(If you struggle to read the boxes, the text of the dialogue is written below the cut!)
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Meth: Hello all, and-
Alphys, Meth, Frisk, Chara: HAPPY LGBTQIA+ PRIDE!
Meth: I hope this month has brought upon the finest greetings! May you be blessed with pride, and if such confidence has yet to make itself known to you, I hope at the very least, you know you are not alone, and that there is a community who supports you.
Alphys: I-It is also the month f-for PTSD awareness, scoliosis awareness, Caribbean American h-heritage, and N-national Indigenous history!
Chara: (Indigenous history month? Woah! Oh, um-) I have PTSD and scoliosis! So be aware of me, folks!
Frisk: (Pfft- Chara...)
Meth: Yes, and men's mental health month! Sam, if you are listening to this, I hope my gift basket has reached you and cleared some of the fog in your life, and-
Frisk: We wish you well, Mister Sam!
Chara: He sent a gift basket?
Frisk: And we wish the best for all other men whose neurodivergence or life circumstances have led to hardships on their mental wellbeing. I know what it's like...
Meth: ...
Chara: ...
Alphys: Y-Yes, absolutely...I-I think a-all three of us have probably had some, uh, pretty d-dark times in our lives. So we stand in s-solidarity with you. N-Now let's, um, n-not derail! The point of this post is-is to share our queer identities, and- and invite you to ask questions about them, about us, a-and about monsters involvement in-in queer history! Our history with queerness i-is very interesting and complex, I am sure it-it would be very interesting to humans! Erm, I'll- I'll share my identity first! I am a peritrans woman, bi-polysexual, panromantic, a-and ambiamorous.
Frisk: I am peritrans, non-binary - specifically pangender - pansexual, and polyamorous! Feel free to ask anything!
Meth: I am an individual of the masculine variant - non-binary xenomasculine, if one is to be specific - bi-polysexual, and polyamorous. I am perisex and altersex, particularly xenosex, transxenive, xenogonadal, and prenascian! My sex is quite a complex subject, and I would be incredibly DELIGHTED to share as many details as one's mind could handle!
Chara: I am non-binary - specifically agender - ambiamorous, and I prefer not to label my attraction! I am also...um, I am also intersex. I-I don't...know my, uh, specific variant, since...well...I never had a genetic test, died before chromosomes were even discovered, and when alive, my body was- uhh, perhaps its better I don't share that...an-anyways I-I could...erm...I'd be willing t-to talk about what I DO know, if you, uh...want.
Chara: ...
Frisk: (Chara...)
Chara: (Please change the subject.)
Frisk: O-Oh, and don't forget, you can ask us non-queer questions too! You can ask us just about anything!
Alphys: Y-Yes, absolutely! Ask away! Please...
Alphys: (I-I hope Frisk edits o-out those awkward pauses in-in final uploads...it's almost like t-they were waiting for s-someone else to finish speaking...)
I've made some fake screenshots of my characters Ember and Sam if they existed in Undertale. These both take place in the pacifist ending, before Frisk leaves the Underground.
Ember is a big fan of Mettaton, but never had the chance to see him or even much of his merch. She begs her big brother Sam to take her to MTT Resort before they leave the Underground for good. He complies, of course.
These interactions between them and Frisk are unfortunately not canon to DH either, as the AU follows the game to a T. The characters and the event itself very much is, though!
(Defining Happiness belongs to @dh-dd-hivemind. Thank you so much for including my characters in your AU!)
So we got permission to share one of our dear friends SUPER AMAZING fanart for Defining Happiness!! Please do check out her deviantart and give her some love!!
I assume only you can see Chara in recordings, Frisk. How did you discover that was the case?
Introduction post [link.]
(If you struggle to read the boxes, the text of the dialogue is written below the cut!)
[Note: Monster Kid uses they/he in this au!]
