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deltaruminations · 1 year

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The Man in the Motif: A Character Analysis of W.D. Gaster via Music

“Sing us a song, you’re the mystery man… sing us a song if you please… ‘cause we’re all in the mood for a broken chord, and you’ve got us feeling unease…”

here’s the Big Dumb Music Post lmao

A couple things:

Most of what comes after the cut is written like an actual essay and not a shitpost i promise

This is more Synthesis and Subjective Reading of Extant Material than speculative theorycraft

I mostly wrote this for fun & because I’d never seen anyone lay out an analysis for our boy G like this before. I don’t think it’s like Revolutionary it’s mostly just me talking a lot about a special interest lol

I get the sense that a lot of people may have already picked up on a lot of this stuff and it might just be my alexithymic ass that needs heady analysis like this to understand subtle emotional cues. That’s to say: IDK how much New Stuff is being presented here for any given reader but it might still add value to that existing understanding I Guess

I’m not trying to assert that Toby Fox consciously intended to convey everything that I’m pulling out of this stuff lol

OK HERE WE GO!!!!!

Contents

To quickly access a given section, just search for it by its leading flag ([#XXX])

[#001] mus_st_him.ogg (Gaster’s Theme)

[#002] ANOTHER HIM

[#002-A] A Brief Tangent on Giygas

[#003] File Select & Game Over ambience

[#004] Darkness Falls

[#005] man.ogg (Tree Room)

[#005-A] A Brief Tangent on Seccom Masada-sensei

[#006] Takeaways

Undertale and Deltarune use leitmotif to a wide variety of ends in shaping players’ experience of their stories. Because music is understood emotionally and interpretively, a single song can function to convey several simultaneous ideas about characters, places, and/or themes, and may be understood to have multiple layers of meaning.

Gaster’s leitmotif in particular is notorious for its tendency to be heard by fans everywhere in Undertale and Deltarune’s soundtracks, regardless of the actual intentionality of its use. Due to the brief and generic nature of the sequence, there’s a distinct possibility that this ambiguity was engineered into it, possibly as a way to influence players’ perceptions by implying that he’s secretly ever-present and ever-watching, and/or to convey something about Gaster himself, such as dispersion of his consciousness or memories.

Aside from the previous point, there are a few instances in Deltarune’s soundtrack in which its use is either explicit or, at the very least, somewhat less ambiguous. This discussion will focus on the former cases, specifically tracks that play in the scenes in which we interact with the man himself. I’ll cover this in roughly the order that I believe a typical player would experience them for the first time.

Most of these sections will be Very Roughly divided into:

Informal analysis (I Do Not Know Music Theory I Am Just A Guy With Abled Ears) of choices made in the song itself

Subjective analysis of what emotions or associations the song might be evoking

Interpretation of what any of that could mean about Gaster Our Good Friend Gaster

Discussion of in-game context wherever I think it's interesting lol

Because my formal knowledge on music composition is very limited, and also because I’m no longer hearing these songs fresh and untainted by Lore Obsession Disease, I had my partner (a musician who knows nothing about UTDR or this character) give his opinions on these songs as well. While I don’t think a formal background is a prerequisite for this kind of subjective analysis (as these soundtracks are designed to communicate with a broad audience, not just with musicians), it of course allows for further insight. I’ll refer to him from here on as my “research assistant” because I think it’s funny.

I first had him listen to the tracks listed here out-of-context and give me his thoughts on what they communicated to him about the character or scene. I then gave him some context for each song, the story, and the character, and we discussed whether that context brought further interpretation. It turned out his basic interpretations closely aligned with mine, with the addition of some really cool observations that would’ve never occurred to me on my own. This discussion will reflect his opinions & observations as well. Huge thanks to him!

With that in mind, I’m going to use the word “melody” and other such Music Words pretty loosely throughout this sorry. I tried my best to respect the Terminology but im just a fucking dude ok

[#001] mus_st_him.ogg (Gaster’s Theme)

We must, of course, begin with mus_st_him.ogg (Gaster’s Theme), which establishes his leitmotif (or at least, the only confirmed part of it; whether or not there’s a B part to the leitmotif is currently unknown, though I‘ve seen some interesting speculation about that). Assuming that Deltarune players experienced Undertale first (as Toby Fox seems to have intended), this will have been the first instance of Gaster’s leitmotif ever encountered, and it’s the front line for evaluating his character.

Found only through a Fun event, in Undertale’s “Sound Test” room, this is presented as less of a song and more of a demo or reference sequence. As we move on to other tracks, I’ll consider this track the platonic ideal and use it as a point of comparison.

One brief note is that the filename itself does not explicitly assign this track to Gaster, but rather to “him.” It’s the Sound Test UI that puts his name on it. Whether or not there’s significance to this is currently unclear.

(I think there may be something in common between the friendly “voice” that thanks us for our feedback in the Sound Test room and Deltarune’s out-of-universe UI text after closing the fountain in Deltarune chapter 1, but I don’t have any idea what, if anything, that means right now.)

Precedents established

Since this is the base motif, I think it’s worthwhile to mention how the song is structured on paper. Since I’m no Theory Guy, I’ll refer you to Tumblr user notesanddreams’s technical analysis of what he calls the “Gaster Sequence,” which is a name I like a lot and am going to use moving forward.

To quote him:

It’s a pretty simple four bar loop. The melody, which everyone I know has taken to calling “the Gaster motif,” is a four note sequence that goes “starting note -> up a minor second (half step) -> up a perfect fifth -> back down a perfect fifth.” This is played four times before modulating down a half step and looping….

There’s simply not enough musical information in the track to discern a tonal center, and therefore any attempts to give it a key signature are futile. This gives the sequence a very mysterious and unsettling nature, but its vagueness allows it to be applied to certain tracks in the Deltarune OST very subtly at times.

While it’s distorted, this song seems to be played on an unaccompanied piano. This establishes an association between Gaster and that instrumentation (as we’ll see reinforced later), as well as with sounds of distortion & modulation, dissonance, and “noise.”

These two factors combined may be things to consider alongside the leitmotif when determining whether a song or part of a song should be considered to offer direct descriptions of Gaster (as opposed to containing a more abstract reference to him, or instead being referential to or descriptive of another character associated with piano, such as Kris).

Emotional perspective

Gaster’s Theme is anxiety-inducing. It builds up endlessly but never resolves. It is not musical; it lacks anything recognizable as motion or melody, which in turn causes it to lack anything immediately recognizable as personality, or emotion, or backstory. It’s a song that betrays no motivations or values, leaving us to fill in the blanks on our own.

The minor key and dissonance could easily be experienced as sinister, playing on our fear and mistrust of the unknown. If the truth is out there, it doesn’t seem to be pleasant. If we continue to seek it out, who knows what could become of us, or what we could unleash upon the world?

The Sound Test UI itself is bizarre and mysterious. Why does it thank us for our “feedback” after hearing Gaster’s Theme? What input or feedback did we provide?

Characterization perspective

We could take this theme on its own to suggest that Gaster is characterized by duality, tension, and emotional detachment and/or reservation.

The rising tones in each bar evoke thought and ideation, approaching a point before dropping down to approach another. The endless, moderately-paced loop of shifting, yet internally consistent, sets resembles a careful dialectic that never reaches resolution.

We could interpret this as the sound of an analytical mind aware of many options and possibilities, but never ultimately delineating the truth between them (my research assistant specifically described this track as being “locked into itself”). We could also take it less literally to signify a reversal of opinion or understanding in general – not necessarily that decisions are never made, but they’re reached through heady deliberation and obsessively re-examined after they’re made.

While the motif betrays internal tension, it’s also highly ordered and consistent, lacking any spontaneity. This can be taken to mean that Gaster is cautious, deliberate, and reserved. For all the neurosis it conveys, it still comes off as fairly confident, as though Gaster is simply used to this and doesn’t tend to question it.

We could also possibly infer that other characters experienced Gaster in much the same way as we do – they may have found him unsettling and hard to read.

As mentioned before, it’s unknown whether other parts to this motif exist or are planned to exist. If they do exist, then the fact that only the A(?) part has been presented as “Gaster’s Theme” would underscore the one-sidedness of his presentation in Undertale, as well as a possible tendency of Gaster’s to hide parts of himself.

(EXTREMELY speculative, so please don’t take this too seriously, but: I’ve seen at least a handful of fans raise the possibility that at least some part of the Secret Boss (“Freedom”) motif may be a B/C part of Gaster’s motif. If Gaster is trying to obfuscate any involvement with Secret Boss characters, using his metaphysical resources to hide obvious musical associations with them (i.e., by labeling only this part of the motif as his “theme” in the Sound Test) would certainly be a clever way to do so.)

[#002] ANOTHER HIM

The first true application of the Gaster Sequence a player will experience is also the very first song heard in Deltarune: ANOTHER HIM, which plays during the Introduction (also known as the Survey or “GONERMAKER”).

This is another instance of Gaster being referred to as “him” in the metadata rather than by name. The specific phrasing of “ANOTHER HIM” seems referential to Undertale Players’ knowledge of him, and could be taken to suggest that this is a separate instance or at least “piece” of the character described in that game. Alternatively, this could indicate the same character being presented from another perspective, and/or the same continuity of that character who’s no longer recognizable as the same person for one reason or another.

Musical analysis

This track is, of course, a direct quote of the entire Gaster Sequence isolated from any other motifs. Its main developments are a slight modification to the rhythm of the Sequence and the addition of other instruments and background ambience – this is actually the only song in the scope of this document in which the motif itself is heard accompanied (while Darkness Falls also contains other instrumentation, it occurs during an instance of a different motif). We again hear the Sequence played on piano.

When my research assistant first heard this song without context he paused it after about 5 seconds and proceeded to tell me all about Paul stretching and how it can be used to create the type of ethereal ambience heard in this track. One thing he noted is that this algorithm allows for stretching a sample while keeping it in-key, without adding dissonance. I should be clear that I have no idea if this exact technique was used here, only that it seems to have achieved a very similar effect.

So, what is the sample being stretched (in some way or another) to create that ambient noise? When we reversed the stretch, we found it to be none other than one of Giygas’s instruments from EarthBound. This has been identified by other fans as a sample of the track Giygas’s Intimidation.

[#001-A] A Brief Tangent on Giygas

I want to be careful about suggesting too much from musical samples & references, since UTDR are known to make extensive use of samples and soundfonts from other works, especially from EarthBound (as well as reworked versions of Toby Fox’s own music from other projects). Like, I don’t think Toby was trying to Say Anything in particular when he used the “WOW!” from Earthbound’s intro sequence in Spamton’s battle themes except “EarthBound is very special to me and that sound design choice they made was really memorable and I think it sounds really fun here.”

That in mind, UTDR fans have been intuitively connecting Gaster and Giygas for years based on superficial similarities and the known influence of EarthBound alone. Given Gaster’s unique existence in metanarrative, the specificity and consistency of the references associated with him, as well as the potential thematic relevance of this reference (and the one to follow in section [#005-A]), I do think it may be fair game to consider them in these cases. I’m going to throw out a couple of things:

The use of samples from Earthbound, specifically ones related to Giygas, draws yet another thematic connection between Gaster and Undertale’s True Lab and possible parallels to Alphys, suggesting this connection is relevant to Deltarune. Memoryhead itself bears resemblance to Giygas. (also wait what there’s parallel harmony in Amalgam?? holy shit???)

Giygas is a character who, when encountered in Earthbound, has been driven to a state of eldritch, cosmic horror by trauma & grief. His backstory as Giegue, told in the previous game Mother, includes themes of pursuing knowledge despite knowing of the dangers, of betrayal, and of guilt over well-intentioned harm, specifically harm done while under some form of external influence. The Giygas of EarthBound, in his madness, exerts violent influence over animals and people, including Porky, a troubled child who Giygas compels to serve him.

Throughout the fight, Giygas expresses his internal conflict, lashing out seemingly not due to malice but rather uncontrolled emotion. Defeating Giygas requires first that the character Paula “Pray,” or call out for strength from the party’s families and the people they’ve helped along their journey, until there are no more characters left to reach; Paula’s “call” becomes unheard, “absorbed by the darkness.” Then, finally, she begs the player themself to “PRAY” for the party – the “kids” they’ve never met before – dealing the final necessary blows in the process.

Gaster & Giygas are both unpleasant sounding two-syllable G names LOL this is stupid sorry

Obviously, I don’t anticipate a 1:1 resemblance between Gaster’s and Giygas’s stories, but there could be thematic parallels worth considering. There is one thing, however, that I find interesting in the context of this song in particular: in inviting us to this “Survey,” Gaster seems to have called out to us in the same way that Paula did, praying to us for help – perhaps, more specifically, to help the kids of Deltarune who we have yet (at this point in the game) to meet.

Emotional perspective

ANOTHER HIM opens with a distorted ambience, evocative of murmuring, choral voice, rolling thunder, and perhaps the crackling whips of a Tesla coil. This ambience ebbs and flows in intensity, occasionally seeming to thrash and writhe. Just before the Sequence itself starts, and then throughout it, we hear what seem to be longing strings, and underlying the piano is a steady, understated percussion.

In contrast to the distorted fuzz of mus_st_him.ogg, the piano used here is crisp, with only a limited echo applied to it. While not unaccompanied, this piano still feels exposed and small, especially against the faint instrumentation and ambience churning below it. The high, bell-like keys feel bright and hopeful. At the same time, the slow, halting tempo suggests trepidation.

Where the base Sequence marches steadily through its dialectic without deviation or hesitation, ANOTHER HIM’s arrangement pauses at the height of each thought, as if considering it more carefully, before dropping back down to the next. After the first two sets switch off normally, the melody then proceeds to rise steadily, as though finally grasping at a revelation; after reaching an apex, it then pauses, collecting itself, before looping over again. Isolated from the ambience, this arrangement sounds contemplative and searching, in contrast to the neurotic dialogue of the base Sequence.

The backing ambience sounds ethereal and spacey, but not noticeably dissonant. It doesn’t necessarily lend the same eeriness of mus_st_him.ogg’s distortion, but the low, slow murmuring and even occasional lashing of the “voices” in the background still betray an undercurrent of unease & tension.

When my research assistant heard the songs mus_st_him.ogg, ANOTHER HIM, and Darkness Falls without context, in the order presented here, he read them as a developing narrative. He felt that this piece, compared to the base theme, added “motion” in the form of a steady rise and fall. He then said, “What I would want next, if this were one piece, is melody. I’m still waiting for that next part.” While it takes more time to breathe, ANOTHER HIM still never approaches resolution.

He also likened the emotional experience of this song to Gregorian or hymnal chanting – less so the literal style of music, but rather the use of reverberation in that musical form to create a full, choral sound from only a few individual voices.

Characterization perspective

The overwhelming sense I get from ANOTHER HIM is one of vulnerability, introspection, and dishevelment, as well as cautious deliberation. It also conveys a certain amount of hope and possibly curiosity, though these are muted in comparison to the hesitance and turmoil.

Compared to what we “see” of him in mus_st_him.ogg, Gaster seems to be far less self-assured in his dialectical thinking. He’s breaking from his traditional pattern of rumination and attempting to reach for some form of personal truth. The cautiousness could also be taken to convey unease or skepticism about the situation at hand, about the probability of success in achieving the “NEW FUTURE,” or even about the Player themself.

As far as the background ambience, its most obvious function is to convey the ethereality of incorporeal, out-of-universe existence, its ebbing and twisting reflecting the shapelessness of a disembodied consciousness. It could even be considered diegetic – as if it is the sound of his state of being, or of this strange, extraplanar space beyond the event horizon.

The ambience could also be taken to convey emotional information, though its separation from the “conscious thought” of the motif could imply many things (as we’ll discuss later in [#004], we have an example within the same chapter of the motif conveying quite a bit of emotionality in itself).

If we take this angle, then it could suggest that Gaster is not integrating emotionality with rational thought, but is at least possibly acknowledging that emotionality — or it’s built up to a point where it can no longer be fully contained or ignored. We could interpret the pauses in the motif as Gaster listening to or meditating on these “voices” – or becoming momentarily overwhelmed by them.

From this perspective, it’s clear that this emotional state is confusing and volatile; the dialogue happening on this level is not nearly as orderly or civil as that heard in the motif. The “lashing” sounds could be taken as flashes of pain; their violence could suggest bad memories, self-criticism, shame, or regret, among other possibilities.

I also think the choice of a percussive “heartbeat” is quite interesting. While not rapid, it could possibly suggest anxiety, as though his heart is pounding. It also suggests intimacy, which in turn requires a certain level of trust – he has allowed us close enough to hear that heartbeat at all, whether or not it’s comfortable for him, or he feels confident that it’s a good idea for him to do so.

Despite this piling on of confusion and unease, the relative clarity and brightness of the motif’s piano seems to twinkle faintly in the dark. This sense of hope gives us something to latch onto amidst the tumult, and that may be true of the character as well. We could read this as a hope that is worth enduring the doubt, the humbling, and the possibility of pain.

The song in context

ANOTHER HIM’s hesitation and vulnerability strikes an interesting contrast with Gaster’s dialogue throughout the Survey sequence. Aside from a very small number of seemingly spontaneous reactions, Gaster in his dialogue – in his intended self-presentation – comes off as unfailingly polite, professional, confident, and generally neutral.

While we needn’t assume that this self-presentation, or the opinions he does express, are insincere, we can still infer that whatever the reality is of his internal state, Gaster is making a concerted effort to keep that information hidden from us. There are obvious practical reasons for this: to maintain the integrity of his study, he needs to minimize his biasing of our behavior.

That said, we could certainly read personal factors into this as well. From Gaster’s POV, the Player possesses a tremendous amount of metaphysical knowledge and ability. Whether or not he has difficulties with trust in general, Gaster certainly has reasons to be very wary of us, something I’ll discuss further in the next section.

The content of the sequence itself (text, background, etc.) warrants its own analysis. I’ll probably do one at like, idk some point probably

[#003] File Select (& Game Over) ambience

While it doesn’t really constitute a “song,” I think it’s worthwhile to look briefly at the sound design in the File Select and Game Over UIs, since they’re still among the very few instances of “face-to-face” interaction we have with the man of the hour. Note that this doesn’t include Darkness Falls, which plays after a certain choice is made at a game over – the next section will discuss that. Because this section covers sound design choices moreso than musical ones, I’ll eschew the format of the other sections and simply analyze these choices in-context.

This is the one section of audio I didn’t review with my research assistant, so you’re just getting my unmoderated opinions here, unfortunately.

