was about hurting others, but now he's more worried about you hurting yourself on accident!

He always acts annoyed when you ruffle his hair, but he starts to look forward to it after a while. You always look so proud of yourself after making his hair a complete mess...

[torchiiko]

keep thinking abt rewriting my spamton fic bc id love to revisit the concept with my updated characterization but i would need an understanding of pacing. & i would need stuff to fill in the blanks with. & also my name is torch "can only do 1 project at a time" iiko. so the cafe remains closed another day

[theofthevalley]

hi! can i request hcs of tenna with a gn reader who loves matching items with him? (for example like accessories or clothes). uty to decide whether the reader is lightner or darkner!

“It’s A Match!”

⇢ ˗ˏˋ Mr. Ant Tenna Headcanon’s with GN Darkner!Reader

⇢ ˗ˏˋ You were a big fan of a certain TV’s gameshow, it was to the point where you would buy or even make outfits or items just so you could match with him. His suit? Oh, you have a handmade one similar to it! It’s gotten to the point where you look like you’re cosplaying him sometimes, which wasn’t really out of the ordinary. Of course, you tend to tone it down in public; you couldn’t go out looking like a super fan.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ But at one of his shows? You’re in the crowd jumping around and cheering his name when he comes up on stage, whilst wearing a red suit similar to his own. Today, his shows were a bit different; usually, he has contestants already in their places on stage, but it seemed like he was pulling contestants from the audience today. You had somehow managed to get picked from the array of people, and then you realized how embarrassing it was that you were sort of matching with him once you stepped up on the stage.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ Tenna, of course, immediately noticed and made a comment about it out loud to the whole audience. You stand behind the stand in embarrassment, but at least you were there, standing in front of your idol and even participating in his show!

“Look at that, folks! Aren't you something, we're matching!”

“Uh yeah! I did it on purpose since I'm such a big fan, but I wouldn't have imagined being up here.”

That was your first meeting with Tenna, as a contestant on his show. Soon, he saw you again and again in the crowd. You weren't lying when you said you were his biggest fan; most of the people in the crowd he had to bribe with points to stay, and yet you were just there because you enjoyed his shows.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ The more you attended his shows, the more he saw you. And that caused him to focus on you, especially when you're in the audience cheering him on and clapping for him. From then on, he was looking forward to seeing you. After some more time, you somehow became friends with him, and that allowed for more matching. You gave him matching friendship bracelets, matching clothes, and other accessories.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ Tenna found the whole matching thing cute and fun. It was always a question of what you would match with and how you would present it. The closer you got to him, the easier it was to match. Oh, you want to wear matching ties one day? He's already on it, thinking about what patterns there are to choose. But since you were friends now, it was just small stuff here and there. A tie or maybe even a bracelet, small things to match with in friendship! But, the more your relationship grew to something more romantic, the more you ended up matching with him.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ Once you're in an established relationship with Tenna, he won't ever let you go. If anything, matching with him makes him more attached to you. Especially if it gets to the point where you match in jewelry. Tenna was actually the one who asked you to wear a ring for him out of the blue, one that matches the one he suddenly bought.

“Y/N! Darling, look, I got us matching rings!”

“Oh, these are beautiful, Tenna, but why'd you get these? As far as I'm aware, there's no special occasion.”

“Aha, that’s where you're wrong! This is a special occasion, me giving this ring to you, a promise of our future together.”

“Ohh, Tenna…you’re too sweet.”

So now you've gained a new item, a promise ring. It held sentimental value, and it was the most important matching accessory you had. It made everything all the more real. Your love and adoration for one another were shown by the things you shared. So receiving a gift like this from him was more than you could ask for.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ From then on, for a few weeks or so, Tenna spent a good minute at least once on his show talking about his amazing partner and the ring they share. Or he would mention that he's matching with you today to the audience. He basically makes it apparent to everyone that your lovers and no one else should be matching with you besides him. Tenna adores every aspect of matching with you, and there's no shot he would decline your offer to match with him. With Tenna, he will 100% match with you even if the outfit looks ridiculous.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ Advertisement: Hey you! Yeah you, the person who read this whole thing, do you like Tenna? Well this blog is THE place for Tenna fanfiction. Check my bio if I have requests open and my rules. I HAVE MY ASKS OPEN JUST FOR HIM RAHHH!!

A/N: Me when I make up scenarios for asks...anyways! I hope you liked this, dear Anon! WOO!!!

Word Count: 773 words

[2000sangel]

I’ve actually had this one in my head for a few days: lightner!reader abruptly disappears from the dark world. For like,,, WEEKS. In the light world, they’re had to suddenly attend to and emergency situation or been in an emergency themselves (like ending up in the hospital or something) and they have no way to contact tenna and tell him that they haven’t just up and abandoned him! And so when they’re finally able to return home and get back to the tv world…. emotions might be running high >:3 💖💖💖

-✨

Hey so!! I want to be a little serious here and lay down a Warning for potentially toxic behaviors (and mentions of a loved one being at the hospital).

