look at all that which surrounds me [ open ]

[determinedest]

Who: FRISK and YOU and/or TIM and YOU
Where: Mostly outside tbh like just generally gonna be in the woods
When: 2/09 - 2/11
Rating: PG-13; general cw for mental health shit for Tim in particular
Summary: Frisk climbed a mountain. Tim's lost time. Neither of them is particularly okay.
The Story:

[Just kidding starters are in the comments again so I don't spam the log comm lol. Anyway if you want closed starters just smack me here or over at arrpee. Also feel free to use either prose or brackets and I'll match you.]

Comments

[determinedest]

[Even if she's made of magic, her foot still connects, clipping them roughly beneath the chin. And it hurts.]

[A muffled cry tears out from their throat as they're bowled backwards. There's no time to steady themself. There's no time for anything but the way the ground rushes up against the back of their skull, the rough thump-crack as they sprawl on their back, the way the nausea roils in their stomach and the sky spins in a dizzying smear of blue and gray.]

[Something springs into the corner of their eyes, hot and bright and reflexive.]

[Get up. They have to get up.]

[Get up.]

[The stick. At some point, they must have let go of it. It's gone flying. They start pawing at the dirt, fingers raking through in an effort to find it once more. It's all they have. It's all they have against the thing that'll burn them alive, if they don't fight back.]

[didntknowbest]

[They're on the ground- scrambling for their weapon. Desperate.

Helpless.

She could attack, and they wouldn't be able to fight back. She could burn them up and not have to be afraid, not have to worry about them hurting her, hurting anyone else.

A circle of fire appears around them. She could take their SOUL. Use their strength to change the whole tide of the war. Avenge every life that's been taken, every loss she's suffered.

The flames begin closing in. All she has to do is murder a little kid in cold blood. One horrible act of violence from her, and then so many lives could be saved.



She can't do it. The flames dissipate, and she bursts into tears, because she just... can't. Not to a child. So much of her is trying to rationalize it, to convince herself that it'd be the right choice. And it's working. So many more monsters are going to die if she doesn't take this one opportunity, and right now, she hates herself for being so weak.

Toriel runs away.]

[determinedest]

[Their fingertips finally brush the ridged bark, fist balling around the stick as they jerk upright. Too late. Far, far too late. Already, there's a wreath of flames coiling closer and closer, with no way out. They can't jump over them. The heat kicks up smoke that clings to their teeth like grit, like eggshell, the smoke stinging their eyes until they have to squint to see the white mass looming just beyond the curtain of flame.]

[Until suddenly, they dissolve into nothing. There's a sound like a choking sob, and the patter of great, furred footsteps pelting away.]

[The child drops to their knees and begins to cough.]

[They can't follow. They can't think to follow.]

[So they don't.]