For the better part of the game (so far), the File Select screen generally looks and feels the way a Player would expect from an RPG UI, with illustrations, friendly help text, and narrative music:

Post-completion Chapter 1 File Select (Before the Story)

Chapter 2 File Select (Faint Glow)

Similarly, the chapter 2 (or, rather, the post-ch1-completion) Game Over screen displays a genre-appropriate graphic, includes a message of encouragement (or, perhaps more accurately, a plea for Kris to survive) from Kris’s party members, and plays the song Faint Courage.

These File Select & Game Over screens are potentially extremely lore-rich in and of themselves (some of this will come up in the next section), but with regard to this particular discussion, I’m mostly interested in the stark contrast they present when compared to the pre-completion Chapter 1 screens.

Before chapter 1’s completion, when Gaster is strongly implied to be narrating (and possibly facilitating) the Player’s SAVE data manipulation and game over choices, the soundtrack for both screens is profoundly barren.

There’s no “song,” no melody, only an identical low, looping drone for both screens. We know that there can be music here, even very emotional music, and we feel like there probably should be. And yet, there isn’t. This makes these screens feel empty, ominous, and cold, underscoring their dark, ascetic visuals.

I think the fact that so little is being said here is in itself very, very interesting. We know that we aren’t actually alone on these screens; our friendly facilitator is here with us. We also know from the other examples in this document that Deltarune’s Gaster is not inherently associated with a lack of music, nor (as we’ll see in the next song) a lack of emotion in melody. Why is it only in this particular context – when the Player approaches these existential crossroads – that the music disappears entirely?

The File Select screen on its own doesn’t give us a whole lot to work with. While the dialogue here is certainly unsettling (even compared to Gaster’s clinical speech in other scenes) and warrants its own discussion, it still isn’t entirely clear why file manipulation should sound like this.

In the Game Over screen, however, we can start to make inferences. Game Overs are when Gaster’s plans are at the most risk – they’re when a Player is most likely to opt out of the study and never return, leaving Deltarune’s future as-is and any hope of a “NEW FUTURE” unfulfilled.

With that in mind, I think this drone conveys emotional shutdown. Gaster is still there – the drone is his presence, as though he’s trying to keep his breathing slow and measured as he speaks with us – but whatever is happening with him internally, he’s either working hard enough to succeed in hiding it from us, or it’s so overwhelming that he himself can’t even acknowledge it.

What that internal experience could be is anyone’s guess. Personally, I think he’s deeply afraid.

When Gaster seems to panic upon seeing his own name in the Survey, he can simply exit the situation and prevent the Player from making that choice. He can’t, however, prevent us from exiting the game – whether or not he had the power to do so (and he of course doesn’t), doing so would be meddling in the experiment, it’d be a breach of participant consent, and it’d potentially undermine whatever uneasy trust the Player has developed with him. In these moments, he’s entirely at the Player’s mercy.

(Note: this last video shows the game exiting after the creator is named “GASTER.” As of Chapter 2’s release, naming either vessel or creator “GASTER” causes the game to return to the chapter select, rather than exiting.)

Since the same drone plays on the File Select screen, we can infer he’s shut down there as well. It still isn’t as clear what about SAVE manipulation would cause such a strong response, and there are many ways this could be interpreted. It’s worth noting that we don’t currently know whether Gaster is the one executing those actions, or if he’s simply giving us guidance and warnings as we execute them ourselves. More broadly, we don’t know whether Gaster is capable of executing these actions at all.

For right now, my best guess – and I want to be clear that I don’t feel confident this is correct – is that SAVE manipulation is the first obvious indication to both us and to Gaster that he’s willing to accept some amount of “necessary evil” in pursuit of his plans. Based on the seemingly unprecedented gravity of his tone and diction on this screen (especially around erasing SAVEs), this may be when Gaster first recognizes, fully, just how much power he’s entrusted to a Player, how irresponsible it may have been for him to do so, and he is again deeply afraid – this time, not just of us, but of himself.

[#004] Darkness Falls

(This is the song I wrote that post about, that a lot of people seemed to like, which was very cool! But also it was meant more as a throwaway vent post than an actual analysis and was worded kind of strongly/reductively in part because I didn’t expect anyone to actually see it lol. anyway this will reiterate a lot of those thoughts but with A LOT more detail and nuance, possibly more than is necessary lol)

(Quick kudos again to the user who pointed out details about Faint Courage and its relationship to Kris on the Post People Liked. I hadn’t even begun to think through that part of the song when I made the post. It helped a lot with this!)

(Wait one more note: I’d previously thought this sequence only happened in pre-completion Chapter 1, when Gaster was actively present in the UI, but apparently this still happens as of Chapter 2?? The guy just crawls out of the woodwork specifically to narrate our ending and see us off I Guess. I do not have any particularly strong opinions at the moment about what this could Mean because I don’t generally have strong opinions about why he disappeared in the first place except IDK We Got The Hang Of The Game So He Switched On The Normal UI And Now He’s Just Observing Quietly And Taking Notes And Also Waving From Cars And Egg I GUess but anyway I thought I’d point it out because I got it wrong before)

(Oh btw if God kills you it just bypasses the normal screens entirely and returns you to a checkpoint. this detail doesnt mean anything it was obviously implemented for mechanical/joke reasons I just think it’s funny. like even Gaster is just sitting there like ?????? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT. sorry moving on now)

Darkness Falls is only heard after saying “No” at a Game Over. As previously discussed, Game Overs in chapter 1 (pre-completion) feature the Emotional Shutdown Drone™, while post-ch1-completion Game Overs feature the song Faint Courage. Upon refusing to continue, whatever audio is present cuts out entirely, leaving complete silence as Gaster narrates our ending. Immediately after that text cuts out, Darkness Falls begins to play.

While a Player could encounter this before the File Select or after seeing the Tree Room, it felt most logical to me to order it like this for Reasons. Based on both my own experience and that of some other people who responded to the Post People Liked, it seems like a lot of Players, even ones who know about the Tree Rooms, just end up never saying “No” and seeing it at all.

This is the only track in this document’s scope in which the Gaster Sequence occurs alongside another leitmotif: the one found in Faint Courage, the song played in the aforementioned post-ch1-completion Game Over screen (I’ll simply refer to this second motif as Faint Courage from here on).

For the sake of this analysis, I’m only considering the Gaster Sequence part of the song (roughly 0:00 - 0:33) to be directly descriptive of the man himself, as we have good reasons to believe the second motif is specifically saying something about Kris. That’s to say: any character traits being suggested by Faint Courage will be assumed to describe Kris, not Gaster.

However, I’ll still discuss the song as a whole where it makes sense to do so, including consideration of what it could be saying about Gaster’s perspective on Kris, on the moment in which it’s found, or on the broader narrative.

Musical analysis

In an unusual break from precedent, the Gaster Sequence isn’t hidden by or within the other leitmotif featured in this track. Instead, we hear an unaccompanied piano arrangement of the Sequence that then leads into Faint Courage, played on the same piano but now accompanied, and with more instruments gradually added. Each motif takes up roughly half the song’s length, though the latter is slightly longer.

Much like the piano heard in ANOTHER HIM, the keys played during the Sequence have a moderate reverberation applied to them, but are otherwise fairly clear & crisp. Notably, this reverberation still continues after the shift into Faint Courage, as if the previous motif has shifted into a background, supporting role for the next one.

The arrangement of the Gaster Sequence heard here deviates the most by far from the original mold, to the degree that it’d be easy to miss it as an instance of that theme at all. Viewed side by side, the difference is stark. Someone who actually Knows Theory could probably describe it more eloquently than I can, but I’ll do my best to fumble through this with my untrained ear and the input of my research assistant.

This arrangement of the Sequence doesn’t do away with the back-and-forth of the base theme, but the dialogue heard here begs, grasps, and searches, seeming to have no pretense of self-assuredness or strict, rational confidence. It seems more grounded in the fact that this internal conversation really has only one, contiguous “speaker,” as each even-numbered set of bars picks up directly from the set before it, rather than there being a sharp drop between them.

The “speaker’s” opening comment, which begins on a chord, rises like a choking cry or plea, before they seem to attempt rationalization. Unable to answer in kind, searching for something to say but having nothing to meaningfully offer, they volley back on a higher note, as though presenting themself another question. The “speaker” then repeats the same sorrowful, confused entreaty from before – but this time, they continue from that cry to reach toward something, pause as though approaching rest, and then decide there’s something more to say – something entirely different.

Referring back to the “narrative development” reading proposed by my research assistant (first brought up in section [#002]): when my assistant first heard this song without context, he almost immediately stopped the track and said “that, right there, is melody!” He described the addition of a tonal center as making the difference between “color” and “meaning” – ANOTHER HIM adds interest to the base Sequence, but it’s still difficult to find an emotional foothold in it. It’s difficult to parse. Darkness Falls, on the other hand, has obvious musicality. It’s immediately relatable. It’s generally pleasant.

He spent some time discussing the chords found in this arrangement of the Sequence, describing the very deliberate placement of these chords as being its own melodic line of sorts, “going through its own motion, its own process.” He described the pattern as being roughly “harmony, then dissonance, then a stretch of time, then dissonance.” He noted that the one tonic he could identify in this Sequence was just before the turn into Faint Courage.

With this in mind, we could say that the instance of the Sequence heard in Darkness Falls, in contrast to that heard in every other song covered in this document, reaches its own internal resolution. That tonic, leading into the turn, could be read as a choice finally being made.

My research assistant also pulled out a “hero’s journey” narrative from this song. The first half, the Gaster Sequence, continues its push and pull of dialogue and tension, establishing the sense of a problem needing to be solved; while the second half, Faint Courage, approaches that problem with playful curiosity, possibility, and hope, before developing into a heroism heralded by nostalgic, Zelda-like synths, and ending on a literal high note. He noted that this type of narrative is common in ending themes for games, serving as a reflection of the story just completed.

Emotional perspective

The immediate motivator for me to write the Post People Liked was because I’d pulled up Darkness Falls on YouTube (for this analysis lol) and among the video’s top comments was someone saying, more or less, “Boy! It sure is weird that Gaster’s Theme shows up so obviously in this beautiful, moving song!” This was one among many, many comments I’d seen over time across various platforms expressing the same thought.

This confusion is perfectly understandable. As I’ve expressed in several ways in this document and elsewhere, the idea of the Gaster Sequence being arranged in a way that is, in itself, obviously moving – immediately, viscerally moving without any need for the kind of reaching overanalysis I’m doing here – is wholly unprecedented in either Undertale or Deltarune. As I mentioned in the Post People Liked, we’ve been conditioned to view Gaster as anything but another character, and that may be its own form of characterization. And, like I said before, the degree of deviation heard here is so great that many players will likely miss it entirely if they aren’t paying attention or don’t know what to listen for.

That said, it’s very obvious that this arrangement of the motif sounds distinctly loose and emotional. The first half is sorrowful, but its internal development also conveys curiosity and open-heartedness. The heroism of the second half conveys a distinct sense of hope, or at least, satisfaction.

I think it’s worth noting here that, when I initially showed my research assistant the scene in which this song is found, after he’d previously heard the song out of context, his immediate impression was that it felt ironic and mocking, as though the game – maybe even Gaster himself – was deriding the Player for not persisting further. I think this impression makes sense. It’s one that I’ve experienced myself, and based on comments I’ve seen, it certainly seems to be the impression many Players walk away from the first two chapters with.

After a little more discussion, specifically after I presented the idea of Deltarune’s One Ending, and the idea that this ending is likely the “default” ending – the one Gaster knows will happen and seems to be hoping to change – my research assistant felt the song conveyed sincere acceptance. In his words: “whatever ending the player gets, it was heroic that they even tried.”

Characterization perspective

In reference to the idea of this ending theme being ironic or cynical, I think there’s something to be said for the possibility that Gaster’s habitual masking and/or intrinsic propensity for interpersonal oddness leads to others disregarding his sincerity or misinterpreting it as malice. We could argue that this is a trait indicated in a number of other ways beyond this song.

The reverberation of the keys during the Sequence of course recalls the ethereality of Gaster’s extraplanar existence. The fact that the reverberation continues into Faint Courage, combined with the placement of the tonic just before the shift, could be taken to represent a decision by Gaster to take a background role in Kris’s narrative.

Something interesting to consider from that: if the choice was made to take a background role, then what other options were being weighed in the previous dialectics? Does this imply that Gaster has considered more active roles in the past? (Could it be the case that he’s previously taken them, and the outcomes of those past decisions have influenced this latest choice? Is passivity really the best choice he could make here, or is he actually just transferring responsibility? Does he simply not trust himself to do the right thing if given the chance? Sorry this is getting really speculative LOL moving on)

As a number of users mentioned, the inclusion of Faint Courage could be an indication that Gaster is not only mourning the potential loss of the Player and with them, the “NEW FUTURE,” but the potential permanence of Kris’s death in particular. This reading suggests that Gaster feels a great deal of tenderness toward Kris themself; given what we’ve seen of Gaster thus far in this document, it wouldn’t be hard to infer reasons for why he might be especially fond of a misfit kid with self-esteem issues and interpersonal difficulties. (Assuming, of course, that these troubles aren’t directly related to their situation with the Player. Personally, I like to think that the more troubled aspects of Kris’s character are, for the most part, just as true to their real personality as their more “acceptable” or likable aspects are – attributing too much of their struggle to outside influences feels like an undermining of their agency. But I do feel it’s still worthwhile to acknowledge other possibilities, or at least the potential nuance they offer.)

The relationship between Gaster and Kris is absolutely something that warrants further examination as the story continues. While this song (and to a certain degree, the next one) seem to suggest a fair amount of good intent and even tenderness on the part of Gaster toward Kris, there’s certainly still room for complexity and tension on Kris’s part.

The song in context

In a typical game, we’d expect to be returned to a title screen or menu right after choosing not to continue. Deltarune instead gives us Gaster’s narration, then leaves us on a black screen for the roughly one-minute duration of Darkness Falls, before it closes the game window on its own. That begs the question of why the game lingers here on this song in the way it does.

In a metanarrative sense, I think there’s validity to the idea that this choice was made to reinforce that we reached “an end” – not just a game over, but the “default” ending or One Ending to the game, in which the world is covered in darkness. As mentioned before, Darkness Falls sounds to a degree like an end credits song. The game closes because that’s what typically happens after the end – we leave the game.

As far as narrative or character interpretation goes, we do know that (pre-ch1-completion, at least) Gaster is our facilitator out-of-universe in Deltarune from its start to its finish. We have reason to believe that he has control over the screens we’re on (given that he can exit us back to title). We can infer that he would be the one to redirect us to the menu.

We have no reason to think that, just because Gaster’s narration has left the screen, he’s suddenly ceased to be present when Darkness Falls plays. The fact that it starts with his Sequence seems to imply his continued presence. We can infer that he’s the one keeping us here through the song, and the one who finally closes the game.

Maybe he keeps us here because he feels he owes us our ending song – and maybe this song is an expression of what he’s thinking and feeling in that moment.

To reiterate my reading from the Post People Liked: Gaster describes our ending, and then he has nothing left to say. We said “no,” and he can’t violate our consent as participants, but he can’t bear to let us go just yet. His “NEW FUTURE” is in the balance, Kris’s life is in the balance, and on top of that, we can’t deny that the man is probably just lonely.

So, we’re left alone in the dark with him, and for the first time, we “see” him entirely exposed – no confident, clinical dialogue, no choices to make, no spr_mysteryman, no True Lab fog or trees for him to hide behind. We sit there with him as he works quietly through the situation – perhaps even entreating us to come back and try again later – and when Darkness Falls ends, when he finally reaches some form of acceptance, he decides he can’t keep us there any longer, and closes the game.

[#005] man.ogg (Tree Room)

man.ogg is the track that plays in the secret Tree Room, and is notably not found on the original Deltarune OSTs thus far. While a first-time player could technically experience this track before the previous two discussed, most players going in blind won’t learn about the secret room until after their first playthrough, or potentially until chapter 2.

I know there’s some debate in the fanbase over whether or not Gaster is the unseen (at least to the Player) man encountered in the Tree Room and elsewhere. Aside from the arguable use of his motif in this song, which I’ll get to in a moment, I think there are other context clues indicating that he’s intended to be representative of Gaster in some way:

Gaster, in particular, seems to never be referred to by name except when being referred to by the “followers” or the Sound Test UI. The reasons for this could be metanarrative (to maintain the mystery around him) or narrative (to indicate that Gaster has distanced himself from his name, for whatever reason).

Precedent from Undertale associates Gaster with the word “man,” specifically unmodified instances.

Aside from spr_mysteryman and the possible relevance of Memoryhead and its attacks, UTDR never represent Gaster as a sprite visible to players. After all, as far as we’re aware, he no longer has a physical form for us to see. The fact that Deltarune’s Man is always hidden from our view feels like a clear nod to this.

Musical analysis

man.ogg is a brief, unaccompanied piano piece, seemingly a waltz (fan-arranged sheet music for reference – I’m a big fan of the tone descriptor “surreptitious yet jocular”).

While it’s subtle, it can arguably be read as a variation of the Gaster Sequence. Gaster Theme Everywhere Skeptic Matthew Sandstrom describes this variation as a “Garbled Gaster”:

The melody and rhythm are somewhat garbled, but the right notes are there, even if the order is wrong.

He identifies two other tracks in chapter 1 that seem to use this same Garbled Gaster motif: April 2012 and, VERY, VERY INTERESTINGLY, THE HOLY. I won’t be getting into those tracks here, but I think it’s worth pointing out that a distinct “Man” motif might be an ongoing thing to look out for.

For what it’s worth, my research assistant also felt that man.ogg was likely an intentional variation on the Gaster Sequence. His justification included the thought that the motif could largely be boiled down to the “top two notes.” Make of that what you will.

I won’t worry too much about comparing this directly to mus_st_him.ogg as I have with other tracks in this document, since it seems to be almost a new motif in itself. The fact that “the right notes are there” but the “order is wrong” is worth considering, though – it’s the same Sequence in an almost unrecognizable form. It’s no longer a dialectic, but a partnered dance. Keeping with precedent, there’s also a very subtle, almost imperceptible echo applied to it.

As a final note, man.ogg is actually not an entirely new track – it’s been identified as a rework of a fan song (“Waltz of Seccom Masada”) made by Toby Fox for the game Yume Nikki (“Dream Diary”). Specifically, it’s a theme he wrote for the character known to Yume Nikki fans as Seccom Masada-sensei.

[#005-A] A Brief Tangent on Seccom Masada-sensei

As I mentioned in the previous tangent ([#001-A]), I want to be careful about suggesting too much from reworked tracks that were meant for or made in reference to other projects. After all, MEGALOVANIA isn’t meant to suggest that Sans is ascending to God Tier or likes saying swears. (It’s worth noting that the aforementioned April 2012, which seems to use the Man motif, is also a rework of an unreleased Homestuck track.)

