#btw I also love goopster

[finderseeker]

@leucoratia Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about him even more

First off, I’m glad this solution seems to be such a hit!! I just couldn’t reconcile the character WD was becoming/had become with what we know of Gaster. So this works well!!! (Despite the questions it raises meta-wise.)

*Rubs my hands together evilly* Okay SO! WD and his relationship with Grandpa here. I haven’t completely decided on anything just yet but I do have some Ideas. Some Notions if you will.

I think there’s pressure to get into the field from family, yes. But I don’t think it was necessarily negative pressure, if that makes sense. Like, I’m not sure it was the kind of thing where they would have been disapproving or upset if he chose some other career, per se. More that they didn’t even consider the possibility that he would choose anything else. Sans is a physicist, Papyrus is an engineer/mechanic/something like that, and they’re both very smart, but WD, oh, he’s the prodigy. He’s the golden child, even for all his quirks and rarities. An anxious disposition and weirdly long tail and unusual font and cracked lip aside, he’s got so much going for him!

I think that, likely, in their efforts to ensure that he didn’t feel any different than anyone else regarding disposition and physical traits/limitations, and that he knew he was ✨special✨ because he’s so smart, his parents probably made it all worse, actually. Not acknowledging that he was, in fact, different and unusual only made him feel more invisible. Which of course made him feel bad, because he was the main focus of his family’s attention. (‘How can I be unsatisfied with when I get so much attention compared to my brothers? Am I just spoiled?’)

He felt he had no time to goof around, no time to play, because he ought to be studying and learning more. ‘Why, with a mind like that, he surely takes after his grandfather in more than just font! Perhaps he will be the next Royal Scientist!’ said everyone. Which, y’know, gets to you as a kid.

While it was only ever meant to be encouraging, the pressure to live up to that was overwhelming. It’s not just that he’s named after his grandfather, it's not just an abstract sentiment for skeletons. He’s got his font. Which, apparently, suggests some other similarities. He’s always The Serious One among his brothers because they’re always goofing off (from his POV anyway) when they should be working! How can they be so lackadaisical? The fate of all monsters rests on them helping their grandfather; how can they be so relaxed just because they aren’t on the clock? Is their pay the only thing that matters to them!? They should be endeavoring to find solutions at all times!

So. Yeah. His mindset is very much shaped by the idea that it’s his responsibility to use his abilities to help others. It’s not as simple as letting his family down. What he wants has never been a factor in the equation, and so he doesn’t linger on it. The way he exists has already dictated his life course. It’s as simple as that. It’s not out of love for others— whether his family specifically or monsterkind at large— but rather out of obligation and responsibility. He does not feel a particularly strong affection towards monsters in general. (The opposite, actually.) He has never seen the surface, and frankly, with as dangerous as humans are, he doesn’t entirely understand why or agree with the idea that getting up there would be a good thing to begin with. But breaking the barrier is the goal that’s been put in front of him, and so that’s what he works towards. Along with the supposedly more achievable goal of “helping people,” despite that being an incredibly vague and nebulous concept with no real direction.

He’s got this whole complex about what he’s supposed to be. No one is actually stopping him from being anything else, but the barriers he’s erected in his own mind feel immovable. If he has all of this ability, how could he not use it? Everyone is relying on him to be as brilliant as his grandfather and carry this mantle, but no one understands the pressure he’s under. No one understands anything! Even Papyrus, who practically never sleeps, doesn’t appreciate why he can’t just “take a break.” If he doesn’t accomplish something, he will never be free from these expectations!

