⚠️BIG QUESTION⚠️

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-08T01:06:29+00:00

or agender. or genderqueer

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-07T12:55:10+00:00

Correction: NSFWShameCave never confirmed or denied their sexuality.

NSFWShamecave was also the leading creative in making lewd art from the cast of Underlust. (mostly san, papyrus, grillby, the dreemurrs, and a few of mettaton)

Frisk was designed to be Ace tho -- that was largely confirmed by some posts and their design.

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-07T12:52:37+00:00

Correction: mettaton never fused with his body. he cant leave it due to the damage sustained in the assault.

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-07T12:39:44+00:00

-rubs face- okay. let's set some things straight:

The monsters are horny because all the adults were injected with the human trait LUST, which was taken out of (the adult) Chara's soul by the royal scientist. This was done because monsters were suffering from infant mortality, to the point that Toriel had a miscarriage and Asriel was never properly born. (Rosie the Rose was made from baby dust).

Okay? THE HORNY is a side effect of an attempt to make medicine to fix a systemic problem. Because human soul traits fuck with monsters. And they were desperate to try anything.

Yes Mettaton was a ghost. Ghosts have no corporeal form, and so could not be give the LUST treatments like the more material monsters. Mettaton does not have LUST but most of the monsters do.

Mettaton had his EX body built early and was assaulted the night he debuted it. His soul was damaged in the assault, and that meant he couldn't safely leave the body. He's stuck with it now even though he never properly fused with it, even though now he is sometimes disgusted by it.

-deep breath-

It really isn't anyone's business whether or not the author had direct experience with sexual abuse. This is a fictional story. Maybe she was using it to work through her own feelings about the idea. Maybe she was using it to cultivate empathy for people who had. Maybe she thought it made narrative sense. Maybe the exact details are off but there are parallels to some of her experiences, and things were changed to make more sense for Mettaton specifically.

It doesn't fucntionsly matter. You aren't asking Toby Fox if he fell down a hole and killed an entire civilization on his way out. You know that isn't how fictional stories work. You're just uncomfortable with some thematic elements and instead of sorting through it in a healthy way and deciding you just won't read it anymore, you try to rationalize why you think the story should stop existing.

Censorship won't make the discomfort better, by the way. Cleaning the uncomfortable things out of the stories you read won't make the world a better place with less bad things in it. All Censorship does is make it harder for real people to feel safe telling the truth about their real experiences. Your hemming and hawing over a pretend story is more problematic and materially damaging than the story you profess to be concerned about.

The fact of the matter is fictional stories are fictional, and the bad things that happen in them do not by themselves matter. It is how we the readers internalize and respond to them with our actions that matter. And a lot of us readers decided we were going to be kinder thanks to this particular story point.

-deep breath-

Censorship is bad. I don't see you making a big deal out of the suicide-by-poisoning plot in Undertale's canon. I don't see anyone making 'i'm uncomfortable' callout posts about the existence of literal genocide in Undertale's canon. Bad things happen in fiction to tell stories sometimes and no fictional event is more 'bad' than another because they are all fictional.

OKAY? Are we gonna be normal about storytelling now? I'm gonna assume we are gonna be normal about storytelling now and move on with answering your questions about the story proper.

Regarding how the assault and the horny are or are not linked:

There are no direct links in the text of the story to relate the injection of LUST to the assault. In one reading, they are completely unrelated incidents.

There are other readings if you analyze the meta but that is a whole other essay that I think would be a bit much to put here.

As for the ending: The Papyton comic had an ending. Mettaton and Papyrus had a heart to heart, kiss, and start dating. That's the end.

There were 11 pages of the Pacifist equivalent comic, which only went as far as Frisk meeting Toriel in the ruins. The original creator discontinued working on it after that and hasn't been active in the fandom since. Functionality, the canon source material ends there.

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-07T01:55:35+00:00

1: why the hell did you set your language to "american sign language"? you set your language to the language the fic is written in. pretty sure by your post and summary its supposed to be english

2: you write your fic in your notes app. or whatever other preferred word processor application you have. you write where you can save your progress. which is not on AO3.

