gray science

And if we REALLY wanted to, we could kill anyone, we could mod a random weapon that triggers the enemy death flags and go ham, just like ralsei can just burn people if he wanted. but we dont, for the reasons flowery says, we want to see if he CAN beat us, and if we can him, if either of us can break the prophecy.

started playing off (the game) today and it really got me inspired. did you know that if i hadn't switched from art to biology, i would've probably become a game designer? its my favorite artistic medium.

Alone

Screenshot via Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net on bluesky

Tldr Amnesty International, global human rights organisation, published a report called 'A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK'. In it is detailed, amongst others, a whole bunch of transphobic groups and organisations, including Beira's Place, JK Rowling's trans exclusionary sexual violence support service. JK Rowling threw a shit fit and got Amnesty to take the report down by threatening libel. This was obviously not enough, because you can't appease a fascist, so now she's going to bankroll a bunch of lawsuits anyway through the JK Rowling Women's Fund.*

You can read an archived version of the report here, please save it and share it.

HEAR ME OUT

SEAM ADOPTING PINK AND REGAINING HOPE BECAUSE SHE GIVES THEM A NEW PURPOSE IN LIFE AND FILLES THE HOLE LEFT BY JEVIL

Berdly and Kris not actually having gaming duels despite prior chapters mentioning "he only gets this mad when you play games together" seems to be a strange retcon or contradiction, but upon inspection we can see there may be a little more going on here.

The games mentioned throughout Deltarune include Dragon Blazers, Minecrap, Smashing Fighters, Roblucks, and an unnamed racing game that Noelle and Berdly play together (plus any others I may have missed).

The games in which you specifically partake in "gamer duels", or pvp, include Smashing Fighters and the racing game, which leaves the semi-linear rpg or sandbox types.

We know that the "prank caller" from Noelle's blog story is almost certainly Kris. Thus, at least the Minecraft pastiche is one of the games the two of them play together, leading to an interesting recontextualization of the gamer relationship between Kris and Berdly:

Regardless of whether its a game meant for co-operative teamwork (Bokura, It Takes Two, We Were Here, etc.) or rather server multi-player (Roblox and Minecraft, both of which are alluded to in game), the thing about co-op gaming is that it's more often than not made to be 2+ people working towards a single goal rather than a competition to win.

Which is essentially what The Fun Gang have been doing, as seen with the timed puzzles, Tenna’s game boards, and that platforming session near the end of Flower Castle. Heck, you even see this with Noelle and the spelling puzzle way back in Cyber City.

And just like Berdly sees studying with Noelle as cheating and views them as the first and second smartest kids in class as if there can only be a single person to fit each role, he saw the concept of working together to solve a puzzle as a challenge where someone had to prove themselves through solving it themselves. Like the third annoying mouse room, the unused traffic puzzle, and the palace light silhouette puzzles.

Gee, I wonder if there was perhaps something in Berdly's life that made him believe he has to prove himself and fight to maintain top spot, preventing him from realising companionship and unconditional acceptance is what he's really after...

INGREDIENTS:

4 hamburger buns, split

1 head green leaf lettuce, leaves separated

1 beefsteak tomato, sliced

20 dill pickle slices

FOR THE CHICKEN

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup dill pickle juice

1 ½ cups milk, divided

1 cup peanut oil

1 large egg

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Place a chicken breast on a cutting board. With your hand flat on top of it, carefully slice the chicken in half horizontally. Trim excess fat as needed.

In a large shallow baking dish, combine chicken, pickle juice and ½ cup milk; marinate for at least 30 minutes. Drain well.

Heat peanut oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

In another large shallow baking dish, whisk together remaining 1 cup milk and egg. Stir in chicken to coat and drain excess milk mixture.

In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine chicken, flour and confectioners’ sugar; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Working in batches, add chicken to the skillet and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

https://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/copycat-chick-fil-a-nuggets/2b483ee0-a13e-4a3f-bf0b-9b26099c6e24

So, um. *lip smack* Chapter 5 Weird Route, huh. I had some thoughts about how That Scene™ would go down in Level Up/Magnitomb

Full dialogue I wrote up, under the cut: