Soft Reset

[buttercup_eater]

As everything fades away when they die, coming back to life is like seeing everything fading into existence again.

The first thing they're aware of is light, and that they can see, rather than seeing anything in specific.

The second thing they're aware of is sensation, the weight of their limbs pressing into a smooth, stone surface.

Where are they, exactly?

Chara tries to focus, blinking a few times in the hopes of clearing their vision. An empty stone hallway, rather like the one they last died in, with high windows flooding the area with sunlight.

They take a deep breath and try and push themselves into an upright position, only to be hit with a wave of sudden dizziness and have to flop back onto the floor. Okay, that's not good. What happened?

They can remember their SOUL shattering, and laughing so hard their sides were aching. Sans. Bruises. Blood. Theirs? No, not at first. Chasing the other child down unfamiliar hallways. Messy. No EXP increase, no LV.

No partner.

Chara waits a moment, just in case any input is forthcoming, but even after several minutes they remain alone. Once again, they're going to have to do everything themselves.

They manage to sit up with only a minimal amount of dizziness, then lurch to their feet. Minus the dizziness, it's rather like the last time they died and woke up again.

The knife is nearby, again, and they pick it up, again. Their locket is also still hanging from their neck, and they can still feel it faintly beating. But there's also a strange weight in their pocket, and when they slip a hand inside to check- oh. Right. An... alternative version of their locket, they guess.

Gripping the locket tightly, they set out to find their purpose once again.

[As with Frisk's post, this is set three days after their death.]

Comments

[lovetheme]

"What you are?" His face has been difficult to read up to this point, yes, but now a bit of confusion does cross his features. Lucas blinks. "I mean...I guess? Seems like you're a kid."

This is stated as if it's evident--which it is, as far as Lucas can tell. Chara looks like a perfectly normal kid to him, and he's honestly not really sure what they'd mean otherwise.

But more words follow, and it's Lucas's turn to tilt his head slightly, considering them with a very small frown. "I don't want to attack you." It's sincere; he'd given his word that he'd do his best not to.

Though...he does have a lot of questions of his own, that's true. But clearly Chara doesn't feel like fielding many of those right now; and so, after a moment's thought, Lucas ventures some sort of compromise. "I do have a few questions. But I think you're pretty new to this place, right? Do you still have any questions of your own? Could try to answer those, too...I've been here a little while now."

[buttercup_eater]

Seems like a...?

Chara's eyebrows lift. "Typical of a human," they say, "To go by appearances. If I were you, I'd forget about the 'kid' part. And worry more about my being a murderous demon."

They suppose they're disappointed when Lucas says he doesn't want to attack them. And even as he dismisses his own questions, they're sure he's hoping for another information exchange.

Still, Chara decides to take Lucas at his word. They take a step forward.

"Why don't you want to attack me? Don't you want to protect your friends?"

[lovetheme]

A murderous demon? Well then. Hm. Lucas's frown deepens a bit, at this news, but he only considers Chara a little harder for a moment, as if trying to discern something now. Something that might be unearthly, maybe, or particularly demonic. ...He reaches with that sense that prickles at him sometimes, the same sense that draws on his PSI--but he can't really tell anything in particular, at least for the moment. (Not so surprising anyway--Chara's claim might very well be true, and his own senses just aren't too refined. He could never really pin down the feeling of the Magypsies back home, either.)

"Calling people you just meet demons is usually sort of rude, back home," he informs Chara at length. "Didn't want to assume anything. But I guess I ended up assuming anyway..."

Chara steps forward, and Lucas doesn't move. He watches them gravely, and answers without much of a pause. "Promised I wouldn't." Well, technically, he promised he'd run, in this particular case...but he'd promised he wouldn't fight in general too, on his first day here. It's not untrue. Lucas does pause slightly after that, though, lining up another conclusion that he'd come to at length over his orange collection earlier. "Not sure it'd do much good, either. A fight needs to end with somebody collapsing, or dying. But you might be used to that. And there's not any way to really leave this castle...not even by dying, I guess."

Lucas rests a hand on the edge of his basket, contemplative. "So, there wouldn't be much done. Except you'd probably be mad at me for it. ...And, if you really wanted to, you'd just keep trying to hurt my friends afterwards anyway. Right?"

[buttercup_eater]

Lucas, Chara is discovering, has a very focused sort of stare. They have to resist the urge to giggle. Just what is he trying to see, horns and a pair of cloven hooves?

"Staring's rude too, you know," they say coolly, "Or at least it is here." Or at least, it was rude in their village and the underground. Their thoughts seem rather muddled, they realize.

Promised who? Someone who didn't want Lucas to get hurt, most likely, like a friend or a relative. And as he goes on to explain more of his reasoning a wide, affected smile slowly spreads across Chara's face.

