a different sort of carol

[dustless]

 Ever since last month, getting all that Determination poured into them by accident with Chara, Frisk's felt...different. 

Better. Mood-wise, a little, and physically. More energy.

A stronger voice.

They default to being quiet still with other people; being louder is jarring even when they're alone. They don't mind it. It isn't fully healed, anyway, and it probably won't ever be, but it lasts longer before it hurts, and even more before it gave out. 

But they didn't realize how much better it was until they'd been taking care of a much smaller Chara, sharing a room, deciding to help them when they didn't seem to be able to get to sleep...and sang to them. A n old lullaby they remembered from when they were their age, despite not knowing the language and having to hum and croon most of it. It worked, and they'd sat there for a while as it really hit them.

There was a reason they treasured the memory of their concert with Shyren, why they remembered her song even now, and MTT's theme, and the music box--they love music, they loved singing. But they couldn't do it for so long--they'd been sad about it sometimes, but they had other things to do, and the room full of instruments to play with eventually.

And now they can again.

Long after settling their little Chara to bed, Frisk steals out of their room and follows the music that's already there in the distance, the carols. There's a flash of hope that they can maybe find them, or at least make out the lyrics--but no, still not quite.

But that's okay.

They find their way onto a balcony overlooking the gardens. It's a nice enough stage, they think, but they probably won't disturb anyone out here. Who'd be resting in the gardens in this temperature? Even in the near-dark, they can see their breath fog out the stars.

What should they sing...?

Well. Why not a song about singing? One they remember distantly from some children's show they heard long ago--whatever it was, they can't remember, but they remember the lyrics. Or most of them.

So...they do.

A little off-key, a little shakier than it should be, but it's definitely not nothing.



"S-sing...sing a song...
Sing out loud,
Sing out strong..."

Comments

[dustless]

It might seem abrupt and confusing to him, but Frisk's face positively lights up. Because of course little Barnaby's staying with Kotetsu, of course they're friends already. Maybe the friends they need right now.

They don't address it, though, just continuing on with...a shrug. "We gotta be creative. We can just walk around more, or we can find something--figure something out we could play. Or we could get more good food anyway!"

[oldmantiger]

It seems very abrupt and confusing to Kotetsu. Still, after he thinks about it for a minute, maybe Frisk just already knows Barnaby and likes them a lot. That makes perfect sense. Barnaby is pretty cool.

But at this dire report of possible activities, he sighs in mild frustration and resignation.

"Man, everybody keeps telling me that this place isn't a school. But it sure acts like a school. There's nothing to do besides eat lunch and read books." And he is still very much of the impression that only Smart Kids like Chara and Barnaby like to read books. Kotetsu is not a Smart Kid.

He locks his hands behind his head and stares thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "It's even too cold to go play by the lake. And I've only got the one action figure that 'Masa got me." He rummages around in his pocket, pulls out the little capsule figure, and shows it to Frisk where it nestles safely in its plastic bubble. The figure is small and crudely painted, maybe an inch or an inch and a half high. It probably portrays some kind of comic book character.

After a moment, he stares at it thoughtfully. Kotetsu can be creative, he supposes...

"What kind of games do you like? Like...pretend games?" he asks hopefully.

[dustless]

Frisk shrugs. "School's even more boring. Normal ones." And some books are okay, they're not sure why he sounds quite that annoyed.

"Masa?" they mimic, bending forward to look at it, and hit with a weird rush of...remembering. They saw a lot of stuff like those in coin machines when they were at stores, back before the Underground.

Pretend games. They decide against telling him that the most pretend they've played lately was, in fact, playing school. (Chara loves it.) "Yeah! Got ideas?"

[oldmantiger]

Some books are okay. Comic books are okay. But none of those books are ones he tends to come across in school. Maybe here they can become less annoying. "'Muramasa'. My big brother." Kotetsu puts the little figure back in his pocket, then shrugs. "He's cool." He puts up with a lot.

He brightens immediately, eyes lighting up when Frisk actually seems amenable. "Oh! Um...we can play, like..." He bounces on his toes a little as he thinks of ideas. "Heroes and bank robbers! Or knights and dragons! Or aliens and more aliens! Maybe with robots. Do you like robots?"

[dustless]

Their mouth opens in a tiny 'o'. They didn't know Kotetsu had a brother!

...They wonder if he was a good brother.

"Oh. Okay. I didn't have brothers b'fore here. He might show up one day." That's true, no matter what Muramasa might really be like.

