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[The first sign that something might be wrong is the fact that, rather than a soft chime to indicate an incoming message, the phone you’re so reliant on lets out a rather ear splitting screech.

And then the panting starts. Soft, laborious. For those who take the time to hold onto their phones, the altogether unpleasant sensation of your ribs caving in on one side is rather prominent; despite the pretty surroundings of a tree covered mountain-side that wavers back and forth with every ungainly step by the feed’s creator, your side is burning under the tight weight of your own arm pressed against it; the only brace you have, in case more damage has been done than you’ve expected. In case letting up on that same pressure would be enough to send you straight to the ground under the pain, and who knows?

You might not get back up.

The mountain has a slope to it that just makes this all the more difficult; of course it does. It’s a mountain, but you’ve made your choice, and you’re not stopping now.

You’re….you’re not stopping now.

But you need to stop for a second. Air is a necessary factor in motion, and you’re struggling to gain that much.

Looking down, you note that, at the very least, the blood that had soaked through most of the front of your tatty sweater is...dry. Your lips wobble with the distinct urge to smile, and the somewhat hysterical giggle that bubbles past your lips is one you immediately regret.

Time to keep going. There’s no path for you to follow, just patches between the trees and the overgrowth of wild plants for you to slowly navigate your way around, hyper aware of anything with the potential to cause you to fall.

Then the ground starts levelling out. Your shoes meet a lip of rock, taking your focus from the few feet immediately in front of you to take in what you’ve found. A cave. The opening is wide, and vast, and altogether a little threatening, despite the fact that natural light appears to be pouring in from somewhere deeper into it. For someone not looking to be found, it’s the perfect hideaway.

And you are certainly not looking to be found.

The feed cuts.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Holy moly that screech sure as heck made Norma drop the bowl she was washing, the splash of water smacking her right in the face. She coughs on the soapy water, wiping her eyes free of the suds right in time to catch the memory that seems to play itself like a haunting video on her phone's camera. It's a first-person point of view it seems like, and Norma wants nothing more than to turns the damned device off and shove it into a drawer, but...

Well, it's really hard to look away sometimes.

Now, the sweater startles her, at first, but after a moment to mull over what she saw, Norma knows it's not who she initially thought. Norma never was a friend or even a close acquaintance of Chara, they were...w-well, they were something else. But she is friends with Frisk, and still believes the other child to be a twin of sorts. Hence why, her voice is quiet and tentative--]

Uh...h-hey, are you okay?

[She'll have to forgive them for taking a while to respond. As is, the screeching of their phone was just as much of a surprise to Chara as it was to her; and countless others, most likely, viewing the feed and expecting- anything but what's actually on the screen.

I invite anyone else who may have issues with others attempting to discuss said memories to opt out...

Very funny.

Hilarious, even.]

Perfectly fine. [Their tone brooks no room for argument, on that front.]

[Ah yes, the snippity tone Norma was expecting. She sighs, because she gets it. Memories being shared like this, especially over an open network where not just one person, but many can see? It's like throwing your own personal insecurities and secrets right down under the spotlight. Norma'd be upset as well, and has gotten off easy in the ways of her own memories not being broadcast yet.]

Look, I'm not here to argue a point with you, Stripes. Just checking in, got it? You're still a kid, and there's been too much bad stuff happening to you kids lately... [She picks the bowl up, dumping the water out from it, and begins drying it with a washcloth. Just to busy her hands while her phone is next to her.] Take care of yourself is all I'm saying. Because people worry - even strangers like me.

[She of course misses the point. The invasion of privacy is one thing; but it's another, to know what people see when they make out this video. Poor Chara; how hard done they must be.

How we must worry for them, out of the goodness of our hearts. Our undying obligations.]

Chara. [They correct in a bored tone.] One a scale of one to ten, are you satisfied with your check? Assuredly assured that you need not bother further?

Your worry has done so much good, after all. I would hate to think what I would do without it.

