hadriel_logs | Event Log: Oh Shit (B side)

Entry tags:

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

[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?

Yes. I'm not capable of levitating my weapon.

[It'd be interesting to see but not workable. They were capable of the feat of killing Sans, not copying his magic.
They can't do it again.
The world long beat Sans to the punch. It let them down and then refused their last request to make their death simple. There's no point in trying to put the teeth back into someone's mouth after they got knocked out.

There's no way to put out a fire without something getting burned. That's all.]

...I appreciate it.

[Yet he keeps trying. Despite everything, he keeps trying.

I cannot understand these feelings any longer.

Perhaps that alone Chara can agree with their double.]

[It ain't much, but in the wake of everything that's been going wrong today? He'll take what he can get, even if that's little more than table scraps. About all they can afford, time like this.]

We'll figure this out. Once the network's back, we can check up on Asriel and Frisk. Make sure they're all right. Yeah?

[It ain't much at all, no. But it gives 'em a reason to stick around in the short-term, and maybe not go chargin' off without a second thought as to their own personal safety.]

[Guess everyone has to tighten their belts - physically and metaphorically - this time. This was proving to be more dangerous than the doubles event. It wasn't a matter of being too slow to get to Frisk and Asriel but because there simply wasn't any way of getting to them. Cut off, just like Chara tried to cut themselves from existence. Just like that moment when they saw their double standing over a pile of dust and a broken flower.

Smiling. Its always smiling. And so they smile a little, even a finger that is hidden out of Sans's sight is pressing against a sharp corner. The skin will break in a moment if it - they - keep going.

But hey. Accidents happen.]

Yes. I will also lend a hand, where I can.

[They'll head out afterwards. What exactly they'll do when they're outside...? Who knows. The wall isn't an option so they'll have to find something else.]

[It don't occur to him to look for a thing like that. Hard to imagine what might motivate someone to go down that kinda route when he don't have much of a familiarity with the concept of pain to start with - not aside from faint flashes of what it was like to be cleaved down in two, and the roaring, agonizing memory of his double's body undergoing the protracted process of explosive decompression.

That was, uh, a pretty unique instance. Let's just say.]

Guard's mobilizing and everything. Or, uh...you can stick around the clinic, if that's more your speed. Help people.

[They can do a lot more good than they've given themself credit for; that much he knows for certain.]

[Perhaps this is them taking advantage of him not knowing. Having 1 HP meant things were all or nothing for Sans. Certainly Chara knew the extremes - caused those extremes - but he couldn't put pressure on a finger until the bone cracked a little. Couldn't hide away those little things that you couldn't come up with an reason for. Just like Chara never owned a cat, they weren't so careless to walk into---

The skin breaks and they have to fiddle with the things in their hands to make it look like all they're doing is adjusting their grip. Say something sarcastic.]

Because I am so good at helping people. It may be easier if I am elsewhere.

[Safer, for others. Can you imagine them being a positive influence on someone? Ahahaha.]

I dunno. You don't tend to give yourself much credit, kid.

[The implication there being that they could, if they really wanted to. But, hey, shouldn't ask the impossible, right? Know your own limits, and the limits of reality. That's just how it's gotta be.]

There's perimeters that need guardin', stuff like that. I figure most people're gonna be usin' a buddy system.

[He's actually got no idea if that's the case. Call it another one of his subtle hints.]

Pride isn't a sin I wish to be accused of having too much of. Wraith suits me much better.

[Probably why they got along with Rage for the hot minute they spoke. A need to murder Fear, something to take a swing at for taking away something of theirs. Even though that brought up far to many awful memories to the forefront.

But there's a saying that makes it all clear why Chara thinks that way.]

Perhaps. And maybe with a buddy I will have even less of a chance of making mistakes. No more climbing and falling off of walls for me.

[A poor way of putting it, but they can read in-between the lines of what Sans is saying. Find someone who could put a leash on your stupid ideas.

Or at least, that's what Chara thinks it sounds like.]

Big difference between "pride" and "self-esteem," pal.

[Mm-hm. Look who's talking, right? But since when has Sans ever followed his own advice? He don't make a habit of listening to hypocrites, after all. And he knows exactly what that makes him.

No "falling" from walls, yeah. A lesser chance of making "mistakes." He drones out a faint chuckle, though there ain't much mirth to it.]

Might be hard to believe, but yeah, I actually like you a lot more alive than dead.

[Chara had a pretty good retort for his first comment. Sarcasm to them was a weapon to be wield when blades didn't work and for all that Chara and Sans's double went back and forward on their inability to kill him, they didn't have a problem with this method of "attack".

A pre-school argument on the matter of pride and self-esteem. How fitting, considering what they know about fights in the playground.

But Sans continues and it dies before it's out of Chara's mouth. "Hard to believe". Yes. They've been over this. Easier to believe the bad rather than the good, take the double's words over the original's, ect.

Changing the SOUL of one like them was impossible. While the demon was metaphorical nowadays it still was there. It always would be, taking familiar, tall and detested shapes.

They had been possessed by a Fear Demon, after all. LV 20 wasn't absolute, nor was it the scariest thing in the room.]

I hope you are prepared for disappointment then, seeing how I am deader than a door nail back home. But I suppose being here "doesn't count" or something.

[They're being mean. But sometimes being mean was better than the alternative. Better than finding out that someone wants a creature like Chara in their world.]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

[cw for tiny self-harm]

no subject

cw probably continuing

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject