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noviceaoiryusei · 29 days

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Oku Tomoya and Inaba Yu Special Interview Minato Shouji Coin Laundry TV Drama Official Visual Book

Hello! Hello! It has been a while.

Recently, I was busy with real-life stuffs while watching my favorite BL shows or J-dramas weekly as a purifier. OTL So here I am posting after a while and bring y'all something wonderful (I guess).

So here's a special interview translation of my not-so-obvious-favorite-OTP that I'm posting on here and tumblr way ahead of all my pending drafts lined up on livejournal.

Disclaimer: I tried my best to translate it as close as the original itself.

Without further ado, please enjoy reading. (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

「 Oku Tomoya and Inaba Yu Special Interview 」 Minato Shouji Coin Laundry TV Drama Official Visual Book

We interviewed the two actors who portrayed as a pair supporting the side story of the drama to look back on the filming!

――　Thank you for taking the time to talk with us today. As for the characters Asuka and Shu, since the story of Asuka and Shu preceded the drama more than the original story, we think it must have been difficult for you to understand their characters. How did you plan your performance?

Oku:　When I first read the script, my first impression of Asuka was that he was a flirtatious and playful person. However, as his true feelings gradually came out, I realized that there was a gap between the two... So I decided to carefully handle Asuka's feelings when he was involved in between Akira-san and Shin.

――　Do you think that there are high school boys like Asuka-kun?

Oku:　Well... I don't think there's much in real life...

Inaba:　You even said some pretty nasty things. (laughs)

――　What do you mean by that?

Inaba: Before Shin and he got to be friends, there was a scene where he said, "Show me a picture of this guy named Akira". At that time, I was like, "This guy! (laughs)". As a spectator, I was cheering for Shin and Minato-san, and I thought, "What the heck... He's just in the way! (laughs)". But he was actually a very nice guy.

――　Thank you very much. Inaba-san, what did you think about portraying Shu?

Inaba:　First of all, there is a common blueprint called the script, and since we are building towards that, I wondered if it would be better to act first, even though there is no movement in the original work. Would it be alright, so that the fans of the original work won't be offended...

Oku:　That's our concern.

Inaba:　It was nerve-wracking, but the script was something we shared, so I tried to be sincere in my approach this time. It was difficult to imagine how much I could do, so I tried to pick up the human element of "Shu" and the story that was provided to us. I thought it would be better if I played the role with an emphasis on Asuka's relationship with the character.

――　Did you have any conversations with the producer?

Inaba:　I talked a lot with the producer, Kimura-san... I talked about things that I don't talk about with the directors. It was easy to ask him questions, whether it was trivial or big questions and it was a big help. It made me feel like, "Oh, so I can do whatever I want", "I wonder if it can become a good element if I abide it".

――　Kimura-san, what were you told about abiding it?

Kimura P:　To be honest, just because we talked about it, it wasn't a clear idea of how we should do it. But rather, we didn't set goals in a good way, as if there can be possibilities.

Inaba:　He didn't draw any conclusions. Kimura-san didn't say, "I want you to do this as the right answer" but rather, "I want you to aim for this as the right answer" and he would talk with me about the possibilities. So, for about two or three days, every time Kimura-san and I went into the field, we talked for about an hour each time whenever we go to the studio. It felt like the direction of the project was set within me.

――　Is there anything else you would like to add, Oku-san?

Oku:　I also discussed with the people around me what kind of vibe Asuka should have... This was my first time to play such a flirtatious role, so I wanted to cherish the original story, so I asked consulted people about how much I should be faithful to it.

As for relationship advice... as long as Asuka's good qualities come out, I think he'll be fine.

――　Is there anything that you think is different from the other roles you portrayed?

Oku:　I wore the Reebok Pump Fury sneakers that Asuka is wearing in his private life, and I thought we are the same. The difference is that I have a gal with me or not... I admire him for having three trendy gals with him. (laughs)

Inaba:　It is difficult for me to find anything that comes close to being exceptional. This is not because I seem to be a peculiar person, but because I wonder if I could live my life focusing only on one thing.... I admired him because thought it would be difficult for me to devote myself to something and go abroad to study out of a desire to "know". So I portrayed the role while thinking, "That would be nice. In a way, I think Shu is going straight ahead without being distracted by the noise around him.

――　We felt the sense of straightness. The way your eyes open when you perform was impressive.

Inaba:　The director told me to "look at things that aren't human. I sincerely listened to him and did it once, so it was like that... (laughs) I was helped by that kind of direction, and I was able to find the feeling that led to that facial expression. I thought I was able to create something like an attractive force so it was a great help.

――　If Asuka and Shu were your friends, what kind of relationship advice would you give them?

Oku:　Asuka must be very serious, so the way he approaches older people and younger people... he "went offensive!". (laughs) When I talked with the staff during filming, they said that it would be cuter for a younger person to attack an older person with all his might... (laughs)

――　Anything that you want to add, Inaba-san?

Inaba:　If I were to tell Asuka, I would say, "As long as your good points are shown, I think he'll be fine". When Asuka is with Shu, people around him think, "If he could show this kind of Asuka, things would go better and smoothly," but I think he has a dilemma that he can't show his good side that's why I tell him that. But I don't think he understands, so it's as if I haven't said anything at all.

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　Later on, If Asuka thinks, "So that's what this was all about" then that's fine with me.

――　Thank you very much. So what would you think if Shin and Minato-san were friends?

Everyone:　Ah~~~~ (laughs)

――　I'm reunited with someone I've loved for 10 years, but he hasn't reciprocated at all... to Shin, who makes a lot of fried horse mackerel...

Inaba:　It feels like "It's nice". I'll hit "Like".

Oku:　I think I would like to marry.

Inaba:　！？ He isn't your partner, right!? You've just changed the subject... (laughs)

Oku:　To Minato-san "He was just too honest". I'll say that "You should just be honest!"

――　How about you, Inaba-san?

Inaba:　We'll drink and say "It's tough, right~~"! "This feeling's hard, right~~".

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　We go out for a drink and I'm like, "That's tough~ good luck. But Minato seems to be alright... I feel something very strong disposition. I think he's the kind of person who hesitates but makes sound decisions even if he's left alone.

Oku:　Indeed. Minato-san, you really need to snap out of it quickly and straightforwardly... with such a dazzling high school student... you know. I know that your shaken up by Shin.... Even so, I hope that you'll wrap it up and get married soon.

I was grateful that the atmosphere that Oku-kun was creating was so relaxing.

――　What did you talk about during break time?

Oku:　We talked about our school days... Also, Inaba-san seemed to put his hand on my shoulder easily. He would suddenly put his hand on my shoulder, it feels just like Shu getting involved with Asuka then puts it aside quickly so it's like, "Oh, what's up?" or so it seems. (laughs)

Inaba:　Oku-kun, I just thought that you have shoulders are easy to put my hands on. When I was checking the camera position, I looked at him closely and said something like "Your shoulders are great to put my hands on". I said I'm going to destroy his personal space.

Oku:　We also talked that we both appeared in Kamen Rider.

Inaba:　Indeed, it's our common denominator. It's not a work that we did together so even during shooting we would talk about things like, "Is that guy there?" or "That staff member is really nice, isn't he?". We're a bit different from each other, so I thought of looking for something in common... Or maybe I was wrong. (laughs)

Kimura P:　I didn't have that impression that they were talking much behind the scenes, so it was like that. I have no idea at all.

Inaba:　I thought it's alright if I don't talk too much. I don't think it was not my role to control the atmosphere. In this work, I often came in once in a while, did a little work, and left. I wanted to be able to get ready and say "start", "cut", "good job" and so on, all in a relaxed manner. So I don't think it's necessary to make Oku-kun relaxed... Asuka and Shu's relationship is also a highlight.

――　I see. It felt like you haven't seen each other for a while.

Inaba:　That's right. So the scene with Shu is one of Asuka's duality. I don't want him to be nervous, but he will be well prepared for it, and Asuka is the only one that I can't beat in here. (laughs)

Oku:　In this work, I wanted to improve the atmosphere on the site and make it more lively as a team. But there were some scenes where I was able to do it and there were others where I was not so, I also reflected about it...

Inaba:　But I think Oku-kun has helped a lot with the atmosphere. Well at least that's what I thought so.

Oku:　!　Thank you very much.

Inaba:　I was completely outsider in the role. I thought I was given a very important role as a sideline, but the main focus was Asuka.... I was not involved in the middle of the story at all, so the atmosphere at the site created by Asuka... or rather the atmosphere that Oku-kun created at the scene was very harmonious and I'm thankful for that.

――　Have you talked to Kusakawa-san and Nishigaki-san?

Inaba:　(Kusakawa) Takuya and I met, but Nishigaki-kun and I didn't have many scenes together. I felt like he was just greeting from a distance so I didn't do anything apart from greeting him back.... But I thought he was very nice when I saw him on air. I think it is difficult for a character to move forward with that energy because it's a story that won't start unless the character does that. Moving forward with faith takes a lot of energy, and I think it was very wonderful. I have known Takuya-kun for a while...

――　As for Takuya-san, we saw you mentioned about him in an another interview and mentioned that "he was kind to me when he taught me how to dance".

Inaba:　That's right. I knew he was a good guy, but there was a scene where I had to dance... apparently, the Sakuma family's Fukushi-san and I were afraid of dancing (laughs), but since I didn't have much experience and I was worried about bringing up what I had practiced all by myself. So, I grabbed Takuya-kun and asked him if "would it be alright?", he then stayed and danced in front of me... he was of great help.

――　That's so kind! The full video of the dance will be released sometime in the future....

Oku:　Is it full-length? But I messed up with the choreography....

Kimura P:　There's a time wherein Oku-kun bumped his leg, but he was so cute...

――　For Oku-san, how was it working with Kusakawa-san and Nishigaki-san?

Oku:　Takuya-san was a very reliable leader.

Inaba:　It would be better to say that they brought in a lot of food. They brought a lot, right!? Curry, jelly... all kinds of things.

Oku:　That's right. I was surprised when he gave me Godiva cookies during the first reading. I was like, "they even gave Godiva cookies during readings like this!". I was so grateful.

――　What about Nishigaki-san?

Oku:　Nishigaki-san was the closest in age to me, his presence was like an older brother to me on set. We're talking about trivial things like "that ramen shop is delicious". (laughs).

――　It's a very warm place. Were there any scenes that were fun or difficult for the two of you to interact with each other?

Oku:　 The reunion scene with Shu in front of the candy store was memorable to me. Asuka hasn't seen Shu in a long time was fidgeting, and the scene wherein Shu suddenly came closing the distance in between the two of them and said, "do you want to see it?", Asuka was already overthrown by Shu. It was our first time working together so I was worried about how I should go about it and prepared myself for it.... Inaba-san's mysterious performance as Shu....

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　I was told to act strange! I'll be on LINE news! I did it! (laughs)

Oku:　I myself was tossed around by the work, so Asuka was a nice flavor to it. As a result, the director praised me saying, "Oku-kun felt that he was being overthrown around, so your work was good". (laughs)

Inaba:　.... Oh, I have one! One thing... I was about to tell you about that Oku-kun story at the shooting.

――　Please let us know!

Inaba:　On that day, I was on the way to the location quite early in the morning and there were people on their way to work...... Oku-kun went off and suddenly said to the woman, "excuse me!". I thought, "huh..m what was he doing?" and then I saw a tag that was attached on her back.

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　With all his might! Oku-kun said, "the tag is still attached". Then, I knew that the costume department was already on site. So they took out a pair of scissors right away... (everyone laughed). Then the staff-san (costume department staff) said, "I'm going to cut it off!" and cut the tag. She said "thank you very much!". It was great that Oku-kun didn't miss the tag. The coordination was also wonderful.

Oku:　That sense of speed. (laughs)

Inaba:　That's right... So I thought I've seen something good, it went well. I didn't even noticed it. Even if I had noticed it... I would have just thought that there's something attached to it and that would be the end. but he went over and told her. The person wouldn't have to be embarrassed when going to its workplace. I thought Oku-kun is a nice kid.

Oku:　When people drop things on the street, everyone just ignores it, don't they? If I turn a blind eye to it, it will stay in my mind for a long time... Even if it takes a few years or even decades, I will definitely remember it....

Inaba:　Tags are just barely safe, there is no harm about it to say. You quickly rushed and call out to her without even thinking about it... he's so nice! I thought, "this guy is so nice! I'm talking about how wonderful Oku-kun was.

――　That's a nice story. Well then, what's Inaba-san's good points, Oku-san?

Inaba:　There's none!!

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　There's none! I tried to have several stories with my co-stars like this but I don't.

――　Like asking them if they could lend you sunscreen behind the scenes....

Inaba:　I'm basically just silent. Oh, there is one more story about Oku-kun. When I do this kind of work, I sign autographs on colored papers... It could be on the set or in this case, at the candy store, I do it as a way of saying thank you for all your help. But Oku-kun still can't do the ratio of his own signature in each sheet of colored paper yet, and it went over the edge.

Oku:　(laughs) I was just 17 at that time....

Inaba:　I was like "are you serious!?" When I had to be on stand by first thing in the morning but I was so sleepy... But then I decided to rewrite it... So I gave him some advice and rewrote it, but when I looked at it, the one that was sticking out was nicer... Ah, somehow I feel like we, adults could be also be wrong...

――　(laughs) Do you remember about this, Oku-san?

Oku:　I definitely remember it! I follow him religiously after all.

Inaba:　But really, it looked better that way. We even said, "that's weird!". Rather than being forced to do so, you could just be carefree.... Signatures are supposed to stick out.

Oku:　No, I want to give something more firm after all.

Inaba:　Yeah, I know it. But... No, it was actually great. You should put that on display somewhere....

I even went to clash it with my own feelings. I said, "I love you so so much!".

――　Are there any scenes in the entire drama that left an impression on you? If you have a favorite scene, we would love to hear about it.

Inaba:　Uhm, why are Asuka and Shu together... Definitely it's the scene wherein Asuka confessed his feelings for Shu was really good. The atmosphere at the scene was really interesting. After all... we were all heading that way.

Oku:　Indeed.

Inaba:　I wondered how it would turn out, but Oku-kun was straightforward and honest.... He did it without any tricks.

Oku:　I also like it... I also prepared a lot for that scene but... for that scene, I wanted to go with Asuka's feelings alone, so I didn't prepare anything and just clashed it with my own feelings of the moment. I said "I love you so so much!". I'm not sure if that was the right decision. But I hope that the viewers would be satisfied with it.

――　That was great. Any opinions, Oku-san?

Oku:　The scene in episode 4 after he fell into the pool. The scene wherein Akira-san said, "do you want to dry your clothes?", "are you asking me out?", "no way!". After that, in the last episode, they did the same scene again at the beach. I somehow felt... emotional or rather it was a passionate development... It fired me up.

――　Were you both on location for that scene or you're just watching the filming from afar?

Oku:　I was still there after crank-up and watched it with the staff at the end.

――　Finally, do you have a message for our readers?

Oku:　The drama version is a little ahead of the original. I'm worried if the content will satisfy everyone, but I hope you will watch us warmly. Please continue to support "Minato Shouji Coin Laundry".

Inaba:　First of all, I thank you for everything. With the original work and the drama, I think that the people who have made it to this kind of fanbook must have really love the work. The original work will still be going on... Would there a sequel? What would go on, is this the end?

Kimura P:　For the mean time, this is just the first part of the drama...

Inaba:　Is there a way to do it?

Kimura P:　It depends on everyone's support... so, yeah.

Inaba:　That's what I meant.

――　Shin and Minato's story has ended....

Inaba:　A margin.

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　No way, it's left behind. Especially Asuka and Shu, that part is not yet depicted.

――　Asuka and Shu are there. Shin and Minato are no more than amnesiacs.

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　If they stick together, there will be lots of problems.

Oku:　And then... It's like a trade-off....

――　You knew it very well! We are making an interesting extra edition of a story that is different from the novel. But it puts quite a burden on the actors... (laughs).

Inaba:　No, I think it'll be interesting if those two would switch places.

――　It starts with "we're chaging places~!"....

Inaba:　In that way, I could imagine what would "Minato Shouji" would be in the future. We do hope that you'd continue to like our work. As someone who was involved in this work, I would be very happy if you could see it through.

――　Thank you very much!

#inaba yu #oku tomoya #translation interview #minato shouji coin laundry #minato's laundromat

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unknownzapy · 1 year

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Author’s Note: I do not support nor condone the actions mentioned in this piece of writing and should stay purely in fiction. This prompt is for entertainment use only. If I missed any triggering topic, please tell me.

─━━═════⊰⊱ ⬛ ⊰⊱═════━━─

Triggers with Red Bold are especially detailed in these Head-Canons. Viewer discretion is advised.

Trigger/Content Warnings:

Murder

Suicide

Gaslighting

Mental Abuse

Mass Extinction

7 Stages of Grief

Mental Breakdowns

Gatekeeping Trauma

Symptoms of Amnesia

Symptoms of Paranoia

Symptoms of Depression

Declining Mental Health

Implied use of Dark Humor

Declining Physical Health

Symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome

Symptoms of Derealization Disorder

Prompt: Sans The Skeleton (Undertale) with a Gender Neutral Reader who is the Player that did the Genocide Route. This could go either Romantic or Platonic.

─━━═════⊰⊱ ⬛ ⊰⊱═════━━─

Sans, as a whole, finds you disgusting and revolting in all ways possible. As much as he doesn’t remember every single detail about whatever route you chose and restarted all over again, specifically Genocide in this case, all he knows is that he’s going off on what he can remember. This includes hunches and “bad feelings” when he’s close, or in the same area, with you.

The second time you open up a new game file after a RESET, Sans immediately can’t keep his eyes away from you and keep his distance. The air around you feels familiar, yet so ominous; whenever you come near, he instinctively backs away from you. He’s fairly apprehensive about you, but at the same time willing to talk to you if you hadn’t killed anyone…yet. If you did, he’ll probably tell you that it was out of self defense and make a snarky comment or joke towards you and not the monster.

Anyways, Sans catches on fairly quickly about your behavior. You want to harm/kill monsters, but you just can’t. You want to achieve a True Reset out of guilt, out of curiosity, out of boredom, whatever it is that fills you with, well, DETERMINATION. Whatever it is, The Skeleton has this weird feeling that, once you set free Monsterkind, you’ll destroy their hopes and dreams at their most vulnerable. Including his.

Majority of the time, he knows he can’t do a damn thing about you RESETing over and over again for whatever reason, but at the same time, a piece of him says that you’ll give him and everyone else a real, genuine happy ending. However, and let’s all be real here, Sans is already getting delusional about it.

The very moment you actually do a Genocide route for a second time though, Sans strangely puts his absolute all into the fight when you eventually come to Judgment Hall. He was skeptical about you at first, but took his chance at being patient. Weirdly enough, his attacks were more rough, more wild, less accurate, less within the code…that’s when it clicked. Sans slowly, but surely deviates from his usual laid back and lazy self to a shunned, hard working monster who wants answers. He jumps from blueprints and experiments to theories, lack of severe sleep, and living off of caffeinated coffee.

He doesn’t know why of all sudden he cares so much about you slaughtering everyone, despite claiming he “didn’t care anymore about what happens next.” Call it survival instinct or fight or flight, Sans is going with it to save himself from you, or whatever “allies” you have, but he tries not to dwell on that too much.

Throughout his search of trying to figure you out, his friends grow increasingly worried for him, especially. However, as much as they are worried, Sans brushes it off as “nothing to worry about” and cracks puns about his situation to loosen everyone up.

“I used to be able to pull all-nighters but now I can barely pull all-dayers.”

“People in sleeping bags are the soft tacos of the bear world.”

“I sleep with a knife under my pillow. You never know when someone is going to break in and give you a cake.”

Along with his sanity, Sans’ puns become increasingly deteriorating to questionable to outright concerning. Sure, he does care about the other monsters’ well-being as well, but he’ll give them tough love every once in a while, followed by a wink and a “self aware” hint, letting them do whatever they want with that information.

“I know I’ve been working harder than I usually would, but I wanted to make a change for once and take my little bros advice. Plus, Paps wouldn’t stop complaining ‘bout my sock pile. Anyways, don’tcha have a dinner date to go to?”

