#sound-board

[gearbroth]

rose tinted glasses and circuit board angels

[starcurtain]

One thing I wish I'd see more of among Ratio fans is some thought about how he views himself as a teacher.

Like yes, of course he refuses to compromise on the quality and rigor of the education he imparts, and he would find it unforgivably unethical to lower his standards in order to pass more students who had not genuinely learned the material. This is core to his character.

However, as someone who is a teacher IRL, I know the absolutely miserable feeling setting that kind of standard can cause. There's the obvious disheartening sense of disappointment ("Are students these days really not capable of doing the work correctly? Is our future in danger, if this is the highest level of understanding our current generation of students can achieve?"), but even worse than that is the self-doubt.

"Is this somehow my fault? Am I not teaching this material in the right ways for the students to learn? Is there something I could have done differently to get through to these students? Would a better teacher have a higher passing rate?"

We know that Ratio does (or at least did) struggle with feeling inferior to the Genius Society, so I think it is also likely, as much as he absolutely will not budge on his academic standards, that he has doubts about his teaching ability as well.

This is the man who wants to educate the entire world to cure the disease of ignorance, and yet only 3% of his actual students are able to get there. How can someone who gets so few of his direct students to a state of enlightenment hope to enlighten the whole universe? If so few students are successfully learning the material of a given class, doesn't that mean the teacher is doing something wrong?Would a better teacher--would a genius, maybe--not be able to impart their knowledge more efficiently and educate even the most challenging of students?

As someone constantly struggling with that balance between keeping academic standards high while also meeting the needs of today's students, I think the passing rates of his courses must affect Dr. Ratio much more deeply than I've seen fans discuss. I think he would question himself harshly over his class success rates, and I think he must be constantly trying to push himself to become the best teacher he possibly can be.

tl;dr: I hope one day the HSR fandom will stop sleeping on the fact that Ratio is an actual practicing professor who probably has astronomical levels of teacher angst. 😂

[selineram3421]

⯅ or 🔼 or ⚠️

You're Off-key

Part 2

Part 1

Reader X Gravity Falls

Warnings ⚠

⚠ some book of bill spoils, swearing, blood, mentions of dead body, everyone is aged up, haha boy bands, mention of board games ⚠

Ohmyglobohmyglobohmyglobohmyglob! You thought as the golf cart got closer to the roadside attraction.

Then you saw a familiar goat eating a tin can, and then it turns to look at you.

Very on brand Gompers. You thought before going back to panicking again. OK BUT WHAT DO I DO NOW!?

As you continued to think of answers to multiple questions they might ask, the golf cart stopped and the two brown haired twins hopped out and stood next to you to help you out.

"Careful, we don't want you passing out again.", Dipper says and picks up your backpack, then holds a hand out for you.

"Pshh! Move over!", Mabel pushes her brother to the side. "I'm helping them! I wanna know more about our new mysterious friend!"

"Mabel! They are hurt, we have to help them down carefully!"

"Well, we need to get them into the shack quickly to bandage their still bleeding head! Have you seen the golf cart seat!? The top is all bloody!"

"Wait, what?", you say as the two continue arguing and turn around to see the top of the seat that was behind your head.

Sure enough, there is blood.

"Oh, ew.", you say and get off the cart yourself. "Hey, it's fine. I can walk on my own."

After you take a step, you immediately almost fall and the two react fast, holding you up by your arm, one on each.

Weak.

"Ok, maybe I'm not as fine as I thought.", you laugh.

"What do you mean? We thought-", Mabel began.

"HEY MABEL! Didn't you have some juice in the freezer? If you don't get it out now you'll have to wait for it to unfreeze!", Dipper says quickly.

"OH MY GOSH YOU'RE RIGHT!", his sister says and pushes your weight onto her brother before rushing inside. "I'M COMING MABEL JUICE!"

Ow, my ears...

"Sorry about that.", he apologizes and walks you into the shack. "Mabel can say some random things and I didn't want her talking your ear off haha."

You are led into the kitchen and are seated on one of the yellow chairs near the table. After he walks off, you take in the cool air conditioning inside the house and sigh.

Maybe this isn't as bad as I thought? You leaned forward and rest your arms on the table before resting your head on your arms.

"DIPPER! WHY DO I SEE YOU DRAGGING A DEAD BODY ON THE SECURITY CAMERAS!?"

Did you really look that bad?

"They aren't dead Grunkle Stan!", the twin says back to the older generation twin.

"Do I have blood on my face?", you mumble to yourself.

Dipper turns back to you with gauze. "Uh, yeah? It's not that bad though.", he says smiling nervously.

I look like a dead body for sure. You sigh but don't call him out on his bluff.

"Ok Dipper.", you smile back.

As he starts to clean off some blood, Mabel then comes back from...you don't know where with an empty pitcher that has left over glitter and plastic dinosaurs in the bottom.

"I forgot to offer.", she says.

"That's fine. I still have water in my backpack.", you say.

Gauze is now starting to be wrapped around your head, then you hear someone else walk into the kitchen.

"Ok dudes, who bled on the golf cart? Cuz the cops are outside wondering if it's hot sauce.", the man, the legend, Soos asks wearing the Mr. Mystery suit.

"Soos!", Mabel says and goes over to the man after putting the pitcher in the sink. "We picked up a bleeding person that we found in the woods! AND LOOK!", she then gestures to you as Dipper finishes tying the bandage off. "They are wearing a cool sweater!"

A sweater? You look down and indeed find yourself in a zip up sweater. Ugh..no wonder it was so damn hot outside. Taking off your sweater to tie around your waist, you keep an ear perked to hear their conversation.

"Whoa, are they like a magical person?", Soos asks.

"MmMhm.", Mabel shrugs her shoulders. "We could always find out."

Nope! You stand up and then wobbly sit back down. Maybe I shouldn't get up yet.

"You ok?", Dipper asks.

"Yeah, I just wanted to get my water bottle from my backpack.", you come up with quickly.

