#also... for any in-game charas mentioned above - if i got any of the dates or headcanons wrong pls dm me and i'll happily edit!

[drrutherford]

❖ Timeline ❖

April 16th 1984 — Born to Natan & Mikaela Weiss, of Israeli and Irish origin, respectively. Both parents are doctors, living in Yeovil (Somerset) UK, and raise their son with warmth and stability in a happy home.

1990 — Parents die in a car crash when he’s 6 years old. Grief-stricken and unable to cope, his aunt abandons him in a London orphanage where he meets wee lil Damon (@damon-rutherford​), who’s only 4. Takes him under his wing, and a few months later they get adopted by Andrew and Cerys Rutherford. 

 1994 — Cerys falls ill and dies, the boys ( aged 10 & 8) are broken-hearted. Lara (@lararutherford​), who’d been adopted before that, is still too baby to remember much of it. Andrew uproots the family (+ Adriana @amaroadriana who’s basically a foster sister at this point + her mother, who continues on as the family’s nanny) to Porto Velho in America. Connie (@constance-rutherford) enters the picture shortly (contentiously so) thereafter, and Yvonne (@yvonne-rutherford) is born. 

 1997/8 — Aged 13/14, discovers the truth about Andrew’s line of work. Fractures his relationship with his father and Johnathan (@johnathan-parsons​), who was something of an uncle figure to him. Partially motivated by this event, partially by his dislike of PV, he sets his sights on Med School in Oxford, to get as far away from his father, and follow in the footsteps of his biological parents before him. 

2002 — Graduates highschool at 18, accepted into Oxford University’s School of Medicine, moves back to England. 

2002-2008 — Med school days, these years give rise to Team Posh, giving rise to his long-standing friendships with people like Spencer @spencerberkeley​, Harrison (☠️), and Cassandra @cassandra-acton​​, among others. Also meets his first steady girlfriend, before moving on to Diana (@diana-sehgal), and then Mila (@milaxkorshunova) during these years no more dates bc fuck that i’m confused.

2009 — Some time after graduating med school, he (aged 25) heads to the US to start his long-ass surgical residency. This is followed by an amicable, mutual decision to split with then-girlfriend, Mila, due to the pressures of being long-distance, and some meddling by her v. Russian father.

2011 — On one of many sporadic visits back to the UK, Damon introduces him to publicly adored British actress Katherine Mayfair, and a whirlwind romance ensues, devotedly followed by the press.

2014 — Marries Katherine (aged 30), partway through residency, prompting a transfer back to England to complete his surgical training in London. Despite indulging a hidden drug habit, Katherine promises to stay clean.

2017 — After three years’ worth of a struggling marriage and multiple lies, the dam finally breaks when he finds out that Katherine’s still using drugs while pregnant with their child. This is the same year as he completes his surgical residency and becomes a fully licensed neurosurgeon/consultant (aged 33).

2018 — As soon as his son is born (June 6), Gideon (aged 34) files for divorce. Katherine punishes him in the worst way possible for this decision, and paints him as a cheating scumbag to the media to cover up her own infidelities and continued drug use. This poisons the public’s opinion against him and a bitter custody battle ensues. Easily the worst year of his life, the results of which have lingered through the ensuing years.

Some time in between idk bear w me ok — Befriends his apartment neighbour, Elene Dadiani. The lines blur between friendship and something more, but before it can flourish she’s gunned down outside the apartment one horrible night. The event scars him and puts him off the prospect of romance for a few more years. Also there are many attacks on his family in between and mob life is pervasive as shit and the Ruthas are constant drama rip, but y’all know this already

2024 (Present day) — Gid is 39 going on 40, and still goin’ thru it. Felix is 5 going on 6, and goin’ thru it somewhat less. He is currently in a bid to launch another appeal against his ex for full custody of their child.

[the-river-person]

Secrets of the Deltarune

Okay so I was taking a closer look at the Deltarune and I started to notice some really weird things. It’s a symbol for the Kingdom of Monsters, right? Wrong. Gerson tells us “That's the Delta Rune, the emblem of our kingdom.The Kingdom...Of Monsters.” Okay so its the same thing, right? Nope. I looked up emblem and its distinction from Symbol. A Symbol represents an idea, a process, or a physical entity. While an Emblem is often an abstract that represents a concept like a moral truth or an allegory. And when it is used for a person, it is usually a King, a saint, or even a deity. An emblem crystallizes in concrete, visual terms some abstraction: a deity, a tribe or nation, or a virtue or vice and can be worn as an identifier if worn as say a patch or on clothing or armor or carried on a flag or banner or shield. So what does it matter? Well Gerson even tells us why. “That emblem actually predates written history.The original meaning has been lost to time...“  Hold up. Predates written history? The beginning of written history is approximately 5500 years ago. Somewhere around 3400 B.C.E. Thats a long time. And the prophecy that goes with the symbol talks about the Underground going empty, so it can only really be as old as The War Between Humans and Monsters. But...when was that? The game doesn’t tell us the exact dates. Well we have a couple clues. At the beginning of the game we have a little cut-scene of the war and then a bit where we see a human going up the mountain only to fall down into the Underground. Most players assume that this is you, beginning your adventure. Except its not. Later in the game, when you SAVE Asriel in the True Pacifist Route, we’re shown another cutscene with the exact same human figure in EXACTLY the same position, being helped by a very  young Asriel and the silhouette of Toriel. It’s Chara, not Frisk. So our date of 201X (2010-2019) takes place long before Frisk even arrives. We don’t know how long before. That really doesn’t help with when they were first thrown down there though. So I took a look at the images before that, of the war. The first image shows a human who is very different from the later pictures. Both the make of the spear and the animal hide-like clothing suggest that it’s probably stone age. The text tells us a very general “Long Ago”when describing how both races ruled the earth together. In the next two images we’re shown the actual war. The crowd of humans have various things like torches and spears. Those diamond type spears are very similar to Roman Pilums. The Human figure with a sword was interesting though. He bore a mantle (cape or cloak) and is sporting a sword. Though there’s not much detail, we can still identify the general time period of the sword. The size isn’t big enough for a proper claymore or longsword, or even a hand and half sword. Since our figure appears to be moving forward, and we can guess that it’s not in a friendly manner given the context, yet still holding the sword in one hand instead of two, it’s probably a one handed broadsword. It also has a cruciform hilt (cross-shaped) that is slightly curved. The blade is quite wide with what appears to be straight edges (based on two images with limited detail). And it has a very narrow Ricasso, an unsharpened length of blade just above the guard or handle. Ricassos were used all throughout history, but they’re pretty notable for the Early Medieval Period in Europe. And the rest of the sword (blade type, length, crossguard, and method of use) is very reminiscent of a Medieval Knightly Arming Sword, the prominent type of sword in that period from the 10th to 13th centuries. So I had to take a closer look at my spears. Turns out, they actually more closely resemble a medieval cavalry lance or javelin. And many Javelins have their root in the style of the Roman Pilums, including the sometimes diamond shaped tips. The sword and mantle of the figure suggest heavily he’s a knight, and backed up by the spear carriers we can guess that its the Early Medieval Period, possibly the beginning of the Romanesque Period. So that would place us all roughly a thousand and at least ten years before Chara fell into the Underground in 201X. Asgore was certainly alive back then. In the Genocide Route Gerson says “Long ago, ASGORE and I agreed that escaping would be pointless...Since once we left, humans would just kill us.“ and in the Post-Pacifist when you go back to talk to everyone he’ll say this when talking about Undyne “I used to be a hero myself, back in the old days. Gerson, the Hammer of Justice.” He even talks about how Undyne would follow him around when he was beating up bad guys, and try to help, by enthusiastically attacking people at random such as the mailman. This tells us that Gerson and Asgore are as old as the original war and both had been part of the battle. And both lived long enough to survive till now. Gerson is quite old looking, while Asgore is not. He explains this by saying that Boss Monsters don’t age unless they have children and then they age as their children grow, otherwise they’ll be the same age forever. But Undyne doesn’t appear to be old. And I started to wonder how long normal monsters lived in comparison to Boss Monsters. A long time for sure. From the Undertale 5th Anniversary Alarm Clock Dialogue we can learn that Asgore once knew a character called Rudy (who also appears in the Deltarune Game), who he met at Hotland University and appeared to be generally the same age as Asgore. Since it takes place in Hotland we know that it was already when they were underground, Asgore was King and was already doing his Santa Clause thing, and that Asgore was trying to find ways to occupy his time aside from actually Ruling. In the dialogue he tells us that Rudy began to look older than him. “I was there for it all. His Youth, his Marriage, his Fatherhood. Then, suddenly, one day... he fell down. ... Rudy... I... was never able to show you the sun.” Monsters can live a long time. But Boss Monsters, as long as they don’t have a child, can live nearly forever as long as they aren’t killed. Based on that, Undyne is probably quite young and Gerson is incredibly old even for a Monster, and yet only recently he’s stopped charging around fighting bad guys. Since Undyne was with him, those bad guys were in the Underground, and his distinction of her attacking not so bad folk like the mailman, means that he was probably in an official capacity to fight crime, such as a guardsman, or maybe captain of the royal guard. So. Even though there’s plenty of time for a prophecy to spring up naturally. We have a number of Monsters who have actually lived that long that would be more than happy to correct mistakes and assumptions. Gerson is quite elderly and is a tad forgetful, but he still knows much. Characters such as Toriel and Asgore are still hale and hearty, and both had witnessed so much. Though we know very little about the character, Elder Puzzler is also implied to be quite aged and knows a great deal about the “Puzzling Roots” of Monster History. You’re probably wondering what all of this is leading to. Well with these characters in place to maintain knowledge of history in the populace, then we have an Underground which created a prophecy AFTER it was trapped there, which leads me to conclude that when the prophecy was created, it must have been referencing something older than the War of Monsters and Humans.

“The original meaning has been lost to time... All we know is that the triangles symbolize us monsters below, and the winged circle above symbolizes... Somethin' else. Most people say it's the 'angel,' from the prophecy...” ‘Angel’. This is when we hear about the angel. We see the Deltarune on Toriel’s clothing and on the Ruins door. As well as behind Gerson himself. The thing he mentions clearly has wings of some kind. Surrounding a ball (note to self: Look into possible connection between mythical ball artifact from the piano room and the Deltarune Emblem). It looks a little like the fairy from the Zelda series. Those “triangles” are the greek letter Delta. That letter has a lot of connections and meanings to it. A river delta is shaped like the letter which is how it got its name. There are a number of maths and science connections. But the two connections you’d be interested in are that a Delta chord is another name for a Major Seventh Chord in music. The soundtrack of Undertale uses these chords to do fantastic things with the tone and aesthetic of its leitmotifs, changing them from a happy or hopeful tune, to a dark and despairing one without actually changing the melody. And in a subfield of Set Theory, a branch of mathematics and philosophical logic, it is used to calculate and examines the conditions under which one or the other player of a game has a winning strategy, and the consequences of the existence of such strategies. The games studied in set theory are usually Gale–Stewart games—two-player games of perfect information (each player, when making any decision, is perfectly informed of all the events that have previously occurred, including the "initialization event" of the game (e.g. the starting hands of each player in a card game)) in which the players make an infinite sequence of moves and there are no draws. But why is one of them turned upside down? I started looking things up again. Turns out there is such a symbol. The Nabla symbol is the Greek Letter Delta only inverted so that it appears upside down. Its name comes from the Phoenician harp shape, though its also called the “Del”. A musical connection is exactly what Toby would do. But its main use is in mathematics, where it is a mathematical notation to represent three different operators which make equations infinitely easier to write. These equations are all concerned with what is called Physical Mathematics. That is... Mathematics that calculate and have to do with measuring the physical world. Why is that relevant? Well the difference between humans and monsters is that humans have physical bodies while monsters are made primarily of magic. Well I also discovered that the Delta symbol for the ancient Greeks was sometimes used to as an abbreviation for the word  δύση , which meant the West in the compass points. West, westerly, sunset, twilight, nightfall, dusk, darkness, decline, end of a day. All this symbolism for a couple of triangles. There’s entire books devoted to them. And he calls the whole symbol, deltas and angel alike, the Delta RUNE. Whats a rune? Well a rune is a letter, but specifically a letter from the writing of one of the Germanic Languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet. Interestingly... the Greek Letter Delta does NOT qualify as a Rune. In any stretch of the word. I searched for hours. What I DID find was the etymological origins of the word Rune. It comes from a Proto-Germanic word “rūnō“ which means something along the lines of “whisper, mystery, secret,  secret conversation, letter”. Interesting. So since its paired up with the Delta... it could be taken to mean “The Secret of the Delta” or “The Delta’s Secret”. If we make a few assumptions we might even get something like “The Secret of the West” or “The Mystery of the Twilight” or numerous other variations that have different connotations. It’s conjecture, certainly, and possibly a few stretches. But it is certainly there to think about. My thoughts centered around the positioning of the letters. The idea that the one facing up represented Humanity, and the two ordinary Deltas were Monsters. With the Angel above them all. Or rather, SOMETHING above them all. We have no proof that the idea of an Angel existed before the Underground’s prophecy. I like to think it did because usually that sort of thing draws on previously existing beliefs and ideas. For all we know the symbol could represent an abstract idea that governed both monsters and humans. Like “Kill or be killed” or “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” or other basic idiomatic ideologies of that sort. Other than the realization that the Deltarune is older than the prophecy and the Underground, I didn’t have a concrete idea of what the Emblem actually means. Just a lot of theories and connective ideas. But there’s certainly a lot to be found. I don’t really know how much thought Toby actually put into this, but he’s quite well known for secrets within secrets. So its possible he knew all this going in. If he’s anything like me, and I am notorious for writing this sort of twisting references within references within references into my stories, then he’s probably at least aware of an existing connection. Its quite probably that the Deltarune is exactly what Gerson tells us. An emblematic set of symbols that is used to represent the continuing Kingdom of Monsters and has been since before written history. But as he says... its so old that it might have had a different meaning originally, whatever idea the Monsters wanted to remember, wanted to uphold enough to use it for their royal family and their kingdom, a reminder. Of something, or someone.

