#and then the rest of it is kris and susie checking in on everyone

[dessbian]

EVAN EVAN EVAN

IT'S JUST A RIDE FROM RIDE THE CYCLONE,.,., BUT ITS SUSIE AND KRIS POST ROARING AND THEY ACCEPT DEATH AND THEY SOAR INTO THE SKY BECAUSE THEY, TOGETHER, ARE THE WINGS THAT MAKE UP THE DELTA RUNE

I WAS THINKING OF ITS JUST A RIDE AS. A POST-ROARINGTHING BUT I WAS IMAGINING AN EPILOGUE TYPE THING NOT THEMLIKE DYING . BUT YEA YOUR BRAIN >>>>> THEYARE THE WIIINGS RAAAH IM SO NORMAL RIGHT NOW

[lya-ayl]

Playing Deltarune today instead of doing homework. I completed the first chapter within 4ish hours and it was super fun! I couldn’t beat the clown though :/

BUT I started Chapter 2! I manage to ignore most spoilers besides characters but that’s okay. I was still pretty surprised and laughing at all the jokes lmao

AHHHH! It’s so fun! This is my first time playing a Toby Fox game somewhat blind (even it’s only a chapter) and getting hit by his jokes genuinely made it more funny than knowing it before hand

The Queen is so funny and I somewhat like Berdly because he makes me laugh lmao But I do wonder if his Dark World outfit is based of Dragon Ball Z because it reminds me of that somewhat...

I met Spamton and he’s... just a little guy. I’ve seen fanart of him having long legs when he’s literally the same height as Kris so it was kind of unexpected lol I haven’t gotten his boss battle(?) Is it even a required event in the chapter or is it a boss battle like the clown? (Don’t answer I’ll figure it out)

Anyway, Noelle is super interesting! I’ve heard of the Snowgrave Route (is that the name?) where you kill everyone using her abilities {I think). Maybe I passed that part? I’ve reached where you run into Ralsei and Susie so I might’ve missed it. It doesn’t really matter though, I’m sparing everyone I come across :D

ALSO LANCER IS MY SON He goes into Kris’ inventory and every time a new event happens, I just check on him to see what he says. He ate the Queen’s tape!! He’s just a lil guy omg

Anyway I’ll play the rest tomorrow... maybe.

[samthecookielord]

Hey besties have you seen my omori deltarune au and went "wow i have no idea whats going on!!!"

Well me neither!!! Woohoo!!! Here's me trying to organize all the important info the best I can lol

I don't have an official name for this au I just either call it by it's full name or use Omorune if I wanna be quick lol

🖤A Quick AU Rundown™!🖤

Omorune is a crossover between OMORI and Deltarune where characters from OMORI go through the general plot of Deltarune! Not all plot points and character roles match one-to-one though. Also expect a lot of bias towards Spaceboy content gsdgdas <3

Also also expect major spoilers for both games!!

❤Main AU Tag: #omori deltarune au❤

I may say "we" when talking about AU ideas because I don't come up with all the ideas! I usually bounce around ideas with some friends in a group chat like @a-queer-kitkat (second ceo of halkinna) , @pastel-player , @knowledgeable-atlas , and @yim-yum-ophelia-time! So shoutout to those guys too!!

Ok continuing post under the cut

There are a few headspace characters that were turned into regular kids in Faraway! Chosen with heavy bias though sgrrsges here they are:

💚"Halkinna" Honeydew Tag: #lightner!spaceboy💚

💝Susanne Hearth Tag: #lightner!sweetheart💝

💜Rococo Tag (sorry we only briefly talked about this so theres only one post in here gdsdsge): #lightner!rococo💜

Character Stuff:

Kris -> Sunny; Susie -> Aubrey; Asriel -> Mari; Noelle -> Basil; Berdly -> Spaceboy

Ralsei -> Headspace Mari / "Raim" (story-wise) and also kinda Hero (magic healer role guy); Queen -> Sweetheart (separate from Susanne); more probably idk i forgot

Kel and Hero do not replace anyone directly, but they're also part of the party in Chapter 1

Everyone not mentioned is either up in the air (because the incompleteness of Deltarune makes it hard to find good matches that we like), or they remain exactly the same as they do in Deltarune (for example, Alphys is inexplixably the same. Because we don't know any teachers in omori loll)

Dr characters that are for sure the same unless we decide to change our minds: Lancer, Sweet Cap'n Cakes (I love them your honour I can't replace them), Alphys, Undyne, sans, and Toriel

The "kris being the only human in town" thing does not translate to here, but monsters are still normal

Rough Timeline but with like ten question marks!!!

Pre-Game: Mari either got stair'd or she just went to college, depending on how evil we feel at the moment loll!!

A while before chapter 1, Hero gets back to town from college and visits the school. Before class, he drags Kel with him to help clean out the old classrooms, but they both fall into the closet dark world and pass by the castle without checking it.

Chapter 1: Sunny goes to school, group projects are assigned, Aubrey eats chalk by accident, and Dark World shenanigans ensue. Not many story differences other than Kel and Hero meeting up with Sunny and Raim midway through the chapter.

Chapter 2: Sunny and Aubrey are getting along a lil better now! Yay! Dark world happens in the library, Basil gets captured, Halkinna is a lil dummy (affectionate) and helps Sweetheart, who resembles his ex because Sweetheart is a donut-themed USB filled with pictures of him and Susanne that Halkinna left in the library one time. Insert like the rest of chapter 2's plot here.

Chapter 3: find out next time on!!!!(explodes)

[forgetmynamepleasethanks]

Yooo! You seem to get a lot of requests for Kris x reader stuff so if you do other characters could I request headcannons for Ralsei x (male)reader where the reader is a bit crazy (think chara trying to kill people and stuff) and Ralsei always uses pacify to stop him but still defends him when the rest of the fun gang asks Ralsei why he hangs out with the reader because they're basically attempted murderer and Ralsei is like "Yeah well I think hes nice" happy new years btw

Headcannons for Ralsei with an obviously murderous boyfriend who Ralsei keeps in check.

-----

• To be honest, you're indescribably lucky that Ralsei puts up with you.

• Without him defending your actions the rest of the fun gang would have ripped you to shreds (or at least tried to) long ago.

• Ralsei is probably one of the only people who you haven't tried to stab

• The same cannot be said for the rest of fun gang, if it weren't for Ralsei and occasionally Noelle casting pacify on you there's a decent chance you would have done some serious damage to Susie by now.

• Speaking of Susie, you two are at each others throats. Sure she's a bit nicer to her friends now but she is still definitely on board with the idea of biting your face off.

• If it weren't for your dodging skills which were comparable to the incredibly agile Kris you would have received an axe right between your eyes ages ago.

• Not that it wouldn't be well deserved, you almost definitely tried to stab her first.

• Safe to say Ralsei sits extra close to you when he invites you to come along with him to hang out with the fun gang

• When you two are alone though, I would assume you would be much more normal. Probably not asking how his day was normal but a lot less crazed look in the eyes normal.

• If you still feel human emotion, a sentence that you should never have to worry about being said about you but I digress, you would probably ask him why he stays with you when everyone else seems to hate you.

• He'll probably respond with something about how they just don't realize that even though your actions reflect those of a genocidal maniac, your a bit of a softy when your left alone

• When he tried to win the fun gang over on your behalf, his argument was similar.

• He tried to give examples of you being nice but all he could come up with is that you make him happy.

• Speaking of which, why do you make him happy?

• Well, it's those times when the rest of the fun gang is in the light world and it's just you in the castle, sometimes when he's busy he'll catch you lying in the internal garden either sleeping or just relaxing.

• It really fuels his hope that maybe you are just misunderstood, because lately he's had a hard time believing it himself.

• Comfort is a strange topic when it comes to you two. Surprisingly when it comes to who is comforting who it's usually you comforting Ralsei.

• That's mostly caused by you not needing comfort all that often, being as nonchalant about horrible things as your are makes it a lot easier to go with the flow.

• One of the only times he's comforted you was when Berdly called you a monster, which Berdly quickly explained meant not as in the type of individual but as in a terrible terrible person.

• That one bothered you for some reason, maybe because it was the first person other than Susie who had called you evil, or maybe because he said it so casually like it was just a commonly accepted fact.

• Either way Ralsei was happy to comfort you, it's all confectionaries and quality time with this guy. That's just how Ralsei comforts you.

• On the other hand, when you comfort him your either cracking dumb jokes or if someone hurt his feelings offering to kill them, which he always says no to of course but then you try anyways.

• It's less of an offer to kill someone and more of a warning.

