Think It's A Deep Consolation To Know That Spiders Dream, That Monkeys Tease Predators, That Dolphins

Holy Crap, Jeane.

rip freakazoid you would’ve loved tumblr

ok alphys was a character ahead of her time and too good for this damn fandom honestly. she isn't some evil gaslighting lying cringey manipulator who only exists as comic relief for the love of god look at her with eyes less poisoned by cynicism and irony. she is a love letter to... well, a lot of things. a love letter to "cringey" people, to video game fans, to people who try to drown their sadness in fiction. she's so achingly relatable to so many of us that it really feels like toby knows his demographic like the back of his hand. we've all met someone like alphys. maybe we are that someone- awkward, nerdy, can't get over their past mistakes, terrible at phone calls, far more eloquent online than in person, only wants to make people like them to distract them from the fact that they don't like themself. normally, this character archetype is the butt of a great deal of jokes- just a gross nerd who needs to touch grass. but alphys is different. she is, as i said, a love letter. she is one of the best-developed and most complex characters in the game. her nerdiness isn't "fixed" or mocked, it's celebrated. her unabashed love for her interests and her 100% attitude is a big reason why undyne loves her. games, especially in 2015 and before, are not often so genuinely kind to characters like alphys! and in deltarune, too- alphys is still a nerd, despite not being nearly as traumatized as her undertale counterpart. her rambling about shows she loves is a constant across all universes, a fundamental and important and good part of who she is.

and i just think that's very kind, and very important.

How to Find a Traitor

Hi! This was inspired by This Hypnotic Audio by VerityLey, which is insanely hot....but also, yknow, CW for this being based on a very real hypnosis file that can give you very real hypnotic triggers (and while I don't think this story would do that on its own...safety first and all that). So y'know, just keep that in mind, I suppose ;p

. . . . .

Who was it?

The Captain of the C.N.S. Byzantium was known as a cruel, harsh man.  Many were the days he had spent chasing down defectors, and many were the names of those who had... disappeared, once he had inevitably sniffed them out as plantfuckers.  

Couldn't be someone from Engineering...unless that's exactly what they wanted him to think.

Even though he had only served for a single year as Captain, the turnover rate aboard his ship was almost three times the amount of any other of its class.  This despite the latter half of his year spent with his ship in drydock, slowly receiving repairs while the battle against the Weeds raged onward.  

He winced as he remembered the close call that had completely knocked out his engines and eventually sent them limping into the nearest safe haven.  How nearly half of his crew had been taken by the damnable affini...and the angry chewing out he had received from his superiors within the New Terran Militia (or whatever it was they were calling themselves these days; it seemed to change every month).  

Was that their plan?  Get him kicked out of leadership, make him slow and dull?  An empty-headed idiot, unable to think? Not him. Never him.

The Captain scowled at his hands, at the thickened band of skin caused from years of running his fingernails over the backs of his thumbs.  His thoughts sometimes felt muddled, messy. The lines drawn between the web of relationships hard to keep track of. Even if it didn't make sense to him, he was still in control.  

He just needed to find this most recent traitor, and then he would finally be able to sleep right.  He knew they were in his crew...somewhere.  He could feel it in his gut. Outbound communications had been rising steadily, and his newest Comms Officer (the previous one had, of course, been a traitor as well) had quietly notified him of that fact.

A knock at the door drew him from his thoughts.  A pause, and then the door opened to reveal something that finally brought the ghost of a smile to his lips: two of his most trusted Officers, and an Ensign they were practically dragging in behind them.  The lad was barely out of Naval Academy, boots still muddy from spending so much time on-planet.  The recruit's eyes danced across the room, unable to settle. Pumped full of adrenaline, as sure a mark of a traitor as he had ever seen. The innocent had nothing to hide.

How could such a fresh-faced recruit have found himself in this position? How long ago had the worms buried into his mind?

The Officers set their prisoner down roughly in the only chair in the room for guests, then took their leave.  The door creaked shut, locking itself automatically. Only he had the key. The Captain preferred to handle these sorts of things by himself; the guilt of an innocent loss would weigh on him, and him alone.

Fortunate for him, then, that he had yet to make a mistake.

The Ensign stirred, face pale with fear as he realized just how screwed he was.  The Captain waited while he continued to look around; they always spoke first, eventually.  It was just a waiting game. This time, he waited three minutes.

"I...um, Good Afternoon, sir?"

The Captain slowly blinked as the recruit nervously stammered, unimpressed.  He sounded nervous, shaken- clearly not cut out for the life of a rebel.  No doubt the Affini Compact had offered him a whole bevy of comforts to get him on their side. Two square meals, warm showers for a full minute and a half, the kind of stuff he hadn't gotten in years.

What a fool to accept them.

The traitor bit his lip, then snapped a salute as he spoke again.  "I'm... I'm here to, um, that is...whatever it is Juarez said, it's all a lie, okay?  I'd never betray my brothers and sisters, I swear it!"

A common refrain, an attempt to assuage doubts.  The Captain's stare only tightened, pinning the young man in place while he opened a hidden compartment in the left side of his desk, retrieving a few items and placing one on the table, and keeping the other in his right hand.

The tools of the trade for this kind of thing.

He glanced at the tablet first, scrolling through with one hand until he found the Ensign's information, skimming it quickly.

Ah....of course.

Just as he suspected.  Those in charge had designated Recruit Burkes as a clear potential ally to the Compact after accidentally speaking with a Mx. Drythes, Third Bloom, over a communication device disguised cleverly as a bar's video game; the report made great effort to impress how dangerous it would be to leave someone like Burkes in the rebels for much longer. 

He needed to be...removed.

The Captain pushed down the feeling of guilt in his chest. It was for the best; once the Affini Compact got their vines into you, you were as good as theirs forever. There wasn't any point in trying to bring the recruit back (something he found hard to believe...but those in charge had insisted. Who was he to argue?). Burkes would soon be in a better place, and that was all there was to it.

There was only one thing to do, really.  Even if it didn't make sense to him, the orders were clear.

The Captain levelled the service weapon in his hand, aiming it center-mass at Burkes; he rose to his feet and stepped back and over to the bookshelf in the corner.  He accessed the hidden switch on the underside of the middle shelf, sliding the whole thing over and revealing a darkened passageway.

Almost done...almost done.

The satisfaction of a job well done dangled just out of reach…but no.  Premature celebrations were for others; not the Captain. He knew the hardest part was yet to come; felt it in his gut like vent-critters.

The crewman got to his feet (albeit shakily), eyeing the tablet the Captain held in his other hand.  Burkes chewed on his lip, but upon seeing the iron in the Captain's eyes, decided to comply; the recruit cautiously stepped into the dark passage, the Captain following a few steps behind.  Neither of them spoke; they both knew there was no longer a point.

Soon, it would be over. Soon, the Captain would get a reward.

Why was his heart beating so rapidly?

It wasn't the first time he had done this.  The passage in general was created months ago, serving as a way for the Captain to take care of such business in a discreet manner.  No mess, no worrying about others, just clean and simple and safe.

...Simple...

And yet with each step, the feelings grew and grew. The Captain's eyes darted left and right, searching for...something.  Someone.  But the passage was dark and narrow; they were alone.

The thought of that was...upsetting.

The Captain frowned.  Why?  This is how it had always worked.  Even if it didn't make sense, all that was left to do was bring Burkes to the end (a spot of light rapidly approaching), and then there was…

There was something…that the Captain wasn't supposed to worry about?

It doesn't...it doesn't make sense to...

“Good puppy~” *click click*

The pieces fell into place.  The veil was lifted.  

Oh.

The two Terrans stepped out of the darkness and right into an ambush, vines of soft green and deep blue shooting out and binding them both before they had a chance to blink.  Burke let out a strangled yell of panic, but an injection from her new Mxtress immediately began to calm her right down, based on the noises made soon after.

"There you areeeee, silly little puppy~!"  The vines binding the Capt...the puppygirl squeezed her tightly, drawing excited yips and barks from her like water from a well.  she fell into Mistress's grasp with delight, dropping the tablet Mistress had given her and the squirt-gun (it shot a harmless paralytic) to focus entirely on licking all over her Owner's face.

she was such a Good girl!  she obeyed, and listened, and no one got hurt, and was a Good girl, and everyone was happy!!! she was home she was with Owner and this was her favorite part and Good girls got rewarded!

*click click* went the little circle in Owner's hand, the sound sending shivers of pleasure down her back, causing her eyes to roll and drool to fall. Dumb little puppies like her got Clicker, and it was...sho good...

“Settle down girl, come on now~” puppy’s Owner giggled, brushing her vines through the girl's long hair, which was hidden beneath the cap she usually wore when pretending to be the Old Meanie.  her previous self, the one before Owner had found her on that ship, the one she had ripped from her spirit and soul so lovingly over the months in dry dock.

“Wh…whhhuz goin…on?” The cute rescue, the one-who-used-to-be-Burkes, mumbled through her teeth, having already been stripped and redressed in a flowery flowy slip of a thing. She was already looking so much better, with pupils wide and gaze empty.  

“It's quite simple, little one~ You see, my obedient and precious little girl here, who you may know as the Captain, did what she did best…” Owner smiled down at the puppy, making small coo-ing noises. The puppygirl giggled, writhing as her tummy got rubbies.

*click click* *click click* *click click*

“she fetched what was asked of her.  Such a Good girl, yes you areeeee, yes you areeeee!” Owner began to scritch under puppy’s chin, causing feminine moans and squeals of delight to slip free from her soul.  It was so hard pretending to be a mean nasty angry Captain, which is why Owner did that thing in her head to help!  She didn't really understand how it worked, but that was okay.

How the affini had broken her? Doesn't make sense to puppy!

What was going to happen to the rest of her crew? Doesn't make sense to puppy!

Her Owner's plans for her? Doesn't make sense to puppy!

*click click*

puppy felt the thoughts and questions blissfully slip from her mind, giggling in delight.  Stars, she was such a ditzy little happy pet.  So well trained, so mal…malle…um…so well trained!  Owner tilted her head up to gaze into her eyes, and puppy felt so happy...and a bit sad.

Because this was the Hard Part.

The part that made her whimper. The part where her Owner's eyes pulled her back to the Old Meanie. She felt herself falling, falling to Owner's pretty voice...

“I know, petal. I know. But you get to sleep with me every single night already, don't you? Yes you do, yes you do~ Good puppy.  You're making me sooooo proud, doing this. And very, very soon, we will be ready to get everyone else in one go~”

. . . . .

The Captain woke slowly, peeling his face off of the desk.  He groaned, rubbing his forehead as he glanced around the room.  What had he…?

Oh, right.  He had taken care of the latest traitor, and then he was getting a small nap in.  Something told him that he needed to be extra vigilant for the next while, to find out as many traitors as pawsi...as possible. Those in charge were counting on him.

...It was a little weird that he had been so tired he had collapsed into his chair completely naked and covered in a sheen of sweat, or the smile he was unable to wipe from his face, but that was okay.

And in the corner of his mind, just out of sight...a whisper.

It didn’t have to make sense to puppy.

Castles

You've said many things so far, my sweet. And yes, I understand they are Important to you, these…concerns. I understand they feel like castles, Big and Tall and Impossible to overcome, Impossible to ignore. Even the myriad explanations I offered did not so much as scratch their polished marble surface, I expect. These walls were made to last through much more than one single sophont, one single conversation.

All I ask is that you consider my question with the same seriousness I considered yours, understand?

....

Tell me, petal: Do you enjoy your suffering?

….

Yes, I'm quite serious. Don't you Free Terran types all yearn to work your sweat and blood and tears into the dust, whereupon you are graciously "allowed" to retire at the young age of…what was it again? Seventy-five?

….

Eighty.

Little one, let me be blunt. You were not made for those cruel systems. You were not made in this universe to waste away your life in pain, limping along and waiting for The Next Good Day. The ones who loved you did not make you to be forgotten.

You were made for dancing in the starlight, my sweet. You were placed here to be spoiled, to be loved. You were created to sing that wonderful song I can hear buried in your voice, the one that holds curiosity and joy and life itself.

And one day, one day far away from now…you will be Remembered. Your stories, your achievements and triumphs will be kept safe in my core for eternities upon eternities. I will outlast your castles, my dear. I will remember the marble as it returns to the earth. And when it is gone, I will always be here to remember your smile, your dance, your gifts and your love.

Let me take the pain away, darling. Let me care for you, now and forever. It is not a choice you will ever regret, you know. And, if I may confess…I am hopeful you do. I want to see something, you see.

I wish to see how fast you can run without the weight on your soul. Those first few shaky steps as you brace yourself for pain that will never come again. The careful jog, starting to test the new wings on your feet. And finally, finally the full sprint that you put your whole chest into, the kind that leaves you breathless not from exhaustion but from wild laughter, in delight, in hopes realized.

I wish for you to run to me, my love. And I will be waiting with vines outstretched.

The Beginning.

Felt like doing some pricefield fluff :]

Too many people thinking Ralsei is sus; not enough thinking his whole Dark World is sus!

An essay.

Deltarune Spoilers under the cut.

Each Dark World (DW for short) clearly has a history dating before the heroes get there. A history that seems to have been disrupted by the “Knight” who opened a Fountain and made the ruling leader go crazy. We know by now that all the DW citizens are inanimate objects of some kind, with the exception of Ralsei, who we’ve never seen inert (inanimate and not in a DW) before.

Darkners are also said to feel unfulfilled if they don’t aid Lighteners, which seems backed up by the behaviors of both Queen (who kidnapped Noelle to bring her happiness) and King (who grew bitter at being in an abandoned classroom). But even so, they seem incompatible with a DW that isn’t their own, turning to stone when they enter it, though it sometimes works faster on others since Rouxls was able to leave the pocket upon entry and stay animate the whole adventure until you meet him, but Lancer pretty much started becoming stone within minutes of leaving Kris’ pocket. So Darkners can’t go to other DWs both because it’s dangerous and because they’re very far apart. And in the real world they’re inert unless in a storage space (ex: Kris’ pocket).