This is Hurt/Comfort but also a way for me to explore the Tenna BPD Headcanon which I'm not sure if I portrayed well without making him come off as awful or as like...'woobified' (I don't like that word, but I don't know how else to get my point across).

I was able to reflect on some things while writing this, too, so I hope it doesn't entirely suck. Enjoy! :,)

Tenna x Reader - Short fic - "Misconstruction"

This incident has taken everything out of you; between the constant worry following it, the trips to the hospital to make sure everything was okay with your loved one, and the never-ending anxiety of a call that might or might not come, after these two weeks…you're totally spent.

They're okay now, thankfully, and have also been relocated to a hospital closer to where you live, so you don't have to make a big amount of planning before deciding to visit.

What you've hated through this all though, is your inability to visit the Dark World and your partner, Tenna; obviously, your phone isn't reachable while there, and same thing applies to you as a whole. Plus, between this emergency and your usual work shifts, you haven't physically found the time to enter the alternate reality in two weeks.

So, even though you're exhausted, the guilt you feel overrides your physical state, and you enter the Dark World as soon as you have the first free afternoon.

The studio is as busy as ever, Darkners running left and right with either documents to sign or props that will be needed for the next show. You almost bump straight into some of them, apologizing profusely for possibly slowing down the crew.

It takes you a while to find Tenna; he's not on stage, as this is not the usual time he's on air, he's not in his private office or changing room either, and you haven't noticed him walking around the studio either -something quite easy to do, considering his size-.

What's left are the conference rooms, that despite having easy access to the rest of the place thank to being his partner, you obviously can't just barge into unprompted.

So you wait, seated outside the one he's usually needed in, as you can hear his voice coming from inside. You close your eyes now and then, and zone out out of tiredness, but manage to keep yourself awake until you hear the door being opened.

Some workers step out of it, wide eyed when they notice your presence- obviously they know who you are, so you don't really get why they must be acting like they've seen a ghost instead.

The Darkners make space for Tenna, who exits the room last; you immediately stand up, an apologetic smile appearing on your face, which slightly falters when he notices you and he doesn't reciprocate it at all.

“Oh. It's- It's you.”

He sounds conflicted, like he's feeling different emotions that don't necessarily make sense paired with one another. His body language suggests so, too.

“Of course it's me,” you decide to grant him an explanation straight away, though before you can do so he interrupts you.

“Where…have you been?”

“...I was about to explain, I had an-”

“No, scratch that, I shouldn't…I shouldn't even be talking to you right now.”

His choice of words surprises you, direct and…almost repulsed. You don't understand, but at the same time you understand completely.

Leaving without coming back for days, weeks…showing no signs of life whatsoever for that whole time; who knows what he must've thought and felt.

At this point your smile is completely gone, replaced by a frown.

“What…no, Tenna, let me explain before coming to conclusions…?” he's avoiding your gaze now, conflicted about whether he should be leaving or not, “Please?”

. . .

Eventually he leads you to his office, where you can talk more privately at least. He looks like he's barely holding it together as he sits behind his large desk, which you notice is a mess of papers, some of them crumpled.

You don't sit like you usually do, though, merely leaning on the opposing chair, the air tense;

“Do you know how you made me feel?”

He's speaking faster than usual as he massages the bridge of his nose, screen flickering;

“If you could just let me explain-”

“What kind of explanation could you possibly have?”

He's not quite yelling, but he does sound mad and like he's already settled on a very specific scenario that must've kept you from visiting him.

“An emergency!” you cry out before he can interrupt you once again, “I had a family member at the hospital, Tenna!”

You bring one of your hands to cover your mouth when he slightly jumps, taken aback;

“I-I had no way of contacting you and I couldn't risk them calling while I was here-”

“You could've done it for a short time-”

“What…” you frown, stopping yourself from reacting badly. You then take a deep breath, “Okay, maybe I could've…but just what did you think I was doing for all this time…?”

He looks extremely guilty, screen now completely black and antennas lopsided, he's even begun to shrink a little.

There's a short moment of awkward silence.

“A-An emergency…really?”

You blink.

“Yes, Tenna, I promise that's what it was. And then I had work, and I was exhausted, and I kept looking at my phone and hoping for good news. That's why I couldn't come, and…” Your heart beats faster as you consider saying something like ‘they’re fine now, thanks for asking’, but you decide against it; “...and I don't know. I don't know what you thought, but it wasn't that.”

Fixated on your monologue, you almost miss the sound of Tenna's breath hitching, his palms now covering the spot his eyes would be if he had any.

“W-Wow. I'm an ass, aren't I?” he digs his palms deeper into his screen, biting on his lower lip to choke back what you assume is a sob.

Despite the misunderstanding you had, you quickly walk to his side, grasping his chair and turning it so he's now facing you.

“H-Hey, hey, what's this? Tenna, what-”

“I just thought you left me!!” he blurts out, shrinking even more. You're basically the same height now. “I-It’s stupid after hearing your explanation but?! You're asking, so there's your answer…!”

