somuchlove | IC Contact [Hadriel]

real interesting, yeah.
some of them just say the darnedest things.
for instance, you know there's a kid that says they're just like you but they fell last?

[...well now.]

Really? I believe that I did not meet that one. I do hope the drop wasn't as painful for them.

[It probably was, given how Frisk was the first time -- if that was consistent, anyways.]

why? how many did you meet?

[Wasn't as painful. As what? What would make the drop less painful?

Maybe if there was something cushioning the fall?]

Which one do you mean? Of myself? Or Frisk>

[If they're going to play a game of 50 questions, Chara will make sure there's more than fifty to be asked.]

both? either?
i definitely met more than a few mes.

what do you call a group of sans-es, anyway?
a laze of sans-es?

One and one. They were both interesting.

[And...very kind, in their own ways. But unless Sans digs, they're not going to say much.]

A black hole made of puns.

[Funny or slightly tasteless? You decide!]

heh. nice one.

[He can do both. And dark humor is one of their joint specialties. They ain't exactly wrong either, as a bonus.]

"interesting" how?
some of those kids didn't seem too happy about meeting other versions of themselves.

[A supremely roundabout way of ensuring they didn't kick the bucket or anything in the interim.]

I don't believe most people would be one hundred percent "happy" about meeting another them, despite any differences.

[Chara thinks it's pretty reasonable. Not many people have reached the level of "Give no fucks" that Sans has.]

i wouldn't say "not happy" exactly.
i'd say some of 'em seemed pretty, uh, "murder-y" if you know what i'm saying.

[To borrow some of Papyrus's jargon there.]

[Yeah, that changes the tone.]

I am assuming that would be a 'me', yes? I do hope you or anyone else wasn't hurt.

don't worry, kiddo.
the only things to get exchanged were nasty words.
but given how many other yous there were, it didn't really bode well.

[Sans, seriously. Just say I was worried about you, kid. It ain't that hard. Only when it, uh, apparently is.]

[It's the thought that counts...?]

We are a bunch of Chara-cters, aren't we? But you do not have to worry about me that much. With the one I met we merely exchanged words.

[And it's one thing to be judged by Sans but a whole other thing hearing it from yourself.]

Is that why you decided to text me?

[Boy. Aren't they.

Astute, aren't they? Yeah. Pretty damn perceptive. He's real glad his expression is locked in a permanent grin, 'cause otherwise he'd be grimacing right about now.]

you kids just have a tendency to attract trouble.
might as well be living in a jar with all the pickles you two get into.

It says something if you manage to pick a fight with yourself, yes? But I am not that desperate for a FIGHT.

[Okay, they're also a bit of a liar. But anyways.]

Do you know the cause of that event, by the by? Curiosity.

the gods messing around with the door again, i thought.
makes sense.

[...given the way things from home just started pourin' in outta nowhere. People from home comin' in outta nowhere was just the next logical step.

But he don't need the reminder of their last conversation. Pretty sure they don't either, though he's sure as hell thinking real hard on it now.]

Yes. That makes sense.

[They are too and Chara isn't sure what it'll do if they say it. Something says they should, something says they shouldn't.

But Chara's fingers ignore their brain's delay and types something out.]

Impossible things happen here.

i'd say they do, yeah.

["Impossible things."

Like a kid who died years ago. Like a page full of symbols that shouldn't have been written. Like a man who speaks in hands, who came from another world or maybe just ≈⊎ᔥದν∎ iɓ ⅾo☤ᾃଅ‘..

...heh. Yeah, he wasn't supposed to be havin' that thought.]

you meet any other wacky characters then?

Yes.

[They...it's going there, isn't it?]

A man who asked questions.

hate to break it to ya kiddo, but i'm pretty sure that's just called being normal.

not

[How do they explain this? How do they get this across? Like...this, maybe. Maybe? Yeah.]

Part. Whole. A man who was in pieces but whole here. I don't know what he was. We both held it once.

[The improper capitalization is his first clue. The kid's grammar is pretty impeccable - as standoffish and clipped and professional as they apparently endeavor to be. But the phrases are dropped like flower petals, and -

A man who was in pieces.

We both held it at once.

Shit. Shit.

If Sans wasn't paying attention before, he sure as hell is now.]

did he

[No. He can't just - they goddamn might as well have broken when they found that page of his. And that had been just a page. And he told him to stay away from the kids, goddamnit.

'Course he wasn't one to listen. He didn't listen to a single damn person but himself. Why change now, right?]

what was

[Damn it.

God damn it.]

didn't make sense, did he?

He didn't. The questions did. I answered him. Took a little bit.

[He's...got an interesting way of putting things.]

Did you burn it? Tell me you burned it.

[Because it's a piece of him. He's still here.

* It's...
* Who is it?]

hard to burn something that doesn't exist.

[He ain't even lying there, really. Those pages ain't all there is the thing. Really not easy to destroy something when it's technically not even there. It's like the atom that exists in two places at once, only instead of two places, it manages to both be there and not be there.

He imagines that man was the same way.]

he shouldn't've been there.
he really, really shouldn't've.

Trying to burn the impossible makes me feel better.

[Coming along to burning themselves. And at the rate things were going it was probably impossible for that to happen here too.

But yeah. Much the same way.]

But he was. I know that. He was there.

yeah. i guess he was.

[God. And they had to deal with him just being there, huh? Do they remember anything? Does he leave a trail of antispace and antiparticles like a veil drifting off behind him?

Who can say, really?

i'm sorry, kid. He almost says it. But he doesn't. What's he got to apologize for, really? Sure, he feels responsible, but all that's gonna do is raise red flags and make things worse, ain't it?]

look. i realize i ain't really the best guy for advice.
pretty terrible when it comes to advice, actually.
but maybe...don't think about him, if you can.