{{ The Time Of Day
The night is darkest before the dawn. [ use https://paulschou.com/tools/xlate/ for hex code ]
{{ Sunset
[ * A stray pixel flits by Discovery’s head. A speck of pale amongst the dingy grey of the safehouse.]
[ * It’s not there when he turns his head. But of course it isn’t.]
[ * He turns back to the radio.]
[ * The safehouse creaks.]
[ * There is something quiet from the radio, more like static than anything enunciated. What might be words, a sentence.]
[ * But Discovery can’t make it out. He twists a few dials, straining to hear it again.]
[CHECK] > [THE LOST SOUL]
[ * D̸̕U҉̶̕҉Ş̸̀͝K̡̢̛̀ - ATK ??? DEF ??? ]
[ * A LOST SOUL. IT IS VERY VERY LARGE. ]
[ * IT WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED. ]
[ * The safehouse groans under it. There is no air to taste, but it flicks a tongue out anyway. ]
[ACT] > [ resist urge to kiss the lost soul on the snoot ]
[ * It bends down to investigate you. ]
[ * The Lost Soul is too high for you to reach! You cannot kiss its snoot, even if you want to.]
[ * The Lost Cat skitters around larger groups of Lost Souls, taking shortcuts. It’s looking for something. Another safehouse.]
[ * … ]
[ * Purr starts making tiny kitty whines, and Beep chirps quietly at them. Meow sits quietly and watches the window, curled up with the other two. All of them know they’re not quite safe here.]
[ * … ]
[ * Discovery has a pair of scavenged headphones pressed to his skull, the bone-thrum of sound maybe maybe letting him hear clearer, hear better- ]
[ * There - ]
-{ B̶̨̢̡R͏̴͏̸̴O̷̶̧T̵͡͝͡H҉̵E̸R̷̵͏̀-̧
-{ ́͜͟͏į̴͏ ̸̷̵͟t̵̡̡͘͜h̷̴o̧͠ư̵̧͠g̸̀h̷̨̨͘͟t̡̛͏̴ ̷̧̢͘͟w̧҉̕é̴͜͠ ̢́͡͠h̀͢͡a͝҉̸҉̢d̶̀͢͝͡ ̷̡̡̛͝l̶̡̛o͘͢҉̕s̴̢̧͡҉t̵̵̷̷ ̡͢͢y̵͘͘͜͡o̸͞͡ư̧̨-͏̛͜
[ * Static fizzes against his bones, a spark of pale white static blooms and fades behind his head.]
[ * He thumps his radio gently, hoping that a strike would clear away the hiss. It doesn’t.]
[ * Above, the Lost Soul shifts and rumbles, recoiling itself slowly. It just has to wait a little bit longer.]
[ * More shortcuts. Space in the Lost and Found is fragile enough, it’s easy to nip through the spaces that shouldn’t be there. The Lost Cat passes through the door of a safehouse and walks right up to a filing cabinet, rearing up to open it and paw around inside.]
[ * … ]
[ * Clusters of Lost Souls around the heaving lake lean down and listen as it whispers to them. Things half-remembered, things not entirely true, things they wish they remembered.]
[ * One of them drinks from it and seizes up. A spare few turn to it to watch as it spasms, flickers and bursts of glitch shivering down its body. For a moment it almost has eyes before they succumb back into the white haze of static.]
[ * The other Lost Souls turn away again.]
[ * Another bloom of static at the base of his neck. He’s listening too hard to notice.]
-[ í̷̛ ̷͢ķ̛͘n̕ó̵̡ẃ̶̛͡ ̴̨͞ý̡̕͡ǫ̢͟͡u̡ ͘͟͢f̷͜͜͞u҉̵̢͜c̶͜k̴̴̸͘̕e̕͜͟͡͞d̵̴̡͜͠ ̢͏ù̢͢͝p͏̷̢ ̨̡b̷̨̛͢u̵̷t̨ ̴͘͞͠͞i͜͡ ̛͢d̵҉̶̴͢i̡̡d҉̶̡͘̕n̴̨̕’̧́͞t͢͡ ̶̶̢̕̕m̵҉é̸͡͠a͟͝҉n̴҉́͜-͜҉̸̨̢̛͘͞
-[ B͢͠R̵̢͘͞O̢͝͠͝T͏̸H̨̕E̷̡̛͟͠R̀̕͘ ̷̨͢I͘͠'̧͢V͡͡E̸̶ ̴̧Ḿ͡͏͠I͢͠S͏̢̀S̶͘͟͠È̛͟D̵̛͠ ̷͢͜͞Y̷͢O̷̧͡͝U̷̶̴̕͢ ̷͠S͏̢̛O͢-
[ * He slams a hand on the table, and a sprinkle of dust falls from the ceiling. The Lost Soul shifts a bit, and a slightly larger rain comes.]
