Event Log: Fourth Wall, Part One

[hadrielmods]

Who: Everyone in the city + Fourth Wall visitors!
What: Part one of the fourth wall event, hosted by Fear, Confusion, and Delight!
Where: All around the city
When: October 24th-November 1st
Warnings: Visitors from other worlds!

If you're not from around here, you may be wondering what's going on. You've woken up out of the blue in the colosseum, or near a temple, or in one of the numerous other locations in the city. You're somewhere underground and it's dark, cold, and maybe a little unnerving.

Luckily, shortly after your arrival, the road below your feet begins to light up in a gentle, warm glow. The light points you in a set direction and, if you choose to travel that way, will lead you toward the center of the city, where there is a large gathering of others who are lost here like you, people who might know their way around a bit more, and even some of the gods who rule this place.

There are lights strung up on poles throughout the large clearing, casting a comforting glow onto the tables beneath them. The tables are abundant with lots of food that looks simply delicious- though, none of it tastes quite like it should. The tarts taste like green beans, the mashed potatoes like cheesecake, and the chocolate seems oddly reminiscent of steak. In addition, there are decorations artfully placed around the meeting point. If you see them moving, don't worry- that's probably just your imagination.

Also distributed along the tables are shot glasses, filled with a sludgy, yellow substance. If you're brave enough to consume them, they taste strongly of mint and will give you a much needed energy boost, circumventing the need to eat or sleep for a full 24 hours! After that, however, everything hits you all at once, so use them wisely. Some of you may remember these shots from our How Delightful event earlier this year!

In addition to all of the above, there are also party poppers strewn around the area. Each popper can jet out some strange objects- glitter bombs, seashells, plastic dinosaurs, maybe a live lizard or two- so be careful! Feel free to use your discretion on these, but remember to keep it small!
_

Of course, you can always not travel that way. The rest of the city has plenty of places to explore- maybe you'd like to stumble in our Silent Hill zone, have a quick look around the alien orchard, or check out any of the god temples that can inspire their chosen emotion. Be careful not to get lost in the tunnels leading away from the cave- none of them can actually move you above ground, but you may run into a few monsters on the way.

For those of you who have been with us awhile, please bear with the gods while they try to adjust around these new folks! Join in on the festivities if you like, or try to orient as many of the others as you can. Start a community outreach program, start a fight club, introduce your parents to your weird cave girlfriend- nobody's judging!

Well. Some of us might be.
_

Enjoy the fourth wall event at Hadriel! Once you're settled in feel free to explore the rest of the city! Find a house, find a new monster, or simply scavenge for supplies.

Fourth wall characters do not enter with phones so they cannot reach the network- however, if you'd like to handwave that they somehow got ahold of Mello's Newcomer guide to avoid the 'where am I/what is this' sort of questions, then feel free!

Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers October 24th-November 1st.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well! Fourth wall characters will not have posting access, so grab an in-game friend if you wanted to do anything separate from the main log.
► Fourth wall characters will be in the city for at least one week, though they can stay for longer. The party will go on throughout the entire week, thanks to Delight's boundless energy!
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

Comments

[aegros]

[He can hardly take it. How small he is, how fragile. How young he had been, how scared he had been, and the dissolution of his strange, older body into dust had been too much to bear.

He gathers him up and holds him close.

He does not want to let go either.]

But you - you're here. You're here now. We never have to leave, we - we may stay here! That is what...what the pamphlets said...

[This more technologically-unsavvy dad cannot possibly pull up those files in a phone he does not have while trying very hard not to sob like a foghorn on top of it. It is just not in his available skillset.]

[alltozero]

Pamphlets?

[The answer is so flabbergasted and confused it almost sounds Floweyish. He winces. Never be too sharp, never be too loud. Make sure Asgore's last memory of him is of a good kid.

But... pamphlets? What? Then this isn't... wait, of course it isn't the afterlife. He didn't kill Dad (his gut sinks at the memory, timeline after timeline of his naive talk of being like a family with a brand new kid, the vicious circling of bullets, the way he'd laughed even though he didn't feel delighted or hurt or anything at all), and neither did the human. Neither did Ch- neither did Frisk.

So what is it, then? Is he dreaming?]

I don't know what you're talking about. But... trust me, Dad. I can't stay like this.

[He's going to turn back into a flower. The hollow, vindictive, dangerous thing that killed Asgore so, so many times.]

[aegros]

[Has he not...heard of them? Is this a sizeable gap in his princely education? The thought is so foreign and strange that he has no idea what to do with it, and he pushes it gently to the side.

