#* & the accountant — dialogue .

[tawnysoup]

Learning to accept support

[lynxgriffin]

Eldritchrune - Dreemurr of Jokes

1 | 2 | 3

Story Setup Eldritchrune Masterpost

Toriel stops by Sans' shop for some goods, and for some more cheery distractions! Unfortunately, all this time later, it's still too difficult to escape reminders of what's been done.

It was fun finally getting to do some stuff with Sans in this universe! The last part for this trio of scenes will be up sometime next week!

Alt text for these pages is under the read more:

Page 1 Panel 1: Interior shot of a small store, with displays of goods, loose plywood, sacks of things. Two circular woven hangings bracket the door through which Toriel enters, a heavyset woman in a polka-dotted dress with a basket over her arm. Sans watches her enter, though we see only the back of his head. 

Panel 2: Toriel enters the shop and we see more displays, mostly food. There are large potted trees as well, and the shop’s counter, draped in patterned cloth and decorated with candles. Toriel: “Well, hello again. I was wondering if you had-” Sans, a jovial, bearded man dressed in loose robes and always smiling, waves a hand and cuts her off. “Hold on, you hear that?”

Panel 3: “...Hear what?” Toriel asks, nonplussed. Up close, her face is soft but distressed.

Panel 4: Sans leans over his slightly messy counter, still grinning. “I HERB that you needed some more cinnamon cloves, and look what I have here!” He offers a handful of herbs. Up close, the cuffs on his robe sleeves are patterned with little bones.  

Panel 5: “Just what I needed! How did you guess?” Toriel exclaims, reaching out with a real smile to accept the herbs. She and Sans are framed by other mysterious shop wares- jars of things, open sacks, rolled-up mats. Things you might find in an open-air desert market. 

Page 2 Panel 1: Sans: “Was just thinking it’d been awhile since I saw you making the neighborhood rounds with some of those pies of yours… Figured you were planning to start this month’s soon!” Sans gestures up at Toriel in explanation. 

Panel 2: Toriel smirks, setting down a handful of coins.  “And perhaps hoping that I would stop by your place first with them?” Sans: “I pride myself on my forward thinking, y’know.” His grin is conspiratorial as he leans towards her and he taps his temple with one finger. 

Panel 3: Toriel, eyes sad despite her smile: “All right. How about this: Tell me a good joke, and you have my word you will have the first and freshest one.”

Panel 4: Sans: “Just a good joke?” He raises an eyebrow. 

Panel 5: Toriel clutches her chest- we don’t see her eyes. “I find myself in desperate need of levity these days.” 

Panel 6: Sans waves his hand as if to keep her from feeling like she need say more, scratching his chin in thought with the other.  “Sure, I got one…” 

Page 3 Panel 1: Sans, with the smug grin of someone about to tell a terrible pun: “Why was the empire soldier happy to get demoted to horse groomer?” Toriel, with her hand on her chin in thought: “I do not know, why?” 

Panel 2: Sans shrugs widely like the answer is obvious. “Because he finally had STABLE employment!” 

Panel 3: Toriel laughs in genuine delight, although maybe a little harder than expected. 

Panel 4: Toriel: “Thank you, I needed that.” She smiles a relieved little smile. Sans: “No problem. So hey, aside from the pie… Can I maybe get an invite to those little get-togethers I see some folks around here doing once a month?” He steeples his fingertips together. 

Panel 5: San’s dialogue continues: “I’m so curious as to what goes on then!” We only see Toriel, though, shocked and dismayed. She’s thinking of the Ritual gatherings- townspeople gathered in their robes and animal masks- reindeer, fish, but most centrally, the goat masks she and Asgore wear. 

Panel 6: Toriel: “Unless you are completely enraptured by tedious talk of planting schedules and building repairs, I believe I can sate your curiosity by saying you would find them quite boring.” She waves a hand in front of her, dismissing the thought- her expression is once again drawn and weary. 

Page 4 Panel 1: Toriel turns to leave, waving goodbye. “You should look forward to your well-earned pie more!” 

Panel 2: Sans gives her a slightly skeptical look. “Alright.” is all he says. 

Panel 3: As she leaves, Toriel looks down and sees for the first time a small statue set by the door, surrounded by candles- it’s not a merchandise display, more like an altar. The statue is a horned figure holding a bowl filled with greenery- an offering of some type. The figure is rounded like a sitting child, and simple, with closed eyes and little other detail. 

Panel 4: Toriel’s dialogue over a close up shot of the figure: “What an interesting little figure you have. It does not look like it is for sale, is it?” The little horned one has three toes and four fingers on its stubby little arms and legs, and a detail on its forehead that could be a suggestion of hair, or it could be a symbol. The pillar candles surrounding it have been burned enough to have long wax drips pooled around them. 

Panel 5: Sans: “Nah, that’s just a holdover from my home country. Supposed to help keep demons out of your space.” He seems uninterested in this bit of lore, but Toriel, still facing away, is wide-eyed and shaken.

Panel 6: Toriel whirls back to him, sweating. “I-Is that so?” 

Panel 7: Sans’s expression intensifies, eyebrows dropping dramatically. “Sure thing. You know what happens when demons get in your grain stores?” 

Page 5 Panel 1: “They’re OATsolutely RYE-ined!” Sans holds his hands wide, like he’s waiting for the rimshot effect. It’s almost like his shop counter and back wall are suddenly a stage. 

Panel 2: Toriel hides a giggle behind her hand, relieved. 

Panel 3: “Is that something you have had to deal with previously?” she asks, stepping a little closer in her interest. Sans makes a slight gesture of dismissal. “Nah, I don’t really go in for that sort of stuff, honestly.”

Panel 4: Sans: “My brother, though… He’s all in on charms and wards and that sort of thing.” He gestures up, as if to point to wherever it is in the town that his brother might be now. 

Panel 5: “Keeping customs from your home country, I suppose?” Toriel asks, drawn again into the shop and closer to Sans. “Something like that,” he responds, leaning forward on his counter. On the wall next to him, there’s another woven wall hanging like the ones over the door.  Toriel: “Do you have any customs that have a reverse effect?” 

Panel 6: Sans looks as skeptical as one can while constantly grinning. “You mean like, if you want demons in your house?” 

Page 6 Panel 1: Toriel puts a hand up in denial. “N-No, that would obviously be undesirable! I meant more… just out of curiosity about your home.” 

Panel 2: Sans stares up at her, for a beat of silence. 

Panel 3: “Maybe? Again, this stuff isn’t my thing.” He leans back in his chair with his hands behind his head, nonchalant as can be. “And anyways, we left our country for a reason. Old customs aren’t relevant in this town, y’know?” 

Panel 4: Toriel once again turns to go, with a rueful smile. “Maybe not… but I cannot imagine letting go of your entire history.”

Panel 5: Sans shrugs and looks away. “There’s worse things to let go of, honestly.” 

Panel 6: Toriel, gritting her teeth, thinks of a happier time tucking Kris into bed. 

Panel 7: Close on Toriel’s expression, now more haggard and pained than it was when she came in. She clutches her chest tight. 

[chaos0pikachu]

"are bls to raunchy nowadays?" No, go outside. "where are all the sweet bls with no sex, violence, porn or drugs?" there's 26 coming out from one studio and offgun are starring in 16 of them while geminifourth star in the other 42 open your eyeballs

[lucabyte]

hi im back

[annabelle--cane]

I simply don't know why the deh movie decided to take a source material that was fundamentally about the tragedy of what happens when children are failed by their parents and completely gut it by removing all the flaws from one set of parents while rendering the other major parental figure practically nonexistent in the narrative. bad creative choice!

[royalarchivist]

One last time, trust me, everything will work out, everything will make sense at the right time. This is not a goodbye this is a: "See you soon."

I haven't been able to keep up with a lot of Arkanis lore, but the cinematic from Matt's lore today was very cool (but also very very sad).

[springsketches]

In stars and time just had its anniversary, and I am excitedly awaiting the digital art book! I have collected all of the pins but noticed Loop did not get one 😢. So for my own copium I decided to make my own enamel pin design! I will probably also make a sticker design since they are also not on the sticker sheet :(, my favorite guide deserves more love.

[r0zzk1ll]

what the actual fuck

[akiacia]

the things that come back

[starflungwaddledee]

lost a bet with @eliastheownerof0axolotls, so here's today's starstruck shipaganza entry (and also a belated birthday present for elias) featuring his oc flower dee and the rather absurd "blush off":

[shadowzel]

gale has specific dialogue to compare the other companions to tara !

