Aftermare Week 2023
Day 3: Light
Nightmare had a plan: sneak over to Geno and pick him up. Why? He just wanted to surprise him. And hopefully he won't be too startled to summon his attacks.
He peaked his head around the tree to see if Geno was distracted, and saw that he was down in the field of flowers. Perfect. He knows that Geno always seems transfixed on the color and texture of the flowers and likely doesn't notice there's anyone coming up to him if they don't make themselves known.
Moving as quickly and quietly as he can, he made his way down the small hill the Tree stood on. He froze as Geno moved, thinking he noticed him coming and ruining his plan on surprising him. But Geno had only repositioned himself and had not noticed him. Nightmare relaxed, relieved that he was still in the clear.
He was right behind Geno now, and seeing that he was still not noticed, braced himself to pick up the slightly smaller skeleton.
He grabbed Geno from under his arms, yoinked him up, and, to his surprise, stumbled when he realized that it took way less effort to carry Geno than he thought. He nearly fell over, but managed to balance himself with Geno still flailing in his arms. The totally-not-a-girly-scream that totally didn't come out of Geno's mouth(he will never admit it) was hilarious. And no panic magic attacks. Score!
But now he's focused on how light Geno is, like, unhealthy kind of light. Dream is not this light, and Dream is only a half-inch shorter than him, and an inch taller than Geno. Of course, he has no other reference for the healthy weight of a skeleton monster(or a skeleton monster that is also a spirit being for that matter), but he can't help but be concerned.
Meanwhile, Geno is calming down from being picked up out of nowhere upon realizing it was Nightmare. He's about to fuss over being startled like that, but then he notices Nightmare's expression. Geno, now confused, "You okay?"
"W- Oh, yeah, I'm okay. But can I ask you a question?" He lowers Geno to the ground as he asked.
"Of course, what is it?"
"I have just now noticed that you are much lighter than I thought you'd be. Are you alright? Are you not getting enough food?"
Geno was a bit confused until he realized why he was concerned about his health. "Oh! Yeah, I'm okay, I promise. You guys are giving me enough food, and I am as healthy as I can be. It's not something that can be fixed, anyway."
"Oh... But then what caused this? I-If it's alright to ask! You don't have to if it's not something you want to talk about."
"Hey, you're fine. I think it'd be better if we were sitting down for this. Let's go back to the tree, alright?" Nightmare agreed and followed Geno up to the tree.
After sitting down, Geno tried starting to explain, but found it hard to admit how physically weak he was. He knew he said he would tell Nightmare, but a part of him refused to admit how vulnerable he really was, especially since he knows that, despite this, he can hold his own in a short fight.
". . . Are you sure you want to talk about it? You really don't have to if you don't want to."
"No, I want to talk about it. I'm just trying to figure out how to say it without my own stubborn mind fighting me on it... hmm, maybe..." Geno started mumbling to himself, quiet enough that Nightmare couldn't quite pick up what he was saying.
But then Geno looked at him with a determined glint to his eyelight. "I believe it would be better to show you, but I warn you, it isn't going to look pretty. Promise me you won't freak out?"
"Okay, I promise. What is it?"
Geno took a deep breath, and then lifted his shirt, revealing his ribcage. Or what was left of it, most of it looking like it was a touch away from falling apart. A few ribs on the bottom were completely gone, only jagged stubs remained on the part of the spine they would have been attached to. There was also what looked like the scar of a slash that went from the top right of the ribcage to the bottom left. Or at least on what was visible on the frail looking ribs. If Nightmare looked closely he could see that his spine also looked like parts of it had dusted off before stopping completely.
"Oh... oh gosh... does... does it hurt? How-"
"Hey, no freaking out, remember? And no, it doesn't hurt. Not anymore, anyway. It's pretty much tied to the situation with my right eyesocket. And also why I don't really react well to humans. So, remember that I told you about how my world worked? And how a human kid ended up with the ability to reset time?"
"Oh, yeah. It still doesn't make a lot of sense to me. You told me about them starting as a good kid but then started hurting and, uh, killing other monsters. What about it?"
"Well, that's how I got the injury that you can see, the slash. It would have killed me, but because I pretty much pumped myself full of Determination, a substance that pretty much gives you an extra boost and an ability to persist after death, I lived long enough to get myself into a place that I ended up calling the Save Screen. A downside to having too much Determination in me is that I had started melting slightly during my fight with the human.
"I had already lost a... bit of mass to my being, as I had started dusting before I got myself into the Save Screen, and that's why my ribcage looks like this. And why I'm quite a bit lighter than I normally would've been. So, that's why I weigh less than normal."
Nightmare took a minute to process all that information, some of which he kinda knew, but most of it was new to him. On one hand, he's happy that Geno feels comfortable enough with him to tell him this. On the other, it was so much. He knows what the Save Screen is from another time when Geno told him, and how he was able to watch what was going on in his world. And that he could only watch, not interact, not interfere with the goings on in his world.
"I'm so sorry that happened to you. At least you're alive, and here with me and my brother."
"Yeah... yeah, you're right. I have you guys here with me. Even though I miss my bro, and it'll still take some time before I can really feel like this is my new home, I'm grateful for the two of you. Also, I don't want you or Dream treating me like I'm made of glass for this, alright? I can still do most of the things you can do, even if a bit more caution is needed for certain things."
"I won't, and I'll be sure to not let him do that. Though, that does raise the question, do you want him to know about this? He might freak out more than I was about to, but I know he would be understanding of your situation."
"Yeah, I probably should. Later, though, I'm a bit tired."
"Alright then, how about we cuddle for a while?" And upon receiving a nod in reply, he leaned back against the tree. Geno followed his lead and leaned into his side. Soon enough they fell asleep under the warm sunlight that filtered through the leaves.
Later, when Dream returned from whatever stupid errands the villagers were tasking him with, he found both Geno and Nightmare cuddled up to each other for a nap. He decided to have a nap as well and sat against the tree a few inches away, not quite wanting to be away from his brother, but also not wanting to wake them by leaning against them.
This is one I hadn't intended to be as long, but then it got out of my hands. One of the ones that started as fluff, and went to angst, though not as angsty as it could have been. Also this is in the world of Glitched Apples. It happens at some point.
@bluepallilworld @shinechermont
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cedric: in most video games with fighting you’d prefer to use spells and other ranged attacks but you’re the best at hitting stuff up close between you and proto and rue.
proto: i don’t know why but despite being a robot you seem like you wouldn’t be very good at video games. which is probably completely wrong but you just don’t seem like you would be amazing at them. not that you can’t play anything hard, just that it would be. somewhat challenging compared to others.
rue: you’re very good at making inferences and piecing together the lore before it’s revealed. even though i’m pretty sure you don’t have opposable thumbs so playing games is. very hard for you. i still think you’re really good at understanding and inferencing the lore and have very good reading comprehension.
I don't think I've played video games in a while, now that you mention it.
I like games where I can explore! And you would be correct that I prefer spells or ranged attacks over simple combat
Your assumption is correct! I love a good story!
Haha, I know we used to sit together to play when we had time, didn't we? I liked to read out the lines with you and make theories.
I never took much interest in using a controller, but we had our ways for me to make some simple inputs.
[That's what we did in test runs in fact. At some point we took the place of operators, during development.]
[Now to answer your question: "despite" being a robot? I think there are two assumptions you're making here. And neither is entirely correct.]
[Robots are not good at video games by default, just like living beings, but they can become proficient in them with practice and the right processing.]
[I'm good at rhythm games.]
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