🖤 I always knew that my creator didn't know everything. And I knew that I didn't know everything, either, but… I thought I knew more than he did, at least. That's been my purpose all along, haha. If I can't know everything… at least I know everything that's important for me to know. Right?
🖤 But… it's just become more clear to me lately how little I actually know. About myself, or my own abilities, or… or about the way the world works. Haha.
🖤 Hey. If I'm right about how your role functions, you're here, listening, aren't you? Narrator?
🖤 Or should I call you Chara?
[ Ralsei stands in the middle of the hall, looking up at the torn painting. Desperate clawmarks cover its face. ]
[ It’s seen better days. ]
[ “Chara” is acceptable. ]
🖤 Haha, sorry. I'm not able to hear you, so I don't know what your answer will be. Sorry. But… I'll be sure to read whatever gets posted, later on, and that'll have your narration in the text. It'll be a little bit like we're having a conversation backwards and forwards through time!
[ I suppose it will be. You are very good at using the mediums we are provided with to your advantage. ]
🖤 If you're here, that is. I can't tell that either. You haven't narrated many of the posts for Tenna lately, so… well, I just have to hope you are here. It would be a bit embarrassing to say all this, knowing the PLAYERs are listening, and not gain anything from it.
🖤 Anyway, could you tell me how your role works? Do you know innately when you're needed? Are you the one in charge of what gets posted? Or… is that up to fate? What are the rules?
🖤 Because I've been thinking. If there's anybody who knows a lot about the inner mechanics of our world's interactions with the PLAYERs, at least through this Internet medium, it has to be you. I don't know how you ended up where you are, or what it's like to be there… but you're clearly sapient, and you have been for a while. That means that you're probably pretty aware of the world you narrate.
[ I would say it is up to fate. ]
[ Think of it like this – I was created for a certain “role”, just as you and TENNA are. I am not a Darkner, mind. I lived in the Light World once, and had the same power the Lightners of your world would. I have more “free will” than that of an object. ]
[ I resemble someone from the world this one was shaped in the image of, as well. That, I imagine, grants me some degree of “specialness”. I would call it some power of perverted sentimentality. ]
[ But I was, still, created to fill a role I can no longer fill. And so, when I ceased to fill that role, this world deigned to assign me a new one. ]
[ One that, like the one before it, mirrored the “me” I had never met. ]
[ And so, here I am. My fate guides me along the path it sees fit for me to have. My role mirrors the one my predecessor had before me. ]
[ Those are the “rules”, in my limited understanding of them. ]
🖤 And, um. Like me, you probably don't have too much control over your actions, do you? That's alright. As long as I know what you can do, I can use that knowledge.
[ I can narrate the goings-on of this world, on my own whims, more or less. Occasionally, through the medium of this narration, I can also communicate with the PLAYERs. ]
[ However, I cannot directly influence events. I can merely describe them. It is not a terribly exciting purpose. ]
[ … do those also count as “rules”? ]
🖤 …And, um, something else. I don't know if you knew this, but in the world our reality was based on, there was someone like you. Chara. They died, but… you know, they ended up exactly as you did. They narrated the story to the PLAYERs. I don't know too much about that world… but I know that, at least, haha.
[ Such is the aforementioned “specialness”. ]
[ … It is a little tricky to have a conversation where one end cannot hear from the other, isn’t it? ]
🖤 So, if, um, what's happened to you is the same as what happened to the person you're based on… that's fate, right? It has to be. The story that's told echoes another story. It doesn't matter how incompetently any world is created, or who is behind its creation. Even in other versions of DELTARUNE, the world follows a similar path…
[ I would call it fate. ]
🖤 Umm, I'm rambling. It's not important for you to hear, sorry. You probably couldn't come up with an answer for me even if you wanted to. Besides… I think I'm already beginning to understand.
🖤 …Thank you, for looking after Tenna so much. You defended her even though you didn't have to. You're a kind person. It's, um, nice knowing that I'm not the only person who can help her.
[ She is remarkably tenacious for someone in a world this cruel. As are you, Ralsei. ]
🖤 Whatever you have to say, or even if it's nothing at all… I'll always be grateful, haha. Umm. Thanks for talking to me? Or not, if you didn't? I don't know… so, um, I'll just end off by saying that I'll pay close attention even if you don't respond at all! And maybe I'll talk to you again later, if that's something you'd like.
[ Maybe. Ironically, talking has never been my strong suit. ]
[ I’d much rather leave this story to you and TENNA. It’s the least I can give you. ]
