sweatertheman

[sweatertheman]

Buddy posted this on discord, an apparent lengthy post about the “cis vs trans ralsei debate”. This was in the preview, about 2 paragraphs in, and it was my indicator that this was going to be a waste of time. It’s also an excellent example of why I hate the ubiquity of the word “queer”. Ralsei has shown ZERO— literally NIL— indication of being homosexual or bisexual, and I say this as someone who likes to headcanon him as bi. Hell, for the sake of fairness, I won’t even be counting Susie here. He has shown attraction toward no one.

“Ah-ah! But he blushes when kris—“ Male as default for kris, argument lost. If you read kris as AFAB, this would in fact be indication that he’s OMEGA STRAIGHT.

OP says this simply because Ralsei is “feminine”. Because he is not a macho man and takes on subservient traits instead this makes him “queer”, aka weird, or deviant. Of course. I mean, how could it be normal for a guy to know how to sing lullabies and cook and keep house? No no no. Only the Weirdos act like women. In fact, this is an indicator that you’re actually a woman inside. (Not a conservative btw)

It is the polar opposite to the normalisation and acceptance of gender nonconformity. There are many reasons I am weird/queer/not normal, honestly, I’m well aware I am not a normie woman. Being bisexual and gnc are Not part of them. Because same sex attraction is normal and completely natural. Because the way you dress and the length of your hair are aesthetic signifiers that in a deserted island situation where there are no people, have absolutely no meaning.

If you are already starting your post about the “cis vs trans ralsei debate” on the position that being subservient, cooking a mean cake, and making tea are inherently weird and deviant traits for a male character (and I use those words because they are in effect what “queer” means, just, by the dictionary. Why it was used as a slur. I think this is perfectly normal shit for a guy to do, because I’m better than this) You already lost. You already showed your entire conservative ass. Only a gay guy would like to sew after all! (Not a homophobe by the way… HA)

All of this evidence of “queerness” is in fact explicitly explained by the narrative by how Ralsei sees himself as a slave, tool, and sacrifice. He admits he has no hobbies and his room was empty because he felt he didn’t even deserve one! Now THAT is interesting commentary on the social role of women—How women were expected, and raised, to be servants and baby making machines essentially, and how despair inducing it was— by putting a male character in that role. Of course, OP probably doesn’t care about that. From this sentence alone— From going man acting “feminine”=homosexual=weirdo, abnormal I know exactly what type of person this is.

So thank you to op for in one sentence explaining why transei sucks ass: because you are in effect pathologising a male behaving in culturally constructed “feminine” ways, using that and only that as evidence that he’s a homosexual OR saying that it is equivalent to same sex attraction because both are Weird/Deviant, and then going a step further and saying that yes, women are made to be domestic servants, and Ralsei taking on these behaviours is evidence of his *woman identity*

Who said it, a racist MAGA fuck in rural Alabama, or a tumblrina?

[sweatertheman]

decided to recreate the hug from chapter 4 in my style

[sweatertheman]

But also- and i must say this even though it’s gonna sound slightly petty- what’s with the asks going “Well I like male kris and—“ you are 90% of people who like kris dreemurr. Why do you bring this to me. Why do you feel the need to justify it, too. There are countless other people who will talk to you at length about m!kris. It’s fine. It’s just not my lean for a plethora of reasons.

Do you see what I mean about the attitudes when it comes to either sex and Kris despite addressing them with their non binary gender ID? This is meant to be theeee afab kris yuri kriselle/krusie place—Yet anons bring it forth like I think less of them or judge them for their m!kris lean? And I feel like if it were the other way around there would be these disclaimers like “b-but it’s fine if you like amab kris too!”

Just. Yeah. You can like it. That makes Noelle bisexual, for one, for two, what is the need to like, advocate for it here. Do you think I think less of you for this? I don’t. You don’t need to explain yourself to me, seriously. You will find heaps of fanfic and art that focuses on your preference. Can we not talk about yuri kriselle, the thing i like, on my blog, even if our preferences differ?

[sweatertheman]

-S

9. Do you think any of the main party aren’t supposed to be there. Like not in the prophecy originally or not the indented role. 8. Where do you think Noelle places into the prophecy, if at all.

questions done

No. The prophecy is so central to both the narrative and the theme of recursion that I don’t doubt that the cast was placed where they are by either Gaster/the game master or a bigger force. After all, all of the allegorical reinterpretations of it allude to the three of them pretty clearly, even suggesting Ralsei’s FACE and the same archetypes repeat in all that we know, LOTH and Dragon Blazers and the Hometown religion.

