#calling it tobi felt weird

[astupidweeb69]

The Roommate (Dark!Ticci Toby x F!Reader)

NSFW One-shot

Author's note: This is my first time writing smut, so sorry if this turned out bad. It's also way longer than I thought, hopefully there aren't any spelling errors. Cross posted on my AO3 account.

Warnings: Swearing. Toby being creepy, he hurts the reader, blood kink? unprotected sex, creampie, biting, it's just... a lot. (4,519 words) - Minors DNI!

___________________________________________________________

Your brother hated his new roommate.

From what you gathered from the phone calls you two had, you knew he kept to himself, was kind of creepy and left the occasional mess in the kitchen. Your brother had tried to include him when he went out with his other college friends, but he always refused. The guy was gone at odd hours during the night, and smelled like dirt and pine.

You told him it was his own fault for posting an ad for a roommate on Craigslist.

It wasn’t all bad though. He paid his rent on time, always in cash - which he slipped under your brother's bedroom door at the end of every month. Plus, he had insisted on not signing any formal documentation. The lease they had was just a last minute document drawn up for a short term stay. 

Your brother would only have to put up with him for 6 months. Then he’d be gone.

But hey, beggars can’t be choosers. And your brother needed someone to pick up part of the rent last minute.

After a few months it had seemed like he’d grown accustomed to the strange ‘twitchy��� man he lived with, that is, until you told him your plans to visit.

You finally got some time off, and it was the only chance you’d get to see him. So when all the hotels in the area were fully booked you were not about to give up. And….your brother’s place had a perfectly good couch available, right?

He was reluctant at first, but after much pleading, he finally agreed.

On one condition.

Stay away from Toby.

You figured he was just being overprotective. It was kind of sweet, but he’d never been that adamant about you not talking to someone before. There must have been something seriously messed up with the guy. And to be perfectly honest, it made you second guess whether you’d actually go through with the trip out there.

But you already bought the plane ticket, and you couldn’t let that money go to waste.

So now you sat in the passenger seat of your brother's truck, the two of you making idle chit chat as he drove you back to his place from the airport. 

He talked about school, the classes he was taking, what parties he’d been going to, and fraternities he’d been considering joining. That last part earned him some of your teasing about becoming a beer pong loving, “Frat Bro”.

Only after a few beats of silence, you decided to ask him something that had been bugging you since your arrival. 

“Your roommate knows I’m staying at your place, right?”

It was a simple enough question. The last thing you wanted was to intrude on someone else’s living space after all.

You saw your brother grip the steering wheel harder. “Yeah. Toby should know you’re coming.” His response was curt and lacking his previous joyful tone.

“You two fighting or something?” 

Your brother sighed. “No just,” He paused for a moment, and glanced at you. “He’s been acting weirder than usual.”

“Weird how?” 

He didn’t say anything for a while, instead mulling over his choice of words. Not wanting to scare you, but still wanting to give you a heads up of the situation. “He’s been talking to himself. A lot.”

“That’s not that bad. Lots of people do that.” You don’t know why you felt the need to defend a person you hadn’t met yet.

Another pause. This one is longer than before.

“You haven’t heard what he’s been saying.”

______________________________________________________________

The road ahead was dark, lit up by the dim headlights of the car. The only thing out here now was trees, broken up by the occasional house. It was definitely far from campus.

The driveway was gravel, the truck rocking back and forth from the potholes and uneven terrain, finally coming to a stop in front of the house. Painted a dull plain white, one story, rather small, but it would do. It’s not like you were expecting a mansion.

After the car came to a stop, you grabbed your luggage from the backseat, following your brother to the front door where he quickly unlocked it. 

The living room was sparsely decorated, with an old brown couch in the center, a small television and a coffee table littered with cans and half finished drinks.

It completely lacked a homey vibe. Definitely felt like a typical bachelor pad. You nudged his shoulder. “I love what you’ve done with the place.”

“Hey, I’m not majoring in interior design.” Your brother shot back, beginning to walk away past the kitchen, calling out to you. “I’m gonna go to bed.”

Your eyebrows furrowed with a look of disappointment.  “Already? I thought we’d, like…. watch TV or something?”

“Next time don’t get such a late flight.” His face stretched into a yawn. “There’s plenty of blankets in the closet. Try not to make too much noise.” Disappearing behind the door of his bedroom, he left you standing in the room alone with your bags.

Time for bed I guess. 

You sprawled yourself out on the couch, placing a pillow on the armrest, and rolled out the fuzzy blanket you’d found over your body. You turned to face the front door. The room was pitch black, with a few beams of moonlight split up by the venetian blinds.

You picked up your phone from the coffee table by your side, figuring you could watch a few videos before you fell asleep.

The screen lit up, temporarily blinding you before your eyes adjusted. Mindlessly, you scrolled through youtube to find a thumbnail that would spark any interest.

You were about to click one, when you heard someone at the front door. Your eyes widened briefly, and you quickly shut your phone off. You don’t know why. It wasn’t like you were a kid and your mom was coming into your room to see if you were actually asleep. But it felt like you needed to shut your eyes.

So you did.

The door opened slowly, whoever it was trying to remain undetected. 

However, the scent that followed gave them away immediately. You actually had to stop yourself from reacting. It was a mixture of BO, dirt, and something else. Something dead.

Without even having to look, you knew it was Toby.

Footsteps, careful and calculated. The floorboards creaking. 

You waited for him to walk by, expecting him to go to his room so you could continue playing on your phone.

But he didn’t.

The movements stopped halfway through, and you heard him, on the balls of his feet, making his way over to the couch you were on.

The fuck?

You felt your throat dry up. You wanted to swallow down your nerves, but you couldn’t react. You had to continue pretending, right?

You could hear him, his voice low and soft, like velvet. A boyish tone, the occasional word being broken up by some kind of stutter, muttering things you couldn’t make out.

He stopped when he got to your side, standing right in front of your face. 

If you opened your eyes right now you’d probably see him peering down. His jeans dirty and torn, honey brown stare filled with curiosity, looking at the glimpses of your curves that peaked through the blanket on top of you.

A hand reached out. 

Cold, yet somehow clammy… texture rough and calloused. 

He was touching you. 

He was touching your face.

Don’t move. Don’t you dare even flinch.

“M-must be the ssss-sister…”

That was the first clear sentence you could understand.

He retracted his hand. But you could still hear him, the heavy breathing. 

His whispering.

“Soft”

Then he left.

Only afterwards did you realize you’d been holding your breath.

______________________________________________________________

“You look awful.” Your brother commented when he saw you the next morning.

It was true that you barely slept that night, made obvious by the bags under your eyes, and the change in your complexion. The interaction with the stranger, the one you’d been warned of,  had plagued your mind, stirring up thoughts that kept you awake. 

You grabbed a coffee mug, pouring yourself a glass, before joining your brother at the kitchen table.

From this angle, you had a clear view of the hallway. There were three doors, one must have led to the bathroom, and the other remaining two were the bedrooms. 

You only stared at one of the doors though. The one leading to Toby’s room. 

You knew, at some point he’d emerge and you’d finally be able to put a face to the name. A face to the hand that touched you.

For a moment, you wondered if you should tell your brother what happened. He’d probably flip out, maybe even confront the man. 

So, despite your better judgment, you decided to keep it to yourself. 

He only touched your face. Sure, it was creepy as hell, but you didn’t want to cause a fight during your vacation.

Your brother clapped his hands together, getting your attention. 

“So listen!” He grinned widely. “We gotta plan out the strategy for tonight.”

“Strategy?” You asked hesitantly.

“Yeah strategy. There’s a party I want to go to. Kappa Alpha is hosting it.” 

You tsked, sipping your coffee. “You realize I don’t know anything about the frats here. Is that like… a popular one or?”

He nodded. “Yeah it is. I’ve been trying to get into this one for a while now, so getting the invite is a big deal.”

You frowned. You were already so tired, and the idea of going to a kegger was not exactly on your ‘to do’ list. But it was important to him. So you complied.

“Okay. What time does it-”

A door opened. You stopped talking.

Your eyes widened to look over towards the sound. 

Toby was up.

The first thing you noticed was a mop of dark brown hair, unkempt, with curls that went in every direction. It was slightly greasy too, he clearly hadn’t showered in a while. There was light stubble on his jawline, and his skin was a sickly, almost gray color. A snake bite graced his lower lip, and there were a few more pieces of metal sticking out the cartilage of his ears.

He shuffled forward, looking tired, still in a pair of plaid green pajama bottoms and a t-shirt with little alien faces on them.

Once he made it into the kitchen, Toby finally glanced over. You looked away immediately, embarrassed that you were caught staring.

He was handsome. You hated to admit it. But he was. You pushed the thought out of your head, reminding yourself of who he was.

“Muh-morning….” He croaked out.

Your brother gave a little nod, just enough to acknowledge him, turning back to you while Toby started toasting a poptart.

“It starts at 9, but we should show up at 10 o'clock. I don’t want to look too eager.”

“Whuh-what starts at 9?” Toby interjected.

Both you and your brother looked at him, before nervously meeting each other's gaze.

“Oh uh!” Your brother stammered. “Just another party.” He motioned over to you with his thumb. “This is my sister, (Y/N), by the way.”

Toby’s eyes bore into yours. You swallowed, trying to give him a polite, reassuring smile.

“Nice to meet you…. Toby, right?” 

You acted unsure. Like you didn’t know his name by heart. Like you hadn’t had your brother vent to you about him for hours over the phone. 

“Yuh-yeah. That’s right.” He looked back at your brother. “Is the puh-party tonight?”

“Yeah it’s at a frat house. Did you…” He hesitated, before finally asking him. “Want to come?”

Toby bit his poptart, shrugging his shoulders. “I've guh-got nothing better tuh-to do.” The twitching man looked back at you, wiping some crumbs from his lip. He didn’t have emotion behind his eyes, just a weird intense focus on your face.

You pretended to be unbothered. 

It didn’t work.

He noticed.

And he liked the way you squirmed.

______________________________________________________________

Toby stayed in his room the rest of the day. Occasionally going into the kitchen, grabbing a snack, usually some kind of junk food, before he’d scurry back into his little cave.

You started getting ready as soon as the sun went down. It’d been a while since you’d been to a party and you wanted to look your best. Or look like you got a full 8 hours of sleep at the very least.

Toby said he’d meet you guys there. Saying something about how he needed ‘to take care of something first’. No one questioned him. Both you and your brother glad not to have to share a car ride with him.

Loud bumping music, the kind that shook a house and pounded in your chest, enveloped you when you walked inside the frat house. 

Flashing lights, a crowd in the middle of the dancefloor jumping up and down. The air was hot from too many people in a room at once. You could barely move through them all to get to the bar.

God you were going to need a drink to get through this.

Maybe even a couple.

Especially after your brother left you alone to go mingle.

One tequila shot, then two maybe three rum and cokes later. You didn’t even know how long you’d been there. Time seemed to freeze. There was only the music, only the dancing, only the bodies moving against you.

You felt hot. Your cheeks burned, and it wasn’t just from the temperature of the room anymore. The room spinned a little when you walked forward. Not enough to consider yourself completely wasted though. But enough to feel…. Friendlier.

More social.

Less inhibited. 

Numb.

After a lot of struggling, you made your way to the back of the room. 

You leaned against a wall, catching your breath, holding a red solo cup in your hand.  You could hear people trying to hold conversations by shouting over the music. 

And there were plenty of people making out. In fact, you’d say the majority of people were just straight up groping each other.

It made you a little jealous if you were being honest with yourself.

You looked around, wondering if maybe you could find someone cute. You didn’t intend on getting lucky or anything, but it would sure beat just standing there like an idiot. When was the last time you even kissed somebody?

Finally, you locked on to someone across the room. Someone with honey brown eyes. Someone familiar.

Toby.

He grinned when your eyes met. It was the first time you’d seen him do that. Large toothy canine’s, that bandage on his cheek shifting slightly. 

Oh god you felt your heart flutter.

You shouldn’t. You really shouldn’t. There was something wrong with him. Your brother didn’t like him. Nobody did.

He creeped you out.

He didn’t shower. 

He smelled like death. 

You listed the reasons out, and damn if there weren’t a lot of them. But in the end it didn’t matter. In the end, it was painfully, woefully, obvious what was going to happen.

And you were already walking over there.

You slithered over to his side, sweating, peering up at him through your eyelashes. Trying to look cute. Desirable.

It was working. 

He could’ve eaten you up if you gave him the chance. 

But you didn’t know that.

You fiddled with the end of your skirt, the jacket you originally wore tied around your waist. A flush on your cheeks, you let your hand gently touch his shoulder.

“H-hey… glad to see you made it.”

He tilted his head to the side, leaning down to hear you better. It made your stomach stir with excitement, he made you feel small kneeling down like that. But you liked it. Liked that he was paying attention to you, and only you.

“Whuh-what did you say?” His breath was hot on your cheek. Using the loud music as an excuse to get closer, to touch your skin. Making the hair on your neck stick up.

You breathed heavily in his ear on purpose. “I said, I’m glad you made it.”

Toby’s lips parted, not responding at first, but not moving away either. “Oh? Yuh-yeah?” He sounded amused, voice lowering an octave. “Excited to suh-see little ole’ muh-me?” 

It was kind of a stupid, cheesy thing to say. Like he didn’t really know how to flirt, but maybe saw a couple movies and memorized the lines. But it somehow worked for him.

“Oh, I’m sure nothing about you is little.”

Why did you say that?

Why?

It just came out naturally. Oh god, now your face felt flushed from embarrassment.

You felt him touch the side of your face. He chuckled, a low rumble in his chest, it sounded heavenly.

“Yuh-you know, I’m having trouble huh-hearing you.” He paused looking around, making sure no one was watching. You wondered why. 

“Do you want to go somewhere more private?”

That was enough to make heat travel between your thighs. 

Fuck. 

One meek nod from you was all he needed, before grabbing your wrist tightly.

Too tight, like he was unaware he could hurt you. Or maybe he liked causing a little pain?

He dragged you upstairs, practically lifting you with one arm, you felt like you were gliding over the steps. The muscles of his arms barely flexing under that hoodie of his, as if you were weightless.

He was strong. 

You both traveled through the hallway, careful not to bump into anyone loitering in the hall. Some of the other party goers shooting you looks, but they were mostly directed towards Toby. They weren’t judging you or anything. In fact, they looked worried, maybe even a little scared. You started to wonder more about him. What was his reputation like if this was everyone’s reaction to him? Or perhaps he really just looked that scary. 

So why did he turn you on? 

He pushed you into an unoccupied room and flicked the light switch on.

You barely registered him locking the door behind him.

With one shove of his palm he pushed you backwards onto the bed. Your arms flailed a bit out of instinct, falling down on the mattress with an ‘oof’.

You swallowed thickly, watching him eye the way your legs had parted slightly. Your skirt hiking up dangerously on your thighs. You had to fight the urge to close them.

“Yuh-you look scared.” That velvet, sweet, voice of his was twisted by something sick. 

“Are you?” His head cocked to the side, a wolfish grin on his face.

“Yes.” Was your reply. You didn’t feel like you could lie to him now. Feeling too exposed to even think straight.

He licked his lips, slowly approaching you. His fingers danced across your shoulders, traveling down your arms, sending goosebumps down your spine. They were cold and calloused, just like you remembered from the night before. 

“Then whuh-why did you follow me here?” He cupped the side of your face, his thumb grazing across your bottom lip. You were going to respond, but he quickly shoved his finger in your mouth, gagging you. He wanted you to suck on them, but he didn’t communicate that well. “Why duh-did you….approach me?”

You let your tongue glide over his finger. His eyes narrowed, watching your face, before he started talking to himself. “Fuckin’ stuh-stupid.”

You paused. Was he talking about you? 

“Should be whuh-working tonight…” He muttered. “Target just downstairs…. Ssss-so easy…this better be worth it…..” Toby chuckled to himself like he just told a joke.

You didn’t understand what was going on. Should you just ignore him and continue? 

Toby retracted his hand from your mouth.

“Sss-so pretty….” He pushed your back onto the bed, crawling over you, his broad chest heaving, face pink and eyes lidded. Pupils dilated with lust. “So…. suh-soft….(Y/N)....” 

You shivered when he said your name like that, feeling your panties dampen even more than before. Especially when he started running a large hand up your inner thigh.

You let out a shaky breath.

“Yuh-you like it when I touch you…. I know you do…” Your eyes flickered down at him, letting him continue his ramblings, Toby’s face breaking into another evil looking smile. “Luh-letting me touch you last nuh-night…. Pretending to be asleep.”

Your stomach dropped. You couldn’t hide it in your face, he fucking knew. 

He fucking knew the whole time. 

He burst out laughing at your expression. “Yuh-you’re still not even telling me to stuh-stop now!” Toby gripped your hip with one of his hands, lifting up the hem of your shirt with the other. 

Before you knew it, he tossed the fabric over to the corner. 

Your bra was next. 

In any other circumstances you might’ve found it cute, or funny, when he struggled with the clasp. But something told you pointing it out to him wouldn’t have been a good idea. 

He groaned at the sight of your exposed torso, immediately diving into your tits. Your nipples perked at the attention. 

He was right. You weren’t stopping him. Your body screamed at you to. The smell of dirt and grime, of all things dead and decaying, it permeated off of him the more he touched you.

Toby’s mouth latched on to your left breast, the other gripped tightly in his hand. You knew you’d have bruises there tomorrow. You didn’t care. 

He licked and nipped at the tender flesh, the swell of your tits heaving, your head thrown back and lips parted, letting out soft moans here and there.

A noticeable bulge grinded against your leg, as he huffed, humping himself against you like a dog. 

After a while, he finally lifted his head up. 

Toby looked you in the eye, grinning, licking your nipple teasingly one last time, before his attention moved to your skirt. 

His hands searched your sides for a zipper, he grunted out of irritation when he couldn’t find it immediately. 

You took the opportunity to gently put a hand over his, guiding it to where it was. “Here.” You said softly. “Let me help you.”

His eyes snapped up to your face when you touched him. 

Immediately, his lips crashed onto yours. Needy, desperate, quickly shoving his tongue down your throat. You kissed back, swirling your tongue around his, ignoring the weird taste of metal coming from his mouth. His breath was hot and heavy, kisses sloppy. You doubted he got much practice, but he seemed to be learning quickly.

He made up for it with enthusiasm.

Finally pulling away, you both unzipped your skirt together. Lifting your hips off the bed, you shimmyed them down your legs, Toby watching in fascination.

“I’m guh-gonna fuck you.” He stated matter of factly. Then he whispered something that made your blood run cold. 

“...Fuck you bloody.”

Shit this guy was scary.

In a few seconds, he ripped his hoodie off, along with his shirt. His chest was heavily scarred, a noticeable slash starting from his left side over to his shoulder, and a dark happy trail rising up from the waistband of his jeans.

You didn’t comment on it, but it was worrisome. You could only imagine what would cause someone to get hurt so badly and so often.

That said, Toby was definitely toned. A bit sickly looking, but his muscles had just a hint of a six pack formed. Maybe he did more exercise than you initially thought. 

He kicked off his jeans next, unceremoniously pulling his boxers down, revealing himself to you. Lazily, he stroked himself, a thick layer of precum smearing down his shaft. It was long, veiny, but not very girthy. A flushed red tip, looking painfully hard.

You pulled down your panties slowly, already soaked, and ready. The anticipation was killing you, but you wanted to make him wait for it. His Adam's apple bobbed watching you, and you liked reveling in his stares.

“Guh-gonna split you in two…” Toby murmured, to no one in particular.

He hooked his arm under one of your legs, his body shivering with need, pulling your hips against him. He glided his shaft over your cunt, rubbing your clit slowly. He noticed you tense, how you whimpered slightly, and how your slick covered him more at the action. Looking in awe like it was some revelation to him.

Toby licked his lips, before finally enveloping himself in your heat. 

It was quick. Like he was slamming a drawer shut, but he immediately bottomed out. You gritted your teeth in pain, before crying out when he started viciously pounding into you. 

It fucking hurt. It hurt a lot.

“Shit..! Tuh-tight!”

Obviously, your muscles had tensed around him, feeling overwhelmed by the sudden fullness of his cock stuffing you. Unable to adjust.

You whimpered when he didn’t let up, tears pricking the corner of your eyes. A dull ache between your legs as he continued thrusting. The wet sound of skin slapping together coming from where the two of you were joined, burying his face in your neck, breathing in your scent.

Toby inhaled sharply, before you felt his mouth open wide.

Teeth broke through your skin instantly, a warm liquid dripping down your neck.

You screamed.

You screamed louder than you ever have in your life.

You screamed bloody fucking murder.

“Toby!” Clawing at his back, trying to get him to stop, you started crying. “Toby! Please!”

Luckily for you, he released his jaw to call out “(Y-Y/N)!” Not understanding your cries weren’t from pleasure.

It egged him on, encouraged him. His pelvis slamming into yours, with no let up, your tits bouncing at the force. Itching his fingers to your clit, he rubbed it in harsh circular movements, making you tighten around him.

You babbled nonsense. Finally some of the pain subsiding for pleasure, and maybe it was the lingering effects of alcohol, or the slight blood loss, but you felt a buzzing in your head. Basically incoherent, the faster he went. The brutal, bruising speed.

The way he gripped your breast, the way his hand remained on your pearl, trying his best to get you to finish, but not quite knowing how. 

Something started to build. 

More and more.

Hearing him growl, pant, like an animal. It was doing something to you.

You moaned loudly, wrapping your legs around him. The coil snapping, muscle spasming, pulling his cock in deeper, triggering his own climax. 

His hips stuttered against you, letting out a gasp. A warmth filling you, Toby completely emptying himself inside with a deep groan, eyes rolling back in his head. 

He gave a few sloppy, slow thrusts, before finally rolling off, and onto the bed next to you.

His cum leaking out of your cunt and staining the sheets.

Everything went blank for a moment, realization only just settling in. The gravity of the situation, the blood on your neck.

And an arm wrapped around your shoulders, drawing you close.

“I knew you’d be worth the truh-trouble.”

[paddockletters]

echoes of him

pairing: jude bellingham x reader summary: You swore you'd moved on. But some ghosts refuse to stay buried. request: yes / thank you sooo much for you request!

I wasn’t expecting today to feel so… strange. It had been ages since we’d all last been together like this, and now we were gathered at Toby’s place for one of his infamous “chill nights”—the kind where everyone just turned up, and chaos followed naturally. The air was thick with laughter and banter, as always, but I couldn’t shake this weird feeling gnawing at me.

Jake, my boyfriend, sat next to me on the sofa, his arm draped casually over my shoulder. He was at ease, chatting away with Toby and the rest of the group, completely unaware of the awkward glances being exchanged across the room.

“So, y/n,” Sarah called out from across the room with a playful smirk, “how’d you manage to bag someone who looks exactly like Jude?”

I nearly choked on my drink. Jude. There it was—his name. The one I’d tried so hard to forget.

“Oh, come off it,” I said, forcing a laugh, trying to sound as unbothered as possible. “Jake’s nothing like him.”

“Right,” Sarah quipped with a sly grin. “Because the resemblance is just a coincidence?”

Before I could respond, Jake chimed in with a chuckle. “Who’s this Jude bloke, then?”

Toby shot Sarah a warning glance, but it was too late. The air in the room shifted, everyone suddenly aware of the unspoken tension.

“Old mate of mine,” Toby explained casually, though I could hear the slight edge to his voice. “He’s been away for a few years.”

I could feel the heat creeping up my neck as I tried to shrug it off. Jake didn’t know. None of them did. Jude had been my brother’s best mate, but he was also the one person I could never quite forget. We’d hooked up once, back when everything was a bit of a mess—when I was a bit of a mess. And then, just as quickly as it started, he left. Vanished, really.

And now, years later, I’d somehow ended up with Jake, a bloke who looked eerily similar to the one person I’d spent ages trying to forget. I hadn’t noticed it at first, not until everyone else started pointing it out.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. Toby jumped up from his seat, clearly relieved to escape the awkwardness. “That’ll be Jude,” he said, heading for the door. “He’s back in town for a bit.”

