I Finally Finished @riftfic 💙 And Therefore The Rest Of The Chapter Illustrations~

waiting for the human

i wonder what he's looking at

Alright, so the way I see it right now the Dark Worlds run on “Neverending Story Logic”, they’re created when Dark Fountains are opened, but they are created already with full history and memories for everyone inside them as if they alwas existed. But here’s another important element I want to touch on…

How does this work with the mysterious entity that keeps driving people mad and creating Secret Bosses?

Like, this feels a bit too Ominous to just be a retroactively-existing backstory element, right?

And, I think… I think one of the reasons why this is so Ominous is because this is kinda goes against the rules of how Dark Worlds are supposed to work?? Like, whoever or whatever this ‘someone’ is, they are something very Not Normal and this is partially demonstrated by the screwy way they interact with the Dark Worlds. 

(Also for the sake of clarity, I will be referring to this unknown entity as Someone with a capital ‘S’ for the reminder of this post. I would also be making some references to the very popular theory that Someone is actually Dr. W. D. Gaster, but I will only be using his name when directly talking about aspects of my theory/interpetations that factor in the idea that Someone is Gaster)

I think that Someone might be able to, like, ‘infect’ newly-created Dark Fountains with their own presence. Like, to retcon themself into the history of the Dark World once it’s created? Maybe they can travel to the ‘past-that-has-always-been-there’ of a Dark World even though it’s not supposed to ‘actually exist’? Or maybe they truly only exist as a Backstory Element in various Dark Worlds but are somehow also aware of the fact that they do not truly exist save for in the past and the third-person, and are working with that knowledge? A villain you could never confront under normal circumstances because they never ‘is’ and always ‘were’? 

I think all of these options kinda make sense within the Neverending Story Logic while also being kinda brain-breaking in the way that they directly interact with the paradox in the center of it all, which is The Point.

And I think it all work pretty well with the idea that Someone is Gaster. Cause, like, Gaster in Undertale was stuck in a weird state of nonexistence and  existence where he DID exist in the past (since his creations, most notably the CORE were still around) but somehow it’s like he never existed in the present. So him (or even just some sort of being related to him) being able to interact with the Deltarune universe only through the Past Tense and\or through Worlds that technically do not exist kinda makes sense to me???

And it also factors into one thing I’ve noticed about our Secret Bosses which is…. there are all potrayed as having been somewhat ‘corrupted’ by Someone but it’s… never really in a way that corrupts their nature as Darkners representing spesific objects?

You know, it’s not really “this Darkner is a representation of Object and therefore they are X, but then Someone came along and through their influence the Darkner became Y” as much as it is “this Darkner is a representation of Object and therefore they are X but they actually used to be Y before Someone came along and made them X”. 

Like, Jevil is locked up because he has been driven mad by Someone, but also because the Jocker Card is often ‘locked out’ from many Card Games. The greater understanding of the world given to him by Someone seems to have made him more powerful and unpredictable… but powerful and unpredictable  is also just what a Joker card is. 

Spamton is a barely-coherent madman living in a [[GODDAM GARBAGE CAN]] because of Someone’s influence, but also because Spam Mail is often barely-coherent and usually gets thrown in the garbage (and Spamton spesifically seems to have been created by a pile of spam-emails in the recycling bin).

When Someone abandoned Spamton and left him to crash and burn, can we call that an intentional act of maliciousness on their part? Or was that simply an inevitability that not even they could stop, because Spamton is fated to end up in the garbage when he reaches his actual present-day ‘creation’?

Like, just as I can say “from a Darkner’s perspective they and their world always existed but really they are created by the Dark Fountains” I can also say “from a Darkner’s perspective, if Someone hadn’t come along, Jevil would still just be the Court Jester and Spamton would still be a somewhat incompetent Addison. But from really, without Someone’s influance, Jevil would still be a Very Strong Clown in Jail and Spamton would still be a rambling garbage-dwelling conman, it’s just that the reason to their situation wouldn’t be Someone-related. 