[ * Discovery looks directly up, blinking, and then looks to the door. Still barricaded. He stretches out a hand and leans over the table to touch the wall, testing the enchantment, and yanks his hand back quickly.]
[ * The Lost Soul makes some kind of hissing sound, and he flinches.]
[ * The enchantment is dangerously close to giving out. He needs to leave, but…]
[ * With the Lost Soul guarding the door, he’s going to get attacked the moment he sets foot out there.]
brokenmousquetaire asked:
[TXT] * Excuse me, Doctor Gaster, do you have a moment?
[ * Discovery’s phone buzzes, and freaks him out. He scrabbles to pull his phone out of his pocket and look at the screen.]
[ * Bookie. The hiss at the back of his head abates to a soft murmur, like someone speaking three rooms away.]
[TXT] * Bookie! Yes. Hello.
[ * He fidgets with his phone before starting to carefully un-barricade the door.]
[TXT] * Oh! Thank you for the quick response!
[ Bookie’s fingers tremble a bit, slowly typing at the number pad of their clunky cell phone. It takes them even longer than usual to type the next message, purely out of nerves. ]
[TXT] * You had asked me to let you know if anything noteworthy happened involving the sentries working in snowdin, yes?
[ Deep breaths. They can say this. ]
[TXT] * Well, I actually came to have lunch with one of them today!
[ * Discovery heaves a chest away from the door and leans over it, suddenly exhausted. When had he eaten last? He tugs his phone out again.]
[ * Oh. Oh!]
[TXT] * Really?
[ * Slightly re-energized, he shoves at a shelving unit. Door nearly there.]
[TXT] * Which one? The big one or the littler one?
[ Bookie glances down at the ketchup stain on their shirt. Good thing it was a red shirt anyways… ]
[TXT] *
Papyrus[ No, no. Doesn’t do to seem too familiar. ]
[TXT] * The taller one, though the other one also stopped by for a brief period. He took the opportunity to play a practical joke on us… the taller one was furious.
[TXT] * I could almost see steam coming out of his skull!
[ * Another shove and the spare lumber blocking the door is moved aside. Discovery pulls his phone out again.]
[ * He smiles as he reads the message. Of course.]
[TXT] * Oh dear. What did he do?
[ * It was probably good for him to be able to prank someone again, really. Give him something relaxing to do.]
[ * The Lost Soul shifts, sensing movement underneath itself. The enchantment bows a little more, and a gentle rain of dust falls again.]
[TXT] * Hopefully it didn’t spoil your lunch?
[TXT] * He tricked me into depositing a large amount of ketchup directly onto my face. I suspect magic was involved, but I did not see any in use?
[TXT] * It is, apparently, “a classic”.
[TXT] * But he did help me clean up afterwards, and replaced my food, so I suppose it was alright?
[ This is a lot easier to talk about than the lunch itself, as frustrating as the experience had been at the time. A good subject. Lets keep on this one. ]
[TXT] * He had a word with me away from the taller one while I was cleaning up. He said that he was glad his brother was making friends… but the way he said it was oddly chilling? I think he must be rather protective of Papyrus.
[ Wait. Shit. ]
[ * Discovery snickers. Definitely a classic. Also, a significant gesture, using his favorite condiment on Bookie.]
[ * Another shff of dust. Shit. He taps out a quick response.]
[TXT] * Very definitely a classic, and it was good of him to replace your food.
[TXT] * I’m unsurprised by his protectiveness, though. I’d be defensive of my brother. if he was going to lunch with someone I didn’t know particularly well
[ * He makes a little bit of a face and shoves his phone back into his pocket.]
[ * The door’s unblocked and the roof is sagging. The only way out of here is… well. Very quickly.]
[ * He quietly unlocks the door, takes a step back (takes a deep breath)- ]
[ * Discovery slams through the door at top speed, and the roof collapses, taking the Lost Soul with it. The Lost Soul screams, a guttural sound that almost knocks Discovery over, but he runs and runs.]
[ * The safehouse collapses behind him and he’s off like a shot towards the falls. The Lost Soul screams behind him, he’s only got a few seconds headstart.]
[ * The Lost Soul writhes and hauls itself up, shaking its head and hissing before launching itself after him.]
