hadriel_logs | Event Post: Everyone Chill

Entry tags:

Event Post: Everyone Chill

Who: Everyone participating in the event!
What: The event log for Tranquility's resurrection event!
Where: All around the city
When: December 27th-January 7th
Warnings: Absolutely nothing creepy or weird at all.

The revival of Tranquility on December 27th marks a vast - if temporary, and actually completely fake - change to the city. Upon awakening that morning, the inhabitants of Hadriel will find the city changed from its usual broken-down dour cave self into a sparkling, clean, delightful island city. Instead of being surrounded by hard stone walls, the city is surrounded by warm ocean waters and soft white sand beaches.

Gentle waves lap at the shore, the sky overhead is perfect, wide and open. The spires have been replaced by shining skyscrapers, the roads are clear of rubble and paved neatly. The stores are quaint, windows no longer broken, and the items inside have changed too. Instead of simple canned goods and strange clothing, you might find delicate pastries, cool drinks, fresh fruit, and flowy summer clothes to match the city. How nice! How calming, really. Didn't everyone need a vacation? So throw on some flip-flops, grab one of the mopeds that have been provided, and enjoy yourselves!

As the days go on, though, you might notice one or two odd things. Maybe the pretty sun hat you picked up looked, for just a moment, like a grubby old baseball cap instead. Maybe that beach ball is a little heavier than it should be. Maybe the shining wall of that skyscraper feels more like stone than glass. Maybe - just for an instant - the sky above was solid rock instead of the gentle, calming hues of the sunset.

While there is a mild compulsion toward calmness and tranquility, towards accepting the city for exactly what it seems to be, that can be ignored - and the illusion can be broken, if you choose to try. But do you really want to? Isn't that croissant much nicer than yet another can of beans? Wouldn't you rather relax at the beach than run around, trying to convince all your friends that this is just the gods getting inside their heads again in an even more creepy and all-encompassing way than usual?

Come on. Don't be a buzzkill.

► This log covers December 27th-January 7th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you chill out so much you end up dead, please let us know here.

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Yeah, they're all right. I was playin' a prank that go around, but yeah, they're nice. You get to learn somethin', and they always get a guy with a nice voice to talk about all the plants and things.

[They're more, uh, factually accurate than Alphys's cartoons are liable to be, but they don't have quite the same zing. A robot running to school with toast in its mouth has a charm that you just can't achieve by watching colorful birds hop from branch to branch, interrupting the kindly nature expert with their whoo-hoo-ing.

That sand's gonna start feelin' cold, he knows it. If he focuses hard enough, the grit between his bones don't quite feel real. Which is nice in its own way; that's a real pain to get outta your joints.

Maybe it's dust. But he don't say it.]

[They know that voice. Don't know the name- but what kid wouldn't know that voice? He always sounded so very nice; like he was talking right at them, not just into the air, to be recorded for later use.

Frisk hopes he never winds up in Hadriel. He'd probably want to tell them all about the monsters, and then he'd get eaten. Or worse. Anime will do for now.

A soft grin of acknowledgement, and for a time, the waves is the only sound to accompany them both. The air is warm, but the sea breeze keeps the sun from being smoldering, sleeves pushed up to their elbows as Frisk gives all their attention to the task at hand.

Frisk looks fairly happy, at least. The slightest quirk to their lips, soft creases at the corners of their eyes. Maybe they're just happy.]

[He don't know the minutiae of what it is, bein' human and all, but he knows well enough how fragile they can be. He lets Frisk set about and dwells in silence for a time, until somethin' draws the eyesocket.

He don't call attention to it right away. He keeps his sockets lidded at half-mast, contentedly drinking in the nonexistent sunshine, not thinkin' too hard about the illusion of warmth against his bones.]

You get in a scrape sometime, kiddo?

[He ain't real sure what could leave that kinda mark - circular, crescent-like, but he's more than a hair concerned.]

