Hai!! Hope Everything Is Alright ^^

Another Ink but on a black sheet✨

He greets you (˶ᐢωᐢ˶)

oook, that makes a lot of sense. i'm glad you actually take the sheer scale of the multiverse into account, that's something i don't see nearly enough of. as well as the logistics of keeping up with it and even comprehending its existence. (i mean, they're UNIVERSES out there. universes. imagine learning your entire UNIVERSE, not just the fricking planet you're on, but the very thing you call existence, is only one of countless realities. and then learning that travel between those realities is possible and there's a war waging between some god-like beings out there. i'd have trouble coming to terms that).

each of them having their favourite au to visit is strangely endearing. makes thrm feel more tangible to know they've got their hobbies and pasttimes.

grandpa continues to impress, as always. i wonder if people think he's passed of old age when he ghosts them (i take bullying the baddies very seriously.)

[loud laughter in the background]

[waves.] how does horror sleeping around, and cross flirting with people work for them, if they are notorious for being part of The Multiverse's Most Hated, Nightmare's Pantheon? i imagine they can still find some aus here and there in which the inhabitants either don't know or don't care about that kind of thing, but "sleeping around" in horror's case implies that it's a rather frequent thing, and we know he's more of a one-night kinda guy. unless?

you're exactly right — not every AU knows (or cares) about outcode affairs, no matter how high-stakes and immediately concerning those affairs might be. not that they're necessarily choosing not to care, either; it's just that an incode trying to keep up to date with the multiverse's affairs (on top of their own world's, mind you!) would probably be driven insane pretty quickly. it takes a strong type of person to become an outcode in the first place, because that's something normal people are not built to do or even to comprehend.

that said, for recreational purposes and even shopping, the pantheon definitely try to stick to AUs that are off the "beaten path", if only for convenience and security. the multiverse is so big and ever-evolving that it's almost impossible to map (error, ink, reaper and nightmare are probably some of the only entities in TAU able to keep track of it with any degree of accuracy, and nightmare mostly through manual effort), but areas of TAU that are more "high traffic" are more likely to have people who know and care who they are, and more likely to have ties to dream. dream will of course then try to stop them from ever entering that AU again, which depending on what they did there, could be a huge pain in the ass. (as intended, of course; it's still a war.)

naturally, very few those "low traffic" AUs are actually going to be open to interdimensional travel, but there's still plenty of choices among them where a weird scary monster can blend into a crowd, so they're not bereft of choices. and among those choices i think each of the pantheon members have their favorites to go back to, even if only for specific places — killer's world with his favorite beach, horror's with his favorite bar, cross with his favorite taco stand, dust with his favorite convenience store, etc. etc. it'd be mostly up to them to keep a catalogue of which AU had which thing they liked so they could later return to it, but as long as they don't cause enough ruckus that dream catches wind of it, they're pretty much free to do whatever.

(also you're correct again: axe is definitely a one-night-stand kind of guy. he might save your number in his phone if you're a particularly mind-blowing fuck and easy to talk to, but the second things start getting too emotionally involved he's gone like a fart in the wind xD)

This is Jim Sinclair, at the time going by Toby. They are a neuter, asexual and intersex enban, and a seminal autism activist. They have been an educator on transneutral nonbinary identity, non-binary transition, the anti binarist position and intersex issues for decades. This is an interview with them from the 1980s, talking about their experience as a non-binary/genderqueer person at a time where the community was just coming together.

"In a 1997 introduction to the Intersex Society of North America, Sinclair wrote, "I remain openly and proudly neuter, both physically and socially."

Nonbinary people have always existed, and will always exist. Happy Trans History Week! 💛🤍💜🖤

hey, how're you doing? hope you're well.

i scrolled through the mtau tag and saw the thing about secondary sex characteristics in skeletons (both in general and in cross' case): about how they have 'marks' around their eyes which is usually seen as a "female" characteristic for skeletons... that got me super intrigued. i love the thing abt monsters having much freer sex and gender expressions, makes a lot of sense, with the souls and all, but it did get me thinking...

