Set a Bat Among the Pigeons

[andthebat]

There's a particularly unusual creature in the aviary today.

 

The Batman isn't happy to wake up at the top of a tree surrounded by birds for many reasons, but chief among them is the fact that the birds are loud. He'd been jarred awake by a parrot screeching right near his ear and his startled motions when he'd jerked into an upright position had resulted in a massive cloud of panicked birds fleeing from the big weird animal. Naturally, they'd raised a cacophony of squawks, chirps, tweets and twittering in the process, and his ears were still ringing a little from the initial uproar. 

But the bird had at least left the Batman alone up there, perched on top of a particularly thick branch several stories above the ground. The height doesn't phase him, but the fact he doesn't recognize the tree- or the massive room it seems to be in- is enough to disconcert him when the last thing he remembers is heading back to the Manor after a long night chasing down the Penguin. 

 

He does wonder if this might be some sort of Penguin-related scheme, but even with the earlier screeching the birds don't seem hostile enough, or even that interested when he's merely sitting around and trying to get his bearings. Not to mention even Penguin wouldn't be dumb enough to leave the Batman untied.

 

Sitting in a tree all day isn't going to get Batman any answers of course, so he unfolds his wings and leaps off his branch, swooping in circles around the aviary and keeping an eye out for anything or anyone that might be able to shed some light on the situation.

tossing and turning

[dustless]

It seems that human food doesn't really do much for the SOUL.

Well, maybe it would if it had been special food. Frisk vaguely remembers hearing about food made by dear loved ones can help heal heartbreak, and that might be close enough to count.

But they don't really...have that right now. They just have castle-made candies and cakes and fruit, and while that was better than nothing, none of that stops the uncomfortable ache settled in their chest and pulsing through their body.

They also recall a little rabbit child talking about how sleeping could help with that. Well, sleeping in hotels specifically, but that rabbit had been in a hotel, and the castle could probably be called a hotel, albeit one filled with unwilling residents. 

And so they quest to find a place to take a nap, without having to worry as much about being found by a particular troubled skeleton. They haven't given up on him, nowhere near it, but they'd like to be healthy when they meet again just in case. So their usual resting spot of "in the garden" was discarded, since it's right in the middle of everything.

As nice as it had been to be outside during it, their original plan--to hide out on top of a tower and catch a nap there--was foiled by the rain that came with the storm.

So Frisk carefully steals through the castle towers until they find one with a mostly-empty bedroom almost to the top, and try to rest there.

Key word: try.

The bed is very soft and comfortable, and they hover around the hazy edges of sleep for what feels like hours, but they never quite make it there. They're too worried about...sort-of-Papyrus. And Sans. And their friends they left behind, and their friends here, and just--everyone. They can't focus on a goal until they feel better, but they can't rest unless they stop worrying, and so they just cycle through thoughts over and over and over. And their low HP only distracts them even more.

So eventually, Frisk gives up and collapses into a soft-ish chair by the tower's window instead, watching the sky turn oranges and pinks, and a handful of stars appear between swaths of cloud. Maybe they'll be soothed to sleep by the prettiness of it. 


[backdated in the castle's nebulous timeframe of after their 'fight' with S4 and meeting Thor, but before everything else.]