TudeTale
I’ve had a variant of SwapTale bouncing around my head for a while, so I figure I’d finally share it. I’m calling my interpretation TudeTale, since it refers to attitudes and applies to every character. Like SwapTale, personalities are switched, but their roles and stats haven’t. I recognize that other people may have similar ideas, but this is my official and complete interpretation. I plan on writing ficlets for this - maybe a whole out story - but there are future projects of TudeTale in the works
Sans - In this AU, he wears a turtle neck, rolled up khakis, bunny slippers, a lab coat that’s seen better days, and sometimes glasses (when he needs to do extra hard thinking). He has an incredibly excitable personality. He used his passion to get multiple online degrees and is the official scientist and engineer of Snowdin. He’s a jack of all trades - he invents, he studies souls, he’s presently working on an inter-dimensional transporter, he helps his brother with his puzzles, he’s working on a hotdog recipe so he works stands throughout the underground, and he’s the official judge of the Underground. Asgore assigned this little-skeleton-that-could the role of judge because, well, he’s an excellent judge of character. He’s never actually had to judge any humans or monsters (thankfully) but he keeps himself in shape just in case. He trains with his brother and often beats him when they spar - though his endurance never seems to improve. He can summon blasters, but can’t keep them up for long. He can also teleport, but is very limited. He loves making friends and going to Grillby’s after a long day. He was very sick when he was younger due to his HP and dedicates a good portion of his research coming up with magic enhancing technology. If he ever meets a human, he’ll gladly accept their help in his studies and will only result to fighting them if they kill Papyrus. His HP is still low as he staunchly refuses to gain LV, so he is prone to illness. He takes frequent naps to keep his energy up. He has a good relationship with his brother and has Undernet chats with Explizard92. He goes by WithoutHumerus.
Papyrus - He has two main outfits. He either wears the jeans he’s owned for fifteen years and a sweater Sans made him with sneakers, or his official royal guard uniform (spiky shoulders and all), though he rarely wears the helmet (and almost never knows where it is). He didn’t get much attention growing up because everyone was more concerned with his brother, but so was he. He went to bed worried he’d wake up next to a pile of dust. He’s still a little traumatized and doesn’t like sleeping because of that. Whenever he does sleep, it’s due to complete exhaustion. He ended up joining the royal guard so he’d have a steady source of income. It felt like the natural thing to do, but he doesn’t have much passion for it. He really does enjoy making puzzles though and he cooks for Sans everyday, hoping to give him something slightly more nutritious that his greasy comfort food. Nutrition is also why he helps Sans with his hotdog recipe - as a co-creator and focus group. He sometimes feels lonely, and is sometimes mad at his brother for their circumstances, but loves him with all his heart. That’s why he always let’s Sans win when they spar - the look of joy and exuberance is always worth it. His stats are very good and he has the ability to summon blasters, but he doesn’t like the memories they bring up. He can’t teleport, but he casually defies the laws of physics and gravity without breaking a sweat. His job requires him to capture a human if need be, but he has too big a heart to actually take them out. Thankfully his captain doesn’t really mind. He rarely goes onto the Undernet, unless he’s having a really bad night, and goes buy Skeledone420. He has a minor obsession with MTT and watches clips of it whenever he can.
Alphys - She does have a stutter, but it only comes out when she’s uncomfortable - which she rarely is. She wears goggles on her head and a singed lab coat. Her scales are often ashen with smoke or gunpowder, but she doesn’t really notice. She’s too occupied with her work as the official Royal Scientist. She ascended to the position when her superior mysteriously blew up. She swears she didn’t do it, because she totally didn’t, but few believe her. Asgore promoted her in hopes her explosions would actually kill a human. She watches Mew Mew Kissy Cutie mostly for the action scenes and, when she’s off the clock, works on making weapon replicas. She works in pyrotechnics and has traps set out throughout the underground - along with cameras to record any explosions. She knows about the True Lab and goes down there to take care of the Amalgamates, but she doesn’t know much about their creation and doesn’t see much use in them. Her username on Undernet is Explizard92 and often chats with WithoutHumerus and FishUponAStar. Late at night, when she can’t sleep, she tinkers with her explosives, she’ll sometimes chat with Skeledone420. She has no idea who he is but really wants to meet him IRL. Although, her true bae is Undyne. She loves how strong she is and how she can talk about anything, and wants to date her but doesn’t want to risk their friendship.
