#and i agreed with 'girl power' in theory but girls also seemed sort of an alien species on an interpersonal level

[gowns]

i have a feeling that if i see the barbie movie i will probably cry. just like frozen... things that wouldn't have made me cry before i had daughters... and now everything reminds me of them, regardless of intent; and then if there actually is a connection to little girls and sisterhood, i'm just like, ah, fuck. it's over for me

[witchthewriter]

I don't really talk about theories and such, but I really believe in the whole 'fertile targaryen women = more dragons.'

If anyone wants to put down the op of this theory - because I cannot find them.

But ultimately I agree with the above, and yet, whenever targ women have miscarriages; it's almost like they're blood sacrifices for the dragon line to continue.

It's like a circle and the dragons rely on the women, while the women rely on the dragons. Not only for some sort of spiritual connection, but as a means of defending themselves.

Whenever women are abused and mistreated; this brings down the number of dragons and potential dragons.

And what I truly believe, is that when a Targ woman has a dragon, she is not only protected, but reverred and respected. They can get up and go whenever they please. They have power. It doesn't matter the size of the dragon, they have one nonetheless.

So, why didn't everyone in House Targaryen have a dragon? Mixing the above with also the idea that the father of the family ultimately decides who does and doesn't get a dragon. They decide who does and doesn't get POWER.

Therefore, it sort of seems like with Jahaerys the Conciliator' - that he decided who in his family would have dragons and who wouldn't have a chance. He had many girls; but only like one or two got the chance.

For example, Alyssa married Baelon (her brother) and then she rode her dragon after her marriage.

Ultimately, what I'm trying to say, is that women are an innate part of the dragon lifeline and vice versa. The treatment of women are reflected in the entrapment of the dragons, i.e., the dragonpit. Where they really should be out, free and hunting for themselves. They should have their own power.

Great sources with brilliant takes and info:

Game of Thrones Historian | tik tok | youtube |

[sad-endings-suck]

Mizu’s Period

I’m getting kind of sick of the weirdly agreed upon headcanon within the fandom that stipulates Mizu simply must not menstruate very much if at all, solely because Mizu is often injured, possesses a slender build as well as an athletic lifestyle, and in many ways is androgynous in appearance (but that last point is always unspoken ofc).

There also seems to be an odd obsession with using fanon theories that are not directly disproved nor proved in the canon, such as “Mizu never eats enough” as evidence for the Mizu’s Uterus Is Not Like Other Girls Reproductive Organs™️ headcanon, that presumes Mizu is just so special she’ll bleed from everywhere except her pussy.

Like… is it perfectly possible that Mizu does not often get her period due to her extremely active and dangerous lifestyle? Yes, of course! Does Mizu’s slender and athletic frame make this seem like more of a possibility? It could, but her physique in of itself is not “evidence” per say, especially since Mizu’s body looked exactly the same when she was living a much easier and more comfortable lifestyle on the farm with Mikio, and they clearly had plenty of food. Mizu also wasn’t training intensely if at all for the 8-12 months she was married to Mikio. Yet her build remained the same. So it’s perfectly probable that Mizu’s physique is most greatly impacted by her genetics and thus not greatly affected by physical activity.

And for everyone that’s about to shout “but women athletes that compete at the highest levels often loose their periods for a while!” yes absolutely, some of them do. They also work out for 2-6+ hours a day six to seven days a week, use treadmills, bench press, and eat ridiculously curated diets that specifically target certain macronutrients and involve carefully curated portions that must be eaten at the right times on the right days. The fuck makes you think Mizu is doing all that?? My girl inhales whatever food is put in front of her as long as she has good reason to believe it is safe (i.e not poisoned). Do you really think modern day Olympic power lifters, track and field runners, artistic gymnasts and rhythmic gymnasts are all slurping down full servings of soba or dumbplings just whenever? Fuck no. Also, the current top women athletes in the world from the aforementioned Olympic sports I just mentioned, all have vastly different body types. As well as extremely different dietary needs, training routines, workouts, and just plain genetics that would have naturally given them certain bodies regardless of sport.

as evidenced by the above photos of various female olympic athletes: power lifter (top left), track and field runner (top right), artistic gymnast (bottom left), and rhythmic gymnast (bottom right).

Mizu is not a power lifter, or a sprinter, or an archer, or anything of the sort. Mizu does not train to be incredible at one thing, nor does she base what she eats or how she trains on when she will be preforming at a specific event (such as Olympians do). She is a swordsman, a blacksmith, and an all around athletic person that needs to stay in a state of constant readiness for any physical activity. Such as climbing, swimming, horseback riding, using acrobatic techniques, performing martial arts, working on a farm, and so much more. All of which is presented as such in canon. Not to mention Mizu lives as a lower-class individual in Japan during the 1600s. What ever gave you the idea that she was dieting and training like a modern athlete? Mizu is not a sportsman, she’s a killer.

So can we just stop, please? Plenty of people menstruate. Its perfectly normal and natural. And as someone who has been at a much lower weight at different points in my life with less than desirable health conditions (to say the least), menstruation does not magically halt just because you (stranger on the internet) thinks it “logically” should under such circumstances. That’s not how it works. Bodies are weird, and everyone’s body works a bit differently. And if Mizu actually was as sick and muscular and thin as everyone seems to have headcanoned her as, then how the fuck is she mopping everyone she fights? If Mizu is “so active and low weight that she can’t be getting her period” then how do you explain the fact that she is able to preform at peak physical level while being so active? Make it make sense.

And for the love of god, please stop acting like menstruation is “special” or “other” or “weird”. It’s not. Get educated, and get over yourself.

[melishatweedy]

My take on Mrs Melisha Tweedy and why she is the way she is:

One of the first things that stuck out at me from reading “Mrs Tweedy’s Pie for the Soul” was Melisha’s backstory. Her father gifted her a puppy but her mother was disgusted with this. She wanted him to buy Melisha something “valuable”. Melisha reacts the same way as her mother does.. however we see a glimpse of her father in her when she agrees to try to bond with the puppy.

It seems she tries to make her mother happy the most, by saying she wanted a “gold telly” which is… unheard of for sure… and unrealistic. This tells me that she comes from a wealthy family.. this is maybe where her lust for money and power come from.. her mother. Her father seems very down to earth. He talks about how a young girl shouldn’t want riches, she should want something along the lines of a puppy, like other kids her age. I was obsessed with getting a puppy when I was a young girl.. just like most of my peers. The way her mother talks to her father is the same tone as she talks to Mr Tweedy.. a learnt behaviour.

We also see that Melisha doesn’t get along with her young peers. She claims she has no friends and is okay with this. It seems her mother’s words about being rich and alone seemed to have stuck with her. She’s accepted she has no friends, which is probably why she wants to be rich. She doesn’t want to be both poor AND lonely, which she ends up becoming after the end of the first film, or even the start.

Conclusion? She’s just like her mother. Her father tried, probably countless times to bring her back into reality and show money isn’t everything. But she’s stuck in her mother’s ways.. which is what we see from the first Chicken Run. The way she talks to Mr Tweedy, the way she’s obsessed with being rich. She most likely feels like she’s failed her mother now she’s poor and on a farm worth nothing. There’s a hint of emotional abuse from her mother.. cold and bitter, especially about how she should act. Here she’s a child, a child who cannot make friends and cannot see why most kids love puppies and toys etc. Thanks to her mother’s rich tendencies.

But why did she end up poor? Where is all this money and riches she once talked about? My guess is something happened with her father and they went bankrupt. Her parents lost everything during the wars. She was probably a teenager when the Wall Street crash happened.. remember it did affect the UK too quite a bit. When she met and eventually married Mr Tweedy, she probably saw the already probably dying farm as a new big business adventure.. but it didn’t go to plan. And in the second film, where she’s now married to Dr Fry, it’s mainly due to money and power. She married Mr Tweedy for love and a big future.. possibly children, which we saw never happened... she married Dr Fry for his money and intelligence.

Mr Tweedy… where do I start? The comic relief of the film one may say. He is a funny character. But she wasn’t abusive towards him. Emotionally? Perhaps some may say. We see her call him all sorts of names.. but physically? No. (Apart from that boot to the ass but that’s not relevant here). A simple man from a long line of farmer, most likely inherited Tweedys farm from his own father.

We see from his excerpt that the marriage is all but dead. However he says that he likes “a kind word from the missus” which indicates there is still a spark there. They do love each other but she isn’t in love anymore. She still does give him these “kind words” from his segment, and we see in the film her pinching his butt in one scene. My theory is they did marry for love, but with the farm failing and them becoming poorer than usual, that once love is now gone, from Melisha’s side anyway.

They divorce because well.. there’s nothing left. The farm is gone, the chickens are gone, money.. gone. They probably sold the farm and then divorced, he mayhaps moved on to work on another farm as a farmhand, and she met Dr Fry and the rest is history. There’s one part in the second film which sticks out to me, where she says “my current husband” meaning she probably will divorce him and take a lot of his money, investments and inventions. Yall know miss Melisha signed her name on many of these things. All I can say there is girlboss!

My ultimate conclusion: she’s had a hard life, give the woman a break. she’s not the “villain from chicken run” she’s a businesswoman with goals and aspirations.

I am all for any other theories or discussions with any of you!! I love it.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk!

