+ Your imagination can't hurt you! +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: YOU!
Where: The Mindscape
When: starting November 11th
Rating: may be up to R for character deaths
Summary: Navigate challenges to learn valuable lessons about nonviolence, cooperation, and self-sacrifice! Release your inner animal! Read more about the event here, and on the bulletin board.
The Story:




"If you know yourself, you have nothing to fear."
"Working together is the only way."
"Deaths are a necessary part of life, but not all deaths are necessary."
"The needs of the many outweigh the life of just one."

Comments

[didntknowbest]

I know. I know what you meant.

[She rests her head in her hands- sighing at Alphys's last words. This isn't what she wanted to do.]

You do not deserve to be yelled at just for trying to help. I am just... this is a sore spot for me.

[The only sorer spots she can think of are the spots where Asgore shoved his trident on all those kids. Those had to be pretty sore.

Don't actually say that out loud.]

Whatever this event is, it is throwing all of my mistakes, failures, and regrets right back into my face, and it is just... very difficult to deal with. I am sorry that you seem to have been caught in the crossfire, Alphys.

[sciencelizard]

I-It's okay. Really.

[She's used to it. Throw yourself down to make others feel better. If your self worth already doesn't exist, well... at least make yourself useful in some way. Take away the bad parts of others, take all the bad from the world into you. You're already nothing, right? At least help someone else be something.]

I just, uhm... I mean, it's probably doing that on p-purpose to, uhm, try and keep us down. It's alright to, uh, be h-hurt by it, and... I mean, feel hurt by it, is what I'm saying. That's, actually a super, uh, rational response.

[She's having a hard time on this one.]

[didntknowbest]

It is not okay. Please do not say that it is, that is not helping.

[It's just sort of making Toriel feel worse, really, that she accidentally snapped at someone with such bad self-esteem issues. There are issues Toriel has with Alphys, but they aren't related to this at all, and they don't make it okay.]

Well, if it is alright with you, then I think that... I would like to sit here, and be hurt for a brief while. If I have to try at that again right now... I do not think that it will go well.

I am open to any suggestions for when we do go back out there, though.

[sciencelizard]

[She pulls back, continues to fidget, walks over to her bed and sits down gingerly. She wants to help, but... how? She closes her eyes for a moment, tries to look at this like a coding puzzle. If she and Toriel are the variables around the child...]

Well, uhm... when we failed, it was a m-matter of not giving them enough freedom, except it seems like their programming is very, uh... i-impulsive. So we lose when they lose concentration. We both ended up, uhm, doing the work for them, so it seems like the goal of this would be to g-get them to do the work themselves, but uhm... in a less, uh, deadly way.

[Since neither of them want to see even a fake child die over and over again. It's unsettling. Reminds her of the close calls she had with Frisk in Hotland.

Then again, through the nature of their abilities that they described to her, maybe they weren't all close calls.]

So if they need to do it themselves, then we need to enable that without l-letting them know. Our options there are altering the puzzles ourselves in some foundation, but we'll need a d-distraction of some kind, so... I guess, uhm, m-maybe we have to work together.

[If Toriel will allow that, of course.]

If uhm, if you encourage them, a-and give them hints when it seems like they need it, I can maybe, uh, remove the dangerous elements. They just can't n-notice me doing it. Or, uhm, maybe you could go ahead and pre-solve some of the scarier ones, and I'd stay with them? So they don't think that we're messing around.

[didntknowbest]

[It's not going to work. Even if she tries, she'll fail. Like she always does. What's the point in bothering? It'd be better to just lay down in this bed and wait to die. Less painful that way. Just give up.

...But, she can't exactly say those things, can she. The thoughts keep entering her mind as she listens to Alphys talk, but she tries not to let them show. She has to be strong for her people- even if she's not a queen anymore, Alphys still needs her help. And even if that child out there is fake, her real child has to be somewhere, most likely requiring her help as well.

So, Toriel needs to be strong. She needs to take a long, deep breath- relax, and try to force all those negative thoughts out of her head, and put on a cautious smile.]

That does sound like a good idea, doesn't it?

Okay. I think we can feel a bit more confident about this, then. Shall we go and try again?

[sciencelizard]

[Frankly, if she had the option, she'd just crawl under this bed and die, but... haha, Toriel has places to be, right? She's sure Chara certainly wouldn't forgive her if she let Toriel die, even in a situation like this. So she tries to smile when Toriel says she's ready, push down the feelings of fear in her gut, try and put herself together.]

Well, uhm... sure! We can, uh, give it a shot.

... T-Thank you, for, uhm, being willing to, uh, work with me at all, and uhm, e-everything. I mean, I'm sure you just want to get out, and all that, but uh, I appreciate it.

[didntknowbest]

It is no problem at all. As I said, you came up with a good plan of action. Hopefully, it will go well.

[Be strong, and do your best to help, even if it's the last thing you want to do right now. As a mother and as a queen, it's a lesson that Toriel has learned well, as she stands and heads back out to the entrance of the maze.

The child doesn't seem to have moved an inch, standing still, eyes following the two monsters as they head back out, waiting for a response to activate again. It's.. slightly unnerving, actually.]

Okay. I believe that we are ready to assist you.

[Thankfully, that gets them going again, as they resume giving out their lines, moving and acting like an actual living thing.]

Let us try figuring the puzzles out together, shall we? I simply ask that you do not attempt the puzzles until you are certain that you have the right answer. We do not want you getting hurt, after all!

Mmm... I mean, I GUESS!

[They don't seem exactly happy about that, but it seems enough to placate them enough for now. They're even able to successfully solve the first puzzle- it takes significantly longer, for them to figure it out, as Toriel keeps worriedly asking if they'd like a hint- eventually, they relent and accept one, and the puzzle is solved soon afterwards.]

[sciencelizard]

[She's nervous as they approach the child, unnerved until it starts giving it's opening again, and Alphys waits until Toriel has them distracted and moving to pull out the tablet again. There's a range on what she can affect, and of course how quickly she can edit them, but the child taking a while means she has plenty of time to disable some rather deadly effects. She's also sure to give them a thumbs up of encouragement if they catch her eye.]

G-Good job! You did it!

[One down. A lot more to go. But thankfully she has a few of the ones up ahead disabled, so there's no literal fire walls right out of the gate. (Seriously, why do they even have those?) But Alphys also gives a thumbs-up and a smile to Toriel to indicate she did her job. Now, hopefully, they can get through the rest.]