"Oh, let me.", he says and picks up your pack and sets it on the table.

"So...", Mabel says sliding over. "Do you like boy bands?"

"Not the time-"

"Actually I do.", you respond. "I like the Front-road Guys."

"Well, do I have a story to tell!", she smiles widely.

"Oh boy..", her twin sighs.

You don't know what you started.

⯅

"Sometimes we'll still see them scampering around the woods and eating out our trash.", Mabel says as she finishes telling you about the boy band clone story.

"Wow, ok.", you say, shocked because she told you more details than what the show revealed. "That's crazy."

"Yeah, that was fun.", she smiles.

You've been introduced to Soos, and then you were given a small tour after the twins made sure you wouldn't wobble like a baby deer anymore. Now you were walking to meet the Grunkle.

I was sure the older twins were on a boat. Did they come back for the summer? That's nice. You thought and found Stan sitting in front of the t.v. wearing his house clothes.

Which is just an undershirt, boxers, and slippers.

The old man turns after Mabel says. "HI GRUNKLE STAN!"

"Who's the mummy?", he points at you and drinks from the pitt-cola can in his hand.

"The one who you thought was a dead body.", you say before the twins next to you can speak.

"Ha! Good to see you're not dead.", Stan says before turning back to watch a rerun episode of Ducktective.

Then they have you wait for something..

You're not quite sure and they sit you down at the table where the card games and some family meetings were held from what you saw in the episodes, still in the living room.

The back of your head still hurt, not bleeding from the recent check ups Mabel has been giving you but it still felt like your head was stuffed with cotton and your hearing was kinda going to shit too. You don't know how many times you've asked either twin to repeat themselves.

Maybe a nap would be good.

"And we brought them back here!", you hear Mabel say, probably going to introduce you to some other character person.

"Exactly where in the woods did you find them?", a familiar voice says.

Oh shit! It's Ford! FUCK!

You do your best to keep a straight face as you see them enter the room.

Shit. Fuck. Shit shit FUCK!

Then the author of the journals is standing in front of you with a small flashlight.

"Hello, I'm Ford. My niece and nephew probably already told you about me.", he says and kneels slightly to get to your eye level. "I'm going to run a series of tests to see how severe your concussion is."

"Oh, ok.", you reply as calmly as you could.

"Follow this flashlight with your eyes.", he says and moves it left to right.

You do so, this scenario reminding you of doctor tests that you've done once after getting hit in the head with a soccer ball during P.E.

Then the six fingered man turns the flashlight on to see how your pupils react.

Woop! Woooo.. Woop! Woooo...

You make sound effects in your head as you dilate and constrict your pupils.

Maybe I do need to take that nap...

"Sorry.", you blink and look at Ford. "I think I'm just super tired."

"Hmm..", the old twin hums and puts the flashlight away. "It's too late to go to the clinic now, why don't you stay in a spare room?", he says as he stands up.

Huh?

"Oh my gosh!", Mabel smiles wide and places her hands on her cheeks. "It's a sleepover!!"

HUH?

"It's not a sleepover Mabel, they are just staying here until the clinic opens.", Dipper sighs.

HUH!?

"Please no loud music that'll burst eardrums. I don't think it would help.", Ford says and begins to walk away towards the gift shop door.

WHAT THE FUCK!?

"WAIT!", you stand up quickly and lean on the table with your hand for support. "Why let me stay?", you ask, specifically to Ford.

The man looks over his shoulder, glasses glinting from a light coming from the t.v.

"I'm a random person they-", you gesture to the younger twins. "found in the woods and know nothing about me! Frankly, if it were me, I would watch that random person like a hawk!"

You're honestly afraid. You don't know how things will turn out. Ford will do anything to protect the twins, same with Stan.

"If you were dangerous, you wouldn't be able to get too far with that head injury.", Ford replies. "You'll need to change your bandages in the morning.", he finishes and leaves the room.

He..has a point.

All you do is slowly sit back down and sigh.

I'm so tired.

"Sooo...", Mabel says as she walks over to you. "Wanna play board games?"

Well, at least the family doesn't find me as a threat. Which is good.

"Got anything stress inducing?", you smile.

You're pretty sure they still have that board game that's like Jumanji.

01000111 01101111 01101101 01110000 01100101 01110010 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110100 01100011 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111

~Seline, the person.

Part 3

Taglist@

@diffidentphantom @sleep-7372 @boredwithlifeatthispoint @mspurpl3 @gxstiess @lynkolnevans @fries11 @+?

👁️

GF List🏞️ | YO-🎹

[sergle]

It really is like. you don't realize until you ask other fat ppl, how common it is for a thinner person to use you as a Fat Sounding Board for their feelings about THEIR own weight.

[columboscreens]

[moonbeamwritings]

“Gojo.”

You peer at him out of the corner of your eye, watching the tip of his finger creep closer and closer to the plush apple of your cheek.

“Gojo.”

The lilt in his voice is childish, teasing; the smirk on his lips rising when he promises, “I’m not touching you!”

"Satoru, I can feel it.” 

There’s a bite to the way you finally say his first name that drags the corner of his mouth further up. It stokes the fire burning between his ribs, the very flames that spur him to poke and prod and tease and annoy — all for the sake of your attention. All Gojo wants, all he’s ever wanted, is to have your eyes on him, to have your full, undivided attention; and with the way you huff, your arms crossing over your chest, he knows it’s well within his reach.

His head tilts to one side like a curious puppy, brows furrowing in feigned innocence. His finger doesn’t move. “Feel what?”

Infinity, you think bitterly. The weight of his power presses against your skin with the surging energy that two identical poles of a magnet have when they repel one another – doomed to never meet no matter how hard you push. And with the distance his finger stays from your face, Gojo’s Infinity almost tickles.

Gojo’s finger inches closer and the pulse of it, the sight of it in your periphery, has you seeing red. Your eyes shoot to meet his as you fully turn to face him, brows furrowed. Seething, you tell him, “You know what.”

