Rule of thumb. [] is background Susie, () is background Noelle, / \ is background Kris, ** is background Ralsei. Keep that in mind.
-CLICK!-
... Hmm... Testing. Testing. 1,2. 1,2. I am a big, dumb, goober head.
... Okay... Audio balance looks good... Jeeze, this thing had better work. I paid one-hundred and twenty somethin' big ones for it.
*Uhm. Hey, erm... Kris?*
/Eh?\
*It's been a few months, right? Shouldn't you first let any listeners know what happened?*
... I mean, I guess. It's only fair...
Okay, so... We screwed up. I'm not gonna go pointing any fingers, but the mic uhm... It got wrecked. Like dragged to the ground and smashed kinda wrecked. Sooo, I had to put this whole thing on hold... It's been about, what... five- no, Six months. Sheesh, I can't remember. But the first mic belonged to Azzy. After we're done with it, I plan to give this to him- uh... That doesn't matter.
Anyways, yeah. We have been out of the game for... half a year. Fun. Here's hoping this mic works properly. It's got an air shield, so it's probably better.
... Okay. Now, let /me just... ... Mh? Uh... Hey, I never noticed this before... Where'd this jumbled up file come from?\
*My apologies. I saw that, but I assumed it was a... joke? Or a test file?*
/Well, maybe one of the Fun Gang besides us made i-... Uhh... That's way too early. The date's ... ... What the hell?\
*Huh? What is it? What's wrong? Should I have deleted that file?*
/This was made... BEFORE Part 1. But.. that's not possible. It's not like we had this computer 'till a year ago. We still had the old dinosaur and that was wrecked...\ ... ... -click-ick.. click-i-click... ... ... click-ick- /Okay, that's ... It's not an audio file... -click-ick- ... -click-ick- ... Mmh... I can't even open it. It brings up that dumb program select window. No idea what to do with that. And I don't wanna try figuring out what program runs it, because I might screw it up... Whatever it is, the file size is tiny. 57.2 Kilobytes ain't much at all. Whatever it is can't be too huge... I'll go ask Noelle over. -Crooank~!- Here, Ralsei.\
*U-uh?*
/It's your go anyways, so this is perfect. Kinda wish Susie was here, too, since she's a part of this, but... Well, maybe I can get her over here, too, if I can get Noelle.\
*Uhm... Oh... Well* if you insist, I would love to continue! -Crrnk!- I like to tell stories and that should include biography~.
/Great. And remember. One-hundred percent fact. No omission or censorship. No matter how much you want to. I know you.\
Er... R-right. I'll try to keep the vulgarity in, then. But I'm not saying the F word! It feels wrong!
/Fair enough~. I'll be back. Don't stop being cute on my behalf~!\
O...Oh! Uhm... Well, then...
-laughter-
-Ka-thunk!-
... -Sigh- Kris, you're wonderful, but.. gosh... My cheeks feel like pincushions...
... Mh? O-oh shoot! This was recording!
U-u-uh... H-hello everyone~! I'm very sorry, th-that wasn't very professional! ... E-ehm...
Okay... Uuuh, we left off with me and Susie following a bridge down, so the most fitting place to resume at would beee... Well, no. That's most likely not what you're current interests are on. I think that Noelle left us off around THAT point.
So, maybe... Yes. That seems the best place to continue~.
Okay. Imagine you are walking through a section of that giant, eternal autumn forest and stumbled upon a section that seemed to merge with a grand stone plaza with stone buildings utterly surrounding the area, but ravaged by the wears of time. Regardless, half covered up in mosses and leaves, wrapped up in trees, the plaza looked more "planty-grade~" than stone~!
... ... ... Erm... Okay, maybe that's not the best way to describe the environment. Puns and flowery talking do not a good description make. I apologize. We won't do that again... unless we forget and.. do it again...
... This is about the time when Susie would pipe up and say that I'm being what she calls "cringe", so per- I'll get on with it.
She was still carrying me on her back when we wandered here, groaning about something unrelated to myself as she walked. And that was when she stopped. I was half awake at this point, fairly rested compared to before as I began to yawn... And that was when I felt her hands pull away from me, causing me to plummet through a wide-eyed yelp!
-Bmph!-
I landed right on my rear end and tail, grunting. Slowly rising while she started to fool with something at her back, I groaned and squinting at her begrudging her for interrupting my waking up. Still, I soon began to "crack a smile" when a chuckle escaped me. I held a hand over my mouth and asked, "Uhm, S-Susie? What are you...?"
She grunted and ripped that weird tail thing that had been attached to her backside off, a very annoyed, glowing-eyed glare directed my way as she held it up. "What does it look like I'm doing?! I'm chuckin' this piece of crap!" She crumpled it up- which I didn't know you could do to a rubbery tail- and threw it away on the next passing wind... No, really. It went sailing away like a paper airplane. I couldn't- and I don't think she could, either- believe my eyes as it went floating away.
She slumped at the shoulders and back for a bit... Then, she shrugged and smiled more at ease as her eyes vanished from their previously glowing stare. "Ahhh... Smells like leafy freedom..."
... I shook my head with a quirky smile, sinking my head between my shrugging shoulders. "If that makes you happier...? Th-though, your defense just dropped by-"
"My Defense is perfectly fiiine, goat boy," She assured, waving my comment off. Turning to me, she smiled in a cool manner and huffed a confident laugh. "I bet the tail was secretly lowering my badass points, anyways. Those super equips always come with drawbacks."
