Enter the reflection

[darkerstripes]

The first thing he notices is that he's no longer plugged into his charger base. He wasn't asleep- he doesn't have the need- but he'd set his senses to 'hibernate'. It passes the time faster than being alert all night, when his (caretakers? friends?) humans are asleep. He has his danger alert system on, so if something entered the apartment he would know.

Apparently the same was not true of exiting the apartment. His eyes come back online with a soft green glow and he starts in surprise. Dust, cobwebs... stone. Nothing is familiar. That isn't possible. He doesn't dream, and he sensed no change, no movement. Hesitantly, he stands, glancing around, poised at every joint to run or dodge.

No danger is apparent, no matter how many times he scans. He can't trust his sensors, though, because they didn't even detect his arrival here. How could he have been moved without noticing?

"Kotetsu?"

He calls to his host. His own voice echoes back through the room, sounding eerie as it returns to his ears from the outside. They buzz with light feedback. He frowns. If anything has happened to Kotetsu... The android feels his eyes flash red for a moment at the thought.

He can feel the anxiety rising in his wires, sparking circuits and making his voice box feel squeezed. He remembers what Barnaby taught him, about controlling fear. Breathing in three, out five. In three, out seven, in three, out ten. Focus on your physical form. Take stock of what you know is true, toss out what you're assuming. Start over.

He is in a throne room. There is no immediate danger. He is unsure how he arrived. He is unsure of Kotetsu's whereabouts. The android takes out his phone and attempts to send a message. No signal. He does another breathing exercise. He doesn't actually need the air, of course, but his body requires the pressure change to speak, and the rhythm of it soothes even his synthetic body.

All other options exhausted, he must explore and search. He opens his map program and begins with a fresh, empty blueprint. He estimates the dimensions of the room, adds in the doors. He chooses one of those doors, and begins his exploration.

Comments

[dustless]

He will find a child sitting outside--specifically, in a window, one leg hanging against the side of the building they're in, one inside. They've got their arms folded against the stone wall, resting their head against it. The perfect picture of relaxation.

Their eyes are closed, but one cracks open a few seconds after they hear the door. "Hi, Kotetsu."

[darkerstripes]

He's dual wielding with his eyes- watching where he's going as well as building a map of the castle. He is not yet aware how futile of an endeavor that will turn out to be. He takes longer than usual to notice the small child lounging in the window. They look so at peace, it gives him pause, makes him smile.

A smile that turns somewhat strained at the mistaken identity. Well, he should get used to it. Or be used to it. He always figured the red and black clothes, or his eyes, would give him away faster. Perhaps his old Master's constant disapproval of his inaccurate eyes made him extra aware of them, where most people are not.

"Sorry, not exactly." He really does sound apologetic.

[dustless]

He's not close enough for them to notice the eyes just yet. The clothes are a bit more obvious, but they're not going to judge if someone goes hunting for new stuff if they feel like it.

"Mm?" Frisk opens both eyes, finally, sitting up a little. Somebody new already? "...Who're you, then?"

[darkerstripes]

"Don't let me interrupt your nap!" Naps and sleeping always sounded so lovely to Toshi, he would hate to ruin the serenity this child had been floating in.

But he was asked a question. "I'm Toshi. And you are?"

[dustless]

"'S okay. I wasn't asleep." The thing about sleeping is that it comes with dreams, and dreams can easily be bad ones. Frisk's tend to go that way half the time, and they'd rather not fall to the ground because they thought they were dodging a set of teeth bigger than they are.

"I'm Frisk." They tilt their head, looking at him a little more closely. "You look like Kotetsu. But you're not, you're new. Newer. Right?"

[darkerstripes]

"Alright." He would still rather not interrupt the calm lazytimes, but this child seems determined (ha) to chat.

They speak so softly. It's... sort of nice, actually. Soothing. Toshi likes it. "I am not Kotetsu, no." He found him earlier, though, to his great relief. "I arrived here today."