As for Noelle, oh boy I’d have to have papy proofread me an entire separate post for this but Noelle is MOST CERTAINLY the angel. Angel imagery is constantly brought forth with her. We have her DW robe that resembles the white tunics of Christmas angel art. We have the snow angels. Her DW robes when she’s hung cross like on Giga Queen’s hand make a snow angel-like silhouette. SNOWgrave— The angel uses snow— The Snow Angel. Several NPCs call her Angel. She speaks to Susie of wanting to grow Angel wings and fly. She and Dess made the angel doll. She played the Angel on a school play about the prophecy and has the wings in her closet. The Thorn ring and the hanging on Queen’s hand evoke Jesus Christ, and if you try to parallel the Hometown religion to the world religion the Angel is framed as this sacrificial protection figure, most definitely closest paralleling Jesus. and it continues this idea of the Holiday women as an antagonistic trifecta. The imagery is not in isolation, but interconnected; Christmas and religion, Jesus, snow and ice, all of this general winter holidays imagery which is ubiquitously filled with angels.

Interestingly, The purpose of the heroes is to “banish the Angel’s heaven”, (Paradise in Japanese) And Noelle has both the strongest escapist inclinations of the entire cast and the most reasons to want to create dark worlds to heal her dad and flee her problems and being herself (she’s so complicated)… And Kris’ horns headband is confirmed by chapter 3 to look like little devil horns, positing Kris and Noelle as opposites, and Kris is the Human hero/The Cage and is presented as a central figure in banishing the Angel’s heaven, so I certainly am looking forward to see where that is going!

Another interesting note is that when we are hiding from Noelle and Susie we do it inside an angel doll. So, I wonder if that means the player will influence Noelle.

My take is that Noelle looks like she’s about to snap, and is associated so closely with the Angel, and she latches onto her crush for Susie as an almost desperate anchor of hope, and there is this whole thing with jealousy and pink and gold implied for chapter 5– I think Noelle is gonna show an ugly, unstable side latching onto Susie super hard because she interprets the Festival invitation as romantic and if/when Susie keeps focusing on Kris/Ralsei, it’s gonna escalate tension until she gets explicitly rejected or there is some other confrontation (Some people won’t get it until you scream “NO!”, as Susie says). This last desperate anchor taken from her, she’s basically gonna snap and wish to escape into her dream so desperately that she’s gonna Angel out.

In Snowgrave we accelerate all of these events, so she’s probably gonna start the chapter already brought to the brink by the player’s actions.

There is also an unused prophecy hologram about snow falling from the sky, and an unused ShadowCrystal flavour text of Undyne being completely encased in ice… So make of those what you shall. Certainly hints at Noelle going crazy enough to cause chaos in the LW.

There’s also the fact that Kris doesn’t want to look at the Angel hologram and Susie is put off by it- I think they can recognise attributes of Noelle in it and don’t want to think about it really hard.

So yes. Noelle’s the angel.

[sweatertheman]

Quick question! Has anyone else had their copy of Cat Petterz 2 glitch out after inputting a custom mod? Just me...? XD

[sweatertheman]

See, I think of it like this.

Ralsei hates the Prophecy. He hates knowing everything that's going to happen. He hates having to watch bad things happen and not being able to stop them. But, this is the only life he's ever known. *Not* knowing what happens next is its own nightmare. What if something bad happens that he could never have seen coming? How does he know what he needs to do? How can he protect the people he cares about *without* the Prophecy?

He says himself, both during Chapter 3 and a Chapter 4 Weird Route, that not knowing scares him.

"I feel kind of... glad we're going back. ... I just didn't know... what was over there. It could have been... trouble..."

"...but what would that even be? How do we know it wouldn't be something worse?"

Essentially, as is the case with many things Ralsei, he's caught in an unbearable contradiction. If he continues to follow the Prophecy, something unimaginably horrible *will* happen. But if he tries to take drastic action to defy the Prophecy, he risks inviting untold dangers, ones he has no assurance he'll be able to stop. So he tries to walk the middle road, following the Prophecy in all the big moments, but trying to defy it in small, petty ways, ways he distantly hopes will be able to change something.

