an artist

[realkidswearstripes]

There's still snow on the ground outside. It's making one kid very happy!

A little armless reptilian child tromps through all this fun fun snow like they've never seen it before! (Which they have. Every day. For most of their life before moving to the surface. They're easily entertained.) Tromp tromp tromp hop, tromp tromp tromp hop. They're spelling something out, hopping from letter to letter to not screw it up...

KID

WAS

HERE

☆

Comments

[dustless]

An excited voice calls from out a window above.

"Kid! Kid kid kid! Nice star!"

[realkidswearstripes]

"FRISK!! Frisk!!" They're craning their head back to look alllll the way up there, miraculously not toppling over for a change. "How'd you beat me here, dude? Isn't this place cool? I was reading a book about a magic castle!"

[dustless]

"Yeah, it can be!" They're sounding bright and cheerful despite the warning in the words. They're only one floor up, too, so they don't think much about swinging their legs over. There's bushes down there, and snow. It'll be fine...

"It's weird, too! When'd you get here?"

[realkidswearstripes]

Oh noooo.

"Aw no Frisk don't jump!! Your mom'll kill me!! You know if you break a leg or something!!" They leap away from their star-shape, because when you're all legs... you're all legs and man, can they jump. And they're rushing over to the wall beneath Frisk's window, almost smacking their nose into it. Doof.

"Maybe there's some other way down??"

[dustless]

"C'moooon, I fell from worse." But they swing a leg back. Just one. The other one's still scraping the outside, lightly tapping a layer of snow and loosening tiny icicles they don't know is there with a shoe. "There's stairs inside, but that's slow!"

[realkidswearstripes]

"...okay, dude, but don't really break a leg!!"

It'll be fine. Right? Kid could probably make that jump and walk away. Frisk is awesome, they'll also be fine!

...Or Toriel really will kill them both.

[dustless]

Toriel isn't even here! (Which is actually probably not good, because if they do break a leg, they can't just find her to heal it.)

They swing their leg over again and make up their mind, launching themselves away from the castle.

One second they're floating, the next they've faceplanted into the snow and bushes, without much memory of between.

Also, they're stuck.

Still, "Did it!" they call triumphantly, wiggling their arms and legs. They're upside-down and there's twigs digging into their sides.

[realkidswearstripes]

"Haha! Nice landing, Frisk!" Trotting over chipperly, they immediately bite down onto Frisk's shirt to try and help pull them out. This much, Kid can do. Pick leaves and twigs off Frisk, not so much. It's the thought that counts!

Their voice is muffled by shirt fabric and it doesn't shut them up. Not one bit. "Anyway!! I just got here. When did you get here? Is it just me and you?"

[dustless]

Frisk has to shove their hands into the snow to push off, but that's enough with Monster Kid's help to extract them from the bushes, crashing into a half-kneel on the ground. Freedom!

"No, 's not just me an' you. It's a weird place!" They peer up and grin widely. "There's lots of people here! This...it's really magic. Not monster magic, different magic. There's people from different times an' timelines, but they look the same and have the same names. I've been here for 'bout a year. Um, when are you from?" After the barrier broke, obviously, but they don't know how far after. Or how monsters age.

[realkidswearstripes]

That's--a lot to take in. Frisk will have to get up on their own, this is just too much. Talk about infodumps, none of this is something Toriel would teach at her school, if she's even aware.

"When? Umm!" They quickly give the date down to the day. Nearly two years post-Barrier, it seems. "You don't know? ...Should I ask you 'when' too? Do you go to school with me and everything?"

[dustless]

It's fine, they're not expecting more help once they re-notice Kid's lack of arms.

"'Kay. I'm from...just after we started going down the mountain. Sorry, 'm not the Frisk you know." Their smile does shrink, a touch more apologetic. "But we can still be friends, if you want."

[realkidswearstripes]

"Okay!"

Just. Okay. Simple as that. Why should they not be friends? Looks like Frisk, sounds like Frisk, acts like Frisk. For some children, friendship is uncomplicated like that.

"So you're Frisk... but you haven't caught up to yourself yet! Do I have that right?"

(event Chara)

[itstheend]

If they were older, Chara might realise that the 'KID' spelled out in the snow is a name.

As it is, they're a bit: yes, that appears to be a kid. A monster kid (monsters and magic, oh my), but a kid. They think. They'll take their word for it.

They want to get across this clearing, but they also don't want a bullying for messing up the snow words, or even for breathing near them, so they start sidling around the letters.

This is less effective than it would be if they weren't wearing a very loud green and yellow shirt, and if untrodden snow didn't have a habit of crunching.

ohboy paintrain

[realkidswearstripes]

Yep, crunching. It takes them a second to realize it's not their own feet crunching that snow. They finish the last point of the star, turning around to look at their own footwork and grinning. And then hopping backwards a good two feet with those powerful legs so as not to mess up the 'art'... landing on their butt and tail, of course.

