#different tenna in the actual game?!??

[wowitsverycool]

oh my god tenna isn't going to be a big butch tv woman oh my god oh my god....

[the-meme-monarch]

i hesitated to make my own tenna design for So Long even though i had ideas bc like. well they’re gonna appear in the game eventually. i thought ‘i can draw these things w them when they actually appear’ but i realized a while back that Canon tenna could be very different from how i picture them and then the things i was planning to draw could be completely inaccurate to their character. it’s better to have drawn and been wrong than to have never drawn at all I Guess

[lynxgriffin]

What are your predictions for Deltarune Chapters 3-4 ?

Hmmm, let's see...

I think Susie and Ralsei are going to work out very quickly that Kris was the one to create this fountain. Susie's going to brush it off like "Okay yeah I get why you would, it's okay we'll just have fun and seal the fountain when we're done anyway!" and Ralsei will try and act like it's not a problem, when he clearly is bothered by it, and this will start to build up some tension between Ralsei and Kris.

I am open to Toriel being another side party member, less convinced yet that we'll be seeing another adult like Undyne or Napstablook there as well. I do not think we'll be getting a Snowgrave repeat where Toriel is manipulated into killing Undyne or anything like that. If there's a weird route continuation here, it'll be handled very differently.

I don't think we'll be seeing more of the Dreemurr household in the dark world; it'll just be focused on what's on the TV. We've already got a few possibilities for areas: a cooking show, the weather report, and the monster movie, plus we do keep getting hints that the western show may show up in some capacity.

To that end...hopefully a Susiezilla sequence for the monster movie part!

Unsure of what Mike's role will be in here, but I'm anticipating Tenna as the main big bad for this Dark World.

I don't think anyone has guessed the secret boss for chapter three yet, and I don't think anyone will. Thusfar for secret bosses, there's been no hints of them from other places, and you have to go out of your way to find them. Their function as Darkners made from discarded/forgotten objects makes sense in hindsight, but isn't obvious from the get-go. All we know is that we'll need the shadow mantle for a future secret boss, and that that's missing now.

At the end of chapter three, Asriel is going to call on the landline phone and talk to Toriel briefly, but WE won't get to actually communicate with him and it's going to drive me bonkers.

We know less about chapter four, except for some very basic things...Susie and Kris have a few scenes talking out in the light world, and it's raining some of that time. It could either go the direction of an all-light world chapter, or another dark world they explore the next day.

Assuming it's the latter and there's another dark world (which makes more sense to me), I feel the best location options are the hospital, the church, and Asgore's flower shop. If there's a thread started in chapter three getting into more of the Dreemurr family history and Kris's place in it (which does seem to be the case), Asgore's shop seems the best bet to continue that thread next, so I'm going to predict Asgore's shop for chapter four.

Since that's a flower shop and all, a more Alice In Wonderland sort of theming seems likely, with more of a jungle/wild area that the Fun Gang has to explore compared to the city and sound stage areas of previous chapters.

I am expecting Catti (and potentially also Jockington) to be future Dark World partners, and either chapter four or chapter five seems a good option for that.

I think Catti is necessary as a partner 1) because of her occult history with Kris, 2) her focus on protecting Noelle, who I could see showing up in the Dark World again as early as chapter four or five, and 3) her clearly having beef with Susie.

If we're dealing with Kris's family history through chapters 3 and 4, I can see that then going into more of Susie's backstory and whatever is going on with her family. I get the feeling that Catti knows some secret about Susie that makes her dislike her more than just "she stole Jockington's hat once", and that will need to be resolved in conjunction with learning more on Susie's situation.

Every day in-game that big-headed blue bird monster is going to reveal another shelf in the second floor of the library, which will slowly give more worldbuilding lore, and it's going to be maddening just getting those little crumbs of info one at a time.

We'll be getting more Knight hints, but not a real reveal until chapter five.

[crescentmoonsandroses]

Deltarune's themes of escapism and why they hit me hard

I was going to do some Deltarune art based around this and then just have the definition of escapism under it, but I can't think of what to draw, so I'm just going to ramble about it instead.

Deltarune, as I'm sure many many other people have pointed out before, has strong themes of escapism in addition to its themes of control, freedom, the narrative, etc. The Dark Worlds transform objects into people, rooms into environments, high school students into heroes. They seem to bring to life the sorts of games you played as a kid, with your toys and your friends, making up a story that played out in your mind, enhanced by your imagination. It's theatre of the mind, helped along by the toys and props and whatnot - like when you're playing D&D, too. This sort of thing is mainly in Chapter One, with the game pieces and cards and toys. I remember playing make-believe with practically everything as a kid - I made up stories with chess pieces a few times, that was fun. Castle Town and Card Kingdom are both reminiscent of a very traditional form of escapism: fantasy.

The Cyber World is a little different, but it still holds the same sort of idea - hell, we're all here on Tumblr, we know what it's like to bury ourselves in the internet, in videos and memes and posts, and forget the world for a little while. This is emphasised by Queen's commentary - I can't find the exact quote, but it's something about being worried that the Lightners will become depressed without the 'bliss' of the internet, which isn't currently working in Hometown. We also know that Chapter 3 will take place in Toriel's lounge room and seems to be specifically based around the TV (and, this is off topic, but I literally just realised Mike could be, like, mic, as in microphone, and Tenna could be short for antenna), which can also be a form of escapism for people. I know that my mum, for one, watches TV most nights.

There's also the specific characters who fall into the Dark Worlds - Kris, Susie, Noelle, Berdly.

Kris seems to be considered weird by most of Hometown, where they are the only human and don't seem to have many - or, well, any - real friends apart from their brother, who was the town's golden boy, who everyone keeps talking about and seems to hold in high regard, whose side of the bedroom holds trophies and pictures and colour while Kris' is bare and grey (they also have Susie now, but she only became their friend during the first Dark World). In the Dark World, however, Kris gets to be a hero, sword and shield raised, saving the world with their friends. Everyone in Castle Town loves them. The room Ralsei built for them has trophies aplenty. And then there's the matter of Ralsei, who looks so much like Toriel and Asgore and Asriel, who is so nice and so supportive of Kris, who has pink horns like maybe a certain red headband faded (yes I headcanon that Ralsei is Kris' old horn headband and will continue to do so until proven wrong).

Susie, who drinks milk from back alleys and threatens to eat people's faces, who didn't actually call home when she had a sleepover with Kris, who gets uncomfortable around the block of flats in Hometown, who doesn't seem to know how to react when shown kindness or friendship, who considers herself the 'bad guy'. Well, she gets to be that bad guy, strong and powerful and scary, with a big axe and sharp teeth and enemies to defeat. And then she gets to have friends, she gets to have food, she gets to be the hero and maybe that's not so bad after all if she does it alongside people she cares about, people who care about her. We can see how much happier she is in the Dark Worlds.

Berdly, who tries so hard to be perceived as smart, who loves videogames. I don't have as much to say about him, honestly, but his Dark World design is quite distinctively Cyber World when compared to the other Lightner's more fantasy-inspired designs, and being in the Dark World gives him the chance to be a hero, even if he's not great at that for most of Chapter 2.

And Noelle. Noelle, whose sister seems to be missing or dead, whose dad is in hospital, whose mum is the town's mayor and works a lot and has an icy personality. Noelle who searches for bugs and secrets in the games she seems to love. Noelle who wishes she had magic to heal her dad. Noelle who seems to feel powerless to help someone she loves, who doesn't stand up to Berdly or her mum. Once she's in the Dark World, she can heal people. She stands up to Queen, who is a sort of mother figure. She gets to spend time with Susie. She gets to see the city lights that Dess promised her.

All this to say that Deltarune in general and the Dark Worlds specifically have some not-so-subtle themes of escapism.

Now, the 'why it hits me hard' bit. Escapism has always been one of my main coping strategies, and even beyond that, I love fantasy, I love stories, I love burying myself in another world. It's much easier to be in a world where there's magic and quests and maybe there's struggles and strife and people still get hurt and mess up and go through bad things, but eventually there's a happy ending because that's how stories work, they don't have the constant uncertainty of real life. And, you know, if I could go to a Dark World, I would. I can understand why Susie likes the Dark Worlds so much, why Noelle and Berdly wanted to make another. Escapism is something that I can understand, especially after having struggled with my mental health for a few years (I'm a lot better now though). The world can be messy and complicated and hard, and wouldn't it be nice to be in a different world for a bit, one where you can be who you want to be and you don't feel lost anymore?

So, uh... yeah lol.

[jutpa]

My theories regarding the future of DELTARUNE and why I believe them.

I consider myself a bit of a theorist, and I occasionally get ideas for a DELTARUNE future chapters take that I will probably never make, so I might as well get my ideas on how DELTARUNE will go forward out of my head and into the internet.

I mean yeah, there's the more popular ones like Chess Theory and Papyknight, but I'd be amazed if you didn't already know about those.

The next theory I have is that Mike is the superboss of Chapter 3. The reason I initially believed in this (before changing my mind until a certain fox changed it back) was because I believed that Jevil actually foreshadows both Queen AND Spamton, or at least the Spamton NEO fight. You see, Jevil's "Final Chaos" features the voiceline "THE TRUE AND NEO CHAOS". That is literally all of the evidence I had. However, with R.V. Pine's own Mike analysis suggesting the exact same thing but for different reasons, I realised that there might just be some more merit to my theory than I had previously thought.

Now for the real big ones. I have seen people discuss one of them, but I haven't really seen much discussion on the other one, especially it's likely implications for the future of DELTARUNE. These two theories are:

THE DARK WORLDS REFLECT UNDERTALE'S AREAS IN REVERSE

I've definitely seen discussion on this one before. The evidence was barely there in Chapter 1, maybe some visual similarities between King and Asgore with both of their battle sprites holding a weapon, as well as King basically being exactly how Toriel was making Asgore out to be.

But then Chapter 2 came out, with a technology-themed Dark World + a computer main boss with legs and a banger theme in the final castle that plays over encounters. Yeah, that sounds like the CORE to me.

The implications of this aren't too big, but at least it'll make it a bit easier to tell what Chapter 3's Dark World's going to be like. Given all the Mettaton game shows in Hotland, I predict a similar sort of thing will happen with Tenna, although I personally see them being more like Muffet.

Anyways, as for the other Dark Worlds, it's highly likely that the one after Chapter 3's going to be in the Church, and this Dark World, should my theory be correct, will parallel Waterfall in some way, with the main bosses (don't forget about chess theory) paralleling Undyne and Mad Dummy.

For reasons relating to the other big theory, the next two Dark Worlds will occur in one chapter, and will parallel Snowdin and the Ruins. The Snowdin Dark World will obviously involve Papyrus, given that he's the Knight in my interpretation. The Ruins Dark World, on the other hand, will most likely be in the Castle Town Dark World.

But what happens when you run out of areas? Well, that's where I seriously get into speculation. I believe that the Dark World after that... will be all of Hometown. Specifically, it will be created during the Festival, and could also be a prelude to the Roaring. It'll probably also be created when Asriel returns, and might just involve Dess as well.

And in case you're wondering, don't forget that there are two Knights in chess. Actually, no. There are four Knights in chess, and Kris is a pawn that got promoted to a Knight, thus making a total of 5. The black knights are Darkners, the white ones are Lightners. Maybe it's Alvin, maybe it's the Mayor, hell, it could even be Gaster trying to keep the story he wants to tell from being fully derailed if you want it to be that way. Either way, there's going to be another Knight involved after Papyrus realises that starting the Roaring is a very bad idea.

