Week 5.

[trustfellowship]

WEEK 5 Another week has passed; another two people have died. Tsubasa Hanekawa and Nachetanya Loei Piena Augustra have joined the ranks of the deceased. Whatever you may have thought about them in the end, one thing hovers heavy over the group: the fact that neither their compassion nor their ambition was enough to keep them alive in here. Is yours? Saturday is given to regrouping and rest; the static blares out early on Sunday, but at least there are no bodies to find today - it seems you're safe for now. The night before wasn't necessarily a peaceful one, however; you'll probably feel a bit groggy when you wake up, and it seems you've regained something that you didn't realize you'd lost... And of course, with another successful trial comes a new addition to the building, another corridor opening up on the west side of the building. The doors leading to it branch off of the hallways leading to the second and fourth sections of the building; have those doors always been there? You can't remember... It's a new week. Of course, that means you've been here for over a month, and your stay doesn't seem to be coming to a close yet. PATIENTS REMAINING: 22

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
[OOC: Welcome to week five of Trustfell! Feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget to save those threads for coins and the activity check!

If you'd like to get in contact with the Transmitter, you can do so through text or the phone in your room!]

Comments

[heritrix]

[There's not much else she can tag onto that. Rin was never fond of empty words of comfort, from people who could have no idea what those left behind are going through. Her next response takes a few seconds longer.]

Do monsters have customs for grieving?

[journalname]

[It takes a while for a reply to come, and the script when it does is less even.]

We spread the dust of the departed on that which they loved.

There is nothing to be done here.

[heritrix]

[The paper that comes back to him is smoother; as if she spent a long time working out the wrinkles with her hands while thinking of a response.]

Humans have ways of grieving their own without a body.

[The next line is scribble beneath the first, as an afterthought.]

It'd be little comfort, I know, but you said Chara was human.

[journalname]

[This response takes a long, long time to come.]

What are they?

[heritrix]

[Rin's family has always followed European traditions, despite their heritage, but she includes Asian traditions she's heard of at festivals as well, in case they resonate better.]

In some countries, prayers and eulogies are said for the deceased, to honor their lives.

In other parts of the world, lit-lanterns or paper boats are sent down bodies of water to guide the lost spirits as they move on.

...There are many more traditions all over the world, but those are the ones I like best.

[journalname]

That does sound nice.

The river in the Underground just flows down into a void. We do not know where it goes, or how deep. Chara and Asriel liked to go there and see what had come from above.

[heritrix]

It works better with a river like that, honestly, but we do have a pool.

Did they ever bring strange pets home?

[journalname]

[Well, Asriel brought Chara home HEYYYYYYYYYYY]

Some fish and insects, from time to time. There are not a great many animals in the Underground. Chara would tell Asriel about them, but they never owned a pet themselves.

[heritrix]

[Does it make him feel better, to talk about his child like this? Rin's honestly not sure. If he wrote it down it must, she thinks, so she'll keep trying, blissfully unaware they're not talking about a single child anymore.]

Tell me more about them.

[It's its own eulogy, in a way.]

[journalname]

[I hope you're ready to wait a little while, Rin. Asgore isn't really sure if it makes him feel better or not, but...it is something. No one here knew them, and now no one ever will. If he should die here, at least they too could live on in memory.]

They were always so close, from the day Chara fell. Asriel had few friends his age - there were just not many monster children living nearby. Often they would both come and help me in the garden. Chara took to it more readily, I think. I had gotten them their own gardening equipment, for Asriel's birthday.

They would not tell when theirs was, or maybe they did not know. So Asriel wanted to share his. He was always such a sweet child.

[...while he has always used "them" to refer to Chara singularly, it seems he's taken it now in the plural, to include Asriel.

Who, despite only Chara being ill, he has also referred to several times in the past tense.]

[heritrix]

[...]

"Was"?

[For such a short reply, it takes a long time to come back. It might have something to do with the illegible word scratched out at the top.

Rin realized as soon as she wrote it, that the answer to her question would be too sad. If Asgore wants to make it plain, he'll tell her. He can work up to it at his own pace.]

They must not have been very old. Speaking as a teenager for my demographic, we're more obnoxious than sweet once we get to a certain age.

[journalname]

No.

Perhaps were they older, things would have turned out differently.

When Chara died, Asriel was alone with them. He took their soul to cross the Barrier. He wanted to bring their body to the flowers that they loved. He was attacked by humans.

[The power he told her about before. The one that humans feared, once.]

[heritrix]

[Oh no.

In one way she should have seen this coming. She told Asgore his kindness would destroy him; then he told her all monsters are born with these qualities, made from a deep well of love and compassion that humans aren't necessarily blind to (she's seen it; seen it in Shirou) but learn to outgrow.

If all monsters are like that, if Asriel was...

The note is read twice, but isn't passed back under the door this time. Instead Rin's petite and long-boned fingers slip through the crack under the door up to the third knuckle, blindly searching for Asgore's. Maybe he'll move away. Maybe he'll smash them. But if her fingertips brush against fur, they'll stay like that; maybe grasp the tip of one finger if she can.]

[journalname]

[He was not sitting right up against the door; more in front of it, curled up as much as a monster his size can be said to, so that he could catch her notes as they slid through. So she won't encounter anything initially as she reaches through the gap.

But after a moment, her fingers will find one of his larger ones. There's a faint thud against the door about that time, like the sound a pair of large horns resting against it might make.]

[heritrix]

[Rin has been sitting with her back to the door. As she wraps her fingers around his larger one, she turns her head to the door, so one ear is facing closer to it. She doesn't bother with a note this time.]

We don't have to say anything. [This close to the door, he should be able to hear her.] But I'll stay as long as you need me to.

[Just like this, offering what meager comfort she can.]

[journalname]

...thank you.

[His voice is low, but still deep enough to rumble through the door.

...he does not deserve this.]

[heritrix]

[Rin doesn't make a sound, only squeezes his finger a little tighter.

He deserve this plenty.]