interstellar5555 | Dance, Dance, REVOLUTION

Entry tags:

Dance, Dance, REVOLUTION

Who: Frisk and OPEN
What: Come bother Frisk at work!
When: Saturday afternoon
Where: Pizza Planet

[A]

Pizza Planet is a big, kid-themed pizza chain, popular for birthday parties. The Vista City location where Frisk works is attached to the mall, and as such is particularly large and extravagant. There's singing animatronics, sure, but the main attraction is the games.

Frisk's job, today, is to restock all the machines with tickets. They're pretty small for a worker. If not for their employee uniform, complete with a little hat, they could easily blend in with the children shouting joyfully and running from game to game. But for the most part they ignore them, focusing on their work. As fun as that would be, making good friends with any kids from here would cause too many problems. They're not sure they could contain themself, if the topic of music ever came up...

They go quietly from machine to machine, opening up a panel on each with a key and loading in a new roll of tickets. Out on the game floor like this, it's not unusual to get approached by customers.

Honestly, it's not entirely unusual for Frisk to just hand some kids a few tickets here and there either. It's against the rules, but it's not like anyone notices. And it makes people so happy!

[B]

They get a break for lunch, but Frisk doesn't really need the full time. They're used to scarfing down their meals fast, and it's a habit that's never fully faded. So they can be found in their street clothes for part of the afternoon, playing Dance Dance Revolution alone in the corner.

As it happens, they are utterly killing it.

The easier songs have long since ceased to be fun, so now they're working their way down from the hardest options. Some kids stop to watch from time to time, but they're largely heedless of any silent onlookers. Their mind is elsewhere.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Frisk smiles reflexively. It's nicer to talk about something a little less intense. "Pretty creepy. I can't do it. Plus I heard you following me the whole time, but I could never turn around fast enough to see you. It was freaky." Yeah, there was a carefully-crafted atmosphere of terror going on here. The creepy voice was just the cherry atop the sundae.

"I stopped at the bridge gate and you came up and went _human." Yeah, they can't really do the voice, but they can give it a shot. "I'm not sure if you did the creepy eyes too. Sometimes your eyes go out and it's just empty!"

Sans finds himself smiling with genuine mirth at the kid's story, especially them attempting to recreate his 'creepy voice'. Yeah. He could see himself doing that, especially if it was for a gag. Though, from what they're saying, it may have also been an intimidation game, which...he could see himself doing as well, under those circumstances.

Still, though, it's kind of cute. He's obviously enjoying talking about this so lightly, too.

"Not sure if I can pull it off right now, either," he says. "Having nothing knocking around in here must give a guy some pretty interesting acoustics." He taps the side of his head indicatively.

"You do sound different," Frisk remarks, watching the gesture curiously. They hadn't thought about that; they just figured it was because he has real vocal cords now, instead of whatever he was doing before. "Just kinda. Like if you were doing a new voice instead of talking normal, maybe. I never heard you sing before either."

All in all, Sans being human is probably a lot stranger for them than it is for him. Which makes sense. Maybe someday the two of them can commiserate about it.

"But you always played the trombone." So, you know. There's that. "Not a lot, but you could." They honestly suspect he just learned those few notes on it to screw with Papyrus.

It's weird to think about, even now that he's had a few moments to put some distance between himself and the reality of it all. Sounding different. Looking different. Having this whole different life. He wishes he understood why his memories are so different in places from what factually seems to be the case.

Frisk says they never fought him, and it doesn't seem like they're lying. Unless they are some kind of master manipulator - who also saw fit to risk themselves by coming to help him - he can't see how this kid could be the same one he saw gutting that fish lady or staring him down with a killer's eyes.

"I don't do much singing here, either. Not for a while, anyway."

He says it, so casually, and then the realization hits him: he hasn't, not ever. Nothing he remembers before coming to Virgo is real. His gut twists, the depth of that violation striking him full force. It shows a little on his face. When he speaks again, his voice seems to wheeze slightly, as if he's just been winded.

"How...Hey, how long have I been here? Time...kinda got away with me."

"A few months?" Frisk frowns, looking at their feet. They know you can't go from planet to planet (universe to universe?) just like that, but they don't like how long it took. Even less, to think about how everyone back home just woke up to find them and Toriel and Sans gone without a trace. "Since October. I left the same time you got taken, but it took us longer to get here. I guess it might take us that long to go back too..."

That last part is more pensieve. There's no real need to worry about that now, when there aren't even any plans for getting their chips out yet. But what must everyone else think?

"I didn't have time to tell anybody I was going. And they took Toriel too, so no one would know until they came to our house to look. But Papyrus would've noticed you were gone right away. He's your brother. You live together."

They remember, of course, that Sans doesn't remember that particular part of his life at all. Honestly, Frisk isn't looking forward to hearing how little he thinks of the idea again. But it's important; they aren't going to join him in pretending Papyrus doesn't exist.

All of that actually sounds pretty sensible to Sans, theoretically speaking. In fact, it sounds pretty fascinating. Weird time stuff is one of this interests, he thinks, and space is another. He's remembered all sorts of stuff about that, even besides what he 'remembers' from going to school in New York.