if skeletons can be categorized into seperate sexes at all, then

a) how does that work if they don't have genitalia (just bones)? do they categorize skeletons into male/female/other based on the markings and that's it? so, skeletons would then define sexes not based primarily on genitalia, like humans, but based primarily on eye markings or lack thereof. and in the case of ecto-bodies, because from what i've gathered they can summon genitals with their ecto,

b) you said most monsters are hermaphroditic to begin with; are skeletons one of those? if so, how does sex categorization work in that case? and if they don't have 'both' parts by default, are they just stuck with specific junk that "aligns" with what they'd be categorized as? (so, basically how humans tend to do it)

additional questions: would the last question being correct imply that intersex monsters exist?? additionally, bcs i must ask, can skeletons "choose" what junk they'll have when they summon their ecto bodies, or is that more of a "you get what you got" kinda deal? (the glossary does say that monsters are much more malleable physiologically, because mana and all...)

srry if this is kind of rambly, i guess my point is, i'm loving this and i especiqlly wanna know how cross' transgenderism would work. if monsters as a society are generally very open and less rigorous than humans, and not only that, but also physically much less "black and white" [through some humans' lens]... then what does "being trans" mean for a monster? for a skeleton?

if any of this is spoilers or you don't have it figured out yet feel free to leave it out. but i love that you made cross being trans canon to your story and i'd love to know how you go about the whole cis/transgender concepts based off the rules you've set for your world. i'm super autistic about your autismtic love-project

have a fantastic day. also if i had money i'd give you a bunch. stay safe

wow! i have to say i've been feeling really crummy these past few weeks, so opening tumblr to see this ask really made my day. sorry for the delay in answering it -- you gave me a lot to think about xD

as usual, for a longer ask like this i'll break out the proper formatting:

1: How are skeleton monsters categorized into sexes at birth if (a): they have no visible genitalia and (b): hermaphroditic is default?

Typically, monsters are not gendered for the first few years of their lives -- even if they, like Cross*, are born with "secondary sex" features like "feminine markings". I went over this a bit in another post talking about markings, but most monsters default to "it" (or sometimes "they"**) when uncertain of someone's gender. *Cross is from a very atypical universe, and his dad kind of worships humanity as the standard, hence him being assigned female based on his markings. Such practices are not the norm. Typically, a monster will start experimenting with gender presentation around 4 or 5 years old, depending on their lifespan, and probably decide on something permanent around 8 or 9 -- until such a decision is reached and announced, neutral is default. **For monsters, being "dehumanized" isn't usually a negative thing. It's more typical to use "it" for very un-humanoid monsters like rocks or slimes and "they" for more humanoid ones like goats or skeletons, hence why monsters defaulted to "they" for Frisk and Chara, but might use "it" elsewhere. It's just a cultural thing.

2: (Clarification) Are skeleton monsters hermaphroditic by default?

Yes, in most universes. Some AUs will see monsters in general with more human-aligned sex characteristics, skeletons included.

3: Can skeleton monsters choose what genitalia they will have when forming an ecto body, or are they "stuck" with their default?

First, being able to form and maintain a fullbody ecto construct is more of a boss monster thing than a skeleton monster thing -- it just so happens that in most universes, Sans and Papyrus are the only skeleton monsters left alive, and they are both bosses, yes. I say this to clarify that not all skeletons are bosses by default, so not all skeletons would be able to form full genitals or bodies at all. Second -- most of the time, yes, a mature boss monster will have enough control to choose the genitalia that will form! This depends on the boss and the AU, though; one from one of the more human-aligned AUs mentioned above may not be able to choose, but that isn't really the norm. Most can. It's just a matter of preference... and maybe magical skill and mana production. Ecto can be a bit tricky.

4: Can intersex monsters exist?

The current definition of "intersex" from what I could find, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is presenting sex characteristics that "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". It's more complicated than that, and I'll get into that in a second, but TLDR; in order to be intersex, there must be a binary -- so since most universes don't see monsterkind adhering to a strict binary, in most AUs there would therefore be no intersex monsters. (Not because mixed sex characteristics cannot exist in monsters, but because monsters don't care to differentiate someone because of that.) The complexity I mentioned earlier is this: the difference between "intersex" and "hermaphrodite". Hermaphrodite is basically having a fully functional set of "both" genitals, where intersex is having a mixed set of characteristics that aren't necessarily each capable of reproduction. (Not that the intersex person cannot reproduce, but that they cannot both impregnate someone else and they themselves carry a pregnancy -- just one or the other.) A monster is, by default, capable of both insemination and carrying a pregnancy, so to be intersex would be to imply that they somehow had a SOUL incapable of doing one method of reproduction, which shows up sometimes in some universes but very much isn't the norm. Furthermore, things get more complex here when you consider that monsters don't typically use their genitals for reproduction in the first place -- given that humans base the idea of "sex" (and therefore the concept of being intersex) entirely on genitals, it's difficult to say whether or not a monster could qualify.