Mn? [A questioning noise in turn, pulling back from their work for a moment to focus on his eye sockets- take in the smaller whites inside, and where, precisely, they're aiming towards.

The most obvious one is still pink. Not really sore, though it likes to pretend it is sometimes. They do fade, they do; it just takes a long time. And the white blemishes left behind don't disappear at all.

Even so, Frisk is calm enough. Shrugs, keeps building up the sand on either side of his rib cage, doesn't twist or shy away.]

Accident.

Yeah?

[They fend off the query very easily. One word, simple enough. Accident. To challenge that would seem like, what, like he don't believe 'em?]

Guess you'll wanna be careful. I'm not real sure how humans work all the way, but you probably wanna keep that...clean, or something.

[That's, uh.

Well. It's an idea. Carlisle's got that glyph deal that they're still figurin', and if he can get him to agree to teach him right proper, there might be a reason to -

Finally get things to come together.

It's an idea.]

It's just a scar.

[Wouldn't even have it if they didn't get in the way. It doesn't hurt anymore, see? They poke at it just to prove it, pursing their lips and thinking it over. They've never seen under Undyne's eye patch, so they don't really know- do monsters scar?

He'll ask if he doesn't understand, surely.]

[...right. That'd be a thing humans get too. Along with people who have, uh, skin and stuff like that. And HP to spare.

It's a segue, though. He won't push things just now. He's learned what happens when he tries to force 'em to say something they don't wanna get into.]

Guess it just reminds me. I'm not, uh, real handy, most times. Most I can do is be a free shortcut expressway.

[Not that it don't suit him real fine. But that ain't the point here.]

So I've been thinkin' - I'm not so great with that useful sorta magic. Green magic, defensive stuff, healing stuff. But I might'a gotten to know a guy willing to teach people a thing or two about it.

That's pretty handy.

[Really. It's more than they can do, so if he's looking to preach to the choir about being useless, he's probably chosen the wrong crowd.

Sounds like he really is trying. Frisk sits back, regarding him calmly.]

You should do it.

[Because. It'll be useful. Because, maybe, if he does something like that, he'll feel better about things.

Sounds really nice.]

I'm givin' it my best shot.

[Not pickin' up on the hint, huh? That's okay. Might be they just don't wanna entertain the idea that he could be offering something for them. Frisk thinks about a lotta people, but Frisk don't ever really take the time to think about Frisk.

Time to move things from subtext to text.]

You interested?

[Or perhaps it simply didn't twig to them, to consider that a human could do those things. Their eyes open, lips parting into the smallest of "oh"s as he- well he's saying-]

I could?

[Is he joking with them? Maybe he's just pulling a prank, to get back at them for snapping the last time they spoke.]

Don't see why not. Might take a bit of convincing to get Carlisle to teach the both of us but...

[Well, he wore Carlisle down pretty quick, and that's all he needed. No reason he can't do the same for Frisk.

Might be helpful to have somethin' they feel like they can do. Somethin' they can use to channel themself, maybe so they can feel like they're doin' real good.]

I'll put in a few good words for ya. Or, heck, you could just come along next time I chat with him.

[He'll put in a good word for them.

Sans really has them pegged, doesn't he? In contrast to other occasions in which Frisk has shown signs of- something, they don't close up right away. Don't return to the default as they let the surprise sink in, the idea. They could do magic. Really, really helpful magic.

And Sans is going to put in a good word for them, so they can learn.]

...Yes please. [Breathed out. Still half expecting this to turn around at any moment, but oh, if it doesn't. If this is something they could actually do.]

I want- I can come.

[They can do good. And unlike everything else, it isn't-

The other Frisk's. They never mentioned anything like this, did they?]

[Cripes, do they just...not expect anything from anyone, ever? Actually, that might not even be far off - it seems more and more to him like they've only ever been told they can't have a single thing for themself. When someone else thinks of them, they find a way to divert that attention elsewhere.