Anyways, onwards to the other big theory, that being...

THE SUPERBOSSES PARALLEL THE FALLEN HUMANS

This theory is sort of an extension on the previous one. My evidence for this one actually doesn't need any Spamton shenanigans. It just needs two things: Jevil and the Shadow Mantle.

Firstly, the whole deal with the Shadow Mantle foreshadowing, because that seems pretty important as well as being very straightforward. I mean... just look at half the fanmade Chapter 3 superbosses. They all use the green soul because the Shadow Mantle protects the user from the otherwise fatal attacks.

Now that I've got that out of the way... time for Jevil.

Jevil is... strange. At first glance, he doesn't reference any UNDERTALE characters (except maybe Sans with the slippers?), so why would I even mention him? Well...

His face looks like the Chara jumpscare face.

He uses a knife that sometimes turns red.

He thinks he's free, which is the most hilarious reference to the fandom I have ever seen. If you assume my theory true, then freedom (being something the superbosses have in common) is the replacement for determination (being something the fallen humans have in common). And of course, everyone knows that the popular fandom interpretation of the red soul is that its trait is determination. I've got my own headcanons regarding the red soul but that isn't important for this analysis so whatever. The fact that Jevil thinks he's free but isn't just feels like a joke aimed directly at the fandom... Anyways the fact his motivation is literally just to be pure chaos and probably kill people implies that if the red soul does have a trait it's definitely love/LOVE.

He also can't be killed. This doesn't reference Chara. It references Temmie Armour, which is for a related by-product of this whole thing.

Anyways, yeah. Jevil parallels Chara, and more specifically the version you encounter at the end of the Kill Everyone Route, a lot. Of course, we have no way of comparing Spamton to any version of the yellow soul human, because we don't know anything about them. However, Spamton does seem to be motivated by vengeance, which can be considered a corrupted form of justice (which would parallel Jevil's motivation of being pure chaos and probably killing people being a "corrupted form" of love (aka LOVE)).

What are the implications of this? Well, Mike already seems to be a sympathetic character, so there's the kindness. As for the rest of the bosses, they'll probably be: Integrity or Perseverance, Perseverance or Integrity, Bravery, Patience, and then Frisk.

Now, here's where the other implication comes in. You may have noticed that I'm not calling them secret bosses, I'm calling them superbosses. The reason? I predict that KRIS is the final superboss of DELTARUNE. Now of course, such an important battle cannot be locked behind a random side quest. Instead, Kris (along with the possibility of a few other superbosses), is a required superboss that you face no matter what.

So... there you go. Kris might just get to have their turn on the Freedom-mobile, while Hometown might just end up turning into a Dark World at some point.

[wolfkitty42]

Enemy placement & weird routes

As of the recent newsletter, we’ve learned that chapter 3 will have some... Unconventional gameplay. I want to take this time to discuss some cool theories I’ve seen and some of my personal thoughts on how enemy placement affects Deltarune’s weird routes.

Chapter 2′s weird route is centered around going off of the beaten trail. In order to unlock it, you repeatedly need to backtrack and go to spots you usually wouldn’t. During this weird route, you are exhausting every part of the map to find enemies scattered throughout the city.

But what if a weird route takes place somewhere you can’t backtrack in?

I would like to bring up the Greenroom Hub theory here. I first heard this theory in ACDS. I am unsure of who originally created it. The gist of the theory is that chapter three will have our characters mainly in the Greenroom, and only have them leave when Mike/Tenna takes them out for a TV segment. Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about how this gameplay flow would affect a potential weird route.

The main conclusion that I’ve came to is that this might make a weird route more based on manipulation during cutscenes, or performing specific tasks when you’re not in the greenroom. I think this would give a new challenge that forces the player to think about how they can break the formula.

My other thoughts on this are totally disconnected from chapter 3 and more on a concept I’ve seen circulating the fandom. I have seen a lot of people mention the idea of a chapter where a more violent route is normal, and the weird route is more pacifist. How would that work in gameplay? How would the game force you into violence?

Asides from pulling a salt route and straight up removing your spare key, there are a few factors that could work.

The first factor is the inclusion of a Susie-like party member who ignores your commands and uses violence regardless of what you do. One way this party member’s skills could act is to use AOE or spells with high damage to make it harder to spare enemies in time.

From there, the overworld could be designed very linearly- You must go into every room, and fight every enemy. From there, the weird route is about finding ways to spare enemies as quickly as possible, or you could even have an item that makes enemies only target your violent party member to make them go down.

I doubt most of these would work in an actual gameplay scenario, but I’ve just had a lot of thoughts floating around my head and I wanted to type them out. Who knows! If I ever do my own take on future DR chapters, keep an eye out for the violent normal/pacifist weird. I’m kind of attached to the concept.

Overall, I think weird routes are about breaking the game. Freeze the enemies and make them stay instead of running! Choose the stranger dialogue options! Run away from fights! Backtrack and grind areas! Play with your equipment!

There are so many possibilities of what could be considered weird. And although I personally suspect weird routes may be Noelle exclusive, if they end up existing for other characters I hope we get to see an array of different challenges employed.

Mel, out! Theorytime over!

[acerikus]

Why are there still people who KNOW it was confirmed a fan project still trying to hype up the UZ Inu stuff as genuine and acting like their hidden 'hints' are real lore 😭 I wanna go over some points as to why the arguments I've seen don't really hold up at this point.

Trying to get people excited about 'real' content despite it confirmed as not so isn't... A great idea. Yes, the undertale support email that got back and said it was fanmade wasn't Toby himself, but y'all realise he has people from fangamer who playtest his games, right? Plus they know him better than any of us could - they're gonna know when a giant dump of enough music to make up an entire chapter doesn't feel like it's truly his (or if they've heard any of his REAL tracks that world prove these aren't real, such as the genuine themes for Tenna or Toriel).

Yeah, there's lots of toby-ish parts about them but... Some of y'all really need to listen to more utdr fangame osts and fan music/fan music edits in general. People are VERY good at this. Y'all can explain to me why Jockington's theme would make canon sense to contain Ghost Fight though, looking forward to that explanation.

U.Z. Inu being an actual psuedonym he's used in the past proves nothing either - have y'all never heard of the countless fake Toby Fox accounts across a ton of different social media? They just chose a more vague one - most likely bc this is SoundCloud and they'd rather not mislead people THAT badly since Toby himself shares his stuff there and they don't wanna get in trouble or make things difficult for him.

The other argument I've seen is that 'He probably just really wants to share his music! He's been waiting so long!' this man has the patience of a saint. He hid every scrap of deltarune from us for YEARS - and besides, he showed us new music on the ut anniversary and the sweepstakes anyway - more than I expected tbh! He'd have no reason to 'leak' that much music, and ESPECIALLY not to toss out random lore hints with it. Again, that's what the sweepstakes were for. I'd say the closest thing to this he really did was the deltarune website in 2017 - but that was a single page with one sentence and no music. Again, this U.Z. Inu situation isn't his style.

Tldr; it's clearly a fan project, and that's okay! Nothing wrong with appreciating fan works for what they are - that's what fandom is about after all. Whoever's behind this deserves some appreciation for their work (bc it all sounds rad as hell!), and I hope they drop their social media for us to go check out once they've finished playing their little game.

[tvlandofficial]

Can I just say I love how the TV keeps getting plugged and unplugged in this blog’s canon

Like. Most people would assume that it’s been unplugged for years until just getting plugged back in in Chapter 2 for whatever reason,

But honestly one thing I’ve wanted to talk about for a while but never know how to word is how the reason fan content of future Chapters never really hits the same way the real thing does is because of assumptions like that. Unlike Toby, who already knows what he’s gonna do with everything, we as the fans don’t typically take the opportunity to build off of small stuff like that, or just add new things to old characters instead of simply recycling what we currently have. Despite the fact that a lot of things we didn’t know in Chapter 1 actually came from things we did know, like how when you see the knockoff controller for the console under Kris’s bed, you’re supposed to assume that it was used by them as yet another visual display of their inferiority complex, only to find out that it was actually used by Asriel so they could have the real one. Or how it was revealed in Chapter 2 that Alphys’s “Cat” is actually Susie. Or how Queen’s sipping noises from Chapter 4 were never shown off or foreshadowed previously, they were just made up on the spot because her whacky personality allows for that kind of randomness, and in turn, also makes it kinda off-brand for her to not have new stuff. The thing about the plug is especially synonymous with the first thing ‘cause the whole extra lore about Toriel being some kinda god basically hinges on it

Overall, I’d say it’s safe to say adding small new things and building off of small old things is a decent chunk of what makes DR as good as it is, and without that, it just feels like something’s missing

Not that that’s not understandable. Coming up with your own shit can be pretty hard, especially if you’re not planning on covering a full Chapter’s worth of content. Plus the concern about how poorly stuff like that might age, considering what happened with Mike- Shit I’m getting side tracked

Anyway yeah, I like how this blog’s take on the Chapter has a neat detail like that

this is so sweet, thank you anon! 😭 like ive said before i dont wanna knock other people's fan chapters - the creativity in this fandom is really great and i love seeing what people come up with! there's a lot of it that i haven't really been able to keep up with, and lots of ocs that seem to have popped up because one person made a cool little idea and people latched on. but for tvland, i wanted to keep it tied to the game as we know it as much as i can, even with the nature of this kind of thing making a lot of it have to rely on my own creativity and headcanons. a lot of people have told me tvland is somewhat unique in that regard, so i'm glad everything people have been coming up with seems to be their own!

kris unplugging tenna and throwing out all their things bc of how they sympathize w the darkners is an idea ive gotten more and more attached to as time goes on. i can't know exactly what's going on in toby's head, but i like to write the blog as though someone handed me deltarune as an unfinished game and went "how would this end?" the big line of the game is "no one can choose who they are in this world", and i'm sure people who've been following and will keep following me and @officialralsei have probably picked up on where that theme pops up again and again. i don't want to show my whole hand when it comes to what i'm doing here, since i am telling a story at the end of the day, but the two of us spend so much time going over the darkner stuff in the game with a fine-tooth comb that i at least hope i made a satisfying continuation to it here.

in the end, this tenna won't be canon. but she means a lot to me, and it seems like a lot of people love her! if it turns out she's a totally different character in canon, we can just pretend this one is her long-lost cousin or something :P

[loveletterworm]

i know basically everyone has at least mentioned something like this theory but i will just reiterate my logic since i brought it up again and because i thought i came up with a decent enough way to present it. so my logic for the areas of deltarune is that they will to some extent evoke the areas of undertale backwards, so its like

(...actually i will use a read more for once because i realized i’m going to be talking for goddamn ever on this one and saying not much of value. so i’m showing mercy now. this is the longest post ever and it’s formatted terribly. you are responsible for if you try to read it)

Area: Card Kingdom | New Home (pretty easy because...it’s a kingdom and new home has the castle.) Main boss: Spade King | Asgore (also really easy, it’s a boss fight at the end of the area where you have no choice but to fight. the part where spade king fakes surrender is obviously meant to remind a player of asgore to catch them off guard when it turns out to be a trap) “Secondary” boss: Jevil | ...well most people say Sans because he’s blue and funny, but it’s occurred to me just now that Jevil’s thing is he sees the world as a game and thus somehow came to the conclusion of killing people for fun, which...that’s technically Flowey’s thing? and Flowey is also sort of a boss of New Home, and his fight does use the red heart rather than the blue one (which would be a more obvious pick if Jevil was meant to parallel Sans).  (He could be sort of a combination of both though or I could still be forcing this. Well think about it)

