trustfelled | Welcome.

Welcome.

The last thing you remember hearing is static.

There were words in there, perhaps, quiet whispers like the rustling of leaves, like the crinkling of paper, like rust being scraped off a knife. The words aren't anything you'll remember, but they're there, and there are a lot of them washing over you, and it might be concerning if it weren't so warm where you're lying.

You wake feeling disoriented, like you've been asleep for a long time.

Of course, it's probably odd that you're waking up just now - perhaps you were in the middle of something important, perhaps you were waiting for something, or maybe you were just going about your day, but even before the whispering came you can clearly remember doing something back home. Can't you? Something else. Something that wasn't looking around the room you've found yourself in.

It's not your room, either. Not the one you're used to.

The room here is grey and white and tile; even if the bed is nice (and the bed is nice, it feels like it's been designed to cater just to you, maybe if you keep your eyes closed you can pretend it's a favor), the room itself is spartan and oppressing. The walls are cracked and the floors are in disrepair, but despite that there's not enough noise - it's silent, the quietness of it pressing in on you, and even if you can't see any cameras you get the distinct feeling that for good or ill, someone is watching over you as you get up.

That might be enough to make you move, to make you not want to stay there. But even if you stick around for a while to look around in there, the walls hold firm despite their decrepit state and the pervasive silence isn't going away - if anyone's in the rooms near you, you can't hear them. If you want answers, you're going to have to leave. Be sure you grab the key sitting on your desk on the way out.

Once you step out of the room into the hallway you'll most likely find yourself face-to-face with other confused people who feel as though they don't belong here either. Maybe you'll find something if you explore together; maybe it's safer in numbers.

Wherever you end up going - and there are several places to go - you might want to check the large room toward the center of the communal area of the building. A subdivided foyer is here; at first glance, it even seems to offer you a look at the outside. Of course, once you've gotten over that particular disappointment, you might want to check out the walls, where you'll find some very interesting information about yourselves hanging on the walls. There's some other framed information that you'll most likely want to get a look at as well, seeing as how it could be the key to escaping this place.

Although, speaking of keys... Despite your best efforts, you won't find any doors. The windows you find here and there are far more durable than they should be as well, and any attempts to break out won't work. It seems you're stuck here for the time being.

Maybe your fellow captives have some thoughts on all of this.

Welcome to Beacon General Hospital.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Startled is a word for it. And Sakura... well.

She gasps and accidentally slams backward into the wall. It's not just that Asgore is much, much taller than her. There are a few things off here, but high on the list are those teeth look too real to be that of a mascot costume.

Because that is absolutely a costume. Right. Kidnapped into a hospital with no way out, after meeting a walking robot, and this is where the girl draws the line]

Um--

Gosh, I'm sorry -

[He's scared her. Funnily enough, Asgore himself seems a little nervous; he's certainly not making any moves to get closer. He's less afraid of humans, really, than he is of their fear. If they should start a FIGHT...]

- are you...all right?

Y-yes.

[There's a quake in her voice - no good. She needs to compose herself a little, or else her crest will--

will--

...

The silence ticks on for a moment, Sakura's fear dissolving into dead shock as she stares at the mascot. It's not the guy's fault. Eventually, the girl finds her voice, even as her face loses some of its color]

I'm fine. [A slight, nervous bow] Sorry, I didn't mean to...

No, no...it is quite alright. There is no need to bow.

[He hasn't introduced himself, but he is wearing a crown. He supposes she may have picked up on that? Honestly, though, he doesn't much like to stand on ceremony.]

Are you okay, young one?

[He'll one day find that bowing is an engrained part of her culture, a courtesy delivered to peasants and kings alike. Right now, however, she obeys his word and stands straight again.]

Yes, thank you. [A pause] I felt a little dizzy, suddenly.

Gosh, that doesn't sound good. Would you like to sit down? I'm sure there is a place somewhere...

[She means no offense, but agreeing to follow extremely large goat monsters is a bit out of her depth.

However, she chances a smile. Did he really say "Gosh?"]

No, I'll be alright, Sir.

[...]

I-I hope you don't mind me asking, but um... where are you from?

[In fairness, it's not as though he has any idea where he might have taken her. He hasn't looked around this place enough yet.]

I do not mind. I am from the Underground, most recently. I was born on the Surface, but that country...no longer exists. [Or, well, it exists underground in a cultural sense?]

...

Under the ground? [Spoken tentatively. Yes, she heard the weight of that word, one that suggests this uh, person is talking about a place, but then he also used a word like "Surface", leaving Sakura very confused]

Yes. The caverns beneath Mount Ebott, specifically. Do you know it?

No, Sorry. I've never heard of it.

I was just wondering why you lived... [A gesture with her hands, quickly aborted] ... under.

[Given his appearance, she assumed he'd prefer open spaces and such, not literally under the earth.

But hey, she isn't a large goat. Perhaps he likes it that way.]

...well, we were banished there by humanity many centuries ago. Seven of their most powerful mages created a Barrier to keep us in. It can only be broken with human magic.

[With human souls, they have determined. But they do not really expect any humans to ever come and break it again.]

[It's not that she disbelieves him -- frankly, if he's not a mascot (and Sakura is starting to think he really isn't), then she has no business disbelieving anything he says.

There's still an awkward beat, a pause of horror. That's nothing that's been taught to her, and the mage world - the mage world she knows - is no stranger to monsters]

Banished? That's terrible.

[That's something mages would do, too, but only of the monsters threatened their way of living. She drops her gaze to the floor, thinking]

That...is very kind of you to say.

[It takes him aback a little. Perhaps humanity forgot about monsters because they regretted their actions?

They might have sought to undo them instead, but. At least he's glad that his kind haven't become stories to frighten children.]

Do you remember how you got here, by any chance? From Underground?

I'm afraid not. By all means, it should be impossible. A human may be able to enter the Underground through the Barrier, but no monster should be able to exit while it still stood.

[Except by taking a human soul, which he clearly has not done, so.]

[Interesting. So the barrier must've targeted these monsters' genetic make-up specifically. Not impossible, but still, that's magecraft of the highest level]

... Is there a chance we might be in the Underground instead? I mean -- if only humans can pass through the barrier...

[He shrugs.]

It is not impossible. But the Underground is not very large. I know all of it well, and I do not recognize this place, or what we can see of the outside.

...I hope they have not truly sent you all through. A human can enter, but I am not certain if they would be able to leave. The Barrier was made to keep things inside.

[She might not have voiced that option if she'd realized they might not be able to leave. It's one thing to be stuck in a building; another to be held prisoner in a country of sorts.

Even more discouraged, her shoulders sag an inch]

Then we really are in a place no one recognizes.

...no human has ever been in the Underground before. Perhaps you could just walk out.

[He doesn't really think they are there at all, but he's trying to be comforting.]

Does it seem typical of modern human hospitals, to you? Besides all of this.

I'm sure it's a hospital... but I don't normally stay in them long, so it's hard to tell.

[A glance around their surroundings]

It does seem a bit... unkept.

I had thought so. I did not want to say anything, but it...does not seem like it would be a good place to heal. We may be the first people to come here for a while.

[She nods in agreement]

It does seem that way, sir.

[A pause-- and actually, it occurs to her then that she's yet to introduce herself. Shock and all. Voice apologetic, she bows again]

Um, my name is Sakura Matou, by the way...

It's good to meet you.

Ah, where are my manners? I am Asgore Dreemurr, king of the monsters. It is good to meet you, too!

[... So that crown wasn't for show, then]

A king?

[Oh mai. That's a little humbling.]

Welcome.

Halls

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