Jude. My heart stuttered. I hadn’t seen him in what—four years? Five? I couldn’t believe he was actually here, just like that, as if no time had passed.

When the door swung open, there he was, standing in the doorway like a ghost from my past. He looked older, a bit more rugged, but he still had that same cocky grin I remembered all too well. His eyes scanned the room, pausing on each of us, before finally landing on me.

“Bloody hell,” Jude said with a slow smile, “long time no see.”

The room fell silent for a moment. I felt Jake’s hand tighten on my shoulder, though he didn’t say anything. Jude’s eyes flicked to him, then back to me, and something unreadable passed across his face.

“Well, don’t just stand there, mate,” Toby said, breaking the tension. “Come on in.”

Jude stepped inside, and suddenly the room was filled with noise again—everyone greeting him, asking him about where he’d been, what he’d been up to. But I couldn’t focus on any of it. I could only think about the last time I saw him, and how everything between us had been left unresolved.

Flashback

It had been one of those reckless nights. Toby had thrown a party at his flat, as usual, and everyone had shown up. Jude was there, too, naturally, his arm slung around one of the girls he’d been seeing at the time. I tried not to care.

But as the night wore on, and the drinks flowed, I found myself alone in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, staring down at my phone. And then I felt him before I saw him—Jude, standing too close, the smell of beer and aftershave clinging to him.

“You alright?” he asked, his voice low.

I glanced up at him, trying to sound casual. “Yeah, just needed a break from the noise.”

He smirked, leaning against the counter beside me. “Thought you were avoiding me.”

“I wasn’t,” I lied, but he saw right through me.

“Come on, y/n,” Jude said, his voice softening as he nudged me lightly. “What’s going on with you?”

I swallowed hard, avoiding his gaze. “Nothing. Just… you and that girl.”

Jude let out a small laugh. “Her? That’s nothing serious.”

“Well, it looks serious,” I muttered, feeling ridiculous for even saying it.

He tilted his head, studying my face. “You jealous?”

I rolled my eyes. “No.”

“Liar.”

Before I could protest, he took a step closer, and suddenly the space between us felt suffocating. His hand brushed against mine, sending a shiver down my spine.

“I’ve been thinking about you, y/n,” Jude murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. “I know we’ve been dancing around this for a while…”

I didn’t know what to say. My heart was racing, and all I could think about was how wrong this was—how Toby would kill us both if he found out. But then Jude leaned in, his lips brushing against mine, and I couldn’t bring myself to pull away.

It was messy, impulsive, and everything about it felt reckless. But in that moment, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that it was him, and I wanted it.

After that night, things between us had shifted, though we never really talked about it. We kept it quiet, sneaking around when no one was paying attention. But just as quickly as it started, it was over. Jude left town without a word, leaving me with nothing but memories I couldn’t shake.

Present

I snapped back to reality, realising that Jude was standing right in front of me. He glanced at Jake and raised an eyebrow. “And you are?”

I felt Jake’s hand tense on my leg. “Jake,” he said, offering his hand. “y/n’s boyfriend”.

The room felt like it had gone dead quiet, everyone waiting for Jude’s reaction. But he just smiled, shaking Jake’s hand like it was the most normal thing in the world. “Ah, right. Toby mentioned you.”

The tension in the room shifted, lightening, as if everyone collectively decided to ignore the fact that my boyfriend looked like Jude’s doppelgänger. Except me. I felt Jude’s eyes on me, and the weight of all those unspoken words between us. Things I thought we’d left behind.

The night rolled on, everyone chatting and laughing, but I couldn’t focus. Jude had slipped back into the group effortlessly, and even Jake seemed to be warming up to him. The two of them were swapping stories like old mates, which was... weird. Too weird.

“You alright, love?” Jake asked, noticing my silence.

“Yeah, just… thinking,” I replied, forcing a smile.

Jake grinned and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Come on, let’s grab another drink.”

I followed him back inside, trying to ignore the way Jude’s eyes lingered on me as I passed.

Eventually, I slipped out onto the balcony for some fresh air, hoping for a bit of space. But, of course, it didn’t last long.

“Mind if I join you?” Jude’s voice cut through the quiet, and I turned to see him standing in the doorway.

I sighed, knowing there was no avoiding this conversation. “Sure. Why not?”

He stepped outside, leaning against the railing beside me. For a moment, neither of us spoke. The tension between us was palpable, the weight of everything unsaid hanging in the air.

“So,” Jude began, his voice softer now. “You and Jake, huh?”

I nodded, trying to keep my voice steady. “Yeah. It’s been a while.”

“He seems like a good bloke,” Jude said, though there was something unreadable in his tone. “Looks a bit like me, though, don’t you think?”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” I let out a short laugh, unable to stop myself.

“You happy, y/n?” Jude chuckled, but then his expression turned serious

I hesitated, the question hanging between us. “Yeah. I am.”

“Right,” Jude said quietly, though I could hear the doubt in his voice. “You sure about that?”

“What are you getting at, Jude?” I turned to face him, my heart pounding in my chest.

I dunno. It’s just... seeing you with him, it’s weird. Makes me think about what could’ve been, you know?” He ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated. “

“You had your chance, Jude. You left.” I swallowed hard, the weight of his words sinking in.

“I didn’t have a choice,” he said, his voice suddenly raw. “I had to leave. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t care about you.”

I looked away, trying to hold back the emotions that were threatening to spill over. “It’s too late, Jude.”

He stepped closer, his voice barely a whisper. “Is it?”

Jude’s question hung in the air, and for a moment, I couldn’t bring myself to answer. My head was spinning, and my heart felt like it was lodged somewhere in my throat. Was it too late?

I should’ve said yes. I should’ve ended it right there. But instead, I stood there in silence, the weight of everything unsaid pressing down on me.

Jude’s eyes searched mine, waiting for something—anything. He took a step closer, his voice dropping to a low murmur. “We were good together, y/n. You know that, don’t you?”

I swallowed, trying to ignore the way my body reacted to his nearness. “It doesn’t matter now,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.

He let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. “Maybe it doesn’t to you, but it does to me.”

There it was—the crack in his armour, the vulnerability I wasn’t expecting. Jude had always been so cocky, so sure of himself. But now, standing here on this balcony with me, he looked almost… lost.

I turned away, staring out at the dark sky, trying to steady my breath. “You left without a word, Jude. What was I supposed to think?”

“I know,” he said quietly. “I was an idiot. I didn’t handle it right. But you have to believe me when I say I never wanted to hurt you.”

I didn’t respond. What was there to say? The past was the past, and we couldn’t change it.

He stepped closer again, his hand lightly grazing my arm, sending a jolt of electricity through me. “You can’t tell me you don’t still think about it,” he murmured, his breath warm against my ear.

I closed my eyes, fighting the urge to lean into him. This was exactly what I didn’t need—this confusing swirl of emotions that Jude always managed to stir up. But he was right. I had thought about it. More than I cared to admit.

“Jude,” I started, my voice shaky, “this isn’t fair. I’m with Jake now.”

“I know,” he said, his voice soft. “But does he make you feel the way I did?”

The question hit me like a punch to the gut. Did he? Jake was kind, dependable, and he cared about me. But Jude… Jude was chaos. He was fire and unpredictability, and he made me feel things I hadn’t felt in years.

But that wasn’t enough. Was it?

“It doesn’t matter how I felt back then, Jude. We’re different people now. I’ve moved on.” I took a deep breath, finally turning to face him.

“Yeah. I guess you have.” His jaw tightened, and for a second, I thought he might argue. But then he nodded slowly, stepping back.

We stood there in silence, the distance between us growing wider with each passing second. And just when I thought the moment was over, Jude let out a short, bitter laugh.

“Funny, though,” he said, his eyes flicking towards the door. “You moved on with a bloke who looks just like me.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could say anything, the door to the balcony swung open, and Jake stepped outside, completely oblivious to the tension hanging in the air.

“Hey, you two,” he said cheerfully, completely unaware of the charged moment he’d just walked into. “Everything alright out here?”

“Yeah, mate. Everything’s fine.” Jude flashed him a tight smile.

I forced a smile, though my mind was still reeling from everything Jude had just said. “We were just catching up.”

Jake grinned, pulling me close to his side. “Well, you’ve had your time, mate,” he joked, though there was a slight possessiveness in his tone. “This one’s mine now.”

Jude’s smile faltered for a split second, but he recovered quickly, clapping Jake on the shoulder. “Right. I’ll leave you to it, then.”

With that, he turned and walked back inside, leaving me standing there with Jake, my heart still racing from the whirlwind of emotions Jude had stirred up.

Jake glanced down at me, his brow furrowing slightly. “You sure you’re alright, love? You’ve been a bit quiet tonight.”

“Yeah,” I said, my voice sounding distant even to myself. “Just a lot on my mind.”

He kissed the top of my head, not pushing any further. “Well, if you need to talk, I’m here. You know that, yeah?”

I nodded, leaning into him, though my mind was miles away. “Yeah. I know.”

But even as I stood there with Jake, the warmth of his arm around me, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something had shifted. Something between me and Jude that I wasn’t sure I could ignore.

Later that night, after everyone had gone home and the house was quiet, I lay in bed next to Jake, staring up at the ceiling. His breathing was slow and steady beside me, already asleep, but my mind was racing.

I couldn’t stop replaying the conversation with Jude in my head—the way he looked at me, the things he said. The way he made me feel.

I hated that I was even thinking about it. I had Jake. He was good for me, good to me. But still, there was this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach, this unresolved tension that wouldn’t go away.

Just when I thought I’d buried it, Jude had come back and unearthed everything.

I sighed, closing my eyes, trying to will myself to sleep. But as the minutes ticked by, I realised the one thing I didn’t want to admit:

Maybe it wasn’t too late after all.

[partytillicry]

Ticci toby x Reader // fem reader

these are general dating and nsfw hc’s so beware!!

TW’s: fighting, slight angst, reader is friends with Nina the Killer, & smut

AN: i love toby sm, he’s def my fav creep. this one is a bit 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂. btw this is half reread so there maybe some mistakes here and there

SFW

toby’s bipolar so a relationship with him is hard but you both work your way through it

he never wants to fight but he can’t control it sometimes

he truly does love but it happens

most of your fights are because he gets jealous or he is just upset about something else

you were laying in bed, just mindlessly scrolling on your phone. reading something that you’d forget a minute later. you were broken from your trance when you heard the door open to see your boyfriend walk in. no hi or hello so you knew something was up.

you immediately got up and walked over to him as Toby was taking off his hoodie and mask. you reached over to his hand to hold it and Toby slapped it away.

“are… you okay? you can talk to me, ya know.” you ask him concerned

“get the fuck away from me.” Toby said firmly. your eyes widened, stepping back and giving him some space. you already knew what was gonna happen next so you just decided to leave

“where the fuck are you going? what? think i’m gonna hurt you or or or or or something? cause i’m ssssssssooOoooOo f-f-f-fucked up?!” Toby yelled. all you did was grab your phone and walk out then booking it to Nina’s room

thats how most of you fights go, he never tries to get physical but it can happen

he apologizes like crazy after, usually with tears cuz he thinks you’ll leave him

and because he’s so nervous and scared, his tic’s are going off like crazy

with all his stuttering, random phrases and sobbing, he’s very hard to understand

you sat on Nina’s floor of her room as she brushed and played with your hair while you talked about what happened. you knew everything would be okay but you were just worried about Toby. you were thinking about asking Slender to lay off on the missions for a while

“look, babes, i know you’re worried about him but you should be worried about yourself too!! how many more fights can you take?” Nina spoke worrying.

“we really don’t fight a lot!! and plus we only do when he’s upset, i know he doesn’t actually want to fight!! you just don’t see how he is after.” you said firmly. it felt weird to defend him but you knew that he wasn’t actually pissed at you

Nina sighs as you pass her a hair tie and she finishes off your braid. you both hear a knock on the door, immediately knowing who it is. you glance back at Nina and she gets up to open the door.

“well hello Toby, i’ve been waiting” Nina says. “you better give her a good apology.” she says firmly but quietly as she walked out. Toby walked in and sat on the floor next to you. you both sat in silence for about a minute.

“i’m so sssSsSsorry, i’m truly sorry. i shouldn’t h-h-have done t-t-that, i had no reason to be maDDd aaaaatt you.” Toby finally spoke up, immediately starting to sob. you sighed, smiling.

“oh baby, im not mad. i know you don’t actually wanna fight.” you said softly. he looked over to you, tears streaming down his dirty face. you cupped his face a wiped away what you could, pulling him into you closer.

“what do you say we hop in the shower, your still covered in dirt and blood.” you said chuckling. all the boy could was nod.

on a happier note! other than the once in a while fights, Toby is actually very sweet but he can get possessive

he’s only somewhat controlling. he doesn’t really like the idea of you belonging to him but you are his

if that even makes sense 😭

he will call stuff like “mine, my love, my baby” etc etc

he’ll let you go out in revealing clothes but he has to be near you at all times

you and Toby were walking around the outside of the mansion (slender wouldn’t you guys leave). you were wearing almost booty shorts and an off the shoulder band tee. Toby thought you looked so cute, he was obsessed with your outfit.

you guys were just holding hands and talking about whatever, Toby leaving an occasional kissing on your hand here and there. it wasn’t that hot out this morning, it was nice. not much wind either. all of the sudden, Toby stopped walking

“what? what happened?” you asked confused. no answer but he let go of your hand and walked up to the corner you guys were about to turn. peeking his head around the corner like a cat only to see Jeff the killer practicing with his knives.

he immediately takes off his hoodie and wraps it around your hips, leaving him with a wifebeater and a pair of baggy cargo shorts on. instead of taking your hand this time, he grabs for your waist

he then starts walking, you following in his lead. you glance over at Jeff then back to Toby and right there, you immediately figured out what was happening. and you couldn’t lie, it was kinda sweet

he’s got a lot of respect for you, and women just in general

like what do you mean you go through horrible pain and bleeding once a month but still have to deal with sexism?

it doesn’t add up for him

he’s always had a respect for women because of his mother and sister being the only reason he actually survived his childhood

he’s always trying to break the gender roles in your relationship

“ no, i can cook today. no, you should be on top. no, im not calling you my bitch. no, ill never call you a bitch.”

he HATES when people call their partner “my bitch” or anything like that

moving on!

bros a cuddle bug

all up and on you whenever and wherever

PDA is his personal favorite

Toby’s top 5 favorite ways to cuddle!:

5: you laying on your stomach while Toby sits on your ass or back

4: him laying on top of you

3: standard spooning (preferably you being little spoon)

2: sitting on your lap or the over way around

1: honeymoon cuddle, which means sleeping sideways and trying to get as close together as possible

it was a pretty busy day at the mansion and Slender had given you chores all day while most of the others were out killing. most of the proxy’s got night missions, which means Toby would be back pretty late. you wanted to be up when he came back so you picked up a book and began to read it.

it was around 11:48pm when Toby came back. he walked into your room to take off his shoes, mask, hoodie, goggles, and leave his axe too. he quickly ran over to you with a heavy breath

you looked up from your book and stared into the boys dark brown eyes. he kissed you passionately, almost starting a makeout session with you. his hands cupped your face as he started kissing you faster. but then he pulled away

“oh g-g-god, i’ve been waiting for that all day. i’m gonna gooOoo showEr, kay? i love you and ill be right back” Toby explained before leaving one more quick kiss on your cheek

when Toby came back and changed into his pjs, he immediately crawled into your arms. he was sat in your lap and was definitely more important than that book you were reading before. you started to rub small circles into his back

“oh love, i’ve been a bit worried about you. i swear, slender needs to stop sending you on these night missions before i get a heart attack.” you said, pressing small kisses onto his face here and there

“babe, i know you don’t like them and believe me, i don’t ether. but please just trust me, ill be okay. i mean slender has sent me on a mission that lasted a week before and i have no doubt it will happen again. these missions are like nothing to me.” the boy reassured you

you smiled, kissing his cold lips passionately. you wrapped your arms around his neck to pull him in closer. his hands immediately went to your waist, sliding up and down slowly. lets just say you guys made out for the rest of the night

NSFW

this man is a FREAK.

he always makes sure you’re satisfied, you are his top priority

he wants to hold your tits during sex. not grab but just touch ‘em

he loves to involve your tits with the sex. cuming on them, sucking them, playing with them, etc

sucking on them? what kinda freaky shit is this?

he will go CRAZY if you let him suck your tits

toby laid on top of you while pressing small kisses and hickeys on your neck. he wanted to go a little further so the boy let his hands go up your tank top. his brown eyes lock with yours, asking for permission to take off the small piece of clothing

you nodded, cold air immediately hitting your hard nipples. all toby could do was look in awe. his mouth immediately crashed onto your soft boob. kissing and licking around your nipples, little whimpers and whines leaving your mouth

“uh c-C-can i suck them..?”

you nodded and he moved on your sensitive nipples. licking and taking your breast into his mouth the best he could. Toby loved to see you all whiney and overstimulated under him. you could feel him getting harder

he’s pretty average when it comes to size but boy, he knows what he’s doing

toby had an insane porn addiction before you both met and omg, he watched everything

because of that, he will try anything and know how to do it

wanna peg him? he’s already bought the stuff. wanna have buttsex? he’s got lube. want him to eat ur ass? so down and ready.

honestly though, toby loves to just fuck like normal. doggy and cowgirl are his favorites.

“you sure your ready?” toby said teasingly.

“god, Tob’s, just fuck me already”

after what felt like forever, toby slowly slipped his dick into your dripping wet cunt. he groaned as your eyes fluttered closed. his cold, dirty hands began to feel around your thighs as he held you up.

“okay love, im gonna move” you rolled your eyes. his pace started out slow but hard. after a while of fucking once a week, toby knew exactly were all your g spots were. he would tease you a bit by almost hitting it and then hitting it.

you moaned and begged for toby to sped up but he kept his pace. it was slow and painful but god it felt so good. he started to speed up slowly. you moaned and groaned, only making him go faster and faster

he love love lovessss to go at it for hours but only if you’re up to it

and ONLY if you want too

“consent is sexy baby” -toby 2024

he wants to see you begging on your knees for more

on average, you guys are having 3-8 rounds everytime

cum stained sheets just turn him on more

heavy breathing fills the room, toby laying on top of you. his hands rubbed your stomach while his throbbing member was still inside you. as you felt it pulsing, it only turned you on more and more. 

“…hah…b-bAby, do you wanna go again?” the boy said as he pulled out. his hand now rested on your face as him thumb trailed across your cheek.

“fuck yeah.” you sighed out with a smile. toby smiled, quickly grabbing your waist and thrusting back in. a sharp moan escapes your lips while toby grunts

hardcore aftercare everytime

“are you okay? did i hurt you? was it good? are you in pain? do you need anything? do you want anything? do you wanna your put clothes back on? do you want my clothes back on?”

so. many. questions.

he just loves you and doesn’t ever wanna hurt you

he WILL cook you a full course meal. i mean, it won’t taste good but hey its the thought that counts

you moan loudly, coming down from your high. you immediately collapse on top of him while sliding him out of you. chest to chest, your breathing intertwine’s and your body becomes one with his.

“oh baby i love you but i’m done” you say sleepily. your hands run through his dirty, brown hair.

“that-tha-thats okay!! are you alright?” toby says concerned.

“yeah, yeah. i’m just uh tired” you reassured him, still playing with his hair a bit.

he started to rub your back in small circles, kissing your forehead ever so gently. your hands let go of his hair, wrapping your arms around toby’s neck, pulling yourself into him even closer. he breathed in deeply and slowly exhaled.

“oh i love you my darling, a-AAnd not just for sex. your so much more than that, *we’re* so much more than that. of course i-i-i love your body and the way you moan and and and everything else. but i love all of you.” toby said lovingly

[friendly-emerald-emily]

molly is such a fascinating character to me. and surprisingly, not because of her content in the show. but her lack of content. molly really felt like to me she was supposed to be the break-out star of the HiT era. let me explain why.

in short, it's all down to marketing and merchandise. i'm a massive HiT era apologist, mostly because it's the era of ttte i grew up with, but as i was looking through my catalogue of merch, i noticed something...molly was popping up. a lot. weirdly so.

i have a good amount of those briarpatch ttte board games, and typically they were for 4 players, and as such 4 engines were provided to play as: thomas, percy, james, and...molly? at first it seems weird, but when you think about it, it makes sense. molly rounds out a quartet themed around red, green, blue, and yellow, and also adds in a female character. i think that last bit is important, but i'll get to it later.

so i went digging, and the 4 player briarpatch games pre-molly usually had mavis in her place, likely also to add female representation, just swapping yellow for black. there are a few exceptions, i recall seeing toby and harvey instead, but again, it was mostly mavis.

looking at more merchandise outside of board games in this era, molly got quite a bit of focus. she was part of a set of 4 bath squirters along with thomas, percy, and james, and what i find most shocking, she was one of VERY few engines to receive a trackmaster remote control engine. molly also was featured on a 2008 great discovery trading card, even though she only had one line in the entire movie.

after this, i went digging deeper into the world of the thomas microsites and online games, where molly also had a strong presence. the quartet of thomas, percy, james, and molly continued in the simon-says type memory game (i think it's called 'peep peep!'?) and molly also appeared in the emotions game, but this game featured 5 engines, and the fifth...was emily. remember my point theorizing that molly was focused on because she was a girl? here's where it's important.

this five engine ensemble of thomas, percy, james, molly, and emily is repeated again in the plug n' play game 'right on time', a game that i own and remember fondly. emily was chosen again to fill the fifth slot, and i think it's because HiT wanted to have a gender-equal ensemble a la bwba. and i think molly was chosen specifically not only because her yellow paint is unique and for her gender, but because she is probably the girl character at the time that had the most opposing personality to emily. as we all know during this time, emily was interesting and had flaws unlike SOME OTHER ERAS- portrayed as having a very strong and opinionated personality, which would easily contrast towards molly's more shy and sensitive personality. both have also been described as having sisterly attitudes towards other engines. i think HiT wanted to prove in this 5 engine ensemble that they had varied writing for their female characters.

for all of this, i think that molly WAS supposed to be a much more important character than she turned out to be, mostly because she was marketed so heavily and disproportionately than her screen time would lead you to believe. molly also appeared more often than the other HiT newbies (bar rosie), but that isn't really saying much with how little other characters like neville or billy appeared. i don't know why molly was dropped so suddenly when the set up for her seemed to be there? only thing i can think of is that emily had just been moved to tidmouth sheds right before series 9, and that they didn't want to repeat that process?? idk i'm just spitballing because i've been thinking about molly a lot recently. on a small related note, her basis is also very specific and her design is SUCH a standout compared to other new characters at this time, so clearly effort was put into her. i wonder how different the series would have been if molly was elevated to prominent secondary character status like salty or mavis, or even main character status!

tl;dr i think molly was originally going to be important but then she wasn't :(

[whole-circus]

Can you do when the Proxies, Eyeless Jack, and Slenderman, find out the reader has a extra appendage like a tail? Although the reader doesn't hide it they just use it like a belt but rarely use it?? (How has your day been? Also please make sure to not stress yourself)

Creepypastas with reader that has a tail!

➥ with "Ticci" Toby, Masky, Hoodie, Eyeless Jack, Slenderman

Hi love!!! Thank you and remember to take care about yourself too!!<3 Im going a bit insane in my room lol But I hope you felt at least okay!

˚　　✦　　　. ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚. 　　　✦　　˚

"Ticci" Toby

Toby finds you so cool! He wouldnt really notice at first that its actual tail, but how long he can stay clueless? When he finally gets it, he is so excited i swear. You almost make him wish that he had tail instead, but he cant complain since his partner have it! Toby will beg you to touch it and play with it, he is way happier about the tail than you (and you literally live with this things.. with tail, not toby). Loves to lay down with you and cuddle, your tail wrapped around his hand/ leg/just anything. Loves playing with it when he needs to keep his hands busy. Toby would be also respectful if you dont like having your tail touched becasue i can only imagine how sensitive it is, just say the word and he will act like it doesnt even exist congrats, now he will play with your hand!