[Oh, here we go. Norma raises a brow and for a moment she just goes silent, before there's a snort on the other end of the feed, then a muted sort of chuckle. Okay, kiddo, okay... She'll bite.]

Oooh, are we grading my Humanitarianism today? Okay, I'll grade myself a nice, solid six, maybe six and a half if I wanna be generous! Because you sure as heck aren't my friend, that's pretty clear, but like I said - you're still a kid. You're still a person. And I'm not gonna turn a blind eye on someone that's pretty obviously suffering, Stripes.

[The voice of reason tells her to stop, but Norma shoos it away. She's in no mood to play the goody-two-shoes this time around. She wants to be angry, instead of melancholy and downtrodden, and this bratty ankle-biter is giving her a solid opportunity. She's sick of being miserable, of being here, of seeing all this pain, suffering, and eventual death. Her smile is reminiscent in her voice, but it's edge is sharp.]

My turn for a question, if we're testing one another, and because I'm just plum curious now - on a scale of one to ten...do you actually want people to not care about you?

[Here we go.

Chara's smile widens, the more she talks. If she was looking for someone to bite, today; looking for someone to snipe at, well. She's griped at the right person.

They're more than happy to assist her with that.]

How about we rephrase that, Bubbles? On a scale of one to ten, how much of a person am I, really? How old am I, actually? And how many people in my world; in this castle right now, would helpfully advise you that suffering is well deserved?

A word to the wise, Bubbles. Keep sticking your nose in places it's not wanted and someone might cut it off.

Edited 2016-08-01 03:04 (UTC)

Good thing I'm a healer!

[Giggling loudly - a jagged note tossed in at the end - Norma taps her nose, still forgetting that this isn't recorded. She wouldn't have cared either way though, really. Is she scared of a little try-hard that's playing the Big Bad? Not in the slightest. Sorry, Chara, but she's gotten the frequent death threat spat her way on the regular back on the Legacy. This isn't new, and the people cutting their gums on their silver tongues were a lot scarier, a lot uglier, than a kid in a striped sweater, sorry.]

As for your question...I'll answer it when you answer mine~! [Nice try at avoiding the topic, but nope. Sorry. She's not letting you escape it. And now? Now, she'll push the topic again and again. Because it's not about knowing the answer - it's about making this kid as uncomfortable as she can.]

Alright.

[They'll have to ask her later, then; what's scarier?]

My answer, Bubbles-

Is poisoned. Stabbed. Beaten. Stoned. Electrocuted. Run through. Burned. Ripped apart. Asphyxiated. Shot. Dismembered.

I do not want nor require the false platitudes that come prior to the true meaning of care. At the end of the day, you are, and will remain, a stranger. Someone who expects to know so much more about the world than the apparent child who back chats you on the phone, like the little edge-lord they are.

You're the type of person who witnesses someone attempting suicide, and still has the delusion of good will necessary to ask if they're okay.

Good thing you're a healer.

[When they threaten, or when they go calm?]

[Is this a prank? When Rin picked up her phone (hard to ignore the thing when it's screaming bloody murder at you), that was the only thing that made sense. This doesn't even look like part of the castle. Where is it?

It only takes a few more seconds to realize it's not a joke after all, when Rin feels an ache in her side. Gasping at the suddenness of it, she reaches down to feel her ribs... They hurt, but under her hand they feel whole. And yet this pain doesn't feel imaginary, nor the shortness of breath. After a month of experiencing other people's memories, it almost feels like—

No, Rin realizes with dawning trepidation, looking back up to an overlook of a mountain on the screen. That's exactly what this is. This is just crazy. How did someone's memory get onto the phones??

The only thing that stops Rin's hand from turning it off in a mix of bafflement and annoyance is what the video shows when the camera angle shifts. The hem of a sweater, bloodied and red.

(the hem of a sweater beyond the table, barely visible but for a flash of green)

...that's absurd. A stupid connection there's no grounds to make, but it keeps Rin watching. Daring for the video to prove her wrong. Instead there's a giggle (last time it was tears) bubbling with hysteria that both sounds and feels a lot more familiar than it should. There's no repeat of that experience, thank god, but Rin feels a cold sweat break out over her body all the same. No proof, and she should deny it, but under the burning pain in her ribs that shouldn't be there is a gut instinct that she knows who this is.

