#they're halves of the same whole but they're still very different

[epickiya722]

You know what, I feel like Yuji's technique was always meant to be literally touching souls.

I think back to when Mahito was shocked when Yuji got a punch on him and he (Mahito) bled. Mahito had realized that Yuji can perceive the shape of a soul. Fast forward many chapters later, Yuji is using Shrine to sever the connection between Sukuna's and Megumi's souls to save the latter (successful).

It makes sense though that Yuji's true technique is something in which allows him to touch souls. It fits into his character. He's someone that people will say "touches souls". Think about how some of the characters interact with him.

Thinking about his Domain Expansion... what if it's not a DE that just goes through memories? It's one where he can choose whether a not someone who enters that Domain has their soul redeemed based on their actions once he offers them that chance to?

I know some people may just chalk it up as "Well, actually he was Sukuna's vessel so of course, he can touch souls 🤓".

But what if that was all along made to be believed?

Yeah, Yuji and Sukuna are two halves of the same whole. But that's just it, they're also two halves. They're still their own being. Sukuna is Sukuna just as Yuji is Yuji.

Yuji can use Shrine because well, it's practically in his DNA. But his soul technique could just be something that is individual to himself.

And what if the reason why Mahito only was able to touch Sukuna's soul and not Yuji's wasn't because Sukuna possessed his body, it's because Yuji (subconsciously) can protect his own soul?

I mean, it's revealed in a fanbook that Yuji doesn't even interact with Sukuna at all when he's sleeping. And when Sukuna first possessed Yuji, Yuji was able to suppress him. Healthy mind, yes. But also, because that's just what his technique can do? Protect his own soul and over the course of the story, he strengthens it?

Metaphorically, Yuji does touch souls. Sukuna isn't responsible for that. Yuji always been that way even before Sukuna was acknowledged.

Think about how some of the techniques reflect the characters.

But hey, that's just me.

[akanemnon]

Wait wait wait, if Frisk and Kris are each half of Chara’s soul, does that mean they each retain different aspects of Chara’s personality?

If so, I’m guessing Frisk got Chara’s love of monsters, violent numbness, and deep compassion. And Kris got Chara’s hatred of humanity, love for their family, and social awkwardness.

In my personal headcanons, it’s pretty much the same thing but Kris is the whole, and Chara and Frisk are the halves. It’s funny that someone else agrees that “Kris and Frisk/Chara are the same person” or “Kris, Frisk, and Chara are unrelated” is too simple for my taste, because I actually made my headcanons before I even read Twin Ruens.

Btw, thank you SO MUCH! The work you put into these comics is INSANE! AND FINALLY SOME GOOD KFC GANG RECOGNITION! Your art, designs, and dedication is truly inspiring! Honestly, a lot of my current art style came from your early comics. Keep it up! Us Twin Runes fans will stick with you no matter what! And if you ever want to take a break, please do so, pumping out long comics on so many platforms must be exhausting.

Please exuse my fanenbying and have a great 2025! ^^

In the case of Twin Runes saying "they are the same people" or "they are unrelated" really ARE too simple answers.

You are right, both Kris and Frisk have one half of Chara's soul. Not just a red soul. It IS, in fact, Chara's. The comic HEAVILY hints towards it, which is why I'm so openly talking about it. The only thing I can't talk about yet is the HOW and WHY. You goys gotta sit tight for that.

But them both having one half of Chara's soul is the reason why only they were able to see them. And it's the reason why Chara points out that the resonance of their souls felt familiar.

They've been dead for so long that they can't recognize their own soul anymore. Also because there is CLEARLY something else in Kris and Frisk to replace the missing other piece.

But yes, both Kris and Frisk do natually take on some of Chara's traits because of that. Kris is more or less a reflection of how Chara could have turned out like if they had been raised by the Dreemurrs.

Well... that's not 100% true because Kris (and Frisk) are still their own people. It's a nature vs. nurture sorta thing. Personality and behavior wise they're ALL very different from one another.

Again, this line right here is SUPER IMPORTANT.

The correct way to put it is "Kris and Frisk are not Chara, but Chara is a part of them."

[exa-reblogs]

Some identifiers for AI generated fashion images that I've noticed

So, recently and not unexpectedly, I've seen a major uptick in AI generated images showing up in my searches for fashion photos, specifically. I've seen people make posts like this for specific art styles, and for 2D art in general, but I wanted to share some observations I made regarding clothing, fashion, and runways. I've seen a lot of people getting fooled by these, but it seems like for every one person thinking it's real there's about three people informing them that it's AI, fortunately. I'll admit, a lot of them look somewhat believable at first, but once you look closer it becomes apparent that they're off somehow.

To clarify: this is about common inconsistencies I've personally noticed in AI fashion images, so that you can learn where to look for these and similar inconsistencies and avoid sharing AI content by accident.

There's this one "collection" specifically that seems to come up a lot (also, click on all these images in this post to see the details more clearly):

There's more images like this and yes, despite the "houseofai" watermark I still see people asking who the designer is, or saying that they genuinely thought it was real at first. First and foremost: these are all clearly meant to be from the same runway show, right? Then why does each image look like it was taken on a different runway? The lighting and coloring are different in each one, and the middle one has vague red stairs in the background while the other two look like just a plain light-colored runway. This is something you'll obviously only be able to notice in groups of images and not singular ones, but it's a pretty dead giveaway if you see it.

Secondly: AI generated images, as a whole, tend to have this specific kind of super dramatic lighting with very bright, white lights and soft grey shadows. I'm not very knowledgeable about photography, so I can't explain it exactly, but I know it when I see it (and if someone reading this can properly explain it , please do.)

Thirdly: AI generated fashion tends to attempt perfect symmetry, but always fails somehow.

As for the actual outfits: the best that I can describe it is that a lot of the shapes and patterns just don't look like intentional human choices.

What in the hell is that monogram on the upper right supposed to be? It's clearly mimicking a logo of some kind, but it's messy and indecipherable, not actual branding.

The heart motif is clearly the running theme here, but the hearts don't really make sense. Like the main one in two halves across the chest here: why does it have those two notches missing at the bottom that prevent it from coming to a point at the bottom like a heart is supposed to?

The bottom hem is way longer on the left than on the right.

The little shoulder hearts are like, bleeding into the shoulder seams; those lines in the hair look like they're supposed to be headbands, but they disappear at the part with the rest of the hair; the embroidery on the pants isn't in a clear or intentional pattern.

Again, compare the lighting on this one's neck with the lighting on the last one's neck, totally different.

Those pink things on the chest look like they're trying to be hearts, but they're so clearly not actually hearts. If your collection is heart themed, why aren't you using actual hearts?

The quilting effect is uneven and the individual lines don't follow through and finish in the places they should. Look at the upper right sleeve, where the diamonds are misshapen and the diagonal lines are clearly disconnected. On the lower right chest, the lines just disappear. This can't actually with quilted garments IRL because the top layer is literally stitched to the bottom one along those lines with material in between. It can't fuck up like that, especially not a designer garment that costs your monthly rent.

Smooth zipper. Zippers seem to be a common fuck up.

You can't read the text on the hearts. It's nonsense. Nonsense, unreadable text and fucked up hands are the absolutely surefire ways to identify AI art like this. Conveniently, there are no hands in these photos.

What are those embossed shapes on the sleeves? They're not identifiable as anything in particular.

That is not how zippers work.

I suppose that weird folding beneath the hearts is something technically physically possible. But it's much, much more likely that they would create smoother, less ugly seams with less excess fabric.

These generative AI programs don't actually comprehend what they're trying to depict. Thus, they make mistakes like these. Physical inconsistencies that are often totally impossible, but even the possible things are just... stupid choices that an actual designer isn't going to do. Yeah, sure, designs can be weird, asymmetrical, and imperfect on purpose. But it's way, way more likely that this is just an AI.

Experiment: look at these two images of retro-futuristic headpieces/eyewear and determine whether they're real or AI.

Right one is easy, mostly because of the wonky bitch in the back. But some other inconsistencies I specifically wanna note: if the blue goggles color the "model"'s skin, hair, helmet, and the background behind the lenses blue, why doesn't it do the same for the eyes? And also, I've noticed that a lot of these images have trouble properly rendering the corners of the mouth, which is a weird detail but one you won't be able to unsee once you know to look out for it. Yes, there's a dark line where actual human lips meet, often with some subtle divots at the corners, but in the image on the right, it's rendered as a harsh, gaping hole more like something sculpted out of plastic than actual flesh. On the note of imperfect symmetry again: the left lens isn't perfectly round. And finally, this is a really good example of that giveaway lighting I mentioned. I don't know how you would actually achieve that lighting IRL, but it's so, so common in AI images.

The left photo is an actual model in 1967 wearing pieces designed by Pierre Cardin, a designer that the right image is definitely trying to emulate. The model has a look on her face that isn't super duper expressive, but it's still far beyond any of the AI images I've seen. Every AI fashion image I've seen thus far has totally blank-faced, expressionless "models". They might pout slightly, but I haven't seen any with visible teeth. Something tells me the AI would render teeth the same way it renders fingers. The emblem on the hat is actually perfectly symmetrical, and the glasses are clearly asymmetrical as an intentional design choice, not like the shapes are supposed to be the same but got messed up somehow. And she has ten fingers total, five on each hand.