Area: Cyber World | The Core specifically (not the rest of hotland) (very blue technology-focused area) Main boss: Queen | Mettaton Ex (This is less solid than the Asgore thing was. If i’m being honest it’s mostly just that they look vaguely sort of slightly similar. One could also argue that maybe Queen’s goal being to make Lightners happy is similar to how Mettaton’s goal was to prevent the destruction of humanity by just taking the soul and keeping it? Maybe?) “Secondary” boss: Spamton NEO | Mettaton NEO (You do not need me to explain this one to you. Yes Mettaton counts for both prominent characters in the Core. That’s just the kind of luck being beautiful gets you...) (also of note is that Spamton isn’t exclusively a Mettaton callback as he also is a Mad Dummy one (a dummy shows up out of nowhere while you’ve taken a detour into an area with trash in it and now it’s a quirky miniboss with earthbound soundfont music! but it’s a different kind of dummy this time!) so that’s worth noting for the fact that characters aren’t like, completely beholden to being a match for exactly one undertale character and it has to be in the right area or it doesn’t count. Spamton is also notably unsubtle about this callback thing compared to literally anyone else so far so one probably shouldn’t expect every upcoming secret boss to go as severely on the callbacks as he did...I doubt we are getting something as crazy as the direct sampling of dummy and power of neo in big shot again. it was just too life-changing.)

so now after that point we move into complete nonsense speculation zone but using my previous logic it could be

Area: TV Dark World With Unknown Name | Hotland (just makes sense for a TV world really, most of hotland’s big setpieces are when you’re on a TV show) Main “boss”: Tenna, presumably | Mettaton again because third time’s the charm (just makes sense for a TV again, also presuming spamton’s “game show host” thing is foreshadowing like everyone has presumed for whatever reason) “Secondary” ““““boss””””/prominent character: ??? | Alphys...you never fight her but she’s there like the whole time! would also maybe sort of line up with how sneo sort of “makes up” for the fact that mettaton neo wasn’t a real boss fight...? (though alphys does have the lost soul at least so she’s not...completely unfought...? just has mettaton’s attacks though...) (Muffet is ruled out due to being a backer reward character, though I still want to believe the purple soul will be there...so it’ll be like if alphys inexplicably had the purple soul. Sure.)

Area: ??? (I think church) | Waterfall (The church could work well for a Waterfall callback since Waterfall is where you learn of the Delta Rune prophecy in Undertale...and also it’s already been set up that Noelle will likely be at church by the time of chapter 4. If you think “religion” is a weird dark world theme then I actually think it’ll be more about books in general.) Main boss: ??? | Undyne (I have no ideas on this front specifically. Maybe this one’ll be subtle or something.) “Secondary” boss: ??? | Undyne but The Undying this time (Ok my prediction on this is very specific I think it’ll be a darkner that looks like Gerson psuedo-reincarnated through the hammer that was buried at Gerson’s grave as a symbol of him being brought into the church. Because Gerson Undertale was once a war hero called the hammer of justice. The “undying” part is he would literally have un-died also if its a book world maybe you could get a “death of the author” joke in there. Very specific) Area: ??? | Snowdin (...I think it’s Ice-E’s Pizza. Only because of Ice-E. Literally only because of Ice-E.) Main boss: ??? | Papyrus (Absolutely no idea) “Secondary” boss and/or prominent character: ??? | ...the dogs are the minibosses of snowdin, but...the most prominent character other than the main boss for that area...is sans...again...What if there’s two sans. 

Area: ??? | Ruins (Asgore’s flower shop is my favorite guess for this because the flowers :) ) Main boss: ??? | Toriel(? Aw man it’s gonna be Divorce World) “Secondary” boss and/or prominent character: ??? | Napstablook? Flowey again because it fits the flower thing better? Could go anywhere really my reasoning lost steam as soon as i said we’re getting pizza world. But I still think we’re getting pizza world.

and then the 7th chapter doesn’t line up with any undertale area but cmon man thats the bunker its gotta be the bunker. or the entire town explodes or something but cmon man we gotta look at that bunker at some point.  but if you want to get a bit brave with it you could say the 7th chapter would line up with something that happened before the events of undertale by which i mean  Le gaster  of course

[gameringgungke]

so i had another deltarune dream last night

i wrote down as many details that i could remember and it got long

in the dream, i 'woke up,' it was mid december, and deltarune chapter 3 leaked online or released early. just chapter 3, not 4.

i remember nothing about the game except for one area where the jovial air of the tv studio suddenly died in a map change, where the green carpets and like broke up to some kind of empty white area, dotted with flowers growing out of floor and wall panels. best comparison i can think of is aperture science in portal 2

there were no music, npcs, or enemies in this area, just kris and susie walking around. after 2 rooms susie made a comment about how there was nothing there, nobody commented about where ralsei could've been?

after like 5 or 6 big rooms full of nothing, while walking through a hallway, this little guy sprung out of the panels on the floor and started a fight

there was something in their back, idk what it was. it looked like a number symbol, or a burn mark?

their name was randey (couldve also been barney?) and they were a worm and the secret boss character

the sprite isn't what it looked like in my dream, it's for scale

their entire fight was short, maybe 4 turns at most, where randey just snuffled back and forth on the right side of the screen like their sprite was animated like that, not moving via that game engine. there was no acts outside of check which is how you'd get their name, you could only fight them and once their hp got to 0 they were pacified automatically. all their attacks was like, touhou stage 1 first enemy group fire, moving up and down and firing a line of seeds that got faster each time, or spawning a circle of flower bullets that expanded (basically the opposite of asgore's fire ring attack)

i dont think they had dialog (but they had a portrait) but when their text box appeared there was always this cartoon squishing sound that got pitched up or down sometimes. afrer pacifying them, susie was confused about who the hell they were but something kris said (not the player) made her back off of randey for whatever reason. after that was done, randey would go limp and you could kick them around like the ball in ball game, every time you did there was a shuffling noise. you had to kick them down a chute into lower levels, then go down more empty rooms, and kick them into another chute, about 3 times. there were no puzzles, just walking and kicking

the antenna looked different but i dont remember if they just switched colors or if they had an outline...

after the third one, susie made a comment like "... Okay, what was the point of that?" and you changed rooms again, back into a tv studio like nothing happened.

there was a timeskip in my dream to the area boss, tenna, leading kris and susie into the back set to see undyne and toriel, except it was dark back there and the two others weren't there. suddenly his 'normal form' (see fanon tv head guy) was revealed to be like a drone for tenna's actual body which looked kinda like the G-CLONE in cave story, except the screen head was just a crt. literally just a crt, it was photoshopped in. he threatened them and told them he'd been recording their entire run, and intended to keep them there to have infinite shows made of them and the other two. (still no ralsei??) susie and kris readied their weapons for a fight, and before the boss music started playing, tenna started intensely vibrating, then his screen cracked in half and a giant randey poked their head out and yawned.

then, all of tenna's like, wires and mechanical bits got grown over with flowers (also photoshopped), and more randey heads poked out of different spots on the tv. (randey was an actual sprite though, just slightly more detailed)

most of the design is a blur to me, but this is the gist of it. various tenna bodies were on the wall with static on the screens, and a few cameras on the top of the screen would move around and fire like the tiny cannon in the halberd reactor fight. some attacks would knock a body down and itd just lay on the floor until the fight was over

that was the secret boss fight for chapter 3 and the omega flowey homage in deltarune, i think you beat them by jumping on the smaller heads, using them as elevators up to the highest one, and smacking them. (literally, kris used their hand and susie used the side of her axe)

randey's soul form was the purple soul, and i remember nothing special about it compared to undertale. the fight itself was really easy, the bullet patterns were slow and very spaced out, like muffet has the harder fight.

also their boss theme was in the final from mario. just straight up the exact same song but with the freedom motif halfway through it? i dont remember the bullet patterns except the boss was like a mix of the combo cannon and reactor from kirby super star when it came to attacking.

after beating them you were booted out of the dark world instantly, where kris and susie woke up outside, (kris's house had vines grown over it and a window was broken?) susie said something like "... Seriously, what the hell was all that about???", and the game ended right after.

i remember beating ch3 and feeling confused, then checked toby's twitter and saw a tweet from him that basically went:

"Sorry about the leak! What you all played was a beta version of chapter 3 where one area was unfinished. If you see a certain npc in it, no you didn't. They're a placeholder from a future chapter..." ('no you didnt' not in a scary creepypasta way, more in a 'i messed up and didnt want you to see that' way. that bit is the only part i remember the exact wording for because it caused speculation)

and the entire comments was flooded with "DELTARUNE IS PERSONALIZED?!" or people complaining about randey, who became the most hated character overnight. there were entire memes made with a no symbol put over them or their face that got reposted a ton. people were theorizing that randey coming out of the floor represented them escaping the code and a future chapter to ambush you which was related to dess, but dataminers (specifically dataminers fsr) kept insisting that wasn't what happened and randey was meant to just be the chapter 3 secret boss, whoever toby was talking about wasn't them. everyone kept posting stock photos of bouquets without captions in memory of tenna too

[thebigshotman]

Nah man, I'll send more - I love this AU and your reactions!!

(Also, as a quick note: This is about specifically my personal take of The Other Puppet, called The Other Puppet: Insanity Calls, I got a whole blog and everything about it- Yeah, wanted to clarify)

But you in this world is a lot different from Kris. You can speak by yourself! You're a lightner - Not just that, but you're a human too!

Here's some better pics of you:

You work in the sales department of a giant corporation, run by someone you make know: Queen - although they're called "CEO" here. Your manager is Mike, and your district manager is Tenna. A lot of names you may know.

I keep on saying "You", but it's not you, is it? You know what I mean!

You were an orphan, and a group of bird monsters around your age kind of just... Accepted you? They were your closest friends before going to highschool. They dubbed their group the "Addisons". Also, just so you know, since you were an orphan you got to name yourself anything!!! You were peer-pressured by your brothers to go with "Spamton G. Spamton". They all got normal names.

Of course, when high school started, you all eventually disbanded and went your own ways. Your friend group slowly emerged, you have Seam and Tasque - Both cat monsters whom were related, Swatch - another bird monster, and more importantly, Lancer - coincidentally CEO's son and your best friend. And just like any good High School expirence, you had a bully - Jevil.

However, a few days before graduation, Swatch disappeared without a trace... Despite being a big city - Cyber City - there wasn't much crime around, so eventually the blame got pushed onto Jevil, since he was known to do petty crimes and a few days prior, he threatened Swatch in front of the school.

While the case went cold due to a lack of evidence, this was enough to send Jevil running away. He was never found. Seam was heartbroken, as they were actually close friends.

After graduation, Lancer went to college, Tasque and Seam opened up their own game shop, and you began working under CEO - quickly climbing the ranks due to knowing her son - and became where you are today! But after all of this stress, you needed a break... I can't go into much detail, but let's just say... You got some much needed help, even if it meant giving your independence up.