And yet for all those suspicions , she somehow never guesses what they're doing until far past the point they broken into a run. It's only when their feet cross over the lip of the mountain, a shot of a cave below, that Rin even realizes it. Gripping the phone, she feels numb and when the feed cuts out...

A heartbeat. The pain in her ribs subsides. Another heartbeat, and the grip on her phone tightens.

Rin is livid.

Her vision washing red, her phone nearly ends up smashed against the nearest wall. That it's valuable, that this is a war and she'd have to waste a favor on replacing it never pops into her mind once; what stops her hand is the flash of memory from how-to books that destroying the phone won't destroy the video and stop anyone else from seeing this. Hands shaking, Rin checks to see if she can pull the video up again, in the hope that if no one saw it that very moment they won't be able to see it at all, but to her mounting frustrations it's still there.

She's so angry she could scream. Before she even knows it, Rin has shoved her phone in her bag without responding to the network post, and stomping out of the room she was in while slamming the door behind her. Not to find Chara (she can't trust herself not to hold herself back from shaking the kid on sight), but someone, anyone she can think of who knows how the network really works, or has enough control over it to take the video memory down. There are more than six things that piss Rin off about this right now, but none moreso than how unfair it is to see every loving detail of such a raw memory immortalized for everyone to see. It has to come down.

It's an endeavor that was doomed before it even began, whether she eventually found the kind of person she was looking for or not.

Just another thing to be angry about, then.]

[ She may just find someone who might have some kind of control over the network at the Altar Room, where a certain dumpy-looking skeleton is lying on his back, but not because he's taking a nap. He's got the lower panel of the generator open while it's powered down, goggles practically engulfing the bony ridges of his face -- he doesn't really feel keen on having waste magic-saturated water coolant leaking into his eye sockets.

He also looks pretty damp from the shoulders-up, with a smell lingering around him like an unpleasant mixture of disinfectant and ozone. Nothing quite like being in the middle of swapping out a coolant line when your cellphone starts screaming at you like someone's getting killed about three feet from you.

On the floor beside him, a tablet computer seems to be going through some kind of boot-up process, running a diagnostic. There are dizzying lines of code speeding over the screen as it works. ]

[By name, the only two people Rin thinks she knows for this are Sans and Colin. It just happens to be Sans she finds first, when that unpleasant smell has her take notice the generator is powered down, and that there's someone under it. The footsteps that approach him purposefully are loud.

Count that as your opening pleasantries, because it's the only warning he'll get. She's pissed far past the point of saying hello. Her next move is wrapping her hands around his ankles to forcefully drag him out from under the generator in one tug.]

[ Loud footsteps. Yeah, Sans noticed, they sound angry, real warpath stomper right there, but he's trying to wrap this repair up so he can check back on the results of the network diagnosis. And he doesn't get as far as reattaching the new replacement coolant line, because all at once something's got him by both bony ankles and pulling.

Times when he's glad he wears layers, so it's his hoodie bunching up under his arms instead of bare bone scraping against stone instead of having the benefit of a layer of cotton t-shirt.

This one declares that the wearer MAKES SCIENCE JOKES - PERIODICALLY.

Sans shoves the goggles up off his head (they're still dripping with water that faintly glows - she can probably detect the presence of waste magic in the coolant, residual feedback from the process that converts all forms of energy into usable electricity), more surprised than anything. ]

Woah. Easy, we only got one of this-- [ He huffs at his own joke, nodding down at his ankles. ] -- and I only got two of those. [ A beat. ]

You saw it, huh?

[Honestly, the generator fascinates her. It's a marvel of magical science, and she's wanted to study it more in-depth even since she first laid eyes on it. Waste and all, she'd jump at the chance.