However, much like with Giygas, the connections between Gaster and Uboa have been intuitively obvious since the first Fun event investigations on Starmen.net. (Toby Fox literally used a slightly edited Uboa for Dr. Andonuts’s final boss overworld sprite. The dude likes Uboa, OK?)

So, again, I don’t think it’s unreasonable in this case to take a closer look at a very pointed reference to Yume Nikki as we gather information.

Masada-sensei’s appearance in Yume Nikki is very brief; demonstrations of the segment may be found on YouTube. While the connections between spr_mysteryman’s design and Uboa are well-known, the idea that Masada-sensei and Gaster may also be comparable in some ways is far more obscure, but worth considering.

Some things of possible note from the segment itself:

Reaching Masada-sensei’s spaceship requires descending a long flight of stairs into what appears to be some type of basement. At one point, Madotsuki must equip the Umbrella Effect (which causes her to hold an umbrella while rain falls) in order to extinguish a fire blocking her way.

Masada-sensei’s sprite is in black-and-white – white face, black clothes and hair. His only discernible facial feature is a set of googly eyes that make him look a little neurotic. He also has a non-standard reaction to the Knife Effect – approaching him with it equipped will cause him to back away in fright.

When first encountered, he turns in place steadily and fairly slowly in front of some kind of piano or organ, as though playing the instrument and/or operating it as a type of control panel. Interacting with him causes him to beep at us.

The next room to the right contains a bed. If the player has Madotsuki sleep in the bed, she will wake up later to the sound of the ship’s alarm system. At this point, Masada-sensei can be seen turning rapidly and erratically, as though panicked.

The spaceship will then be seen to crash onto a planet. It is raining when they land. Masada-sensei stands still, looking out the window.

Masada-sensei and Madotsuki seem to be alone on the planet, which stretches for several screens, desolate, until it culminates in a hole in the ground, atop a mound, leading to another long flight of stairs that descend into darkness and an even stranger, more inscrutable setpiece.

Possible character parallels worth noting:

Masada-sensei’s location in a spaceship suggests associations with scientific activity.

Yume Nikki fans commonly interpret Masada-sensei as a music teacher, hence the honorific. As Royal Scientist, Dr. Gaster would have been an authority in his field. We also know that at least one of Undertale’s Royal Scientists (Alphys) is a schoolteacher in Deltarune.

Masada-sensei certainly bears some physical resemblance to the widely accepted image of Gaster; and similarly to Gaster, the small amount of subtle characterization he was given made him a very popular object of fans’ affections and speculations. It’s worth noting, however, that Masada-sensei seems to be pretty universally understood as a sympathetic and very “human” figure – something that can’t necessarily be said for Gaster among the fanbase historically and at large.

I won’t extrapolate on this information too much here, but for this section, the “teacher” thing is worth keeping in mind.

Emotional perspective

I would certainly say “surreptitious yet jocular” feels like an accurate description of this song. To me it feels playful, but out-of-step. It seems like it should be a more cheerful piece, but there’s an underlying sadness or confusion leaking through.

What stands out to me most about this track is how rough it sounds, like the piano player is new to the instrument. For being such a simple piece, there’s a clumsiness to it, a lack of confidence – it sounds like it’s being played just a little too slowly, like the piano player is practicing the muscle memory needed to play it at full speed, and the rhythm stutters momentarily between bars, as if they’ve tripped over their own fingers. A few of the notes sound dissonant, like they were played wrong.

To me, this conveys a sense of imperfect but earnest effort. The piano player is not particularly good at this yet, they don’t feel confident about it, but they’re continuing to play. While the song isn’t exactly succeeding at evoking cheer or comfort, it still conveys sincere curiosity.

Characterization perspective

The way this song deviates from the base Sequence, combined with its rough, unrefined sound, could suggest that Gaster is breaking form in these scenes, perhaps stepping out of a comfort zone and attempting a new form of learning.

Aside from the traffic easter egg in chapter 2 (only seen if he was met in chapter 1), these are the only scenes in which Deltarune’s Gaster manifests in-universe and interacts directly with another character. Given that Gaster seems to prefer staying hidden as much as possible, and is also literally an extraplanar being, it isn’t difficult to see why he might be out of practice for this kind of interaction.

The playfulness suggests a drop in facade, and may reflect an innocent and almost childlike curiosity about the Player and/or Kris. The use of a waltz suggests a desire for connection, as though it’s an invitation to dance.

(Setting aside any specific Gaster relevance, I feel there’s a more general trend developing in Deltarune of waltzes being used to convey themes around connection, such as loneliness, the awkwardness and growing pains of a new relationship, the vulnerability and comfort of trusting a new friend, and the despair of a valued connection unexpectedly severed.)

The evocation of a novice sound could also suggest a more general relationship to teaching or nurturing. Recalling the tangent on Seccom Masada-sensei, we could read this song abstractly as a teacher’s perspective of a student’s development.

While Egg could have any number of worthwhile meanings as a symbol in Deltarune, we shouldn’t disregard the obvious: Egg is a young, fragile life in need of gentle handling and incubation. By giving Kris Egg, Gaster seems to be asking them (and/or the Player) to protect it — the future of Egg is in their (our) hands now.

We also have Lancer telling Kris they “won’t get through [their] teen years without at least one Egg” (itself a reference to EarthBound). With this perspective, we could read the act of giving Egg to be itself a gesture of nurturing on Gaster’s part, if admittedly a very bizarre and confusing one from Kris’s/our POV.

The fact that Players on a Snowgrave route will be locked out of chapter 2’s Tree Room could suggest that this behavior causes Gaster to second guess his trust in the Player and their ability to handle such a fragile responsibility.

[#006] Takeaways

While Gaster’s dialogue projects an air of unwavering, confident professionalism and emotional neutrality, the musical information presented alongside him hints toward a complex emotionality lying beneath his mask. Gaster is far from unfeeling – he’s simply hard to read, and that may be, to some degree, his intent.

In general, Gaster may have difficulty trusting his own judgment, whether as a response to past mistakes, and/or as a natural result of his tendencies toward hyper-analytical rumination and emotional repression.

The Gaster of Deltarune seems to be engaging in a great deal of reflection and introspection. He may be proceeding with this study despite having serious reservations about it. He seems disheveled and, to a certain degree, desperate. Whatever reasons Gaster has for being so interested in the future of Deltarune’s world, these reasons are powerful enough that they are, in many ways, breaking him down.

Despite his spoken eagerness to connect with the Player, close observation may suggest that he’s quietly uneasy with the arrangement and may be more skeptical and/or fearful of us than he lets on.

For whatever reasons, Gaster also seems to have a particular fondness for and sentimentality toward Kris, who he seems to want to nurture and protect, while also viewing them as a potential savior and source of hope. The association of both characters with piano seems to underscore a connection between them.

OK im tired of writing about this now. THE END !!!Q!

#deltarune #deltarune theory #wd gaster #$ waltz of a shattered man #$ chadley deltaruminations original lorepost corner #long post

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minisculecosmos · 2 years

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Predictions

Given the sheer overload of meta recently, I figured I’d try my hand at doing some guess work pertaining to tomorrow’s episode, and any metas I had planned, I’ll just update & accommodate for post-episode 5. Here we go.

As we all know, the teaser features a conversation between Kinn and his father, Porsche getting the shit beat out of him by Big and Ken, and Kim hitting up Porschay. All these things will be seen in some form this episode, all the good all the bad. Obviously we all look forward to this stuff, but there’s some major clean up to be done after the ending of ep4, and I know it’s gonna be nasty.

For the record, I am ignoring any and all book knowledge I have here, which is already extremely limited. The following content is just my best guess round up of what I think we may see tomorrow.

Kinn is shown on the hotel bed, awake, in a robe, and evidently extremely conflicted. Porsche is still off in dreamland, and in for what is likely to be a very rude awakening. Or not.

I recently saw a theory via anon that Kinn may be kind to Porsche come morning, care for him, and do what he can to fix last night. If that is the case, I still highly doubt they’ll talk about anything. My guess, is Kinn either leaves and Porsche wakes up alone, confused, and in no small amount of pain, or he stays but the morning is just a whirlwind rush of trying to get back to home base, some careful gestures and looks thrown in, but no time to deal and recover.

Kinn... is likely to regret things a little. It’s obvious he’s already harboring some extra-fond feelings for Porsche, and I think he is all too aware of this fact. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have Done That with him the previous night. We know he’s not afraid of brining thingsu p either, given the whole “herbal spirit” convo last time. But this? Is going to buried, deep and made deeper by the fear of knowing Porsche is a weakness, and his father sees that, so does Vegas, so do his friends- and while it seems cute they all know, Kinn faces very real threat from showing any level of affection. Our guy is about to become the most simmering just-under-the-surface blend of horny, angry, and terrified we’ve ever seen, and take it out in all the wrong ways (re: many boytoys and a toxic ex). Talk about Freefall, right?

Porsche is highly unlikely to lash out, I think. I would be very surprised if the “Porsche broods in the shower” clip from the trailer doesn’t make an appearance in the first ten minutes or so. He’ll be confused, lonely, hurt on many levels, and needing answers, fast. Porsche is a people-dependent person. We know he thrives of validation from others, whether that be in bed, bar-tending, or now, his ability as a bodyguard. I doubt he’ll really put effort into seeking Kinn out, but stares with uncertainty of what his strategy is is most definitely on the table. Hence why we see him getting abused by Ken and Big later- Porsche is a weakness, and now we see him showing weakness, and is quickly exploited by the others, namely the guy who also has a crush on Kinn and feels more than a little miffed at being put on the back burner for the crazy new guy.

That said, BOC loves to trick us, so if that shot ends up being a training sequence gone wrong more than anything else, still, I would not be surprised.

Now. Vegas.

Second episode, first appearance, dude swoops in with a crescendo of music and a blind-siding appearance in frame. In episode four, he comes out of nowhere, again, now accompanied by warning alarms despite his friendly visage. (I have a whole meta on Vegas analysis waiting in drafts. Sorry, you’ll have to wait another day or so. I need to get more in depth on the score and editing choices with him.) We know Vegas is a big player here. He has every reason to want to climb, resources, a vendetta, and now a shiny treasure to pursue. Yes, he finds Pete at some point, but much like a Niffler, he just wants the nearest shiny thing. Which currently, is Kinn’s new, oblivious, and too-valuable bodyguard.

Whether we see him again in this episode is debatable, but highly likely. Vegas is waiting for Porsche to leave Kinn (which I do think will happen, Porsche attempting to cut ties to some degree), be heartbroken, and swoop in like a convenient friend who’s always been nice to him, and the past is the past, but how dare Kinn treat you like that? You deserve better. My bodyguards are treated much more fairly. Kinn won’t bother us.

You see where this is going?

Bible has this amazing job of looking absolutely gorgeous but with the beady eyes of a shark waiting to launch upon its unsuspecting prey. It’s the main thing I notice about him in-scene. Vegas has every intention of possessing Porsche. Unless Porsche subconsciously distrusts Vegas with a gut feeling, not just because of his crazy boss’s words (as Porsche is probably not too fond of them two right now), but due to a foggy memory... there’s two ways this could go. Either:

1. Porsche remembers Vegas assaulting him but ultimately sees him as a better option than Kinn regardless, leaning into his offers and sweet words, which is how we get those second family estate scenes from the trailer, or

2. Porsche doesn’t remember, and is even more vulnerable as a result to external manipulation.

Either way, Porsche is clinging on to some very unstable shreds of self-dignity and humor to survive right now. Either way, Vegas has one heck of a golden opportunity. And I can’t wait to see which one it’ll be.

And I apologize to my anxiety and blood pressure ahead of time. It’s about to be through the roof.

On a more light hearted note... Kim Porschay!!!

I’ve seen more than a couple posts concerned about their age difference. I highly doubt we’ll get anything beyond a 13+ rated BL content from these two- think 2gether levels of innocence. Barcode is young, but he also has a character to play. Just means it’ll be a bit more censored. But the beginnings of romance will be there.

Kim is still in full murder board. My official opinion: I don’t think he thinks Porsche is the mole. And if he does, he won’t for more than a couple episodes tops. I think he is trying to uncover some deep-buried crime that when solved could send a frickin huge earthquake through the Thai underworld.

Kim calls up Porschay, I bet. They’ll meet up and, again, it’ll either go Porschay being adorable and spilling how lost, alone, and naive he is in this and Kim either trusts him or doesn’t at all, or Porschay is a more Porsche brand of oblivious and fails to not seem incredibly suspicious by sheer accident. Either way, these two will up the dose of doe-eyed stares and blinding smiles. I am so here for their wholesome content it’s not even funny.

Now for some less-major thoughts...

If Jom shows back up, Tem is likely not far behind. Will Time (and maybe Tay, regardless) come find Porsche at Yok’s bar if he leaves? Will those two hit it off? We know so little of Tem’s character right now that it’s hard to really guess at anything. But I bet they meet in the bar again.

Or at some pink drink place at a mall somewhere by total “accident” I mean who knows.

I’d love to see Uncle Chan again, because he just seems great. Definitely praying for a Porsche and Porschay reunion. Man if Kim meets Porsche though... oh ho ho. Guitarboy better not let those stares go unchecked because I don’t think Porsche is so destroyed that he won’t notice someone pursuing his brother.

Unless, option B, Porschay keeps it all a secret from Porsche and just says he has his usual friends and nearly gets kille cause Porsche doesn’t know where he is and they meet and... hoo boy it’s gonna a plot device, I can tell

Ramblings over folks! In Summary: Porsche resentful and depressed, Kinn Horngry and repressed, KimPorschay wholesomeness, and Vegas being the hottest shark-looking mofo I’ve ever had to good fortune to virtually gaze upon.

Feel free to add, argue, or applaud my thoughts in the comments, I love responding and getting feedback. I think any avenue for thought rn in these t-minus however many hours is beneficial. There’s only so muc smut we can mainline before losing it.

Anyway, back to my fics. I have one about the whole KinnPorsche KimPorschay thing, and I’m hoping the new episode doesn’t discourage me from continuing it. It has a lot of crack potential.

If you made it this far, hi, I love you, get some rest, drink some water, try to accomplish a real life task. Just something small before we all waste the day on KP tomorrow. Many hugs!! Blessings!!! Happy May!!!

#kinnporsche #kinnporche the series #my IMM mates #kinnporsche meta #this is what I do with my time after my babysitting charges are asleep #I have things to do man and here I am #the kinnporsche brainrot train goes hoot hoot #to the tune of freefall though #goodnight #mini’s predictions

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asterism343 · 2 years

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Ok so a while ago i promised a post about "strange time signatures in Duel Links character themes" and so here it is (after a while too long).

Ok so first of all, what even is a time signature? It isn't exactly common knowledge, so it's best that I explain now. I'll try my best, but if you're still confused, you can try looking it up (there are plenty of videos and articles that might explain it better). Oh and prepare for a wall of text, because I will try to be as clear as possible which for me usually involves way too much text. which might make things less clear? I'm trying my best ok

PART 1: If You Know This Already, You Can Skip It

A time signature is a term used in music theory. It basically defines how each "measure" is structured. It consists of two numbers, a top one and a bottom one. (or a first and second one in the limitations of a text post.) Oh and songs are divided into little chunks basically, that's what a measure is. And a part of a song (like a verse or chorus) will usually be a whole number of measures long.

Now, in a time signature, the first number states how many beats are in a measure, which is the most important. and the second number states what type of note counts as one beat. Since we aren't going to be looking at actual sheet music probably, you don't have to worry about the second number for most of this.

Now, the most common time signature is 4/4 time. It's so common that it's literally called "common time". If you were to pick any random song in your mixtape, there's an extremely high chance that it's in 4/4. Also just about every anime opening and ending is entirely in 4/4 (i only know one exception), i guess it's easier to animate to?

also common but less so are 3‎/‎4 (waltz time), 2/2 (cut time) and 6/8 (doesn't have a special name as far as i know)

there are also weird ones out there like 5/4 and 7/4 and 9/16 and 15/16 which are really cool but pretty uncommon. 7/4 coolest time signature don't @ me

also sometimes what the second number is can be unclear or debatable, and 3‎/‎4 and 6/8 can sometimes sound pretty similar. So if I say something is 6/8 but you found proof that it's actually 3‎/‎4 or 12/8 or something, well...easy mistake to make.

ok so here's some data about the relevant time signatures: 4/4: Basically considered the default in Western music. It has a very "regular" feeling about it. that might be the reason why probably at least 90% of the music you've ever heard is in 4/4 time. 3‎/‎4: Has a more "fancy" vibe to it, probably because of the ballroom dancing association. Sounds a bit uneven, but in a way that makes sense. 6/8: A lot like 3‎/‎4, but generally feels a lot faster, really the best way to tell is seeing if the measures have six beats. Sometimes feels less fancy because it'd be basically impossible to waltz to, unless you're really good at it I guess

One more thing! sometimes songs will switch time signatures in the middle. It's cool. For a Yu-Gi-Oh! relevant example, remember how earlier I said

Also just about every anime opening and ending is entirely in 4/4 (i only know one exception), i guess it's easier to animate to?

That one exception is Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS ED 5 ("Are You Ready"), which starts in 4/4 but switches to 6/8 halfway through. It's cool! You see it in rock music sometimes too, it's kinda rare but it's really fun when you find it. (most popular example is "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by The Beatles, 3‎‎/‎‎4 verses and 4/4 choruses)

⁂

PART 2: The Actual Post I Promised

OKAY SO it is now time for the actual Duel Links stuff! like i promised!! sorry for the detour lol

So here's some statistics. If I've counted correctly, there are 74 unique character themes in Duel Links (counting Rio Kamishiro, who is not currently available, but i found her theme online). Out of those, only 5 have time signature shenanigans (i.e., are not entirely in 4/4 time). so that's a mere 6.75676%.

Alright so I'm gonna order these by Duel World, because that's the way that makes most sense. oh and i'll provide links to each song on youtube, timestamped to a good part to hear the time signature clearly imo

DM world...has none. Which I found pretty surprising, because it has more unique character themes than any other world yet. How strange. GX and 5D's also have none, at least none yet. I'll get into predictions later.

First up in DSoD world is...Aigami! His theme is in 3‎/‎4 time. I wasn't expecting it, but it makes sense in the song, i think. And our other one for DSoD is Sera! Her theme is is really interesting, because I had to listen to it a few times to figure it out. It starts in 6/8, and then makes an extremely smooth transition to 4/4 at around 0:36 (listen for what sounds like the song slowing down), and then switches back. It's cool!