+ durge

[tootditoot]

Their office reeked of sulfur and salt. Under the floorboards, I could hear dozens of tiny legs skittering about intermittently. Dried leaves and dead twigs were scattered under the furniture, ink stains covered the book that laid on the table, and I imagine that the scented candles that had been left burning were some futile attempt to make the room feel more pleasant.

"You must forgive me, Inspector, had I known you were coming sooner, I would've..." She looked around, her eyes landed on the dried leaves on the floor and then back to me "...prepared tea".

She led me to the center of the room as she sat at the side of her desk at the other end. Beetles and cockroaches started to pop up from under the floorboards at this point. She paid no heed to them. I could've sworn those pests were forming a perimeter around her and were ready to swarm me by the snap of a finger.

"I don't suppose you came here to ask for my expertise". A scan around the room revealed walls lined with bookshelves, filled with monographs on insects, fishes, and mythical creatures. There were even a few books with her name on, Salome Barko, listed as the author.

"For the yearly census. Have you recently travelled outside the city within the past month?"

"Oh yes, recently I had just returned from my trip in the desert city of..."

Listening to her recount her travels, I started to realize what I was surrounded by. These insects infesting the place weren’t normal.

"...then a small bite killed the camel I had in no less than a minute!"

These insects are not from here. A cockroach suddenly flew and landed on my arm, I saw its mandibles slowly widening. Instinctively, I frantically shook my arm and slapped it, knocking it to the ground. I then heard hundreds of wings furiously buzzing from under the floorboards so I ran. I tripped over a dead twig in my haste, hitting the ground with a hard thud. As I scrambled to my feet, I glanced back. She was still sitting at her desk, looking at me with a blank stare.

Only after the door slammed shut behind me was I was finally able to breathe. I paused to fill my lungs with fresh air, then pulled out a checklist from inside my coat and crossed off a name.

I will be writing my resignation letter next month...

- Personnes d'Intérêt Illustrated: The Excommunicated and the Exiled., Chapter 6: "Excerpts from the Diary of Inspector Priuli", P.38

[star-felled]

purelily kills me not bc any of the perfectly valid reasons but bc i figured out all the intricacies of their relationship back in 2021. "i realized our paths dont align" and im over here crying as if i didnt know this since the tower of sweet chaos release. the illusion of having new content for your favorite character (it's actually just confirmation of your autistic psychoanalyzing)

[qoldenskies]

its so funny that ive been writing (and talking about) cc!donnie for so long that i genuinely just forget sometimes that i actually have a pretty good grip on his canon personality/style of dialogue. like i just forgot i could do that. its been so long ......

[fadetouchedsilk]

'see the problem is you just don't know what a slow burn romance looks like and--' no, the problem here is that i Do & i also know that 20 minutes of cutscenes primarily delivered near the back half of an 80+ hour game is not actually enough time to develop a satisfying slowburn relationship

'well he's been traumatized so his reactions won't be as overt and--' i also get this & i think that's a very logical angle to take this from! however i also know that there are ways to indicate subtle/awkward reactions to the flirty dialogue that aren't just a blank stare & a change of subject. honestly cullen in dai is the first example i can think of here, but i know there's more.

i think it's an issue in general that we don't really get to be active conversational partners with any of the companions (dialogue wheels please return to me) but for something that's supposed to have a lot of tension and build-up over a (comparatively) long stretch of time, it really ends up hurting it. this doesn't even mean i need more full-blown cutscenes, but maybe some ambient dialogue, or a codex--something to pad out the pacing, essentially.

the problem i keep having is i do genuinely like what we have & i Can see the vision! i love lucanis a whole lot & i am also defaulting to what i usually do in these games (read: filling in gaps/altering scenes to better fit with my oc, etc) but the same as so many other things in this game, what's presented on screen ends up not quite achieving what i can see it aiming for. it's not a question of whether or not i understand the structure of a slowburn or delayed gratification. i do, & that's precisely why i can see where things are lacking.

[ohcorny]

if you're going to make every villager say some little quip about toy day the first time i talk to them and then kick me out of the dialogue window so i have to talk to them again, the least you could do is have them say more than three different things