#The conflicting nature of a Light Darkner...

[ne0nwithazero]

Simulate Sunlight

[chacochilla]

I just remembered I have a blog and can post whatever I want fuck you Knight ramble

So to establish what we know/my HCs about the Knight. First off I think the second voice that interrupts Goner Maker and (somehow) shoves the soul into Kris was the Knight. Judging by this we can assume that Gaster and the Knight are opposed to each other. After Goner Maker, the Knight made the Card Kingdom dark world, and I believe entered it and enlisted King to guard the fountain.

After that we have chapter 2. People are generally split on whether this fountain was made the night before chapter 2, or during chapter 2, after Noelle gives Susie the chalk. I believe the latter, with the course of events being the Knight hiding in the closet, waiting until Berdly and Noelle fall asleep, making the fountain, and leaving before Susie and Kris show up the library.

Lastly some notable things. They have a hand, use a blade, Toby mentions an intro cutscene where they're the final boss looking down from atop a staircase, their fountains make their respective main bosses more aggressive and authoritarian/controlling, and are associated with 'communion'. Let's get into some candidates now

Mayor Knight is who I believe is most likely. She has motivation (finding Dess), she's already built up as scary, she has direct ties to Kris and Noelle, and her being the main antag would be a natural way to incorporate her into the main plot. Plus her being a mother could contrast the chapter 3 adventure with Toriel and be interesting for Susie given that she at the very least has a bad relationship with her parents. The Holiday family also has ties to the church, given that they regularly attend, explaining Spamton's [Communion] and the Knight's ties to the Angel. It would be a little odd of her to put the red soul into Kris. From what we know, she's a cold woman who's had a falling out with the Dreemurrs, but even then, hard to imagine someone doing that to this kid

If it turns out she isn't the Knight, it's a little hard to see how she'd come into the main plot. I suppose she could be introduced in a church or Holiday manor dark world. She could also come out to lead the town during the Roaring. I think regardless of where she comes in, her introduction will establish her as a cold person who asks a lot of Noelle.

Dess is also a potential Knight candidate. She has stronger narrative relevance, also has an established connection to religion, would make a great foil to Kris, has strong motivation in wanting to return home. It's also just really easy to see the twist that Noelle's sister was the villain all along. That said, it's a little hard to imagine how she could make fountains around Hometown if she's stuck in the code. I suppose it's possible she's like, sparking fountains from another plain, and they're just appearing in the Light World. It's also a little odd the fountains made from her will to return home would make darkners more aggressive. Her meeting King wouldn't make much sense, unless her being in a different plain made her appear like an actual otherworldly presence, which I guess could work.

If it turns out she isn't the Knight, I think she could still serve an important role alongside another candidate. To put it into Undertale terms, I think the Knight would be like the the Asgore equivalent boss we hear about throughout the game whose actions are those that actively cause conflict within the story, while Dess will be more like the Asriel equivalent, or the final boss who's kinda in the background the whole time. I would prefer this set up over Dess just being the Knight because I like more characters than less, and Dess' plot importance is assured.

Papyrus is a candidate you see around a lot. He has almost zero connection to Kris, Susie, or Noelle, but he does have connection to Gaster, which is the main reason he remains a plausible candidate in my eyes. There's also been a couple potential nods to Papyrus Knight in recent official stuff. He has some motivation as being a friendless loser who'd create dark fountains to feel like a hero and befriend darkners. I do think it's a little weak as a motivation though. It's not something I can see him willingly risking the apocalypse to do like with the Mayor or Dess' possible motivations.

He also has already had the spotlight in Undertale. There are a couple mysteries surrounding the skelebros that haven't been answered in UT, which could be expanded on in DR. Especially with the implication they world hopped to Undertale.

If he isn't the Knight, I can see his hangout session Sans asks you to go on could serve plot importance by foreshadowing Gaster stuff, especially if Gaster turns out to be their dad or brother. In that way it could be similar to Onion San's weird quest. If not, it could also just be an optional side quest with not much larger plot importance, like the Mettaton side quest.

