ruintale

[ruintale]

unxknownxplayer‌:

      Ah… A fair question~

     The “voice” would have been happy to have little involvement as possible. At the same time, it- they- would enjoy some participation. 

     Still… Caution was necessary.

     You need a way to lure, yes..? I can provide that. 

     I can move unseen… I can take without anyone knowing. I am also familiar with… routines.

     Opportune moments to strike. When to strike. The how I’ll gladly leave up to you.

     A laugh seemed to ripple in the space between them, and yet, strangely, there was no sound. The fragment will feel the presence a little more… There was now a direction. Somewhere to their left, they will have an impression of some kind of figure sitting close by. Yet, still, whatever or whoever it was could not be perceived. It was questionable still if they were even real, and not just a intuition.

     I will also provide cover, shall you need it. It is doubtful, but you will have it.

     Are we in agreement..?

Being lended focus to their attention made them seem more intense, staring at the unclear figure. They had long since assumed this was some kind of void-dweller. Someone else’s fragment. Not their prey. They saw no point in making any further assumption, and even that detail didn’t matter much.

What mattered to them was that they had information that they lacked, information that would actually help. Active participation was not necessary, they decided, because that would be relying on someone else to get the job done.

And he couldn’t rely on her, so why should they rely on anyone else?

They did not hold out a hand to shake. They simply stared on, unblinking, with cold and furious intent.

“We are in agreement then. I will take your information,

          and I will give him fear.”

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} PLOT POST #{}{} ??? #unxknownxplayer

[ruintale]

unxknownxplayer‌:

     Indeed.

     It’s difficult to even identify this strange presence as a voice. Was it a voice… Was it a thought… Or was it a feeling? They won’t know. Neither could they find it.

     But they can feel the presence musing to itself. Plotting. Thinking. Pleased.

     Separate them… That could be manageable.

     But even better… Send a message.

     The presence seems to close in on them. It wasn’t threatening, but it pulled at the anger that was writhing inside them. Tempting it forward with bait. With promised thoughts. Ideas.

     The human is weak. Spineless. He will not fight you, but even if he does, you could handle him easily.

     He is also an easier target. Your real enemy… He expects you, does he not? He’s been preparing. Maybe he knows how to avoid you. And tends to be with company.

     Get to him. Through his… friend. We can isolate him. You wouldn’t need to do much… Threaten him. Harm him. 

     Kill him.

     The point is to do damage. Enrage your enemy. Remind him you’re still here. That you are a threat. Not just to him… But to anyone he cares about.

     He will come to you himself. Perhaps, in his anger, he will even make a mistake. 

They seemed to bristle with the build of anger, no longer concerned with the direction of the voice. This all made sense. As though they had thought of it themselves. Why not twist his advantage into a disadvantage? Use it as bait? Bring harm to the very thing he clearly seeks protection from.

Because he can’t have feelings for him, can he? It’s protection he’s after; for many monsters the mere sight of a human is enough to make them think twice. After all, how could he love another when he threw her away so carelessly?

“—And what is your part in this?” 

That voice speaks plenty of what they can do, but not what is being offered. This was to be an alliance, was it not? If they are going to do something to this mutual enemy, they had better get something back.

“You would assist in the lure? Drive the wedge deeper?”

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} PLOT POST #{}{} ??? #unxknownxplayer

[ruintale]

unxknownxplayer‌:

If the fragment’s guess was correct, the voice wasn’t telling them. A heavy silence followed the wake of their explanation… A silence that lasted awhile.

And then… The void smiled.

A human, you say?

It drew closer. Were shadows moving, or was it the trick of perception? When next they heard it speak, it sounded closer to their right… Yet there was nothing.

Would it happen to be this one?

They were given a flash of an image. Was it in their head, or did the shadows move to create it? Whatever it was, they saw curled, wavy brown hair, eyes, familiar face. It was gone as quickly as it came, but like a flash, the image imprinted itself to memory.

Now, this voice did not actually have plans being foiled by this particular person. But it had qualms with him to begin with, and this fragment didn’t need to know its reasons. This was an opportunity. And one that won’t be passed up.

I, too, have a common enemy. You wish to seperate one from the other, yes?

More importantly… Lure your target to you..?

They tensed at the flashing imagery, curled their lips. It was the very same human they’d seen pulling him away. Things he should have done with her.