Eventually, however, when you go into work, CEO, Tenna, and Mike are all standing around ready to announce that you get to train a new hire! And out comes Jevil...

I think that's a good place to wrap it up. I mean, eventually you and Jevil become roommates, but I don't want you to hurt yourself trying to understand all of this. Just know that it's a big world out there.

(Follow-up to this ask here! Once again I’m sorry this took a couple of days. Spam’s reply to all of this will be under the cut since the ask is long (no big deal of course)! Also if you’ve made all of this pixel art yourself that is incredible my friend 😊)

The two pictures they wanted him to see were materialized into his hands like before, and Spaul was quick to look at every detail in both of them before paying attention to the voice. It seemed his theory that he and Kris had completely swapped places was correct, because sure enough, there he was as a Lightner. A being of Heaven, living freely amongst the Angels. And he assumed the second picture, of him in the admittedly cool jacket, was how he looked here in the Dark World. Aside from wondering who the Addison looking creature in the second picture next to him was, he’d be lying if he wasn’t somewhat jealous of this version of himself. Until…

*[[*regal laughter*]], [[discounted television set]] 4ND MIKE…ARE MY [[now hiring:]]????

Queen he could manage somewhat, he was used to it. Who knew what sort of person Mike was in that world if not the voice on the phone. But Tenna, that two timing loser who somehow didn’t go down with him…a sense of bitterness welled up at the idea of Spaul working for him instead of the other way around. But he’d let the voice finish their story before he said anything else.

A lot of it was the same, albeit different in certain places. Being swept up and given a home by the Addisons, and being the most different one out of the five, although in that world their separation seemed mutual. He could definitely see being friends with a humanoid Tasque. He had never heard the names Seam and Lancer before.

And then there was Jevil. Of course he was the bully in that world; when would that dumbass jester ever be nice?! His cheeks flushed dark red at the mention of his name but he otherwise did his best to bite down on his teeth and prevent himself from ranting. Not to mention Swatch…

A voice clip of a satisfied “hmph” was let out upon the revelation that both disappeared.

Everything else after that point was stuff Spaul could agree with. Lancer being related to Queen ensured he would be successful-even in another world he was relying on others-parting ways with the others. It seemed he was older than Kris in this world too—waitwhatwasthataboutgivinguphisfreedom—

Oh, and Jevil came back into the picture at the end, there. Just great.

*TH4T DAMN [[clown around town]] JU$T WON’T [[Leave_Me_Alone.mp3]] WILL HE??? [[And they were roommates!]]…

It came out as a relatively quiet hiss of frustration, that the jester would be there to pester him no matter what. Once he was done fuming, however…he had to admit that world didn’t seem so bad. Though the bit about giving up his independence terrified him a little.

*THAT W0RLD…DO3SN’T SEEM TOO [[0/5 stars]]!!!! 1’M A LIGHT nER, I H4VE FRIENDS…THE [[All we do is advertise!]] ARE STILL THERE…[[Easels]] GOT [-nothing! You lose!!]…

*GU3SS [[anything can happen!]] HUH??? THANKS F0R THE [[fr3e documentaries-cl1ck now!]] PAL!!!

*JU$T…one more question. IN THIS WORLD…4M I THE [[human]] IN TH3 [[a human, a monster, and a prince from the dark.]]???

After that he would cease humoring his curiosity. He swore it!

[agentravensong]

While I'm here, I wanted to say something else:

I'm pretty sure Tenna is going to be the main boss of chapter 3, not Mike - and I don't think Mike is going to be the secret boss either.

Between the damn_you_tenna page (btw, has anyone picked up on the url maybe being a utena reference? just me? cool) and the Twitter Q&A, it seems pretty clear that a) the TV (Tenna) and Mike are separate characters, and b) that Spamton hates the TV/Tenna, but cares about Mike. Perhaps even considers (considered?) him a friend.

The two things that make me think Tenna will be the main boss of the chapter are:

a) We've gotten multiple direct hints to their existence now, from both all this and in-game, with the smile appearing in the TV static as the last image we get from Chapter 2. An obvious cliffhanger - too obvious for their existence to be a surprise like with the other secret bosses. I mean, they're called "secret bosses" for a reason. Remember, Jevil gave no hints about Spamton, but he *did* give a hint about Queen.

b) The tweet makes a reference to "THAT [Cathode]'s CREW". If we assume this is referring to Tenna, which makes sense based on the use of cathodes in CRT televisions (and recall the line from Spamton's fight about turning "THOSE [Cathode Screens] INTO [Cathode Screams]"), then it makes me think there are multiple other characters working for Tenna. Miniboss-type characters that our crew will have to contend with over the course of Chapter 3. (This is also supported by Spamton saying "EVERYONE WILL PAY" except Mike, implying that there are multiple people at fault in his eyes, even if it all comes back to Tenna.) And, structure-wise, it makes a lot more sense for the main boss of the chapter to have a bunch of encounters with lackeys building up to their battle than the secret boss.

Now, as for Mike... my thinking with him is that, again, he's already been hinted at too much to be a proper secret boss. Though, it could start being a trend now that we're two of seven chapters in that secret bosses start getting hinted at, I suppose.

The other thing is that he seems to have been Spamton's friend, specifically during his Big Shot era, whom he lost contact with (likely, cut Spamton off). And yes, Spamton is a boss (in video game terms), but what elevated him to the level of climatic secret boss was his attempts to transcend his Darkner status by taking the NEO body and then Kris's SOUL... not just being a salesman who appeared on TV sometimes. Maybe Mike has gone off the deep end since then, but at current, for as little as we know about him, he just seems like... some guy.

My prediction for him right now is that he'll be more of a Sweet Cap'n Cakes type, where we fight him - perhaps because he initially thinks we're working with/for Tenna - but then he becomes our ally, whom we may actively try to protect from Tenna's crew.

That all being said, it's worth keeping in mind that Spamton is... an unreliable narrator. It's possible that Tenna and their crew aren't actually that devious; that they aren't the bad guys.

...then again...

...maybe not.

EDIT - I almost forgot one other thing that makes me think Mike won't be the secret boss:

Tenna as the main boss of Chapter 3 will put the focus on the entertainment side of this Dark World. I'm sure there will some personal ties back to the Dreemurr family with them being the TV that got unplugged by them some time ago and being the centerpiece of the living room (I can only imagine the things they've seen/heard), but, at the end of the day, they're a TV character in a TV world.

So, it would make sense to me if the secret boss is derived from a different element of the Dreemurr household more specifically focused on Dreemurr family backstory. Something like the discarded flowers in the trash can, or the missing green crayon, or any other number of forgotten, non-TV related items. Which, assuming Mike is a microphone or something similarly tied to the TV / its shows, would not include him.

[lynxgriffin]

I know it's a couple years too late for a "paper trail 2" haha but I'd love to hear you give your thoughts on how Chapter 2 changed your perception of the game's story and how you thought it might play out, and if you've had any new ideas in the time since. Paper Trail was a bit light on front and center darkner OCs, has Chapter 2 clarifying there'll be a new cast of Darkners every chapter inspired you to think up some main or secret bosses of your own like it has for a lot of the fandom?

Oh yeah, chapter two definitely changed my perception on a lot of things...how the themes of the game as a whole actually work, how the universe works, my thoughts on Kris and Ralsei as characters and in relation to the player, who the knight is, Deltarune's relationship to Undertale, and more. In some ways they were a complete reversal of how I imagined it in PT! However, I do actually think canon is still going to end in a similar way to PT...just for different reasons (and I expect Toby to execute on the idea 100x better than I did.)

I'm not sure how I would tackle new Darkner OCs...at least right now for chapter three, the market's kinda saturated with people doing their take on Mike, Tenna and others, and I don't know that I have much to add there. At least in the case of those characters, I'd actually rather just find out how they look in canon. And for other worlds, like a potential Dark World in the hospital, I'm still really hoping that there's a Highlights for Children reference like the Highlight Gallery. It's just such a specific (and old) aspect of doctor/dentist offices that I want to show up! As for secret bosses, I'd have to think some more on those! I haven't thought much on them, but I figure if I did spend some time thinking about it, I could work out something interesting.

[snappedsky]

Fanatics 74

Squee, Johnny, Devi, Tenna, and Colton are forced to embark on a fantastic quest.

*Links to previous and next chapters in reblog*

--

The Imaginary Quest

           Colton grumbles grumpily to himself as he descends into his basement. “‘Clean the basement, Colton’,” he says in a mocking tone. “‘You can play your guitar later, Colton.’ Dad just doesn’t get it.”

           He sighs bitterly as he reaches the basement floor and looks out at the stacks of boxes, left abandoned since they moved in.

           “What the hell am I even supposed to do with all this crap?” he groans as he starts unstacking. He opens random boxes, looking through them for anything interesting, before pushing them to the side again. Most of them are filled with old toys and other things they don’t use anymore. It can all go to the dump for all he cares.

           But after a few minutes, he spots something interesting in a seemingly random box and his face lights up.

           “Ooooh, I gotta show this to Squee!” he exclaims as he grabs the item and races upstairs. He dashes out of the house, through the yard, and knocks rapidly on his neighbor’s door.

           “Eh?” Johnny grunts as he cracks open the door.

           “Hey, Johnny,” Colton smiles, bouncing up and down on his feet. “Squee around?”

           “Hey, Colton,” Squee calls out from somewhere in the house. “Come on in.”

           Nny sighs with annoyance but holds open the door for Colton, who bounds in. Granny Cammie is sitting in her wheelchair next to the couch, where Devi, Tenna, and Squee are resting while they all watch TV. Colton steps in front of them and presents his prize. “Look what I found in my basement!”

           Squee leans forward as he reads the name on the old board game box. “Caves and Creatures?”

         “Yeah!” Colton chimes, “it’s an old roleplay game. It takes place entirely in your imagination.”            “Sounds lame,” Tenna snorts.

           “Sounds cool,” Squee grins.

           “It is!” Colton agrees, “I completely forgot I even had this. Wanna play?”

           “Yeah,” Squee nods and stands up. “But let’s do it outside. It’ll be quieter.”

           “Are you saying we’re loud?” Devi scoffs.

           “A little,” he admits as he and Colton head out the door.

           “I mean, he’s not wrong,” Cammie shrugs.

           “How long are you staying here,” Johnny grunts at her.

           Outside, Squee and Colton sit at their usual spot on the curb and Colton opens box. Inside is a bunch of papers and pencils and a rather thick guidebook.

           “Not much of a board game,” Squee comments.

           “Like I said, this takes place entirely in your imagination,” Colton explains, “the guidebook is full of different stories we can follow- or we can create our own. And we use the papers to detail our characters and their adventures, keeping track of their progress, treasures we find, and enemies we kill and whatnot. Oh, check it. My old character sheet!”

           He hands Squee a sheet of paper. On it is a rather crude drawing of some kind of buff, humanoid creature and next it in barely legible scribblings is the characters information.

           “Name: Fartbutt the Smelly?” Squee questions.

           “Hey, man, I was like seven,” Colton shrugs.

           “Level 2 orc warrior,” he continues, “special power: knocking enemies out with his farts. Wow, brilliant. So you sticking with this one or…?”

           “Nah,” he laughs as he flips open the guidebook. “I’m gonna start a new character. Here, this is the character guide.”

           They spend the next hour or so creating their characters, taking turns flipping through the guidebook for all the proper information. When they’ve finished, they’re both beaming with excitement.

           “Alright, okay,” Colton says as they look over the story index. “We’ll introduce our characters in the story. So, which story should we do?”

           “Oh, this one,” Squee replies, pointing at a story titled ‘King of the Cursed Forest’. “Love a good forest setting.”

           “Okay,” Colton smiles and flips to the beginning of the story. He gets ready to read but stops and hands the book to Squee. “Here, maybe you should read instead. You are a story teller.”

           “I mean, I’m actually just a writer but,” he shrugs as he takes the book. He quickly skims the first couple paragraphs before clearing his throat.

           “Two adventurers arrive at a tavern in a small town called Darkside, on the edge of a twisting forest cloaked in shadows,” he begins, “since the small establishment is mostly empty, the adventurers acknowledge each other as they approach the bar and introduce themselves.”

           He nods at Colton. “After you.”            “I am Fariti,” Colton says in a ridiculous, fake-girl voice. “An elven archer. My hobbies include archery- at which I am quite skilled- and hair styling, as you can tell by my glorious, purple locks.”            Squee snickers as Colton mimes tossing back long hair over his shoulder.

           “I am Neetch,” Squee says in a slightly regal voice. “A half-elf rogue. So we have something in common.”

           “Ha!” Colton scoffs. “You are merely a half-elf. You are not even good enough to lick my shoes.”

           “Too bad. They are nice shoes.”

           The two break character as they start giggling. Then Squee clears his throat and continues to read.

           “The tavern keeper approaches the adventurers.” He puts on his best gruff voice. “What can I do for ya?”

           “Have you any elven wine?” Fariti asks.

           “‘We may have some in the back’ the tavern keeper replies wearily before turning away,” Squee says.

           “Never mind,” Fariti sighs. “I would prefer information.”

           “On what?” the tavern keeper questions.

           “The treasure of the Cursed Forest.”

           “Oh,” Neetch says with interest. “Seems we have more in common as I am interested in the Cursed Forest as well.”

           “You aren’t the only ones,” the tavern keeper says, “many adventurers go after the legends of the Cursed Forest and never return.”

           “Then you must know a lot about it,” Fariti muses.

           “I may know something…for a pri-.” Squee breaks character as he starts coughing. “Oh, man,” he says in his normal voice. “Doing that voice hurts my throat.”

           Colton laughs and after a short break for Squee to clear his throat, they continue.

           After bribing the tavern keeper with some coin, the two adventurers learn many legends of the Cursed Forest, one of which being the treasure is guarded by a horrible king. The two agree to work together to find this treasure and enter the forest.

           Squee and Colton spend hours playing their game. Their characters make steady progress through the Cursed Forest, fighting their way through dangerous foes, gather amazing items, and meet interesting individuals.

           Squee enjoys it the entire time. It’s seems so simple, but it’s the most fun he’s had in a long time. And they both get so lost in the story, they don’t notice anything going on around them.

           Inside the house, Nny, Devi, Tenna, and Cammie don’t notice anything going on outside either. And neither does anyone else on the street. Nothing much happens on Grave Road.

           But Shmee, who was left resting on the coffee table, senses what’s happening. Without Squee, he is not able to move to look out the window. But he can feel it. A great change is taking over. And it worries him deeply.

           Finally, Fariti and Neetch defeat the King of the Cursed Forest and claim the treasure. Squee and Colton both cheer and pound the air.

           “Woo, that was awesome,” Colton grins as he leans back and looks at the sky. What he sees causes him to freeze up.

           “Yeah,” Squee sighs and leans forward. He suddenly feels exhausted. “I didn’t expect it to be so…immersive. We should definitely play it again.”

           “Colton?” he questions when his friend doesn’t respond. He’s looking around with a mixture of shock, fear, and awe. When Squee looks up, he quickly realizes why.

           They are surrounded by giant, dark trees with twisting branches and trunks. The thick canopy of leaves overhead is completely blocking the sky, the sun just barely leaking in through the cracks. The thin trunks are bending around the surrounding houses. Odd creature noises can be heard somewhere in the shadows.

           “Uh-um….” Squee croaks.          

           “How long have we been playing?” Colton asks, “do I have an ancient beard?”

           “Did…did I do this?” Squee questions as he stands up. His knees just about give out underneath him and he crouches down to steady himself.

           “Are you okay?” Colton asks worriedly.

           “I-I don’t know,” he replies, “I suddenly feel really…weak.” He looks up at the surrounding trees that looks just like how he imagined the Cursed Forest. “Aw, man. I did do this.”

           “What? How?”

           “With my…imagination powers,” Squee replies, “I got so engrossed in the game I accidently created…the Cursed Forest.”

           A guttural growl is heard from the shadows nearby.

           “Aw, jeez,” Colton squeaks.

           “Help me up,” Squee orders, sticking out his hand. “We have to get inside.”

           Colton helps him to his feet and they hurry into the house.

           “Nny!” Squee exclaims, startling everyone. “I-I really screwed up!”

           “What’d you do?” Johnny questions. “Did you blow up another convenience store? I keep telling you to keep your bombs and your wallet separate.”

           “No, Nny, I…just, go look outside,” Squee demands as he hobbles to the kitchen. “I need to get something to eat.”

           The adults all get up and walk to the door- except for Cammie, who rolls. They are immediately flabbergasted as they look outside.

           “I’m staying inside,” Cammie grunts and rolls away.

           “What…” Johnny breathes, stunned.

           “Wow,” Tenna comments, “I know Nny hates to mow his lawn, but I didn’t think it would get this bad.”

           Devi glares at her incredulously.

           “I’m just trying to lighten the mood, man, this is fucking weird.”

           “What happened?” Nny asks as they hurry back to Squee, who’s busy scarfing down a sandwich while Colton stands nearby.

           “We were playing that game and I got super into it,” Squee explains between mouthfuls, “and I think I accidently manifested all of that with my imagination.”

           “You created an entire world by accident?” Devi questions.

           He shrugs. “Sure looks that way.”

           “It’s pretty awesome when you think about it,” Colton smiles.

           “Not when you consider we’re living in the Cursed Forest with all its dangerous creatures,” Squee points out.

           “Ah. Right.”

           “Can you change it back?” Tenna asks.

           “I don’t know,” Squee replies, “if I knew how, I would’ve done it already. But I’ve never…destroyed something I’ve created before.”

           “What if you just…will it to disappear, like how you will it to appear?” Nny suggests.

           “I’ll try,” he shrugs. He closes his eyes and thinks super hard about the forest disappearing. “Is it gone?”

           They peek through the window and still see the overhanging branches and leaves. “Nope,” Nny replies.

           “Okay…” Squee sighs.

           “What if we just completed the quest?” Colton suggests.

           “But we already did that,” he points out.

           “Our characters did, but we didn’t. Maybe if we defeat the King, it’ll give you, like, closure or something.”

           Squee shrugs. “It’s worth a shot. I’ll call the guys.”

           He grabs his phone and sighs with disappointment. “I have no reception.”

           “I guess the Cursed Forest doesn’t have good cell service,” Colton remarks.

           “Looks like we’re on our own this time,” Squee grunts as he pockets his phone and faces everyone. “You guys up for a quest?”

           “I guess,” Nny shrugs.

           “Yeah, I wasn’t doing anything today,” Devi adds.

           “Sure, sounds fun,” Tenna nods.

           “Count me out,” Cammie replies, “forests aren’t usually wheelchair friendly. I’ll just stay here with the cat.”

           Nugget meows in agreement as she hops onto Cammie’s lap.

           “That’s probably for the best,” Squee agrees, “okay, let’s gear up.”

           Squee slings his bag over his shoulder and rests Shmee on his head. Johnny throws on his coat. Devi and Tenna dig around in his closet before grabbing a bat and brace knuckles, respectively. And Colton grabs the Cave and Creatures guidebook.

           “It’ll help us find our way through the forest,” he clarifies.

           “Then let’s go,” Squee demands.

           They exit the house and head down the street where the woods get thicker. The trees seem to have just appeared out of nowhere- which they essentially did. They aren’t bursting out of the asphalt; more like they were gently placed on the roads and sidewalk. The trunks have grown around houses and vehicles, causing almost no damage.

           Civilians have noticed the sudden change as they step out of their houses in bewilderment. They don’t pay Squee and the others any mind as they pass by.

           “You really do have an active imagination, Squee,” Devi comments.

           “Too active apparently,” he remarks.

           They’re suddenly stopped by shouts of terror and a group of people race by frantically.

           “Uh oh,” Squee grunts as they turn to whatever it was they were running from.

           Three creatures fly into view. They’re like large snakes with feathered wings and fangs protruding from their top lip. They hiss angrily at the group, their forked tongue flicking about.

           “Winged serpents!” Colton exclaims, “cool!”

           “Less cool when they’re attacking us,” Squee argues. “Duck!”

           He shoves Colton to the ground as the serpents swoop at them. Then he draws his knife and slices through the wing of one. It immediately crashes and Squee quickly steps on its trashing tail and slices its throat.

           The other two split apart, one going after Johnny, the other going for Devi and Tenna. The girls duck and Devi swings her bat, smashing the serpent’s snout in and knocking it to the ground. One final swing crushes its head.

           Simultaneously, Nny makes quick work of the final serpent with one quick swing and slices its head off.

           “That was easy,” Tenna comments.

           “They are the lowest level creatures in the forest,” Colton points out, “but we should keep moving. Their blood is gonna attract predators.”

           After quickly cleaning off their weapons, the group continues their progress through the forest. They don’t get very far though, before they hear movement in the surrounding shadows.

           “Who’s there?” Devi snaps, raising her bat.

           “When has asking ‘who’s there’ ever produced an actual answer?” Nny chides.

           Whatever it is, it’s crunching the dirt just out of sight. Everyone strains their eyes as they struggle to see into the darkness.

         A shiver shoots up Squee’s spine and he tackles Devi and Tenna out of the way. “Watch out!” he cries just as something comes charging out of the shadows. Johnny and Colton shout with surprise as it brushes by and skids to a stop before facing them again.

           “A monster boar!” Colton exclaims.

           It is indeed a giant boar with large, stained tusks and fangs and beady red eyes. It scrapes its hoof along the ground before charging again towards Squee and girls. They scream as they barely dive out of the way.

           “What do we do?” Devi yells.

           “Uh-uh-ge-get into the trees!” Squee orders.

           The three quickly scramble up the nearest trees as the boar charges them again. They manage to get just high enough to be out of reach of its tusks. But it slams into the trunks and nearly knocks Tenna loose.

           Before it can try again, a rock hits the back of its head.

           “Over here, you big pig!” Johnny barks.

           The boar turns to face him, snorting angrily. It scrapes its hoof against the ground, preparing to charge. Nny faces it head-on.

           The boar takes off. Nny doesn’t flinch and raises his knives, ready to attack. But before he can get the chance, an arrow flies out of the shadows and connects with the boar’s right, front tendon. It squeals in pain as it collapses, skidding across the pavement.

           Before it can try to recover, a figure flips out of the shadows, lands on the boar’s body, and slices open its throat with two daggers.

          Johnny stares at the figure with surprise but keeps his knives ready as they step off the boar. They’re quite tall and slender, but lean, with short black hair and pointed ears. They’re dressed in leather clothing with many knives hanging from their waist and slung across their chest.