New character Knight. This is predicated on the idea that the Knight isn't supposed to be some big Whodunnit for the fandom, and that they just are their own character. I mostly enjoy this option because of my desire for ther to be more characters rather than less that I mentioned above. Dess, the Mayor, Papyrus, your preferred candidate, they are all going to exist regardless of if they are the Knight or not (Besides Oberon Smog or Undertale Chara lol). But if the Knight is their own character, then we get all those guys, plus another guy. This by definition has no evidence, I just think it would be cool

Quick rapid fire round

Gaster: I think it's unlikely because one of the only things we probably know about the Knight is they are on the opposite side of Gaster

Kris: Judging by King's non reaction to Kris and how I said I believe the chapter 2 fountain was created, I don't think they are possibly the Knight. Also I think there being an active antagonist alongside Kris struggling with the player is more likely than just focusing on the latter

Asriel: Explicitly not in town, and also you already had a game where you were the antagonist. Get outta here. Go Asriel, shoo

Any other Undertale character: Same issue as Papknight, except unlike him they don't have gaps in their story to tell, aren't world hoppers, and don't have ties to Gaster. Bad

Multi Knight: Cope

Vessel: Ehhhhhhhh maybe??? Though given that the Roaring was prophesized, I assume the Knight existed before Gaster tried to intervene, which the Vessel didn't

Alvin: Unlikely but it could be neat. Would make Berdly's death hit harder considering his working with Alvin's sister

Catti: I can maybe see it. Would be cool if the Knight was someone in Kris' class. Though I dunno if I can see her being the person in that cutscene Toby dream of

Gerson: Incredibly unlikely I think

Third entity: Would complicate the simple dynamic of Kris and the player, and would also erase a lotta Kris' agency in a way that makes the plot less interesting

Geno Chara: I don't think Deltarune is going to be Undertale 2

Geno Chara possessing Kris: See above two

Final verdict

I think Mayor Knight is the most likely candidate. I'm also gunning for new character Knight. Pap Knight and Alvin Knight would also be neat even though I don't think they will happen

[undertaleofficial]

Red Soul = Control Theory

here comes my bi-yearly random undertalerune theory infodump

i think the red human soul trait is control. my other guesses are freedom or power but control has the most likelihood in my eyes based on evidence. starting with undertale and then moving onto deltarune, here's my thoughts!

'since when were you the one in control' - the most potent and obvious evidence, this is the emblematic line spoken by chara (first red soul bearer's reanimated self); it not only is one of the few spoken lines canonically confirmed to be from a red soul bearer, it implies that chara has more control than even the player themself over the game at the very end of genocide and this is proven to be true when they hold your game hostage until you willingly hand frisk's soul over to them, finalizing their resurrection, their control, and thus letting them run rampant after future runs

the major(/'true') theme of ALL routes in both undertale and deltarune (so far) is control. ut paci/geno routes are, broadly speaking, to determine which red soul bearer between frisk or chara retains control over frisk's body and personality by the end, taking it from you the player. ut neutral is about flowey engaging in a power struggle with you over controlling the game. when either frisk or chara wins, they exert their control over you in turn - frisk refuses to be called your/chara's name anymore and assumes their own choices post-game, chara is less subtle and outright enforces their domination over you as soon as they have it (as stated above)

as for deltarune, secret bosses are the easiest evidence of this common theme. spamton's fight is about having been taken advantage of - controlled - and his desire for freedom; jevil only THINKS he's free but in actuality he's the opposite of free (and so, is also controlled).

deltarune's main conflicts so far can be summarized as the controlled vs. the controllers in all aspects: dark vs. light/darkners vs. lightners, kris vs. player, noelle vs. kris, secret bosses vs. the person who gave them a deal they couldnt refuse

the best deltarune evidence for control being the red human soul trait is kris, ralsei, and snowgrave - all of these things being interconnected. in the chapter 1 prison break segment, ralsei subtly teaches kris (and consequently the player) how to use their mindlink/manipulation power ('proceed' or control itself, in absence of a canon name for the ability) for the first time and they/you immediately try it on susie to help her solve the puzzles. HOWEVER, this is resisted and nullified by susie, although she hears kris's voice despite being far away from them... sound familiar? this is for a good reason unlike snowgrave, but it is undeniable from this instance that throwing their consciousness around and influencing others is a power of kris's and not just a meta thing.

