#jumbletale

Just because I can, I’ll drop some lore as well; everyone’s souls are displayed here and, while monsters do have white souls, the light they give off is tinted slightly, which reflects character traits and magic affinity; not that a monster can't learn magic that doesn't match their soul color, but it's easier to learn magic that does. That said, here's everyone's attributes (and call signs), from left to right:

Serif is a True Blue (Integrity). Technically, Serif isn’t native to JumbleTale so a different set of rules apply to him, but he is still associated with a soul color. Blue, or Dark Blue, is associated with Integrity; not that Serif can’t lie, he actually lies a lot, but he stays true to who he is, to his core beliefs and principles, no matter what he goes through. “Despite everything, it’s still you.”

Lucky Papyrus is a Just Yellow. Despite being raised to be a weapon by [Redacted] Gaster, Papyrus always had a strong sense of right and wrong no matter how much Gaster tried to beat it out of him. He cares less about what’s technically legal than he does about what’s fair.

Sains (Sans) is a Persevering Purple. A mix of Patient and Determined, Sans was quite adept in the realm of politics, until he best friend, King Asriel, died in his arms, causing Sans to retreat from everyone and everything. His specialty is to pick apart a problem into its component parts and recognize the intricate web of side effects a potential solution might have.

Faust (Frisk) and Charat (Chara) are both Determined Reds. I know there’s theories that Red isn’t actually Determination, but I’m going to go with it anyways, at least until a more concrete explanation is available. I’m also going to cover both at the same time because of how connected they are and that comparing the two is the easiest way to describe them both. Despite both being very Red, Frisk leans more towards Brave Orange while Chara leans more towards Persevering Purple, ending up at a more raspberry color. While Frisk is more likely to brute force a solution, Chara will step back and analyze the situation before finessing a solution. While not technically related to soul color, Frisk’s lack of empathy makes him more ready, willing, and able to do literally anything it takes to accomplish his goals, no matter who he hurts along the way.

Amber Alphys is a Brave Orange. Surprisingly. She is the embodiment of the phrase “Courage isn’t the lack of fear; it’s being scared to death and moving forward anyways”. Trained to be a bodyguard and steed in the Labs, she is powerful and skilled in combat but lacks confidence in social interactions, mostly due to lack of experience in her youth.

Starling (Mettaton/Mettané) is a Persevering Purple. As a Purple bordering Determined Red, Metta ends up at a hot pink color and is surprisingly similar to Chara, who is a Red bordering Purple. Metta is just as dramatic as his robotic counterparts but is more focused on puzzles and riddles than entertainment and fame, putting his detective/deduction skills to good use once Gaster erased himself from existence and left a big hole behind. While most interpretations of Mettaton are a bit of a gossip, this Metta doesn’t mind keeping what he learns to himself if the one it’s about wants him to, happy that he was able to find the knowledge at all.

Doc Toriel is a Kind Green. The driving force behind basically everything Tori does is the deep seated need to help others; this is the main reason she accepted the title of Royal Scientist, not because she loves science, but because she wanted to use the position to help the Lab victims. Bordering Cyan, making her more of a teal/turquoise, highlights her nurturing nature. This also makes her the perfect partner for Metta when working with Lab victims, bringing a gentleness Metta lacks while digging into the truth.

Asguard (Captain Asgore) is a Patient Cyan. Rounding out the group, Asgore embodies Patience in every aspect of his life, from training newbie Guards to dealing with the general public as a Peace Keeper. Patience and Kindness often go hand-in-hand, so he is often mistaken for a Kind Green, but he more just utilizes kindness to get the results he wants; however, he knows that some people aren’t motivated by gentle understanding, and Asgore has no problem using force when needed.

While not pictured, I know the soul colors of several other important, or at least interesting, characters as well. [Redacted] Gaster is a Just Yellow, which Papyrus inherited; he could “justify” anything as being “for the greater good.” Queendyne, or Queen Undyne, is a Brave Orange, bordering Red, and is a bit of a political wrecking ball. Frisk’s cousin, Marriweather or Marri, took them in before they fell and is a Kind Green bordering Yellow, making her a sort of olive green, and we’ll see more of her later. Spear Mouse (Scarf Mouse) is a True Blue while Bronze Masque (Nacarat Jester/Red Demon) is a Patient Cyan, despite his coloration. Doggo Dodger and his protégé Tom Cat (Burgerpants) are Patient Cyan and Brave Orange respectively; they fit together like puzzle pieces.

