entrancelogs | 'Tis rather inconvenient like this. +

Entry tags:

'Tis rather inconvenient like this. +

Who: You! !oot ,uoy dnA
Where: Wonderland, both Real and Mirror side
When: June 3 to June 10
Rating: PG-13, will vary by thread, warnings for higher ratings appreciated
Summary: A catch-all log for Mirrors and Reals during the reverse espionage event. Anything from Mirrors leading their daily lives, over Reals reacting to the show, to Reals and Mirrors exchanging messages goes here. Just label your locations and sides accordingly!
The Story:

Your own medicine is worth twice the sweetness in the bush, that is what they say! Here is my plan, now make sure you listen well, or you get it wrong, and then I would need to pair you all up, for only two even wrongs set my head back on right, and we've no time for such things, no time at all, do we?

As mighty as the sharpest blade, as stout as the hardest shield, a spool of thread woven from hearts of gold. It must exist, and I must have it! She'll do worse to my head if I search, but you'll help, won't you? I will let you see, and you will be my eyes! All good things come tomorrow - then I'll let you see, and you'll be my eyes, and when it's all done you'll use your own mouths to tell my personal ears all you know, won't you?

All of Wonderland's mirrors are suddenly working in reverse. The Real side can see everything, and the Mirror side is left with nothing but their own reflections. Details of the event can be found here.

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"...I'll always forgive you. You have that, at least," Chara mumbles, uncoiling enough to start drawing pointless little patterns on the carpet with their finger.

"I know you're... it's a bit like it is with this Frisk. You don't actually want my help. You won't ask anybody for help." Just let the wound bleed. Keep flexing your hand over and over, so the cuts keep reopening, so the pain keeps radiating through them. "But at the very least... I'll always forgive you. I'll care about you, no matter what. You're the only real friend I've got, and I... ha ha, I don't think the Frisk here's ever going to forgive me enough to be my friend."

Frisk cringes at that. It's a little bit true, isn't it? The most they can ever do is call for help, and hope someone comes. But if no one does...they pull themselves out of their mess. That's what they always do, isn't it? They make messes, and then neglect to clean any of them up.

* That's not true.
No?

Of course it's true. They both know it.

* I know people on this side who'll care about you.
* I can ask them.
* It'll be all right. Okay?

"...Would you? It's... a little scary, I guess, to write now. We don't know who's on the other side." Don't even know if anyone's there at all, actually.

"I hate it," they blurt. They thought that events were supposed to be hard for the people on the other side, not for them. "At least when I could watch all of you, I could pretend I wasn't so alone. But now, I... nobody here wants me. There's nobody in the mirrors except my own face, and I'd rather be alone forever than look at that."

Frisk's heart twists painfully at that admission. This Chara is just so...crumpled and tired and sad. They inanely want to reach through the glass and help them, put a hand on their shoulder, anything. But they can't. The most they can do is be a vaguely reassuring voice on the other side.

* I'm sorry.
* I don't know how to prove to you I'm Frisk.
* But I am.
* And I care about you.

"I know you're Frisk," they offer, with what they hope is a cheering little smile. "Nobody else would have actually bothered to listen to me for this long." Fitting, right? The only one who could ever hear them. Being split apart hasn't seemed to change that too much, huh.

"I just... sometimes I wish I could... I don't know." They do know. They know exactly what they want to do, but it's not the kind of thing you talk about. Not even to kids who climb a mountain. So they settle for a milder version, twitch their shoulders in hopeless little shrug. "Run away. Escape this whole entire world. Maybe I could find somewhere with people like you, right? Somewhere I'd actually belong."

Ha...that's kind of the same reasoning Frisk used, right? Climbing a mountain, and disappearing. Maybe there's somewhere better for something like them.

It hurts, knowing they can't do anything for this Chara. Anything more than they have already.

* You will belong one day.
* Nothing like this lasts forever.
* Right?
If things can change for Frisk, alter the trajectory of their entire life and redirect it into the best thing that ever happened to them, who's to say it can't happen for anyone else?

Another smile. This one sad, heavy, dead-eyed.

"Thanks, Frisk, but... it really won't." A figment of Wonderland has no world to return to. A figment of Wonderland doesn't get to decide how long it exists. They're only around for as long as they're of use to the Queen. Only around so long as that detestable other Chara is.

"I can't change fate by myself. I can't find a way out of here alone. I'll just be left behind here. Someday, you'll go home, and you'll get to live whatever ending you want to, and you'll forget all about me. I'll never see you again. We'll never even have had the chance to meet face-to-face. Actually talk, instead of... instead of scribbling like this."

There's a horrible truth to that. Without the resolve to change fate...do mirrors even have access to that level of determination? Their heart wrenches in their chest for the umpteenth time. They're not strong enough for this, they really aren't. Not on top of everything else.