speaking of snowgrave and ralsei, ralsei is visibly confused when kris refuses to throw their consciousness into the scenes involving noelle and susie (ferris wheel, noelle's room), instead standing there in stark silence with ralsei until the other two return as ralsei is clearly confused. this and telling them how to do it proves without a shadow of a doubt that ralsei is fully aware of the nature of what kris's ability is and in chapter 1 he talks about how darkners exist to serve lightners, enforcing his identity as someone who believes he and other darkners exist to be used or controlled. this is not a 'ralsei is evil' aside im taking you on (yet?), but ralsei may be very misguided or was possibly manipulated/gaslit in a horrifying way that might be similar to noelle post-snowgrave

finally, snowgrave again. we're talking about the obvious bits, the roles between the player, kris, and noelle. it is a chain of control descending in that order. you control kris who controls noelle through you. compared to susie, noelle doesnt resist much, and the thornring increases your control over her by inflicting pain and putting her in a trance (which seems to prevent her from being fully conscious or recognizing her surroundings based on berdly's fight)

actual final: back to undertale one last time, Ball Game is something i did seriously consider for this. its for sure a meme to prevent actually saying what it is, but i would wager that it being red is likely still important knowing toby's sense of humor/metanarrative. what's important in any Ball Game? power isnt always necessary, freedom either. control is ALWAYS important in Ball Games. whether you're tossing a dodgeball, dribbling or dunking a basketball, hitting a tennis ball or baseball, kicking a football field goal or a soccer goal, putting to the hole in golfing... you need control to do all these things, more than anything else, even if you might need power for some of them. what does it mean, why Ball Game? no fuckin clue man.

alright, now that ive listed my reasons... my last thoughts will be on why i dont think Determination is the red soul trait as it is commonly believed to be. its too obvious, its said throughout the ENTIRE game and yet toby has played coy with it, never directly stating that that is what it is. is that not odd for a word and concept said in all routes, constantly? also, every human has tons more determination than any monster, up to the point where it takes the entire underground to even equal one single human soul.

so, what makes the red soul stronger than the other souls, what makes it so powerful that even sans, omega flowey, and literal GOD asriel can't beat the red soul bearer, the latter two possessing SIX OTHER HUMAN SOULS and god azzy having the equivalent of SEVEN via monster souls? it's surely not just an abundance of determination... if red soul bearers were all that powerful (stronger than any other seven human souls combined) by default, regardless of their rarity, monsters wouldn't have had a chance at all in the war to begin with - even if they were beaten, we know it wasnt instantly.

so, think - if it's not just an above-average amount of determination, what else do all three red soul bearing humans in the games we know have in common? us. they have us. we have controlled all three of them at some point in their lives. it's possible that the red soul bearers become much stronger when they're under our control at the cost of basically subjecting themselves to our will, whatever that may be, and it may in turn be possible that those they control become stronger too (like noelle does) at that same cost.

well thats my essay on why the red soul is control. thanks for reading if you did, id add pics to back up my words but im lazy lol so just ask for specific bits if interested and i can go dig em up... i think the prison 'proceed' bit is particularly interesting since you would only realize what it means on a repeat playthrough of chapter 1 post-snowgrave, among other ch 1 oddities

[onemillionwordsofcrap]

Crack theory: all monsters are darkners

Or rather, modern monsters are descendants of darkners who somehow made it to the "real world."

I think this should be pretty spoiler-light but putting it under a cut just in case. Forgive me if I'm not coherent rn, my sleep is fucked and I've been sick lmao

Okay so here's the thing. What even IS a monster? "Monster" is such an overly broad term in this universe, right? A "monster" can be ANYTHING.

Even in Undertale alone, they range from your standard RPG enemies like skeletons and ghosts, to lizardfolk, to furries, to what look like household objects stuck together. There's a living snowman. There's a rock with a mustache. There's a guy made of slime. There's an airplane.