With decreased sleep now slapped onto him, Sans is quite dismissive about his attitude to the point where people either get annoyed or leave him alone, both knowing that Sans is better than this. All it takes is time, and as patient as he is, sometimes he wishes that you would RESET and make them forget about his changing behaviors. But you don’t. Knowing you, you want to see the end results about him as much as he does about you. But at the same time, his patience becomes thinner and thinner the more his fellow monsters beg and plead for him to know what’s wrong and offer to help him whatever’s bothering him.

…But he can’t. Sans knows he can’t reveal the truth. Even if he did, no one would believe him except a certain flower. Speaking of which, Sans did try speaking with other boss monsters about his particular predicament. Toriel was overwhelmed with grief and shock, Undyne was pissed more than ever and took her anger out on him verbally and physically, Asgore was more understanding because he knew how many times you’ve died before but still couldn’t comprehend you as a whole different person entirely, Papyrus is out of the question since Sans knows he couldn’t handle the same burden that he bears (plus he couldn’t see Pap dying again, even if it is fruitless anyway), and Mettaton is…well, Mettaton would most likely glorify the situation in hopes of having a better life in the underground and degrade you, the Player’s (and Frisk’s), existence.

Then there’s Alphys. I feel like both of these characters are in the same situation, whereas Sans’ story is hundred times worse than Alphys’. Alphys is to True Lab as much as Sans is to The Player, which makes them click instantly, even if the given circumstances aren’t entirely ideal. Sans being Sans, Alphys unlocked a new sense of humor for coping with hiding with the True Lab (and yes, she shared her secret after reluctantly hearing about Sans’ story since they share an interest in science. I feel like they’ll have a mutual understanding and friendship for each other afterwards).

The two go back and force with the darkest of jokes, morbid of puns, the list goes on. Though, it could only last for so long before something happens. That “something” being the suicide of Alphys. Sans would become shocked, albeit knowing it would happen eventually, deep down inside. Alphys did take it better than the others, although in an extremely toxic form.

Maybe it was his fault that Alphys died, only going towards her for personal comfort instead of genuine thought. At first, Sans was shocked at her suicide, surprisingly the only person to know about her death, excluding you. He wanted to take proper vengeance for her, but considering everything, it would be in vain but to continue living for her sake, chipping his mentality away more and more as he did so. After that very moment, the monster began to deny the very existence of you. Then His peers. Then His friends. His brother, too. Even himself.

Sans abruptly stops his little investigation about you and throws it all away, finding it all useless, considering you’ll just RESET all over again which will take him back to square one. He bottles all these intense emotions under wraps until he absolutely shatters, breaking down into heated tears of both hatred and anger and deep depression with him flinching at the slightest of movement from anyone around him. All happiness and dedication of surviving is now dissolved into guilt, rage, and paranoia.

Sans doesn’t have any reason to be alive anymore. Not if you’re still here, anyway. Even if you do “leave” after everything, after being “curious” enough, the after effects you made and mental scars you leave on him is immeasurable. He gaslights himself that he didn’t go through that kind of trauma, he gaslights himself that you never existed, he even gaslights himself that he’s perfectly “normal” and everything around him is “real as he can understand.”

Sans, after departure, still clings to you like a parasite, sadly. You’re the only thing that can control this timeline of his. He needs you. Your laws and actions are basically law to him now, even if it is worst case scenario. You’re more real than anything else to him.

He tries to fill this void in him, which is completely linked to instinct and survival. By doing so, he oftentimes takes from or harm others, unintentionally speaking, due to his utter lack of self control that comes with his desperation to feel “whole” again.

There are things that we need in life, and then things that we simply want. And with you, there’s no real line to that, which is why his lack of self control for living is so dangerous. If he feels like he needs something more than someone else wants something, then there’s a good chance he’s not going to back down. What it really is, rather than just a need to survive, it’s a need to live and experience the things around him, unironically speaking.

As fucked up as it is, Sans is devoid of his former self, a husk of twisted humor and unhinged mentality who would do anything to survive, even if it costs him to live off of the most dangerous creatures around him. All it takes is time to ease his way towards appreciating you a little more, right?

#Undertale #sans the skeleton #sans skeleton #sans #undertale sans #sans undertale #headcanon #headcanons #undertale x reader #x reader #reader x Undertale #cw long post #long post cw #tw long post #long post tw #maybe a bit of Alphys x Sans in here???#I don’t ducking know lol

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inflamearc · 7 months

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something you may or may not know about twin peaks is that it employs a ton of Character Voices --- sheryl lee, in particular, plays three separate characters (and a few extra, if we count the tulpas and my personal favorite, Waldo The Bird), and they all have their own things going on. her 'real' speaking voice is not a whole lot like any of them (somewhere between maddy and carrie --- sans lisp, sans twang --- for what it's worth).

most notably, it sounds the least like laura's, because laura's voice is a child's voice. laura's voice never deepened the way it should have as she aged; it stopped developing when she was around twelve (about the time she considers the 'start' of bob's abuse). it might not be incredibly noticeable in the movie, because she's still just seventeen, but it's a definite choice by someone a bit older, and it's something i think about a lot.

the thing is, laura was a happy kid, and not just in hindsight: she was easily rattled, but not generally anxious. she made lasting, meaningful connections with people without even trying. she knew who she was and where she came from, and was able to trust that things more or less tended to work out as they should. she could rest at night, and if she had nightmares --- which she often did --- she'd just get her mom, and her mom would sing to her and tell her stories until she fell back asleep, and she'd be no worse for wear. bob was a part of her life, but not an altogether negative one. he often scared her, but she didn't register him as a threat: he was more like a villain in a fairytale, and we all know how those are supposed to end. he was her father's friend, and benjamin's. she trusted them.

i don't see it as a theft of laura's voice, though: i don't think she was forced to remain childlike. i don't believe that was part of anyone's agenda but hers [however unconscious]. but while there wasn't much of an illusion of safety to cling to, she was aware that at least In The Before, a lot was going right for her. she had no reason, as a young girl, to doubt that her life would turn out exactly as she planned it would. conversely, she had no blueprint for anything after, no frame of reference for what would happen and what it would (and wouldn't) shape her into. 'growing up', for laura, was just something that seemed to be associated with More Suffering. there's an added layer to this when you consider the timing/patterns of abuse among peaks kids, but we don't need to go there. i think the stagnation of her voice --- like clinging so tightly to donna, and her childhood bedroom, and a million other things --- was a way to like, hold onto the Good In Life and remind herself who she was on her own, without bob's influence. i do think that with enough of the right therapies, it'll gradually 'fix' itself --- and that's positive for both physical and mental health reasons --- but it's not an altogether tragic story. like most where laura is concerned, she's just left trails back to herself, however high the price. and it's cost her a lot --- a cohesive identity, for one, arguably --- but i like how stubborn she is, how unwilling to play by anyone's rules but her own. i like that she never loses sight of who she calls 'Good Laura', even when she's berating herself. i love how protective she is of that little girl.

#study.#abuse m //#such a willingness to forgive，such a big heart.#mannerisms.

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baekhvuns · 1 year

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Helllooo. My trip is going well, though there's so much going on and I'm extremely tired, I don't have enough time for work 😭😭

See idek know if Madrid played well, but it's good to hear they can win when I'm not watching. Lmao right, he could've pulled a Zizou, but waited for him at the car park instead kwjdkskajsjahajaj

Man City? I don't know her, I'm sorry...

Omfg my Exol flatmate has been freaking out about all the Exo stuff, I hope I can bring her a little Exo related gift, perhaps Kim Kai?

Sports being fixed shocking 🔪 they're not even subtle. Okay maybe I'm holding a grudge cause I have two F1 friends and I sometimes read their posts and both dislike Leclerc and I definitely remember him pissing me off at some point, je suis désolé Charles jskajsksjajawjaj. But fuck Max! Oooooh a Lewis movie, a docu or a regular film?

Maybe if Chelsea did the Rover challenge they would manifest a win, because it's looking BAD for them 💀

Seonghwa needs to give me a Radiohead cover, I still of him singing Creep for a few seconds 😭 or a different Troye song, something about more... cheerful. Idk even cover Anti-Hero from Taylor cause I surprising tolerate that track. Or you know.... TAMINO. It's him in Rewrite the Stars! ❤❤❤❤ and not San giving us a sad cover too a d a song that Jonghyun has written. I haven't heard it yet, because I don't wanna be sad lol

I only heard the Xikers song once, it was fine, but I'm just not interested, and my boy Yechan - the only one I know is giving HJ lol.

I'll send you a whole truck of miso aubergine 🍙 if you stop mentioning undercut Hwa! Ok but he's legit the only one who looks good to me with undercuts... not my fave hairstyle, but still it's Hwa http://twitter.com/atinyteez009/status/1645777420413460481?t=4DN7__sgeyNsFQWfLDOg8g&s=19 except for middle row left and right THAT BALD ASS LOOK NEEDS TO GO. HWA BBY I'M SORRY BUT THIS IS A JUMPSCARE https://twitter.com/hwaberrymilk/status/1641244669551190016?t=6J038XLKmCEVkRgOTq3-SQ&s=19

No way he went coconut head when I have a chance to see him?!?! https://twitter.com/nobodylikehwa/status/1646889850082058242?t=bzDLXyXSeSsPZV-EuZUVlQ&s=19 he looks cute, but there's nothing to brag about, boy :/

I hope we'd be able to record the Taemin meeting 😭 I'm so happy. Sad that it's not the whole Shinee, because I miss them, but Lee Taeeeeeeeeeeeemin!!!! If we get Ten, Taemin and Taeyong to do the Rover challenge I want SuperM back! Btw if my friend convinced me to go to the Dojaejung album premiere I'd have seen THE LEE TAEYONG, but I didn't :"))))))

Yeah Ravi... I can see why he was desperate, but??? My guy, covid fucked everyone over you're not special

I was so shocked seeing WayV like?!?! YY was very cute and shy, they all were. I also spent too much money in that dumb grocery store, like why even, was blinded by the men! SM actually disappoints me greatly, but at least they like me now... I'm hoping for Ateez in Japan, but idk 🔫🔫🔫

I watch Kamisama Kiss and Maid Sama regularly <3 truly the blueprints

Many kpop idols should just stfu, seriously. And need to act like adults, Bambam's agency wants to sue people and alright, does who call him a pedo need to relax, but... no apology? I'm so disappointed in Chaeyoung and her shitty response, girl :/

Model is annoying and Y/N was too nice to him! I still stand by that! Ooooh true Domino as well, it fits so well.

See one of my friends went to the EXO meeting, she's Korean and was appalled by the shit she heard and saw :( kinda ruined the experience for her, because some bitches next to her were awful

Pls I hope Pique's girl cheated and especially with Pep 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Hellllooooo https://twitter.com/nobodylikehwa/status/1646412780126314496?t=URn3wDrqRANfwQsY3gwniQ&s=19

https://twitter.com/NotBonkyP/status/1647252825884315651?t=2YBhU2HWp8M4rd_dzjJpTQ&s=19

????? And they're going to Qatar too. I'm gonna go and stand outside KQ's building and yell. And Waterbomb festival, uhm not Seonghwa soaked kn water THANXX - DV 💖

hello!!!!

Helllooo. My trip is going well, though there's so much going on and I'm extremely tired, I don't have enough time for work 😭😭 //// See idek know if Madrid played well, but it's good to hear they can win when I'm not watching. Lmao right, he could've pulled a Zizou, but waited for him at the car park instead kwjdkskajsjahajaj

hello!!!! hope you’re having lots of fun!!! see madrid only played well bc all our players were injured 🤚🏻 NOO SERIOUSLY AND THAT OTHER DUDE IS TRYING TO BE INNOCENT??? MF U MOCKED A UNBORN CHILD WHILE UR A WHOLE ASS ADULT !!!!!!!! anyway, not a new news but real madrid fc dropped to a new low and is distorting and rewriting spain’s history <3 local football news : neymar’s having his second kid, hakimi did a uno reverse , livapool doing a 1-6 😳, rm dropping to a new low by bringing n*zi’s in it?????? mané and sané beef, benzema next season last season, and messi barca ✊🏻😭

???? like barcelona’s presi was unalived by that dictator they are saying favoured barca????? legitimately what the fuck

Man City? I don't know her, I'm sorry... /// Omfg my Exol flatmate has been freaking out about all the Exo stuff, I hope I can bring her a little Exo related gift, perhaps Kim Kai?

man city the one that’s most likely gonna win the treble?? hMMMMMM THE EXO STUFF PLS THE WAY I WAKE EVERYDAY TO NEW CONTENT IT FEELS SUSPICIOUS, yes! if ur in sk april 20,, u might see kai at a hello 82 event! ur exol flat mate better be ready bc we are getting the cb and world tour 😭😭 AND I WILL BE THERE, I WILL BE THERE

NOT even a little it’s ridiculously mad how they are messing w certain teams just for a former racers kid to win,, we are tired of the dutch national anthem, put that same energy to schumachers kid too then 🔫 LMFAOOO SEEE if they dislike leclerc they do not know race 🔫 this overtake he did was insane

honestly i think the universe dislikes him so adding a few dislikes won’t hurt i guess fbwndbsn but he’s mad resilient i rmr his father passed away and the next day (?) he was at the race and won it and then his godfather (bianchi) died and then his close friend did, crazy guy but just drives for ferrari, his teammate tho, he deserves it <3 really does ngl <3 YEAH MAX CAN GET IT HES ON MY LAST STRAW BC IF HE WINS THE CHAMPIONSHIP AGAIN ITS ON SIGHT I UNDERSTAND UR FRIENDS ON THAT PART 🤚🏻 a full fledged movie!! a biopic and brad pitt’s in it as well, i think he’s playing alsono or vettel!

LMFAOOO atp nothing can make chelsea win, not even our lord and saviour kai maybe if they get nagelsmann or enrique somehow come

STOP IT UR RIGHT HE NEEDS TO DO THOSE CLASSIC COVERS RATHER then the tiktok things pls 🔫 anti hero?? omg hwaxtay >> EVERYTHING STOP! ITS TAMINO X HWA AND MADDOX NEEDS TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN WHAT THE HELL, after hearing san’s cover i had to immediately go hear the lee hi’s ver and then stumbled upon her performance of it crying and then sobbed my eyes out

I only heard the Xikers song once, it was fine, but I'm just not interested, and my boy Yechan - the only one I know is giving HJ lol. //// I'll send you a whole truck of miso aubergine 🍙 if you stop mentioning undercut Hwa! Ok but he's legit the only one who looks good to me with undercuts... not my fave hairstyle, but still it's Hwa http://twitter.com/atinyteez009/status/1645777420413460481?t=4DN7__sgeyNsFQWfLDOg8g&s=19 except for middle row left and right THAT BALD ASS LOOK NEEDS TO GO. HWA BBY I'M SORRY BUT THIS IS A JUMPSCARE https://twitter.com/hwaberrymilk/status/1641244669551190016?t=6J038XLKmCEVkRgOTq3-SQ&s=19

idk what it is but kq doing a lot of songs w that middle eastern sound track that just ✨ like esp the real’s last part, play it at a party and everyone would sTEP UP LMFAOOO I GUESS I WONT GET IT BC UNDERCUT HWA >>>> very hot man, very,,, OKAY SOME PHOTOS HE REALLT LOOKS BALD FHWJFKSFHKS that last one, needs a slap on his neck

NOOOO I WAS SO UPSET HE BROUGHT THAT BACK WHY IS IT ROUNDER THAN USUAL 😭😭😭😭😭 TAKE IT OFF HWA

PLS RECORD EVERYTHING GET HIS SIGN ON EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!! I HOPE A SHINEE MEMBER HOSTS IT 😭😭 speaking of superm, wonder how that dozen is doing jcbwkcjcl came and posted a picture then sent the kpop into a havoc and then disappeared smh,,, NAURRRRR U DIDNT SEE THE LEE TAEYONG????? TOP 10 BETRAYALS OF LIFE

Yeah Ravi... I can see why he was desperate, but??? My guy, covid fucked everyone over you're not special /// I was so shocked seeing WayV like?!?! YY was very cute and shy, they all were. I also spent too much money in that dumb grocery store, like why even, was blinded by the men! SM actually disappoints me greatly, but at least they like me now... I'm hoping for Ateez in Japan, but idk 🔫🔫🔫

yeah 😭😭😭 ravi bro use some of ur mind,,, like now u gotta do jail AND military?? AAAAAAAAAAAA STOP THEIR SKINS MUSTVE BEEN SO BLEMISHFREE,,, YANGYANG SHY??? DID HE DRINK SOMETHINGVFANBDWK WHAT DID U BUY FROM THE GROCERY STORE 😭😭 are the insides like pc’s and collectors items??? ATEEZ IN JAPAN!!!!! WATERBOMB FESTIVAL!!!!

I watch Kamisama Kiss and Maid Sama regularly <3 truly the blueprints /// Many kpop idols should just stfu, seriously. And need to act like adults, Bambam's agency wants to sue people and alright, does who call him a pedo need to relax, but... no apology? I'm so disappointed in Chaeyoung and her shitty response, girl :/

TRULY TRULY!!!!! omg anon do u rmr pretty rhythm aurora dream, alice academy, kodocha, itzurana kiss??? no seriously like what’s it take u to stop ur mouth,,, if i was in their place id say nothing AND still be earning, imagine earning millions for not speaking??? idols need to go back to being mysterious,, someone said her apology was straight out of chatgpt 😭😭😭 and youngji…saying the n word, wearing a ganesha shirt on a drinking show…while drinking 😭😭

I'm so stocked for Barbie, even if it's bad I'm living for it, but I'm looking forward to edgy MEN reviewing it lmaooo. Omg the Le Sserafim photos and teasers?! So gorgeous, I hope I like the song though /// Model is annoying and Y/N was too nice to him! I still stand by that! Ooooh true Domino as well, it fits so well.

I AM TOOOOOO!!!! booking tickets for it right after oppenheimer bc i think everyone will need barbie after watching that movie,, hoping both of the movies reach a great success!! this year’s movies are so packed, oppenheimer, barbie, dune 2, insidious series, hunger games, ghosted, pope’s exorcist, indiana jones, mission impossible, the nun 2, the exorcist (omg), wonka AND IVE BEARD THEYRE TRYING TO MAKE A LEGALLY BLONDE 2 ???? WE ARE WINNINGGG,, domino’s vocals are so stUNNING YES THE LSF SONG IM SO EXCITED TO SEE WHAT THEY DO

See one of my friends went to the EXO meeting, she's Korean and was appalled by the shit she heard and saw :( kinda ruined the experience for her, because some bitches next to her were awful /// Pls I hope Pique's girl cheated and especially with Pep 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

right 😭😭 idk why they treat them like this for having a family come on 😭😭 BUT WHATS GOOD KEXOLS WERE THROWN BY EXOS BODYGUARDS ✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻 THROWN!! KARATED!!!! kexols were also mad bc exo went to japan and were like “are exo japanese singers now???” gIRL IF U DONT SHUT UR MOUTH!!! APPARENTLY SHE DID SHE WAS FRIENDS WITH PEP’S DAUGHTER AND THEN PIQUE CHEATED ON HER WITH A LAWYER THIS IS SO MAD BUT FUNNY pep did it for shakira i knew he was a fan

Hellllooooo https://twitter.com/nobodylikehwa/status/1646412780126314496?t=URn3wDrqRANfwQsY3gwniQ&s=19

that outfit😵‍💫😵‍💫

https://twitter.com/NotBonkyP/status/1647252825884315651?t=2YBhU2HWp8M4rd_dzjJpTQ&s=19 ????? And they're going to Qatar too. I'm gonna go and stand outside KQ's building and yell. And Waterbomb festival, uhm not Seonghwa soaked kn water THANXX - DV 💖

ateez in japan,,, anon are u 👁👁 not qatar come on 😭😭😭 SOAKED IN WATEF FBWNBDKW AND THE WET HAIR???? ANON HOW WILL U SURVIVE FBWNFHK

we winning??????

now hold on…

LMFAOOOO my asian queen 🤲🏻 this is so fun bc imagine her singing fireworks @ buckingham palace fbwkfbsk, can’t wait to see the coronation and the history

#✉️ : ask #dv 💖 anon

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fizzie · 2 years

Text

Here it is, the sans essay (more under cut)

Sans Undertale

Sans the skeleton is a very popular character from an indie game called Undertale. Undertale was released in September of 2015, it is a 2d role-playing game created by Toby Fox. The game gained an astounding amount of popularity in just a few short months after the game’s release, selling over 500, 000 copies on steam (Undertale, Fanlore Wiki). Though, the main focus of this writing shall be on Sans specifically.