Undyne - Captain of the royal guard that is rarely caught out of her armor. She wears fluffy pajamas to sleep, but since an accident when she was younger, she wears her armor any time she’s out of the house. She wears an eye patch because she lost an eye in a sparing match where she wasn’t wearing her helmet (her mother warned her a million times). Her mom was the previous Captain and Undyne easily slipped into the decision, despite not being very assertive. She leads the guard with a quiet courage however, and is deceptively strong, although she’s a bit clumsy. She loves sparring with Papyrus and never regrets letting him into the guard despite the protests of other members. She thinks highly of him and his brother, and envies their familial relationship. She is a composer and writes pieces on the piano and takes pride in her cooking. These are the only two fields in which she wields any confidence. She wants to be liked and included, but feels isolated by her position. A primary pleasure in her life is messaging with Explizard92. They’re friends IRL and occasionally go into the dump to look for things for Alphys to blow up. She’s romantically interested in Alphys, but doesn’t see why the Royal Scientist would be interested in a “dumb soldier” like her. She doesn’t have great self-esteem and has never killed a human. She wants to thought to prove her worth as Captain.
Asgore - King of the Underground, he wears a stately uniform and cape and carries around a ceremonial trident. He guards six sealed human souls and is ultimately responsible for killing humans before they pass through the barrier. He’s never killed a human, however. One soul belongs to his late child, two were the result of the Royal Scientist’s traps (one from Alphys), and the other three were mysterious deliveries. He’s gotten many souls in the post (from who he never knows), but has only ever successfully sealed three of the souls in containment units. The other souls had perished in transport. He enjoys gardening and making tea, and playing Santa during the holidays. He loves children and loathes the aspect of his position that require him to make tough decisions. He misses his wife, but can never forgive her for what she did. He enjoys a good pun.
Toriel - She wears the acolyte uniform of the ruins and her useless tiara. She was banished to the ruins after being blamed for the death of her children. She’s been trapped behind the door for years and blames her husband for not finding a way out of the Underground. Whenever a child falls into the ruins, she takes them home, feeds them a good meal, gives them a big hug, and then kills them, sending their soul to the King. Since she’s sent almost a dozen souls, her husband must be procrastinating - or the souls perished in the mail since all she has is cardboard boxes and no proper containment units. She doesn’t want to kill the humans, but she does it for her people even if they don’t know the role she plays. Some humans have escaped from her through the ruin door, and she considers that a failure - though, she’s not heartbroken that she doesn’t have to commit murder. Her ideal night involves practicing knock knock jokes, eating snail pie, and tuning the traps of the ruins. On the best nights, she gets to hug a human as they fall asleep and can forget what she’ll have to do to them in the morning.
Grillby - He wears a full on suit and tie every night, thinking appearances are very important. His fire magic is incredibly hot, so he wears fire resistant gloves to keep his friends and merchandise safe. Occasionally, if he gets too emotional, the fire on his head with spout up and burn the roof of his bar. His food is popular, but incredibly expensive - he has to keep up repairs after all. Everyone has to pay, except for Sans. He’s an ill skeleton and has already spent so much money on medical expenses from his past. He’d burn in hell if he made that boy pay. Papyrus will only talk to him when he needs a light.
Muffet - She wears her “little miss Muffet sat on a tuffet” outfit, but has a watch on every wrist. She is quiet, only ever speaking to her spider army in whispers, and is desperate to spread her treats with the Underground. Everyone is so repulsed by the concept of spiders that she can’t even give them away for free. However, she is a wonderful listener. If people weren’t so afraid of her, she’d have a hundred friends... or if her location were more ideal. Her ideal night involves taking care of her family.
Chara - They wear a two striped shirt that was passed down from Asriel. Adopted Prinxe of the Dreemur family. They are quiet, sweet, and flirt with everyone jokingly. Died when Toriel suggested they try cooking and Asriel brought them buttercups. They’re ideal night is cuddling with their family. This character is up to major interpretation as they are strongly based on the player’s perception, but they retain their ability to make friends.
Frisk - Wears overalls and a long sleeved shirt. They fell randomly after a hiking accident (their family on the surface is actively looking for them, but to no avail). Once they see the Underground, they know they want to save it. They successfully escape from Toriel in most time lines and easily skirts past the avoidant monsters of the underground (they put up a fight but never mean it). They know their death could rescue the underground, but they don’t want to die, so they spend their journey trying to think of substitutes for another human soul. They realize by the end that there is only one option, but Asgore can’t bring himself to do it. Their ideal night involves saving the world! (Either IRL or in their dreams). This character is up to major interpretation as they are strongly based on the player’s perception, but they retain their ability to think outside the box.