My point is that "monster" isn't a coherent category. The only thing they all have in common is that their souls don't persist after death, and that they turn to dust when they die. But it's hard to imagine that a talking bear, a human-ish skeleton and a pile of slime all share a common ancestor or something. So why are they considered a single, separate category at? Why, for instance, are humans not just considered some weird monster subspecies with freaky persistent souls?

Maybe it's because the humans came first. Maybe monsters are a wide variety of individual species that all had the same origin. And maybe that origin can explain both why (1) monsters come in such a wide variety and (2) why their souls don't behave the same as human souls.

So! Theory: darkners found a way to come to the real world and persist there, and became the first generation of what we now call monsters.

We know that Darkners originate as the make-believe creations of monsters; maybe the first ones were the creations of humans instead. When they made it into the real world, humans naturally freaked the fuck out, dubbing the things coming out of their childhood games "monsters."

This would explain the origin of monster-human conflict. It would why they all look so vastly different (because they originate from a wide variety of childhood games and toys). AND it could potentially explain the difference in souls: Darkners are an imperfect and impermanent creation of humans, not meant to exist in the outside world. In their own world, while they're mortal, they're also somewhat timeless; something about existing in "reality" makes their existence fleeting.

[essence-of-ass-thrashing]

On 2011 March 6, Pokémon Black and White were released in North America. The in-game history of these games features the Twin Heroes who founded the Unova region and once controlled the cover legendaries - one who held Reshiram and treasured Truth and the other who held Zekrom and idolized Ideals. They conflicted over whether Truth or Ideals was superior, clashing their dragons against each other, but neither could defeat the other. This balance between Ideals and Truth is an example of the Taoist principles of Yin and Yang, emphasized by details such as Zekrom and Reshiram's black and white coloring, which has led to the two dragons (along with Kyurem, representing wuji, the absence of yin and yang) to be referred to as the Tao trio.

A similar yin-yang balance seems to be present in the setting of Deltarune, where Ralsei claims that light and darkness must be balanced or the world will be destroyed. Neither darkness nor light is necessarily evil nor good - both Lightners and Darkners show friendliness and hostility to each other in varying measures. The similarity goes deeper, however, with the philosophical nature of light and darkness in Deltarune.

The Dark Worlds are full of fun, fantasy, and adventure. Many of the Darkners are literally personified toys and game pieces, and the Lightners enjoy many escapist power fantasies of magic, freedom, and quick, easy friendship. Meanwhile, the Light World is the mundane reality where the Lightner heroes go to school, stress out about projects, and endure their family situations. There are plenty of zany characters to enjoy, but everyone has something to worry about between work, finances, self-esteem, relationships, sickness, and loss of loved ones.

During the climax of chapter 2, Susie, Noelle, and Berdly come to the conclusion that the Dark World is "just better" and begin executing Queen's plan to expand the darkness. To stop them, Ralsei then elaborates on the Roaring, in which the overwhelming darkness leads to chaos and destruction. We've yet to learn the nature of this destruction, but it's easy to imagine consequences from excessive revelry while ignoring reality - missed bills, hurt feelings, things falling apart that one was supposed to maintain, etc. And yet, the last point of Ralsei's Chapter 2 Roaring monologue is how the surviving Lightners will suffer without the Darkners. Darkness and light, fantasy and reality, ideal and truth, yin and yang - they all must be balanced.

But why am I drawing parallels between Deltarune and the backstory of a mainline Pokémon game that I didn't remember before seeing mention of the "Tao trio," especially when it could all be explained with classic yin and yang? Well, Toby Fox mentioned in an interview that he came up with the Deltarune's ending during a fever dream in 2011, the year of Pokémon Black and White's release.

I don't have any particular evidence that he played one of these games on release and got invested in the lore, but he has been working on music tracks for recent Pokémon games. Furthermore, he's exclaimed the honor of working with Hitomi Satō and specifically mentioned her work on Black and White, even though she's worked on Pokémon music since Emerald and has been a main contributor to the soundtracks since Diamond and Pearl.

