#askhowls

[howlsofbloodhounds]

What are your thoughts on Delta x Killer?

I haven’t given them much thought admittedly, but I think they’ll cute in a way. Maybe not one of those types of relationships they intend to keep going forever or anything, just that they both have something the other could potentially benefit from.

Maybe at first Delta has some hang ups on Killer at first, because he’s a murderer, worked with Nightmare, and he’d seen his best friend Color tear himself apart chasing after this guy. Delta has seen Color at some of his lowest lows, and it’s because of that mess with Nightmare and Killer. Especially if you factor in my little HC that Killer was the one suggested using Delta’s creations—weapons, armor, gadgets, etc.—to NM, to spread around negativity.

Meanwhile, ST2 Killer probably doesn’t think much of anything of Delta at first and certainly doesn’t trust him. Especially how Delta behaves, carries himself, and talks as if he’s ready for a fight—but anyone who knows Delta knows that he’s just that type of guy, it’s how he communicates and is certainly the type to be down for a friendly spar at any time. Some people mistake him for aggressive.

Only Killer doesn’t know Delta and they aren’t friends. I’d like to think Delta’s “I’m going to fight you but also not really this is how I show friendship” is confusing for ST2, who already struggles with empathy and is on edge in a new environment, ready to start a new life, surrounded by people who don’t trust him and who he doesn’t trust and who were his enemies even if only because they were on different sides.

Basically Killer’s trust issues and constant hyper vigilance—this new environment—keeps him ready for a confrontation (which means potentially tipping into Stage 3) and he misunderstands Delta’s body language and tone as confrontation and threat and dominance hiding under fake smiles. Color would probably have to reassure him that Delta means him no harm, and Killer probably initially resolves not to bother spending much time with or around him without Color.

Because in Killer’s eyes, that’s all they really have in common—Color. Killer will need time to adjust to the idea that these people aren’t his enemies anymore and he isn’t to try and hurt or kill them, and they supposedly won’t try to hurt or kill him, at least while in ST2. We all saw how he reacted to Abyss simply because Abyss was annoying and poking him—would’ve stabbed the guy if Color hadn’t stopped him. And we all see how he bullies poor Swap.

But Delta is Color’s friend and knows him well and Killer wants to know Color—from every perspective. So I’d imagine he’d go to Delta whenever he needs advice on how to actually be a friend to someone, or anything he doesn’t understand about friendship—about actually being equals with someone. He wouldn’t outright ask tho, probably just barges into Delta’s workshop and asks what type of gifts Color would like.

From here Delta starts showing Killer how to build with mechanics and engineering and the like—which is something new and Killer finds he surprisingly enjoys it. And we all know how Killer chases that dopamine and its sources—something new, pain, and now the act of creation—and how Delta is his new source, teaching him things. Delta is a resource Killer intends to make use of.

I’d imagine they’d get to know eachother a lot more during their times spent in Delta’s workshop. But if Killer starts to feel safe and comfortable, starts showing signs of potentially shifting into Stage 1 around Delta, I think he will immediately distant himself.

ST2 gets confused why he’s feeling that way and uncomfortable, and ST1 keeps distance from everyone—for his safety and everyone else’s. These conflicting feelings and top of everything else means he’s constantly feeling threatened, which means ST3–which means people dying or getting hurt because ST3 Killer doesn’t have or know context, only something is making him feel cornered and hunted.

Killer would try to withdraw from whatever they had. Now Delta will have to go to Color to understand Killer—he doesn’t explain Killer’s Stages, the inherent fear of not being able to trust yourself or your mind—says there’s just things Killer will have to tell Delta himself. But Color definitely suggests that Delta be patient with him-let Killer come to him—and that he show Killer his strength.

There’s definitely a situation where Delta possibly manages to contain and calm down Stage 3, while successfully preventing Killer from attacking and harming any bystanders. Manages to show 1 that Delta is strong enough to protect himself from Killer if he needs to.

It allows some stability and reassurance to ST1 that Delta can protect himself, and like Color, Delta chooses to stick around even after Killer explains that he is inherently dangerous to be around. He is a weapon, a machine meant to kill, and he’s spent more time being that than being a person.