You sense he's craving touch by the way he has slid towards you with his chair, so you tentatively hover your arm beside his waist;

“Maybe we can hug while talking, what do you think…?”

Your partner nods, all attempts to hide his sobs going out the window once your arms wrap around each other's bodies;

“Please…” he manages to say, and you hum to encourage him to continue, “...ju-ust, I don't even know, I think I need…”

“...Reassurance?” you suggest, and he nods against your cheek, “I love you, Tenna, and I'm sorry…if it happens again, I'll…I'll make sure to find a moment to warn you, okay?”

“I-I’m sorry too, for this, for earlier, for the mess, for not understanding- I'm just, a bad par-”

You stop him right there with a squeeze before leaning back so you can look at his face; he's frowning, cheeks glossy with pixely tears rolling down them. You've seen him sad, you've seen him cry before, but even though you're not exactly in the wrong here you feel a pang of guilt in your chest thinking about the fact that he must've thought you were abandoning him, deep-rooted issues surfacing because of something you could've somehow prevented.

You don't find it in you to completely blame yourself though, and neither to completely blame him. Some things you can't just expect or prevent from happening, you suppose.

“Don't. Don't say that, this is just…something that happened, okay? And you can't really compare to…other relationships.” You sadly remind him, and he sighs in understanding.

“I love you too…I'm sorry, again, I'll- I'll do better, won't cut you off anymore, or anything like that…ahah…and just,” he inhales sharply, “just say it if changes are needed, okay?”

You nod, glad that he's calming down enough to speak more clearly.

“Okay, Tenna, I promise I will. And you don't assume the worst immediately, right? Something like this could happen again. Just trust me when I say I wouldn't just up and leave.”

You're aware that when issues like this arise, some reassurance and a hug aren't enough to solve anything definitely at all.

Though you're one step closer to helping him through it, you assume. And both of your boundaries might need to be worked on later, too.

[tennaoneshots]

Could you do a yandere Tenna x Fem-reader where she has had Tenna for a while, but one day a friend visits, and during their visit, they suggest she should get a more modern TV, which prompts her to consider it. Tenna would hear the entire conversation and start panicking, he cant lose her, she's the only one he has has left.

(I really hope this ask wasn't confusing, it's totally fine if you don't want to do it and your writing is very good :3, Have a nice day :> )

You're all good. I understood it, but this will be multiple parts if people want.

Yan Tenna x Fem Reader

Don't Get Rid Of Me, My Love~

---

Y/n has had Tenna for awhile, having taken him off of the Dremurr's hands and repaired him, making sure he is in working condition. Tenna loved this dearly, and due to his attachment issues, got attatched to Y/n very quickly. Y/n has taken care of the TV, unaware of the darkner's growing attatchment to her or the strange things the TV did, like glitch out slightly to say sentences like; "I'm here, don't worry, Y/n", "You're doing great", "Don't leave me", and so on and so forth. One day, Y/n's friend Sarah came over. Sarah is a lizard monster with an affinity for technology. "So...this is your TV?" Sarah asks, looking at the old CRT TV

"Yeah. Great, isn't it?" Y/n says, smiling softly

"Great...isn't the word I'd use" Sarah says, looking away

"Huh? Watcha mean, Sarah?" Y/n asks, blinking

"Well, it's old and TV's like this don't last long...so why don't you get a new one? I'll help you look for one" Sarah says, tail flicking

Y/n pauses and looks at the TV, considering it. Tenna, overhearing the conversation, starts panicking. He doesn't want to leave Y/n. She's the only one he has left, and he had gotten too attached. No....Y/n wouldn't get rid of him. He would make sure of it. But that lizard, Sarah....she wouldn't get away from Tenna's anger easily. How dare she suggest that Y/n give him away and replace him? No one can replace him. He's the loveable TV host Mr "Ant" Tenna after all! No one can replace him...especially not some newbie upstart.

"Hmm....getting a new TV sounds interesting to be honest, Sarah. I'll think about it, but for now, want to watch some TV or play games?" Y/n asks, already knowing

"TV. Got any monster movies or horror?" Sarah asks, raising an eyebrow

"You know I do, girl. Hold on, let me go grab them" Y/n says, turning away

Y/n walks off into the hallway, going towards the closet where she keeps the movies. Sarah looks at the TV and circles it, nodding to herself.

"If Y/n doesn't want you. I can take you off of her hands...use you for parts. I think that'd be interesting" Sarah says, humming

Tenna's cables spark dangerously as he narrows his eyes. Luckily, he is not on air at the moment and it's a commercial break. He doesn't need his dear audience to see him at this moment after all. Sarah then reaches towards the plug to unplug the TV, but is then shocked by Tenna, causing her to recoil her hand.

"Damn...a faulty plug. Good thing that didn't actually hurt" Sarah says, sweatdropping

"Get away...from....Y/n..." Tenna says, switching the channels rapidly to speak

Sarah looks at Tenna in shock, eyes widening as Tenna speaks like a certain loveable Bumblebee that can transform.