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Frisk: Considering you can also see them, I don't think I am the only one, right? I just am unsure of why everyone around me is incapable. I thought maybe it was that only humans could see, but my sister is a human, and she never commented on it when I sent her photos that have Chara in them, so I dunno how some of you askers are capable...
A-Anyways! I figured it out because Chara kept photobombing me.
Chara: I deserved to be in those photos.
Frisk: I didn't think anything of it, but when I looked at my phone, I saw them in the pictures too! I tried to show them to MK, asking if they saw it too, but they just laughed it off as me pranking them and trying to scare them with stories of hauntings. Now he keeps trying to get me into spooky urban legends and prank scare me...they...aren't very good at it. (It's really cute.)
How much progress have humans made in terms of queer acceptance? And what role do monsters play in queer history? Especially before the war since after the war, human and monster cultures likely didn't interact much.
The monsters do seem quite accepting of diversity of any kind and you mentioned their place in queer history, so I was curious.
Previous pride post [link]
Introduction post [link.]
(If you struggle to read the boxes, the text of the dialogue is written below the cut!)
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Frisk: When it comes to Human progress, we've come quite far! Same-gender and gender diverse relationships are legalized globally.
Meth: Polyamory is legalized in 93% of countries. And marriage benefits are no longer a thing - benefits are simply given to those who need them, instead of forcing individuals who wished not to marry into a partnership. Marriage is now what it is supposed to be - an act of affection and dedication, and sometimes a cultural exchange. Not an act of legal necessity.
Frisk: Gender and sex transitions are fully supported in healthcare, t-though there is still the issue with, y'know...classism, and some people being unable to afford HRT and surgery.
Meth: Indeed. There is also some misfortune in how binary-centric manners of thinking have yet to be completely eradicated. Though things are looking up. Gender segregation is no longer present in a majority of countries, with gendered bathrooms being widely turned gender neutral in 81% of the Human population, and sports being sorted through standards such as physical mass and level of practice rather than gender or sex within 74% of countries! And the statistics rise with each passing year!
Frisk: Most countries still have "legal gender," so many children - like me - are still being assigned female and assigned male on birth certificates. However, legal gender can be changed without a fee, and gender assignments are starting to fall out of favor.
Meth: An estimated 66% of babies born within the last year have been unassigned at birth, and around the globe, there are debates to completely rid of the F/M markers on legal documentation altogether!
Frisk: And speaking of gender assignment...mutilation, hormone abuse, and other forms of coercive intersex medical interventions have been illegalized across 98% of the globe, widely recognized as cruelty. Which was a massive step in progress, considering how horrifically normalized it was...
Chara: ...
Meth: Intersexuality is also being taught within sex education and biology to the youth.
Frisk: A-And so are other queer topics!
Meth: And it is standard in a majority of workplaces to ask for preferred pronouns and names upon hire, and to be given badges with such.
Alphys: ...
Frisk: ...
Meth: ...
Chara: ...
Meth: You may proceed, now, Alphys.
Alphys: OH THANK GOD, I-I was about to burst! There i-is so much I could say! S-So, to begin, M-Monsters have n-never had the same issues with queerness that Humans have. T-This is because of our d-differences in biology. All Monsters begin primarily sexless, a-and only when w-we hit puberty d-do our sexes become clear. The only thing y-you can tell about a Monster's sex pre-puberty is their chromosomes. A-And since Monsters don't have any identifiable sex t-traits at first, we h-have never raised our young with a-any sort of gender roles. W-We've always let them d-decide what they w-want to be called on their own.
Well, I say "never" somewhat loosely, b-because in the past, back w-when tensions were high and our communities began to fall apart, there were some Monsters w-who'd assign their infants genders in order to "fit in" among Humans, b-but this was a rare practice, and u-usually the other way around would happen - Humans l-leaving their infants unassigned, I mean.
A-Anyways! Let me not g-get off track. Um, M-Monsters also have a-a very different form of reproduction than Humans. T-This means that our relationships h-have always been different, too.