Sans is a very interesting character, although simple in design, sporting just a hoodie and shorts, he has captured the attraction of many fans. In the game he is just any other Non-Player Character who, depending on how you play the game, you could face off against him in battle. Sans has befallen the fate of several similar characters before him, and has been claimed by a phenomena known as "The Tumblr Sexyman". This is a strange online phenomena that dates back to early 2012, where users on Tumblr, a social-media website that is popular amongst the stranger people of the internet, would latch onto one character and create countless fanworks related to them. To give credit where it’s due: the original and most recognisable Tumblr Sexyman is the Onceler from the 2012 movie "The Lorax". Since then, there have been many Sexymen, even enough to have a large list called the Sexypedia to compile them all, but few reach peak fame levels such as Sans. According to Sexypedia there are only two “Apollyon”(highest Sexyman rank), Sans, and the blueprint of it all: the Onceler (Sexypedia).

While I could have done this essay on any other Sexyman, I chose Sans because he was a direct influence on me when I was younger. In late 2015-2016, I was 12 years old and on the internet, which naturally led me to discovering Undertale, and Sans in turn. I cannot say exactly why I loved him so much, but there were many others like me who had inexplicably fallen for this short, hoodie-clad skeleton. Most of my research has been strongly based on the knowledge I already had, with quite a few modern takes and rereading to make sure my facts are correct.

Routes

There are multiple routes in Undertale, which is another reason why people loved the game so much. With each choice the player makes in combat, ie. whether to spare or kill a creature and how many they choose to kill, has an effect on later interactions and the overall outcome of the game. The most common is the neutral route, where the player kills one or more monsters, in which there are several versions once again depending on which major boss is killed. The second route, if the player chooses to do a standard run of the whole game, is the pacifist route, where the player kills no monsters. However the first time playing through to the end of the pacifist route can be considered a neutral ending, or sometimes an “imperfect pacifist run”. It is here where the player has a choice to go back and complete certain things which were previously inaccessible in the route, such as going into the True Lab, a location only accessible in the True Pacifist route (Undertale Wiki). Finally, there is the "No Mercy" route, sometimes known as the "Genocide Route" though notably this name had controversy around it and is less commonly used. This route is somewhat self explanatory, where the player never uses the “MERCY” button which spares the monster’s lives in encounters, and instead kills every monster they come across. The "No Mercy" route is difficult and comes with strict requirements, such as combing through each new area and killing the monsters until the counter (which only appears in this route, to help you complete it) reaches zero. Another notable feature of this route is that the bosses are much more challenging.

Sans plays an interesting role in each route, He appears right before the last boss in the Final Corridor, and assesses the player on their actions in the game. It is here that if the player has gone through the "No Mercy" route, they will face Sans in a boss fight.

The neutral route has the most variation of interactions Sans can have with the character. There are many specific facets of this route that I could cover because of its inherent versatility. One notable place that is inaccessible in any other route can only be accessed in an imperfect pacifist route, or a no EXP neutral route. After encountering Sans in the final corridor, the player must reload their game from the last save before they talk. In doing this, Sans will notice and the player has already heard his monologue and instead gives a codeword, then another which is revealed by once again reloading the save. Sans then gives the protagonist a key to his room, which has been mysteriously locked up until that point. Sans’ room is extremely messy and somewhat , however, in his drawer the player will find a key that leads to another area that was not able to be unlocked. Only if the player had wandered around the town thoroughly would they have found the locked door, as it is very difficult to find due its location behind Sans and Papyrus’ house. The key leads to a place called Sans’ workshop in the basement of the house. This room bears much resemblance to the True Lab that the player can explore in the "True Pacifist" route. There are blueprints and a machine behind a curtain in the room. There are pictures in the drawers: one of Sans and one of a bunch of people the protagonist does not recognise, and depending on the players actions, there is another picture of Sans, the protagonist and all of their friends. This room is what sparked many theories with Sans’ connection to Alphys’ True Lab and possibly W.D Gaster, who is a character that never appears in the game and is for the most part a mystery(Undertale Wiki).

The True Pacifist route is only accessible after a kill-free neutral route, therefore many Sans-specific things will be repetitive up until the ending. In this route however, the player is able to access the True Lab beneath Alphys’ regular lab. Here it is strongly implied that the two worked together in the past. In one of the rooms there is a device called the DT Extraction Machine(Undertale Wiki). This is the machine that was used to remove the souls from the fallen children that were captured in the underground. The machine resembles a deer skull, similar to that of Asriel in his boss fight. Another character who has an animal-shaped skull weapon is Sans, although his skull appears to be more like a canine.

The No Mercy route is by far the most infamous route of the three possibilities. It involves, as the name suggests, never using the Mercy button in the game. The player has to kill every character and boss they encounter in order for it to succeed, as well as exhausting a “kill counter” (Undertale Wiki). The kill counter does as the name suggests, count the number of monsters killed in an area. The player must kill monsters until the counter reaches zero before progressing or else the run will fail. Usually during a standard playthrough of the game the No Mercy route is the one players do last, because it also has effects on any play of the game after. Correlation is one of the things that made Undertale stand out, as at first it just appears to be a cute RPG that has slightly dark lore. However some of the characters being seemingly self-aware, for example Sans, make it more interesting. The No Mercy Route is where the player gets to see more of what he can be like as a character. His change in demeanour is noticeable right away, he makes comments about the player “pretending to be human”. Before entering the Snowdin town he warns the protagonist that if they continue on as they have been doing and end up fighting Papyrus, that “they are going to have a bad time.” This line, as well as a few others Sans says in this route, have become iconic due to the shock factor of this popular lighthearted character suddenly becoming threatening in an instant. After his Snowdin threat, Sans disappears for the rest of the No Mercy route until the last corridor. His absence is very apparent, in any other route he pops up multiple times, providing funny banter and silly puns. Sans returns in the final corridor where, for the first time in any route, he will fight the player as a boss. Despite his in-game description as the “easiest boss in the game”, he is considered the most difficult (Undertale Wiki). His defence and attack stat is both 1, making him the weakest, it is the fact that he dodges the players attacks that makes him different because no other boss does this. His attacks also come so quickly that the player has to constantly avoid them, even going so far as to break the fourth wall and still cause the player damage in the fight menu.

Prior to entering the final corridor the player walks through an area called New Home. This is where the King, Asgore Dreamurr, planned to have most of the monsters live. After a while they spread out and fewer monsters lived in New Home. It is a monochromatic grey city, strikingly different to the brightly coloured and inviting areas elsewhere. There is a house that is an exact replica to the one Toriel lives in in the ruins, this is Asgore’s home. It is completely identical except for being entirely grey like the rest of New Home. Here is where the player can find the True Knife and the Locket. In any other route they are known as the Worn dagger and Heart Locket (Undertale Wiki). These are items belonging to the first human that fell into the Underground, Chara. In neutral and Pacifist routes the attack and defence stat of both items is 15, but only in the No Mercy route does it become +99, making them the most powerful items in the game. These are the items the player wields during their fight with Sans.

Bonus information

In the game Sans is a very humorous character. His dialogue often features him making jokes and especially puns. He is a very laid back monster often getting called “Lazy bones” by his brother Papyrus. Sans interacts with the protagonist playfully throughout the whole game, sometimes pulling pranks on them (i.e. putting a whoopee cushion on the player's chair). Despite this, there are times in the game where he will suddenly become eerily quiet and threatening. He talks about an “old lady” he befriended, who is later revealed to be Toriel, a character the player meets earlier in the game. Sans explains that he had made a promise to her: that if he met a child that came out of the ruins, he would protect them, and Sans says that if he had not made that promise “t h e y ‘ d b e d e a d w h e r e t h e y s t a n d” (Undertale Wiki). It is at this point where the player's perception of Sans changes. Where at first he seemed like just a comic relief character, you realise that Sans is much more than that.

Sans is notably apathetic towards most things in his life, which is why he is often seen by other characters as just "lazy". He works four jobs and is scolded frequently by his brother. However, Sans cares deeply for other people in his life, namely his brother Papyrus, and also the townsfolk of Snowdin where he lives.

He also is shockingly observant and very good at analysing the intentions of the protagonist, being able to tell if the player has chosen to do certain things in the game, such as kill or reset. Towards the end of the game, there is a place called the Final Corridor, where you meet Sans once again before proceeding to whatever ending the player’s actions have led to thus far. It is here that Sans judges the player based on their Execution Points (EXP) and Level Of ViolencE (abbreviated as LOVE). A player's EXP goes up if they kill a monster, and depending on who specifically it was, for example Papyrus or a different main character, Sans will react differently. It is here where his true colours show through, where he speaks jarringly analytical and cold, rather than just the humour he used to relieve tense situations before.

Throughout the game Sans occasionally makes jokes or says things that hint at him possibly having more knowledge than the rest of the NPCs. After the player resets the game Sans will remember if the player killed people in the previous route. There are only two characters that do this, Sans, and Flowey. Flowey has the ability to break the fourth wall and remember previous routes due to his backstory. Sans, however, is surprising due to his innocuous role. Learning more about him and his past, working with Professors Alphys and W.D Gaster, who himself is a mystery, it seems Sans is more than just a funny comic relief character (Undertale Wiki).

Papyrus is the younger brother of Sans, despite being nearly double his size. He is a stark contrast to Sans’ laidback attitude, as he is loud and energetic where his short brother is not. Sans gets scolded by Papyrus on his laziness frequently, but it is never done maliciously. He tells him off light-heartedly, more out of genuine concern and love. In their house there is a sock on the floor of their living room that is surrounded by sticky notes transcribing a written argument over whether or not Sans should pick it up. He also worries a lot about Papyrus’ seemingly endless kindness, as he can only see the good in people, whereas Sans reads people's real intentions. Sans cares deeply about him and even goes so far as to lie to him about the deaths of monsters if the player kills anyone in a neutral route (Undertale Wiki). When fighting Sans in the No Mercy route, his dying words are asking Papyrus if he wants anything from the local diner as he stumbles off screen.

The door to the ruins is near where Sans works at one of his many sentury jobs. Throughout the game Sans often mentions an “old lady” he talks to behind the door. They make jokes together and develop a friendship despite never seeing each other face to face. When Toriel finds the protagonist after they fell into the underground and she realises that she will not be able to keep them safe in the ruins, she makes Sans promise not to hurt them when they inevitably leave her. Towards the end of the True Pacifist routeToriel leaves the ruins and meets Sans face to face and they both seem happy about it. The both of them enjoy making jokes to one another, which makes Toriel’s ex-husband, Asgore slightly jealous because of how well they get along. Whether their relationship is romantic or platonic is up for interpretation by the player, however the general view is that they flirt jokingly but are just friends.

Throughout the game there are a few minor hints that Sans may have worked with the monster science Alphys, as well as a mysterious former scientist by the name WD Gaster. Not much is known about Gaster other than he built the Core, which provides power for the Underground, and that he died after accidentally falling into it. In the epilogue of the True pacifist route Sans briefly mentions knowing Alphys, as well as prior to entering the True Lab he calls the player and says to be careful of the dogs inside. This implies that he is aware of the monster experiments Alphys was secretly doing in the basement of her normal lab, where several dog monsters had ended up melting together to form an amalgamate for Endogeny. There are also other mentions of Gaster doing research on timelines, and he was working on a machine which looks very similar to one of the attacks Sans uses in his boss fight. Sans is aware of timelines and the player’s ability to reset and change the game, even noticing if the player has gone into the game files themselves to mess around and cheat. Flowey, Sans and Gaster are the only characters who seem to be aware of these things, though Sans and Gaster are likely the two who have had past interactions. Fans have also speculated that W.D Gaster might possibly be related to Sans and Papyrus. WD in his name stands for Wingdings, and there is one journal entry in the True lab presumably written by him because it is written in unreadable wingdings. This makes him the only other character other than the aforementioned skeleton brothers to not use the standard font as the rest of the game and be named after a font.

In the town of Snowdin where Sans lives with his brother, the residents are all very friendly. The player can walk around and talk to them all, a few mention that Sans and Papyrus did not always live there, but instead just showed up one day from nowhere and made a place for themselves. The monsters of Snowdin always speak fondly of the two skeleton brothers, especially in Grillby’s, the town diner. Sans is a regular here and all the customers know his name and speak jovially to him when he comes in. He takes the player in for a meal at one point, and when leaving he tells Grillby to put the meal on his tab. It is suspected by many that he has never paid off said tab.

Alternate Universes

Another part of Undertale that made it so different to other fandoms was the countless Alternate Universes, or AUs for short. AUs are usually fan-made re-imaginings of a certain source, whether that be a TV show, movie, or in this case, a game. Some media have canonical AUs in it, Marvel is a great example of this. Undertale’s Aus were all fan-made however. Fans would change the personalities of characters and redesign them and place them in something similar but slightly different to the main story. Some AUs built off of each other or were mash-ups of two entirely different AUs by separate creators. This is where things get really convoluted and hard to follow. Sans was a big fixture in any given AU as he was a fan favourite. Many AUs created by people did not even have redesigns for the whole cast, and some were just Sans with a different outfit and storyline. This is why Undertale fans, and specifically the fans of Sans, were so unique.

There were many AUs created, too many to name in a short paper. However there were two that quickly became the most popular: Underfell, and Underswap (Fanon AU Wiki.). These two have the most content and in depth character lore out of all AUs, as they were also among the first to be created. Being such popular creations, these in turn inspired fans to create more, and have each AU connect in some way, usually through Sans.

Underfell is essentially a reimagined version of Undertale, but instead of most of the monsters being nice, they are actively cruel to not only humans but other monsters as well. All the characters take on a similar mindset to Flowey in the original game: that you either “Kill, or be killed” (Sans/Underfell). Underfell Flowey is the opposite and takes on a friendly protective roll to Frisk. The two of them try and befriend the murderous monsters as they travel through the Underground. The AU is a darker version of Undertale, with most of the characters taking on more reds and blacks into their design. In Underfell Frisk is still the protagonist, and they travel the Underground much like the original. In this AU, Frisk is accompanied by Flowey, who is significantly more wary and meak, and together they traverse the Underground trying to make it out alive. Underfell Frisk, in most interpretations of the AU, tries to “reform” the evil monsters along their travels. This is similar to Undertale but with the added difficulty of the whole monster race being genuinely bloodthirsty and cruel rather than just misunderstood.

Underfell Sans, sometimes known as just Fell(or Red, or Cherry) to fans, is very different from his original character (Sans/Underfell). For starters he lacks the love for humour and puns. He does not greet Frisk and actively shows hatred for the child in the beginning. Fell Sans believes in the kill or be killed motto in most interpretations of the AU. He also is significantly more depressed, but shows it more in the form of aggression and mean comments rather than jokes. His relationship with his brother is very different, Papyrus calls him weak and physically abuses Fell Sans believing that he is lazy and would die without his reluctant protection. Fell Sans also suffers from insomnia and is often depicted with an apathetic expression with deep bags under his eyes(which does not make much sense because he is a skeleton, but most just suspend disbelief). He is capable of caring, but it is a sign of weakness in his universe so it is mostly reserved. Many depictions of Fell have him speaking with a lot of profanity, which has led to a few humorous interactions with other Sans AU characters who try to censor him as he speaks.

Fell Sans does not share Undertale Sans’ love for ketchup, it is actually listed as one of the condiments he hates the most (Sans/Underfell). Instead he is often drawn drinking mustard, or less commonly relish or mayo. He also does not use puns like his original counterpart, and prefers practical jokes or mean sarcasm. A fan comic of Underfell showed his brother adopting a cat, to which the both of them discovered Red’s allergy to them. This was later established as canon by the author.

Sans is considered lazy in Underfell to the other characters, much like Undertale, however it is brought up with malice rather than playful teasing. Fell Sans still lives with Papyrus in this AU despite the two of them having a significantly more strain relationship than in the original. Underfell Papyrus is both verbally and physically abusive to Sans, and in some fanart depictions have shown him going so far as to keep the shorter skeleton on a leash. Sans’ canon fragility is common throughout the AUs and Underfell is no different. This leads many of the monsters to try and kill him for fun. While it seems like they dislike each other, Fell Papyrus will usually stop these fights from happening in order to keep his brother alive, however he states that he only keeps him around for convenience. When out in public Fell Papyrus demands that Sans call him “boss”, and will hit him if he does not. There are very few times that Fell Papyrus seems to actually care for his brother, though in private and when around Underfell Frisk, he is less mean to Sans. Fell Sans sometimes slips up and calls Papyrus “bro” out of habit, which is what usually gets him hit, but Papyrus seems to care less when the two of them are not around other monsters.

At first Sans hated Frisk, but because he is a weak monster he never fought them. In some art people show Frisk befriending him before the Judgement hall, however the original creator said Sans only promised not to hurt them after their encounter in the hall. Most fans accepted the non-canon interpretation that they became friends early on after Frisk befriends Papyrus, rather than the actual story of the AU . The three of them are often drawn goofing off much like in the original, Underfell Papyrus even makes the three of them spaghetti, which may or may not be edible.

Underswap is the second most popular AU of Undertale. It is a very in depth AU, where most of the characters' roles and personalities have been swapped. This concept leaves room for many possible versions, for this paper I will be speaking about the most common Underswap made by Popcornpr1nce (Sans/Underswap). In this version all of the major characters have been swapped with a counterpart they seem to have the most contrasting parallels to eg: Sans and Papyrus, Frisk and Chara, Toriel and Asgore, etc. The swapped characters keep the colour schemes that they have in the original for the most part, only switching their styles of clothing slightly. The “routes” in Underswap are generally the same as in Undertale. There is not an official fan-made game for Underswap but there is a group called Team Switched in the process of making one based off of Popcornpr1nce’s version (Sans/Underswap).

Underswap Sans’ personality was switched with Papyrus, from the original game. For the most part he is the same: loud, playful, and kind to the protagonist. Swap Sans keeps the same laugh as well, albeit slightly altered so instead of “Nyeh heh heh” it is “Mweh heh heh” (Sans/Underswap). He is ambitious and is trying to capture a human to become a part of the royal guard, just as Undertale Papyrus was. It is also a known fact that Underswap Sans is slightly self conscious of his height, which remained small like his original counterpart. Due to this, Underswap Papyrus slouches down significantly to make Sans feel less small, but this also ties into his laziness which Sans scolds him for. When he first meets the protagonist he challenges them to a battle but will refuse to kill them if they take too much damage and lets them go free.

The relationships between Underswap characters remain essentially the same as the original game, albeit with switched rolls. Underswap Sans loves his brother but frequently scolds him for being lazy or apathetic. He is training with Alphys, who in this AU is head of the royal guard. However she mainly goes along with him to be nice, knowing that he would be too kind hearted to actually be a part of the guard. He is sweet and usually shown as very innocent, leading many people to give him the affectionate nickname “blueberry” (Sans/Underswap). Underswap is also often mentioned to be a “glitch” by various other fan-characters who exist outside of the universes. One such character is Error Sans, who has tried to destroy Underswap multiple times because of this.

Other AUs

Outertale is an Undertale AU that follows the main storyline of the game, with the exception that it has a space-like setting. The colour palette of the game changes to be mostly dark blues and gold or yellow, with star motifs. Frisk of Outertale is sometimes drawn in a spacesuit, usually though they are depicted wearing a blue sweater with overalls and gold buttons.

Aftertale is an AU that was made from a long running comic under the same name. Unlike other AUs that were mainly just redesigns with some short comics and drawings, Aftertale was quite long. It follows the No Mercy run of Undertale, while providing more fan-created context and additional appearances of the character Chara, who appears at the end of the No Mercy route of the normal game. In this AU, while Sans fights Chara, who has taken control of Frisk’s body, he injects himself with determination. This allows him to have access to the SAVE screen which comes into play more so in the game as a way to break the fourth wall, with various characters mentioning the player’s resets and such. The Sans in this AU has been nicknamed Geno, due to the fact it follows the story of the No Mercy, or Genocide route.

Inktale is a Sans-centric AU, in which the original creator only made content about him. It was a short comic that was only a few chapters long, however the artist made an extensive FAQ about Ink Sans for people to reference from when making fan-works of it. In Inktale it begins with several of the main Undertale cast shown as half finished drawings. In later pages Ink Sans rips apart his half drawn soul and escapes the blank canvas into the void. In the void he finds he has no emotions or memories, but has the ability to capture colours that occasionally appear and grant him temporary emotions. He canonically exists outside the multiverse and in many instances is drawn appearing in other AUs by different creators.

