entrancelogs | Dinos and Goats and Trauma

Entry tags:

Dinos and Goats and Trauma

Who: Toriel and others
Where: Wonderland
When: February 9-11
Rating: PG-13-ish probably!
Summary: Toriel thinks she's in the middle of a war and just suffered some serious trauma.

One second, Toriel and her people are right in the middle of a war against humans, that they started, and now she's... somewhere else. She doesn't really know where.

Has she been kidnapped? Is this some sort of trap, or trick? She doesn't know, and she's really not in the proper state to think about or analyze these things.

Mostly, she's just nervous. Jumpy and panicked, and trying to avoid humans, and... whatever those really big things lumbering around outside are. Trying to explore, find out where she is and find some way back to... well, not home. She's not sure she really has a place that qualifies as that anymore.

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Suddenly, there is a little kid tackling the bigger monster from behind and crawling up her back like an agile spider. Toriel may not see her, but she's a small fish monster, sporting a cloth bandage over one eye, and she's shrieking and giggling.

"A monster! A monster!!!" she cheers, glad to see another after a day of running into a bunch of scary humans on the Surface. At least with monsters she feels more on even ground.

All of a sudden, someone's jumped up onto her back, is cheerfully declaring that they've found a monster, and Toriel's completely prepared for a knife to slip into her back at any moment.

Not that she's just going to stand there and wait for it- she just screams, terrified, as a couple fireballs pop into the air on either side of Undyne- and then fly at her. And given that Toriel isn't exactly, well... way too panicked to think of things like 'holding back' or 'not wanting to kill people'... they're going to wind up hurting a lot if she doesn't move.

Suddenly, the big monster is screaming.

Suddenly, there's fire magic.

Undyne yelps and drops off the monster's back, but not in time to avoid getting hit on the arm. She cries out, gripping her arm as she sits on the ground, starting to whine and sniffle.

Then she just starts outright sobbing. Even the monsters here are dangerous.

Toriel stumbles forward, and turns around, holding more fire in her hands, ready to try and fight for her life-

and then sees that she'd just attacked another monster. A child, at that. "Oh, fu- Sorry, I- My apologies, I didn't mean to-" the flames dissipate, as she carefully steps forward, holding her hands out towards the young fish monster. "I thought you were a human, I'm sorry- are you... do you need me to heal you?"

Undyne sniffles, looking up at the bigger monster, holding her arm tightly.

"No, I'm-- I'm tough!! I--" She hiccups and coughs, looking away and sniffling some more. "I can take a little fire magic!"

But she's clearly still upset. She feels so dumb right now. It's her fault she got hurt again.

"...You sound just like me, when I was your age." She smiles a bit, but... it's not quite a happy smile.

"Well, I'm sure you can, but... still, you don't wanna get caught by any humans when you're not at your best, right?? You wanna show them what you're made of, so- lemme just top off your HP so you'll be ready, okay?" Toriel tries to remember what she was like back then- the kinds of things she'd have wanted to hear. She knows how stubborn kids can be, after all, how much trouble she gave her...

She'd prefer not to finish that thought.

Undyne stares up at the older monster, then glances down at her arm and slowly removes her hand from the injury.

"O-Okay," she finally agrees, leaving the other monster opportunity to heal her. She's right. Undyne doesn't want to get caught by a scary human when her HP is lowered.

Toriel nods, and steps closer- leaning down and holding out a glowing green palm, healing Undyne's arm- beginning to patch the burn up, just like how when she was injured, her... no, not finishing that thought either. "There, see? That's better, right?" She smiles, trying to reassure her, just like her...

God, she wants her mind to stop going there. To stop thinking about it. They're gone, and she can't do anything about it, and she doesn't have time to worry about it right now. She pushes the thoughts from her mind- along with the warmness to her tone. She's really not feeling it, honestly, and just... it's reminding her too much of what she's lost. "...There. It's done."

And with the green glow, the pain fades. Undyne sniffs and wipes her eyes.

"Yeah. Better." She looks up curiously at the other monster, who seems to be closing herself off the way people do when they're upset. Maybe she feels really bad. Undyne grins really wide, trying to cheer her up.

"It's okay! It doesn't hurt anymore, so don't feel bad about it!!"

"That's not what's bothering me." Sure, she's still a little horrified that she got so jumpy she hurt a little kid- but that was an honest mistake and, as Undyne said, something that was fixed. No, the thing that's bothering is- well, she just kind of waves her hand a bit as if to physically brush off the question. "Don't- don't worry about it, alright?"

