Player Plot: Let's Explore Mad'ni Shrine!

[whirluendo_of_puns]

Who: Everyone who signed up!
When: Around November 3-6ish
Where: The Mad'ni Shrine
What: Searching for the lost ruins beneath the Shrine!
Warnings/Notes: It's another dreaded water level.

Although the flight provided by Curti Center takes them as close as they possibly can, the Heroes still have to take a brief walk through the woods to reach their destination. It remains to be seen whether the trip will be worth it. After all, their hope of finding a Legendary Eidolon, or even just clues pointing to one, is based on little more than guesswork.

But, with the time ticking down towards the end of the world, they don't have the luxury of ignoring a lead, no matter how vague. A shot in the dark might be what saves them all in the long run.

OOC info and sign-ups are here!

Comments

[acapriciousreaper]

"I have to agree." Kuja nods, looking down at Frisk's attire. He didn't think Frisk needed spectacles, but now they're wearing them they don't seem to be squinting as much. "I've died once already; not an experience I would recommend. Incidentally, Frisk, I can't help but notice your glasses. Might I ask why you haven't been wearing them, if you need them?"

[sassafrisk]

"Have to agree there, not exactly a fan of the whole 'fade to black' thing, it's way too cliche. Really, I expected death to be a bit more creative and flashy. The pain is also more than a wee bit uncomfortable," Frisk says nonchalantly. There was little point in hiding things from Kuja at this point, really. They'd already seen some of the worst parts of him up in the Dreamwidth, so it was only fair that they be honest with him too. "And it's primarily a combination between stubbornness and bad associations."

[acapriciousreaper]

The blunt honesty is something that's appreciated. "Well, it's certainly not my business, but it seems to me that there's little point in deliberately hindering yourself. Perhaps a healer could correct your eyesight?"

He wonders, privately, what 'bad associations' means.

[sassafrisk]

"Maybe? I don't think actual nearsightedness can be cured like magical blindness," Frisk says, shrugging. In truth, it was quite liberating to be able to actually see the world around them. They were honestly kind of an idiot for not getting glasses sooner, really.

[acapriciousreaper]

"Perhaps. A shame, that." He sighs. "I've always thought it was a bit stupid, really. There was a nobleman whose youngest son was badly near-sighted, could hardly see in front of his face, and patently refused to get the little goblin fitted with spectacles because they were terribly unfashionable and he didn't want his son 'looking like some sort of nancy'. Of course, then the little imp managed to knock over an entire wine rack. Forty thousand gil worth of Alexandrian silk, completely ruined because some brainless oaf thought glasses were stupid-looking." He's rambling. He had a point here, honestly.

"Point being, wear what makes you comfortable, and if anybody mocks you for it, destroy them."

A beat.

"Metaphorically speaking, of course."

[sassafrisk]

Frisk gives Kuja a dry look. After seeing what they had of Kuja's past in the Dream Width, they were well aware that the genome probably had at least wanted to literally destroy the noble and his gremlin son too, but... well, Kuja was their friend, and as bad as he was back on his world, at least he was making an effort to improve on Vaikuntha. So Frisk couldn't just judge too hard. "I'll take that under consideration," Frisk says, voice wry.

But there was another thing a bit less serious that Frisk has been planning to tease Kuja about. "Oh, by the way: go ahead and ask," they say, eyes twinkling. After that one moment on the airship, it clicked.

[acapriciousreaper]

Kuja stares at Frisk. Oh thank the powers that be it's okay to ask. "Ugh. This has been bothering me for ages and I've been completely mortified because every passing second would only make it that much more of a social faux pas to ask. Which is it."

[sassafrisk]

Frisk shrugs. Genuinely, actually shrugs. No sarcasm involved. It was... weird telling somebody about this. It didn't need any explanation, at least not in their world. But, well, Frisk couldn't exactly blame Kuja for not knowing, considering how medieval his world was. "Neither. That's the answer. And, no, not joking this time. Dead serious."

[acapriciousreaper]

Neither. Neither. The fucking answer is neither.
"Do you mean to tell me," Kuja says a touch icily, "that this entire time I've been trying to puzzle this out from context clues and interactions without overtly asking all for the sake of not being rude and the entire godsdamned time the answer has been the simplest of all possible-" He throws his hands up in the air.

"I give up. Neither. Neither. Is it the same for Chara, then? I do believe I am going to scream."

[sassafrisk]

At least Kuja's reaction is a lot funnier than what Frisk had been expecting, and they can't help but to snicker a little before clamping down on their tongue. They pat him on shoulder, smiling wryly. "Their, their. Don't worry about it. Never really occurred to me I'd need to tell people, because it wasn't a thing that needed telling on my world. Soooo it's not entirely your fault. I mean, all the general thickheadedness and overthinking is totally on you, but not entirely," they tease, although there's no maliciousness in their voice. "And yeah, it's the same thing for Chara. And the other Frisk. Have you met them yet?"