Masky

Honestly wouldnt make a big deal out of it? Masky is a simple man, and i feel like he wouldnt even noticed at first if you wear it as belt, would just think that you have weird fashion sense but who he is to judge?? But then it turns out that its actual tail? You are person of many suprises, arent you? Listen, he would definitely calls you some of this cheesy petnames like kitten or puppy just becasue of your tail 💀..like please, punch him or something. Overall good boyfriend, will fight for you and stroke your tail??

Hoodie

Good luck with him! Hoodie wants to touch it a lot! Its not like there are a lot of chances in life to pet someone tail, huh? Who can blame him in such cruel condictions..? Even if you use it as a belt, he loves when you just..let it swing by itself! That way he has easier acces to it, and i mean it - boy is in heaven. He would definitely tease you so so much! Hoodie will anno and you can expect at least couple of funny comments about your tail daily (or at least he thinks they are funny). I see him wearing a fake tail just to mess with you to be honest. Hoodie isnt the worst person, you will definitely get a lot of attention from him! Is it good or bad? I will let you decide!

Eyeless Jack

Okay, Jack really enjoyes having "not-so-normal" partner (well, in term of being a human). He tends to be a bit insecure sometimes about what he is, so you make it all a bit easier to him to be honest. Doesnt feel as weird - and of course he doesnt want you to feel this way! He is pretty observant (and well, have amazing senses), so propably noticed it when you used it as a belt, no need to tell him twice! Absolutely loves to make you flustreted!! Will tease the shit out of you, i mean it. Definitely will like to caress it and play with it (pls he is a bit like a cat), later will chuckle in his husky tone when you are embarassed and tell him to stop

Slenderman

Slenderman wont say too much..well not like he is the most talkactive person! He is fascinated by people, loves observing them and to learn about their nature..does it really matter for what reasons? We will just move on with that.. Anyways, if you ask me, Slender as not-human-creature likes seeing how everyone is diffrent event tho he had seen already a lot! There is really tiny wall between his hate and fascination for humans. But dont worry, its you who we talk about! He will ask some questions, but in his subtle and gentlemanly way! It doesnt matter to him if you are a bit diffrent, becasue he sees it more as your advantage than disadvantage! Slenderman would be more into intelect than look anyway i think. Wont touch your tail tho..well maybe not without your consent, but he just doesnt really care, he has seen almost everything in his 'life'.

˚　　✦　　　. ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚. 　　　✦　　˚　

[j0eyj0rdis0n]

heyyy i know this is weird but i need some creeps angst in my life so could you write the general creeps finding you dead?

thank youuuu i love your writing sm!!

You know honestly me too. I live for creeps angst/angst in general so I’m happy to give it to you! Angst writing is actually strangely comforting to me too.

THE CREEPS FINDING YOU DEAD

JEFF THE KILLER

Finding you dead wasn’t on Jeff’s bucket list at all. It hadn’t crossed his mind that he could come home one day to find you slaughtered just like he did today. Your blood ran through the grooves in the tiled kitchen floor as he stood above you.

Jeff had felt rage before, but nothing like this. Nothing so burning, nothing so strong. He knew he was hated, but that had nothing to do with you. Nothing.

He stormed out of the house, going house by house, neighborhood by neighborhood. Murdering, killing, slaughtering, torturing. One by one. Person by person. Each time leaving at least one alive to witness, to feel the immense pain that he did. The agony of losing the one you loved.

All of this was for you. A final way to show his love.

“TICCI” TOBY

Coming home late from missions was a common occurrence. He often found you curled up in your blankets sound asleep. And honestly he couldn’t tell the difference until he took his place next to you in bed. He felt something wet against his neck, feeling around further to find a majority of the bed to be just as wet. Toby quickly turned on the light, turning to find your blood staining the sheets.

“N-no! Y/N fuck!-“ He tried doing CPR like EJ had taught him. But his mind was running a million miles an hour and the cracking of your ribs as he tried the compressions quickly deterred him.

Toby felt his heart shatter as he realized this was it… You were gone and there was no way to save you…

He turned from your lifeless body, clutching his head and breathing heavy. He felt like he was dying too. His chest tightening and his hands shaking. He felt tears running down his face as he fell to his knees, rocking back and forth while trying to calm down.

“No- n-n-no- no-“ was all he could repeat to himself as he tried his hardest to self soothe.

TIM/MASKY

“Honey I’m home!” He called as he shut the front door. Tim had just come home from getting the groceries you asked for. You had told the creeps that you’d make dinner tonight if they felt like coming over.

When no response came he felt a wave of worry rush over him. He swiftly dropped the plastic bags of groceries and began looking through the first floor of your shared house. He climbed the carpeted stairs with heavy anxious steps from his hefty work boots, pushing open your bedroom door he found you. You lay out on your large bed, your dress soiled in crimson blood. He didn’t even dare enter the room, he couldn’t.

His body was frozen in place as he stared… He felt his hands tremble as he looked you over from afar. Your skin had gone pale, your chest unmoving… Every part of him wanted to lose it. He wanted to scream, yell, break down and cry, smash everything in sight. But his body remained frozen. Even through the whirlwind of emotions going through his head he stood still. All he could do was stand and stare.

It felt like seconds but hours had long passed and he felt a hand on his shoulder. Only then did he slowly turn his head to see Jeff. He had never seen him look so somber.

“Let’s go man… They’re gone…”

BRIAN/HOODIE

You’d been on a mission together, get equipment from the hospital nearby and get out. It had seemed like an easy job, you both walked into it with full confidence. But running out in your partners arms, you didn’t feel confident at all.

Your side burned from the bullet lodged deep in you. Holding back tears was a battle you couldn’t win as you writhed in pain in Hoodie’s arms. Only when he deemed you two were far enough away did he let you down, laying you gently on the grass. The bleeding was worse than he had first thought. He watched as your movements slowed, your eyes fluttering. The masked man worked quickly to try to stop the vicious bleeding. Applying heavy pressure against your wound, barely whispering words of assurances as he tried his best to keep you alive.

He was glad his mask was on because underneath it all he was freaking out. His gaze was crazed, his eyebrows upturned in worry as his gloves soaked up your warm blood. It wasn’t long before your chest fell one final time and your heart stopped beating.

His hands shook as he pulled them away, rising from the ground and running as fast as his legs would carry him.

EYELESS JACK

As soon as he heard your heart stop beating from the other room he went running. Scrambling to get to you, to save you. He started compressions immediately, hands precise as he worked to bring you back. He knew you were seriously ill, he had been doing everything he could to heal you, to make you better. He didn’t realize all he had done was prolong your pain.

If he knew it was this bad he would’ve made you as comfortable as he could. He would’ve let you go…

Right..?

He was selfless enough to let you go wasn’t he? He wouldn’t keep you around selfishly…?

He worked for close to fifteen minutes, working up a sweat. Hoping, praying that you’d open your pretty eyes to him. His chest sunk when he realized there was no hope for bringing you back. Taking off his mask, Jack climbed into bed and curled into you. The demon stayed next to you, inhaling your sent until your warmth had disappeared. Even after you’d gone cold he stayed. He growled when anyone dared take a step into the room, snapping when anyone even got close.

Only on his terms would he prepare you for a funeral.

[necroromantics]

TicciWork is a great ship for angst, but what about the fluff?

- Both Clockwork and Toby HATE being touched unless its by each other. Clocks love language is physical touch so she's always holding Tobys hand or awkwardly curling her body in with his. Toby gives really good hugs and its like their bodies were made to embrace

- Toby knows just how to make Clockwork laugh, even on a bad day. She'll be in the worst mood and he'll know exactly what to say/do to calm her down and get her to crack a smile. She'll try to fight it back, but Toby will just push harder until she gives in

- He loves her laugh. Most people think its a bit too loud, obnoxious, but he loves her cackle more than anything. He'd throw himself to the ground just to hear her laugh

- On the other hand, Clockwork gets so embarrassingly flustered when Toby smiles. A big toothy grin, beaming like the sun. She gets all red and butterflies she can't explain. Whenever he smiles at her she has to look away before her heart explodes

- Both of them have their fare share of bad sleeping habits. The best sleep they get is when they fall asleep together

- Toby is the only person Clockwork has told about her trauma. And he's the only person who said it wasn't her fault

- He's also the one who encouraged her to draw again, the first one to compliment her art, call her talented, say its cool and unique instead of weird and inappropriate

- Clockwork doesn't care about much, she's reckless and emotionally repressed, but she worries so much about Toby it pisses her off. She always makes sure he's eating properly, staying safe on missions, looking after himself, etc

- Shes also overprotective of him. If anyone insults him, treats him badly, puts him down, they're immediately on her shit list. Its them against the world, and she's not going to let the world hurt her boy

- Their relationship is very equal effort and they have such a deep care and understanding for each other. Toby has a history of being around people where he has to give everything to keep them safe, but with Clockwork he can finally relax

- The only time Toby has ever felt at peace is with Clockwork

- Toby thinks she's the coolest girl ever, this idiot genuinely has the biggest most pathetic crush on her which he tries to hide and fails miserably

- They have very similar music tastes, they banter, gossip, have fun together. Toby will burn CDs of all her favourite songs, Clockwork will draw him things. Their relationship has a strong foundation of friendship, and an even stronger foundation of admiration and love

[sklives]

About team Hebi/Taka and team seven

Part 02

So this led us to team Hebi and team Taka… ok ok, I know it's the same group of people and all, but hear me out.

Well, in chapter 344 Sasuke made an interesting allusion about snakes and hawks and so then called Orochimaru a snake and Sasuke himself as a hawk.

But then the first name he gave to his team was hebi (snake). I don't know if everybody is aware of the fact that the names Sasuke has chosen it's linked to how he sees the world.

Hebi, as a snake, Sasuke has one only target and it is the only thing he could see in front of him. Sasuke walks on the ground having a limited perception of the world he lives in.

At the moment Sasuke learned the truth about Itachi he also became aware of the corruption in the world, so as a hawk, he started to fly and have a better perception of everything that happens beneath his eyes. So then he became Taka.

And he had two moments as Hebi and Taka. Hebi with Itachi and Danzo and Taka with Tobi and when they revived the Kages.

Well well well… This can also be applied to the other members of the team.

Each of them has an objective. Suigetsu wants Kisame's sword, Karin wants to stick around Sasuke and Juugo has some kind of duty to see if Sasuke is strong enough to be Kimimaro’s memento.

And everything changed when Itachi died.

I don't know if we can assume that Juugo knows about Sasuke's past, but surely Suigetsu and Karin knew.

It wasn't shown, but for sure Sasuke had told them what happened and again they had to choose to be with him or not because the reason why they were reunited was to find Itachi, however, now the story is different, so then they stayed and fought for Sasuke's purpose.

And that's why I like so much team taka, each of them has something in common with Sasuke, as if each of them reflects a bit Sasuke's history and trajectory, so this the reason why they stood with him no matter what, they understood him (even more than Naruto, sorry)… that's why Kishi has this urge to create a team for him.

Who will follow Sasuke? People that are equal to him.

And the same goes for Sasuke. He acknowledged them because he knows they share the same pain and loneliness and that's what makes them strong.

And the point is: the moment all of them change for taka we could see their real intentions.

Karin and Juugo databooks shows it clearly.

Kishi himself wrote questions for the characters and that's great because in the next databook he answers those same questions.

For Karin

We already knew that Karin had feelings for Sasuke, but at the beginning we saw the characterization of a fangirl with pervert thoughts, and unfortunately, the data release of her first databook was made one year after her debut in manga, so unlike Juugo and Suigetsu, Karin’s past background was never mentioned in the manga. So, basically the databook series was released in the middle of volume 43 and 44 at the moment Hebi became Taka, so eventually we had the first information about her.

Her heart and mind was with Taka and she never felt loyalty towards Orochimaru, she stayed in ottokagure because of Sasuke, but why?

Her databook came at the moment she turned in Taka showing us her true self and true history.

This leads us to the other databook where we learn about chapter 480, the reason why she stayed with him, demonstrating a selfless love and showing her real intentions as a Taka member.

It's important to point out that the last databook series was released close to the last chapter of the manga.

So at the end we learn her history and why she felt so close to Sasuke.

With Juugo we had something more subtle. His first intention was to see if Sasuke was worthed to be Kimimaro's memento, so he needed to see with his own eyes because for him only Kimimaro's wishes mattered so in the beginning Juugo was testing Sasuke's intentions.

The translation is kind of weird and has a huge difference between the Brazilian Portuguese translation, it says “but then a light shines, the one for whom Kimimaro gave his life… Sasuke. So Juugo came out of his own isolation to test Sasuke’s power.”

Here we don't see nothing new from the manga

But here Juugo had finally recognized Sasuke's power and wishes, not only as a memento, but as the person Sasuke was. So we can assume that this changes began after Itachi's deaths when Sasuke's purpose changed, at that moment Juugo’s changed too.

For that, my point of view is the thing: Juugo didn't know about Sasuke's past, but at the moment he was aware of all of the history he just wanted to be the person Kimimaro was to him and this lead us to another detail in Juugo's changes as a Taka.

This painel here

Ladies and gentlemen, Juugo was putting Karin's wishes above Kimimaro's, and therefore, he was thinking about Sasuke's well being too. So this is a markable point for his character guuys, can you see why?

Juugo no longer protects Kimimaro's interests which were the same as Orochimaru's, he is no longer a Hebi (or what we saw in my previous post) that he is no longer Orochimaru’s Hebi… He is now part of Taka and he does everything to protect Sasuke's will.

Another thing that is very important to point out is that part in the databook it says “Imprinting in these eyes Sasuke's existence, he pushes forward towards the ninja world in turmoil.”

Juugo is described as a gentle person that doesn't wanna fight or hurt anyone, but for Sasuke he made sacrifices and fought whenever it was necessary…

Suigetsu, he was more difficult to understand because he had one and exclusive goal that never changed, so he said to be with Sasuke to have a chance to capture Kisame's sword and that it was when he was a Hebi.

But when his first databook came out we got to understand why he wanted that so bad.

This dream wasn't exclusive his and he didn't only wanted to collect swords, his dream of rebuilding the seven ninja swordsmen came as a result of his brother's death.

And those same informations repeated in his last databook.

But, unfortunately, all his path was a waste of time. Kishimoto just forgot about it and somehow he didn't know what to do with Suigetsu after all, not only him, but team taka as a whole and that's so sad. Actually, at the end, Suigetsu got the executioner ‘s blade back? I Don't remember that.

Anyways, Suigetsu turned out as a Taka in the moment we discovered about his brother and it seems his brother was his only bond, somehow he extended this bond with the rest of team taka at the point of sacrificing his own life for them. I believe that the moment Suigetsu knew about Itachi, he thought about his own brother and wanted to fight for Sasuke's purpose too.

He wasn't just looking for swords after all, in the end he was looking for freedom too.

Read this one {∆}

That's it, team Taka is a resemblance for Sasuke, they were written exclusively for his trajectory and each of them can understand Sasuke better than anyone.

That's why they tag along and stay together. Unfortunately they didn't have a place to return, and even though Kishimoto gave ambitions and goals to each of them, in the end, Team Taka remained in the same place that took everything from them… Just like Sasuke as well.

Suigetsu could have returned to his homeland, Juugo wanted to stay in the land of lightning and Karin... Well, in a universe where Sasuke can't be with her, many possibilities to reconnect with the past or start over.

[nathantheauthor]

"𝙃𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙, 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙖𝙢. 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚."

Toby by Madame Macabre.

Y'all were desperate for him, he won by a massive majority vote... So I present my take on Ticci Toby, as well as some of his relationships and what he's doing now, and fair warning, it's HEFTY. I do have to lay out a couple things before we actually get into his rewrite, because they are important for his character in the long run, especially to understand his story and themes.

The first of these articles that I have to lay out first is the concept and existence of Ripper Inc, as that is where he is currently aligned. The concept of Ripper Inc is the closest thing to the Creepypasta Family you will get in this universe, I found family and sort of reformation program for serial killers and monsters, pointing their homicidal tendencies and destructive capabilities towards those more deserving. Jack Revver (oc), the living skeleton behind it, has also turned it into a safe haven and protection for those hunted by or once influenced by cosmic entities such as Slenderman, Zalgo or even The Rake and HABIT. it's essentially giving characters that would have been better people under any other circumstance that chance to be better. Pastas who hunt pastas in a way. It also makes them celebrities, but I'm not going to get into that aspect as I'll see the faction itself for its own blog post.

The other main thing we need to get out of the way is that this variant of Toby was very much made out of spite for what the fandom did to him, and has also since become spite towards his creator. This doesn't mean his original origin is very much intact, but there are several changes that neither would have expected or planned out, in fact I don't even call him "Ticci Toby" at all, he's just... Toby. And I'll get into that and why later on in this post. But I present a more faithful reimagining of Toby Rogers.

Now! Let's actually get into it, and I want to start with something that does affect his design a little bit, and that is his equipment!

My Toby comes strapped with dual holsters and two sheathes, as well as two ammo belts wrapped around him. The reason for this being while he's still sports his iconic hatchets that reside within the dual sheets, the holsters and the ammo belts contains flare gun and a sig sauer P365, as well as their ammo.

Kind of the reason for the guns is because I always felt it a little bit weird that proxies mostly were given only melee weapons, especially in a world where any house you can break into you can just get shot. So, of course, Toby adapted and got the Sig Sauer, the flare gun was something he picked up afterwards, which out of universe is a reference to the burning of his house, but in universe it is a tool for hunts and just... Yeah, he won't hesitate to shoot somebody with it. Does he prefer melee? Yes, but he knows he's always going to be able to get close.

I've kind of made Toby into the asshole with a heart of gold archetype, he's a tsundere. Toby is rude, brutally honest, snarky and has sassy, but somewhat dry sense of humor. He's prone to depressive episodes, he's an overall conflicted person, one that's not even sure that he deserves redemption. I'm writing him that's how I see the natural progression of the original Kastaway Toby as a person.

I should also note that Toby does in fact have a small list of powers, as these are the baseline abilities I gave every single proxy. Toby has Captain America levels of strength, speed, agility and durability, as well as a healing factor that allows him to heal from minor wounds in a matter of 10 minutes and substantial damage in a couple hours.

One of the key distinctions between him and a lot of variants is the fact that when we first see him he's already been a proxy for years, he's in his mid 20s now, hell, he was already legally an adult by the time he was proxified, he was 19 during the events TICCI TOBY. I wanted to be more accurate to his source material for his age, as he's constantly getting shoved into the younger brother type role among a lot proxy interpretations, but he's not THAT young, he's at least a grumpy middle child.

Toby by the time we meet him is not a good person, but he can't be described as truly evil either, he's a victim of the world's darker side, from the cruelty of children to manipulators, a lot of his life was decided for him. But that doesn't excuse the things he's done, cuz ultimately, doing the things he's done are still, maybe out of necessity, but that doesn't make it any better.

Toby absolutely hates being referred to as Ticci Toby, the reason for this comes from the fact that this has been a name used throughout his life growing up to demean and mock his tourettes, to break him down, it's a nickname synonymous with bullying. This is something I've always kind of disliked the fandom form, using the story title as his code name instead of giving him a new one, so for this rewrite... During his team as a proxy, well, they call him "Matchbook". A permanent reminder the scorching fire he left his old home in, and a nod to the end result of a lot of his missions. However, nowadays he merely goes by "Toby", wanting to distance himself from his past and start anew.

Now, I'm sure this is what you're waiting for, the actual meat of his character, how I've completely restructured and rewritten his years as a proxy and what comes after. And we'll close out the thread with a lot of his relationships with those around him.

Toby's early time is a proxy was very much constant work, hit jobs, information scrubbing, stalking, and even stealing from police stations. A mind controlled pawn willing to do any odd job, he had nothing but orders left. It wouldn't be until after the first month that he would be brought to the "mansion", a dilapidated manner on the outside, but the interior was absolutely pristine, and it seemed to stretch on forever. In fact, it did, but other oddities were present as well, such as a door quite literally growing a name plate for him, or the living doll and undead nurse running around. Not that he could really feel anything towards it all other than cold and difference, that was the blessing of this situation, it was no longer just the physical pain that he didn't feel, but matters of the heart either for a time.

Of course emotional numbness didn't stay forever, and some of those around him began to become like family, a clawed entrance guard, a stoic tunnel dweller, a crimson artist, a fallen cop and even a missing soldier, they were the first things he's had to emotional connections since he vanished that night. He finally and fully settled into his life, knowing there was no way back for him and nor did his slender sickness riddled mind want to go back, he was a proxy to the end, a puppet on strings dancing to the static beat.

And it would be that way for the majority of his time as a proxy, mission after mission, and time spent with the few proxies he had gotten close to. Eventually it culminated into what would be his final day as a proxy for a long while. Thinking that Toby's ties had been completely broken, and that his missing memories we're finally and fully lost. During the final year as a proxy Toby was given a single mission, to hunt down and kill a woman who'd been close to figuring out his identity, an ultimately he did track her, and with pistol drawn... He found himself unable to fire, because what stood before him was his mother and everything came flooding back.

It was after this moment that Toby went on the run, taking his mother with him, and for months they were constantly moving, trying to throw off any of their would be hunters. A miracle fell into they're laps, as he saw her for the first time, Jane Phoenix. With the two of them brought before the skeleton, Jack Revver, their days of being hunted was over, as well Toby did not have the context for it at the time, deals were pulled to guarantee his safety.

The trio together, Toby Rogers, Jack Revver and Jane Phoenix, formed the organization known as Ripper Inc, Hired guns that handle contracts that I wanted Dead or alive, jobs that are usually considered suicide missions. It was because of a public incident regarding them that the world found out about the existence of monsters, but the veil of secrecy around the paranormal and supernatural have been truly shattered.

And this was his life for a while, he became a celebrity, he was free from the reign of the Slender Man, and most importantly, he'd found family and saved his mother. But nothing good lasts, and ultimately, in the same year, there would come again that shattered him once more. Didn't always been a hot shot, for all the months you've known her, but he never expected her to chase down Jeffrey Forester by herself, and there were three things that happened that night. Jane with ultimately be slain by the very man who made her what she is, a grieving Revver would be cited carrying her body through the streets in a vain attempt to get her help... And Toby returned to the proxies, he sought emotional numbness once more. How could he not? She was 19, she was the very age that he started at. A twisted mirror of sorts.

So yeah, that's all like pre-story open, that's all set before 2017. So this is where we first meet him, this is where we first pick up. In September of 2017, Jack Revver tracked him down once more, pulling him out alongside Heather Marshall, and with the choice to take one more. See unbeknownst to Toby, a truce had been formed, an agreement reached for reasons that only a couple years later he would find out.

There was a new found family, made of three familiar faces and a new one, he he hadn't ever met Bethany (Nina) before, but it heard about what Forester did to her family once they reach the offices, he felt... A sort of responsibility. Years have passed since then, and we're currently in the year of 2025. He has found a new family fully, been able to spend time with his mother, befriended other people like him, and even been on talk shows. Toby's.... Living a future he could have never seen. Often times he's still not even sure if it's deserved, he's killed countless, burned and destroyed homes and lives, but he's basically living the high life now.

He's in a high position the boot, as a founding member and one of the highest ranking members of Ripper Inc, and he almost gets the feeling, he's going to be the next head. Revver always told him of bright future, and often times Toby gets the impression that Revver is talking like he's going to die.

So, yeah, that's kind of where we are and where we leave him for now, so let's get into character relationships and dive into what his relationships were with his fellow proxies and the Ripper Inc family.

Proxy relationships:

Slenderman is probably one of the people he hates the most, if not his most hated. He is his a manipulator and abuser, the creature that's quite possibly the one who orchestrated his entire life to be as miserable as it has been. His freedom from the creatures control is something he's never going to give up again.

One of his most iconic dynamics, we'll dive into how he feels about Masky. He hates him. Toby and Tim often fight, Toby often pointing out the hypocrisy and arrogance in Tim's words, and Tim is often quick to point out Toby's lack of teamwork and rude attitude. Toby considers Tim to be a self-righteous and self-serving bastard. He hopes they never cross paths in a professional line of work again.