So I think from there the two go back to spending time in the workshop, only this time because they both enjoy creating and now eachother’s company instead of just clinging to Color as the only connection between them. Maybe they even upgrade to sparring now that the feeling of “threatenemy. wantstohurt. wantstoownwantstokeep. goingtokillme. killitfirst” wears off for Killer.

And maybe they even kiss and cuddle on the gym mat floor and clean eachother off in the shower occasionally during bouts of adrenaline. And Color probably has to heal them both whenever they go a little too far. And then all 3 of them find some big bed to cuddle on and maybe Epic and Cross join them eventually.

and of course the standard situation where Killer is standoffish, apathetic, and kind of an ass to Delta due to his own issues and Delta’s just being himself and trying to get along with his friend’s friend. And then something horrible happens to Color, he gets kidnapped(because why wouldn’t he? The man is far too kind and he no doubt gets taken advantage of for his strength and manipulated) and Killer freaks the fuck out and breaks down. And Delta’s there to pull him together and keep him stable while he, Killer, Epic, and Cross all work together to rescue Color.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

You know I was thinking. When you talk about Chara's and Killers stages dinamic, and how they trained and disciplimed them. One thing is stuck in my mind, where does Chara even know how to do all of that? Where did they learn the whole, psychological manipulation and training thing they used on Killer? Because a normal child, shouldn't have any knowledge on any of that. Does it have something to do with Charas life on the surface?

Well, other than the fact that Chara is unfortunately no longer a normal child and has basically evolved into the closest thing Something New has to a God (able to evade death, create and change timelines, etc.), I think it very much has to do with how their life on the surface was—when they were alive—and after, under the watch of the Player.

In the canon Undertale, Chara is a dead child learning by watching the Player/the human—they learn a lot from us in the Genocide run. Chara didn’t start the Genocide and likely was horrified and confused in the beginning, but by the end they had accepted that this was why they woke back up. And they don’t understand why the Player wants to go back.

In a timeline where the Player is intending to try and do everything they can, see everything they can, even if that means fucking around with the game’s files, character codes, messing around with things they probably shouldn’t and risking ruining the game completely—that alone is enough to try every single option they can think of. No matter how violent or abusive or depraved, because it’s just a video game with characters that aren’t real or sentient, and they have to see everything. They have to.

When Chara was alive, they already had such little regard for their life and well being they were willing to die if it meant freeing Monsterkind. No child gets that low an opinion of themself, so willing to embrace death, if something or someone didn’t make it seem like a better option than being alive. Especially if they truly did climb Mt. Ebbott with the intention of not surviving the fall.

Especially if now that their death could mean freeing Monsterkind—the ones who took them in and loved them and showed them kindness—then maybe they can finally be good for something.

(I like to think Something New!Chara has specific trauma surrounding dehumanization and demonization.

Grown up told that they’re an evil child, similar to the way Passive Nightmare was treated by the Villagers. And they thought that by freeing Monsterkind they can finally be good, even if it meant dying.

Only they didn’t die and now all of Monsterkind is dead and that’s their purpose for being awake now. Similar to a fanonish Nightmare, it became a self fulfilling prophecy—they were always meant to be bad, they can never be good, so just embrace. You are a bad, evil child and all will die by your hands.)

So I’m thinking that it’s a mixture of lived experiences, watching and learning from a seemingly all powerful invisible entity and its tactics, and possibly any books about psychology, the effects of abuse, conditioning, etc. in pets, humans, and monsters.

Chara is a kiddo and was a victim of these tactics once, a possibly even witnessed it done to any pets they may have had on the surface (possibly was even treated as a pet), so I’m sure they made a ton of mistakes while trying to train the Stages.

Very likely due to the possessive attachment they have to Killer and their own inability to control their emotions when the right trigger points are hit—feeling betrayed, lied to, abandoned, taken advantage of, rejected, looked down on, dismissed, ignored, feeling weak or out of control, etc.

Chara always tries to maintain a facade of being mature, being intelligent and calm and in control. But they’re a child who’s just as traumatized and unstable as Killer is. Push the right buttons and they’re as violent and unhinged as Killer in Stage 3 can be.

It’s also important to mention that although the overarching goal is to maintain control over Killer, the strategy of how they got there may not have always been planned in advance or improvised.

