fulllifeconsequences

I'm catching all the yellow ones. Golden flowers are my favourite. I think I've had enough white flowers for a long, long time.

[They taste horrible. Worse than buttercups. It takes a mighty exertion of willpower to bite down the horrible, impulsive answer to Max's question, because boy is talking about flowers a fantastic setup to a great line about eating. They've been eating, but they've been eating all the wrong things, huh?

But that would be creepy. Gotta have a little chill.]

I'm not hungry. I'd rather keep playing.

[...Right. Flowers. Always something up about flowers. Chara standing in a patch of flowers waiting for Max.]

Uh huh. You sound like ten-year-old me. Then my mom would fire back with "if you don't eat I'll toss the game out the window"

[This is totally how you cheer up a sad person. Totally.]

Is someone taking care of you Chara? I can bring you some food.

Maybe I am ten-year-old you. We've got the same haircut and everything, don't we?

["Max" is a short enough name that they would respond to it, but it's easier to make a stupid joke about it. If you can still crack jokes, you're doing fine.

They're doing fine.]

Frisk is here. Toriel and Asgore are around, as well. There is nothing to worry about.

My hair is dyed you know. ^_^

And when I was ten it was long.

[Where is this conversation going and does she want it to go there...]

Maybe you and I more alike than we like to admit.

[There, she said it, God.]

Yeah but I mean... are you letting yourself be taken care of?

[They think they should deny being like her. They don't think anyone should ever want to be like Chara. Being like Chara sounds like a death sentence.

But that would be creepy.

So would answering her question honestly, really. It'd just be a downer. "I refuse to be taken care of because I don't deserve it?" Or maybe "I think every single one of us is sort of having our own simultaneous breakdowns so I don't think it would be fair to ask to be taken care of?" How about "I'd rather be dead than be a burden?" Yeah, okay, sure. Way to be dramatic. You sound like such an angsty 12-year-old, Chara. Jeez.

Maybe the happiest answer is just... silence, right? If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.]

Asgore's hair is long too. I used to think about growing mine out, but I wasn't around long enough for it to ever happen.

What's your natural colour?

[Max is actually kind of sure that, if she were ten or eleven, she'd think Chara is cool and independent. The way she'd seen Chloe. Maybe they wouldn't be too similar, but they would've gotten along.]

Black. Can you imagine me with black hair :/

You have time now! Maybe you should dye it red, like your eyes. I can show you how? [Just because it'd be cool, not because it's scary or anything. God what is she even- this is so ridiculous. She tries to imagine dying Chara's hair and has to stop herself from freaking out.

And she does notice how Chara didn't respond to her earlier question.]

I cant remember if you like or hate pie

I think black hair would look cool.

...So would red, actually. Do you think I would get in trouble if I dyed it? I hope I get in trouble.

[It... sounds a little... interesting. Fun, maybe. Changing a fundamental thing about themselves, just because they can. Nobody'd mistake Frisk for them if they had bright red hair!]

I like pie. I just won't bake it myself.

No I dont think youd get in trouble! I wouldn't offer if I did.

But it'll be cool, right? Surprise Frisk or something.

Boy, I'd bet they'd be surprised! Think they'd end up trying to dye theirs to match?

Maybe but it'd look better on you :)

Hey knock knock. I brought you some pie.

[Yup she's totally standing outside their door and not knocking because she texted knock knock. She doesn't plan to stay long- just a minute to drop off the food, give Chara a quick look over, and leave.]

[It takes a second for Chara to stumble out of bed and shamble to the door. They're... really not looking their best. Not sick, not really, not anymore, but there are dark circles under their eyes and their cheeks aren't looking so rosy and their hair has a distinctly not-yet-brushed look to it.

It's definitely a "it's probably like 2pm and I still have not gotten out of bed" sort of look. Very stylish.

They open the door, and sort of... stare. Look halfway between sheepish and bewildered.]

Max. I... um, I didn't think anyone would actually visit. You didn't have to...

[They scratch their arm, blush a little. Don't seem to know what to do with unexpected kindness at all.]

You actually brought pie.

[Max is looking pretty sheepish herself. She had the kitchen cough up an entire pie, and of course she brought the whole thing as though a kid could finish it by themself.]

It's nothing. I hope you like blueberry. Don't worry, I didn't cook it, so it's probably safe to eat.

[As she says it, she takes in Chara's appearance. Definitely not good. Especially for a kid... God, they should be out making a mess or something.]

Uhh. Here. [She holds out the pie.] That'll be five dollars and fifty cents.

You're charging me?

[They raise their eyebrows, laugh a little bit.]

