entrancelogs | when the sky is full of zeroes and ones [open]

Entry tags:

when the sky is full of zeroes and ones [open]

Who: Frisk and soulja boy tell 'em YOUUUUU
Where: The T̶̷̲̅ʀ̶̷̲̅ᴜ̶̷̲̅ᴇ̶̷̲̅ L̶̷̲̅ᴀ̶̷̲̅ʙ̶̷̲̅
When: 3/10 - 3/14
Rating: PG-13 for body horror and suicide ideation
Summary: They're home again. This time they'll be good.
The Story:

amalgamates; if we're all matter, what's it matter?

As indicated in their joint broadcast with Alphys, Frisk has devoted themself to tracking down as many of the Amalgamates as possible. Armed with pockets full of popato chisps, sticks to throw, and keys gleaned from the puzzles and their own knowledge of the laboratory itself, they roam about the complex, their strides firm and purposeful.

If they spot anyone who looks like they've been cornered, they'll be quick to intervene. Wonderland defies the rules of the typical encounter; they're free to interrupt it mid-battle to hum to the Reaper Bird, or call to the Memoryheads.

Even if they have to run away, they'll do it with a smile.

dt extractor; if we're all matter when we're done?

[They've been doing their best to keep watch between their regular excursions to check for Amalgamates and ensure no one's been cornered and tries to hurt them. But sometimes Alphys has to depart to chase after one of them, and that leaves the machine itself unguarded from anyone who might not have heard the warning, or whose curiosity simply superseded their sense of self-preservation. Of anyone who just didn't trust the warning at all.

So that leaves Frisk. Standing, watching, waiting, staring at the thing that once hollowed them out.

(It'd be easy.)

They could do it all over again, couldn't they? Feel nothing. Nothing, nothing at all. Or maybe - maybe if they even made sure no one interrupts, maybe they could just stay like that, forever. Stay like that until every inch of them is gone, scrubbed clean, ERASED. What happens when no one's there to turn it off?

Their fingers twitch. For a moment, a red heart shape slips out between their fingertips, bobbing idly a few inches away from the center of their chest.

Don't worry. They're not considering anything at all.

Probably.]

vats; staring up at an inverted compass

The keys didn't lead to the generator at all, it turns out. They lead...here, wherever here is. They don't remember this part of the lab. There's nothing - nothing at all like this in the one back in the Underground. The aesthetic is almost jarringly different, a sleek purple-lit interior bereft of the green tiling and graying darkness. There's something here.

Something in the shape of a man.

Or rather, something in the shape of something containing a lot of people. People they recognize, and people they don't, all of them drifting as though asleep inside of some kind of viscous liquid.

Definitely not anything from home.

If anyone down here has been looking for their body, at least you'll probably have some help in freeing it from its prison. That is, once you can get Frisk to stop standing there and staring at everything with an expression that almost looks like...

...envy?

ENTRY #17; you sure didn't look like you were having any Fun

[Anyone who's been down here for long enough might have noticed the screens mounted on the wall, each depicting what appears to be a separate stage in an ongoing breakdown. There's not much anyone can do about that; much as they'd like to, there's no way to disable the power that keeps the green text popping morosely up, depicting a veritable gallery of Alphys's failures. And Frisk tried. They really...they really did try.

But there's something wrong. Something that's always needled at them, even if they don't exactly set off in search of it.

There's no Entry 17. There never was an Entry 17. Or, rather, there was, that's what the numbers in their head still say, but they don't remember ever seeing one.

They must have taken a wrong turn at some point. They don't mean to, they really don't. They said they'd try to forget. They said they'd be good. They'd do better. They simply turn one corner, and there's a hallway they don't remember seeing before, and that's probably fine, isn't it? Just Wonderland shifting things around, making the place bigger to accommodate everyone.

Except there's something at the hall's end that seems

very, very interesting.

But what do you think?]

wildcard; if the ones just hold their place, the Zeroes make a smiley face

[Hit me up with whatever you like! Feel free to PM me or hit me at arrpee for any questions!]

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[She tried the sinks.

