DELTARUNE : CHAPTER [[GARY]]

Lil' Telly

Lil' Telly, sometimes referred to as just Telly, is a TV Darkner that lives in the TV World. She's a NPC that shows up sometimes around the studio while the party isn't in the middle of a round. Nobody in the studio is exactly sure where she came from, but she appeared in the studio weeks before Kris and the fun gang arrived. Later on, she's the main world leader of LunaLand in "Stay Up Late".

Profile

Appearence

Lil' Telly is a small, child,like Darkner with a CRT for a head. She's dressed in an oversized onesie, the right half a mint color and the right half a warm yellow. The cuffs and feet of her onesie are pink, the print in the shape of a cartoonish flower. The upper chest and shoulders area is covered in a warm brown fabric that loops around to the back of the onesie, a small silver heart decorating the front. Her TV head is the same pink as her sleeves, square and symetrical with a dark brown empty screen. Atop her head, her silver antennae are tied into a bow, the tails sticking up in the air like actual antennae.

Personality

Lil' Telly is a quiet kid; she's very sneaky and elusive, a lot of Darkners in the TV World describing her as "hard to get a hold of." Still, under all of that self-preservation, she's still very childish with a knack for playing pranks on people. She seems to naturally trust other kids over trusting adults, though she does have some adults in the studio (mostly Ramb and later on Tenna) she seems to at least be comfortable around. Later on in the chapter, she becomes much harder to get a hold of as Tenna seems to put her aside to focus on Kris.

Main Story

History

[SPOILERS AHEAD]Lil’ Telly was the bedroom TV for a Lightner of her own, a younf Lightner named Becky. Her Lightner, as young as she was, watched Telly play cartoons and old anime late into the night until either of them fell asleep. Like most other TVs, Lil' Telly was Becky's escapism from a hard homelife; she imagined herself as all the magical girls she saw on TV, taking her mind off of things for a while.

One night while playing cartoons for her Lightner, Telly stopped working suddenly. Her screen, only broadcasting what she allowed, now worked against her as if someone was trying to break through it. Even Becky herself noticed as her TV began to broadcast odd things, things she'd surely never expected to see on the same channel she watched her shows. Then, as suddenly as it came, it went away. When Telly came to it, Becky was gone, her screen now refusing to work, leaving her mute and hard of seeing.

As the next morning came and Becky wasn't in bed, Telly watched as the rest of the Lightner household scramble to find her. When they could no longer keep searching, they left town, deciding to donate Becky's old things to the school she attended in Hometown.

As one of Toriel's students stopped attending classes, their parents showed up at the school to inform the teacher that they would be moving out of town. Knowing Toriel had children of her own, they decided to give her some of the kid's belongings that they "couldn't bring with them". One of them was a small child bedroom's TV. It was sloppily painted pink with stickers glued on the sides. Toriel thanked the parents and wished them and their kid safe travels. Hoping to cheer Kris up during such a hard time in their life - their parent's divorce and Asriel away in college, how even the living room TV couldn't bring them much joy nowadays - Toriel hoped that by putting a TV in Kris' bedroom would hopefully keep them company. Once Toriel brought the TV home, she figured out the thing wouldn't turn on. Disappointed, she kept it tucked behind the couch, hoping to find someone who could either fix it or keep it for themselves.

Once arriving at TV World, the smaller TV was lost in the couch area for a while before arriving at the studio. She spent days scaring Pippins and Shadowguys who had no idea who she was for a while; it was akin to a horror movie where some haunted doll would scare any workers that had the misfortune to come across her. Eventually, she found a little safe haven around Ramb, who'd let her hang out at his shop. That's how Tenna found out she was a real Darkner and not just some lie his crew had made up to not go to work. As much as Tenna wanted to get to know this kid, finding them as a substitute for the Lightners who'd stopped paying attention to him, Telly seemed to be particularly determined to not let Tenna get a hold of her. She was good at hiding and slipping from his grasp due to how small she was compared to him. Tenna spent weeks trying to lure her in with games and shows, slowly learning more and more about the kid: she didn't like games - the choices were too overwhelming - and she didn't like game shows or quizzes either. Lost on what to do but not ready to give up, Tenna persisted. Maybe one day he'd find something the kid liked, maybe enough so she'd look at him.