Oh, well. Kid's used to it. Doomed to be a klutz for all eternity. Only after scrambling to their feet again do they see the new human.

"Haha! Hi! Hey, do you know where we are??"

choo choo

[itstheend]

They stiffen, back straightening, an automatic response by this point. The monster kid already appears to be the loud, friendly-seeming excitable sort - the sort that Chara has already found themself incredibly lost at sea with.

Not that they haven't been in a constant state of that since arriving here. But, here is a question. Something plain and answerable.

"I... do not know, unfortunately." Not in terms of country or similar, at least. They've been told of other worlds, so maybe this isn't even Earth they're flying above. Maybe there's no 'below' at all. "I can tell you that these are the grounds of a castle floating in the sky, however."

They're internally wincing as they say it, but maybe it will make perfect sense to a monster.

[realkidswearstripes]

"I knew it!! It's magic!! We're at Hogwarts!!" Sorry, Chara, they're coming closer, close enough for polite, energetic conversation. This place is just so cool! There's not a shred of fear in this kid, when they're not in immediate danger. No common sense. "Wait, have you read those books? Where a bunch of human kids go to a castle to learn human magic?? They're great!"

[itstheend]

It's almost like the jaws theme is playing as the monster kid comes closer. Chara is exactly as out of their depth as they thought they'd be, but this is not really of any comfort.

Chara stays where they are, but they do start to lean away a bit. Surprise is on their face, because they wouldn't have thought monsters would be familiar with the series. But the tall skeleton - Doctor Gaster, they remember - mentioned books did survive being washed into the mountain...

"I have read them." The similarities are... disconcerting, now they think of it. A castle, where the rooms shift. And they themself have learnt a little of human magic while here. "I did not think of it that way."

And they agree with MK. They liked the books. They're not even 11 yet, so there's still that hope, deeply, deeply buried, because they can't think of away. "They are very good books."

[realkidswearstripes]

It's too bad Kid is the sort of kid who tends to be totally oblivious. Why would one child around their age be afraid of them?? The thought doesn't cross their mind. Yet.

"I'm still reading the second one! You know, where they fight evil spiders with a magic car! ...Hey, have you been here a while?" A little quieter: "I know it's not really Hogwarts... so what are we supposed to do here?"

[itstheend]

There's fear of children and then there's fear of the much bigger and stronger things attached to children that tend to react poorly in one way or another if Chara does the wrong thing with the child. Or, as some have worked out in their village, if the child says Chara has done the wrong thing.

Kids can be cruel.

It's been a while, so Chara struggles to remember. Did they fight spiders with the car? Didn't they crash it? (What do you have against spider monsters, MK?)

"I do not know. I have sought advice on this, and the answer I recieved was 'anything'."

Their tone is nothing more than factual and impartial and informative, and if there's an edge of sardonicism to it it's so faint as to imagine it. In fact, it might not be there at all.

[realkidswearstripes]

(Evil spiders who eat children deserve to be beat up by the 'really cool' heroes, monsters or not!!)

They blink at that. Anything? That's not very helpful of whoever said that. They're picturing an adult having said it, though... So. Apparently there aren't any rules!!

"Okay! I guess it's like a theme park or something then... just have fun!"

[itstheend]

Chara very much agrees on the unhelpful front. They've not been doing so well. They've been thrust into a completely different environment and it's like pouring warm water over a frostbitten limb.

A theme park seems an apt comparison, at least. A confined space along a theme filled with children.

"I suppose that is correct," they say, although they aren't really sure at all, and it shows a little in their tone. "You seem to have been doing so already."

A glance towards the letters in the snow, and then back at Kid.

[realkidswearstripes]

"Yeah!" they chirp, tail bobbing. "I haven't seen snow in months! The surface is weird, yo, it only snows some parts of the year... but you probably already know that!"

Poor Chara, the chatterbox just goes on and on. "It was always snowy where I lived before! In the Underground. So we got to play in it every single day. I kinda miss it. Hey, what's your name?"

[itstheend]

Honestly it's kind of good MK is willing to push the conversation forward. It's overwhelming, but at means they don't have to do much other than let them talk.

"There are places on Earth were there is always snow," they offer against the torrent, although they don't know if there's any where it is always snowing, in particular. They blink at the question.

"My name is Chara." And they know what's expected here, the protocol for what's to be done in return. "Excuse me, but I do not believe I caught yours."

[lightofthestars]

Tauriel does not read so easily in her second language, especially words in the snow. Yet the sentence itself is not hard to understand--except for the fourth word. It is short, five-pointed, and it is not one she knows.

She stares down at it, frowning. Is this some other language?

[realkidswearstripes]

Joined by the kid themself a moment later, after they've hopped away from their masterpiece. Without messing any of it up!

"Hey! Hi? What's the matter??"