"What the actual fuck?" Sarah says, eyes wide

"Leave...Y/n alone...she's mine...she isn't...allowed to...give me...away..." Tenna says, a low growl in his throat

"What-" Sarah starts, before getting cut off by Y/n

"I'm back! I found your favorite movie at the back! I don't understand why you like movies about people killing for love, but it is what it is" Y/n says, coming back into the living room

Sarah looks at Y/n and relaxes...but Tenna gets an idea, a risky one. He's heard rumors about darkners pulling lightners into the dark world in their dreams, so maybe he can do the same thing? And that movie description...he can work with that.

"Um...You good, lizard?" Y/n asks, confused

"H-Huh? Oh...yeah, I'm fine. Just abit spooked" Sarah says, laughing nervously

"...Were you up reading creepypastas about characters coming to life again?" Y/n asks, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms

"Um...maybe?" Sarah says, grinning sheepishly

Y/n groans and shakes her head, amused.

"Sarah, I told you to not do that anymore!" Y/n says, shaking her head

"Um...whoops?" Sarah says, smiling nervously

Y/n nods and Sarah forgets about what she just experienced. Y/n holds up the movie.

"So...movie?" Y/n asks, raising an eyebrow

"You got the snacks?" Sarah asks, raising an eyebrow

"You know I do! They're in the same place as always!" Y/n says, nodding

Sarah nods and walks off to the kitchen. Y/n walks over to the TV, and out of habit, kissing the top of the TV, causing a spark to go down their spine. Y/n opens the movie box and puts the CD into the movie player. Without even grabbing the remote, the TV switches to the movie, paused at the beginning.

"Huh...weird...maybe....maybe getting a new TV would be best since you keep glitching....I know Sarah would love to use you for parts..." Y/n murmurs softly to herself, looking at the TV in contemplation

Tenna freezes, the screen going to static, before returning back to normal. No....No no no no...Y/n can't get rid of him...not after everything she's been through! He's the only one that's ever been there for her! That scaly lizard is putting impure thoughts into Y/n's head, ones Tenna plans to stop....but this movie, now in the movie player and projecting on his screen...it's giving him more ideas. Perhaps, he could kill....he doesn't want to as it is out of character for him, but he is willing to change if it means Y/n stays with him....forever. Oh this will be fun, and now all Tenna needs to do, is be patient.

[patchwork-crow-writes]

Musing a little more on Shadow Crystals, the nature of dreams in Deltarune, and the role that the Discarded Vessel may yet play.

I mused in an earlier post that the Pure Crystal might be the way to allow Ralsei to come to the light world as his Darkner-self, through the gathering of discarded dreams in the form of Shadow Crystals, and the weaving of them together into the Pure Crystal.

So far we have met four crystal holders: Jevil, Spamton NEO, The Roaring Knight and Gerson Boom. What seems to connect these four (aside from Jevil as far as I can see) is that each of them seems to have been granted power by a Lightner's dream - Spamton hijacks the NEO body drawn by Metaton, The Knight seems to be a shred of December Holiday's soul acting autonomously, and Gerson is the embodiment of Alvin's stunted dream to succeed his father. So, based on this admittedly imperfect logic, it would stand to reason that the remaining three(?) holders would be similarly empowered in some way.

Which brings me to the Discarded Vessel. OUR Vessel. The vessel we lovingly shaped, body and mind, and were about to inhabit as its SOUL... until it was wrenched from us and cast aside, and we were forced to possess Kris instead.

I think the Vessel will be the final crystal holder, and the most powerful of the seven(?) secret bosses we will face. In order to secure that final Shadow Crystal and weave Ralsei's dream into being, we will need to overcome our own creation. But who, you might ask, is the Lightner that could empower this hypothetical boss? Gaster? Kris themself?

No, dear reader - it's US.

The vessel does indeed represent the dream of a higher being - our dream of experiencing the world of Deltarune, to give Kris Dreemurr the freedom they so desperately need, to give Susie the recognition she deserves, and Ralsei the happy ending he seeks. If Toby's team have done their job, we will be so incredibly invested in the story and characters they have crafted that, in a sense, our long-forgotten Vessel will become a stand-in for that dream - a dream for Deltarune itself.

And we will have to abandon it.

By defeating the Vessel, the representation of our hopes and dreams for the world and characters of this game, we will have brought the final Shadow Crystal into existence by our own hand. By walking away from the representation of our desire to be a tangible presence in their world, we will provide the final ingredient necessary for Ralsei to truly, tangibly exist as more than a mere concept - trading our PRESENCE for his ABSENCE.

Some things are more important that reaching the end... or that's what they say, at least.

[animnightmare]

Imagine a Tenna x reader scenario (Or any darkner x lightner, really) where the reader is objectum and totally falls in love with Tenna but like. Is entirely unaware of the dark world, or that Tenna really is sentient like that.