Why wouldn't she? Lapis is laboring under certain involuntary alterations to her form, and she hasn't found anyone she knows yet. (There are like 1.5 people she knows.) She needs resources or at least the reassurance of them. And while she had minor trouble reaching the faucets, the results were as to be expected: water, water, and Memoryheads.

When Frisk comes across the little blue girl, she's been fighting them a while, if "fighting" is the word for it. To her credit, Lapis doesn't especially seem to be trying to hurt them -- whether that's because she discovered it wouldn't work or because she saw Frisk and Alphys's announcement is an open question. Instead, the flow of water from the functioning sinks keeps snaking out to restrain the things.

It's not working, and numerous puddles have already formed on the floor from attempts melted away. Whether that's because of how mind-bendingly immaterial the Memoryheads are, because Lapis isn't up to her full strength, or because they're simply keeping her too busy to focus on it... Man, that face thing the creatures keep doing sure doesn't seem harmless to her.

This looks like your jurisdiction pretty much exactly, Frisk.]

[At least it's pretty obvious who this is. There aren't a lot of technicolor people in the mansion, especially not ones that have a strange hold over the way water works.

(They'd find the joke amusing, if they weren't so concerned about the state of the Memoryheads.)

Even if the things couldn't be killed, it's clear that they're treating the encounter as exactly that, circling curiously; when water gets forked in their direction, it simply seems to slip through them like sand through a sieve.]

It's okay.

[Calling out to both Lapis and to the Memoryheads simultaneously, even if they don't quite raise their voice loudly enough. They're sorry. They don't shout. They can't. They're trying to be better.

But they walk forward calmly with their hands open and facing the ceiling, before shooting Lapis an imploring look.]

They're not going to hurt you.

[The problem is that it's in the wrong location. It's moved. Technically, the entire lab has moved and shifted, too many hallways and rooms. He saw maybe a grand total of two areas down here back with Alphys in the real world--the room with all the beds, and the Extractor itself. She'd told him about it, and he'd wanted to see it, like...like some kind of proof.]

[He thought he knew where it was--in other words, he thought he knew exactly which area to avoid. Turns out he was wrong, and there it is again, enormous and looming and empty and full of too many memories. It never really meant anything to him, not in the way it meant something to Alphys or Frisk or Chara, or even the Amalgamates. Seeing it with Alphys back home was just...a reminder. Of other things.]

[Seeing it now--still doesn't really mean anything. Like before, it's just a reminder of other things. Like before, it's just intimidating, just ominous, just like the one who designed it.]

[It takes him a few moments to notice that there's another person here, and he thinks maybe his soul just kind of stops for a second when he sees who it is.]

...frisk?

[A wavering wisp of a heart, a fragile beating SOUL. Maybe not so fragile. But it could be, if they just...

It could be. They could put an End to all of this. Maybe if they just let it keep going and going and going, it wouldn't be death, not exactly. It'd be just enough to make sure they never had to feel or think or worry ever again. They could just...fade away. couldn't they?

It could be a certain kind of death.

They wait too long. A quiet word is all it takes to cut into the moment, and their fingers close around the red pulse, for a moment bathing the tips of their fingers in a warm, fading crimson, and then it's like it was never there at all.

Sans's voice is quiet, and it's strange, looking at someone who's smaller than usual. Who's smaller than them. And maybe it's just the rounded friendliness in his features, or the remnants of getting to be a kid, but they don't think -

They think maybe he got better at hiding things as he grew older. Didn't start out that way at all.

Their hands fall to their sides, and they try to smile, weakly.]

Hi.

[Oh. Oh, jeez. They had their soul out and everything. They were looking really contemplative. Maybe they were--]

[No, no. He's overreacting. Don't do that, Sans. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Don't always jump to the worst conclusion. It's Frisk; you can trust them.]

[...God, it shouldn't be that easy. No, he's supposed to be cautious, right? Overcautious, at times. Just...calm down. The machine has no power, anyway, so even if they were thinking of...doing something, they wouldn't have been able to do it.]

[And they turn to him and speak, and they hide their soul again. It's okay. He steps further into the room.]

um, are you okay?