There you are.

He knows, deep down, that it’s childish to go to such lengths for a glimpse at your eyes or the soft curves of your lips, but he can’t help it. Gojo’s at his weakest around you, after all. “I don’t think I do, angel.” He leans in, finger still hovering oh so close to your face. “Care to clue me in?”

Your eyes roll, but you make no move to look away. “You’re insufferable.” 

“You didn’t answer my question.”

You sigh, long and heavy, as you allow your eyes to slip closed, and Gojo can tell you’re trying not to pinch the bridge of your nose, a cute little habit you only seem to indulge in when he’s around. He smirks and tilts his head to peer at you over his sunglasses. The tone in his voice is goading. “Well, go on.”

“You- you-” You flounder, mind rendered a blank slate as frustration floods your senses. Air escapes your nose, an exhale laced with incredulity, as a smile crosses your lips in a blink before it’s gone. You hide your face behind a warm palm. “You-”

“Mhm.” Gojo leans closer, sunglasses sliding further down the bridge of his nose. He drinks you in, eyes shifting from your eyes to your lips and back again. “What? C’mon, cat got your tongue, angel?”

“Your Infinity, Gojo. I can feel it,” you tell him, the words finally ripped from your throat by the gentle, but teasing coo of his voice. “It tickles.”

“Aww, that’s what all this fuss was about? You should’ve just said so.”

And as if a switch has been flipped, Infinity is gone and suddenly Gojo’s finger is surging forward to tap the tip of your nose. It’s a brief flash, a tiny bump of skin against skin before his hand retreats again, returning to its place by the sorcerer’s side as if it had never moved at all. Gojo smiles at you then, all pearly whites and unrestrained pride. The cat that got the cream. 

“You’re cute when you’re annoyed, ya know that?”

[a-town-called-hometown]

yippee! apologies if my takes are horrendously bad

my personal take on the matter is that i definitely think the dark worlds can work as a metaphor for escapism without undermining the darkners' personhood. it can be more than one thing, yknow? the darkners are important, their lives matter. and the lightners do go to the dark world as an escape from the problems they face in their own life. but that's not the darkners' whole PURPOSE, yknow? i mean. according to the laws of the universe of deltarune yes darkners' "purpose" is to serve the lightners but like it's not their whole purpose in the STORY.

it's sort of like how, in UNDERTALE, LOVE represents how distant you've become, how easy it is for you to hurt people. but it also literally gives you the power to destroy the world.

i think the biggest reason i believe escapism is at least a part of deltarune's narrative is queen.

queen's whole speech in both of her fights is about how she intends to provide escapism for the lightners (so that they will worship her but also so that they will he happy). she wants to turn the whole world into a dark world, so that everyone can live in bliss and not have to worry about the woes of the light world. she mentions "Staring, Tapping, To Receive Joy. Staring, Tapping, To Avoid Pain." which is like pretty much the definition of escapism

she wants to help Noelle with the problems she faces in the light world ("Noelle. Who Will Be There To Help Her? Her Strange And Sad Searches" and "My One Idea To Help Noelle, Failed") by just... shoving it away for a blissful fantasy world ("Wake? No, She Has Already Awakened Too Much. Let Her Close Her Eyes And Sleep Away, Into A Darker, Darker Dream.")

...i forgot the rest of what i wanted to say!

well first off, thank you for your ask! I'm going to get extremely in depth in my answer, so bear with me here. sorry it took several weeks to write this. the escapism reading of deltarune is pretty deeply entrenched in fandom, and to refute it, I felt it required a full-length essay to completely explain my viewpoint.

yes, "the lightners desire escapism" does not automatically translate to that being the darkners' actual narrative purpose. escapism can be a theme without dehumanizing those who are used in order to escape - in fact, I've read a number of stories that use someone's desire to escape to HIGHLIGHT how they're hurting others in pursuit of that. I believe that toby fox is definitely capable of telling a story about kids having a valid desire to escape, and about them grappling with having inadvertently created a world of real, living people as a result.

(I'll reiterate again that this is not the story arc that generally shows up in fanon. the common consensus is that the game will end in an omori-esque "growing out of" the dark worlds. it's why I have a huge dislike of the fanon escapism reading, given that the darkners are shown as people whose lack of agency parallels kris' own. it would feel cheap if the resolution to that plot was that the darkners were actually never meant to be agents in their own fates. but this is a digression.)

the reason why i DON'T believe that this is a story that toby fox is telling is because of the way the world, themes, and characters are written. put simply, it just doesn't come across as congruent with the story being told.

deltarune's main themes are agency, fate, identity, and control. this is a conflict that shows up in nearly every major character, is baked into the worldbuilding, and is the central struggle involving us, the player. the protagonist of deltarune is literally possessed by us against their will. the darkners are objects that have no choice but to serve and be discarded. over and over again, there is emphasis on roles that characters play - and crucially, roles that are imposed on them.

what would escapism mean, in this thematic context? in real life, escapism can represent any number of things, but in a story, a major narrative theme generally has to dovetail with other major narrative themes in the work. I would argue that escapism in deltarune would likely mean going to a place where characters are able to choose for themselves what roles they embody, or even to discard the notion of roles altogether. a fantasy of control is the only way to escape a reality where you have no agency. and honestly, it's hard to imagine that something could count as an escapist fantasy if you don't even get to choose whether or not you participate in it.

let's talk about kris.

