* IC Inbox

[fulllifeconsequences]

Speak.

[Wow okay cool voicemail there Chara. Voice/text/video away to your heart's content.]

Comments

[punful]

Hello, darling! Can I the ask for a small and simple favor? Today I have set the blog game upon my blog and must ask you to require testing. Please tell me if the game work! The link is here! Jolly thanks!

[fulllifeconsequences]

Tell me how to block people on this thing so I can eradicate your wretched presence entirely.

[mypartnerintime]

[OOC: After this conversation, heaven help us all.]

[This is probably one of the hardest texts she'll ever send, but she's got to. It comes out a bit rigid, from a mix of over-thinking and apprehension.]

Hi Chara. I know we kind of got into a fight, but can we text for a bit?

[Okay, that obviously won't go well. So she follows it up, a quick moment later.]

What I mean is that I want to say sorry.

[fulllifeconsequences]

[There are a lot of words Chara doesn't trust, especially not when they come from humans. "Sorry" happens to be one of those.]

You're not really messaging because you're sorry. Feel free to get right to the point.

[action] feb. 21st

[determinedest]

[They see the post on the network go up from their room, and something about the visual, the ragged breathing and fingers scoring futile scratches into the snow, sends an all-too-familiar chill curling through them.

And when Chara walks in, one side of their head bloodied and the rest of them streaked with dirt and grime, Frisk can only stare at them hollowly for a long moment before they find their voice.]

What...what did you do?

[fulllifeconsequences]

[They knew this was coming. Of course they did. Frisk's entire sense of self seems to have been built around digging into other people's business.

The smile fits on their face as naturally and effortlessly as if their face was just sculpted that way, so when they pause, it's not telling. How are they to answer this?

He started it? He wanted to kill me? I didn't do it because I wanted to this time, really, honest, pinky swear? Pfft. Yeah. That'll get far. All Frisk ever does is run into people who started it, who wanted to kill them, and they didn't consider that a good enough reason for fighting back.

Their face is kinda still hurting and all, so they focus on that instead. Only raise both hands to show Frisk two knives, one much bloodier than the other. Move on. The closet can give them bandages, right? Probably. Surely.]

Why ask questions you already know the answer to?

about an hour after the thread with max

[punful]

we should talk. in person.

[fulllifeconsequences]

[Who has two eyes and saw this coming? CHARA DOES--oh wait shit hold on their eyes are melting gross black goop everywhere dang shucks golly darn]

Nah. Can't be bothered.

text

[krmvgivv]

Hey, thanks for letting it stop with Alex. He probably deserved it. Max doesn't. So yeah, that was cool of you.

[fulllifeconsequences]

Dipper what the hell

What did Max tell you?

[Text; 1 attachment]

[buildmeup]

[He has a theory to test, here. So unprompted and unexplained, Chara will be receiving a screen shot of the most recent timeline, as it were.

You've already heard this one. It's funny...

When you get the joke.]

[fulllifeconsequences]

[There's a guessing game being played here. They expect him to know everything, because he remembers. Resets don't stop him. But...

No such thing as a True Reset. Not for Chara. But for Flowey? Did... did Chara perhaps do exactly what Flowey predicted they would, and tear away that big sparkly Perfectly Happy Ending? Did he lay his memories out for the taking, and did they get ripped away like everyone else's? Or has the very worst timeline simply not happened at all?

It's funny. It is funny, because it's so refreshing to see the high and mighty judge squirm. Because they get the joke. But Chara... doesn't always like to be straightforward.]

You never told the punchline. How does it end?

[...]

[buildmeup]

[This isn't something that can be received by communicator. The library has a few extra dozen stacks of books in it now; several hundred trials and errors to get what was wanted. Kitchen seems to have been restocked, as well.

It's nothing that holds sentimental value. Not to him.

But Chara had talked about it before.

They'll find it under their pillow.]

[fulllifeconsequences]

[They find it by accident. It interrupts the familiar, practiced slide of reaching for the knife that hides between the mattress and headboard, stops their hand before it can reach down and seize a handle.

...Kitchen.

It's been a while.

This copy is new. Not the tremendously dog-eared copy they once had, worn out from being read cover to cover, marked up with circled and underlined passages that they had read and reread until they could recite them word for word.

For just a moment, they wonder if this is Sans. If he somehow took a bitter quote about being filled with leaden hopelessness and tracked it back to its source, just to unnerve them. But... no. That's far too much effort for a guy like him. Frisk certainly never heard a word from those pages, unless you counted a moment where they gazed over the cauldron of hell.

Only one person, then, who it could be.

They settle silently down on their bed. Do not reach for a knife, but flip through the pages until they find a line they know.

The room is empty, but they read out loud. It's hard to remember, sometimes, that they can speak and be heard. That they aren't a blur of thoughts whispering in Frisk's ear, but something that existed before Frisk fell. But the locket (not a Heart Locket, The Locket, it's special for them and not for Frisk, it's theirs) is warm and beating against their chest, and they remember its weight with every word they utter.

It, too, is proof. You're someone who gets presents. You're someone who has a friend. You're someone real, someone who belongs, someone who would be missed.]

I wanted to say, "If there's anything I can do, just say so," but I stopped myself. I silently implored: May the memory of this moment, here, the glowing impression of the two of us facing each other in this warm bright place, drinking lovely hot tea, help save him, even a little bit.

Weekly Gift Delivery is a go.

[buildmeup]

[Probably not as impressive as last week's, but still. Another night; another oddity to obstruct the familiar passage between hand and knife.

He doesn't doubt that Chara will appreciate the irony.]

golly Flowey YOU DO CARE

[fulllifeconsequences]

[There's no mistaking who this is from, either. Not when it's put in the same hiding place. Not when it's so close to their hidden knife, but the gift-giver knows not to take it away. Knows what it's there for, and knows that while not all ways to cope are healthy, they are still ways to cope, and losing another inch of control is a far worse alternative.

...Ha. Isn't that cute. Speaking to each other in hearts and SOULs.

They still have their chocolate bar from when they first arrived. It's getting old, sure, but that doesn't stop them from hoarding, preserving, trying to make each and every individual square count. They carefully open this box and stare at the chocolates within. Count them. In the back of their mind, they consider numbers, as always. Debate a schedule, a quota, a limit. Only one per week, and only if. Only if nobody dies? Only if somebody dies? Only if he continues to avoid them? They don't know what behaviour they're supposed to enforce anymore. They don't know what the world is guiding them toward.

Impulsively, they cast their budding structure and quota and list of requirements out the window, and pop one of the chocolates into their mouth.

It tastes like comfort and sweetness.

It tastes like home.]

[Text]

[mypartnerintime]

[It's the event that gets Max in enough of a mood to actually send this out to Chara. She'd been thinking of sending this, somehow, but if not for the exaggerated emotions tearing through her brain, she might never have.

The text is empty except for an attachment. A song.]

[Text]

[fulllifeconsequences]

[They can't control it, not like everyone else seems to be able to. Their LOVE oscillates wildly, wheeling from 1 to 20 whether they choose it or not.

It burns inside them now, claws their insides up like poisonous flowers. The things they'd been trying so hard to stave off. Not anger, not hatred, not like they hoped it would be. They told themselves those were all they were capable of, but it's not true at all.

Grief. Remorse. Horror. Guilt. Loneliness.

Those are the things that find them. Those are the things that don't let them ignore a text, that don't let them tune a song out. They should throw their phone away. They shouldn't care. It shouldn't mean anything. But it does.

...It's just text, right? Nobody can see your voice shake. Nobody can tell anything from printed words on a screen. If it looks like a threat, if it looks angry and disinterested, then surely she'll believe it is. She won't see it as genuine, she won't have to give them an answer, because she won't have to notice that they're looking for answers.]

Why are you still talking to me?

4/10, stuck to frisk and chara's door

[punful]

5/16

[krmvgivv]

[About a week after the event, A CD is left outside Chara's door. There's even an insert with the song list.

There's also a note.]

To Chara,

Songs that will speak to your inner darkness!

Dipper

text, shortly afterwards

[fulllifeconsequences]

[He wasn't kidding. OH MY GOD. They don't even recognize any of these ridiculous bands THIS IS THE SILLIEST THING THEY HAVE EVER SEEN.]

You made me a mix tape.

I'm pretty sure even Sans has not gone to this much sincere effort just to annoy me.

5/30

[didntknowbest]

[Chara will find a single slice of butterscotch cinnamon pie left on the floor, with a small note on the plate.]

Dear Chara,

I thought you might enjoy a taste of Home!

The rest of the pie is in the kitchen, if you would like more, or would like to share with any friends.

Please be careful with the knives!

Sincerely, Toriel.

[She would have just confiscated all the knives and made Chara ask for a slice, but it seemed like a rather pointless prospect with the closets that give you anything around.]