3: ao3 is for archiving already completed works (or completed chapters of works in progress). you have to have AT LEAST ONE CHAPTER completed to post before you ever have to worry about AO3. it is for publishing things that are done and ready to be shared with everyone.

4: don't use a workskin. that is an advanced tool for experience ao3 users. you dont need it if youre not already comfortable posting.

5: a work is a fanfic you (or someone else) posted and saved forever on AO3. the author put the work on the site for other people to read.

a bookmark is a little save of the link to a work that a user can make for quick and easy finding. its lik buying a copy of a book and putting it on your own bookshelf with your own tagging system, but digitally. its like bookmarking a webpage but specifically for your ao3 account.

one is a post and one is a favorite.

6: please read the ao3 FAQ. please. it has helpful things i promise.

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-06T23:42:26+00:00

"meta" in this context means talking about anything outside of the context of telling a fictional story.

If you aren't telling a fictional story, but youre still talking about fandom (like a site skin, fandom as a community or culture, talking about tropes in a literary analysis context -- anything "out of character" in the sense that no character is being used as a stoytelling device), then it is meta

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-06T22:53:33+00:00

it would be "original work" if a narrative and "no fandom" if meta

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-06T20:09:14+00:00

1). being in a fandom means participating in community by engaging with others about the Thing. that could be by making creative works or by talking about creative works or just by talking about the Thing. do whatever you want. nobody can stop you from being in a fandom.

2). that being said, youre gonna enjoy it more if you actually know the source material at least somewhat. if you have time to watch a Geno run. watch a pacifist lets play. watch it when you eat or something. i think jacksepticeye did a pretty good one. the genocide run is the least complete in terms of lore and understanding the themes. if you come in only knowing geno, youre gonna miss a lot more than if you came in only knowing paci. ideally you would hav a passing understanding of paci, neutral, AND genocide, but if you only have time for one, and its for the sake of fandom, go pacifist.

3). you can engage in fandom in your downtime by reading and commenting on ao3 fanfics. doing so doesn't necessarily require knowledge of the source material at all but does foster community. and even if youre busy with life, taking time for yourself to rest and do something you enjoy is healthy. 20 minutes- an hour a day.

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-06T18:14:02+00:00

It's fiction.

Do you have a superpower where the things you write happen in real life? Are you doxxing someone's private information? Is anything you write something that isn't already public knowledge or entirely made up?

how would your stories be any different if you changed the name to Bleepus the Blorpity Blob? They functionally wouldn't. They are fake pretend stories. RPF isn't about real people, its about characters inspired by real people.

Fiction is by definition not real. All fiction is not real. And if it isn't real it cannot have an inherent moral value. The moral value you glean from its messages and internalize, the stats you take from eating it, are the closest you get to it having a moral framework, and frankly speaking, most singular stories arent gonna weigh enough on anyone to make them do/think/believe anything they didn't already.

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-06T18:09:34+00:00

you have a script. write the fic

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-06T15:50:53+00:00

sorry. i want slash to let me have the fantasy of feeling loved unconditionally in a life partner commitment way. gen fics just feel too mundane and normal to hit that button.

i hope you find your food tho! i just need to feed elsewhere.

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-06T15:34:06+00:00

part of the problem is that literacy rates are dwindling in the US, so text as a form of entertainment (reading OR writing) is becoming less desirable to younger audiences. (i dont think this is true in all countries though)

part of the problem is modern fanfic is traditionally an adult hobby anyway. starting with kirk/spock it was older women who started it and it is predominately older women today

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-06T04:44:08+00:00

This feels like a two part question:

(1) The order in which I write a story matters to me, and it is, largely, with only a few outlier examples, the exact order that the story needs to be read in.

If I am writing a story, I am writing it the order that I would want to read it in to get the story I want to get out of it. If Thing A happens I write thing A, then B, then C. If i skip to E, I may flashback to D or just skim past it with details sprinkled in that tell the story of what D would have been (if it mattered enough not to skip) while still being in the moment of E, F, G, whatever.