• If someone were to ask Kris about you (assuming the player isn't part of the equation because then its murderous maniac vs sometimes genocidal time deity) they would probably just give a thumbs up.

• Kris doesn't hate you, their part of the short list of people you haven't tried to stab because in your words: "Their hair is kinda funny looking" Which I guess is reason enough to befriend them and not try and kill them.

• Kris would consider you somewhat friendly, one of the few people who would even think about calling you that.

• You two have talked about pie before because if you have any attachment to the color green, murderous intent, or are a ghost that commits genocide, you're a big fan of pie.

• They brought you some of Toriel's pie and now whenever Ralsei asks if you want him to bake you anything it's always the exact same thing.

• Ralsei really likes going on walks with you, you tend to have quite a bit of energy, for better or for worse, which means he gets to follow you around as you impulsively turn you head towards any bit of noise or movement.

• Ralsei does his best to keep you happy, and he helps greatly just by being there.

• As much of a problem as you can be, you still hope that one day you can befriend the whole fun gang, and not like how sans befriended Kris' mother, but in a way where they actually don't think your a menace.

• It's probably going to be pretty hard for you, but at least you always have Ralsei to help you along the way.

-----

Hope you enjoyed.

[bookof-xreaders]

Kris x crush reader fic set after the spamton neo pacifist fight when kris yells no and the reader hugs and comforts kris instead of ralsei

I hope is this good! I put the rest of the fic under the cut because I thought it was getting to be too long, so I hope you don't mind!

Choosing "No"

"ARE YOU WATCHING, [Heaven]!? IT'S TIME FOR SPAMTON'S [Comeback Special]! AND THIS TIME... I LIVE FOR MYSELF!!! NO... MYSELF AND MY [Friend(s)]!!! HERE I GO!!!! WATCH ME FLY, [MAMA]!!!!"

The string was cut, and he fell.

Everyone cried out on alarm, doing their best to avoid the fallen puppet. Susie attempted to reach out to one of her allies in a blind panic, either in an attempt to defend her allies or in an attempt to get out of her coaster. Y/N tried to look for a lever on their side, hoping to find a way to stop the coasters before one of them crashed into the puppet. Kris had quickly attempted to jump over the side of their coaster, yelling for everyone else to get out of their coasters.

Before the crash could be heard, the coasters stopped. Y/N stopped looking for a lever, surprise overtaking them. "I..." they began.

"What...?" Susie questioned, pressed to the back of her coaster. It appeared that she had accepted she wouldn't get out of her coaster in time, seeing as her coaster nearly touched the darkner's feet.

Kris didn't say anything, and simply shook as they watched the unmoving darkner in front of them. It was reasonable that they wouldn't talk, knowing that they were screaming before the coasters stopped.

The blue lightner stepped towards the imitation of an angel, lifting it to receive a Loaded Disk. Despite looking shaken up, they made way to walk back to the entrance of the track. Sharing a quick look, Susie and the other lightner followed behind them.

Upon reaching the entrance, Kris turned to walk through a door. The door led to a small, vine-ridden room that was clearly abandoned. After a few minutes of standing there, the Loaded Disk began to glow and levitated up to a patch of vines.

Once the glowing mass decided on a form, it was revealed to be the darkner from before. He was smaller, and looked distraught before beginning his speech.

"It seems after all I couldn't be anything more than a simple puppet. But you three... You're strong. With a power like that..." The strung-up puppet looked up at the group, "Maybe you three can break your own strings. Let me become your strength."

The small darkner turned into a pair of glasses, floating towards Kris and landing in their hands. No one could see their face, but their shaky "We need to go." was noticed by everyone. Their two witnesses followed Kris, anyway.

The silence was deafening, nearly drowned out by the questions everyone had. Susie's own questions brought her to a pause, before she spoke up. "Hey so..." She began, grabbing the attention of Kris and Y/N, "are we seriously... NOT gonna talk about any of that?"

Kris began to fidget with their cape while Susie continued, "That was god damn weird." She began to use her fingers to list the god damn weird things, "Puppets... Strings... Hands..."

"What the hell does any of that mean?" She extended her arms and hands with her previous words, before continuing, "And the way he just... broke."

"I... I don't know..." The third lightner stated, "I just... Maybe we should just..." They made a small motion with their hands, not knowing what to say. Glancing past them, Susie moved forward to check on Kris.

Upon reaching Kris, Susie noted, "Kris... you've got goosebumps." and quickly whispered to Kris "... you ok?"

For a few minutes, Kris didn't say anything. They looked like they wanted to say something, but whenever they opened their mouth they would snap it shut. Then, their eyes widened as they screamed "NO!" with fear in their eyes.

Kris continued to scream afterwards, muttering "no no NO"s and repeating random things the darkner had said. Y/N moved first, placing themself in front of Kris to try and calm them down without touching them.

"Hey, hey!" They murmured, "Kris, can you breathe? Please, breathe!"

When that didn't work, the lightner quickly grabbed one of Kris's hands and held it. That seemed to get Kris to register their surroundings and friends, as their voice began to quiet. Despite their change in volume, they continued to shake and hold on to Y/N's hand like it was a life line.

"We can talk about this later, if you want," Y/N muttered, rubbing circles into the human's hand. Kris didn't move for a few minutes, simply staring at the lightner holding their hand. Once they did move, they hugged Y/N; a few beats of confusion passed until Y/N registered what happened, and then they hugged Kris back.

Susie moved behind Kris, muttering a small "Just... tell us next time... If you're gonna do something stupid like this, OK?" to Kris.

Kris muttered a small "Thank you..." as they let go of Y/N. Moving away from the other Lightner's warmth, they shifted behind them.

With that, the group of lightners moved forward. Y/N was in front, with Kris holding Y/N's hand, and Susie was behind Kris; that order didn't change until the trio walked into the Color Cafe, where Kris walked in first to relay what happened to the head butler.

[everysongineverykey]

opinions on our one and only kris deltarune? i see a lot of people say that kris is either:

a) soulless

or:

b) there is a third entity controlling them,

(thus causing them to create another dark fountain even after a snowgrave route.

which in that specific context would mean they are putting the possibility of an adventure over the safety of their friends who are now vulnerable to another murderous rampage from the player)

i dunno about the kris is soulless theory, except i don't like it because it takes away form them being kind of an asshole sometimes and makes it,,, not their fault???? idk idk but that's vibe i get from these theory proposers

my MAIN talking point is against the third entity theory, from a writing perspective. it takes away what little agency kris has and turns them into 'human teenager who's both making and losing friends and being dragged along for the ride' from 'human teenager who's both making and losing friends and being dragged along for the ride AND still chooses to open a fountain despite the incredible danger they are putting everyone in'

like. imagine. you are a human in a world full of non-humans. you are an outsider, and your own mother, despite how much she loves you, doesn't fully understand you. that's fine, you think, you still have friends.

until dess dissappears and your family is torn apart and the one person who you rely on the most leaves for college. it's difficult and isolating. sure, no-one is explicitly rude to you, and you have a general level of camaraderie with some people (noelle, gaming buddies with berdly, being a decent enough student for alphys), but you are still alone.

then you wake up one day and you have a parasite. it takes over your body no problem, and together you walk to school, get accosted by the school bully, and get trapped in the secret universe in the school supply closet. several shenanigans later, you're a hero. you dethroned the tyrant, you put lancer in charge, and most importantly to you, you have friends!

but these friendships has a catch: it depends on your ability to do it all again. to have another adventure, to save the day again, and lead the group to victory. and the funny thing is... that wasn't you. it was the parasite. it makes you annoyingly talkative, and is a little too nice, but for the most part it did everything that was needed for your happy ending. and yes, you stepped in at important parts (kneeling for lancer, defending susie) but the fact is that the parasite is responsible for everything.

so you do the only logical thing and wake up at 3am to threaten it with a knife to show it you aren't to be messed with, only to run out of its sight to go eat an entire pie.

next day, things are great, you found another fountain, and berdly and noelle are here! weird, but okay. however you blink and suddenly the parasite has forced your childhood friend to slaughter an entire city and possibly your gaming buddy. through you. hm.

you come back to the real world. berdly doesn't. you hide his body (not a corpse, under no circumstances) in the computer room and spend the rest of the day dicking around with susie while the parasite embarrasses you with its inability to play the piano.

then it leads you to the hospital. and noelle is horrified to see you. you forgot you had her watch. as she runs out the room, you are reminded of the trash gremlin that tried to stop you from closing the fountaining warning you that you were going to regret not allowing him to kill you. you talk to rudy and leave.

later that night, you slash your mothers tires. you check on susie. you leave the door ajar. you plunge your blade into the earth (carpet, actually), and with all your will, summon a fountain. as you stagger back to couch to put the parasite where it belongs, you tell yourself that it's okay. that susie will be fine. that the parasite will be pleased, this what it wanted anyway. you were doing what you were told. your choices don't matter. you close your eyes and try not to think about the corpse in closet. you fall asleep.

god. god. there's so much here. i think both those theories- soulless and third entity- are bullshit, partly because of what you said: they make kris into more of a blank slate protagonist who's just a vessel for the player, taking away even more of their agency over their thoughts and actions. i think you'd have to be pretty thick to think that some "third entity" made kris do snowgrave- it's you. you did that. you purposefully made them go back and kill everyone. and kris isn't soulless. i don't know how you could think that. we've seen that they love their brother, their mum, their friends so much time and time again. sure, they're kinda mean sometimes, but what kid isn't? on the whole: kris is just a kid! and i care them💙

[vessel-and-the-players]

How does one get a recap? How old is this blog?

The blog has been going all of 2021, It started January.

A lot has happened. It feels like a lot more time then it sounds like.. here's a link to one of the first posts, if that helps.

I don't know if you can view the posts in order from there, but you might just have to put finger to phone and S C R O L L

Here goes my best recap, it's probably gonna be missing a few things, but that's why I recommend you scroll down and look for yourself..

At first it was a typical, only posts when gets asks (witch didn't because it had no followers) and answers with bad art kinda thing. There was no plot. Until people figured out they could control Kris. They made Kris go look for Susie, found Susie, and talked to her. (I think they also tried to stab her at one point).

Then they went back home and went to bed. Kris had a bad dream, woke up, did some soul yeeting, and then it was morning. We discover that someone new moved in, and go check that out. They meet a kid named Seeker. Then it's breaking into the school to get into the dark world cuz screw Seeker. We meet up with Ralsei, go to card castle (Lancer is having a party), and get attacked by some dragon thing. After defeating the dragon, they learn that it was actually Jockington all along. Someone turned him into a dragon but he's fine now. Then everything goes to crap when people make Kris attack Ralsei but Ralsei just puts them to sleep. We wake up at Ralsei's castle and are vibin. Before Kris wakes up though, they learn about some weird Lightner and Darkner hybrids called the people of the dawn. But Jockington remembers he was with Catti and we are now going to find her. We fight Catti dragon and Kris, Jockington and Catti go home. We get there and it's back to sleep 4 Kris. They have a super wack dream and wake up again. But what? They're blue now. But only their cheeks. We learn that it's harmless and go back to sleep.

Day three wake up and oh no school time. We yeet off to school and are chilling when Seeker comes in again. But nobody cares so school just starts and everything is normal. But Seeker goes to the bathroom and you are weird so you make Kris follow him. In the halls there's no Seeker, but Kris is turning blue again. Somethings weird out the window so we look at that and suddenly Susie is here too. Kris gets sent back to class while Susie stays to look out the window. Outside there is a fox guy in a scary hood talking to a cloud with eyes. They mention something about distraction creatures and a lizard lady. We assume the creatures are the people turning into dragons, and the cloud with eyes is Seeker. They also named the spooky fox man 'Star fox'. Susie goes back to class and we wait for a chance to yeet to the dark world. That chance is now and there we go down the closet again. But in the dark world Kris is too blue and can't be in the dark world for a bit. So they leave and try to fix Kris cuz who wants to wait for them to fix themselves?? Father alvin fixes Kris and they dark world again. Everyone is bored so they go to visit the murder clown (Jevil). Nothing really happens until the end when you make Kris open the door even when the rest of the gang has decided not to. Good thing Susie has a brain! She dragged Kris back up the elevator. Then it's the making Kris stab the fun gang again, but Ralsei saves the day and makes them sleep. So back at Ralsei's castle, Kris wakes up and them and Susie are gonna leave when someone makes Kris do something and they get pissed. Soul yeeting commences and they lock you in a jar. Ralsei and Kris leave you all alone while they go interigate Seam. Of course you break out and chaos happens. But the two get back and eventually you make it back into Kris. We leave the dark world and run home. Time to sleep, but ooo weird dreams again. This time some people with way to much time on their hands decodes the weird stuff and now we can talk to some weird guy who just showed up. He says he's trying to help Kris, and we know he knows Star fox. The dream ends at a very convenient place.

Day four wake up school again. We are here.

[drunkonmilktea]

Kris and Susie with a friend that makes a harem with the Swatchlings

You didn’t expected things to turn like this. You thought after sealing the first dark fountain, you would only visit with Kris and Susie to check up on everyone and take a break.

But things seemed to spiral out of control when you met up with Noelle and Berdly at the library. Stopping the Queen on your own would be impossible, so you were stuck with joining her and working as her peon.

However, Queen didn’t really have a job for you. She seemed to be adamant on helping Noelle, and she couldn’t escape Berdly while she was out so you were just kinda stuck at the mansion.

Tasque Manager was nice and let you pet the Tasque which happily purred when you pet them. But you found yourself mingling with Swatch and the Swatchlings for most of your time.

They were polite, gentle, and were great listeners; their company was something you earned for with you being separated from your party members.

You never expected to form a harem of three, but it wasn’t something you were complaining about.

Mukuro — He was a Swatchling with a blue suit and wasn’t very talkative. He was a little distant but listened to your problems and sometimes followed you around. He can be rather shy.

Tanjiro — He had a red suit, was cheerful, and very talkative. He seemed to be new but was getting the hang of things. He gave you some of the pointers Swatch taught him. The guy is a treat to be around.

Rick — A Swatchling with a green suit that seemed to go straight to red every time he talked with you. He would call you many noncommittal insults, like fool or slug. Often scolds you for the smallest mistake and then quickly teaches you how to do it properly. He has his sweet moments.

Unfortunately, your shoelaces got untied and you fell right to the ground. Rick stomped towards you grimacing and you knew he had prepared a lecture for you already. Tanjiro and Murkuro stumbled upon the scene and went to your side for help.

With all three at your side, it was the worst time for your friends to arrive so they could witness the scene

𝙺𝚛𝚒𝚜♥︎

If Kris had a camera (and if the player allowed them to) they would probably take a picture just to embarrass you.

They’ll have that sly smirk that allows them to show their more playful and mischievous side.

Will they retell about what they saw to laugh about it with Susie later? Yep.

Kris would be content with you bring three identical Swatchlings in the town. However they were hoping you could have speeded up the recruitment process.

𝚂𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚎♥︎

For a moment, she thought you were being attacked, and had her Rude Buster ready to fire.

Susie honestly finds it weird that you somehow garnered three butler birds to follow you around. Isn’t that annoying, and a bit creepy? If you thought Susie would be able to connect the dots and realize she is becoming a harem protagonist, you are dead wrong.

She laughs about how bored you must have been without her and the rest of the team.

“Isn’t it a bit creepy how they follow you around? How old are they?”

[crookswithbooks]

More Than Just A Friend

Day Four - Kris is feeling uncertain doing the holidays without Asriel, and Susie discovers hidden feelings within herself. 

Susie shifted on the bed, shooting nervous glances over at Kris every once in a while, who sat reading a book, some comic or another, completely oblivious to Susie’s inner turmoil.

When Kris had asked her to stay for the holidays, as she had no one else to stay with, she had accepted immediately, feeling grateful and a little bashful that Kris thought of her at all. But now that she was here, in Kris’s room filled with things that made him Kris, she began to think about the long night (nights? They hadn’t quiet discussed how long this was lasting) ahead of them. Where would she sleep? Where would she get changed? Where would he get changed? Would they stay in the same bed? The questions swirled around in her head, making her more and more nervous as time went on, and Kris sitting there as if everything was completely normal was not helping.

Susie’s feelings for Kris were a recent development, one that had crept up on her quietly and quite unwillingly. She had noticed it one day when he had accidentally bumped her arm and her heart did backflips in her chest. She had tried to shove it down and keep her from accidentally ruining things with the only friend she had.

Though technically not only friend, if you counted Ralsei and Lancer; but that was still up for debate, whether they were even real or just figments of her imagination, all of which was all kinds of messed up if you though about it.

She had thought she had been dealing with these new feelings pretty well thus far, but being suddenly thrust into the same house as Kris for a week (weeks? Seriously she had no idea how long she was staying) was not doing any favors to her already raging crush.

“Sooo…” Susie started, after a minute of unbearable silence had passed. “What, uh, what have you been up to?”

Kris looked up at the sound of her voice, putting down his comic. “Nothing much. Hanging out with you, I guess.” He picked at a hole in his jeans that she hadn’t noticed before. “I got a letter from Asriel.”

“Yeah?” The subject of Kris’s brother was not one that came up often, and it was a rare moment when Kris himself brought him up. “What’d he have to say?”

Kris shrugged, ripping the whole wider. “Nothing much. Wished me a merry Christmas. He said things in college were going well, that he’d started to make a bunch of new friends.”

“That’s good,” Susie said, offering an encouraging smile, a rare gesture for her. “Right?”

Kris nodded, but his expression was vacant and closed-off, a look Susie was starting to get more and more familiar with. “Yeah, I guess.”

He picked back up his book and she realized with horror that the silence was going to begin again, but he paused, turning to look at her. “Hey, have you ever been kissed before?”

Her heart just about exploded in her chest at his words. “Uh… what?” she stuttered as he stared at her with innocent eyes. Two seconds ago they were talking about his brother and now he suddenly bombarded her with this? Where the hell was this going and how did they get here?

Kris scooched forward, which did not help. “A couple of the kids at school were talking about their first kisses and it got me thinking.” He crossed his legs, peering up at her. “So, have you?”

Susie could feel the burning on her cheeks and she only hoped that Kris didn’t notice. “Uh, yeah, of course I have.”

This was a lie. She had spent so long pushing people out of her life and cutting herself off from any potential friends, that she had never gotten close enough with someone for kissing to even be a possibility.

“I haven’t,” he confessed honestly, sitting back which she was both grateful of and disappointed by. “I’ve always wondered what it’s like, but I’ve never found someone who likes me in that way.”

Susie snorted at the irony of the sentence. “Really? You?”

Kris narrowed his eyes at that, frowning in confusion. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Susie was spared having to answer, as at that moment the door swung open and Toriel stuck her head in, smiling when she saw the two of them. The minute she opened the door the smell of fresh-baked gingerbread wafted through the room, and Susie could feel her mouth watering.

“I just wanted to tell you two that dinner’s ready.” The goat was staring between them with a knowing smile that made Susie flush, avoiding her gaze. The idea that even Kris’s mom knew about her feelings made her wonder how obvious she had been. Did Kris know? The thought made her stomach squirm uncomfortably, like there was a giant, nervous worm trapped inside.

“Make sure you wash your hands first, and for goodness sake’s Kris, clean up the mess on your floor.” Toriel gave him a stern look before disappearing back out into the hall, closing the door gently behind her.

Kris reluctantly slid off her bed, picking up the various comics and clothes spread about the room, spilling a pile of colored pencils into an emptied out pickle jar. Susie watched him do this, still jittery from the earlier question, not sure if she should bring it back up or let it go.

She still couldn’t believe that Kris hadn’t been kissed before. When they had travelled to the Darkworld he had been so kind to everyone, sometimes even being a little too nice, though she hadn’t known why it bothered her at the time. Surely he must have dated someone before.

“You coming?”

Kris was standing by the doorway staring expectantly at her, and she realized that he had finished while she was lost in thought.

“Yeah, I’m coming.” She shoved past him, ruffling his hair as she went.

“Susie,” he complained, ducking under her and glaring up at her. Despite his annoyance, she couldn’t help but find it cute when he tried to be angry. That was her thing, not his.

Dinner was spent in quiet silence as Susie shoveled food into her mouth, feeling a part of her soul die and go to heaven with every bite. It was a beautiful roast turkey with thick gravy drizzled generously over it, and combined with the mashed potatoes Susie might as well have been eating like a king. Kris picked quietly at his food, his mind seemingly elsewhere. Susie paused in her inhales, wondering if she should ask him about it.

Toriel beat her to it, however, turning her kind eyes towards Kris. “So honey, how have things been in school?”

Kris shrugged, the same noncommittal answer as earlier when Susie had asked him. “It’s been fine. Mr. Papyrus taught us how to make spaghetti in class today, for the third time in a row. We keep telling him we want to learn other stuff, but he insists that pasta is, quote, the greatest food item in the world and the most important foundation for learning to cook. I’m not so convinced. I’m not sure how many more ways we can learn to make pasta.”

Toriel smiled graciously, shaking her head. “Just the same as when we were kids. And you, Susie?”

Susie snapped her head up, surprised to be addressed. Gravy dripped down her chin and she wiped it off quickly. “What?”

“How are things going in school with you?” she repeated promptingly.

“Oh. Uh… nothing much, I guess. Haven’t been getting as much detention recently, as you probably already know.”

Toriel smiled wryly. “Yes, I’ve noticed, and I’ve been glad for it. I wouldn’t want Kris hanging out with someone who’s a bad influence.”

Susie nodded humbly, going back to her food, but Kris stood up from the table. Toriel and Susie both looked at him in surprise. “I’d like to be excused, please.” He whirled around, rushing out of the room suddenly.

Toriel stared after him in shock. “He barely even touched his food.”

Susie felt worry blossom in her chest. “I’ll go check on him, make sure he’s okay.”

Toriel smiled gratefully. “Would you? Thank you, honey.”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Susie said, blushing at the nickname and hurrying off.

She found Kris in the living room, curled up on the couch. He had a book in his hands but his eyes scanned the pages dully, not taking in the words. She sat down next to him, feeling awkward and bulky next to his tiny frame. The sheer amount of awkwardness she felt around Kris nowadays days was wholly unfair.

She coughed to announce her presence and Kris glanced up. “Oh. Hey.”

“Hey,” she agreed. “So, uh, what was all that about?”

“Oh, that.” Kris looked back down at his book, flipping a page. “That was nothing. I just wasn’t hungry.”

“Kris.” Susie raised an eyebrow.

“It’s nothing, really.”

“Kris.”

Kris sighed, leaning his head back. “Fine.” He crossed his arms, not looking at her. “I just don’t like the way mom talks about you sometimes. Like you’re some kind of miscreant that’s leading me off the path of good, whatever the hell that means.”

Susie raised an eyebrow at the curse, but inside she was touched that Kris cared about her that much. She nudged his arm, grinning. “Aw, dude.”

Kris blushed, shoving her away. “Shut up. It’s just… I care about you, you know? You’re my only friend, and I hate that mom disapproves.”

Although the sentiment touched her, the word friend echoed around in her head, reminding her that that’s all they were. Friends.

“I’m sure she doesn’t mean it like that,” Susie reassured him. “She just doesn’t want you to do poorly in school on my account. I think she was just teasing, anyway.” She frowned, raising an eyebrow. “That’s not all this is about, is it?”

“No,” Kris sighed, looking away. “It’s also my first Christmas without Asriel here. It’s just weird not having him around the house, singing Christmas songs and helping to decorate the tree. I guess I just got used to things being a certain way and now they’re…”

“Not?” Susie finished.

“Yeah,” Kris agreed.

They sat in silence for a moment, both of them unsure what to say next. Finally Kris leaned over, resting his head on her shoulder. Susie froze, her body tingling with sudden electricity. “Thanks for being here,” Kris said, fiddling with his hands. “I really do mean it. Thanks for coming and spending the holidays with us when you didn’t have to.”

Slowly Susie relaxed, her expression settling into a smile. “Of course, man. If anything I should be thanking you for giving me somewhere to be for the holidays.”

Kris nuzzled closer and Susie relaxed against him, glancing up at the twirling paper snowflakes above them. That was when she noticed it. Mistletoe, hanging right above the two of them.

Susie snapped her gaze down to Kris, who noticed the sudden tension in his friend. “What is it?” he asked, sitting up much to her disappointment.

She pointed up, hoping he wouldn’t notice the furious blush on her face. Kris saw the mistletoe and his eyes widened in understanding. “Oh. Mistletoe.”

Susie was already making up excuses, blustering and gesturing wildly. “We don’t have to or anything. It’s a stupid tradition anyway and I wouldn’t want to make things weird, so it’s totally cool if you don’t want to—”

Kris cut her off, leaning in and pressing his lips to hers. Her eyes widened as she felt his soft lips, softer than you would think a boy’s lips would be. He pulled away, staring at her, his eyes just as wide as hers as though he hadn’t quite realized what he was doing.

Susie jerked back instinctively and Kris’s face fell immediately. “I’m sorry,” he said, holding up his hands apologetically. “I didn’t mean to, it just kinda—”

The rest of his sentence broke off as she grabbed him, kissing him again. A part of her didn’t believe what she was doing, but another part of her felt completely clam, as if kissing your best friend wasn’t a weird thing to do. They stayed like that for a minute, their lips locked together, and when they finally pulled apart both of them were panting for breath.

“Um, excuse me?”

They jerked around to look at Toriel, staring with a smirk between the two teens. “I was just gonna ask if you wanted some cookies, but maybe I should leave you two alone…?”