"...You're smarter than some people," they say. "You're right. No matter how often you killed me, I'd always come back. For me, death is just an annoyance."

They take another step forward. "You see, I have something called 'determination.' Do you know what that means? Once I'm set on a course, I can't be stopped. Although I must admit, I can be delayed."

They shrug. "But like you said. That mostly just makes me mad."

[lovetheme]

Chara seems rather amused by all this--but for his part, Lucas's own expression remains as solemn as ever. He shrugs slightly.

"Haven't been keeping very good track of my manners lately, I guess."

They take another step forward--they're getting pretty close now, he notes--but still, Lucas doesn't shift. He doesn't seem particularly alarmed by all this, but mostly faintly curious, as Chara confirms and expands on his conclusion. Sounds like Chara is the same way as Frisk, about dying--though it's possible the castle could bring anybody else back too, here. And...

"That sounds pretty useful, something like 'determination'." The way they say it, Lucas assumes it isn't the normal sort--but a different sort. A substance of some kind, maybe? Must have a meaning where they're from. (Sort of like how PSI has a meaning where he's from, he figures.) "You could probably get a lot of things done, with something like that. Will you be using it to find a way out of here, too?"

[buttercup_eater]

The stoicism of Lucas is definitely starting to raise a metaphorical eyebrow with Chara. Maybe he's not merely a mellow person, they think spitefully, maybe he's out and out dull.

"Useful," Chara repeats. "You could say that." They tilt their head a little, thinking over his words. They actually haven't thought much about leaving the castle, not in the way that Lucas phrases it. They tried to make Frisk RESET so they could resume their previous goal, but now they wonder if it wouldn't be simpler to just work on their goal from their current location. And they wonder what Lucas's goal is.

"Hmm," they say. They move closer, again, waiting for him to flinch. They're getting close enough that they can make out his blonde eyelashes. "Are you hoping to use me to escape the castle?"

[lovetheme]

Closer still; with that sort of expression on Chara's face, watching for his reaction, Lucas can only assume it must be deliberate by now. (Probably deliberate from the start, really.) Chara would be searching in vain for any sort of flinch--Lucas still doesn't give any ground whatsoever. But, should Chara still be carrying their knife with them, his eyes might slowly shift to consider the blade for a long moment, with that same faint curiosity.

Either way--even he has to admit that, though there's no fighting to be had yet, this is probably exactly not what Frisk wanted him to do, in an encounter with Chara. If something did happen now, they'd be really mad at him, and he wouldn't really have an excuse. He ought to have started moving away the moment Chara showed up, instead of staying and offering oranges. He ought to be moving away right now, probably.

But Lucas doesn't, despite himself. He couldn't really bring himself to be scared even if he wanted to be, meeting Chara face to face like this now. They call themselves a demon, but he still sees and hears another kid--with every passing moment, it seems, someone completely unfamiliar and yet increasingly more oddly familiar in ways he can't yet really explain. But he wants to know...

And until today, he hadn't expected to ever get a chance to know at all.

His glance shifts back to their face, meeting their eyes directly. Chara's words bring about that subdued impression of surprised confusion, again, as if the assumption they air now is an entirely new and unexpected idea that hadn't been along his own line of thought at all. (Which would be about right.)

"No." 'Use them'? Like a sort of tool, they mean? That's...almost a little presumptuous, isn't it? Lucas frowns. "I was wondering if you wanted to leave the castle in the first place. There's some people here who would rather stay..." And his expression does shift to something almost troubled now--but it's troubled about something else, evidently, very far away from their present standing. Lucas's eyes move to briefly consider something distant and slightly to one side of Chara. "It's alright here. But I'd like to get home. I was in the middle of something important. ...Haven't found any way back yet, though."

[buttercup_eater]

Chara's watching Lucas intently enough to catch the way his eyes shift towards Chara's right hand. It isn't much of a reaction, but it's definitely a start, something Chara's very careful to file away for later.

They shake their head, still smiling, in contrast to Lucas's confusion and frown. Maybe he thinks he's being honest, Chara suspects, but they're sure he's looking for something from them, even if he hasn't put it into words- someone powerful, to help him escape, seems like a likely desire. They'll start off by playing a little nice.

"It appears as though we have something in common," Chara says. "I, too, was working on something important. But. In my case, it may not be necessary to return to where I was. And so, I don't much care if I stay, or if I leave." They shrug, to emphasize their point.

And speaking of points...

Chara falls silent for the next few moments, before slowly raising their knife until it's nearly eye level with Lucas. "Didn't this catch your eye earlier?" they ask conversationally. "This is the same knife I killed Frisk with, you know."