But even still, he cannot - he can hardly understand what it is his son is saying. Why he's saying what he does, as if he knows something Asgore does not...it cannot be so.]

What are you talking about, Asriel? Why - why not? What is wrong?

[He says it with all the hoarse simplicity of a parent presented with a problem that he is utterly certain he may fix, simply by being there. Kind words, a cup of tea, the promise to always remain.]

[alltozero]

[It's too little too late, but he thinks he finally understands why Chara acted the way they did sometimes. Why they never talked about the reason behind their hatred of humanity.

How can you explain something like this to someone who's never had to live it? Someone who answers like he's absolutely convinced that hugs and maybe something nice to eat will make it all better?

Ha. Nobody would ever believe that good food, bad laughs, and some nice friends aren't always enough to solve what's wrong with you. Even Asriel had believed that was enough, before all of this happened.]

I just... can't. I'm sorry, but I can't.

I... you know what happened to me. I'm gone. The flowers in the throne room that you took such good care of... that's where Asriel is.

[Where his dust scattered. Where a single golden flower seed that stuck to a body fell loose, and... well, you know the rest, right?]

Just think of me as... as a good dream. Just here to visit for a little while.

[Until he turns back into that flower again.]

[aegros]

[He draws back, very slightly, regretfully, to look his son in the eyes. His beautiful son who - who was taken from them all so suddenly, so unfairly, and the lump rises anew in his throat just by looking at him. Real, present, here.

He will not...he cannot possibly drive him away.]

I will not force you to tell me, Asriel, [he says softly, as gently as he can.] But you...you are here. I can feel you here. I have dreamed of this moment, of seeing you again...

[And now he is here, and Asgore cannot think of a single thing to say.]

I cannot simply...why?

[alltozero]

I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. I never wanted to have to do this to you.

[This was why he refused to go with Frisk. It's not fair. His parents have suffered so much already, and now... all this is doing is tearing that old wound open again.]

Please, just... just try to be happy that we could see each other for a little while. That we can really say goodbye. I know it's hard for you, but... you've got people who love you waiting for you on the surface. Frisk will need you. Undyne will need someone to give her away at her wedding. Alphys is going to need a friend to help her be strong on bad days.

Mom... maybe Mom will need someone to cry with her.

Maybe she'll show you the place she buried Chara.

[He can hide, then, if it ever happens. He'll be a flower, so he can duck under the soil. It's only... it's only fair if they have a chance to pay respects too. Chara will get lonely if Mom and Dad never visit them again.]

[aegros]

[He is...sniffling, isn't he. Hot wet tears running from his eyes, down his snout. It is not very dignified or kingly of him. Right now, he finds he does not care.

Where did he learn this? This - this feeling that he cannot possibly belong with them? Did he teach him this? How could he have...]

How can you possibly say this? Why - why can you not...why can we not be a family?

[The word breaks out of his desperation. He has wanted for so, so long - so badly, to hold his son again in his arms. And once he does, Asriel says, simply, that he cannot. Cannot even dare to imagine a future with him, as if Asgore has done anything else.]

[alltozero]

[Your family is DEAD! Flowey screams, in the empty spaces in Asriel's chest. It's... it was so hard for Asriel to accept this himself. How is he supposed to explain this to his dad? How can he be strong enough to be the grown-up explaining the hard concepts?

Asriel pulls in a deep breath, rubs the back of a paw over his eyes. Chara would know how to do this. Chara would put on a brave face.]

Dad... you know things can't be how they used to, no matter how much we wish they were. You can't unbake a pie. No matter how good it tasted, once you eat it, it's gone. You can never have that exact pie again.

All you can do is try to make another one. Find a new recipe. If you spend forever regretting what you don't have anymore, then... you'll never get to taste any pie at all, right?

I love you, Dad. I love you, and Mom, and I'll never stop loving Chara. I'm glad you still love me too. I really, really am.

[He remembers those weeks when he first turned into a flower, trying his best to make that stupid king make him feel something. He remembers how disconnected and grey he felt, how numb he was. How unreal everything felt. New Home was too still. Chara was gone. Mom was gone. The throne room was completely different. One throne shoved into the corner, hidden under a dustcloth (ha ha, dustcloth). All the old flowers replaced with a sea of gold.

Asgore said there was a coffin in the basement, and Asriel couldn't bear to send his roots tunnelling down there. Just... just shoved in the basement like an old Christmas decoration or some worn-down furniture. It felt so impossible, so like it couldn't actually be happening.

Like he could never, ever move past this.]