I see a lot of discussions around kris that say that kris goes into the dark worlds to escape. the dark worlds are posited as kris' fantasy of heroism. it's a world where they can seem heroic and cool, a world where they can have friends. this theory makes a decent amount of sense on the surface level, but only until you consider that kris is being controlled in order to go into the dark worlds. and it is not a control that they appear to welcome.

if those worlds represent kris' fantasy, then why don't they get to choose what happens in those fantasies? why are they being controlled by an external force, one that they actively push back against? if it's really an escape, then why does everything about this world reflect their lack of agency? if they really think this world is just a pure fantasy, then why do they care if spamton falls when his strings are cut?

because they're being deliberately obscured to the player, it is hard to say how kris actually feels about many subjects... but I do seriously doubt that they view the dark worlds as an escape. they don't act in a way that is consistent with that. they resist their lack of agency, and what little we do see of their reactions to darkner characters doesn't suggest that they view those characters as part of a disposable fantasy, either. they seem to have complicated feelings on ralsei. and of course, one of their biggest emotional reactions in the game is to the spamton fight. I would argue that that suggests they have empathy for spamton, which is a hard emotional reaction to have if you believe he's just part of a fantasy. not impossible, mind you, but it seems unlikely that kris believes that all this is simply fantasy.

also, considering that snowgrave both actively discredits the idea that the dark worlds are mere fantasy and is actively traumatic for kris... I seriously doubt they'd open another dark world in chapter 3 on a snowgrave run if their motive was purely to escape. on that route, they've seen the damage we can cause in a dark world. they know that berdly has sustained lasting damage due to our actions, assuming he's not outright dead. why would they want to try and "escape" to a place like that again now that they know what can happen?

the only answer is that they have a motive that isn't escapist.

now, as for ralsei... what part does he have to play in all this?

ralsei does play a lot to the fun, fantastical elements of the dark worlds. he delivers the prophecy that kickstarts the adventure. he flatters both kris and susie endlessly when they act appropriately heroic. he welcomes them into the castle and even makes nice rooms for them. he initially seems tailor-made to enable a fantastical experience where no real issues can ever complicate anything, and where the pain of reality can successfully be hidden from. but there's a lot of complications to the idea that he might represent an escapist fantasy.

the first, and what honestly seems the most important to me, is that he doesn't encourage kris and susie to remain in the dark worlds. he is welcoming and kind, but once the adventure is over, he prompts them to return to the light world. he wants them to deal with their more "real" problems like homework. that doesn't feel like he is trying to facilitate escapism in them. a real fantasy would encourage you to stay in it, wouldn't it?

and while ralsei is definitely invested in making sure the lightners are happy, there are always cracks that show. he isn't able to make kris ignore what happened in the spamton fight. he isn't able to convince susie to be peaceful and kind. and in his very essence, he represents a number of uncomfortable ideas. very importantly, he represents a number of uncomfortable ideas to kris.

this probably ain't your first fandom rodeo, so I'm not going to explain all the different ways that ralsei interacts with kris' personal issues. there's plenty of posts on it out there. what i will point out is, once again, it feels odd that a character who seems tailor made to bring up kris' most uncomfortable associations with their lack of agency and their outsider status in their own family would be part of a fantasy of escapism to them. you'd think that they'd prefer something that didn't have an inbuilt hierarchy, a prophecy that denied them autonomy, or especially a person that reminded them how little they fit into hometown.

that doesn't mean kris doesn't care about him at all - it seems very likely that they do. what I mean to say here is that he just seems ill-suited to an escapism reading, both behaviorally and on a conceptual level. it doesn't seem like that's at all part of his servitude towards the lightners.

of course, there is another non-lightner entity that ralsei seems diegetically engineered to serve. but I'll discuss that later.

now as for susie...

yes, susie definitely views the dark worlds as more fun than the light world. and why wouldn't she? the light world sucks for her, and she doesn't seem very aware of the fact that the dark world can also suck. you could definitely make the argument that she views the dark worlds as a fantastical escape from reality... were it not for the fact that she treats her darkner friends with just as much importance as she does kris and noelle.

can someone treat components of an escapist fantasy as real and important? of course. but given deltarune's themes of agency and control, as well as the fact that darkners exist in servitude to the lightners, I feel like you'd have to make escapism tie into forcing others into a lack of agency if you wanted the theme to feel coherent with the rest of the work. this would require susie to be limiting the agency of the darkners around her. and obviously, she doesn't do that. her presence around them might be inherently limiting, just by simple virtue of being a lightner, but she isn't aware of it, and clearly is uncomfortable with the idea of limiting anyone's agency. she encourages ralsei to make choices. and she supports lancer in basically anything he wants to do. her treatment of lancer is integral to chapter 1's narrative, and it seems like that treatment of ralsei is integral to the ongoing narrative as well!

her preference for the dark world feels very rooted in her engagement with it as its own reality. rather than trying to avoid her real-life problems by engaging in a pretense, she seems to simply want to spend time with her friends in a place that isn't cruel to her. she isn't ignoring any of the dark world's problems in service of that, either. she notices when things don't line up. if she thought of it as a fantasy, wouldn't she be inclined to ignore issues that impede the fantasy?

and critically - like kris, she does not intentionally choose her imposed role in the prophecy at first. she steps into the role of bad guy to resist it, but that role is limiting too, and she eventually acquiesces to being a hero. it's never something she's completely on board with, though. she actively pushes back the limitations that the role places on her. I find this important to reiterate when we are discussing the notion of the characters viewing the dark worlds as fantasy.

noelle has a complicated relationship to the dark worlds. susie tells her that it's a dream to make her accept the strange reality she finds herself in, which works well on her. she continues to think of it as a strange dream throughout the chapter. (though, like the others, it is not a 'dream' she entered of her own volition!)

it is also a markedly unpleasant 'dream' at times. she has her agency restricted, is kidnapped, has to evade a controlling monarch, and is even tied up in a weird evangelion cross thing on the hand of a giant robot. it's not purely fun. noelle does like scary things, and while it might be healthy for her to have an experience where she stands up to a controlling adult figure... again, the circumstances make it difficult for me to assume that this is a fantasy she would choose for herself. not impossible, mind you, but it's not the first reading of the situation that comes to mind.

and while she does say she wishes she could dream like this every day in the normal route, that does happen specifically because she was talking to the girl she likes. it makes sense she'd find that pleasant. I don't think that necessarily equates to her finding the dark worlds escapist.

and importantly, this isn't the sentiment that she expresses in every route.

again, there's a lot of analysis on snowgrave, so I won't bother regurgitating it much here. but it's nightmarish for both kris and noelle, and very likely fatal for berdly. noelle needs to believe that the event is a dream, for her own psychological safety, but one of the most important parts of snowgrave...