“Yes-- that one.”

Their hands balled into fists, and they seemed poised, albeit remaining completely still. Though they were a PATIENT one, they still had a hunger for the hunt. It was innate.

“They must be separated. He will not come to me if he is with him.”

Their head tilted the other way, only softening slightly as they turned to try and find the source of the voice again.

                         "—You propose an alliance?”

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} PLOT POST #{}{} ??? #unxknownxplayer #(( sorry i got to this late so no art this time sobs ))

[ruintale]

unxknownxplayer‌:

Curiosity…

The voice answered them in an echo. They can feel the presence draw nearer, interest piqued, but still at a distance. It could feel their anger. How it radiated from them. Like a knitter finding thread, it took hold of the anger.

And began to weave.

But I, too, have found my plans unraveling… Perhaps we could be of use to each other?

Tell me… What has set your path astray?

Curiosity could be deadly, they wanted to say. But this voice had them curious, too. It offered discussion. A potential solution.

They stayed themselves, and seemed to ease slightly. They were always tense and wary, for the void was a dangerous place, but for now they weren’t hostile. Their fingers flex and curl as they think on how to answer without giving away everything.

For it was dangerous to trust the voices of the void completely.

“I have been stalking quarry. Herding him to where I want him. A human has complicated things.”

They chose a place to focus their gaze, a hazarded guess, and tilted their head one way, their wild curls falling about in just the right way to frame a single eye that glowed mistily like the moon.

                     “—Your turn.”

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} PLOT POST #{}{} ??? #unxknownxplayer

[ruintale]

unxknownxplayer‌:

They weren’t alone.

They were being watched.

Just as they had been doing themselves, lurking, waiting, there was another. Slowly, oh so slowly, their presence will slowly press on their senses. Curious. Wondering. But the presence itself, hidden.

Why do you pace to-and-fro?

What ails your troubled mind?

It was a voice… And wasn’t. Concerned. Comforting. The presence was like weighted hands of a friend.

But there was also a distance. They can’t tell where it’s coming from, or who it’s coming from. Was the voice out loud, or in their head? Was it a voice at all, or a feeling?

What what what….

They stop as they feel the presence upon their bone-cragged shoulders, looking around the space frantically for a moment, searching, snarling... before they decide it is a pointless endeavour. Fine, fine. Ask your questions, disembodied voice.

All they knew was, the voice wasn’t him, and it wasn’t them - any of them - and it wasn’t him either. Which was good enough for them.

Whatever it was, if it were physical, if it were some trick of the void come to claim them, they were sure they could take it head-on.

So, they decide to answer aloud.

“My plans are coming unravelled. I’m trying to figure out how to fix them. Why are you here?”

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} PLOT POST #{}{} ??? #unxknownxplayer

[ruintale]

… earlier…

There's a sudden crash that echoes across the void. A fist goes through a monitor, distorting the happy image it once had, its power flickering and fading until the image was completely gone.

And then another, as another piece of equipment is crushed.

Soon, there would be nothing left of the makeshift station.

Not that it mattered. Did anything matter?

He was so fucking happy, wasn't he?

How could he be happy?

He is nothing.

There is an anguished roar as fist upon fist upon fist comes down... and then, in the wake of the destruction, a sob.

And then, the space is empty, save for the howling of the wind, and the shadows of crumpled metal and shattered glass.

… and now …

They had paced the empty space beyond what they had broken in their fit of anguish for hours– was it hours? They didn't know. But they knew they had to think of something, anything, to prevent this from coming to pass.

They could not be allowed to continue as they were. It would ruin everything. He was supposed to want her! Why did he want him? Why did they have to look at each other like that, why did they have to kiss? How could he be happy without her? After what he'd done? Everything that had happened? It made them sick.

How could this have happened?

They run sharp-tipped fingers into their thick, curly hair, hooking it in and tugging until it starts to ache. They tug in pulses to try and jog their thoughts. Think. Think. They have gotten this far. They left him a reminder. He knew they were there, watching, waiting. He can't possibly forget about them. Not this time.

They needed to find some way to separate them.

They needed to get him alone.

They continue to pace.

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} PLOT POST #{}{} ???

[ruintale]

I’ll do the Hardest Part with You

     Pulsing headache.

     Feeling of death.

     The horrid sound like an animal- no wait. That was him.

     Audio slowly blinked his eyes open, relieved by the darkness of his own room. He certainly recognized it as his, although he couldn’t quite remember how he got there. Bits and pieces came back to him; some he cringed at, others he snorted. He slowly brought himself to a sitting position, rubbing his aching head. The sight of water on the nightstand next to him was like an oasis in the desert. He took it instantly, and set about solving at least one of his problems.

     The cool liquid quenched his thirst as well as clear his head. He could think a little more clearly now. Recall better. He sighed with a little more relief, and put the bottle back, even if it was empty.

     That was when he at last took notice.

     There was a tape there. A different tape. He knew it wasn’t one of his. The stickers weren’t necessary to determine this. At first, he felt a wave of unease, but that was a natural reaction for the human. He shifted on the bed and grasped it in his hands. Turning it so he can read the sticker.

     For Fred.

     He relaxed. And smiled, though he didn’t realize it. The handwriting was familiar, but also, he couldn’t think of who else it could be from. And if the other two stickers, a rabbit and a peach, were any indication, it didn’t seem to have been left with ill intentions.

    He grabbed his tape recorder– always close by– and a pair of ear phones, before he leaned back on the bed and got settled in once more. Now comfortable as he prepares to listen to the tape.

     Hopefully his friend hadn’t thought to record screaming or other such loud noises.

     He hits play.

     The first sound he hears catches him by surprise. A sigh. He already recognized Tokaku’s voice. He begins to listen now. Attentive. Albeit subdued. Not quite sure where Tokaku planned on taking this.

      “By the time you are listening to this, I hope I have managed

to ease you about what I did.”

     “What I heard.”

     …Oh. His hand grips the recorder a little more tightly. But despite instincts telling him otherwise… He listens on.

     “I do not have any right to see those pieces of you,

if you do not wish to show them.”

     “I thought, though…”

     “That I might, by choice, share a piece of myself, in a way.”

     “It is not the same.”

     “It is more—“

     “…a piece that you helped form.”

     “If I have not eased you, at least know

that this is, in some way, a reflection of how I see you.”

     “How I see us.”

    The pause button was pressed. Audio laid there, staring at the ceiling. After awhile of silence, he rewinds the tape… And hits play again.

     The message was still there.

     It said all the words he thought it said.

     Once more, he stopped it, rewound it, and pressed play.

     There was a warmth in his chest. A warmth that spread and chased out the cold. The ache. It caused him to smile up at the ceiling. This time, he lets the tape continue playing. Hearing music, most he recognized. The warmth reached his face and he closed his eyes, content to fall into the melodies that helped ease the pain in his head as well as one that went far deeper.

     He couldn’t have asked for a better gift.

#{}{} OOC #mraudio the audacious #(( rav i'm dying the title )) #(( also the WHOLE THING )) #(( i love this bastard man so much )) #{}{} TOKAKU

[ruintale]

retelling of the event that led to the Café Crunch™ in meme format

@kxndncss @buntrousled @hopxlcss @tanezumi

#{}{} OOC #{}{} SHITPOST #{}{} SUNNY #kxndncss #buntrousled #hopxlcss #tanezumi

[ruintale]

[DRABBLE] Who Am I, Doctor?

He wished he'd never said anything.

Well, no. That wasn't true. He wished he'd never admitted to listening to the tapes.

No, he couldn't lie to him. That would be worse.

He wished he hadn't listened to the tapes.

But then he'd not have tried hard enough to help, misguided as his attempt was. And if he'd never heard it from the tapes, would he have ever known?

He would have talked to him about anything.

…

No. That's not true. He was afraid.

Afraid of being judged.

…

Why else would someone keep so much of themselves hidden?

Who am I, doctor? Who am I!

Why did he ask that? Did he expect an answer or was he just screaming? Did he even know himself?

Did he not know that he was all of those things? Scientist, torturer, coward, father, friend? He could be all of those things. Tokaku was all those things. A person was made of many pieces. If they weren't they were unstable, prone to destruction of others or of self.

That was something he knew.

That was why he tried so hard to piece himself back together.

That wasn't something his friend could--

But maybe he could.

Just… not in the same way.

How strange, to break pieces of yourself off and willingly trap them in cassette tapes.

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} TOKAKU #(( lil drabble of toki's thoughts post-fallout :> ))

[ruintale]

mraudio-the-audacious‌:

   No. No no no, they were not doing this. His eyes, hidden behind the illusion, flick down to the hand and then up to Tokaku. He felt caught in a storm, yet outwardly he was composed and poised. Friends. Prickly had said it herself. Outwardly, it really did come across that way, didn’t it.

    But was it true? Or was it just another role he played?

    How highly valued did he really consider him? Any of them? The thought made him feel sick. It was why he felt so much guilt when Prickly kept insisting. He was willing to play the part. He wanted to be liked. He didn’t want them to be afraid of him. To hate him. He wanted to prove he was something more, something better, then any past experiences or history might of taught them. He was tired of hiding in the dark and feeling torment for things he had never been a part of. That weren’t his fault. And yet people pointed and spited for something he just was.

    But he was never being who he was. Not entirely. He continued to watch in the background. He listened and didn’t judge. All the while keeping facts of himself locked away. Hidden from everyone else so they couldn’t be used against him. So they wouldn’t see. Clawbite had mocked him for concealing the truth. Hope, Nero taunted him for being a coward. If he knew what he’s done in the past, would he think it proved his point?

    And suddenly, he knew why he was angry. It wasn’t the tapes. It was never about the tapes. He didn’t care that Tokaku discovered them. Not in the way he might think. He looks at the skeleton, looks at him, and he felt something dark.

    “You only like what you see.”

    He was glad for the illusion, but even then, he denied the tears that pricked at the back of his eyes. He swallowed them down. The walls became denser.

    “Why did you keep listening to the tapes, Gaster.”

    He had been afraid of him. Just like the rest of them. For no other reason then because he was human. Audio, Fred, HIM, he had to prove he was nothing to be afraid of. A g a i n.

    “Which tape did you listen to first.”

    He kicks the boxes back out. With such sudden force, they tipped over and their contents spilled on the floor. Days, titles, some had drawn pictures on them. He gestures at them without moving his gaze from the skeleton.

    “Who am I, doctor? Who am I!”

    His entire life, he always stood idly by. He always ran. His brother yelled, and he ran. Sans and Papyrus, manipulated and abused, needed help and he’d done nothing. He watched Webs and his family slowly falling apart, and never spoke a word.

    “A scientist, doing his duty..?” He gestures to one box. “A loving father, who cares?” He gestures at the other.

    “Someone who just obeys? A coward? A torturer? A friend?”

    A liar.

    Tokaku didn’t know him. Knew nothing of him. None of them did. No one cared. Not until now. Why? They called him a coward, and never asked why. They accused him of avoiding, and never the why. And now, now, he’s suppose to just pretend it hadn’t happened? That it was his fault for hiding and doing nothing?

    It was his fault. He knew it. And as angry as he was, as much as everyone claimed to hate him or what he was, none of them could possibly do so more than he did himself.

    He doesn’t wait for an answer. Tokaku won’t see the illusion anymore. He won’t see anything now.

    Audio had vanished, and Tokaku will feel his hand slapped away and the brush of something passing before the room felt suddenly empty.

IT might as well have been a slap to his face.

Tokaku doesn't get a word in, he can't even get a thought in. Audio becomes a flurry, one he can't even see, but he can hear it. A flurry of stabs, to his gut, his chest, his throat, his head; were they blows struck by his words, but the final slap to his hand stung in a strange and terrible way.

It feels worse than the blade that had threatened to split his arm had felt.

He stands stunned for a while, staring at nothing, as though frozen in time.

It's only when he knows Audio is gone, that he falls to his knees and clutches his chest. It feels so tight. His fingers twist at the fabric of his sweater, and he tries to gulp in air he feels like he needs so desperately. Ah– that's panic. He knows that one. It's not all that's there but panic is the most dominant thing he feels right now; the panic that he might have pushed away someone he cares about a lot.

… that's the other part.

The tears flood now. He can't see anything. Maybe he doesn't want to.

"... m. my friend. my best friend." His voice is broken. Fitting, really. It strains out, faint as a whisper, to no one. "that's all i… thought."

He chokes back one sob, only for another to hiccup out of his throat. His horns hit the floor, and he covers the back of his head with his hands, so he can curl up and weep there, left without the strength to move or fight.