Asriel - Something was always wrong with the goat Prince. He never had a good sense of empathy. He’s very excitable and doesn’t always think things through, so he appears callous and often hurts those around him out of indifference. He brought Chara buttercups because he read that they would make them sick - he didn’t think they’d die or anything. He absorbed their soul to rain fire on the human world and see what would happen. He did not expect them to kill him so quickly, or that he would die in the flower field, or that he would lose his soul. His ideal night involves coming up with a prank to pull.
Flowey - Turns out losing his soul improved his sense of humanity. He experienced destruction and has a new outlook on life, one where he enjoys watching the underground as if it were a fish bowl full of pets he desperately wants to keep alive. Although he’s been around for a long time, he has not become ambivalent. He looks for different ways to improve monsters lives with each reset. He’s a sweet flower who remembers his parents and sibling fondly. If he had a second chance with a soul, he’d live life to the fullest. Right now he’s anonymous, and his only friend is Papyrus, someone who desperately needs a cheering up. His ideal night is spying on his parents or speaking with Papyrus - anything that reminds him of the life he used to have.
Mettaton - He has an overly eccentric robot body made by Alphys that he often wears a trench coat over. She insists he occupy the “pretty” model, but he does prefer the old model. He’s pretty quiet and shy, but was encouraged by his cousin and ghost family to share his talent with the Underground. He brought his music to Alphys and she absolutely adored it - and was excited by the prospect of making an entire robotic suit. She agreed to make it free of charge so long as he’d be willing to use it in case of emergency to help the underground. He stays with her so she can keep his body in tune. Also, being a ghost in a robot body around other ghosts makes Mettaton highly uncomfortable. He mostly makes music videos and some vlog like shows, and he acts in shows written by his cousin. He prefers to play piano and sing over any other instruments - though he has branched out into electronica. He writes letters to his cousin and stays off the Undernet.
Napstablook - A ghost that always sports a top hat. He is happy and confident and loves being a showman throughout the underground. He runs a popular snail racing ring and plays MTTs music with a spin of his own remix. He encouraged his cousin to pursue his passion and proudly sits on the side lines while sending letters of support. For all of his positive energy, Mettaton convinced Alphys to make him a robot body, but he turned it down - he’s comfortable with himself just the way he is and if anyone doesn’t like it, they can suck it. He writes scripts for his cousin now and again but never visits him. He’s got too much going on in Waterfall.
Gaster - The former royal scientist who narrowly escaped a fatal explosion (he forgot to put the tamping sand in) with a quick inter dimensional shortcut. Unfortunately, he was a smidge late and ended up scattering across space time. He now resides as a gooey black glop with a cracked skeleton face and disembodied hands in the void between realities. He’s presently trying to collect all of his scattered remains and, once he does, he’s going to return to his original dimension to reunite with his assistant and his family. In this universe, he is the skelebros father. Before his untimely death, he lived in Snowdin with his sons. He made them from human remains - as all skeleton monsters are reanimated. Sans came first and the process was highly flawed, so he came out as undercooked with low stats and chronic magic deficiencies. Gaster perfected the method with Papyrus, creating a fully realized skeleton monster. He spent the majority of the boys’ childhood working and raising money for Sans’s healthcare. He acknowledges his neglecting of Papyrus and that is one of the greatest regrets of his existence. Should he return, he would focus on amending his relationship with his youngest. He’s been called spacey and often hums and sings while he works. He tends to speak in riddles and is one of two monsters who can understand the secret skeleton language of WingDings.
Riverperson - The guide of the river wears a hooded raincoat. They move their boat by uncertain means and aren’t much for conversation. If you can get them talking, they speak solely in the ancient skeleton language of WingDings - though rumors say they can speak in hieroglyphics. They’re never around for long and many hypothesize that he is a skeleton, but no one can see into the void of the hood.
Gerson - This turtle has no volume control and wears a camouflage safari outfit. He yells and screams and seems to have lost his mind after the war as all he can really say is his name. In moments of lucidity, he will tell stories of his time in the war, his time as a scholar, and how he’s gained his collection of wares, but those moments are few and far between.
Tems - Every Tem has a story. They live relatively simply and joyous lives, but they treat everything with a seriousness that rivals a veteran. Proud Parent Tem? Raising that egg is backbreaking and they have to work fifteen jobs to support it. Shop Tem? Not only is coleg incredibly expensive, but they have to walk fifty miles to and from the campus everyday in order to get their education. Hoives? Chronic and tortured life and you know nothing about their struggles. Bob? DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO BE A TEM NAMED-
Nice Cream Guy - Boy is he tired of the same gig for his entire life. It’s the only product people are interested in and he’s trapped in his vendor position. He regrets everything.
Burgerpants - No one is happier to work at the Mettaton resort and Burgerpants. Best fifteen years of his life.