...is that its events, and the world it took place in, are very, very real.

noelle wants to have the strength to face her problems, both in the regular route and in the snowgrave route. rather than escaping from them, she views the "dream" as a chance to practice dealing with her day-to-day issues. it's just that in the regular route she finds that strength authentically, and in the snowgrave route, that desire is manipulated and pushed until she is forced to kill berdly. she doesn't interpret snowgrave as an escape gone wrong. she views it as a dream that became a nightmare. and those are two extremely different things.

but i haven't even gotten to the biggest thing that undermines the concept that the dark worlds are a metaphor for escapism! which is: this fucking guy is dead wrong about everything.

so full disclaimer - I really love berdly. I think he's slept on a lot in the fandom because he's annoying and weird. which is fair, I suppose, but I think ignoring him hinders a lot of people's understanding of deltarune's overall narrative. because berdly often illustrates a lot of concepts in the game, but his narrative framing as a joke (usually...) prevents the player from taking it completely seriously. he has things to say and ideas to show off, it's just that he's often very loud and kind of dumb in his expression of them. which is kind of the point!

ralsei brings up the idea that the darkners are meant to serve the lightners very seriously in chapter one. by extension, and by way of the literal mechanics involved in a dark world's creation, we can infer that this logic is probably something that also applies to the dark worlds themselves. they are allegedly worlds and characters that only are supposed to fulfill a dream of the lightners. but due to narrative framing and deltarune's themes, we know that that's not the full truth. however dark worlds and darkners are created, they deserve to have their own agency. they can't just exist to fulfill a higher being's wishes.

you know who else undermines that view of the dark worlds? berdly! berdly does!!!!

because berdly is the only lightner in the game so far who does take the dark worlds to be an escapist adventure! he wants to turn cyber world into smartopia. he views this as a chance to be a cool hero. he believes he's going to get the girl, he's going to shape this world to his own liking, and maybe also he's going to get queen to acknowledge him or something so he stops being a forgettable little bluebird. and not only does none of this happen, his steadfast belief that it will happen is continually a joke within the narrative!!

berdly's wishes for uncomplicated escapist fantasy are flat-out denied by the dark worlds themselves. as a lightner, those worlds should be serving him. he should have the power to do whatever he wants within the bounds of an escapist fantasy. these npcs should be singing his praises!

but he doesn't have the power. and this world doesn't sing his praise. because it just isn't an escapist fantasy. he isn't right to view it that way. his wishes for heroism are always going to be thwarted.

so now that I've gotten all that out of the way, let's swing back over to the subject of your original ask. queen.

because, like berdly, queen's entire character arc is about how she's completely wrong about what the lightners actually want.

queen would in fact like nothing more to place the lightners into an escapist fantasy. she believes that that's the best way to serve them and make them happy forever. as a darkner, queen has very much internalized the idea that a lack of control is what actually makes people happy. since darkners have no choice in their destinies and are supposed to be happy in it, and since she personally finds her role as a darkner fulfilling, she believes that that's true of all people everywhere. if you want to make people happy, you just have to remove that pesky personal agency!

so she spends the story trying to force the lightners and particularly noelle into situations where she controls them in order to make them ostensibly happier. she does genuinely believe that this is the right thing to do, but as she finds out eventually, she's just wrong. noelle doesn't want that. queen believes that escapism is why the lightners use the internet... but that's totally wrong too.

while there are other searches mixed in, noelle is trying to use the internet to find her sister. instead of trying to hide from whatever happened, noelle wants to figure it out. queen's thesis about noelle and the lightners is proven wrong even before she personally encounters noelle in the dark world. it's just that queen doesn't realize it due to her limited perspective.

the concept of escapism being brought up with both queen and berdly is not there to say that the dark world is escapist. rather, it's there to say that it isn't. despite the dark worlds being a fantastical place, they are extremely real. to view them as a means of escape is foolhardy at best. you cannot act as though you are above consequences within them.

themes and ideas exist within the story for a sake of an audience. so let's get into the final character I need to discuss here. hopefully this will tie my thesis of deltarune together neatly.

that character is of course us. the player.

when creating a piece of fiction, an astute author will often identify and anticipate an audience's reactions to certain things in their work, and write things in such a way that they elicit the desired reactions. in essence, a writer is directing the "character" of the audience. how we feel and how we are anticipated to react to things is an integral part of nearly every fiction.

that effect is far more overt when dealing with metanarrative fiction that diegetically involves the audience. since the fiction is saying a lot of things about the general 'you,' the audience in aggregate, your reactions to certain things in the story have to be finely cued and anticipated by the author, so that the author can thus commentate on the reactions that you have to the story. the "character" you are assumed to inhabit is posited by the author to have certain traits.

to explain what I mean in plainer terms, I'll use the player of undertale's no mercy route as an example. because undertale is commenting on the way rpgs generally work. the player's behaviors in no mercy are attributed by characters in the story to be the result of us acting like a typical gamer. we kill the characters in the game because we want exp. and more than that, it's because we want to see everything the game has to offer. the role we inhabit in this role-playing game is that of a completionist. you could say that that's assumed to be our "character" in no mercy.

deltarune also posits that certain things are true of its audience. by being written to evoke certain cultural ideas, rpg tropes, and references to undertale, it guarantees that its audience will probably have certain traits, and spends a large amount of its conceptual focus commenting on those traits. one of those traits is nostalgia, which is probably an idea that I'll expound upon in a further essay because it's quite integral to my reading of deltarune. but the main one I mean to discuss here, and why I went off on this tangent about how audiences are dealt with in metafiction, is that we are posited as someone who believes in the logic of certain narratives.

