hadriel | 008 [Video]

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008 [Video]

[Chris smiles and gives a small wave at the camera when the feed starts, then turns his hand to show Hope's blessing on the back of it.]

So uh, who else got one? And are they all from Hope, or...?

[This is so cool you guys he wants to see who else got what. And for something else slightly less important by still cool--]

Oh, also, my iPhone was up and working for a bit thanks to Pell, and I managed to get some music off it. I'll share on the condition no one makes fun of my taste.

[The last comment is a joke--he's really not going to be too hurt by jabs about his choice in music--but the offer is serious, and attached is a download of the music he's copied off so far. It's kind of a slow process, so there's still more on the phone that he can transfer later.]

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But of course. You've already rendered judgement on me so there's no point in changing your opinion! You should share it. I hear it's bad luck to let demons run around unchecked. Be sure to include you've killed me often. Or that I'd be dead where I stood. It's not like it matters.

[There's a lot here he could address. Judgment. Dead where you stand. The countless deaths he's inflicted on them.

But one thing stands out in particular.]

that's what you're going with? demon?

Doesn't that sound the best? I can't be human. You've said so yourself, Mr Judge.

[Great if they could continue to pretend to be one. Just to make his brother happy. Just that. They're bad at acting, so they couldn't be human. Did it matter anyway?]

[He made a promise. He'd hated it, every inch of it, and then he'd spent so long hunting down the source of the temporal displacement, and imagine his slow, tired blink of silent understanding when he realized what it was. Of course it was the same human that walked through the door. Of course the source of the anomalous temporal residuum was the same exact human he'd promised to protect.

This is why he hates making promises. It settled cruelly in his gut, or the lack thereof, for the entirety of that short, desperate trek through Snowdin, and then all the way to the golden-tiled hall.

* so, y'know, it'd really help me out...
* if you kept pretending to be one.

Were they ever on any kind of precipice? Were those the words that pushed them to the other side? How can he know? God, how can he know.

* on days like these, kids like you...

There's no punchline.

Not for this.]

[Anomaly. And he'd known it right from the start. Anomaly. They weren't supposed to exist. That DT-fueled, metaspatiotemporal mess that cycled everything through and through. And he'd lost count of the tallymarks. God but he'd lost count.

Stopped caring. Stopped taking any but the most nominal of measurements. The anchorpoint and the golden flowers, and it all started to blur together.

How much can they hold them culpable? How many times had they gone around before attempting to try something different?

Was he the catalyst?

Sans stares at the screen. He stares at his phalanges.]

[Sans doesn't get angry. He doesn't get vengeful. He burns cold, swift and efficient, executing judgment in his typical blunt, straightforward fashion. And this LOVE-filled abomination came shambling his way, raring for a fight, that hard glint to their stare and he'd known all he could do, all he ever could do from that point onward, was stall. Stall and stall and hope they'd turn back. Pull every dirty trick from his sleeve, tear through every spatial and temporal and spatiotemporal law he could act on - admittedly not nearly enough as he'd like, but what can you do? Wasn't about to inject himself with DT to see if that might make him any more likely to stop an unstoppable force - and made himself that immovable object.

He'd been hoping to placate them. If they all played along, took it easy, maybe there'd be a chance of seeing that end result one more time. There's a photograph in his drawer. Everyone smiles. Everyone happy, on the surface, and at the center of it all, the one variable that changed everything.

The kid.]

kid, i

[No.

Why would they take anything that he says seriously? Why would they accept any of it? He offered them MERCY. He spread his arms wide. And they staggered toward him and collapsed and he smiled and he smiled and he smiled, and that's when the rib bones had torn through them, shredding striped fabric and leaving their expression frozen in one of blood-spattered shock.

get dunked on.]

this is a new world we're in.
new rules.
you don't have to be anything you don't want to be.

[It's a while before Chara responds again.

Before when they first fought Sans and saw his opening attack, he'd probably recognized the fear on their face. The blasters cut them down seconds after. They had not expected it. That the goofy skeleton held that much power.

Then it became a challenge. * You felt your sins blah blah blah. They stopped narrating after a bit. Reading it wasn't a good use of their time. But it's not as if they had time to use. No stops to catch their breath as Sans pulled out every dirty trick in the book.

Blasters cut them down. Reload.

Bones ripped through their flesh. Reload.

Smashed into the ground over and over. Reload.

Slipped off a platform. Reload.

Reload. Reload. RELOAD. RELOAD. Over and over again. An annoying song stuck in their head. It wouldn't stop. Can't stop. They had to keep going. There's no good or evil in a demon, just chaos. Because that's all that's left, isn't it? Stuffed full of LOVE, there's nothing left! Chara? Frisk? Who? Nobody!

And then came that part. Sans' "MERCY". What a joke. Any kid would have wanted a hug. Maybe even them. Just put the knife down and come give your wonderful friend a hug. And then get gutted by those bones. Shock. Rage. Sans' last words before yet another Reload echoing in their heads.