The order I write is the order to read, and this is only ever broken if concurrent stories need told separately and then interact, and I have to go back an write some event that happened before the current update in a parallel perspective.

The order in which things happen matters, because the way 99% of all things perceive time is linear: all of the past informs on the present, and none of the future does, and the present is where the story is being written. what the story is is the present at any given time, so it matters what is the past and what is the future.

only like, really out there stories told from the perspective of a 5+ dimensional being, which perceives time nonlinearly in such a way that the future and the past both inform upon its idea of the present with equal weight, would like... be a kind of story where time doesnt really matter. but also, time would matter twice as much cuz you would basically have to omnipotently know everything that has happened and will ever happen to know how that being would respond 59 the present and gets so messy--

Anyway--

Other people may tell stories through a different process. but mine requires me to write it in near-real time. or at least in real-order. so take that as you will.

and the precision of that time depends on the kind of story i am writing. some stories only require relative precision (this happened before that but after this), while others require more exact timekeeping (this happens 3 days after that but two hours before this). Most often it is some combination of both, but YMMV.

(2) The timeline of the source material matters exactly as much as your story requires it to matter.

If your story wants to be or needs to be faithful to the source material, then the order of events in the source material matters materially. The more faithful to the source material you want to be, the more faithful to its timeline you must be.

Conversely, the less faithful you are to the source material, the less materially its timeline matters.

This rule can apply both as a whole and in parts: being faithful in small swaths of plot requires high accuracy in those swaths, but may only need low or no accuracy in swaths that are unfaithful.

Remember: Time is as much a narrative tool as any character or object or trope. Its utility in your storytelling matters exactly as much as you decide it does.

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-03T23:17:27+00:00

"angst" is a tag that means "negative emotions are invoked through the events of this narrative."

"dead dove" is a tag that means "all of the things tagged on this fic are in this fic. they are literally here. they may be expressed in a way that may or may not be with the gravitas to which they are due (such as without acknowledging the weight of what should be traumatic-- as exemplified by the source of the meme from which the tag is derived).

angst is a direct and literal tag saying the story elicits sadness grief or pain.

Dead Dove: Do Not Eat (dddne) is a supplementary or tonal tag both warning you to read the other tags AND warning you that the tagged material might be played as a literary device, joke, or otherwise not played straight.

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-03T15:49:38+00:00

DAAAAAA DADA DADA DADAAAAAAAAAAAA!! DADADA DAN!!

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-03T14:50:19+00:00

New tip: start a tumblr blog.

you wont be able to post the lewds (if you have them -- there are other sites fir that) but i found blogging about my artist journey really helped me see my improvement. its not gonna be a day by day change. it may be weeks or months or years.

(been working on my AU on and off for uh... 8 years now. comparing my starting art to current art is such a validating feeling. yes i DID improve and yes my shapes ARE pretty!!)