Those fingertips that had gripped and twisted at wool pushed against bone, wanting the same, to twist it for some kind of gravity. He gripped the bases of his horns and pulled down towards his brows. They wouldn't come off, it didn't hurt, but he could imagine they might.

Because a small part of him blamed them and everything they stood for.

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} TOKAKU #mraudio the audacious #(( isn't that lovely? isn't that cool? )) #(( isn't that cruel and aren't i a fool? ))

[ruintale]

mraudio-the-audacious‌:

“What?”

It was like Tokaku had hit him, the way Audio suddenly straightened with his back rigid, and although Tokaku could no longer see his face, the impression of a deer caught in the headlights was strong.

His image flickered. He didn’t say anything else for a solid ten seconds. He stared at Tokaku, stupified, before finally shaking himself from the spell.

“What? No. It’s none of your business.”

Audio inwardly recoiled slightly at the sound of his own voice there. It sounded almost cold.

But Tokaku was stepping into dangerous territory right now. The walls could practically be seen. Audio was on the defensive. Whatever his reasoning, he was obviously determined to not talk about the content of those tapes. And through the distorted illusion, the feel of eyes was there, watching. Wary. Intent. Waiting.

BY all accounts, Tokaku should have backed down now. He should have recognised he was causing Audio discomfort.

"It is not my business, no," he agrees softly.

But he doesn't back off. He doesn't need to visualise the walls; he can hear them perfectly, as though they were growling and snarling at him. He raises his head, and his hands stop wringing themselves. The tightness was still there in his chest, but the core of that knot jolted and sparked with something.

He should have backed off, but it was like the walls challenged him.

"But it is my business being your friend. And friends talk about things that are bothering them. Isn't that what we've been doing? When we talked about Nero? When we talked about my fragments?"

He's still genuine in his queries: he thought that was something friends really could do, and Audio was one of the people he came to most for talking about problems... But there's a thick thread of stubbornness. He wipes his eyes. His spine straightens. Maybe there was something here. Maybe this was the bite of the blade in his arm that Audio needed to hold something true.

Because right now he is lying to himself. And Tokaku knows it.

“I can avoid making this mistake again, but I don’t think avoiding this is going to work forever.”

That sounded like an echo of what he had said to him about Nero. In Tokaku’s mind this was hardly any different to those conflicts. It was all walls and wounds. But he would not approach this with a blade.

He reaches out an open hand in offering.

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} TOKAKU #mraudio the audacious #(( hey you... show me that solvable problem~ ))

[ruintale]

mraudio-the-audacious‌:

“Four?!”

It doesn’t matter if Tokaku didn’t let him go, because he yanks his arm from him. These walls have never heard such a sharp and biting tone from the normally meek and subdued scientist. Audio has probably never heard it himself. The anger began to bubble, rising to the surface. He recognized each tape, he knew them well. And that only made it worse.

“One I could understand, Tokaku, but four?! Why?! What were you thinking?!? Didn’t it occur to you to, oh, I don’t know, to go find me?! I was in the other room! What possessed you to keep going when they obviously weren’t the tape you were meant to find!”

This felt stupid. He felt sick with himself for being angry. And again, he wasn’t sure why. He still wasn’t sure it was really Tokaku he was upset with or not. These weren’t necessarily secret. Not nearly the same way his humanity had been. But he had still gone snooping without his permission.

Audio suddenly pushes past him and back into the room, right for his desk. Without another word, he starts putting the tapes away in their appropriate places. And rather quickly at that. He didn’t want to see them. As if hiding them from sight meant they weren’t real. He puts the boxes on the floor and shoves them under his bed with his foot. It wasn’t where they were meant to go, but he wasn’t about to reveal the true location, and he just wanted them out of the way.

BEING pulled away from so sharply, hearing that bite in Audio's voice, so strange and unfamiliar and threatening for all reasons Audio might even understand— Tokaku flinches back, and lets him pass.

He hadn't been expecting this kind of anger, especially not from him, but he also feels it is completely deserved.

"–no. It didn't occur to me," he admits, quietly and guiltily. "You were in the middle of something. And when I am set a task, I-- find it hard to stop."

His hands have retreated to one another, and wring themselves tight to his chest, like he can transfer the tightness of his SOUL away from his rib-cage. He doesn't let himself see exactly where the tapes are being put - perhaps he doesn't trust himself. He knows they're being shoved away hastily, though, and it makes him more nervous.