Error Sans is another character who exists outside of the multiverse. He is a part of another Sans-centric AU which originated from an ask-blog on Tumblr, rather than a comic like many of the others. His narrative was fleshed up and created in reaction to submissions to the blog by fans. Error Sans is also created by the same artist who made Aftertale

Echotale is not completely Sans-centric, but he is one of only two main characters. The start of the comic has several other characters as it leads up to the main part of the story. It begins with Frisk being taken in by Professor Gaster, Alphys and Sans who are all working on a determination extraction machine in the lab. After an accident with the machine, the entire underground goes into disarray. It caused all the lands to mix and shift, the world itself losing a constant, static form. It also caused Sans and Gaster to merge together to become a singular but entirely different person, Frisk calls in Gsans, or just G. Frisk changes as well, they grow up significantly but still have knowledge and memories they had when they were still a child. Throughout the comic the two of them travel around the mixed up world in hopes to try and fix it.

Underlust is set in a strange version of the underground where all the monsters had suddenly been affected by a widespread infertility. The Royal scientist, Gaster, created what he believed was a cure and injected every monster that had passed a certain age with a LUST chemical. This AU is a hypersexualized version of Undertale and all the monsters, except Mettaton who instead deals with trauma and is seemingly the only monster the chemical did not affect. In this AU it goes into more detail about the relationship between Sans and Grilby. Underlust Sans is aware of the multiverse and it often burdens him so he confides in his friend, who is later revealed as a love interest.

Horrortale is, as the name suggests, Undertale if it were a horror game. The monsters in this world have been driven crazy by starvation and not only kill, but eat any human that falls down. It follows a character named Aliza, rather than Frisk, as it is set many years after Frisk fell into the underground. Sans has a more menacing presence in Horrortale than the original game, even including his boss fight. He has a large head wound from an attempted murder, but after nearly killing his attacker in response, he is left alone.

Reapertale is an AU that started from the simple concept of a ship between Sans and Toriel if they were the god of death and the goddess of life. The artist then created more lore and comics that were posted out of sequence as they did not care much to make a clear story for it. Reapertale Sans is a grim reaper and very nonchalant about his job, which is reminiscent of the original. He occasionally appeared in other AUs, and is the most popular character from Reapertale.

Shipping

With any popular media comes shipping. It is the inevitable factor that has caused many disputes and in-fighting among fans. Shipping comes from the word relationship, when someone who likes two or more characters in a series and thinks they would be cute together, they ship them. Fans may draw the characters together or write fanfiction about them. The shipping that happened to Sans is quite unique. There were of course many normal ships involving him and other Undertale characters, but some ships were more disturbing like him being with a young child, or even his own brother. It was the AUs in the end that added the final layer of strangeness to this simple skeleton man. Much like the previously mentioned Onceler, there were countless AUs of Sans, which opened just as many shipping possibilities. It got to the point that it even garnered its own term: Sanscest.

There are too many different ships of Sans with different versions of himself to name here. Most notable ships from the AUs mentioned above would include: Geno and Reaper Sans, Error and Ink Sans, Red and Blueberry, Red and regular Sans, or Blueberry, Red and regular Sans all together. Some fans even took it a step further to create children of the Sanses. These fan-made offspring sparked mixed feelings, even in the side of the Undertale fandom that really liked Sans as a character, AUs and all. It was mainly the bizarre nature of having a character being “born” from to alternate versions of the same character. The rabbithole goes even deeper, as an even smaller group of people sometimes shipped different Sans’ with the children of other Sanses. The most well-known example of this was with a Sans child named Paperjam (Undertale Au Offspring Wiki). Paperjam is the child of Ink and Error Sans, who was created by magic because skeletons cannot give birth. They were created by stray strings of magic from Error combined with leftover ink from Ink Sans, and over the course of a few years he became alive. For some unknown reason, quite a few people began drawing Paperjam in romantic art with Fresh Sans. This ship was highly controversial and in my opinion, rightly so. As Fresh Sans is technically Paperjam’s father in a way, and, if they are not considered related, the age gap is concerningly large. Shipping is inevitable with any media that has fans, so in the end most people ust accepted the peculiarity and let it be.

As well as comics that created AUs, there were also a few very popular and notable fan made creations that were not technically full AUs. Some of these may have been theories about the original game, or a spinoff of another AU, or just a bunch of Sanses interacting with each other.

Christmas Party AU was one such Sans-based comic. It was created by the same artist who drew Aftertale, loverofpiggies. It was a very popular comic that got a comic dub of it posted on youtube that currently has more than 11 million views. The comic is set in the void outside of the universes where Geno Sans lives. Geno gathers a bunch of the other Sans’ and a few Papyrus’ from the AUs to come and have a christmas party with him, the AUs being: Undertale, Underfell, Underswap, Reapertale, as well as ErrorSans, FreshSans, and Gaster who makes brief appearances throughout. Hijinks ensue, but unfortunately the comic was left unfinished in 2017.

Handplates is a long running comic written by zarla on Tumblr. It is technically an AU, but it follows the main concept of Undertale, mostly being set before all the main events of the game. It follows the theory that Gaster, the former scientist that worked in the underground, is related to Sans and Papyrus. It follows their story being lab creations of Gaster, as he raises them and then what happens after Sans pushes Gaster into the core, thus erasing him from existence and everyone's memories.

Overgrowth was a fanfiction written about an AU called Flowerfell, which is a spinoff based on Underfell. It followed the same story, with the exception that Frisk had a fictional disease called hanahaki. Hanahaki causes flowers to grow out of peoples lungs and body, which will eventually claim their life. In Flowerfell, flowers would grow out of Frisk everytime they died in a fight, and because of its setting in Underfell, it happened frequently. Overgrowth was incredibly popular on the website it was originally posted on, so much so that it led to many people reposting it elsewhere and claiming it as their own. Due to the theft the original fanfiction was taken down by the author. As of now the original story is permanently removed, however there is a three part reading of it on youtube that the author gave an ok to, as well as the whole story being readable on his patreon for only a dollar.

Paperjams daycare was a highly controversial creation. It was an askblog on Tumblr, where Paperjam, as well as other offspring of various Sanses, took care of the baby versions of Sans. Every page was a response to submissions people would send, saying things to the characters, prompting actions, etc. The concept was very strange, as it was the children taking care of their own parents who were babies for no explained reason. However at the time of 2016-2017 it was wildly popular. Since then the creator has been called out on the weirdness of the comic, as well as some pedophilic themes that cropped up in some chapters. Its popularity died in the past but it was too much of an iconic comic not to mention.

Undertale was such a unique game with so many interesting characters that it is unsurprising the amount of fan-created content it generated. Sans was a part of what made the game memorable, even though his fans were a little strange they were creative as well. The game was able to bring out motivation in so many people to look deeper and explore theories and create their own art. While it had its weirdness, nothing else can truly compare to the rare kind of community it built.

#ignore the citations i needed them for mla formatting #this.. ive spent way too long writing #hope yall enjoy #if some of the info is wrong shut up i was mostly just referencing my middle school self instead of researching #undertale #underfell #underswap #sans #im so tired wtf #utdr #sans au #undertale au

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celamoon · 3 years

Text

Warnings: None, fluff <3, Oh and uh mild swearing

Pronouns: They/Them

Summary: Y/n wakes Kusuo up at the unholy hour of 4am to test out a new invention they made

‘What the hell are those?’ Saiki jumps back from two things. One, you had just popped up at his house unannounced, two, you just shoved a box at him.

“Contacts. They’re contacts Kusuo-kun,” You deadpan. “Doesn’t wearing glasses get annoying?”

‘No,’ Saiki groans. ‘Not at all,’

Saiki feels a migraine popping up.

You’re a scientist. One that actually rivals Kuusuke both academically and inventions wise. You’re younger than Kuusuke and he stole your blueprint of telepathy cancellers when you were young. You still hate him for that one.

You create all sorts of random gimmicks. Other than the fact that you’re able to cancel out his thoughts, you’re also always inventing new items. Last time you brought him something it almost blew his house up. Thank god for his psychic powers. Another time you brought him a bunch of small gadgets that imitate his psychic powers. Then another time you had brought in different cancellers that completely blocked out his powers (you didn’t let him keep them). AND THEN this other time you brought some weird hairlip thing to test if you could block out his telepathy. It didn’t work but you could block out him from your thoughts. You’ve been wearing it ever since.

You had transferred in at an unsightly time of the year, coming into the classroom with a literal boom. You created some explosion effect after entering the classroom without breaking anything, and that by itself was enough to impress the class. Your reason for transferring schools was even more preposterous.

“So L/n-san, why did you transfer here?”

“Oh one of the people who stole my design’s brother goes here and is in this class. I wanted to get back at him by being his brother’s favourite instead. Oh and his brother is lowkey kind of cute” which was followed by a wink in Saiki’s direction.

You didn’t stop bothering him, not even when he tried to teleport away, not even when he tried to make excuses. You were impenetrable, you were an iron wall that would not let Saiki out. He hated that about you, but the fact that you both hated Kuusuke gave you both common ground, and he eventually accepted the fact that you were stuck with him.

But oh god, you bursting into his room at unholy hours during the day was not something he signed up for when he started being friends with you. You burst into his place whenever you like, and his mom loves you. Loves you. You even have the keys to his house! He doesn’t even know how someone as kind as her could love someone as chaotic as you but he supposed it had something to do with him not bringing friends home.

Thus, explains why you were in his room at 4am in the morning, holding up contacts to him. You didn’t call him, you didn’t let him know in advance, you had simply shook him awake first thing when you got in. It had taken all of Kusuo’s willpower to not have just punched you across the room when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Come on Kusuo-kun! I literally made these just for you…”

‘No,’

“Please!” You clasp your hands together.

Saiki glares at you and holds a hand out to lift you up.

“Kusuo-kun please!”

Saiki drops you onto the floor with a thud, and you barely keep the contacts from breaking. You glare at him and huff. Saiki throws a shard of glass your way and dodge.

“Can you at least try them?! They’re shaped just for your eye!” You wince as you duck from another piece flying by. Saiki pauses in his throwing before he walks over to you.

‘How’d you even get them to my eye shape?’ Saiki raises the brow and grabs the case from your hands as you grin.

“Well…” You grin. “Remember those glasses I put on your face when yours broke?”

Saiki stares at you in disbelief.

“It scanned your eye shape and then I used that to make these contacts,” You grin.

‘Your glasses are that high tech?’

“Yep!” You grin. “Try them on for me! They’re made of the same material night contacts are made of! Except embedded with other things and all…”

Saiki shakes his head as he take off his glasses to put his first lens in. He blinks to get used to the feeling, and then he puts the second lens on. He blinks a couple times to let the lens settle down and then closes his eyes. His hands cover his eyes in case something goes wrong.

“Come on Kusuo-kun! Let me see if I’ll turn into stone!” You pry at his hands and he sighs.

Saiki opens one of his eyes to stare at you, and he’s surprised to find that you didn’t turn into stone at one look. He blinks a couple more times before he stares at you. You weren’t just skin and bones, holy shit.

‘My x-ray vision.’ Saiki grabs you by the shoulders and you grin.

“It’s gone right? Now you can stare at Teruhashi like all the other guys do!” You hold up a victory sign as Saiki lets go of you.

‘This feels very different on my eyes but I can see so well it feels delusional,’ Saiki looks around his room.

“Are they uncomfortable in any way?”

‘Nope,’ Saiki hums to himself. ‘…thanks,”

You grin. “NO PROBLEM KUSUO-CHAN~” You tackle him into a hug and he lands onto the floor with a thud.

Saiki glares at you. ‘Don’t kill me,’

“Bold words coming from someone whose x-ray issue was just solved by a person younger than them” You grin. Saiki peels himself away from you and grumbles.

‘Good grief, thank you Y/n,’

“No problem Kuu-chan!”

#saiki x reader #saiki k x reader #the disastrous life of saiki k #kusuo x reader #saiki k #saiki kusuo #kusuo saiki #I typed this while I was watching my friend play re7 to escape the jumpscares #literally completely unrelated to the prompt but I was cackling

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gildedmuse · 3 years

Text

Happy Birthday Zoro!

So, looking through my inbox, there are a few more prompts im there than expected. Also, half of our staff went and got called off to train with this new software where switching over so on top of regular holiday business, I was covering for like two additional people the last few days. I figure I could probably get to some of the prompts this weekend, but I wanted to post something for Zoro's birthday, and, well.... I did give me word. We all know how Zoro would feel about me going back on that.

So I collected them up, into one post so I could at least wrote a little on each. Some of these might probably definitely get longer versions later, but for now, I've just put down whatever comes to mind for the moment.

Oh, and I didn't spare you the cheesy titles either.

[This was the plan and then I started to go way too long, so I'm breaking even this shorter post up....]

Losing The Plot (Like He Loses His Way)

Prompt: Law is annoyed at Zoro in Wano for breaking character from his mental storytelling.

"Franosuke, though there are not ships in Wano, there is still plenty of need for men of your skills! You shall take the role of a carpenter, working alongside the man that Kaido used to construct his hideaway. With your level of skill, physical strength, and incredible knowledge you will quickly gain a reputation and his respect as a fellow tradesman. You must get him to reveal to you the location of the blueprints that will help us navigate Onigashima!"

"That sounds like a SUPER plan! Don't worry, samurai brothers! You'll have those blue prints! Just leave it to the amazing carpentry skills of me - Franosuke!"

"O-Robi, we will need to have someone close to the shogun. You will go to the Flower Capital and seek out this woman. She is one of the finest okiya in all of Wano! With her training you will soon be invited back to the palace, where you will serve as our main source of information on the shogun."

"I will certainly do my best, Kin-san. I shall be your many eyes and ears within the palace of your enemy."

"Wow! You guys both fit your roles so perfectly! Does Wano have many jobs for the greatest snipper in all of history!?"

"Wow, Usopp! You're really excited to help them take on this yonko and his army!"

"....Army?"

"Hehe, perhaps our samurai friends will not be needed, of Usopp has already taken down all the powerful beast pirates."

"Err.... Yep! I sure will! Stand back, you four, you have nothing to worry about with God Usopp here, the bravest warrior of the sea! Unless, maybe, it would be more helpful if I stayed here and helped the Heart Pirates with the ship..."

"Usohachi, while it is not the role of a great warrior that your reputation deserves, I believe you will be most efficient in helping to spread word of our plan without drawing the enemies attention. You shall be on the streets, among the people, where you can help spread our message and listen to the citizens of Wano, who make speak without fear around a frog oil salesman."

"Hmm? A merchant asking Frog Oil. What's it do?"

"Oh, all kinds of amazing things, I've heard it said you can cure disease, release a person from a curse, pour it into soil to increase your crop yield ten times-"

"Oh! Ha! Yes, I - Usohachi - shall sell the people only the finest and most powerful of frog oils! A miracle cure for any ailment you may face!"

"Ah, so you have heard of it! Excellent, Usohachi, we will leave the recruitment of our allies in your capable hands! Now, as for you, Zorojuro, you shall take the roll of-"

"A Ronin."

Everyone in the room finally goes quiet, turning to stare at Law. He has spent up until now standing silent towards the back of the room - some abandoned farm house they had found on their quick scouting of the Wano coast and nearby area. Law has been listening to Kin'emon laying out his plan, poofing pebbled and sticks into disguises for each of the Strawhats one after another. The plan had been satisfactory, though the Strawhats' cheerfulness and upbeat nature is hardly appropriate considering the gravity of the situation. Still, Law had allowed the Samurai appointing names and jobs to each of his allies, allowing Kin'emon the freedom and respect to explain his own plan.

So far, he feels the man has chosen well. He is lucky to have three of the more competent of the crew here, especially when it comes to things like subterfuge, secrecy, and blending in. He had worried that the samurai's fondness for the crew would make him blind to many of their weaknesses.

Which is why he had stepped in when he had.

Zoro cocks his head, giving Law a strangely intense stare. Only it isn't really, it's just everything about Zoro can be intense, especially when Law has it directed directly at him. "Mmm?"

"Perhaps," Robin intervenes, looking back at Kin'emon who looks thrown by Law's sudden need to interject. "We should allow Kin-san to lead. After all, he has clearly given his plan a lot of thought and has crafted out roles out so expertly."

"Err.. Oh, O-Robi, such kind words..." The Samurai smiles and blushes, hand rubbing the back of his neck as he soaks in Robin's praise. Las just stays where he is, leaning against the back wall, but he rolls his eyes at the display. It takes Kin'emon a moment to get back to himself, coughing onto his hand as he returns to his former, more serious self. "Yes, well, Lawdono had not been that far off on our own plans! I believe the best place for a man of Zorojuro's strength, honor and intelligence is in the very halls of the shogun himself, among his warriors." Law's looks down at the floor, brow furrowed in understandable frusteration. This cannot really be their plan!? "Zorojuro will pledge loyalty to the Shogun and from within will be able to take note on the location and number of weapons stores, estimations on troop size, and possibly even secretly manage to obtain access to their facilities!" Kin'emon ends his speech on a note of pride, no doubt turning to the room and waiting for their continued praise.

After a moment of heavy hanging silence, Law looks back up to look around the room. He blinks as if uncertain of his own eyes. He can't believe what he's seeing.

The other three Strawhats are exchanging glances with one another, clearly not in support of the plan. To Law's surprise they are.... They might be sensible about this.

"Well..." Kin'emon prompts, when he realizes no reactions will be forthcoming.

Zoro opens his mouth to answer.

"As amazing as Zoro would be in such a role!" Usopp jumps in, and literally jumps in front of Zoro, smiling brightly at a very confused looking Kin'emon. "Pleading his loyalty to a stranger, sneaking around their back, acting as a spy.... It - it's almost too good!"

Kin'emon tilts his head, hand on his chin as he considers Usopp's words. "TOO good?"

Usopp gives an exaggerated nod. "Of course it's perfect for him, but it's so perfect he may stand out! This, err, crafty, elusive samurai showing up out of nowhere and ingratiating himself so perfect with the rest of the samurai and other warriors."

"It's true!" Franky jumps in, stomping a foot on the floor and snapping one of his giant mech fingers. "No one would be better for this job as our bro! But imagine how much a skilled swordsman like Zoro will stand out just by being so good at not standing out!"

"Sending in someone to take notes on the number and position of such tactical sites is an incredible plan. I know Zoro would be happy to help collect and record such information, though perhaps he should start in the role Torao suggested. It will seem more natural for him to join the Shogun after being master-less for a while first, wouldn't it?"

"Huh, well, I suppose that's true... Zorojuro? What do you say?"

Zoro simply shrugs. "Sure, let's go with Torao's plan."

Law's heart jumps in his chest. He finds his mouth suddenly dry. Such simple, careless words but to Law they ring across the empty barn.

When he catches Robin glances back at him, he has to shake whatever look is on his face away, putting up a mask of indifference and grumpiness once more. He is simply satisfied that they have seen the intelligence of Law's suggestion, that's all.

Still, with all the pieces in their place and Zoro set to wander the city as a samurai without a master, a swordsmen without a captain, Law can't help but think that maybe Wano won't be a complete diaster. After all, Zoro-ya is finally listening to him.

....

—💚—

I Am Where I Am

Prompt: For Zoro's birthday. We all know he gets lost. Does he get lost in time as well? Oh the potential of who he would meet. And who would lust… err.. meet him in return.

Any attempt at writing this one out would just get me lost in it, I'd be going on forever. But I can tell you where it is I would go...

Obviously, he goes back to meet the future king of the pirates, otherwise known as Gol D Rogers. Who I'm sure would be excited to have a good clash with Zoro and then a good fuck. Rayleigh would be there, shaking his head at his captain's childish joy over battling with someone who has such a unique style, smirking over Rogers's drunken attempts say flirting with the boy after. Buggy is suspicious of this guy, and Shanks keeps whispering about how strange he acts, but also can't help but liking Zoro by the end.