It creates an unstable and uncertain environment when Chara lashes out during moments of rage, hurt, or perceived abandonment and betrayal. It keeps Killer on his toes and in fear, and he comes to associate doing or saying certain things with pain and fear—ingrained so deeply in his mind, body, and soul that even potentially just thinking about or considering doing or saying those things can cause him fear and pain, even without Chara around to enforce it.

And it certainly doesn’t help that Chara is inside his head.

But they have time to learn and develop. Neither of them are staying permanently dead anytime soon. Mistakes can be fixed, learned from. Killer and Chara are above time and even death now.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

What do you think of Delta x Cross?

I also haven’t given this one much thought, but I believe Delta might’ve met Cross in his AU if I’m remembering right. I believe they fought?

So Delta met Cross when he and XChara were still rampaging across the Multiverse, trying to find a way to rebuild/remake their AU.

I find it interesting how Delta and Cross faced a similar problem and reacted to it differently. Cross lost his AU, and in response, he was willing to harm whoever he had to, to get his home, family, and friends back.

Meanwhile, Delta lost his home, family, and friends, too. But his response to it was to use his newly gained abilities and his skills to fight for the Multiverse, to make sure no one ever experiences the harm and pain he did.

Even if that means taking drastic measures to keep people safe and stop those who wish harm from causing any, seen by the way Delta immediately said he’d have to kill Cross if Cross didn’t stop and attempted to continue his trek across the Multiverse, bringing pain to everyone he crossed paths with.

However, there’s still more major differences. Delta lost his AU due to the human, whereas Cross unfortunately played a role in the deaths of his family, friends, allies, and AU.

Cross was alone, with only a hurting Determined child for company, stewing in his guilt, grief, and self hatred. And XChara didn’t help matters.

Delta left no time to be alone with his thoughts, no time to process his grief. He found a purpose, a self given one, and stuck to it with vigor; similarly to Cross.

The difference is that Cross is too Determined to give up his mission, whereas Delta/Sans was just about ready to give as soon as Cross gained the upper hand. As Sans said, he just wants to be with his bro.

But like the way Cross has XChara pushing him to be Determined should he ever falter and doubt their goals and methods, Delta has Beta/Bravery pushing him to be brave.

So while I think there’s a lot they’d be able to understand about each other, there’s also a lot more they wouldn’t understand or agree with about eachother.

There’d probably be a lot of confrontations on the battlefield, a lot of attempts to kill eachother and a lot of escapes, and by the time they do get to being able to have an actual conversation as allies, it’d probably be tinged with weary tension and an unspoken understanding, a shared grief. But just as much confusion.

Cross may even view Delta as what he could’ve been, and be jealous of him, despite the grudging respect he has for Delta’s technological prowess and moral integrity. And Delta may have a grudging respect for Cross’ Determination and combat prowess, his strength.

I think they’d be a perfect strangers to adversaries to allies to friends to potentially lovers type of thing. Because we all know Cross isn’t an evil person, he’s a hurting one doing bad things. And I like to think Epic, who is both Delta’s friend and knows Cross best, could help bridge the misunderstandings between the two of them.

Color could likely help as well—not only because he knows Delta, not only because of his own experiences with Killer and the stories he’s heard from Killer about Cross, but also because Color is very adept at understanding others and seeing multiple perspectives.

So I think Delta and Cross’ mutual friends would be a vital part of clearing up their misunderstandings and understanding their differences, and why they’re different. It also helps that Cross has been shown multiple times to be a major crybaby, also a highly empathetic and sensitive person underneath his tough, cold soldier act.

They’d be a slow burn, filled with vast differences that they’d need outside perspectives and advice to understand, but also a deep understanding, mutual respect, and friendly-to-flirty banter once Delta manages to crack through that facade Cross likes to put up.

I personally think they’d be better as allies and close friends than lovers, but I can see that type of love that’s both friends and lovers, and should they ever break up, I doubt they’d hold any regrets or anger. It’d probably be mutual agreed upon thing. Those two would be amazing in the field together though.