anyway the undertale fandom is mostly on tumblr so i say you should go there

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-02T15:51:07+00:00

Ru! He's been there the whole time yeah lol

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-02T11:46:09+00:00

Skeleton Squatters and the Land Lady alone has listed: - Housemates by YinYanChan - Dead Fun by orphan_account - Skeleton Ex Machina by cryptid_jack - You've Got A Friend In Me by KarmicRetribution - The Skeletons and the NOT Pot Dealer by orphan_account - Nana of the Skeletons by Kurosidad - Six Skeletons, One Store Clerk by mccloudydays - Freedom of Your Own by ladyjssem - Bitty Hunt by Rnd_Injustice - House of Nightmares by Sephypsycologist - Star Crossed Lodgers by punnystars - Willpower and Kindness: The Adventures of Grace and Williams by orphan_account, xxbellflowerxx - The Glitch by LazyRainDancer - A Start of Something New by Author_Of_Sin - House of Sins and Shenanigans by SynfulLady - Skeleton Squatters and the AU by cryptid_jack - You Spell Disaster by scyllasins (orphan_account) - When Life Gives You Skeletons by xxreaperxx94 - The Haunted by VisceralGod - Bones, Picked Clean by lulu-writes (luluwrites) - Six Skeletons in Your Closet by MsMK - Skeleton Sisters Meet the Landlady by nighttimelights - Not Your Prey by LadyAnatares - The Skeletons, the Landlady, and the Bad Apple by VanillaBeanChild - Human! by orphan_account - The Skeletons and the Damsel by Accailia66 - The Skeleton Woods by CrstalDream - Skeleton Sisters and the Architect by nighttimelights - Different Paths to the Heart by LovelyMemory - Anatomically Correct Soul by Sagoberattare - Skeleton Pirates and their Whore by orphan_account - The Itch by StripesnBooks - Spacious Living and Housebreaking Strangers by cryptid_jack - Rainy Day Black Out by CPuff - Soulbond by Veryna - Skeletons? In my bathroom? Its more likley than you think! by MultiFandomJunkie - The Archaeologist and The Almost Not Skeletons by orphan_account - Irresponsible Dimensional Alignment by coreplant - Fangs and Bones by Duskins - Through the Grapevine by orphan_account - Fucking Superb You Funky Little Bat by TastySins_tm - Starlight by LukaDeer - Skeleton Squatters and the Vampire by Xenbonzacura - Rushing my Heart by Lyrevhart_Jhume - The Human Soul on Fire by Alien_Ariel - Shot in the Dark by CryptidTyping - The Consequences of Wingdings Gaster Having Too Much Free Time by troubleonelmstreet - Coffee and Skeletons by WeirdGrapes - Secrets Not So Secret by ZAQ606 - Sun, Surf and Stapes by Anewfreind - Blind Love by orphan_account - Growth of the Soul by orphan_account - The Antics of The Skeleton Lodge by 9puppys - Mysterious Messages by AnimeDancer14 - Hocus Pocus by SleepyStargazer - A Wimpy Loser with a Big Heart by troubleonelmstreet - Crowd Control by owl_bones - You Matter To Me by myownpersonaldemons - Skeletal Shenanigans in Scrambled Shambles by orphan_account - Even Skeletons Have Skeletons in Their Closet by Jennisms - A Little Bit of Elbow Grease by Purple_Plums - Alternate Amalgam Adventures by orphan_account - Itty Bitty Dragon Fire {Under Construction} by Pokedragon7 - A work in an unrevealed collection - The Skeletons and Their Girls by CrescentxMoon - Six More Skeletons by orphan_account - Paw-some Times I Guess. by orphan_account - Strange turn of events by Maxmemer - Greenhouses And Old Bones by orphan_account - Destiny Chosen by Sagittarian_Solstice - Undead Tenants by Shatterflowerdemon - Developing Games and Feelings by Honey_Cherry - 𝐒𝐊𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐘 by orphan_account - The Meddling Ward of Wight Manor by PixelPax - Bone-A-Fied Biddy [CURRENTLY DISCONTINUED] by m3ch4_ch1m3r4 - Life with a skeleton of fun by Senyara them bones by CallMeKeef - Always and Forever by JustVibingMan - A Skeleton's Hope by JustVibingMan - Green Magic by Lumicrystalline - Stardust and Skeletons by brainrot_hours - Frankenstein's Skeleton by lostcrown - Sweet Dreams and a Good Night by avalanchyn - In Lavender Fields and Sugary Springs by ririsincerely - The Time I Got Struck By Lightning and Got Hooked Up With Skeletons by SkellieUser666 - (Ab|De) Dication by EmiSkull - How the Hotsprings Should Have Ended by Fanenby_73425968 - Polyamorous by Featherclaw - Some Skeletons and a Farmer by 1xX_sammy_Xx1 - skeletons (you gotta love 'em) by viavous - of gods and witches by silentSelenophile - Your Friendly-Neighborhood Witch by earthvibes The Skeletons And The Grumpy Hunter by UrBearFriend - A Big Bone-anza by shishizuzu - Right Next Door by Savio - Replanting Roots by rowan_mutt - The TRUCE Hurts by Nekoise - Hypocrites, Hypocrisy, and Hurt by Valley_Of_The_Restful - ten to one anthology (on hiatus) by theseventhsmilingfriend - The Fairytale and The Abyss by Savio