Our first one for ZEXAL is the Arclight brothers, who all share the same theme. (Quinton aka Ⅴ aka Chris isn't in the game yet, but presumably this will be his theme too). Infuriatingly, this is not in 4/4 or 3‎/‎4 but is in fact 6/8. AAAGH i was SO FRUSTRATED when Ⅳ showed up and his theme WASN'T 4/4 like WHAAAAT?!? it's a banger tho so I'm not complaining...much.

but like COME ON what if Ⅳ had 4/4 (literally like, all the songs ever almost) and Ⅲ had 3‎/‎4 ('cause he's kinda fancy-lookin) and Ⅴ had 5/4 (strange vibes, but in a cool way) that would be AWESOME but noooooo it had to be 6/8 like seriously whyyyyyy

Next up for ZEXAL is Rio Kamishiro, who will be having her first unlock event pretty soon but showed up as a Roaming event a while ago. Her theme is 3‎/‎4 and was really the easiest to figure out like for some of them I was like "hmmm is this 3‎/‎4 or 6/8?" but this was mega obvious so thanks Rio

Next up is Sora Shiun'in, whose theme is the whole reason I decided to figure this all out in the first place. In fact, I think that out of all the themes in Duel Links Sora's theme represents his character the best, and the time signature switch from 3‎/‎4 to 4/4 makes it work. Like see, the 3‎/‎4 represents his innocent-seeming façade, and the switch to 4/4 is revealing his true motives, but then it stays in 4/4 but goes back to the happy-sounding theme because he's still a kid and ends up turning good. well that's my interpretation at least

oh and one more thing! if you're playing as an ARC-V character and you summon that character's ace monster, a special theme will play, and that's in 6/8 so it's like a bonus!

⁂

PART 3: Wild Guessing

Okay, now it's time for some predictions! Chances are most of these will be wrong, but I'm gonna say 'em anyways.

Sherry leBlanc (5D's): 3‎/‎4 It's that fancy French vibe, there's no way it could be anything else right? That's how I see it. Ray Shingetsu/Vector (ZEXAL): 4/4→6/8 or 3‎/‎4→4/4 this is a long shot, ok? but i think the "time signature switch = reveal of true intentions" theory I've got about Sora's theme is promising. and I think it would be cool. Yuuri (ARC-V): 6/8 He's kinda got that fancy vibe, right? But he's also super intense and scary. So I think 6/8 makes the most sense. Spectre (VRAINS): 3‎/‎4 Similar "fancy" vibes as Sherry. It's likely, but not certain. Ghost Girl/Emma Bessho (VRAINS): 5/4 or 7/4 okay this is straight-up wishful thinking, i admit it. but she's kind of an unusual person, so how about an unusual time signature? huh? i just want someone to have a cool time signature in their theme is that too much to ask

Please tell me what you think, and if you have any other predictions! I love talking about this stuff.

#reblogs are okay and appreciated!#yugioh #yugioh duel links #yugioh dsod #yugioh 5ds #yugioh zexal #yugioh arc v #yugioh vrains #music #music theory

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life-s-luvly · 1 year

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about me!!

☆ just some intro stuffs

~i’m 15, non-binary (afab), and i use any pronouns

~unlabeled in my sexuality but i’m thinking pan or bi?

~right now, my style is pretty grunge, but i want to lean more like yk rockstars gf look this summer ykykyk

☆ things i love

~fnaf!! i grew up watching markiplier, jacksepticeye, and matpat play and do theories and stuff about it. i’m not as i guess “involved” for lack of a better term, than i used to be, but i still always watch any new theories or videos from creators i like about it :)

~music! i cant even explain it well enough in words how i love it. i love punk, rock, punk-rock, indie, shoegaze, pop, metal, soul, alt, rap, literally anything but country

☆ now some of my personality!! (you don’t have to read all of this, it’s kinda just rants of things i love!!)

~i love experiencing life. i want to be everything i cant. i wish to be everything. i maladaptive daydream, and while yes it may be harmful to my grades, my attention, my relationships, i honestly don’t care. i love my little worlds i’ve made in my head. “i hate how limiting this human life is. because i wish i could be a woman, a man, a mother and a father, to not have kids at all, i want to try every single food, to read every single book, to visit every place it is humanly possible to visit, to learn every single language, to gain all the knowledge of this world and to be completely clueless, i want to be a writer, a painter, a scientist, a musician, a lawyer. i want to meet everyone and make friends i'll can't even count to be a lover and to love, to be both the artist and the muse, oh god I wish I had a thousand lives this one is just not enough.”

~i’m a hopeless romantic. i want to experience love and passion. i want to care for someone and be cared back, love someone and have that love reciprocated. i maladaptive daydream, like i said, and my universes key component are about love. different ways i fall in love, meet people, live life.

~i love people. i love how we all have our own little ways of expressing ourselves with our styles or music or hair, it’s all just so cute. i love watching people experience life. looking around, you can see just anything, and you have no idea of their past, present, or future. all you know is how you perceive them in that moment. and that is so special to me. i love people watching and observing every little thing about nature, that be people, animals, plants, you name it. i love that you can be reading all of this, know this much about me, while not knowing what i look like, who i have been, who i ever will be. while people i call my own friends don’t even know this about me.

this parts gonna be short, but just so you know, i struggle with paranoia, depression, social anxiety (diagnosed/told by therapists or doctors)

i’m not sure of any other mental illnesses

i also have a history of eating disorders, self harm, and suicidal tendencies

this blog i’ll either repost things i like, random thoughts, or i might post some vents, so for the venting part i just wanted to let you know of my past because that is what it may involve. any vent i post i’ll put a tw, so yk in case any of that triggers you!!

#girlblogging #it girl #pinterest #coquette

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lemonlurkrr · 3 years

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@aureateart ok. My favourite parts of twilight princess (and some other random thoughts about TP sprinkled in there) taken from my monster TP word vomit google doc :

Link lmao

Ok but for real, I like this incarnation of Link :)

I love Ordon (it just seems like such a chill and cozy village)

ALSO love how easy it is to interpret Link as being a sort of older brother figure to the Ordon kiddos. It’s just,, super cute? AND GHHH nice nice good thanks nintendo for giving me characters to care about/characters that I can imagine Link caring about

He didn’t sign up for any of this (tbh, none of the Links really signed up for this jshdjsd). But I mean like, dude was just going to take a trip to castle town, drop a gift off for the royal family, and come back. But haHA oopsies he did get to castle town eventually but definitely not the way he expected hsjdhsd

He’s just a little dude?

AND FUCK. HE REALLY HAD NEVER BEEN OUTSIDE OF ORDON UNTIL ALL OF THAT

everything is new for the player AND Link

Midna

She’s cool :)

she really just

*teleports into your jail cell* hello whore.

I am no master at writing but AYYYY she do got a character arc!!!

She was actually pretty helpful sometimes, I ALWAYS checked in with her before turning to a game guide

Other NPCs

NICE

Love all of the TP character designs (ASHEI’S ARMOUR??? AOWOAOAOOAO)

Saving Zelda and all of Hyrule was important yea but thinking back maybe it was more like, the Ordonians and the kids were what was pushing Link to keep on going

I like the Resistance members :) Very video gamey of them to have one NPC assigned to each dungeon but hey!!! Kinda cool getting to see a little glimpse of each of em

Idk, it’s just fun to imagine Link popping into Telma’s bar after each dungeon and taking a little rest :) (or to celebrate? maybe just chat, idk, give this man some downtime!!)

Honestly it was just kind of nice that Link wasn’t entirely alone. I mean, I know Midna was there the whole time, but I am always for giving Link a big group of friends (see my love for hyrule warriors, age of calamity, and LU LMAO)

Hero’s shade, very very cool, kinda sad he died with regrets but HEY. He got to pass on his knowledge eventually

AND the connection to OoT?? AND assumed to be related by blood too????? GOOD SHIT

Ilia, I REALLY really wanted to like her (er, it’s not like I dislike her, she’s just,,, kinda there for me).

It definitely seems like Nintendo was pushing to make her the romantic interest, but GHHHHH they really threw that out of the window for me by having her lose her memories

I saw a text post a while ago that said it would have been interesting if Ilia was Link’s sister instead and YES!! That would have been cool too :0

Wish we got to know Zelda a little more

I feel like we barely know anything about her

Idk man, like I said earlier, I never really had any sort of drive to save Zelda during my playthroughs

She obviously knows Midna, so maybe if they gave us just a little bit more of that relationship I’d be more interested in her?

TP WORLD BUILDINGGGG

Botw has good world building too, but each race felt kinda,,, isolated? I absolutely love the different architecture and vibe each town has (and all the the weapons too) but ghhh yea everyone felt so separated. As far as I can remember, we don’t see tooo much of the races interacting with each other? Now that I’m typing that out maybe that’s to be expected because of the calamity but KLSJDKJFD ANYWAYS THIS IS ABOUT TP

The world feels nice and alive, love how populated everything is

Castle town I like castle town a lot, it feels dense and busy and I really like how you can’t talk to every NPC you see

Very cool very fun that we got to see the Gorons hanging out in multiple spots

kinda wish we got to see the Zoras a little more (I guess they are a bit limited since they need water but GHHHH the tp zoras are so prebby,,)

BUT HEY, I do remember seeing a zora or two hanging out in the hot springs around death mountain after beating the lakebed temple (I think, might have been a different dungeon)

but aaaa would have been nice to see them in at least a couple of other places. I think it would have really added to the “congrats Link!! You’re restoring peace to Hyrule” feeling you get from seeing the Gorons hanging out in Kakariko and Castle Town

ORDON

Love how chill it is and how it’s kind of separate from Hyrule proper

They really do seem to be doing their own thing apart from the rest of Hyrule

Just kinda adds onto the “he’s just a regular dude minding his own business” kind of vibes I get from TP Link

Also I like Ordona :)

THE LIGHT SPIRITS,,

Love their design

And love how they’re not exactly like a pure white?

Different spirit representing each aspect of the triforce my beloved

But yes hi I think Ordona is very cool

Who are you, how did you get here, which goddess do you represent? Do you even represent one of the three golden goddesses? Do the Ordonians know about you? Have any of them ever SEEN you??? Do they worship you? Does anybody even know about the existence of the light spirits?? FUCK so many questions but ghhh I like how they broke the status quo a bit by throwing in a fourth spirit :)

I feel like this one is kinda weird but I like that voice sample they used in the light spirit music. It’s spooky and pretty at the same time :)

cutscenes mmmmm

Ok ok, the spooky lanayru cutscene is very good

BUT THE “Link, Chosen Hero! Lend us the last of your power!” CUTSCENE MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM LOVE IT SO MUCH

IT just

Idk man

It just hit different

I like the music

And seeing the light spirits swimming around in the light juice water whatever it is

Summoning the light arrows?

AND HHHHH “Lend us the last of your power!” THIS IS IT. This is the final battle.

Seeing Zelda bow down, and then Link putting his hand out 👌👌👌

Link: ok bud, let’s do this together :)

Connection to OoT (did I already mention this? Maybe., Whatever)

Very cool nintendo :)

I love seeing connections between all the diff zelda games.

Because like, on one hand, they’re all separate from each other because of yknow, individual hero stuff. BUT ALSO, they’re all connected because of the reincarnation stuff

Grrrr walking through the sacred grove and going “The Hero of Time walked around here a long time ago” FUCK THATS SO COOL

Is the Hero’s Shade watching me? What does he think of me? DIsappointed? Proud? The Hero of Time went through HELL so this timeline didn’t have to deal with any of the shit Ganon was gonna pull with the triforce, better not fuck this UP Link!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Midlink is cute

Kinda hurts that she smashed the mirror but that was probably so Nintendo didn’t have to worry about people going “but what about the twili??????” for any of the other games LMAO

BUT ALSO LIKE SKJDKLJFJ There are some pretty massive plot holes in TP anyway so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ whatever it’s fine we’ll just use this for angst because GOD do y’all like angst

So is Shadlink

Honestly don’t know where this ship came from but it’s cute so whatever

THE MUSIC??

Love Midna’s theme and how they referenced the dark world theme from ALttP (I remember trying to learn the dark world theme on the piano and doing the Leonardo DiCaprio point meme at the little jingle I recognized from Midna’s theme)

Hyrule field theme SLAPS.

Apparently references a couple of the other over-world themes from the previous zelda games (I got this from 8-bit Music theory’s video on the over-world zelda themes, he talks about TP at around 11:40 but def recommend watching the whole video if you’re into music analysis stuff)

So there’s this bit of the Hyrule Field theme, I don’t know the official name for it but I remember seeing somewhere it being called the “at an advantage theme” since yeah, you hear it during the boss music whenever you expose their weak points. FUCKINGGG LOVE THAT. Didn’t notice it during my first playthrough, but hearing it during my second was like a little easter egg for my ears every time :)

Midna’s lament is very pretty (and fun to play on the piano)

COURAGE THEME.

I didn’t care for it too much when I started playing the game but hearing it in ZREO’s arrangement of the Hyrule Field theme literally makes me turn into a puddle of emotions. Also hearing it around and of the Ordon kids (I think it plays after Link saves Colin) AAAAAAAAAAAAA

Orchestra piece #1 and #2 HOLY SHIT????????????????

Literally, the first time I listened to those I just,,,, plugged in my headphones, volume 100, layed on the floor/against my desk and silently vibed. I don’t know what the hell it is, but those two just fit so well with TP?? I still avoid listening to them nowadays cause if I DO I definitely will get overwhelmed with the “god I love this game so FUCKING MUCH” kind of feels.

Wolf link sucks at singing

the first time I heard him howling Zelda’s Lullaby I lost my shit because LKSJLDKSGLKJFSKG god that was.,, Bad. Anyways, hearing him howl some of the songs from OoT was cute :)

TP STAFF ROLL???

VERY GOOD. IT’s like 10 minutes long and GOD do I love every single second of it. It doesn’t have the same energy as the skyward sword staff roll or the orchestra pieces but GOD does it hit good??

Nice and calm after that big exciting adventure. Maybe it would have been more fun or emotional to have a higher energy piece but it was really nice getting to sit back and watch the camera fly around Hyrule. Seeing like, the Gorons and the Zoras having a good time, the kids returning to Ordon? GOOD SHIT.

and AAAAA that end, when you hear the main Zelda theme and see Link riding off out of Faron woods on Epona… good shit. It gets you thinking, where the hell is he going? What is he doing? Off ot do more adventuring? Going to help out the resistance or something? Going to help Zelda? Or maybe he’s trying to figure out a way to restore the mirror of twilight? Whoooo knows.

hhHHHHhhh it’s just that final reminder that YES!!! YOU JUST PLAYED A ZELDA GAME. JUST ANOTHER STORY APART OF THE WHOLE EPIC OF THE ZELDA SERIES AS A WHOLE

I also want to acknowledge the instrument/samples they used for all the twili stuff.

They’re all just so unique and contrast SO well with the rest of the TP OST. LIKE FUCK!! Anytime I hear the screech from the Twilit Kargarok? Sends a shiver down my spine. I associate those sounds SO strongly with the twili realm. (Like, the same way you associate the BSHEWW VVWWMMM sounds with light sabers)

I love it so god damn much

literally any time there’s a certain sound or motif associated with something I lose my shit

Sacred grove sacred grove sacred gro-

lovely lovely lovely so much fun playing that on the piano. AND again, I did the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme when I heard the theme from the lost woods come in GHHHHHHHH

shoutout to TP Faron Woods for helping me study and get through all of my schoolwork

BLEGUUHHH can you tell that I really love music?

and also yea I guess TP is kinda cool too :\

IF YOU READ ALL OF THAT THANKS I GUESS

#lemonspeakrr #LEMON SPEAKS 2K WORDS ABOUT TWILIGHT PRINCESS BECAUSE THEY ARE INSANE.

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the-river-person · 3 years

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Secrets of the Deltarune

Okay so I was taking a closer look at the Deltarune and I started to notice some really weird things. It’s a symbol for the Kingdom of Monsters, right? Wrong. Gerson tells us “That's the Delta Rune, the emblem of our kingdom.The Kingdom...Of Monsters.” Okay so its the same thing, right? Nope. I looked up emblem and its distinction from Symbol. A Symbol represents an idea, a process, or a physical entity. While an Emblem is often an abstract that represents a concept like a moral truth or an allegory. And when it is used for a person, it is usually a King, a saint, or even a deity. An emblem crystallizes in concrete, visual terms some abstraction: a deity, a tribe or nation, or a virtue or vice and can be worn as an identifier if worn as say a patch or on clothing or armor or carried on a flag or banner or shield. So what does it matter? Well Gerson even tells us why. “That emblem actually predates written history.The original meaning has been lost to time...“ Hold up. Predates written history? The beginning of written history is approximately 5500 years ago. Somewhere around 3400 B.C.E. Thats a long time. And the prophecy that goes with the symbol talks about the Underground going empty, so it can only really be as old as The War Between Humans and Monsters. But...when was that? The game doesn’t tell us the exact dates. Well we have a couple clues. At the beginning of the game we have a little cut-scene of the war and then a bit where we see a human going up the mountain only to fall down into the Underground. Most players assume that this is you, beginning your adventure. Except its not. Later in the game, when you SAVE Asriel in the True Pacifist Route, we’re shown another cutscene with the exact same human figure in EXACTLY the same position, being helped by a very young Asriel and the silhouette of Toriel. It’s Chara, not Frisk. So our date of 201X (2010-2019) takes place long before Frisk even arrives. We don’t know how long before. That really doesn’t help with when they were first thrown down there though. So I took a look at the images before that, of the war. The first image shows a human who is very different from the later pictures. Both the make of the spear and the animal hide-like clothing suggest that it’s probably stone age. The text tells us a very general “Long Ago”when describing how both races ruled the earth together. In the next two images we’re shown the actual war. The crowd of humans have various things like torches and spears. Those diamond type spears are very similar to Roman Pilums. The Human figure with a sword was interesting though. He bore a mantle (cape or cloak) and is sporting a sword. Though there’s not much detail, we can still identify the general time period of the sword. The size isn’t big enough for a proper claymore or longsword, or even a hand and half sword. Since our figure appears to be moving forward, and we can guess that it’s not in a friendly manner given the context, yet still holding the sword in one hand instead of two, it’s probably a one handed broadsword. It also has a cruciform hilt (cross-shaped) that is slightly curved. The blade is quite wide with what appears to be straight edges (based on two images with limited detail). And it has a very narrow Ricasso, an unsharpened length of blade just above the guard or handle. Ricassos were used all throughout history, but they’re pretty notable for the Early Medieval Period in Europe. And the rest of the sword (blade type, length, crossguard, and method of use) is very reminiscent of a Medieval Knightly Arming Sword, the prominent type of sword in that period from the 10th to 13th centuries. So I had to take a closer look at my spears. Turns out, they actually more closely resemble a medieval cavalry lance or javelin. And many Javelins have their root in the style of the Roman Pilums, including the sometimes diamond shaped tips. The sword and mantle of the figure suggest heavily he’s a knight, and backed up by the spear carriers we can guess that its the Early Medieval Period, possibly the beginning of the Romanesque Period. So that would place us all roughly a thousand and at least ten years before Chara fell into the Underground in 201X. Asgore was certainly alive back then. In the Genocide Route Gerson says “Long ago, ASGORE and I agreed that escaping would be pointless...Since once we left, humans would just kill us.“ and in the Post-Pacifist when you go back to talk to everyone he’ll say this when talking about Undyne “I used to be a hero myself, back in the old days. Gerson, the Hammer of Justice.” He even talks about how Undyne would follow him around when he was beating up bad guys, and try to help, by enthusiastically attacking people at random such as the mailman. This tells us that Gerson and Asgore are as old as the original war and both had been part of the battle. And both lived long enough to survive till now. Gerson is quite old looking, while Asgore is not. He explains this by saying that Boss Monsters don’t age unless they have children and then they age as their children grow, otherwise they’ll be the same age forever. But Undyne doesn’t appear to be old. And I started to wonder how long normal monsters lived in comparison to Boss Monsters. A long time for sure. From the Undertale 5th Anniversary Alarm Clock Dialogue we can learn that Asgore once knew a character called Rudy (who also appears in the Deltarune Game), who he met at Hotland University and appeared to be generally the same age as Asgore. Since it takes place in Hotland we know that it was already when they were underground, Asgore was King and was already doing his Santa Clause thing, and that Asgore was trying to find ways to occupy his time aside from actually Ruling. In the dialogue he tells us that Rudy began to look older than him. “I was there for it all. His Youth, his Marriage, his Fatherhood. Then, suddenly, one day... he fell down. ... Rudy... I... was never able to show you the sun.” Monsters can live a long time. But Boss Monsters, as long as they don’t have a child, can live nearly forever as long as they aren’t killed. Based on that, Undyne is probably quite young and Gerson is incredibly old even for a Monster, and yet only recently he’s stopped charging around fighting bad guys. Since Undyne was with him, those bad guys were in the Underground, and his distinction of her attacking not so bad folk like the mailman, means that he was probably in an official capacity to fight crime, such as a guardsman, or maybe captain of the royal guard. So. Even though there’s plenty of time for a prophecy to spring up naturally. We have a number of Monsters who have actually lived that long that would be more than happy to correct mistakes and assumptions. Gerson is quite elderly and is a tad forgetful, but he still knows much. Characters such as Toriel and Asgore are still hale and hearty, and both had witnessed so much. Though we know very little about the character, Elder Puzzler is also implied to be quite aged and knows a great deal about the “Puzzling Roots” of Monster History. You’re probably wondering what all of this is leading to. Well with these characters in place to maintain knowledge of history in the populace, then we have an Underground which created a prophecy AFTER it was trapped there, which leads me to conclude that when the prophecy was created, it must have been referencing something older than the War of Monsters and Humans.

“The original meaning has been lost to time... All we know is that the triangles symbolize us monsters below, and the winged circle above symbolizes... Somethin' else. Most people say it's the 'angel,' from the prophecy...” ‘Angel’. This is when we hear about the angel. We see the Deltarune on Toriel’s clothing and on the Ruins door. As well as behind Gerson himself. The thing he mentions clearly has wings of some kind. Surrounding a ball (note to self: Look into possible connection between mythical ball artifact from the piano room and the Deltarune Emblem). It looks a little like the fairy from the Zelda series. Those “triangles” are the greek letter Delta. That letter has a lot of connections and meanings to it. A river delta is shaped like the letter which is how it got its name. There are a number of maths and science connections. But the two connections you’d be interested in are that a Delta chord is another name for a Major Seventh Chord in music. The soundtrack of Undertale uses these chords to do fantastic things with the tone and aesthetic of its leitmotifs, changing them from a happy or hopeful tune, to a dark and despairing one without actually changing the melody. And in a subfield of Set Theory, a branch of mathematics and philosophical logic, it is used to calculate and examines the conditions under which one or the other player of a game has a winning strategy, and the consequences of the existence of such strategies. The games studied in set theory are usually Gale–Stewart games—two-player games of perfect information (each player, when making any decision, is perfectly informed of all the events that have previously occurred, including the "initialization event" of the game (e.g. the starting hands of each player in a card game)) in which the players make an infinite sequence of moves and there are no draws. But why is one of them turned upside down? I started looking things up again. Turns out there is such a symbol. The Nabla symbol is the Greek Letter Delta only inverted so that it appears upside down. Its name comes from the Phoenician harp shape, though its also called the “Del”. A musical connection is exactly what Toby would do. But its main use is in mathematics, where it is a mathematical notation to represent three different operators which make equations infinitely easier to write. These equations are all concerned with what is called Physical Mathematics. That is... Mathematics that calculate and have to do with measuring the physical world. Why is that relevant? Well the difference between humans and monsters is that humans have physical bodies while monsters are made primarily of magic. Well I also discovered that the Delta symbol for the ancient Greeks was sometimes used to as an abbreviation for the word δύση , which meant the West in the compass points. West, westerly, sunset, twilight, nightfall, dusk, darkness, decline, end of a day. All this symbolism for a couple of triangles. There’s entire books devoted to them. And he calls the whole symbol, deltas and angel alike, the Delta RUNE. Whats a rune? Well a rune is a letter, but specifically a letter from the writing of one of the Germanic Languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet. Interestingly... the Greek Letter Delta does NOT qualify as a Rune. In any stretch of the word. I searched for hours. What I DID find was the etymological origins of the word Rune. It comes from a Proto-Germanic word “rūnō“ which means something along the lines of “whisper, mystery, secret, secret conversation, letter”. Interesting. So since its paired up with the Delta... it could be taken to mean “The Secret of the Delta” or “The Delta’s Secret”. If we make a few assumptions we might even get something like “The Secret of the West” or “The Mystery of the Twilight” or numerous other variations that have different connotations. It’s conjecture, certainly, and possibly a few stretches. But it is certainly there to think about. My thoughts centered around the positioning of the letters. The idea that the one facing up represented Humanity, and the two ordinary Deltas were Monsters. With the Angel above them all. Or rather, SOMETHING above them all. We have no proof that the idea of an Angel existed before the Underground’s prophecy. I like to think it did because usually that sort of thing draws on previously existing beliefs and ideas. For all we know the symbol could represent an abstract idea that governed both monsters and humans. Like “Kill or be killed” or “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” or other basic idiomatic ideologies of that sort. Other than the realization that the Deltarune is older than the prophecy and the Underground, I didn’t have a concrete idea of what the Emblem actually means. Just a lot of theories and connective ideas. But there’s certainly a lot to be found. I don’t really know how much thought Toby actually put into this, but he’s quite well known for secrets within secrets. So its possible he knew all this going in. If he’s anything like me, and I am notorious for writing this sort of twisting references within references within references into my stories, then he’s probably at least aware of an existing connection. Its quite probably that the Deltarune is exactly what Gerson tells us. An emblematic set of symbols that is used to represent the continuing Kingdom of Monsters and has been since before written history. But as he says... its so old that it might have had a different meaning originally, whatever idea the Monsters wanted to remember, wanted to uphold enough to use it for their royal family and their kingdom, a reminder. Of something, or someone.

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sukirichi · 3 years

Note

suk *ehem saeren (new pseud is sexy btw and also your new theme vvv sexc bestie!!!😌😌) okay so when i read chp 7-8 i was like ‘y/n c’mon. give kita the chance he deserves i mean IT’S THE MR. KITA SHINSUKE WTF WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK?!’ but then oh god, the museum scene holy fuck. no because the cherry blossom tree works so well as an analogy for the main couple’s love story. yeah, cherry blossoms signify new beginnings and are mostly adorned by many when they bloom. why? aside from the indication of renewal, it only stays for a certain period of the year which is always a sight to see and because of the limited time frame, everyone knows the beauty it exudes will be gone after the time passes (death). going back, suna and y/n’s routine of spending time together to being away from each other’s presence is the recurring theme for them to grow. seeing them say too many goodbyes brings that anxious feeling of ‘ahh. it we will be back to square one again' (also, not the fact that broken record connotes annoying repetition of something is aksjalks🤧)

also yeah, when you love a person, the one should make you feel calm and secure and only then you can distinguish whether you truly love them or just merely an infatuation. but in y/n’s case, whether she has that rose-tinted glasses on or not, identifying the blaring red flags is hard to accept notice if that same marker is the one that brings her comfort due to its familiarity. and idk where to put this in my last ask because i don’t have enough brain juice to make a theory, but the way suna is nervous for his first date with mari, he should have second guessed why he’s acting like that when the happiness he felt with y/n is way more different with mari (should have listened to osamu and aran and ooh im sorry i assumed they samu and suna were schoolmates in high school when they are not akhfak). sure, he’s nervous out of excitement but for what? it's like foreshadowing that he needs to put up a front with mari just to keep her (but we all know that is not the case) in those 3 years they spent together, did he feel more on the edge than relaxed tho? 🤨

and for someone who loathes her half-sister, nagisa sure is invested with the happenings in y/n. it’s like she’s always on the lookout for her mistakes and dote it on her until her last breath. the mari and nagisa connection is possible though and it is not like they live countries apart but their meeting, from the way i see it, is like a silver lining for nagisa to topple y/n lol🤪 and aah, now it get why nagisa called y/n whore at the restaurant. when i read that part, i thought that they have somewhat lived under the same roof for some time but the succeeding chps showed they did not and was still confused because she has never shown any interest about what is going on with her affiliated family except hatred and then that happened. i guess when she burst out at that moment, it was when the two had met?

it’s kinda disheartening to see how lucy subtly(??) controls y/n’s love life. maybe because she doesn’t want y/n to fall under the same category for marrying out of love when she is the one who refuses to divorce the dad (= she shouldn’t). should have filed that divorce, not doing so is a recipe for disaster itself. and mari 😤😤WHAT DID I SAY?? (well in this case, it is shunning others away from suna) i cannot, for my peace of mind, be able to be in the same vicinity as her. for all i know, i could be dragging her on the floor out of pure disgust. i can’t wait to find out who died and who is in critical condition. though, that critical scenario lead to afterlife too, so no wishful thinking here. but, ahh are we getting a background story for suna too?🥺 this is where i'm betting my wish at. while we’re at it, i wonder how atsumu will react to suna impregnating mari. i imagine he would say ‘dude wtf?! she chose you! how could you?!’ i know he is happy with his gf but can’t help to be caring as ever to y/n.

reading chps 7-9 in one go was a pleasant experience 1.because school😔🤢 2.angst is way more comforting than comedy 3.no more anxious thoughts of why and how this happened because at this point, i’m just playing hidden mickey here. but i truly love the story, can’t believe it’s already ending by the next update. saerennn i hope ur okay bub?🥺 and get that hashbrowns after finishing the series or while working for the last track. u deserve it!! luv u~💕💕

🍳

my egg anon, hello !! I’m so sorry for the late response, my asks were piled up and I got busy with school :<

AND AAAAAH THANK YOU I’M SO HAPPY YOU GOT THE MESSAGE OF THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS!! it was actually taken from the music video I linked back to the end of the chapter and my friend and I were discussing it because I think there were lots of symbolism on it. the one about new beginnings because the cherry blossoms only come for a certain time of the year before a new season comes also represents how YN and Suna keep going back and forth to loving, getting complicated, forgiving, getting complicated and so on and so forth. I love everything you said because it was exactly how I wanted the story to be like <33 the part about being anxious too !! that’s why YN keeps saying ‘this cycle never ends.’ and YESSSS THAT’S ALSO WHY I CHOSE BROKEN RECORDS AS THE TITLE. the ‘records’ refer to them playing love songs and then apology songs to each other over and over but then the song stops and they start to have new stories :<<

oooooh yes, totally. judging from my own experience, I can tell too whether it’s love or infatuation. when I’m with someone I love, I feel totally at peace and safe with them. it’s comfortable, it’s not supposed to be scary or nerve wracking. even if something wrong happened, you’re assured by the knowledge they’d be patient and listen to you. AND THIS PART WHERE YOU SAID THIS ABOUT SUNA ‘whether she has that rose-tinted glasses on or not, identifying the blaring red flags is hard to accept notice if that same marker is the one that brings her comfort due to its familiarity’ ITS 100% ACCURATE. same goes for suna tbh. YN was the one who broke his heart when they broke up but she was also the only able to comfort him. it’s hard for them to let each other go because they’re both a source of pain and familiarity that they struggle to find in this world. yes there’s some slight foreshadowing in how suna reacted with mari. he was on edge and he didn’t know what to do most of the time because he doesn’t understand mari the same way he understands YN. as for him being on edge, he most definitely was tiptoeing because mari placed a lot of boundaries such as keeping YN completely out of the picture and making her presence a bare minimum.

NOOOO BECAUSE THAT’S SO TRUE. Nagisa is always updated with YN. YN is the one who updates her about her life because she’s always trying to make conversation, but Nagisa pretends to be ‘uninterested’ although don’t let that fool you because she remembers every little detail just in case she can use it against her half sister. nagisa and mari met after mari broke up with suna in ch1 so yes, nagisa already knew the situation !! that’s why she called YN a ‘whore’ because if she ‘was with Suna’ then why is she also ‘dating’ Kita? so in nagisa’s eyes, YN is just the same as her mom.

lucy was half and half. sometimes she has good intentions but most of the time she’s also just messed in the head and she really fucked with YN’s trust issues. HMMM I WANTED A BACKGROUND STORY FOR SUNA TOO TBH but I didn’t know where to fit it and I didn’t want to add random, unnecessary details :<< AND FOR ATSUMUUUUU…. atsumu crushed on YN real hard… until now, even though he has a gf (now wife in the timeskip) you can tell he still cares about YN

NAUUUR angst is way more comforting than comedy sobs. and yes baby, I’m doing okay !! just a lil busy with uni work but nothing I can’t handle <33 THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS EGG ANON, I REALLY LOVE HEARING YOUR THOUGHTS ON IT BECAUSE YOU HAVE SUCH A BIG BRAIN AHHH I love you, stay safe too bb <33

#asks with naoya's trophy wife #series ( broken records )#long ask #anon:🍳

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lexosaurus · 4 years

Audio

What would the Danny Phantom Title Theme sound like if I were hired to score a reboot, and couldn’t use any of the copyrighted music?

youtube

This was made using entirely FREE music scoring software. And if you follow me, you may have heard me mention it before!

Of course, I’m talking about the famous Musescore.

So what do I actually think about this program? Do I recommend people interested in music download this? Is it easy to learn? Is it, like many free music programs, too limited to even use properly? Or is it worth the time and effort to learn?

Here is my 100% honest review of Musescore 3:

To start off, I will say Musescore does know I am making this review. However, they are not paying me money, and little do they know, I’ve actually been using their software since they were still on Musescore 1.

So yeah, I know this software inside and out.

And even though I’m not a professional composer and I barely have a grasp on my music theory rules (I just found out how polyrhythms work like two weeks ago), Musescore is actually the reason I got into music writing at all. And that’s because their product is for people like you and me, just casual music fans or aspiring music professionals who maybe wanna try their hand at writing something cool.

Musescore is designed for people who are interested in writing music and don’t want to be babied by these basic softwares that genuinely barely sound listenable, or the “free” softwares that only allow 1-3 instruments at a time. That doesn’t mean that Musescore doesn’t have its flaws, which I will get into, but it is a serious software designed to be easy to use for the beginner, and still entertaining and useful for the advanced user.

And for those who are worried about not being able to read sheet music, let me tell you a little secret: ear/listening skills are just as, if not more important than reading skills are! If you can’t read sheet music yet, that’s fine! Trust your ears, and your eyes will follow!

Opening up this software can seem intimidating. But once you break it down, it’s not so hard!

In fact, here is a really awesome tutorial for new users on how to use these tools!

Like any software, there is a learning curve. But I HIGHLY recommend you learn some keyboard shortcuts because those will be your friend!

My absolute favorite thing about this is how Musescore allows users to add and delete an unlimited amount of instruments (well, as many as your CPU will allow). You can adjust your viewing mode from “page view” to “continuous view” if you end up with more instruments than can fit on the page. Which I do a lot. You can also go into “page settings” to adjust this as well.

And the Palettes sidebar organization tool is really great because it allows you to drag-and-drop your different tools in whichever order you want. You can also hide different tools you never use. Like I personally never use guitar tabs, so I have them hidden.

One useful feature I recommend all users get familiar with is the mixer which is located under “view.”

Basically, this allows fine-tuning for instrument volume levels, allows you to adjust the master gain to avoid clipping (aka when your audio hits 0 decibels and then makes a cracking noise), and allows you to pan your audio to one ear and another, so as to allow instruments to “get out of the way” of each other.

Another super cool thing with this is the ability to load in different sounds onto the instruments.

Because while Musescore’s default sounds are pretty impressive given the price of $0, there are other sound packs out there that independent creators in the Musescore community have made.

This is where I’ve gotten a bunch of mine.

Now for criticisms! I’ll put my three biggest constructive feedback on the software here:

1) The reverb and chorus sliders have been in the mixer there for years, but they’ve never seemed to do anything? I know I’m not the first person to be confused by their function, and I’ve tried poking around the forums to see if I’m missing something, but I haven’t found an answer.

2) When you have an instrument, say a violin, playing a whole note, you can’t actually crescendo or decrescendo through that whole note. This posed an obstacle for my colligate music group because I would send people mp3′s of their parts as written for easier learning, but the dynamic markings wouldn’t play back correctly on held notes. I know Musescore is aware of this, and I thought I saw something in a patch a bit ago saying they had fixed it or were working on it, but as of today (11/19/19), it is still an issue.

3) With any sort of line such as a crescendo or 8va marker, it would be really great if we were able to drag the line out past one measure. We currently can aesthetically for the PDF, but in the physical score itself in order to playback correctly, you have to place in a line on each measure, make them invisible (pressing ‘V’ on the keyboard), and then drag the first one out for the desired length. You can probably see how this might be a little slow and cluttered.

Overall, my criticisms of the software don’t devalue how much I love it and how much I enjoy using it as a casual user. Pretty much 90% of the music theory knowledge I have now is just through playing around with Musescore, testing out different instrument combos, and actually downloading other people’s scores online (which you can do if you make a free account on their website).

Just for kicks, here is the VERY FIRST score I ever wrote. Which I called “Bottled Water” because I guess young me wanted to be quirky?

I love the community around the software, I love how everyone’s just in it to learn as much as they can, and I genuinely recommend this product to anyone, regardless of composition ability, who wants to get into writing music.