Remind me. What kind of currency are we using in Wonderland? Gold? Euros? Heads of cattle? I think I've got a few dog treats somewhere in one of these drawers.

[Chara just goes ahead and takes the pie. Their pie now. They're gonna eat the entire thing.

Maybe not the entire thing. But pretty close.]

[Max laughs along, and lets Chara take the pie without any objection. Good. That's the Chara she knows. And they're going to eat it.

She honestly feels like she helped... and that makes her smile.]

Anyway I'm off. Lemme know whenever you want flaming red hair, okay? [No, not literally flaming, Chara.] And share the pie with Frisk if they come around.

I will. We share everything.

[Funny how true that's become. They share so much more now than they ever did back when they had to share a body with Frisk. They cradle the pie like it's fragile, take a step back into their room.]

Max...

[They clear their throat. Avert their eyes.]

Thanks. I'll - I'll name a Pokemon after you.

[Max pauses halfway between turning to leave and looks at Chara with obvious surprise. That's... hard to react to. She feels her face wanting to break into a big and easy smile, but it's drowned out by all the awkwardness.

Chara's own step backward is mirrored as Max takes a step back into the hallway and rubs her cheekbone with a fingertip.]

Y-yeah, sure. Just... nothing fairy type, okay? And if it's a Magikarp you better evolve it.

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.]

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

maybe there was an event i wasn't aware of and you shrank.

it could happen.

though my sock drawer wouldn't be a very comfortable place to sleep.

[He is also now coming to terms with the fact that Chara is a full foot taller than him, holy fuck.]

[They aren't even five feet in actuality. They just like to embellish so they sound bigger and older than they are.]

Nowhere in your room is a comfortable place to sleep. I don't know why 4 willingly stays there.

i don't know either. he's a weird little guy.

[He could joke, go back to their games, say something like, "did you find any cool socks, i've got a pretty awesome collection," but. He's been too tired for games lately. And if the questions are coming, he'd rather just get them over with.]

did you tear a page out so that i would notice? or was it something else?

Both, I suppose? I do love to multitask.

[They stop to retrieve the crumpled-up paper. A little crinkly, but still intact. Their drawing sits on one side, so impossible to explain to someone who isn't Frisk that they're really not sure how to bring it up to Sans at all. On the other... whatever he was writing about. Wingdings is easier to speak than it is to write, and that says a lot when individual letters are represented by hands and mailboxes.]

What does the page I took say, anyway? It'd save me a lot of effort if you just wanted to translate it for me.

or at the very least you like things to have multiple meanings.

[Sans, on his end, goes and digs the notebook out of his drawer and flips to the offended page, trying to remember what the hell he even wrote. Mostly it was just notes. Random thoughts, equations.]

it's just science stuff.

considering how it went the last time i mentioned anything remotely scientific to you

i think i'd rather refrain from translating it.

[Also he can't remember what he wrote. This section seems to be about superstrings so, yeah, not gonna bring that up again. Ever again, to anyone, probably.]

I lose my cool a single time, and I'm locked out of the science club forever? Yeesh, you really are unforgiving.

[Haven't forgotten what he told them. How could they?]

I'd just lost an Asriel who I might have actually been an impostor to. The wrong Chara.

It's probably cheating that I allow myself to use the true name when nobody called me here with any name at all. Laughably enough, my sense of self on the very best days is what the cool kids call "a screaming disaster."

Surely you can understand why I didn't take it in stride as flawlessly as I usually do.

[Because, you know, coping with things in seamless and effortless ways is totally a thing Chara does all the time.

...Yeah, okay. Thinking about something else now. They're definitely trying to translate the page, purely because it's there.]

i get it, actually. you don't have to explain it or justify yourself.

[Then again, they kind of do. They have to justify themselves all the damn time. Their existence, their continued existence, their right to do so.]

[The wrong Chara. The wrong Frisk. The wrong Asriel. The wrong Sans. Considering it's starting to look like every single one of them is from a slightly different timeline or world, it's starting to also well and truly not matter.]

honestly that's not a thing that anyone takes in stride, unless they're already looking for it.

same with resets, timelines

the code you're trying to make sense of right now

no one takes this stuff in stride.

[Studying physics is basically constant existential dread. Hey, did you know that some scientists think the entire universe is a computer simulation? Did you know that energy can in fact be created and destroyed under certain circumstances? Did you know that dark matter is the most plentiful type of matter in the universe and no one knows what it is? Did you know that certain types of teleportation result in the original person being vaporized at point A and an entirely new person being formed at point B?]

science is creepy.

* IC Inbox

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Hope this is okay!

text > action!

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8/26

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