This is gonna be one thing he's saying, thinking, considering - purely for Frisk's sake.

He ain't a real overt guy by nature. But he keeps his tone rumbling and sincere, and hope that this time his smile don't feel much like some kinda unintended, ironic slant.]

I'll keep ya posted, then. Let ya know when it goes down.

[From timeline to timeline, they think they've come to know Sans...at least a little. He smiles all the time, but he doesn't smile. The differences in his expressions are small, but they are there. They know enough to understand the more negative looks he's thrown their way.

They know this isn't a negative look. So maybe he really means it.]

Thank you.

[They don't have to consciously think of being sincere; they're a child. Big emotions, like gratitude, and a genuine sense of happiness- they write themselves onto Frisk's face easily enough, and for once (perhaps even for the first time since they fell) it's not shadowed by a sense of stress or consciously ignored pain.

Really. Thank you.]

[Least he can do, right? He's, uh...well, maybe that other him was right, and he ain't to blame regarding every little thing they think. Maybe he ain't the sole catalyst in them thinkin' the way they do - maybe it started a long ways back. The reason a kid like that climbs a mountain like that and...well, y'know how the story goes. But the fact of the matter is that he ain't helped matters very much at all.

If he's got some kinda special power, some kinda special awareness that others don't...ain't it his responsibility to do the right thing?

And ain't he kinda dropped that ball?

Can't ever erase those sins of his, and boy, he's felt 'em crawlin' on his back well enough. Sins don't get erased, not generally, no matter how you'll try. But they don't have to direct your every line and thought; not forever.]

No problem, kiddo.

[He thinks of saying something else, but...why ruin a nice thing, right? Frisk can bury him in the sand, and they can be a kid for a little while. And then when the illusion fades and they gotta pick themselves up and put themselves back together - then they can have a chat with Carlisle.

Sounds like a plan. And he don't even like plans so much.]

[They might not know what's going on inside his head, but when the silence falls between them once more; as both of them are lost in their own thoughts, about ruining a nice thing, about chats in the coming future, it seems silly to think that Frisk is working a little more briskly. That they're sitting up straighter, that their presence is just that tiny bit louder- more validated, just because he said he'd put in a good word for them.

But do they feel it? In a way, they do. In this bright, warm space, they feel something they haven't really felt in a good long while.

They feel positive.

And when they're done carefully patting down the sand around his neck, Frisk doesn't immediately withdraw for the sake of withdrawing, staggering back to their feet, offering somewhat of a mischievous grin as they pull out their phone.]

Say cheese.

[Because they are totally sending a picture of him to everyone they know.]

[This kid's seen him well and truly pied in the face. You think he's got any dignity left to speak of?

The sand (whatever it is in actuality, 'cause he ain't rightly sure and he's not sure he wants to be at this point) is warm and he's got an excuse to laze about for the entire rest of the day. So Sans grins contentedly with his sockets shut.

Please do send one to Papyrus. He'll probably yell, and it'll be amazing.]

[It's a literal Crime they didn't take a photo at the time, but alas. The good thing about board games, however, is that they're replayable.

Frisk snaps a few shots, settling down in the sand next to him as they work on sending out a few texts; to Chara, to Asriel. Alphys- and yes, Papyrus too. People who will find some sense of joy in seeing him like this, maybe, or at least admire Frisk's sense of art.

And in a few weeks, when all of this is well and truly over? The photograph will still be there. Capturing what it was supposed to capture, a false moment in time where everything was just a little more than okay.

It was actually really, really good.]

[The imaginary sun warms the imaginary sand, and Frisk sits beside him, texting out a few dumb photos, and for a minute, just a minute - yeah. Things are really, really good.

Not perfect, maybe, but who's got time for perfect? He'll take the nice things when they come, the little moments, should they happen. He'll hold to 'em tight as proof that maybe they're not so doomed after all.

This is one of 'em.]

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Event Post: Everyone Chill

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