[silantryoo]

as much as im annoyed by the potential implications of the mhj/hybe drama i do feel like theres way too much speculation rn ... rlly doesn't sit so well with me that everyone is bashing on mhj alone (im not supporting her either though) and not bang sihyuk too. some hybe stans rlly js worship the guy and idk why . its not like he's innocent too. like those texts from him are so annoying too. abt if she's satisfied that nwjns is so popular and also abt trying to rival aespa / bp alone ...

hybe has sm power and r known for their mediaplay so i rlly do wish people would keep that in mind instead of doing their own speculation to bash on mhj . we don't know fs if she's the reason behind seunghan, youngseo, etc .... it seems so forced that everyone just collectively is making stuff up on their own theories and pissing on her. like im all for it when everything's done with but it's giving misogyny to me ughhh idk how to explain it eitherr without sounding like a mhj stan I PROMISE IM NOT TAKING HER SIDE T_T i just cant help but feel like poeple find it easier to hate and bash on women sometimes. even me scrolling x nowadays feels so annoying. literally feel so bad for illit and nwjns rn.

personally i was a teeny annoyed that illit had a similar image to nwjns w their nostalgia/coquettecore (also though just seems like cute/youthful concept is making a cb in general in kpop) but only because their songs on super real me were the exact type of songs i liked most from nwjns (super shy, hurt etc. the softer less peppy songs compared to hybe boy) so it bothered me that there was an implication that nwjns might be forced to distance itself to a more differing concept to keep some contrast btwn the two ... but ik that's not illit's fault at all (literally love the girls sm im a runext fan ^^) i feel like i can understand the upset that illit was getting a similar concept when every other grp before illit in hybe had more defined concepts seperating each other. but once again that's all hybe's doing ...... seeing the choreographers supporting mhj too makes it seem like not even the nwjns team or even all the staff were on board with the references in the choreo either...

anyways i do hope this controversy doesnt impede on either grps promos :( and i rlly hope everything gets sorted out... im srsly hoping this doesnt turn into a 5050 situtation again but with nwjns i was so upset when that happened . was curious on what your thoughts were or if u were keeping up with everything?

the way im coming back to reply to this first thing after my exams is insane, but this nwjns thing makes me so angry for all the idols under hybe. both parties j cares sm ab money that they're blindsided by the potential of ruining their idols careers, mental health and images. mhj is being stupid and hybe does seem to be doing anything to protect nwjns (as far as we know. i could be wrong).

(yawl, jsyk i obv dont have ALL the information. from what ive seen online and the articles ive read, this is what I THINK. ME. youre free to think smthn else, whether i agree or not.)

i def thing that bang hyung sik (bhs) isn't innocent either. although min heejin (mhj), in my opinion, is more in the wrong j based on the treatment of other idols, bhs seemed to provoke her, and on top of that, the company seems to blindly support ppl and give them a platform so long as they make profit for the company. ive been seeing a lot of ppl saying hes j human but youd think theres a reason why mhj got kicked from sm, yk? and you j took her back in w open arms.

hybe is v good at media play fs. its their forte, and ppl seemed to stray from the from the main problem. mhj is using nwjns as a weapon. hybe probably is doing the same thing w their other groups too, dont get me wrong. ppl seem to forget that this entire issue isnt "drama", its a legal battle ensuing between a huge corporation and its subsidiary. hybe has infinite power compared to ador. its horrible on both ends.

the thing is tho, mhj has consistently been showing the public red flags. the lyrics of 'cookie (ik she didnt write the lyrics but shes the ceo. she got them approved)', the portraits gifted to her of naked underaged girls, her obsession w olivia hussey (who happens to look like minji), her treatment of sm employees, her past work w shinee (sexualization of underaged taemin), etc. not to mention her extremely (at least in my eyes) inappropriate relationship w nwjns. the gifts shes gotten them and how she uses their emotions as a weapon. if bhs did that, everyone would be up in arms.

i dont think (for the most part) this is misogyny. i think ppl alw had a weird feeling about her. at least i did.

idt its good to speculate on ppls departure tho. youre def right ab that. the lsfm hate train (esp the coachella one) most likely has nothing to do w mhj. and i do agree that hybe copied or was at least inspired by nwjns, but idt illit copied them. illit and nwjns have a very 'pinkpantheress' sound, the uk early 00's bedroom pop genre. however, nwjns is more y2k and illit is more dream-like, ykwim? hybe was def inspired by nwjns tho. i think a more fitting one would be tws tbh. their sound is v similar to me (emphasis on to me) than illit.

dont get me wrong, it's incredibly shady and the way that a lot of staff are on her side makes me think that hybe was leeching off of the success of nwjns. it referenced all girl groups under hybe tho, lsfm and fromis, but there was def more nwjns references.

what im worried ab the most are the groups, esp nwjns. lsfm has been going thru their own struggles and rn this isnt the best for them, but theyre not extremely involved in the situation, not like nwjns and illit. illit, from what ive seen, has majority of the success and recognition from overseas. however, their success in korea'll take a huge hit. itll def take a toll on the girls mental, considering they j debuted and this happened.

nwjns is the worst off. theres a chance they might leave w mhj if ador does pull away from hybe, which isnt in the groups best interest. mhj's press conference and overall attitude is gonna affect their upcoming release fs, and their proximity to mhj herself is worrisome.

hybe doesnt seem to be doing shit to protect their artists, they're j protecting their name. theres no statement on or for illit, no statement on malicious comments for any of the groups (that i know of).

tldr: min heejin and hybe are both at fault. dont take sides of either, take the side of the idols.

sorry, im j so passionate ab this. the shit ive been seeing online has been making me mad. after getting back from the lsfm hate train too... as mad as i am at mhj, hybe GAVE her that platform. if the things they claim is true, and if the speculation is true, they alr knew from her past employment that she was shady. its their fault for allowing that.

[itsbebebe]

So I got bored and decided to binge rewatch some deltarune theory videos and now I'm writing this i guess. I dont hang out too much in the deltarune tumblr tags so idk how much of this is spewing well agreed ideas already but...

Its interesting to me how susie and noelle have this sort of order v chaos thing in terms of their narrative roles. (This is looking like a long post so ill be kind and add a cut here)

Susie is like the character that drills the "your choices dont matter" concept into you (the player - if im referring to kris in this post ill use their name). Not only is she the first to say it but the main times where you make a choice and it doesnt matter are because theyre stopped by susie. Iirc, the only power you have over susie in her segments in both chapters are in puzzle solving (something that actively aids her in her goal). During both the lancer battle and the ferris wheel scene you cannot change what happens. You just have to sit there and watch. Not only that, but susie also can straight up override your decisions in moments like when you try and decide who to go with at the crossroads in chapter 2. You also cannot stop Susie fighting at the start of chapter 1. Some of the few choices that you do make (how you design the thrash machine in chapter 1, speaking to onion san in chapter 1 in hometown) are specifically done when susie isnt around to stop you.

Susie, intentionally or not, forces some order upon the story. She helps force the beads down their designated path, or whatever that metaphor in the hospital is.

However, in chapter 2, susie, by her own choice, leaves for a while and its our new party member who allows us to make a big choice that will matter. Snowgrave. Ive seen people point out before that the snowgrave route really parallels noelles history with game bugs (shown mainly through the sweepstakes blog posts) as the route feels like a game break. In fact it is a game break, considering you are supposed to not have any meaningful choices and do the normal route. It sort of makes it seem like Noelle herself facillitated the route. Not only that, but Noelle (likely due to insecurities in her relationship with Kris) lets you make a lot of choices when you are with her. (I think it could even been argued noelles presence allows you to override susies tendency to stop you making choices in the cutscene at the start of chapter 2).

So Noelle allows you to make the choices, allows the chaos. Susie keeps you on a set road, enforces the order.

This is a fun frame on their relationship. If you told me there was 2 characters, one of which was a girl who was a known rulebreaker and bully and the others was a girl who was top of her class and the mayors daughter, and asked me to tell you which one was chaos and which one was order, i would get it wrong! (It also seems like a good framework to throw some tragedy upon their relationship but lets not think about that rn)

But now if you are anything like me you will be thinking "where do ralsei and kris (as our other 2 established main characters) fall onto this chaos v order paradigm we have established?"

Lets start with kris, as their position feels more quantifiable. Kris does what you tell them. By our established parameters that should make them more chaos leaning. However, Kris will actively stop you from affecting how each chapter ends. This suggests that they want some sort of order, or control over you but will allow you most of the time to make decisions, and allow chaos.

This suggests Kris is order leaning but chaos permitting.

Ralsei, meanwhile, i dont think sits on the paradigm as we have established it. He wants the prophecy to be fulfilled but he wants us to make changes that lead there. He gets upset when Kris is unable to make choices but firmly believes we must fulfill the prophecy. What ralsei does and doesnt know about Kris or us is vague and unknown, and therefore by extension how he feels about Kris and us is vague and unknown.

So is he more order - forcing us to do specific things and stopping us from having meaningful choices in the story? Not really... But then is he more chaos - allowing us to make big changes? In a sort of apathetic, not really bothered way maybe. All in all, i think Ralsei falls outside of the scale, as he has a very unique relationship with us and Kris.

Generally, choices and chaos and order are all very big themes in deltarune. So i think its interesting to link the two together like this.

[karazorel7]

Just a thought.

In the JJK manga, Tengen talks about Toji as the man who broke fate and changed “destroyed” their destinies, the fate/destiny that bound the Star Plasma Vessel, Six Eyes User, and Tengen together.

And while that’s true, I believe that even without Toji, their fates would have been altered in a similar way because of Gojo’s choices and the support he received from both Geto and Yaga-sensei. We know that Geto , in their teen years sort of served as not only Gojo’s friend and equal, as his moral compass, and who’s support he relied on emotionally. Yaga was their teacher and then friend. The most important contribution Yaga made to them was seeing them as people, and not as tools to be used.

In Chapter 72, Geto gives Riko a choice as to whether or not she wants to go through with the merger. He explains that When they were given the mission, it seemed like Professor Yaga thought of it as “something wrong”. When we consider Yaga and his ability (creating cursed corpses) we can understand why the notion of just using a person to erase their soul and take over their body would be so objectionable to him. However the important thing is unlike the “higher ups”, Yaga didn’t order them to do something, he didn’t think of his students as tools to be used to facilitate the erasure of an innocent girl for the furtherance of Tengen (even though having Tengen around and functional in her transferred state would be “beneficial “ to many people, including Yaga and his “creations/ children”). It’s this manga’s version of the moral question of if it is okay to kill one person, to save many. Rather than ordering them , he gave them the mission “implied” the moral issue, but left it up to them to decide what to do.