Two more:

These are both AI generated. I'm not gonna lie, i fell for the one on the left at first. The right is easy:

distorted faces

woman in back is being absorbed by the train(?) seat

those middle buttons on the jacket are totally useless

AI Lighting (TM)

But the "models" on the left look very, very convincing, and the lighting doesn't immediately register to me as AI lighting. The only really wonky thing on the faces is the mouth on the left "model". However, there's one dead giveaway: the headphone wires. Why are they different thicknesses? Why does the rightmost wire disappear into the jacket sleeve? Where the fuck does the leftmost wire even go? AI, I've noticed, struggles with thin lines, strings, and strands of things. Like with the quilted jacket above, you can often try and trace a single line, only to find that it drops off, distorts, or disappears. And sure enough, as soon as I noticed something was weird with those wires, I went to the Pinterest profile that posted it and found that they exclusively posted AI content. Speaking of the actual headphones, the leftmost ear cushion is sitting on an angle that doesn't make sense, and the one to the direct right of it is significantly thinner than the other three. Again, subtle failed symmetry.

This is by no means a comprehensive guide, and I encourage anyone seeing this to point out ways they've found to identify AI images like this. These are things I've just been on the lookout for lately. And when in doubt: conduct reverse image searches and try your best to identify solid sources for your images. AI images won't list designers, model names, photographers, stylists, makeup artists, etc., while actual runway and photoshoot images will, because there are human creatives behind them.

[magicicephoenix]

DOCTOR WHO AU???

IM LISTENING

PLEASE

HERE YOU GO. i am just rambling

it ended up being super long, so. under the cut :)

okay so i'm still not sure if it'd be better for y/n to be the doctor or the dca. because on the one hand y/n being the doctor makes them a very very lonely last time lord who outlives all the companions they've tried to keep over the years, who saw two robots (bc i think it'd be better if they were separate in this instance) and went "oh my god. companions who will never die.", thus getting immediately attached. and sun and moon are fascinated by this otherworldly being who looks completely human to every single one of their sensors EXCEPT the fact that they have two hearts. one for each of them WHO SAID THAT anyway since obviously the doctor needs an accompanying master if y/n is the doctor i think maybe vanessa as the master would work. something something vanessa was an old friend who turned to the dark side (afton, somehow??? maybe afton WIAIT MAYBE AFTON WAS THat one super important time lord in the time lord council or whatever they're called from the end of season four and he's DETERMINED to have the time lords come back and that's why vanessa does all that oh my god it all makes sense). and y/n is always hoping she'll leave old ghosts behind but she can't and it's devastating every time aughh... and meanwhile y'know the dca are childcare animatronics but they know and can see troubles in any age and they're seeing a worrying amount of unhealthy coping mechanisms in this mysterious "doctor," so much so that they wonder if this doctor needs a doctor of their own. because even if the doctor is a different species they still need all the basic necessities of life that a human does and the dca are very specifically programmed to help humans. so they're just about perfect to help y/n!!!! and umm i think being able to see the universe is a super big deal to a couple of animatronics who were confined to a daycare their whole lives. maybe the inciting incident to their initial meeting had something to do with aliens trying to take down the human race through the children. and the dca notice the children acting strange and start going for help but no one's listening to them because they're "just robots" and it's frustrating and awful and they keep trying until by some coincidence they manage to inform y/n about it and y/n LISTENS to them doesn't ignore them and that's literally the ONLY THING they were asking for and y/n is the only one to give it to them. and then they work together (and isn't that wild for the dca, working with a perceived human instead of working under them, being able to make suggestions and offer ideas and not being brushed off!!!) and solve the mystery and defeat the terrible aliens who were using children for their master plan but due to all of it the dca's daycare is destroyed. and the dca has nowhere to go but stupid fazbear entertainment. and they've almost resigned themselves to returning to the hell of being nothing but an object for a giant corporation... until y/n says "come with me." and the dca say "yes."

ah right um on the other hand. time lord dca. two ideas i had: one, the master could be eclipse. then there'd be secondary idea one-A where the dca are in one body and one-B where they're separate. dunno about that one because a big thing with the doctor is that they're the SINGLE last time lord other than the master and they're desperate for companionship because of that. idea two: one half of the dca is the doctor and the other half is the master. prolly sun being doctor and moon being master but i could absolute see the other way around as well! then it hurts even more because they're two halves of the same whole, literally The Sun and The Moon as maybe they've chosen as titles instead of doctor and master actually. but the thing about the sun is that everything else orbits around it while the moon only revolves about the earth. wait oh my god that's fantastic actually. Sun taking the Master role because everything must be circling him, he must be at the center of everything, without him everything would flicker out and die, HE'S the most important thing and he needs EVERYONE to KNOW. and the most frustrating thing is that the moon is so so so enamored by the stupid earth and its stupid humans to pay enough attention to him. only one half of that moon is ever facing him but he needs all of its attention, he needs to see it all, and if he needs to rip the moon out of its orbit to do that then he WILL. meanwhile Moon is the little saving grace of the earth, so far away and unnoticeable that the humans don't notice his aid (like how the moon causes the tides). if the earth stopped spinning he'd be there to start them it again (anyone seen that one comic from the "what if?" book? yeah). no matter what he is there to keep earth and the humans safe, even if it's from the bright burning star that they rely on for life. and he's so so lonely, doing his best in the shadows, alone without his counterpart that has long been lost to time (or so he thinks) until he stumbles upon y/n and can't bear to let go. so when Sun returns, hoping his grand motions will capture Moon's heart, he is devastated to see Moon instead clinging tight to this small, insignificant life form. what about him? what about all the time they'd spent together? what happened to the sun and the moon? why is he not enough? and from devastation comes rage. from rage turns destruction. and, unfortunately for Sun, Moon despises destruction.

...or something like that.

[starry-bi-sky]

more about og tue timeline twins danny and dan/jamie

very touchy with each other. you might even say. ccclingy. its to be expected, they're two halves of a whole after all and all they've got of each other. worryingly co-dependent. do not separate. ever.

Danny was really weak and sick after the initial separation, and was for a while after. Jamie knew internally that if Danny died, he'd take the whole world with it. He was the one sole caretaker for him while he got better -- not for lack of trying on Vlad's part, but without his ghost powers he was nothing more than a feeble (albeit handsomely rich) man, and James looked ready to bite his head off if he got within ten feet of either of them.

Vlad is intimately aware that James (or Danny, if he tried) could snap his spine in half like a twig, and is uncomfortably aware of his own lack of ghost half now. It makes him feel self-conscious and exposed, so he never fully returns back to "cocky and self-assured billionaire Vlad Masters". Making deals with other brands feels a lot harder now that he can no longer possess them anymore.

Speaking of, he very quickly has to come up with a cover story as to why there's now a James Daniel Fenton to the public, when no records whatsoever of him existing existed prior. Lots of forging false government documents on his end. James and Danny do not help because it's his fault this happened in the first place.

(Regardless of whether or not Danny actually willingly chose to rip out his ghost half/humanity in canon is true, or if that was Vlad Masters speaking out of his ass, a large part of the blame still falls on Masters.)

(As his primary caretaker and guardian, it's his responsibility to ensure the health and safety of his charge, and since Danny was in clear emotional duress at the time, it can be argued that he was not in the mental state to make such a decision. And, allegedly, couldn't do it on his own which is why he asked Vlad for help.)

I chose "James" as Dan's name since it's a popular fanon middle name for Danny, and since he's half of Danny, it felt like it just made sense lol. Also because of the ensuing comedy of the two of them introducing themselves as "James Daniel Fenton" and "Daniel James Fenton". It's got the same energy as "danny with a y" and "danny with an i" and it's the exact kind of name bullshit you expect parents to give their twins.

I don't have their exact personalities down, but something I am actively writing into this au's bible is that I think Danny should be the quiet and (ig technically) meaner one. There's a lot to go into about interpretations for ghosts, halfas, and the incident itself, but TL:DW; Danny is technically soulless, or at the very least missing half of his soul (altho Jamie is too just in a different direction).

Pair that with the trauma of losing his family in front of him + having his ghost half ripped out + all the trauma he would've sustained as a hero, and he's not doing too hot mentally! i think if the twins met good timeline!Danny, Danny would've mistaken Danny for Dan and Jamie for the original half.

He comes off to others as pretty apathetic and indifferent to a borderline terrifyingly calm degree. He doesn't go out of his way to insult people, but he also doesn't care enough to consider the other party's feelings so he doesn't filter himself, which makes him come off as rude. The only times he looks truly comfortable is when he's near Jamie or talking to him.

His standoffish, ice prince demeanor makes Jamie look like a saint in comparison. When really he's not all that much better? He's more outwardly emotional than Danny, whether that be positive or negative, but at the end of the day he doesn't trust or care about anyone else any more than Danny does, and he's got a bit of a sadistic streak. Danny reigns him in when he starts becoming too destructive.

(Which I think makes sense. Danny asked Vlad to rip out his ghost half specifically so he could stop feeling his human emotions. Dan, despite his monotone voice, does exhibit emotions. He's smug when he asks Valerie if he likes his ghostly wail, sardonic when he reunites with Sam and Tucker, annoyed, shocked at Danny's ghostly wail, etc. He enjoys wreaking destruction and chaos.)

