Morning already? Feels like you slept for years.
But boy, do you feel good.
You sit upright, rubbing your eyes before grabbing your phone.
You slept in, it's already 10:30am!
That's fine though, you got about four and a half hours to kill before-
*"Your date with Susie?"
Your SOUL chimes in, feeling particularly warm and smug this morning.
(Don't make me regret not putting you in the cage already.)
*"Hey! I'm just saying what you're thinkin' boss."
You shift yourself out of bed, pausing to glare at the horrible CD that's peeking out from under your brother's bed.
The one with the song about the photograph.
*"Okay damn, point taken! You're just hanging out with her!"
(Thank you.)
You were pretty optimistic this Sunday morning, today was gonna be a good day.
You step out into the hallway, you knew you'd have the house to yourself this morning. Mom was at church and she wouldn't be back for another half hour.
Which meant only one thing:
Getting to run down the stairs on all fours.
(GOBLIN MODE...)
*"ENGAGE!!"
You manage to scramble down the steps in under two seconds, damn you were getting GOOD at this.
You're pretty certain if you took the steps with enough speed, you could probably actually run down the wall.
True goals.
You leap upright to your feet, giving a good stretch before popping the fridge open, digging out a leftover cold pancake.
Your tear it in half and stuff it into your mouth.
Hot or cold, no one can beat mom's pancakes.
As you head into the living-room, you pause for a moment.
Susie had unearthed the remote, maybe it was time to put that thing to use again.
You cram the other half of the pancake into your mouth, putting one hand on the old TV as you reach for the remote with the other.
You actually feel like watching TV today, having binged so much with Susie yesterday reminded you how nice it can be.
"Alright... TV time." You give the old CRT a fond pat as you take a step back, flicking the old display to life once more.
As you flipped through the channels, you backpedaled onto the couch. Letting your legs hit the base and flopping back, getting comfortable as you surf.
Nothing too exciting at the moment. You flip past the weather channel, though this week's forecast promises to be comfy.
You eventually settle on the same channel you and Susie were glued to.
Looks like it's that Sentai show from the ad from the other day.
Must be the season finale or something, you can tell as you watch the blue helmeted hero change into a new form.
He gets some big pauldrons and a visor with a blazing blue light pouring out from it.
It's all very flashy and dramatic, you've seen this kinda stuff before.
Though besides his armor changing, his laser gun turns into...
A laser sword.
Though it's still also a gun, but... still. Laser sword.
The thought just crossed your mind: There's a very real chance you could find one of those in the Dark World.
You recall how ordinary objects change into weapons there... But what could you bring from the Light World to get a laser sword?
*"...Laser pointer?"
(Oh damn. That's a good idea.)
Okay, note to self: Get a laser pointer.
As the show finishes up, the usual mind-numbing block of commercials comes up on screen.
You swear the commercial breaks are getting longer...
You were about to mentally check out when a commercial for a new local bowling alley blares onto the TV.
Bowling, huh? Never done that before, but that might be worth trying out with Susie at some point.
You take another mental note of that.
*"For a potential da-"
You clap a hand over your chest.
*"Shutting up."
The sound of the door being unlocked has you pull your hand away from your chest, it swings open and your mom makes her way inside.
"Hello Kris, did you sleep well? You were sleeping soundly this morning that I decided to just let you sleep in."
Man, mom is so cool.
You just nod and stretch out on the couch, "How'd church go?"
Mom hangs her coat up before settling into her favorite chair, "It was a lovely sermon this morning, you should really consider coming back, Kris. Father Alvin and the others would be happy to see you. Rudy was also there!"
You actually feel a small twinge of guilt... You've never been thrilled to go to church, but knowing how hard it is for Rudy to get up and about right now, the guy is probably savoring every moment out of that damn hospital. Father Alvin's also always been nice to you and your brother.
"In fact, perhaps we could bring Susie along next time!" your mom giggled.
You can't help but smile at the thought of Susie going to church with you guys, you'd have to see that to believe it.
The next two hours pass like this, just making the ocassional odd small talk with mom and watching TV. Though you were the one doing most of the watching there, mom had dug out a book to read.
This was still really nice, honestly...
Just a little past 1 o' clock, the phone rings.
Mom was already in the kitchen at the moment, so she gets to the phone first.
"Dreemurr residence, this is Tor- Oh! Asriel!"
Oh shit.
You sit up, eyes locked on your mom now.
"I was hoping to hear from you soon! We've been looking forward to your visit this week!"
There's a pause, you can hear your brother's muffled voice coming out of the phone even from here, but you can't make out anything he's saying.
...Your mom is starting to frown...
"Snowed in? Are you alright up there? ...Just the roads? ...Yes, I'll let Kris know." your mom gives you sideways glance.
A weight is dropped into your stomach.
Your mom continues the conversation...
"Yes dear, you stay safe up there. Please let me know when the roads are safe, alright? I love you too, Asriel."
Your mom hangs the phone up and returns to the living-room
You find yourself frowning too, you already know what you're about to be told.
"Kris, honey..."
"...He's not coming. Right?"
"There's not anything that can be done about this, Kris." your mom's already doing her best to soften the blow.
Still hurts though.
"Yeah... It's fine. It's not like Asriel wanted the roads to get blocked up." you're doing your best to keep the disappointment and hurt out of your voice.