           “Is that-?” Squee questions but before he can finish, an arrow hits the trunk just inches from his face, making him squeal.

           Another person exits the shadows, brandishing a bow. They have very long, thick purple hair that spills down their shoulders and back. Poking through it are two very long, pointed ears. They’re also dressed in leathers with a quiver of arrows slung across their back.

           “Fariti!” Colton exclaims.

           “And Neetch,” Squee breathes.

           “State your purpose,” Fariti orders, in an absolutely ridiculous, high-pitched voice.

           Devi and Tenna immediately burst into laughter while Colton buries his face into his hands. “Why does she sound like that?”

          “That’s the voice you gave her,” Squee points out as he drops out of the tree and faces Fariti. “Uh, we mean you no harm. We are adventurers.”

           “Really?” Neetch asks with a voice that sounds a lot like Squee trying to sound older. “You seek the treasure of the forest?”

           “Mostly the king,” he replies.

           “Then we shall travel together,” Neetch declares, “the more, the merrier. Right, Fariti?”

           “Very well,” she sighs, lowering her bow. “As long as they do not slow us down. And cease their guffaw.”

           “S-sorry,” Tenna snickers behind her palm while Devi takes a few deep breaths.

           “Then let us continue,” Neetch says as he starts marching. Fariti follows in-step while Squee and the others stay a little behind.

           “Do they know they’re, you know, make-believe?” Colton asks quietly.

           “I don’t think we need to tell them,” Squee replies.

           As they walk through the forest, Neetch looks over his shoulder at them. “So, why is it you seek the King of the Cursed Forest?”

           “Um,” Squee hums with uncertainty as he and Colton glance at each other before responding, “glory?”

           “Ah! Me as well,” Neetch replies, “I wish to bring my half of the treasure to my village, where I will celebrate richly with my friends.”

           “He’s pretty campy,” Nny comments quietly.

           “That’s kind of what I was going for,” Squee shrugs.

           “I, on the other hand, require the treasure to free my family from poverty, and attain the life of luxury I so deserve,” Fariti adds.

           “Sounds like a classic backstory,” Devi comments.

           “Hey, the classics are great,” Colton argues.

           “Halt!” Fariti orders as she and Neetch come to a sudden stop.

           “Wh-what is it?” Squee asks nervously.

           “We are being watched,” she replies, “prepare yourselves.”

           Everyone readies their weapons, their eyes carefully scanning the surrounding shadows.

           “I don’t hear anything,” Tenna points out.

           “Yeah, it’s quiet,” Nny agrees, “for the first time since we’ve been here.”

           “An eerie silence,” Colton muses and flips through the guidebook. “That’s the first sign that we’re nearing the King’s domain.”

           “Excellent,” Neetch comments, “let us proceed with caution.”

           They start moving again, carefully, constantly checking over their shoulders. And then, just as suddenly as the silence began, it ends with sinister giggling.

           “What’s that?” Devi asks, raising her bat.

           “G-goblins!” Colton exclaims, “the King’s minions!”

           “Watch your backs!” Squee orders, “they’ll surround us.”

           They stand back to back, weapons raised just as a large group of creatures leap out of the trees around them. They’re short- barely four feet- and green with large ears, little fangs, and claws instead of fingers. They land on the adventurers, grabbing their heads and shoulders as they spit and snicker.

           “Ah! Fuck off!” Devi barks.

           “Release me, foul creatures!” Neetch shouts.

           “Not the face!” Colton cries.

           “Watch the hair!” Fariti snaps.

           Johnny grabs the one clambering on his face and throws it at a tree with enough force to snap the creature’s spine. Then he grabs one nibbling at his shoulder and uses it like a club to smack off another clawing at Squee’s face. With that distraction gone, Squee grabs one of his knives and stabs the other one clawing at his back.

           Meanwhile, Fariti managed to block most of the goblins with her bow. She quickly throws them off and loads a couple arrows before shooting the ones attacking Neetch. Then, he grabs some throwing knives and turns to Devi and Tenna. He whips the blades and they all strike the goblins in their backs. They jerk a second before falling dead.

           Finally, the only goblins left are the two on Colton, who’s blocked most of their attacks with the book. Devi quickly smacks them away with her bat.

           “Is that all of them?” Neetch asks.

           A still-living goblin suddenly leaps at him from behind. Before it can connect however, Tenna punches it out with her brass knuckles.

           “Boosh!” she cheers and grins. “Now it is.”

           “Let’s keep moving,” Fariti orders, “before more show up.”

           They step around the bodies and continue on their path while Colton flips through the guidebook.

           “Okay, let’s see,” he muses, “first the eerie silence, then the goblins. That only leaves one more barrier.”

           “Which is?” Devi asks.

           Both Colton and Squee gulp fearfully as the ground starts shaking beneath their feet. “The forest troll.”

           The trees are knocked over like tooth picks as a large creature approaches, quaking the ground with its footsteps. It’s over eight feet of rippling muscle in nothing but a loin cloth. It carries a large club on its shoulder and glares at the adventurers with the beady eyes on its disproportionately tiny head.

           “Watch out!” Squee cries as it lifts its club. “It’s a one-hit killer!”

           Everyone dives out of the way as the troll swings its club down, leaving a small crater in the asphalt where they were standing. Before it can decide who to attack next, a couple arrows pierce its left shoulder. It snorts as it turns to face Fariti. She looses two more arrows into its chest, but it barely seems to notice as it charges.  She quickly rolls out of the way of its club.

           “This thing just ate our attacks when we fought it,” Colton points out.

           “Yeah,” Squee agrees, “but remember how we beat it?”

           He smiles shakenly and nods. “Yeah.”

           “Neetch!” Squee calls out, catching the half-elf’s attention. “You and Fariti keep it distracted!”

           “Understood!” he nods before throwing a knife at the troll. It pierces its right shoulder, but again the troll doesn’t seem to care.

           “Nny,” Squee says as he draws his knives. “Go for the joints.”

           “Got it,” he smirks.

           With the troll’s back turned to them, its focus on Fariti and Neetch, Squee and Nny charge its back. Squee slices its ankle tendons while Nny does the back of its knees. It immediately cries out in pain as it falls to the ground, its legs now unable to support its tremendous weight.

           “Now finish it!” Squee orders.

           Johnny starts to swing for its neck but stops when he notices the dropped club. He grins and he pockets his knives.

           “What are you doing?” Devi asks.

           “Just a sec,” he replies and grabs the club’s handle. Exclaiming with exertion, he manages to lift it over his head and, smirking, brings it down on the troll’s head, smashing it like an egg.

           “That works,” Squee shrugs.

           “Well done!” Neetch cheers, “you are much more capable adventurers than I originally thought.”            “Uh, thanks,” Squee replies awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.

           “I admit, your skills and knowledge surprise me,” Fariti adds.

           “We are very knowledgeable,” Colton smiles.

           “Now, let us continue,” she orders, “the King’s dark palace awaits.”

           With the trees knocked out of the way, they can see their destination in the distance. It’s gotten a bit of a makeover- darks vines now cover most of the exterior- but it’s still recognizable.

           “The mall,” Squee declares.

           “Where evil lives,” Nny snarls.

           They approach the building quickly. Anyone who was outside when the forest emerged is now cowering inside their vehicles. Anyone who was inside is banging on the windows, begging to be freed. The automatic double doors are sealed shut by the thick dark vines crisscrossing the walls but they are easily chopped away by Johnny’s knives. As soon as the doors are open, a mob races out, crying with relief.

           The adventurers peek inside. The power must be out because it’s completely dark; not even the emergency lights are on. There doesn’t appear to be any life with the civilians gone.

           “The King awaits,” Fariti says darkly before they step inside.

           “Where do you think he is?” Tenna asks.

           “Most likely on the second floor,” Squee replies, “somewhere he can have a throne.”

           “The furniture store?” Devi suggests.

           They climb the stairs to the second floor and approach the furniture store, and sure enough, right in the doorway is a large easy chair. Lounging in it is a tall, well-built elven man in robes made of plants and flowers. Flowers also stick out of his long black hair and he is holding a scepter that looks like a thin tree trunk with a green orb at the top.

           “Who dares approach my sanctum?” he demands, his voice echoing off the walls.

           “King of the Cursed Forest,” Neetch booms, “we have come to defeat you and take your treasure.”

           “To have traversed my forest and defeat my minions is quite a feat,” the King says as he stands up. “But your adventure ends here.”

           “Let’s hope so,” Squee remarks.

           The King lifts his scepter and vines smash through the nearby walls and ceiling, charging the adventurers like giant snakes. Everyone immediately dives out of the way.

           Squee quickly reaches into his bag and slaps on his goggles before activating his rocket wheelies. He nimbly zips around the vines and rushes to the King, knives raised. He doesn’t even see Squee coming until they’re face to face. Squee swings his blades but instead of hitting the King, he hits an invisible barrier. His attack backfires and he flies backwards, slamming into the wall.

           “Ugh, dammit, I forgot,” he groans as he gets up on his elbows. “We have to destroy that orb on his scepter. It’s the source of his power.”

           “Yeah, sorry,” Colton says as he cowers behind a couch. “I should’ve mentioned that.”

           “Then we shall aim for the scepter!” Fariti declares as she looses an arrow. It flies straight for the orb but a vine comes up and blocks it.

           “He won’t make that easy,” Neetch points out.

           Snarling, Squee gets up on his feet and zooms to the King again. But before he can get close, giant vines burst out of the ground and wrap around the King like a protective cocoon.

           “Did you think you could use the same trick on me twice?” the King jeers, his voice echoing out of the planet barrier.

           Another grouping of vines swing at Squee and he zips backwards, dodging them, and ducks behind the couch next to Colton. Meanwhile, Johnny, Devi, and Tenna keep their distance and dodge the swinging vines.

           “What now?” Devi asks.

           “I mean,” Nny shrugs, “maybe we can’t because of like magic of whatever, but what if we just…burned them?”

           The girls look at each other with realization while he reaches into his coat and pulls out of a lighter.

           “Fuck it up,” Devi nods approvingly.

           Nny lights the lighter and tosses it into the onslaught of vines. As soon as the flame makes contact, the vine lights up like dried grass. Everyone watches with surprise as the fire quickly spreads around the plants and the King cries out in pain.

           The barrier around him spreads apart as he swings his scepter and he glares through the burning vines. Squee glares back over the couch.

           “Shmee, get the scepter,” he orders.

           The bear dives over the couch and deftly slips around the flames. The King spots him coming and raises his free hand. Small, thin vines extend from his robes and catch Shmee. He thrashes about, snapping most of them but more keep coming. When he manages to free a leg for a second, he kicks the scepter.

           “No!” the King exclaims as it’s knocked from his hand to the floor. Immediately, Fariti shoots an arrow at it and Neetch throws a knife. But before they can hit it, more vines bust through the floor and knock the scepter out of the way.

           “I will not be defeated!” the King exclaims. The vines lunge towards them but they easily jump out of the way.

           Squee leaps over the couch and charges for the scepter. The King spots him and summons more vines beneath his feet, shooting him into the air and over the second floor balcony.

           “Squee!” Shmee exclaims. He rips off the rest of the vines holding him and dives after him.

           Johnny, Devi, and Tenna briefly glance after them before Johnny glares at the King. “I’m going for the scepter.” The girls stare after him as he rushes towards the still-burning vines.