(If Danny had survived his encounter with Dan and if Vlad was successful, then I imagine he'd be rather apathetic to his other half as a whole. That'd be interesting.)

Overall though they're both hurt, bitter, and distrustful of the world around them, with abandonment issues a mile wide. They can get better and they can heal, but it takes time and patience and proper support.

On the DPxDC side of things, they do genuinely hold some kind of respect or regard for Bruce. They also don't become vigilantes for a while. Neither of them are jumping at the bit to enter heroism again, not when it was heroism that killed their family in the first place.

In fact when they find out Bruce = Batman they think he's foolish for it. They think its a fool's errand, and they've been so spurned by their time as Phantom that for a few weeks, Jamie even refused to call Bruce anything but Sisyphus. Danny called him Tantalus, and the two of them had a faux-argument about which one was more accurate.

Bruce does, though, worm his way into both of their hearts, and that's like, the main reason they become vigilantes to join him. So that they could keep him safe and not because of any desire to return to the heroic life. Relearning to care and finding satisfaction in helping others was an unintentional side effect.

(Bruce is so very smug)

Essentially:

The Twins: this is our squishy and fragile adoptive father. If anything happened to him, we're becoming mass extinction events.

Bruce: Nnno.

[devastatinglygreen]

Why do you think they're waiting for the Lady Whistledown reveal?

aside from drama? and i mean that seriously. i know everyone had headcanons and wants for years here but they're building tension. there was no real tension in part one outside of sexual and the stakes need to be higher for the penultimate episode.

the next bit is spoilers we know have been pretty much seen by too many people for ep 5 at least so wander under the cut at your own risk:

i think, and i know a lot of people aren't going to be thrilled about colin not knowing before some things happen, that they need to do two things: solidify their relationship a bit and basically send penelope into a spiral to take the stakes higher.

they have plot armor, they're not going to behead penelope right there in the queen's garden with the peacocks once she gets caught. the only thing truly up for grabs is polin. and not even that, not really, but it's the thing the audience is going to care about.

the spoilers have penelope trying to tell him but failing because she keeps getting interrupted. every time she fails, the clock ticks further. it's a pressure build. eloise is on her back. colin is just wandering along, deliriously happy and penelope knows she's carrying this bomb she's gonna blow up in his face.

she lost eloise to it. colin is the love of her life. i think we can all do that math. she's so stressed out by eloise's timeline she can barely breathe and then comes cressida.

you've got cressida taking credit for LW, colin's happiness sitting on her shoulders (tho i do think it's also so smart of them to have him defend penelope to portia before he finds out, it might give him some insight to how penelope is treated and feels when the right time comes), eloise is assuming things and giving her hell.

i mean, wouldn't you be a mess too? like, give the girl some grace her entire life is imploding right after getting what she's always wanted and never thought she'd get and losing the two most important people in the world to her only a few months before. would you want to blow that up again? yes, yes, i'm sure everyone who says "but she has to!" is very morally outraged and perfectly righteous in their own lives scoffs at the idea that penelope might struggle with a secret she doesn't know what to do with.

it's not like we've never seen how that eats her up before, right? oh. we totally have. nvm.

anyways. cressida. i kind of hope it's the turning point for peneloise because i think even eloise knows she's not a good person to have in a position of power like that. say what you want but penelope doesn't lie in LW.

add in they seem to be bringing in book scenes and i'm going to guess colin catches her after she takes off to print something saying cressida is a whole ass lie. fight ensues. angst! stakes are ridiculously high. the wedding is planned. the pedestals are knocked over and now colin will know everything. does he love her after that? can he? does he trust her ever again? (clearly yes or they're gonna need to change up that family tree thing they released lol).

this will give way to colin having to come to terms with penelope's legacy and how it affects his own estimation of himself and his writing. jealousy like the book. it's a colin issue and he knows it but he still has to deal with it.

colin very much thinks penelope is his purpose, right? the book says it. LN said it about show colin. he's gotta reconcile that LW and penelope are two halves of the same person. he can't put them both in boxes.

anyways what i mean is that the stakes need to be high and her blurting it out then having 2.5 episodes of them moping around about their LW fight isn't really the thing that gets your heart racing when you've got 8 episodes to tell the whole story.

(also as an aside, i think it's going to lead to us getting second "firsts" in a way. it's not going to be a first kiss or anything but i feel like the energy of it all will be different and i, personally, think that could be very fun)

[campbyler]

why choose to do two parts of a chapter instead of just two separate ones? like doing 10.1 and 10.2 instead of just having 10.2 be chapter 11 instead (sorry if that makes no sense)

i think what anon meant was why didnt you make 10.2 a separate chapter thematically or literature-ally (? lol) instead of just physically? so like... 9.1 could have been called 'are we going somewhere?' and finished with that gorge cliffhanger of mike saying he's gonna teach will to drive. and then chapter 9 part 2 could actually have been chapter 10 both physically and from a literary point of view - if this was a published book, it would have been the actual next chapter. so 9.2 would instead become Chapter 10: I've Got You Baby (or some other title based on lyrics etc)

basically, once you realised the word count was taking you too far, they're wondering why you didn't split the events of the fic into more chapters than you originally have planned. perhaps is there a reason you are attached to a certain amount of chapters? otherwise, i think it would have still made sense for the drive date chapter and the bonfire night chapter to be split into two chaps each - many pro writers split chapters this way even when scenes in a single event are occurring.

of course its the writers' discretion to split chapters where they feel it fits, but i agree with anon that the ending of each half chapter makes a lot of sense as the ending of an actual chapter thematically!

i hope this makes sense haha

hello!! yes what you’re saying makes sense, and we appreciate the perspective!!

i think we did it the way we did for two main reasons — one, this is not a published book, so i do feel like it’s a little bit different since we have the liberty of doing whatever we want rather than being bound to any traditional rules. the second is that the chapters alternate povs, and it was important for all of 9 to be in will’s pov and all of 10 to be in mike’s pov because they’re the realization chapters.

to that point, i don’t agree with the notion that the ending of each half chapter is what makes sense as the thematic ending of the chapter. the themes of chapters 9 and 10 are Realizations. the point of ch09 is literally to get will to his realization — are we going somewhere? is a double meaning because they’re physically going somewhere and emotionally going somewhere. so while the mustang was a big focus in ch09, it was used as a vehicle (teehee) to give will the last push he needed to admit to himself how he feels. mike’s vulnerability in part i resolved a lot of will’s longstanding issues with mike, and the driving lesson’s purpose was to show how much they trust each other: mike trusts will with his car, and will trusts mike to be there for him, and mike being there for him is Truly the One Thing that will wasn’t sure about until ch09. all of these things needed to happen in the same chapter to contextualize that realization!

for 10, the focus is still on realizations — it’s also mike actually admitting to himself that he likes will, yes, but it’s also very much about that realization at the end that will needs to be the one to vocalize his feelings! whereas 9 spends the whole chapter justifying actions to get to the feelings realization, 10 starts with it and then spends the entire chapter trying to justify feelings he is already aware of. it was still important for these to be in the same chapter because it’s all completely connected!!

that said, because word count was really the only obstacle we had, the split chapters are two halves of a whole rather than being two distinct chapters. as we’ve said, this decision was done to benefit all of us — me and suni for writing purposes and being able to get chapters out sooner/avoid as much burn out as possible, and readers for not reading 50-60k chapters in one sitting. we already have a lot of talk about how long the chapters are, and we are both aware that we could probably cut certain scenes or events out, but we also are very adamant about maintaining a pace that feels realistic and makes sense, which usually leads to those higher word counts 😙 if we were to ever convert this into a published book (which we have no plans to), there would be a loooot to cut and we recognize that!! so shout out to the local ao3 for enabling our specific breed of insanity 🤸

[rainbowolfe]

Oh.

Oh.

There are two One's Who Wait.

These weird-looking cats are in similar predicaments, but they are not the same. Black TOWW's ears are short, just elongated by the angle. White TOWWs ears are long, and just foreshortened.

Though they ultimately didn't go with these sketches, it doesn't mean they're irrelevant. The information they're depicting can still be used. These are all just different takes of the same prompt(s).

This TOWW is as menacing as it is endearing. Giant puppy vibes. Although dangerous, they mean no harm. They're watching over the cult—protective of it, even. I'm interested in the way they're framed by the moon, doubly so for the ones that give the appearance of a halo.

And isn't it interesting that he's not wearing his Crown in any of these? Not even in the one that implies he's being freed, crawling out the Gateway with his chains broken.

Using Jalala for scale, Chemach is a little over two Jalala's tall. Given that her legs weren't very long when she had them, she's probably about 2.5 to 3 Jalala's.

The Healing Bay is shorter than a hut, which are about the same height as the temple, if not a little taller. If the doorway's about 2 Jalala's tall, then the whole building is 2.5 to 3 Jalala's tall. Same height as Chemach. Therefore the temple is around 2 Chemach's tall (5 to 6 Jalala's).

So not only is the vibe of the black TOWW different, so is the scale. They're as big as the mountains. A humongous, imposing, godly (in the catholic sense) figure. They're also weirdly drippy.

Would also give further insight into Aym and Baal's designs. (And maybe even why 'Aym' appears on DEATH, but Baal doesn't 👀) Two halves of a whole heart. Baal, the first son, who wears white and red and is associated with the sun. Aym, the second son, who wears black and red and is associated with the moon.

Duality.

[idkman-ijustwannamakeatournament]

Round 2: Match 14

"Two Sides of the Same Coin"- Two things that are regarded as part of the same thing. Even if they're very different, they have at least one common thread that helps them fit into this trope.

Propaganda (under the cut):

Scrooge McDuck and Flintheart Glomgold:

(no propaganda)

Hershel Layton and Jean Descole:

"Layton is the protagonist and Descole is his antagonist for the whole prequel trilogy, with a hero/villain dynamic. Both of them have interests in archaeology and puzzles, they both know fencing, they are both excellent at unraveling a person and what makes them tick. Their confrontations are quite interesting because of this and also pretty funny at times because Descole is a cartoonish villain

MAJOR SPOILERS for this next bit idk how you handle this in propaganda but people still tag these after 10 years

In the third game of the prequel trilogy (Azran Legacy) Descole actually disguises himself by my unmasking and cooperates with Layton and pals under his real name and appearance, Desmond Sycamore. The similarities between Desmond and Layton are also very obvious and they work together very well (also turns out they are both archaeology professors). Desmond eventually reveals himself as Descole and you might feel really stupid if you didn't figure it out before the "reveal."

Des then eventually reveals himself as Layton's long-lost older brother with the same shitty father who's the main villain of the game. He goes through a sort-of redemption where he shows that he has grown to care about people more than he seemed to in the previous games where he was a villain. Then he fakes his death and they never canonically see each other again (although people often headcanon that they eventually reconcile and Des shows up to bother Layton sometimes with antics).

Also in Miracle Mask there's a pretty heavy-handed metaphor for how Layton and Des are "two sides of the same coin." There's this artifact called the Mask of Chaos which is rumored to have a counterpart called the Mask of Order. Layton figures out that they are both part of the same mask, and he and Descole (in disguise) put the two halves into this machine and solve the city from being drowned in sand (that part's not important). Anyway the metaphor is that Layton represents order and Des represents chaos and they're both two halves of a whole.

Also they both have tragic backstories where they have loved ones who died violently and they never properly coped with it. The fact that they lost each other as brothers when they were children and then lost each other again so soon after reuniting just adds another layer to this.

There's probably more tbh. Also be prepared for the layton fans on tumblr to unionize to vote for layton. We are small but mighty."

[sapphicseasapphire]

I apologize in advance but I'm going to ramble incoherently for way too long in this ask.

I just got caught up on a lot of cryptid AU stuff and Sky and Groose's relationship is very interesting to me. At first I was like, "????" but then you explained in the post and now it makes sooo much sense and I actually really really like it. I have DID and his whole situation with two halves of a whole becoming one is so fascinating. (I went through something similar so I'm very interested in this kind of stuff.) I love the birb boi very much and I'm happy he's your fav 'cause he's mine too. :3

(The alt who went through, essentially the same thing as Sky, may or may not let me write fanfic of the two meeting & him helping Sky adjust, would that be okay?) Wild. Can I talk about Wild? I've been dying to talk about Wild. Cryptid Wild touches something in my soul. Just. The silence. The curiosity. The innocence. The tragedy. The wanderer. The watching from afar. The Lost Boy. I just. Ajkhshtrsj. He makes me feel deep and profound things and I adore him for that.

I want to give him a giant hug and just hold him for a while and tell him he's not alone and that it'll be okay but I get the sense that he would NOT vibe with hugs or contact out of the blue. (You can't stop me from hugging Sky though, birb boy's getting tackled off a cliff. HE HAS WINGS IT'S FINE. :D)

... Has Sun ever ridden on Sky's back before? How would Sky feel about that?

I want my favs (Sky & Wild) to interact but idk how close you plan on them being or how much interaction you plan on having between the two of them. I don't even know what kind of dynamic they'd have in your AU if any, they both seem kinda lost in their own heads/situations.

They're kind-of inverses of each other, now that I think about it: Wild's trying to grapple with being someone he can't remember, and Sky's trying to grapple with being TWO "people" he CAN remember! A memory vacuum and memory overload... man now I want to see them talk about that.

How much does Wild think about who he was before? Sky's kinda smacked in the face with it, but Wild seems (fittingly) very distracted by the moment. But is it distraction, avoidance, or both? He still has the soul of Link (... right?), but he no longer remembers what that means. Does he want to? Does he feel overwhelmed even thinking about trying? adkutfkuvluyvlig. Too many Wild thoughts. ♥

Also why doesn't Legend like Wind turning into his water form (I forget what it's called)? He looked freaked out by it and asked him to not do that; why? Did I miss something? /gen, I don't think I've caught up on everything yet.

Anyway thanks for this AU sorry for the novel-length ask I just had a Lot of Thoughts. :)

Bro all I ever do is ramble too long, don’t even worry about it. I love getting asks like this.

LONG ONE, under the cut!

Okay I’ll try to break this up to answer all of your questions and ramble a bit haha!

SKY AND GROOSE! Yeah, there’s a lot of tension there. Sky is… an entirely new person. He has the memories of both Link and Aepon, but he interprets those experiences differently than either of them would. Link and Aepon both had entirely different mindsets, so of course the result of their fusion would be left to interpret things on his own.

Link never cared enough about himself to care about what Groose said to him/did to him. Self sacrificing to a fault and very forgiving. (Kind of by design, too. Hylia needed her Hero to be willing to risk his life for the good of others). Aepon was Link’s other half, his Goddess given protector, and thus he had the traits that Link lacked. He was a strong, proud bird. He cared enough about Link to care what Groose had to say about him. And then he was kidnapped! And Groose just kept hurting Link! And Aepon’s!!! Not!!! Having!!! That!!!

And so Sky was very conflicted about Groose. His Link half wanted to be friends! His Aepon half wanted nothing to do with him! And then Groose… said some very unkind things. I think that Groose is a very defensive person. When he feels hurts or threatened in any way, he lashes out. He had been at a point with Link where they were close! They were friends! They faced the end of the world together! And then suddenly all of that changed and Groose doesn’t understand why. Just. Suddenly Sky started giving him the cold shoulder. And that… hurt. And when Groose is hurt? His first instinct is to punch back.

So Sky was on the fence and Groose started falling back into old habits, just being so so rude. He called Sky a monster, treated him like he was just some thing that had stolen his friend away from him. And if Sky was undecided before, that pushed him right over the edge. Sky is not fond of Groose.

And you’re more than welcome to make any kind of fanart or fanfics! Just so long as you tag me so that I can see them!!

(Sun has not ridden on Sky’s back, but he wouldn’t be opposed! He loves taking people on flights! It’s just that he was only home for three days after Demise and he hasn’t been to his era in so long. Kind of tragic that Sky’s spent more of his existence away from home than he has actually on Skyloft or even in his own era. But in the future! After the Cryptid Adventure is done! Sky will fly with Sun! Now, Sun does still have Aria, but they’ll take turns haha!)

WILD!!! He does not vibe with hugs. Pretty much ever. Anyone who grabs him, he will immediately take that as being restrained and he will run away. He is a FREE SPIRIT!!! He’d like to keep it that way.

Sky and Wild do interact! Like, a lot! I think there’s this misconception going around that the Cryptids don’t like Wild? Particularly I’ve seen it with Legend haha! But no!! Wild is so loved! The others are annoyed by his constant thievery but to be honest, it’s kind of endearing! When Wild is focused on one of the members of my Chain, he’s SO focused on them. He’s caring, he’s genuinely very sweet. AND he can be bribed with cool rocks and colorful leaves so. Winning.

Sky and Wild have this whole arc surrounding the Master Sword. Sky’s inseparable from the blade but Wild… he knows something’s not right. He wants to see what will happen if he takes it away. (Sky will not let him steal it).

And… okay. So. Wild struggles so much with the whole being Link thing. He is definitely 100% avoiding it. He spends all of his time running away from Flora, but he’s really running away from who he used to be. He has no memory of ever being mortal- his life is completely irrelevant. Link and the Child of the Mountains are separate. WILD WOULD LIKE TO KEEP IT THAT WAY. He does not want to remember. He does feel overwhelmed.

Still… there are certain things that he cannot run from. And that bothers him SO MUCH.

LEGEND AND WIND!!! What’s Legend’s issue with Wind’s natural form? Please don’t hate me, but Legend is being racist. I have a lot of lore written out about their dynamic and the circumstances that led them to this point. Here’s a post about the War! And here’s a post more specifically about Wind!

But basically, to sum it up. There’s this big war that spans across the timelines between the Mer and Aquili. In Legend’s timeline, the Mer won and he was taught to hate “Sea Monsters.” He was chased from his home by an Aquili scavenger and was never allowed to return, and so he had a very deeply seated hatred AND FEAR of Aquili. In Wind’s timeline, the conflict is still ongoing but it’s not as extreme since Hyrule flooded. He lives on an island of refugees- Mer and Aquili who fled the ocean to find peace. Because of this, the war is distant to him. Something that he’s not connected to. Although… in loosing ties with his people, he’s lost ties with his culture.

