hadriel_logs | Event Log: Oh Shit (B side)

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Event Log: Oh Shit (B side)

Who: All the characters in Group B
What: The event log for Group B
Where: The right side of the city
When: The evening of March 28th-April 9th
Warnings: You're safe! But you're starving. Soon enough you'll be attacked by monsters, which will probably change both of those.

March 28th brings many changes into the city. First of all, that loving, dopey feeling? Gone. But you don't have too much time to mourn your affectionate side because, in addition to the humiliation of being voted in last, Love is also getting their personalized event overshadowed by the first major citywide disaster of Hadriel.

On the evening of the 28th, the city splits itself into two for some reason, isolating the left and right halves of the city. In the right half, if anyone tried to figure out where the other half of the city went, they'd find themselves staring down a massive rock wall- which is unfortunate, because this is the unlucky side without Hope. That means that after the split occurs, the lights flicker and die, the network takes far longer to get up, and what few stores there are will no longer be stocked with food.

The first two are solved within a couple of extra hours- dim lighting and profoundly glitchy network access will be created, particularly when attempting to contact anyone on the other side of the city. As if that isn't enough, without Hope there is no new food being stocked in the stores at first, and what is there isn't exactly being kept fresh and will run out within just a couple of days. Eventually, Love will try to substitute a replacement, but the bulk necessary to actually effectively feed everyone just isn't there, so enjoy your prolonged starvation!

That seems to be the main thing to worry about it until March 30th when the monsters begin to push and prod at Confusion's ineffective barriers and break through into the main city, where delicious meals (read: you) await them. The flow of monsters from the bestiary into the caves will seem almost unending, as we're stocked up on 18 months worth of them (and any/all offspring they may have created during that time).

Try to hunt some of them if you can, but watch out for the poisonous ones! It won't take long for hunger and thirst to start to settle in, so you might want to act fast. Additionally, since Hope is not present, there will be no revivals until the end of the event. You can deal with a minor permadeath setting, right?

► This log covers March 28th-April 9th.
► 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 die of starvation or animal mauling, please let us know here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Yeah, go ahead and bleed out that hot vocal rush of crimson. He hadn't nailed the pattern before, how they managed to slip that out, twist the words. He'd always figured it was a conscious choice on their part, an intimidation tactic.

He was wrong.

It's when they're compromised that it slips out like that. Turns out that, in the end - the word bleed was never more applicable.

He advances another step. Slow, easy. Hands still open, and out.]

They're tough. You know that. They'll be okay until we can get to 'em.

We'll help 'em fix it.

[It's just like how they are laughing right now despite wanting nothing more than to crawl in a hole so nobody had to see this. Chara knows about the red, knows how their words are sometimes twisted into something that tore through the world. It was useful as an intimidation tactic, yes.

But it's the same as many things in Chara's life were. They are not the one in control. They never were.

Chara takes a few deep breaths and tries to forget what they just did. Failed. Could erase those memories but it's a petty thing to use it on. So they won't. They just breathe.]

....I know. Logically, I know. But it can't happen again. Not to them.

[Chara didn't care if they died again, but not Frisk or Asriel. Enough was enough.]

Breathe.

[Easy. He moves slow, gives 'em plenty of time to back off if they aren't raring for contact at the moment. But if they let him, he'll - lay a hand gently on their arm. Careful, easy.]

It won't.

[It ain't exactly a promise, but it's damn near close enough to it. His tone's firm.]

We're gonna make sure. They've got people lookin' out for 'em. I made sure.

[They want to say they already are but don't. And he doesn't make a promise, which is good because if it failed Chara would have to kill him - again - and they don't

But when has it mattered what they wanted? So they'll just shut this away. It's fine. Just give Chara a second.

But they don't move away.]

Okay....okay. Um, snail-like animals that do not have a shell are usually called slugs. And depending on the species snails can live five to twenty-five years. It's very interesting stuff.

[They go on like this for a bit. It's calming, brought back good and bad memories of Toriel. She had only tried to hug Chara when they were like this once and that had not gone...well. So snail facts. Something to fill up the silence. Something to focus on that wasn't their panic and self-hatred.

Grounding. But it has to stop eventually and they have to focus.]

...I will go get those parts that I spoke of before. Hopefully they can help.

[He can't rightly tell what the correlation is between all this and snails, but don't interrupt. It's calming them down, whatever it is, even if he can't exactly say why snails would hold a particular weight or relevance here.

He keeps his hand steady, let them run it out.]

I'm thinkin' they can.

[If they feel like they're doing something - they'll be far less likely, he's thinkin', to do something rash in the absence of their brother or their partner.]