           Nny easily weaves around the plants and makes his way to the scepter. The King sees him coming but before he can attack, an arrow and a knife pierce his side. He cries out in pain and turns to face Neetch and Fariti.

           “Impudent wretches!” the King barks and lifts both his hands, pointing one at Nny and the other at Neetch and Fariti. More vines burst from the ground, lifting them off their feet and wrapping around each of them.

           “Dammit!” Johnny snarls as he struggles in the plant’s grasp.

           “Nny!” Devi exclaims as he’s lifted higher and higher.

           “This may be it, partner,” Neetch says.

           “Then it has been an honor to adventure by your side,” Fariti replies.

           The King laughs triumphantly as the vines begin to squeeze. “Did you really think you could defeat me? My power is unfathomable! I will never be defeate-!”

           He stops suddenly as the sound of smashing glass seems to resonate around them. Everything freezes and he turns around to see Colton kneeling beside his scepter, the orb crushed to pieces beneath his guidebook.

           “N-no,” the King stammers, trembling. “I-it’s not…possible.”

           “I need to say a really cool one-liner here,” Colton whispers as he stands up and faces the King. “You know what they say. The pen is mightier than the swor-.”

           Before he can finish, the entire building starts shaking. The vines are sucked back into the ground and Johnny, Neetch, and Fariti hit the floor hard.

           “We are victorious!” Neetch cheers.

           “What about the treasure?” Fariti asks.

           A large chunk of the ceiling crashes to the floor beside them.

           “We will worry about that later,” Neetch replies, “for now we must retreat!”

           “The building is coming down!” Tenna exclaims.

           “No shit!” Johnny snaps as he scrambles to his feet.

           “Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Devi orders.

           “Wait for me!” Colton cries.

           Everyone races away, leaving the King in shock as the mall collapses around him.

           The adventurers escape safely and turn to see the vines that were wrapped around the walls are also being pulled back into the ground. They watch for a second as the building crumbles from the force before Johnny looks around worriedly. “Where’s Squee?”

           “Hey, look!” Tenna exclaims, pointing at the surrounding the forest. All of the trees are beginning to fade away into sparkles that disappear in the wind.

           “Neetch! Fariti!” Colton gasps. The two adventurers are meeting the same fate, but seem completely oblivious to it.

           “Looks like we’ll have to do some digging for our treasure,” Neetch comments.

           “We’ve worked this hard for it,” Fariti shrugs, “what’s some more hard work?”

           They both smile as they fade away.

           “Adventure on, you two,” Colton says with a salute.

           “The forest is gone and everything’s back to normal,” Devi observes and looks at the collapsed mall. “Well…almost.”

           “But where is Squee?” Johnny asks impatiently.

           “Hang on,” Colton says as he takes out his phone. “I have service again.”

           He sends Squee a text and receives a quick response. “He says he’s outside and okay. He’ll meet us at home. He just needs a break.”

           Johnny sighs with relief. “Alright. Let’s get out of here then.”

           They all turn and begin the quest back home. Meanwhile, on the other side of the mall, Squee is sitting on the ground against a building, Shmee in his lap. He sighs heavily as he looks up at the unobscured sky.

           “That was kind of fun actually,” he comments, “still, I can’t believe I created like a whole world. That’s…wild.”

           “Indeed,” Shmee agrees.

           “Well, I guess I’d better head home,” Squee says and starts to stand up.

           “Squee, wait,” Shmee orders and he stops.

           “What?” he questions.

           “Let’s just…stay here a little longer. It’s not often it’s just the two of us anymore.”

           “What do you mean?” Squee asks with mild amusement. “It’s like that every night.”

           “Yeah, but even then we have the cat with us and you need to sleep,” Shmee points out.

           “Alright,” he shrugs and settles back down. “I don’t mind.”

           Squee rests his hand on Shmee’s body and Shmee holds him back with his stubby arms.

           “Squee, tell me a story,” Shmee says.

           “Okay,” Squee replies, somewhat uncertain. “What story?”      

           “Tell me about when we first met.”

           Squee smiles. “That feels so long ago now. Well, it was another normal, crappy day. The kids made fun of me at school. Mom forgot I existed and didn’t make me dinner and Dad yelled at me to get a job so I could buy my own food. So I was feeling pretty lousy when I went into my bedroom.”

           “And then I saw a brown teddy bear on my bed. I was so happy. I ran back out to thank Dad but he said he had no idea what I was talking about. When I went back into my room, the bear was sitting up on my bed and its smile seemed to widen. Then it said, “hello. I’m your new friend.”

           “I was even more happy. I didn’t care where you came from. You were my first friend.”

           “And now you have lots of other friends,” Shmee says, “you’ve really grown and changed a lot since then. You’re so strong, so brave. Even more so than you think. You don’t even need me anymore.”

           “Don’t be silly, Shmee,” Squee scoffs, “of course I need you.”

           He doesn’t reply and Squee glances at him. “Shmee? Are you okay?”

           “Squee, listen to me very carefully,” he orders, “I don’t have a lot of time.”

           “What? What are you-?”

           “Just listen. You are extraordinary. You possess unique and special powers. And the Daydream doesn’t believe you need protection anymore. In fact, they view you as a lost cause and would prefer to separate from you entirely.”

           “Wait, what-what do you-?”      

           “This forest was the final straw. You are growing more and more powerful. They’re gonna take me away. I have no say in the matter.”

           “What?” Squee exclaims, “no, Shmee, you can’t-!”            “I don’t agree with them,” Shmee continues. “You are not a threat nor a lost cause and I would much rather stay with you. But…I can’t.”

           “Shmee!” he cries and lifts him up in front of his face. “You can’t leave!”

           Shmee smiles sadly at him. “You don’t need me anymore. You have lots of friends now. And you’re braver and stronger than you think.”

           “B-but, Shmee, you’re my friend too!”

           “I know. And you’re mine.”

           Shmee squeezes Squee’s hands with his own. “I’m so proud of you, Squee.”            It feels like a breeze blows by and Shmee falls limp. Squee stares at him in shock, at the light, lifeless body with its soulless, white eyes and empty smile. Just an old, ratty teddy bear.

           Squee flings his hands away and screams.

[whiskeyworen]

Halloween Festivities

There's one great thing about Tyria. Cyrus reflected as he sipped his whiskey. He smiled to himself, trying to surpress the chuckle that he knew would draw an odd look from the big bartender nearby. Halloween isn't just one day here. It's a damned -- literally! -- month!

Sure, there were significant downsides to a month long Halloween; haunted magical doors opening into the Mists randomly were one of the BIG ones. And having the Mad King appearing in several locations at once around Kryta was another. Last year Cyrus had dodged his way out of a Mad King Says 'game' -- a game that he witnessed more than one person being slammed to the ground by flaming pumpkin heads with enough force to leave them winded -- and into the Labyrinth.

That was a mistake; Not only did he witness Tenna running around and having her 'fun' with the lunatic hordes ( H.P. Lovecraft certainly got some elements right with 'The Festival', at least in that regard), as gory as that was. At the same moment the Mad King was playing his game in the real world, he was ALSO standing there, towering over the Labyrinth, facing off against his revolting, Joker-esque son.

This year, Cyrus resolved to stay away from the festivities as much as possible, but there were some absolutely wonderful parties going on. Costume parties. His 'friend' in the Whispers, that pale sylvari with the terrifying magenta eyes, had invited him and a Plus One to a private get together.

It helped that his companion for the night, his 'date', if the word was to be used, was also a Whispers agent. Certain hands were shook, as it were. It was all good.

Which is how he ended up waiting in the bar. A few weeks ago he'd discussed his costume design with Verula and the ship's AI, Aspect, and they'd come through with, presenting him with the outfit a couple of days ago. He straightened up a bit, running his hand over the sleek, black jacket with its golden gilt filigree, amazed at how well it fit. Remind me to compliment both of them again! This fits wonderfully.

"My, that's quite the outfit Cyrus." Came a familiar voice from behind him. Mixed into the amusement was a note of actual approval. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were going to some fancy ball."

He turned, smirking, to greet his 'date'. "Well, I thought about wearing that Mist suit Tenna designed, but it's bulky. Not exactly relaxation friendly." With a gesture, he indicated the lines of the suit. "This...on the other hand, is perfectly acceptable. Plus, it makes me look damned good."

Moryggan raised an eyebrow, a small smile quirking her lips. "Well, not to boost your ego, but it does look very nice. Very regal, maybe even noble." She rolled her eyes a bit, sighing. "If only that were the truth about you."

"Hey..." He frowned petulantly, crossing his arms. She giggled, shaking her head.

"I'm only toying with you." She admitted. "It's a very handsome outfit."

"Thank you." The frown disappeared, and for the first time Cyrus saw what Moryggan had on. "Oh... wow. That's, um..."

"Do you like it?" Moryggan did a slow spin, the shredded tassels, inscribed in tainted runes swirling around her. Her natural minty green sylvari glow lit up every bit of exposed skin she had, almost like glowing tattoos all over her body. It actually worked very well. But...

"That's...uh... that's a lot of exposed skin." Cyrus tried not to stare, averting his eyes a bit. He coughed into his hand, trying to cover the blush that suddenly rose in his cheeks. "Are you really going to be comfortable in that tonight?"

"It's a costume party. There's probably going to be someone dressed as Lord Faren for crying out loud." Moryggan grinned...and then they both winced and shuddered at the thought of anyone pulling a Faren. "Ugh. Okay, wrong example."

"Yeah. Let's..not mention that ever again." Cyrus agreed, desperately wishing for a bit of brain bleach. Other than adoring noble girls, absolutely no one in the known world wanted to see any MORE of Faren, who had not yet abandoned his bathing suit -- which Cyrus had reluctantly referred to as a 'banana hammock', much to his distaste -- since he returned to health from the assault on Joko's fortress at Kourna.

"So, are you ready to go to the party?" Moryggan asked. Cyrus nodded, and they headed out the passage to the street. "I hope we can take in some of the sights before we reach it, though." "Well, if you want, we can." He replied reluctantly. "Can we skip seeing Droobert though? I just find that depressing." "Agreed." As they reached the street, she linked their elbows, clasping his arm. "... So what is your costume, anyway? A noble?" Cyrus shook his head. "It's as close as I could get made to an outfit my favorite novel character wore." He chuckled. "Hero of the Imperium: Ciaphas Cain." Moryggan tipped her head, considering the golden filigree. This close, she noticed that the buttons had a little skulls engraved on them, and on the breast there was a double-headed eagle icon; blind on one head, the other head had a small diamond for its eye. Looking down, she could see the skulls-and-eagle theme was repeated throughout the outfit. "Hm... name doesn't ring a bell. What did he do?"

He laughed, shaking his head. "He tried for a peaceful, uneventful life in the military, and fell upward, going from one horrible, world-shattering mission after another, succeeding amazingly every time, much to his own surprise. Declared a Hero of the Imperium, all the while he was fully convinced he didn't deserve any of the glory."

"That...sounds strange." She looked at him, the smile on his face. "How is he a hero then?"

"He's not, really." Cyrus just smiled. "The way the world saw him was this tall, proud, masculine, brave, powerful man that never swayed and was the shining example of an upstanding soldier. The truth... in his own memoirs and some of his closest friends' admissions... was that he was an absolutely normal man. The same vices, the same pains, and more than the same amount of fears. He just hid it well, was very lucky, and had some very good friends."

