entrancelogs | [Open] I suck at pertinent song lyrics, okay

Entry tags:

[Open] I suck at pertinent song lyrics, okay

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Souji nods, jotting down a few items on his list. He has to flip over to the next page, since it doesn't take a whole lot to fill in these pages.

"I'm not worried about them, if that helps." Maybe that bears a little more explanation. "...I've had some weird friends."

"I guess that goes for the both of us." They laugh faintly, but the sound dies partway out of their throat. It's not a good joke to make. "In our world...killing makes you more powerful. So it's...it's something they have to fight."

Ironically enough, there's no placating a desire to purge an entire timeline, no matter how much determination you have. You can just stymie it, thrust it back, but never completely negate it.

"It's similar in my world. We have to fight to get stronger."

Souji straightens up and looks over at Frisk, his expression and tone neutral, tinged with what could either be interest or concern.

"It seems like you've got a lot to deal with."

They look up at that, curiously, wondering if Souji's world deals in currencies such as EXP and LOVE.

"No more than anyone else here," they hasten to add. Plenty of other people probably have to deal with the repercussions of their old world. The consequences, rather. "I mean...we have zombies outside, right now."

Souji's smile at that is small and wry. "That's true."

He rests a hand on his hip, his stance relaxed. At home, people tell him things, often unsolicited. It always seemed like just being there was enough to connect to people. In Wonderland, it takes more effort, but he's willing to put in the work.

"Anyone's world could be outside."

I was a comforting thought for him, even if it was wrapped up in uncertainty.

"I didn't know people came from a place with...with those kinds of things." They're used to monsters that can be reasoned with, that may have fairly fearsome exteriors but are no more complicated or simple as any ordinary human. Easier to understand than humans, even, in a multitude of ways. At least in Frisk's mind. That's what happens when they relive the best moments in their lives, over and over, until everything else is drowned out.

"I tried to talk to them." ACT. MERCY. Useless against something so utterly mindless.

Souji can guess that didn't work out well.

"At least you tried." He would have just fought, if it had been him. "And you didn't get hurt, which is the important part in this situation."

"Only 'cause Chara was there." That had been...terrifying in its own way, that glint of red in their eyes as they hacked through the surging mass of undead flesh. "They're good at taking care of us both, I guess. They were looking out for me."

If Chara hadn't intervened...well, Frisk would have likely never made it to the diner. And if they had, their mind would already be deteriorating under the strain of whatever infection runs through those things' veins.

Edited 2016-04-21 23:53 (UTC)

Souji is quiet for a moment, considering that.

"It sounds like the two of you balance out." Even if Chara is trying too hard to be creepy--they could just be natural and still be creepy. "You're just figuring out how to strike that balance."

"Kinda, yeah." They laugh a little at that, because as ridiculous as it sounds, it's really, really true. They do more or less strike a balance, the way counterparts do.

Frisk cards through some clean towels, makes it up to the double digits before they run dry. "We're sort of...tied together by a lot of things."

They're not sure they'd call it fate. They're pretty sure fate is something to do with predetermination, and what binds them together is more than that. It's past, present, and future.

Souji sets down his pad of paper to crouch down and look through a cupboard that mostly has canned foods in it.

"...I can understand that. I've had a couple people in my life like that, too."

One of them was a welcome connection--the other was not so much.

"...really?" Frisk looks up, blinks in surprise. "Like...knowing what you're thinking, and then you can't tell the difference between the two of you anymore?"

Because even now, even if they're in separate bodies, the differences aren't as stark as Frisk would think.

"We're not tied quite that close. We never shared the same bodies. But..."

He pauses and closes his eyes, thinking about that.

"Sometimes...the line between us seemed to blur."

Frisk...is sort of surprised at how neatly that description suits their relationship with Chara. Their eyes widen noticeably as he says it.

"Do you sometimes worry?" they say softly. "That...the things you do now might not be something you'd do if it weren't for them?"

Souji opens his eyes again and looks over at Frisk with a wry look on his face.

"I feel that way with a lot of people."

It doesn't seem like the cause is the same for him as it is for Frisk, but he wonders sometimes if he has a real "self" of his own. He wears a different mask depending on who's standing in front of him.

"Oh." Frisk feels...well, they feel a little sheepish. They're having all this trouble delineating between themselves and Chara, and Souji's been dealing with this for how long, for how many different people? "I...I didn't realize."

They feel absurdly like apologizing, like they've crossed some sort of line. But Souji offered the information freely, didn't he?

"How does that...work?"

Souji shakes his head. It probably sounded more dramatic than it really is--then again, he's not sure how else to say it.

"It's related to my powers, kind of."

Or maybe his powers are the result of his fundamental nature. That's probably more accurate, but he doesn't know how to explain that without it getting much more existentialist and philosophical than necessary.

"There's a psychologist--in my world, I mean--who said that the face people present to the world is their 'persona.' So it's a mask a person wears, but not really the real person. It's designed to get the right reaction from others and to hide yourself."

This is more words than Souji normally says. He blows his hair out of his eyes, trying not to grimace because, okay, it did just get philosophical and existential. He went there.

Frisk considers the concept carefully. It's not so strange, really, considering everything they had to internalize during every trip through the Underground. When you present a face to the world, it's not always you. That human with the unchanging, flat expression was not always Frisk, just as the smiling, rosy-cheeked façade was not always Chara.

"I think I understand," they say after a moment, nodding. "In front of other people, you're different from who you are when you're alone. Right?"

Souji nods confirmation. "For all people, that's true to some extent, I think. The only real difference for me is that I have actual Personas--pieces of my soul--inside me. They all have their own thoughts and moods. But they're all me."

Frisk's mouth drops open a little in shock at how similar it sounds to what they've endured.

"That's...that's what Chara was for me, almost." One hand goes over their chest in the approximate location of their heart, fisting into the fabric of their shirt. "But - but they weren't me. But sometimes they felt like it. We both lived in the same body, for a while. Until we got here."

"You're different people, though." Souji turns toward Frisk, lowering his pad of paper. He smiles, just a little, but it's a warm expression. "It's overwhelming, isn't it?"

But Frisk isn't alone, so to speak--not just in still having Chara there, whether they want it or not, but in having at least one person who can relate.

"Two people was...confusing enough," they admit, pushing a hand through their hair with a nervous laugh. "We still don't know where the line between us was. How do you...how do you keep track of so many?"

"It helps that they're all parts of me to begin with." At least he can sort them out when they're all talking at once, though it's harder some times than others. "Usually, one or another is more dominant depending on the situation, so it's usually not that hard."

"Is there...one that's, um, dominant now?" they feel like it's a potentially rude question. Their encounters with Souji have always been relatively polite and friendly, but maybe the differences between...personas? - are more subtle than the differences between, say, Frisk and Chara.

Quite a bit more subtle. But Souji still nods.

"Yeah, there is. I can show you, if you want."

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