[fulllifeconsequences]

[They've sort of... been not spending a lot of time in their room lately. They don't... they don't know what to say to Frisk. They can hardly even process this for themselves. It doesn't feel real. It feels impossible that things would be this unbelievably okay for them. Things have no right being okay. They keep looking for a catch, keep expecting to wake up from this dream, keep holding their breath for the point when Toriel thinks their guard is down and tries to really make them pay for everything they've done wrong.

But they creep back into their room, careful not to wake up Frisk, and there's... there's a slice of pie on the floor.

Oh.

They kneel down by it. Try to read the note by the light of their phone, still hoping they don't wake Frisk up. It's... it's like they thought. There's the wrong name on it. Chara, not Frisk. This is... this is for them.

They shouldn't. They know they shouldn't. They definitely haven't earned it. But... right there, kneeling on the floor, they pick up the plate. It smells wonderful.

It feels like they're... like they're stealing? Like they can't be caught, like they need to sneak. But... haha, you tell a joke about a kid who ate pie with their bare hands. Just a couple bites. Just enough to remember what it's like.

...It tastes like home. Like love, like comfort, like the coziness of warm fire magic and a soft reading chair and a pair of big fuzzy arms that actually feel safe, even if they belong to an adult. It tastes, and that's how they know it's real, because they can't trick themselves into tasting if they're still soulless and just... just imagining all of this. It tastes like something Chara never thought they would ever again get to experience.

It's the best thing they've ever tasted.]

textvalanache on 6/06

[determinedest]

[At first they felt that they should just...give Chara space. They clearly need some time to adjust, and maybe distance would benefit them overall.

But Asriel being here really complicates things, and Frisk doesn't know what to do. They hate how they feel completely lost without Chara now. They hate that they can't stand on their own two feet for once.]

Chara please he's asking about you

[determinedest]

He knows you're here. He alreayd knows there's no point

6/12- Audio

[didntknowbest]

[A message left on Chara's phone, when nobody picks up.]

Hello, my child- it has been a few days now since I last saw you... I have been respecting your space, but you did say I could call you, so! I am calling you.

I suppose you are busy right now- please consider calling me back, though. I am just a little worried, is all.

Goodbye.

6/12- Also Audio

[didntknowbest]

[Another message is left, about half an hour later.]

Hello, Chara. I am just calling to confirm that you got my last message. I expected you to call back by now... Perhaps you got distracted by something.

Please get in touch with me again- you can send a text, if you would prefer not to talk over the phone. I know some people are uncomfortable with that.

Goodbye.

text

[0nemoretime]

[He's seen Chara on the network and had been waffling over doing this for a long, long while. But... well. He and Frisk had talked. It was probably important for them to realize he was here, he knew they were here too, and maybe. Make the first step towards something.]

h owdy ch

[He's thrown down his phone but his claw accidentally hits 'send'.]

text

[fulllifeconsequences]

[It's him.

Oh god, it's him.

They're not ready. They don't even see this until it's been a while, because their phone's been off, because... ha ha. They're... not braced for this. They're just not. They think of all those utter nobodies on the Wondernet, claiming they were hiding because they were scared. They think about how they laughed, how hilarious it was that nobody understood at all.

But now, they're terrified. Scared to death of 1.3 words sitting on their screen.

They should delete it. Pretend they never saw it. Keep trying to be gone. Shove their phone at Frisk and tell them to answer instead? Pretend he got a wrong number? Use this to apologize, to tell him they're trying, they're going to adhere to the way he's chosen to understand what happened, they're going to honour his wishes this time? Try to get everything out there in the open all at once, because surely he won't actually answer, surely nothing will happen and nobody will come. Drive him away with all the angriest, bitterest things they can think to say, make their world go emptier by force because then neither of them has to hurt?

They don't know. They don't know what to do.

They have to answer somehow. They have to do something. All that time a lonely, desperate flower called them, and there was no response... they can't... if he's calling them, they have to. They have to. It's cruel to be here when he's let go, when he's asked them to let go too, when they've already been gone for a long time. But it's crueller, right? To not respond when someone calls out?

Every letter feels like a struggle. Their hands feel shaky. But they have to. Just one word. Just one. An answer.]


Greetings.

6/17, late-ish text

[punful]

just so you know

max knows about resets.

text

[fulllifeconsequences]

[He's doing this on purpose. He has to be. He never tells anyone anything. He wouldn't tell his own flesh (ha) and blood (ha ha) about resets, wouldn't tell Alphys, wouldn't tell anyone.

But hey, sure. Suddenly, Max knows. The first human here who was actually sort of nice to them, and the first human here to become afraid of whatever dangerous, inhuman thing they really are. And she knows right at Chara's most vulnerable moment.