Hoodie is also rather hated Toby, and a good portion of this is due to the fact that hoodie does not care about people, he's begun to only focus on the mission. His indifference frustrates and worries Toby, making it so he'd deny in mission that he has to work with him.

His dynamic with Kate is probably one of the most healthy he has amongst the proxies, having formed a sort of sibling dynamic over the years. And even now, they're rather close, meeting up at the tunnels Kate spends most of her time every now and then. She's often one of the people Toby invites to the Christmas parties and ALWAYS shows up for his birthdays.

Toby and Own Allastar happy weather unique dynamic, much like Kate, he feels a sibling role, however he was the first to encourage Toby to pursue his hobbies outside of the missions, that a weapon wasn't the only thing he had to be. He was probably one of the most true friends Toby had ever had, and still is. The Red Artist's artistic depiction of Toby hangs within his bedroom.

Toby has very mixed feelings about Cody, this boy was made to replace him, he had been indoctrinated during Toby's months away. Ultimately, he believes X-Virus to be a good kid deep down, but can't bring himself to look the boy in the eye. He can't stand looking at his reflection, it makes him sick to his stomach.

His dynamic with Nightmare Ally is certainly a strange one, well they aren't on negative terms, he wouldn't consider them friends either, even if she still does occasionally help him, it's more of work acquaintances. And Toby is rather thankful she's one of the ones that often shows up as aid thanks to the truce.

His relationship with Ashlie is. . . Unique. They were briefly an item, he can safely say he's dated the boss's daughter. Although, the relationship died due to the lack of expression and communication on her side.

His relationship with Gregory Blaine is probably one of his most important, he was the small injections of morality back into Toby throughout his years as a proxy. Archive was, and is an essential part of Toby's foundations for the present. The former cop wasn't like the rest of the proxies, is frog's vacation wasn't made out of a choice to save the woman he loved. . . Toby respects that, maybe even envies it.

Probably the most surprising one, was Eric Watson, a former soldier who served in the Middle East after events of 9/11. Wildcard as they called him, was the very man that taught Toby how to shoot. The friendship they've shared is one Toby never could have predicted, and in recent years. . . He's lost contact, he's unsure where he went.

Tooru Jirou is someone Toby has VERY conflicted feelings towards, they get along well, and he does feel sympathy for her situation. . . But at the same time you can't exactly deny but it's all her own fault, play stupid games and you win stupid prizes. Adrenaline is definitely living with her stupid prize, whether she wants to or not. Regardless, they do often work closely together, she's even convinced him to appear on her streams.

Ripper Inc relationships:

Jack Revver is sort of the father Toby never had, a source of guidance and often the first to help him pick himself back up. Revver has shown Toby levels of kindness he's rarely seen outside select people, an unmatched sense of generosity and patience towards him. They'd start Ripper Inc together with Jane Phoenix, and it's made the two's bond unbreakable.

Toby's friendship with Jane Phoenix was like that of siblings, they bickered and fought, but deep down they always cared for the other. He still feels a sense of responsibility for what happened to her, despite knowing it wasn't his fault.

Bethany Gent (Nina Hopkins) is another he has found himself quite close with, as if using his sense of guilt and responsibility over what happened to Jane as a building block to protect Nina despite everything. She's a victim, just like him, and just like Jane was. Nina is one of the few people that can get him to go out shopping, acting as a sort of little sister dragging her older brother around. He'll never admit that it's kinda fun, he'd rather die first.

He's known Heather since their days as proxies, she'd served as a secondary motherly figure, somebody he could always depend on, one of the few cornerstones. Even now, he's still close with her, often going on missions together. Their bond has become inseparable. Rouge is one of his closest friends.

Liu Woods is, well, they get along alright, but he can't exactly really tell how he actually feels about the man, they haven't exactly going out of their way to befriend each other. Their relationship is strictly professional.

Nurse Ann used to greatly scare Toby, her methods we're far from humane or rational, but nowadays, he's doing quite close to the undead nurse, Annabelle Mia being his most trusted medical professional. They bonded over a shared distaste for Tim.

Jane and Mary Richardson have quickly become some of his closest friends, the two serving as elder sisters to him, with Mary often checking up on his mother for him while he's on a mission, and Jane serving as his personal trainer in hand to and combat. He's forever grateful to have met the married couple, they've had a positive impact on his life.

Eyeless Jack. . . Frankly scares him, such an unpredictable individual and one he could never spot unless he made his presence known. Sure, he'd trust EJ with field medical work, but just how literally talked and how hard it was to tell he was there in the first place. . . It just rather makes Toby uncomfortable.

His relationship with Korbyn JumpingEagle is one with a lot bumps, as initially she didn't truly understand his personality and who he was, and instead would opt to nag him and hit him with her trademark sass. Of course, overtime is they've become friends, given a couple near death experiences, it tends to bond people. They both pulled a better understanding of each other nowadays, even occasionally joking with each other.

Sally Williams and Lazari Swan are like the annoying youngest siblings to him, much like corbin, they were under the protection of Revver... And he's often found himself begrudgingly joining their tea parties or playing pretend with them. He for some reason just can't bring himself to be as mean as usual with them.

His relationship with scarecrow can best be summoned up as enemies to friends, they did try to kill each other in their first encounter. Once the circumstances had changed, they bonded rather quickly over there shared trauma with cosmic horrors, he with Slender, and her with Zalgo. They work rather well on the battlefield together as well.

Zero frankly weirds him out, the tulpa's bizarre antics almost never make sense to him and he's begun to learn not to question it. They get along all right, but he can't help getting the feeling that somebody's always crying for help when he looks at her.

Sadako is probably one of the weirdest dynamics he's had, I mean, there's not really much proper planning you can do around a media ghost who can now just travel anywhere she wants to the internet. They are in fact friends, but it does tend to lead to awkward moments and comedic situations half the times she appears. But alas, there's nothing to do, if she's the information relay.

Samantha Revver has shown that much like her husband, she quickly took on a parental role, and even became quick friends with his actual mother. The vampire has been nothing but kind to him, even going as far as to teach him how to cough to help him be even further self-sufficient.

Jana Revver has shown as well, that kindness. She's playfully picked on and teeth toby, but at the end of the day they act like siblings, she acts like an elder sister and almost reminds him of. . . Lyra. The entire Revver family has been like a second family to him. He wouldn't trade their bond for anything.

Jeffrey Hodek is somebody that Toby can't help but pay, before joining up with the group he was just a washed up and retired killer I wanted to live a normal life, but of course, as Toby knows well. . . Normal isn't an option for people anymore. They've got a rather friendly relationship, but ultimately they don't talk too much. Hodek is much more likely to hide up in his room and rewatch shows and movies the 80s and 90s.

Clockwork is... Natalie Oulette is an individual that greatly concerns him with her behavior, and yet... He finds himself strangely wrong to her, and ultimately they have gotten together. More than once. They're dysfunctional, sure, but they're actively working to find a way to make it work. If any song would describe their dynamic, it'd Your Stupid Face by Kaden MacKay.

Wow, this took so much longer than I thought it would but welcome to the end of the Toby information! Hope ya like this ramble!

[x-aefx]

ONE TIME THING - BELLA RAMSEY (PART3)

Pictures above are not mine

Summary: unbeknownst to you, you meet actor Bella Ramsey. You two hit it off but your paths lead two different directions.

Bella Ramsey x female reader

Warnings: none

Taglist: @evieguhbyebroski @amberputh @assgardangod @just-here-to-read-fanfictions @eddiesgirlsblog

I used she/them pronouns for Bella.

A/N: not proofread !

Part one⬇️

★★

The small piece of paper kept itself crumpled in the back pocket of your trousers for the remainder of your shift. Sometimes you found yourself holding onto it when you zoned out, like some weird necessity.

Everytime you thought your shift was near it's end, you'd look over at the clock and it was like it went back an hour. You didn't know why you were so excited. you knew bella gave you her number so you would text her, but you were dreadful at texting.

Just text bella like you text Aaron.

No. Definitely not.

The seventh time you looked over at the old clock that hung amongst the rest of the decorations displayed on the walls, you felt as if the guy in the clouds finally listened to you for once in your life.

All the burns and pains in your arms you had endured suddenly became worth it.

You ignored the confused faces off your coworkers as you sped past them and towards the door. The cold breeze hit your face Instantly, working in that stuffy café made it very much welcomed.

The taxi ride home was quiet. You exchanged a few words with the driver about the weather and what was happening on the news. The entire ride home your leg shook up and down, from the worry or nerves you couldn't tell.

You watched the life outside you pass you by from the window, 90s greatest hits played on the radio at a low volume, you had the urge to tell the driver to turn it up but decided it was better to leave him alone.

"here we are, miss. "

Your small home came into view. It wasn't the fanciest house, but it was yours and you loved it. It was a small two story brick house, ivy was growing along the side of it (you thought it looked pretty in a way) the design was something straight out of victorian times but that never bothered you. It was cozy and safe and you were able to call it home. Thanking the driver you stepped out of the black vehicle, your phone and purse in your hand.

Walking up the small footpath leading to the dark green door you listened to the sound of the taxi driving away amongst the other traffic, the sounds of children and adults conversing. You made a mental note to replace the flowers that were on your windowsill, their dying petals falling from the plant pot they resided in.

Unlocking the door you stepped out of your shoes and took off your coat. Making your way into the living room you dropped your phone on the couch. You paced back and fourth.

"this is so fucking stupid!" You groaned in frustration as you covered your face with your hands.

The sound of soft padding on the wooden floor captured your attention. Your frustration temporarily gone at the sight.

Toby ran as fast as any kitten could at only a few weeks old. He was only the size of your hand. He sat directly on your foot, looking up at you expectantly.

You laughed, all your thoughts completely gone.

Bending down to pick the tiny fluffball up you craddled him in your arms. Toby rested on his back in your arms, all four paws fighting with the air to try grab at your hair. You rubbed your hand on his white stomach, covered with thick fluffy fur. You kissed his nose.

"I love you buddy. But I wouldn't trust you to protect the house. you sleep in my bed for the entire day."

Toby let out a soft meow. Your heart melted, all the love you had for this little guy couldn't be normal.

"yeah yeah, your life is so hard." You teased. Bending down again you placed him gently on the floor.

Your head turned to your phone once again. You sighed. It was Bella. A complete stranger, but it was still just Bella. Why were you stressing? Closing your eyes for a second you tried to collect your thoughts. You came to the conclusion that a warm shower was needed right now. You would text Bella after.

Leaving your phone where it lay on the couch you made your way for the stairs, only to stop. You turned back around, looking at the floor where you stood, expecting to see Toby only for him to not be there. Your eyes moved to where you placed him Infront of the couch. Toby lay sleeping.

"you've got to be kidding me?" You rolled your eyes. Trust Toby to not be able to stay awake for more than five minutes. Walking back you picked him up again and held him in your arms as you made your way upstairs. Upon entering your room you placed him under your duvet against your pillows: his favorite spot.

Walking into the bathroom you immediately began undressing yourself. You wasted no time before stepping inside the shower. The warm droplets of water felt magical on your skin. The tension in your body relaxed, your mirror fogged with steam. Those twenty minutes you spent in the shower was the most peace you've had the entire day.

When you had eventually gotten out and dressed in a more comfortable attire, you briskly moved down towards the living room. Picking up your phone you walked back up the stairs, you were afraid the more you stopped to think about what you were about to do, the more likely you were not to do it.

Crawling beneath the duvet, you cuddled up beside Toby on your side. Unlocking your phone you typed in Bella's number, you were ashamed that you had stared at the number for so long that you had accidentally learned it off by heart.

What would you say?

Hey, bella, it's me a random texting you at night! How are you?

Hey! It's the girl that can't stop thinking of you!

Good evening Bella, it's the stranger who sat beside you on the bus.

Fuck. My. Awkwardness.

You envied Bella for her boldness. Perhaps if you had given them your number first, they would have to be the one to start the conversation first, not you.

Pondering it some more in your head, your thumb began moving around your keyboard once again.

Oh my god

Oh my god

Oh my god

The moment you pressed 'send' you regretted it immediately.

''They're going to think I'm such a weirdo.'' you groaned. You ruined all imaginary chances you had with Bella.

"why do I do this to myself?" You whispered.

★★

"I take offense! I give great advice!"

"right. And how exactly has that ended?"

"I literally get called 'daddy' everyday by people on the internet."

Bella rolled their eyes knowing Pedro could see it as they were on FaceTime.

Bella rested their chin in their hand as they continued to listen to Pedro's rambling. Laying on their bed whilst on call with Pedro was one of their favorite ways to spend their evenings, especially when moments like these were rare considering both of their busy timetables.

Bella's eyes briefly looked up at the incoming notification before going back to Pedro. Only when the realization fully hit them a second later did she do a double take. Suddenly sitting up on her bead, Bella reread the notification over and over again in disbelief.

It's was a message from an unknown number.

"hey, it's y/n."

A simple three word text that meant the absolute world to Bella. Their heart was beating like crazy at the thought of you. Bella could imagine your face in their mind right now. You standing there looking all pretty.

Bella smiled widely.

They were terrified that they had scared you off, creeped you out by showing up at your work and giving you their number before they ran off. And when you hadn't texted them earlier, it confirmed their thoughts in their mind. It saddened them, thankfully they managed to call Pedro at a time when he wasn't busy. Bella had managed to avoid the thought of you and the possibility that they had ruined all imaginary chances that they had with you.

Until now, now it was all they could think about.

"what's got you all smiley then, huh?"

"nothing, hey I gotta go-something came up-"

"Are you blushing!" Pedro accused whilst he laughed at his friends reddened face.

"no-i have to go bye!"

"hey you didn't answer my question -"

Call ended

Bella rolled onto their stomach as they opened their messages, clicking on your text. They felt all giddy inside, like they were a child again.

Quickly they typed out a response.

Bella bit their lip anxiously as they continually read over their response waiting to find something wrong with it.

"Please don't think I'm a weirdo" Bella whispered desperately to herself.

★★

You squealed once you read Bella's message.

There was no getting rid of the smile on your face.

Immediately you started typing again.

This time you felt a little less nervous about texting Bella, the nerves were replaced with excitement.

The 'sent' changed to 'seen' immediately. You watched with anticipation as the three dots moved.

You giggled. You knew Bella was referring to seeing them act on the show. You must admit the urge to ask a trillion questions about their acting career and each of their characters was strong, but you didn't want Bella to see you as some overbearing, nosy fan.

You were laughing now. Everytime you read another of Bella's texts, the more your face reddened and the fluttering feeling in your stomach multiplied.

You let out a breath.

You hoped you hadn't fucked everything up now.

Please don't think I'm a weirdo

★★

Bella's whole face was red now.

They smiled widely as they kept reading your messages.

You knew who they were!

The thought made Bella excited. A different sort of excitement, almost proud in a way.

You thought they were cool!

Bella laughed in joy and partly because of the flustered feeling they got from thoughts of you.

Play it cool Bella

Bella hid their face in their hands, dropping their hold on their phone instantly like it was lava.

Now matter what, their smile was not ceasing and neither were their giggles or butterflies in their stomach.

--

[pumpkinpartynoelle]

The Secrets of Power, Sin, the Weird Route, and More

Variable Angel Theory - Part 2

Hi! Noelle Holiday here!

I went over a lot in that last post, but I didn't go over everything. Partially because it would have taken too long (it was already over 10000 words), and partially because I hadn't found everything there is to find so far in Deltarune, and I'm sure I still haven't here.

My main goal is to refine my theory more and give you even more evidence, in case the original post didn't have enough to convince you. As it turns out, there's actually quite a lot more evidence than I thought there was, and considering how solid it already felt at the time, I'm more and more certain I'm right. Plus, I found a lot of new stuff too.

I’d also like to request anyone that finds this interesting please share it around (along with part 1 of course, for context), I want to start a community discussion on the topic.

Like in part 1, I’m expecting you’re at least mostly familiar with Undertale and Deltarune, and know all major routes released so far, because I’m not going to retread the basics. This post will contain spoilers for Undertale, and hopefully Deltarune as well.

Plus, of course, make sure you’ve read part one first.

Here’s the new stuff:

More info on “Power”, A.K.A. Soul Power

How Kris’s soul works, a unified explanation for the new abilities we have access to in Deltarune (and possibly even abilities we had in Undertale)

What the vessel in the intro is for

A general idea of Gaster’s involvement

A clearer picture of the ending

A more thorough analysis of Jevil and Spamton

An analysis of “Holy” and “Sin” in the same vein as "Angel" and "Demon"'s analysis in part 1

A guess on what the hell NEO is

An alternate purpose behind the DT extractor

The possible identity of the Egg Man?

A vague idea of what The Song from the Sea might be

A comically thorough analysis of Rouxls Kaard as an angel candidate

Save file mitosis

The worst plot twist of all time

Much like the last post, this won’t have exclusively stuff directly and immediately relevant to Variable Angel Theory in it, but will instead show most of what I found in the process of refining this stage of Variable Angel Theory. This is because of how interconnected everything in Deltarune’s world is, it can be hard to completely isolate one element from the others, and even the less relevant parts can still be useful context, so I’ve decided not to bother trying to separate them. You’re getting not just VAT, but a lot of the smaller stuff I found along the way. Just know that, if some parts are wrong, and at least something probably will be, that doesn’t necessarily invalidate the rest.

Finding more evidence isn't the only purpose of this post though, there's also just some stuff I decided I wanted to mention after I published the first one, so that'll be in here too. Originally I was just going to call this "Extra Thoughts", but there's more than enough stuff here that "Part 2" feels warranted. This post will probably end up bigger than the first one, so expect at least 10000 words, possibly closer to 15000.

Something to keep in mind about Deltarune, that I may not have placed enough emphasis on in part 1, is that the idea for Deltarune, and specifically its ending, came even before Undertale. One can expect then that many details in Undertale intentionally relate to Deltarune, and so far, that seems to be the case. That’s why I’m so confident making these connections based on information that isn’t directly in Deltarune itself.

Another important thing to keep in mind, again, is that we only have 2 chapters of Deltarune so far. With so little information, I’m basically forced to rely on foreshadowing, narrative parallels, double meanings, and the like as evidence for my theories. Aren’t we lucky, then, that Toby has proven himself a master of that craft? I’m willing to rely so much on this evidence that might be shaky or meaningless in any other game because this isn’t any other game, this is set to be Toby Fox’s magnum opus, and I’m confident he’ll put everything he has into its story.

I'll also be taking some other points as read that I hadn't before, most namely Timeloop Theory (that the game will end in a reset and the world of Deltarune is in a time loop because of this), and Jaru’s Asriel/Ralsei theory (the general idea of it, not the specific hypothetical scenario Jaru gave for how it could have happened). It's only relevant a few times in this post, and you still don't need to know it to understand what I'll be talking about for most of this, as long as you're willing to go along with me and trust that I believe it for a good reason. Or, dozens upon dozens of good reasons, as the case may be.

The game hints at both of these theories all over, pretty blatantly in a few places. I wouldn't assume them as true without being very confident in it, and the reason I’m choosing to take them more as fact here, aside from my being confident in them (I would genuinely be shocked if either were somehow incorrect in their broad strokes), is that these theories are somewhat important to certain parts of Variable Angel Theory that I’ll be discussing here.

Most of Variable Angel Theory and its branches remain valid without the Asriel/Ralsei theory (the time loop theory is a little more important since it’s the entire reason for the weird route at all), but since we’re now getting into the details and specifics, I don’t want to keep restricting the information I draw from. I was originally going to remove most references to Jaru theories, despite how well a few of them compliment VAT, to avoid hate related to him, but as I'm setting up this thing for posting, I've decided fuck it we ball. I've been working on this thing for like a year, I'm making it how I want it.

However, even though I’ll be assuming these theories as true, even the parts that involve them are often not vital to the theory. It’s strong enough, I think, that taking out some pillars won’t bring down the whole structure, so even if you don’t believe them, you’ll probably still get something out of this post. Quick primer on the Asriel/Ralsei theory for those who don’t care to look up the full reasoning: In spite of what Toriel believes, Asriel is dead (like in Undertale). Kris feels guilty for it and may have caused it (but if they did, without an intent to harm, their light world LV is still 1, or perhaps human LV starts at 0 and Frisk killed someone). Kris absorbed Asriel's soul (humans absorbing monster souls was clearly foreshadowed in Undertale but never happened), and Ralsei is a lightner/darkner hybrid made partially from Asriel's dust (hence his weird similarities to Asriel and Flowey, and why the game goes out of its way to never explicitly call him a “darkner”). Kris's unique soul means Asriel is the one possessing them (and the person we play as, similarly to how we play as Chara possessing Frisk in Undertale), and it gives Kris special powers like being the only one able to seal a dark fountain, grazing, shared damage between party members, etc., powers that, despite their variety, Variable Angel Theory’s understanding of soul power can and will explain fairly simply. I can’t tell you specifically how Asriel died, there’s just one or two pieces still missing, but there’s so much evidence pointing to it having happened that despite this I still have a lot of confidence in it. Kind of like Variable Angel Theory itself, actually! You can still get the big picture even if you're missing the details, I think.

I'm also assuming, of course, that you've read my first post on this theory before this one, as rehashing all of that groundwork would take way longer than is worth. If you haven't, maybe go do that or you'll be really confused. If for some reason you really just want to read this part and don’t care about the evidence I used for part 1, there’s a TL;DR at the bottom of that post. This one too, for the new stuff.

Soul Power: Determination, Magic, and Love:

To start us off, I have a better idea of what soul power is that I want to share, or more, a refinement of the idea I already had. I think that, much like determination, magic (as in, the magic used by darkners and some monsters in the dark world, as well as Undertale's monsters) is an aspect of soul power. We know that magic is strongly tied to the emotions of its users, as is determination, being a physical embodiment of the will to live.

Magic, too, operates on many of the same rules as determination, and so does a power like LOVE. So, I think all 3 of these are aspects of soul power. That explains how high LOVE manifests powers similar to determination, why monsters’ emotions have so much impact on their magic, and how Undyne was seemingly able to generate her own determination. It all comes back to emotion, and the power of the soul. In hindsight it's kind of obvious.

What can this tell us? In Deltarune, many party members show a magic stat. The tie between magic, determination, and LOVE may mean that someone's magic stat can be used to get a rough idea of their other soul power stats. And, of course, I have the most latent magic, having as much at LV 1 as Ralsei would have at LV 3. Ralsei seems very knowledgeable about and experienced with magic, one could extrapolate that he's probably the equivalent to a fairly skilled mage. If my base magic is above this, that backs up Queen's insistence of my latent power, and of course my candidacy for ascension in the weird route. Of promptly available choices for a new angel, my high magic stat may translate to high soul power in general, thus making me the best candidate.

Catti:

Of all likely party members we know of, Catti seems to have the most potential to rival me in magic. She has enough associations with it that it would be odd not to make her a primarily magic-oriented character, and the "nekomancer" pun feels too good for Toby to pass up. The earliest she'll show up, I think, is chapter 4, which, as I said in my last post, I feel places her a bit too late to be a serious angel candidate. I think, however, that she’ll have her biggest role in chapter 5, as I believe that’s the most likely chapter to take place in the church, a location that would fit very nicely with Catti’s whole theme and aesthetic. But really, who knows specifics? I sure don't!

What I'm wondering is, what will her magic stat be? For game balance reasons, it would make sense to have a higher magic stat than I do (11 at LV 1, 16 at LV 2 in the weird route), as most of the party will be at least LV 4, maybe even higher, by the time she joins. This should place Ralsei's magic stat around 13-15, possibly up to 18 or more depending on how violent you've been. Maybe Catti's spells will be stronger to compensate for her lower magic stat? Maybe she'll start with a higher LV?

My best guess is that I'll have higher magic at this level in a weird route, assuming I show up (I might not), but in a normal route, Catti's magic may be higher. Though, it's also possible that her magic will be extremely low, on the level of early-game Susie, despite her magic associations, and Toby will use this to make a point about the nature of magic and soul power.

Either way, I think that by the end of even a normal route, it will be farther hinted in some way that I have more potential power than Catti, regardless of what her stats are, and in a weird route, I'm sure I'll be much more powerful by the end than Catti would be. All signs point to it.