'Aliens and more aliens' makes them laugh a little. "Robots are cool! 'Specially posing ones. Robot aliens? With lasers! And swords!"

[oldmantiger]

Was and is. Muramasa has always been perhaps the person Kotetsu trusts most in all the world. But he's the sort of dependable that doesn't get a lot of attention or recognition, the same way most people don't think about a building's foundations. Kotetsu doesn't mention his brother all that often for the same reason most people don't point out mountains every day.

"Oh, yeah! Aliens can build robots, too!" He is somehow even more excited, now. Frisk is obviously a kindred spirit and he loves them for it. "Lasers are cool! And swords! And laser swords are even cooler!"

Kotetsu gives into that excitement, letting it carry him out the door and into the chilly outside. But he doesn't really feel it, though, as he looks around frantically and spots a likely looking stick sticking up from the snow.

He grabs it and pulls it out. "Laser sword! Fwoosh!"

[dustless]

It's a sad look into what peoples' lives are like before they come here. Frisk doesn't trust anybody in the worlds that were left behind.

They think, strangely, of Lesser Dog. "Laser sword!" they cheer, only twitching slightly when it echoes outside--there's probably nobody else out there.

There's a wild urge to pull out their dagger, but no nope no that might go horribly even if they're careful. They yank a stick from a nearby bush--or that's what they plan on doing, only to get a handful of carnation instead, frozen solid under the snow.

...Well, that's fine. They twist it around and brandish it. "Uh--um--magic shield maker! You need to be lucky!"

[oldmantiger]

Kotetsu blinks, decidedly taken aback when Frisk pulls out what seems to be a small bush from that snowdrift. At first, he's thrown. But then Frisk plays along, and Kotetsu is more than happy to get back on track. "I don't need to be lucky! I just need to be awesome!"

He lunges with a theatrical "hyah!" and swings his stick at the ice. The two weapons connect with a satisfying sort of "keerack" sound, and he laughs out loud. For Kotetsu, at least, all thought of possibly waking anyone up has quite flown from his mind in the heat of the moment.

[dustless]

Frisk does spare a thought for other people--but almost nobody else should be out here anyway, so people who hear them're probably already awake. Besides, it wasn't that long ago since they were singing their head off across the gardens.

"Awesome!" they repeat as icy leaves go flying. They dance a step back and then closer again, immediately going to jab at his stomach. "But nobody can win in just a move!"

[oldmantiger]

"Woah!" Kotetsu stumbles back from their attack, pinwheeling his arms a little to try and stay balanced. Frisk is a lot fiercer than they look!

...perfect. He grins and darts in to try and retaliate, trying to rap Frisk on the knuckles. "I'm still gonna win! Because I'm awesome!"

Back and forth they'll probably go for a while, Kotetsu getting more and more wound up and energetized as frozen leaves tumble around them and his makeshift sword makes such a satisfying sound. He adds sound effects, too, of course - fwooshes and nyooms and bangs. Eventually, without even realizing it, Kotetsu starts to glow with a pale blue light that even shines behind his eyes.

And then the next swing of his stick will quite shatter Frisk's magic shield generator, and probably send them flying back a few feet for good measure.

[dustless]

Frisk keeps bouncing and weaving, old habits settling into place like a comfy sweater. They're not perfect, of course, with a stinging hit to their fingers and a few blows that knock more and more leaves and petals away.

But it's not bullets, it's just a kid having fun with them!

...So Kotetsu glowing catches them off guard enough for a clean hit. Their flower toy's obliterated, and they land heavily on their back in a stomach-lurching blur that leaves them stunned and staring at the sky.

"Oh," they puff eventually. They're lying down on something that's crunching, and they're slow and careful in sitting up. It's more plants, maybe very short bushes. They try not to push down on the surviving ones too much.

[oldmantiger]

Kotetsu glowing catches him off guard, too. He doesn't entirely realized it's happened until it's happening, until he's watching Frisk go flying through a haze of shattered, frozen flower petals tumbling down between them. He gasps, horrified, dropping his toy for the sake of covering his mouth. Frisk hits the ground and for a long moment Kotetsu doesn't breathe, until at last they sit up and he feels like his heart starts beating again.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" His vision is still tinted blue and he can feel himself starting to cry, frustration and guilt both impossible to hold back. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! Are you okay, please be okay, p-please don't be mad...!"

He's torn between going closer to see if they're okay and staying well back, like he should have done all along, and so the end result is Kotetsu fidgeting in agitation on the spot.

[dustless]

"It's okay!" Frisk lifts a hand and waves it around, as if he can't see them already. "'S okay! I'm okay! Don't worry!"

