just as you breathe (post c_p)

[dustless]

Nobody gets why, halfway down the mountain, Frisk bolts.

Toriel and Asgore think they changed their mind about not having places to go or the ambassador idea. Everyone scatters through the trees to search for them--eventually, Papyrus is the one to stumble over them, to talk to them, to coax them back with his positive affirmations.

They don't explain why they stare at everyone like they're seeing their bare SOULs (yeah, punk, I'm great! WE'RE great, right, Alphys?), or why they keep touching their teeth (do you have a toothache, my child?), or why they constantly pace through the house they eventually move into with Toriel, opening doors as if they're expecting something else to be behind them (I don't think there are any monsters in the closet, little one).

It's just...Frisk. They're a good kid, even if they're a little strange.

Comments

[dustless]

what do u want to talk about
is there a way to help

[voidster]

Mostly I wanted to see how you are doing, after... everything.

In the castle. Must be rough, missing so many people.

[dustless]

instantly: what do u mean

[voidster]

All his texts are damn near instant. Time flows differently for Frisk than for him.

Since returning to the larger world.

[dustless]

Are their hopes right?

...should they be hoping at all?

you

did

where ddid you go

[voidster]

What do you mean?

[dustless]

were u
1 at the castle?

There. Finally.

[voidster]

Yes. I'm sorry, I suppose I should have led with that.

wtf i never got an alert for this one

[dustless]

its ok

No it's not. It's not, 'cause they hoped just for a minute just for a familiar face, but now he's here. Trapped somewhere they don't know how to get to, and in their world of origin like their brothers. At least they have each other, and the whole Surface--wasn't the castle his home too?

im sorry they send thoughtlessly.

[voidster]

For a time. It was good to be real again and meet others once more...

There's nothing he can do about it.

You don't have to be sorry for anything.

...and fuckgn html

[dustless]

it sent you back with m e

They're pacing through the house. Toriel might be listening to their feet, listening for them opening all the doors again. She thinks that's just Frisk. She doesn't know them.

They stop at the kitchen window and bare their teeth at the sky, and the mountains. It's not an easy trip there, but Frisk thinks they could make it before anybody started worrying about where they went...

[voidster]

Pity he can't see a damn thing. He can message them, but not see the surface world, only the mostly-empty underground. Useless information. No one he actually knew stayed down there in this timeline.

No. No, it merely put me back where I always have been. Nothing has changed for me. This is not your fault.

[dustless]

its the castles fault
but you sh
ouldnt BE here

A spark of rage is rising through the dullness.

They need to go. There's nothing stopping them.

Frisk slips on their shoes and shoves their phone in their pocket. Bit of a walk to the nearest stop.

[voidster]

Shouldn't be here? Shouldn't be at all? Should leave them alone? So ambiguous.

If you'd rather I left you alone, that's fine.

It's not like he can tell they put their phone away. He can wait. Other conversations are happening--he's no longer forcing himself to be completely cut off from the world.

[dustless]

They have a better update noise now--that is, one that's quiet. It vibrates with his reply, but Frisk ignores it until they're out of the neighborhood. Don't want to be caught in an awkward conversation (again).

no
im just busy

And of course they're clueless how his time perception works.

[voidster]

Understandable. There's no rush.

[dustless]

Texting while walking, always a bad idea: howdid you get there

Frisk never properly asked, did they? Not enough to get a real answer.

Or maybe they forgot.

They don't want to forget the Castle. Or at least not anybody who was in it.

[voidster]

An accident. Before you were even born, I think.

[dustless]

WHAT accident. doesnt matter when

[voidster]

An experiment gone badly wrong. That's all I'm willing to say, I wouldn't want someone to recreate it.

[dustless]

im not going to do it

I don't like it, they think and type out halfway, then delete it. It's not the fairest thought.

im not even good at siense

[voidster]

You're still young.

I wouldn't want it passed along or read over your shoulder and someone else wind up in trouble. That won't help me.

[dustless]

so what
i am good at keeping secrets
i promis

[voidster]

True. But why do you want to know?

[dustless]

why woldnt i