With a huff, I merely decided fighting her on the matter was useless.
"Oh. And by the way."
I blinked and hummed, tilting my head.
Squinting at me with a heavy deadpan, she told me, "I had to fight like twelve different and WEIRD critters while you were taking your little beauty nap. And you didn't even stir!" Resting a hand on her hip, she leaned in on me and assured, "Next time you fall asleep, I ain't carrying ya. Fighting one armed almost got my ass eaten."
My face paled with sweat while my mouth puckered. Turning my attention to her coat, I realized it had some tears in it. And her pants were filthy. One of her arms had a brush burn at the shoulder... I frowned and huffed. "I-I'm sorry, Susie. Here. I'll heal you."
Straightening back up and folding her arms, she huffed while I went about it. Closing my eyes and fixing my glasses a little, I then raised one hand, pointing a finger up as a white light dimly lit the tip. A soft wind from my swirling energy furled through my cloak. Before long, I brought my finger down and pointed at her. The light glittered off of my finger and "splashed" into her, white becoming green and softly swirling around her body.
Not only were her wounds healed, but I also mended her clothes back to a presentable state before the green light faded into obscurity. Shivering from the experience, the purple monster groaned, before stretching her arms, lifting her chest and sighing roughly into the air with relief. "Aww yeah... That's the good stuff."
Smiling at the reaction, I furrowed my brows and humbly asked, "Better?"
When she was done stretching, she gave a thumbs up casually and smiled in a lax way my way. "Hah. Better? I feel like I could do it all again! Your healing rocks, dude."
That made me smile. It was always nice to get compliments. Thankfully, I had a lot of energy due to my nap. So, I didn't really feel the drain. Though, I would try not to use my magic any further without building up TP...
I could have asked about why Susie had to fight in the first place. Knowing her, she probably had some hand in picking a fight without meaning to. Though, instead I decided to look about the area. {Maybe this place has a story}, I thought. Walking off a small ways toward a building, Susie seemed to follow behind, even while she told me, "Hey, do we really got time to waste on broken ol' buildings?"
I shook my head and sighed, stopping before I got more than 3 yards apart from the stone structure. "I suppose that is true... Every moment here could well be time Kris and Noelle are in trouble..." Turning around, I instead decided to merely lead on the way we had been going before, walking at a decent enough pace.
... I stopped... Turning to look at the buildings again, I frowned. "Still... Seeing these once proud buildings like this... Doesn't the sight make you a bit... sad?" Susie stayed silent enough, other than a huff.
... I merely turned myself back to the path and kept walking the plaza.
"... Why should it be sad?"
I didn't really stop, though I did slow my pace a bit, humming in question... With a furrowed brow, I gave my answer, but remained walking and facing forward. "Well, think about it. Structures like these can be seen all over the forest."
Impatient, she scoffed. I could practically feel her rolling her eyes at me. "Yeah? And?"
This time, I stopped, sighing at the ground... Turning to look at her while she crossed her arms, I kept my head tilted low with a sad smile on my face. I really had wanted her to pick up on the idea on her own. "... They're all empty, but at one point, they were almost certainly filled with many, many people..." My eyes hit the ground when I came to compare it to something... familiar... "But.. now, it's empty... Like back where I live." My smile started to look flat. "I mean, the buildings around my castle are in great shape. I kept them that way.. but..." ... I frowned, frankly deflated. "... They're still just as empty as these buildings, still just as lonely and forgotten as these buried streets, here..."
Susie's eyes bugged a little as they lit up through her surprise. Though, they vanished when she started rubbing her arm with her head down. "Oh... I... guess this sorta thing really sucks for you, huh?"
I rubbed at the back of my head with a kicked smile, casting my eyes back to Susie. "I-I mean... this is the first time I've brought up feeling this way about my home with... a-anyone.. other then my imaginary friends..." I found myself hot in the cheeks. Susie letting out an uncontrollable chuckle through her hand didn't help.
I threw a deadpan her way while she took her hand from her mouth, smirking while she cocked her brow at me. "Dude. That's not something you admit to. Come on, who admits to having imaginary friends?"
... I turned my head up and narrowed at her with a frown. I don't know why that bothered me so much, but it did. It hurt. "Ha ha! Yes, go ahead and laugh!" Susie's smirk fell in disbelief, eyes wide. I went on with fervor while I turned my back on her. "Yes. I made imaginary friends. Can you truly blame me? It was so boring going day after day all alone in a castle- in a town! Haven't you ever felt that way before? I'd sometimes get surprised by Lancer every now and again, but... well... I'm older than he is! A lot older! And it wasn't always something that could happen. Most of my life has just been me, all alone. I don't know who my parents were or are... Wander-ins were all I had in the way of true company..." The anger just ended up dissolving into a somber frown on my face while I rambled on for a bit longer. When I turned around and went on, Susie actually looked sorry with her own frown. "And even then, they didn't come anywhere near my castle town... From what Lancer told me, people are forbidden from going near the Fountain... I could have left... but... I had reasons to stay... and uncertainties about leaving... So.. yeah... I made imaginary friends... Riddi and Flora... They kept me company in my loneliest times... They're my oldest friends..." I nuzzled my face further into my scarf while I stared at the dirty stone below foot. "I ate with them and played with them... Flora would read stories to me, bake with me to make sure I didn't burn a pot with water while I wasn't paying attention, then help me fix the things that broke around town and in the castle from age... Riddi would act silly, kind of dense and eat flowers, but he was always the emotional support."