I asked Shadow to keep an eye out for both of 'em. You know Shadow?

[It's weird, they know, but it's better than nothing. Better than sitting in a mire of self-hate and doing nothing. And Chara's "promise" to Fear involved both of them getting out of their respective pity parties and did something.

So move.]

I don't believe so.

[Chara has actually met Shadow a number of times but never got his name before.]

But if he is willing to look after Asriel and Frisk then that is fine.

[Someone is. And that's all Chara can ask for right now.]

You've probably seen him. Little black hedgehog. Red eyes. Scowly attitude.

[Nothin' like a little levity to ease things some, yeah? Best not to add that he's the guy who helped desecrate the notes and files the kids were keepin'. And whoe also pilfered their chocolate after. Cold, right?]

He's all right. He'll watch out for 'em.

[Probably a good idea not to, least they wind up with one very dead hedgehog.]

I do know him then. Somehow I never managed to get his name.

[They also split their guts to him over the anon post awhile back but nobody needs to know about that.]

...if you think they are in good hands then I will try not to craft more stupid plans. [Unlikely, but better then nothing.] For now will you follow me to find those parts? They are not far from here.

[He's pretty distinctive. Funny how he's the avenue through which he learned Chara's name in the first place, and yet they never learned his.

Some kinda weird cosmic irony, that.

He nods. The temptation to tell them to breathe, real slow, is still there, but the way things're going, it might just come across as something condescending. Knowing Chara, they wouldn't likely take real well to that.]

Yeah. All right.

[A couple steps back, and the steadying hand drops.]

What other facts about snails you got?

[It is ironic. Shadow knows quite a few things about Chara that people aside from Frisk don't know and neither of them know. He had the answer to why they wanted to Erase themselves.

Best not to get into it.

And it's also best not to tell them to breathe. As good of a place it was coming from, they would not take it well. Focus less on Chara and more on what needed to be done.]

This way.

[Chara starts to walk away, but they haven't forgotten what he asked.]

...depending on the habitat of the snail they can have lungs or gills. They also have very small teeth on their tongue.

[He moves alongside 'em, easily, hands in his pockets. Like he didn't just watch them try to - like they didn't just hurl themself off the edge of a wall and wait for the impact to take 'em.

Like he wasn't expecting it to happen.]

Snails have teeth? No kidding.

[His interest in snails is, uh, surface-level at best. But its sounds like it might be helping. Might be keeping 'em in the moment. If it helps, then it helps.]

[It's very easy for them, isn't it? To grind away their own life. Chara's attempt to Erase themselves probably cemented it but also if doing something could possibly cost them their life, Chara didn't care.

They're already dead back home. Might as well add another one here.]

Yes. Microscopic. It acts as a shredder.

[There's also the fact that humans eat them - something Chara actually wasn't aware of when they were on the Surface - but thinking about that made them think about snail pie and Toriel. Helped and didn't help.

So they keep walking.]

...any interesting facts about skeletons?

[It seems to be doing 'em good. Talking about something innocuous. Keepin' their thoughts focused on something else. Something other than the two most important people in their life.]

About skeletons? C'mon, we're not near as interesting.

[A laugh, but it sounds a mite forced. Rote at best, like all his other shit. Dredging up the same material in a different key. Does his best to drag up something to keep the conversation rolling.]

Uh, we don't technically need to eat. Not for months. Pretty cool, right?

From a human's prospective you are. You have likely had to field a number of questions about your existence to others who are not used to Monsters for that exact reason.

[Even from people who were used to skeletons probably had seen him as nothing but a shambling corpse in the beginning, rather than the Monster who liked puns rather than brains.

....odd that the event with those zombies hadn't put Chara off of bad horror movies.]

It is. On the other side, humans die fairly quickly without food. What about drinking?

True.

[He won't argue there. He gets a fair handful of questions every time he introduces himself to someone new. Might be more expeditious to put together a pamphlet of some kind. Just forward that to all the new arrivals.]

We can drink. 'S just gotta be magic, or it falls right on through us.

[He gestures loosely at the general vicinity of his ribcage. Idle chatter's workin' so far; no point in stopping now.]

[The tension in their shoulders is starting to ease, even if their hands still stung from scaling the wall. It's working and thus it's allowing Chara to think more clearly about things beyond Frisk and Asriel being somewhere else.

The store is whole and so are the bits and pieces of things that Chara found and left here when they decided to try some rock climbing. While they more or less grabbed anything that looked useful, there's probably something in here that hopefully could be of some use.

And speaking of use...]

Does that mean you have to make the food magic somehow?

[All the food in the Underground was magical in a way, Toriel's cooking especially, but Chara didn't know how to do it themselves. It likely was something you could only do if you had magic to begin with, but...]