[ * He spares a glance over his shoulder, against his better judgement.]
[ * Bad idea. Really bad idea.]
[ * He goes back to running, looking desperately for places to hide.]
The Lost Soul behind him hisses, and Discovery darts down a narrow corridor of trash, he was-
–hurrying along the path, actually dressed for the warmth for once, and beamed (just slightly up) at his father. He had promised to show him around his space in the royal laboratory, at least the bits he could take a child, and Discovery had jumped at the chance. It wasn’t every day a little kid got to go all the way up into the lab, and maybe he might see his–
-feet skid out from under him and he nearly falls down an incline. He teeters on the edge for a moment before regaining his balance and picking his way down it.
Bottom of the hill. He hears a crash and looks behind him to see the Lost Soul launching itself at him from the top. Holy shit. He dives to the side and stands-
–up from his desk, shuffling his paperwork into a neat pile. A successful result. He navigates the cluttered lab and locks the door after himself, descending the sturdy stairs to the underground passage. He drops the stack of papers off into Ą̶͏̢s҉̶̧̧h̶̀e̸͘͟n̴͢͢͠’s drop box. They had taken off to sleep, and would get to it tomorrow, when–
-the Lost Soul misses Discovery, having miscalculated slightly. It slams heavily onto a collection of busted lamps. Discovery takes off running again.
A safehouse, but. He can’t afford to stay still again. He dashes past, noting the broken window. He’ll fix it later, when he can come-
–back to the house, chattering with his brother and spinning a small stick in his hands in some kind of mock aggression. He’d move like this and hit like that and he’d look so cool and then he tripped. His brother pulled him back up and brushed the snow off his coat, smiling kindly. He’d definitely look the coolest, especially if he kept diving into–
-a small crevice in the junk, and the Lost Soul flickers past at top speed. Discovery sneaks back out the way he had come.
Discovery had made it closer to the falls while the Lost Soul sought him back out, but it scents him out relatively quickly anyway, and startles him back-
–down the path, where he hid behind his mother, tall and looming in the cave corridor until she bent down to pull him back around to her front. The flowers were just flowers, what they said wasn’t really anything specific, she said. Let’s go listen to them together, shall we, she said, and lead him by the hand closer–
-than he’d’ve liked to getting his arm bitten off, and he swings something heavy at the Lost Soul before darting away again. He doesn’t stay to see if it slows down.
The Lost Soul crashes loudly through the broken underbrush of debris, and surges after Discovery. It catches up relatively easily, a brief flatlands in the hills, but Discovery turns-
–and places his hand flat upon the door, recasting the shielding enchantment. ͟͠B̧̢ŕ̸͡͏ứ̢͞͏é̸͡͡ś̨̡ thanks him, and pats him on the shoulder, laughing when he jumps a little. They wave and walk back off to the smaller lab, and he watches them go. He touches the door again, and adds another spell. Something subtler. Something–
-hits the Lost Soul in the side, knocking it over as it thrashes. Discovery’s eyes fade back to white and he wheezes for a second before taking off around a spire of junk.
The Lost Soul starts shrieking quietly, upset its prey keeps eluding its efforts, and it whips its tail into a hill or two, sending debris rolling down. Discovery barely gets out of the way of a particularly murderous fridge, ducking back-
–into the kitchen to grab a bottle of something nice, as well as some well-loved cups. The others are laughing about something together, and he pauses, reminded of how nice it is to have company. He goes back, distributing cups and then beverage, and they all settle nicely into their seats. Discovery takes a sip, and opens the folder on the table in front of him, starting to–
-slip as he starts climbing up the next mountain, a patch of pale against the dingy grey. The Lost Soul turns around, spots him, and seethes after him.
He’s getting tired, but stopping isn’t an option here. He ascends the mountain of trash, kicking things down onto the Lost Soul behind him, which displays its teeth at him again. He scrabbles further up, clinging-
–to his paperwork, checking this piece and that, hesitating before handing it over to the official. They checked it over, flipping pages over quickly, and then scribbled something on the bottom before letting him through the door. The first of many signatures required to get the job. He passed a door he remembers lead to the botany labs and pauses for a moment before continuing on down the hallway that lead–
- him out onto a plateau, the falls and the lake clearly visible. He pauses to catch his breath, watching herds of other Lost Souls wash around the edges of the lake.