We M-Monsters didn't create gender roles, and thus, relationship roles, be-because we never found a need to. And even though Humans have different a-anatomy to us, we tried our best to show them they didn't need to have these roles, either. A-And well, back then, it w-worked! Most Humans accepted q-queerness with open arms, because...well, because they also accepted Monsters with open arms.
B-But when the war began, Humans...they wanted to find a-as many ways to separate themselves from Monsters as they c-could. And that included queerness, because they...associated it with us. Gender diversity, intersexuality, t-these things were considered "too Monsterlike" because o-of our lack of gender and sex roles. Same-gender attraction was unacceptable, because it played against the b-binary they created in opposition to us. Polyamory was unacceptable, because it was common practice in our kind - fun fact, up to five Monsters c-can have a baby together, a-and in rare cases, more than five can, too!
An-And it doesn't need to be done through sex! It can be, but it's not required. I-In fact, soulmingling doesn't r-rely on intimate relations whatsoever! Any soulminglers can reproduce together without consequences, including siblings, cousins, a-and more! An estimated 37% of monsters h-have parents who are just friends or family, and it isn't inappropriate, b-because again, sex isn't-...oops, I am rambling again, haha-...the point is that-that soulmingling doesn't have the same limitations that sexual reproduction does. A-Actually, Humans c-could practice soulmingling, too, if-if they wanted! As long a-as all souls involved are fertile, a-and at least one of the minglers has a functional uterus-
Frisk: Auntie...
Alphys: R-Right! Okay! U-Um, if you have any further questions, p-please ask!
...
Chara: Back when I was alive...it was when the war between Humans and Monsters had just ended, when Monsters had been freshly locked away. I was...I was, um, deemed "too monstrous" on basis of my magic, race, and-...and being intersex...everything about me was considered wrong in that era...
Frisk: ...
Chara: I am glad that there are less kids suffering the way I have.
To Alphys: What are Titan Remnants, and how did they help with your project?
Introduction post [link.]
Previous ask about Titan remnants [link.]
(If you struggle to read the boxes, the text of the dialogue is written at the end of the post, below the cut!)
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Alphys: Oh, oh! W-What a-an exciting question! Titan remnants a-are a very f-fascinating magical ph-phenomena!
Y-you see, b-back in the ancient times - a-and I mean TRULY ancient, prehistoric - there-there were these m-massive creatures that we now call Titans. T-They consumed the m-magic radiating from the world around them - plants, minerals, a-animals, you name it! It was their food source...and-and I don't mean they ate the things producing this magic, but rather they consumed the magic itself! They were enchantovores.
But, what-whatever it is that killed the dinosaurs...it-it also killed them. At least, that's w-what seems to have been the case. And r-rather than leaving behind bones...they left behind clusters of magic! Clusters that-that continued to consume, even after death. These c-clusters, these Titan remnants, they drew in magic f-from nature, just as Titans did during their time alive...and-and since that magic was-was attempting to feed a being that no longer existed...it created new beings...Monsters!
All the Monster species you see now, they were-were birthed out of these remnants! That's why we're all enchantovores, too! Slowly, one by one, these remnants would become used up, h-having distributed all their magic into these new forms. But still, they birthed thousands of species!
T-Thats why we monsters, we all are "based on" specific things. The remnants drew magic f-from the world around it! F-For example, if it consumed the magic of reptiles, it created Reptilian Monsters! Aquatic animal energy to Aquatic Monsters, Amphibian energy to Amphibious Monsters, mammal energy to Mammalian Monsters, Bug energy to Bug Monsters, bird energy to Avian Monsters, element energy to Elemental Monsters, decomposing energy to-to Undead Monsters! And since we a-all came from Titans, we all have the-the ability to interbreed, to create Chimerian Monsters!