[blackjack-15]

Doubly Dubiously Designed — Thoughts on: Danger by Design (DAN)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it. In this meta, a section in between The Title and The Mystery will be The Historical Background, where we’ll dive into a what a mess HER made of this game and its history.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: DAN, mention of SSH.

The Intro:

Holy eff, what was this game?

With Danger By Design, game #14 and our penultimate Jetsetting Game, Nancy kisses Blue Moon Canyon goodbye and flies off to the land of fashion, francs, and fabulous found fripperies — France.

Yes, it was a struggle to come up with so many f-words that made a mad sort of sense.

DAN is a case where they had two or three ideas for two or three different games, and then someone got high and was like “what if we smushed them all together and don’t make them gel together at all”…only none of the ideas were fully formed, so what you get is a tornado – heh — of different things whirling together, but the second the momentum dies, you can see that nothing is actually part of anything else.

There are just too many ideas in DAN to make a game that has an emotional (not to mention logical) payoff, and too few of them are actually used throughout the game to make a game that’s interesting. Add in the fact that the characters are flat in a way that they haven’t been for 10 games and that Nancy seems to have no concrete motivation for anything that she does, and you’re left with a uniquely frustrating experience — and one that fails to take advantage of its unique location in any meaningful way, unlike the other Jetsetting Games.

The Title:

DAN is based off of Nancy Drew Files: Death by Design, which is objectively a more enticing title, though not accurate to the game’s story at all. As it stands, Danger by Design is a pretty good title; it clues you into a vague danger, it establishes not only that it’s about fashion — design — but also that the plot is being orchestrated by players that aren’t immediately visible — design.

I would actually hazard to say that DAN’s title is the most successful part of it; it doesn’t have any gaping holes, it’s catchy, easy to abbreviate — it’s only small problem is that “danger” is a super common mystery title, and that there have already been several other games with “danger” in the title — Stay Tuned for Danger, Danger on Deception Island — so it could improve from a series-naming standpoint. Otherwise, this title does all that it needs to without extraneous detail.

The Mystery:

Summoned to investigate why a famous French designer has suddenly gone crazy, Nancy’s going undercover for the…at least third time in this series so far. The designer, Minette, has taken to wearing a full-face mask with a discomforting lack of air holes and firing employees like most people eat mini-MnMs.

All at once, out of a tube, before they melt and discolor your hand. Or something.

Minette has been running behind, and Nancy is supposed to figure out what’s causing her temper tantrums and slipping schedule, amid threatening letters and insistent phone calls to the moulin where Minette houses her studio. Amy Grunhild, her boss, is wondering what’s up with her behavior and hires Nancy do to some old fashioned snooping.

Once in France, however, Nancy finds out there’s more than meets the eye, both with Minette and with the moulin. Nancy somehow finds herself in the seat of international espionage, a historical futz-up of epic proportions, several fashion faux pas, a mint shortage, flooded catacombs, and the highly graphic murder of the French Language.

As a mystery, let’s be honest: DAN is a mess. A good ol’ Southern may-yuh-suh. The A-plot (Minette) and the B-plot (Noisette + History) intertwine maybe once on the surface and then basically are separate games, no focus is given to anything so it feels jumbled and messy, there’s not enough to do and too much space to do it in…the list goes on.

The focus is honestly the part that upsets the mystery the most; by the time Nancy’s down in the catacombs for the nth time, Minette is pretty much a distant memory, but when Nancy’s trapped with the stained glass, you’re reminded of Noisette suddenly and rather uncomfortably. There’s no clear mystery — there’s in fact at least two very unclear mysteries — and so there’s no clear story.

Now, let’s get to the players who contribute to the mess.

The Suspects:

Minette — real name Tammy Barnes — is supposedly an up-and-coming fashion designer, but is tackling projects that are more what a seasoned professional would handle (like making a dress for the First Lady). Her fierce rivalry with designer Hugo Butterly feels like a looming spectre overhead, and her timetable has begun slipping more and more since she donned the mask.

Why she, an inexperienced plus-size designer is designing a gown for the First Lady (who in 2005/6 was a small, petite woman), neither I nor anyone else has any ideas.

The real reason Minette’s timetable is a disaster is because remnants of the East German Police – no, stay with me here — are threatening her into making the First Lady’s dress complete with electronic bugs so that they could hear what’s going on at the National Summit.

Minette’s the closest thing we get to a culprit — she’s the one we fight at the end — but she’s also a victim of blackmail and threats herself, and I do find it odd that, unlike in other games, she’s not treated as a victim at all; Nancy never teams up with her, never helps fight her enemies, and is never really sympathetic at all. With Minette’s personality, it’s not a shock that Nancy doesn’t sympathize, but I do find it a little odd that the blackmail thing is just kind of glossed over.

Heather McKay is Minette’s only long-time employee, who vents her frustration with her boss by sending her threatening letters every so often. Absurdly young for her position — Heather is at most 23, given her graduation date from Waverly Academy — Heather also designs her own fashion on the side, hoping that working for Minette will give her the contacts she needs in order to be a successful designer.

Heather’s designs also happen to be hideous — did HER have no one with any fashion sense at all working on this game?

As a culprit, Heather would have been interesting, but unlikely; as the person closest to Minette, she’s already the most suspicious, especially since she could be delaying Minette to make her desperate and then offering to step in and “save the day” with one of her own designs. As it is, Heather ends the game far more successful than she should be, and avoids any taint of having worked with Minette.

Dieter Von Schwesterkrank is the red herring — I mean, the German fashion photographer centered in Paris, and the great-nephew of Noisette Tornade’s Nazi lover, Hans Von Schwesterkrank. Originally dating Minette in order to explore the moulin and find Noisette’s treasure, he found he had somehow developed actual feelings for her by the time she broke the relationship off.

As a culprit, Dieter would have been incredibly dull; he barely has enough personality to fill a teaspoon, he’s the obvious red herring due to him and the conspirators both being German (not to mention the German occupation of France in World War II, where the historical background is set), and he would get nothing out of messing with Minette, as his job does better the more that fashion designers thrive.

Jing-Jing Ling is an Australian (and presumably also part-Chinese, given her name) “plus size” (by this game’s standards; I talk about this later) model who was tricked into a contract with Minette and is Nancy’s roommate during Nancy’s time in France. A chronic liar with an interest in circuitry and engineering, JJ also spends her time baking and eating cookies —yeah, because that’s how a model keeps her size 12 (American size 10) figure, wow — and being easily duped into giving up an autograph via a game of Hangman.

The wet dream of both the catacomb-climber Zu and of Joe Hardy himself, JJ is my preferred culprit if I had to choose just from the cast; outwardly friendly while also outwardly manipulative, with the perfect excuse for going out at all hours of the day and night — Minette is an eccentric, remember — and smarter than she seems. She’s also related to both the “Secrets of Paris” plot (through Zu) and the Minette plot. Her being the culprit would make this an entirely different game, however, and so as the culprit in the current game, she’s an iffy choice at best.

Rounding out our physical suspects is Jean-Michel Traquenard, owner of the easiest to pronounce yet most mangled name of the whole game…and editor of Glam Glam Magazine. He’s also the only Frenchman in our suspects, and one of three probable Frenchmen in the entire cast (Zu and possibly Lynn Manrique, judging by her last name).

As a character, Jean-Michel is unique and memorable; as a culprit, he’s a non-entity. While he could have been more than just a place to see a photo and get a sprig of mint without painting bad replicas of famous paintings for 22 hours, he sits comfortably at Café Kiki, not caring three straws about the havoc happening both in the fashion world and in his city.

There are so many phone characters in this game (most one-off, but still), so I’ll run through them briefly.

Zu is an explorer of the Parisian catacombs, who helps Nancy get down there to explore once she gets him the aforementioned autograph from JJ. He’s fun to talk to, and necessary to the plot, but doesn’t show up quite enough. An interesting twist would have had him be one of the existing cast, but no one quite fits the bill.

Lynn Manrique is a one-off historian who wants to talk to Minette about the moulin and Noisette, but who keeps being blown off. She gives Nancy a bit of info, then promptly disappears again.

Hugo Butterly is another brief phone character, giving about as much information as you’d expect from a hoity-toity fashion designer. His convo with Nancy is mostly to rule him out as a suspect. He would have been a cool option for also being Zu. Ah well.

Prudence Rutherford, in all her glory, shows up as a phone friend here, and is one of the most memorable parts of the game — not shocking, as she was just as enjoyable in Secret of the Scarlet Hand. Here, she’s sent off a request to Minette for a few outfits that of course Nancy has to put together.

Sure, what Prudence wants is an eyesore, but a delightfully Prudence eyesore. Perfect for a woman who’s good friends with P. G. Krolmeister.

Finally, let’s talk a bit about the woman who started part of this game.

Noisette Tornade — literally “hazelnut tornado” in French, which is the oddest name ever – was a member of the French resistance during World War II. Though loyal to France, her boyfriend Hans was loyal to his native Germany, and their relationship resulted in Noisette being seen as a traitor.

Though acquitted, Noisette remained bitter towards those who distrusted her, and hid the treasures of Paris that she had saved for the rest of her life to punish them.

Interestingly enough, when you’re playing this game for the first time, you really do feel like Noisette is supposed to be a sort of tragic hero…but Noisette is not a good person, or a moral person. Even after being exonerated and elected as Director of Public Works for the rest of her life, Noisette is too bitter to restore the art to the country, and refuses to believe she might have acted in the wrong by knowingly and deliberately harboring a Nazi.

Perhaps in early planning stages (and I say planning very, very loosely), Noisette had been executed and was supposed to be a tragic figure who did nothing wrong. But Noisette wasn’t a good person, and any points she might have gotten for saving art disappear when she decided that because she was suspected due to the fact that her boyfriend was a freaking Nazi, the city would pay for it — forever.

The Favorite:

There’s some good stuff in DAN (even if most of it doesn’t come to fruition or feel deserved), and they do deserve to be mentioned.

Jean-Michel is by far the best character that this game has to offer, and he’d still be pretty good in a game that was a bit better. Apart from his painful pronunciation games with Nancy, he’s a lot of fun to talk to and has a great character design. A larger than life character needs a larger than life wardrobe, and Jean-Michel delivers.

My favorite puzzle in the game is the Prudence costume design; while it’s not a hard puzzle and doesn’t really make you feel very accomplished as a puzzler, it is a whole lot of fun and a way to design some of the ugliest outfits known to man.

My favorite moment in the game is anytime Nancy spends time in JJ’s apartment; it’s so well designed and homey without being ugly or kitschy. Baking cookies is prolly the best moment — I wouldn’t call it a puzzle, it’s more like just a task — because it just feels nice and relaxing.

The Un-Favorite:

It’s a small thing, relative to the rest of the things wrong with this game, but I hate that a size 10 (size 12 in France, which converts to an American size 10) is defined as plus-size in this game when in 2006, the year this game was released, a 10 was nowhere near a plus size. It’s a small detail that they very easily could have gotten right, and they didn’t bother to even check.

My least favorite moment in the game is easily the Minette fight that turns into Nancy trapped with Noisette’s artwork. Nothing quite illustrates the fact that they had no idea what story they were telling and no idea how to end the game more than the fact that we go from a slo-mo kung-fu fight to a hall of French artwork and no one’s quite sure which one is supposed to be the climax.

My least favorite puzzle is the catacomb puzzle; while the catacombs are cool to explore, navigating them is a frustrating experience, only made worse by the fear of getting lost – or the rats stealing things that you really, really need.

While most things in DAN bother me to some degree, the game is so uniformly disappointing that not a lot of things stand out over each other, so we’ll move on to where the actual work begins.

The Fix:

This is one of the few games that, in order to have a cohesive plot, storyline, and motivation for all (or even any) of its characters, needs a complete re-write to the setup along with changes to the “plot” progression itself.

The first big problem to fix is the reason Nancy’s there in the first place. It doesn’t make a lot of sense that she’s there to figure out what’s wrong with Minette — she should have a lot of specialized knowledge in order to be an assistant to such a major designer — and the justification is flimsy.

There’s also the problem that our historical characters aren’t heroes, so to try to “exonerate” Noisette when France already cleared her of everything except bitterness is, quite frankly, not a very heroic endeavor. Having this B-plot marginally tied to the A-plot by the fact that the Germans are the bad guys in both really isn’t great either — and certainly isn’t enough justification for the writing to be this bad.

To fix both of these in one fell swoop, shift the story in the past slightly.

