[closed to antitemporal and lightofthestars] The child is grown

[systematicsupport]

S-4 always thought he’d go back without being aware of it. He wasn’t aware of coming to the castle in the first place, after all. He just woke up one day, free of the stasis pod, gentle sunlight shining into his eyesockets instead of harsh florescent light, soft ground beneath his feet instead of cold metal. Why wouldn’t he return back to the facility the same way, waking up not to Estu mumbling to him to close the curtains but Gaster gently helping him out of the glass tube with one hand and holding a schedule of the day’s tests with the other?

But that’s not the way it works. The day he returns to where he’s meant to be unfolds just like any other day, with him out in the courtyard, sitting beside his ‘family’. Tauriel is sewing what will probably be another vest for Estu, who is doubled over in front of a pad of paper sketching something very important. Esfor is fumbling with the stems of a few flowers, trying his best to focus on the instructions Grune gave him.

Cross the stems over like this, and… Esfor suddenly sits up with a bright grin, holding out his completed project: a circular crown of flowers.

“Look! I did it!”

His celebrating is cut short by a strange tug in his gut, one he tries his best to ignore, even as his hands tighten around the crown.

Comments

NOT LIKE WE'D KNOW

[antitemporal]

Sans-Serif nods slowly, rolling the idea over and over inside his skull. Dr. Gaster had to know the way out. Any of the scientists would, but Gaster was the one who most freely spoke to them. And he was an especially important scientist, though Sans-Serif still wasn't entirely sure how. So if he said it was okay, then it would really have to be okay. Wouldn't it?

But would he ever give such permission? Gaster was outwardly kind, but he'd let so many bad things happen that Sans-Serif couldn't so easily believe anymore.

"...he might not let us," the smaller skeleton mutters morosely. "or he might not listen."

There must be some reason, some excuse. Or else why else would they still be here at all? Sans-Serif remembers Gaster fussing over their "stability". They were only made from one fragment of soul. That had never successfully happened before. It was supposed to mean that they could get overwhelmed easily and that was what part of that last experiment...

lights noise trapped help let me sleep let me die...

...was supposed to help deal with.

He has his doubts. But he doesn't want to say those doubts aloud, when S-4 at least has a plan.

"you can ask, though. you're better at..." Here he gestures vaguely, waving a hand in a vain attempt to encompass his feelings. "...words. especially with him." Some of his last memories before arriving in the castle had been of S-4's halting first attempts at speech. But he'd also heard them slowly getting better, under their creator's careful guidance.

Asking outright could at least give them an idea of how to proceed from here. Maybe it could give them a better idea of Gaster's true intentions, after that horrible last experiment.

-I- KNOW orz

[lightofthestars]

"And I will search for the way when I can," she vows. "If, it seems, I am here a-as a spirit" --no, she will not falter-- "then maybe it is more than Dr. Gaster who will not see me."

Yet she will not begin her search now. Not when her children so plainly need her.

She presses both their shoulders, then lets go. Already, she tires, and she must preserve her strength.

"Now, will you not show me this room? There is much in here I do not understand."

And it will allow her children to dwell upon something other than their imprisonment.

[systematicsupport]

S-4 has his doubts too. He really isn’t sure if Gaster will agree to this. And he doesn’t want Sans-Serif to feel like he’s trapped here, just because S-4 is too nervous to try escaping without permission.

But this has to work. Gaster always looked after the two of them. If S-4 convinced him that they’d be better looked after somewhere else, than he’d surely agree to all of this.

“He’ll… he’ll listen to me. I’ll ask him when, when he comes back. I’m sure he’ll help us.”

He glances at Tauriel with a smile.

“Thank you, Mom.”

Both for helping with escaping, and for leaving the search until later, when S-4’s brother will feel better. He gets up to his feet, offering a hand to help Sans-Serif up too.

“Um, okay! This is… our room, sort of. It’s where me and S-2 stay when we aren’t busy with… tests. We’re usually in the pods to rest. Especially since… since you needed to recover,” he mutters at Sans-Serif.

[antitemporal]

"yeah. thank you, naneth." He offers her a grateful smile, before accepting the hand S-4 offers upright. Even then, Sans-Serif sways a little, and finds himself forced to lean against his brother for support. After a minute, he realizes why - he's smaller, now. He'd grown a little, in the castle - grown at least a little taller, and certainly grown more solid. But here, once again, he's spindly and thin. It's as though his body has been rewound, even if his mind hasn't.

All the more reason to get reacquainted with the place, he supposes - for reasons of practicality, if nothing else.

Sans-Serif nods down at the low table they were seated at. "that's where we do art therapy. so doctor gaster can see what we're thinking about. since...we couldn't really talk before." He never really cared much for it, earlier. He never really saw the point, as he hadn't seen the point of so many things. Now, he hopes that their time to draw won't be cut short, just because they can now express themselves in other ways.

Shoving that thought aside for later, he points instead towards what looks like a bench, set against one wall. "that's where he tests our reflexes and makes sure we can still see." Though despite its stated purpose as an examination table, a few folders and papers have been left there, "just for now". It's always "just for now", at least until Gaster gets distracted and suddenly it's days later. Then Sans-Serif points to a desk crammed against another wall, piled high with tottering stacks of papers and folders around a computer with its screen still glowing. "that's doctor gaster's desk. i think he has another office somewhere, because he goes away a lot while he's working. but i think he keeps the notes on us in here."

[lightofthestars]

She listens to what her children say and tries to understand, though much is strange to her. Strangest of all is a construction of metal that...glows?

Though she is curious, she does not wish to leave Esfor and Estu's side, especially when Estu is suddenly so weak. And so she only motions to the creation.

"What is that?"

[systematicsupport]

S-4 notes with some concern that his brother does seem a lot smaller. Hopefully it doesn't mean something bad, and at least besides stumbling slightly, Serif seems fairly normal despite the situation.

He nods along with the explanations, only making a slight face when he sees the messy table. It's always a little frustrating that, no matter how often he tried to clean up, Gaster would have piles of paper replacing the old ones the very next day.

Tauriel's question gets his attention back, and he frowns before he realizes what she's talking about.

"It's Dr. Gaster's computer. He keeps notes about research and stuff on there."

S-4 doesn't know much more about it. Gaster has warned him not to touch it.