[a-chaotically-small-lunta]

Ok so, I gotta ask, what characters do you see as tinys, giant's, sizeshiftes in deltarune, I GOTTA KNOW ISIW68EGIMAIAA

Like there's just so much g/t you can fit into certain media, and one of those is deltarune-

Mmmh well Tenna is obviously a sizeshifter. Like he’s usually in his big form but when you see him in his tiny form you just gotta comfort the lil guy so he gets back to being his big bold self.

Spamton is straight up a tiny (except his Neo form which is obviously a giant lol) he just has that tiny energy. Scavenging, just showing up in the most random places, so nervous and very good at hiding, man is in our walls tbh, just he’s tiny coded. Also id love a tiny spamton just hanging out, and he’s literally like a lil pop up ad.

Then there’s my Absolute fav: Jevil. Giant just giant. The most chaotic giant ever. This man is juggling people, playing games with them, being a huge jokester (I have literally drawn this man as a giant so many times and mad a few posts about him too lol) like this one lol

I also have a daydream (which honestly I could write as a self/reader insert type fanfic) where when a lightner enters the dark world they find themselves tiny while all the darkness are giant and (if possible) if a darkner were to somehow come out into the light world as themself and not their object, they would be tiny. This daydream honestly started out just as a giant Jevil daydream and has continued to grow with each chapter (which I haven’t even gotten to chp 4 yet lol)

[kenomacreature]

SEMI-COHERENT MUSINGS ON THE METAPHYSICS OF DELTARUNE

Exploring such topics as: - "what are the Depths?" - "what's with all the water references?" - "why do Darkners know all that stuff?"

Chapters 3 & 4 are fast approaching, the time we have before we’re faced with an influx of novel topics for speculation is running out, and I still have some leftover thoughts on the first two chapters that I'd like to get out there in writing before that happens. These thoughts primarily center around the metaphysics of Deltarune’s diegetic world, and various discursive methods that might be employed to help elucidate its nature.

This will be a loosely structured collection of thoughts that draw heavily from philosophy, literary theory and mythology, so if you don’t like pseudointellectual ramblings this is your warning to close the tab.

All of the points made here will be ancillary to the premises I argue for in my essay titled The Magic Circle. You should probably read it first!

Crossing the Fountain – art vs. byt

Much of my Magic Circle essay is concerned with the almost magical way in which one’s experience of reality is mentally transformed when under the spell of art or fiction. Indeed, this is the source of the essay’s title, and what I argue Darkness in Deltarune represents. I wanted to illustrate this idea a little more.

In the essay, I quoted J. Huizinga’s Homo Ludens – in that book he's talking about games and play specifically, but one of his most salient observations is that play is undergirded by an impulse to abstract from immediate reality that is shared between many branches of culture, including all aesthetic traditions. Huizinga is not the only theorist who noticed that art (which I define to include games and play) is experienced as a break from ‘immediate’ or quotidian experience. Russian Formalist Viktor Shklovsky posited that art was a transformation of everyday life into its own seperate realm. In his analysis, he put forth an oppositional model between art and what the Formalists called “byt” – an evocative term which could be translated as “life,” but also evokes the way in which life stabilizes into predictable molds.

Within the realm of byt, we experience events causally – and causality, as David Hume famously noted, is at bottom arbitrary. Art, on the other hand, is constructed towards certain ends – it is teleological. In art, essence precedes existence.

In byt, there's material – paper, canvas, film reel, computer code. In art, there are (artistic) devices – stanza, perspective, montage, mechanic.

Byt produces recurring patterns and routines that threaten to turn us into automatons. Art de-familiarizes, jolting us out of the narcotic patterns of everyday experience by presenting us with novelty to reflect on.

Now, you may or may not find this model for understanding art convincing or all-encompassing, but I think it provides a useful idea for understanding Deltarune's metatext.

When we interact with art or fiction, we voluntarily undergo certain illusions. When I read a story, I condition myself to think that I’m reading something that actually happened. When I watch theater, I condition myself to think that the actors are actual people, and the stage is a real environment. When I watch a film, I condition myself to think that the camera doesn’t exist; that it is a window into a different world which is also somehow not of that world. And when I play a (narrative) game, I condition myself to think that I am not interfacing with a program, but a world of its own. Of course, these self-imposed illusions are in no way totalizing. There is always a part of us that remains aware of the artifice. But our experience qua art operates under these illusions – we might say that there is always a part of us experiencing byt too, but this part is marginalized when we’re absorbed in an aesthetic experience.

Some readers might be scratching their heads at what any of this has to do with Deltarune, so I'll make the connection clear: Deltarune itself explicitly formulates Dark and Light – obvious analogues for fiction and reality (or art and byt) – as separate worlds, existing in a similar oppositional balance. Darkness transforms everyday objects – the raw material so to speak – into narrative devices, like characters and settings. In Deltarune there is a dual-reality to everything that comes into contact with Darkness (or the power of art). Might we climb one step up the hierarchy and try to use something akin to this oppositional model to explain the ways in which Deltarune refers to reality from within its fictional domain?

