Behold! A powerless human Dad!

[hotarue]

Souichi heard them. He's not well enough, she's all he smiles for, they called again...week after week he let the nurses light their fuel. They needed to...he couldn't imagine the stress. His body mended from the end of the world and finally home was home again.

Time had a say. Of course it would be Pluto, taking another child...he let her go. He let her go because they were different now. Knew more of who they were. He didn't tell her to be strong; he didn't need to. Sayonara, Hotaru...

The hospital wasn't done with him. The checkups, therapist doubled as a grocer...Souichi peeked at the notes while the man was distracted making coffee.

Most reaction on seeing an eye without a clear face (walkback session). Still minimal. Concerned, requesting full scan analysis to review damage and healing assessments.

But he was satisfied with nothing and Souichi had to gain some control of his life. A happy farewell and quieting road later, he snatched his keys the therapist forgot to take and took to the road himself. He sighed, the most relaxed he'd been in months. Even turning the corner there was something new...red, wait, wait, yellow, wait, green, slowly turn...good, match the spee--

A mid-fancy car bumbles through the castle garden, smashing snow off half a bush and ramming into a curved wall of snow, which Souichi gets to stare at as he's pitched forward and body-slammed by the airbag.

No rest for the weary's a cruddy saying.


(OOC: Takes place during the de-aging event but not affecting him.)

Comments

[dustless]

What the hell was that.

Frisk sticks their head out of a window from the second story. Is that...a car?

[hotarue]

The dude in the car flat-out blacks out for some ten seconds. When his eyes open shakily, Souichi...still doesn't move. What happened? Went...went from spring to snow...something tickles and he starts sneezing, too out of it to realize the airbag has dust that just spews itself over everything.

Hasn't even registered the castle he's in the middle of. At least being cold means he's not numb or paralyzed. Ladies and gentlemen, The Upside.

[dustless]

As soon as they see nobody's getting out of the car (it is surreal seeing something so modern in the castle, by the way), they're tearing down halls and stairways.

('Stay here, Chara,' they said, in case it's dangerous. Frisk didn't have time catch their expression when they shot out of the room, but they were pretty sure they weren't being followed.)

Hopefully whoever-it-is didn't die in there or something, that'd be a horrible introduction to the castle.

Frisk gets outside, tromping through the snow in too-big boots, until they've got to the car door and rap their knuckles on the window.

[hotarue]

By the time Frisk shows up Souichi has a cloth over his mouth. He should get out, he knows, but he doesn't know what he'll step into. There's...there's snow. And old towering stone...he can't be imagining all this. The knock makes him jump and automatically he lowers the window.

A...a kid? Souichi's only reaction is to blink slowly, bringing Frisk into focus...and in...and in again. His breath's a warm mist, dissipating in the chilly air and briefly he wishes that's all this is...

"...W...what did..."

He trembles and hangs his head, supporting it with both hands. A wince and he jerks one away and holds his wrist. There's a small cut, too, on the side of his head...shouldn't...shouldn't there be more? Don't people die in wrecks?

[dustless]

Of course people die in wrecks. Not all of them, though.

"Um...hi. You're hurt." Obviously. They reach for the door's handle. "You should...probably get out. Can you? Are your legs okay?"

[hotarue]

Maybe that's what happens. The light is snow. The people not who the dying thinks they are and want to see. Souichi's brow furrows and he shuts his eyes tight, fighting back a cry. Now? When he could walk again? When he finally did something for himself? When Hotaru just-- ...maybe she's why he existed...his brow softens, the smallest smile. He'd like to be worth more.

Frisk's words are soft. His grief boils away to a tentative acceptance - he should've died a lot of times. If anything kills him here, he couldn't have fought it anyway.

Souichi unbuckles the seatbelt and reaches with his far hand, pushing open the door. He manages to move enough so both feet are in the snow, but he's not ready to walk yet. Souichi hunches over and shivers, careful to keep his hurt wrist still.

"Sorry, I'm not...I'm not sure. Do you know what did this?"

Give the circumstances, Souichi's mind quick to clear. If this isn't the afterlife...could it be another dimension? He's never laughed at the idea and the last five years showed him in the most awful way...that'd be nice. It'd be nice to be alive.

[dustless]

Very soft. For a long time, that was unnatural--their throat's feeling much better lately, but they default to quietness anyway.

"'This'? Crashed the car, or...um...brought you here?" Or both. They're pretty sure he's new. They would've noticed the sound of a car driving around before this. "'Cause the ice prob'ly crashed it."

Frisk offers him their hand to grab, if he wants. It's bare, unlike the rest of them, all wrapped up in old-fashioned winter gear.

[ifyoumustblink]

WOW THAT SURE SOUNDS LIKE A DISASTER

The flock of paper birds scatter, all of them settling on bushes and shrubs and trees, a very loose circle of origami onlookers. Kubo himself crouches at a distance from behind a hedge. Even for a Western-style castle, that… thing looks superbly out of place, especially for a kid out of old Japan.