Gets a little more complicated if you add a bit of toxic masculinity on Delta’s end, and internalized homophobia on Cross’ end, since Cross did grow up around humans on the Surface.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

How do you think Delta would react if he learned that his gadgets were being used for evil? If he found out someone used his gadgets to kill someone, would he take it personally out of guilt or would the others comfort him so he wouldn't?

I think he initially would take it personally. I think it’d crush him completely and the guilt of it all would even tempt him into trying to give up mechanics and engineering completely, especially if he’s ever confronted face-to-face by the destruction his gadgets brought in others’ hands or by any of the victims or their families/friends.

Especially if any of them blame him specifically, like what happened to Tony Stark by the mother who lost her kid in the fall of Sokovia. And the Maximoff twins losing their parents and home due to Tony’s missiles.

But I don’t think Beta, Color, and Epic and maybe even Ink (would supports and encourages art and creation in any form) would allow him to give it up completely. Not only because mechanics and engineering make him so completely happy and overjoyed—always ready to share some new gadget his made or sprout any fact about mechanics and engineering—but because he’s good at it, and he doesn’t just make weapons of war. He makes medical devices, armor, shields, disability aids.

His work helps people still, as he always intended. It isn’t his fault that others used what he made for intentions and goals he doesn’t agree with. As soon as his gadgets go into hospitals and the military and armories and garages, what happens from there is out of his hands.

And more bad would come if he stopped making entirely. So once Delta manages to fight his way out of the overwhelming guilt and sense of self betrayal, and steady his resolve, I think he will at least temporarily stop making weapons or gadgets that can be used for war or harming people—at least until he’s able to find a way to get and possibly keep them off the black market.

He will focus on creating things that help, while the Epic Sanses, potentially with help from the Star Sanses, and help from Killer and Cross, hunt down anywhere his weapons and gadgets might be currently used and sold.

This will be very hard, but similar to the way Killer came up with the idea to sell Delta’s gadgets to operative cells in Nightmare’s organization to fuel war and generate negativity, he can also turn on them all and rat them out to each universe’s local authorities and national governments. Convince people to help hunt them down and retrieve or destroy them.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

Hey ! I’ve seen that your blog contained a lot of canon Killer stuff (which is really interesting) so I’d like to ask a few questions if it doesn’t bother you !

It’s about interpretations and what’s canon and what’s not. But mostly about shipping I guess ???

My questions are :

About that « Good person » comic, what is your interpretation ? I’ve seen Driller Shippers claim that it meant that their ship was canon (And I can’t tell if they said that because they’re shippers or because it’s true) so I wanted to know, is it really a confirmation that Driller is canon or is it just Dream being himself and helping Killer remembering that he’s good inside without shipping involved ?

Does Killer has a canon partner anyway ? I know about his past crush on Toriel when he was Sans but is there anything else ? What is his actual relationship with Color ? Are they like friends or a found family ?

And, I’ve seen a post of Rahafwabas stating that « everything is canon », does that mean we can have our own interpretation of Killer and use him how we want?

I’d like to use Killer in my stories, so I’ve been researching his canon informations to use for my interpretation !

Have a nice day/night and sorry if my questions are bothering you !

Alright, so. As far as I can see, the “A Good Person?” comic is mostly just Dream being himself and trying to help Killer. I’ve heard rumors that Joku once tried to force Rahafwabas to make Driller canon, but I’m not sure if that’s true or something that was ever actually made canon.

Other than his crush on Toriel when he was Sans, Killer doesn’t have any canon romantic partners. And when asked if he liked anyone, he simply said “no.” And when asked what he thought about being shipped with someone specific, I don’t remember who right now, he said, “The same way I feel about every ship. I don’t care.”

As for his relationship with Color, they are definitely friends and a found family. Are they romantic? That’s up to your interpretation. When Rahafwabas was asked if she views them as romantic, they answered, “I see them more as BROmantic than ROmantic.”

That being said, both Rahafwabas and Superyoumna have shown support for the romantic ship and have encouraged others to ship them if they want to. I personally see them as found family / a QPR.

As for everything being canon. It’s quite possible that Rahafwabas didn’t have much of Killer’s story planned out after the Something New comics, so they have decided to leave things up to interpretation. So I think Rahafwabas just wanted people to have fun with their character, and not feel obligated to stick strictly to the canon.