Doflamingo is nowhere near as subtle as a totally none subtle Rogers was about how much he'd really like this pretty young thing to get on his knees and part those sweet pink lips of hiss. It's Corazon's plan to just disappear, but this green haired stranger shows up a few days before he puts his plan into action and saved Law from a mob that had caught a glimpse of his white patches of skin. Zoro doesn't care about that stuff at all (he didn't even know he was saving Law). And Corazon sees how his brother is being, and for some reason since he saved Law, Zoro seems determined to stick around. In case. So Corazon ends up offering to take Zoro along with him and Law, and Zoro goes along because, sure, it seems like they could use the protection (and even though Law is short and annoying, he is still their ally) Corazon and Zoro get along better than you'd imagine, and Law constantly feels the strongest, unexplainable need to shove himself between the two. Because he doesn't trust this guy. No other reason.

The FIRST time he meets Hawkeyes, he is 19 and, like Zoro at that age, is still in his challenge every swordsman you came across stage. It actually gets under his skin when Zoro refuses to accept the challenge because, "there's no point, defeating you when I know you're nowhere near your best yet." Zoro has never seen Hawkeyes so... Openly emotional, even if that emotion is huffiness over being treated like a child. There is a 15 year old Shanks there, too, Zoro doesn't know why but he seems to hover around Hawkeyes in a way Hawkeyes keeps calling annoying but never actually stops him from doing. Shanks seems to state at Zoro more than Hawkeyes approves of, too.

Crocodile has just arrived in Alabaster, and he could certainly use someone as.... Skilled with a sword as Zoro by his side. Zoro tells him he still isn't interested in his offer and Crocodile seems both upset and confused, not a good mix on someone who is use to getting what he wants. And with Zoro I'm the middle of the desert, too. Maybe he should rethink Crocodile's offer (Zoro is sure he can take the warlord, bit he has to admit he's a bit surprised when the sand starts to rip at his clothes, to run across his skin like fingers, to almost stroke him.) He is just about to get serious when suddenly half the desert freezes. A young Aokiji walks by, casually reminding Crocodile that he should be careful how he behaves in public now that he's a shichibukai.... Keep such stuff in the shadows. In the shadows, Zoro is sure he sees a small eye and ear disappear into a wall. Aokiji waves them goodbye, he has someone to find.

It's nice to spend time with Ace, actually getting to know the brother Luffy lost. He didn't realize how handsy the other boy could be though, but maybe it's just because they're stuck on such a small boat together. Anyway, as it turns out, Zoro doesn't mind some causal sex every now and then.

A helpful thing to learn right before meeting Hawkeyes for a second time. He is 29 and waiting at the dock of some small little eastern Island. He seems to remember Zoro instantly, though he eyes him in suspicion, asking if Zoro is ready to give him his match yet. Zoro says no. Both turn at the sound of a drunken Shanks and company singing a familiar pirate shanty. Singing along with them is a five year old Luffy, perched on Shank's shoulders. Shanks waves at Zoro like an old friend. Luffy asks about his three swords and Shanks comments that three is always better than one before sending Luffy off. Shanks comments that it's a good thing he knows from past experiences that Zoro will not go to bed with drunken pirate captains so he won't waste his time. Mihawk eyes Zoro even more suspiciously. Zoro seems confused, having not realized that Rogers was hitting on him, but even he can't ignore it when Shanks drapes himself around Mihawk, unbothered by them still standing out on the docks where anyone can see. Mihawk keeps staring at Zoro, too, even with Shanks kissing and touching him.... It makes Zoro's cheeks go red. Why is Hawkeyes staring so much. Probably because Zoro is so cute, Shanks points out. He should really come along with them, at least for the night. Three is better than one, after all.

Finally, Zoro ends up where he should be, just not yet. It's so strange having Luffy be older than him, and not just by a few years. He's got to be, what, like 23... 25 maybe? ("Shishishi, baka!" Brilliant smile "I turned 30 just.... Umm...." making the same face as he does when Zoro knows him, when he has to think hard "Oh, three years ago! That's right!") Then there is 39/40 year old Law and.... Wow. So much wow. Even if Torao is far too smug at Zoro's reaction. (Zoro really should have picked up on the pattern, being attracted to a younger Rayleigh just as much as the older version when he thinks of it, and then there had been the fact that teenage Mihawk may have been less serious and boring, but Zoro couldn't help but think that he sure is smaller and younger looking than Zoro would have thought. Not that he wants to sleep with his version of Hawkeye, but he does remember drunkenly thinking that it would be more fun if this young Hawkeye had the build more like he does in the future, and also If he changed his facial hair, and if his eyes were a bit sharper..... Just if he looked a bit more like when he's older...) Zoro doesn't really think about it though. But he can't help but notice that Torao looks REALLY good in the future.

(It's also easy for Law to be smug. After all, he is well aware of how attractive Zoro-ya finds him.... Or at least, he knew how attractive Zoro-ya would find him in a few years.) Zoro isn't really sure how to react to seeing himself. They both just sort of nod to each other. Then Zoro goes back to staring at Torao. Older Zoro just shrugging, waving to Law as he turns and heads off. He's fine with having some free time to train, maybe grab a drink. Be careful with him, Torao, he was still so breakable back then. ("What? Tch, what do you know old man!") Now, now, please both Zoro-yas, no fighting. There are far better things they could be doing. Isn't three better than one after all?

—💚—

Three Gift Style

Prompt: Law, Luffy, Kid secretly bought the perfect present for Zoro. Somehow, they realise that they bought the same thing. And here they are, fighting for who will give it to Zoro first.

This idea is just so adorable, my only issue is I'm not even sure how to write Kid/Zoro? I mean.... Does Killer not exist in this universe? Is that how that works? No, that can't be it because, honestly, it feels like even if you did go Kid/Zoro, it would have been Killer who actually suggested the perfect gift.

Kind of like I feel like Luffy would have spent a week thinking about it, asking the crew in a way that he thinks is very subtle and doesn't give him away but totally does.

Law has a damn file on Zoro-ya. He's been studying him, taking his time, planning this out. (All perfectly normal, it's the kind of thing he would obviously have on a guy he has a huge crush on an ally.)

Also Law has a clear advantage. Let the idiots fight, he can just shamble Zoro over. Though, he spends too much time being serious and not direct and before he can actually give Zoro his gift - because of course he's built it up, waiting for the perfect moment - that damn menace of a captain comes slingshoting through the air, clotheslining Zoro at the waist and flying off into the distance.

Which only results on Zoro being irritated (for about three seconds, so like forever in terms of Zoro being irritated at Luffy) and Luffy snickers, all amused at Zoro pretending to be so grumpy. Then he gets kind of blushy because he's still wrapped around Zoro - oh! But he doesn't have time because he has something for Zoro! .... Wait, where is it? Damn, he must have left it on the ship. Hey, Zoro, stay here for a minute okay? Don't run off and get lost on him, shishishi!

Zoro: I don't get los- *Luffy already gone*

Zoro: *sigh* What is Luffy up to anyway? I guess I best stay here in case it's something stupid and - Hey!

And Kid uses his powers to attract Zoro's swords, so of course Zoro is going to go running after them. Hey, whatever invisible asshole took his swords, he's gonna kick your ass! Give them back, you see through bastard!

Unlike those last two idiots, Kid isn't going to waste time. He got Zoro there, he's just going to throw the gift at him and act like it is no big deal, just the first thing he found and he heard Zoro's birthday might be coming up or whatever.

Only of course he throws it and it disappears. "Hey! What was that for!?" And Zoro is lightly pelted by pebbles.

Like Law was going to let Kid give Zoro-ya his gift first he Shambles down in front of Kid... Only to hear the incoming scream of Luffy as he comes shooting in. How dare they go and move Zoro from where Luffy left him!

Zoro just shrugging and leaving the three to argue and fight. It doesn't involve him.

.... Hawkeye? What are you doing here?

Mihawk: I happen to be passing by with a gift for my little rabbit.

Man, it's pretty amazing how three immature, competitive jostling-for-position personalities can so quickly turn around and form an alliance when there is a common enemy to defeat.

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nenithil · 3 years

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smartpass:Taking shelter from the rain: Armin&Moblit

Taking shelter from the rain

Armin&Moblit

translated from Chinese

thanks @ourmondobongo a lot for revise！

The work of the Survey Corps changed dramatically after the revolution inside the wall.

In preparation for the recapture of Wall Maria, they have been mustering supplies everywhere, making weapons and operation plans. At the same time, they also do all the publicity because they are entrusted with great hope inside the wall.

Especially members of the Fourth Squad, who have a close relationship with newspapers and the chamber of commerce, are busy as bees.

"So...uh... Hanji-san sent me here..."

It was a rainy day, and Armin went to visit Hanji. After looking all around, he eventually arrived in front of a pub in the street.

"The Squad Leader is still meeting with the Reeves Chamber of Commerce, looking like a long talk. Let's take shelter from the rain first."

Hanji's adjutant wore his usual gentle, slightly troubled expression, leading Armin to a window near the entrance of the pub. Here he could watch the area around the pub where the meeting was taking place, against the intruders.

●

Seeing Moblit, who usually has been on Hanji's side to assist her, at the moment unexpectedly left his superior for the guard work, Armin is quite surprised.

"Uh... Why is the Vice-Captain here? Is it all right for you not to attend the meeting?"

“As the leader of the Garrison Corps was present, it's okay I was not there.

Now, however, the three Corps are no longer separated from each other but have begun to develop by supporting each other and performing their respective duties.

The work with the Reeves Chamber of Commerce is also the same. Although it's currently being mediated by Hanji as a personal friend, it will eventually be handled by the Garrison Corps, which has a deeper foundation in this area.”

In other words, Moblit is now in charge of…

"Handover of work... Isn't it?"

"As a survey soldier, I... can't stay with her forever."

A flicker of imperceptible emotion vanished as his eyes returned to the notebook, which was taken out by him to write something.

●

"Eh, Armin, it's ok to wait for me at the military camp. Why are you going here?"

How long did the rain last? Sometimes torrential, sometimes just drizzling, but it doesn't look like it is going to stop. Just as Armin realized that the rain may continue until dark, Hanji finally shows up.

"Yeah, for I thought it would be quicker to find you here."

"The rain is so heavy, should we call a carriage to take you back?"

"No, Fregel will arrange it for me. We can talk about it here. Would you like something to eat? There's not much to eat, but it seems that the Chamber of Commerce will treat us."

"Squad Leader you are- if you did not eat during the meeting, you did not even eat lunch, didn't you? You must care more about nutrition..."

Hanji nods with "Ahhh, yes, yes, yes" and asks the manager to prepare the meal.

Looking at the scene, "Is this the next Leader of the Survey Corps in case something happens to Commander Erwin." Armin thought.

●

As usual, what Hanji talked about was all about fighting. After discussing various facts, they conceived the plans, then combined them with operations.

"--Um, about how to deal with this rigidification, the modification of the blueprint that came to my mind yesterday... Oh, where did it go? Is it taken by Moblit?

"I remember it was put in the memo. I didn't keep the blueprint."

Yeah, that's how it's been done lately. Hanji opens her memo and pulls out the blueprint.

"(Vice-Captain... Would he...)"

Armin's intuition told him that Moblit was approaching the battle with the same awareness as himself.

"Would the required force be too much for the user?"

"That's why deployment is so important! Armin, about the streets in District Shiganshina..."

Armin answered back, stealing a glance at Moblit, whose elusive eyes were gazing out the window at the constant rain.

“(The Vice-Captain already had the awareness, if necessary, he would count himself among the sacrifice).”.

Armin's idea is no different. Compared with himself, so many lives are more valuable. If facing a choice, someone else should be chosen. He should always be determined to step forward and consider what might happen.

--Survey Corps is a group of people who understand the priority of life. Captain Levi pointed out this.

It's raining in front of Moblit's sight, and in between the raindrops is the reality that people must face. Armin brushed those thoughts aside and turned his attention to what he ought to do.

#hanji zoe #hange zoe #hans zoe #armin arlet #moblit berner #au smartpass #backup

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tullium · 3 years

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Problems with PJ's Daycare.

Going along with "Undetale Peasant"'s comic dub, I will be addressing these problems from beginning, to end.

Fresh saying he'd marry PJ when he was older; It would be so awkward being HOW MUCH older than Fresh, knowing him as a toddler would be awkward... wouldn't it? Plus, by the time they'd "marry", PJ would be in his 60's, probably. Someone gave the idea of them marrying immediately and Fresh starts demanding to do it. (OOC) People supporting the above ^. Ink is MAJOR OOC. Seriously... "Suddenly grows up to be an adult". -_- PJ LITERALLY SAYS THAT ANONS ARE ENCOURAGING IT- PEOPLE LIGET PROTECTING FRESH ABOUT HIM CRYING ABOUT NOT BEING ABLE TO MARRY NOT ONLY HIS NEPHEW BUT HIS FUCKING BABYSITTER AND AN ADULLLLLT- Fresh is also VERY OOC, as well as PJ. PJ also justifying them marrying when FRESH gets older. PJ literally saying he loved Fresh. SEXUALING TODDLER LUST. LUST WAS ALSO OOC. LUST ALSO HAD A WEIRDLY SEXUAL OUTFIT. HE'S A TODDLER. Dream and Blue OOC. Thegreatrogue shipping PJ with anons. (And Fresh getting protective.) Error wanting to marry Ink even though he, a toddler, should have no idea what marriage is about, aka love, which he, A TODDLER, would not understand yet. Once again SHIPPING TODDLERS- How the fuck does Swapfell even KNOW WHAT A SLAVE IS WHAT- Anons bullying a toddler. CROSS. CROSS IS SO OOC IT ISN'T EVEN A JOKE. PEOPLE CRUSHING ON THE TODDLERS. People wanting Error and Ink to give each other nicknames. Because they're married. AND ARE TODDLERS. Not to mention the whole "THE TALK" thing. People saying stuff about Error and Ink kissing at the wedding. "HOW DARE YOU CHEAT ON POOR FRESH" A CHILD. FRESH IS A CHILD. THEY DIDN'T CHEAT- WHAT- PJ's outfit looking wayyyy too sexual- PJ's girlfriend LITERALLY calling him a pedo (which technically, HE IS.) Rogue assuming the CQ is okay with this situation even remotely. GENO'S OOC- Shipping PJ with Rogue. Just... stop. 7goodangel literally has said that they do not accept OR support Paperfresh! PaperJam is their creation, so we should RESPECT what they have told us, AND NOT SHIP PAPERFRESH. People telling Geno his brother will die. VERY MUCH OOC GENO- Sexualizing PJ. EVEN MORE OOC CROSS. People telling PJ that HE is the one that "killed" Error. Geno becomes very unrealistic to a real toddler. Ink LITERALLY lifting Reaper up by his collar and screaming. Geno deciding he is better off dead, once again, not thoughts of a toddler. Blueprint and Gradient incest. Alter Sans being romantic with Gradient??? PEDOPHILIA PEOPLE. Rogue's OC bullying Goth, aka an adult, bullying a minor. Goth and Palette being ROUGHLY 12-13 and those two other weirdos sexualizing it. Sexualizing minors, aka Palette and Goth. Geno literally trying to kill himself. A toddler knowing about death? What the hell? Making Ink think he has to take care of Fresh. They're like a year apart. Seriously? WHY WERE THE PARENTS NOT INFORMED ABOUT GENO AND ERROR- Palette, a 12 year old, thinking he can get with an adult. People literally called them out on this, above ^, and nothing was DONE ABOUT IT- Shipping a minor, Goth, with an adult, Rogue's OC. The Cray vs. Palette x Goth, aka the love triangle. Please... THEY ARE MINORS- Shipping toddlers again- Fika sexualizing Goth and Palette- Cray getting a LIIIIIITTLE too close to Goth. Goth is clueless about this, how. Also the last part with Palette and Cray. THEY ARE MINORS-

TL;DR: PJ's Daycare sucks major ass because sexualizing minors, sexualizing toddlers, shipping toddlers, pedophilia, incest, love triangles betweens minors, completely out of character characters, and people supporting ALL OF THIS.

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fellcharas · 3 years

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my deltarune theory(ies?)

DISCLAIMER: i am not an actual theorist and i wrote this all from memory! this is taking into consideration the possibility that chara is involved in the making of deltarune (1, 2) as well as other widely believed theories (gaster being involved)

putting a read more because this shit is LONG so buckle up

start with the basics?

something i was thinking about last night is how it’s interesting that we don’t know very much about susie’s home life or her reason for being “the bully.” while there are certainly hints that point to it not being great at all, there’s nothing directly confirming what it’s like.

however something that many people have pointed out is that through the numerous odd similarities deltarune and undertale have, there is the clam girl. for those who don’t know, clam girl is a NPC that you encounter if your game’s fun value is between 80 and 89 and you’re not playing a no mercy route. she talks of her neighbor’s daughter, suzy, and tells frisk that they should become friends with her. but she notes the fact that frisk would have no idea where suzy is yet fate will find a way for them to meet.

in the true pacifist epilogue of undertale with a fun value of 81, clam girl explains that the time frisk (or we, the players) will meet suzy is “fast approaching.” this specific term is yellow in text and her sprite becomes grayscale. then she abruptly vanishes, the noise as she does so being the same noise used for the mystery man and gaster follower 2 sprites when interacting with them. interestingly, her grayscale sprite is “spr_clam_goner”, not much different than goner kid. this dialogue was also added right before the release of deltarune.

so... who is suzy? while it is possible that suzy could just be susie with a different name for undertale’s sake, it’s also possible that suzy could be susie’s sister, likely younger. catty, returning from undertale, has a little sister in deltarune named catti. there isn’t much significance that i could add that would make it likely suzy is susie’s little sister other than this, but i felt it was worth mentioning so do with it what you will.

so... what else?

after interacting with clam girl, if you do the work necessary to access sans’ basement (or “lab”), you’ll be able to find a description of a photo inside one of the drawers that points out there are “three smiling people” with the text “don’t forget” written on it. this has been pointed out several times before due to the fact “don’t forget” is the deltarune song that plays at the end of ch1 (and ch2 although remixed?). if i recall correctly there is no other way of finding this flavor text except for interacting with clam girl. interesting.

lots of people believe that the covered machine in sans’ lab is a time machine. with sans’ many connections to gaster, it’s also possible that this could be a machine gaster made and had broken. it is said to be unfixable.

gaster is confirmed to have created the core. but i don’t believe this is what he fell into. it’s never specified what he fell into, just that it was his creation. so i believe that gaster fell into the time machine. and by taking entry number 17 into account, we are met with the possibility that the time machine might involve a black hole. fortunately for you guys black holes is a special interest of mine, so i can explain this easily.

basically, the anatomy of a black hole, or the structure, consists of the following:

event horizon

singularity

photon sphere

ergosphere

the event horizon of a black hole is the shadowy dark sphere that we see in images. it is a boundary in spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. once having crossed the event horizon, the nature of spacetime begins to deform, causing space’s usual three dimensions (length, width, height) to form only one dimension (movement forward) and time’s usual one dimension (into the future) to form three dimensions (past, present, and future). spacetime is what makes up our reality. remember this. and, as predicted by einstein’s theory of general relativity, mass bends spacetime (imagine our universe as a flat plane, and the mass of our earth causes a dip in the space underneath it), so a black hole’s mass warps spacetime so strongly that any direction you try to go in once having crossed the event horizon will lead you to the singularity. (at least... for a non-rotating, non-charged black hole.)

the singularity is a gravitational singularity, a region that may lie at the center of a black hole wherein the curvature/deformation of spacetime becomes infinite. because all black holes spin (due to their last moments as stars involving very fast rotational speeds), the singularity in a rotating black hole’s mathematics smears out to form a ring singularity (ringularity) that lies in the plane of rotation. in this case (as well as the case of a non-rotating black hole), the region has zero volume. and because of all of the black hole’s mass being held in this region, the singularity can be thought of as having infinite density. within a rotating black hole it is possible to avoid the singularity, and extending this solution as far as possible reveals the hypothetical possibility of exiting the black hole into a different spacetime (region of reality) with the black hole acting as a wormhole.

the photon sphere is a spherical boundary of zero thickness in which photons (elementary, electromagnetic radiation particles, associated with light) that move on tangents (the tangent line to a plane curve at a given point is the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point) to that sphere would be trapped in a circular orbit about the black hole. while light can still escape from the photon sphere, any light that crosses the photon sphere on an inbound trajectory will be captured by the black hole.

lastly, the ergosphere is a region of spacetime found in rotating black holes in which it is impossible to stand still. basically, it’s like a whirlpool, and any object near the black hole will tend to start moving in the direction of rotation.

okay, so... what does this have to do with entry number 17?