The one exception to all this though, seems to be Ralsei. & by extension Ralsei’s kingdom. Which has its own fountain, true but is also… very empty for something that’s supposed to be a supply closet. Every other DW has been populated and themed off the area it occupies in the real world. So if Ralsei’s kingdom is in a school supply closet where’s the pencils, scissors, and glue? And why does everyone from other DWs seem compatible with it, since no one in Castle Town shows signs of turning to stone? And why was Ralsei able to get to the library so fast and stick around without getting hurt?

I think that each DW already exists, but that they’re on a level inaccessible to Lighteners and Darkeners from other DWs. Hence the title Dark Worlds. Think alternate planes in DnD, or how in Into the Spiderverse the alternate spiders keep glitching because their atoms don’t belong with that universe (or whatever the explanation was, I got distracted by Doc Oc right after it was given). Each DW is effectively “out of sync” with the real world and other DWs, and they aren’t compatible with other DWs because of that sync, but they can’t reach each other anyway so it doesn’t seem to matter.

Then… the Fountains. The Fountains seem to allow an excess of dark energy into the DW they’re created in, making a little hole that allows Lighteners and other Darkners to come through & “syncing up” that DW with the real world. However, Darkeners that come there from their own DWs won't sync & if too many Fountains are made and too much Darkness released, the DWs will probably try to overwrite each other, which would expose all the Darkners to a reality out of sync with them- turning them to stone- and leave the Lighteners in a hellscape world constantly trying to be dominated by this or that DW. All makes sense, right? Well great cause there’s a part that doesn’t and I think you know what I mean.

Ralsei. He and his kingdom aren’t affected by other DWs or Darkeners from them. Which is what allows Ralsei to help gather people from other DWs and bring them to his own. No one seems that concerned about the Fountain in his DW, either. It’s almost as if everything from Ralsei’s kingdom is some sort of Type-O/AB blood where he can go anywhere and his kingdom can receive anyone without Ralsei or Castle Town inhabitants getting hurt.

Which is good since Castle Town looks to be made solely of Darkeners from other worlds.

At the start, Ralsei is completely on his own, but seems to know both a lot about the way DWs and the Light work & is pretty confident that he’s a prince of his DW despite the apparent lack of anyone to rule. Which means that either the castle has a very extensive library for some reason or Ralsei traveled to other DWs and learned everything that he could. I think that it’s more likely there’s a big library or that the information somehow came to him because otherwise he’d have no reason to return to Castle Town given that he’s obviously impossibly lonely. If he had already used his ability to both travel to other DWs and be unhurt by them, I think he would have just stayed in the classroom or somewhere else. As it is, he’s only using this power to help Kris, Susie, and the Player recruit/rescue citizens of other DWs.

And here’s another little snag. We don’t know what happens to the DWs after the Fountains are closed. They have some sort of history before we get there and no one really tells us what happens when we leave. The only real indications that something bad happens is Ralsei telling us to recruit them and a dialogue from the Queen if you don’t recruit everyone where she asks where Nubert is. But even that seems less “they’re all dead now” and more “we’ll never see them again” which while that could mean they died from the Fountain being sealed, could also mean that they simply no longer have access to that DW. It’s out of sync with them now. There’s also something about how you have to “recruit” everyone. Not “save” or “rescue” but “recruit.” Toby Fox chooses his language very carefully, as observed in the LV → LOVE → Levels Of ViolencE pipeline. Given that this is the same person who’s last game had 2 hidden bosses and a mystery you had to hack the game to so much as see, I think he chose the word “recruit” very intentionally. What you’re recruiting them for I can’t tell- other than being citizen’s of Ralsei’s kingdom and living in a town that is eerily named after the player.

I don’t want to make any hard and fast “this is what so and such is up to and this is how this and such works” kind of calls just yet. The game is set to have 7 chapters and we’ve only seen 2 of them. It’s literally too early to tell.

And I don’t think that Ralsei is working with malicious intent. I really don’t! I think we would have seen that by now (unless he’s hiding it from the Player, who I think he’s aware of given that he both talks to Kris during cuts to Susie and is distressed when in Snowgrave you don’t cut to her). However. You can do the wrong thing for the right reasons or act on emotions in ways that aren’t healthy. I mean just in the Fox-verse alone there’s examples of that in the whole Dreemurr family, Alphys, and even Undyne to some extent.

But it’s also too early to tell if Ralsei’s actions are wrong since, again, it’s only Chapter 2. I will agree, though, that some things aren’t adding up about him and his Dark World. I think it’s interesting, though, that another word for Supply Closet is a Storage Room. And that the one in charge of it seems focused on collecting inanimate objects and taking them to stay there…

nami doodles