I actually have so much more to say about Outset Island in my au! I’m planning on making another big lore post soon where I can go in detail about it!

And I promise that Legend will come to his senses! Soon!

Thanks for sending in this ask! I love rambling about my guys! I hope this helps?

[aether-bun]

Hi there I was wondering if you could write some headcanons of the S/V Trio+carmin and kieran (and maybe the BB league if not then just the first two) meeting a gn or male reader who is poke-human hybrid(half incineroar) who was part of an experiment and was saved by their adopted mother

HEADCANON TIME

Anomaly (noun):

"Something different, abnormal, peculiar, or not easily classified; something anomalous."

"The legend of the hybrids is a story that has lived in Paldea longer than most. In an age long past, there was once a fearsome group of monstrous creatures; monsters that bore the forms of Incineroar, that spoke the dialect of humankind. They terrorised villages and destroyed homes, and were hunted down to what was thought to be their extinction. Some say they can still hear the horrifying screams of these abominations in caves and cliff edges to this day, but none who explore these rumours have ever come back..."

Characters (in order): Nemona, Arven, Kieran

The reader is referred to with he/him pronouns, but is otherwise kept ambiguous in terms of everything but the fact that he is VERY tall. This is purely platonic!!

[author's note at the end!]

NEMONA is the first to meet you.

I think she would meet you in the beach area we find Korai/Miraidon

It was by complete accident, she was walking around and exploring when she suddenly heard what sounded like human voices echoing from off the ledge, so she investigated, worried that someone was hurt.

What she didn't expect was to see a group of people, with arms that faded into red paws, legs that did the same, tails that swished around, a fiery belt around their waists and two red and black ears coming out of short, thick red hair!

You locked eyes, and both of you were very nervous immediately. She had so many questions! But by the time she could get her brain back together to formulate any sort of a sentence, you and your pride took off into the caves.

She doesn't see you again for a few months - she almost thinks she dreamt the whole day up - until she's exploring those exact caves in search of some houndour to catch.

She's overencumbered, of course, because suddenly their houndoom appears and they're all surrounding her and her pokemon, and she knows she's definitely screwed up

Suddenly, there's a loud, earth-shaking roar, as you emerge with your pack at the cave's only other exit. The pack of hounds flinch at your intimidating forms and flee, and you make sure they stay gone before cautiously helping this human off of the ground.

She's stunned. The rambler can't form a thought. You tower over her, and your form fills her head with so many questions that she's afraid her head will explode, but again, you're gone before she can even get them out.

So, she starts staying around the cave when she knows it's safe. She finally has the courage and the power to stop her brain from frying when she sees you, so she wants to get to know you. You see her, of course, from afar, but you don't go near her. The humans can't know.

Until she finds you anyway, and she tries to introduce herself.

You're cautious. This woman is half your height, you could literally crush her, but she's holding out her hand to you and telling you her name, as if that idea isn't looming above her like a vice. It is. She's very scared.

"....[Y/N]." You caution, shaking her hand as she beams. "So you can talk!?" She asks, making you cringe from her volume. "Yes?" You say.

From there, you grow to be unlikely friends. She swears she won't tell anyone who you are! She swears she won't let anyone know she's seen you - it'll be your little secret!

Yeah. Guess how long that lasted. Now take that guess and halve it. It took three days for her to crack and spill to Arven. Penny overheard by pure accident, too, and Nemona made them swear to not tell anyone.

"Didn't you also swear that?!" Arven had demanded. Nemona immediately changed the subject.

Finding two more humans in your den was irritating, but Nemona made you feel like you couldn't stay mad at her. This, in turn, made you even more frustrated.

Nemona likes to feel your fur and insists you're so soft that she feels like she can go to sleep on you. You deny her that leisure as soon as you can.

She likes learning about how you and your pack live, coexisting with other pokemon. You tell her it's an oddly isolating life; stuck between pokemon and human with no way of ever fitting into either category. It's why you live in this cave. It's safer here.

"Isn't it...lonely?"

"...yes. it is. but it's necessary for our survival as a pack."

Nemona feels very sorry for you, but makes up for it by always sneaking off to hang with you as much as she can.

You find you like the insight these new humans have, so you don't mind their stay.

ARVEN is very intimidated when he meets you.

For a researcher, you would've thought Nemona's story about Pokehumans would be completely blasphemous to him.

You would be wrong.

He believed her instantly, without so much as a photo of proof. It was Penny who managed to get him to realise how off that sounded.

The three of them took to researching anything about these supposed hybrids that they could. Arven was the one to find the old folkstory. It scared him.

"Nemona, you can't go back there. Look at this! These things are obviously just trying to kill you!"

Nemona is VERY quick to jump to your defense. "Arven! He saved me from those houndour and houndoom I was trying to fight! He saw that I could've been hurt and he stepped in and saved me!"

Penny remarked the unusual behaviour.

Arven wasn't buying your charity act.

"Until I see proof that these things exist, let alone are docile, I'm not believing a word." He crossed his arms.

"Great, come meet them then!"

"What?!"

And thus, Nemona and Arven set off while Penny did more research into the beings.

When your new human friend arrives to your spot in the cave, you see she's dragging along with her a blond haired man. This sets you on edge, and unfortunately, you and your pack immediately rising to defend your home gives off a bad first impression.

Arven tries to pull Nemona away, to escape, to fight back, to hide, to do anything but stand there and try to reason with them Nemona please for the love of Arceus let's GO

Nemona apologises to you for accidentally spilling your secret and it takes quite a while for you to tell your pack to stand down. You come to face them, and Arven stares at you with unhidden horror. You huff. He flinches with a whimper.

"[Y/N], this is Arven. Arven, this is [Y/N]. He leads the pack." Nemona's voice is steady but it's easy to see she's nervous. You can basically smell the fear on them.

It takes an even longer while for Arven to calm down enough to look at you properly. Multiple visits, where you aren't alone together, and then he eventually realises you don't pose a threat unless he does, which, to be fair, in your eyes he never did.

(you're pretty sure you could blink and he'd disintegrate. you don't say this, for fear that the idea will have the same effect.)

Eventually, you warm up to him and his Mabostiff companion, and he warms up to you enough to be alone with you and the pack.

He sews up some of your clothes, noticing the wear and tear of them. Like most of your interactions, it takes a while for you to let him, but once you do, he acknowledges the trust you have in him and is very careful.

Before long, he becomes your medic too. He teaches you about these wonderful things called sandwiches that you have in these events deemed picnics, and in turn he notes your behaviours and temperaments.

It's a mutually beneficial relationship. You trust him and he trusts you. He becomes your second "friend".

[For this next segment, I am going to say that the preface is that Carmine and Kieran are looking into urban legends around Paldea and they come across the one about your pack. This next section is assuming Nemona, Arven and Penny either never found you, or found you later. Consider this the other path in the road if you will! :)]

KIERAN meets you in the plateaued mountains of Paldea, on a mission to prove you're real.

In hindsight, the circumstances could've been better.

He'd been injured on the mountains by a rogue Zigzagoon, and he was currently trying to call for help.

No, as in, he was yelling 'Help'. He's a kid without a phone, man.

You hear his cries and, against your better judgement, you command the pack to hide and look for the voice yourself.

Lo and behold, you find a small boy, no older than a kit, and he's bleeding around his leg. A Dipplin and a Grigar are looking on in concern for their trainer, and, though weakened, they jump to defend when they see you approach.

Alerted by the sounds of his pokemon amping to attack, he looks and he sees you, the terrifying hybrid creature he'd read about in tales of old.

In those tales, this was the part where he became a fatality.

He was paralysed with fear, the pain of his leg long forgotten as he stared up at you.

Death never came. Instead, you kneeled and spoke to the offensive Pokemon. Just like the stories, you spoke perfectly human. Your voice was gravelly and rough, but completely comprehensible.

"He needs assistance."

The Pokemon spoke back to you. You seemed to dislike their answer.

"I do not wish to hurt him. If you want that wound to get worse, then I'll leave. But if you want that kit to keep that leg of his, I can help."

Kieran's Pokemon looked back at his trembling form, before resigning to a nod. You turned your gaze to focus on the boy, who seemed to be on the verge of a heart attack.

"I can help you, young one."

He shook his head.

"Your leg. It is bleeding."

Hating the way his words failed him, he slowly nodded.

"If you do not let me help you, that will hurt more and it will get worse. You cannot get to a Pokemon Centre from here by yourself. Allow me to help you."

Grigar and Dipplin had returned to his side and offered their concerned support once again. Soothed very slightly by his Pokemon, Kieran swallowed the lump in his throat and slowly, he nodded.

You were careful with the kit. You took him first to your pack and used some natural resources to bandage the wound and stop the bleeding. You crafted a stilt to keep his leg from moving with some wooden crutches, and then you left him near the edge of the woods, near a centre, where his Pokemon could then aid him in getting him the rest of the way.

In that time, he'd asked you some questions.

"How long have you been out here?"

"Centuries."

"And...you don't ever get seen?"

