not so dustless now

[dustless]

In one of the castle's many halls, a worn tapestry, depicting nothing in particular, succumbs to age and rot and falls.

Behind it lies a door.

Behind that door, should anyone decide to investigate, is a musty-smelling room with drawings papering the walls, corners gently curling in, and dust covering every inch of furniture; a desk, a chair, a bed. 

Despite it all, the bed is occupied. 

Frisk lies there on their side, half-covered in blankets, exposed skin and shirt just as dust-coated as the rest of the room. Their chest raises and falls shallowly enough that a spider's made a fancy web between the collar of their shirt and a hand curled close to their body.

It might take a little work to rouse them.

Comments

[dustless]

The skin they touch is cold enough to sink through their glove. It's been a long time since something living touched them (aside from spiders). It's a nice warmth that their body tries to take, and a sensation that slides through their near-dreamless sleep to gently bump them to a slightly higher awareness.

My child.

That does more. Those are important words and painful words cutting deeper. Frisk shoves their face deeper into their pillow in an instinctive move to avoid it.

Their still-quite-dusty pillow.

Frisk sneezes and recoils, flopping halfway onto the other side of the bed before their eyes even flicker open.

[buttercup_uneaten]

The cold makes Chara ache for the Dreemurrs’ fire. They try to push that thought down- this isn’t a good time for homesickness.

Fortunately the child provides ample distraction. To Chara’s relief, they begin to move- and then Chara has to abruptly step back before the child can sneeze on and/or knock into them.

“...Bless you,” they say. Well. It is rather dusty in here, after all. They have to suppress a sneeze themselves before they can ask:

“Human child. Are you finally awake?”

[dustless]

Are they. That's a weird question, and it makes them wonder. They fix a stare on the other human, and they're blurry. Frisk sort of feels like they're floating.

The ache the sneeze left is enough to be at least somewhat grounding, though. Probably not dreaming.

They open their mouth--showing off some very sharp teeth--and just sneeze again. And again.

"Ow. Um. Yes?"

[buttercup_uneaten]

Chara ever so slightly winces when their question is just met with a barrage of sneezes. This is not shaping up to be a productive conversation. But at least the child eventually stops to give them an answer. A somewhat confused sounding one, but an answer nevertheless.

“Wonderful,” they say, giving the child a dry smile. “Now. Do you know where you are?”

Mindful of the possibility of being met with more sneezing, Chara quickly adds, “Although. Perhaps we should relocate somewhere… cleaner.”

[dustless]

"Um." Frisk feels the grossness of the dust layered over their skin and starts scrubbing it off as they sit up.

What happened? This isn't...somebody's dust, is it? Except when they look around, the dust is everywhere, not just on them or a little bit. Unless somebody exploded.

They know where they are. They're in their room. And so is this stranger. "Who're you?" they ask instead of answering, barely looking up.

[buttercup_uneaten]

The Magistrate straightens up to their full height, placing a fist over their heart. They’re dressed in their usual regalia, various shades of black, white, purple, and gold, the Delta Rune proudly emblazoned on their clothes, knife sheathed at their side, and a horned circlet that gives them (to the eyes of an average human) a faintly demonic look.

They introduce themselves, in their most imperious voice:

“I am Chara, Evil Magistrate in service to the royal Dreemurr family, the rulers of Monsterkind and the Underground. Right Paw of the Prince, Gardener-in-Chief, Consultant to the Royal Guard, all around adviser to the King and Queen and above all, the guardian of all who dwell within the Underground.”

They drop their arm, along with a bit of the imperious manner, to say, “My child, do you know why you were asleep for so long?”

tw for suicide ref i guess

[dustless]

...

Oh.

Frisk's eyes get huge.

Not all of that gets through, but obviously, they said 'Chara'. This is a Chara. A big Chara. That elicits so many weird feelings--happiness, 'cause they died! Confusion, 'cause they wanted to die! Surprise 'cause they're just here and new and just woke them up from...

"...No?"

...a long sleep, it's looking like.

Their self-cleaning slows down. Contrasting their shock and almost-glee, something heavy settles in their stomach.

[buttercup_uneaten]

Chara takes the dusty child’s reaction as an indication that they are impressed. Good! A few of the children who fell were, but some of them said things like “More like NERD Magistrate!” Children nowadays are so sassy. Unlike they were, definitely.

Thinking about human children… Chara folds their hand thoughtfully under their chin and examines the one in front of them for a silent moment. As a human, Chara is disinclined to trust them but, even knowing firsthand how cruel children can be, they’re also vulnerable. Even if they’re not one of the fallen humans. This one, at least, is clearly confused.

“Hmm. Child. I do have a theory.

“Although human magic has not been heard of in hundreds of years… Perhaps that is responsible for your long sleep. And for my summoning.”

[dustless]

"...I dunno. It's...the Castle just. Does stuff sometimes."

How much did they miss? How long were they asleep? When they push the blankets back, a startled spider skitters away from a web that it spun between their knees. They shift their legs to give it a route to escape.

"Takes people, anyway." They shift to put their feet on the floor. Their legs are like jelly when they try to stand up, so they'll wait. "Um. When'd you get here? Did anybody tell you stuff 'bout it?" Whoever anybody might be, now.

[buttercup_uneaten]

“The Castle… takes people,” They repeat, their brow furrowing. They really have a lot of questions but unfortunately, this child seems about as disoriented as they are, so Chara does their best to bite their tongue. And not scowl.

“It has not been long. You are the first person I have seen.” Chara holds out a hand for them, a silent offer to help them to their feet.

“Name yourself, human.”

[dustless]

Okay. Totally new. They can work with that, they think, staring at the proffered hand for beat before they actually take it.

Standing's easier with support, though they end up leaning pretty heavily on Chara's arm.

"I'm Frisk..." They trail off, struggling to think of something to add. It just feels like something they should do after Chara gave them such a long title. Nothing comes to mind in time. "...I tell people 'bout the Castle when they get here, usually," they say lamely.

Deep breath. "It's a castle in the sky, an' a hub of worlds. There's lots of people from different worlds, timelines, even some of the same people. Monsters too, 'f course. Try not to fight...anybody." Simple, obvious facts, but they only remember they'd said similar things in the past after the words are through their teeth.