And if you want an audio editing software to pair it with, I highly recommend Audacity, which is actually the program I used when editing this audio to make it a bit brighter and compress it a little! It’s also a free program, and I think these two softwares really pair well together.

This was a pretty long post, but I hope for those of my followers who have been wanting to get into music writing, or if you’ve downloaded the software but haven’t really gotten into it yet, I definitely recommend you try it out.

And here is my DP Title Card Theme score if you want to check it out or download it for your own use!

#my music #musescore #review #lexx gives an honest review #but fr fr between Musescore and Audacity you will be able to make quality content things #and even though i have LPX now #i still use musescore a lot #because it's FUN #and it's easy to read #and sometimes you just wanna score something

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paladin-lynx · 5 years

Text

Human SQUIPtober 2019, Day 5: Dance

Human SQUIPtober 2019 Day 5: Dance

Ships Involved: StageDorks (Jeremy x Christine)

Setting: Post-musical AU where the SQUIP somehow returned as a human and was redeemed/rehabilitated by Jeremy (with the help of the rest of the squad), and lived with him having nowhere else to go. He looks pretty similar to how he looked in Jeremy’s head, and physically he looks to be around college age.

Trigger/Content Warnings: None

Author’s Notes: So I didn’t know this was a thing until yesterday, so I didn’t get to make anything for the first few days of Human SQUIPtober. I may go back and come up with a little something for those days if I get the chance (I’m a little bummed I missed Day 4 because I adore BMC Superpowered AUs). I can’t draw, so I’ll offer my writing instead! I’ll try to explore a slew of settings, ships, and themes for the days I get to participate in. Also, I’ve been in somewhat of a writing slump lately, so apologies if my writing isn’t up to standard. I hope you enjoy!

Squip had a few running theories about how and why he’d been brought back as a human. SQUIPs themselves had limited information on where exactly they came from, seeing as there was always a bit of bleed between their data and their hosts’ and it was too risky to have too much that could cross between them, so Squip had absolutely no idea if something like this had ever happened before. It wasn’t like he had his databanks to fall back on anymore, although he had retained a good amount of the knowledge he had from his time in Jeremy’s head. Granted, his now-human brain could only contain so much without making the facts a bit fuzzy.

He hypothesized that how much power he’d gained from syncing with so many other SQUIPs combined with the fact that Jeremy himself hadn’t been the one to drink the Mountain Dew Red, and perhaps the possibility of him having been a defective pill – seeing as he’d broken the protocol of serving his host in order to pursue a higher purpose – could have mixed together to reactivate him. He wasn’t sure the rest of Jeremy’s friend group’s SQUIPs were strong enough to have managed something similar.

But the sudden gain of an actual human body? That was the one part he couldn’t wrap his head around. He wasn’t sure it was worth agonizing over.

The more sentimental part of him – because, for God’s sake, he had one of those now – wondered if perhaps there were supernatural forces at work that wanted him to feel karma. Jeremy had gone through a careful procedure in the hospital to have his SQUIP removed, since it had still muttered and criticized him even after everything, although its voice had been nothing more than a hiss in the back of his head, and that was the last thing Squip had remembered. He’d begged Jeremy one more time to keep him, and then there was nothing. Before there was suddenly everything.

First waking up as a human hadn’t exactly been easy. He guessed the surgeons had merely tossed the SQUIP out in the garbage, assuming it’d be destroyed eventually since they still didn’t have a solid idea on what it even was, so when he suddenly came to, it was a very unpleasant awakening in the Beth Israel dumpster. Everything had hit him at once: the putrid smell of the waste, the disgusting texture, the burning in his eyes, the confusion rattling his mind. He was feeling, and after having been a supercomputer above simple human functions like the basic senses and emotions, it was too overwhelming. He’d ended up blacking out again almost as soon as he’d woken up.

Then, through a convoluted series of events that involved him being taken into the hospital and having to sweet-talk his way out – even with the nervousness that perhaps he’d inherited from Jeremy, it appeared he still had his charisma at the very least – he’d ended up seeking out Jeremy. He needed to get a grip, but he honestly had next to no idea what he was doing. Sure, he had all of the information in his head about what it meant to be human and what he needed to do in order to stay alive, but that was a lot different than suddenly experiencing everything for real.

More than suddenly being able to physically feel and smell and the like, what was most disconcerting was the menagerie of voices snapping at him in his head. There seemed to be two sides: the first were growling at him: “look how far you’ve fallen”, “you used to be incredible, now look at you”, “how pathetic, coming back to life only to be like this”. Then there was the other side: “do you understand the weight of what you’ve done?”, “you’re a monster, all you ever did was hurt people”, “the only reason you’ve come back is so that you can suffer the consequences of your actions.” It had him feeling so terribly small, doing everything he could to tune out the venomous thoughts. What was it that Jeremy had always said to ward him off? Loudest one is mine? That wasn’t particularly helpful when he knew that all of those voices were his.

Jeremy, of course, had been more than wary at first about helping Squip. He’d actually initially slammed the door in his face before seeing that Squip appeared to be on the verge of a panic attack on his doorstep, and he’d caved and ushered him into the house. He’d talked him down and gotten the story out of him, and reluctantly agreed to let him crash there for the time being.

Since then, Squip had improved immensely. He still had some old habits that stuck, of course. He was very blunt with his opinions, although he was working on that, since he’d unintentionally upset some of Jeremy’s friends with his comments. He was a perfectionist in every sense, a stickler for organization and cleanliness. He was, unsurprisingly, a tech junkie and interested in absorbing as much information as he could. He sometimes slipped into Japanese without realizing when speaking, since he found it easier to process things in what was technically his mother tongue.

The weight of his guilt always sat heavy on his shoulders, but he knew that the most he could do now was try and make up for what he’d done. It was in a SQUIP’s nature to serve and assist, and so he was always lending a hand. He’d become something of an elder brother to the squad, especially when it came to Jeremy. He was still protective over the boy as if he were still his host, and while Jeremy seemed to appreciate the attention most of the time now that he was used to it, there were plenty of times he had to tell Squip to back off and give him space to figure things out on his own. Michael had teased Squip for being as nosy as Jenna Rolan, which Squip still couldn’t decide if that was true or not. Or if he should be insulted or not.

Even with the intense remorse, though, Squip was learning to love being human. He was starting to find himself and distance himself from the cold, heartless machine he’d once been. One of the things he’d discovered he loved was music. Granted, he was sure he’d probably liked it before. SQUIPs were learning computers, after all, and he remembered observing everyone dancing at the Halloween party and deciding to jump in and analyze how the teenagers were having fun. And, perhaps somewhere deep in his code, he’d decided he was having fun, as well. Nowadays, Jeremy still sometimes made fun of him for the handful of times he’d caught Squip in the middle of his chores, playing music and swaying along to the beat, sometimes even humming or singing. Jeremy wouldn’t admit it, but Squip knew that he silently thought Squip had a nice voice, as well. It didn’t have quite as much of a surfer lilt as before, but it was still quite similar to how he’d sounded while in Jeremy’s mind.

Jeremy wasn’t much of a dancer, but Christine was. Now that they were dating – Squip sometimes felt even guiltier for being happy that, even after all the awful events, the pair had actually gotten together and were still in a healthy relationship – it wasn’t unusual for Christine to drag Jeremy into her antics. But the boy was so taken with her that he probably would’ve gone along with her if she’d asked him to rob a bank. Squip often ruffled Jeremy’s hair and teased him for how smitten he was, to which Jeremy’s face would flush and he would just swat him away while half-heartedly protesting.

Whenever Christine came over, Squip tended to hide away in his room. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to see Christine – everyone of course had been concerned at first about accepting him, but they’d mostly accepted him by now, seeing as he was rather harmless as just a boring old human and honestly it was amusing to them to see him learning how to be a functional person – but because he wanted to give the couple their privacy. While there was nothing scandalous happening, Squip knew that there were multiple occasions they’d ended up making out on the couch or just in general be lovey-dovey in that way only high school sweethearts could. In any case, he didn’t want to third wheel, although Michael seemed more than happy to take that role and hang out with Jeremy and Christine when the were together. Squip guessed that Michael often took the opportunity to embarrass Jeremy in front of Christine. You got a lot of dirt on someone if you were their closest friend for nearly thirteen years. You got equally as much dirt having lived in their brain for a few months, but Squip usually only poked fun at Jeremy when it was just the two of them in the house.

Today was one of the days Squip locked himself away so Jeremy and Christine could have their alone time. At some point, he heard the front door open then slam shut and he guessed that Michael had come to join. Maybe they would once again try to recruit Christine as their Player 3 to get through The Cafetorium, which they still couldn’t seem to beat. Squip had offered to help, but Jeremy had protested that Squip would give them an unfair advantage since he’d once been a piece of technology and that they needed to do it the human way. It was a bit silly, but Squip didn’t press the matter. He wondered if they’d ever get past the level. He supposed they’d have to eventually, after enough tries.

Christine normally came over for a few hours, or sometimes she’d stay the night and Squip could sneak out of his room once they’d settled in Jeremy’s– he’d been gifted the Heeres’ guest bedroom, as well as an old laptop and phone that Mr. Heere had managed to buy for cheap from his office – but normally, he just stayed holed up, only coming out if he needed to use the bathroom or if he felt like he was needed for a specific reason.

Squip was still learning how to tend to his basic needs like eating and sleeping – sleeping was hit-or-miss most nights, since either he was kept up by insomnia or kept restless with nightmares reminding him of what he’d once been – so he had set alarms on his phone to keep himself in check. He nearly jumped as his alarm reminding him to eat lunch went off and he scrambled to turn it off, frowning. Christine was over a little earlier than usual, but Squip didn’t really want to interrupt the trio downstairs by making himself food, even if he could just bring it back up to his room, although he’d rather eat in the kitchen. However, he knew that if he waited for Christine and maybe Michael, as well, to leave, he’d go without food for quite a while. So, with a sigh, he stuffed his phone into his pocket and opened the door.

He had expected to be met with the sounds of zombie groans and gunshots. What he hadn’t expected was to instead hear Hall & Oates blasting from the living room.

“What I want, you’ve got, and it might be hard to handle—”

Raising an eyebrow, Squip slowly made his way down the stairs, peeking over the railing towards the living room, and he blinked in surprise.

They were streaming music from the TV, and there was Christine on the couch, giggling loudly. And there was Michael, standing and grinning, taking Jeremy’s hand and twirling him along to the music while Jeremy, flushed in the face, laughed and let himself spin. Once Jeremy was facing Michael again, Michael took both his hands and moved in perfect rhythm – he loved his music, after all, especially his oldies that he’d dragged Jeremy down with him into – with the song.

“But like the flame that burns the candle, the candle feeds the flame, yeah yeah—”

It was only a moment before Christine kicked her legs in excitement and burst with that energy everyone knew her for, jumping up and cutting in so that all three were holding hands and just moving back and forth in an uncoordinated dance. Squip couldn’t help thinking of the memories he’d glimpsed of Jeremy’s Bar Mitzvah party, music blaring in a ballroom while teens and adults alike tried to figure out how to dance along on the shiny dancefloor under flashing lights. Michael had grabbed Jeremy back then just like he did now.

“You make my dreams come true!”

Squip found himself breaking into a fond smile as he watched. The three of them looked ridiculous, just dancing in the middle of the living room, almost bumping into the coffee table more than once, but they were having fun. Squip found that that was part of the human experience. Things didn’t have to have a purpose; people found joy in the most trivial of things, whether it was feeling the breeze tousling your hair on a summer day or deciding you wanted to break out into song and dance for no reason at all. Humans didn’t have to analyze and foresee plausible futures. They just acted. Of course, that often landed them in trouble, but other times they just threw caution to the wind in order to have a good time.

Deciding that the trio was distracted enough, Squip made his way down the rest of the staircase, attempting to keep his footfalls light, but of course the house decided to work against him and one of the last stairs creaked loudly. Swearing under his breath, he turned to see that the dancing had stopped and all three teenagers were gazing at him. He felt heat rise to his cheeks.

“I’ll only be a moment, I just wanted to grab something to eat,” he nearly mumbled, hurriedly making his way down the rest of the stairs so he could shuffle past. However, he froze when he felt something grab his sleeve and he turned with slightly widened eyes to see Michael grinning at him.

“C’mon, S, join us,” he insisted. Out of all of the squad, Michael was the last person Squip had expected to accept him. But Michael seemed so taken by the idea of a computer becoming a person that he no longer viewed Squip as a threat. Besides, as soon as Jeremy had warmed up to him, it was basically inevitable that Michael would, too.

Squip’s brow creased at Michael’s words. “Join you?” he echoed. “I wouldn’t want to intrude on your, er…whatever it is you’re doing. Little dance party.”

He peeked up to see that Jeremy and Christine had already resumed dancing, Christine looping her arms around Jeremy’s neck while Jeremy lightly had his hands on her hips. Squip was convinced that Jeremy spent 85% of his time around Christine with a blush on his face. Despite the fact that they’d been dating for quite a while now, Jeremy still seemed so surprised that he’d actually gotten the girl he’d been pining after since freshman year.

“On a night when bad dreams become a screamer, when they're messin’ with a dreamer, I can laugh it in the face—”

“You’re not intruding, I literally invited you, dude,” Michael huffed, pulling Squip towards the living room, causing Squip to stumble a step as he was forced to follow. He scrambled for a response. He felt like he shouldn’t be doing this, despite the fact that Michael was right and they’d quite literally requested he dance with them. But it still felt like he was interrupting. He couldn’t help loathing how feelings often contradicted one another or just happened out of nowhere.

“Michael—” he tried, only to get cut off by Jeremy snickering. The other boy was giving him a half-smirk.

“I think you’re just nervous because you can’t dance,” he teased.

Despite how far he’d come, sometimes Squip’s pride still got the better of him. And he knew Jeremy knew that. The boy was obviously goading him on.

And, like a stupid human, Squip fell right for the bait.

He pulled away from Michael and separated Jeremy and Christine – making sure not to shove them in the process – and wrapped an arm around Jeremy’s waist. The color in Jeremy’s already flushed cheeks only darkened as Squip dipped him down, giving him a crooked grin.

“You should know better than to challenge me, Jeremy. After all, I’m the one who taught you how to dance.”

“Geez, take a joke sometime,” Jeremy muttered, although there was no bite to his voice and Squip could see him fighting a smile as he pushed on Squip’s chest, getting the other to lean up so they were standing straight again.

“You make my dreams come true! Oh yeah!”

Laughing, Squip gave in and joined in the impromptu little dance circle. He swept across the living room with Christine, stepped in time with Michael, and even joined Jeremy in his awkward shimmying. When Michael and Christine started singing, he found himself joining in and soon enough Jeremy was, too. A few songs went by before their hands were interlocked and they were simply moving back and forth like the trio had been doing on their own before.

Squip felt a warmth in his chest that he recognized as affection for his dance partners, and he just felt light as air as all four of them made idiots of themselves. Being human could be so frustrating, confusing, overwhelming, and just terrible a lot of the time. There was so much to process, especially for him when he had never experienced any of these things before.

But at times like these, he couldn’t be more grateful that he’d been given the chance to come back and just love life. It reminded him that, even with the karma he was facing, it didn’t have to be all that bad.

#Human Squiptober 2019 #Be More Chill #BMC SQUIP #BMC Jeremy #BMC Michael #BMC Christine #StageDorks #i'm sorry this is kinda shitty #i banged it out in like a couple of hours just because i wanted an excuse to write something lol #i hope it's okay!#Jeremy Heere #Michael Mell #Christine Canigula #writing #mine #BMC #SQUIPtober #lynx tales

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lydia-can-live · 5 years

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Nopelander...revisting an old post

I still see sooo much Outlander stuff on my dash so I thought I’d share my thoughts on Season 4. I don’t have high hopes for S5 and even though I said I was done, I am still curious. Hanging around to see how it turns out is different than being a die hard fan, which I was. Its amazing to me that the built-in fan base and super hot chemistry between the 2 leads could fizzle out to a boring, flat, emotionless promotion. The Fiery Cross is very focused on Roger and Brianna (with Jamie and Claire always watching an guiding which is a gift for those who crave a stable family life...and is too subtle and nuanced for these OL writers to grasp) so the magic of the show that was Jamie and Claire is no more. Here is what I had to say about the S4 finale. tl:dr OL used to be great, and instead of writing it as the romance-fantasy that it is, they subscribed to the theory that drama and plot are more interesting than nuanced intimacy and in doing so drained it of its charm and energy while at the same time bashed fans for not being happy about it.

Production ruined the magic that was Outlander in such a stumbling, amateurish, way. First off, they do not understand Jamie and Claire, who are soul mates, as well as best friends. They love making each other laugh and share many inside jokes. They know life is hard but as long as they can connect with each other, they’ll get through anything. In the show their relationship is tenuous and they never realistically comfort one another. Touching each other’s jaw line in lieu of good dialogue is just irritating. 2nd, the wigs take you out of the story, immediately. Why did that not concern anyone? Sam Heughan is a gorgeous man but I snort every time we see that alpaca hair. The only time I can take him seriously is when he is wearing a tri-corn. Claire’s hair looks passable from far away but up close it’s like, holy hairline! It really bothers me that this was not important to production. Jamie had shaggy hair in S1 because he was growing out a buzz cut he got at the Abbey, not because he liked having fringe. If they are trying to recreate S1 hair they have failed spectacularly.