Right now, it barely registers on her radar. "You saw it, huh?" Rin releases his ankles with a sneer that gets directed at the floor. She's angry on Chara's behalf that someone else saw it too, even if she knows it can't be helped.]

I'm disgusted, so don't mess with me. [This is a little more than a temper flare.] Take it down. Take it down now, or tell me how to do it myself.

[ Time enough for that later, he doesn't really need to see her expression to know she's seriously worked up about this, possessed of an urgency of no small measure of intensity more than his own. He got the tablet working on a diagnostic, which... Well. Is still better than his usual habit of just biding his time, waiting for something to blow over.

Disgusted, she says.

Yeah, he guesses he can see where she's coming from. Sans, unwilling to draw the sort of ire that might result in something innocuous like a ringing slap that he'd regret, puts up both hands (one still has the needle-nose pliers he was using in it). ]

Easy, I said. Genny's sensitive.

[ Right, don't mess with her. He rolls a shoulder. ] Battery's gotta good half hour left in 'em, it can wait. Take a look at this--

[ He pulls the tablet computer up into his lap, beckoning her to join him on the floor. ]

That... Whatever it was? There's no way that should'a ended up on our network. So I'm running a check, see what's changed recently.

[She doesn't take him up on that offer right away, staring coldly first at him and then the tablet. What the screen shows... Other than what he tells her, she can't understand any of it, but she's slowly trying to follow the first part of advice.

"Easy. We only got one of this." She thought he'd been chiding her for pulling him out so roughly in the middle of his work. Sort of like those movies where someone tries to dismantle a bomb and cuts the wrong chord, making the whole thing blow. "Easy," he'd repeated himself, and when he said the generator is sensitive, he'd put emphasis on that last word. The magic is sensitive to emotional energy?

That conclusion might be off base, but nonetheless, Rin's eyes slide over to the generator as she wrestles her emotions under control. Even if she's misunderstanding, this is something that should be tackled with a clear head. Like locking her fury away in a box, Rin finally moves to sit by Sans's side, looking at the diagnostic proper now. It's a check, he said. Like a medical one? It's looking for problems.]

...Okay. I think I'm following. [So far. She looks away from the screen and back to him.] How long does it take to factor the results?

[ Not quite, but then... Sans is currently half-covered in magic-saturated coolant water, and now would be a really bad time to discover it's combustible or something. But he's never been able to determine what might happen to the generator if it's offline, still holding a charge, and gets jarred violently, this is unprecedented and largely untested technology. Hey, worst case scenario? They all won't have enough time to regret a catastrophic generator failure. Middle-of-the-Road scenario might be something like having to start from scratch. ]

Should be almost done. [ Sans explains, pushing his hand over his skull and then shaking fluid off his phalanges before he points at the tablet. ] See that progress bar? Once it's all white, we'll get our results.

[ It doesn't get that far.

The lines of code scrolling down freeze in place, save for a few characters seeming to vibrate in place.

Others seem to exhibit visual shearing, looking split in half and slightly out of alignment with each other.

Then the screen blanks out with an error message. ]

What th--

[ A few other symbols scroll by, looking a little more like pictures and gestures than letters. For some reason, the same magic that translates their written and spoken language doesn't effect this particular string of pictographs. ]

... Huh.

[ This is when Sans turns his eyelights to Rin. ]

Says the video doesn't exist..

[Again, simple enough. Rin's not sure if it really is that simple or if he's just dumbing things down for her, but she appreciates the easy way Sans explains it. Then the screen gets screwed up, and she actually jumps a little.]

What...?

[OKAY, SHE'S NO EXPERT, BUT SHE'S PRETTY SURE IT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO DO THAT? Sans. Sans. She hates to tell you this but she thinks your tablet might be possessed. LOOK AT THE GIBBERISH. That she can't understand at all would make her think it's in Yorda's language, but it looks nothing like the runes she's seen in the library. it could totally be an evil spirit. HELL, it could be that dark god the Queen worships.