As-As you can probably guess...Titan remnants are much rarer now, be-because they kept getting used up while producing us...but a few remain, dormant. T-These last remnants, their reason for dormancy is that t-they formed from an organ of the Titan made to preserve magic, rather t-than digest it...so instead of creating Monsters to digest the magic, it instead just collected and collected until it-it reached full capacity, and then sits where it is...
All that r-raw, unfiltered magic...it has a-a potency unlike any other source of magic y-you'd ever find. A single drop c-contains just as much magic as an e-entire human soul...the potential, the power of it, i-its immense. But it's unfiltered nature, it makes it unfit f-for a lot of traditional uses. Dangerous, even.
A-Anyways! It's magic h-has something special, a component that-that keeps Monster souls f-from shattering when in contact w-with it! It acts as-as a soul stabilizer! This component, i-it is why we can now do-do direct surgeries on Monster souls! And since it has such a-a high potency, you don't e-even need to use a full drop to do it!
Currently, m-my project is to try and create new Titan remnants, by grafting off of the existing ones and allowing t-them to grow, so that w-we won't ever have to worry about running out and l-losing access to this procedure. But even if the grafting fails, with t-the sheer size of-of the remnants available, we'd h-have the ability to continue this for r-roughly 7,000 years b-before it would become a concern...still! B-Better to try and tackle the issue before the source becomes scarce!
To: Frisk and Chara: To answer your questions of why we can see Chara despite evidence to suggest that through any physical or photographic mediums are impossible, the answer is.......... Dun dun!!!!! We're actually dead? And alive? Also a ghost? Also frisk? Chara? Kris? Y'know what the best way to describe it is that if you have DETERMINATION, we can see you!
Introduction post [link.]
(If you struggle to read the boxes, the text of the dialogue is written below the cut!)
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Frisk: Are you trying to say those of you who can see Chara are...also spirits? (You say ghosts, but ghosts and spirits aren't the same thing. Common human misconception.)
Chara: That would be so cool! I didn't even know spirits existed until I became one myself! But if spirits are really that common, wouldn't they be better recorded? Wait - unless their existence has been getting covertly erased by anti-magic organizations, just like how hybrids have been getting covered up! Are you guys secret spirits who have been sneakily living amongst society? ...Wait, who the heck is Kris? Is there a second spirit around here that even I can't see?
Frisk: What do you mean by DETERMINATION? Do you mean you can see spirits if that's their main soul trait? Is YOUR main soul characteristic also DT? I thought that was super rare...
Chara: I mean, my entire tribe supposedly had partial DT souls...
Frisk: Yes, but they... probably aren't around anymore...so DT is much rarer...
Frisk: ...
Chara: ...
Chara: Could you please, please, PLEASE elaborate further? I want to know who can see me!
(If you struggle to read the boxes, the text of the dialogue is written below the cut!)
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Chara: Yes, I do! I love Madagascar hissing cockroaches. They are incredibly resilient, extremely difficult to kill, have incredibly tough shells, and can survive high-pressure environments! They also hiss when they feel threatened, as the name suggests, which I find to be extraordinarily endearing. And...well, I like them because...cockroaches are one of the most hated creatures on this earth. They are treated as gross, when in reality, the reason why they are in unhygienic locations is because they are there to clean it! They consume waste, they make the world less dirty! And they are regularly deemed ugly, which...I suppose I...have a sense of kinship towards them.
Chara: ...
Frisk: ...Chara-
Chara: I also like mosquitos! Did you know they are pollinators? And that their main food source is actually nectar? Only the egg-bearing mosquitos drink blood, and they do so only when they wish to reproduce, because they need the protein and iron in order to develop their eggs. Blood is not their primary food source.
Chara: And did you know that butterflies drink blood, sweat, and tears? And that Asian ladybugs bite while seeking out water and salt from sweat, which leads itchy red welts? Don't let beauty standards bias you!
Chara: ...
Chara: I absolutely adore bugs!
Frisk: (Chara is so cute when they ramble...)
Frisk: (...)
Frisk: (I wish I knew how to make them feel better...)