Perhaps Noisette and Hans are still involved, but Noisette manages to turn her boyfriend against the Nazis and they spy on behalf of France, including saving France’s art from the hands of the Nazis and hiding it. The French government, however, doesn’t trust either one of them, and executes them for treason against the French state. Noisette and Hans carry the location where they stored the art to their graves, believing it to be unsafe with German sympathizers still around, but leave clues with friends and around the city, wanting it to be found in due time.

Cut to 2006, and Hans’ descendant Dieter Von Schwesterkrank has found evidence that Hans and Noisette were loyal to the French cause and were executed unjustly. The evidence is enough that he believes it (perhaps a work of art or two deemed ‘stolen’ by the pair has turned up in the family, but without any provenance, causing issues of authenticity), having always heard growing up that Hans was working for the French, but he knows that no one else will unless he can dig up more.

He tries to seduce Minette — an actual Frenchwoman in this version — into letting him hang around the windmill where Noisette and Hans once lived. He accidentally falls for her, but she breaks it off due to the external pressure, leaving him both heartbroken and unable to search more.

Having gotten the phone once in the moulin and been subject to one of Prudence Rutherford’s calls, he learns about a hotshot teen detective in America named Nancy Drew who’s worked undercover before and will take any job.

Needing her help, Dieter writes Nancy, telling her that he’s got a job for her and that he’s just trying to figure out how to get her a visa to come to France. Using Heather’s crush on him,  he mentions an intern from the States that he’s heard of that can supposedly handle any boss, no matter how obnoxious — and the wheels start spinning.

Once Nancy gets to France and gets the low-down on Minette, she goes to visit Dieter to get her real assignment — to balance working for Minette while finding proof of Hans and Noisette’s innocence.

With those changes in place, the game can proceed relatively unchanged in the order of events, albeit with more importance given to Dieter and less on pointless minigames with Minette. As Nancy tries to find out more about Noisette and Hans, she also notices Minette acting strangely: refusing to talk to people, communicating through emails and instant messages, falling further and further behind.

Zu changes from a wacky one-off character with an obsession to the expert in the catacombs and their use by the French Resistance during WWII; Lynn Manrique from a simple historian to a French Art historian specializing in identifying forged works of art and in art trafficking during the War.

Instead of Noisette’s plotline getting swirled into Minette’s, Minette’s issues are swirled into the larger plotline of proving Noisette and Hans’ innocence through finding the missing artwork and, along with it, the proof that they were working on behalf of France all along.

In the interest of not changing too much, the bad guys can still be fringe German extremists looking to destroy Noisette and Hans’ hard work (or perhaps who have a personal grudge against Hans in particular) and so threaten Minette, but rather than threatening a world summit through a bugged dress, they’ve been stealing fabric, designs, unpicking stitches — whatever they can think of — to delay her collection in the hope that she’ll think that the moulin is cursed and move to a different location, allowing them to search the building top-to-bottom to find the art that they suspect is hidden inside.

I know that this Fix section seems quite long, but it’s all really worldbuilding and premise changes; once a few motivations are shifted and the villains’ objective changes from something that the player doesn’t care about to something that they will care about, the game improves itself rather quickly.

WWII isn’t my preferred time in history to learn about, but even I can acknowledge that passing off the French occupation as “ah those wacky Germans” and “seriously and actively dating an actual Nazi shouldn’t get you suspected as a collaborateur because That’s Mean and if people suspect you just hide French national treasures because that’ll show them” isn’t a great look, nor does it fulfill the “edu” part of “edutainment”.

[knifehecker]

undertale day [long post]

it’s the 15th!! happy 4th birthday undertale!!! normally i try to do a little art or something but this year i decided to do something a little different. there’s a lot of content that’s become core tenets of my experience with the fandom -- changed the way i thought about the characters, how i engage with the fandom, opened my eyes to new ways of writing -- and i thought it’d be neat to compile some of those into one post to share with other people. so without further ado!!!

40-minute Deltarune Piano Medley - FaceImplosion [MUSIC]

ok, i know this is deltarune and not undertale, but this medley incorporates songs from both games so i’m gonna say it counts. and honestly, i could say a LOT about this piece!! i’ve watched and listened to a lot of ut/dr medleys, and this has to be the most lovingly crafted of its type that i’ve ever seen. Ever. a lot of care has been put into the order and combination of the songs (some funny, some sad, some mindblowing, ALL amazing) and the art is so good that every time i listen i find myself watching along. there’s a lot of easter eggs, especially for the attentive listener/watcher, and this medley deserves far more than the 6k views it’s gotten so far.

Undertale Album Project - Various Artists [MUSIC]

Songs From Mt Ebott is a collaborative album project that contains dozens of tracks from a score of different artists. i have a lot of favorite tracks from this album, not to mention the individual track art created for each, and if you’ve never heard of this project before, i really recommend giving it a listen! (FaceImplosion also did a piano track for this album, by the way, which i’m linking separately because it’s one of my aforementioned favorites.)

Chara - tigerblossom [MUSIC]

im not gonna lie. this was my favorite piece of fan music for a long time. it’s a medley mashing a few different songs together, short and sweet, but it comes together in such an incredibly heartfelt way at the end that whenever i end up listening to it i find myself wishing the track was about five minutes longer. they also have an underfell version of your best friend that i recommend giving a listen!

Photographs - FuriousPoplar [FIC]

in terms of “post-paci everyone lives au”s, there’s been a lot of ground covered by a lot of different people, and after a while the concept feels almost a bit...same-y? but this fic covers a sorely-needed conversation between an alive chara and asriel in a way that i’ve never seen approached by anyone else before. it’s cathartic, it’s extremely well written, and it doesn’t shy away from the ugly sides of trauma and recovery, which is so greatly appreciated. it also hit me...REALLY hard, which i think is a testament to how amazing this piece is.

Turn Back - foxsgloves [FIC]

i read this one pretty early on in my time in this fandom, and it’s continued to influence me long after. the premise: frisk keeps loading over the brief time asriel has his body in the epilogue, and simply spends time with him as they both prepare to move on towards the end. it’s sad. it’s cute. it’s amazing. it’s something i go back to reread sometimes late at night when i want to reread something friendly and familiar and a little sad. and its been one of my favorites ever since i read it.

You Wear Your Grief Like a Badge - Draikinator [FIC SERIES]

how do you even TALK about ywyglb? do i talk about nate’s impeccable voice in their writing? how true to character they are with the kids? how they set the scene of a post-pacifist world still shaking with the echoes of the past? the series starts with flowey taking frisk’s soul captive while chara and sans form an uneasy alliance in order to get them back, and then spirals into a tense, sweet, funny, awful, heartbreaking experience that reshaped how i viewed the boundaries of my own writing. draikinator’s writing has been and continues to be a huge inspiration to me, and i heartily recommend giving any of their stuff a try.

A Numbered List of Things That Aren't as Badass as They Sound (ex. Monsters, Suicide, Burning in Hell) - rosyy [FIC]

a brief glimpse into chara and asriel just before It Happens, While It Happens, When It Happens. the prose here is the sort of flowery delirious feverdream you’d expect from a kid dying of buttercup poisoning, and i love it to bits. i also want to mention a dr who crossover by the same author, because it has kris as the doctor and frisk as the stray they adopt, and its also the perfect antidote to the angst the first fic provides.

Risen Up (or, Of Fallen Children and Mountain Kin) - paradoxpangolin [FIC]

oh jeezums, how do i even start with this one? post-paci, frisk comes to the conclusion that the best way to ease the tensions between human and monsterkind is to put on a musical about their time in the underground!!!!.....except this leads to its own host of complications, and things get a bit Messy. this fic hasn’t updated in a bit, but it contains so much in its 140k of already published writing that i feel the need to urge you to read it anyway. i’m really partial to autistic frisks, and this fic has what’s got to be my favorite portrayal of that in ... probably the entire fandom? honestly, most (if not all) of the characters in this fic are autist, and it’s just. very good. i love.

you’re like a mirror, reflecting me - batterytriplicate [FIC]

a daemon au exploring what frisk and chara’s journeys might have been like with the extra distinction between monster dust and daemon dust. i completely forgot about this fic until i was trawling through my ao3 history for this post, and i’m really really glad i found it again. i think i was in the middle of trying to figure out this exact au when i first found this fic, and it did everything i was thinking of (and more) so much better that i felt more than content leaving it at that. so if you like his dark materials and want to see a fantastic little daemon au, give this a shot!

soulless-pacifist - vsemily [ASK BLOG]

soulless-pacifist..... if you’ve never heard of this askblog, you’re in for a treat. i wasn’t with it from the very beginning, but i started reading towards the  middle of its main story arc and stuck with it to the end, and suffice it to say, it has to be my favorite fandom askblog to date, purely for how well its written, how well its drawn, and how it’s one of the....only askblogs i’ve ever seen come not only to a FULL conclusion, but to a satisfying one! the mun also worked with a programmer to create a fangame for its final arc, which is so above and beyond that im still kind of in disbelief. in short: this askblog followed frisk and their passenger after the events of a soulless pacifist route, and continues on with them as they grow together and find their place with a whole host of twist and turns in store.                also, memes.

Shine your light with me, chase all the dark away - FancifulRivers [FIC]

this au follows frisk and chara after the events of the game. unlike most post-paci runs, though, chara has their own body back, while they and frisk are hiding back in mt ebott after the monsters have left to avoid the complications of being runaways and also.... incredible guilt and trauma. things don’t really work out like that, though, and i really recommend this read. fancifulrivers has also been an incredibly prolific writer who’s uploaded a lot of really good ut fics, so this is a great starting point to jump off of for their other stuff!

repercussions - proximally [FIC]

this fic... i think this one fic is the one that’s impacted me the most during my early days of this fandom. it’s short, and sad, and is a twist on the soulless pacifist ending that i was left thinking about literally for months after i first read it. instead of saying any more and risking spoiling it, i’ll just leave the author’s desc:  “You made a mistake, and you pay for it with your life. “

The Great Boondoggle - Masu_Trout [FIC]

the premise of this fic is pretty simple. post paci, frisk is walking home. they come across a Bad Guy. hijinks ensue. but what sets apart this fic from others for me is the way frisk is written here. when this fic was published in early 2016, most frisks i came across were the...sweet harmless woobies that were pretty typical from the fandom. this is one of the first frisks i came across that was kind of mean, and a little cold, and had very obviously had a long upward climb to being the sort of person who chose mercy instead of fight. this portrayal is a lot more common nowadays, which i’m super grateful for, but since this is one of the first fics i came across that really nailed this portrayal, i felt i should leave this here. i also recommend their pokemon/ut au, which is toriel and frisk centric and i also love to bits.

and....well, i was gonna say “that’s it”, but i honestly had to cut quite a few things from this list to keep it from stretching the dash too much. there’s been a lot of incredible content created by this fandom over the years, and this is by no means a comprehensive list of my favorites. but these are some of the ones that impacted me in a really special way, and if you were kind enough to check them out and maybe even liked them, please consider leaving a kind comment for the creator! if you’re the author of one of these pieces reading this right now: thank you so much! im looking forward to finding even more favorites in this year and the next.

[squidy-scribbler]

Since it is November 1st (or at least November 1st in central america which right now it’s like 8am. (WHICH MEANS I CAN FINALLY POST THIS, I GOT UP EARLY AS FUCK JUST FOR THIS. I left my laptop in sleep mode just so that I could easily post this and not ruin Toby’s request ouo) believe it’s time to talk about this theory I have. 

I believe Delta Rune takes place in the timeline where “Chara” and Asriel succeed in getting the monsters above ground or in a timeline where Asgore succeeded in getting 7 human souls much earlier then in Undertale. Which can be validated by the fact that him and Toriel seem to be divorced by this point and that he keeps colored flower’s under glass in his room which could be memorials to the fallen children that he took. I however am going to go with the first part of this..mainly because of the title of the game it’s self Delta Rune as in the same Delta Rune that held the prophecy about going up to the surface which I think that Asriel and Chara both fulfilled. And that the red locked door by it’s lonesome is the exit from the underground to the surface.

So let me explain my findings~

First we are introduced to Kris who is Toriel and Asgore’s “child” along with Asriel who is at college right now. Kris is definitely in Chara’s outfit and is taller then both Chara and Frisk so they’re older. and from the ending…..it’s safe to assume that Chara and Kris are the same person. Chara has never been explicitly called Chara in the game undertale..their name has always been the player’s name and the fandom labeled them as Chara due to data mined sprites labeling them as such. I can hear it now though..“but then why is it when you type in “Chara” for your name it calls the game calls it “the true name”? cuz it’s literally short for character..the true name of any person in a game is that they are a character in that game..and without our influence as a player I think that “Chara” could have easily been given the name Kris.

There’s also the fact that Bratty/Catty are enemies and Alphys/Undyne do not know each other. The second of those two options being much more interesting since it implies that Alphys was never the royal scientist and never spent much time in the dump to help those two develop that friendship and also therefore never met Undyne in waterfall or royal guard. Supporting this fact is that by knocking on Napstablook’s house can get the voice of someone calling you darling and Beautiful along with saying that they are a nobody. Assuming this is Mettaton they definitely would be a nobody had Alphys not made them a robotic body.There are also two graves found in the graveyard by the church that are for the ice bird’s mom and for the dog’s pack leader which both had died but had been brought back as amalgamates via Alphys’s experimenting so that never occurred.

So when did they leave the underground exactly? Well as much as I would like to find a more exact time based off of these character deaths the problem of how monster’s decompose is an issue. They turn to dust..so who’s to say that the monster families didn’t just keep the dust in a jar and bury it in those spots at a later date? Another issue with this logic would be that they could have died on the surface. So until further details I can’t base the timeline on that.

However I can base it on how Toriel and Asgore act along with Alphys non royal scientistness that I discussed earlier. Asgore and Toriel are divorced in DeltaRune from what I can tell since it seems like Asgore lives in his flower shop which means that by this point he has probably killed a couple kids one way or another. This along with the fact that Alphys is not the royal scientist can mean only one thing. They had to have left the underground when WD Gaster was presumed to be the royal scientist…and judging by the fact that we have yet to see him it’s safe to assume everyone left the underground shortly after he disappeared.

Another thing to note is that Sans can be talked with as Kris is returning home and he says that he’s new in town. How is it that they were much later then everyone else in getting to the surface? One of the main fan theories is that Sans and Papyrus are fairly new to the underground and were made much later in Undertale’s timeline so by this logic they would have been born or made shortly before or after Alphys was named royal scientist which means this would hold true in the DeltaRune timeline. Meaning that right now the DeltaRune timeline is taking place right around when the skeleton brothers first came to Snowdin in the Undertale timeline. Side note this is nice to know since it could also tell us how old Asriel and Chara/Kris would be if they were alive when Frisk would have gone to the underground in Undertale, of course adding a few years to let the skeleton brothers settle in. Though there is one thing that could throw a wrench into this line of thinking and that is Gerson’s grave.

Gerson is definitely alive and well in Undertale well past when Sans and Papyrus first moved into Snowdin so why does that no longer hold true in the DeltaRune timeline? It may just be an assumption but i’m going to say that the reason for them leaving the underground so soon may have resulted in Gerson’s death. Otherwise this new timeline would have a lot of explaining to do about Sans and Papyrus. Which frankly we need a lot more of already but for now we’re trying to stick to the order of events as Undertale portrays them to be and would most likely happen across all other timelines as well. 

With all this in mind what could cause such a need to get out of the underground so quickly? Why would Chara and Asriel succeed this time and not the time they tried in Undertale? and why is Gerson dead? My answer…of course involves our mysterious friend Gaster. Now we have yet to see any inkling that Gaster is alive or dead in this timeline and given that he’s definitely connected to the skeleton brothers i’m going to assume if he had survived that he would be with them. Since he’s not mentioned by Sans (or frankly anyone) as of yet i’m going to say that the event that made Gaster into what he is was in Undertale happened in a different way this time around and somehow Gerson was involved. I’m supporting this with the fact that two of his followers are now normal in this timeline and the fact that Undyne still has her eye. It has been said in Undertale that her and Gerson were close so his involvement allowed for the followers to keep their non Gaster filled lives along with making sure that Undyne never got injured in the eye.

Since Gerson was once a warrior and knows a lot about monster history I would think that having his involvement would mean that the event that made Gaster in Undertale probably was much more of an emergency in the DeltaRune timeline and required the aid of an experienced human monster war veteran. There are also a lot of strong theories that Gaster turning into what he is involved the core so i’m going to guess that since the monsters got out early, this time the event that made or caused Gaster to change resulted in a core meltdown. This would make it easier for Asriel to attack the humans of the surface rather then take their blows since otherwise all monsters would be doomed to die if the core was going to erupt, die, meltdown, etc. This could also explain Kris since Chara’s spirit could latch onto Frisk..so who’s to say Chara didn’t attach to Kris after they separated from Asriel? Or Kris is one of the human’s Asgore killed and Asriel infused Chara into Kris’s dead body before they left the underground? Hell Chara might not have even died this time and their real name could've been Kris all along in both timelines and Chara’s just kinda a place holder name (like Character) as they may have forgotten their real name after dying. But that's all just wild speculation with no evidence. We’ll hopefully find out more later. (Going off from the beginning say Asgore did get 7 human souls early.This could also explain why he did it so soon. He took Toriel’s advice of just using a human soul to pass through the barrier and then come back with 6 more since everyone would die otherwise. Which would explain the divorce but again I still like to think that the Delta Rune prophecy still came true some how).

In conclusion I looked way too much into this and I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts and opinions going forward. This is just how I interpreted all of these elements of DeltaRune and hopefully we’ll know the full story soon enough :D for now I await this chapter 2 and hopefully it’ll bring more answers.

[riskeith]

i couldn’t stop smiling reading your last message i’m literally so happy atm. you’re so cute and i’m SO happy. i reread it three times and giggled so loud my brother asked why i was laughing... 🥺 he’s in the next freaking room 🥺

sappiness aside: YES!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE? i wish i could give my luck to you as you deserve it much more ): it’s true but it’s still important if you wanna do well in combat sadly haha dhdydbjdnd like you said it’s very inconvenient to have a unbalanced team but i decided that i’m just gonna switch around with the characters i have when it’s needed yk? they’re all mostly around the same levels so it works fine rn.. or it will until i have to focus on who i want to focus on ascending when i get to higher levels bc payments and materials and all.. sigh there’s so much to think about with too many cute characters... anyway how many rolls have you done since you started playing? do you remember?

OH???? is it easier on pc? i’ve always enjoyed smaller consoles tbh (like switch or even phone) bc it’s easier to focus so it wasn’t that difficult for me. but like you said it might just be a ‘getting used to it’ thing. also now that you’ve seen both; which differences are there in the game? are you gonna have two different accs?

i did restart it from the first ep!!! i figured i might as well get the ~full~ experience. it’s been a while too so it’s like a new experience but not rly? it’s like traveling back to your home country and you’re like wow... i belong here even if i’m not here all the time dhsjsjdhfh bad example but you know what i mean?i’ll keep you updated! rn i’m at training camp part of s1 and it’s great!!! just having a blast tbh. needed this especially now that school is back... :(

i guess we are talking about voltron in 20fucking21. i don’t know if i love that for us or not.... (our honeymoon can be whenever you want babe pick a date and i’m There 😏)

pls unrequited love is soo good. it hurts but it’s good too? haha, maybe if one has experiences with it it just hits different yk? but i’m with you—watching voltron i always always had the headcanon that keith first started to feel smth for lance in the ‘we did it’ scene and actually thought ‘i’m in love’ during the black lion scene. like the proof is all there... s8 and the sunset scene just proves his longlasting feelings nobody can tell me otherwise. keith is the type to cherish the people he loves a lot because he barely has anyone and that means putting their happiness above anything else and lance’s happiness was allura for a while and he just... accepted that despite yearning . god . i always think about is bittersweet smile while having his speech. it’s like; i know that you’re great and you should know that you’re great too and if she can’t see it she doesn’t deserve you.

you freaking out over the leave the math to pidge scene... losing my fucking mind. girl they’re literally in love fuckinf crying 😭😭😭😭😭 they depend on each other SO much like the show runners always push the ‘hunk and lance bffs’ agenda ok sure but in the show hunk was never there for lance the same way keith was. they just eased each other’s anxieties without having any expectations on each other at all? yet they surpassed all of them. the other was just.. there. always. remember the ‘we all miss shiro’ scene too???? the entire team looked at lance and wanted him to step up!!!!!! like HELLO??????? and the second lance spoke keith just calmed down... kill me now. if that doesn’t show much trust and appriciation and respect there was between them idk what does. and the fact that the others know that despite their differences they still need each other just..... yeah. *cries*

YOU SHOULD YOU SHOULD YOU SHOULD YOU SHOULD. i get you tho klance is just... comfort ship but the ship that leaves you depressed too. i’m sure you could still write them perfectly but i’m absolutely in no way pressuring you at all you truly don’t have to if you can’t. i know how hard it can be to write when the motivation is just not there... :/ anyway idk what i’d prompt i just love your fics babe hsjdhdjdjdk. that’s so boring of me to say help but everything you write i love so.. surprise me? i can’t believe you have a final klance fic tho that sounds so sad.... ): i’m curious what it’s about but maybe it’s better to keep it hush hush.. hm?

i hope you’ve slept well!! you make me so happy!! kisses! xxxxxx

FHSJFKDS that makes /me/ so happy to hear!!! i was sitting on my bed smiling like a FOOL reading this ahahahaha. and soz to your brother but what can i say ���🤪

nooooo im so glad you got a 5 star already pls it’s fine im just gonna use all my primogems on xiao banner and it’ll end up okay fhskjdfds. yeah just switching charas in when needed totally works too! it’s just annoying when you accidentally get caught up in combat and it’s just ‘oop im level 1 against level 50′ AHAH. (tho i guess you won’t run into that issue yet?) honestly yeah there’s so much to do with the characters like ascending, constellations, talents, weapons, it’s just like.. what do i do first.... and who..... afhdskjfhsjf sometimes i just want to use character bc pretty and that should be enough 😔

hmmmm for the character event banner I believe i’m at 60 or 70 rn? so i’m reaaaally close to pity which is why when xiao comes 🙏🙏🙏 and for the standard banner i have no idea, maybe 40? so yeahhhh LOL... i keep saying this (and i better not be jinxing it BUT) im hoping it’ll all pay off...... i hope it’s all been building up for xiao... c6 xiao.. come home FHDKSJHDS

i definitely prefer it on PC! controls aside i just like the bigger screen tbh (my laptop is 15″). mostly the differences are the controls/buttons! since you can’t hold down multiple buttons at once on mobile, they’ve got more to cover all the functions (pc doesn’t have an extra dash button, we just right click or press shift; if we’re in the air i think one of the buttons turns into the drop down/plunge, rather than showing like 3 on mobile? i can’t remember precisely but yeahhh; there’s also the joystick on the left side of the screen on mobile that obviously isn’t there on pc bc we have the keyboard. it’s also harder to move the camera around whilst doing things on mobile i feel?) 

and nah i don’t think i’ll make another acc, esp since i’ve gotten so far into game already but i did definitely think about it as a possibility ahahah (bc of my bad luck... i was wondering if i did a reroll (second) acc i might be able to get diluc FJKHSKDFS)

omg it feels like coming home what a good description 😩😩 haikyuu is just such a fun warm experience! legit so comforting and light-hearted but also get deep when it needs to be. oh yes training camp <33 gosh they were so young then :’) HAHAAH. and noooooo school has started up for you again? rip i wish you the best of luck 😔💪

maybe 2k21 is the year of revisiting old things...... god voltron ended in 2018 can you BELIEVE that (😏😏😏 i was gonna mention playing genshin co-op together (even back when you first started) HAAHAH but i assume you play in europe server? im asia rip 😥)

WE DID IT WE ARE A GOOD TEAM!! THE FUCKING PURPLE AROUND THEM!!!! THE SMILEEEE OH MY GOD THE BONDING MOMENT THE. fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk every time you mentioned a single line or scene im just. all the memories come flooding back fhdsfkhsdjf. hang on a second.. they are red and blue.... the scene was purple... surely i knew this back then but im thinking about it now and?????/ oh my god

the sunset scene!!!!!!!!!! that is Peak pining keith unrequited love and pain scene... my goodness. “that means putting their happiness above anything else” NOOOOOOOOOOO you are so right tho 😭😭😭😭😭 please keith deserves the univerise <333 :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( the fact that lance seeked him out for that too.. just like old times.. “you can sure be a hard guy to find when you wanna be huh” the way i still remember that ugh they really were my everything 😔

YES!! like they pushed the whole lance+hunk+pidge thing but then in the actual show had hunk+pidge treat lance like shit and belittle him so often?? like ?????????? (once again where fanon saves us 😩) and oh my god yeah.. when everyone turned to him and lance like walked up to keith and then said all that.. we actually had so many moments?? god. *cries with you*

speaking of shiro.. s06e05 the black paladins!!! “shiro.. please.. you’re my brother.. i love you..” “just let go, keith” 😭😭 keith suffered so much AND FOR WHAT my god i miss him so much oh no

FSHFKJDS “surprise me” the only reason im asking is bc i have no ideas!!!!!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭 but i shall think.. (and if you want to think and help me out too.. 👐) & i’ve actually posted about that final fic a lot! LMAO that’s how you know i know i’m never gonna finish fdskhfksjd but in case you do wanna see, here are some links: one, two, three

thank you!! i stayed up to 4am like an idiot LOL but i swear today.... and same 😭 im so so happy to have met you 🥰❣ muah! xoxoxox

[advocatewrites-blog]

Into the Unknown Part 3 Chapter 3

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Characters: Frisk, Norman B., Dipper P., Mabel P., Coraline J., Wirt, Greg, the Cat, the Frog; Sans, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Asgore,; the Other Mother, the Beast, Agatha P., Bill Cipher, Asriel D., Chara D.,

Pairings: Not the focus. Alphys/Undyne, with mentions of Papyrus/Mettaton, sans/Toriel/Asgore, and Wirt/Sara. Due to the nature of Undertale and the dating segments, there is also interpretable Papyrus/Wirt, Undyne/Mabel, Alphys/Dipper, Napstablook/Norman, Mettaton/Norman, Mettaton/Mabel, Sans/Dipper, Sans/Norman, and Sans/Greg.

Rated a high +K for violence, mild language, horrific elements that may be disturbing to younger readers,  mentions of child abuse and bullying, character death that is sometimes permanent, and mentions of suicide that may be triggering. These elements remain relatively unchanged from their source material, which most all are for children, but discretion is advised nonetheless.

Disclaimer: Undertale was created and owned by Toby Fox. Coraline was created by Neil Gaiman and owned by Bloomsbury and Laika. Over the Garden Wall was created by Patrick McHale and owned by Cartoon Network. Paranorman was created by Sam Fell and Chris Butler and owned by Laika. Gravity Falls was created by Alex Hirsch and owned by Disney. Any other work mentioned or homage are property of their respective owners. This is a fan-made, nonprofit work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the original franchises.

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Chapter 3

Undyne was right behind him.

Norman ran along the piers in the Waterfall. Energy spears shot up from the ground, never quite hitting him but always getting closer than he wanted them to be.  The floor was splitting below him.

He reached a dead end. Undyne’s footsteps, loud metal clacking on wood, slowed. She knew it was a dead end too.

He turned and saw her take one more step, right where her spears had splintered the wood already. There was a sickening cracking noise as the bridge collapsed. He fell.

“It sounded like it came from over here…Oh! You’ve fallen down, haven’t you? Are you okay? Here, get up…Chara, huh? That’s a nice name. My name is—”

 He was awake before he could hear the last part of that.

It took Norman a minute to regain his bearings. He had landed on a patch of golden flowers, the same kind that were in the Ruins. Above head, he could make out just the faintest rays of the sun. He was still in the Underground.

What was that? It was too vivid to be a dream, he realized, and he did not think he had fallen asleep anyway. It was more like a vision. He did not recall having visions, but for some reason, the idea felt right in his head. If he could see ghosts, anything was possible, he supposed.

There was no point of worrying about it now. If it was a vision, it had not told him enough to make sense of it. Norman picked himself up and continued forward.

There was no better way to describe the things that emerged from the ground: they were zombies. They looked as ever bit grotesque as the art in Norman’s room depicted them; pale green skin that should have rotted, skeletal limbs and organs that should be spilling out.

The FIGHT began.

The Cat ran in-between Frisk and the zombies, hair sticking on ends and a hiss in his throat. He stood ready to pounce at the first sign of conflict. Without thinking about it, Frisk ran a CHECK on the closest one.

????? 80 ATK 80 DEF

He’s been asleep for a long time. It’s not his fault.

The zombie lurched forward, but did not otherwise attack. He would not attack them straight out, Frisk realized.  So they decided to ACT.

*CHECK                          *TALK

*CONSOLE                      *CRITISIZE

*STEAL WIG

Hi! I’m F-R-I-S-K! They signed quickly, ending with a little wave.

The zombies gave her a confused look. Maybe they didn’t understand signing. Frisk reached for their notebook and wrote it down during the zombie’s turn.

The zombie with the wig leaned into it, old eyes struggling to read it. He reached for the notebook and pen.

JUDGE HOPKINS 80 ATK 80 DEF

He’s been asleep for a long time. He did what he had to do.

The place Norman had landed in was a Dump. Most of the garbage had been kept in bins and bags, but quite a bit was flowing through the pond freely. Norman could make out some things that were clearly monster-made, like gloves for six-fingered folk and a jar of construction paper labelled “Temmy Flaeks.” Most of it, however, looked like it came from above; coolers, desktop computers with empty contents, DVD cases with desperate claw marks covering the surface.

Norman was so absorbed in looking for the human-made things that he hardly noticed when the Training Dummy jumped in front of him.

“HAHAHAHA…Too intimidated to fight me, huh!?” said the Dummy. “I am a ghost that lives inside a DUMMY. My cousin used to live inside a dummy, too. Until…YOU CAME ALONG!”

He barely remembered the Dummy, all the way back in the Ruins. Toriel had just told him to talk to it.  It did not even answer back.

“What did I do?” Norman asked.

“When you talked to them, they thought they were in for a nice chat,” Said the Dummy. “But the things you SAID…! Horrible. Shocking! UNBELIEVABLE!”

Norman may not have remembered the Dummy very well, but he knew that all he did was ask him how the weather was before Toriel said that was good enough.

“It spooked them right out of their dummy!  HUMAN! I’ll scare your Soul out of your body!”

Mad Dummy blocks the way.

“Listen, I didn’t mean—“ Norman started.

He stopped as a series of dummy-shaped bullets were fired his way. He jumped out of the way. He jumped back as they spun around like boomerangs and rushed back to him.

“OWWWW, you DUMMIES!! Watch where you’re aiming you MAGIC attacks!” the dummy cried.  “Wait…forget I said that!”

Another set of bullets fired towards him, but Norman easily dodged them and watched them fire back at the Mad Dummy.

“HEY GUYS!” The Mad Dummy shouted as he summoned his next round of bullets. “Dummies. Dummies! DUMMIES! YOU’RE FIRED! YOU’RE ALL BEING REPLACED!!!”

The dummy bullets faded out of existence with sheepish expressions,

“Now you’ll see my real power,” said the Mad Dummy. “Relying on people that aren’t garbage!”

Mechanical whirs filled the room. Norman tried to talk him down again. He didn’t seem much for conversation. Nobody was happy with this.

The next set of bullets appeared, bulkier and boxier than the others. Norman jumped out of the way like the others, only to turn around and find they were still chasing him down. He ran forward, coming face to nuzzle with the Mad Dummy as they lost course and plowed into it.

“DUMMY BOTS! You’re awful???” the Mad Dummy cried.

More missiles were launched towards Norman, and he found himself running in circles. A few more hit the Mad Dummy.

“Who cares. Who cares! WHO CARES!!! I DON’T NEED FRIENDS!”

The dummy bots vanished, and were replaced with a single large bullet.

“I GOT KNIVES!!!”

The knife landed by Norman’s feet.

“I’m…out of knives.”

More bullets filled the field, but not the ones the Mad Dummy used. Most of them faded out before they got close to Norman, instead landing on the Mad Dummy and sizzling.

“Wh-what the heck is this? Acid rain?” said the Mad Dummy. “Oh FORGET IT! I’m outta here!”

The Mad Dummy slipped past Norman and back out into the fields of worthless garbage.

“…sorry, I interrupted you, didn’t I? as soon as I came over, your friend immediately left…oh no, it looked like you guys were having fun…oh no………………………………………………………………………………..”

There was a storm brewing in Blithe’s Hollow. As soon as the sun set and the dead rose, there was a chill in the air. Storm clouds hung in the air, crackling with thunder. Frisk could just make out the shapes that formed as they swirled. But it was not just a storm; that much was obvious. There was a type of pressure on their Soul, the same they usually felt as a Fight started. Something else was going on.

After a long back and forth conversation between two people that could not talk and two games of tic-tac-toe, Frisk understood better. The witch was not buried with the judges. They would have to find her grave, and start from there. Judge Hopkins was the only one, possibly ever, who knew where she was buried, so he led the way.

The town was deathly still. What was once packed with ghosts and people now only held a few cars and bystanders. The only sign that there was still life were the neon signs and traffic lights.

For some reason, that scared the zombies the most.

I know, gas prices have gone too high, Frisk wrote down in the notebook, because it seemed like a smart thing to say.

Jude Hopkins snatched the notebook from them and began writing furiously. He had filled nearly a page when they first heard the screams.

“well…I’m gonna go head home now…” said Napstablook. “oh…feel free to ‘come with’ if you want…but no pressure…”

“I don’t want to impose,” said Norman.

“neither do I…” said Napstablook.

They didn’t seem much for conversation. Nobody was happy with this.

“I live up just this way, in case you want to join me…” said Napstablook. “or, in case, you don’t…”

The neighborhood that sat just above the dump was small. There were only a handful of houses but they were all uniquely shaped. No one house looked the same, and no one house looked like a real house. Even Napstablook’s house was built into its neighbors, forming a perfectly symmetrical image.

The interior was much more what Norman would have expected. There were no chairs, but he remembered how his grandmother liked to phase in and out of furniture and figured most ghosts didn’t invest in things they could not touch. Yet there was a desk with a working computer, a small TV, even a refrigerator. And on the other side of the house were piles and piles of CDs.

“uh…do you wanna…listen to some tunes, or something…?” Napstablook asked.

[hannahstarshade]

Ten UNDERTALE Fanworks Every Fan Needs to Check Out

It’s February 15th, time once again to celebrate International Fanworks Day! Seriously, how great is that? Whether it’s books, movies, comics, games or television series, fanworks make up a huge part of their communities. This year I’m tackling UNDERTALE, the game that most people (myself included) fell in love with and whose fandom is still going strong more than a year later.

Some of them have been completed, some of them are only partially done, and some of them have been forgotten. Regardless of their status, I think they’re special and amazing and I hope you will love them as much as I do. I’ll do my best to leave out any spoilers.

Death by Glamour

Here’s a neat animatic featuring our favorite human and robot. Animated by Alyssa Gerwing, this video makes their battle look really cool, bringing the fight sequence out of the box and into UNDERTALE’s real world. You have to love the pacing and timing, which is perfectly in sync with the boss music. The facial expressions really give it something extra, whether it be humor or drama. What a stylish video! @walkingmelonsaaa

Papyrus Finds a Human

This animation was an unexpected delight. This was not the cutesy video I thought it would be. With it’s mild swearing and cartoon violence, Mike (a.k.a. Piemations) created a brilliantly funny video. The voice acting is flawless. The punchlines hit home. Papyrus is the best. I can’t write much else without giving all the best bits away. Just go experience it for yourself. As an added bonus, I highly recommend turning on the subtitles while watching the video for the second time. You will not be disappointed.

UNDERTALE ANNIVERSARY

This animation blew me away. I was a fan of iscoppie’s Game Grumps animations before this, but wow. This six-minute video depicts a moment I rarely see people tackle: how Undyne and Alphys met. It’s a bittersweet meeting when you really think about it, and this animation captures and balances all of the emotions involved: fear, hope, resignation, awe. The colors are gorgeous, the voice talent is wonder, and the music is beautiful. This is the best UNDERTALE tribute to date. @iscoppie

The Sons of Gaster

There are many theories as to how, or even if, Sans and Papyrus are connected to W.D. Gaster. One popular theory is that they were created by the doctor. This two-part comic series by sansybones depicts the skeleton brothers’ beginnings: their time with Gaster, growing and gaining independence, and how the two bros become family. The black-and-white style–with the occasional blue–is very effective and looks really nice. I especially love Papyrus’ facial expressions; they capture his personality perfectly. One thing I do appreciate is that this isn’t just a Sans story. Papyrus is just as important and has just as much focus and growth. Sansybones’ depiction of the UNDERTALE characters is fantastic. Their feelings, struggles, and personalities feel genuine and sincere. It’s an emotional roller coaster well worth the ride. @sansybones

They Say He Shattered

I’m a big fan of the multiverse theory. I’ve talked about it extensively in regards to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you’re like me, then this comic is right up your alley. Emily plays with the idea of timelines collapsing and converging in They Say He Shattered, creating the best kind of mess. It’s a fascinating story that balances humor and seriousness very well. Each game ending results in another dimension, but it seems the very fabric of time and space has been broken. Characters come face-to-face with different realities or feel the effects of forces on their other selves. Some things happen out of order. Some things that never should have been are now possible. It’s really hard to explain, but well worth a read. I’m really excited to get to the bottom of this mystery. @theysayheshattered

A CHARActer Analysis

Normally when we think of “fanwork” we think of art, music, fanfiction, cosplay, videos, and animation. However, this thesis bears recognition. Toby Fox created a cast of characters rich in personality and full of life. Chara is one of the only characters in UNDERTALE to be almost unanimously revered and portrayed as one-dimensional. They’re evil and hate humanity and that’s the end of that. Only it’s not. In this analysis we are shown every detail we may have missed. Chara’s story is scattered throughout the game. There are so many subtle hints and clues that most people wouldn’t notice or even think twice about. This in-depth thesis is by far the best explanation of who/what Chara is, who they were, and their role in the overall game. With all of this evidence, you may find yourself viewing Chara in a completely different light. @thefloweryfanclub

Never a Lovely So Real

The artwork shown above was created by theslowesthnery.

Of all the UNDERTALE AU’s, the Gangster/Mob AU is my big favorite. I adore this AU, and this fanficiton was heaven-sent. Kaesa’s Never a Lovely So Real is loosely based on Hnery’s neat headcanons and spectacular art surrounding the Gangster AU. This story is told from Sans’ point of view as he tries to keep the family safe. You have all of your favorite major characters playing their roles in the operation, while a lot of minor characters show up frequently as well. I really appreciate that Sans and Alphys are science bros and have to work as a team. I normally don’t like a who lot of new characters being added into fanfictions, but here it works. Getting to know the rival gang members goes to show that not everything is black-and-white, especially in these types of situations. Much like the game, the “bad guys” aren’t always bad guys. One of the greatest things about this fanfiction is how much research and knowledge went into it. I was impressed by how authentic this story felt the first time I read through it. Kaesa did her homework and it shows. There’s mystery. There’s action. There’s romance. There’s suspense. This is a great work. Did I mention the Gangster AU was my favorite? @kaesaaurelia 

Under Shield

The artwork shown above was created by hamstermastersamster.

Here we have my favorite post-true-pacifist story. Under Shield by Fantasia Wandering is a series of fics told out of order telling of Frisk growing up and growing into their role as ambassador, as well as dealing with their past and becoming part of a family again. Frisk is given a lot of character and background, but it never seems like too much. Frisk is a person with big feelings and big thoughts, and sometimes they can weigh too heavily on their mind. These feelings, accompanied with the struggles of growing up, are relatable to everyone and make it easy to slip into Frisk’s shoes. Although Frisk is the main focus, some of the main cast have important developments as well. One of the most powerful chapters in this series is the eighth part: Penance. Asgore’s redemption arc is a prominent theme throughout the series. He’s not immediately forgiven for his sins by Toriel, or even himself. This in turn affects his relationship with Frisk. It’s a process that takes many years and the reader is there for each important step. This fic’s strongest suit is its stunning imagery. The environments Fantasia has created are painted so vividly. Any reader can picture the settings in great detail. Overall, this is one well-written series. @fantasiawandering

Blood of the Covenant

The artwork shown above was created by donidoodles.

Remember when PTA Sans was a thing? Well, this is the PTA slice-of-life UNDERTALE story the fans deserve. Blood of the Covenant takes place nearly a decade after the game. Everyone has grown up–and it shows–but they still retain their character. Doni’s characterization is so on point. This fic has the most realistic high school you’ll ever find. None of that Lifetime or Disney Channel nonsense here. The history teacher coaches the football team, the PTA is a hot mess, and aside form a few ass-hats the kids are generally nice and friendly. (Is this my high school? I feel like this was based on my high school.) The story’s strongest appeal is that every character’s time is balanced and utilized effectively. This cast is huge and yet every single one of them has their time to shine. I’ve read a lot of UNDERTALE PTA fics and most of them are a lot of fun, but a common trend in those stories is that the human members of the PTA (Linda, Helen, etc.) are usually so cartoonish and two-dimensional, like their only purpose is to be ignorant evil villains. Here our antagonists are fleshed out. They have feelings, struggles, even arcs of their own. They learn and grow just as the protagonists do. This is a fantastic, well-rounded story. I lost so much sleep the first time I read through it because I could not stop. It was all worth it, though. I promise. @doniblogs

The Scientist

The link provided leads to AO3, but you can also read it on Tumblr. The artwork shown above was created by hamstermastersamster.

This is my favorite pre-game scenario. Out of all the fanfictions I’ve read, this two-part series written by Pen has the best portrayal of Dr. W.D. Gaster and his backstory. The first part of the series, The Scientist, revolves around the life and times of the royal scientist before Dr. Alphys got the job. The passage of time feels seamless, from the point of monsters’ imprisonment to the end of Gaster’s existence. It makes sense and goes right along with UNDERTALE’s timeline. Everything fits together like a puzzle. I could go on and on about the relationship between Gaster and Sans. It is just so strong and told very well. They are co-workers instead of father and son as I’ve seen in many fanfictions. (I prefer the colleague dynamic, actually.) The audience can get a real sense that their bond teeters between healthy camaraderie and toxic friendship, eventually falling to the side of the latter. The second part in the series, Entropy, shifts the focus onto Sans and how he deals with the aftermath of Gaster’s disappearance. It shows Sans’ own decline; he is deteriorating into the character we see in-game. This story is as well-written and intriguing as its predecessor. It paints by far the most natural, realistic relationship between Papyrus and Sans. Their situation, their dialogue, and their banter is so believable. There’s something really pure about it that just makes me smile. This series, you guys. This series. @talkingsoup

So there you have it! I had so much fun making this list. I can’t believe I’ve been working on this post for a whole year.Shortly after I made a similar post about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fanworks last International Fanworks Day, I got right to work on this one. Thanks as always to anyone who read this. If you’d like to discuss anything you read here today or have recommendations of your own, please feel free to reply to this post or drop something in my ask box. Have an awesome day, friends! @undertale

[advocatewrites-blog]

Into the Unknown Part 4 Chapter 5

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Characters: Frisk, Norman B., Dipper P., Mabel P., Coraline J., Wirt, Greg, the Cat, the Frog; Sans, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Asgore,; the Other Mother, the Beast, Agatha P., Bill Cipher, Asriel D., Chara D.,

Pairings: Not the focus. Alphys/Undyne, with mentions of Papyrus/Mettaton, sans/Toriel/Asgore, and Wirt/Sara. Due to the nature of Undertale and the dating segments, there is also interpretable Papyrus/Wirt, Undyne/Mabel, Alphys/Dipper, Napstablook/Norman, Mettaton/Norman, Mettaton/Mabel, Sans/Dipper, Sans/Norman, and Sans/Greg.

Rated a high +K for violence, mild language, horrific elements that may be disturbing to younger readers,  mentions of child abuse and bullying, character death that is sometimes permanent, and mentions of suicide that may be triggering. These elements remain relatively unchanged from their source material, which most all are for children, but discretion is advised nonetheless.

Disclaimer: Undertale was created and owned by Toby Fox. Coraline was created by Neil Gaiman and owned by Bloomsbury and Laika. Over the Garden Wall was created by Patrick McHale and owned by Cartoon Network. Paranorman was created by Sam Fell and Chris Butler and owned by Laika. Gravity Falls was created by Alex Hirsch and owned by Disney. Any other work mentioned or homage are property of their respective owners. This is a fan-made, nonprofit work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the original franchises.

Chapter 5

Flowey          LV 9999         9999:99

MY WORLD

*Continue  *Restart

“Dipper,” said Mabel. “I don’t think this is fun anymore…”

“Howdy!” said Flowey. “It’s me, Flowey! Flowey the Flower! I owe you a HUGE thanks! You really did a number on that old fool. Without you, I NEVER could have gotten past him. But now, with YOUR help…he’s dead. And I’VE got the human SOULS!

“Boy! I’ve been empty so long…It feels great to have a SOUL inside me again. Mmm, I can feel them wriggling…”

“Ew,” said Mabel.”

“Aww, you’re feeling left out, aren’t you? Well, that’s just perfect. After all, I only have six SOULS. I still need one more…before I become God. And then, with my newfound powers…monsters, humans, everyone…I’ll show them all the REAL meaning of this world!”

Out of the darkness came a writhing mass that made up Flowey’s new form. It moved about on tentacle-like vines as wide as the two twins were, and infinitely long. It was supported from the back with thick metal tubing that seemed to connect everywhere and nowhere. A face had made of spare bits of organ and tissue, barely connected together or resembling anything human. But the real face was on the monitor above it, where a crude happy face had been drawn. The eyes widened, and a piercing laugh echoed all around them.

The Fight began. Monster bullets filled the darkness. Vines snapped at them and attempted to bind them to the ground. Flies swarmed around them, flying into flytrap-shaped buds. Flamethrowers shot from the face, cross-shaped bullets shot from the eyeballs. ‘Friendliness pellets’ sniped at their Souls. There was nothing that could be done. They could not dodge, they could not Fight, they could not Spare.

The last thing Dipper heard was the sickening snap of Mabel’s Soul, then his own.

“This is all just a bad dream,” said Asgore, who was dead. “And you’re never waking up.”

*LOAD

Error.

Coraline was no longer facing Flowey. She had no idea where she was. She was surrounded by monster bullets, buttons as big as she was. They spun around her, but did not strike.

In the center of one of the patterns, she saw someone. She called for help.

File: “BRVRY.soul” uploaded successfully.

The wind kicked up, carrying monster bullets in the shape of leaves. Roots snapped at their feet, trying to take them down with them. Dying in this place, the Unknown, whatever it was, was worse than dying in real life. In real life, the body gives out. Here, it is the soul that fades away.

Wirt did his best to stomp them out. He couldn’t give up. He had to find Greg. He had to find the others.

He called for help.

File: “JSTC.soul” uploaded successfully

File: “KNDNSS.soul” uploaded successfully

FILE 2 SAVED

The first thing Dipper heard was the snapping of his Soul.

He did not get a chance to think. Bullets still surrounded them. Mabel was now attacking the Flowey Monster, firing her grappling hook at it like a gun and pulling the rope back towards her. That seemed to pester it more than hurt it.

More bullets, hands making finger guns with flowers springing forth, fired towards them. Dipper did not get the chance to react.

He called for help.

File: “PRSRVR.soul” uploaded successfully

File: “NTGRT.soul” uploaded successfully

FILE 2 SAVED

Norman did the only thing he could think of doing.

“Once upon a time, there was…”

The voice of the Witch taunted him, but she was not even there anymore. Bullets in the shape of lightning bolts struck him. But he had to keep going.

He called for help.

File: “PTNC.soul” uploaded successfully

FILE 2 SAVED

And somebody came.

They were not alone. There were others now, their faces illuminated by their glowing Souls. They could not have been older than them, some even younger than that, but they were ready to *FIGHT.

FLOWEY’s Defense dropped to 0!

There were still bullets pouring from the eyeballs, so many that it was impossible to move without getting struck. Still, Dipper felt stronger. He could tell that his hits, weak as they were, were doing something now. Flowey groaned in pain with every hit, whether they came from his notebook, Mabel’s grappling hook, or any of the other weapons the others had.

He felt…*DETERMINed

File 2 Saved

Error

*RESET

File 2 Erased successfully

*LOAD

Error: No game file found

*NEW GAME

Error: File “DT.soul” corrupted or missing. Unable to create new game file

* O£¡ †ZfÓ½*  øI½ìÿ^ªM‡÷oIcƒ4`       ½°ðó_—Le£qb©WòyeÜaW                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               øbQ?ÆӐS ÀO£¡ÄEK™éæҐ? ÀO£¡ †ZfÓ½*  øI½ìÿ^ªM‡÷oIcƒ4`       ½à§¿¤*¡YeÈÚróžC_„—                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    øbQ?ÆӐS ÀO£¡ÄEK™éæҐ? À

*File 3 Created

 Bill Cipher     LV: 9999   9999:99

Weirdmageddon

*Continue  *Restart

[advocatewrites-blog]

Into the Unknown Part 2 Chapter 1

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Characters: Frisk, Norman B., Dipper P., Mabel P., Coraline J., Wirt, Greg, the Cat, the Frog; Sans, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Asgore,; the Other Mother, the Beast, Agatha P., Bill Cipher, Asriel D., Chara D.,

Pairings: Not the focus. Alphys/Undyne, with mentions of Papyrus/Mettaton, sans/Toriel/Asgore, and Wirt/Sara. Due to the nature of Undertale and the dating segments, there is also interpretable Papyrus/Wirt, Undyne/Mabel, Alphys/Dipper, Napstablook/Norman, Mettaton/Norman, Mettaton/Mabel, Sans/Dipper, Sans/Norman, and Sans/Greg.

Rated a high +K for violence, mild language, horrific elements that may be disturbing to younger readers,  mentions of child abuse and bullying, character death that is sometimes permanent, and mentions of suicide that may be triggering. These elements remain relatively unchanged from their source material, which most all are for children, but discretion is advised nonetheless.

Disclaimer: Undertale was created and owned by Toby Fox. Coraline was created by Neil Gaiman and owned by Bloomsbury and Laika. Over the Garden Wall was created by Patrick McHale and owned by Cartoon Network. Paranorman was created by Sam Fell and Chris Butler and owned by Laika. Gravity Falls was created by Alex Hirsch and owned by Disney. Any other work mentioned or homage are property of their respective owners. This is a fan-made, nonprofit work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the original franchises.

Start from beginning / Previous chapter / Next chapter

“WOWIE! YOU DID IT! YOU DIDN'T DO A VIOLENCE! TO BE HONEST, I WAS A LITTLE AFRAID. BUT YOU'RE ALREADY BECOMING A GREAT PERSON! I'M SO PROUD I COULD CRY. WAIT, WASN'T I SUPPOSED TO CAPTURE YOU...WELL FORGET IT! I JUST WANT YOU TO BE THE BEST PERSON YOU COULD BE. SO LET'S LET BYBONES BE BYBONES.”

Their hands are shaking as Papyrus leaves. It's hard to breathe, like she had just gotten out of the fiercest battles. They stand there for a long time after Papyrus leaves but they don't know why. Her knife clatters to the ground.

She doesn't know why she's done anything she has. She shouldn't have spared him. She should have killed him like the rest. In this world, it's kill or be killed. It's hurt or get hurt. She shouldn't have accepted his mercy, because he's going to hurt her just like the others. They all hurt her in the end never let them get close never show them mercy no mercy no mercy no mercy she calls for help

* But nobody came.

They wipe at their eyes, trying to remove tears they aren't crying. More Dust gets in them than before but it's a good feeling. It was just a mistake. They can go back and fix it.

They call for help.

She wonders how much longer they're going to keep this up. It shouldn't be much longer now, she thinks.

The end will be here soon. She will erase this world.

* Reset

Two are the Trees An Undertale/Over the Garden Wall crossover fanfiction By the Poor Sap Advocate

Chapter 1

“Antelope, Guggenheim, Albert, Salami, Giggly, Jumpy, Tom, Thomas, Tambourine, Leg Face McCullen, Artichoke, Penguin, Pete, …Steve…but I think the worst name for this frog is—“

“Wait, wait a second.”

Their surroundings were just becoming clear to him. It was dark, barely bright enough to see his brother in front of him. The only light came from above, and it looked miles away.

“Uh, Greg,” said Wirt. “Where are we?”

“Underground?” Greg offered.

“Weren’t we in the woods a few moments ago?” Wirt asked.

Greg hummed and thought, and turned to his frog for a second opinion. The frog let out a slightly confused croak.

“Nevermind,” said Wirt. “Let’s just…keep going the way we were.”

“I don’t think we can climb that high,” said Greg.

“No, Greg, I meant forward.”

And forward they went. The light in the caves grew as they travelled down the corridor, though Wirt couldn’t figure out why. It was becoming increasingly clear they were somewhere in a cave or underground or both, and the light source above was fading. Wirt could see almost everything in his way now, from the cave walls to the beds of flowers to the…

A golden flower, looking at them with a very confused expression.

“Hello Mr. Flower,” said Greg.

The flower made a face that Wirt couldn’t quite read.

“More of you? Really?” the flower asked. “Alright. Let’s get started then.”

It was dark, wherever Frisk ended up. It was also cold; not quite as cold as Snowdin, but cold enough that they tugged their sweater closer to them. The moon shone above them, so it’s not the Underground, and it was a quarter moon uneclipsed so it wasn’t the Other Toriel’s world.  They are in a forest, so thick with trees that it’s hard to see if there was supposed to be a road. It’s something completely new to them.

Yet they still felt determined.

*File SAVED

They did not know how long they walk in the woods alone. It was hard to measure time when the only repeating pattern is stepping on twigs. Eventually, the repetitive sounds came from something hard smacking against wood. Frisk decided to follow that.

More sounds became audible as they walked closer. Sounds of breaking branches. Sounds of one moving around the ground. Sounds of humming, not so much a song as it was a march. Frisk only got close enough to see something humanoid walking away from the sight, the sounds carrying after them.

“Hey kid? What’re you doing out here?”

That sound came from behind the scene. Frisk had to turn around and crane their neck to see their addresser--a small bluebird perched on one of the higher branches.

“You’re not lost, are ya?” the bluebird asked.

Frisk shrugged. They had no idea where they were supposed to be heading anyway.

The bluebird groaned, and buried her face in her wing. “Well, do you need—?”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?”

Frisk froze at the voice. They stayed frozen as the light shines in their eyes. The bluebird murmured something and flies off but they did not quite hear it over the pounding of their heart. They did not unfreeze until the light of the lantern grew enough that they could make out the holder’s face. Just the woodsman from before. Frisk let themself wave a bit to be friendly.

The woodsman gives them a steady glare. “These woods are no place for a child like you. Don’t you know the Beast is afoot here?”

Flowers did not have faces. Goats were not bipedal and matronly. And there certainly wasn’t an entire society of monsters living under a mountain. Wirt was fairly certain of these things. At least, he had been up until fifteen minutes ago. He concluded that, in order for him to be seeing the flowers with faces and motherly goats, he must either be dreaming or going crazy. Possibly both.

Greg, however, had no problem accepting any of the things in his way. This did not surprise Wirt as much as it should. This whole Ruins area looked like it was something Greg had dreamed up.

This was all Greg’s stupid dream, Wirt decided, and he just had to get him through it.

“Come on Wirt!” said Greg. “They’re not too bad once you get to know them!”

The frog gave a croak in agreement.

“Greg, you just got out of a fight with a carrot!” said Wirt.

“Vegetoid was nice,” said Greg. “I don’t know what he wants me to do with all these vegetables though.”

The frog croaked again. This time Wirt wasn’t sure what it meant.

“It’s still a carrot,” said Wirt. “A-and a monster! You shouldn’t be anywhere near those things.”

“Okay. Why don’t you try then?”

Before Wirt could figure out what Greg meant with that, he found himself being pushed ahead. A Froggit blocked the way.

Wirt tensed up as the battle began and his Soul left his chest. The Froggit unleashed a few bullets that flew around like flies, but otherwise seemed uninterested.

“Pst,” said Greg in a way that was not actually meant to be quiet. “Trying complimenting her!”

It was worth a shot, Wirt decided.

“Listen,” said Wirt. “You look like a frog of decent logic, and we are but two lost souls in the Underground. Would you consider letting us pass?”

The Froggit seemed to think for moment. Wirt was pretty sure it was because it had no idea what he had said. It hopped away, leaving behind two coins.

“Uh, excuse me, you forgot your—“ Wirt started. Greg stepped in and grabbed the coins before he could finish.

“Greg, those aren’t ours,” Said Wirt.

“Sure they are!” said Greg. “It’s just like in a video game when you defeat an enemy!”

“Greg, this isn’t a game!”

“Why can’t it be?”

“Because it’s dangerous down here,” said Wirt.

“All the more reason to think of it like a video game!” said Greg. “Now come on, I think I’ve saved up for the Spider Cider.”

It took the Woodsman a while to figure out Frisk was just a lost kid in the woods. It took him even longer to realize they could not talk to him. It was easy to tell when he did. His tone grew softer, yet it was still full of worry. He asked if they knew where they were going, and when they answered no, offered them a place to stay at his house.

Well, it was not his house. It was the house that he used when he needed a roof over his head while he worked. Before him, the house had not been touched in a long time. Yet it was nice to be in a house Frisk did not recognize, so they ignored the smell of must and feathers.

“You may stay here for the night if you wish,” the Woodsman said. “But beware if you leave in the night. There is a Beast that lurks in these woods. Ever singing his mournful melody in search of lost souls such as yourself.”

Frisk wasn’t very good with words, but they knew what Beast meant. It was something like a monster…a monster! Was there a Monster out here? Could they know how to get back to the Underground?

“I’ve work to attend to in the mill,” the Woodsman said. “Do what you wish. You may find me in there.”

He threw another log on the fire for them, grabbed his lantern and left.

The frog did not have a name. Most frogs don’t, naturally. Names are things given to distinguish between humans. Frogs, especially frogs on the Surface, did not need them.

This frog, on the other hand, was no longer on the Surface. Yet he was still not given a name. Greg had yet to decide on one, and the frog was not in any hurry to have one.

He was quite curious about where he had ended up, however, so while the two brothers negotiated for baked goods at the spider bake sale, the frog decided to explore some more.

There were frogs in the Underground. Not real frogs; frogs of flesh and blood and grew from tadpoles. It was frog that was held together with magic.

“Hello traveler,” said the Froggit. Or, rather, the thing that lived under the Froggit.

The frog croaked a greeting.

“I do not wish to fight you,” said the Froggit. “Nor do I think any of the creatures in the Ruins anymore. You and your humans have been quite kind. However, I wish to ask you a question.

“Before you there was another human in the Underground. They were the first in a long time. They were usually quite kind to us, but something changed the last time they were here. I do not think they were quite themselves. I am not sure if they were safe. Have you any idea where they might have gone?”

The frog did not, and told him as much.

“I see,” said the Froggit. “Thank you. And if I may impart some advice, traveler of the Surface, be cautious of the old queen. She has lost a lot, and she is not always aware that she hurts because she is hurting.”

“Kitty!” Greg called. “Kitty! Now where is that frog named Kitty?”

The frog croaked to grab his attention.

“Oh there you are Kitty!”

Greg ran up and scooped the frog into his kettle.

“Hiya Froggit!” said Greg. “You’re looking fantastic today!”

The Froggit did not understand what he said, but blushed anyway.  They dropped a little more gold than most Froggits do when they left.

Frisk spent the night. They left early in the morning, as the sun was beginning to rise. They did not see the Woodsman again.

They wondered if he ever left the mill after that, if he ever got sleep or if he went back out into the forest. They would have to find a way to thank him later. But most people, they realized, would come back when they needed them.

They stopped thinking as they heard something move in the woods. It was too big to be the bluebird, or even the Cat from the Otherworld. They braced themselves.

The fight started.

The thing that emerged was not a monster, or at least a monster they could recognize. It walked on all fours and towered above Frisk. It looked like a dog, but the way its fur stood up from all sides made the shape hard to distinguish. And its eyes…

The creature attacked first, lunging towards Frisk. They dodged. Their turn opened up, but all Frisk could think to do was compliment their eyes.

The creature was not flattered. It lunged again, swiping at Frisk. They dodged and jumped back. They tumbled in the creek.

The creek was not deep in the slightest. It did not hurt them too much to tumble into it, nor did it take them very long to pull themselves back up. But in the process, they left the fight.

Something else was fighting the creature. Something small and black that crawled over the creature and forced it back into the creek with them.

The creatures tumbled into the creek. A black turtle emerged, followed by a normal-looking dog.

Next out the creek came the Cat. He leaped out of the water in a blur of black. He shook himself dry the same way the dog did, and started to lick the rest of himself clean.

“There are few creatures I like,” said the Cat. “But dogs have a special place in hell for them.”

The dog noticed Frisk for the first time and rushed over. This time, its intentions were far more friendly. Frisk gave it a few decisive pats before it disappeared into the woods once again.

The Cat didn’t speak up until the dog was out of sight. Frisk watched him carefully.

“There are few creatures I like, but perhaps I was too quick to judge you.” said the Cat. “This world is…new, to me. Perhaps I would be willing to walk part of the way with you.”

He avoided making eye contact with Frisk. However, when Frisk extended a hand, he leaned into it and let himself get pat.

Wirt had not really meant to get into Toriel’s bedroom. He was looking for a way out. He had tried to find a way outside of the house, but the Ruins ended with Toriel’s house.

He wondered if that was deliberate.

Toriel’s room was ordinary. It was incredibly well kept, thought that did not surprise Wirt. It had been decorated with bookshelves and typhae, but it all looked so old and out of place that it was hard to believe Toriel put it in.

Wirt looked through everything. Through the sock drawer, the pots of plants, under the mattress.  And he felt bad about it but what else was he supposed to do?

His eyes fell onto the diary on her desk. It was thick and full, but it was already turned today’s date. Something on the page had been circled in bright red ink.

Wirt swallowed as he leaned in closer to read it.

Why did the skeleton need a friend? Because she was feeling bone-ly!

“You know, perhaps I overestimated her abilities.” said Wirt to nobody.

Greg’s calls shook him out of his thoughts. The younger brother rushed into the room, the frog trailing behind him.

“Toriel’s gone!” Greg exclaimed.

“Gone?” said Wirt. “What do you mean, gone?”

“Well, she was sitting in Chariel and I asked her—“

“What, the chair? Why did you name her armchair and not your frog?”

“I didn’t name it!” said Greg. “But I asked her how do we leave the Ruins and she got up and said she had something to do but she’s been gone for five minutes now and I really wanted some of the butts pie!”

Toriel would know how to leave the Ruins. Why would she get so defensive the second Greg asked?

“Come on, we need to go find her.”

Author’s Note: Fall this year lasted about 2 minutes, so I’m really sad I didn’t get to watch Over the Garden Wall. I could watch it now, but it’s like watching Halloweentown during Christmastime; it loses some of the magic. But after this, I feel like I’ve watched it enough.

[advocatewrites-blog]

Into the Unknown Part 1 Chapter 4

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Characters: Frisk, Norman B., Dipper P., Mabel P., Coraline J., Wirt, Greg, the Cat, the Frog; Sans, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Asgore,; the Other Mother, the Beast, Agatha P., Bill Cipher, Asriel D., Chara D.,

Pairings: Not the focus. Alphys/Undyne, with mentions of Papyrus/Mettaton, sans/Toriel/Asgore, and Wirt/Sara. Due to the nature of Undertale and the dating segments, there is also interpretable Papyrus/Wirt, Undyne/Mabel, Alphys/Dipper, Napstablook/Norman, Mettaton/Norman, Mettaton/Mabel, Sans/Dipper, Sans/Norman, and Sans/Greg.

Rated a high +K for violence, mild language, horrific elements that may be disturbing to younger readers,  mentions of child abuse and bullying, character death that is sometimes permanent, and mentions of suicide that may be triggering. These elements remain relatively unchanged from their source material, which most all are for children, but discretion is advised nonetheless.

Disclaimer: Undertale was created and owned by Toby Fox. Coraline was created by Neil Gaiman and owned by Bloomsbury and Laika. Over the Garden Wall was created by Patrick McHale and owned by Cartoon Network. Paranorman was created by Sam Fell and Chris Butler and owned by Laika. Gravity Falls was created by Alex Hirsch and owned by Disney. Any other work mentioned or homage are property of their respective owners. This is a fan-made, nonprofit work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the original franchises.  

Start from beginning / Previous chapter / Next chapter

Chapter 4

“Why child,” said the Other Toriel. “Whatever do you mean?”

I need to go back to the Ruins, Frisk signed again. How do I leave?

The Other Toriel took too long to interpret Frisk’s signs. It was easy to tell when she was done. Her face became unreadable. Her body leaned into the counter. Fingers rapped rhythmically against the counter.

“I see,” said the Other Toriel in a way that showed that she did see but did not like it.

How about we play a game, Frisk signed, and see if I can’t find it?

“That, perhaps, would be too easy,” said the Other Toriel. “So how about this? I will hide three objects in the treasures I created for you. If you can find it before time runs out, I’ll let you leave.”

If I lose? Frisk asked.

“Then you stay here,” said the Other Toriel. “That sounds fair, doesn’t it?”

I won’t leave? At all? asked Frisk.

The Other Toriel didn’t say anything. That was answer enough. And if what the other sans said was any indication, then staying with her wouldn’t be safe. But Frisk was determined to fix things.

*File SAVED

Frisk nodded. They waited for the other Toriel to say something else, but when they looked up at her, she was gone. The sounds of tapping fingers were replaced by the sounds of a dripping faucet.

It was time that Frisk got ready. The other Toriel had created the whole other world, but she mentioned three treasures. That meant something here was different, beyond the people. Frisk had gone through the Underground enough to memorize it—it wouldn’t be that hard to find something different.