I also don't have very good ideas on what a connection with Pokémon Black and White could possibly mean for Deltarune and its ending beyond the yin-yang stuff. Maybe the "Darkners exist to serve Lightners" thing could have something to do with Team Plasma's philosophy of Pokémon liberation? Maybe a future chapter will feature someone's castle erupting from the ground to hijack the climax? Maybe Toby just had too many thoughts on yin and yang and too much time sick in his dorm? I just want to get the word out about this. Also, maybe the D in W. D. Gaster stands for Dennis.

[argentdandelion]

Lightners Aren't Mind-Controlling Darkners

Argument: Nothing supernatural or very unusual influences Darkners’ decisions to help Lightners. Kris and Susie just happened to fall into a social environment where Lightners are seen as famous, helpful, esteemed heroes: much like beautiful, kind, and wealthy royalty-philanthropist-celebrities that no one’s heard from in a while. The psychological effects are all mundane, just amplified by the particular situation.

Introduction

Ralsei’s behavior (and to a lesser extent, Lancer’s behavior) might suggest a “fulfillment effect”: some kind of supernatural psychological effect that bestows or unlocks a strongly positive emotional state for Darkners when they assist Lightners. This would skew interactions in Lightners’ favor, and explain a lot about Darkners’ friendliness and admiration. (and especially for Ralsei)

The most logical interpretations of the “fulfilment effect” have delayed effects or only moderate results, rather than, say, immediate and visible surges of a unique positive emotion. But, for the milder interpretations it would be harder to prove any kind of mind control. Most persuasively, not all Darkners are eager to help Lightners; some, most notably the Spade King and Rouxls Kaard, actively hinder or attack them. Indeed, there are so many unclear correlations, loopholes, and ways to avoid or bypass the “fulfillment effect” that it brings into question whether this effect exists at all.

If, though, the effect is not supernatural, but normal psychology, it’s much easier to explain all the inconsistencies or loopholes.

Lightners the Celebrities

Lightners live a life something like royalty-celebrity-philanthropists, if paparazzi didn’t exist to spread or stir up anything imperfect. For one, Lightners live a sort of parallel life of glamour in faraway areas: Lightners can go between the Light and Dark worlds, but it seems Darkners cannot do the same. The Light World might seem like a mysterious or even glorious realm to Darkners, and they cannot learn about it for themselves.

In addition to the lack of information about how they live, it’s hard to grasp the depth of their personalities or attitudes. Lightners don’t live in the Dark World, and the nature of the Dark World lacks mundane frustrations (school, traffic tickets). Thus, there would be fewer opportunities to look grumpy or flawed.

Furthermore, it would seem Lightners and Darkners have been in friendly relations for a long time, and Lightners have a reputation for kindness and helpfulness. If all the Lightners that have shown up have only ever been kind and helpful to Darkners, Darkners might assume this is inherently a property of Lightners, and love them for it. Indeed, this is so assumed of Lightners that a Lightner who isn’t kind or helpful (i.e., Susie) is hard to understand or surprising. One Rudinn (who’s fanning Lancer) seems baffled at the possibility of a “mean Lightner”. However, other characters apparently can’t recognize Susie as a Lightner at all, calling her a “beast” instead. Even Top Chef, who would logically know that Lightners have shown up to fight the king by the time of the epilogue, still calls Susie a “beast” or (potentially) “Clover’s mother”. (Suggesting she’s a Darkner)

It is normal to feel happy when helping others, but this normal result is likely amplified when helping Lightners, due to their status as royalty-celebrity-philanthropists. Furthermore, the Lightners are outright characterized as heroes by a few Darkner characters: their sudden outfit changes probably help this. (One Darkner outright says: “You folks look like heroes!”) Additionally, as he Lightners oppose the anti-Lightner king whom nearly everyone dislikes, it would only make them look better.

Should Ralsei suddenly feel positively giddy when helping Kris (especially if he happens to have a crush on Kris) Ralsei probably would assume something special is happening. Ralsei, after all, has apparently lived alone his whole life, waiting the other legendary heroes to arrive, and he has no life experience with which to compare his feelings. Of course he would put them on a pedestal and worship them even more than most Darkners.[1]

Conclusion

While Lightners do not actually have mind-control powers over Darkners, it’s still possible the Lightner-worshipping social dynamic could be unwanted or unhealthy.

