Tenna art by @9Aaaalt29 on twt

The crowd roared in confused enthusiasm as Tenna gave a gracious flurry of low-FPS bows, pausing only for the occasional stink-nose at his audience plants who weren’t throwing enough 3D roses.

Eventually, the room fell silent. It was Senshi’s turn to speak.

He puffed out his chest, took a long, sweeping look over the audience… and shook his head.

“I can see not all of you are eating properly.”

The crowd murmured with embarrassment.

“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s time to take the turkey out of your icebox. I have seen the ingenious technology with which your people store food... and I have also seen the waste which results from such convenience.

“The food you take had a life. Beasts grew fat on the grass of the field, plants grew from the sun’s rays, and mushrooms grew from minerals in the cracks of caves. And yet, it sits in your iceboxes, collecting moisture until it perishes.

“Eat what is given to you. Because its life will make you stronger, too.”

Without another word, Senshi left his podium and stepped away from the stage. The crowd murmured in confusion. “Is he really like that?” somebody said. “I only remember reblogging the photosets of him tripping and showing ass.”

--

Back in the Green Room, Tenna wrung his antennas nervously.

“Y-y-you think they liked me!? They HAD to!! I mean, I don’t know what Asgore was thinking, getting that weird haircut and running that food waste campaign, but… YOU thought I did good, didn’t you, Kris?”

Laios nodded aggressively, a streak of blue face paint peeling from his forehead.

“You did AMAZING, Tenna! By the way, now that we’ve seen all your insider campaign secrets, do you have any more videos of Susie? Especially her tail... If I could get a look at that, I could finally tell if she’s a dinosaur or --”

THWACK. Fake antlers butted Laios’s head.

“LAIOS?? Weren’t we dressed up to help SENSHI???” Marcille hissed, gesturing awkwardly with her hooves.

Suddenly, Tenna turned to the two adventurers.

“Hey, WAIT a second. SOMETHING’s not right here...”

Laios and Marcille held their breath.

“Where the heck are my POINTS!?”

Just then, the door opened. Chilchuck took one step into the room, whistling and holding a large bag.

Everyone turned to him.

Chilchuck paused, took a step backwards, and closed the door.

“CHILCHUCK!!!” yelled Tenna.

“How come Chilchuck got to stay Chilchuck!?” yelled Marcille at the same time.

--

Taking in a lot of the themes about creation in deltarune and thinking about Pink in chapter 5 had me thinking about her cousin and how he’d want to get in on making his dream come true as well (who wouldn’t?). It would be nice if MTT and Tenna could come to Castletown with Pink in chapter 6, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

I puzzled over drawing Pink as another ghost in the early part of the comic since ghosts in utdr lore dubiously can’t un-possess a vessel once they’ve chosen/bonded with it, and post-ch5, she’s possessing Asgore’s Mew Mew figurine, BUT for the sake of emoting/gesturing and showing her and MTT coming from the same place, I just had her as her ghost form. One last “HEY GUYS IM MOVING. GONNA GO LIVE AS MY REAL SELF BYE” before she’s gone. Gotta get her goodies, you know? And take her depressed cousin with her.

When MTT and Ralsei meet in the comic, I had Ralsei ask his name and pronouns, not only because it’s a first introduction and Ralsei is polite like that, but because he’s sensitive to the emotions of the Lightners. I also just like to see this greeting expressed in media because it should be so normal and natural, but with certain people in my life (even not explicitly anti-trans people) it turns a conversation tense or awkward. There’s nothing weird or wrong with asking someone’s preferred name and pronouns! And as a trans person, it doesn’t feel awkward to receive the question if it’s out of genuine respect and curiosity to get to know me. In fact, (like MTT in the comic) I’d be pleased to be extended that question in an introductory conversation. It’s no big deal to answer, just like answering “what’s your name?” Or “what are your hobbies?” It’s just another part of me, my gender identity. Nothing to be afraid of!

As for trans Ralsei, I see that trans coding within that goat… I don’t know what his gender identity is (since it seems even Ralsei has not figured that out about himself yet), but it’s there. Maybe we’ll see him explore more about himself, what he likes, who he feels he needs to be, and who he wants to be. And maybe Ralsei will realize she’s a girl or that they’re nonbinary (my personal headcanon leans Ralsei demigender—demigirl, demiboy, idk. But some kind of in-between) But that’s for Ralsei to figure out! I can only speculate… Whatever happens next for Ralsei, I hope he comes to love himself as an individual.

And Spamton. He enters the comic since he also has ties to MTT, but like with the rest of his life, he’s excluded, and worse, defeated by the reality of his world. It’s fiction, all of it. You might be able to draw the perfect you, might be able to imagine a body that would perfectly align with who you really are, but it’s all imaginary. An image. A dream. He’s trans despair (at least in this comic) for that discrepancy between body and mind that will always remain in some degree. His despair is the same as Mettaton’s despair, who narrates alongside Spamton’s visuals. They’re in unison there because they’ve both experienced the same feeling, only now with the help, care, support, and love of his community, Mettaton is able to feel more like himself—the true him through creation. It might be an imaginary Dark World, but it came to life with the love they all share, with the excitement they bring together to see Mettaton’s dream come to reality. When he leaves Castletown, he might just be a drawing of a fancy body, and Pink may just be a figure of a catgirl, but everyone they love helped them feel more themselves than they have their entire lives. And that made their real selves a reality.

And THAT’s why you share the pen with Spamton. He may be little and weird, you may not know him very well, but wouldn’t you have wanted that olive branch extended to you? Wouldn’t you have wanted someone to hand you the pen and tell you “I see you.”