"We do. Most of your kind is violent first without thinking. That lack of trust almost made me not help you. But to go as low as those who cross that line would be to prove them right."

"So...you helped me to prove them wrong?"

"No, young one. I helped you because it's the right thing to do, and you are only small."

He was tended to quickly when he was seen by his own kind. Questions were thrown at him without even so much as the minute it took to sit him down. "Who bandaged this? Where did you learn to make these crutches? How did you get back down here without encountering any more trouble?"

He looked back at where he could faintly see your outline. You were watching him to make sure he was safe.

"...I just did." He said, refusing to elaborate.

With a nod, you disappeared into the woods, and the boy never saw you again. He didn't need to. He had all the proof he needed, and it'd stay with him for the rest of his life.

He could feel you watching him sometimes, when he was exploring the plateau with his sister. But he never really saw more than a flickering trail of embers or a rogue tail swishing as you undoubtedly left for your pack.

Your protection made him smile.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Okay so first and foremost, where are Penny and Carmine??

To be completely honest, I didn't know how to write either of them in this situation! I felt that Penny would be much like a diluted version of Arven, and that Carmine would be almost identical to Nemona, and maybe it's just my brain but I couldn't figure how to articulate that. So my sincerest apologies for that.

Otherwise, I hope that this was a nice little read! I liked the idea of trying to figure out how to hybrid an incineroar with a human, and I found a lot more trouble in it than I initially thought I would!

Thank you so much for this request, it was a real mind boggler to be honest, but incredibly fun nonetheless.

Send me your requests in my inbox! Otherwise, ciao for now ♡

[mirror-ralsei]

THEORY: Deeeltaaruuuneeee

You know, despite all the intense speculation about Deltarune - its dialogue, its music, its merchandise... - there's one obvious piece of foreshadowing that no one seems to think about. A critical piece. One that's been under our nose the whole time.

The title.

Today we're going to deep dive into the title drop of Deltarune, its connections to Undertale and Deltarune, and speculate about what it could be foreshadowing in the future.

VISUALS

Deltarune's title appears with a notable wavering, almost interlacing effect. We've seen this effect before.

Asriel causes this when using HYPER GONER.

And though the Memoryheads have more scan lines and desync than the Deltarune title, it's still an incredibly similar visual that stands out in the game.

A similar wavering sort of effect also appears during Undyne the Undying's deformation and reformation.

I wonder if this effect might represent holding on through determination.

At her true death, Undyne the Undying begins to visibly melt, which we're told by Alphys is what's supposed to happen to monsters who contain high amounts of determination. So, it would follow that when she's wavering as she's clinging to life through determination, that's also an intended visual.

And if that's true of Undyne, it could be true of the Memoryheads, who have the same kind of effect. It would make sense, as they are amalgamates, whose very premise is based on the presence of determination.

So, the logo fading in with a wavering interlacing effect might mean that it represents something - or someone - returning to life through determination.

Of course, that's just my best guess. Maybe it represents something completely different - or nothing at all. But both the Memoryheads and Undyne the Undying hold a lot of apparent Deltarune references, and I wouldn't be surprised if their wavering effects were one of them, tying them into the same phenomenon that's happening to the logo.

There's something interesting happening during the logo's disappearance. Keep your eye on the SOUL at the center to observe it more easily.

The logo is not just fading out - its parts seem to be undergoing some kind of mathematical transformation, causing them to multiply, and fade out as they do so.

If any math fans know what specific formula or transformation is being used here, that would be great to know, but as far as I can figure, whatever is happening to the parts are being reflected across multiple axes.

This concept of reflection as division appears several times in Deltarune. I've delved into it here.

Basically, we have this recurring idea that in order to multiply something, you have to divide it in half. Once divided, both halves are no longer the same as the original, resembling it though they may. You could say they're both "reflections" of the original.

That seems reminiscent of what's happening here.

The SOUL, and all the other parts of the logo, appear to be divided again and again, gradually fading with each division until there's nothing left of them.

This may have concerning implications for the plot.

I'm not sure what, exactly, this whole reflection-division concept is building up to, but it's definitely setting up something. And watching this soul and the rest of the title being reflected and divided so many times that it fades out of existence... well, you can't help but worry. There's a lot of wild conjecture we could launch from here, but I'll leave that to you.

There's one more thing here worth noticing. Deltarune is a parallel story to Undertale. If we compare their logos, they look fairly similar. Both are white text on a black background with a red heart in the center letter. But there are a couple of interesting differences.

First, Undertale's logo is comprised of detailed pixels, while Deltarune's is made of blocky letters.

This gives Deltarune's logo the impression of a game with old-school, scan-line-looking graphics (if someone knows what this is called please lmk lol), while Undertale's logo looks like that of a more modern game by comparison.

Interestingly, this is kind of inverse to the presentations of the games themselves. The pixel count in Deltarune is notably higher than that of Undertale. But here, it's the opposite.

(Side note: It also might be worth noting that as of the Sweepstakes, the Ice Palace also appears to be in this old-school style.)

Second, and most importantly, UNDERTALE is depicted in all caps. The visual logo for DELTARUNE is actually presented in all lowercase: "deltarune."

This is important in a series that has consistently used uppercase and lowercase as some kind of recurring element.

One quick example is when Sans explains the Level of Violence acronym: "you never gained LOVE, but you gained love. does that make sense?"

But it's not all acronyms. There's many other interesting usages throughout the series, such as Asgore's name being alternately presented normally or in all-caps, or the presence of certain titles in the soundtracks being in all-caps for no discernible reason.

We still don't really know what this element is meant to represent. But we do know that whatever it means, it is present between the "deltarune" and "UNDERTALE" logos.

Like with so many things here, we do have to wait on more information to truly understand the meaning. But once we know more about the reflection-division and uppercase-lowercase elements, then the multiplying, differently cased logos should also fall into place.

SOUND

The Deltarune title audio seems comprised of three parts: a sound reminiscent of a collective inhale or gasp, followed by a robotic voice saying "DELTARUNE," followed by a mixture of two types of sounds - one reminiscent of a collective exhale, the other a series of discordant chimes - that gradually fade out.

As many have pointed out, the opening sound in the Deltarune title is just an echoey version of the sound that plays when transitioning up from the Dark World to the Light World in Castle Town: snd_dtrans_lw.

Awesome! We have a confirmed connection for the beginning part of the audio. Surely this will provide some insight?

Well... not really...?

While we know a little bit more about the Light vs Dark World concept than we do about, say, the reflection-division concept, I feel we're still not much closer to understanding the meaning behind this sound effect.

I mean, the information we have here is pretty limited. The sound is used when Kris and Susie rise back up to the Light World, which could tell us that the title audio relates to something (whatever the title is representing here) rising up a level, too. If you want to stretch, taking the allegorical into account, maybe it represents some "fictional" or "escapist" elements becoming more "real." This has kind of been alluded to already, with Susie wanting to bring the Darkners into the Light World because it's just "better" than real life, and Berdly and Noelle agreeing and wanting to create Dark Fountains.

Beyond that...there's not much here, that I can think of. If anything, the usage of this audio in the title drop is more important for telling us the in-game usage is important than the other way around. We kind of have to know what the title represents to be able to know the significance of it "rising up"/transitioning between worlds would be.

There's also the sound effect that plays when Noelle or the others "get stronger," which kind of resembles an altered version of dtrans_lw, and would provide some more context if true... but I can't be certain.

Anyway, let's continue onward.

Next up is the robotic-sounding voice saying "DELTARUNE."

This appears to be a text-to-speech voice. Moreover, the TTS voice appears to be one of the same ones from abc_123_a.ogg.

This is notable because that TTS is also used for Gaster's text noise in "room_gaster" (Entry 17).

In other words, it's very possible that the voice saying "Deltarune" is supposed to be Gaster's.

This isn't really as shocking as it seems. Gaster very much appears to be the framing device around Deltarune as an entire game - he gives it to us as SURVEY_PROGRAM, and communicates to us during Game Overs and save file screens. The title being another part of the game's framing, it wouldn't really be a surprise that he'd be here too.

If we do assume the voice belongs to Gaster, the more interesting questions become why he's able to speak a fully voiced word, and why the voice sounds so...strained. One can almost imagine someone desperately leaving a final message, or barely managing to contact someone, before subsequently fading out. All subjective, but interesting to think about.

The final part might be the most mysterious.

There are two main overlapping kinds of sounds playing here: a collective sigh or moan that gradually fades out, and a variety of discordant notes.

Regarding the sigh, I don't know for sure. The most simple guess would be that, if the inhale-sounding sound represents transitioning upwards from Dark to Light World, then perhaps the exhale-sounding sound represents the inverse - transitioning downwards from Light to Dark World.

The only problem with this assumption is that Kris and Susie do transition downwards from the Light World to the Dark World, and the different sound effects that have played so far don't really sound exhale-y at all. So that part's a mystery.

The other overlapping sound jumps out instantly, though.

An immediate association, to me, is Snowgrave.

Although these notes in the Snowgrave sound effect are much clearer than the distorted ones in the Deltarune title, they both are seemingly random- and discordant-sounding, and the sound itself is reminiscent of chimes.

But there is another instance of this kind of sound.