He looks a little uneasy but largely intrigued - that is, until Frisk mentions Papyrus, and his expression suddenly falls. He doesn't ignore it outright this time, at least.

He turtles into his jacket just a little, withdrawing his gaze. That...sounds weird. Everything inside of him is saying he shouldn't believe it, not matter how irrational that might be.

"That...sounds made up, but okay," he says, his shoulders lifted and defensive. His mind abruptly switches focus. "Toriel...yeah, she...she's not around anymore."

He doesn't really want to think about that either. It kind of makes him just want to disappear.

Frisk's brow furrows, and for a moment they look hurt. They were right, they were so right not to try to bring Papyrus along on this quest. But it's not as if Sans is doing it on purpose, and they don't know that they can just smash through the brainwashing by getting in an argument over it. That would probably do more harm than good.

"I know," they say finally - not entirely certain that they want to change the subject, but knowing that this is important too. "But Silver says they keep them. They don't let anyone go, even when they aren't playing anymore. That's part of what we hope the managers might know."

Sans eyes Frisk carefully, obviously pretty invested in knowing the answer to this question. His expression is searching, and also fairly introspective. Where could they be keeping these people? What are they doing with them...?

"So...this Silver person doesn't know what they do with them...once they're on the out and out." It's not really a question because he assumes that Frisk would have said so if they knew. This is a heavy weight on his shoulders, and he sinks down accordingly.

"I don't think Toriel is the only one from home, actually...there was this woman named Undyne in Tori's band while she was here. I think I remember seeing her as a blue person at some point."

He's been less sentimental about that one since his only memory of her is as his nagging boss, but...it still bothers him at night, all the same.

Frisk's eyes go wide, their expression abruptly dropping. It looks like Sans has managed to turn the tables. "Undyne's here?"

Oh, no. Alphys.

They believe Papyrus can carry on even during this. But Alphys...Frisk worries about Alphys. People try to speak lightly around them, since they're a kid, but they're not blind. They know she's not exactly okay. It hasn't bothered them as much since coming up. She's seemed a lot better lately! The surface has been good for everyone.

But losing so many people so suddenly won't be easy on any of the ones left behind. Before they'd been mostly concerned about Asgore - they've seen him die so many times that they sort of always are a little - but now Alphys is living all alone again.

Frisk sits down on the nearest box of cheap plastic prizes.

"Okay," they say half to themself, running their palms along their pant legs. "That's okay. We'll just get her back too."

He's never felt like more of a stranger to this kid than he does in that moment. He doesn't understand the reaction. Sure, it's bad and all to have had anyone else taken, but this seems above and beyond. Was Undyne a big deal to them? He hadn't even realized.

He feels sort of like an asshole. He can't connect on that level about it, even if he should. Undyne could be his own fucking mom and he'd still feel the same way. Which is...not feeling much of anything, besides ill ease and a near constant undercurrent of frustration. And, already, the mention of having a brother has more or less completely slipped his mind.

"...Is Undyne a big deal around home?" he asks, after an awkward silence. "I don't really remember. Pretty sure she was my boss or something, but I wasn't exactly a model employee..."

Some things never change.

Frisk shrugs. It's a bit of a disconsolate gesture, but they're already working to pack that away. It won't help Alphys or Undyne to get upset; they just need to keep going. "She was the Captain of the Royal Guard. You and Papyrus both worked for her. But it was kinda his thing." They're not even all that sure why Sans became a sentry, if not to spend more time with his brother.

"He wanted to join the Royal Guard," they continue. They don't want to think about Undyne and Alphys and home anymore; it's Papyrus time now. "So he trained with her all the time. She lived with you guys for a little bit after we burned down her house."

Sans couldn't tell them, either. The sentry job seemed like a pain from how he remembered it - and from the way he's thinking about it, he's clearly missing the point. Watch as his mind fixates on exactly the wrong part of that explanation.

"We...burned down her house?"

That is kind of a weird thing to have thrown in, though, honestly.

"Not you and me. Me and her."

Maybe. But it's an incident that kinda stands out in Frisk's mind. Anyway, it's somehow better than the time Undyne moved in with Papyrus and Sans just because she lost her job.

"She was giving me Papyrus's cooking lesson and she wanted the stovetop to symbolize our passion." They shrug. They'd had an inkling it was a bad idea at the time, but she was pretty insistent...anyway, it's really hard not to get caught up in Undyne's excitement. "But it was okay. She wasn't upset, and everyone had to move later anyway. I think it might still be on fire down there."

"Ah," he says. "Yeah, that...fits pretty much everything I saw of her here, too."

Still, it's weird imagining her crashing on his couch. Around here, he got the impression she considered him only tier above sewer water. Sans visibly looks a little unbalanced by the whole concept. Not least because they keep talking about this Papyrus guy.

"Dunno why, but...almost everything I've remembered revolves around you, kid."

Really? Frisk looks thoughtful about this.

