#thoughts and speculation

[kellykadesperate]

no but you know why the whole affair 2.0 has legs? it would absolutely make john derail entirely. imagine they get married and john is so smug about it because it 'proves' that aaron loves him like no one ever has before. and then aaron and robert start sleeping together and aaron keeps saying it's a mistake. but john finds out and loses it completely because what/who he was trying to protect (aaron) is just like the rest etc. and 'protecting' him is pointless. i actually can see it being a catalyst for everything coming undone for john

[spiegelgestalt]

Who the fuck is that narrator???

Soooo after playing a bit more i think i'm starting to get a grasp who the princess is - she is a reflection of me. She will always react according to my actions (and grow some more personality in the meantime) But who is the narrator - he sometimes has power over us (especially in the first chapter) and sometimes not. He clearly can't be trusted. Is he one or many?? He loses power the more power the princess gets...and he seems to be disgusted almost jealous whenever our realationship to the princess gets better. SOOO who is he? Is he our self preservation? Our pride? Why isn't he able to see the mirror (something i believe he isn't lying about)

At one time he let slip that we were MADE to slay the princess - so what are we? Are we a clone? What is this world which is completly under his control? Will I ever get answers. I fucked around a little bit but havent found any satisfying answers yet... So my question is - what can i do to really piss him of so he makes a mistake and reveals to much. I will ponder this.

[tawnysoup]

Finally now that the comic is fully public on comicfury, I get to share it with all of you here, too <3

If you enjoyed, please consider supporting by buying a PDF of the comic on itch.io: https://tawnysoup.itch.io/home-in-the-woods

[twilightofthesandwiches]

The interesting thing is…. from the glimpses of SOUL-less Kris we saw in Chapter 1 + 2, it was notable how…. strangely they seemed to move. We saw them walking with a sort of zombie-like gait that maybe implied they weren’t in full control of their body still, or maybe just that they were in immense pain.

It led to a lot of people speculating that Kris does need a SOUL to some level. Maybe the SOUL is Kris’ but we’re a foreign entity that has taken it over, or that Kris’ original actual SOUL has been removed and replaced with us. If Kris needed the SOUL to live, that would explain their slow, deliberate movements and also why they keep putting us back inside despite clearly hating being under our control.

So now, with Chapter 4 giving us a much better glimpse of SOUL-less Kris doing stuff… it’s notable that they seem… fully capable of moving ‘normally’. Angrily, but normally.

Even when they do the whole Creepy Zombie Walk thing they are notably faster than they seemed to be in Chapters 1 + 2

They can do things that require fine motor skills, focus and swiftness like playing the piano, handling glasses, and beating the shit out of us with a hockey stick and it's all animated as smoothly as most other Deltarune Animations. Not really implying effort or stiffness the way that original Creepy Zombie Walk animation did.

And while Susie only gets a brief moment to interact with SOUL-less Kris in the Normal Route

Noelle has prolonged interactions with them in the Weird Route (both on-screen in Chapter 4 and off-screen in-between Chapters 2 and 3) and... while she does note that they sounded 'weak and shaky' and obviously their behavior seems weird on account of the whole 'traumatized by the Unkillable Evil Time-Demon only they can see" thing

... There's nothing to really indicate that there's anything outright unnatural or 'zombie-like' about the way Kris moves and interacts with her while SOUL-less. Since this is the Weird Route, Noelle even note this is the most natural and Kris-like they've acted in the last few days.... until we take over again.

And now we know they can go without the SOUL for a fairly prolonged period of time. The Ominous Phone Voice of Probably Carol does tells them they need the SOUL, it seems unclear why.

So… what that means for SOUL-less Kris’ behavior before? It’s possible that even if Kris can operate without a SOUL, it still hurts like hell. So right after tearing out the SOUL they are in Maximum Pain and it's hard to ignore, causing them to move in a struggling and slow manner. But the more they go without it, they kinda get used to it and the pain fades into the background - allowing them to do stuff more-or-less normally.

(Basically Kris has Chronic Pain but the only Painkiller that works for them is Demonic Possession)

…Or, knowing Kris, maybe this… was all an act. They were only behaving like This because they knew we were watching. It is pretty notable that they walk around normally in the Holidays' Kitchen while we're eavesdropping on them and only swap to the Creepy Walk Animation once they notice us....

Maybe this is an act, either to make us underestimate the things Kris could do SOUL-less… or because they’re a little teen Edgelord so they just enjoy playing up the whole Soulless Zombie thing when they have a chance.

[zeropro]

since they’re on Earth, do the Transformers celebrate pride? Do they even know what LGBTQIA means?

Happy Pride :>

[egophiliac]

Final manifestations for Book 7?