Your mom still notices it.
You shift up off the couch.
"I... I think I'll go take a walk."
Your mom manages to get a hug in before you can make your way to the door.
You tell yourself to keep it together as you hug her back.
"If you need anything, dear. Give me a call, alright?" your mom stands upright, her paws on your shoulders.
You just give a nod before turning and making your way out the door.
You only have a vague idea of where you're wanting to take a walk, and it's not through town.
You circle around the house, past the trees and out a ways into the surrounding woods.
You've taken walks back here before, when you need time to yourself.
This is certainly one of those times.
Your limbs feel pretty heavy right now, all of that energy you had from sleeping in seems to have been completely sapped from you.
As you make your way into a clearing, you heave a sigh and stare at the grass in front of you.
Fall's coming, and there's already some fallen leaves around.
You drop down to your knees before finally sinking face first into the cool, soft grass.
You don't blame your brother, really. It's not his fault.
This still sucks though.
You let your mind wander as you lay there on the ground, the world drifting away.
"...ris?"
Maybe if you just lay here long enough you can start to grow some moss of your own.
"...is?...Kris?"
Then afterwards the snow can pile on you, and you can just kinda lay here and be the world's shittiest snowperson.
"HEY! KRIS!"
That's Susie.
"Mmnuh? Uhwha?" you manage to barely lift your head up and mumble out a response.
"Kris, what the hell are you doing?"
Susie is staring down at you with a slight look of concern and confusion.
How long have you been laying here?
"...Laying on the ground, feeling like garbage?" you manage to form a coherent sentence.
"...Okay. WHY are you laying on the ground and feeling like garbage?" Susie tucks her hands into the pockets of her jacket.
It's not often you directly address your SOUL, but now's a good time.
(Hey...)
*"Yeah, boss?"
(Can you help me roll over?)
*"Sorry boss, even I can't really shift you right now, you're completely drained."
(I was afraid of that.)
You continue your conversation with the monster with your cheek resting on the ground.
"Got a call from my brother earlier, he's not gonna be able to visit this week. Which means he's not coming back til summer."
Susie frowns, hanging her head a little, her eyes shaded.
"...Oh. Yeah... I can see that being a good reason for feeling like garbage."
Silence hangs in there for a few moments.
Susie's the one to break it.
"Well... Uh, it's 3:30, I came looking for you."
"You found me." You look up at her, seeing her look like this just made you feel worse, honestly.
"Hey Susie, can you do me a favor?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you roll me over? It'd be a little easier to talk."
There's a faint hint of a smile on dragon's face as she rolls you over, your left arm flops outwards as you're turned. It thumps against the grass and you're left sprawled out on the ground.
"Thanks."
Susie's still looking down at you, "Well... did you still want to hang out?"
More conflicting emotions, feeling pretty bad about forgetting her, but... even after all this, she still wants to hang out?
"Well... I'm not really feeling up to getting up and walking around right now."
You can see Susie pause for a moment to think about what to do about this before cracking a small grin.
"Alright, I'll just join you here."
"What, laying on the ground feeling like garbage? You'd do that with me?"
"Yeah, what the hell, why not?"
There's a bit of warmth growing in your chest.
Time to explain how this works then.
"Great, all you have to do is follow my lead here. Just lay back and relax, you'll feel it soon enough."
The dragon sits on the ground with a thump before flopping back onto the grass, part of her mane flicks against your face.
You admittedly didn't expect her to be laying this close, but that's fine.
*"I-"
(I SAID THAT'S FINE.)
After a few moments you both begin to feel like garbage.
Really things aren't all bad... Susie's continuing to do a great job of keeping life from sucking so hard.
That and your mom is always so cool.
You're certain your brother feels upset about not being able to come home too.
Well, you'll just have to be ready for him when summer rolls around.
Susie's here, so you know things'll be fine.
Your mind continues to wander.
You find yourself thinking about those dreams of that shabby looking human again.
You swear you were friends with that guy, but...
There's no other humans in town, it's just you.
So how come you have such a clear picture of him?
Mussy red hair, and he was shorter than you.
Sad, gray eyes.
There was someone else that was always with him in those dreams, but you could never make them out.
You find yourself trying harder to focus on this.
The other figure begins to sharpen...
"Hey! Kris!"
Your eyes snap open.
The sky was darkening.
Damn, time flies when you feel like garbage.
Susie was standing over you, "It's startin' to get kinda late, and I'm sure your mom would have a fit if I don't get you back there before it gets dark."
"...Yeah, you're right."
You're feeling good enough that you could probably stand.
And yet...
"Hey, Susie?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't think I can make the walk myself, think you could help me out here?"
*"Oh? That's a bold move boss, let's see how this pans out."
The dragon grins, "Sure Kris, happy to help." she reaches down, grabbing hold of one of your ankles, hoisting that leg up a little and starting to drag you back home.
"You're just lucky I found you when I did, Kris. Though you're gonna have to return the favor at some point!"
It actually worked!
You're dragged along the cool grass, a few leaves and a twig or two slide up your shirt.
Simply trophies of your victory this day.
*"Damn Kris, I didn't think you could be such a player without my help."
You allow yourself a small smile.

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Pub: 25 Aug 2025 11:15 UTC

Edit: 25 Aug 2025 12:04 UTC

Views: 135