Chapter 3 - Late Night

During the chapter's events, Lil' Telly is mostly spotted around the map during breaks in between rounds. She can be first spotted in the Green Room, when Susie finds her hiding behind a TV, peeking at them. As the party ventures into the studio, they can sometimes spot Lil’ Telly following behind, travelling through vents and the lighting grid of the studio. Depending on the party’s behaviour, Telly will respond accordingly; if she sees them mostly winning fights by FIGHTing, she’ll keep hiding while watching them from afar. If she sees them winning fights mostly through ACTing and sparing, she’ll come out of hiding to sometimes play pranks or scare Kris and the gang in light banter. Telly can also sometimes be found with Tenna in between rounds, where she can be seen looking at Tenna while he's busy talking to his crew to keep Toriel asleep. Telly can be found one last time inside her bedroom, an area hidden deep within the studio. She'll speak in sign language if interacted with, saying how she enjoyed the name Susie gave her, as "everyone names me eventually". Depending on the player's input, Telly will either wish Kris a happy time with Tenna's puzzles, or good luck escaping him.

Stay Up Late

During the events of Stay Up Late, Lil' Telly is the ruler of the chapter's DarkWorld LunaLand. She also acts as the "magical companion" to Becky as they play into magical girl tropes.

WIP

Relationships

Tenna

It's weird. Lil' Telly used to be wary of Tenna, most assume because of his size and how loud he was, probably scaring the kid away. In reality, she could tell he was just "really weird" in her own words. She'd run away and slip past Tenna any time she knew the other TV Darkner was coming, even hiding in Ramb's bar until he was gone. He eventually managed to earn her trust by taking things slower and being a bit less self-centered, even if just for a while. With enough time, she began trusting him enough to spend time around him or even watching cartoons on his TV screen. She'll still run away from him occasionally, but she seems glad he's not as desperate to have her - or anyone to entertain - around as he used to be. With the party's arrival, that quickly changes, and Lil' Telly returns to being a loner.

Ramb

Chill uncle vibes. Ramb takes things easy, which helps him connect with the kid much better. She knows she's not his main priority, but Telly still prefers to hang out with Ramb since they're both outsiders in the TV World.

Tenna's Crew (Pippins, Shadowguys, Zappers)

Improv babysitters, number 1 prank victims. Telly is more than used to playing pranks on Tenna's crew, being equally as good at escaping their clutches. She also takes advantage of the fact that the crew first thought she was some kind of ghost or haunted doll that wandered around the studio, using it as more of a reason to play pranks on them. From the Darkners she knows, Pippins are the less careful, Zappers the stricter and Shadowguys the silliest.

Trivia

• Lil' Telly is mute and communicates through ASL.
  
  • It is implied that at least all TV Darkners, including Tenna, know sign laguage by default. This could be a reference to how closed-captions and sign language in television was introduced in the 1970s.
  • Occasionally, Darkners will say how Lil' Telly will "sign gibberish" and how not even Tenna seems to be able to decipher what she's saying. It is implied that Lil' Telly may be using another type of sign language besides ASL.
• It is also implied that Lil' Telly may be visually impaired. She's seen getting really close to objects and people to just to look at them, and is said to be the only Darkner Tenna allows to touch the dial on his face. All of these could be interpreted as her needing to be really close to things to see them well, sometimes touching them instead of looking at them. Still, it is never outright said she's visually impaired.
  
• Lil' Telly is based off of the old Disney line of CRTs from the early 2000s. She was based off of the pink and lilac "Disney Princess" model. The specific model she's based on is a Memorex Disney Princess DT-1350P.
  

Playlist & Aesthetic

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