It's not that trying to be the Prince from the Prophecy is his issue, (though it is part of it,) but moreso that he's too afraid to break away from the Prophecy in a way that matters. Because despite the horrible end, this old story does promise one thing, and that's safety. As long as he does what it says he knows what comes next. He knows that whatever danger they encounter will be resolved somehow. He knows that he can protect Kris and Susie for a little longer. But the unavoidable pain is coming and it's driving him crazy. The only thing Ralsei truly wants deep in his heart is for the people he loves not to suffer. He'll do whatever he has to to just keep them safe. Just to make sure they don't have to hurt.

The Prophecy and his identity stuff intertwine in that the Prophecy prescribes to Ralsei his lack of worth. It is likely the source of his worldview, and it treats him as disposable, not even bothering to give him a face. And Ralsei accepts it, not because he is loyal to the Prophecy above all else, but because it makes his own hurt easier to bear. Being alone, suffering in silence, being a punching bag for others' amusement, it hurts him, but if he can just pretend that his feelings aren't real and that this is the only way things ever could be for him, it won't hurt as much. And when something bad inevitably happens to him, it won't hurt Kris and Susie as much either, if he can just convince them not to care about him.

It's all a big mess of complicated and all-consuming emotions he's never been able to process, because his focus has always been on staying functional, staying useful, staying Good. He hates the Prophecy, but he can't live without it. He has to keep going with it or else something bad might happen but if he keeps going something awful *will* happen, and all he can do is smile and push the thought back and hold out hope that maybe if he acts out of line in some small, pointless way, it will be okay. And failing that, maybe he can try and convince himself that it doesn't matter. His fear, his longing, his pain, they threaten to burst out, but he can't look them in the eye. Those feelings aren't real, they don't mean anything, he isn't real, they don't matter, whatever it takes to keep it all inside, because if he lets himself feel it, if the mask cracks, he'll fall apart. And how can a broken, sad little *thing* possibly protect them? How can it ease their pain?

This is a bit disorganized, but Ralsei makes me crazy, so.

Every time someone says Ralsei is easily influenced or subservient to the prophecy, I pound sand. It's so demonstrably not true at multiple points in the game, and he tries everything in his power to break the prophecy or defy it.

Let's take notes.

Ralsei has been trying to break the prophecy since the start of the game. At the grand doors, he even mentions the prophecy and how he believes despite how their journey is foretold, he thinks your choices matter. He then asks you to be kind or you may find the result unfavorable. This doesn't seem like someone who wants the prophecy to happen to me, and he literally says he hoped that the prophecy would change if they were just kind enough in ch4.

From the beginning, Ralsei casts aside prophecy roles near instantly. We see him in the cloak at the start when recounting the prophecy, but the moment Susie tells him to take the cloak off, he does so without hesitation. He doesn't put it back on when she leaves. He then proceeds to take his hat off, making him even less indistinct on his own. Doesn't seem like he cares about his prophecy depiction all that much!

Ralsei seems fully ready to shatter prophecy panels when trying to stay ahead of everyone else, and is INCREDIBLY uncomfortable whenever talking about it. This is to hide the ending, but he also seems to want to delay it being found out as much as possible regardless of "desecrating" it.

Ralsei is depicted as using fire magic in the prophecy, insinuating that this is his base-state. Many fans have been led to the neat headcanon that he will learn fire magic to "stand up for himself" later in ch5. However, we see in his Light Up act that... he's actually already really good at fire magic. He just doesn't use it. My personal theory is that Ralsei has always known fire magic, but learned Heal Prayer and Pacify, two spells that are kind and promote kindness, in order to defy that role in the prophecy. I actually think he'd ironically be leaning MORE into the prophecy if he "learned fire magic" instead of breaking out of a "role".

Even when he says "our fate is already decided", he is saying that because he is giving up hope. He THEN proceeds to say Susie's hope is infectious if you're kind to him, and then that as long as she has hope, they should all believe too. He hasn't given up yet.

"But Ralsei CLEARLY has issues with identity and stepping out of it!"

Of course he does!

His identity as a Darkner is the driving force in this, NOT his role in the prophecy.

Think to every single time we see Ralsei struggling with identity. It's always his role as a Darkner that is the driving force. He believes he is something to be chewed up and left behind when the Lightners get tired of him, and you can see this happen multiple times.

He doesn't know what being Ralsei-like is, and despite being happy that you say you're happy that he's him, he doesn't quite know what that means yet. He also doesn't know if he should be Ralsei-like

In the TV World, he outright spells it out. He's a Darkner. He believes he's an illusion, someone who shouldn't have opinions. He believes he is someone who will eventually be thrown away. He can bring happiness for a short while, but when his time is up, he will be discarded and the Lightners shouldn't worry about him.

Despite all of this, he does like his face! Ralsei just feels like there's a time limit to how long he will keep being something.

Ralsei tries to convince Tenna that he has to take being thrown away, that it's just a natural thing. Lightners eventually get bored of them. There's a time where Darkners being joy into the Lightners lives, but they eventually move on. Ralsei is saying things he personally believes about himself. This is where is struggle with identity is.

It's so severe that he doesn't even have his own room. He admits in the room that he doesn't know if he should be having likes, dislikes, opinions, or fears. When you tell him to be himself, you can see him wrestle with that. He does value Kris/Susie/Your input on the matter (though this is also kinda bad because he is tying his self-worth to the opinions of others which defeats the purpose, but progress is progress)

This idea of him being a Darkner and being something to be used up leads him to making choices that hurt himself over others getting hurt. He doesn't say things because it doesn't matter if he gets hurt. He keeps secrets because those secrets hurt, and he wants to hurt because he's not important. He says that as long as he's there, he'll take the blows in everyone's place. He thinks he's expendable because of his fate as a Darkner.

Ralsei gets constantly downplayed, and his Darkner identity issues are always conflated with the prophecy stuff, and it makes having discussions about him REALLY hard. I think people are trapped in the ch2 fanbase era where the theorizing was all about how Ralsei is 100% team prophecy and wants it to occur. Nope! This little guy has been a prophecy breaker since we met him, and he's not stopping any time soon as long as Susie has something to say about it!

Whether or not he realizes his own personhood rather than being expendable though, that's another thing. He breaks the prophecy because he doesn't want his friends to suffer. The moment that's done though? He still wants them to leave him behind, because he thinks his only end is to be discarded.

[sweatertheman]

New lulu skin before my arm shat the bed because she’s super cool and I love that they chose The Fool for her <3

[sweatertheman]

lmao have fun reblogging your support of your retarded ass comic from someone whos irregardless of any fandom discourse a terf as you can see by browsing its blog

[sweatertheman]

Originally this was going to be a reblog, but I'll make it my own post because I feel like the people at @/meanandfluffy just want to have fun and do something inoffensive and in my defense of them I may bring even more negative attention, which they probably don't want/need (aka, I know I'm throwing hands here). But I have to bring attention to this stock compilation of shibboleths because it so perfectly mirrors both the shit I've been sent and the attitudes I criticise so let's go.

It's incredible how any scrutiny of the gender stereotyping in transgendered headcanons is immediately accused of being "TERFy", despite nothing anywhere near adjacent to radical feminism even being tangentially present in the post. A single post saying that a feminine man =/= a tfem immediately warrants a nuclear fucking meltdown. Isn't it funny how this is said by the same crowd who constantly tries to argue that clothes don't have gender and anything can be anything? Except a feminine boy being just a boy, fuck that, TERF. Ridiculous.

Immediately the cultspeak kicks in asking you to maybe unpack and educate yourself, when the actual intent is not to unpack or learn anything- if you were to question, you'd actually take into account the arguments here about gender stereotyping and autonomy which are all absolutely correct, what this functionally means is shut up, listen to me, and polish the knob of my dumbass fucking headcanon that has zero endorsement from the narrative because I matter more than you.

Then we begin seeing all the expected buzzwords, homophobia for saying adherence to gender roles doesn't determine sexual orientation (bisexual erasure btw), transphobia because you don't want to bend over and suck my dick with my stupid sexist hc, "general confusion" because surely since you disagree with me this must mean you're ignorant and have yet to See The Light, "seek therapy!" nonsense, because of course only a mentally ill unsound person could ever tear down the idea that cooking and dresses = girl, "famously queer cast" to give yourself authority and the appeal to emotion that the fictional characters somehow have the same agency as real people. Like, we have literally seen all of this before hundreds of times across several blogs. OVER A SINGLE POST by the way.