It's the cause of all of this and the obvious solution is to exorcise it, stat. Rin's already starting to raise a finger at it. She'll stun it with a gandr to make sure it doesn't get away, giving her time to recall the proper incantations for such a thing. Don't worry, she's got this— oh wait, Sans can actually read that creepy text?]

Wait, what do you mean it doesn't exist? We saw it.

[Please stop her before she gandrs your tablet, Sans.]

[ Heeeeey, buddy? He'll just pull that tablet over to his side, opposite of Rin. Tuck it under his arm. There we go. ]

Sure, we saw it, which means pretty much anybody else can.

[ His other hand comes up, intending to alight on top of her pointing hand and simply, gently... lower it.

C'mon, Rin, sensitive equipment here. ]

What'd I just say? Anyway, it means we can't do anything.

[Hey hey don't protect it! But ughhhh, fine. Rin makes a disgruntled noise like she's getting frustrated again but puts her finger down. If Sans can read that he can probably understand more and they haven't hit a complete dead end, like she thought. In spite of what Sans finishes with.]

No it doesn't. All it means is your technology can't find the problem! Aren't you overlooking a big detail?

...Ok, lemme word it another way: there's nothin' I can do about the network, other than shut the whole thing down.

Even then, what if it's in the phones? We shut those down too? If you ask me, it ain't even on the phones, we just think it is. Just like we think memories are just lying around like invisible traps.

[ He puts the tablet down, holding his gaze on Rin for a moment before he starts to lie down again, to scoot himself back under the generator. One hand pulls the pliers from his pocket and passes it to his left hand. ]

...Can't think of a bigger deal than the sight of all that blood on the kid. Bone-chilling, if you ask me.

...Don't bring that up.

[Her hands curl into loose fists in her lap. While he'd laid back down she'd watched his movements, but when it's clear he's getting back to work she stubbornly looks away. He's really giving up then? If there's really nothing they can do, Rin will too without regretting it, but in her mind there are still plenty of possibilities.

Those possibilities are a lot easier for her to focus on, over Sans confirming something she hadn't asked: the identity of the person in the video.]

Nevermind if it's disturbing, or what damage has already been done. It's not right to leave it like this, where anyone can see it over and over again.

[Even if it were a stranger, Rin would probably feel this way. Just not as vehemently.]

Your theory's probably right on one level. I'd say it's right on the money, actually. But if it that were all, then this never would have happened. [Because who thought a memory could be on the phones until they saw it?] Therefore, I can conclude what's causing it is magical or otherworldly in nature, brought about by the Queen's influence. That stuff on your clothes is evidence it's not impossible. It's not real electricity our phones and the network runs on, but magical energy. She could take advantage of that...

[Rin has a fist pressed to her chin now, mostly thinking out loud at this point. Everything's a lot messier when you mix magic and technology together, but magic is her area of expertise. If the problem is on that side. Maybe there's not a demon in Sans's tablet to exorcise in a simple solution, but she still thinks there's other avenues worth pursuing. Surely one of them has to work?]

[ The noise Sans makes from under the Generator is a non-committal one. Rubber squeaks as he tries to fit one end of the coolant line over a nozzle. He's forgotten his goggles and hasn't even noticed yet, half his mind on the task and the rest, well, getting more and more intrigued by what Rin has to say.

It... Makes the inquisitive scientist in him sort of perk up and take notice, maybe it's atrophied with a lack of use, but... ]

You think the Queen's muddied the energy supply with her tricks, huh?

[ A hand fumbles out from under the machine, groping blindly for a kind of syringe full of that same, faintly glowing coolant water, possibly to prime the line. ]

What, you proposin' a way to purge it?

[ He scoots back down to peek out at her. ]

...That's pretty damn sharp, kid.

Or slipped something else in.

[Neither are impossible, Rin thinks, looking away from the skeleton (huh, didn't he have something on his face before?) and pulling her own phone into her lap. The gem interface she's equipped in her phone, while not complete, is evidence enough that both the phones and the energy in them can be tampered with by outside sources.]