[acapriciousreaper]

"I'm sorry, other Frisk? Is that a terribly common name?" What are the chances of encountering another individual with the same name and similar identity?

[sassafrisk]

Frisk's eyes widen, and their mouth forms a perfect "oh." They take a deep breath, then dig around in their pockets for two items: a bottle of ibuprofen, labeled "timeline headache medicine," and a napkin on which some notes are scribbled. They hand the former to Kuja. It looks like it's actually gotten some use.

"Okay. So, other Frisk and I are the same person, except we're from different versions, or timelines, of our world. We figure that here," they point to where one of the lines on the napkin branch, "is where our timeline diverged, and from there the roles of a bunch of important people in our lives got switched around. We're pretty much exactly identical otherwise, except I'm slightly taller because of the properties of Papyrus' spaghetti."

They point towards a separate, entirely distinct timeline. "Now, while our timelines' difference can trace back to a single decision... Chara's is on an entirely different axis. Again, same people, same places, but other than that their's is completely different.

"Asriel is probably from Other Frisk's timeline, but from a point way in the future. Not sure if you've met him though. Papyrus is from my timeline.

"And if we're being less symbolic..." Frisk flips the napkin to the other side, where the points when both the Frisks and Chara fell down suddenly become a furious, circling scribble, "the timelines actually look something like this, because the other Frisk and Chara also had my time manipulation powers." They pause, taking a breath. "Any questions?"

[acapriciousreaper]

Kuja stares at Frisk. Stares at the bottle in his hand. Stares back at Frisk.

"Right."

He shakes out a pair of pills, takes them with water, hands the bottle back, pulls out his Slate, deletes what looks like several pages' worth of notes, pulls out the stylus, and looks at Frisk expectantly, poised to take notes. "Run that by me once more, please."

[sassafrisk]

"Well, if you're taking notes, I might as well add some more detail," Frisk says, a mischievous smile tugging at their face. Honestly, confusing people was one of their favorite hobbies, and the whole mess that was their ""family"" provided a prime opportunity for that.

"The initial point of divergence of my timeline and Other Frisk's and Asriel's was way back before either of us were born. You see, our versions of Chara fell down into the underground about a hundred years ago and got adopted by Asriel's family, the Dreemurrs." They point towards a little before the timelines split, where C. falls is written. It was kind of a big deal, because way even before that, humanity nearly exterminated the monsters out of fear of what they could do if a monster got ahold of a human SOUL, and sealed the rest in a cave beneath Mt. Ebott with a barrier that could only be broken with the power of seven human SOULs. A human child suddenly showing up and peacefully integrating with the monsters was a sign of hope.

"Thing is, our version of Chara tried to do something risky, crossed the barrier with Asriel to get human SOULs and free the rest of the monsters. It didn't work, and they died just a few moments after they fled back to the underground. Asgore, Asriel and Chara's dad, got pissed and declared war on humanity, saying he'd collect the SOULs of the next seven humans who fell and use it to break free. That... didn't exactly go as planned, because for whatever reason, only kids fell.

"That's where the timelines diverge. It only took him killing one of 'em for Asgore to break and run off, leaving his wife, Toriel, in charge of the kingdom in my timeline. In other Frisk's, Asgore still killed the kid, but Toriel disappeared out of disgust instead. From there, things sort of... spiralled. Butterfly effect and all. From what we could deduce, six very important people in our lives had their roles switched, and a few others were affected as a result as well. For example, Papyrus is an aspiring Royal Guard in other Frisk's timeline, while in mine he's the assistant of the Royal Scientist instead."

They take a deep breath, pausing. "I'm not all that familiar with Chara's, but it's very similar to the situation with mine and other Frisk's: same people, different roles and events. And like I said, Asriel came from the future of other Frisk's timeline, while Papyrus came from the present of mine. The weird thing is, you could consider all of us except Papyrus siblings? We were all adopted or born to the same person, just in different timelines."

[acapriciousreaper]

Kuja writes diligently for several minutes after Frisk finishes their explanation. In the end, he only pauses to address his assistant, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Mojito?"

"Yeah, boss?"

"I need a drink. Something strong, if you please."

[sassafrisk]

Frisk arches their eyebrow. Okay, maybe they pushed things just a little too far. An eensy weensy bit. Still funny, though.> "You might want to hold off on the hard stuff until after we check out the temple. I don't know about you, but getting buzzed while investigating an ancient, mysterious, probably trapped seems like a recipe for disaster. And embarrassment."