Talking about it amongst themselves, they had agreed to protect Riko from everyone, including Master Tengen.

Coming to this decision together, they had decided that no matter what, they would defy Tengen and go to blows if necessary all to secure Riko’s future. This is something a Six Eyes User had never done before, as far as we know. The Six Eyes User did appear through time as a protector for the Star Plasma Vessel , but not as a protector from Master Tengen herself.

I think this situation also serves to answer the question that Geto posed to Gojo after Geto had gone rogue.

“Are you the strongest because you are Gojo Satoru, or are you Gojo Satoru because you’re the strongest.” In other words : Are your abilities what define you, or is it your personality (who you are as an individual) that defines who you are?

This has been the question that has haunted Gojo for his entire life, even before us was voiced by Geto. He was celebrated, revered , adored, and even hated because of the gifts he was born with. But Gojo was always lonely inside because he felt like he was just seen as “The Six Eyes User with Limitless” vs people loving him as just himself: Satoru .

With the incident involving Riko, we see Satoru as an individual, with the support of his friend and also his mentor, going against his fated task of protecting the Star Plasma Vessel FOR Tengen ,and instead committing himself and his gifts to protect the Star Plasma Vessel FROM Tengen.

This is why I believe that it’s wrong to just think that Toji is to blame for the situation as the “Man Who Broke Fate.” even though he was, for all intents and purposes . But that is just a surface level understanding , in my opinion. Rather , we should must also think of Gojo as the “Man who Wrote His Own Fate” ,with the support as people who saw him as his own individual , divorced from his power.

Ironically though I would say that Gojo, even while making his own individual choices. He still was able to protect the vessel that I think will be used to house Tengen : Yuji Itadori.

I can probably go deeper into that theory in another post. But in general it is my belief that Yugi will choose to absorb Tengen. Tengen who has been alive for waaaay too long , will probably choose to cede her consciousness to Yuji, in order to escape the cycle she is bound in.

Gojo, the Six Eyes User of the trifecta, has been protecting this new vessel in many ways. Keeping him safe from the higher ups and delaying their plans to execute him. (Potentially hiding away the last finger of Sukuna , so that he won’t be executed).Asking Yuta, to look after and protect Itadori etc.

To be clear, I don’t believe that it is Gojo’s intent to have Yuji absorb Tengen, rather I think it will just turn out to be that way. But instead of it being something that just “the six eyes user” was fated to do. It was Satoru Gojo’s own will and choices, and actions that brought this into fruition. (If that makes sense 😅)

One thing that stood out to me as well. Gojo gave Megumi the opportunity to choose if this new vessel (Yuji) lived or died. Which is ironic consider Megumi’s father chose to murder the last vessel. I think that Gojo, giving people choices rather than orders or making decisions for them, is his way of showing them that he sees them as people . That even though they are students , he still , as their sensei respects them. That was the same care and consideration by which Yaga guided both Gojo and Geto.

Anyway this has been too long! 😂 I just wanted to give a few of my thoughts about Gojo as a character. We know that he suffered from loneliness due to his immense power and ability, but his power itself was just a part of him, it did not “define” him. It was his own choices, attitudes,morality, personality, and compassion that allowed him to be the architect of his own fate , unlike other Six Eyes Users of the past, and truly made him “The Strongest” .

[tsutsumi-kurose]

Do you think Nene will meet Tsukasa or Amane in the red house? What do you think will happen? Personally, I think it might not be a good idea. Nene is not well and seeing one of the twins in that state is… dangerous.

I definitely agree it would be dangerous for nene to encounter either of the twins in their current states, but I find it really interesting that you mention nene’s current mindset as a risk factor! while she’s clearly (and understandably) upset by the changes she’s seen, I think she’s been making really rational, mature, and thoughtful decisions this arc, even if they were a little misguided or didn’t consider the whole scope of possibilities, as teru pointed out.

in terms of danger and mindset, I feel like nene will be in the most danger if she tries to give this amane or tsukasa the benefit of the doubt, as she’s inclined to do, due to her typically optimistic and trusting mindset, as well as her history with the yugis. she may also run into a possessed kou or mitsuba and run into a similar problem. so I think it could be her trusting, kind nature that gets her into danger this arc. though she is definitely making decisions in a way that's based on what's best for the other people she cares about, so i agree that's definitely something that these new, more possessed versions of the yugis could use against her if they (or whoever is in control of them) wanted to.

but nene's optimism and faith in others has always been a double edged sword that has also helped her make progress before, so her giving and trusting nature could help her in this arc too!! maybe she’ll befriend more red house victims again, and be able to rally allies. in terms of her trusting nature, maybe she'll end up trusting the people mitsuba shied away from last chapter, and we could get to see what their intentions were before amane took mitsuba.

however, as of right now, nene is at least with other people who can help her, should she be swayed. I don't expect them to all stick together, but I'm assuming teru has some sort of plan? the idea that everyone is mostly going along with at the moment is teru’s, which raises a lot of questions for me! surely he’s prepared to encounter new timeline tsukasa again, and maybe even new timeline amane, but I have no clue if he’d want nene to see the yugis (maybe to extra convince her to go back? maybe to see if her presence affects the new timeline yugis at all? as bait or a distraction? so many possibilities!!) or if he’d want to keep them separate for any reason. so a lot of whether she sees the yugis probably depends on teru's plan and how prepared he is going into this. he seemed to know a lot about the red house in the original red house arc, but we haven't seen him interacting with it, so i'm really interested to see how much he knows about it and how his exorcist powers stack up against the red house's powers!

as far as the yugis are concerned, I have far more questions than theories lol, including: would either of them have reason to recognize nene? have they been having dreams of a different life too? what are their current goals, and how does their dedication to those goals stack against any feelings for nene that may be sticking around from the original timeline? personally, I have no clue! but I’m excited to find out!! scared for our girl, but also very excited. as an angst fiend, I think it could be really terrifying and exciting to see an amane who has no regard for nene or her safety. how new and interesting and horrifying if our hero turns against our heroine!!

honestly i would love to see nene interacting with this new amane, even if it goes poorly for both of them. i also love nene and tsukasa interactions, and he's been her amane info guide thus far in the story, and especially in the red house arc, so maybe we'll get more of that this arc? but again i'd really love to see nene and new timeline amane interact bc i think it would be really scary and devastating<3 so yeah definitely dangerous and not a good idea....but it would be really interesting to see lol

I’m honestly just so thrilled to be along for the ride this arc lol. especially since the red house is probably my favorite arc (is my tsukasa bias showing? lol) I’m so excited for all the lore we could get in this return to this setting!!

[i-think-were-alone-n0w]

ill speak my fucking truth, the TUA s4 ending was BULLSHIT.

alright alright, i get yall's issues ab five and lila, but i also understand it to some extent.

but one thing we can all agree on is how full of plot holes, unanswered questions, and how shitty of an ending we've got. also, it was so fucking rushed! hell.

to address the ending; why the fuck? why? why would our comfort characters cease to fucking exist? in all timelines, they've fought so hard to build good lives. it was bound to be ruined, but them to fucking cease to exist? thats wild!

and alright what about the other kids with marigold? (?) there were about what, 40+(?) born, right? where are they? this cant be real.

to address some other plot holes..

ray: what do you MEAN he just.. walked out on allison? they loved each other dearly, we sidnt get a fucking explanation?

sissy, SLOANE??: what, did these characters just disappear into thin air? if ray is alive, why couldn't sissy be, too? mostly after the big part harlan played in the third season. also, where the fuck did sloane go? so ben survived, but sloane just, what? disintegrated??? turned into pure marigold? hell.

ben?: why is no one talking about him? his love story was rushed, his motives were a bit stupid (not entirely, so i could excuse this), also he just fucking died and nobody seemed to actually care? klaus had little to no reaction and he was the closest to ben? what the hell is going on?

viktor: we ve gotten none of his backstory. we see a supposedly ex gf of his at the start, and they say he s getting every girl in town. what is he, afraid of commitment? a player? not able to sort his priorities? also, how come he didn't suffer any consequence after literally sucking those particles out of ben!? i mean, his body's got a fuck ton of marigold, and in theory when coming into contact with that bs particle; he should've what, exploded!?

reggie: how and why is reggie for once, supposedly nice? until now he played a role snd at the evnd revealed a facade and it being some evil plan. this time over though, what we see is what we get. he trusted viktor, he followed up on his word, gave him time, gave him chances, called so many times, and in the end, told his wife that he wishes to save it and couldnt believe it was her behind it. so why is he no longer evil? what's up with that?

jennifer: soo why was she inside a squid? what happened to her parents? how did she get that power? why is she destined to meet ben? erremmm.. so many plot holes w her.

commision: (i might be very wrong here and not remember the past seasons, feel free correct me if im wrong.) but ure telling me, that in NO timeline the commision still exists? lila and five have managed to travel through hundreds of them over the span of 6.5 years. and all of this, none of those timelines were helpful? or.. anything at all? i wish their arc wasnt so rushed, maybe more ppl would see through it. it didnt feel like 7 years. it felt like 2 months.

diego: throughout the season we see him getting clowned on for being a "failure" and being "fat" only for him to look the same, fucking ripped too, and be normal, react like a normal person would. he was a good, hard working father and good husband with pure intentions. what was all that for?

claire: i need to see more of her. we know klaus' been sober for 3 yrs, but its been 6. which menas that claure has seen that "bad, sick" side of klaus. we see her know how to recognise that he was relapsing. i wish we saw more of her childhood, her with allison and how she got so closs to klaus.

it all was so rushed. idk ill add more if i remember more chat.

if any of you want to see me address lila and five, i've made other posts. i think their arc was important, not necessarily asked for, but justified, too. i'll folloe up with more posts and answer questions. no hate here.. js opinions:).

[fivewholeminutes]

i am in fact the same TMBTE anon both times (sorry!! 😭). again, such a cool analysis!!! i'm new to ST and IMMEDIATELY got invested. i haven't seen an artist do something like this before, so it's really amazing trying to connect the dots based on what everyone thinks. and yes, i do think it's the same girl in the music videos, which is interesting because of the whole "he planned everything from the start" theory. then i wonder about what the music videos mean (though i do agree that the vision shifted a little after TLYW)! i loooveee the idea that Sleep is coming from within Vessel, cause he's literally a host as in an empty holding vessel. and the white mask thing omg......so crazy cool......cause then it goes into after being "taken hostage", they change their masks as like some sort of acceptance (which kind of mirrors Vessel's black body paint transformation cause the current masks are black too?). idk, i do think that sometimes we/the fans stretch things, but that's also the fun of it. always love hearing the Think™

and in true sleep token fashion, i think i'll remain anon - 🪼

Hello again, Anon!! Sorry this one took so much time! I am stuck in a car now, so I can finally finish it. The editing on mobile is an absolute fucking nightmare though

Don't be sorry for being the same Anon! I was just listing all possibilities and now, knowing it was you all the time, I hereby pronounce you My Beloved Anon. No take backsies. (Kidding, if you're not comfortable with this title, let me know!)

Alright! Let's make a list:

Immediately getting invested in ST? HIGH FIVE, this is what happens to approx. 98% of us (at least here on tumblr). And everybody agrees that there is Something about them. And nobody knows what that is, only that it works. So we're actually in a cult, sorry everyone!

Ok, no, it's not entirely true that we don't know, people have hinted that their uniqueness might be in a. extreme fucking talent, obviously and b. letting the audience fill in the gaps that lack of the band members' identities provides with whatever suits everyone's needs best.

The videos switch their vibe dramatically, don't they? The early ones feel more... I don't know, based in reality (maybe except for the Fields of Elation), while TPWBYT ones feel more like they are set in those dreamlands Vessel mentions in The Apparition. Okay, TLYW is more dreamland-ish, Alkaline looks like it's set on Earth/waking world, but Vessel gets too much power from Sleep and needs to be stopped by the ancient-gods-slash-eldrich-horror-hunting version of Ghostbusters. So the older videos seem more human to me, you know what I mean? Maybe they wanted to show that with time, Vessel looses more and more of his humanity. But we can't rule out the "they just had more money for the videos, so they went off" possibility. Also, I think they don't make much videos to not let the fans think there is some "canon" here?? Or they just don't like making them lol

EXCELLENT IDEA with that whole hostage mask situation - I've just had a loose thought they looked like sacks, but i haven't connected it to the lore, thank you, Anon!!!!! Now, as usual, it made me Think™. Cause we have interpretations floating around (which i love, btw) with the other Vessels being "drafted" into the band to relieve the first Vessel from the toll Sleep's power has on him, cause after all, his human body cannot manage it by itself when Sleep grows in power from all the worship. BUT what if they didn't join voluntarily? They weren't persuaded to join the cult, but they were kidnapped instead. Carefully chosen, to fulfill the plan of greatness. Hence the hostage-looking-masks. And then stockholm syndrome kicked in (i know, i know, the term is not exactly correct anymore, but for the lack of a better one 🤷‍♀️) and they were like "ye, you know what. That's actually better than a 9-5 job" and the masks changed. They have embraced the dark side. (I am cataloguing this under "unhinged theories", btw. But yeah, it's just a thought, possibility, me fucking around etc. That's a long-ish car trip, I gotta do something with myself, you know.)

Oh and we absolutely DO stretch things (see point 4, for example)! See things that aren't there. Make 2648585 interpretations. It's fun (when we remember not to involve the real people behind the masks in the mix)!

Anon, i respect you deciding to stay on Anon so much. You're making the band proud, probably!

[saintsenara]

Hey, hope you're having a wonderful day. Scylla and Charybdis was how I found you, but I really do love Other Women and of Purer Blood. One, I love love love your portrayal of Severus Snape and just how you depict the whole mess that he got himself wrapped in his late teenage years. I rarely see such good portrayals these days. Second, I love how you wrote Narcissa and the woes of her marriage life and the pure loneliness she feels and how you twisted a line from canon to a whole new side of both Narcissa and Severus. I simply adore how you write the women of the HP world. Especially now with Tiktok and the eruption of new ships like Nobleflower or Quillkiller - I couldn't care less about new ships but most of the works are original and I cannot align them with the characters written in canon. Thank you for your hard work. <3

thank you very much @be-at-peace05, i am having a wonderful day and i really appreciate this lovely comment.

i'm delighted to see scylla and charybdis get a shoutout, not least because i'm dawdling on the next chapter and shall now get off my arse and finish it.

the toxic mess that is severus snape/lord voldemort is my poison of choice, not least because i think it has so much potential to not just be horrific. after all, the canonical voldemort really likes him, the canonical snape clearly has a thing for powerful men, and the material circumstances which led to snape's radicalisation are something which voldemort - to be fair to him - seems to be the only person in britain willing to do anything about. there's so much complexity there, not just for a deep dive into the social and political context of seventies britain (wizarding and muggle) which gives me a chance to indulge my conviction that the whole thing is like the troubles, but also for - despite all the odds - a love story.

it also gives me a chance to indulge my own anti-marauders-fanon agenda and write regulus black as a complete knob.

the conspiracy theory hill i will die on is that narcissa malfoy/severus snape is canon. maybe not that it's a full-blown, lady chatterley's lover-style sexual affair as in other women and of purer blood, but that there is some sort of closeness between them that everyone except lucius has clocked.

this is because i am convinced - convinced - that narcissa is indeed the person voldemort is referring to in the line from which the story gets its name.

he desired her, that was all, but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him.

[incidentally, from a scylla and charybdis viewpoint, i love the idea of those two sitting down for a chat about girls.]

this is a much less charitable lucius than i usually write (or, at least, a less charitable lucius in his relationship with narcissa - he's a dick towards most other people regardless of the story), but it ended up being really interesting to think about how he might function as the sort of aloof aristocratic husband found in so much british literature and, in particular, how that coldness might interact with the oppressiveness of narcissa's confinement within what are clearly - even if jkr thinks otherwise - quite oppressive gendered expectations.

i'm always struck by the fact that narcissa's narrative mirror - molly weasley - must be quite lonely. she's the only member of the family not interested in quidditch, she doesn't seem to have a social circle, her self-conception is directed though her children, she must spend her child-free hours - so every day, once ginny's at school - just rattling around the house. and i could easily see how narcissa - at the other end of the social spectrum - might feel the same. she has no real friends, she feels excluded by lucius' parents, she knows she should be pregnant but doesn't seem to be able to get there, and she spends her days drifting around her enormous house. she also feels - and i think this is important to understanding her - extra pressure to conform because neither bellatrix nor andromeda have.

and then snape - who spends canon being remarkably tender to her - turns up and upends her world...

[anewp0tat0]

Chapter 190

wow I'm back with these things! didn't do them for a bit, and to be honest I thought this chapter break was very long, but that's just because I forgot last month's chapter happened for a moment. weird cause I thought it was sad and funny, but reasonable.

yana really went hard here and I'm so happy, Ada deserves this panel so much☆☆☆ I'll maybe never see her again and I'll probably forget soon but girl you a keeper.

I like that we have this little thing here, shows us everyone we know so far, kinda. yana's refusal to draw Polaris's right eye really doesn't do good for me. those other two seem to be people we don't know. I think I still fall on the possibility of him being Joker, which is a common theory. makes sense enough. but I'm not committed.

also, the one on the bottom left looks to be of Asian decent right? the only connection I can think of is to the quin bang, but that's a stretch.

also some of you know lots a flowers and that's very cool! that's a flower back there right? idk. I suck at flowers.

my first impression when he makes these shocked faces is that he's truly alarmed by the information. however after reading the panel below, it seems like that face is just his "new scheme in the making" face.

nice to see Lau is the same as ever. I really hope Ada and the rest have some sort of freedom from now on. Lau is sly with his repayment debts anyway. and I sure hope this is some side "i must bring honor to my country" thing and not some more relevant plot twist thing.

this poor girl I want to give her everything. she was meant to do nothing more in this world. also me too Lau. glad we all agree some information just gets lost over time. how is this man so powerful??

@grelleswife mentioned that so far all of the servants arcs have ended with a sunset, and thats a cool observation! i like that. gives me hope for the future. ofc yana isn't too predictable, but still. generally this panel is just... mhm. feelings.

that seems like a wrap then, overall super mega happy ending, finally!! it's been so long. I gotta say it doesn't feel as complete as a wrap that we were all expecting, but I think that's the general fault of having too much time to theorize and then totally expecting an explosion and multiple deaths. Ada is taken care of, Bard's alive, no one dies hazah. I think we can safely say that no one will die in these miny arcs until we get to ciel and sebastian unfortunetly.

one more thing though.

ngl i kinda forgot he was even here for a moment, no shade to Ronald I was excited and expectant but that's just what happens with a poor memory and 9 pages a month.

sorry that I'm just unable to buy the official translations atm so sit through my possibly unofficial confusion for a moment please. so Al is someone who seemingly is an ally of Layla, or so she thought. I have doubts that Ronald is a twist villain, even if it's just hopeful thinking. here though, Ronald's dialogue does in a way make it seem that he was supposed to meet with her, and she was certainly expected an "Al". RonAld is too much of a stretch right? or is that what is meant to be assumed?... what was his doctor allias again anyway, Dr. Knox right? idk sorry I gotta reread this whole arc soon but luckily it won't take long.