I wrote out a ton more, like five paragraphs worth, before realizing I really should just make a new post for background characters and who all is jumbled.

This is the same pic from above but with some extra added bits, like Metta’s eventual robot body and Alphys with just her dress and showing off her stripes. Some interesting notes about design choices, in no particular order, are:

Alphys' coat and dress are the same colors as Papyrus' vest and shirt, respectively.

Doc Tori's apron is her Royal Scientist uniform; white lab coats were optional anyways and she likes differentiating herself from the trauma of The Labs. Before the Underground, the uniform was made of leather and styled more like a Blacksmith's apron, since that's more-or-less what the job entailed, but now days it's just sturdy brown cloth. I always did like brown and purple as a color combo.

Asgore's head and mane were really hard for me to wrap my head around before so this time I took a shortcut and traced Simba from The Lion King before I started messing with the design. He still looks a lot like Simba, for better or worse.

I swapped the stripe colors of Frisk and Chara's shirts, partially to reference their jumbled character traits, but also because I think Yellow Justice suits Frisk and Purple Perseverance suits Chara better than the other way around.

Sans is the only Boss Monster displayed here, though Asriel, Undyne, and Gaster are all Boss Monsters as well. Boss Monster souls give off more color than their regular counterparts and this can be used to identify them as early as a few years old. In trying to expand on this I’ve come to realize that I really need to write a full post about how Boss Monsters work in JumbleTale, and probably get into monster reproduction as well.

For Metta's wheelchair, I took colors form Mettaton's original box form. Turns out, wheelchairs are really fucking hard to draw. Metta's in particular is based on a more sporty, versatile wheelchair design rather than the common hospital-style wheelchair.

...

... ...

... ... ...

My senses were dim and distant as I slowly regained consciousness.

Resets always made me feel weirdly detached from reality.

I wonder if anyone else feels that or if it's just me.

...

It's too bright through my eyelids.

Did Pap turn the light on to try to get me up?

That's not entirely unusual, but not for the first day of a new reset.

Weird.

...

I don't wanna get up.

I'm tired of watching him be so excited, only to be disappointed by that "human".

I'm tired of watching him die, helpless to stop it.

I'm tired of breathing in the dust as they shamble through the Underground. 

...

Papyrus expects me to get up, though.

I groaned as I tried to open my eyes but my eyelids felt so heavy.

Everything felt heavy.

Sure, I was always exhausted, but this was worse than normal after a reset.

Come on, eyelids, it's time to be awake now.

I groaned again as I expended way too much energy just to open my eyes, only to find my vision blurry at best.

Someone was next to me; I could barely make out a white skull and red scarf.

Papyrus.

He must've gotten worried when I didn't come down.

He's saying something but it's muffled, like he's talking through a wall.

I need to wake up.

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath, holding it while I willed my senses to focus on the present. Which also happened to bring a headache to my attention. That's unfortunate.

I forced my eyes open with a groan. There was Pap's worried face, alright, to my... left? The wall was supposed to be to my left, how was Pap on my left? Am I not in my bed? Where am I?

"Pap?" Was that my voice? God, I sound awful. 

"Oh good, you're awake," he said softly. "I was beginning to worry."

Since when could Papyrus speak softly?!

I blinked a few more times in confusion before looking around. I was in the front room, on the couch, covered in a red blanket. That's not normal. I was in bed for the reset, I know I was, I've always woken up in my bed, why am I on the couch?!

"Easy there, buddy," Papyrus tried to sooth, placing a hand on my chest. "You were out for a while, don't strain yourself too much yet. No one is going to hurt you, I promise."

The calming tone would be nice if it was coming from literally anyone but Papyrus! It just sounded so weird coming from him and it made me uncomfortable. 

"Pap, w-what's going on?" I croaked. My throat hurt so bad with every too fast breath. "Why am I here, what happened?"

"We found you half frozen on our doorstep," Papyrus said, holding up his red gloved hands in front of his chest placatingly. "You were in pretty rough shape."

He was wearing a white shirt with black sleeves. 

Where the fuck is his Battle Body?!

The door suddenly opened with a bang and I was flung across the room, held up by magic somewhere over the stairs. This was not helping my panic attack. 

"Papyrus, put me down!" I yelled, flailing against the magic, even though I knew it wouldn't do much. "This is not a good time for japes!"

"I-I'm sorry, I d-didn't mean to st-tartle you!" Alphys cried, standing next to Papyrus. What was she even doing here?! 

"I swear to god, bro, if you do not put me down, you are gonna have a bad time!" Panic suddenly flipped to hostility as I heard the distinct sound of a Gaster Blaster forming. Shoot, I didn't mean to do that. I didn't have long to regret it, though, as I heard the sound a few more times and found myself staring at the glowing maw of several blasters directed at me. Meaning they weren't mine.

Meaning Papyrus had summoned them.

How was that possible?! Sure, he had the capacity for it but he didn't know he could, he didn't even know I could! I was so careful! 

"Put me down!" I cried again. How did this escalate so fast?!

”I’m not holding you,” Papyrus said, exasperated. “You’re flying on your own.”

"What are you talking about, I can't fly!" I shot back.

"P-Pap, please put the b-blasters away!” Alphys was pulling on Papyrus’s raised arm. “Th-that's not helping!"

Didn't he promise nobody was gonna hurt me? I was about to say as much when I suddenly caught something red out of the corner of my eye and my head snapped over to it to find... a red wing? And it was attached to me?!

"Wha-!" I suddenly dropped out of the sky with a yelp, tumbled down the stairs, instinctively found my footing, and bolted for the closet under the stairs to finish my panic attack, back pressed against the door as I gasped for breath I technically didn't need. I let it happen, trying to focus on controlling my breathing rather than whatever the hell was going on outside; I could think about it later. Right now, just breathe.

Deep breaths, Sans.

That's it.

Slow it down.

Nice and easy.

I was still panting but at least it was better than before.

Progress.

I could finally register what was in front of me. It was brighter than I expected the closet to be. Roomier, too. And… tiled?

Looking around, there was a sink in front of me next to a door that I could barely see the corner of a tub through, and a washer/dryer stack thing to my left, sort of halfway into what was probably once a closet under the stairs but was now permanently open. It was a little cramped for it, but since when did we have a full bathroom down here? All we had was a shower, and I shouldn't be able to see it from what should be a closet. I stood somewhat shakily, holding onto the sink for support as I continued to breath heavily. I looked at myself in the mirror. Yup, I definitely had big, red, glowing wings attached to my back…

… And my bare ribs on full display.

I’ve been naked this whole time.

Ignoring the embarrassed blue heat on my face, I opened the dryer, thankfully finding my clothes inside, nice and warm. Black shorts on, white shirt on, oh wait, what about my about the wings? They don't feel restricted and, looking back at them, they're free as a bird. Heh. But how? I hadn't consciously made holes to accommodate them and I'm pretty sure I would've needed to at least think about the clothing magic to make a change like that. I grabbed my hoodie and returned to the mirror, watching closely as I pulled it on. 

The wings fizzled out of existence for a split second before coalescing again outside of the cloth. Now that I was looking for it, I could feel the rush of the magic as it flowed back into my soul and out again, like taking a deep breath.

Convenient.

But god it felt weird.

So it looks like these wings are connected directly to my soul. Uncomfortable thought, but ok. How did this happen? I definitely didn't have them before, so what changed-?

Memories of my last fight with the human rushed back to me. We were in the Final Corridor, the Judgement Hall, when I killed them again, but they were right next to me this time so I reached for their soul as it shattered. Time and space had already begun to warp around me so I must've interrupted the Load sequence part way through but does that mean... I really absorbed it? Do I have a piece of that genocidal child in the very core of my being?!

I don't wanna look.

But I have to be sure.

I hesitated, shaky hand over my sternum. What will this mean for me if it's true? Do I have their LV? Their ExP? Their Determination? Control is supposed to be split, isn't it? That's what the Flower said. Back when he was Asriel and absorbed the first human's soul. I don't hear a voice in my head or anything. Maybe I don't have it? But the wings, where else could they have come from? 

No. Stop, Sans. You're spiraling. You won't know until you check, right? So stop stalling and *CHECK.

My soul formed in my cupped hands, floating barely an inch away from my chest. The inverted heart was as bright blue as ever, with the Judge's Star attached to it, as always.

What caught my eye was the deep red stain in the center.