Tell them that!

[SERIOUSLY the FACE THING does not strike Lapis as friendly

But, again to her credit, she does break off what she's doing and back away. Warily, tense, prepared to dodge again or worse at a moment's notice. She's not going to stand there and blindly trust her safety with the eldritch horrors, but she's willing to at least attempt ceding to Frisk if they know what to do. Heck, maybe she really did see that announcement.]

[It's fine. They were just...it's fine.

It's harder for him to hide like this. He's not as good at pasting on a smile and using it to seal everything away. Got better as he got older. There's a softness, a roundness, to the pliability of his features, how much easier everything slips out.

Perhaps they learned faster.]

I'm fine.

[Easy answer. Easy lie. Keep talking before he can call attention to that.]

Sorry I didn't...I was looking for you.

[They look pretty scary, maybe, but other than the instinctive encounter, the same sort of greeting monsters use for everyone - they don't mean to, do they? At least in Wonderland, there are no rules about interrupting an encounter in progress. They simply insert themself into the narrative (selfish, always so selfish), and face the Memoryheads directly.

They could end the encounter immediately. They could, or they -

ACT > ITEM.

* The enemy put a piece of itself in your inventory.

Just...just to be safe. They can end the encounter proper next turn. They glance in Lapis's direction, eyebrows lifted in concern.]

Are you okay?

[He rubs at the back of his neck, looking away for a moment. Can't help but look back up at the DTE, though. It's pretty much the only thing in the room. Its shadow takes up the entire floor.]

[They say they're fine, and for a moment he looks as tired as he does when he's older. The word still had meaning at this age, was something he said with a shaky smile, because he hadn't learned yet. Hadn't crafted the word into shapeless nothing.]

um, it's okay.

[And there's that shaky smile instead. They're fine, which is a non-starter, so. Moving on.]

yeah, um. the bird one found me so i had to move. heh. i think they've got a bone to peck with me.

[He looks up at the machine again. Can't help it.]

it's so much bigger like this.

[Lapis returns the look, only hers is more bemused.]

I'm all right. What did you just do?

[RPG mechanics are not natural to her, at least until the Attack the Light sequel comes out. Whatever Frisk did with their personal possessions certainly hasn't ended things, although they're still acting like they have this under control.]

I'm showing them that they don't have to be scared.

[They slip their cell phone from their pocket. There are voices humming through the receiver, the eldritch moan asking that they Join. They could, of course. It'd be easy, wouldn't it?

But there's someone else here who needs them more.

* Refuse.

With an atonal drone of * That's a shame, the trio of them begin to recoil, as though melting into the floor.]

[It's not really okay. It's not really okay, just like how they're not really fine. People who are fine don't stand in front of the thing that could utterly unmake them, and contemplate letting it happen. Forcing it to happen.

The bird...?

Reaper Bird. Maybe he didn't check them. Their eyes slide across the the sprawling, spidering shape of the machine, the tubing twisting about in intricate loops and crisscrosses. The thing that could drain them dry. And then go back for more, ha ha.]

It is.

[Careful not to reach back up to the center of their chest, where their SOUL hides. That would be a red flag.]

Alphys has been trying to...take it apart.

[As she watches this, Lapis upgrades from bemused from fairly mystified. She even takes out her Wonderland communicator from................ whatever hammerspace those go in, in imitation, to see if it's doing something or what. However, while it does look appropriately like a little girl's cell phone, with chintzy plastic seashells and everything, she has no one to call.

Oh well. Never mind that, she looks back to her savior blankly, despite being a bit more emotive in this form.]

Um... Thanks.

[There you go, Lapis isn't that much of an asshole when she's not already pissed off at the world.]

[Not everyone knows what to do when a Bad Memory happens along. There's one in their pocket now, something cold and heavy; both very small and inescapably vast. It's okay, though. A Bad Memory is just like a Last Dream, under the right circumstances.

It's okay.

They turn to face her, and smile.]

Sorry. They can be...loud, sometimes.

