one of my biggest pet peeves in smiling critters fan work lowkey is when they make dogday a big Cinnamon Roll overly kind insane pushover that catnap needs to come over and defend all the time😵💫😵💫 GUYS come onn he’s the leader for a reason!!! i like to think he can be stern, firm and Maybe even mean…don’t mistake his kindness for weakness 😭
What if Ramb did get a Shadow Crystal and he just held onto it until he turned to stone, and the crystal gave his statue form the ability to move Weeping Angel style or something.
I could picture Hater Pippins just talking shit about Ramb while not looking at him, only to turn their head and see Stone Ramb staring directly at them and scaring the shit out of them.
And what if he's taken back to castle town like that and is forced to be like that for a while until the stone fully dissipates or something.
Both are devoted to lightners and very specifically to Kris, (while Ralsei acts very much subservient to Susie as well as Kris, he seems to not dare to question or jokingly rib them (or more likely us) the way he does Susie. (see: him immediately backing out on disagreeing with our decision to go with Noelle to the festival on the weird route, like this is an extreme situation and he still feels like he has no place to tell us "no")
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
both can only hope Kris is having fun through all of this,
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
they're both extremely self sacrificial (Ramb lets himself die without trying to save himself at all just to let Kris play their games, and Ralsei offered to traumatize and hurt himself all over again for the reminder of the adventures for the rest of the game just so Susie and Kris won't see the ending of the prophecy)
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
they both know they are darkners and therefore not real, they cling to that knowledge and distance themselves from the lightners they love because they know what they truly are, fiction, and think they shouldn't impose on the real people visiting their world
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
They both have such difficulty thinking of themselves outside of their perceived "purpose", they know they are darkners, they know they're not real, so they know their wants and needs aren't real either. Their thoughts and feelings aren't to be considered because it's all a part of this made up story. The only real thing they can do is have an impact on the lightners, not that either of them would attempt to force that impact- they only act, serve or even speak only if they're given permission.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
adding onto that- they don't actually know what a healthy relationship is. They absolutely adore their lightners but (although Ralsei is starting to,) they don't realize what true friendship is. That it isn't just all self sacrifice and service to their loved ones, that it isn't to hide everything that you think makes you unpalatable just so you won't make them feel any negative emotion.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
(Some people have such a warped read of Ramb, but he wants Kris to come back to this dark world once they inevitably have to leave (and he knows that they'll have to leave at some point) , and starts to ask them to maybe come back one day in a very roundabout careful hinting way, as if asking directly would just be too much, and then he even takes it back thinking it really was completely out of line for him, a darkner, to ask anything of a lightner.)
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
They refuse to be viewed as anything more than a made up story;
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Ralsei keeps repeating that he's not real, he's a darkner, Susie and Kris should have fun here but understand that one day they should leave and make some real friends instead. He completely dismisses the validity of his own feelings using his knowledge that he's a "fictional character", so they shouldn't even consider what he wants, he shouldn't want anything.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Ramb keeps repeating that he's just a power strip, an object, not a real person you should treat as an equal, and even though he doubts the things he was told to do this chapter he doesn't say it to anyone and feels bad after hinting at it to Kris. He's so lonely and wants them to come back one day but feels as if he doesn't have the right to ask that of them. This want of his shouldn't be tethering Kris to unreality, even if he wants them to come back one day (not even stay here forever, just visit) it's something that shouldn't affect them and their decisions over what to do in their life, he shouldn't affect them like that.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
We met Jevil in the first chapter focusing on Susie;
While Susie isn't the sole focus of the chapter, she's definitely the character that gets the biggest arc.
She realizes that maybe she isn't incapable of friendship, and she won't destroy everything in her path anymore just because she can (or feels like she has to or else she's in danger or will be seen as weak, BUT she sees these actions of hers as just mayhem she causes because she can.)
The fight with Jevil only happens after the moment she realizes all this thanks to her fight and talk with lancer, after she decided to stop terrorizing everyone that comes her way, she finally meets an entity of true destruction that causes harm just for the hell of it.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
We met Spamton in the chapter that could focus on our relationship to Kris, if we so choose
(im saying could because even if its clear from the moment we meet Spamton how much Kris wants to pursue his cause (the freedom from the strings, "if you've lost control of your life...")
It's debatable if its Kris looking for a way out of the control of the soul or just wanting to help Spamton out of his situation which they view as similar to theirs (i personally believe the latter but yaknow))
its still our choice if to pursue Spamton and see what his story line will lead to, and see all those clear parallels to Kris, which is my opinion is deliciously poetic and fitting. in the chapter that could show us just how much control they lack in their life, they don't even have the control to choose if the parallels will be shown in the story.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
We met Ramb in the chapter where Ralsei reveals to Susie and keeps repeating how he isn't real and doesn't believe he deserves the love, kindness and friendship Susie and Kris offered him, not forever
Like- we still have Ralsei's speech from the beginning fresh in our minds when Ramb calls himself just a power strip (what he is in reality) and puts himself down like he shouldn't do anything except what Kris would want of him.