... "Kind of sounds... I dunno. Nice, I guess...? I'm not very imaginative, so I don't think I would have thought uh' doing that." Turning my eyes to look at her with a blink, she seemed to have a bland expression, but that was usually without the eyes. That I could see them meant she felt more than neutral or nothing about it. She kicked the ground, turning her eyes on me, shrugging slightly while pocketing her hands into her coat. "Didn't and don't have that many friends, but I've never really been your kind of alone..."
... With a soft, half-hearted smile, I huffed through my nose. "I don't recommend trying to live with it for yourself. It's hard to keep things interesting night after night..."
We both began to walk again, but this time I tried not to pay attention to the buildings that sat desolate and ancient around me shamelessly. Susie didn't protest. Still. I couldn't help giving a few particularly livable ones a prolonged stare and frown...
"... How long were you.. you know... alone?"
My paws padded to halt and my head tilted down... Then I cocked a brow, looking up at the building and tree-lined sky of black... "Uhm.. hmm..."
I could practically see my purple compa- err, friend raising her brow at me when she asked, "Dude. You know how old you are, right?"
... A guilty smile on my face, I bit my scarf... before answering, "I-in.. theory...?" I guess the scarf in my mouth muffled what I said, too.
The purple monster massaged exasperatedly at her face, turning a full circle in pacings. I couldn't blame her. That was a terribly unbelievable answer. And thus... "I... Dude, I can't believe that! That right there is im-..." Dropping her hands from her face with irritation over a lack of understanding, she asked, "Wh-How would you have fended for yourself when you were in diapers, dude?! No way you were smart enough to do it when you couldn't even stand up straight. Same for lifting! Anything that a normal kid could do!"
My face was riddled with a pleading smile and sweat. She had a point, of course. I conceded that... I mean to say, who remembers being that young? The idea at the time was... "Perhaps not THAT far back. I am certain someone took care of me long enough for me to think, act and fend for myself..." I hung my head with a sad smile, shaking my head. "But I DO remember a terribly lonely childhood..."
Susie seemed to calm down at that point, having no choice but to concede that much at least. There was, however, one big question that needed addressing... Folding her arms with a lean, she stared at me and asked, "Okay... Don't take this the wrong way, but... wouldn't that mean something pretty big? It don't matter to me much... Mostly... But you said that we need a human, a monster and a prince from this world when you were talkin' prophecies with Kris... ... ..." She tilted her head at me as her eyes dimly became visible, clearly focused on me. "Ralsei, if you ain't got any idea who raised you, what the hell made you think you were a prince? There's gotta be something... Right?"
... A big question with a very real need to be answered... There WAS a reason... A few, actually.
Though, I admit... I was hesitant to speak of them, averting my gaze from her's. "... I have my reasons to think I am a prince... Though... I fear you will find them... unsatisfactory... I'm embarrassed to say that there is no... concrete... absolute evidence..."
... All she did was shrug and huff. "Ain't nothin' 100% in real life, right? You got reasons, so... let's hear ém."
... I-
-Chck!-Squea!-
[Eeeey!]
Huh? Wait, Susie- eep!
-Bommm...!-
/Hey! Watch it- the mic's hanging! I just bought that thing and it cost way to much to break!\
[Huh?]
(Uhm, Susie. Your right hand at Ralsie's back...?)
[Uh... Oh. Uh.] -Ss-s-sclunnng...!- Mmmh... 'Bout right, yeah?
*Can I pl-lease be put back down? It's nice to see you two, though...! Tight!*
[Pff, I've squeezed you tighter. But whatever~.]
-Krnk!-
Wheuh... G-huff-...give me just a moment, d-dear listeners... H-huah...! It is best I get everyone on the... same page.
-CLICK!-
... ... ...
-CLICK!-
[-get it, I get it! I'unn'even have pizza this time! Sheeh!]
/As long as we're clear.\
... Okay. And so, we're all ready for me to continue. Yes?
(I believe so, yes.)
['Course, as long as your highness is!]
/Oh, I'm ready. I don't really have a part in this, but then I've never really heard this part before. You guys made clever omission of it.\
Regardless, the mic is already on. I can't really stall any longer...
Well. I'm sure that you all have waited long enough at this point. Yes? Let us continue~. Ahem...
... I was about to give Susie my reasoning behind why I thought myself a Prince From The Dark. The only problem was that I hadn't been counting upon a surprise.
As soon as my head turned up and my mouth came open, a strong gust of wind blew through and would have taken my hat with it had my hand not snapped down atop it! "A-ah!?"
Susie groaned and shielded her face from the wind, eyes narrowed in frustration. "Damnit! What now?!"
The wind blowing through began to gather, in a way, and grow significantly weaker. However, it was still strong enough to billow through our clothes.
I had to squint to keep my eyes from drying out, even with my glasses acting as a slight barrier! Though, what I saw made them grow wider beyond my control... The wind had seemed to form a dome between. I couldn't SEE it's currents, but I could practically see the force pushing at my vision. Beyond that... I could make out something that carried a warm, glowing light... and something bright white at the center of it all... It was shaped like an upside down heart, I think, turning in the wind's rotations. Or maybe a spade. THings tend to look fuzzy when you're staring at something while your eyes are drying out, I found.