But the other sans had said that she wouldn’t play nice. That was what Frisk had to prepare for.

They reequipped their Stick and Bandage, added some of the leftover food in the house to their inventory, and left the house.

The chase with Coraline had not ended when Papyrus called them. That was hardly the beginning. The chase continued through the Waterfall and into a new area called Hotland.

And Undyne continued to chase her until she got to the new area Hotland. Until she stopped.

Coraline hardly noticed the end of the chase until she heard the sound of heavy armor meeting with the ground. She turned back to Undyne, who was now against the ground.

In that moment, any ill will she had against Undyne faded away. Coraline’s mind raced to think of anything she could do to help. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a water cooler. Before she could even think on why there was a water cooler present, it occurred to her. Undyne was a fish monster. She probably couldn’t breathe in Hotland. The mass of heavy armor wasn’t exactly helping.

Coraline raced over to the water cooler, filled up a cup as fast as she could, and tossed it onto Undyne’s face.

At first, Coraline wasn’t sure if it had helped at all. However, as the water hit Undyne’s gills, she began to stir again. She pulled herself back up and glanced directly at Coraline. A world of emotions passed through Undyne’s eyes, not all that Coraline read. Just as Coraline thought she had to run away again, Undyne turned around and walked away.

The first treasure was easy enough to figure out. The Other World was very much like the Underground, but the Other Toriel mentioned specifically three treasures—things that would be different. The very first one Frisk saw was right outside the door, in the expansive garden that Mr. Dad Guy worked on.

They raced through the flower field, ignoring the snapdragons and tiger lilies that snapped at their feet and tried to catch them in their vines. Frisk had dealt with enough mean flowers to know how to manage them.

The flower beds produced nothing. Nor did the fields of water sausage that surrounded the house on the edge of the garden. Just as Frisk was starting to get worried, they felt their soul grow heavy.

A blue attack.

“HELLO HUMAN!” The other Papyrus said. “I’M HERE TO CAPTURE YOU AGAIN!”

The other Papyrus blocks the way.

Fights were never easy, but Frisk had learned. It was not any different than a video game. They just had to know their target, and know their moves.

The menu they imagined came into view. Something else caught their eye. A flash of white, towards the tree.

The blue attack faded on their Soul, and they ran towards the tree. They reached their fingers into the knot hole. Inside was something small and round, and when held against the colors of the flower bed, looks like it was sketched in with a pencil.

“Papyrus, have you caught the human yet!?” Undyne’s voice called.

It wasn’t an item, they realized. It was a target?

“NO!” The Other Papyrus said. “THEY’RE QUITE CUNNING! I CAN SEE WHY MY OTHER SELF WOULD HAVE A PROBLEM FIGHTING THEM!”

There was a Soul inside.

“WHAT? Then let me handle the twerp!”

Spears replaced the bones. The tree shattered as they pierced, and Frisk scrambled to get out of the way in time.

The tree wasn’t the only thing in the garden falling apart. The flowers lost their colors and wilted. Water sausages fell to the ground and crumbled to ash. Frisk found the dirt they stood on form into the uneven tile of the Ruins.

Undyne’s turn ended, and Frisk fled.

“HEY! GET BACK HERE, YOU PUNK!” Undyne called.

Hotland was difficult to navigate through, for a number of reasons. Even with her raincoat off, the heat was unbearable. The puzzles were much more difficult than what Papyrus had created, as low as bar as that might be. It actually helped out Coraline a lot, since few monsters were willing to attack her once they realized she was there to fix the puzzles.

There was also a killer robot chasing her.

The phone vibrated, and Coraline pulled it out of her pocket.

Alphys posted a picture: Dinner with the girlfriend ;)

It was a picture of a catgirl figurine next to a bowl of instant noodles.

Dr. Alphys also wouldn’t stop texting her. It wasn’t that Coraline wasn’t unappreciative of what Alphys was doing to help her. It was nice to have someone else in the Underground that just wanted to help

COOLSKELETON95 posted a picture: ARE WE POSTING HOT “PICS???” HERE IS ME AND MY COOL FRIEND!

It was a picture of Papyrus flexing in front of a mirror. He is wearing sunglasses. Giant, muscular biceps were pasted on to his arms. They were also wearing sunglasses.

Coraline slowed down as she realized Hotland was starting to cool down. She had walked away from the lava pits that filled the Core and into a new area, and for the first time in the Underground, she had to crane her neck to see what was above her. A hotel building, nearly double of what her house was. A logo of two Metattons with wings decorated the front.

sans stood in the doorway.

“hey there kid,” said sans. “thought i’d catch up with you here. heard you’re going the core. care to catch dinner with me first?”

Coraline looked over the building again.

“In there?” Coraline asked, pointing specifically to the logo.

“ah, don’t worry about him. for a killer robot, he’s all bark and no bite.” Said sans. “i perform in here all the time. that’s how i was able to get reservations.”

Coraline wanted to question him further, but her growling stomach betrayed her on this one. She hadn’t had a proper meal since she left Toriel’s house. Papyrus’ friendship spaghetti didn’t count.

“Sure,” said Coraline.

“great, thanks for treating me,” said sans. “over here, i know a shortcut.”

Frisk didn’t stop running until they found their next hiding spot. The closest building they could freely enter was Undyne’s house. They threw themselves in and slammed the door behind them.

It would be safe. But not forever. They had to think of something else.

Frisk pulled the treasure out of their sweater pocket and quickly checked it.

“You did it,” a voice whispered in her ear. “There’s still two more of us, and the other one is close by. Hurry!”

Spears skewered through the front door. Frisk locked it. They would just have to be quick, then.

They rummaged through the various drawers in the kitchen. They knocked over the pots and pans and fruit basket and overturned every container of tea they could find. Their attention turned to the piano, the last thing they expected Undyne to have in her house, and found it supporting the stool.

As soon as they pulled it out, the stool and the piano collapsed. Frisk dodged as broken keys and piano wire erupted from the device. The pots and pans clattered against the counter and flung themselves at Frisk.

Just another bullet pattern. It passed too fast for them to think of the command menu, but it was easy enough that they didn’t need to.

Out of the corner of their eye, Frisk saw something else. The stove was moving. The oven was preheating. The dials on the stove began to turn, and turn even faster.

Frisk decided it was time to leave.

They ran out of the house just as it caught on fire.

They didn’t have long to watch the house burn down. No sooner had they found a safe place to stand away from the fire, the flames died as the house turned to dust and ash. The cave walls of the fake Waterfall crumbled and fell onto a ground that wasn’t there anymore.

Their relief of their escape was short lived. Frisk looked around, trying to find the other Papyrus and Undyne.

The area grew dark.

Darker.

Yet darker still.

They stood in the distance, but something was off. Frisk took a turn to check them and found their health depleting rapidly.

“Goodbye human!” called the Other Papyrus, in a voice that hardly resembled the real Papyrus, as he fell into the ground.

Frisk waited for a moment until they weren’t moving to get closer. Plastic bones, yarn, ripped fabric and buttons filled the places where the Other Undyne and the Other Papyrus had stood.

Fake, Frisk realized. They were just toys that the Other Toriel was done with now, and so she had broken them. The whole world was fake. All the reason to get out of here quicker.

The sky grew dark overhead. Frisk looked up, and saw a shadow move over the moon.

“so, your journey’s almost over, huh? you must really wanna go home.”

“Wouldn’t be heading home,” Coraline mumbled to her vegetables. It was still monster food and it still turned to dust in her mouth, but somehow it was still filling. Somehow, it was better than whatever her dad decided to experiment with.

“no?” asked sans. “then why go through all this trouble, buddo?”

“I’m heading back to where I live now, but it isn’t home,” said Coraline. “I moved to a place called the Pink Palace about a week ago. I’m going back to see my mom and dad.”

Sans nodded, although it looked like he didn’t quite understand. Moving to a faraway place probably wasn’t common in the Underground, Coraline realized.

“that makes it sound even worse,” said sans. “c’mon kid, down here you already got food, friends, drink…is what you gotta do even worth it?”

“If it were Papyrus, would you do it?” Coraline asked.

“I would do anything if it meant Papyrus was safe,” said sans. It came off unusually serious, so he added “ah, forget about it. i’m rooting for ya, kid.”

Silence fell between them. Sans shifted his gaze ever so slightly, as if he were lost in thought. Coraline decided to break the silence.

“Hey sans,” said Coraline. “What ever happened to the last human that fell down here?”

“told ya. never met ‘em. too young.”

“You said Papyrus was too young,” said Coraline. “So did you see them or not?”

Sans looked away again. Coraline was prepared to ask him again, but stopped when he turned back.

“I made some poor judgements. Don’t intent to do that again.” sans said. “sorry, kid, that’s just a sore subject.”

“Don’t you think you should give them another chance?” Coraline asked.

Sans stared at her, the pinpricks of light in his eye flickering.

“I mean, if Papyrus hadn’t given me a second chance and decided not to capture me, I wouldn’t be here,” said Coraline. “And if I hadn’t decided to give Papyrus a second chance, we wouldn’t be friends.”

“heh. guess that’s true,” said sans. “but you know, some things aren’t worth forgiving.”

“When I first came to the Underground,” said Coraline. “I was in a place called the Ruins. And there was a woman there who helped guide me through the Ruins and taught me how puzzles worked and made sure I wouldn’t attack another monster. And she took me to her house and gave me a place to sleep and food to eat. But she didn’t want to let me go. She was willing to destroy the door to the Ruins before she let me go home.

“And we fought. I won and I spared her, but I realized after the fight that she didn’t want me to stay because she wanted to hurt me. She wanted me to stay because nobody had ever made it through the Underground safe. Because she was lonely, and tired of losing children in her life. So before I left, I told her that I wasn’t mad at her and I forgave her, but I still had to go back home to my real family. So maybe sometimes someone does something bad, but they have good intentions behind it.”

Sans watched Coraline as she finished her story. The pinpricks in his eyes returned to normal, and his smile drooped ever so slightly. He took a sip from his drink, and Coraline watched as it fell out of his ribs.

“you said this woman’s safe, right?” asked sans.

“Yes,” said Coraline.

“and what did you say her name was?”

“Toriel.” Coraline said. It sounded more like a question. That was the last thing she expected him to say.

A light blue shade appeared on sans’ cheek bones. Was he blushing?

“well, i’ll keep that in mind,” said sans. “take care of yourself, kid. cause someone really cares about you.”

The treasure wasn’t part of the sled. It wasn’t that Frisk was expecting it to, anyway. If the treasure wasn’t on the sled, however, then it meant that it was somewhere on the route that Frisk had taken.  Even with a crumbling world, that would take forever to find.

But they were already winning. They would have plenty of time to look. They were determined to win.

*File SAVED

It was harder to climb up the high hills of Snowdin without the other Papyrus carrying them, or the other sans lending them their jacket. It didn’t help that the snow was hardly snow anymore, so much as it was a cottony substance that felt dry on their skin and turned to dust as the stepped on it. Yet they managed to climb it, and it was only once they were safely on the sled and ready to launch themselves did the hill collapse and crumble.

It was even harder to steer the sled as it fell apart. Frisk once again found themself thrown in the air…

…and once again landed on hard tile.

They pulled themselves up. They were back in the Judgement Hall. And someone was in front of them.

“Heya kid.” The other sans said in a voice that did not sound like sans. “Thought you might show back up here.”

The other sans was in a sorry state, though not as bad as his brother. Yarn ran through his entire body, holding limbs in place and keeping his smile wide. Only his button eyes seemed to be movable by his own will, and they did not look happy.

“Sorry kid,” said the other sans. “Just following orders.”

The other sans blocks the way. Frisk felt themself grow stiff, though not by blue magic.

A wave of bones raced towards them.

*Game over

*Load SAVE file

 The other sans does not want to fight you

*Game over

*Load SAVE File

 The other sans is sorry.

*Game over

*Load SAVE file

 The other sans is so so sorry.

*Game over

*Load SAVE File

The other sans wishes you would stop this

*Game over.

*Load SAVE File

 The other sans does not want to fight you

*Game over

*Load SAVE File

 The shadow of a button was nearly covering the moon.

I won’t fight you anymore, Frisk signed.

“You gotta do something kid,” said the other sans. “What else was this all for, then?”

Frisk didn’t know how to answer. A new wave of bones came their way.

“ in;mso-b !”

The attack was interrupted. Something now blocked Frisk’s path.

idi-fon�|҃�w6 enters the fight.

The soul is in this room, Gaster signed. Now hurry.

It took Frisk a minute to figure out what he was talking about, and another to get their feet to move properly. They ran a quick check around the room, and found it in the back corner where they kept their Save Point.

“You know he doesn’t blame you, right?” said the other sans.

“ fon�|҃  ,“ said Gaster.

There was a rush of bones, and the battle was over.

The other sans’ body did not turn to dust, as sans’ might. It fell apart much like the other Papyrus’ did, and yarn and bones scattered the room that was no longer a room.

And Frisk watched in horror.

I am sorry, Frisk. Gaster signed.

That wasn’t what Frisk was afraid of.

Author’s Note: Sorry for the late update. Believe it or not, I had to do my fair share of the cooking last night and didn’t finish up until after midnight. If you’re stateside, enjoy your Thanksgiving. If you’re anywhere else in the world, have a good day!