What a fucking joke.

They turn on voice for this. Don't worry buddy! Chara isn't angry. They don't sound angry. They sound like nothing at all.]

Yet here we are. Bound by a truce that is likely to break. I did bring this upon myself.

But there is no going back.

[He switches to video. Might as well do this face-to-face, right?

No masks. No obfuscations. Just honesty. That's a tough one, he'll admit it. Honesty's seldom his first instinct.

Something cherry-bright rips through the fabric of this world, and his grin approximates a grimace for a brief moment.]

The second you tell yourself you got no choice? It's only then that you really stop having a choice. But you know what the kicker of that is?

That's a decision you make. No one and nothin' else makes it for you.

[And a kid with that much DT, well...they've got it in 'em to shape the whole of their own existence. All he can ever do is nudge them in one direction or another and hope it sticks.]

[A pause before Chara finally turns on their video. Their face is blank but knowing Sans, he'll probably pick something up. Tired? Very. No EXP. There's nothing to do and they're getting bored.]

Everything remains static. You have yet to change.

[It's meant to be an insult but lacks the bite Chara usually has.]

It seems that would only apply if I was LV 1. If I was human. But I will make a choice, one day. Will you wait, judging, knowing that it will likely do with me becoming bored?

[Because that's it, isn't it? When there's nothing left for them to do, they'll just move onto the next game. Because they're the demon that comes when you call its name.]

[He's adept at reading into little nuances like that, it's true. Especially by the end. He watches them no more or less closely than usual, keeping his distance - his figurative distance. Literally, he's sure they're rather far apart.

Or maybe they're not. He's got no clue where they live.

He laughs, and it's a bizarre sound. It's dry, and hollow, and, maybe, if you feel like reaching, tainted with the faintest shred of pity.]

Don't flatter yourself, kiddo. You were an anomaly the second you anchored at the bottom of that drop.

[Well, the two of them have one thing in common at least. He's tired, and so, it seems, are they.]

The kid, right? That's where they landed. That's when everything fell into place. Maybe you didn't intend it. Maybe it just happened. But like it or not, that's how it is.

[They smile. That's all the anomaly has.]

That story began with a Froggit.

[That story. The first encounter. How a run went sometimes depended on that. Spare, Fight, Run, Mercy, Kill, Flee, ect.

But not theirs. This run, the final run was Chara's. Everything else was a mix. What to do, what to do...? Who was it, who was it?

Who was in control? * It's me. * It's you!

Well, that could mean either of them.]

That it is. What do you do then? This world presents many different choices but what do you do? There is something here for us...but no 'have to'.

[They're not being roundabout. It's a genuine question.]

[A Froggit. That feels like a reference he's not privy to, but he doesn't ask. Like a private joke. Private jokes are better when you don't ask for an explanation anyway.

Too bad they're the only two people from their world here.

And now, they've got a selection of choices at their disposal. Maybe they're not used to having more than two. But even then, there's a garden variety of outcomes to choose from.]

You're right. I guess we don't really...heh, we don't get roles in this narrative right away.

[He wrote himself into the sides, the corners, the very far edges. He wrote himself into the witty comic, the goofy slacker, the cheerful prankster. He wrote himself into someone who could step out of the narrative and not be missed, not unless the path was too dark to be turned back. Part of him just couldn't afford it - even in a harmless encounter, 1 HP leaves you with nothing, no chance of recovery, no buffer, no windows for someone to change their mind.

And part of him knew that, in the end of it all - it's what he deserved. He's seen and known and learned too much to do anything but watch anymore.

But of course, the biggest reason is the most obvious one.

He's simply too tired to try and make any lasting impressions on the narrative anymore. So he assigned himself the most harmless role possible, and ran with it.]

I guess it's up to us to choose. Not to get all existential on ya, but we're the ones who decide what we wanna be here now. You don't have to do stuff just 'cause you can.

* You see two people standing in a golden hall.
* ...

[ * Who is happy with this?

It all slips out but Chara manages to stop themselves before the final line could be said. LV 19...they still could feel a bit. They wouldn't have felt the shock, rage and frustration if they didn't.

And now they had something. Anything. There was something here now, something beyond playing pointless games of chicken with a skeleton, who's brother's dust was on their hands. Regardless of how things go from here on, Chara doubts they would ever be forgiven for that. Way back when...if someone had hurt him...well. They would have gained LOVE a hell of a lot sooner.

But. But they had so many choices to shake a stick at. Another chance that a dead kid wouldn't get again. Back home either things would be reset or the absolute would be reached. Two choices. Not exactly an ending for the first one, but heck, when had those been endings if things went over again and again and again? But here, they could try new things, learn new things, feel---

Nothing.

The video suddenly switches off. Sorry Sans, maybe next time.]

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008 [Video]

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