Season Finale: Rescuing Dog Face. I want to care, but I don’t. Roger and Bree do not have an established or believable relationship. He showed up with his Paul McCartney hair in Boston and the writers decided he loved her and that’s all it’s based on. There is no chemistry between them but there isn’t any conversation, either. She is apathetic. We’ll never know how Sophie would deliver well written dialogue but with her somnolent, emotionless, delivery my guess is it wouldn’t have helped. Maybe they limited her dialogue because she couldn’t manage more than a few words at a time. Imagine the stirring ‘He’s real…I know’ or the riveting ‘You’re here’ with a modicum of energy. I know, it’s just as bad. She was miscast, obviously. They couldn’t have found a tall, American actress with dual UK/USA citizenship with an Equity card? Hey Bree: In the show, Roger humiliated then abandoned you at the Clan gathering because you didn’t want to marry him. He then had a relationship with you --in his mind--, while you were living on your own and trying to keep your eyes from closing while you talked. Why do you love him? Back to Roger. A group of people are going against their own tribe to rescue Dog Face and risk alienation from said tribe just to get a stone they could have just taken from Claire? Come on. The tribe had sentries posted when Jamie and Claire were approaching but everyone had the night off to gather around for the drumming circle? The one guy watching the idiot tent gets clubbed (is he dead? We don’t know) by Jamie and no one notices? Finally the jig is up and the resulting scramble to “reach the river” is so laughably amateurish that I imagined the camera guy laughing like you do when you’re filming your friends in the backyard trying to recreate the Aragorn/Nazgul fight scene from the LOTR. Thankfully, Claire was there to bring a sensible end to it all with a very effective “Its ovah”. Even the Mohawk warriors were impressed. So did they all sleep in the idiot tent that night, or what? And Roger isn’t totally amazed looking at Claire and Jamie, together? No? He just cowers in her clutches. At least he’s not wearing those absolutely ridiculous but completely historically accurate culottes anymore. The Birth: Everyone complaining about this is correct. Claire would never have allowed her daughter to go through child birth in the 18th century without her. I don’t understand why the writers made this decision. That whole birthing chair thing was cringe worthy. Jocasta and her hand-made silk dress isn’t going to be assisting at a freaking birth. (I just kept seeing a thought bubble above Sophie that said “I should have stuck to dance”. I don’t think she’s enjoying Outlander that much.) In the book, while Bree is asking Jamie to stay for the birth, he pleadingly looks to Claire like ‘what do I do’ because, while he’s heard a lot of birthing going on, he’s never been asked to assist. It shows their complete unison as a team, their trust in each other, and it’s cute to see Jamie out of his element a little. More importantly, Jamie got to experience his grandchild with his heart burst wide open and he reveled in it. The dialogue in the book is touching and funny and it resonates because its tied to emotions that have long been been building. Jemmy is the catalyst for healing many of Jamie’s wounds regarding his children. He is the balm for his soul. In the show, Jamie barely acknowledges the baby. But here, blind Auntie --who in the show uses a cane-- you take the baby. Don’t hurt him with the giant brooch thing you are wearing. And don’t walk anywhere. Just stand there. Don’t you go dyin’ on me! Here’s the other thing: Bree loves her baby from the start. She makes that decision early on. When Jemmy is born she is completely devoted to him and his care. She wouldn’t be sitting in a room by herself while her baby is hanging with a bunch of people who seem to be just standing around in a circle.

Back to the book for a second: When Roger finally shows up, Bree is not broken. She’s besotted with her son and enjoying the loving embrace of her family. She’s whole. I like that Bree. She’s got a good heart. As much as I miss the humor between Jamie and Claire, I didn’t want to hear Sam call Claire “Granny” unless it was with a twinkle in his eye after he comes to the realization that this is the first time she’ll be called that, and it’s the first time he gets to say it. I hate book dialogue spoken with no depth or understanding of the moment. Intimacy is what DG gets so right in the books and I don’t like hearing actual lines unless it carries some weight, I’m looking at you “Turtle Soup” (cringe). Murtagh: When he jumped off that wagon I was like…Duncan LaCroix is just loving the shit out of this. I don’t like the Regulator plot because they are shit stirrers who like to argue and ruin gatherings. Murtagh should be sticking to his vow, which was to protect Jamie. These are 18th century people, they took that shit seriously. The fight with Jocasta was hilarious but when she said ‘let’s get breakfast’ and they pan over to Murtagh and he’s all laid out on the bed like ‘here’s your freakin’ breakfast, with sausage’ I laughed so hard I had to pause it, drink some water and pull myself together. I was dying. It wasn’t as funny the second time because I knew it was coming but the first time it was like I could see Duncan turning up that sexy vibe to 11 and it was both funny and ridiculous, and he knew it. Rogers Choice: They should have made Roger a man of worth by having him immediately want to go to Bree. If you freaking love her so much it wouldn’t be an issue. What is she going to do, choose Bonnet over you? It should have been with no hesitation. It would have redeemed him, gave the search and rescue a satisfying conclusion, and saved us from yet another use of the two lovers running toward each other imagery. The music was so cliché I have to wonder if Bear is just picking stuff off a spotify muzak playlist. It’s clear that the show has lapsed into soap opera territory. Sam’s face when he said he had to –takes off glasses-- kill Murtagh wasn’t full on Drake Ramoray, but it was teetering close to it. Poor Outlander. You had the rare combination of chemistry, beauty, and talent combined with an eager and knowledgeable fan base and you reduced it to a strange wooden version of itself. Dedicated fans are leaving. I’m done. These writers are not smart or creative enough to chisel down The Fiery Cross. So much times passes during the gathering that surely Jamie will have outgrown his bangs, but of course he won’t. He just keeps hacking at them and I don’t want to stick around to watch.

Post Scriptum: Drinking game idea: Anytime anyone says Fraser’s Ridge. I mean, who talks like that? You’d say, ‘lets go home’. No one spouts the address when they reference home. ‘Where are you going?’ ‘123 State Street, where I live’.

Post, post Scriptum: You could also have a drinking game for every time Claire crosses her arms but you’d better have plenty of libations on hand. post post post scriptum: Sam and Cait are tired of Outlander and can’t wait for it to be over.

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interviewswith-warfstachetonight · 4 years

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Interview: Vriska Serket (11/20/19)

Interviewer: Wilford Warfstache (WW)

Interviewee: Vriska Serket ( @aquaticculler ) (VS)

Date: Nov. 20, 2019

Time: 12:33 AM - 2:33 AM (CST)

(*”8″ = “B” and “eight” sounds; I.e “no8ility” = “nobility,” “expect8ions” = “expectations”)

WW: Okay! I think I’m all set- now.. you were a blueblooded troll, correct? Did bluebloods have any set roles or expectations? (Like how jades were more or less all caretakers, from what I understand.)

VS: I was a cerulean, yes. Expect8ions were really just what you'd expect, nothing too out of the ordinary. Our caste was mostly just the troll version of "lower upper class", we had the 8enefits of wealth without the responsi8ility or expect8ions of no8ility

WW: Well, that certainly sounds like it’d be interesting..! Were there any, ah.. differences?, I suppose?, between the blues? (Ah.. teal, cerulean, and indigo, I believe?) As in.. well, like physical abilities and such, how some trolls seemed to have certain abilities that others didn’t.

VS: Yes! Generally speaking, teal 8looded trolls (apparently) could "S3NSE TH3 1NT3NT1ONS OF OTH3RS" -something my terezi said, once. Cerulean 8loods like me tended to fall into one of two categories, either we could mind control to a certain extent or we had higher strength for lack of psychic a8ilities, on par with an indigo vs the normal cerulean strength. I was in the former camp so to speak. Indigos just had a8surd strength, that's kind of their whole deal

WW: And you could mind control, you say? Did you do that often?

VS: Not particularly, it only worked on castes with stronger psychic a8ilities (Rust, 8ronze, Gold) and for the most part I had no reason to

WW: Ah, that’s fair, that’s fair.. was it something you had to train/learn? Or was it more of an.. innate ability?

VS: At it's 8ase level it was inn8, 8ut when I was a little wriggler I pro8a8ly had to practice it to get 8etter at it, I don't remem8er much of 8eing a wriggler though, that was thousands of sweeps ago. Or hundreds. Or millions. Time flows weirdly in paradox space

WW: Oh, goodness gracious, what in the world happened to bring paradox space into it all? Was that something that happened then or a matter of ending up here?

VS: I died as a god tier, then woke up in paradox space. After what felt like a very long time in paradox space I woke up here missing a lot of memories.

VS: I do remem8er finding this place though, it was a dream 8u88le and it looked interesting. Didn't know it was one way only though, we are 8asically stuck here

WW: Well, that’s odd, hm? Ah.. what is a dream bubble, exactly?

VS: Simply put, pocket worlds in paradox space

VS: Less simply put

VS: Dream 8u88les are essentially pocket dimentions typically created 8y memories of whoever is residing in them, and those are scattered throughout paradox space. Apparently though, "inworlds" can also 8e found there too, though I am presently unsure if only certain ones are present, or if every8ody's are. I also do not have an explan8ion for memory loss while travelling certain dream 8u88les and not others, perhaps there are different types that can 8e distinguished. I did not put enough time into researching them while I was active in paradox space

VS: At least that's how I see them

VS: I do know that they transcend canons though! I met our meenah in paradox space, and her canon is wildly different from my own

WW: How odd! I wonder if that means they still exist in our world.. (oh! And you mentioned a, ah.. god tier? What is that?)

VS: A god tier is a s8ur8 mechanic, as a method to reach higher powers according to your classpect. You find your quest8ed, which is a stone 8lock with your aspect engraved, wherever you're destined to, and then you die on it and merge with your dreamself, and gain a 8unch of powers

WW: And what was your godtier, if you don’t mind?

VS: Here's where I differ the most from other Vriska's, I was a seer of life

VS: And I still am

WW: Oh? What are other Vriskas usually, then?

VS: Thief of Light

WW: And is that a huge change? (As in, like.. total opposites or something to that effect.)

VS: It's not total oppos8s, 8ut it is going from an active class to a passive class

WW: And I figure that would be a big change? (At least, in the sense of a shift from one to the other.)

VS: That one isn't a huge change 8ut it is sizea8le enough

VS: Classpects are still highly de88d to this day, with no one set system of explaining it all is agreed upon

WW: Oh, that does sound like it could cause a lot of confusion..

WW: If you don’t mind my asking, what does a Seer of Life do? Or.. what can they do?

VS: Well a seer is the passive understanding class, so I understand life, and I invite understanding through life

VS: Though life as an aspect tends to more dou8le down on your class, from source examples

VS: So in my case I understand [a lot] and I invite understanding through [usually oversharing]

VS: It's a little 8it iffy

WW: Well, that sounds interesting..! What do you mean by understanding a lot?

VS: Knowing things, seeing things (metaphorically, literally we're 8lind as fuck), just in general. In my time on this planet I've studied everything from mathematics, to 8iology, to quantum physics, to cooking, to astronomy, ect. ect.

VS: Of course I'm aware of my own 8lind spots, I know there are gaps in my knowledge, lots of them in fact

WW: And you said you overshare a lot? Does that ever cause any trouble for you?

VS: Sometimes, 8ut I also know when to shut my mouth so to speak. Whether or not I do is another matter........

WW: Well, that’s certainly a relatable statement— Has there been anything you’ve found issue in learning?

VS: Human anatomy

VS: Dear god what is with these 8odies

VS: Programming is something we've collectively had issues with, 8ut we're okay at it now

VS: And any form of art that isn't music or writing

WW: Oh? Is there a form of music you prefer over the others?

VS: Violin was always fun

WW: Violin? Is that one that’s particularly hard to learn?

VS: It varies from person to person, 8ut it is considered one of the more difficult instruments. All instruments have difficulties in learning though, so it's hard to r8 one over another in terms of difficulty

VS: Instruments we've at least started learning to d8 are(in no particular order):

-Voice

-Trumpet

-Trom8one

-Flute

-Cello

-Viola

-Violin

-Piano

-Guitar

VS: Though we were only competent at:

-Voice

-Violin

-Piano

VS: I have never 8een good with the voice, personally

WW: Oh, gosh, that’s a lot! Were you doing more than one at a time?

VS: We did voice along piano and violin. Other than that, no

VS: Some of those we did for less than a year

WW: What’s the longest one you’ve done?

VS: 5 years of voice pro8a8ly?

VS: May8e longer

VS: *We only did viola for two weeks 8efore swapping to violin, 8ut I'm counting it 8ecause I can still play it through violin skills

WW: Oh! Is there a difference between viola and violin?

VS: Viola's are similar to a violin, 8ut are larger and play lower notes than a violin. It's 8etween a cello and a violin in scale and size, and is played similarly to a violin

WW: Ooooooooh! Well, I didn’t even know those existed, heh— and you mentioned writing? Is that something you like doing?

VS: I personally don't write often, 8ut Eva likes to write poetry. She's also trying to write a 8ook

VS: I guess you can count this as writing though, I do love answering questions or going on lectures a8out things

WW: It does sound fun! Are there any particular subjects you like talking about?

VS: Quantum physics, Astronomy, and Philosophy

VS: All at once ::::)

VS: They're all connected

VS: Well everything is, really, 8ut those three are the most o8vious

WW: How so?

VS: Well using quantum physics to explain certain aspects of astronomy, and how they rel8 has several different theories that we do not have the energy to get into right now, 8ut it is fun to use those to 8oth prove and disprove free will ::::)

WW: Disprove free will?

VS: Mhm!

VS: Certain theories of how the universe works ends up with us having no free will at all

VS: That everything is predetermined, 8ut at the same time having free will

VS: It's the theory that I su8scri8e to that eventually the universe will stop expanding, then contract upon itself, and then eventually another 8ig 8ang in exactly the same way will happen. At the end of the day we're just atoms and electrical signals 8umping next to each other in a specific way, like a game of pool with a good enough computer if you run the same shot over and over again the 8alls will end up in the same exact place, right? It's the same concept only applied to every single particle in the universe. That we've had this convers8ion potentially 8illions of times 8efore in the same exact way and we will have it 8illions of times again. Oh 8ut this is usually the end of my ram8le on the su8ject, this is missing all the material that leads up to it

WW: Well, that all sounds quite interesting..!

VS: 8ut we are tired so the condensed version of the ending will do

WW: That’s quite alright! I’ve never heard it before anyways, so I’m simply happy to learn something new!

VS: I'm glad to have presented you something new and interesting to learn

VS: I'll go over other theories at a l8r d8

VS: We seemed to have side tracked quite a 8it whoops

WW: Eh, it happens sometimes!

VS: Or I have rather hahahaha

WW: Hey, I think it’s still just as valid! It is something you’re interested in, after all!

VS: Alright next question~

WW: Hm.. well, did you have anyone you considered most important to you?

VS: During my time alive in my own 8ody, pro8a8ly terezi. In paradox space, meenah (the one I'm here with)

WW: What was your Terezi like? (If you don’t mind sharing)

VS: She was a sylph of doom, she talked 8out the inevita8le a lot, rules, limits, things I don't care a8out. She was also really strict, 8ut I liked her. I can't remem8er 8ut we were either flushed or pale

WW: What do those mean?

VS: M8sprit or moirail, respectively

VS: Oh you don't- okay

WW: Well, I know they’re types of romance!

VS: Good start! So

VS: M8spritship resem8les typical human romantic rel8ionships the most, it's not 1:1 8ut there's a lot of love

VS: Moirailegence is like the human concept of soul m8s, 8ut not like "I love this person" more "We need each other", you t8ke care of each other and keep each other pacified and calm. Stopping them from doing stupid things, or they stop you from doing stupid things (or try to, and then they're there to say "I told you so")

WW: Pfft- Well, I can think of more than a few people I knew who were like that.. but no matter, ah- you said Terezi was a.. Sylph of Doom? What does that entail?

VS: Sylph is the passive cre8ion class, they create for others, and invite the creation of their aspect

VS: In this case doom, which is all a8out rules, limit8ions, f8, ect.

VS: It is the oppos8 of life, which is generally a8out freedom, choices, and change

WW: So, does that mean that she created rules and such for others? (Or is that what you meant by strict?)

VS: To all those reading along who are versed in classpects, I am extremely tired and doing a terri8le jo8 of explaining things

VS: 8ut yes, that is exactly what she did

WW: Did you think they were patricularly fair?

VS: Some times I have to admit they are, 8ut I'm not a 8ig rules person. I like to passively oper8 doing what I do, and usually that falls within the rules

VS: If I can't do something, that just m8kes me want to do it more, until I can do it

WW: Had you two ever had any fights over them? (And ah, that is- a mood)

VS: Small tiffs, 8ut nothing major most of the time

WW: Well, that’s good to hear! And, hm.. what’s Meenah like?

VS: Meenah isn't from my canon, 8ut I met her in paradox space

VS: She resem8les meenah from homestuck itself decently well

WW: Would you say that’s a good thing?

VS: She's nice, a 8it crass at times, I like her

WW: Well, that’s good to hear! It can always be a bit frustrating when people don’t get along.. and- hmm.. who would you say is somebody you didn’t like in your canon?

VS: Tavros

VS: He was annoying as fuck

VS: I 8roke his legs though, that was fun

VS: (On that topic, I also 8roke joke's legs too!)

VS: Or jape or whatever his name was

VS: I didn't like him either

VS: 8ut tavros I just couldn't stand

VS: (And now he can't either hahahaha)

WW: Pfft- Goodness..! What happened to lead up to that?

VS: He was 8eing super annoying while we were playing flarp, so I introduced him to a scenario where there was a cliff, and there was my mind control powers, and suddenly there was a tavros jumping off said cliff

VS: I wouldn't do that again, I've mellowed out a lot over the sweeps, 8ut I don't regret it

VS: Terezi got pissed at me for that one

VS: That was the only major fight we had

WW: Well, I could certainly imagine- but, ah.. what is.. flarp?

VS: Fantasy Live Action Role Play

WW: Oh! Were there particular things you could do? Or just whatever you wanted?

VS: GM (Game master)'s discretion (aka mine), 8ut for the most part you could do anything. Funnily enough it also had classes like in s8ur8

WW: Oh?

VS: I don't have the energy to go over that, so let's wrap this up with any closing questions you may have and then we can continue l8r ::::)

WW: Ah, alright! I believe the only closing question I can think of is.. what, if anything, do you wish people would stop assuming about you?

VS: Stop assuming all vriska's are 8ad! I'm working on 8eing 8etter 8y human standards, it's annoying to 8e written off as a 8ad person just 8ecause "Oh she's a serket what do you expect"

VS: Anyways that's all the time we have for tonight, thank you for 8eing here, and thank you whoever actually read all this

WW: Oh, I’m glad to be here! Thank you for allowing me to! (And I hope you rest well!)

#wilford’s interviews #11/20/2019 #interviews #wilford warfstache #vriska serket #interview transcriptions

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deukaeloveclub · 5 years

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If you were at SM and you had full control over the NCT concept what would be your plans for each subunit and NCT as a whole?

WOW. WHAT A QUESTION.

I don’t know if I have an exact idea but I have thought about this in the sense that I try to understand what SM is trying to do with NCT.

I think I watched a video where someone said they thought that the concept of NCT is something that SM has been working towards since Super Junior and EXO. And there were some things they said that made sense. But at the same time to me it kinda just feels like SM had two (2.1/2.3?) boy group lineups they wanted to debut but didn’t want to debut as separate groups to reduce competition? Because NCT U, 127, and Dream debuted the same year and there was no new units until wayv, which technically isn’t nct now?, in 2019. So in a sense it feels like we’ve had the same big group since 2016? If they had staggered their debuts it wouldn’t. That spiel has nothing to do with answering the question I just wanted to get that off my chest. But if SM were to really commit to their own concept.

I think I would limit the units about 7? Idk it’s not a super important thing but in theory these are all subunits and 10 people feels like too much to call a sub unit anymore?

I feel like they should give each unit more specific niche concepts to differentiate them. The alternative is to promote the individuals / group dynamics more???

