[Open Post, backdated to November 1st] The Rising

[oldmantiger]

 Kotetsu wakes up.

...which is a little surprising, considering he hasn't actually slept in a month.

He wakes up, flat on his back in the gardens. The grass is warm beneath him, the breeze is crisp around him. For a moment, he just enjoys it. Even when memories of the past month start to filter back, he lets himself entertain the idea that it was all just a bad dream. 

But then he remembers the monster. He remembers being...twisted and transformed. He remembers everything he heard, everything he did. And no, there's no way it was all a dream. He's never been that lucky. 

Kotetsu lays a hand against his chest, but...no, there's no denying that whatever Asriel had taken is back where it belongs. Right now, it mostly feels like a heavy weight on his chest. A heavier weight, at least. All of him feels pretty heavy and clumsy now, after a solid month of being insubstantial and invisible.

There are people he needs to see. That knowledge forces its way through to the front of his mind. Kotetsu braces his hands on the ground to try and get up...and immediately gets distracted by the feel of the ground. Such a simple thing that he wants to never, never take for granted again. He laughs out loud to feel it, laughs just to be sure he's not going to sob.

It's been a long month. He kind of wants to get drunk until the next one. But...the grass just feels so nice right now. He's not ready to stand up.

So those of you who are out, about, and reacting to your newly normalized states might come across Kotetsu in the gardens, laying on the ground, pulling up blades of grass a few tufts at a time and watching them be carried away on the breeze. He's smiling like he doesn't have a care in the world.

He has plenty, though, and they eventually become impossible to ignore. So when Kotetsu does get to his feet, he immediately starts running. As he runs, he calls out: "Bunny? Toshi? Where are you?"

Though if he passes by anyone he encountered as a ghost - whether or not they knew he was there - he's definitely going to slow down and hesitate for a moment, wondering what to say. If he should say anything. 

Comments

I am hardly in a position to judge. >_< Thakns for tagging, though! I love these two.

[oldmantiger]

He doesn't recognize that a ghost is caring for that body in that moment, but he does recognize the figure. He especially recognizes that sweater. Including the fact that, the last time he saw this child, they were a skeleton and he was a ghost and he was chasing them off from Barnaby. Whoops. Someone else to apologize to, then.

Even so, he smiles back broadly to see them safe. His memories of his time as a Lost Soul are hazy, but he does remember promising to look for them. He also remembers not succeeding at all.

Their greeting sounds completely sincere, enough to take him aback for a moment - he remembers how sarcastic Chara had been when they'd first met. But he waves back, even as he casts his mind back for a name. He's...not sure he actually got their name, in the heat of everything, from Croc to transformations. "Hey, kid!"

Kotetsu crosses the distance between them and kneels down a bit to better address Chara. "Looks like everyone's starting to get back to normal. How are you feeling?"

[itstheend]

Frisk isn't inclined to introduce themself as Chara; for one, they aren't, and for another, that's Chara's choice to make. They... are not planning to reveal themself as Frisk, either, unless something presses the issue. They're fine being background.

So 'kid' works for now. It's not wrong.

It feels a bit weird when he kneels a little, and they blink. They weren't expecting that level of focus, but they don't mind it.

"Better," they say warmly. Not 'good', necessarily, but definitely better. "You don't need to look for me anymore."

There's a nice dual meaning there making it not technically misleading. They squint up at him, looking him over.

"What about you, are you okay?"