“Mom!” Kris exclaimed, his face going bright red. Susie would have been embarrassed as well but the sight of his blushing face was so uncharacteristically adorable that she couldn’t take her eyes off it.

“Right, right, of course,” Toriel said, winking subtly as she left the room. “I’ll just leave you two alone then to... continue your business. 

“Mom,” Kris groaned again as she left, burying his face in Susie’s shoulder. Susie glanced down at him, grinning a little. He glared up at her, but there was no venom in his gaze. “Oh shut up you.”

“Gladly,” she responded, pulling him in for another kiss.

Maybe the holidays weren’t going to be so bad after all…

[krixwell-liveblogs]

Blind reactions to Deltarune chapter 1

Alright, so last night, I played through Deltarune chapter 1.

For those not in the know, this is a free teaser for the sequel to Undertale, which takes around 3-5 hours to complete. It’s meant for those who have “finished Undertale”, so if you haven’t either finished Undertale or, like me, watched enough playthroughs of the game that you’ve practically finished it by proxy, you should probably skip the rest of this post. Same goes if you haven’t played Deltarune yourself. Go do that.

Liveblogging Worm isn’t my first time sharing my reactions to things as I went along. It kinda comes naturally for me to do that. So a few minutes into Deltarune (in the classroom scene), I decided to share some thoughts I’d had up until that point. But the problem was, I couldn’t go into the #deltarune_spoilers channel on Loreweaver’s server to talk about it, or I’d get spoiled myself. So, I opened a NotePad document and began typing my thoughts there for later sharing. And then I continued doing that until I finished the game.

And hey, I have a liveblog, why not use it for this too? So, below the readmore, if you’re interested, here are my thoughts on Deltarune.

Warning: It’s long. Also, spoilers for Deltarune (duh), Undertale, Kingdom Hearts II and vaguely Homestuck, Wander Over Yonder and Over the Garden Wall.

It's kind of hilarious how the game goes "nah, you don't get to decide who you are", and then gives the character a name that works as a shortened version of my legal name.

Kris looks like an older Frisk, but doesn't share the name. Are they separate? But why would Toriel be raising them then?

The narration is far less filled with FUN than the narration in Undertale, giving Kris a depressing feel. The shaded eyes and the mirror narration "It's only you." (in contrast to Undertale's) "It's you!" reinforce this. I wonder if it has to do with Chara's presence in Undertale and the narrator!Chara theory.

Kris has a brother...?

Asriel's around? Well, then. Alternate universe alarm bells are ringing.

We could be following Chara, but the world seems to have monsters and humans living together, Toriel isn't a queen, and many characters in and after the driving cutscene shouldn't have been born yet when Chara was around.

Alphys as a school teacher is fun. I immediately went to her when she asked me to pick a partner, just to see what she'd say - I love that she's watching anime in class.

Decided to go for Monster Kid first, in case I couldn't check out everyone before making my choice. But apparently he's partnered already, so I guess there is no choice. I'm guessing the snake is the one who hasn't got a partner yet.

...Snowy, you're incorrigible.

Wait, so Temmie is partnered with an egg. That leaves an even number of other candidates. So I guess we're not going to find anyone to partner with. I suppose that fits the tone we're going for with the narration.

Blue bird guy is a jerk.

His name is Berdly? ...sure.

I like the reindeer.

Jockington. These names! And apparently the cat is named Catti. Not to be confused with Catty, whom I'm pretty sure I saw in the driving cutscene. Or did I only see her parents? I definitely saw Bratty, at least, so Catty shouldn't be in school. And the personalities don't match.

That's an origin story, alright. I suppose that means we've already got an implied ouroboros in this game, since Jockington was a hula hoop rather than a jumping rope.

Noelle is a good name for the reindeer. I'm not surprised to see Berdly objecting to the trio idea.

...hello there, important character. Susie?

So I suppose we're teaming up with the intimidating goth.

Poor Alphys is terrified of Susie. Susie honestly seems kind of chill at first glance, but there's gotta be a reason why she intimidates Alphys especially much.

Okay, who's eating chalk? I noticed the green chalk was missing from Kris' house, and now the school's chalk is gone for the third time. Did someone let a Homestuck character or two loose in this world?

So we're babysitting Susie on the chalk quest.

The classmates don't seem confident in Kris' survival. Apparently Susie has a reputation for beating people up.

"You SUZ, you LOSE!" Okay, Snowy, I'll give you that one. :p

What did Susie just do? Eat something? She doesn't seem to want me to have seen it.

Yeah, Susie doesn't seem so bad. So, secret, you say?

...bad timing to add that, huh. Also, quiet people piss you off? Hypocrite.

OH! That was the chalk! I was kidding when I said someone was eating it, but of course, this is Toby Fox. Which this electric guitar music is also reminding me of.

Whoops. Looks like she's gone full "well, why not make this worse so the punishment is worth it" mode.

"I would rather not lose my face, thank you very much."

All bark and no face-bite?

"If you hadn't gotten it by now, your choices don't matter." That's definitely meant in a meta sense. It's starting to become a theme. I suppose Deltarune isn't particularly branching, unless this changing is going to be a point.

Is "blurry yellow object" any way to talk about your teacher, Kris?

I like Susie's reactions to you trying to go the wrong way.

I don't think this is supposed to happen when you open a closet.

This is not a closet anymore, Susie.

"kind of big" YA THINK

Yeah, the closet's definitely broken, in some fashion. So where is this taking us? Narnia? The world of Undertale?

Aaand the door's closed.

And here goes the floor. Time to let gravity do its thing?

Can't have an Undertale game without falling into another world, eh? So, where's Susie? And is it just me or did Kris just get a new wardrobe? Yeah, that's definitely some kind of armor.

Oh hey, save point. I wonder if we're getting filled with anything. Dread, maybe. Everything's blue, even the save point...

"At times you see it flickering. The light only you can see. By second nature, you reach out and..." So Kris, whether they're Frisk or not, is familiar with the save points, and knows that others can't see them. Interesting.

Hang on, did I just overwrite a Kris save with a Krixwell save? I *knew* it wouldn't completely discard those answers from the start. (That's why I answered the same things when I restarted to get my headphones working.)

Hmm. Eyeballs on stalks that start swinging when you walk past them? I like the sounds they make.

Something just moved off-screen in the top right. Also, there's something flowing out of holes here. Oil?

Huh. An eye symbol. Reminds me of Madoka Magica.

Another one, in case you missed the first one... Am I supposed to go down this water(?)fall?

Yep. No return. Not that there's anything to return to.

Sleeping gray oozes...

Is this what's left of the underground after the pacifist ending? Except that doesn't explain the relation between Frisk, Asriel and Kris. I suppose it's possible that Frisk is the brother and took on the name Asriel as a tribute, but that honestly just seems rude. Besides, Toby would catch all sorts of flak if he were to gender Frisk now.

Pfft, those eyes and the oil hole look like a silly face. So, this *looks like* the first real choice of the story. Not that "real choice" necessarily means much - it's not like Undertale actually branched much. Most proper choices in Undertale were fake, still leading to the same outcome.

Hmm. If only one of these leads onward to the rest of the story, it's probably the silly face route. So I should probably go downwards if I want to not miss anything.

Yep. Dead end, with something shining in the oil hole.

...a Glowshard. Alright, let's see what its info says.

Woah, new menu! Earlier, in the house, I discovered that the menu was the same as in Undertale, but now that I'm in the closet, there's a new interface. Interesting.

The Glowshard's use is unknown. Alright.

Cell phone's not working and makes beautiful sounds to show that.

Apparently along with the armor, Kris wound up with a "wood blade". I wonder if that's actually the pencil they had earlier. I say this while sitting here with a shortsword-sized pencil next to me.

"Body contains a human SOUL." That's ominous. The fact that the game is specifying that makes it sound like it might change.

While Kris is wearing something that looks like armor, it doesn't show up on the equip screen as such.

They seem to have lost their 2 money.

Silly face path time!

Should I be concerned about that eyeball-stalk having a red outline? I probably should.

Interesting. Going into "combat" against the hostile stalks gave more things outlines, and the SOUL became visible. I wonder if getting hit would send me into a mini dodging game like when Undyne chases you in Undertale.

I should probably note that while I've watched many playthroughs of Undertale, I've never actually played it, apart from a browser version of the Sans fight. So if this contains bullet hells scaled after the end of Undertale at the very start, I'm kind of screwed.

"A power shines within you, breaking through the darkness." Determination? Hope? No, hope is HP. I suppose it could just be the ability to save, which is a side effect of determination. Even if Kris hasn't exactly seemed like the determined type so far.