LV, Love, and LOVE:

So, what's dark world LV? It's a different stat than light world LV, so what's it mean? For the main members of the Fun Gang, LV increases upon encountering a dark fountain. This makes sense. The fountain seems to be raw magic, and magic, like determination and light world LV, is an aspect of soul power, so they have a solid connection. Light LV, though, is tied directly to killing, and Dark LV isn't. That explains why Dark LV, instead, is earned through exposure to fountains of raw soul power. This could be extrapolated to mean that all stats (HP. ATK. DEF. EXP. LV. (maybe not gold)) are aspects of soul power. Which, again, feels like it should have been obvious from the start, with the way emotions affect this, and maybe most other people have already picked up on it, but it was kind of a minor revelation for me. But, with most major stats all tied back up with soul power, it's almost like we've come full circle. It's a bit harder to say anything uniquely useful about them when they're all tied to the same thing. Either way I think magic in particular is the closest, other than maybe LV, to quantifying "power".

What strikes me as odd is that I start at LV 1, and while I can become LV 2 through the weird route, which I think makes some sense, I can also become LV 2 by just acquiring a title. This raises the question: is this purely a gameplay thing, or does this mean something? Do titles have some tie to soul power? Maybe! I think it's too early to tell either way. Maybe a title is somehow some achievement for your soul that allows it to draw on the power of others nearby? Maybe Kris being LV 2 at the time of title acquisition allows my soul to power up to that level? Or maybe it's related to their unique soul and the powers it has from absorbing Asriel? It could be related to why Ralsei levels up from dark fountains despite not directly being there for their closing. Kris's soul may be uniquely tied to party members, (like how everyone takes damage when Kris's soul is hit) so when Kris levels up, so do other party members. We'll have to see if other characters have their LVs raised mid-chapter this way, our sample size may just be too small, but with Toby it's never safe to assume that a gameplay mechanic is just a gameplay mechanic.

So, with basically every theme of the game tying back to the power of the soul, or the power of the heart, we have an explanation for the bizarre plot importance of all the romance theming, but that still makes Ralsei seem a little weird. My best guess is that Ralsei maintains the essence of affection for Kris from Asriel, like how he might have affection for Susie because of Asriel's interest in hot purple dragon girls (discussed a bit more in the next subsection, as it’s strangely relevant), but that affection takes a different form. It’s possible romance itself enhances the power of the soul, and the romantic implications of the weird route are in part a deliberate choice by the entity possessing Kris.

As a bonus, here are a couple more hints I noticed after the last post about Kris and Susie potentially having, or more likely, foreshadowing that they will have, a romantic relationship. Alphys subtly hints that, when she didn’t know where Kris and Susie went off to, she suspects they might have been doing something of a romantic or sexual nature together. When I show up, and ask Kris and Susie what they’re doing outside of the storage closet, the options are “hanging out alone in the closet”, obviously implying romance, and “crime”. Selecting “hanging out alone in the closet” leads to Susie stumbling over her words, acting almost flustered, and remarking that they were just “touching brooms”, a clear innuendo.

Kris’s Soul:

Speaking of Kris, I’m writing this section about 2 weeks after the previous one, and I think I’ve figured out sort of why Kris’s soul acts the way it does. I’ll go over all of Kris’s soul’s special abilities here (at least the ones new to Deltarune).

Shared damage between party members, and not dying until all of them are defeated

Grazing and TP

Shining “power” on a party member to grant them new abilities

Sealing fountains

Trance

Fighting battles even without Kris present in them (Susie Vs. Lancer)

Surviving briefly without a soul

Wielding determination without a soul

Raising stats without leveling up

I think Kris’s soul has the ability to “sync” with soul power, creating a line of connection between Kris’s soul and other souls and soul power. This alone can explain every single one of their demonstrated abilities introduced in Deltarune.

Shared damage between party members, and not dying until all of them are defeated

With Kris’s soul synced to the party, it acts as a shared soul between them for battling purposes. As such, they can all take damage when it does, and are only defeated when everyone is.

Grazing and TP

Bullet patterns are established in Undertale as being made of magic, and darkness seems to be magic manifest. As such, darkner bullet patterns are likely also magic. Since magic is an aspect of soul power, Kris’s soul being able to gain strength and share it with the party by staying close to concentrated soul power in the form of bullets makes complete sense.

Shining “power” on a party member to grant them new abilities

This ability, and the abilities it unlocks, require the presence of a fountain, because it provides the party with power that Kris doesn’t have inherently. Instead, it channels the fountain, made of raw darkness A.K.A. magic A.K.A. soul power, into the party to give them a boost while in proximity.

This also explains why the party only levels up when Kris closes a fountain, except me. Instead, my level syncs to Kris's when I earn a title, as matching the level rather than exceeding doesn't require the use of a fountain (probably). This may also be how Catti and other potential party members will get on par with party level. A good lore-friendly fix for scaling issues.

Sealing fountains

Because the fountain is made of magic, and can be opened with determination, one can assume soul power is also capable of sealing it somehow, but determination alone can’t make that happen. Instead, the hole in the fabric of reality created when the fountain was stabbed into existence can be sealed by connecting the soul power back together, patching the hole as if sewing it up. It’s a bit of a different implementation of a soul connection, but still follows a similar principle I think.

Trance

Soul power is heavily reliant on emotion, and trance seems to subtly manipulate its target to be more suggestible and open by syncing their souls together.

This could also explain how ACTs work, but that’s more ambiguous because Frisk can also ACT effectively. It’s possible that the presence of Chara within Frisk allowed them to ACT, and trance may be an ability associated more with combined souls/essences in general, rather than specifically a human soul that absorbed a boss monster soul. It’s also possible that, since Chara was absorbed by a monster, their spirit maintains the trance ability from that, since we don’t know for sure if a monster absorbing a human can use trance the same way a human absorbing a monster seems to be able to.

There’s also a chance that trance isn’t an ability tied to Kris’s soul at all, and it’s just tied to equipment, but I think it would be more narratively compelling if it weren’t exclusively an equipment thing. As I trust Toby’s writing to generally pick the most compelling option, I think it’s more likely that trance is actually connected to Kris’s soul, unless Toby has other major plans for trance, some possibilities for which I’ll explore later.

Trance is one of Kris’s abilities that I’m the least sure about. There are a lot of ways it could work and it may be distinct from Kris’s other abilities, but it doesn’t have to be. Toby could take it many different ways and it would still fit nicely, I think.

Fighting battles even without Kris present in them

While the soul is Kris’s, it isn’t Kris. We know Kris likes Susie, but so does Asriel, the other likely component of the soul, which we can glean from things like the How to Draw Dragons book, and Susie’s reaction to his room in Queen’s mansion, which implies Asriel’s search history heavily involves purple dragon girls, hence why Asriel didn’t want Kris to be able to see it and closes their eyes when attempting to look inside without Susie present. It’s also possible that Kris just doesn’t want to see their brother’s search history. Sharing a soul might mean Kris already knows how weird it is.

Either way, Asriel’s likely affection for Susie, combined with Kris’s, may be what gives the soul the ability to maintain its connection to Susie over a longer distance. We’ve always checked what Susie is up to at a distance, but never Ralsei, after all, but even if that changes I think there’s still merit to this.

Surviving briefly without a soul, and wielding determination without a soul

As the soul belongs to Kris, and can sync over short distances, Kris may still be able to use the soul’s power even while it’s not in their body. I’m imagining it like a cable astronauts use to tether them to their spaceship for spacewalks. Go too far, or stay out in space for too long, and it might snap, or you might run out of air. Figuratively, I mean.

Raising stats without raising LV

Defeating enemies with violence, as established earlier, can raise your stats. Much like the link to dark fountains, Kris’s soul establishes a link to the darkners they defeat, siphoning off a small amount of power from them, much less than a dark fountain, but enough that your stats can be increased by defeating multiple. Of course, this bonus is shared with the team through Kris’s soul sync as well, farther splitting the power and explaining why it takes so long for a relatively small increase.

If I had to guess on future abilities, the soul may have the ability to sync up with a target soul so forcefully that it can override their own control of their body. If this happens, it will likely be in the weird route, and I think this is what the vessel may be for. I’ll provide more details later. It also may be possible for Kris’s soul to drain a target’s power until there’s nothing left to take.

Funnily enough, you could call elements of this soul connection a “hyper link”, but as Spamton’s “[Hyperlink Blocked]” seems to just be a standin for the word “love”, that might not be intentional. Or maybe Toby is on some galaxy brain nonsense, it would certainly explain a lot.

Holy:

Undertale has no mentions of "holy" anywhere in its dialogue, so that’s a pretty easy one. Instead, I just want to mention something interesting I noticed. Like I talked about in the first post, the Angel religion shares a lot of similarities to Christianity. It doesn’t have sin as a concept, but other than that, the aesthetic resemblance to specifically Christianity feels significant, especially given its incorporation of angels, all the mentions of demons, the heavily implied existence of Christmas, that sort of thing.

One of Jaru’s theories (that I’m less confident in than the Asriel/Ralsei one but still seems like a valid possibility) is that, long ago, there was a previous angel, and that angel sealed away magic into the dark worlds, as well as memory of it, and gave the monsters physical bodies (that still turn to dust so monsters can maintain their cultural traditions involving it). If this is true, but that angel is no longer around, that could make sense, as the magic and the then-magical bodies of monsters would fall under the purview of an entity with significant control over Soul Power. So would memories, as we know from Undertale that a reset isn’t actually a perfect time rewind, since people still keep some memories, and Flowey specifically mentions erasing memories as a particular part of the reset process.

As such, the making of a new angel now calls to mind the second coming of Christ, with the roaring resembling the rapture, but instead of some people getting sent to heaven while others are left behind, the darkners are turned to stone and the lightners are left behind. It feels like an intentional parallel now that I think on it, which makes me even more confident I’m on the right track comparing some of UT/DR’s supernatural elements to their Christian counterparts. Plus that also explains why the angel religion exists at all, and seems to have been a presence in the world for a decent length of time. If the angel hasn’t been made yet, why would that religion exist, unless there used to be an angel long ago? The prophecy doesn’t seem well-known enough to have spawned an entire religion from it, especially in the light world.

Deltarune:

The “Holy” element

“Holy Fountains, whose shadows are creating a new world… OUR world.” by King

Berdly calls his weapon a “Holy Halbird” a couple times

“HOLY [[Cungadero]] DO I FEEL GOOD …” by Spamton before the Spamton NEO fight

“Holy Circuits Are You Serious” by Queen upon learning about the roaring

“THE HOLY”, song that plays when encountering a dark fountain

Unlike the word “angel”, “holy” doesn’t seem to have as strict of rules regarding its use. Half of these probably mean nothing.

The “Holy” element

Deltarune’s element system is barely relevant to anything. It’s almost entirely unimplemented, with only the Cat:Puppet pair actually having even the slightest bit of functionality. Holy’s pair element is “elec”, probably short for “electric”, reminiscent of a divine smiting with lightning or something. The only place you can actually see a character’s element is in the recruits menu of the Cafe, and thus far, no one appearing there has the Holy element.

There are a few people with the Elec element, Holy’s pair, specifically Ambyu-Lance (Order:Elec), Tasque (Cat:Elec), Werewire (Elec), Maus (Mouse:Elec), and Werewerewire (Elec:Fight).

Oddly, Mauswheel and Tasque Manager are not Elec elemental. Mauswheel is just the Mouse element three times, and Tasque Manager is Cat:Order. Jevil appears there too, in the game files at least, with the element Chaos:Chaos. Fitting.

It’s hard to tell what information we could draw from this due to how little implementation and relevance the elemental system has had thus far. I can assume, by the fact it exists at all, that it will have more relevance going forward, but what that relevance might be I’m unsure. I’m hoping it will have much greater combat relevance, as while I love the lore and story of Deltarune, the gameplay feels a bit samey, especially if you’ll end up having to play it for 7 chapters at least twice over, possibly more depending on how much the pacifist and neutral routes diverge, and whether there will be significant changes in subsequent time loops. While I trust Toby to write the story well, I’m not so sure if he and his team will nail the gameplay, as it’s only the bosses that are particularly interesting in that regard so far.

The only thing I can gather right now lorewise is that the Cat:Puppet pair may be a bad omen for Catti’s involvement later.

“Holy” fountains

This makes sense. I think darkness is made of raw magic, or at least something closely tied to soul power, something in common with the angel, who I think is made manifest via high concentrations of soul power. It would be perfectly in keeping with that to consider the dark fountains “holy”. It also implies the knight has some connections to holiness, which tracks for candidates like Alvin, or a dark world being made from Gerson’s dust, the candidates I think are most likely to be the knight given what we know so far.

The Holy Halbird

We’ve already examined Berdly briefly as an angel candidate in the previous post, and I haven’t found any new indications that he’ll be a viable angel candidate since then. However, Berdly often fights on my behalf, treating himself as my knight in shining armour and the like, so it makes total sense to call his weapon holy when he’s so often using it on behalf of the angel. It even makes sense when he teams up with Susie, as she’s also a likely angel. I don’t think Berdly knows about this of course, he’d be kind of a weird character to give some deeper hidden knowledge to, especially since he never gives any indication of knowing anything secret, but it makes sense from a thematic standpoint.

HOLY CUNGADERO!

From everything I can tell, “cungadero” is just a nonsense word that might refer to a fictional type of car or something. In that case, a holy cungadero could be that vehicle I briefly mentioned in a hypothetical extrapolation of the thing Alphys went into about The Symptons, but even given Toby Fox levels of foreshadowing that seems like a bit of a stretch to actually mean anything. It could, though! Outside of that, this just seems like an exclamation, I don’t think it’s foreshadowing much in specific.

Holy Circuits!

The same goes for this, I think it’s just an exclamation. It could mean Queen’s circuits are holy, maybe in a similar way that King and the dark worlds are likely holy, but if it does mean that, that still doesn’t really tell us anything new.

THE HOLY

One could potentially dismiss the fountains being “holy” as something King thinks given his particular position and goals, but the fact that the fountains are also called HOLY by the soundtrack itself puts more merit behind King’s referring to them as such, unless the songs of the soundtrack are meant to be named by a particular character rather than by Toby or whoever else worked on the music, something that doesn’t seem to be the case so far. We know that ALL CAPS song titles tend to be related to Gaster, so if anyone named the songs in-universe it was probably him, but then, why would ANOTHER HIM not be called “ANOTHER ME” or “ANOTHER SELF” or something?

Sin:

Oddly, despite sin not being a part of the angel religion according to Alvin, the concept of damnation seems to still exist, as “damn” is a swear used a couple times in the game. That may not mean anything, but it’s possible sin used to be a concept in the religion but was gradually lost to time, or it might mean that both the angel religion and Christianity exist in this world, hence the presence of Christmas, and a potential reason why Monster Kid might be wearing a cross necklace.

The angel religion may bear similarities via cultural exchange, or evolving from Christianity into its own thing around the time of the first angel, like how Christianity itself came from Judaism around the time of Jesus. Though, if that’s true, it’s a little odd that Christianity is never really referenced by the characters outside of Christmas, but not so odd as to be out of the realm of possibility. It would explain where Asriel got his concept of sin from, which is why Alvin mentioned that sin isn’t a thing in the religion in the first place.

I’m not sure, it could swing either way. Damnation might also just mean something completely different or even positive in the angel religion. It wouldn’t be the first time Toby has inverted the meaning of a word like that.

Undertale:

“It means you’ve lived a life of sin” by Ragel after performing his mushroom dance

“You felt your sins crawling on your back” and “weighing on your neck” in the Sans fight

“The potted plant is judging you for your sins” in MTT cafe

All of these use “sin” in basically the same way, and all are exclusive to the merciless route, so one can assume that killing a bunch of people is a sin. Not exactly revelatory, but it means in Undertale at least that sins aren’t somehow a good thing, probably. The narration in the Sans fight, however, could imply that sins can physically manifest and potentially damage the host, but that may also just be a flowery description and isn’t meant to be taken literally. It’s possible none of these lines are all that useful, and I’m starting to think that I made the right call in choosing “angel” and “demon” as my main words of analysis in VAT1 rather than “holy” and “sin”, as these so far have been much less impactful.

Deltarune:

Discussion with Alvin

Forgiveness from Hathy

“My hearts go out to all you sinners!” by Jevil

The Hathy one is much the same as how Undertale used sin. If you’ve defeated a Hathy with violence, they can forgive your sins against them if you talk to them in Card Castle, and you can still get the pacifist ending as long as you only hurt one of them. As for Alvin, we’ve already discussed it earlier, touching on it in this part and going over anything relevant in part 1. That just leaves Jevil.

Jevil:

Jevil's lines are hard to parse without some idea already of what's going on, but I think we've figured out enough by now that we can start to understand what some more of these lines mean.

“MY HEARTS GO OUT TO ALL YOU SINNERS”

The “multiple hearts” thing could just be a joke about his attacks firing multiple hearts, or the “hearts” suit. It could mean Jevil has multiple souls, as absorbing a soul is something Spamton established as a possibility for darkners, but he doesn’t seem powerful enough for that. Sure, Jevil is widely considered one of the most powerful residents of the Card Kingdom, but that implies Seam would also have a soul to match him, and that the residual essence of a lightner’s passion was enough to give Spamton NEO power on par with an entity that stole a lightner’s soul. None of it feels right, so I don’t think Jevil actually has a soul, let alone multiple. As for sinners here, I believe we, on principle, stand in opposition to the Angel’s Heaven, making us sinners in a sense, as he uses this line even if you play pacifist.

 “I AM INNOCENT, INNOCENT! I JUST WANTED TO PLAY A GAME, GAME!”

Jevil believes he’s the only free one because he’s the only one in the kingdom, other than Seam, who’s accepted the truth. Everything will be reset in the end, so it doesn’t matter how many people he’s hurt, all will be undone, thus, effectively, no crime was committed. Though, since Jevil did this before the start of chapter 1, it’s possible that the reset will go back to before chapter 1. It’s also possible that it won’t, as regardless of when a dark world is created, its history seems to be created retroactively.

 “NOW I WILL SLEEP FOR THE OTHER 100 YEARS.”

Following this, it’s possible the card kingdom had 100 years of history before the time we enter it, and it may have 100 more years in its time before it ends, or rather, dark worlds in general may have 100 more years, given we seal the fountain at the end of chapter 1. Time does seem to flow differently in dark worlds, and Ralsei’s impatience when we first return to him at the start of chapter 2, and his not knowing for sure how long a day is other than that it’s supposed to be short, may mean that the time he spent in the dark world alone was much longer than the time Kris and Susie spent in the light world. Susie saying “just waiting for today felt like years” is obviously a joke about it taking multiple years for chapter 2 to release, but it may also be hinting that, for Ralsei, the time he waited was much longer than it was for Kris and Susie. This would also explain how he set up so many rooms in his castle so quickly.

If Dess is trapped in a darker world, as I think she might be, (a dark world created within another dark world, like Berdly almost did in chapter 2), the time dilation may be even worse. She might be unrecognisable by the time we find her, and unfortunately for her, due to soul power’s association with modifying the flow of time, the odds that dark world time flows very differently are pretty good. If Dess is trapped in a dark world, that may be the reason the unused fountain theme that Toby still wants to use somewhere has an acoustic guitar playing the melody, one of the very few things we know for certain to be associated with Dess from the Spamton Sweepstakes. It's possible she's been trapped for centuries, or millennia, unable to die, being surrounded by the energy that gives things life. Would she even remember me?

“AS PUNISHMENT, THEY CRAVED TO IMPRISON MY BODY. BUT I’M FAST, FAST, CLEVER CLEVER. THEY LOST THE CHASE, AND LOCKED UP THEIR ENTIRE RACE, NOW I’M THE ONLY FREE ONE.”

As far as Jevil is concerned, his mind is still free. He’s the only one who’s accepted the truth. There are no crimes, there are no victims, all will be undone, and as the only one who can accept this, he’s the only free one. Locking him up just allows the rest of the card kingdom to stay in their own mental prison, not accepting that they can do anything they want. To Jevil, the time loop isn’t a curse, it’s a blessing.

It’s also possible that, if Jevil has stolen a soul, he may be able to project it out of his body like Kris and influence things outside of his cell that way. Seam’s vague light connections may mean that he also has a soul, and thus, is the only person that could defeat Jevil. But so far, soul projection and soul sync, being able to operate without your soul, seems unique to Kris. If Darkners don’t have souls normally, and it seems like they don’t as they’re basically made of soul energy anyway, Jevil may not need the soul in him, but would that allow him far greater remote control of his soul than Kris has?

Importantly to note, if Jevil does have a stolen soul, it’s odd that Spamton NEO is seemingly comparable in strength to him without one, so I’m far from convinced of this possibility. It seems just plausible enough to be worth the mention.

It’s possible Seam has a soul but Jevil doesn’t, as Seam is more powerful and has the only Delta Rune in the dark worlds outside of Castle Town, but much of Seam’s history is still a mystery. However, when you ask about Jevil, Seam says “After all the trouble I went through to lock him up, you want to release him?”, which implies that it was difficult. If Seam had a soul, and Jevil didn’t, shouldn’t it have been much easier than Seam seems to let on?

Maybe Seam’s seap song is just called “lantern” because Seam’s face kind of looks like a Jack-O-Lantern, with the orange glow inside Seam’s mouth and the pointy triangle teeth when Seam smiles, and I’m reading too much into it. But given how important a character Seam seems to be, I’m inclined to think there’s more to it than that.

After selecting “Do not play a game”: “HOW CAN YOU REFUSE, WHEN YOU ARE ALREADY PLAYING?”

There’s obviously the meta interpretation, as Deltarune is a video game, but considering Jevil has every reason without meta knowledge to interpret his reality as some kind of playground, I don’t think we need to assume he actually knows that Deltarune is a video game. He might, I just don’t think it’s necessary for anything Deltarune’s seemingly trying to do, so I don’t want to assume he has more meta knowledge than he necessarily does.

After selecting “Do not” when asked to use the key on Jevil’s door: “YOU CAME TOO FAR! YOUR CHOICE HAS RUN OUT!”. The door unlocks anyway.

Pretty straightforward, but given secret boss doublespeak, he may also be referring to the end of the game where, no matter what you do, the angel resets, or it may be a warning about the weird route. At a certain point, you go too far and you don’t get to stop anymore. If I had to guess, (and when it comes to this sort of stuff, it really is just a guess) it’s when the vessel takes over, which I’ll be discussing later.

“OH, IT’S JUST A SIMPLE NUMBERS GAME. WHEN YOUR HP DROPS TO 0, YOU LOSE!”

This one actually could point to Jevil knowing that his reality is literally a video game, but it might also be that, as darkners are made of soul power, and all stats seem to be an aspect of soul power, he may know about it that way. So far, everyone to mention stats, I believe, is either a darkner, or in the case of Ralsei, partially a darkner. This makes me wonder though, Sans, Flowey, and Chara all reference game stats, but I believe they’re the only people in Undertale to do so. Flowey and Chara make sense, as the game’s angels, they may have that special connection to soul power. Sans is somewhat different, but as he has ties to Gaster, and Gaster’s main subject of research is soul power, it makes some sense for him too. As such, we can assume Gaster also knows about stats. Keep in mind that, while these are game mechanics, most if not all of Undertale and Deltarune’s game mechanics have some lore reason for them as well, so knowing about the game mechanics doesn’t necessarily mean someone knows that Undertale or Deltarune is a video game.

Pirouette

I think the pirouette ACT operates by Kris soul-syncing with Jevil’s chaos? Something like that. Each outcome is on a cycle, repeatedly looping, much like Deltarune’s reality itself. Beyond reference to that, the number of outcomes doesn’t seem to match with the number of chapters, though it might match up with the number of dark worlds by the end of the game or something? Or, the number of options may have no secret meaning. I just don’t want to dismiss something in a secret boss fight as meaningless before considering the possibilities, y’know?