Quickly, those warm glints of light began to assemble around the white heart. It wasn't long before we couldn't see it beyond those fine filaments... They were forming into the familiar shape a proportions of a person. And that shape only became more and more defined in the short moments before they began to produce that very thing. The lights pulsed and dimmed as the wind began to settle. What now floated down from it's gusts to the ground was... a person. A deer-like monster.
(Er. Reindeer, actually.)
Reindeer-like monster... Actually, I guess that makes sense. Female deers usually don't ha-
[Ralsie.]
Ahem! Right...
At the time, I could never have hoped to recognize who it was, but I hardly expected Susie to. "Wait... NOELLE?!" After a blink, my head snapped to look at Susie. She rushed into the wind which flapped her clothes while it died down and held her arms out to catch the reindeer monster.
When finally she landed in those arms, *apologize in advance for talking like I don't know you,* this Noelle person fell limp in her arms, dropping the staff that had been materializing with her. It clattered and clacked to the stone ground, it's red and green gem flickering with a dim light before growing dark.
With the slow rise and fall of her chest, I could see for myself that she was still alive, but her eyes were closed. She was unconscious, as it were.
Laying her out on the ground, Susie looked to be sweating while she made her own observations. She placed an-... ... ...
-Creak!- *Susie?*
[What now?]
*Do... you even have ears?*
[Huh? ... Oh. Hah! I've got BETTER! I have ear HOLES! See?]
*... Oh... Oh my, so they are like Pangolin ears. How interesting...! Uh.* Sorry about that.
She placed an ear to the obviously female monster's upper chest, listening... Pulling her head back away and sighing, Susie smiled in relief. "Whew! Thank god. I don't have to do any weird Critical Aid spells. Hardly have any to begin with..." She looked my way and said. "So... this is that friend I mentioned before. Noelle."
Having already padded my way over, I knelt down in my cloak and looked at her for myself. "Noelle, hm...? Another Lightner."
"Yeah..." The purple monster girl cocked a brow at Noelle's dress before saying, "But uh... This.. ain't exactly her style... Even if it does look like Christmas, kinda..." ... She looked at me for a moment, her expression one of indecision. [... I was deciding if I wanted to wake her up or ask him about the prince stuff.] Yes. That.
... Regardless, Susie sighed and simply shook her head, deeming it better to focus on the monster that just delivered herself to us. Though, we didn't know how literal that was, yet. Leaning it, the purple monster reached for Noelle's face and gave it a few taps. "Hey... Hey, Princess... Wake up, damnit!"
Gasping and shaking awake, Noelle's eyes snapped wide from the volume of Susie's demand! [Uh. Hey, can we just not-] And the next thing we knew, she had pushed Susie over to the side- letting out an alarmed yelp, head on a swivel as she fumbled for and took hold of that staff! "Where am I?!" She looked at me and immediately blurted in panic, "Who are you?!" Then, she stood up and pointed the wrong end of her staff at me, much to my confusion while she shuddered on her clopping hooves. "Stay back or I-I'l-I'll sick Comet on you! H-he'll chew you up and spit you out!"
Sweating and more than a little nervous, I smiled with my hands up, trying to communicate that I meant no harm. "Please don't be afraid. We mean you no harm." Then, I pointed to the slowly rising purple monster. "Though, one of us... you should already... know...?" I blinked my eyes wide and frowned. "Eh, S-Susie...?"
When she was finally on her feet, she uh... looked... angry... I could tell by the way she bore her teeth and how her eyes were glowing without any pupils.
The reindeer girl turned to look at her, not prepared to see this side of the monster girl. She gasped and let her staff hit the ground again, hands up over her mouth.
I furrowed my brows as I began a slow approach. "N-now, Sus-"
"S-Susie...?"
... A part of me thinks what happened next was so unexpected that our current emotions were overpowered by surprise. Because Susie's expression and mine were both wide-eyed. (H-hey. Can't we simply ski-)
And what we saw was a reindeer girl quivering on her clopping hooves, sniffling into her hands with eyes like a puppy's, overflowing with tears. "I-I... -Sniff!- You-you're.. h-here..? -hic!-"
*... I'm not making any exceptions, just as Kris told me.* [... I hate you.] /Hey. I wanted it to be as authentic as possible. It's not my fault you-\ -Thwack!- /Auck! Fine! Whatever- I'll shut up!\ (...) [... What? They've been trying me since we got here!] (... Couch.) [Gick...! Ugh... Sorry, Kris.] (Thank you~.) [I hate you all.] (I love you, too~.) ... M...may I continue... maybe...? (Yes, you may~.) Thank you very much...
Susie blinked her eyes visibly as she let their gaze drift from the reindeer while a hand itched the back of her head. "Uuh..." Before she could find words, the reindeer's arms were around her in a forced, tight and close embrace... And she started sobbing openly. I saw my purple friend's expression morph with both discomfort and... something else... sympathy?
[...]
As for me, I couldn't help but smile a little through a furrow, even if it hurt seeing her cry... I couldn't have imagined what Noelle must have felt about Autumn Vale until now. A fearful girl stuck in a forest and all alone save for the dangers lurking within? No one could dare blame her for getting overwhelmed by the emotions stirn up by finding someone she knew... And more...
[... Pff... You make it sound romantic.]
... You didn't throw her off of you and you didn't ask her to stop. Instead, you looked almost like you could hardly bare watching her cry, so you looked away out of frustration... The pain in your expression was pretty hard to miss, Susie...
[...](...)
... By chance... do you have something to say?
[...] -clmp... clmp! Clmp!- [Move it for a minute. I can't believe you're making me talk to this thing. Again.]
But I didn-
MOVE, fluffy boy!
Eep! -Crnk!-
... -Crrrnnk!- ... -sigh-... ... ... As much as I HATE admitting it... Ralsie pretty much nailed what I was feeling. I was frustrated. Seeing her like that... hurt... And I don't mean that in a romantic way. Get that straight right now, okay? ... ... ... If you saw a kid come running at you, screaming and crying, probably scarred for life by whatever just scared them or hurt them or whatever ... Are you cold enough to just stand there and look at them? ... I guess it's pretty damn obvious that I ain't...
... That's part of what I felt...
... The other part was what I said I'd do when I saw her...
... Remembering that made me act without thinking and pretty much yank her from around me. She gasped. Looked pretty damn confused. And scared. I raised my hand, narrowing my eyes down at her, gritting my teeth and trying to look like the scariest thing she'd ever seen... And then, I saw the fear in her eyes. A leaf shaking in the wind, pretty much. I could knock her down with a little love tap... Pretty sure Ralsie was staring at me, afraid of what I'd do next... Felt like I was back home...
... I tried gritting my teeth harder, growling and clenching my hand into a fist. She shut her eyes and weakly tried to retreat into herself with the most pitiful whimper. The tears wouldn't stop runnin' her face... She looked pathetic...
... No matter how hard I clenched my teeth, it didn't feel hard enough. My fist didn't feel real. It was like I was numb... I was so mad. I wanted to punch her and make her realize the world didn't care what she felt. It would be a reality check on her whole life, I thought. And it would maybe teach her what happens when you don't take up for yourself. {It's what I want. What someone should have done a long time ago! Just throw it!} ... The best part about all of that- by which I mean the worst...? I realized that I was about to live up to what Berdly thought I'd do... And i realized he was right.
All of that came together in one massing headache of emotions and... well... I couldn't throw the punch...
... Instead, I just sorta... slowly brought my fist most of the way to her head and... then gave it an open-handed pat up top... It felt weird... After that, I just stared and watched her open her eyes she was so confused... but I guess relieved, too...
... The anger was mostly gone... I didn't smile or frown... but I said something...
"... Been having fun, Princess...?"
... ... ... It took her a little bit, but she smiled, passing her wrist across her eyes before choking somethin' out. "... N..nope~... -sniff-... It's.. kind of s-sucked..."
... Alright. I'm done. That is the sappiest you'll ever hear me. Bye. Eugh. -Crrnnnk!- (-giggle-) -Clop! Clop! clop! Thmp!- [Somethin' funny?] (Maybe~.)
*... Well then.* -Crnk!- I guess... that I can just continue from there. Er. That was very well done, by the way, Susie. I was not expect such fine na- [Zip it.] ... Rude... Very well, then. Let's just focus on the telling of our tale.
After I saw that nothing terrible would happen, I couldn't help but smile. It was a very touching to behold... Though, I felt oddly jealous of Noelle, staring sadly off to the side... I admit. I sort of felt like a third wheel without our fourth there to fill the void... I found myself thinking about them... About Kris. We still couldn't do anything without them. But more than that... I wanted to see them again...
...
After a short moment of my staring off into space... "Hey, Fluffy Boy!" Susie's voice made me jump and whirl around, blinking in confusion.
She was giving me one of her easy smirks, standing arm to shoulder with Noelle, who was smiling shyly over to me. "I thought you were the polite one. Introduce yourself so I don't have to."
Blinking a few times, I then smiled and nodded. Padding over to them, I turned my attention on the reindeer monster and curtsied. "Hello! My name is Ralsei." Straightening my posture while she nodded, I smiled a little bigger. "It's so nice to meet you."
She flushed a little while playing her fingers to each other... and uh... Well, she stared for a while... Noelle, why were you staring for so long? It really did confused me.
(Oh. Uuuh...) [Oh my god.]
...? Er... What's.. there to blush over?
(W-well, you s-see... I.. uhm... -Cough- Thought you were -cough-cute... Not very shocking, I guess.. but... We-well, I'd just met you.. H-hehee~...)
... O-oh. Hah... Yeah... That's... Well, anyway, Noelle didn't say anything at first. She just stood there. (I w-was trying not to say wh-hat I was thinking~.) ... As.. if she were holding something back... Ahem. Yes. Well. It confused me and I ended up asking, "I'm sorry. Is this an awkward way to greet someone in the Light World...?"
It made her blink a few time before she stuttered out, "O-oh, no! N-no-not at all." Smiling more honestly, though still nervously, she then said, "I'm sorry. My mind was somewhere else..."
Stepping out of Susie's arm, she put her hands together at her lap and bowed briefly. "M-my name is Noelle. Holiday." Sweating and clearing her throat through her smile, she finished with, "I-it's uhm... A pleasure!" ... And then she blinked into a wide-eyed stare. "Wait..."
Whirling around to Susie, she frowned and said, "I-if you're here, th-then... Susie! You know how to get back home! Right?! O-or did you fall in here like me and have no way of getting back?!"