The horrors of war- hardly the thing she needs to trouble a young girl with.

They are beginning to comprehend the nature of this event.

It is clearly temporal.

This is made apparent by the dinosaurs roaming outside. More recently, it has also been made apparent in others reverting to more youthful forms and not remembering their stay.

They have been unable to contact Shepard-Commander. This is worrisome: in their encounter with her memory of her younger self, she showed signs of extreme loneliness, trauma, aggressive tendencies. Reverting to this point on her timeline would be ...troublesome. She is likely to be a danger to herself or others.

Thus, they search for her.

Instead, however, they find...

"Toriel?"

Toriel jumps when someone suddenly calls her name, and sees... She has no idea what she sees.

At first, she thinks it might be a human knight in armor, but. There's a big light in their head, and the legs are the wrong shape, and... is there just a big hole in their chest???

"H... hi? How do you know my name? Are you a... monster...??" Monsters do come in a lot of shapes and sizes after all, and new varieties do show up sometimes, so... it's possible??? It's definitely not human, though, so she's not going to freak out. At least, not yet anyway.

They chatter for a moment.

"We are not a Monster. We are Legion, a terminal of the Geth. A temporal anomaly is affecting this location. We have encountered you previously."

Well... that's confusing and probably not helpful. Slightly more helpful, perhaps, is them pulling up one of her old network posts on their omnitool and attempting to show her.

Edited 2018-02-11 03:54 (UTC)

Toriel understood, like... half of those words, at best. She just looks completely confused, and especially when they show her... weird moving pictures of herself???

"That's... I have no idea how you're doing that, but that's... I mean, that is definitely not me! I'd remember something like that! And I'd remember meeting some freaky metal guy, too!"

"Error: This platform is constructed primarily of polymer."

...Priorities, Legion.

"A significant quantity of those we remember previously encountering do not remember our interactions. Hypothesis: It is likely memory alteration is involved, though we are uncertain if it is yours or ours."

If it's just them, it may in fact, be more likely that it's their memory being affected.

"Irrelevant. We have been tasked with ensuring the safety of those in this location. You are distressed?"

"I- yes, I'm distressed!!!" She chooses to address that part of what they said, because it's what she can most easily understand. "I'm in the middle of a- I mean, I was... in the middle of a war..." She sighs, shaking her head a bit.

"I dunno about any memory stuff but... I mean... I do not know about any... things going on, with my memory..." Their calm, steady speech is at least... a little bit, well, calming. And reminding her a little that she's still working on speaking more like that. Proper and deliberate. "I just know something very... strange, is going on. No one's fighting and there are no homes being burned down, and... I am... fairly certain, that I am not where I was before."

"Acknowledged. We will treat this situation as though you are a recent arrival."

Since in a way she is, even if it does turn out that their version of events is correct.

"This location is known as Wonderland. It takes people from different words and universes. Escape of ones own volition is currently impossible, though this is not a cause for concern: time does not pass while you are gone."

Their speech remains calm and steady, even if what they say is probably more confusing and less reassuring than they think.

"Previously acquired data indicates that there was conflict between Monsters and Humans in the past. Is this the war you are referring to?"

Edited 2018-02-12 05:18 (UTC)

She nods. She thinks she gets it. She doesn't understand how any of it works, but, she thinks she gets the general idea. She's somewhere else now, and so are lots of other people from other places, and she's stuck here.

"I... yeah..." She nods again, looking down at the ground- arms holding onto her sides, and looking a bit like she wants to curl in on herself. This is the most relaxed she's been since... everything happened, and.

She doesn't think she likes it, actually. At least with the adrenaline pumping and worrying for her life, she didn't have time to... think. "Does that mean... if you heard about it... do you know... how it ends?"

They chatter, headflaps lifting before settling down. She desires to know the future of her people. They understand this impulse.

"We have heard reports, though as we are not from your universe, we are unable to verify them. Initially, Human victory results in Monsters being sealed underground. This lasts for approximately 1000 years. Eventually, the remaining Monsters are freed, and peaceful coexistence is achieved."

Not the most reassuring thing, but peace does happen eventually, at least?

That... well. It isn't quite as bad as she feared. But not nearly as good as she hoped, either.

Her people were able to survive- but not because they won. Trapped underground for 1000 years... That sounds too horrible to even imagine. And that ending...