For example, there is the uneasy fact that we are an active force within the narrative, instead of just an invisible spectator. Sidestepping the question of whether the force we’re embodying in the game is supposed to literally be us, the player, at the very least the characters can only understand us in more conceptual terms, as some sort of in-universe deity or anomalous entity. So there’s us – the player – and there’s the Angel – our in-universe embodiment.

So what about the character who contacted us – what about Gaster? In The Magic Circle, I discussed how the information we have about Gaster leads us to think that he exists in some sort of transcendent state as a result of his experiments with Darkness. From that, I extrapolated that Darkness was the fundamental substance underlying Deltarune’s reality (which we can fit into another binary: there’s Darkness, the magical substance that makes up the reality of Deltarune’s world, and there’s what the concept clearly allegorizes: the creative or imaginative capacity of human beings – which is what gave rise to Deltarune, the video game). Gaster’s “transcendent” state trades heavily on video game creepypasta tropes; he’s like a ghost haunting the code of the game. And as it turns out, Deltarune has explicitly made the move to extend its diegesis to its code with the inclusion of a character who seems to be stuck there.

If the code is a part of the diegetic world, we can extrapolate another binary: there’s the code or internal workings of the program, and there’s “the Depths” – a higher (or deeper) metaphysical layer of Deltarune’s world that transcends time and space. Worded differently, the Depths are what we get when the 'eye of the narrative' turns its gaze towards the code of the program.

To close off this section, I want to mention that in Shklovsky’s theories about art and narrative, he makes heavy use of a machine metaphor; he wanted to focus on the ways in which art was a constructed object abiding by its own internal rules. The specific word the Formalists preferred is “device”. In fact, one of Shklovsky’s most well-known essays is titled “Art as Device”. Just something to think about for you Device Theory fans.

Water, Darkness and Chaos as Symbolic Motifs

Water is everywhere in Deltarune. The magical worlds we explore are given form by “fountains” and “geysers”. Onion-san talks of ominous songs under the sea. Ocean.ogg briefly plays after we fall into the supply closet Dark World. And the source image of IMAGE_DEPTH, the background of the GONERMAKER segment, is apparently of an ocean. What gives?

The basic gist is that water has an extremely long and prominent symbolic history in mythology, and figures especially prominently in ancient creation myths. One of the earliest creation myths we have, derived from Enūma Eliš, a Babylonian poem of the 2nd millenium BCE, describes a primordial state consisting of nothing but two deities – Abzu, god of the freshwater ocean, and Tiamat, god of the saltwater sea; from the “comingling of their waters”, all of creation emerges. This is consistent with what we know of ancient near-eastern cosmology in general; they viewed the world as essentially like an air bubble. In the beginning, there was water. Unordered, chaotic, formless. Then, something happens to produce the earth and firmament, both disc-shaped, which separate this cosmic ocean into heavenly waters above the earth (the source of all rain), and lower waters of the deep (the source of all rivers, springs, fountains and geysers).

This cosmological account survives into the Biblical narrative. From Genesis 1:6:

and God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

The ancient near-eastern flood narrative, which likewise is preserved in the Bible as the story of Noah’s ark, is made less arbitrary with this in consideration; its basis is not merely that drowning in a storm is a scary concept (though it certainly is) – the real symbolic threat of the flood is of a return to pre-creation chaos. The gates of heaven opening and all of creation coming undone. From Genesis 7:11:

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.

(Sound familiar?)

The idea of water as underlying all reality cropped up not just in religion and mythology, but also philosophy. Thales of Miletus, credited since Aristotle as the world’s first philosopher, famously believed that all of reality was made up of water. Thales and his philosophical successors are sometimes called material monists for their belief that all of reality was composed of a single ultimate substance – the arche from which everything originates.

Thales’s idea was no doubt influenced by the cosmological picture painted by mythology. Though not identical to the near-eastern accounts, the world of ancient Greek mythology is preceded by a state of primordial Chaos – a vast chasm, abyss, or emptiness. Though we in the present day might be tempted to understand Chaos as something like space, ancient commentators such as Pherecydes of Syros interpreted it as water. It was the fluid, formless and undifferentiated nature of water that made it such an enticing candidate for the pre-creation substance.

Chaos was also associated with darkness. Unambiguously born from Chaos are Erebus and Nyx – deified personifications of Darkness and Night. And this is a point of similarity with the ancient near-eastern accounts. From Genesis 1:1-3:

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

In short, the primordial state across world mythology tends to be that of an infinitely dark, chaotic ocean.

The parallels to Deltarune are obvious, and having tracked the symbolic history which the game is working with can, I think, lend us a better understanding of "Darkness" as it appears in the game. Needless to say, all of what I've discussed supports the thesis I laid out in The Magic Circle: that Darkness is the arche or prima materia of Deltarune, the underlying substance that its reality is made of. Likewise I think we can intuit what “the Depths” are – simply what in the Hebrew Bible is referred to as “the (great) deep”. A mass accretion of formless Darkness which sits below reality itself. Dark Fountains are formed when the fabric of reality is pierced, creating a gap from which Darkness bursts forth. And since Darkness is the “raw material of reality” so to speak, the Darkness forms a new reality within the old one. But too many holes in reality threaten to “burst the air bubble”, so to speak, and flood the world with Darkness.

I created the above diagram a while back, and used it in The Magic Circle - no doubt you'll notice the similarity between this and the earlier diagram of the Biblical cosmology. The funny thing is that this connection wasn't consciously intended at all; I was barely aware of what the Biblical cosmology was like when I made the first version of this image. That makes me feel like I'm on the right track.

I do want to make something clear; the world of Deltarune isn't necessarily a literal Biblical style air bubble, with a disc-earth and dome sky. The air bubble thing is just for the sake of visualization. I think the Depths are more like a different layer of reality, simultaneously "higher" and "deeper". It's not that there's literally a bunch of dark water under the ground; what Kris is really stabbing is, again, the fabric of "phenomenal" reality itself.

Another thing I want to note; these early mentions by Toby of concepts relating to twilight or the meeting of light and dark have long been a topic of discussion in the community. I want to formulate my understanding of what its significance is.

The first thing God does in the Biblical creation story is summon light. Light meeting the darkness is presented as a precondition to any further creation. Likewise, fiction (darkness) can not exist without an observer in reality (light). The meeting of light and dark is a fundamental condition of art; it can't exist without somone to "shed light on it".

It could also well be referring to the Roaring; when the distinctions between light and dark threaten to dissolve, that is when we must travel to the "edge of the shadow" (the outer boundaries of the dream, near where reality is), and "shatter the twilight reverie" (twilight: when only the sun's afterglow remains) (reverie: being lost in a dream).

On Darkner Knowledge

As established earlier, Darkners are teleological beings whose essence precedes their existence. That is to say, they’re created with an inherent purpose. This purpose is what Ralsei and Queen call “the will of the Fountain” – a guiding force determining the nature of the Dark World and its inhabitants, originating in the Fountain’s creator. In my Magic Circle essay, I used this fact to explain the behavior of Darkners, and why certain ones (like King and Queen) know things that they seemingly shouldn’t (like the fact that the Knight exists, and what their title is). On this latter part, however, I didn’t go into too much detail. Here, I want to elaborate on it a little by invoking an argument made by René Descartes in his Meditations on First Philosophy, known as “the trademark argument”.

(Don’t worry, I’m not actually going to get into the weeds of Descartes’ philosophy. It might be fun to talk about how Descartes’ idea of hierarchical degrees of reality, which consist of infinite substances, finite substances and modes, correspond to Deltarune’s Angel, Lightner, and Darkner hierarchy, but I don’t think it would unearth any particularly useful insights.)

The (very simplified) trademark argument goes something like this: God must exist, because I can conceive of God, his features (that he is an infinite and eternal substance), and the fact that he is altogether more real than I am despite me not possessing this degree of reality. The idea can’t have come from me, but it must have come from somewhere – consequently it must be that I have this idea innately as a sort of “trademark” of my creator.

Now, I very much doubt anyone who's reading this finds the above to be convincing evidence for God’s existence. Thankfully, we aren’t setting out to find out whether God exists or not. The God in this scenario – the Knight – is someone we know exists, and how the relevant knowledge is possessed really does require an explanation (unlike in Descartes' argument, where the notion that an explanation is needed for how we can conceive of the idea of God is dubious at best).

Of course, I don’t mean to imply that the trademark hypothesis is the only possible explanation you could offer. Obviously, you could posit that the Knight entered the Dark Worlds and imparted the knowledge personally. But to do this you’d have to deny the Kris Knight hypothesis, marginalize the religious subtext, assert that there’s no meaning to certain patterns between Chapter 2 and 3 (such as the main Darkner bosses being activated before the Fountain Creation), ignore the latent implications in Queen’s dialogue, among other things – and I’m not interested in doing all that. For the moment, the trademark hypothesis seems much safer, not least of all because it explains other mysterious details too.

Consider the fact that Darkners are aware of the battle system, and know how it works. Do we suppose that someone went around telling each and every Darkner the mechanics of the game? Or does it just make intuitive sense that Darkners would be created with certain ideas that are consistent with their purpose?

Granted, there is still some weirdness left over that we’d have to explain. For example, Darkners – most notably Ralsei but others as well – know about the player’s button configurations. We might be tempted to just chalk this up to the necessities of tutorializing, but the game calls attention to this by having Susie ask questions about it. The trademark hypothesis doesn’t explain why Darkners specifically would be stamped with this knowledge while the Lightners are left out.

The best explanation I can come up with is that since the Dark Worlds are created by Kris, and Kris almost certainly has forbidden meta knowledge imparted by Gaster, the Darkners likewise inherit that knowledge since Kris knows that the player will be controlling them when they go to seal the Fountains, and is aware that we will need some level of guidance.

Conclusion

All right, that’s pretty much everything I wanted to get out there before Chapters 3 & 4 release. Thanks for reading! I hope this wasn’t complete babble to anyone who’s not as knee-deep as I am in random literary theory and philosophy.  