He hasn’t heard the Lost Soul scream after him in a little bit as he skirrs down the mountainside, catching himself on wardrobes and fenceposts. Good, maybe it’ll leave him alone, and he can stop-
–laughing himself silly at ̸͘C̷̛ļ̷̧̨͢a̶̧͟҉҉n̢͟͟n̴̶e̶͟͡t̀̕͠’s jokes, he’s going to fall right out of his chair at this rate. They just chuckle and tell another one, and Discovery wheezes, slipping further and further towards the ground. Another joke comes, and another, and he sinks to the floor, shuddering with laughter. He lifts a hand above the tabletop and gestures weakly at them, and they stop, cackling to themselves. Discovery takes a few giggly breaths, calming down. He hasn’t laughed like that since his–
-gaze slides down the incline a bit, and then over, and the Lost Soul comes barrelling around the corner, steamrolling over smaller Lost Souls in its fury. Glitchy static floods down its whole body now, flickering out of existence in waves just as it reappears further up or down.
A burst of static sparks into existence behind his head before vanishing, a single glitch clipping through him briefly. How is he supposed to outrun this, it’s massive and after his marrow. It’s waiting at the bottom of the hill, and he keeps having these-
–sudden little bursts of inspiration, chattering wildly as his brother listened idly, flipping through a magazine. Discovery’s writing things down in a little notebook, gesturing wildly, and his brother deftly retrieved his glass before Discovery knocked it over, sipping as he nodded. He grinned as Discovery started off again, pleased that he’s sharing his ideas and not just–
-wavering halfway down this forsaken mountain of trash. The Lost Soul is looking at him, as far as he can tell, and it just sits there and waits.
The Lost Soul writhes, and he shivers. It flicks its tongue at him, and he puts his hand over his eyes, looking pointedly away. It hisses at him, and he wavers, a flush of static washes-
–his hands in the lab sink, careful around his delicate metacarpals. The other scientists had a passing interest in his hands, his missing bones the subject to at least one new conversation a day. He’d started to try and wear gloves all the time, but people started asking him why he was wearing gloves in the cafeteria. At least hand strength wasn’t required for the experiments he was conducting at the moment. He splayed his fingers out under the water and looked–
-through his palm at the Lost Soul, and it shimmers green for a moment. He touches the shimmer, and the Lost Soul’s code pops up, a green hologram hovering, scrolling quickly. A lot of it is glitched, and merely touching it makes the Lost Soul vibrate with fury.
Discovery starts across the mountain, walking sideways along it and starting to familiarize himself with the code hovering above his hand as it glitches around, the Lost Soul shrieking and chasing him at the foot of the mountain as he weaves his way across-
–the open bridgeflowers his brother thought up, his father grew, and his other brother was gleefully laying out across the little waterways in Waterfall. The four of them were laughing and splashing each other as they aligned little bridges for them to traverse, making up puzzles on the spot. His brothers were the best at puzzles, and Discovery had fun just running back and forth across the large blooms. They made it across to a little sheltered spot, a lonely bench someplace nice to sit after roughhousing in the water, and they all sat down to–
-not fall over, reaching up to rub at his temples. This was starting to give him a headache. Maybe it was the physical enormity of something that didn’t remember who or what it was, but these… shouldn’t be happening. The Lost Soul screams and he wobbles, moving faster.
The Lost Soul hisses violently and starts to shove its way up the mountain, but Discovery’s still skimming the code. He isn’t making adjustments, but he’s definitely not paying enough attention, his head hurts, another spasm of static flickers around his head, the Lost Soul approaches-
–his mother, a set of blueprints in hand. She was polishing her armor, buffing out scratches and popping out dents, but set the piece aside when he stepped up next to her. He laid out the papers on the table, and explained the concept of the CORE, and she lit up excitedly, thwapping him on the back hard enough to nearly knock him over. Her armor forgotten, she quizzed her son on the project, and he fielded her questions as much as he could, even though he wasn’t supposed–
-to be doing this, this was completely over the line, it was a Bad Idea, and he starts deleting lines of code, altering others. The Lost Soul howls and thrashes its way further up the incline, entire parts of it glitching out. Eyes open up across its body briefly before succumbing to static, replaced with patchy scales moments later, and smooth membrane a moment after that.
The Lost Soul slams itself against the mountain and knocks Discovery over, the code window snapping shut, and he looks down at the menacing coil of fury and teeth and barbed tongue just a few yards away. He freezes in terror, sockets dark, as it looms-
–behind him, the machinery humming softly as various lights flicker, and ̵́̀͢҉m̵͏.͏̵̶̧K̸̡̛͟i̵̛͠n҉d҉̴̨̀́e̷͘ comes up next to him, a faint smile on their face, looking proudly at the nearly-working teleportation system. They had been working on this for… who knows how long, at this point, but it was nearly done, and then soon after that they could start working on a way to get back to–
-his feet, a split second before the Lost Soul would have wrapped its tongue around him, and he slips in his panic and falls down the hill. A particularly vicious bounce results in a crack, and Discovery’s scream twines with the Lost Soul’s as it lunges after him.