For example, Susie doesn’t seem interested in performing the role of a hero and its expectations, even if she does want to go home and sealing the dark fountain is the only way to do that. She’s also unnerved at the idea Darkners’ “purpose” is to assist Lightners.

Ralsei, too, has an unhealthy amount of hero worship/celebrity worship. Though his position as one of the Delta Warriors would logically put him on more even footing with Lightners than most other Darkners, he still acts awfully self-effacing and conflict-minimizing. This “worshipping” isn’t a healthy foundation for a friendship, and it could cause problems later on.

Knowing Lightners aren’t really gods...what would Darkners think if Susie and Kris revealed they were just outcast teens in the Light World? Would they worship them nonetheless? Would they deny it? It remains to be seen.

Made with the help of Tumblr users Ihasafandom and Batter-Sempai. If you enjoyed what you read, consider donating to the author's donation hole. (Patreon and Ko-Fi links on the sidebar of the original blog)

[1]One should note Ralsei isn’t highly self-effacing with everyone. For the very few times he’s visibly upset/angry, he’s upset/angry at Lancer/Lancer and Susie, but probably aimed at Lancer. He also looks mildly annoyed or displeased with Lancer/Lancer and Susie on a few occasions.

[the-lost-adventurer-plum]

Close Encounter of the Bark Kind

@wanderer-of-the-lost-grove

Along the forest floor thick strips of grayed webbing lay strew about  flattened into the ground where blades of grass, dirt and crushed leaves from the canopy above stuck to the once pristine white silk. It was one of Plum’s more clever traps, one that would have encased whomever had the misfortune of triggering it and trapped them far too high for them to safely get down without assistance, an act of compassion Plum would be happy to supply... for a fee of course.  It did not bother her that such a wondrous design of her had been destroyed, it was the natural cycle for her to replace or repair those that were not strong enough to keep in the wily or determined Darkners. 

No, what bothered her was this particular trap was much further into the forest than most patrol guards had dared to go, yet here it sat, broken and dismantled beyond repair with no prey for her extortion games in sight. For a moment she dared to think that maybe one of the wild Rabbick’s had triggered it, they could often be found in her webbing when she did her rounds to check on the outline of her territory near the end of the day. Tearing down a loose strand of silk stuck to a branch she twisted it between her fingers, the hopeful thought was quickly quashed when she had noticed just how clean the cuts had been, something sharper than teeth had to have done this.

Plums bright eyes carefully scanned the surrounding area for any indication of where the saboteur might have gone. The winding trees and thick brush all provided countless hiding spots for a disgruntled guard to lie in wait to surprise her. Plum herself had utilized many of them while hiding from angry Rudinn’s whom she had extorted Dark Dollars from in exchange for their freedom, giggling at just how clever she had been to escape under their nose. Though, now she was hardly laughing now that the tables could be potentially turned on her. She couldn't help but become anxious noting how quiet the forest had been, of course it always been that way, but with the possibility that an unknown Darkner laid in wait for her spiked her anxiety more than she would have liked to admit.

Her fingers twitched now and then as her hands quickly went to their partner’s opposite of them and began to pick at the slits just under her wrists, coaxing out a thin line of silk and began to twist and spool it around her fingers. She stilled when rustling broke the quiet, the acoustics of the forest magnifying it, making it almost impossible to pin down. Panic shot through her body, down to the very core of her soul as she whipped around trying to find the source. Energy began to build in her, a preparation for a potential encounter she would surely have to flee before anyone had the chance to pull her into one. The advantage would be hers, knowing the forest like the back of her multiple hands there was no doubt in Plum’s mind, she could escape before it could ever come to that. 