WELL, here’s the dialogue from entry number 17. i’ll bold the key parts that i feel tie the possibility of this being a time machine to the time machine involving a black hole:

ENTRY NUMBER SEVENTEEN DARK DARKER YET DARKER THE DARKNESS KEEPS GROWING THE SHADOWS CUTTING DEEPER PHOTON READINGS NEGATIVE THIS NEXT EXPERIMENT SEEMS VERY VERY INTERESTING ... WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK

as you can probably tell by now, it’s possible that this description of growing darkness, no photons, is similar to that of what a black hole is like.

but why would gaster create a black hole as part of a time machine? well, my idea is that he didn’t mean to do so. he likely concentrated enough energy or mass that caused a black hole to accidentally form. this black hole would have been small in diameter, thus having an incredibly short lifespan, its evaporation being violent. this would have broken the machine entirely. however, for the sake of undertale being a video game, it’s understandable why sans (and possibly papyrus or alphys) would be okay and why the machine is still relatively in tact.

it’s unclear to me why gaster would want to make a time machine. because time travel in the sci-fi sense (involving the grandfather paradox) is likely impossible without breaking the fabric of our reality, this could also be explained for why it went so horribly wrong for gaster. and - fun fact - once you cross the event horizon, you are lost to the universe forever. every particle you are made of, every little bit of energy you hold within your existence, is lost to the outside universe. forever. this is called the black hole information paradox. however, realistically, those who are outside of the black hole will still remember you, but in gaster’s sense... i don’t think this is what happened.

it’s possible that gaster managed to avoid the singularity, if the black hole he crossed was rotational. however, because he couldn’t leave the black hole, he could have traveled to different points in spacetime. this is why he was shattered across time and space as his followers describe, because undertale confirms that within its world, this possible existence of a black hole allows for wormholes to exist.

but... but wait. no, no, no. we can’t think of undertale as space-time. why? because sans himself confirms that the continuum of undertale’s reality is a time-space continuum. he puts time before space, which could be intentional and thus swapping their roles. within undertale this means that time is 3-dimensional, explaining the existence of save points and the ability to reset and load. space, on the other hand, is 1-dimensional, meaning you can only ever go one way which is to the end of the game. even if you load previous save files, you’ll still end up finished.

so if gaster was shattered across time and space, it’s possible that he was also shattered beyond. it’s believed that he had some sense of awareness, that he found out he was in a game with multiple different timelines, thus starting his “experiment.” he created the blueprints for the determination extraction machine, and because it’s also widely believed that he and chara were in cahoots with each other, maybe gaster wanted to extract some of chara’s determination and make something for himself. and maybe he succeeded in some way, not by extracting chara’s but by making his own somehow. it’s unknown right now to me. (though if he acquired determination somehow, that would make sense if the mysteryman sprite was him, considering the weird markings or drippy things on his face as well as the general blob-like look.)

so this implies that deltarune’s reality is a time-space continuum as well?

yes. gaster was smart, brilliant even, but it’s likely he didn’t know much beyond the nature of his own reality. when creating deltarune he made the reality of its universe something similar to undertale’s, with 3-dimensional time and 1-dimensional space. if gaster had the determination or something more, enough to persist even as a remnant of a shattered being outside his own reality, then this makes sense as to how he’d be able to create deltarune. if he’s forgotten to everyone within the world of undertale, and (in some abstract way for the sake of kris, jevil, spamton and possibly others) known to nobody in deltarune, yet he created deltarune, he isn’t dead. he’s something else. he’s a god.

and this is why chara is in cahoots with him, even now.

see, chara has determination. they didn’t fall into the underground intentionally; they tripped (1, 2). given these facts and theories it’s likely that chara had determination, or hope, the ability to persevere and keep going no matter what. chara had a red soul like frisk’s, which is what made their essence attach to frisk’s body. that’s why they are tethered to us via name and stats and narration. and as we all know, the red soul symbolizes determination. power.

but while chara is very much their own person, they are still what their name was meant to imply: a character. chara reflects the will of the player; they are not the player theirself, they are their own person, but due to their attachment to frisk (and by extension, us) they act as a mirror for what we do in undertale. and sadly for them, gaster is much more powerful due to his circumstances. gaster is more like us than chara is.

and given deltarune’s theme of nobody’s choices mattering, nobody having any real control over what they do or say, if we take into consideration the fact that chara speaks in the no mercy route about destroying "this" world and "moving onto the next" and asking "when were [we] the one in control", then it’s clear that they have something to do with the theme of deltarune. chara has only ever wanted control, whether that be a good or bad thing is currently out if the question. they wanted control over their own life when they were alive in undertale, and now they want control over other people. anything they feel is a good thing for them to have control over, they will reach for it.

the gonermaker sequence in chapter 1 is abruptly cut off by someone who speaks VERY similarly to chara, in contrast to the person from before who we all agree is gaster (in both japanese and english, it is very chara-esque way of speaking). now, why is this called the gonermaker? my guess is because chara has been discarding all these vessels, making gaster’s experiment much more difficult to start off and get going.

all the gaster followers from undertale, including goner clam girl and goner kid, show up in deltarune. they are fully colored sprites. the only goner character who doesn’t show up in deltarune is the one WE create in chapter 1′s beginning sequence. and i think that’s because they are set up to reappear, at some point in one of deltarune’s future chapters.

so, chara has been discarding all of the vessels, all the followers, all the now-goners because they know that these people will never have control over their lives. as long as they are shallow vessels meant to worship and serve our (the players’) and gaster’s desires (to play a game and experiment, thereby affecting an entire world/universe), they have no autonomy over themselves. and this resonates with chara for a multitude of reasons we can tie back to undertale. they state that "no one can choose who they are in this world," because it’s true. no one can choose who they are. not in a world dominated by gods like us and gaster. and that’s why chara discards these vessels and characters who were probably once their own real persons, as a means of sparing them from what they lacked for theirself: control. and no matter what, even if chara didn’t interrupt, we would have still ended up as kris because again No One Can Choose Who They Are In This World. chara was making gaster’s sick joke plain and simple for us, that it applies to us in some way too.

so then... what’s the deal with spamton and jevil?

well, i think they are people who encountered gaster (this is widely believed anyway) and convinced themselves that they were significant for this knowledge that they are in a game, knowledge gaster told them of, driving them both insane and robbing them of who they were meant to be. and because nobody can choose who they are in deltarune, when they try to break free nothing changes or has a happy outcome, because it’s sadly just not possible to change your fate in deltarune.

this presumably-fact becomes clearer with spamton, though. and that’s why kris becomes so afraid, both at the end of spamton neo’s pacifist battle and his snowgrave battle. because kris can’t choose who they are, either. kris is like spamton, a puppet. a heart on a chain. they don’t have full control over who they are and trying to break free only hurts them more, as we see whenever they tear their soul out of their body and disable our input. but, maybe it’ll be different for kris, because they ARE the protagonist. but right now it feels like they’ve given up on the idea of having control over theirself. the only rebelling they do is work to open a dark fountain, thereby continuing the story of deltarune and, really, only helping us more in terms of playing the game.

and i mean, it’s also obvious that gaster holds influence over kris, too, considering the weird hidden encounters where you interact with something and see a man smiling or waving at you or giving you an egg. and this egg doesn’t change into a ball of trash like every other dark world item once you return to the light world. it stays the same. i can’t really remember the significance of eggs when it comes to gaster other than his whole existence being left as an Easter Egg but i do know that on the date with papyrus in undertale, there’s an egg on the side with the dating hub so, whether that’s there for funny points or lore is unknown, but interesting too.

i also want to say that i don’t think gaster and chara are being pitted against each other in terms of "these are 2 different types of gamers." while that would make sense simplistically, i feel like toby would be much more in depth and nuanced with it, as he usually is with his method of storytelling. because even though chara is kind of god-like, considering their death in undertale and their soul being the same as ours, leading to them being attached to us like some kind of angel (and angels have lots of significance in both undertale and deltarune), they’re still only a character and not at all on the level that gaster is.

i personally think gaster and chara are, on a more hidden level because toby isn’t being very direct at all with these two, meant to represent a different side of the "player vs character" perspective. and that’s something that undertale and deltarune have both tried to convey to us in the no mercy and snowgrave routes, but unfortunately in undertale’s case it was widely misinterpreted in both ways. i think it’s a bit more sensible to go about it this way, because gaster is not us, as in we don’t control him like we can other characters, and the symbolism of what he’s meant to represent is there.

ok, one last question: how did chara access wherever gaster’s in?

that part is still very foggy. i can’t come up with a definite reasoning, but for now i’ll take a wild guess and say that maybe chara grew tired of being a ghost with no real autonomy. maybe they decided they wanted to break free for theirself, and by doing this their essence became detached from frisk’s body (and by extension our control), thus causing them to be shattered similarly to gaster or winding up in the void gaster has. however that happened.

there’s a lot of uncanny resemblance between chara and kris, though, especially if this is the case. chara breaks free and winds up in the void with gaster, and kris realizes that breaking free for theirself may not be all that they think it’s meant to be. given spamton neo and all. aside from the fact that chara and kris look similar, have the same family (though in different universes of course), and strangely both have a sweet tooth, this is especially odd to me.

i can’t quite put it into words, but it feels like, to me at least, chara is very much present in the world of deltarune. and they share similarities with kris that are hard to ignore.

so that’s it, then.

for the most part... yes. a lot of the theories i’ve linked here and there explain things i agree with, so you can read them as you see fit. i especially recommend nochocolate’s posts on chara if you’re interested, such as the ambiguity of freedom in undertale (and, though this was never mentioned in their post, by extension now deltarune).

but. there is one character that seems to be involved in some (or a lot) of this. and that’s papyrus. the only problem is, i can’t figure out what’s going on.

at first glance papyrus is just a very charming guy. but you know, he’s actually a lot more mysterious than sans. he shares similarities to chara and flowey/asriel, and holds weird possible connections to gaster. he’s also the only major character from undertale (aside from asriel) who hasn’t made a physical appearance in deltarune. while checking sans and papyrus’ house will have you met with narration describing “a distant trousle of bones”, it’s worth noting that in chapter 2 it’s described as getting farther and farther away. so... why? is this world’s papyrus just shy, or is there a deeper reason?

again, i can’t tell what’s going on with papyrus, if there even is anything at all. but there’s a lot of weird and mysterious little oddities involving him that i don’t think are unintentional or accidental.

anyways... there. hoo boy. that’s my theory. or theories. i don’t really know. like i said, i’m not a theorist, i don’t know everything and i don’t expect any of this to be true. it’s just what makes sense to me. and it’s important that if you believe this, you also recognize that toby is the creator and he does what he thinks is best when it comes to the story of deltarune and the possible connections it has to undertale (even though toby’s said that the two have no connections, it’s not uncommon for him to be untruthful about things).

if you read all of this... thanks! let me know your thoughts!

#inkling.txt #deltarune #deltarune chapter 2 #deltarune analysis #deltarune meta #deltarune theory #undertale #undertale theory #wd gaster #chara dreemurr #w.d. gaster #chara undertale #ok to reblog

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avi17 · 3 years

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MK X Pacific Rim AU Concept

You ever get an AU idea in your head and go absolutely feral for a bit putting it all on paper? Me neither, until now! This isn’t so much a fic as just a detailed wiki-style outline, but hopefully it will still be fun to read! I had a ton of fun figuring out how to translate all these concepts and backstories into the PR world. If anyone feels like doing anything with these ideas they’re absolutely welcome, just please credit me and link back to this post if you do! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to write this into some massive longfic, but I definitely hope to do some shorts in this ‘verse. I brainstormed this with a bunch of people, and got some fun ideas from @sxvethelastdance, @bastardsunlight, and @fallen-angel-lucifer- thank you guys so much for humoring all this!

Pan Pacific Defense Corps Marshal Raiden was a legendary Mark 1 pilot dating back to when the program was first launched. Based out of the Shatterdome in Tokyo, he and his brother Fujin, in their Jaeger Thunderbolt Gale, were the first line of defense from Kaiju attacks headed westward from the breach for five grueling years. However, they met their match in Motaro, the first Category 3 Kaiju to make landfall on Hokkaido, and when Fujin was torn from their Jaeger and killed, Raiden was forced to take down the creature solo- a feat replicated only twice since. The physical and emotional toll of that day led to his retirement from active combat, but he remained in the PPDC as a commander, as well as a mentor of other pilots. When the Jaeger program was decommissioned, he was the last one to retain his faith in it, and took up leadership over the few remaining Jaegers at the Shatterdome in Hong Kong for one final stand against the Kaiju. Current Pilots:

Liu Kang and Kung Lao Jaeger: White Lotus Original base: Hong Kong

The home base heroes of the Hong Kong Shatterdome, pilots Liu Kang and Kung Lao are the top graduates and darlings of the Wu Shi Jaeger Academy. Raised together in a martial arts sect before the first breach and drift compatible since their ranger training began, they are nearly inseparable- though Kung Lao has never quite forgotten how Liu Kang's scores just barely edged out his own in their individual skill assessments, and he strives constantly to prove himself his partner's equal (despite Liu Kang's insistence that such competition is unnecessary). Their Jaeger, White Lotus, is a well-rounded, powerful machine, featuring high-powered flamethrowers, as well as a system of fuel vents that allow it to set its fists alight and heat them to brutal temperatures in close-quarters battle. For ranged combat, it utilizes a circular blade mounted to its head, which can be thrown like a boomerang with enough force to slice through buildings.

Kitana and Jade Jaeger: Edenia Glory Original Base: Lima

Interplanetary refugees, Kitana and Jade escaped to Earth after their homeworld was attacked and overrun by Kaiju invaders. Their spacecraft crashed in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, and though they immediately searched for civilization in order to warn Earth’s people of what was to come, the first wave of attacks had already begun. After making their way to Lima, they volunteered to put their combat skills and close bond to use as rangers in the South American Jaeger program. Together they have defended the coasts of Chile and Peru since the Mark-2 days, though between battles, they spend their time in communication with the PPDC and the U.N., sharing what information they can about the Kaiju and other alien life previously unknown on Earth. Their Jaeger, Edenia Glory incorporates technological elements from their original planet not used in any other Jaeger, and is lithe, fast, and deadly, with a style focused primarily on precision bladework rather than hand to hand brawling. Its name is a tribute to their lost homeworld, and they use it to great effect to prevent Earth from suffering the same fate.

Sonya Blade and Jackson "Jax" Briggs (later Johnny Cage) Jaeger: Flawless Victory Original Base: Los Angeles

Both Lt. Sonya Blade and Maj. Jax Briggs had successful careers in the U.S military behind them when the first Kaiju came ashore and attacked San Francisco. Though at the time, Sonya was in the field pursuing the criminal Kano, she returned to the states when her friend and superior officer, Jax, suggested that they might be good candidates for the newly-formed ranger program. He proved to be right, and the two did time at the Shatterdomes in both Los Angeles and Anchorage, fighting off Kaiju from Canada to Mexico, and became well-admired figures within the military for their ascent. Though far from unscathed, the ostentatiously-named Flawless Victory is the last American Jaeger left standing by the time the program is decommissioned and is a tank of a machine, sacrificing some speed for the greatest physical strength of any Jaeger still on the field. Like the other American Jaegers, for long range combat it favors plasma cannons and explosives- particularly a ring-shaped plasma blast with wider coverage than the usual single beam- but it is at its most effective when delivering a crushing beatdown up close and personal. Johnny Cage is the star of a popular series of action films dramatizing the battles of the Jaegers and Kaiju, and to many civilians at home, is as much the face of the Jaeger program as its real members. He has a secret ambition to become an actual pilot and has an impressive record in simulations, but because of his celebrity status (and his personality), Marshal Raiden and the other Jaeger teams refuse to consider him as a true contender. However, when a vicious fight with two Kaiju at once leaves both of Jax's arms shattered, taking him out of commission as a pilot for the foreseeable future, Sonya is forced to accept Johnny as her new co-pilot in order to keep Flawless Victory in the fray where it is needed. Despite her irritation with him, they turn out to be drift compatible, and become a formidable duo in their own right.

Hanzo Hasashi and Kuai Liang Jaeger: Phantom Vengeance Original Base: Nagasaki

From the Nagasaki Shatterdome, the bright yellow Mark-3 Jaeger Shirai Ryu defended the coast of the Yellow Sea across three countries. Its building was overseen by its husband and wife pilots, Hanzo and Harumi Hasashi, and it was named for the legendary warrior clan from which Hanzo claimed descent. It was in service for four years, though Hanzo and Harumi always spent as much time as possible between missions with their young son Satoshi, who lived with them in their quarters at the base so that his parents could still have a part in raising him in a world that would not guarantee a reunion for families who choose to separate. Across the sea based in Shanghai was an organization known as the Lin Kuei, a private military contractor funded by shadowy, unknown sources. Though its bread and butter was anti-Kaiju weaponry, it also began to develop its own Jaegers- the only ones outside the PPDC, created from illicitly obtained blueprints, and hireable for the right price. Its crown jewel was a small, stealthy machine called simply Sub-Zero, unique for its proficiency underwater and tendency to use coolant as a weapon rather than fire or explosives, and piloted by two brothers- Bi-Han and Kuai Liang. When the massive Kaiju Kintaro directly attacked the Nagasaki Shatterdome, Shirai Ryu was the only Jaeger left to defend it. Desperate, the Hasashis attempted to contact the Lin Kuei, as they were closer than the nearest other Shatterdome in Tokyo. They received no response and were forced into battle alone, and though they prevailed, the price was too high- not only Harumi’s life when part of their cockpit was crushed, but Satoshi’s as well, buried in the wreckage of the base. In his grief, Hanzo blamed the Lin Kuei- particularly Bi-Han, with whom he had never gotten along- for what he perceived as a failure to act due to greed and amorality. What Hanzo did not know that day was that they were experiencing the first double event in history, and Sub-Zero and the Lin Kuei were under attack by the Kaiju Sheeva at the same time. The Kaiju hivemind had figured out Sub-Zero’s usual strategy of attacking from the water, and were ready with an acidic bite that tore a hole in the cockpit, which rapidly flooded. After a similar failure to make contact with Shirai Ryu, Bi-Han was swept out into the sea and presumably drowned (though his body was never recovered), but Kuai Liang, despite a bleeding face and water up to his neck, managed to kill the Kaiju mere moments before Sub-Zero ceased to function. After his release from medical, a furious Kuai Liang set off immediately for the remains of the Nagasaki Shatterdome to confront Hanzo for his failure to respond to the attack, since Shanghai was within Nagasaki's area of coverage. Both blinded by rage, they nearly got into a fistfight in the middle of the base, but once they realized what had truly happened, their anger cooled. They bonded over their grief, and the unfathomable experience of having to pilot a Jaeger alone after such loss- and in the process, discovered they were drift compatible, and that they both wished to continue the fight in retaliation for what the Kaiju had done to their families. Their new Jaeger, Phantom Vengeance, is a strange sight- constructed from salvaged pieces of both Sub-Zero and Shirai Ryu (along with some newer tech to fill the gaps), it looks as much like a walking ghost as its pilots. However, it should not be underestimated based on its appearance. Quick and light (for a Jaeger), it features a retractable grappling hook to drag Kaiju into the range of its blasts of powerful coolant, and a devastating grip to snap them like twigs once frozen.

Other Players:

After the destruction of Sub-Zero and the defection of Kuai Liang, the Lin Kuei concluded that the problem with the Jaeger program was the human element of drift compatibility, which limited the number of possible pilots and held them back due to concern for their partners in battle. Therefore, in secret, they began a series of horrific experiments, fusing subjects with their Jaegers to operate more like batteries than true pilots, and erasing their memories through drugging and electric shock in order to create blank minds that could operate together without the complications of emotion. Assassins Cyrax and Sektor, along with Kuai Liang’s close friend Tomas Vrbada, were among the subjects of this initiative, forced to operate a three-armed machine called Triborg.