Discovery wails quietly, curling up around some shattered ribs, and the Lost Soul easily advances on him, its howl fluctuating between almost unresolved and deafeningly loud. The static across its face and body flares wildly, almost flickering across to Discovery. He looks up, into the tri-maw of the giant ex-monster, trembling-
–as he took the hand of his brother and lead him to a room in the labs they both knew existed but had never been to. Their combined security level was enough to bypass any guards, made sure nobody glanced suspiciously their way, but once they entered the experimental lab the two of them were suspiciously excited. They could work with this, Discovery could use this equipment to start–
-lashing out in terror, eyes flicking between green and gone, spectral hands swatting out to slap the Lost Soul across the teeth, and it skrees, lashing out at each one with its tail, diffusing them into uselessness. Discovery stumbles to his feet, clutching at his chest, and staggers away as its distracted.
The falls are just around the corner, and his home, the oldest safehouse, is right nearby, but it’s useless to him if the Lost Soul is right behind him, which it is. Discovery spares a few seconds to glance in front of him, free hand swapping between gesturing more hands to take up its time and supporting his weight on large items, and it snaps its teeth and dives through a projection to bodily slam-
–the last panel in, and the whole bank of machinery thrums to life. The five of them watch impatiently for a few moments, then shout in delight and triumph. Somebody brings out a bottle of something they had been saving, and hands it to Discovery to open before darting off to get their cups. He looks at the other four grinning ecstatically, and passes his hand over the bottle, the drink flashing green for just a second, and then he pours them their glasses with a smile. He doesn’t drink from his cup, even as the others do, dancing and swinging–
-around just to be crushed against the clutter of trash. The weight of the Lost Soul cracks another rib, and it hisses right in his face. Staticky glitches practically drip onto his face as it seemingly gloats over its successful ploy, its large bursts of glitchiness met by smaller sparks around Discovery’s face.
The Lost Soul coils around Discovery’s body, making a sound almost like laughter, and he reaches weakly out to try and summon a hand to push it away, but the Lost Soul only has to touch it once before it dissipates uselessly.
C̴̛ÓM̢Ę̶ ̀́͜T̢́͢O҉́ ̵̡ME̶
̵̕
̛LE͏T̀҉̀ ̶̨ME̴͝ ͏̨H̀͜A̷̡͠V̸̀E̷̡͠ ͘͢Y̶͠OU̷͠R̸ ̛́͞SO͏Ų́͡L̨͘͜
the Lost Soul says.
̕
͟IF̴ I̷̢̕ ͝EA҉͡T͘͘ ̢Y͟O҉̕UR̀́ ̛͘S̸̡Ò͞Ų̡Ĺ ́͜I ͜͞W̕̕͢IL͞L̨̛ ̧̕B҉̀E͏ ̢R̨E͏A͜͡͞L ̸͢͟A̶͝G̶͘A͟I̷̷N
* No. No!
says Discovery, but he can already feel the static building.
* I can’t-
–have done this without you, brother, if this is successful we’ll be able to help so many monsters. Everything alright over there? You ready? Okay. I’m gonna start in a minute, but. Could you close your eyes first?
[ * The Lost Soul leans down and snaps at Discovery, attempting to steal his soul for itself, but try as it might, it can’t dislodge it. Had the broken scientist been any semblance of conscious, and willing to tell it, he would have said that taking the soul from an unwilling monster would prove nigh impossible. He would know. It would have been disappointed.]
[ * But he isn’t, so instead it spends a time futilely rooting around in his open chest, furthering the advance of the glitchy buildup, reemerging with a disgusted noise.]
[ * In lieu of the full soul of someone who was recently not Lost, it decides to take the shattered remains of his ribs and eat them.]
[ * This has a similar enough effect, though not anywhere close to as comprehensive as it would have liked.]
[ * Dusk raises its head, marginally more clear of obscuring static, and darts quickly across the landscape towards the lake. Perhaps it could find better prey there.]
[ * Discovery is limp amongst the debris, glitchy sparks coursing up and down his body. His eyes, in the brief moments they’re visible, are dark.]
[ * In the distance, Dusk howls.]