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'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.