Oh, right, restored HP. Maybe that was hope after all.

"Eye Puzzle". Alright, let's puzzle this out.

Without having read the sign, just looking at the iconography, I'm guessing the dots mean which eyes are affected by each light, and you have to close all of them to proceed.

"In this land, only eyes blinded by darkness can see the way..." Yeah, definitely sounds like I need to close them.

Rightmost eye and middle eye. Easy as p-eye. YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN MAKE BAD PUNS SNOWY

I just saw the black thing again, at the right edge, moving real fast. Looked almost like an Enderman from Minecraft at a glance.

There it is again. I'm about to catch up with it, aren't I. Did it come down the other waterfall?

Oh cod, did I just kill one of the sleeping oozes?

Oh! It's Susie! Hi.

How did Kris get you into this? You're the one who ate the chalk so we had to get more, you're the one who pushed on into the closet.

Susie's outfit looks like she fell out of Kingdom Hearts. Maybe that's what's going on. Maybe Kris is Frisk's nobody, who's been living in a fake world.

Ooh, someone waving, you say?

Apparently they've got hostility in spades.

This looks like a ghost town. Like, literally, a town for ghosts, with the curved houses and all.

Well, at least it's a ghost town in the figurative sense. That castle is intriguing. Not to mention the geyser.

"Why the hell is there a castle inside a supply closet?" Ahaha

"Welcome, heroes...!" is off-center and it's bugging me.

A masked stranger introducing himself as the Prince of this Kingdom. In yellow. I don't trust this at all. Flowey, is that you?

The Kingdom of Darkness. Alright. Is this connected to the Underground in any way?

The stranger knows our names and called us heroes. He's been expecting us.

Heroes of Light? I don't know, I don't think I'd peg either of them as having that aspect.

Foretold by time and space... look, the Homestuck jokes write themselves and I think Toby Fox knows that.

Hopes and dreams, light and dark, balance of the world being threatened... fairly basic plot beats in and of themselves. Fair enough. Three heroes, including the Prince, supposed to restore the balance... The thing is, I still don't trust the Prince to be telling the truth, or at least, the full truth, and I think a lot of the plot is left in the inaccuracies. I'm watching you, Prince.

"Delta warriors" sounds like something you'll try to make a thing but not really succeed at making a thing.

"Please, won't you accept this destiny?" "Uhh... Nah." Ahaha, I love it.

The Prince seems genuinely distraught at Susie's refusal.

Pfffft, bye Prince! Oh my cod, is that you, Sans?

Okay, no, this isn't Sans. And he sounds like he's an antagonist, talking about the heroes "running away". He mentions his dad, whom I'm guessing is the supposed main antagonist for now.

"I'm... the bad guy." I'm not hearing an elaborate and catchy song to explain that, so your point is invalid.

"We both know you'll go EAST!" Yeah, because there's no other exit that we didn't come from.

Lancer, huh. As if the Son of the Month thing didn't make it clear that you're not the main antagonist. So, hey, depending on the exact role of his dad, would Lancer perhaps also count as "a Prince from the Dark" for the prophecy?

Alright, new fighting UI. This ought to be interesting. It looks kind of early-Final-Fantasy-esque?

(Act -> Check) Ohh, Lancer was the spade guy. Pfft, he's just got a burning bike, not a motorcycle.

So Susie's also found herself with a new weapon.

He claims his bike's running out of fuel, but the check established it doesn't actually run on fuel...

So what's the real reason he's forfeiting-- oh, dinnertime. Fair enough. Enjoy!

Ralsei. I think I've seen fanart of you. I like how you have a heart on your shirt - a human heart - to contrast with Lancer's spade. I don't trust it, but I like it.

So why don't you have any subjects, Ralsei? Why have you had to wait alone your whole life?

"Ralsei, the lonely prince, is now your ally." Hey... Ralsei is an anagram of Asriel...

"The power of fluffy boys shines through you." Ahahaha

Ooh, training dummy. White outline, which I suppose indicates you can fight it but it's not hostile like the ones with red outlines.

This big door looks familiar.

Ralsei explicitly asks me to do a pacifist run. Interesting.

These red trees look weird.

I like how it gave me a little thing telling me the name of the track that was starting to play. The Field of Hopes and Dreams, huh? It's pretty sweet, too. Meanwhile, Lancer left a message about upcoming enemies. Should be fun.

"If you're reading this, I guess you're dead." I think you got that backwards, dude.

Hi there, Lancer. I thought it was dinnertime?

Hah, the group term for the diamond-based Rudinns is "necklace". Nice.

So if you do the thing that lets you spare an enemy, you can also have your partner spare the enemy on the same turn. Good to know.

RIP Topchef's cake.

Maze of Death? Sounds pleasant.

I see Susie's not doing a pacifist run. Hey, what if she's the true main antagonist by the end of all this?

Pfft, poor Lancer has no sense of direction, apparently.

Hehe, the White Ribbon enhances Kris's cuteness. I wonder if that has mechanical consequences.

Apparently only Kris can seal the dark fountain, and Susie is stuck with us.

Oh my cod the fanfare gag is hilarious

Whoops. Susie killed the C.Round because I took the time to *Check it. Does that mean I'm no longer on a pacifist route?

Violet tormentor. Good title.

"The power of mean girls shines within you." Oh my cod, Kris, you can't just ask people why they're violet!

*haggles the tutorial seller down to 1 dark dollar, buys, and then just turns around* Nah.

This shop guy looks like someone mixed together the Beldam, Mad-Eye Moody, an old cat and the goggles from Splinter Cell.

Seam, pronounced "Shawm"? Not a bad name for someone who looks to be part doll.

Lightners, Darkners... Apparently the Lightners were godlike. Are the Lightners the monsters, and the Darkners their "shadows"? Ralsei being the shadow of Asriel?

The Darkners were "locked away and left behind". Sounds familiar.

King seeking revenge...

Historically, there were four kings, in the "Card Castle". No points for guessing how the kings were themed, or who Lancer's dad is. Or who Ralsei's dad was, for that matter.

So does that make Lancer the Jack of Spades?

A strange knight, description in red, appeared and locked three of the kings away. Again, no points for guessing which one wasn't locked away. So does this knight work for the King of Spades, or vice versa? Are there Aces in all of this?

Oh, alright, so the King of Spades put the Knight and his son, Lancer, into power. That suggests the King works for the Knight rather than vice versa. Possibly not willingly.

"Haven't seen this much chaos since... Ha ha ha... Well, you don't need to know about THAT." Since what? Since just before the Lightners left for the surface? Since some plant absorbed nearly every Lightner's soul for a while?

Bought the Amber Card and a couple more Dark Candies.

Alright, let's go see what bullshit the desperate tutorial salesman has for us.

Ah, yes, because this group of suspicious individuals don't look ready to ambush us.

ROUXLS KAARD. The surname is obviously a reference to cards, but everything else about this name screams "anagram". DARK SOUL ARX? AR DARXOULS? SOUR KLAXARD?

I love how there are tutorial guys for Ralsei and Susie, and the way they barely know what they're talking about. Is the last one for Kris? ...yep.

Oh, nice, Kris Master and Ralsei point out the thing I found out earlier about sparing on the same turn.

So there are two paths that both seem to keep going. One with a puzzle, and one with an encounter. I saw the puzzle and went back to the encounter... Hm. Let's try the puzzle too.

Ahh, it's something you're not meant to be able to do unless you've been to a later section of the game. So either you'll be able to go back here later, or you're supposed to use meta knowledge from a previous playthrough. Then again, I kind of suspect what the order is anyway. If I'm right, I won't go on through, because I'm not supposed to see this yet, but I want to try it out.

Alright, looks like it's not the standard order of the suits. Fair enough, that'd be too easy. Even if the input is a puzzle in itself.

I have to do the encounter again?

Well, I made a few mistakes this time, so Susie killed one of the Rudinns.

"When you step into the light, you'll return to where you were before." I don't think it's talking about home. Avoid the glowing tiles, got it.

Hm. Easier said than done. Right, I should probably run.

Can I switch to the lane that's fading before the light fades in on the lane I'm on? ...yes! Puzzle solved.

Apparently the effect of the light only applies to Kris.

Is that a bucket, Lancer? Ew.

Oh great, it's literally to put bodily fluids in. Toby knows exactly what he's doing here.

Oh cod, he's asking for an official name. Ralsei, don't you dare say Delta Warriors.

"Blue person"... how did I not notice that Kris is still blue?

Alright, so I get descriptions of the papers. Definitely not going for the neat paper, which is obviously Ralsei. So my choices are to let Susie name the team, or to let Lancer name it. Great.