"I haven't known you as long as them. But a lot happened since then." It feels longer for them, of course, but that shouldn't matter to Sans. But it was a pretty important and memorable series of events for everybody, even the people who just had one of them. And maybe, since they aren't quite as vital as Papyrus, the bosses just put less time into erasing Frisk from the equation.

Or maybe it's that he's had to remember them once before?

Well, it doesn't matter. It's kinda lucky in its way. They are the one here now. "All the monsters escaped from the Underground," they explain, since they know what they said was kinda vague. "We've been setting everyone up on the surface for a while."

And that's when some aliens decided to kidnap him? Typical. The idea feels heavy in his chest, with a heavy dose of resentment on the side. That heaviness shows on Sans's face in the subtle ways that come from him being human, hard to read by human standards but compared to his regular face, it's all clear as day.

He hates this. He's starting to feel really tired from it all.

"Haven't we been here before?" he asks. He feels like he needs to check - if the fighting wasn't real, then what is? Memories of snow and boring jobs and magic. "The first thing I ever remembered...was about not being able to remember something. You were there, and I had no clue who you were...until suddenly I did."

He falls quiet for a moment, and then speaks up again.

"That sound familiar?"

Yeah, Frisk's not too pleased about the timing either. Things were supposed to finally be okay.

They lift their head at the question, looking at Sans with wide eyes. Is he talking about...but none of them remembered that! They'd have said something if they did, right? "Um...was it...just sort of black?" they ask, hesitantly. Frisk can't imagine any other time that Sans could mean, but they feel like they have to confirm anyway.

Well, that acknowledgement is something! He relaxes slightly, relieved that what has been such a formative memory isn't just totally made up or without context.

"Yeah, basically. Kind of an out of body experience sort of deal. I think a whoopee cushion was involved?" Always prepared, even in the astral plane.

Frisk smiles despite themself, letting out a short huff of amusement.

But this whole thing isn't very funny. They can't leave Sans hanging on this. "That happened. You all said you didn't remember it after." It must have something to do with how his memory's been screwed around with. Between all their friends, someone would have mentioned if they started remembering the incident after all. Even if they didn't quite remember how or why it happened.

Sans isn't acting like he remembers the whole thing. Honestly, they're not even sure how much the monsters could have been aware of at all. They were all inside Asriel the whole time; maybe they couldn't see him.

They don't have to tell the whole story. "You had the whopee cushion in your pocket and I hugged you. It really helped."

His grin becomes less strained for a moment. It's not bad memory even though the circumstances had seemed...questionable? What was going on? He remembers going on the attack with the bone weapons he's seen in other memories but then the kid just hugged the murder out of him, apparently.

He laughs, low but sincere, even though his look afterwards is pretty sober.

"Why couldn't I remember you that time? Don't tell me this has happened more than once..."

He winks, suggesting he is kidding around, but the fact that he can't totally be sure has an edge of uncertainty there.

They know he means the question more than he wants to admit, but Frisk smiles anyway. It's been a while since they've seen him wink; they like that he remembers how much he enjoys doing that.

"It..." There's a moment of silence, where they're obviously considering how to answer. "Your soul got stolen. I don't know if that always happens when monster souls get taken, but it wasn't like this." Frisk isn't even sure if the loss of memory was a side-effect of the soul thing or something Asriel deliberately chose to do. There's nothing in the monster books about that. Either way, he never tried shaping the lost souls into different people.

Maybe they're being too gentle on him. He did take the souls for their power - like the music bosses, just using a different sort of energy. But Frisk can never really feel angry at Asriel.

They should have seen him a couple months ago - just winking up a storm back then. It's strange...he probably acts less like the guy they recognize now, despite the fact that he's recovering more and more pieces of his memory. He's been falling further and further out of context, which is making some habits a bit harder to keep up.

Joking and winking isn't much good when you're not in the mood for it. Yet, in the past he's always been in the mood for it, exclusively. A trying time, to be sure.

He looks more curious than horrified in response to that explanation, as if having a soul stolen is something that just makes more practical sense to him than being kidnapped or shapeshifted. Because it does. From everything he remembers about magic, souls have always been heavily involved. Hell, he's pretty sure that something to do with stealing souls was a regular fixture of research. He taps at his lip thoughtfully - it's a similar gesture to one he always did as a skeleton, more notable for the sound of bone against teeth.

"And you fixed it, huh?" he asks. It's really less of a question, and more like a roundabout thanks. He can acknowledge the worth of that gesture all over again. "Sounds like we've got quite the history."

Frisk is glad he remembers about souls, at least. Their fellow rescuers have needed a lot of explanation whenever they bring it up, and all their knowledge is purely practical. It's hard for them to put into words things that they just know - things they've been trying hard to keep secret.

"I guess." They shrug. They're not sure how much they really did about that; they just talked to Asriel until he felt better. Someone certainly had to do it, but he was the one who broke the Barrier and put the souls back. They never could have made him. "A lot of things happen," they stress. "I was the first human in the Underground for a long time."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Dance, Dance, REVOLUTION

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

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject