#and undertale has hope that people can grow past their mistakes

[shinekittenace]

one thing i love about undertale is that everyone is flawed, and the game isn't afraid to show that. everyone has complexities and everyone has made mistakes, sometimes huge ones, but no one is irredeemable

[friskibitz]

ehehe so i have two for you

chara and kris i need to know your opinions on the chocolate gremlins

YES

chara:

favorite thing about them - interestingly, i've been thinking about this question from a writing standpoint lately... i really love how much chara affects the story of undertale. they're narratively a ghost, haunting the whole story with their presence, from the hope that they brought to the monsters to their family's loving memories of them to their connection with frisk. i still think a lot about toriel and asgore remembering them to this day by overpouring water and soup, like that's the epitome of someone living on through people's hearts

least favorite thing about them - you know what! nothing! yes i understand they made a hug mistake in the past but like... it's been so long and everyone's talked about that to hell and back and my chara's been alive and happy for a while now, so i got nothing. except... kinda wish they explicitly spoke in pacifist so i wouldn't have to think about no mercy for their speech patterns

favorite line - * Still just you, Frisk.

brOTP - chara and frisk, chara and asriel, chara and frisk and asriel!

OTP - none!

nOTP - three billion gross ships with chara and i hate them all

random headcanon - to keep with the theme of your question, my chara's favorite chocolate is dark chocolate! they also like it when there's fruit in it

unpopular opinion - since this is somehow still unpopular in many circles... they're a good kid. that's it

song i associate with them - i associated quite a few Go! Child songs with them... i think Good Morning is a nice representation of them welcoming life again

kris:

favorite thing about them - oughhhhh the kris. i actually don't have much to say this time, i just think they're a good kid and i'm glad they're getting happier... and i want things between us and them to be good

least favorite thing about them - why are they yellow. again.

favorite line - i'm cycling through all the funny things they can say in ch2... moment that comes to mind is when they enthusiastically ask for a dog treat from noelle. i can't believe kris is pupy

brOTP - kris and susie!!! and kris and noelle and kris and ralsei but kris and susie is the big one

OTP - ok here is the deal. i don't say that this is an otp or anything, i'm not pushing a ship for kris, but i honestly think that One romantic subplot with kris would be cute. mostly this is just stemming from my thoughts on Teen Feelings in deltarune, but that's a ramble for another time. my point is... i kinda like Susie Has Two Hands. but like to be clear i just like the bond between kris and susie no matter which way it goes

nOTP - kris and like anyone else basically. i think kris/ralsei is weird, i don't think kris/noelle works out romantically, and i don't like kris/berdly

random headcanon - my kris is currently 22, working as a growing music producer/composer and living with susie and noelle! and they like milk chocolate, that's their fav. give them the Sweets

unpopular opinion - i'm in the "kris is the narrator" camp, which isn't unpopular per se but is debated as a theory. i don't really care about the specifics in narration tbh, i like this from a character perspective; basically i want to see kris's presence in the game, and i believe the narration is their thoughts. also i'm still staying optimistic about the kris and red business (i'd even go as far to say that i still like red soul frisk but that's not exactly a kris thing but it kinda is but it kinda isnt but)

[pyreo]

oh god oh no there’s so many SU words I’m sorry

All great heroes and villains are supposed to be diametrically opposed on something and that’s why Steven and Spinel worked very well against each other, a really simple point of contention with a million complications

The movie started out with that recap of the series told as a storybook, open and closed, beginning to end. Steven is two years older, they’re building a peaceful hope for all gems on Earth, the Diamonds are now like his overbearing aunts who hug too long, the song “Here We Are In The Future” presents this stage as the endpoint - the future is here, this IS the ending, the story has finished. Steven repeatedly refers to his ‘happily ever after’ from now on, a state of harmony he put in the work to achieve, and now gets to enjoy.

And then Spinel comes in, and I could draw a villain comparison from her to Undertale’s Flowey - someone who knows you are the protagonist, who won’t let the story end because they still want to be included, and will ‘reset’ you to force the narrative to continue for their benefit.

Spinel resents that the story took place without her. Moreover, she’s opposed to Steven’s proclamation that the world is fixed now, forever, because the moment she heard that was the moment she realised how broken she was. She would’ve wanted to be in the story, and she would’ve been on the good guys’ side, but nobody included her so she’ll find them and erase their character development, so that she can redo the story and insert herself in it. Her villainy only extends as far as ‘you finished it wrong, you left me behind, start over and put me in the narrative’. After she resets the CGs and Steven’s gem she keeps laughing as Steven returns the blow and resets her too, implying maybe that it was her plan to force them back to stage one and erase her memories after making sure she was now present as the story repeats.

Then Steven has to recreate everything he’s learned about his family to bring back their true selves - from the connections they’ve made to their heartbreak. There’s a very consistent message that your ‘true self’ isn’t you without your bad experiences, unaffected by them, that you’re a whole person because of them.

But the funny thing about the clash over whether or not the story is finished is that Steven is wrong. When Steven says ‘this point of happily ever after is where the story stops’, Spinel hears ‘you’re stuck here and can’t develop past your trauma’. She sets out to prove him wrong because she hasn’t yet recovered. She hasn’t done her character arc yet. She’s missed everything. Steven’s side of the argument is essentially to deny that Steven Universe, the cartoon, will continue, and Spinel’s argument is that she’ll make it continue until she gets closure - and of course any continuation of their story will involve the character development that Spinel craves and that Steven explicitly says he’s done having.

The movie is a metanarrative about characters who are vaguely aware of their continued existence only when there are more problems to be solved, as recognised by the language they use, like the line “I’ve heard the story over and over again” referring to their own plot, and Peridot’s “but my character development” joke. When Steven laments that he still doesn’t have his powers back despite reliving every terrible thing that’s ever happened to him, he realises his mistake; that you can’t inhabit a preserved moment of reality forever, and things will continue to change, but the ability to do so is the entire reason he as a half-gem hybrid exists. And the change he embodies is why he infuriates Spinel and why she wants what he is - “When you change you change for the better, when I change, I change for the worse”. She wants to recover from abandonment and stop unhealthy ways of expressing her grief, and doesn’t think herself capable.

Which is why when Steven, still in denial, says she can shut down the drill and they’ll ‘forget it ever happened’, that triggers a relapse. Forgetting it ever happened was her unhealthy plan to get her memories wiped and plant herself in the story. Forgetting it ever happened means discarding the growth she was just able to make and reliving the realisation that nobody in the universe cared about her. In saying that, he reveals he hasn’t figured out that she needs the continuation to be able to heal past this. Spinel’s character development is opposed to Steven’s desire for an unchanging ending-- and he realises he’s wrong and only then is able to assure Spinel in the final song, Change: “You can make it different, you can make it right / You can make an effort, starting with tonight” which effectively gives her permission, from the main character, to alter his world and his story, to have the time, starting now, to work on herself as part of the fiction he’s established - for someone who sees herself as a broken character, inflicting herself and her unfinished arc on someone who finished theirs, to be allowed to exist and told that her unhappiness is welcome among people who have adjusted better from theirs.

The tone of the ending is all about effort. Steven’s realisation is that he’ll always be putting in work towards making the universe safe and happy. Spinel’s realisation is that she CAN be a good person if she wants to, and that decision can only be made by her. Steven’s final act of renewing the life of the Earth from poison by going around kissing patches of it is a metaphor for the constant work one must put in to heal from toxicity. Spinel’s final act of leaving Steven, after seeing him affectionately greet his family, is a literal undertaking of the same task, as she says outright: “I’ve got work to do. Friendship isn’t going to be easy for me. I’m gonna have to work at it. You make me want to try.” She thought what she wanted was to take revenge on the owner of the gem that wronged her, but what she really needed was to stop fixating on the owner of that gem entirely. She recognises that she has a journey ahead and it would be better taken away from Steven, and she cannot insert herself into his life, which is already full of loved ones. She wasn’t there when they all bonded and she can’t reset that. All she can do now is take control of her future.

Which she does. If anything, this movie is about there being no single state of being a good, fair person. It’s an effort you undertake for life, and you can always try to be better at it. You’ll never be done growing. Happiness might be temporary, but anguish will be temporary too. That’s life for you.

[purplefictionmom]

Self-Exile

I wrote this for @elainapoststhings <3

Fandom: Undertale Pairing: Sans/Asgore Warning: well, it's a little angst, so there’s that xD

I HOPE YOU LIKE IT ELAINA, YOU’RE AMAZING :D

Sans tried to ignore how quiet the throne room always was. He couldn’t decide if it was because no one ever came here anymore, or if Asgore had purposefully done something to make it seem like that, but either way the small skeleton ignored it. He tried to convince himself it wasn’t because of how much it reminded him of Chara-

Even just thinking about that name made his spine freeze.

He forced himself to let go of those darker thoughts. This was a happy timeline. Frisk had managed to save the Underground, and released them from their prison under the mountain. The humans had even been open to discussions of integrating monster-kind into their ranks and Asgore--with Toriel by his side in public only--hadn’t needed to work so hard to create the peace treaties that resulted in protection for monsters and humans alike.

Peace had been the dream and it bloomed so quickly and easily that no one really noticed when Asgore stopped showing up in the public eye as much. Toriel had taken the reigns and had accomplished it--and opening her own school--flawlessly. Sans was proud of her, and of Frisk, who was a true example of what an ambassador for the monsters should look like.

A paragon of pacifism and kindness and of course, determination.

Sans had wondered if he really was the only one to notice when Asgore disappeared completely. He stopped showing up to their get-togethers; Toriel was likely happy that the former king finally took the hint how unwelcome she was always going to be with him, but even Undyne seemed oblivious to her old mentor’s strange absences and eventual disappearance.

It wasn’t until Frisk approached Sans that he realized he wasn’t the only one worried for the big guy.

“Sans, I’m worried,” Frisk had said. Frisk didn’t normally talk--something about selective mutism that Toriel had once tried to explain to him, but the chubby skeleton had never been one to care for details; Frisk was who they were and that was enough--but if they were talking now, they must have been worried.

“oh yeah? what about, kiddo?” Sans had tried to play it cool, but he still eyed the child warily.

“Asgore might not be coming back,” Frisk answered cryptically and it was a moment before Sans connected a few dots.

“ya have been resetting,” Sans accused quietly, anger starting to burn in his rib cage.

“No, no!” Frisk waved their hands quickly, “I’ve been loading; because of Asgore.”

Despite the sense of betrayal in his stomach, Sans tried to focus on what Frisk was trying to say.

“does somethin happen ta the big guy?”

“In a few weeks,” Frisk admitted quietly, “He’ll disappear completely--no one will know anything about where he went or why.”

“what do ya know, kid?” Sans leaned forward, trying not to give in to the panic that started in his bones.

“Asgore has taken Mom’s anger pretty hard,” Frisk glanced over their shoulder at Toriel and to make sure none of the other monsters were noticing the quiet conversation they were having in the corner, “And Mom refuses to do or say anything nice for him unless it's in front of other people.”

Sans nodded; all the monsters in the room knew how angry Toriel was with Asgore, but it was something no one talked about. An elephant in the room that had been shoved into a closet and left to rot. Asgore had always taken it hard, but for other’s sake he always just….let it happen.

“Sans, he feels alone and like no one cares; and he thinks he deserves it,” Frisk admitting quietly, “I tried to help him, I really did! But…”

“but there’s only so much you can do for someone like that,” Sans answered, and when Frisk nodded, he asked, “where is he, kiddo?”

“He’s back Underground,” Frisk said, “He called it a sort of self-punishment.”

After a moment, Sans finally said, “well, i’ll go take a look--i’ll give him some pun-ishment ta think about.”

Despite how worried the kid had been, Frisk was still able to crack a smile. They thanked Sans and had retreated to the kitchen to help Toriel.

Now Sans wondered just what Frisk had expected him to do.

It had been a few years since Sans had actually thought to come back, and years more since he and the others had walked out into the sunshine for the first time. The flowers that had been left to take over the throne room really had done their job by now. Vines crawled up the walls, nearly covering the golden splendor; flowers now covered the ground, no longer needing outside help to flourish in such a strange place.

Sans almost didn’t see Asgore in the throne that was now unrecognizable except for it's shape. The plants had overtaken that too.

The former king didn’t even notice Sans as the small skeleton approached him. Asgore was leaning down with his elbows on his knees, his hands hanging limply between his knees, while his head hung low enough that Sans was about even with his face for now.

Sans hesitated.

For the past few timelines, and especially this timeline, Sans had started to feel something deep in his soul for Asgore. At first, he rationalized it as devotion to a king who had spent hundred of years sacrificing his own needs and wants in favor of uplifting his people, but as time and timelines moved, he found there was more to the large fluffy goat that he couldn’t get out of his skull.

Quiet days spent tending the garden Asgore had let overtake the figurative seat of his power, Sans had lost count of the days he was happy to just nap nearby while Asgore tended to the throne room and it's new golden decorations: flowers instead of metal.

Maybe Sans had finally let himself admit he was in love with the king--of course it was love, what else could it be?--when, without prompting, Asgore finally shared why he had let the flowers overtake the palace.

“In my grief and pain, I had vowed death and destruction; I was no stranger to war, or to casualties, but never before had I vowed revenge or vengeance,” Asgore had started speaking without checking to see if Sans was even awake; maybe the big guy just needed to have the comfort that maybe, just maybe, Sans was asleep and would never hear this confession, “It was so outside of what was my comfort zone, but it wasn’t until Toriel walked away that I saw my actions for what they truly were: my guilt and horror of not being able to protect my children--my own aching void in my chest that my children would no longer fill, lashing out to try and change reality, hoping and praying to any of our old gods that if I could just free monster-kind, maybe my children would be waiting for me on the other side of the barrier.”

“A fool’s errand; one that cost me my wife. I guess these flowers were meant to fill the void that the three of them left inside my soul, but-”

Sans’s memory made his own soul ache as he remembered the tears that Asgore would never have let others see, the tears that watered his flowers that day. The same tears that fell to the ground now.

“No matter how many flowers I grow, the void simply remains.”

“i goat to tell you, asgore,” Sans finally broke the silence and paused long enough to let Asgore jump and then focus on him, before he said, “it's not nice to worry ewe-r friends like this.”

Asgore jumped so badly that Sans felt bad for not giving him a warning first.

“sorry about that,” Sans chuckled quietly, “just tryin’ ta make some friendly conversation--where ya been, Asgore?”

Asgore didn’t want to answer; Sans could see it in the way he glanced away and fiddled with his hands. The former king just couldn’t seem to bring himself to say whatever was on his mind, but Sans figured more than either Asgore or Frisk had said.

“you don’t think you deserve to live on the surface, eh?”

Asgore almost jumped again, and swung his head to stare at Sans, “Well, um…”

“this about those kids’ souls?”

Sans tried not to show too much emotion; Asgore was easy to read, but Sans also knew that he was keen on reading others too. Sans cared so much about Asgore, it hurt sometimes--like now.

The question seemed to hit Asgore pretty hard; his head drooped again and he made a quiet noise of agreement.

“I...I don’t deserve to live out in the sun while those children’s souls remain somewhere here in the Underground,” Asgore explained quietly, “But I have searched high and low without any trace of them to be found; I’m afraid they were lost and have disappeared for good.”

Sans shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his hoodie, “what would ya have done if ya found ‘em?”

The truth--that even if Asgore had found those souls, there was nothing he could have done anyway--remained unspoken between them as Asgore chose to let the silence take hold of the room again.

If Asgore was looking for absolution Sans knew that he wouldn’t find it here, in the Underground, but he wondered if Asgore realized that--or maybe it wasn’t absolution he was looking for.

“I...I want to hear someone, somewhere say that I did the best I could,” Asgore suddenly said out loud, “I don’t want them to condone my actions--what I did was unforgivable--but to bear the heavy burden of-”

His voice gave out and his shoulders hunched under a weight that Sans couldn’t see or even grasp the heaviness of; Asgore’s eyes closed and Sans started when he realized that actual dust was coming off of the former king with every shaking, silent sob.