Let's see what Susie's got.

Ahaha, he's not allowed to say it. Classy, Susie.

THE $!$! SQUAD

Cool, I'm down with that. Better than Delta Warriors. Well, not really, but still.

Tier-TWO swear words. What's tier one? Darn, heck, etc?

Collective dad? Does he think we're siblings?

No, Ralsei, we can not consider a different name.

(Lancer to Ralsei) "Yeah! How about I be in the Squad and YOU be the bad guy?" That's an interesting idea you've got there, Lancer.

I kinda trust Ralsei a bit more at this point, because he seems a lot like the non-evil iteration of Asriel, but I'm still not entirely sure. That could easily be a front.

"The power of The $!?  Squad shines within you." Ahahaha

So the Great Board is inhabited by chess people. I suppose maybe the Knight is from there? Or maybe that's just what Toby wants me to think. Now where have I heard a story about chess pieces and cards and a takeover from within before...

So what's this extremely dangerous thing? A card shredder?

Oh, a C.Round. Maybe we can keep Susie from killing this one.

Ah, fuck, it got promoted. Nice legs.

Hah, K.Round. As in King Round. Not sure what the C stood for.

That was a fun little fight. And now it seems it's time to explain to Susie that violence isn't always the best option.

Ahh, great. Switching sides because she's bad at heroing. Honestly, though, it really does suit her better.

Alright, now I'm in a forest, and there's a door with colorful flames. Interesting.

The door is for fast travel. Got it.

"We managed to fix this thingamajig up for you." Oh yeah, that's right, I found an empty doorframe earlier.

Oh jeez, they've practiced an alternating dia-monologue.

"Dark Jack Lancer"? Guess I was right about his card, then.

Ahaha, the Dark $!?  Squad! And it's Lancer who says it, too. Susie, you're a bad influence.

So there's a Rudinn asking me to help with a gift for a friend named Clover (I think I have an idea which suit she's aligned to). Sports, cute boys and trees? Well, I've got one of those things.

Salsa stump. Well, at least they're getting along.

I got a scarf that's apparently sharp enough to use as a weapon. Nice.

Oh hey, a puzzle based on the same input method as the post-game puzzle from before. I know how this works, so this shouldn't be too hard, what with the password being stated.

...yeah, that only requires clubs and a heart, that's super easy.

I like Bloxer.

Alright, so there's a dead end down here with two seemingly unreachable buttons in sight. Looks like a path-building puzzle.

There's a symbol puzzle meant to teach you how to mix the lower and higher suits. I managed to find the answer in two tries, before talking to any of the hint... beings.

...who were apparently one three-headed being. I may have just triggered a fight by not talking to them when I came back into the room after checking whether the answer was the same to the symbol puzzle I just passed in the room with Bloxer.

Oh! This is Clover. Hey, Clover, would you like a gift? I've got a cute boy here.

Let's talk about boys.

"Herselves". Cute.

Alright, bake sale time. We've got diamonds, hearts, and spades (run by The Dark $!?  Squad), but no clubs. Why not?

The Choco Diamond and the Hearts Donut each heal ??hp. The Choco Diamond sounds like it'll work better if given to certain characters. Maybe it heals more if the target is diamonds-aligned. Same going for the Hearts Donut on hearts-aligned characters. I should buy another Hearts Donut and test that on Kris and Ralsei.

Sure, I'll donate to the noble cause of kicking my ass too.

Did they just... do that so they could buy a Hearts Donut?

So to the west we have another fast travel door, and to the north there's... a martial arts dojo?

Oh, the smith! I just saw in the inventory that the Broken Cake is a key item that needs to be fixed by a master blacksmith. Guess it's time to do that.

Ahahaha the squeaky hammer sounds! And the cake was "fixed beyond recognition". I love this.

A topcake... can I wear it like a top hat? Is it armor?

Ah, no, but it is a 160 hp full party heal, single use. Good to keep in store, just like the butterscotch-cinnamon pie.

"(This cardboard stand is actually just a fake cardboard stand of a cardboard stand.)" Pfft. Glad we got that cleared up.

Hello, hungry hungry caterpillar.

Nice disguise, Lancer.

Oh, please tell me I get a choice of "the most evil thing I can imagine" here.

Oh fuck, this is even better.

Look, I know the duck face is "garbage", but I can't just NOT pick that one.

Tank body sounds good.

I'm torn between the sneaker shoes and the attractive wheels... I think I'll go with the sneakers. Wheels just make too much sense for the tank body.

Lancer: "Are you sure you're not evil?" Ralsei: "Er, no, I suppose we just have a knack for it." ...

Damn. The bird thing killed me and now I have to make my beautiful thrashing machine all over again.

"The darker it gets, the more you can see." That's familiar. Like the eye puzzle early on. What does it mean, thematically? That you have to see the darkness to truly understand the world?

I was right about the Hearts Donut. It heals Kris by 20 hp, but Ralsei by 50.

Alright, so a Rudinn just confirmed that Susie is considered a Lightner. Does that extend to Kris too?

The save point here names the room as "Before Maze". Way to spoil it, dude.

These villains are so ridiculously ineffectual. But how long is the Papyrus section of this game going to last? I didn't buy for a second that Lancer was even close to being the main antagonist, and now we've long since established the bigger threats (the King and the Knight).

Well, the maze was something. Ooh, machine time!

Aw, I didn't get to fight it. Fair enough.

Susie says our design sucked, so does that mean they've come up with another one?

Ralsei points out that Susie needs him and Kris to return home, but I don't think she WANTS to go home anymore.

Alright, defeat means friendship, huh? Bring it on.

Hah, trying to convince them not to fight is working on Lancer.

Ahahaha, Lancer blocked the pacification with his bike and the bike got tired.

Lancer, join OUR team! That way you can be a team with Susie even though she's joining back up with us! And then when Ralsei turns out to be evil, you can take his place as Prince from the Dark.

Pfft, poor Ralsei being tasked with making the track jackets.

Oh cod, no thanks, put those eyes back where they came from, Lancer, or so help me.

Lancer's Stool Forme is very useful.

Susie is SO into Lancer at this point.

I kinda like and kinda hate how Lancer just floats outside the path instead of following the rest of the party Earthbound-style.

It does seem like Kris is counted as a Lightner. I'm not sure how to feel about the whole "Darkners can't feel fulfilled unless they're helping Lightners" thing, though.

So this is very much the calm before the storm, where our protagonists are happy and content with being friends. What's going to shake this up?

Oh hey, it's Card Castle. Neat.

Lancer doesn't want us fighting people inside the castle. Is it for our sake, or for the sake of the people in there?

See ya, Lancer.

Well then. We've been captured.

So where's Susie?

Ate some moss and “mossed out” my HP. Nice. :P

Took me some time to realize that I had to continue talking to Ralsei to proceed.

Pfft. Classy, Susie.

I like the thing about thinking about what Susie's doing now to segue into a section where we semi-control her.

...alright, where we're tricked into thinking we can control her.

Especially the purple one, eh? Is that because she's especially dangerous, or because you care especially about her?

"It's fine, actually." Is it, Susie? "You don't have to say anything." This is becoming a trend for you. Making your conclusions and telling people not to bother saying things.

Lancer, you may want to explain yourself quickly, regardless of Susie's demands that you shut up. Your face is in danger.

He's attacking, but he's doing the Toriel thing where the attacks fan out. I wonder if there's a path in this game where you cause Lancer to accidentally kill Susie rather than let Susie kill Lancer. If things are going to get to that point.

These spades are better at dodging the heart than Toriel's flames were.

He's visibly trembling more with each attack.

Good, Susie. Good. Now put down the axe and listen to Lancer.

What, a lengthy elevator scene with no proper elevator music?

Susie is the best character in this thing, so far.

Card Castle, first floor. Time to pay attention to the order of the suits' rooms, I think.

"You are unbanned from free ham sandwich day" ahahaha

IT WORKED.

Alright, so diamonds first.

Club Sandwich, can be divided into three to heal the entire team. Cute.

So there's a disembodied voice that has trapped us in a room. "Thoust FOOLS!"

Oh hey, it's Rouxls Kaard, "thou're greatest adversary". Clearly also an adversary of grammar.

Shit, that puzzle looks really fucking hard, man.

So does the Royal Flush (bathroom) count as the spades room for the sake of the post-game puzzle?

Well, the third floor is clearly the Hearts floor, since there are Hathy here.

I just told Susie to flirt and it's beautiful.

Oh cod, it's so awkward that there's no need to even spare.

Well, that was definitely the Hearts room. Diamond, maybe Spades, then Hearts.