But that's my domain. [And the more she thinks on it, Rin realizes she's already decided she'll keep trying.] It's not clever unless it works, or if there's something to be purged at all, but I'm going to try it.

You think you can do it?

[ That's intriguing, though. Sure, maybe a sufficiently powerful Boss Monster theoretically might have the ability to manipulate magic on such a basic level, but neither Toriel nor the King ever exhibited such mastery.

If it's her area of expertise, or, as she puts it, her domain... ]

Not like we've got any other options here. Knock yourself out.

[ But he suspects it's not that easy. His eyelights drop to his tablet computer, and then back to her. ]

...Whaddya need from me?

[Quirking her mouth, she doesn't bother answering that first question with anything more than a half-snort. If she didn't think she could do it, she wouldn't try, would she?

But good. He's already guessed why she's still hanging around, so she can skip the step where she has to tell him (never ask) to help and just explain why she needs it.]

Things will go more smoothly if I properly understand what I'm working with. It's like the difference between knowing if the switch you're about to flip turns on an overhead light or the garbage disposal. Finding out through trial and error just isn't efficient, or appealing.

[Because for this analogy, her proverbial hand is in the sink when it comes time to test that. All in favor of avoiding that mess, say "aye".

Rin waves her phone at him.]

You're the expert on these, so if I'm not sure how something I'm working on functions, or how my spell would effect it, I'll ask you first. You don't need to do anything beyond answering my questions.

[She grins at him.] No hard work. I'll be handling all of that. So not even you can complain, right?

[If it's just explaining the functions of a system he helped design, she assumes Sans could probably do it in his sleep, anyways. Nevermind while continuing to work on the generator.]

[ Well, he'll be damned. (Not that he isn't, but that's beside the point.) Once more, and not for the last time, Sans seems to be reappraising the Mage. ]

...Heh. Wow, since you've got my number, I guess I better get on it.

[ He fixes his goggles back onto his skull and leans back, ducking under the generator. This is not without first adding, before he vanishes up to his shoulders into the underbelly of the contraption: ]

Guess we should start with your intentions or plan and I'll tell ya what parts are relevant. What you can and can't do with 'em.

[ Bony phalanges resume trying to first fill the new coolant line with that gently glowing water and fit it over the other nozzle. He'll need to bleed the coolant system, make sure there are no interruptions that could potentially lock the whole thing up. One wrong air bubble might not be an immediate threat, but later on...

Sans would rather not risk it. ]

...We can take it from there. Howzabout it?

We have a deal. [With a firm nod, Rin watches him disappear beneath the generator before fixing her head to look back the other way.] So the first thing I want to try is...

[And here Rin explains one of several schemes to come, each one with its own bout of straightforward questions. She'd love to take the time to understand some of this more properly (keyword heavy on the "some"), but for this she's happy to accept the simple answer. What would happen if I did this? How would you visualize that thing you just described? What are some vulnerabilities in this part of the system? I'm going to work some safeguards into this spell so it doesn't change anything outside of what I'm focusing on; I'll list the functions I'm protecting, and you can tell me if I've left one out.

There's not just one thing she tries, but several. Scrying. A cleansing spell. Hiding the video behind a magically created, virtual shell. A few things that actually do give her a bit of magical backlash, when she gets overzealous, though she treats that as more annoying than harmful. At one point she had the master plan of hypnotizing the network into removing the video itself. That likely had some interesting if unexpected results, though nothing along the lines of what she wanted or thought would happen. Magic is weird, man.

Eventually, there's nothing but the sounds of Sans tinkering away with repairs. Rin's been quiet for a few minutes now.]

[ For beings of magic, monsters don't typically work with it on the sort of... level that Rin does. Typically. Quantum physics was a complicated enough subject, and the unique magical applications monsterkind discovered during their time in the Underground made the numbers of monsters who actually practiced or studied it few and far between.

That makes this a singularly rare experience.

But then, he's never had to participate in an effort to purge from the network a file that supposedly does not exist. She promised him no hard work, but by the time they're done, Sans feels like his skull is ringing from a mental workout.