At first, we were both confused, but after I walked over to Susie and exchanged a nod with her, she sighed, rubbing at her muzzle. She turned her attention back to The reindeer monster and said, "I know how to get back out, so you can keep your... leafy skirt on."
Noelle's eyes were practically sparkling with hope as a smile spread across her face. She started to bounce a little on her clopping hooves and... I swear that she was jingling. "R-really?! I can get back home?! To our world?!"
I blinked when she said, "our world." And while I wanted to ask about that due to obvious implications, Susie didn't care and simply stated, "Yep," while dropping her hand from her face. She followed it up with, "But you won't like what it'll take. And it's gonna be a while before we can."
Immediately, the doe's smile fell into a frown of worry, a furrow in her brows and her bouncing stopping, along with the jingling. "Wha... Why?"
The purple monster turned to look off in the distance. We in turn, did the same, though Noelle didn't know what she was meant to be seeing. She turned her head back to Susie, just about to ask when the monster pointed toward something. And Noelle followed her finger's directions out... until she frowned with dread. Susie spoke. "You've gotta have seen that beam thing, right?" It was a little hard to see from where we were, but the tall, ruined buildings around us nearly centered it between their rises; the Dark Fountain shooting up and splitting the sky above.
Noelle, nodding, answered. "Y-you mean the Black Geyser? A man named Baht.. t-told me about it..."
Susie scoffed at the name, rolling her eyes before she said, "If that's what he calls it, then he wasn't very smart."
Noelle looked at her as if hurt. "H-hey. That-"
"Either way," the purple monster cut in, "That's what'll get us back home... IF we can close it. And we can't."
Eyes falling, the reindeer continued to frown. Though, she looked even more disshearted than before. "W-well... It's just my luck that the creepy, ominous beam of black light turned out to be the way home..." She turned her eyes back to Susie and in turn met her gaze. "But uhm... Wh-why can't we close it? Is it one of those things that only someone of this world can touch...?"
Simply shaking her head, the purple monster responded, "Nothin' like that. They can't even close it. And probably don't want to, if what me and Ralsie went through is any big hint."
That little detail caused Noelle to tilt her head lower, sweat clearly dripping down her cheek. "Wh...What do you mean?"
I sucked in a lung full and tried to say something, but again, Susie cut me off and simply stated, "The locals tried to kill us, but me and Ralsie scared them off." I let out a deflated sigh after that, bunching my cheeks at her despite the fact that she wasn't looking my way. Obviously, that's not how the event went. I already told of it. [Dude. If I hadn't stopped you, you'd literally have taken just as long as you did then to tell the whole story.] ... Wait. You did that on purpose? [Yeah. I did. Problem?] ... -sigh- No. No, not at all. I'm just going to continue...
Hearing what Susie said happened, Noelle was understandably shock. "W-wait. They attacked you? S-surely it wasn't the l-"
"We can talk about this later," snapped an annoyed Susie as Noelle yelped. The doe apologetically nodded and silently listened. Sighing, the purple monster turned her attention back to Noelle. "As I was saying, the way we understand it, the only thing that can close up a Dark Fountain is a Human. I don't get why, but that's the way it works. And that means that we need Kris. And yes. They're here, too." ... Susie's expression grew visibly more angry at that and I grew worried... but nothing ever came from the look. She merely shook her head and shrugged, turning her back on us to look out at the sky again. "So, I don't really know what the hell to do about that. This place is massive. Kris is the only human who could possibly be here, but that doesn't make them easy to find."
... She threw a glance over to Noelle with a neutral expression, but her tone was... slightly irritated? "I was kinda hoping you'd both be together. This makes things harder than they already were..." Noelle seemed... unpleasantly confused, all things considered.
Then, our dear scalie friend turned to me with a groan, crossing her arms and tapping her boot impatiently. "This is just great! What the hell do we do?! Where do we even LOOK?! I don't even know how long we've been walking and I already feel like this is a waste of time!" And then, she began to pace in front of us.
I frowned, dipping my head low and nibbling my scarf. It had become a nervous habit at that point... I didn't like the idea that came to mind, but frankly there was only one sensible procedure. Turning my head back up, my eyes followed after Susie as I spoke. "As much as I really do not like this idea... I think the idea of looking for Kris is out of the question."
She stopped and turned her head to me in disbelief... Then, she walked over to me and leaned close, teeth borne. "The hell does that mean?! I ain't about to go traitor! So-"
"Please," I screeched with my hands up. She seemed to calm down enough to put the teeth away as I went on. "As I was going to say, we cannot hope to find Kris in all of this dense, expansive and twisted forestry! But they can find us! Or at least travel to the same place we're headed. Maybe even meet us half way, if we're lucky..."
... The purple monster snorted through her nostrils and backed off a bit, her expression a calm, neutral one again. "... You're givin' Kris a lot of credit, there. I'm guessin' you think Kris is strong enough to survive on their own...?"
Nodding without hesitation while putting my hands back down, I smiled a little. "Yes. And it is precisely because of their being a Human."
And it was this admission that made Susie throw a cocked brow down at me, arms folding. "Dude, them being human is exactly why you should worry. No magic and not that strong."
I merely shook my head and told her, "Please, hear what I have to say."
A soft pause... Noelle seemed utterly lost, but she also looked as if she was hesitant to speak, rubbing at her hands and looking away. Still. She asked what they were probably both thinking. "Uhm..." Turning her eyes toward me with a great curiosity, she asked, "Wh-why do you think Kris can survive on their own... specifically because they're human?"