I would frankly be mad if Ronald turns out to be a secret baddy because 1) means future conflict with our cast. and grelle :< no they're meant to be best buds. also 2) means we need a whole other chapter to explain this and have them talk. nope, we're gone now sorry.

I doubt he is, I just wonder what type of deal he would have brought up with her.

and yea please discard the child, im very sorry to whatever she was before the fake soul inhabited the body, truly, my heart brakes. now throw it away.

[omgitsshrimp]

[SPOILERS from Manga!] Attack on Titan Theory: The baby was NOT PLANNED.

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!! IF YOU’RE ANIME ONLY SKIP THIS POST! 

I thought I’d share my own theory on the whole situation with Eren and Historia. Keep in mind this is just my opinion/interpretation of everything so far. I just want to get my two cents in. 

I know suggesting that the baby isn’t planned sounds nuts, but hear me out. In Ch 130 we’re shown panels of Eren and Historia discussing the military’s plans for her, Eren telling her his plan, and Historia discussing a baby with Eren. 

In one panel, Historia is standing in front of the wooden fence, on the left side of the panel; then in a later panel she’s standing in front of the wooden fence on the right side of the panel. 

I don’t think this is by accident. This implies that Eren and Historia met up more than once, which opens up a strong possibility of them meeting up several times in the past. So when Historia asks Eren about having a baby, we don’t know if she said that in the same conversation as the earlier panels. It could have happened at a completely different time. We only have a close up of her face when she says it, and we dont see the whole convo, which means we don’t know the full context around her bringing up a baby to Eren.  

*Assuming they have met up several times, it begs the question, why does Eren even meet up with Historia? In my opinion, it’s because he has feelings for her, and they might be involved romantically.

 We know that the songs for AoT can allude to or foreshadow events in the story. I feel like Eren and Historia’s meet ups were alluded to in two songs (that I know of) in AoT OST, “Zero Eclipse” and “Yuugure no Tori” (ed3).

Zero Eclipse (only later part of the song is related to Eren):

“Make a promise that I cannot regret, As long as I can see you but in secret”

Yuugure no Tori:

“I’ll sing out with my girl, Go to the meeting place sing alone”

If the Baby was Planned, It Would Contradict Eren’s ideals/motivation

Another reason I don’t think the baby is planned is because if the point is to not produce kids just for a strategic purpose then why would Eren and Historia make a plan to do just that? (ie having a baby to put off Historia eating Zeke). Having the reason for making a child be reduced to convenience/serving your plan doesn’t sit right with me. It doesn’t align with Eren’s beliefs, in my opinion.

Assuming that Eren and Historia are romantically involved and have been physically intimate for some time, I think its fair to consider that this baby was conceived by chance (as well as love) rather than some sort of necessity brought on by a situation. I think upon hearing what the military was planning for Historia, Eren decided to make plans for another way that wouldn’t sacrifice her. I don’t think that involved making a child. I think the child came about by chance and the panel of Historia asking Eren about a baby was maybe part of a longer conversation where she was telling him that she was pregnant. I know I’m making a lot of assumptions, but I don’t think its impossible. 

I think from there, Eren and Historia came up with a plan to hide the pregnancy in order to protect Historia from being connected to Eren, since he knew he was going to start going against the military and wanted to protect Historia from any association with that. And also, kept it secret because if Zeke some how found out, it would compromise Zeke’s confidence in Eren and mess up Eren’s plans. Eren and Historia’s plan to keep the paternity a secret involved lying about the due date and using the Farmer as a cover. I suspect the farmer guy agreed because he really did feel guilty about bullying Historia as a child. The fact that he felt guilty enough to work there for years opens the possibility of him willing to go along with Eren and Historia’s plan, so he can make up for everything.

Paneling Choices

Now I want to talk about Isayama’s choices when it comes to the panels in ch 130, specifically in regards to the scene of Eren making his plans, Eren and Historia talking, and Eren and Zeke discussing Mikasa. How Isayama chose to order these panels seemed to me, very intentional and meticulous. 

In the previous panels in the same chapter we see Eren refusing to allow Historia to be sacrificed and we see him willing to go against humanity for her (and Paradis as a whole). Isayama decided to shows us the process of Eren deciding to carry out this plan through his interactions with Historia, as if to convey that she’s a big reason for why he’s doing all this. He’s emphasizing her importance in how Eren came to start this mission by positoning her front and center. This sequence ends with Eren telling Historia that she saved him, paralleling Mikasa in a big way.

Then, we go to a conversation between Zeke and Eren about the Ackerman bloodline. Zeke is clarifying to Eren that there is no ingrained behavior and that Mikasa does all these things for him because she loves him. And right after Zeke says that, there is a panel of Eren and Historia. I feel like Isayama gave us an explanation of Eren’s actions right here. A discussion about Mikasa’s affection and devotion juxtaposed with images of Eren and Historia right after we saw several panels of Eren doing exactly what Zeke described Mikasa does for Eren, in my opinion, was meant to indirectly allude to why Eren is doing this and how he feels about Historia. Isayama doesn’t want to give it away just yet, but is giving subtle breadcrumbs. Using Mikasa’s feelings to juxtapose probably threw people off too.    

It’s my opinion that Eren loves Historia. There’s other evidence that people have pointed out that I also agree with, but I won’t delve deep I’ll just mention them here:

 -Hanji noticing Eren smiling at Historia and defending her wellbeing, then asking Eren about it. Eren snaps at Hanji when she brings up Historia.

-Historia getting teary eyed when Eren defends her in the meeting. 

The only person Eren has been consistent with protecting this whole time has been Historia. His desire to protect her never wavered. He’s been talking about protecting her since the end of season 3. The only person we’ve seen Eren confide in (about his plans etc.) is Historia. She’s clearly significant to him.

What Eren Kruger Said to Grisha

Another reason I think Eren loves Historia and is romantically involved with her is because of what Eren Kruger said to Grisha. The Attack titan shifter can see future memories as well as past ones. Kruger told Grisha to “love someone in the walls, build a family. If you can’t do that, the same cycle will repeat itself. If you want to save Mikasa and Armin, carry out your mission to the end”. I think Kruger was also talking to Eren here, OR Isayama was alluding to what Eren will need to do in order to save everyone. In the anime, they added a line for Kruger, he says “someone in the future might see this [moment/memory of their conversation]”. I think it was added to establish that there may be a link between what Kruger said and what Eren is doing. Afterall, we know Eren saw this conversation. 

I think Eren did fall in love, with Historia, and is building a family (conceived a baby by chance), and something about the experience of love and impending fatherhood has played an important role in Eren carrying out this mission and ultimately saving Armin, Mikasa and Paradis, while also ending the cycle of hate.

In Ch 130, we see Eren saying that he has to do the rumbling in order for the cycle of hate to end. Similar to what Kruger said. Everything is happening exactly as Eren saw it, we saw that with that little boy Halil (or was it Ramzi?). The future memories were all correct, so if Kruger was speaking based on future memories then what he said about love, building a family, saving Armin and Mikasa, probably had truth to it.

 Eren’s Talk with Mikasa in Ch 123

A lot of people see this as an ErenxMikasa moment but since Eren and Zeke’s conversation in Ch 130, I don’t think that’s the case. In Ch 123, Eren asks Mikasa “what am I to you?”. Mikasa flusters and says “family”. I think Eren asked her this because he was suspecting that her Ackerman bloodline was influencing her decisions. This probably worried him because he didn’t want Mikasa to be a slave to her bloodline. Mikasa’s answer didn’t clarify anything for him. He was left ambivalent on the subject and that’s why he asked Zeke about the Ackerman bloodline. 

Mikasa says in Ch 123, that maybe if she gave a different answer things would have happened differently, but Zeke did give Eren a clear answer about how Mikasa felt. Eren knew how she felt and it didn’t change anything. Eren was concerned about the Ackerman bloodline influence because he wanted Mikasa to be free, not because he’s romantically interested in her.

I do realize I could be dead wrong. I know suggesting the baby wasn’t planned is a huge stretch but I just thought I’d put it out there. I just want it to be true so badly lol. Even if the baby is planned, I think there’s still some truth to some of the other things I pointed out. This was just a fun thing for me to do. I normally don’t write long theory posts, but I figured why not since it’s so close to the end and everyone is speculating. Why not join in?

I think that’s it. I hope I’m not missing anything. As for how I think the whole story will end? I think because Eren freed Ymir, titan powers might cease to exist. But I don’t know how that’ll affect the 13 year Ymir curse if that does happen. So I guess we’ll see. 

Feel free to share your thoughts. I’m not AntiMikasa or anything. Please be respectful! Thanks for reading!