If it weren't for the subject matter, this would've been kinda...

...Fun.

Sans has since finished replacing the coolant line and has bled the system, but noticed a few other things that needed adjustment. A few tightened screws, a secured wire, little things that become bigger problems if he let them go too long, things that... not long ago, he would've just let happen because what's the point.

She's been quiet for a while. ]

...Hey. Don't, uh, be too hard on yourself. I mean, if you're outta ideas. We're kinda chasing ghosts here, pal.

Yeah. [She breathes out softly.] This is the point where I give up.

[But despite her remark, the inflection of Rin's voice isn't one of defeat. She doesn't have regrets, even about failing. The anger has bled out of her, and satisfied she tried all she could think of within her power, everything from her pose to expression is markedly calmer than it was when they started.

He stayed this whole time for it. Rin didn't miss the way the pudgy skeleton kept finding news things to tinker with each time he finished with the last one, instead of leaving the first chance he got that was convenient. And even when her ideas got more convoluted, he went with them.

She thinks of the gadgets and toys in his room, and wonders if this interested him. Thinks of how mad she was when she heard him say there was nothing left to do, after his diagnostic had finished. So quick to let it go, but he stayed. Like it mattered, and he only needed the excuse.

But mostly, Rin thinks of a hand on (not her) head, and crying into a t-shirt. The unshakeable fear that the hands carrying that small body would hurt it. A pain in the side indicative of several broken ribs, and a sweater stained in blood. A fall that felt like peace.

All the things she didn't want to think about before, basically.]

[ He's a little surprised.

Not that she tried so hard -- tried everything, and then a lot more that he would've never thought of -- but that she doesn't seem angry or upset over failure. He's seen humans get frustrated. Determination exists right alongside the sting of failure, he knows, but her? She's taking this a lot better than he expected.

Then it hits him.

Sans pushes himself out from under the generator, sitting up, sagging back against his arms like they're the only thing left to prop him up, goggles hanging over his collarbone. ]

This really doesn't get under your skin, huh.

[ He laughs that off. It's a single beat, dry. Tired. ]

Hey, whaddya know, me neither. [ For the obvious reason. ]

[This is the part where they pretend, huh?]

Not at all.

[Rin plays along. Or seems to. With those words spoken coldly and convincing enough, she raises her eyes. Scrutinizing him.

Or maybe not.]

That's a lie. I'm still annoyed. I might not be angry anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm okay with it. I just have no regrets.

[Bluntly honest, Rin doesn't hesitate to say that, and her words are no less sharp when she looks away and across the room again.] I threw every idea I had at that problem. It was something I thought I could do, so I didn't really have a choice. It'd bug me forever if I didn't try.

[That clinical, machine-like way of processing things is an ugly side to her nature, she knows. Kirei praised it often, so it had to be. Nonetheless, she can't deny it suits her well.

She's not sure if Sans saw through that, or if that was what he was relating to himself. She doesn't think so. From those memories she feels like a peeping-tom for seeing, by contrast, she thinks he carries a lot of regrets. He strikes her as being like Archer, in that way. So maybe he meant failing instead, or not being bothered by the memory.

Even then, when he says it doesn't get to him, she can't help but think that's fake. Rin can act with the best of them, hence why she went with it like she did, initially. It wasn't until the words were out of her mouth that she decided that's not what she wanted to do. She can't shake the mental image that if a certain person were here, he'd look too sad hearing her talk that way.]

Edited 2016-08-11 06:25 (UTC)

[ Is there really ever a part where Sans doesn't?

But it prompts an honest admission, and Sans looks at Rin. The only part of him that moves are the points of light in his sockets. ]

Guess sometimes it ain't about whether it's the right or wrong thing. You can, so you, uh, have to, right?

[ His eyelights dim, directing thoughtfully at some spot of floor unoccupied by either of them. Not seeing it so much as the first-person view of a difficult hike up a mountain, a sweater stained dark. ]

[ He pulls the goggle strap over his skull. ] I dunno if I buy it.