"I've never met another besides Kris, so I haven't much real world knowledge to go off of... However, what I did discover in my castle's library astounded..." My brows furrowed when I really though about what I read, despite my smile. "... and scared me." Relaxing with a sigh, I recalled what I read and what I had already passingly told Susie. "Remember when I said that human determination was like a monster's critical impulse?"
"Yeah."
"Well, it wasn't a fair comparison... Maybe in your world, these things are much weaker. I wouldn't know. Not really. However, here? In the Dark World? Human determination is a very strong POWER to behold. Ordinarily, determination has the power to allow even the most injured human to persist long after they should have fainted or exhausted themselves. When the state of being determined runs even higher, it can save their life and allow them to withstand would-be lethal blows. It can even, like critical impulses, work with their adrenaline and make them more powerful in short bursts..."
Susie had a skeptical expression on her face, shaking her head as she seemed to roll her eyes. "Riiight..."
"A...Actually..." Noelle was the one who spoke, which drew the both of us to look at her, though the purple monster was making a face that read as 'you're can't be serious.' The deer-like monster had a flat, no-nonsense expression to her face, even which she twiddled her thumbs. "What Ralsie is saying is absolutely true. In both worlds, apparently. While human determination makes no difference to another human apart from smaller differences and persistance, it can save one from a monster, in the right circumstances. A human can overpower what was a physically stronger monster if they are determined to do so. Because to a monster, the most powerful a human can be is when they are determined." ... She then gave a furrowed stare at Susie as she huffed before telling her, "Susie, we were taught about this stuff when we reached our fourth grade level. Why don't you know about this?"
At this, the larger monster scoffed and looked away, almost seeming offended. "Hey. I'm not the schooly type, so anything I don't have to remember, I'll forget. It's not like we got that many humans around other than the DUPS guy and Kris." [Before anyone makes it a big, long-winded thing, DUPS stands for Dockit Union Postal Service. There. I just saved the listeners a mystery.] ... Well, they'll still wonder who the DUPS guy is, won't they? [OH. MY GOD!]
R-regardless of that useless side note,- [HEY!]- it appeared to me that our worlds may not be so vastly different after all. It intrigued me enough to make me pause and consider for a moment what other things the two worlds' could share in laws of reality and beyond. Though, I shook my head and merely smiled. "Well. As long as that point is made clear, I think it is safe to say that Kris will be okay on their own. They have something that we, as monsters, do not. Though, that isn't to say that Monsters are weaker than humans. Merely-"
"We get it, Ral!" I shrunk back a bit when Susie abruptly shouted.
Clearing my throat, I nodded. "Ye-yes, well..." I looked out toward the beam of darkness- the Dark Fountain, then back down in front of myself. There was a building in front of me... but a little ways back the way myself and Susie had been walking was a byway road leading out in that general direction. If we were lucky, we'd be led out of the ruins there and on our way through the forest again. Hopefully, we wouldn't accidentally wander into a nearby settlement or something worse... Or at least, my hope was that we would not happen upon a hostile one.
Regardless, I fully turned around and pointed toward this splitting-off road. "I believe, with some luck, that this road shall lead us to the most straight-forward path to the location of our Dark Fountain. We can wait for Kris there, when we make it."
They both walked alongside me, Susie on my left and Noelle to my right. Thankfully, Noelle had picked up her staff from the ground, hugging it close to her in her hands as she stared at the road. This brought up a question... Did she know how to FIGHT, ACT, SPARE, PACIFY and so on? And so, with an uncertain smile directed toward her, I asked, "Uhm... Excuse Noelle. However, I need to ask you." She hummed in question at me. I asked, "Do you know how to conduct yourself in a battle?"
She seemed confused, before she oh'd and furrowed her brows, hugging her staff even tighter to herself while her ears drooped. "I-if you're asking if I know how to fight, then uhm... no... I only kind of know how to call Comet to deal with people trying to hurt me. A-and Comet doesn't know how to hold back..." Realization seemed to dawn on her as her eyes grew wide. "Oh! And one time, I put up this weird wind and leaf barrier around myself. B-but I don't know how I did it..."
She smiled nervously, but Susie let out a groan, eyes lighting up to stare with an unimpressed deadpan down at the reindeer. "Great..."
Disregarding Susie, I smiled softly. Comfortingly, if that is an apt word. "I can teach you everything you'll need to know. Though, we'll need to do it as we walk. Time will not wait for us and neither will Susie."
"Uh, excuse you. I'm right here."
"Kris, too."
"That doesn't make it better, you cheeky f-"
"Time is wasting," I chimed as I began to walk toward and down the side-road with a merry grin.
/Ralsie?\
Yes?
/Was that censor?\
Actually, no. Or rather, not really. You see, I cheated your rule, in a way.
/... You censored her back then, didn't you?\
I did~.
/... Clever boy...\
Lucky is more apt, but thank you none-the-less~! I'm fairly sure that I also told you I wouldn't be saying the F word, regardless.
/And now, I wonder if you're lying... I'm taking one out of Susie's book. You're lucky you're cute~.\
... H-heh.. uhm... M-hm...
[I'm going. to hurl. And I'll aim it at you.]
(Susie, ew.)
W-well. Uhm... O-on the way down the road, I began to teach Noelle verbally and demonstrated what I could not physically. I may or may not have demonstrated my pacify spell on Susie, but it didn't work... [AND I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE SLUGGED HIM FOR IT.]
