Open RP Post

[prettypurpleparlor]

[An open space for any roleplay that doesn't fit elsewhere. Please feel free to check my permissions post, also located on this journal, for anything that might be an issue.]

Comments

[voidster]

[Definitely some kind of puzzle or game, otherwise he's sitting only feet away from... what, a hole in reality? That leads to outer space or outside the universe entirely?]

Space?

[...It doesn't really matter what the 'nothing' she's talking about is, if the goal of the game is to 'rescue' her. He's curious anyway. Hey, it's totally made him forget about his awful embarrassment.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She shakes her head gently.]

You're still thinking of it too much in terms of reality. Space is a place where there isn't any matter, but it still Is.

[The capitalization is audible.]

All of reality Is. This room leads to what Is-Not.

[voidster]

[That's just... silly. Because it's impossible.]

It has to be something, you came from there.

[prettypurpleparlor]

Yes... and no. I certainly did not originate there. I Was... and then I Was-Not, and never had been. I objected strongly to this state of affairs, and have made attempts to correct it, with mixed success.

[voidster]

[Nope, still silly.]

If you're not real, how are we talking?

[prettypurpleparlor]

Because of this place, and a great deal of effort. This room is a liminal space, a halfway point between reality and the Void- just far enough out from reality that an unreal being can stay within it without causing problems for herself or reality in general, but still tethered enough that it doesn't cease to exist entirely.

Neutral ground, you may call it.

[voidster]

[That might unnerve some monsters. Oddly, it doesn't bother him. There's still this strange sense of belonging... he nods at her explanation.]

But I meant there... shouldn't be a 'you' to talk to?

[prettypurpleparlor]

Inside reality, there isn't. I wasn't destroyed, because that would imply there was something to be destroyed. Instead, I was simply removed from reality- there exists no evidence that I ever was, and no memory of me can hold within the minds of those who knew me.

[voidster]

[Not destroyed, because there is nothing to destroy.]

The laws of physics have loopholes?

[A lousy joke, while he tries to wrap his Not-There brain around everything. What an evil puzzle, could anyone figure this out? (The possibility that it's not a game and that someone is really in this situation is horrible.)]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Oh, sweetie. At least it's keeping him calm.]

One can only have law with precedent- what no court has encountered or considered, the law will not cover. Similarly, the laws of physics cover only what their writers could think to address.

[voidster]

[Calm as anyone making small talk, while he ignores his tea and keeps on thinking. Hard. He doesn't say anything for a moment.]

...Have I been in here before?

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She allows him time to think, not pushing him to break the silence as she calmly sips her tea.]

You have not. But you know people who have been- though neither you nor they are aware of it.

[There was a time when she couldn't have said so with such confidence, too lost in the strange tangles of other times and possibilities from an outsider's perspective, but she's more anchored these days. Weaving together this room gave her a more solid point to bring herself together, too.]

[voidster]

[So why does it feel like he has? Maybe that's normal for this abnormal place. Oh, well.]

Who else? Will writing myself a note help?

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Shhhh, Gaster- don't look too hard at other timelines. That just ties everything up, and Muffet has to go carefully comb everything back out again so reality doesn't end up in one big knot.]

Anything too detailed will simply be erased by the effect, but a more vague reminder might slip through, if you're careful. As for others...

[She hesitates here, for the first time.]

I can think of a handful, but it might be unkind to try and make them remember. It isn't pleasant, forcing oneself to recall things that aren't permitted to be real anymore.

[voidster]

[Has telling him not to be curious worked anywhere, for anyone???

Notes are going into his phone now. Not things about her so much--maybe if he sticks to reminding himself about this Void place, it'll stick around. The closest he gets to mentioning her is just the word 'rescue'. He still has to put it down to sign.]

I won't. Unless they can help.

[A little bit of 'unpleasantness' might be worth it, if they want to help.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

Then, of the three most likely to help... hmm. Pick a place: Hotland, Waterfall,
or Snowdin. No need to risk troubling all three when one might be enough.

[voidster]

[Hotland is probably... She Who He Is Trying To Avoid Forever, isn't it.]

Waterfall.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Why, however did you guess.]

Gerson may not remember much of anything, half the time... but the other half, he knows more than even he quite realizes. If you can hold onto the memory of this conversation when you leave here, speak to him. He may be able to give you a more solid trail to follow, if nothing else.

[voidster]

[He nods... and doodles a turtle next to the word Waterfall. It's not like there are any other well known turtle monsters there. Surely he'll figure it out later, if he forgets everything.

It's not a game. It really isn't. And that's... sad. But he can deal with a case of the sads later.]

How did this happen to you?

[prettypurpleparlor]

Allow me to answer your question with another question:

Do you know who designed the Core?

[It should be an easy question, shouldn't it? The Core is such a vital, well-known part of the Underground's infrastructure, everybody learns about it in school- when it was built, how and why. So...]

[Why can't anyone recall who came up with the idea?]

[voidster]

[Some people are terrible students, and he absolutely isn't one of them. He... should know. It's been there his whole life, and Alphys isn't that much older than him. Can't have been her.

...huh.]

No.

You.

[prettypurpleparlor]

So in other words, you don't know but you're bright enough to guess.

[She smiles warmly.]

And you've guessed correctly. Dear Doctor Alphys was my student once, a very long time ago- but I had a habit of leaning towards more intangible objects of study that she does, the nature of magic and of reality. I learned much, but pushed a bit too quickly, and discovered that the fabric of existence is a very unfortunate thing to be studying without proper lab safety precautions.

[voidster]

[At least she didn't tell him it deliberately ate her or something. That the 'fabric of existence' is alive and malicious wouldn't be any weirder than the rest of this.

He's in way over his head, isn't he.]

Do you know how to fix it and you can't in here?

[prettypurpleparlor]

I am fixing it, bit by bit. I'm certainly far more together than I was when the experiment first went wrong. But returning myself to reality when it no longer has a place for me is a delicate process, and I could do terrible damage if I didn't take care.

I will do what I can from here, as I have been, but I suspect that in the end it will require effort from both sides of the door...

[voidster]

[Sort of finishing her sentence, just in an entirely different 'language'...]

And I can't take instructions from you once I leave.