entranceway | [Video / Action ] Backdated to the evening of Feb 1

[Video]

[Two years of Wonderland. And a year without Chloe, that closes on February first, without any fanfare and fuss. So far.

Max is on the roof, sitting cross-legged right at the edge. There's a bunch of stuff next to her: an ashtray, a guitar, a box of fireworks, and a worn notebook whose cover is decorated with a variety of stickers. The items peek into view of the camera as Max shifts.

Her face is lit with the soft glow of sunset. The sky is awash with its gentle hue, the large clouds a burning, orange color, pulling long shadows in the air. It clashes with the dull white snow on the roof- the world caught somewhere between the brightness of afternoon and the darkness of dusk. The golden hour.]

Hello. [She runs the tip of her finger along her cheekbone, her gaze shifting self-consciously between the horizon and the camera.] So there's this funky section on our devices that stores all the old messages and recordings... kinda like the internet. And I do mean literally all. You can bounce way back and find some of the things you broadcast before.

I just hit two years- in Wonderland age- and I sort of wanted a dose of blast-from-the-past. Just to see how much things have changed.

So here's a good old fashioned dare: show me one of your old network posts. Something that's funny or you're proud of. Or that really changed who you are. There's so much saved up and I kinda wanna skip to the good parts. As Socrates once said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

[She grins at the screen. Sure it's a cheesy dare but... it does sound fun to her.]

Max out.

[Action]

[She'll spend the whole evening on the roof, willing to chat with whoever comes up. Then, close to midnight, she sets off the fireworks. The rockets and showers of light bathe Wonderland in shifting colors, and it goes on for a whole minute, turning the night into a spectacle.

She watches with melancholy and satisfaction, letting the sight distract her. It's comforting that the vastness of Wonderland, the dark of the sky, the thick silence- that these things are broken for a while by light and the gentle thud of distant fireworks. That this small, insignificant thing in the middle of their adventure is nonetheless captivating and lovely and marks this one night differently. In memory of Chloe.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[His default is "okay." The sort of fake "okay" where you're just coasting along flat ground. Not bad, not good. But right now, he's in a fairly good mood. He's comfortable.]

[He grins faintly at the offer.]

that's nice of you. i just, uh...

[He trusts her, and he likes her, and she's been there for him when she really, really didn't have to be. So he owes her at least something that's real.]

i just don't...like burdening people. even with just regular complaining. never really liked talking about myself at all, and...yanno, with all the time stuff, with a lotta things that've happened, i got real used to having to keep secrets anyway. it's a hard habit to break. heh, 'sides, i feel like...having to hear about my, i dunno, "emotional state" or whatever would be more boring than just doing nothing.

[His grin widens a bit.]

hell, doing nothing's just about my favorite thing.

[She huffs a laugh.] I hear that. [She leans back slowly, stretching, then finally letting gravity have its way. She lies on her back, hand under her head, lower legs dangling off the edge of the roof.]

But for the record I like hearing about you. "Emotional state" or whatnot. And last I checked I'm aces at keeping secrets.

[Sans takes that as his cue to lie down as well. This is much better. You can see the stars this way.]

heh. that makes one of us. well, i'm real good at keeping my own secrets, at least. that's the problem, i guess.

Hmm. Insert snide comment here. [That's all she's gonna say about the time Sans didn't keep her big secret very well. But it's all water under the bridge, and her tone isn't unkind.]

It's pretty normal not to want to share, I guess.

[He chuckles a bit, grinning ruefully. It might be water under the bridge, but he's so used to carrying his mistakes with him. Reliving them again and again.]

it's...not even really about keepin' secrets. it's more...

[He folds his hands across his chest, thinking.]

it's...i dunno. safer. the more people know about me--even dumb stuff like...how i'm feeling, or things i like. each thing someone could know feels like an arrow in a quiver.

[A knife in a pocket.]

i just--s' hard for me to trust all the way. or maybe that's just an excuse. maybe it's...just that i can't understand why anyone would...

[...]

care.

...

[Max listens carefully in the dark. She props herself up on one elbow to look at him, eyebrows raised.]

Either way, it's about trust. Trust that people won't hurt you and trust that they care. Kind of like a... leap of faith.