And of course we bring in nazism for extra spice, despite this having nothing to do with national socialism, racial purity, or systematic genocide of non-aryan people.

This is then followed by bland "straight bad" because how dare you make a silly ass blog for a hetero ship. The usual REPRESENTATION GOOD! nonsense, we don't hurt anyone nonsense- while sending an inflammatory, accusatory ask, which sure fucking reads as setting out to hurt a rando on the internet. Putting "gnc rep" in several sarcastic quotations, leaving it extremely clear that gnc people do not matter, that we are secondary to the holy transgender class, that our struggles are irrelevant in comparison and that we better stay silent. And of course, anon is a suselloid using the ferris wheel ride as unquestionable evidence of their superior observational skills and intelligence, the cherry on the cake, something apolitical but that shows the intersection between fandom and wokie pseudoreligious bullshit; Of course someone who will call a random blog a nazi transphobe over a joke that, by the way, LINES UP WITH THE THEMATIC THRULINE OF THE GAME is obsessed with the bland, predictable "im girl i like girl" nonsense and sees it as enough justification to attack another person and call them bigoted and illiterate.

And finally of course "im non biney!" as if that automatically makes you correct and immune to criticism, something indistinguishable from "jesus told me"

0 for effort. Literal NPC.

[sweatertheman]

yknow you can disagree with the transfem ralsei theory without coming across incredibly TERF-y about it and acting like youre some authority on the matter when in reality you're doing the exact opposite of what toby was calling for in chapter 4: fan interpretation. maybe unpack your transphobia/homophobia/seemingly general confusion about what gender is in general with a therapist instead of projecting onto a famously queer cast. just because you poke fun at your "hetero-ass ship" doesnt suddenly make you immune to at least coming across as a dime a dozen tumblr nazi, or at the VERY least someone whos taking headcanons and fanon way too personally for no reason

tl;dr -- get a grip, theoretical transfem rep isnt gonna hurt anyone, regardless of how much youre fooling yourself into thinking """gnc rep""" matters more - a nonbinary person who simultaneously values susie's gnc nature and also didnt play through the ferris wheel scene in chapter 2 with my fucking eyes closed .

You can depict them any way you want. We don't own the characters. We just thought it would be funny if Ralsei exploded in a hysterical, angry rant because it's something you'd expect Susie to do instead.

[sweatertheman]

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[sweatertheman]

He reminds me of a certain green dorito

[sweatertheman]

Things said between the lines, or: The start of Chapter 3 makes me crazy

@mobiusmatrix apologies for answering your ask this way, rather than directly- I wanted to make an independent post about this specific tidbit and your ask was the perfect motivation to finally ramble at lenght about it. As with the susie noelle exchanges, went back on youtube to refresh the memory of it. When I started playing and this was how the chapter opened my heart was genuinely thumping, I couldn't believe what I was seeing was real. I had tempered my expectations on Ralsusie both due to the "sparse" evidence and the influence of other fans downplaying it frequently, and it drove me NUTS let's begin

I mean, it kinda comes from Moment One-- Something that I'd noticed that was one of those very simple, subtle things that continue to stand... Seeing Ralsei makes Susie so happy. Look at that big, dumb smile

Of course, Ral is all business, as usual. He's hyper concerned with the state of the Fountain. For now let's ignore the as of yet unanswered canonically question of how he moves between dark worlds and appeared in Kris' house to prioritise character interaction.

What I love is that Susie is just... so excited to tell him about her day. She's just happy to see him.

She scoots closer, to talk to him more personally... and immediately just starts talking to him as a friend.

And despite Ral clearly being probably concerned, head still on the business, nonetheless he takes his time to feel joy for her :)

Even then of course, they've got business to tend to so he's the one to re-route the group to advance toward the Fountain-- But he still makes the concession that he wants to hear all about it later, so the door is still open for them to just, hang out. So then, we progress.

Immediately I was awestruck at this one thing I keep bringing up over and over: That Susie consulted with Kris who to take to the festival hypothetically, Ralsei or Noelle, but despite whatever answer her choice was always Ralsei. this is big because it follows up on not suuggesting anything romantic toward Noelle even when instructed to by Kris (Or, us, but Susie hears it as Kris' voice).

They begin talking about movies, and Ralsei makes what's frankly a kind of bizarre admission; never having watched one.