Ralsei begins to enjoy himself a little, playing as the main character on Tenna's board and having fun with the games in the green room while we were fighting Eram, in the same chapter where Ramb let himself die for his purpose to Kris, as if it was showing us the two diverting paths to this line of thinking that they share-
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Either you listen to the people around you who tell you and KEEP telling you that you matter and you're loved, and slowly start to heal and finally enjoy your life,
Or you shut it all out and only listen to your lying inside voice, stick to your warped world view where you don't matter and you could never be loved unless you give all you are away, and die alone and forgotten.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Even the fact that Gaster calls Susie and Kris wonderful people, but doesn't say anything for Ralsei, feels reminiscent of how the story treats Spamton and Jevil compared to Ramb, despite how hard both he and Ralsei tried to be good.
It's a lot easier to change your worldview, even on a subject like your own being...
...if you have people to encourage that change.
Ralsei got the chance. Even if he's still struggling with it, Ralsei was still allowing himself to at least have some fun every now and then. He has people like Susie to at least tell him he's worth something, contradicting his thought process.
Ramb didn't. If anything, he was just kicked down into a coffin, with TV World nailing it shut. The Pippins at least imply Ramb tried to fit in, even if it didn't work out. And if his treatment nowadays is any implication, it didn't get any better. So whatever encouragement he could've gotten from anybody was probably too little too late, or just drowned out by the negativity that made him feel alone, despite living in such a crowded place.
Reinforcement helps. Support helps. Tremendously.
So when the involvement is only given to one of two different, but similar people.
It's no surprise which one walks away as both a better person, and as more of a person, period.
A lot of people are under the assumption that you can "think away" or walk off emotional damage but it's been proven that it's literally impossible to do that alone
(obviously I'm talking about real life humans here but like. The fiction of the dark worlds and the darkners is based on our world and our psychology), we're social animals, we depend on one another for support, we evolved like this and you can't break out of that by sheer force, no matter how strong you think you are, or how much you think you should be "above it"
I hope I didn't make it seem like I was blaming Ramb for his situation at the end there- that absolutely wasn't my intention, let me try to rephrase it;
Their two stories that branch off from the same line of thinking seem to show us what happens to that same lonely, self abandoning/self sacrificing/low self worth person with and without a support system
Ralsei has the support of Susie and Kris, when his thoughts of inferiority and this warped "purpose" come back to the surface (and he's vocal about it, that's important!!) Susie and Kris are right there beside him to remind him that none of that is true, that he's been stuck believing lies, that he's loved and cared for as he is right now and he deserves it.
He's starting to accept that support and it shows, he's more confident, more vocal when he's upset, he hides less and is starting to discover who he truly is. Thanks to both his friends and his courage to accept their love.
Ramb doesn't have a support system. He doesn't have any friends or even just colleagues who care enough about him to simply cry for him once he's gone. He didn't have anyone to shut down his beliefs about himself and his worth, he didn't have anyone that would see his qualities and and reassure him that he matters as he is, whether inanimate object or darkner, that his feelings are valid and real.
He didn't have anyone that could jump start his journey to live for himself, so he remains as he always was, a self minimizing, self abandoning stone statue, which turned more literal when he met his end.
While Ralsei is given a support system to bring his issues to the surface and counter it, Ramb isn't. All he gets are people to indirectly remind him of his place in the world. His, ultimately insignificant, place. At least, from his view.
(And no worries, seen enough of your stuff to know it was just a bit of an oversight haha)
Like the idea of Night 5 being one of those "Final Boss" type nights where one character (Friend) takes the role of all the others characters and maybe more as your final challenge. Potentially with the "bodies" of the other characters laying limp somewhere.
Alt AU to @windskull's "Those Who Were Left Behind" AU Fic where Hater Pippins gets dragged to Cyber World with Ramb somehow.
Obviously, Hater is not too pleased to be there, especially with this guy of all people.
But, nonetheless, they go with Ramb because they really don't have anyone else to turn to right now, and Ramb bargains with Swatch enough to let the Hater stay with them.
...Only for Hater to blow it and get kicked out. And only themselves! As Ramb stays with Swatch for the time being.
So now, while Ramb, Spamton, and Swatch have their A-Plot, Hater has their own B-Plot where they struggle with basically becoming Cyber City's "Ramb." Someone out of place, unable to find a comfortable spot to truly belong.
Of course, Ramb and Hater still find each other and talk every now and then, but while the bridge isn't burned, it certainly isn't safe to walk on, y'know?
And naturally, things aren't completely 1:1 between their tales. Ramb is a tired, old, nostalgic plug that's loyal to his lightner, leading him to be seen as prideful in TV World and such, while Hater is a Kleptomaniac Pippins that likes drinking, which, combine that with the potential stress fueled attitude problem would definitely net them in hot water a lot more than it ever did in TV World.
But, yeah, Hater gets dragged to Cyber World. And while Ramb finds unlikely love, Hater finds themselves with an empty beer glass and a looong walk to do in Ramb's shoes.