Sans’s body moved without a will and he flung his arms around Asgore’s shoulders, burying his face into Asgore’s fur. Asgore jumped again, and Sans felt him go still. Dread filled the skeleton--he’d made a mistake, there’s no way Asgore would be open to this, what if-

Asgore’s arms came around Sans and the larger monster began to cry into Sans’s jacket.

Sans swallowed before he found the courage to talk.

“bein’ underground was the toughest thing we all went through; there’s a lotta things we all did that we aren’t proud of, and i’m probably the guiltiest one, but-”

Sans swallowed again, “but don’ forget that what you did was the best ya coulda done, asgore; everyone was jus’ waitin’ to rot here under the mountain, but you helped everyone feel hope again and i don’ think that was wrong, no matter what anybody else thinks or says.”

Silence reigned again and Sans simply let his king gather what composure there was left to have after a breakdown.

“Everyone deserves to be happy and I bring so many bad memories,” Asgore finally said, “Toriel-”

Asgore sucked in a breath as if something stabbed him, “...Toriel and the others would likely be happier if I simply stayed down here.”

Without hesitating, Sans felt the words pour out of his mouth, “but i wouldn’t be.”

That did it; Sans felt his stomach drop and his body stiffen. He hadn’t meant to admit something like that, but now it was out. Without warning, Asgore pulled back and stared down at Sans, his giant paws on Sans’s shoulders as the king studied the small skeleton.

“What do you mean, Sans?”

In for a penny, in for a pound, or so Sans thought the saying went, so after a shaky breath, he finally said something he hoped he wouldn’t regret later.

“asgore, i uh….listen, i care for ya; seein’ ya like this is brutal and i….” Sans felt his mind trying to pull in every direction, but he tried to focus on the truth of the matter, “if ya really want to stay down here in some kind of self-banishment, i can’t really stop ya, but i sure as hell wouldn’t let ya stay down here alone. i’ll stay with ya, if...if you’ll have me.”

Sans was expecting rejection, silence, or even awkward stumbling between the two of them, but Asgore simply pulled him off of his feet into a warm consuming hug. Sans let out a surprised noise, but Asgore was talking.

“Sans, oh Sans…” The rumble in Asgore’s chest was now resonating in Sans’s bones and causing a warmth to overtake his soul, “You’ve been more than a good friend, and I...I’ll have you, if you can stand to have me, too.”

“ya goat to be kiddin’ me,” Sans laughed nervously, relief making him feel weak, “i’ve wanted this bahd.”

[sage-nebula]

rocky road!

rocky road: favorite songs at the moment?

Ooh, okay . . . so honestly, I have so many favorite songs, but also a lot of them are ones that I’ve loved for ages and have thus shared before, so I won’t share them again. That said, some new(ish) ones that I’ve been listening to a lot lately are (and note: I can’t link the first two because YouTube removed them due to copyright claims, despite the fact that they’re covers):

“Again (English Cover)” --- Adriana Figeuroa, original by Yui

“I won’t give up on this journey I’ve started---no, there’s still so much to learn ahead.I will conquer the uncharted, and travel to where I am led.

“I woke up from a dream,still chasing after things not quite what they seemed.On narrow, winding roads,full of faces and people I had never known.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not naive enoughto think that things could ever be the same againas they once were.And though you’re strong, you’ll never understandthe way I feel, so give it up and don’t pretendthat you’re so sure.

“Every sin might as well be eternal.This burden is infernal.Is there a way to escape the pain that threatens to seize my light?I just wanna erase all the mistakes,write another story on a blank slate,hoping someday the truth I seek will finally come into sight.

“I wanna scream just to prove I’m alive,‘cause I’m ready to begin and I’m ready to try.No longer blind, I have finally opened my eyes---listen to my cry!I won’t play it safe, I’m going---I won’t stay.To repay the ones I love one day (I’m on the way).I’ll fight ‘til the end---I will be the one to rise again!”

Not only is the Japanese original one of my all-time favorite songs, but these English lyrics are p e r f e c t for Alan, so yeah, this song is definitely one that I’ve been listening to a lot lately, heh.

“Let It Out (English Cover)” --- Adriana Figueroa, original by Fukuhara Miho

“Let it all out, let it all out.You don’t have to think your heart is made of steel.Come away now from your own doubt.Like a flower of hope that’s growing in a field, you will heal.