I think deep down that’s why he kind of idolizes sci-fi supervillains? All the intelligence, all the means, and they use it for their own interests! They are beholden to no one, only themselves, and even the “heroes” can never stop them for good. Sometimes, the villains have better motivations than the heroes, even. I think WD’s fantasy, subconscious or not, is being able to go completely off the rails and create and do something utterly selfish. He has some bizarre resentment, I think, against people in general. Maybe it’s envy, in the sense that they lack the burden he does. Maybe it’s some kind of frustration that they’re all just standing around, twiddling their thumbs and waiting for some kind of “salvation” from either the king or from them, the scientists responsible for every other quality of life. If this solution needs to be found so desperately, why is it being left to so few people!? Why aren’t study of human magic and other magical-scientific disciplines a required field in schools? Why is there not a requirement that all who are able work on this pressing issue!?

So. He’s got this buried, probably subconscious resentment. He’s always irritated because of it. It feels like he’s the only one taking this seriously, and therefore the only one who can do anything about it. Rather than be reassured that no one is forcing this on him, his perception is that because no one else will “take it seriously” (read: “work ceaselessly”), it must fall to him. He has to. Because otherwise it will always be hanging over his head.

Now. Grandpa Gaster definitely doesn’t approve of… any of this. (In general, not the supervillain thing. WD is taking that secret to the grave.) Gaster encourages him to take breaks and not work himself so hard. Unfortunately, despite his kindness and reassurance, WD only sees that as, “Look, this is so simple for him that he doesn’t even need to exert effort! He thinks I’m far more capable than I am, he must think I’m accomplishing more than I actually am. I have to work harder so that I can reach that level and live up to this.”

Yeah.

Gaster is quite caught up in his own work, and although he cares very much for his grandsons, I don’t think he’s entirely… connected with them. He doesn’t realize what WD is putting himself through, entirely. He just sees a bright, like-minded young man with a strong work ethic and a love for helping others! Even if he’s a bit prickly and perhaps embarrassed about it. But he’ll come around! Young people are so caught up in how they’re perceived by others; surely WD will mellow as he ages.

(Spoiler: he doesn’t. Or, he doesn’t really get the chance to.)

The biggest difference between them is that Gaster is doing this because he loves people and he loves his work. All his efforts are a labor of love. For monsters, for unity, for freedom, for the universe. WD is doing this because he feels that he must. He is not especially moved by love. He doesn’t gain a sense of purpose from this, he only feels burdened.

Gaster doesn’t quite… pick up on this. I think he would love to have a warm relationship with his grandsons, and prooooobably does more with Sans and Papyrus. WD, meanwhile, has so many self-inflicted mental barriers and blocks and restrictions and obligations that he’s created this artificial distance between them. It really, really doesn’t need to be this way, but unfortunately our perception shapes our reality, and the stronger a person believes something to be a certain way— that is, the less open they are to being wrong— the stronger they shape their reality. Someone like Gaster, who is open to different interpretations and understandings and so on, is more likely to see reality for what it is— but even he’s not infallible, because he is a singular person who has his own experiences and therefore his own perception. He thinks WD is just “at that age” (whatever that means) and is simply trying to prove something or is overly worried about what other people think of him, and that it will pass with time. He doesn’t understand that WD is torturing himself over pressure that isn’t even real.

He thinks it's so wonderful that WD wants to work with him and spend time with him, and oh, he's such a bright young man, he will surely accomplish so much! He's so proud of him.

WD is... not really capable of accepting love (in the form of acceptance or pride) from others right now, because I think he feels like he has yet to earn it, maybe? He's got this impossible standard he's trying to reach,* and he's depriving himself of everything until he can get there. (Which will be never.) He's miserable and it's all self-inflicted. It doesn't even need to be this way. ((He and Seeker (the character) have this in common I think…))

He does love his family. He loves his brothers and his parents (probably?) and his grandfather and his cousin(s). He loves them way more than he'd ever admit out loud. He's exasperated that none of them seem to Get It, but he's so convinced that he's the only one who's right that there's really no telling him otherwise. He doesn’t even know what he wants, only that he doesn’t have it and can’t have it. (Except, he can, of course, if he would just freaking calm down for a second.)