His fingers pull a few quiet notes from the shamisen he carries. A few of the birds go forward, peeking around the car in curiosity. Hello?

[hotarue]

WAIT 'TIL YOU MEET THE MAN

Souichi's too stunned to move. Not just the scenery and season change, but wondering what the heck he hit. Packed snow's not that dense...coughing into his elbow vampire-style, he opens the door and stumbles out, nearly falling in the snow. He ignores the music notes and angular snowless shifting leaves, thinking they're just another hallucination, and turns back when he realizes he's without his glasses.

Raising his arm to hold his head makes him buckle and grip his wrist with a wince. Ow shit ow what.

[ifyoumustblink]

That's a person. Worse for wear, certainly, though it's not all that surprising given the wreck he crawled out of.

Kubo peers not-so-covertly over the snow-covered hedges. The man is obviously hurt, but he's still hesitant about approaching--the castle brings in all kinds of people, some not as well-meaning as others.

The birds, meanwhile, hover on standby. He's trying to be careful.

[hotarue]

He stumbles back to the car, ducks in for a moments, rummages. Souichi straightens, glasses in hand, but he's not wearing them yet. Another stab of pain and he stumbles back against his car, hand at his wrist again and baring his teeth. The snow gives him something to focus on. He slowly looks at the sky, too. Blue and bright to grey. Pavement to grass and snow...

That's when he sees Kubo. Tensing even though it's clear it's a kid, he steps towards him once, and for some reason it's then he sees all the paper birds, too. He's surrounded!?

"O...origami?"

Muttered under his breath. Focus on the minute, marginally understandable things first. Season inversion and environment swap will be acknowledged and tackled by his brain next.

[ifyoumustblink]

Well, if he's spotted him, there's not much more need for subtlety, is there?

Kubo stands up, plays only a few measures of a much longer piece of music and the birds take into the air. Each of them unfolds into individual pieces of paper, back into his pack.

If it wasn't obvious already. Kubo is very old-fashioned--outdated by about five hundred years, in fact.

"Hi. Are you new?"

He's got quite the old accent, too, even if his vocabulary's fairly modern.

[hotarue]

A shamisen...that appears to command paper. He'd be more skeptical, but he's seen too many things. A women teleport out of a lab coat and stand at ease on the ceiling. Raising her from the dead. Space and matter trembling from the approach of silence...it's odd to see something tame.

Still in shock, Souichi just stares at him. It takes him a few moments to process what's said, his mind filtering the accents and languages he knows and history he learned.

"...Here, yes. Sorry if I interrupted something..."

Slowly he looks at his car. Screwed. And the shrubs and...oh god. Fountains. He wrecked a public garden. ...No, the walls...

"A...castle?"

He barely catches himself. Mansions and otherwise don't usually have grand old towers. He makes it a goal to not associate with people who see themselves as kings. There's too much difference as there is.

[itstheend]

A smaller Chara is minding their own business in the garden, pushing snow around listlessly, and definitely does not deserve HOLY SHIT A CAR JUST CRASHED INTO THE BUSH THEY WERE IN FRONT OF.

They watch as it continues on until it hits a snowbank, their heartrate going through the roof. It takes a while, breath curling out into the cold air, before they feel like they can move again.

If a car's here, there must be a way to the outside world.

They run to it, kicking up snow, and come to a halt in front of the driver's side door, tugging at the handle and tapping politely on the glass. Their voice may be a bit muffled.

"Excuse me sir, are you alright?" Alive, might have been a better word.

[hotarue]

He's definitely not allowed to drive now. Souichi spent the moments similarly frozen, staring blankly at the snow smothering the windshield. It's not a hard hit, no boulder hidden in there or anything, so that's a plus to all...this. He left spring. It was spring and a road and now there's snow and who knows.

The sudden person and voice doesn't startle him. He should be worried it didn't but the first clear thought in his head...the kid must have been close by to be here this quick. Souichi's hands loosen on the wheel, hearing the question. Is...is he?

"H, hard to tell!"

A breathless laugh. Anyone else would've been more than stunned, but it's a trivial thing to him. He's somewhere else now in the snow. That's the least weird thing that's happened in a long time. In a daze Souichi unbuckles and opens the door, happy he took off his glasses for the drive.

"Is this...another dimension?"

Says a lot that's completely reasonable to him.

[itstheend]

Chara steps back as he opens the door. He seems unharmed, and they try to shake off the part of them that was hoping he wouldn't be. That's not nice, Chara.

They blink at his question. It does indeed say a lot, because they've been here for a little while and they still don't quite believe that, although a flying castle in their world would have to be remote indeed to go un-noticed.

"So I have been told, sir."

There's a brief flicker, inside, and it terrifies them that it's been starting to happen more often since they've been here, but they find themself tilting their head and blurting the observation anyway.