He looked at her, smirking, one eyebrow raised smugly. "He was also quite the ladies' man. And never seemed to have any issues, given he kept moving around."

"Ohh, so he's a heartbreaker." She poked his side as they passed by some kids dunking for apples in a cauldron. "He surrounded himself with women and got away with it, did he?"

"I seem to remember him saying something about being a master of 'letting them down gently'." Cyrus laughed, jumping a bit at her poke. "I don't like THAT aspect of him, but... as a guy, I'm mildly envious of his luck with the ladies."

As they crossed the Piazza, chatting with fellow costumed individuals, Moryggan kept getting the lion's share of the compliments. More than one guy, and even a few ladies gave a low whistle at her hip-high leather boots, even if they DID end in hooves. More than one set of roving eyes ran over her gently glowing form as she walked with Cyrus. And more than one had envy in their eyes.

"I think they like your costume." Cyrus mumbled into her ear as they wandered the passage to the bridge near the Eastern Ward. The party was being held in the Guild register building, in its vast atrium.

"I should hope so. It took an hour of careful conjuring to form this illusion." She whispered back.

That gave him pause. It physically stopped him just before they headed over the bridge, and Moryggan kept walking, as if she hadn't noticed. "Wait...what do you mean 'illusion'? That entire outfit is a mesmer glamour?"

She stopped, turning to look over her shoulder at him, a smile as smug as his own from before on her face. "Of course! There's no way some parts of this would have stayed together on its own. Or in the right places. Add to that I was having a hard time thinking of something to make when I ran out of time. So I used the last hour to make the glamour illusion of this outfit." She turned to face him, hands lightly on her hips. "So I'm rather glad people are enjoying this one."

There was something that was nagging at Cyrus's mind, as he looked at her outfit. But what was it?...There's so much skin. Is that all illusion too?... And then a light went off in his head. "Moryggan..."

"Yes?" She replied innocently. She'd seen that realization hit him; as much as he liked to think he dissembled his emotions, Moryggan had instantly seen that certain things broke his mask in a delightful way.

"....if that's an illusion, then exactly what ARE you wearing?" He asked slowly.

Her smile broadened, and she turned away, letting him see the minty glow pulsing from the base of her spine outward. She couldn't hide it, but the speed of the pulse was slightly faster than normal, and a bit brighter. "....well, if I have too much to drink, perhaps you'll find out?"

She giggled, and looked back at him, seeing his mouth drop open. "Though, I would suggest that we get back to the inn before I lose control of the glamour. It's easy to maintain, but..."

Moryggan tipped her head, making an amused sound, before walking off, a bit of a bounce in her step. Cyrus stood there, his mind locked onto the image of Moryggan losing the illusion and...

"Whoa, wait up Mory!" He called, running to catch up with her. "Slow down!"

Her pleasant laughter was the only response.

---- Author’s note: This is totally non-canon... well, okay, maybe half way. I’m actually starting to ship these two. Which me distinctly envious of my in-game character. LoL. This fic was just thrown together, so take it with a grain of salt. Also, I just kind of wanted to show off Moryggan with her glow fully on, and just how pretty it looked. That, and Cyrus really does look great in that Courtier outfit. All that’s missing is a peaked cap and a laspistol. I’m still working on the chainsword, since they exist in game in about four different designs. (IRON BEAST BLADE!!)

[fyrapartnersearch]

Yo, wassup, I figured for the first of December I’d send out another ad to look for some partners; It’s been a while and my tastes have changed and narrowed and now I’ll be shootin’ for a smaller (sort of) group of people, this time around.

For starters, the name’s Sparky, or Shark, or whatever you wanna call me, I’m nineteen years of age and I’ve posted here a few times before, I’m pretty sure. I’ve become less formal and uptight with these ads as time goes on because I’ve learned that the more chill a gal is, the more people feel welcomed to send honest and colorful replies, but don’t be turned off by my lack of intellectualism; when it comes to my actual writing, I take it more seriously. For the most part. My sarcasm is sort of a package deal, but I swear my work is good.

I’ve been roleplaying for about eight years, now, and am willing to roleplay with anyone of legal age in their state, if only because I enjoy incorporating smut into my roleplays. If you’re somebody who likes to fade to black every time characters get freaky with each other at points in our story, I’m unfortunately not the gal for you. I enjoy long-term plot heavy stories for the most part, but am totally down for PWP as well, so feel free to message me for either.

At the moment, I’m mostly looking for a buddy who wants an Insert roleplay (Canon/OC), or maybe a Fandom roleplay (Canon/Canon), so feel free to contact me if you’re interested and match pretty damn well with the rest of these guidelines:

Care about your writing. I’m not asking you for a whole fuckin’ novel every response, you can write however much you’re comfortable with as long as It’s more than one sentence, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t have a spelling error or a typo every other word. Everyone makes mistakes, I’ve been there on many, many… many, occasions (it’s no joke, man), but like– just try, y’know? To me, lazy writing shows a disinterest in the roleplay, which is a huge turn off for me.

On the same wavelength as above, please don’t feel stressed over how much you’re writing or if it matches enough to mine. Again, all I’m asking is for my partner to be interested and care a little about what they’re typing; I tend to write a LOT for roleplays I’m excited about but I’m not expecting you to respond with the same amount at all. If your limit is three paragraphs max, stick to three paragraphs max. If you love writing novels every response, I will fuckin’ read… ALL of that novel.

For Insert roleplays, I will ONLY write Double-up [unless you for some reason are just looking to play a canon character, because let’s be honest I can be a selfish shithead when you let me be], I am making this very clear because not only do I fuckin’ love seeing all the different characters people create, but also because the more the merrier. I like it when these things are played fairly– I play a character for your OC in return for you playing a character for mine.

Most of my pairings will likely be M/F or F/F (seeing as right now I only have one M/M pairing when it comes to canon/OC, and you’ll only be seeing them if you’re looking for Homestuck), but your side is totally free game. Do what you want. I’m also chill with Polyamorous ships and/or love triangles as long as you’re cool with the possibility of me going that route, as well.

It would be appreciated if you care about your side of the roleplay about just as much as you care for mine. I’ll totally do the same; I WILL get overly attached to everyone in our roleplay. You’ve been warned.

Please be okay with our OCs being eventual buddies sometime in the roleplay; I have a guilty pleasure for connections between all characters, even if it takes like, a story-year for them to meet. Obviously, if we end up planning something wherein that’s not possible, that’s chill, too.

OOC chat is 100% welcome– throw me all your jokes and ideas and stupid scenarios and possible future Ideas for the roleplay, tell me how much you love that one subject, talk to me about your day. I’m here for it.

Some extra info for those people who REALLY wanna know what they’re getting into:

I have 0 limits, on like, everything. The smut we write out can be weird kinks galore for all I care, there can be suicide and torture and pedophilia and major deaths and mental illnesses in our plot; and I have a bad habit of assuming my roleplay partner can handle anything I dish out in writing so just, if you have hard limits make sure to tell me about them before they can come up in an awkward situation.

I’m totally down to share kinks before a roleplay; ESPECIALLY if we’re jumping into PWP or a smut-centric plot

I’m very carelessly blunt and a smartass, so If I say anything that makes you uncomfortable just tell me and I’ll chill out a bit.

I’m in Mountain Time

I mentioned this before but my responses can range from like chapter-in-a-novel to a few paragraphs, and I’m not expecting you to match me in the slightest. Do what you do and we’ll be fine.

I very much love talking about character and relationship headcanons and shit, so like, hit me with all of your ideas, I could talk about this shit for hours.

I draw. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. There’s a large chance I’ll end up drawing characters from OUR roleplay, so just let me know beforehand if that’s not something you’re okay with.

I’m pretty flexible with response times, but it would be appreciated if you tell me beforehand if there’s something going on in your life that’ll make your replies more scarce than usual.

And, finally, the part of this ad that some of you have probably just skipped past everything else to get to, the FANDOMS: Bolded ships and/or names are preferred

[ POKEMON ]

COMPATIBLE WITH: CANON/OC, OC/OC (POKEPHILIA)

WANTED: Anything Pokephilia, Cheren, N

WILL PLAY: Any character you can name from the Video Game franchise; I haven’t watched much of the show, sorry bruh

  [ INVADER ZIM ]

COMPATIBLE WITH: CANON/OC

WANTED: Dib Membrane

WILL PLAY: Zim, Tak, Gaz, Prof. Membrane, Tallest Red, Tallest Purple, Sizz-Lor, Skoodge, Keef, fuckin’ Miss Bitters for all I care I will play them all you name whoever you want, my dude

[ JOHNNY THE HOMICIDAL MANIAC ]

COMPATIBLE WITH: CANON/OC, CANON/CANON

WANTED: Jimmy, Johnny C., Edgar Vargas

WILL PLAY: Jimmy, Johnny C., Edgar Vargas, Devi D., Tenna, Tess R., Anne Gwish, Satan, I don’t know who else is there, that fat psychic lady from I Feel Sick sure I’ll play her if you really want I guess, or the doughboys if you’re into that kinda thing, or Sickness, you kinky lil freak

SHIPS: Johnny C./Devi D. [Playing Devi], Jimmy/Edgar Vargas [Playing Either]

  [ HOMESTUCK ]

COMPATIBLE WITH: CANON/OC, CANON/CANON

WANTED: John Egbert, Gamzee Makara, Dave Strider, Terezi Pyrope, Sollux Captor, Cronus Ampora, Karkat Vantas

WILL PLAY: Literally anyone from this webcomic. You name it. One of the trolls? Done. Humans? Done. Calliope and Caliborn? Sure, man. Midnight Crew? You bet. Snowman? I mean good luck dude but go right ahead. Ms. Paint? All yours. Wayward Vagabond/Mr. Mayor? You do you. Just don’t ask for anybody from Hiveswap, I can’t catch up with all that just yet there’s only one chapter and a few character summaries out, slow your roll.

SHIPS: John Egbert/Terezi Pyrope [Playing Terezi], Dave Strider/Terezi Pyrope, Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas [Playing Either], Kanaya Maryam/Rose Lalonde [Playing Either], I’m gonna be honest these are the only four I’m cool with playing from the top of my head but hey, if you want something, ask, you never know, I coulda just forgotten.

  [ UNDERTALE ]

COMPATIBLE: CANON/OC

WANTED: Grillby, Mettaton

WILL PLAY: Sans {under certain specific rules, NO JELLY DICKS}, Papyrus {under certain specific rules, SERIOUSLY, NO JELLY DICKS}, Asriel, Asgore, Toriel, Gaster {under certain specific rules, I’M SERIOUS, N O J E L L Y D I C K S, HE’S NOT EVEN A FUCKIN SKELETON GODDAMN-}, Mettaton, Grillby, Undyne, Alphys, Burgerpants, Ice Cream Bunny, etc. just nobody from Deltarune because I’m trying to keep that place pure and innocent and unruined because they’re just some good ass kids trying to play some good ass DnD and STOP TRYING TO FUCK THE JESTER-

  [ TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 2014, MICHAEL BAY, 2018, OWN PERSONAL MIX OF DESIGNS/PLOT/ETC. ]

COMPATIBLE: CANON/OC WANTED: Donatello

WILL PLAY: Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Splinter, Shredder, April O’Neil, Karai, etc.

CONTACT ME

Email [Preferred]: Gatorteeth333@gmail.com

Discord: Sparky#4225