... Actually, this may be the best spot to stop for now. Didn't we want to have Noelle look at the one file?
/That's true.\
(File? ... Oooh, that's right! That's what you brought me here to do. Duh. I completely forgot while I was thinking about... well... everything.) -Tmph tomph!- (Could you please move, Ralsie?)
Oh. *Uhm. Yes. Of course.* -Crnnk!-
-Tmph! Tmph! Tmph- -Crrnk~!- Sheesh. I'm sorry. But your computer chair is far too noisy... Er. Asriel's...?
/Yeeaaah, sorry about that. It needs some W.D...\
[This better not take too much longer or I'm peacing out.]
Susie... You wouldn't leave without me... would you~?
[Wha-... Gah! No! Put that face away! Right now! I'll stay. Geesh...]
I thought so! -Click-i-click!- Now, what are we dealing with? ... I'm just going to guess it's this file that looks like letter, number and symbol barf? I saw it before, but I kind of thought.. it was a joke.
/That's right... But.. wait. So, I'm the only one that never realized that file was there? How? I'm not blind... or at least I didn't think I was...\
[Time to get some glasses, dude. My eyes aren't perfect, but even I saw that.]
/...\
... Well, regardless, let me see what we can do. -click-ick- -click-ick- ... Hmm... I think I can open this with with a word pad, actually. But I don't really understand. The file type's .WPD... I have no idea why you can't open it. -click-ick- -click-i-click- ... Mmmh...
/... Well, that's just a bigger mess. What was the point?\
... Actually, this isn't a mess. I recognize this sort of thing, but I.. can't remember what the type of... coding(?) is called... 6 2 8? ... No, uh... ... ... It was something with a six. I know that much, but uhm... W-well, Berdly's the real coding expert. That bird could take numbers, letters and symbols and turn them into just about whatever they were meant to be. ... Should we give him a call?
/... Know what? Actually, that's perfect.\
P...perfect? I thought you two were still arguing...
/Well... yeah. We are. But I think he'll agree that us talking for him and about him without getting him in on it would be pretty eh. Right?\
... Y-you want to get him to read.
/Eeeyup.\
But... he wasn't in the Dark World with us.
/Exactly. He's the only one that can REALLY tell our audience what happened in the Light World while we were gone. And he can tell them that in detail. Remember that something pretty screwy happened while we were in there.\
... Oooh, that's right! We couldn't tell anyone how th-
/Shh! The mic! Don't spoil it!\
Uh.. er... Oh.
Hey, uhm... guys. We're going to end this part off here. I'm pretty sure th-this isn't all that interesting, right? Our background noise? So uhm... Come back next time to h-hopefully hear Berdly tell about what happened in the Light World! W-while we were in the other!
... U-uhm... Bye~!
-CLICK!-
... ... ...
... This chapter... I swear, this chapter has been the WORST. I couldn't decide where I wanted to end it. There are several ways I wanted this to go and I went through three drafts of the first two portions that I DIDN'T like because they were FAR to bloated- even more than this one. There was a lot to unpack here. A lot to address. I debated a lot with myself about whether I wanted to break up the talking with an action scene, but it felt too forced. So instead, I did what felt natural. I let the Fun Gang's commentary run wild. It's pretty much become a part of the story, at this point, even though I didn't plan for it to stay. Going back a bit, that action scene I almost did didn't make sense for a reason I can't disclose, cause, you know, spoilers. And I realize that it makes this feel like there isn't much going on in reality. But the one thing I don't want to do is force it. Or make you read through what would essentially be a random encounter for no reason.
And since this is being told from Ralsie's point of view, I didn't have the freedom of putting the encounter at the front side of the chapter. That just wouldn't make sense of feel real. It would be a constant stream of "Susie told me that" the entire way through.
That said, this is the first time a chapter has ended on something so obscure. Since I was already incorporating their commentary fully into the story, I thought I should make it serve a purpose. And I think this worked out very well. But you guys are the final judges. I don't get that say. Lemme know whether that was a good move or if I SUCK. ;u;
... Oh and actually, there was a joke I cut from that section. No harm in saying what it was. I was going to be a little deviant and have this very controversial scene where Noelle accidentally clicks on Asriel's uh... "secret stuffs" folder. It was complete and it's entirely interchangeable with this final version's rendition of the "file scene." I had way too much fun and writing Noelle and Susie's reactions to it were so great~... But honestly, it REALLY doesn't fit my whole image of Asriel. No matter what form the good goat boi takes, I couldn't do it. TuT; I'd FEEL those sins start to crawl up my back. ... But maaaybe I'll take whatever other outtakes I have in the future I place them into a totally separate "outtakes story" when there are significantly enough. ;P At the moment, they would only fill about two pages.
So.
There are quite a few questions here. What or who broke the old mic? (it was noelle.) For that matter, what happened to the old computer? Why can't Ralsie remember how old he is and what makes him think he's a prince in the first place? When will Susie snap and tell Noelle exactly what she thinks of this situation and her? What does Comet think of Susie and Ralsie? What is Kris doing? What is on that coded file? ... And what could our Odd Bird have to tell us next time? All questions for the DELTA RUNE, for now. We'll just have to wait and see.
And now for the review THAT I HAVEN'T ADDRESSED FOR HALF A YEAR... ;u;