Undertale - Pet dogs and date a skeleton!

we didn't figure out how to spare undyne for forever because we literally didn't consider the solution because we were panicking and mildly stupid and apparently the spear thing and general hype of undyne's boss music impairs reading comprehension
When I looked it up we headdesked for about ten minutes before immediately winning the fight on the next run. It was very intense.
But yeah we were stuck in a loop of death-trap-disguised-as-reaction-game for.... A WHILE

 

I killed her because I couldn't figure out how to spare her

And then I cried for a long time

 

Ok I don't know how but I ended up with the idea that Frisk communicates exclusively through face/hand movements, small peeping sounds, and bubbles with pictures inside floating over their head.

This makes reading Undertale fic weird, to say the least.

 

I find fics where Frisk frequently vocalizes to communicate awkward. I've seen at least one or two where Frisk uses sign language, and a couple more where they're very sparing with their words.

 

it's always awkward when protagonists who canonically don't really speak suddenly speak in fanfic.
"EXCUUUUUUSE ME PRINCESS" comes to mind, even though that was awkwardly enough company sanctioned fanfic.
but yeah I think I headcanon Frisk as not a very wordy person, possibly entirely nonverbal.

 

i always tend to headcanon frisk as using sign language, considering they DO communicate with the others somehow.

it's just not shown.

so my assumption is sign language and gestures.

 

Sign language and gestures is how I imagine them speaking yeah.

 

I definitly like sign language more than trying to imagine frisk talking. idk why it's... about as offputting as imagining Link talking (and I don't even have to because i watched a whole episode of the horrifying zelda cartoon! It's terrible don't watch it!)

 

I have a tentative headcanon that because of Gaster's weird reality shenanigans, every monster in the Underground understands sign language, and everyone who has sufficiently handlike appendages can speak it too.

 

Well also there's the froggits - they can't understand what you're saying but they get the general meaning. Frisk could easily be making flattering or threatening gestures that get the point across even if they don't get the exact message across. Froggits are shown to speak, sort of, so.....

 

Even though it's pretty much a jRPG convention to have a protag be silent to the player but have characters react as if they've said something and have the implication be that the protag is talking, the idea of Frisk communicating nonverbally is a lot more fun and interesting. (And then looking back at jRPGs that use that convention as if the protags communicate nonverbally is extra fun. Crono from Chrono Trigger is so visually emotive this makes a lot of sense for him...!)

 

Sign language and texting for the phone is my headcanon.

 

Also, I'm hesitant to say nonverbal = mute. There's other reasons a person could be unable to speak without having damaged vocal cords. So I'm a bit torn on that.

 

Oh, the phone. That certainly messes with the whole nonverbal thing. You talk to Toriel and Papyrus on it before you meet Alphys, and when you talk to her she complains that your phone doesn't even have texting.

.....

 

Off the top of my head, I could justify selective mutism or Frisk being autistic and having an easier time talking verbally when they don't need to process body language.

 

Thank you

 

is this in general or addressed at someone? cuz i was pretty specifically saying nonverbal and not mute because of this exact same reason

 

Oh, no, just in-general, sort of talking to myself. I was thinking that a lot of things could be communicated in sounds and not specifically words, although that leaves things up to a lot more interpretation. But like, even with the phone conversations, there are points where you could say, 'Frisk could be making a questioning noise here, instead of asking a specific question'. If that makes sense?

And honestly, selective mutism is pretty varied, so if I was going to headcanon something specific for Frisk, it'd probably be that. Shrug!

 

the dialogue is definitly mostly written in way that have frisk say as little as possible
off the top of my head 'no', 'yes', 'butterscotch' and 'cinnamon' are the only things that are definitly verbally communicated over a phone and even no and yes could be substituted with affirmative and declining noises.

 

Yeah, I'd say at the least Frisk is canonically laconic while in the Underground.