During the Chapter 1 livestream, many tiny differences were added to the game's build for the purposes of the stream. One such difference was the forest room containing the ballerina-type enemies.

In this room, visuals were added resembling the gray star-like sparkles that also seem present during Snowgrave's animation.

And a feature was added where interacting with the ballerinas would cause them to play a bunch of discordant, glass-like sounds.

Toby Fox was unusually cryptic about this change. He describes the sounds only as "a horrible noise," and when asked what they're saying, replies, "Secret. Never ask a dog that question."

So, it seems likely there's some intended mystery surrounding this difference, and it is unusual to me that the ballerinas' chimes are so similarly chaotic as Snowgrave and the title audio.

Personally, my best guess is that it has something to do with the silvery sparkles. "snd_snowgrave" notably does NOT include the preceding chimes - which play while the sparkles are floating out of Noelle's hands. The livestream ballerina enemy area seems to once again associate these chimes with the presence of sparkles.

If that's the case, then maybe the chimes at the end of the title audio have something to do with the sparkles.

Of course, to those without a music theory background like most of us, sound perception seems pretty subjective. Three sounds that all sound like a bunch of glassy, discordant notes to my ears could actually be completely unrelated.

So take this with a grain of salt. The only truly solid information we have is that the Deltarune logo voice seems to use the same TTS as abc_123 and Gaster. The rest is speculation.

But if these similarities are intentional, and those chiming sounds in the title audio are supposed to represent something to do with Snowgrave, that's obviously not a good sign.

CONCLUSION

While I don't think we have all the puzzle pieces just yet, we do have a variety of clues that give off a strong tone about what's going on. This is my suspicion:

The Deltarune title is depicting a tragedy.

Something bad is happening here.

The strained and desperate voice, the inhaled gasp, the collective sigh as a discordant collection of sounds and reflections fade out into nothingness... it's not looking good.

We know Gaster met with an unfortunate fate, and it's his voice that's speaking to us. We know dividing something causes the original to be forever altered and lost, and the SOUL and everything else that makes up the title seems to be undergoing that until it's reduced to nothingness. We know Undyne reformed herself through determination with a similar visual to the logo's appearance, but like Undyne, the logo ends up fading out anyway.

And let's be honest. We know something bad has happened to Deltarune before.

Gaster wants us to make "a new future" with him. One that shines with hope. ("Unlike the old future" perhaps implied.) He specifically made his appearance known in Undertale to players with low levels of violence.

By contrast, this implies something dark and terrible happened to Deltarune's universe in the past. It's in all the little things. Alphys sets the stage with Mew Mew 2's darker storyline. Kris' birdcage has "seen a lot of crashes," and they certainly act like this isn't their first time being possessed. Sans has seen his share of bad timelines, and in the casino dialogue, talks about back when he was less experienced, when one time he witnessed an especially bad snow. Spamton knows exactly what will happen to Kris on a Weird Route, as if he's already seen it - almost as if he's been frozen for years inside rings and behind mysterious locked doors. Noelle claims she doesn't know what Snowgrave is, but also stares off into the freezer, and can't remember what she's done. There's characters preparing for a particularly bad winter. And then there's the perpetual threat of the Roaring, and Ralsei's haunted expression when he describes it, like he's seen it before. There's the fact that we fall down into an evacuated town within a barren landscape of darkness and eyes. The title screen, after all this, plays a mournful piano song over an image of the three heroes at Worlds' Edge. Before the Story.

So, is it really any surprise?

There's so much writing on the walls about Deltarune having repeating, tragic elements, and the title drop seems no exception.

Will we be the ones to break the cycle, and change Deltarune's future? Or is the fate depicted in the title the only possible outcome?

(Screenshot credit: 1)

[some-pers0n]

Op what’s the ship you’re obsessed with? I’m curious now

These two idiots

Why? Short answer: their personalities reflect each other well and are really fun to watch interact

Long answer? Well... I guess you can read on

Engiemedic is something I still honestly struggle to describe. Funny considering the staggering amount of writing I've done in their name, but I suppose it's only natural to find it hard to define what you love.

I think one of the reasons they click well for me is that they're one in the same in many regards. I wouldn't say that they're "two halves of a whole", as both can exist and do fine without the other, but they flourish when together. They can properly be themselves.

They're two sides of the same coin in terms of presentation. Engie is more reserved and subtle about his nature and tries to keep up a good face. Medic doesn't care. Medic is brash and says exactly what he thinks, while Engie will oftentimes hide his emotions to try and win favour in a scenario. They're also obviously both scientists who study in fields that, while different, are very much similar. Something something...the flesh and the machine are not enemies but rather one in the same.

The enable each other, albeit in small ways at first. Medic influences Engie to get more in touch with his creative (i.e. maniacal mad scientist) side. He encourages him to indulge in every stray thought, whether it may be good or bad. Meanwhile, Engie gets Medic to lean more in-touch with his human side.

I don't think Medic has ever really been with another person, romantically or otherwise. Maybe that's just headcanons conflating with my thoughts (I like writing him as being a romance/sex-repulsed aroace)(cause projection ftw), but I never saw him as the type to get with anyone before Engie. Why would he? None of them understand him. Because he often comes off as rude, cold, and is generally pretty reclusive most people kept their distance. Good! He never cared for them either.

In Engie's case, I think he dated, but they never lasted long. Engie can't really keep up the facade of normalcy for too long. He's had boyfriends and girlfriends before, and while they were sweet, he never clicked with them. There was something fundamentally different about him that made them incompatible, despite being a pretty good boyfriend all things given. He never found a person who got him. Understood him, god complex and all.

It's why I think Medic and Engie work so well. I think them being together, doing experiments and whatnot, is what they love most. It's something they've craved. To be understood. To be seen, heard, and accepted. To be loved for who they are down to their very core.

I also just think they're fun lol. It's fun to watch these two pair up and do experiments. I love seeing them work on weird and wild projects, gossiping and chatting the entire time. I've mentioned before that I think they'd do parallel play sometimes, where they just work on separate projects.

I dunno. They click for me a lot more than, say, Heavymedic or Helmet Party. I think it's mainly due to how well they work with each other. They compliment one another perfectly. They're one in the same in many cases. They see each other as gods. Together, they create miracles. They defy the will of nature and physics. This spark, this feeling of innovation and creation, it is there when they work. When they share ideas. When they hole up in Medic's lab or Engie's shop for days, sustaining themselves on snacks, coffee, and beer, all to create some affront to mankind.

They make me think love is real. I don't know how else to describe it. I think of them and I think that, whatever they have, it is potent and strong. It's why I like the QPR angle a lot as well. It's something different. Something hard to define and unfathomable to a lot of people. Most look at them and see them as one thing or the other, but they themselves know the truth: they're partners, and by god do they love each other.

I dunno. I think every interpretation of them is valid and good, whether they be friends, romantic partners, or in a QPR. I just find myself gravitating towards the QPR one 'cause I think it's fun and, as previously mentioned, projection.

I just think they're great and perfectly flexible. You can make fluff, angst, humour, hurt/comfort, whump, etc and etc out of them so incredibly easily. I just also think they're cute and sweet and them holding hands makes me think that everything is going to be alright with the world.

There's a lot of nuances I could go on and on about, but honestly I think it's better to just glance over my silly goofy fics of them to get a better understanding of my perception of them. Speaking of which, man I need to get back to that...

[ixiot-ghostrebel]

Sagau impostor au but after the reader is executed he dosnt comes back to earth or anything they are suited into two the evil and good halves the evil reader in revenge ravages teyvat into ruin and no one is safe in form thier tyrany but there is hope if the good halve of the reader debates and absorbs evil have then teyat is saved......one problem the good reader has weak body becose in moment of thier execution they had some much negative emotions that made the evil reader stronger after spliting into two

I don't fully understand this request, Anon, but I'll try my best! I'm just going to assume we got a yin-and-yang situation going on where "Yin" Reader is Good!Reader with weaker abilities while "Yang" Reader is Evil!Reader with stronger abilities.

Alright, here are some Headcanons for Good!Reader & Evil!Reader!

→ When Evil!Reader kills someone, they absorb their negativity.

This fact is very crucial because Evil!Reader doesn't just kill people for fun. They do it because they have the want to become stronger.

This is how they become the powerful tyrant they are now.

The small positivity of Evil!Reader doing this course of action is sent to Good!Reader. Think of Evil!Reader and Good!Reader as two storage boxes. When Evil!Reader kills someone, the negativity that the dead person feels is transferred to Evil!Reader, while Good!Reader gets the small amount of positive feelings of Evil!Reader's happiness.

Because Evil!Reader gets so much more than Good!Reader, their physical body is able to withstand more power/energy, thus meaning that Evil!Reader is physically stronger than Good!Reader.

Since they are two separate beings after Reader got executed, they have their own different goals now. It'll be hard for anyone to try to stop and convince Evil!Reader from purging all of Teyvat.

→ When Good!Reader absorbs evil, they change it into light.

That's right, ya boi's going a little cliché with this. Good!Reader basically purifies the evil energy that is spread all over Teyvat, causing the light that they produce to heal the cracked lands that Evil!Reader had left.