[dustless]

Definitely not Kotetsu, even if he hadn't said. He talks more like Barnaby-bunny does. Even not knowing that face for too long, it's weird hearing...formal talk, they guess, coming from it.

They suppose a Chara with a Frisk face would be similar, actually.

...

Anyway. Frisk swings their legs over to land smartly on the hallway's stone floor.

"Lots of new people here lately. Anybody tell you 'bout the weird stuff yet?"

[darkerstripes]

Very much like a Chara with a Frisk face. Especially if said Chara was given a lot of therapy and maybe a long, restful nap.

He forms a small smile as Frisk smartly lands, fighting down the urge to crouch to the kid's level. Is that rude? He doesn't know.

"Really?" He thinks of his friends, and how they had both been here a few days. "Sort of. The basics. Alternate Universes, timeline tomfoolery." All very difficult for a logical, mathematical mind to comprehend... but sort of delicious to the budding romantic in him.

[dustless]

"Yeah. One's a crocodile man, don't fight him. Barnaby did that already. And Kotetsu. But the other monsters here are good, and a bunch are my family, so don't fight them." A good thing to start out with when talking to somebody that might have some kind of superpowers.

They take a few steps forward, maybe slightly getting into his personal bubble. They're not thinking about it much. "Yeah, 's a good start. There's other stuff, like the castle being in the sky, and the rooms moving, and some of the food in the ballroom you gotta be careful with..."

Ah. Now do they notice the eyes--definitely not the brown of Kotetsu's.

[darkerstripes]

Something rears in him. His heroes were fighting a crocodile man? He disappears for five fucking minutes... "Are Barnaby and Kotetsu all right?" He is the most concerned babysitter robot.

He hears the concern in the kid's voice. "I prefer not to fight anyone." Unless they're a danger to someone he cares about. Or Kotetsu and or Barnaby insists it's a good idea he fight them. He trusts their judgement implicitly.

He isn't bothered by how close the kid is, he isn't even sure it's odd that they're standing this close. Social norms are still a very new thing for him. "The rooms... move?"

Priorities.

[dustless]

Are they all right?

Kotetsu is really really missing his kid and Barnaby freaked out and cried a lot and I don't know why is probably not the right answer to that. He's...talking about fighting Croc. "...got hurt a little bit, but they used their powers to heal, I guess." They're not lying.

Chara eyes, that's what he's got. Frisk sort of likes that. 'Specially paired with not wanting to fight.

"There's some stuff like the ballroom that's usually in the same place, and the Edge is always outside the castle, and the gardens are always in the middle. But...most of the rest moves."

[darkerstripes]

Well, those answers aren't wrong either, and they are ones Toshi would accept. He knows how much Kaede means to Kotetsu, especially now that they've repaired their relationship so much, and he knows the things Barnaby struggles with... he would want to run and find him and care for him immediately, though.

And apparently that's not practical at all. "Ah, that's. Not ideal. I had been hoping to create a map of the building..." He even still had the program open, and he internally looks forlornly at it. Any of the rooms he's mapped on could be in a different place now? Great. He sighs and closes the program.

"I hope I find them soon..." Being away from his heroes is almost physically painful.

[dustless]

"A map? Probably not gonna be easy." They pause, staring at his shirt without really seeing it. "...was actually supposed to help somebody with making one once. I think we forgot, though."

Twitching their shoulders to bring them out of it, Frisk hums a little. "...probably will. The castle's big, but it's easy to find people if you're looking for them. Dunno how it works, but it does." They stretch. "Can help you look 'f you want."

[darkerstripes]

He cants his head a little as Frisk stares unseeing at his shirt. They seem... gone, for a moment, like their mind took them far, far away. It's an expression he's familiar with, and one he usually associates with very unpleasant moments.

But the kid comes back from it mostly all right. Still, the seeds of concern have been sown. "Probably not going to work well, if the rooms move." Unless he has some way to track the rooms' locations... He'll consider that.

"Benevolent moving rooms?" Sure, why not. Nothing else makes sense anyway. "If you would like to accompany me." He would like to not be alone, actually, and now he feels a little itching desire to look after this kid.