And in that what she sees is an opportunity to invite him to spend time together :)

And he's so taken aback, genuinely not expecting that one of the Lightners would want to just... hang out with him, not request of him constant service or a specific instance of help... And when Susie insists, it's as if the possibility of that finally clicks into place, continuing the seeds planted of the theme where Susie helps him realise he's his own person and he can do things not to serve a grander purpose but for the pleasure of them.

After which Susie begins setting the stage to gently nudge him into accepting coming to the LW for other things... having that wistful look of hoping that he'd be into spending more time with them, which is eventually meant to finish with her setting up her invitation to the festival, basically.

This whole little sequence is an astounding moment of vulnerability for someone as closed off as Susie. For as much as she teases Ralsei about being a weenie the sincere underbelly is that she is suggesting all this with Kris as her backup beacuse she wants to spend time with him. And it's hard to not do it with a bit of a joke and a slight edge of cynicism, because opening up when you have so many defenses built up isn't easy.

I feel like this is both Ral taking satisfaction in being useful... but the pauses between his sentences suggest something more: realising that yeah, despite his understanding of the world and of his supposed own unreality, he would like to spend more time with her and with Kris, too. That he enjoys having friends and company and it was something he didn't know he could say so openly.

The stage set Susie the rizzler makes her move. And it's evident this was all buttering Ralsei up to invite him because she describes this as her "best idea for last". I love the face sprites here, it's so subdued, and there's a pause in how she says things... She's nervous! Just like when she suggested he go to school with them, there is the tentative fear of rejection, the weight of that invitation.

So she makes a joke about it just like before, to cushion the difficulties of vulnerability with cynicism.

And sure, she's saying "if we all went" cause, as we know, Susie already sees Kris as a friend and she says herself that of course the idea was that they were both going to be there, together. But when she was positing potential invitees to the Festival for, well, the more "coupley" implied part, it was Noelle or Ralsei. And she chose Ralsei. So, while she is cushioning, she's shooting her shot, and that being the case becomes more evident as this progresses, given she even clarifies that yes, that invitation is for him.

And I feel here, despite his trepidation, and probably him knowing he has to absolutely shatter her hopes, for a moment he wants to be honest about the fact that it's less about his wants, and more about factors beyond his control.

But then the ball has to drop.

It's... the way his face falls and his eyes lose luster and how Susie is immediately taken aback. Of course, usually in regular society "I can't" is a "soft" way to turn someone down, and often carries the implication of "I don't want to." From Susie's perspective she is being rejected, and immediately she begins bargaining, thinking maybe it's just that he doesn't want to go to the Festival, but is still open to something different. We see her trip over herself, try to project confidence. The nonchalance of the main sprite is betrayed by the same soft eyebrows and avoidant gaze of the face sprite. She's a little deflated and trying really hard not to look like it. And she continues to bargain, suggest alternatives: We don't have to do anything you don't want; I'll make any concessions you need, I just want to spend more time with you. She even steps directly toward Ralsei, bypassing Kris entirely, because to Susie Kris being present was a given. This shot was for Ralsei.

And as she approaches him, she gradually drops the nonchalance and makes her intent more clear, until phrasing it the most explicit way she can- no matter what, I want you to come- at which point she seems almost shy.

And then this marvellous little exchange takes place. Ralsei, of course, logistically can't go, but he tries to clarify that the reason is obligatory, rather than for lack of wanting; but at a second rejection, Susie changes her framing and her reflection of all this and thinks: Well, if the issue is not with the festival, then it must be me.

Though he did not intend to, Ralsei accidentally tapped into her previous insecurities. However, au contraire to Lancer, where she fully sank into despair about her own unlikeability, her reaction to his second rejection is almost bashful. She assumes it's her, but she wants to know why. So she can be better. Because she wants Ralsei to like her. This is what I meant when I said she was lying to Noelle about this being just about including him... This reaction is impressively vulnerable and honest from someone with Susie's insecurities.

It is here that Ral catches on as to how he's accidentally coming across and clarifies his reasoning. Unfortunately this means making both of his friends privy to the reality of his situation as a Darkner. I interpret the heavy eyebags when he says he's glad that she invited him as the creeping dread of having to explain what he's about to explain. not for himself, but because it's become evident she cares about him.