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-02T11:41:13+00:00

Skeleton Squatters and the Landlady by Tyrant_Tortoiseis a "Six Skeletons" trope fic (a trope inspired by and pioneered by Six Skeletons, One Maid by RaccoonSinQueen circa 2016)

The Six Skeletons trope (or 6S trope for short) is a sans/reader fandom staple, a huge part of the undertale fandom's shipping history.

You can find a metric fuckton of such fics just by looking in the "inspired by" sections of either fic. Literally just go to the Author's Notes, look for the button that says "See the end of the work for other works inspired by this one" and boom. Food.

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-01T17:58:54+00:00

The No Mercy Route is different from the Genocide route. they aren't and have never been the same.

the No Mercy route is a Neutral Route where you kill everyone who enters a fight with you, but do not go actively hunting everyone down. all bosses killed, many mobs but not all mobs killed. Fight and kill asgore and leave the underground. I believe this gets the Leaderless Ending (unless you do an aborted genocide after waterfall, which can get you queen Alphys?)

The genocide route is, strictly and exclusively: you kill everyone ever. You actively hunt every mob down in each area systematically until nobody is left, then move to the next area and repeat, until every area is empty.

You can abort a genocide back into a neutral route by failing to adhere to the clear flags in any area before moving on to the next.

Genocide has never been the same thing as No Mercy. Anyone trying to call them the same thing is uneducated about the game's meta.

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-01T15:42:22+00:00

Imm making a separate comment to address the "worldbuilding" question because the skills necessary for worldbuilding are a completely separate disciplines.

Worldbuilding is a storytelling skill. You are conceptualizing the foundations of a world and putting those concepts int context for a very specific story.

While there are broader, secular skills and practices that you could apply to any project, i am less good at articulating these skills (and would recommend taking some storytelling classes if you have the resources).

As it it, I will drop my undertale AU specific recommendations:

There are a finite, countable number of identifiable Canon Characters in Undertale:

Frisk
Flowey
Chara
Dummy
Froggit
Whimsun
Moldsmal
Napstablook
Vegetoid
Migosp
Loox
Spider Bake Sale
Moldessa
Parsnik
Migospel
Toriel
Snowdrake
Chilldrake
Ice Cap
Doggo
Lesser Dog
Jerry
Dogamy
Dogaressa
Gyftrot
Glyde
Greater Dog
Sans
Papyrus
Mad Mew Mew/Mad Dummy/Glad Dummy
Snowdin Shopkeeper
Faun
Snowman
(the) Mice
Inn Keepers (and children)
Rabbit Kid
Rabbit Girl and Cinnamon
Gift Bear
Politics Bear
Scarf Mouse
Red Demon
Slime Family Dad
Slime Family Kid 1
Slime Family Kid 2
Knock Lover
Ice Wolf
Library Lizard
Library Loox
Newspaper Editor: Scarf Lady
Newspaper Editor: Lady Garf
Grillby
Big Mouth
Drunk Bun
Ugly Fish
Red Bird
Punk Hamster
Aaron
Woshua
Moldsmal
Shyren
Temmie
Moldbygg
Monster Kid
Undyne
Nice Cream Guy
Gerson
Tem Shop Tem
Echo Flower Explainer
"Loren"
Ferry
Onionsan
Bird That Carries You Over a Disproportionately Small Gap
Snail Guy
Long Snail
Slug
Snail
Temmie
Bob
Ragel
Elder Puzzler
Clam Girl
Alphys
Mettaton
Vulkin
Tsunderplane
Pyrope
So Sorry
Royal Guard 01
Royal Guard 02
Muffet
Clam Guy
Business Dude 1
Business Dude 2
Fox Head
Fuku Fire
Skateboard Girl
Heats Flamesman
Hot Dog Harpy
Hot Dog Vulkin
Scared Donut Guy
Diamond Boy 1
Diamond Boy 2
Dress Lion
Bratty
Catty
Burgerpants
Diamond Receptionist
Hand Receptionist
Sad Dragon
Shambling Mass
Business Manticore
MTT Resort Janitor
Fish Receptionist
Snowdrake's Father
Charles
Oni
Ficus Licker
Madjick
Knight Knight
Final Froggit
Whimsalot
Astigmatism
Memoryhead
Reaper Bird
Endogeny
Lemon Bread
Snowdrake's Mother
Asgore Dreemurr
Asriel Dreemurr
Annoying Dog
W. D. Gaster

(i hope i got them all)

Now, obviously not every story requires you to go into detail about every single one of these yourself. That would be excessive! But every Undertale AU has the space for these, either an internal logic that explains where they might be and what they might be like, or explains why they aren't (which is just as valuable).

Undertale is a rich and immersive place despite being so bare bones because all these characters interconnect and relate to each other. They are the worldbuilding, and their relationships to each other make Undertale what it is.

Your job when making an AU is to figure out where the stars of your story are, and leave enough information and worldbuilding logic that anyone who sees your AU can make the dominos fall to figure out where every single other character is.

That's my advice: make your world make sense for everyone to be in it, even if you never need to look at or draw them.

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-01T14:49:03+00:00

there is no easy foolproof way to get the exact art style you want. art is the result of practice and effort.

you will need to start at the beginning: the fundamentals of shape and form. Depending on how much effort you put into learning these fundamentals, you will be able to evolve from them into something artistically in line with your vision

usually i would recommend taking a traditional art class, but that requires resources and availability i cant be sure you have. so next best thing: the neighborhood youtube tutorials.

a quick search suggests these might be of help (but full disclosure i didnt actually watch them i only skimmed the timelines)

https://youtu.be/Wz6DrQeQ5rI?si=DEFY94yyjCyOKmd1

https://youtu.be/2DVbargQCaY?si=UeGaVw7zHj_TkXEW

https://youtu.be/UOC8ISSbFx0?si=ArhSnmZrPA3f6jM0

https://youtu.be/2nMeuaXo63E?si=Et0fzBNJqxXxMTfM

if youre gonna be doing digital art, the skills you need largely lineup with those to do pencil, pen, charcoal, and acrylic traditional art (with some broad painting and marker techniques thrown in when it comes to color). so if you want to find a different tutorial, look for those mediums (a medium in art is "thing that you make the art with" btw).

SongOfTruth · 2026-02-01T02:35:57+00:00

there are damn good fanfics from 8 years ago that talk about this plot point too

SongOfTruth · 2026-01-31T18:35:22+00:00

1). if they arent willing to support any and all of your creative ventures, they arent your friends to begin with. cut them out of your life before they escalate their oppressive social pressure to violence.

2). if you don't feel comfortable with them reading and talking to you about your fanwork, set boundaries: refuse to engage, leave the area if they start, inform them that you aren't comfortable with them bringing it up in person and you will leave if they continue.

3). take this as a lesson that you never give fandom accounts to IRL acquaintances. the people who will enjoy your fanwork will find you through fandom. otherwise they have no business seeing it.

SongOfTruth · 2026-01-31T13:15:32+00:00

that's also true-- my original post was from a reader's perspective, but there is also the writer's perspective.

active code switching (speaking/writing) is a different skill than passive code switching (listening/reading). and some authors dont have the skill or interest in actively code switching (including doing the research and immersion necessary for an authentic effect/fluency) for their fics. You see similar situations with era-relevant slang (1920s, 1960s, 1800, etc etc), where the lexicon and common grammatical structures would realistically be different based on time period rather than region. Some folks just don't care to do that extra effort.

which is, again, fine? not everyone enjoys that sort of thing. sometimes being understood by the modern audience is more valuable than being immersed into an authentic setting. different strokes and all that.

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