But... you have to move on too.

[aegros]

[Another soft, hiccuping sob rocks through his massive body, heavy arms and heavy chest and heavy SOUL. When did his son grow so wise? He was always smart, always so thoughtful, but...the words are like shards of ice into his SOUL, even as he knows, and hates himself for knowing, that they are sadly and grimly true. He cannot unbake a pie. He cannot...cannot retreat from his sins. From the atrocities he committed, in attempting to fulfill the promises he made.

He sniffs softly, bowing his head. Bringing it gently, softly down to kiss his son's forehead. His hands are...shaking so terribly.]

You are...I love you too. You know I love you, very, very much. And I will never stop...loving you...

I have never stopped.

[But someday, he will...he will have to grow other flowers. He will have to take down the sign that says that a room is under renovations. He will have to, eventually, move the line of coffins out from that cold and lonely basement. Perhaps...honor the sacrifices of the human children. The ones who came before.]

I am sorry, I am so very sorry that we - that I could not protect you.

[alltozero]

[The ache in his chest is almost unbearable. He'd forgotten how this felt, the fuzzy tickle of Dad's beard as he laid a loving kiss between his son's ears.]

It's okay, Dad. You did the best you could.

[Asriel means so much more than the plan. He knows what came after, and it... ha ha, it felt like a bitter slap to the face at the time. See? Kill or be killed! Wasn't it stupid to get both you and Chara slaughtered by refusing to take a life? Even Dad knew that humans were going to have to die to break the barrier! Chara was trying to do what was necessary, what was inescapable in a cruel, cold world like this one!

...It's still hard to wrap his head around now. For all he's been through, he's just a kid, like those nameless six were. But...]

You can't regret the hard decisions forever.

[Sometimes, we make mistakes. Sometimes, when we try to do what we think is right, bad things happen. But... it turned out okay in the end, didn't it? Monsterkind finally went free. And... and it was like Chara hoped - like he hoped, too. Mom and Dad got to see the sky again. Got to see all the flowers and trees and singing birds that humans had once taken away from them.]

I can't speak for everyone who you had to leave behind, but... I'll be cheering you on, Dad. You don't have to apologize to me, but if you really feel you owe me something... I just want to know you can be happy. Monsters are going to need a kind, gentle friend like you to show them how to live with humans peacefully.

[aegros]

[He will have to, one day, learn to move forward with them. He knows that there will be some - Toriel's stern face, as always, drifts into his mind, and he grimaces - that may never forgive him. He knows that it is justified. He has killed six children, committed their bodies to the dirt, all to further his own cowardly agenda.

What do you do with such heavy sins on your shoulders? You cannot simply push them aside and act as though they never happened. He has to accept their weight and use them to move himself forward. Ensure he will never make those mistakes again.

He just wishes - he wishes, more than anything - that he could have his son there to see it. He was taken from them so young, before he could have truly grown to be the adult he would have been.]

I just wish...why could you not be here with me? With us? You were taken from us so young, and if I could...if I could trade my life for yours, you know I would do anything, do anything...

[He is - this is not something that is for the ears of a child. He tries to switch tacks, far too late.]

You are very...very wise, Asriel. Wiser than a foolish old king like me.

[alltozero]

I guess... I managed to grow up a lot in the time I had.

[Experience is a hard teacher. All the things he understands now... Asriel certainly didn't understand them before the plan and all the things it brought. If he did... he might have done a better job of understanding what Chara had been going through. What they'd climbed that mountain to get away from. What was some sort of strange but endearing human thing, and what was a cry for help.

If he'd known even half of what he's learned... maybe he would have told Mom or Dad that Chara was planning a way to die. Maybe this all could have gone happier for them.]

It's okay. Really, it's okay. The time I did have... it was happy. You and Mom loved me so much. I had Chara. I... despite how it turned out, I did get to see real stars in my lifetime. And monsters... they did all go free eventually. Everything I'd hoped for, I got.

But now... someone's got to keep Chara company, right? They had to spend so much of their life being alone. I want to stay with them.

[aegros]

[In the time he had? But he was only alive for a handful of years, his life taken at such a young age. Perhaps that was enough. Enough for his son.

Asgore smiles through his tears. It is a heavy burden, and he swears, god but he swears - never to forget this. This, this moment. This true and proper goodbye.]

Still inseparable.

[The words are thick with fondness, with longing. The tinkling of the music box hums back into his ears distantly, as though through a great fog, and his head bows.]

Could I, perhaps...could you...stay a little longer? There is so much we never got to do...