Standing's awkward, and they give up on not snapping a bunch of the branches quickly, since they landed right on top of them at a bad angle. There's a lot of twigs and snow in their hair now. Not that they notice it--Kotetsu's much more of a concern right now, and they make their way towards him again. "It's okay," they repeat softly. His glowing lights up the outline of his tears, leaving them obvious even from far away.

They've taken worse hits than that one, too, even if their un-waved arm and chest are aching now.

[oldmantiger]

He'd seen that they were okay enough to sit up, but it's not until they reassure him that Kotetsu lets himself believe that they're really okay, that he's not about to get in terrible trouble, that he didn't just hurt his new friend. Even then, he scans their expression once more to see if they're not just saying that because they're scared of him. But even in the dim light, made dimmer and more scattered by the trees, he believes that they don't look it.

But even if they're not scared of him, Kotetsu is scared of himself all over again. Scared and upset and castigating himself viciously in the privacy of his own head, in the voices of all of those who have done it before.

"I'm sorry. I'm not s-supposed to play with other kids. Not supposed to touch people at all. I forgot." Or he hadn't forgotten. He'd hoped that, when so many other things were different here, maybe this could be, too.

He tries to steady his breathing and stem the flow of tears, but mostly just manages a pathetic little hiccup.

[dustless]

"'S okay! Really...I shoulda been faster, usually good at dodging."

Frisk gets closer. They're moving noticeably slower, just in case--he's strong enough to send them flying through using a fake sword, but they don't know how much so. Except that he's not supposed to touch people, so being careful must be important. And speaking of careful, they want to press a hand against their chest where it hurts, but that might upset him more.

"We can still play something else." Or wait until this is done, but they can't remember what Barnaby or Kotetsu said about how long it lasted, or even if it was different when they were younger. "Something without touching."

[oldmantiger]

It is different, when he's younger - at this age, his power never lasts as long as it one day will. He's never managed to keep it going for five minutes, and can't remember ever wanting to. But the downside is that this means he never knows quite how long it will last.

He knows that an important step is calming down, though. Kotetsu certainly feels calmer than he first did, after that initial rush of panic. But he still feels miserable and guilty and upset. If he doesn't want this to totally exhaust him, he needs to calm down.

The fact that Frisk even is still offering to play helps. For a moment, Kotetsu can't even think of a game that might work, but then he remembers...ah, the last time he'd taken a long car trip, stuck in the backseat with Muramasa.

"W-We could play...do you know how to play 'shiritori'?" He tries to scrub the tears out of his eyes, and is a little more successful.

[dustless]

Frisk is...very close, by the time they stop. Close enough he could reach out to touch them if he tried. But they trust he won't try.

They don't trust themselves quite as much, but they're holding up for the moment, even if they fussily want to wipe off those tears, or pull him into a hug.

Frisk keeps their hands at their sides and shakes their head. "Sorry, dunno that game. Can you tell me 'bout it?"

[oldmantiger]

"Oh. It's, um. It's like one of those games you play on long car trips. Where I say a word. And you have to say another word that starts with the same letter that work ended with. Like...if I say 'eat', you can say 'tree'. Or..." He pauses in the midst of thinking up another example, and frowns. "I don't know if it'd work all that great in English, though. Um. S-Sorry."

At least the distraction seems to have done the job. The blue glow around him dims and fades. Kotetsu, who has been staring fixedly at his hands, lets out a sigh of relief. He's still not about to touch them. But he no longer looks like he's about to vibrate to pieces.

[dustless]

"That's okay! Sounds fun, even though there's not a car." Tree ends with 'E', so... "Umm...then I'll say...elephant!"

He's not glowing anymore. "Better?"

[oldmantiger]

"I'm glad there's no car. I hate long car trips." He could just reply with "tree" to that again, but that would be no fun, so how about... "Tiger?"

Still, he's not glowing anymore. Kotetsu doesn't have many coping mechanisms (yet), but the ones he does have are reliable. He nods emphatically. "B-Better. And, um...thank you." For helping. And not being scared. "I can't do that again for at least another hour." So they both get a bit of a respite.

"So I think I could...even go back to sleep now." And he thinks he might actually need to.

[dustless]

Frisk hasn't been in many. They'd probably get bored. "Rain," they say decidedly, glancing up. They sort of hope it snows again soon.

If he can't, then...good. Frisk moves to stand by his side and slings their arm over his shoulder in a half-hug.

"Okay. Where's your room?" Of course they're going with him.