"Not good enough excuses. I trespassed. I got caught up in it, I…"

Tokaku's voice trails off, and his hands stop wringing, though they stay together as they lower. Something clicks about how he's putting them away. He's not organising them or sorting through them; he's shoving them away. (He’s shoving him away.)

"... Why are you hiding them?" He admonishes himself silently for that one, but… he said it himself. Once he's set a task… "Are you ashamed?"

It doesn't sound like he's judging him. It doesn't sound like he understands. The question comes too gently for that. But him asking at all is an attempt to understand. It was one thing him being angry at Tokaku for invading his privacy; it was another thing for him to treat these supposed important articles so carelessly.

And, well. He knew the contents now, didn't he? Being ashamed of one's past is something he is no stranger to at all.

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} TOKAKU #mraudio the audacious

[ruintale]

mraudio-the-audacious‌:

Audio had not anticipated being grabbed. He did not expect the slight jerked motion as his steps were forced to a halt, and in that grip, he instinctively tensed. The surprise clear on his face, or would be if it could actually be seen.

He didn’t want to look at him. He didn’t want to see that crying face. He wasn’t sure at first why it bothered him so much. Maybe because he’s never been the source of someone crying before. He remembered when he made Webs upset when he tried to run away. Why couldn’t they just pretend this didn’t happen?

But they couldn’t, could they.

He was distancing himself. He could feel it happening. He didn’t try to pull himself away from Tokaku, but if he was still holding onto him, the skeleton could feel how tense he was. And though he couldn’t see his face directly, he’ll know it was averted.

Was Audio mad? Yes, he realized. And that surprised him. He never remembered being angry. Not really. At Tokaku..? No… No, not quite. He was angry, angry at something, but whatever it was, he was avoiding it.

Finally, he looks at Tokaku. The illusion flickers, offering a brief glance of Audio’s real face before it disappeared again. He didn’t want to tell Tokaku any of what he suggested. He was upset, but he didn’t want him to never see him again.

“… How many?” He finally forced out. And his voice betrayed the emotion his illusion wouldn’t admit to.

“How many tapes?”

THAT tenseness seems to run up through him, but he stands fast, and keeps his grip. He can’t say he doesn’t mean to hold Audio where he doesn’t want to be, because he absolutely intends it. This is too much to sweep under the rug. It would hang over them forever – or at least, hang over him forever – were he to let go.

It only takes as long as he sniffs to try and hold back his tears to croak out an answer.

“Four, not including the one I was sent to look for. One log, Day xx on the month of August, year xxxx,” he recites perfectly, “and the personal log following. The tape titled Happy Birthday. Another tape, I-- I forget the title, but it was a pretend experiment.”

He is quiet for a moment after. He wants to say he’ll try to forget. But he can’t. He knows he can’t. He’ll keep thinking about it and theorising and trying to fit those few pieces together somehow because that’s what he does.

His mouth opens, but closes again after a moment. He truly doesn’t know what to say, and instead hangs his head a bit. His grip doesn’t loosen, but his posture sags a little. He wants to ask how to fix it, but he doesn’t even fully understand how Audio feels. He can hear anger, and that seems appropriate. He doesn’t know to what extent. He can’t see his face.

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} TOKAKU #mraudio the audacious

[ruintale]

mraudio-the-audacious‌:

“It’s okay…”

It’s a reflexive response. Habitual. And even after he says it, he makes a slight face, though Tokaku won’t see it. It was fine. No big deal. Just… Whatever. It was his fault. He looks at the tapes and wondered which he had listened to. Why. He supposed on one hand, he could be relieved, if he had picked up any of the ones labeled with number of days. He wasn’t judging him, after all.

But he was realizing he was faced with a problem. And Audio wasn’t good at confronting problems.

Tokaku had dug through memories. Memories Audio only felt comfortable exploring alone, and even then, only a little. And Tokaku knowing about these memories, whichever ones they were, and seeing the tears still on his face and hearing the guilt and shakiness of his voice made them more real. He wasn’t ready for this. He didn’t want to acknowledge it. His image becomes even more distorted as he thinks how to proceed, just wanting to pretend none of this had happened and that everything was fine. They can laugh about it. He’d go in right now and put the boxes away if it didn’t involve walking past Tokaku and drawing more attention to the boxes.