[realcube]

ARCADE

summary ★ she needs to get the action figure that's in the claw machine for her sister’s birthday, so saiki does her the favour of using his a telekinesis to win it...along with a few other favours.

trigger warning ★ gambling, god, swearing, fem!reader & reader has a younger sister

construction on the new arcade near pk academy had finally come to an end. the grand opening was today after school so of course, nendou suggested that they attend as a squad. usually, saiki tried to avoid getting roped into outings like this but for a change, he actually agreed without the need for any further prying. that's because the arcade was attached to a small cinema where they'd be premiering the latest action movie — based on the TV show adaptation of the game — 'Olfana's Story X-2'. as it turns out, a few months after saiki gave the game a shot, it became a craze and a massive hit among speed-runners. so from it's new-found popularity, they developed a TV show series which inevitably flopped so now they have created a movie. only the most elite people among the gaming community were allow to see it before the official release date and they all said it was incredible; but there was not a doubt in saiki's mind that they were being paid to sing it's praise. a crappy game turned into a crappy show, now adapted into a movie was sure to be crappy. so you may be wondering why he even wanted to view the movie if he was set on it being awful. Well, there are two simple answers; curiosity and the mystery. since it was so exclusive, he had yet to overhear spoilers through his telekinesis and he now had a germanium ring in his possession so he could watch the movie in peace. also, having played the game but not seen the show, he was curious to see how bad the movie is going to be and perhaps he'd be able to get a good laugh out of it. but he made the mistake of mentioning his plan to see the movie which screened a few hours after the opening of the arcade, as now kuboyasu, nendou and kaidou were all going to see the movie along with him. In theory, it shouldn't be a problem since he'll have his germanium ring on but in practise, the world seems to be against saiki so one of his friends will probably end up stealing his popcorn or chatting throughout the entire movie. he'll just have to wait and see. kaidou and nendou did not even stop to take breaths as they raced on about how excited they were while they were all walking to the arcade. "i'm sure the movie is going to be sick!" kaidou exclaimed, followed by rapid head nods from nendou as he replied, "yup! And i can't wait to see what sort of games they have!" saiki was a bit excited himself but he didn't care to show it like the others did. but when he saw the vaporwave building covered with bright neon lights come into view, his lips curled into a small smile. though it was short-lived as he noticed the massive queue to get in; it appeared as though they weren't the only ones who had the idea to visit the arcade after school as he noticed many familiar faces standing in line, amongst crowds of others. all of their cheery auras dissipated for a few moments until kuboyasu perked up, approaching the doors to the arcade with a smug smirk, cutting in front of everyone in the line and gesturing for the boys to follow him, "don't worry about the queue, guys. follow me." nendou followed without any further questions but saiki and kaidou were a bit apprehensive. all three of them watched as kuboyasu stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the guard by one of the doors, muttering something in the man's ear, causing him to sweatdrop and hesitantly open the door with a shaky smile; allowing all four of them inside. "woah, that was awesome, aren!" kaidou yelled, not only out of awe but so he could be heard over all the cheering, laughing and game noises from inside the arcade. "yeah, that was so cool! but what did you say to that guy? he looked freaked out!" nendou inquired, surprising saiki with his actually intelligent observation. kuboyasu's hand found it's way behind his neck, rubbing it awkwardly as he chuckled, "oh, nothing! it's not important-- hey! how about you guys start playing your games and i'll go get the tickets we reserved, yeah?" "yeah!" kaidou and nendou cheered in unison, high-fiving the purple-haired boy before the all ran off in different directions, leaving saiki standing alone at the entrance. he fidgeted with his germanium ring, contemplating taking it off as he stared at kuboyasu; he really wanted to know what the teen boy could've said that'd incite such fear into a grown man, but he decided against it — merrily making his way towards the claw machines, leaving kuboyasu's secrets alone. ★★★★★★★★★★ "shit." he cursed under his breath as he watched the cyborg cider man plushie that he's been trying to win — for yuuta — for half an hour straight slip out of his grasp once again. 'these things are rigged. and what's the point in having psychic superpowers if i can't use them.' he thought to himself but had to quickly shake off the idea, as there was no way he could risk using his powers in such a crowded place, especially for a plush that wasn't even for himself but rather for an annoying kid. he sighed, slipping another coin into the slot and about to find the right state of mind until he heard a loud "fuck!"  from in front of him. his head jerked up, scanning the area for the source of the noise until his eyes landed on you. the claw machines were lined up, back-to-back, and playing on the machine diagonal from him was a girl with enchanting (e/c) eyes which contrasted greatly with her disheartened expression as she stared at the box. the only emotion she wore was sadness as she stared at the machine, so out of curiosity, saiki slipped off his ring in order to read her thoughts; feeling no guilt in listening to the affairs of a complete stranger. 'c'mon, stupid claw machine, i need this!' your silky yet whiny voice rung through his mind, 'what's she gonna think about me tomorrow when i tell her that i couldn't get her the gift she's wanted? she's gonna hate me- even more than she already does. and now i've spent all my money on this silly game so i can't even try get her a crappy gift with the little money i had. Wow, (y/n), you're the worst big sister in existence.' saiki cocked his head to the side, peering through the glass of the machines to see the contents of the claw machine you were standing in front of and when he saw the limited edition, silver cyborg cider man action figure sitting on a pedestal — almost as if it was taunting the poor girl — he finally connected the dots. your hand dug through your pockets until you found the smooth metal surface of your final coin, 'just once more try. if i win her this action figure, maybe she'll finally respect me as her big sister! and this toy will surely make her more happy than any gift mom could've possibly thought of. i'll make her sixth birthday one to remember!' the dejected look on your face slow lifted into a determined one, but it wasn't very convincing as saiki — and anyone else — could see the worry and shame in your eyes as you dropped your last coin into the slot of the machine, giving you one more chance to redeem yourself and claim the title of 'best big sister in the world'. saiki watched you maneuver the claw of the machine with bated breath, admiring how your pretty nose crinkled and your tongue poked out from the corners of your perfectly glossed lips in concentration — 'ew, stop being a simp, kusuo.' he mentally rebuked himself before engaging with your scene one again. your fist slammed down against the big red button, followed by the claw opening and lowering over the box of the cyborg cider man action figure, slowly closing it's jaws around the box and grasping it perfectly, resulting in a slight gasp to escape your throat as your lips pulled into a grin. the claw kept it's grip in the toy as it lifted up, slowly making it's way over the hole where it would drop the action figure, straight into your possession.  that is, if the grip didn't falter hence allowing the toy to fall down, off it's pedestal and onto the bottom of the compartment to join the rest of the more average action figures. "fuck!" you screamed in an almost identical way to which you did earlier, expect this one held more pain. 'this can't be happening; is this the third year in a row that i'm going to show up to my little sister's birthday party empty-handed?' you thought, your bottom lips quivering so you quickly bit down on it, staring at the damned toy before turning on your heels, shuffling away from the game with your head hung low, the thoughts which cried in your head about how much you budgeted and how hard you worked made saiki's heart sink. 'maybe i could take out a mortga--' your thoughts were abruptly cut off when you heard the noise of something falling behind you. whipping your head around to see what happened, you exhaled a sigh of relief upon seeing nothing out of the ordinary. however, you caught a glimpse of inside the machine which you had been cursing at and realised that the toy wasn't with the packaging peanuts where you left it, as if it magically disappeared in the few seconds you had averted your gaze. creeping up to it, your gaze darted around in search of anyone who might've won it in less than 5 seconds but that was unlikely. now that you were closer, you peered through the glass once more to confirm that the toy was in fact missing and you were right. recalling the noise of falling you heard just before you turned around, you dropped to your knees and lifted the flap to the compartment which held the good that people would win from the machine. you almost screamed with delight and shock when you laid eyes on the limited edition, cyborg cider man action figure that was tucked snugly inside. yanking it out, you pressed it to your chest and the tears you were choking back finally came running down your cheeks, but now they were from joy. "thank you, god." you whispered to yourself, making saiki chuckle from his spot at the claw machine which he hadn't moved from. he wasn't god — nor was he friends with god — but he didn't mind not being able to take the credit for his kind actions of using his psychokinesis to drop the box into the hole for you. honestly, he found that seeing you happy, sitting on the floor with brightest beam gracing your features along with your now cheerful thoughts in his head, was enough of a reward for him anyway. also, he appreciated how you didn't question how the box ended up in the hole and instead you just deemed it a miracle as you were too overjoyed to use logic; that sort of thinking saved saiki a lot of trouble. 'i should probably go home and wrap this.' your internal monologue had now calmed down slightly as you were now able to produce a thought that wasn't just a squeal of delight, 'hm, maybe once i am done i could come back and see the new movie that's premiering-- but i've not got much money left so i guess i shouldn't get ahead of myself.' you hummed, picking up the box along with yourself, dusting yourself off before heading towards the exit. saiki must've been staring for a tad too long though as you caught his gaze while brushing off your clothes. he cringed, instinctively darting his eyes away so you didn't think he was an ogling creep but the fact he appeared defensive probably didn't help. so he fully expected you to frown or cast him a dirty look, judging him for his actions but to his surprise, you simply chuckled. waving at the pink-haired boy before strolling off with the box under your arm. 'he seems cool. where i can get clips like those?' why were you thoughts making him blush like an idiot? time to put the germanium ring back on. ★★★★★★★★★★ as it turns out, nendou is surprisingly good at poker. he figured this out after he stumbled across the casino section of the arcade, and since he looks way older than seventeen, nobody questions it when he took a seat at one of the slot machines, under the impression that it was a fancy, old-timey arcade game. he was then offered a round of poker with some old dude with way too many gold teeth and nendou ended up taking the poor, stubborn guy's entire fortune. god-knows how many games with how-many people later, nendou was sitting on stacks of cash at a round table with a tired dealer, and two grown men — one crying into the shoulder of his arm-candy and the other weeping into the sleeve of his suit — while the three boys who had came to give him his ticket stood by, all wearing matching confused expressions. "uh, nendou." kuboyasu tapped his friend on the shoulder, waving the ticket in front of his face, "the movie is gonna start soon, we should start heading over there right now so we can buy snacks and get good seats." nendou raised an eyebrow, puzzled until he recalled that he was supposed to watch a movie today, "oh, that sounds cool and all but i'm having a lot of fun right here." he smiled, motioning to the large casino area. kuboyasu chuckled awkwardly, backing away from nendou slightly as he turned on his heels, ushering the two other boys away, "alright, well, have fun, nendou! don't stay out too late!" nendou sung an okay in response, sliding a kaidou some cash for the extortionate theatre snacks before he was rushed away by kuboyasu, the purple-haried boy not wanting to spend anymore time in the casino than needed. "if nendou isn't joining us for the movie then we have a spare ticket. here, saiki, you should have it!" "why me?" "uh, because you said you saw reita earlier. so if you see him again maybe you could offer him the spare ticket." 'absolutely not.' was vocalised as "sure." by saiki as he took the ticket from kuboyasu's outstretched hand, fiddling with it before stuffing it into his pocket along with his own ticket. "what i said to nendou was kinda an exaggeration" aren mused, glancing at his watch before looking up at his two pals, "we still have some time left before the movie starts. i'm gonna go handle some business — you two have fun, and try find reita!" kuboyasu said before pivoting on his heels in the direction of the staff only closet. the only thing saiki could think to do during this free-time was escape kaidou's pestering to play dance dance revolution — since saiki didn't want to dance, dance or revolute, he darted outside as soon as kuboyasu left, leaving kaidou alone and confused in the middle of the arcade. 'finally, fresh air.' saiki inhaled, filling his lungs with the cool air rather than the stuffy, arcade oxygen. scanning the surrounding area, his eyes caught a glimpse of a figure standing by the ATM, which he immediately recognised to be that of the girl he had helped earlier. so naturally, he flicked of his ring to figure out the reasoning behind the awkward look on her face. 'do i really want to withdraw money to see some stupid movie? i mean, i could leave that money to accumulate and buy something nicer later.' without thinking, saiki hummed in agreement with your thoughts as he had been in your position many times before. 'but then again, i should treat myself! when was the last time i saw a movie that wasn't pirated? hmm..' your indecisive thoughts matched perfectly with your conflicted expression as you stared through furrowed brows at the screen of the ATM. a soft breeze passed, followed by something light smacking against you face. you winced slightly, your hand snapping your cheek and grabbing at whatever it was; just by the texture, you could tell it was paper. holding it in front of you, upon further inspection you realised that the mysterious sheet that had flew into your possession was in fact a ticket to tonight's showing of 'Olfana's Story X-2'  row G, seat 9. you double, triple checked it out of fear that this may be a cruel prank but no, this was completely real! you cheered, bouncing up and down and away from the ATM since you no longer needed it's services as god had blew the desired item straight into your hands — or your face, rather. either way though, you were over the moon, clutching the ticket to your chest and basking in your second miracle of the day. unbeknownst to you, saiki's smile was almost as wide as your own. you thanked god for your relief and saiki had no problem with that; seeing your little happy dance and squeals with your free ticket was enough for him. but actually, perhaps he might benefit himself after all, since the ticket he had given you previous belonged to nendou. meaning that saiki was seated at row G, seat 10; right beside you. ★★★★★★★★★★ saiki forgot to send a few notes flying your way in the wind, so you walked into the theatre and took your seat, completely snackless since you couldn't afford the exorbitant prices that they sold food for at the cinema. but perhaps that wasn't all bad as it revealed the possibility for saiki to offer you some of his popcorn as a conversation-starter, as he's usually not too good at socialising with new people — forget starting a conversation. however, he didn't need to work up any sort of courage to talk to you as the first thing you did when you plopped down in your seat beside him was turn to him and chirp, "oh, you're the guy i saw at the claw machines earlier! i love your clip thingies." your buoyant-adrenaline allowing your to be more bold than usual. the movie had yet to start, low murmurs of chatter coming from across the theatre as the trailers played in the background, "yes. and thanks." 'good grief, curse myself for not being more talkative. she probably thinks i'm dull now. perhaps i should channel my inner nendou..if i have one.' instead of ending the conversation right there like he assumed you would, you continued talking and saiki was..glad? why did he want to interact with you so much? he spends most of his days trying to avoid interacting with people; why were you any different? "no problem- also, did you get what you were playing for?" you inquired, tapping your lip in genuine curiosity. his ring remained on his finger, despite the fact he wanted to know what you thought about him, he didn't want to invade your privacy any more than he already has. "no. did you?" "yeah, i did, actually!" you chirped, not noticing the smirk creeping onto saiki's lips as you were too engulfed in your memories, "i thought those games were rigged but maybe they're not 'cause i managed to win this super special action figure that my sister has been on the top of my sister's wishlist for like- forever! and her birthday is tomorrow so i'll be a--" you cut yourself off, crinkling your nose in embarrassment, "sorry, i'm over-sharing, aren't i?" your enthusiasm made his heart flutter in a way he wasn't used to, if you didn't know any better, he would have thought he was having a medical emergency. his eyes widened slightly as you halted in your speech, "no, you're fine." he said, the uncharacteristic softness in his voice catching the attention of his two pals sitting on the other side of him. you shook off his comment, "i mean, i'm telling you my life story and i don't even know your name." you said, laughing sheepishly at the reality of the reality of the situation. 

“saiki kusuo.” he blurted out without a second thought.

you blinked a few times, shocked that he’d give his details away so easily as you somewhat expected him to be more of a reserved type of guy but evidently, you were wrong. “uh, i’m (l/n) (y/n).” you choked, biting down on your bottom lip slightly before continuing you story as he seemed to wait expectantly, “as i was saying, today’s just been the best day ever! everything has been going so well, i’m a bit scared as to what is going to happen when it hits midnight.” 

saiki nodded along, popping a piece of popcorn into his mouth before remembering his plan, “oh- would you like some?” he asked, offering you some popcorn from his bucket. unfortunately, the plan was a last-minute thing so he had only bought a small, but he still wasn’t opposed to sharing. 

you shook your head, trying to grin foolishly wide at his kind offer, “no thank you.” 

saiki nodded, about to open his mouth to reply until the blaring music from the beginning of the movie started, putting a swift end to your conversation — despite the fact saiki would much rather talk to you than watch the crappy movie — out of theatre etiquette. 

★★★★★★★★★★

it was worse than you or saiki could’ve ever imagined.

it was painfully trying not to burst out laughing right in middle of it or lean over and giggle in each other’s ear at the silly dialog but out of respect for the other people in the cinema, you both stayed silent and just cast each other occasional knowing glances whenever something cringey happened on screen. 

you both let out audible sighs of relief with the credits began to roll, accompanied by a slow indie song. “that was..something.” you mumbled, grabbing your purse and jumping to your feet, wanting to exit the building as soon as possible and hopefully leave your memories of the movie behind you. 

“definitely.” he snickered, absently flicking the side of his empty popcorn bucket, “i stopped paying attention once i finished my popcorn.” it felt weird to vocalise — or rather, telepathically communicate — the comments he’d usually keep to himself; why did he feel so comfortable speaking to someone he only just met?

he began gathering his things, stuffing all of his rubbish in the bucket so he could dispose of it all at once. his mind was fixated on crappiness of the movie and how a five-year-old could’ve shot a much better film, until you grabbed his attention by calling out his name, followed by a question which made him blood run cold.

“before i go, it gotta ask’ how’d you do it? or more importantly, why’d you do it?”

he blinked several times before putting on his best bewildered expression, with the idea that maybe if he played dumb, he could gaslight you into thinking that it never happened or that he had nothing to do with it. “what?”

“oh, don’t give me that!” you scoffed, narrowing your eyes at the boy, “i’m not stupid. every time something good happened to me, you were nearby. i’ve connected the dots so fess up. why did you do all those nice things for me? was it out of pity or are you that nice to everyone?”

“i’m that nice to everyone.”

“i don’t believe you.” you snapped, fixing your tone when you remembered that even though he was lying to you, he still helped you get the present for you sister and gave you his spare ticket. “i don’t care if you’re not gonna give me a straight answer, but at least let me make it up to you.”

he huffed, an unimpressed look covering his features before you even proposed your idea. there was really nothing he could possibly need from you. what were you going to give him that he wasn’t capable of obtaining on his own? so he frowned, ready to decline your offer. 

“i saw that you bought one of those jelly pots from the snack stand and i actually work at a little café in the town, so i might be able to get you few things for free or discounted?”

“yes.” wait, that wasn’t refusal. 

“great!” you chirped, glad that you wouldn’t have to pry further, “does later this week sounds good? we could meet up here then i can walk you to the café- or i could give you my number and we can arrange a date later?” 

“sure.” saiki said without thinking once again.

but it wasn’t as though he regretted it when you slipped the piece of paper you had scribbled your number onto, into the front pocket of his shirt, tapping it with a smile. “alright! i’ll see you later then- unless you want to walk home with me?” you fidgeted with your fingers slightly, instantly regretting what you just came out with. not because you didn’t want to walk with him, but due to the fact you highly doubted he was going so say accept so you mentally prepared for the impact of his harsh rejection.

“sure.”

★★★★★★★★★★

BONUS 

saiki ended up walking home with some girl he met at the theatre so that left kuboyasu and kaidou to fetch nendou once the film finished. they both searched the casino area for almost half an hour but neither of them had any luck finding nendou. that was, until kuboyasu had to take a step outside to escape the casino as he noticed an old friend of his playing on the slot machines, and he found nendou crouched by the garbage cans, on his phone. 

“nendou! we’ve been looking all over for you- why are you out here by the trash? and what happened to all your money?!”

nendou chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck with his spare hand, “fun story actually. i was doing so well and i was on my way to becoming a millionaire until these schoolgirls came marching in and absolutely slaughtered me! it was so embarrassing and the only way i could escape them was by running away so i hid back here.”

kuboyasu’s aura just screamed ‘disappointed but not surprised’, “so you’re telling me that you lost millions to highschool girls?”

“they might’ve been middle-schoolers, i’m not too sure. i didn’t get a very good look at ‘em but they were all wearing creepy red uniforms.”

all kuboyasu could do was massage his temples to ease his headache at the stupidity of his friends, “so you lost all your money to school girls in creepy red uniforms?” he repeated aloud, just to make sure he was hearing things correctly.

“yes. but not all my money.” he said, pulling out his wallet and grandly opening it to reveal a few notes and a button, “i’ve still got enough to spend on ramen with my bros!”

[insert-cephalopod-joke]

I was originally going to keep this to just the playable agents, but you make an interesting point there!