Her eyes locked on to a large crimson bush just a few feet away, catching the leaves shake violently as something began to break through the tiny branches.  A small paw shoots out from the bush, wildly swinging until it caught onto a stable branch, another soon followed after and slowly a Rabbick began to squeeze its way out of its leafy prison, a shimmy here, a pull there and with a small pop sound it floated few seconds, its tiny legs kicking in the air until it settled back to the ground. It did not notice Plum, or perhaps it did, but was far too busy cleaning itself of the build up debris of snapped off twigs from its fluffy white fur to care very much. 

Plum’s shoulders sagged, a small sigh of relief escaping her yet the energy build up in her soul remained, bubbling and twisting uncomfortably making every twitch and twirl from her fingers around the ever building silk feel ridged. The Scarlet Forest still felt too quiet, too tense for her to stay in for the time, or for this day at the very least. Today was a day for walking, for half climbing to burn the energy in her, a day where rebuilding traps could wait as she ventured closer to the main pathway between zones.

A new scenery would calm her down, get her mind straight and put to rest the notion of Darkners had stumbled too close to her hiding place and waited to ambush her. While the pathway had more foot traffic and it also held a curiosity between the different zones. No matter how out of place, be it in a wall, stuck onto a tree or simply standing upright with nothing behind it, there was always a large, weather worn oak door waiting there. No one knew where these doors had come from, who had built them or why there was always a promising glow of dancing lights flickering between the cracks only for them to disappear once the door was open to reveal a room covered in darkness, the outside light revealing nothing to those that looked into the abyss.

She wasn’t entirely sure how they worked, but knew it would take her to between zones she had traveled to before. Plum shifted the silk between her hands, grabbing the faded metal knob she swung the door open and stepped into the void, allowing the door to close soundlessly behind her. In the room any wisps of light that shined in, the sound of the outside world would be consumed, only leaving the Spider monster to walk on in darkness, deprived of her senses. A small voice would always echo fearful scenarios that builds up the longer she dared to tread in this room. The tiny voice in her head would whisper, one day the door will close behind her and the enveloping darkness would swallow her whole just as it did with the light and sound. It would drag her down into nothingness where it would grow darker, ever darker still, into the bleak abyss where the something terrible waited.

But it never did, somehow, someway Plum always knew exactly how far to walk in the darkness, navigating an invisible path and grasp at a knob she never recalled reaching for. The light would greet her as the door cracked open and the void would be behind her, hidden by the lone oak door that stood somewhere it had no business being. A soft breeze brushed past her, easing the tension that was beginning to ebb away, a slow crash in her SOUL from a flight reflex she didn’t use beginning to leave her drained. 

The Fields of Hopes And Dreams were far enough from her forest, far from her traps, her home and the Rudinns that may or may not have been poking around. The Patrols here were far less aggressive than the ones in the Scarlet Forest, the Darkners here, preferring to avoid conflict if possible, which suited her fine. And yet, despite this Plum found herself wandering off the path into the woods, for a time she walked the silk in her hands began to be twisted and fashioned into the beginnings of a new net.

A new trap could be set, a secondary home to lay low until she was sure her old home was safe enough to rest her head there once again. These were excellent plans, as she did think of them after all. The corners of her mouth turned up as she began to feel a warm and fuzzy at just how clever she was to escape the danger. Or she was warm until suddenly the natural cool shade of the forest hit her, bringing Plum out of her thoughts. A step back and she felt the warmth return the further back she stepped.

Strange.

Plum looked around for the source, yet all that surrounded her were trees stretching as far as the eye could see. The warmth was quite nice, welcoming even. The ends of her net were placed around a thick branch, her quick little fingers tying it tight while she began to work on the rest of her net, utilizing it instead to be a makeshift hammock instead. Everything up to this point had been too stressful, she was too tired to think about dealing with it and opt’d to push it down, relax in some webbing by a warm spot that seemed to urge her into an increasingly sleepy state.

Yes, a nap would be perfect actually. There were not many warm spots one could get without starting a fire. This spot was a nice luxury, so perhaps setting traps could wait until she was refreshed. Plum haphazardly tied the other end of her net to another branch and sank into the pseudo hammock, idly swaying in it from time to time as her mind became fuzzier, she didn’t find the weight pulling down on her eyes, sliding them closed and allowing herself to drift off.