“You found it?” He spoke almost abruptly. And his voice was also different. Not quite right. He could see the actual tape he needed in Tokaku’s hand. He almost forgot what they were doing for a moment, then turned, as if intending to walk out the door once he remembered.

“It’s… Fine.”

‘It’s okay...’              ‘It’s... Fine.’

TOKAKU is not the most emotionally adept person, but empathy did not need to be something he understood to be something he could feel. He knows something is very very wrong, he knows because he can’t see him anymore, he’s hiding from him, he’s—

No, it wouldn’t be right to leave, it wouldn’t be right to just let him walk away when he’s been wronged.

Tokaku feels compelled to reach out, following quickly so he could grab Audio’s arm with his free hand It felt like if his friend left the room everything would change forever, for the worse. Like anything they had would be lost. He would lose his best friend through a stupid mistake, something he knew he should have stopped after the fact.

“Fred. Please.” His voice strains, choked by the tears that came heavier now, glittering like liquid amber, or liquid gold. They seem to reflect their faint hues onto his eye lights, or perhaps it’s his eye lights that are reflecting onto them.

“It is not okay. You’re not okay. I’m not okay. It is not fine.

“Please talk to me. Even if it’s just to say I messed up and hurt you and you never want to see me again.”

It slipped out.

He didn’t mean for it to, but it did.

He feels his SOUL slow down, but not for the better. He has walked up onto the stand, willingly, to be JUDGED.

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} TOKAKU #mraudio the audacious

[ruintale]

mraudio-the-audacious‌:

The first thing to strike out at Audio was the fact that Tokaku had used his real name. It caught hold of his attention and moved his gaze up. Surprised. That wasn’t a name often spoke.

But it wasn’t the only thing to strike out at him. The shakiness in the voice, and then the sight of the tears on his friend’s face hit him at the same time. Has he ever seen him cry before? He’s fairly certain he hasn’t. Not like this. So imagine his utter confusion and the worry that followed. He was held in place as he watched his friend and forgot how to speak for a moment, but words do eventually come out. Or rather, try to.

“Are you-”

Then he sees it. Just past Tokaku, on the desk, Audio caught sight of the boxes. There’s another flicker of confusion…. And then horrified realization.

He stiffens. Those boxes were never meant to be seen by another’s eyes. They weren’t even suppose to be there. He had forgotten to put them away, and he had sent Tokaku into his room-

Audio’s eyes flick over to Tokaku now, and the skeleton monster will see them searching. Trying to put pieces together and answering their own questions as quickly as they came. He saw him wearing the earphones. Why was he crying?

This all transpired in a span of seconds. Tokaku, one moment, sees the confusion and flood of other emotions that were too quick and too much to really identify. And then… They start to blur.

Audio’s features start to distort and fade in Tokaku’s eyes. He no longer saw the human, but the disguise Audio had grown so accustomed to and felt safe in. He remained frozen on the spot, and didn’t speak a word.

HIS voice creaks out “I’m sorry” as he sees his friend’s features blur. He knows that means he messed up, and the thumping of his SOUL starts to feel like a countdown. He remains frozen to the spot, but his voice moves where he can’t. It’s no longer quite so deadpan, his words retract much as he wants to, as much as he wants to hide and never hurt his best friend again.

But that wouldn’t be right. That wouldn’t be fair.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t find it-- I didn’t know--”

It sounds like excuses. His face scrunches up and his head tilts down as he tries to figure out what he’s supposed to be saying. What composure he had was gone. And staring at Audio is hard, especially with the guise, but he forces himself to once he crafts a response in his head. There’s nothing for him to focus on, so he just... tries really hard to imagine where his face was meant to be.

“... I couldn’t tell which recording it was you needed. I tried to figure it out by listening to the ones that were out. I thought they would be the most recent, I--”

‘I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.’ But he did. He swallows the sentence down. ‘I didn’t mean to’ didn’t fix anything, didn’t change anything. What did it matter what he meant when what is done is done?

“... I’m sorry.”

He felt scared, and small. Audio had done nothing to frighten him and yet he felt the same as when Nero had bayed at him all those months ago, for blindly charging in to lecture him on right and wrong.

‘Please don’t hate me.’

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} TOKAKU #mraudio the audacious

[ruintale]

mraudio-the-audacious‌:

The tapes all look the same except for their labels. But after enough observing, there is one that stands out.