So I guess, in the cheesiest way possible, I wanna know if you... trust me.

[There's no push in her voice, no expected answer. Just an honest, sincere question.]

If, like you said, if you think I'm safe.

[He chuckles faintly.]

ain't so good at faith, either. leaps or otherwise.

[He could never afford faith. And any sort of leap just takes too much energy.]

[And then she asks that question.]

[He doesn't know how to answer. Doesn't even know if he should. People don't usually ask him flat out like that. Does he trust her?]

[Is she safe?]

[He thinks back the event with the labyrinth, and the puzzle room that was going to fill up with water. The ache in his skull and the understanding that he needed to catch her and get her out of harm's way. The feeling like she'd lied to him, even though she hadn't; the feeling that yet another person was holding his life in their hands.]

[That was over a year ago. So much has happened since then. They've confided in each other. They've been honest. He considers her one of the best human friends he has in Wonderland, and he can admit that without really needing to think too hard about it.]

i...you know, i used to think that my brother was the only person i could fully trust, one hundred percent.

[But even his brother isn't always safe. Even his brother has a version who is willing to kill Sans. Even his brother, his Real, true brother, could become a threat if Wonderland decided to twist him just so.]

[What it comes down to is that he can't trust anyone all the way. No one at all.]

[He can come fairly close, though.]

i think i trust you as much as i can. i think you're safe. and...

[He shouldn't say the last thing. He's not going to. Maybe it makes sense back Underground, with Resets and certain realities, all of that.]

[But you can't just tell someone that you kinda expect them to have no choice but to kill you, one of these days.]

...that's it, i guess.

[It's a good answer... though fairly close to not being an answer at all. She feels like he replied to the words and not the meaning behind it.

But she can't expect more than that, right? Not in a place like Wonderland.

She nods quietly, once again staring out over the roof.]

...I guess it's kind of a bogus question. I was safest with Chloe, and one morning I just...

[Now she shakes her head, closes her eyes briefly.]

It hurt... it still hurts. And you lost Papyrus before. Just like that. How's anyone supposed to feel safe?

[She wipes quickly at her eyes, a small laugh escaping her.]

Drama. Gosh darn it. [Another muffled laugh.] I'm glad you think I'm safe.

wonderland makes it so we can't trust anything. or anyone. even the people we should. they could go home, or they could...

[They could turn on the people they love the most. Sans remembers one of those early events, long ago, when everyone could just switch their emotions on and off for a little while. And how close he came to doing something he would have regretted. How he didn't care. Didn't even care when Papyrus showed up.]

and...then there's the mirrors.

[He doesn't think that one requires explaining.]

i'm sorry again about chloe. it doesn't...uh. really stop hurting. it just kinda dulls a bit. turns less sharp.

[He still misses the first two Papyrus-es. Even though he's got his brother back, he's not the exact same. It shouldn't be possible to miss someone when they're right here. But that's how it is in Wonderland.]

do you, uh...

[He can't quite bring himself to ask it. Doesn't feel like he has the right. Or like he should already know the answer.]

[Because why would anyone ever trust him?]

[She only nods at his words, again and again, a small motion of her head as she stares out at the grounds and then the sky. They've been through enough- everyone has been through enough- to understand. The events. The Mirrors. The sharp pain that turns into a dull ache at the loss of loved ones.

But she doesn't nod at that almost-question. A few moments pass until she tilts her head, turns it slightly to look at him from the corner of her eye. The edge of her lip curls into a slight smile.]

Yeah.

[Not a hundred percent. Like he said, that's impossible here. Especially after the hell she went through when Chloe left.

But more than enough to say yes.]

[His breath catches for a moment.]

[She...actually trusts him. Not all the way, he knows. But the fact that she trusts him at all is...]

[It's really something.]

[He's not sure what to say, so he says nothing. He's not even sure if she's looking when he grins. He feels...relieved.]

[She isn't looking. The quiet isn't uncomfortable or awkward. The two of them totally just had a "moment" and there's no need to spoil it with words. No need to add any caveats.

Instead she tucks her hands under her head again, content to let the view of the night sky entrance her. To imagine, high up above, the bursts of fireworks, now faded from sight, but burned in her memory.]

[Video / Action ] Backdated to the evening of Feb 1

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