I'll skip over the actual explanation about the LW and DW. Not because I don't think there's no juicy tidbits in it- I'm fascinated by the self deprecation in the language he chooses to refer to himself and to his fellow Darkners, because he sees himself as so lowly, he sees them as lowly too collaterally- but because it's not as ralsus-specific. But, as he's finishing the explanation, he posits himself as not real, and the idea is so horrifying to Susie that she doesn't even let him finish.

Personally, I love how naive and confused that last sentence sounds- She's so shocked by all this new information it's hard to even string words together coherently. But Ralsei sees this as a segway to force some distance between them. Not because he does not want Susie, but because he considers it for the better that he put distance between them to ameliorate her suffering, in his eyes attaching too much to something unworthy- and, I believe, to prime her to accept his eventual inevitable death/sacrifice. He creates physical distance between them, rejecting her affection, the same hand gesture she goes on to repeat at least twice, using that as a conduit for emotional distance.

But Susie is of course skeptical and calling BS at his view of himself-- because she hates herself too, and can notice all the associated language in how he speaks of himself.

Ral then goes on to say how he was overjoyed at finding new friends at first, but then "selfishly" began to long for connection and to be able to help them, and he seems to emphatically refer to helping Susie when she needs him most. We know he knows the layout of the school and about things that occur in the LW, among other things that let us understand that he's privy to more information than he lets on to. This makes me wonder if he knows about Susie's horrible living situation and feels horrible about it, since he did use her room as an example in his speech and he keeps her bed neat and her fridge stocked in Castle Town.

But, in the same way Susie uses Kris as a backup to not make her feelings just about herself, Ralsei also brings Lancer, the other close person Susie has in the DW, as a backup for his own feelings. Ralsei and Susie are both dancing awkwardly around their big feelings, here; he tells her to forget about both him and Lancer.

I think at this point Susie snaps because again she's identifying her own self deprecation in him, and even though she's fine with seeing herself as unworthy of friends, she's not fine with someone she holds in clear dear regard saying those things about himself. She also brings up lancer "and everyone" but again I didn't screencap that because I wanted to keep the caps specific to them. Of course, I think on some level she can tell Ralsei is projecting his feelings on Lancer, because Lancer has never verbalised such insecurities, which is why after that brief mention she immediately refocuses back on Ralsei.

I love the candor of... all this. The way she holds him and the face sprites full of emotion and the way she calls him an idiot not for never having watched a movie or for his dorky ways but for having the gall to suggest that Susie could just abandon him-- to treat him the same way she was treated. And really, how does that not demonstrate some serious affection?

I love this sequence and I was so totally unprepared for it. I love that you cannot skip it on your first playthrough, that you have to see them confront themselves in each other like this. Ralsei is being Susie's mirror image here, and she can tell-- And she hates that-- Because how could Ralsei think such things? Sweet, kind Ralsei that forgave her, of all people?

And it is in there that lies the unsaid I love you. It doesn't even have to be romantic I love you just yet. Just, I love you enough that I am willing to keep you from destructing yourself the way I do.

[sweatertheman]

ok im done, bye bye tumblr, everybody is annoying and lurking you is bad for my mental health

[sweatertheman]

Most people can't admit they enjoy it without tacking on some random queer attribute to make it more socially acceptable.

Im almost done with Deltarune chapter 3, and all I have to say is Ralsei x Susie is unbelievably underrated

[sweatertheman]

better not be, because it may be lame

If anything, I think he hurt himself. What other way did he have in total isolation to ease his pain than to bury it? To convince himself not only that he wasn't actually in pain, but that daring to express pain was selfish and wrong. Diminishing himself is how he copes. Guilt and shame keep him moving. It's not about him, after all. It's about them. His pain isn't worth anything. As long as he can smile and bear it, everyone else will be fine. He doesn't want them to feel even a fraction of what he feels. He doesn't want them to even imagine it. So he takes another step. And another step.

Just another step, before he inevitable buckles under the weight of the world.

Who hurt Ralsei to make him say "I don't mean to always make everything about me?" Is this still somehow downstream of Asgore and Toriel's divorce?

[sweatertheman]

this is such a sweet scene. susie loves to make fun of ralsei when hes being wimpy or nerdy or pushovery or whatever but not here. and its funny cuz to her a weird room in a video game is such a silly thing to be afraid of, she doesnt really understand why hes scared. she doesnt need to, because she can tell its serious to him, thats what matters. shes so sweet to him and it makes my heart hurt