[Open] I suck at pertinent song lyrics, okay

[eatsyourscience]

Who: Souji and Everyone!
Where: The diner, 8th floor, room 001
When: 4/16-4/20
Rating: PG-13 (just to be safe; will change if necessary)
Summary: The diner continues its tradition of being a Safe Space during dangerous events.
The Story:
As soon as it became apparent what was happening in Wonderland, Souji makes a brief statement to the network, then heads to the diner. After checking the cabinets and freezer he's relieved to see that none of the supplies he normally stocks have disappeared. Now he just has to find things like blankets and first aid supplies...if he has to, he can raid nearby rooms, though hopefully anyone who comes along will bring some helpful things with them.

Souji will be looking for people to help out with various things, so anyone can volunteer to cook, provide first aid as necessary, guard the door, help people get to the diner as the infection spreads, and whatever else might be helpful.

This is an open mingle log, so feel free to tag in as you like! Maybe just label top-level threads however you like.

Comments

[eatsyourscience]

Souji is a cat person--really he's an any-kind-of-animal-person, but he has an especially soft spot for cats. When he sees Frisk has brought one along, he goes to see what he can find to feed it. Cat food is scarce in the diner, but he does have some tuna. That should do for now.

He empties part of a can onto a small plate and makes his where to Frisk and the cat have taken up residence, setting the plate down beside them. The cat might be too scared to eat now, but in a little while, the smell might help it settle down and distract it.

"Can I get anything for you?" He can tell Frisk is taking comfort from the cat just as much as they're trying to comfort the cat. He gets that, too.

[determinedest]

The cat, a scrawny black-and-white thing, immediately settles upon the food hungrily. Frisk brightens up when they see Souji, their smile strained but thankful.

"Not right now. I guess I'm just worried. There were a lot of these all over the mansion, and they might be in trouble." Cats might be adept at taking care of themselves, but these are actual zombies they're talking about. They stroke the cat's fur gently with one hand. "Thanks."

[eatsyourscience]

Souji nods at the gratitude, reaching to pet the cat as well.

"In my experience, they don't usually care much about animals." For whatever reason. "Most of them have the sense to hide, though, and that will probably be enough to keep them safe under the circumstances."

That assumes the spores can't infect animals, of course...

[determinedest]

"I hope so." Their smile fades by increments as they watch the cat eat, oblivious to the danger. "A friend of ours was playing a prank on us. We ended up with hundreds of them in our room before everything...went wrong."

Before a horde of undead things showed up to wreak havoc and chase Chara and Frisk from the safety of their room.

[eatsyourscience]

"...I ended up with hundred of parakeets, once." Hundreds of parakeets that had zero interest in leaving his room once they were there. "That was my own fault, though."

Now might not be the time to reminisce about that, though Souji does want to give Frisk at least a brief distraction from this whole thing.

"How many people from your world are here? I know about Chara, but are there others?"

[determinedest]

"Lots of others," they say grimly. "Two skeletons, someone who looks kind of like a fish, and a yellow lizard sort of monster? I haven't seen them since this all started, though."

And a quick look around the diner reveals nothing. They tend to stand out, after all.

"What about you? Is everyone you know safe?"

[eatsyourscience]

That is a lot, though it's not something outside the realm of his experience. At one time, there were a lot of people from his world, too.

"Right now, there's one friend from home, here. He's the tall guy"--like Souji isn't already tall himself--"with the bleached hair. He gets a little worked up about stuff like this."

He glances around to see if he can spot Kanji, but doesn't put much time into it before looking back at Frisk.

"I'm not as sure about my friends from here, though." He does worry, though it doesn't show much in his expression. "I'm glad you're here safely though. Hopefully your friends will come too."

[determinedest]

It seems people have been gravitating towards this place as a safehouse after all. Frisk doesn't recognize the man Souji indicates, but maybe he's new.

"I hope so." They manage a brief smile, but their expression soon becomes worried and nervous again. "I keep thinking I should go out and help them, but...but that's how people get bitten, right?"

They're not familiar with how it usually goes in zombie movies. They've never seen any.

"Or worse."

[eatsyourscience]

"Yeah, it is. Not knowing if they're safe is frustrating, though."

It's hard to know what to do in situations like this--even people who are used to fighting can slip up and be infected or killed.

"Can I ask you something? How are you and Chara related?"

He isn't implying that the two of them are siblings. But he has a feeling that there's a close connection between them. They're...very, very different, though, and Souji is curious.

He belatedly thinks that this probably isn't the time to be nosy about things like that, but he tells himself it might be another distraction from the situation.

[determinedest]

Frisk looks up in alarm, their cheeks coloring faintly. Oh, right. The inevitable question. Well, they did kind of decide that they were twins since Chara couldn't remember their birthday, but that's not really what Souji's asking, is it?

"We're...um. We're kind of like twins? But not really," they stammer, scrambling for a more coherent answer. "We ended up in the same...body for a while. But I guess we split up when we ended up here."

