entranceway | [Voice

Oh. Oh. [There's a pause on the line, vague static.] Oh lord, I didn't know. Are you okay?

You mean worse than dead?

[He says it dryly, mostly intending it to be a joke. Mostly.]

Whoever they were, they're not our stab-happy pretreen. I think.

[He moves away from his phone to peer out into the hall from the slit in his door. No one outside. No one he can see, anyway. The feed gets a little clearer as his distance increases, his voice a bit fainter.]

Apparently they've been stalking everything I've said on here. So you know, that's fantastic. Maybe lock everything you send out for the time being, yeah?

Wait, have they been threatening you or something? I mean, maybe they're just... making fun of you.

[Disgusting joke that would be, but that's better than a lot of other things. Well, to be fair, he kind of brought it on himself... but obviously threats are not okay.]

Whoever they were, they definitely said I need to worry about them.

[Pause. Max hardly needs to hear more about how that threat had more or less extended to anyone and everyone he knows. At least not right now.]

Pretty much straight up said they're willing to kill me four more times.

[Fuuuuuck. Not this shit again. There's another long pause on the line.] Why? I mean, you already... It's not like you came out on top.

I dunno. Maybe Chara's gotta friend.

[Anyone who is their friend's gotta have some relevant interests, right? Like, say, murder.]

Sans said they probably don't, except maybe Frisk.

They're probably just scaring you so you don't do it again... [Her voice trails off. She's not sure, not by a long shot, but what else is she supposed to say?]

Let's hope.

[A beat. He's not really the optimistic type, but there's no point in worrying Max further. She's already had a rough time of it.]

Glad you made it out all right.

Me too. [Another pause.] I'm sorry you didn't.

[Alex doesn't have a lot to say to that. He simply grunts, quietly.]

I rushed into it.

More like went completely ballistic. [She struggles to keep the hard edge out of her voice. It shows for one moment, but in the next her voice is far kinder.]

I mean, I know you were... looking out for me. I shouldn't have brought you into it. Maybe I should've fixed it with that picture.

[She's already ripped up her picture with Nageki, the one she was thinking of using to travel back and just reverse everything. It lies as crumpled pieces somewhere in the forest.

And now the hardness is back, because she has to get the gravity of this point across.]

But you won't do it again, right?

Edited 2016-02-28 02:07 (UTC)

Fixed it.

[His voice has a strange quality to it. That was precisely the kind of rationalization he spun himself through before confronting the little dipshit. The same way he justified what he did, what he had to do, leading his friends unknowingly to their deaths.

It's not okay when he does it? It is when she does?]

What do you mean fix - [Whatever he has to say is cut off in an angry swell of static.

Looks like that radius of his works as an emotional barometer on top of it.]

...Hello?

[Well, that did not sound good. Whatever happened with Chara, she knows she has to fix things with Alex. Hopefully without making anything else worse.

She switches to text for the time being.]

You know stuff was up in Oregon. I could have tried something, but I didn't because it never ends well. Never.

I'm sorry. I wanted to. Believe me.

[God DAMN god damn god damn he hates this. He. Hates this. Switching to text too, because he can do fuck else.]

fine
well i was trying to fix it too

[She hates doing this, hates confronting him like this. She'd actually rather do it in person, not over some stupid text.]

There's better ways to do that.

[Well if she's more free to move about the mansion than he is at the moment, she should at least try to be useful. And... try to actually be sorry.]

I'm getting you dinner. And tons of raktajino. Where do I bring it?

[God help him he doesn't know how to keep friends for longer than a few months. Why is she still being nice to him.]

NHRoIGZsb29yIHJvb20gNDQNCmNhbid0IGJlIHRvbyBjYXJlZnVs

[Really? He's just in his room?? She can't believe that for a moment, but she doesn't understand tons of things, so she just goes with it.

Fifteen minutes later she shows up with a doggie bag full of pork chops, a huge bottle of water, and a thermos filled to the brim with coffee.

It's all a little jumbled up in her hands, so she knocks lightly on the door with her foot.]

[Yep. He'd gotten some slight confirmation that neither Chara nor their possible accomplice knows where he lives, and he's keeping it that way. He's kept his wandering in the mansion to a minimum for that precise reason.

Promise of food and company he can tolerate isn't such a bad incentive, however. The door opens a slit as he peers out, then swings open fully when he confirms who it is.]

They don't know where I'm stashed yet.

[This is apparently Kralie-speak for "hello, how are you, nice to see you again".]

[Fortunately she kind of gets that.]

Good to see you too, Alex.

[Honestly, yes, it's a huge relief to see him alive and well. She wobbles inside with the stuff, trying to find a place to settle it all down, eventually deciding on the bed.

As she walks over she glances around, looking for any more drawings on the wall.]

...Where do you get your chow? [Do the closets provide food? She's gonna feel pretty dumb if it turns out they do.]

[Alex shrugs tiredly. His desk is pretty cluttered with cameras and assorted shit (not to mention a new switchblade, which he hastily retrieves and slips into his pocket to avoid awkward conversation starters) so the bed's really the best place for it.]

Only eat when I have to. I'm used to it.

[College living on a budget taught him that one.]

Pick weird hours to raid the kitchen. [Like how he doesn't go out until it's in the A.M. Or how he makes sure to accumulate some non-perishables to keep him going with each trip. Paranoid, him? Never.]

[Looking around at the walls means she misses him stashing the switchblade. The room doesn't look much worse than a normal student's dormitory, so she makes no comment. But after dumping the stuff on the bed, she does have to pick up the bottle that accidentally falls to the floor.]

I can do this once in a while, right? Supply drops?

[She hated hiding. Being cooped up all day, barely getting to go outside, not taking any pictures or even going exploring, looking at things. It sucked.

She sits down next to the food. At some point she's going to have to change this conversation into a serious discussion of what the heck happened, and she wants to mentally prepare.]

[He shrugs again, shoves a couple crinkled papers with an all-too-familiar circle-with-an-X symbol under the bed with the toe of his shoe.]

If you think Chara isn't keeping tabs on you anymore, sure, I trust you.

[He says it so nonchalantly that he doesn't stop to second-guess it until it's already out there. Trust, huh. Alex doesn't do trust, generally. Sure he trusts her on paper, but in practice? That's a different story.

He slouches in the desk chair wearily. He hasn't been getting a whole lot of sleep. Now he's got nightmares of his own horribly bloody death replaying in his head on top of the ones he already had.]

[She's... still not sure. There's definitely an attempt on her part to calm down and just relax, but on the way to Alex's room she must have looked over her shoulder ten times. Checking to see if there's a knife wielding child running up from behind.

But there never was. Maybe things really are okay. For her. Not for Alex?

She can do these favors for him, at least, and be extremely careful about being followed. She's a terrible fighter, but she's not so bad as a sneak.

His slouch and weariness are all pretty obvious. Her brow furrows, thinking about what to say, trying to think how to not get too pissed and turn this into an argument.]

...Thank you. By the way.

[He snorts.]

Yeah? For what?

[He digs his fingernail rather viciously into the arm of his stupid desk chair, shredding the fraying material.]

You talking the thing down was apparently all you had to do. That was all you.

[Ugghh. What does she say to something like that? Honestly it's kind of true. Even talking to Chara (easily one of the scariest things she's ever done) might not have been necessary if he hadn't jumped the gun. But anyone who's willing to die to help her out (because that's how she sees it) at least has good intentions.

She shifts uncomfortably on the bed, trying to look him straight in the eye and sort of failing.]

Don't you think I'm grateful?

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