Cause you have like the Dark Fountain kinda forming the Joker Card into a Powerful Clown that is Locked Away, and then Somone butts in like “and the REASON for why he’s locked away is MEEE”. An the other Dark Fountain is like ‘Spam Mail in a Bin’ = ‘A weird conman who lives in the trash and is both very driven but incredibly incompetent and kinda off-putting’ and then Someone makes it so They Did This to Him. But by doing that they did corrupt Jevil and Spamton further due to their otherworldly and paradoxical nature, and the knowledge they seem to hold. If Someone hadn’t interfered, Jevil might not be quite as powerful and Spamton might not be quite as miserable, but there’s still isn’t truly an option for Jevil and Spamton to remain the people they and other Darkners remember them once being.

And linking this back to Gaster… in the Undertale’s universe his situation was very much that he was… a Cause removed, while his Effects still remained. Again, even though he seemed to have been somewhat ‘erased’, the CORE he designed still remains standing and active. 

And meanwhile here we have Someone as, like the way I think they operate, they’re like a rogue Cause attaching itself to Effects. Which is possible because they truly are reversed when it comes to the Darkner’s pasts. And I think that if Gaster’s goal is just, basically, to Exist within the Deltarune Universe  - there’s a certain logic in the idea that he’s trying to Make Himself Exist by inserting himself into Darkner’s backstories, no matter if it keeps driving them crazy(er).

This also raises the question of like… did Someone have any agency in picking their ‘Effects’? Like, is the reason why Someone’s has influanced Darkners that ‘make sense’ for them to influance like Jevil and Spamton and not like… Jigsaw Joe and Tasque Manager is because Someone is deliberatly trying to minimize their corrupting influance by targeting Darkners would be kinda Fucked Up regardless? Or is it something that they can’t even control and it’s more that the powers of Inevitability of the Dark Worlds make it so they can’t change what the Darkners are too much?  

Man I hope any of this makes sense it’s like 4AM lol.

relax i wasnt trying 2 kill u its just a joke

image description under the cut

[ID: A four page comic with a mostly monotone dull dark blue pallete, with accents of a bright red and electric blue color.

The first image shows Noelle and Kris from Deltarune approaching the electric barrier puzzle. Noelle walks off and says "Looks like you need to hold it down. Kris, you keep standing on that one!" In red, Kris's soul repeatedly tells them to Step off of the button that turns the barrier off. Kris is distressed by this, whipping around to look at their soul in an empty space (now dressed in their light world sweater) and says "I CAN'T. SHE'LL DIE."

Image 2: The soul keeps insisting on stepping off, so Kris does so, their eyes turning black and blank as the soul takes over their body. In red text is the word "Proceed" twice. The next panel is of Noelle, with closed eyes and a smile (even though she looks nervous) saying "Kris!! Stay on the switch! Stay! Stay!" Kris sighs in relief that she's alright, and when she asks "Gosh, do you need a dog treat or something?" they respond with "yes" with a smile. Noelle walks off the page, saying "My turn!"

Image 3: Noelle beckons Kris over and is grinning to herself. As Kris walks over, she snickers, and hops off of her button and activates the barrier. We see a shot of her giggling and one of Kris, whose back is turned to the audience, the electric barrier right in front of them.

Image 4: Noelle asks "How'd you like that?" with a grin, Kris's face is obscured. She continues more cheerfully "You should've seen the look on..." And Kris's face is revealed, looking upset and heartbroken. Noelle's text ends with "... Your face..." The background is a gradient from the bright red to the dark blue. End ID]

it’s a bit earlier than I planned to post it but hey why not now XD it’s soon enough

now fair warning it really isn’t anything spectacular like some other Sans fights out there, a lot of it was experimentation ^^’

Error! @loverofpiggies / Crayon Queen

Who do you find when you’re at rock bottom?

YAY okay another long-awaited part for Paper Trail! This one was tricky to draw on the expressions/actions part, but hopefully all works well! 

New part will be along in a couple weeks!

- Paper Trail -

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