Kid's lucky to have you in their corner. Hang onto these for me while I get this generator running again. [ Think fast, because he's tossing the goggles over at her, turning to climb around the generator to reach the main power switch. ]

[Lucky as an Irish spearman. The dismissal irked her, but the comment to follow sends a ripple of goosebumps up and down her flesh. Fumbling a bit, she still manages to catch the googles when they're tossed to her, on reflex more than anything, cheeks reddening. They dangle from one hand, as she draws her legs up close to her with arms wrapped around them.]

Idiot. [She scowls at him from over her knees.] First dates with you must look like zeppelin crashes.

Heh, yeah. It's a flaming gasbag fulla hot air.

[ The generator promptly begins humming, a quiet, deep bass that sinks right into one's bones. ] Or was that the Hindenburg? Anyway, they're both disasters.

[ Sans shuffles back, both to get a little distance from the generator -- the hum gets a little aggravating after a while, when you're nothing but bones -- and takes stock of its operation. Finally satisfied, he stoops to collect his tools, preferring to sweep them under the generator rather than go through the effort of bringing them back to his room to put away. ]

Think we should check on the kid?

[Oh, he's familiar with that? She wonders if it's something he read up on, or if his Earth isn't that dissimilar from her own, with a few exceptions.

Maybe she'll ask another day. She feels the generator hum gently, faint reverberations that reach her from the air and the floor. A sensation she associates with magical energy and mana presses at a different sense entirely. To her, it's a comfortable feeling. His question makes her wonder what Chara is doing now.]

It'd be too obvious. Especially if we're together.

[If Shirou were here, he'd probably go anyways, knowing that all the while. He'd ignore how mad it would make them, and how awkward and awful it might be, thinking it more important not to wait.]

[ Some things are a little too famous not to have read about, and people throw away a lotta old tapes, a few of them with recordings of documentaries and holiday specials, complete with commercial breaks.

He's got a battered collection of the original Carl Sagan's COSMOS somewhere back home on VHS. It's a prized possession. ]

Yeah, you're right.

[ Unlike Rin, Sans is ready to give up on a moment's notice. He drops a hand onto Rin's shoulder, grinning lethargically at her. ]

Thanks for takin' one for the team, buddy.

[ Sans no you should really go do it yourse--oh hell. ]

Welp. Looks like it works. I'm headed back to bed. See you around, Little Miss Cactus.

[How did she suspect something like that was going to happen. Doesn't keep her from looking any less annoyed when she glances up at him.]

Fine. [She calls out to him, when his hand leaves her and he inevitably goes to make good on that.] Just don't expect to hear how it goes from me!

[If you want to see how Chara's doing, going to have to do it yourself skeleton-man. She's not playing gopher.

...This also gives her breathing room if she's actually asked, because she's definitely not going tonight. In the end she's not Shirou. She doesn't know what kind of mood she'd find Chara in if she went looking for them now, and with the last memory she got from them earlier in the month...

Rin's not keen on digging deeper. She's selfish like that, without apology.

Maybe tomorrow though, when it's easy to pretend running into each other is a casual encounter. It will mean less then, when Chara's had a chance to stitch things back together, but Rin tells herself that's fine. Raw wounds aren't meant to hang open.]

[The broken bones and blood hadn't surprised him, at the time. (Well, that's not exactly true. He'd felt sick looking at it all, but only because it was new to him.) The height they'd fallen from- well, it was amazing to find them alive. Asriel had been too busy searching for reassurances and attempting to share their weight to take note of the fact that a lot of the blood had dried already.

It's not that this presents him with entirely new information, exactly. It's more that it fills in some murky areas.

Before: Humans hurt them.

Now: Humans made them bleed. They broke their bones. There was a burning in their body and a hole in their heart.

When he comes back to himself, Asriel can still hear the sickly laughter, and his cheeks are wet. He scans the room for Chara, and realises he is alone. He stops laughing.]

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