"If I may say so sir, you seem to be taking this remarkably in stride."

[hotarue]

Souichi slips on his glasses. No cracks, good, though they're more therapy than anything. Inside he's fairing worse, throbbing pain and what he feels are the beginnings of bruises, but there's nothing major yet.

Told. So someone knows like him...hopefully learned in a kinder way. Souichi shuts the door and locks it - chirp chirp - careful to not move far from the car so he'll have something to fall back on. If he fails himself.

"I have experience. But what are you doing outside in the cold? Are your parents here?"

Pretty cold conversation switch, yeah. That's all he's willing to say of the matter for now.

[itstheend]

If Chara's smile appears to get just a little more plastic, eyes a tad more glassy, it must be a trick of the light, musn't it?

"No, sir. I have been unable to find them here." And not for want of looking, either.

It distracts nicely from the question of experience. And raises another question; is he the parent to any of the kids they met here? Eventually, the weighing of the balance comes to fall on asking. It could be vital to know.

"Excuse me for asking, but do you have any children yourself, sir?"

[hotarue]

That...is odd. Souichi blinks a few times. Still happening. Maybe the kid's an alien. There're a lot of those. The question shocks him and he shows it, the most reaction Chara's gotten out of him. But it's brief and eases into thought. Nostalgia. Nostos. Return journey. Algos. Pain.

Hotaru was his world. His bright, frail, scolding little star. And she became more than anyone could've imagined...but he's not her papa now. She has a new life, knowing who she truly is with people who can give what she needs.

"...I did."

He'll leave it at that. Souichi shifts, realizing he's leaned against the car and snow's soaked into his shirt. Subconsciously he grips his arm too, the throbbing stronger now. He...he has to get inside. The cold's numbing what's really happening.

"If you don't mind, I, I'd like to get inside."

He peers at the castle. Will it help? The kid seems warm enough, but maybe they just have an especially high cold tolerance.

dadskele (this is laaaate)

[voidster]

That... didn't sound good. He's around the edge of the castle, not in line of sight, and then suddenly he is, accompanied by a sharp staticky sound. Good old teleportation. Beats running, when there seems to be a real emergency.

He stares longer than he should before he realizes there may be someone inside there. After all, he only knows of motor vehicles in theory--he's never seen one outside of movies and photographs. That. Doesn't belong here.

It's also not the strangest thing he's seen in the last few days. The shock fades quickly. A skeleton man peering through the windshield for passengers isn't going to make Souichi feel better at all, but Gaster hardly stops to consider that.

Dads unite. Also, tell me if this isn't enough to reply to.

[hotarue]

The sudden existence of Slenderman anything in front of your face's bound to alarm, and Souichi would react more if not stunned and coughing from the dumb powder. His conscious is grateful for the lung-hacking and cheerily gets to work cleaning up the numbness and shock, slowly allowing Souichi to parse what the heck happened and that he might be on the other side of the planet. Because snow's here despite the warm spring day he welcomed moments ago.

Then a skull peers through the frost and Souichi wonders if he secretly died. There's less of reaction than proper, just a slow blink.

He's, uh. Gonna stay inside unless circumstances change. Feelin' the chill now.

same, smack me if I suck

[voidster]

Poor human guy. He's either in shock or having those pesky humanish xenophobic thoughts. Humans tend to do that, the skeleton's well aware. Still. He considers himself a bit better at dodging any sort of violent actions than the rest of his kind and... always, always err on the side of kindness. It's worth the risk.

He strides around to the driver's side door to try and open it. With too many hands. Four, six, eight. There are literally magical disembodied hands appearing in midair to help him pull. That's also not creepy at all, right? They're glowing a nice pretty purple. Half of them have a hole in the palm, matching the real hole in the center of his left hand.

You're probably dead, Souichi.

[hotarue]

Hands...magic glowing purple hands. The most he does is unbuckle his seat belt and look at the things, brow furrowing in sad acknowledgement. His therapist would've called it a breakthrough. But they're not...sharp. And they're wounded and not harming...glass and metal wouldn't stop her.

"Hotaru..."

Souichi takes the keys, opens the door and meets the hands of death.

[voidster]

Death is, apparently, a narrow shouldered skeletal nerd in a white turtleneck. One who hadn't had enough sleep in over a week. The hands wink out of existence, and he gives a little half-smile. He's not always smiling, you see. What appears to be bone is strangely expressive and flexible.

[Are you hurt?]

It's sign language. Worth at least a try, in his opinion. He's so sick of speaking poorly and most likely sounding like a fool.

[hotarue]

No one will suspect! The flexible face gives Souichi pause. Maybe it's not a skeleton? Or it's magic? The sign language further baffles him. Is...is he hurt? He has to think.

[No major pain yet. Happy I removed glasses.]

This is weird. This is faintly weird. But nothing's killing him unless he's already dead. And that's fine.