Hypnosis

This one is a little more confusing. This ACT makes Jevil far more tired than pirouette. It requires the use of Kris, Susie, and Ralsei. How it operates could potentially be a combination of Kris’s soul sync and trance, and Ralsei’s pacify, though that doesn’t explain why Susie has to be involved. Toby has proven time and again that a game mechanic is rarely just a game mechanic, so I’m inclined to think it means something. It may be that, as Susie is frequently prone to falling asleep, she may be used as a conduit to intensify the sleepiness effect?

There are 3 different messages that can appear upon using this ACT.

“Ralsei chanted something!”

It may be a lullaby, it may be some magical incantation, it’s too vague to say. A repeated instance of music and specifically singing being used in a hypnotic context, as putting someone to sleep is generally the stereotypical hypnosis effect so one could argue Ralsei’s standard lullaby is hinting at a hypnosis song. I don’t think Ralsei is actually using the Song from the Sea here, which I think may be a hypnotic or mind-altering song, but it puts the possibility on the table for that song to exist.

“Susie spun something around!”

Another instance of spinning, looping. The entire fight supports the time loop motif extensively. Even the music, when it uses the  “Don’t Forget” melody, loops one part of it over and over and over and over until the very end of the song when it starts all over again. Focusing on something spinning can be a good method of hypnotic induction too, I just wish the way this was worded wasn’t so vague so it’d be easier to extrapolate something.

“Kris gazed strangely!”

“The eyes are the window to the soul” is a fairly well known saying. It’s possible that trance, operating via soul sync, is more powerful under Kris’s gaze, creating a stronger soul link. Hypnotic eyes are also a common trope in hypnosis-related media.

 “UNFORTUNATELY, YOU KIDS CANNOT HAVE SUCH A PLEASANT DREAM. FROM NOW, A NIGHTMARE WILL AWAKEN IN YOUR HEARTS. IN THE SHADOW OF THE KNIGHT’S HAND… LIGHTNERS, CAN YOU STOP IT?”

Deltarune is all about the woke agenda, and I can prove it!

We know from Undertale that “nightmare” is often in reference to Flowey/Asriel, arguably Undertale’s most significant angel. In Deltarune, Chapter 2 is referred to as a dream, though in the weird route, I call it a nightmare. So we can assume then that the “nightmare” in Deltarune is related to both the weird route and either the angel or Asriel specifically, or even both. Both is what I’m inclined to guess, as there are a lot of readings I can make of this line.

The “nightmare” in your hearts, or the Asriel in your soul, makes complete sense for Kris, as far as my understanding goes. Will Asriel begin to awaken? Has he already? One could argue our control over Asriel, and thus indirect control over Kris, is awakening us as the nightmare within Asriel and Kris’s heart.

Reading “nightmare” to more generally mean something akin to “angel” or “weird route” makes more sense for me. My growth in power and participation in chapter 2’s weird route is referred to as “waking”, and Queen insists that the events of chapter 2 have already awoken me too much. She makes clear that she thinks I should rest, go back to sleep. Whatever awakening the nightmare would do in the weird route, as far as Queen is concerned it isn’t anything worth doing.

Susie: Get out of our way. Susie: Noelle needs to wake up!

Queen: Wake? No, She Has Already Awakened Too Much Queen: Let Her Close Her Eyes And Sleep Away Queen: Into A Darker, Darker Dream

“Darker, Darker Dream” makes me wonder if the reason Queen wanted to expand the reach of darkness as a way to “help” me is because she agrees with me that Dess may be trapped in a darker world, and expanding the reach of darkness may give me a way to find her. Sure, it’s possible she just misinterpreted the bits of my search history pertaining to Dess, that’s the implied reading, but it’s also possible that she actually completely understands what I want and how much it means to me, and it’s why she wanted so badly to help me get her back.

The “shadow of the knight’s hand” could be referring to “the actions the knight takes’, but it could also be referring to the dark worlds the knight creates, the “shadows” of the knight’s hand.

There’s also, of course, the lack of distinction made between Ralsei and “lightners”, farther implying that Ralsei isn’t just a darkner.

 “HA HA HA! WHAT FUN!!! YOU’RE FAST, FAST, STRONG, STRONG, BUT THERE ARE YET FASTER, YET STRONGER. THE HAND OF THE KNIGHT IS DRIFTING FORWARD. SOON, THE “QUEEN” RETURNS, AND HELL’S ROAR BUBBLES FROM THE DEPTHS… LIGHTNERS, CAN YOU STOP IT? UEE HEE HEE! EITHER WAY, A MISCHIEF-MISCHIEF, A CHAOS-CHAOS…! LIGHTNERS! FROM INSIDE YOUR LITTLE CELL!! TAKE ME AND DO YOUR STRONGEST—!”

We've presumably met the queen. Hell's roar, I assume, is the roaring, with hell possibly being a darker layer deeper down? Given the constant personification of the Earth I'm inclined to think the roaring is literal, although the wording of "bubbles" is confusing. There's enough in VAT to make sense of a lot of this, but I don't think we know enough just yet to make sense of all of it.

Spamton:

Writing this in mid October trying to finish up this post on time despite the executive dysfunction, here we go! A lot of Spamton’s lines aren’t all that relevant to Variable Angel Theory. Most of the ones that are are on the weird route.

1. LOOKING FOR [Irresistible Deals] THAT WILL [Blow Your Mind!?]

As with all Deltarune lines, but especially with secret bosses and heavily lore relevant characters like Spamton, we're gonna have to do some reinterpretation to find out what Spamton might mean here. "Irresistible Deals" could mean multiple things. Kris can't resist making the deal, we force them to, and we make this deal for the thorn ring, with Trance, so I presumably have a harder time resisting orders. I still think Kris (or their soul) has some innate trance ability, allowing ACTs and the like to be so effective and getting me to this point in the weird route in the first place, but it's possible for the truly heinous stuff, like killing a friend, I'd need that extra push (I sure hope I would!). "Blow Your Mind" has similar connotations, but given Spamton's crass nature sometimes, it could also mean "blow" in another sense, like you're getting "mindfucked" or something, but I’m kind of “maybe” on that. While we’re on the subject, the ring of thorns reminds me a bit of the biblical crown of thorns Jesus was given to wear prior to his crucifixion. Possibly a coincidence, but, I think, probably not one. Either way, for anyone concerned about my safety in this route, red flag! Add it to the pile.

2. THIS IS [One Purchase] YOU WILL [Regret] FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!

This farther reinforces to me that the weird route isn't going to end well. We'll touch on specifics of how I think it's most likely to go wrong a bit later, as one of Spamton's lines sort of changed where I was leaning on this, albeit not too significantly. It's also possible he's not talking to specifically Kris here, but us as the player. I don't think Spamton exactly knows that the player exists, he might but that's unclear, but I think it's possible this line is meant for the player's eyes as much as Kris's and could hint at permanent consequences for the weird route, even on subsequent playthroughs, much like what happened with Chara in Undertale. My best guess for that consequence is that Kris is effectively erased from the game and replaced with the vessel on subsequent playthroughs, but that's potentially more work than the team would be able to do reasonably, so I'm iffy on it. I'll go into more detail in the Gaster section later. Either way I don't think we'll see it until chapter 7 releases, so it'll be a few years until I'm proven right or wrong on that guess, unless chapters 3 and 4 introduce the vessel earlier than I expect they will.

3. THANKS TO YOU AND THAT LIL [Hochi Mama]

Spamton calls me stuff like this all the time, reinforcing the romance tie between myself and Kris, especially with how much more often he does it in the weird route. "Side chick" is another one that we've gone over.

4. SOON I'LL HAVE EVERY[One] IN THIS CITY EATING RIGHT OUT OF MY [$!$!]!

Ew. But I guess this implies Spamton's ambitions are mainly for the cyber world, he seems like he only wants his good old life back rather than anything much grander, he just wants to make sure it can't get taken away from him again. Plus, he's bitter and might be wanting to dabble in light revenge.

5. IT'S NOT MY JOB TO BE SOME KIDS' [Extra Boss]!

This could be talking about Kris, but including them in "kids", as is perfectly reasonable to do, implies a different boss, like fate or the player or the soul or something. This is how I expect the player to be mainly referenced, with some degree of ambiguity. I expect only a few characters, Gaster especially, are likely to call the player out directly.

6. KID! I'M BUSY BECOMING [God]. GO PLAY [Minecrap] OR SOMETHING!

Of course this could imply greater ambitions. Maybe he doesn't want to limit himself to getting his old life back and keeping it, he may want to completely control the cyber world to an even greater extent than Queen. Maybe he even wants to escape the dark world entirely, and perhaps with the Power of NEO he could, as it's wrapped up in the hopes and dreams of a lightner, maybe that would allow him the ability to exist outside of a dark world.

It's equally possible that that wouldn't work, and even with this power he's still trapped in the cyber world. There's also the tie drawn between God and Demon and Angel but I don't think this is an instance of that being so meaningful. "God" has always seemed the least restricted of the three, and Spamton NEO isn't nearly as powerful as even 6 soul Flowey, which we required 7 souls to beat rather than the mere 1, arguably a max of 3, required against Spamton NEO (the solo fight would have, at most, Kris, their possessor, and myself). And the true 7 soul Flowey, more of an actual god, was only defeated when he chose to give up. I'm still under the impression that actual gods, like the angel, would be essentially untouchable to anyone but their equals in power regardless of what Spamton implies here with the vocabulary.

7. THANKS TO YOUR [Total Jackass stunts] I HAVE [Becomed] NEO.

Catti wanted to talk about this one, she's been helping me finish up this section.

a bit of my own theorycrafting here. what the hell is neo? cuz like neo is "new" right? or something like that. so is spamton neo like... neo because its a new version of himself? supposedly theres some sort of "power of neo"  but what the hell even is that, the power of new shit? deltarune and undertale are both stuck in time loops so like. the only real new thing is the influence of the player, so is that the power of neo? are instances of "neo" something the party wouldnt have encountered on their own in any loop? so like, they never meet jevil and they never activate spamton neo? jevil's instance of neo btw being the voice line "a true and neo chaos" when performing his finisher thing with devilsknife. (noelle has filled our brain with so much weird niche deltarune info) presumably frisk never fights mettaton neo without being influenced down the geno route, if this holds true. so like... noelle talks about this more later but, gaster is seemingly drawing on the power of neo for whatever purpose he has? cuz if the player's influence is the power of neo and he's the one that makes contact, that's probably what he's going for. either breaking deltarune's time loop or maybe studying it to figure out something greater, like how and why every universe in the undertale/deltarune multiverse seems to be stuck in a time loop? idfk, its the ingredients of a theory but im not sure how to mix them all together.

8.  AND NOW IT'S MY [Mansion]! MY [City]! MY [World]!

This line solidifies his ambitions as, at least, reaching greater heights than he had before, and wanting to be able to strongly influence or even control the cyber world. But again, there's no indication of ambition beyond that. He may just be content controlling the cyber world, spam and ads taking over computers. What a cruel fate we've subjected these people to then, they really need an adblock. At least Kris seals the fountain soon after, and we avoid all that.

9. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU WOULD HAVE USED MY [Ring] FOR [Evil]... OH [Right]. THAT'S WHY I SOLD IT TO YOU

We already have a lot of evidence that Spamton knows future details, but he kinda just confirms it here. Though, if he does, it's odd then that he didn't expect to be stopped at the fountain after taking over. However, much like Ralsei seems to, he might not know all the details. Ralsei was surprised at a few events in the weird route, things not going how they were "supposed" to, most notably Susie's interactions with Noelle in her room and our perspective not following them.

Maybe it's some external influence, like the player, not directly interacting with the world but making decisions people in that world wouldn't normally make and there isn't really precedent for it in Spamton and Ralsei's knowledge of the future, or of past time loops, or whatever info they might have, and we exist as some external intervention brought in to break the loop via indirect influence.

10. YOU THINK MAKING [Frozen Chicken] WITH YOUR [Side Chick] IS GONNA LET YOU DRINK UP THAT [Sweet, Sweet] [Freedom Sauce]? WELL, YOU'RE [$!$!] RIGHT! BUT DON'T BLAME ME WHEN YOU'RE [Crying] IN A [Broken Home] WISHING YOU LET YOUR OLD PAL SPAMTON [Kill You]

We've discussed the "side chick" thing before, but this line is so great I wanted to include the whole thing. The important part is the latter half. This one makes me think there's actually a real chance the one ending is the weird route actually working, breaking the time loop, but you've essentially killed the world you saved.

I think "broken home" probably means home world,  or hometown at the least, because Kris's home is already broken. Toriel and Asgore have divorced, evidence suggests Asriel is likely dead and possessing Kris, there's not all that much more broken Kris's home specifically could get if Spamton is just referring to the household itself, plus that would be a little underwhelming a consequence.

I'm inclined to think we'll essentially destroy the world, and only then break the time loop, and when we do, we have nothing left worth saving anyway. After all, Spamton likes Kris. He finds them relatable, a kinship between puppets. They can become friends in the normal route which Spamton likely knows about to some extent, so I think calling Kris his "pal" is sort of genuine. Spamton may actually think killing Kris is doing them a favour, and he gives an actual reason why that isn't just that their souls might be freer together like in the normal route.

Either way, at least when it comes to Kris, I don't think Spamton likes to be malicious, so I'm inclined to trust his information.

11. I’LL ADMIT YOU’VE GOT SOME [Guts] KID! BUT IN A [1 for 1] BATTLE, NEO NEVER LOSES!!! DIDN’T YOU KNOW [Neo] IS FAMOUS FOR ITS HIGH DEFENSE!? NOW… ENJOY THE FIR3WORKS, KID!

Catti may actually be onto something. In a one on one battle, the player’s character has always had a chance to win as far as I can recall. Of course, this places Spamton NEO as the Neo in this scenario, and to beat it we have to get help making it no longer a 1 for 1 battle, so I’m unsure exactly how this relates. If Neo does mean the player, being able to reset any mistake could be considered having high defence? I think we’re still missing a couple pieces we need to know quite what Neo is supposed to be, but I figure we’ll have what we need with the release of the next 2 chapters, or at least a lead more concrete than “maybe something player-related”.

12. THERE WILL BE NO MORE [Miracles] NO MORE [Magic]. YOU LOST IT WHEN YOU TRIED TO SEE TOO FAR…. …YOU LOST IT…

Another hint at a sad ending, but it makes me wonder if Gaster really is trying to harvest the darkness from this world or something, if the weird route ends with no more magic. This could also be a reference to trying to see into H E A V E N, which I’m gradually becoming more convinced is some other layer of reality where Gaster is or something, whether that be a darker world or something else entirely. Speaking of whom:

Gaster:

Yeah, we have to talk about this guy now. I wasn’t sure if he was all that relevant before since we know so little about him, and I don’t find him that interesting because, again, we know so little about him that there’s not much to get invested in, so I didn’t bring him up much in part 1. I assumed he probably had some relevance, seeing as this is the ending of the game angel stuff we’re talking about, and Gaster’s presence is felt all over the game, but it wasn’t until recently that I figured out what that presence might mean. I still don’t know many of the details, but I’ve gotten the broad strokes in place I think. Don’t expect me to go super in depth with the specifics. Either way, this section is going to require more guesswork than the rest of this post, and I’m already working with only the evidence I didn’t find for my last post. If something in here is wrong, and there likely will be something, don’t disregard the rest of it. Plus, if these guesses (educated guesses at best) end up being right, I want to be able to say I called it!

The Egg Man:

I think the Egg Man is Gaster. Revolutionary, I know. But specifically, I think there are two Gasters, the Undertale Gaster and the Deltarune Gaster. Which one is which, I’m unsure, but we know that Gaster in Undertale was researching things like darkness, a concept that may be exclusive to Deltarune and certainly wasn’t explored in Undertale, unless you consider the underground to be something of a light world / dark world hybrid, which you could make an argument for. I don't have a lot of evidence for this, especially not in-game evidence, this is just who I think is most likely based on what little I know about it.

People have said that the Gaster dialogue in the 2024 Valentine’s newsletter, while it has similar formatting and speech style to Gaster, doesn’t really sound like Gaster. It sounds too goofy and too casual to feel like something Gaster would say. However, since there could very easily be two Gasters, I think it’s not difficult to reconcile this. Toby may be planning both a Gaster similar in personality to what the fandom expects, and another Gaster, the Egg Man, who’s a lot goofier and less serious to fit a style Toby seems to really enjoy writing. He could get the best of both. The first song in the game, in the sequence talking with Gaster, is literally called “ANOTHER HIM”, and the egg man is only referred to as “man”, “he”, and “him”. I just can’t tell you which Gaster is which. The Undertale Gaster may be originally from Deltarune for all I know.

The Vessel:

I think the Vessel is exactly as advertised. I don’t quite know what it is, but I have an idea of where it might come in useful. I think that late in the weird route, around chapter 6 or 7, Kris will decide they have no choice but to stop the soul by any means necessary, and will attempt to remove it, willing to die without it to ensure the soul doesn’t have a body to possess. This is where the vessel comes in, a convenient alternative to ensure our time loop breaking plan comes to fruition even without Kris’s help. The reasons I think it will be so delayed are twofold:

1. I think that the vessel replacing Kris isn’t something that people are going to just brush off, so it has to happen pretty late as otherwise there would be multiple chapters that have to get rewritten. If it happens at the end of chapter 6 through to the middle of chapter 7, as I think is its most likely window of timing, the amount to rewrite will be much more manageable. 

2. There’s a sword with the trance ability, the Twisted Sword. As Kris is the only one who can use swords, and so far the trance ability seems to affect the user of the equipment, this implies we’ll use it in the weird route to keep Kris docile enough that they won’t try to stop us until the situation is much more dire. Unlike Undertale’s merciless route, the steps to play out the weird route in Deltarune are already very specific and precise, and already require the use of specific equipment in the thorn ring, so this is entirely within the realm of established possibility. It’s also possible, however, that since it’s a weapon with the ability rather than something wearable, it inflicts trance on a target. It may do both, but we don’t realise it affects Kris until later because of how rarely they’re able to express themselves during possession. If, after equipping the sword in the merciless route, Kris suddenly stops getting a lot of their moments of independence and character establishment, we’ll know what it does.

As the sword presumably turns back into a pencil in the light world, this shouldn't change chapter endings much. Since I offer Kris a candy cane pencil in chapter 1, something that could easily match the description we have of the Twisted Sword once it transforms in the dark world, it’s possible I already have the Twisted Sword, though what that could mean I don’t know.

As for the fate of Kris, I think they’ll die. Without their soul, I don’t think they could survive long, and as Susie says, it would be a shame for Toriel to have to bury her child. Which one? Both?? Especially given the ultimate fate of Chara in Undertale, a character Kris very clearly has many parallels with, things aren’t looking good for at least one route’s version of Kris. However, even for Deltarune, killing off Kris in pacifist feels like a stretch. Kris won’t die in pacifist, at least not until the very end at the earliest, they might die in neutral, but I think it's more likely than not that it will happen in weird.

The Song from the Sea: 

My ideas on this are very limited. My best guess is that it may have something to do with how trance works, like a siren song, or Shyren song as the case may be. It’s possible this can be used to override the will of a target. At the very least, it seems to be messing with Onion’s head, as they have severe memory problems that they didn’t seem to have in Undertale. They mention hearing music coming from below the water, likely the bunker that’s probably underneath town, and Shyren’s in the hospital for straining her voice too much that day. This could be related to what happened to Shyren’s sister, Shyra. Maybe she died attempting to perform the song from the sea, and Shyren may suffer the same fate. Maybe the Song from the Sea  is “Hell’s roar bubbling from the depths”, as Jevil says, but the phrasing implies that to be related to the roaring.

Either way, I’m confident this is in some way related to “voice”, and if it is, the connection to trance is supported by the emphasis placed on my being able to hear the commanding “voice” in the weird route irrespective of Kris. Beyond the “voice” relation though, I think there just might be too little info to extrapolate very far with any confidence.

The File Select:

Potentially more evidence in support of additional Gasters is on the file select screen. Choosing a save slot to copy to is choosing “a target for the reflection”, and upon doing so, “the division is complete”, like mitosis. Could Gaster be cloning other selves? Is that “another him”? Multiple vessels? Even cloning timelines, hence its presence on the save file screen? Whatever the process, you can’t copy a file onto itself, because it’s “immune to its own image”.

If he’s cloning himself, it could be so he could have more eyes on his work and more minds thinking before the reset erases his memory.

If he’s cloning timelines, maybe he’s trying to simulate as many options as he can to find a way to break the loop, or maybe the entirety of Deltarune is a reality of Gaster’s creation, hence why he can seemingly destroy it at the press of a button. It may be that the Deltarune we play through is one of these simulations he’s using to find a way to break the time loop. Though, the idea of Deltarune being basically a game within a game feels as though it might undermine investment somewhat. Much of the rest of Variable Angel Theory is so convincing to me in part because I trust Toby as a writer to create a compelling story, and I think VAT is pretty compelling, but if, even in its own fictional universe, it still isn’t real… it just feels off, almost like poor writing. Maybe Gaster is using darkness to bring these simulated universes to life and make them real?  Maybe Undertale was a simulated universe? But I still don't know why he would do something like that other than the reasons I already gave.

Long shot, but maybe “the other 100 years” is the amount of time our Deltarune’s reality has left before it gets deleted? Maybe Seam’s “toast to the end of the world” doesn’t mean the reset, but the literal, actual, permanent end of the world? To me, all of this feels like a needless extra layer on top of a story that could already be complete without it. I trust Toby as a writer not to undermine his own story, or the importance of Gaster in it, especially after all the hype he’s let build up, so I’m inclined to believe I’m misreading something here and this isn’t actually Toby’s plan. If it is, there must be a lot more to it to make it work and be compelling.

While I agree with Jaru on most things related to Deltarune, and he’s the reason I got into Deltarune theorycrafting in the first place, hence why I’ve brought up his work so often, the idea that Deltarune can’t be as compelling if it’s a video game in-universe and explicitly addressed as such isn’t something I agree with quite as strongly as he seems to. It’s a very risky play, and I don’t think the payoff would elevate Deltarune’s story very significantly even if Toby makes it work, but I don’t think it’s unachievable or anything. All rules in writing have certain situations in which it can be better to break them. It’s just that personally, even as a writer myself, and one who prefers less conventional stories, if I were writing it, I don’t think it would be worth the risk, unless I have some very specific and exceptionally compelling plan in mind, which Toby may well have given his clear passion for the story he’s dreamed up.

As such, I won’t rule out the possibility that even in-universe Deltarune is a simulated world akin to a video game, I’m just inclined somewhat against it given the limited amount I’ve looked into Gaster thus far. It’s possible there’s far more evidence in favour that could make this much harder to deny, and I just haven’t found it yet, and it’s not like it would be too far opposed to the themes established in Undertale. After all, Undertale and Deltarune both operate in-universe on many video game rules, this wouldn’t be coming completely out of nowhere if it happens.

It’s even possible that the undermining of narrative importance from this is actually the point, making it even easier to distance yourself, because even in this fictional world these people are still not real. It’s just another reason why your choices don’t matter. Even then, will you still choose to be a good person since their world is still real to them? Will you be like Jevil, and just have fun with it, thinking (probably correctly) that you’re not actually doing any harm? Or will you be like Ralsei, even knowing that the consequences of your actions are so minor, still choosing to be as good a person as you can in spite of it? I think by the time chapters 3 and 4 come out, I’ll be able to more easily swing one way or the other, so I’ll have to follow up on that once that happens. Right now, I’m kind of 50/50 on it, but if it does happen, I wouldn’t be surprised, especially since the more I think about it, the more I write this, the more I’m convincing myself that it’s a genuine possibility. If things keep going the way they have been, it's like the entirety of Deltarune is a buildup into making one of the worst twists in fiction actually hit properly and be kind of good, just for Toby to prove that he can.

If Gaster is cloning vessels, it could be that he’s trying to create the proper one for the job, breeding iterations until it matches his specifications. That fits fairly well with one of my Spamton Sweepstakes pages, wherein I’m breeding pets in a video game to get the right one, and of course, one of them is a glitchy egg that I can’t maintain proper memories of. Whether that’s due to the passage of time, or some supernatural force, I don’t know, but given how many things in Deltarune could potentially have control over your memories and ability to maintain them, and how odd it would be to drop this hint and have it not mean anything, I’m inclined to believe that the memory loss is supernatural in nature and not simply related to the passage of time. Memory of Gaster in Undertale seems to have been erased, so something associated with him might be fair game for erasure as well. Of course, this also makes me wonder, could Gaster be breeding universes? Is that why he would bring them to life? Or might they already be alive by default?

I don’t think the pipis is the same thing as the eggs from the egg man, Spamton clarifies as much, but they may be related. The egg man eggs may duplicate via mitosis as well. Are they an “easter egg”? Or are they meant to be a bug in the code or something? Are they like the “bad egg” in Pokemon that turns other things stored with it into more eggs? Once we put the egg in Asgore’s fridge, and it duplicates, the narration doesn’t clarify if the pickles Asgore had are still there or if they became the second egg that appears in the fridge.

Might the eggs hatch into a new universe, even? Homestuck comes to mind, a project Toby worked on, where, to create a new universe, you have to breed frogs until you get the perfect one that can then become the new universe. If universes or timelines are alive, could the Song from the Sea or some other Trance method be used to influence them? Do all Undertale/Deltarune realities end up in a time loop, and Gaster is attempting to create one that doesn’t by manipulating it manually? I’m not strongly inclined toward any one possibility just yet, but I wanted to lay it all out in case anyone reading this comes up with any ideas, or any more evidence for the ideas I’ve proposed. The idea that Gaster is cloning or breeding universes seems entirely plausible, though to what end, I’m unsure. As for why there are three files, the only thing I can think is Kris’s soul sync with Ralsei and Susie adding up to 3. Susie, as a lightner, should be able to wield determination, and Ralsei, who I believe to be a darkner/lightner hybrid due to his relation to Asriel, should also have this ability. It’s also hard to tell exactly what Gaster’s interaction with these files means. It doesn’t seem like saving in the light world is possible, though the angel may be able to, as Flowey attained that power in Undertale and it didn’t seem to require being underground to work properly, so maybe it’s something Gaster has some access to?

But it’s hard to know exactly which properties Undertale’s underground has in common with Deltarune’s dark worlds, all that seems consistent and clear is that as you go underground, the presence of magic, of darkness, increases. It’s probably why we fall into dark worlds, why the true lab was so deep down, and what the CORE was tapping into to power the underground. As you go deeper, things get dark, darker, yet darker, to borrow a phrase. Thematically too, it seems like the deeper you go the darker the story gets. Toby loves those double meanings. Whatever happens in that bunker, it won’t be good.

The DT Extractor:

In Undertale, the DT extractor is never explicitly called a “DeTermination extractor”. I think that’s one of its functions, (Alphys doesn’t seem to have a deep enough understanding of soul power to be able to do what she did without it, and some of her logs imply the DT extractor is what she used to extract determination) but there’s a good chance it stands for something else or has additional functions, especially given Toby Fox as the writer. It resembles a caprid or cervid skull, which calls to mind the Dreemurr and Holiday families, and some version of Asriel uses it as an attack to erase the timeline, something we’ve just established Gaster may be able to do as well.

I think, at least in some routes, the DT extractor is one of if not the final step in the angelmaking process. If it can extract soul power, which it seems like it can, that gives us the perfect repository for soul power and a way to get it all into one person, as Undertale established it can be injected into someone to allow them to use that power. As I think the angel will reset the timeline, it’s yet another parallel to Undertale, where Asriel, Undertale’s angel, used Hyper Goner, an attack that looks suspiciously like the DT extractor, to reset the timeline. One could ask, why not just inject Kris with so much soul power? After all, we have control over them, it would be easier not to reset the timeline if we have direct control of that power, rather than indirect control through me in the weird route. I see six reasons: 

Giving Kris soul power may allow them to override our control, especially as they can already somewhat do that. Undertale established that sufficient soul power allows someone to override our control, and we don’t even control Kris directly, we control them via Asriel, or at least via the soul, so that should give them an even better chance at taking control from us with that much power. 

We don���t know if humans can even wield soul power in the capacity an angel would. Chara seems to, in Undertale, but they've been dead for presumably decades, and the abilities of ghosts, if Chara even counts as one, are extremely vague and underexplored. Chara is a very special case and I don’t think we can extrapolate from them exactly how it would operate with Kris. The reason I think we can assume it would give Kris control, then, is that It’s also shown with Flowey that high soul power allows someone to wrest control from us, and even though it happened in a different way with Flowey, with him taking control of the timeline rather than control of our actions, it creates a thematic throughline.

By the time we come across the DT extractor, the roaring will probably have started already. Shelter from the roaring is an obvious "in" for exploring the bunker. If Kris did take control from us, they would likely choose to reset, because just like Susie, their hand would be forced.

Everyone’s memory is reset for each loop, it’s hard to know all of the possibilities you’re working with under those conditions. Gaster might know how soul power works in monsters, but he’s much less likely to know how it’d work in Kris, as not only are they a human, something in short supply in Hometown, they’re likely a human with a monster soul, which complicates things farther. It’s not like he could just check how it works because, unless that was his plan from the start, his memories would be erased and he would have to relearn everything each loop. Not only is it a gamble, it’s a gamble he’d have to choose to take as one of his first options.

It’s also possible that Gaster might have more time than I think. If he’s holed himself up in a dark world, or a darker world even, the time dilation effects may allow him to concoct some plan I can’t foresee, making this reason a bit shakier. However, the fact that the reset has already happened several times at least, and it definitely has, may point against him having a successful plan, as if he did, why would the time loop be happening at all anymore? This could also mean the time loop is part of his plan, but if that’s the case, I’ve no idea why. 

Maybe, if you’re in the dark worlds, you’d be immune to the angel’s resets? But if that’s the case, the stakes for darkners are null, they shouldn’t be erased in the dark world. If it’s exclusively a property of darker worlds, that also doesn’t make sense, because then Gaster could easily just go there and savescum until he has time to come up with a working plan. However, if Dess is down there like I think she might be, and she had the determination to create a darker fountain in the first place, she may have more determination than Gaster and is therefore blocking him from resetting.

But if that’s the case, Gaster may not have a DT extractor at all, as otherwise he’d have been able to give himself more power to reset with, something that feels a little off to me as the DT extractor has always felt like it meant something bigger, beyond just what we saw of it in Undertale. Its resemblance to the hyper goner and gaster blasters, and the giant pit under it, which may be used to harness darkness from deeper underground, feel too significant, I don’t think Toby would just leave it at what we saw in Undertale especially with Deltarune being so much more Gaster-related.

Maybe Gaster can’t do it with himself, maybe he’s split into too many pieces or something, and that’s why he’s trying to create an angel by proxy? Maybe his experience with Dess is why he might think I’m a good candidate?

It’s also possible that, if Gaster does maintain memories, he’s already tried just about everything he could. Much like Flowey, he’s gone through loop after loop after loop, and can’t find a way out, so his solution is to reach outside the bounds of Undertale and Deltarune’s realities, and contact us, as hopefully we aren’t bound to fate the same way they are.

When we take control of Chara in Undertale, Flowey posits that it might be because we heard him calling Chara's name, which, while I'm not sure what it means, is an interesting consistency. We have to be called, before we show up. A demon that comes when you call it's name? Maybe Gaster is desperate enough to make a deal with a demon, like Kris tried to. Granted, that's a bit wonky with the angel-demon synonym idea, so I'm inclined to wait for more evidence on it before I consider our involvement demonic, but it's something.

Injecting Kris with this power and making them the angel feels like one of the less interesting ways this could go, given everything we know so far and all the potential character arcs we could be in for, and I don’t think Toby would go with anything less than an extremely compelling option, especially for the endgame. Of Kris, Susie, Ralsei, and myself, I still hold that Kris is the least compelling angel candidate of the four. I just think there are better places to take their character.

This whole thing is so incredibly speculative that there could be dozens of reasons we don’t even know about yet. 

The Roaring:

There’s a good chance that Gaster tapping into the deepest parts of the Earth, like he did in Undertale with the CORE, may be what causes the roaring. If the Earth is alive (which it very well might be given how it was personified in the legend and how darkness brings objects it makes contact with to life), Gaster tapping into it may be the very thing that causes the roaring to happen, as a more literal roaring, the Earth itself being the biggest and most dangerous titan of all. “Crack with fear”, “her heart pounding”, I think there’s a good chance this isn’t going to be metaphorical, even though at first, before you know how darkness operates, it sounds like it would have to be.

Normally, darkness seems to be contained in a separate layer of reality, but with dark fountains punching holes in it, and potentially darker fountains punching holes in the layer beneath those holes, it may only be a matter of time until the Earth’s roar bubbles from the depths. If I had to guess, I’d say the roaring starts at the end of chapter 6 or the start of chapter 7. I expect we’ll explore the bunker in chapter 7, which has a good chance of looping around back to castle town where we’ll end the game, at least in pacifist, being surrounded by all our new friends for the reset. Plus, everyone hiding in the bunker at the end parallels Undertale, where everyone hid in True Lab, the bunker’s likely equivalent, in the merciless route.

Another reason I think this, aside from the fact that it makes sense from a storytelling perspective, is how weird the entrance to the first dark world was. Unlike with the Cyber World, we don’t immediately jump into it, there’s a brief part where Kris and Susie, still appearing in their light world outfits, walk through a room that’s too large to be a closet and doesn’t have any nearby walls. If this happened again in chapter 2, I would be more willing to dismiss it, but there’s clearly something special about this closet that’s being hidden by being shown first, and therefore seeming less weird because we don’t have much to compare it to.

Unfortunately, 2 examples is a little less than we need to establish a pattern, so knowing for sure if there’s anything particularly weird about the closet may have to wait until the next chapters release, so all I can do is guess that it’s connected to the bunker in some way, be that figuratively or literally.

The End, Again:

So uh... that's basically part 2! A little all over the place, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on pretty much everything I've come up with in the process of researching VAT since part 1's release. A lot of stuff here is a little more half baked, but that's kinda what you get working with scraps of the scraps of info we have from 2 chapters I guess.

Rouxls Kaard?:

Here’s something a little less serious to wrap up, like a palate cleanser or something. A couple years back, Jaru made a video going over every even somewhat significant character in Deltarune (and Undertale), to figure out roughly how likely they were to be the Roaring Knight. For some reason, Rouxls has so many similar attributes to the knight, including even sharing the same initials as the knight’s title, that he seemed to be an intentional red herring. And gamers, he’s done it again. Toby Fox has done it yet again. The amount of ties Rouxls has to the angel is actually so damn goofy and it makes me wonder if maybe this does mean something, angel forbid.

Rouxls may have more knowledge about the nature of reality than most characters, as one of his lines gets cut off by the size of the text box, and he complains about this at the end of that line in the game files “Thou gazeth upon a man most handsometh. This daringst genius, adoredeth beyondth all hey let me speakst”

Rouxls’s speech patterns call to mind sort of a parody middle ages type of vibe, a time period associated heavily with Christianity having a strong influence. Especially if there was an original angel centuries or even millennia ago, as there may have been, invoking a time long past. Of course, his speech has to remain somewhat comprehensible, and what it’s going for needs to be understandable by most players, so even if the angel was around well before Early Modern English, it still makes sense for Rouxls to speak in that style to give the general vibe.

The fact that he frequently uses English loan words in the Japanese version, in combination with an older style of Japanese itself, also leads me to believe that specifically Early Modern English is the intended style of his speech and not just something chosen because the game is in English, as otherwise, his use of English-related words even in the Japanese version feels a bit off. I don’t read or understand Japanese nearly well enough to verify this myself. It’s possible my understanding is incorrect, and I know Japanese has a lot of English loan words so it’s unlikely that only Rouxls uses them. I’m just going off of the information on the wiki for this one.

Rouxls says he has some sort of “Reale Powere” we haven’t seen yet, and oddly I’m inclined to believe him. He looks like he has some pretty flashy powers, and those powers seem to operate via holy light. He even teleports with a beam of light from the heavens. I wish we knew what element he is, in case it’s holy, or holy’s pair element, elec.

Rouxls maintains a consistent presence throughout the game, establishing him as important enough to potentially get a role like the angel if he weren’t such a goofy and comedic joke character

The angel would probably have control over the “rouxls” of the universe (or at least the rules of Soul Power), making it the new rules card essentially

Rouxls views himself as above just about everyone, except maybe for the entity he chooses to serve at any given time

Rouxls can fly (or at least levitate a bit), and much of the other information about the angel implies this is common among angels

In Rouxls’s unused proper battle theme, there are bells playing in the background Church bells seem like a likely instrumental motif for the angel, both because of its connection to Christian religion, and the end of the world (when the bell tolls). While the bells in this theme don’t seem to be church bells specifically, they’re still bells, so it seems worth a mention.

The same goes for his shop theme, but as Swatch demonstrates in chapter 2, that seems to be a generic shop theme rather than specifically a Rouxls theme. Since Rouxls is the first one to have it though, and he visits Swatch’s shop, you could make an argument it’s also a Rouxls theme.

White may be a colour associated with the angel, with black or dark blue being a colour associated with darkness and/or the roaring. Rouxls’ colour scheme has both of these colours, exclusively, unless you count the inside of his mouth being lighter blue.

Rouxls is able to create decoy save points, using one for a puzzle in Chapter 1. They’re supposedly “the light only you can see”, so how would Rouxls know generally what it looks like?

Rouxls’ ability to mind control certain characters implies he may have an ability similar to Trance, which could be something people with significant Power have access to. Though, it also operates through equipment, (the Control Crowne) so maybe that’s evidence that trance only works through certain items rather than through the powers of a specific person. Keep an eye out for any disc shaped lifeforms that might be a threat if mind controlled, and any crown shaped crowns that might do the controlling.

The sound of Kris creating a dark fountain at the end of chapter 2 is a modified version of Rouxls’ teleporting sound

So either Rouxls is a masterful double-red-herring, which, knowing Toby, is entirely possible, or he’s actually vital to the plot. However, since Toby wasn’t initially sure if players would even like Rouxls, and actually thought he would be disliked, on top of his goofy personality and status as a mostly joke character, I assume he, at the very least, isn’t a realistic angel candidate. Though, since Toby would have realized how positive his reception was soon after Chapter 1’s release, that could have given him time to give Rouxls a more important role somewhere else.

As both a writer and hobbyist game designer, I just don’t see how a Rouxls angel could have nearly the same impact in the story as myself, Susie, Ralsei, or even candidates I don’t think are all that viable, like Kris, Catti, and Asriel. Knowing how much the impact of this ending means to Toby, being the main inspiration for Deltarune’s creation, and probably even Undertale’s by extension, I don’t think he would risk undermining that ending with Rouxls as the angel.

Maybe Rouxls was the previous angel and he wants to reclaim his lost glory? But that implies the angel serves some specific entity, and while I think the angel is still beholden to fate, I don’t know that you’d really call “fate” an entity. Maybe Rouxls used to serve under the previous angel? But if he did, he sure doesn’t act like he’s been around for that long, and if it was thousands of years ago, or even more than a couple hundred, playing cards may not have even been invented yet, let alone a modern-enough looking rules card that the narration wouldn’t point it out as odd.

Rouxls Kaard even slightly resembles Gaster, so I have to wonder if he’s potentially a triple red herring for something related to that. This character is a mess, and as I’m writing this, I’ve just noticed yet another thing. "My hobbies includest calligraphy, lawkeeping, bugkeeping, cages..." If Jaru’s knight theory is correct, and Gerson’s dust and hammer was reanimated like Ralsei with Asriel’s dust, then Rouxls’s hobbies each match one of the main three opposition characters in Deltarune. Calligraphy for the knight, as Gerson was a writer. Lawkeeping for the angel, as it has control over soul power and the laws of reality itself. Bugkeeping for Gaster, as in programming bugs, given his association with errors in reality and the like, and cages because the game places everyone (except Jevil, he’s the only free one) in a metaphorical cage via the time loop.

That’s all, folks!

At least for now, anyway. Maybe I’ll find even more stuff to share and I’ll have to make a third post about this that’s even longer! But that will probably have to wait until the release of chapters 3 and 4. In the meantime, you can expect the occasional update with some more minor theories of mine, unless the wait is significantly longer or shorter than I expect it to be.

Thanks to Kris, Catti, and some out-of-system friends for helping me puzzle this all out. Without people to bounce ideas off of I would have lost the motivation for this months ago and might not have even finished part 1. Thanks to @jarujaruj, who, without his videos starting me on this nonsense, I would have never gotten this far. Thanks to Toby and his team for not releasing the next 2 chapters before I finished this, despite the multiple scares they gave me in the process and this potentially being the month it'll release. And thanks to everyone for reading, and hopefully, now that you’ve presumably read 2 of these giant things, being willing to give my theory a fair shake.

Here’s your TL;DR:

Kris may be able to sync up their soul with other souls and sources of soul power like dark fountains, potentially explaining every power they uniquely have access to in Deltarune and the dark world leveling system. The angel is created by high soul power, power of the heart, hence the romance themes with Kris and the main angel candidates. Kris will likely remove the soul in the weird route, attempting to take us both down together even if it kills them, and we’ll have Gaster’s vessel as a replacement to ensure we complete the route without Kris’s help.

The DT extractor, assuming Gaster has one in Deltarune’s reality, is likely used to acquire soul power and inject it into a target to make the angel in at least one route. “Holy” and “Sin” don’t seem to be as strictly regulated in their use as “Angel”, so the information we can gather from them is limited, but they seem to help indicate there’s a decent chance Christianity is a religion in this reality, or it used to be, and the angel religion’s traditions evolved from it, making the roaring like the rapture. The Egg Man is, by my guess, a second, goofier, less serious Gaster, from whichever reality the other Gaster isn’t, though they may be a clone as the save file screen implies Gaster can mitose save files, possibly breeding vessels, more Gasters, or even more timelines or universes. The Song from the Sea may be able to create a trance-like effect, and if universes are alive, may be able to control them.

Noelle is the angel in the weird route, Susie is the angel in the pacifist route, Ralsei is likely the angel in the neutral route because Susie won’t have had her full character arc, but this may just happen in a particularly violence-heavy neutral route. Dark worlds have different time flow, and their histories seem to be created retroactively, there’s a good chance a day in the light world could be weeks, months, or years in a dark world, maybe even longer in a darker world (i.e. a dark world created within a dark world, like Berdly tried to do near the end of chapter 2), all decently likely given soul power’s association with time control and darkness being an aspect of soul power.

The personification of the Earth may mean it's actually alive and has a will, and this is what enables the roaring. NEO may be related to things only possible via influence of an outside force, like the player. The Ring of Thorns' similarity to the biblical crown of thorns implies I may be murdered or sacrificed late in the weird route, probably in my attempt to break the loop. I suspect the most likely conclusion of the weird route is successfully breaking the time loop, but being left with a world that's only a broken shell of what it used to be. Don’t forget, even when the places you’ve come to know start feeling like a fantasy being enacted over and over, I’ll be with you in the dark. See you next loop! It’s not like I’m going anywhere.

[seireitonin]

Hey, hru? Can you make some Tobyxnina hc/dynamics. I started shipping it because of u because I like the ship. Glad!:3

Sure! I love my rare pair but ig it’s getting more traction and I’m so happy!! :3 (idk if I had anything to do w that but I’m happy regardless. Also I hc Nina as black so :3 these are gonna be written in that in mind also these are all so fluffy)

Toby x Nina headcannons❤️

Scemo girlfriend. Grungy midwestern emo boyfriend

They hang out in the forest away from everyone

Mainly because some of the other creeps are like “you guys are a very strange couple”

Nina embraces the weirdness of their relationship

It was unexpected and came out of nowhere and no one could’ve saw it coming

While Toby hates the comments about it

If they love each other why does it matter?

They are though

I mean Nina’s whole thing was liking Jeff

What changed?

After growing up and maturing Nina released she never even liked or loved Jeff

She was just obsessed with him

Leading to a very unhealthy “relationship”

(Jeff just kept her around because she did what he said)

But Nina and Toby were different

Through spending time together they had to build this unlikely relationship

Toby found her really annoying and Nina thought he was so gloomy

But after spending more time together Toby’s mood would lighten around her

He needed someone like her

She was so so happy and bubbly and gentle and sweet

Toby had only known rough, callous and uncaring all his life

So being around her felt peaceful

And it still does

Nina spent so long trying to impress Jeff

So her being able to make Toby happy by just being herself makes her cry with happiness sometimes

He loves HER

Not what she can do for him

Toby enjoys her holding her hand, not telling her what to do

Nina enjoys playing with his hair, not hitting him or pushing him around

They like each other :)

Since Nina is a scemo queen, Toby likes to watch her get ready

The teasing of her hair, putting on all those belts, the dark eyeshadow and eyeliner the dark brown concealer on her lips to blend in with her skin

He thinks it’s over the top and looks ridiculous

And he loves it

Because it’s on her

“Why do you still dress like it’s 2007?”

“Cuz it’s fun! :3!”

“Is it, now?”

“Mhm! You should try it!”

“Don’t think so”

“Ah my gloomy Toby”

“Not gloomy. Just not me”

“But we listen to emo music together though!”

“Doesn’t mean I have to dress like it”

“I’m gonna make you do it one day”

“Sure you are”

Nina loves watching him practice hatchet throwing

When he hits a tree right in the middle she’ll cheer

“Yay Toby!”

He smiles a bit at her as to say thank you

He still has trouble with the whole emotions thing

He won’t say he loves Nina with his words but his actions

Getting her a new studded belt, more hairspray new eyeliner and anything that reminds him of her

Blast emo music in the car together and headbang

Toby is midwestern emo and Nina is MySpace emo

Although Toby also really likes nu metal, and other alternative music too

Nina often steals Toby’s hoodies and sweaters and will wear them to sleep, especially when he’s away on a mission

They’re mainly brown, black, dark blue all neutral colors because Toby’s plain like that

They smell like him and it makes her so happy

“Nina-what did I tell you about taking my stuff?”

*nina knocked tf out*

“Ugh you’re lucky you’re beautiful. You’re getting makeup all over my hoodie”

Nina wants to straighten Toby’s hair and give him emo hair and a fringe sooo bad

Like really bad

He grew is hair out for her to do it, he didn’t care about his hair anyway

He’ll let her do what she wants and she did just that

She gave him emo hair but it looked professionally done it’s so clean

Toby’s honestly impressed

Nina thinks he looks so hot with emo hair especially when he wears plain black shirts or shirts with bands he likes on them

Literally the emo bf she’s always wanted

Toby hates being called emo buuuut he kinda is

She’s now trying to get Toby to let her dye his hair pink and black to match hers

That’s where Toby drew the line

Nina and Toby got matching piercings though!

Now they both have canine bites, septums, eyebrow piercings and a bunch of ear piercings

Why not? He can’t feel it

They’ll touch tongues through the open wounds in their faces

Nina will stick her tongue out through her smile and Toby will touch her tongue with his through his face gash hole thingy

Nina makes Toby candi bracelets and Toby puts them on his hatchets

Toby will take Nina shopping with money he stole and saved up from victims

Goes with her every time because he doesn’t want her to get harassed

Super protective of her, just like he is with all the women he loves

No one can make fun of Nina’s fashion except for him

Nina definitely sings rap songs like sexy red and Meg the stallion to him as a joke

Toby just tolerates it

“Stop me and you’re racist, Toby!”

*head in his hands* “I’m not stopping you”

Toby is still, blunt, rude, obnoxious and cynical but tries to tone it down around Nina

He knows she’s sensitive to people talking to her like that, especially her partners

Nina will sometimes decorate Toby’s scars with glitter

He’s covered in them

All he does is roll his eyes and let her

He wasn’t doing anything with them anyway

Even though Toby is 29 and Nina’s 27 they feel like happy teenagers with each other

This is what their lives should’ve been together if the world was kinder to them

Just 2 people in love, hanging out listening to music, together, shopping together, going out to eat together

Nina being scemo is healing her inner child

Toby loving her true authentic self is healing her inner child

Toby tries to do the same by wearing more comfortable sweaters and trying to break the habit of picking at his skin

Nina loving him despite all his problems is healing his inner child

This is how life should be

No abuse, no suffering

Just them being in love and chilling

[magicspace114]

New faces - pack bonds

It happened not long after you'd shielded Toby from Freddy but now, the little alien had started putting more trust in you. They were no longer passing out when they needed sleep but blissfully curling up on your lap while you watched movies.