5: How does Cross being trans work? How does being trans work for skeletons in general, or even for monsters as a whole?

I covered this a little bit in question 1, but to reiterate: Cross is from a very atypical universe, and his father based a lot of that AU on human customs. Cross' experience with being trans is therefore very similar to what a human would experience -- his father decided he was a woman based on some arbitrary bullshit (in this case, face markings that are typically only seen on female-presenting skeletons), Cross got old enough to realize that was wrong and started fighting it, and despite his dad wanting to throw the mother of all pissy fits to get him to conform, he ultimately had more urgent matters (everything with the X Event) to attend to and therefore Cross "got away with it" long enough to get out of there. As for other monsters, though, it's... different. I don't think most monsters really have the concept of being trans -- the closest are probably ghost monsters, but even then the similarities are mostly allegorical. That's not to say that monsters don't ever transition between genders, just that for them, doing so isn't a big enough deal to even blip the radar; not everyone is right about everything they decide on at 8 or 9 years old, after all, so if later someone decides to start wearing dresses and makeup and go by a different name, that's really the end of it. Everyone switches and moves on. To make a better comparison to the social significance I'm talking about, it's like if someone dressed exclusively in White Girl Fall Fashion for a few years and then suddenly switched to, like, Camo -- people will probably notice that, and some might even ask about it, but ultimately, like, who cares that they're wearing camo now? (For example, I think in a lot of universes Alphys is a trans woman; Toby originally designed her as a man and just added eyelashes to change her design into a woman. I just don't think that would be a big enough blip on anyone's radar to even really be a talking point. Just like -- "Oh yeah, I heard the royal scientist is a woman now. I sure hope her experiment goes well so I can see my family soon!) I think whether or not a monster even knew what "trans" was would probably generally depend on if they were from a Post-Emergence timeline and how long they spent on the surface around humans, or else how deeply that human culture seeped into the Underground via the dump (and how that particular human culture viewed transness.) For example, I don't think Horror or Dust really know much about it (or care), Nightmare knows of it but cares even less than most monsters do, but Killer's crossdressing is a bit more consciously subvertive because he's from Saudi Arabia (which historically does not have the best views towards queer people, to put it gently), and Cross is the only one who has a really "human" view on sex/gender. (Aside from Abaddon now, obviously xD) I think you could maybe consider Killer some flavor of transfemm/genderqueer, but I wouldn't personally know what to label him given that he defaults to masculine pronouns and presentation. But for most skeletons I have to say it's pretty much the same as any other monster; they might change presentation at any time or have any mix of "typical" sex characteristics, but ultimately if they say to call them "he" then you know that's what's correct. And it's not really a huge deal; monsters don't really fixate on that kind of thing.

anyway, i really love getting asks like this, so thank you so much! i'm super flattered that you like my world qwq

i accidently deleted my long ask... [dead.]

i'll try again. short version: does cross deal with gender-related dysphoria? considering he grew up being forced into a certain role, which is atypical for monsters, and the fact that it was once mentioned (as an offhand comment meant as an example) in a post about monster gender expression that cross may have to lean harder into masculine representation if he wants to be gendered correctly at first sight... well, i imagine it means a lot to him to have something that was denied to him for so long, and i figure those two are correlated.

i also get the feeling he's an overall rigid guy, reflected in the way his ocd manifests, so i imagine that might very well be part a of it, as well. does he not allow himself certain things out of fear he'll be misgendered? is he overall comfortable with himself? does he ever feel like he has to overcompensate?

i tip my hat. have a nice day!

short answer: YES, jesus christ, cross has a LOT of dysphoria xD

(unrelated but i am SO flattered that you remembered that detail!)

you're right on the money though, yeah. one of cross' biggest obsessions is his self-image, and a lot of that stems from dysphoria because his dad (the source of most of this) was very much the "woman belong in the kitchen supporting real men (me)" type. the funny thing is that cross' overcompensation might not always register to us because it's all based on his understandings of human culture, which in turn comes from his father's understandings of it — it's very much a game of chinese telephone, where things have been translated nearly into meaninglessness based only on second-hand observation. that is to say: most humans would only see a monster mimicking "human culture" with info clearly from movies and books, and since monsters are naturally extremely social, that isn't really seen as weird.

the most immediate (and comical) example that comes to mind: when it comes to alcohol, cross will ONLY drink beer.

does he LIKE beer? no; he thinks it tastes like rotten bread. he only drinks it because humans (specifically the kind of english-speaking cultures his father took inspiration from) say it's masculine, and he doesn't want cute guys and gals at the bar to see him drinking some fruity cocktail and come talking to him like he's a woman. he also doesn't tell anyone he bakes, to such an extent that it takes multiple years of knowing him (or a really, really bad sleep schedule) to finally catch him doing it. he used to wear a headscarf as a kid (because his dad insisted and he was too young to realize why), and he actually DID like how that looked on him, but the second he realized it made people see him Wrong he burned it and never touched another one.

(the second, admittedly sadder example: cross is bisexual, but he never dates anyone, and only ever flirts with women. he's heard and seen that humans see gay men as lesser feminine, and he's not secure enough in his own self image to risk it. god FUCKING forbid anyone finds out he wants to bottom; he would literally rather die.)

this is actually one of the many reasons that tension develops between him and abaddon; abaddon threatens everything he knows in (many) more ways than one, but the fact that they're an extremely secure trans guy on top of that is just spit on his fucking ice cream.

and thus, the fifth and final image in the gaster backlog has arrived. i'll still be posting old stuff i dredge up from time to time, and some of it will definitely be gaster, but that's all the curated ones for now!

i've followed back :x) this is also motivating me, lol. a lot. really. in fact, i'm ripping my shirt off and yelling at the top of my lungs as i power up.

i'm very busy as of now, so there may not be anything for a while... but, if you ever wanna chat, feel free to message me. pleasure to make your mutual! also, honored to be the first ask.

hello. i saw your tags which byrdblood reblogged. this feels so silly, oh my god.

i hope this isn't too forward, i just wanted to say that i'm working on my own multiverse interpertation and noticed we had a similar ideas with the research logs. they do say great minds think alike. i think our approaches are a little different (i can't tell since i have nothing to compare to yet, but i'm focused on specific things), but what you said sounds really cool. that's actually the point of this ask. all i wanted to say is, i would also be interested in seeing you realise your ideas, whenever that would happen. research logs are delicious.

that's all. have a nice day. :x)

AHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH! This is really motivating to hear and I'm glad you think it's cool :')

It's also neat to hear that I'm not the only one going down the research logs route! just followed you and i can't wait to see what you've got in store! i'd love to hear more, but if you want to keep some stuff secret, that's ok too. i love a good mystery :)

happy pride lol

(shout-out to @andreabandrea for the idea <3)

an assortment of utmv sketches. all really quick doodles inbetween uni work so its messy

mostly dream and nightmare because i loove tragic siblings

Please read tags of the fic on AO3 before reading “His Wish”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17397179

One animatic down, 2 more to go. Maybe 3 since I also want to make one for Perseverance.

Anyways, one of my favorite things added to this fic (His Wish) was Ink’s ability to absorb and feel the emotions of other people (not just the AUs themselves. His complicated relationship with “feeling” and being confused on wether he reciprocated error’s love for him or not were my favorite moments in this fic.

No this ink doesn’t get a soul that “fixes him” and this ability to absorb people’s emotions creates more of a problem for himself instead of helping him.

I also love error’s arc with him finally accepting that he does care for ink and my favorite moments with him was his deep regret and trauma of accidentally “ending” ink after taking his red paint (yes I know this is very not canon with official ink). So I made an animatic of both of these. Sorry if it doesn’t make sense, that’s why I added a description

Ink belongs to comyet

Error belongs to crayonqueen

His wish is by Elena Troitskaya (sariko-3) and translated by TGK Translations (TheGrinningKitten)