[thisisdefinetlyaname]

If Rouxls Kaard were a Cyber world darkner he would be the terms of service

Terms of service agreements are a lot like the rules card in the way that they both try to explain something to the reader but are almost never read

Also ToS agreements are mildly annoying just like him <3

Instead of the weird accent all his text uses the weirdest letter replacements to the point it’s nearly incomprehensible to the average viewer

He saw all the user’s having cool looking names and wanted to be cool too

His name is spelt (T£r^^$ []f $€r\/!e) as an example

If you struggle with reading distorted text you are in for a hell of a ride

Also he randomly gets in your way and forces you to solve a puzzle (just like a captcha or those “I am not a robot” buttons right before agreeing to a ToS)

[torchiiko]

thinking abt cafe reader againnnn im worried if i specify too much ppl will just be like "Ugh just make an oc at that point 🙄🙄" but i dont wannaaaa!!! why cant we play pretend for a little . take the concepts im providing & craft them into smth new. it doesnt have to be You, it can be a self-insert, or an oc of your own. i Want there to be some wiggle room Despite the things im setting in stone. does no one else imagine variations of themselves/their sonas unique to the story theyre reading?? please. play touys with me

[theofthevalley]

Tenna headcannons with a reader who is a lightner with social anxiety or just anxiety in general pls :3

Gender doesn't matter.

“Wired Emotions.”

⇢ ˗ˏˋ Mr. Ant Tenna Headcanon’s with GN Lightner!Reader (Platonic)

⇢ ˗ˏˋ When you somehow made it into the dark world. Your nerves were through the roof. You didn’t know how you made it to this place, where you were, or how to get back home. You were anxious of these creatures you kept seeing all around. They could be dangerous and harm you, or at least that’s what you thought. Even as you wandered through the dark world, trying to find a way back home, you came across a man with a TV for a head.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ Tenna had spotted you as you were technically walking towards his area. He couldn’t help but be enthusiastic as he approached you. He was about to speak up until he realized he had never seen you before. You're not like any darkner that lives nearby. So he made the assumption you were like Kris! And it was a brilliant assumption that he made because he was right once he started talking to you.

“Oo, are you alright!? You look prettyyyy lost.”

“Oh, um…yes…I’m lost?”

The silence was deafening, your response to him was meek, and he just kind of stood there waiting for you to say more, but he soon realized you weren’t going to say anything unless he asked you. If anything, he noticed that you were quite nervous speaking to him. Maybe it’s because of his large height, but he then spoke in a softer, comforting tone.

“If you want, you could come inside, and we can figure out how to get you home.”

You nod your head at him and hesitantly follow him. He could be trying to trick you after all. But he’s slightly changed his attitude about not trying to kidnap people after Kris and their friends. You entered the place, and it was so lively and busy, and then he took you into the green room, where you sat down on the couch.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ After a while of some awkward and painful silence between short conversations you had with him he was able to determine that you weren’t from this world and that it would be best if you just stayed a while until Kris came back into the dark world so they could help you go back to the light world. He explained what the dark world was and everything which left you a bit confused and concerned.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ It took a few days for Kris to come and visit Tenna, but once they did, he introduced you to Kris, but of course, Kris knew you from the light world and was concerned as to why you were here, of all places. You had a whole talk on how it happens and stuff. They were able to get you back home after a while, but you soon realized you ended up in the place more often than not. Naturally, you would go to the only place you knew of, which was with Tenna.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ He would soon come to realize you didn’t like forced interactions or people coming up to you suddenly to talk. And that you actually found it very hard to talk to other people. Tenna was one of the first people you told about your social anxiety. How you didn’t like it when people talked about you or when everyone’s attention was on you in a group gathering, or anything similar to that.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ At first, he didn’t really understand why you didn’t want people to notice you or have their attention on you. Why didn’t you like talking to people? He was the complete opposite of you. It took him some time to understand why you felt that way, but once he was able to understand, he made sure not to make you uncomfortable at all. He’s always making sure that people aren’t pushing you to talk. Tenna ends up being very comforting and a bit protective of you!

“Y/N, are they messing with you? Just say the world and I’ll kick 'em out!”

He pointed at himself and smiled at you with care as he eyed certain people who were talking to you a few seconds ago, right before he arrived. No one was going to make his best bud upset! Not on his watch at least. Surprisingly enough, people respected him. Overall, Tenna is a sweetheart when it comes to your anxiety, and he definitely doesn’t force you to do things you don’t like. If anything, he tries to help you with your anxiety!

⇢ ˗ˏˋ Advertisement: Hey you! Yeah you, the person who read this whole thing, do you like Tenna? Well this blog is THE place for Tenna fanfiction. Check my bio if I have requests open and my rules. I HAVE MY ASKS OPEN JUST FOR HIM RAHHH!!

A/N: I rlly hope you liked this, Anon! I took some creative liberty and made a little scenario for this. Woahh!!!

Word Count: 751 words