Clubs door, and now another room like the one we met Rouxls in. Time for another "puzzle"?

Hah! It's not even a different super easy puzzle, it's just a longer version of the earlier one!

I like the Clubs room.

Alright, there's the Spades room, so the Royal Flush doesn't count. Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, Spades.

Oh my cod, Rouxls is a shopkeeper.

"decidedesteth"

Oh for the love of cod. He's got a K.Round too. :P

Ralsei thinks the crown looks different... is it a Q.Round?

Ahh. Rouxls is controlling it using the crown. Or so he claims.

Hah, tossing Ralsei at it. I like this plan.

Throne room. Time to meet the king?

What happened here? Lancer said he was going ahead to talk to the king. Did they end up fighting?

Hi, Lancer.

Wait, Lancer's dad was the Knight, not the King. Right? Or are the Knight and the King the same thing at this point, since the fourth king put the Knight in charge? Right, that's how it worked. So we're now seeing the talk Lancer was going to do.

Pfft. I like how the Knight/King is like "Oh, Lancer..."

What was that about "They care not for you", Mr. "I'll drop my son off the edge to let him splatter"?

I did not get a choice in whether to kneel or not. The characters made that choice on their own.

OOH, NICE BACKSTAB!

Ah, see, this is a guy I can believe when he claims to be the bad guy. Even if I'm still not fully sold on the idea that he's necessarily the final boss.

"Lightbringer"? "Your very existence goes against our own"? Interesting...

By the Knight's will... so this ISN'T the Knight?

Is Ralsei the Knight?

"You, that left us in the shadows, stripped of meaning..." Yeah, I think I was onto something earlier.

Ralsei probably isn't the Knight. His interactions with the King wouldn't make much sense that way.

The King seems to be indicating that he's worshipping the Knight instead of the Lightners.

The Knight made the second fountain? Maybe even the first?

The shadows of the fountains are creating a new world... for the Darkners...

I'm taking it that this is a survival fight, like Sans. I just need to let this guy exposit for a while.

Ahh, so it's not so much that it's making a literal new world as that it's darkening the existing world. An apocalypse which he believes to be in favor of the Darkners.

"Enough talk"? Was I wrong?

The King seems to be getting less confident.

And he ended the battle.

His... cape just flew away?

So he's asking for a peaceful solution now. Alright, sure.

I don't like the sound effects here. They sound too much like someone's about to get killed. Maybe the cape flew off to tell the Knight about the King's failure/betrayal?

Honestly, the King just seems to be dying without anyone actually hurting him.

Nice, yes, good work healing him, Ralsei. Let's just hope he wasn't faking it just to get that heal.

...yep.

"You can't even say?" Nice echo of what Susie said at the start.

"Let me tell you a secret." We're echoing the whole scene, huh? But somehow, I don't think "All bark and no face-bite" applies to the King.

Susie FTW.

"But THEY might." Who's "they"? Kris? And maybe Ralsei? Or are we bringing in other characters?

*crazy glue voice* get him

"Now I'M the dad!!!" Uh, Lancer, I don't think that's how it works.

And now we're getting Ralsei contemplating whether kindness is always the solution after all, since his healing the king almost fucked everything. Nice. Character growth all around.

Wait, Ralsei, why are you staying behind? I thought you claimed we needed you too to stop the fountain?

Nice try, Susie. I know you want to talk to Lancer.

See? Lancer sees right through you.

Hiya, Asriel! What's up?

Not gonna explain that, huh?

So, uh, did Kris's soul just leave their body to fuse with the fountain?

Aaand we're in the supply closet. Alright.

Wait, no, this is an unused classroom.

...menu's back to the Undertale style.

Let's try calling home.

Alright, so some time has passed. It's after school. Don't think going to tell Alphys you couldn't find the chalk is going to work, Susie.

Toriel is sweet. Though it's a little sad that the word "friend" makes her give Kris a free pass, because it implies she's surprised that they've gained one.

Playing cards and chess... Legos... Fuck, this is lending some serious credence to the dream idea, much in the same way a lot of things in Over The Garden Wall reflect what's seen in episode 9. But like there, I'd say this was probably a certain degree of real.

The room we ended up in is to the right of the supply closet.

Sure, go back there tomorrow... if you can.

The supply closet is locked now.

Hey, I found Asriel's/Frisk's/the brother's locker. And Kris's.

Ooh, Toriel's classroom!

The clock has been updated to 10 PM in Toriel's classroom, but in Alphys', it still says 2 PM.

I can visit the Librarby, neat.

So is the game over now, or will we be seeing the return to the Dark Kingdom?

Hah, found Toby. I'm aware that this is only supposed to be a teaser, so I guess it'll deliver on the promise that you'll be able to go into the computer lab in the full game.

Books written by Undertale characters, nice.

UNDYNE

Wait, Asgore's kid? Kris is Asgore's kid?? Or, wait, wasn't it Undyne who couldn't tell Asgore and Toriel apart? No, that was Papyrus. So this raises the whole alternate universe question again. Who the fuck is Kris?

Undyne claims not to know who Alphys is.

...who's the mayor?

I found a door to a bunker or something that makes spooky sounds. This feels like plot.

Gerson's dead, among a couple others who may or may not be characters we know.

At least Gerson being dead rules out this happening before Undertale, in the same timeline.

Burgerpants!

So Azzy's in college.

"Things happened" in Kris's family before Asriel left. Asgore and Toriel separating?

SANS

Sans is new in town, and has never met Kris. Kris, say hello to your future stepfather.

And he wants Kris to hang out with Papyrus. I'm all for this.

(I'm also all for finding a save point so I can go to bed.)

Asgore x Alphys???

So Alphys watches a Simpsons knockoff and has an imaginary cat named MewMew. The alternate universe theory intensifies.

Apparently Asgore runs a flower shop.

Aww, that hug was adorable.

Containers containing flowers instead of souls...

Time for bed.

Umm. Kris. You, uh. Kinda need that soul.

So, uh, the Chara option is still available...

Well then! That was Deltarune chapter 1. I'm gonna write a wrap-up tomorrow, because it's way too late now and I need to go to bed in real life. Good night!

...Alright, hello again! It's been about 17.5 hours since I finished Deltarune chapter 1, and in that time, I've been thinking a bit. I think I've come up with a decent theory about what's going on with the world of the Lightners in relation to Undertale:

I don't think this is post-pacifist. I think this is post-genocide.

"Oh, but many of the characters you kill on the genocide route are alive, and monsters seem to live on the surface!"

Here's the thing: At the end of the genocide route, you meet Chara, who talks about wanting to "erase this pointless world and move on to the next". The choice they give you is fake, both options end in you, the player, being killed, ending the game. What I'm suggesting is that Chara did just that: Erased the world and moved on to the next. That "next" world is the world of Deltarune.

Chara isn't entirely physical, so they need a vessel, like Frisk was in Undertale. That's why they're taking control of Kris, and throwing out Kris's soul (hey, look who managed to guess that their soul would leave their body, even if I didn't guess how). I'm not sure whether Chara was already partially possessing Kris at the beginning and just decided it was time to get rid of that annoying soul right at the end. The soul being the culmination of one's being and the center of emotion... Identity and emotion seemed to be fairly low in Kris from the start - maybe Chara had to weaken the soul before they could toss it out and take proper control?

There's also the player to deal with, though. Chara knows we're here - you can tell from the way they glance at the fourth wall after taking control - so I wonder if they'll let us continue controlling their vessel, Kris. Then again, in Undertale, Chara seemed to consider that a good thing, but what if the player continues to steer Kris towards pacifism?

Meanwhile, the world of the Darkners is still largely a mystery. They seem to be a remnant of the Underground's essence in some way, but who knows if monsters ever lived underground in this world?

A lot about the Dark Kingdom adventure in chapter 1 mirrors Undertale. In fact it very much feels like discount Undertale. (Which I suppose is fair considering this game does in fact cost 100% less than Undertale.) I wonder if any of it was Chara's work, whether Kris knew it or not?

This chapter of the game is deceptively simple, but there really is a lot to think about here.

All in all... The game wasn't quite as good as Undertale, though it had its share of funny and/or heartfelt moments, and it did good stuff with the characters of Susie and Lancer. I like the introduction of a party system due to its effect on character dynamics, and the battle graphics were a huge step up.

I suppose I shouldn't expect Deltarune chapter 1 to hold up to the whole of Undertale. The full version has a hell of a lot to live up to, but I'm optimistic about it. I think it can at least get close. And with Chara getting visibly involved, I have a feeling things are only going to get more interesting from here.

In conclusion: Fuck Berdly.