Callie’s pink definitely points to her being very close to octolings, and especially after Splatoon 2 when hypnotized she goes the extra mile and redecorates the octarian’s entire area so they were happier. She could have easily just stayed with Octavio and not had to worry about them but she actively chose not to and to get involved with the lower ranks. Perhaps during this time she began to grow a small distain for inklings after seeing what they were putting octarians through, too.

For Marie’s green, she might have been more influenced by Cuttlefish’s war stories (c’mon, he’s an old man. Of course he had war stories) and developed a more cynical view of them. When Octavio kidnapped both Cuttlefish and Callie— the two people closest to her— it made her cynicism for the race worse.

When they both change over to yellow in Splatoon 3, this could signify Marie’s growing tolerance of octarians as well as Callie’s re-acceptance of her kind, now seeing they’re taking the right steps to reunite the two species.

For Marina I definitely see loving Pearl/liking inklings as one of the reasons, but I have another one to offer. While we see she never really goes out of her way to hide her identity as an octoling besides her ears (like girl, you could easily rest them on your shoulders), she never talks about her life before Mt. Nantai except for Octo Expansion (while Pearl often talks about her childhood). What I’m suggesting here is she could be trying to make a good impression on inklings with her teal. Having a color close to green, plus never talking about at least the good parts of the domes seems to show some sort of anxiety about “revealing” herself. Doesn’t help that she constantly has that iconic nervous expression most of the time. When she changes to her new galaxy blue, this indicates a small step towards feeling comfortable with her identity, slowly moving away from green on the color wheel.

(For her records in OE, this could also hint to having thoughts of running away from the army, with the Inkantation being the final push)

For Pearl’s pink, I definitely agree that it’s about her love for Rina. Plus, being a rebellious spirit, that would make her more accepting of other’s in general, whether it came to fashion, worldview, or species. Bonus points for giving her chosen color on air in front of thousands a double meaning: the color of love, and the color of octarians as well as welcoming them (and Marina) with open arms.

Eight’s blue… now let me pull out my color theory hyperfixation for a second. Blue is deemed a color of sadness, but it’s also a color of wisdom and knowledge. Being a cool color like green, it could symbolize their acceptance of inklings, as well as their newfound knowledge that not all inklings are bad like in Octavio’s propaganda. Neat!

Shiver and Frye… hmm. Frye’s yellow could share the same symbolism as Squidbeak’s, as well as her overall energy. Yellow is the color of happy, after all. Shiver’s purplish-blue.. i don’t really know to be honest. I’ve kind of seen her as a Splatland native who’s never even seen the domes. Instead it could be a nod to her air of intelligence, like blue, but also her competitive side with the royal power of purple.

Finally, a personal addition: Cuttlefish. He has faded orange ink, a dull but warm color. Maybe this is a reference to his past closeness to octarians (cough cough and Octavio cough cough), now having faded away over the years.

(Thank you so much for giving me a chance to ramble more lol)

Most likely looking too far into this but.. you ever look at Squidbeak’s ink colors?

In the first game we have og agent three with green ink, which is also commonly used to represent inklings/squids in official arts as well as the Race War.

For octolings/octopi, they are usually depicted with red or pink inks. Warm or inverse colors, essentially.

For agent four, their ink is usually a yellow-orange color in official art (+section one), but section two onwards they have all cool colors. Also, when it comes to fighting Octavio (+the last section), they choose the color green. But why would they change their color to that in the most important parts of that game? Why not use yellow-orange like they are usually depicted with? More on this later.

Octo Expansion comes around, and we see agent eight with pink ink, as expected for an octoling. Agent three is also seen with their green ink from the first game. But, during the inner three fight, they’re orange instead. This could just be a reference to the first game’s colors as eight has blue, but what if it’s more?

Now let’s look at the third game. New agent three with yellow ink. Close to green, but a warm color like red… or pink.

What I’m trying to get at is, what if these colors are meant to symbolize Squidbeak’s change in heart? Originally they were meant to exterminate Octarians, but now they are working together to (presumably) bring peace to both species and promote unity. To show this, their ink colors move away from the infamous green to a more “neutral” color. Which has a chance of implying that:

three being orange in the inner fight might mean that any hate they could have had for eight is resolved, and that fight is more for the fun of it than hate for each other

four possibly had a more positive idea of octolings until section two, where they no longer had warm colors. Possibly because of the scrolls and hypnotized Callie. The final stages could have too been the last straw leading them to change all the way to green

Just somethin’ to think about.

[butt-watch]

Deltarune Chapter 2 Theory

DELTARUNE SPOILERS AHEAD

I'll put under a read more, but just in case it doesn't work. Here's your warning to block "#delatrune spoilers" or scroll really fast.

Spoilers for end game and bonus boss, and a long ass dump of all the ideas I have in my head before I forget them. So, sorry if I got anything wrong or it's a mess.

I've seen a lot of theories flying around, but haven't seen this one yet. (Sorry if it is already out there and I just haven't seen it, I'm sure somebody will already have put it together better than me.) This is just some funky ideas I've been throwing around, because I'll be honest here, I love the main 3 so much, and would be sad to see any of them turn out to be evil like so many theories are suggesting.

Maybe I'm just trying to be optimistic, maybe it's the weird nb kid deep inside me latching onto a kindred spirit, maybe I'm on to something.

So here's the thing. I don't believe Kris is the knight.

I know, I know, but stay with me here.

There's no denying that at the end of the chapter, Kris created a new fountain, and with it, likely a new dark world. But I'd like to argue, this is the first one they've created. My evidence is shaky, but I think there's something there that could blossom.

I'll start off with the simple fact that multiple characters who have met the knight, Spades King especially, didn't recognise Kris at all, and you would have thought they'd recognise the person who's been feeding them so much information. You do also have a couple of dialogue options with the king this time, and definitely with the Queen, so it seems strange that neither of them recognise the voice of their Knight in shining armour.

This is where stuff starts to get a bit flaky, but also, a lot more intriguing.

At the end of the chapter Kris opened a fountain, and the night before, we saw Kris remove the soul inside them and brandish their knife. Assuming that Kris spent that time without the soul creating a fountain is a fair assumption to make, and I think it's possible that was Kris's intention, perhaps they have some connection to the knight, and knew how the fountains could be opened. But, they were missing one important ingredient.

In Chapter 2 we get an explanation from the Queen about how dark fountains are created, and with it a word that has largely been missing from Deltarune.

That's right, good old Determination.

Fountains are created when a determined Lightner plunges a sharp object into the ground. And here's where the theory comes in. I believe prior to the end of chapter 2, Kris didn't have Determination. Throughout the game, they've been filled with various sources of power, from Fluffy Boys and Mean Girls, to Cat signs. But at every save point we've been missing the signature Determination.

The closest we get is at the end of Chapter 2, just before the fight against the queen, when "a certain power" is alluded to.

And that lack of Determination, would have made opening the fountain impossible for them, after all, Queen spent the whole game building Noelle's determination high enough to open a new fountain. A smidge of determination doesn't seem to cut it.

So how did Kris get the determination?

Through the good old power of Friendship. Through the trials with their new friends, Kris has gained determination, even without the soul inhabiting them. And even though that started as half a joke (only half), whilst writing this post and trying to find screencaps, for the next section, I realised it's actually more likely than I suspected.

And that brings me to everyone's new favourite:

Spamton. During his dialogue and initial boss fight he offers a deal, rewarding Kris with [[Hyperlink Blocked]] if they accept. As far as I'm aware you're forced to accept the deal. (If anyone else tolerated more than a few minutes of smashing no deal like I did and managed to get a different outcome, kudos to your perseverance.)

What is [[Hyperlink Blocked]]? Well I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this. I believe it may well be Determination or something similar.

During the initial confrontation, Spamton refers to the players Soul as [[HeartShapedObject]].

But prior to the boss fight against Spamton NEO, he has no qualms about saying SOUL.

I've seen a lot of people theorising Spamton is being censored, and I agree that definitely seems to be the case. From a meta standpoint though I think it's interesting that the [[Hyperlink Blocked]] he mentioned so much in his first encounter doesn't seem to be mentioned at all, now the he has slightly more freedom of speech. I personally believe it's because revealing whatever Spamton was offering would have given too much away.

So how does this come back to the power of friendship? Well, upon defeating Spamton, whether through ACTing or beating the crap out of him, he realises the real treasure was the friends we made along the way.

He suggests that together, the three of them could "break their own strings"

Following the fight, there's a moment, where Susie notices that Kris is acting out of sorts. Whichever option you choose, it's obvious that Kris is shaken by the event, even going as far as to yell the answer if you let them admit how they're feeling.

The similarity to Kris's own situation, being puppeted by the player is a valid reason for the response. Whatever shook them did so with enough effect that the fear showed despite the players control. Either that, or Kris has something they didn't have, more control. More... Determination to overcome the soul.

That last part is reaching a little, which is saying something, given the amount of shaky evidence presented in this post, so I want to wrap this up mostly with something slightly unrelated, but still a Kris theory.

Why do they open the fountain?

There are a lot of theories, about being a pawn for Gaster, being an asshole, etc.

I'd like to think Kris is just a weird kid who's gotten caught up in a mess they don't really understand. They created a scenario where Susie would be forced to stay the night, and opened up a new dark world, that Susie, their friend, expressed a want for before they left the dark world.

A place where they could get away from their lives for a little while and have more adventures together. And I can understand the reasoning, opening a new fountain isn't bad, I mean, as long as they close it at the end, nobody gets hurt and they have more memories. Where's the harm in that? Right?

As much as Kris obviously wishes to be free of the soul's control, that very soul has helped them make real friends. It's taken them on adventures and well.

Somebody had to let it out before the morning.

So to summarise, the strongest power known to man is a group of lonely teenagers, if you run through a peaceful game murdering everything and then blame a video game character for the decision you made, I'll kick your ass, and I guess I'm a Kris stan now, oh god.