But maybe they have to be strong, anyway. That's the most they can hope for, right?

* Do you want me to talk to my mirror?
* They seem kind of mean to you.
* I might be able to change their mind.

"No!" They squeak the answer out almost immediately, wide-eyed and spooked. "If they find out we've been talking, they'll use that against you. They'll take it out on me. No one will be happy with this."

They already know they're a prop. They already know that letting people know you care is just an invitation to have it weaponized against you. "It's... you're doing more than enough already, Frisk, really. It means a lot that you're just willing to talk to me, especially when things... when things are so... you know. When you're going through all this."

* They just yelled at me and used you to do it.
* It's not a secret anymore.
* They don't have to know we've been talking.
They don't know if they honestly have it in them to just let something like that sit. The other them, the them on the other side of the mirror...they're scary. But they're also still Frisk. Still an aspect of themselves that they can't shake.

It's terrifying.

* It might be enough for you, but it's not for me.

"I... I mean, I won't tell you what to do. You can choose that for yourself. I wouldn't, but I'm... I'm also kind of. Not brave." They laugh, a self-deprecating chuckle that doesn't alleviate the tension near as much as Chara hoped. Better than nothing, though, right? If you can still laugh at your situation, you're doing okay. Good to keep your sense of humour!

"Standing up to yourself just sounds... it sounds really intimidating, you know? I mean... they're you. They know all your weak points."

That laugh's an easy coping mechanism, even if it's just a shade of the Real Chara's smiles and too-cheerful looks. Frisk's breath tightens as they reach to write again.

* I know all theirs too.
* Don't worry.
* Just let me know if they hurt you again. Okay?
It's braver than that neutral tone of a marker might suggest. Frisk is still shaking subtly, worried, scared, nervous, knowing that once this event ends, whenever it does, it'll all go back to how it was. Their mirrored self being brutal and sarcastic and thoroughly nasty toward Chara's mirror, and they won't know anything about it.

"Don't worry about me, Frisk. Really. I mean it. I'm not determined, but I'm... I'm resilient, I guess? I'll keep going." For lack of anything better to do. They're useful to the Queen, and as long as they're useful, they have a reason to exist. A reason to keep going! That's enough. That's plenty.

"Maybe this... I mean, maybe it won't be so bad. You all get to see exactly what your mirrors are like, so you won't get... I don't know. Tricked by them? Maybe... hey, maybe I'll make some more friends on your side, right?"

* Yeah.
* I know there are people on this side who will care.
* You're not alone.
Even if Frisk feels lonelier than they've ever been, and not even for any good reason. They cringe, wishing they could do more to help. But...that's not for them right now, is it?

* I can ask around. See if there are any mirrors who might be willing to help you.

They... can't even muster up hope that it would help. That anything would help. That anyone would want to help something like them. They brush it off. Set it aside. Look at the very bottom edge of the mirror, because they don't have the nerve to stare into their own red eyes on the narrow chance that maybe they'd also be looking into Frisk's.

"Um, you... you know you don't have to fix it, right? It's - it's okay to need to back down and just... take care of yourself. I told you, I'll keep going. I've probably got it easier than you've got it right now. Um, not... not that I'm trying to say things are bad for you, because you know lots of people love you, right?"

* You know me.
* I have to fix everything.
Ha-ha, ~~what a story, Mark~~ what a joke, right? Except it's really, really not. But if there's one thing they excel at, it's ignoring their own problems in favor of other people's, hurtling themselves into someone else's issues so they don't have to look too closely at their own.

"Does... does 'everything' include you, too?"

Averted eyes, uncomfortable fidgeting. They want to help. They don't know how. They're a bit like Frisk, too, they think. They'd rather focus on being helpful to someone else than thinking about themselves.

They sit back on their heels. Chara still won't look at them. Or rather, look at themselves. But maybe that trait has more to do with who they're a reflection of.

* In time.
* It'll take a lot of work, but I can't give up hope.
* You can't give up hope either.
* Okay?

They... they nod. They don't really think they can do it. They don't really think they even had any hope to give up in the first place. Undetermined as they are, they're utterly resigned. But... but it's nobler to fake it, right, if that gives Frisk even half an inch of solace? Let them have the accomplishment of fixing something. Let them feel better.

So Chara smiles. Tries to make it look like a real smile, not a Chara smile. A good sign, not a bad one. "You... um, you too, right? I'll be supporting you from over here, as best as I can."

* Alright.
And then...just to be safe, they draw another outline of a heart. Consider adding a "stay determined," but maybe that would just seem like a cruel jibe for someone who claims to be as not determined as possible.

For now...well. They'll do what they can for the Chara on the other side, if it's even possible.

That'll have to be enough.

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'Tis rather inconvenient like this. +

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