[The stiffness in their back and shoulders has begun to relax some. Miles to go still, but ain't that always the case? They're not half as volatile as they were to start with, about ready to snap someone's legs off outta reflex, about ready to take a plunge from the top of a wall.

But talkin' about it is easy, as he starts turning over the fragments Chara's sequestered away in one of the shops. Some of 'em could very easily come in handy.]

Pretty much, yeah. Have to put actual work into it. Can you believe it?

[Having something to do stopped Chara from finding something to do themselves. They...were not one left to their own devices often. Not worth seeing the end result, throwing themselves from a certain height, tearing into someone else and taking more LOVE into themselves. Not worth watching them break something else.

But that was from....no, just a long time ago.]

Oh the horror.

[Chara's laughter is just as dry as Sans's was. It's only been a handful of hours by now and they are already tired. Threatening Gods didn't take anything out of them, but just thinking about whatever is going on the other side certainly did.

....they can't stay here. Not forever. But for now...]

It was not explained to me. Does it only work if it is from the magic found in the Underground or could any kind work?

Depends. Back home, pretty much all the food we made and grew and cooked - that was just magic by default. Home-grown monster magic, made fresh.

[It's a pretty pointless ramble, even for him. But if it keeps 'em here, keeps 'em from succumbing to any other, uh, impulses to take matters into their own hands, then it's worth it. More than worth it.

Fistfuls of flowers and a boiling need to do something. No wonder.

He keeps turning the parts and pieces over with a series of quiet clinks, pocketing some while resolving to simply carry others.]

Here, I've learned to make do. Get some normal food and add a little special somethin', and it's good for skeleton chow.

[It is pointless chatter, but at the same time it isn't.

Chara doesn't know if they can or cannot learn magic. Toriel had given them lessons to teach them about bullets and the ways Monsters communicated with it. But nothing beyond that. Didn't give themselves a chance.

So. If they learned magic maybe--

...but they shouldn't get their hopes up.]

Are the Gods not willing to accommodate?

I asked Sorrow if the orchard could supply somethin' of the magic persuasion, but no dice. He ain't real fond of me, it turns out.

[Coupled with a wink. He looks over the last of the scattered remnants of machinery, scavenged from whatever surrounding buildings they might've already been to. Some of 'em could still be handy; he wouldn't know. Alphys is the expert, not him.]

You mind carryin' the rest to the lab? I was headin' back over there anyhow.

[Subtle? Not exactly. But at least it's sincere.]

I see.

[Well the Gods were closer to humans in terms of charateristics then what one would expect of a divine being, so it make sense that they'd have those they liked and disliked. Then again, from what Chara had seen of Sorrow, he didn't appear to like anyone.

Still, it's something to keep in mind.

Also they know what Sans is doing. Not one of his most subtle plans to keep them out of trouble. Although after foiling their plan to Erase themselves, the standards for 'subtle plans' have been raised. You know, if Chara had standards.]

...fine.

[They'll bring it over. But they're not going to stay either.]

[It's far from perfect. But if it gets 'em to safety for a little while, allows some distance between what happened prior to now and what might down the road, then it's worth it.]

Thanks. Best to keep some hands free, just in case. Y'know?

[Not that he'll say it. A wink and one last rattling clink as he adjusts his armful, and he shuffles on out. Could potentially take a shortcut, but he's supposed to be conservin' his energy here, and in any case, that'd defeat the whole purpose.]

[Hopefully he is not under the impression it will make them forget. They can't go over or under the wall. The Gods asked for fear to power said God.

And if that's what it took to bring Frisk and Asriel, they'll do it. And hopefully they won't have to keep the promise they made with Fear. There's only so many times you can do an underground genocide before it becomes old.]

It makes sense. You may have to keep an eye out for me.

[All they have right now is the Real Knife and that requires a hand. Not that Chara couldn't simply drop what they were carrying to draw it, but sometimes all it took was a second.

But regardless, they'll grab what Sans doesn't take and follows him out of the shop.]

For you?

[He rumbles the words out easily, with the low, dismissive inflection that most of his inane commentary gets. They're on edge, they're angry, they're scared, and for once, he's in the position to recognize that.

He lets 'em down. It's what he does. He lets everybody down, at some point or another.

But if it's time to do better, then here's what he can do. He can make sure they don't kill themself trying to wage a one-child war against the gods. He can make sure they don't kill themself goin' up against every damn creature down here. He can make sure they live through this, however the hell long it'll last.

He can do that much.]

I'll keep an eyesocket out for anything out to eat'cha. How 'bout that?

as always

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