“Although the road has changed you,and the world has often failed you,you’ve gotta carry on and show them you’re strong---you’ve gotta bury what is past and gone.Some days will be worse than others,but you’ve gotta find another way . . .

“Through pain and fear, and rain and tears,we will hold on to the light.We’ll chase the dawn that waits for usbeyond the darkest sky.Keep following that distant star,never walk away from who you are.Never forget that your future’s waiting up ahead.

“As seasons change, and rearrange,and the sands of time descend---as all your hope starts vanishing,you’ll always have a friend.In brightest day or darkest night,even if we have to say goodbye,you’ll be all right;I will always and forever be by your side.”

This is another case where I really love the Japanese original, and that I’ve always seen it as a comfort song, but these English lyrics are also perfect for a fandom I’m currently in (specifically, I always imagine this coming from Ash, directed at Alan, especially in this one AU I have for the pair of them), and as such I’ve been listening to it a lot lately. It’s literally qpp MegaBond in song form. I love it.

“Megalovania (Vocal Piano Cover)” --- Adriana Figueroa, original by Toby Fox

“Human child, depraved and vile,in your smile the terror of a killer.When you stand before the mirrordo you still hold your head high?

“Carved their sentence with a knife,stole the gift that they called life.So now you’ll stand and answer for yourself:Prepare for a living Hell.”

This is honestly my favorite Undertale cover out of all the ones I’ve heard. It’s downright chilling and I can’t help listening to it every single time it comes up on my iPod. It’s longer than the two verses I shared here, but these two are definitely my favorites. (Also: “So now you’ll stand and answer for yourself / Prepare for a living Hell” feels relevant for my Alola AU, To Devour the Sun, albeit much, much later in the fic. So. There’s that.)

“The World (English Cover)” --- Jonathan Young, original by Nightmare

“I made a promise for a change, a revolution in the night.Like a flower dark and blooming from my world, not light.I won’t let them interfere, I won’t allow them in my way.The world will know, the night will grow, it all begins today!

“I see the future and the fruit it brings;this town forgot its sense of reasoning.These ever-twisting days are blackening;the dark, it starts to turn into dreams!

“Please tell me why:Am I savior meant to save us all?The people cry;they want an end---a curtain call!

“I made a promise for a change, a revolution in the night.Like a flower dark and blooming from my world, not light.I won’t let them interfere, I won’t allow them in my way.The world will know, the light will grow, it all begins today!Some day, somehow, I’ll show the world in time:Replace these clouds above with shining sky!”

SO MANY COVERS, but this is a case where I actually prefer this English cover to the Japanese original, heh. It sounds so much more powerful and it’s so much fun to sing along to for that reason! Also, Light is so extra you know he would jam to this in his bedroom. Meanwhile his parents are just completely oblivious downstairs, and L’s suspicion percentage that Light is Kira rises by 2%.

“Running in Place” --- 10 Years

“The sounds bounce around, the noise just drowns me out.Too fast to focus, nothing is showing any sign of slowing down.Dreams fed to me in the form of a magazine.I can’t control it, channels have chosen what I’m supposed to be.

“It’s hopeless as far as I can see.There’s no rest, ‘cause we’re stuck on repeat.

“Stand here and wait for the world to finally stop running in place.Chasing after what we don’t need, keep running.I’ll stand here and wait for the world . . .

“For the world to finally stopchasing after what we want.Take it all away, flush it all away.We won’t change . . .

“I’ll stand here and wait for the world to finally stop running in place.Chasing after what we don’t need, keep running.I’ll stand here and wait for the world . . .

“For the world to stop, for the world to stop.For the world to stop, for the world to finally stop.”

So many of 10 Years’ songs are my Faves™, but this is the one that I’ve been listening to the most lately. That last verse really, really gets me. Although the song is by and large about society’s dependence on consumerism and how that drives us, I also feel the need for everything to just stop a little too strongly at the moment, so . . . I’ve been listening to this one a lot recently, heh.

There are more I could probably name (I love . . . music . . . so much), but this is long enough for now, heh. Thanks for asking!!