Your understanding of alien family bonds was very unclear after hearing what Toby had told you about their own parents. You were still caught up on the fact that they were somehow involved with Toby being sent here on their own.

Your hand moved down from their curly hair to the rings of metal around their wrists. Restraints, they'd called them. Restraints for a child. It wasn't right. You ran your thumb over them, wondering if there was some way to release the kid from them. Your older brother was pretty good with locks, perhaps he could help.

Of course, there was the other problem; telling your family. How do you tell your very scary family that you've essentially adopted an alien child that had broken into your apartment and put a hole in your wall?

You sighed and took out your phone, calling up your mother. She answered after the first couple rings. "Mayflower! It's been a while."

"It's been three days."

"And we only met up for half an hour before you had to leave."

"Right, sorry." You nodded, "listen, I've got someone to introduce to the family and I think you'd be the best person they meet first."

"Oh? Another boyfriend? As long as he's not like that Freddy guy-"

"No, mum," you shook your head, "this is a kid. They need help and I've been taking care of them."

"How young?"

"About fourteen."

"O-kay," your mother sounded unsure, "I am good with kids but so is your father and your brother's not too bad himself. Is there something wrong?"

"Well... I can't say over the phone. You wouldn't believe me."

"You're sounding a bit... ominous. Are you in trouble or something? You haven't illegally acquired this kid, have you?"

"Uhhh," you paused, "technically I have but I didn't kidnap them. They just appeared in my home and I'm not their legal guardian."

"May," your mother scoffed, "you're supposed to be my little perfect citizen out of my children."

You let out a huff, "mum, if you wanted children who followed the law to a tee, you shouldn't have married dad."

"I know, I know," she chuckled, "I can come around to meet this child today if you're free."

"Yeah, that would be great. Thanks, mum."

"Anything for my little flower." Your mother hung up and you looked down as you felt Toby shift.

They blinked open their eyes and let out a small bleat as they looked up at you. You chuckled, "hello, sleepyhead."

"Huh?" Toby looked around, realising they were laid on your lap in front of the TV before slowly sitting up. "Sorry for sleeping on you."

"It's fine," you kept an arm around them as they sat up, "listen, my mum's gonna come over today to meet you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I didn't say too much over the phone so we've got to do a bit of explaining when we see her."

"Will she... accept me?" Toby asked.

"I think so," you nodded, "you're still a kid and she knows it so she'll treat you well."

"Is- does this mean I'll become part of your pack?"

"Pack?" You tilted your head.

"Yeah, your pack, or herd? I think it's meant to be pack." Toby quizzed over the words. "There's talk that human pack bonds are some of the strongest bonds in the galaxy and that you create these bonds with things that aren't even other humans."

"It's weird to hear it be called 'pack bonds'" you chuckled, "we usually use the word family to describe our groups and yes, we create these bonds with some animals like cats or dogs."

"Would I become part of your 'family'?"

You smiled, "yes. If all introductions go well, you'd become part of my family and have not only my protection but my parents and older brother's protection too."

"H-how do I make a good impression? Is there something I should do?"

"Just be you," you pat the top of their head, "I can do a lot of the explaining but like I said, you're a kid and my mother knows this so you'll get more consideration." Toby let out a bleat. "It's going to be ok. How about we get some food while we wait." Toby nodded and followed you into the kitchen.

~

Some time passed before there was a knock on the door. You and Toby were still eating lunch in the kitchen. You put your sandwich down, "stay here. I'll get it." You wiped your hands on your jeans before opened the door a crack.

On the other side was a brunette woman that was only slightly shorter than you and carrying a small backpack on her shoulder. Despite being older, her skin was in good condition with only crows feet showing at her eyes and a large collection of freckles on her tanned cheeks.

"May," she smiled, opening her arms in invitation.

"Mum," you hugged her immediately, happy to see your mother again, even if it hasn't been that long since you last saw her.

"Now where's this kid I'm meant to meet," she asked as you let her inside, closing the door again.

"First thing, mum, they're very different from any kid you've seen before," you said carefully, "and they're also pretty nervous about meeting other people. When I first saw them, they ran from me."

"What's that hole in the wall?" Your mother immediately pointed out the large dent.

"Yeah, they kinda ran into the wall while running away from me."

"Are they alright?" Your mother asked.

"They were already hurt before that. I've put stitches in to help heal it all." You looked over at the kitchen to see the top of Toby's hair sticking out over the counter they were hiding behind. "Toby? Would you like to come out here?"

Toby crept to the doorway, peeking their head out carefully but still not getting any closer. Your mother squinted on seeing them, her brain needing a chance to catch up with the non-human features Toby had. Just like you, your mother went very quiet and still on meeting the kid, not really processing fast enough that this was a real alien.

"Toby," you held your hand out for Toby to grab and they left the wall they were hugging to stand in your shadow, hugging your arm to their chest.

"Toby is- is uh-" your mother blinked.

"That was my reaction the first time too," you chuckled, "they're an alien. This is why I didn't want to say over the phone."

"Uh- is it ok to call them an alien? Is that not offensive?" Your mother asked.

"That's true, what is your species called, Tobs?"

"I- I'm an Ovec," Toby let out a nervous bleat.

"An Ovec," your mother nodded. "How did you get here?"

"I- was sent here," Toby squeezed your arm, "my- I- uh-" they let out more nervous bleats.

"Breathe, Toby, it's ok. You're safe, just keep breathing." You said, running your free hand over one of their hands.

"I'm sorry," Toby said through bleats, "I don't mean to make so much noise, sorry."

"It's alright," your mother said in a voice like honey. You knew right away on hearing that voice that she had softened from her previous surprise. She crouched to a similar level to Toby and Toby looked down. "I'm May's mother, Julia."

"I- I'm Totobyc M-Maechislovic III but May calls me Toby." Toby introduced, purposefully avoiding eye contact.

They flinched when your mother reached for them. She didn't stop her movement but she was still slow and gentle as she put her hand on Toby's shoulder, "it's lovely to meet you, Toby."

"Really?" Toby looked up briefly to see your mother smiling.

"Of course," she said, "you don't have anything to fear from us."

"You should have seen them when we went grocery shopping, they were very excited and it was adorable," you said, booping their snout.

Toby let out a bleat of offence and your mother laughed. "Oh, my husband will love you. I'm not sure how James will be though."

"I actually need James' help with something actually," you said, crouching down with your mother and showing off Toby's wrists where the metal bands are, "I was thinking of a way to get these off and he's always better at this sort of thing than I am."

"I don't think you can," Toby said, "they unlock with a specific digital key. You'd need the key to unlock them."

"James specialises in not using a key," you smiled.

"What are these bands?" Your mother asked.

"Restraints," you and Toby said together.

Your mother got this dark look on her face after hearing that and while Toby shrunk under it, you felt the spark of righteous fury reignite in your chest and you returned the look with a nod.

"I'll call your brother and tell him to bring his tools," your mother nodded at you and took out her phone.

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[narabea06]

Toby Rogers headcanons

Requested by @kosmicpowers

They used to be a Slender proxy, but ended up running away after years of being traumatized by Slender. Nowadays, he works at a corner store as a cashier, and tries her best to get better and move past everything that happened, while also staying under a false identity.

They are bigender, ace, and biromantic, and he goes by he/she/they.

Him and Clockwork are dating on and off, but are very close regardless.

Toby isn't the biggest fan of serious musicals but finds comedy musicals to be a weird comfort for him. His favorite is TGWDLM specifically because he loved Paul's character and because he related to Alice. 

Frank is the reason Toby started to become so distant and angry as a teenager even before Lyra's death, because Frank would treat any emotion Toby had as something that made him weak. 

Toby ends up getting very defensive when people look down on her or consider them weak or in need of help because of how much Frank had beat down his confidence and self worth, and made him feel and believe he was completely alone and that he should never need help. 

While Toby doesn't kill, he does help Nina and BEN get in trouble a lot through pranks as well as just helping them light shit on fire-

They have ADHD. 

Toby used to doodle a lot and left his old notebook for Clockwork when he ran away.

Her and Toby were planning on running away together when Lyra was 17 and Toby was 14, since Lyra finally got her driving license, and Toby and her had a lot of money saved. Frank caught them though and took away Lyra's keys for two years.

Them and Lyra shared a room as teens. Every night, they would talk while they tried to sleep. This also helped when Lyra had nightmares. They also used this time to plan when they ran away. 

He is horrified by being in a car, and driving, and will always panic if he has to get in a car. Nina tried to help teach them how to drive but realized Toby was either always constantly shaking or was constantly going like five miles an hour. 

Toby never let people over to his house growing up, especially not Natalie or Nina, since he felt very scared that they would see his home life and judge him or worry too much.

They burnt their hatchets, hoodie, and mask in a bonfire once he escaped Slender, but he kept his goggles for safekeeping and for memories sake.

Connie tried switching Toby over to homeschooling after elementary school due to Toby's Tourette's and ADHD causing him to be unable to work in a regular school environment and getting severely bullied, but after two years Connie realized that this made Toby's mental health drop almost even more due to his isolation, and being forced to spend more time at home with Frank caused him to get even more aggressive. Toby was then switched back in highschool, but had a long IEP, as well as the option to go home early from school if he was too stressed out by the environment, and to just finish his work at home. 

Toby does not have fingerprints because he accidentally burnt his hands in starting the fire. 

Toby hates being called Tobias or Rogers, and prefers just Toby.

Part 2

[whaleofatjme1920]

From Where the Land Meets the Sea - Chapter 5

[GN!Reader]

[Warnings: Mentions of murder]

[AN: had a weird urge to finish this chapter and post it. 2155 words <3]

Full Index

Chapter 4 | Chapter 6 coming soon...

Reblogs are appreciated!

Tag list: @mutareadastra

Highways stretch on forever. Aside from the leaves of the trees just barely shifting from the late summer to a touch of autumn, you would have thought you and the ones packed like sardines in the car with you were stuck in your own version of eternally humming hell. 

“Reader?” A voice called out for you. 

You stared endlessly out the window and huffed. You were completely oblivious to the rough voice asking for you. Glassy eyed, you didn’t feel the presence of a predator looming over your shoulder while he glared at you down. 

From the back seat where he sat with Kate, he slinked from behind and rested his forearms on the seat. An annoyed Masky curled a brow upwards at him, but did not interfere with his odd staring. He made a gesture at you, almost to see if they were both testing the waters before he sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and slumped against the seat. Jeff grinned. He positioned himself directly behind you. His breath fanned across your skin as he entered your personal bubble. His forearm snaked around your shoulders and neck to cage you against the uncomfortable seats of the van while his other hand twirled the blade of a knife. 

“Sunshine,” he cooed softly as his chapped lips nearly brushed the shell of your ear. “Wake up!”

You had been so consumed in your thoughts that you hadn’t felt his forearm crawl against you and constrict. But his screaming, it made you panic. Your eyes went wide as you tore your gaze away from the rolling hills and clawed like a wild animal at his forearm. “Get the fuck off of me!” You screeched as he held you tight against the seat. 

A hiss sounded from the front seat as the van swerved ever so slightly. “Stop fucking horsing around, I’m trying to drive!” A lightly southern accented voice growled. It grew deeper with every syllable to further highlight his frustration. His black ski mask stared the two of you down in the rear view mirror. 

From your side, Toby turned his head back over to look upwards at Jeff. “Come on, that’s enough,” he said coolly. It wasn’t like him to be the most composed of the group, but Toby wasn’t looking forward to the potential of another car crash. He watched as Jeff’s grip steadied so as to not choke you and hummed in approval when his pale hands stopped fluttering the blade around. 

Jeff’s ragged breading filled your ears alongside the pounding of your heart. He dipped his face down to stare you in the eyes, still grinning. “This is for you,” he said as he dropped the blade unceremoniously onto your lap. His hawk-like stare followed your hands as you moved them downwards to the handle, uncomfortably handling the knife as if it were a ticking bomb bound to go up. When he caught your startled visage once more, his grin fell completely. His face pressed to yours, the bridge of his nose blowing uncomfortably on the tip of yours. His eyes were wide, much too wide. “If you fuck around with this I will gut you and no one here will be able to stop me.” 

Masky’s head raised as if to protest, but he didn’t find the prospect of arguing very exciting and ultimately decided to let sleeping dogs lie. He sighed once more and absentmindedly rubbed his thumb over the spark wheel. He felt calmed by the feeling of the metal grooves pressed against the pad of his thumb. He looked over at you with his tired eyes and let them fall to the blade of the knife. 

Naturally, you followed him. And with it, you could see that it had been used. How many lives have been taken with this? You could feel the tears well in your eyes as your index finger just barely brushed over the handle and the silvery metal of the blade. Your hands shook as you found your reflection within it. Why did holding it feel right? Why did it fit into your hands so perfectly? 

The thought mulled in your head as the car continued down the long stretch of road and it continued until you, and your odd group of sorts, found your way to a gas station. One by one, you and all the others filed out of the car with some cracking their joints and stretching from being seated for so long.

But you, you were transfixed on the blade. Why did it fit in your palm so perfectly? Weighted just right, a smooth, but tactile grip, if you swung it, it would simply become an extension of your very body. Nothing more, nothing less.

The blossoming of realization that etched across your face and unfolded like roses in spring lit your face on fire. The sensation of heat even though there may not have been physical evidence of it roared across your cheeks but what followed by a mild mannered peep. You were like a deer caught in the headlights, eyes far too wide and a confused, hurt expression on your face as you waited for the inevitable hit of a car which would come to you in the form of a few words. 

“You don’t mean…” You whispered as your stomach raged like the beginnings of a tsunami, waters pulled quickly from the surface to well in the depths only to come hurling forward in a few moments if you weren’t careful to mind yourself. The need to empty your stomach of its contents was overwhelming at the mere implication of what the knife was meant to do. 

Hoodie shifted his attention from your sickened expression and nodded simply. “Oh, but we do,” he said with no underlying amusement or excitement. It wasn’t really his first idea for you, but the people in the van were getting… twitchy. Something about you was odd from the moment you managed to down Kate in the backyard, and if the legends they heard when they were young proxies held even a smidgen of truth, they were dealing with someone that far surpassed a normal human’s caliber. The Tall Man had yet to reveal anything of substance to them, but Masky, Jack, they had their thoughts alongside him. 

“No, no, no-” you mumble to yourself again and again like a mantra. It’s a prayer to a God that refuses to answer you. Your cries are in vain. Your heart had begun to pound wildly in your chest, your vision going blurry and flashes of colors that don’t even have names spot in your eyes. You’ve had maybe one panic attack before this, when you were younger, but this? This was of an entirely different breed. You’re breathing so hard and gripping the handle of the knife so tightly your knuckle bones are ready to burst through your skin. 

There’s people in that gas station. They don’t even notice the seven of you standing out there, with your captors like a pack of vultures surrounding the living corpse you feel like. The artificial lights of the gas station can only reach so far to cut through the foggy black of night. 

“I can’t,” you retorted in a broken squawk. You glanced down once more at the glistening blade, and to your shock, it seemed to smile at you. The sharp edges, how it reflected the yellowed lights of the gas station, the very thought of warm blood turning cold on your flesh once it had been spilled from someone else… And you liked it. Your heart beat in sync with the blade’s and it startled you. You dropped the knife in horror, more than disgusted with yourself for the very thought of enjoying something so terrible. “Why?” You choked out, dry tears mixing with what you could only assume was the call of the void.

The men, accompanied by Kate, all shared a look between each other like they were locked in a standoff and staring down brandished weapons that were ready to shoot at the slightest brushing of the trigger. Eyeless Jack stalked towards you, but not much like a predator. It was if he understood a glimpse of what you had just seen - what caused you to drop your knife. 

“What did you just see?” He asked, voice slow but not condescending. It seemed he wanted you to be able to understand him the first go around as opposed to repeating himself. That, and his accent was visibly thicker given the slight annoyance. Your silence annoyed him further, but he made no rash movements. Instead, he bent down, picked up your knife and thrust it back into your hands. His own clawed fingers then trailed upwards to your chin, forcing you to look up at him. He crossed his arms across his chest. “You saw something and you liked it.”

Your face fell. “No, no I didn’t-” you vehemently denied. 

Jeff’s grin grew. You felt it, didn’t you? Now he knew too and was in on the little secret some of your group members had been muttering all about. “Ohohoh, you can’t deny it-you got a hidden blood lust buried away inside of you! You have the potential to be just as fucked up as one of us,” he taunted further, watching as Jack’s hand forced you to once again look up at him. 

“Now,” Jack breathed. “Stop the dramatics and listen up. Okay?” He patted your cheek, that was meant to be condescending, and released you as if you were nothing. 

You kept denying their claims and fell to your knees, letting the concrete dig into them. Your sobs were quiet, but heaving. The very thought of taking a life logically broke your very soul apart, but a little voice in the back of your head asked you, ‘what if?’ The very thought disgusted you even further and you grew closer and closer to hyperventilating. 

The men in your group weren’t going to check on you. It’s not that they didn’t want to, per se, but rather they’d been in the life for so long they’d almost forgotten how to do things like… comfort someone. But Kate? Kate had retained some of her humanity despite the horror inflicted on her when she was a young proxy. She approached you, crouched down to your kneeling form and gently placed her hands on your shoulders. It was a subtle force and tell for you to look up at her. 

“Hey,” she whispered in that same delicate voice like you were a small child that had come to her after having a nightmare. 

Slowly, your eyes met hers. Her eyes, dark, all consuming, much like the void that called you from the grinning blade of your knife, were comforting where it was not. You watched as her chapped lips fell into a small smile, uneasy, but reassuring. No matter what would happen, she was on your side. You felt dizzy as she helped you back up to your feet and leaned on her while the two of you walked. Slowly, just quick enough to get you moving but measured so you would not risk actually passing out. Though, passing out would be preferable to the situation you found yourself in. 

“I know I don’t want to,” you croaked as you wiped away stray tears. 

Kate found the choice of words odd, ‘know’, but chose not to comment for now. “I understand,” she replied. “But you need to,” she stressed. It was uncharacteristic of her, to urge you to doing something you wouldn’t want. You hardly knew her personally but felt she’d been a friend for years, or perhaps not a friend but at least a kind soul yours recognized as familiar. Relatively safe even though she too was a predator waiting to pounce. “Look,” she murmured, “I just need you to hold on a little bit longer, okay? Things are… getting weird.” 

Something clicked in your head. She was leaving you a trail of breadcrumbs, waiting for you to follow them and see what was at the end of the path. 

‘Kate, you gotta hurry it up. You don’t convince her, I will. My methods won’t be as nice,’ Hoodie says in passing, his eyes not even honed in on the two of you. He’s still amazed the gas station employees hadn’t noticed them or their whole commotion in the parking lot. What luck it was that no one needed gas in the time they’d wasted here convincing you either. A small smile crossed on his lips. If you performed the way he thought you would, then his theory would really hold some weight. Sometimes the universe is convenient that way. 

Toby gave a small look to his group leader, and then to Hoodie. He too was now interested in the conversation between the two of them, something deep and pertaining to you. He hadn’t been in the life as long as everyone else, maybe a bit longer than Kate if you ask whoever’s recalling their stories, but even he’s heard of the urban legends passed around in proxy spaces. ‘Ditto,’ he finally adds, wanting to get the show on the road. 

Masky shot Toby a glare. “Watch it,” he growled. 

A few beats of silence passed through you and Kate, Hoodie, Masky and Toby before her voice finally gave them an answer. ‘They’re on board now,’ she tiredly said while her gloved hand rubbed slow circles on your back. 

[makuta-tobi]

Destinytober 2024 - Ghost+Vex

Tobi-17 looked down at the box of scrap on his desk, worrying his temple with one hand. It had been given to him by Eido while he visited Botza District, and she had expressed her concern over the contents. Apparently it had been included in a shipment, though the origin was unknown, and had been delivered to the Eliksni Quarter earlier that week. He had gladly taken it off her hands, at least to see what sort of scrap material could worry a species who had lived off of scrap for so long, but he felt his heart sink when he looked inside.

Much of the junk was strange. Guns from all types of sources, disassembled in a way as if each piece had been meticulously and forcefully removed in the correct order. While many of the weapons were City foundry, there were some Cabal weapons belonging to both Imperial forces as well as Red Legion stragglers, Eliksni wire rifles, and, most disturbingly, Vex Slap Rifles.

He began digging through the box some more, hoping to find some form of answer to the origin of the weapon parts, when his hand closed around something familiar. He ran his thumb over the spherical shape, feeling the indents along it, and his optics narrowed in recognition. Pulling it out quickly, he was shocked to see that he was right – there in his hand was the core of a Ghost. Dead, now, its glowing iris no longer illuminated, and the Light seemingly gone from it. Off of its body hung a partial shell, which only made him shudder more. The familiar bronze alloy of the Vex was still connected to one section of its body.

Sitting down, Tobi-17 cradled the Ghost in one hand and gripped the foreign metal with the other, pulling it hard. There was a wet SWOP as he removed the Vex material, a tiny bit of Radiolaria forming the seal that kept the piece there. His breath quickened as he called out in his nearly empty apartment.

“Soul!”

His own Ghost wheeled around the corner into the room, shell plates spinning and clicking together.

“Everything okay?” his companion asked.

“I need you to take a look at this,” the Warlock held out both pieces in his hand to show what he had, and Soul moved closer, scanning the Radiolaria and the dead Ghost.

“Well the good news is, the Ghost’s body is intact. Nothing got through it,” Tobi-17 sighed with relief at his partner’s findings. He had feared the Vex might have been looking into how to simulate the Light. “But I can tell you this guy has been through a lot.” His own Ghost’s tone was concerning.

“How do you mean?” he asked, setting the dead Ghost down and turning the Vex metal over in his hands, his full attention now focused on the strange material.

“My scans showed he was being experimented on. The fusion of the stuff you have there was the last straw, but I can see some weird temporal anomalies here, and it looks like it’s maybe...it’s hard to say exactly,” Soul tried finding the right words, “but it’s like they had him on a table. They couldn’t cut him open, but that didn’t stop them from checking what else they could do. I’m detecting microscopic, infinitesimal marks that could have come from the galaxy’s most precise scalpel.”

Tobi-17 didn’t respond, he just ran his hands over the Vex alloy he held. It was perfect, in every way. No seams, no jagged edges, it was purely solid. But he couldn’t tell what it had come from. Had the Vex created it specifically to target this Ghost? It wasn’t the remnants of other Vex, it hadn’t come from the head of a Wyvern, or the body of a Minotaur, it was original, and unblemished. Why use their own material? All it would have taken was the Radiolaria, so what was the point…

The Exo tossed the metal back in the box of scraps and leaned back in his chair thoughtfully. Soul came and perched on the back of it, looking down at him like a bird eyeing a snack in the park.

“Someone went through a lot of trouble to get this here,” Tobi-17 murmured, “the scanners should have picked up the foreign objects long before they made it to Botza District. This wasn’t something Spider ordered, it was intended to turn up there by someone else.” He rubbed his hand over his upper mandible, considering the options he had.

“How about we turn this over to the Vanguard for now, and discuss plans with Crow?” Soul interrupted his thoughts. “This Ghost, whoever he was, needs to be returned home for now, and Crow might have more insight onto what’s going on, or why this was targeted at the refugees. If nothing else, we should discuss beefing up security patrols for now.”

Tobi-17 sighed heavily, staring up at the ceiling, then shoved himself up and out of his chair, walking back to the box and digging around in it some more.

“Now what?” Soul asked, alarmed.

“I’m gonna make sure all that’s left in here are weapon parts, and then we’re taking a trip to the Annex.”

“Why is that?”

Tobi-17 held up a rifle stock in one hand, and a receiver in the other.

“I want to talk to Ada about some guns.”