[Probably for the best. She really doesn't have a shortage of bad memories as it is. Then again, neither does Frisk... Never mind that either.

Ahem. Lapis isn't taller than the human kid currently, which makes them feel more like peers. Her hair is a mess, and while the defensive readiness is slowly easing out of her posture with the monsters gone, she still looks like a child in the middle of being raised by wolves, only bluer.]

You really know this place.

[That's not an accusation, but there's an evaluative edge to it. Who are you, human kid?]

[It's a little weird, being the person who, for once, isn't looking up to someone else. Even stranger to have to look down at people like Sans. They don't feel very big at all, even if they're level with her, especially when she makes that pronouncement, obvious as it is. Their shoulders hunch, their gaze dropping to the scuffed, tiled floor.]

It's from home.

[From the Underground, that is. Shouldn't really call it home when they've already decided to never go back, but saying so would be a red flag. So. It's home, still. As far as everyone else is concerned.]

Do you know where to go? Do you know how to fix this??

[And that's a sudden burst of relatively childlike earnestness. Whoops. Someone who actually has an idea what's going on is just so valuable!]

[A Check takes a full turn, one he can't spare. Not with those creepy butterflies. He's been spamming Flee every time he sees an Amalgamate.]

[It really is bigger like this. If it was a real skull of a real monster, it could swallow them both whole. Hell, in some ways it has, at least for Frisk. What a horrible thought.]

yeah? that's good. um, even unpowered it's...it could be dangerous for anyone who tries to mess with it.

[And he can think of several people just off the top of his head who would gladly do so, just to see how it works.]

[That's when their brow scrunches faintly, the barest indication of their confusion. Their expression smooths away into something apologetic soon after, their head ducking even lower.]

Which part?

Yeah.

[They don't need the reminder of what it can do. Again they have to FIGHT the urge to grasp at their sweater, tugging at the threads that have already begun to unravel with their persistent knotting of the fabric. At least it's not the one Toriel gave them. They can't ruin that one. They can't ruin one more thing she's done for them.]

I'd help, but...

[Ha ha.

As if anyone would trust them around something like this.]

[Wrong thing to say. What, like they don't know already what that thing can do?]

[He's quiet for awhile, rubbing at his upper arm awkwardly.]

um...how about we...go somewhere else?

[Wouldn't work, with him here. Maybe it'd be easy, but there's no way he'd let them. He might be weak like this, but if it risked actually hurting him, and then killing him -

They glance at the thing, sidelong, almost longing, their jaw tightening imperceptibly. Wishing they could be the same height as him again, so it'd be easier to duck their head and hide.

They have to shake their head.]

Can't. Someone has to stand guard.

[He wouldn't be able to stop them if they did. Can't do anything useful at this age, which is saying something.]

then...i can stand guard with you for a bit, if you want. i could use a break from running from amalgamates.

or, or i could go, if you want to be alone or something.

[He is keenly missing his older self's better hand on actually talking to people.]

[He really isn't anywhere as good at this as he gets to be later on. Could just tell him to go, but that'd be...

They shouldn't be that person. Not again. They're tired of that person. They're tired of listening to that person. No one should ever have to face that person.]

It's okay. You can, um...

[They fumble in their pockets for a moment, before turning up a bag of chisps, offering the bag with a slightly awkward lift to their gaze.]

Do you want some?

[He expects them to tell him to leave. Hell, he'd walk away on his own, if he wasn't worried about them. He doesn't...really get along with other kids. Maybe they're afraid of him. Afraid of hurting him, rather, or maybe afraid that a weak soul is somehow catching.]

[No, wrong again. He's not a kid, not really. He's an adult--and, jeez, not a very functional one, but at least more functional than he is right now.]

[They produce a bag of chisps, though, and his eyelights brighten somewhat.]

oh, man. i forgot those were down here. [He looks up at Frisk.] you don't mind?

[Popato chisps are a precious playground commodity, man, second only to pudding cups.]

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when the sky is full of zeroes and ones [open]

Behind door number 1 is more abominations

OH GOODY

dte, because i love dying and being dead

HECK!!!!!!

bork bark

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