"...And how long does that peace last, before humans attack us unprovoked again?" That ending just doesn't seem at all reasonable, after what she just went through.

Edited 2018-02-12 07:57 (UTC)

"Uncertain."

Their headflaps ripple.

"We have not heard reports of Humans attacking monsters. Those monsters in this location have existed peacefully alongside the Humans trapped here without significant difficulty."

They ripple some more. Legion is quiet for several seconds as they consider what to say next.

"Though we are aware of the destructive potential of Humanity, our personal experience has been overwhelmingly positive: A Human assisted us in saving our people."

When Geth are uncertain, they share perspective. Perhaps another perspective will benefit her as well.

It's difficult to believe what they're saying. She... doesn't want to believe it, really. It's easier to be angry and upset when you don't have to address positive things about people.

...That's probably not a good way to be thinking. But she can't help but want to find ways around it. "...Maybe they're too busy being afraid of whatever trapped them here to be afraid of us. And maybe one human was able to help you but... maybe they were an exception. Maybe just... as a whole, they're just... awful..."

Her eyes drift to the ground again, curls herself in a bit more. What she's saying, feels... terrible, to say out loud. It's so completely against everything she was taught growing up, but... she's just so angry and hurting so much.

"You have experienced recent trauma. Additionally, it is common for Organics to succumb to this way of thinking."

They consider what to say next.

"It is unlikely a species that was entirely 'awful' would be able to form complex society. They would be unable to successfully cooperate."

...It is unlikely logic by itself will succeed in combating organic distress. She is Shepard-Commander's girlfriend. Thus, she is an ally. After a moment, they attempt to touch her hand.

"We cannot guarantee that you will not be threatened at this time. Many others we have encountered are also experiencing recent trauma and have no memories of this location. They are confused, frightened, and likely to be a danger to themselves and others. However, we have been tasked with ensuring the safety of those in this location: we will assist as needed."

"Well... we'll see, I guess." She doesn't want to argue with them any more. Doesn't feel right, letting herself slip so far into hating them, with someone there being so calm and rational about it.

That said, though... "Humans have already attacked me twice, though, so... forgive me if I prefer to keep my distance." She still isn't particularly interested in being friendly with any humans.

"This is understandable. There are many nonhuman residents in this location. Perhaps you should seek them."

As always, they are calm.

"Query: Description of attackers?" It is their job to ensure safety. It would be beneficial to identify possible troublemakers.

"One was a kid. Wearing a striped sweater, and tried attacking me with a stick." ...Saying it like that sounds kind of ridiculous, so she decides to elaborate a bit. "Um... I'm not sure how much you know about monsters, but... we're not nearly as tough as we look. That would've been more than enough to kill me if they really wanted to."

"The other one was... older. Somewhere in her teens, I'd say. Red hair. She had a knife." Legion would probably be able to piece together that she's talking about Shepard- with the state the both of them are in right now, it's probably not too surprising a fight would break out.

They listen, calmly, at least until the description of a redheaded female in her teens with a knife comes up. At these words, their headflaps flare out, and they begin to chatter.

"We are uncertain as to the identity of the first. However, the second is most likely Jane Shepard, captain of the Starship Normandy. When she was sixteen, her family, as well as the rest of her community, was murdered by nonhuman aliens known as Batarians. You have recently been at war with Humans. Conflict is understandable."

"Location in which this encounter occurred?"

"...Now I... kinda feel bad, about getting into a fight with her, if that... It sounds like we were kind of in the same situation." She rubs at her arm a bit, feeling guilty- and the answer to their next question isn't really helping that.

"I'm sorry, no, I... it was just... Everything's kind of a blur, and I've just been... running blindly, a lot."

"Acknowledged." Well, they'll just have to keep looking on their own then.

More importantly... "Regret is unnecessary: your actions were based on incomplete data. Additionally, you cannot change the past."

They chatter softly.

"We are extremely gratified that this encounter did not result in fatality."

"I mean, considering I was absolutely the one going to die there, yeah, I'm pretty glad too!" It's accompanied by a laugh, even though it's not really funny. It was just sort of terrifying.

"But... yeah, your friend is just fine. I'm guessing that she's your friend?"

They are quiet. Their headflaps flare slowly, settle.

"This outcome would have been ...nonoptimal." Though they have had limited interaction with Toriel, they do not wish for her to die. Additionally, it is likely such an occurrence would cause Shepard Commander extreme distress.

"You are correct."

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Dinos and Goats and Trauma

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