deltarune's writing evokes a lot of portal fantasy narratives. alice in wonderland, narnia, pretty much every story where it's revealed at the end to be all a dream... the story of deltarune superficially resembles a lot of those. this, I think, is responsible for the popularity of the escapism theory. because those stories are often at their end about a child learning to put away fantasy and grow up, people tend to believe that deltarune must be about the same thing. but I truly don't think that deltarune is trying to do anything with that aspect of portal fantasy narratives, at least not directly. its main characters aren't involved in that exact type of coming-of-age arc.

instead, deltarune is very concerned with what happens to characters in fantasy, and specifically fantasy rpgs. if your world is deemed to not matter because it's a dream, what does that mean for you, who has no choice but to live in it? if you are an npc whose role has been predetermined for you via script, then can you ever decide for yourself what you want? what if you want to matter? what if you want to be your own person?

as the major controlling force of deltarune, we are initially cued to believe that deltarune is like a dream. it superficially fulfills so much of what we want from undertale fanon. hometown seems like it's a perfect idyllic town, at least until you start noticing the obvious cracks. and remember what I said about ralsei earlier? he is so reminiscent of asriel, and extremely eager to help us. it's not a stretch to say that making us specifically view deltarune as dreamlike and idyllic is probably part of his purpose in the game.

I would not say that we are posited as escapist. but the idea of escapism as brought up with queen and berdly is meant to strike at the heart of a much deeper idea that deltarune is trying to deconstruct. because if we view deltarune as a dream, escapist or otherwise, then we are inclined to write the internal realities of the characters inside off. the dark world can disappear without it mattering. we can control kris without it mattering. if it's all a dream, what does it matter? why should we care to let its characters go free? aren't we supposed to be in control?

if deltarune is an rpg... what is the significance of us interacting with it?

[nicomoon69]

Bernard’s parents: we really hope boarding school will finally whip Bernard into shape and get him going down the right path

Bernard: *gets his ears pierced thrice, starts styling his hair even funkier, becomes a part of the homosexual agenda*

Bernard’s parents:

[revenantghost]

I just remembered that I had a dream where Tumblr Live was replaced by Tumblr Chess, and you could just pick a match with anyone, and people went nuts for it? Maybe I'm that much of a nerd, but that sounds cool as hell--even if it were Tumblr Checkers or something, idk, it sounds hilarious

[tapakah0]

[sigmasupreme]

If the 5th Edition Player's Handbook was so popular why wasn't there a Player's Handbook 2?

[doydoune]

random aa doodles totally in order pt 2

[chimerafeathers]

[ on youtube ]

a concept for the type of OP i'd love to see for the second season of Dungeon Meshi! both s1 OPs are great, but i'm really hoping for one that captures both the "dangerous fantasy adventure" and "comedic cooking adventure" aspects of the series in equal measure, because it's the integration of those two concepts that makes the series special to me. the joyous whimsy and the dramatic horrors are equally important!!

[kylejsugarman]

would have loved jesse to have been there with nacho during the lalo arc of better call saul for the sole purpose of just bluntly pointing out how fucking weird that mf was 😭 lalo leaves the room after doing his thing to try to groom nacho into doing more of his bidding and jesse's like "yo what was up with that dude. did u see his mustache?? he kept blinking at u all weird. do u think hes like. hot for u?? being gay's cool, no hate or nothing, but he was wack. cool shirt though. hey can i borrow 5 bucks"

[otomehonyaku]

DIABOLIK LOVERS Chaos Lineage ☽ Ebten WonderGOO Tokuten Drama CD ☽ The Vampire’s Everyday: Board Game Edition (Ruki, Azusa, Kino)

Original title: DIABOLIK LOVERS CHAOS LINEAGE ebten・WonderGOO特典ドラマCD「ヴァンパイア達の日常ボードゲーム編 ─ルキVSアズサVSキノ─ 」 Voiced by Sakurai Takahiro (Ruki), Kishio Daisuke (Azusa), Maeno Tomoaki (Kino) English translation by @otomehonyaku Click here for the audio (thank you to @karleksmumskladdkaka for providing the audio!)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Please do not reuse or repost my translations elsewhere or translate my work into other languages without my permission.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Bet you didn't think we'd get to work on these so quickly! I want to give a HUGE thank you to @karleksmumskladdkaka for acquiring all of these rare CDs and sharing the audio with me for translation (づ>/////<)づ♡ This tokuten was hilarious and the bits where Ruki is trying to catch the Golden Bunny is just... his tactics might not have worked on the bunny (my own pet bunny would be equally unfazed) but I would've jumped straight into his arms. As always, enjoy listening and reading along! (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

[The scene starts with Kino aggressively tapping on his smartphone as he’s playing a game.]

00:00 Kino: And… I’ve cleared it! Ah, I’ve gotten tired of this game too… I should look for a new one to play.

[Kino searches the app store.]

K: Hm? What’s this? Huh? An app based on a board game? I’m not really into board games, but it’s been newly released, so I should download it just to check it out. Alright! It’s finished downloading. I’m gonna start it right away.

[Kino boots up the game.]

K: Oh! What an interesting opening to the game.

[The world starts swirling around Kino.]

K: Huh? What’s happening?! Why did such a strong wind start blowing all of a sudden? My body is being pulled into my smartphone by an incredibly powerful force. Ah… I can’t hold on… Ah!

[Kino disappears into his smartphone.] 01:13 [The scene shifts to Ruki reading in his room in the Mukami mansion.]

Ruki: Ah… 

[There’s a knock on the door.]

R: Azusa? What’s up?

Azusa: How did you know… it was me?

R: Because Kou and Yuma are both out today. You’re the only one here.

A: Ah… I see. Hey, Ruki. I’m sorry for… interrupting your reading, but…

R: What’s wrong? Is that a smartphone in your hand?