Shang Tsung is a scientist, shunned from the academic community and at times running afoul of the law for his unethical- if not outright twisted- biological experiments. He and Marshal Raiden have crossed paths in the past, and though no one knows the details, their enmity towards each other is clear. However, in his desperation after the decommissioning of the Jaeger program, Raiden had Shang Tsung brought from prison to the Hong Kong Shatterdome, and gave him access to whatever parts he needed to find a way to destroy the Kaiju- by any means necessary. Shang Tsung agreed partly because of the money offered, but mostly because the world's destruction would throw quite the wrench into his own personal goals. (And maybe because it was deeply satisfying- and perhaps useful- to have the Marshal in his debt.) Where his allegiance will lie at the end of the day, however, is anyone's guess.

For such experiments, one needs a steady supply of Kaiju parts, and for contraband like that, Raiden had to look even lower- to the crime syndicate the Black Dragon, led by Kano and including his associates, Kabal and Erron Black. Though once mercenaries dealing in everything from illicit arms trading to assassination, the Black Dragon followed the money and and put all their resources into the trafficking of Kaiju parts. With demand so high, they have become immensely powerful, but their involvement with the PPDC in the name of greater profits ends up bringing Kano face to face with his old nemesis, Sonya Blade- with predictably violent results.

Nightwolf was the historian of the Matoka tribe, which had long ago predicted a great cataclysm that would bring about the end of life on earth. Though he had been skeptical that such legends were real, when that cataclysm came to pass in the form of the Kaiju invasion, Nightwolf was not content to merely await a prophesied destruction. He left home and applied for the ranger program, but although he trained toward being a pilot and had the necessary combat skills, he never found a partner with whom he was drift compatible. Rather than dwell on this with resentment, he pivoted his focus into other ways he could help, and found his place as a technician and LOCCENT officer. Transferred to Hong Kong after the decommissioning of the Jaeger program, he was the rangers’ primary point of communication with the base while in battle.

Though most of the world fears the Kaiju, there are also those who worship them, and such admiration has evolved over the years into a full-blown religion. The shadowy high priest of this cult is Quan Chi, who claims that the Kaiju have been sent by the God of Death himself- to end the days of humans on Earth as we so richly deserve. Recently, a strange, hollow-eyed man calling himself Noob Saibot has appeared like a shadow at Quan Chi’s side, serving as his personal bodyguard against all threats and a fellow ardent believer in the inevitability of humanity’s destruction. Mileena is a grotesque fusion of Kaiju DNA with that of Kitana, which was stolen against her will when she was injured and bled during the invasion of Edenia. She enters Earth as a general of the Kaiju, connected to their hivemind, along with the first Category 5 to ever come through the breach, Goro. Together, they intend to ensure the will of their creator and the ruler of the Anteverse- Shao Kahn- is carried out.

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ad1thi · 3 years

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underrated stevetony fics rec list (P2)

this is ridiculously late and im so sorry, but here’s part 2 of this list!!

sweet lips on my lips (kiss like real people do).: @nethandrake

Frankly, if anyone told Tony that he’d be carried out of a burning building, well, he would’ve laughed in their faces. And if they were being extra mean about it, he probably would’ve even thrown them across the Atlantic.

After all, he’s Tony Stark. And Tony Stark always makes sure he has a safety net installed in his armor for emergencies, so it wouldn’t be out of commission before the building decided to collapse onto itself.

And yet, here he is, his armor out of commission, and being carried out of a burning building.

Carried out of a burning building by Steven Grant Rogers.

(In which Tony's from Civil War and Steve's from Infinity War. It's a problem.)

Rising: @withstarryeyes

Heat is licking up his sides and he groans, feeling his knees turn wobbly, and fumbles his way to the wall of the elevator. The metal is blessedly cool on his forehead and he sighs, eyes burning when he closes them. It’s still dark outside and every fiber of Tony’s being is telling him to go back to bed but he has work to do and plans to make and a blueprint open on his desk in the lab, Fury approved, and he can’t not do his job. So he musters all his strength and pushes off the wall when the elevator lands, ignoring his wet hacking as he moves.

He falls before he makes it to the bench, his top coated in sweat, and his eyes shutting to the whirling sensation that takes his breath away and leaves him panting in nauseated gasps. His hand shakes from where it’s planted on the ground, keeping him up.

the square root of infinity: @firebrands

steve and tony have their first fight. tony doesn't handle it well.

A Social Engagement: @finduilasclln

Written for the prompt: “This is without a doubt the stupidest plan you’ve ever had. Of course I’m in.”

Steve agrees to something without fully comprehending what it means. Modern times are confusing.

Wounds Without A Bandage: @gotthesilver

Tony burrows deeper in his blankets, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to forget the last year. Taking control of Stark Industries was one thing, even if it had been a shock to Obie and the rest of the board when Tony came of age and started dispensing of all his dad’s old cronies, but SI’s exploration team actually finding Steve? Tony deciding Steve should come live with him? Tony has regrets.

Well.

He has regrets this morning.

Before last night, the most Tony regretted in relation to Steve was not jumping him the moment it became clear all his faculties were intact and that Tony hadn’t defrosted a brain dead Captain America.

Love Like A Hunger: @gotthesilver

Pushing the door open to the bedroom, Steve pauses at what he sees. “Tony? I—”

“Surprise?”

“I—” Steve swallows, taking in the sight of Tony, blood instantly going to his cock as he looks him up and down. “You look—wow.”

Tony’s got on a damn Princess Leia outfit, gold curling around his chest and hips, with red fabric skimming over his crotch, and Steve’s brain feels like it’s shut down.

The Night Shift: @weethreequarter

Welcome to the Emergency Department of San Antonio General where Dr. Tony Stark joins the team fresh from his most recent tour in Afghanistan and - much to the consternation of the other staff - strikes up an instant rapport with Nurse Steve Rogers. Meanwhile, new resident Bruce Banner refuses to give up on his patient, and Dr. Sharon Carter learns something from her own patients. Throw in a pissed off hospital administrator, Clint using the coffee pot as a mug again, and a major car crash and you have, well, just another night shift.

the james braincell: @starklysteve

“Right. How do we get them to admit they love each other?”

In front of him, Bucky brings out a metal flask and takes a swig out of it. “Hell if I know. You’re the genius who went to MIT.”

“I studied aerospace engineering,” Rhodey rolls his eyes, “not how to get two idiots to kiss.”

-------

Or, Bucky and Rhodey are the braincells.

In a desperate last ditch attempt, they set Steve and Tony up for a blind date.

Steve and Tony don't know that their date is each other. But they might have a braincell of their own. Might.

the good place (is next to you): @starklysteve

“I mean,” Tony tries his best shot at breaking the tension, “if you’re stuck with the wrong guy, at least I’m sexier than your real deal?”

Tony died and got sent to some sort of heaven, with Captain America as his soulmate. Except, they got the wrong Anthony Stark, and to stay in the Good Place, Tony must convince Steve to teach him how to be good.

-x-

(watching The Good Place is not necessary to understand this AU, but will help)

president captain america: @livingtheobsessedlife

He’s supposed to be campaigning to be elected as president of the United States, not pining over some billionaire he met at one of his campaign events. And yet, Steve can’t seem to get genius, philanthropist (and his newest big-time donor) Tony Stark out of his head.

come build a home out of me: @maguna-stxrk

Steve clears his throat.

“What if I went with you?” he asks nonchalantly, like his heart isn’t threatening to beat out of his ribcage.

Tony blinks a few times, looking at Steve, his mouth ajar. “As a— As my date?”

“Yeah.” Steve nods, feeling a little breathless.

“You don’t mind?” Tony furrows his eyebrows.

“I don’t. In fact, you can just tell them I’m your boyfriend. I’m sure they’ll back off, wouldn’t they?”

What.

“I— Huh?” Tony stares at him, brown eyes blown wide open.

What. What. What.

“Huh? Uh, I mean— You know, that way people will see that you have definitely moved on. Monica will see that you have moved on. Right?” Steve smiles, hoping that it masks his inner panic, because what?

Steve Rogers, what have you done?

Between Two Infinities: @/anonymous

The Titanic, 1946. Steven Grant Rogers did not think that going to war would end up with him being three times his normal size with superstrength and agility to boot, and... rich...but hey, he wasn’t complaining. Steve also didn’t expect to fall out of love- if it was even love in the first place- with the woman he was explicitly told to propose to, and instead fall for a formerly rich, formerly a playboy, still a genius, Tony Stark. Especially because, you know, it was a little tiny bit illegal, and he was supposed to be “America’s Golden Boy”, as Bucky put it.

All Tony expected out of the trip was to escape Europe with his best friend thanks to a lucky game of blackjack. He didn’t think he’d find himself having sex in the back of a car located in the cargo hold of the Titanic, or almost jumping off said ship. But that was just the life of a rogue Stark child, wasn’t it? At least Peggy was nice. Her dad, not so much.

A Thief Like Tony Stark: @dontholdthiswarinside

Tony is a high ranking criminal, known for his talent to disappear. Steve is a disillusioned soldier who needs some cash.

And some people will always be heroes, no matter what they do for a living.

The Things We Can’t Unsee: @/orphan-account

The mission was simple: get in, gather information, get out. Of course, Steve never really expected the enemy to follow this plan. One way or the other, something was bound to happen. They were the Avengers, after all. Nothing ever went easy for them.

What Steve didn’t expect was it going as far as it did; he didn’t expect having to make a decision that nobody should have to make.

Now Bucky’s lying there, bloody and dying all because of him, and Natasha’s poisonous words keep ringing in his head. Thinking about the ring he carries with him every day, Steve knows she’s right.

He’d never be able to make that call if it were Tony.

The Last Barman Poet: @nativemossy

Tony wasn't expecting anything more than dealing with a tequila-drunk Clint and a slightly wrinkled suit on this trip to Mexico. He got plenty more than he bargained for when he catches the eye of a handsome vacationer at the swim-up bar. Tipsy shenanigans ensue.

#adi's rec list #stevetony #superhusbands #steve rogers/tony stark #steve rogers x tony stark #steve x tony #underrated stevetony fics

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bikerjongho · 3 years

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santiago | choi san

genre: realistic fiction, humor

characters: restaurant waiter!san ft dancer!wooyungi and dancer!stray kids

description: San is a charming and popular waiter at his local Mexican restaurant. But when a rival Mexican restaurant opens nearby and steals many of his customers, San finds himself needing to expand his talents in order to keep his beloved workplace in business.

word count: 6.9k

warnings: N/A

author’s note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAN!! you’re atiny’s stage demon and sweetie pie. I hope you have a lovely birthday and have lots of fun on your special day <33 also this post was inspired solely by this deadly post so thank u for sending me into outer space with your charisma mr choi

taglist: @itsapapisongo @mangomingki @irehlevant @blueprint-han

Once San had heard the giggling from the front of the restaurant, he knew that his shift that day was going to be substantially more exciting.

Dressed in a long-sleeved red button-down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and straight black slacks that matched with his polished and shiny black shoes, San was the perfect waiter at El Diablo Caliente, a local Mexican restaurant in his town. He sauntered over to the welcoming podium and gave a blindingly charming smile to the four girls that had just arrived.

And the smile did not disappoint. One of the girls burst into giggles while the rest of them managed to keep their blush to a light pink. "A table for four lovely ladies?" He said, and their blush increased as they nodded. "Wonderful." He slipped four restaurant menus under his arm and motioned for them to follow.

The restaurant interior, like San's shirt, was a wonderful ruby red. The lighting that casted over the booths and wooden chairs gave the restaurant a cozy and comfortable vibe. San enjoyed the vibe, it was one of many reasons why he loved working there. The other reasons were more superficial: his black hair matched perfectly with the color palette of the restaurant and he could swoon and charm as many customers as he liked as he worked. These girls were no exception to his magic and not immune to his allure.

"I'm San," he said as the girls sat down at the table he assigned them. "But you ladies may also know me as-"

"Santiago," a girl breathed, finishing his sentence for him. She looked a minute away from passing out onto the floor. San thought a beverage could fix that.

"Santiago," he nodded, and it was true. He had been working at El Diablo Caliente for so long that he had forgotten where the nickname had come from, but it was a nickname that was bestowed on him nonetheless by a few of the regulars. It had caught on, and he was then known as both San and Santiago. He quite enjoyed the name.

"You can call me either," he said, then took off the cap of the pen he was holding with his teeth with a flourish and quirked an eyebrow. "And what refreshments would you ladies like to start off with?" He asked, hovering the pen over his notepad.

The girls whistled off drinks, and when San went away they began to giggle. San smiled knowingly as he walked away from them and checked in on other tables that he waited for. His charm was something he was able to exude easily while at work, and the age of the customer didn't matter. San charmed older couples with his perfect manners and sweet smiles the same as he did with sugary compliments and alluring looks for younger crowds.

San finished up a humorous conversation with an older woman and her husband before strolling back to the girls with their drinks in hand. Once he was in sight, they sat up straighter and put on smiles. He returned them. He wondered if his presence or the food that would soon come would make them happier.

"Ladies, are we ready to order?" He asked as he dished out their beverages. "And let me know if there's anything I can help with regarding the menu."

"How hot is the habanero salsa?" One of the girls asked, looking up at him with curiosity and a little bit more.

San whistled and twirled his pen in his hands. "One of our hottest," he said, pursing his lips. "It's good, though. Quite delicious. Do you think you could take it?"

"I think I could," she said, staring through his eyes with a grand smile.

"As you wish," San murmured and scribbled it down with the rest of her order.

He finished taking the orders of the rest of the girls, all of whom had many questions to ask San about the menu. He theorized they just wanted to talk to him. He saw their faces fall in the corner of his eye when he walked away to place their orders.

"Santiago!" A familiar voice called out to him, and San turned to it with an enormous dimpled grin.

"María!" He returned and gave the older woman that was approaching him an enormous and warm hug.

María, or Tía María to San, was a long-time customer to El Diablo Caliente and an even longer friend to San. But despite their age and cultural differences, they found great joy and solstice in spending time together.

"¿Cómo estás, mijo?" María asked with a soft smile after they had broken apart. "Is the restaurant treating you well?"

It was a question that Tía María asked almost every time she saw San at the restaurant. San returned the smile and nodded. "Por supuesto, Tía María." He led her to her favorite spot in the restaurant, a window seat where the sun hit the vase of the flowers on the table and refracted a perfect rainbow onto it. San immediately pulled the chair back for Tía María to sit in, which caught the attention of the group of girls he was serving. He could hear them swooning from halfway across the restaurant.

"Those girls certainly love you," Tía Maria murmured as she settled herself in the seat and eyed the girls.

San shook his head with a smile. "They all love me, you know that. Everyone that walks into this restaurant does."

"Well, because you're charming," Tía María complimented. "Y," she continued, "guapísimo. You're a rare treat for them to be both kind and good-looking."

San felt a small blush creep up on his cheeks, something that only a few people could do to him. "Thank you," he murmured, then gave her his signature smile that he reserved for older crowds. "The usual, I assume," he said, tucking his pen behind his ear. There was no use for it when he knew Tía María's order better than his own. She nodded with a hint of a smile, and after a few more minutes of conversing, San went back to satisfy other customers and their orders.

It was finally time to deliver the group of girls' food when the cook signaled to him that the food was ready and neatly arranged on his serving tray.

"I suppose I'm not the only thing that's sizzling hot, eh?" He joked as he approached their table with the food, one of the items, a fajita, literally smoking.

"Oh, truly," the one that ordered the habanero sauce said, trying to stifle a smile. He gave her a captivating stare as he slid her food in front of her.

"Enjoy your meal, ladies," he said, adjusting his red collar as he said it. As he walked away from the girls and turned his attention to other customers, he watched the girl that had ordered the habanero sauce out of the corner of his eye. Focused on the food and not him for once, she spread it generously over one of her tacos. San had to bite his lip to keep from saying anything. He watched her, in slight amusement, as she took an enormous bite of the taco stuffed with the spicy salsa from hell.

The expectation San had for her reaction was fulfilled. Her eyes got incrementally bigger as the spice danced on her tongue, and her friends giggled as she began fanning her mouth and taking a large sip of her water beside her. "Perhaps it was too hot for you, after all," San murmured to himself with a smirk. "That's why we're called El Diablo Caliente."

And that day was not unusual of how San's waiter shifts usually went. While sometimes busy, San found happiness and pride at his job.

But that reality had all been turned upside-down when Ana's Taqueria surfaced.

Ana's Taqueria had snatched El Diablo Caliente's customers with a flourish of its hand even though it was only a few days old. With its lavish green walls and modern interior decorating, El Diablo Caliente customers flocked there like a moth to a flame. San's busy days as a waiter dropped dramatically, which meant that the lavish tips he had once received downsized dramatically. The mood of the restaurant dropped with the amount of customers as well, and San was plagued with the wistful thought that things would go back to normal. But it had been almost a month, and El Diablo Caliente's best days seemed to be behind him. All of the employees saw this. Tía María saw this. But most importantly, San's manager saw this.

"San," his manager began, sitting across from San in one of the restaurant'c chairs. She had called him to talk during an hour that wasn't busy - which was turning into most hours at El Diablo Caliente. Her hair being pulled back into a bun only accentuated the stress and tightness on her face as she spoke. "You obviously have seen and felt the effect of Ana's Taqueria. I've been thinking, and we have to make a few changes as to how we market ourselves if we want to gain back some of our customers." She sighed and shook her head.

"The restaurant owner, Ana, runs a tight ship. But it's effective, obviously. Their waiters are all just like you, bursting with charisma and passion. The place is cleaner than a biologist's laboratory. Their food, of course, is good. I tried it a few days ago." San's manager rubbed a tired hand over her face. "But," she said, raising her eyebrows, "it's not as good as ours. It's not as authentic. We still have a chance at coming back."

"That's all very hopeful," San said, "but why are you telling me this? Alone?"

"I'm telling you this," his manager smiled, "because you are our customer favorite. If anyone knows how to keep customers, it's you. Would you look at a few ideas I have for improving business?" She pushed a piece of paper in front of him.

San scanned the paper. His manager had certainly thought out of the box - from a an inflatable dancing balloon parked out in the front to weekly mariachi bands, San was thoroughly impressed. But the mariachis were expensive, and the balloon could only satisfy so many children. San read through the rest of the options and stopped at a dance team.

"A dance team?" He pondered, looking back up at her.

His manager smiled. "Just dancers from the town. We could ask the high school's dance team to perform every now and then."

"And the college students, since it's summer and they're home," San felt the need to note, being a college student himself.

His manager nodded. "Precisely." She then looked at him closer, like she wanted him to say something. San had a feeling she knew what she wanted him to say.

"Yes, I danced competitively in high school," San said after a minute. And though he was in college and wasn't a dance major, San was a part of a non-competitive dance team that did flash mobs in festivals and parades in the town.

His manager leaned closer to him. San leaned away from her, giving a nervous smile.

"You could really bring a lot of business if you danced, Santiago," his manager grinned. "I'm not trying to force you. But I've seen how you light up when you work with the customers. I've seen how customers light up with you. And if it doesn't work out, we'll come up with something else. But it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

San pondered his options. Accepting this would mean being around the restaurant a lot more. And although it was true he enjoyed working there, he found equal satisfaction in relaxing by himself at his home or walking around the town in the evening. It would also mean recruiting other members of his dance team. A few of them did live nearby, but it would still be work nonetheless to get them to cooperate.

But San thought of Tía María and the giggly girls he had served only a week before Ana's Taqueria had opened. He thought about the older couples that couldn't stop fishing bills out of their pockets for San after one of his usual waiter performances. This restaurant wasn't just a restaurant. It was important to both him, the other employees, and the customers that frequented there, even if they had found a new love as of late. San could have refused, but Santiago had an obligation to his place of work.

"Then let's do it," San said, and the manager's face erupted with joy.

"Thank you," she sobbed, and San smiled with the obliviousness of a person that had no idea what they had got themselves into.

Within a few days, San had contacted three dance college friends that lived close by to set up a few performances. All three of them were a part of the dance team at his college and seemed eager to get out of the house to do something fun. Yunho, San's friendly and sweet as sunshine friend from college, accepted with no problem. Mingi, another college friend, was just happy to not be cooped up in his house anymore. Wooyoung, his final dance friend from college, was eager to accept on the term that San provided them with food from the restaurant during their practices.

So when he met up with them outside the restaurant for their first practice, he had a bag of takeout containers filled with fajitas, tacos, and enchiladas. Wooyoung scurried up to San when he was in view and took the bag from his hands. "Thank you," he said cheerfully.

"Nice to see you too," San said and rolled his eyes good-naturedly. But Wooyoung simply put the bag of food on the ground and bounced back up with the energy of a newborn kangaroo. "Hello, Yunho, Mingi."