The funny (or sad) thing is that if he could just get past this thing he’s got in his mind, he’d be a much happier, more fulfilled person. If he weren’t busy stressing himself out and running himself ragged (and actually making his own anxiety worse in the process), he’d be a warm, conscientious person and a loving, attentive partner. As it stands, he’s Stress Response Central and essentially is slowly cutting himself off from the people who care about him, rather than rely on them. (This potentially includes Asteri, but their relationship is a whooole different post.)

If he keeps on this path, one of two things is going to happen: he’s either going to end up killing himself (or worse) by falling into the same thing that shattered Gaster in some desperate last-ditch attempt to Fix Everything; or he’s going to crack (no pun intended) under the pressure and burn out in an absolute fireball of metaphorical explosives.

And from the outcome where he doesn’t die/end up meeting a similar fate as his grandfather, there are two outcomes.

So, he’d burn himself out gifted kid style, but like several times worse. Has a complete breakdown and it resigns him to being stuck at home/in bed recovering his mental and emotional energy. But also being extremely depressed and probably rotting a little bit. And isolating even more, honestly.

The good ending would be him slowly recovering and making peace with not being The Only One Who Can Fix Everything, and maybe not even staying in the same field of work (if he can work anymore). The good ending also involves him being on good terms with Tempus again. (But that’s an entire can of worms I’m not touching here.) If he’s anything like me, it’s gonna take a few years (minimum) of rest and recovery after pushing himself that hard. I would not be surprised if he causes some permanent damage to himself (either mentally/emotionally or physically) that renders him unable to work/do what he used to.

The bad ending is that he rots in bed and wallows in depression and mourns the fact that he “wasn’t good enough” to stand up under the weight of everything and Fix It. And he just. stays like that. Isolating himself more and more, refusing to talk even to his brothers. And also Tempus still hates him. And that’s it that’s his whole life. The rest of it is spent mourning and regretting and reliving every decision that got him here, reflecting on all the things he deprived himself of in pursuit of his goal, only to fail and end up unable to have those things now that he has all the in the world. Self-deprivation of pleasure or enjoyment or rest, and for what? To break down under the weight of it all and have none of it anyway. He should have enjoyed what he was offered when he had the chance to accept it.

Anyway, as you can see I have a lot of feelings and thoughts about him (and this isn’t even all of them). I doubt that he resents his grandfather, but I do think that with the way things end up, he feels like a disappointment to him and there’s really no way to ever be assured otherwise because Gaster’s gone by that point. But I guess that’s part of the point, really: that you’ve gotta be okay with where you are so long as you’re doing what you can (to a reasonable degree), even if it disappoints other people. I think WD needs a lot of things but honestly I don’t even know how to begin to help him. He needs to go on vacation.

On an ENTIRELY unrelated note, I may have come up with a really funny (read: “stupid”) solution to the problem mentioned in the second half of the tags on this post.

Which isn’t what I wanted to focus on. I need to work on the stuff I already have going. But. It would be funny and unfortunately sometimes that’s the most compelling thing.

I will elaborate on what this possible solution is tomorrow.

[rainingskeletons]

If sans and papyrus have diamonds on there heads, what does WD look like? Is his magic also perception based, and is it more powerful? (Btw i love this AU hksheishekdhsj IT’S SO PRETTY)

I don't wanna reveal too much buuut, just as Sans and Papyrus' magic is tied to how we experience reality (With Sans holding Perception and Papyrus having Connection respectively) Gaster would be tied to themes of Information. Think of all the ways we interact with, and sort through, information to interpret reality. (Things to do with Memory, Context, Understanding, Prediction, Analysis, Built narratives etc) So there's a lot to play with!

With the goopster being scattered across the fabric of reality and dreams, to have access to all information, to see all flaws and all solutions... well, who's to say how his magic would react to that.