I'm trying REALLY hard not to build up any solid expectations, because I wanna go in ~fresh~! they're already so far away from anything I thought would happen (not in a bad way, I'm just accepting that I'm on Miss Yana's Wild Ride at this point and we're seeing this thing through 'til the end, by gum). so it's nothing too major, but:

they've been handing new crying expressions out like candy lately, I want to see some delicious Malleus tears.

honestly I want everyone to cry buckets. their tears sustain me. the more Silver angst specifically I get the happier I am.

SILVER!!!! 👏 VANROUGE!!!! 👏

just let him have this. the poor boy's been through so much. let him have his big "I'm proud of you, son" moment with Lilia.

I'm 100% expecting Grim's arc (and probably whatever's going on with Crowley) to be its own episode, but a nice hook to leave us hanging on would be good!

a nice hook though, please, I don't think I can take another "Grim is attacking us! now wait eight months to find out what happens :)" cliffhanger...

some Meleanor? as a treat? just a little bit, a tiny quick flashback or something, please Twst I just, I just want to see her again. let her have a little ghost cameo like Dawnathan Knight got. Lilia and his kids are all having their big group hug or whatever and she can gently fade in to be all like

(turning asks off until I'm done playing, SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE Y'ALL)

[crustaceousfaggot]

Was anyone gonna tell me that there's a Creature in The Terror. I thought it was just about 20 men named John sucking and fucking and eating each other in the Arctic.

[taraxippos]

I think people tend to assume that any criticism of worldbuilding is ultimately a demand for a story to grind itself to a halt and give the reader 20 paragraphs of exposition, and like. Most of the time good-faith criticism of this nature is coming from a core aspect of the story not being grounded in the setting in a way that outright detracts from the story's quality. You fix it not by Explaining but by Showing it passively in the makeup of the world.

Like the last instance I saw this critique in was like 'you can't expect an author to stop and exposit the nuances of gender roles/Queerness in a fictional society' and it's like yeah I don't, and in fact this is actually one of the easiest things to show in the text without exposition. If a society has gender norms to begin with you'll see aspects of these norms baked into EVERYTHING. You'll see it in its stories, its religion, its taboos, its etiquette, its clothing, its family structures, its language, its insults, its labor, its leadership, etc. It will have massive impacts on how characters interact with one another and how they perceive themselves. It will help Shape your characters.

If you do this legwork to begin with for the core facets of your story, you will find very natural places for these concepts to be demonstrated without derailing the plot and with little to no exposition. THAT sort of thing is what's being asked of you.

[patchwork-crow-writes]

I'm thinking about the Fun Gang's "special talents", and how they're not really all that special anymore.

Kris was the only party member who could ACT, or direct their teammates to act - through that, they were the ones who set the tempo of battle, they alone were the ones who could placate enemies and allow them to be spared.

Ralsei was the only party member who could heal, and had an alternate way to spare enemies using Pacify. Though he is the weakest of the group, his powers are instrumental in keeping the team healthy, and he alone is the only one who can peacefully put an end to Jevil's rampage in chapter 1.

Susie is the best party member at FIGHTing - she hits like a truck, and her Rude Buster is as versatile as it is powerful. She alone carries the team where FIGHTing is the most optimal course of action, putting foes like King in their place in record time, and she alone is the best at shattering Queen's Acid Barrier in her fight.

Now, each individual member of the party can ACT, though not to the extent that Kris can. Susie is learning to heal, though not to the extent that Ralsei can. And soon, I feel that Ralsei will be able to turn his prodigious magical talent towards inflicting big damage on foes, though perhaps not to the extent that Susie can.

Deltarune is about the roles we are forced into and that define us, and learning that we can break out of them and become our own people. But those roles are just as much security blankets as they are prisons - there is comfort in knowing that you can be relied upon for a special talent you possess - something that no-one else can do, something that you alone are valued for. And moving away from that can be scary. It can feel like you don't matter. After all, if everyone else can do what you do, even if they can't quite do it as well as you... then what can you meaningfully do for your friends, for the people who are counting on you?

...do they even need you anymore...?

[linkedin-offficial]

me when i get the opportunity to think about speculative biology and non-existent game mechanics in media i like

⠀

[firefightersgobrrr]

I really really hope this time next year we’re all like “wow I sure am glad they didn’t rush buddie canon at the very end of season 8, and they actually gave Eddie a real arc about it and we got to see buck deny his feelings even though Eddie is no longer straight which all led up to a mutual Feelings Realization and Mutual Pining from both of them and we really got to do a will they/wont they. remember how mad we were haha. good times”

[universescreaming]

Something about even when Tommy is taking care of Buck there being this distance between them, Tommy is on the couch and turning off the lights while Buck is still trying to talk, Tommy is in the foreground of Buck having another “who are you without your family” moment in a graveyard, Tommy in the hospital, wearing a visitor badge, close but never touching, there but never there.