Both of them waved back, Mingi with his eyes wide and an even wider smile, and Yunho, who laughed as he waved. "So, what's on the agenda?" He asked while Wooyoung eyed the bag of food he had placed on the floor. Although San had briefed them all with the basics, none of them knew exactly what they were doing.

"This is dance for a Mexican restaurant," Wooyoung said logically. "We could salsa dance with each other." Mingi, who was standing next to him, took a few steps away from him.

"No," San laughed, and then pulled out his phone from his back pocket. "I was thinking of something a bit more... exciting." The three of them had their eyes on him while San scrolled through a playlist he had created a few hours earlier. "We can do a few songs that we already know from dance team, but like Wooyoung said, this is a Mexican restaurant. So I think it's only fair that we dance to some Latin artists." He clicked the song, and the sound of acoustic guitars filled the air.

Mingi began to nod his head and tap his foot. Wooyoung had gotten himself into the tacos and was eating one while swaying to the music.

"Oh, this is groovy," Yunho smiled. "What's the song?"

"This is La Camisa Negra by Juanes," San said with such a perfect pronunciation that the three of them whistled in awe.

"Ah, so this is why you're the hot and popular waiter," Wooyoung grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. "You really know how to get them-"

San turned up the volume of the music to drown out Wooyoung. "So I was thinking we could dance to this song in black shirts. And perhaps we could have roses in our mouths to make it a little sexier."

"Business is going to boom," Mingi surveyed, and Yunho nodded in agreement.

"And a few more songs by Juanes and other artists as well. We can definitely don't have to do all of them, but we can survey them tonight and think of some light choreography. These will just be fun interludes for our practiced dances."

He must have looked optimistic, because the three of them smiled back. Mingi now had an enchilada on a plate. "Excelente," he said and raised his fork with a smile as if he was toasting them. "Let's do it."

Their dancing experience was an asset for the choreography. It didn't take long to come up with a small dance routine, and before San knew it, the sun was setting and all of the food was eaten.

"Thanks for making this easy," San said gratefully as the other three of them packed up their things. "And fun."

"No problem," Yunho smiled. "It will be a lot of fun. Especially when we pick up Wooyoung and shove a rose into his mouth."

"I will be incredibly sexy," Wooyoung chimed in, completely serious.

"And hopefully that will be promising enough for customers to come," San laughed, but he couldn't ignore the knot that was in his stomach. Despite their preparation and his confidence for himself and his teammates, he couldn't help but worry that they weren't doing enough. What if the restaurant had to close?

"I'm sure people will come," Mingi reassured. "And if they don't, then we can burn down the other restaurant."

"I don't think we'll need to do that," San laughed, but Wooyoung seemed more intrigued in this idea than San would have liked him to be. Even if business only increased by a little, San was certain that the business would at least be able to stay afloat for a few more months.

So two weeks later on the small outdoor stage of El Diablo Caliente, endless amounts of hungry audience members sat in front of the four of them. Dressed in black shirts that would come in handy for La Camisa Negra later, hair slicked back to give a more flattering and attractive look to the audience, and hidden roses in the corner of the stage, they were ready to completely rock the stage with their performance.

In the back of the audience stood San's beaming manager. San returned a smile to her, which caused a large group of girls to swoon.

"His smile simply makes me melt," one of them said, and Wooyoung snorted beside him.

"Let's not keep them waiting," Wooyoung then whispered to San with his eyebrows raised. "We've got an audience to entertain."

And entertain, they did. The customers of El Diablo Caliente were satisfied by the food that was brought to them and the incredible performance that the four of them displayed for their viewing. The crowd, mostly younger people, erupted when the roses appeared on stage and San felt the spiritual need to wink to them. The amount of tips and phone numbers that the four of them received was insurmountable. The show could confidently be marked as a success.

San was beaming at the end of their performance. Because even if this didn't change their business, they had still raked in a hefty amount of money from this night. Subsequent nights would only be bigger.

But across the street, Ana's Taqueria was taking notes. Sitting at a comfortable distance from El Diablo Caliente was Ana herself. She was only a few years older than San, but she had the drive and determination of someone that had 40 years of entrepreneurship under her belt. A mischievous smile danced on her lips as she pressed her phone against her ear and let it ring. The recipient picked up after a few rings.

"I'm going to need a favor from you," Ana said softly as she watched San saunter off of the stage and into the crowd of customers with a rose in his mouth and a smile on his face. The smirk struggling to appear on her face broke through onto her features. "You know how to dance, right?"

If the drive home from the dance concert was exhilarating, the drive into work the next day was unparalleled. San walked into El Diablo Caliente feeling like he had just won the lottery.

"You were spectacular," San's manager said as greeting. He hadn't seen this big of a smile on her face in weeks. "The other three were also amazing. But San, you were truly possessed with some kind of dance God." She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to him. "These are the earnings from last night."

San's mind bobbled at the number. It was bigger than what they had received in a week ever since Ana's Taqueria opened. "That's phenomenal," he said breathlessly.

"You're phenomenal," the manager countered. "San, you saved the restaurant."

Needless to say, it was one of San's best days as a waiter. Customers that had fallen in love with his performance appeared today to have more of their delicious food and see the handsome waiter and dancer.

"Do you still have the rose?" A young man asked with stars in his eyes around midday. San was more than happy to oblige - when he brought the food over to him, a rose hung in his mouth. He was then subsequently tipped almost half of the meal price.

But San's good day, no matter how good it was, didn't last forever. Walking out of the restaurant to go home, San noticed a new sign on Ana's Taqueria's wall. His stomach dropped to his feet.

The sign advertised a dance night with "four phenomenal men" in two weeks from today. San read through the sign again and again. Each time, it sounded more and more like the exact show that he and his friends had put on the night before. He whipped out his phone and took a picture of the sign and sent it to his manager, his head swimming with thoughts and worries.

They couldn't do that, not when El Diablo Caliente had just hosted a dance night. San strapped on his seatbelt and started his car, but sat in the parking lot, staring at the rival restaurant. There wasn't much he could do. They hadn't trademarked or claimed dancing as their own original thought - Ana's Taqueria could do whatever they wanted to do. But that still left the knot in San's stomach unresolved, and he was filled with a sudden burst of anger and resentment for the restaurant.

San turned off his car and hopped out. He made his way across the street and walked into Ana's Taqueria.

"I'd like to speak with the manager," San said as greeting when he threw open the door. He must have looked odd still dressed in his work uniform. The restaurant wasn't too busy, but a good amount of customers still stared at him as he strode past the welcome podium and headed towards the cashier.

"Is Ana here?" He asked as evenly as he could to the young girl that was seated at the cashier with wide eyes.

"She is," the cashier said slowly to him, her eyes flickering around the store. San felt bad for a minute - perhaps he was being too harsh to a poor girl that had no decision in the dance night - but then someone that only could have been Ana appeared behind the counter, and the rage settled comfortably back into his chest.

She couldn't have been much older than him. Ana had curly blonde hair that was pulled back into a carefree low bun on the nape of her neck and had piercing eyes. She grinned with an alluring smile when she saw him and San's anger flared up.

"Hello," he said, giving her a small nod. "I'm San. A waiter from El Diablo Caliente."

"Your performance last night was truly something," Ana said softly and gave him a sweet smile. San wanted to punch her in the face. "I didn't attend, but I could see you and your friends performing from over here. You're all very talented."

"Thank you," San managed to say. "I noticed you're also having a dance night."

Ana's smile widened. "I do hope you don't mind," she said. "We're friends, are we not?"

San's mouth twitched. "Not just because we both work at Mexican restaurants that are close by," San said, trying to prevent any sort of emotion from appearing on his face.

Ana frowned. "Well, that's not very sportsmanlike, is it?" She said, resting her elbows on the counter. "We're simply hiring dancers as your restaurant did. There's nothing stopping me from doing this. It's simply a good idea."

Not when you're tearing our business to the ground, San wanted to say. Not when you're stealing and profiting off of our idea just because we thought of something better than you did.

"It is a good idea," San said instead. "But we thought of it first. It's abundantly clear that you copied us rather than simply taking inspiration. Four dancers? You at least have been subtle."

Ana's eyes shimmered with something that made San's stomach flip. "Well, I've already hired the dancers," she shrugged. "They're professional, actually. We paid good money for them."

San thought about how El Diablo Caliente's dancers were just college students and his blood boiled. "We're both Mexican restaurants, yes?" He started, not sure of where he was going with this. His emotions were driving this talk. Ana watched him in amusement like this was some mildly entertaining comedy show.

"Then let's have a dance competition," San offered. "If we're as good as you said we were, and your dancers are professional, it should be fun. Just some friendly competition."

Ana's eyes were shining now. "Sounds like a wonderful idea. At our restaurant? Our stage is much bigger than yours."

"Sure," San said evenly. "And also on the night that your poster says on your wall. Think of it as a community event."

They both knew that this competition wasn't just against the dancers - it was a competition against the Mexican restaurants. Ana had made this competition personal by twisting El Diablo Caliente's unique ideas into her own. San was ready to run her into the ground.

"I'll have the sign changed by tomorrow morning," Ana said idly. "It was truly a pleasure meeting you, San. Train hard. You'll need it." He could swear that he saw fire flare up in her eyes. She gave a goodbye wave, then disappeared into the back of the restaurant, her curly hair bouncing against her neck as she trailed away.

When San unlocked his phone in his car only minutes later, his phone was blown up by texts from his manager.

Copiers! She had texted. The nerve. What the hell?

San quickly texted the deal he had made with Ana to his manager, who responded with excitement. You four will destroy them, she said, and San could only hope she was right. In actuality, he had no idea how he was going to pull this off. But luckily, he wasn't alone.

"They sound awful," Yunho said during their second practice. Now that it had rolled into July, the sun beat down on them harder than ever. All four of them were sporting muscle t-shirts to feel more comfortable, but it was still sweltering.

"Right?" San could only agree. "They saw how well we did and decided to copy our idea."

"Do you have any idea who the other four will be?" Mingi asked, and then took a long drink of water. Wooyoung was crouched next to him, listening intently.

San shook his head. "I just know that they're professionals," he sighed. "Ana contacted my manager and said that there will be judges. I don't know exactly what will happen if we win or lose."

"It sounds like we just need to please the crowd, though," Wooyoung pointed out. "If it's just a dance-off, there's nothing that's directly on the line for the restaurants themselves. If I enjoy a performance enough, I won't care what the judges say."

"But we still should win," San said. "If we want to knock down Ana a few pegs." San crouched down and turned on his phone. The familiar sound of Juanes blasted through the speakers, and the rest of them stood up straighter.

"Let's kick ass, shall we?" San said while stretching his arms, and the others nodded with vigor.

The days flew by. Between waiting tables and practicing with Wooyoung, Mingi, and Yunho for the competition, San was booked. More than once he had collapsed onto his bed after he got home from his shift and fell asleep immediately. When he was awake, he spent most of his idle time worrying about the dance battle.

He was confident in their group. He admired and respected the other three tremendously and felt pride in his own abilities. But there was still that fear and that unknown element of the professional dancers. How good would they be? San imagined them wiping the floor with his team and his stomach did a backflip. They had to win. He had to win.

The days ticked down to the competition, and soon the four of them were entering Ana's Taqueria on the night of the competition. They wore clothes similar to they had in their first performance, but instead had matching shiny red vests. "They match with the roses really well," Mingi had said with his rose in between his teeth.

Once they were inside, Yunho scouted the restaurant and spotted Ana's professional group of dancers. He nudged San and nodded his head towards them.

The first aspect of them that San noticed about them was how young they were. The group seemed the same age as San's group, perhaps even younger than them. On the back of all of their black shirts in shiny lettering was Stray Dancers.

"They're not professional," Yunho hissed. "They're just another college group. I know them. Did Ana just tell us they're professional dancers to scare us?"

"Felix!" Wooyoung cried, oblivious to their nervous chatter, and clapped the back of one of the rival dancers. San, Yunho, and Mingi tensed.

"He knows one of them?" San asked to no one in particular.

"Wooyoung knows everyone, it seems," Mingi said as Wooyoung began to laugh with Felix and the other three dancers as if they were best friends.

"I guess it will be good for us if the tension isn't there," Yunho said, and they all nodded. "It's more of a friendly competition that way. We just need to beat them for Ana."

San let Wooyoung fraternize with the enemy for a while longer before he walked up to him and pulled on his shirt. "Woo, let's get ready," he said cheerfully, though his insides were starting to swim.

"San!" Wooyoung cried. "Meet the Stray Dancers. I've worked with them before." San opened his mouth to stop him, but Wooyoung had already started his extroverted spiel. "This is Felix, this is Chan, this is Hyunjin, and this is Minho," he said, pointing to each one of them, who waved kindly to San in return. San didn't love the idea that Wooyoung was friends with their opponents, but it helped ease the anxiety in his stomach.

"Hi," he said to each of them and nodded. "Nice to meet you guys," he said quickly, "but Wooyoung, we have to go." Without waiting for a reply or protest, San snagged Wooyoung and dragged him away from the Stray Dancers before he could strike up more conversation.

"I was having a nice time," Wooyoung whined when they were a good distance away and back with Yunho and Mingi.

"You can talk to them after the competition," Mingi said wisely, and San was relieved that someone felt similar to him. "The show starts soon anyway. We should stretch now, even if we're not the first ones on stage."

That was at least one good aspect of it all - San could at least gauge how good the Stray Dancers were before they took the stage. "Right, let's find a place," Yunho agreed, glancing around the restaurant to find a place to stretch. San was about to point out a room that seemed to be unoccupied when he saw Tía María in the crowd.

"Go on without me, I'll be there in a minute," San said, and rushed over to her. "María," he said, the happiness in his voice not unnoticed. "I'm so glad you're here. Thank you for coming here to support me."

"Make sure to wipe them to the floor, Santiago," Tía María said as greeting, and San was surprised at how upfront she was. She must have noticed the shock to cross his face, so she continued to speak. "I dislike Ana. I just want to see that smile gone from her face." She nodded over to the other side of the restaurant, and Ana was there. She was casually chatting with a customer, but San felt the resentment bubble in his stomach regardless.

"We will, Tía," San said, even if he didn't quite believe it himself.

Tía María smiled. "It's just like being a waiter, Santiago. You are here to cater to the public. You've already proven yourself to be wonderful to people - full of expression and charms. But you also are humble and kind. This competition is no different. Show them Santiago and they will come back to El Diablo Caliente in no time." She stood up and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"Estarás asombrando, mijo," she said, and San's heart filled up with love. He was ready if Tía María believed he was ready.

Shortly after his warmup with the other three dancers, they situated themselves at a table to watch the Stray Dancers perform. While Ana walked up on stage and introduced the Stray Dancers, San glanced around and found the judges near the front of the stage. They didn't seem particularly uptight or fancy - all three of them wore casual clothing. It was odd how laid back Ana had staged this. Did she really think this competition would be easy to win?

And then the Stray Dancers began to perform. Unbeknownst to San before, their black Stray Dancers tshirts had little pins of the Mexico flag above their heart, and they danced with castanets that made pleasant clicking noises. San was impressed with their ingenuity. The clicks frequently matched up with their footwork and gave the illusion that they were tap dancing. Not only that, all four of them were equally mesmerizing and pleasing to watch.

Minho was frequently in the center and made most of the crowd members swoon. Hyunjin did a move with his legs that caused someone to whistle during their performance. Chan had wondrous arms that were mesmerizing to look at each time he raised them and clicked his castanets. Felix was more fluid than a river and made his intricate dance moves look easy. But as good as they were, San felt pride in himself and his teammates. He thought they could win.

The crowd burst into applause once they were finished. "It's time," Yunho whispered and stood up, the rest of them following suit. Wooyoung sauntered up to the stage first and high-fived all four of the Stray Dancers as they descended from the stage. San risked a glance at Ana and found her eyes already on him. She had a sinister sort of smile that, to a random onlooker, looked like she was amused. He looked away and tried to shake her steel eyes from his vision.

Ana, like she did with her own group of dancers, introduced San's group to the audience. "And San Choi," she finished, and the crowd whooped and cheered as he gave a bow and smile to the crowd. As Ana walked off of the stage, she glanced at San. However, this time, he was looking at her already. San raised his eyebrows and smiled a devious smile. Then, Juanes began to play, and San's body was taken over by the dancing demon that he had cultivated dearly in their weeks of practice.

The performance was exhilarating. It was a mass catharsis of the tension and stress San had built up from this competition, and the audience only saw it as marvelous stage presence. He took the time to do certain moves with more fluidity and sensuality. The rose was in and out of his mouth. He managed to fit in multiple winks, smirks, and run his hands through his gelled and dark hair. Every movement from the first chord of the song to the last made the entire culture of Mexico smile down on him. He knew this because when the music ended and the clapping started, Tía María's eyes were shining with a fondness and pride that could only come straight from the heart.

"San, you were insane on stage," Yunho commented when they walked off of the stage amidst the cheers and clapping. "What possessed you?"

"Spite," San said. He had found Ana's eyes once again. She seemed calm, as though San had not just delivered a show-stopping performance in a tiny Mexican restaurant. He gave her a wink and did not give any more attention to her. The judges may have had the final say in the competition, but San knew that customers would flock back to El Diablo Caliente regardless of the outcome. Their cheers were more like roars and were infinitely louder than the ones that the Stray Dancers had received.

"That was sick," Chan said to San as he passed them by. The rest of them gave smiles.

"Thank you, you four were also amazing," San said idly, thinking about the results. They reached their table and sat down.

"I think we won," Wooyoung whispered to them immediately after they were situated.

"No doubt," Mingi agreed.

"I hope," San said to them. He watched the judges shuffle around in their seats and finish taking notes. Then, one of them stood up and began to walk towards the microphone. San's stomach became a gymnast.

"Here we go," he whispered, his heart rate picking up. "Hey, wait a minute," he said, turning to Mingi. Mingi was the one that had told the judges their team name, like how Ana's group was called the Stray Dancers. "What exactly did you name us?"

Mingi smiled at him.

"Both performances were spectacular," the judge said into the microphone, surprisingly jovial. The Stray Dancers and San's group snapped their heads to the stage to listen. "But we think this group did an exceptional job of pumping up the crowd while also keeping the integrity of Mexican music, and therefore deserves the win. Congratulations to Santiago and his Rosy Men, you're our winners."

"Santiago and what?" San gaped at Mingi while the restaurant exploded into cheers. "Mingi, you-"

"We won," he said, clapping him on the back. "Go and celebrate. Don't think too much about it." He was smiling so wide. San sighed and matched his smile. They had won.

Tía María was glowing as she approached their table. She promptly went over to San and kissed his cheek before giving him the biggest hug he had ever felt from her. "Maravilloso," she whispered while she rubbed his back. San felt tears touch his eyelids and he hugged her tighter. They had done it, and had made one of San's most beloved people happy.

After Tía María left San's embrace, Ana approached them with a stiffness. "Congratulations," she said, giving them a smile. But San had seen Ana smile before, and this was not her usual snarky smile. This was a fake smile, a smile that had been punched with the loss of her dance team. San relished in her discomfort.

"Thank you," San said, giving her a smile that was genuine and a little bit more. "Maybe next time, don't try to copy us at our own game." He smiled as her face contorted with anger and frustration. She stormed off away from them, and the four of them high-fived each other.

The next day. business didn't just boom, it exploded. San walked into El Diablo Caliente the next day and it was like Ana's Taqueria had never opened. The restaurant was packed and the other servers were happy to see him. The customers were especially happy to see him. The girls that he had served months ago waved at him. "You were so cool on stage!" One said as he passed by, and San took the opportunity to give her a wink.

"I know."

He left their gasping expressions for the back of the restaurant where he clocked in and got ready to work. As he rolled up his sleeves, he couldn't help but look at how much more alive El Diablo Caliente was now. Although the store hadn't had a paint job recently, the red walls glowed with newness. People in the restaurant smiled extra widely as they feasted on their meal.

But that was not what tickled San the most about his restaurant. The icing on the cake was the amount of cars in the parking lot. Less than half of the amount of cars that they had were in the lot of Ana's Taqueria. Everything, finally, had fallen back into a blissful harmony, and San was elated to be a part of the melody of the restaurant once again. San let his charming façade wash over him like a waterfall and felt the tingling warmth of a new day in the restaurant he appreciably called home.

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