[wm-paintbrush]

🖊

So you're letting me pick? ... *laughs maniacally* THAT WAS A BAD IDEA HUN ---------------------------------------- So i have alot of ocs actually- and alot of sonas also from the past, present, future- so excuse me but you GAVE ME PERMISSION TO GUSH. But to keep you sane, i'm gonna skip over most of the "dead" characters Savvy is one of 4+ characters that i absolutely still adore, and keep in my little oc-world A grey to red and reddish pink color pallette, fennec fox-plushie. I mainly inspired her personality of the vibe i give off to any newcomers- and well- she also has 1 different form that i previously called "Darkus" for some reason Void is the next, a white to turquoise and cyan color pallette, glitchy fox. I think she's kinda like the vibe after you've known me for awhile? But that might have changed- all i know is she glitchy and cool lmfao Also previously shown to melt, might keep that Mayah and Daeva simultaneously are Bacterial Contamination Cats Because DAMN if being edgy wasn't enough, add the spooks! and stabs Enough of the jokes though, Mayah is the one with a scarf and is overall shy for some fucking reason and Daeva is an edgelord due to- well i'll mention them later. Both are (darker) grey and red with possible pink/white stingers... idk yet it's been a while! Molse, who i actually felt like should have kept the albino-mouse-rat species, might become a rabbit later on. White-black-red and neutral. Smol boi lmfao. Might have been a victim to either Mayah or Daeva- I forgot the name of this one, probably was too complex- I have a molecule-alcohol-dog character and i think they're absolutely NOICE! Might have to explore this character more so their story could begin showing to me. I have a few others somewhere but those are the most interesting... But i bet you wanna know that guy who corrupted Daeva, didn't cha? Corrupto is currently their/his name, and currently is a loose runaway corruption. Took a liking to Daeva, but.. they still are a fuckass even if that liking exists (= Oh and they probably will stay like that until showing a clear sign of redemption muahahahaha i'm evil Now for some of the interesting ones Starting of with another corruption who'se previous host i won't say.. We have my little experimental creature, Vortex! They're a little mess, learning as they go. But man, they're a BIT different from the others, and fun to draw for some reason. Btw both corruptions are black (white or red) goopsters lmfao Honorable mentions before the ones i've drawn more often: Pencil [AU], kinda child and bean, might not be innocent deep down though. Zodiac dream demon, and of course you already have the possible right guess at who their origins deprive from. That one roomba and (grappling+something else) gun who if i draw more often, will be to background tests or other fun shit Emma and that one sign, two characters i entirely made up just from the game and previous arg that i love(d) as fuck [Changed | Pooche and Pansy] Now excuse me, but i wanna talk about Tempus! That one bibically accurate angel looking clock! I love that one. A time entity who i'm starting to suspect might be related to Painty over there- Also they have a cracked side of glass for some reason?? Hmmm.. Well i obviously know why for that one, but go ahead and theorize. Also i haven't choosen their colors yet but they have a tail, lmfao- that's mostly all Chi, who i might be mashing up with the other heart character in a weirdcore post, is my little emotion/soul demon who started of as a pure vent character but now might just be an emotionally unstable bean. Can't decide if they're blue or purple, but otherwise i just love my little heart fello <3 Also she chills around PaintBrush cause yes. And PaintBrush, my dearie self, multidimensional zodiac dream demon! Creative, unpredictable, and matched to my chaotic personality, and i absolutely love her so much i swear to axol- Um anyways, she is really respecting and caring, but can lose herself to demonic senses and also emotions (cause i lose myself to emotions sometimes

no cap) and might or might not have been- [spoilers] Also she's friends with a Bill cipher, how perfect, totally not the same Bill cipher that hangs around me. And i think that's most that i can gush about.. for now. If it sounds like i rambled then sorry, but.. not sorry agDSGOPIEOSPRHI- Anyway this is from a while ago, but shows alot of the characters i've talked about here. NOW MERRY CHRISTMAS SHOOKAS