Something about Tommy being all over this episode and still barely there at all. He is in Buck- Evan’s- life but he’s not in it, he’s on the outside, always behind this invisible fence

Something about “Buck. The people who know me, call me Buck”

Something about Buck telling Tommy- his BOYFRIEND- Tommy all about this curse and this story, but it’s Eddie who has to explain the holes in the story Buck doesn’t know he’s leaving

Something about Tommy being in the room with him when he wakes up with boils but Eddie is the one who checks him out and makes sure he’s okay

Something about Buck being the one we’re shown to get Hens text about Denny, signally everyone else in that room, that family, who got that text except for Tommy, Tommy having to ask what had happened, having to be explained that everything was going to be okay

He is there but he is not, he’s in the room but he’s not apart of it

Something about only dreaming about finding a love like that, something about “you don’t find it son, you make it”

Something about Buck constantly trying to make it work with people, trying to force it to work with people because that what he thinks he meant, because love is work right? It’s something you make work

Something about him always misunderstanding the assignment

Something about the last time Buck was in a graveyard he was shoulder to shoulder with Eddie, talking about how a girl he just met sees him, all the while leaning on Eddie in the aftermath of his death he has accepted but never understood

Something about him telling Tommy that the night they met being the most fun he’s had since dying, something about how he connects Tommy and Natalia to an event neither where there for, as two people who can never understand the horror of those 3 minutes and 17 seconds

Something about Buck throwing himself into danger and adrenaline time after time and chasing relationships that feel like that because that’s love right? Something that feels like being struck by lightening and surviving and non of the side effects

Something about Buck not being able to sleep after his death until he sits on Eddie’s couch, Eddie is the person he comes too for when he’s restless, for the calm after the storm

Something about “it’s about how she makes me feel” “like you’re flying high” “like I’m standing on solid ground”

Something about Tommy being jealous of the 118 and the family they’ve built because he’s not apart of it, and a part of him knows he never will be

Because the roles have all been filled and the family has already been made and he is trying to build something with Buck- Evan- thats already been built

[goat-slop-art]

cup headed gubby

[twilightofthesandwiches]

Hmmm… The Girl using a Sword rather an Axe seems like a smoking gun (smoking blade?) that she just can’t be Susie, but… I’ve been thinking about the Symbolism of most of the Swords in the Dark World being Writing implements…

A symbolism the game itself just pointed out.

There’s a potentially fun play here with swords already being the Weapon associated with an RPG’s main protagonists/player characters, and also the symbolism of holding a pencil/pen to show you’re the person with the agency to change the story and master your own fate. So it’s like equating being the “Main Hero” to being able to ‘write your own stories”.

Kris, the actual person holding the ‘Sword’ right now and presented on the surface as the ‘Main Character’ actually has a lot of problems with actual narrative agency. Some obvious (like our possession of them), some less so (being the only ‘Dark Hero’ who always ‘carries out fate’ and never 'faces' it.)

Susie is obviously the one most likely to resist the path laid out before her…

So I’m thinking about the concept of Susie deliberately picking up a Pencil/Sword to make herself the Girl from the Prophecy.

Like, she’ll literally declare her intention to re-write the story by arming herself with a ‘Writing Weapon’ while also deliberately writing herself into the Story with the same action. Making herself into the ‘Chosen One’ instead of accepting the ‘fact’ that she was not supposed to be chosen.

… Of course, that would have to be one hell of a Sword, cause it will also need to satisfy Susie’s aesthetic desire for Big Badass Weapons. Like, the literal reason she doesn’t use Swords right now is that she thinks Kris’ are too puny.

But… maybe she figures out how to craft her own Big-Ass Sword (befitting her status as a kinda-student of Gerson, who was also a Blacksmith) or figures out the mechanics of the Dark World enough to go inside with a Giant Novelty Pencil or something?

[cryptic-underground]

He Used To Be so Bright, Then Life Stole It.

If you squint, you'll see something that alludes to the fic I'm writing. (Which finally has a name, it's: "Ring Around the Pine Tree." Might change it when I ended up posting it, but this is the name I like for now).

I thought of this idea late yesterday night whilst procrastinating writing said fic(still writing Chapter 2, smh(it's like 5k words so far compared to other chapters mere 1k combined)). And I kept thinking about a certain sentence I wrote, then I spiraled. Drew all the sketches the same night, did all the line art upon waking up, and then spent like 4-5 hours colouring and shading them all in ONE SITTING. Without moving from where I was sitting the whole time. I almost postponed the last one for tomorrow because I really wasn't feeling colouring Ford, but then the dark part of my brain was like "what it's just one more and then you're done the whole thing! Then you can do other stuff tomorrow without having one more unfinished drawing sitting around."

So I blacked out, and he was done. The frustrating part was saving all the pngs because I'm insane and did this all on one canva, meaning I kept forgetting to both turn on certain layers as well as turn others off. (I had to resave certain ones multiple times, it was a NIGHTMARE).

The full images because I worked too hard on them for them to be seen for just a second:

[gyrmirr]

can i tell you that i'm empty?