If they're lucky, the light produced may also revive someone. However, this is a very rare occurrence. The most common sight is that Good!Reader's light will purify their traumatized spirits and put them at peaceful rest.

Good!Reader doesn't decide who gets to live and who doesn't. It's a Free-For-All match.

→ When close/near one another, Good!Reader and Evil!Reader sometimes share a telepathic connection.

This is the result of Reader being split into two different people. Because they are technically the same person, Good!Reader and Evil!Reader will have a telepathic connection with one another and can have a full-blown argument in their heads.

This telepathic connection is still somewhat there even when they are miles apart. It becomes more of a twin bond connection, where one person would have a gut feeling that their twin is doing something (like killing, for example), and said-twin is, in fact, doing it.

The only difference between the Readers and most twins is that they don't get along. At all. They share different goals, and are too stubborn to back down from said goal or see the other's perspective.

→ Evil!Reader and Good!Reader can only merge when both being's have a similar amount of energy/power.

Yes, you can get Reader back, but it will be very difficult due to one problem: Evil!Reader is very much stronger in both strength and physical body. Good!Reader can't really keep up with Evil!Reader.

If they do, however, get a similar amount of energy, they will be transformed into spirit form and mix together to form Reader as a whole person.

The only problem is with this is that they won't cooperate with anyone if they want them both to merge. They pretty much despise each other for having a different goal than them.

And that's all I got for this idea! Sorry if this is very short, Anon, but I tried my best :') Hope you enjoyed it!

See you all around!

Ghost Rebel Side Notes: N/A

Check out The Ghost Rebel's Blog Description to See if Their Mailbox is Open!

[ariapmdeol]

How would you describe the dynamic between seosane 🙏

they mean everything to me,, (receiving your question right after i got one that says "yaoi" was very fun for me. yeah thats my yaoi <3) Spoilers for the entire DLC, including whats past the youtube TL! I mention things from Hermit Room. quotes are paraphrased or referenced bc i am too lazy to dig for them.

I have another seosane essay somewhere in drafts but i can't find it rn and it's not edited so you're getting my current stream of consciousness <3

sanemitsu and seodore are two people who, by the end of dlc, have very different perspectives on how to handle the timeline and what should be done. Sanemitsu in particular goes through several perspectives on this, varying from his POV pre-1999, 1999-2015, S root, and S+. They are parallels and narrative foils, and this shapes how they interact with each other.

From their first interactions, they both have something that the other party wants. Seodore promises that Sanemitsu can change things, if they can reach Gods Love. Sanemitsu is critical to changing things (as we see in the start of DLC/S root). You can see them talk about this in record 4, where neither of them will know if Sanemitsu's ability has activated or taken effect. Seodore wants Sanemitsu to use this ability. Sanemitsu resists because he knows that if he changes the past, then he'll lose Reiji. Reiji, who is his number one priority, who he's clinging to as tight as he can.

But they appreciate each other. There's fondness. Their breakfast conversation at the end of DLC highlights that despite them ending up on different perspectives on the past, they still understand each other.

What always stands out to me is in Hermit room, there is a choice that the player can make. The two options are (paraphrased):

Even if we gained something at the end of it, it would have been better if none of it had happened. [better to change the past even if we gained something in the end]

If we gained something at the end of it, then we can't say that it would have been better that none of it had happened. [better that the past happens (good and bad), if we gained something in the end of it]

This choice is both paralleling Sanemitsu's perspective change in S vs S+, and the perspective of Seodore versus Sanemitsu (and System.NH) as two halves of the same whole. They're foils, and remain on good terms despite their differing POVs.

it's about the Metafiction. Sanemitsu doesn't break the fourth wall until after our current point in canon (System.NH is 2019 and also Outside the Timeline). Seodore breaks it ALL the time bc he Knows but doesnt SEE. Tangent but can you tell I really like the metafiction groups. I like System.NH + Seodore + Mutei, I think it's fun.

It's about the quiet things going on in the background. About blood, about factors, about inheritance. The contrast between the domesticity of daily life (seodore canonically makes him breakfast!). It's about "I'll take your hand, Seodore" (PARAPHRASING AGAIN) and things left unspoken. It's about what he says about Seodore in his journal from 1999. (see just before record 4. yt tl doesnt show us whats inside unfortunately).

Also it's SO good that they have other priorities than each other. They both know and are fully aware of this and it's so <33

This is why I like the intro scene to DLC so much too-- they both know that they're dying there. Even if this plan works, even if things change, even if the interaction between the Rainbow Factor Artifact (Malkuth) and Respawn means that there's a chance to save Reiji, then the selves that exist in this moment still die. This is peak yaoi to me.

There is something to be said about how sanemitsu refuses to risk using this power, until the very last moment. He only does so when Reiji is dead and he's lost the last person he wanted to cling to so desperately.

Fun Fact: Seodore has his eyes closed for this entire scene except for ONE frame as sanemitsu raises the blade <3

I realize a lot of this is about them as a duo but not necessarily in a shipping lens oops.

From the lens of them as a COUPLE, they dont talk about it LMAO. They are doing couple things and ignoring their feelings about it bc theyre both still mourning other people. I do think they're the kind of couple who do domestic things like grocery shopping together,, cooking,, sitting around at home,, a casual kind of comfort in each other. The hand holding symbolism gets to me. "ill take your hand" linked with THIS SCENE, RIGHT AFTER THAT LINE. Linked with Sanemitsu's scarred hand only being present in S+ because it comes from killing Seodore. They mean everything to me.

You have no idea how crazy i went when i saw this scene DSALKLKJDSA

This ended up off topic. this all factors into the dynamic of two guys who keep thinking about other things and have a lot going on but can choose to find comfort in each other regardless. i think they should kiss <3

anyways. these are my guys who i love and adore. Seosane forever <3

[toodles021]

Favorite and least favorite characters

Hehehhehe ok here we go

FAVORITES FIRST!!

First off we have this man (of course), definitely one of my oldest favorite characters, I've been obsessed with him for forever lol😅

One of my favorite things about his character is definitely his sarcasm, it cracks me up every time, and I absolutely love the development that he goes through as the story progresses. I personally love the misfit character finally finding a place in the world kinda trope, which is of course exactly what ends up happening with Hiccup after he befriends Toothless.

(Also, the music?????? I can't even describe how it makes me feel, there are no words, I very much literally cannot stay still when listening to it.)

Next we have these two

LOOK AT THEM ‼️ ‼️ THEY'RE SO ‼️ ‼️ No words

I love me a good chihuahua man who loves his strong badass wife, I mean how can you not?? Also their backstory?? Tears, rolling down my face. (THE AMOUNT OF TIMES THEY LOST THEIR MEMORIES OF EACH OTHER HAD ME LIKE ‼️‼️😡) Childhood friends to lovers my beloved🙏🙏 I also just love how King tends to be more serious and solemn and meanwhile Diane is wicked cutesy and energetic!

(Me over here losing my mind since it's been confirmed that they have at least 7 kids😃)

Next we got THIS GUY!!

He's just so cool you guys, I can't. Cool military man who can manipulate fire and helps overthrow an evil government??? Yes please!! HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HAWKEYE????? PERFECTION!!! THEY WAY THEY LITERALLY ARE SO CONNECTED WITH EACH OTHER THAT THEY CAN TALK WITHOUT WORDS IN THAT ONE SCENE??? THE WAY SHE HELPS HIM PERFECTLY AIM HIS SHOTS WHEN HE LOSES HIS EYESIGHT???? I'm so normal about them, I could go on for a very long time.

THIS DUDE‼️‼️

I'm looking so respectfully... ANYWAYS

I know that a lot of people see him as a "rip off" or "wanna be" Darth Vader but like.. bestie that's the point. He's supposed to seem like a new Darth Vader, but the truth is they're incredibly different, Kylo has always been conflicted and known it, and been afraid of it, while Darth Vader didn't question himself until the end. Also I'm sorry to people who don't like the romance aspect, but the connection that he has with Rey??? I will literally never get over it. "Their kiss wasn't romantic" BESTIE DID WE WATCH THE SAME MOVIES???? DID YOU MISS THE PART WHERE THEY ARE VERY MUCH LITERALLY TWO HALVES OF A WHOLE??? THAT THEY'RE A DYAD IN THE FORCE??

NOW MY BABYGIRL‼️‼️

LOOK AT HIM‼️‼️ I love him

Is he kinda insane? Yes. But y'know what?? It's ok. Because I said so. ALSO HIS LORE??? ABSOLUTELY FUCKING INSANE?? LIKE COME ON HOW CAN YOU NOT EVEN FIND HIM TO BE INTERESTING AT THE LEAST??? He is the ✨main character✨

Nah but in all seriousness like, I love the antagonists that aren't entirely bad or evil. Like the way he is with Teucer?? Tears. The fact that he writes letters to Tonia and refers to himself as her "loyal knight"??? ARE YOU SERIOUS??????? He's literally so precious, just a little messed up...

As for characters I don't like.... honestly it can be hard sometimes to get me to hate a character, because even if they're like "bad" or "evil" or something I can always respect the amazing writing and designing that makes the character the way they are.

HOWEVER

THIS FUCKIN 10 HEAD CUBE FACE LOOKIN ASS BITCH CAN ROT IN HELL‼️‼️