A: Yeah, it is… Kou told me to check out a smartphone game earlier… This game… was released recently… I thought we could play it, but… I don’t know… how to start the app…

R: I see. So that’s what you came to ask.

A: Yeah. Kou isn’t here either, so… Do you… know how to do it, Ruki?

R: Of course. I know that much. Give me the smartphone. So you just want me to download the game that’s on the screen right now?

A: Yeah, I think so…

[Ruki downloads the game.]

R: Hm. This should do it. It downloaded successfully. Now you just have to tap this button to start the game.

A: I got it. So I should tap here… right? Like this…

[Azusa boots up the app and the world starts swirling around him.]

A: Huh? What’s with… this strong wind? Is this… part of the game? Ah… 

R: No, that can’t be it… What’s going on? It’s like I’m being sucked into the smartphone…!

A: It’s happening to me too… Ah!

[Azusa disappears into the smartphone.]

R: Hey, Azusa…! …Shit!

[Ruki disappears along with him.]

03:55 K: Ugh… Ow… That really caught me off-guard. Hey… How long was I out? And where am I? It’s so dark that I can barely see what’s around me. Huh? There’s someone else on the ground, though. There’s two of them… Mukami Ruki and Azusa? Why are they here too?

[Kino tries to shake the Mukami brothers awake.]

K: Come on, wake up, you two. Hey, I’m telling you to wake up, damn it!

[Ruki stirs to life.]

R: Ugh…

K: Damn, you’re slow. Are you finally awake? And how about your brother?

R: Hey, Azusa. Wake up. Open your eyes.

[Azusa stirs to life as well.]

A: Ugh… Where are we? And why is… Kino here?

[Azusa sits up.]

R: Hey, Kino. Where are we?

And why are we here?

K: I don’t know either. When I woke up, I just kinda found myself here.

A: Earlier, we were… trying to play a game, though… What were you doing… before you got here, Kino…?

K: Me? I was just trying to play a game, but I was suddenly sucked into my smartphone. Before I knew it, I found myself in this strange place.

A: I see… So we were doing the exact same thing… The game you were trying to play… was it a… ‘game-of-life’ kind of game?

K: Oh, yes, that was it! You had to spin a roulette wheel. It was kinda like sugoroku (1).

R: I see… So that means that new game is likely the cause of all this. Besides, I’ve been wondering about that thing over there. Look.

A: Oh…? A gigantic… roulette wheel?

[Kino walks over to the roulette wheel.]

K: Oh! Look, look! If you look closely, there are squares (2) on the ground. 

R: Judging from those square spaces, we really do seem to be inside that game. I don’t know what caused all of this, exactly, but that seems to be the most likely explanation. Anyway, let’s stay put until we know more.

07:10 [Kino is already spinning the roulette wheel.]

K: Huh? D’ya say something?

R: Hey…! Why did you spin that wheel?

K: Why? Because I felt like it, of course.

R: I just told you to stay put!

K: Oh, it’s alright! You’ll overexert yourself if you get pissed off at me for such small things.

R: If that’s what you think, aren’t you better off not doing those things? Don’t put this on me!

A: You two… now’s not the time to fight…

[A countdown signal goes off.]

K: What’s that sound?

A: It sounds like… something has started.

R: Be careful. It sounds like something’s coming towards us.

[A very large spider comes towards the boys.]

K: Ah! What’s up with that giant spider?! It’s gross!

A: It’s huge…

R: Damn… We’ve been hauled into this unknown place and now we’re being attacked by a gigantic spider? These are some strange things happening… Kino. This is your fault. You take down the spider.

K: What? Why me? Get off your high horse and stop ordering me around. I’m not your little brother.

R: We’re in this situation because you were careless enough to spin that roulette wheel. This is your responsibility, so you should do something about it…

[Ruki and Kino’s bickering fades to the background as Azusa tries to appeal to the spider.]

A: Those two…

[The spider roars.]

R: [In the background] So, that means that you’re under my watch now.

A: [To the spider] I’m sorry… They ended up ignoring you.

K: [In the background] Ha, I get it! You’re just a little weakling, then! That’s why you always order people around!

A: [To the spider] They just kind of… started bickering, and… 

R: [In the background] Heh! 

[The spider roars again.]

A: What should I do…? What can I even do…?

[Azusa walks around.]

A: Ah! 

09:00R: Speak for yourself! You’re looking for excuses because you’re actually not confident that you can defeat that spider!

K: What? D’you think you can just make fun of me?

[The spider roars again.]

K: [To the spider] Hey, shut the fuck up! Take this!

[Kino attacks the spider.]

R: You should stay quiet while people are talking. Good grief, you have no manners.

[Ruki attacks the spider, killing it. Ruki walks over to it.]

R: Finally, you’ve gone quiet.

A: Ah… so you’ve defeated the spider.

R: Yeah, well, this clearly isn’t a place for leisuring. We should look around for clues so we can get out of here as fast as possible.

A: Ah, about that… Look at this. The spot that the roulette wheel landed on… it reads… “a large volume of spiders will show up,” “dispose of them rather than complaining”...

K: A large volume of spiders? So that’s what that spider was just now?

R: I see. So in this realm, whatever is written on the spaces will become reality.

K: Wow, that’s cool! So that means we’re playing a sort of sensory experience game here?

A: What’s written on the spaces… will actually materialise… But this space… doesn’t say anything about one gigantic spider… But we haven’t seen more spiders, either…

K: Aren’t they just talking about bugs? It’s a common occurrence in newly released games. And we’re inside the game right now, so that could explain it.

R: I see. Whatever the case, we should not stick around much longer. We’re getting out of here. Now.

11:05 A: But… how?

R: I have an idea.

K: Well, it doesn’t take a genius to come up with an escape plan. If we’re inside a game, we’ll just have to end the game, won’t we?

A: So, that means…

K: Yep, we just have to clear the game.