The label is cleaner, with lack of smudged or wear. It wasn’t immediately obvious, the other labels weren’t in bad shape, but the comparison was clear once put together. And the label stood out from the rest as well. In tiny print on the corner, hard to see upon first glance, was a more recent date and then a title of the test involved. A quick listen will confirm that THIS was the appropriate tape, a starking contrast from the other two kinds. Almost as if the Audio’s from both had merged into one and yet neither.

It’s a good thing, too, because if Tokaku is listening, he’ll hear Audio calling for him. He’s finally taken notice of his long absence.

“Tokaku? Did you get lost?” Came his joking voice, and it was being followed with footsteps.

GODS, he felt stupid for not noticing that before. He should have looked for the newest-looking label and damn whatever was written on them. He’d invaded his best friend’s privacy for nothing. And now it was time to answer. He knew hiding what he’d been doing would be wrong, even if what he was doing was wrong in the first place. He’d resolved to tell Audio what happened even before it had spiralled. And the opportunity to do that was swiftly approaching.

He removes the ear-phones from the side of his skull and carefully peels off the tape he’d used to stick them there, his hands trembling slightly, as though shaken by the horrendous pace of his SOUL thumping in his chest, but his overall poise remains calm. He rewinds the needed tape, and takes it out of the recorder, ready to hand over.

He may be relatively still, seeming somewhat calm in a sense, but he’s still crying. It hasn’t stopped.

“Fred--” his voice is notably shaky, and cracking a bit. It’s not normal for him.

He stands, but he doesn’t move towards the door. Not yet.

“... I had trouble.”

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} TOKAKU #mraudio the audacious

[ruintale]

mraudio-the-audacious‌:

It’s the small voice again, the voice he’ll now know to be Sparkles.

“Day xx of month September… Year xxxx. Time… xx:xx! Is that right, dad..?”

“Yes, very good, Sparkles. Then you proceed explaining what you’re trying to do.”

“Okay! I mean- ahem…

"We are patching up Mr. Flufftail Rainbowbottom. He has a LOOOONG hole on the side of his leg-”

“Which leg?”

“Oh, the right foreleg! We’re using needle and thread. And already gave him medicine.”

“Very good. Keep this up and-” Audio suddenly gasps, and it’s followed shortly by Sparkles’ startled voice.

“What?!”

“We’re losing him!”

“OH NO!” Comes Sparkles’ screeching voice.

Following are sounds of urgent and frantic beeping that’s clearly coming from Audio, who also starts reporting “Mr. Flufftail’s” condition.

“He’s in the yellow! Save the stitches! Get that fluff in him stat, I want that unicorn fluffed and fat! We’re going to need- OH NO HE’S IN THE RED!”

“Mommy mommy!” Sparkles voice of distress goes further away as the recording picks up her frantic running. “Flufftail’s dying fix it!!!!”

“FRED!” Rosemary calls sharply from what sounds like another room, and Audio’s burst of laughter can be heard clearly. “You’re not allowed to play with your daughter anymore!”

The tape stops with an abrupt click, ending on Audio’s laughter.

WHILE the tears rolled still down his cheek-bones, he couldn’t help but quietly chuckle at the interaction. It wasn’t what he was looking for, but... it sounded a bit more like the Audio he knows. Amicable. Funny. Someone who’ll mess with people for the sake of a laugh.

... But then, the Audio he had come to know somehow still rang hollower than this one. Like Audio was missing pieces of himself, in a way, not unlike himself. ‘Sparkles’ was a missing piece of his, wasn’t she? Except this kind of piece, one could not simply seek out and recover. His chest tightened and twisted again. He’d begun to realise this was his incomplete SOUL being wrenched.

He rewound the tape and removed it to place it back where it came from, but this time, he didn’t immediately reach for another one. First of all he had to wipe his eyes, and then he had to actually look at the titles.

Maybe he could get a better idea which one he was looking for now he’d gotten an impression of the contents. But none of them were especially descriptive even then. He knew he’d have to say something to Audio about this, and he had very good reason to encourage him to label and sort his recordings better.

He felt guilty, having peered into things about Audio he had no right to know, but he came here with a purpose, and had to fulfil that.

#{}{} V: MAIN #{}{} TOKAKU #mraudio the audacious