Is that too weird? That's definitely too weird.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji has six Personas in his head, constantly providing commentary on the things that happen to him, on the decisions he makes, on the decisions he should make. They don't always agree, either.

That isn't to say he gets what's up with Frisk and Chara, but he can grasp the situation a bit.

"You're very different."

[determinedest]

"Yeah." Of course, it doesn't take a genius to determine that much. "We're...we're counterparts, almost. We're both, um, really determined, but in really different ways."

Getting into the specifics of determination is its own can of worms, and right now they're not sure they want to touch on that.

"But...they're not so bad. Even if they want everyone to think they are."

[eatsyourscience]

Souji got that feeling from his interactions with Chara--he isn't going to write them off as harmless just yet, though.

"Do you two get along alright?"

[determinedest]

"Sometimes." Frisk's shoulders shake in a brief laugh, devoid of any real humor. "We've been getting along better since the last event. Some...stuff happened that was kind of serious, and we decided to try and work together more."

Hence why Chara so easily took command when this event rolled around. They're better at navigating this sort of thing.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji nods. He guesses that facing your own Shadow was a similar experience, though he'd only seen his friends go through that and hadn't had to himself.

Frisk seems...not particularly happy with this topic. Souji glances at the cat and pets it again.

"Sorry. I shouldn't pry so much."

[determinedest]

"It's okay. I mean, we kind of look alike, so it's only a matter of time before everyone asks." At this point, they've accepted it. And if it means no one's mistaking one for the other, that works too.

The cat arches its back under Souji's hand, licking its lips with a faint purr. Frisk tries to smile, but their mouth feels too stiff.

"I hope no one in here's allergic to cats."

[eatsyourscience]

"If they are, we'll get them some antihistamines." There's enough room in the diner that it shouldn't be a problem, anyway. "We won't throw the cat out."

Since neither of his other attempts at distraction have worked, he'll try one more tactic.

"Do you want to help me with something?"

If they don't want to, that's okay, too. He won't push them.

[determinedest]

"Okay." Frisk tickles the cat beneath its chin with their fingertips, then straightens up to look at Souji.

"I...don't really know what to do with myself," they confess belatedly. There's not much to do but sit and wait, even if the knowledge that their friends might be in danger nags at them horribly.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji smiles just slightly, and the expression is gentle, if hardly perceptible.

"I want to make a list of the supplies we have and how much. That way we'll know what we're missing and what we should try to gather before things get too bad outside."

[determinedest]

Frisk considers this for a moment, then nods. That sounds like a good idea, particularly if they want to stay here for the duration of the event.

"That's a good idea. Our closet wasn't giving us much before we got here," they say after a moment's contemplation. They only ended up with one gas mask, after all, and that's hardly enough. "I think Wonderland is making it harder for everyone."

[eatsyourscience]

"It does that sometimes. Usually when we need its help the most."

Souji gestures for Frisk to follow him back to the kitchen. They can bring the cat, too, if they like.

"At least the Mansion itself is still here. Sometimes we don't even get that much."

[determinedest]

Frisk gathers up the cat in their arms. It settles a little more securely with a plaintive mew, apparently unaccustomed to being carried from place to place. By the time they reach the kitchen with Souji, it seems to have resigned itself to its fate, albeit rather grumpily.

"R-really?" Their eyes widen in horror. "It just vanishes? That's - I guess we are lucky."

[eatsyourscience]

There are a few things in the kitchen that wouldn't normally be found there, specifically some blankets and pillows, and the few first aid supplies he'd been able to scrounge up. There are notably no weapons. There are also flashlights and candles, though he hopes they won't lose power and need anything like that. Talk about complicating the situation even more.

"It's never really predictable, even with the warnings we get." Which are not typically helpful in the first place. "I'm not really sure what criteria are used to dictate how good or bad things are, though."

Souji gathers an order pad for each of them--they don't get used much in the diner, but it's still handy to have them--and pencils. Then he glances at Frisk and puts one of each back. He'd thought to split up the job between them, but they'd have to put the cat down to write. The two of them can try a different method, in that case.

"Can you help me count the supplies? I'll write them all down and you can tell me how much we have of each."

[determinedest]

Frisk has observed the warnings from a distance but never interacted with any of them. They're a little worried those announcements are a window into Wonderland's deeper thought, and they don't want to know what this place knows about them. There's no safety in not knowing, not really, and maybe it's useless, but it's a fear they don't feel like facing just now.

They set the cat down carefully on one of the counters and strokes it gently to calm it. It contents itself with a wash for the moment, so hopefully it won't get lost amidst the supplies.

"All right." Frisk decides to start with the smaller objects first, and get the harder stuff out of the way. "You don't have any...knives in here, right?"

The Worn Dagger is still stowed safely in their pocket, but Chara only needs a regular one to wreak a little havoc.

[eatsyourscience]

"I do. I use them when I cook." Souji glances over at Frisk. "Should I hide them?"