Better line distribution SM trains their trainees well so might as well use them. If you’re ready to debut them, then give them lines.

No unit gets a back to back comeback. Let the units rest and give others a chance to shine

Unit interactions/collabs sometimes they group feels very separated? It does necesarily have to be anything as big as NCT 2018 but maybe like a youtube dance cover with members of dif units esp wayv because you can post their mvs on your official label channel but letting their friends and technical members talk about them is a no????

NCT U

I’d rename NCT U to NCT R or Rotate or Intro or Sleep or Waking. It’s main function would be to introduce new NCT members. Hence the possible intro name. Sleep or Waking cuz that’s part of nct’s concept and sleep is the beginning of a dream but waking up is when you start your real life. Or rotate since it’s a rotational unit. If I want a subunit larger than the number of debut ready trainees then I would rotate in members from other units, (and not just the popular members). They would probably comeback at least once a year to introduce any new members.

Since it’s a rotational unit I would want the unit to change concept and genre each comeback so that it allows new members to shine in their debut

NCT Dream

I guess I would leave this and allow it to be like an NCT U Jr. The intro group for any minor aged debut ready trainees. Put more of an emphasis on the graduation thing? Like every year have some way of signifying that they’re “moving up a year”. They’d keep doing youthful concept

This is more of a selfish thing than a business or concept thing but i would prob want to make ot7 dream a new permanent unit once they all graduate? The graduated members would just have to be rotate thru

NCT 127

I kinda want to dub them the official beat-heavy performance team? And let them continue what they’ve been doing except they’d just comeback less.

NCT Japan

I was quite surprised when 127 put out a full Japanese album bc the nct goal is to have subunits around the world and 127 is the seoul unit(their name is even based on that). With japan being so close and their already being a Japanese member I assumed there would eventually be a Japanese subunit. So I’d make one

WAYV

I will give them that it’s probably not possible to promote in the exact same way bc the relationship with China but can we at least get an official schedule? So whatever few things are happening we can know about. I would release a full version of this (and make that their core sound?) Put Winwin upfront more, he’s so wildly popular and yet it rarely gets seen? Give Kun a chance to at least work on some b sides he’s keeps talking about how he can write and even posted that video of something he wrote (I know SM isn’t as big on having their idols involved in the process but a girl can dream)

Now that I’m thinking about it I’m wondering if the point is simply to have multiple units around the world with the same concept. I’m assuming they should be different bc that’s usually how subunits work but maybe that’s not necessarily SM’s goal.

Possible concepts

NCT Crooner Unit

r&b and soul concept. Maybe this would also be rotational unit bc I need a unit where vocalists can really shine.

NCT Rap

Also rotational? One could argue that 127 is already rap centered enough but they also are doing full out dances when they perform so I’d like to see a unit where they could focus more on their rap deliveries while performing. Also Mark and Taeyong wouldn’t be allowed for at least 2 or 3 releases.

NCT Scientists/Engineers

This is more of a visual concept but I think it would be fun to really explicitly play with the technology in neo culture technology like they could be engineers building new shit or they could like be time travelers who actually move technology forward in each era by gifting someone with technology or knowledge. They could do a cyborg concept. Actually if they incorporated technology into their lyrics it could be more than just a visual concept too. Think if Black Mirror were a music video.

NCT Culture

Same thing as the Science concept but basically with like art and fashion. Traditional Korean concept, theater concept, high fashion concept, museum v street art concept, foodie concept, etc.

To be fair to SM this is an incredibly complex concept to manage and it’s never been done before so they are making it up as they go along. Realistically not everything I mentioned is implementable and at least not immediately but there are definitely things I think they can improve on. I think that’s all my thoughts for now.

#wow #i spent hours on this #it's such a huge question #i wanna hear everyone else's thoughts now #key talks #theindividualist #ask #answered #sweet sweet moots #czennies

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sonicrainicorn · 5 years

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Made of Love, Chapter 14

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Table of Contents

Ship(s): Logicality, (platonic) Prinxiety

All Characters: Thomas, Virgil, Roman, Logan, Patton, Dr. Picani, Joan, Talyn, and Deceit

Synopsis: Humans Roman and Virgil get wrapped up in some serious magic business without meaning to. Their other companions aren’t exactly as they seem, either. Together they all must defeat a great threat for the safety of humanity.

Chapter Desc.: Sometimes things get a little more complicated before they get any better. Virgil is still waiting for the complicated parts to stop.

TW: Minor violence, body horror

Prefer to read it on Ao3? Click here!

Virgil stared at the pile of sticks on the ground for a while. Part of him wanted to go back inside and grab someone, but the other part convinced him that wasn’t necessary. It would be a short test. If it came out negative, then he was just a crazy person. If it came out positive, then oh well. Maybe he’d end up with a few scratches at most. Honestly, he didn’t know what he preferred out of those two options.

“Start up.”

He took a few steps back as the pile sprung to life. The two dummies took form and stood there, waiting for Virgil to do something. Well, now or never. He clicked his pens. As soon as he lifted his arm, the dummy he aimed for blocked his movement. Then, almost like a whisper in the back of his mind, something told him to use his other hand. So Virgil listened to it. He swung his dagger into the side of the dummy and it stuck with surprising ease. It took a moment -- as if it needed to register what happened -- before falling back into a pile.

Alright. That didn’t prove much either way, but alright. The pile climbed its way back to life. Round two.

Virgil went after it again, and again, following the hints that the universe seemed to whisper to him. Anytime he followed them, it ended in his favor. Anytime he didn’t, he lost. Wherever it was coming from, it knew what it was doing. It saw every weak point and every opportunity. Still, that didn’t give him exact proof. He needed to hear words. Not intuitive hints or suggestions.

On complete accident, he brushed against the stationary dummy. Taking this as a challenge, it raised its sword. Oh boy. Patton did say they were sensitive.

“Step to the side.”

Roman’s voice was not something Virgil expected to hear. He almost jumped right out of his skin. Instead, he ended up tripping over his own feet. Because of course he did. He dropped his daggers to catch his fall, and it was like someone ripped off his headphones. Sounds that were previously muffled without his knowledge came back full force. The wind, and the birds, and the rustling of leaves. He didn’t know how he couldn’t notice them missing.

But that wasn’t his main concern. He fell on his back. Hard -- even with the aid of his arms. And suddenly he had two wooden sticks pointed at his throat. That by itself wouldn’t have been intimidating, except that those sticks weaved into the rest of the dummies’ swords.

“Objective complete,” Virgil groaned out. He let his arms drop as the dummies disassembled.

Part of him expected Roman to walk into his line of sight to make fun of him, but he didn’t show up. A swift glance around the perimeter proved that he wasn’t even down here. So then what the hell? Was he actually going crazy? He expected to hear Logan’s voice again, not Roman’s. Why was it Roman’s this time?

“Virgil?”

Virgil turned his head to see Patton walking into the clearing. Barefoot for some reason. Ninety percent of the time, Patton didn’t have shoes on. Virgil had no idea why. What madman walked outside with no shoes?

“What are you doing?” He took one look at the scene before him and raised a brow. “Did you… do okay?”

“I know this looks bad,” Virgil held up a hand, “but trust me, this is the outcome of like five rounds.”

Patton frowned. “Why did you do so many? And why by yourself?”

Virgil sat himself up with another groan. He needed to stop falling on his back. “I was trying to figure something out.” The daggers stared up at him. “I’m honestly still not sure what to make of it.”

“Well, what’s up?” He took a seat beside Virgil.

“I, uh,” how was he supposed to word this without sounding insane? “Yesterday I kind of heard something when we ran into that Figment.” He spared a glance at Patton. “It kind of -- it was, um -- it sounded like Logan. A little bit. Like, he yelled at me.”

Patton furrowed his brows. “Logan?”

“Yeah, and right now I heard Roman, but --” He gestured around -- “he isn’t exactly here.”

“What did they say?”

“Advice, I guess. Just what I should so next.”

Patton frowned in thought. “Well, I know for a fact that Logan wouldn’t have been there yesterday --” Virgil snorted -- “Oh, hush. And I just saw Roman before I came out. So something else has to be imitating them.” His eyes landed on the daggers. “Can I see these for a second?”

Virgil shrugged. “Go ahead.”

He picked them up and examined them. They looked the same as the first time Virgil ever saw them. Nothing about them was different. Nothing was off. “You might wanna move back.”

No need to tell Virgil twice. He scooted himself away, ignoring the pain that spread from the back of his arms. Patton commanded the dummies to spring back to life, and Virgil watched him fight. It was interesting, to say the least. He had never seen Patton fight with daggers before. Instruct him, yes, but never fight. He didn't like to. Virgil always assumed that was just because he fought from a distance rather than close up. It didn't seem as if that was entirely correct.

He handled the daggers like he had done so his whole life, moving them as if they were just another appendage of his body. He was deadly. Scary, almost. His movements were clear and precise -- aiming only at vital parts of the body. Places that could kill a human if hit. Maybe that’s what was so scary about it. He aimed to kill, not to maim. Not how Roman and Virgil were shown. And certainly not how Logan fought when given the chance.

“I don’t see anything wrong with them.” Patton didn’t spare a second glance at the dummy as it crumpled to pieces. “They’re just normal, old daggers. I didn’t even hear anything.” He handed them back to Virgil.

Virgil took them back, somewhat cautiously. “I must be going crazy, then.”

“Or…” The dummy sprung to life behind him. He didn’t even flinch. “One more round. I have an idea.” He stepped off to the side so Virgil could take his place.

“Uh, okay.” Virgil picked himself up, wincing, to walk over to it. It looked the same as it always did. No matter how many times it was hit, cut, or stabbed, it returned to the same state in pristine condition. Almost like magic.

He took aim at the dummy and the cycle started anew. The little whispers aided him if he seemed to be stuck, but no prominent voice called out to him. This time, however, he noticed how the surrounding sound was muffled to him. Not the same kind of muffled as a stuffy ear or being underwater, but like headphones with no music playing. Which was an odd feeling since headphones weren’t actually on his head. Why would that be happening? Maybe it was --

“Swing behind you.”

Without so much as a second thought, Virgil did as he was told. His arm stopped mid-motion. With the dagger mere inches from his face, Patton held onto Virgil's forearm. He smirked at Virgil’s wide eyes.

“Objective complete.” His voice sounded distant despite being so close. Virgil faintly registered the dummies falling back into stick piles. “Who’d you hear that time?” He let go of Virgil’s arm.

Virgil tried to gain some semblance of composure so he could answer. He didn’t know how to handle almost stabbing Patton in the face and him not being fazed by it in the least. “Logan again.” Even his own voice sounded far away.

“They respond to you.” Patton grinned. “That’s their magical property -- they take the voices of people you trust so you’ll listen to their advice.”

Virgil tapped the ends and sound returned back to him. “Do you have an explanation for why they make everything else sound muffled, then?”

“Well, that's an interesting side effect, but magic always comes with a price. That’s how things stay balanced. It’s most common with magical objects, but magic types also have their limits.” He looked up at the rustling leaves. “Like, I can’t stray too far from nature for too long or else things get a little… bad. So no big city dwelling for me.” He turned back to Virgil with a smile.

“Seems a little annoying.”

“It’s just kind of life." He shrugged. "Do you wanna head back inside now? I'm gonna start working on lunch.”

“Sure.”

They both followed the worn down path back to the house. Virgil spotted Roman at the dining table and walked over to him while Patton went off to the kitchen.

Virgil didn't even get the chance to sit down before Roman spoke to him, “Do you ever realize how much closer Picani is to Patton than he is to Logan?” He didn't spare a glance up from his laptop.

“Well, hello to you too,” Virgil muttered sarcastically. He plopped himself in a chair and messed around with one of the pens. “What are you even talking about, by the way?”

“I've been thinking --”

“That's groundbreaking.”

Roman stopped his deep concentration to glare at Virgil. “So I've been thinking, and it's something I couldn't help but notice, but Patton is the happy bubbly one, right?”

“Sure.”

“And Logan's like the exact opposite. He's mean, and cold, and arrogant, and a huge downer, and he shuts down all of my ideas --”

“Yeah, I get it. Go on.”

“So why is Picani such a happy, excitable guy?”

“I get the feeling you're about to tell me.”

“I do have a bit of a theory.” Roman grinned. He pushed the laptop to the side so he could lean over the table. It allowed Virgil to see part of the photo he was editing. “I've been working on it for a bit, and I think I get it. Logan doesn't dull down Patton's energy like it seems he should. He focuses all that energy. He makes it less chaotic and uses it for a specific thing. It allows him to get out all his nerdiness in ways that are fun.”

Virgil glanced over to the kitchen where Patton and Logan were working on lunch. “So what I’m getting from this is that Logan’s just as big a dork as Patton, but he keeps it all inside and lets it out with Picani.”

“Exactly! Just like how all of Pearl’s fusions are show-offy in some way.”

“Why is this one of the things on your mind?”

“I don’t know. It’s been like two months.” He fell back against the chair and moved his laptop closer. “I need something to think about other than impending doom.”

Two months… It really has been that long, hasn’t it? Neither Roman nor Virgil had gone back to their apartments after their previous trip. The keyboard sat in the closet of Virgil’s room. Untouched since that day. It felt like such a long time ago already. How have they been at this for two months?

“For once, I think I agree with you.”

Virgil continued to sit at the table with Roman. They didn’t talk all that much more, which was fine. Roman had four possible moods while editing photos: one, which was rare, “don’t talk to me, don’t look at me, don’t breathe in my direction”. Two, “wait, were you talking to me?”. Three, “I can only answer yes or no questions”. And four, “I can and will have an in-depth discussion with you whether you're listening or not”. So it was safe to say that Virgil didn’t mind the silence.

Logan and Patton were over in the kitchen, anyway, so there was at least background noise. Like their soft chatter, or the bustling of kitchenware. They were familiar sounds and ones that Virgil had long since gotten used to.

“I’m gonna go check on Thomas real quick. Don’t burn anything.” Patton winked before leaving.

Logan rolled his eyes.

Virgil’s attention was drawn back to the table as Roman shut his laptop with a heavy sigh. “Oh, how I loathe the editing process, but it is a necessary evil I must bear.” He placed a hand on his chest and looked off into the distance. “I can only hope that by the end of it all, I leave these pictures looking as extravagant as they deserve.”

Virgil stopped twirling his pen to make sure his unamused look came across well. “Who are you trying to impress?”

“Oh, I don’t need to try to impress.” He paused his theatrics to simper at Virgil.

Their interaction was cut short by the sharp gasp coming from the kitchen. They looked over to see Logan fall to the floor. Virgil rushed over in an instant, followed closely by Roman.

Logan curled up against the cabinet with his left arm pressed to his chest. From what Virgil could see, it was the same thing that happened last time. But this instance was more… intense. The black waves underneath his skin were farther -- taking up part of his bicep where previously it was only up to his forearm. The sharp flashes of smoke occurred all throughout it with no real pattern. Every new flash caused Logan to grit his teeth and claw uselessly at the tile. At one point, the entirety of Logan’s hand had disappeared into a smoky cloud. Twitching and moving like the mass Virgil and Roman saw over two months ago.

Slowly, the flashes stopped. The ink beneath his skin crawled over to his wrist, where a thick black band formed, then faded once again. Like nothing ever happened. Except this time Logan didn’t get up right away. He didn’t try to brush it off like no big deal. He stayed on the floor, staring hard at his hand. It trembled violently.

“I want to ask if you’re okay, but that was so obviously not healthy,” Roman muttered. He eyed Logan with concern.

As did Virgil. “You have to tell Patton.”

“No,” came Logan’s immediate reaction. He lifted himself up with the aid of the counter. His face twisted in a contorted grimace. “I’m fine.”

“Uh, none of that seemed very fine,” Roman added.

Logan frowned. “I have it under control. Patton doesn’t need to know yet.”

“Right. And how many times has it happened since we found out?” Virgil crossed his arms.

“That’s not important.”

Virgil was going to have a stroke or something. This man had a death wish. “Logan, if this keeps happening to you then you’re going to have to tell him. It’s only going to get worse the longer you keep this from him. It's already gotten worse.”

“I can’t.” Logan looked back down to his trembling hand. He seemed worn out. “He doesn’t need to know.”

“Who doesn’t need to know?”

The three jumped and turned to see Patton enter the kitchen again. Logan hid his hand behind his back and tried to look casual.

"Nothing. No one. Everything's fine."

Patton didn't appear convinced in the slightest. He stared at Logan with his expression caught between amusement and confusion. "Logan, honey, the stove's still on."

"What?" Logan's right hand was pressed against the stove top. "Oh. It seems it is." He removed his hand and turned off the flame without so much as a flinch.

Virgil tried to ignore the disaster of a cover-up happening right now.

Patton shook his head and approached Logan, holding out his hands. He didn't need to ask for Logan to put his hand there. "Well, no burns. So you still have that much going for you." He swept Logan's bangs out of his face with a smile. "But I'd recommend not pushing your luck." He paused, placing his hand on Logan's cheek and furrowing his brows. "Are you okay?"

Logan blinked. "Yeah. Fine."

He didn't look fine. Even Virgil could tell that. It looked like a strong gust of wind could blow him over. "I don't know, Logan, you seem a little iffy to me."

Logan sent him a glare when Patton's back was turned.

"Almost like something happened," Roman added.

"Did something happen?" Patton turned back to Logan, who dropped the glare.

"No. Roman just likes to be dramatic. You know how he is."

"It kind of seems like he has a point," Virgil continued. "It looks like something happened. But if it did, you'd obviously tell Patton, right?"

"Stop it," Logan growled.

"Lo?" Patton placed his other hand on Logan's cheek to cup his face. "Nothing's wrong, is it? You're okay?"

"I, um," Logan seemed at a loss of words for once. Virgil could almost see the gears spinning in his head.

Patton frowned. "Maybe you should go lie down. You don't look too good."

“I’m fine.” He brushed off Patton’s hands and side-stepped around him. As he did so, he moved his hand to keep it out of Patton’s sight. “I just -- I’m fine. Nothing happened to me. I’m perfectly okay.”

“You’ve never been very good at lying.”

Logan stopped. He sighed and closed his eyes. For a moment, Virgil thought he would say the truth. He should have known better than to hope for that. “Let’s just continue with lunch. We don’t need to stop for any false alarms.”

Then that was that. Logan once again kept a dangerous secret from the one person that could possibly help him. Patton didn’t buy it in the least. He knew something was up, as any person would, but he didn’t say anything. He did what Logan wanted and dropped the subject -- continued with lunch like no big deal. Not even Roman tried to bring it up again.

Well, Virgil didn’t know how much longer he could stay silent.

(Next)

#sanders sides #virgil sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #coinverse #logicality #platonic prinxiety #body horror tw

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