R: However, whatever is written on the square spaces seems to actually occur inside this game. Clearing it is not going to be easy.

A: Ah… actually, when you two were fighting earlier… I found something. Look. Come over here.

[Azusa leads them to a different spot.]

A: Look at this space. 

K: Huh? What’s this?

R: It says “Find the Golden Bunny for good luck. You may proceed to the goal immediately.”

K: Well, then, we can clear the game if we find that Golden Bunny, right?

R: I suppose so. Well done, Azusa.

A: Yeah.

R: However, I don’t think we’ll be able to find that bunny so easily…

[Lo and behold, a bunny hops by.]

K: Huh? Was that…?

R: The Golden… Bunny.

[The Golden Bunny happily hops away.]

K: Oh! Stop standing around. Let’s catch it! Come on, you two!

A: Ah… alright.

R: Kino, let’s work together. I’ll lend you a hand this time so we can get out of here.

K: Heh, get off your high horse. But, well, alright. I’ll join forces with you to escape this place. Don’t stand in my way, though.

A: Yes! Let’s all work together, then.

R: Great. We’re going after that bunny!

[The three run after the bunny.]

13:15 A: Haa… haa… Yes! We’ve caught up with it! Hehe. [To the bunny] Hey… you look… pretty tasty. Come on… don’t be scared. I’ll do you a favour… and catch you!

[Azusa tries to catch the bunny but it gets away and Azusa falls.]

A: Oh. Ow…

K: Jeez, don’t just try to grab it like that! Cornering it will only scare it away. You’ll never catch the bunny that way!

A: Sorry… Ah, Ruki… It’s coming your way!

[The bunny hops over to Ruki. Ruki and the bunny have a staredown.]

R: Well. Hey, you! Bunny. Come here. I’ll be nice to you. Now, jump into my arms! 

[The bunny—unlike the translator—is unfazed by Ruki’s tactics and it runs off.]

R: That’s strange… Why didn’t it jump into my arms?

K: What?! Did you seriously expect that to work? Oh, the two of you are completely useless.

R: Hey, Kino! It’s heading your way! Don’t waste this chance. Catch it!

K: What? It’s easy for you to order me around! Did you forget your own failure so easily? This pisses me off. I might be stubborn, but I’m going to fucking catch you!

[The bunny hops by Kino.]

K: Take this!

[Kino throws himself on top of the bunny. Ruki and Azusa run over to him.]

A: Kino!

R: Kino! Hey, did you catch it?

[Kino holds up the bunny.]

K: I did it… I caught it! I did it!

A: What a relief… Now we’ll be able to go home… We were able to catch it… because we all worked together.

R: Yeah, we did. It’s not so bad to help each other out.

K: Whoa, now. It’s thanks to my efforts that we’ve got the bunny. The two of you didn’t even do anything. Stop that sappy talk.

15:18A: This bunny… is pretty docile… and fluffy… 

K: It really is. It’s pretty cute with its little twitching nose.

A: Yeah… how cute. Hey, Ruki. Can’t we keep a bunny at home?

R: That’s not a good idea. I’d be the one constantly looking after it in the end.

A: It’s okay. I’ll take good care of it. So… please, Ruki?

K: Do you two always have such dull conversations? A Golden Bunny, though… They’re pretty rare. It would be nice if there were more of them.

[Something starts rumbling in the distance.]

A: Hey… Do you guys… hear something?

[An army of bunnies appears and heads for the boys.]

K: Are those… Why is there a horde of Golden Bunnies?! And why are they all coming our way?

R: Kino, you fool… Because of your careless remark—

K: Ah! Did I do that?!

A: Is this… also a bug? Hehe. There are so many bunnies…

K: Why do you look so happy about it? This is bad!

A: [In the background] Hehe… So many…

K: Agh! I can’t—The bunnies are trampling over me—

R: Fuck! How did it come to—Agh!

[The boys are buried under all the bunnies.]

17:11[Kino shoots upright in his bed.]

K: Ah! I thought I was going to suffocate. But… Huh? I’m in my own bed. Does that mean that wave of bunnies was… only a dream? Well… Of course it was. I wonder why those Mukami brothers were in my dream, though. It felt awfully real. Hmm…

[Ruki and Azusa also wake up in cold sweat.]

R: Ah… The bunnies?! They’re gone…

A: We’re in… your room, Ruki.

R: Apparently, we just fell asleep in my room somehow…

A: Yeah, but… I had a… strange dream.

R: Me too. A bad dream. I saw a giant spider and gold-coloured bunnies. It all sounds like a wicked joke, I’m sure.

A: Same for me… I also saw golden bunnies… Come to think of it… For some reason, Kino was also there…

R: I see. So you saw him too, Azusa… It seems a little too strange to be a coincidence for the two of us to have the same dream.

A: It does… But it was a really strange dream…

R: It was. It felt strangely realistic, too, but it was only a dream, after all.

A: So the giant spider… appeared in your dream too…

R: It did. It was a pretty rude one, at that, because it kept trying to interrupt our conversation.

A: Yeah… but, Ruki…

[The conversation trails off…]

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

双六（すごろく）: Sugoroku is a Japanese board game kind of similar to backgammon and snakes and ladders, where you have to move all of your pieces to the other side of the board as quickly as you can. Sugoroku often incorporates elements from real life—like religion, politics, etc.—into this ‘race’ for storytelling purposes and more exciting play. You could liken it to the Game of Life too, in my opinion.

マス目 （ますめ）：Squares; square-shaped spaces like the spaces you see on the board of a board game.

[heartfeltcherie]

you know what? i’m tired of reading fics about lucifer that portray him as awkward and shy and stutters with every sentence (not that i’m saying he wouldn’t)

but did you guys see his confidence in the finale?

the way he talked to adam about stealing his two wives?

or even singing his part in “hell’s greatest dad”

or when he says “charmed, i’m sure” in that voice

i need more fics with him being, i dunno… cocky? confident?