They sort of don't want to respond. Be pointless to. Easier to tune it out, not emote at all. The more they let things in, the more they crack at the edges.]

Ok.

[There. A response. He can have the satisfaction.]

text - anonymous

[0nemoretime]

I love you.

text

[fulllifeconsequences]

[Anonymous?? Is this...

Ha. Why would they ever get their hopes up?]

Sans, are you pranking me across time and space again? That isn't funny I'M LIKE 10 OR SOMETHING

Message on a Mirror, 7/6

[didntknowbest]

[Toriel looks at her child through the mirror- or, rather. A duplicate. Not quite them, just the same way as the one on this side isn't quite them. Of course, her version of them never truly existed at all- and yet the memories feel real.

So she still feels upset, seeing some version of them that's like this. They have drive, and determination- and instead of using it for anything good, they instead used it to harm monsters. Harm her people. All while still claiming to hold their own race in such contempt.

There are no excuses. She knows the truth. She hates that this is the only way she can communicate- but it needs to be said. Or at least, written.]

You really are no different from them, Chara.

[fulllifeconsequences]

[Oh. Words on a mirror. Their own mirror has never spoken to them - Chara isn't even sure if they're real enough to warrant a mirror version of themselves - so this must be somebody else! Familiar handwriting, they... think? They're sure they've seen that hand before, but maybe not... for a long time?

Whatever.]

Let me guess. Frisk? Or maybe you're Asriel. He's got to have a copy now too, no?

not really here

[punful]

[There's a copy of Goat Simulator slid under Chara's door, modified so it can be played on their phone if need be.]

[Attached is a note:]

is this your life story

a text to sans' phone, an hour and a half later

[fulllifeconsequences]

I just made a pact with satan

so yes, probably

[private text to chara]

[0nemoretime]

I asked Sans about Gaster.

He keeps trying to avoid talking about it. So... what does this mean?

[private text SENT IMMEDIATELY]

[fulllifeconsequences]

You know about Gaster??

[text] - sometime after things have settled down a bit

[0nemoretime]

gfjasrrta

iinnm plk

klkooobbbne u

[text]

[fulllifeconsequences]

[That's. Not a very coherent message.

Chara's not worried! They woke up to the door softly clicking open and shut, and they were all alone in their room, no sign of Frisk anywhere. But they're not worried.

They remember the discovery that Asriel tried to hurt himself. Tried to erase himself from existence, and all because of a conversation that went wrong. How could they forget that? They're always remembering it, feeling it scratching the back of their heart, hanging over every thought of him.

And now this creative combination of letters. Which Chara isn't worried about! Probably just sat on his phone, or something. Maybe he's playing a trick! He always did have a sassy side, ha ha.

So. You know. Chara's not worried.]

Asriel. Where are you right now?

[mypartnerintime]

[She'd spent so long looking at Chara's video about Narcissus and mirrors without knowing what to say. Then days passed and it was awkward to reply, so she just shot off a text instead.]

Hi Chara.

How are you? :)

[fulllifeconsequences]

I'd call myself a walking disaster, but I don't think I've gotten out of bed in the last 28 hours or so. Guess that makes me more of a sitting disaster!

[They're not even going to pretend they're okay. Asriel's gone and they're sick and miserable. This is the start absolute opposite of okay.]

I've been playing that Pokemon game. I've caught something called a Flabébé.

Actually, I've caught 14 of them.

8/26

[punful]

so by any chance were you in my sock drawer recently?

[The joke is that he doesn't have a sock drawer, because all of them are on the floor.]

[fulllifeconsequences]

Don't be ridiculous, Sans. I'm, like, five feet tall. I wouldn't fit.

text, 9/9, evening

[punful]

have you seen papyrus?

the real one.

[fulllifeconsequences]

No. Lucky for you, I don't go seeking him out.

Trouble in paradise?

text

[0nemoretime]

Chara, are you there?

It's me, your best friend.

I don't think I have a lot of time left, and I'm sorry I'm here and gone, but I wanted to say sorry for the way I acted a little while ago. I'm sorry for everything before that, too. I just wanted to let you know I'm okay. With all of this, everything back home.

I got to talk to mom and dad before I leave, too. I know nobody's gonna remember it if they come home too, but that's okay. You won't either, right? This is silly.

Gosh, I just.

I think I just wanna say that I never blamed you for the plan. For the bad timelines, or any of that. You might not have been the greatest person, but you're still my sibling and I love you, okay?

So... take a deep breath.

There's nothing left to worry about.

I'll see you soon, okay?